Free Mother's Day Card

Check out Crystal's post at Moneysavingmom.com on how to send a personalized Hallmark card for free. This is perfect for Mother's Day. (I have already completed mine!)

My Dirty Little Secret

My mom is a neat freak. When I was about 7, I distinctly remember one New Year’s Day when she decided it was time to start the year fresh with an even cleaner house. So, she scrubbed the kitchen floor with ammonia. Did I mention we lived in Michigan and it was about 10 degrees out? The fumes nearly did us in.

When she has free time, she likes to clean. While I like how tidy her house is, I don’t like all the work that goes into having a spotless house. I can find so many other things to do like playing with my kids, cooking, blogging, working on my store, etc. Cleaning is something I do because I have to.

My house is what I like to call get-by clean. The floors are swept daily (or at least every other day), the dishes are done every day (often a couple of times a day), the bathroom is cleaned at least once a week. Still, when my mom comes to visit, she ALWAYS suggest things she could do to help. “How about if I dust the living room?” “Next time I come to visit let’s really dig in and do a deep cleaning. . .”

Yes, get-by clean means there is plenty of room for improvement, especially with clutter, as the picture of our kitchen table demonstrates. That is why I was excited to learn about simplemom.net ‘s spring cleaning party May 4th-15th. I plan to take part and blog about my experience. (After all, having an organized house can save a lot of money.) Click on the button at the top of my blog if you are interested in joining.

Maybe after the spring cleaning party my mom will finally be satisfied with the state of my apartment, but I doubt it. A neat freak can always find something more to clean. :)

Food Waste Wednesday, 4/29/09

Ah, the best laid plans. . .

I found the yogurt in the back of the refrigerator; it had been hidden back there for quite a while (maybe two weeks).

There was about an inch of juice we didn’t finish that had gone bad.

I can accept those two waste items, though I will be so excited when I don’t have any food waste for one week.

What is most annoying is the ricotta cheese. I used half of the container of ricotta for the Mixed Vegetable Quiche I made about 10 days ago. Last week I looked in the fridge and thought, “I better find a recipe to use up that ricotta so it doesn’t go in my food waste picture.” And then I found the recipe for Tortellini with Salmon Ricotta Sauce. It was not the most frugal recipe since I did not have the tortellini or salmon on hand, but I bought them, and last night, I made the recipe. I was thinking about how I would write about this experience as a frugal victory, another way to avoid food waste.

And then, I opened the ricotta—and I almost passed out from the stench. I don’t cook with ricotta very often. I thought it was like cottage cheese and would stay good in the refrigerator for quite awhile after being opened. Apparently I was wrong. I opened the ricotta 10 days before making this recipe, which seemed to be about 4 days too long. . .

Arrrggghhh!

What the Experts Are Saying--Part II (Taking Suze Orman's Challenge)

I love Suze Orman. I like her no nonsense approach to money, so I have enjoyed watching her on Oprah lately.

On the January 30th episode, she challenged people to
1.) not spend any money for one day,
2.) not use a credit card for one week, and
3.) not go out to eat for one month.

I am up to the challenge. My family will begin the 30 day challenge today, 4/28/09. I will let you know how it goes. Anyone care to join me?

Menu Planning Monday, 4/27/09

Well, it is the end of the month, so the fish recipes are a repeat because we didn't get to cook them a few weeks ago when they were on the menu. This week we will finally make them.

Monday--Tortellini with Salmon Ricotta Sauce
Tuesday--Baked Fish & Chips
Wednesday--Chunky Southwest Chili (slow cooker)
Thursday--Fish Tacos
Friday--Pork Chops with Dijon Sauce
Saturday--Freezer Burritos
Sunday--Homemade Pizza

To see the groceries we bought this week to make these items, go here.

Grocery Shopping Sunday, 4/26/09

Dominick's (the picture above)
Fiber One toaster pastry = 2.00
2 Lucerne string cheese pkgs @ 2.99/ea = 5.98
2 gallons milk @ 1.99/ea = 3.98

Total = 13.85

Tony's Finer Foods (sorry, I accidentally deleted the photo for this one!)
Tortillas = 2.19
Pink salmon pkg = 2.79
2 tomato sauce cans = .99
Baby corn = 1.69
Bag black beans = 1.39
Broccoli .40 lbs. @ .69/lb = .28
Red pepper .77 lbs. @ 1.49/lb = 1.15
Bananas 2.63 lbs @ .69/lb = 1.81
Grapes 2.12 lbs @ .88/lb = 1.87
Green leaf lettuce .59 lb @ 1.49/lb = .88
2 pkgs strawberries @ .88 ea = 1.76
3 cannoli = 1.98
Pkg cinnamon rolls = 3.99 (treat for DH)
Tortellini = 2.99
8 oz. cheddar cheese = 2.00
2 dozen eggs @ .88/ea = 1.76
1 gallon milk = 1.99
Cooking spray = 1.89

Total = 34.15
Total for this trip and my CVS trip on 4/26 = 59.07

TOTAL FOR APRIL = 356.27

Next month I am aiming to shave this considerably. My goal will be to spend 280 - 300 for May.

