DIY with the dirty dozen veggie wash

So this is the beginning of a ton of post.  That is your only warning.  I will be coming back later that I had to get on my frugal tightwad ship and set sail to be efficient with my single income, five children home. Hate to admit, I have been shopping with an attitude of entitlement.

First off, let's clean some stuff.  So we know with all the Monsanto and organic arguments, oh and also e-coli outbreaks that washing veggies is a necessity.  And our store has all kinds of things to buy and spend our precious resources on.

Image source:http://veggiewash.beaumontproducts.com/UltimateEditorInclude/ImageViewer.aspx?id=243

There are a ton of veggie/fruit wash recipes.  Here is the one I like at allrecipes.

http://www.food.com/recipe/homemade-vegetable-wash-preserver-that-works-spray-or-soak-300387

So I prefer the soak method. I can fill and walk away until later. So I fill my washtub with cold water and add an estimated quarter cup of white 

 Vinegar with about 2 tablespoons of salt.  And let soak for 15 minutes.

Now the thing to realize is there is a pretty list of dirty food and good ones.  I have spent years ignoring it, but I must arm myself with its knowledge.

12 Most Contaminated

• Peaches
• Apples
• Sweet Bell Peppers
• Celery
• Nectarines
• Strawberries
• Cherries
• Pears
• Grapes (Imported)
• Spinach
• Lettuce
• Potatoes

12 Least Contaminated

• Onions
• Avocado
• Sweet Corn (Frozen)
• Pineapples
• Mango
• Asparagus
• Sweet Peas (Frozen)
• Kiwi Fruit
• Bananas
• Cabbage
• Broccoli
• Papaya

Source: www.organic.net

As, always wanting to feed my family well, without debt.

Freezing beans!

So after a few lessons from http://everydayfoodstorage.net/f/legumes, I got about 4 pounds of beans and got them ready to freeze today.  I bought navy, red, and northern beans.  These are beans that we typically eat a lot of.  I did get the navy, because everyday food storage

 

http://missvickie.com/howto/beans/howtobeantypes.html

 

When I froze them, I put them into 1 cup portions in sandwich bags.  I then put the sandwich bags in a 1 gallon freezer bag.  This way, they are all together and I can be cheap and not have to waste a freezer bag on each portion.

 

Now that I am posting this, I am making my second batch.  We already ran through this one.

~trish

Great getting started Couponing.

I love jenny at Southern Savers.  In fact, she is the only reason I currently coupon, because she makes it simple and easy for me.  I am always recommending her site to anyone and everyone.  This is a great video.  She breaks it down on how to coupon without being overwhelming.

 

In fact, I am buying the file system today at dollar tree today, and making a commitment to go full throttle couponing with Jenny. 

Here website is:

www.southernsavers.com

~trish

High Chair makeover!

 

I am feeling back to normal, now that I have enrolled my kids into the public school system.  I can melt away telling you how my heart broke and the reasons we came to this decision, but I will leave it to another time.  I really want to share with you something I have been wanting to do and today, I did it.  I made over a highchair that was given to me.

AFTER

 

BEFORE

I do want to say, by Monday, I plan to start back where I left off in conversation, as if the last 2 weeks we were on pause.  So, Saturday night I will be pulling the name for the #2 giveaway.  So you still have a chance to win.  I will show giveaway #3 on Monday.

~trish

I want a new dress.

I love the old navy beach dress, but I have made a commitment to myself that I would not buy new clothes that are made outside the USA.  It is my little pro-american, keep the jobs and money in our country attack against the world.  So I love this dress, I imagine that it is soft and comfy.\

I also like

My only way around my shopping dilemma is to either buy it thrift or sew it.  Since it is the current fashion, I doubt I will buy it thrift.  SO I am checking out patterns.

 

sadly, both of these patterns only go to size 16 and my after baby pattern size is still about a size 20.  I am not sure why pattern sizes are so unforgiving.  So I am out of luck on these patterns.

