Mom’s Money

What’s For Dinner Tonight? Whatever Was On Sale This Week.

A remarkable thing happened to me at the grocery store the other day.  I noticed that, if I walk around the aisles picking ONLY the items that are on sale, or a two-for-one deal, I can make an excellent dinner with the ingredients.  Granted, I have to be a little bit creative, but if I’m saving money, I can afford to spread my recipe wings a bit! 

The trick is, rather than sticking to a recipe or menu, explore your options.  You know what foods you and your family like.  Start on the outside aisles, where the fresh vegetables, meats, fish, poultry, and dairy are displayed.  There are usually deals on bagged vegetables, buy-one-get-one-free on poultry and cheese, and price reduced items in almost every section.  Go along the edges of the store and load your cart with only items that are on sale.  Now, quickly push your cart through the inside aisles grabbing only items that are on sale and that your family will eat.  You will be amazed at how quickly you start to get ideas for dinner.  Don’t think too hard because, when you get everything home, you’ll find items in your pantry that you can use as well.

Now, you’ve got all your sale items home, and the assortment is a little baffling because you don’t have a menu to follow exactly.  This is where a little creativity will pay off.  Pile your veggies in one spot, your meat, fish, and poultry in another place, your cheese or other dairy products in a pile, and your “inside aisle” items in another pile.  Look in your pantry for any rice, noodles, or potatoes.  Can you see where this is going?  Pick an item off each pile, review your choices for feasibility, and there you are.  Your dinner choice has been made.  Now don’t you feel smart? 

If you do this sale-items-only shopping a couple times a week, the savings will really start to add up.  And, you may just find out that you can do more than just follow a recipe… you can cook!

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Liquid Laundry Detergent Is Hard To Give Up

In my effort to create a sane family budget, I looked at every item I brought home from the grocery store for a couple months and found a constant luxury… liquid laundry detergent.  I quit using the powdered kind some years ago when I started bringing home a bigger paycheck.  What a luxury!  Seems a little silly, but I actually like doing laundry, so using all the best products was fun for me.

Now comes the financial crunch.  I can’t afford to drive my car AND wash my clothes if I don’t let something go.  Since my paychecks don’t stretch like they used to, I started glancing at the powdered laundry detergents, but have been turning my nose up and walking right over to my expensive addiction.  But, when I compared even the concentrated liquid detergents to the powdered, I knew I had to switch.  One thing I’m thankful for is that there have been improvements in powdered laundry detergents over the years.  There are a lot more brands to choose from, and many have improved the powder to dissolve more quickly and thoroughly than they did in the past.  The thing that hasn’t changed is that, if you have a top loader,  you still need to start the washer filling, add the soap, and then add the clothes.  That took some getting used to, but the payback is worth learning this little step! 

I don’t feel so bad now when I stock up on laundry detergent.  I don’t gasp when I get to the checkout, and my laundry turns out just fine.  I still like to add a few brighteners and boosters, but the money I’m saving by using powdered detergents helps make me feel okay about buying just a few luxuries!

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Replacing Your Incandescent Bulbs With Energy Saving Bulbs Doesn’t Have To Hurt

I was one of the last hold outs in my family.  I hung on to my incandescent light bulbs as long as I could.  I did the research, read the statistics, and learned how much money we would save if we replaced all our light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs.  Even after the research, my family still had to drag me all the way to the store, kicking and screaming, resisting the inevitable.  Yes, I agreed to at least change a few of our existing incandescent bulbs with the compact fluorescent creatures, but only in the garage!  

And then it happened… we got to the store, and miracle of miracles, found a wall filled with all sorts of those little critters!  They were so cute!  If you haven’t checked out the new and improved compact fluorescent bulbs yet do yourself, and your budget, a favor and do some research.  There are shapes, sizes, and “temperature” options that will fit every fixture in your home.  You can start small, just a new bulb in your laundry room, then in the garage, then the basement and workshop.  Every time an incandescent bulb burns out, consider replacing it with a new compact fluorescent bulb.  According to GE, the money you save in energy use alone is around 75% , not to mention they last about 10 times longer!  You pay more at the cash register initially, but by saving energy and replacing bulbs less often, it’s one investment that is guaranteed to make you money.  Then you will be a convert, just like me!

