Frugal Fridays 11-14-08

While the economy has not really affected our family personally yet, we are trying to tighten up the reins so to speak to ride this out for however long it may last. Thankfully we have no debt other than our home. However, with one in college, three in high school that has its own challenges.

There are just some things that you can't cut out as a parent. For instance the cost to attend football and basketball games when your child is playing. Each week there was a jr. varsity and varsity football games. That means for our family to attend the entrance fees 20.00 for the jr. varsity and about the same amount for the varsity games. That is around 40.00 a week to watch your child play their sport! This can really add up when there is around nine weeks of football and now they are in the playoffs!

We have been trying to limit the meals out and all the running around. In my mind, I am still trying to act like gas is almost 4.00 a gallon instead of the 1.81 I saw today.

I have been taking my lunch to work and eating there instead of driving the mile or so home to eat. I started this when the gas prices skyrocketed and while some days it is really hard to stay at work all that time I know there are people that commute in and they do not have the luxury of going home for lunch. I have tried to stay out of the shops around campus and have spent my time working on my coupons during the lunch hour.

We have also not turned on our heat yet. We need to probably this coming week but for now we have just added another blanket on the beds. We have not used the air conditioner either since September. Our home has not been hot so that has not been a problem. Our bill this month showed a significant savings.

The next thing we are considering getting rid of is our cable...or at least go back to basic cable. This is something I am still toying with right now.

I have stepped up my coupon usage and get quite excited about the savings we have been experiencing. My college age son has jumped on the coupon bandwagon and for that I am grateful. I guess that proves the more is caught than taught theory.

Here are a few more things we are doing to conserve and sock money away:
We are not buying magazines anymore. We read them at the library or enjoy sitting at Barnes and Noble.

I check out taylortownpreview.com each week to see which coupons will be in the local paper so I know how many papers to buy. Just two weeks ago I knew we needed to buy at least five papers because inside there were two coupons worth 1.50 each off our favorite soy milk. Those coupons paid for the papers and besides there were numerous other coupons we use each week.

We are vigilant about turning off our lights and making sure the kids unplug their phone chargers and the like. I did not realize how much electricity they truly pull when left plugged into the socket.

After Christmas we are implementing a no spend month (or two) with some set boundaries in order to sock away more cash.

I am working on my black friday plan to finish up Christmas and buy any gifts that are needed in the first six months of next year. You can check out all the Black Friday ads at Gotta Deal look for the Black Friday button.

We are setting aside money to use for the after Christmas sales to replenish our gift closet. If we need to replace Christmas lights or decorations I never do it before Christmas. I plan for the next year and buy them afterwards.

For more frugal ideas check out Frugal Fridays at Biblical Womanhood.

Gotta Love Free!!!!

I am sorry I have no picture I left my camera at work. However tonight I scored on the Target deals!

After work I went to my local SuperTarget and bought three one pound bags of Green Giant baby carrots which are on sale for 1.29. I also bought four Artisan Mini French loaves which were .99 cents a loaf. I then purchased eight boxes of 16 count Lipton tea bags which were regularly priced at 1.09. I used eight 1.00 off Lipton tea Target printable coupons, three 1.00 off Target Green Giant baby carrot coupons, and four .50 cent off Target printables for the Artisan Bread. I had a 5.00 gift card I received from the Kashi cereal deal several weeks ago. Before coupons the total was around 17.00 but after coupons the final tally was 3.18! I used my gift card and had NO OUT OF POCKET! WOO HOO!!! I walked out of Target and felt like a Queen! I am telling you if you are not using coupons or checking out these sites you are missing out on saving some money big time!
Check out:
Attention Target Shoppers
Common Sense with Money
Money Saving Mom

I am taking my parents tomorrow and showing them how they can save some money too!

Super Saving Saturday 10-4-08

This week has been one of the most thrilling of the entire year since I began couponing!

I have had great times in the past with CVS but grocery stores not so much. First let me preface this by saying we have terrible grocery stores in Oklahoma....no Krogers, Randalls, Thom Thumb, Albertsons, Winn Dixie, Publix, Whole Foods, Lowes, etc., etc., We have Homeland, Walmart, and Mom and Pop stores. Last Tuesday I had a slew of coupons that were expiring that night. They were for things we used and some new things that I wanted to try for the kids. After work I hurried home and got dinner for my children and then headed out to our local Wal Mart SuperCenter.

Numerous things I received for free because I had duplicate coupons for the Kraft deal that was in the August All You magazine. I purchased Koolaid, a Kraft item, and received my free Wheat Thins, Kraft Singles, Oscar Meyer hotdogs, Crystal Light, and Kraft Dressing. I also scored on several items that only cost me .50 cents after the coupon such as Rozoni pasta, hairspray, and a few things for the childrens lunches. I had everything put in groups such as the shampoo deal I worked with Pantene (free product) and the Kraft deal. There was a huge line and I was hoping that things went smoothly.

Finally the cashier said, "That will be 84.78. I calmly told her I had coupons and handed them to her. She proceeded to take off the coupons and after several minutes she said those magic words, "Wow, you saved a lot!". I only had to pay a little over 42.00 for all the items! I had 42 coupons and I figured the average price for each item in my cart would have been around one dollar.

I was trying not to pump my fist in the air and jump up and down! The long line of people behind me started asking how much I saved with those coupons. It was thrilling!

My husband and I also tried using Homeland for some deals since they double coupons. At Homeland alone our purchases were 65% off of what they normal cost would have been and I was able to get free Dawn soap and Kleenexes! We also made our CVS run the same evening. When we tallied up our receipts we have saved just this week over 150.00 for our family!

I have been talking about it so much at work that I have a couple of friends now wanting to try out using coupons. My path to simplicity and frugality began out of necessity back when I was a single mom years ago but the one thing I did not do was coupons or CVS. Oh how much easier my life would have been if only I had known or had someone to come along side of me and teach me this wonderful discipline!

