Prepping for Christmas on a Budget

Christmas?! Yeah, I know. You just barely sent your kids back to school and it is no time to be thinking about Christmas, right? Wrong! If you want to spend a small fortune on gift giving for this mega-bucks holiday, do it during December. If you want to do it without breaking the bank, start early.

In my normal world, where I know I am not leaving the country before Christmas, I would be about done right now. We thought we might be leaving in the fall and planned to send gifts from our new home. Now we are leaving after Christmas and I am grasping at straws a bit. I can swing it though and if you haven't started your list yet, you can swing it with me.

One thing to take into consideration right off the bat is why we are giving. If you celebrate the commercial Christmas where Santa brings toys to all the children and we buy each other expensive stuff because it is good for the economy, go ahead and keep it up. If you are celebrating Christmas because of Christ this particular paragraph is for you. God gave us the gifts of love, grace, and eternal life through Jesus. We share gifts with each other to remind us of the gifts that God gave us. Keep that in mind as you go forward with your list. Your gifts should be thoughtful and meaningful to the one you are giving it to.

Now that you have taken a moment to sort out your gift giving mentality, lets hop into the frugal giving tips.

1. Nix the Budget!

What?! I know you are thinking I am going to go hog wild, but that is not what I mean. I receive gifts from people who spend a particular amount of money on me. I tend to get one or two thoughtful gifts from them and then a pile of stuff that was purchased to fulfill the budget. When we went through three years of purging our stuff, those things were the bulk of what we were getting rid of. It adds up over the years. It doesn't make that person feel special, just curious as to where they will put the new doodad.

 

2. What Price do You Count?

So you really want to spend a minimum amount? I know some of you feel obligated, I do too with some people. Stop looking at the price you paid for a gift and start looking at the value of it. We often find awesome sale/clearance prices or maybe even something for free. Instead of looking at what we actually paid we look at what the gift is actually worth. If I got a book for free but it normally costs $14.99, look at the $14.99 and give the gift that price mark.

 

3. Consumables Make Great Gifts!

Food, soaps, candles, they get used and then they are gone! The recipient enjoys your gift and it doesn't take up extra space in their home. Win, win!

 

4. Shopping for the Hardest Person.

Do not wait on this one! Always keep this person in the back of your mind. You might still get them a gift at the last minute, but at least you will not have missed an opportunity to get them something that shows you care.

 

5. Someone Wants Something Specific.

It never fails that someone has a gift request. If you want to give them the one thing they want begin looking for it on sale. Our son wanted a specific Lego set for Christmas this year. We found it on clearance at Shopko. Shopko, at least in our area, tends to have crazy stuff on clearance. You just never know what you will find there.

You have my best tips for getting your mentality in the right place. Now it is time to obtain some gifts. Here are some of the ways that I get gifts to give.

1. After Christmas Clearance

It is the best clearance of the entire year! Just remember not to buy things because they cost so little but because they would be perfect for the person you plan on giving it to. A couple extra things for impromptu gifts are ok, but let's not go crazy here.

 

2. Trading

In the past I have done many trades with fellow Etsy shop owners. You never know who will be up for a trade though. If you have a toy, movie, or whatever that you no longer need, there may be someone who is in the same situation and would like to make a trade with you.

 

3. Handmade

Cook, sew, or whittle your way to your next gift. The options for handmade gift giving are pretty much endless. Not only do you make something for less cost, you make something that is one of a kind and may become a beloved family heirloom, or get eaten and that's good too! Just make sure you give yourself enough time to get your projects done. Check out Pinterest for a plethora of DIY ideas.

 

4. Freebies

Yesterday I raved about Money Saving Mom. Last year I signed up for every freebie I could. I got k-cups, tea samples, makeup and more. These I was able to add to small gifts to basically make a little gift basket for people. This year I am doing book reviews for Blogging for Books and Tyndale Blogging Network. I receive a free book in exchange for doing an honest blog review. Some of those books are being gifted forward this Christmas. I share how much I like a book and now someone else will spread the word about it as well.

Do you have some great tips of your own for doing Christmas on a budget? I would love to hear them!

A Month of Meals: Your Questions Answered

Welcome back! Today I am answering your questions about my series on planning your menu on a monthly basis and on a budget. If you missed one of the posts, you can find them here:

Intro and Monthly Menu Planning

The Recipes

The Shopping List

Freezer Cooking Day

 

Were you able to get the BBQ sauce stain out of the table cloth?

