DailyFrugalHints

Pawn Shops

2010-03-13T23:51:00.000-06:00

Yes, I am suggesting you visit a pawn shop. No, I am not suggesting you take a loan.

A pawn shop is an often overlooked place to get items at a low price. Musical instruments for kids, video games, TV's, etc, all can be bought at pawn shops. Heck, even wedding rights, if you don't mind some bad karma? Kidding, kidding!!

Truly, its a good place for these items that are often an extra expense that many of us cannot afford.

Free Friday

2010-03-12T11:24:00.001-06:00

Its here again: FREE FRIDAY...

http://www.tvtix.com/

http://www.coldstonecreamery.com/birthday/birthday_club.aspx

I LOVE vista print: love love love it. I get their free stuff all the time. Even had a pen made for one ofmy daughters that said Princess (and her name). She loved it!!
http://www.vistaprint.com/gallery.aspx?pg=76&xnav=LeftItem&xnid=LMHPNavGroupFreeProductsTile18&dng=1175389

50 Free Prints at CVS
http://www.cvsphoto.com/account/register.aspx

Thursday Grocery Shopping

2010-03-11T08:16:00.000-06:00

Last week I decided to skip our weekly shopping, and work on a pantry clean out. I spend $10 on a few things we had to have (milk, fruit, eggs). This Thursday came, and passed, and we now have a much "cleaner" pantry. LOL.

Its starting to look less full, but not empty yet. We are starting to get creative. The kids still have lots of cereal, just not their favorite types, but they wont die, and it needs to be used. This week we will use the last of frozen loafs of bread I had bought on sale, and we are down to only a week or so of meals left, if I get creative :)

Let me be clear: We are NOT going hungry or going without, we are just using some of the less favorite items that are in the back of the pantry that tend to get forgotten. Still having very healthy meals.

I know I will have to shop next Thursday, but so far so good. I usually do this once maybe twice a year, and its a great fun challenge.

Thoughts?

The muffin man, the muffin man…

2010-03-10T19:23:00.001-06:00

Years ago when the Tightwad Gazette came out, the author, Amy Dacyczyn has a great all purpose muffin recipe that we have now used for years, often using whatever is on hand. Her books are full of wonderful tips, and the muffins are just one of them.

I find muffins to be a great easy breakfast or after school snack. They are also a frugal addition to a packed lunch. I have not done the math, but I would estimate that each muffin I make costs less than 8-10 cents each. A Betty Crocker boxed muffin mix makes 12 muffins, and costs $2.00, making each one 16 cents, 28 cents if you count the eggs and oil. I calculate eggs at 10 cents each.

The other reason I prefer to make them homemade is fewer processed ingredients, and I am able to use up items that may otherwise go to waste, such as a too ripe banana, the last uneaten slice of apple that I shred, etc. Get creative, use what you have, see if you can use so many leftovers that it makes the muffins almost free :)

Here is the recipe, from the above posted book:
Ingredients

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk (or other liquid, such as drained pineapple juice, orange juice, etc...)
1/4 cup oil or oil substitute
1 egg
1 1/2 cups fruit, additions (or vegetable, such as 1 cup mashed banana and 1/2 cup chopped walnuts)
spices, of your choice

Directions
1. Heat oven to 400.
2. Grease 12 muffin cups, or 24 mini muffin cups.
3. Combine dry ingredients, including dry additions (like nuts, chocolate chips, etc -- ) and spices.
4. Combine wet ingredients, including wet additions (like banana, berries, pineapple, etc -- ).
5. Spoon batter into muffin cups, filling about 2/3 full (perfectly ok if you have leftover batter to fill cups to top.).
6. Bake for 18-20 minutes.

Tried It Tuesday: Cheap Pets

2010-03-09T06:00:00.002-06:00

No, no, not the cost of the pets, although pets should be adopted from shelters, not a breeder, and that is much less expensive, but that’s not my point.

Back to caring for pets in a frugal way:

It is estimated that a small dog costs around $600 annually, a rabbit $730, and even a small mammal is $300 a year. The only very frugal pet is a fish, at $35 a year.