I might have luck with this one:

 

I am really not sure how I am going to do on making a dress.  I figure, I am going to hit Goodwill and a few garage sales in the morning.  And then hit walmart for the pattern.  New Look 6774.  I will give it a try tomorrow night.  I read a few reviews on it and I hope it will be a good fit for me.  It is hard at the in between stage that I am at.  I have a big butt from the pregnancy but worst is my belly.  I know that it will go away on its own, but I am at the point that nothing fits.

 

I did try to copy a dress I already owned and it was a maternity one.  It turned out cute but a complete flop on fitting.  Try try again.  I need to go through my entire wardrobe and clean house. I have so much that I do not care for.

~trish

Finishing up on the Smokers Chair

 

Remember my post that one of the things I wanted to get done this summer was to finish my ashtray chair.  Well, I got started on it!

So I just took a knife and started cutting at the seams.   I realized very quickly that I had no idea what I was doing.

Then I realized that this thing has had water damage.  And then I knew what I needed to do to make this chair right.

So I took the hardware off at the bottom and took it to the curb.

~trish

Keeping the grocery bill LOW?

Scratch, Scratch, Scratch.  No I do not have an itch!  The easiest way to keep the bills low is to only buy the staples and make things from scratch.  This is a picture of my chicken pot pie.  The biscuits are  another round I made from scratch.  I froze the rest, so that they will be convenient later, for biscuits and honey.

Now I love couponing, but after a couple of months I remember, all I am really buying is a bunch of processed food.  Remember those packages of short bread cookies I got for $1 a package, still have half of them.  I do not really even like eating them, but I am in major calorie intake mood with nursing.  So couponing is a luxury, since I spend more and on things I do not NEED.

So I have 2 major fundamentals when it comes to shopping for food: 1. Cook from Scratch and 2. Buy in bulk on the big items.

I am always encouraged when I check out other families who are keeping their grocery bill down.  I read 2 articles this evening that made me want to share this with you, the first at  life in a shoe and the second at frugalhacks.com

I realize there are a lot of other things I do that help.

1. Soda is a luxury item.  When I buy it, it is for the sole enjoyment of my husband and me. So it is generic root beer and a diet soda.  The children will have a treat of root beer, once in a while (like once a month).  Why? Soda is yummy!  You can drink and drink and never be satisfied.  I can gulp water and be satisfied, I can go through 4 cans of soda and still not have my thirst quenched.
2. Buy excessive amounts of meat when it is on sale at an unbelievable price.  Stock up!
3. Control on the snacks.  Now our one outlet on snacks is the little snack cakes and the powder donut bags.  Why? because I can get them on the super cheap at the day old bread store.  Just the other day, our store had buy 10 bags of donuts for $3.  That is unheard of as a price, so I bought 10 and froze them.  I will buy the boxed snack packs for less than a dollar. (I do buy generic oreos, this is my husbands weakness.  And he only eats 3-4 cookies each night with his glass of milk)
4. Milk is costly, never waste great fresh milk to cook with, use dry.
5. Use what you buy!

 

Now one thing that was listed that I have not given much thought about was buying in bulk produce in season.  I buy in bulk to can, but did not think to buy in bulk for fresh consumption.  Mostly because I am wishy washy on what I feel like eating fresh.  Now we are blessed in this part of Florida, because we have a lot of large volume farmers markets.  I mean where they have nothing but a box truck full of green peppers only.  I like the idea of eating what is in season and cheap.  My fear is, it is a 1 1/2 to 2 hour drive to get there and would my small children be able to keep up with the amount of food I would get from a box of each and only having 2 things.

One way I could work around this, would be to get a couple of families to get in as a co-op and make food boxes every 2-3 weeks. Or instead can/ freeze my left-overs. So I will think about this a bit more and figure out how to incorporate it into my life.

 

Good luck saving.  I keep thinking about this couple I met, while I was still fresh in college doing an internship.  Denny and Pat, senior volunteers, who lived by and constantly chatted the same slogan every day, “Waste not, Want not”. Ten plus years later, this slogan resonates in every part of my life. And grows to take over other parts.  Funny is that this seed was planted for ten years before it ever took root.