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Halloween Costumes Are A Luxury I Simply Cannot Afford On Our Budget

I love Halloween and so do my kids.  What I don’t love is the expensive “designer” costumes that I see in all the stores.  Even the discount stores have racks filled with expensive branded-character costumes that our kids all know and want.  I’m amazed, and appalled, at the prices of these much sought after costumes and can’t bring myself to fork-over my hard earned money to purchase these costumes for my kids.  If I purchase one of these costumes for each child, it means I don’t put gas in my car this week, my middle child won’t be able to go to a birthday party, we eat beans for two weeks, and the dog doesn’t get his vaccinations.  Life will go on without a “designer” costume, but my family has to eat. 

I explained the situation to the kids, and talked about the sacrifices we all make in order to live within the budget we agreed to.  They understood the problem, and we decided  that we could come up with a solution together.  Our solution: Let’s be creative and MAKE our costumes!  So, here they are!

1. Pile of Leaves - Our three year old is adorable as a little pile of Fall leaves.  We took a big, old, dark brown T-Shirt that hung down to her knees, fabric glue, and a sack of Fall color leaves that we bought at a craft store, and just glued the leaves all over the shirt.  Then, we took an old bandanna scarf and glued more leaves all over it and tied it on her head.  She wore a turtleneck shirt and tights and was the cutest little pile of leaves we’ve ever raked!
2. Hello My Name Is - I suspect our seven year old daughter has been hanging around me at too many meet-and-greets, craft shows, and the like, because she got a real kick out of being a name tag.  We took a big rectangular piece of poster board, bought some poster paint, grabbed one of my old “Hello My Name Is” name tags, and proceeded to copy the design onto the poster board. Then she wrote her favorite name on the line (she didn’t use her own, she decided to be a rock star).  Then we punched two holes in the top of the name tag and took big safety pins and pinned the tag up near her shoulders.  She dressed underneath in a black turtleneck and black pants and the look was complete. The name tag is certainly an icon that’s recognizable, and humorous.
3. Climbing Rose Trellis - When looking around the house and garden, I discovered that we have a lot of stuff piling up just waiting to be used for costumes.  My twelve year old son, who demonstrates a strange sense of humor here, found a  wooden rose trellis that wasn’t being used, cleaned it up a bit, and went to work.  I gave him my bins of miscellaneous silk flowers left over from crafts.  He took wire, strung bunches of flowers together and attached them to the trellis as if they were climbing.  Then he took a paper bag, cut it in the shape of a clay pot, and stapled it to the bottom of the trellis.  To attach it to his body, he took a couple lengths of big elastic which I also had left over from some sewing project, and tied each length over the top of the trellis, making a loop to slip his arms through.  To complete the look, my brave son pinned some of the flowers on the top of a baseball cap and stuck it on his head.  Funny!   

Telling my children “No” wasn’t easy.  I want them to have everything their little hearts desire.  That’s what Mom’s do.  I’m very proud of my family for understanding the problem, and coming up with a solution.  I’m also very pleased with their creativity and their willingness to help create these economical and fun costumes.  I can’t wait to see the reaction our kids get when they go Trick-or-Treating through the neighborhood.  We’re already talking about what we’ll design for next Halloween!

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The Debate Continues… Paper Or Cloth Dinner Napkins

My household has been hotly debating the question of paper versus cloth for quite some time now.  It may seem like a silly concern to the ordinary citizen, but when it comes to dinner napkins, I have an emotional attachment.  When I was growing up, we used cloth dinner napkins.  The napkins didn’t always match, which made them more endearing in my book, but they were always folded next to our plate and made dinnertime a sort of treasure hunt.  It was fun to see which napkin you would get, and we each had our favorites.  

