Wow! February has come and gone. What a great month it was. I reviewed my bank statements online and have noticed a few things:
1. I didn't meet my goal of only spending $100 on groceries. I actually spent $181 but I'll take it!
2. We did go out to eat once as a family. It was last Sunday and it was in celebration of a family member's birthday and the first day Camryn went to church. My husband had fast food twice in February on his way to his second job at UPS. This is a vast improvement over the last two months. I know it is because I am cooking again after really struggling with that during my pregnancy.
3. I had no baby expenses except for two co-pays for her well-visits. No formula (we're breastfeeding), no diapers, no clothes, etc. We are still stocked up on all of those things!
4. We re-established our $1,000 emergency fund after blowing through it during December.
5. My online spending was much better! I bought a book, Nike's for Caleb, and a CD for my husband. All for less than $25. I think that's all we bought.
6. I met my goal of the February Change Challenge. The kids will total up all of the change tonight and we will go buy the water heater blanket tomorrow.
7. I learned a lot about buying organics and I will continue to learn more this month.
8. I earned $25 from selling stuff online, $55 from google adsense, $25.10 from payperpost, $75 from commission junction, $10 from cashcrate, and $53 from ebates. Total earned $243
How was February for you?
Friday, February 29, 2008
Reflecting on February
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Do you Blog?
In my post earlier in the week I mentioned that one way to get traffic to your site is to leave a comment on other like-minded blogs and to have other blogs list you in their blog roll. I've clicked on my readers' profiles that leave comments here and have been so impressed that many of you have started great blogs in the recent past and some of you began to blog this month.
I'm enjoying reading your blogs and have found some really great tips and advice! I'd like to showcase the blogs of my readers who are addressing being frugal and/or paying off debt in order to have a better life. If you and your family are trying to attain a debt-free lifestyle and you are blogging about it please email me with a link to your blog. I will put the links on my site and perhaps highlight some of your great posts in a new weekly "around the frugal blog" round-up.
In your email please put "my frugal blog" in the subject. I look forward to reading your blogs.
Angie
Dishwasher: Not just for Dishes!
I read Crystal's post yesterday at Biblicalwomanhood. She admits to washing her combs and brushes in the washing machine. That post reminded me of something weird that I do.
I hate cleaning the small trash cans that are in my bathrooms and kids' rooms. We do reuse our plastic grocery bags in those cans but they still get dirty and frankly they can be very disgusting, especially the one in the kids' bathroom. This is how I clean them:
I put them in the dishwasher, fill it with detergent and turn it on. They come out very clean and with the hot water I know they are sterilized.
I also toss my kitchen sponges, plant saucers, scrub brushes, and kids' toys in the dishwasher.
Do you use any appliances in a weird way? Please share! I'm always looking for shortcuts.
Best Deals at Food Lion
I found the following deals for the week:
Hamburger Helper $1.00 each
Buy 3 and use coupon for $.75 off 3 from 1/06= $.75 each
Campbell's Chunky soup $1.67 each
Use coupon from 1/20
Bird's Eye Voila BOGO @ $4.79
Print 2 $1 off coupons here= $1.40 each
This is a great price for a quick and easy meal!
Kellogg's Pop-Tarts $2.00
Use coupons from 2/10
Wish-bone Dressing $2.00
Various coupons from 1/13 and at www.coupons.com
Pillsbury Grands $1.67
Various coupons at www.pillsbury.com, www.bettycrocker.com, www.boxtops4education.com
Printable coupons:
$1.00 off Food Lion Orange Juice
$1.00 off Food Lion Mayonaisse 32 oz.
$1.00 off 2 jars of Food Lion Pickles
$1.00 off Scrubbing Bubbles Action Scrubber
Set #2
Same as above except $2.00 of Tropicana Orange Juice
Best Deals at Winn-Dixie
The following deals are all at least 60% off the regular price.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Congratulations!
Sorry for the delay in posting a winner! My dear sister surprised me with a visit, along with my 18 month old niece, Gabby. They just left and whew, I'm exhausted.
We have a winner.!
I used a random number generator and included 2 entries for those of you who posted to your blog. Congratulations to "Mamabeanof4"! Please email me to let me know which gift card you would like: $25 Publix or $25 Applebees.
Thanks to all of you who entered and linked from your blog. Thanks for all of the great comments, frugal tips and sharing how you are saving money. It really is an encouragment to me!
Have a great evening!
Quick Post this Morning
Good Morning! It is bright, sunny, and chilly here in North Florida. Here are a few quick notes from me:
- Don't forget that the contest ends today! Good Luck to all my commenters in the $25 drawing. Haven't signed up? click the link on the right!
- We received Caleb's Nike shoes yesterday! They are great and he loves them. If you ordered from Nike I hope you like your stuff as much as we like ours!
- I'm searching high and low for some good deals at Winn-Dixie, Food Lion, and Publix to post later today.