~trish

Good Morning Breakfast

Is this not the cutest set of eyes to make breakfast for? 

 

I just wanted to share our morning breakfast table with you.  This was breakfast of eggs, grits, and sausage and Orange Juice from the freezer section.  My husband makes fun of me for getting them to eat grits, especially since I was a grit hater growing up.  I am not sure why my dad never gave them to me with butter and american cheese on a plate with fried catfish? This was all it took to be a grit lover.  The simple truth, why my kids are asked to eat them, they are cheap and easy.

I just really wanted to touch base with you because I am not done cooking yet.  It is not because it is a long process, I just never want to get started.  I start about the time I should be preparing dinner and then I will do 2 different meals in that time and bag them up.  I really need to get motivated and finish before my cooked food goes bad.

Alright, I am off to cook.

~trish

Handling the overwhelming pile of children’s clothes!

I just went on a shopping spree yesterday and picked up these marvelous outfits for the kids.  I am having a feeling it is the hormones at the very end that just encourage me to spend without the desire to hold back.  So back to my shopping spree. I went to a Family Thrift Center in the “city”.  I am going to call it the city, because it is much larger than the county I live in, but it is mostly just a large county with a bunch of people that give rise to these awesome thrift stores with brand names.  In my county, the thrifting is donated by a majority of full time and seasonal retired folks.  They make up over a majority of our populations, so finding good children’s clothes is not worth the time.

So I picked up 6 dresses for #1, 3 dresses for #3, and 2 long sleeve shirts for #2 and a set of the hard headbands for under $30.  Now when I went in, I was on a mission.  #1 had a growth spirit and her legs grew about 6 inches, turning her everyday dress collection into minis.  So I went in with the intention to just replace those dresses, #3 is not in need of anymore dress, but I couldn’t help myself.  Well, I can’t leave my little man out of the equation.  SO this is what I ended with.

Now, for the first time ever, I knew what I had and what I could use.  A large THANK YOU goes to a post I read at www.raisingolives.com

Kimberly is expecting her 10th child and writes a ton of articles within her blog about keep order in it all.  The most inspirational and the one I could implement immediately, most for the shear need of it was limiting the clothing.  Here full article is located here.

http://raisingolives.com/2009/03/laundry-clothing-limits/

Now I had spoken to a friend about this, or more, she kept telling me to pair down the clothes.  My children’s clothing method was anything that came we came across that fit went into the drawers.  For my children I had 12 dresser drawers and 8 feet of hanging space and clothes piled on the surfaces.  And they could never find anything to wear.  Everything was the wrong item for the occasion.  Play clothes were on for Sunday morning service and then I would catch them in church clothes digging in the yard on Tuesday afternoon.  I swore that I just need to get it organized.  I couldn’t consider ever getting rid of the clothes because they were so pretty and nice.  TRUTH!  After reading her post, I had way too many.

After reading her post: This is what I did! 

1. Wrote down a list of what is needed for clothing.

Based mostly on what works for her, We consolidated down to 10 pairs of undies, 2 pajamas, 1 bathing suit, 5 play clothes (everyday) outfits, 1 painting clothes (I never know what my husband will get them into), 2-3 nice going out outfits, 3 church outfits.  That is it.

2. Pulled all their clothes out, one child at a time.

Now, being prego, I mentally reminded myself I had 7 days to start and finish, not 1.  My normal self would expect this done in 1 day and went into a complete turrets breakdown for it then being out.  So I got the laundry all done for the most part and then took out every article of clothing for #1 and everything out of my size 5 box for her.  I laid it all out by each of my categories.  Anything that did not make the cut, that I was holding on to, to just have because I have it, went into a large black garbage bag for a clothes swap.

Then I had her stand in front of me and we checked seen what fit.  from here, if it did not, it went into the sized bag for the next girl.

