Frugal Friday

Welcome to Friday!
In My Frugal Kitchen
We did not buy any groceries this week, but used what we have here other than one birthday dinner. And we stretched those leftovers over several different meals this week. 
Michigan State University has three budget minded cookbooks on their site, if you're interested. 
Budget Saving Recipes
Stretching Food Dollars: Meal Planning Hints And Budget-Wise Recipes [1972]
Stretching Food Dollars: Meal Planning Hints And Budget-Wise Recipes [1973]
Balancing Money and Menus

Meals This Week
Broccoli & Carrot SoupGrilled Chicken, Mexican Rice, Grilled VegetablesGrilled Salmon, Brown Rice, Stir Fried VegetablesVegetable Lasagna & SaladJapanese DinnerLeftovers

Frugal Entertainment
Saturday was Bailey's 23rd birthday and she wanted to have a Harry Potter movie marathon, so that is what we watched this week for entertainment. We also ordered and had delivered her favorite Japanese food and I made her a birthday cake to celebrate. 
Other Frugal Things

We received a free bottle of gummie vitamins this week from FGBG. 
We made another batch of homemade sanitizing wipes using coffee filters. If you find that one wipe does not work for you, simply double them up as two wipes together is stronger and only costs two cents. 
Taco Bell is offering a Free Doritos Locos Taco at Taco Bell on October 28, 2020.

The dryer repairman did not make his Monday appointment this week due to an emergency, so he rescheduled for Wednesday, but was a no show. So, I made a few calls and had someone come on Thursday to fix the dryer vent and someone else came today to attach the dryer cord.   As of right now we already have two loads washed and dried. It's great to be back in business with the laundry. 
We had to go to Lowes to get a dryer cord this week and also had to buy gas. We stopped at our usual station where the price was $1.64 a gallon, but they were out of gas, so we went to the 76 station and paid $1.84 per gallon. 

BaileyAlexInc

We've been pet sitting this week for extra money. 
I sold two things on eBay this week, which will go towards bills this week. 
That is our week in a nutshell. How was your week?
Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~ My Linktree

Would you like to support my site?

If you are encouraged by what you read here, please consider supporting this site via one of these ways. 

As an Amazon affiliate, I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay and helps me to earn a living here at Frugal Workshop. This means that any items you place in your cart and purchase within 24 hours after going to Amazon from one of my links means I will earn a small percentage from that sale. 

So, if you're going to be making a purchase from Amazon this week, I would certainly appreciate it if you would help me by going through my Amazon link to support my site. 

 2. My PayPal Tip Jar

Frugal Friday

Welcome to Friday!
My Frugal Kitchen
We had a grocery store pick up delivered this week, so we are stocked back up on food for the next month or so. 
We bought twenty pounds of ground beef and divided it up into twenty different bags and stored it in the freezer. 
This week I made two dishes that we ate on all week and then today I will be making a Broccoli and Carrot soup for dinner. 
Frugal Entertainment
This week we decided to watch Hocus Pocus for movie night. 
Other Frugal Activities
This was the week for making phone calls. I ended up calling on my auto, homeowners, and life insurance polices to adjust those and was able to get lower rates on all three. The savings on all three policies will amount to $1,077.12 over the course of the next year. I decided this was better for me as I'm not subbing right now and can revisit the issue when I do go back to subbing. 
This week I decided to trim my hair, which looks and feels so much better. 
On Sunday we will have Echo and Rambo here to pet sit for ten days, which will give us some extra income. 
This week I had a Roamans reward certificate for $10 that was about to expire, so I used it to purchase new undergarments, which saved me about half the price on those. 
This week I sold one item on eBay and listed another item for sale, which already has bids on it, so it will sell this weekend. 

