From the category archives:

Frugal Living

Make the Most of Your Pumpkins

November 10, 2009

in Cooking, Frugal Living

1097255 77449904 Make the Most of Your PumpkinsDo you have pumpkins left over from Halloween?  We had 2 small pumpkins that we got for free when we were camping.  The boys decorated them with markers, but otherwise they were untouched.

After watching Foodie Daddy’s pumpkin pie demonstration at the Saving Up Event (and easy recipe for no-bake pumpkin pie), I was motivated to actually try to use the pumpkins that I had sitting around.  So, on Sunday afternoon, I cut up one of the pumpkins so that I could roast pumpkin seeds.  However, I’ve read several places on the web how easy it is to make your own pumpkin puree.  So, I tried it…it really is quite easy.  I plan on making Money Saving Mom’s pumpkin muffins (without the chocolate chips tomorrow).

Here are some of the methods of creating your own pumpkin puree (with pictures):

Plus, here’s the recipe for the Pumpkin chocolate chip muffins.

Photo by shuttermon

{ 2 comments }

Reduce Your Heating Costs

October 22, 2009

in Frugal Living

911086 92912948 Reduce Your Heating CostsI love fall with it’s colorful leaves (especially the bright reds…like the picture), visits to the apple orchards, college football games, and the smell of fires in fireplaces.  However, it’s not my favorite season, because I dread the ensuing coldness of winter.

I know it’s going to get cold (at least in MI), so what can I do to stay warm without a huge energy bill?

  • Winterize your home – walk around checking for drafty doors, windows, fireplaces, etc.  If you feel drafts add caulk or weatherstripping, or consider adding the plastic sheets over drafty windows.  You may also want to think about increasing your insulation or replacing really drafty windows in the future (once you can budget for the expense).
  • Install/Use a Programmable Thermostat - if you have a regular schedule away from your home, a programmable thermostat will save you money by automatically lowering the temperature of the house when you are not home.  When my husband and I both worked, we used this all the time.  We even used it at night…we’d let the heat drop to 60 and then program it to warm back up to 68 before we got out of bed.  We don’t do that anymore, though, since my boys don’t stay under their blankets very well.
  • Lower the Temperature – Experiment with how low you can set the thermostat without getting a chill.  We generally keep our thermostat at 68 during the winter.  We dress for winter (pants, long sleeve shirts, and slippers…since we have cold hardwood floors), and keep blankets on the couches.  Although it’s not toasty warm, it works for us (and our wallet).
  • Use a Space Heater – If your family is congregating in one room, consider using a space heater to warm up that room.  You probably want to choose a space heater that is energy efficient, or you’ll lose your gas savings with a higher electricity bill.  If you have young kids, you also want to be careful about how hot the space heater will become, in case they touch it.  You also want to make sure that any space heater has fire safety precautions.
  • Run your Ceiling Fan – if you have a ceiling fan in a room with a fairly high ceiling, set the fan to a clockwise rotation during the winter to force any hot air that has risen to the ceiling back down to the lower parts of the room.
  • Let in the sun during the day – open up any curtains and blinds during the day to let the sun naturally warm up your home.
  • Use your oven – In the heat of summer, no one wants to turn on the oven in the hot kitchen.  But, in the winter, using the oven can help heat up your home.  My husband used to keep the oven open after we used it…but it’s not a good idea if you have young kids or pets.  Also, you don’t want to use your oven solely to heat your home.
  • Maintain your Furnace – make sure you change the filters on your furnace and get a regular furnace cleaning to keep it from overworking or working inefficiently.

How do you save money on heating costs during the winter?  What temperature do you keep your thermostat set during the winter?  For more frugal ideas, please visit Life as Mom.

Photo by claudmey

{ 4 comments }

How to Still Save on Groceries When You’re Short on Time

October 1, 2009

in Beginners, Frugal Friday, Frugal Living, Groceries

1111976 16319994 How to Still Save on Groceries When Youre Short on TimeEven though I’m an avid couponer, I don’t always have time to plan my shopping trips to get the best deals and cut out my coupons (although I’ll still have a grocery list).  And sometimes, I’m just plain tired of dealing with coupons.  However, my family still has a grocery budget that I need to meet.  What can I do?

