Thrifty Tip Tuesday!

Thrifty Tip of the Week:

Cheap and Easy Breakfasts!

While I love the luxury of a packaged cereal for breakfast, especially during the summer, in order to save money on my ever increasing food bill with three always starving boys, I mostly (and I say mostly) make homemade breakfasts. They most often cost pennies to make and my boys just love the variety of options I give. And since I do love those packaged breakfast cereals, I will give some tips about the deals I have found on cereals a little further in the post. So here are some breakfast options for those of you that are desiring to cut some pennies out of your breakfast food budget.

1) Homemade muffins. I can't tell you how cheap muffins are. And here is another economical tip: Always, and I mean always make a double batch. Then you can have muffins for another quick breakfast. This is especially helpful for those who need to leave the house early for work or school. Muffins are easily transported, filling and nutritious if you make them with healthy ingredients, and delicious to boot! I always serve a batch fresh out of the oven, and the leftovers get packed up individually by two's in foil and put in the freezer. My hubby takes a package out of the freezer each morning and takes them to work for his mid-morning snack. I have a ton of go-to recipes for muffins. If you need any, email me or comment on this post! I have found that even extremely healthy muffins can be tolerated by small children if you put a crumb topping on them! A little brown sugar and cinnamon accomplisheth much. Believe me.

2) Homemade pancakes or waffles. Don't buy expensive pancake mixes! Don't!!!! They most often have artificial ingredients and preservatives, unless you buy the all-natural kind, which then costs twice, if not three times as much as homemade. If your family loves pancakes, just find a good recipe, make an enormous batch of the dry ingredients, and keep it in a Tupperware container for batches to come. Homemade pancakes only have like 6 ingredients anyways, so making a new batch each time always comes together in a jiffy. And they are super cheap to make. And who doesn't like pancakes? Try some variety, like chocolate chip, banana nut, or blueberry.

3) Oatmeal. And when I say oatmeal, I don't mean those little individual sugar-drenched packages. Sorry, I don't mean to burst anyone's bubble, but homemade oatmeal is so much healthier! Just take some oats and follow the instructions on the back. I usually stir in brown sugar, cinnamon, and chopped apples or frozen blueberries. Any toppings will work....just think of the endless possibilities! Cranberries, pecans, and brown sugar. Blueberries and some half and half.....YUM!!!! Trust me.

4) Breakfast burritos or sandwiches. If you know me personally, you know that I always make these on Sunday mornings and we eat them on the way to church, without fail. I usually just pre-cook some sausage or bacon and keep it in a ziploc in the freezer for future use. I grate or slice some cheddar cheese, scramble some eggs, and voila! I make them interesting by changing up the bread. Sometimes I use tortillas, sometimes I use homemade biscuits (made from a double batch when I served them with something else), or English muffins. On Sunday morning, all I have to do is scramble the eggs, assemble the sandwiches, individually wrap them in foil, and place them in the toaster oven (or regular oven) to keep warm until we are ready to walk out the door. These also freeze well. You can make a large batch of them, individually wrap them in foil, and freeze them. If you need to take one to go, just place it in the oven to thaw and warm (I would think 20 minutes or so), grab it, and go. And you have yourself a nice protein filled breakfast.

Footnote about cereal: Most of you probably have a Walmart in the area. Sorry if you don't. Walmart carries a line of all natural breakfast cereals called "Mom's Best". They have all-natural ingredients, and cost about $2 a box! Seriously. And they are really good. They have a frosted shredded wheat, one that tastes like Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and one that is like Honey Bunches of Oats. Sometimes they have one that is like Lucky Charms, but I haven't seen that one in a while. I have a rule that I like to keep cereal at about $2 a box, and that is mostly impossible to find. And because my boys can put away a box in one sitting, it's not economical to buy them. However, I do like to keep a few of these Mom's Best cereals in the house for those crazy mornings. And at that price, it's really not too bad! OK, don't get me wrong, I do give in to the occasionally sugar cereal (mostly as a special treat for camping), but in general, cereal doesn't make it's way into my cart very often. Well, the boys sometimes try to sneak a box in, just to be funny. Haha.

So try these options and see if it saves you some money. Or keep eating donuts and McDonalds every morning, and enjoy watching your money go down the tubes, and your hips getting unusually large. Then you will have to buy new jeans, and that defeats the whole purpose of this post.

Double Digits for Luke

Today is Luke's 10th Birthday! I honestly can't believe he has moved into the double digits. My sweet, fat, adorable smiley baby has turned into an amazing, loving, high energy boy.

Just look at that smile. This boy truly makes my heart smile.

