Frugal Accomplishments Of The Past Two Weeks

Things have been a little chaotic around here as we've celebrated 3 birthdays, Mother's Day, & are preparing for our upcoming anniversary.  As a result, we've been out of our regular schedule, so this is a list of my frugal accomplishments over the last two weeks. 

Our haul

•  Our major accomplishment was strawberry picking.  We went to a local farm & hand picked 21 lbs.  It was a wonderful time as a family, Harper was very content in her stroller, & Emerson was quite the little picker.  After the work we were able to see the animals on the farm, which the girls just loved.  

• From the strawberries I froze a gallon whole, sliced, packed, & froze 16 cups of strawberries, & made 10 jars of freezer jam. & a lemon scented strawberry mascarpone trifle.  The only down side was my plastic huller broke, so I had to replace it.  Fortunately $1.99 bought a super cute metal huller with a strawberry on the handle. 

• I saved the mushy parts of the strawberries & their collective juices for smoothies

Emerson & JC

• We ate out for  JC's birthday, but ate at lunch time & used coupon, which feed our family of four for $12.

•  I took the girls to library for Toddler Time

• We took the girls to a free carnival thrown by Parents as Teachers, a program in which we participate.

• We ate dinner at church on Wednesday

• I sorted through hand-me-downs for the girls & added the next sizes to their closets.  Each time I do this I am blown away by the generosity of our families, and feel so blessed to be able to pull out clothes to fit our girls needs. 

Little donkey at the farm

• I hung many loads of wash on the line, as well as one load inside 

• I made a batch of laundry soap

• I cleaned out & organized the freezer

• We ate bagels & bread we got for a dollar at the bakery outlet

• I rescued batteries from random items in the house to be reused in a few of the girls' things.

• I made foaming body wash

• I gave our teething Harper girl Tylenol we got as a free sample from the pediatrician

• JC cleaned out our garage & we pulled out stuff for our upcoming garage sale

• I made rags from a holey pair of pants 

• I mended a sweater & reattached the handle of Emerson's favorite purse

• I got a free pair of undies from Victoria Secret for my birthday

• I used a $10 any $10 purchase to get two t-shirts for $4 

• I sent away for some free samples & received some in the mail

• We lost our Roku remote, which was not good, but we found a FREE app, so our phones now double as remotes

•  I walked to church for choir practice instead of driving

• I received my first All You magazine from a subscription I earned with Coke Rewards.  

Hope you all have been well & have been finding ways to help your pocket books & the Earth.  Have a good week!

Go Green with the USPS

I adore these Go Green stamps from the USPS.  Not only do they show simple green acts, but they're also Forever Stamps. While all of those things are fabulous, perhaps my favorite thing is that you can get these (or any other) stamps ordered to your mail box!  It saves a trip to the post office & the accompanying emissions & only costs $1 for handling. 

The $1 fee is applied no matter the size of the order, so it is advantageous to purchase multiple sheets at a time.  For instance, I ordered $28 worth of stamps, paid the $1 handling fee, & saved the trip to the post office.  Saved time & saved gas.  Piece of cake.   

Frugal Best Practices

I've found much of frugal living revolves around thinking about every minute routine & coming up with ways to reduce the amount of resources needed or use everything in its entirety.  As I worked around our house this week here are a few frugal practices I've found helpful.  

Bake Potatoes on Metal Skewers--This saves wrapping them in foil, in addition to reducing the cooking time as the skewers help the potatoes cook through more quickly.  My only complaint is it does make the skin a bit more tough, but I find that the saved resources & energy are worth it.  (Don't forget to open the oven door to heat your home in the winter!)

Wash Children's Socks in a Lingerie Bag--It's a simple way to prevent socks from getting lost in the wash & it saves time when I hang wash--only two clothes pins needed!

Use a Candle Crock--These handy little inventions help you get the absolute max out of your favorite candles.  When you have wax left over at the end of a candle simply break up the remaining wax (I stab it with scissors) then place a chunk on the top of the crock.  The heat from the tea light will melt the wax & you will get to enjoy the scent of your favorite candle for the minimal expense of an unscented tea light.  

