Do you have any old cell phones or iPods lying around your home? If so, you can send them in and get Amazon gift cards in return! Read iMommies' post here for the scoop.
Bargain shoppers not deterred by cold, wind, and rain!
Despite the freezing cold and rain, we decided to go ahead with our yard sale today. I think it was a good decision judging by the fact that we've been crazily busy and barely able to keep up at times!
At any rate, I had planned to do some blogging during the "down times" of the sale. Problem is, "down time" has been non-existent–which I certainly don't have a problem with! 🙂
Once we wrap things up with the sale here, I'm hoping to have a chance to post. But until then, you'll know where I am… bundled up in the corner of the freezing cold garage taking money from all the folks who are eagerly buying our stuff!
Guest Post: Saving Money Through “Stockpiling”
photo by ninjapoodles
Guest Post by Andrea from
Mommy SnacksOur family of five spends around $100 per week for groceries,
which includes food, health and beauty, diapers and formula (since
our baby has a milk allergy). When I first began the journey to really
focus on our budget, I found a great way to save even more during my
weekly shopping trips: stocking up on items our frequently used items. This not
only helped save money in our budget, it also helped with saving time
and gas–which equals money, too!
Some of
these items that most families use on a very regular basis and would be good items to stock up on when there's a good sale are pretty obvious: toothpaste, shampoo, deodorant, etc. Food items may require you to think about past meals to figure out what
was eaten the most.
I am a visual person so I found that looking at
past menu plans to see what meals we had over the course of several
weeks helped to determine this. Keeping a food journal is another way
to get this information, too. This will help to determine what those
highly-consumed items are for your family.
overboard can seem very exciting in the beginning; blowing your
grocery budget is not.
Try to stick to a stockpile budget that is
included in your grocery budget. This allows you to stock up on the
really good sale and also money in the budget for the weekly
necessities. I generally use around $10 of our budget each week. Some
weeks there are no opportunities to stockpile anything but at least I
know I have a goal to stay within.
This amount is completely individual. I personally keep a 3-month
supply of health and beauty items in our stockpile. Many of these
items can be easily replenished for free so I don't find a larger supply is
necessary for us.
When you are determining this amount for your food
stockpile, be sure to keep in mind the food expiration dates and
storage recommendations. You certainly don't want to have a supply
that expires! Again, remembering what meals are more popular will help
to determine if you want a larger supply based on that item's sales
cycle.
I generally stockpile items when they are
at least 75% off. This percentage varies some, of course, since some items can be
considered "stockworthy" at a lower percentage, others may be at a
higher percentage so it depends on the item.
Sometimes there aren't
coupons for what you may have to purchase but the item may be on sale
for 40% off. If you never see that item on sale, the sale price is a
great value in itself.
discussion on sales cycles here. This gives you a general idea of the cycles
many items follow.
4) Establish a place for storing your stockpile.
truckload of something, think ahead to where you are going to store it. Certain products
have storage recommendations that should be followed so truly
understanding what your needs are will help you from wasting money in
expired stockpile items.
I use the FIFO policy–First In, First Out. Meaning that I use up the items which have been on the shelf longest first. This helps me rotate the items as new ones are placed in our storage to ensure nothing expires before it can be used.
is a representation of the life she lives: faith-loving, money-saving,
weight-struggling mom who is trying to be the best that God wants for
her! Stop by Mommy Snacks to get your fill of "zero-calorie" snacks to help you make it through the day!
Worth Reading: Menu-planning and KidVantage
::I enjoyed Trent's post on how menu-planning could save you a significant amount of money at the store each week. For those of you overwhelmed at the thought of clipping coupons but who want to shave off some excess from your grocery budget, here's a simple way to start.
::Have young children who are rough on their clothes? Ruth wrote about the Sear's KidVantage program and how to utilize it to save money on clothing. My mom always purchased my brothers' jeans at Sears in order to take advantage of this. They could go through at least a few pairs of them each Summer so it was well worth it to buy them at Sears in order to get free replacements for all the times they ripped up the knees!
We’re moved!
We made it! We're moved in, most of the boxes are unpacked (thanks to lots of help from family and friends!), and we're settling back into life again. I am so grateful for everyone who helped us pull off this move; I know there is no way I could have done it by myself.
It is so good to be home; how we have missed our family, our friends, and all the familiarities of this city over the last 5 1/2 years we've been away! And yes, I'm also thrilled to be back to shopping at Kroger (Dillons) again.
