the green book, week #9

I picked up this book at the local consignment shop, Treasures & More, for $1.00. 

I am a passionate recycler, electricity saver, and cheapskate so I will be sharing a few helpful hints from each chapter with my readers that will not only help our environment but rock your inner frugality at the same time!  Check out these top three hints from this chapter below.

Chapter #9 - Sports

The biggest help to our environment using your least amount of effort in the sports category includes the following hints:

#1 - Consider leasing/renting sports equipment.  How many amateur golfers have bough an entire set of clubs only to have golfed three times in their life (cough cough**my husband**cough cough).  Before you try a new sport and invest the sometimes hundreds of dollars getting started consider renting or leasing your items to see if you will stick with it or not. 

#2 - Buy recycled rubber soled shoes.

#3 If you play/watch outdoor sports CLEAN UP AFTER YOURSELVES AND YOUR CHILDREN.  This seems like just plain manners here but its apparent that some people now weren't taught to clean up their messes as children.  Popcorn buckets, candy and gum wrappers do not belong on or near the soccer field or baseball complex.  If you go to a game don't just toss that water bottle you bought at the concession -bring it home to be recycled.  Better yet - bring your reusable water bottle with you and save $4 in the process!

Any helpful hints for frugal environmental tips you've come up with ? Please share here!

Train 'Em Young

Launa loves to tourture play with Daddy so she's teaching Charlie young how to win all battles.  Especially the battle of the comfty spot on the couch. 

Its true she usually wins and he relents to the chair.

I did It!

My husband surprised me with this for my birthday!  Woot woot!  Now I need your helpful hints, advice, apps to get or not to get, gripes, loves.  Please tell all while I'm learning to use this thing.  Do I really need to pay for WiFi service or can I get my downloads via the desktop and just use it remotely?  The husband heard the term Fire Cracking or something....anyone know what this is?  HELP!

Ebay Up!

I've sold a few things on Ebay recently and wanted to share so you can see just how EASY it is to make money on your things and usually more money than your yard sale will bring in.  Its typical that I set a few things aside from my garage sale box area to see if they will sell out of garage sale season and for more on Ebay.  So far my highest all time item was an Elmo dress for $40!! That's more than it was new! Crazy.

Anyway in the last month I've listed 15+ items and only sold 3.  Not a  great ratio but times are tough maybe people really are shopping less?  Here's the breakdown:

18 month old pink sweater/skirt combo - $7.99 paid price, approx $3 shipping (sorry no idea where that darn receipt went!), $.15 ebay listing fee = $4.84 profit

18 month pink CareBears sweatsuit - $9.25 paid price, approx $3 shipping, $.15 listing fee = $6.10 profit

Baby Einstein DVD box set- $32.01 paid price, approx $3.00 MEDIA MAIL shipping, no listing fee = $29.01 profit

Its easy to do so go list some items.  A little bird shared this HINT: THIS WEEK IS FREE LISTING FEES WEEK (if you include only one photograph of your item).  ITS PURE PROFIT WEEK.  You bet I'm busy making some listings.  Granted you may not be able to end on Sunday (as you should with most Ebay listings) but its free so worth a shot!  Clean out those closets folks!

Green Weekly #8

I picked up this book at the local consignment shop, Treasures & More, for $1.00. 

I am a passionate recycler, electricity saver, and cheapskate so I will be sharing a few helpful hints from each chapter with my readers that will not only help our environment but rock your inner frugality at the same time!  Check out these top three hints from this chapter below.

Chapter #8 - Health & Beauty

#1 - Invest in a reusable water bottle for the gym.  It could save you up to $200 a year instead of buying a new one every time and eliminate 14 pounds of plastic.  This is a NO BRAINER.

#2 - Use a razor with refillable blades.  Disposable razors are not recycle or biodegradable.  Do your part so you are only ditching the refill blades into the garbage can.  Better yet go green and stop shaving! (I WISH!)

#3 - Soap - use bars instead of body wash.  For the same reason as you should for your babies, bars are cheaper and come in less packaging.  If you are set on using the body wash that is FOUR TIMES as expensive as a bar of soap, at least recycle that bottle!

Only four more chapters to go before the big giveaway for this book!

awwwww

Who doesn't love baby butts?

Its seriously THE CUTEST how much they LOVE each other.

