Frugal and Old-Fashioned

There are some things we do in our household that are frugal, old-fashioned, or both.  They're things that have worked for us over the years and, stacked up against doing some things the modern way, this is what we prefer.  This is only a sampling of the many things that we do that may be considered old-fashioned or frugal.  We're frugal, not cheap - there's a difference.  Frugal is saving money.  Cheap is refusing to spend money.  Big difference.  Old-fashioned sometimes means using the elbow grease most people don't seem to have on hand these days.  (Some of you who follow my Facebook page have already gotten a glimpse of this post.)

Here we go:

• We make our own laundry detergent.  I use castille soap, Borax, and washing soda to make liquid laundry detergent.  I make a five gallon bucket at a time, usually every 2 - 3 months.  This cleans all of the household laundry.  I cannot bring myself to spend $12+ on a bottle of chemically-laden laundry detergent.  It's mostly water, anyway and my home made version cleans our clothes just as well as a commercial detergent.
• We hand wash dishes.  We don't even own a dishwasher.  We used to have one, but I was tired of having to 'pre-wash' dishes, or 're-wash' ones the dishwasher didn't clean.  It was noisy and used water and electricity. When that one died, I wasn't going to spend at least $1,500 on a decent dishwasher, which still recommended that the dishes be 'pre-washed'.  My husband and I share the responsibility of washing the dishes every day, and we use my handmade dishcloths. 
• I line-dry clothes whenever I possibly can.   Free energy, people! Solar and wind energy at work right out at your clothesline.  I have four clotheslines and I am so happy when every single space on those lines are filled with clothes.  There's nothing like slipping under the covers that have been air-dried.  
• We have a wood stove.  We've had a wood stove for 16 years, now.  It has saved us a considerable amount of money during the winter months on heating costs.  Our main system is forced hot air using natural gas, so that uses gas + electricity.  Well, when we have a winter storm that knocks out our electricity, we are still warm and cozy with our wood stove.  We usually cut and split the wood ourselves, and have friends that are helpful in giving us felled trees, when possible.  A wood stove is perfect to use in the spring and autumn, when the damp days put a chill in the house.  
• I don't use commercial household cleaners.  I only use vinegar and Borax to clean my house.  I use a steam mop to clean my floors (we barely have any carpeting, only an area rug in a couple of rooms).  I keep a spray bottle with a mixture of water, vinegar, and a couple of drops of castille soap handy to clean counters, mirrors, and to spot clean.  Oh, and elbow grease. 
• I'm not a huge gadget person.  I don't even own a mixer.  I use a fork.  When everyone was going crazy over the fancy, brightly colored standing mixers, I just kept on using my fork.  Works wonderfully and clean up is so much easier.  Yes, I know I've said I have a steam mop, but I got it on sale and it has saved my back hugely over using a regular old mop, of which I've tried every variety.
• We compost kitchen scraps.  Instead of having a full, stinky kitchen garbage basket, we compost our kitchen waste (except for meat and dairy) into our compost pile.  This is used in our vegetable and flower gardens.  Between composting and recycling, not much trash actually goes into our kitchen garbage.  
• We fix it or wear it out, first.  Before replacing an item with a new one, we make the determination that it cannot be fixed or has been completely worn out.  My husband is my McGyver and can fix just about anything.  If he can't fix it, then we'll get a new one - but only the best quality for the best price.  I'm happy to say that there is a big box store not too far from our house and we rarely shop there.  
• We consolidate our errands.  Gasoline isn't cheap and our vehicles aren't getting any younger.  We live on the 'outskirts of town'.  So trips to the grocery store, pharmacy, gas station etc. are planned carefully so that we're not wasting time or resources going out multiple times when we can accomplish as much as possible in one trip.

So, these are the ways that doing things frugally or in the old-fashioned manner have been working for us, for a considerably long time, now.  I'd love to hear some frugal or old-fashioned tips from you in the comment section.

BBB - Black Bean Burritos...Yum!

I'm excited to share a simple, tasty recipe with you that I stumbled upon at a blog called The Simple Dollar. Trent, the author of that blog, shares a weekly recipe that is both delicious and frugal that he makes for his family.

Now, let me just say up front that I am a very boring cook. I tend to make the same five or six dishes because: #1 - I hate shopping, even grocery shopping, and my cart seems to just follow the same route every week in the grocery store, stopping in the same aisles, in front of the same freezers, and being drawn to the same produce (yawn); #2 - My family rarely gives me any feedback regarding the meals I do make and seem to be reluctant in suggesting ingredients or meals that are different (unless it pertains to tater tots, french fries and ice cream); #3 - Because of reason #1, I easily become lazy when my mind wants to make healthier, long-lasting changes to our diet as a family and I fall into the same boring routine.

So, I saw Trent's recipe for Black Bean Burritos and thought, "I can do that!" There are only a few ingredients:

A can of black beans. I happened to have one in my pantry.....I think it's because I was going to make a cold bean salad at one point. I also have a can of red kidney beans that I plan on using next time. I just heated the can of beans on the stove.....


