Two worth-repeating!

Two small tips - but they are worth repeating! I know I've mentioned them before, and I'm sure this won't be the last time.
Plan your menus ahead of time! Before you head off to the grocery store, make a list of the meals you plan to prepare. If you shop every two weeks make a list of two weeks worth of meals. Take a look at what you have on hand and what is on sale in the weekly circulars from the grocery stores before you plan your meals.
Use Coupons! This is my favorite tip - it really IS a money saver! If there is a particular item you always purchase look for coupons. If an item is on sale and you have a coupon then buy that item. Don't use a coupon just because something is new or trendy, only use coupons if they will save you money.

Stock Up!

I know I gave this tip the other day, but I wanted to say it again - when it's on sale - stock up.

Your first grocery trip on the road to saving money is actually to spend a little more than you are used to. Items that are staples in your pantry should be purchased in large quantity if possible. These include items such as flour, sugar, pasta, dry beans, rice, oatmeal, canned goods, etc. I have a nice little "should have" pantry list I will share.

Now, I have added and pared down multiple lists to come up with this list. If you are not cooking from scratch, some of these items might not be necessary to you, but some I don't have might be must have's!

Dry BulkGoods
•Flour(white,wholewheat,and bread)
•Sugar(white,brown and powdered)
•Cornmeal
•Dried beans (kidney,black,split peas,white navy, garbanzo)
•Oatmeal
•Pasta
•Rice
•Soups (cream of chicken, cream of mushroom)
•salt
•baking soda
•baking powder
•Yeast
•Vanilla Extract
•Maple syrup
•shortening
•spices
•dry milk
•dry eggs
•cocoa
•Vinegar
•Olive oil
•Canola oil
•Canned veggies (green beans, corn, tomatoes,tomato sauce,tomato paste)
•Home canned veggies(variety)
•Canned beans
•Canned Fruit(pears, peaches,applesauce,pineapple)
•Canned Meats
•Mac and cheese
•Peanutbutter
•Jellies
•Ketchup, mustard, mayo
•Crackers
•Ramen noodles
•Pasta Noodles
•Popcorn (stick with the kernels, not the "boxed variety") - its cheaper and healthier!
•Pretzels
•Coffee
•Tea
•Raisins
•Nuts (peanuts,walnuts, almonds)
•Grains-barley, wheat
•Cereals
and many, many more!
So these are the items you should try to stock up on as much as possible! There are many more I can add to this list but for now, this is a basic starter set. You have these, and you can whip up meals, even when you think you have nothing to cook!

A great website is Teri's Kitchen - she has inventory sheets for all over your kitchen- the fridge, the pantry and the freezer!

Recipes - Clip them, cut them, save them, TRY them!

