Easy Cheap Cleaner

You may find this weird, but I don't use your normal "cleaners" around my house... Yes I do when a flu or sickness comes around break out my Lysol wipes, but for normal everyday cleaning I use normal everyday stuff. Well, maybe not so normal, I use Basic H for my kitchen cleaning, windows, and that kind of stuff. But for harder not so easy grim I use Vinegar and baking soda. Yes, I do.


For several reason I use these odd things...


For one, It's CHEAP. Yes I can shop coupons and deals and get the normal on the shelf cleaning supplies but I was ALWAYS running out and having to add it to my list of things to work in my deals. I went in with my sisternlaw and we bought a gallon of Basic H cleaner and so far I have barely put a DENT in it! And I sure use that stuff to, not like I go easy on it.
So for the cost of what I put into that it has been WELL worth it. And baking soda and vinegar? Well I ALWAYS have those on hand for cooking so yah!

Another reason is that most cleaning agents out there are just so harsh I would rather not bring that in my home. Specially with a kid on the way I hear stories of kids downing all types of things and that alone makes me want to make sure I use safe cleaners!

And on top of it being harsh, I have horrible breathing problems that are from allergies (not so fun) and breathing in all those chemicals while cleaning a shower or such is just to much for me. It would always take me forever just because I couldn't breathe while I was in the room so I would have to leave it and come back! That alone tells me that it is NOT good.

So yes, in my cleaning of the bathrooms today I scrubbed my shower with a good applying of some baking soda and vinegar and with no effort at all it was sparking!

There are so many other types of ways to use vinegar in your house to clean for way cheaper than some of those costly items! Share

Frugal Friday

Last week I met my friend for our free cuppa java on voting day and some fabric shopping. Of course we met at CVS and had some fun there! :-D But after we were done and said bye to her, I got hubs inspection done on the car and I headed on over to one of the thrift stores in the area... and who do I run into none other then my momnlaw! :-D

We spent the day going to several thrift stores and hanging out over lunch. It was fun!

At one thrift store I hit the motherload of good books that were NEW! and at $1.79 ea I couldn't beat it! Added several books to my collection and a few to add to PaperBack Swap also once I was done reading them!

So my frugal find is keeping me busy for hours on end right now! And I'm loving it! Along with my other renewed love!

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Just a "little" wierd....

Ok, I admit that most people who hear about my shopping ways kinda laugh and either say "WOW" or "Your Crazy".... Which is fine by me! I am not in it for what other say!

But it gets to a all time weird when you start DREAMING about the sales and deals! Laugh now, but you will some day get to a point when something to good comes along and you just plan ol' dream about it!!!!!!!!!!!!

Like when we heard that their was free ink to be had! I dreamed we slept in, that we somehow didn't make it, and on and on.... but we got it! :-D

So last night, I dreamed of Walgreen's, Which has been a first! lol Now I have dreamed of CVS before... sigh... but never Walgreen's!!!!!!!!! Laugh laugh laugh go ahead! But I was doing the deals in my head and had it all planned and got some PRETTY AWESOME DEALS! But then I woke up! Now to just go put those plans in action today! :-)

So you can go ahead and laugh but I think its pretty cool! Share

Liking my 2 week menus...

OK, I have found a major reason that I am liking my 2 weeks menus now...

I don't shop for as much food! I know that sounds very odd. But for some reason
I have been able to shop for less when I shop for two weeks. We have a plenty full of food in my pantry and freezer from some awesome deals and so planning a menu for two weeks (have done this twice now) has been SO easy and I have come up with meals that I don't have to buy a lot of things for!

I hadn't even realized this until last night when I was putting in my receipts of the groceries I bought this week into my spreadsheet. (I keep track of every penny I spend on household/food so I know what I spend and it keeps me on track!!! I suggest this to anyone trying to stay on a budget!!!)

The Lord has blessed in the recent weeks with great supply of very good priced meat that I stocked up on under $1.00 a lb! And that is my only struggle in our budget is finding meat for a decent price. My score price to stock up on meat (reasonably of course) is $1.00! That sounds cheap I know but it IS doable!

