Frugal in the kitchen

I've had a few people ask me recently to share some frugal tips. I thought it'd be easiest to share my frugal tips room by room, just for organization's sake. I'm starting with the kitchen, because it seems to be the easiest place to see fast results.

Food 

Here you can read my post about how to start the ball rolling on frugal grocery shopping. Stockpiling is key!

Next, you must make sure you're using everything you buy. I'm not always perfect in this respect, especially since returning to school. Here is a post about how I used up our turkey leftovers at Thanksgiving, just to give you an idea of what I'm talking about. Dinner leftovers make great lunches the next day. Grilled chicken can become chicken salad, or be diced and thrown into a tortilla with some salsa and a bit of cheese. Even a couple of spoonfuls of veggies can be a side dish for Sam (14 months old) at lunch. I've dressed up fried potatoes with cheese to make a quick lunch for me. And remember to save the heels of bread for homemade croutons or breadcrumbs! Get creative! Try stretching your dollar by delaying your grocery trips by just one more day, if possible. An eight-day week might make your creativity blossom! My trips are usually about every 10 days, not counting a quick stop by Aldi for milk every few days.

Think ahead! I really liked the suggestion in The Tightwad Gazette, that dinner plans for the next day be made while washing dinner dishes. That way I'm still in the kitchen, thinking about dinner, thinking about what we had and what leftovers I've got - it helps me decide what I'm going to make the next night and determine if anything needs thawing. (That means I'm less likely to have a dinner emergency at 4:30 the next night and run down to the corner grocery for a pricey convenience meal!)

Cleaning

Most of the cleaning supplies I use, I make myself from non-toxic ingredients. There is no need for me to reinvent the wheel and detail all of my recipes, as so many other women have done a better job than I of putting the info out there. I recommend the book Clean House, Clean Planet for the best recipes. I've also made my own laundry soap in the past. Go Google it, I know you'll get a few 100 recipes. My tip? Use the dry recipe. It's easier to put together.

The basic of cleaning with homemade ingredients is vinegar. Don't like the smell? So what?! The smell goes away as soon as the vinegar has dried. I also use tea tree oil, castile soap (Dr. Bronner's Peppermint is my fave), and baking soda. Borax (my one toxic ingredient) is used in the toilet bowl.

Trash Talk

Don't buy paper products to clean with. Good grief! Talk about throwing your money away! Show of hands - how many people have stained t-shirts that they just throw away? Mismatched or holey socks? Start yourself a little bin in your laundry room or in your kitchen for those odds and ends, and put them to good use. Have an unmentionable mess that you NEED to throw away? Then use that old t-shirt to clean it up and THEN throw it away.

Are you reusing your food containers for storage? There are so many uses for salad containers, for coffee cans, for cereal boxes - you can pretty up so many items that most "normal" (read: in debt up to their eyeballs) people would throw away. Don't even get me started about milk jugs. Those little wonders are GOLDEN in a frugal kitchen. And don't even tell me if you're not washing out your ziploc baggies after every use - 'cause you know that those couple of bread crumbs left in that bag makes it completely unsanitary for reuse. (that was sarcasm, btw.) That kind of waste keeps me up at night. *shudder*

Are you composting? Recycling? Trash bags are expensive. Some of you have to pay for trash pickup by weight or volume. Ask yourself, every time you throw something away, "Can I reuse this?"

Are you using cloth napkins? Handkerchiefs? (Use the 100% cotton variety of both.) Handkerchiefs can often be found at Target after Christmas for a steal. I've also found some beautiful vintage ones at garage sales for a quarter. If you have children, are you cloth diapering?

Okay, that's all I've got for now. Next up? The laundry room!

Marsh Triple Coupons!

Total spent = $20.59

Total saved = $66.30

I would've done better, but I had to get milk. Still, not bad!

