Saving Money with Tea Bags

It's been twenty years since I wrote an article about saving money with tea bags.  
Back then a two liter bottle of pop could be had for 99¢. While that can still be true today, a two liter bottle of Pepsi regularly goes for $1.25 at Walmart these days while a two liter bottle of Coke is going for $1.68. 
The price we currently pay for a ten pound bag of sugar is $3.76  and $20.88 for six hundred Red Rose tea bags. My daughter prefers the taste of Red Rose, so that is what we use. 
There are 22.5 cups of sugar in a 10 pound bag and at a cost of $3.76, that works out to 17¢ per cup. 
We use 1 cup of sugar in our gallons of tea, which works out to 17¢ for sugar. 
There are 600 small tea bags in the box of Red Rose tea we buy, and I use 10 bags for each gallon of tea, which works out to 35¢ for the tea bags. 
Figuring out the math we determined that a gallon of tea cost us 51¢ to make at home.
One gallon of Tea = 51¢ ($53.04 @ 2 per week for 1 year)
We also figured what a gallon of soda would cost if it were sold by the gallon:
One gallon of Pepsi = $ 4.74  ($492.96 @ 2 per week for 1 year)
One gallon of Coke = $ 6.36  ($661.44 @ 2 per week for 1 year)
These figures amount to a savings of $608.40 if you drink tea over Coke or $439.92 if you drink tea over Pepsi. 
Of course, you can lower your costs with the tea even more. 
Switch to a lower cost tea bag to save money. Red Rose is one of the more expensive brand of tea bags. Of course, we save money in other areas, but this is one area where we splurge. 
Using less sugar or none will also save money. 
Using less tea bags than we do will save you money too. 
For example:
100 Great Value tea bags cost $1.94, which works out to 20¢ per gallon using 10 teabags plus more if you use sugar. 
100 National Cup tea bags cost $1.00, which works out to 10¢ per gallon using 10 tea bags plus more if you use sugar. 
We like our tea strong, so ten bags works for us. You may find that using less tea bags works for you. At only 51¢ per gallon, I'll happily use ten Red Rose tea bags and not worry about it. :)
Of course we all know the ultimate way to save money on beverages is by drinking water but that is another topic for another day. ;)
Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~ My Linktree

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Frugal Friday ~ June 15, 2018

Frugal Workshop is now on Instagram if you're interested.

My frugal drink for the week. Kool-Aid lemonade with only about 1/4 cup of sugar. You can save money by adjusting the amount of sugar or sweetener to your taste. I save money by using less sugar.   

While perusing YouTube this past week I stumbled upon the Prepper Princess channel. She has some great videos on how she saves money if you want to check it out. 

My daughter got to see Tonks and the Aurors at a free concert held at the library this past week. The library is a great place to save money and find free entertainment. 

I needed to pick up an RX at Food City and checked the yellow sticker meat section. I found an almost 1/2 pound burger for $1.59 and a package of pork chops for $1.42.

This week I sold my Kitchenaid mixer on Facebook Marketplace for $100 because I did not use it. I bought it brand new twenty years ago for $50 in one of those closeout stores. It was a bargain for me at the time and a bargain for the man who bought it this week. 

I perused the grocery store sale ads online. I see a lot of pork on sale this week and ground chuck for $1.99 a pound in the ten pound rolls at Fresh & Low. I'll be buying one or two of those and planning meals around those this month. 

Kroger has Kraft mayonnaise on sale this week for 99¢ with their digital coupon and will allow you to buy up to five. So, if we get down that way we'll definitely stop in to get that deal. 

My brother in law changed the oil in my car this week and only charged me $20 for supplies. 

Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~

Frugal Week of March 5, 2018

This week I was able to work three days and brought my lunch and drinks from home all three days. 
My daughter trimmed the bushes that line our driveway near our new steps. It's amazing how much better it looks and how much light is there now. I would have had to pay someone to do this for me, but she did it for free. 
We had multiple loads of laundry to work on this week since we were pet sitting last weekend, most everything was covered in dog hair. I'm happy to report that all the laundry is finished, folded, and put back where it belongs. 
We went to a couple of thrift stores while we were in Chattanooga and I found a really thick, new to me, thermal blanket. I've been wanting one of these for a while, my price out the door was $6.99.
We filled up our rewards card at this local thrift store, so the next time we shop there we will be getting $25 worth of items for free. Even some of our local Goodwill stores have a rewards program. It always pays to ask if they have one where you shop. 
I earned another $5 Amazon gift card from Microsoft Rewards this week. If I spend just a few minutes each day on this I can earn this reward once about every three weeks. 

