A Time For Every Season....

We're eating out of our pantry & freezer this month - cleaning and making room for a new 2011 stockpile. So far this week we've eaten: a tuna helper meal, baked homemade pizza, finished off two boxes of cereal we weren't too crazy about, made 10 cups of pudding and made homemade laundry soap. My pantry and freezer are looking better! We did bring home food Wednesday because I was in a training most of the day and wasn't able to get things ready for dinner. Overall a great week in savings! My personal goal is to spend less than 100.00 on groceries this month. I  went to Kroger and Tom Thumb last night for my first trip of the new year, we only really needed milk and peanut butter. The rest of my finds were all great deals! I spent two hours enjoying a "House" marathon on TV and coupon organizing this past Thursday night and put together a few great deals! Here is a picture of my load! The best finds were: 8 boxes of cereal - Kashi and Special K (...

The number one killer of grocery budgets is meat. I've had many people ask me about saving money on meat so I thought I'd share about this mornings trip to Tom Thumb so you can see how to get quality meat for an inexpensive price and then package it well. This morning I headed to Tom Thumb (off 1709 & Rufe Snow) to grab a few quick items. I always run by the meat section and check for any great deals. Almost all the meat (80%) I buy comes from Tom Thumb, the other 20% comes from Sprouts. Tom Thumb has a great meat deal this week - BIGIF (mix and match) which is 50% off all their meat! Their boneless skinless chicken comes up to $1.50 per pound which is an excellent price! I normally stock up on boneless chicken  when its 1.90 or less per pound. Sprouts also had a great deal on chicken tenders for 1.99 per pound for hormone free chicken. I also grabbed some 50% off lean ground beef, boneless ribs, T-bone steak and pork chops. I spoke with the meat man who said that...

Wow, Kroger is having some awesome deals this week! You can view the great deals matched up with Internet and Sunday paper coupons at www.mypennypile.com - just look under the Kroger section. All of the items I purchased we use or needed so it is quite a great sale - I was especially tickled with the 3 FREE Snuggle fabric softeners and the 4 Birds Eye meals which I paid 2.39 per package (normally 7.59). Everything pictured was free (or within pennies) except for the wipes (2.50), banana's, and the .45 ketchup and the Birds Eye meals mentioned above. In total I paid 14.67 for everything above and the original bill was 95.00! That is a savings of 85%. My Fall and Winter baking will love the 14 free cans of condensed milk (only a few are shown) and the boys are loving the free Mandarin oranges! It was a great shopping trip - one of the best I've had in a few months! I even went back the next day and grabbed some free tuna!

In June of 09 John and I decided to test out a credit card program (Chase Freedom) to see if the rewards were beneficial to our family. We had been credit card free for over a year and thought that we'd make the leap to running most of our expenses through our credit card in the hopes of making a little cash back. We picked the Chase Freedom card, thanks to my thrifty friend Bethany and her husband who told us about the Cash Reward program. John and I made a pact that if any month we didn't pay it off then we would close the account. So far we're sticking to our allotted budget and haven't had any temptations not to pay it off - in fact I try and pay the balance off every Friday just to keep things simple. The rewards program works very simply, for every charge there is an allotted percentage (1%-3%) which you receive as "credit," the top three spending categories receive the 3% rebate and it drops from there. You can redeem the credits at any time for gift ca...

Websites to begin learning the basics of couponing, coupon collecting, and daily deals : www.moneysavingmom.com www.mypennypile.com www.stretchingabuck.com www.freebies4mom.blogspot.com www.becentsable.net - finding grocery deals in your area by store name www.afullcup.com – Great resource for grocery deals like Target and for printable coupons or coupon exchanges ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Sunday Newspaper : Double ads from the Dallas Morning News is 2.89, see if neighbors want to give you their extra sets if they do not use them. The Wednesday Paper (The Grocery Ads) : Grocery ads in our area tend to run Wednesday through Tuesday so look for these either in your mailbox or a private company delivers them to your door each week. Mail-order : Sign up for coupons via the websites listed above, join the e-mail lists of the brands you frequent the most. Also sign up for VocalPoint which will send you 5-10 coup...