I want to tell you a little something. Go into almost anyone's kitchen, and there in a drawer, or a cabinet or in the desk you will find a pile. A pile of what? A pile of recipes that have been clipped and saved thinking that "someday I'm going to try this." Yes, I'm guilty. Well, not anymore. Because I did something about it. I waited until we had a nice dinner one night. Where I had no cravings, I was full and content. And then I sat down in front of all my clipped recipes and began to sort. The first time I sorted them, I sorted them into two piles - Yummy, I know we'll try this, and DISGUSTING - what was I thinking? This made it easy. Because amazingly enough, when you are hungry, you will think something sounds good to you even when it won't. Another way I sorted the disgusting one's was to think about my children and whether it was something I thought they'd try or not. I don't make dinners for them. I make them for the family. However, I keep their individual likes and dislikes in the back of my mind when I'm looking for new recipes. If it's something I know that they are really going to hate, then I usually can it (yep that would be the trash can). No reason to hold onto it if I'm not going to use it. I saved ANY recipes that sounded good, or would be good for "adult only" meals though.
After I had my two piles- the disgusting one's made their way to the trash. But then I was forced to face a HUGE pile of recipes that I wasn't quite sure how to organize. Those would be the Yummy ones. So the next thing I did was sort through them in three piles - this time I sorted by my favorite cooking methods - freezer, crockpot & onedish. Everything else went into a fourth pile of "different cooking methods". After I had my three piles of my favorite cooking methods, I organized them by category - main, side, appetizer, etc.
Then I had to deal with this fourth category - this was a lot more of a challenge. I made several piles (yours might differ), I created a pile for recipes with hard to find ingredients or ingredients that were pretty expensive (ie. some steak recipes calling for wines, etc), and then a pile for recipes containing ingredients I always seem to have on hand, and then my favorite pile of that sort - quick and easy meals. I had a few more piles, in which I cannot think of at the moment, but just use your judgement when you're doing it. The pile with the "expensive ingredients" actually went to the trash. Why? Because I was looking for budget benders, and quick and easy meals to make for my family. Somehow spending $20 on ingredients for one meal, that most likely wouldn't be used on any OTHER meals, seemed silly to me. So into the trash for my family. The piles I was left over with, I sorted them into their respective categories in a recipe box. In the front of the recipe box I had 3 tabs for my Freezer recipes, Crockpot Recipes, and One dish recipes already. (I also have a separate section for my home busines recipes.
Want to know what happened after all this? I actually started USING all those recipes I had collected up. I discovered things about my family, through trial and error and different recipes - my daughter will eat most seafood if properly presented to her, my son isn't a total meat and potato kid, he will actually eat veggies when they are seasoned and cooked to his liking. So it was fun, and I got them involved in cooking a lot! That also helped them try the foods they wouldn't normally have tried. After cooking a meal, who isn't going to at least TRY it! LOL
So my tip is ORGANIZE those recipes you have all over! Pare down your cookbooks and magazines and really be honest about what you will or will not try.
Get rid of the rest! No reason to clutter up your beautiful sparkling kitchen. I mean you did organize it two weeks ago - right?

Theme: Grocery Stores - (con't)

For day 1, I need to focus on the most valuable tool I've found for my grocery budget! This is something that took me almost a year to master and perfect to work for me and my family. A lot of trial and error and several different recipes, some of which wound up becoming favorites, and some that we hope we never see again! LOL

What is this magic tool that seems to have made life a bit more easy? It's called FREEZER cooking. I teach a WHOLE class on it with my home business. But I am going to tell you to "google it". You will find recipes, storage ideas, and more!
Read about it, Master it, Live it!
It saved me in a 4 month period (because that's how long I've been doing it without the rest of the trial and error) over $400!! And I kid you not, these savings are obvious in our budget!

So today's tip is to LEARN ABOUT FREEZER COOKING! It's the best there is!

I'm changing this a little

Ok, I'm going to change my format a little here. Instead of having a "day of the week" to give a certain tip, we're going to have a THEME of the week that will change each week. Some weeks we will repeat the theme later on, but this should work a little better for me, in staying on top of this and more organized!

So today's tip isn't a money saving tip - it's a time saving tip - Before you start something - think it through. LOL I'm only posting this tip because my own stupidity, made organizing these tips, next to impossible!

So what's the first theme? We're going to finish our AT THE GROCERY STORE series first! Because it's the baseline of every other tip I can offer at the store or in the kitchen!

See you tomorrow!

Save those coupons!!

I am continuously amazed to see my neighbors and friends tossing away their "junk mail" without even looking through it. There are coupons for local restaurants usually within that "junk". Even if it's a buy a burger get a soda free...think about that - it's around a $1 savings for something you probably would have gotten anyway! Look through your "junk mail", coupon paks, newspapers, and more for coupons to local restaurants, fast food, and sometimes you can even find coupons for a buy a ticket get a ticket free to an upcoming concert, etc.
So keep those coupons!!

Eating healthy CAN save Money!

The complaint I hear most is that you spend more on eating healthy, than you would if you bought the junk food. While this is true in some cases, it is not as much as you think!

First, a great way to save money on healthy eating, is to grow your own vegetable garden. Don't think you can do this? Oh yes you can. Because I didn't think *I* could until I tried it. Also even if you are in an apartment, they sell miniature sized plants, that you could even grow on your patio or deck. Also, fresh produce is ALWAYS better, but when cooking it into a recipe, frozen veggies can be MUCH cheaper!! So keep that in mind next time you're preparing a meal!

Coming Out Of the Closet...

