I'm really working on becoming super frugal.
Well, I don't want to become one of those women
who brushes her teeth with baking soda or
limits my family to two squares (know what I mean?).
But,
with the economy as it is, and with work being
painfully slow for K-man,
I'm trying to be proactive in cutting WAY BACK.
Here are a few things....
*We are eating out less and less.
Which saves us a ton.
But, I do miss itgreatly a tad bit....
*I've started hanging my laundry outside to dry.
At this point, I think it's so fun.
Hopefully it won't get old...especially when I
see a big savings in our electric bill.
(with two teenage boys....I do a ton of laundry)
*I am trying to make the most of the groceries I buy...
Example:
I bought two rotisserie chickens
from S*m's ($4.95 each)..
I cut it all up, freezing the thighs separately
because my fellas love dark meat and
they can pull them out and make lunch of them.
Then I cut up all the breast meat
and put in several freezer bags so I can
easily pull it out and throw into
a casserole (or fajitas....or whatever).
THEN,
I boiled the carcasses w/ some celery stalks & onion
to make my own broth for soups.
Golly, that made me feel like Mrs. Ingles....
which I love.
*I'm planning on making more homemade bread...
(Morgyn...do you have Brittne's recipe for white
sandwich bread?)
******
SO, there are a few things I'm doing...
I would just love to hear how you all are saving pennies (and hopefully dollars)...
Let me know!
***Confession...yesterday I indulged in buying freshly roasted
coffee beans from my favorite local coffee shop. Frugal? Not so much. Baby steps, folks.
And because blog posts are oh-so-boring without
pics, here is one of my recent favorites
of Lucy and Nick.
Well, I don't want to become one of those women
who brushes her teeth with baking soda or
limits my family to two squares (know what I mean?).
But,
with the economy as it is, and with work being
painfully slow for K-man,
I'm trying to be proactive in cutting WAY BACK.
Here are a few things....
*We are eating out less and less.
Which saves us a ton.
But, I do miss it
*I've started hanging my laundry outside to dry.
At this point, I think it's so fun.
Hopefully it won't get old...especially when I
see a big savings in our electric bill.
(with two teenage boys....I do a ton of laundry)
*I am trying to make the most of the groceries I buy...
Example:
I bought two rotisserie chickens
from S*m's ($4.95 each)..
I cut it all up, freezing the thighs separately
because my fellas love dark meat and
they can pull them out and make lunch of them.
Then I cut up all the breast meat
and put in several freezer bags so I can
easily pull it out and throw into
a casserole (or fajitas....or whatever).
THEN,
I boiled the carcasses w/ some celery stalks & onion
to make my own broth for soups.
Golly, that made me feel like Mrs. Ingles....
which I love.
*I'm planning on making more homemade bread...
(Morgyn...do you have Brittne's recipe for white
sandwich bread?)
******
SO, there are a few things I'm doing...
I would just love to hear how you all are saving pennies (and hopefully dollars)...
Let me know!
***Confession...yesterday I indulged in buying freshly roasted
coffee beans from my favorite local coffee shop. Frugal? Not so much. Baby steps, folks.
And because blog posts are oh-so-boring without
pics, here is one of my recent favorites
of Lucy and Nick.
15 comments:
Sorry Lori I don't have Britt's recipe for her homemade sandwich bread....she told me about it while I visited but it sorta went in one ear and right out the other! LOL!
Oh Lori, you are good!! Making your own SOUP BROTH!!! Here I thought I was being frugal by purchasing Sawson's over Rachel Ray!!! Keep your tips coming, so I can see just how bad I am failing at this!!! ;-)
aw, I'm glad you're trying to be frugal. It's a good (hard) thing to learn. I'm trying it too.
And Nick just looks...ecstatic in this picture.
Lori,
I have a great whole wheat sandwich bread recipe if you want it. I am still working on my money saving/food storage post. It is just going very slow.
Oh...we feel your pain. I've been trying to cut out a lot of the "Extras" too. We eat out a lot less. When I grill chicken, I grill a few extra pieces...then I use that during the week in salads, or fajitas, or casseroles, as you mentioned.
We buy a lot of our veggies from the farmers markets...things in season are much cheaper that way.