I stole away early this morning to check out the Dillons store closest to us and do you know how nice it felt to walk through those doors? Like usual, the mark-downs were plentiful: I scored two half-gallons of lemonade for $0.49 each and a half gallon of milk for $0.99! I feel spoiled to be back in the land of Kroger again, even if it meant leaving CVS behind. I'm excited to re-learn the ropes of bargain shopping here; it will be a fun new adventure!
In other news, I got this wild idea to have a yard sale this weekend. We're in a great location for yard sales and it's been a long time since I've had one, so I was itching to do one again. Plus, I decluttered so much stuff in the process of moving and was hoping make a little cash off of it in order to purchase some needed things for our new home. Provided the weather cooperates and I'm able to get everything priced and set up, we'll be running the sale Thursday, Friday, and Saturday morning.
Thanks again for all of your patience with me over the last six weeks or so. You all have been so gracious to contribute guest posts, compile deal posts, and to overlook the fact that I've been absent so much of the time around here recently. Now that my morning sickness is subsiding (yay!) and our move is behind us, I'm looking forward to jumping back into blogging with both feet!
Guest Post: Frugal Living in a Tiny Town
photo by Savannah Grandfather
Guest Post by Amy from The Finer Things in Life
After living and working in a suburb for seven years, my
husband and I felt led to move to a small town to raise our family (we’ve dubbed our new town, Tiny Town, since that’s what it is). This decision was a leap of faith for us, as
his salary would be cut drastically and we both knew that I needed to be home
to raise our children.
Although far removed from bargain shopping and mainstream
entertainment conveniences (we live 15 miles from the nearest grocery store and
55 miles from any real shopping), we
have found that Tiny Town living lends itself nicely to our frugal lifestyle. In fact, even with the salary cut we were
able to save and invest nearly 15% of his income last year!
I wanted to share a few of the ways this major move to a tiny town has been a big blessing in our lives:
Our Home
::We sold our 1,200 sq. ft. home with no basement and purchased for just over half of our selling price a 1,400 square home with a basement in Tiny Town. More space. Less money.
::We now have a big yard–three city lots big, to be exact. That makes for some nice garden space, which has given us lots of practically free food. My black thumb has turned a lovely shade of green!
Our Vehicles
::My husband’s vehicle now sits in the garage much of the time, as he simply walks one block to work. The gas and maintenance savings have been incredible, and we are able to save that extra money for the rainy day when a new vehicle will be needed in order to avoid car loans.
My van sits a lot, too. All of the daily errand-type things that need done are within four blocks of my home. We walk to the post office, bank and library if we need something.
Shopping
::Living in Tiny Town has honed my organizational skills and my creativity. I refuse to drive to the nearest store every time I’m out of an ingredient for supper. I keep a detailed list of things we need, check the store ad before we go, and scour the aisles (coupons in hand) to stock up on special deals while we’re there.
::I keep a bargain bin of small gifts in the basement for unexpected party invitations.
::We have wonderful family and neighbors who help each other out. They’ll pick up something at the store for me if I’m not headed that way.
::It’s harder to develop a case of the "wantsies" when you’re far removed from all the latest and greatest things in the store windows.
::Oh, and sales tax here? 5.3% Not too shabby!
Entertainment
::Our awesome library carries a nice selection of dvds for checkout. Free.
::We have a lovely park and walking path and quiet streets for bike riding. Again, free.
::Eighty dollars buys us a full family summer pass at the city swimming pool.
::We stay very busy with church and school activities. Supporting the kids in our community is fun and free for us. It’s also the best way to stay involved because in Tiny Town, pretty much everything revolves around school activities.
Tiny Town living has been great for our young family, in
more than just frugal ways. If you’ve
ever considered leaving the city behind, take that leap of faith. Your family is sure to benefit!
A stay-at-home
mom, Amy gave up an eight year teaching career at one of the largest schools in
her state to move with her husband of nearly 10 years and their three children,
ages 5, 3, and 1 to Tiny Town two years ago. Amy takes joy in caring for her family, finding a good deal, volunteering
at her local library, and blogging at The Finer Things in Life.
Guest Post: My Journey to Cloth Diapers
Guest Post by Andrea from Spoon and Shovel
Cloth diapers? Get real. Next you’ll
be telling me to install a butter churn in my kitchen. I hear you. But
you wouldn’t be on this website if you didn’t have a little voice
in your head that urges you to at least look into any viable money-saving
possibility there is.
