Having the basic sewing skills to do minor alterations and repairs is a fantastic way to save money.  Here is a great video (about 5 1/2 minutes) I found on YouTube showing how to hem pants.  Actually it’s two videos back to back showing the technique for hand hemming and then machine hemming right in a row.

I usually hem my own pants. At 5’2″ most store bought pants are just a bit too long for me. And in my area it costs between $8 -$12 to get your pants hemmed at a shop. Sure, it can take me a couple months to get to it. . . but I do eventually do it and save the money.

Even if you don’t have a machine and don’t really sew, give the hand hemming a try.  Seriously-it’s just not that hard.  The big trick is to get a thread that matches and to only pick up a couple of threads with your needle. . . You’ll get the hang of that quickly and then you’ve got an invisible hem!

And-as they say on Monty Python-Now for something completely different!  I was wondering, do you guys like the addition of these helpful and interesting videos from around the web on the weekends? I’m having fun finding them!

I thought it would be fun while I was away at Blissdom to give a few readers the opportunity to do guest posts here on Frugal Upstate.  This one is from my good internet friend, Karen.

Creative Frugality: Cooking from Scratch

When I became interested in living a frugal lifestyle, one tip I encountered over and over again was that eating at home is an excellent way to save money.  My husband and I rarely eat out, and we even pack lunches for work using leftovers from a previous meal.  Everyone has to eat, but not everyone enjoys cooking or baking, although everyone should learn to cook at least well enough to feed themselves or a family.  I totally love to cook and bake, especially dishes done the old-fashioned way . . . from scratch.

Cooking from scratch offers many benefits:

Photo by HawaiianFoodRecipe

1.  Use of fresh, natural (not pre-processed or artificial) ingredients with fewer chemicals  to contribute to food allergies and cause or exacerbate digestive problems or other health issues.

I used to believe butter was too expensive to use except on special occasions.  Then I realized that margarine or “spreads” are mostly oils, chemicals and water, and they won’t brown well at all.  Butter browns more evenly because it is made from natural ingredients, and less butter is needed to achieve the best flavor in a recipe.

2.  Control of ingredients (and thus control of health-related issues such as sodium and fat content) and portion sizes for less waste.

Have you ever noticed how huge some restaurant portions are?  Some of them could easily feed two or three people.

Photo by AlaskanLibrarian

3.  Better tasting food and better nutrition.

4.  More variety in your diet.

I’ve never seen a boxed cake mix for Italian Cream cake, but I have an excellent recipe for making one from scratch.

5.  Creativity and fun!

I love seeing a recipe come together from basic ingredients, and I enjoy experimenting with different herbs, spices and seasonings.  Many recipes can be changed at any time, just by using different ingredients.

Photo by Public Domain Photos

6.  Less expense.

Processed food is expensive because you are paying for convenience as well as for other costs such as advertising and shipping/storage.  Ingredients for scratch cooking can be purchased in quantity when they are on sale so that recipes can be made more than once, or extra portions can be prepared and frozen for later use (which is very handy when you are ill or too tired or rushed to prepare a meal on a busy weeknight or when it is just too hot to be in the kitchen very long).

In a single afternoon, it is possible to prepare, package, and freeze enough complete meals to feed a family for a week, or even up to a month. This can be done with the help of a friend or significant other, and you can even trade recipes your family enjoys for “new” ones from your friend for a change of pace.  It is perfectly possible to “make your own” mixes for pancakes, cakes, biscuits, soups and many more items at home and save money in the process.  Having an “extra” pan of lasagna, enchiladas or an extra casserole on hand can be like having money in the bank, because there is much less chance of needing to purchase “fast” food.

7.  An opportunity for sharing.

My husband and I often work together in the kitchen on weekends or to prepare holiday meals, and this is an excellent time for us to talk and laugh with each other. I began teaching my children to cook when they were five years old, by letting them come into the kitchen with me and help with safe and simple tasks.  Our grandchildren also enjoy being in the kitchen to prepare simple recipes with adult supervision.

