Frugal-Wise Advice

Laundry Update: No detergent at all!!

2011-09-09T10:38:00.002-05:00

A few years back, I began reducing the amount of laundry soap I use by half, then by half again. After that, I started making my own, but these days I almost never use any kind of soap or detergent in my laundry. (WHAT??)

Yes - I said I don't use soap or detergent in my laundry. It sounds crazy but it's not necessary. These days, I add a half cup, or sometimes a full cup of white vinegar to the wash load, and that's it!!

I still can't conquer static completely, so I use half of a perfume and dye-free dryer sheet if the humidity is low enough for static to be a problem. In Louisiana, most of the time the humidity is high enough that I don't need even a half a dryer sheet.

Using white vinegar instead of detergent or soap has actually made our clothes very soft. Our towels are more absorbent than ever.

Doing my laundry this way has had an interesting effect: I can't stand the feel of clothes washed with detergent and softeners! I can feel wax on my fingers after touching clothes washed in commercial products. The perfumes added to detergents and fabric softeners are over-powering and I much prefer unscented, unwaxed clothes now.

Dry Beans Vs. Canned Beans Conversions

2011-09-04T10:02:00.003-05:00

These are not exact, since beans are different sizes.

One 15-ounce can of beans equals:

1 1/2 cups cooked beans
1/2 cup dry beans, before cooking

1 pound dry beans equals:

2 to 2.5 cups dry beans, before cooking
6 to 7.5 cups beans, after cooking
Four to Five 15-ounce cans of beans

1 part dry beans equals

3 parts cooked beans

How to use dry beans:

First, rinse and sort dried beans, discarding any blemished ones or any grit and small stones.

First, Soak:

LONG SOAK: Cover dried beans with three times their volume of water and lets stand in refrigerator for 12 hours or overnight. Drain.

QUICK SOAK: In saucepan, cover dried beans with three times their volume of water and bring to boil. Boil for two minutes. Remove from heat, cover and let stand for one hour. Drain.

Then, Cook:
In a large saucepan, cover drained, soaked beans with three times their volume of fresh water. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer, partially covered, and topping up with water if necessary, for about 45 minutes to 1 1/4 hours, depending on age and type of bean. Drain.

One-ingredient Banana "Ice Cream"

2011-08-28T08:45:00.000-05:00

Slice up a few ripe bananas (we used 5)
lay the slices on a cookie sheet and freeze them
put the frozen banana slices in a food processor, and process.
it does take time, so be patient.
It will turn into soft-serve ice cream. I promise!

You can add a glop of peanut butter, a little bit of chocolate, some cinnamon, other types of fruit, or anything you like!

OMG! I'm never buying ice cream from the store again!!!!

Black Bean Taquitos

2011-08-07T11:11:00.003-05:00

Rinse, soak and cook 1lb dry black beans,
cool and drain.

Preheat oven to 425
Lightly oil a deep sided pan
(I had to use 3 small pans)

Saute a little bit of minced onion and garlic
Throw in about 30 tater tots*, thawed and roughly chopped
Pour in some salsa (a cup or two)
Add chili powder, Tony Chachere's, black pepper, and basil
Add the beans
Add about 2 to 3 cups of shredded cheese
Turn off heat when it's all mixed up, it doesn't need to be hot.

Put about 3 tablespoons of bean mixture in the center of a small flour tortilla and roll up.
Place seam side down in pan and brush the tops lightly with oil
Cover pan with foil and bake for 15 minutes.
Remove foil and bake for 10 to 15 more minutes or until as crispy as you like.

Makes almost 40 taquitos

*I was lazy and used pre-made tater tots. Next time I'll use real potato. You have to shred it, then squeeze out the liquid before frying or the potato is soggy and yucky. I just didn't want to work that hard.

"Sunday Slop"

2011-06-12T11:10:00.001-05:00

This is almost -always- what we have for lunch on Sunday. I really need a better name for it, though!!

1 box of whole wheat penne pasta
1 to 1 1/2 Cup "Chickpea soup base" (Recipe to follow soon)
real butter - from 1/2 to a whole stick
some shredded cheese
3 cups(ish) of cooked veggies of any type (I use 2 cans of whatever)
salt, pepper, basil, whatever you like

Very difficult instructions:
Boil the pasta. Put the veggies in the colander and drain the pasta over them (efficiency!).
Combine butter, cheese, and chickpea "stuff", then throw the pasta and veggies in and stir to coat.
Spice up and eat.

Chickpea "soup base"

2011-05-10T08:56:00.002-05:00

Cook and puree 1 lb of chickpeas/garbanzo beans.

Add to the blender:
garlic
olive oil
lots of basil, lemon basil is best!
lemon juice if you didn't add lemon basil
a little tomato sauce, if you like. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't.
salt, pepper

It should be the consistency of pudding.

Divide it up into 1 to 1 1/2 cup portions and freeze. Makes an excellent soup base, or base for "macaroni and cheese". I freeze it in zip lock bags, laid flat so they are thin and will thaw quickly.

Breakfast "Cake"

2011-04-15T11:55:00.002-05:00

We're in super-frugal mode for a few months while we pay off my dental work, so I've been baking a breakfast cake twice a week. This recipe is where I started: http://www.allrecipes.com//Recipe/baked-oatmeal-ii/Detail.aspx - the only difference was that I used raisins instead of cranberries.

I ran out of half of those ingredients, so I created this recipe using only what is on hand and buying as little as possible.

"Breakfast Cake".

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup oats
2 eggs
1 1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup steens or molasses
1/3 cup oil
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 cup flaked coconut
1 cup raisins
cinnamon
cardamom
extra water
sometimes I remember to throw in some sesame seeds

Bake in a greased 9 x 13 pan for about 30 minutes. Cool, Eat.

Last night we were out of a whole lot more stuff, so I made it like this:

measurements approximate - I didn't measure anything.

almost 3 cups whole wheat flour
2/3 cup cooked brown rice
1 cup peanut butter
pretty big handfull of sharp cheddar cheese
some steens (I didn't quite have 1/3 cup)
1 cup flaked coconut
water with some blendered brown rice (ie: "milk")
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup raisins
cinnamon
cardamom

I think that's it..... I totally forgot the salt.
ah well, it's really good!

World's Best Sweet Potatos

2011-03-05T09:53:00.003-06:00

4 lbs sweet potatoes, cut into 1 to 2 inch cubes
1 1/2 sticks of real butter
1 cup Steen's cane syrup
1 to 2 tsps cinnamon (I'm guessing. I don't measure anything)
1 to 2 tsps vanilla extract
1/4 - 1/2 cup chopped pecans

Butter a crock pot, throw everything in and cook on low for 8 hours, or high for about 3 hours.
Mix in pecans about half way through.

Note: It cooks down to about half the amount you start with.

Lusher, happier plants for free

2011-02-14T11:42:00.001-06:00

I got a great gardening tip from a coworker a few years ago. It's so obvious - but one of those things I just never thought of.

Instead of buying plant food or fertilizer, simply catch rain water and store it in jugs. You can use it to supplement your plants between rainfall. The last time it rained really good, I set out large containers to catch the rain and was able to fill 9 jugs with rain water. Since I started alternating between tap water and rainwater, and my plants are all incredibly happy and lush green. It has really helped me keep some fresh herbs around throughout the winter.

I haven't bought plant food in two years, and I may never need to again!

Buying the freshest bread

2010-12-17T21:30:00.000-06:00

Some bread packaging has a "best by" date stamped on them, but for all those that don't - how do you tell how old they are? The twist-ties are color coded to tell you what day the bread was delivered.

Monday - Blue
Tuesday - Green
Thursday - Red
Friday - White
Saturday - Yellow

If you are shopping on a Thursday, don't get bread with White or Yellow ties!

What happens to your body when you drink coke (from BuzzMedia.com)

2010-12-05T10:28:00.000-06:00

OK, folks... Today's article is simply a re-post of an article at BuzzMedia.com
Any time I go to the grocery store, I see EVERYONE buying box upon box of canned soda pop. Not frugal at all, and you are trashing your body, causing health problems that will make your life more difficult and your finances even tighter. Please read this below, and if you don't believe it... do some further research and know for yourself.

