Homemade Cheesesticks

My husband is tired of spending so much on cheesesticks for the kids.  I started chopping up cheese and  putting them in those snack size zip storage bags.  You can't cut them up too far ahead or they can start tasting old, but when you're making dinner with cheese, cut some up and put them in individual baggies for when you're running out the door in a hurry.  It saves quite a bit of money to do it this way instead of buying the cheesesticks at the store.

Carlsbad State Beach

 

We went to Carlsbad State Beach Park the beginning of October.  It's a great deal if you want to visit San Diego and don't mind camping.  All sorts of shopping is close by and it's really close to Legoland.  If memory serves, it's about $50.00 a night.  I've heard it's hard to get a spot in the summer, that you have to do it way in advance, but our reservations in October were made about a month before.  You camp up on a bluff and walk down to the beach.  They have bathrooms and showers.  Not super clean, but not awful either.  We had a couple sunny and a couple rainy days the beginning of October.

It's time to exfoliate! Cost-Effective Efoliation!

I have really dry skin.  This is the time of year when I have to ramp up my exfoliation.  I might be a little slow on this concept, but the other day on the Today Show a gal was talking about how she kept her skin in shape.  All she does is uses those gloves that are a little bit textured.  I think they call them exfoliation gloves.  She uses her regular shower gel or soap and lathers up as usual, just scrubbing a little as she's doing getting clean.  I tried it and it really is nice.  I've been doing it once a week, but the gal on the Today Show does it everyday.  I put a couple of those suction hook things on the outside of my shower for them to air dry, then you can toss them in the laundry with your towels.  Cost-effective and sanitary (no disgusting loofa's!).  Love it!  I've found them at many different discount places like Ross, Tuesday Morning, etc.  I also found a "mitt" that I like even better, you just switch hands.

Click here to read an old blog about how I exfoliate my very dry hands.

It's Swimsuit Time ... to BUY that is!

Now is a great time to buy a swimsuit.  I bought a bottom (skirted bottom) a couple days ago at JcPenney.  It was normally $50.00, I bought it for $4.37.

ps-My first skirted bottom and I LOVE it!

Free Fonts!

I'm helping my sister choose new fonts for her blog.  There are a couple sites we are using with free fonts: 

dafont
Free Fonts from Kevin and Amanda.com

While I'm at it, a place I sometimes go for free pictures, etc. is:

stock.xchng

Drug Store Cosmetics I Really Like

I've been trying to use more drug store cosmetics to save both time and money. I'm not super close to the mall, so I love being able to just refill at the grocery store. Here are some I've tried and like. Most are Loreal. Loreal is really coming up with products lately that are close the quality of some expensive stuff I've tried.

Loreal De-Crease set's eyeshadow. It helps eyeshadow last longer without creasing.
I LOVE this foundation. As I'm getting older, I have larger pores. I know, bummer. Anyway, this foundation feels strange to me. It's whipped and you don't need a lot. It's basically Spackle for pores. It fills them up and skin looks much smoother.
Magic perfecting base is also like Spackle, but without tint. If you have another foundation you like, I'd try this with it. I tried using this with the Magic Souffle, but it was just too much "Spackle" together.
This mascara has been around for years (I think it's 20 years this year?). Anyway, I like to use it when I'm trying to get my eyelashes big or if I'm trying to run out the door quickly and only want to put on a single coat.Cover Girl Lash Blast is a great mascara also, and for the same reasons. Big lashes, can use just one coat if you're trying to leave the house quickly.
I read Charla Krupp's book "How Not To Look Old" last year. She suggested pink lipgloss for looking younger. This is the first I tried, and so far still my favorite. I have fair skin and the pink of this is really nice. I get a lot of compliments on it. I don't remember the name off the top of my head, but it's the one with the pink breast cancer ribbon.
This last product is not from the drug store, but I love it so much I had to include it. It's MAC Studio Fix and I've used it for years. It's not my all time favorite foundation, but it's my favorite foundation/powder combo for getting ready quickly and for keeping in your purse. Mine lasts quite a while and I think MAC is fairly well priced for "fancy" makeup.