While I can’t speak for butter churns, I can
tell you my diaper story. I made the switch to cloth, and it has been
surprisingly painless.
First off, as money-conscious, optimistic
expectant parents, my husband and I decided we’d do it. Seeing the
cost of a large pack of diapers at Sam’s Club made us start calculating
the tremendous output we were facing. I mean, we were already tearing
paper towels in half and reusing plastic baggies; cloth diapers just
made sense.
I was thrilled to hear about the “Cloth
Diaper Seminar” offered at my local Babies “R” Us, complete with
free food. So I went and sat in the glider rocker section with about
fifteen other women who were also great with child.
The woman conducting
the seminar began her speech by admitting to the room that she had no
clue how to pin a diaper. In fact, she had called her friend earlier
to get the scoop on pinning. This was disconcerting. To me, pinning
was the hard part. If she couldn’t explain that, what good was she?
She proceeded with her sketchy explanation of traditional, pre-fold
diapers—the one’s I thought of when I thought of cloth diapers at
all. It was glaringly obvious that she had no experience whatsoever
in this arena. On top of that, Babies “R” Us sold nothing to accommodate
those opting for this method—except the pins. Pre-fold diapers, apparently,
have become burp rags. I didn’t know that. And diapers snap, not pin,
these days
But then the keynote diaper seminar
speaker really got going as she moved into territory that was
her forte. Ladies, cloth is cool. I mean, your kid can wear diapers
that look more like sweaters than anything else, you can get diapers
with dinosaurs on them, you can get diapers with flushable liners, the
possibilities go on and on.
So, I was intrigued. But the price
of getting started was prohibitive in my mind. The sweater variety,
she told us, would set you back about $80–for one diaper! Okay,
I realize you can eat up $80 in a hurry on disposables, but let’s
just face it, one diaper is not going to cut it. We’re talking at
least two. And that’s if you want to wash it three times a day. Which
you can’t because the sweater kind takes three days to dry.
As the time got closer, I started really meditating on everything that
was about to change. I meekly asked my husband if we could use the disposables
from the baby shower exclusively until I got used to the whole baby
idea. Then we could think about cloth. He was, as always, very understanding.
Besides, I was working. I worked part
time until Paul was 4 months old. He was in a great day care on the
campus of the university I worked for in a building next door to mine,
but cloth diapers were not welcome. No surprising!
So, four months passed, during
which time we used up all the diapers from the baby shower (and from
the grandmothers) and had to put up our own funds for, I think, something
like three packs of diapers. We weren’t really seeing the budget crunch
yet, but we knew it was coming.
Then I went to Ashlyn’s house for
someone else’s shower. See, Ashlyn uses cloth. That’s what did me
in. I decided I could do it when I saw a real person’s diapers and
talked with her about how she cleans them and where she buys them. That’s
why I’m writing this. Perhaps knowing a real story will encourage
you to take the plunge yourself. Thanks, Ashlyn.
Here’s what I found out from Ashlyn
along with some of what I’ve learned in the last ten or so months:
Where do you get them? Bella Bottoms. I haven’t looked at every single site
out there, but of the ones I’ve perused, her prices are the best.
What did you buy?
I started with 12 terrycloth diapers, 6 covers, 2 all-in-one diapers,
and a few doublers. She threw in some wipes with that order.
Later,
when the baby outgrew the covers, I ordered 8 more larger all-in-ones
because I realized that (with Bella Bottoms anyway) an all-in-one is
a cover with a pouch. So I use the all-in-ones without the inserts as
covers and with the inserts as diapers. The terrycloth diapers are one-size,
so he’ll wear those until he’s trained. 12 is all I need (since
I’ve got the all-in-one option to fall back on) because, regardless
of how many you’ve got, 2 or 3 days between washes is their limit.
What do they cost? It was about
a $200 initial investment for us. The next order (of all-in-ones) was
more like $90.
How do you store them until washing?
Ashlyn puts them straight into her washer filled with water (after emptying
them). When she gets enough for a load, she’ll start it. I use a trash
can with a springy pop-up lid (again, after emptying them). No water
in the trash can. Just wet and dirty diapers.
Washing Tools
How do you wash them? Lots of water. That’s a drawback, but I’ve got to do it this way
to keep them smelling fresh. I do a hot wash/cold rinse with nothing
else. Then a hot wash/cold rinse with a tiny bit (2 tablespoons?) of
detergent and ¼ cup of baking soda. Then a hot wash/cold rinse with
½ cup of vinegar. I dry them all on low heat, remove the vinyl covers
from the dryer, and finish drying the diapers on high heat. No fabric
softener, of course.