What happens to your body when you drink coke

In The First 10 minutes: 10 teaspoons of sugar hit your system. (100% of your recommended daily intake.) You don’t immediately vomit from the overwhelming sweetness because phosphoric acid cuts the flavor allowing you to keep it down.
20 minutes: Your blood sugar spikes, causing an insulin burst. Your liver responds to this by turning any sugar it can get it’s hands on into fat. (There’s plenty of that at this particular moment)
1. CLARIFYING DATA: Reader Dan below provided some clarifying information about what the liver does with the extra sugar.
40 minutes: Caffeine absorption is complete. Your pupils dialate, your blood pressure rises, as a response your livers dumps more sugar into your bloodstream. The adenosine receptors in your brain are now blocked preventing drowsiness.
45 minutes: Your body ups your dopamine production stimulating the pleasure centers of your brain. This is physically the same way heroin works, by the way.
60 minutes: The phosphoric acid binds calcium, magnesium and zinc in your lower intestine, providing a further boost in metabolism. This is compounded by high doses of sugar and artificial sweeteners also increasing the urinary excretion of calcium.
60 minutes: The caffeine’s diuretic properties come into play. (It makes you have to pee.) It is now assured that you’ll evacuate the bonded calcium, magnesium and zinc that was headed to your bones as well as sodium, electrolyte and water.
60 minutes: As the rave inside of you dies down you’ll start to have a sugar crash. You may become irritable and/or sluggish. You’ve also now, literally, pissed away all the water that was in the Coke. But not before infusing it with valuable nutrients your body could have used for things like even having the ability to hydrate your system or build strong bones and teeth.

Homemade cleaners: simplified and still non-toxic

2010-08-15T11:26:00.000-05:00

About a year ago I made a post about Homemade Cleaners. It is still a good post,but these days I am all about simplifying my life so I have even fewer cleaners in my cabinet.

All I really need for general house-cleaning is vinegar and sometimes baking soda. I still have homemade laundry soap, *commercial dishwasher detergent, and some bleach. That's it.

I clean with a disinfectant spray made up of 50/50 white vinegar and water, and a sock-rag. The sink, stove and bathtub get scoured with baking soda. I just don't need anything else.

* Note Re: commercial dishwasher detergent: I've tried the homemade recipes online and none of them have worked for me. You can bet that if I ever find a recipe that does work, you'll see it here.

Growing sprouts at home: update

2010-07-28T11:18:00.000-05:00

We have come a long way with sprouting since my last post about it! Here are some pictures and the basics of how we’re sprouting at home.

You need:

a jar with a lid that allows air-flow
pantyhose and a rubber band works if you keep it pulled tight, or use a mason jar with some screen from the hardware store.
dry lentils (a quarter cup makes a jar full)

Rinse lentils well and soak in plenty of water for 12 hours.

Dump out the water, and rinse the lentils well.
Drain and set the jar on its side at an angle so water can drip out and does not “pool” in the jar.
- you can leave it on the counter. Don’t worry about dark or sunlight – it works no matter what!!

Every 6 – 12 hours, rinse in cool water and dump the water out.
Make sure plenty of air can flow through whatever lid you are using or the sprouts will go rancid, fast.
After your first or second rinse, lentils will look something like this:

This (below) is about a day and a half. Let them grow for about two to three days before eating

This is about four days:

The same method works for Black Eyed Peas, however after the first day and a half (or so), you will need to dump them in a large bowl of water and pick out / pull off the hulls. It is labor intensive, and most people won’t bother. You also MUST to use a good brand of Black Eyed Peas – not the cheap store brand.

We use a dish rack because we make so much. The one in front is lentils, the other three are black eyed peas, all have been going for about four days when this picture was taken.

A tablespoon of black eyed peas will grow to fill a large mason jar after about four days - see?

tie-dye with water from black beans (free vegetable based fabric dye)

2010-07-25T16:05:00.002-05:00

This one's a little silly.

The water from preparing black beans always turns such a dark purple and I've wondered if it would make a good fabric dye. When I started making dinner last night I just grabbed a hopelessly stained shirt and tied it up with rubber bands.

This first photo is before I poured the second half of the black water in. I let it soak for about three hours. And here is my tie-dye shirt after I rinsed and washed it. Cute, and you can't really find the stains any more. woo hoo!

Shampoo alternatives - yes, they work.

2010-07-07T09:29:00.001-05:00

I quit using shampoo and conditioner, and so far I love it!!

I have very thick hair, and I've shampooed and conditioned every single day. I won't skip a day unless I'm not leaving the house at all. That is a LOT of chemical crud I can't even pronounce being rubbed into my scalp and rinsing over my entire body.

Your hair is greasy the day after shampooing because the natural oils are stripped and so your scalp reacts by pumping out more oil. Switching to a gentler hair washing routine keeps this from happening.

I tried skipping shampoo and rinsing my hair with an apple cider vinegar solution once or twice a week. That worked pretty well and stripped off the build-up of crud in my hair but I was still shampooing most days. What I got from that was a glimpse at what my hair is like without all the crud in it - and I decided I'm going for it: no more shampoo!

Here's what works for me:
I rinse and gently scrub my scalp with my fingers every day, as before. Just plain water.

Every other day or so: Dissolve a tablespoon of baking soda in two cups of water, and pour over my head, rubbing gently into my scalp, and rinse. It feels really nice.

Once per week or so:
Rinse with a weak apple cider vinegar solution, then follow up with baking soda solution if necessary. Try about a tablespoon of vinegar in two cups of water, and adjust strength to your liking.

That's it!! My hair is not greasy. It's soft and shiny and smells good. I wasn't spending much on hair products in the first place but now I'm spending only a few pennies to keep my hair clean.

Some observations about using home made laundry soap.

2010-06-30T22:23:00.003-05:00

I stopped washing our clothes with store-bought detergents about year ago. Now I can't walk down the detergent aisle. The whole aisle is a nose-stinging cloud of perfumed chemicals. I had no idea till I quit the stuff!!

I've unearthed a few shirts from before I quit using commercial detergent and they feel waxy and gross. I have to wash them in my home made laundry powder immediately.

It is the same with liquid fabric softener. These days I use a little bit of white vinegar and that's it, sometimes half of a perfume free dryer sheet when the weather is dry and static is a problem.

How to make home made laundry soap

Denim Circle Quilt

2010-05-21T11:55:00.000-05:00

One of many things you can do with old jeans is make a quilt. My favorite style of
denim quilt is referred to as a "circle jeans quilt".

Circle Jeans Quilt - Here is the best "how-to" that I have ever seen.
All you need is old jeans, some fabric for the "windows" and a whole bunch of thread.

More garden pics

2010-05-18T23:06:00.005-05:00

We bought two blueberry bushes for $9.00 each, and they are already putting off blueberries.

We have seven tomato plants - this one is "husky" cherry tomato!

Cucumber in the back, several different kinds of basil, oregano, dill and an un-identified shrub.

Adventures in Gardening

2010-05-16T22:56:00.007-05:00

Green beans, black-eyed peas, corn, squash, and snow peas. Everything except the squash is from seed, which was really cheap.

We've scavenged or found long sticks and pipes for bean poles.We laid down sheets of cardboard to help block the grass and weeds from coming back.
Those cost us nothing!

Cucumber plants! These are from seed.

Green beans, black-eyed peas, corn, and squash. We used wood from the shed and flattened cardboard boxes to block weeds. The bean poles are scavenged from our shed, as well.

We enclosed an area that doesn't get used. The fence was stretched along the diagonal, reducing the number of t-poles we needed to find or buy. We found one and bought two.

The middle pot has rosemary and carrots. The yellow pot is just carrots, but it was planted the same day as the middle pot. Carrots LOVE rosemary, apparently!

Food in the pantry: Better than money in the bank?

2010-05-12T10:57:00.000-05:00

I've come across this saying a few times: "Food in the pantry is better than money in the bank."

For a long time, I didn't agree with it. I thought that having money in hand (or in the bank) meant that my family was secure in case "anything happened". In some ways, that can be true, however - you can live without everything except food, water, and shelter.

If something catastrophic were to happen as some people are predicting with the US economy and money system - the dollars in your wallet and the bank would potentially be worth absolutely nothing, yet the food in your pantry would suddenly become an extremely valuable asset. We need only look at what happened during the Great Depression to know this is true. In any true emergency, the last thing you want is for your family to be hungry. If your family is fed, you are free from that worry and can focus on the situation at hand.

Don't want for an emergency to occur to begin preparing. It is easy to build up an emergency supply of extra food. Simply buy a couple of extra cans of a sale item, or an extra bag or two of dry beans every chance you get. Don't worry about your efforts being "too small", just get started however you can.