Stolen Mail
Since we live in a rural area, our mailbox sits on a country road about 1/4 of a mile from the house. We can't see it from the house and last Saturday, our mail was stolen out of the mailbox along with three packages. Our Saturday mailman has a bad habit of leaving packages hanging out of the mailbox, which is why I think they were stolen. 
One of the packages stolen was for Bailey's allergy prescription medications. We had to make multiple phone calls this week to get those replaced. Since she needed those meds now, we ended up going to town to pick up her new RX. 
Another package that was stolen was from Wazoodle where I had ordered Zorb and PUL to make Bailey some new cloth pads. That was $35 worth of material, so I put in a claim to the post office for that. The other package was a book for Mom from Amazon, which cost $1.29 plus shipping, so Mom went ahead and replaced that herself. 
Planned Obsolescence/New Washer & Dryer
Planned obsolescence is an industry policy of designing a product with an artificially limited useful life, so that it becomes obsolete after a certain period of time. The rationale behind this strategy is to generate long term sales volume by reducing the time between repeat purchases. It is the deliberate shortening of a lifespan of a product to force consumers to purchase replacements.
We bought our Roper dryer in 2014, so six years of service. And our Roper washer we bought in August 2017, so three years of service. We had the dryer worked on this summer when it stopped working, but then three months later, it stopped working again. Rather than spend the money on another dryer repair, we decided to buy a new mid-priced dryer. 
The new dryer came with it's own set of problems. We ordered the wrong plug and they refused to install it with our existing dryer vent since it was not metal. So we have a repairman (the same on who installed our a/c this summer) coming on Monday to install it for us. 
Our Roper washer has had its own set of problems. The transmission went out on it before it was a year old, so the repair on that was covered by the warranty. This past summer it has gotten to where it will not finish a load of laundry without stopping before it's finished. 
We tried to restart loads where they stopped, which didn't work, so we tried starting them over and sometimes it would work, but not always. And the machine was not getting clothes clean like it should. 
So, we decided to buy both appliances new and in the mid-price range, hoping they would last longer than the Roper models. 

We originally order a new LG set, but Lowe's cancelled that set on us as they're having a hard time keeping washers and dryers in stock, which is true across the board for all stores. So, we ended up buying this GE washer and dryer. Let's hope this pair works for a long time. 

Since the washer still works, we've been washing things and hanging them to dry in the house. This will definitely save on the electric bill. Both appliances were bought with cash that was saved up for things like this. 
Whew! That is our week in a nutshell. How was your week?
Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~ My Linktree

Would you like to support my site? 

 If you are encouraged by what you read here, please consider supporting this site via one of these ways. 

As an Amazon affiliate, I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay and helps me to earn a living here at Frugal Workshop. This means that any items you place in your cart and purchase within 24 hours after going to Amazon from one of my links means I will earn a small percentage from that sale. 

So, if you're going to be making a purchase from Amazon this week, I would certainly appreciate it if you would help me by going through my Amazon link to support my site. 

My PayPal Tip Jar

1975 Photo

Thanks to Anne  over at  Cooking and All That Jazz  for the inspiration. I don't have an infant photo of myself online, but here is a photo of my sister Tina, my brother Barry, and me in the orange shirt circa 1975. Today is my sister's birthday. She is the middle child and my brother is the oldest. 
Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~ My Linktree

Frugal Friday

Welcome to Friday! We've had a good week here. Miss B attended the Virtual PoshFest 2020 last weekend. And we were both busy this week sorting clothes, steaming, photographing, processing, and listing.  Her business takes a lot of work, but she works hard at it and I'm proud of her. 

In My Frugal Kitchen

We picked up two free butternut squashes from a free pile of them at the 411 annual yard sale this weekend. 

One day this week I decided to make hot potato salad, which is basically boiled potatoes, mashed up a little with onions and mayonnaise.. You can add whatever other ingredients you add to your own potato salad. If you have leftovers they can go in the fridge and they are good cold the next day. 

If you run out of butter, this is a good substitute in order to still have potatoes.  You can also substitute sour cream for the mayonnaise. 

We had an order from Target come with a broken jar of pickles inside that soaked into two bags of sugar. My daughter called, was refunded, and said the sugar could be thrown out. Well, I made a batch of tea with it to check it and she said she could taste just a slight hint of the pickle juice, but I couldn't taste it. So I'm keeping it and using it for something else.  

Beverages This Week:

Water

Grape Juice

V8 Juice

Lemonade

Sweet or Unsweet  Tea

Meals This Week

Grilled Chicken, Brown Rice, Broccoli

Macaroni & Cheese with Ham, Green Peas

Salmon, Hot Potato Salad, Asparagus 

Tacos, Lettuce, Tomato, Onions, Tortillas, Salsa (sans cheese)

Ham, Corn, Green Beans & Onions, 

Roasted Sweet Potatoes, Carrots & Butternut Squash, Roasted Brussel Sprouts

Chicken & Rice Stir Fry with Pineapple, Mandarin Oranges, Broccoli and Carrots

Saving Money on Entertainment

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera is streaming on YouTube this weekend only, and it’s completely free. 

Other Frugal Things

Instead of turning the heat on in my bedroom at night, I just threw another blanket on the bed instead.  So far it's working to keep me warm enough at night.