We went blue berry picking last week. I made blueberry muffins for Lindsi's teachers & bus drivers as our end of school thank you. Then I made a BIG batch of blueberry pancakes & froze the extras for use later. They are easy to thaw & heat for breakfast.
Go to: www.aldifoods.com and see if there is one near you. I recently discovered one 30 minutes away and it is the greatest!! Milk 1gal $1.49, 2lb ground beef $3.74, can food .49 (including cream of chicken and mushroom), cereal $1.69-$1.99, whole wheat bread .99.... it is so exciting!!
Shop with coupons which will save you a ton of money. There also is a website called Thrifty Mama.com which has great deals to read about. I hope this helps. I love saving money at the store.
Lisa
Hi Lori - do you have an aldis near you? it's not glamorous - but it's cheap and I have found lots of things that taste as good and are a lot cheaper! Bring a quarter - you pay for your cart, but you get it back when you return the cart and bring your own bags too! paula
Lori,
Since quitting my teaching job last summer, we are being thrifty as well! We really like "Dave Ramsey's Financial plans" although I admit we cannot do all of his suggestions. Allocating your funds each payday, and when that allocated fund is out, it's out is a good way to make your money work better. I liked your cooking suggestions.
Janet
Lori, we purchase gift cards for restaurants through Restaurant.com. You enter your zip code on their website and you will be able to pull up the participating restaurants in your area. A $25 gift card usually is priced at $10. The only catch is there is a minimum purchase amount that is listed under the gift card price. Usually you must have a total bill of atleast $35 at the restaurant. Then you pay with your $25 gift card. Check their website frequently as they often have sales up to 80% off the face value of the gift card. You print your gift card at home and can use it that same day. My friends, family and I love restaurant.com.
Since quitting my full time job to stay home we have had to cut back also. I am making my own laundry soap and stain remover. I also use foam hand dispensers in the bathrooms. (I bought a bottle at Bath & Body" then refill it with soft soap and water) Works wonders. I hang out laudnry as well. My dad (a electrician) once told me years ago that it cost .75 to just turn on the dryer! Also I use a web sight www.allrecipes.com to make lots of home made things like bread and granola bars. Let me know if you'd like to try the laundry detergent. Good luck.
We have been trying to be more aware of our spending and the way we use things, too. I went to the G*dwill the other day and purchased some fabric, brought it home, cut it up in 16x20 inch rectangles, put rolled hems in - quick as a wink, 16 napkins for $3.99. Those 16 napkins will last for FAR longer than $4 worth of paper napkins! Wash 'em as needed and hang 'em out to dry! Good luck your Frugalness!
I do the same things you mentioned with cooked chickens from our walmart- I'm amazed how many meals I get out of a couple of chickens! I make almost all of our bread, muffins, cinnamon rolls and granola too. Let me know if you want some recipes and I'll send them your way:)
I'm really working to cut our costs too, especially now that my only grocery store option is 50 miles away round trip. I am trying to plan meals ahead, etc. so I only grocery shop 2x per month. We also have a large garden and get lots of veggies, etc from that.
Blessings,
Gayly
Shop b1g1free sales at B*L* and then use coupons up to .60, which they will double. A lot of newspaper coupon sections now are running coupons of $1.00 or $1.50 off one bottle of Kr*ft salad dressing, so if you use B1G1free and $1.00 coupon off one bottle, you're basically getting one bottle of salad dressing for free. Don't even have to buy 2. Another idea is to buy your own whole chicken ($2.50 for a whole chicken)and cook it yourself instead of buying the already cooked ones(I boil or bake and take the meat off for casseroles, soups, sandwiches, whatever). That meat goes a long way. Would love to read a post from you about other money saving tips that you've compiled from comments.
Clip $1.00 or more off one coupons and then use in conjunction with B1G1free sales at B*L*. They also double any coupons .60 or less. I buy my own whole fryers and boil or bake them and cut off the meat to use for casseroles, soups, fajitas, sandwiches, etc. I think a whole fryer is $2.50, so you'd save on the rotisserie cost of one if you did it yourself. Our Fox57 news also has a "Food Friday" restaurant where they offer a different featured restaurant every Friday where you can buy a g.c. like someone mentioned above that you purchase a $50 g.c. for $25 or even $10! There are no restrictions on these except maybe a 90 day expiration period. Check out your local fox station to see if they have something similar.
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