Frugal Accomplishments

This week was a little different for us, since Benny's mom came with our two year old nephew.  It was great fun for little man to have them here, and it definitely helped out with groceries, since she brought a bunch of stuff from Costco for us.  Here's what we did to save this week:

• I made pizza dough in the bread machine twice to make pizza on Sunday night when they got here, instead of opting for a Domino's deal.  (Takeout would have been easier, but more expensive, and not as healthy.)  We used homemade pesto and veggies we had in the freezer for the toppings.  I added slices of meatballs to one.
• Monday night, we got to have a date night while Benny's mom watched the boys.  We used an Applebee's giftcard and took advantage of their burger special, so we had enough to order dessert too.  We didn't have to pay anything out of pocket, and we really enjoyed the time together.  (Though, for the record, there are other places in town we'd much rather go for a really good local burger, but this was free.)
• Tuesday night, I had a Wesley Foundation board meeting, so dinner was provided.  I got to bring home a few of the leftovers.  Benny cooked at home with his mom, and they had French toast and fruit.  During the day, they went to the Playhouse, and had lunch out, which Benny's mom treated for.  They all had a great time and the boys were wiped out.
• Wednesday they left, and Benny and I helped out with serving dinner at the Wesley Foundation for church that night.  This meant that not only did we get a free meal of tacos after the students were served, but we also ended up coming home with some things that the students wouldn't eat (leftover sour cream, extra salsa, and taco shells).  This gave us at least three extra meals this week.
• Thursday and Friday were snow days for us, so I didn't go to school, which saved on fuel.  These days gave us a little bit more time to catch up on prepping for baby, and general cleaning.
• We made a double batch of quiche last night with the last of the pie dough we had in the freezer, plus frozen broccoli and cauliflower and a few chopped tomatoes.  We used cheese that had been purchased on sale and frozen, and some powdered and evaporated milk, since we were out of regular milk.  I used saved butter wrappers to grease the pie dishes.  Little man loved the quiche and requested a piece of "pie" for breakfast this morning, which I happily gave him.
• Benny's mom brought a boatload of stuff from Costco for us, including a lot of fresh fruit (most of which is gone, thanks to two hungry boys and a pregnant mama), organic cereal, yogurt (which is also gone), crackers, quinoa and kale mix which they didn't like (and we love), dried fruit, and some cheese.  She also brought some stuff for our Greek day at school, which I'll probably end up with some leftovers of.  There were also some things in there to stock our freezer when baby arrives, such as soup and whole grain bread.
• Mom gave us some bagels from the food pantry (they were going to be labeled "waste" otherwise), and a jar of bacon grease (we are currently out because I haven't been doing as much bacon) that we like to use for frying eggs and greasing pans for corn bread.
• We made our list for Super Doubles, which starts tomorrow.  I've budgeted about $30 for this trip.
• I found a deal on Vitacost, so I'll be able to save about $10 off my probiotics this month.
• I made this salad dressing recipe to take with our salad to a friend's house for dinner tonight.  I've made it once before, but was out of some of the ingredients, so I substituted some things.  I hope it's good.  I reused an old salad dressing bottle to take it in.
• We continue to cut down on our waste and are filling a kitchen trash bag about every 2 1/2 weeks, which is including night time diapers.  (This would be much less if we weren't using these.)
• We used scrap paper for little man's collages and scissor practice this week.  He had a great time doing that today, which made my artist soul happy.
• I found a few more crockpot recipes to try out once the baby arrives.  My mom is graciously filling some freezer bags with the ingredients for these, so that all we have to do is thaw, dump it in, and cook.
• We finalized our Barnes and Noble list, so we'll place that order using gift cards.  It will be nice to have some new books for us and puzzles for little man once baby arrives.  
• Benny found a way to repair the sink top in the apartment, so we're thinking if it works out (he did the first step today), then we won't have to pay for a whole new top or entire vanity.  (It was damaged when the mirror inexplicably fell off the wall, while our tenant was out of town, so we're not charging her for the damage.)
• Someone is coming to check out the upstairs rental space on Monday (hurray!).  She sounds very nice and normal, so we're hoping this will work out.
• Because I did have school earlier this week, I did get to tutor two days, which meant that I did get paid for that this week.  That extra money will go towards the baby fund, I think, at this point.  I also offered to tutor over the summer, so we'll see if that pans out.