A jar of salsa. And, yay, salsa was just on sale this week at the grocery store. I picked up a jar of the mild variety. Chunky or not, mild or hot, whatever your preference is, or, you can just cut up some fresh tomato if you choose....



Lettuce. It can be shredded and any variety you like. You can even use baby spinach. It provides a nice, fresh crunch in the burrito.....




Shredded cheese. Again, any kind you prefer. I buy the store brand of the Mexican or taco flavored. I like the finely shredded.....when the beans are heated, the cheese melts a little and......yummy!


Don't forget the tortilla! I use wheat tortillas. Place on a dinner plate and heat in the microwave for about 15 seconds to soften so they don't split when you roll them. They can be as big as your appetite. If my kids were young, I'd probably use the small tortillas.



I built my burrito this way:

On the heated tortilla I placed a spoonful of heated black beans near the bottom edge of tortilla, topped with another spoonful of salsa, some shredded lettuce comes next, then a sprinkling of shredded cheese. I then folded bottom edge over all toppings, and, as I began to roll it to the top, folded in the sides (like an envelope) so the filling doesn't spill out.

My family all enjoyed this recipe. What I like about it is that it's inexpensive, healthy, and easily adaptable to other ingredients. And so easy to do!

I hope you'll give it a try, and I recommend that you visit Trent's blog as well.

Have a blessed day!

Liane

Risky Business

I hate clothes shopping. Hate it, hate it, hate it, hate it, hate it! I never seem to find what I'm looking for, the sizing doesn't seem to work for me sometimes (bloating doesn't help either...), the lighting in the dressing rooms only magnifies and highlights the cellulite I want to deny that exists..., and I struggle to find clothing that is acceptable to my wardrobe policy for work.

That being said, my wonderful husband gave me a $100 gift card to Dressbarn. I went to our local store a week or so after Christmas to look for great deals. I didn't find anything I liked - most of the clothing was dressy holiday attire or they didn't have my size. So, after waiting a couple of weeks, I decided to go onto their website.

I'm so glad that I did. I took a risk and purchased the above items from the website. My daughter was shocked. I never really bought clothes online, without trying them on before.
I bought a super soft teal long sleeved blouse; a beautiful light gray 3/4 sleeve button up blouse, a puckered purple shell (to wear under blazers), and a geometric flowing shell (also to wear under blazers). All of these tops were on clearance. The most expensive top was $14.80 and the least was only $10!

And, to top it off, I decided to order a dress, yes - a dress (I don't think I've worn one in about 3 years...) to wear at a grand-opening party next week at work. It was $39.99 and it fits perfectly. I plan on going out this weekend and getting a pair of tall black boots to wear with it, hopefully on sale.

So, my goodies arrived yesterday. I had a mini-fashion show and tried on each item. And - a miracle happened. Everything fit perfectly and looked great on me! A first! A first I tell you!
Even my skeptical daughter was impressed.

I was so pleased....with that $100 gift card, I was able to purchase 5 articles of clothing. The total amount I paid, including shipping, came to $98.73. Yup, I have a balance of $1.27 that I may be able to use in the store, possibly on a piece of jewelry on clearance.

I'm not much of a risk-taker, but I'm so glad that this shopping experience resulted in being a positive one. Usually, the only kind of shopping that results in the least amount of grumbling from me is grocery shopping. I think I may have turned a corner, or maybe rode a slight curve, with this experience.

Now, let's just hope that I don't accidentally shrink anything.

Have a blessed day!

Liane

**UPDATE**
I went to Penney's and got a nice tall pair of boots for 70% off! I only paid $29.99 - I was so excited!!! I think clothes and shoes that are bought on clearance look and fit better, don't you agree?

Can You Afford to Throw Away $15.00?

Late Fees!!!

I can't either.....but that's what used to happen before I began paying my monthly bills online. It seems as though I'd have those moments where I'd remember on Saturday afternoon that a bill was due on Monday or Tuesday and I was all out of stamps. Or, I was sick and couldn't get to the post office. Or, nuts! I used my last check and forgot to submit my re-order form to the bank. And while I had every intention of paying what was due WHEN is was due, sometimes I just missed - or spaced out. And it cost me. I would get so upset with myself because those late fees add up.

So, for the past almost three years, I have been utilizing my on-line bill payment service from my bank. And I've said it before and I'll say it again: I love, love, love it! Why?

*On-line banking and bill pay is a FREE service that is offered by my bank.

*It is safe and secure. How many of you have your address, phone number and maybe driver's license and social security numbers printed on your checks? On-line bill pay keeps your personal information private.

*It saves an average of $80.00 in postage per year. No more scrounging up change for a couple of stamps and having to be at the post office before it closes. And a stamp is 44 cents apiece!!

*On-line banking provides you with access to your account 24 hours a day, 7 days a week including holidays! You can also make transfers between accounts without having to go the bank.

