Saving Families Money Since 2007
Cash 4 Books is running a $5 bonus deal beginning today. If you sell 5 or more books to Cash4Books and include this coupon, you will receive a $5 bonus payment!
This coupon is valid through July 29, 2011.
(Note: The link in this post is my referral link. Read my disclosure policy here.)
I Can Teach My Child shows you how to make homemade finger paint using ingredients you probably already have on hand.
Do you have a fun and frugal DIY idea to share? I’d love to hear about it! Read the submission guidelines and submitit here.
Work-At-Home Market is currently seeking a writer for assignment basis only. Duties would include short articles and possibly some research.
This would be a simple way to earn a little cash from home.
For more details and to apply, go here.
Emily emailed in the following testimonial which I thought many of you would be encouraged by reading:
I lost my job at the beginning of April. My former boss told me that he would pay me through the end of May. I figured that would give me enough time to find a job and still live without a worry. I was wrong! I have not received a paycheck since April 15.
Thanks to the advice that I have been reading on MoneySavingMom.com and my frugal ways, I am in a financial position in which I can go at least three months (comfortably) without pay. This support net has lifted a weight off my shoulders.
I spend many hours a day applying for jobs and searching for jobs. Unfortunately I haven’t had any luck yet, but I know that eventually I’ll find something (hopefully sooner than later).
Here are some of the things I have done to reduce my cost of living over the past year:
- Watch my energy rates and change when I find lower rates.
- Cut coupons and use them on items on sale, so that I pay minimal.
- Use free samples I find on MoneySavingMom.com and AllYou.com — I have enough shampoo to last me at least a year!
- Cook meals according to what’s on sale at the grocery store.
- Buy meat that is on sale because it’s approaching the ‘sell by’ date (and cook immediately).
- Cook big meals and freeze leftovers for days that I’m too tired to cook.
- Call Comcast periodically to see if they have lower rates (I’ve hit rock bottom — $86 for internet and cable).
- Collect gifts (on sale at stores) in the closet. When birthdays come up, I don’t have to go to the store and spend more money than planned.
Living a conservative and modest lifestyle has already helped me though the past couple of weeks. Of course I still feel very stressed to find a job, but because I’ve lived like this for a while, there is a little less stress and less of a financial transition to make which is great! -Emily
Andrea Green from The Greenbacks Gal shows you how to make an all-natural sunburn relief solution.
Breakfasts
Cinnamon Roll Biscuits, fruit
Cereal
Amish Baked Oatmeal, bananas
Whole Wheat Waffles (using Homemade Baking Mix), fruit smoothies
Oatmeal Raisin Muffins, Scrambled Eggs, Cantaloupe
Double Chocolate Oatmeal Muffins, hard-boiled eggs, fruit
Banana Brownie Waffles, fruit saladLunches
Cereal — I wasn’t feeling well on Sunday afternoon so Jesse sent me to bed after church and fed the kids cereal for lunch! Everyone was happy and I got a nice nap in. 🙂
Eggs, apple slices, carrots
PB&J, carrot sticks, watermelon
Tuna sandwiches, peas, apple slices
Refried beans, chips, salsa, fruit
Leftovers x 2Snacks
Watermelon Frosties
Healthy Chunky Monkey “Ice Cream”
Homemade Smoothie Popsicles
Fruit/VeggiesDinners
Dinner at friends’ house — we brought chips and watermelon
Chicken Stuffing Casserole, watermelon
Steak, fruit, tossed salad, Oven Baked Parmesan Fries
Dinner at church activity night
Italian Pasta Bake, Homemade French Bread, edemame, watermelon
Build-Your-Own Haystacks, fruit
Homemade Pizza, fruit, Healthy Chocolate Peanut Butter FudgeFreezer-Cooking-In-An-Hour Plan (I’ll share pictures/details on how this goes on Thursday!)
Double Chocolate Oatmeal Muffins
Banana Brownie Waffles
What’s on your menu this week? Feel free to leave a link to your plan in the comments!
Guest post by Karin at More Than the ABC’s
Teaching can mean lots of supplies. Whether it’s home school or a classroom at a school, if you find yourself responsible for teaching something and organizing it all, but don’t want to break (or touch the bank) here are a few tips:
Space, storage, and too many options can be overwhelming. Plan ahead so you aren’t making more work for yourself in the future. Look for multi-purpose equipment. I have a good number of the exact same sized box so they’ll stack, fit, and work well together.
Don’t start buying specialized learning tools if you can achieve the same results with something much simpler. Check out teacher supply catalogs with a frugal eye. Look for what you can make yourself, modify or re-purpose to get the same effect.
Re-purposing ordinary materials for classroom use can be a huge money-saver. Use paint sticks as pointers and unmatched socks as white board erasers. Enlist family members or classroom parents to keep an eye out for everyday items that can be useful in the classroom.
A teacher I work with had the great idea of making salt dough geography maps — in pizza boxes. A local pizza company was happy to donate the boxes, and with a box for each student to create, store, stack and dry the maps the lesson was a huge success!
Think about the goals for your lesson. Evaluate if available technology or online resources might satisfy a need and save you a purchase.
