December Update from the Frugal Workshop

Stocking Up

I combined some terrific sales with coupons in November and as a result I have stocked up on several items we use regularly here at the Frugal Workshop. 

I don't have pictures of everything, but some of the bargains we bought include:

Four bottles of Arm & Hammer Laundry Detergent, 50 ounces for $1.61 each. 

Five cans of Campbell's tomato soup for 24¢ each, which was just too good of a deal to pass up at that price.  

At Aldi, I picked up two, ten pound bags of potatoes for $1.99 each, two bags of cranberries for 99¢ each, and celery for 69¢.

At Publix I was able to stock up on one pound boxes of butter for $1.50 each, two Hellman's mayonnaise for $1.90 each,  several packages of Mueller's pasta in the one pound box for 80¢ each, and mustard for 87¢ each.

At Walgreen's, I bought two cans of salmon with an in-store coupon for $1.99 each. 

I price matched several sale items at Walmart because the stores were out of stock on the sale items. These include a four pound bag of sugar for $1.41,  and Philadelphia cream cheese for 99¢ each.

Christmas

Christmas is eighteen days away. I have the majority of my Christmas shopping done and have kept it simple this year as I did last year and the year before when I made the decision to simplify Christmas and cut my gift giving and the number of Christmas cards I sent. These days I only send Christmas cards to a select few people, in fact it is so small a number that I've been using the same box for a few years now. 

Child Support

I had a bad feeling the other day when I realized my daughter's child support did not show up in the bank, so I made some phone calls and found out my ex-husband quit his job without any word to me about it.

 

I've made a few telephone calls since then, but am very apprehensive about spending any money right now because I don't know what my finances will be like in the weeks and months to come, so I'm being careful. I'm glad I stocked up on needed necessities in November as I've put a brake on any unnecessary spending for now. Hopefully this will be resolved quickly. 

Employment

I applied for a permanent position with my employer, but was passed over for someone else, but have been working every day that is offered to me . Next week I have every day scheduled, so I am grateful for that. What would be even better would be to have permanent full time employment. Hopefully someday soon that will happen. 

In Conclusion

I hope all my readers are doing well. I've been reading many of your blog posts, but have not been commenting. The captcha portion of commenting is sometimes frustrating, so many times I read without comment. Please forgive me. 

Until next time, take care of yourselves. :)

Belinda

CFO ~ Chief Frugal Officer

© Belinda & Frugal Workshop, 2011-2013.

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without”

Shop Your Way

Pictured above is a photo of a promotion I earned from Kmart's Shop Your Way reward program. The details are fairly simple, spend $50 at Kmart and receive a coupon for 30¢ off per gallon of gas up to 20 gallons. 

I've read online that you can purchase gift cards at Kmart and also get this deal, but I've not tried that. I was purchasing items for our house like the deal they had last week on the large boxes of Purex (110 ounces) priced at $2.50 each, so I stocked up on those. 

This morning I went and used my promotion and purchased 11.03 gallons of gas, so I saved $3.30 and paid $2.71 per gallon using this promotion coupon. The coupon is good for up to 20 gallons, but my car only holds 12 gallons. 

I thought this was a good deal and wanted to pass the savings along to my readers. Of course, I'm sure it goes without saying that you would only purchase items your family needs otherwise any potential savings might be lost, which would be a false economy. 

Belinda
CFO ~ Chief Frugal Officer
© Belinda & Frugal Workshop, 2011-2013.
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without”

The Week In Review

 

This past week I've been mulling over what food I've had in my pantry and what meals I could make out of that food. Today I've been working on using up these items. For instance, three cans of fruit that no one has been eating and several boxes of jello. I decided to make Jell-O cups with these items. 

In all I made sixteen Jell-O cups with fruit (six lime with pear, six orange with mandarin oranges, and three lemon with fruit cocktail, and one orange/lemon with fruit cocktail). These will make snacks throughout the week and go into several lunch boxes this week as well. 

I also made a pot of hot green tea to sip on since the weather was a chilly 43 degrees this morning. 

Last Sunday I took the beans that were left from the day and made soup out of them. I cooked a box of elbow macaroni, then sauteed onions, two pounds of carrots, and half a head of celery in vegetable broth. I also added canned tomatoes. This made dinner for Sunday night and lunches for several days during this past week. I had two bowls left at the end of the week, so these went into the freezer to make lunches for two more days, which will save me money and time in the long run. 

This soup is an example of the plant based eating style I have adopted this year. This was made with no meat and no oil and is considered to be high-nutrient. 

