HANDS & HEARTS....for HIM

POWDERED LAUNDRY DETERGENT

2011-02-10T11:56:00.000-06:00

My goodness, it's been almost a year since I've posted to this blog!! Nice to know it is still hear waiting :o)

Previously, I posted about making a Liquid Laundry Detergent. After doing so, and using it, I was not that pleased with the results so I then tried making a Dry Laundry Detergent and have been very pleased with both the ease of making it and the cleaning results.

So, one of the things I've done since being snowed in during our February Blizzard is making another batch.

Here is the recipe: Powdered Laundry Detergent

2 cups Fels Naptha soap, finely grated.

1 Cup washing soda (not baking soda)
1 Cup Borax
Mix well & store in an airtight plastic container.

Use 2 Tablespoons per load.

This amount I have made will last me a good long time and is sooo very much cheaper than purchased laundry detergent.

Let me know if you try it, and if you like it.

What do you do in a pinch?

2010-03-21T23:22:00.004-05:00

I thought I'd throw out a question for you, my frugalite friends. And here it is (nothing like getting right to the point!):

What are some things you've had to do or you've used when you've been in a pinch and needed something now? For example, using baking soda in place of toothpaste or taping up a hem because you couldn't find a needle and thread.

Got any fun, crazy or unusual substitutions and/or stories to share?

A VARIETY OF ITEMS USED FOR VARIOUS THINGS

2010-03-16T05:04:00.002-05:00

I have not tried these, but received this via e-mail and felt it was worth posting here.

Eliminate ear mites. All it takes is a few drops of Wesson Corn Oil in your cat's or dog's ear... Massage it in, then clean with a cotton ball. Repeat daily for 3 days. The oil soothes the cat's skin, smothers the mites, and accelerates healing.

Kill fleas instantly ... Dawn Dish washing Liquid does the trick. Add a few drops to your dog's bath and shampoo the animal thoroughly. Rinse well to avoid skin irritations. Good-bye fleas.

Rainy day cure for dog odor: Next time your dog comes in from the rain, simply wipe down the animal with Bounce or any dryer sheet, instantly making your dog smell springtime fresh.

This also works on Human hair too! No time to wash your hair or just want your hair or clothes to be refreshed.

Did you know that drinking two glasses of Gatorade can relieve headache pain almost immediately-without the unpleasant side effects caused by traditional pain relievers?

Did you know that Colgate Toothpaste Toothpaste makes an excellent salve for burns? Works on zits too! It shrinks them overnight and reduces redness.

Before you head to the drugstore for a high-priced inhaler filled with mysterious chemicals, try chewing on a couple of curiously strong Altoids peppermints. They'll clear up your stuffed nose.

Achy muscles from a bout of the flu? Mix 1 tablespoon horseradish in 1 cup of olive oil. Let the mixture sit for 30 minutes, then apply it as a massage oil for instant relief for aching muscles.

Sore throat? Just mix 1/4 cup of vinegar with 1/4 cup of honey and take 1 tablespoon six times a day. The vinegar kills the bacteria.

Rinsing with Listerine daily prevents sore throats and colds.

Cure urinary tract infections with Alka-Seltzer. Just dissolve two tablets in a glass of water and drink it at the onset of the symptoms. Alka-Seltzer begins eliminating urinary tract infections almost instantly-even though the product was never been advertised for this use. This is very good to know!

Honey remedy for skin blemishes... Cover the blemish with a dab of honey and place a Band-Aid over it. Honey kills the bacteria, keeps the skin sterile, and speeds healing. Works overnight.

Listerine therapy for toenail fungus: Get rid of unsightly toenail fungus by soaking your toes in Listerine Mouthwash. The powerful antiseptic leaves your toenails looking healthy again.

Balm for broken blisters... To disinfect a broken blister, dab on a few drops of Listerine, a powerful antiseptic.

Easy eyeglass protection... To prevent the screws in eyeglasses from loosening, apply a small drop of Maybelline Crystal Clear Nail Polish to the threads of the screws before tightening them.

Cleaning liquid that doubles as bug killer... If menacing bees, wasps, hornets, or yellow jackets get in your home and you can't find the insecticide, try a spray of Formula 409. Insects drop to the ground instantly.

Smart splinter remover: Just pour a drop of Elmer's Glue-All over the splinter, let dry, and peel the dried glue off the skin. The splinter sticks to the dried glue.

Hunt's Tomato Paste boil cure... Cover the boil with Hunt's Tomato Paste as a compress. The acids from the tomatoes soothe the pain and bring the boil to a head.

Vinegar to heal bruises... Soak a cotton ball in white vinegar and apply it to the bruise for 1 hour. The vinegar reduces the blueness and speeds up the healing process.

Quaker Oats Oats for fast pain relief... it's not for breakfast any more! Mix 2 cups of Quaker Oats and 1 cup of water in a bowl and warm in the microwave for 1 minute, cool slightly, and apply the mixture to your hands for soothing relief from arthritis pain.

WALKING THE WALK - Lip stick

2010-02-22T20:25:00.000-06:00

Hi all!!! Seems like most of us have totally forgotten this blog. Or, like me, you've been too busy with lotz of other things!!! I just wanted to post a silly post to see if anyone was still coming by to read when we did post :o)

I went to throw this tub of lipstick away this morning and was teasing my husband saying, "Do you think I got my money's worth?" Then I decided to post it here so you would know I truly do walk the walk and not just talk the talk!!!

One of the tips I've given is to buy a lip brush and use your lip sticks for months longer by using all the wasted lipstick below the metal band. Here is my proof that I truly do this.

Good to the Last Drop

2010-01-19T23:26:00.006-06:00

I'm sure everyone has noticed the way manufacturers are doing their packaging these days. The most noticeable for me is the upside-down squeeze bottles. From mayo, ketchup, and jelly to shampoo, lotion and makeup. And the way some of them are shaped, you can't get the top off...at least by unscrewing it.

Here's where I break out the scissors!

My makeup used to come in a small bottle, now it's in an upside down tube. When I can't shake, squeeze or cajole anymore out, I've been cutting the end off. I have gotten at least five more applications by doing this (I store it in a ziptop baggie so it doesn't dry out). The same goes for toothpaste. Unless you're the type that can flatten it flatter than a crepe', cutting it lengthwise can get you three, maybe four or more uses.

The list of items you can do this with is endless, and it just takes a minute or so.

~Adding a little water to shampoos and conditioners (or cutting into it if it doesn't unscrew).

~I use the same brand of lotion all the time. It's a pump type, so I know I'm definitely not able get all of it out. Rather than using my scissors on the bottle, I'll start on the next one for a several uses then turn the old bottle upside down onto the new one.

~What about the never-ending bar of soap. Always sticking the sliver of soap to the new bar, or saving all the slivers, adding a little water and remolding them.

~In the kitchen I liked the Bottom of the Jar segments I'd seen on the Rachel Ray Show where she'd add other ingredients to what was left in a jar that we'd normally just throw away. Dressings out of the last dollop of mayo. Marinades out of the last couple spoons of jellies.

Any other ideas you've done with squeeze bottles?

Coupon Binder Tutorial

2010-01-11T11:38:00.003-06:00

My Litter of Six is a wonderful blog to subscribe to for grocery store sale/coupon match ups.

She offers lots of advice and great ideas for frugal shopping.

Right now she has a detailed Coupon Binder Tutorial on her web page and is giving away a coupon - loaded binder.

Go check her out. You'll learn something I promise.

Internet Shopping

2010-01-07T11:14:00.003-06:00

If you enjoy shopping from your computer instead of shopping at stores, I read a really good tip yesterday that I want to share with you.

If you see an item you want to purchase at an online retailer, sign in and place the item in the shopping cart. Don't purchase it yet. Wait a day or two if possible. Some retailers will see it in your cart and notice haven't purchased it and will e-mail you an incentive to purchase it. You may get an extra percentage off. Not guaranteed, but worth a try if you are willing to wait.

Also, remember to create an account and shop thru ebates.com. You get cash back based on your total purchase and also they provide coupon codes. Checks are mailed quarterly.
You can also g**gle coupon codes and double stack some codes when you check out.

Example: Recently I had to order flowers for an out of state funeral. I went to www.ebates.com
and decided to use 1800flowers. I also searched the Internet for a coupon code. I found one for free shipping. On a $100.00 order I only paid $80 after my cash back and the free shipping.

Softer feet

2009-12-28T07:02:00.005-06:00

I caught a brief promotion by Dr. Oz and he recommended using Castor Oil on your feet to soften callous. I immediately went to the store and bought Castor Oil!!! Who keeps Castor Oil in their home?!

Before going to bed you are to rub some on the bottom of your feet, the callouses, then put on socks and go to bed. Let me tell you.....it works!!!

You can even put some on in the morning if you don socks like these that Jacque gave me for Christmas!!!! (Yes, I'm still in my p.j.'s it's only 7:02 a.m. )

TURKEY FRAME Leftovers

2009-11-30T19:42:00.000-06:00

As reported on my blog, we had a WONDERFUL family Thanksgiving. I am so appreciative and blessed with our family and the fact all of them (except David) live in the immediate area.

After dinner, while Dave was cleaning up the roaster pan, he asked Suzette about the turkey frame. She didn't want it and asked me if I'd like to take it home. She had prepared a 22 lb turkey. YOU BET I wanted to bring it home.

I want to share with you what I was able to do with that turkey frame and how many meals it has provided us with!!!

First thing I did was find a new soup, instead of the normal turkey & rice or noodle soup I usually make. Instead I made a vegetable soup. Here is the recipe:

Turkey Frame Soup

1 cooked turkey frame

3 qts, water

1 onion, quartered

2 tsp. salt

1 (15 oz.) can tomatoes, cut up

1 tbsp. chicken bouillon

1 1/2 tsp. oregano

1 tsp. thyme

1/8 tsp. pepper

4 c. frozen stew vegetables

1/2 c. dry noodles

In large pot, add first 4 ingredients and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer 1 1/2 hours. Cool and discard bones and solids. Add next 6 ingredients and bring to a boil and simmer for 45 minutes. Then add dry noodles and simmer for 10 minutes. This soup is great for after the holidays.

This soup has been our lunch for 2 meals and we still have enough left for the 3rd lunch.

After the frame cooled I removed all the turkey from the bones. This gave me a goodly amount of turkey meat. Today for lunch we had turkey sandwiches and tonight I fixed creamed turkey on toast. I have enough creamed turkey left for supper tomorrow evening and still have 1/2 the turkey meat left to do something else with!!!

So to recap - out of the turkey frame that many would just throw away we have had:

3 meals of a rich, vegetable soup

1 meal of turkey sandwiches

2 meals of creamed turkey

& remaining turkey to still make 2 or 3 more meals out of.

FRUGAL is a life style and not just a word!!!!

It also can taste mighty good.

72 MONEY SAVINGS TIPS ON ELECTRICITY

2009-11-21T13:16:00.000-06:00

Here is a list of 72 money saving tips on Electricity that our local television station ran. Some of them are redundant but a lot of good tips. With the cost of EVERYTHIG going up we need to be doing all we can to cut the costs.

1Turn Off Your Lights - A simple habit to remember and one which can save you a fortune. Turing off the lights when you leave a room and when you go out makes financial sense, and should appeal to your common sense too.

2 Stop Your Dishwasher Drying Your Dishes - Turn off the dish drying function of your dishwasher cycle and save money by letting your dishes dry naturally.

3 Using Table Lamps - Table lamps will light just the space you are using, making them a much more efficient option than turning on all the numerous and larger overhead lights.

4 Shut Off Mains Power - If you are willing to reprogram your alarm clocks and recorders when you return, turning off your mains power when you leave the house can save you a lot of cents when you add up the power used when appliances are on standby.

5 Only Use Lights When Needed - Get out of the habit of turning lights on whenever you enter a room. Often by simply opening a curtain you’ll have enough light for general tasks during the day.

6 Turn Lights Off When You Leave a Room - A habit which is going to save you money on your electricity bill when you do it regularly – plus there is no substance to the myth that turning lights off and on uses more power than leaving them running, so no matter how long you’re leaving a room for, turn off the light.

7 Free Cooling Passages - The air comes into your fridge and freezer through a vent on the inside so make sure you don’t place food or items in front of that vent, as the appliance will have to work harder.

