Tag: Saving Money

TMR Frugal Living Tip #71

October 21, 2009 cleaning, Frugal Living Tips, Green Living, saving money

Today’s thrifty living tip is decrease your amount of laundry. How do you ask? There are two simple tricks I use in my household. First is to use a towel more than once. We don’t use washcloths, but the towel that only dries hands can be used for a week. The same thing for the bath towel. I make sure to hang it so it will dry between uses. We also wear our pajamas for 2-3 nights before calling them dirty. I have 2 pairs that I rotate nightly so I only have to wash 2 each week. I don’t wear my pajamas all day and only for bed. I also don’t wash clothes that I only wore for an hour or two like dress clothes for church. Unless I got sweaty, there is no need to wash them since they aren’t dirty. This has helped cut down on the amount of laundry we do each week.

Check Out Savings from the Library!

October 20, 2009 Family Life, Frugal Living Tips, saving money

Your local public library is your best way of saving a lot of money. A library card is free (just don’t lose it). Since I am living in a rural town, then it really saves me a lot of money in gas since I can do more than just check out books. They have lots of services and many times have clubs that meet. My library also offers classes on different things and not to mention the great kid related activities. Summer reading programs are very popular and many offer rewards for your kids to read. Check with your local branch to see what they offer. With your library card you can check out savings!

FAX/PRINT: I can pay a small fee to have items faxed, sent to me, or print/copy. It’s much cheaper than many places including grocery stores and the post office.

FREE Computers: If I need it, then I can get on the computers for free. Mine has a time of 1 hour per patron as they only have 3 computers. Many times the bigger libraries offer more so no time limit.

FREE DVD RENTALS: I can rent DVD movies and many are new releases! I find a great selection of movies, how to videos, seasons of tv shows, and kid’s movies/cartoons! My library gives me 1 week and the other one 2-3 weeks rental.

FREE Magazines/Newspapers: I can read many of the current magazines for free and my newspaper. They also give me the coupon inserts since they don’t want them. I have also been given older back copies for free as they would just trash them. Handyman magazine is great as diy tips last for years.

Story Time/Kid’s Activities: On weekends and in the summer, they have story time and crafts for the kids. My son loves participating in the summer reading program. Each child receives a free small cheese pizza to a pizza shop for participating. They also get entered into a drawing. He won the grand prize this year which was a $15 gift card to Wal-Mart! If you don’t go to your library then it’s time you check it out.

Naturally you can check out books. Of course libraries can also offer free classes on computers and other things. You just never know what you will discover at the library!

TMR Frugal Living Tip #70

October 13, 2009 cleaning, Frugal Living Tips, Green Living, saving money

Today’s thrifty living tip is make your own cleaners. You are literally pouring money down the drain along with caustic chemicals. I put vinegar in a small spray bottle to use for counters, the sink, and cutting boards. It disinfects and won’t hurt anyone if ingested including kids and pets. This would also be great for high chairs and cleaning kids toys. I also use vinegar in the toilet bowl and bathroom sinks. Vinegar makes a great fabric softener and disinfects my towels and sheets. To clean vinyl floors I again reach for vinegar. It cleans my floors well and the smell usually goes away within twenty minutes.

For my stove top, I make a paste of baking soda and water. Just be careful not to get it close to the burner openings. I let it sit for 20 minutes, and just remove with a cloth and warm water. I may have to use a little elbow grease on the burnt on stuff, but this usually loosens it up making it easy to clean. There are lots of great recipes on the internet so just google homemade cleaners.

TMR Frugal Living Tip #69

October 5, 2009 cleaning, Frugal Living Tips, saving money

Today’s thrify living tip is to thin out those ultra concentrated dish liquids. I have noticed this new trend with the ulta concentrated liquids like dish and laundry detergents to even hand soaps. Of course the bottles are getting smaller so I’m not sure how much more you getting for the price increase. I also noticed that the coupon amounts have shrunk (ok pun intended). I used to be able to find $1 and 50 cent coupons, but now I noticed the manufacturers are issuing 50 to 25 cent coupons. I decided to battle this by adding water to thin it out. I found more was being wasted. I put 1/3 liquid into an empty bottle and just add water then shake to mix it up. I can now make a bottle last for several weeks which makes my stockpile last much longer. I recently bought 18 bottles from a CVS sale for $2.xx so this will last well over a year. I find that it bubbles better and the dishes are just as clean.