Week 1 went fairly well, but my aim for 100.00 in groceries for the whole month left out the fact that we'd been gone for most of July, so there wasn't anything in our fridge. In order to be somewhat healthy and not have Mac n Cheese and hot dogs every day I had to break down and head to the farmers market and Kroger for some real food. I did buy things that would complement various stock piles in our freezer and pantry - this way I'm still using up my surplus. I still have a huge surplus - anyone need dressings or cereal? So far (besides bills, those don't count!) we've spent: Gasoline: 36.86 Grocery's: 83.04 Prescriptions: 10.00 I'm so excited, what we're geared up to save this month on groceries/gasoline/eating out/Misc costs like Home Depot charges, will cover the overage spent on our vacation last month. We have a short term account set up for: Vacations, Christmas, HOA dues, and our insane electric bill during the summer. Then the long term savin...

About a month ago I tried to use my organically grown basil plant for some cooking. I had tons of extra and I didn't want to waste any. So I researched frugal and easy ways to freeze fresh basil. Here is what I did (with the help of my 4 year old) in three easy steps: Step 1 - cut the basil leaves off your basil bush (or buy some from the store, its much cheaper to grow your own 1.50 at Lowe's!) I read that for everywhere you cut, two basil leaves will grow back on the bush (we're still investigating that claim!). Leave enough extra on the bush to encourage growth, don't hack the whole thing off! It takes about a month for the growth to come back, I've added another basil plant for this reason, so I alternate cutting them back every other month. Then wash the leaves thoroughly and lay to dry on a towel. Step 2 - place basil leaves in a food processor or blender, add extra virgin olive oil (Costco has a great price 24.00 or so for almost a gallon, it will last a lon...

Drew has been wanting to get a pretend kitchen to play with, but I didn't want to spend all that money. So we created our own William's Market as a compromise - it is still a work in process, but here is what we've put together so far. :: Recycled paper and plastic containers, taped or glued shut to replicate the real product. :: a cash register from the Goodwill for 2.00 - equipped with the add and subtract buttons for mathematics. :: Expired coupons, laminated to replicate money and to teach/brainwash the kids into being thrifty themselves. It also works great for matching and identification. :: This is a great way to recycle! Now when boxes are emptied, Drew asks "can we add this to my grocery store?" :: Paper/plastic bags to imitate the real shopping experience! I'm looking for a pretend shopping cart at the Goodwill, but Drew doesn't know that yet! Drew's favorite thing to play is Grocery store, even Daddy has gotten into the act. It was so funny...

(Before) Our little man had his first haircut yesterday. When Drew was a baby I made a huge event out of his first haircut - we went to Cool Cuts. This time, as I'm taking more steps to being self sufficient and thrifty, and adding up the cost of two haircuts every 8 weeks, I decided to cut Gabe's hair myself. I bought a really nice pair of scissors from Sally's and tada - the makeover is complete. I am actually really pleased with myself, I can't believe I did it and made it look good. I have to thank the Internet for that - self teaching Youtube video's rock! I think Gabe looks younger .... and his face looks chunkier! Now instead of people questioning whether he is a boy or a girl, they can enjoy his bright blue eyes instead. (After) On a frugal note, I also learned how to hem pants this past week at Mom2Mom. I decided after finishing the first of two pairs, that I'll pay the 10.00 to have a professional do it. Hemming is a lot of work, especially if you don...

After reading this article I decided to try an see how cheap I could get Gymboree clothes using their gymbucks offer plus their 60% off discounts. I received an additional 20% off coupon in the May 2009 "Parents Magazine" edition which sealed my decision to give it a try. If your interested you can get 2 years of Parent's Magazine free here . So, with my free magazine and Free Gymboree article I sat down at the computer to find my deals. I spent exactly 100.00 on 17 items of Gymboree clothing through their online store and received 50.00 in gymbucks . The package arrived within a week and I'm so excited to see Drew wearing pants that actually fit him - Gymboree sells all their pants in slender sizes for those children who can't seem to gain any weight like mine - don't the jeans above look so cute on Drew! I then went to Gymboree yesterday and spent my 50.00 in gymbucks . In total I spent 151.81 on 522.00 worth of clothes, I purchased 30 items and aver...

