Archive for the ‘Thrifty Moms’ Category

Five Featured Friday Freebies

Hope you’re having a great Friday! Here are some featured freebies, and of course, they may be discontinued at anytime.  Hope you’ll find something here that you can use.

Post-it Durable Tabs – Offer good until Mar. 31, or while supplies last.

Free Sample Emergen-C Vitamin drink packet

Free Interactive Potty Training Success DVD

Free Sample of Fekkai Glossing Cream for your hair – from Walmart website.

Joint Oats for Dogs free sample

How to Feed Your Family Healthy Meals on a Tight Budget - Video

Thought you might enjoy this video today on “Thrifty Thursday”

Step 1: Start with hot cereal

Start the day with a hot cereal; they’re much cheaper than cold cereals. Oatmeal is a nutritional winner and very inexpensive if you buy a container of plain, old-fashioned oatmeal.

Step 2: Stretch your milk

Stretch your milk dollars by diluting a can of evaporated milk or some powdered milk with water to create whole milk.

Step 3: Stock up on frozen veggies

Stock up on frozen vegetables when they go on sale. Unless your produce was just picked, it’s just as healthy — or even more so — to eat the frozen stuff, which locks in the nutrients.

Canned vegetables are another cheap alternative to fresh, but rinse them before eating because many are loaded with salt.

Step 4: Eat fruits in season

Limit your fruit purchases to whatever is in season, the exception being bananas and apples. The former are relatively inexpensive year-round, and the latter are low in calories, high in fiber, and may reduce your risk of heart disease and cancer.

Step 5: Snack happy

Enjoy healthy snacks without spending a fortune by air popping corn kernels and buying nutritious nuts like almonds, walnuts, pecans, and peanuts. Buy in bulk.

Step 6: Limit meat consumption

Only eat meat two or three times a week, and make cheap meats as tender and tasty as pricier cuts by marinating them overnight or slow-cooking them in a Crock-Pot.

Step 7: Eat alternative proteins

Make the most of alternative sources of protein, like peanut butter, eggs, chunk light tuna (which is not only the cheapest kind of tuna, but also contains the least mercury), and beans.

Buy bagged beans in bulk — the kind you soak overnight. They’re cheaper and healthier than canned beans, which are high in sodium.

Step 8: Eat brown rice

Eat brown rice. It’s a bit pricier than white, but much better for you and still a nutritional bargain.

Step 9: Indulge in dessert

Indulge in desserts by making them from scratch using nutritious ingredients that you have on hand. Bake your own oatmeal and peanut butter cookies; mash and freeze overripe bananas for “ice cream”; bake bruised apples with a little honey.

Fun Snack Ideas for Kids

It’s no secret that kids love to snack.  While kids are young they use a lot of energy that requires constant refueling of their hungry tummies, but as you know, buying pre-made snacks can be quite costly.   It only requires a little planning to keep snacks fun, exciting and affordable.

Here’s a few healthy and fun snack ideas for kids:

Fruit on a Stick – Cut up a bunch of different fruits such as apples, bananas, kiwis, mango and add a few grapes. Thread them onto a skewer for a delicious summer time treat. To make it a little more special add a few pieces of marshmallows between the fruit.

Pickle on a Stick – If your kids love pickles, put a big sweet or dill pickle on a stick.  They’ll think it’s extra special.

Quick Banana Ice – Take a few bananas and mash them in a bowl. Cover and place in the freezer for about 30 minutes. Remove from freezer, fluff up with fork for a healthy, ice cream like treat.

Pitta Pizza – Spread a little tomato sauce on a pitta bread and cut into small triangular pieces. Top with a little grated cheese and place in a moderately heated oven for about 5 to 10 minutes until the cheese melts and starts to bubble.

Sweet Tortilla Shapes – Using small fun shaped cookie cutters cut fun shapes out of a tortilla (wrap). Place on non stick cookie sheet and lightly brush with a little butter. Lightly sprinkle (you only need a little) with a mixture of 1 part cinnamon and 3 parts brown sugar and bake in a moderately hot oven for 10 minutes for a sweet and crispy treat.

Frozen Mandarin Wedges – Peel a few mandarin slices and cover in plastic wrap. Place in the freezer for about an hour for a thirst quenching treat.

Banana Wheels – Place a cup or so of cheerios in a plastic bag and using the back of your hand or a rolling pin flatten until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Slice a banana into rounds and place a few at a time in the plastic bag. Shake lightly to cover the banana pieces (banana wheels) with the cheerios mixture.

Mini Wraps – Lightly spread a tortilla with a little cream cheese and place one or two slices of thin ham or turkey over the cream cheese. Roll tightly and cut into small rounds.

Jiggly Fruit – Make a portion of strawberry flavored jello per package instructions and place in the fridge for about 30 minutes. Open and drain a can of fruit cocktail and add to the jello and mix. Place back in the fridge until jello is fully set.

Ants on Boats – Cut a few apple wedges and spread thinly with peanut butter. Add a few raisins over the peanut butter and enjoy. You can also use cream cheese instead of peanut butter.

Pick and Mix – Kids seem to really enjoy the variety of finger foods rather than eating a lot of one thing. A great snack is to place a selection of finger foods on a serving plate and let the kids choose. You can serve a combination of foods like carrot sticks, cucumber rounds, cherry tomatoes, pretzels or pretzel sticks, small savory crackers, bread sticks, little cubes or slices of cheese, small slices of ham or turkey, grapes and other pieces of cut up fruit, mini muffins, and dried fruit such as raisins or apricots.

*Please share some of your own fun snack ideas for kids by commenting below.