I also put a two pound bag of 15 bean Cajun soup beans in a bowl to soak overnight and cook in the morning for Monday night dinner. 

I had a box of Penna Rigatoni in the pantry that needed to be used up as well as several tomatoes on the kitchen counter, so I decided to make a pasta salad. I also had some broccoli and cauliflower that I had cut up for family members to snack on through the week, which no one was eating, so into the pasta salad they went as well. I used up a small amount that was left in a  bottle of Ken's olive oil and vinegar dressing and added the last of a bottle of ranch dressing as well. 

Here are the results: 

As far as fruit, jello and pasta goes, this leaves me with three large cans of peaches, three and a half boxes of spaghetti, and two boxes of orange jello. Of course, I will be thinking up ways to use up these items as well. 

Today I recycled two-one gallon containers and filled them with water. These will be placed by our chicken feed for times when it doesn't rain and our rain watering system does not provide them with fresh water. Eggs are made up of 75% water, so providing them with fresh water is essential if we want them to provide us with eggs. 

In my spare time today I've been working on earning Swagbucks. I've met my goal for today and will use these Swagbucks to earn $25 to be deposited into my Paypal account, which I will then transfer to my checking account. If you are new to Swagbucks or just want to learn more about the program, you can read my page on it here. 

Another thing I've done this week is to join a Yard Sale group on Facebook that is close to the area where I live. I usually donate all of our items to charity since we live in a rural area where a yard sale would not work, but lately I've been rethinking that. Last week we took some of our items and set up at a local Flea Market, but the weather was just too cold and we did not have any customers. I thought about listing the items on Ebay, but the cost associated with that and PayPal can be more than I want to pay. So I've already joined a local group on Facebook and I will let you know how that goes in the next few weeks. 

All the laundry from this past week has been washed, folded, and put away. Outfits for this week have been picked out and are ready for both me and my daughter for everyday this week. Shoes are lined up, book bags are ready by the door and as you can tell I am working on food for the week. 

Pictured above are two pieces of flannel material that I picked up at a yard sale for 25¢ last week. I washed them this week and will add them to my stash. I have a project that I want to work on this month, probably during Thanksgiving week as we have the whole week off from school that week. I'll write more about that when I am closer to getting the project done. 

Pictured above is a bag that my daughter received for free from Cleveland State for a Service Project field trip she went to last week. She has a service learning class this semester at school, which not only teaches them about volunteering and service learning, but also gives them opportunities to volunteer at school although those hours do not count towards those needed to graduate with honors. 

Back when I went to high school we did not need volunteer hours to graduate with honors, but these days students do need them. They need twenty hours to graduate as a local honor student and they need eighty hours to graduate as a Tennessee scholar. So far my daughter has put in over thirty hours. 

Here is my current tube of toothpaste. I was cleaning the sink this morning thinking that I should just open a new tube, but I decided to use the handle of my toothbrush and push as much of the toothpaste up towards the tube as possible. There is enough here to last me not only this week, but possibly the week after that as well. Stay tuned for updates. 

Still in Use It Up mode, I had a large can of refried beans in the pantry along with my last can of enchilada sauce and a small amount of sour cream leftover. Perfect to make Bean & Cheese Enchiladas. I'll make that for dinner tonight and if there are any leftovers we can have that for lunches this week as well. I made these two weeks ago and there were no leftovers then. 

So, I have Bean & Cheese Enchiladas, Pasta Salad, Jell-O Cups, and two bowls of soup ready to go in the freezer. I'll put the beans in the crock pot in the morning and we will have that for dinner Monday night. This gives me a good head start on the work week and will help me to save both money and time by being prepared. We won't want to go out to eat after a long day at work if we already have food prepared at home. 

How are things shaping up in your home today?

Belinda
CFO ~ Chief Frugal Officer
© Belinda & Frugal Workshop, 2011-2013.
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without”

Good Deal Alert: Aldi Coupon

Here is a coupon good for Aldi for $10.00 off a $40.00 minimum purchase. 

Good at all Aldi store locations. 

Here is a link to the coupon where you can print this for yourself: 

Aldi $10 off $40.00 coupon

Belinda
CFO ~ Chief Frugal Officer
© Belinda & Frugal Workshop, 2011-2013.
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without”

Cooking with Dried Beans

Dried Beans 

Dried  beans are one of the most economical dishes you can feed to your family and they taste great when prepared properly. A one pound bag of beans generally costs anywhere from $1.00 to $1.50 and sometimes up to $3.00 a pound for some specialty beans. 