Frugal gardening tips

2010-05-07T21:28:00.001-05:00

Before you buy plants, look closely at how many plants there are in the pot. Sometimes you can find up to four or five plants in a single pot, for the same price as a pot that has only one plant. Use a sharp knife to cut the roots, rather than tearing them apart.

A piece of card board will kill grass and weeds better than a roll of the black plastic stuff sold for the purpose. Save flattened cardboard boxes year round and you will never have to buy anything to kill grass and weeds, and the cardboard will compost. Try to use cardboard with only minimal amounts of inks and dyes.

You don't have to buy pots for plants. Almost anything can be used to grow something in. Buckets, trash cans, plastic food containers, baskets lined with plastic - anything that can be cut or drilled to allow water to drain. Save the flimsy temporary pots that your plants come in - they work just fine.

Spring Cleaning - treasures in the trash!

2010-04-05T19:25:00.001-05:00

Everyone is doing their spring cleaning inside and out right now, which means that there are all kinds of useful things on the curb just waiting for the trash truck.

There are bags upon bags of leaves and hedge trimmings that could be used to start a compost pile. I have rescued several large plastic buckets for planting, and if anyone needs a couch or some chairs there are plenty to be found right now.

Grow your own sprouts: cheap fresh veggies

2010-03-17T08:33:00.001-05:00

I love bean sprouts and alfalfa sprouts on salads and sandwiches, but I am not going to pay $3 - $5 per package for them. Right now I'm sprouting things I already have on hand: wheat and lentils, which are almost ready to eat. I think sprouted lentils are my new favorite food.

Growing sprouts is easy. You can sprout dry beans and grains from the grocery store in two to five days in a bowl or jar on your kitchen counter. Place two or three tablespoons of seeds in a jar. Rubberband a piece of netting, mesh, or pantyhose over the mouth as a breathable lid. Rinse the seeds thoroughly, then soak over night. Drain and rinse, then place the jar on its side in a semi dark place. Rinse and drain every 12 hours to keep mold from forming.

Sprouts will keep in the fridge for up to six weeks. They must be rinsed every 7 days and kept dry. Some sprouted beans and grains need to be cooked before eating, but they cook up in half the time.

Next I'm trying black eyed pea sprouts, black bean sprouts, and brown rice sprouts. I found this great recipe I want to try, for sprouted beans and rice! They cook in about half the normal time. Sprouted black beans cook in about 45 minutes. Sprouted brown rice cooks in about 15 minutes, and requires less water.

My plants update 3/13/10

2010-03-14T19:29:00.005-05:00

My marjoram is hanging in there and starting to spread out and grow a bit. All three rosemary plants almost doubled in size over the week.

Growing your own fresh vegetables, fruits, and herbs does not have to be costly. If you have your own compost pile, you have a renewable source of gardening soil. Plastic pots from the dollar stores work just as well as the more expensive kinds everywhere else.

My stevia is growing fast! I may need to move one of the little shoots to another pot.

I brought home new plants this weekend, which I'll have to photograph tomorrow when the sun is up. I got basil, dill, thyme, lemon thyme, greek oregano, two kinds of tomatoes, and a couple of strawberry plants. I have also planted snow peas and green beans - I will be planting a lot more of those as soon as we can get our garden boxes together.

Skillet Granola: cheap, and delicious!

2010-03-09T08:36:00.003-06:00

Wow - I will never buy boxed cereal again!! Skillet granola is incredibly easy and CHEAP. I made this with just oats, honey, and butter and it is delicious! Next time I'll add some sesame seeds and some raisins, maybe some shredded coconut.

Skillet Granola

2 Tablespoons honey
2 Tablespoons butter
1 cup of old fashioned oats

optional: 1/4 cup of sesame seeds or sunflower seeds, added just before the oats.
optional: 1/2 cup dried fruit added just as the granola begins turning golden brown.

In a large non-stick skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Slowly stir in honey until combined.

Add sesame/sunflower seeds and cook for about two minutes, stirring constantly.
Add the oats and cook about 4 minutes, continuing to stir.
Add dried fruit just as the oats start to brown.
Granola is done when the oats are a golden brown.

Spread granola on a sheet of tin foil to cool. It will crisp up as it cools.

My herb plants

2010-03-07T21:35:00.001-06:00

I am so glad that the weather is warming up. Since it was so nice out this weekend I decided to clean up and re-pot the plants on my front porch. At the height of summer my porch was overflowing with herbs, but when winter set in, half of my plants died completely and several more died down to a stick or two.

We had three stevia plants and thought they all died but this one is coming back! Stevia leaves are a natural sweetener, and we used them in our iced tea and are able to cut the amount of white sugar used by half. You can buy stevia crystals in the stores but growing your own is free!

(Before) My marjoram is starting to come back but it was scraggly and had a bunch of dead bits.

(After)
It is a lot happier now after a thorough trimming and being placed in a bigger pot.

(Before) My rosemary plants all made it through the winter, but they are looking a bit battered. All three of them needed bigger pots.

(After) They are much happier now and have a lot of room to grow. I don't use a lot of rosemary in my cooking but with this much of it I'll start!

I still need to get started with my vegetables, and there are a few other kinds of herbs I'd like to grow. This was really just an excuse to be outside enjoying a sunny Saturday afternoon.

Bulk buying and supporting local business

2010-03-06T21:46:00.001-06:00

We have a local honey farm (Hummer and Sons) that produces the most delicious honey. We support local and home based businesses whenever possible, but this really is the best honey ever.

In the grocery store, local honey is about $4.00 per pound, but it can be gotten for a lot cheaper directly from the farm. I sent my husband down to the honey farm this week to buy a gallon of honey. Their website offers gallons for $30.00, but a gallon of honey weighs about 12 lbs, so shipping would blow the price per pound way off. The price at the farm for the gallon was $27.00, droping the cost to $2.25 per pound. We saved even more money that we expected. And we have a gallon of light spring honey. I am going to stock up on dark winter honey when it is in season. YUM!

Simple cleaners: do more with less

2010-02-25T08:30:00.000-06:00

When we took our trip to Memphis for the fencing tournament, I knew I would be doing a load or two of laundry, so I brought a plastic bag with some of my home made laundry powder, and a small bottle of vinegar for softener.

However, I didn't remember to bring any dish soap, or buy any at the grocery store. Oops! I discovered that a half tablespoon of laundry powder works for washing dishes, as long as I used a lot of vinegar in the rinse water.

I wouldn't want to use the laundry powder very often on dishes, but it is fine in a pinch and kept me from going back to the store to buy anything.

Grow something!

2010-02-23T13:09:00.003-06:00

Last spring was our first try at growing edible plants. Since we live in a rental, we are growing in containers in lieu of a garden. On the the front porch we had basil, rosemary, thyme, marjoram, peppermint, stevia, tomatoes, aloe, and some other random plants.

We got started pretty late and even though we did so many things wrong, there was an abundance of fresh herbs all throughout the summer. The basil, stevia, thyme were lost to Autumn cold weather. The aloe plants are still going strong, and the rosemary and peppermint are coming back from their brush with death a bit slowly.

This year I want to do better. I have saved a few paper egg cartons for starting seeds indoors. I can get started with that just as soon as I decide what I want to grow. :) This year we're also going to try our hand at several different kinds of vegetables and small fruits. I scrounged up some plastic bins to re-purpose as planters. Hopefully I will be able to harvest and store my herbs, veggies, and fruits this year.

Low budget vacations and road trips

2010-02-21T08:58:00.001-06:00

We just returned from a trip to Memphis, TN for a national youth fencing tournament. My son has fenced in several national tournaments, which means travel and hotel stays, and everything else that goes with it. They say the role of a fencing parent is "Chauffeur, Go-fer, and Credit-Card Holder", and they are right up to a point. However, there are ways to make these trips less costly.

Many families fly to tournaments, but we drive. My son's first tournament was in Albuquerque, NM which is a two-day drive for us. The hotels near the convention center cost between $150 and $300 per night, but we were able to drive to a far less expensive hotel about ten minutes away. We paid less than half of what many other fencers paid. We chose a hotel with microwave and fridge in the rooms so that we could more easily eat in our room instead of at restaurants. I brought a cooler with a little bit of pre-cooked food, and some frozen dinners. We brought our tea maker and didn't have to buy any drinks for several days. I know we spent far less than many other families at the tournament, but we still needed to do better.

The most recent tournament was in Memphis, which is only about six hours away from home, which lowered our expenses significantly. I found "extended" type hotel with a kitchen in the rooms with a full fridge, mini stove and a microwave. This hotel cost even less than a standard hotel room with a microwave in the same area of Memphis.

