This weekend was filled with lots of frugal projects... and we totally blew the no spend grocery month for February!
We discovered on Friday that our upstairs bath, which we rent out as a part of renting an upstairs bedroom, had some cracked caulk that needed to be replaced. So, we purchased a new tube of caulk for a few bucks and Benny worked to get the old caulk scraped out on Saturday afternoon. After we cleaned the tub, we let it dry and had dinner, and went back to caulk later that evening. Well, the brand new tube of caulk busted and oozed all over the place. So, we were in a holding pattern until we could return the tube and get a new one, which was Sunday. Ah well, it was a project checked off the list by 5:00 yesterday, and way cheaper and easier than having someone do the work for us. (Well, Benny did most of the work, I made sure little man didn't try to tackle him while he worked.)
The weather was unseasonably warm here this weekend, and beautiful, so it turned out to be a great time for Benny to give me my Valentine's present... raking the leaves out of the ditches and culvert at the bottom of the driveway, mulching them with the lawn mower and bag, and adding them to the compost. This took a few hours yesterday afternoon, but it's so nice to have them all cleaned up and it will really help to balance the compost out (which means it will break down more quickly). We had enough left over that we could fill out one new bed we started with leaves, which I'll pull back in the spring and add to the compost then.
We ended up blowing the no spend challenge because we found a great sale on bacon and cheese, which allowed us to restock the supply in the freezer. The cheese ended up being under my target price of $1.80 for 8 oz, and the bacon was rock bottom prices with coupons. We didn't spend over our normal grocery budget, though, so it's not a total loss.
Our basement apartment is also rented starting in August, and maybe as soon as May! We worked to get our lease updated and sent to the tenant, so as soon as it's signed, we'll have the security deposit, which will help things out too. That extra rental income will really help us achieve our goal of getting the home equity line paid off and adding to our emergency fund by the end of the year.
I'd love to hear how you're living and saving green! Leave a note in the comments!
Monday, February 9, 2015
Thursday, February 5, 2015
No Spend February
We're challenging ourselves this month to eat from the pantry, fridge, and freezer as much as possible. We will buy a few fresh produce items, dairy (cheese, milk, etc.), but we'll also make use of our stock of frozen veggies and evaporated and powdered milk.
We issued this challenge because we knew we were facing some car maintenance and repairs this month, so spending less in the grocery budget freed up these funds for the car repairs. (The Jetta needed new tires and breaks and the check engine light just came on for the fuel sensor in the Subaru.)
This challenge was also a little easier to do this month, since February is a shorter month. Additionally, we knew that we'd have at least six meals covered, since we were doing two potlucks and four Sunday dinners with my mom.
So, here's most of the menu for the month. This, of course, is subject to change a bit as we're gifted food or come along freebies (like I saw free hard shell tacos at HT this week with a coupon).
Breakfasts: Panera bagels (free with gift card), cranberry muffins, lemon poppyseed muffins, pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, banana nut muffins, egg and cheese bagel sandwiches
Lunches: Leftovers, pasta salad with tuna, frozen peas, and basil, fruit, homemade yogurt
Dinners: potato soup with garlic toast, quiche and roasted veggies, tomato basil soup, sesame orange stir fry with veggies, jambalya, winter white lasagna with pesto and steamed veggies, pesto pizza with green peppers, mushrooms, and ham (in the freezer from Christmas), fried rice, sauteed cabbage with peppers, potatoes, and sausage, beans and rice with fixins, chili with corn bread, loaded baked potatoes with chili, cheese, and sour cream, meatball subs (meatballs purchased on sale with coupon for 80 cents a bag), lentil sloppy joes, tacos or burritos with cilantro lime rice (cilantro butter is in the freezer from this summer) squash (winter squash frozen from the fall), beans, and toppings (homemade peach salsa canned this summer, homemade yogurt, cheese, olives, etc.).
We've discovered that The Prudent Homemaker's tomato basil soup makes a great base for meatballs and lentil sloppy joes, so making a big batch in the crockpot yields us several meals. It's nice that the recipe has carrots, so it ups the nutritional content. Creatively using leftovers to make a new meal keeps things from getting old. We'll do this again with loaded baked potatoes with chili, since we'll have chili earlier that week.
To make the produce cost less this month, we'll purchase from the discounted produce rack. I have discovered that Saturday mornings early seem to be a good time to do grocery shopping, since no one's out yet at 7:30 and it's when the produce managers seem to clear out things. We were also able to glean several bags of broccoli and beets last week for the chickens and our compost from the produce department's waste bin, which was really nice. Some of it was still good enough for us to eat. It hurt my green-loving heart to leave the rest behind, but I didn't want to take advantage of such a gift either.