- New Discover Card Statement hit today. New balance is $2352. That's $52 in interest charged for the month! Ugh! You don't even want to know how ridiculously high my interest rate is on that card. Well, it is 25.74!
- The good news is I think I may be paying off Discover Card on Friday if my teaching bonus comes through this week. I am patiently waiting to see the bonus $ so I can kiss Discover goodbye!
- I'm doing a batch of freezer cooking today. I'm making pancakes of all kind: regular, blueberry, apple cinnamon, pumpkin, peanut butter, and cottage cheese!
- Hope everyone has a great, frugal day!
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
The Ultimate Paintball Store
Paintball has fast become one of America's favorite weekend activities. It offers a healthy alternative to sitting in front of television all day playing video games or watching shows. It gets you into the great outdoors and is healthy competition. Several of my family members are very much into paintball and I have found the perfect place to order paintball supplies and guns online.
Ultimate Paintball.com has been in the paintball business since 2002. They offer a secured, verified site and ship 99% of orders on the same day the order is placed. They offer online live chat so that they may answer any questions you have about their products. The employees are also paintball players so you can trust their expertise.
Ultimate Paintball offers Tippmann, Spyder, Smart Parts, Dye, Empire, Draxxus paintball gear plus many more brands which you can find on our website.
This is their tippmann army starter kit. If you or someone you know take part in the ever-growing in popularity sport of paintball check out Ultimate Paintball for all your paintball needs. Free shipping on all orders over $99.
Answering Reader's Questions
I have had three recent questions come up and I'd like to try to answer them in a post so that others who may have similar questions may benefit.
First Question: How did I get my own domain name and change my site address?
There are many places online where you can buy a domain name for as little as $6 per address. Two popular sites are Go Daddy and 1and1. I bought mine at 1and1. If you are using blogger you can purchase your domain name through Google right on your blogspot site. Here's how to do that:
1. Click on Settings on your dashboard.
2. Click on Publishing.
3. It should say, "You're publishing on blogspot." Switch to custom domain. Click custom domain.
4. It then will say, "Buy a Custom domain for your blog". You can then check the availability of the name you want and buy it from Google for $10.
5. If you go through Go daddy or 1and1 you simply click "Switch to advanced settings" after the site you bought the domain through says that your new name is ready.
6. Blogger will walk you through the next steps to get your domain changed over.
**Those you of who graciously have Thrifty Florida Mama listed in your blog roll would you please make sure that my new domain is the one you are linked to. This will help my Google page rankings because when I switched domains I lost all of my rankings. Thanks!"
Second Question/Situation: "I just started a new blog. How do I get more readers?"
Obviously this question is a little more difficult to answer than the first one! Here are some things I've learned:
1. I began with word of mouth to my friends and family. When they liked what they saw they told others about my site.
2. I emailed my friends list on my email and asked them to check out my site.
3. I began reading other blogs with similar topics as mine. I left comments for the blog author and some people who read my comment click over to see my site.
4. I began participating in "blog memes". These memes focus on a singular subject and lots of people then post something on their blog and link back to the meme host. Popular memes include "Frugal Friday", "Menu Plan Monday", and "Kitchen Tip Tuesday". When you include a brief description in your link it gets readers' attention and they click over to your site. Think about entering a blog carnival. Then many, many people will see your site and post. I just submitted my first entry into the carnival of debt reduction. Hopefully, my post will make the cut.
5. Without even asking them to do so, many of my readers have listed my site in the side column of their site under "Favorite Blogs" or "Money Saving Blogs", etc. These do wonder for your numbers! I'm am so thankful for all of you that have deemed my sight "read worthy" and have shared it with others.
6. Link to other people's blogs on your posts. They are more than likely willing to do the same for you when your blog post relates to their site. On days that some popular blogs link to one of my posts, my site stats go way up into the 1000's!
7. Always be thankful of the readers you have and don't concentrate on solely growing your reader base just to say you have X number of readers. You must be yourself and have genuine intentions with your blog. If you aren't your readers will see through to your real intentions.
8. Allow your blog to morph as it grows older. Expand the topics you post about and include personal stories. People want to see blog writers as real people with real problems, solutions, and lives.
9. Write everyday and even more on some days. You don't want your readers to have to guess whether or not you will post.
10. Ask for readers' opinions! In the past week I've learned so much about buying organic food just by asking for your advice. I'm actively searching for good, frugal sources of organics something I never thought I would do just a month ago!
Third Question: Are you making money from blogging or from the Internet?
Let me begin by saying that I did not even know it was possible to make money from blogging when I began this blog. The more I read on other blogs and researched how to add/change things on my blog, the more I became aware that people actually get paid to blog!
1. The easiest way to add a little revenue to your site is to add Google adsense. It is free to sign up. They give you an html code to add to your site. You can add Google ads in up to three spots on each page. I have Google running on the top spot on my site and between the first two posts on the page. You get a small amount of money each time someone clicks on the advertisement from your site. I do mean small; usually between $.01 and $.15 per click. They also pay more as your get more page visits. The first month I ran adsense I made a paltry $3.XX. Each month my revenue has increased and I am happy to report that I will be getting my first check from Google at the end of February. They payout once you hit $100. Some blogs make $100's even $1,000's per month with Google!