Book Review: Chocolate for a Woman's Soul

Chocolate for a Woman's Soul
By
Kay Allenbaugh

This is a short story collection of different authors about different subjects ranging from love, God, courage, and family to name a few.  These are ordinary people just telling some stories.  I bawled teared up at one about the love of a dying spouse (if you read it you'll know which one).  There was one with a great quote I'd like to share as it fits the title of this blog: 

"If you look after the pennies, the dollars will take care of themselves."  Hope Milahap

Overall its a great short story book.  There are some SHORT ones at one page, others up to 5 or 6 so not too bad.  I give it **** four stars.

Check it out on Amazon, used for a $.01 can't beat that!  I'm definitely passing this one on to my SIL and our small "book club."  Happy Reading!

CSN Stores Product Review: Tabletop Convection Oven

 I was STOKED when CSN STORES asked me to do a product review.  The husband has been checking out new counter top convection ovens for awhile but my tightass frugalness kept denying him for the purchase.  They can be pricey folks!  However, CSN came just in time, in fact about two hours before he clicked "Buy Now" on Ebay.  So for HALF THE PRICE we are reviewing this counter top convection oven.   It lists for $89.89 on CSN's website.  Isn't she a beauty?

For some background information this is our old convection oven: AKA the Cyclonic. 

Note: Made of plastic. 

VERY HORRENDOUS to clean. 

Grease leaking out of lid.

Therefore, FAIL to clean.  The heat will kill any germs left on it from the last meal right?

Digital touch display for time and temp.

Ahhhh!!!! Uncleaned inner grates.  BARF.

Now for the NEW oven. 

Beautiful glass outside.  See through sides. 

Negative:  These grates are HUGE.  Small things (e.g., jalapeno poppers) can potentially fall through, making them subject to the grease pile at the bottom of the bowl.  Wasting food.  You know I don't like to do that!

Check out this 5 POUND pork roast.  It fits in here nicely.  The oven is LARGE. 

This can be a negative or positive in your mind.  My husband (who likes to cook for 8 though we are a family of 4) LOVES the size. 

See! Huge roast barely touching the sides.  And it so deep it wouldn't matter how tall your meat is.

LOVES:

**Hugeness

**Glass bowl.  Dump it in the dishwasher and you're done cleaning!  (I despise cleaning anything of any sort.  It just feels like a waste of my time.  WHEN I win the lottery I will hire someone to do all of these tasks for me.  It will be glorious)

**You can eat fried foods WITHOUT the fry smell, mess, or calories.  Boo-yah.

**Pork roast is moist on the inside, crispy on the outside.

**Its glass.  You can see your food without opening the lid.  (Granted our old one was BROWN before it was so disgustingly dirty you just can't tell in the current pics)

**PRICE.  Check out this chart I located from a site for saving on electricity.

COOK COSTS COMPARISONS

Temperature (degrees F)	Time	Energy Used	Cost
Electric oven	350	1 hr.	2.0 kWh	$0.24
Gas oven, electric ignition	350	1 hr.	0.112 therm +0.35 kWh	$0.21
Gas oven, pilot	350	1 hr.	0.112 therm	$0.16
Electric oven, convection	325	45 min.	1.39 kWh	$0.17
Toaster oven	350	1 hr.	0.33 kWh	$0.04
Crockpot	200	7 hours	0.70 kWh	$0.08
Microwave oven	High	15 minutes	0.36 kWh	$0.04

DON'T LIKE BUT CAN DEAL WITH'S:

**Grates too large of spaces between them. 

(The husband already has a plan to take his beef jerky making kit (used once btw) and cut those grates into a circle shape to fit in here to solve this problemo)

**HUGE.  (If you have limited counter space in your 800 sq ft house its not cool finding a spot for this thing)

**You have to put the lid on a wire rest kind of thing since its so hot.  This just annoys me.  I also haven't figured out how to lock the handle to make this process easier.  HOWEVER I haven't read the directions, why would I?

Overall, LOVE this product and DEFINITELY recommend it to save you time, money, and all important calories.  At a cost of $89.89 you can't beat it.  Check out Here.

Frugal Tuesday Tip

I'm not sure how frugal this tip is but I just discovered it and think its GENIUS.  Its probably not new but I LOVE it.