Ha ha, yes! We finished all of our food prep after wiping off what we could. Then I coated the stained areas with my Norwex dish soap. I let it sit while I gathered up some other laundry to put in with it. It all went into the laundry with some homemade laundry soap. In the end you can't even tell it happened. I started freezer cooking at 5:00am on the weekend so it was all back to normal before my parents even got up.

What was your menu like on $100 a month?

I relied heavily on the dollar a day meals website. Unfortunately, the site is no longer up. We had soup 4 nights a week and nearly every meal was accompanied by homemade bread or biscuits. I spent a lot of time cooking in those days. We also weren't gluten free then and that made a huge difference.

Were all the recipes a hit with the family?

All but one went over well. The Italian chicken with potatoes and green beans was not our favorite. It was a bit sour, like eating an entire bag of salt and vinegar chips, which I love. It won't be making it onto another menu. The rest were fantastic.

Have more questions? I would be happy to answer them!

A Month of Meals: Freezer Cooking Day

We have our menu, our recipes, and have done our shopping. Now it is time for food prep. What I love about this particular menu is that the food prep is so incredibly easy. Most of the items are already frozen. All you have to do is put the ingredients in the bag and you are ready to go. I did my freezer cooking in just under 2 hours from beginning till the last hand washed dish was dried.The first thing you will want to do if you are following my menu is cook your ground meat. This is the only actual cooking involved in our freezer cooking day. You will want to drain it and also let it cool before putting it into the bags. While you are waiting for the meat to cook start writing up your bags. I label them with their name, special instructions like adding water or what to serve it over, the date, and cooking instructions.

Once you are ready to put the food in the bags you want to do two things. First puff up the bag and zip it shut. gently squeeze to make sure there are no holes in the bag. We had a major mess on my mom's white table cloth because half a bottle of BBQ sauce gushed out of a hole in one of our bags. You live and you learn, right. Second flip the zip top out. This helps the bag to stand on it's own and hold the mouth of the bag open.

Now it is just a matter of tossing the ingredients in the bags. This menu is well designed for freezing. With just a bit of work you will have those quick and easy frozen meals we all love the convenience of using. In this 2 hours you will have 26 meals done for the month, just heat and serve. Okay, some of them will be served on rice or pasta, but that is quick and easy to whip up.

Now is the time for your questions! Ask in the comments or where ever you have seen this series. Tomorrow I will answer all your questions and link back to all the posts in case you missed one. See you then!

You can find the rest of the series here.

A Month of Meals: The Shopping List

So far we have our menu and our recipes. Today it is time to go shopping. It is good to plan the menu a bit to the shopping. If you know that a recipe calls for half a bag of frozen veggies you might as well make it twice or select another meal that will use the rest. You can't buy half a bag after all and it keeps costs down if you buy 1 bag instead of 2 bags in which only half is used.

A few notes on my shopping list. We generally buy Kraft because their company is always upfront about gluten in their information. You can certainly get some of these things for less if you do not need gluten free. Also, I don't have milk on my list. I didn't even think about it. My mom does daycare and always has a ton of milk on hand. We have bought maybe 2 gallons of milk since we moved in. You can save by buying dry beans and rehydrating yourself. We just don't have the option for so much cooking. I also bought my pesto in two small jars. You could save a lot by making it yourself or doing a pesto sauce mix. Let's dive into the list now.

A Month of Meals Shopping List

 

Can Aisle

$1.58 Can Tomatoes and Peppers (Rotel) $.79 X 2

$1.58 Can Black Beans $.79 X 2

$6.36 Can Pineapple Tidbits $1.59 X 4

$1.58 Can Tomato Sauce 15 oz $.79 X 2

$6.16 Can Tuna $.77 X 12

$1.99 Sweet and Sour Sauce $1.99 X 1

$1.99 Ranch Dressing $1.99 X 1

$3.96 Italian Dressing $.99 X 4

$2.98 BBQ Sauce $1.49 X 2

 

$28.18 Can Aisle Total

 