8 Use Task Lighting - If you’re working on the computer or reading a book, use lighting which will light up just the space you need. This is especially important if you are at your desk where your computer, monitor, printer and office equipment is already powered up.

9 Hand Wash Single Dishes - If you have a full load then your dishwasher is more water and energy efficient, but if not, wash the few plates or mugs by hand.

10 Untangle Your Drying - If you separate your washing before putting it in the dryer the dryer will be much more efficient.

11 Indoor Clothes Drying Area - Setting aside a space inside to hang your clothes on an airer will make it easier for you to stop using the dryer and all that extra power.

12 Turn Off Your Home Office - When working from home you need a break from the office too, even if you just close the door to the spare room and forget about it for the weekend. Well, while you’re forgetting about work, unplug all of your office equipment on the weekend too.

13 Unplug Your Home Office - If your home office doesn’t run at the same pace as an inner-city business then you don’t need to be using the same amount of power either. Therefore, if you’re not printing anything unplug your printer, if you’re not scanning anything unplug your scanner, if you’re not using your audio equipment then unplug your speakers.

14 Turn Off and Turn In - Before you go to bed it will cost you nothing to double check that all lights, TVs and electrical equipment are turned off.

15 Use Your Front Door Not Your Garage Door - Your garage door opener uses power every time you come and go from your house. Therefore, if you’re stopping at home quickly leave your car in the driveway instead of opening and closing the garage door. Plus, if you have an entrance to your home from your garage, use it, instead of opening and closing the garage door for your car, and again for yourself.

16 Turn Off Your Computer - A simple money saving habit to get into and one which will save you a fortune in power you’re just wasting when your computer sits idle.

17 Not a Fan - If you are cooling off in front of a fan, make sure to turn it off when you leave the room. A fan is only going to make you feel cooler when you are in front of it and leaving it on when you’re not there is not going to lower the temperature of your home.

18 Turn Off Appliances When You Leave - If you’re not watching the TV remember to turn it off, same too for your computer and games console. You can turn them right back on when you return.

19 Transfer From Freezer to Fridge - If you plan out the next several meals you can transfer all that food from your freezer to your fridge at once. Opening your freezer less will mean it doesn’t have to work as hard as if the door was regularly being opened.

20 Christmas Lights Light Up the Night - Don’t leave your Christmas lights running during the day – no one can see them. Also make sure to wait until it’s actually dark to turn them on at night.

21 Turn Off Lights When TV is On - The TV provides its own light if you need to get up and move around the room and you certainly don’t need the light on to see the TV better – in fact it’s likely to look better in the dark.

22 Turn the TV Off When You’re Not Watching - If you’re going in and out of the room getting ready for work or cooking or cleaning, don’t leave the TV on when you’re not there to watch it.

23 Watch Less TV - Turning the TV off when you leave a room may also lead you to watch less TV all together which can save you even more. Plus, flat screen TVs especially, get very hot when on for long periods of time so get off the couch and couple saving electricity with exercise, gardening or board games.

24 Don’t Dehumidify When It’s Not Humid - You will only need a dehumidifier to be running when it’s humid so to avoid unnecessary electricity consumption, turn them off during late autumn, winter and early spring.

25 Unplug Battery Chargers - After your iPod, camera or other device has charged, unplug the device and the charger from the wall. Even when your device isn’t plugged into its charger, the charger is still consuming electricity.

26 Turn Off Appliances - Leave your fridge and freezer running of course, but make sure all other appliances are off when you leave the house – your microwave, stereo and coffee maker don’t need to stay on while you’re gone.

27 Take All Food From the Fridge at Once - If you’re cooking take all the ingredients from the fridge at the same time, or if you’re making a sandwich get all the toppings in one go as opening the fridge door less, means it doesn’t have to work as hard.

28 Clean Fridge Coils - Clean coils means your fridge will take less electricity to keep its contents cold.

29 Use Half As Much Light - Go through your house and unscrew every second light bulb and see whether you really do need so much light in your home.

30 Clean Dishwasher Drain - If your dishwasher is clean, then your dishes will be too and if you allow only clean water to come through the drain, there is less chance you need to rewash the dishes and use yet more power.

31 Keep Dryer Lint Trap Clean - If the moisture can easily leave the dryer through a clean lint trap then it will be more efficient and be able to run for less time.

32 Run Full Loads of Laundry - If you run full loads of laundry you can therefore put more items in the dryer at the end of each cycle, and run the dryer less often.

33 Soak Your Dishes - Soaking off the tough food stains on your dishes overnight means that the following day you can put your pre-soaked dishes in the dishwasher on an energy conservation cycle.

34 Check Your Dryer Before the End of the Cycle - Just because you’ve set the dryer for 90 minutes, it doesn’t mean the items won’t be dry before then. Checking before the end of the cycle allows you to remove the items which are dry and turn off the dryer, or let the items which need more time dry more quickly on their own.

35 Check Your Dryer Efficiency - As your dryer runs it may tangle large items such as sheets. However, if you check their progress regularly you will be able to untangle them so they can dry more quickly.

36 Don’t Completely Dry Clothes in the Dryer - Taking items from the dryer when they are still damp will help them last longer and it also means you can use your dryer less if you hang them up to dry naturally.

37 Can Your Dryer Sense Moisture? - If your dryer has a moisture sensor feature make sure this is activated as your dryer will shut off once it senses the clothes are dry.

38 Do Consecutive Loads of Laundry - When your dryer is already warmed up, keep washing to take advantage of the warmth, rather than making it heat up from cold again another time.

39 Don’t Use the Wrinkle Shield Feature of Your Dryer - If left unattended, the Wrinkle Shield will run the dryer at the end of the cycle for two minutes, every five minutes to stop the clothes wrinkling inside. If you’re out and unaware, your dryer will be running almost the entire time.

40 Turn Off Your Home Office - If you don’t want to scramble around with cables when you’re not using your office equipment, at least turn them off when they’re not in use.

41 Put Scanner on Sleep Mode - This means you don’t even have to remember to turn off your scanner after use, and you can still save electricity.

42 Put Printer on Sleep Mode - Using the sleep function means you don’t have to plug in and unplug your printer each time you stop using it, but you can still save on your power bill.

43 Put Fax Machine on Sleep Mode - Leaving your fax machine on full time in case a fax comes through is unnecessarily using power but putting it to sleep mode can combat this waste.

44 Turn Off Your Games Console - Anything like a Nintendo an X-Box or a PlayStation will keep using power even when you’re not playing so if you’ve finished or are taking a break, save and turn it off.

45 Unplug Your Games Console - Even if the console is off it is still using power so unplug your Nintendo, X-Box or PlayStation at the wall.

46 Unplug Your Phone Charger - Even if you’ve unplugged your phone from its charger, the charger is still sucking out power if it’s left plugged in.

47 Manual Gardening - Use manual shears to trim the bushes and hedges in your garden rather than powering up your electric trimmers.

48 Manual Can Opener - If you have an electric can opener, you probably still have a manual one so get it out of the drawer and stop using an electrical appliance when you have a manual one which works just as well and for free.

49 Have Bread Not Toast - Choosing to eat your bread fresh rather than toasted can save a lot of power over breakfast, especially if the whole family gets onboard with bread.

50 Rotate Cordless Phones in One Charger - Instead of having several cordless phone handsets charging at once, use just one charger base on a rotation basis.

51 Computer on Standby - This is a setting you can easily change and you can chose the time-out period before your computer powers down after inactivity

52 Air Dry Your Hair - Before you blast your hair with the hair dryer, consider whether you really need to – are you going out, are you going to catch a cold? Probably not, so where you have the opportunity to air dry you hair, do – try washing your hair at night and when you wake up in the morning it’s dry, for free.

53 Light Free Day - Get into the habit of using no lights for just one day a week. You can make it into a game or challenge for your family, or simply start a romantic candle-lit dinner tradition – all while saving on your power bill.

54 Don’t Dispose of Garbage in the Sink - If you have a garbage disposal system in your sink, think before you use it – do you really need to or can you just take your rubbish out to the bin?

55 Fill Up Your Dishwasher - Don’t run your dishwasher unless it’s full as you’re going to do more loads in the long run and waste all that power and water on a half load.

56 Unplug the Second Fridge - If you have a second fridge in the laundry or garage for beers and food and other drinks for parties, it doesn’t need to be plugged in all the time. If you can, even try to get rid of it all together.

57 Disconnect the Microwave Light - Your kitchen is likely to be quite well lit so when you (responsibly) unplug the light bulb in the microwave to save on electricity, you probably won’t even miss it.

58 Raise the Fridge Temperature - Don’t raise the temperature so far that your food spoils, but just check the setting now – is it on the coldest setting? Probably. Well it doesn’t need to be, turn the thermostat just a few notches warmer and your fridge won’t have to work so hard.

59 Raise the Freezer Temperature - The same electricity saving idea can be applied to your freezer too because unless your freezer is packed to the brim, it doesn’t need to be on the absolute coldest setting to keep things frozen.

60 Remove One Light Bulb in Your Garage Door Opener - While it’s convenient for your garage door opener to light up when you’ve just entered, most systems will have two light bulbs, so try it with just one and see whether there’s enough light.

61 Turn Off the Porch Light When You Get Home - If you’re the last one home at night, who are you leaving the porch light on for? This is a simple habit to get into when you get home.

62 Leave the Porch Light Off - Chances are your street is lit with street lights so do you really need to leave the porch light on at all? Moonlight, coupled with the street lights or even the light of your mobile phone should be enough to help you find the right key at night for free.

63 Use a Single Power Board - You can use one power board in the lounge, one in the office, one in the bedroom, one for the kids…once you connect all appliances in a room to one power board you can quickly and easily turn off everything at once so you can be sure you’re not wasting any standby power.

64 Separate Your Fridge and Stove - If your fridge is next to your stove, your fridge is going to have to work a lot harder to keep cool with all that extra hot air around – especially if you open the fridge while you’re cooking.

65 Paint Light - Choosing light paint colors can help minimize the need for more lighting as light paint naturally reflects light into dark spaces.

66 Give Your Electronics a Holiday - When you go away on holiday, give your electrical appliances a break too and unplug all the clock radios, DVD players, game consoles and TVs. If you’re leaving for an extended period even try and empty out the fridge so you can unplug that too.

67 Fill Up Your Fridge - If your fridge isn’t full, place some (full) water bottles inside as this leaves less space that your fridge has to work on to keep cool, and the cold items will keep the fridge itself cold too.

68 Collect Leaves Manually - Use a rake instead of a leaf blower and take the opportunity to get a little exercise as you save some electricity.

69 Clean Your Light Fixtures - If your light fixtures are clean, you will probably find you can get away with turning on fewer lights, as there is more light coming from the ones already on.

70 Keep the Pool Pump Clean - Make sure the strainer baskets in your swimming pool pump are free and clean, because when they start to get blocked, the pump has to work harder and use more electricity.

71 Keep Your Freezer Full - If your freezer is full, the frozen items will work to keep the inside of the freezer cold and allow the freezer to use less electricity.

72 Shovel Snow by Hand - Get out there and put your back into shoveling snow by hand, rather than using your snow blower. It might even help you work off those extra winter kilos you put on over the holidays.

More With Less

2009-11-17T09:12:00.005-06:00

This morning, I needed to find a recipe for a bread to make to go along with a meal to take over to a young mom who has just had a baby. Time is short, as usual, so I needed something quick, but felt it was also important that it be a healthy bread. So I turned, as I have time and again for the past twenty-five years or so, to a beat-up little cookbook in my kitchen utility cart drawer. You know what I mean when I say it's pretty battered. It cost me so little but I have got more than I bargained for out of this small investment. In fact, it has lived up to its title in a way different than was the intent of its being named as it was. This cookbook may be in your kitchen, but if not, I strongly urge you to make sure that it is before too long. Trust me, it will be worth it. I thought about the folks who come to this blog and felt I should take a few minutes out of my day to do a quick post to talk about it, knowing if I don't do it now I'll forget all about it and will never get around to it. I am pretty sure you ladies are of the sort who would appreciate it. I have marks and food stains all over pages in this book, and ditto the sentiments of a quote I found on another website about it:

"As I turn the pages of my More-with-Less Cookbook, the spots and stains and drips and smears tell me the value of a particular recipe. I call it my “scratch and sniff” cookbook. If the page is full of markings (food or otherwise), the recipe is most likely a good one, a tried and true favorite!"
— MKB, Newton, Kan.

