Saving Money: Freezing Fresh Veggies

As I have said before, I am by no stretch of the imagination a domestic diva. I worked full time as a nurse for many years before being blessed with another baby (a 15 year gap)! That is why now that I am a SAHM I love to save money through all the new methods I am learning, and share them with anyone who happens to stumble upon my site. Here is my newest tip to save some cash: freeze fresh veggies yourself!

Broccoli was on sale for 99¢ at my local grocer yesterday. Since that is a decent price for this time of year and because I use it for a lot meals I bought extra. It was incredibly simple to prepare and freeze, not to mention a great money saver too.

Here are the easy steps:

1. Chop it.

2. Steam it for 2-3 minutes, or until you can pierce it with a fork then drain and rinse with cold water.

3. Blanch it by shocking it in a bath of ice water.

4. Remove excess water and place in a ziploc or food saver bag, then toss into the freezer. 

5. When you are ready to use, just put it directly into the dish you are preparing.  You can also resteam it and serve.

I can find frozen veggies on sale for around $1 for 10 oz from time to time. But I figured by buying 5 pounds for $5, I saved at least $3. Imagine how much I will save by doing this when it goes on sale for 69¢ over the summer!

I've read that broccoli will stay good for around 9 months in the freezer prepared this way.

There are lots of other veggies you can do this with too and save money, including asparagus, carrots, cauliflower,celery, peas, sweet corn and more.  I found a great guide here.

Check Your Receipts

Photo Courtesy of Flickr: The Ewan

For two weeks in a row, I was charged the wrong price for produce!  Both times I didn't notice this until I got home.  This week   I was charged $1.29 per lb for large Granny Smith apples, even though I purchased the schoolboy size for 79¢ per lb.  No big deal right?  The difference was only around 75¢. But the previous week I was charged $4.99 per lb for Heirloom tomatoes when I purchased the much cheaper Roma tomatoes (or so I thought), for $1.79 per lb.  The difference was a couple bucks!  I called Fred Meyer and they just had me bring my receipt in the next time I was shopping to get reimbursed the difference.  They were very kind, and didn't laugh at me for being cheap!

I always recommend watching the register when items are being rung up to avoid being overcharged.  When it concerns produce, it's a little harder to catch a mistake at checkout.  I seem to catch mine when I am going over my Fred Meyer receipt calculating the shelf cost of my purchase prior to imputing it into my savings tracker. 

Whenever you catch a mistake, always bring it to someone's attention. You don't want to pay more than you should.  In my opinion, it adds up, and I want to keep every penny I work so hard to save :) 

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Building My Stockpile

I am happy to be finding some great deals so that I can add to my stockpile!  It really is the best way to save money on groceries and personal care items.  The trick is to find items when they are really cheap and buy them in as great of quantities as your budget allows.  My stockpile is not exactly where I want it to be, but it is growing!  I try to spend about $10 a week on stockpiling, depending on what deals are going on.  I honestly don't have a specific weekly grocery budget yet.  I am just trying to become a smarter shopper and get the best deals I can find.  I am staying around $300 a month though, and that works for my family.  As I become a little savvier, I hope to see that amount go down even more (from about $500 a month when I began all this).

Today I got more pasta sauce and salsa.  Last week I bought canned beans and canned tomatoes.

Fred Meyer:

Pasta Sauce: 45¢ each (here)

Salsa: Free

My cashier at Fred Meyer wouldn't accept my second coupon for the salsa, so I didn't get overage like I did last time,  but how can I complain about free! 

Albertsons:

Chicken: 69¢ lb

Russet Potatoes 10#: 99¢

Used $5.50 in coupons

Total: $1.40 OOP

I also stopped by Albertsons and picked up a few items on sale through today that I missed on my last trip!


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Make Your Own Swiffer Refills and Save Money!

