Money Saving Produce Cleaner

Here's a great tip for cleaning all of those apples you have been snagging at great prices lately.

Instead of buying expensive produce cleaner, try vinegar.  Vinegar is a great germicide and it also helps remove pesticides and waxy residues on fresh produce. 

• For apples, oranges, lemons and other larger firmer items, put them in the sink as pictured with about a cup of vinegar (I just dump it in, no measuring needed.)  Then add water and let the fruit float around for a while, about 10 minutes.  Rinse off with cold water when done.  You will notice a white waxy residue left on the apples.  This coating is just what's left of the food grade wax that apples are covered with.  You won't taste a difference, I promise.
• For smaller more fragile items, I fill a spray bottle with a 50/50 solution of vinegar and water.  I put the produce in a colander and just spray the solution all over and rinse. 
• The kids love to help with both of these tasks and because it's such a natural cleaner, I feel OK about letting them. 

The Coffee Mateuccino

This morning I had the chance to indulge in one of my favorite money-saving creations. The Coffee-Mateuccino! If you make coffee at home (which frugal people do) and occasionally get Nestle brand Coffee-mate (which is sometimes on sale), then you know how tragic it can be when you turn over the Coffee-Mate Fat Free French Vanilla only to have piddly drips come out. Fear not, for this frugal tip will allow you one more day of creamed java. To confess, this creation came out of a desire to have one final moment with the Coffee-Mate instead of actually saving money, but thankfully it does both.

First, brew your coffee however you please and get your empty cup...

 

 Next, confirm that Coffee-mate is in fact reaching the end...

 Now, for the tricky part. Pour your coffee into the creamer bottle. You have to go slow. This whole concept works for two reasons. One, the creamer itself is extremely thick so it sticks to the bottle. (We usually have fat-free, regular may be even thicker). Second, the Coffee-mate bottle has little dents and crevices in the bottom that retain even more extra creamer after the last drip has dropped. Fill the bottle halfway or with however much coffee you want. Secure the lid tightly and give it a good martini shake.

When you open the lid, you should get a delightful "psst" sound meaning you frothed up your coffee perfectly. Pour into the cup and enjoy your frugal, creative creation. The Coffee-mateuccino!

Frugal Frozen Pancakes

These are my pancakes cooling before they go into the freezer.

In the previous post, I talked about pancakes for dinner.  I have another frugal suggestion that will also save you time! 

When you make your pancakes, make a double batch and freeze the leftovers.  Just wait for them to cool and put in a plastic freezer bag or container.  This saves money by not having to reheat a stove, or wash extra dishes.  It also save you time.  All you have to do is pull the pancakes out of the freezer and microwave or toast them.  This makes a super quick breakfast idea or you can use them for dinner again. 
Also, try other things besides the standard butter and syrup.  Syrup is expensive, try brown sugar and cinnamon or cream cheese and strawberries.  Honey and blueberries work as well.  Chocolate chip and banana pancakes are a big hit with the kids.  When we were little, we would have brown sugar and butter on ours.

A Sunday Task

Okay, I forgot to take a picture of my vegetables waiting to be washed and cut up, so you'll just have to use your imagination with this picture, sorry!

A few weeks ago, I was looking for a recipe that I never did find, but I stumbled across an article that talked about time-saving things that you should do on Sundays to get ready for the week.  One of them was washing and cutting all of your fruits and veggies that you would use that week.  I have to say that for the past few weeks, I have been doing just that and it makes a big difference!

Here a few thoughts/pros:

• We have been eating LOTS more fruits and vegetables because they are there and ready-to-go. 
• There will be less waste.  You will not look in the back of the fridge in 2 weeks and realize that the peppers you bought are now more wrinkly than a raisin.  
• Have your kids help you.  If you have children, give them a job to help.  My oldest can peel carrots, the middle washes them and my youngest picks up any errant peels that fall on the ground.  I have heard that kids are more likely to eat food that they help to prepare.  (That and ranch dressing goes a long way in our house!)

You obviously don't have to do these things on Sundays, if that isn't a great day for you, pick another evening or time that works best for you.  I have a friend who will take an evening every so often to make a bunch of pancakes with her husband to go into the freezer.  Quality time comes in all different packages...

Frugal Garlic Bread

Frugal Garlic Toast

Instead of buying expensive, preservative laden garlic bread that comes in a frozen box at the store, make your own.  It is very quick and easy, I promise!