Dry Goods

$5.98 Small Jar Pesto $2.99 X 2

$4.76 Box Au Gratin Potatoes $1.19 X 4

$5.97 Box Pasta $1.99 X 3

$7.98 Fritos Corn Chips $3.39 X 2

$4.09 Sushi Rice $4.09 X 1

$2.99 Parmesan Cheese $2.99 X 1

$2.69 Soy Sauce $2.69 X 1

$6.36 Corn Tortillas $1.59 X 4

$11.16 Box Cereal $2.79 X 4

$24.00 Oatmeal $6.00 X4 (We buy our gluten free oatmeal on Amazon)

$1.49 Jar Spaghetti Sauce $1.49 X 1

 

$84.25 Dry Goods Total

$112.43 Total so far

 

Cooler/Deli

$11.97 Hamburger (or other ground meat) $3.99 X 3 lb

$3.98 Cream Cheese $1.99 X 2

$4.99 Shredded Mozzarella 16 oz $4.99 X 1

$8.89 Shredded Cheddar (fine shread goes farther) 32 oz $8.89 X 1

$2.99 Cottage Cheese 24 oz $2.99 X 2

 

$32.82 Cooler/Deli total

$145.25 Total so far

 

Freezer

$20.97 Bag Frozen Chicken Tenderloins $6.99 X 3

$3.87 Frozen Green Beans (2 cut, 1 sliced) $1.29 X 3

$3.98 Frozen Corn 32 oz $1.99 X 2

$5.96 Frozen Stir Fry Veggies $1.49 X 4

$1.99 Frozen Broccoli $1.99 X 1

$23.96 kinnikinnick Donuts $5.99 X 4

 

$60.73 Freezer Total

$205.98 Grand Total for Meals

If you are eating 3 meals a day you are done for a grand total of $205.98 for your month! This leaves plenty of room in our family's $300 budget to add some of our favorite snacks. On our snack list we have the makings of meat and cheese topped rice cakes, veggies and dip, and apples and peanut butter. I also added in a head of leaf lettuce each week to add to our meals and use in taco salad the days we make our taco filling. So here is the rest of my shopping trip with our snacks included.

Snacks

$8.00 Rice Cakes $2.00 X 4

$9.98 Deli Meat (to be frozen in 4 bags) $4.99 X 2 lbs

$11.98 Sliced Deli Cheese (to be frozen in 4 bags) $5.99 X 2 lbs

$9.96 Fresh Cut Broccoli $2.49 X 4 Buy Weekly

$9.96 Fresh Cut Cauliflower $2.49 X 4 Buy Weekly

3.98 Dressing as Dip $1.99 X 2

$11.92 Apples $1.49 X 8 lbs Buy 2 Lbs (roughly 4 apples) weekly

$5.36 Peanut Butter $2.68 X 2

$5.16 Leaf Lettuce $1.29 X 4 Buy Weekly

 

$76.30 Snack Total

$282.28 Grand Total

Our grand total with snacks is $282.28. We are still $17.72 under budget. I am more than willing to admit that our snack costs are quite high. You could probably cut that back a lot but I am not worried about splurging because we are under budget.

It took me about an hour to wander around getting all these prices and doing the math. Now that I have my prices I can refer to them later to make my budgeting faster in the future. I will probably add these items and prices into my grocery app to make it even easier as I can make up my shopping list in it and it will add everything up for me and even sort by food type making my shopping trip super fast.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="230"] Mighty Grocery Shopping List Free I have the paid version but they have a free version now![/caption]

What are some of your go to snacks? I would love to see that go down a bit.

You can find the rest of the series here.

A Month of Meals: The Recipes

Yesterday we looked at planning the menu. Today I am sharing all the recipes I am using for my menu. I love getting recipes from Pinterest and many of these recipes are from there. You can follow me on Pinterest here.

The first 6 recipes can be found at Stacy Makes Cents. I used chicken tenderloins instead of breasts and did one for each of us in each bag. We aren't big meat eaters. It would be easy to swap out chicken for other types of meat as well. There is no cooking involved in the meal prep and we have loved 4 out of 4 of them that we have already tried.The Hawaiian BBQ Chicken comes from Six Sister's Stuff. They have fantastic recipes! I have tried several of them. We will be serving this dish over rice in our monthly menu.

Baked Ziti is from Amusing Foodie. I half the recipe for our family and use gluten free pasta of course. I also use cottage cheese instead of Ricotta.

That last 3 are family originals. I haven't made them in a long time so I don't have any pictures. They are super quick and easy though.