*Saves paper by providing you with your monthly statement on-line instead of having to wait to get it in the mail.

*Is a great budgeting tool. Schedule your monthly payments the day you receive them. This helps to make sure your balance is where it needs to be in order to meet your monthly expenses and helps to show you how you can put any "extra" funds in an emergency fund or savings account.

I share this information because it has been instrumental in helping me be a good steward with the income that is provided to us. I hope that it may be helpful to anyone who is looking for ways to save money or help streamline their time in keeping track of expenses.

Do you do on-line banking?

Thanks for checking in.....

--Liane

Budget Baby Steps

Here are a few, painless ways to make small changes in your household that will have a positive impact on your budget.

*Don't turn up your nose at store brand products (both edible & non-edible).
I always bought the store brand version of every food product I could: cereal, peanut butter, milk, cheese, bread, frozen vegetables, etc. I really don't think there is a much of a difference in the taste of foods. You will save a considerable amount of money if you switch to store brand products. I never go above a weekly grocery budget of $150 for a family of four and that includes non-edible products. When my kids were little and ate smaller portions, that amount was $90. You could easily save $5 by buying the store brand toilet paper over the national brand. Try the disposable razors and save $5 as well. There's $10 right now.

*Use your clothesline on sunny and/or breezy days.
Take advantage of the free solar energy!! I have four clotheslines set up and can easily fit three or four loads of laundry on them at once. The sun doesn't have to be shining brightly--as long as it isn't humid or raining the clothes will dry. Breezy? Even better! You'll be saving electricity and extending the life of the garments.

*Carefully review utility bills for accuracy and errors every month.
Recently, we received our phone bill and I noticed a new charge of $16. It was for a service that I did not request and when I questioned the phone company, they said it was added when I went online. I disputed it and it was promptly removed. Had I not been paying attention, I would be paying an extra $16 each month. Know exactly what you're paying for and do not delay questioning new charges or ones that you do not understand.

*Pay your bills on-time. Take advantage of online banking and bill pay if your bank offers it.
This means by or before the due date. I was often paying late charges on utility bills because I was frequently mailing out payments late for silly reasons like not having any stamps on hand. Since I began paying bills online, I have not had one late fee charged. As soon as I receive a bill, I schedule it for payment. I save about $80 a year on postage and have the peace of mind that the payment is already taken care of. I love, love, love this service 'cause it's free!!!

*Consider switching to a high-yield checking account.
Yeah, so you've been banking where you go since you were a kid and everyone is so nice to you when you stop in but they're not paying any decent interest rate on your account. So what do you do? You shop around. There are a lot of banks that offer high-yield checking accounts (some right now around 2%). Switching banks is not as scary as you might think and a great bank will make the transition as smooth as possible. Some even offer incentives such as giving you credit for your previous institution's debit card and unused checks. Make a few phone calls to local banks or visit their websites for special promotions.

I hope that these suggestions will help you to implement some small changes to benefit your budget. They have helped me tremendously over the past several years and I'll be sharing more as we continue on this journey.

What changes have you made that have had a positive impact on your budget?

Thanks for stopping by,
--Liane

Budget Beginnings

Recently, I shared how I've reached some financial goals and while I'm not a financial adviser by any means, I have "been there" and "done that" as far as struggling with money management. A little background: After having our second child, we decided that it would be most beneficial for our children if I quit my full-time insurance agency job (I was a customer service rep) to be a stay-at-home mom. That left my husband to be the sole bread winner. We were lousy at money management and lived basically not on a shoestring but on a thread. I stayed home for the better part of 12 years before I went back to work as a part-time bank teller. That's a lot of years of mismanaging the income that was provided for us. We saw a lot of hardships, including two serious medical scares for my husband and daughter, and in both instances we did not have medical insurance.

So I would like to share what has worked for us - the information that has gotten us on the right path. There has to be the moment when you know when things need to change in the manner of gaining control of your financial situation. Here are some first steps:

*Be joined with your spouse in your budgeting goals. Have a frank, honest, and truthful discussion about the amount of debt you have. This is not a pointing fingers, 'you did this' talk. It's a we're here and need to be there discussion. Communicate and be in agreement.

*Don't leave God out of your finances. Pray with your spouse in asking God to give you wisdom and direction in the management of your finances. Desire to be a good steward of the income that He provides for your household.

*Know where your money went. Write down all of the expenditures you made in the past three months. A visual picture is worth so much. You will be able to see where difference lies between needed living expenditures such as rent/mortgage, electricity, food, and insurance and infrequent or impulsive purchases such as clothing, gifts and entertainment. This is a good time to evaluate your wants from your needs.

I believe that this is a good time of year for a budget overhaul. It's back to school time - a great time to be organized and know your financial situation before the pressures of the holidays begin in just a couple of short months.

I'll be sharing more about budgeting and personal finance that has worked for me personally, in upcoming posts. In the meantime, do you have any ideas on how to take that first step towards creating a budget?