• Preheat (if you are a preheater, many frugal people aren't) to 425 F. 
• Lay out your bread pieces on a cookie sheet, stone or pizza pan. 
• Tip:  Start looking at Kroger for the Manager Special bread.  Often you can get a loaf of white bread for $.59 or even organic bread for $1.59 a loaf.  I will pick up a couple of loaves when I see it clearanced and put them in the freezer.
• Next, I combine some olive oil, vegetable oil, melted butter or melted margarine with any spices that you think would taste good on garlic bread.
• I usually use garlic, a little salt and Italian seasoning.  You can choose anything you like.
• Spread the oil mixture on the bread.  This can be done with a cooking brush or just a spoon. 
• If you like, sprinkle a little Parmesan cheese or shredded mozzarella on the top.
• Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes.  The length of time is really dependent on how thick the bread is and how crisp you want your bread.  Keep an eye on it and pull it out when it looks good to you. 
• Another frugal tip:  If I have just baked something else in the oven, I will just put the bread in after turning off the oven and let it sit in there until it is crispy enough. 



Frugal Wrapping Paper

Instead of spending lots of money on wrapping paper, try wrapping your child's birthday presents in the comics.  Kids usually care more about getting the paper off to see what is inside than what it looks like.  We suggest saving the comics in a plastic bag to be kept with your other wrapping items so you always have it on hand.

Hang It Up

Everyone does laundry, some more than others.  I probably average a load a day for my family of five between my girls going through princess outfit after skirt after dress (rest assured most of those slightly worn clothes go right back in the dresser), the baby’s explosive bowel movements, and our workout regimens.  365 loads of laundry a year is a lot for my very inefficient washer/dryer set.

Water, electricity, detergent…oh, my!  Laundry costs do add up.  Let’s take a closer look at the dryer portion of the equation.  Figure out roughly how much you are spending on drying your clothes every year. Dryertips.com has an awesome article that helps determine how much of your cold, hard cash turns to fluffy, lint with each drying cycle.  You need three numbers:  amount of power consumed by dryer when running, kilowatt/hr price, and hours machine ran.  My household numbers respectively if I dried every load of laundry I washed:  5.4 KW, $0.074/KWH, and 365 hrs (at one hour of dry time per load).  Therefore, I would spend about $146 per year in dryer costs alone.

Cut your annual dryer bill in half by hanging up clothing such as pants, shorts, shirts, sweatshirts, etc.  I have a closet rod in the laundry room, or I hang them on the trim over doorways.  I also make use of my trusty drying rack.  In my house, I simply hang up the entire ‘dark’ load and sometimes partial ‘light’ loads if they have undershirts, tank tops, the kids’ sweatshirts, etc.  Benefits of hanging clothes include:  immediately cuts dryer bill in half, nominal amount of bending exercise (can be turned into your daily squat exercise) and in the winter, the damp clothes help humidify the air.  It is also better for the environment and will keep your clothes looking spiffy longer. 

After hanging up full and partial loads, I estimate I spend about $65 per year to dry my clothing…a savings of $81.  Don’t forget the other benefits, too!

Frugal Quick Tip: Free Ice For Your Cooler

With the holiday, you might have a need for ice in a cooler.  Don't want to pay $2.00 or more for a bag, let alone stopping to pick it up?  Well, don't! 

Try freezing gallon milk jugs (emptied of milk and rinsed out) filled with water.  After they have frozen, smash them on the driveway or sidewalk.  Once pulverized, slit open the jugs and pour the ice chips into your cooler. 

The paper half gallon cartons work really well too.  It's best to open those on the top before filling with water.  Then, you can just peel the paper off! 

It takes a reasonable amount of strength to get them all broken up, so consider this a workout.  As I am writing this, I am picturing my dad doing this before we would leave for trips.  Ahh, good memories.

Tissue Box Organizer

One of the easiest ways to practice frugality is to save plastic store bags in which you bring your purchases home.  Another great type of plastic bag to save is newspaper and produce bags.  We use plastic bags to line our trash cans, contain dirty diapers, carry lunches...just about anything!

Use an empty tissue box to store each size of bag.  Just keep stuffing them in.  Pictured above is a small cube-type tissue box with newspaper, produce and small store plastic bags.  I can easily find the right size and it keeps my laundry room from becoming a plastic grocery bag explosion.  