For more Super Savings check out Money Saving Mom!

Frugal Friday 9-26-08

Today was an awesome day of frugal finds! My teenagers love to look sharp and in style and I love to save money and find clothes of great quality. Sometimes that can be very difficult in todays economic climate. Plus I refuse to pay full price for anything. I have found with my boys the best shirt EVER is by Ralph Lauren. My boys have some Polos that were second hand when I purchased them several years ago, for a song I might add, and they STILL look brand spankin new!!! They are indestructible, classic, and all around awesome! However, I cannot pay full price nor even half price for one of them. I take that back...I guess I could if I wanted but I choose not too.

Today I went to my favorite thrift store during lunch.I scored! I bought more than fifteen men's shirts for the four men in my life....my husband and three sons. They were all either brand new with tags on Ralph Lauren dress shirts or gently worn Ralph Lauren Polo shirts, one Lacoste shirt, a Patagonia shirt and a JCrew. I also found a darling red toile picture frame for me! Most of the shirts were half the price listed which made most of them under 3.00!! The rest were around 8.00 dollars. If you were to pay full price for one Ralph Lauren Polo shirt it would cost 65.00. I came away from the store with ten polos and the other shirts and paid 70.00 for everything!!!

When I got back to the office I found this great articlefrom one of my all time favorite bloggersShannon@Rocks In My Dryer over at Blogher. I could not believe how timely it was! My boys especially get very excited when I can find the shirts they love and are very brand loyal to but at a price that our family can afford. All in all it was a fabulous day of frugal finds!

For more Frugal Friday head over to Biblical Womanhood.

Trying something new

Update: the boys LOVED the new chocolate syrup. It is thick, rich, and oh so yummy! My husband tried some in soy milk and it was very good. I am still not sure about the savings yet. I am going to see how long this lasts.



Tonight, I tried out a recipe from Amy Dacyczyn's book, "The Tightwad Gazette". Our teenage sons have been going through a certain chocolate syrup like gangbusters. I am all about saving money but tonight I am not sure if this recipe will be a money saver or not. The jury is still out until further evaluation. Anyhoo here is the recipe:

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 cup tap water
2 cups sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
In a 2 quart saucepan mix the cocoa and water with a wire whisk. Heat the chocolate water over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Add the sugar and continue to stir until the sugar dissolves. Bring the mixture to a full rolling boil. Reduce the heat to medium low and boil for a full 3 minutes. DO NOT LET IT OVERFLOW! Remove the syrup from the heat.

Add the salt and vanilla, stirring to blend. Pour the syrup into a clean pint sized canning jar, or a clean container. Put a good lid on the jar and store it in the fridge.

I cleaned and used our empty 42 oz plastic container of the 'other' chocolate syrup. Plus I also tripled the recipe since I know how much my boys seem to go through this stuff after football practice.

I had all the items on hand and it was fairly easy to do. However, next time I intend to do several things different. The first is to use a bigger pot! Oh my goodness it about overflowed everywhere and it is HOT! Also I am going to use less sugar and may even decrease the amount of cocoa. It tastes just like the other syrup and it has a great consistency but I am concerned with the amount of sugar. However I love the fact that I used more vanilla and plus the brand I use is from Mexico which is DIVINE!

I am still not convinced that this will be a moneysaver for our family. I am going to price the sugar and cocoa next time I am at the grocery store. Since I buy these things only a time or two a year and in bulk I am not in touch with the current cost of these two items.

This fall I am going to try to find ways to cut back and cook more from scratch. This time of year we are racing from football games and such and the tendency is to eat out.....I do not want to do that this fall! I have a few more ideas that I will be posting later this week that I am going to try out.

I will also post whether my boys noticed a difference or not in their nightly glass of chocolate milk!

Super Saving Saturday 7-19-08

Today has been the BEST savings day!!!! I just can't wait to share about it!

My husband last night scoped out some ads for garage and estate sales. It was so sweet. He had it all planned out. One place in particular was a antique dealer moving to Dallas from Edmond and she was selling things from her darling store in OKC. I found some French Country items that I adore. I found a beautiful red and white chenille bedspread that is gorgeous. I am going to use the fabric to cover an ottoman that I have. An old watering can with the spout...you know the awesome, big aluminum ones. I am going to put sunflowers inside it. I found a very old blue willow plate, an awesome long wire basket that I can put my old mason jars inside and then use it as a vase for fresh flowers. Waverly toile fabric was in the bottom of this big box and I grabbed it too. There was also some chicken wire that was brand new plus two cans of Rustoleum paint in a flat black plus an apple red paint. The total for everything was 23.00! SCORE! The most expensive item was the bedspread at 10.00!

We stopped at an estate sale in our neighborhood and I found a Peterboro large Picnic basket from the 50s for 2.00!!!!!! Everything was still inside the basket. It is AWESOME! I also found a milk glass hobnail dish..that is very small with a lid. I think it was for jam. Very cute!

But the biggest find of the day....was at Goodwill. A brand new in the box, still taped down with instructions and warranty....a 2008 Cuisinart 12 Cup Coffee Maker.




Okay my fine frugal friends....I paid 5.00!!!! FIVE DOLLARS! The girl asked me if I had a discount card....I have never heard of Goodwill having one but I was about to jump out of my skin paying only 5.00 for this 100.00 coffee maker that was BRAND NEW!!!!! Thank you Jesus!!

The Lord is so good. I had a wonderful day and we did not spend over 40.00! WONDERFUL!

I hope ya'll had a great productive day too!

For more Super Saving Saturdays check out Money Saving Mom.