Of course, cooking from scratch assumes one has a firm grasp of basic cooking skills.

Photo by Wickenden

If you do not know how to cook, there are a variety of ways to learn.  You can borrow cookbooks from family, friends, or a library or find them at garage sales if you do not have money to purchase new ones.  You can browse a multitude of recipe sites online or you can find video demonstrations of cooking techniques on television or online.

I believe that one of the most effective ways to learn to cook is by watching experienced cooks who will let you ask questions and even help them in the kitchen.  I watched my parents and my grandparents cook family meals, and as I became old enough to be safe in the kitchen with them I was allowed to do basic tasks like peeling potatoes, cutting vegetables or brewing coffee or tea.

I learned to make almost all of my grandmother’s holiday recipes by watching her make them.  I refuse to purchase “stuffing” in a box, because the dressing/stuffing I make using her recipes and techniques tastes so much better. I cringe at the thought of purchasing someone else’s idea of potato salad (often simply cubes of potato coated with mustard) when my mother’s homemade potato salad (colorful, flavorful and nutritious, with a variety of crunchy fresh vegetables and seasonings added) can be easily and inexpensively made.

Cooking from scratch does sometimes take extra time, so planning ahead, doing some preparation ahead of time, and having extra hands helping can speed things along a bit.  As your proficiency in the kitchen improves with practice, you may find that it takes much less time to cook from scratch, because you can cook several foods at once.  I typically do most of my cooking from scratch on weekends when there is less stress.  I almost never make a recipe for the first time for an “important” occasion. I prefer to practice first, which reduces the chance of making mistakes that render a dish inedible.  As with any other skill, the more practice one has, the better the ultimate outcome will be.

One does not need a kitchen full of expensive gadgets and equipment to be able to cook from scratch; ordinary pots, pans, cutlery and baking dishes work just fine.  My grandmothers as brides did not have electric mixers, microwave ovens or food processors, so they used a rotary egg beater or a plain fork to beat an egg, and a good sharp knife or two and cooked on a wood burning stove.  I hope I have provided some “food for thought” and that I have inspired you to learn to cook or to improve your cooking skills, and that you will explore the many ways to be creative in cooking “from scratch.”

Karen is a native Texan, and has been living a frugal lifestyle and finding ways to save money and keep my home well organized for almost four years. She enjoy finding creative ways to live frugally and become more self-sufficient. Karen  recently wrote my first book on frugality, organizing and saving money: Saving Our Sanity. She is a regular, loyal reader and commenter here on Frugal Upstate.  Please give her some Comment Love!

Do you color your hair?

I’m actually pretty lucky-although my mom started going silver at 25, I’m in my late 30′s and still only have a few strands of gray here and there.  However I have been “fashion” dying my hair with some red highlights for the last year or so.

It’s fun and it’s frivolous, but it’s something I do just for me.

I have always gone to the hairdresser to have my hair colored.  One of my best friends is a stylist here in town~so of course I have her do my hair.  It’s not only because of our friendship, and my desire to support local, independent businesses–but also because the idea of coloring my own hair was pretty intimidating.

But that has changed!  A month or so back I got the opportunity to be in an online commercial for the new Fat Foam hair color by SAMY that is being sold exclusively at Walmart ($8.97-and with $.97 shipping if you buy online).

I traveled down to New York City (along with fellow Walmart Moms Tara of Deal Seeking Mom & Erika of Chic Shopper Chick) and spent a day filming-it was really amazing experience!   There was wardrobe, and professional makeup, and about 20 other folks who made it all happen.

Look! I'm on camera!

Wow, that's a lot of people and equipment

Of course as part of it I got to use-for the first time ever-home hair color.  In front of a room full of people.  On film.

No pressure or anything eh?

I remember watching my mom dye her hair at home when I was a kid.  It was not a neat and clean process! Plus there was that time she turned it Navy Blue by mistake. . . uh, but we won’t talk about that (right mom?).

I have to say-this really was easy to use-and I’m not just saying that because I was paid to.  You really just shook the stuff up, applied it with your fingers and away you went!