Do they work? Yes. Even at
night (with a doubler) once Paul stopped nursing in the middle of the
night.
Are they gross? Well, yes.
Occasionally.
Do they stink up your house?
No. Not even the room with the pail.
What about wipes?
You know how baby washcloths wear out really fast? I cut old ones in
half (so as to distinguish them from the non-wipe washcloths mostly)
and stack a bunch next to the diaper station. I’ve got a squirt-top
bottle (a spray bottle works too) filled with water and a smidge of
baby shampoo/soap. I wet them down on the spot and wipe. Think about
it. Where would you put a disposable wipe if you’re using a cloth
diaper? I actually prefer the cloth wipes straight up over disposables.
Can your kid wear them out in public?
Yes. Just pack a grocery bag in your diaper bag. Hand sanitizer is nice
too. (To date, I’ve never changed a dirty cloth diaper away from my
house. Odds are, it’s coming though.)
But I have so much fun getting
free diapers at CVS! Never fear. You’ll still need diapers. I
buy about one pack a month. I think the church nursery workers appreciate
my not springing cloth on them.
Will they really save me money?
Depends on how many of your diapers are free, I guess. Besides the cost
of the diapers, you do need to consider the water output. I wash about
2½ times a week. Here’s how we look at it. I think we will
come out ahead on Paul. However, chances are, Paul’s not the youngest,
and the cloth diapers are still going strong.
There you have it. If you know anything
about butter churns, I’d love you hear your story.
Andrea desires to bring honor to her Savior as a wife to her wonderful
husband Jon and mother to their 14-month-old son, Paul. She am thankful to
be able to stay at home full-time. She and her family live in South Carolina and minister their local church while seeking God’s direction concerning missionary
service in Latin America. She blogs at Spoon and Shovel.
———————————–
From Crystal: If you would like to learn more about cloth diapering, Tammy has written extensively on her blog about how she does it. Check out her posts here, here, and here. Also, I found The Cloth Diaper Handbook to be extremely helpful and informative.
I used Fuzzi Bunz cloth diapers almost exclusively with my first child and loved those, though I know everyone has their own preferences. My advice, if you’re new to the idea of cloth diapering, is that you do lots of research. Ask around and see if any of your friends use cloth diapers and get their take on what works for them. Secondly, give yourself a few months to adjust to being a mommy of a newborn before attempting cloth diapering–especially if you are a first-time mommy. Lastly, don’t invest hundreds of dollars without first trying cloth diapers out on a small scale and determining what works for you.
I’d love to hear from other moms out there who have cloth diapered. What are your favorite brands of cloth diapers? What advice would you have for someone who is considering switching to cloth? Also, if you’ve blogged on the subject of cloth diapering, please do leave the link to your post in the comments section. I know many moms would appreciate that!
Guest Post: Tips for Saving Money on Organic Food
Guest Post by Patricia Wooster at Project Organic Eating
our family appealing. However, few of us can afford to pay $2 for
an apple, or $3.99 for a half gallon of organic milk. Organic food is
expensive, and many of the products taste different than their
non-organic counterparts.
When I started to experience some health
issues it was recommended that I "clean" up my diet. The first
few grocery bills were terrifying, but I’ve picked up some tips and
tricks to make buying organic food affordable. It takes a little work,
but the savings make it worth it.
::Take advantage of Buy 1, Get 1 Free deals.
Most stores allow you to use 2 coupons in conjunction with a B1G1 deal and this often enables you to get the item for pennies. For example,
Publix recently had Newmann’s Own Pasta Sauce as a B1G1 deal, along with
Mueller’s Pasta. The pasta sauce is $2.69 and the pasta is $1.17. I
had a $1/1 coupon for the sauce, and 2 $0.50/1 coupons for the
pasta. For $1.86 I got 2 jars of pasta sauce, and 2 boxes of pasta.