Quote

"Live simply, so others might simply live."

Another Good Deal/Meal at Ikea

A friend and I hit Ikea this morning. Not only did I get curtains at a phenomenal price, (really long ones that will fit a higher ceiling) but we had this for breakfast for $1.99. I think they call it their "Big Breakfast." Such a kid-friendly place ... just LOVE Ikea!

Neighborhood Sports Teams

Something we've been involved with the last year is a group of parents getting their kids together to play various sports. All the parents volunteer to do something: coach, team mom, pictures, trophies, etc. We pay $12-$15 dollars per child and have played t-ball, soccer and football. It's pretty relaxed and we keep it as simple as possible. Everyone brings their own drinks and snacks, etc. A great way to introduce children to different sports and at very reasonable price.

Saving Money on College Textbooks

A friend of mine wrote a really helpful article on buying college textbooks at reduced prices. Here's the link.

A Little Money Saver

The last couple months I've been trying to come off my expensive and unhealthy Diet Coke addiction. What I've started doing when I hit a drive-thru is get a water with my meal and use a little crystal light packet in the water. The packets are cheaper than buying a soda and although not that healthy themselves, I think better than the Diet Coke addiction.

Stop Counting the Pennies!

There's a book I started reading a while ago, and only got about 75 pages in before my life got super busy, but think it's a great book. It's called, "All Your Worth, The Ultimate Lifetime Money Plan" by Elizabeth Warren and her daughter, Amelia Warren Tyagi. I've really liked Elizabeth for years. She's was appointed recently by Obama to develop the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. She really does seem to care about the shrinking middle class.

She gave a piece of advice in the book I think is really true. She says everywhere we go, we are told to save our pennies, watch the Starbucks, etc. She says that's wonderful, but they want us to spend our "precious minutes where they count most: your dollars. Instead of spending your time on how to squeeze a few nickels out of small purchases, it's time to focus on the really big expenses, where an hour on the phone can save you thousands of dollars. This step starts with an incredibly simple premise: Dollars are worth more than pennies."

I've always felt that we really blow our budget on our big purchases rather than one too many rentals at Redbox!

She goes on to discuss the big-ticket items, house, car, insurance, etc. She says, "If you are overspending on these big monthly bills, then money is draining out of your pocket a lot faster than you can replace it by getting double coupons on your frozen vegetables. She calls this step in her plan, "the foundational step for getting straight with your money.

Then comes the tough love.

"Who says you shouldn't spend all your money on a normal house and a normal car? We do. It doesn't matter if you are living in a regular house. It doesn't matter if you are driving an average car. It doesn't matter if all of your Must-Haves seem perfectly ordinary and no different from those of your neighbors. Because you can't use your neighbors as a guide. Why not? Because most of your neighbors are not building wealth."

She wants us spending no more than 50% of our income on "must-haves." Must haves being food, shelter, etc. This book was published in 2005. If everyone in the country had read this, it would have saved us all so much money. We would have been keenly aware if we really could afford the houses we were buying, etc. Anyway, more from her later. Such a voice of reason.

After Christmas Perfume Shopping

If you're a perfume gal, I noticed Target and Walgreens blowing out those Christmas perfume gift sets. You can get some of the different stars perfumes like Faith Hill, Halle Berry and Beyonce (not sure I spelled their names correctly!?) and oldies but goodies like CK one, Eternity for Men, and Obsession for a fraction of their normal cost.

After Christmas Shopping

I haven't written for a long time, we bought a house and between that and the holidays, I've been a busy gal.

Had some time though for some after Christmas shopping yesterday. Besides getting all the Christmas decorations, etc. for cheap, one of the things I like to buy is wrapping paper that doesn't look overly "Christmas-y" so I can use it for gift wrapping during the year. You can also get tissue paper at great prices. Yesterday Target had bulk white tissue paper half off.

