Another Clutter Bites The Dust

Two more trash bags of clothes, shoes and toys and a tiny bag of food went out of my house to the food pantry/thrift store today.

I've been doing an ok job of keeping up with the tidying I did last week. Hopefully each week will bring me closer to having a clean home. Today I wiped down some of our white trim and doors with a magic eraser. I also made and froze a batch of homemade vegetable broth with veggie trimmings. That doesn't really get the house clean but it does help me save food dollars. Both very important to me right now.

The more I clean the happier I get. The more money I save is well, more money saved.

Some Good Stuff

I found our camera in the back of my car. It must have been there since we came back from Texas in July.
We had a weekend getaway at the YMCA Trout Lodge.














We had two days of rocket building and launching, rifle shooting (for Daddy), mini golf, dance partying, crafts, and playing in the lake.









In June we went to Hannibal, MO for a weekend trip. We rode on a steamboat down the river, went on a late afternoon ghosts of Hannibal tour, and explored the Mark Twain cave.



And we just went to Kansas City for the Renaissance Festival). I adore the KC RenFest. Huzzah! We watched jousting, the kids rode on the rides, we ate too much food (love love love the cinnamon almonds), bought fripperies and jewelry, and generally had a gay old time.




















I am beginning to prefer these little getaways over a week long vacation. We have just enough time to do everything fun before anyone gets bored. Plus, the kids feel spoiled because we can have more than one "be"cation.

We came back to a slightly more tidy home and I immediately unloaded our dirty clothes into the washer. No more letting the dirty laundry sit in suitcases forever. I do have some more scrubbing to do on Big Girl's white shirt where she kept wiping her tiger face paint off. Oh, well. This is a good reason to buy your clothes second hand. When you pay $2 or less it doesn't hurt as much when they ruin their clothes.

I made a lasagna and gingerbread cake with scratch frosting for dinner last night. They were good and we have leftovers. After two or three less than stellar restaurant meals plus the rather lackluster cafeteria style food at the YMCA, I am more than happy to be eating at home.

I got to pick up my Angel Food Ministries pantry and fruit boxes yesterday even though I was told they wouldn't hang on to my boxes for me. A trip to Aldi to get $20 worth of fruit, cheese, bread and veg and now my pantry is all full. And so much easier to navigate since Hubby cleaned it.

That's all.

What's Frugal in My Life Right Now

I feel a bit more refreshed lately and am starting to dip my feet back into the frugal pool.
This is what's going on around here.

I've been gathering my coupons and making a list for a shopping trip tomorrow. I recently cleaned out the fridge and freezer and have a good idea of what I should buy and what I need to use up.
Dierbergs is having a good sale tomorrow and I've printed off some coupons for my trip. I no longer subscribe to the big Sunday paper so finding coupon has been more challenging.

I've been using Swagbucks as my search engine and have been able to pick up a few things with my swag bucks to put in Easter baskets- Thomas the Train stickers, a photo album, plastic figurines, and a pair of mini scissors. Probably my favorite thing about swagbucks is that the rewards arrive so quickly.

I'm going through the pile of my daughter's clothes to sort out what I can sell to the consignment store. I've got a bag for Goodwill, a tote for consignment, a lint roller and a pair of scissors to snip stray threads waiting for me right now. I also need to get into the garage and clean up some of the good toys for another consignment tote.

For dinner tonight, we're having a frozen pizza that I'm going to add toppings too. I bought it on sale with coupon of course.

Links & Thinks

Angel Food Ministries
I made my first Angel Food Ministries purchase yesterday. The main reason I haven't bothered to order before is because the main food boxes are pretty heavy on raw meat. Now they have an assortment of boxes so I picked three that were heavy on fruits and vegetables and had canned meat products that I can easily donate. I don't know that I'm saving money but I won't have to buy fruit or veg for a while after I pick up our boxes.