My sweet sister saves the remnants of her Yankee Candle's Midsummer's Night (my fav!) just so I can enjoy, because I'm too cheap to buy.  If that isn't love I don't know what is. 

These are just a few things that have saved me time, money, and resources & I certainly look forward to finding more frugal best practices shortly.   

Why I Don't Play The Drugstore Game

I've never really shopped at drugstores or used their respective rewards programs, but after reading through some extreme couponing sites & speaking to some friends I decided to give it a try.  After a month & a half of shopping at Walgreens (the only pharmacy chain in town), getting all of the freebies & their respective register rewards, I've come to the conclusion that the drugstore game is not for me.  Not for me at all.  Here's why:

Time:  It takes a lot of time to plan out the proper shopping trip, including maximizing register rewards, & pairing them with manufacturer coupons.  I'd say it would take me at least half of one of E's naps to come up with a game plan.  Time that is money.  Time in which I could be cleaning up the house, so we don't have to hire a cleaning service, or time where I could be cooking from scratch so we're not tempted to order takeout.  Though I was getting "deals", unneeded bottles of shampoo & tubes of toothpaste weren't valuable enough for me to spend my time getting them.

Stuff:  Rather too much stuff.  In order to get maximum register rewards you need to purchase the free items, the problem being that sometimes you don't want the free items.  I don't need a "free" glucometer or a soy supplement to help menopause.  Yes those items could be donated, or passed along, but I still have to buy them, store them, & then figure out what to do with them.   

Gas:  I spent extra money on gas going to Walgreens several times a week in order to get the maximum deals.  I'm concerned about my carbon foot print, & to me, it's just not worth the financial & environmental costs. 

Higher Prices:  Walgreens does have some great sale items to get you in the door, but if you don't happen to need or want those sale items their prices a high.  Much higher than the places  I normally shop.  For instance, one week at Walgreens a gallon of milk was $4.07, while a gallon of milk at Target the same week was $3.09.  I found that despite having register rewards, my money just didn't go as far at Walgreens. 

Money:  Often, I get hoodwinked into thinking that by getting deals & "saving money" I'm money ahead.  In reality I always have to SPEND money in order to SAVE money.  The same prinicple applies to Walgreens, you have to spend money to get your free register rewards.  When we tallied up our expenditures for the month of August I was shocked at the amount of extra money I spent to get my "free" items.   My problem came in the amount of money I had to pony up for sales tax for each item.  Here sales tax is 9.25% and it doesn't take much time for the to amount to a significant amount of money.  Though I got well over $120 worth of merchandise, I still ended up spending close to $30.  $30 isn't a ton, but it's enough to make a dent in our budget. 

Bottom line, trying to play the drugstore game caused me to go shopping much more frequently that I normally do.  It cost me extra gas, extra time, & extra money.  I'm impressed at people who do enjoy playing the drugstore game & can make it a money saver, but for me & our family, it just wasn't worth it. 

You Gotta Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

I would like to consider myself a good recycler.  I grew up in a house where one of the weekly chores was recycling.  I can remember many a Saturday spent separating newspaper from glossies & crushing aluminum cans.  You would think after a lifetime of recycling that I would know what I'm doing.  Apparently, that is not the case.

Last month we got a quarterly newsletter from the city.  In the newsletter was a special about what is recyclable in our municipality, and what is not.  While I have been throwing all of my plastic in the recycle bin that is a HUGE mistake.  Our city only recycles 1,2,4, & 7 plastics.  NOT 5.  Do you have any idea how many things come in number 5 plastic?

While this is a problem for me, it is also a HUGE problem that I've been throwing the wrong things in our bin.  All recycling here has to be hand sorted, so that means some poor city employee has to pull out all of the number 5 container that I've unknowingly, but lovingly, been throwing in to the recycling.  Additionally if one of those No. 5's gets past the city worker & gets melted down with the other plastic it can contaminate the WHOLE batch & cause ALL of the plastic to be thrown out.  NOT GOOD.  Not at all what I'm hoping for when I try to recycle. 