TMR Frugal Living Tip #68

September 28, 2009 cleaning, Frugal Living Tips, saving money

Today’s thrifty living tip is use a pencil eraser to remove scuff marks from vinyl flooring. This works great since we have vinyl floors in our kitchen. I find it easier than applying lots of elbow grease. Another way to eliminate scuff marks is to use a Brillo pad. Just make sure to rinse very well afterwards. You can also make a paste of baking soda and water and use a scrub pad on the marks. All of these work but I find the eraser is great for small marks. The other methods are better for big or several marks.

THRIFTY MOMMA RAMBLINGS IS 1 YEAR OLD!

May 14, 2009 Birthday Party, Gardening, saving money

I actually reached this milestone on Tuesday and didn’t even realize it. I’m very excited that my blog is a year old but I admit it’s not where I hoped to be by now. I have no one to blame but me since I haven’t promoted it as much as I should. I am happy with the direction it’s going. At first I did start this blog to do paid posting, but I realized how I much I disliked it. I didn’t have as much control over the content with certain companies, and it didn’t seem worth the effort. While I still hope to make a little money on here, mostly to pay the rent of my blog, I am mostly blogging to share what I’m doing and hoping I can share ways to help others save money. I didn’t know a lot of things when I was a young adult and wasted quite a bit of money. I also racked up a good chunk of credit card debt. I was very fortunate to have married a wonderful man that came from a frugal family. I learned many things from them, and we were able to dig ourselves out of a financial hole. We also have a healthy savings and emergency fund.

Along our adventure I came across some awesome books. The first one, my thrift bible, is The Tightwad Gazette. I have learned so much by reading this great book. It’s where I first learned about the snowball method. Her example illustrated a couple saving for a down payment to buy a house. Instead I decided to use it to pay off our debts. I started with the smallest ones first and worked my up. I had never heard of Dave Ramsey at this point. I probably didn’t do it in the exact way he outlines in his book The Total Money Makeover, but I was pretty close. He is right in the sense that mastering money while paying off debts is more about emotion than about math and logic. If I had used my credit card logically, then I wouldn’t have been in a mess. I also recommend reading his book since it’s a good starting point for getting out of debt. The big key point is you have to stop using credit while digging out of the mess. Otherwise you will never win. Once we stopped using them and cut them all up, then we did dig out of the hole. That is the best feeling in the world to not have any debt! I sleep so much better at night and I don’t cringe every time the phone rings.

Yes cutting out the bigger items like cable, phone plans, getting better rates on your insurance, eating out and such will make a dent in your monthly budget. Doing many of the little things will add up to bigger savings as well. If you can master your grocery bill, then you can save hundreds per month. The bigger the family the bigger the savings. I don’t buy nearly as much food for my family of 3 as someone will with a family of 4 or 5 and more. I’m constantly trying to cut down my bill and still eat healthy. That’s one reason I started a garden so I can make more items from scratch like tomato sauce and it’s healthier. I am using more of an organic approach and not spraying my plants. I am also composting my kitchen scraps along with yard waste like leaves. I just wanted to share a little bit more about me and my reasons for doing the blog. I really hope that all my tips are helping others to save money. I said in a previous post that most frugal tips are good for your pocketbook and the environment. Thanks for reading and I hope to continue writing for another year!

TMR Frugal Living Tip #61

March 22, 2009 Beauty and Fashion Tips, Frugal Living Tips, saving money

Today’s thrifty living tip is add a little water to your liquid hand soap. I don’t fill the pump container all the way to the top, and I add just a small amount of water. I don’t actually measure the water but just enough to thin it out. Then I shake well to help mix the water and soap.

I find most liquid hand soaps are pretty thick which gets wasted. This is especially true if you have small children. My mom uses baby shampoo as a hand soap, and she still puts a little water in the dispenser. I got my soap almost free with sales and coupons. I have used baby shampoo which does work and smell great.

Do you use this tip?