Saving on Maternity Clothes

This time around, I've tried to be just as frugal as we were with our first little man.  We're trying to save as much as we can for the baby fund, while also building up our regular savings and paying down our car and home equity line debt.  Part of this means saving what we can on maternity clothes.

I've been fortunate to be able to borrow maternity clothes from a few friends and family.  I also had a few things left over that were my own from the first time around.  I haven't been choosy about things, but willingly took whatever was offered to me.  Some of it isn't my normal style, but if it fits and suits the occasion, I'll wear it.

My mom also generously purchased a few new to me things at the local consignment sale.  These have been really nice to fill in the gaps from things that I've borrowed.

The only thing I've had to purchase this time around has been some compression tights and leggings.  (Yea! for varicose veins in pregnancy.)  I found a great website, Preggers by Therafirm to purchase them from that's been wonderful to work with, especially when we had to return a pair because they were obviously going to be too small a few months from now.

So, the basics for saving on maternity clothes:

Beg and Borrow  
Don't hesitate to ask friends to borrow their stuff.  I asked around at work and was able to score a few things too.  Most maternity clothes are worn for such a short time that they're in really good shape.  If pants are too long, you can temporarily tack them up with some simple stitches that you can remove when you return them.  Take care of things, of course, because you'll want to return them in as good a shape as they were loaned to you.

Use Your Own Stuff
There are some of your regular clothes that will work and stretch, at least for the first two trimesters.  I have several shirts, sweaters, and leggings that will be modified to work all the way through.  Scarves and jewelry also allow you to personalize things that you've borrowed.

Purchase Used When Possible
Shop consignment or online (eBay, Twice, Thread Up, etc.) for used maternity clothes.  I found a deal on a maternity coat for $10 at the consignment sale, which probably would be upwards of $40 or more new.

Expect the Unexpected
I never thought (or even really knew) that varicose veins would be an issue this time around.  And compression hose, socks, leggings, tights, etc. are not cheap!  But by finding a well designed product with great customer service, I've been happy and comfortable.  We also found coupon codes to use, and shopped the sale items, to find items that would work for me.  For example, I found that the tights with toes were way too tight and my toes really hurt by the end of the day.  So, I found some footless tights and leggings through Preggers that worked for me.

I've probably spent about $50 in compression hosiery, but that's all we've spent out of pocket in terms of clothing this time around.  By borrowing things and using what I already had, I'll make it through this pregnancy in comfort and well dressed.  Do you have any tips for saving on mommy stuff during pregnancy?  I'd love to hear from you!

November Shopping and Meal Plan

This month is the month for us to stock up!  If you're into baking, it's prime time to build up that baker's pantry again and fill it with your favorite flours, brown sugar, and all the baking things you'll need for a joyous and yummy holiday.  For us, it is also the time for a big Costco trip and maybe a repeat order with San Francisco Herb Company, where we stock up on bulk spices, seeds, and herbal teas.

With travel plans this month, that can mean spending less on food because you're away from home and visiting family, or it can mean spending more because you're traveling.  For us, it's the former, which gives us some more wiggle room in the grocery budget to stock up.  If you're traveling, consider packing your own snacks (homemade roasted pumpkin seeds are an obvious choice) to save the frequent stops for fast food.

For our Costco list this month, we're stocking up on the basics:

• powdered sugar (we've price checked and it's cheaper than coupon prices)
• store brand dish washing liquid (we go through it making our own shower spray)
• chicken sausages (they don't have phosphates or nitrates, which means they're safe for baby #2)
• ketchup 
• frozen fruit for smoothies (we're slowly working through what we put up this spring/summer)
• block cheddar cheese
• dried beans
• frozen ravioli (a treat, but really convenient for nights when I'm tired and we need dinner quickly)
• maybe fresh fruit or carrots, depending on price
• sweet potatoes (we'll go through these in soups, sides, and love them in tacos)
• tortillas (hopefully whole wheat and/or organic)
• dried fruit (raisins, hopefully apricots)

