Thriftylivingmama's Blog

FINAL THOUGHTS ABOUT All You CHALLENGE

thriftylivingmama — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 12:44:20 +0000

Well the challenge has ended and its been a crazy ride! I can’t believe hot much I learned, especially how to eat healthier on a thrifty budget. I’ve submited my exit form and am hopeful that I make it into the 10 finalist group, but even if I don’t I’m very happy that I participated because I’ve learned things that I will be able to implement into my thrifty lifestyle!

Week Four MENU All You Challenge

thriftylivingmama — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 11:16:27 +0000

Here’s our menu for the last week of the challenge!

Monday:

breakfast-cereal

lunch-mac n cheese with apples

supper-Grilled Cheese sandwiches, chips, and peaches

snacks-fresh, free tomato from neighbors garden-sliced and dipped in sugar! Fishy crackers

Tuesday:

breakfast-waffles

lunch- Taco Bell while out running errands

supper-chicken breasts, corn on the cob, rolls, au gratin potatoes

snacks-apples, Ritz crackers

Wednesday:

breakfast-cereal

lunch-peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, plums

supper-hot dogs, fries, peaches

Thursday:

breakfast-cereal

lunch- cheesy wraps-these are my kids favorite but I only get them when I can get tortilla shells on sale. Just wrap shredded cheese in a soft tortilla shell and microwave for a few seconds and then dip in ranch!

supper-tacos

snacks-pudding, plums

Friday:

breakfast- poptarts in the car as we were running errands

lunch- Ok, Taco Bell again-we were gone all day with a play date and the a ton of errands so I splurged twice this week. But since I’m so thrifty with my grocery shopping, it gives me extra money to go out when I need to

supper- Sloppy Jos, canned pears

snacks-pudding, fishy crackers

Saturday:

breakfast-cinnamon rolls

lunch-grilled cheese sandwiches and chips

supper-hot dogs with fries, free ice cream at McDonalds for desert

snacks-apples, fruit snacks

Sunday:

breakfast-cereal

lunch-ham dinner at the inlaws

supper-Fazolis: this is are absolute favorite restaurant for the family but its a bit of a drive so we don’t go a lot…however there is one right by the nursing home that my husband’s grandma lives at so once a month we make the drive and visit her and then afterward we go to Fazolis (they seriously have the best breadsticks in the world and their unlimited!!)

snacks-Just Tomato dried bananas, plums

FINAL Week: Week Four OOP All You Grocery Challenge

thriftylivingmama — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 11:10:21 +0000

Well its here! The final week of the challenge and its been a lot of fun! My oop for this week has been-

Farmers Stand: $10 No Receipt

Taco Bell: $7.67

Taco Bell: 9.15

Meijer: 33.63

Meijer: 45.33

Fazolies: $14 Receipt got ruined in the rain

Week four OOP 119.78

5.22 left over

WEEK THREE OOP for ALL YOU GROCERY CHALLENGE

thriftylivingmama — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 01:16:32 +0000

Here’s week three’s oop totals for groceries/eating out-

Meijer: 43.27

Dungeon (for husband’s weekly dinner with friend on Tuesday) $10 No Receipt

Farmers stand: 5.87 No Receipt

Coop for Miracle Noodle Coop $47.90 I don’t know if I need to count this since I am not getting the noodles till the end of August??

Meijer run for milk $5.21

Week three OOP: 112.25

12.75 left over

All You Challenge Week THREE MENU

thriftylivingmama — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 20:07:44 +0000

We’re on to week three and still having fun with the contest! Today the local farmer’s stand (within walking distance) opened up and I bought fresh green beans, cucumbers, peaches, and zuccini (for our pet rabbit!). It cost a little more than buying at a grocery store but I love supporting a local farmer and it tastes so much better

Monday:

breakfast-Krispy Kream donuts-ok definitely not a healthy choice but we went to my father in laws soft ball game last night which is right by a Krispy Kream donut factory. We usually do not splurge on something like this but my mother in law treated us to a dozen so they were our snack last night and breakfast this morning.

lunch-Hormel chili and saltines

supper-a true summer dinner! Corn on the cob (fresh and free from grandparents), peaches and green beans from the local famers stand, and slices of cheese. It was just me and the kids so I went simple but it was still healthy and filling!

snacks-peaches, grapes

Tuesday:

breakfast-cereal

lunch-sandwiches and peaches

supper-pasta salad, buttered bread, corn on the cob

snacks-peaches and grapes

Wednesday:

breakfast-cereal

lunch- macaroni and cheese, apples

supper-ham steaks, corn, biscuits, mashed potatoes, mini eclairs

snacks-apples, fishy crackers

Thursday:

breakfast-poptarts and cereal

lunch-apples, oranges, cheese, crackers

supper-out with the inlaws (their treat!)

snacks-oranges and crackers

Friday:

breakfast-waffles and blueberries

lunch-sandwiches and oranges

supper- ham on buns with fries

snacks-fishy crackers, last of the grapes

Saturday:

breakfast-muffins

lunch-ham and cheese quiche (one of our favorite meals!)

