Being Frugal, Part 2

So, last post we defined what it means to be frugal. Since then, my senses have been most keen to the frugality of MY life. In actuality, just about EVERYTHING I do revolves around the mantra, "How Little Money Can I Spend To Get By?" I go grocery shopping, and find myself scratching things off the list, and in my head going, "Don't really need that. Save $1.50." When I'm not thinking about how NOT to spend money, I'm thinking about how to MAKE money. I find some .25 cent in-great-condition baby clothes at a yard sale, and even though I don't have a little boy in size 0-3 months, I know they will sell for at least $5 each at the local twice-yearly consignment sale. Grab 'em!

I turn my nose up at sales racks that sport "30% OFF" signs. That does NOT impress me. Speaking of which, I've noticed that's as low as Target's sale racks go these days. What's up with that? Anyways, I loathe going to a yard sale where people are trying to turn their front yard into a Dillard's department store. If I wanted to pay $10 for one garment, I'd go to the mall. And it would be brand new. Truthfully, I rarely pay $10 for a garment at the mall. It has to be UNDAH TEN DOLLAHS to go home with me. Yep, I'm a tough customer. But people are always asking me where I buy my kids clothes and commenting on how cute they look. Savvy. That I am. I have to confess, though, I spent $25.00 on this dress at the consignment store last year:


It was still in the Strasburg garment bag, y'all. Brand new. Check out the original price on this lovely item: $134.99. Definitely worth the exception. I told myself I would resell it on ebay, where Strasburg dresses go for about $50 bucks. But after trying it on Gracie, I decided to hang on to it for a while :). Doesn't she look precious?




Which proves, no matter how frugal you are or try to be, it's OK to spend a little bit more sometimes. It feels good to unclench the fist every now and then.

How Frugal Are You?

Frugal. It's the new "in" thing to be, according to a news clip I saw on MSNBC a couple of weeks ago. There are books being written, advice being given, as people are changing their lifestyles to adjust to the present sad state of our economy. There is a whole community of frugal bloggers out there, sharing how they make their pennies stretch, or should I say "pinch"?

What does it mean to be frugal?
–adjective
1.economical in use or expenditure; prudently saving or sparing; not wasteful: a frugal manager.
2.entailing little expense; requiring few resources; meager; scanty: a frugal meal.

I always considered myself frugal, even in my teen years. I babysat up to 7 kids at a time the summer I was 12 (probably illegal without some kind of license) and opened my first checking account. My older brother, who had a steady job, would borrow money from me. But then I met my husband, King Tight. As in bark on a tree. As in, "his shoes squeak when he walks". Tight.

John and I met and married during our sophomore years of college. We weren't just poor college students. We were poor, married college students with rent and utilities. We rented a mobile home from John's sister and both worked part-time. Our first year of marriage, we made a combined $15,000.00. The entire year. No kidding. Insert twangy country tune.."Livin' On Love"...

That's when I was brought to a higher level of frugality. We bought ONE burger at Sonic and cut it in half. We didn't buy ketchup or mustard or mayo. We stuffed our pockets full of the little packets from the university food court. I'm cracking up over here, y'all. That's really sad.

My husband's extremely frugal nature is mainly due to the way he was raised. His grandparents raised him and ingrained tightness into his being. Even they have said that maybe they did a little bit too good of a job. Yes, they created a monster of frugality!

Let me state here that I am so very grateful that my husband takes good care of us financially. I never have to worry about our bills being paid or our savings account running out. My man has got it all under control. But I wonder, does one's personality make one more prone to being frugal? Or is it all in how they were raised?

I consider our family to be pretty frugal. Here are somethings we do to keep within a budget:

1. Make a menu plan (weekly, bi-weekly) and shop for specific meals. Stick to the list. Makes a HUGE difference in our grocery bill.
2. Dry clothes on the line. Yea, our towels are rough. But it makes for good exfoliation :).
3. Shop 2nd hand, thrift stores, and yard sales for clothes. (It's FUN, too!)
4. Grow a garden.
5. Stay at home. Save gas and unnecessary spending.
6. Eat at home.


Check out these two blogs my husband and I recently discovered, for lots of great frugal tips:

*** www.groceryshrink.com
*** www.penilessparenting.com

So, how frugal are you? Not at all? Wish you were? Don't really care to be? Are you frugal because you think it's a valuable characteristic or because you don't have a choice? The video I mentioned in the first paragraph was about a book that's out named "The Ultimate Cheapskate" by Jeff Yeager. Check it out and see how you compare.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Salsa And Relish And Jam, Oh My!