Wags trip, week of 9/27-10/3

Out of pocket = $29.49 + tax

Saved = $205.97

I shopped at three different stores, so I didn't clean any one store out - because that's just rude. So here's what we got:

18 Chapstick *

18 Halls cough drops *

9 Herbal Essence mousse *

4 Herbal Essence shampoo *

4 Herbal Essence conditioner *

2 Fusion razors **

2 packages of Emergen-C *

2 Vaseline lotions **

1 package Dentek floss picks

Fillers (to bring transactions positive - Wags doesn't give back overages):

2 combs

5 Bazooka gum

2 Kit-Kats

1 package yogurt-covered raisins

3 Halloween plastic cups

1 Mentos

3 Trident (expensive way to keep kids busy while ringing up 20+ transactions)

19 pencils

* = free after Register Rewards + coupons

** = money maker

The stockpile is replenished, not that it was really wanting. : D

Now I'm on the hunt for free deodorant. We're down to about 9 in the stockpile.

Walgreens & CVS this week

Total spent = $8.61

Total saved = $63.68

You win some, and you lose some

I bought some yummy Starbucks frappuccinos at Walgreens this past week, courtesy of a sale + coupons. After I drank my first frap, I noticed how pretty the bottle is. See?

It looks like a miniature old-fashioned milk jug. I wanted to keep it, because it's pretty. But I wanted to USE it, not just keep it around, taking up space. I tried putting pens in it, but the mouth is too narrow, and the glass is too tall. Jelly jars work better for pen storage. Then I tried using it as a vase for a couple of flowers:

Fuzzy picture and my poor photographic skills notwithstanding, that didn't work, either. So I have three of these little bottles hanging out in my stockpile space, waiting for a use. Ideas?

I <3 Coupons!

So this week at Meijer, I have two good deals cooking!

1. Buy 4 Crystal Light On The Go packs

use 2 $2/2 internet printables (here and here)

use 4 $1/1 Mealbox coupons (here)

get 4 Crystal Lights and 2 packs of water for less than $4. 

2. Ritz (sale 2/$5)

use $1 Mealbox coupon (here), $1/1 internet printable (here)

AND the manufacturer coupon from the 5/17 Smart Source for free Wheat Thins when you buy any Ritz

AND the manufacturer coupon from the 3/15 Smart Source for BOGO Artisan Wheat Thins

get 3 boxes of crackers for $0.50

Thanks to the ladies at HCW for these! 

The stockpile, again

Here's an updated picture of the stockpile. It's still growing, mostly with freebies, of course. Most of my stockpile is toiletries: deodorant, soap, shampoo, styling products, toothpaste, toothbrushes. 

Below is a better picture of (most of) the soap and shampoo. I think I have enough to last us the year.  I hit a killer deal at Walgreens this week on Softsoap, and ended up paying only tax - that's 28 cents a bottle. So I drove around to several stores (because I didn't want to clear the shelves of any one particular store - that's just rude!) and stocked up. I have 35 bottles. I will, of course, be sharing with our parish food pantry. 

Hubby has promised to move some more shelving into the little basement room that houses my stockpile. That will give me more room, and allow me to organize a bit better. I'm excited - it's like having my own little drug store! I have to admit, too, that it's the best-smelling room in the house! 

A thing of beauty...

is a joy at the grocery store! After months of struggling along with my previous coupon organization system, I finally broke down and bought a Mead Five-Star binder, upon the recs of some nice ladies at HCW. I have died and gone to coupon heaven! 

I had resisted buying a binder and accessories for quite a while. My previous accordion file was free, and being the tightwad that I am, I didn't want to spend money on a new system. But I realized last weekend at Meijer that my accordion-file system just wasn't working. Imagine having fistfuls of coupons, sifting through them in the aisle just because you found something on sale and darn it! You knew you had clipped that coupon! Now where is it?! (Now imagine that with a toddler in tow, who is melting down because you won't let her open the Goldfish crackers. Not pretty.) 