We issued this challenge because we knew we were facing some car maintenance and repairs this month, so spending less in the grocery budget freed up these funds for the car repairs. (The Jetta needed new tires and breaks and the check engine light just came on for the fuel sensor in the Subaru.)
This challenge was also a little easier to do this month, since February is a shorter month. Additionally, we knew that we'd have at least six meals covered, since we were doing two potlucks and four Sunday dinners with my mom.
So, here's most of the menu for the month. This, of course, is subject to change a bit as we're gifted food or come along freebies (like I saw free hard shell tacos at HT this week with a coupon).
Breakfasts: Panera bagels (free with gift card), cranberry muffins, lemon poppyseed muffins, pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, banana nut muffins, egg and cheese bagel sandwiches
Lunches: Leftovers, pasta salad with tuna, frozen peas, and basil, fruit, homemade yogurt
Dinners: potato soup with garlic toast, quiche and roasted veggies, tomato basil soup, sesame orange stir fry with veggies, jambalya, winter white lasagna with pesto and steamed veggies, pesto pizza with green peppers, mushrooms, and ham (in the freezer from Christmas), fried rice, sauteed cabbage with peppers, potatoes, and sausage, beans and rice with fixins, chili with corn bread, loaded baked potatoes with chili, cheese, and sour cream, meatball subs (meatballs purchased on sale with coupon for 80 cents a bag), lentil sloppy joes, tacos or burritos with cilantro lime rice (cilantro butter is in the freezer from this summer) squash (winter squash frozen from the fall), beans, and toppings (homemade peach salsa canned this summer, homemade yogurt, cheese, olives, etc.).
We've discovered that The Prudent Homemaker's tomato basil soup makes a great base for meatballs and lentil sloppy joes, so making a big batch in the crockpot yields us several meals. It's nice that the recipe has carrots, so it ups the nutritional content. Creatively using leftovers to make a new meal keeps things from getting old. We'll do this again with loaded baked potatoes with chili, since we'll have chili earlier that week.
To make the produce cost less this month, we'll purchase from the discounted produce rack. I have discovered that Saturday mornings early seem to be a good time to do grocery shopping, since no one's out yet at 7:30 and it's when the produce managers seem to clear out things. We were also able to glean several bags of broccoli and beets last week for the chickens and our compost from the produce department's waste bin, which was really nice. Some of it was still good enough for us to eat. It hurt my green-loving heart to leave the rest behind, but I didn't want to take advantage of such a gift either.
Monday, January 12, 2015
Last Week's Frugal Accomplishments
We cooked all meals at home. These included corn chowder, veggie stir fry, veggie fried rice, beans and rice, chili and cornbread, and homemade pesto pizza. We used a lot of frozen veggies from our CSA subscription, so they were still locally sourced, which is a nice green bonus.
We made a meal to take to a family with a new baby, helping out their finances a bit. This was chili and cornbread, and we included some homemade applesauce and muffins for breakfast. This is their fourth child, so the meal was a total blessing and I think they really enjoyed it.
The temperature outside was really cold (below zero with the wind chill), so we pulled out the down comforter rather than cranking up the heat. We also ran the gas logs a bit to take the chill off, which was cheaper than running the HVAC more.
I carpooled to work each day. My teammate will drive this week.
Because we had a snow day, I was able to stay home and allow Benny to get some extra hours in at the store. This was nice since he took some extra time off over the holidays, but time off for him now means time without pay.
Showers only happened every other day last week. This saved us on water, water heating, toiletries, and, most importantly, it saved a bit of time and our skin. Our skin really dries out in the winter, and our dermatologist recommends showering less frequently in the winter to preserve the skin's natural oils.
We combined errands and went out very little during the day. Our Walmart trip was funded with gift cards, so no money out of pocket was spent.
We took advantage of Harris Teeter's Super Doubles (good through 1/13), and saved a bundle on groceries. We are now well stocked on hot tea for the year, as well as potatoes and laundry detergent. We also got some great deals on birthday snacks for Wubby's birthday bash.
We placed our annual bulk spice order, including pumpkin seeds, flax, and dehydrated onions. We'll use these throughout the year. Since we did this order this month, we're trying to keep other grocery costs low so that this total can come out of the grocery budget.