Blessings for a wonderful day,

Liane

Savings Goals Update

About a year and a half ago, I wrote a couple of posts about my desire to get a firm grasp on my spending habits and become a saver of money instead of the dreaded spender. I needed to understand why I spent the way I did, and I desired to be a better steward of the income that God was providing for our family.

This really was not an easy task. I had to learn to be firm with myself and physically stay away from places that sucked the money right out of my debit card (even if it was willingly), like the grocery store: "I know that organic is often more expensive, but I love my family and they deserve the best!"; chain stores: "I really should by this t-shirt because it's on clearance even though my dresser is full of ones that I hardly wear..." and "I'm so bored with my clothes - I need one or two items to 'freshen up' my wardrobe." I had to learn to separate my wants from my needs to help me keep the big picture (my goal of getting us more financially stable) at the forefront every day. Also, I found it very difficult to be patient. Income comes in only so fast (who wouldn't want for payday to be everyday?).

So, slowly, slowly, our checking account balance ceased to dwindle each week. Instead, I learned to just leave it alone, and, when all of our monthly utility bills + the mortgage had been paid, I started to apply as much as I possibly could to our credit card balance. In a matter of months, our credit card was paid off and I was able to start funneling small amounts into our savings account. Just $20 here, maybe $100 there.

Of course, we had some glitches along the way. Our dog became very ill and we had some unanticipated vet bills come upon us. Well, we felt blessed that we had some money set aside to be able to handle this situation.

We are a long way from where I'd like for us to be, but I think we've made some great progress in the past year. My new goal is to save for a new vehicle. Not brand new, but new to us. I currently drive a 1994 mini-van that has over 211,000 miles on it. And believe me, I baby it.

What about you? Have you gotten any closer to any of your goals? Is the journey what you expected it to be? Please share!

Blessings,

Liane

Newly Found Rewards

Yesterday in the mail, I received a notification from my credit card company that they had updated some of their terms of their rewards program. Now, the I currently have the miles rewards program, which has been totally useless to me because you need a ginormous amount of points to be able to redeem them for anything useful - or so I thought.

Now, I've been faithfully paying down my credit card balance as much as possible to become debt free. I do not use my credit card at all - I leave it open purely for the I-hope-I-never-have-to emergency. So, I decided to go onto the credit card company website to educated myself about the rewards plan that I have. I couldn't sign in but I could gather that the rewards points may be exchanged for credit, cash, or check. I called the company and ended up redeeming my points, that I'll never actually use, for a check for $75.00!

This is $75.00! Wow! Now, the only decision I have is to decide what to do with it. Do I stick it in my savings account (that is earning .20%), or do I buy three $50 savings bonds at $25 each? (The $75 is guaranteed to double to $150 in 20 years) I'm not interested in spending it - I don't need anything. Any suggestions?

I share this with you in case you have a credit card balance that is linked to a rewards program as well. Do a little research to see if you can make those points work for you. Maybe you'll get a nice little check, too!

Blessings for a great day!

--Liane

Know what you're paying for . . . .

First of all, I want to report that my son made it back home safe and sound after his trip to Westernport, Maryland. He had a terrific time and I'm sure it was a memorable trip for him. I want to thank of you for your prayers and best wishes for him and my husband and myself while Geoff was away.

Today, I opened my recent credit card statement and was concerned to see an unauthorized charge for $192.00. It was from an online education program that my children were previously enrolled in. When I called them to question this charge, they told me that since I didn't inform them in writing that my children would not be re-enrolled for the upcoming year (my son was a senior last year - Hello!!) and my credit card information was still listed, they just went ahead and helped themselves! Well, in quick time they were informed of their gross error and immediately removed the charge - but it made me think - how many people actually check their bills and statements for accuracy?

I happen to be a bank teller and am shocked at the number of customers that regularly inform me that they don't even open their statements. They just assume that they are correct. Well, it's people that are imputing information into computers and credit card machines, and people sometimes make mistakes. We have direct-deposit in our account for my husband's payroll, and a couple of months ago, he was overpaid by $8,000!! I was hoping beyond hope that it was a miraculous bonus, but a quick phone call to my husband at work confirmed that it was an error by the payroll company. Also, both my husband and myself recently had our debit cards compromised and it was discovered quickly due to my vigilant monitoring of our account.