::Clip every coupon you can find for oganic food. The best coupons can be found on the manufacturers
website. I’ve compiled a pretty comprehensive list here. I’ve signed up for their newsletters, and have received free cookbooks, samples, and substantial savings coupons.
your drugstore and cleaning items you free up money to spend on organic
produce.
newsletter. They email me a lot of great coupons and recipes. Mambo
Sprouts is affiliated with Whole Foods, and they do a great job of
providing recipes that use their sale items.
months ago I went to the grocery store and wrote down the organic and
non-organic prices of about 20 different fruits and vegetables. I was
amazed to find the prices weren’t much different. I did this three
weeks in a row to make sure it wasn’t a fluke. It wasn’t. Typically, a
couple of organic items will be priced much higher than the
non-organic, but the majority are within a quarter. I plan my menu
around what’s in season, so the items I need are always cheaper.
Guest Post: Dinner for Four for $4.55!
Guest Post by Erin from 5DollarDinners
For a long
time, I thought it would be more expensive to make meals that used all
natural and “raw” ingredients, as opposed to cooking with just processed
“box” foods and canned goods. However, earlier this year, I challenged myself to try and feed our family of four for $5 or less every night. I decided I might as well try and prove to myself and others that it is possible to make frugal and wholesome meals! And I’ve learned it’s very possible; in fact, it’s become a fun challenge that I’m chronicling every night on my blog, 5DollarDinners.
Here is a sample dinner
that I recently made for less than $5:
Pork and Apples
with Asparagus
Ingredients
1 lb. Pork Roast–$1.90 (Click here to see the deal I got on this
roast!)
Water or broth
Salt/Pepper
2-3 apples, peeled and sliced ($0.75–apples will be inexpensive throughout
the fall!)
1 tsp. cinnamon–$0.05
2 Tbsp. brown sugar–$0.05
2 Tbsp. lemon juice–$0.10
1/2 onion, chopped–$0.20
1/2 bunch asparagus–$1
2-3 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil–$0.20
1 cup rice–$0.30
Directions
1. Place 1/2-inch water or broth in base of crock pot. Place roast into
crock pot. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add onions around the roast.
2. In bowl, combine apples, lemon juice, cinnamon, and brown sugar. Toss
well. Pour over roast in crock pot. Cook on low 8-10 hours.
3. Snap ends off asparagus. In another bowl, drizzle olive oil over asparagus.
Let sit 30 minutes or so. Then saute for 5-7 minutes until tender, yet
crispy.
4. In saucepan, boil 2 cups water. Add rice. Bring to boil, then cover
and simmer 20 minutes.
Serve pork and apples over rice with asparagus on the side. Delicious!
Cost $4.55
After the meal, I decided
to strain the pork broth to use in my Sweet Potato and Apple
Soup recipe. I have never saved pork broth, but I thought this sweet and cinnamon-y
broth would be perfect for that soup!
Saving your broth not only
saves you money, but it’s also free of preservatives and you know
how much salt you used! I’ll take free broth any day!
While you might not be able to get exactly the same prices I did on everything or you might have a larger family or different food preferences, I hope this meal inspires you to think of ways you can make the most of what you have. And perhaps you’ll even join me in setting a dollar amount for your family’s dinners every night?
Visit Erin over at her blog, 5DollarDinners.com, to see what she’s cooking up for $5 or less for dinners this week!
Guest Post: Decorating on a Dime
Guest Post by Nichole from Being Frugal Is Fabulous
We each want to have a lovely and inviting home. However,
decorating our homes can be very expensive. Here are
some of the tips and tricks that I have used to decorate my home on a
budget.
1. Paint. I love
painted walls, and nothing spruces up your house more for less money
than paint. You can even get reject gallons of paint from your local
Home Depot or Lowe’s really inexpensively. We did this with our master
bedroom. We took a couple of reject colors and mixed them together and
we got a very lovely shade of taupe.
2. Make your own toss pillows. Toss pillows are a great way to add a little flair to your
room. I am not much of a seamstress, but pillows are something that I
can definitely make myself. You can see my tutorial on making toss pillows here.
Even if your only experience with sewing is the sewing class you took
in 8th grade, you can make a simple toss pillow for very little money.
This pillow is made from some old sheets.
Or even better, shop the clearance rack at TJ Maxx. This is my
fruit bowl that I love, love, love. I paid $5.98, on clearance, for it
at TJ Maxx. With clearances, and discount stores, you must be patient and flexible.
Sometimes
I watch for things to go on clearance, and I may miss them before they
get down to my price range. But if you are patient, something else will
come your way.
4. Think outside the box for wall decor. I can’t take credit for this idea. I found this fabulous wall hanging idea on the fabulous blog How About Orange.
