Birthdays and Calendars

I've added a calendar link to my sidebar. I've often lamented that my area doesn't have a good one-stop source for information about family friendly happenings and we often don't find out about some great event until we read the story about it in the newspaper after the fact. So, I've collected event information from many local sources and combined them into one calendar. I've tried to keep the focus on low cost options and so I've highlighted free events in green as a reminder to myself that we don't have to spend a lot of money to live a good life.

On an unrelated note, we recently celebrated my step-son Ethan's 11th birthday at home which is something that we haven't done in a few years. While I strive to strike a balance between fun and frugal when it comes to the kids' parties, we've been holding them offsite for the past few years simply because it's easier. No cleanup afterwards. No worries about things getting broken with 15 kids running around our small house. This year, however, we had a simple birthday celebration and it was a nice change. Ethan decided ahead of time to have a family lunch party at home and then Dad took him to meet up with his friends at the mall that afternoon to go see the new Narnia movie.

The decorations were simple. I hung the birthday banner that I made last year and hubby and Anna took a walk and picked these beautiful lilacs.

The table was very simply set with a vinyl tablecloth that could easily be wiped down (because I have three nieces and nephews under the age of five) and I didn't want to stress over trying to keep a nice cloth one clean. What I really would like to find is a clear, plastic one to protect my nicer cloths.

We had barbecue chicken sandwiches that were cooked and kept warm in the crockpot, potato salad, veggies and dip, and chips. I made a pitcher of pink lemonade and set out another pitcher of ice water. The napkins were left over from last year's party.

The cake was a bit lopsided but yummy. The two layers were filled with strawberry frosting. Here is a picture of the birthday boy blowing out his candles.

Frugal Laundry Choices

Here at the House on the Corner we've been rethinking and examining how we do everyday things. Instead of going along the way we've always done (or the way our parents did), we've been trying to take a closer look to see if there are any changes we can make that will benefit us financially, make things easier for us, or are better for the environment. Laundry care is one of those areas that we've made some changes.

• We switched to washing everything in cold water with the exception of our bath towels and haven't noticed any issues. This should save us some $ because the hot water heater is running constantly.
• The only items that we put in the dryer are bath towels, socks and underclothes (this is only because there were some complaints about crispy towels and underwear). Most of our shirts are hung on hangers to dry and pants are laid across a wooden drying rack. I sometimes throw a small load of almost dry blouses into the dryer for a few minutes to get rid of wrinkles because I don't like ironing. Most clothes will dry overnight using this method. The many benefits of this include lowering our electricity bill, our clothes are lasting longer and fading more slowly and the environmental benefits of not consuming energy.
• We started making our own laundry soap. We use 1 Tbs. of home made laundry soap per load. It doesn't have a strong fragrance and doesn't bother my sensitive skin. We use about 1/2 the recommended amount of softener, but only on select loads. Since we rarely use the dryer, a box of dryer sheets lasts a very long time and we tend to use one sheet several times before tossing it.

Laundry Soap Recipe

Here is the recipe that I use for powdered laundry soap, this recipe makes about 7 cups of laundry soap (approximately 112 loads) this works out to around $.06 per load:

3 bars Fels Naptha soap, grated (I paid $1.29/bar)

2 cups Borax (I paid $3.99 and this box contains enough to make several batches)

2 cups washing soda (I paid $2.49 and box contains enough to make several batches)

I start out by cutting the soap into chunks with a knife and then chop it into powder using the food processor.

I put this soap powder into a large airtight container and add the remaining ingredients. Then, I shake to thoroughly combine. Use 1 Tbs per load. Because I wash using cold water and worry a little about this soap dissolving, I let the washer fill with a little water and add the soap to let it dissolve before throwing the clothes in and I haven't had any problems.