Our grocery plan is to keep things to the bare minimum since we're stocking up at Costco.  We will restock our baking pantry this month, since things will be so much on sale.  I'll also stock up on cranberries to load in the freezer and for Thanksgiving, and probably some herbal teas and cocoa mix (though I'll make my own too) if they're on deep discount.  (They do make nice stocking stuffers.)  We'll get our organic milk and will probably pick up a few frozen veggies too (corn for corn chowder and maybe broccoli for broccoli cheddar soup)

For our menu plan this month, we'll make the most of the root veggies we have around, such as the last few beets from the CSA and potatoes and carrots.  Tis the season for the crockpot, so we'll put Mrs. Cleaver (thank you, Barbara Kingsolver, for that lovely crockpot name!) to work for cooking winter squash, baking potatoes and beets, and lovely soups and stews.  We'll also make leftovers into entirely new dishes; think turkey enchiladas, butternut squash and chickpea salad, sweet potato quesadillas, etc.

Breakfasts: oatmeal with dried fruit and nuts/seeds, egg and cheese sandwiches on homemade bread, breakfast burritos, winter squash muffins, zucchini and flax muffins, winter squash pancakes/waffles, smoothies

Lunches:  leftovers of course, tuna or egg salad sandwiches, quesadillas

Dinners:  

Soups/stews:  lentil and sweet potato soup, potato soup, corn chowder, broccoli cheddar soup, winter squash black bean chili  (all served with homemade bread and/or veggie side such as carrot sticks), turkey and wild rice soup

Crockpot:  loaded baked potatoes, sausage w/ peppers and onions on noodles or bread, roasted root veggies

Stovetop meals:  veggie stir fry, breakfast for dinner (usually eggs, smoothies, and some sort of bread), waffles with fruit, chicken sausages with cabbage, apples, and cranberries, quesadillas, turkey and bean enchiladas, leftover turkey with orange glazed carrots and rice pilaf, veggie pesto pizza, ravioli with homemade pesto and roasted root veggies

Snacks:  roasted pumpkin/squash seeds, dried fruit, sliced apples, carrot sticks and dip, popcorn, homemade muffins/oatmeal & whole grain cookies

How is your November shaping up?  I'd love to hear your plans for living and saving green in this holiday season!

Saving on Glasses

Face it, glasses are expensive.  So are contacts.  And for those of us who need vision correction, there's not much other option that's really affordable.

I used to wear contacts for a while in high school and college, but once I didn't have vision insurance anymore and had to pay for them on my own, it was cheaper to wear my glasses.  Contacts got expensive with the solution, cases, occasionally tearing them and going through them faster.  Plus, I was always a hard fit because mine had to be weighted, which meant that if they were a bad fit, they floated around and didn't do their job and made me woozy.  Then, I realized that it was easier to do glasses too.  Just pop them on to begin the day or off at the end of the day and you're set.

But after ten plus years (we'd been fortunate that our prescription hadn't changed much), the frames of mine were a little worse for wear.  Benny's were in the same shape.  And we both had been wishing for prescription sunglasses for a while to deal with winter driving and the glare from the snow, and (for me at least) to take to the pool or the beach in the summer for reading.

So, we started hearing about Zenni Optical a while ago from friends.  We were a little hesitant to order glasses online.  We didn't want to waste money and end up with something that didn't work or we didn't like after receiving it.  But we were curious enough to watch the site for a while and wait for a good deal.  We figured if we got sunglasses that didn't work, it wasn't a huge loss.

Finally, a few months ago, we got our chance.  They were running a buy two, get one free sale.  So, we took a date night one night to pick out our frames and ordered ourselves each sunglasses and a new pair of glasses for Benny.  The grand total?? About $45 for all three pairs!

And the best part, we love them.  It's been great having sun glasses and Benny's really enjoyed his new glasses.  The one drawback was that they needed some minor adjustments, but that's an easy fix by taking them to a walk-in optician, like Walmart or somewhere.

What have you done to save green on glasses?  I'd love to hear from you!

New Life for a Little Old Lady

So, Monday was a snow day for us (a rarity this winter) and we made the most of it. Benny was off too, so we decided to tackle two of our projects that have been in the basement for waaay too long.

The mission: give new life to two old dressers desperately in need of some love. See Exhibit A.