We have flowers blooming here right now from the recent warm weather. These are the grape hyacinths that I planted in 1986 right after we moved here. They come up every year during this time. 

We also have daffodils ready to bloom and our Bradford Pear trees are in full bloom as well. Our daffodils bloom later than anyone else's daffodils since these are in the shade. 

We had both of our male kittens neutered last week. We took them to Dixie Day Spay, which is a low cost spay/neuter clinic and a PetSmart charity. 

They charge $40 for spay or neutering, which is a great savings compared to the vet's office. 
On Thursday we were invited to a birthday dinner at a local restaurant. Dinner was free to us paid for by the birthday host. 
I ordered an item from Amazon in January that never came. I emailed the seller several times with no resolution. I finally let Amazon know and they refunded my order this week for the $23 purchase. 
We went to PetSmart last week, which is right next to our Aldi, and found a shopping cart that had not been returned. We returned it and earned a quarter (25¢) in the process. 
I listened to Pandora radio for free while I was at school one day this week. 
We attended a class last week while we were in Chattanooga and received a 20% off coupon for a future purchase. 
How was your week?
Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~

The Cost of Milk

Walmart is now selling a four pound box of dried milk for $18.98. 

A four pound box of dried milk will make 5 gallons of milk, which works out to $3.80 per gallon. 

Our local Fresh & Low, who changed their name from Super Saver, is currently selling a gallon of milk for $3.46.

What are milk prices by you right now?

Blogger News

I've noticed when commenting on some of my favorite blogs that some of the captchas have switched over to numbers only, which makes it so much easier (for me) to post comments. 

Also, I had a reader want to post to my blog, but was concerned about keeping her identity private, so I switched my blog to accept anonymous comments. The spam that I received was unbelievable, so I've had to switch back to not accepting anonymous comments at this time, but will be looking for a solution to that problem.

Hope you all have a great day,

Belinda
CFO ~ Chief Frugal Officer
© Belinda & Frugal Workshop, 2011-2014.
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without”

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Saving Money on Beverages, Part 2

Back in the early 1990s, I was an original subscriber to The Tightwad Gazette newsletter run by Amy Dacyczyn. I still have all of my original newsletters, which I keep stored in three, three ring binders. 

One day last week I had a substitute job that required me to have a lot of free time and so I took one of my binders to work with me to reread some of Amy D’s original material. 

Sometimes, when you read something for the first time, the information may not strike a chord with you simply because it may not be essential to your life at the moment. Then, when you read the information for a second time, you realize the information has become useful. I know that has happened to me with The Tightwad Gazette on several occasions. 

Last week while I was rereading my newsletters, I came across the article Amy wrote about comparing beverages by the gallon. 

Here is a picture of that section of the newsletter:

Since I had the time, I decided to “do the math” on some thoughts about drinks I had been mulling over lately. 

Since my daughter started attending high school this year, most of the students bring coffee drinks to school or they can buy them in the Coffee Café the Business Department set up to teach the business students how to run a business. My daughter tried the coffee, but decided it was not for her, but she wanted a drink to fit in with her peers. 

One day, on our way to school, we stopped at the local convenience store because she wanted to buy herself a drink.  She ended up buying a 20 ounce bottle of pop for $1.83. 

I was shocked at the price of $1.83 for a bottle of pop. When did these get to be so expensive? I can remember when I was growing up when a 12 ounce can of pop was 25¢. The price of this "convenience" item is getting very close to $2.00, which is just unbelievable to me. Of course, many restaurants charge more than $2.00 for drinks, which I always thought was a lot of money for a drink. 

Let’s do the math on this bottle of pop. 

One gallon is equal to 128 ounces.  

When I divide the cost of $1.83 by 20 ounces it comes out to 9¢ per ounce or $11.52 a gallon. 

Ouch!

