Frugal tips: Household cleaning items & Home-made convenience foods

I like to do a lot of things home-made because usually you come out a mile ahead in the saving$$ department.

For example, with the home-made laundry detergent I make (<---click), the last time I checked I was only spending 35 cents a gallon (as opposed to over $3 for the cheapest brand!).

You ask why I do this? Well, the simple answer is that I am choosing to pick my battles. I would much rather spend the time than the money. It balances out. I can either go to work or work at home.



Here is a site with almost an overwhelming amount of household recipes!

http://www.recipegoldmine.com/house/house.html


Personally, I like to keep it simple. I have three main cleaning products in my home:
1. vinegar 2. baking soda & 3. bleach

I do buy furniture polish. I haven't found a recipe that doesn't produce oily tabletops.

For mopping linoleum I use a couple cups of vinegar, a squirt of dish detergent, and 25 drops of essential oil (my favorite is lemongrass which acts as a disinfectant).

Simple. Cheap. This same recipe can be poured into a labelled spray bottle to use
for counter-tops too.

The main question I ask myself before buying anything is this: Can I make this cheaper?

Also, I keep paper products minimized. I am learning to make cloth napkins (although I still use paper),
I use cloth diapers to clean (works great for mirrors and windows and they last forever so the initial investment is worth it!). I hardly ever buy paper towels.

Here is a link for home-made convenience foods: Take special note of the chocolate & maple syrups. Big savings!

http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/homemadeconveniencefoods.htm

Picture from summer

I know that I have been really "bad" about not posting pictures lately but I do have a good reason. My camera will not transfer pictures to my computer. I "think" the problem is not with the camera, but with the software. My plan is to SOON delete the software and re-install new software. But first, I have to transfer all of my pictures to my Walmart.com account (which will take some time) and then get a new picture card for my camera. So... that is why. Here is a picture I found from summer that I never posted.
We had gone to Spring Mill State park to eat and celebrate Aunt Janet and Great Aunt Marj's birthdays. We had already eaten (thus the spill on Jonathan's shirt) and this picture was taken outside. Yes, silly faces. But cute silly faces.

Paper people

Remember the paper people we used to cut out as kids? You fold paper several times, cut out a shape of a person, and then when you unfold it you have several people holding hands.

My boys had a lot of fun decorating paper men today.

Before you think my children are "disturbed", look at Justin's from a scientific perspective. This is a man, and you are viewing different aspects of his anatomy. I had to chuckle when Justin said "here is his cochlea, hammer, anvil, and stirrup" (we recently studied the ear for school).
(Click any of the pictures to see a close-up.)

Jonathan decorated his men as Ninjas. At least they are smiling! :-)

Ryan's men are very colorful!

Menu Planning: More practical ideas

Sometimes while planning menus, I get really inspired and it is quick and easy. Other times I am stumped.

But one thing that has helped is to categorize each meal by type in my mind.

1. Chicken
2. Beef/Venison
3. Seafood or Fish
4. Vegetarian (I try to do 2 per week)
5. Pork
6. Turkey
the list could go on....

Or you can categorize this way:
1. American/ Home-style
2. Mexican
3. Oriental
4. Italian
or any other style/type of dish

You don't want to leave out the fact that you need: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Snacks, & Drinks.

Thinking in these categories when I start to plan always gets my brain rolling. If I can't think, I usually go to the internet and type, for example, "oriental recipes".
Or you could type "oriental vegetarian" to be more specific, or even go further than that and type "frugal oriental vegetarian recipes". The possibilities are endless.

Another idea is to flip through cookbooks or magazines. One thing I have done in the past and still do sometimes is to get a new cookbook from the library each time I go. I love getting vegetarian cookbooks. Vegetarian isn't as hard or weird as it seems. This seems like a "no-brainer", but you easily turn just about any recipe into a vegetarian meal by just leaving out the meat. I did that very thing with the recipe mentioned below. Michael and the kids love it!

You can categorize this one : "Meatless Mexican" (by the way... Mexican is easy to do meatless! Think... bean burritos, etc). It is good either way but I almost always leave out the hb meat.

Click below to go to the recipe:
Tortilla Chip Pie


She has a lot of great recipes.

I always keep the spices mentioned in her recipe stocked in my cabinets. So usually all I have to buy for this is cheese, beans, tomato sauce and chips. I try to cook all the dry beans asap after grocery day and freeze them into portions so that I can fix these types of dishes quickly.

P.S. I hardly ever add ham hocks or meat to my beans. They just don't require it. Most of the time, I only add 1/4 cup each of dry garlic, onion, and a couple tbsp of salt or bullion cubes and they are always good.

Frugal Living: Practical Ideas for Menu Planning

Menu planning is a big deal to me. In the past, I would just go to the grocery store clue-less. I would spend too much money and leave without knowing if I had everything I needed. Yes, I would usually do some kind of list but it still really didn't help me as much as I needed.

Without menu planning, I would buy convenience foods because if you don't plan what you are going to eat, you don't know what goes into those recipes.

As forgetful as I am, that is not a good thing. Even these days with all the preparation that I take before going to the grocery store, I still occasionally forget to write something down or didn't see it on my list.

I'll give an example of what happened a couple of weeks ago. I did not take my own advice to check my pantry and refrigerator before menu & list planning. I just made my menu and list and went to the store. When I came home, I had realized that I had purchased at least 2 items that we already had! I could have kicked myself! One of them is something we only buy once a year! Grrr... oh well, next year we will have it huh. I told Michael I could take it back but it wasn't really expensive or worth wasting the gas.I am all for buying in bulk, but I don't like buying something unless we need it. I guess that's why I am not a big coupon user.