Remember that shower curtain that I made the toss pillows out of? I also used the rest of it to make this wall hanging.
do not have a matching bedroom set. What we have are: some old end
tables that were given to us that we use as night stands; an old head
board that was also given to us; and a mirror that was given to us.
Each of these pieces were free and each were different styles, colors
and types of wood. With a little sanding and $12 worth of black
spray paint, they now all coordinate.
5. Live with less.
My home decor style is very minimalist. Maybe it is my cheapness, or
maybe it is the fact that I grew up in a home with wallpaper on every
wall (no offense mom and dad, it was the era!), but I don’t like to
have a lot of stuff. If you walk into my home, you are not going to
think that you just walked into the home of an interior designer, but
you will think that you are walking into a nice, inviting, family home. To me that is what is most important.
Nicole is a wife and a mother to four children ages seven and under. She enjoys reading, cooking, and being a savvy shopper. She blogs at Being Frugal Is Fabulous.
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Click here to sign upAsk the Readers: Do you use your crock pot?
Patti emailed in:
I would like to buy a new crock pot, especially since there is a terrific
coupon in the October All You magazine, but I have not been successful
in finding recipes that my family enjoys and I hate to make such large amounts
of food only to discover they hate it. Do you or any of your readers have
other uses for their slow cookers such as cooking up meats or beans for use in
other meals? Or recipes that are not so full of fat and carbs? Any
ideas would be greatly appreciated as I ponder this purchase.
I've also made Mexican dishes, lasagna, oatmeal, breakfast casseroles, and even cake in my crockpot! There are thousands of recipes out there and many of your family favorite can be adapted to be made in the crock pot. I'd encourage you to check out the Fix-It and Forget-It recipe book series or other similar crock pot recipe books from your library for some inspiration.
I also highly recommend the blog: A Year of Crockpotting. The blog's author is using her crock pot everyday in 2008 and her recipes and ideas are mouth-watering. If you weren't a fan of the crock pot before reading her blog, you'll likely be motivated to pull it out and try using it after a visit there!
What about the rest of you? Do you use your crock pot on a regular basis? If so, what are some of your favorite ways to use it? Any scrumptious recipes to pass along? (If you've posted them on your blog, feel free to leave your links in the comments section.)
Guest Post: The Beauty Of Simplicity
photo by tourist on earth
Guest Post by Jennifer Duenes from Life From the Roof
I distinctly remember a moment when I was working as a teacher in a poor region of Uzbekistan. I had received an email from a friend asking me if there was
anything I needed.
I sat there for a minute, racking my brains. Surely I needed something.
My wardrobe consisted of a mere few skirts,
tops, and dresses. I only had a shelf of books to my name. My living
room was sparsely decorated in Central Asian style: a low-lying coffee
table with floor cushions scattered around, a small television in the
corner of the room, and a buffet-style cabinet that housed extra goods.I truly couldn’t think of anything I needed.
Today, I constantly going around with a mental list in my mind that
is ever-growing. Hmmm… I think to myself, with all of those great
picture printing deals I am getting, it would sure be nice to get some
quality frames to put them up in.
The duvet cover I have is extremely
soft and in great condition, but I am bored with it, and feel like it’s
been "ages" since I had a new one. In my mind I think of how much more
efficient I would be at life in general and especially blogging if I
had a nice over-stuffed Manhattan leather chair to sit in.
And then there are the sales. "50% off! No, 75% off!" they
decree. "Hurry in, before this deal is gone forever and you are
sitting in your pitifully undecorated, unorganized home one day wishing
you had taken advantage of this deal!"
A sense of anxiety begins to
pervade my heart as I hear of the deals springing up right and left. A
sense of impatience fills my spirit as my trusty little digital camera
is gasping its last breaths after 6 years of usage, and I have to
recharge it more often than normal.
A sense of embarrassment settles on
me subtly as I have worked for wealthier families as a nanny, and drive
my Honda 92 Accord with its bumper cracked and patched up with duct
tape and park it behind their brand-new Sienna with rear-view camera
and DVD player options.
Sometimes people ask me if life was harder in Uzbekistan. In some
ways, it was. Having to heat a bucket of water on the meager gas flame
on your stove to take a bucket bath in an ice-cold bathroom wasn’t
fun. Nor was it when you constantly felt that, as one of the few
Americans living there, people were always asking you for favors, and
you never knew who really just wanted to be your friend.