The color was nice and dark (I used the dark brown shade) and it not only covered the red highlighting I had in, but it also obliterated the few gray strands that I had.

I was especially interested to see if I had any color leakage afterward, so I checked my pillow in the morning-no dye rubbed off. I also paid special attention in the shower that morning-the water ran completely clear so no trouble there either.

Some tips for dying your own hair:

1: Read the directions before you start doing ANYTHING.  The director (obviously a male) was a bit surprised when he learned I’d have to wait 30 minutes before rinsing the dye out.  They had to rearrange the shooting schedule and start filming Erika while I waited

2: Clean off any color that gets on your skin as soon as possible.  The foam did go where I put it, but I put some of it on my skin by accident!  And if you use another product it could be drippier and you might have more issues with that.

3: Consider putting a thin trail of vaseline all along your hairline to protect your skin from any stray color.  This will help with #2.

4: Wear older clothes and cover yourself well with an old towel.

My end verdict on hair coloring?  I think that doing it at home can be a big win budget wise-there are just so many great colors & easy products out there.

To be honest though, as long as the budget allows I am going to support my friend and her small independently owned shop by having her color my hair.   If the budget grows tighter I am happy to know that I have a frugal and effective alternative out there.

So what about you?

Do any of you color your hair at home? Is it something you’ve always done, or have you started as a money saving measure more recently? What tips do you have to make coloring your own hair easier and more economical?

Disclaimer:  I was compensated as talent for my part in the Samy Fat Foam hair color online commercial, and for sharing my experiences here.  All opinions expressed are my own.

***This is a sponsored post***

It’s that time of year again.  I have already been hit up for school pictures as well as soccer pictures.  And I have a confession to make.

I caved.

Yes, I have now shelled out a grand total of $75 for school pictures. $29 for each of the kids for one of the smallest packages, then $17 for Buddy’s soccer pictures.

Yeah. I know.

Honestly though, I could have just gotten the class/team pictures.  I do think those are worthwhile-I love looking back at my old 2nd grade photos and seeing the clothes, and what everyone looked like back then.  Then I could have implemented some other cost saving measures to get something very similar to a school photo for the kiddos~but it became a time vs money issue for me.

We have the money so I decided to go ahead and just purchase them.

But I feel guilty.

So what else could I have done? What other options are out there if it really just isn’t in the budget?  Here are 3 ways to save money on school pictures.

#1-Take it yourself.

I mean really-which of these do you like more:

My photo

School Photo

I think mine is just as nice as the school photo. I could have done a similar shot to the school photo of him against a solid background.

Need help?  Check out this article over at “Love to Know” with tips on Taking School Pictures. For even more tips, here is a great list of 19 Portrait Tutorials at Digital Photography School.

#2-Find someplace cheaper.

Many retailers and big box stores have small photo studios that ALWAYS seem to be running some sort of deal.  A quick we search brought me up a couple of  examples.  JC Penney had free sitting, an 8X10, 2~5×7′s, 4~3 1/2×5′s and 16 wallets for $7.99.  Walmart had a similar package.

Be careful when using these services.  Typically the FIRST POSE that you say you like (and at Walmart you can’t go back to a previous when you say you don’t like it-they erase it) is the one that gets the package price.  They frequently will take subsequent shots.

First: Make sure that you are not going to be charged a sitting fee for those other shots.

Second: Resist the temptation! The other shots will be SOOOO cute. You will want them all. The photographer will try to upsell you to other packages, add in other shots etc.  Even when you go to pick up your photos they will have some of the other shots in there and you will want to buy them because they are right there, in hard copy. THIS WILL COST YOU.  Resist!

#3-Skip the pictures.

I know, it is practically heresy to say this.  You could just skip the photos all together. If you don’t have them taken, they won’t cost you money.

Just writing this article has inspired me. I am going to attempt to take my own version of the kids school pictures and Buddy’s soccer picture, and then I will post them side by side and see what you all think!