What is this cookbook all about? Coming from the Mennonites, it was published in 1976 and addresses the North American problem of "consuming more and more food made up of wasteful calories and unnecessary packaging." It's full of recipes and suggestions on better and more nutritional eating habits while consuming less. I like it that the author was making an offering of ways for us to live more simply and "joyfully" while being concerned about the needs of a hungry world. This is a subject close to my heart, and I only wish I were more diligent in being less wasteful and more concentrated in my efforts to feed myself and family in such a way as to leave more for the needy. I would like to think I was making more of a contribution at least, and this cookbook is a nice tool in my hand to do that. If nothing else, it could at least help me to save money, and maybe some of that which I saved could be sent off to help feed hungry children?

Think about it. Perhaps you have been wondering if there were more ways you could make a difference. Maybe a purchase of the More-With-Less Cookbook would be a start. Honestly, I don't think you'd be sorry if you did. You can purchase it here at Amazon. You can also read more about it's philosophy here.

Thanks, gotta run!

Grinding your own Meat

2009-10-06T10:59:00.008-05:00

This week in the news they have featured a young woman who contracted E-Coli from a hamburger patty. She is now paralyzed from the waist down. The meat in her hamburger had been ground from 3 different sources in the U.S. plus one source from Uraguay.
Of course her paralysis is a rare and extreme case, but people get sick each year from e-coli. It could be mild intestinal pain to life-threatening and in some cases death.

E-coli can be contacted thru many sources such as ground meat, eggs, berries, spinach. Basically anything that could have contact with animal waste or run off.

So, the reason for this post is (remember Susan's Food Grinder post)....You can actually grind your own ground meat at home. Find a cut of meat you like and do it your self. You can use a grinder like Susans or you can place the meat in small chunks in a food processor and pulse to grind it. For hamburger patties it is usually better if there is some fat on the meat. It helps hold together better.

You can purchase a less expensive cut of beef and grind it yourself. You will save money and feel better about knowing the ingredients in your ground meat.

Good*Will Color Codes

2009-09-25T23:39:00.004-05:00

Here's a tip I just found out about this evening while visiting my local Good*Will store. You may know about this already, and if so just chalk it up as it always taking me a while to catch on!

This may not be an across-the-board policy, but I'm a city girl now and I know they do this at several stores here.

Get on with it already...you say!

Ok, fellow frugalites, here it is.

If you're a faithful shopper at GW, you probably are aware that they have a variety of different colored tagged items throughout the store. Each week they feature two colored tags at a discount. A sign is usually posted at the entrance. One color will be 50% off and another will be 30% off. They change these out every Sunday.

What I didn't know until tonight is that every Sunday GW bumps the previous week's 50% tag up to 75% (WOOHOO!). Then the previous 30% tag moves up to the 50% spot, and a new colored tag will be put into the 30% spot.

Here's a breakdown. Say this week the red tagged items will be 50% off and the green will be 30%. Next week the red goes to 75%, green up to 50% and then another color moves to the 30% slot.

I received this information from an employee. Our GW's don't openly advertise this, but the discount is definitely taken at the register.

The advantage is you'll know one week in advance what colored tag will be 75%, so you can plan your shopping accordingly.

Hope this helps and made sense! And it sure doesn't hurt to ask an employee about it at your local store.

{This may not apply to the collector and/or designer clothing section.}

God bless!

More Than Soft Skin

2009-09-15T14:59:00.006-05:00

A little bit ago I made a frustrated post at my blog. The topic: Mosquitoes!! I went out back to hang something on the line and give water to the birds, nice pleasant chores in the day of a housewife. When I came inside from that short trip, however, I had multiple bites on my arms and legs. It was after I was inside that I remembered something that I keep forgetting about: Skin-So-Soft Bath Oil by Avon. I heard the claims that it is an excellent repellent, tried it, and it has worked for me. In summers past I used it religiously and had run out. Then, I started using an insect repellent spray, which I later found is not good for the health. So, a few weeks ago I found an Avon rep, a young lady who I know, and bought some Skin-So-Soft again and I try to remember to use it, and not only if I'm going outside. Well, today I forgot when taking that quick trip outside and I paid for it!

It's not a product that you would necessarily call inexpensive, but if you dilute it, it will last for ages. I got one of those little spray bottles and mix about one part SOS and two to three parts water. Then, you spray it on the arms and legs, and you're good to go. The 24 oz bottle of the oil will then last for ages. Be careful with your clothes, though--it is oil and can stain. I hold the spray over the sink and spray it on my hands, and then rub the exposed parts of the body with it and then wash my hands good. The best thing to do would be to use it right after showering. And you'll smell good in the bargain!

You may think this is funny (though I didn't). After rubbing my already bitten arms, legs and neck with the SOS mixture today, I went into the kitchen to have lunch. Don't you know that a mosquito landed right smack on my face and I killed her right there! There on my cheek was a smashed mosquito with blood. Yuck!

Believe me, folks, it's been my experience that usually they don't come near you. This one was a daredevil. lol

BELL PEPPER RELISH

2009-09-14T07:50:00.000-05:00

Beautiful, fresh bell peppers from Mickey's garden.

BELL PEPPER RELISH

12 lg green peppers

12 lg red peppers (you see we had 1 red and 11 not so large purple)

2 C sugar

1 pt. boiling water

5 sm. onions, chopped

4 C vinegar

3 T salt

Wash and remove seeds from peppers, and chop or grind them in a food grinder. Pour boiling water over them and let stand 10 minutes. Drain and add finely chopped onions, vinegar, sugar and salt. Cook 20 minutes. Seal in jars while hot.

Grinding the peppers

Vinegar, salt, sugar & water

Fresh onions from Mickey's garden. It called for 5 small but this is what I counted out and used because of the wee size of the onions.

The finished product!!!

We ended up with these 5 canned pints plus another, almost full, pint that went directly into the frig for immediate use.

Very YUMMY and even though I had only 1 red pepper I was happy with the way the spots of red were mixed in so well in each pint jar.

GOOD FRUGAL EATING!!!!

Kroger Double Coupon Day

2009-08-12T18:54:00.004-05:00

If you live in Texas or Louisiana check your local Kroger for the special coupon deal they are offering this Saturday, August 15th.
They are doubling manufacturer's coupons up to $1.00 for single items.
If it is a coupon that was printed at the store when you checked out, those will remain face value, but coupons from the Sunday paper that have a little 5 at the beginning of the number on the bottom will be doubled if they are a $1.00 and under. Potential Big Savings. Go thru your coupons and start making your list.

Care For Some Dessert with Those Enchiladas?

2009-08-06T01:33:00.008-05:00

Wanting to take advantage of the bounty of summer, my sister, Reva and I, along with her husband, Rick, and my daughter, Grace, went to Rick's parents for some free cherries--we just had to do the picking.

Now, I'm not real good doing price breakdowns but I do know Free is definitely Frugal! The recipe was just one of those shoot from the hip and hope it tastes good recipes--and tasty it was.

These are our pictures from start to finish, all in a day--now that's fresh!

Reva showing us her pickin's

Why is it when both your hands are super sticky you get an itch?

OOPS! Even these cherries didn't get wasted.

Pitting

It was really good--especially with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top!

We ended up filling five one-gallon buckets and, except for the dessert, froze the cherries to save for the holidays. (But we'll probably sneak in another Cherry Crisp before then, I'm sure!)

The crumb topping was a thrown-together mixture of oatmeal, flour, sugar, brown sugar and cinnamon-sorry I don't have exact measurements. We sprinkled that on top and then dotted butter all over.

Keep your eyes peeled as the fresh produce of the season begins ripening. Do you see apples or peaches hanging over a neighbor's fence? If it looks like they may be going to waste, it doesn't hurt to ask if you could take them to keep them from rotting in their yard. Bartering with someone for their garden-fresh produce is an option as well. Ya never know!

Enchiladas for a crowd

2009-07-30T09:23:00.003-05:00

Sunday is going to be a big day at our house and I am going to have 19 for dinner. Feeding that many, especially in our smallish home, is going to be.....something!

I gave the honoree the choice of main menu item between Baked Ham, Beef Strogonoff & 3 Cheese Chicken Enchiladas and the enchiladas were selected. Since I needed to fixed 38 enchiladas (2 apiece for this main dish) I decided the only way was to prepare the actual enchiladas ahead of time and freeze them.

The recipe I had was for 10 Enchiliadas. Instead of making them all at once I decided the easiest and best way, for me, was to make 4 separate batches of the items.

The night before, I cooked 4 large split chicken breasts in the slow cooker. (I always remove the skin and fat ) First thing I did this morning was shred the chicken and place 2 cups in 4 separate baggies.

I needed 6 cups of both Jack & Cheddar Cheese, totalling 12 cups.....8 for the enchiladas themselves and 4 to be used to top them. So......the first thing I did was grate a cup of both and place in a baggie, ending up with 4 baggies containing 1 cup each of both Jack & Cheddar. Then I grated 2 cups of each and placed in a bag for the toppings to be added on Sunday. I didn't think to take pictures at the beginning but here is the awaiting topping bag.

After mixing the cheeses, chicken and chili sauce together I was ready to lay out my 10 tortillas, fill them, then roll each one.

Here I am putting together the final of the 4 batches which was for the remaining 8 Enchiladas. I am filling and rolling them.

Wrapping each in foil for the freezer.

Mickey was involved in this project every step of the way and here he is marking this last group of 8 with a G for green. I made 2 batches with red chili and 2 batches with green chili. We marked each batch as R or G and will cook each type together so our guests can have their choice and preference.

Here are the 38 in the freezer and this step of the job is done for today.

Sunday, after church, all I'll have to do is remove these and do the last and final step of adding the red or green chili to the bottom of the pan, placing the enchiladas in the pan, topping with the grated cheese and bake.

Now for the recipe:

Three Cheese Chicken Enchiladas

1 1/2 cups grated jack cheese (sometimes I use pepper jack)

1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (we prefer sharp)

3 ounces cream cheese softened (you could use another cheese choice but cc makes

them really creamy & good!)

19 ounce can of red or green enchilada sauce

2 cups cooked shredded chicken

10 large flour tortillas

Combine 1 cup of jack cheese, 1 cup of cheddar cheese, cream cheese, 3/4 cup enchilada sauce, and chicken. Mix until well combined. Pour about 1/4 cup of enchilada sauce into a 9x13 pan and spread it around. Then place about 1/3 cup of filling into each tortilla shell. Roll up and place in pan. Pour remaining sauce on top and sprinkle with the rest of the cheese. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes or until heated through.

If you like Mexican food you'll enjoy this recipe.

I hope you will all drop by Penless Writer next week when I'll post all about this occasion, the honoree and the guest list.

Check in tomorrow for another Mexican dish I will be making and serving.

Frugal note: Yes, I washed out each and every baggie and will reuse them!!

Frugal note: I have several pints of fat free chicken broth in the frig for future meals.

Use That Extra Bread

2009-07-16T21:21:00.004-05:00

This is a followup on Kristie's post about having extra bread and other items as a result of buying in bulk at places like Costco. For us, it's BJ's, but the same applies. We often have lots of bread around no matter where we shop; it seems my family members often have times when they don't particularly want what's here for one reason or another. One of my favorite healthy recipes is the one I posted once as a sneaky nutrition post on my blog . I promised Susan I would post it here too, because it is indeed a great way to use that extra bread that's not quite so fresh anymore. I sometimes have made it to give to folks when our church makes meals for a household with a sick mom or new baby or just to help out for some other need. Good for breakfast, lunch or dessert, and very nutritious, with or without the wheat germ. Enjoy!

Applesauce Bread Pudding

1. 7 to 8 slices bread, white or whole wheat, or some of both. (Number of slices may vary, depending on size of slices.)
2. 3 eggs
3. 2 cups canned skim milk, undiluted
4. 2 cups unsweetened applesauce
5. 1/2 cup sugar (or less) [I use Splenda for my family. Husband diabetic.]
6. 1 tsp. vanilla
7. 3/4 tsp. cinnamon
8. 1/2 tsp. salt
9. nutmeg
10. wheat germ (about 1/4 cup)
11. raisins, if desired

a. Spray a shallow baking dish and break up the bread into it.
b. In a bowl, mix eggs, add milk, then stir in applesauce.
c. Add sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and salt to egg mixture.
d. Stir in wheat germ and raisins, if desied.
e. Pour the mixture over the bread pieces.
f. Sprinkle nutmeg over the top.