But in other ways, it was so much easier because of the simplicity
of life there. There wasn’t a Sunday paper that came laden with ads
urging you to get to their stores as soon as possible. There were
people with the "latest" fashions walking around, but because many of
our friends were poor and had very little, it felt like a slap in their
faces to always be buying something new.
It was an inconvenience to
not have things like Starbucks or fast-food places, but after a while,
you settled into a slower pace of life where you drank your tea and
Nescafe pseudo-coffee at home and in contentment with other friends
bearing the same hardships you did.
The "rest of the world" that we often refer to who doesn’t live in
the excesses we do was a reality for me for five years. They were
friends, second families, and I am forever grateful to an experience that simultaneously purged from me my need for the newest thing,
and enriched me with what could truly nourish: camaraderie, mutual
suffering, and sacrificial love.
mother to one-year old Elijah. She lives in the San Francisco Bay
Area, and despite living on one income with the high costs of living
associated with that area, she enjoys finding creative ways to save
money and thrive. She attributes part of her ability to save and
appreciate the important things in life to her experiences as a teacher
in a poor region of Uzbekistan for five years before getting married. For more on her insights from life in Uzbekistan and tips on making the
most of your resources in high-cost urban areas, check out her blog at www.lifefromtheroof.wordpress.
Quick note: I’ll be scarce this week, but the posts won’t be
We’re moving in five days and there’s lots to do between now and then, including a two-day trip out-of-town to secure and clean our new rental home. We also will be without internet service for a day or two while we’re getting things switched over to the new place.
Because of this, I’ll not be around here much for the next week or so. I will do my best to check in once or twice a day to moderate comments and let you know about any can’t-miss deals, but no promises since I don’t know exactly what this week holds.
That said, just because I’m not around much this week doesn’t mean there won’t be new content on this blog. Quite the contrary! I have a whole slew of excellent guest posts lined up to run this week. I think you are going to find them interesting, insightful, and thought-provoking. In fact, I’m guessing you’ll enjoy the guest posts so much, you’ll probably not even want me to come back when the week is over! 🙂
But don’t worry, I will be back sometime early next week–just as soon as I find my way out from under the piles of boxes! Until then, have a great week and snag lots of bargains in my place!
Guest Post: Making Your Own Household Cleaners
Guest Post by Michelle from Leaving Excess
When I first started making my own household cleaners, I was
looking to save money. And did I! Making your own cleaners does involve a
small upfront investment for ingredients and containers, but over time, you
will enjoy a tremendous savings over continuing to purchase commercial cleaners.
In addition to saving money, I have discovered that there
are other benefits to making my own cleaners:
::My kids can help me clean and I don’t have to
worry about them being around toxic chemicals.::Our house is free of chemical cleaners; my allergies
have improved greatly since I cut own commercial cleaners.::Making my own cleaners simplifies my life. I don’t
need to put the cleaner on a list, get to the store, bag it, unpack it and so
on. I just take out a few simple ingredients and make it myself when it is
convenient for me.::Making cleaners is much better for the environment. No
more chemicals going into the water supply, no more empty containers being
tossed.
The basic ingredients for making your own cleansers are
baking soda and white vinegar. Both can be purchased in bulk at discount
stores like Target and Wal-Mart, as well as wholesale clubs such as Costco and
Sam’s Club. If you just want to give a cleaner recipe a try, odds are
pretty good that you have enough on hand to make one or two cleaners.
Other
key ingredients will be soap (either dish soap or liquid castile soap–found in
health food stores), olive oil, club soda, glycerin (look in pharmacies or
health food stores for vegetable glycerin), and sometimes borax (a powder
laundry aid found in the laundry aisle of your local store).
I prefer cleaner recipes that use essential oils. Tea tree
oil has antiseptic properties, scents like lemon, eucalyptus and lavender add a
lovely, clean scent and disguise the smell of the vinegar. You can add oils to
any cleaner recipe; the general rule is about 10 drops for a 16 ounce bottle,
but feel free to experiment. You can even mix scents.
Purchasing essential oils will be the
bulk of your initial investment. These are available at health food stores and
some natural/health sections of large grocery stores for about $5 a bottle. The bottles are small, but you use only a few drops per recipe, so a little
goes a very long way, I promise! I have been making my own cleaners since 2000
and have only replaced three bottles of essential oils.
