End of Day Check-in: A Completed To-Do List!

This is quite rare!  My To-Do List is COMPLETE!

1. Wash yesterday's dishes (yes, they sat overnight)
2. Start beans in crock-pot
3. Cut chicken for Ginger Lime Chicken recipe (tonight's dinner)
4. Prepare mixture for Tamale Pie
5. Layer Tamale Pie
6. Run Dishwasher
7. Wash today's dishes (from cooking)
8. Prep fresh green beans for dinner
9. Empty dishwasher
10. Prep and cook potatoes for dinner
11. Shoprite for some odds and ends (including the limes that I forgot for the Ginger Lime recipe)
12. Stop at Target to make a return
13. Return free Blockbuster rental
14. Finish Ginger Lime Chicken

Mid-day check-in...kitchen work getting there!

1. Wash yesterday's dishes (yes, they sat overnight)
2. Start beans in crock-pot
3. Cut chicken for Ginger Lime Chicken recipe (tonight's dinner)
4. Prepare mixture for Tamale Pie
5. Layer Tamale Pie
6. Run Dishwasher
7. Wash today's dishes (from cooking)
8. Prep fresh green beans for dinner
9. Empty dishwasher
10. Prep and cook potatoes for dinner
11. Shoprite for some odds and ends (including the limes that I forgot for the Ginger Lime recipe)
12. Stop at Target to make a return
13. Return free Blockbuster rental
14. Finish Ginger Lime Chicken

I stopped along the way to make some phone calls, snuggle with DD2, make DD2 lunch, and take care of some bills/paperwork. I'm feeling pretty good about my progress.  DD2 is feeling good, too!

Some work in the kitchen

I'm home today with no major errands to run and no appointments or plans.  DD2 and I are hanging out and doing some work in the kitchen.  

 

Step one: Clean up this mess!

Pantry Check-In: Expiring in August!

An important part of stockpiling is to make sure your stockpile doesn't go to waste.  I try to keep my stockpile organized with the items that will expire soonest in front and with things like cereals I can manage to always keep on top of that chore.  Sometimes there are small odds and ends that get lost in the pantry and for that reason I like to do a monthly check-in where I poke around the pantry for a few minutes (maybe 15) and see what's lurking. 

These items will expire at some point in August.  I don't mind using some items that are slightly past date, but I prefer to not let it go too far out.  Since, I snapped this picture we have already used up the Chow Mein mixes and some of the popcorn. In order to ensure that we use up the rest before too, I've packed these soon to expire items together in the pantry.

They are now front and center to help me remember to use them first.

One more tip:  When doing my monthly pantry check I like to keep an eye out for items that are expiring in a few months and any items that seem to be untouched.  If our tastes, needs, or desires have changed and these foods will not likely get used up, now is the perfect time to pull them out to donate!

Do-it-yourself Easter egg dyes

Photo Source

Kiwi's April/May 2011 issue had a great article on natural egg dyes. 

Pink

1 15oz jar of beets

1 cup water

1 tsp vinegar

Bring beets and water to a boil 

and let simmer for five minutes.  

Strain and cool, then add vinegar.

Yellow

1 tbsp turmeric or curry powder

2 cups water

Bring spice and water to a boil and simmer

for five minutes. Cool.

Green

1 cup water

3 chlorophyll capsule(vitamin/healthfood stores)

Bring water to a boil, then remove from heat.  

Open capsules and stir into water. Cool.

Blue

2 cups frozen blueberries

2 cups water

1 tsp vinegar

Bring blueberries and water to a boil, let simmer 

for five minutes.  Strain, cool, then stir in vinegar.

Do you have any "natural" dye recipes to share?

 

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Wednesday Tip Day-----How I saved BIG on trash!

PHOTO COURTESY OF RUBBERMAID

Like any good frugalista, I love to talk about the ways in which I save!

Well, sometime last summer, my Mom mentioned they had recently gotten rid of curbside trash pick-up.  They live in New England and were paying around $45/month for pick-up 2 times a month.

They had finally had enough of that and decided they would take their trash to the dump. 

They bought a permit for $15 and were ready to go.

My Dad has informed me that they are averaging 2 large bags every other Saturday (and that includes taking my uncles trash, too!) to the tune of $2/bag.

Now, when we do the math it's about $1.25/month for the permit plus 4 bags/month x $2 for a Grand Total of $9.25.  They do spend a little gas getting to the dump, which is about 2 miles across town, so we can add $1 for gas!

That means that every month they save just under $35 on trash!

Now multiply that by 12 months and it's a whopping $417 a year!

Now, that got me thinking!

So, I made a few phone calls.  I called around to see what the best rates were on curbside trash.  Our bill at that time was $29/month. As I made my calls, I knew the $2-$5 savings I might see per month was not what I was looking for.  So, we stopped by the local dump, where we were informed  the yearly cost for the permit is $20 and the cost per LARGE bag is $3.  I did the math and am proud to say we have been gladly escorting our trash to the dump every ten days (or so) for the past 6 months.

