Frugal Hacks

Frugal Summer Meals

DL — Tue, 22 May 2012 11:46:13 +0000

Feeling the heat beginning to build up in my house, I tell myself to bake the bread later in the day when the house will already be hot. As I am not yet turning on the air-conditioner, adding more heat to a hot house is not an issue. By putting off my bread baking, I will at least keep things cooler while busy with my other household chores. Continuing to contemplate the fact that the Summer season is upon us here in South Texas, I remember my previous thoughts about the seasons and the frugal life.

Realizing my days of soup making, the roasting of vegetables, baking of potatoes and all the other cooler weather activities are coming to a close, I decide to challenge myself to find some great frugal summer meal alternatives. Right now my garden has four tomato plants with a nice collection of green tomatoes. The crockneck yellow squash I was so excited about and purchased as a plant must have cross-pollinated with something else and alas, I am growing gourds which can not be eaten! Grateful for my tomatoes, I know green salads will be on my summer menu. Thinking through my past summer meal practices, I know I will do best if I have a plan in place. The following are some of my frugal summer meal ideas:

Black bean chili which can be made quick on the stovetop or cooked in my crockpot

Chef salads made with grilled meats or those already cooked and in the freezer

Green salads topped with kidney beans and or nuts, raisins and raw vegetables

Nachos made with organic corn chips topped with cooked beans and melted cheese or cooked ground meat or chicken and melted cheese

Deviled eggs, cheese and crackers and salad or raw veggies and dip

Sauteed can salmon with brown rice and vegetables

Pasta Salads or pasta with sauce or olive oil and vegetables.

For me, Summer will mean more food shopping as greens will be my mainstay. Since produce will be the basis for many of my meals, I more than likely will travel a bit farther if necessary to get better prices which means more gas and time in the car. However, there is a produce place not too far from where my grandbabies live so it should work out well!

How about you? Any good suggestions for frugal summer meals?

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Countertop Compost

DeputyHeadmistress — Fri, 18 May 2012 06:34:34 +0000

Keep a container of the following sorts of kitchen scraps: egg shells (break them up really well), coffee grounds, teabags, bits and pieces of peelings from vegetables and fruits. Sprinkle a bit of dirt over each layer. Once it's full, then it's time to turn it or shake it every day or two. In a surprisingly short time, you will have enough compost to grow something small- an herb, a bit of greens, your own purslane, radishes.

What container to use? An ice cream bucket- poke holes in the lid. Compost only really smells when it doesn't get oxygen in it. Spread a layer of cheese cloth or a large square of nylon stocking over the lid to keep the bugs out. Once your bucket is filled, and you're shaking it daily, then start another bucket for your fresh trimmings and peelings.

Grow a Potato Vine It's very easy and very pretty. You just stick a potato or a sweet potato (they make a prettier plant) in a jar of water so that just the bottom touches the water.
If the potato is too even in shape to stay up on the rim, then stick three toothpicks up around the side, and they will prop the tater up so it doesn't submerge.

It makes a beautiful vine and you can keep it going for several months. Once it starts to turn a bit yellow, it's time to repot it (I use a large coffee can), and then it will keep for another month or two. Then you need to either dump it or plant it outside and start another one.

For nature study you would have your child sketch the progress of the leaves and roots each week, measuring roots and leaves, that sort of thing.

You can also start a root garden. Slice the tops off of root vegetables such as parsnips, carrots, turnips, rutabagas, or beets. Put them cut-side down in a shallow pan of water (pie pans are perfect). You don't want the top submerged, but you do want enough water to allow the greenery to grow.

The children can could sketch those, measure their rate of grown each week, see if they prefer sun or shade, or if one vegetable does better than another. The tops of the turnips and beets are edible, so you can reuse them in a stir-fry. If you have chickens, you can feed them the greens when you have finished with them.

Another fun thing is to take root vegetable like a turnip, hollow it out from the root end, put three toothpicks in the side so that you can hang it upside down, like a small planter or basket. Keep the hole filled with water. The idea is that the turnips sprout leaves, the leaves would grow up, making a leafy looking basket.

For the above projects you really need organic, non-irradiated food. Use turnips or sweet potatoes from somebody's backyard garden if at all possible.

