frugal friday

Yeah! Frugal Friday! Oh, how I missed thee :) Here's a recipe for fast and easy Pumpkin muffins!

1 cake mix, carrot or spice
1 can of pumpkin
1 egg

Mix together and bake according to the cupcake directions on the box.

For an extra special treat, top with cream cheese frosting!

Costs about $2 a batch

Make it Yourself

I'm a sort of crafty person. I just lack motivation sometimes. Recently, a group of mom's on a local board decided to get together to unlock our inner artistic side. This past month we delved into papier mache. I haven't done that since elementary school. Honestly, it was messy but a lot of fun. I finally finished my project with the help of the Things(they were disappointed it was a "Mom only" thing) so I let the help with the painting portion.

Here's the finished project:

I'm thinking for Thanksgiving we need to do turkeys and scarecrows at home!

Saving money on Christmas

Christmas is just around the corner and honestly, I don't know how very "Merry" we will be this year since my Grandma passed away. She loved Christmas. She would decorate her house every year from top to bottom, inside and out. It never failed, it always ended up on the news. This year, we are planning on emphasizing more on traditions, than presents.

Here's what we are planning to do:

-Drive around and look at Christmas lights

-Keep decorating simple, but meaningful

-Recognize that are people worse off than us, we plan on donating a lot of items or volunteering somewhere.

-Focusing more on handmade with love, instead purchased on a credit card. My mil is making each of the kids a quilt...the kids will look back back and remember she put love in every stitch.

-Although we eliminated buying for adults several years ago, I have been working on stuff that I have been able to get cheap or free throughout the year. For example, my mil loves coffee. I've signed up for just about every free coffee sample I could find all year. I'll pair that up with a nice mug, a loaf of Amish Friendship bread, and other little goodies. Most adults in the family are getting a ton of pictures of my crew put together in neat little albums(with help from the older 2) Homemade cookie mixes, etc with also accompany the photo albums too. They can munch on a snack and look at pictures!

I'm sure I'll come up with more ideas, right now I'm trying to survive through Halloween!

Works for me Wednesday

Eating out is expensive. Multiply that by 3 kids and it's even more expensive. All the little $2 here, a $1 there seems to add up more than the bigger purchases. Here's what works for me:

Buying holiday treat books

I paid $2 for 10 coupons for 10 Frosties. That's a savings of $8. There's enough for each of us to have 2 which is plenty to use by the deadline. I also have a sheet of the McDonald treats. 12 coupons cost $1. Now each of the crew can get a snack when we are out and about without nickel and dime-ing me to death!

It Works For Me!

wordless wednesday

Time for Heart Failure

Woo Whee! Gas is down to $1.98 here in SW Missouri!

menu plan monday

Joe made a big pot of chicken soup last week that we ate on for 2.5 days, plus the Things went to my mil one night, so we have a lot of dinners carrying over from last week. That fine with me, I want to try to finish up October with around $300 in grocery spending so hopefully I can get by with just buying the staples this week.

Breakfasts

Poptarts

Waffles

Oatmeal

Eggs

Lunches

Sandwiches

leftovers

Dinners

Fried Chicken, baked potatoes, green beans

*grilled cheese and tomato soup

*onion soup with cheese and bread

*tuna casserole, corn

pizza, salad

*smoked sausage with rice, mixed veggies

leftovers

*last week carryovers

Sample Sunday

I finally got samples in the mail this week. From going on vacation in August, then school starting, and then just general chaos kept me from signing up for too many. They have started to come in now!

super savings saturday

Another busy week. I would think I have enough stuff by now. Of course, I didn't count on Joe throwing a fit wanting Chicken Soup and I have to go get all the ingredients because THAT WASN'T ON THE MENU!!! Sorry!

Dillons

I made 2 trips with 3 transactions. I seriously need to stay away from Dillons. This little group was $8.62 OOP, saved $33.62 or 83 % plus I had another CRT for $3/3 Johnson's print out(that's 9 more soaps!)

Transactions #2 $45.13, saved $19.43 or 30%

Trip #2 $24.98, saved $16.98 or 39%

Walgreens

I had $6 RR expiring and nothing really caught my eye. I did need diapers and batteries for my camera. I used the buttons for fillers(I had coupons and RR) OOP $5.41 saved $13.05

CVS

I almost forgot to stop by the magic coupon machine before I got my stuff. It printed out $2 on any 2 Gold Emblem candy!

