Life in the Frugal Lane

Winter Dreams of Spring

2011-01-12T13:55:00.000-08:00

Winter time is the perfect time for dreams of spring. Purusing the seed catalogs and sketching out plans for when the weather warms up. Curled up in the recliner or snuggled up in bed with visions of the new improved garden bed or deciding would a plum tree or a cherry be better right there? Which variety of tomatoes do I want to try this year? Most seed books are free, just request them on their web site and then wait for them to come in the mail. You could look at their items on line, but thats just not as nice as sitting in the recliner with a nice cozy afghan and some hot herbal tea.

Some of my personal plans are to:

1) Upgrand the bed in my backyard. It is currently just a bed without a border of any kind. Lots of mulch around 4 trees. I pulled back some mulch and planted a few tomatoes and peppers last year and some herbs around the trees. This year I want to make a border out of some old lumber and make it about 6 inches deeper, keeping some open area for veggies and planting more herbs around the trees and in the back.
2) I would like to also create some raised beds out of that lumber around the sides of my yard, inbetween the sprinkler head placements. All of these would be for seasonal plantings.
3) I have some blueberry bushes along one side of the house that need some attention this spring.
4) We live in the first house of a subdivision, so one side of our back yard borders the road. There is a mulched area between the road and our fence that used to have some flowering trees. The two that were outside of our fence line have died and I'm thinking about replacing them with cherry trees. The will have nice flowers in the spring like the other trees that didn't die and then fruit for me afterward. The road isn't too busy so I think that should be fine.

Garden Progress

2010-08-06T09:14:00.000-07:00

I planted some things around my back yard and here's the progress so far. I have planted some herbs (Cilantro, Oregano, Sage, Lemon Balm, Chocolate Mint, Rosemary, Chives, Parsley, Tarragon, Savory).

This is my "herb box" Parsley, chives, oregano, rosemary.....had some basil but it didn't survive.

Lavendar on left and Mint on right

Lemon balm in front and Oregano in back

Lavendar on left and smaller on right is rosemary...there is a third but the lavendar is laying on it.

Sage in front and behind the tree is dried cilantro.

I also planted a container with yellow summer squash and a container with zuchinni squash.

Top picture is Zuchinni and bottom picture is yellow summer squash.

I have containers with tomatoes and peppers, and also some of each in the ground.

Herbs and a couple of pepper plants. Dill, Savory, Tarragon

Bell Peppers in ground

Jalepenos in containers

Tomatoes and peppers together

Tomatoes

Tomatoes in ground

So far I have harvested 1 green bell pepper, and 4 jalapeno peppers. We also have quite a few green tomatoes that we are impatiently waiting on. The squash isn't too to well, we have had lots of blooms, but they either fall off or the beginnings of a little squash will turn yellow before it gets more than a couple inches long.

Coupon Swap Experiment

2010-03-09T10:19:00.000-08:00

I found a coupon swap technique in a book called "Shop, Save, and Share" by Ellie Kay. I'm going to try an implement it at my work place and see if it will take off. Here's the instructions from the book.

1. Coupons are in zipping plastic bags and contain a name card in the front of each bag. A name card is an index card-size piece of paper with names signed on it.
2. Please take a bag and remove the coupons you want from that bag. Sign your name on the card. DO NOT ADD NEW COUPONS TO AN EXISTING BAG.
3. Put the coupons you are donating in a new bag with your name signed on a new card. Place the new bag in the swapbox.
4. In the future, only pick those bags without your name on the name card. (You've already gone through the coupons in the bags with your name on them.)
5. Place all the expired coupons in a bag marked "EXPIRED COUPONS." We will send these to military families overseas.
6. Have fun! If you have any questions, please call the coupon coordinator, ________ at ________.

There are NO stores around here that double coupons. The most one ever gets is a couple "double your coupon" coupon every other month (and thats just from one store). But I am committed to saving the most that I can from coupons. I used a $3.00 coupon on my dog food the other day. I have another coupon for the next time also!

Menu planning

2010-03-05T09:12:00.000-08:00

Ugh........kill me now! OK..... its not that bad, but it is definately not on of my favorite things to do. There are several ways and varying degrees of menu planning.

1. You make a list of meals you are going to cook for the next however many days (depends on how often you shop). Then you make a list of ingrediants you need for those dishes and then go shop.
    This method is better than the "fly by the seat of your pants" method. You won't be as likely to eat out, because you will know that you have the ingrediants for the meals on your list and if you check the list before going to work or the night before, then you can prep for the meal (like defrosting the meat).

2. You can first check the sales circulars for the current week and plan your meals by what is on sale. Then make your list and shop.
    This method will save you even more than the previous method. This way you can still have that steak dinner, but it will just wait until the steak goes on sale.

3. In this method, you need to inventory what is in your pantry and freezer. What meals can you make out of what you have? What meals do you only need an ingrediant or two? After that is exhausted, then move to the sales circular and round out the list.
   This method is good when your a little short on cash until next paycheck or if you are type of person that keeps a stocked pantry and freezer, only buying or stocking up when an item is on sale.