You may think there isn't much savings when buying a bag of dried beans verses canned beans, but there are savings to be had not to mention the added flavor of home cooked beans. A one pound bag of dried beans will cook up to make the equivalent of around three 15 ounce cans of already cooked beans, so when buying dried beans over canned beans you will be saving money. 

Variety of Beans

When I was growing up my Mom made at least four types of dried beans: Great Northern, which we called Soup Beans, Pintos, Lima Beans and Black Eyed Peas. 

These days,in my frugal kitchen, I make all kinds of dried beans. I've come to realize that pinto beans are really not that flavorful. Have you ever tried Cranberry Beans? They are so full of flavor, even when cooked without oil, and are now my favorite bean and they can even be bought at Walmart these days. 

I currently have 25 pounds of beans on hand and they include, Great Northern Beans, 15 Bean Soup, 15 Bean Cajun Soup, Cranberry Beans, Split Green Peas, Lentils, 16 Bean Soup mix, Butter Beans, Lima Beans, Baby Lima Beans, Red Beans, Black Beans, Kidney Beans, Pinto Beans, Yellow Eyed Peas, Black Eyed Peas, and Garbanzo Beans. 

Sorting and Soaking Dried Beans  

The first thing you need to do when getting ready to cook dried beans is sort through them to remove any pebbles or clumps of dirt. Beans are harvested in a way that does not always remove these things, so it is important to sort and then rinse the beans for any dust that may be on them. 

Usually what I do is the night before I want to make beans, I pour them onto the counter and sort them and then place them into a colander and rinse them under cool water. I then place the beans in a large bowl and cover with water up over the beans and allow the beans to soak overnight. 

Soaking beans has at least two major benefits. The first benefit is soaking breaks down some of the starches,  which can cause discomfort later after eating beans. I can always tell a difference when I've soaked my own beans at home verses beans I haven't soaked or canned beans. Another benefit of soaking beans is it makes cooking times shorter, which saves cooking fuel and money. 

Here is a photo of what the beans look like after soaking all night long. You can tell they have more than doubled in size. 

Cooking Beans from Scratch

In the morning, drain the beans and discard the soaking water and rinse again. I always discard the soaking water because to me it does not make sense to cook the beans in the water I soaked them in since that is where some of the unpleasantness of the beans is residing. 

Afterwards I place the beans in my slow cooker, but you can also make them on top of your stove. I used to make my beans on top of the stove, but that requires a great deal of what I call babysitting the beans.  I would have to check them regularly and add water as needed, but with the slower cooker I can turn them on and let them cook and not have to give them very much of my attention while they are cooking. 

Please excuse the photos as it was dark in the kitchen this morning as I was making these before work. I added an onion to this batch of 15 Bean Soup for flavor. 

What I do is place the beans in my slow cooker and cover with fresh water. Turn the slow cooker on high and cook the beans until they reach my desired stage of tenderness. We like some beans to be soupy and that requires additional cooking time. And I can always add more water to the beans as needed during the cooking process. You can cook them to whatever stage you would like. 

Here is the 15 Bean Soup after it has cooked all day and what it looks like in a serving bowl. 

It is a very hearty and delicious, stick to your ribs kind of dish. There is no oil in these beans although you could add some if you wanted for seasoning. My grandmother used to add bacon grease to her beans for flavoring and so did my Mother, but she eventually switched over to using vegetable oil for seasoning, which is what I had always done. I have used olive oil as well, which makes a great seasoning. But after doing my research this year, I change the way I make beans now and just add onion and some salt for seasoning. 

You can read about that update here. 

I've cooked dried beans for at least twenty-five years now, and I have made them as a main dish meal many times before. But it was not until this year that I have made them as a main dish meal on a regular basis. We eat beans almost everyday now and on days I am not cooking them we are usually eating beans from the batch made the day before. 

This is a change I've made in our diet to combat some of the rising cost of meat and groceries these days and in my attempt to eat a healthier, plant based diet . I made this 15 bean soup and it cost me approximately $3.00 to make and feed 3 people for dinner tonight. That works out to $1.00 per serving. Like I said about the onions, "I love getting a good bargain and feeding my family with food bought at the lowest price possible while still maintaining a healthy diet". 

Belinda
CFO ~ Chief Frugal Officer
© Belinda & Frugal Workshop, 2011-2013.
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without”

Great Deal on Onions

Sweet deal at Aldi this week on onions. They have the 3 pound bags of onions on sale for 99¢. 

I bought four bags or 12 pounds of onions, which cost me $3.96. There were 28 onions in the 12 pounds of onions, which makes them 14¢ each or 33¢ per pound.  

I put them in an old pair of pantyhose and tied off each one. Here is the finished product. 