The battery in Miss B's car went dead this week. She watched a YouTube video on how to charge it herself, but then called my Dad to show her how to do it. So, if it happens again she is confident that she can jump it off. It's a good thing to figure out how to fix and repair items. Keep your skills up and keep learning.

Miss B was also able to pick up some additional inventory again this week for free from a lady who had left over yard sale items. 

This week I repaired a stack of cloth pads on my sewing machine that that were getting worn from use. 

That's all the news to report from here this week. How was your week?

Belinda 

~ Living within our Means ~ 

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1. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases, which means I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay and helps me to earn a living here at Frugal Workshop. 

This means that any items you place in your cart and purchase within 24 hours after going to Amazon from one of my links means I will earn a small percentage from that sale.

So, if you're going to be making a purchase from Amazon (paid link) this week, I would certainly appreciate it if you would help me by going through my Amazon link to support my site.

2. My PayPal Tip Jar. 

Thank you so much for supporting Frugal Workshop and contributing to the usefulness of this blog.

Frugal Friday

Welcome to Friday! We've had a good week here. We went to town last Friday to pick up groceries from Food City, and Miss B made a trip to pick up the free remains from a yard sale. The seller left her the items on her porch, so it was a contactless pickup. Other than those two errands, we've stayed home this week as usual. 
The weather here has been rainy for the most part keeping the back porch and steps soaking wet at the beginning of the week. After the rain, cool weather set in, although it would warm up in the afternoons. 
Food City sent me a text last Friday to alert me about a sale on ground beef, which was $1.99 a pound. We perused their sale ad and did a small curbside pickup that afternoon. 

They only let me buy five pounds of the ground beef and I also bought 2 cans of salmon for $1.99 each, 2 packages of cheese @ buy one get one free, and two ten pound bags of potatoes for $3.99 each. 
We only eat salmon patties about once per month. I already had two cans in our pantry and with the addition of two more cans I now have enough to last until January 2021, which by that time it will go on sale again, and I will be able to stock up again. This practice of grocery store items going on sale every 9 to 12 weeks, is part of the pantry principle system. 

While we were in town Papa John's texted me with an offer, and we decided to use our  $10 Papa Rewards. We bought two of the Papadias, which cost $6 each, so I ended up only having to pay $2.20 for these two pictured above. 
Food Shortages?
This week I read a comment on Princess Prepper's YouTube channel from poster hooliganbroome that gave me pause. 

I'm a truck driver that hauls food. Ya'll haven't seen the food shortage yet. The warehouses I go to are getting empty.  I make the same run up north weekly, and pick up from 5 different places to run back down and deliver to several different warehouses. Been driving for 14 years, always food. I've never seen the warehouses as empty as they are. Stock comes in and goes straight to retail. There is not the usual backup stock I'm used to seeing. Has been getting slimmer for about 2 months now. Seems like its getting unloaded in 1 door and getting broken down and sent straight to retail out another door. I've been around all these same warehouses for years and never seen it like this before. I delivered a truck load of an item to my local Publix warehouse and went to my retail Publix 2 days later and they were out of said item that I just delivered 2 days before.

My takeaway from reading that is, anyone who is stocking up now while they can is vey smart.  Could be that people are panic buying, which may be causing this, but I don't know for sure. I think it's wise to stock up while you can. 