Our citrus marmalade was finally made and canned, which freed up some freezer space and we were glad to have it made. We made some yummy muffins out of it from Muffins A to Z. Marmalade is awesome, because it uses the part of the fruit that most people generally throw away. This year's batch was pretty cheap because we used sugar we'd bought for practically free during holiday sales. We have enough peels in the freezer to make another batch, which I might do on a snow day. It always makes nice holiday gifts, and it's nice to do it well ahead of the holiday rush.
Our basement apartment is finally ready to list! We wrote up the ad yesterday and should have it posted today. Having this rented will be a welcome cushion back in our budget.
Closets began getting cleaned out again, in search for more things to list on eBay and Craigslist. The funds from these sales will help to pay for our CSA subscription this year.
We started tidying up our basement craft area and storage area in preparation for little man's birthday bash later this month. This meant that things got more organized, we cleaned up the chairs, and began a plan for painting the shelving and trim. This didn't really save us any money, but it did mean that we got the spaces better organized and found some things (supplies, tools, etc.) that we might have otherwise purchased had we not found them.
What about you? What did you do to live and save green last week? I'd love to hear from you!
We made a meal to take to a family with a new baby, helping out their finances a bit. This was chili and cornbread, and we included some homemade applesauce and muffins for breakfast. This is their fourth child, so the meal was a total blessing and I think they really enjoyed it.
The temperature outside was really cold (below zero with the wind chill), so we pulled out the down comforter rather than cranking up the heat. We also ran the gas logs a bit to take the chill off, which was cheaper than running the HVAC more.
I carpooled to work each day. My teammate will drive this week.
Because we had a snow day, I was able to stay home and allow Benny to get some extra hours in at the store. This was nice since he took some extra time off over the holidays, but time off for him now means time without pay.
Showers only happened every other day last week. This saved us on water, water heating, toiletries, and, most importantly, it saved a bit of time and our skin. Our skin really dries out in the winter, and our dermatologist recommends showering less frequently in the winter to preserve the skin's natural oils.
We combined errands and went out very little during the day. Our Walmart trip was funded with gift cards, so no money out of pocket was spent.
We took advantage of Harris Teeter's Super Doubles (good through 1/13), and saved a bundle on groceries. We are now well stocked on hot tea for the year, as well as potatoes and laundry detergent. We also got some great deals on birthday snacks for Wubby's birthday bash.
We placed our annual bulk spice order, including pumpkin seeds, flax, and dehydrated onions. We'll use these throughout the year. Since we did this order this month, we're trying to keep other grocery costs low so that this total can come out of the grocery budget.
Our citrus marmalade was finally made and canned, which freed up some freezer space and we were glad to have it made. We made some yummy muffins out of it from Muffins A to Z. Marmalade is awesome, because it uses the part of the fruit that most people generally throw away. This year's batch was pretty cheap because we used sugar we'd bought for practically free during holiday sales. We have enough peels in the freezer to make another batch, which I might do on a snow day. It always makes nice holiday gifts, and it's nice to do it well ahead of the holiday rush.
Our basement apartment is finally ready to list! We wrote up the ad yesterday and should have it posted today. Having this rented will be a welcome cushion back in our budget.
Closets began getting cleaned out again, in search for more things to list on eBay and Craigslist. The funds from these sales will help to pay for our CSA subscription this year.
We started tidying up our basement craft area and storage area in preparation for little man's birthday bash later this month. This meant that things got more organized, we cleaned up the chairs, and began a plan for painting the shelving and trim. This didn't really save us any money, but it did mean that we got the spaces better organized and found some things (supplies, tools, etc.) that we might have otherwise purchased had we not found them.
What about you? What did you do to live and save green last week? I'd love to hear from you!
Wednesday, December 10, 2014
Putting the Gardens to Bed for the Winter
We've never done it this late before, but the weather was perfect. (A few years, we've totally skipped this step and I've regretted it in the spring.) We put our garden beds to "sleep" for the winter on November 30 in the span of about two hours, with the little man in the pack on Daddy's back. So we got some family time outside to boot.
How'd we do it? We tried the lasagna gardening method, which was super easy to prep. We started by laying out our layers of newspaper in the gardens after cutting back the old plants (and weeds!). We collected these newspapers from friends and from our days of purchasing the Sunday paper and now we're using them in the garden, which means that we're totally saving green in both senses of the word.
The next layer was about a two inch layer of our compost. Our composter was bursting at the seems from our kitchen scraps, yard waste, and what came out of our gutters after cleaning them. It felt great to be able to almost empty the composter and put that black gold to good use! We still had a few whole egg shells and citrus peels in there, but hopefully after composting some more over the winter, it'll be good to go in the spring.
