Frugal Fridays

Many of us seem to be cutting more coupons lately and looking in the store flyers for great deals. I happened to watch the local news and they were talking about the deals at the dollar stores and I thought I would share them with you. Not every deal at the dollar store is a good one so make sure you do the math first :) Happy Friday! ~ Sharlyn Eddy

Cleaning supplies - Look for products like laundry detergent and liquid drain opener. You may not see name brands you recognize, but that’s ok. The Good Housekeeping Institute says most dollar store cleaning products have the same ingredients as name brands — although some may be slightly more diluted.

Gift wrap, tissue, ribbons, bows - You can save a pretty penny shopping for gift wrappings. In fact, you might find this stuff at up to 80% less.

Snack food - Check out potato chips, peanuts, chocolate and candy. Hey, if you’re heading for big dental bills, might as well save a buck or two on the causes.

Dollar store shampoo - Hair care experts say most shampoos will clean your hair just fine - there’s only minor differences in a brand’s ingredients and concentration.

Kitchen supplies - Spatulas… measuring cups… can openers… melon ballers… skewers for the grill: basically anything without a blade is a dollar store deal — that could save you up to 95%!

Many dollar stores get their items from manufacturers or wholesalers who produce products just for them. That means you might be able to get variety and serious savings all at once.

Frugal Fridays

With four growing boys and escalating food prices, groceries are eating up a bigger portion of our monthly budget. Here are some ways I have learned to “pinch a penny until it screams!”

1. Plan Ahead. I sit down with my calendar and the sales fliers to plan my meals for the week. Based on our schedule and what’s on sale, I make out the grocery list.

2. Use that List. A grocery list can limit impulse buying. Although many “super shoppers” advocate shopping once per week, I haven’t figured out how to make bananas, strawberries, and grapes last a whole week without a swarm of little flies invading my kitchen. I try to only shop twice a week to avoid unnecessary trips. If I’m not in the store, I’m not spending money.

3. Learn the sales cycles of the grocery store you prefer. Their “buy-one, get-one-free” promotions are a great way to save. Most products which they regularly put on sale cycle around every 5-6 weeks. The major stores rotate the brands on sale; each week they feature a different brand of paper towels, toilet tissue, ice cream, detergent, cuts of meat, etc. If you learn the cycles, you can buy enough of your preferred brands to last you until the next sale cycle. Adding in coupons clipped from the Sunday newspaper can enhance your savings.

4. Spices are expensive! I’d love to grow my own, but I have a “black thumb.” All attempts at growing them have failed, so I purchase dried spices. But those little bottles on the fancy spice aisle can run $3-$5 each. Skip that aisle and head over to the Ethnic Food section, where the same spices can be found for up to 2/3’s less.

5. Wal-Mart’s and Target’s entry into the grocery market gives us a lower priced option for shopping. Many staples can be purchased there for 20-25% less than the grocery store chains’ prices. Learn the SuperCenter’s prices on the items you regularly purchase; sometimes they are lower than the sales prices at the grocery chain.

6. The local farmers’ markets are great options for buying fresh, local produce. Prices are very reasonable, and you can meet the growers. This is a fun outing for the kids, too.

7. The wholesale clubs (Sam’s, BJ’s, Costco) can be cost effective, especially for a large family. It can also be a minefield of uncontrolled spending. Buying 48 rolls of paper towels when you have limited storage space isn’t helpful in the long run. They periodically offer free “trial memberships” that can let you explore the store, shop, and get a feel for whether this would benefit your family. Or, tag along with a friend who already has a membership.

Happy shopping ~ Adrea Thomas

Frugal Fridays

I am all about being frugal. I am not so much about being a trendy, save-the-planet green gal. Nonetheless, I enjoyed a variety of new ideas listed in a recent Traditional Home "What Can You Do" article. My favorite was by architect David Bergman. "…perhaps the most significant thing we can do is make our consumption choices wisely. A rule we use is that we must need something three times before we decide to buy it. And it also keeps our closets from overflowing quite as much!"