To see the recipes we will make this week, go here.

CVS 4/26/09

I had some issues this week! First, my Sunday paper that is delivered was stolen, so I had to buy one at CVS. My son went to a birthday party today for two girls, so I had to buy two birthday cards. We were also out of Q-Tips.

I spent $11.07 out of pocket for two transactions worth a total of $61.68 for a total savings of 82%.

Transaction 1
Schick Intuition Razor =8.99 - 4.00 Q (in today's inserts) earned 4.00 ECBs
2 Maybelline brow liners = 3.49 ea/B1G1 - 3.00 CVS Q off make-up purchase
2 Tresemme 24 Hour Conditioner 5.49 ea = 10.98 - 1.00 Q x 2, earned 5.00 ECBs
1 Birthday card = 1.99

-5.00/25.00 order Q
-10.00 ECB

TOTAL OOP=2.12

Transaction 2
2 Lady Speedsticks @ 2.50 ea = 5.00 -.75 Q (in today's insert), earned 3.00 ECBs
1 Garnier Fructis Styler = 2.99 - 1.00 Q, earned 2.00 ECBs
1 Birthday card = 1.99
3 Mentos Gum @ 1.69 ea =5.07 - 1.00 Q x 3, earned 1.00 ECB
2 V8 Veggie Juice @ 3.59 ea = 7.18 - 1.00 Qs x 2 earned 2.00 ECBs
1 newspaper = 1.99
500 ct CVS cotton swabs = 2.99

-5.00/25.00 Q
-6.89 ECBS

TOTAL OOP= 8.95

I went into the store with $16.89 ECBs (which I used for these transactions) and earned $17.00 ECBS.

My Most Recent Gymboree Deals

For those of you who followed my post on how to dress your kids for free in Gymboree (go here if you haven't read it), I thought I would share with you a few of the items I purchased for my daughter recently on sale and with Gymbucks. (I haven't had to buy much for my son; I stocked up for him last spring for summer items a size bigger, and he is just now growing into them, so his summer wardrobe is complete.)

The top picture is from the Social Butterfly line. The "little sister" shirt & bike shorts retails for $32.50; I bought it for $6.79 by buying it on sale and using Gymbucks. (That is 80% off!!) I hope to sell it on eBay for roughly $9.95 when my daughter outgrows it.

The picture of the three rompers (I love these rompers; they are perfect for wearing cloth diapers underneath!) include the gingham one in the middle, also from the Social Butterfly line. This one retails for $29.75; I bought it for $5.82 (again, 80% off). The solid pink one is from the Flower Garden line and retails for $29.75; I paid $7.77; the same applies to the striped pink one.

The monkey outfit was my pricy one. When my daughter was born, there was an adorable layette line with a pink shirt that said "daddy's little monkey". We bought that outfit for her in 0-3 months and 6-12 months. She hasn't outgrown the 6-12 month one yet, but it is getting too warm to wear. So, when I saw this monkey outfit from the Jungle Gem line, I had to buy it. I only got it 50% off because it is a brand new line and I used my Gymbucks. I paid $25.63 for it. I have a hunch this line will hold its value at resale, so I am hoping I will sell it for around $18 (and I will lose $7.63 on it.)

These are some examples of how I dress my kids for free (or mostly free if I can avoid the impulse buys like the monkey outfit!!!).

Gymbucks ends on 4/26, but the rumor is that Gymbucks earning will begin again on 4/27. To make the most of your money, wait to buy clothes until Gymboree offers great sales AND you earn Gymbucks!

Earth Day and Frugal Activities

So, yesterday was Earth Day, and I found myself thinking about my family's impact on the environment. I made this list of the many frugal things we already do that are good for the environment:

Clothing

• Buy used clothes on eBay or at garage sales
• Sell used clothes on eBay or at garage sales or donate to Goodwill
• Save some clothes for cloth scraps for quiltmaking
• Air dry all of our laundry except baby clothes, towels & bedding
• When machine drying, we only use 1/2 of a dryer sheet
  

Food

• Use reusable containers for lunches
• Wash baggies & foil when we do use them
• Pick our own blueberries in the summer and freeze them (would like to also do this with strawberries this year)
• Cook at home 90% of the time
• Use cloth bags at the grocery store
• Make our own yogurt
• Never use paper plates, cups or napkins (and rarely use paper towels)

Baby Care

• Use cloth diapers & wipes
• When using disposable wipes, have the ones that aren't overtly dirty washed and used again
• Make homemade baby food
• Breastfeed (I understand that this is not an option for all women. I have been lucky enough to stay home with my daughter, so it has worked for us)

Transportation

• Combine errands to use less gas
• Take the subway (my husband does this daily so we only need one car)

Other

• Never run the dry cycle on the dishwasher
• Use dish clothes that can be reused for washing dishes
• Recycle our glass, plastic, paper weekly
• Buy Energy Star appliances
• Use CFL bulbs
• Put plastic on our windows in the winter
• Keep our heat at 65 degrees or below

There are a few things we need to work on.