Coupons are usually for convenience items that I can make way cheaper from scratch, or get an even cheaper generic brand. Therefore I am not really saving money using them. Some people play coupon games and enjoy it. Nothing wrong with that; it's just not me.

Another thing I do just to stay organized and make sure I am getting everything on my list is to write my grocery list by the aisle. I use Aldi which has very few aisles so it is very easy to remember where things are. I get a piece of regular notebook paper and divide it into sections the way the store is laid out. As I am writing out my actual menu, I write what I need for each meal onto my list in the actual location it is at the store. I used to write the approximate cost beside the item as I listed it (and sometimes still do if I'm not sure), and then added it up at the end of my planning to make sure I stayed in budget. Then as I would be shopping, I would write it again as I was buying my groceries (because they raise and lower prices!).

Here is a rough drawing of a grocery list sample by the aisle. I just added a few items to the list and where they are approximately located. I made this in excel, so when I copied it to this blog the lines disappeared so I apologize for that, but I think it gives you a general idea.

			ALDI
	3 blks cheese	pkg salad	1 box of butter	2 ct eggs, 1 sour cream	4 gallons milk	{dairy} {case}
	aisle 5	aisle 4	aisle 3	aisle 2	aisle 1
1 loaf oat bread		2 bags apples 1 bag bananas 1 bag potatoes
				5 cans of diced tomatoes	cereal
		1pkg broccoli 2 pkg carrotts		4 cans green beans	1 pkg choc chips
					peanut butter
				1 bag dry rice	oats
				1 bag dry beans	1 ea brown sugar. plain sugar
				5 cans mushrooms
					salsa
					tortilla chips
1 bag frozen peas					corn chips
					salsa

If you don't have an ALDI and you use another grocery store, you could write your list for the first time in the best order you know. Then as you are checking off the items on your list you could write the aisle number and price. Keep that used list, so that next time you will have a better layout of the store. There are probably other better ways but that was what popped into my head. :-)

I hope these ideas help and I will hopefully add some menu ideas soon!

Adjusting Our lifestyle: Living Frugally

With all of the hype going on in the news about the financial crisis, I am admitting it that I am one of those "weird" people who goes a little further than most to find little ways to be frugal. I have not always been this way and I am not a huge authority, but I feel like the Lord has helped me a lot in the past couple of years to use these ideas to keep our family from going into debt.

I have gone from feelings of panic to peace.

I know I have posted about this a little bit before, but in light of the economic situation I have decided to revisit this topic a little more in-depth.

I have read most of these ideas somewhere else, but I could not tell you where since I have "studied" this subject for quite awhile. If you are interested, keep tuning in because I plan to start adding frugal tips to my blog.

Some of them may seem like "no-brainers", or something you have heard before. Yet I have been surprised by my own and others' lack of wisdom in these areas. We know what we should do, but a lot of times we just don't care, feel like it, or we don't think. Then when it comes time to pay bills, we wonder where the rest of the money went. We "nickel and dime" ourselves to death (or debt!).

My first set of frugal tips. I hope they can help someone:

*** Menu Planning & Grocery shopping***

1. Plan your menus BEFORE going grocery shopping. Here is a good menu template you can print or write out on notebook paper.
2. Look in your pantry/refrigerator and plan around what is already there and build on it. Do not waste (Use things up!). How many times have we forgotten about something only to have it go bad and then we have to throw it away. We could avoid this problem by just keeping an eye on what we have! If you have a carton of sour cream sitting on the refrigerator shelf, don't let it go bad! Make a casserole or something else to use it up. You can find lots of recipes online these days!
3. Buy in bulk. A couple of examples: I hardly ever buy canned beans and I never buy minute rice (I can hear my church friends chuckling right now.. maybe that's why they run late.. ha!). I always get the huge bags of rice and dry beans and store in a tea pitcher.
4. Start out by planning at least 2 weeks of menus and shop for at least two weeks instead of every week. You will not only save on groceries but on gas too! Work up to longer times between shopping trips. (If your kids are like mine, hide the extra stuff until time to eat it or they will try to eat it all the first week. You could even separate stuff into portion sizes baggies or containers!)
5. Try to make a couple of vegetarian meals a week. It's not that hard once you get started. You could start out with one meal and then add 2 the next time.
6. Use less meat in casseroles, soups, stir-fry, etc. Think of meat as a side dish instead of the main course. (Or go huntin' or fishin'!!!!! Woo hoo!)
7. Budget and use cash. This gives you a set amount/limit and helps cut out the impulse spending. If you have money left over, open a savings account or place it in an envelope for the next week.
6. Cook in bulk and freeze leftovers. I don't do the once-a-month cooking, but I do try to cook extra every evening so that I can have left-overs for lunches or the freezer for something quick in a pinch. Maybe one of these days I'll get brave enough to cook a month's worth of meals. I do cook bulk breakfasts and freeze though. This is a big benefit for me since I am not a morning person!

I am not "the queen" in these areas, but they are areas I am working on.

Let me know if you can add anything to the list!

Teaching Hymns to Our Children - different site

In reference to my previous post about teaching hymns to our children, I have found a new and better website. According to the host, the site I mentioned in my earlier post will be shut down at the end of this month.

I found a better hymn site today.

http://www.hymnsite.com/

Instructions:
Click the hymn index button on the left side of the page. Choose the hymn you would like to play. Go to the bottom of the page and choose which instrument you would like to hear. (You may have to click it twice). When your Windows Media page opens, double click the play button.

It not only plays the hymns with a more accurate timing; it also offers the words. You are able to play using the hymn with piano, organ, or bells. You must have Windows Media Player to play the hymns on this site.

Book giveaway link

If you want some free books about home management, go to the following site:

http://valuesdrivenfamily.blogspot.com/2008/10/we-are-having-huge-yard-sale-this.html