Thrifty Thursday - Swap

This week's tip comes from my S.I.L (who, regrettably, does not have a blog). She mentioned this idea a while back as a great way to save money. It's something I have never tried formally, but would love to someday.

We all love to add a new piece of clothing to our wardrobe, a new accessory to our jewelry box, or a new piece of decor to our home. However, we also all know that adding these new pieces can become a bit pricey.

Gather a few close friends, who have the same style/taste/size as you and organize a swap. You can set whichever parameters you'd like. Maybe each person is asked to bring three articles of clothing that are still nice and stylish but that they don't wear often anymore. Or maybe you each bring a few hair accessories or decorative items that you don't have a place for in your home. I'd recommend if you do something like this you organize it with friends who you are really comfortable and open with. You want to be able to pass up on items that you don't really care for, and you wouldn't want to hurt someone's feelings by saying you think the shirt they brought is ugly.

Another suggestion would be to organize a kitchen swap. See if you have a few friends who have kitchen tools or appliances that they don't have a use for. Have a waffle maker stuffed back in your cupboard somewhere that you've only used twice? Have a friend who loves to make waffles? There ya go. Maybe you can even develop the swap into a party. Everyone brings a few items to swap along with a snack and recipe to swap?

Although I've never formally organized a clothing or decor swap, my SIL and I have done a bit of 'informal swapping' in the past. Mostly we've given each other earrings, hair bands and other accessories. Although one time she even gave me an extra hair brush that she didn't need because she knew the handle on mine had been broken for a long time. So, it doesn't have to be a formally organized event. Maybe you just want to have a running agreement with a close friend or family member that you will swap things that you are bored with etc.

If you have a few girlfriends, sisters or coworkers who have a groovin' style, see if they want to be involved in some kind of swap. It could be a great way to have some fun with the girls, get a few "new to you" nice things and avoid dishin' out the dough! If any of you have ever done a swap, let me know how you organized it and how it went.

Have a thrifty thursday!

The Solution

Let me tell you something about my husband. He snores. A lot. Really Loud. ALL.THE.TIME. Honestly, he's the only person I know who snores while he's still awake. (I stole that line from a TV show or movie somewhere but I'm not sure).

Let me tell you something about me. I like to sleep. A lot. I enjoy deep, uninterrupted sleep and when I don't get this type of sleep I get a wee bit cranky. Not sure how I'll do as a Mom.

Let me tell you something about our marriage. This has proven to be a lethal, explosive combination. Seriously, it might sound petty, but I would say it is the #1 cause of conflict in our marriage. Being awake while the person beside me is sleeping (and snoring) soundly is one of the most frustrating experiences ever!!!! He's also extremely difficult to wake up, which increases my frustration level.

It seems a bit funny to me that before we were married the thing I looked forward to most about getting married and living together was that we would get to share a bed. I thought about spooning the night away and waking up to his sweet kisses. In fact, when he moved into our apartment 6 weeks before our wedding, he didn't even use our new bedding because I made him save it all for when I moved in. When we returned from our honeymoon, I found that he had made the bed up all nice and hotel-like. We called it our "Marriage Carriage". Our dreams were coming true...

BAH! Those dreams were short lived. I remember in our first weeks of marriage I would wake up to the loud, nasally growls. All I had to do was say "snoring" in a quiet voice and he would mumble an apology and roll over, granting me peace and quiet. Well, this worked for a while. However, as time wore on, I became less tolerant of his snoring and he became less sensitive to my gentle reminders to stop snoring.

Nearly three years later, we are still searching for a solution to this problem. The only two solutions that work are 1) I go to bed much earlier than him to ensure I'm deep in slumber by the time he comes to bed or 2) He sleeps on the couch. Clearly, neither of these options are ideal. Generally, I stay up later than him and so that rules out number 1. And well, number 2 just stinks for obvious reasons (although I have enforced this option on a few desperate-for-sleep nights). The closest thing to a solution and my saving grace is this little (dusty) number...