1.) We have our appliances hooked up to power strips, but we don't routinely turn those off at night

2.) We still use the clear plastic bags at the grocery store to put our produce in

I am sure as we continue on our frugal journey we will be able to add to our list of positives. (And I am sure if I think about it more, I could find many more Earth-friendly behaviors our family needs to work on!)

Food Waste Wednesday, 4/22/09

It is working!!! Yeah!! I have had food waste Wednesday's for about a month now, and I can see that my food waste is lessening. This week, it was only 1/2 box of tofu and a sad little kiwi fruit.

Best of all, I am slow learning to reduce the waste. Last night, I had a box of white rice leftover from take out 5 days ago. It was about to go in the food waste pile. Instead, I searched the internet and found a recipe for vegetable fried rice. (I made it with less oil, minus the peanuts & with egg.) The results are in the picture below.

It worked out perfectly because I was supposed to make linguine with scallops, but I found that I had no linguine or spaghetti noodles. So, we had vegetable fried rice and bacon wrapped scallops. Much better than adding another item to the food waste pile!

Why I Buy More Than I Need

When I first started the CVS and Walgreen's game last summer, I wasn't very good at it because I tried to buy only what we needed. That approach caused me to see minimal savings. However, when I began focusing on the sales items, my out-of-pocket costs dropped considerably.

Take for instance a few weeks ago when I purchased two bottles of Dentist's Natural Health mouth rinse. They were on sale for $6.99, I had a $2.00 coupon and I could earn $4 ECBs on each bottle. Total cost for each after coupons and ECBs was .99 cents. To make the deal sweeter, I could send in for a $10 rebate, which I did. Did I intend to use this product? No. I bought them because they offered me a way to rotate out my ECBs (they have an expiration date of about 3 weeks), and they helped me get my order to $25 with minimal out-of-pocket expenditure. (Now that I shop CVS weekly, I always get a coupon for $5 off a $25 order.

The best deal is when I can get an item that is free after coupons or that I earn a dollar or two on. That then allows me to buy things I truly need like diapers at a much lower price. This is how I have been able to drastically reduce our expenditures for toiletries.

Once I got the hang of the CVS game, my storage closet quickly filled with items I had no intention of using. I found out about a wonderful organization called Soldier's Angels. They are a not for profit organization that helps injured and deployed soldiers. One of their needs is for toiletries.

Now, every two months or so, I pack up a box of my extra items that I got for free or nearly free and donate them to US soldiers. It is for a good cause, and my extra items are going to good use.

The picture above is of the products I donated this month. These items combined have a retail value just shy of $100. I would have never been able to make this donation if I purchased all of these items out-of-pocket at retail or sale price.

Now I comfortably buy items I don't need that are at the right price so I can save money and make a donation to a good cause.

I shared this post at Life as Mom.

Free Reynolds Aluminum Foil Tomorrow, Earth Day

Reynolds Aluminum Foil is now offering 100% recycled foil.

To celebrate Earth Day, tomorrow, for one day only, go here to get a certificate for a free roll of the aluminum foil made from 100% recycled foil. This offer is limited to tomorrow (4/22) only and quantities are limited, so make sure you get on your computer early tomorrow!

Menu Planning Monday, 4/20/09

Here are the recipes for our dinners for the week:

Monday--Seafood Enchiladas
Tuesday--Freezer Burritos
Wednesday--Crab Cakes
Thursday--Broccoli Cheese Soup with Bread
Friday--Scallops with Linguine
Saturday--Baked Chimichangas
Sunday--Crockpot Taco Soup II

(I wasn't trying for it, but some how we ended up with a Mexican theme.)

To see the groceries I purchased for the week, go here.

For lunches we will have sandwiches and leftovers.

Breakfasts will be cold cereal, oatmeal, leftover waffles, muffins & omelets.

Grocery Shopping Sunday, 4/19/09

For all of our marriage, my husband has always gone grocery shopping with me. I am thankful that he is willing to do this, but now that we have two kids to come along, I am convinced that it saves me time and money to just go to the store myself with the baby. The last three weeks I shopped by myself (see some of my trips here and here) and have spent $60 or less. This week I went with the family, and my trip was nearly $100.