  • Eat from your pantry – If you’re an avid couponer, you probably have a stockpile of items on hand.  Plan your meals around the items you already have, and you won’t need to purchase much at the grocery store that week for meals.
  • Only purchase items for use that week – Many of the items where I use a coupon are for my stockpile, because they are at rock-bottom prices with a sale and a coupon.  If you’re getting burned out on couponing, take a week (or a couple of weeks off from adding to your stockpile).
  • Purchase store brand items – Without a coupon, store brand items are usually cheaper than the name brand items.  Most of the time, the store brand items taste similar to the national brand…especially if it’s an item that will be used in a recipe with other ingredients.
  • Check your grocery store’s sale flyer - You can take a cursory glance through your sale flyer to see if any staple items are on sale that you don’t normally have coupons for anyway, like flour, sugar, eggs, meat, etc.  You can still stock-up on those items if they are your target price without coupons.
  • Use eCoupons - If you don’t have time to mess with clipping coupons, you can always just load eCoupons onto your store loyalty card.  There are several eCoupon programs – Cellfire, Shortcuts, P&G eSaver, and Upromise (click here for more information about Upromise and how to add the eCoupons). The disadvantage with the ecoupons is that they don’t double, and you can only use them once (so if you have multiple identical items, you would only get a coupon for one of the items).  But, they are easy to use.
  • Use Printable Coupons – You’re still using coupons, but you won’t have to mess with organizing your coupons if you print out your coupons right before you head to the grocery store.  Only print those coupons that you will use on that shopping trip, and you will save time on filing your coupons.  Some printable coupon sources include: Coupons.com and Red Plum.

What about you?  Do you always use coupons or are there times that you slack off a bit?  How do you save money if you’re not using coupons?  For more frugal ideas, please visit Life as Mom.

Photo by zbyszek80

{ 9 comments }

Save Money at the Movies

September 24, 2009

in Entertainment, Frugal Friday, Frugal Living

174731 3419 Save Money at the MoviesBecause of the high cost of babysitters, my husband and I rarely go out to the movies (although when we are given a chance to go…oftentimes it’s hard to find much worth watching these days).  When we do go, it’s easy to spend a lot of money with the cost of the movie tickets and any snacks/drinks that we want to eat during the movie.  However, it is possible to save money on movies:

  • Go to matinees or a weeknight movies – at my local theater, tickets are $10/ person for weekend movies after 3:55 pm, $7.50 for weekend matinees, and $5.00 for weekday tickets.  So, if I’m willing to go on a weeknight, I save 50% of the cost of the ticket.
  • Use your Entertainment Book for movie coupons – In my local entertainment book, I can get discounted movie tickets (for the matinee price), plus there are coupons for free drinks, etc.
  • Check your local warehouse club for discount movie tickets – My local Costco also sells 5-packs of movie tickets to AMC Theatres for $39.99.  So, if I’m going to a weekend evening show, I would basically get 1 ticket free.
  • Join any free loyalty clubs – For example, if you’re a member of the AMC Movie Watchers Club, you can avoid paying the online ticket fee when purchasing tickets online at MovieTickets.com. You earn points for free items, and you qualify for special promotions such as free popcorn on Wednesday nights at AMC Theatres.
  • Eat before or after your see the movie to avoid purchasing snacks - Even if you don’t have the time/money to go out to eat before or after the show, you can still fill up at home before you leave.  Since it’s against most (if not all) theater policies to allow outside food and drinks, I can’t suggest that as a solution to saving on snacks.  However, if you visit a drive-in movie theater, you are often free to bring in your own snacks.
  • Wait until the movie comes out on DVD and rent it, buy it, or check it out from your library – this idea’s not quite as much fun as going to the movie theater, but it’s definitely much cheaper.  If you do purchase the movie, many times retailers such as Best Buy and Walmart have the movie deeply discounted the first week of release.

Do you go to the movies?  If so, how do you save money when you go to the movies?

Photo by Bubbels

{ 1 comment }

3 Easy Ways to Cut Cable Costs

September 17, 2009

in Entertainment, Frugal Friday, Frugal Living

496914 96222109 3 Easy Ways to Cut Cable CostsEarlier this year, I wrote about how we don’t pay for  TV service (such as cable, AT&T UVerse, or satellite)…we just use our bunny ears for free reception.

However, I can understand that cutting cable is not for everyone (we really miss ESPN and the Big 10 Network during college football season)  But, that doesn’t mean you need to overpay for your TV service.