Frugal Friday 6-13-08

I have a a tip to share that will really help those of you that are living the frugal lifestyle before your children. Many times I wonder if my children 'get it'. We want them to understand why we are choosing to live life differently than those around us. Often I feel like our choices fall on deaf ears.

We have been huge fans and followers of Dave Ramsey. He is discussed frequently in our home. Our oldest is 20 years old. Two of our children are spendthrifts. Money just escapes through their hands. The oldest is one of those spendthrifts. Imagine my surprise when he told me he was halfway there with his emergency fund and was wondering if he could borrow my Dave Ramsey books. Uhh hello? I about fell over! He is in college and we have been trying to get him to see that he can do other things to pay for his college instead of taking out loans. We have preached and preached but then just decided to live our lives and see if they 'get it'.

My frugal tip to all you parents is to not GIVE UP! They do listen to you and more than that they watch what you do! We have been actively living this lifestyle for over seven years. More is caught than taught as my Daddy used to tell me. I would have never dreamed that our oldest would want to jump on the Dave Ramsey bandwagon. He has been the greatest naysayer about this choice of living. I am so proud of him!!

If you would like more frugal ideas check out Crystal's blog at Biblical Womanhood.

Super Savings Saturday 6-7-08

This past week has been an amazing time of savings for our family!! Let's start with last Saturday evening.

We went to Walmart first to use up some May 31st coupons. We ended up getting three boxes of free cereal, free shampoo, and used over 32.00 in coupons. Our savings at Walmart was thrilling. The grand total before coupons was over 89.00 but we paid less than 50.00! SCORE! On to CVS.

The above picture has only some of the items purchased that evening. Many others were in the fridge. We had an entire cart full of tuna, Ozarka water, deoderant marked down to .82 cents, detergent, dish soap, chex mix, makeup etc., etc. The total rang up to 79.00. I had several large ECBs that I needed to use or they would expire plus I had coupons for most of the items in our cart. After coupons and a 19.98 ECB, a 9.98 ECB, and a 2.00 ECB our grand total was 1.50! We carried all our loot out to the van and were so excited!

Wednesday night I made a quick run down the street back to Walmart. I had more expiring coupons plus I had read about the WalMart deals online. I had a mission and was in and out of there. I bought four pounds of bacon, four pounds of sausage, two Honey Bunches of Oats w/Chocolate, LiveActive cereal, Yogurt, and the only things I did not use any coupons for were four packages of hot dogs. The rest I had multiple coupons. The total before tax was 55.00. The total after my coupons was 24.00!!! The bacon cost me .50 a pound! The sausage .23 cents! I was very excited!!

My savings from those two trips was over 140.00! I had so many things in my cart that ended up being free. I had never had that experience at Walmart and was so thrilled!

Today we got up early and hit the garage sales. Our boys love to hunt. Our oldest has an awesome bow but had been looking for another type of bow. Well we came across two in awesome Cabela cases with arrows and all the gear that goes with them. One was obviously brand new and had never been used. The other was older. We are talking about archery bows that cost upwards of 500.00! The father just wanted to get rid of them. He told us the one had never even shot an arrow. His friend kept saying that it was a steal at 100.00 and that he kept telling his friend not to sell them at the garage sale. We KNEW it was a bargain. We called our son and told him what we found and that the one bow was brand new. It was priced at 100.00. He told us to buy it. The other case and bow was priced at 15.00. We took both! Later in the same neighborhood we found an awesome framed Michael Jordan poster from his very early years at Chicago. We bought it for our sixteen year old for 1.00. The day was awesome. While many may not understand the expense of the bow.....it was a HUGE bargain! If we wanted to we could turn around and sell it easy for over 300.00 but our son will be using this in the fall.

We saw so many awesome things at the garage sales but the one constant today that really caused my husband and me to laugh was everyone was selling their old televisions. It was almost hysterical. Of course we still have ours and do not own the new flat screen yet but people are not going to buy these old televisions if they don't have the converter box or digital cable. EVERY garage sale had numerous televisions for sale.

If you would like to see more super savings visit Money Saving Mom.

Frugal Friday 6-6-08

I know many of you have already received your stimulus check from the Federal Government. I know that the purpose of the checks were to stimulate the economy but we put our big fat check in the bank. This summer we have purposed to really save. We are hoping to grow our savings and even surpass what the government sent our little family of six by the end of the summer.

Shortly after the new year I posted five ways we were saving a 100.00. I thought I would give an update:

My husband and I still share meals when we go out. We still enjoy going to Barnes and Noble after dinner to sit and read. I get to read all the magazines that I LOVE and I keep a little notebook with me in order to write down websites or recipes that I come across. I used to be a magazine NUT! I just could not help myself. Maybe it goes back to my young teen years when magazines were still safe to buy for your teen daughters. I remember my Mom coming home with the Back to School issue! It was so big and full of great ideas for that back to school wardrobe. I miss sharing this with my own daughter but just looking at the covers and the stories that are within those pages keep me from buying them for my teenager girl.

We are not keeping our thermostat around 77 during the day but after work it goes down to around 74. We never go below that at all. I have also now averaged not only our gas bill but our electric/water/sewage bill as well.

Since it is summer the kids are not in school and are eating at home. I have capitalized on my CVS ECBs and coupons to buy snack foods for the kids to have at home. It is crucial since the boys could eat us out of the house in ten seconds flat! They are in summer football and also have a lawn business....they are ALWAYS hungry.

We still keep away from the mall. We have gone from shopping as a pastime to shopping as a necessity. We keep detailed lists of what is needed/sizes etc. and score when we come across a much needed item at a reduced price!

I am going to post more about this Saturday but just this week alone I have saved our family more than 140.00 just buy planning, using my coupons, and working the CVS deals. 140.00!!!!! The cashier at WalMart last night told me I needed to give lessons. He could not believe that I got four pounds of bacon for a total of 2.00!!! Yes, I paid .50 cents for each package since I had four 2.00 off coupons! SCORE! Three pounds went into the freezer and one is ready for BLT sandwiches! Those tomatoes my father in law planted are looking great!!!