Here is what I got:

Meijer






1.37 lbs bananas @ .59/lb = .81
Taco seasoning = .62
Heath bar = .74
.95 lb green pepper @ 1.00/lb = .95
Pepsi 2 Liter = 1.34
Half & Half = 2.99
Imitation Crab (1 lb.) = 3.99
1 lb. frozen corn = 1.25
1 lb. frozen green peppers = .89
1 Dole pineapple/orange juice = .95
1.02 lb green beans @ 1 lb/.99 = 1.01
2.07 lb. green grapes @ 1 lb/1.00 = 2.07
3.49 lb. apples @ 1.00/lb. = 3.49
Bag spinach = 1.00
4 Green Giant box veggies = 4.00 (1.00/ea)
1 lb. organic carrots = 1.00
2 bunches broccoli = 2.00 (1.00/ea)
8 oz. organic mushrooms = 1.00
2 packs tortillas = 3.98 (1.49/ea)
2 loaves bread = 4.00 (2.00/ea)
1 ERA laundry detergent = 4.00
8 lbs. frozen chicken tenders = 16.00 (2.00/lb)
baby hair clips = 2.99
baby sippy cups = 3.99

Used a 7.50/60 order coupon


TOTAL = 59.81

Tony Finer Foods



Smart Balance Peanut Butter 3.59 -1.00 Q = 2.59
Nestle Mini Chocolate Chips = 2.99
2.90 lbs. apples @ .79/lb = 2.29 (can you tell my family loves apples?)
4 lb. bag California oranges = 2.50
2 Mangoes @ 2/1.00 = 1.00
.95 lb. Pears @ .99/lb = .94
2 packs strawberries @ .99/pack = 1.98
3 lb. bag yellow onions = 1.50
2 Avacados @ .99/ea = 1.98
2.38 lbs. bananas @ .69/lb = 1.64
3 Cannoli = 1.98
1/4 lb. sliced mozzarella = .97
1.5 lbs. deli lunch meat ham = 4.46

TOTAL = 27.45

Total for both trips = 87.26 + 10.63 CVS trip (a post is coming on that soon!) =97.89 for the week.

For the month, my grocery total is $297.20. I am going to try to not spend any more than $20 for the rest of the month.

To see the recipes we will make this week, go here.

On Wanting

"After a time, you may find that having is not so pleasing a thing after all as wanting. It is not logical, but it is often true."-- Spock, "Amok Time"; STAR TREK: The Original Series.

We live in roughly a 1,000 square foot, two bedroom, two flat apartment building.

I found out a few months ago that our landlord's other apartment was vacant. The other apartment was renting for nearly $400 more than our current apartment, but it has three bedrooms, is two stories, and has a two car garage in the back. When our landlord told us it was vacant, I momentarily thought about living there and then dismissed the thought due to the high rent.

Now, I find myself thinking about the apartment all the time. When it is nice enough for me to walk to pick my son up from preschool, we sometimes walk by the apartment (that is now occupied). It is not a pretty house. It has ugly brown wood shingle-type siding, the front porch is drooping, the windows are old. I don't know what it looks like inside, but the outside is not attractive. Still, I keep walking by.

I find myself yearning for the two floors, the three bedrooms, the two car garage. Never mind that we only have one car and the apartment is 20 minutes further from the subway line, so my husband would have further to walk every day. Never mind that my son doesn't even have to share his current bedroom yet because my daughter still is not sleeping through the night and is still in our room. Never mind that my husband is planning to graduate with his Ph.D. next year, and we want to move out of the area. Never mind that we could not afford the extra $400 in rent and that trying to do so would put us behind in our goals for the future. I keep walking by. . .

When my husband and I were first married, we had very little money, but alot of student loan and credit card debt. All we could afford was a tiny basement apartment that flooded in our bedroom when it rained hard. We had to be thrifty to pay down the debt and improve our standing, so we were. And, we came to enjoy it. It became a contest to see how much we could save, how much debt we could pay off.

Then, gradually, I made more money, he got busier with school, and the thrifty contest ended. We used to line dry our clothes, but we began to dry them in the drier. We started going out to eat more as we became busier. Once we were out of credit card debt, we didn't go back in debt as we spent more, but we squandered the opportunity to save the money and make a positive impact on our future. We began to live paycheck to paycheck.

We still have a comfortable living, but I desperately want to quit my job and take care of my kids when my husband graduates. We are learning to become frugal again. That means we must relearn the lesson that wanting is usually better than having. That apartment is probably not much different than our current one. The simple fact is that I was content with our apartment until I heard about the other one.

I find when trying to learn to be frugal again, I must face the wants and understand that the reality is not as fulfilling as the dream. Then, inevitably, the next step on this journey becomes a whole new set of wants. Instead of wanting something bigger and better, I will want other things, like a larger bank account to safeguard our future and buy our own home, not rent someone else's.

Great Coupons from Coupons.com

Here are some of the good coupons from coupons.com


1.50/Huggies
1.00/Kellogg's Frosted Flakes
2.00/Kotex
5.00/Leap Frog
2.00/Dry Idea (buy this at Target for $2.00 on sale and get them free after coupon) (Thanks, moneysavingmom.com!)


Just click on my side bar under coupons.com to print these.

How Clueless Do Advertisers Think We Are?

I was watching TV last night when I saw a commercial that said something like, "Looking for your own bailout? Stimulate your summer with a new pool!"

In the last few weeks, I have noticed the words "bailout" and "stimulus" every where in advertising, most notably for food. A popular fast food chain is advertising two breakfast sandwiches that will "stimulate your appetite."