Corny Chicken

Ingredients (all to desired quantity):

Chicken

Corn

Salt

Pepper

 

In a sprayed casserole dish put chicken. Top with corn. Season with salt and pepper. Bake on 350* for 30 minutes or till chicken is done. Enjoy!

For freezer cooking simply toss everything into a bag and freeze.

 

Beef and Broccoli with Pasta

Ingredients:

1 lb cooked hamburger (I will be splitting 3 pounds between the 4 freezer bags that require hamburger)

1/2 bag frozen broccoli

2 T olive oil

garlic to taste

1/2 box of pasta

 

Toss everything but the pasta into the bag to freeze. Bake at 350* for 30 minutes or till hot. Cook pasta and toss with a bit of olive oil and season with salt and pepper if desired. Toss pasta with the broccoli and beef and serve. Great with parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.

 

 

Mermaid Hair Casserole

Ingredients:

1 lb cooked hamburger

1/2 bag frozen sliced green beans

1/2 jar spaghetti sauce

Pasta or rice to serve over

 

Toss the hamburger, beans, and sauce into freezer bags to freeze. Bake at 350* for 30 minutes or heat on the stove top. Serve over rice or pasta. This dish is named for the stringy green hair of the mermaids in Harry Potter.

 

Our lunch and breakfast meals don't have recipes. We really just wing it on those. Tomorrow we put together the shopping list, see the prices, and take a look at the grand total.

Have any questions? Feel free to ask in the comments or share some of your favorite recipes on a budget.

You can find the rest of the series here.

A Month of Meals: Intro and Monthly Menu Planning

Welcome to the first of a week long series on menu planning and grocery budgeting. Today I am going to give an intro and share how I go about planning our meals a month at a time. Tomorrow I will be sharing the recipes I will be using for my 4 week menu. Thursday we'll focus on the grocery list and shopping. Friday is all about freezer cooking. Saturday I will be posting a review, answers to questions in the comments section, or social media, and a link back to all the posts in case you missed one.

Our food budget has been low for a long time. Our budget is currently at $300 but has been as low as $100. Some things to take into account if you want lower your food budget:

• Don't buy boxed or frozen meals. They are costly, filled with junk, and also wastefully packaged


• Be prepared to cook from scratch.


• Stop serving "family" style. By dishing the plates in advance you can make sure everyone has appropriate serving sizes and you can pack up leftovers if you intend to split a meal into two or more meals.


• Is someone still hungry? Instead of adding seconds, add a salad or apple slices with peanut butter.


• Don't plan a different meal for each day of the month.

Right now our family has some unique needs. Yes, we are gluten free, but that is not what I am talking about. We are living with my parents while we wait to go on mission in Montreal. My mom is a bit territorial over the kitchen so we need to be able to get in and out as quickly as possible. There is limited food storage space too. Plus my mom usually cooks dinner for us but when she doesn't I end up finding out at supper time. While it is true that we personally won't be using all of this month's meals this month, we will keep them stored in the freezer for the month or two that Adam will not be working before our leave date. All these things I kept in mind as I began looking for meals to add to our menu. So, let's get started planning the menu!

I planned a 4 week menu for September. For us it starts today and goes to the last day of the month. That means we need 28 suppers, 28 lunches, and 28 breakfasts. That sounds a bit daunting, I know. When you stop trying to think of 28 different meals for each, it gets better. Variety is great but it is also expensive and time consuming. On a normal basis, I would make a new menu each month. We keep the meals that we aren't tired of to the next month and add new ones. We'll start with supper because it has the most variety. You will notice that some of the recipes make enough for 2 meals for our family of three and I have taken that into account.

Supper

 

Make 2 of each.

 

Pesto Chicken and Green Beans: 2 meals

Mexican Chicken Taco Stuffing: 4 meals

Pineapple Chicken Stir Fry: 4 meals

Ranch Chicken and Potatoes: 2 meals

Italian Chicken Stir Fry: 2 meals

Italian Chicken and Potatoes: 2 meals

Hawaiian BBQ Chicken: 4 meals

Corny Chicken: 2 meals

Baked Ziti: 2 meals

Mermaid Hair Casserole: 2 meals

Beef and Broccoli Pasta: 2 meals

 

All but the ziti will be included in freezer cooking.