Need help with clutter control and organization? Can’t seem to stay on top of your life and all it entails? Our next show is for you!  This coming Monday, September 14th at 8:30 pm EST Frugal Coast2Coast will have special guest expert & author Marla Cilley-better known to her thousands of fans as “The FlyLady“.  We will be talking about “Clutter Control and the Flylady System”.

Sink Reflections by Marla Cilley

Lynnae and I are just so excited to talk with Marla again that we can barely stand it!  We both had read her book and implemented portions of her system (note to self, get back on the Flylady system) well before meeting her online.  She is a fabulous and fun lady-the show is going to just fly by! (ha ha-fly, get it?)

You are not going to want to miss this show live, but if you MUST. . .just remember it will be available as a podcast for your future listening enjoyment! You can always find our episode player on the “Frugal Coast2Coast” blog, as well as the show notes (links mentioned on air etc) for each and every show.

Your Fabulous Frugal Coast2Coast Hosts!

While you are over at Frugal Coast2Coast don’t forget to sign up for the newsletter.  This is a joint Frugal Upstate & Being Frugal.net newsletter which will be published once a month.  It will not only include the best of both of our blogs, but also NEW material not seen on either blog.  To add to the excitement we will do a random prize drawing each month from among the newsletter subscribers.  You don’t want to miss out on all of that! So even if you already subscribe to me through email, you need to hurry on over and sign up for the Joint Frugal Coast2Coast Newsletter as well!

This one falls in the “honey, are you crazy” realm for poor patient Yankee Bill.  There are just some thing I do in the course of following the frugal path that he sighs and shakes his head over. Using my car as a dehydrator to dry herbs (lovage) is one of those things.

You see, our lovage plant (which I use contantly in cooking & adore) has been reaching it’s full potential. That is to say it has grown to almost 5 feet tall.  Planting it right next to the back door has made it extremely accessible and convenient for cooking-however hubs sense of aesthetics has been marred by it’s somewhat, um, weedy straggly appearance.

Hey, I said it was a very useful plant, I never said it was beautiful.

He asked, very graciously, that I give it a haircut.  Although it wasn’t bothering me in the least, some things you do for the sake of one you love.  I gave it a trim.

Now my frugal soul (aka packrat tendancies) kicked in. Although I knew that the lovage plant post trim was still way more herb than I’d ever use in a season-I really, really hated the idea of throwing out perfectly good leaves.

So what to do? I have read that you can freeze them in water. I know last fall I froze some the lazy way-just cut off a bunch of stems and threw them in a freezer bag. Those were fine in stews etc, but had that slimy watery texture. Not really pleasant to add to a potato salad.

That’s when I remembered one of those random frugal ideas I had read about but never gotten around to trying.  Using your car as a dehydrator!  I know that sounds crazy, but think about it. . .how hot does YOUR car get sitting in the summer sun. . .

I ran down to the basement and grabbed one of the large screens I saved* when we had all the windows replaced a year ago.  I gave it a good scrub and sat it against the deck to dry.

Then I cut all the good leaves off of the Lovage stems I had trimmed. I was going to try doing something with the stems-in fact kept them in the kitchen for a day before I decided that was just too much and composted them.

Then I took the screen and placed it in my car.  It was just long enough to balance on the front headrests and the back seat.

I spread the leaves on the screen. They completely filled it up, with some overlap.  That worried me a bit, but I knew they would shrink as they dried. Although I’ve read some articles that say you should leave the windows cracked for air flow, I left mine all the way up.

I checked the herbs at the end of the day, and there was significant shrinkage, but they were still limp and pliable.  So I decided to leave them in for another day**.

It proceeded to either rain or be very humid for the next 3 days. Now I didn’t want to take them out of the car in the rain, and the times when it wasn’t raining it seemed like it was really windy. So I just left them there! The first day I didn’t drive anywhere. The second I did but just left the screen balanced there. The third day I had to drive with the kids in the car so I carefully moved the screen to the cargo area of the vehicle.

The car did smell pretty strongly, but pleasantly, of dried lovage not only during the drying process, but also for several days afterwards.

When the drying was complete I brought the leaves inside and placed them in a Gallon sized zippered baggie.