3. Shopping for her clothes.

Now once I got the piles of appropriate clothes that are the right size, I laid them out by category.  Note, I only had in the pile the things I liked.  Next, I called her in and said, you get to go shopping.  You can pick out 3 dresses you want for church from this pile, it is all your choice.

Ohh, this was nice.  She had a huge grin on her face, knowing she had control of her clothes.  I did this each time and when she was done with each category, I had her hang up the few items and put them away.  The remaining clothes went to storage.

4.  Determining what is really needed.

When we were finished with the process, for each child I knew what was lacking.  One needed pajamas, because it was all flannel nightgowns for summer.  This is my #1, during the picking process, I really began to see what is it she likes.  And she likes the old style girly-ness. So I knew I needed to make her a cotton nightgown. ( I will have to show them to you later).

Also as time went on, I was able to see that she had outgrown here everyday dresses.  So I knew, that we were in need dresses.  All because of having limits.

 

Benefits!

• All their clothes now fit in 6 drawers, if that. 
• The hanging space required is about 4 feet, so now everything is spaced and can easily be picked through.
• Laundry can go to the point there are no clothes and it only takes 5 loads to have everything put away.
• Everyone is always looking nice and put together each day, appropriate for each occasion.
• No more fighting over what they are wearing.
• I know get to SHOP with a purpose, not just buying something on a limb.
• My house doesn’t look as cluttered from all the clothes.

~trish

Making my 2nd round of Laundry Detergent!

I hit the bottom of my 5 gallon bucket of detergent today.  I think I made it the 1st of June, but it might have been the end of May.  Anyways, as I had stated in my 1st post about making laundry detergent, it cost me about $10 to make. 

To make this round, I only needed to buy the pure soap.  The other bars of Ivory soap mysteriously was used in the past couple of months.  I also decided in this round to find an actual bar of laundry soap, instead of the pure soap.  From my internet searching there are 2 common forms: Fels-Naptha and Zoats.  Today, I found the Fels-Naptha.

When it comes to laundry soap making, Publix has what you need: the washing soda, Borax, and the laundry soap.  If this is your first time making it, I suggest getting the 5 gallon bucket and lid from Home Depot, they are less than $4.

So the original recipe is here:

http://midnightcrafters.blogspot.com/2009/08/laundry-detergent-recipe.html

 

To find the Fels-Naptha at Publix, go to the laundry boasters part of the aisle and look up, it is on the top shelf.  The Washing Soda and the Borax is in that section too.  Now I bought a 2nd Bar of soap to use as a pre-treatment.

I have been reading up on detergent and found out that you can wet the bar and then rub it into the stained area and then throw it into the wash.

Now the part of grating the bar of soap, IS the part that I do not like. I did try a suggestion from another blog to use my blender with a mason jar.

Did not work well.  I think I actually heated up the thing to burn out.  It could be because of 2 reasons,

1 – My blender is old and no longer has the power behind it to get the job done.  My husband did inherit it about 10 years ago from his grandmother.

2 – The soap it somewhat soft and mushy almost like monster cheese instead of a hard parmesan.

I think if I would have had a good food processor the job would have been easier.  So I ended up just cubing it.  I did use a colander to get any bits of dissolved pieces out to reheat them.  Not to worry it is not rocket science, just laundry cooking.

Now another thing about this bar of soap, is that apparently it helps to use it, if you end up in some poison ivy.  Hmm, good to know!

Well, I really wanted to bring this back to you, since it has been a wonder to my budget!  The last batch of laundry detergent hit every aspect of childhood messes and came out clean.  Even doing cloth diapers.

If you do run into lingering smells in your laundry, add borax or even white vinegar.  Please for budget consideration, buy it in the gallon bottle.

I use a front loading HE and some ill effects is that the machine will smell moldy and with a few rounds of pee pee clothes, it has an odor to knock your socks off.  Well adding 1/2 cup of borax to every load will take the smell out, at that point, Just do every other load or as needed.