Monday, February 25, 2008
Great Deals @ Winn-Dixie and Publix
Since I'm not shopping for groceries after "discovering" all my food in the pantry I did not post any good deals this week. Truthfully, I didn't think there were that many but Cassie at Homeschooling Four posts how she saved a ton of money this week at both stores with lots of bogo deals. Please visit Cassie's blog if you are planning a trip to either store, she lists what to buy and matched it up to recent and printable coupons. Thanks Cassie!
Giving my kids an allowance is helping us get out of Debt
The age-old question of whether to give kids an allowance or not has been a lingering sore-spot in my life. For years, I tried to give my kids an allowance but I didn't actually have a handle on my own finances. I was not working with an on-paper budget; I was just trying to make sure all the bills were paid and groceries were in the pantry. There just never seemed to be any wiggle room for me to pay out the allowance. I was also dealing with whether or not the allowance should be tied to chores. I have found that there are strong arguments on both sides of that coin. When I promised allowances and then didn't deliver consistently I was not teaching my children a good lesson so we just did away with any talk of allowances.
Fast forward a few years when I finally bought into the Dave Ramsey plan, began paying off debt, doing an actual budget, and, I thought, doing all the right things financially. But as I looked over my budget and my spending I realized that my kids were rather spoiled with stuff and spoiled into thinking that they could get stuff most any day or time. Rather than deal with them as a parent should when the whining began, I just bought them the candy bar or bouncy ball. They never asked for big stuff unless it was for their birthday but all that little stuff adds up. I just took the money out of the grocery budget. This wasn't good for them or the family. I began talking with other parents about allowances and doing a lot of searching online for help.
I think I may have finally settled the allowance question once and for all in our house. It is working in my favor and actually helping my family get out of debt. Here's what we're doing and some of the things I learned along the way.
First, my husband and I decided not to tie the allowance to chores. That is not to say that they don't have chores. They each have a list of stuff to be done daily and weekly. Doing household work is just what is expected of everyone in our family. When all of the housework is done we are all rewarded with free time to take a walk, ride bikes, play a boardgame, or watch a movie. We also decided this based on the fact that when the kids were offered money for doing a specific chore more times than not they just decided it wasn't worth their time to do the chore. They had no reason to need the money because mom would always buy them what they wanted!
Second, my husband and I discussed what the allowance should be for. First and foremost it is on-going financial lesson for the kids. Neither my husband and I were never given an allowance and never learned to manage money. We see where that got us: deep in debt at an early age. We made a list of all the things we had been paying for: birthday party gifts for their friends, clothes, toys, video games, shoes, outdoor sports equipment, field trips, book orders, Christmas gifts for others, and all sorts of other things that just come up out of the blue. We decided that most of this stuff should be paid for by the children. If they paid for it with their money they would value it more, enjoy it more, and be forced to learn that money is limited. They can't have everything all the time. Each child gets $10 per week, every Friday. They tithe 10% to church but the rest is really up to them. (At this point we are not forcing savings. We are trying to let them discover that they must save a portion of their money each week if they want to buy something more expensive.) This is costing my budget $120 per month which looks like a great deal of money but believe me it is less than I was spending on them before. Remember, they are now paying for everything themselves.
Third, they may choose to earn extra through additional chores. We have list that they choose from each week. So far, they are choosing to earn $1 to $2 more per week.
Fourth, they may have to pay mom and dad. This is the part that takes work for me but it also part of the teaching process. A child may have to pay for the following:
~leaving lights or television on in their room (electricity isn't free)
~having mom do their laundry (coin laundramat style)
~talking back to mom and dad (you can't yell at your boss)
~not eating what mom cooks for supper (they pay $1 to eat something else that we have on hand because they will have to pay to eat out when they are adults)
~having mom clean their room (sometimes it is nice to pay for a good cleaning)
~not knowing where something is that is their responsibility (ballet shoes! backpacks! In the real world replacing items we lost costs money)
As a mom, giving the allowance has taught me some things about my kids too! My oldest is very much like me- a spender. She usually has no money left each week. My son is a thinker. He usually spends most of his money but really thinks about what he wants or needs and prioritizes his money. This weekend he bought a fish for his tank and is saving the rest. My 2nd daughter is a saver. She usually has all of her money left each week. It pains her to spend the cash. Now that I know these characteristics, I can work specifically with each child to teach them more about money.