There are many ways to reduce the cost of a pet. For cats and dogs, there are many animal clinics that offer annul shots and check-ups for a reduced cost. Craiglist’s is a great way to find supplies such as carriers, crates, scratching posts, etc.

I was very shocked to see how much a bunny costs annually, the majority of that being spent on litter. We have many little animals that use cages and bedding at our house, mostly hamsters and rabbits, and we have found frugal ways to cut out the cost of bedding.
We used to use sawdust, bought in bulk from Tractor Supply, but our vet advised it is not good for a bunnies lungs, so we stopped. She said the best thing is soft paper based. You can buy this in large bag at pet stores, averaging around $16 for a large bag. It lasts 4 times we change our bunny cage, making it $16 a month ($4 a week). I am just cheap and not willing to spend that so now we make our own. With our paper shredder we shred our Sunday Paper (well worth the cost for the coupons we get). One paper is more than enough for a week of bedding, meaning we don’t have to buy any to supplement.

Why I like this best is that I can then take the newspaper that is full of bunny “yuckies” and put it in my compost, which adds great material to the soil.

For people new to my blog...

2010-03-08T22:12:00.000-06:00

Welcome to my blog!! Each and everyday I post new frugal ideas.
Mondays are "Manic Mondays", usually some crazy idea I have.
Tuesdays are "Tried-it-Tuesday".
Wednesday is nothing exciting yet, just frugal tips.
Thusrdays will usually be abour groceries, food, recipies, etc that are money saving.
Fridays are "Free Fridays" and each week i will post freebies that are 100% free.
Saturday and Sunday are frugal home ideas, often with lots of pictures.

Check back each day, there is always something new!!!

Savings on Groceries

2010-03-08T21:51:00.000-06:00

Yes yes, this topic has been done to death, I know. But bear with me, please.We have a family of 6, all big eaters. All the kids play sports plus we pack school lunches, so on any given day they out eat us.
We spend $400 a month for the 6 of us.
That includes all food, health and beauty items, household items, and pet food.

Ok…there is one key to my grocery budget: PLANNING

It is ALL about the planning. Sunday night is leftovers and we eat all the left over’s from the week. Sound bad? The kids love it! I make a buffet, make salad or veggies or whatever is needed, maybe some homemade bread. The rest is all the left over’s from the week and they get to make their plates as they want them. I save all leftover (from pan not from plates). Even a few bites left in a pan makes a nice side for one person on leftover night. It is also nice by the end of the weekend to not have to think about dinner or really even cook when I am already looking at all we have to do on Monday.

At that Sunday dinner I make a menu for the week. I do just breakfast and dinner but some people do all meals including snacks and even late night snacks for teens that like to eat after dinner one more time. I look at what we have and plan meals based on that. The kids also put in requests and I try to do what I can with their input. We even set a night that my 14 year old cooks, with my help a little but he likes planning that night. We then know each day what we are eating and the 5pm dinner panic doesn’t happen.

This also allows you to do things the night before. Example: If you are having pasta the next night and want garlic bread with it, that night as you are doing the dinner dishes you throw the bread in the bread maker. Then run it so its run during a time of day that the house isn’t as hot and electric costs are cheaper. Then its done for dinner the next night. You can also take 5 minutes in the am to pull out what you may need for that night such as items to thaw, etc. If you are at work and kids are home and old enough to help then they can do things like wash lettuce, make bread or defrost things for you before you get home. Easy to know what to what to pull out when the menu is made in advance.

We do not throw away food. Plain and simple. If there are 2 bites of veggies left in a pan no one will eat then they go into a glass jar I have frozen in the freezer. When its full of scraps like that we make a soup. I consider that free soup since that last spoon full would have been trashed or eaten by someone already full that didn’t really want or need it.

As far as snacks, we buy the snack foods we like such a pretzels in large bags and the kids make individual servings of each in plastic containers we have saved from yogurt that have lids. Then when we need to grab and go we can without the cost of individual snack items. Must less trash and waste also since we re-use all the containers. I also keep re-usable bottles in the fridge for each kid so we can grab and go and not be tempted to buy when we are out and we won’t use disposable water bottles. I also make frozen juice and put it in those so its like taking a juice box but reusable and much cheaper. I even make homemade “snack mix” (like chex mix) out of the last handful of chips or nuts, etc in the bag. Many would throw away, I add it to snack mix and the kids like that as a mid day snack. A cheap but great snack is also air popped popcorn. I add nuts and raisins and it’s a healthy and cheap snack. I know I talk a lot about snacks but I find that’s where a lot of peoples money goes down the drain.