  • Compare Prices by Company – even if your community does not allow cable company competition, there are still various alternatives to cable, like AT&T UVerse or several satellite companies (like Direct TV or Dish Network).
  • Analyze your Bill – do you really need all the services and channels that you’re paying for?  Is it possible you can cut the premium channels and rent movies, join Netflix, or even get movies from the library for free?  For example, if we had cable, we would likely only watch ESPN…is one channel worth cable (it would depend on the game we’re missing for my husbands answer :-) )?
  • Ask your Provider for Discounts – unless you’ve signed a contract with your TV provider, you’re free to change companies at any time.  If you hear an ad for a discount for new customers, call your company and ask for the discount.  Mention that you’re thinking about switching to another company, and they may be willing to give you the discount.  You never know unless you ask, right?  Considering it would cost the company many times more to recruit a new customer than to keep your business, they might negotiate with you.

How do you save money on your TV spending?  Do you use alternative sources on the internet such as Hulu (I’d love to learn more about that)?  Anyone know how to catch live ESPN games on the internet :-) ?  For more frugal ideas, please visit Life As Mom.

Update: Thanks so much to Jennifer for letting me know that I actually CAN get ESPN for free over the internet!  We use AT&T Uverse for our internet, so we can access the ESPN 360 site.  My husband will be thrilled!

{ 5 comments }

Making the Switch to Cloth Napkins

March 24, 2009

in Frugal Living, Green Living, Tightwad Tuesday

493152 25650279 Making the Switch to Cloth NapkinsThanks to Sara from Learning the Frugal Life for writing this guest post on her family’s journey to using cloth napkins!

My family switched to cloth napkins about a month ago. I have been thinking about making the switch for about a year and finally decided to take the step. It was actually a little intimidating since my family had become so dependent on paper napkins and towels.

We used paper towels and napkins for everything. I mean EVERYTHING. Having 4 children in the house you can imagine how many we could go through in a day. We used them for noses, spills, eating, smashing bugs, wiping up mud, you name it. I could easily go through a package of 500 every couple weeks. While I know that paper napkins are fairly cheap (I could usually get a package for about $2-$3) that is still around $50 a year. Then if you add the cost of paper towels it begins to add up. What was really bothering me the most was the waste factor. So, I decided to make the switch.

There are many ways to get cloth napkins without buying brand new fancy ones. You can buy them second hand from thrift stores or yard sales. You can make your own from any fabric, old t-shirts, bed sheets or towels. If you watch the stores you can sometimes find napkins on clearance, especially around the holidays. Last month I picked up a whole bunch of Valentines napkins on clearance for .31 cents each. For everyday use I figured it wouldn’t matter what they looked like. Besides it’s kinda fun having a little variety.

I made my first set of napkins from some cotton fabric I found on clearance at Wal-Mart for $1.97. From this fabric I made 9 napkins, that averages to about .27 cents each. I sewed them all by hand in my spare time. I measured them each at 12 x 12 inches. I made them a little smaller than most of the conventional napkins to maximize my fabric. I cut them out and folded over each side and sewed them. This made them about 10 1/2 x 10 1/2 inches. While this is a little smaller than I initially wanted, they ended up being the perfect size for my toddlers to use.

Some people will argue the fact that using energy, water and soap to wash the cloth cancels out the good your doing by not using paper. I disagree. I don’t feel like the cloth napkins have increased my energy or water usage at all. The napkins are not that big and I just throw them in with my other laundry. Plus, we are typically only using about 6 napkins per day. Unless they get extremely soiled we just keep reusing them until they are dirty. I wash all my cloths in cold water, thus reducing energy. And if you hang them to dry you are using even less energy.

I invested less than $7 for my cloth napkins. I figured I spend about $100 per year on paper towels and paper napkins. While I have not totally eliminated paper towels I have definitely cut back our usage. So for that small initial investment up front they have more than paid for themselves, as I estimate that I will be saving about $70 per year. It feels good to be wasting less, and saving more. I expect my napkins to last me many years. I recommend that everyone look into switching to cloth. Not only will you save money, you will also be helping the environment.

Have you switched to cloth napkins or thought about doing it? For more frugal tips, visit Being Frugal.

Sara @ Learning the Frugal Life is a wife and mother to 4 boys. She used to work as a Medical Assistant, but after the birth of her third child decided to take the job of homemaker. She enjoys teaching herself and others how to live more frugally in their day to day lives. Sara also enjoys gardening, baking, organizing, scrapbooking and coming up with new arts and crafts for her kids to try. You can visit Sara at Learning the Frugal Life for some great tips on saving money or at her personal/crafty blog at One Mom, Five Boys.

