Frugal Things That Stuck

As I discussed in my prior post, I fell off the frugal/thrifty wagon, but there were some frugal things that I started that just stuck. I'm going to discuss some of them here and how easy they are to do.

1. Cutting dryer sheets: Because I have super sensitive skin I only use Bounce Free and Clear sheets. After a few rashes from other brands, I won't switch because I know that this brand will not give me a nasty surprise. One way to save money is buy them when you have a good coupon and cut them up. Dryer sheets are to reduce the static in your clothes from the dryer. Using a whole sheet isn't necessary. I cut them into thirds, tripling the number of loads I can do. For my photos I used an 80 count box, so, instead of 80 loads I'll have 240 loads. Be aware that in the winter you may need to use 2 pieces because it's so dry, but even with this you'll still get extra bang for your buck.

2. Not being brand loyal. Now, I know just above I said I only used Bounce, well that is just about the only brand that I'm 100% loyal to. I can usually use an item as long as it is fragrance free for sensitive skin. I always compare prices to all the brands on a shelf for the product I want. I do not buy name brand unless its on a great sale. Most store brand items are just as good. 

3. Shopping the Clearance racks! I know most people will skip right over these because they feel there is something wrong with the product, especially food. Well, in most cases that's absolutely false! Two weeks ago I found boxes of Rice A Roni for .85 per box. Why, because the boxes were banged up. It looks like they something fell on them but none of the boxes were open, so even though they were dented the food was still good. Keep in mind if you use coupons, bring them with you to the store. Most stores will allow you to still use coupons on clearance items, making it an incredible buy. 

4. Asking yourself, why do I need this. When making a purchase I always ask myself this, even with food that's not on my grocery list. If you can't answer it with something like, I just remembered I'm out or it's something that my family uses a lot and its on a surprise sale, or on the clearance rack and I can stock up to save money in the future, then you probably shouldn't get it. Now, I'm not saying don't treat yourself or splurge occasionally, what I'm saying is don't buy lobster or steak at the highest price while wandering thru the store trying to find dinner. It will kill your budget. 

5. Making a weekly meal plan and doing all your shopping at once. I've tried to keep up with this but fell off for a while during the last part of my pregnancy. I've recently got back into it and can already see the payoffs again. Meal planning isn't all that hard, look at what you have in your house, check the flyer for the local store and come up with meals you know you like. If you want to be adventurous pick 1 meal you haven't tried before, don't do all new meals with large ingredient lists that you have to buy all or most of. Once you have your menu, confirm what items you already have in your cupboards and refrigerator, put together a shopping list and stick to it. Make sure you take into account breakfast, lunch and some snacks too. To help with my menu, I purchased a small magnetic white board for my fridge. I found it on Amazon for $18.95.  This menu is GREAT, it keeps me on track with what I'm cooking, helps me remember if I need to grab something out of the freezer and lets my husband know whats for dinner. If he knows whats for dinner, he's great about getting dinner started.

Starting my frugal Journey - all over again

I've been on the frugal train a number of times over the years, and over the past year we have let some of our frugal ways slip. This year has been a year of changes, we bought a house, a car and had a baby. Our budget is pushed to the limit and we're looking for ways to trim the 'fat' off it.

Just before our second wedding anniversary my husband and I got bit by the house bug and we bought a house. This house was okay for the first year or two and then we realized we made a HUGE mistake. We hated the house's location, the house was built in the 1880's and needed a ton of work and we found that prior repairs to the house were done wrong. We sunk quite a bit of money into the house for new repairs and to redo repairs. The only good thing about the house was its proximity to my work. It was only a 20 minute walk, this allowed me to not only get exercise but save on purchasing a monthly parking pass.

We realized we didn't get a great deal on our house and looking back on it felt pressured to buy quickly. After that experience we changed real estate agents and shopped around for a mortgage. We decided to hold off on seriously looking for houses because we had to sell our house first. It took almost 6 months before our buyer made an offer. Then the whirl wind began, we looked at 30-40 houses. Our home was a house that we put on the list to see at the last minute and doubted we'd actually like it. The item that got it on the list was the wood stove. My husband and I both thought that would be wonderful to have a wood stove. Once we saw the house, even though it wasn't the two story classic house we had been looking for, we realized immediately, it was perfect. We came in under asking and on February 14th the seller accepted our offer. Then on February 17th we found out we were pregnant.

We took a mortgage that was a little higher than we wanted but didn't mind because we had enough room in our budget to absorb this and still have money left over to keep adding to our savings. Then in October just before our son was born, we decided to take the step to purchase an SUV. We needed an SUV to make it up and down the hill to our house, without it my husband wouldn't be able to get into work.

Then my son was born at the end of October. Thankfully, my husband and I were very conscious of the fact that we would have medical bills. We saved throughout the year and knew we had the money for the bills so we could pay them as soon as they came in.

Unfortunately, taking on a higher mortgage, purchasing a car and having the expenses of a child have strained our budget significantly. It didn't help that my company only pays my salary at a percentage. Thankfully, we worked hard to plan ahead and have been able to stay current on all our bills, however, to do so we've had to dip into our savings. Now we need to go back to being incredibly frugal and building our savings back up. Which is one reason I've started writing this blog,  I want to chronicle my journey and hopefully help others by discussing my successes and failures. Because let's be real- not everything we try is a success.

Multiple Meals with this Delicious 3 Ingredient Chicken

My idea of a perfect meal is one that has few ingredients, doesn't take a master chef to make and tastes delicious. So, when I found a recipe for BBQ Italian Chicken, it was love at first taste. It's three ingredients: Italian dressing, BBQ sauce and chicken.

Italian BBQ Chicken

1 Cup Italian Dressing

1 Cup BBQ Sauce

3-4 Chicken Breast (I usually use 4)

Put all ingredients in crock pot and cook on low for 6-7 hours or high for 3-4 hours. 

Serve with a side of your choice. 

What makes me love this recipe even more is its leftover potential. I've used it for leftovers in multiple ways. One of my favorites is to cut the chicken up, heat it with the juices in a frying pan. We eat it over rice or alone with baked beans. 

Delicious Pasta

I used to meal plan constantly and stock up on items that I knew me and my husband would eat. Unfortunately, when I got pregnant, I stopped doing that because I was so tired. However, now that the little man is here I'm back to meal planning and pinching every penny I can. 'Cause damn kids are expensive.

So this post I'm going to talk about one meal that I make that is will be three meals for the hubby and I. It's a zucchini, mushroom and pasta dish. I love it! I found the recipe from Damn Delicious

The original recipe calls for:

1 pound pasta
2 zucchini chunked
1 bag frozen peas
16 oz cremini mushrooms
2 cloves garlic sliced
4 1/2 cups water
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Now the recipe that DD gives says to put the water, garlic, mushrooms, peas, zucchini and pasta in the pot. Once the water is reduced then add the heavy cream and parm cheese. Having it this way is declicious. It'll come out looking like this:

I make it this way the first night, and then the second night to change it up I put in some sweet Italian sausage in it. I usually use the sausage patties and break them apart but you can use anything type that you want.

Once the sausage is cooked heat the leftover pasta in a large sauce pan. Add the sausage, some more cream and parm cheese to it. Turn the burner to a medium low heat- you want it to heat up all the way through without burning the bottom. Make sure to stir often. Once it's heated all the way through enjoy. This meal feeds the two of us for 3-4 nights, depending on how much is eaten for lunch.