He can ride a mean skateboard, dirtbike, and whatever other things he sets his mind on. I love his sensitive and tender nature, his willingness to be corrected, his amazingly pliable heart, his generosity towards others, and how much he learns and matures every day. I love his energy, his gusto, his ability to irritate his brothers (and do it so well), and his amazing physical abilities. I truly miss the chubby little happy baby that he was, but am so enjoying the amazing young man he is turning into, by God's grace.

Dear Luke, my favorite middlest boy: I love you more with each passing day. I love being your Mom. It is my honor and privilege to train you, teach you, guide you, love you, and pray for you each day. I am proud of the character you are developing, and pray you will learn to love the Lord with all your heart and follow Him all the days of your life. Have a great 1oth birthday, and have fun being 10!!!

Thrifty Tip Tuesday!

Boy, I am not off to a good start. It's only my second week, and I couldn't get Thrifty Tip Tuesday posted in time for Tuesday! It's been a busy week, so please forgive me for my tardiness. I know my huge group of three readers will forgive me!

Today's tip is another one of my recent discoveries on how to save money on my monthly bills.




Thrifty Tip of the week:

How to save money on your monthly phone bill, and not really change anything!



I had recently been talking to some moms in my home school group about the whole "home phone" thing. Do we really need it, with all the cellphones and such? Come to find out two out of three of the people I was talking with don't even have a land line anymore! These ladies gave me some tips, so I decided to check it out myself. I called the phone company, and sure enough, they do have a basic phone plan, that costs (brace yourself) $7 a month! That's right, just seven bucks a month! Granted, you don't get that lovely and helpful caller ID service or call waiting anymore. But here's the deal. I was paying for something I really never used. I was noticing my bare bones basic phone plan was costing me about $45 per month. So I evaluated my usage. Do I call anyone long distance? No. And when I do, I use my cellphone, since it's free long distance. Do I call anyone out of my local area. Yes, but two out of the three people I call out of the area are on my cell phone carrier, so those calls are free mobile to mobile! And anyways, I am rolling in my rollover minutes, there are so many of them! So I decided to go for it. My last phone bill was $7.15! Here are the details of my plan:

The basic fee is $6.50 per month, I believe. With that, you are allowed around 300 local calls out for free. Every minute past is 2 cents a minute. No long distance allowed. Incoming calls are free, and are not included in your free minutes for the month. 800 numbers and 911 calls are all free, as well. So now if I know I need to make a call that will not be short, I just use my cellphone, so as to be careful not to exceed my outgoing minutes for the month.

So there you go. Go evaluate your phone usage people. For some of you, this may be hidden money in your pocket!!!! Have a great day!

Thrifty Tip Tuesday!

Well, I'm jumping on the bandwagon and have created my own weekly blogposts, newly titled "Thrifty Tip Tuesday". I love everyone's "Not Me Monday", "Wordless Wednesday", etc, so I thought I'd come up with my own. At first I was going to do "Frugal Friday", but I don't like the word frugal. In my mind, it is associated with the words "cheap" and "selfish". Don't ask me why. So I like this title much better! Thrifty to me means "wise" and "budget minded".



A little history behind these upcoming blog posts. Dave and I have always been on a tight budget, especially since kids came along! In fact, when Austin was born and I quit my job, we were anticipating a deficit situation. Over the last 12 years, I have learned so much about what it means to be budget-minded, how to save money on certain things, how to not buy things at all, and so much more. So these posts are going to be a mix of extremely practical (like buying oats instead of those little packs of flavored oatmeal), to the more general. I am so grateful for the many older and Godly women who have demostrated wise living to me and taught me so many things about being a worker at home. And God is by no means finished teaching me. I have recently learned so many valuable lessons, not only about how to save money, but the sins and personal pitfalls that can be associated with how we spend our money and what we spend it on. You know, we all have to buy things. It's how we use our money, and the attitudes and motives behind our purchases that God is concerned with.



With all that said, I think I could spend the next 40 years or so sharing some of the money-saving tips I have learned and awesome deals I have scored over the years, practically speaking. So don't expect that you are going to get all of them at once! I will have to learn to practice self control and pace myself in downloading all this information out of my brain for you to enjoy! For some of you, this info will be old hat, but hopefully I can encourage some of you along the way, as I learn and grow in this area myself.



So, let's get on with it.



Thrifty Tip Tuesday Tip #1: Ebay is your friend.












I know this isn't a revelation. There are some great deals to be made on ebay. But here are some ebay tips you may not know about:



1) Ever buy jeans on ebay?