Now, the debate is about money.  My husband thinks it’s more economical to use paper napkins because you don’t spend money washing them.  I say that if you’re going to use that logic, why not get rid of kitchen and bath towels, too?  Since I’m washing towels anyway, why not just throw the cloth dinner napkins in with the load?  Keeping in mind that my cloth napkins have a sentimental attachment, I still think that they are, economically speaking, a better choice. 

If you are using paper, your debate will be better served if you compare using paper towels to using actual paper dinner napkins.  You would think that the paper dinner napkin would be more expensive, given they are a specialty item, intended for one use only.  Whereas, paper towels are multi-purpose items.  Not so!  Compare a roll of paper towels costing about $3.00 for 125 sheets.  For a family of four, that roll will last roughly one month.  That’s around $36.00 a year in dinnertime face mopping.  Now consider the elite paper dinner napkin.  At about $5.00 for 400 napkins, the same family will spend roughly $17.00 a year to clean their pretty little faces at meal time.  Case closed.

Whether you choose paper over cloth, or paper towels over paper dinner napkins, it seems to me that it comes down to preferences.  The cost difference probably isn’t enough to sway any voter from their preferred napkin.  But this is one person who will vote with my heart.  Nostalgia wins every time!

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Don’t Let Miscellaneous School Expenses Destroy Your Budget

We’ve finally worked out a budget that would be the envy of any financial planner.  It’s safe to say that our family can start a savings account, buy some much needed appliances, and even take a well deserved vacation.  Now that school’s in session, we can factor out the day care expenses and direct that money elsewhere.  Well, that’s the plan anyway, and what do they say about best laid plans? 

Yes, school is in session and it seems every day I’m dolling out money like there is no tomorrow.  My kids resemble tiny beggars, standing in the kitchen with their little hands out, and a note from their teacher.  “I need money tomorrow for the field trip, and here’s the permission slip.”  “ I need money tomorrow for a book drive.”  The demands are never ending and, frankly, are making me a little frustrated.  Where is all this money supposed to be coming from?  We don’t have loose money laying around the house.  Our budget is very tight and I don’t want to be “nickel and dimed” into the poor house.  Every time I dig into my pocket and hand over money I didn’t plan to spend, I end up borrowing from another budgeted item, and usually wishing I hadn’t stocked up on groceries this week, because now we are definitely broke. 

It’s time to take this matter seriously, and treat these miscellaneous school expenses like any other fixed expense.  The school district has a curriculum laid out at the beginning of each year.  There is no reason why a parent shouldn’t know what’s coming up during the school year.  Visit your children’s teachers and ask them for a copy of the curriculum plans and the cost involved for each event.  They may not have the plans for the entire year, perhaps just by semester, but it will at least give you the opportunity to put school expenditures in the budget, just like every other important aspect of your life.

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Cook Like You Mean It

Back when I was growing up, cooking was a job.  My Mom started early in the morning, baking bread and getting things ready for dinner.  Now, I’m not proposing that we go back to those back-breaking days.  But, there are some lessons to be learned here. 

Right off the bat, you’ve got to have a plan.  Stopping at the grocery store or convenience store on the way home from work and picking out what you’re going to make just doesn’t make sense.  You are going to choose all the easiest, fastest, deli-ready, food items you can pick out in the quickest time possible.  You’re hungry, after all, and your family is waiting for you.  It takes less time than you think to sit down once a week, plan a menu, and shop for the ingredients.  Add up all those stops at the grocery store and convenience store during the week and you’ll see that, for the same amount of time, you could have your meals planned and prepared.

Get your groceries ready for cooking when you bring them home.  As part of your shopping trip, you should be cleaning and cutting up vegetables you know you’ll be using.  If your week’s recipes call for diced celery, onion, or green pepper, get them all rinsed and chopped.  What a time saver to have bags full and ready for your recipe.  You can enlist the help of your children if they are old enough.  Have a counter in your kitchen clean and ready with chopping boards, knives, and colanders.  Consider frying your ground meat or chicken.  That way all you have to do is throw it in when the recipe calls for it.

