Our Electric Bill

After months of high electric bills we decided to get serious about reducing our bill. The first thing we did was to not turn on any lights during the day and use the sunshine to light our house. Next, we started unplugging everything that wasn't being used like the TV and laptop or the kids cd player. We also started turning off the laptop at night. We also stopped leaving a light on all night in our kitchen. After one month of being really careful we lowered our bill by $75!! Our electric bill this month was only $21.00!! If we are able to keep it this low we will save over $900 in a year!

Once a Month Crockpot Meals

One way I save money on our grocery bill is by using my crockpot.Homeschooling and taking care of my family at times doesn't even leave me enough time to throw something in the crockpot in the morning, I had to find a better way. My solution was to take one day a month and put together meal kits.

I have made meal kits of chicken, steak, and pork. Here is one of my favorites...

Shredded BBQ Chicken
3 boneless chicken breast
1 c ketchup
2 T brown sugar
2 tsp worcestershire sauce
2 tsp soy sauce
2 tsp cider vinegar
1/2 tsp ground red pepper flakes
1/3 garlic powder

Put all in gallon bag. Thaw. Dump all into crockpot. Cook on high 3-4 hours or low 6-8 hours. Shred chicken and blend with sauce.

Weekly Wrap Up

I'm participating in www.gettingahead.blogspot.com weekly wrap up! Check out her site for some awesome tips!

My week was extremely frugal since we haven't left the house since Monday!
Spent $10.15 in groceries on Sunday and have washed all laundry in cold water. I also made a menu plan and stuck to it this week and we haven't eaten out at all! No shopping and no driving, keeping the heat set at 65 degrees, and we've also been reducing the lengths of showers and how much water in the bath tub. We have also started unplugging everything when not in use and turning the laptop off at night. I started experimenting how long it actually takes to dry a load of clothes. I'm really hoping to see our electric bill start to drop!

Homeschooling the Frugal Way

We have been a home school family for five years, throughout that time I've picked up some tips on teaching the frugal way!

First, you really need to decide how you want to teach your children. Don't buy textbooks if you're drawn to the Charlotte Mason style teaching. If possible try different types of teaching before you pick the type that works for you and your family. If I would've done this tip only I could have saved a ton of money! Make a unit study before you buy a bunch of unit study books, try borrowing some textbooks and teaching that way. Pray about what will really be used and loved by your family!

After you have chosen a style for your home school decide what must be done this year. Are you teaching your kindergartner to read? If so, you don't need to buy a complete kindergarten curriculum...buy the phonics book you like focus on that, throw in some field trips, read aloud, art, nature walks, and classical music and you will have a great and frugal first year!

Once your oldest is reading add in a good math program. I don't buy handwriting books unless I find them for $.25 or less because we do copy work using the Bible or another book.

I'm sure you've heard use the library to help save money on homeschooling. I actually don't use the library very often, instead we buy lots and lots of books at yard sales, thrift stores, library book sales, and used book stores. I like to have books on hand for my kids to browse through and pick up to read when the interest is there. My son loves anything to do with world war one and two and the civil war by having lots of those books on hand he can pick up one and learn something any day and not have to wait on a trip to the library.

History and science is another place that is easy to save money on. We don't use textbooks for either one. I do have some Abeka books I picked up at Goodwill for $.25 for reference and we have some awesome field guides and we really love Apologia for the younger students (we're doing Zoology Day 6 land animals this year and love it!) I would, especially for the younger students, focus on field guides, experiment books, and have a large variety of books on animals, rocks, trees, etc. Our history is lots of living books which you can usually find at yard sales and used book stores for pretty cheap. I try not to pay more than $.50-$1 for each book unless it's in really nice shape. We have tons of biographies, war books, If you lived during..., Usborne, and many others again bought for pennies on the dollar. We also use nature studies and Discovery channel and the Weather channel for science and history.

Art is a favorite subject at our house. What we have done is buy postcard size prints and biographies of famous artists. We read about them and study their paintings and then we attempt to copy their picture and technique. We used to do lots of crafts but since I currently have more younger than older students it's harder to manage without somebody eating it or painting each other!

I personally find the biggest cost in homeschooling is trying to cover it all. We don't want to fail or not do enough so we buy this curriculum or that new book that will solve all our problems. If I find a style that fits us but then see another family that appears more successful or I am questioned by a friend or relative I will buy more typical curriculum that won't fit us as well and that's just a waste of time and money! Once you have decided what style God has planned for your family don't change the course until He tells you it's time, that will save you the most money of all!

Cut the Clutter!

Are you overwhelmed by your home? Have you bought 25 books on how to clean up the clutter? If so, join me as I clean up and de-clutter our home. I find that February is a wonderful month to attack the clutter because I'm stuck inside so starting the first week of February I'll be posting some challenges to keep us all on track.