It seems very strange that giving my kids a portion of money out of my very tight, getting out of debt budget has actually helped us pay off debt. No longer do I spend extra money out of the budget to buy stuff for my kids. If we are at a store and a kid asks for something, I just simply ask if they have their money with them. I don't feel any pressure to buy it anymore. So for our family this has been a win-win situation. It also makes it that much sweeter when I suprise the kids with a trip to get ice cream cones or buy them a new shirt. They actually appreciate it and know that mom is making a sacrifice to give them something that they neither earned or deserved. I gave simply because I love them: the greatest truth and lesson for all the ages.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Land's End Deal: Kids Backpacks Save $35 and free shippping
Land's End has their supercool Light Up Backpacks on sale for $14.99, normally $49.50. The reviews on these are super and Land's End gaurantees they will not wear out ever! or you will get a full refund. That's right you could keep this backpack for 10 years, decide it's not doing it's job anymore and return it for a full refund or exchange! Here is a link to their gaurantee. It is available in 7 different colors and can be monogrammed for an Extra $5.
Land's End is a ebates store so you will also get 3% for going through them.
Here's where to sign up for ebates. Once you are signed up, search for Land's End on the left side of the ebates page and click through their link. Once you get to Land's End search for product #17573-28J6
If you are already an ebates member simple go to their homepage and follow steps above.
For free shipping at checkout:
Source Code: FREESHIPPING PIN: 530553055
If you have school-aged kids this is a great deal! My kids usually go through 2 backpacks per year but these are gauranteed. Save your receipt.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Update to Buying Local. Opinions Needed
While at the Farmer's Market I found a farmer who raises and sells free-range poultry and eggs, organic produce in season, and grass-fed beef. I bought some cilantro and basil from her and also 1 dozen of the eggs. She told me to expect the yolks to be dark orange instead of the normal yellow. This is because these are free-range, naturally fed chicken's and the eggs contain much more vitamins and minerals than normal, store-bought eggs.
The price of the eggs was $3.50 per dozen! This is at least $1 more per dozen than I pay at the most expensive grocery store in town.
The beef comes available in September. This beef has never been given any form of anti-biotics and has only eaten grass; no grain. The price of half of a half side of beef is $600! This is an average of $6 per pound. She and others said that once you eat grass-fed beef which is full of flavor and little fat you will never want store-bought meat again.
She also has free-range poultry for sale every 8 weeks. I didn't get the price of it.
I have no idea if these prices are reasonable or outrageous, as I admitted in the previous post that I've never really been "into" buying organic. I do know however that my grocery budget would have to increase significantly to pay these prices.
I live in a very rural area and there are no "Whole Foods", "Trader Joe's", etc within 100 miles of me. I do well with buying local produce but have never ventured into the area of organic meats.
So, here are my questions:
1. Are these prices higher or lower than you would expect for this quality?
2. Are the health benefit so significant that you willingly pay more for organic meat?
3. How would you advise a family on a tight budget to incorporate organics?
Buying Local
I must admit that I'm not one who is known for really caring about being "green" or "going organic". Do I think these things are important? Yes, just not for me. That sounds terrible doesn't it! In the past I was actually a card-carrying member of Greenpeace (good old college days) but as I grew up, had kids, and got into debt, my priorities changed or maybe my lack of money changed my priorities? Anyway, with all the talk lately about the beef recall and all the hormones in our food, I'm beginning to think about "going organic" and for me just thinking about it is a big step!
Here are a few ways I am beginning to change my ways:
1. Our community just started a "farmer's market". I ventured there myself last week alone and came home with some great organic oranges, grapefruit, onions, and greens. As I sit here typing this post, my kids are getting themselves ready for their first trip to the market. Today they are having safety booths and events for kids along with the usual booths of food and goods from local sellers. The kids will get to sample lots of different food and they get a free bicycle helmet.
2. I am going in with a family member to buy a side of beef. My aunt has raised the cow but I will go in with her to pay part of the processing and packaging fee.
3. I'm doing research on other places in my community to buy local goods. Unfortunately, I haven't found any sources of local dairy products and the cost of organic milk is cost prohibitive in my budget right now.
So, while I'm not really into the whole "green" thing or the "organic" thing I am definitely going to be making an effort to buy local. This will not have much effect on my monthly budget but hopefully it will have a positive effect on my local economy.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
The First Ever Thrifty Florida Mama Giveaway Contest
When you think of Thrifty Florida Mama I hope that you think of saving money. Well, that and I hope you think, "Wow! Yehaw! Wowsers! I can't wait to read that blog today!" But if you can only think of one thing, it would be saving money.
I've only been blogging a short time but I have learned so much already. I absolutely love the fact that I have met some wonderful people and have been able to share great deals with them to help them in their life's journey. I'm overwhelmed everytime I get an email telling me that I have inspired someone to get in gear and get out of debt, or an email telling me how a mom didn't know how she was going to feed her family for the next week until she found a good deal I listed, or how much money (thousands of $$) people are saving at CVS! I am just humbled by God's goodness that He would let me be a small part of my reader's lives.
I also love that my readers send me their own money saving tips, good deal alerts, and stories of inspiration of how they got out of debt and know I will too! You are all wonderful!