The greatest money saver and time saver of all is “cook once, eat twice”.  Yes, I learned from my Mother and Father that once you have the oven heated, and the pot on to boil, you might as well make a double batch.  It sure saves on the fuel bill.  And you will have a freezer full of quick meals if you package your double batch in individual servings.  Because, you know there are going to be days when you just can’t cook.  Oh, yes, don’t forget the grab-and-go lunch.  There’s another way you’re saving money… no more eating out for lunch. 

When you are rushing into dinner time, unprepared and over-spent, you are always going to be unsatisfied with the meal you’re serving your family.  Take a page out of our Mother’s and Grandmother’s cookbook;  Plan, Prepare, and Cook Like You Mean It!

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Family Vacation On A Very Limited Budget

I grew up in a large family and money was  tight.  We learned how to be frugal in every aspect of our lives.  Our family could not afford to go on extreme vacations, driving across the country, visiting amusement parks or seaside resorts.  We learned how to vacation close to home.

There are many reasons, besides saving money, to explore your own corner of the world.  Often, people who have lived in one town a long time will admit they rarely visit local points of interest.  When family and friends visit, it gives me an excuse to explore my own city!  We all are guilty of not taking the opportunity to get to know our own area’s unique personality. 

You’ll want to start planning your next “Around Our Town” vacation by gathering information.  Your local Chamber of Commerce is a good place to begin.  Also, every restaurant and hotel or motel in your town will have racks full of brochures luring you to places to discover.  Sometimes, just a short drive away, you’ll discover a cave to explore, a hands-on museum, a waterfalls, a kid’s fishing day, a community festival, or any number of events that are new to you.   However, the sweetest vacation time with your family may be pitching a tent in your backyard, or renting a travel trailer and parking it at the lake.

Compare the money you would spend on just one stressful, long-distance trek across the country to vacationing in your own corner of the world,  and you’ll quickly realize the benefits of exploring your own backyard first.

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The Wrapping Costs More Than The Gift

I love those little fancy gift bags. But, have you noticed the prices? The cost of wrapping a gift has become almost as expensive as what’s inside. Sometimes more!

It’s hard to give up wrapping gifts in those pretty little bags, paper, and ribbons, but how can I justify spending that kind of money on just the wrapping? With a touch of creativity and a bit of craftiness, I have designed my own inexpensive, yet fancy, gift wrappings at a fraction of the cost.

You’ll find in any party store, dollar store, or grocery store, small “lunch” bags; little brown, white, or colored paper bags. They’ll be sold in packs of ten, twelve, or more for a very reasonable price. Now, buy yourself some jute string (that’s the brown, natural-looking stuff) for the brown bags, some ribbon or colored yarn for the white or colored bags, and any other decorative items you think might make your gift bag pretty. You can glue, tape, or use a hole punch and thread your string or ribbon through to form a handle on the bag. You may want to cut the top of the bag off a little to make it smaller, and to get rid of the rough edge. Try using special scrapbooking scissors to create a uniquely shaped gift bag.

If you make a few of these gift bags up and keep them on hand, you’ll be ready for any gift-giving emergency. When you have a little gift for your neighbor for picking up your mail, or a gift for your daughter’s piano teacher for her new grandchild, you’ll be ready. When a small gift is appropriate, you’ll be ready with the wrapping… and it won’t cost you more than the gift!

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Save on Kids Clothes

It seems that about a month after getting my kids in new clothes, they have either outgrown them already, or have managed to ruin them.

I’ve given up buying new and expensive clothes for them, except for special occasions of course.

Instead, I ask for hand-me-downs, and I shop both at consignment shops and discount stores.

If you keep an eye out for a good deal, your children can be just as well dressed for a fraction of the cost.

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