 

 

Lunch

 

Onigiri (rice balls) 3 days per week: 12 meals

Tuna Quesadillas 3 days per week: 12 meals

Leftovers once per week: 4 meals

 

Leftovers may include left over, reheat, meals or any food that is close to date. Mix and match and turn it into something new.

 

 

Breakfast

 

Donuts once per week: 4 meals

Oatmeal 6 days per week: 24 meals

Cereal 6 days per week: 24 meals

We are not huge breakfast people. We usually add peanut butter or fruit to our oatmeal. Lunch is a busy kitchen time here so I tend to do onigiri, which can be made in advance or quesadillas which are super fast to make. Donuts with hot chocolate are a special treat on Friday mornings. It is important to budget in something special. This isn't some crazy diet and it shouldn't be a punishment. We really look forward to Friday mornings and we make it a special family time.

That seems to be it. We have all the meals planned for the whole month. The next step is to get all of our recipes together and I will see you tomorrow for that!

Have questions about planning the menu? Ask them in the comments and I will make sure to get them answered!

You can find the rest of the series here.

Hot Dog Mac

 Hot dogs + mac = goodness

Jayne loves mac and cheese! It is one of his favorite foods. There is something about it that kids just love. Plain Jane mac and cheese is a little boring for me and doesn't stretch very far on it's own. We tend to experiment with ours. Most of the time we use part of the pack of cheese mix and some Velveeta. The rest of the cheese pack goes on pop corn for a snack later because your cheese packet is exactly the same as what is in a bottle of mac and cheese pop corn sprinkle. A lot of the time we add in some hot dogs or homemade bacon bits and either corn or green beans, Jayne's pick. But sometimes we change it completely and just use the noodles.

I thought I would share my latest mac and cheese concoction. I was in the mood for hot dog but did not have any buns...So, I made what was basically a hot dog hot dish. I cooked the mac and cheese and drained it like normal. I melted about 2T of butter and tossed the mac back in with it. Then in went the cut up hot dogs, some ketchup and mustard to taste, and about a quarter cup of homemade pickle relish drained. You know what? It tasted just like having a hot dog!

Do you do anything fun and interesting with your mac and cheese? I would love to hear about it!

Stretch It: Winterizing

Winterizing your house is a great way to save on your heating bills during the winter. That is a must here in Minnesota! There are 3 main things that we have done/do to make our home more efficient during the winter.

Insulate - You can go through and find spots that let in cold all over your house. The main spots for us were lighting fixtures and outlet/switch plates. For the lighting fixtures Adam cut circles out of a clear storage tote that got a crack in it. He drilled out the holes for the wires too. Then he removed (please take great care in this and make sure the power is off, use common sense!) the light fixture or ceiling fan and connected the wires through the plastic circle. This is really a 2 person job by the way. He caulked the circle to the ceiling and reattached the fixture. You can't see it at all and it keeps a considerable amount of cold air from coming in. The switch plates are much easier, though you should still be careful. You will need an exacto knife or something like it, a cutting board, and some light weight foam sheets (the kind that come in packages like the light weight foam around books you order online). Cut out the size you need and the holes in the center and screw it on under the plate. Super easy! Plus both of these were done with recycled materials and little cost.

Vacuum - The vents that is! We have baseboard heaters and last year we found out how to clean them. Take off the faceplate, again, be careful they are sharp. Then vacuum. It is as simple as that. It takes a lot of energy to heat through all that dust and debris. It is an easy way to make you heater more efficient, thus saving money. Take the time to find out how to clean your heating system, it pays off.

Plastic - Plastic sheeting on the windows will not win any beauty contest, but it will save you money. The shrinking kind that we get is relatively inexpensive and it helps a lot. How it works is this...The cold air touches the window and is released into the air. If there is no sheeting, that air is the inside of your house. With sheeting, the air is trapped between the window and the plastic. It has to go through 2 layers to get to the warm air inside. Our sheeting goes on the inside of the window which I prefer as I have to stare at the neighbors house with plastic on the outside for half the year and I can't say that I like the way it looks.

Please take care doing any of the projects I have listed here. They are quite easy to do, but don't do something stupid like get hurt in the process. I would really love to hear what all of you do to winterize your house. We could always stand to make our little house run a little better!

September Goals

It is a new month again! I love the fall, even if most of the month is "technically" still summer. We have a lot of big changes happening this month and it is going to mean a lot of work and planning. So here are my big 3 for the month...