And what about insurance policies? Do you ever open yours when the renewal comes in the mail to see what coverages you have and if those coverages are adequate or maybe unnecessary? A woman I work with recently had this experience: her husband has a 199X-something truck that was brought to a service station for a mandatory state inspection. It was discovered that the entire chassis was rotted away and the truck was unfit for driving. Meanwhile, they were paying for full collision and comprehensive coverage on this vehicle. And my co-workers response? "The girl at the insurance agency didn't call me and tell me that we shouldn't have been carrying physical damage coverage on a truck that was so old." Huh?
No, No. It is our responsibility as consumers to know what we're paying for.
How many bills and invoices do we open and just look at the 'Amount Due' and nothing else? Mistakes can happen, and they can happen to your:
Electric Bill
Natural Gas Bill
Water Bill
Cell phone Bill
Land line phone Bill
Mortgage statement
Cable and internet Bill
Insurance Bills
Bank statements
Grocery Receipts
Credit Card Statements

Lately I've been taking note of the variety of car insurance advertisements on TV. So, since I've been with my present company, Progressive, for a number of years, I decided that it couldn't hurt to shop around. I did. And what I found is that I currently pay a darn good premium on my car insurance. Other companies couldn't come anywhere near what we pay for a premium. So, while I didn't save any additional money, I gained the security of knowing that I'm paying the lowest possible rate right now.

So, tell me, do you know what your paying for? Do you scan your statements and invoices to check for accuracy. . or do you stick them in a pile and assume that they're correct?

Saving on More than Groceries at the Grocery Store

Early in the year I have expressed my desire to be more frugal with our income and be a good steward with the money that God provides for us. In the past few months I'm glad to say that I've become more of a saver than a spender. Every payday, I calculate how much money needs to remain in our checking account to cover the necessities such as tithe, groceries, gasoline, and any utilities that are due for that week. Once I have that figure, any excess money is immediately deposited into our savings account.

Even though I wouldn't consider myself a 'fan' of Suze Orman, I did try one of her suggestions. She suggested (I believe on a talk show) that we should without from purchasing anything for one week. I thought that was pretty easy, until I realized just how much I run out for little things here and there. Just making it through one day was sometimes a challenge. For instance, I didn't realize how much I would stop at the grocery store to pick up items that we had run out of, such as bagels. Once I realized I was doing that, I stopped. If there are no bagels, have toast. If there isn't any OJ, have water or milk. If we're out of cereal, scramble an egg. I really had to consciously not spend money. And that became my new habit.

I also wanted to share just how much our local grocery store here in New England helps me in saving money. Stop & Shop is my favorite grocery store hands down. Their shelves are always stocked and most of their sales are of the Buy One Get One (or Two) Free kind. Their store brand products are, in my opinion, comparable if not superior to many of the popular name brand products. They are currently running a promotion for free milk = buy so many gallons of milk (I think it's 5 or 6 and not all at once) and you get a coupon for a free gallon of milk or soy milk. I can't tell you how many times having that coupon for a free gallon of milk has helped us. We drink A LOT of milk - at least 4 gallons per week.

Another promotion that they are running for customers who have a store courtesy card is that you earn points whenever you shop there. A point for every dollar spent in a transaction. The points are then redeemed at their gas station for reduced price on gasoline. For example, if you have 200 points = $.20 off per gallon; 300 points = $.30 off per gallon; 500 points = $.50 off per gallon, etc. So yesterday, I had over 700 points saved on my courtesy card and I needed gas, so I only spent $1.61 per gallon for gas yesterday. I purchased 12.35 gallons for a total price of $20. My savings was $9.51. And all I needed to do was make sure my courtesy card was scanned every time I went grocery shopping. Not too bad.

Customer loyalty is certainly beneficial. I've tried shopping at other stores, such as Walmart, but the quality of food (especially the produce) just wasn't comparable. I wasn't saving money by paying a reduced price just to have to turn around and toss a loaf of bread that became moldy just after a couple of days. That's aggravating.

So my advice to you is, if you regularly shop at one grocery store, inquire about a customer courtesy card. Because you may not be receiving special offers and promotions that you could be entitled to just for being a loyal customer. And if you're trying to turn your finances around, try going day to day without buying anything. It won't be too long before you become a saver and not a spender.

Have a blessed weekend!

--Liane

Homemade Dishwashing Detergent

At long last, I have found an effective, easy homemade recipe for handwashing dish detergent.

Now, I do own a dishwasher. But, it came with the house. 20 years ago. It's also SO noisy that all members of the family would go into their rooms and shut the doors to get away from the racket. And forget about using the telephone while it was going - I used to have to take the cordless phone down in the basement just to hold a conversation. Never mind that, being so old, I'm sure it isn't energy efficient at all. So, I haven't used it in a few years. I plan on removing it (it's a built-in) and using the space for other things.

I don't mind hand washing dishes at all. I have a nice window right above the sink that looks out onto one of my flower gardens and a dogwood tree that holds a bird feeder. I usually wash a sink full of dishes every afternoon when I get home from work. It's a nice way to wind down from work and think about what I'd like to accomplish for the rest of the day.

Now, I usually would buy whatever dishwashing detergent is the cheapest at the grocery store. But, just like laundry detergent, if I don't have an extra bottle in stock, it's a hassle to run out of it when there's a pile to dishes that need attention. So, since I recently began making my own homemade laundry detergent (and loving it!), I decided to find a homemade recipe for the dishes, too.