I know, you're balking at the idea. I mean think about it, who likes jeans shopping? If you're a person like me, you hate it. It's so hard for me, being as short as I am, to find a pair that fits. That means so much time going from store to store trying to find that "perfect pair", which we all know doesn't exist anyways. What I have found is that if you have a pair that you really love, measure the waist, hips, and inseam. They go do a search under whatever brand you prefer. I like Gap jeans. Most people will list measurements on their listing, but if they aren't there, just ask the seller by clicking on the "ask seller a question" link on the right hand side. I have scored brand new or worn once pairs of Gap jeans for pennies. Literally. About 6 months ago, I bought four pairs, in all different styles. I know I bought one pair for under $2, then added shipping in for a grand total of $7!!!! Some will be a bit more, depending on the style. But for the most part, I have averaged $10 per pair buying them on ebay, and I have probably a 95% success rate with the fit. So ladies, you are saving over $40 a pair for the convenience of selecting them and purchasing them in the comfort of your own home. Hmmm???



2) Make an offer feature.



This is relatively new feature on ebay that some of you may not know about. It will have a buy it now price, and give you the option to "make an offer". Sometimes the seller will refuse your offer, especially if you offer way to low. But I have found that if you knock $10-$15 off the price (depending on what you're buying), they will usually accept your offer. Hey, who doesn't want to save $10? Come on!!! My feeling is, it can't hurt to try. They can only say no. And I'm OK with rejection. I have an example of this in the next section.



3) Look on ebay for stuff you have found elsewhere and comparison shop.



Ebay is usually the cheapest place to find stuff. A recent find of mine on ebay was a new set of cookware I just purchased. This is a tip in itself, so I'll elaborate a little. I have been putting off buying cookware for a couple of years, because I didn't have the means to buy a nice new set, and I didn't want to buy junk. I have had my nice set of Circulon since we got married, but the coating had been starting to peel off and I would find pieces in my food. Now you know that can't be good for you. I'm sure it causes cancer like everything else. Anyways, I did lots of research and found the cookware I wanted to purchase. I decided on the Cuisinart Stainless Steel Multiclad line. I found a set on Amazon and that was the lowest price I could find. Amazon always comes with free shipping as well, so I was ready to buy it. At the last minute, I decided to check ebay. A seller was offering it at a buy-it-now price which was about $12 cheaper than Amazon, and also free shipping. But there was also the "make an offer" option. I decided to offer him $26 less than the buy it now price, since it was a more expensive item. He accepted my offer!!!! So I got the set for $38 less than Amazon, with free shipping! So it pays to look! A note about the cookware. I chose this set because it is made with exactly the same contruction as the All Clad brand but without the sticker shock of All Clad. I got a 12-piece set for the price of one All Clad pan. And this set had RAVE reviews about being just as high quality as All Clad. It had hundreds of 5 star reviews. So if you're in the market for some stainless steel cookware, and you really like All Clad but don't want to spend the money, I can't recommend this product more. The pans are offered open stock and in sets, and really are wonderful. The point here is, just check ebay before you make a purchase. Chances are they have what you want. And if you aren't familiar with ebay, it really is super easy to use.

Catching up......

As I listen to the sweet sounds of my boys happily scootering and skateboarding outside, and while my husband is talking to a good friend on the phone, I felt compelled to post, since it's been a while. Lotsa stuff going on in this house full of boys. After just two short months at the new job, Dave has found himself starting another new position today for another company. A former coworker of Dave's from Technifex heavily pursued Dave to come work with him at Carlson and Company, and the offer was just too good to refuse! Although it was awkward for Dave to leave his job after only being there two months, we know that was God's plan! This company not only offered a better salary, but it's closer to home, offers more room for creative and financial advancement, and Fridays off!!!! Of course, that's a great perk!!! So he is now working four 10-hour shifts, which leaves Fridays off for rest, housework, or side jobs. I pray we can actually start filling our savings account. Oh wait, we don't have one. And never have! So we are humbled and grateful for the awesome opportunity from God's gracious and abundant hand.

The kids have been busy with school and lots of great field trips and activities. We have continued to be blessed by our twice-monthly visits down to Children's Hunger Fund. We have made some great friends down there, and it is such a blessing to train my boys to serve with no expectation of reward in return (well except a snack)! They are learning about thankfulness for our own provision and how wonderful it feels to do something for others. They can pray for and pack food for children they will never ever meet. After serving at CHF with our dear friends the Killians last week, we got to go out to lunch and go ice skating, which the boys thoroughly enjoyed. It was a fun afternoon! Thanks Killians for sharing your free passes with us!

The following day, we had the special treat of going bowling with our homeschool group. I even bowled with the boys! And I really stink. I mean really stink. I only used the bumpers a couple of times. I can bowl over 200 on the Wii, however. Just keep that in mind.

We also enjoyed a birthday party at Scooter's Jungle up here in Santa Clarita this past weekend as well. That place is TOO fun! Even for us old people. Hey, who are you calling old? Speaking of which, as I was walking into Smart and Final a couple of days ago, I stopped a lady dead in her tracks when she overheard one of the boys call me "Mom." "You are the.....the.....Mom??? I thought they were your brothers!!!!" Haha......I'll sign off with that one!