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The New Normal and the Frugal Life

DL — Tue, 15 May 2012 11:26:21 +0000

Preparing for guests, I realize how different life has become. My years as mother have been a delight. Certainly I retain that honor and by God's grace will mother until my years are over, but the season of what I call "home mothering" is coming to a close. Youngest Son still home with Husband and me now works full time. My days are still busy but are spent either out of the house or home alone. When daughter married I knew life would change. I had heard many use the term "the new normal" when describing life changes. For me however, it wasn't until I stopped trying to think of my new life as "normal" that I made progress in adjusting to this new season of life.

The word normal can be defined as that which is usual, regular or natural. My new life was not any of these. Cleaning and cooking without Daughter seemed so different. No one to stop and share a snack, do division of duties, no smiling face or stimulating conversation by my side. Maybe in fifteen years this new life will seem "normal," but not for now. Yet I would not go back given the opportunity to the "normal" life I lived not so long ago. New Daughter and New Son, my children through the marriage of my married children, and my grandbabies, BlissBoy and GrandGirl, would not be mine and make life so wonderful.

So I focus instead on this being "new." A new season with challenges, but much that is wonderful. And I was thinking of those new to the frugal life and how the idea of this being a new normal for you, may be deceiving. For those seeking to become debt free, dealing with unemployment or a lower paying job or perhaps struggling with medical bills, the frugal life may not feel normal. Driving past the coffee shop or your favorite restaurant, opting for the thrift shop over the mall or learning to eat simple foods cooked from scratch may be a whole new experience.

My encouragement is this: do not try to see this new frugal life as normal. Your whole perspective needs to change. Learn how to do frugal talk with yourself. Start small if you need to. Change one habit at a time and learn how to savor the ability to live within your means in one area of life. Try not to let your feelings deceive you. Present discomfort can lead to better financial health. Learning that saying no to yourself right now may mean saying yes to something even better in the future can be life transforming. Surround yourself with like minded people. Find a few frugal blogs to check on through the week and be encouraged and challenged to make your circumstances work for you.

As time goes on and this frugal life takes hold, you may be surprised to find that your new normal is much better than your old ways. Like I said my new normal includes grandbabies. I cannot imagine my life without them or my new children through marriage even though I miss the years before. Chances are if your years before have been filled with debt and the stress of living paycheck to paycheck, your new normal will be a delight!

What have you learned from your "new normal?"

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3 Steps to save with online purchases

kimc — Fri, 11 May 2012 20:04:08 +0000

I rarely use in-store coupons, because too often they offer insignificant savings on items I would not normally buy. If a coupon entices you to spend money you weren't planning to spend, it's not a true savings. Of course there are talented souls out there who can manipulate coupons and sales to get their groceries nearly for free, but I'm not one. Those skills require an investment of time that I am not willing to commit. I am not a couponer.

However...

I love online coupons. When I have decided to make a purchase, I nearly always follow the same 3 step process:

First I check reviews, often at Amazon. This helps me decide what brand/size/option to purchase. Never rely on a sales pitch; see what actual buyers think of the item you're about to buy!
Next I find the best price using Google Shopper. Just use google to search for the item you want, and choose Shopping Results. Remember to consider shipping and sales tax in the total price. If a local store has a better price, consider the cost of gas to get there. It may be cheaper to pay for shipping - especially if doing so enables you to use an online-only code.
Finally, I'm ready to check for available coupon codes from several stores offering the best prices. Don't just check for a code for the store with the very best price; a good coupon can turn a mid-range price into a bargain. Here is one good source for online coupon codes.

It's a simple process that quickly becomes second nature. When my teen daughters are shopping for a specific piece of clothing that they can't seem to find secondhand, they do the same thing but check their favorite stores instead of Google Shopper: Kohls and Target. Both frequently have codes for special online savings, free shipping on minimum order sizes, and hassle-free in-store returns.

Just one more quick example on how online coupons can save you money: I was in Target last week trying on maternity clothes and very nearly bought some new tops. In fact, I did buy one but returned it before heading home that day. A visit to the same store online revealed a code for 25% off Target's line of maternity clothes! It was actually cheaper for me to shop online instead of in the brick and mortar store!

Do you use online coupon codes? What is your saving strategy?

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Making It From Scratch, From Eats to Feets

DeputyHeadmistress — Fri, 11 May 2012 10:42:33 +0000

Melody makes her own Kimchi using this video tutorial and recipe for about ten pounds of cabbage at a time. Kimchi is incredibly healthy and really pretty frugal to make.