Bake at 350 degrees until set, about 35-45 minutes. Serve warm or cold.

We Went Overboard at Costco

2009-07-15T10:18:00.002-05:00

One of our favorite pastimes this summer has been enjoying the air conditioning and all the fun merchandise at Costco. The trouble is, our eyes have been bigger than our stomachs and we have been purchasing waaaaay more food than the 6 of us can possibly eat. Not only does Costco seem to have the nicest produce, so we bought a ton of it, we also had too much bread, yogurt, and milk on hand, and all were quickly approaching their expiration dates!! But I didn't want any of it to go to waste!!

One of the first things we did was gather up all the fruit-- especially bananas and nectarines-- and we cut it all up and put it into containers. I didn't have any lemon juice, but I did have a bag of limes, so we squeezed the juice over the fruit, and popped those into the freezer. We also threw our extra bread and some of the yogurt cups into the freezer.

So guess what we've been having for breakfast!! Every morning we throw a couple handfuls of frozen fruit and a couple frozen yogurts into the blender, along with a generous splash of the milk we needed to use up, and we have a delicious, healthy smoothie!! Then we grab some frozen slices of bread and toast those to round out the meal.

Absolutely nothing has gone to waste, and it is a refreshing way to start the day!!

Next on my list to use up is our over supply of eggs... I plan to make French Toast with the remaining bread, and maybe even serve scrambled eggs with cheese and salsa for dinner!!

And to keep this from happening again, I plan to stick to my list and not let my kids talk me into buying so much, next time!!!

Homemade Laundry Detergent

2009-07-14T14:38:00.005-05:00

I have been reading on different blogs and the internet about making homemade laundry detergent. Back in May I finally worked up the courage to mix up a batch.
I made the detergent and have been using it since May and have been extremely satisfied with it's performance. Our clothes are coming clean just fine. I estimate this recipe cost about $2.00-$3.00 to put together.

There are several ways of making detergent. Some make a dry mix and others a liquid detergent. I decided to go with the liquid.

These are the three ingredients used to make it. I found Zote soap at a smaller grocery store in our area. I could not find it at the big chains. Also found the Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda there also. Remember Washing Soda not Baking Soda.

The Recipe:

1 Bar of Zote Soap (some use Fels-Naptha)

2 Cups of Borax

2 Cups of Arm & Hammer SUPER WASHING SODA

Pot with lid

Clean 5 gallon Bucket

Use a grater and grate the entire bar of soap.

Place the grated soap in a large pot with a lid. Pour in enough warm water to completely cover the soap. Bring heat to medium and completely melt the soap. Stirring as it melts.

In your bucket (I actually used a 4 gallon bucket that my pool chemicals come in. It has a lid)
add the washing soda and the Borax and SLOWLY fill with hot water. Stirring continuously to dissolve. NOTE: Leave enough room in the bucket to add the soap later.

Add the soap and continue to stir until all is well mixed. You may need to come back and stir every hour or so to keep it from separating.
The consistency is like a jello. I keep mine in the bucket I mixed it in, but after a couple of days and the mixture completely cools you can re-package if you'd like.

I have a front loading washer and use about 3/4 cup of the detergent. If you have a top -loader I would put the detergent in and let the water help to dissolve it before adding the clothes.

Using 3/4 - 1 cup of the detergent.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments. It was a messy process to put together, but I'm happy with it and will continue to make this as I run low in the future.

Great money saver.

BOUNCE THIS ALONG!!!

2009-07-07T10:14:00.000-05:00

One of my blog buddies from Canada, Crystal of Be The Change You Want To See, sent me the following and it was so good I wanted to share it with the readers here.

The US Postal service sent out a message to all letter carriers to put a sheet of Bounce in their uniform pockets to keep yellow-jackets away.

Use them all the time when playing baseball and soccer.

I use it when I am working outside. It really works. The insects just veer around you.

All this time you've just been putting Bounce in the dryer!

It will chase ants away when you lay a sheet near them.

It also repels mice. Spread sheets around foundation areas, or in trailers, or cars that are sitting and it keeps mice from entering your vehicle.

It takes the odor out of books and photo albums that don't get opened too often.

It repels mosquitoes. Tie a sheet of bounce through a belt loop when outdoors during mosquito season.

Eliminate static electricity from your television (or computer) screen. Since Bounce is designed to help eliminate static cling, wipe your television screen with a used sheet of Bounce to keep dust from resettling.

Dissolve soap scum from shower doors.

Clean with a sheet of Bounce.

To freshen up the air in your home - Place an individual sheet of Bounce in a drawer or hang in the closet.

Put Bounce sheet in vacuum cleaner.

Prevent thread from tangling. Run a threaded needle through a sheet of Bounce before beginning to sew.

To prevent musty suitcases, place an individual sheet of Bounce inside empty luggage before storing.

To freshen up the air in your car - place a sheet of Bounce under the front seat.

Clean baked-on foods from a cooking pan. Put a sheet in a pan, fill with water, let sit overnight, and sponge clean. The anti-static agent apparently weakens the bond between the food and the pan.

Eliminate odors in wastebaskets. Place a sheet of Bounce at the bottom of the wastebasket.

Collect cat hair. Rubbing the area with a sheet of Bounce will magnetically attract all the loose hairs.

Eliminate static electricity from Venetian blinds. Wipe the blinds with a sheet of Bounce to prevent dust from resettling.

Wipe up sawdust from drilling or sand papering. A used sheet of Bounce will collect sawdust like a tack cloth.

Eliminate odors in dirty laundry. Place an individual sheet of Bounce at the bottom of a laundry bag or hamper.

Deodorize shoes or sneaks. Place a sheet of Bounce in your shoes or sneakers overnight.

Golfers put a Bounce sheet in their back pocket to keep the bees away.

Put a Bounce sheet in your sleeping bag and tent before folding and storing them It will keep them smelling fresh.

Wet a Bounce sheet, hose down your car, and wipe love-bugs off easily with the wet Bounce.

What a great list of ideas. I'm going to be trying a bunch of these!!!

HAWAIAN BANANA NUT BREAD

2009-06-30T08:30:00.000-05:00

This blog is about being frugal and being wise and using the things God provides for us in a wise way. Being good stewards. One of the many ways to do that is being alert and taking advantage of what God opens up to us. Hence, this recipe, but it's so much more than about the recipe!!!

Last week, when I was preparing the Pimento Cheese spread I had to run to the store and buy a jar of pimento and a loaf of bread. As Mickey & I went rushing into the store, (seems we are always rushing these days!!!!) we passed the produces area and I noticed they had riper banana's by the sack full. As we sped by I told Mickey, "remind me to stop and look at these before we check out.

(click to enlarge)

Upon inspection here was a 3.76 lb. bag of ripe bananas for $1.39, or $.37 per pound.

Very interesting!!!

Looking closer...yes they were ripe but not over ripe and not particularly bruised. Gotta buy these and make some Banana Nut Bread!!! I love to keep baked sweet breads in the freezer so that when ever someone comes I have something sweet, yet 1/2 way good for us, to serve them with coffee. I try not to keep too much sweet stuff sitting around the house because we eat it!!! and we surely don't need to be doing too much of that. I have found that I can take a Banana Nut bread right out of the freezer, slice it and serve it on the spot. Sometimes I'll warm the slice for a minute in the microwave.

SO......as a consequence of being alert and being aware of good buys I was able to prepare all these loaves of one of our favorite sweet breads. I baked 3 batches and baked one each morning before the house got too warm.

The above two views are the first days loaves. In the second picture you can see I've cut off the ends.......we had to sample and see that they were good!!! Right???? One large loaf and 3 small loaves. Notice the odd shapes of the 3 small loaves. Here's why.....I have the small aluminum disposable plans......BUT I do not dispose of them......I use them over, and over, and OVER again. Just wash them out, kind of "reshape" them and store until next time. When I say I am frugal......I am frugal.

Well, I have probably used these pans for a couple of years, and after the shape of these loaves I decided it was time to go get 3 more disposable aluminum baking pans!!!

Here are day 2's 3 medium size loaves still in the pans to show you the pans. I got these three pans for $1.28.

Day 3's 3 medium size loaves from the new pans.

Now, for the recipe. I call it Pineapple Banana Nut Bread but the official title is Hawaiian Banana Nut Bread. I got this recipe in the 1980's from a girl I worked with. It had come from her mother. I have many Banana Nut Bread recipes but this is by far my favorite because it is so moist.

HAWAIIAN BANANA NUT BREAD

3 c flour

2 c sugar

1 t salt

1 t soda

1 t cinnamon

Combine and mix the above 5 ingredients.

Then combine together:

3 eggs

1 1/2 C oil

2 C mashed banana

8 oz crushed pineapple

Combine dry and wet ingredients until moist.

Add 1 c pecans or walnuts and stir.

Spoon into 2 or 3 greased bread pans

Bake @ 350 degrees 60 to 70 minutes.

Back to my bag of banana's!!! There were 15 banana's in my $1.39 bag. I used 4 bananas in each recipe or 12 bananas. I had 3 left - used 1 in a fruit salad I made out of an apple, orange, 2 slices of cantaloupe, coconut and the banana. By the way, it was yummy!!! Then we each had a banana to eat for breakfast with milk and sugar one day.

Be alert to the bounty the Lord offers us ... be frugal ... and ENJOY!!!

Two Recipes Using My Food Grinder

2009-06-27T06:33:00.000-05:00

As promised yesterday on Show & Tell I am sharing 2 recipes that I made using my food chopper/grinder.

Roast Beef Sandwich Spread

I do not have actual quantity sizes to give you. since the object of this spread is to use up whatever size piece of left-over roast beef you have.

The small piece I had left over from our Sunday dinner was about 4" x 2 1/2". I simply ground up the roast beef and added; chopped green onions, pickle relish and mayonnaise thinned with 2% milk. It looks rather plain and bland but let me tell you, it was delicious. I stored this in a plastic container and we had several days of wonderful Ground Roast Beef sandwiches for lunch.

This is a very frugal, tasty and nutritious sandwich spread.

Pimento Cheese Spread

Recipe:

8 oz cream cheese - $.99 (bought on sale)

8 oz cheddar cheese - 3 for $5 = $1.66 (bought on sale)

32 oz velvetta cheese - $4.49 (bought on sale)

6 oz jar pimento - $1.34

mayonnaise

1. Let cream cheese come to room temperature. Place in large mixing bowl and stir with large spoon until smooth and creamy.

2. Cut cheddar & velvetta cheeses into small pieces for grinding.

3. Alternate grinding cheddar & velvetta into the bowl with cream cheese.

4. Add some of the pimento as you go along.

5. Mix mayonnaise thinned with 2% milk as needed. I mixed a small amount about 1/2 way through. I mixed another small amount and added at the end to make it creamier.

Using my purchase prices and adding an additional $.50 estimate for the mayonnaise & dab of milk the total cost for 10 cups of spread is $8.98 or $.90 per cup or $.11 an ounce

The cost of prepared store pimento cheese (with all the ??? things listed on the ingredients) was 14 oz for $2.79 . That would make it $.20 an ounce.

SO.... my home made comes to $1.54 for 14 oz. versus the store bought for $2.79 for 14 oz. A savings of $1.25 or a 44 1/2%. Plus mine is so much healthier without the added ???? ingredients. Since we have to pay sales tax on grocery purchases I also saved an additional $1.06 taxes I would have paid on my 10 cups.

Now I call that frugal!!!

I took 1/2, or 5 cups, to the church this week for the 50 people who gave of their time and love for Vacation Bible School and I took a plate of it, surrounded with various crackers to Bible study Tuesday night.

SHOW & TELL - Food Grinder/Chopper

2009-06-26T06:06:00.002-05:00

WOW!! The last Friday of June. Where have the first 6 months of 2009 gone?!!! Going to fast for me. Well, it's time to participate in Kelli's Show & Tell again. Go here, learn all about it, sign up on Mr. Linky to participate, and then read all the interesting posts of things that others "Show" and "Tell" about.

Oh....I almost forgot....this is my first time to participate in Show & Tell from my Frugal Blog instead of Penless Writer!!