I will ramble more on this topic later, as discuss making things homemade and is it really cost effective.

Paid to Read Email (not a scam)

2010-03-08T20:51:00.000-06:00

Ok, last one I will post, but this is a site I have used for 3 years, called Hits4pay.com. They send u emails, you click the link, keep it up for a few secondsm get paid.

Its a Pain in the *** if you do them as they come in, so I just leave them in my inbox and once a week do them all. Its not bad, really, and I am lazy so I promise its not hard!

They pay out cash at every $25.

Link: http://hits4pay.com/members/index.cgi?RMarch

Swag Bucks

2010-03-08T19:37:00.001-06:00

I want to comment and add my 2 cents on Swag Bucks. I have used them for about a year, and gotten quite a few gift cards, mostly to Amazon. I like these because you can add them to your Amazon account so then they never expire.

I would recommend signing up to use it. Yes, I have a referral link. If you use it, Thanks! If you don't, no problem, but I would still sign up as its a quick easy way to build up gift cards. I have yet to cash out any gift cards this year from any site I use, I think my plan is to save up and be able to redeem them all at the end of the year as gifts and money for gifts.

Note: If you know me in real life, expect a gift card this year :)

Update: Total Body Cleanse

2010-03-08T10:23:00.000-06:00

Gross gross gross. Tried it, cant stand the flavor. Not gonna happen. Oh well, it was worth a shot!

Total Body Cleanse

2010-03-08T09:47:00.000-06:00

I have been wanting to try one these for a while, so in the interest of being cheap, I have been researching them because I refuse to pay the $80-$100 that many places want for their product.
I found The "Master Cleanser", one that has been around for years, and is made out of things most of us have in our homes. I just mixed up the recipe, and it is now chilling in the fridge, I will post back once I know how it tastes.

http://mastercleansesecrets.com/step1.php

Now I have F***ing seen it all.

2010-03-07T17:25:00.004-06:00

My youngest daughter had her 8th birthday today, done in a very frugal manner, but that I will post pics etc later.

I am writing about a toy she got, a Barbie that comes with dogs that you have potty train, because "real pee" comes out. All I can say is WTF?? We appreciate the gift, she is playing with it right now, but who comes up with this crap. She is now cleaning up fake dog pee from fake dogs.

Look at this insanity:
http://www.amazon.com/Mattel-R9514-Barbie-Potty-Training/dp/B002MUANK8

Ok, a better image I found. Look at the front. Really do we need a toy that has to ask "Go #1 or #2?"

Kids Rooms

2010-03-07T07:00:00.002-06:00

As long as I am on the theme of house pictures, I thought I would post pictures of the kids rooms, just the three youngest.

Room 1:

Room 2:

Room 3: This room was a mess because they tried to make the top into a tent. We are going to make it a real tent room, with a curtain rod we have and curtains we have stored.

Saturdays Project: Playroom

2010-03-06T20:20:00.002-06:00

After moving to our new house, we had one room left to organize and finish. Instead of using our formal dining room as what it should be, we have made it a playroom. Its far less pretty than the rest of our house, but its the kids area so I cant let myself care.

Entertainment center: Free handme-down from friend
Toy Kitchen: Free, someone was throwing it out
Love seat: $20 at a yard sale
14 in 1 game table: $90 target clearance
Bookshelves: Given to use years ago
Baskets: Average of one dollar at yard sales

This is the room BEFORE and the stuff we needed to fit in it:

Five hours, two trash bags, three large bags to good will, and a good dose of prozac this is how it looks finished. I dont love the room, its plain and not very pretty, but its practical and works.