(Don't forget to mute the music on the right sidebar...) Do you know that the Bible speaks about money and possessions over 2,000 times; it speaks more about money than any other subject in the Bible. If your struggling with your finances, need accountability, or are just searching for financial answers, join a Crown team today! There are life groups popping up all over the metro- plex . You can check out Crown's website and find classes that meet any day of the week - or look at my sidebar and follow the link to a lifegroup. We are just about to begin our third Crown class since our marriage in 2003. Join us on this exciting journey! On a personal level, Crown has taught John and I God's plan for handling money. It has brought peace into our marriage and allowed us to work together as a team to reach our financial goals. We're well on our way up the Crown money map and are so excited to finally have reached our goal of having 3 months living expenses. Over the past 6...

Visit Northwood Church and take a free couples checkup (30.00 value) for free, all you need is an e-mail address! The assessment will reveal areas in your marriage that are strong and areas that need some growth. This test will remain free until February 14 th . The marriage assessment can be found at: themarraigeportrait .com Also join us for a free date night watching Fireproof on the big screen! The event is Friday night, January 24 th at 6:30 pm at Northwood Church in Keller, Texas. View the trailer here.

I was at Kroger a few days ago and discovered an amazing sight - bags and bags of organic Banana's for .99 cents. All this time I thought those bags of banana's were just if you wanted to spend regular price for a few pounds of banana's. Then I realized they had special mark down stickers on them. I managed to get a few bags of apples and yellow peppers for .99 cents a bag too! I think I ended up with around 10 pounds of banana's for 4.00. I cut all of them up and froze them in ziploc bags so I won't waste any from spoiling. I've spent the past few days coming up with creative ways to use these little blessings, here are a few ideas we came up with: Banana Bread Frozen banana's cut into small chunks and freeze - we just discovered they make yummy snack items (they also taste way better? I think the natural oils of a banana come out when frozen? I personally think these taste like Popsicles, so do the kids who have been eating lots of banana's lately! Sug...

I thought I'd let you all know about this cool financial program my sister (Thanks Julie!) showed me this weekend. It is an online program that maintains all your finances in one place - it downloads your info consistently when your logged in, so your data is always up to date! The site then categorizes the expenses and gives you tips and ideas on how to get out of debt, what categories you can improve, and investment options. The program is completely free and I really love their budgeting section - it sends you an e-mail/text when your close to going over your budget. I also enjoy that my husband can get online at any time and look to see where we're at - how much is in each account and what bills are next to be paid. It also sends e-mail/text reminders when things are due so you can avoid late payments. I've set it up so my husband receives the same e-mails I do so he feels in the loop and knows what's going on - other than reading my spreadsheets which tend to loose...

Well today was a frugal day - not intentionally frugal but I'll take those days whenever I can. It started with a trip to the "toy store" or Goodwill in our household. I spotted a dirty Graco high chair, it wasn't much to look at, it was filthy - to say the body had never been clean would have been an understatement. The cover was filthy too, but it had no rips and it was only priced at 6.00! I have been in need of a high chair, but I'm picky. I wanted it to have rollers and be adjustable. There hard to find on Craigslist for less that 40.00 and I gave up months ago because the few I called on were already taken. So, today was such a find! The high chair model was actually the one I looked at when Gabe was born and it was around 100.00 - though we had the funds set aside I just couldn't pay that much. Instead we used our portable chair which has been working just fine. Anyhow, with 1 hour of scrubbing and dis-infecting and a run through the washing machine it ...

