Month of Savings - Day 31 -- GIVEAWAY!!

I can hardly believe that I have made it to the end of March. This month came in like a lion and is going out like one too. We are expecting 8-13 inches of rain between now and Thursday. That is on top of the 5 inches we got Saturday. Our April Showers are arriving early.

My savings tip for today is to find a cheaper way to get the things you want. Some people believe that living frugally means you must do without those little things you enjoy. For me that is magazines. I admit that I am addicted. I currently subscribe to 50+ magazines. The good news for my budget is that I pay nothing for most of them and do not pay full price for any of them. That deal you are offered in those "renew now" mailings is not really a deal. I get free magazines from deals others share on blogs such as The Thrifty Mama. I get some free from survey sites. I order discounted magazines from Publication Station or Best Deal Magazines. One of my current favorite places to get free magazines is through My Coke Rewards. Most people cannot be bothered with entering the codes, but I get a good portion of my magazine subscription through this promotion.

Now for the Giveaway

This is my first giveaway, and I am excited. The prize is a year's subscription to one magazine of your choice from the following: Better Homes & Gardens, Good Housekeeping, Ladies Home Journal, or Redbook. The contest will run through Monday, April 6. The winner will be announced on Tuesday, April 7. To enter, leave a comment with a money saving tip and either a link to your blog or your e-mail address so I can contact you. The randomly chosen winner will have 48 hours to contact me with a mailing address and choice of magazine or an alternate winner will be chosen. Good luck!

Month of Savings - Day 30

Today's money saving tip is to grow a garden. If you want to be even more budget conscientious, start your plants from seed. I am blessed to have a greenhouse where my potted plants can spend the winter and my spring seeds can get a head start. On the subject of seeds... if you do not use all of the seeds one season, do not toss them out. Put the packets in a zip top baggie and store them in your refrigerator. Most of the seeds I used this year are 1-2 seasons old. I have had good germination and sprouting on all of them. I gave myself a challenge to grow everything from seed this year that included all of my flowers.

Here are a few of my seedlings. I have tomatoes, basil, peppers, mesclun , popcorn, cucumbers, zucchini, yellow squash, and mums left from last year.

This is watermelons, herbs, tomatoes, larger lettuce plants, and lots of flowers.

I adore ferns. They are easy to grow and can be divided each year into more plants. These Japanese painted ferns started out as one plant that I bought for $6 at Lowe's last year. Now I have two plants not counting the one I can to my mom.

These are aloe plants. I started out with two pots that were long past needing to be repotted. I ended up with about 30 pots of aloe. I am hoping to sell some of these at the yard sale.

Month of Savings - Day 29

Bake Bread. I do not know about your area, but the price of bread healthy varieties or not has skyrocketed. I have a bread machine which I love, but I wanted to make more bread by hand. Since I had some money left from my yard sale savings, I decided to buy Kneadlessly Simple: Fabulous, Fuss-Free, No-Knead Breads from Amazon. It arrived Friday, and I immediately picked out a recipe to try. My first choice was the Easy Oat Bread. I mixed the dry ingredients with the wet ones in a large bowl, which went into the fridge for about 10 hours. It looked like this went it went in the fridge.

Step two was to remove the bowl from the fridge and set on the counter for 12-18 hours. I went with about 15 since it had increased in size dramatically. Here is the dough after rising. (A bad picture, but it did rise quite a bit.)

Next I gave the dough a good stir, greased two pans, sprinkled oats in the bottom of each, divided the dough in half and spread it out in the pans. I topped it off with a few more oats and covered each pan with greased/oiled plastic wrap. I left it to rise for 2 hours after which it looked like this.

I put the loaves in a pre-heated oven. My one change from the book's directions was the baking time. I only had to bake it half the time that was recommended in the book. I think it turned out very pretty.

Dh agreed that it tasted very good, and he would eat a sandwich on it. This is a huge accomplishment as he hated all of the bread machine bread recipes I had tried. It sliced wonderfully with our Rada Cutlery bread knife. I am anxious to try more recipes from the book.

I bought a 25 pound bag of bread flour and 2 pounds of yeast from Sam's on our last shopping trip. The bulk yeast is much cheaper and makes bread baking affordable. I was most pleased with the fact that there really was no kneading required, but the bread turned out great with a nice texture. Even after just one recipe, I recommend this book. The instructions are easy to follow and many call for whole wheat flour or other whole grain add ins. There is also a section with some gluten free recipes.

Month of Savings - Day 28

Say no to disposable! For over a year we have been using cloth napkins. I tried sewing some and it did not work out. Instead I bought a bunch at Walmart on clearance. We also very rarely use paper plates. I have several packs of Chinet purchased on sale, and they should last a long time. My next step is to cut back on paper towels. Dh brought home a bunch of cloth rags that were going to be thrown out. There was absolutely nothing wrong with them, but they were headed for the landfill. It is a common occurrence in our disposable society. I am working to use the rags more and less paper towels. My end goal would be to completely do away with paper towels.

