Frugal Friday: Cook Up Some Savings

I love going out to eat. It's fun to eat food that you usually don't make at home. Of course, it's nice to not have to think about what should I make for supper today (although sometimes I have trouble deciding what I want to eat from the menu.) But the best reason I love going out to eat is I don't have to do the cooking and the cleaning!

It's so easy to pick up food to bring home for supper on a busy day or to go out to a restaurant on a lazy day, but if you go out to eat a lot it adds up. So, my Frugal Friday tip is to cook up some savings. I know this is nothing new to you, but sometimes we need a reminder. Cooking at home not only saves you money, but also can benefit your health which can save some money on medical costs. You can control the ingredients you use and choose to cook in a healthier way.
Maybe you don't feel confident in the kitchen. Maybe you don't have a lot of ideas on what to cook. Maybe you don't have a lot of time to prepare a meal. Whatever your excuse is, it can be overcome. Use the internet to find some tips on cooking or some recipes. Check out cookbooks from the library. Chances are someone else has faced the same difficulties and have written a book or a blog about it.

I have to admit that I could help our family save more on food costs if I did some meal planning. After I get back from vacation I'm going to do better on that.

Frugal Friday- Save the ends

I'm sorry that I haven't posted a Frugal Friday tip for the past two weeks. I wasn't feeling well one week and we were at Disney on Ice the next week. I really got to start doing these posts ahead of time and have them scheduled to post automatically on Friday. But that requires a little planning and I haven't been very good about that lately.

Anyway...back to the tip for today. Today's tip is to save the ends. I like to save the usually uneaten ends of a loaf of bread to make bread crumbs. When we finish a loaf of bread, I just put the ends in a bag in the freezer. When I have enough saved up, I grind them down to fluffy little bits of bread crumbs in the food processor and store them in an old bread crumb container (from when I bought bread crumbs) and put them back into the freezer. I actually like these bread crumbs better than the store bought kind because the texture is better. Doing this saves in two waves: you're not throwing away any bread and you don't have to buy any bread crumbs. I'm sure it would also be possible to use bread ends to make other recipes like breakfast casseroles too, but I rarely make them so it's breadcrumbs for me.

I also save the ends of onions, carrots, and celery and the carrot shavings and put them into a bag in the freezer. When I buy a whole chicken or split breasts, I will poach the chicken. Then, I use the bones and the ends of the onions, carrots, and celery to make stock. Again, I'm saving what I would usually throw away to make something else that I would usually buy. Plus, I think my homemade stock is better than store bought because I can season it the way I like it. Yum! Yum!

While we are talking about saving the ends, you can also save vegetable and fruit peelings, egg shells, and coffee grounds to use for compost. That way you can make less landfill trash and help out your garden.

It's amazing how what would usually be waste can be put to good use with a little bit of frugal thinking.

Frugal Friday-Paper Towels

Paper towels are quite handy when it comes to messes and drying hands, but they are consumable. You use them and they go into the trash. Of course you can get good deals on paper towels by buying them on sale and with a coupon. However, I got tired of seeing so much paper towels being used or barely used, then thrown away (my husband was the worst when it came to paper towel use). My solution to save money on paper towels and reduce our use was to hide them. That's right I hide our paper towels. Now, I'm not talking about the hiding like you would do for an Easter egg. I simply put them in the cabinet under the sink-  out of sight, out of mind. I have found that having to go through more of an effort to get the paper towel has forced us to use towels and wash cloths when appropriate. Now, we only use paper towels when it is a paper towel only kind of job. I bought about three big things of paper towels when they were on sale when we first moved here almost 10 months ago and I still haven't used them all. In fact, I won't need to buy paper towels for some time.
So, if you want to save some money on paper towels, put them in a place where it takes more effort to get to. Also, evaluate the "job" you are using them for. Think to yourself, "can I use something reusable instead?" Hiding paper towels can save you money and make less waste in the landfills. It's a win win to me!

Frugal Friday: It Start's with Your Attitude

Photo credit here

You may be disappointed that I'm not starting off with a tip that's going to save you hundreds of dollars. However, I'm going to tell you the key to living frugally. So here it goes, the key to living on a shoe string budget, pinching every penny, saving tons of money is...be content with what you have. I hope you are not too disappointed, but that is where you start. Attitude is everything when it comes to everything.

I am learning (I use the present tense because it is a continual process for me.) to be content. I have to learn to be content with all areas of my life, but it is especially hard when it comes to money. I grew up in a family where saving money was important. It was important because having a good amount of money was important to financial security. So to me, having lots of money saved up made me feel content. Unfortunately, the opposite is true. Having little to no money saved up made me feel insecure. I would stress out when I would look at our bank account information. I didn't feel secure. It was unhealthy and a product of my lack of faith and trust in God as provider. God has been working on me to change what makes me feel secure. I quit looking at our bank account. I let Paul do that since he doesn't freak out about it like I do. I'm learning that I can trust in God completely. I'm learning that contentment is a by-product of trust in God.

The apostle Paul explains in best in Philippians 4:11-13, "Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me." I'm going to get on a little soapbox here, but it has often bothered me how vicariously people use Philippians 4:13. I say that as someone who has been guilty of just that. I remember praying, "I can do all things through Christ who strenghthens me," as I was getting ready to take a test that I didn't study for well in high school. The ALL THINGS part of that verse is the key. Everything we do, we can do only by and through the authority of Jesus Christ. So "all things" means I can learn to not worry about finances. I can be content with our humble circumstances and actually enjoy it.

So, learning to be content is going to save you hundreds. If you don't have to buy a lot of things to make you feel good, then you will save money by enjoying what you already have. If you learn to be content to make something that you would have normally bought, then you will save money. I could go on. I promise that I will be sharing more concrete ways of frugal living, but like I said before, the key to frugal living is being content.

Introducing Frugal Friday

Photo credit here

I've decided to start a series of posts to share some of the things our family does to save money and live frugally. I really enjoy frugal living. Even if we had a lot of money, I think I would still live frugally. To me, it's important to be good stewards of what God has entrusted us with, and if there is a way to live less wasteful then we should do it. Of course for us, living frugally has come out of neccessity. With the economy the way it is and gas prices soaring, there are a lot of us trying to pinch every penny we can find.
Most of what I share, you may have heard or even do yourself. In fact, a lot of what I do has come about by google searches, reading blogs, and now pinterest. Some of these may be little and some may be big changes. I'll go ahead and put this disclaimer out here. Althoug it's called Frugal Friday, there may be some Fridays that I don't get around to posting. However, I hope you enjoy.