No, my computer is not broken, nor did I cut off a finger, rendering my hand unable to type. The only valid excuse I have for not blogging lately is that I have been BUSY. We did not STOP 4th of July weekend, coming home just in time to fall utterly exhausted into bed. I think the kids even went to bed without baths one night (ick). I figured the chlorine from their pool time killed any lingering filth. This is not something we do regularly, but it was a holiday after all.

Remember the little to-d-list I posted a couple weeks ago? One of those items on the list was "Keeping up with garden output". Yeah. We do not have a huge garden, but God has blessed us and given us quite a bounty this year. Mostly in tomatoes and squash. The watermelons have done nothing (pooh). My husband planted spaghetti squash, and it has been a fruitful endeavor. It grows to about the size and shape of a pineapple and is filled with noodle-like meat. Thus the name. I am at a loss with what to do with it all. One spaghetti squash goes a loong way and we have a LOT of it!

As for canning, I'm a little embarrassed to admit that my husband has done most of it. He jumps in and starts on it before I have a chance. He and I are different because I want to wait until a convenient time (kids in bed, kitchen clean, chores done), whereas he just jumps in whenever the mood strikes him. He has canned strawberry jelly and salsa. What a man!! ;)

My neighbor brought me two bags of cukes, so I am going to try my hand at some cucumber relish. We also have discovered a mulberry tree down the road from our house, so some mulberry jam will be forthcoming as well.

Sadly, the pictures we took of all these gloriously canned goodies are lost because the memory card was left in the computer and it has been snitched by some mysterious culprit. I'm guessing she is almost two years old and has blonde hair and green eyes. Here's hoping it turns up soon.

Any suggestions for storing spaghetti squash?

A Frugal Fix (Using What You Already Have)

Today was the last straw. I decided I've had it! Enough is enough! I drew, I aimed, and I fired....the water hose, that is. At my icky, dusty, yellow-pollen coated front porch. Aaahh...clean. A job accomplished.

Then I realized I have a problem with the also pollen-covered cushions of my wicker porch furniture. How do you clean these things? So I didn't. I dug around and found a vinyl tablecloth I bought a while back that was the wrong size and clashed with my dining room (bad shopping choice). I grabbed my trusty bottle of safety pins and recovered them babies (the cushions, not the pins)! (yes I'm weird, I reuse baby bottles for storage purposes).



The result: a clean, fresh front porch to enjoy! The only thing new on my porch this year is the flower arrangement by the door. I'm usually more selective when it comes to silk flowers, but the green hydrangeas I wanted were $10.00 EACH at Wal-Mart. I went with the $5 bunch of fake-os. But from a distance they don't look that bad.


Gracing my front door is a $8 flower wreath I found on Clearance at Target about two years ago. I really wanted a roll of that pretty mesh stuff to make a wreath with, but at $14.95 a roll, I'm gonna have to have a yard sale first and raise the money :). I just can't justify spending that kind of money on a decoration accessory.



On to another area...my foyer. This picture was in the house when we first looked at it, and I loved it! The previous owners were nice and left it here for me! It's been lonely on that wall for two years now, needing a nice little table to go under it. Well, a few weeks ago my Mom was visiting and we went yard saleing and I found this table for $10. To be honest, I probably wouldn't have bought it if I had been alone, but my Mom just wouldn't give up until I did so here it is and I guess it's OK. I'm really not a fan of this style. I'm more attracted to chunkier, more natural-looking pieces that I can distress and paint. Anyway, but I'm glad to have it! So, I found this planter thing at another yard sale for .50 and used these flowers I've had for AGES to gussy it up a bit.