Yes, it takes a few more minutes to wash a couple of plates or cups. I have a load of rags every couple of weeks. It takes a little longer to hang out the napkins than it does to toss one in the trash. The money savings might not be overwhelming. (I still wonder where those Shamwow people found anyone spending $20 a month on paper towels.) I know it does add up. Plus I am doing a little more for the environment in the process.

Month of Savings - Day 27

Make a great baby shower gift. I am not a seamstress. I am lucky to sew a sort of straight line. I saw these cute burp cloths on A Feathered Nest. I picked up a pack of cloth diapers and a yard of boy themed material. The material turned out to be enough for all 12 diapers. I did four for the baby shower I am going to tomorrow. I am pairing these with a pack of changing pads for a nice gift under $5.

I like to keep gifts on hand if possible. I have a nice supply of baby clothes. This particular mother-to-be is an avid yard sale shopper. I know from talking with her that she has more than enough baby clothes. I thought these would be a cute, but functional, gift. My plan is to make the rest of the pack of cloth diaperswith the boy themed fabric and make a dozen using girly material. I will have a good supply on hand for gifts.

Month of Savings - Days 22-26

This has been a crazy month. Between working in the yard, helping dh with his new groundskeeping duties, and general household stuff, I have barely been near the computer. I refuse to skip out on sharing 31 saving ideas though.

22. Make friends with the store staff. I was in Walgreens last week and was alerted to a clearance sale on chewing gum by one of my favorite employees. No one had gotten around to marking the price yet. I was able to stock up on the sugar-free gum dh chews. When you get good service at a store, email the company or tell the manager. Those 1-800 numbers are not just for complaints.

23. Plan ahead. Being organized is a great savings tool. I have been watching the approaching rain all week. With this is mind I washed as many clothes as possible so I could hang them out. I am only left with one load (socks) that will have to be dried. These dry quickly though. I washed jeans and towels which take much longer to dry earlier in the week.

24. Make your own laundry soap. I use the recipe provided by the Dugger family. It cleans my husband's dirty work clothes. It works great and is just as good (if not better) than the purchased soap. The best part is that is it a fraction of the price.

25. Choose a cheaper alternative to fabric softener. I was doing this before visiting the Dugger website, but it is listed on there also. I use vinegar as fabric softener. I prefer to use more natural products when possible. Vinegar makes clothes just as soft for less money spent.

26. Learn to Do It Yourself. I know not everyone is handy, but I am blessed to have a handy husband. This week he has installed a new kitchen faucet and fixed the ice maker on our refrigerator. Our old faucet was beyond repair. The parts for the ice maker cost $2.25. We will not talk about the mess behind the fridge when he pulled it out to fix the ice maker.

Month of Savings - Day 16-21

I got quite lax about posting my month of savings. I have still been saving though. Dh placed a bid for cleaning the church grounds, and it was accepted. I have been busy helping him in the mornings with that. My afternoons and evenings have been spent watching the college basketball tournament. I definitely have MARCH MADNESS!

Here are a few of my recent money saving tips all lumped together.

16. Use less! This can be trying to use less dish or laundry soap and see if you get the same results. My use less is the drink mix packs. One packet is supposed to flavor 16 ounces of water. I have been using the Crystal Light brand and found that it was a bit too strong for my liking. I use 1/3 of a packet per 2 cups of water. The flavor is just right for me. I also turned a box of 10 servings into 30 servings.

17. Combine your shopping trips. Dh had to go into town to pick up his check, a push mower, and a few other items. I needed to get some groceries and do my shopping at Walgreens and CVS. We ended up going together cutting the amount of gas we might have used in half.

18. Make a trade. I needed some pants hemmed and my mom wanted some Dianthus flowers. We had a coupon for Lowe's, and I needed a bit more to cover the coupon amount. I picked her up several pots of the flowers in exchange for hemming my pants. (*Yes, my mom would have done them for nothing, but I do not like to take advantage of her. I prefer and give and take relationship.*)

19. Get rid of ants with Dawn dish detergent. We have fire ants here. The stores are packed with expensive poisons and potions claiming to rid your of these evil villains. Truthfully they rarely work and usually cause the ants to just move their bed over a foot or so. I was told that mixing Dawn dish detergent with water and pouring it over the bed worked. It does! You need regular Dawn (not the Ultra). Fill a gallon jug almost full and then squeeze in about four or five good squirts of Dawn. The water should be blue. Shake slightly and pour over the ant beds. The ants will be gone. By gone I do not mean to the other side of your yard, but they will be gone for good! At $1 a bottle this is a cheap fix.

20. Look for extras included with a purchase. The Gillette Fusion razors were on sale at several places this month. The power version was the same price as the regular one. Dh likes the regular razor but not the power razor. Both are the same blade wise. I buy the power razor simply because it is like getting a free battery. The same goes for bonus packs of items or a free with purchase option. Get more for your money!

21. Get caught up in March Madness. I have spent less money and done less shopping the past few days, because I have been caught up in the almost non-stop games. Unfortunately that means I do not get to bed until about 2am since I have to stay up for the recap show. That might not be a real money saving tool for the rest of the world, but it works for me. I also love, love, love college basketball and had to work that in somehow.