Goal #4: Simplify by getting out of debt and learning to live with less. The Bible says in Proverbs 22:7, “ Just as the rich rule the poor, so the borrower is servant to the lender.” God doesn’t want his people enslaved, so it’s crucial that debts get paid off. Here are some add itional ideas to simplifying your life as well as save money so you can get out of debt: :: PETS - Here are some statistics on how much our loving pets cost: small dogs cost on average 800.00 per year, medium dogs 1,115.00, large dogs 1,500, Cats are 640.00 per year, guinea pigs 645.00, rabbits are also 645.00 annually. So here are some cost saving tools: Give your pets their own shots, medicine; flea control can even be ordered online at a fraction of the cost that vets charge. Take advantage of the city’s cheap vaccination program – I think I paid 5.00 for a license and a rabies vaccine for our dog this past Spring (good for 3 years), through the Fort Worth vaccination program – they have them quarterly. Also...

Goal #3: Give above and beyond the tithe (first 10%), through offerings and other fun ways to give of our time and materials. Luke 16:11 says, “ Therefore if you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth, who will entrust the true riches to you?” :: With the savings from our groceries we’re now able to bless others! The rest we’ ve put towards paying down my husband’s student loan & our mortgage. Those extra payments really add up! :: Many hygiene products (toothpaste, toothbrushes, lip gloss) I get for free so we have Christmas boxes that we’re making to send to Mexico on November 15 th . Christmas boxes are a great way to get the kids involved in the real meaning of Christmas. It is a fun family exercise on giving and it doesn ’t have to cost you a lot. These Christmas boxes we’re sending cost around 5.00 each, some of the items like the toothbrushes, soap, and toothpaste were free! I think the shipping will cost more than what we paid for the contents. :: With so...

Goal #2: Drop our dining out costs from 125.00 per month to 50.00. We haven’t quiet mastered this one, but are getting close (75.00) :: Friday family pizza & movie night (5.00 pizza’s from Little Caesars’ or 7.00 pizza’s from Papa Murphy’s, free movies from family video)! :: Cooking batches of Breakfast burrito’s for those crazy mornings when tempted to stop for fast food, convenience is the #1 reason we eat out, so by making things more convenient at home it cuts down stopping for a quick bite. :: Use coupons from the mail, or sign up online! When we go out we always find coupons for BIGIF or 20% off your total meal. If you have the press pass it works at many different restaurant. (Spring Creek BBQ mails out a monthly BIGIF coupon). :: Limit Television, studies show that the more television you watch, the more you consume. Instead turn on a worship CD or listen to a sermon online. Better yet, get rid of cable altogether and save some serious $!

We tried making our own laundry soap about 4 months ago. I am excited to say that it has worked beautifully and saved us some money! I thought I'd pass along the savings and show you just how easy it is. A 5 gallon bucket of liquid laundry soap should make about 100-120 loads and costs about 1.50. Here are the three easy ingredients: 1 bar of soap - any will do (I use Fels Naptha because I've heard its great on stain removal and with little boys we have a lot of stains!) Washing Soda - the box looks a lot like baking soda, but bigger. It is found in the laundry cleaning section of the store, normally on the top shelf. Not to be confused with baking soda! I had a friend try this recipe and she accidentally used baking soda, it didn't turn out the way she had hoped! Borax - Borax is a "natural mineral: Sodium Borate." It is a white powdery substance that will turn your soap to "goo" as my son calls it. Borax will act as a whitener and deodorizer for your c...

My husband and I created 3 financial goals that were "problem" areas in our budget. We slowly add ed different cost saving ideas into our daily lives, here is our first goal - tackling the grocery budget! The other two areas: dining out, and having excess funds set aside for an offering to God will be posted soon! Goal #1: - drop our grocery budget from 450.00 to 250.00 per month (includes: Diapers, formula, & hygiene products). At the time we radically add ressed this, it was early 2008, grocery costs had increased so much that we often went over the 450.00 budget, the final month before our fast we spent 480.00 on groceries! I'd heard of a site where the mother claimed to feed her family of 4 on 35.00 a week! The website is called Money Saving Mom and it has been universal in helping me get our grocery costs down. I also stopped spending 100-150 a month at our favorite wholesale store – Costco. I've learned that bulk is nice, but by using coupons I can stretch ...