Easing Into Frugality Part Two: Recycling

Save $ Strategy: Recycling

This one obviously varies by geographic area, but recycling in many towns is free. That means if you pay someone haul off your garbage, the more items that you recycle the less you may pay for trash pickup. In my town, we purchase city garbage bags for trash pickup, but the recycling is picked up for free. The dump in our area also has a recycling center that allows you to discard one bag of kitchen trash for free when you bring recyclables. If we took advantage of this we wouldn’t have to pay for trash at all, but for us the dump is definitely out of our way.

I would say that before we began recycling we put out on average about 3 bags/week and since then we’ve reduced this to 1 bag/week. At $1.75 per bag this is a weekly savings of $3.50 per week or $182 per year.

The obvious green benefit is that we are diverting the recyclable materials from sitting in a pile at the town dump. In the process, we are also setting a good example for the kids who in turn will (hopefully) grow up to recycle themselves. My husband likes the fact that he doesn’t have to empty the kitchen garbage can as often because it isn’t getting filled up with cardboard and plastic bottles.

Getting Started

Many towns/cities have a website that outlines the recycling programs for that area. If not, a call to your city clerk can usually get you the information that you need. Some cities provide containers for collecting recyclables. Ours does not, so we use plastic office trash cans that we got for free.

At first we were a little overwhelmed by what was recyclable in our area and what wasn’t. We began by bundling up our newspapers, magazines and catalogs for a month and were surprised at how quickly it added up. Once we felt comfortable with that, we expanded our efforts and began recycling plastic and cardboard (think about all those boxed grocery items like cereal or macaroni and cheese). Finally, we added glass jars and tin cans. We lined the recycling containers up along the wall on our back porch so that all we have to do is step out the back door from the kitchen and toss the item into the appropriate container. If you don’t have such easy access to an outdoor area, you could put one or two small bins under a cabinet or out of the way.

I find that just keeping recycling in mind has made me rethink a lot of things that I used to do out of habit and I’ve started implementing small changes in our home as a result.

• Instead of buying individually packaged snacks, drinks and lunch treats, it’s both frugal and environmentally conscientious to buy the bigger sized snacks and repackage into smaller portions. We’ve cut down on the amount beverages that we buy in disposable plastic containers opting for reusable solutions.
• I switched from using paper napkins to cloth ones. I picked these up at a garage sale, but I plan to sew some using scrap fabric one of these days.
• I cut way down on the amount of paper towels used for basic kitchen clean-up. We now use dish towels for the majority of chores and I keep a bag of rags (made from cut up old t-shirts) handy for really gross clean-ups like the toilet and such.

I'd be interested to know what changes others have made that benefits both the planet and the budget.

Coupons

I was planning on posting about recycling today, but I've got coupons on the brain right now so there's no use fighting it.

Years ago I tried couponing and spent a great deal of time cutting coupons from the Sunday paper and organizing them in a fancy (expensive) coupon organizer. More often than not, however, I would find myself at the store without my coupons and they would expire before I ever got around to using them. Eventually, I gave up and decided it wasn't worth my time.

A few months ago in an effort to further lower my grocery spending, I decided to give it another go. I got myself a cute coupon organizer at the Dollar Tree and sat down with the Sunday paper only to find that there weren't very many coupons in the coupon section anymore. Most of them were ads for mail order products and the entire coupon section might only yeild me three or four useful coupons. So now what? Well, I've kept my eyes open and have found some additional sources for coupons.

TV commercials. I've noticed a lot of commercials are now directing you towards a website for coupons. Just in past few days I've seen the following:

• $29 coupon booklet for Cascade, Dawn, Swiffer, Mr. Clean, Febreze, etc.



• A commercial for the new Woolite Carpet Cleaning Pod pointed me towards Smartsource.com where they have a $2 coupon for the Pod along with many other brands that you can print from your computer.

Samples. I check the websites for my favorite brands and products looking for free samples. Many of the free samples that I get are accompanied by a coupon such as this one from Tampax that came with a $1 coupon.