That goes back to the first Frugal Fridays blog I did, "Stop, Think & Pray." If your family never makes homemade or DiGiorno Pizza, only orders from the local pizza parlor where pizza comes to you already sliced, do you really need that pizza wheel that's only seventy-five cents? Being frugal is about stewardship. So wasting seventy-five cents is still being wasteful! And it clutters up your kitchen drawers!

As a family we first consider how we are spending our money, not how much money we are spending. Perhaps we should ask, "Why do I want to buy this?" Asking ourselves questions can help us determine whether we really need it or not (unless it's pertaining to chocolate- *grin*), it is probably not a necessary purchase. We can all be good stewards while even having fun trying to turn saved pennies into saved dollars (did someone say more chocolate!).

Pro 21:20 Precious treasure and oil are in a wise man's dwelling, but a foolish man devours it

~ Allie Olsen

Frugal Fridays

One easy way to be frugal is (drum-roll please) don’t buy disposable! You pay for the convenience of being able to use & toss- so just choose not to! Some items that are easy to switch:

Plates-Disposable plates are handy and we keep some in the pantry for super busy days. Many use them all the time, thinking they save a lot of work. If you clear your regular plate straight to the DW, though, it is just as easy as tossing a paper one in the trash! Dishes seem to be a big task for families if you let them pile up on counters or in the sink. With a little training, though, children can load their own dishes in the DW and help unload as well! If you don’t have enough dishes, or if you cringe at the thought of a 1 year old carrying your china, check out Correll plates. These are virtually indestructible and are very inexpensive at Wal-Mart - you can purchase them instead of paper over the course of a few weeks or months and not incur any additional expense. Besides the savings, it just feels nicer eating off “real” dinnerware.

Napkins-Cloth napkins can be purchased inexpensively- check TJ Maxx, Target and thrift stores. I bought 15 at a yard sale that had never been used for $2.

Dish Cloths-Keeping a stack of dishcloths handy keeps me from reaching for paper towels when I have a spill on the counter. Paper towels are great for use on floors or cleaning dirty bathroom spots, but when it’s a light mess (kitchen counter, breakfast table, the front of the fridge), reach for cloth.

Diapers-For those of you with little ones, cloth diapers can save you a fortune!! A quick Google search for “savings cloth diapers” revealed many helpful sites, including one that will calculate your specific savings depending on the size of your child & the up front investment you’re considering (depending on type of diaper). If you use the basic prefold diaper and cloth wipes from birth, you can save $1117.40-$1478.60 if your child potty trains at 2 ½ years! We have reaped additional savings as we’re still using the same cloth diapers now that we purchased when Lauren was born- they have lasted through 3 (or more, we bought most used) little ones so far! Cloth diapers create one extra load of laundry every 3 days. They’re super easy to fold and are the first things our little ones learn to fold, so the extra work for me is negligible.

These are some easy ways that our family has saved over the years. You can wash the cloth napkins & dish cloths with your regular laundry, so they don’t create more work. And it also creates less trash, which means fewer trash bags (those are expensive!) and less work for your hubby or eldest son. ~ Allie Olsen

Frugal Fridays

There’s a lot of talk lately about the economy. It seems that you can’t watch the news without hearing something about gas prices or the cost of food going up. It can add stress to the family budget but we have to remind ourselves who our provider really is! It’s at times like these we need to remember what Philippians 4:19 says - And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

So how can we be frugal with the cost of food going up and the fluctuation of gas prices? Through the years we have adjusted our grocery budget several times and most of the time it has gone up but more recently it has gone down. So the challenge for me is, and has been, how I can shop for a family of 6 and stay under budget! Sometimes it seems near impossible!

Then I get a great email from Charice who was graciously offering to pick up certain produce items at the Farmer’s Market. I talked to her at length and got an idea of what she pays for her produce and knew right away that this was a good thing! She goes there every Saturday and will send out an email the week before telling us what she is getting. I then tell her what I would like and she gets it for me (along with several other families). I know if I was getting all these items at the grocery store I would be spending so much more money than I am with Charice. I don’t know how long she will be willing and able to continue to do this but I know that as long as she does I will try to take advantage of her generosity. It really has been a blessing to our family – and my husband’s wallet!