Ok, it's time to come out of the closet and focus more on what you're putting INTO the closet. So we're going to give you a tip that has to do with online shopping!

I got this tip from a message board I frequent, and I absolutely cannot remember which one to quote it's source. Sorry about that!

How to get the best price for things you buy online:Lets say you see an awesome "something" online that you just have to have.
Follow these steps to find the best price on that item.
First, copy the item name/description headline. Most companies use the same decription for items. There was a dress I bought once... the title of the dress was "Arwen Dress Style c532" or something similar. I copied this and plugged it into www.froogle.com
Froogle isn't perfect, but it does help you find more than one site that offers the product and shows you the different prices they sell it for.
Once you find the cheapest site copy the site's name and plug it into google, adding the words "Discount coupon code" or "online coupon code" or "online discount code" to find if there are any promotional codes for the store. By doing this I found that the store that had my dress cheapest also had a 5% discount code as well.
You have to check out the shipping charges to make sure you are saving money and not getting jacked on shipping.
If you have an Upromise account (or something similar) then you buy your item from the store, through their site so you can get cash back (or what ever your shopping site offers.)
By doing this my 85$ occasional dress went down to 45$ plus 5% off, plus 10% back through upromise, making the dress cost half as much as it would have if I had just bought it at the first place I saw it.

Great trip and this does work! I've tried it for several items for my children and low and behold, it works!

Wednesday - It's time to clean again!

This is one of my favorite tips and I've been doing it for years!

I put kitchen sponges in the dishwasher. Really just about any kind of kitchen sponge will work. I also sometimes put them in the washing machine when I have a few gentle wash items. They don't melt and they come out all nice and clean and sterile. Saves me from buying extra.

Laundry Day!

Another great laundry tip I had in my archives:

Softener - Use much less than the packaging says, especially in a a dryer. You need fabric softener with a dryer to cut thestatic cling, and it doesn't take much for that. A dryer sheet, cut in fourths, can be used twice.
That makes 8 uses per sheet.
Alternatively, use liquid softener and dilute with water. Spray it inside your dryer, or saturate a clean rag and throw in your dryer with the laundry. You can use this several times by dampening the rag between loads. A small bottle will last for a long time!
Fabric softener makes materials lose their absorbency, and they do build up over a period of time, causing them to yellow. There is a health concern regarding their use as well.
It's wise to kill two (or is that three?) birds with one stone - use vinegar. It's not as frugal as commercial fabric softener using the methods above, and you must use it in your washer, in the softener dispenser, or in a dispenser ball, or put it in the first rinse water. Use 1/4 cup for a load to get the real benefit. Since vinegar is cheaper than softener, but not drastically so, you'll save some, but not as much as you could. It will do a number on static cling, though. (And no, it won't make your clothes smell funny!) OH and you can purchase Vinegar at Sams or Costco in HUGE gallons - saving a bundle that way too. I cannot remember where I got this tip from, however I've used it and it works!

Monday - we're back at the store!

So hopefully you've set up your budget. Now that you've budgeted an amount, it's important to try to stick to that as much as you can. HOWEVER there is an exception. If, say, when you are scouring your sales ads each week, you notice that flour is on sale ALOT, stock up. Really this goes for anything that goes on sale at a good cost. Just don't do it EVERY week. One probably doesn't need 30 lbs of flour or five 10lb bags of sugar in their cabinet at one time! However, if chicken is on sale, or beef - STOCK up when you can! Try to purchase it frozen as much as possible, because it is usually quite a bit cheaper that way. So my tip today is watch for sales, and stock up on things you use a lot of! With all your from scratch cooking, you should be needing more than you used to, but your cost should go down than your old eating habits!

Sunday, Sunday --- it's Finally Sunday!

If you have a prescription plan with your medical insurance, spend some time talking to your Dr. Ask him/her about prescription pain relievers, decongestants, etc. See if they can prescribe them to you so you can get them cheaper than buying OTC. Some dr's don't mind. So try it!

Saturday Savings!

