Another GREAT Find!

Ok, so I've been searching far and wide for a play gym for my little girl. She is getting much bigger now, and she's no longer content to just lay on the floor while I do the dishes. The poor thing is bored! So, I turned to the local classifieds and this is what I found:

Retail value (Fisher-price.com): $70

What I paid: $15

Total savings: $55

Now that is a steal! Granted, we are missing 2 toys, but it's still lots of fun for our little girl. And I wasn't about to pay $70 for a new one. Bleh.

So, tip for all that holiday shopping: Shop the classifieds!

Changes, Changes, Changes!

Okay, I know I haven't posted in a while. I apologize. My frugality all went downhill during our ever-so-long move, and I just haven't had anything to blog about. A quick little update on our housing situation... We started over, moved to an apartment, and bought new furniture. And by "new" I mean "new to us." It was all given to us or bought at a yard sale, with the exception of the couch, dresser, and kitchen table. BUT the couch cost $30, the dresser was on clearance for $100 (originally $240), and the kitchen table is a card table for $50 (chairs included). All in all, our apartment is full of frugality.

Moving on...

Have you ever heard of FuzziBunz? They are a brand of "trendy" and "earth friendly" cloth diapers. We're thinking of using them for our little munchkin (who is taking her sweet time coming out). They have a "one size" diaper that is supposed to last from birth to potty training. I'm a little skeptical of the validity of that claim, but I think we're going to try one out. If you know anyone who uses cloth diapers can you please send them my way? I want to know how cost- and time-effective this really is. Think of all that laundry (and no, we don't have our own washer and dryer)!

Also, speaking of laundry, have you ever tried making your own laundry detergent? My cousin's wife has a super fun cooking blog. Her recipes are so delicious! If I didn't have to watch my blood sugar so much with this pregnancy I'd make the cookies and cream cupcakes. They look so good! You're probably thinking what cooking has to do with laundry. Well, Carole (that's her name) has a recipe for homemade laundry detergent! I am definitely going to try this in the next few weeks. One batch of this stuff makes 5 concentrated gallons (meaning you mix it with water, so it's really 10 gallons!) of laundry detergent and only costs her $2.80 to make! Talk about a money-saver! And for all of you lovely people with high-efficiency washers, Carole says this works in those too (that's the kind of dryer she has)! I'll let you know how my homemade detergent project goes, but since Carole likes it, I think I'll like it too!

Well, that's the frugality from the last month. Hopefully I'll come up with more tips and tricks with the arrival of our little munchkin! Stay tuned!

Closets at the Ready...

Do you have clothes that are still cute and fashionable, but you're just so darn sick of looking at them that you want to get rid of them? Do you have a spouse that doesn't want you to buy more clothes until you get rid of the ones you have? Well, I have a solution for you...

A CLOTHES SWAP!

Get all of your pals together and exchange clothes! Chances are, if you're friends, your clothing styles are pretty similar, and you'll walk away with a fresh new look for your wardrobe. The best part about a clothes swap? You don't have to spend a dime, and you still spend hours with your friends putting on fashion show after fashion show.

So go ahead, get those new clothes! Your husband can't say a word! :)

A To-Do List

Life has been pretty lazy around here since I'm not working anymore. I worked at an elementary school, and since school ended I'm stuck without a job. Bummer. So I decided that I need a to-do list so I can keep myself busy. And why not make it a CUTE to-do list? So, I found a tutorial on Make It and Love It. I made it, and I love it. It's SO cute and it didn't cost me a dime. I just used an old picture frame, an old framing mat, an old t-shirt, and some scraps of fabric that I had lying around. It was super easy, and now I have a dry erase board that I can put anywhere and still have it look cute.

A First

Well, yesterday I made my first frugal purchase since starting the blog. And I must say, it was quite thrilling! We received a coupon in the mail from JC Penney for $10 off a purchase of $10 or more. Well I jumped right on that! Usually coupons like that say "save $10" in really big print to get you all excited and then they ruin it with "on a purchase of $50 or more." LAME! I don't want to spend $50 to save $10! That's not even a deal! So, JC Penney, I think you're awesome for not doing that.

I went on my way with a goal to not spend more than $10. I was totally successful! I found an adorable pair of maternity shorts--originally $32. What did I pay? $8.13. Yeah. STEAL! The shorts were on sale for $18 - $10 coupon + tax = $8.13. Total savings: $23.87.

Frugal or Bust!

At-Home Take-Out

My husband and I LOVE to eat out. Especially when we were both working, it was easy to say "I'm too tired to cook." Now that I'm home full-time it's a bit easier to plan ahead and take my time making yummy food. This week's at-home take-out was, of course, PIZZA. This is my husband's favorite food. Since we've been married (a little over a year) we've probably made at least 10 pizzas. The finished product usually looks something like this:


(Chicken Alfredo Pizza with homemade dough and alfredo sauce)

The crust is made from scratch with a modified recipe. Here's a basic one for you to enjoy. We added more flour, sugar, oil... but this is a pretty good crust, too :) Experiment with the ingredients to get your perfect pizza crust. This recipe is from cooks.com

Homemade Pizza Dough

pkg. dry yeast
1 c. warm water
3 c. flour
1 tsp. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 c. vegetable oil

Dissolve the yeast in warm water. Combine all dry ingredients except flour. Add the yeast dissolved in water and vegetable oil to the mixture. Then add flour by the cup (add 1 cup of flour, mix, add another cup of flour, mix...). I usually add 2 cups to my mixture. Then I turn the dough out on a lightly floured surface and knead the remaining flour into the dough. Cover and let rise until double in size (about 1 hour). Spread dough into 2 pizza pans (or 1 for a thicker crust), add sauce and toppings. Bake at 550 degrees for 7-10 minutes, depending on crust thickness.

Easy peasy, right? In the long run I think we do save a few dollars by not getting our favorite $5 pizza. And this pizza is way better than that take-out stuff. :)