* Research some new recipes to add to our menu planning to help get our food budget down, we have worked our way up to about $175 each month. We would like to get it back down to the $110 mark that it was at last winter.

* Start planning holiday gifts. We will be on a tight budget again this year, but we will be able to spend time with our families this year becasue I will no longer be working and that will be a great gift for us all!

* Begin work on the holiday season at The Crazy Elephant. With me being a work at home mom very soon, I need to put a huge focus on my shop as a source of income. I will have more time to work on it now and can treat it like my job, something I have wanted to be able to do for a while now. I will be working on Etsy's holiday boot camp toward the end of the month and I want to work hard to make it successful for me.

In case you have not caught it by now, I will be staying home very soon. We have been working on this goal for 5 years now and it is comming up. Our car's brake line broke on Saturday. We can't fix it till tomorrow at the earliest, but the cost of fixing it and time we can fix it will have a big impact on when I am done at work. In the meantime I am going to focus on my goals and look forward to personal success!

What are your goals this month? Share in the comments and inspire someone!

My Homemaker's Journal

I mentioned before that I made a homemaker's journal. It is the cornerstone of our house! It has been so much easier to keep track of everything. It has been a lot of trial and error to get to where we are now. I will break it down for you. Keep in mind that this is what is working for me. Your family is different than mine, so you might not use the same technique.
The main tool is my planner. On the monthly pages I record appointments and schedules and what our school theme for the week is. On the weekly pages I write up my checklist. One side is for household projects and the other is for Crazy Elephant projects. Here is how a typical week plays out:

Monday: Laundry, list/update (TCE), sewing, getting photos ready for the week (TCE)
Tuesday: Sweep/vacuum, food prep for the week, list/update, blog
Wednesday: Family day
Thursday: Bathrooms, list/update, blog
Friday: laundry, list/update
Saturday: general tidying up, clean/set up school room for next week, list/update, blog
Sunday: church

I don't write school on my check list, but I do have pages written up for each day of school too. They are in Jayne's school binders with each week's materials. I started writing up my planner pages for the month and I like it that way. I do it the same time I write up our menu and grocery list for the month. The planner and my TCE notebook (previous post) go in the homemaker's binder. The binder also has detailed cleaning instructions for different rooms in the house. We don't use them often, but they are great to have for when we do. There is an inventory sheet to use as a guideline for writing up the grocery list. It includes all the foods and non foods that we always want in the house. There is a yearly calendar for checking. It includes things such as spring cleaning in April and winterizing the house in September. It helps us to remember to do them. I also have my spring cleaning chart that I use for making my spring cleaning check list.

I also have a homemaker's journal folder in my Internet favorites and on my desktop. That way I know where to go for my homemaking sites and downloads. That would be for recipes, sewing instructions, cleaning tips, etc.

As far as keeping the house clean, start by determining your standards. Clean for us is tidy, but lived in. It is not immaculate by any means, but it is tidy. Jayne picks up all his toys every night. I do the dishes each day which includes wiping down all the kitchen surfaces. Laundry is 2- 3 loads per week. When we tidy up on Saturdays we usually pick a room that really needs it and focus on it. There is still lots of time to do school, cook, work, and do daycare. We are all working on not just leaving things where they are and putting them away when we are done with them, that goes a very long way in keeping things clean. I am not sure if I have missed anything, but I have run into school time. So, feel free to ask questions, I am an open book!

Tuna, Rice and Peas

I threw together this new recipe last night and it turned out great! So, I thought I would share. It was super easy to put together. Jayne helped and enjoyed making it with me.


Ingredients
3/4 cup long grain white rice (we used jasmine rice)
1 1/2 cup water
1 can tuna, drained
1/4 cup peas
4 oz Velveeta, small cubes
2 chicken bouillon cubes

Mix it all together in a casserole dish. Cover. Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes. Stir. Bake for another 30 minutes. We topped ours with some shredded cheese. It came out at the perfect consistency, no extra water. If you want it to be a little more saucy, try adding a little more water or covering for the second half of the cooking time. It is always fun to experiment in the kitchen, so share what you did to make this recipe your own!

Stretch It: Bills

Monthly bills are one of the most difficult places to cut. We always saw them all as a necessity, but if you look more closely you find that you are tossing a lot of money at things that aren't needed or are not efficient.

