Wednesday

Today is my first day of Summer Break. We have 75 days until school starts again in August. I have made myself a Summer-To-Do-List of things I want to accomplish this summer. I've already been working on this list this morning.  

We started the day by making breakfast. I cut up the watermelon and cantaloupe we bought this week and made some diced, oven baked potatoes to go along with them. Afterwards, I washed all the dishes and started gathering the garbage together. 

My older car has been out of commision for a few weeks as my BIL was working on it, so finally out of desperation, I made several phone calls and finally found someone to come and pick up this load of garbage, which to me is money well spent. My BIL called last night to say the car was ready, so we will  be picking it up soon and will be able to haul the garbage off ourselves again after today. 

On Monday, my daughter and I ventured out on the Memorial Day holiday to get in on a few coupon deals. 

One of them was the Nivea body wash (which I love!) from Target. Using coupons we printed online, coupons for Nivea printing as we bought them (therefore combining a manufacturer coupon with a Target coupon), and a $5 Target card when you bought four, we were able to buy 12 bottles of Nivea body wash for 74¢ each.  Sweet!

The next deal we went for was a Purex deal from Walgreens. We bought eight packages of 18 count Purex packs (2 were bottles) for 44¢ each using coupons we printed online. 

Again, I use Couponaholic.net to print my coupons. 

Needless to say, we are stocked up on these items for a long time.  :)

I've already got laundry going this morning, and have dinner in the crockpot cooking as well. I put some boneless country pork ribs along with some barbeque sauce in there. Sides are yet to be determined. 

Belinda
Live simply by not spending money you don't have.
© Belinda & Frugal Workshop, 2011 - 2015.

Saving Money on Soap

Soap savers are a good way to save money in your home. They have raised nubs that lift soap bars off the dish and allow air to flow freely around the soap, which helps it to drain and dry completely. This will make your soap last long thus saving you money in the long run. 

Above is a photo of my old soap saver. I originally bought this one from the Dollar Tree. At the time I could get two of them, which I did, for $1.00 or buy the larger one from $1.00. I opted to get the smaller ones, so I could have two of them, which turned out to be a mistake on my part. 

From this and the photo below you can see that it was too small to get the job done. The soap was always sliding off the soap holder an sitting in the liquid under the soap anyway, so it did not serve its purpose very well. 

So, while I was at Lowe's last week I spotted this nice big one: 

As you can see from this photo, it fits the bar of soap much nicer. 

Now my soap fits well in the dish and won't be sitting in the liquid, which will make it last longer thus saving us money. 


Belinda
Live simply by not spending money you don't have.

Cuisipro Foam Pump

Pictured above is a Cuisipro Foam Pump that we received as a Christmas present last month. I've used foam soap pumps before and even have a Bath & Body Works one at the kitchen sink, which I am reusing. I have this soap pump by the bathroom sink and I really like it. 

First off, it has a suction cup at the bottom of it, so it stays in place instead of careening off the edge of the sink when it's almost empty. (I've had to rescue more than one bottle of soap for that reason). Also, the bottle comes off the suction cup in order for you to refill it. 

All I have to do is add about 1/4's worth of liquid soap into the container and fill the rest with water. I've been using the same container of body wash since Christmas to refill this foam pump and and still have over 2/3s of the body wash in the bottle left to be used.  A record for us here. 

Also, according to the manufacturer, this pump is made of a durable plastic that will not break, crack or peel. Time will tell on that one as I've had more than one pump go bad on me. I save the good ones and reuse them when one breaks on me. A saved pump has come in handy more than once here. 

I think what I love best about this is according to the website, it will reduce my soap usage up to 75%, which is a lot! We wash our hands multiple times per day here, so if this is going to save me money in the long run, I am all for that.  :)

Belinda
CFO ~ Chief Frugal Officer
Professor Penny Pincher
© Belinda & Frugal Workshop, 2011 and beyond.
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without”
"Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle ~ It will help you save money"