Then, we added a layer of straw. We'd purchased this straw bale about a year ago, and hadn't gotten around to using it as mulch between our raised beds as intended, so we used it here to heavily mulch these beds. We probably added a 3-4 inch layer of straw to each bed. If we have time, I'd like to add a layer of leaves to the top when we clean out the ditch and culvert below the driveway.
I'm hoping that by doing all of this in the fall that our beds will be ready to go in the spring. I'd love to plant one with raspberries, one with rhubarb, and one with asparagus. We did go ahead and plant the bed that had basil in it over the summer with garlic for the winter, so we'll see how that turns out in the spring. I'm hoping it had enough nutrients in it to support the garlic. I've never planted it before.
And, can I just say how good it feels to have that bale of straw out from in front of the house and some of those newspapers gone from the basement?! And they're being put to good use... even better!
So, what about you? How're you living and saving green in your gardens this winter? I'd love to hear from you!
How'd we do it? We tried the lasagna gardening method, which was super easy to prep. We started by laying out our layers of newspaper in the gardens after cutting back the old plants (and weeds!). We collected these newspapers from friends and from our days of purchasing the Sunday paper and now we're using them in the garden, which means that we're totally saving green in both senses of the word.
The next layer was about a two inch layer of our compost. Our composter was bursting at the seems from our kitchen scraps, yard waste, and what came out of our gutters after cleaning them. It felt great to be able to almost empty the composter and put that black gold to good use! We still had a few whole egg shells and citrus peels in there, but hopefully after composting some more over the winter, it'll be good to go in the spring.
Then, we added a layer of straw. We'd purchased this straw bale about a year ago, and hadn't gotten around to using it as mulch between our raised beds as intended, so we used it here to heavily mulch these beds. We probably added a 3-4 inch layer of straw to each bed. If we have time, I'd like to add a layer of leaves to the top when we clean out the ditch and culvert below the driveway.
I'm hoping that by doing all of this in the fall that our beds will be ready to go in the spring. I'd love to plant one with raspberries, one with rhubarb, and one with asparagus. We did go ahead and plant the bed that had basil in it over the summer with garlic for the winter, so we'll see how that turns out in the spring. I'm hoping it had enough nutrients in it to support the garlic. I've never planted it before.
And, can I just say how good it feels to have that bale of straw out from in front of the house and some of those newspapers gone from the basement?! And they're being put to good use... even better!
So, what about you? How're you living and saving green in your gardens this winter? I'd love to hear from you!
Monday, December 1, 2014
December Menu Plan
This month is all about making the most of what we have so we can spare a little cash for holiday baking. We'll be making the most of the pre-Thanksgiving sales by using potatoes, cranberries, winter squash, and turkey in lots of things.
Breakfasts
We'll be having lots of muffins this month: Cranberry oat muffins, espresso muffins, gingerbread spice muffins (all from Muffins A to Z, which I checked out for ages from the library before purchasing my own copy), The Prudent Homemaker's lemon poppyseed muffins, pumpkin (or winter squash) muffins, and my family's berry muffins. We'll also be having bagels from Panera (thanks to gift cards), egg sandwiches, and baked oatmeal (from Simply in Season).
Dinners
To use up the turkey, we'll have:
Breakfasts
We'll be having lots of muffins this month: Cranberry oat muffins, espresso muffins, gingerbread spice muffins (all from Muffins A to Z, which I checked out for ages from the library before purchasing my own copy), The Prudent Homemaker's lemon poppyseed muffins, pumpkin (or winter squash) muffins, and my family's berry muffins. We'll also be having bagels from Panera (thanks to gift cards), egg sandwiches, and baked oatmeal (from Simply in Season).
Dinners
To use up the turkey, we'll have:
- turkey soup (with barley, rice, or noodles) with homemade bread and herb butter
- turkey tacos with winter squash, refried beans, and homemade peach salsa
- barbecue turkey burritos or sandwiches with spinach salad
- confetti fried rice with turkey (a great way to use up those tiny bits)
*We'll also make several batches of homemade turkey stock using the three turkey carcasses we've got in the freezer now (we gleaned a few). Just put the carcass in the crockpot, fill with water, add an onion if you have it, and cook on low all day. Then strain it and pick the meat off to use in soup, casseroles, or fried rice.