I want to show you my handy, dandy food chopper/grinder. This food chopper belonged to my mother and I truly do not know how old it is. I do know she used it a lot to prepare different things. She gave it to me in the early 70's, and I've used it a lot in the 30 some years since then. The wonderful thing about this food chopper is it works as good today as I'm sure it did when my mother first acquired it.

You can see from the extra blade on the counter that it has 2 size grinding blades. The smaller one, which is in the machine, is the one I use the most.

This is the side view and you can see it is electric. This is easy to use: you simply place the food to be ground in the upright stainless steel funnel. The wooden pedastal is used to press the food down. The ground food comes out the sideway piece into the bowl which you have placed under it.

It is easy to take dismantle to wash when you are done. It stores easily in it's own plastic cover and sits on the shelf in the cupboard about my kitchen vent light & fan.

The quality of the items that were made & purchased 50-60 years ago is so far superior to what can be purchased today. How many items you are currently using in your kitchen will be around, and operating just as well, in 30-40-50 years from now?

Tomorrow I am going to be sharing 2 recipes that I just this week made using this wonderful, handy-dandy food grinder. Please come back and visit then.

Manicure/pedicure advice

2009-06-05T11:23:00.000-05:00

Several of the blogs I read has talked about getting manicures & pedicures recently. That reminded me of a "trick" I've learned to do so wanted to pass it on here.

I always treat myself to a manicure & pedicure at the beginning of summer....in time for sandles!!! It is not something I can afford to do on a regular basis but I do allow myself at least this yearly luxury.

Instead of picking out a color at the salon I always take my own bottle of nail color with me for them to use. This little trick enables me to get several more weeks out of my manicure/pedicure by being able to "touch-up" the polish myself because it is my own polish.

You all may already be doing this.....but I thought it was worth posting here just in case anyone hadn't thought about doing this little.....ssttreacccccccchhh it trick.

Lunchmeat savings

2009-06-03T13:26:00.004-05:00

I came across this great way to save on lunch meat and just had to share. While watching Good Morning America one morning, they had a segment on saving money at the grocery store.
Those segments always intrigue me so I made sure I paid attention. They had this family on...you know the family of six who only spends $300 per month on groceries blah blah blah....
One of the suggestions is that you purchase a cooked ham and have them slice it at the deli counter. If you shop at the deli counter you know ham or turkey can run up $8.00 a pound.

Sooo, I decided to try this. Back in the meat section like where the bacon and pre-packaged lunch meats are I found a fully cooked package of Jennie*-O Turkey Ham. It weighed two whole pounds. It was $4.99. I thought that was really good $2.50 a pound. I went back to the deli with my 2 pound turkey-ham and asked the nice young man behind the counter to slice it thin for me and he kindly obliged. So if you and yours like ham sandwiches for lunch...try this for some $$$$ savings.

Remember go to the deli to get it sliced not the meat counter.

WASHING DISHES THE OLD FASHION FRUGAL WAY

2009-06-02T06:28:00.001-05:00

Since it is just the 2 of us in our house hold I do not use my dishwasher except when we entertain or have large family dinners.

I have always just washed the dishes in the left hand sink and run the water constantly as I rinsed and placed them in the right side sink. A lot of times Mickey dries them as I wash or I dry them when I have finished washing all of them.

Recently my blog friend, Soholiah, was in Africa, working at a Children's Home, and did a post about doing dishes the Old Fashion Way with dish pans. It brought back memories of my mother using a dish pan. I realized that I would not be using nearly as much water if I used a dish pan to rinse the dishes in, rather than wasting water as it constantly ran during the process.

Hence my new pink plastic dish pan that fits perfectly in the side sink.

As I rinse the dish I then just place it on the towel to the side of the sink on the counter. You can see from the small amount of dishes we have per meal that this is my preferred frugal way of doing them.

Just another small way I have found to economize on the water and electric bill. Not wasting as much water, and drying them by hand towel.

Addemdum: Be sure and read Tammy's comment which covers another "frugal" point about using the dish pan that I failed to cover. Thanks Tammy!!!

VERY THANKFUL and also...........

2009-05-25T06:13:00.000-05:00

exhausted, aching all over and sunburned!!!!!!

Part of being frugal is having a giant garage sale.....which is what Mickey & I did Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

Actually we have been preparing and planning for this event for weeks. We had everything ready and were just waiting for our 22 days of rain to cease!!!

The preparation took a lot of time. I had piles and piles of Aric & Oksana's clothes they had outgrown and hadn't been cleared out in years. I washed all of them and then ironed each and every piece. Here is one, of several piles, I am working on.

We were so grateful to have the 5th wheel in our back yard where I could hang, and stack all the items as we got them ready.

A couple of shots of everything set up and ready.

We did very well on selling things and it was certainly worth all the time and effort we put into it. We also feel good because we know we were able to bless the people who purchased the items with good deals for them.

Those of you who know my "attachment" to my ice cream buckets will get a kick out of this.......I had 11 pair of Aric's socks rolled up and I placed them in the bucket to hold them (I truly use these buckets for everything!!). One lady bought all 11 pair and when I was going to get a plastic bag to put them in she said, "Oh, I'll just carry them in this little bucket." I said, "Oh no, you can't have the bucket. I use it all the time." She said, "I was thinking it would make a nice little scrub bucket." So I placed the socks in the plastic bag :o) I had to laugh at myself. Especially now that our freezer went out I can no longer buy the ice cream in those buckets :o(

Here in our little town to have a Garage Sale you must get a permit from City Hall and you must get signed permission to put up a Garage Sale Sign in some one's yard and you CANNOT put up a sign on any City right-a-way. You can have the sale for up to 3 days but cannot have another within 3 months. Not that I plan to have another for a L-O-N-G time.......perhaps 3 years!!!!

I'd love to hear whether you have garage sales or not. Actually, I think this is maybe the 4th or 5th one I have ever done. We usually just give everything to Goo*dw*ill but with endeavoring to truly be more frugal we had this one.

Safety at Home

2009-05-12T22:00:00.003-05:00

I was just reading on the subject in Good Housekeeping and thought this was a good site to pass on to others. I would suggest that you go and take the room to room tour and perhaps make a little checklist of things you want to remember. I haven't taken the whole tour yet, but I want to go back and visit some of the rooms I didn't get to. There are a lot of common sense pieces of advice, but you never know. Sometimes we all fail to think of the obvious.

Visit MySafeHome.org for more information.

FOREVER STAMP - REMINDER

2009-05-04T16:24:00.004-05:00

Next Monday, May 11th, the price for a first class postage stamp is going to increase from 42 cents to 44 cents. Prior to that time you can purchase as many of the above Forever Stamps at the 42 cent rate and they will be good for as long as you have them, regardless of what the postage rate for a first class stamp is raised to in the future.

I posted about this on February 20th here when this rate increase was first announced. I will be buying more of these stamps this week at the 42 cent rate. I still have over 100 I purchased when they raised the rate from 41 cents to 42 cents so I'll be saving 3 cents every time I have to use those 100 stamps.

"Watch your pennies and your dollars will take care of themselves!!!

Something my father taught me at a very early age. I'd delighted to watch the pennies I save on purchasing these Forever Stamps.

You have 5 days left to make this purchase.

A Quote

2009-04-25T09:56:00.000-05:00

The HAPPIEST people do not

necessarily have the BEST of all.

They simply APPRECIATE

what they find on their way.

Anonoymous

I saw this the other day and jotted it down. I think it well defines a frugal life style that worships the Giver (our Triune God) and not the gift.

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." James 1:17

Have a frugal, blessed day.

Organizing Coupons

2009-04-23T13:24:00.008-05:00

This is a picture of the zipper binder that I keep my coupons in. I'm a coupon clipper, but I am by no means the Queen of Coupons. You know those you see on TV who buy a cartload of groceries and only pay $4.62. That just never happens to me, but I try my best to match up coupons to sales. I take my binder with me to the store if I come across a good deal on an item and I can quickly check for a coupon. I have a Kroger near my house and usually shop there. They double coupons up to .50. So a .50 coupon will become a $1.00 off and I like that.

Now for a peek inside the binder. I have an alphabetical listing of general products in the store and the aisle they are on if I get stumped and can't find something. Next I have an alphabet index that I use. I have tried various ways of organizing coupons over the years and found that by filing them by the first letter of the product name made it much easier to find when I'm in the store.

I use baseball card holders to put my coupons in. I try and make sure the product name and the expiration date is easily visible. It requires some creative folding sometimes. Wal-mart carries the baseball card holders.

I admit that it takes some time to keep this organized and occasionally I'll fall behind with the "stuffing" part. But over all this binder system has saved us quite a bit of money over the years at the grocery store and drug store.

Also, another tip: If you have a coupon organizer put your name and phone # on it or in it. I've had the store call me and tell me my binder was there. I had left it in the cart I used and at checkout they had bagged my groceries in the cart in front of me.

The Original Farmer's Almanac

2009-04-12T14:01:00.005-05:00

http://www.almanac.com/

I discovered this awesome website after a friend sent me the link.

I know we are all familiar with The Farmer's Almanac. I fondly remember my granddaddy who gardened in South Georgia used his copy to know when to plant his garden each year.

You can go on the website and click on Gardening and key in your zip code and you will find early and late planting dates for your area.

There is so much useful information on this website from recipes, to health remedies and household hints.

Have fun and Happy Spring to you all!

INTRODUCING ANOTHER FRUGAL WRITER TO THIS BLOG

2009-04-08T17:38:00.000-05:00

I am so delighted to introduce Tracy as an additional author to this blog. I've known Tracy for some time now and have bought from her Itsy's shop.

Tracy is a true woman of God, wife & mother of a wonderful family. Tracy's blog is Unless The Lord and if you are not familiar with her I hope you'll pay her a visit and get to know her. She also has a Recipe Blog called Mama's Fixins . You can learn more about Tracy by clicking on her name on our side bar under Behind the Blog

I look forward to all the frugal idea's that Tracy will be sharing with us here at Hands & Hearts.....for HIM!!

WELCOME TRACY

PAYING OFF DEBT

2009-04-04T13:09:00.001-05:00

The quickest way to pay off your home (don't we ALL desire to own a home and property free and clear?) is to pay extra Principal payments.

Take your Amortization Schedule.....if you do not have an amortization schedule contact your mortgage company or bank and request one......

I am going to list just a few lines of an amoritzation for demonstration purposes:

Due Date Principal Interest Balance
04/01/09 $284.52 $106.80 $19,432.49
05/01/09 286.06 105.26 19,146.43
06/01/09 287.61 103.71 18,858.82
07/01/09 289.17 102.15 18,569.65

(Sorry Blogger won't let me line up these figures. Hopefully you can follow the idea.)

When you make the April 1 payment include the next principal amount. This would make your payment $677.38 instead of $391.32 BUT you would save $105.26 in interest. Then on May 1 do the same thing: add $289.17 to the $391.32 - making a payment of $680.49 BUT you would save $102.15 and your accumulated savings on interest is now $207.41 AND you have cut two months off the term of your mortgage.

Granted this is easier to do at the beginning of a mortgage. For instance:

A 30 year loan for $100,000 @ 6% interest would have a payment of $599.56. The first interest would be only $99.56. In fact it would take you to the 222 payment (8 1/2years!! ) before you would be at an equal principal and interest of $299.77 & $299.79.

If you cannot do this each and every month just do it at often as you can. Even if you just make 2 or 3 extra principal payments a year. On a 30 year loan you have cut your mortgage from 30 years to 25 years and saved thousands of dollars of interest.

Another suggestion: if the added principal payments are too much for you to handle just add a set amount to each payment; i.e. $50 extra dollars a month. You will cut both the length of time to pay off the mortgage and the amount of interest you will pay greatly.

This technic can be used on any type of loan which has been written for a set rate, at a set amount of time, such as a car loan.

I have done this on every home we have ever bought. We have owned 7 homes during our 50 years of marriage. We assumed a loan on our current home in Coweta that had 25 years and 8 months left on the loan and would have been paid out on January 1, 2024. If I only pay the monthly payment and no extra going forward it will be paid in full on December 1, 2011. In other words I will have cut 13 years and 1 month off the mortgage and you can imagine the $'s we've saved in interest. Although it is more difficult for us to make extra principal payments now that we are both retired, I am able to do so from time to time and I hope to have it paid for in less time than the 2 years & 8 months remaining!!!!