The book that I turn to again and again for cleaner recipes
is Clean House, Clean Planet: Clean your house the safe, nontoxic way for
pennies a day by Karen Logan. Check your library or PaperBackSwap for this book. It has over 100 recipes for just about any
cleaner you could need, including pest control. You can also find a lot of
recipes online by searching for ‘homemade cleaners’ or ‘nontoxic
cleaner recipes’ on your favorite search engine. Tipnut.com also has come great cleaner recipes
and cleaning tips.
Once you have the basic ingredients, it is time to find
containers to store your cleaning supplies. I used basic Spray Co bottles
found in the gardening section of Wal-Mart. I have also heard that stores such
as Fleet Farm or Home Depot have spray bottles as well.
I like the 16-ounce
bottles, as these are the most comfortable size for me to use and my kids can
use these as well. I mix my recipes right in the containers. No mess, no
fuss! For the first few years I just tried to get the ingredients into the bottle
from the measuring instruments, but I have found that using a funnel is easier.
Here are three of my favorite cleaner recipes, all are from the
book Clean House, Clean Planet.
Club Clean Glass Cleaner–This is one of the easiest recipes around! To make glass cleaner, simply pour club soda into a spray bottle and put the
lid back on. Yes, it is that easy! I use this cleaner on windows, TVs,
computers, the washer and dryer tops, etc. You can wipe it off with a paper
towel or a microfiber cloth.
Go Spot Go! Laundry Stain Remover–This cleaner smells so good! To
make it, simply put ¼ cup liquid dish detergent into a spray bottle. Add in ¼ cup vegetable glycerin and 1½ cups water and shake well before each
use.
Diaper Pail Deodorizer–Just put some baking soda into a container, add about 3
drops of an essential oil, and stir with a fork or shake. Sprinkle this into
the diaper pail when you change the baby (especially after a really messy
diaper) to keep the smell from taking over.
To find more cleaner recipes and more cleaning tips, you can check out these other posts on my blog on bathroom
cleaning, kitchen
cleaning, carpet
cleaning and polishing
your furniture.
Once you start making your own cleaners, you will realize
how useful the main ingredients to these cleaners really are and how much you
can use them to make a lot of household and personal hygiene solutions for
yourself. I hope that you will give making your own cleaners a try soon!
Michelle is a CPA turned stay-at-home mom to four. She challenges the excesses that society tells us
we need and experiments with living a simple, uncluttered life on her daily blog,
Leaving Excess.
Super Savings Saturday: Banquet winners and our solution to avoiding take out for moving week
Super Savings Saturday: Banquet winners and our solution to avoiding take out for moving week
First things first, the winners of the Banquet Select free frozen dinners are:
Kate (katerascoe@)
Tamra (tmg_1979@)
Amanda (mandalyn927@)
Dawn (dawniemom@)
Samantha (scarv083@)
Tieshia (sillygoose37@)
Heather (hrleonard@)
Sarah (sarahclubine@)
Rebecca (rebeccakatzer@)
Christina (maneys@)
Each of you should have received an email from me with more details. If you did not for some reason, please get in touch with me so I can get your free dinners to you!
*************************
Moving week is here–ready or not! There are a lot of last minute details to attend to and in between caring for our little girls, traveling for a few days to secure and clean our new rental, and my continued struggle with morning sickness and tiredness, it will be a busy week.
Since I knew that we would be too busy to spend much time on food preparations this week and that it would be easy to fall back on fast food or take out, my husband and I decided to devise an alternative plan.
We looked through our cupboards and refrigerator to what food we still had left in there (we’ve been doing our best to whittle it down over the last month so that we’d be down to the bare-bones by moving day) and came up with a list of some very quick and simple meals and snacks we could put together with what we already had on hand and a few additional ingredients at the store.
Here’s the list we came up with:
Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
Quesadillas
Cold cereal
Oatmeal
Beans and rice
Pancakes
Granola bars
Turkey and cheese sandwiches
Fruit/Veggies
Chips and salsa
Scrambled eggs with hashbrowns and cheese
The best news of all, was that we were able to stick within our $40/week grocery budget yet again this week! Now obviously, this is not what we usually subsist on and I don’t know that it exactly qualifies as a "balanced diet", but it will be much cheaper and likely healthier than eating a diet of fast food. And hopefully soon I’ll be back to baking and cooking from scratch again.
So that’s one way we saved money this week. How’d you do this week? Post about the deals and
bargains you were able to snag this week or other ways you saved money
on your blog (with pictures, if possible!) and then come back here and
leave your link below. **To make it easy for everyone to navigate quickly through the links, your link must link directly to your Super Savings Saturday post.**