I LOATHE cleaning my blender.  We use it a lot for smoothies, blending up left overs for baby food, etc.  Mac and cheese does not blend well and in fact sticks all over the place even when I try to thin it out with formula in the baby food.  So to do a quick clean on the blender I just pumped some soap, hot water, the blended until clean and WAHLA sparkling clean without me picking off every noodle this side of the Mississip.  I think this is super great and will be cleaning my blender in this manner from this way now on.  If/when I have time to tear it completely apart and have enough room in the dishwasher to stick it in I will do so but for quick, easy, and least amount of water usage blender cleaning, this is my new way.

What do you think?  For more frugal tips go here:  Learning the Frugal Life

I'm Baaack!

We had a fantastic time leaving the tundra of Iowa (we're talking BELOW ZERO temps) to BEAUTIFUL Cancun Mexico where the worst day was cloudy and 70 degrees. 

We could have planted on our balcony all week sipping from the in room liquor dispenser....

Or in the lounge chairs by the pool sipping Miami Vices (half pina colada half strawberry daiquiri)...

But we didn't.  We made our rounds.

We did the obligatory touristy photos at a nearby outdoor mall. 

We paid extra for a booze cruise to Isla Mujeras Island including dinner and a show.  And not just this free show on the top deck of the boat either!

We then decided to fore go parasailing for now and opted to do zip lining!  I was shaky just thinking about it but where else was I going to get this opportunity?

We geared up...which was HILARIOUS.  You know why.

The highest trees were over 100 feet in the air and the worst part was climbing those ladders all shaky like and then looking down and only seeing leaves and no ground.  But once you were sailing along the line it was so fun.  I didn't stop shaking the entire hour and boy was my helmet SWEEEEATY when we got done. 

The guides offered us a chance to go with one of them and go upside down.  I ADAMANTLY refused several times but when all the other girls were doing it I didn't want to be a sissy so the hubs and I said Hells Yeah!

Yes I was freaking out and scared to death here.  And yes "the girls" went zip lining too!  But it was so fun once I took of my sissy pants and relaxed.

Next we were taken to a ceenote (aka swamp) and given a chance to try out some cliff diving and/or zip line over water.  Also super fun. 

Overall great vacation.  Much needed time away from FREEZING.

But loved coming back to my babies!

Go Green, Week #7

I picked up this book at the local consignment shop, Treasures & More, for $1.00. 

I am a passionate recycler, electricity saver, and cheapskate so I will be sharing a few helpful hints from each chapter with my readers that will not only help our environment but rock your inner frugality at the same time!  Check out these top three hints from this chapter below.

Chapter 7: Shopping

#1 - Paper or plastic?  Choose paper if you don't have reusable canvass bags.  Baggers can get more of your items into paper bags so you have less to carry and paper bags are more apt to be recycled.  If you have to get plastic reuse those for trash liners or take them back to the store for recycling at your next trip.  I personally reuse my paper bags as my weekly newspapers and recyclables and then just dump the sack and all into our bin and it works out perfect. 

#2- Baby items.  Buy a bar of soap for your baby instead of a plastic tube of body wash. Its cheaper with less packaging.  200 THOUSAND pounds of trash could be saved if EVERY baby this year bought bar soap.  If you do buy body wash please recycle that bottle!

#3 - Buy items with less packaging.  Check out your options and weigh your prices.  $1 of every $11 spent at the grocery store goes towards packaging alone.  Recycle what packaging you can.  If your item comes in the plastic bubble melded onto a piece of cardboard that piece of cardboard can be recycled.  Its the little things folks!

Please share any shopping hints you have!  And remember - I'm giving away my copy of this book when I'm done reading this!  So stay tuned!

Go Green, Week #6

I picked up this book at the local consignment shop, Treasures & More, for $1.00. 

I am a passionate recycler, electricity saver, and cheapskate so I will be sharing a few helpful hints from each chapter with my readers that will not only help our environment but rock your inner frugality at the same time!  Check out these top three hints from this chapter below.

Chapter 5: Work

A lot of people have the attitude at work that its not their problem to recycle, reduce or reuse at the office if its not a system already in place.  BLASPHEMY.  Start your system at work or be an example and get others to follow you!

Here are a few things the authors of The Green Book have said would make the biggest impact with the least amount of effort at your job.