9 eggs

1 can cheddar soup

3/4 soup can milk

beat with mixer….

pour into two deep dish frozen pie shells

add diced ham

add 1/2 bag to each one of mozerella and colby jack (so use 2 bags of cheese)

350 for one hour-soooo good!

supper-out for pizza: my sister n law came back from a missions trip this afternoon so we’re meeting up for pizza but I have a $10 coupon from restuarant.com and my inlaws will pay the difference so free dinner tonight

Sunday:

breakfast-cereal

lunch-at the inlaws

supper-grilled cheese sandwiches, chips, and apples

SWAGBUCKS-Earn FREE Stuff So Easy!

thriftylivingmama — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 12:28:26 +0000

One of the coolest things I’ve learned about since becoming a thrifty mama is swagbucks! Its an alternative search engine to Google-you just use them for when your searching/browsing online (just like you would google) and you earn swag ‘bucks’ which you can turn in for some really cool prizes! I’ve been doing this for several months now and have earned over $200 in Amazon Gift Cards! There’s tons of prize choices, including Paypal CASH!! And its totally free and they don’t ask for any personal information like bank info (just need your shipping address). The bucks are awarded randomly as you search, I usually get 2-5 a day (they will pop up as your searching). Sometimes I’ll get a big one for 10 bucks-very cool! It only takes 45 bucks to get a $5 amazon gift card so its easy to earn! Definitely check it out!

http://swagbucks.com/refer/alorasmom

WEEK TWO MENU ALL YOU CHALLENGE

thriftylivingmama — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 18:43:28 +0000

Our second week’s menu includes two birthdays (my daughter and my husband). We had already decided to forgo a traditional party for my daughter and instead take her to Chucky Cheeses, the highlight of any 3 year olds life LOL! I found a coupon for a meal deal for under $20 so it actually was not bad on the budget.

Monday: bagels and cream cheese

Lunch: the kids had grapes, crackers, pretzels, cheese. I had a sub from Subway

Supper: Meatballs, corn on the cob, dinner rolls, and leftover cheesy potatoes

Snacks: pretzel rods, grapes (my kids ate the whole pound as soon as we got home from grocery shopping!)

Tuesday:

breakfast: wafles

lunch: mac n cheese with apples. I’ve been trying to get away with processed items but Kraft mac n cheese is such a staple in our house, its hard to cut it off totally! I’m trying to limit it to just a couple times a month since my kids love it (ok, so do I LOL!)

supper: my husband always goes out on Tuesdays for supper with a friend so tonight was a mix of left overs and random things LOL! Apples, stew, left over cheesy potatoes, apple sauce, pudding, and buttered bread were laid on the table and everyone just picked out what they wanted. It was definitely creative

snacks: cherries and fishy crackers

Wednsday-

breakfast: cereal

lunch: peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, cherries

supper: Chucky Cheese for my daughters birthday

Thursday:

breakfast-cereal

lunch-we went blueberry picking this morning and had so much fun! However we ate more than we picked and when we got home at lunch time both my girls (and myself) had tummy aches from eating so many blueberries LOL! So lunch consisted of milk, crackers, and some sliced cheese.

supper-today is my husbands birthday (two birthdays in a row at my house!) so I planned on making his favorite meal, ham dinner. However this afernoon my mother in law called and offered to babysit and treat us to dinner So we went out to eat twice in two days but since both were birthday related, I’m not feeling too guilty! In the past I had always picked up some type of a desert but being in a thrifty mindset had me going through my pantry this morning and I found a bag of Reese’s peanut butter cups. I went onto www. recipezaar.com and typed in peanut butter cups as my main ingredient and found a wonderful sounding cake recipe using the candy, and I have all the ingredients I’ve actually NEVER baked a cake from scratch so I’m really excited to try it! Its called Reese’s Candy Peanut Butter Cake-yum!

Update: the cake was a HUGE success! Everyone loved it and its going to be an annual treat now

Friday:

breakfast-donuts, a special treat for the kids for putting up with all of my errands

lunch: sandwiches, blueberries, chips

supper: cheeseburgers on the George Foreman grill, chips, and blueberries. Plus left over birthday cake and ice cream. My mother and sister in law came over but there was plenty for everyone!