OOP $11.78, earned $10 ECBs plus I will get $2.50 back from Upromise and $2 from the Caregiver's Marketplace. Saved $20.40

Walmart

We ran out of cat food so I had to stop by Walmart. I found coupons in my stash for $1/1 of the Carpet Powders. I paid $0.84 each after the coupon and the Wholesome Goodness was free with a coupon(can't you see 4 cats fighting over that little thing???)

OOP(includes 18 pound bag of cat food and a ruler thingy Joe needed)$16.43, saved $4.70

Wendy's

I love when places put out the treat books...I got coupons for 10 Frosties for $2

I need to go to McD's to pick up one of theirs. They make great snacks when out doing errands or as small rewards(just pay attention to the expiration dates!)

Pricecutter...Joe's Chicken Soup stuff plus a gallon of milk $21.61, saved $1.50

Totals

OOP Grocery $91.72+ Household $42.24=$133.96

Saved $109.68

plus earned $10 ECBs, and $4.50 in rebates

That brings my per day spending for food up to $10.48 a day for 5 people. Grrr. I was hoping to lower it. We have to eat more from the freezer next week, I have no where else to put anything! We have been eating Chicken Soup for Thursday night, and Friday plus the Things are going to my mil for Saturday night and most of Sunday so I should have some dinners to carry over to next week. Hopefully, I can get away with just staples and Halloween candy for next week

Expand your mind

I was reading this article here about surprising things you can get for free. It had listed that MIT offers free coursework. The catch is you can not receive credit for it. That's fine with me. You can learn everything from American Women Authors to a course in Quantum Physics. Check out the MIT site here. This could be a good resource for homeschoolers or mom's who want to learn more!

The original article had classes for foreign languages, computer course, classes from the SBA, and where to get free stuff from gym memberships to free photos.

Go check it yourself! In the meantime, I'm going to download Quantum Physics :P (mmm, not really!)

Recipe Swap

Here's my recipe for Easy No Bake Cheesecake. This is just the basic, plain recipe. I love this because it can be used with a variety of toppings and mix ins.

3 packages cream cheese, softened(If I'm doing a fruit topping, I only use 2)

powder sugar 1/4-1/3 of a cup(enough to take the bitter taste of the cream cheese away)

graham cracker crust

Mix the softened cream cheese and powder sugar together until creamy. Pour into a graham cracker crust(premade or homemade). Press in gently. Place in the refrigerator until firm.

That's it!

Get creative with your cheesecake...we have done Chocolate crust with cherry topping, drizzled in chocolate, Blueberry topping, Strawberry, and an Apple topping with walnuts and caramel sauce.

Our absolute favorite, use a chocolate cookie crust and stir in mini chocolate chips to the filling. MMMMMM!

Joe says these freeze well(it's his recipe!) Make a few up, pop in the freezer and then thaw when you have company or a get together!

Check out Friday Recipe Swap for more ideas!

A problem

Here's my problem:

Joe said if I can keep this plant alive through winter, he will gladly dig up half the backyard for a garden next Spring. Ok...I don't have the best luck with plants..or fish(but that's a whole other post!). Joseph, on the other hand, has roses BLOOMING in 40 degree weather!

What do I need to do in order to keep the green monster alive? I know it needs a bigger pot, hopefully I can pick one up soon and replant it. Water, is a given. Any type of food or anything that will help me out(you know, steroids for plants???LOL)

Input? Anyone?

wordless wednesday

Frugal Saturday fun

We had a full day of activities this past Saturday. The cost $0!. My mother in law came into town to watch Thing 2's soccer game and ended up staying most of the day. Here's how the day went.

First the crew loaded up on breakfast, Eggo waffles for Thing 2, poptarts for the girls. Then we headed out the door to watch Thing 2's soccer game.

After the soccer game, my mil took the Things with her to Entertainmart and to Hobby Lobby. Me, Joe, and Baby Girl headed back to the house so I could bake a cake for my mom's birthday party later that day. I got the cake baked, got Baby Girl to my mom's house(we had a destination to to go with out her). While I was gone, my mil and the kids showed up with Subway sandwiches, video games for the Things, and a new movie for us(The new Indiana Jones movie!).

We had to eat in a flurry because we had to had to our next event: Honk Jr! at the Springfield Little Theatre...with FREE tickets!