#1 - Double side your copies.   The annual savings of 130 BILLION sheets of paper would result if just 1 of 4 office workers double sided their paper.  I have taken to doing this at work.  We have lots of "form" letters with the same enclosures for all clients, etc.  The form letter is the most important copy so I double side my attachments in case we need proof later that it was sent.  If I have a large stack (we often send PILES of medical records to doctors), I go ahead and scan those to save to the electronic file, copy only the cover letter, and make a note that all attachments were scanned if we need proof of sent items later.

#2 - Carpool.  One person carpooling to work every day saves 500 gallons of gas and 550 pounds of exhaust emissions EVERY YEAR.  That's at least $1445.00 in gas at Iowa's prices today!  I approached my job on the second week there asking for new hours so I could join a carpool.  They didn't hesitate to let me change my hours and save money in the process.  You also save wear and tear on your vehicle and can sometimes even get a deduction on your car insurance if you then travel less than 10,000 miles per year.  Its a win win situation!

#3 - Use a ceramic or reusable coffee mug.  Styrofoam cups live for 9 GENERATIONS.  Is it that hard to take your mug home to wash it if you don't have a sink?  I often hand wash throughout the week then bring it home on the weekends for a run through the dishwasher.

Has your work implemented any easy environmentally friendly policies you can tell us about? 

LEAVE IT IN THE COMMENTS BELOW.

Deals.

One hour massage for $35 for you locals!! Check out the Living Social Link here.  Its a local person in my hometown!

Sibling Love.

Our daughter is OVERLY helpful.  Has been since Charlie was born.  This is a picture when she tried to pick him up on my bed and toppled over with him on top of her.  She thought it was hilarious. Until......

Ha Ha Ha! I couldn't stop laughing. 

Of course I had to grab the camera before I cleaned her up.

Coupons!

Home Made Simple is offering another coupon booklet.  Check it out by clicking on the link.  Enjoy!

Dress Themselves?

Moral dilemma: Is it okay to let your kid go in public in the outfit of their choosing or should you battle over matching clothes? 

2-3 days a week Launa wants to have a pajama day.  And being frugal lazy I say okay.  Sometimes we are just home all day, but sometimes so wears PJ's to daycare/preschool.  It doesn't bother me one bit.  The other weekend she wanted to wear PJ's to church.  Its a "come as your are" advertised church, however I've NEVER seen anyone wearing PJ's.  Sometimes when she picks out her own clothes she's still wearing the PJ flannel bottoms and a sparkly dressy shirt.  And I don't care.  She's independent.  She's crazy.  She wears that weirdo outfit with style (sometimes including uncombed hair). 

People look at her strangely.  She's four!  Is it that big of a deal folks!? I'm interested to know your responses.  Not that I'll change.  Rock your own style lil' lady, you can't embarrass these parents, we do that for ourselves!


Let me know your thoughts:  Pick your battles or too embarrassing to handle?

Product Review: Kashi Go Lean Crisp Cereal

I received a sample size of this cereal from Vocal Point (a online community that requests your opinions on personal matters, products, and other things) and was asked to give my opinion.

Honestly, the sample size was WAY smaller than I would have poured for myself so I was expecting to be starving after breakfast.  The cereal was good and crunchy with just the right amount of chewy in it.  It didn't have time to get soggy when I was scarfing it down like my last meal.  And I wasn't hungry until lunch time!  This is unheard of a big deal for me.  At 190 calories plus the milk it was worth it, fiberful (yes call Webster I made up a new word), and satisfying.

My sweet sample also came with 5 coupons (woot woot!), one of which was for $3 off so I scored an entire box of Kashi cereal for $.29 the other day!

Definitely see Kashi cereal in my future.  I will probably branch out and try a few other flavors also.

*I was not compensated for this review other than my free sample and coupons.*

Frugal Tuesday Tip

What is the Frugal Tuesday Tip?

The Frugal Tuesday Tip is a linky blog hop, dedicated to encouraging the frugal lifestyle. It is hosted by:

• Julia at Juliecache.com
• Julia S. at Confessions of a Frugal Mind
• Kimberly at Frugal Playground
• and Confessions of a Frugal Mind

I've found these freebies and deals this week and want to pass them on to lots of readers! 

BOGO Baskin Robbins

MABELLINE FOUNDATION

FREE YOPLAIT

Free Blockbuster Kiosk Code:   28CHD4X – (exp 2/3)

Gas X

World's Best Cat Litter

Don't forget to check out the links for Coupons.com at the end of my blog for some great match ups with this week's sales near you! 

Daily Deal - Locals check out this site for your daily deal today!