In My Frugal Kitchen
The last time we bought a big grocery order was on August 17th, which was six weeks ago. As a result, we are running low on several things. I've babied the eggs, not making them for breakfast in the last week, and am down to one egg. We have one piece of bread left and it's a heel at that. LOL We will definitely have to do a grocery order in the next week to replenish items. 
One day I finished off the jar of strawberry preserves, although we do have a jar of blackberry preserves. Miss B likes strawberry, so I was able to use up two packets of strawberry jelly that we had from Hardee's. I was also able to use up the grape jelly packets I had from there a few days later. It's so great to be able to use up these items. And serves as a reminder that it pays to keep those items because you may need then later.
This week I saved maraschino cherry juice and pickle juice in my refrigerator. I will use these items at a later date to make fruit dip and chicken sandwiches. 
Meals This Week
Cheeseburgers, Seasoned Fries, Carrots with Ranch  Hamburger Steaks, Soup Beans, Carrots & Potatoes  Chicken Fajitas, Mexican Rice, Broccoli, Grilled Onions  Pork Roast, Potatoes & Carrots, Green Beans & Onions Ham, Soup Beans, Broccoli, Carrots, Corn Bread
Saving Money on Entertainment
On movie night this week we watched She’s All That, which is a 1999 teen romantic comedy adaptation of the 1964 film, My Fair Lady. After being dumped by his girlfriend, Zack Siler boasts he could make any girl in school popular. Miss B said it was definitely a 90s movie. The trailer was rather good, which is what made us want to watch this one. 
Other Frugal Things
Rather than use the checkbook register that comes with new checks, I regularly use a notebook as my check register because it will last much longer than the register. To save even more money, I use both sides of the paper. 
I've let my family members know that we are not going to be participating in any Christmas gift exchanges this year. That way they will be prepared and know what to expect ahead of time. 
My laptop has been acting up lately and I thought there was a short in the cord, so I bought a new cord on Amazon. Then this week the laptop completely died and we couldn't get it back up and running. So, I've been using my tablet to comment and post here. 
Well, guess what? 
There was a Dell Laptop included in the free yard sale stuff Miss B picked up this week. We had no hopes for it as it was free after all. But, Bailey was able to reset it for me and so far it is working well. 
We had even taken money out of the emergency fund to buy a new laptop, but ended up putting that money back into the emergency fund. And I've already opened a return at Amazon to return the laptop charger that I no longer need. 
Other free items from the yard sale that we will use include a brand new Avon body wash still sealed, small garbage can, jewelry, and she was able to get multiple clothing items to sell in her online shops, all for free. 
We trimmed the back of each other's hair this week. This is the hardest part to cut if you cut your own hair, so we do this for each other. No need to visit a salon and we save money by doing it ourselves. 
How was your week?

Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~ My Linktree

Would you like to support my site?

If you are encouraged by what you read here, please consider supporting this site in one of these ways. 

 1. As an Amazon affiliate, I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay and helps me to earn a living here at Frugal Workshop. 

This means that any items you place in your cart and purchase within 24 hours after going to Amazon from one of my links means I will earn a small percentage from that sale. 

So, if you're going to be making a purchase from Amazon this week, I would certainly appreciate it if you would help me by going through my Amazon link to support my site.

2. My PayPal Tip Jar.  

Thank you so much for supporting Frugal Workshop and contributing to the usefulness of this blog. 

Frugal Fall Fun

 Fall is my favorite time of year for so many reasons, and one of my favorite things of all is the change in temperature. We had cool days in the summer time back in Illinois where I grew up and have even sat outside with blankets on the Fourth of July. But Tennessee summers are HOT and the cooler weather of fall is a welcome relief.  This is the time of year to get outside because there are so many great things to do outside.  It’s not too hot or too cold and nature provides plenty of free entertainment.
One fun thing for children to do is to collect leaves and acorns and make a home out of them. My friends and I spent hours doing this when we were children. We would rake up all the leaves into a big pile and then we would “draw” the outline of a house on the lawn. Then we played house in all the rooms we made. We used our imagination and had a lot of fun. 
Gathering black walnuts or pecans, or whatever nuts grow in your part of the country. You can spend your time shelling them and tucking them away into your freezer to save for the holidays. You can roast them as well, which is another frugal activity for the fall months. 
Another fun fall activity is apple picking or any of the multiple apple festivals they have during this time of year.  There’s an annual apple festival here every year and it’s a great place to have some inexpensive fall fun by playing games, listening to good music, or enjoying the foods that normally coincide with this time of year such as caramel apples,  apple cider, or apple pie.
Many apple orchards allow you to pick your own apples from their orchards, and several here offer treats such as fried apple pies and apple cider, and even allow you to take a hayride with your family.
What better fall fun is there than visiting a pumpkin patch?  Picking out the family pumpkin to carve or decorate for Halloween is a great fall tradition.  Have a contest among family members to see who can come up with the most creative pumpkin. Back when I worked at the hospital we had a pumpkin decorating contest every year and it was so much fun to see all the entries. 
Speaking of favorite fall foods, here is my favorite recipe for spiced cider. This recipe came from an elderly lady who attended the same baby shower as I did back in 1990 at the Methodist church in Dayton, Tennessee. The recipe calls for 3/8 cup of brown sugar. Her and I figured that 4/8 would be a half cup, so this recipe would call for slightly less than half a cup.

Spiced Cider

Ingredients:

• 1 quart apple cider
  
• 1 stick cinnamon
  
• 2 allspice cloves
  
• 2 whole cloves
  
• 3/8 cup brown sugar
  

Directions:

1. Mix all ingredients together.
   
2. Boil for 5 minutes with the spices.
   
3. Enjoy!
   

Notes: This is a very old recipe, consider the 3/8 cup of brown sugar. I figure it is slightly less than 1/2 cup and that works well for me in this recipe. Also, I have substituted apple juice for the apple cider with good results. 
What about you?  What activities and traditions do you have for taking advantage of the fall season?

Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~ My Linktree

Thank you for using my Amazon affiliate link when placing your Amazon orders. I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay and it helps me to earn a living here at Frugal Workshop.

Meals to Make with Dried Beans

Both of my parent's families came from Kentucky and although I grew up in Illinois, my language and cooking definitely has southern roots due to my heritage. Dried beans were always a part of that heritage and continues to be true to this day. 
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. 

I make all kinds of dried beans in my frugal kitchen. Great northern beans, lovingly referred to as soup beans, pinto beans, cranberry beans, lima beans, yellow and black eyed peas, 15 beans, navy beans, yellow and green split peas, and lentils. 

If you need directions on how to cook beans from dried, you can find that information here. 

We can make a meal out of just beans, although cornbread is good to go with them if you have those ingredients on hand. Other meals you can make with beans include...
Ham & Beans
Chili
Chili Tacos
Bean & Cheese Burritos
Mock Tuna Salad
Bean Tacos
Hurst Pizza Beans
Barbara G's Homemade Beanie Weenies
Bean & Cheese Enchiladas
Vegetarian Red Beans & Rice
Refried Beans

Amy Dacyczyn, writer of The Tightwad Gazette, stated that beans should be considered a staple of the tightwad diet and are nearly always cheaper than meat.
Amy's recipe for Maine Baked Beans was printed in the first TWG book. 
Amy's Maine Baked Beans
Ingredients: 2 pounds dried beans (4 cups)1 teaspoon baking soda1 medium onion1/2 pound bacon or pork salt1/4 cup brown sugar1/2 cup to 2/3 cup molasses2 teaspoons dry mustard1/2 teaspoon salt
Directions:Soak the beans overnight in cold water. In the morning pout off the soaking water and parboil the beans with baking soda in fresh water until the skins crack when blown upon. Cut the onion in quarters ad put in the bottom of a bean pot or large casserole. Add parboiled beans. Put cut up bacon or salt pork on top of the beans. Mix brown sugar, molasses, dry mustard, and salt, with a pint of water. If necessary add more boiling water while baking. Bake at 300 degrees for 6 hours or more. 
Homemade baked beans are less expensive than store bought baked beans. And if you regularly cook from scratch, you'll probably already have these ingredients in your panty, so no need to make a special trip to the store for ingredients. If you don't have molasses on hand you can substitute dark corn syrup. 
Do you cook with dried beans in your home? If so, what kinds of beans do you serve? Do you have any recipes to share with us? We would love to hear all about it in the comment section. 
Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~ My Linktree

Thank you for using my Amazon affiliate link when placing your Amazon orders. I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay and it helps me to earn a living here at Frugal Workshop.

Comparison Shopping with a Price Book?

Have you ever looked at the cost of an item on the grocery or drugstore shelf and wondered if you could find the item at a different store even cheaper?

If so you have just applied the concept of a price book. Amy Dacyczyn believed in the value of a price book. You can read a letter from her regarding saving money on your food bill where she also mentions price books here.

Amy who wrote The Tightwad Gazette, wondered if "the various sizes and brands was part of a huge conspiracy to confuse consumers?"  She says the keeping of a price book "revolutionized our shopping strategy more than anything else we did". 

If you don't know what a price book is, it's a frugal tool that people have used for years to purchase items at the lowest possible price. It is also how some frugal people build up their stock pile. When I find a good deal, I buy enough to get me through until the next sale, which is usually twelve weeks, although I usually buy them in quantities of ten. 

This week Food City has canned salmon on sale for $1.99 per can. I already have two cans of salmon in my pantry and we have this item for dinner about once a month, so I bought two more cans, which is enough to last the rest of the year. During that time I'm sure it will go on sale again and I can stock up again.  

A price book is related to the concept of watching the sales, but takes that tactic a step further. Some people use their price book to track actual retail prices of specific items on a week to week basis. Some people do not go that far into the details, but either way will work and I would use the one that you know you will do and works for you. 

Image Credit: The Tightwad Gazette

In a price book each page will contain prices for one item like the photo above. The pages of items will be in alphabetical order for quick reference. Amy includes her code for the name of each store, the brand, the size of the item, and the unit price. Doing this really gave Amy a feeling of control over her food budget. 