As to any credit card debt you might have. You absolutely MUST make more than the minimum required amount or you will NEVER clear the debt. Just paying the minimum payment hardly touches the principal at all. That is what the credit card companies want you to do, but please don't fall for that trick.

Just a small idea...

2009-04-02T20:36:00.005-05:00

...but one that adds up over time, especially if your family eats a lot of cereal like mine does.

You know how there is always lots of bits and crumbs left in the bottom of the bag ~ here are a couple ideas to use them.

1. Keep them in an airtight jar and add to them each time you finish a box of cereal... you can use the crumbs to replace some of the flour in a muffin or pancake recipe, or use it as a muffin topping.

2. This idea is from a children's cookbook. You can make layered breakfast parfaits, with yogurt, fruit, and leftover crushed cereal. Pretty, yummy, and best of all, healthy!!

Waste not, want not, right??? *smiles*

{Please join Frugal Fridays over at Life As Mom for more excellent, frugal tips & ideas.}

Hot Cereal Muffins

2009-03-30T20:07:00.004-05:00

Those of you who frequent my personal blog know about my tendency to be sneaky and underhanded when it comes to dishing out stuff to my family which is good for them. We don't always have to be sneaky about it, but serving up meals which are nutritious is wise in many ways. And believe you me, it does save money--in medicine and doctors! I made this post today and Susan asked if I would post it here too. I'd be glad too!

Sometimes I push a specific ingredient or item, but this time I just thought I'd share what I believe is my favorite muffin. I don't remember where I first got the recipe, so I can't give credit to anyone. I love these, particularly when I make a mixture of cottage cheese and cream cheese, add a little vanilla to the mixture, and spread that on the muffins. Yum-YUM. The rest of my family prefers them with peanut butter. It's not going to be necessary for me to tell you all the reasons why these muffins are nutritious. You'll be able to figure it out yourself. I just wanted to share it, since I had lost the recipe for a while and it wasn't so long ago that I found it. So now I've started making them for breakfast again. Enjoy!

HOT CEREAL MUFFINS

1-1/4 cup uncooked hot cereal (I use oatmeal)
1/2 - 3/4 cup hot apple juice or orange juice (heat until almost boiling)
2 Tablespoons canola or sunflower oil
1/4 - 1/3 cup honey
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 cup plain yogurt (I use Stonyfield organic)
1-1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1-1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon grated orange rind (best with fresh grated)
1/2 cup raisins (optional)

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine the cereal and hot juice. Mix until well blended. Mix in the oil, honey, egg, and yogurt.

2. In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, orange rind and raisins. Mix the dry ingredients into the cereal mixture.

Fill 12 greased baking cups about two-thirds full with batter. (For some reason, I had a lot of batter last time.I put the overflow in a small pan. Usually, though, it's just enough for 12 nice size muffins.) Bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

If you make a double batch, you can put some in the freezer for busy (or lazy) mornings. Try them, you may like them. I never got past oatmeal, because that's my favorite hot cereal. You may want to experiment with something else. Hope you and your family find them as tasty as I do.

More Saving Electricity

2009-03-27T11:33:00.002-05:00

To piggy back on Joy's excellent post yesterday on the above captioned topic:

I went to the web site of our electric company and couldn't find a thing, even after typing in the search words: peak hours. They did have a way to e-mail them and leave a message, which I did last night, and received an answer this morning. To quote: "Your rate is not different for different hours of the day. Our heaviest load or demand for electricity is from 2:00pm to 7:00 PM Monday through Friday from June to October." They did furnish me with the breakdowns for both summer and winter rates based on usage. In the summer they increase the rate for all usage over 1350 kilowatt hours and in winter they reduce the rade in 3 steps, the first after 475 milowatt hours, then 775 kilowatt hours, and then anything over that even less.

Thanks Joy for making us aware of this so I could check it out. I'll be curious to hear what the rest of you find out.

For some additional ways and things I do to save on electricity:

Don't use dishwasher except when I have a large dinner party with a lot of guests.
We keep our house thermostat on 79 degrees in the summer & 72 degrees in the winter during the day. At night we turn it up to 82 degrees in the summer and down to 65 degrees in the winter.
We have and use ceiling fans in every room of the house. LOVE THEM!!!
I never use "Hot" water in the washer - seldom use "warm" - usually use "cold".
We have replaced all light bulbs we could with the low energy saving bulbs. They cost more up front but last longer and save in the long run.

*************

By the way: we are getting some much needed rain today.....so I'm not using the clothes line but my dryer. Sure nice to have it as a back-up when needed :o)

Saving Electricity

2009-03-26T05:00:00.006-05:00

One of the best ways to save on your electric bill is to unplug things that aren't being used.

I'm sure you have heard of phantom load. I have been experimenting over the last few months unplugging items when we're not using them. (TV's, printers, VCR's, speakers, stereos, clocks, kitchen gadgets ) I have seen the KWH usage go down on my electric bills. Most electric company's list your kilowatt usage for the previous year and the previous month. So you can monitor your use.

Another thing I did starting in January was take advantage of off-peak and peak hours. I went to my energy company's website and did some snooping. I found out that off-peak hours in the winter for our area is 10:00a.m. to 6:00 p.m weekdays. That means they charge less per KWH for electricity than they do at peak hours. I had to do a search on their website of the words "peak hours" and finally found this information. It wasn't listed in an obvious place. fyi

So I adjusted my pool pump to now turn on at 10:00a.m. and run till 6:00 that way it is running mainly during non-peak hours. I'm also trying to run my dishwasher and do laundry during those hours too instead of waiting until nighttime when they charge peak rates.

Keep in mind that summer and winter peak/off-peak hours may be different.

So go to your energy company's website and snoop around and figure out what peak/non-peak hours are for your area and study your energy bill month to month and see if a few changes make a difference on your TOTAL AMOUNT DUE.

A Clothesline

2009-03-24T13:32:00.002-05:00

Since Spring is beginning to show its sweet head I thought I'd post about the clothesline that we put up last year.

Using a clothesline has many benefits: it not only cuts down on the electricity bill but it gets you out into the fresh air and your clothes smell wonderful!!

When I first told Mickey I wanted a clothes line he wasn't too thrilled at the idea. After a trip to price timbers for poles and cross bars, etc. it was like most things and was getting more expensive by the minute...oh and the cement to set it in, etc.

After we got home I went out in the back yard, came in and said, "Can't you just string me a little line between those two trees." He wasn't too thrilled about the idea. At first he thought he'd have to move his bird house but I pointed out it was just the two of us and I didn't need anything big or fancy.

He went and bought a clothesline wire that is covered with vynal and......as simple as that ......... I had a clothesline. YEAH!!!

Picture from last August when the line was put up.

So look around your yard and see if there isn't some way to run some clothesline wire and enjoy another frugal step in simplifying our lives and cutting our costs.

Another frugal tip...use an ice cream bucket to hold the clothes pens. I seem to find multiple uses for these ice cream buckets. Clipping it to the line you can just move it along as you are hanging up the items. This way I didn't have to keep bending over and deal with my back. It had been about 39 years since I'd hung clothes on a line!!!

This was my first small wash and it dried in 1 1/2 hours. Mickey teased me that it would have taken 30 minutes in the dryer. Right...but I wonder how much electricity I saved?

Anyway, I am still delighted with my little clothesline. Who knows.....I may even start wearing aprons again but I hope I'll NEVER have to give up the washing machine :o)

Beauty Tips For Less

2009-03-17T12:25:00.001-05:00

Hi Everyone!!

Today I just want to share a few tips on one of my favorite topics, Health and Beauty Aids. I LOVE trying new products, and can easily spend more on these than on groceries, if I don't restrain myself!!

1.) Tinted Moisturizer: last spring, I was so tempted to spend $12 on a little bitty tube of tinted moisturizer/ sunscreen at WalMart. But as I was carrying it around in my basket, it dawned on me, I could mix this up at home!! Each morning I put a squirt of my spf 15 moisturizer on the tip of my finger. Then add a little dab of foundation, about 1/3 to 1/2 of the amount of moisturizer, depending on the coverage I want. Mix up with my other finger, and voila!! =)

2.) If you buy a tube of lipstick or nail polish, but you don't like the color once you try it on and you can't return it for whatever reason, try mixing them up to make custom colors!! Right now I have a crimson lipstick that is too dark and a shimmery pale pink that is too light, and I love how they look blended together.

3.) You can double the life of your favorite lipstick just by using an inexpensive lip brush (from the dollar store) to access the 1/2 inch (or more) remaining lipstick in the bottom of the tube.

4.) Go shopping in your bathroom first!!! You can save a ton this way. If you didn't like a product at first, try it again with an open mind and see if it might work.... I cleaned up my bathroom cabinets and I found:
*enough Victoria's Secret/ Bath & Bodyworks perfumes and lotions to last a year ($100+)
*3 Venus cartridges that were pushed into corners and buried ($6-8)
*A couple more disposable razors I thought I didn't like, but they are fine ($4)
*2 half full bags of cotton balls ($2)
*4 half full bottles of conditioner and leave in conditioner ($10)
*3 nice pairs of tweezers ~ I am always losing and replacing these ($20)
*2 bottles of hairspray, hair glaze, a box of hairdye I forgot I had ($20)
*3 tubes of Neosporin (we are always losing and replacing) ($10)
*3 deodorants I didn't like, 2 shampoos I didn't like, 4 different types of toothpaste ($30+)
*All kinds cosmetic products I used once and forgot about. ($100+)
*And lots more.
Just by being A LOT less picky and using what I already have, I should be able to avoid spending a few hundred dollars over the next several months.

5.) Another idea for when you have half-used products you don't like, find a friend who has the same and do some trading!! I have done this in the past, and not only is it fun, you can discover some great new products for free.

6.) I have learned to always save my receipt, though. Sometimes I know the first time Iuse something, it is not going to work. If there's just a tiny bit gone, Walmart and Walgreens have always taken them back when I explained I didn't like it, and I had my receipt.

7.) Don't forget to check the clearance baskets at the ends of the aisles at the grocery store. I never check the regular aisle because it is always too expensive, but the clearance prices, esp. if you have coupons, can be amazing. I bought a Cover Girl Outlast lipcolor for $1, it was on clearance for $3 and I had a $2 coupon.

8.) Last, the dollar store can be a good source, too. I don't ever buy the "off" brands of makeup they sell there, but a lot of times, they'll have name brands like Maybelline and Cover Girl, from drugstores, that were labeled with the wrong color name. I have gotten some good deals there, too.

P.S. I would LOVE to hear what kind of forgotten treasures you all find, if you decide to clean out your bathroom cabinets, too!!!

Doesn't hurt to ask!

2009-03-15T16:57:00.005-05:00

Several months ago I was making a pass through the meat department around 7 p.m. at Al*bert*sons to see if the ground beef was on sale. Now, I don't know about you, but it just chaps my hide to buy ground beef at $3.49+ per pound. So I just decided it wouldn't hurt to ask if they could give me a better price. The meat guy said, "Sure we need to move it out tonight so you can have it for $1.49 a pound". After I picked my jaw up off the floor, I said I'd take the rest of it. He continued to tell me that because of store policy they have to throw away the remainder of the ground beef every night. Guess what time I go to the meat department? I've lucked out several times since then. Sometimes it has depended on who's working that evening. One evening I didn't even have to ask. The guy just said if I wanted the rest of the ground beef, he'd give it to me at that price.

I don't know if this is their policy across the board, but it sure doesn't hurt to ask, right?!

The other deal we get here is at the dollar store. The Dollar*Tree has a contract with Sara*Lee for bread. This bread isn't day-olds (nothing wrong with that anyway). The expiration date is not for up to a week out. This includes the 100% whole wheat bread (which, btw, doesn't have corn syrup), multi-grain bread, bagels, and raisin bread all of which retail for up to $3.99. Also they have pita bread, hot dog and hamburger buns. All of these freeze well. (But shhhhhhh! this is a secret! I don't want those nasty hoarders stealing my bread!) ;)

Again, I don't know for sure if this is everywhere. I do know they do this in the Phoenix area.

Hope this helps.

Great week to you all!

Microfiber Cloths

2009-03-12T12:30:00.009-05:00

Frugal Fridays is sponsored by Jessica at www.lifeasmom.com. If you have a great frugal tip, join in the fun by signing her Mr. Linky.

