Cashmonkies Frugal Blog

Everyone is always so busy in today’s world. Lots of homes have both parents working just so you can make ends meet. Trust me, I get it. While I am a stay at home mom, I do plenty of online things to make money. This is just so we can manage. I use to work, until our third child came, and it would start to cost me to have a job. So I had to stay home. So back to saving money here. Just buy adding a few extra steps in the kitchen can save you loads of cash. If your to busy for these, try using these ideas when your home. Use the fast convenience ways when you’re working. (My prices below are average around me, assuming no sale or coupons, just to throw some figures out there)

French Fries- For a big bag of French fries you can pay around $4 a bag. But you can get a 5 pound bag of potatoes for around $2.99. Just by peeling and cutting your own fries, you save a lot. Making your own fries would cost you around .20 cents per serving, where the already made cost around .45 cents per serving.

Lettuce- When you purchase the already shredded lettuce in a bag it cost around $3 for a 1 pound bag, where you can get a lettuce head which is also around a pound for $1. So just by washing and chopping up a lettuce head, you save $2

Cupcakes- You can purchase a box of snack cupcakes for $2.99 for 8 of them. You can purchase a box of cake mix for around $1 and a can of frosting for $1.50 and make 24 cupcakes for a total of $2.50

Pudding- Everyone goes crazy for snack packs. I know my kids always want them, although I typically don’t buy them. One 4pk of pudding cost around $1.99. You can buy a package of instant pudding for around .33 cents each. One pack makes around the same amount as a 4 pk. You use one cup of milk per package. So with milk being pretty high, it may end up costing you around $.80 cents to make your own 4 pk. Still a savings. And this only takes about 5 minutes to make and dish up into serving size dishes.

These were just some ideas to get your mind flowing in the right direction. If you made just a few changes to your shopping list and cooking habits, you can end up saving a large amount of money. You pay for convenience; there is no other way to put it.

If you’re looking for some quick ways to lower your everyday bills then I have a treat for you. Here are a lot of ways to get some of your bills lowered from time to time, and it takes no time at all.

Lower your water bill- Unless you have recently purchased a new toilet that uses less water then the norm, you can convert your old toilet. These new toilets can save you around $150 bucks a year, but if you don’t need a new toilet, then why should you buy one? Get a water bottle or pop bottle, take off the wrapper. Fill it full of water, and place cap on tight. Stick this in your toilet tank. You may want to use a small piece of string and tie it off, so it doesn’t float and bounce around. This will save on your water fill ups.

Laundry- If you’re a mom who works outside the home, then try this on Sundays, or another day off. During work weeks you probably won’t have enough time. When you do your main washing, start hang drying your clothes. You could even hang dry half of them and save around $40 bucks a year. So if you hung dry all of them, can you imagine the savings.

Dishwasher- If you own a dishwasher then use it. Some of you are probably wondering if I am crazy right about now. I promise you, I am not. I know a lot of people who wash dishes by hand, because it’s faster. Did you know running a full load of dishes verses hand washing dishes can save you around $40 a year? Not to count how much time it saves you.

Doors- Weather strip your doors and keep it there all year round. Some people seem to take care of these things only during the winter months. Don’t forget, your cool air will seep out just like the hot air does. Adding this weather stripping which only cost a few bucks can save you around $50 bucks a year depending on how bad the leak is, it could save you even more then that.

I thought I would give you all some more ideas for swapping your favorite things out to save you some more cash.

Movie Night- If you like to purchase DVD’s then you have a few options instead of paying that $3 a night. And then forgetting to return it and paying another few bucks for the same movie. I like netflex.com I create a list of movies that I want to see, and they ship them in order for me. I can have 1 movie at a time, 2 movies at a time or many more. I pay one flat rate per month and never have any late fees. As a matter of fact, I have 3 netflex movies sitting on my table now that have been sitting there for 2 weeks or so, because we haven’t had the time to watch them yet. But that’s okay; I don’t ever pay a late fee. They mail them to me, and I flip their envelope over and mail it back. Its all postage paid. If you would like to do something else, then most of the grocery stores now have rental kiosks set up, you can rent a movie from them for $1. So the price is defiantly right one that one.

Lights- When you purchase light bulbs, don’t grab them store brands that are on sale for 89 cents. Instead purchase CFL bulbs. They cost a little more upfront, but they save in the long run. You don’t change these bulbs as often as you do normal light bulbs. I would say you change these ones every few years. Instead of every few months. They also use 75% less electricity, which means a savings on your light bill each month. So they are really worth the extra cash upfront.

Online buying- Something I just learned in the past few days. If you love to purchase things online, then this is the deal for you. I am recently addicted to amazon.com. Thanks to a really good friend of mine, I learned something about them. You can find just about anything you need on there. Along with that, they have something called Prime membership. You pay $79 a year for this membership. Right now they have a special for a free trial month. With this membership you get free shipping on their items. And that’s 2 day shipping. You can’t beat that. You can ship to friends, family or yourself for free. Find something that you want overnightted to you? You only pay 3.99 for overnight shipping no matter what it is. So if you purchase a lot of items online, then this is perfect for you, you will save a ton of money on shipping prices.

Did you know, that you can still enjoy some of the things you do for fun, or things you like to buy as long as you swap ways? There are many ways to still enjoy life and just become a little frugal about it.

Organic Food- If you like to purchase organic foods, that’s fine. We all know these are a little more pricey then regular food. So you shouldn’t have to give them up just because you want to become a frugal shopper. Store brands have organic foods which are usually right next to your favorite brands. The store brand and the name brand are not made or grown any different. They still have federal standards to meet. Store brands often cost half the price name brands do. They also throw the store brand on sale more often as well.