How to Save More Money on Groceries

There are two ways to save more money on your groceries:  buy less or pay less.  The good news is, there are several ways to do both of these things.

Buying less may sound like you have to cut down on what you’re buying,  but this isn’t always true. Spending less always sounds like going into the supermarket with a bag full of coupons.  It’s true that these are both ways to cut down on your grocery shopping bills but with a little bit of thought you could probably cut down your spending many other ways as well.

1.  Save More Money on Groceries by Using Less.

- Reuse some items more than once like plastic bags and containers.

- Make some items last longer such as diluting fruit juices.

- Be smart with your purchases.  Think about all the things that you might be wasting because they’ve gone bad or expired before it gets used. Large quantity items that are perishable and some fruits and vegetables can cause this problem.

- Replace some disposable items with permanent ones.   For example: permanent coffee filters, plastic food containers instead of disposable bags, razors for shaving, even water filters. There must be tons of people throwing money away because they buy bottled water instead of using a water filter at home.

2.  Save More Money on Groceries by Paying Less.

- Buy the items on sale, buy cheaper brands, or buy in bulk. Often items that are reduced on clearance are perfectly suitable to consume it’s just that the store has to sell them quickly or face throwing them out.

- Avoid impulsive buying. Many people buy impulsively because the products are there on the shelf in front of them. You know what they say, “never go grocery shopping when you’re hungry or without a list.”

- Shop around different stores to find more bargains.  You might be surprised by how much you can save.  Also, you can inquire whether the store will match prices from other stores which will save on gas from running around.

- Beware of supermarket tricks. Watch for common practices such as raising the price of a popular brand for about two weeks and then ‘”price cutting” to just below the original price to make it look like it’s on special offer.

-  Consider the value of the sale. When supermarkets place items as special offers, such as “buy one and get one free” people believe it’s a great deal. It often is, but this may cause you to consume more than you normally do.  So to optimize your savings, use your normal amount and save the “one you got free” for the next time you would normally use it.

*The best “two for the price of one” offers are on items that you can only consume at a certain rate like bathroom and cleaning products, another other items such as toothpaste and soap powder.

- Be careful with your coupons. Sure coupons are a great way to save money on groceries, but if you’re buying things you normally wouldn’t buy or twice as much to get the special sale price then you may actually end up spending more. Often times the coupon offers are higher priced items than the store brands.

- Be careful of store brand or value products that are cheaper imitations of the real thing. Buying lower quality can be a money saver if you choose wisely, but if you end up using twice as much and the product lasts half as long, then you might as well enjoy the real thing.

Take the Thrifty Challenge

Proverbs 31:13 says, “She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands.”

One way we can save more money at home is by expanding our knowledge and abilities.

With 3 boys and 1 husband, I knew the cost  of haircuts would really add up over a year’s time.  With much practice, I have learned how to cut hair decently enough to pass as a fair haircut.  Perhaps there’s something that you can take time to learn to do that would save money for your household.  There is a wealth of information and numerous step-by-step videos online for almost any project you would like to conquer.

Save money by challenging yourself to “do it yourself”.

Sometimes, we already have the knowledge and ability to do more things than we do.  We  just need to roll up our sleeves and do a little extra W-O-R-K.

I faced this challenge this week.  My husband likes something for breakfast that he can grab and go.   We usually picked up a box of muffins each week at the grocery store so that he could toss them in with his lunch stuff in the mornings.  Because we’re also trying to eat healthier, he discovered that the ingredients in the muffins were not that good for him.

I decided to rise to the challenge to find a healthy version of oatmeal muffins that I could make for him and my boys.  The fact is, I had already been thinking on conquering this issue as a weekly project to save money on muffins.  So one evening, I rolled up my sleeves and set out to make some muffins.  I doubled the recipe and then stored them in the refrigerator for the week.  Surprisingly, it really didn’t take me that long to do…I just hadn’t taken the time to do it.  Now we have healthier muffins for breakfast and we’re saving money too!

Take the Thrifty Challenge!

I want to challenge you ladies to find just ONE extra thing to do this week that can save you some money.  Make it a goal…and please do share a comment with us below.  (Making your goals public can help you commit to accomplishing them!)

3 Easy Ways to be a Thrifty Wife and Mom

As I was praying today what I should write about for “Thrifty Thursday” (as sort of my weekly theme),  the Lord brought to my mind Proverbs 12:27 which says, “The slothful man roasteth not that which he took in hunting: but the substance of a diligent man is precious.”

How does this verse tie in with thriftiness?

Have you ever brought home a bag of potatoes and then ended up having to throw half of them out because you avoided peeling and cooking them?  How about a meal that you actually made and you put some of the leftovers in the back of the refrigerator and completely forgot about them?

Every time something like this happens to me…I feel the conviction in my heart… “the slothful man roasted not that which he took in hunting.”

The things that the Lord has provided for us should be precious.  We should strive to be good stewards in the way we use our money and our possessions.

I believe the first step to becoming a thrifty wife and mom is being diligent with the substance that the Lord has already given you.

1. Try to stretch that dollar you have in your wallet. Take notice on the best deals when you’re shopping…ounce for ounce, pound  for pound, etc.

2.  Use the last drop. Scrape the peanut butter and mayo jars for one more sandwich.  Add a little water to those shampoo and dishwashing soap bottles for one more wash, etc.

3.  Use it again. Before you throw something out, determine if you can use it for something else.  It’s fun being creative.  While growing up, my mom and I used many throw away items for projects and crafts.

I encourage you to become a thrifty wife and mom.  And, by the way, I really love hearing from my readers.  Please share your tips and ideas with everybody!