I am making it my mission to eat out of our pantry and freezer and try to plan meals with as little to none extra items to buy for it! It will take a bit of tweaking I know but I know I can do it!!! I haven't been able to do this before because I haven't ever had a score of meat in my freezer that would last me over a week. :-) Such a blessing!!!!

So if your stuggling in the area of trying to save $$ on shopping for food or household items for your family.. KEEP IT UP! It is worth it in the end. I have been doing this for just a year now and I am now at a place I can say I really am happy with were we are! The struggle is worth every penny! Or rather every penny saved!!! :-) Share

Easy Smoothie!

Throw in a hand full of frozen strawberries, a fresh peach, about 1/2 cup of plain yogurt,

and alittle liquid. Blend and enjoy! Num Yum!

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My Cvs Deals this week and 6 months Savings...

Spent a total of $2.86

Gained $4.99 in ECB's (Getting them back up there again!!!)

Notes of worth for the last six months of Savings!

Spent a total of $100.31 OOP at CVS Jan 1-June 30

That's about $16.71 a month averaging it out.

So far I have saved a total of $5,282.97 this year at CVS alone!

And have a total of $82.97 in ECB's!

I have left on Walgreen's Gift Cards from their rebate program $69.41!

I have spent a total of $827.71 (And $100.31 of that is CVS!)

on ALL household grocery and non grocery items!

But I have made $936.81 AND gotten back $136.03 in Rebate Checks!

So I have MADE $245.13 in the last 6 months by shopping for my family!

HOW COOL IS THAT!

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Finshed closet!

Wow, I'm totally impressed with myself!




I am a very organized person for the most part and
can't stand to have things out of place and just cluttered!
And yes I grew up in a HUGE family so don't say just wait
till you have kids! LOL I plan to keep my habits if I can! LOL
Laugh at me! :-D
Anywhoo I was able to get these nice shoe organizers on sale at
Target this last week and I put them together and it makes SUCH
a difference in the space in our closet! I have much more room and
its CLEAN! :-D

To me being clean and organized makes such a difference in everything
I do. I would never get anywhere if my house looked like it did this last
week ALL the time. I cringe... (that's just me... :-) I'm sure your house is
FINE!!! )
I have heard over and over from elder ladies in our bible studies at church
that having less is more! And its proven to be so! I stay SO busy with
everything that if I had more to clean I think I would go crazy! :-)

So my tip this week is to have less and be content with it! Share

Where do I find my deals?

I get this alllll the time while I'm shopping. Or people who know me. Or from the
reader who just started trying to save money on grocery shopping.

So I figured I would just write up a little list of what I do!

#1 To start out usually Fri.-Sat. before the sale week starts I hit the Slickdeals Ad Forum.
They have every drug store on there with ads that go out weeks and sometime months!
I only have CVS and Walgreen’s drug stores in my area but if you have Rite Aid and many
many others in your area they have those to!
I find the week’s ad I am looking for and then just skim over it. And if there are any printable
coupons I print them as sometimes if you wait to long they limit they allow of how many coupons
they put out gets reached.

#2 I hit Hot Coupon World because sometimes they have others deals that aren’t mentioned
at slickdeals.

#3 I head on over to Money Saving Mom because she has great input from people all over
on what’s working and what’s not! Specially when it comes to the hidden deals!

#4 I take a quick peek at these sites because you never know what you might come across
Attention Target Shoppers, iMommies , The Coupon Mom Blog, and Becentsable.