Now to the important stuff: winning ! This contest is about saving money. Literally! Let's talk about ING Direct. Earlier this month I had a poll asking if you had an ING account or were interested in one. I was thrilled to see that so many of you have accounts with them! They have been one of the best tools I have used to help me quit using credit cards and get out of debt. I opened my ING account back in 2001. It was at that time that I was reading books by Mary Hunt. With her financial plan, you set aside money each month for expenses you know you will have irregularly during the year. You save the money so that when the bill arrives you have the money to pay for it right then without messing up your regular monthly budget and turning to credit. Dave Ramsey calls it "sinking funds".
With ING Direct you have can subaccounts to help you manage the areas for which you are saving. I have accounts called, "summer camp", "Christmas", "home insurance", "car repairs", "summer vacation", and "new washing machine" (mine is about to bite the dust). I have automatic transfers set up for each account each month so I never have to think about saving the money. It just goes there automatically through my local checking account.
Before ING I knew I should be saving money I just didn't ever do it. I would spend it all every paycheck. When something came up I would grab a credit card, getting our family in more debt all the time. So, we were completely broke, completely in debt, and almost hopeless at that time.
I opened my ING account with exactly $1.00. That's all the extra money I had. They have no minimum beginning balance and no minimums ever. There are never any fees! In 2001, I set up an automatic transfer of just $15 per month. It's all I could do. I earmarked the money for new car tires. After a few months we paid cash for the tires. It felt soooo good. It still feels good now. I know that in a few weeks when summer camp fees are beginning to come due that I will be able to pay for them for the kids with money that is already in the bank.
ING Direct was and is still one of the best tools for managing your money, getting out of debt, and saving for the future. And you can get started for just $1.00!
So, how to enter this contest?
First, if you have an ING account leave a comment telling me why you like ING Direct or what you are saving toward to pay with cash.
Second, if you don't have an ING Direct account but would like to start one Click on the link on the right and it will take you to a sign-up page. Again you can start with as little as $1.00. Once you sign-up leave a comment telling me what you have begun saving for that you will pay for in cash. (They do have a sign-up special if you deposit at least $250 they will give you $25 for free. You will need a special email to sign up for that. So, if you are interested in earning the free $25 please email me @ adh913@yahoo.com for a referral. You will get $25 and I will get $10 for referring you. But remember you can start with just $1.00)
Third, if you already have a savings system that works for you and are not interested in an ING account just leave a comment with a money saving tip.
And if you want a bonus entry, post about this contest on your blog directing your readers back here to enter for themselves. Leave a comment with your blog post and you'll get a second entry.
This contest will end on Wednesday, February 27th @ 8 pm Eastern Time. Contest winner will be chosen randomly from those leaving comments on this post.
Thanks again for making blogging fun and rewarding. I love my readers!
Food Lion Printables for the Week
These aren't very good this week. Getting their newsletter takes about 2 to 3 weeks after signing up.
This one is for:
$1 off (2) Foodlion English muffins
$1 off Foodlion cheese puffs
$1 off (2) Hot Pockets
Free Lipton Tea wyb $10 worth of sunsilk and suave products.
This one has the same except for $1 off Thomas English Muffins
This one has $2 off 2 Smart Ones.
Here"Free South Beach cereal bar wyb (2) SB living products. (value $3.49) exp 2/26
And here"$1 off Butcher brand beef wyb (2) pace salsas" exp 3/11
And here$1 wyb (2) juicy juice exp 2/29 -manufacturer coupon
Playing with Food
I've been having a great time "playing" with my food this morning. I should have been doing household chores but playing is much more fun. Now that I've put all my food lists out there for the world to see I feel challenged to use it wisely.
Thinking about how I attained this much food was fun. I noticed while I was making my lists that 90% of the items were brand names. I also know that I paid way below "actual retail prices" for all of it. Many years ago I was convinced that buying generics or store brands was the most cost efficient way of grocery shopping. So glad I learned my lesson! As I've discussed before on my blog, I require brand names of certain items, like Heinz Ketchup! And when I can get brand name for less than the other kind it makes me feel like I've won a game.
I was going to write a post about my stockpiling techniques but I figure most of you are already doing that too! But for those who aren't stockpiling I found the perfect article for you. If I had written a post, I would have said these exact things! This article is from Amy at "The Motherload". She tells us that there are 3 kinds of savvy shoppers: the first makes a menu and then only buys what is on the menu, the second shops from the flyers first to see what is on sale then makes a menu, the third shops only the loss leader and exceptional deals each week to stockpile the pantry and then shops from the pantry each week to make her menus. I'm definitely the third kind. That's is why ifyou ever see me at the grocery store I'll have 10 of the same item but only about 6 to 8 different products in my buggy. (Last week it was Progresso soup and Seapak shrimp!)
