Thursday, August 27, 2009

Trio of tips


See the frugality in the above picture? No? Well, look closer:

1. Unplug appliances when not in use! You can see the "unplugged" plug of my kitchen radio/CD player. Do I really need it to be plugged in all the time? Of course not. Why not pull the plug, so that I'm not paying for the digital clock to be on? (After all, I have multiple clocks in my kitchen already. Who needs one more?)

2. As a mom, I love portable snacks. But buying individual sized everything gets expensive. One of my solutions is to buy ONE package of individual servings, and refill the containers. In this case, raisins. I reuse my little boxes, refilling them from the big container. This reduces my per-ounce cost, but I still get the advantage of portability.

3. Canning - okay, sure, not rocket science there. But I preserve my own garden produce (in this picture, yummy salsa), and I got my canning jars for free by asking around. Put the word out when you're on the hunt for something. You never know when someone will be glad to pass their junk (your treasure) on to you!


Check out more thrifty tips at Life as Mom.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Saturday, August 15, 2009

The Haircut

Preschooler + scissors + sister with pigtails = very angry mommy

Joey thought it would be a good idea to cut Grace's hair. I was not pleased.


Neither was Gracie, when I took her to the kiddie salon for the "fix."


No, not even the balloon made her happy.


Now she has a funky (and not in a good way) looking shag 'do. I guess I should be thankful that it's not Christmas or Easter picture time.

Friday, August 7, 2009

Say hello...

To my little friend! This praying mantis has been hanging out on my clothesline for about 3 days. Hubby got a picture of him, perched on a clothespin. (The mantis was perched. Not Hubby.)



I have put him down in the garden several times - mantises (mantii?) are supposed to be helpful insects, eating the "bad" garden bugs. But my little friend won't stay put. He likes the clothesline. Who am I to argue? Maybe some nasty little bugs are trying to make off with my capri pants...

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Taste of pioneer life

This picture was taken yesterday, when we lost power due to some wicked thunderstorms. I feel like I should read Little House on the Prairie to the kids, now. We needed the camping lantern just to see our lunch! (We had just gotten home from the library, so the kids were gathered around the lantern reading books and eating peanuts while I made our no-cook lunch.)

Walgreens & CVS this week

Total spent = $8.61
Total saved = $63.68