Some areas I'll be focusing on: school area, room by room, menu planning, pantry challenges, frugally decorating our homes, and many more! I hope you'll join me!

Snow Day!

The snow started falling about 4:30 last night and continued until about one hour ago. I am so grateful for my stockpile so on days like this I don't need to rush out to buy anything. I have everything we need...we could go for awhile without needing to go to the store. I'm also blessed that we live right beside a small grocery store so if we do need anything we can literally run next door.

My kids have been out to play and I've been cleaning the house and de-cluttering. That brings me to a whole other topic...how to stay on top of the clutter with five kids under 10 who are ALL home ALL day!! What are you doing on this snowy day?

Keep warm and safe!

Free Diet Dr Pepper

Here's a link to sign up for a coupon for free Dr Pepper www.freedietdrpepper.com

Proof that our Spending Freeze Worked!

I wondered if our spending freeze had made a difference in our bottom line...well I don't need to wonder anymore! On Sunday night our laptop received the blue screen of death and is no longer in working order. We thought we'd be able to use our kids school computer but it isn't high speed Internet ready so we were stuck buying a new computer. We were able to buy a new laptop with the money we saved in one month! To some that might not be a huge deal but for us it's amazing. I never realized how much I spent on the little things until now. I really think about each purchase before I buy. We are still hoping to get the old laptop fixed and then we'll give that one to the kids for their school work.

I think starting in February I'm going to start an eating out freeze! Anyone want to join me?

Dressing your Family for Less

I spend less than $200 a year to dress all five of my children, myself, and my husband. I am able to do this by doing a few different things. The first thing I do each year is go through all our clothes to see what is worn out, too small, or too stained to wear again. After that is complete I take inventory of what we do have...for example if my oldest daughter has 20 t-shirts in size 7 I know I don't need to buy anymore of that size. If I find that I have an abundance of certain sizes I will pick out five shirts or jeans and put them up right away for the next sister to wear. Once I make my list of needs for each child I put it in my purse so I can mark items off as I buy them. Now it's time to shop!!

My favorite way to dress my children and myself is by getting hand me downs. I always accept whatever others offer us, then whatever we can't use I pass on to other families.

If I can't get what we need from hand me downs I shop yard sales. I've been to many yard sales, some awesome and some just crazy priced, you need to know what the going rate is for used clothes, toys, books, or whatever you need otherwise you can pay too much! I personally won't buy my girls any clothes that cost more than $.50-$1 but because boys clothes are harder to find in good condition I'm willing to pay more. I buy jeans, shirts, pjs, coats, and even shoes and boots this way.

Another one of my favorite places is thrift stores. In my small town we have five thrift stores, two of which have the best prices but others have more variety. Again it's good to know your prices because some thrift stores can cost you more than a great clearance sale at Kohls or Target.

One of my final choices is to ask for clothes for birthdays. I try not to do that though because my kids like to pick out their own clothes, to them shopping at yard sales is just as normal as shopping at the mall. Plus I tend to think birthday presents need to be fun!

If I can't find what I need at any of these places I start shopping at Kohls for their awesome clearance racks. I have been able to find name brand shoes and clothes for less than $10! I also always check Walmart, Target, and Meijer for their clearance racks as well.

My children dress very nicely in mostly brand name clothes that we could never afford if we had to pay full price. So far they all have been happy with their clothes no matter where we get them, and I always offer to let them pay for their clothes if they aren't happy with what we have! I have raised them to know that the first place we look in a "real" store is at the clearance rack!

Ending the Spending Freeze

Our spending freeze is finally over. At times I felt like I wasn't going to make it. I did fail a couple times but for the most part I spent NO money. Looking back, it wasn't as hard as I thought and I do think my spending habits have changed. I have learned that I don't need much, I just think I do!

For example today on the way home from co-op the kids asked for Wendy's and I almost did it, but then I thought about it and realized we had some leftovers and could get dinner together quickly and we saved $10!!

Kroger Mega Event

Here are some match ups for this weeks ad... Sorry it's so late!!
Hormel Chili is $1- $.50 for mega deal...use $.55/2 in SS 1/11 and get two free!
Kleenex tissue with lotion are $1.49-$.50 use the $.40 off in SS 1/4 $.19 each
Kraft Cheese $1.99 there are blinkies for $.75 by the cheese = free
Heinz ketchup is at an awesome stock up price of $1.49 after the mega deal
Chex mix- use $.50 off in recent insert AND use the cellfire coupon and shortcut coupon makes them free!
Green Giant Steamers $1.59-$.50 mega deal- $.50 in SS 1/4=$.09

These are only some of the deals going on...check out www.nickels-n-dimes.blogspot.com for a complete list. Be careful though our local Krogers isn't as cheap as some prices listed!!