Bernadette makes strawberr y-Rhubarb Muffins

The Peaceful Mom turns leftover oatmeal into fluffy pancakes!

Emma makes sauerkraut from scratch, mmm, mmm. I used to think I didn't like sauerkraut, and then I grew up and had some good stuff, not out of a can.

We make our own yogurt. You can put a double layer of cheesecloth (or a clean nylon stocking) in a sieve and strain the yogurt slowly (reserve the thin whey that drips through for making muffins or bread)- then you have a product very much like cream cheese. Several years ago I used to put the yogurt inside a nylon knee-high, and use a rubber band to hang this from my kitchen faucet over a mason jar and let it drip overnight. In the morning we had 'cream cheese' for bagels or muffins.

Mama Squirrel makes no-bake b rownies that sound like they must taste like candy.

You can also make your own vegan butter, useful especially if you have dairy allergies.

Valerie of Lion Face Studios mak es her own:
Deodorant: 5 Tbsp. coconut oil, 1/4 cup cornstarch, 1/4 cup baking soda, 4 drops orange essential oil, 2 drops tea tree oil. You can use other essential oils. The baking soda can be irritating. Don't apply this directly after shaving. Applying plain coconut oil initially and then applying the deodorant after 30 minutes or so can help. Reducing the amount of baking soda can help, too.

And Cough syrup: Raw honey into a double boiler along with a raw onion, chopped. Heat this way for about 20 minutes, nice and low so as not to destroy the inherent properties in the honey. Strain out the onions and store in a glass jar in the fridge. 1-2 spoonfuls at a time. I have done this, too, only I juiced the onion instead of heating and straining, then warmed the onion juice and mixed with raw honey.

We have been making our dishwasher powder for several months now, and we really like it. It works better than commercial powders- we do have very soft water. I offer a couple suggestions that may work for those with hard water.

And feets? Make your own foot powder by putting 3 parts corn starch and 1 part baking soda (that is, try 1/2 cup baking soda and 1 1/2 cups cornstarch) in a jar and shake them up together. Add an essential oil if you like. Tea Tree Oil, Rosemary, Lemongrass and grapefruit allegedly have properties that are good for foot odor or athelete's foot. Shake very well.

Store this in a large salt or pepper shaker and sprinkle in your shoes and socks. To keep it from clumping, put some rice grains in the bottle- when you shake before you using, the rice will help bring up the clumps and it will also absorb moisture. I would store this in a ziplock bag or jar with a lid in order to keep it even drier.

What do you make from scratch? What's the most unusual thing you've ever made from scratch?

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Menu Planning and The Frugal Life

DL — Tue, 08 May 2012 11:14:53 +0000

Working on my shopping list, I consider my menu plan. Almost every frugal blog I have ever read recommends planning your menu. This is with good reason. Menu planning keeps one from having to make frequent trips to the grocery store, encourages using up what is available in pantry fridge or freezer and helps to make a day more productive. I personally find writing my menu plan after my monthly big shopping trip ensures that my plan does not become too exotic or complex. Planning meals before shopping can tempt me to purchase ingredients not really necessary to our diet. It also allows me to plan my meals using any deals on items I may have found when shopping.

I try to plan my menu on a monthly basis. It is not written "in stone" by any means, just a good plan to flex from when necessary. Since I do a big shop each month usually at Costco and the grocery store, planning my meals for the month seems to make the most sense and is the best use of my time. Most of my purchases are fairly consistent from month to month. I do still go to the grocery store to get milk, any sales and fresh produce every 7-10 days. We try to eat on the healthier side and most of our dinner meals include a cooked vegetable or two and a big salad. Husband and I also do several green smoothies each week. Even though I would like to cut back my grocery shopping to only once or twice a month, our propensity towards fresh fruits and vegetables keeps me shopping more frequently.

What I have found helpful in making my plan is to categorize each day with a particular kind of fare. For instance something like this could be the foundation for my menu:

Monday: Meatless Meal (Could be a pasta or rice and beans)

Tuesday: Fish

Wednesday: Soup or Cold Salad

Thursday: Chicken

Friday: Breakfast for Dinner

Saturday: Ground Meat

Sunday: Crockpot (We have a coverdish after church and I usually cook chicken legs Saturday while making dinner to put in the crockpot for the next day)

Our additions to the menu vary according to what I have on hand, which is usually brown rice, potatoes, frozen and raw vegetables and most every night a green salad.

