Rising Prices....Gas, Groceries and More!

I am sure you have noticed, if you have bought anything in the last couple months, that prices are on the rise.  It has been predicted, but I was sure hoping it wouldn't happen.  We live in the most competitive grocery market in the country, so our prices are probably still good compared to other areas, but we live on a very tight budget and I am having to increase the amount we spend on groceries and basic supplies.  I am feeling the pinch in our budget.  There just aren't as good of sales, not as many good coupons, and even on sale prices are higher than in the past.  I am very thankful for the past several years where we have been able to eat really well on a small budget and I know that God will provide all that we have need of, but I am sad that I am having to increase my "buy" price on so many items.  That just means that there will be less "extras" all around.  Plus, our costs have increased because we have more people living in our home for now.  I am hoping that our extra family member will soon be able to contribute some to the household budget by way of a job - that will certainly help!

And gas prices have just jumped from $2.99/gal that I paid a week and a half ago, to $3.23/gal being the lowest that I can find around here!  That is a 24 cent jump in just a few days!  How come the media is not all over that?  Why are people protesting and raising a ruckus about the huge jump in gas prices?  I guess we have been lulled into believing that it is inevitable.  Well, we are going to have to begin getting creative in ways to decrease our use of gasoline, too.  Perhaps bicycling will become necessary -couldn't hurt my personal "bottom line"! LOL  My husband already bicycles to work most days, so he is definitely doing his part.

So have you begun to feel the crunch of rising prices?  Share your ideas for saving money on groceries and gas.  We can all learn from each other and help each other out during this belt-tightening time!

Make Your Own Ice Gel Pack

It seems we are constantly in need of an ice pack in this house - between my son and my husband, they are almost always using one for some kind of pain or another.  And we had two of the gel ice packs until recently when one mysteriously disappeared.  So the two of them were having a hassle over sharing one ice pack (and one of them seemed to forget to put it back in the freezer when done:-).

I knew I had seen directions online sometime back about how to make your own and save money, rather than buying another one.  So I did a search today and made one.  It came out great and cost only pennies!!

Here's what you need to do:

Get 2 ziploc freezer bags (one sandwich size and one quart size)
Mix 3 parts water and 1 part rubbing alcohol together
Add a little blue food coloring (or whatever color you like:-)
Put the water mixture into the smaller bag and seal, getting out all the air that you can.
Then put the smaller bag into the larger one and seal, again getting out all the air that you can.
Place in freezer for a couple of hours and it is ready for use!


You can make a larger one, too, if you want to.  We mostly had hand and feet needs, so the small one works for now.

This is better than using frozen peas (especially when your guys forget to put them back in the freezer when they are done:-) and so easy to make!  Now, if only we could avoid the injuries that create the need for the ice packs.....NOT gonna happen with a son playing football and a hubby who works out hard all the time!!!

Black Friday Specials...a Little Advance Notice

The other day when reading The Happy Housewife, I learned about two different websites that will be posting details on Black Friday specials ahead of time. Now, you have to know that I am really a newbie when it comes to shopping on Black Friday, but last year I took my 74 year old great aunt out for a morning of "fun" (i.e. standing in lines:-). It was her first time ever, as well as mine. But the incentive was a Sony camera for my hubby for a Christmas present and I only paid 1/2 of the normal price. To me, that was worth a few hours in line (and the rest of the day dead to the world:-). I found out that I don't do well on 3 hours of sleep, especially at 4:30am!!

However, both of my children want electronics this year, so I have already started keeping my eyes open for sale where I could afford to get them what they want. I am hoping for both at one store - much easier to do first thing in the morning. Also, add to that the fact that I have to cross the border into the U.S., either the evening before and camp out, or VERY early in the am.

You better believe I will be checking out TheBlackFriday.com and Black Friday 2008!

They will be posting the ads as soon as they get them. They both already have some of them online like Lowes and KMart.

So, do you shop on Black Friday? Is this a tradition? And have you found it is worth the hassle? I would love to hear your experiences and ideas!

Changes You Can Make to Minimize Your Monthly Bills

With the rising costs of living (and driving) that we are experiencing in the U.S., I know many of you are desperately trying to find ways to cut costs without drastically reducing your quality of life. I just ran across a great article on a blog that I read almost everyday, and I thought it might be of help to some of you.

Over at The Simple Dollar, Trent wrote about some changes that can make a big difference in your monthly living costs. He said, "... I’ve compiled a list of sixteen great hardcore tactics for minimizing your monthly bills. Most of these won’t work well in your life - that’s fine. If you can choose just one of these, though, and run with it, you’ll find a lot more breathing room in your financial life."