Yup, I cannot sleep without this fan blowing. It seems to (somewhat) drown out the disgusting noise that resonates from my fabulous dude's nasal cavity night after night after night after night after night. But, it still hasn't completely solved our marital woes. I beg, and I mean BEG, him on a regular basis to try to stay awake until I fall asleep to ensure that he will not keep me awake. This has yet to happen. Oh, did I forget to mention, that along with his snoring he can also fall asleep 5 seconds before laying his head on his pillow? Honestly, the speed at which this dude can fall asleep blows my freakin' mind.

Last night, on our way to grocery store, the radio announcers were asking listeners to call in and give their opinion on the following question .... "If one partner snores, is it better for them to sleep in separate beds or put up with the snoring?"

Some of the responses reflected my feelings exactly. One caller wondered why the person who snores always seems to be the one who falls asleep first. Yup, no fair. One caller suggested that while sleeping in separate beds might decrease the "romantic connection" between spouses, laying awake for hours on end while your hubby snores might also have the potential to decrease said connection. Good point. But, the caller I resonated with most said something along the lines of this...

"It's not that I think he's a bad person. He's a great person when he's awake. But at night, he snores so loudly that it causes me to have very violent thoughts about him. Sometimes, I want to punch him in the head".

My feelings exactly. Perhaps we have just found our solution.

Giveaway!!

Check out Mandi's 100th post giveaway. This girl has got some creative abilities! I'm definitely going to have to take some pointers from her.

By the way ... I'm getting close to 100 posts myself. Check back soon. ;)

We're at the in-laws this weekend. I went to a factory store today and got some things to (hopefully) spruce up my (hideous) bathroom. I've been inspired lately to make some improvements to our home and I think I might need some help with ideas.

Have a great weekend!

Thrifty Thursday - Double Up!!

Phew! I am back. What a week. We traveled north last Friday. I went to my sister's with my parents, brother and his wife and the fabulous dude headed to the "home country" to play hockey with my cousins. The rest of us headed over there Sunday morning in time for church. Then, the visitation for my Grandpa was on Sunday evening and the funeral on Monday. After the funeral, we all headed back to my sister's for another night and headed home early Tuesday morning. In total, between Friday and Tuesday we spent 26 hours in the car. Fun.

The weekend with my family was great. It is always good to be with family, although the circumstances for the reunion were unfortunate. It was an emotional time for everyone as we said our goodbyes to our grandpa, dad, brother, uncle etc. Grandpa was a farmer so Emily placed a toy tractor in his casket along with giving us each a cow to give to him, one to represent each grandchild and great grandchild. The funeral service was a beautiful tribute to his life. The preacher at his church led the service and did a wonderful job. Two of my cousins, Joel and Emily, gave beautiful testimonies to our grandfather. Joel counted down the top 10 reasons you know you're part of Grandpa's "herd" (the cows). They both spoke of wonderful memories of a great man and spoke of his love for life, his family and most importantly, his God.

By the time we got home late Tuesday evening, we were exhausted. So far, I've gone to bed before 9:30 both nights since I've been home. This is also my reading week, so I was glad that I didn't have to miss any school while traveling, although it does mean I have a lot of catching up to do to be sure I get done everything I need to get done before going back to class next week.

Okay, so, I'm sure by now you're wondering how in the world this post is about being thrifty?

Well, my tip for this week has to do with reducing the chance that you abandon your budget on weeks like this (when you're busy, traveling, tired, sick, lazy etc). This tip only really works if you've got freezer space. When I make a casserole, pasta, soup, chili or basically anything else, I try to cook double what I need to freeze for later use. Usually, I do a major cooking day at the beginning of each semester to have pre-made, healthy, homemade meals on hand.

This week, my doubled up meals have come in handy. While trying to get caught up on work, unpack, get laundry done and so on, I don't have time to organize meals, grocery shop, or cook. So, I have been using up some of the pre-made meals from the freezer.