If you have a top loader, you can make a round of powder detergent instead.  This is not an option for the HE.  You can do a simple web search of laundry recipes and will be blown away by all the information!

Have fun and keep clean!

~trish

Making Diapers

I am back to clothe diapering!  I started going through my stock and realized it would be a good time to start building stock for #4.  I have plenty of newborn disposables, thanks to 2 diaper cakes.  I only have 5 cloth diapers for the 10-22 pound range, I need about 15 to 20.  The diapers I have I got online and cost me about $10 a piece, OUCH!  Although, they were pricey, the diapers recouped their expense within a month.  Well, I need more and I am not willing to invest that much.  So I went blog crawling!  WOW!  There is actually a forum for clothe diaper addicts who sew their own.

I have a couple of spots I have been to and have even downloaded and printed the free patterns, but yesterday I think I found the best sight of all! http://webpages.charter.net/rhamley/diapers/diapertext2.htm

So I set off to make a pair, to see how they would turn out.  For my pattern, I used one I had.  I made a pattern template and cut out a cotton layer and 2 flannel layers and an absorption pad.

Let’s talk cheap, right off the cloth.  The cute lady bugs is some remnant someone gave me, FREE!  The flannel is from a clearance bedding set at walmart, $5. (I will have plenty to make diapers for my household and maybe a few gifts.  The terry cloth is a wore out towel that I had been patching, FREE!  (ohh, I am so happy to find usefulness for these towels, otherwise my husband would hoard them forever.)  Now you will notice the ladybug cotton has a shine.  Well, I found some awesome stuff at JoAnns that is an iron-on vinyl. Whew! I will cloth diaper, but I am not about to deal with pee pee soaking me. 

This is the vinyl iron-on.  It cost $5.99 per yard, I used my 50% coupon and got 3 yards for $2.99/yd.  I am using about 1/3 yd per diaper, so about $1 of vinyl per diaper. Worth it!

Making my pattern was hard at first.  I was trying to get the curves and making myself crazy.  Instead, I measured the length and the widths at each end.  Next, I went to the crouch; measuring the width and where the crouch began from each side.  I used these measurements and drew a straight line to connect the dots.  NO CURVES.  Why?  I figured naturally when I sew, it would turn into a gentle curve, and it did. 

I made the pattern in half, because I couldn’t find enough paper.  I did use my stampin’ up graph paper to make my template.  I also added 1 inch to each measurement for the seam allowance.  Here is what the pattern cut looked like.

So I sandwiched everything like smart mama said to do, but I had a problem.

I was not getting the gathering around the legs.  This could be a big problem, I do not want little poops falling out around the house.  I was thankful, my husband decided to get involved and inspect the example and mine.  I had even attempted to add elastic to the inside with a zig-zag stitch to get more gather, but it seemed as though the elastic could not over power the vinyl strength.  I thought I was doomed for leak control! Then we figured it out and got the seam ripper out!

Instead of zig-zag stitching the entire length of the 1/4 inch elastic at the legs of crouch, I could just stitch the ends and let the middle part be unattached.  So I did and this is what happened!

What a difference!  Me and my husband sat in shock before bed.  It worked!  Now, I know I took the adventure to make something, but sometimes I have no idea if it is going to work.  This is one of those times, I really had no idea.  I still need to add velcro to the front and make the flaps to stick it.  I am going to head to JoAnns today with another 50% coupon to see if they have the softer velcro called Aplix.

Now let me gloat here!  I just love how cute it is!!!!  Look at the other one, pretty plain.  I have a few with cars on them, but nothing very girlie.  I am also excited that I did not have to pay a fortune to buy flannel and because I have so much of it, I plan to use my extra cotton stash to make the outer protective part and give it some cute distinction.  I do believe that the vinyl and this velcro are going to become a staple to my closet.  I am also happy to find a new use for all these little scraps.  Just wait until I make a few pairs of booties!  Ohh, and the flannel inside, is just lovely in texture.