How will we save money today? Today I'm going to focus on shopping around town.
Here is my tip:
Do your holiday shopping all year round. This includes birthdays, anniversaries, etc. When you see an awesome "something" on sale that might fit one of your friends or family buy it and stick it in the closet. Same thing with stocking stuffers. Ten bucks here and there all year round is much easier on the family budget than $200-$400 between Oct. and Dec. Plus you can take your time and wait for items to go on sale. AND you won't have to fight the crowds at the mall. Another quick reminder though, when you purchase something to go in your closet - be sure to stick a label or sticky note on it reminding you WHO you bought it for. LOL I've actually forgotten WHO I thought something was going to be good for.

Happy shopping!

Frugal Friday Tip

Hope you've had a great week! I always look forward to the weekend, and as most of you know this is another favorite day of tips! :)
So what do I have for this Friday? Let's save some TIME in the kitchen - because we all know time can = money in the long run!

So here's today's tip: Instead of scrubbing your dirty pots with SOS pads and heavy duty cleaners let them soak over night in water with a used dryer sheet. The grease and gook will wipe right off the next day. I have NO idea why this works, but I tried it and it really does seem to work. Sometimes certain grease is harder to remove than other's but seriously! This works!

Have a great weekend!

Thursday - Back in the Closet....

Alright, I probably should have posted this tip last week, but my tip for this week is ORGANIZE your closet - Store off-season clothes at one end or even somewhere else (we purchased those big rubbermade storage bins and each family member has one marked with their name). Then go through and pull out what you aren't wearing anymore because it's too small, a button is missing, it has a hole, it has a stain, it's too big, it's not the right color, it has nothing to go with it, etc. Make piles - anything missing a button that you plan to ACTUALLY sew the buttons onto - GET SEWING! I was horrible about this, and one day just decided to sit down and sew. I sewed all the buttons on all the pieces I had missing buttons (including my childrens) and guess what? I found out that I had a lot more items to wear after that! It was nice! Another pile can be stuff that is to small/big - these items can get donated, along with any that have small stains that aren't too noticeable. Anything beyond wearing again, with a rip, hole or tear needs to get tossed into the trash. I mean, come on! Why are you keeping that? And anything that is the "wrong color" again should go with the donated items, and anything you have nothing to wear WITH, either donate it or figure out what it would look nice with, make a list and pop it in your purse. Next time you're out somewhere, keep your eyes open for anything that might look good with it (remember off-season shopping!) After your closet is ORGANIZED and clean, you should have a basic wardrobe and know what you are missing and what you need. This helps save money by not purchasing items you already have. I organized my closet by season. As I mentioned - off season clothes go elsewhere. Then I hang tank tops at one end, (yes I wear them even in the winter underneath clothes), then shirts & blouses, then jackets (& coats depending on season), then pants (& in the summer I wear a lot of capri's and ankle length so those have their own section), then skirts, then dresses, then belts and I even have a couple of hangers to hang purses, scarves and other items on. One tip I got a long time ago, was - use all the same color/type - hanger. Either color coordinate by "category" or just purchase all the same color for your closet. This really does make it look more organized and easier to find things. So that's my frugal (and apparently organizing) tip for Thursday!

Wednesday Warriors! Get Cleaning!

I think Wednesday's might be on of my favorite days of tips - I love cutting costs, while cleaning! It's a wonderful process. And technically, yesterday's tip was a "cleaning" tip as well! So today's tip is - Don't buy spray cleaner in a spray bottle. Buy by the gallon (which is concentrated and usually available at Sams or Costco but also at Wal-mart, Target, anywhere like that) and dilute it and poor it into your own spray bottle. Like Lysol all purpose cleaner or 409. About $3.00 for a litre or $3.00 for a spray bottle. The litre makes about 8-10 spray bottles full of all purpose cleaner.Of course, even cheaper than that is using vinegar to clean things. But the savings are incredible! That's almost a $20 savings!!

Tuesday Tip

Well, we're back to the laundry room - the dreaded chore of laundry actually makes some cringe - myself- I don't mind laundry so much. It's kinda relaxing and I can get so many other things done at the same time!