Ways to Save Money on Vacation: Part II

The second installment of 'Ways to Save Money on Vacation' is about cutting costs where food/dining is concerned.  Here are a few of my top tips:

• Shop Before You Leave
• In the weeks before you leave, stock up on travel-friendly items such as trail mix ingredients, string cheese, Greek yogurt (its high protein count is a great filling breakfast or snack), juice boxes and bottled water, etc.  Even if you don't always get the best deals, you can still save by planning ahead.  No matter what, you are spending less than if you buy everything at the last minute or worse, spending say, $3.00 for a bottle of water at the musueum.  Just be prepared to make room in your vehicle for a cooler with ice to keep the perishables cool until you can put them into the fridge that you have made sure is in your room (see the first installment if you don't know what I am talking about)!
• Prep Before You Leave
• The night before we left for vacation, my husband made an entire loaf of bread's worth of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for our lunches for the trip.  I also made an entire bag of totillas filled with turkey, mustard, spinach and cheese roll-ups for the traveling dinner.  This is not super exciting, but I will pair it with a fun snack item (for example:  Pringles) that we don't usually have at home to make everyone excited about finishing the sandwiches.  Also, we eat these lunches at the venue we are attending and everyone is usually just so excited to get back to Legoland, the museum, etc. that they don't care what we are eating!
• I also cut up carrot sticks, wash grapes and baby tomatoes and put them into large plastic ziploc baggies to go with the sandwiches.  Bananas also make great traveling fruit.  I just suggest eating those first, because they will start to stink up your entire food supply after a while. 
• Another nifty idea for a quick and easy dinner is frozen pizza.  Simply make it before you leave and let it cool.  Then, cut it up and put into zippered bags or aluminum foil.  This is an option if you family likes cold pizza. 
• Eat Out Frugally
• It's vacation, so you probably want to eat out at least once.  I know we do.  There are ways to do this inexpensively as well. 
• Groupon and Living Social:  Sign up for the Groupon emails (to your junk email) for the city you are planning to vaction in.  I did this as soon as we decided where we were going.  For about six months, I watched for good deals for restaurants, museums and other activities. You never know what kinds of deals you might find.  Just watch expiration dates, terms, etc. 
• Restaurant.com certificates.  This company sells drastically reduced gift certificates for eateries across the country.  There are also terms and conditions with these, so read the fine print. 
• If you know there is a restaurant that you want to try, search the web for printable coupons.  If you have a smartphone, try downloading The Coupons App for your phone.  

In my opinion, vacation is about relaxing.  I just try to make things special and different without completely breaking the bank to do it.  It really just takes a little planning and forward thinking!

Ways to Save Money on Vacation: Part I

Obviously the first step in planning a vacation is deciding where to go.  That decision is one that can be made by only you and your family.  Since having kids, our vacations have been reasonably close to home (less than five hours away) because that is what works for us. 

Once you have settled on a location, the next step is lodging.  There are many ways to circumvent the traditional pricey hotel option.  Here a few ideas:

• Rent a house instead.  Potential for savings is great, plus access to a kitchen is a great way to cut food costs (more on that later).  Try craigslist.com, vrbo.com, or homeaway.com, Parents magazine recommends all of these.  You can also try good old fashioned Google.  The downside of this method is that there is not usually a pool, clean sheets daily or tiny little bottles of shampoo or soap.  Also, you often have to have a week commitment.
• Use a discount website.  We wanted a pool and we only wanted to stay a few nights.  (I could only take so many nights of fighting the baby to stay in the pack and play!)  We used hotwire.com to book our hotels.  There are others:  priceline.com, travelocity.com, kayak.com, the list goes on.  I found hotwire.com's website the easiest to use.  We found a three and a half star hotel (Sheraton Suites) that was $47 per night near Chicago!  It was a wonderful experience at the hotel.  The customer service of hotwire.com left something to be desired, however. 
• A few other ways that might save money are going camping, staying with friends or family or looking into attending time share presentations in exchange for free lodging.   
• Do you have other suggestions on frugal lodging?  We would love to hear them!  Email us or leave a comment!

No matter where you stay, it is important to think about how you will feed yourselves.  I always call ahead to make sure we will be placed in a room that has a fridge and microwave.  In the next installment, I will talk about how you can save BIG on food while you are away from home.