The players: Benny, myself, and a ReStore dresser we moved into the basement when we built the house and a little dresser that was my great, great aunt's (it's got her signature on the back) and was mine as a kid.

The first is the little lady that was mine as a kid. It's solid construction, though the runners of the drawers needed a little paraffin (we had none so resorted to bar soap) to help them slide better. Originally, it had painted wooden knobs that had a few coats of paint that had seen better days, so I knew these would go. It also needed some serious sanding since the backs of the drawer fronts had been painted and had adhered to the dresser front after years of storage in my mom's attic. And, of course, it needed to be primed and painted. It's got this cute little apron front detail and is a nice small scale, perfect for additional linen storage in our kitchen. (It seems you can never have enough storage in the kitchen.)

I should mention here that I'd been drooling over this cool paintable textured wall paper that they now carry at Boone Paint and Interiors where Benny works. Since we're not the wallpaper on our walls type of people (too many horrible experiences removing the stuff after people didn't prep the walls properly), I kept trying to come up with a way to use the stuff. These projects ended up being the perfect fit, since they were pretty plain pieces without any ornate detailing on the drawer fronts or anything. (Plus, the ReStore dresser had a horrible finish that had been poorly scraped off leaving the sides very distressed, and not in a pretty-I-meant-to-make-it-look-like-that way.) So, Benny brought home the book and I chose a modern circle pattern that was the right scale for the pieces.

So, on Monday, we took these babies up two flights of stairs to the office to paint them, after they'd been prepped and primed earlier in the basement. They both got wallpaper pasted to the sides, which we measured and carefully cut with a razor blade. The wallpaper paste ended up being free from a painter Benny knows (it's great to have him work in this business sometimes). The painter recommended that we thin down the paste with some water and mix it with a kitchen whisk, which was perfect. (We did spend all of 94 cents for a new whisk so that we didn't risk mucking up our good one for baking.) We rolled it on with a disposable foam roller, so that made it really easy. Then we carefully smoothed down the paper and pressed out any air bubbles. This part was a little tricky with the textured paper to see all the bubbles, but once we got the hang of it, it was pretty quick work.

After pasting the paper and letting it set for a while (we went downstairs for a lunch of grilled cheese sandwiches... yummy, one of my favs that Benny makes), we painted each one with paint we had leftover from other projects. The little one got white Aura (this is Benjamin Moore's low VOC stuff and it covers great... one coat!) trim paint and the taller ReStore one got some paint we'd color matched to go with the aged white paint on the furniture in the guest room. This way, if we ever need another dresser in the guest room, it will be the same color and we won't have to paint it again. The drawer fronts on the little lady for the kitchen got painted out in leftover blue Aura paint from our living room to help tie the two spaces together a bit more. We applied the paint using the red feather mini rollers left over from another project, and since we didn't have any roller tray liners, we used plastic grocery sacks (which somehow inexplicably make their way into our kitchen, even though we use reusable totes whenever possible--even to the extent that if we forget them and leave them in the car, we'll go out of the grocery store with an armload of produce and cereal and the cashiers think we're nuts).

Once we finished with all the painting, we came downstairs and ordered the hardware for the dressers from . We searched out an online coupon code for the site and found one that would work for our order and gave us 5% off. (There were better ones, but we didn't have a big enough order.) One trick with this site is to order all your hardware from one manufacturer to save on shipping, otherwise it's an additional cost per manufacturer. We ended up paying about $60 for the hardware (10 knobs, 4-3" handles/pulls, 3-5" handles/pulls), which was above my $50 goal for the hardware for both, but still pretty good when you compare to retail prices. The hardware should arrive tomorrow and I'm so stinking excited! I can't wait to put the jewelry on my little lady in the kitchen! (I'll put a new pic up when I get the hardware on.)

Last night, I lined the drawers of the new kitchen linen chest (little lady sounds so much sweeter) with some wallpaper we found at my grandmother's house that was what used to be in her kitchen. I think it's so neat that this piece has so much family history and is getting used again after a lot time in storage. It's such a nice addition to our kitchen and really helps to clear out some of the areas that were just too full. I love that I can now store all our cloth napkins right in the kitchen, along with our dish towels, place mats, and table runners. (These used to take up a good portion of the bottom shelf in our bedroom closet... we so did not plan enough storage in this house.)