Links to a couple old posts.

Here are links to a couple old posts that are appropriate for this time of year. The first is about Halloween candy, the second a quote on gratitude.

Beach, Soccer, Etc. Bag

Bought a great "mommy" bag recently at LL Bean. I chose the extra-large bag and it is REALLY, REALLY big. I use it for soccer balls, at the beach, etc. I thought it was a decent price for how large it is and LL Bean is featuring free shipping through December 20th.

Here's the link if you're interested.

Outdoor Furniture

This post might be a little late to help this year, but just wanted to remind everyone that outdoor furniture is often highly discounted from the end of summer to early fall. I really love the bench above. I saw it at Lowe's for $300.00 last spring. I waited and recently paid $50.00. There were also some fun retro chairs normally $40 that we picked up for $10. I've found outdoor furniture will often go down to 75% off or more this time of year.

Artisan Bread

A friend gave me this recipe and I was so glad. This bread tastes just like you're at a fancy restaurant and it couldn't use more basic ingredients. You REALLY, REALLY should try it. You will impress yourself!

Here's the link to the video on how to do it. Mark Bittman, who I really like, introduces this bread from a NY bakery to us. Here are the instructions written out.

They tell you to do this fold thing, but I didn't and it turned out fine. Also, at the end when you brown the bread, make sure you watch it because I needed to take mine out early.

A List of Inexpensive, Healthy Foods

In my quest to find cheap, healthy, quick food my children will actually eat, I've started a list of healthy, inexpensive foods. Thought I'd share. If anyone has any other ideas, please let me know!

apples

bananas

beans-lentils, black, pinto, white, garbanzo (cook yourself and freeze with a little liquid)

broccoli

brown rice (takes about 45 min. to cook, so make in bulk and freeze-then just "nuke")

canned tuna

chicken on sale, freeze

corn tortillas

eggs-even organic are still a good deal for a protein

frozen veggies

fruits & veggies in season

homemade bread, tortillas & pizza

hummus (cook own garbanzo beans-about 2 cups of beans equals 1 can)

jar of spaghetti sauce, use coupons

low fat milk

oatmeal

oatmeal cookies

popcorn for snack (buy popcorn and pop yourself on stove or air pop)

potatoes-baked w/ skin

spinach

tofu

whole grain pasta

Homemade Tortillas

The next few posts I do will probably involve food. I've been thinking a lot lately about how to reduce our food bill. Here's one recipe that's dirt cheap. Homemade Tortillas. I grew up on Mexican food and to me it's comfort food. These tortillas are a healthier version of the ones we all know and love that unfortunately contain lard or shortening.

3 cups flour*
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 cup canola oil
1 cup warm water

Blend dry ingredients.

"Rub" in oil with your fingers until fine crumbs appear.

Add water with a spoon or fork ... really does need to be warm water. Then knead dough until smooth (you can do it right in the bowl) about 2 minutes.

Cover the bowl with a bag, a slightly wet cloth or saran wrap. Let it sit ("rest") about half an hour. They cook up much better if you don't skip this step.

Divide dough into small balls. I use a melon baller to get them to a somewhat uniform size. Some people say to make them into the balls before letting the dough "rest." I do it either way ... whatever I have time for.

Roll out as thin as you can with a rolling pin. I've seen people do this with their hands, but I just can't make it work. I don't worry if my shape is off ... still taste's the same. Use a little dusting of flour if things are sticking.

Bake on a hot griddle until freckled, about 20/30 seconds on each side. I like to use a flat cast-iron pan. (We bought it at Walmart and LOVE it! In fact, my flat cast iron pan never leaves my stove top ... we really like pancakes and tortillas!)

I'm not sure how many servings this makes. It really depends on how large you make your tortillas. I like to make mine small.

*Note: I usually use half all-purpose white flour and half whole wheat or soft white wheat flour. The tortillas taste better and are easier to make if you use only white all-purpose flour. If you try to use all whole wheat flour they will taste like cardboard.