Decide what your real needs are, and how to meet them without going shopping. Pie pans and large yogurt tubs turned out to be the perfect solution to pass out supplies. Empty tissue boxes trimmed, stapled, and taped become universal storage systems. After 25 students use something, it’s bound to show wear and tear quickly. I don’t blink an eye when a tissue box shows wear, but sure would be frustrated if pricey containers cracked and broke!
I love a good yard sale, and have made a list of things (at the right price) to look for. Ask if they’d reconsider the price for a school purchase, negotiate if appropriate, and keep your eyes open.
At a yard sale or thrift store I keep my eyes peeled for:
Be picky. Keep in mind how you will use it, store it, and if it is a high quality product. Spending ten cents on scissors that don’t cut isn’t worth it!
A hodgepodge of supplies doesn’t mean it can’t look good! Come up with some unifying themes and keep it simple. Donated paint, simple colors, contact paper and a little work can do wonders transforming your learning space!
Karin is a 4th grade classroom teacher interested in classroom blogging, technology, and continuing to be a life long learner. She hopes to instill a love of learning in her students, and encourages them to pursue their interests whole-heartedly! Visit her blog, More Than the ABC’s.
Note: If you are teaching somewhere besides your house, check with the powers at be to make sure your great ideas don’t go against any policies or codes.
I went to four different stores this week and used a grand total of zero coupons. Here’s what I bought:
Dillon’s Shopping Trip — see the full price breakdown and shopping trip details here.
Aldi Shopping Trip — see the full price breakdown and shopping trip details here.
Health Food Store Shopping Trip — see the full price breakdown and shopping trip details here.
Walmart Shopping Trip — see the full price breakdown and shopping trip details here.
Would you like to know what the best deals and coupon match-ups are for your local stores? Be sure to check out the Store Deals section of our site where we post the best deals and coupon match-ups each week for over 100 different stores across the country. You can sign up to receive the top deals in your email inbox each week as soon as they are posted!
Did you snag any great deals or bargains this week or save money in other ways? If so, be sure to post about them on your blog and leave your link below. Please remember that this weekly round-up is to share deals you personally got and/or money you were able to save this week. In order to keep this weekly round-up focused on helping and inspiring others in their efforts to save money, links which have little-to-no content other than promoting affiliate links, etc. will be deleted. Also, to make it easy for everyone to navigate quickly through the links, your link must link directly to your Super Savings Saturday post.
About three years ago, my husband and I decided to build a home. Sounds simple enough right? After agonizing over colors, finishes, materials, and umpteen trips to the big box home improvement stores we ended up with a beautiful 3,500 square foot home that was falling apart.
Yep, you read that correctly. Our brand new home needed over $100,000 in repairs. Our general contractor had cut corners throughout the entire process of building the house and in doing so had left us with a home that looked beautiful, but wouldn’t stay that way for long.
We legally battled with our contractor for two years and ended up being forced to say goodbye to our lovely home and downsize into something smaller. We were blessed to find a place that was in our budget and that was actually owned by my parents. The only problem with the house was that it was about a fourth of the size of the home we had built and filled up with our stuff!
I began the task of packing to move and it was right around this time that I found out I was pregnant with our 3rd child. I was then faced with the reality that we would have a family of five in a two-bedroom, 850-square foot home.
How was I going to make this work? Where would we put all of our things?
As I started going through everything we had accumulated over the five years my husband and I had been married, I was amazed to find that we had boxes in our basement that had never been unpacked, full of items that we thought we couldn’t live without. This to me seemed wasteful and it was then, after opening that third box that had been sitting untouched for almost two years, that I started a mission to simplify our lives.
This was my rule: If we hadn’t used something in a year, it was donated or sold. The only exceptions to this rule were pictures and a few mementos that held a special meaning to us, like the guitar played by my husband’s late grandfather.
Did I have to let some things go that I loved? Yes. Was it the end of the world? No. After all, they are just things. And while I did love those three sets of curtains, there were not that many windows in our new home so they were lovingly donated to our local Goodwill.
When moving day arrived, we were able to fit our once 3,500-square foot lives into 850-square feet — with room to spare for our upcoming addition to the family. Throughout this whole process, my husband I learned a valuable lesson: our lives are not wrapped up in the things that we own, but instead in the people that we surround ourselves with. Our family has grown and enjoyed the simple pleasure of being together in a home filled with love, not clutter.
Amanda is a 26-year-old, stay-at-home-mom to three little boys (ages 4, 2, and 4 months). She and her husband are high school sweethearts and have been married for six years. He is a public school teacher, just as she was before staying home with her children.
Guest post by Angi from SchneiderPeeps
When people find out that my daughter and I do a lot of sewing, a common response is “Fabric is so expensive! I can buy an item cheaper than I can sew it!” This can certainly be true. But I have learned that it doesn’t have to be. Here are some ways to be a frugal sewist:
We often get fabric and notions from people who used to sew but no longer do. Some of it is great for us and we keep it. And some of it is not for us and we donate it to a nonprofit thrift store.