Yesterday I walked by a locally-owned restaurant that was advertising that their outside patio eating area is now open. Then the bottom of the ad claimed the restaurant would "stimulate" the local economy. Look around, you will see these words in advertising more times than you can count.

Enough already. Do advertisers think consumers are that stupid? Oh, all of the big companies have gotten bailouts, so I need a bailout by buying a pool? It doesn't even make sense.

Part of the reason the citizens of the United States are having so many difficulties is because we haven't saved enough. The urge to buy, the temptation through advertising, is always there. That is why it is even worse to see advertisers using words that are representative of our current crisis to try to tempt us to go down the path that caused many of the problems to begin with.

Food Waste Wednesday, 4/15/09

This week's waste in the picture:

Brownie square that I put in the freezer in February. Now it tastes so nasty even I, the chocoholic, don't want to touch it.

Taco cheese--about 2 tbsp left. The cheese expired three weeks ago, but the bag has been open at least 2 months. The cheese is now very wet.

Wonton wrappers--these are the wrappers I used to make pork wonton soup. I forgot about them and found them in the back of the fridge yesterday. I am most annoyed about this waste because I already had a plan for how to use these up. Ugghh.

But, the waste is actually worse than it looks.

I didn't get to take a picture of a piece of delicious chocolate cake my mom made for Easter that, after a night in the refrigerator, smelled and tasted like the garlic asparagus it was sitting next to. Yuck!!

I also found a pack of tortillas (about 4 left) in the back of the fridge after I had taken my food waste picture and thrown everything in the picture out.

Gymboree Gymbucks Started Today On-Line

For those of you following my Gymboree articles here and here, if you bought any Gymboree clothing during their terrific sales recently and spent more than $50, you earned Gymbucks.

Gymbucks started early online today (I don't know if it also started early in the stores, you may want to give your local store a call), so redeem those codes! Shipping is free.

If you have little girls, I thought the new line, Jungle Gem, was pretty cute. My guess is that it will have a good resale value.

(photos from Gymboree.com)

Homemade Pizza

We love pizza! However, since we have been eating at home more, restaurant pizza seems saltier and less appealing. And then there is the financial cost. . .

So, we have begun to cook our pizza at home. This pizza is delicious!

We use Sara Moulton's Food Processor Pizza Dough recipe.

After the pizza dough is processed in the food processor, it looks like this:



Then, place it in an oiled bowl with the oiled side of the dough up. Place a damp towel over the top and let it rest in a warm place for 35 minutes:




Sara Moulton says the dough is ready after 35 minutes when you can put your finger in it and it leaves a dent like a belly button:



This makes a medium thickness crust. If you like thin crust, you may be able to stretch the dough to make 2 pizzas. (We replaced 1/2 the white flour with whole wheat, so the dough lost some of its elasticity.)

Once it is rolled out on the pan, cook at 500 degrees for 5 minutes before topping it.

For the pizza sauce, we simply used tomato sauce with a little Italian seasoning sprinkled in. Then we covered with green pepper and sliced mozzarella, ham and pepperoni from the deli at our grocery store.



We cooked it on 500 degrees for approximately 10 to 15 minutes, until the cheese was melted and the crust was brown on the bottom.


Ta-dah! Our finished product:




We find it as good as take out for a fraction of the cost.

Grocery Shopping Sunday (Late Edition!) 4/13/09

I went to Tony's Finer Foods today. (I couldn't fit everything in one picture!)

Top picture:

Nestle Crunch candy bar--.79

Fuji Apples--1.75 lbs @ .79/lb--1.38

Avocado--.99

Tomatoes on Vine .65lb@.79/lb--.51

Grapes 1.66 lb@.88/lb--1.46

Kiwi6@4/1.00--1.50

2 loaves bread @2.50/ea - .55 coupon for each = 1.95/ea--3.90

3 cannoli--1.98

2 pie shells--1.89

Picture Two:

2 boxes Wheat Thins @2/4.00 -1.00 Coupon --3.00

1 bag chips--.34

2 green peppers .90 lbs @ .99/lb--.89

1 bag spinach--2.50

1 red pepper .41 lb@1.88/lb--.77

1 bunch bananas 2.30 lbs @ .69/lb--1.59

1 lb. carrots--.79

1 pkg strawberries--2.00

16 oz. ricotta chesse--2.69

16 oz. sour cream--.99

32 oz. cottage cheese--1.99

2 bags 16 oz. shredded cheese @ 1.50/bag--3.00

2 gallons milk @1.99/gallon--3.98

1/2 lb. chihuahua cheese--2.56

1/4 lb. mozarella cheese--.71

1/2 lb. parmesan cheese--2.74

1 lb. deli ham--3.93

1 lb. swiss cheese--4.04

Total (with tax)--54.15

To see our weekly menu plan, go here

Thus far we have spent $199.31 for groceries for the month.