The last kind of detergent I actually bought from a store was a Trader Joe's brand. I just ran out of that kind yesterday, so I kept the 25 oz. bottle. Here's the recipe I used:

1/4 cup soap flakes (I used my Pampered Chef cheese grater & grated an Ivory soap bar)
2 cups hot water
1/4 cup glycerin OR castile soap

Add the soap flakes to hot water until dissolved. Add the glycerin or castile soap and mix. Let mixture cool. Using funnel, pour into desired container.

I bought a bottle of castile soap at Trader Joe's for $8.99 for a 32-oz. bottle. I haven't checked Walmart or another comparable store to see if it may be cheaper.

Well, I used the detergent today for the first time and I do like it. It doesn't bubble or have suds. That's kind of different since I'm so used to commercial detergents having rich suds. The detergent seemed to move any grease or oil to the sides of the sink, so I think it was effective in breaking down oils. The dishes are very clean, and if I towel-dried them, they wouldn't have the occasional water spots. My hands do not feel tight and dried-out like they usually do after washing dishes.

So, overall, I don't think I'll be buying dish detergent again. I'm happy with the homemade recipe, both in washing the dishes and saving money.

How about you? Do you have a homemade recipe or remedy to share? If you try this or any other homemade dish washing detergent, please let me know how you like it (or not).

Have a blessed day!

--Liane

Score!!!!

I am finally feeling much, much better. That scratchy throat turned into a wicked sinus congestion and I think I narrowly missed a full-blown sinus infection.

So, after work today my daughter, Lacey, and I headed off to Trader Joe's for some organic shopping. It was a beautiful day to take a ride. Very sunny, but still wintry cool. I decided to take some country back roads on our way to the gas station before getting on the highway. We were driving along, listening to some music and chatting about this and that when Lace said, "Hey, did you just see that antique sewing machine for free?" "For FREE?!" I asked. She tells me to hurry and turn around just as a truck drives past us. Ugh, I hope that driver doesn't see it before we do.
I turned around and went back to this long dirt driveway and here's what was sitting there for Lacey:

It's a Viking sewing machine. It is obviously well used for however old it is. We couldn't find a date on it but it came with the original manual as well as all of this:


Buttons, needles, zippers, fasteners, ribbon, bobbin, extension cord and all kinds of do-dads.

Man, that thing is heavy! You should have seen me and my twig of a daughter trying to stuff it into the back of the mini-van.

I am so happy for Lacey. We'll be painting her room soon (yes, soon, Lace) and this will make a nice piece of furniture for her once she cleans it up a bit (the sewing machine, not her room).

And I scored some Toffifay at Job Lot. Great day all around.

I hope YOU have a wonderfully blessed weekend!

--Liane

Back to Basics, Part II

Now that we've discussed saving some $ by making homemade laundry detergent, let's talk about what we're going to do with the laundry once it's washed.

I am a HUGE fan of line-drying clothes. I get really excited (no, really), on a sunny day where the temp outside is at least 50 degrees in the morning. This is an excellent laundry day. If there's a little bit of a breeze, even better! I love everything about line drying. I love to see all five of my clotheslines full of freshly washed clothes. I know that on a warm sunny day, all of those clothes will be dry in a matter of hours. I love the scent of fresh air in our clothes.

I don't mind the 'roughness' of line-dried towels. Better exfoliation for after the shower. Plus, line-drying actually helps your clothes last longer. Where do you think all of that lint in the lint trap of the dryer comes from? Those are the fibers of your clothes being gradually removed every time they go into the dryer.

Even in the winter, I have a couple of wooden folding drying racks that I use to dry some of my clothes. I have pants and jeans that I don't dare put in the dryer (even on low temp) for fear of shrinkage. There was a time a few years ago, before I went back to work, when I would line-dry clothes in the winter if the temp was above freezing. Most of the moisture would evaporate and I would toss the clothes in the dryer for about 20 minutes to finish drying. Hey, 20 minutes is still a lot better (and cheaper) than 40 or 50 minutes.

What I really enjoy about line-drying is that most of the clothes dry in just a few hours, as I mentioned before. When I have to use my clothes dryer, sometimes I get occupied with other projects and don't readily remove the dried laundry for the next load. I end up spending an entire day going up and down the basement stairs doing load after load.

What about you? Are you a line-dryer too?

Have a blessed day!

Liane

Back to Basics

It seems as though frugality is the buzz-word of late. Due to our economic recession, I think more people are returning to 'the simple life'. What I mean is, people are figuring out how to save money. I think convenience products that we've been paying through the nose for are really not all that inconvenient for us to make ourselves.

Now, I've always been a pretty thrifty person. We've been a mostly one income family of four for the past 15 years. When the kids were small my weekly grocery bill was $80. Now that I have two teenagers, I'm happy to say that I can do quite well on a weekly budget of $130 - $150 for groceries.