So, what's *MY* favorite laundry product? Easy! BORAX. What the heck is BORAX? It is a laundry detergent. It comes in a green and yellowish box that says "Twenty mule team BORAX" or something similiar. It usually sells for under three dollars a box and can be found near TIDE... usually around the laundry boosters. Why is BORAX my favorite laundry product? BECAUSE Borax has many uses!! It is awesome for brightening laundry, deoderizing trash cans, scrubbing grout, cleaning dishwasher and garbage disposals. I've been told it has mild disinfectant properties. Anything that you can use baking soda for (except cooking of course) you can use borax for too. The combination of the two makes for an awesome cleaner that doesn't have any harsh smell. It's easy to find, cheap to make and lasts for awhile, and is so useful in many places in the house!

So what's my tip? Well - GO BUY SOME BORAX!! Try it out yourself! Let me know how it works!

Monday AT the GROCERY STORE

So hopefully you've done everything I mentioned last Monday - made your list, organized your pantry and refrig./freezer. Hopefull you have SOME idea of what you need at the store and if you haven't gone shopping for it yet, you will.

The next step in our series is to figure out how much it's going to cost you. This might take some trial and error and several shopping experiences. But try to take note of how much things cost, and eventually you should get to a point where each time you shop it should be around the same amount. (depending on how many coupons you have in a given week, etc.) SO that's where this step comes in - BUDGET - whatever your total amount is (or approx. amount) that's your budget for food. So here's what you do - go to the bank, and withdraw that amount BEFORE you go to the store. Do not use ATM cards, do not use CREDIT CARDS, do not write a check! Just go get the CASH. Why? Because you are going to be LESS tempted to stray from your BUDGETED amount if you cannot afford to add any additional items to your basket at the store! Trust me this truly works! It's a wonderful habit to get in!

I'm going to leave you with that tip this week, because you are going to need some time to figure out your budget!

Have a great week!

Sunday Tip

Well, it's been one week since I started this and the emails have been coming in my the dozens! Great ideas, and tips from all of you that will be included in the weeks to come! Thank you for sharing them!
Today's tip doesn't necessarily have a given category - that's why I kinda made Sunday the Be Frugal ANYWHERE day! :)

Our tip today deals with the pharmacy! And goes for ANY OTC medication really.

Drug store items like Tylenol, Pedialyte, Advil, and Benadryl, all have competing store brands. The store brands almost always have the EXACT same active ingredients. Just check the boxes! Usually the only difference is the packaging. Always check the ingredients in the things you buy and compare them with the store brand. You will be surprised how much money you can save! Don't pay to for other companies ADVERTISING! Instead save the money and use it for your family!

Saturday Outings...

I have a ton of tips on ways to cut costs when out and about town, but I am not sure I have enough to do this every week for the rest of the year, so this might change after awhile.

Today's tip is gas related (with our gas prices rising and falling lately - this might be helpful!)

• Check your tire air pressure at least once a month. Proper tire pressure, means better gas mileage! I promise, I can prove it!
• Get that junk outta your trunk! You don't want extra unnecessary weight. This causes your car/van/suv to be heavier than it needs to be, eating gas up for no reason! So clean out the trunk!
• Regular tune-ups including the air filter are extremely important. They help your car run better which means less gas wasted!
• Sitting still and idling wastes gas. So when you are picking someone up - turn the engine off, if you are waiting while someone runs into get something, turn the car off, and wait. Try to leave earlier or change your route to work to avoid any unnecessary traffic jams.
• Run the vent instead of the air conditioner when possible, an easy solution. Works better in the winter!
• Combine errands, try to get things done that are near each other. For instance, whenver I go to the bank, I ALWAYS go to the post office, they are right near each other. And vice-versa, if I need to mail something, I try to save my trip to the bank for when I also need to mail out. Truly saves a ton of money on in-town driving!

Those are my great tips for now! Hope you enjoy!

Frugal Friday!

We're back to my favorite spot in the house - the kitchen! Some more terrific, time-saving tips! Ok, my first piece of advice is to GET organized. I said this on Monday, but this is an absolutely NECESSARY place to start! The kitchen has GOT to be organized. Things need to be where you use them most, and they need to be easy to find! If you have a snow cone maker or a hot fryer beneath your cupboard, and you haven't used them in at least 6 months, MOVE THEM SOMEWHERE ELSE! (In fact, get rid of them if you can!) But if you cannot bear to part with them, just send them to the garage or basement. Store them SOMEWHERE else to make organizing a little easier in the kitchen.