Menu Planning Monday, 4/13/09

For dinners:

Monday--Scalloped Potatoes (using leftover Easter ham), veggie
Tuesday--Chicken Quesadillas
Wednesday--Slow Cooker Pot Roast with potatoes, carrots & peas
Thursday--Chicken Cordon Bleu (minus the Hollandaise sauce and the frying; I will just pan fry), spinach
Friday--Baked Fish & Chips, veggie
Saturday--Fish Soft Tacos
Sunday--Mixed Vegetable Quiche

For lunches we will have leftovers & sandwiches

For breakfast we will have oatmeal, cold cereal, muffins, and omelets.

CVS 4/12/09

(Excuse our kitty. He seems to want to be in every CVS picture.)

I love CVS! This week I saved 99%. Yes, 99%!!!

I went into the store with 20 ECBs. I bought:

--1 Softsoap Refill for $4.99 (earned 2 ECBs)
--1 Head & Shoulders shampoo $4.49 (earned 1.50 ECBs)
--2 Colgate Sensitive toothpastes 7.98 total (earned 7.98 ECBs)
--1 Softsoap Bodywash $4.99 (earned 4.99 ECBs)
--1-18 pk of hair bands 3.49

I used a $5/25 purchase coupon,

1.00 Colgate coupon,

.75 Colgate coupon,

1.00 Softsoap bodywash coupon and

18.00 ECBs

I paid .29 out of pocket for $31.54 worth of merchandise!! I earned 16.47 in ECBs.

My Goals for the Next Four Months

I only have four months left on my leave of absence before I must return to work full-time, so I have decided to create a list of goals for this remaining time. I’ll revisit these at the end of every month to monitor my progress.

Only use up 50% of our savings while on leave. (Starting next month when my husband is done teaching for the academic year, we will be living entirely on savings until my pay checks begin again in August.)

Get grocery bill down to at least $300/month, though I would really like to get it down to $240/month.

Create a list of 50-90 meals we enjoy and organize the recipes for them.

Grow my eBay business to 2700-2800 items. (Right now it is at 2500 items, which it has been at since late last summer.)

Declutter the house!! One room a month.

Sell $300 to $500 worth of household items on eBay that we know longer use.

Lose 25 to 30 pounds.

Get a dishwasher. (I made this list a few weeks ago. We just bought the dishwasher a few days ago. Read about it here. This should save us money because we will be less tempted to eat out and I won’t have to spend an hour a day washing dishes, which is what I was doing!)

Get a full night’s sleep. (Actually, this depends on my 5 month old daughter.)

If I can accomplish these goals before August, it should help our lives run more smoothly when I am back at work. I tend to blow money more easily when working because I don’t have time and I am stressed. If I can keep that impulse under control with careful planning now, hopefully I can fulfill my goal of being a stay at home mom in 2010.

What the Experts Are Saying-Part One

As a person who is interested in becoming more thrifty so that I may one day quit my job and fulfill my dream of being a stay-at-home mom, I have been wondering lately, when this recession is over, will people go back to their old ways, or will the changes made in these hard times actually become habits when there is once again enough money to choose to be frugal or not?

While driving in the car yesterday, I heard a piece on NPR, "Economic Downturn Signals a New Normal." The author, Robert Seigel, seemed to think that Americans indeed are changing their behaviors permanently. He interviewed Harvard economist Kenneth Rogoff who stated that the economy has "had a heart attack." I like that analogy. Many heart attacks are brought on by unhealthy, excessive living. Isn't that also true with our own personal economy?

Yes, people lose their jobs and find themselves in dire straits. I have not lost my job in this economy, but in the 1980s, my dad did, and he was unemployed for a long time. Times were very tight. I remember when our church brought us a food basket for Thanksgiving. I was so excited to see so much food! My mom told me when I was older that the only reason my parents didn't lose their house was because her brothers and sisters chipped in to help make the payments. We never had an excessive lifestyle, but we suffered terribly. I am not talking about these people.

When I mention the unhealthy lifestyle of our personal economy, I am talking about those of us who find the deluxe cable package a "necessity." People who spend the majority, or all, of their pay check and never save for a rainy day. Rogoff went on to say that 20 or 25 years ago people used to save 10% of their income. Those days are long gone. But maybe now that we have suffered so as a nation during this economic downturn, things will change. Maybe we will save more and prepare for the inevitable down turns in the economy.

In the interview, Seigel quotes Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in a Meet the Press interview as saying about the new normal this economy is creating, "When we get through this, people will care less about what they make, more about what they do, what they achieve with what they make and that will help make this country stronger."

What do you think? Will Americans make long term changes? Do you think you will continue to try to be thrifty when the times are once again good?

Food Waste Wednesday, 4/8/09

This is my second week doing this challenge, and the good part is that it has made me more aware. I see items in my refrigerator and think, I better find a way to eat that up because I don't want it in my food waste picture!
Here is my waste for the week.

Broccoli that turned yellow and slimey amazingly quickly.