What I am realizing is that I might need to make a few more for the next size up.  #3 is potty training but uses about 5-7 a day and #2 still needs 1 at night.  Well when you have 10 diapers, you are often reverting back to a disposable.  So I think I am going to get on to making the next size up, as soon as they are clean.

Let me know of your experience!  If you are one of my locals and would like to make some, lets get together and I will show you step by step.  I was even imagining race cars and dinosaurs, but I do not have a boy coming.

~trish

Making Re-useable Baby Wipes

well, not for the faint of heart.  No I would not want to scare you, it is really not a big deal.  I have had many times, in a pinch, that I just went for a wash clothe when I was out of wipe.  This cheapo, sometimes needs a little courage to spend the money I have on something to throw away.  I despise paper towels, paper plates, disposable diapers, wipes,  paper cups, you name it.  It seems like a huge waste of money.

Now there was a day I did live by these things.  Well with a 4th coming, there better be a well justified convenience.   So we are using paper stuff, for now, because I am prego.  It has probably been at least a year since paper plates were in my house, except for birthday parties.

On my little blog crawling I was telling you about, I found a neat little website about making baby things.  One of which, was home made washable wipes.  These things are a snap to make.  I used flannel fabric I had and an old t-shirt. Eww, all my old treehuggin’ friends would love the reuse.  I pumped 10 out in about an hour and a half, while I was saving the chicks from the curiosity of a new 4 year old and calming the fires of sibling rivalries (all in a days work of super mom).

They are 8 inches by 8 inches, 2 flannel squares sandwiches between a square knit (this is where the old t-shirt came in).  I used this flannel, because I have a lot of it and I thought it best to keep the wipes to one design to make them easier to pick out in the wash.

Now I had to make them with finished edges, because I have become very obsessed with my edged in the past year.  I guess the growing maturity in my stitching.  Usually I do not care.  My mom and I have a joke, she makes things pretty and amazing and I just get my stuff done.  So She might have these amazing items she has made, but I have a ton more stuff finished and in use.

Here is the blog that I was inspired by:

http://www.make-baby-stuff.com/cloth-diaper-wipes.html

She has a lot of other tutorials that I plan to make use of.   I actually have already considered them for washing my face, they have a wonderful softness to them.  as I go through old t-shirts, I will make more for my stash.

Hope this is helpful or just another insight to my craziness!

~trish

What a $100 feels like to me!

So I have told you in the past that I spend about $150 a week only and that is to buy everything but gas.  What is more shocking to others is that I typically do not spend more than $100 on groceries.  Of course, it is usually, HOW!, What do you eat? and so on.  So today I did my stock up shopping by buying based on sale adds.  Now this is not my normal spending/shopping week.  I have a LOT of stuff here I normally do not buy!  But when I spend a $100, this is about how much I get for it.  I am missing 1 bag of frozen nuggets, 1 loaf of bread, and 2 cans of generic ravioli that I already gave away.

What you do see is: 3 loaves of bread, 10 packages of 8 oz kraft cheese, 5 bags of frozen chicken nuggets, 4 family stouffer’s dinners, 2 V8 fusions, 4 syrups, 2 bags of flour, 1 sugar, 1 lb sausage, 3 packages of hotdogs, creamer, tea bags, cream cheese, 2 mandarin orange cans, celery, 2 packages of lance crackers, 2 bags of cereal, 4 bags of bagels, and i variety bag of frito lay chips.

The BIG DEALS! in this assortment. 

The chicken nuggets are 1 lb 10oz bags that were BOGO $5.99, I had $1 off coupon on each bag, so each bag was $2.  Compare that to drive thru wendy’s of 5 for $1!  I will add this in for a bento lunch or 2.

Lance crackers.  BOGO $2.89, I had $1 off each one.  So $0.89 for both!

Kraft Cheese. BOGO $3.69.  I had $2 off 2 and 10 of them!  So 10 pounds of cheese for $16.90!