So here is my Friday frugal tip -
Save on spices. Buy fresh herbs from the discount rack at your local produce store (usually around .40 cents a bundle or so) and hang them to dry in your house. They may be wilted when you buy them but it doesn't matter because you're just going to dry them anyways. Then crumble them up and put them in your spice jars. Spices cost between 1$-4$ so it's a big savings. PLUS the added benefit, is usually your spices are going to be MUCH fresher than the one's that have sat in those bottles forever - meaning, you need to use less of yours to get your acquired taste ;-) SEE! You save money both ways!!

Have a great weekend!

Thursday, Shopping Tips and More!

I left this day open to a variety of topics. I called it "Be Frugal in the closet" because many, many items are stored in closets, which come from all over, so this gives me a little extra room to insert tips here. So today's tip is a shopping for clothes tip.
It seems so self-explanatory - and I feel like everyone should already know it, but they don't. So I'm posting it.
SHOP OFF SEASON!!
I cannot say it enough. My favorite time of year to shop is the end of the season. The end of the summer I pick up the cutest clothes for my kids to wear NEXT summer! And in the fall, after all the back to school fashions are out, I find the cutest clothes for my kids to wear back to school NEXT year! And the winter, oh how expensive those little snow boots and coats are....well, just wait until March or April, and shop! Voila! MAJOR savings and a nice winter wardrobe for the following winter.
My daughter's back to school outfit this year, was absolutely adorable! She looked soo cute and it was probably a $65 outfit. How much did I spent? LAST year in October I purchased it for her and it was about $6 for the top and $7 for the bottoms. I had purchased a new pair of tennies on sale at some point last year in one size bigger than she was wearing - well those were about $3 when I bought them, and I had purchased a new package of socks (which rarely seem to ever go on sale) a week before school started for $5.95 and it had SIX pairs in it! So, I spent (over the course of a year) Less than $20 on a complete outfit! Now, if you shop at Wal-mart, Target or K-mart, the savings are even greater! I purchased an adorable little shirt for my daughter to wear summer 2006 for only $2.00 the other day! It's going to look adorable paired with some shorts and sandals. Oh and her sandals? Bought those in September - those were only $4 - and they are adorable and will fit her perfectly next summer.
So that's my tip - SHOP OFF SEASON - this goes for adults too! Your off-season clothes will be cheaper at those times of year as well.
So when is the best time to shop?
Winter clothes - March, April, May
Spring Clothes - June, July, August
Summer Clothes - September, October, November
Fall Clothes - November, December, January

Happy Shopping!

It's Wednesday - Time to Get Cleaning!!

I am ALWAYS looking for quick and easy tips for cleaning to begin with, but was not aware that there was a way to make my dollar stretch with cleaning. But there is!

My tip for the day - quit buying PAPER TOWELS! Here's why. For the same dollar you spent on that roll of paper towels - spend that at the dollar store (or sometimes wally world or target will have sales like that too), you can purchase a couple of washcloths. Why would you want wash clothes? First of all, they are more aggressive at cleaning and wiping things up. Secondly, when you are done with them, you can toss them into the next load of laundry! This has saved us a bundle! We bought cloth napkins as well for the kitchen! More tips coming soon to help you with cleaning!

Tuesday Topic - Doin' the Laundry

I have tons of great laundry tips, but I am going to start with something terribly simple.

Fabric Softner Sheets

Wanna make them last longer? Here's how - Cut them in half! Some people cut them in thirds. I prefer in half, because they seem to work a little better. Only use one half. Do not TEAR them, because with experience I've learned, when they are torn, they often get stuck to a particular outfit and really don't work too well. So there is my Tuesday "Be Frugal" tip. Extend those fabric softner sheets by simply cutting them in half. This way you can use them longer and in more area's of your home (more on that another time!)

At the grocery store....