So…this morning how do you see God meeting all of your needs according to His glory?

Frugal Fridays

I love the idea of sharing ways to be frugal!! Over the years, the amount of money I’ve been given to use within the family budget has changed significantly. But since the number of bodies to clothe and mouths to feed has increased along with the grocery budget and clothes section, I have always found it helpful (even necessary) to be frugal.

Noah Webster’s definition of frugality is very helpful in determining whether it is a trait that we should desire. He defined being frugal as “saving unnecessary expense. It is not equivalent to parsimony (covetousness, cheapness), the latter being an excess of frugality, and a fault. Frugality is always a virtue.”

I have a lot of little ideas I look forward to sharing, but today I thought I’d start simply. The best way I know of to ensure frugality is to stop, think and pray before you purchase!

STOP: Don’t just grab something from the clearance shelf and throw it in the cart! Hold it in your hand and really look at it.
THINK: “Will I use and enjoy another pair of brown flip-flops?” -Or- “WOW! That framed print is marked down to $15! But where will I put it? Will my hubby really like it over his dresser?”
PRAY: The Lord has entrusted me with enough to supply my family’s needs. Will this purchase be a blessing to us or a strain? Ask the Lord for wisdom and to help you not be impulsive.

All the other ways to be frugal could be filtered through these simple ideas. It won’t make for fool-proof shopping, but it will lead to a lot less time in return lines!

“And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” -Philippians 4:19 ~ Allie Olsen

Frugal Fridays

I grew up in a loving, middle-class family in a small mid-western town. I was in my teens in the early '70's and the nearest shopping mall was a two and a half hour drive to a city near Chicago. So my mom would plan the day and take my sister and me on an all-day shopping trip once a year to buy new school clothes. After shopping for 7 or 8 hours we would end our time with a bountiful meal and then the two of us girls would sleep contentedly as she drove us back home. (Looking back now I can imagine she was much more exhausted than our youthful frames!)

Fast forward a decade to me living in Texas as a young wife and mother of three year old Justin. In order for Ed to make the most of his 2 years at Dallas Seminary we chose for him to spend his time studying and to derive our income from the money I made teaching piano. (Much thanks also to a few friends and family who also generously supported us). So how did this mid-western girl adjust and learn to become frugal, not just to save some money but in order to survive? Like Paul who said he had LEARNED to be content....I learned frugality through these very trying circumstances. We prayed allot and many times He miraculously supplied our need. But many times the essentials were met first and there was only $30 left over to buy a week's worth of groceries. This is when I began experimenting with tuna casserole 3 times a week and how to divide one pound of hamburger into 3 tasty meals, learning how to cook pinto beans from the package and make my own burritos. Ask me sometime about that Christmas with no tree (I shed many tears of self-pity living in this very affluent city).

We've been here in Jacksonville 21 years now and I find this a great city to support the frugal shopper. When the kids were little I would purchase most of their toys and clothes at garage sales. One secret about garage sales: Pick your neighborhoods carefully. Mandarin can tend to be overshopped because of the volume of people concentrated in this one area. I prefer Julington Creek, Ponte Vedra, San Marco or even Ortega. If the area is too affluent the prices may be too high. Get an early start as most of the good stuff will be snatched up by 10:30 or so. Most Estate Sales go half price after noon on Saturday (they also begin on Friday if you want to have first shot). I have two favorite thrift stores: The Goodwill on Southside Blvd. is the best organized in town (Talbots, Lauren, and Hillfigger are common labels found here); and if you don't mind pawing through lots of stuff I like the Betty Griffin Thrift store on San Jose in Julington Creek (ask what the special of the day is as it is often not posted). If you are ever in Winter Park near Orlando that is my all-time favorite place to garage sale due to the combination of an affluent area and a seemingly generous spirit. Just keep in mind that garage sale money can feel like monopoly money because you can practically afford everything at every garage sale. You must learn to be a discerning shopper and ask the Holy Spirit to cultivate self-control and only buy what you truly need. Happy shopping! ~ Brenda Edwards