I'm happy with the result, and although I'd prefer a gorgeous new flower arrangement from Hobby Lobby, new chair cushions from Target, and a mesh wreath for my front door, beggars, I mean, frugal people can't be choosers! :)

My Weekend Revealed

Does it seem to you that our grown-up weekends are somewhat less glamorous than our childhood ones? Oh, the excitement that Friday brings to the youth! My weekends do not hold the same carefree attraction as they once did, for motherhood and maturity have revealed responsibilities that must be fulfilled. But every now and then, I shake off the burden of all that must be done and let my hair down! So this Saturday, my MIL, the girls and I packed up and went to GOODWILL!! For two blessed, wondrous hours I scouredtshe shelves and racks, delighted when my hunt was rewarded with some awesome finds!! Here's what I got for $20.00:



Three adorable, fancy dresses for Peanut--.99 each!
A pair of like-new, Children's Place jeans for the Elijahnator--$1.99
A baby doll for Tator Tot (which she will pay for out of her piggy bank)--.99
A big, deep, sturdy basket (to use for our hospital waiting room snack ministry)--$3.99
A pair of NICE sheets--unbelievably soft and CUTELY printed--$3.99
A pair of footed jammies for Tator Tot (not pictured)--$1.99
Six bibs--.99

And that does not add up to $20 but I can't remember what else I got.



Peanut modeling the 3rd dress (not pictured above). Cute, cute!

Whilst we were blissfully stealing steals from the GW, Dh and Elijahnator were on a little fishing excursion--Elijah caught his first fish! We also discovered a really nice park that we didn't know about! We'll be visiting there frequently, I imagine.



Yes, he is waaaaay past due a haircut. But still the cutest thing around!

Having my MIL staying with us has given DH and I a lot more opportunity for Mommy/Daddy time. After our fishing and shopping, the kids and Beamie napped while John and I visited our bus route kids and did some grocery shopping. Childless. It felt really strange, and I sorta missed them. Saturday evening, DH cleaned the fish and then grilled chicken quarters! My fave!

Time spent with family, some good bargains, and good food! All in all, it was a great weekend! As far as I'm concerned, it doesn't get much better than that! How was yours?

The Skirt Made from Pants

Here is the skirt Mom and I made last week, from a pair of jeans. Mom actually did it, which means I still have not really hands-on made one myself. I watched her through the entire process, but really wanted to say, "STOP! I want to do it!" But I didn't, I just kept my mouth shut because, well, she's my Mom, ya know?



Just look at that face. Isn't she beautiful?

I'll be scouring yard sales for more jeans to practice on.

Oh, and the couch in the background is the new-to-us couch and loveseat given to us by J's family a couple of weeks ago. It needed a home and our den needed some seating, so it was the perfect blind date! :) Another blessing!

Happy Monday!

I've Been Busy!

This week, my Mom has been here helping to keep me from getting lonely while DH is away. I am so glad she has been here, for else the days would be terribly long and lonesome! There has been no watching the clock this week! I look up and say, "Wow! Is it lunch time already? Is it time for supper already?" We have been very busy, completing those all those little projects that I have started and got stuck on and had to stop, and also the ones I've had in the back of my head and never even started.

The first matter of importance on our list was to make a cover/cushion for this storage box/bench thingy in my dining room. The previous owners installed it and I've always thought it was kind of odd, but it is pretty handy for storage. Here is how it has looked for the 1 1/4 years (can you believe it has been that long?) that we have lived here:



And here it is after our little "makeover"! Better, eh? I got the fabric at Hobby Lobby, off of the remnant table for around $9.00. The cushion was not so cheap, and I was not so happy with the thin-ness of it, but it does the trick! I love it!



Project #2:
Mom got me this white lamp base at a yard sale when we first bought the house. I dunno how much she paid for it, but I'm sure it was a steal. Since my daughter's furniture is white, I thought it would need something to make it pop a little. I bought a pack of vinyl wall stickers at Target on the $1 rack.
I've seen other people blog about recovering lampshades and thought, "I can do that!" Have you ever thought that? You know what? You CAN! Just DO IT! It's liberating! And if you mess up, oh well! So I watched yard sales for a nice lamp shade, and finally found one for $3. I bought a yard of fabric at WM for $1.50. Grand total=$5.50. I was very pleased with how it turned out.



Project #4:
My girls' hairbows were taking over. Spilling out, over, and everywhere. And of course I keep making them and adding to the loot. So they needed a new place to call home. I found a canvas board at Goodwill one day for $1.99, and bought some fabric at WM, again on the $1.50 table. Ain't it cute? It looks even better with all the bows attached.



Project #5:
Kitchen curtains!! Yeah! And I sewed these on my own, with a little over the shoulder guidance from Mom. I'm so proud. I think they probably cost about $2 apiece. Pretty good when compared to the $15.00 valances I wanted at Target. These are to hold me over until I can get what I really want. But until then, I love these!