Check this out..cheap Papa John's Pizza

If the opening kick off at the super bowl is returned for a touchdown you get a large 1 topping pizza for $.25 from Papa Johns ... go to www.thecountdowntokickoff.com to pre-register. You must pre-register to qualify!!

21 Days of Nothing Update

We're still plugging away on our spending freeze. I was tempted to buy some jeans from Goodwill yesterday but I put them back. I'm asking myself if I really need it or do I want it. Most of the time I just want things. I haven't found anything that I have needed to purchase during our spending freeze. We have cut way back on eating out, I've found if I stick to my menu plan I do much better on not wanting to eat out. I've also realized I need to make a few meals for the freezer for days I just don't want to cook.

We've started giving the kids an allowance every week...$.25 each... I know I'm cheap but if I make it too high we never have the money to pay them! Now they can save for what they want.

Menu Plan Monday

Sunday- oven fried chicken, mashed potato, broccoli
Monday- chicken Parmesan, Alfredo noodles
Tuesday- tacos
Wednesday- homemade fast food
Thursday- 3 packet roast, potato,peas, rolls
Friday- pizza homemade
Saturday- chili in crock pot
Sunday- pork tenderloin, rice, vegetables

Kroger hot tip...

Horizen Milk is on sale for 10/$10 the single serve on the shelf...use $.25 off in SS 1/4 pay $.50 each... sale through Feb.1

What's Free this Week...

Here's what's free this week at my favorite stores...

- Cvs-
Excederin 24 ct. 1.99 use $2 off coupon in an insert a couple months ago, there's also a printable out there for $2 off any

Meijer
- Colgate toothbrush is $1.25 through Monday the 19 use $.75 coupon in 11/16 SS ( I think)
- Beech Nut ready to grow baby food trays are 5/$2 Use $1 off any ready to grow in one of the December inserts...I thought maybe we'd get overage but no...it just takes off .40 for each one....still a good deal!

Kroger
-today - rice cakes are 10/$10 use $1 off any rice cake item
-colgate toothpaste 2/$3 use $.75 off any in 1/18 SS
-colgate toothbrush 2/$3 use $.75 oss any in recent insert

Saving Even More...

I have recently been challenged to reduce our other monthly expenses. I feel like I have my grocery budget under control and my household needs are almost nonexistent thanks to the www.grocerygame.com however the rest of my budget could use some trimming.

I have been looking over our budget or lack there of this week wondering what else I can cut back on. I did lower our satellite bill by $25 a month which is nice. Our electric bill has been through the roof lately and so we've been unplugging everything in the house when we're not using it.

The areas that I know we need to work on are eating out, renting movies, and gas for our van. I'm guilty of chasing deals and using more gas than I have too. I'm also lazy on the weekends and tend to resort to eating out. We rent a lot of movies and video games each month so we do buy a discount card every month to get 50% off our rentals but we've gotten bad about making sure the stuff gets back on time which means we're paying for them twice!

During our spending freeze we have done really well on not eating out or renting tons of movies but I know we can do better! I'm thinking about using the envelope method for these three categories to see if that helps. Any ideas for staying on budget for these?

Spending freeze

I am on day 14 of my spending freeze. I spent $21.00 last night for our movie discount renewal and two movies. I also put $8.00 in gas in the van. It's not as hard as I thought it would be. My ideas of what I need are totally changing. I'm hoping to see a big change in our checkbook!

Free Suave Shampoo!

Today only... go to www.suave.com/nomics/index.html to get your coupon!!

Kroger close out deals in Mount Vernon

There are some awesome close out deals in the nature's market right now.
Annie's Organic Cereal $1.84 a box
Newmans organic chocolate bars $1.24 each
the organic fruit roll ups are $.34 each
the organic gummy bears are $1.30 ( I think) if not that price they are on close out
organic brown sugar poptarts
organic college inn lifesavers $1.24 a bag
gluten free oatmeal or some hot cereal under $2

and lots of other items on close out!!

Hurry go now if you eat organic!!!

I'm Weak!!!

I can't believe I caved in today and bought Wendy's for lunch! I'm justifying this by saying it was money from my mother in law and not out of our pocket! We also used some of this money to rent movies. Total spent $30.00 but I still have not used money from our checking account.

Last week went well, I even hit CVS, Walgreens and Kmart and only paid tax which took spare change from my purse. I also stayed under $100 in groceries. I am continuing to stockpile since my husbands work is slowing down. All in all I would say it was a successful week. I did get weak knees at all the clearance signs but I was strong and walked away!

Other money saving things I did
-washed all laundry in cold water
-turned off the drying cycle in dishwasher
-lowered our satellite bill $30 a month!