Cucumber that we forgot about. When we found it, it had big, soft dents. My husband said it was fine and he would cut around the bad, which is what you see in the bag, but his first bite was his last because it was all bad.

Avacado half that we didn't finish.

1/2 carton of Sour Cream. I am not really a "cream" type person. I don't care for mayonnaise, sour cream, dressing, etc. If I buy sour cream, it is for a recipe, and then inevitably the rest goes bad. I guess the lesson here is to pick several recipes with sour cream so it gets used up.

Homemade Blueberry Waffle that my husband made for breakfast 10 days ago. We ate all the rest, but then he thought I was going to eat this one, and I thought he was going to and well, now it goes to waste.

CVS Trip 4/7/09--The I-Know-Just-Enough-To-Be-Dangerous Edition

I have been CVSing since late last summer. I admit, I was a slow learner, but over the last few months, I have had some excellent trips, like this one on Sunday. But today's trip showed me I know just enough to be dangerous.


I had to get some personal care items that I knew would cost around $34. These items (which I did not take a picture of for privacy reasons), are generally not on sale and don't generate ECBs. However, I decided to go to CVS because each quarter you earn 2% ECBs back on all your purchases.

On Sunday, I got a coupon for $15/75 purchase. Since I already had to spend the $34 for the personal care items, I decided to see if I could buy more items we needed without spending much more than the $34. What a fiasco!



Here is what I purchased (minus the personal care items for $34).


2 pks Huggies 2@10/ea =20
1 Colgate Max Fresh = 2.99
2 Schick Intuition razor refills @ 9.99/B1G1 (I know to save the maximum amount of money a person isn't to be brand loyal, but I just love this razor system! I have not cut myself since I started using it four years ago)
2 boxes Puffs @99/box = 1.98
1 Natural Dentist mouthwash =6.99
Personal items = 34.00

(I originally also had the Cover Girl make-up in this order instead of the Huggies because I had a 10/20 coupon, but the cashier wouldn't let me use both the 15/75 and 10/20 coupon, so I put the make up in a separate order.


I used these coupons:

-15.00/75 order
-4.00 Schick refill
-2.00 Natural Dentist Mouth Rinse (I wanted to buy two of these using two coupons and fill out the $10 rebate form, but they only had one left on the shelf. I will have to hunt for another bottle at another CVS.)
-1.50 Huggies diapers
-1.00 Huggies diapers
-1.00 personal care item
-13.97 ECBs

TOTAL = 41.43 (including 2.97 tax)

I earned 4.00 ECBs for the mouth rinse and $2.00 ECBs for the toothpaste.

My second transaction was for the Cover Girl make-up. I carefully choose two products to reach my $20 to earn 10 ECBs. My total for two Cover Girl items should have been $20.49. However, one was on sale, so my total was only $18.49. I had to add another make up item for $3.39 to reach $20.

I used 13.49 in ECBs to help pay for this, giving me a new total of $9.15. I earned $10 ECBs.

So, I spent $50.58 OOP and earned 16 ECBs, but I used $26.46 ECBs.

I did buy the personal items I was going to have to buy any way for $34, and then I spent $16 more than that for all of the items I took a picture of.

I guess all in all it wasn't that bad because I ended up saving 59% off of my total, but I HATE to spend that much OOP.

Grocery Shopping Sunday (Very Late Edition!) 4/7/09

We had an out-of-town guest last weekend, so I didn't actually get to my grocery shopping until Monday afternoon.

At Jewel, I got this milk for free as part of their cereal promotion a few weeks ago. (The promo was buy 10 boxes of qualifying products, get $10 off automatically and 3 gallons of free milk in the upcoming weeks. These two gallons used up the last of my free milk vouchers.)

Then, I went to Tony's Finer Foods where they had terrific deals!

Among some of the deals here were 1 dozen large eggs for .88, 4 lbs. oranges for $2.49, strawberries for .98, and Breyers ice cream for $2.88 (I know, this isn't a necessity, but it has been a long time since we have had really good ice cream!) My total here was $32.06.


My challenge this month is to keep my grocery tab under $360. So far I have spent $58.42 in April.

My Not-So-Frugal Purchase

My husband and I have been married for going on 10 years, and in that time, we have never lived in an apartment with a dishwasher. This was okay, until we had a child, and then another child. . .

And now, I find myself washing dishes and filling up the dishdrainer 3 times a day. The monotony! The tedium!! So, yesterday, we went shopping for a dishwasher, and we found a floor model on sale. The regular price was $639, but it was on sale for $449. We used part of our tax refund to buy it.

Dragging it up two flights of stairs was, well, probably amusing to watch, but once we got it up there, I loaded it within an hour and ran our first load. Ahhh, the bliss. This morning I emptied it and started to put in the new dirty dishes. Ahhh, more bliss.

I am sure doing dishes with a dishwasher won't always be this fun, but right now I am enjoying my not-so-frugal purchase.

Menu Planning Monday, 4/6/09

We will be out of town this weekend, so it is a short menu week.