I saw an article in Good Housekeeping on the subject of recycling in latest issue, and one topic caught my attention: "Smart Ways to Reduce and Reuse." In particular, the first item in this short list of eight suggestions talked about microfiber cloths. The article stated that one such cloth, before it needs to be replaced, can take the place of sixty rolls of paper towels. Did you hear that? Sixty ROLLS. Even if that's an exaggeration, that's a lot of paper towels we could save by using one of these cloths instead. The last time I bought paper towels, I noticed they are getting quite pricey.

I'm glad I read this article because it reminded me that perhaps I overuse paper towels for too many things. So I went and dug out the package of microfiber cloths I bought a good bit of time ago at BJ's. It was a pack of 25 and there are a bunch of them still left. So far we've just been using them for dusting and washing windows, but there are so many more uses. They are washable, absorbent, and gentle. They can be used wet or dry. Here are ways you can save on paper towels and save a few trees:

1. Cleaning windows, mirrors, and glass doors. You usually don't need a spray cleaner with them, another savings.

2. Gentle enough to use on your eyeglasses. Cut one up and make it smaller.

3. For dusting, of course.

4. Absorbing spills.

5. Wiping counters.

6. Washing the car. Polishing the car.

7. Cleaning the computer screen, glass surface on copiers, etc. and cleaning your phones, ipods. They don't scratch these surfaces.

8. Cleaning most of your appliances without needing to use abrasives or cleaning solutions.

9. Haven't tried it but I'll bet they're good for polishing shoes.

Got any other suggestions? Let us know! Oh by the way: Cutting up my husband's old white cotton tee shirts works good for a lot of these uses too! A friend of mine swears by cut up tee shirts for cleaning her eyeglasses.

Also on the subject of saving trees, the article pointed out that we could save on paper by not being so quick to print out a page when we could just jot it down on the back of something that we've already printed. Also, we could cut up once-used printed sheets and use the backs to write down notes, keeping some handy near the computer or telephone. Or use the backs for shopping lists. Hey, use them for paper projects for the kids, too!!

SERIOUS THOUGHTS & Some Solutions

2009-03-10T08:02:00.000-05:00

This re-post in an Addendum to add additional solutions from comments for easy future reference.

The list of practical solutions listed below is a continuation of my post under this heading on my Penless Writer blog. If you have not already read that post. Please go here and do so.

Some practical solutions for getting our home & lives in order to weather the difficult times that may lie ahead in our lives and world:

Begin to tighten your belt.

Cut back on spending where ever, and how ever, you can.

Start making extra payment on any credit card debt you have.

Make extra principle payments on your home and/or automobiles.

Refinance if the interest rate drops to 4% like they are discussing.

Begin to lower the thermostat in the winter & raise it in the summer.

Watch food ads closely and stock up when things are on sale, and just don't buy some items when they are not on sale.

Start growing some of your own food.

Put out some rain barrels.

Recycle and reuse as many items as possible. We have become such a "throw away" society.

Use your sewing, knitting, etc. skills. Both for your own use and perhaps to sell items.

Have a garage sale and sell all the STUFF you really don't need or are not using.

The list could go on and on. I hope many of you will leave your suggestions in the comments. I will go back and add all of them to this list for easy reference in the future. Thanks!!!

************

Suggestion added by Mari:

Trading talens - using the barter system (my personal thought on this is we will see more of the barter system during really tight times)

Maxine added:

Saving glass jars to use for refrigerator/freezer storage. For freezing be sure and leave some air space at the top as the food can expand and break the jar.
Use these glass bottle to take chicken noodle or vegtable soup when taking in foor to a friend. That way they don't have to worry will returning an emply dish.

Joy added:

Match coupons with sales. Her store doubles up to 50 cents.
Using electric blankets allows you to lower the thermostat and uses far less electricity.
Making a compost bin.

Joyfulsister added:

Use cash instead of debit card and you're inclined to spend less money.

Humble Wife added:

Learning to cook more foods from scratch.

Kathy added:

Wants to learn ways to economize in the homeschooling arena.

Thanks to these 6 who left these 9 great additional tips and solutions.

VACATIONING AT HOME!!

2009-03-07T14:15:00.000-06:00

I wanted to share an idea with you that we did one year. With all the financial problems and issueS our country is having today I thought this might be something some of you would like to do.

I don't remember the exact year we did this. We had all 4 children at home, and it was a tight time (financially) for us. Vacation time was rolling around and we did not have the funds to take a vacation as we normally did.

We've always been one who sees the glass half full & not half empty, and we believe in making Lemonade out of Lemons. SO..........

We decided to vacation at home in Tulsa!!!

We would get up every morning and go out to breakfast and then begin the sightseeing and activities we had chosen for the day.
We ate lunch and dinner out each day.
We would return home at the end of the day and fall into our own beds to sleep.
The next day we would do the same and so on.

Even though we had lived in Tulsa a number of years there were a lot of places and things to see that we had never taken the time, or had the time, to visit. This was our time to do just that.

We had a wonderful time and now that all our children are adults they will all tell you this is one vacation that they remember along with the trips to Disney World , Grand Canyon and various other trips we took during those years.

I posted about this and the places we visited that year in Tulsa back on June 6, 2007.Go here if you'd like to read that post: http://penlesswriter.blogspot.com/2007/06/vacation-memories.html/

HAPPY VACATIONING!!!

AND ENJOY THE LEMONADE

Paper bag popcorn

2009-03-05T11:55:00.012-06:00

{Have a frugal tip or thought to share? Post about it on your blog and then head over to Biblical Womanhood for Frugal Fridays and leave your link so we can all be motivated and inspired.}

This is a fun way to make microwave popcorn without needing to use oil. You can also monitor how much butter and/or salt you want to put on it.
I found this recipe by doing an online search. It's been a year, and unfortunately I can't remember exactly which site I used, so I'll just say thank you to whoever thought of this first!

1. Put 1/3 cup of popcorn in a paper lunch bag.
2. Fold over the top about a half inch. Do this twice.
3. I seal it with a piece of gray tape.
(The original site said you could safely seal it with a couple of staples, but I didn't want to take that risk--you know, metal and microwaves--eek!
4. Now, here's where you'll have to play with it, because everyone's microwaves are different.
I set our microwave at approx. 1 1/2 min. Give or take a couple of seconds.

I haven't done a price breakdown on this, but I do know it is less expensive than store-bought microwave popcorn and much healthier.

Seedlings

2009-03-03T08:28:00.007-06:00

It's that time of the year in most parts of the Country to get seedlings started for the spring garden.

I'd like to show you a way to reuse and recycle toilet paper tubes to make a seedling container.

1. Cut the toilet paper tube in half.

2. Make four snips about a 1/3 of the way up the tube across from each other

3. Fold in towards each other to create a little container.

4. Place your soil and seed in the container.

When it is ready to go into the garden you can plant the container and all.

Here is a picture of how the bottom of the container would look.

Some seedling I started for the fall last year:

You can also write the date you planted the seed and the type of seed it was on the side of the container. I use a spray bottle to keep them moist.

Give it a try and let us know how it works for you.

Friends of the Library

2009-02-25T22:04:00.004-06:00

Visiting our local Library is a favorite outing for my girls and me. If someone recommends a book to me, I usually check the library's online catalog on my home computer. If they have the book I reserve it. They contact me via e-mail when it is available for me to check out. I walk in the door and go right over and pick it up.

When I go to the Library, I can't help but visit the Friends of the Library Room. This is a small store that is staffed by volunteers. People donate their gently used books and magazines and they are sold at a deep discount and the proceeds help provide additional funds for the Library.

Over the last couple of years I have let several magazine subscriptions expire. Every time I visit the FOTL Store there are current issues available for .25 and .10 for older issues. What a deal.

"Check out" the books I've purchased from FOTL recently:

The most expensive book in the store is $3.00 for hardbacks and $1.00 - $2.00 for paperbacks.

You never know what will be on the shelf when you walk in. I picked up a wonderful Quiet Time Bible and this autobiography of James A. Baker III that originally retailed for nearly $30.00... way more than the $3.00 I paid for it. I love to read Kay Arthur and saw one of her books in there and picked it up for $2.00. There is a children's section and cookbook/gardening section.

So visit your local library and if there is a Friends of the Library Store go check it out. You may find some good deals on books you want to add to your home library.

Let someone else pay retail....you can enjoy it for pennies on the dollar after they donate it.

Use what you have

2009-02-24T15:08:00.007-06:00

Use what you have,
so you can use what you have.
~~~~~~~~~
Want freedom? Get organized.
Want to get organized? Get creative.
--David Allen
~~~~~~~~~

After all, what's the point of hitting a great sale on those canned black-eyed peas if they're going right into the 'Black Hole' never to be seen again?

I think one definition for frugal could be Think First. We all know most of the frugal catch-words such as repurpose, recycle, reuse, etc. Getting in the habit of thinking the 'R's' before running out and purchasing any given product would probably save us a ton of money.

Just after the new year I got on a cleaning/organizing frenzy and tackled my pantry. Then in February, my oldest daughter moved out. She left her room a clean slate for us to transform into a homeschool/playroom for Grace.

Not wanting to spend the money on unnecessary organizing gadgets and do-dads, I decided to think outside the box and use what I already had in my home.

Following are some ideas that I used as well as other tips that might be helpful.

First of all, after culling, cleaning and getting rid of expired food (arrgh!), assess your space.

--Do you have height? Can another 'shelf' be made on top or between shelves, doubling your space?

--Is there a empty space below the shelves? In my case, I had a blank wall that we added shelves to that was originally used for hanging coats.

--Cement blocks and boards are perfect for extra shelving.

--A small dresser might fit well.

Now just go through your home and look for containers.

--I had some clear plastic ice buckets that had been used as a centerpiece at a wedding. They now house my beans, rice and crackers. The other two went into the bathroom for Grace's girly stuff--soaps, bubble bath, etc. That's five nice containers that were just stacked together that I wasn't even using.

--Tupper*ware containers. Any that are only pulled out for potlucks or picnics?

--What about larger glass bowls you only pull out at holidays? Could they be used to store holiday napkins, candles etc.? (Placing them high up and away from little hands, of course.)

--I had two different wire picnic organizers. You know the kind that have a place for napkins, paper plates, plastic utensils, etc. These became my new caddys for odds and ends--plastic lids, straws, extra water filters etc.

--The gallon-size ice cream containers are perfect for storing those extra paper dessert plates and cocktail napkins as well as keeping them dust-free.

--Tins, baskets, plastic tubs you name it.

--Be on the lookout for wire or plastic shelving and other containers that can be had for very little money at thrift stores, yard sales, the dollar store.

The sky's the limit with what you can do and will save you money in the long run. Now you'll know exactly where those 20 cans of black-eyed peas are!

Then when you're finished, reward yourself with an appetizing, delicious meal Susan posted here!

A Delicious Frugal Meal

2009-02-23T15:12:00.001-06:00

Soon after I married, some 50 years ago, my mother obtained a little cookbook for me from the County Extension Service titled Money-saving MAIN DISHES.

The recipe I am sharing here is one of our family favorites and one I have made during all these years.

A "boiled" dinner

2 pounds meaty ham hocks

1 1/2 cups hot water

4 medium-size potatoes, pared and halves

1 1/2 cups canned or cooked green beans and liquid

Salt and pepper

Cover ham hocks with water and simmer about 1 hour.

Add potatoes to meat and cook until tender - about 25 minutes.

Add beans and liquid the last 10 minutes of cooking. If raw beans are used, add with potatoes.

Season with salt and Pepper. Skim off excess fat before serving.

For Variety

Corned beef, smoked Boston butt, or ham bone may be used in place of the ham hocks. Cover with water and simmer about 3 hours or until tender. Omit salt, and continue as above. Good with sauerkraut.

Beef short ribs may be used. Brown short ribs without added fat; cook 2 hours before adding potatoes.

A variety of vegetable may be used in a "boiled" dinner. In addition to potatoes, use onions, large pieces of carrot, and wedges of cabbage. Add cabbage about 20 minutes before serving, as it cooks more quickly than the other vegetables.

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This is how I prefer to cook it and what I use:

The day before:

Place 3 or 4 meaty country style pork spare ribs

in the slow cooker (crock pot) and cover with water.