Vinegar: So Many Uses, the Cooking Version (A Golden Oldie)

This is a re-post of my vinegar series.  I thought I would run through them again because there are such great ideas contained within these posts.  Enjoy!

If you have been reading FrugalFortWayne.com for awhile, you are probably aware of how much I love vinegar.  I use it for cleaning, cooking and disinfecting.  Well, you can imagine how excited I was to find an entire 18 page booklet devoted to off label uses for vinegar. 

Don't worry, I am not going to bore you with an incessantly long list of weird ways to use vinegar, I will just post a few a day over the next few weeks.  Enjoy! 

Cooking with Vinegar

• Your gelatin desserts will stand up to heat better in the summer if you add a teaspoon of white vinegar per box of gelatin to your favorite gelatin recipes.
• To rescue a recipe that tastes too sweet or too salty after you have mixed the ingredients, try a dash of white vinegar.  It may just fix the problem.
• To revive vegetables that look a little droopy or wilted, soak them in one quart of water and a tablespoon of white vinegar. 
• Enhance the flavor of your favorite grilled fish by adding a dash of white vinegar.  For firmer, whiter fish, soak your favorite fillet or seafood steak for 20 minutes in one quart of water and two tablespoons of vinegar. 
• When a recipe calls for buttermilk and you don't have any on hand, just add a tablespoon of vinegar to a cup of milk.  Let it stand for five minutes to thicken.  Now, you have an instant substitute. 

All of these ideas came from a Heinz Vinegar publication from the 70s or the 80s.

Frugal Quick Tip: Address Labels

I have a whole drawer full of address labels, and they keep just showing up.  Along with sticking them on the upper left-hand corner of envelopes, here are a couple more ideas:

• Give them to your kids to play with.  If the labels were free, then they become the most cost effective sticker around.  If you are wary of your address label falling off your child's back in the grocery store (I've always wondered how the gremlins are able to put them on their own backs), simply cut off the information part and hand them the colorful pictures to play with.
• Put them on items you lend to others.  If you have a vast book, CD or DVD library, it might be wise to slap on a label before someone walks out the door with your stuff.  You could also consider putting these on baby stuff that you let a friend or sister borrow.  This little sticker will help ensure your items return safely home.
• Avoid accidental switches.   My mom and I have the same cell phone.  Two of my sisters have the same camera.  An address label would easily identify the rightful owner.

What do you use excess address labels for?

Money Saving Idea: Use Store Shopping Bags as Trash Can Liners

To save money on garbage bags for the bathroom or a little wastebasket, use plastic grocery bags from the store. The handles on the bag can be tied up and tossed out into the outside garbage can.

Cut It in Half

Many of the products we use come pre-packaged, pre-portioned, or pre-determined in size, especially paper products.  We pull out whatever the item is and use it regardless if it is too big for the job.  There are a handful of products that can be cut in half, making it last twice as long.  What products do you cut in half?

• Sponges.  A reader, Dawn, emailed this tip in saying that along with extending the life of one sponge, cutting it in half also makes it easier to hold.
• Tissues.  If a quick wipe of your child's nose is all you are doing, use only 1-ply of facial tissue.
• Napkins.  Tear your napkins in half for kids (who will probably wipe their hands on their shirt instead of a napkin anyway).
• Paper towels.  Only use as much as the job requires.

Scrub for Free

A quick frugal tip:

Ball up the plastic nets that hold bulk produce (like apples, onions, clementines) and use them as dish scrubbers.  They clean the dishes while protecting the nonstick coating on pots and pans.  Discard when finished!

Quick Frugal Tips

Here are a few random quick tips:

• The gremlins and I often leave half-full water cups sitting around (which is on my husband's Top 10 Most Annoying Things My Wife Does list).  Instead of mindlessly dumping perfectly good water down the drain, use it to water a plant. 
• After cooking with the oven in the winter, leave the oven door open to let all of the warm air escape into the kitchen.  Please make sure all children and pets are safely contained.
• Use an air compressor to clean out your bagless vacuum filter.  It will go from dirty gray to white in seconds.  You might want to do this outside rather than in the garage.

Baked Oatmeal Recipe -- Frugal Breakfast Idea

Here is a frugal breakfast idea that is reasonably healthy, easy to grab and go and only $.08/serving.