My daughter is crawling all over the place now, so I am constantly cleaning my floors, which are almost entirely laminate.  I love using my Swiffer because it is convenient, quick, and can get in hard to reach places, but the refills are really expensive to buy all the time!  Even the generic replacement costs add up so I decided to make my own.  I use a mixture of vinegar and water as a cleaning agent because it is non-toxic and therefore baby safe!  They are incredibly easy to make, and work great.  This is all you do:

1. Cut up old baby receiving blankets into 1/8's.
2. Fill a clean spray bottle with a mixture of half water and half distilled white vinegar.
3. Attach the cut up blanket to the Swiffer just like you would an actual Swiffer refill.
4. Spray it with enough solution to get it damp, and you are ready to clean!
5. You can even keep the blanket dry, and it works like a dry Swiffer refill. 

If you do a cost comparison, this is a no brainer. Swiffer refills cost at least $3.99 (even on sale) and last me only about one week. The bottle of vinegar cast me around 99¢ and will last at least a month for both my floors and counter tops.  Of course, the smell isn't as nice, but it evaporates quickly, cleans as well, and is baby and environmentally friendly! 

For more tips on saving money on your household cleaning read more here.

Homemade Dryer Sheets: Too Frugal?

I wrote a post a couple of weeks ago about saving money on household cleaning. In it, I mentioned making your own homemade dryer sheets.  Since I recently got a couple of bottles of Snuggle fabric softener for free using some high value coupons, I thought I would give it a try.

It turned out to be really easy.  I simply took a few old wash cloths and soaked them with the fabric softener.  Then I rung out the excess liquid and put it back into the bottle.  (I did make the mistake of not wearing gloves when I did this, and could not get the smell of the fabric softener off my hands for the rest of the day, no matter how hard I scrubbed!)  Next, I put the wash cloths in the garage to dry overnight.

Now the acid test, actually using them in the dryer.....

The results were not bad at all.  I read that you could reuse them up to 10 times.  I found that this was a bit too much, as they did the job for about 5 cycles each.  They didn't leave any discoloration on the fabric, and my clothes had a fresh scent.  Since it only took a couple minutes to make them, I will probably do it again (with gloves on).  I'm sure the fabric softener will last me a long time this way.

To some it may seem too frugal.  But hey, when you get a free product, why not get as much use out of it as possible!  

Do you have any frugal tips?  Leave me a comment!

Saving Money: Keep Your Home Clean For Less

Let's face it, living on one income has caused me to become kind of cheap!  But, it makes me so happy to find new ways to save a little money, as it all adds up!  I have discovered that there are many simple ways to save money on keeping my home clean.

For example, commercial cleaning products can be really expensive (not to mention harsh and hard on the environment).  Here are a few tips that I have come across and really like:

1.  Use vinegar and water.  I keep a spray bottle under my kitchen sink with one part water, one part white vinegar.  I use it to clean everything from my kitchen counter tops to my mirrors and windows.  I also use it for mopping my laminate floors.

2.  Make your own disinfectant spray.   You can mix 1/4 cup bleach per one gallon of tap water for a really inexpensive disinfectant.  I always use this to clean up after cooking with raw meat.  I am also using it on almost everything else right now with all of the scary flu bugs going around!

3.  Baking soda makes a great mild abrasive.  I use it on my glass stove top and it usually works well.  Just add water! One thing I don't recommend though is buying a white glass top stove, everything shows!)

4.  If you are getting the Sunday Paper (for all those great coupon inserts of course), use a few sheets for cleaning your mirrors and windows. 

5.  Use reusable cloths instead of paper towels.  I was going through about a roll every couple days which was really wasteful and costing me about $4 a week!  Since I had an overabundance of old receiving blankets, I recently cut them and they work great as cleaning rags.

6.  Do dishes the old fashioned way to save on the energy bill.  OK, I have to admit that it is so much easier and less time consuming to use the dishwasher!  But, lately I have been skipping the drying cycle and letting my dishes air dry.

7.  Cut dryer sheets in half.  They still reduce static cling and add a nice smell.  Some people even make their own dryer sheets with fabric softener and washcloths and use them over and over again.  Whichever method you prefer, always buy dryer sheets or fabric softener on sale stacked with a coupon!

8.  Of course, hanging clothes to dry also reduces the energy bill and keeps clothes in better condition.

Much of this is a no brainer.  But sometimes the simplest ideas really pay off in the long run.  Do you have any great tips to save money on cleaning?  Please leave me a comment!

Rights to picture: http://z.about.com/d/arthritis/1/5/B/D/cleaningtools8.jpg