My Menu Planning Fun
A Big Thanks to day by day for posting the recipe finder at allrecipes.com I knew I had used something like that in the past; I just couldn't find it. I also found a neat tool at www.kraftfoods.com They have a dinner planner where you enter up to 3 ingredients and it gives you a list of suggested recipes. I went with the allrecipes site because of the huge number of recipes they house. I plugged in all kinds of combinations and sat here gaining back every bit of baby weight I've lost. Then I had a little evil streak! I didn't mean to, I promise, but every once in a while I get devious. So, I tried to think of the most awful things to put together in a recipe and see what Kraft told me. I tried "ground beef and cream corn". It found 5 recipes:
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
More Food!
I am in the process of making a spreadsheet with all of this food and will use it to plan my menus for the next month. The kids are very afraid. Very afraid they are going to actually have to eat all of this stuff until it is gone and then we can go shopping again. I'm afraid too! Afraid they are right!
From the condiments/staples/ and baking cabinets:
12 Jars of Peanut Butter
2 Bottles Kraft Barbecue Sauce
2 Bottles A1 Marinade
2 Bottles Canola Oil
2 Jars Mayonnaise
1 bottle soy sauce
10 lbs. all purpose flour
10 lbs. sugar
5 lbs. corn meal
baking powder
baking soda
salt
pepper
confectioner's sugar
chocolate chips
butterscotch chips
food coloring dye
food coloring paste
3 pie crusts
6 cake mixes
1 cookie mix
1 muffin mix
2 cake frostings
1 brownie mix
spices
4 lbs. brown sugar
1 bear of honey
1 jar molasses
Crisco
3 kinds of vinegar
various cookie sprinkles
In the outside freezer:
2 whole turkeys
1 whole chicken
13 packs of ground venison
4 packs ground beef
3 packs whole chicken breasts
5 packs cubed steak
5 bags frozen brocolli (does brocolli have 2 l's or 2 c's or both or neither? I never remember!)
2 bags frozen stir fry veggies
1 bag frozen lima beans
1 bag frozen mixed veggies
4 bags of frozen banana bread
2 bags of frozen pumpkin bread
2 frozen pizzas
2 Sara Lee cheesecakes
In the bottom of refrigerator freezer:
This where I keep stuff for just grabbing and eating or grabbing and fixin' fast.
1 container of already made taco meat which at anytime can be defrosted and used for a quick meal of tacos or chili.
1 container of frozen spaghetti sauce with meat. Again I purposefully make extra and then use it up when I need a quick meal.
3 bags of cooked ground beef crumbles
1 container for leftover bit of veggies for veggie soup
2 bags of pancakes. I make these from scratch and usually make a ton of them once every other month or so. I flash freeze them and then we just pop them into the microwave.
1 bag of waffles. Same as the pancakes.
1 bag of tater tots
10 bags of Steamfresh veggies
Banana Pudding ice cream (my dh's)
2 packs Italian sausage
2 packs chicken drumettes
1 pack frozen shrimp
various leftover breads which I will make into croutons
1 bag boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 pot roasts (should be moved to outside freezer
In the refrigerator:
Normal frig stuff. Nothing really stockpiled except cheese! I have tons of live active cheese and Breakstone's cottage cheese singles.
Oh, and I have a lot of individual puddings and jello in there too!
Fresh stuff on hand:
valencia oranges
white grapefruit
red and green grapes
lettuce
2 bagged salads
cucumbers
baby carrots
apples
bananas (turning brown)
celery
green onions
Something New About My Blog
I'm excited to announce that my website address is now thriftyfloridamama.net! I feel so cool to own my own domain name. And it was frugal at only $6.12 for the entire year. That's just about $.50 per month or $.0167 per day! Who knew?
If you have my site bookmarked you can update the address. Readers whotype in thriftyfloridamama.blogspot.com will be forwarded to the new address automatically.
And look for a new, exciting announcement tomorrow. In celebration of my new domain name I will have an opportunity for readers to win a fabulous prize. I will announce all of that tomorrow! So be here for your opportunity to win!
Gazelle Intensity Report Feb. 19th
Today was one of those days. Baby Camryn celebrated being 1 month old by being fussy allllllll day long. I can't believe how fast the days fly by.
Frugal Victories:
No unplanned money spent. This means I did not shop online and I did not go to any stores! I did however pay some bills through my bank online.
I am venturing into the area of writing some e-books with one of my very best frugal buddies, Nancy. We want to write some short e-books that help new wives, new moms, and those new to frugalness. We've been throwing some ideas around like "10 Meals You Can Cook Easily and Cheaply" or "The New Wive's Guide to Establishing a Working Kitchen".
Do you have any ideas for an e-book that you would like to read? We are really trying to narrow our focus.
Added more change to the February Change Challenge container. I should be past $13.00 now. I can't wait to take my change and buy my hot water heater blanket. For those of you saving your change how are you doing? Not familiar with this challenge, read this post.