To use up the winter squash/sweet potatoes, we'll have:
- tacos
- squash and black bean chili w/ cornbread
- lentil and sweet potato soup w/ pesto grilled cheese
- winter squash cream sauce with pasta and broccoli
- breakfast casserole with winter squash muffins
To use the cranberries, we'll have:
- whole wheat pancakes with cranberry apple crisp and bacon or eggs
- open faced meatball subs with cranberry/tomato sauce
To use up the potatoes, we'll have:
- slow cooker potato soup with bacon and cheese (using homemade turkey stock)
- loaded baked potatoes with broccoli and cheese
Other fillers include:
- jambalya with steamed veggies
- broccoli and cheese soup with garlic toast
- pesto pizza with veggies
- spicy thai noodle stir fry (my riff on this recipe)
- tuna casserole with peas or broccoli
Lunches
As usual, lunches will be leftovers. We'll be getting our order of fruit from the high school orchestra in a few days, so we'll have those grapefruit and tangelos to fill in lunches and breakfasts.
Holiday Goodies
The holiday goodies we'll be baking/making this year include:
- rosemary olive oil bread
- chocolate dipped peppermint jo-jo's (these are from Trader Joe's and they're fabulous on their own, but even better dipped in white chocolate)
- muddy buddies/puppy chow (people call it either, but it's the same peanut butter, chocolate-y goodness)
- muffins for the work crowd
- citrus marmalade
- candied grapefruit peal
- sand dabs --a family favorite, my uncle eats them by the triple batch, and Benny's not far behind! (some people call them wedding cookies, basically butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, and pecans rolled into balls or crescent shapes)
We'll save some green by using what we have on hand, buying ingredients in bulk, and using the slow cooker like the work horse that it is. We'll also save some energy on our heating bill, since the oven will be running more, and we'll batch cook as much as possible.
How's your December shaping up? Are you keeping dinners easy to make time for holiday baking? I'd love to hear from you!
Monday, November 24, 2014
Increasing Your Earnings to Decrease Your Debt (or Increase Savings)
We've been working really hard over the last few years to eliminate all our debt (mortgage is next on the list, I think) and increase our savings for retirement and other long-term goals. We've trimmed all the fat from the budget--and some would say we've gone beyond that into sacrificing. Now, we're on to finding avenues to help us increase our earnings so we can meet our goals even faster.
Find Professional Development that is Free or Pays You
I've gotten in the habit of only accepting professional development opportunities that are free that sound fabulous, or ones that pay me. For example, NCCAT (the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching) offers seminars to teachers for free. You have to pay your travel, but they help with sub cost, and house and feed you like royalty. This is a great way for me to get a little R&R on someone else's dime, while also getting some great PD that keeps my license current.
This past summer, I was accepted into the Governor's Teacher Network, which pays me a significant stipend for producing professional development for other teachers. I can get some credit for completing their online course, while also getting paid. The NEH has great summer opportunities for teachers all over the country and world, and they pay you to go. I'm applying for one of their workshops this summer. If I get accepted, it will be great because we have family in town, which means less money will be pulled from my stipend check since I won't stay in a hotel.
Now, I realize that you may not always be able to implement this strategy, and it may not work for all fields, but for teaching, this has been great. It also helps me to make sure that I'm not giving up valuable time with my family for mediocre PD.
Ask for a Raise
As a state worker in a non-union state, I can't exactly do this, even collectively with other workers. However, it is a strategy that works for people in other sectors. I was blessed this year that with pay scale adjustments, I received a raise of about $150 per paycheck. (Though I know others with different levels of experience actually had their pay reduced, which is another discussion entirely...) If you work in a job where you can ask for a raise, and you haven't had one in a while, consider if you could request one. Or maybe you need to work a bit harder, develop your skill set more over the next six months, get the boss's eye, and then ask for one after he sees how hard you're working.
Work a Side Gig
I recently accepted a job tutoring a younger student after school. It will take a significant portion of my planning time, but the extra pay was worth it. I tried to be reasonable with my fee, knowing that not all families can afford professional rates, but also knowing that my skill is more than just babysitting. If this tutoring continues, it will add almost an extra $200 to our monthly income, which will really allow us to pay down the home equity line faster.
Many people could work a side job like this in whatever your field of expertise might be. Maybe it's teaching music lessons, or doing yard work for someone who hates it, offering a design consult to someone who lacks color sense, babysitting, or something else entirely. What could you do to make an extra $20-$50 each week?
Sell Your Stuff
Or someone else's... We're not shy about taking people's cast-offs. We find that we'll either put them to good use, or we can make a little extra cash by selling the stuff on eBay or Craigslist. It's important if you're going to do this that you know your product. You can't mark stuff up too much, otherwise it'll never sell. You also won't make much if you sell it too cheaply, and it won't be worth your time. I know some people scour yard sales and thrift shops for stuff to resell online, and have made a business doing it. We're not to that level, but it is a strategy that has helped us pay for the "extras" we'd like, but aren't necessities, like our CSA share or new bedding.