Here's the recipe:

• Preheat oven to 375, and grease muffin tins
• Mix the following ingredients, in order, in a large bowl
• 1 cup applesauce
• 2/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 4 eggs
• 6 cups oats
• 4 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 T cinnamon (this can be adjusted to taste, we like a lot of cinnamon)
• 2 cups milk
• I also mix in about a cup of fruit.  I have used frozen blueberries, chopped strawberries, chopped peaches or chopped apples.
• You can also add ground flax seed, wheat germ or ground nuts, if you like. 
• Spoon batter into muffin tins and bake for 25-30 minutes. 
• This makes about 36 muffins, at about $.08/serving

We have a really sweet reader that blogs at Everyday Mom's Meals who always has really yummy recipes.  This is nothing like her recipes, but they are actually really good!  There isn't much sugar added, but the oats seem to add their own sweetness. 
In our house, we pair these with a banana, a piece of cheese and milk for breakfast.  They also make great snacks!

While it is a little cooler out (for a few days), you might consider whippping up a big batch of these and throwing them in the freezer for when it gets warm out for a long stretch.

We had a reader request that I re-publish this recipe because she was wanting to make them in preparation for school starting.  I cannot believe it's already here!

Frugal Quick Tip: Dryer Sheet Uses

There are (apparently) a bazillion different uses for Bounce or generic brand dryer sheets.  This list came in an email forward from Donna.  Thanks!

• It will chase ants away when you lay a sheet near them.
• Spread sheets around foundation areas, or in trailers, or cars that are sitting and it keeps mice from entering your vehicle.
• It takes the odor out of books and photo albums that don't get opened too often.
• It repels mosquitoes. Tie a sheet of Bounce through a belt loop when outdoors during mosquito season.
• Eliminate static electricity from your television (or computer) screen.
• Since Bounce is designed to help eliminate static cling, wipe your television screen with a used sheet of Bounce to keep dust from resettling.
• Dissolve soap scum from shower doors. Clean with a sheet of Bounce.
• To freshen the air in your home - Place an individual sheet of Bounce in a drawer or hang in the closet.
• Put Bounce sheet in vacuum cleaner.
• Prevent thread from tangling. Run a threaded needle through a sheet of Bounce before beginning to sew.
• Prevent musty suitcases. Place an individual sheet of Bounce inside empty luggage before storing.
• To freshen the air in your car - Place a sheet of Bounce under the front seat.
• Clean baked-on foods from a cooking pan. Put a sheet in a pan, fill with water, let sit overnight, and sponge clean. The anti-static agent apparently weakens the bond between the food and the pan.
• Eliminate odors in wastebaskets. Place a sheet of Bounce at the bottom of the wastebasket.
• Collect cat hair. Rubbing the area with a sheet of Bounce will magnetically attract all the lose hairs.
• Eliminate static electricity from Venetian blinds. Wipe the blinds with a sheet of Bounce to prevent dust from resettling.
• Wipe up sawdust from drilling or sand papering. A used sheet of Bounce will collect sawdust like a tack cloth.
• Eliminate odors in dirty laundry. Place an individual sheet of Bounce at the bottom of a laundry bag or hamper.
• Deodorize shoes or sneakers. Place a sheet of Bounce in your shoes or sneakers overnight.
• Golfers put a Bounce sheet in their back pocket to keep the bees away.
• Put a Bounce sheet in your sleeping bag and tent before folding and storing them. It will keep them smelling fresh.
• Wet a Bounce sheet, hose down your car, and wipe lovebugs off easily with the wet Bounce.

Frugal "Beat the Boredom" Idea For Kids

Kids bored with their own toys?  Want to try something new, but you don't want to shell out a lot of money?  Well, try a toy swap.  We have done this amongst the Frugal Sisters and friends and here a few suggestions:

• Swap with families that you know will take good care of your toys.
• Swap toys/games that you won't be horribly upset if they aren't returned unscathed, even if you totally trust the family that you are swapping with, things happen.  You don't want to lose the special puzzle that you played with as a kid.   
• Label what you swap out with address labels or masking tape.  This can be a good job for the kids
• Make it fun, have "swap" play date.  Serve a snack and lay out items that you would be willing to swap.  Have another (or a few) family over and have them bring their swappable items along.  The kids can do the shopping while the moms do some visiting and act as supervisors.  Your level of involvement will depend on the ages of the kids.

Give it a try and let us know what works for you!  I am sure there are endless creative ways to do this.