As you can see, the more effort you put into menu planning, the more benefits/savings you will get.   It takes some effort to get the bigger savings. Dont let the news article about the lady that bought $200 worth of groceries for $10 fool you. It can be done, but that lady put in some work for that savings. It wasn't only sunday paper coupons, it was rebates (sought out and mailed in and recieved), research to find the best sales price combined the coupon savings and then all that "stuff" you just bought, is only worth it if you can use it. So then she has to work it into her menu.

That said, dont run off!   This isn't all or nothing. You get to pick the level at which you want to work at it. I recommend that you start off small.....make a menu before you go shopping. Develop the habit and then add another small habit, once developed.....add another. Baby steps.

Cable TV or No Cable TV

2010-03-04T09:42:00.000-08:00

Gasp!! No Cable! Its the end of the world!

Not really. Did you know you can watch most of your network tv shows and some cable shows just by going to http://www.hulu.com/. If you can't watch your show there, it will probably direct you to the site where you can watch it (like the network site the show is affliated with). My personal IT guy (my dear hubby) even hooked up a computer to our tv (actually thru our receiver to the tv). We can still watch our shows on the tv! And just like using the dvr, we dont have to watch commercials (no fast forwarding required). Ok, not everyone has their own IT guy. But it if you have a computer that you want to try this with, I would go to Best Buy and ask a Geek or if you have an IT guy at work that is friendly enough to ask. If you have a camera, take a pic of the back of your computer and they should be able to tell you if your video card has the right outputs for the job and what cable you would need to purchase for this.

Since we are able to view the computer on the tv, we cancelled our cable. With a $100 savings per month we splurged on Netflix. For less than $10 a month, I get streaming movies over my internet connection and 1 movie at a time thru the mail. The streaming movies are older ones (we just watched Mall Cop), but I can get the newer ones in the mail. Net Savings of $90 a month.

You can't see it but the connection the cable is in...is "Optical Out" it goes into our receiver.

Splurges.....aka Starbucks Coffee

2010-03-03T08:01:00.000-08:00

I'll admit it.......I'm a coffee snob. If I ever go buy a drink at a coffee shop, its almost always Starbucks. Venti Mocha with 4 splenda please! I just thoroughly enjoy the taste of their coffee. $4 a pop for a cup of coffee is not within my normal budget. So I buy the Starbucks house blend at the grocery store and on my days off or weekends, we fix that instead of our normal Folgers. Sure its more expensive to buy than Folgers, but we dont use it everyday and $11 for a 20oz bag (last more than a month) is much cheaper than $4 a pop for one cup. Some people like the coffee house drinks for the shot of extra flavor they can get put in. Vanilla, hazelnut, mocha, carmel.....etc...... My friends will splurge on the more expensive flavored creamers for their coffee instead of buying at the coffee house. The point is you dont have to strip yourself of all the pleasures in life. You leave yourself feeling depraved and after awhile that will depress you or lead to a spending spree that will hurt your pocket book. What do you enjoy that you feel is a splurge? How can you get it for less?

Used Books

2010-03-02T08:53:00.000-08:00

I'm a big reader.....big as in can't put a book down til its done. I've always loved books and have always owned quite alot of them. Cookbooks, herbal books, survival books, self sufficiency books and even fiction books. What I dont like is paying full price. Here are a few of the ways that I never pay full price.....

1. I sign up on the email list for Borders, Barnes & Noble and Amazon. I get coupons for 15-30% off a book or sometimes my whole order. Borders I go to the local store and dont pay shipping. B&N and Amazon have free shipping for over $25.

2. When visiting Borders (or any other book store) I check out their bargain section. There are usually lots of children's books, cookbooks and what I call coffee table books (which make great gifts).

3. I watch the local newspaper for used book sales. Library's have them sometimes twice a year, and our local YMCA has one once a year also. Hard backs for $1 and paperbacks for $.50.......you just cant beat that with a stick!

4. On occasion I have been known to buy a stinker of a book (doesn't happen often). Instead of garage saleing it for $1 or less, I use http://www.paperbackswap.com/ . When you first join and list a certain number of books that you are willing to trade, you will get some credits. Those credits are good for books that other members have posted. You get more credits when other people request your books and you mail them out to them. It cost around $2.38 media mail postage to mail a regular sized fiction book. These books are generally in really good condition (better than used library books). Even though its called "paper" back swap, you can list hardback books also.

Vintage Clothing

2010-03-01T10:14:00.000-08:00

Luckily my teenage daughter doesn't have an adversion to "vintage" clothes. We have a local Goodwill and Value Village (just like GW). You can find name brands like Gap, Old Navy, Gloria Vanderbilt and lots more at both places. Women's jeans are like $4-$8 and boys jeans are like$2-$6. My son unfortunately doesn't like "GW" jeans. But I buy them and bring them home and just dont mention where I got them. This past week I brought some home and he was like "Yea! Old Navy!". He didn't ask and I didn't tell. I ,of course, wouldn't lie if he did ask, but he didn't. $4.99 beats $20.00 any ol' day of the week in my book.