Yeah, I was frustrated. So I bought a new binder. I stocked it with two calculators (one for figuring per-unit prices, the other to keep a running total), a pen, paper, paper clips, kid scissors, and plenty of clear sleeves used to store baseball cards. And it zips closed, so if I drop it, I don't have a coupon avalanche! (Right, Hubby?) See? Look! 

In the above photo, you can see the front of my binder. It has a mesh pocket that zips closed. I keep my calculators here, and any coupons that I'm using during the shopping trip that I'm on. 

In this photo (above)  you can see the inside cover of my binder. On the left, there are several accordion folders, in which I keep lists, uncut inserts, and store ads. On the right, you can see a small zippered pouch that holds my scissors, paper clips, and spare note paper. 

And here is the best part- the COUPONS! Oh, they are so organized, and bring a leap of joy to my little thrifty, hyper-organized heart. I purchased some dividers along with the binder, and so I have divided my coupons by my store's layout. Health & beauty comes first, frozen food and bread comes last, with everything else in the middle. I broke out my label maker and labeled all my little tabs, and I am in LOOOOOVE. 

Did I mention that this sucker is HEAVY? Yeppers, it's a bit of a chore to haul her around, but I think it's worth it. I can find everything now, just by flipping pages. Hubby thinks I'm nuts, but that's okay, because I've already saved enough to pay for my new binder. : ) 

Walgreens, revisited

Today at Walgreens, I bought all this shampoo, conditioner, and hair gel, plus a pack of gum. I paid $3.77. (Of that $3.77, $2.60 was tax. Woot!) 

Just thought you should know!

My Walgreens score

Here's what I got today at Walgreens: 

3 Garnier Fructis shampoos

3 Garnier Fructis conditioners

2 boxes Reynolds Wrap aluminum foil

2 Christmas potholders

3 packages gift tags

1 package ornament hooks

1 package toothbrush travel cases

1 barrette

1 bottle of Softsoap handsoap

1 bottle Palmolive dishwashing liquid

3 packages of pencil erasers

Total purchases, before coupons = $52.09

Total purchases, after coupons = $2.96

Do you really need me to convince you to start couponing? 

Grocery shopping

Is anyone getting tired of reading about my grocery store ramblings? Here is another post about my all-consuming quest to lower our grocery bill. My apologies if you're bored. ; ) 

This week, I was talking to a friend about couponing, and it dawned on me that most people don't get the idea behind the coupon/stockpile strategy, and how it saves money. So I'm going to try to do a better job explaining. This is Bargain Grocery Shopping 101. 

1. Set a budget for the month. For us, that budget is $550. 

2. In any budget, there is wiggle room, the amount between necessary and discretionary spending. Some budgets will have more wiggle room than others. If your wiggle room is only $5, so be it. But use this wiggle room to your advantage. Use it to start your stockpile, and stock up on a good deal! 

3. Use the strategies I've outlined here and here to give yourself a little more wiggle room in your budget. Then start snowballing; use your savings to generate more savings. I know that when I go to the store that I don't need 14 bottles of shampoo this month. But I do know that right now, they're at a good price, and I will eventually use those 14 bottles. If I'm only paying 25 cents per bottle, then I'm saving future grocery money. That enables me to buy 30 buddy bars, to stock up on 5 bottles of laundry detergent, to stockpile toothbrushes. 

And it gets me to my goal of lowering my grocery budget. Over time, the savings start rolling in. I am able to lower the cost per item of the items I regularly buy. By practicing stockpiling, I have managed to lower my grocery bill by $50 over the last 3 months. Not too shabby, considering how low it was to start with. 

And just to give you some inspiration, today I bought 3 bags of Hershey's Kisses for 39 cents - total. I also got some frozen pizza, our only convenience food, for $2/pizza, and 16 ounce tubs of sour cream for 25 cents each. 

Coupons, revisited

A couple of friends have asked me some questions about coupons, so I thought I'd repeat the questions and answers here. 