What's On My Mind
I don't very often feel lack. Sure there are times when I feel stifled by our careful spending. Sometimes I want to spend a lot of money on a nice pair or shoes or a purse. Sometimes I want to have my car repainted so the scratches and dings don't show. Sometimes I want to consider a trip to Disneyland without thinking about cheap air fare and free hotel nights. But those times are pretty rare.
Being poor has been on my mind a lot lately. How much could I learn from someone who truly has a hand to mouth existence? What am I leaving out in an effort to be frugal? I'm sure that my online shopping would be in sharp decline. How much extra money would we be able to send towards reducing our mortgage debt?
Along with that I've been thinking about going back into the work force. For this Mama who has been out of work taking care of kiddos for ten years attempting to enter the working world in a recession is more than scary. But I've having that nagging feeling more and more lately that I'm not pulling my weight and I am beginning to feel obsolete. Thinking about putting my kids in day care doesn't help. I would be spending more on day care than I would make most likely.

Two New Blogs I've Been Enjoying

I am the Working Poor

Food Stamp Cooking Club

Rule #1 of Crock Potting For Dummies

I'm a relative novice to crock pot cooking. Really the only thing I make with any consistency is a vegetarian chili.

Yesterday's craving for salisbury steak (boca style) led me into the kitchen at noon to start throwing things into the crock pot for dinner. I was ahead of the game! I knew what was for dinner and boy wouldn't flylady and hubby be happy with me. It smelled so good too. I was rocking the "What's for dinner" question.
Of course, I didn't realize that putting the egg noodles in the crock pot to cook with the gravy and bocas would turn them into a glutenous mush. I mean, a really yucky tasting glop. Only edible if you were truly starving. I wasted some good food yesterday but I learned a valuable lesson. I have to make my noodles separately.

One point for Dominos pizza.

Once You Shop You Can't Stop

Shop N Save- yesterday

Groceries & Food Bank Donation at Check Out Minus Coupons & Discounts= 41.04


Dierbergs- Today

Groceries, Cold Medicine, Gifts, Laundry Detergent, and Fabric Softener Minus Coupons= 47.03

(I found Tide on clearance for $3 and Tylenol Cold PM for $2 and bought some detergent for my Mom)


Two Things Going on Here-
1. We're all suffering from some low level sinus thing. I took Big Girl to the Dr. today and she has a double ear infection. So my throat is sore and I have a minor headache.

2. My cats are refusing to get along and pee (and poop) fighting over territory. I'm almost sure that I'll have to return Sarah to the pet rescue where I adopted her from. To say that I am disappointed is an understatement. I don't even put my steam cleaner away anymore and I just can't live like this even though it's tearing me up to give her back. My first priority is to my old baby Fusty.

Product Reviews and The three main points of my normal day

Dishes-

I ran out of my standard Electrasol powerball dishwasher tabs. I've tried using generic powder and making my own mix but nothing gets my dishes as clean as these tabs. I found a bottle of Cascade with Dawn washing gel under the sink and started using it. It does not work. The first time I thought it was my washer. I cleaned it out and made sure the rinse aid cup was filled. I've tried switching back and forth between the powerball tabs and this gel to make sure that it's the Cascade formula that is the problem. I posted a negative review of this product on their website.



Laundry-

About two weeks ago I found these colored washer balls at Aldi. I think I paid $7.99 for a pack of nine of them. You're supposed to add them to your wash and you can use half the amount of detergent. They don't really work. Are you surprised? They do work great with the sample of Tide with Dawn that I used from my laundry room cabinet. I got three uses out of a one load sample. I've been using Sun liquid detergent and I have to say that it really doesn't work. I wish I hadn't liked the Tide though as I really don't want to pay $13 a bottle for laundry detergent.

So, while I was watching Morgan Spurlock's 30 Days on Netflix, I grated up a bar of Ivory soap to make Kara's homemade washing detergent.

*The 30 Days episode I chose was about living on minimum wage in Ohio. I so wanted them to continue on their journey for another few months to get a better idea of how it actually is to live on that little money. I also wanted to whisper frugal tips in their ears.

Grocery Shopping-

Today is $10/$50 coupon day at Shop N Save. I had a list and coupons for once. I am stocked up on stuff for at least the next week. I found the bargain fruit bin and got a bag full of apples, oranges, and a banana for $1.98. The clearance carts also yielded a few dented and label missing cans. I saved 36% off my total.