I cooked several 'one-pot' meals ahead of time and froze them in resealable plastic bags. We got the rest of the weeks' groceries from a store near the hotel. We had home-cooked food all week, and only went to a restaurant twice.

The next tournament will be in Atlanta, GA and I'm planning ahead for it as much as possible.

Stock up when things are on sale

2010-02-12T21:18:00.000-06:00

I'm embarrassed to say what we paid for a spiral ham at Thanksgiving. I'm usually better at not overspending but I hadn't planned far enough ahead and we had to buy it when the prices were the highest. Live and learn.

A few weeks ago, my grocery store had the same spiral hams for 70 cents per pound. It was a two days before payday so I could only pick up one ham at the time. My husband and I returned two days later and bought the last two and stashed them in our freezer.

I wish I had been able to pick up a few more when the grocery store had several dozen but I am determined to get better at this. We may need another freezer soon....

Quit drinking soda to save money and your health: .

2010-02-05T07:58:00.002-06:00

For health reasons as well as saving money, my family gave up drinking soda a few years ago, and switched to water and iced tea. It took a little while for the change to take hold, but once it did, I can't stand to drink soda any more, it all tastes terrible and I much prefer cold, filtered water, or some iced tea.

Making your own iced tea at home is cheap, and you have control over how much sugar is in it. You can replace a lot of the sugar with honey, but that will cost more unless you buy honey in bulk.

We splurge on our favorite brand of tea which is usually not the lowest price, but even that works out to about fifty cents per gallon instead of $2.99 per two-litre or 6-pack of cans.

For road trips, we fill up an ice chest with bottles of home brewed tea and never have to buy drinks on the road. Now that we're traveling twice a year to attend national fencing tournaments, we've really got to know how to travel without spending a lot of money.

Cheap and healthy snacks: Popcorn

2010-02-02T20:43:00.002-06:00

For the same price of a 6-count box of microwave popcorn, you can buy a big bag of popcorn kernels that will last you a month. It is so easy to make popcorn the old fashioned way and it tastes so much better than microwaved popcorn.

These instructions were written by my 15 year old son, who has been making healthy popcorn snacks for years.

To make healthy popcorn snacks on the stove-top;

1. Get a small pot and pour a layer of popcorn about one kernel thick on the bottom
2. Pour a small amount of corn/canola oil onto the popcorn, and stir. You need just enough to wet the kernels.
3. Put a lid on the pot and turn the heat on high.
4. Pops in about 2 minutes, shake occasionaly to keep from burning/sticking

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

If your child is too young to use a stove, he/she can make healthy popcorn snacks in a microwave;

1. Pour about 1 tablespoon of popcorn kernels into a paper lunch sack
2. Fold the mouth of the sack down to the bottom, then put in the microwave
3. Set for about 2 1/2 to 3 minutes, depending on the power of your microwave
Stop the microwave when the popping slows to once every second or two.

Brown-bagging lunch - creativity is the key

2010-01-27T15:06:00.000-06:00

The company I work for has one monthly payday. The closer it gets to the end of the month, the more of my coworkers are bringing their lunch from home. The problem is that most of them only do it when they've run out of money. A few of us brown-bag it throughout the month, only buying lunch out once in a while so that we're not running out of money before payday.

I cringe to hear someone say "I'm broke... I'll just put it on my credit card!" as the group heads out to buy lunch. Skipping the outings to a restaurant and bringing lunch to work just twice a week will save $60 to $100 each month, not to mention a whole lot of credit card interest.

The trick is to enjoying lunch brought from home is to put some thought into it. Make a wrap instead of a sandwich, or pack dried fruits and nuts on occasion. It will also help if you invest in a good sturdy lunch pail to keep from smashing your food. If your lunch is all bashed up, you're not likely to eat it.

Taking leftovers is an obvious choice - but give yourself a variety of choices. Put your leftovers in the freerzer, so that you have a choice of what to take on any given day. That is what works best for me.

Patch it, glue it, make it last.

2010-01-21T14:59:00.000-06:00

Small repairs help extend the life of the things we already have and keep household expenses down. I have a stash of buttons to replace any that get lost, and I have sewn up tears in everything from shirts to purses, and bedding. Replacing a broken zipper isn't too difficult, especially if you have access to a sewing machine.

I get compliments about my jeans that have a denim heart sewn onto the back. My coworkers probably don't know it's a patch over a hole. They think it's cute. For my son's jeans, camouflage patches work better than denim, and obviously he'd want a different shape.

Repairing shoes is fairly easily, too. My loafers had the bottom and top split apart, and I was able to glue them back together with 'gorilla glue' and get a few more months out of them.

Do what you can to treat stains on clothing - to get rid of grease stains: Apply a small amount of liquid dish soap to the grease stain, and let sit for several hours before washing. You may have to treat stains two or three times, but this really does work.

Track your spending

2010-01-16T23:31:00.000-06:00

If you are having trouble making ends meet, it helps a lot to know where your money is being spent so you can make good decisions about where to cut back. You might be surprised at what you learn about your spending habits.

There are a lot of ways to track spending, just use trial and error until you find what works for you.

The Notebook Method - Write down everything you buy. You can use a check register or a notebook, but if you forget to bring it with you, it doesn't to a lot of good.

PDA or Cell Phone - Keep eletronic notes about all of your purchases in your phone or PDA. Everyone can remember to carry their cell phone even if they can't remember to grab a notebook and a pen.

Keep Your Receipts - This is what my family does. It was hard to remember at first, so we only kept gas and grocery receipts, but now we keep all receipts, no matter what. A great way to keep receipts organized is with an accordion file with 12 pockets, one for each month of the year. Just get a new accordion file at the beginning of a new year.

Spreadsheet -No matter how you are tracking purchases. a spreadsheet will help you see the bigger picture. Simply divide your receipts into categories at the end of a month, and add up the total of each category. You will easily be able to see what groceries and gas cost you from month to month. If you need more detail, you can dig into your receipts or your notebook to see what was purchased.

Once you get into the habit of tracking your spending, keep going with it. Having a good idea of what you are spending at all times is very helpful in setting a budget and sticking with it. You'll be able to recognize really good sales by tracking your purchases, too.

How to Cook Brown Rice

2010-01-13T20:21:00.003-06:00

Brown rice goes well with practically anything, and it is cheap. I like to make a double batch and keep some in the fridge for making quick meals. Learning to cook brown rice is easy. You just need the patience to leave it alone and resist temptation to lift the lid and stir it.

Cooking Brown Rice

Pour 2 cups of water in a medium sauce pan, heat to boiling.
Pour in 1 cup of brown rice, stir and cover with a lid.
Turn heat down to low, and set a timer for 45 minutes.

Do not lift the lid, not even once until 45 Minutes are up!

To keep the rice warm without clumping: Cover with a towel, and then with a lid tilted to allow some airflow.

Food Storage Note: Because of the oils in the bran, brown rice does not work well for long term storage. Use it up within 6 months!

Preparing for uncertain times

2010-01-10T00:24:00.003-06:00

If you lost your job, wouldn't you want to have a supply of food on hand for your family while you find another job? Gathering an extra supply of food can be done without straining your budget.

Try the "one to use and one to store" method of slowly building up your food supply. Stock up during sales.

Start with basic foods: dry beans and white rice, but make sure you're storing food you will actually eat.

Protect against spoilage: Write dates on your stored food and rotate them into your every-day supply. Restock your stored food when things go on sale.

Store non-food necessities like toilet paper, tooth paste, baby needs, sanitary needs, etc.

Have a supply of first aid items and any medications your family needs.

If you have a small home, store food under beds, behind couches, any unused closet space.

Low-Fat Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies - made with beans

2010-01-08T16:02:00.006-06:00

These cookies are filling, and so yummy!
There is no "bean" taste, and no weird aftertaste, just delicious cookie goodness.

½ cup cooked white beans, pureed or smashed
1 cup light brown sugar
3 TB honey
4 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 ¼ cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
2 cups chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans

Beat pureed beans and sugar together. Add eggs, honey, and vanilla. In separate bowl sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

Add flour mixture to the bean & sugar mixture, stir until well blended. Stir in chocolate chips, and pecans.

Cover and refrigerate dough for 1 hour. Preheat oven to 350°F.

Drop by rounded teaspoon onto greased cookie sheet. Bake 10-15 minutes depending on size of cookies. Makes 4 dozen.

Recipe Credit: This recipe came from Crystal at Everyday Food Storage, with just a tiny modification.