 

So publix $41.60, Walmart $27.90, Winn Dixie $19.51, total $ 89.01

Huge thanks to!

www.southernsavers.com

www.iheartpublix.com

~trish

Bargain Garage saling

I think my husband is wearing on me.  He is the trash picker in the family and he has an uncontrollable need to bring improbable useful things home that he turns into a something useful.  I have read a few books about learning to control clutter and the one thing I learned is that most clutter problems is the result of people attaching a sense of usefulness in each object, thus, nothing is worthy to be  disposed of. 

Well, on the way to take #1 to school, there sitting on the side of the road was this perfect specimen.  Just this weekend that home had a garage sale and the unwanted was placed at the curb.  What an amazing piece to be tossed.  SO after I did my morning requirements, I went to rescue this treasure.  Now, you might be wonder, WHAT?  With the tears in the fabric, you might even notice the fading or even the complete out of date style.  Let me promise you, it is worst than that.  It has an evident stale smokes cough lingering within it.

So what is the greatness of this chair? Good bones!  This chair is the definition of comfort and efficiency.  The chair is a small chair that sits lower to the ground than most.  It also swivels and rocks.  Oh, it so comfy that I haven’t even minded smelling a bit like a stale cig afterwards.  Now, my tolerance on a stinky cig is not in within my tolerance level.  So it is getting a breathing treatment on the porch.  Once I get the stink out, I am going to make a cute slip cover and replace my glider in the living room with it.

Oh, for the important part of this side of the road find.  I did pay for it.  It is my new $2 chair.  I knocked on the door before loading and offered $2 , even though it was sitting on the curb side.  So I was not picking garbage, just bargain garage sale discounts.

So be prepared, after the stink is gone, I will be showing off my new bargain find.

Good Day Shopping!

If you haven’t done so, please check out  www.southernsavers.com.  You will see the link on the left hand side.  Thanks to the fabulous work done by this woman, I am able to get great deals without any searching and time.  I was doing all the couponing  earlier, but I spent a ton of time and energy searching and traveling.  So I gave up for a while. Well having dinner with an old friend, reignited my couponing thanks to her reminder of  www.southernsavers.com.

I know use southern savers to buy at Publix and Winn Dixie only.  I do not have it to go to CVS and Walgreens and Target to name a few.  I am also not picking up every Sunday Paper .  So I pick up a Sunday Paper here and there and I cruise southern savers before I go shopping.  I love that she  links the printable coupons and that you can build your shopping list directly from her sight.

So here are my deals:

Publix

Item	Sale	Coupon	Quantity	Total Price Spent
Pillsbury ready to bake cookies	$3.09 BOGO	$1/2	8	$8.72
Bob Evans Hash browns	$2.59 BOGO	$0.50/1	2	$1.59
Betty Crocker Cake Mix	$1.85 BOGO	-	8	$7.40

Total Spent $17.35, Saved $27.35

Winn-Dixie

Item	Sale	Coupon	Quantity	Total Price Spent
Sara Lee Cheesecake	$4.99 BOGO	$1/1	2	$2.99
Birds Eye 1# frozen Vegetables	10/$10		13	$13.00
Betty Crocker Frosting	$1.99 BOGO	$ 0.50/1	2	$0.99
Oscar Myers Bologna	$2.89 BOGO	$1/1	2	$0.89
Kraft Coleslaw Sauce	$3.79		1	$3.79
Beef Round Roast	$4.99/lb BOGO		5 lbs	$11.89

Total Spent $33.55, saved $ 37.78

 

Now I still have shopping at Wal-Mart and Sam’s, which are my typical shopping adventures for the week. The items I got above was just $50 on stocking up on some luxury goods for our home, minus the veggies.  I typically do not buy ready to bake cookies or cheese cake.  I do buy cake mixes when I can get a great deal on them.  Now the coleslaw dressing is out of pure laziness.  Being in my 7th month of pregnancy and having a birthday party this weekend, I do not have energy to spare.  To take some of the burden I just bought the dressing.  I know a cheapo like me probably has the ingredients to whip it together in less than 15 minutes, but I might not get that 15 minutes, so why chance it. 