Frugal Activities:
I listed the items in my pantry. I noticed a few things I do need such as cream of ____ soups. I used the last of them yesterday in my OOeey Goooey Mexican Chicken. These are very cheap at Sav-A-Lot so I think I will invest $5 for them this week.
I did 3 loads of kids laundry in cold water with 1/2 detergent.
Cooked and ate at home for all meals.
Joined the snowflake revolution. If you are currently trying to save money or get out of debt. Head over to this website for some inspiration. Here is her post explaining "snowflaking". It is just getting started and if you have a blog you can join that group.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Pantry Organization
Pantry Before Being Organized:
This is what came out of the breakfast cabinet. See that crumpled over white bag on the floor? It's a bag of dog food! I have 2 questions: 1. Why is it in the breakfast cabinet? 2. Why is it here at all? We don't have a dog!!!!!!!!!So, it took me the better part of the morning and afternoon to go through all of this stuff. I ended up tossing some stuff that was old and opened or had expired. Good food deals aren't good deals if you end up tossing the stuff because you didn't know it was there!
Here's the outcome:
The clear shoebox on the top shelf is where I keep my bags of rice. Looks like I box of Hamburger Helper is out of place! Oh well! On the bottom in the red baskets are our individual packets of instant grits and oatmeal. We have 37 packs of grits and more than 50 packs of oatmeal! I put it on the bottom so the kids can make it themselves.
Here is the breakfast cabinet. It is also on the bottom of a cabinet so the kids can quickly make their own cereal.Much better I would say! And here's what we have: (not including snacks and quick meals like soup, etc.)
2 Boxes Campbell's supper bakes
1 Box Lipton tea bags
onions
rice
3 boxes unflavored gelatin
6 boxes pudding mix
10 boxes Jell-o
5 Jars of ragu
3 boxes of spaghetti noodles
1 box rotini pasta
1 box lasagna noodles
5 boxes mac and cheese
2 boxes hamburger helper
2 boxes chicken helper
1 box tuna helper
1 bag egg noodles
2 boxes Zatarain's
3 bags Lipton side dishes
3 boxes shake and bake
5 boxes rice a roni
1 box stuffing
4 packs ramen noodles
2 boxes jiffy corn mix
1 can mushrooms
1 can great northern beans
1 can chili beans
2 cans refried beans
2 cans black beans
4 cans enchilada sauce
1 can tomato sauce
16 cans diced tomatoes
14 cans green beans
3 cans corn
1 can carrots
1 can mushroom soup
1 can pumpkin
bread crumbs
4 lbs. dried black eyed peas
4 lbs. dried red kidney beans
2 lbs. dried black beans
1 lb. split peas
10 packs taco seasoning
4 packs gravy mix
grits packets
oatmeal packets
cereal
pancake syrup
and various snacks and soups!
Now onto the other cabinets and freezers!
WHY???? and 10 Tips for Savings in the Bathroom
Do you see this? This is what I see on an almost daily basis in my bathrooms! Am I the only one in this house who can actually change an empty toilet paper roll? Why is it that moms are usually assigned this task no matter who used the last square of paper? Why, oh why?
I know I'm not alone! Are you changing the empty rolls at your house or have you magically trained the other folks to do it? I would love to hear all opinions on this matter!
While we're at it, let's discuss being frugal in the bathroom. Here are a few tips I have learned along the way that apply to kids and families.
Getting Clean:
1. Make sure your hot water heater is set at the lowest tolerable temperature for your house. Ours is set at 120 degrees which is recommended by most pediatricians. At this temperature if your child were to accidentally turn only the hot water on it would take 10 minutes to scald the skin. At just 5 degress higher at 125 degrees it takes only 2 minutes to scald the skin. And sadly at 150 degrees it would only take 2 seconds. It also saves you money on your energy bill. For every 10 degrees that you lower the temperature you save 4% on your water heating bill. And for most houses the hot water heater is the 3rd biggest source of power usage. See this article for more information.
2. Use up every last bit of soap and shampoo. This may seem like common sense but I know people (okay, I was one of those people in college) who just get tired of using the same bottle of shampoo and toss it out just to start a new one. I guess my daughter has inherited this trait because last week when I cleaned the kids bathroom she had 3 different brands of shampoo in there. Thankfully she had not thrown them out so I just put two back in the cabinet and explained that we needed to use up the first one. Once you get down to not much left in the bottom and some water, swish, and use up the last bit. To use up little bits of soap I put them into an old worn out leg from a pantyhose and tie them to our outside spiggots. The kids can then use those to wash up before coming inside. This is also great for camping trips.
3. Use up the toothpaste. Roll the tube up as you squirt and get it all out. Once you are about out cut the top off. There's still more in there! I must admit though that in the past year I haven't cut the tops off my toothpaste. I get all my toothpaste free at CVS! But really I should still try to use it up.
4. Floss. One container of floss usually lasts me until the next Presidential election! Please don't skimp on tooth care. Paying the dentist later is much more expensive than toothpaste and floss now.