#5 I go to these coupon sites and if I see anything I need or anything that I thought I saw in
an ad that will be a good deal I print off coupons
Betty Crocker
Cool Savings
Coupon Bar
Coupons.com
Coupon, Inc.
Coupon Loop
Red Plum
Smart Source
Target Coupons
Taylortown Coupons

#6 The day I am going to go shopping I make sure I check each site JUST in case something new came out that I didn’t see! And I head out with all my deals and info in hand and walla to my great deals! :-)


I don’t spend a TON of time doing this!
Just like I would check my email or read a friends blog I go check the site see if anything I want is there and that’s it! People think I spend a ton of time doing this but it’s really easy! At first it is a bit more of a time hog because you are trying to figure it all out. But once you get into the swing of it, it’s pretty fast and easy. Share

A Homemade Ice Pack

I had been using a bag full of ice to ice my knee down and it drips and am going thru ice

like you couldnt believe.

So I had heard that there was a homemade way to make a frozen gel pack!

There was one way I had heard about but I didnt have the Rubbing Alchol to make it so I went

looking for something else. And guess what makes a great ice pack the bends just right! Dishwashing liquid!!!

You pour a bottle of dishwashing liquid into a gallon sized bag (I made it a double) and freeze it for a few hours. I had plenty of dishwasher bottles from past sales so I tried it out. And sure enough it works!

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Mexican Whole Wheat Flour Tortillas

I didnt have any flour tortillas for a meal I was planning (they get eatin FAST at our home :-) )

So I looked for a good recipe using whole wheat flour.

This is what I found and they turned out pretty good for me! I was suprised. :-D If I had a camera with me I would show you a pic but I dont today.

They were VERY easy to make and don't require to much!

Mexican Whole Wheat Flour Tortillas

INGREDIENTS
1 cup all-purpose flour
4 cups whole wheat bread flour
1/2 cup shortening
2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 cups boiling water
all-purpose flour for rolling

DIRECTIONS
In a large bowl, stir together 1 cup all-purpose flour, the whole wheat flour, and salt. Rub in the shortening by hand until the mixture is the texture of oatmeal. Make a well in the center, and pour in the boiling water. Mix with a fork until all of the water is evenly incorporated. Sprinkle with a bit of additional flour, and knead until the dough does not stick to your fingers. The dough should be smooth.
Make balls the size of golf balls, about 2 ounces each. Place them on a tray, and cover with a cloth. Let stand for at least 1 hour, or up to 8 hours.
Heat a griddle or large frying pan over high heat. On a lightly floured surface, roll out a tortilla to your preferred thinness. Fry one at a time. Place on the griddle for 10 seconds, as soon as you see a bubble on the top, flip the tortilla over. Let it cook for about 30 seconds, then flip and cook the other side for another 30 seconds. Roll out the next tortilla while you wait for that one to cook. Repeat until all of the balls have been cooked. Tortillas can be refrigerated or frozen.

Dont forget to check out the giveaway going on right now!!!

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Shopping for Meat

Do you buy meat on sale, or clearance/mark down items?

What is the most you will pay for meat and when its on GREAT
sale/markdown, how much of it will you buy.

Our Super Walmart marks down meats every day from 10-12.
Super Target marks it down I think on Tuesday early early.
And I'm not sure when Hebs is... a day before the date on the
meat package says is what one guy told me.

Its hit and run when I buy meat. Some weeks I will buy a TON of
meat on sale and other weeks I don't by any meat at all. But it all
works out to have meat every meal with what I buy on clearance.

We are hoping to get out freezer soon, which has been holding me back
on buying to much of items that must be frozen because of how much space
I have. :-)

So what do you do that works the best for you? Share

Time is my money....

I guess you could say I'm at SAHW and a WAHW. :-D
I love the sound of that... a stay at home wife and a work at home wife.

Ever since I quite my job about a month ago I have been slowly settling into my daily life at home a lot. I love it so much. It’s given me opportunities to help out others more than I ever use to be able to. I spend more time doing things around my home and am able to keep it up better than I ever did when I worked outside the home.
I also have been able to dedicate more time to this site and making some extra side money by working on here. Which has been a blessing with me quitting my job. I am working on a e-book right now that I hope it will be a blessing to those who are trying to learn to be frugal. I also just signed up to be a consultant with a beauty product that I love. :-D More to come about that later.
But as I get more and more involved in things I am learning that my time is SO important! Time is money to me.
Learning to divide it accordingly to help me go about my tasks that I hope to accomplish and my daily life is something I need to work on more.