Some people today may consider a price book to be archaic. With a computer or smartphone these days people can go online and find the lowest price while staying at home. Or, if you are standing in a store it's easy enough to check the price of the same item in another store if you have your smart phone with you. 

Recently I needed to purchase Ibuprofen. I simply went online and compared the price of each bottle at Walmart and Amazon. I checked these two merchants because I can get free shipping with them. 

500 Ibuprofen at Amazon $9.99 

1,000 Ibuprofen at Walmart $13.98

As you can tell here, Walmart had the best deal on the Ibuprofen the day I checked. That might not always be the case though. It pays to check before making a purchase. 
Back in the late 1990s and early 2000s, my price book consisted of all the items I bought and the price I paid on a Word document. It was easy enough to change the prices as needed or check a price and I could easily print it out as it was only one page. 
If you'd like to read how Trent over at The Simple Dollar dos his price book, you can read about that here. 
Whatever system you use this is one frugal tool that will help you save money on your food bill. 
Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~ My Linktree

Thank you for using my Amazon affiliate link when placing your Amazon orders. I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay and it helps me to earn a living here at Frugal Workshop.

Frugal Friday

Welcome to another edition of Frugal Friday here at the Frugal Workshop. We stayed home again this week, so no gas money used here. 

In My Frugal Kitchen 

I used up a can of meatloaf starter from my pantry when I made a batch of chili last Friday. I didn't want to add it to any of my meatloaf recipes because I want my meatloaf to taste a specific way and didn't want this to change that. I'm glad it has finally been used up though.

Meals This Week:

Crispy Onion  Chicken, Rice, Brussel Sprouts

Bruschetta Chicken Bake, Broccoli, Dressing

Salmon Patties, Dressing, Green Beans with Onions

Macaroni & Cheese with Ham, Green Peas

Ham, Soup Beans, Carrots

Gather The Fragments

This week I took a small bowl of pumpkin and a small bowl of pizza sauce I had in the freezer and put them both into the chili I made. It was an easy way to disguise these items and use them up with no food waste. It also opened up that space in the freezer. 

Other Frugal Things

As usual, we use our cloth napkins exclusively.  We spend no money on paper towels. 

We also use cloth handkerchiefs. They are both pretty and save money. We have no need to buy tissues anymore, which is also a money saver.

We always save the twist ties on our bread bags. They come in handy for keeping extension cords neatly organized. I also use them to hold my fan cage together after the original clips broke.

We've been able to turn the a/c off at night every day this week, the cooler weather is a welcome relief. 

Homemade Laundry Detergent

I'm not going to debate the issues with homemade laundry detergent today, but wanted to share what we did this week. 

Image Credit @BaileyAlexInc

We haven’t been couponing for a while now and especially since the pandemic started and as I've been telling you lately, we are running out of commercial laundry detergent. ⁣

⁣

Bailey made a batch of homemade laundry detergent years ago and that batch lasted about three years. This week she mixed up a new batch, grated in the bar soap, and added in her favorite scent beads. 

Here is a breakdown of the cost:

Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda - 55 ounces/7 cups - $4.12

Purex Fels-Naptha Laundry Bar -  5.5 ounce - 97¢

20 Mule Team Borax Detergent Booster - 65 ounces or 9 cups - $4.47

Optional:

Arm & Hammer Pure Baking Soda - 5 lbs/10 cups - $3.88

Downy Unstopables Scent Booster -  20.1 oz  - $11.97

OxiClean Stain Remover - 3 lbs/6 cups - $7.73

We spent $35.08 on our batch of laundry detergent and we dated our container to see how long it will last. We used all the optional ingredients, but you don't have to use them if you want to save even more money. 

Arm & Hammer washing soda is an excellent booster and whitener to commercial laundry detergent. I like to add some into my wash even if I'm using commercial laundry detergent because I can tell a big difference in cleanliness and whiteness when I do. 

Image Credit @BaileyAlexInc

The homemade laundry detergent cleans so well and only uses one or two tablespoons per load. We just keep a jar of it in the laundry room and have the tub in storage. ⁣

Image Credit @BaileyAlexInc

This is a good way to save on laundry detergent if you can’t or don’t have time to coupon. ⁣

The path to good money management will be a long road for some,  but people can change if they want to. We’re living in an age where we have plenty of resources at our fingertips that we can use to teach ourselves how to make the best use of our money, resources, and time.

How was your week?

  Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~ My Linktree

Thank you for using my Amazon affiliate link when placing your Amazon orders. I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay and it helps me to earn a living here at Frugal Workshop.