How do you organize your coupons? 

Well, I have an accordion binder, labeled with all the letters (XYZ are on one slot), and a few extra slots, labeled "Store Specific, Catalinas, Rainchecks, and Last Chance." In the "store specific" spot, I have coupons that are specific to a particular store (Wags coupons for Walgreens, Kroger coupons for Kroger, etc.) Catalina's slot is for catalina coupons (you know, the ones that print out at the register, at the end of your transaction?) Rainchecks - I live by rainchecks!! And Last Chance is for coupons that are about to expire. That doesn't mean I have to use them, but it does make me a bit more mindful of them. 

When shopping, I paperclip my coupons to my list, in the same order as my grocery list. If I decide not to use a coupon during my trip, then I drop it back into my binder. I put coupons in their alphabetical slot by how I do my list - all toothpastes, for example, go under "T" - not "C" for Crest or "A" for Aquafresh. 

Do you go through your coupons regularly for expireds?

No, not regularly. Usually, I just pull expireds out as I come across them. And if I'm making a grocery list, I'm going through my stash anyway, so I pull the expireds then. (and I pull and re-file the "Last Chance" at the same time.)

How do you decide what to clip? 

I ask myself, "If I could get this for free, would I bring it home?" If the answer is yes, then I clip the coupon. Believe it or not, there are some things that I wouldn't get, even if they were free. (Cleaning products and diapers come to mind, but that's for another post.) 

How do you make a grocery list? 

1. I look at my kitchen inventory, and see what I already have. Shop at home first! 

2. I visit Hot Coupon World.

3. I look through my sale flyers from my local grocery stores and write down anything that looks like it may be a good deal. This isn't a shopping list, just a highlight list of the ads. 

4. Now that I know what the sales are, and I have a good idea of my coupon stash (from the ads and HCW), I start throwing breakfast/lunch/dinner/snack ideas around.  And then I start my list. After it's all on paper, I... 

5. Put my list in order by the store layout, and organize the coupons I'll use. 

Where do you get your circulars or inserts?

My mom saves hers for me, and gets some from her neighbors and friends. I buy a paper most Sundays, and sometimes my neighbors give me theirs. If I'm out and I see inserts (at the recycling bin, at the library, restaurants) then I'll snag them. Hey, the librarians aren't going to use the coupons - if they were, they'd have already pulled them! Finders keepers! 

What's the best deal you've gotten? 

Welllllll... I get things for free pretty often (toothpaste, shampoo), but right now I'm working a Johnson & Johnson's Buddy Bar deal. If you've got a Meijer nearby, go buy 3 Buddy Bars and you'll figure it out pretty quickly. Right now, I've stockpiled 30 Buddy Bars. I'm going to start buying them to donate to our church's food pantry, since I obviously have enough. 

Any tips? 

Look at travel size toiletries, and always check the clearance tables at the grocery store. Don't be brand loyal. Just because it's cheap doesn't mean that you need it. (Yes, I do have 2 dozen or so bottles of glue. No, I don't need them, even though they were free.) 

I am by no means a coupon pro, but I do have the basics down. There are women out there who are serious, SERIOUS, about their coupons. I like to play a coupon game with myself - I like to see how little I can spend at the grocery store, so I challenge myself to do a little better every week. Hubby likes to tease me about how excited I get when I find a good deal. 

Happy Couponing! 

The Stockpile is Growing!

I just have a minute, but I wanted to post this picture of my updated stockpile. (Please forgive the bad picture. It's a tight spot with bad lighting.) Yes, I have been able to add to my stockpile, even though hubby's been unemployed since July 10. By combining sales and coupons, I've gotten so much of this for free. In some cases, I actually made money! 