I know as soon as we have children that my time will be even more precious and
I want to learn to be wise with it. Share

Water vs Soda

ON SALE 3 for $9!!!

How much money do you spend on soda? It cant be an expensive habbit.

If you buy your soda on sale you could spend up to $156.00 a year.

If you bought soda at a vending machine (convience right? lol) @ $1.00 every work day for a year you would spend over $260.00 a year.

If had a soda with lunch dining on work day you would spend over $500.00 in sodas in a year!!!!!!

Why not choose water??
Its cheaper ( FREE ), healthier, you can lose weight because you are not having so much sugar!

So what will it be, $500 or Free???

Try it out, make a goal to drink only water for 2 weeks and see how much better you feel, how much money you save, and see if maybe you drop a lb or so!


NOTE: I do drink sodas! I think a soda every now and then dosn't hurt anyone.
I do have my cravings for a coke and I drink it! But I think we can go without soda's
everyday and we would be healthier and our pocket would be a bit fatter.
This post is in no way to be mean just to point out what soda does for your pocket if your addicted to it. :-D
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Did you know...

Vinegar is a GREAT deodorizer, kills 99 percent of bacteria, 80 percent of germs and Much Much more!!!

I use vinegar in my dishwasher where the rinse agent is suppose to go. It works GREAT!!!

Its Cheap, and not harsh like other cleaners would be! :-) Share

You might be addicted to CVS IF

Awhile back I had posted a few Funnies about being a CVS Coupon shopper....

Well Crystal for frugal friday wants to know if anyone has a "You May Be Addicted to CVS Shopping If... " list...

Well I guess if you have been reading my blog for long you KNOW I sure have one!!! An addiction that is....... :-D

So here are few from that post and a few more that I came up with!

-You shop at CVS even in your dreams, every night

-You only carry change to shop at CVS.

-When you are checking out with a cart full of stuff & have to pay *gasp!* $5!!!! The cashier was shocked and said, "I've never seen you pay that much. Are you feeling ok?"

-You have 1-800-SHOP-CVS on your cell phone's speed dial. Then press 3, wait for the first sentence of the message, and press 2 and then 4 without waiting. LOL

-When you have enough toothpaste, shampoo, soap, toilet paper, household cleaners, hair color and medication to last 3 years!

-You MAKE lots of money off CVS!

-Your CVS manager at your closest store knows you by name.

-When you check out the cashier cheerfully says "So what coupon do we have for today and lets see how much you end up spending!!!

-You walk thru the store and people ask you where things are cause you look like you know everything!

-The girl at CVS asks your best friend, who you taught how to CVS, "Gosh do those binders really work??? I see several ladies come in with them!" And she responds " Oh yah they do... and thats probably my friends and her sisinlaw!!!! rofl"

-You know what store carries which things and usually when they run out of it during the week!

-You know every CVS on the way home from ANY location!

-You hold your ECB's priceless because you KNOW how much they are worth!!!


-Your husband wants to know when CVS is going out of business.....

Got any more to add??? Got a good CVS story! Tell me about it! I want to know!!! Share

Five Painless Ways We Saved $100 Last Year

Frugal Friday this week is about SAVING money!

What are the Five Painless Ways We Saved $100 Last Year:

1. We shopped CVS. (can that count as several hundred????)

2. We bring our lunch to work most of the time.

3. We shopped Black Friday Sales!!!

4. We use our 2008 Entertainment Book!

5. We STOCK PILE our groceries! Share

I'm in the market for a nice freezer that wont cost alot.

We want to wait to get one till we move so we wont have to lug it UPstairs!
But we DO want to get one!
Reasons behind getting a freezer for me is:
You can:

--Save money by buying items when they are on sale or reduced price, in season (thanksgiving!), and in bulk.
--I like to prepare family favorites in quantity and freeze meal size portions for extra meals later on! Ex: Just a few fav's - Hubbys favourite Waffles, Pizza's, Banana Bread.
--Save Time and SAVE MONEY!!!