After Honk Jr.! We headed back to the house. My mil had to go (she lives over an hour away) and I finished frosting the cake. Me and the Things headed over to my mom's for a small celebration. We came back with Baby Girl and just decided to finish up the Subway sandwiches for supper(my mil bought everyone a foot long) After dinner, we all watched Indiana Jones to finish up our day!

Cheap Sunday

I have been wanting to get the crew's pictures done. The last time they were all together is when Baby Girl was 3 months old! I found a local photographer that was looking to build her portfolio and did the shoot for free! We went to a local park for pictures and had a blast. She got almost 400 shots of the kids. She is going to fix them and then I get a cd with them so I can print them as I want! All for $0!

I seen some of them and they are beautiful!

So that's my cheap weekend in a nutshell, how was yours?

Menu Plan Monday

Wow, that week flew by. I think I have convinced Joe that sticking to a menu isn't all that bad. Let's see if I can keep him on track.

Breakfasts

Waffles

eggs

toast

oatmeal

Lunch

sandwiches

soup

leftovers

Dinners

French Onion Soup with cheese and bread

Egg Rolls and Fried Rice

Ham Slices, Baked Beans, Corn, Biscuits

Sloppy Joe's, mac and cheese

Grilled Cheese Sandwiches, Tomato Soup

Tuna Casserole. mixed veggies

Leftovers

Super Savings Saturday

Sorry for my lack of posting...things have been busy this week. My mom and I have been trying to sort through my grandmother's things and get ready for a yard sale. We still have 2 big storage units to go through and hopefully the weather will cooperate.

I managed to spend a lot of money on groceries this week. The kids plowed through 4 gallons of milk and Joe went through a bunch of soda. I found some good deals on stock up items, like soup, at Dillons and we should be set for quite awhile.

CVS

not sure why the pic came out so dark...I got 6 Johnson's buddies soaps and 2 Colgate toothpastes for $0.13 OOP! and earned $4 ECB

Walgreens

No pic, sorry. I told Thing 1 to put away the stuff but I didn't realize she would do it right away :)

I got 2 Arm and Hammer laundry soaps, 2 Lysol Wipes, 3 rolls Bounty Basics, and 2 foam eye masks(by Girl liked them) for $3.69 plus I can get $2 rebate on the laundry soap. The cashier wouldn't let me get the Glade Plug In warmer on sale for $1.99 with the $2 off coupons I had. GRRR!

Dillons

I spent a lot of money at Dillons this week. They had a good deal on the Campbell's Tomato and Chicken noodles soups and I had a ton of coupons!

Trip #1

2 boxes waffles

1 gallon of milk

2 smoked sausages

6 yoplait yogurts

18 cans of various Hunts tomato products

2 12 packs coke

1 12 pack Dr. Pepper

2 Duncan Hines cake mixes

2 frostings

1 pack Cottonelle tp

10 cans Progresso soup

1 pack Mushrooms

pears

celery

1 loaf Dillons bread

1 mango

1 20 ounce Dr. Pepper

apples

24 cans of Campbell's Chicken Noodle and tomato soups

OOP$50.95, saved$67.11

Trip #2

1 bell pepper, 1 Dannon Drinkables, 1 loaf Sara Lee bread, 2 eggo waffles, 1 gallon milk, 3 cake mixes, 1 box brown rice, 1 dijon mustard, 3 bananas, 4 peaches

OOP $21.77, saved $9.34

Trans #2

2 Febreeze Noticables, 1 pack m&m's, ..OOP $0.46!

Walmart

I had a few things left to get that I needed

Spent $38.24 on groceries(no coupons!), $18.54 for dog food

Totals for the week

Groceries $110.96

Household $22.82 plus earned $4 ECB and $2 in rebates

So far for the month, I have spent $170.37 for groceries. This might seem high but when I divide it by days(18), that $9.47 a day to feed 5 people. Next week will hopefully be less, I haven't noticed any killer sales. I do need diapers, but I also have 2 $3 RR from Walgreens. Instead of buying something useless, I'll go pick up 2 packs.

Menu Plan Monday

Another fabulous week of menu planning. I'm surprised I was able to stick to my plan last week with Joe coming home. He's one that doesn't like to plan, he pretty much wants to eat whatever he is craving at any given moment. It gets really frustrating sometimes!