Buy in bulk: a little work saves a lot of money!

2010-01-04T14:05:00.002-06:00

You can save a lot of money if you buy meat in bulk, and then split it up into recipe sized portions. Then you only have to thaw out what you need for one meal at a time.

I love to use just a little bit of bacon in a lot of my dishes as a seasoning, but bacon is expensive! At first I was shaving a bit off of the end of a frozen package to use as seasoning, but then I found something better! Look in the cold case where the bacon is for a big box that says "ends and pieces" on it. Sometimes you can get ends and pieces from the butcher counter. When it isn't on sale, it's something like $5.00 for 3lbs of bacon. If I'm dicing it for a recipe, I don't care what shape it started out to be!

I cut it open and untangle it all, then repackage in single-dish sized portions in resealable bags, roll them up and keep them in the freezer. I got 18 portions of bacon from one box so it may last me two months of good bacony cooking.

We do the same thing when we find good sales on chicken breast and repackage them into recipe sized portions in plastic bags. Ground beef is pretty easy to find in bulk packages and also pretty easy to split it up into recipe portions as well.

Fun birthday cakes for cheap

2010-01-02T13:25:00.002-06:00

I have had plenty of grocery store and bakery cakes, but I really prefer to make one at home. However, I'm not going to make one from scratch if I'm busy planning a party. I use box cake mixes and they always get rave reviews because I do something creative with them each time.

Add some fun to a box mix cake by adding:

A can of mandarin oranges, syrup and all (or any small can of fruit!)
Juice from a jar of maraschino cherries to any flavor cake
A can of pie filling - don't mix much, for a marbled effect with of pockets of fruit
Any chopped, dried fruit
Chocolate chips (this is great in a white or yellow cake!)
Chopped nuts

Easy Filled Layer Cake: bake the cake mix in 2 round pans, then spread any kind of jelly, jam, or preserves between the layers as the filling. We found out that fig preserves is delicious!

Make a Jello Poke Cake

Follow the box directions for a white or yellow cake, let it cool.
Use a fork to poke holes all over the cake (You will have to stop and clean the fork a lot .)
Combine 2 small boxes of jello with 2 cups of boiling water, mix well.
Pour evenly over the cake.
Put the cake in the fridge for at least two hours to set.
Frost with cool whip, pudding, or anything you like!

Throw-it-together Cream Cheese Frosting

For one 9x13 cake, you need:

1 package cream cheese, softened
1 or 2 pounds of powdered sugar
Optional - flavoring of some kind

Place softened cream cheese in a large bowl, and add a flavoring, such as vanilla extract, lemon or cherry juice, cinnamon, or whatever you have.

Start mixing in the sugar, a little at a time. Keep adding sugar until the frosting is a consistency you like, then spread it over the cake with a rubber spatula.

Be sure to write something on the cake or add sprinkles - whatever you have!

We all are having a tough time making ends meet, and it is even more important now to celebrate the joys in life. Being frugal doesn't mean that you have to give up everything, you just need to put a little more thought into what you do. Be creative and spend the time to make something fun.

Read the Label: Know What You Are Eating

2010-01-01T11:25:00.001-06:00

Happy New Year!! We look at the New Year as a time to make positive changes in our lives and find ways to be happier and healthier, but where do we start?

One of the most important pieces of advice I can offer is this: Read the label on everything you buy, especially your food. You might be shocked at how much sodium and fat is in everything. Soy and or high fructose corn syrup is in everything, too. MSG... Hydrolyzed whatever-the-heck-blech!!

Teach your kids to read food labels, too. My son has been a label reader since he began learning to read. We don't buy prepackaged crackers-and-cheese lunches for him and he won't touch them if his buddies offer. I can't say that there is NO pre-packaged food in my house, but what little there is - you can bet that we've all read the label and we know (as well as you can know) what we are eating.

Stop buying chemical laden seasonings and sauces and learn to make your own - it's not difficult and there are websites everywhere with recipes to get you started, and I'll be posting some of mine. This is another reason it's a good idea to learn to cook.

There is no better time to start taking better care of yourself and your family, no matter who you are. Here are a few places to start:

Make your own laundry soap
Make your own pancake and biscuit mix
Make your own household cleaners

My super cheap and low-fat secret!

2009-12-31T11:59:00.009-06:00

I found a great secret to low-fat, satisfying meals and snacks - beans! If I hadn't told them, my family would never know.

I made delicious chocolate chip pecan cookies at Christmas this year as gifts for family. They were a HUGE hit, and they are healthy and low-fat. Instead of white flour, I used whole wheat flour, and the fat in was replaced with an equal amount of pureed white beans. That's it! The cookies are very filling and satisfying. You can get the recipe here! Note: I added a teaspoon of cinnamon and I replaced 3 TB of the brown sugar with honey.

The day after Christmas, I came down with a nasty flu. I wanted creamy chicken soup but we didn't have any.... so I made my own from scratch. I sauteed some leftover ham and bacon, with some onion, celery and garlic, then tossed in some chopped carrot and just enough water to cover and let that simmer. The "cream of" part is nothing more than more pureed white beans. I had pressure cooked a one pound package of white beans, then pureed the whole batch. Since I only needed a half cup for my cookies, I had quite a bit left over. I poured in the pureed beans and let the soup simmer for about 15 minutes. The whole thing took 20 minutes from initial craving to chowing down. Boy was it good, and exactly what I needed when I was feeling sick! Yes, I know that ham does not equal chicken... but it still satisfied my craving perfectly without having to send anyone to the grocery store.

With my family's budget having to stretch further and further, I have been cracking jokes about making everything we eat out of beans. "Bean-nanna-bread". "Bean-ia-coladas". After a while the joke has helped me find or create a bunch of great new recipes.

Teen boy birthday party for cheap

2009-12-20T10:53:00.012-06:00

I had a crisis on my hands recently. My son was turning 15, and throwing a "video game party" was not an option. We had a ban on video games in the house during that time. I didn't have enough in my budget to throw a party anywhere else. A two hour bowling party was $170.00 and wasn't going to be "cool" enough for teen boys. His birthday was also on a week day that he had an evening class.

I talked to everyone I know, asking for ideas of free things to do for a teen boy's birthday. I got two generous offers from friends. You never know what resources someone may be willing to share until you ask.

For the actual day of my son's birthday, we had his grandparents over for an early dinner with cake and ice cream. The gifts we gave him were modest but well received.

His party with friends was on the weekend. We chose an "air soft war games party" hosted at a building some friends of ours use for a theatrical production. Between two families, we had enough "soft air" bb guns and eye protection for everyone. The boys and the dads had a blast. After the games were over, everyone headed back to our house for food. The boys put on a dvd movie, which they all ignored, and sat around the table playing card games, eating, and being loud. They were having a good time without video games - I knew it was possible!

Including gifts, we pulled off a 15th birthday celebration for under $100.00

Family dinner party with grand parents

$ 3.00 Chicken (bought on deep sale and stashed in the freezer)
$ 5.00 Two packages smoked sausage (not on sale)
$ 0.50 Home made field peas + brown rice (had this in my freezer)
$ 3.00 Total cost of birthday cake
(jello poke cake with home made cream cheese icing)
$ 5.00 Carton of fancy ice cream
______
$ 16.50 Total cost of family party

***************************
Teen Party

$ 4.00 Giant bag of tortilla chips
$ 7.00 Huge jug of picante sauce (will last us forever if I freeze half of it)
$ 0.25 Home made bean dip (I had some in my freezer already)
$15.00 Three frozen pizzas (store brand)
$ 5.00 Giant bucket of ice cream
$ 0.00 Left over birthday cake
______
$31.25 Total for teen party

Uses for old jeans

2009-12-11T09:57:00.011-06:00

Don't throw your old jeans in the trash. There are just too many things you can do with them.

When I get a pair of jeans for my fabric stash, I cut along the seams to harvest as much fabric as possible. I save the seams that go down the outside of each leg to tie up tomato plants or tie up extra extension cords. Why throw any piece away if you can put it to use?

If you have a fire pit in your yard, the leftover denim scraps make pretty good kindling for starting a fire. Just stuff some scraps into an empty toilet paper tube.

Make denim pillows and small purses from sections of the legs or the top portion.

Use the leftovers from one pair of jeans to patch another.

With a couple layers of old towels or even t shirt material as padding, you can make hot pads for the kitchen, or place mats for your table. Don't worry about straight lines or beautiful sewing, just call them "art" - that is what works for me!