Monday-Baked BBQ Pork Chops
Tuesday-Bacon Wrapped Scallops
Wednesday-Hearty Bean & Barley Soup
Thursday-Homemade Pizza
Friday-Crab Cakes & leftover soup from Wednesday.

CVS 4/5/09

I had my best trip to CVS ever! I wish I had known about CVS and ECBs when my son was little; I could have saved a bundle on his diapers (that I always paid full price for!!)

I had two transactions today.

Transaction 1:

2 Packs Huggies @10/ea = $20

1 bag refill Huggies wipes = 5

TOTAL = $25

-5.00/25 purchase coupon

-3.00 Huggies coupon (ran several weeks ago on the Internet)

-3.00 Huggies coupon

-3.00 Huggies coupon

-14.99 ECB

New Total =1.91 (including tax)

Transaction 2:

1 pack Huggies = 10.00

2 Easter baskets @1.98/ea = 3.98

1 Skintimate Shaving Cream = 3.49

1 Accu-Check Aviva monitor = 9.99

1 Cadbury egg (filler) = .50

TOTAL = 27.96

-5.00/25 coupon

-3.00 Huggies coupon

-19.96 ECBs

New Total = .22 (this is for tax only!)

I bought $71.66 worth of products for $2.13!!

I went in with $17.99 ECBs plus I got $2.00 ECBs for my winter spending. I left with $17.46 ECBs for next time.

Caregiver's Marketplace--Get Cash Back for Some of Your Personal Goods

A few weeks ago, I learned about Caregiver's Marketplace through the various blogs I read. The Caregiver's Marketplace gives people cash back for commonly purchased items that are not covered by insurance and include such brands as Aspercreme, Balmex, Cottonelle, Depends, Glucerna and others.

For moms with little ones, there are also rebates for Huggies, GoodNites & Pull-Ups (0.75) for each package of diapers purchased and $1.00 rebate for certain brands of diaper rash cremes.

For those caring for an older relative, there are rebates on Depends (0.75/package) and Icy Hot ($1.00/package).

When these rebates are combined with coupons and sales at Walgreens and CVS, the savings quickly add up.

To enroll, all you will need to do is fill out your name, address, e-mail address and who you care for. They then give you a savings number which is supposed to work much like a store's loyalty card. You need to have receipts for at least 5 items before you submit for your rebate.

I have signed up and have my savings number, and hopefully after this week's CVS trip, I will be able to submit my first five product receipts. I will let you know how it goes!

Pork Tenderloin Four Ways

Pork tenderloin was on sale at Meijer two weeks ago for $1.99/lb, so I bought a large package. I got on the web and found a good recipe for slow cooker pork tenderloin. That night, we ate about 1/4 of the two tenderloins that were in the package. The next day, my husband and son packed leftovers for lunch.

Two days later I took another 1/4 of the tenderloin and mixed it with Famous Dave's sauce to make four pulled pork sandwiches, which we had for dinner with homemade French fries and corn.

Then, because I get tired of having the same cut of meat in a week (even though I use it in different recipes) I froze 1/2 cup of pork in one container and 1 cup of pork in another container.

Sunday we had wonton soup, rice and baby bok choy using the 1/2 cup of pork I had put away and a recipe from Robin Miller of the Food Network. (I love Robin's recipes! You cook something for the weekend and use the ingredients to make 2 more meals later in the week.)

And finally, on Tuesday we had Pork Fried Rice with another one of Robin Miller's recipes.

Many people probably cook like this, but I have just started doing so in the last year or so. I used to just cook up the pork tenderloin and suffer through eating the same meal for 5 days until the leftovers were finished. It doesn't have to be that way. It is possible to eat tasty, varied meals while on a budget.

I shared this post at $5 Dinners, Tasty Tuesdays and Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays.

Food Waste Wednesday

Over at one of my new favorite sites, The Frugal Girl, she has a weekly posting about her food waste. Doing so has helped her reduce the food she wastes.

While we don't waste much food, we do waste enough, so I have decided to take up the challenge and list our food waste.

This week there were green onions that had seen better days (I can never seem to use up the whole bunch), 4 stalks of celery that had turned brown on the outside (I cut up the rest and froze it for future use in soups), cheese spread and a cheese ball from the holidays.

Hopefully each week there will be less waste!

April Budget

April Budget:

Rent: 1000
Cable & Internet: 75
Food: 360
Gas: 160
Public Transportation: 20
Life Insurance: 77.44
DS Preschool 790
Misc. 300
Blow 40
Restaurant 60
Student Loan 192.61
Electricity 60
Phone 27
Laundry 45

TOTAL: 3207.05

I am currently on an unpaid leave of absence from work (I'll be going back mid-August), so 1/2 of this budget comes out of savings and 1/2 from my husband's Teaching Assistant salary. Hopefully, we will come in under budget this month so we don't have to go too deeply into savings! (I'll post at the end of the month how well we followed the budget.)