Hmm. That is pretty bulky . . .

What if I just sort of crushed it up, right there in the bag?

There! Much better. Now all I have to do is put it in a container and stick it in the spice cupboard! Viola!

I wonder what else I can dehydrate in the car? What do you dehydrate? Do you use an electric dehydrator or some other method?

For a great article on dehydrating check out “Dehydrating Vegetables” by Pat Veretto

*Note: I try really hard not to over-do when saving things-although Yankee Bill would say I do NOT succeed on that particular front! I showed great restraint and only saved 4 window screens. . .

**Note: It was only about 70 out. If you had hotter weather I’m sure it would be done in a day.

It’s yard sale season! Ahh, the lure of a bargain. . . .Since this coming Monday’s episode of Frugal Coast2Coast is all about yard sales, I thought I’d take a little time to day to talk about hosting a yard sale, and then on Monday to talk about shopping at them!

So maybe you’ve got a lot of stuff, extra stuff, stuff you really want to get rid of. So you figure, heck! I’ll have a yard sale.

But where to start?

Organizing and Advertising

Before you do anything else, you need to take a minute and check your local laws. Some municipalities require paying for a permit in order to hold a yard sale, and police will actually cite you if you do not have it. (I saw this happen in Colonial Heights Virginia). In other places you just stick your stuff out on your lawn and go for it!

For advertising, check way in advance what the requirements are to get your sale in the paper. You may need to give several weeks worth of lead time. Make fliers and post them at you local grocery stores etc (with permission of course). The day of the sale make sure you have signage at all the major roads with arrows showing the direction to the sale.

Marking Merchandise

It is easy these days to find pre-printed yard sale tags at your local dollar store etc. Personally I find the denominations to be to high for my sales-I really don’t need a bunch of $10 tags etc.

You can also print your own stickers on the computer using labels. This can be a frugal choice if, like me, you can occasionally find computer labels at the dollar store (I always stock up when they have large packets of Avery stickers-about once a year). I printed 2 prices per small address label, then cut them all in half.

I’ve also found from experience that stickers do not stay on clothing. I tried one year using a stapler to staple the stickers to the clothes, but that proved difficult to remove. The last yard sale I had, I bit the bullet and bought some of those hanging tags-the ones that are sort of rectangular and have a loop of string on them. I’ve found that most clothing has a buttonhole, loop, or sizing tag that you can loop the string through. There are a few clothing items that have flat tags instead of looped tags. I’ve had to use a sticker on those and hope for the best. Since in my experience this only happens on the less expensive clothes, I’m not so worried. If the price falls off, I’ll just lowball the price.

An alternate method for marking merchandise is to do it “thrift store style” and simply put up a sign that says a standard price for like items. This is much easier than marking individual items, but only works if they are all of similar quality. For example I have used a sign that says “Hardcover books $.25, Paperbacks $.10 unless otherwise marked”. If there were specific books that were worth more, such as the cookbooks or knitting books, I priced them individually.

Another techinque is to group like items together as a small lot. It makes them more likely to sell. I like to buy a box of Gallon sized zippered baggies from the dollar store and place items inside them. It looks like much more of a deal to buy 5 or 6 headbands in a baggie instead of having them all laying there priced separately. An added benefit is it all goes-no single orphaned headband left over.

Pricing.

The key to pricing is to be reasonable. This stuff is junk that is taking up space in your house. The whole point here is to GET RID OF IT, while making some money. Don’t mark it like it is a priceless antique-unless of course it is.

I buy a good percentage of our clothes at thrift stores and yard sales-so I bought it all at a pittance to begin with. I price that stuff accordingly when I am trying to sell them. I tend to use up my “under a dollar” stickers pretty quickly.

If I decide to mark something more expensively, it is because I have already decided that I’m willing not to sell it unless I get that price.

If you are really in a rush, or don’t know how much to ask, try marking it “Make an Offer”. If they offer too low you can always counter with another price.