Saving money is hard today in this recession/non-recession but it can be done! It may take a little time and effort but it is paying off for my husband and me! We are so thankful and blessed! If you want to find more frugal ideas check out BiblicalWomanhood.

Works for Me Wednesday 5-28-08

For the past several summers our boys have worked for my husband in his lawn business that he has on the side. Each summer they rake in the bucks. They tithe, save, and Seth is now paying his car insurance with this money. They also use it for some spending money for going out with friends to movies or out to eat.

However, our sweet baby girl is 14. She loves children and is very good with them. She has had a sweet gig for a family in our neighborhood this semester babysitting but we are not certain if it will continue through the summer months. She loves to shop and is hoping to make some extra cash this summer. This summer I am going to try something new with my daughter. She has asked if she can work for me around the house this summer. Now I could demand that she do certain things but I want her to have a great work ethic as the boys have and the only way to do so in my opinion is for the child to have something to work for...a goal.

Our girl is a great helper. She will make such a wonderful wife and mom one day. She has asked if she could do housework for me. We are coming up with a list for her to do each week and a wage that we will pay her. She is very excited. The only stipulation that we require is that she tithe 10% and save at least 20%. The rest is hers to use as she sees fit...within our family rules/guidelines.

She is so excited. Now I will be thrilled if she sticks it out. It can be very helpful but I also want her to have an awesome summer. Currently I am praying for wisdom in how to handle this with her and what tasks would be the best for her to take on. We are having an employee meeting on Friday night to discuss this 'job'. :)

I love it that our children are more independent when it comes to money and the things they want. They all certainly know that there is much more satisfaction in working for something than always having things handed to them.

As parents of four children, three who are teenagers and one who is 20, the costs continue to rise. A few things we have done with our kids that have taught them the value of the dollar over the years are as follows:

We pay up to 35.00 for athletic shoes/back to school shoes. If they want the latest and greatest athletic shoe for back to school, for example 100.00 shoes, they have to come up with the difference. This has taught them various ways to look for their shoes. We discovered our favorite shoe store, DSW, by looking for great places to shop. We were thrilled when Oklahoma City finally got a DSW last year. Also Ross Dress for Less has been the greatest place for us to find the boys football cleats.....TRULY....we have purchased Addidas or Nike football cleats the past two years at Ross that were a fraction of the cost at the Athletic stores.

We have really focused on the needs/wants with our children. They don't have all the latest and greatest when they first come out. We want to teach them contentment and patience.

Our children all have cell phones. Since the boys were earning money they paid up front last summer for a year of service for their cell phones. We still pay for our daughter, however, this summer she is paying for part of that service. They each picked out their phone and as long as it was free on our plan that was fine...or if there was a charge for the phone they paid for it. Each of them chose the free phone.

Where we find the greatest lack of contentment in their peers is with cell phones. Their friends change phones the way a lot of people buy shoes! It is amazing! Our teens have become resourceful because of their friends lack of contentment. Many times our children have gotten barely used phones from their friends either for free or a small charge (ten bucks). None of our three younger children still use the phone provided for them last summer...however they all have the 'hot' phones that parents are buying for their teens....only difference is our children have found a way to have the hot phones without the high price.

Same thing has happened with the iPod. We bought them inexpensive MP3 players one year for Christmas. However, as technology changes and new devices become available many teens do not want their 'old' ones. Our sixteen year old has a great 20g iPod from a friend that asked if he wanted it because he was getting the new 400.00 iPod. Is our son any less excited because he did not get it when it first came out? Maybe if he had been younger but now they have learned that if one is patient and saves for what they want....time is on their side.....it has been a great lesson.

There is so much more on this subject but for now these are some of the things that work for us in this ever changing world. For more Works for Me ideas drop by Rocks in My Dryer.

Super Saving Saturday 5-24-08

This has been the most amazing week for savings in our family!!! I have no pictures but will tomorrow. Last week I had a couple of great CVS runs.

Tonight I just got back from getting three nail polish from Revlon, 2 Addidas deoderants and gave 12.00 in ECBs, 3/1.00 off of 1 coupons for the nail polish, and I had a free Addidas deoderant coupon. I paid 1.31 OOP and earned back 18.98 in ECBS! We now have a grand total of nearly 80.00 in ECBS from the past week of shopping! Last Saturday I had purchases that totaled 75.00 but when it was all said and done with coupons, ECBs I paid a little more OOP than normally 16.00 but earned back nearly 50.00 in ECBS! I will post pictures tomorrow morning! I have not had the 3/15.00 coupons to use but did have 10.00 ECBs from answering a couple of surveys.

This morning we hit the garage sales in our area. We were up and out early. We found some amazing deals! I had been wanting this tin sign at Hobby Lobby for my kitchen but was too frugal to pay 10.00 bucks for it. I looked at it each time it was half off but never bought it. Today at the first garage sale we went to I found it for .50 cents!!!!! Brand new!!!!! WOO HOO!!!! They also had an adorable tin bucket to plant my herbs in, a cute black bear yard ornament that I adore, a Red Rooster iron planter that I have seen at Hobby Lobby for 29.99 (paid 2.00 for it), and my husband bought a garden tool for a buck. We headed over to our next place and I found a great pine TV cabinet for 25.00, an old croquet set, plus the basket that picks up tennis balls, some picture frames (.50 cents each...nice heavy wood frames I am going to paint), and a blue and white child's tea set and we spent only around 33.00!

Oh and my husband found a brand new Brinkman Smoker for get this.....ONE DOLLAR at a garage sale!!!! Yea, we were excited!!!!!