Sell Your Space
We've rented an upstairs bedroom in our home for several years now and will begin renting our basement apartment soon. There have been lots of benefits to this arrangement outside of finances, but the primary reason we did it was so that we could use the rental income to pretty much cover our mortgage payment each month. I realize that not everyone may be comfortable with renting a room in your home, but we have found that it's led to some wonderful relationships that we never would have found otherwise. As long as you're selective about where you advertise, and about who you interview for the space, then we've found it to be a great bonus in more ways than one.
All in all, I figure our extra income streams actually amount to about $800 or more per month, which is pretty impressive, since a few of them (like rental income) are pretty passive.
What could you do to increase your earnings? Here's to living and saving green! I'd love to hear from you!
Find Professional Development that is Free or Pays You
I've gotten in the habit of only accepting professional development opportunities that are free that sound fabulous, or ones that pay me. For example, NCCAT (the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching) offers seminars to teachers for free. You have to pay your travel, but they help with sub cost, and house and feed you like royalty. This is a great way for me to get a little R&R on someone else's dime, while also getting some great PD that keeps my license current.
This past summer, I was accepted into the Governor's Teacher Network, which pays me a significant stipend for producing professional development for other teachers. I can get some credit for completing their online course, while also getting paid. The NEH has great summer opportunities for teachers all over the country and world, and they pay you to go. I'm applying for one of their workshops this summer. If I get accepted, it will be great because we have family in town, which means less money will be pulled from my stipend check since I won't stay in a hotel.
Now, I realize that you may not always be able to implement this strategy, and it may not work for all fields, but for teaching, this has been great. It also helps me to make sure that I'm not giving up valuable time with my family for mediocre PD.
Ask for a Raise
As a state worker in a non-union state, I can't exactly do this, even collectively with other workers. However, it is a strategy that works for people in other sectors. I was blessed this year that with pay scale adjustments, I received a raise of about $150 per paycheck. (Though I know others with different levels of experience actually had their pay reduced, which is another discussion entirely...) If you work in a job where you can ask for a raise, and you haven't had one in a while, consider if you could request one. Or maybe you need to work a bit harder, develop your skill set more over the next six months, get the boss's eye, and then ask for one after he sees how hard you're working.
Work a Side Gig
I recently accepted a job tutoring a younger student after school. It will take a significant portion of my planning time, but the extra pay was worth it. I tried to be reasonable with my fee, knowing that not all families can afford professional rates, but also knowing that my skill is more than just babysitting. If this tutoring continues, it will add almost an extra $200 to our monthly income, which will really allow us to pay down the home equity line faster.
Many people could work a side job like this in whatever your field of expertise might be. Maybe it's teaching music lessons, or doing yard work for someone who hates it, offering a design consult to someone who lacks color sense, babysitting, or something else entirely. What could you do to make an extra $20-$50 each week?
Sell Your Stuff
Or someone else's... We're not shy about taking people's cast-offs. We find that we'll either put them to good use, or we can make a little extra cash by selling the stuff on eBay or Craigslist. It's important if you're going to do this that you know your product. You can't mark stuff up too much, otherwise it'll never sell. You also won't make much if you sell it too cheaply, and it won't be worth your time. I know some people scour yard sales and thrift shops for stuff to resell online, and have made a business doing it. We're not to that level, but it is a strategy that has helped us pay for the "extras" we'd like, but aren't necessities, like our CSA share or new bedding.
Sell Your Space
We've rented an upstairs bedroom in our home for several years now and will begin renting our basement apartment soon. There have been lots of benefits to this arrangement outside of finances, but the primary reason we did it was so that we could use the rental income to pretty much cover our mortgage payment each month. I realize that not everyone may be comfortable with renting a room in your home, but we have found that it's led to some wonderful relationships that we never would have found otherwise. As long as you're selective about where you advertise, and about who you interview for the space, then we've found it to be a great bonus in more ways than one.
All in all, I figure our extra income streams actually amount to about $800 or more per month, which is pretty impressive, since a few of them (like rental income) are pretty passive.
What could you do to increase your earnings? Here's to living and saving green! I'd love to hear from you!
Thursday, November 13, 2014
Cutting Christmas Costs without the Cutting the Celebration
We've had to cut back on our overall budget in several ways, but holidays was one easy place to trim quite a bit. I love the holidays; the decorating, wrapping, celebrating, and baking. But our culture often tells us that the more we spend on these things, the better. Here are a few ways we trim the budget, while not trimming the spirit.
