Reader’s Question: Should I buy a Breadmaker/Breadmachine?

Frugal Upstate,

I love your blog – have gotten so many great ideas. Now a question – I love to make homemade pizza, and I agree with your comments that you can make it relatively healthy and inexpensive compared to delivery pizza.  And everyone in my household loves pizza.  My question — is buying a bread machine worth it for making pizza dough (and other homemade bread)? I’ve never owned a bread machine but have always been curious. Now that I have a spacious kitchen, I actually have room to store one. Any suggestions?  Is a bread machine a good frugal investment in the long term for homemade pizza dough and other stuff?

I generally make my pizza dough with my Kitchen Aid stand mixer, but do the rising, etc. in my oven on the bread-proof cycle. It’s a little more work than I would like for quick pizza meals, but it is good!

Thanks!

Alice

Alice,

Several people have written or commented lately asking me about the brand of my bread-maker, whether I recommend one etc~so your email is quite timely!

To start with I use a West Bend bread-maker.  It is an older model that we’ve had for quite some time. About 2 years ago it managed to vibrate itself off the counter while kneading bread, breaking the cover off and cracking the casing-I now have to prop up one corner of the machine with a potholder each time I use it. And the lid falls off when I open it up.  But hey-it still works.

Would I recommend one for you? Hmm, yes and no.

No, I would not recommend that you run right out and buy a new breadmachine.  Although the price has come down quite a bit on these units (a cursory Google search showed prices from $200 to $44) it’s still a chunk of change.

Yes, I do think one could be useful for you-especially if you,like me, plan on using it as merely a bread mixing, kneading & intial rising device.  My recommendation to you is to take a little jaunt to your local thrift store-something like a Goodwill or Salvation Army.  Those places usually have 2 or 3 breadmachines, older styles, just sitting on the shelves.

Pick out a nice unit with the larger pan size (2lbs).  Test it out*-plug it in and run the dough cycle for a few minutes to see if the little blade inside rotates around like it is supposed to. You don’t need to worry too much about the heating element etc-with the dough cycle it is only used to slightly warm the pan and aid with rising.

Head home with your bargain priced item and enjoy your breadmaking.  If you find that  you really love it and can’t live without it, then consider asking for a nicer model next year at Christmas

Jenn

Do you have a question for Frugal Upstate? I’d love to hear from you!  Use my contact form to drop me a line and I’ll answer as soon as I can!

*Most thrift stores operate with an “as is” policy on all appliances and electronics. Because of this they usually have several outlets that are left available for patrons to test items.

Reader’s Question: How to Build Your Blog Readership & Gain Attention

Dear Frugal Upstate,

Hi!   I have followed your website for a while now and love it. I started my own blog about 6 months ago. I love blogging, but  I was wondering how you got your name out there? It looks like you have done so well with your blog, How did you become part of the eleven moms? I just can’t figure out how to grow my blog- seems like when i find a deal it’s already on another blog.

Thanks for your time-Like I said I love your website.

Amber

Amber,

Thanks for writing! I’m so glad you enjoy reading Frugal Upstate and I am flattered that you are coming to me for blogging advice.

Long story short-there is no quick, easy, magical way to tell someone how to improve their blog readership & get more attention.  I blogged very regularly and steadily for over 2 (almost 3) years before I got any real kind of attention.  I worked hard, wrote a lot, tried to make it good.

In the long run it was a break that Walmart asked me  to participate in the Elevenmoms-but that wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t had the hard work, writing and audience to back it up.  Even after I became a part of that groundbreaking group I had to continue to work hard and take the opportunities I was offered and make something out of them.

Are there people who start a blog and are wildly successful after just a few months? Yes-of course.  But that combination of skill, audience, timing and luck can’t be replicated. They either happen or don’t.

That being said, there are a lot of little things that can be done to increase your chances-I’m sure you’ve heard a lot of them in other places, but here it goes.

#1-Write well.  Ok, basic, but make sure what you are saying is interesting, well formatted (aka easy on the eyes to read) and spelled correctly. Really-use spell check! There is no excuse.  Or use Firefox for your browser so you can automatically have it spell check everything you type on line.  Oh, and use grammar correctly as well-unless you are making a conscious stylistic choice

#2-participate.  Answer the comments of folks on your own blog. Go and make comments on other blogs (although not spammy link bait type comments) join relevant forums and become part of the community.

#3-Utilize other social networks.  You can get info about your site and posts out on Twitter, Facebook,Stumbleupon, and Whrrl.

#4-Pitch yourself locally.  This is hard for most of us to do, but don’t be afraid to try contacting local news outlets with ways you could be used in a story. Worse they can do is say no.

#5-Offer to guest post on other blogs.  Now don’t go spamming everyone you know with a form letter offering guest post services! That is just annoying.  But if you see someone doing a call for submissions then go ahead and offer to write, and make sure you put a nice little bio at the bottom with a link back to your site.

Ok, so those are the basics.  Seems like a lot of work doesn’t it? Well, it is! I told you there wasn’t any quick and easy answer.

I’m not done with the advice yet. . .

You were absolutely right when you say most deals are available in many, many places online.  To me it seems that the deal blogger market is getting over-saturated.  Tons of folks doing it-and doing it well.  What reason do folks have to come to YOUR blog?  Should you expand your topics? Let more of your personality show? Maybe even consider switching topics completely? There is no right or wrong answer-just things for you to consider.

Reader’s Question: Homemade Laundry Detergent Residue

Dear Frugal Upstate,

My husband and I recently bought a house. The house came with a washing machine that does not like my homemade laundry detergent (I’ve been using your recipe for a year at the old house with no problem).

The only way I can get my detergent to dissolve in this washer is to dissolve it first in hot water and then do an extra rinse cycle – which pretty much negates the money I’m saving by making my detergent in the first place. Otherwise, my clothes come out of the wash with goopey pieces of soap still stuck to them.

I’m already drying out the soap and re-grating it with my food processor before I mix up my detergent, so it’s a pretty fine powder. I don’t want to have to make the liquid version. Am I overlooking something obvious that I can do to solve this problem?

Heather

Dear Heather,

Wow, that’s a new one on me.  My first impulse would be to wonder if your water heater is set high enough-but then again I use my laundry detergent in cold water, and it always dissolves fine.

My second thought would be to wonder if there is something different in the actual water itself-perhaps harder water?  Then again, the water is very hard where I am and again, it dissolves fine.

Obviously the recipe itself isn’t at fault, as you have used it previously without an issue.

It almost seems like your machine isn’t really draining well. . .

Long story short, if we can’t figure out how to fix your problem, then your best bet is probably to go back to using store bought detergent.  If you have to do that then of course you should look into combining coupons and sales to get the best price.  Don’t forget to comparison shop across several stores to see where you can get the best price-by load, not by net weight! Most boxes and jugs do say h0w many loads they will clean.

What about all you readers out there? Anyone have a suggestion that Heather can try to make her homemade laundry detergent work?

Jenn