Posts Tagged "frugal"

“Want to go for ice cream?”

Posted by Michelle on Jun 3, 2010 in Parenting | 0 comments

The Little Empress enjoying (yet another) summer ice cream cone

If it seems like I have a disproportionate amount of The Little Empress eating ice cream pictures posted on my blog, it is because my usual bribe treat is ice cream. A scoop of ice cream is her treat for having a good week at school, a doctor’s visit that didn’t result in a tantrum or to make an otherwise ordinary summer day into a special one.

Sometimes I worry that I’m spoiling her a bit on ice cream. She’s still a wee thing, barely on the weight charts, so high calorie foods like ice cream get the green light from her doctor. Still, I try to make it only a twice a month treat. But she does love it so. Her eyes light up and she claps happily whenever I mention going for ice cream. After all, what’s better than getting an entire cup of ice cream to yourself when you’re 2?

And honestly, when the local ice cream shop is a mere $1 a scoop, how can I say no? We may not be able to afford much but this is just too good of a treat to pass up.

The Kindness of Strangers

Posted by Michelle on Apr 17, 2010 in Home Matters, Life | 0 comments

TLE's outdoor dining room

TLE's new summer palace

An alternate title for this post could be: Freecycle ROCKS.

I have to say that aside from The Little Empress doing so well in her new school, the month of April has sucked mightily thus far. How mightily? We had to take one car in for major repairsand then, the very next day, for The Hubs to get into an accident on his way home from work. Thank God he wasn’t hurt and we do have insurance but the two incidents cost us pretty much every penny we had. As could be imagined, getting new toys for The Little Empress or much needed vacuum parts wasn’t exactly high on our priority list  as keeping the roof over our head, food on the table and gas in the vehicles took precedence.

Enter Freecycle. I have a love-hate relationship with Freecycle; I love the concept of it but sometimes, people can be really annoying when they are picky about what they’re asking for. I mean, I can understand asking for a dresser for your child’s room because they have nowhere to put their clothes but specifying how many drawers, how large and what color it has to be is a bit much, you know?

The Little Empress is a messy little thing. How messy? Well, she has, um, taken to watering the furniture with her drinks. Despite having paid extra for fabric protectors on our couch and chair, everything is sticky and disgusting. Unfortunately our family room and kitchen are adjoining and if TLE gets even an inkling that her drink may be taken away from her, she’ll upend it and splash around in it. This is about as gross as it sounds. Imagine my relief when someone posted their steam vac for grabs on Freecycle. Thirty minutes later, I was the proud new owner of both a steam vac and three bottles of cleaner. My furniture is saved without having to resort to an expensive cleaner!!

Two things that I’ve been wanting for TLE but just couldn’t find the money to get were a child’s stepstool and a little plastic picnic table for her to use outside. There are definite “wants” vs. needs but would be truly appreciated by our family. I’ve asked for them on Freecycle before with no luck. I decided to try again and was very happy to wake up to a message from someone saying she could give us her children’s picnic table that her kids outgrew. Even better, she would throw in their old play house!! I was ecstatic but said that I couldn’t pick up the playhouse (since our truck done got crunched) but would be over for the picnic table.

She shot me an email back offering to deliver it. ***SCORE!!***

After such a crappy few weeks, it was so nice to have such a nice gesture out of nowhere. She had very kindly cleaned the playhouse as well. Sure it isn’t brand new but it is new to The Little Empress and she is absolutely ecstatic to have a little house her size.

Blither about bags… oh and a giveaway (not mine)

Posted by Michelle on Nov 19, 2008 in Life | 1 comment

I remember the days when I used to just hop into the car and go to the grocery store, wander the aisles and leisurely pick whatever I wanted from the shelves. Coupons? Pfft. I was lucky if I remembered to bring my club card.

That was a lifetime ago. These days, going to the grocery store isn’t so much a trip as much as it is a carefully planned and orchestrated excursion, with careful stock taken of what is already in the fridge leading to menu planning that correlates to a list of items need and at which stores to get them from. Oddly, I am not a coupon maven though I have tried, honest. I don’t have enough brand loyalty to any one thing to keep an eye out for manufacturers coupons and just keep an eye out for the best price. We have no CVS or stores that double coupons in this area so for me, couponing doesn’t have a great of ROT for me.

I have made myself stop just short of mapping my route through the stores for maximum efficiency. Believe me, I WANTED to map the stores but thought that was a little excessive. To write it down, at least. I do have a mental map in my head of how best to tackle the grocery stores.

Yet with all this planning, I tend to forget something very important when I go shopping. My reusable bags!!

I’m still trying to convince myself that I’m not a crunchy mama despite my breastfeeding, babywearing, co-sleeping, cloth diapering, etc. ways. We also don’t use paper towels much and strive to use reusable items whenever possible. Still, I maintain that this is not because I am crunchy or green — I am just cheap!

In the case of grocery bags, I opt to use reusable whenever I can. Reusable bags are a godsend. They don’t multiply like tribbles and most are stronger than the flimsy plastic bags. Plus, I am sick and tired of having plastic bags taking up space in my kitchen junk drawers. They are icky, nasty and if you’re not careful, they multiply like tribbles! We’ve been in this house only since July, with no plastic bags and now we are swimming in the nasty buggers! Every single darned establishment on this earth seems to give out plastic bags and I just hate them!

The biggest problem with reusable bags is, as I have discovered, remembering to bring them with you. For the record, I’ve placed them by the door, with my clip board with my meal menu/list, by my purse and every other place you can think of to remind myself to bring them. But when you’re rushing out the door, trying to shoo the dog  while making sure to grab the baby, your keys, your purse and diaper bag while turning on the alarm… yeah, easy to forget that pile of bags sitting patiently wherever you left it with the helpful note: “TAKE ME WITH YOU!”

(Yes, I leave notes to myself. I can’t be alone in this, can I?)

Until I can figure out a reliable way to make sure my current bag stash makes it with me to the grocery store (and others), I will oogle the Flip n Tumble line of eco-friendly bags. These are awesome because they scrunch down into itty bitty sockball like, well, balls, that you can toss into your purse and go about your day.

Interestingly enough, Simple Mom is giving away several different types of reusuable bags including my much oogled after Flip n Tumble bags. So go, read that entry and comment! You might win

Freecycle Sunday

Posted by Michelle on Nov 9, 2008 in Frugal Fridays | 0 comments

Hello, my name is Michelle and I’m a FreeCycle addict. At least, I will be if this string of good luck keeps coming up. In the last 24 hours, I scored a bag of pillow cases and sheets as well as another bag of fabric scraps and a cordless phone. FOR FREE!! Whoopee!! What a great way to build my fabric stash (if only I could find my seam ripper…)

I know there’s a certain amount of risk involved with FreeCycling but when you use your best judgement, you can really score some great (and needed) stuff.

Frugal Friday: Your All Time Favorite Frugal Tip

Posted by Michelle on Oct 24, 2008 in Frugal Fridays, Life | 1 comment

I’m participating in Frugal Friday and this week’s theme is — Your All-Time Favorite Frugal Tip

And mine is…

Don’t buy what you can make.

This is probably the best known frugal tip and most applicable if you’re decent at crafting. For me, my best craft is cooking so living by this simple rule of frugality saves me a bunch of money at the grocery store.

I refuse to buy most types of pre-processed foods that I can easily make at home for less. If I really want chocolate chip cookies, I’ll get the ingredients and make several batches for the price of a bag. If I want pork chop coating, I’ll buy breadcrumbs, herbs and spices in the bulk bins and get a much better value.