Decorating
Several years ago, we bought some lighted garland at an after Christmas sale, so it was deeply discounted. That same year, we bought some plastic metallic ornaments, snowflakes, etc. We use these each year to decorate the handrail to upstairs and the mantle. I use a lot of my silver plated stuff to sprinkle in on the mantle to add more sparkle, which I already had. Much of this stuff is sentimental too: Grandma's silver candle sticks, a set of pottery candle sticks given to us by my aunt, a silver platter we bought at an antique store on a date one time. I use wired ribbon to weave through things too, which can be reused each year.
We have several artificial wreaths I decorated over the years which we store in plastic bags. This is the easiest decorating ever... just pull the bag off and hang it on the door!
Outside we do very little. Most of this is because we don't know if it will blow away or get covered in snow or ice for weeks on end. We do put window candles in our windows, and some years, we scavenge tree trimmings from friends to use outside. These trimmings I stick in some all-weather flower pots (not pottery, they will crack if you have big temperature fluctuations) and fill the pot with water. Then, the water will freeze, holding the branches in place. You could do the same with holly branches, etc. These just end up being more festive if we have snow fall.
Wrapping and Cards
I've gotten in the habit of saving large pieces of wrapping paper and gift bags for years. Now we have a substantial stash, so we reuse these. Often we reuse the wrapping paper for kids gifts, since this paper is more likely to be torn. We also reuse tissue paper for stuffing gift bags and for wrapping stocking gifts. My great aunt, who grew up in the Depression era, has mastered wrapping without tape, which is a skill I have yet to learn, but would love to. These strategies save us lots of money, as well as save valuable paper resources.
We save the fronts of gift cards and Christmas cards to use as gift tags or upcycle into new Christmas cards. I also make hand-stamped Christmas and thank you notes, which saves a ton of money over buying gift cards. I use my ink rewards from Staples to "buy" cardstock and envelopes, so I have only the cost of the stamps and ink invested. This year, we'll take advantage of some of the great photo deals out there on photo sites to print a family portrait to give with Christmas cards.
Gift Giving and Celebrating
When it comes to gift giving, we're all about homemade. We make jams and jellies throughout the summer and fall to give. I've also found some recipes for homemade soup mixes, which are fun to give with a loaf of homemade bread. Giving bread is cheaper than giving cookies because there's less sugar, chocolate, or nuts involved, all of which are expensive when compared to the cost of a bulk bag of flour. We also make homemade vanilla extract for the bakers in the family, and I put away a few pounds of herb butter in the freezer made from herbs we grew this summer. For some friends, they'll get a loaf of homemade French bread and a stick of herb butter. All of these are gifts that come from the heart and are genuinely appreciated, and they cost us far less than buying something for everyone on our list. Giving a gift certificate for services is also fun. I gave my mom a gift certificate for a bread a month, which was really fun. She didn't use it every month, but she did enjoy it when she took advantage, and it was nice when she was entertaining for her to not have to worry about that, but just call me to bake a loaf for her.
We also get creative about how we purchase gifts that we need to. We use Amazon credit, I'll use Recyclebank points to give magazine subscriptions, or we'll purchase used and upcycle. We might buy some picture frames at the thrift store and remix them into something that suits the recipient, and give a family portrait that way.
You can also get creative with celebrating. We do lots of potlucks this season, where everyone brings their favorite holiday side dish. Sometimes, we've done a Feliz Navidad theme, which is kind of fun and a nice departure from all the same kinds of foods. By going potluck, it takes the pressure off the host and means everyone got at least one thing they like to eat. By hosting, it means that we get to enjoy everyone getting together, and it's far cheaper than eating out with everyone (and less chaos since most of us have kids).
Baking
I save on baking this time of year with the same basic grocery strategies we use all year. Buy in bulk, use coupons, shop sales, etc. This time of year is a great time to stock up on baking necceties, though. There are always sales and coupons for spices, brown sugar, nuts, etc. I try to save a portion of November's grocery budget just for stocking up on baking supplies so I don't have to buy them later in the year. I'll try to buy enough brown sugar this month with coupons and sales to last us for the year. We'll stock the freezer with fresh cranberries this time of year so we can make cranberry muffins, bread, and cranberry chutney throughout the year. We love all these things, and the chutney is great on bagels with cream cheese or mixed into oatmeal. The chopped frozen cranberries are also great in popsicles or cooked with cabbage as a side dish.