Although at the time, this doesn't really save money, I do find it does so in the end. The nights I use the pre-made meals tend to be those same nights that, in the past, I would have called the hubster at work and said, "pick up something on your way home". These are the nights we would generally eat out, grab take out, or another convenience meal from the grocery store. As you know, all of those things are quite pricey. This way, I have a meal that has already been paid for and is (usually) more healthy than the other options.

Having pre-made meals on hand in the freezer reduces stress and doesn't break the bank!

The World Cries While the Heavens Rejoice

Early this morning, my Grandfather left this earth to be with his Heavenly Father. Although it brings sadness to our hearts, we all know that he was ready to go and that his time here on earth was done. He lived a full and happy life and was ready to meet his Lord.

I have been thinking of fond memories of him all day today - like when he would put a pair of our underwear on his head every Christmas, when he would mumble his way through a prayer at dinner and the only audible word would be "amen", when I got angry with him as a child and told him I would never come visit him again, even when I was all grown up with kids of my own.

He was a wonderful man. I can only imagine him reuniting with my Grandmother and his friends and family members who have gone before him. The angels are certainly rejoicing today.

The next few days are going to be busy so please pardon my silence. I'll get back to blogging as soon as I can.

Thrifty Thursday - Baby Food

So, why is a lady without a baby, who's trying to save money, writing about baby food? She's not. I have been really busy this week, so my dear Sis, offered to write a guest post for me.

All of these thrifty Thursdays posts, brought to you by my lovely sis, have been an inspiration to me but, since I don’t have a blog of my own, I’m sharing my thrifty experience as her guest this week.

Becoming a new mommy while also buying/renovating/moving into a new house at the same time (not highly recommended) can drain the piggy bank pretty quickly. And, as any parent knows, babies are expensive. Who knew that in the first three weeks we would go through approximately 300 diapers? DS is now nearing 7 months and, while using less than half the number of diapers, is happily eating 3 “meals” a day. It’s so exciting the first time you go into the grocery store to buy baby food. Just like it was so exciting the first time you bought diapers (until you realize that you just went through 100 of them in one week). You go into the grocery, head for the baby isle, find the beginner foods and then choke when you find out that the jar of strained peas costs $0.75 (at least it does here…maybe it’s different other places that aren’t connected to the rest of civilization via a one-laned bridge). At first it’s no big deal, a teaspoon here and a tablespoon there. But soon it’s a jar here and a jar there and a screaming, crying baby if it doesn’t come fast enough or if it’s pears instead of the peaches that DS wants. So, for this week’s thrifty Thursday post I decided to make baby food and share my experience with you.

First, applesauce is applesauce, whether you buy it in the baby isle or elsewhere. They are exactly the same thing. I like to buy the snack packs (unsweetened of course) because it’s unsafe to feed a baby anything that’s been in the fridge for more than 3 days. Better safe than sorry. Although I must admit, sometimes the leftovers don’t make it back to the fridge.

The next thing I tried was sweet potatoes. Anything like squash or potatoes are easy to make. You just wash them and then bake or roast them (with the skin on to keep all the vitamins in) and then mash or blend them up. I blend mine still, mashed makes DS gag. If you need to add water to thin it you can. Then, I fill an ice cube tray, cover it with saran, freeze and then pop them out and into a freezer bag or container. The cubes that come out are about a tablespoon, maybe slightly more. At supper time I just take one or two cubes out and defrost in the microwave. This saves a ton of money and he likes them better.

Sweet potatoes were one sale for $0.79 per pound. I bought ~0.9lbs (3 potatoes) = $0.68

This made one tray of cubes. My tray makes 16 cubes or 8 meals. 8 meals for 0.68.

That’s the equivalent of 4 jars at 0.75 = 3.00

After my sweet success I may have got a little overly ambitious. Peas, I thought, I’ll make peas. I brought water to a boil and steamed them for about 10 minutes until they were tender.