Today our total at the garage sales was 36.00 and I earned 18.98 in ECBs...I'd say this week was a great time of savings!

For more savings head over to Money Saving Mom.

Frugal Friday 5-23-08

UPDATE:
The great people at AMC sent the link for all of you to check out their Summer Camp! I have personally gone to this in the summer when my children were younger. It is awesome!

These are trying times we are living in. So many are buried under debt and feel they have no where to go. If there ever was a time for people to get serious about saving money.....NOW IS THE TIME!

I love that we are experiencing a time where frugality is not frowned upon but sought out and investigated. I believe those of us that have strived to live this lifestyle, whether it is buy reducing or eliminating our debt load, choosing to live life more simply, or finding ways to stretch our dollar have a great opportunity now to lead others in ways to experience the freedom and satisfaction we have found both in Christ and in living a more simple lifestyle.

School is almost here and many will have their children at home for the summer. Here are a few things that we have found that stretch our dollar in the summer:

1. Utilize the Library! Check your local library for summer programs for children and young teens. We go and LOAD up on books. Our local library has many neat programs we have used throughout the years.

2. Check out your local church for summer programs, VBS, and Fun Days. For minimal cash outlays (fun days) or free Vacation Bible School your children can have a great time learning about Christ and spend time with their friends.

3. Check your local movie theatre for summer fun packages. We have a local AMC theatre that in the past showed children's movies early in the day for much less than what a regular movie ticket costs.

4. Go to your local park. Pack a picnic lunch, take the baseball gloves, scooters, frisbees, and don't forget the sunscreen and have a great late morning/early afternoon adventure.

5. If you live near a university or college see what summer programs are available. Many have athletic camps that are very reasonable as do the local high schools as well. Many local universities or community colleges have drama programs, art, music academies, and various free concerts throughout the summer.

6. Plan your menus. I know that this is going to get more expensive this year with teenagers at home for the summer and two of them in football early in the morning all week for six weeks! PLAN YOUR MENUS! I am working on mine right now. I also am going to let them know what is for lunch and what they CANNOT touch. Last year many a evening meal had to be changed because they ate what I had planned for dinner. I am going to be ready this year!

7. Check with your local zoo to see if they have special rates certain times of the week. Take a group of friends and pack your lunches and water bottles.

8. We have a local video store that has free childrens movies to rent every day and first run movies are cheaper mid-week.

10. Make homemade popsicles with fruit juice or fruit and yogurt. Freeze in small paper cups that can be peeled away or in the old fashioned popsicle trays. A sweet, cool treat for a hot summer day for pennies on the dollar!

These are just a few things that will help keep your children active and their minds engaged this summer plus save you some green in the process.

Frugal Friday 5-16-2008

I seems as if it has been AGES since I posted a frugal friday post. I have been so busy with year-end activities, plays, musicals, birthdays, work, etc. My teenagers and college student have taken over the computer time lately with school projects. I am thankful to have the chance at a decent hour to create a post!

This is the time of year that I absolutely love! I love spring time/summer for many reasons but for my life of simplicity and frugality it is the time of year for wonderful garage sales and estate sales! I love, love, love them!

Last weekend my daughter and I hit the road early Saturday morning and after a Starbucks run for her we hit our first garage sale. My husband and three sons love to hunt. However, hunting is expensive to get outfitted with all the gear. Imagine my delight when I saw two familiar looking camo items at our first stop. The zippered bag/container had the expensive earphones that you see people using that shoot skeet or sporting clays. The zippered bag also had two full boxes of Remington 20 gauge shotgun shells. Then there was this vest thing that had big pouches on the front that were FULL of shotgun shells! I asked how much and the lady told me 10.00. I thought that was kinda high so I called my husband. When I told him what all it contained he kept saying, "BUY IT, BUY IT, BUY IT!" He told me later that the headphones alone are 40.00 at Academy and the bag is around 30.00...I did not pay much attention after that because I was so excited!! Ka Ching! Can you say SCORE!

Our next stop we found a few cute items my daughter liked. A beautiful framed picture and a couple of cute rooster prints for my kitchen. We scored again when we came across three black wrought iron bar stools with a cute curved back and red padded seats. They were so cute and would fit right in our kitchen. They wanted 40.00 for all three and I asked if they would take 30.00. SCORE! They are VERY nice quality and very sturdy. My husband could not believe it when he saw them. They look brand new!!

On another frugal note....One of my boys wanted to donate books for a leadership opportunity at school. They were to be childrens books new or gently used. Of course he told me at the LAST minute that he wanted to donate 50! Yes, let me repeat that for you....I said 50 books. He really wanted to do this and was going to pay for the books. I promised him I would take him to Dollar Tree in between dropping his sister off early for her performing arts night and our attending her last middle school performance. I had a total of FIFTEEN minute to do all of this.

We ran into Dollar Tree and I began counting out childrens books until I saw them....three books to a package and two books to a package! My frugal mind went nuts. I asked him if they could be any size of book and he told me that they could. I then told him that we were going to buy the groups of books. We began to count by two's and three's until we got to 50 total. We raced up front and he paid for them.....23.00! That was a savings of 27.00!!!! WOO HOO! We had the fifty books he really wanted to donate and they were perfect for small hands plus he learned a POWERFUL lesson on saving money in the midst of giving! I love it!!! Now it would have been awesome if he had not procrastinated and we could have gone to Goodwill or asked family members for any old books but he really wanted to give new ones. Thank you Lord for Dollar Tree!!!

For more Frugal Friday posts head over to Biblical Womanhood.

Super Savings Saturday 4-5-08

This week I have tried to stay out of the stores and such. I have not been to CVS in a couple of weeks mainly because there is not anything that we really need, however, I do have a bang of ECBs to use before the middle of April.