How do you save green at Christmas? I'd love to hear from you!
Decorating
Several years ago, we bought some lighted garland at an after Christmas sale, so it was deeply discounted. That same year, we bought some plastic metallic ornaments, snowflakes, etc. We use these each year to decorate the handrail to upstairs and the mantle. I use a lot of my silver plated stuff to sprinkle in on the mantle to add more sparkle, which I already had. Much of this stuff is sentimental too: Grandma's silver candle sticks, a set of pottery candle sticks given to us by my aunt, a silver platter we bought at an antique store on a date one time. I use wired ribbon to weave through things too, which can be reused each year.
We have several artificial wreaths I decorated over the years which we store in plastic bags. This is the easiest decorating ever... just pull the bag off and hang it on the door!
Outside we do very little. Most of this is because we don't know if it will blow away or get covered in snow or ice for weeks on end. We do put window candles in our windows, and some years, we scavenge tree trimmings from friends to use outside. These trimmings I stick in some all-weather flower pots (not pottery, they will crack if you have big temperature fluctuations) and fill the pot with water. Then, the water will freeze, holding the branches in place. You could do the same with holly branches, etc. These just end up being more festive if we have snow fall.
Wrapping and Cards
I've gotten in the habit of saving large pieces of wrapping paper and gift bags for years. Now we have a substantial stash, so we reuse these. Often we reuse the wrapping paper for kids gifts, since this paper is more likely to be torn. We also reuse tissue paper for stuffing gift bags and for wrapping stocking gifts. My great aunt, who grew up in the Depression era, has mastered wrapping without tape, which is a skill I have yet to learn, but would love to. These strategies save us lots of money, as well as save valuable paper resources.
We save the fronts of gift cards and Christmas cards to use as gift tags or upcycle into new Christmas cards. I also make hand-stamped Christmas and thank you notes, which saves a ton of money over buying gift cards. I use my ink rewards from Staples to "buy" cardstock and envelopes, so I have only the cost of the stamps and ink invested. This year, we'll take advantage of some of the great photo deals out there on photo sites to print a family portrait to give with Christmas cards.
Gift Giving and Celebrating
When it comes to gift giving, we're all about homemade. We make jams and jellies throughout the summer and fall to give. I've also found some recipes for homemade soup mixes, which are fun to give with a loaf of homemade bread. Giving bread is cheaper than giving cookies because there's less sugar, chocolate, or nuts involved, all of which are expensive when compared to the cost of a bulk bag of flour. We also make homemade vanilla extract for the bakers in the family, and I put away a few pounds of herb butter in the freezer made from herbs we grew this summer. For some friends, they'll get a loaf of homemade French bread and a stick of herb butter. All of these are gifts that come from the heart and are genuinely appreciated, and they cost us far less than buying something for everyone on our list. Giving a gift certificate for services is also fun. I gave my mom a gift certificate for a bread a month, which was really fun. She didn't use it every month, but she did enjoy it when she took advantage, and it was nice when she was entertaining for her to not have to worry about that, but just call me to bake a loaf for her.
We also get creative about how we purchase gifts that we need to. We use Amazon credit, I'll use Recyclebank points to give magazine subscriptions, or we'll purchase used and upcycle. We might buy some picture frames at the thrift store and remix them into something that suits the recipient, and give a family portrait that way.
You can also get creative with celebrating. We do lots of potlucks this season, where everyone brings their favorite holiday side dish. Sometimes, we've done a Feliz Navidad theme, which is kind of fun and a nice departure from all the same kinds of foods. By going potluck, it takes the pressure off the host and means everyone got at least one thing they like to eat. By hosting, it means that we get to enjoy everyone getting together, and it's far cheaper than eating out with everyone (and less chaos since most of us have kids).
Baking
I save on baking this time of year with the same basic grocery strategies we use all year. Buy in bulk, use coupons, shop sales, etc. This time of year is a great time to stock up on baking necceties, though. There are always sales and coupons for spices, brown sugar, nuts, etc. I try to save a portion of November's grocery budget just for stocking up on baking supplies so I don't have to buy them later in the year. I'll try to buy enough brown sugar this month with coupons and sales to last us for the year. We'll stock the freezer with fresh cranberries this time of year so we can make cranberry muffins, bread, and cranberry chutney throughout the year. We love all these things, and the chutney is great on bagels with cream cheese or mixed into oatmeal. The chopped frozen cranberries are also great in popsicles or cooked with cabbage as a side dish.
How do you save green at Christmas? I'd love to hear from you!
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