Breakfasts

Eggs

Toast

Waffles

Oatmeal

Lunches

soup

sandwiches

leftovers

Suppers

Spaghetti, garlic bread, salad

Baked/grilled fish, mashed potatoes, corn

Chicken Marsala, green beans

hot dogs, mac and cheese, mixed veggies

Nachos with chicken, tomatoes, olives, jalapenos

Sausage and beans with brown rice, cornbread

Leftovers

Giveaway

Marcy at Stretching a Buck is having a giveaway for a $25 gift card to Kroger!

Super Savings Saturday

Some pretty good sales this week! I had ECB's expiring and was surprised CVS had what I went for

OOP $0.56! Earned $7.98(used $12.99 ECB though) saved 17.00

WALGREENS

OOP $2.80(had to do 2 transactions) earned $6 RR! Saved $18

WALMART

I was able to get these free at Walmart. I had 3 $2/1 Schick Disposable Razors and $1/1 Glade Air Freshener.

Total spent this week: Groceries $59.41($12.56 was just on Coke for Joe)

Household $12.86 (saved $42)

Recipe Swap

My recipe this week is for Easy Pumpkin Muffins

1 cake mix, carrot or spice

1 can of pumpkin

1 egg

Mix together and bake according to the cupcake directions on the box.

For an extra special treat, top with cream cheese frosting!

Costs about $2 a batch

for more recipes, check out The Grocery Cart Challenge!

wordless wednesday

Works for me Wednesday

My contribution this week is making your own refill scents for the Glade Car Fresheners. I picked our up several months ago when the rebate was offered and had to buy a refill for it that was somewhere around $2! When I switched them out, I noticed that it would come apart and decided to try making my own since we have tons of liquid smell good stuff around.

Supplies

Glade refill bottled washed and dried.
The scent stick(not sure what it's called) I set this out separately to dry out and get out most of the previous scent.
A medicine syringe, for putting in the scent
Liquid Potpourri, Essential Oil, or other liquid fragrance

First, I refilled the bottle about 2/3 of the way full with water

Using the syringe, I filled it the rest of the way with Liquid Potpourri

Reassemble and place back in the holder. Voila! Your very own!
I think I paid $2 for that big bottle of Potpourri at Dollar General. This way is definitely cheaper and I can use my favorite scents!

This Works For Me!

Menu Plan Monday

With my grandmother passing away on Wednesday, we ending up with a couple dinners we didn't fix so they will carry over to this week. I will just need minor tweaking because Joe comes home today(thankfully before funeral services this afternoon). I'm also only planning 5 to account for food after services tomorrow and a leftover/eat out night.



Here's the plan



Breakfast

Cold cereal

Eggs

Toast

Oatmeal



Lunches

Sandwiches

Soup

Ramen noodles

leftovers



Dinners

Pork chops, stove top stuffing, corn

Lemon Pepper Chicken, rice

Hamburgers, homemade french fries

Ham Slices, Baked Beans, biscuits

Steaks, baked potatoes, green beans

Super Savings Saturday

I spent way too much money this week at the grocery store. Dillons was a temping mistress. I actually had a bad trip to Walmart that resulted in me making 2 trips to Dillons this week. At Walmart, the cashier refused the All You magazine coupons for free WYB Kraft coupons. Then a manager wouldn't do it either. Even when I tried to explain, Kool Aid is NOT an individual serving packet. Oh well, they had to cart back 45 envelopes of Kool Aid and 3 each of the other 5 products. grr.

Walgreens

$18.99 OOP plus earned $3 RR for the Pringles and $4.50 RR for the toothbrush. Saved $15.34

CVS

$4.57 OOP plus earned $5.79 ECB's for the makeup, $2 for the toothpaste, and I got $10 ECB from the CVS Advisor panel for doing a survey! Saved $27.31!

Dillons

10 packs of Cottonelle, 6 Buddies soaps, 2 Poptarts, 7 Land OLakes butters, 2 Live Active Drink Mixes, 18 cans of Ravioli and spaghetti o's, bananas, 4 boxes Snack cakes, 1 20 ounce Dr. Pepper

trip #1 $22.96, saved $54.17 or 71%! plus i had 3 catalina's for $0.75 each off future purchases and a $3 off 3 Johnson's product(yea! More buddies!)

trip #2

No picture....22 cans Spaghetti O's and Ravioli, 3 small lunchables, 1 package bologna, 21 boxes of Kraft Mac and Cheese, 24 packets of Kool Aid, 3 each of Wheat Thins, Salad Dressing, American Cheese, Crystal Light, Hot Dogs

$42.97 OOP, saved $63.82 or 59%

Walmart

This was mostly for regular groceries, everything I needed wasn't on sale at Dillons. I did find 5 1pound packages of hamburger for $1.74 each and I got a price match for the Pillsbury Brownies on sale for $1 a box at Dillons(they were out)

$31.22, only saved $9 this time

my totals for groceries and household $120.71, saved $169.64, plus have $7.50 for Walgreens and $2.25 for Dillons!