Denim quilts and throws are fun and fairly easy to make if you have a sewing machine. This is what I'm doing with my stash of denim. I have been collecting old jeans for about a year and I almost have enough to make a queen sized blanket. I went with the "circle denim quilt" design for mine. Here is a great "how-to" for the denim circle quilt!

Check your receipt!

2009-12-10T16:46:00.005-06:00

Even though every store has digital price scanning, you should always check your receipt before leaving a store. Make sure all coupons got applied correctly, and that you were charged the correct price for the things you bought. You may be very surprised at how often you find errors.

Most of my grocery shopping trips recently have included a stop by the customer service counter to get a refund for incorrect prices.I will stand in line for a refund of thirteen cents. In smaller stores, this helps ensure that someone in management knows about items ringing up incorrectly at the register.

On the average, the mistakes and incorrect prices I find only add up to a couple of dollars per shoppoing trip but I have spotted a pricing mistake that was over $20.00 more than once.

I discovered I'd been taken advantage of a few times by a dishonest cashier . She had been slyly adding cash-back to my debit purchases. I'm not sure how many times she had done that to me before I caught on, but now I wish I'd started checking my receipts sooner!

Now that I check my receipts before leaving a store, I'm a lot more aware of how much I'm spending on a day-to-day basis and often think twice before heading to the store.

Make your own laundry soap

2009-12-04T22:23:00.004-06:00

Cutting back on the amount of laundry detergent you use does save you quite a bit but at $8.00 for a box of the cheap stuff, that is STILL too much for me. I researched home made laundry detergent and soap (not the same thing!), and here is what worked for me. I will never go back to regular detergent. I LOVE how my clothes feel now that all the commercial detergent crap is gone.

Home Made Laundry Soap

Ingredients:

1 bar of Zote soap
2 - 3 cups of Washing Soda (NOT baking soda)
1 cup of Borax (Optional! it may fade dark clothes over time)

How to make it:
Grate one bar of Zote with a fine grater (or a food processor),
Mix in washing soda and borax if you like.

Really hard, huh?

Yield: approx 30 loads of laundry

How to use it:
Add 1 to 2 Tablespoons per load of laundry.
If you have an especially dirty load, add a bit more more washing soda, you don't need more soap.
Add 1/3 cup of white vinegar to the rinse load as a fabric softener.

What it cost me:
78 cents per bar of Zote soap, found in the laundry aisle.
3.50 per box of Washing Soda, also in the laundry aisle (88 cents per batch)
2.75 per box of Borax, surprise... laundry aisle! (45 cents per batch)
That breaks down to: .78 + .88 + .45 = $2.11 per batch.
Approximately 7 cents per load of laundry!!!
Figure in the white vinegar and you're still only spending about ten cents per load.

Look online for other home made laundry recipes, you may prefer making this in liquid form (but you have to have big buckets to do it!). I prefer it this way because I have limited space.

Other notes on making this recipe:
Do NOT use just any kind of bar-soap!! Many of them contain oils and perfumes that can stain and otherwise ruin your clothes .

If you live in a humid climate (like I do) you may have trouble grating the bar of laundry soap, it can be sticky and moist. You might have to make it in liquid form if it is too sticky. 2010 EDIT: Just throw the bar of Zote in the freezer for a while, it will firm up. Grate till it is gooey and put it back in the freezer, etc I have to do this every summer.

In a dry climate, the soap grates into a fine powder and you must be careful not to inhale it.

Homemade Quick Biscuit Mix

2009-12-03T21:58:00.003-06:00

There are several variations of this recipe on the web, but this is the one I have been using for years.

Homemade Biscuit Mix
Ingredients:
6 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons of baking powder
1 tablespoon salt
1 cup vegetable shortening

Directions:
Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.
Cut in shortening with a pastry blender, or do what I do: scoop it out of the measuring cup a teaspoon at a time, then work it with your hands until it has a mealy fine-crumb texture. It will resemble the mix you're used to buying.
Store the mixture in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to 4 months. Use it just like commercial Bisquick.

Here is my family's favorite recipe:

Garlic Cheddar Biscuits
(My sons swears these are better than the ones at seafood restaurants!)

Ingredients
2 cups home made biscuit mix
2/3 cup milk
1/2 cup shredded cheese
2 tablespoons butter or margerine
minced garlic or garlic salt
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Stir biscuit mix and shredded cheese together. Add the milk and stir until a soft dough forms. Drop dough by spoonfuls (6 or 9 biscuits works for us) onto an ungreased, non-stick cookie sheet.
Bake 10 to 15 minutes (your oven may vary) until golden brown. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a small dish and add the garlic.
When biscuits are done, brush the tops with the garlic butter. Enjoy!

Dry Beans: cheap, nutritious and taste great!

2009-12-01T18:00:00.004-06:00

I have been married for sixteen years. (Go us!) For about fifteen and a half of those years, we thought we hated dry beans! I tried many different methods of soaking, slow cooking , you name it... I tried it. We just couldn't stand the texture. I thought I would never find what works for us. My mother-in-law gave us an electric pressure cooker for Christmas in December of 2008 and now that is how I prepare dinner almost every night.
Here''s what she told me to do:

Sort and rinse dry beans, then boil them hard for about a minute. Dump out the water and put the beans in the pressure cooker with some more water and whatever spices we like, then put the lid on and set it to cook on high for 30 minutes or so.

VOILA!!! Dry beans that we will eat. I estimate that this tip has saved us $100 or more each month on groceries.
Now we have cut our meat intake by 70%. Yes... we're eating only 30% of the meat we ate before I got the pressure cooker. On the average, we are eating a beans-and-rice type meal five nights per week.
Here is my basic recipe:

Sort and rinse beans, set them on the stove to boil. When they have been at a rolling boil for a minute or two, dump out the water, add fresh water and boil once more. I'm told this helps to reduce the gas, and it seems to work!
Meanwhile, brown a tiny amount of bacon with the "brown" setting on the pressure cooker . I keep a package of bacon in the freezer and just shave a little bit off the end for a nice flavor. 1 lb of good, thick bacon will last me a month this way!
Cut up a small amount of chicken. I use a half-breast or 2-3 tenders, or just any little bit of meat I have on hand. (You don't really need any meat with the beans.) Toss the diced chicken in the pressure cooker and brown a bit.
Toss in some diced onion and celery. Add some garlic and whatever spices you like. We like fresh basil, thyme, rosemary, marjoram, and oregano, sometimes some chili powder.
Add the twice-boiled beans and some fresh water. I usually also add about a half-cup of quinoa and a little extra water.
Secure the lid and cook for about 35 minutes.
Enjoy over brown rice.

Note: If you want to add anything acidic like tomatos, cook the beans most of the way done then add them for just the last few minutes. It takes a little while to depressurize the cooker first, so most of the time I don't use tomato at all.

A one-pound package of dry beans costs around a dollar, and contains thirteen (1/4 cup) servings.
One-fourth cup of cooked dry beans or peas counts as 1 ounce equivalent of meat, fish or poultry
Dry beans and legumes are an excellent source of protein.
Beans are high in fiber, folate and magnesium, and very low in total fat, saturated fat and cholesterol.

Recipe for low fat chocolate chip pecan cookies using beans to replace the fat!!

Grandpa's Flag Pole Ornament

2009-11-18T21:12:00.001-06:00

When I was a child, my family visited Grandma and Grandpa in Cumberland, MD every summer. They lived in an interesting old house on McMullen Highway. I could go on for days about how wonderful it was to be there, but for now I'll just tell one true story.

Grandpa had a flag pole in the front yard, and every morning he would raise the American Flag, and then take it down and fold it up nicely every day at dusk. I remember one year when I was about five or six I heard everyone outside in the yard laughing about something. Dad was shading his eyes and looking up, pointing at the top of the flag pole. Mom was cackling hysterically. I heard "isn't that sacreligious?" among the giggles.

I went outside and looked up at Grandpa's flag pole, expecting to see underpants in place of the flag, but it all looked normal to me. As usual, I saw his American Flag at the top of a white pole with a gold ball style topper. Mom wiped the tears from her eyes and told me the ball on the top was a toilet tank float. Storms the week berfore had knocked down the flag pole and the nice topper was missing. Instead of going to the hardware store to buy a new one, he rummaged around in his garage and found something he already had. I didn't know what a toilet tank float was, so she took me inside the house to show me the floater inside the tank. Grandpa was always good for a laugh.