One thing I absolutely hated having to buy (seemingly constantly) is laundry detergent. As I have mentioned, I have two teenagers, one being a girl. Even though both of the kids do their own laundry, inevitably, there would be the days that I heard "I have to do laundry but we don't have any more detergent!". I was always adding water to the detergent bottles to get every last bit I could for one more load. And the empty laundry bottles kept piling up in the laundry room.

A couple of months ago I began to wonder if there was a cheaper, homemade alternative to the store brand detergents. I wanted to save on gas from running into town, also. So I found a great recipe for homemade powdered laundry detergent. I prefer the powdered because I reasoned that it's easier to measure dry powder and easier to over measure liquid detergent.

So here are the ingredients: one bar of Ivory soap, one cup of Borax laundry booster, and one cup of Super Washing Soda.

I use my Pampered Chef cheese grater to grate the Ivory soap into flakes (the smaller the flakes the better). To the flakes I add a cup each of the Borax and super washing soda. I keep the mixture in a plastic tub, on which I wrote in a Sharpie the directions for everyone. The measuring scoop we use is one from a container of ground coffee (if you're like me, your kitchen drawers are full of them). We use one scoop per large load of laundry.

Now I have to say that I do believe that our clothes are much cleaner using the homemade recipe. Our whites do seem brighter. I love the clean scent of the detergent. And being as that most of my family has extremely sensitive skin (including psoriasis), we have not had any adverse reactions to this recipe.

The only drawback I have experienced is that some of the soap flakes do not completely dissolve in the wash and get stuck to the clothing. The small flakes come off in the dryer, or I merely remove what I do see. I feel that this is a small inconvenience to me. The flakes do completely dissolve in warm and hot water, though I usually use cold temp. in most loads.

I haven't bought laundry detergent from the store since the end of last year. I don't miss it one bit. It takes me minutes to make a new batch of laundry detergent, when needed. I've haven't tallied any figures yet, but I'm sure I'm saving quite a bit of money, too.

If you're interested in making liquid homemade laundry detergent, please check out my sis Robin's post here. If you try either method, please let me know how things turned out.

I'm working on using homemade fabric softener too, but haven't had much of a chance to use it yet.

Have a blessed day!

Liane

22.875% Sounds Good to Me!!

Nope, that's not the interest rate on my savings account (I wish!). And it's not the APR on my credit card (thank goodness!). And it's not my body mass index (it will be if I don't lay off of the Boston creme doughnuts!). What that number represents is the amount that I saved grocery shopping on Friday. And I didn't use coupons.

If you don't have a customer courtesy card with your local grocery shopping chain, then you should. I usually buy store-brand items. Almost always when there's a 'buy-one get-one free' promotion. This is when my hubby gets his beloved kielbasa. We have an upright freezer for such bargains. When I do my weekly grocery shopping, I try to get as much as I can to last my family of four the entire week. The only item I usually have to pick up towards the end of the week is milk. We are huge milk drinkers, going through at least four to five gallons per week.

So this past Friday, my daughter and I went to our local Stop & Shop. The items purchased were not just grocery items but included dog food, garbage bags, and a few picture frames that were on clearance for $1 each. My total grocery bill was $130.12 before my courtesy card savings. My total after sale promotions applied was $100.36, a savings of 22.875%. I was practically squealing with delight when, my daughter finding the clearance rack, we found Pupperoni dog treats on sale for $1 each! Now, these are Abigail's (the dog) favorite treats and they are usually priced at $4.59 each. I scooped up all four bags on the rack and immediately saved $14.36!

Stop & Shop also runs a promotion where you earn gas points. For every $1 spent, you earn one point towards saving at their gas pumps. While the Stop & Shop in our town does not have a gas pump, the one about 15 minutes away does. I accumulated my points over the past couple of months and went to the Stop & Shop gas station on Saturday and saved $.60 per gallon on gas to fill my van. I only paid $1.32 per gallon for gas. The customer courtesy card is absolutely free, and it saves me scads of money each year. I could have saved a bit more money on this past shopping trip. I could have saved an additional $3.39 if I didn't cave into the Pepperidge Farm Milano cookies (double chocolate, of course) buy one get one free promo. But, I did make up for it by buying the store brand English muffins over Thomas'. Thomas' were on sale as buy one get one free but the cost of one was over $3. The store brand, however, for the same product (six muffins per package) were priced at $1.29 each. So I got two packages of the store brand cheaper than buying the national brand on sale.

So, what does all of this savings mean? It means that we don't feel 'guilty' when we want to 'splurge' and buy Pizza Hut every once in a blue moon. The time and effort that goes into making our money stretch pays us when we want to splurge. (our 'splurges' generally never cost more than $40) That we're really trying to get the most for our money and try to spend wisely.
I hope that this post is helpful to anyone who is trying to budget more during these confusing economic times. I think if we take control of our own finances, we'll fare better during this recession. And sometimes it's the blessings, like Pupperoni on clearance, that does it for some of us.

Have a great day!