I have the desire to save the world when I recycle, but it seems I may have been causing a lot more harm than good by not knowing EVERYTHING that could & could not be recycled in my city.  Evidently recycling has gotten a whole lot more complicated since I was a kid.  For instance, did you know that NO ONE can recycle the lids of pop bottles, water bottles, milk jugs, & the like?  They're a freaky deaky hybrid plastic that has no use.  They have to be thrown away. Also, pizza boxes can't be recycled if they've got grease or any remaining food particles on them, even though they are cardboard.  I did ask our city if I could recycle the tops if there isn't any grease & they said yes. 

I had no idea all of the recycling mistakes I was making, and how much harm I might have been causing.  If you are a recycler call your city, get yourself educated, but most of all KEEP RECYCLING.  The Earth will thank you for it.

Greening My Cleaning

Remember way back when I shared this pic of our linen closet?  See the bottom left...all of those trial sized bottles?  They're just Emerson's size, and therefore she believe it is her absolute duty to play with them as often as the linen closet is left ajar.  The only major problem with that is at the bottom of the closet I have all of our bathroom cleaning supplies.  We just don't have another place for them.

Needless to say this has caused me a great deal of concern over the past few months.  I had planned on changing my cleaning products out when they were all used, but after catching E in the linen closet one too many times, the time for action was upon me.

These are now the only cleaning products in our house (excluding baking soda & vinegar).  I cleaned everything else out & gave it to my gram.  I had already been using these 'green' products, but once these are gone I plan on switching exclusively to homemade cleaning products made from vinegar, baking soda, salt, or castile soap, & hydrogen peroxide (in my clorox bottle).  I plan on getting most of my recipes from Mrs. Dunwoody's book, but if you'd like a link, check out my cousin Tonya's cleaning blog. 

If you are thinking about moving toward green cleaning products it's certainly an easy change.  Environmentally friendly cleaning products are more widely available & have become much more potent  in recent years.  If you don't want to spend the extra money, or don't want to bring new cleaning bottles in to your home, consider making your own.  It is SUPER cheap, and to my mind there is nothing safer than some old fashioned vinegar & baking soda. 

If you do make the decision to abandon more traditional cleaning products DO NOT dump them down the drain!  Even if they are used consider donating them to a church or a non-profit.  Also consider a family member or neighbor with a fixed budget who might benefit from them.  Everyone can use all the help they can get in these strained financial times. 

Whatever you decision, if you've never tried one of the newer green cleaning products, be bold & give one a try.  It just might surprise you. 

Happy Belated Earth Day To You

Yesterday was one of my very favorite holidays.  I look forward to Earth Day all year long.  I always use it as a time to try to reflect upon my actions, how they impact the Earth, and to set goals for the next year.

This upcoming year I hope to:

• Attempt to use/make more natural toiletries
• Support local farmers & utilize our farmers market
• Look into reusable feminine products (eek!)
• Plant at least one tree to replace the one that fell on our house
• Try to pre-cycle & use products that are in less packaging to bring less waste into our home
• Attempt to grow & preserve as much of our own food as possible
• Use only green/natural cleaning products in our home
• Continue to purchase 100% post consumer content recycled toilet paper

 Even if you are not big into the green living moment, consider making one small change this year.  It will make an impact on our Earth, and every little bit counts.

Also if you live near a Lowes go & get your free tree today!  They're giving away a million! 

Have a blessed & wonderful Easter.

25 Easy Ways To Go Green

We've spent the better portion of this evening hanging out in the closet waiting for the local tornadoes to go away.  Needless to say, I'm feeling a little drain of creativity.

 In the meantime, check out this list from Real Simple: 25 Easy Ways To Help Save The Planet. 

Just call me Captain Planet.  :)

Saving Energy Indian Style

To bring my week of sharing about the wonders of all things Indian to a close, I wanted to share something I was particularly impressed by during our stay--the way they set up their electricity use.  

Here in the main panel of light switches in our room in Pune.  (I was too jet lagged to get a picture of it in our room in Mumbai).

In order for the lights to work at all, you have to insert your room key for power.  How cool is that?

I know I'm particularly awful about accidentally leaving things on when I leave a hotel room, and this completely prevents such energy waste.

Also, all outlets have an on/off switch, so you can turn off the circuit to prevent the use of phantom energy!   I am so disappointed that my house wasn't designed like this!

Happy Thursday!