{ 8 comments }

Four Easy Steps to Cut Laundry Costs

February 26, 2009

in Frugal Friday, Frugal Living

481258 85135767 Four Easy Steps to Cut Laundry CostsDoing laundry is a fact of life in most households. Many times it is a daily chore that is necessary so our families have clean clothes to wear. The energy that is used doing laundry can add up over time to a pretty hefty bill. But, there are ways to save money even on laundry:

  • Only do full loads of laundry – It takes about the same amount of energy to do a small load vs. a large load, so wait until you have enough laundry to fill the washing machine before you throw in a load.
  • If you’re in the market for a new washing machine, consider an ENERGY STAR washing machine. The machine may be more expensive up front, but you’ll need to add the calculation for the energy savings into the cost. An ENERGY STAR qualified machine may save $550 in operating costs over the life of the machine.
  • Consider hanging clothes to line-dry (or use a drying rack) rather than using your dryer.

How do you save money on laundry? For more frugal tips, visit Biblical Womanhood.

{ 4 comments }

Preparing for a Layoff

February 17, 2009

in Frugal Living, Layoff, Tightwad Tuesday

Thanks to Tia from Tia’s Saving Cents for writing a guest post for me on preparing for a layoff.

A few months ago I learned that my job would be ending this April. I am very blessed. I received a lot of notice and the plan I am leaving with has a severance package, which I know is a lot more than many are left with when they are handed that pink slip. I was in denial the first few weeks. I was still getting up and going to that job everyday, so it did not seem real. When the first round of leave dates arrived for my co-workers, it hit me. This is real, and I need to take advantage of this time to prepare.

Build Up The Stock Pile- My first focus was to build up my stockpile. I reviewed my Top 50 items and started taking inventory of what I had, and how much I thought I would need to last a 3-6 month period. I reallocated money from our entertainment budget to help me double my stock piles, and so far I have been able to find some really great free and really cheap deals to assist me. The big challenge will be keeping my teenager from devouring it all!

Cutting Back On Extras- This is the hardest for me. We don’t have a lot of “extra” to cut from. The one area we do trip up in keeping costs down is eating out. We have significantly cut back on this in the past 2 years. First, to prepare to buy our house last April, and then to keep in our budget, but I do “reward” myself for staying on my menu for 13 days by ordering pizza or some other fast food on the 14th day. When you are feeding a family of 6, even with coupons this is expensive. I have started menu planning for all 14 days and have been lucky enough to be able to get jobs mystery shopping a pizza establishment, so we have not lost this luxury all together – we just try to indulge when it is free.

Another “extra” is gifts. I love to give them and on my clearance expeditions I often find fabulous deals too good to pass up. This year I have (passed them up that is). I picked up the gifts for my son’ birthdays for this year at Target’s 75% off toy sale and set a budget of $30 total for the toys I would pick up for all my nieces and nephews birthdays this year. I was not able to cover them all at this sale since some of them are now in their teen years, but I was able to get all of the kids covered with gifts I know they will love, and at 75% off did not break the bank ($25.84 was the final total). I will cover the teenager’s gifts this year with mystery shopping at a few local stores they love. A definite win win situation! In the past I felt that because they were free to me, I needed to buy something too, but since the girls do not know that they were free to me, I will let go of that and take advantage.

Increase Savings- I am great at saving money while spending it, if that makes any sense, but not so great at saving it in an interest bearing savings account. This is where my husband is great, so we discussed how much we wanted to increase our savings and have tried hard to stick to it. Life has thrown us some interesting curve balls. My husband works for our state and they are implementing 2 day furloughs a month. This cuts our income significantly. When we purchased our home in April, we knew I was not working in a stable job environment so we made sure we could pay all the “bills” with his salary alone. We did not expect that his salary would be cut at the same time as I would be losing my job. I also do not anticipate finding work quickly. My field is in complete layoff mode and even chances of finding a job in a law firm are slim to none, so having this savings is important. I am hoping even with the curve balls, we will be able to reach our goal before April 30.

Keep Communication Open- This is a biggie. Monetary stress is huge and can really be hard on a family and a marriage. Keeping the communication flowing keeps concerns on the table and allows you to work and plan together.

Do you have any tips for me? This is my first experience with a layoff. I started this job 11 years ago straight out of school and have never been unemployed so this will be a new journey. If you have any experience to share I would love to hear it! My income is 47% of our household. This will be a significant life change. I am looking forward to finding the direction God has for me and my family thru this. It has definitely refocused my prayer time.

Tia is a blessed wife and mom to 4 busy boys ages 15-3. She loves finding great deals, shopping smart and sharing it all at TiaSavingCents.com. Join her there daily as she shares great deals, smart shopping tips and how you can keep your hard earned money in your bank accounts.

{ 3 comments }

← Previous Entries

Lifetime Moms