I have mentioned before that my teenagers think my couponing is a little weird and they tease me about it quite frequently. The old adage that my parents always shared with me, "more is caught than taught!" is coming true! I have been saving the coupons that come in the mail at times for Long John Silvers, KFC, Arby's, etc., in hopes that it might inspire my oldest, who works three days a week when he is not in class, to start using them for his lunches out. I have kept them in plain sight and even one night this week when everyone else was out of the house I purchased dinner out and brougth it home....using one of our coupons. I saved a total of six dollars. It impressed him. This morning I noticed that some of the coupons had been clipped and my daughter (the all knowing little sister) said that Matthew had put some in his wallet! Glory be! That is what I was hoping for....that they would see value in saving money!

I guess my super saving saturday this week would really be that my teens are starting to come around and look for ways to save money....as long as they can 'save face' while doing so it is even more attractive to them.

I will post an update if I get some great bargains tomorrow. I am getting pretty low on some pantry goods and will be heading out tomorrow to try and find some ever becoming extinct deals at the local grocery store.

I would like to leave you with this link to a story I read today on CNNMoney about frugality. The way that some of us choose to live our lives is becoming quite popular out of necessity for todays families. I am just forever grateful that we no longer are slaves to credit cards or consumer debt. We have had the last seven years to hone our skills and while it has not always been easy or popular, right now we feel a sense of freedom that can only come from not having to deal with the burden of debt that is suffocating so many in America today.


Happy Savings!

Super Savings Saturday 3-22-08

Wow this week has been awesome! Truly since last Saturday I have saved a bundle for my family at Walgreen and CVS.

My camera is not shooting clear pictures at the moment so I don't have a picture but let me tell you what I purchased last week:

I hit a couple of CVS stores in the Dallas area when we were down there last weekend.

WOW! How I wish our stores were stocked like these! I made two very awesome transactions. Well actually three.

One transaction my OOP (out of pocket) ended up being .86 cents! I did not even have any coupons to use or CVS coupons. I used ECBs and ended up generating 28.00 in ECBs!!!!! Oh my goodness I was so excited!!! I had another transaction buying the 8.99 Maybelline lip gloss. I used two ECBs, no other coupon, and the OOP was almost 3.00 but I generated nearly 20.00 in ECBs!

Why you might be asking yourself? Well I had forgotten about the online survey I filled out a few weeks ago for CVS. Not only did the transaction generate my 8.99 for the lipgloss but it generated a 10.00 ECB for filling out the survey!!!! WOO HOO!

My last transaction at another store I purchased:3 Vitamin C, 2 Listerene Mouthwash, 4 Lypsyls, 2 pkgs of plastic Easter Eggs, 2 Dove Bars, 2 bags of Jelly beans, 6 Snickers Protein Bars that were marked down to .37 cents each, 1 pkg. of Sour Patch candies for my daughter. I used the two ECBs that totaled 18.99 plus I had three CVS gift cards that I had been given when ECBs did not print out...they totaled: 10.58 and my total OOP was around 7.00! But the big news is I generated: 32.00 ECBs!!!!!

So currently I have 59.00 in unused ECBs and my total OOP for last Saturday for 3 transactions was: 10.00! I did not buy one thing that we will not use. This program has been a huge blessing to me and my family. My daughter could not believe her eyes when I pointed out that the huge bag she was carrying out of the store only cost me .86 cents! I had only shopped at CVS maybe twice in my entire adult life! I felt it was too overpriced and could not understand their Easy Care Card program. Let me tell you that I am thankful for MoneySavingMom sharing her knowledge about CVS and I am now a confirmed FAN of CVS!!

Now on to this week!
I decided I would try and finish a few deals here in Oklahoma. I was not too confident since our stores seems to not have the stock on the beginning of the sale let alone the end. I ended up going to two stores and this everything that I purchased:

1 Lypsyl to finish my limit, 2 shaving creams, 3 packages of Soleil replacement razors, 1 Soleil Razor, 1 hand scrubber, 5 Irish Spring Speed Stick deoderants, 14 Pria Protein bars marked down to .37 cents, 1 Woman's Day magazine, and I think that is all.

My total OOP for both transactions was: 1.47!!! I earned back around 24.00 ECBs.

At Walgreens this week they had Stay Free on sale for 2/5 and I had coupons for 2.00 off of 2. I bought four packages. I also had 1/1 coupons for Rimmel Mascara. All the Rimmel was on sale BOGO so I used two coupons and got the mascara free. I also used Soleil coupons for the razor on sale for 5.99 and I had a 2.00 off coupon. With the purchase of a razor you received the replacement razor heads for free, a 6.99 value. When it was all said and done I had used 8.00 in manufacturers coupons, received a 6.99 gift of razors, and 11.86 was Walgreen sales. My total was 12.45 OOP and I had saved over 26.94. The cashier was amazed, however, with CVS it is much more dramatic in savings.

All in all it was a very productive week. Tonight I will be putting all the free candy I have received at CVS into the free Easter Eggs I have received....getting ready for the family hunt tomorrow after church and lunch. Easter Blessings All!

For more Super Savings ideas head on over to MoneySavingMom.com.

Frugal Friday 3-14-08

Crystal at Biblical Womanhood posed a question today to her readers to see how they have fun frugal family times. I love this topic and thought I would add a few of our favorites.

One of the most frugal fun things the boys in the family love to do is go camping. My daughter and me, not so much. :) Last year began a tradition where my husband took the boys and their friends to the local lake in our community. They pitched camp and enjoyed 'roughing' it for a couple of days. The cost for the camping spot was I believe 7.00. They took all their food and gear and had a great time! They were only about five minutes from our home but they felt like they were worlds away.