Electric/Gas - These are pretty much required, especially in MN. You can help by turning off lights, unplugging devises, and keeping the temp in your home at a moderate level. We don't have AC but we keep our house at 68* during the day in the winter and 62* at night. It saves a lot on our bill and we get to wear snugly sweaters. It also helps if you do some winterizing in the fall, but that will be a different post.

Phone - People are addicted to their phones. We made the decision to switch to a land line with the most basic service. We weren't making long distance phone calls anyway, so we just don't have long distance service. We don't need to text, we can call or use a multitude of messaging options online. We also feel that when we are out and about having a family day, we don't want to be reached. Our monthly phone bill is right around $16 now, a huge drop!

Garbage - We kept this while we were still changing diapers. Now, we haul our own. We are spending about $5 a month on our garbage now. It is free to recycle and we get things sorted better now. Plus we bring in cans when we go and it usually covers the cost of the garbage and often leaves us with a little extra. It works well for us and is something we recommend. It also means purchasing items that aren't going to fill our trash, less of an issue now that we make many things from scratch.

Insurance - I cannot even begin to describe the amount we were being ripped off by our insurance company! We saved a huge amount on our car and homeowners insurance by looking into new companies. What really burned my biscuit was the fact that our old insurance company covered 0 of our broken sewage line, but our new company would have covered half and we pay nearly half as much to have them!

Cable - Way to expensive and terrible service! We dropped it and have never been happier. We spend about $8 a month on Netflix and it gives us all the shows and movies we want. If you want current series (as they air) you can try out hulu plus. If you are a huge sports fan, this might not work. It is a fantastic way to cut though.

Car Payment - Make sure you have a car you can afford. Here is the real thing to think about though...how many cars do you need? We have 1. Sometimes we have a difficult time juggling, but we know that we can't afford car payment and insurance times 2. I have known so many couples that had 2 new cars and complained about not having enough money at the end of the month.

Those are the only ones I can think of at the moment. It all comes down to what you really NEED. Many of us think we need things, but look at how many people all over the world are living without them. I would love to know how all of you are cutting down on your bills. Let's all learn from each other!

Stretch It: Entertainment

I am going to keep this relatively short as it is over 90 degrees and I don't have A/C (a great way to save money, but slightly uncomfortable).

Having fun doesn't have to cost a lot. Sometimes it can take a little looking to find some activities, but it is worth it and occasionally it means trying something new. Every area has its own events and places so I will share a few of the things we have done in our area that are free or low cost.

In our town: We did many things for summerfest that were all free, we did not spend a dime while we were there. We have been attending the public library's presentations about countries of the world (2pm on Wednesdays), There are other periodic, mostly holiday related activities that we have done too. Plus there is always fishing, biking, walking, hiking, parks, and any other way you can enjoy the outdoors...ooh, how about sledding, I would love to think about sledding right about now ; )

In our surrounding area: Austin has the Spam museum, free to all and we are going there tomorrow (post soon after). Rochester has free entry to the art center for Olmsted residents. We have done ____ days events in other towns before, Like Rolling Stone days where I sit at my Crazy Elephant booth and Adam takes Jayne to all the fun events and parks. We have seen movies at the public library in Rochester and they also have walk through exhibits on occasion. The local movie theaters have free movies quite often too, you just have to see what is playing and when. Think bank is also giving out tickets for an evening at the zoo, so make sure to keep up on goodies at your bank, you never know what kinds of fun events they might have cooked up. And if you want to hit a zoo close by, you can hit Oxbow Park.

Within 2 hours of our house: The Como Zoo is free and I especially love the conservatory. We get a yearly membership at the MN Zoo. It is a great bargain for how much we visit and we get discounts on other zoos throughout the country. The history museum in St Paul is free and educational. The children's museum is free on the 3rd Sunday of every month (thanks to Target, who pays for all admissions). It is quite busy on those days, but still fun and your kids will probably pass out in the car on the way home.

I know there are probably a lot of things that I missed. Take some time to look around and you might find something you never thought you would try, or even something that you never thought you would do because it was too expensive, turns out to be a great deal if you time it right. Share some of the things that you love to do in the comment section. Maybe it will be just the idea someone else was looking for!

Stretch It: Food

Food was by far the most difficult area for us to cut back. You need the right balance of health vs. frugality. We are still working at it and have shaved down our food budget every month. Here is what we did...