Awesome Yard sale

I found an amazing yardsale after dropping Thing 2 off at school on Thursday. It was so hard not to spend a lot of money there. All I had was $20 and I needed some of that for a trip to Dollar General. Both of the outfits were $4 each, the red dress and jacket is great for Grandma's funeral services. She loved Baby Girl all dressed up. The boots were $3, the wooden beading set(a Christmas present) was $1.50 , and the tamburine $0.50.

$13 for all that!

I could have easily spent a ton more there!

Check out these sites!

CVS Superstars and Drugstore Divas at The Centsible Sawyer

Super Savings Saturday at Money Saving Mom

Show and Tell at BeCentsAble

September Review

Wow! That month flew by! October is here and so is the cool weather of fall. This has been about our least spending month for the year. Still not where I would like it to be, but we are getting there!

Groceries $376.76, $123.24 under budget This jumped over $100 in one week but I have so much stuff in my stockpile, I don't know where to put it all. Seriously. I need a ton of shelving put in the basement because my supplies runneth over :)

Household $69.26, $80.74 under budget. This is the best I have done! Finding some great sales on diapers and keeping my OOP at CVS low helped tremendously. That includes $30 spent on pet food!

Miscellaneous spending $186, this includes $84 for Joe's ticket home, some Christmas presents, some clothes, school pictures, soccer equipment, and money spent at Open House Fundraising dinners.


Some not so good numbers

Eating out $49..ok better than some previous months but still. The bad thing is...that's mostly on Sonic drinks!

$277 utilities! Holy smoke, I nearly died. Most of that was for electricity. I told the kids to turn out the flippin lights!

$230 gas. For 1 truck! We have cut our running around down A LOT! The Things decided to take breaks from their regular activities(dance for Thing 1 and martial arts for Thing 2). That saves $260 a month but Thing 2 is playing soccer and all the practices and games are all the way across town. UGH! Joe has a motorcycle in Florida we are seriously thinking about bringing here so he can drive it when possible for work.


Total spent for the month $1,764.02
I would like this to consistently be under $1, 500 a month.

One discussion board I belong to had a conversation going about what are people cutting back because of the economy. We have been hit pretty hard since Joe is a brick mason because no one is wanting extra work done. We find an occasional one with money to burn but they are becoming few and far in between. We talked it over with the kids and they are taking a break from martial arts and dance. That saves $260 a month. That's $1,040 in four months, not including any extra stuff we have to pay out for uniforms, shoes, recitals, extra gas, etc. Thing 2 is playing soccer, it's $35 plus I have been out $15 on cleats, shin guards, etc and then he has pictures this weekend(don't ask the package prices)

I know we could do without satellite tv($78 a month), but we are not to that point yet. Aside from that, the only thing left to cut out would extras like eating out, activities, etc.

How about you? Are you and your family watching the dollars more and more now?

When it sucks to be a parent

Today I had to tell the Things that their great grandma passed away. It sucked. Big time. My grandma raised me so they were a little closer to her than in the majority of great grandparent situations.

Thing 1 had convinced herself she was going to get better. My grandma almost passed away a couple years ago and recovered. But not this time.

Thing 2 is typical boy, trying not to let it show but I can tell it's getting to him.

Baby Girl don't understand so there is one I don't have to worry about.

I feel so bad from them. They haven't had to deal with a death of a relative(my grandfather passed way when Thing 1 was just 6 months old), It's hard for me to explain how to cope with it. I told them if they needed to talk, I'm here. So is there dad and everyone else. I did make it clear I won't stand for them being violent towards another or being mouthy with anyone.

To top it off, Joe is Florida until Monday so i get to do all of this by myself. The funeral service is Monday so he will be home for that.

It still sucks, though.

Works for me Wednesday

I can barely keep track of my keys, let alone remember what I cooked for supper a few weeks back. Here's a little way that I use to help myself keep track:

When I try a recipe, I highlight it. Then after it's been ate, I put an arrow up for we liked it, and an arrow down for we didn't. That way I can keep track of what not to fix anymore.

It's what Works for me!

wordless wednesday