Talk about a party!  I am going cheaply!  I am making Pulled BBQ Turkey Sandwiches, Coleslaw, Baked Beans with Sweet Tea and Lemon Aid.  Cupcakes and ice cream.  The turkey just got finished cooking, in the morning I will pull it off the bone and shred it.  Then I will put it in a crock pot with BBQ sauce the day of: total expenses $8.50 14# turkey (frozen since thanksgiving sale) and $4.67 Bulk Sonny’s BBQ Sauce from Sam’s, Buns about $4 from Sam’s. BBQ turkey equals $17 to feed 20-30 people this party and the same number in April for the next party, it freezes great.  Next up, Coleslaw.  The coleslaw is $3 for a huge bag at Sam’s and the $3.79 dressing and about $4 for #10 can of baked beans.  Dinner’s total is $$28.  I have everything to make the tea and lemon aid.  I got a girlfriend that brings the cupcakes as the gift.  The ice cream is on hand.  Taa da!  See why I don’t mind the splurge on the coleslaw dressing.  I even picked up the plates at Wal-Mart for $0.75 a pack in the Valentine isle.

I shouldn’t gloat like this, it is just not pretty.  eww, have you noticed that I am posting more regularly?  Well, I just got a free Microsoft program loaded that is  Windows Live Writer that allows me to compose my postings with all the tools like I am writing in Word and then post it directly to my blog.  This makes it a whole lot easier to post tid bits of my world to you.  Enjoy!

Laundry Detergent Recipe

I grabbed this recipe from the duggars' website. I have been using thi detergent for about 4-6 months. It works great and I see no need to go back to purchasing detergent. I have washed my husbands dirt clothes and cloth diapers with great success.

Here are the ingredients.
4 Cups hot water
1 bar Ivory soap
1 cup washing soda
1/2 cup borax

Here is a picture of the ingredient, so when you go to the store, you know what to look for. I have heard that you can Call Arm and Hammer and they will tell you the closest store that sells the washing soda.

3 bars of Ivory @dollar store $1
box of borax about $4
box of Washing soda about $3

step 1: Grate ivory bar and mix with 4 cups of hot water on medium until dissolved.

step 2: Fill 5 gal bucket with hot water. add dissolved soap, borax, and soda. Stir until fully disolved. Fill the bucket up to top with more hot water.

Stir, cover and let sit over night. This is a high concentrated and is actually 10 gallons of laundry detergent. Fill you jugs for washing with half detergent and half water. (i.e., It is easier to pour in the washing machine from a smaller container than to spoon it out with each load from the bucket.)

To Use!

Front end loader: 1/4 cup detergent (640 loads)

Top Loader: 5/8 cup detergent (180 loads)

So for the initial investment $8 plus the bucket&lid. You have more than enough for anywhere between 1,320 to 540 loads, depending on your washer. Also, for a $1 more on ivory, you can do 3 more batches.

The detergent is watery and looks like watery milk. But it works great

Making my own wipes!

Ohh, this is the best alternative to buying wipes! I love them and prefer them. I almost have all the things I need to make them around the house, it takes about 2 minutes (the same amount of time it would take you to find the mother load package or even if you have more). I prefer them ecause I get better wiping on the hiny and it only takes about 3 at the most for the dirtiest jobs.

Take a paper towel roll, cut in half. Now from experience, skip the the bread knife and go for the filey (the one you gut fish with, long and narrow). The bread knife will send tiny wads of paper all over the kitchen. Well, back to the point, cut the paper towel in half.

Put the paper towel with the cardbord tube still in in a plastic bag or a plastic container. I did pick up a container from wal-mart, their home brand, 2 pack for about $4.

You need:

2 cups of warm water, 2 tablespoons of baby wash, and 2 tablespoons of baby oil.

Wait 2 minutes pool out the tube.

Walla! baby wipes. count about 90 for about 50 cents.