So, here's the math for my trash!

The permit is $1.67/month plus 3 bags/month x $3 for a Grand Total of $10.67/month.  (We don't really need to factor in the gas because our dump is on the way to just about everything in town and we don't make a special trip for our trash!). 

This means that every month we save just over $18 on trash!

Now multiply that by 12 months and it's a whopping $220 a year!

Now, that's not as great as the savings my parent's are experiencing, but I can think of a lot of things to do with $220 besides throwing it away!

This may not work for everyone, but it definitely works for us!

Wednesday Tip Day----Another Tip in Light of the Storm

(Spencer Ainlsey/Poughkeepsie Journal)

I know I already posted a tip for today, but I thought this might be appropriate for any readers who are experiencing this winter power outage or who might experience one in the next storm.

REMINDER:

LEAVE YOUR FAUCET DRIPPING TO HELP PREVENT FROZEN PIPES.

IF YOUR PIPES FREEZE, MAKE SURE TO LEAVE A FAUCET OPEN TO ALLOW PRESSURE OUT AS THEY THAW AND HELP PREVENT BREAKS.

STAY SAFE.

Wednesday Tip Day----Make your Candles Last Longer

Photo courtesy of http://www.cozyhearthandhome.com/

Chilling your candles before burning them can extend the life of the candle and also help it to burn more evenly.  There are two methods:

1)Freeze the candles for 24 hours before burning them.

2)Store them in the refrigerator for eight hours before you burn.

Do you have a preferred method?

Do you really do that?

We all have our little frugal crazies, right?

So, when my husband left an ALMOST empty bottle of body wash on the counter, I asked, "Is that for the recycling?".  I took the cap off and added some water and put it back in the shower caddy for another use (heck, maybe even 2)! We do this will all of our shampoo, condioner, body wash, .....well, you get the idea.

Does that make me crazy?  Does it make me resourceful? 

One of the things that I most love about a frugal lifestyle is that it emphasizes minimizing waste. 

The lifecycle of my body wash, for example, is such that I have minimized waste all along the way.

It starts with using my own tote and refusing the store's plastic.  Some stores even reward me for bringing my own tote!  Then I drop my receipt in the recycling bin for paper (after I record it in my excel sheet, ofcourse).  It's then used, every last drop is used up.  Finally, when it is quite literally ALL GONE, it finds its way to my recycling bin.  Yes, even recycling saves me money!  After all, it's less trash to pay for at the dump and our dump takes recycleables for FREE!

So, you see, what might seem crazy, really adds up.

What are your frugal crazies, the ones that aren't really that crazy at all? 

BTW-I don't throw away the slivers of bar soap left at the end, I add them to the new bar!

This post is linked to LifeAsMom!

I did it!

Remember my goal to improve organization?

I have taken one major step in the right direction!

I finally tackled my "to be filed" file and took care of over a years worth of filing.sorting.shredding!

It's feels so great to have this done.

And, I am retraining myself as well.

I had a few more things that needed to be filed a few days after I accomplished this and went to put them in the "to be filed" file and realized it would only take a moment longer to file them directly!

Hooray!

Throwing away Money!

In my recent post regarding my current goals, I spent a great deal of time discussing my desire to be more organized. With the Holidays and our home schedule a bit disrupted of late, I haven’t been cooking at home as much. I went to look for oranges for snack the other day and was very disappointed to find a few spoiled produce items.

There is nothing I detest more than waste, so I am blogging about it here to hold myself accountable.

I wrote primarily about my lack of organization leading to wasted time. Well, this serves as a good reminder that my lack of organization also leads to wasted products, which means I have wasted money.

I’m strongly considering using outlook reminders for scheduling tasks/reminders and will definitely include a reminder to check my fridge weekly for soon to expire food and my pantry monthly for the same.

What type of calendar/reminder system do you use for organizing your tasks?

Wednesday Tip Day----The second "R"

REUSE!

I've always been a recycler, but we must try and reduce and reuse first, right!

I don't know about you but I use more internet printable coupons these days than I do Sunday Supplement Coupons.

That being said I keep my printer set to the "draft" quality so as to avoid wasting ink, but I also rarely print on new paper.  I use every piece of paper that comes into my house for my lists and coupon printing. 

What do you reuse around the house?

CLOTHESLINE CONFESSIONS

I woke to lovely sunshine instead of nasty rain and decided I should take advantage of the weather and hang out some clothes to dry. (Yes, that really is a pic of my clothes out to dry and I sit here and type this.) 

I must confess two things.

The first confession is that I LOVE TO HANG CLOTHES ON THE LINE!!!!!!

I know many people dread laundry, but it's one of the few chores that I really love.

The second confession is that with all of the horrible weather we had in the Hudson Valley this summer, I did not use my clothesline as much as I usually do.  It seemed every time I hung my clothes out, the sun would magically disappear and rain would pour down.

Are there money saving "chores" that you normally partake in, but have let slip lately?