I've hit the back to school sales, and hopefully been able to stockpile enough supplies to see me through the year. (Most of my school supplies are stored in a box in the garage.) I got the crayons for 22 cents at Target, and the glue (all 24 bottles) was free via instant rebate at Staples. In the garage, I have three-ring binders (25 cents each), several 5 packs of mechanical pencils (25 cents per pack), free folders, and inexpensive highlighters. 

In the picture you can see my canned salsa and canned tomato juice, a bottle of Chi-Chi's salsa (44 cents), All detergent ($3 a bottle), green beans from my mom's garden, and Softsoap (33 cents.) The shampoo in the back was a money-maker - it was on clearance for 97 cents a bottle and I had several $1 off coupons. The razors (on the top shelf, behind the mouthwash) were also a money-maker. They were $1.67, and I had several $2 off coupons. The hair products and shampoo on the top shelf were similar scenarios. 

I need more space for my stockpiling. We're all set on shampoo, glue, and crayons right now. I need some adult toothbrushes, though. (I've got a lead on a Target deal. We'll see if it pans out.) 

So much for a short post! Hopefully, my next update will be about my beautifully painted bedroom and much-improved craft table! 

Thrifty grocery shopping

SCORE! Here's a picture of my grocery receipt from a couple of weeks ago. It's not nearly as good as this week's Meijer and CVS receipts, but it still illustrates my point. (I spent $75 at Meijer during the week of the above receipt.) 

For a few months now (six? eight?) I have been very consciously trying to get our grocery bill as low as it will go. This involves shopping at several different stores, watching the grocery ads like a hawk, and couponing. For a family of six, we spend $575 per month. Not bad, but I think I can get it lower. 

My strategy so far has been to visit Hot Coupon World and view next week's ads for the grocery and drug stores in my area. The folks that post on HCW scour their coupons and post which sale items can also be paired with coupons, reaping even bigger savings. I keep a little list next to the computer, and I take copious notes. 

On Thursday nights, after I've gotten the ads in the mail and scoured them again, writing all over them (circling things I have coupons for, figuring out per-unit prices, and the like) I make out my grocery list. With my freezer inventory next to me (so I don't over-buy), I make a list each store at which I'll be stopping. For items on sale, I write the brand & per unit price next to the item, so that I can compare prices while I'm at a competitor. I put a star next to anything for which I have a coupon, and a circled star for items that have coupons, but might not be as cheap as another brand. (It's a trigger for me to pull out my calculator and do some in-aisle figuring.) And did I mention that I put my list in order according to the layout of the store? That's so I don't have to backtrack and be tempted by impulse buys. Some other things that help with my system: 

1. All of the stores at which I shop are on a circular route - I drive pretty much down one main thoroughfare to get to all my destinations. It takes less than a gallon of gas, but about 2 hours. I also do our banking and drop off recycling during grocery trips. 

2. I get most of my coupon circulars for free. My mom gives me her old coupons, and sometimes her neighbors share their (mostly uncut) circulars, too. I often have duplicates of the same coupon, which enables me to stock up on a good deal. 

3. I only take Grace with me to the grocery store. There are no husbands throwing snacks in the cart, and no children begging for things or running up & down the aisles distracting me. I am a bargain-hunting machine. 

4. I am NOT brand-loyal. I do have standards, and some things that I just won't buy (we don't eat beef, I try to eliminate as much high fructose corn syrup as I can, I don't buy chips or soda or other junk food, and I want as much whole grain as I can get my little hands on), but I really have no preference for a particular toothpaste brand, or shredded cheese brand, for example. 

Yes, it takes a long time for me to make a grocery list, and shopping takes time. I look at it this way: my husband works HARD for his paycheck. It's my job to make that paycheck stretch as far as I can.  And what else would I be spending this time doing? Mindlessly watching TV, or playing on the internet? I choose to be productive with my time! 

This week at CVS, by combining sales and coupons, I got 5 packages of deodorant and a package of 8 AA batteries for $7. That's just what I'm saving at one store. I think it's paying off! 

Now I just need to tell you about my beloved clothesline...