Snacks: fishy crackers and cherries

Saturday:

breakfast-homemade muffins

lunch-grilled cheese sandwiches with chips and blueberries

supper-Tator Tot Casserole with rolls and corn. We’re babysitting friend’s kids tonight and Tator Tot casserole is an easy meal for lots of little mouths. This is a recipe that my mother in law has given to me and its one of my favorites!

snacks: animal crackers and oranges

Sunday: last day of week two of the challenge!

breakfast-cinnamon rolls

lunch-dinner at in laws

supper-scrambled egg meal. This is one of our favorite meals and very easy to make! Scrambled eggs mixed with shredded cheese, ham and sausage. We add toast as a side

WEEK TWO ALL YOU CHALLENGE OOP Grocery/Eating Out

thriftylivingmama — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 18:38:05 +0000

We are into week two of the All You challenge and still going strong! I got my groceries this morning at Meijer and Family Fare and hit the jackpot for school supplies-which are not included in the challenge but the deals were so good I have to brag a minute I got 10 boxes of Crayola 24 packs crayons for .19 each but even better-buy two Crayola items, get the third for .01! So three boxes of crayons for .39! They also had notebooks of paper for .05 each, Crayola markers for .79 and also buy two get one for .01, glue stick multi packs for .19, lunch boxes buy one get one for $1, and a backpack deal where you buy $10 worth of Kellogs (I stocked up on poptarts for my husband) and get $10 off a backpack so I got my daughters for an oop of $2.99! PLUS, last time I was at Meijer I got a cat for $5 off a $25 Meijer gift card so before I started my shopping this morning I ran through checkout, grabbed a gift card and started the trip out with a ‘free’ $5! Can’t beat that!

Meijer: $27.78

Family Fare $20.11

Subway $3.71

Dungeon $10 (for my husbands weekly dinner out with a friend)

Family Fare: $4.99 Stock up on cereal deal-this week if you buy 4 boxes of General Mill cereal you get them for $1.49 and I had a $1 coupon so I thought that was a decent price (my husband LOVES Cinnamon Toast Crunch). Well when I went to check out it gave me a cat for $1.50 off of three so I did the math and I could get 4 boxes of cereal for $1.12 each! This is a stock up price for me so I made several trips this week-each time rolling the cat into the next set.

Family Fare: $4.49 Stock up on cereal deal

Chucky Cheese: $21 for my daughters birthday

Blueberry picking: $6 for 5 pounds of freshly picked blueberries

Family Fare: $4.49 Stock up on cereal deal

Meijer: $10.49

Total for week two-$122.04

$2.96 under challenge budget

CLOTH DIAPERS-Not just for our Grandmas generation!

thriftylivingmama — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 12:09:36 +0000

I think my biggest thrifty tip is using cloth diapers! I’ve been using them for almost 2 years now and can’t believe how much money I’ve saved! There has been a huge comeback for cloth as people are looking for better environmental alternatives to disposables, and for those of us who were sick of paying $8+ a week for something you throw away!

There are many types of cloth diapers available, from high end brands to super thrifty/old school set ups. Since I started using cloth to save money I went back to basics and use FLATS with Thirsties covers. Super easy to use and wash, flats are very cool! And they’re ‘one size fits all’ so you can use them with multiple children at the same time. If you’re interested in using cloth diapers but don’t know where to start, the best website out there is diaperswappers.com Here you’ll find out everything you will ever need to know about using cloth diapers and they also have a decent for sale or trade section where you can pick up cheap diapers and accessories.

Some Great Easy Thrifty Ideas!

thriftylivingmama — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 11:49:24 +0000

Here’s some great thrifty tips I want to pass on. Thanks to the awesome thrifty mamas at Diaperswappers.com for these ideas!

HOMEMADE LAUNDRY DETERGENT: So easy and CHEAP

1 cup grated bar soap (Fels Naptha, Kirks, Zote, or homemade)

1 cup Borax

1 cup Washing Soda (this is Different than baking soda!)

1 cup oxi-clean/generic OPTIONAL

mix together and you’ve just made laundry detergent! How cool is that!! Use between 2-4 tbsps per load

HOMEMADE LAUNDRY SOFTNER

Instead of adding pricy softners or dryer sheets to your laundry, just add 1/2 cup of vinegar into the rinse cycle of the wash and it makes clothes so soft! There is NO vinegar smell after the clothes dry.

HOMEMADE HAIR DETANGLER
I have two really snarly haired girls and after spending $6 per bottle of salon detangler I found this absurdly simple tip: dilute a bit of hair conditioner in warm water into a spray bottle. Yes, its that easy! I did a healthy squirt of conditioner and then filled the bottle with water and it works great! My daughter’s hair is really easy to comb now and its so soft!