The system not only helps in my menu planning but also in deciding what to purchase. I find it gives me direction with freedom to choose what is on sale.

Now that my family is smaller, I do not write out a plan for breakfast or lunch although I think this also works well. Lunches are often leftovers or sandwiches for Husband and Youngest Son made from tuna, egg salad or cheese. Peanut and almond butter sandwiches are also considered. Husband enjoys leftover salad with some kind of meat topping from time to time as well.

Green smoothies, homemade yogurt and granola, cold cereal and scrambled eggs are most always available in the morning.

Menu planning is an excellent way to find success in the frugal life.

How do you plan your menus?

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Frugal Low-Carb Meals

Valerie — Mon, 07 May 2012 21:01:30 +0000

In our family, most of us eat modest amounts of whole grains, but we try to incorporate generous amounts of healthy fats and complete proteins from meat and eggs into our diet, eating a higher fat, lower carb diet than is the norm in modern America. We avoid most processed foods and reserve most forms of sugar for children, for special treats. (I eat a sugar-free, grain-free diet.)

A couple of friends have asked if I would write something about how we eat well on a tight budget. If you are interested in this approach to health, take a look at The Skinny on Obesity. These videos (the first four of seven have been released) are very well done and very informative. They're well worth watching for anyone, regardless of whether weight loss is a goal.

A diet too high in sugar and grains can cause damage independent of weight gain. The issue is not just weight, but health. Over the past several decades, government machinations like the Food Pyramid and farm subsidies have dramatically changed in the way our culture eats. We eat less fat, fewer eggs, and less meat but have vastly increased rates of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and other disorders. The so-called "diseases of aging" used to be rare among the aging and didn't "run in families" like they do today.

I don't think that our way of eating needs to be as expensive as many people suspect for two reasons. First, since a generous-fat, moderate protein diet is very nutrient dense, we eat less food than we would on the standard American diet. (We've noticed that our kids don't snack as much when they are eating lots of healthy fats and complete proteins.) Second, many people have far more energy on a high-fat, nutrient dense diet, meaning that a nutrient dense diet has the potential to lead to increased economic productivity.

Here are some of our general guidelines.

We don't buy--

Most snacks
Sugars
Processed foods
Rice, crackers, cookies
Sweetened drinks of any kind, including juice
(We do have 100% juice with sparkling water a few times a year as a punch for the kids, almost always with a holiday meal.)

We do buy--

Dark chocolate
Eggs, which are the cheapest complete protein.
We make lots of crustless quiches and egg casseroles--eggs, cream or half-and-half, veggies, meats, cheese if the budget allows.
LOTS of butter when it's cheap
High quality oils (we use mostly coconut, olive, and peanut but other better oils as we find them) from Bent-and-Dent grocery stores
When meat is cheap, we will buy very large quantities.
I like to brown twenty pounds of ground beef or cook several chickens and dice all the meat at once. I spread the meat on baking sheets, freeze, and then pack in Ziploc bags.
Frozen vegetables
Fruit
Fruit is higher in sugar and is really not a nutritional necessity, so I rarely buy it unless I get it at a bargain price. I live about 30 minutes from a city grocery where marked-down produce is cheap and in good condition (15-20 bananas, 8 oranges, or 10 apples for 79 cents). This is generally put out only first thing in the morning and early evening, and not every day as far as I can tell.

My favorite low-carb recipe site is Linda's Low Carb Menus and Recipes. Linda's been adding new recipes for years and cooks on a very tight budget without special or especially costly ingredients, so her site is a very good reference for the frugal paleo or low carb family.

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Free books for your free kindle reader

DeputyHeadmistress — Fri, 04 May 2012 06:27:24 +0000

You can read these whether you have a Kindle or not. There is a free kindle program you can download from Amazon for reading on your computer. These titles were all free at the time I linked them. However, some of them are free as an introductory promotional offer. So it's possible the price will go up- check the price listed. If it does not say 0.00, it's not free.

I am focusing on titles that are about saving money, making money, or learning a skill that could make or save you money. I've tried to screen for scams and utterly useless content, but I cannot make any guarantees for content.