Ok, I know where I'm starting for the grocery store tips - I've learned a method of being able to shop for an entire month for anywhere between $200-300. I usually do this all at once, but sometimes break it down by week.
Step 1. Get organized in the kitchen. Take an inventory of what you have, what you use most often, and where you keep it. If you haven't already done so, create a master shopping list with items you most frequently buy. For me, I have two master shopping lists - one for the grocery store, and one for the discount chain. The reason for this, is toilet paper, paper towels, baggies, and wraps are all cheaper at the discount chain - as well as detergents, fabric softners, cleaners and a load of other products. So I guess that's step 2.
Step 2. Figure out where the items cost the least. For me it was Wal-mart, however I prefer Target so even though some of their products are a few cents more, I enjoy my Target shopping experience more, so I go there. If you find that your grocery store has an item that is normally cheaper than the discount chain, then add it on that list. This is what I take shopping with me each time I go. I add to the bottom of the list any new ingredients I need for a new recipe or something I don't use all the time but finally ran out of. Yes, I have had 3 jars of peanut butter in my cupboard at once, but trust me - it get's used eventually and I just remember that the next time I go to the store. (As I said, I strive to go once a month, but more often than not, I wind up going twice a month)
Step 3. Make a meal list. What's a meal list? Make a list of your most often made meals. Count up how many you have. Then fill in the spots. If you want two weeks worth of recipes, but you only have 10 recipes, you need to find 4 new ones. You can either find 4 new one's or you can eat out four times in that two weeks. It's your choice how you do that. It also gives you the chance to try new recipes once a week, and eat out (Which many of us enjoy doing!). The only thing I will say about eating out, is - it truly adds up. Just add up your eating out and you might wind up having $200 in ONE week! It's amazing how it all adds up so quick, but cooking at home is definitely more efficient. We still eat out once a week, and occasionally have lunch out, but the majority of dinners are home cooked meals.
Step 4. Once you have your meal list, you need to make a list of what ingredients aren't on your MASTER grocery list, and what items you might still need. This will be your add on list and will become very important. Keep in mind, that if you decide to rotate your meal schedule every two weeks, you could probably add these items to your master list, as you will need them each time you shop.
Step 5. Collect coupons, scout grocery ads and GO Shopping! Be sure to take advantage of any double coupon deals your grocery store chain offers (strangely one chain offers the double discount at one store, but not the other for us) Strange but true. Start clipping coupons and scouring the internet for any specials. Be sure and visit your oft used products websites and often they have coupons there for you to download and print. Just become a coupon collector - it really isn't hard. Coupons in hand, go shopping. Try to stick to your list. Don't buy "extras" not on your list unless you've thought long and hard how you're going to use them in the kitchen.
Step 5. The last tip for today, (this will be continued next Monday) is - cooking from scrath is a LOT cheaper than cooking from a box. Although hamburger helper is very fast, just add meat and whatever - the box itself is sometimes more than $2 and only makes that small amount. If you cook from scratch - you can make MORE than what is needed and have leftovers for lunch the next day, OR freeze it to use it later (more on this later).

Have a great week! See you tomorrow!

BeFrugalWithNicole

I started this blog as a way to share all my collected "Be Frugal" tips! I started this now, because I am about to start my own home-business and knew that finding ways to be Frugal and save money was going to be important. Most of these tips I have implemented into my daily life and have really had a lot of success with. I hope you will find these helpful. I think I'm going to break these down by days of the week:

• Monday - Be Frugal at the Grocery Store - shopping tips, and coupon usage
• Tuesday - Be Frugal in the Laundry Room - laundry tips, getting out stains, etc.
• Wednesday - Be Frugal Cleaning Your House - Get the most out of your $ while cleaning.
• Thursday - Be Frugal In the Closet - Shopping for clothes, what to do with clothes that are old, etc.
• Friday - Be Frugal In Your Kitchen - Food preparation tips, recipes, and tips for cutting time down in the kitchen, etc.
• Saturday - Be Frugal Around the Town - When eating out, having a night on the town, taking your kids out, having fun for free, etc.
• Sunday - Be Frugal ANYTIME! - This is the "catch-all" category - whenever I have a tip to share and it doesn't have a "day" then I will stick it here.

I hope you enjoy all these wonderful tips! I know I have found them useful. If you'd like to contribute, email me!