Not only can we often find great fabric at thrift store and garage sales, but we also can get vintage sheets and tablecloths. We frequently use vintage sheets to make pajama pants. They are preshrunk, very soft and if you cut it right you don’t have to hem the bottoms
I know this sounds funny, but if the fabric is good, then save it. I regularly cut up jeans that have holes in the knees and flannel shirts for quilts. I also save buttons on clothes that are headed for the trash because they are too stained up to donate.
The Senior Citizens group in our area hosts a fabric sale a couple of times a year. The fabric is $0.25 per yard, notions are $0.05 to $0.25 each. They also sell, yarn, books and patterns.
The fabric that I used to make the pajamas for my daughter (shown above) came from this sale. Each project cost me under a dollar to make. We always find some gems among the rubble. And if you need some double knit polyester, this is definitely the place to find it!
When I find a fabric that I just love and would be perfect for a project, I wait until it either goes on sale or I have a coupon. Then I buy the least amount that I need for the project.
When I was re-doing our master bedroom, I found some decorator fabric that I loved. But it was $18 a yard! So I waited. When it went on sale for half price, I bought two yards. That was enough to make window toppers, and a couple of throw pillows. For the curtains, I used fabric that was $5 a yard.
If you are not familiar with how different fabrics feel, I suggest visiting fabric and quilt stores and feel the fabrics. You’ll soon learn what a quality cotton fabric feels like and what a lesser quality cotton fabric feels like. This will help you as you begin to build a stash of fabric that you didn’t buy off a labeled bolt.
Caution: be careful of using old (vintage) thread. Thread weakens over time and it is best not to use it on something that you want to keep for a long time for for something that will be washed or used a lot.
Angi is a wife and mom of 6 children who spends her days homeschooling, crafting, gardening, playing chauffer, keeping chickens, trying to learn how take better pictures and blogging at SchneiderPeeps.
Are you craving a warm-from-the-oven cinnamon roll but don’t have the time? These cinnamon roll biscuits can be ready for the oven in just minutes, and they taste amazingly delicious!
I made this recipe last week using the Homemade Baking Mix and it was a total winner. Everyone in our family liked these and we had guests over and they raved about them, too.
These are so simple to make (way easier than cinnamon rolls).
I timed myself and can have these in the oven in less than 15 minutes. Now that’s my kind of recipe — delicious, quick and even made with all whole-wheat flour!
For the Glaze:
1. Preheat oven to 400ºF.
2. In a large bowl, combine Baking Mix and milk.
3. Turn onto a well-floured surface and knead at least ten times (the dough will be sticky).
4. Roll dough out into a rectangle.
5. Melt butter and brush over rolled out dough.
6. Mix together cinnamon and sugar and sprinkle over melted butter.
7. Roll up and cut into 12 rolls.
8. Place rolls in a greased baking pan and bake in a preheated oven for 10-15 minutes.
9. While biscuits bake, mix glaze ingredients together in a small bowl or measuring cup.
10. Drizzle glaze over Cinnamon Roll Biscuits as soon as they come out of the oven.
11. Serve warm.
Make sure to share and save it on your favorite platform below!
Mornings just got so much easier with this FREE list of 50+ Easy & Cheap Breakfast Ideas for Busy Weekday Mornings!
Yesterday was one of those whirlwind days. My doorbell and phone rang a lot (I counted at the end of the day and nine different people came over during the course of the day!). I got the freezer cooking done, but there were so many different interruptions that it ended up dragging out over two hours. But at least I got it done!
And then I did another impromptu cooking session this afternoon — some for the freezer, some for us to eat this weekend. So, here’s everything I made the last 24 hours:
6 meals’ worth of Taco Meat (I threw this recipe together using cooked pinto beans, onions, tomatoes, chili powder and salt. We used some of it for our Build-Your-Own Haystacks last night and I’m freezing the rest to use for tacos and haystacks over the next month or so.)
1 pan of Cinnamon Roll Biscuits
1 dozen Whole-Wheat Blueberry Streusel Muffins (These were okay. I like some of my other blueberry muffin recipes better, though.)
Healthy Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge (This turned out pretty well. Everyone thought it was good — not fabulous, but good.)
2 bags of cooked chickpeas
Did you do any freezer cooking this week? If so, I’d love to see your links and/or recipes if you blogged about it.
Walmart Shopping Trip
4 plums — price-matched to Aldi price of $0.25 each
4 nectarines — price-matched to Aldi price of $0.25 each
4 cantaloupe — price-matched to Aldi price $0.99 each
4 cartons of strawberries — price-matched to Aldi price of $0.99 each
4 peaches — price-matched to Aldi price of $0.25 each
5 pounds of bananas — price-match to a local store’s Thursday $0.18/lb. sale
The total after tax was $11.51.
I’m so thankful to be well-stocked up fruit again — at least for a few days. My children have been eating through fruit at a crazy rate here recently, but I’m not going to do anything to discourage it since I’m thrilled that they are asking to have fruit for snack.
Now if we could just get them to start asking for zucchini and spinach for snack, I’d really feel like a good mom. But I don’t think that’s going to be happening anytime soon! 🙂