101 Money Saving Tips, Tricks and Strategies

How to Make Money Online

Crochet Rag Rugs Basic Pattern Collection (How to Make a Rag Rug)

Vegetable Dyes Being a Book of Recipes and Other Information Useful to the Dyer

Get Organized! Your 12 Month Home Clutter Killer Guide : 2nd Edition (Revised) : Organizing The House, Decluttering And How To Clean Your Home To Perfection (Gleam Guru)

Home Decluttering and Organization - Volume 2: Bathrooms

Duct Tape Bags

Organic Gardener's Composting

Publish on Amazon Kindle with Kindle Direct Publishing

Scrap Metal Bible: Getting Started Guide

How to Camp Out

It's amazing what you can read on a Kindle.

I was going to get this book, but I can't remember why.

I got this one to read later.

I thought about this one for my grandson, but it's a little buggie.

You can get everything on Kindle: from short and sweet

to Deep and wide.=)

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To Dry Or Not To Dry

DL — Tue, 01 May 2012 11:38:31 +0000

Grasping the sock out of the washer, I again considered using my dryer for this load. Usually one to hang most all of our clothes except underwear which is washed once a week and dried in the dryer, I was telling myself that this dried load would only cost me about $.50. So what? I was tired and the day was rainy. Yet, I knew that hanging just five loads of wash a week, I saved myself around $10.00 in electricity costs per month. In a year that is a savings of $120.00. That savings is what I use to buy the filters for our combination heating/cooling system and have the system serviced each year.

Grabbing the hangers and then putting this load of clothes on a the rack over the washer and the balance of them on the rod over the tub, I congratulate myself on making the right choice. I certainly am not saying I never succumb to using my dryer, but I find it most helpful to think towards the big picture and not let myself be deceived by what seems to be an inconsequential decision.

Every time my family chooses to keep our heat low or put on extra clothing instead of turning the heat up or use a hot day to do some "sweat equity" and get the toxins out of our bodies, we are also making a choice to provide a means to accomplish a financial goal for the future.

On the other hand, I have deemed that the approximate cost of $25.00 a year to dry our underwear is worth it to me in regards to my time and efficiency. Yet it is also nice to know where I can find some extra funds by hanging these as well, if hard times come.

This principle can be applied to so many other areas in the frugal life. For me, eating meals at a restaurant might be a great idea at the time, but I often remind myself that even for an inexpensive meal, I could most likely feed my family several nice dinners at home for the money we would spend. It is much easier to shop for an item needed or desired at the closest store around and may at times be the wisest choice due to time constraints, but culling thrift shops and checking out Craigslist may ultimately save me a lot of money.

Each of us have different areas due to finances, skills and interests that we can seek to save in little ways that ultimately save big in a year.

How do you apply my "to dry or not to dry" strategy in your frugal life?

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What’s In Your Hand Flowers

DeputyHeadmistress — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 10:58:39 +0000

It's been a busy and productive week at our house.
After the 4Moms with 35+ Kids published our parenting book on Kindle (4 Moms of 35+ Kids Answer Your Parenting Questions), I got the bug for further experimenting, and worked on formatting two other books for kindle (Ten Low-Carb Snacks and Quick Meals and Things Mother Used to Make) and I began working in earnest on a couple other writing projects I have previously only pursued in a desultory fashion (including one based on my Benedict's Rule of Order adapted for families series of posts)

We had some major housecleaning to do, as we are having an old fashioned hymn sing and house party this weekend. My husband brought home a couple boxes of books from a school library for me to sort and decide to keep, get rid of, or list for sale. I cleared out another crate of our own of similar books. Our unofficial foster sons came yesterday for the start of a four day weekend.

And we did some gardening:

This weed grows rampant in our woods and yards here. It's sometimes called creeping charlie, and sometimes Gill Over the Ground:

It also makes a beautiful vining plant in the pot by my front door:

A hollow bit of a log originally intended for firewood makes a pretty planter. The flowering ground cover in the background was free- a friend had some growing in his front yard and he dug up a few starters to share with us.

Another hollow log, turned on end, filled with soil and some allyssum.

The tires behind are part of our tire retaining wall.

Most of the other flowers in it are also free (not quite all of them). The day lilies we dug up from the original family homestead. The white yarrow I dug up from the road side here- small, tiny plants that were actually on the road and wouldn't be able to grow further there.

What were your favorite frugalities this week?

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