5. Toilet Paper Because of CVS I get name brand toilet paper really cheap. Can anyone say Cottonelle? I now have 90 rolls of that stuff. But if you aren't into CVS I would still suggest buying good toilet paper. In the past when I bought the cheap thin stuff people would just use up more of it each time to get the job done. Buy on sale with a coupon and stock up when you get a good deal.
6. Speaking of toilet paper try this trick. When you put the new roll on the holder smush it down. This is hard to explain but I smush the roll so that the tube becomes flater with a crease on each side. When you pull of the toilet paper after it has been smushed it kind of catches and stalls at the crease. This has made my kids use less toilet paper because before it was smushed they would just pull on it and off it flew.
7. Towels. Reuse the same towel. Most adults do this but kids have to be trained. If I keep too many towels in the linen cabinet my kids will use every one of them before half of the week is over. So, they have 3 towels hanging in the bathroom and only 1 extra towel in the cabinet. Once they use those up I don't give them anymore. So, if you threw your towel in the floor and it is still wet it is now your problem. Now this may sound really mean but it's just training them. Using a slightly damp towel won't kill them and it may help them understand conservation and personal responsibility.
8. Cleaning the bathroom. Vinegar and baking soda work wonderfully.
9. Shower vs. Bath. Baths cost more than taking a shower so as soon as my kids were able to bathe themselves I started telling them to take a shower. They thought it was cool to be like mom and dad and it saves water and hot water. But a bath is nice sometimes and the younger ones still like to play in the bathtub so I used a Sharpie marker and actually made a little, tiny mark on the tub showing them where to fill the tub up to. Otherwise, they would let the water run on and on and splash water onto the floor everywhere. That little mark has done wonders!
10. Bath Water. When my kids were smaller they took baths together. Now that they are older they are mostly taking showers. But occasionally they or I still like a nice, hot, relaxing bath. The two little ones just use each other's bath water. One takes and bath and then the other. Caleb has also started using the bath water to water the plants in the house. He said he saw that on some television show on Discover Channel. He has become quite the recycler! And my granny told me that when she was first married after she took a bath she would tote the water to the washing machine to do her next load of laundry! Whoa! That's frugal!
So, next time you are changing the empty toilet paper roll, remember me!
Monday, February 18, 2008
Gazelle Intensity Report, Feb. 18th
We had a great day today with everyone out of school for President's Day, although it rained and rained most of the morning and afternoon.
Frugal Victories:
1. I paid an additional $100 to Discover Card today! Woohoo! New balance $2300!
2. I counted up the change in my change jar challenge. The good news is I am over halfway to saving for the hot water heater blanket. The kids are all into this as well and cheerfully add their pennies and nickels.
3. I bought a pair of Nikes for Caleb for dirt cheap. You can see my previous post about that.
4. No other money spent today.
5. Laundry was done in cold water with half the detergent.
6. I used up the last of the shampoo in the bottle by adding water, swishing it around, and squirting it all out.
7. Dinner tonight was loss leader Hamburger Helper made with nearly free venison meat, cucumbers, and fresh corn on the cob. Total cost: About $4. It would have been cheaper had the HH not called for 2 cups of milk! Darn milk costs too much!
8. I'm planning to make lots of peanut butter cookies tomorrow from scratch.
Frugal Activities:
1. Caleb, Ciarra, and I used up some items in the pantry to make Lemon Poppy Seed muffins and Apple Strudel Muffins. Yum. They will serve as our sweet treats for a few days. The mixes were about $.50 for each box.
2. After visiting "Make Your Home a Haven" day at Biblicalwomanhood, I decided to organize my food pantry and cabinets. I assigned each of the kids 2 shelves of the pantry and I tackled the 5 cabinets in which we store our food. The kids started first and I had them pull all of the items off the shelf and pile it up on our dining room table while I nursed Camryn. OMG! You should have seen this pile. Well, actually you can. I will post the before and after pictures tomorrow. I couldn't get the food out of my cabinets because there was no place to put it.
3. We made a list of all the food in the pantry so I know what to buy and not buy at the grocery store. Being organized saves money!
4. Tomorrow I plan to take on the baking supplies cabinet and the two freezers.
Earning Money from Blogging
One thing I did not realize when I entered the world of blogging was there was real opportunities to actually make money from writing my blog. My eyes have really been opened lately at all the wonderful and some not so wonderful sources of income from blogging. One of the ways to make money that has wonderful reviews by both advertisers and bloggers alike is Pay Per Post.
I have seen the logo for Pay Per Post around the blogosphere but I didn't really understand what this program was all about until I read a few reviews by fellow bloggers. They all really enjoyed the program and were consistently bringing in at least $100 per month by writing about ideas, products, and sites that they enjoyed. It sounded simple enough and it really is! You write about what you already know and the advertisers pay you.
I hope to make at least $100 per month from my blogging opportunities at Pay Per Post. Of course you all know that this money will go toward my overall goal of becoming debt free by 2009!