Go on over to his site to read the rest of the article and find Sixteen Hardcore Tactics for Minimizing Your Monthly Bills.

I am going to be including more links to great articles about reducing your monthly costs as I run across them, to be a help to those of you out there who need more help living a frugal life and cutting your costs. Most of the time, I find that we already have implemented a great majority of these ideas into our life (mostly due to necessity as our income has been so limited for the last 3 years). I have found that God has led me into many of these things in a way that has seemed so natural to me, but since I have begun blogging this year, I have found so many sites on the Internet that address these frugal living ideas. What a resource of ideas can be found online!

If you have any questions about frugal living or ideas of things you would like to see information about, please leave me a comment or send me an email and let me know. I am more than happy to research things for you and post about them for all to share in the wealth of information available on the web. I am no expert, just learning along with you all as God leads and guides us in this life adventure.

A Review of The Complete Tightwad Gazette

I have recently finished reading this extremely large book from cover to cover (it took a couple of weeks). The first thing I learned from this is that I am truly a first-class tightwad (that's a good thing:-). I did learn a few things from this book, but most of it was just reminding me of things I already knew or confirming things I already do. That was really eye-opening to me - I didn't realize I came by frugality so naturally!

I sure don't remember my mom ever doing things like I do - baking from scratch, cleaning with baking soda and vinegar, shopping at Goodwill. In fact, the only thing I can say that I got from my mother was how to make your dollar stretch at the grocery store (and her budget was at least 4 times what mine is:-). So I began reflecting upon how I came to be the consummate tightwad.

I believe it must have something to do with the 25 years of marriage in which we only had "alot" of money for a couple of years. And by alot, I mean around $50,000. When I quit working to stay home and homeschool my children, our income was cut in half. That is probably when this all began, and has only grown since our income has been reduced time and time again until now we live off of about $1,000 per month.

So many of the tips and articles in The Complete Tightwad Gazette (hereafter referred to as TCTG) are wonderful, especially if you are just starting out on the frugal pathway. Amy takes the time to explain how she figures costs (so even though her prices are outdated, you can figure your costs for yourself) and gives many general recipes for things that you can customize, like muffins, casseroles, etc. There are recipes, cleaning tips, articles about mortgages, housing, planning, retirement, and so many more topics I can't even begin to list them. A huge part of the book is comprised of letters from readers with their own ideas and tips. There is info about yard sales (having them and going to them), thrift stores, and more.

I would recommend that you buy a copy (used, of course, or at a discount) and keep it on hand. There is an index in the back so you can look up any topic you wish to read about. It is a tremendous reference book to have in your house. I borrowed one from the library, but could only keep it for 6 weeks:-), so I am going to keep my eyes open at Goodwill, Paperback Swap, Bookmooch, etc. to find a copy I can keep.

Frugal Meal with Baked BBQ Beef Ribs

A store near us had beef ribs on sale for $0.49/lb! So I bought two big packages for less than $5.00 total. I found this recipe online for Baked BBQ Beef Ribs and we sure did enjoy it! I made creamy mashed potatoes and broccoli as side dishes and we all tremendously enjoyed this meal. I will be returning to stock up on $0.49/lb ribs before they are all gone!

Ok, I fed them more than just bones! But look at all the great bones we now have for our dogs!!

I Can't Believe I Am Saying This...Darning Socks?

Last night while I was folding clothes, I came upon several socks (mostly my son's) that had holes in them. After all this talk about frugal living and thrifty-ness, I couldn't just pitch them. So I got my thread and needle and sewed the holes shut. I didn't exactly darn them, as I was about to learn. I remember someone darning socks (grandmother, maybe?) and using something that looked like a maraca (Mexican instrument with seeds inside that you shake) inside the sock. So today I decided to find out exactly how to darn a sock. Well, it may be even a little more involved than I want to get, but it will be worth a try at the rate my son goes through socks. And if it works, maybe I won't feel compelled to always buy the cheapest socks.

Here is an article about a darning egg (that maraca-looking thing). And here is a "how-to" on darning socks.

I found another article about fixing holes in socks that seems very similar but has a few diagrams (I REALLY like pictures:-).

And then I found a site that gives LOTS of ideas about recycling those socks that just can't be saved (or if you choose not to darn your holey socks). At least they will have one more use before tossing:-).

So how about you? Have you ever darned socks? Is it worth it? Are you going to try it now?

Where Do You Shop for Bargains?