Blended them up.

Added a little water.

What more could DS want than freshly cooked peas….

…ok, well, maybe he’s not ready for homemade peas yet. But I still have the sweet potatoes. Any suggestions on what I can do with 16 ice cubes of pureed peas?

Wordless Wednesdays - Addicted to Blogging

I'm not the only one in this house who's addicted to blogging. Hop on over and check out Homebody Holly's house parade. Everybody's doing it....

My 2009 Kitchen Goal

I know it's a bit late to be sharing my new year's goal but I was reluctant to post about it at first because I was afraid it was a bit to pie in the sky and that I would flunk out and then feel silly when people asked me how it was going. It is also not like me to really make new year's resolutions (which you may not believe now that this is my second post talking about new year's resolutions). However, I made it through the first month and have been successful so I thought it was about time I started writing about it.

Anyway, earlier in 2008, I came across the CrockPot Lady. If you haven't visited her blog, let me tell you a bit about her. She vowed to use her crockpot every single day in 2008 and succeeded! You go girl! My goal is not nearly as ambitious but she certainly did inspire me to set a "Kitchen Goal" and to strive to do somethings differently this year.

So here it is ...

Drum roll please ...

I have made it my goal to make all of our own bread products in 2009, or at least be consistently making everything myself by the end of the year. So far, I haven't bought a single bread product since before Christmas. I'm having a load of fun with it, too.

Let me tell you about it. I am not necessarily setting this goal in order to save money or to be healthier (although those are certainly benefits and strong motivators). The truth is, I got a breadmaker from my mother in law for Christmas and I have heard so many people say, "I have a breadmaker that I used twice, then I put it in storage and never used it again". I am just too darn stubborn to be one of those people. I figure by setting this goal, I'll be sure to get good use of my breadmaker.

On that note, I know some people's response may be, "Using a breadmaker doesn't count as making your own bread." Well, in my opinion, if it's the first step I can take, then fine by me. For most recipes (so far) I have been using the dough setting and finishing the bread in the oven. But, I am by no means opposed to doing the entire baking cycle in the bread maker. The bread pan in my machine is horizontal, so the bread comes out the same shape as a regular loaf. The only thing I don't like is that the mixing paddles leave those annoying holes in the bottom of the loaf. In the summer, I started making some bread by hand, but at this point in life, I know there's no way I would stick to my goal if I had to do all the mixing and kneading by hand. It's just too time consuming. It's so much quicker to use the dough cycle, and so far the results have been fantastic.

The problem with making homemade bread is this ... sometimes it tastes a lot better than store bought bread which means sometimes I eat a little bit too much of it. In that case, homemade bread would not, in fact, be more health conscious. However, I have a theory that has held up thus far: the more you make homemade bread, the less novel is becomes and the less you feel the need to eat half a loaf in one sitting. I have really been impressed that we haven't been overindulgent. I really haven't been making any more than I would normally be buying, so that's a good thing!

My pasta making expedition was a part of this experiment as well. I wasn't as pumped about the extra time/effort that it took, but I'm definitely not giving up on it yet. I think the pasta portion might be one of the components that I include in the "I will be consistently be making everything by the END of year" clause. If I have to buy dried pasta sometimes, big deal. Besides, there's no way I'm going to try making elbow macaroni or other complex shapes myself. No way.

I'm sure this will be a learning process and I'm hoping to share as much of that process with you as possible. I'm going to spend the next little while catching you up on the recipes I've tried (that I didn't post through January in case I gave up on this). I will let you know what worked and didn't work and I'd love to hear from any of you if you have recipes you've tried before, or recipes you've been wanting to try. I would definitely be willing to try them out on your behalf. And if you ever come over to visit, be prepared to be subjected to taste testing!

So, now the secret's out. I'm making my own bread. Hold me accountable, would ya?