Spices- If you love to cook and bake then you probably use a lot of spices. Purchase a spice rack when it’s on sale, the kind that comes with jars. Or you can be real frugal and use empty baby food jars. Then go to the bulk store and purchase all your spices there. They are fresher and you will pay at least 40% less then buying them in a jar at the supermarket.

Books- If you like to read, like me, then you go through a lot of books. And again if you are like me, you only read these one time and then you are done. I never understood why people collect books. Maybe I don’t enjoy reading as much as they do, or something. I love to read though and read almost every night. I’m not one for going to the library for a book though. Although that’s very frugal. Instead I use the online site paperbackswap.com .You list all your books here, and you earn credits. When someone wants a book on your shelf, you mail it to them. You print the forms with their address and everything right from the site. You then use these forms to wrap the book. You pay for shipping, but media mail is less then 2 bucks. When they receive it, they mark received on their end and you earn a credit. You can then use your credit to request a book from someone else. When you request a book, that person pays to ship it to you. It’s a great service. Another thing I do is the used book store. I take a bag full of books to the store, and they give me credits. Half of the posting price. So if I paid 20 bucks for a book, they give me a 10 credit. So this works out great to.

When you recycle things, you are being frugal and eco friendly. How many free trial cd’s do you get in the mail each year? I bet a lot. I know I get them AOL Cd’s, dial up offers and many more. Plus you will have a time where your favorite Cd’s no longer work because they are scratched and old. So what can you do with these things?

Teens Room
How many of you have teen girls, who love shiny things? If you can collect enough of these, maybe by saving yours, asking friends and family to help out, you can decorate your teen’s room. Once you have them all collected, get your favorite polish out and polish the shiny sides. Using your favorite method for hanging things, rather it be glue, sticky putty or something else. Start hanging the Cd’s on the wall at the top as you would a border. Have the edge touch the ceiling and the corner for your first one. The second one should touch the ceiling and then touch the first cd you hung. When the sun hits these, you won’t believe the colors it will pull off. Your teen will love it.

Coasters
If you’re having a fun party this year, then these are perfect. You can go to your local supply store and buy cheap piece of felt or cork boards. If you use cork boards, make sure you use the paper thin ones. Glue them to the back, where the label is. Shiny side is where the drink would normally sit. You can get the backing for really cheap, so you wouldn’t be paying much at all for party coasters.

With everything on the wise today, Medical cost can really hurt your budget. If you have no insurance or just really high co-pays, then you should find ways to cut some of your medical expenses. My husband has insurance through work, but to add me or the kids, it would cost us a few hundred bucks a month, plus really high co pays. We can’t afford that. Since we are such a large family on one sole income, my kids were eligible for state insurance. I pay 10 bucks a month for my kids, and they have no co pays. I am the only one in the house who has no insurance. Most of the time, that’s okay, I don’t get sick. But things happen. So how do I save money on my medical care?

Ask for freebies
This is the best out there. I have been going to the same doctor for years. When he comes in the room, I say upfront. I have no insurance, and can’t afford much. He’s willing to work with me. When I need meds, I ask for free samples. When he has them, he will load me up on them. Most of the time, I wont even need a prescription because he has giving me the full amount with free samples. If he has a few, that works to, it gets me going, and it helps me see if I can adjust to the meds without wasting money only to find out, these are not the meds for me.

Dental Work
If you need Dental work done, this can be expensive. Even if you have dental insurance it can be expensive. About a year ago, I had a lot of work done on my teeth. My teeth were in really bad shape from not having insurance and not having enough money to go. Once I got married, we added me to my husband’s dental plan. That was a lot cheaper then his medical plan. I still had to pay around 3 grand out of pocket, which we charged. If I would have gone to a dental school, I would have paid half that amount. The drive was too far though for the amount of appointments they required. With three kids, it’s hard to drive a few hours each way for a lot of appointments. If you have a dental school, I would suggest going there. These are students who are in their 4th year of dental school, and they are 100% supervised by an Official Dentist. You can find Dental schools by going to www.ada.org

Generic Prescription
If you can get generic, then do that. These have the same ingredients as the non generic meds do, just a whole lot cheaper for you. Most of the time, there is a generic brand available for around half the price. A few meds will have no generic brand, but for those that do, you should use it.

I thought this would be a neat addition to the Frugal Blog. I asked two of my websites to help with this. I asked my members to provide me with one tip on how they save money and here are their results. If you see a number in parenthesis, the number represents how many people said the same answer. I hope we can all learn something from these great tips! I know I sure have, Thanks to everyone who helped!!

Use coupons at the grocery store and anywhere else we can (5)

Buy all my clothes at garage and yards sales

I only do laundry when I have a complete and full load.

I put all of my change in a sealed jar and I use lots of coupons to save a lot of money like at cvs

Not buying things I really don’t need (3)

My neighbors and I grill out together several nights a week in the summer

I make my own weed killer lol salt, hot water to melt the salt and dish soap to help break the surface tension allowing the water to stick to the weed not just run off

Not eating out (2)

I save my change and roll it up to put into savings

Grocery Gaming - wow, it’s made a huge difference!!

I have two big dogs so I mix table scraps with their nighttime feeding

Getting lots of Free Samples

Buying Items in Bulk, and then repackaging and freezing what we can (4)

We shop at Meijer because we can double our coupons under $.50

Use old item (recycle) than buying

I grow my own veggies, and planted fruit trees, and grapes so now I don’t buy any of that stuff, and it is a lot healthier!!!!

I never buy clothes at full price

Stay home more!! Don’t go to the store as often

Ride a horse

Make a list before you go shopping and stick to it. Get all coupons ready for what you are buying.

If you use a credit card, keep a check register of it so you know exactly what you’re spending on it.

Open a savings account and not touch the money