Now that I think about it... it just makes sense. This is just how my Grandpa lived every day of his life. He kept all of his screws and nails in empty pickle jars. The cinnamon candies he gave us came out of a re-purposed instant coffee jar. The quilt on his bed was hand made by Grandma, made with fabric cut from clothing that was no longer wearble. They had everything they needed, and lived comfortably on their tiny retirement income. I learned SO much from them about using what you have. They both died when I was a teen, but I think of them every time I pull a jar out of my cabinet to store something. I don't have a flag pole in my yard, but if I did you can bet I'd have some re-purposed item as an ornament on top, just for Grandpa.

Frugal Kitchen Step 1: Learn to Cook!

2009-11-12T23:32:00.002-06:00

The best thing you can do for yourself and your family is learn to cook - KNOW what goes into your food. Don't be afraid of your kitchen! The most significant area of your life where you can save money is groceries and food. Learning to cook can be fun, and you WILL save money!
A sit-down restaurant meal for a family of three costs at minimum $30, and fast-food meals run about $15. With a little planning, you can serve a full pancake-house style breakfast for about $1 per plate. Every time you cook a meal at home, you will save money. That is a sure thing!

(Left: November 2001 - My first apple pie - mostly from scratch. You can see that I blobbed dough from scratch on top of a pre-made crust. It was SO good, though! )

If you don't know your way around the kitchen, start with simple dishes and build your cooking skills over time. Shop thrift stores and garage sales for cookbooks with very simple recipes that involve fewer ingredients and steps. Don't be afraid of trial-and-error. Every good cook has made their share of mistakes. Keep notes on your successful experiments so you can repeat them later!

Thanksgiving Holiday Table

2009-11-06T20:12:00.008-06:00

Holiday table decor on the cheap!

With Thanksgiving fast approaching, you probably already have everything you need to dress up your table laying on the ground outside. The possibilities are endless if you use your imagination combined with whatever you have on hand. Look through your cabinets for table cloths, ribbons, scrap fabric and nick-nacks that will dress up your home.

Send the kids outside to hunt for the most beautiful leaves and pine cones in the yard. Make sure to brush off any dirt and shake out any bugs before bringing them inside! Ask the kids to arrange leaves in a fan pattern under the plates and place pine cones on saucers or in bowls in the center of the table. We used tea cups and saucers to create candle-holders and to give our decorations some height.

You can help your children cut leaves from brown paper bags, construction paper, or anything else you have on hand. If your child made a turkey or any other fall art project - by all means put it on the table for everyone to enjoy. You will miss those hand-turkeys and stick-pilgrims when your little ones are grown. The little boy in the photo at the right is a teen now, and if I ask him to make me a turkey hand, he'll roll his eyes and say "MooOOoooommm.... no way."

If you'd prefer a more grown-up look, layer fall colored paper or fabrics under each place setting. Place a pillar or taper candle in a bowl, then layer sweet gum balls or pine cones around the base of the candle. Place votive candles in wine goblets, then tie a ribbon around the stem.

Brew your own fancy coffee

2009-10-30T16:27:00.002-05:00

In one year, at an average of $4 per cup, you spend $850 to have specialty coffee at work. If you make an initial $15 investment for a good thermos and then brew a small amount of your favorite coffee at home, you can save over $700 a year.

You can add cinnamon and vanilla, condensed milk and other flavorings at a very small extra cost. You're still going to save close to $700 each year.

Old Socks: Don't Throw Them Away!

2009-10-25T18:27:00.000-05:00

Old socks are one of the best money saving tools a thrifty person can have. Socks make great cleaning rags, polishing cloths, bleaching cloths, dusters, or just about anything else, and you can toss them in your washing machine. If you have a particularly nasty mess to clean up, just throw the sock away.

Give your kids a few old socks and some craft supplies and let them make hand puppets. They might find old socks handy for carrying and storing marbles or other small toys.

Fill the toe of a sock with dry beans, tie a knot and cut off the extra to make "crazy hackey sack" that doesn't fly normally. Alternately, fill about half way with dry beans and sew shut to make bean bags that younger kids can toss into empty coffee cans.

You can fill an old sock with potpouri, cedar chips, or anything else you like, then tie it shut and toss it in the back of one of your clothes drawers as a sachet.

Where do you store all of these old socks? Everywhere! Tuck them in with your bath towels, kitchen towels, out in the garage.

Free Halloween Costumes

2009-10-15T20:19:00.002-05:00

If you have any clothes in your closet at all, you have Halloween costumes in there too. You can also go look at thrift stores for ideas and pieces of your costume. The point is to have fun, not to spend a lot of money!

The Pugilist: Bruised / Black Eye - use red and blue or blue and yellow eyeshadow over cheekbones and jaw, and red and blue in the depressions around the eyes. Homemade Fake Blood - Mix 2/3 cup white corn syrup with 1 teaspoon red food coloring, 2-3 drops blue food coloring to darken and 1 small squirt of dish soap to make the blood a little bit runny before it dries.

Scrapes or Road-Rash - rub on some black, brown or red eyeshadow, then apply some home-made blood. Allow some dirt or brown powder to stick, then gently scrape in one direction with a plastic comb. Draw tire-marks across an old tshirt.

Concrete Shoes - Cover tissue boxes with grey paper or paint, then stick your feet inside them.

Old Man / Woman - Draw lines on your face with any makeup pencil, then dust with baby powder or face powder. Dust your hair with baby powder to make it look grey. Wear old wire-frame glasses, but push the lenses out first! Any out of style or old fashioned clothes, hats or shoes are great. For old women - wear long nylon stockings rolled down to the ankles, old fashioned flowered dress, a lace or knit shawl, or a scarf around the head. Carry stuffed cat or a very small stuffed dog. For old men - old fishing hat, slacks pulled up to armpits, bowling or saddle shoes, argyle sweater vest, bow-tie.

Rise and Shine - Rub shampoo into dry hair to create that wild just-woke-up look, or skip the shampoo and put your hair very messily into curlers. Dab some dark eyeshadow under your eyes to create "black circles". Wear a bathrobe and slippers. Carry a teddy bear, if you like. Wear a sleeping mask on your head, like you just took it off.

Miss Universe - Wear any old formal dress from any era. Use a strip of an old sheet or some paper to create a sash on which you can write or paint Miss America, Miss New York or whatever you like. Create a silly tiara out of tinfoil and a paper plate.

Game Show Host - Wear any suit, preferably something colorful. Slick your hair back, make sure to practice your game show host smile! Have a handful of index cards in your pocket and randomly pull them out and ask people trivia questions. Say: "I'm sorry, the answer must be in the form of a question!"

Home Made Cleaners

2009-10-01T21:56:00.002-05:00

Home made cleaners: safe, effective, and extremely cheap!!

Most household cleaners are harsh and toxic. They can become extremely poisonous when mixed together. There is a much better way! Commercial cleaners average about $3 per bottle, but you can make your own safe cleaners for $.03 to $.30 per bottle. You can get as fancy as you like with your home made cleaners, but "keep it simple" really does work!
Most of these ingredients are things you probably already have:

scouring powder - all you need is a sprinkle of salt or baking soda and an old sock or sponge. An empty spice bottles are good for air-tight storage and for dispensing the powder. I keep mine in an empty peanut butter jar and scoop it out with a little plastic spoon in the jar.
glass cleaner - Fill a spray bottle with water and add a half-teaspoon of white vinegar or rubbing alcohol.
disinfectant spray - Mix equal parts vinegar and water in a spray bottle. Vinegar is an excellent disinfectant and when it dries, there is no vinegar smell. Honest! We use vinegar and water to clean everything.
floor cleaner - Mop with 1 part vinegar to 2 parts warm water
wood floor cleaner - Mix freshly brewed black tea into warm water and mop. This leaves a nice shine on wood floors.
If you have vinegar and baking soda in your pantry, you are already set to refill your household cleaner containers at one-tenth the cost!

One great side-effect of using simple home made cleaners, is that you only need a fraction of the space to store them. No more cabinets crammed with cleaning supplies!

Zero Spending Challenge

2009-09-21T20:04:00.000-05:00

Issue a "Zero Spending Challenge" to your family to find ways to use what you already have and avoid any extra shopping trips as long as possible. This works very well for people who get paid once or twice per month.

Plan your meals around the items you already have in your pantry, get creative and find ways to use the stuff you threw in the back because you weren't sure what to do with it. There are great websites like AllRecipes.com which have an ingredient search that helps you find recipes that use specific ingredients.

When you run out of cleaning supplies or disinfectant spray, mix up some home made using about a 50/50 solution of vinegar and water, or scour with salt and baking soda.