The ReStore dresser is now kind of in limbo in the office waiting for us to finish up some more cleaning out and finish some other projects before there's space for it. It's going to look great in the office and will provide some much needed storage in there for our winter items (scarves seem to multiply around here with me, and hats) and office supplies.

So, here's the estimated total, for those of you wanting to know:

"little lady" kitchen cabinet: free (gratis as Benny would say)

ReStore diamond in the rough: $10-15 (I can't quite remember, I bought it like 4 years ago)

textured paintable wall paper: $15 per roll (we only needed one)

primer/paint: free (leftover from other projects)

wallpaper paste: free (gifted by painter)

whisk to mix wallpaper paste: 94 cents

sponge rollers: $2.50

cabinet hardware: $60 (including shipping)

Total: $93.44 for two dressers

So, what do you think? Have you been up to any painting projects lately? How have you saved a buck (or saved something from the landfill) and still added storage to your home? I'd love to hear from you!

** I'll be back with pics later. I just couldn't wait to post this! :)

6pm Shoe Blowout

If you haven't checked out 6pm.com lately, you should! They've got some great deals on shoes for $9.95 or less, in some really cute styles. These would make a great treat for yourself around the holidays, or a gift for someone special.

Enjoy the browsing!

Online Deal Stalking

So, we operate on the motto of never paying full price for anything, if we can help it, so that means hunting down online deals, using coupons and rainchecks for grocery purchases, buying used, and finding sales on items we need/want. Basically, it's "Use it up, wear it out, fix it up, make it do or do without" (modified from My Frugal Life).

For those of you who have not yet discovered Frugal Coupon Living and are online deal stalkers like we are, this might be your new best friend! (I've added a button to the blog if you want to link up from here any other day.) Today, they're featuring Crocs that are on sale (including women's Primas for $9.99... I know the Purser family is loving this!) and Vera Bradley bags for $12.00! How amazing... Anyway, they post online deals daily.

I've mentioned 6pm.com before, which posts daily updates at 6pm of a range of clothing and accessory items. We've also had success with Woot.com for a variety of electronic and small appliance items. New Egg is great for tech deals, including computers and data storage devices.Steep and Cheap is another favorite for outdoors stuff and rugged clothing, and is especially popular in our area with all the outdoors activities in which people participate. Of course, you can always check clearance sections of websites for items. Sometimes, this is a great score for Pottery Barn items, Land's End, L.L. Bean, and others when you've been eyeing a pricey item for a while.

Benny has become a master at finding coupon codes to pair with already reduced prices. Often you can find these for free shipping, a percentage off, or other deals ($25 off $100 purchase, etc.). Sometimes, this is how we purchase gifts, so that we get a quality item at a price that our budget will handle, but we don't look "cheap". RetailMeNot.com is one coupon code forum that is essentially an online database for all things coupon. There are several others out there if you do a basic internet search for them. If there's a product you're wanting, before purchasing it online, do a search for a coupon code (i.e. "crocs coupon code") and you're sure to come up with several hits.

We also make sure that we're safe in our online purchases by using a "fake" card number, that we generate using a function that came with our credit card. This way, the transaction is only for that specific amount tied to that "fake" number, and the fake number links to our real card. However, the retailer does not have our card number and it's not floating out there online, so it's safer than just putting in our card number. (As an aside, we put everything we can on the credit card and pay it off each month. This way, we earn cash back that goes into an account set up as a high interest account. We've tried other rewards cards, but this seems to be the best fit for us, since it earns rewards on any purchase and not just select ones. We are sure to pay it off each month, though, so that we don't accrue interest.)

One of the things we have to be careful about is setting a limit on such purchases and discussing purchases with each other. Almost any purchase we make is discussed, large or small, and we weigh the pros and cons before purchasing. For example, I love the Primas that are on sale right now, but will need to decide whether or not I want to give up a pair of shoes I have to have the Primas... or if they're even worth the $10 right now, or if that money will be better spent somewhere else, or saved in our emergency fund.

So how do you find deals online? How do you decide if it's a deal worth buying, or if you're going to make do with something else? What do you to "Use it up, wear it out, fix it up, make it do or do without" and stretch your budget?