Savings Struggle

It is such a struggle. But I'm not sure which is harder. Trying to save or trying not to spend. You'd think that they would be one in the same but, to me, they are not. It seems like a simple concept. Don't spend the money, just save it. If it's not spent it must be saved. So, I figure out our monthly budget. I know what's coming in. I have a pretty good idea of what's going out. It doesn't fluctuate an incredible amount.


We use our debit card for all purchases, so that we're not carrying around cash and wasting it here and there on small items. I don't have to dig around in my purse looking for the exact change so I don't get stuck with a purse full of coins. I plan my errands so that I'm not wasting gas and shop for sale items. I buy mostly store-brand grocery items. We use a woodstove instead of our gas forced-air furnace. My husband brings leftovers from dinner to have for his next day's lunch every single day. I begin to think "Wahoo! We're doing it!" But then, dun dun dunnnnnn, the water bill arrives. Ugh. Forgot about that - has it been six months so soon? And then, right in the mailbox, our car insurance renewal. Yup, due on Friday it is. The premium is $150 cheaper if paid in full instead of installments. But! But! I was planning on saving money!


It's almost painful. Sometimes I long for the days of Little House on the Prairie when Ma Ingalls would sell her eggs to Mrs. Olson - at least she had a few cents to save! Well, I have nothing to sell. I guess I'll just have to wait things out and keep a sharp eye out for opportunities to come our way. Such as last year when my company offered me health insurance for our family. It was the same company we had through my husband's employer. However, the per paycheck premium was about $5 cheaper, and the key words being per paycheck. My husband was paid weekly, whereas I'm paid bi-weekly. So we switched from his employer to mine and we ended up saving $2000 last year. Now that savings did allow me and my kids to go on vacation. But sometimes it seems like just when you're getting a little ahead, one of the kids suddenly grows and now needs more shoes/socks/jeans, etc., or the car insurance bill comes, or the water bill comes . . . . . . . . .

Any one else feel the struggle between saving and spending?

2009 Goals

I don't usually make New Year's resolutions, but I've been inspired by some of my new blogging friends to determine what my goals are in my life for this year 2009.

Before doing that, I took a look back at this past year. This was the first full year in the past 14 years that I worked a part-time job that offers health insurance and a 401(k) plan. After being a stay-at-home mom for all of those years, I finally settled into working again, in a job that I love and that I've discovered I'm pretty good at. I've become more self-confident in who I am away from my family. Not only that, but everyone in my family, in these economic times, has been blessed in their employment. My husband was able to find two new positions this year, each one a more prosperous one. Thank you, God! Both of my kids work a seasonal summer job and I've seen them progress and become more confident in their positions as well.

My son had received his driver's license last New Year's Eve day and has been doing a very fine job. I did get choked up last President's Day, however, when I had the day off from work and my kids got in the car and took off for the mall - without me! (sob!). That was a wake-up call to me that these kids are nearly adults. That was a very difficult realization.

The biggest highlight this past year, of course, was the trip to Washington state to visit my sis Robin. We hadn't seen each other in five years, and I had never been on an airplane. My kids and I spent one glorious week with her and her fantastic family, and I can't wait to see them again.

I've made a lot of new friends and have grown in my relationship with my Lord, Jesus. I give Him the glory and praise for every blessing in my life and I pray that the roots of my faith will grow deeper still.

Now for this new year (in no particular order):

I want to be healthier. By all appearances, I seem to be quite healthy but my eating habits are not great. I loves my chocolate - sometimes, though, I can make a Snickers bar be my meal, and I reward myself for being good at the grocery store with a Reese's Big Cup. That has got to stop. My daughter has inspired me to take stock of what I put into my body. I want to stop drinking soda, eating chips, cut back on my chocolate - sticking to just dark chocolate, and eat more colorful fruits and veggies. I want to start walking again - I took my dog for a walk in the woods the other day and was quite winded. I didn't like that.

I want to seriously pay down debt. I already have a plan in place to aggressively pay down my credit card. I should have that paid off in July 2010. I don't even carry the card with me so that I'm not tempted to use it. I am paying extra every month on the mortgage and I'd love to see that gone in five years. I want to live below our means. We do a great job, now, but I know there's room for improvement. Peter and I discuss all major purchases. We've created a budget and are doing very well sticking to it.

I want to spend more time with my kids. That is, when I'm not at work I want my time with them to count. They'll be working again soon and they both have major milestones this year: Lacey will be 16 in April and begin her driver training in March, and Geoff will be 18 in June.

I want to grow closer to my husband. In October, we'll be celebrating 20 years of marriage (!), and I want him to know that he is most important to me (after Jesus). He is a wonderful husband to me and a terrific father to our children. God has blessed us immensely in so many ways. We have an awesome marriage and I want to keep it that way.

These are my current wants for the new year, and I know that with the Lord's help and guidance, He will help me accomplish these things. He knows the desires of my heart, and He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. And I know that God can do all things.

Have a blessed weekend!

--Liane