Pantry Challenge Day 19

Pantry Challenge-

Breakfast- Kids had the last of the instant oatmeal and shared a breakfast sausage. Hubby had a veggie burger. I had a piece of toast. (I'm doing much better at eating breakfast!)
Lunch- Little Guy and I had scrambled eggs with cheese and buttered toast. Apple Juice.
Dinner- I am seriously craving take out Chinese food. And I can never manage to recreate the same dishes when I try at home. So, I don't know if I'll end up having Hubby pick up dinner or not. Maybe we have a coupon. Maybe I'll just cook some noodles and throw some broccoli, peanuts and hoisin sauce on them and pretend.

(p.s. I made dinner after all. This is the end product.)



Whew. Tired after multiple errand stops this morning. I don't have my receipts handy so I'll have to guess at how much I spent.

Shop N Save- spent about $34 on the gift card we bought last November with our Entertainment guide coupons. Bought eggs, milk, clearance apple sauce, cheese, Gatorade, light bulbs, pain reliever, bread, a sale book for a gift, contact lens solution, and a new contact case. I had coupons for the pain reliever, Gatorade and contact solution.

Deal$- two bags of candy for b-day goody bags and a pack of Diego sandwich bags for the lunch box- Spent $3

Famous Footwear- We had our first desire for a popular fad clothing item- Skechers Twinkle Toes shoes. While I don't think I need to buy my child everything she wants (in fact I plan not to) I made a decision to please her. I spent part of yesterday shopping online doing research on prices and I checked our shoe inventory to see if we needed shoes. She asked at the right time as she is starting to outgrow the shoes we bought her for the beginning of the school year. So, I handed over my rewards card and spent 29.00 on her new shoes. I hope she likes them.
Michaels- Another birthday party invitation came this week. My budget limit for kid's birthday party gifts is $10. I typically spend around $7.50. I put my 40% store coupon in my pocket and went in search of a present or goody bag favors. I found a toob of pirates and a copy of Robinson Crusoe for the birthday boy, two plain gold after Christmas clearance baskets (for Easter), a .50 cent fridge magnet to do list/calendar for me, and a $1 clearance flash light for Little Guy's Easter basket. I love the "Toob" toys. I found Jamestown settlers along with Egyptian Pharaohs. I'll be going back with another 40% off coupon to get some for Big Girl's Easter basket.

Library- Our standard books and dvds for the weeks entertainment. I also spent $3 on books and magazines from the sale table to give as a gift.

And now we're home and I plan on doing some housework before I settle down with a fresh library book.

Grocery Shopping Time & Freezer Soup Tip

We're low on milk and sandwich bread. For some reason my homemade bread doesn't last long enough for sandwich bread.

I also need a few other non grocery items that I have been putting off buying.

You guys, I have been dreading shopping. Is that weird? I used to look forward to it and now I'm afraid I'll mess up my pantry challenge.

If I were more organized I could tell how much I had saved this month on food by eating more of what we have but I am not. I don't think we are saving that much on the eating out spectrum. But maybe we are as I have turned down multiple dinners out for the sake of the pantry challenge. Hmm.
I can't even total up how much we've spent on groceries this month because the weird bulk stuff from Costco always screws up the total.

This will be my third trip to the grocery store this month. And I spent less than $20 each time I shopped. So, I'll take that as encouragement.

Two nights ago I made wonderful freezer soup. The broth was made from the saved and frozen drained off juice from canned beans, corn, and mushroom slices. I threw in one onion bouillon cube and it was great. I don't have room for a big freezer soup container (yet) so I've just been draining my vegetables into little plastic containers and labeling them for the freezer. Why waste that good flavor?

Pantry Plans for January

After a month of baked goodies and candy I'm ready for some real food.
I'll be doing my best to clean out my pantry, fridge, and freezer in January. Wanna do it with me?

A quiet evening in.

This is our first evening of Christmas vacation. Instead of going out for a meal I decided to make a cozy bowl of potato and carrot soup and serve it with our leftover buttermilk bread. I found a half gallon of buttermilk on clearance for .99. Best find all week as this bread is delicious even cooked entirely in the bread machine.

To make this humble soup special I decided to whip up an herb mixture from my new cookbook.
I read about this cookbook on Frugal Upstate and I just couldn't part with the money to order it from Amazon. So, I waited patiently for it to come from Paperbackswap.