Project #6:
We made Grace a skirt out of a pair of jeans. It's so hard to find skirts long enough these days. Sorry but I don't care to have my 3 year old dressing like a hootchie :). FYI, I got these jeans at a yard sale for $2. No pic yet, but I will take one of her sassy little Highness wearing it soon and you can see.

We also cleaned out my den/computer room/storage room/study/computer repair shop. I have 8 garbage bags and 3 boxes of stuff sitting in my foyer waiting to be taken to Goodwill. The room now looks more like a den/computer room/study/computer repair shop. And a lot more tidy at that. No pics of that yet (tomorrow).

Can you see why I've had nooo problem falling asleep at night? The evenings after the kids go to bed have been spent in companionable silence, reading a book and eating popcorn. Don't we sound like two little ole ladies?? Even old ladies can have fun!

Menu Planning

I was reading over at My First Kitchen, that 70% of families are now looking for ways to save money on the grocery/food area of their budget. Apparently, people are doing this in response to the every-worsening economy. Well, we've been doing this for so long that I cannot remember when we DIDN'T do it. Probably when we were first married, full time college students living off of Roman noodles and Polynesian sauce (which we saved/stole from the Chick-fil-A at the Student Center Food Court).

Back when DH got paid every two weeks, I would sit down and make out a menu for two weeks, but now that he gets paid every week, I only do one week's worth at a time. Yes, it is time-consuming. But it saves money. You're not looking at the clock at 4:00 wondering what you're going to fix, and do you have all the ingredients. You know you spend more moo-lah when you run to Wal-Mart for that one item. You wind up with ten other items you didn't plan on buying. Which adds up fast.

Here's how I do it: I tend to lean towards quick/crock pot style meals because it just makes my day go so much easier. I have my hands full with these three munchkins. It took me a few times browsing cooks.com and recipezaar.com, but I built up a pretty good stockpile of good recipes. These I keep in the "Recipe" section of my Home Management Binder. I have about three weeks' worth of menu plans that I pull from and rotate.

So I sit down, and I use a grid that I made myself on Word, with the days of the week, and columns for Breakfast, Lunch, and Supper. I fill these out, pull out the recipes, and a stack of index cards. I label my cards Dairy, Breakfast, Baking, Meat, Canned, Bread, Frozen, Produce, and Msc. This is the order in which I "travel" the store while I shop. I always start in Dairy because it's in the back of the store and I go up the aisles towards the front of the store. You do know that they place items strategically throughout the store as a marketing ploy? So it's good to stay focused on what you are there to buy and buy ONLY that. Another good thing about index cards: if DH is with me, we split them and get it done MUCH faster. Which is smart when you have six hands reaching for sugar snacks.

Oops. Rabbit trail! Back to the point--I go through my recipes and list each ingredient on the appropriate index card until all ingredients are listed. I also have a "Master" list with those things that are a given for each weekly shopping trip. Milk, bread, yogurt, etc, are all listed here and I double check to make sure these things are really needed and then put them on their card.

If we are in a tight financially, I have found that buying a big "tube" of ground beef and using beef recipes helps stretch the dollar. DH and I have been on Weight Watchers this year and have not bought much beef, since it's higher in calories. We've been using more chicken and watch the sales papers for good deals at other stores. That's about the only thing we buy outside of Wal-Mart, mainly because it's not convenient to get three kids 4 and under out at multiple stops.

So there you have it--my frugal shopping strategy. We shoot for $100 per week to feed our family. Sometimes it's more, sometimes less. These days it's been leaning more toward the "more" since our kids are growing and eating more. Emma is tearing up some steamed veggies (mashed) and I believe I am saving $ by buying frozen veggies and steaming them for her rather than buying baby food.

I hope this post was informative and helpful for someone passing through. Please share your shopping/meal planning methods. I'm always up for something different!

My $20 Christmas Tree!!

On Friday, we retrieved our Christmas Tree from storage. Unfortunately, all of our ornaments are in storage in another place, so I went to the Dollar Tree with $20 and bought some stuff for the tree. I was amazed at how far that $20 went. Excluding a topper, my tree is completely decorated! Here are some pictures of the den, before we rearranged, added blinds and curtains, and put up the Christmas tree:

Elijah helping Daddy hang the blinds:

The proud decorators in front of their tree! (please forgive Grace's lack of feminine attire).

The finished product--new blinds, new curtains, and Christmas Tree.

And below, sisters playing babies together!