:-D

So, I am starting my hunt for a freezer.
I need tips on the best ones you have found for a great price!
Any freezers that have just not worked for you? Share

Making meals taste good without having reruns...Part of shopping with deals and markdowns is you tend to have a a abundance of the same meat. So how do you make meals that DON'T taste the same!!!
Like two weeks ago I bought on sale for a really good price some sausage links. I wanted to use them for meals every few days but didn't want to be eating the same food over and over! :-D
So, a few meals I ended up making was breakfast tacos, just the sausage with a pasta and sides, and it with barbecued sauce chicken. And I also one night I had left over Ground Beef from a previous meal, so I threw it in with cut up sausage, cooked it with most of all the seasonings you would make spaghetti with and threw in a can of tomato sauce.
Now mind you it didn't taste like spaghetti but had the flavours of it. Once this had simmered for a bit getting in all the flavours I cooked some swirly pasta and threw it in with it. Let it cook for a few mins and wow it turned out SO GOOD. For just being something tossed together I was glad it turned out good, AND my husband LOVED it which is the best!
Go check out alot more tips for cheap meals here! Share

I came across this article and wanted to pass it on.

Learning How to be Frugal
by Carrie Balrok

To me, frugality has two parts. The first is an aversion to spending money. You must take a close look at your spending habits and decide what are necessities and what are not. If you can live without it, don't buy it. Learn to enjoy saving money as much if not more than the enjoyment you would get from owning a particular item. This doesn't mean you can't buy anything purely for enjoyment, but be very selective with what you choose to spend your money on. The second part of frugality is spending as little possible on the necessities. Shop around for the best deals, research prices, and think about second-hand items. It takes more time to get the best price but it's worth it.
Whether your finances are tight or not, it's a good idea to sit down and make a monthly budget of your expenditures. By itemizing your expenses for a few months you may be very surprised how much you are spending in certain areas. If your not ready to jump completely into frugality just yet, pick one or two areas to work on first. For people who are new to frugality the food budget is a good place to start. Look for ways to save on groceries, learn to make cheaper meals and reduce eating out. Once you feel good about your grocery expenditures, move onto another area and look for things to cut out or ways to save. I highly recommend the book The Tightwad Gazette for everyone for great frugal tips and ideas.
Regardless of your income level, I would urge all Christians to look closely at their budget for ways to save money. Most importantly, are you being good stewards with the money God has given you? If money is tight already then it's not hard to make the case to try and spend less. Many people have to be extremely frugal just to pay their bills each month. But for those of you out there for whom money isn't much of an issue, I would urge you to learn to be frugal in order to increase your giving.
"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money." Matthew 6:24

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We have been going thru a financial study in out Sunday School at church and it has been very good. Learning to be good stewards of our money is something we all as Christians should strive for.

My hubby and I have been trying to find something for me to do at home that would be profitable for my time involved but make enough to cover my current job. As much as I love my current job there will be a day that I will quit it and be a stay at home mommy.

I recently came across a great source for me to make an income from home for our family.
If you search the Internet there are a lot of get rich schemes and make thousands if you just do this set ups. I didn't want just any get rich scheme I wanted a real source of income. :-)

And part of this involves my blog!

Do you see the side bar that has advertisements? That is my source! I have recently been able to join a affiliate program that has all of the "big" company's.

I get commissions and payout for every single link on there!

Join eBay! as a new eBayer and buy something and I get a nice sized profit

Make a Babies Online website and I get a commission

Sign up and Stamps.com: and you Get Up to $25 in FREE Postage! and I get a commission!

I am waiting and hoping to be a part of http://www.entertainment.com

I will be able to get a commission on every book I sell. Which I am excited about. Once I get

the approval I will be posting about it so look for it soon hopefully! And if your thinking about buying this coupon book just wait a little bit and I will have it!!! We have personaly used this book and I LOVE IT! A GREAT money saver!

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