Money Saving Mom®

Felicia from Mommy Excursions emailed in this tip:

The national average cost for a gallon of milk is $3.79, or $0.24 a cup. To make this stretch farther, we simply add four cups of water to half a gallon of whole milk. This will make an extra eight cups of milk per gallon resulting in the cost being $0.16 a cup. We use, on average, two gallons of milk each week so this method saves us around $133 a year!

If you are interested in trying this, I recommend that you always buy whole milk and always add the water before first drinking any milk from the container. Lastly, it can be hard to get used to. I recommend starting out slow by adding a half cup to one cup water per half gallon milk for a week or two, then go to two cups and gradually work up to adding four cups of water per half gallon. -Felicia

photo credit

Guest post by Shannon at Frugal Mom of Two

I’m always looking at ways to save money. In addition to using coupons, here are some other ways I save money:

1. Hang clothes to dry.

I use a shower curtain rod wedged between two walls in my hallway to hang clothes straight from the washer.

2. Use cold water to wash your clothes.

Hot water is a big energy drainer. Use cold water as often as possible to do your laundry, this will really save on your electricity bill.

3. Open the door on your dishwasher during the dry cycle.

I use a dish towel and prop it open just a bit. The heat/steam that has accumulated while washing will dry your dishes.

4. Make your own cleaners.

Instead of purchasing cleaning supplies in the store, make them yourself. Not only is it a lot less expensive to purchase the ingredients needed, it’s a lot safer to use because you know what the ingredients are.

5. Make your own laundry detergent.

Laundry detergent can be pretty expensive. It’s a lot more cost effective to make it yourself and it’s easy and lasts a long time.

6. Use “junk mail” envelopes.

Most everyone receives junk mail and a lot of time’s this junk mail includes a return envelope. Keep these and use them the next time you have to mail something.

7. Use “scrap” paper for printing coupons.

It doesn’t matter what’s on the back of the coupon, so the next time you print something in error or you have some leftover paper, use the back to print your coupons on.

8. Don’t throw those veggies out!

Turn leftover veggies into soup. Keep a large bowl in your freezer and each night after dinner, dump any remaining veggies in the bowl. When the bowl is filled, you have a great base for soup. I also like to throw in any leftover ham as it adds a great flavor to soup.

9. Use a crock pot.

A crock pot uses a lot less electricity that the oven. Food tastes great after cooking all day too and it’s a huge time saver! (Not to mention the house smells great!)

10. Use plastic grocery bags in your small trash cans.

There’s really no sense in buying small trash can bags when you most likely get plastic bags for free at the store. They are the perfect size and work just fine.

What are some simple ways you save money at your home?

Shannon is the frugal mom of two great kids, one boy and one girl. She has been married for 15 years to Garit, who is truly the love of her life. She feels incredibly blessed to be a part of such a great family. She loves to organize, throw parties, clip coupons and bargain shop. To read more of her writings, visit her blog, Frugal Mom of Two.

Photo Credit

Shauna sent in this interesting tip:

My husband wears a dress shirt every day of the work week, and after we married, I quickly realized how much he was spending on dry cleaning each month. After some online research (argostarch.com was helpful), I found that I could starch his shirts at home using this method:

1. Wash dress shirts in hot water. Do not dry.
2. Boil some water in the teapot.
3. Meanwhile, mix a half cup cornstarch with one cup cold water.
4. Mix the boiling water with the cornstarch mixture in a large bowl,
and then pour the whole thing in the washing machine (turned on to a
rinse and spin cycle only).
5. Add the freshly-washed shirts.
6. After the rinse and spin cycle is complete, hang the shirts up until
they are slightly damp and then iron.

Not only are we saving hundreds of dollars a year (We save approximately $2 per shirt and he wears five shirts per week which equals $10/week in savings or $520 in savings each year), this method seems to keep his shirts in better shape than dry cleaning does. Corn starch is also a safer, more natural choice over the chemicals used in dry cleaning.

I purchase my corn starch in a 35 oz. container at Sam’s Club for less than $3, and this lasts me several months.

-Shauna

photo credit

Guest Post by Sarah Jones from Delivering Grace

The UK has been hit, like many other countries by the economic downturn. Here are some ways I’ve found to save:

1. Generic brands

Many of these are just as good as the more expensive names. Even the store economy brands are frequently reasonable quality. Look out for value chocolate digestives and canned tomatoes. There may be some that your family don’t appreciate but it is worth a try.

2. Late shopping

There are reductions through the day on products with “sell by” dates for that day. The percentage reduction increases as the day goes on. The reductions are marked with special labels, usually yellow.

3. Economy stores

Aldi, Lidls, Netto. I only regularly use Lidls. Lidls are good for cleaning products, bread mixes and chocolate. I find that the economy stores don’t sell everything I need, especially for baking, so I tend to go to them about once a month and do a big shop of the items with the greatest saving.

4. Store reward cards and points

Many stores have these. Tesco Clubcard has points which are usually worth four times the face value mainly for treats. Zoos and other days out have queues of people clutching their Tesco vouchers. The points have to be redeemed for specific vouchers in advance. Nectar points (Sainsburys plus a few other stores) are similar although generally less good value for days out.

There are said to be thousands of pounds in various reward card points that are never spent. The best coupons often come with mailings from store reward cards, often money off or more points off basic items such as dairy products or fruit and vegetables. Stores tend to be strict about only accepting in-date coupons for precise items.

5. Store clubs

Both Tescos and Boots have baby clubs. These clubs send mailings with coupons off nappies and wipes. They have particularly good introductory offers. Tescos also have a group of parents testing baby products and completing surveys again for Clubcard points. The baby products tested are sent out free.

6. Farm shops

In my experience, the further from the main road and the more tatty the shop the better the reductions! The other advantage of farm shops is that the money goes straight to the farmer not to some middle man.

7. Markets

They can have value fruit and vegetables.

8. Cloth nappies (diapers in the US)

Councils have a big push on cloth nappies as they have targets for reducing the volume going to landfill. Many councils offer substantial discounts on cloth nappies. My local council gave us a coupon to the value of £40 off cloth nappies.

9. Using the washing line

A very British habit!

Sarah Jones is a wife and mother of five who lives in England. She blogs at Delivering Grace.

photo credit