Free Friday

2010-03-05T20:24:00.004-06:00

I love free. Yes, I know, we all love free, but I get this great rush from something being free I swear its like a drug. Once when I got free ELECTRASOL tabs I broke them in half because that’s all it takes to get the dishes clean, and since that time hubby jokes I am the only person that can do the math on “What is half of free?”

Note: I get nothing for listing these or promoting or picking these items. I try and pick ones I find that will interest most readers and are good freebies.

Each week I plan to post my favorite freebies of the week.
This week I have not seen a ton of good freebies, but here we go:

http://all-freemagazines.com/

http://www.facebook.com/nescafeusa?v=app_477419270227&ref=mf&auth_token=6350d7b3140b2f84a7c4ef532074d004&installed=1

http://www.startsampling.com/sm/101118/quickQuestions.iphtml?item=101118&source=&ss_id=&key=8a74e159d26755003fa67476ec4c8f94

http://instoresnow.walmart.com/In-Stores-Now-Music-Downloads.aspx (Free music downloads, new each week, legal and free)

Ready for Halloween?

2010-03-04T21:08:00.002-06:00

I know, I’m a little early but if you have a little one that would want to be a bunny, now is the time to plan. Target Dollar Spot has bunny years in white, pink or purple for only a dollar. A pink pair of those, pink sweats (which are on sale this time of year), and you will be all set next October.

That mystery can in the back of your pantry.

2010-03-04T19:50:00.002-06:00

You know the one, its in the back, behind the other cans, the box of pasta and even the cream of mushroom soup you keep on hand. Well that is can is what I am going to eat this week. Not your can, but mine.

Let me explain: Thursdays are grocery shopping day in our house. I go every Thursday, and have $100 I can spend. Usually its one store, sometimes two, but that’s it. This week I decided not to grocery shop. I pulled out extra stuff we keep from when its on sale, took inventory of the pantry and freezer, and decided that this weekend I will get milk, lettuce and apples and that’s it. We have fresh fruit, canned fruit, some fresh veggies but lots of frozen, some frozen bread I have bought on sale, etc. We eat a very healthy diet, and very little from cans, but we do have frozen veggies it wont kill us to use. So instead of $100 I am spending $10.

I rarely do this but am inspired to clean out, use what we have, and not add to it till next week. No one will starve. We may run our of cereal but that will just motive me to make other better things for breakfast. It should be interesting and I will post how it goes. Every meal may not be "perfect" but they will be healthy and filling and thats what matters.

Anyone want to join me for a “Pantry Challenge” of seeing how long we can go on what we have?

Sample Chore Chart

2010-03-03T18:43:00.001-06:00

This is not the chart we use, but it looks like a good one. I plan to take pictures of ours, but its not as cute as this one. :)

Chores Chores Chores

2010-03-03T18:39:00.002-06:00

<<walks into bad parents anonymous>>

Hi, my name is Rose, and I’m one of these evil parents that makes my children do chores. They do not do them for money, they do them because we are all members of the family and we all help (I have said that many times through gritted teeth).

From they time they can walk and understand, they help. We do it as a family when they are younger, but by now they can do many alone, or as a team. We have a magnetic chore board, and we rotate each week. I would say on average the younger kids (under 10) spend about 10-15 minutes a day on chores between am and pm, and older kids about 20-30 minutes.

I don’t sit on my butt while they do chores, I am working right there with them. Its not perfect, some days we forget or get too busy, but most days it gets done, and it’s a great help to my sanity. Find a system that works for you and stick with it!

Also one day a week we do our “big chores” and we all spend an hour cleaning the whole house, and then its done!

Please do not feel bad about having kids do chores, its wonderful for each family member to help!!!

Questions? Thoughts? I will answer J

TV Show the Good Wife

2010-03-02T21:58:00.001-06:00

Off frugal topic, other than we dont pay for cable, just an antenna that gets a few stations.
I dont watch much but am watching The Good Wife.
Wow , Chris North is so damn hot. And yes, I cant say that, hubby knows I think that. LOL

Homemade Laundry Soap: Is it worth it?

2010-03-02T19:26:00.001-06:00

I have taken the recipe for homemade laundry soap from the Duggars, that use it for their huge amounts of laundry with a family of 20 people.