-Eating out. This is the hardest area for us. Eating out is a very expensive way to dine. We have been working hard to just say no, but sometimes it is hard not to. When we do eat out, we try to be smart about it. Many fast food places have coupons as do sit down resteraunts. When we go to a sit down resteraunt we choose a dish to share. Most places give you enough food for 2 or more, so you might as well share. The last time I went to TGI Fridays, I got a 3 course meal for $12.99 and I can teel you that it would have been enough for all 3 of us.

-Plan Ahead. We used to be a

"what should we have for supper tonight, I don't know let's pick something up at the store"

kind of family. That is a good way to watch your food budget skyrocket. We staarted planning our meals for the week and it helped so much. Now we plan our meals for a whole month. We still aren't quite used to picking up food for the month, so we occationally need to pick something up but not as much. We try to change a few meals every month to keep us from getting bored.

-Cooking. This is the most important part of our food budget. Without frugal meal choices, we would not be able to keep our budget down. We have a mix of recipes from http://dollaradaymeals.com/ and some of our own creations. Most of our meals cost $1 or less for the whole meal. It took a lot of time to research low cost meals that were less than $5-10 a meal. Most places have frugal recipes that are aparently on the budget of someone who makes much more than us! Another site I really love is http://www.youtube.com/user/DepressionCooking. Clara grew up durring the depression and shows (videos) how to make some really great frugal dishes. They actually sparked the creation of some of our own recipes.

Cutting down your food budget can be hard. With a little research and a willingness to try something new, it can be done. Keep in mind that frugal meals are usually made from scratch. When I started, it took me 1 hour per meal. Now that I have been able to streamline it a little, I tend to do about 1 hour of cooking a day. Check out the recipe below. It is tweaked the way we love it and is a healthy, hearty, frugal meal...

Vegetable Rice

Ingredients
2 large potatoes

1 small onion

3 carrots

3 cups beef stock

1 cup minute rice

pepper

salt

Chop up your vegetables. Put the beef stock in a pan and cook till boiling. Add the vegetables. Cook until the carrots and potatoes are tender. This takes about 10-15 minutes, but cook them to your desired softness. Make sure your stock is still boiling then add the rice and stir it in. Cover and remove it from the heat. Let sit till the rice has absorbed the beef stock, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and your meal is ready to eat.
makes 4 hearty servings

(also great topped with cheese)

Stretch it: Gas

This is a series I am going to call stretch it! Adam and I have people ask us about ways to cut spending all the time. I thought this would be a great way to share with everyone at once and get in depth with each topic. If you remember a ways back, we did a year without spending. While we didn't end spending as little as we started, we learned a lot of things about how we spend our money and why. I want to share what we learned with all of our readers. I would love to hear what area you would like to learn about, too!

I don't usually fill up the gas tank, but a couple weeks ago I did and saw the cost...STICKER SHOCK! We already had some gas saving measures in place, but I can tell you that it made me want to do as much as I could! So here are some areas that We have worked our money saving magic...

-Make your trip worth the while. We live in a small town and drive to the nearby city for many things. We used to go in several times a week and now it is a maximum of 1. We keep a note pad on the fridge that write the things we need to do on. We think about the item that we need. Is it essential to have the item now? Not usually. So we add it to the list. When we go into town we make sure that it is not just for 1 stop and we plan the most efficient way to get them all done.

-Use your feet. We walk when we can. We are lucky enough to live close to things like the library, post office, and small stores. We walk to them, always, no exceptions. When we can we find a central location to park our car and walk to all the stores. You get some extra exercise, and you save money on small drives from store to store.

-Bike it. For longer trips, not walking distance, we bike. We bike for quick trips to the grocery store, Adam bikes to work, and we even bike 10 miles to go to the free movies in town, that's 10 miles back too. Not only do you save money on gas, it can help you save by not having a gym membership/driving to the gym if you walk/bike everywhere you can. If you aren't going to be carrying much, you don't need your car to haul it. When you don't use your car, you don't use your money. It is all about weighing the options.

-Stretch your gas. Do some research on your car to find out what the highest speed is that continues to get you the best mileage. For our car that is 55 mph. Yes, everyone passes me at 65 mph on the highway, but It makes my gas last longer and only adds about 2 minutes to my drive to work. Give it a try some time and see how much longer it really takes you to slow down a little. Sometimes being in a hurry can cost you money when you least expect it.