» Frugal Living

$5 Dinner Giveaway!

Deirdre — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 18:16:23 +0000

You can win http://www.5dollardinners.com/ Cookbook by Erin Chase for free! She is giving away 10 a day! Enter now!

Make your own Homemade Dusting Spray in less than two minutes!

Deirdre — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 19:18:17 +0000

Ok, so I’ve stopped using shampoo, and I made my own laundry detergent and today I threw together some dusting spray in just a couple of minutes. It’s safe and non-toxic and it’s super inexpensive to make.

I bought this spray bottle for $1 at Dollar Tree, I put

1/8 c. white vinegar
1tbsp olive oil
10 drops of Lemon Oil (you could put any essential oil scent you like!)

I filled the rest of the bottle with water, shake and that’s it! I dusted my entertainment stand and I’m hooked! It looks great!

Homemade Laundry Detergent

Deirdre — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 17:09:15 +0000

Here’s my first attempt at Homemade powdered laundry detergent.

I used

1 bar of Fels Naptha soap
1.5 cups of Borax
1.5 cups of Washing Soda

The recipe I used called for 1/2 cup each of the borax and washing soda, but I felt like there was too much fels naptha, so I tripled it. We’ll see how that works out.

Here’s the recipe link I used. http://www.debtfreeadventure.com/2009/06/simple-easy-fast-effective-jabs-homemade-laundry-detergent/

No ‘Poo method of haircare

Deirdre — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 02:05:41 +0000

Well, I’m on a new adventure. I’m tired of my haircare products. Cheap ones make my hair flat, oily, too dry or some combination of them all. I love using expensive brands, but $15-20 a bottle isn’t exactly cost effective. I’ve read off and on about “no ‘poo” methods and I’ve been scared to try it. I’m afraid I’m going to look like an oily mess.

Well, I’m trying it. Today is Day 1 of not using any shampoo. I used Baking Soda & then rinsed with Apple Cider Vinegar(ACV). It’s not fully dry yet, but it feels great so far.

Here is a great article about not using shampoo.

http://www.naturemoms.com/no-shampoo-alternative.html

Frugal Living

Deirdre — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:07:45 +0000

With the purchase of a new home comes many new responsibilities & expenses. It is time for us to crack down on spending and be prepared for (almost) anything that comes along with those responsibilities.

The first place I decided needed work would be our eating out/fast food/Starbucks budget as well as our home groceries.

Thanks to www.mint.com I found that *I* spent $120 on miscellaneous Starbucks trips in the month of September. I gasped for a moment, shocked that I had spent that much on Shaken Passion Iced Tea Lemonades & Lemon Loaf slices. It was true, I needed to cut back.

Another area we have problems is my husband Nick’s lunches. He works 39 miles away from home and works 10 hours shifts, with 1 hour for lunch. The easiest thing for him to do is to grab a bite to eat at his work cafeteria or a nearby fast food joint. This isn’t working for us. According to Mint.com we spend $389.00 on fast food, and $679 on groceries. Those are staging numbers for our family size and income.

So, here is the start of our financial change, and hopefully we’ll inspire and help others to live more frugally as well.

Here are a few things we’re going to change.

No more eating fast food for lunches or otherwise. I’ll be making Nick’s work lunches to take with him.
We lowered our Netflix plan from 5 movies at a time to one at a time with unlimited online watch time. We’re currently on the lookout for a good used (and cheap) Roku Netflix player to use on our TV.
No more Starbucks trips. We have lots of coffee at home for Nick to drink and I have devised a clever, but cheap way to imitate the Starbucks drinks I occasionally like to drink.

Our monthly grocery budget is $400 and we’re going to stick to it.

I’m also not a fan of car payments. In two more payments our car will officially be ours. It’ll be nice to free up that car payment and put it into savings.

I love hearing from others and their frugal tips. Feel free to comment away!

My next post will be details on the grocery budget, shopping list and tips for low cost meals!