This is from their web site:
Powdered Laundry Detergent - Top load machine

1 Bar Fels-Naptha Soap Bar
1 Cup Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda
½ Cup Borax

-Grate soap or break into pieces and process in a food processor until powdered. Mix all ingredients. For light load, use 1 Tablespoon. For heavy or heavily soiled load, use 2 Tablespoons. Yields: 3 Cups detergent. (Approx. 40 loads)

It was a long math process, but I figured the cost of everything from Amazon, and it looks like the real cost is a little higher, but for the sake of this argument we will use their information that says its about $2 to make a batch that does 40 loads. Making it .05 cents a load. I did not include tax.

I buy your basic all natural arm and hammer powdered detergent at Walmart for around $6, we will say $6.50 with tax. I only buy it with a coupon, making it $5.50. If you use one Tablespoon per load, which is more than enough for very clean clothes we have found, one box lasts about 200 loads. This makes the cost .0275 cents a load, half the cost.

It is still all natural, doesn’t require the work of making it, works just as well.

Not worth my time or effort for homemade!!!

Tried it Tuesday

2010-03-02T15:31:00.001-06:00

Soon todays post will be up. I am discussing how Homemade Laundry Soap Doesn't Pay, I will have the $ amounts to compare, plus cost of time.

Check back later!!!

My brilliant dryer mistake

2010-03-01T11:55:00.002-06:00

In the interest of saving resources and money, we decided to vent our dryer inside this winter (its electric). You take the hose from the dryer and connect it to the venting box instead of the wall. Apparently I did this in a hurry, and that’s not what I did. I connected the wall side to the venting box, meaning yes the heat has been coming in, but when I went to change it today, nothing had been catching the lint for the past FOUR months. It covered behind our dryer in huge amounts, we do a lot of laundry.

How did I not notice this for 4 months??

Energy Drinks

2010-03-01T09:38:00.000-06:00

We all have our vices, mine are energy drinks. They are not very frugal, running $2 each at Walmart and more at other stores. I have found you can buy a case at a bulk store, making them #1.28 each. I never have nore than one a say, making my habit around $40 a month.

Cheaper than therapy???

Manic Monday: Alone Time

2010-03-01T00:02:00.000-06:00

We used to home school, it was great, it was rewarding, it was a lot of work! I think it’s a great thing and support all that do it, but we found a school we love so that’s what we do now. My kids now all good to school for the first time ever, with my youngest being in kindergarten, so Monday’s have taken on a whole new meaning. They mean I HAVE THE HOUSE TO MYSELF FOR 6 HOURS.

Don’t get me wrong, I love my kids and don’t wish the time away, but yes, Monday mornings do have a joy to them that I feel guilty for enjoying, but I do. I miss them while they are at school, but I also can shower, do housework and generally feel like me for a day.

We have a chore set up that allows the whole house to get cleaned, top to bottom, on Sundays. I will post that later. The kids do a great job, but on Mondays I do like to “touch up” what we have all done. I don’t expect perfection from the kids at all.

So today’s MANIC MONDAY thought is this: Alone time.
You have time, I promise. 20 minutes tops: No cost.
Run a hot bath, not warm, hot. Yes, yes, yes, it dries your skin but there is such great therapy to a hot bath. Wash your hair, rinse. Put the conditioner on but leave it on.
Then apply your homemade face mask: 1 cup natural yogurt (we like it just-out-of-the-fridge cold) 1 cup oatmeal (any type of basic oatmeal works here). It makes a lot so you may want to half it.
Now your hair is soaking and so is your skin. Then shave your legs, pits, etc. . Then drain the bath and get under a wonderful hot shower to rinse hair and body. After you dry off apply lotion. I know, you say you will do it later. No you wont, so do it now.

10-20 minutes tops and you are a new you. At least a cleaner you, which we can all use after a weekend full of kids.

Manic Monday

2010-02-28T23:54:00.006-06:00

Yes, its cheesy but here it goes. I will be calling Mondays my manic Monday's and in honor of that, here is the link to listen to it:

The Bangles – Manic Monday – Free listening at Last.fm

Tomorrow

2010-02-28T18:56:00.000-06:00

Ok, I will see you all in the morning for a Manic Monday Post. Yes, I know, cheesy title but what can I say, I'm a child of the 80's (ok, teen of the 80's??) and I will use an excuse to feel young again!