We all love to go to the movies but for a family of six the cost is what some of you pay for a weeks worth of groceries. We usually go to the movies when a good, clean, moral movie comes out around the holidays. I have taken the children to the local dollar movie and we always bring our own snacks.

This summer we had planned to take a big vacation. We have not done so in seven years. I had been planning how we could travel through Tennessee and points East. We were getting very excited about the trip and then gas prices shot through the roof. Somehow traveling across this great nation paying up to or more than 4.00 per gallon for gas does not sound entirely frugal. I think we will go to plan 'b' just in case. I can't bear to spend that money on gas, even if it is for a family vacation. I am not complaining, we have made our choices to "live like no one else so we can live like no one else" in the future (credit to Dave Ramsey for that quote). Family travel would be great, but not if it has to be paid for by credit card.

We enjoy our times with each other and some evenings just sitting in front of the television watching an old John Wayne movie and popping popcorn the old fashioned way. We also have a great time each season when American Idol is on or Dancing with the Stars.

We hope to spend more time outdoors this summer with the purchase last year of our brand new grill and glider swing that we found at an estate sale in our neighborhood, plus we bought a chimenea or outdoor firepit so that we can enjoy the night. We love to watch our boys play basketball on our large patio and that in itself is worth an invite to our place! They are VERY competitive.

I think the world puts so much emphasis on what we as families choose to do on our down time. I know our down time is few and far between, but when we are all free and able to relax it is not about going to the beach or heading to Disney that makes our family time more special or unique....it is the time spent laughing, sharing, and caring about one another that makes the memories special. Renting a cabin in a small mountain town is the ideal vacation for our family. As long as we have running water and can cook it is all good!

As our teenagers get older they have their own ideas about how they want to spend their summers and down time. One thing is for sure they have learned that being frugal is not about denying oneself pleasure or fun but choosing peace of mind over frivilous expenditures. Now I expect not everyone who reads this blog feels the same way and that is okay. I just know for our little family sweet times can be had at home, at our friends home in Dallas, at the lake, beside a mountain stream, and even at our beautiful local park.

I believe fun is 10% activity and 90% attitude.

Kinda my own take on Chuck Swindoll's quote about attitude, ""The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me is more important than the facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company. a church. a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for the day. We cannot change our past. We cannot change the fact that people will act a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90 percent how I react to it. And so it is with you. We are in charge of our attitudes!"
- Charles Swindoll,Insight For Living http://www.insight.org/.

This is the season where people are gearing up for trips and vacations. I am heading to Texas with my daughter so she can see two of her dear friends for the weekend. I am looking forward to the trip and hope to hit the grocery stores there for some great deals too!

For more frugal ideas head over to Biblical Womanhood.

Also check out this post if you have not already and see the great giveaway I have for the beautiful book, Nana's Bible Stories by Lady Roberta Simpson.

Super Savings Saturday 3-8-08

Wow this week has been such a rush for me saving money for my family! It started last Sunday. I went to two CVS after church because I could not find everything I wanted/needed at one store.

The above photo combines the two visits. Missing from the photo are several packs of gum, a hair prodcut, and distilled water.

My first transaction my OOP was .72 cents!!!! I had manufacturers coupons, ECBs, and the 5 off of 15.00 coupon. I was able to purchase six bags of candy for my teens Easter baskets and the Easter egg hunt with all my nieces and nephews; 2 boxes of cookies, gum, distilled water, one crest mouthwash, four Colgate toothpaste. I earned back in ECBs around 21.00! There was a young woman standing behind me when I was purchasing these items. She started laughing when I was handing over my coupons. It was around 44.00 at first. I then started handing the cashier my coupons and when he said, "Wow, that will be .72 cents!" Then the ECBs started printing and he told me the total on the long tape. As I was walking out the door I heard her ask him, "How in the world did she do that?" Yea for CVS!!!

My second transaction consisted of one more Crest mouthwash, a pack of gum, a snack pack of cashews, and a free bag of candy I earned when I scanned my card. I paid with a 5.00 ECB and a coupon for the Crest. My grand total OOP was .76 cents but it came off a CVS gift card that I had been given two weeks prior due to an ECB not printing out....so in reality it was free! Plus I earned the 3.49 for the Crest!

Last Sunday my OOP from my own pocketbook was .72!!!!! I was on a roll!!!

Today I just got back from a run to the CVS closest to my home. A man was stocking the shelves by the razors and I have been looking for the elusive Venus Embrace. He asked if he could help me and he pulled one out of the infamous blue bins he was unloading. He then told me he was the manager and we struck up a conversation. He told me when the stock arrives at all the stores in my area. He was so nice.

I ended up purchasing quite a few things we needed plus some had ECBs coming back. The grand total scared me a bit since I have not spent money like that since beginning CVS. I do not mind paying for things OOP everything now and then, since I am no longer lining the pockets of those at corporate in Arkansas; home of the big box store.

Grand total at first was 88.00!!! But after my ECBs from last week, coupons, my 5/30 that I got in an email this week my ending total and out of pocket was 37.91. However, I received around 27.00 in ECBs back!!! Making my true OOP around 10.00!! I was able to purchase some protein bars that were marked down 75% off for .30 cents and .40 cents a piece! My boys go through them like crazy. I bought nothing that we did not use or need.

All in all this week has been a very good week indeed. My kids are getting on board more now in regards to spotting deals and letting me know their needs ahead of time. The boys now ask if I have a coupon for such and such. I think they see the change. What great lessons they are learning for their futures!

For more great saving ideas, head over to Money Saving Mom!

Frugal Fridays 3-7-08

I have so many exciting things to post today and tomorrow! I have had a great week of savings for our family of six. Tomorrow I am going to share my great finds at CVS! It was my best yet!