We went to Sam’s Club a couple of weeks ago and compared prices. They were offering eighteen 24 ounce bottles of pop for $15.50. This works out to 4¢ per ounce or $5.12 a gallon. 

I compared the price of 6 bottles of pop offered for $3.50 at our local grocery store. This worked out to 3¢ per ounce or $3.84 per gallon. 

Are you shocked? 

If you are a regular reader, you know that I’ve written before about saving money on beverages. 

I can make a gallon of sweet iced tea or Kool-Aid for less than 50¢ in my frugal kitchen or we can even drink water for free. This is much easier on my budget than paying the expensive prices for beverages at a convenient store. 

As for my daughter, I am still working on her. Sometimes she will refill her bottle with drinks from home and I like that she does try to save money at  times. I know she is more thoughtful and careful when it comes to spending her own money, so I take that into consideration as well.

Once again, this goes to prove that you can save so much money by cooking from scratch and making your own beverages at home in your own kitchen.  

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

Saving Money on Beverages

Beverages can be another way to save money on your food bill.  Many beverages can be made or mixed at home in your own kitchen. All you need are the proper tools and the willingness and commitment to make your own beverages. 

Today I made 100% grape juice from concentrate in my frugal kitchen. Many of the fruit juices you can purchase in your grocery store’s refrigerated dairy case are made from concentrates, which means someone else has added water to the concentrate, which is something you can easily do in your own kitchen to save money. 

Oftentimes the cartons of juice from the dairy case cost twice as much as the frozen concentrates, which makes this an easy way to save money.  

When you make your own beverages at home, you will need containers to store them. Yard sales are a good place to look for pitchers. In the photo above is my Tupperware juice pitcher, which I bought at a yard sale for 25¢. I was also lucky enough to find one in the one gallon size as well. 

If you cannot afford to purchase containers, free containers are available by using what you have on hand like a repurposed milk jug or jar.  

Narrow mouthed jars can be filled using a funnel and usually make the job easier.  

What are some of the ways you save money on beverages? 


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

Heat & Beverages

The local news said we can expect more heat and humidity and is telling everyone to drink plenty of fluids, and especially water. 

My daughter has been having a friend sleepover with her this week and they went through a gallon of iced tea yesterday in about four hours, so I made two gallons this morning and hopefully that will last a little bit longer. 

I’m prepared to make more if necessary. Making tea at home is one of the many money savings things we do here. 

Drinks and beverages are one of the easiest areas to save money on your grocery bill. In my house I usually have water, milk, and tea to drink. I also have keep Kool Aid on hand just in case anyone wants that. 

Maggie from the original Hillbilly Housewife site always said that any drink other than water, milk, and fruit juice was a luxury. She says when we buy “luxury” drinks we are paying someone else to add water and flavorings for us. 

You can read her article on the topic here:

http://web.archive.org/web/20060213041815/http://hillbillyhousewife.com/beveragebargains.htm

After I made the tea, I realized I had some bananas that needed to be used up this morning, and since I had some cream cheese on hand that I price matched at Wal-Mart from the Walgreens sale, 

I decided to make my favorite banana bread recipe from Southern Living magazine. The banana bread is in the oven right now and the house is beginning to have a wonderful aroma.  When the girls wake up I’m sure they will be in here to investigate. :)

Here is the recipe:

Southern Living's Cream Cheese Banana-Nut Bread

Makes 2 Loaves

Ingredients:

3/4 cup butter, softened
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas, (about 4 medium)
1 cup chopped pecans, toasted

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 

Directions:

Beat butter and cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy.

Gradually add sugar, beating until light and fluffy.

Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating until blended after each addition.
Combine flour and next 3 ingredients.

Gradually add to butter mixture, beating at low speed just until blended.

Stir in bananas, pecans, and vanilla.

Spoon batter into 2 greased and floured 8- x 4-inch loaf pans.
Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until a long wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.

You may want to cover with aluminum foil last 15 minutes to prevent browning, if necessary.

Cool bread in pans on wire racks 10 minutes.

Remove from pans, and cool 30 minutes on wire racks before slicing.

Powerade Coupon

There is a Powerade coupon for $1 off 5 drinks available to print right now. These would be great to combine with the Super Saver sale for 46 cents each. We've been seeing a lot of Powerade sales lately.