And by "all of you" I'm not really sure who I mean, since I have no followers or anyone reading this yet, but I am going with the Field of Dreams approach: If You Built It, They Will Come.

Frugal Weekend

2010-02-28T18:13:00.000-06:00

You know those great weekends where you get a ton done? This one not one of them.

We did enjoy a great Frugal Fun Saturday. Not as good as a free Friday but it will have to do.

We went to the Lowes kids clinics they have twice a month and spent a great hour building a free project. Its a different one each time, they kids get a badge for each one they complete, and its wonderfully free. BUILD AND GROW

We also ate out at CiCis Pizza. It was their anniversary this week, making the adult buffett only $4. We are a family with 3 adult prices and 3 kids prices. I had coupons for Buy 1 adult meal get a kids free from the paper, making it a grand total of $13 with tax for a great pizza buffett for 6 of us. With salad, pizza and dessert on the buffett that makes it cheaper than frozen pizzas at home for 6 of us :)

Saving on Groceries

2010-02-28T18:11:00.000-06:00

Yes yes, this topic has been done to death, I know. But bear with me, please.We have a family of 6, all big eaters. All the kids play sports plus we pack school lunches, so on any given day they out eat us.

We spend $400 a month for the 6 of us.

That includes all food, health and beauty items, household items, and pet food.

Ok…there is one key to my grocery budget: PLANNING

It is ALL about the planning. Sunday night is leftovers and we eat all the left over’s from the week. Sound bad? The kids love it! I make a buffet, make salad or veggies or whatever is needed, maybe some homemade bread. The rest is all the left over’s from the week and they get to make their plates as they want them. I save all leftover (from pan not from plates). Even a few bites left in a pan makes a nice side for one person on leftover night. It is also nice by the end of the weekend to not have to think about dinner or really even cook when I am already looking at all we have to do on Monday.

At that Sunday dinner I make a menu for the week. I do just breakfast and dinner but some people do all meals including snacks and even late night snacks for teens that like to eat after dinner one more time. I look at what we have and plan meals based on that. The kids also put in requests and I try to do what I can with their input. We even set a night that my 14 year old cooks, with my help a little but he likes planning that night. We then know each day what we are eating and the 5pm dinner panic doesn’t happen.

This also allows you to do things the night before. Example: If you are having pasta the next night and want garlic bread with it, that night as you are doing the dinner dishes you throw the bread in the bread maker. Then run it so its run during a time of day that the house isn’t as hot and electric costs are cheaper. Then its done for dinner the next night. You can also take 5 minutes in the am to pull out what you may need for that night such as items to thaw, etc. If you are at work and kids are home and old enough to help then they can do things like wash lettuce, make bread or defrost things for you before you get home. Easy to know what to what to pull out when the menu is made in advance.

We do not throw away food. Plain and simple. If there are 2 bites of veggies left in a pan no one will eat then they go into a glass jar I have frozen in the freezer. When its full of scraps like that we make a soup. I consider that free soup since that last spoon full would have been trashed or eaten by someone already full that didn’t really want or need it.

As far as snacks, we buy the snack foods we like such a pretzels in large bags and the kids make individual servings of each in plastic containers we have saved from yogurt that have lids. Then when we need to grab and go we can without the cost of individual snack items. Must less trash and waste also since we re-use all the containers. I also keep re-usable bottles in the fridge for each kid so we can grab and go and not be tempted to buy when we are out and we won’t use disposable water bottles. I also make frozen juice and put it in those so its like taking a juice box but reusable and much cheaper. I even make homemade “snack mix” (like chex mix) out of the last handful of chips or nuts, etc in the bag. Many would throw away, I add it to snack mix and the kids like that as a mid day snack. A cheap but great snack is also air popped popcorn. I add nuts and raisins and it’s a healthy and cheap snack. I know I talk a lot about snacks but I find that’s where a lot of peoples money goes down the drain.

I will ramble more on this topic later, as discuss making things homemade and is it really cost effective.