Multi-Participant Sales

If you are holding a single sale where multiple people are selling, you have to figure out a way to keep track of the sales! The easiest method I have found is this-have each seller mark their labels with their initials. Take a notebook & make a page for each set of initials. When you sell items, remove the price stickers and stick them on the correct page of the book, or write the amount on the page. The money all goes together in the same cashbox. At the end of the sale add up each persons page to see how much money they made. Distribute the money accordingly.

The Cash Box

Make sure you have something to keep the money in. This sounds basic, but it isn’t something you want to be running around trying figuring this out after folks start showing up.

Whatever box, basket or envelope you are starting with needs some “seed money”. Remember that these days EVERYONE is starting their day with $20′s from the ATM machine, so you will probably have to make change frequently. It wouldn’t hurt to go to the bank prior to the sale and get $50 of change in $1 and $5 bills. Then make sure you put a note IN THE CASHBOX stating how much seed money was started with (and in the case of a multi-participant sale at one location, who gave the seed money). Even if you are running a single family sale, you don’t want to count that seed money into your profit at the end.

Precautions

Don’t ever leave your cashbox unattended. Wouldn’t it be lovely if everyone were ethical and trustworthy?. Let’s not tempt anyone to do anything they shouldn’t.

Watch out for Yard Sale Shysters. I haven’t had this happen myself, but have heard about it. Stand firm if you know that someone has switched price tags on you or taken one off. Also stand firm if someone comes back later and tries to tell you that you gave them the wrong change. (ie “wait, I gave you a $20, not a $10″) Try to take a good look at the bills when you are given them so you can be SURE that they are not telling the truth. Just remember, you don’t need to argue with them, it’s your sale! Just be firm. If someone is giving you problems, go ahead and ask them to leave and lose the sale. They aren’t worth it.

Extras/Miscellaneous

Don’t forget to have a free box. Really, you’d be surprised at the things you think are complete garbage that someone else will be thrilled to take. Your bits and pieces might be exactly what someone is looking for to complete their latest craft project. I know of one lady who used to pick up baby toys that were in really horrible shape-she gave them to her dogs as chew toys. Hey, even if you don’t get any money for it, if it keeps it out of the landfill.

Make sure you have plenty of plastic bags. These days that doesn’t seem to be a problem. Even though I shop mostly at Aldi’s and Save a Lot where I have to bring my own bags I seem to be swamped with the things.

Consider selling refreshments. Maybe you could let the kids handle that and earn some money! It would be a great way to foster a little entrepreneurial spirit. In the past I’ve sold muffins and banana bread slices at the yard sale-apparently some folks head out yard sale-ing without eating breakfast. Don’t necessarily count on it as a huge money maker, but if you have the time it can’t hurt. Some cheapo brand sodas (in types that you wouldn’t mind drinking if you don’t sell them) and a coffee pot brewing with some disposable cups are good ideas as well.

After The Sale

Bag it all up, and place it in the back of the car. Right away. Before you change your mind. You wanted to get rid of this stuff, don’t bring it back into the house or it might hang around for another 10 years.

You might even be able to arrange for a charity to come and pick it up for you right after the sale.

So what are your best tips for holding a yard sale?

*Remember-it is illegal to put anything in a mailbox! Leave the fliers in the door, or knock on the door, introduce yourself and hand the flier to the homeowner.

Photo by StopnLook

Lately I’ve had a few different questions come in about my Homemade Laundry Soap recipe. I thought I’d share them all here-so everyone can see the answers and add in their own knowledge!

Dear Frugal Upstate,

I have a laundry question. I recently started making my own laundry detergent and softener. Thanks for the recipe. However, my DH noticed that it is fading the color of our clothes do you have any suggestions?

Devon

Wow, Devon, that’s a new one to me. I’ve been using homemade laundry soap for over 5 years and have never noticed any fading! Readers, I need your help. Has anyone had this issue? Any suggestions?

Dear Frugal Upstate,

I have to use HE detergent. Has anyone tried the homemade laundry soap in an HE machine?