Those empty spice bottles from my recent pantry clean out are coming in handy now when I get the sudden urge to whip up a mixture.

To Do List for this Week

We went to my in-laws farm last weekend and came home with lots of farm food. We have eggs, tomatoes (that were from seed that I started~yay!), cucumbers, peppers, sweet corn (that Big Girl helped plant), and potatoes.

Instead of going to the grocery store, I pulled out a box of milk from the pantry and put a roll of frozen oj in the fridge to make juice with later. I'm also out of chocolate syrup and sandwich bread. It's going to be a full day in the kitchen making and baking food for my family but that's ok.

I plan to make:

Boiled eggs for snacks, quick breakfasts and sandwiches
Chocolate syrup (done)
Cheater pickles (save your old pickle juice- Claussen works well and put peeled and thinly sliced cucumbers in it to soak. In a few days you will have crunchy, tasty pickles.) (done)
Frozen corn (done)
Wheat bread (minus the herbs for a sandwich bread) (done)
Freezer Spaghetti Sauce (done- this recipe is too salty so next time I will cut that in half)

This is what I'll be doing this week instead of grocery shopping. I don't can. I have no experience, knowledge or supplies. I am willing to learn but when freezing things seems so much easier and cheaper for me right now.

Yesterdays Grocery Receipt Tally

My fridge was looking strangely bare after trying to clean it out. It's not anymore.


Sappington Farmer's Market (make sure to print the online coupon for $10 off Thursday)

Fig Bars- 1.00
Home Pride Wheat- 1.99
Farmer's sliced white cheese- 2.70
Trix Yogurt cups- 3.29 (had coupon)
DanActive yogurt- 2.99 (had coupon)
Coffeemate liquid creamer- 2.59 (had coupon)
Dozen local eggs x 2- 2.00
Gallon of skim milk- 2.25
Always Save Quesadilla pizza- .79
Boca Grilled Veggie patties- 3.79
Reeses Puffs cereal x 2- 5.00 (had coupons)
Always Save Ginger Snaps- 1.19
Best Choice Light Microwave popcorn- 1.69
XL Hershey's Bar- 1.59 (b-day gift for Mom)
Ronnoco Coffee Beans .58 pounds- 5.21 (b-day gift for Mom)
Lavender Hand Soap- 1.00
Funny teeth- 1.00 (that's what happens when you shop with a 3 year old)
Homegrown local tomatoes ($1 a pound)- 1.11
Package of garlic bulbs- 1.20
2 pound Bag of green grapes- 3.03
Small head of Boston lettuce- .60
2 yellow onions- 1.03
Package of local plums- 3.88

Original total- 53.86 After store coupon and MFR coupons- 41.01

Wonder Hostess Bread Thrift

2 loaves of wheat bread- 1.58
1 box of Ding Dongs- 1.59
3 cans of Vess pop- 1.17
2 large clearance bags of seasoned stuffing- 1.00
5.53

I 44 Surplus Discount Groceries in Rolla

Bottle of 100% Juice- 1.00
2 big boxes of raisins- 1.00
Dunkin' Donuts coffee- 4.75
4 boxes of Morning Star mini corn dogs- 7.96
Pepsodent Toothpaste- .79
Minute Maid OJ juice boxes- 2.25
11 assorted granola bars and power bars- 1.35
4 boxes of Stash White Christmas tea- 7.00 (to save for neighbor gift baskets)
Reallime lime juice- 1.25
Big can of Bush's vegetarian baked beans- 1.19
Theraflu caplets- 1.25
Children's Advil- 1.50
Tylenol Go Tabs- .20
2 bags of Nestle Butterscotch chips- 1.98

Total 33.29

Total Spending for Yesterday- 79.83

I also brought home a bag of school supplies that my Mom bought from Staples and a bag of garden produce from her garden. I feel like I made the most of our money and time yesterday.

The quest for locally grown groceries

I think I found a supermarket that takes coupons and has locally grown foods! For me it's the best of both worlds. I am planning on taking a trip on Thursday to do our normal stock up shopping. I'll let you know how it goes.

Saved 56% on Groceries

Who wants to help put my groceries away?