Find free activities you enjoy, such as take a walk to the park, visit the library, do a movie swap with friends.

Stop Electricity Leaks

2009-09-10T19:57:00.000-05:00

Many devices in your home use a small amount of electricity even when they are turned off. Your VCR and microwave draw power continuously for the time display. Does your coffee maker have a clock or a timer?

Go around your home and make a list of the devices or appliances that have a clock or digital display on them. Each one is using 3 to 5 watts of electricity. You may be surprised to find out how much electricity is flowing out of your wall sockets day and night.

There is practically no reason why you shouldn't unplug most of these devices while you are not using them. My VCR takes about two seconds to reorient itself when I plug it back in, but that is a small trade so that it is not "leaking" electricity the other 23 hours of the day I'm not using it. Instead of leaving your coffee maker in automatic timer mode all night, just turn the power on when you wake up.

Getting rid of electricity "leaks" in your home won't save you hundreds of dollars, but taking the time to evaluate areas of waste will definitely add up.

Coupons: Saving Money or Impulse Buying?

2009-09-01T12:22:00.001-05:00

When you use coupons, are you buying more just for the bargain? Before you start looking through the coupon insert in the newspaper, do you make out your grocery list? Are you scanning only for coupons that can be used for the items on your list?

My Grandmother taught me that coupons get you looking for more things to buy. "I don't need it right now, but it's on SALE! " I'm definitely not telling you that you can't save money with coupons, but keep in mind that coupons are a marketing tool intended to sell more products.

Most coupons are for pre-made meals, mixes or boxed dinners, so I almost never use them. I don't find coupons for basic items such as dry beans, eggs, flour, or rice.

I have discovered that there are a few cases in which a bargain brand just doesn't work out, and I much prefer a particular brand name product. That's what I'm looking for when I scan the coupon inserts. Some grocery store loyalty cards will allow you to double and even triple some coupons, so if you use them wisely you can make out like a bandit.

Go Shopping in Your Closet

2009-08-15T17:40:00.000-05:00

At the start of every school year, it is a good idea to search through your closets and drawers before doing any shopping. You will find all kinds of items you had tucked away for various reasons, and your kids likely have all kinds of clothes under the toys piled up in the bottom of their closets.

This year (2009), I only needed to spend about $12 on clothes for my son to start the 9th grade. Several months ago we bought a very nice backpack that never got used for its intended purpose, so it was still new. There were a couple of nice polo shirts that he dug out from behind his dresser, plus a whole pile of socks that had been slowly disappearing back there. (Mystery solved!) We went through several boxes in the hall closet and gathered almost all of the school supplies he needed, and rediscovered a few nice light jackets we had forgotten about.

Going through your own closets and boxes in the basement or attic before going shopping will not only save you a lot of money, but you'll find things you have been looking for, or things you'd forgotten you had.

Quality Tools for Every-Day Jobs

2009-08-10T21:26:00.000-05:00

When you need to spend money on household items, don’t simply pick up the cheapest thing you can find. You can pick up a set of ‘cheap’ cookware for $20 at a discount store, but you’re going to spend more in the long run.

Cheap pans are thin, easily bendable, and the non-stick coating begins to flake into your food almost immediately. This is unhealthy and it isn’t long before you need to replace your pans. Cookware is something you use every day to prepare your food, so it should be good quality.

My grandmother cooked breakfast for me in the cast iron skillet she had since she was first married. That skillet probably cost less than $2.00 and was used almost every day for over seventy years and it’s still in someone’s cabinet today, but unfortunately it’s not my cabinet. :-)

Cast iron may not be your cup of tea, but you spend less when you can purchase things once and use them for years. You still don’t need to fork out hundreds of dollars for a set of cookware, just watch garage sales and thrift stores for that one good piece of bake ware or cookware tucked in among the thin, chipped pans.

Line drying lowers utility bills

2009-08-09T13:42:00.000-05:00

Ok... who likes line-dried laundry? Almost nobody, however you can't ignore how much money it can save you.

Hang your wet clothes on a line outside, or over your shower curtain rod until they are just damp, then tumble for a short time with low heat to "fluff" them up and finish drying. You'll notice a savings on your energy bill immediately just from line-drying, and your clothes will last longer!

Get a Library Card

2009-08-02T18:37:00.000-05:00

If you have kids, get each of them a library card. Almost all public libraries have a DVD / VHS section filled with movies, categorized by rating or age levels, which can be borrowed for free. They won't have a lot of new releases but you will find plenty of classics, entire seasons of television series - definitely something for everyone. Show your kids all of your childhood favorites.

Be dilligent and return library items on time to avoid over-due fees which can be $1.00 per day for DVD and VHS. While you're looking for movies, don't forget to slip in a book or two for the kids and the adults. I have always found lots of great books on budget cooking, gardening and canning, frugal living, home made gifts, crafts and just about anyting else you can think of.

Reusable Packaging

2009-07-30T22:55:00.001-05:00

When you are comparing prices in the grocery store, also take a good look at item packaging. Can you reuse the container? Will it stand up to repeated use? How many different ways can you put it to use? But don't forget to take into account whether or not you have room to store a few of the empty containers.

In the South, most grocery stores carry jam and jelly packed in drinking glasses. The jam is the same price as the other low-priced products but once you're finished with it, you have a drinking glass to add to your collection instead of a jar to throw away. Jelly is the one item which I purposefully buy in glass jars. For everything else I stick to plastic containers when I can. You can be as hard-core a spendthrift as you want. You can reuse everything including your glass jars, but if you have kids the risk of injury outweighs a thrifty benefit.

Plastic tubs and jars are great for saving leftovers in the refrigerator or freezing soups and sauces. I use my large plastic jars to store dry goods like rice and sugar. My family is still using the sturdy plastic butter tubs that my father started saving in 1965!

Dressing Well on a Budget

2009-07-14T17:17:00.001-05:00

Dressing well doesn’t have to cost you a fortune. If you stick to the basics and accessorize to fit the look you want, you won’t be spending much to look good.

Start with at least three pair of solid color slacks or skirts in neutral colors like black, brown, and grey and you will have an easier time choosing tops that match all of your bottoms. A clearance rack dress might be a great deal, but it is a single outfit that won’t mix-and-match. Look for solid color turtlenecks or tank tops to pair with cardigans and blazers.

These basic items are the foundation of your wardrobe, so you need quality clothes that will last. Find a reasonably priced department store which carries good brands and watch for sales. Don’t shop at Low-Price-Mart for the basics because you won’t get a lot of use out of "cheap" clothes. Good quality is worth a few dollars more.

Dress up your look with scarves and jewelry found at garage sales and thrift stores. You might also find trendy clothes for a fraction of the original price. It won’t matter so much that these items are slightly worn because the style won’t last very long.

Free Summer Fun: Water Painting

2009-07-10T14:47:00.000-05:00

Have you run out of sidewalk chalk?

Don't set foot inside a store... if you're like me you'll be tempted to pick up all kinds of goodies for the kids.

Instead, give them a bucket of water and some paintbrushes to "paint" the sidewalk. or driveway. You can let them stamp the sidewalk with sponges, give them old socks to make silly footprints or "snake prints".

Hold speed-painting contests or challenge your kids to see who can paint shapes with their eyes closed, or write messages for airplanes to see. With simple tools to play with, kids will naturally use their imaginations to invent all sorts of fun. Spray the kids down with the hose and have them lay down and make body prints on the cement.

The only cleanup involved is putting away the brushes and hanging up some clothing to dry. Don't be surprised if you enjoy 'water painting' as much as the kids!

*Don't forget the sun screen and some clean water for drinking!!

Lowering Laundry Costs

2009-07-07T22:01:00.000-05:00

Cut the amount of soap you use down to 1/3 of the recommended amount. Chances are you’ve been using too much detergent all along. Try running a regular load with no soap - you will see suds. Wash without detergent again, and you will still see suds!

Add 1/4 cup white vinegar to the rinse load in place of fabric softener. Vinegar helps the soap rinse out more completely, removes odors, and softens your clothes naturally for tenth the price of commercial softeners.

Hang wet clothes on a line or over a curtain rod, then tumble for a short time to finish drying. You can lower your energy bill by running your dryer on shorter cycles.

To make your clothes last longer, make sure to zip up all of your pants and jackets before tossing them into the washer. Open zippers cause extra wear and tear on your clothes in the washer and the dryer. The same goes for button-fly, too.

Try home made laundry soap. It costs a whole lot less than commercial detergents. I tried it and I'm never going back!!