I thought some of you might enjoy seeing where I shop for bargains. Remember, I live in Mexico, so this is pretty normal. Here is the spice aisle - great prices, you just need to save your old containers to store them in. Also I scoop from down deep so try to avoid the dust and stuff on top:-). These prices are in peso per kilo, so you have to do two conversions to compare to dollars per pound.

And here are the dried chiles. Do you see the pile of egg cartons in the back? No, they do NOT keep eggs refrigerated here. But they are usually fresher than in the states, too.
And here is some grain, dog food, bird seed, etc. Many things that they sell for bird food, we eat, like millet, white wheat, etc.
This is the same store where I buy my honey for about $12.00/gallon. Yummy and cheap! I don't have Aldi's or Trader Joe's, so I just go to Welton's and buy bulk to save money.

How to Save Money with a Gallon of Milk

I have decided to try a couple of things that I have heard about in the last couple of weeks - homemade buttermilk, yogurt and half & half. So I started with one gallon of whole milk for $2.89, one quart of buttermilk for $1.89, a cup of heavy cream for $.50 and 3/4 cup of plain natural yogurt for about $.50 (total $5.78).

Following this recipe for buttermilk, I made 3 quarts. And with this recipe for yogurt, I made 2 quarts. I found on the internet that if you mix 1 cup heavy cream with 3 cups milk, you will get an equivalent to half & half (my husband's preferred coffee creamer). So I made a quart of half & half, too.

Normally, this quantity would cost:
3 quarts buttermilk $5.67
2 quarts yogurt $4.18
1 quart half & half $2.19
TOTAL $12.04!!!

That equals a savings of $6.26 for only about 10 minutes of work!! And how good and homemade the products are! To me, that is what frugality is all about:-).

Stocking Up on Basics When the Price is Right

Since I live in Mexico, I have been able to find some staples for a lower price than in the states. But it has taken time to search the different stores and find these gems. For instance, I have found Saf-Instant yeast for $1.25/125grams which comes out to about $5.00/lb. Also, there is still one brand of pure vanilla available here (the rest are all imitation now) for about $1.50/pint. And I have just found a place that sells honey for $1.50/pint which comes out to $12.00/gallon. I use ALOT of honey for bread and other baking, so that is wonderful!

So here is what I have done. First, I made sure I could take all of these items across the border. Then I sent out an email to my homeschool group across the border in the states and offered to bring any of these to them at our bi-monthly park day. That way I can also help my friends with their grocery staples budget. If you find a frugal source for some staples that you will always use, stock up and save. And now I am thinking about stocking up on wheat since I am hearing all this talk about rising wheat prices. That will take some more searching!

For more Frugal Fridays ideas, check out Biblical Womanhood.

Hurray for the Community Food Bank!

I try, as often as possible, to take advantage of the community food bank's Harvest Club. For $22 (it just went up from $18), anyone can purchase a "box" of food. It is really a FULL shopping cart full! I wish I had been able to take a photo of it all, but time didn't permit and I was really tired! Yesterday, for example, I came home with a dozen eggs, gallon of milk, 1 lb. of ground beef, a whole chicken, package of hot dogs, several cans of corn, several boxes of crushed tomatoes, Oreo cookies, Nestles giant chocolate bar, two apple pies (well, my kids were really excited about all these sweets:-), 4 heads of cabbage, 4 bunches of leaf lettuce, big box of baby spinach, several bags of leaf lettuce, several bags of salad mix, two pkg. of celery hearts, a bag of carrots, huge bag of chopped onions, 5 lbs. of red potatoes, big bag of grapefruits, 2 boxes of macaroni and cheese, 5-6 loaves of bread, hamburger buns, 3 large pkg. of flour tortillas, 2 2-liter bottles of grapefruit soda, several cans of applesauce, apple jelly, peanut butter, box of elbow macaroni, can of chicken noodle soup, big box of Rice Krispies and a bunch of other miscellaneous stuff I can't remember right now. Talk about a bargain!! Of course, since we live in the main agricultural area for lettuce for the U.S., we get ALOT of produce in the winter. Not so great a deal in the summer. But this REALLY helps my family keep our budget low, and the items that we don't eat (mostly the processed stuff) or is too much to consume before going bad, we give to a men's rehab center that really needs the help. So we are able to share alot and still save alot!

If you have a community food bank, check it out and see if they have a program like this. This helps them raise the funds they need to provide the emergency food and programs for the needy. You don't have to qualify in any way to buy this box of food. And, especially here in the winter, it can be a GREAT bargain! And share what items you might not like to eat with someone you know who will appreciate them.