When done I remove the meat and place on a plate in the refrigerator.

I place the crock pot, with all the liquid, in the refrigerator so the fat will rise to the top and form a layer that is easy to remove.

The following day:

Remove crock pot dish from frig and remove layer of fat.

Plug in crock pot and add meat to liquid.

Add the amount of pared and halved potatoes. I use 2 potatoes for each spare rib.

Add several cans of green beans - I usually add 3 or 4 cans, depending on whether I have 3 or 4 ribs, and because we really like the green beans.

I do not add any salt or pepper.

I did this yesterday....and when we returned from church services I had this wonderful meal ready to serve. It is truly yummy!!!

I am going to try and estimate the cost: my package of country style pork ribs were $8.47. When I bought them I divided them into 3 packages and froze for 3 meals. So meat was $2.82. The most recent bag of potatoes I purchased was 10 lbs. for $5.77 . It had 31 potatoes in it (YES - can you believe I counted the potatoes so I could get a unit price!!!) That is .186 cents per potato x 6 = $1.12. The green beans I had purchased the last time they were on sale for .50 a can x 3 cans = $1.50

So: Meat $2.82

Potatoes 1.12

Green Beans 1.50

Total Cost $5.44

I could have invited another couple to dinner with us, or in this case, since I didn't Mickey and I will get 2 good meals from this dish, with maybe even a few potatoes and beans left over for a 3rd vegetable serving.

FRUGAL IS NOT ONLY THRIFTY BUT CAN BE DELICIOUS!

MONEY SAVING TIPS

2009-02-20T13:46:00.000-06:00

Here are two money saving tips.

We all want, and need, to save every possible way we can.

*******************

AARP sponsors a Driver Safety Program. While it use to be just for people over 55 years of age, people of any age are now eligible to take the course.

SOME insurance companies will give you a discount for taking this course. Ours allows us a 10% discount on our car insurance policy, which in our case covers 3 vehicles and our 5th wheel. It was definitely cost effective and worth it to us to spent 8 hours getting this Safe Driving designation.

Be sure and check with your insurance company to see if you can reduce your auto insurance cost by taking this course.

********************

The Forever Stamp

In April of last year, just before the U.S. Post Office was going to raise the cost of a first class stamp from 41 cents to 42 cents, I bought a large supply of these Forever Stamps at the 41 cent cost. So while everyone is currently paying 42 cents to mail a letter mine are only costing me 41 cents.

The U.S. Post Office is once again raising the cost of the first class stamp. This price increase will be from 42 cents to 44 cents. The 44 cent stamp will be required beginning May 11, 2009. Anytime prior to May 11th you can purchase as many of the Forever Stamps for 42 cents a piece as you desire.

I will be able to continue using the current supply of stamps that I purchased for 41 cents each, even at the 44 cent rate. I will also be buying another large supply of the Forever Stamps at the now current price of 42 cents.

Help for Your Cold or Flu

2009-02-17T14:50:00.006-06:00

About a month ago, I got an email from a friend with a helpful tip for the cold and flu season. I didn't want to post about it until I'd tried it, but unfortunately (I mean fortunately really), I or no one in my household has had a cold which developed into a cough which wouldn't go away. But the season will be over in the not too distant future, so I thought I'd better send this info on to others just in case it works. At least we can be pretty sure it won't hurt. I'll just copy and paste it here for you to keep in mind in case the need arises. Some of you may already know about it, but I didn't before getting the email. Oh, and incidentally, on most over the counter medications, I never use the name brands unless I've got a great coupon and they're on sale. You know that the generic (store brand-whatever the store or pharmacy) works just as well:

"During a lecture on Essential Oils, they told us how the foot soles can absorb oils. Their example: Put garlic on your feet and within 20 minutes you can 'taste' it.

Some of us have used Vicks Vapo rub for years for everything from chapped lips to sore toes and many body parts in between. But I've never heard of this.

And don't laugh, it works 100% of the time, although the scientists who discovered it aren't sure why. To stop night time coughing in a child (or adult as we found out personally), put Vicks Vapo rub generously on the bottom of the feet at bedtime, then cover with socks.

Even persistent, heavy, deep coughing will stop in about 5 minutes and stay stopped for many, many hours of relief.

Works 100% of the time and is more effective in children than even very strong prescription cough medicines.

In addition it is extremely soothing and comforting and they will sleep soundly.

Just happened to tune in A.M. Radio and picked up this guy talking about why cough medicines in kids often do more harm than good, due to the chemical makeup of these strong drugs so, I listened.

It was a surprise finding and found to be more effective than prescribed medicines for children at bedtime, in addition to have a soothing and calming effect on sick children who then went on to sleep soundly.

My wife tried it on herself when she had a very deep constant and persistent cough a few weeks ago and it worked 100%! She said that it felt like a warm blanket had enveloped her, coughing stopped in a few minutes and believe me, this was a deep, ( incredibly annoying!) every few seconds uncontrollable cough, and she slept cough-free for hours every night that she used it.

If you have grandchildren, pass this on. If you end up sick, try it yourself and you will be absolutely amazed at how it works.

DON'T SHUN THIS ONE. TRY IT THE NEXT TIME YOU GET A BAD COLD"

This tip is from me: Did you know that chewing on garlic cloves helps to get rid of congestion? It also has helped rid me of a bad cough. Too bad for the folks that have to live with you, though.

Wishes for your healthy household,

Maxine

Making Clothing Last Longer

2009-02-14T20:08:00.006-06:00

Clothing can easily be a huge part of our budgets every month!! Here are a few tips to make your clothing last longer and keep your family looking good for less!!

1.) Buy jeans in the darkest color possible, and wash them with a bunch of faded jeans... they will be darkened and newer-looking for free!!

2.) You can do the same thing with new red clothes... faded pinks and reds will be revitalized. A little vinegar in the rinse water sets the new color.

3.) Pantyhose... Always buy the same brand and color. If you get a run in one leg, cut it off and save the good part. When you get a run in another pair, cut that leg off. Then you can put both pairs on at once and have a whole new pair!! (Don't laugh, no one will ever know!!) =)

4.) Nice boots are expensive but they can really dress up an outfit. I had to go to a court hearing a couple weeks ago, and when I got dressed I noticed the toes of my black leather boots were totally scuffed. It was a snowy day and polish would never dry in time.... so I grabbed a Sharpie and colored over the scuffs. It worked beautifully!!!! It stayed shiny even after walking through the snow, and has not worn off like shoe polish does. I fixed up my little girl's new black boots the same way!!

5.) Some tips for Laundry Day: Washing in cold water keeps your clothes from fading and shrinking... Turning everything inside out protects logos on tee shirts, and keeps fabric surfaces smooth... Zipping jeans keeps the zippers from breaking or damaging/ snagging other items... Air drying is the least damaging to clothes... but if you want to use the dryer, you can dry just long enough to fluff the items and remove wrinkles, and then take the clothes out and either continue drying flat, on a rack, or on hangers. This will keep them from shrinking and fading, as well.

6.) Oh yes, and no post on saving money on clothing would be complete, without my handy underwire bra repair tip!! You know how expensive they can be, and isn't it awful (and painful) when the underwire bursts through and pokes you!!

All you need is a hot glue gun. Push the wire back into place, and with one hand, hold the torn edges of fabric together, while squirting a glob of glue to cover the opening. Let it cool, and when it is still soft, press the glob of glue nice and flat, and keep holding it together until it dries completely. This repair is comfortable, doesn't show, and will last through several washings and air dryings. (Of course you are air-drying your bras, right?! =) They will last at least twice as long, that way.

Frugal Hog Dogs!

2009-02-12T10:52:00.006-06:00

I was invited to tag along one day with my friend to spend the afternoon with her mom who lived on a ranch about three hours away. Her brothers were the ranch hands on a big spread.

The three of us were sitting at the kitchen table visiting when her son came in and asked, "Mom, do you have some hot dogs?..." She got up, reached into the freezer, grabbed some hot dogs and handed them to her son while he continued to explain that a coyote had gotten one of the calves. They would need to put some poison on the hot dogs to kill the coyote. I'll tell you what, those hot dogs barely touched his fingers before she snatched them right back quicker than lightening and quite seriously exclaimed, "NOT my OSCAR*MAYER wieners!" She then reached back into the freezer and produced a package of generic hot dogs for her ranch hand son. I about fell out of my chair I was laughing so hard!

I think of this fun story a lot, especially now in these hard economic times. This woman, who had lived through the depression, had learned lessons in frugalness and had continued to apply them throughout her life. Hers wasn't an attitude of 'It's ok, there's plenty more where that came from', but one of 'Waste not, want not'--even when times were good.

It reminds me of the story of Joseph in Genesis 40-41. After he was falsely accused and thrown into prison, he was eventually released after he interprets the fat cow/skinny cow dreams of Pharoah. Pharoah then puts Joseph in charge of managing the economic affairs of Egypt. Now Joseph was in an awesome position. He was living in the lap of luxury, second only to Pharoah. But he knew that Egypt was going to experience a horrible economic crunch, so he prepared and planned and taught the people how to be frugal with their income (crops) so that when the famine did hit, as predicted, they were prepared and even had enough to feed the people in surrounding areas, not to mention being reunited with his family.

I love the scripture Susan wrote in the introduction: Every wise woman buildeth her house; but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands. Proverbs 14:11

Being frugal shouldn't be something that is only learned out of necessity, but it should be a lifestye of management in good times and bad.

Remember, NOT my OSCAR*MAYER wieners!

Food Costs tips

2009-02-10T21:00:00.001-06:00

Okay, here we go!

Do not throw out ANY left over food. Find some way to use the left overs; in another meal or some other way.

Expanding on #1 above: put all little "dabs" of vegetables in a bag or container in your freezer and add to them each time, even if it's just a spoonful of corn or peas, etc. When you make vegetable soup or a stew, etc. you can add the contents of this container.

You can do the same with a "dab" of fruit and then add them when you make a fruit salad.

Use a rubber spatula. I find this to be one of the thriftiest tools in my kitchen. Scrape out every last bit of any and everything in a jar, a can, or the sides of mixing bowls. It is amazing how much food is left on the sides and wasted.

Try not to buy items in plastic squeeze bottles because you cannot scrape them out as above.

WELCOME to our new blog!

2009-02-09T05:13:00.003-06:00

Thank you for coming by to check us out!!!!

You can read our PURPOSE on our header.

On the side bar you can read ABOUT US.

You can read about the 5 of us who make up this blog on ABOUT ME.

Our goal is to have easy access to frugal ideas all gathered in one central, easy to find location. As we develop the site we will have various topic headings for your easy reference.

I was raised by very frugal parents, who had lived through the depression, and I was taught, at a very early age, the importance of being frugal. I was raised in a Christian home and Church who instilled in me that I was a Steward, or manage, of the things God allowed me to have and use. GOD being the rightful OWNER!!!

I believe we are beginning to see very dramatic changes in the world as we have known it. That we are, by necessity, going to have to become more self reliant, more frugal, more sharing with others, more reliant on our Lord and God than ever before.

There are MANY scriptures that speak to us as God's children, as wives, as mothers. I'm sharing a few of my favorite ones that have guided my life and purpose.

Stewardship

I Corinthians 4:2 "Moreover it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful."

Wise Woman

Proverbs 14:11 "Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands."

Prudence

Proverbs 18:15 "The heart of the prudent getteth knowledge; and the ear of the wise seeketh knowledge."

Wisdom

Proverbs 24:3-4 "Through wisdom is a house builded; and by understanding it is established. And by knowledge shall the chambers be filled with all precious and pleasant riches."

The Wise Woman
Proverbs 31:27 "She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness."
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The one I keep foremost in my heart and mind, as I watch our world changing literally day by day before our very eyes and not knowing what is going to happen to our wonderful country is:

BLESSINGS OF GOD

Psalm 37:25 "I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not see the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread."
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We want to include YOUR ideas, tips and secrets. We certainly know we do not know it all!!! Please submit them to us and we will add them to this blog.

Thank you again for coming by and checking us out. We will not necessary be posting every day and some days you may find multiple posts if we all have something the same day. I hope you will add this blog to your favorites, or bookmark it, so you can readily find us. I trust we can all grow together in the Lord as we serve, first HIM, our households, and each other.

GOD BLESS YOU