Products themselves. I've also found quite a few cereal coupons printed on the inside of the box.

So now that I'd collected myself some useful coupons, the next hurdle was making sure that I had them with me when I went shopping. My shopping trips these days are usually planned out, but now and then I find myself at the store unexpectedly so I decided to keep my coupon organizer in my car. I keep it in the glovebox and am able to organize and pull out expired coupons when my husband is driving us somewhere. I also keep any restaurant, fast food, or store coupons in the glove box as well.

I find it rewarding to check the store receipt and see that I've saved $5 or $10 dollars using coupons. It may not be much in the grand scheme of things, but it works for me.

Easing into Frugality Part One

When starting down the path of frugality the internet can be an invaluable tool, but it’s easy to become overwhelmed by all the information that’s available. It can be helpful to remember that frugality isn’t an all or nothing concept. There are some simple solutions that you can implement easily to help save your family money right away, but for the more involved frugal activities it may be better to break things into steps. This, of course, will be different for everyone as every family is at a different place in their frugal journey. I’d like to begin this blog with a series of simple and frugal ideas that even a beginner can use.

Save $ Strategy: Cooking at Home

How does this work?: The household food budget is one area that you have a lot of control over. If you’ve never stopped to think about how much $ gets spent on eating out, it can be pretty surprising. Here are some things that you can do:

Create a meal plan. Try it for one week and see how it goes. Come up with seven dinners that you’d like to make and assign them to one night that week. Or maybe do six meals and reserve one night for eating up leftovers. Now add on simple breakfasts and lunches. Post this plan on the refrigerator for all to see and use this plan to make your grocery list. You can take it a step further and use coupons to save you $ at the store. It’s really as simple as that, but there are some pitfalls to watch out for.

Oh no, there’s a game/recital/scout meeting tonight and we don’t have time to cook dinner!!

Frugal Solution 1: Stop at the grocery store and pick up a rotisserie chicken, frozen veggies and a bag of salad. Throw a quick meal together at home that is more nutritious and cheaper than take out or fast food.
Frugal Solution 2: Freeze dinners ahead of time and defrost overnight in the fridge. Whenever I make dishes such as spaghetti sauce, chili or sloppy joes I double or triple the recipe and freeze the extra portions for later. If you plan ahead and pull these out of the freezer the night before then by dinner time all that needs to be done is to warm it up and serve.

Frugal Solution 3: Use your slow cooker to make a meal that’s ready by the time you walk in the door. The added benefit of slow cookers is that you can use cheaper/tougher cuts of meat because the long cooking time makes everything nice and tender. There are a ton of great slow cooker recipes available online and it’s easy to feed your family spaghetti and meatballs, pulled pork, roasted chicken, stew, pot roast…

I just don’t feel like cooking tonight!!

Frugal Solution 1: Buy frozen dinners, pot pies, frozen pizza at the grocery store when they're on sale. They may not be the most frugal purchases in your cart, but they’re certainly cheaper than going/ordering out.
Frugal Solution 2: Keep the ingredients on hand for a very simple meal that your husband or older children can cook on their own (depending on skill level). How about breakfast for dinner night with pancakes or an omelet?

It’s boring to eat at home all the time!!!

Frugal Solution 1: If the weather’s nice how about a picnic at the park?
Frugal Solution 2: Theme night. Make one night a week or month a theme night and cook and decorate to match. You could go ethnic with a Chinese, Japanese, Indian, or Italian theme and have the kids help you decorate accordingly using items that you have on hand. Or you could choose a different family member each month and have them create a menu of their favorite foods. You can use this as a chance to learn about different cultures as a family.
Frugal Solution 3: Invite friends and family over.
Frugal Solution 4: How about starting a supper club with your neighbors/friends/family? Every month you could gather at a different member’s house who is then responsible for the main dish and everyone else brings a dish to pass.

In Part 2 of this series, I'll talk about how recycling can save you money and benefit the planet.