And here they are hanging in the pantry. 

They should last me a good, long time and I'm hoping at least a couple of months. 

I love getting a good bargain and feeding my family with food bought at the lowest price possible while still maintaining a healthy diet. 

Belinda
CFO ~ Chief Frugal Officer
© Belinda & Frugal Workshop, 2011-2013.
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without”

An Update...

Hello to all my Frugal Friends!

How have you all been? Just great, I hope. :)

You may have wondered about my absence and the reason for that is I have switched our diet to mostly a plant based diet this year. I have spent the last six months or so researching this topic. 

Reasons for switching to a plant based diet include, disappointment over the rising cost of meat, wanting to lose weight and get better control over my blood sugar. As a result, I have lost weight and my blood pressure, cholesterol and A1C numbers are all down and my doctor is thrilled with my progress as am I.

What does our diet mostly consist of now? We eat a lot of vegetables and beans nowadays. I try to include vegetables for every meal including breakfast. 

In July I participated in an Unprocessed Challenge where we ate no processed food for 30 days. For breakfast I would eat steamed Kale to make sure I got my vegetable servings in for the day.

It has been an adventure to say the least and my family isn't always thrilled with the choices I've made. Like with anything else there is a period of trial and error. 

One of the things I've done is to remove as much oil as possible from our diet and I did it for health reasons, but this step has also saved money. One tablespoon of oil has 120 calories and I do not want the calories from the oil in my diet on a regular basis. I still have oil on hand for some things such as frying tortillas for the Tacos I made for a birthday celebration last week, but the majority of time I now cook without oil.  

You do not need oil to saute food. You can water saute your food and it is much healthier for you. Go ahead and Google "water sauteing"  and read about the topic. You will not only save money, but you are doing something healthy for yourself as well. Now I will be the first to admit that at least one person in my family complained about the lack of oil, used for seasoning, in dried beans when I made them without oil. But the savings and healthy benefits have been worth it to me. 

Another thing I've done is to eliminate meat from our diet as much as possible. Articles I've read over the last year state that people can expect to pay more for meat this year. According to an article on NPR.org, multiple droughts in beef producing states have driven the cost of beef to historic highs. I had stopped buying beef roasts even before this year, except for a special occasion or holiday dinner, because the cost had skyrocketed to a price that I felt was out of my budget. And I hadn't bought steaks or pork chops for several years prior to that because I felt the cost of these items were out of my price range. We don't have to pay more for meat if we don't want to or are unable to afford meat, but we have other options too. We can simply decide to do without meat and find other, more affordable, options to feed our families, which is what I've done.

I did buy ground beef last week, as a special request from a family member, who asked for Tacos for a birthday celebration. It was the first time I have bought meat to prepare at home since April 1, 2013.  So, we do still eat meat on occasion, but we have greatly reduced our consumption of it and have saved money as a result. 

In the weeks to come I will be sharing some of the things I've done this year and the changes I've made in our efforts to save money. 

Until then, 

Belinda
CFO ~ Chief Frugal Officer
© Belinda & Frugal Workshop, 2011-2013.
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without”

Homemade Drying Rack

Here is a photo of our inexpensive homemade drying rack. Two chairs back to back with a broom and mop along the top to hang clothes from. Very inexpensive. :)

Belinda
CFO ~ Chief Frugal Officer
© Belinda & Frugal Workshop, 2011-2013.
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without”

Tuesday Night Dinner ~ Chicken Stir Fry

Today was our first full day back to school/work and I received  a call at 5:25 a.m. asking me to sub, so I worked all day today. After having the last ten days off for Spring Break, I am very tired tonight. 

We ate breakfast at home, I brought my lunch to school and once school was out, we came home and I made dinner. Chicken Stir Fry over Rice.  

The dishes are all washed up and I am finally relaxing. I did not spend any money yesterday or today and that is a good feeling. 

What's for dinner at your house?

Belinda
CFO ~ Chief Frugal Officer
© Belinda & Frugal Workshop, 2011-2013.
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without”

Monday Freebies

We received a very nice freebie in the mail this weekend from Proctor and Gamble. The package included a Tide pod, a sample of Pantene shampoo and conditioner, a sample of Tide boost, two different samples of Downey, a sample of Crest 3D toothpaste, and several coupons. 

Be sure to "Like" your favorite companies on Facebook in order to get access to these types of freebies. You can also "like" freebie sites, such as Freebie Shark or Hunt4Freebies, on Facebook in order to be alerted when such freebies are available.

Belinda
© Belinda Richardson and Frugal Workshop, 2011-2013.
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without”