21 Days of Nothing Update

I am finding it difficult to not spend any money. Things I never thought of keep coming up, like I coach my girls cheer leading squad and pictures are on Saturday and I'd really like to get my eyebrows waxed however I don't need to! Also what picture packet do we really need? Maybe my son should have to pay for the picture he really wants that we don't need? Co-op fees are a budget killer too, I keep second guessing the classes we signed up for...could I barter something in exchange for the fee?

I have to say though that this spending freeze has really made me look at why I spend money. Mostly I spend just to make myself feel better, I like that shopping high I get from finding a great deal. Recently I was challenged to write out 100 dreams...none of them involved having closets full of clothes, tons of toilet paper, or having every home school curriculum I find interesting. It was all about raising my family and buying a forever home to grow old in with my husband. Not about the latest book or new shoes. I am finding that I can't actually blame the economy on my failed dreams, it is my spending that keeps me from achieving my dreams. My husband doesn't make tons of money but there is always money left if we spend wisely that could be saved for a rainy day.

I'm really hoping that this spending freeze will break my must spend habit.

Menu Plan Monday

Monday- son's choice
Tuesday- pancakes/bacon
Wednesday- oven fried chicken, mashed potato, vegetable, rolls
Thursday- chicken noodle soup/bread
Friday- homemade pizza/wings
Saturday-chili
Sunday- breaded pork tenderloin/baked potato/salad/rolls

Best Deals of the week

CVS
buy 2 tylenol or motrin childrens medicine @ $5.50 each
buy 2 infant tylenol or motrin medicine @ $5.50 each
total $22.00- $2.50 coupon in 1/4 rp- $2.50 in 1/4 rp= $17.00 earn $10 ecb

Walgreens
Free Garnier shampoo! use $2 easysaver coupon + $1 garnier coupon in 1/4 redplum
reynolds wrap 20 square feet .99 in ad coupon + $1 coupon in 11/16 section
Ben & Jerry ice cream 2/$6 use $3 printable coupon = free

Meijer
electrosol $3.00 use $2.50 coupon in 1/4 ss = $.50 Stock up now!!

Kroger
FREE suave deodorant $1 use $.55 coupon in recent insert
free cottonelle toilet paper use $.50 coupon in recent insert
Free snapple tea use $.75 coupon in recent insert

Weekly Wrap Up #1

I've decided to participate in www.getting-ahead.blogspot.com weekly wrap up to help keep me accountable during my 21 days of nothing.

I started my 21 quest on Jan.1, I am not counting our grocery money, only eating out, videos, clothes, cvs, walgreens, and that sort of thing.

This week I accomplished...
-baked two loaves of bread instead of buying them
-didn't eat out, until tonight and we're using a gift card so it's free!
-washed all laundry in cold water
-reduced the length of my dryer running
-unplugging things not in use
-did NOT buy any clothes, toys, or Christmas stuff on clearance!!
-bought only what I needed at CVS instead of rolling my ecbs and only paid $.66 out of pocket!
-sent my mom to buy more of the Swiss White Chocolate coffee that is on sale at Meijer buy 10 for $20 get a $5 on your next order coupon instead of making another trip after them- this is the BEST coffee yet!

My First Give Away!!

This is my first give away on this blog! I'm so excited!
I have the following to give away...
1 Enfamil ProSobee LIPIL buy one get one free formula coupon, this says Krogers on it but it is a manufacturer coupon experation date 2/12/09

3 Enfamil Gentlease LIPIL buy one get one free formula coupons, again says Kroger but is a manufacturer coupon experation date 2/12/09

If you can use these please leave a comment and email address and I'll contact you!

WE ARE PENN STATE!! BEAT USC!!

I know, can you believe I'm a Penn State fan??

21 Days of Nothing

Today begins my first money saving challenge. My goal is to go 21 days without buying anything- now I do have some exceptions- my son's birthday present, groceries, and my kids co-op fees. I also am not counting my ecb as money, this way if I "need" something I'll be able to get it. I'm not just doing this to save money but also to look at how I spend money. I need to change my attitude toward money- it's not just for spending, just because we have it doesn't mean we spend it!

This is not going to be easy, Walgreens has some great deals coming up!! I am hoping to really decide what my needs are and what my wants are. I totally do NOT need any more shampoo, toothpaste, deodorant, razors, toilet paper, cleaning supplies, and quite a few other things but it's so hard to let those great deals slip through my fingers!!

I will still buy things that are free after coupons, so I'll still have to pay some tax but that's it!! I'm hoping to make some money selling books and toys and clothes at Once Upon A Child and Half Price Books so we can still get some fun things, plus we do have gift cards for some restaurants to eat out on.

I'll be updating daily to keep myself accountable.