I have a rare night to myself. My choices were stay home and clean, go to the grocery store since it's coupon Thursday at Shop N Save and I have a list and coupons clipped and ready, or go see the new Harry Potter movie. Decisions- Decisions.

So, I went with the second best option- grocery shopping alone. I definitely spend less money when I shop alone.

I'm too tired to spill all the details.
What I got free with MFR coupons:
2 bags of sugar
2 jars of Smart Balance Peanut Butter
1 carton of Tropicana OJ
1 pound of bananas
1 small bag of peanut M&Ms

I save $15 in store coupons:
$10 off a $50 purchase
$5 off when you buy 5 boxes of special Kellogs cereals

I spent 48.90.
I saved 58.72 or 56%. No matter how much I try I am not that coupon queen who gets hundreds of dollars worth of groceries for a few pennies. Nevermind- I am mostly glad that I stuck to my list and only bought what we need/use.

Saving Instead of Shopping.

My in-laws sent us batches of garden fresh produce. I've been less than stellar about using up our own produce and food.

Potatoes are getting stinky in the bin. Strawberries are turning mushy in the fridge.
Boiling potatoes to be made into salad, soup, and mashed.
Today instead of grocery shopping I'll be grocery saving by cutting, chopping, and freezing what we can't eat immediately. And one of those yucky potatoes is getting buried in my veggie patch for research purposes. How easily can we grow our own potatoes?

Baking day

I had black bananas, excess blueberries, a full potato bin, and nowhere to go with a sick girl.

Banana walnut bread is baking in the oven next to malt-0-meal blueberry muffins. I'm making white french bread in my bread machine to go along with our potato soup for dinner. I'll throw in a container of freezer soup goodies and some rehydrated tvp for protein.

I'm loving using up foods before they go to waste. The bonus is that I'm making space in my pantry and refrigerator for that big shopping trip to Costco next week.

Frugal Sick Day Special Requests

Big Girl wanted lemonade. After searching my pantry for a powdered mix to make her a cupful, I can up empty handed. Instead I took lemon juice concentrate and a quick sprinkle of sugar and poured it into a cup. I added water and ice and gave it a quick stir. It made a pretty decent drink and she's happy too.

Little Guy wanted chocolate milk. Hmm, we're out of Nesquick. Homemade chocolate syrup to the rescue. No complaints.

Now I just have to figure out how to make gingerale.

What's on the Agenda

This article by Donna Freedman is timely for me right now as we just got a Costco coupon booklet filled with things we use and are running low on.
The problem is that I have lost all control over what's in my pantry, fridge, and freezer. I'll be working on cooking from my kitchen until right before those coupons expire.

Last night we had bowls of leftover sliced hot dogs and broccoli in shells and cheese.

Tonight we're having a prepared dinner from the freezer. Throw in the three stray mushrooms before they go bad? And I baked some frozen egg rolls I found.

I need to freeze or cook up some strawberry, blueberry, and banana bread. Smoothies for dessert?

There's an old tofurky lurking my basement freezer that would go nicely with the yukons in my veggie bin.

Misc. Cooking Tips for Pasta Night

Instead of watching and stirring pasta- Bring a pot of water to boil. Turn off the heat. Pour in your pasta. Cover and let sit for 20 minutes. Works great. It gives you just enough time to whip up a homemade sauce with onions, peppers, tomato sauce etc. if you don't have a jar of sauce.

Quickie Spaghetti Sauce-

Melt a tablespoon of butter or oil in a sauce pan. Stir in some chopped onions and peppers. Add some minced garlic to taste (this is when I add rehydrated tvp or veggie crumbles). Pour in a can of tomato sauce and rinse the can with a tablespoon or so of water and throw that in the pan. Add oregano, basil, parsley, salt, pepper, to taste. If you like canned mushrooms add them now. A sprinkle of sugar mellows the tart tomato sauce flavor. If you don't have tomato sauce then use a small can of tomato paste and thin with a rinsed can or two of water. Heat until bubbly.

I know TVP can be kinda tasteless and even unappealing. To make it taste better I soak mine in vegetable broth before cooking. You can use bouillon cubes or homemade if you have them but Kitchen Basics is my favorite broth. And a little broth goes a long way.