Thanks,
Flo

One of the interesting things about homemade laundry soap is that it does NOT foam up like traditional store bought detergents. This actually throws folks off when they first start making it-we’ve been trained by brands to EXPECT a whole bunch of foam. From that fact I would guess that homemade laundry soap would actually work quite well in an HE machine. However, I can not swear to it, so try it at your own risk. I don’t want anyone blaming me for an overflow!

So what do you all think readers, has anyone tried the homemade soap in their HE machine successfully? Please share!

Dear Frugal Upstate,

I have wanted to make the laundry detergent for ever. I have looked for the items needed, the only thing I cannot find is WASHING SODA! Where can I purchase this item?

Thank you,
Jaycee

If you’ve looked and can’t find washing soda at your local stores, I recommend contacting Arm & Hammer directly and asking them which stores in your area carry the product. I did this myself when I first started making the detergent in Virginia, and then again when I moved to New York.

I simply went to the Arm & Hammer website and searched around until I found the “contact us” section (I’m not sure that is exactly what it is labeled). Then I sent a note telling them I was looking for Washing Soda, gave them my zip code and asked them if they could tell me what stores in my area carried it. It took a couple of weeks, but they did email me back with the names of several stores in the area.

I’ve also had readers say that washing soda is the exact same chemical compound as something used in swimming pools, and that they have purchased it at their pool supply stores, but I’m a little fuzzy on all those details. Readers, if you know about that, please weigh in!

So there are the laundry soap related questions I’ve been asked recently. Do you have any others?

If you are interested in seeing exactly how the laundry soap is made (and to see my smiling face), check out my Vlog: Making Laundry Detergent. You might also be interested in reading “Is Making Your Own Laundry Detergent Worth It?“.

Photos by Garden Hoe

My husband has been on a Chelada kick lately.

For those of you not in the “know” Chelada* is a new beer put out by Budweiser that is a combination of beer and clamato juice.

I know. It sounds disgusting. This drink is one of those things that you either hate or love.

Hubs loves it.

Anyway, after a few weeks of him buying a couple of cans each week to “treat” himself I started thinking about the expense. After all, they are selling them individually for over $2 each.

The frugal gears in my brain started turning. Hmm-is there anything in there besides beer and clamato? I checked the label-just those two ingredients.

Ok, well what about the proportions? Well, the can is about twice the size of your average beer can, but according to the label the alchol content is the same as a single 16oz beer.

OK, so logically that should mean that if I pour a regular beer into a large glass (we have very tall German beer glasses that the store bought Chelada just fills-like the one in the photo) and then fill it to the top with clamato, I should have my own homemade version.

So we tried it. Hubs actually prefers Coors Light to Bud, so we used that. . . Guess what? He actually likes it better than the one in the can-and it is less expensive.

Tada! Frugality wins out!

*according to my research,the Bud Chelada doesn’t really reflect what one would normally expect to be a chelada. . . I’m just going with the name they use folks, so don’t correct me!

Photo by Baltimike

It’s happened to us all.

In a fit of optimism we buy fresh veggies at the store. We bring them home, feeling virtuous, and place them in the crisper drawer. . .

Where they remain.

And remain.

Then you find them, weeks later, and they aren’t looking so fresh or so healthy anymore! Yet they aren’t really spoiled-just unappetizing. Wrinkled tomato skin or wilted broccoli heads aren’t dangerous after all.

So what to do? Throwing out food is not frugal in any way shape or form!

Here is a quick fix!

Chop those puppies up and toss them into a soup, stirfry, curry or casserole! This tip works even on items you normally only consume raw-like grape tomatoes or lettuce. No one ever said those things CAN’T be cooked. I have used regular iceberg lettuce that is slightly past it’s prime in many a curry!

(*note to self-you don’t really eat salad as often as you think you do)
(*note to readers-this tip works really well for that little bit of tossed salad left in the fridge as well!)

What? Don’t have any of those on the dinner plan anytime soon? Well chop away, but stick in a zippered freezer baggie. Just try to make plans to use it in the next week or so. Otherwise you are likely to forget it’s existence again.

Photo by The Tame Alien