Yesterday my husband came across a deal at our local Wal Mart Supercenter. I rarely shop at Wal Mart anymore since I really started watching our budget and discovered Walgreens and CVS for great savings. However, last night my sweet husband rounded up some great deals. The most exciting was finding the rotisserie chickens were marked down to 2.50 after being nearly 5.00! He called me to see what I wanted him to do. I got so excited. I told him to buy as many as he wanted. I am pulling all the meat off of the bones and putting it in freezer ziploc bags for future cooking uses! I am then going to boil the bones and make some great chicken stock. He came home with 6 chickens last evening!

I was at dinner with a one of my most precious friends. I had been sharing with her about CVS and the things that I have learned lately. About the time I was really getting into our discussion Mike called to tell me what he had found! She began to laugh because here I was sitting in Panera Bread all excited that my husband found chickens on sale for 2.50! When I got off the phone she said she has never seen me more excited about saving money! I admit, it has become almost an obession with me to see how much I can save. I know our bank account has never looked better! I am giving the Lord a mighty handclap of praise for waking me up and showing me the Light. I always thought I was good at saving money but I truly had no idea that it could be this good!!

My family has really jumped on the bandwagon with me in this quest to be more deliberate in our spending. I have seen it really make a difference in a couple of our teens who like to spend the green stuff.

My husband and sons went to the Wild Game Dinner at church tonight sponsored by our Men's Ministry. Our daughter had found out today that she got a singing part in her middle school performance of Annie later this spring. I took her to dinner to celebrate. We went to our favorite Chinese eatery and she suggested we share a meal. We had PLENTY of food and saved about 9.00 bucks in the process.

Frugality is not about denying pleasure or joy from our lives. It is a way of living that is more economical. I like to think of it as living life on purpose. Being purposeful/intentional with our budget. Becoming more economical with our resources that have been given to us and finding ways to stretch that dollar a little further.

For more Frugal Friday ideas head on over to Biblical Womahood.

Super Saving Saturday 3-1-08

Crystal mentioned getting ready to increase their grocery budget from 35.00 to 40.00 per week. The news is full of stories that can make one a little uneasy about the future of our finances and budgets. Every time you turn on the television or pick up a newspaper you can read stories of recession, gas prices, grocery prices, and on and on.

Today, on Super Saving Saturday, I wanted to share a few ways we are trying to be proactive and find ways to lower our food budget. I have mentioned before with four teenagers, three of whom are boys, we cannot feed our family on 35.00 a week or even 60.00 a week. I wished that we could. However, we have been trying to find ways to cut back on our grocery bill. One thing I will not resort to however, is buying convenience foods, even if I can get them free or nearly free. We also are not going to go back to buying regular pasta instead of whole grain. The health benefits far outweigh the cost associated with these items.

One thing that we are doing this spring that I am so excited about is planting a garden! I have always wanted a garden. We hope to have tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, yellow squash, cabbage, carrots, and I am not sure what else. If ya'll have any ideas, please let me know! My goal is to have plenty of fresh produce throughout the summer and to flash freeze some of the peppers, onions, squash for use in the fall and winter.

I have printed off the plans from Martha Stewart for a cold frame planter so that we can grow some items during the fall and winter such as spinach. We buy at least two bags of spinach and salad greens a month from Sam's. I have already noticed the prices have gone up to the tune of over 1.50 just on the bagged spinach alone.

I posted yesterday about what we have done to save money on snack items for our children.

Saving money for me has become like a game. It is a thrill, however, I have had to pull back and reevaluate to make sure that I am only purchasing things that we really need. It is easy to jump on the savings bandwagon and begin to buy items that perhaps you have never used before or would never consider using in the past. The thrill of getting something for free or nearly free is a rush. I have noticed that there are never many coupons available for organic or health foods which is what we tend to eat the most in our household.

My Super Saving Saturday this week is much like that last few....I have saved more money out of the store than in it. Today I am going to try and make our own protein bars. I can't wait to see how they turn out. I am hopeful that they will be more economical than the purchased ones we buy each week. I am also making homemade granola.

For more Super Saving Saturday ideas go to Money Saving Mom.

Frugal Fridays 2-29-08

One of the things that I encorporated several years ago that saves my family money and calories is I stopped buying processed snack foods. These foods are usually full of unwanted chemicals and filled with fat and sugar. About the only thing that we buy are whole grain granola bars and/or protein bars and I am testing out a recipe for the protein bars this weekend. I will let you know how they turn out.

However, something that I like to make ahead of time and keep in the freezer in small snack size bags are my own brownie bites.

Several times a year boxed brownies and cake mixes are on sale in the local grocer. Combined with coupons you can realistically get a box of brownie mix for pennies on the dollar and yes, sometimes even free!

This is what I do with a humble box of brownie mix. I add applesauce to the mix instead of the oil it calls for and sometimes I also add water instead of the egg. I mix well and then I add crushed nuts, sometimes a few mini chocolate chips, marshmellows, etc. I have several large pans that are the mini muffin pans. I spray them with a cooking spray and then fill them up. I bake according to directions on the box and then take them out to cool on wire racks. Once cool I bag them three or four mini brownie bites to a small snack size bag. I then place these bags inside of a large 2 gallon freezer bag and place in our freezer. When the kids are making their lunches they can grab one of these bags and place it in their lunch sack. It helps keep their lunches cool and the brownie bites defrost in time for lunch. Sometimes they like grabbing them out of the freezer and munching away on their frozen sweetness. They are the perfect size and they satisfy their craving for something sweet and chocolate.

You could also use a cake mix and do the same thing. During the fall I took a spice cake mix and instead of adding the items the box suggested I added a can of pumpkin. Mixed it up, threw in some nuts and made small mini muffins and small loaves of this spicy pumpkin cake mix. The kids loved them.

There are lots of things you can do with an inexpensive box of cake mix besides making cake.

For more frugal friday ideas head over to Biblical Womanhood.