Making Fire Starters

Since school was canceled today due to ICE I decided to do a post that will bring some warmth and a sweet reminder of summer! Fire starters. These are super easy, fun, and inexpensive to make, and they work GREAT!

You will need:
Candle wax (I buy cheap, broken candles at Salvation Army, garage sales, or other thrift stores)
Cardboard egg cartons (Styrofoam does NOT work)
Lint from your dryer (FREE:)

I use a size 10 can to put the wax in. When I was taught how to do this they suggested using a crock pot, but I didn't want to deal with the mess of cleaning it out or having an extra one just for this purpose as they suggested. I put the can directly on the stove to melt the wax.

 

Once the wax is completely melted, I spoon the wax into each individual well of the egg carton. The first few times I did this, I filled the carton with the lint first then poured the wax in (as I was taught). I found it sticks better when you put the wax in first then fill the carton with the lint. Below is a picture of both methods.

Below is a picture from the bottom on the difference between the two. Putting the wax in first definitely works better! The one on the right had the wax put in first.

 

The more lint you can cram in there the better. Cram, cram, cram it in there. This is the free part so don't be afraid to use it.The more you use the more affective the fire starter is and the longer it will burn. I often will pour more wax in over the top once the lint is in. There always seems to be a little more room for more lint.  I even have other people collect lint for me. However, with a family of 8 we collect lint pretty fast ourselves. :) 

Once the fire starters have cooled (putting them in the fridge or freezer is ok), you can leave them whole as they are and break them apart when you need one or you can break them apart and store them as individual starters. My kids enjoy breaking them apart so we do that before we store them.

One day when we made these, my son and I decided to turn it into a "science experiment" and time how long the a single starter would burn.

What it looks like when it is initially lit.

After 12 Minutes!!

After 18 Minutes!! It finally stopped burning at 21 minutes!

What are the results of these fire starters? Free Family Fun!!! I am SO ready for summer to come and enjoy some campfires! I think I'll go make some fire starters today to help "burn" away my winter blues. These are also great to put in your 72 hour kits!

Black Friday Frenzy!!. . .How to benefit w/out the craziness!

If you know me, you know I HATE shopping! I especially hate crowds. I hate grocery shopping, clothes shopping, and even "necessity" shopping (for things we need). I have endured a few Black Friday shopping days for the sake of my daughter (it falls on or near her bday), but it is only out of the love of my daughter. She is fully aware of this and expresses her gratitude.

This year she requested again to go black Friday shopping for her bday. By some miracle, we got my hubby to go this year.We live in a fairly small area so the crowd wasn't insane as I have seen in the past, but it was still a little too crazy for me (and poor hubby). However, as most people there, I had an agenda! Socks, jeans, and a movie or two. I felt justified, as these were necessities (except the movies) and super cheap. Frugal and simple! That's me!

However, as I walked (rather squeezed) through the crowd, two things came to mind.
1. I was SO glad I couldn't find a cart! There was NO way I would have gotten through the crowd with a cart!
2. The TV's tempted me! The prices were great and we were in "want" of a new TV! We are a family that enjoys movie nights (and popcorn), and the 8 of us were crowding around a 32" TV that was slowly losing the sound! The TV's were so big and pretty and cheap! No wonder people went nuts buying them.

But, I controlled myself and so did my hubby! After all, it was a "want" and not a "need". If we still wanted it later, we would find an even better deal (positive thinking)! We left the store with 8 packs of socks, 7 pairs of jeans, 5 $2 movies, and a curling iron and perfume for dd's birthday. I left feeling accomplished, free of guilt, and without unnecessary "things".

A few days later, a thought came to me! What are all those people who did buy TV's on back Friday going to do with their old TVs? Why, sell them of course! I got on Craigslist and went "shopping". I was shocked!! There were LOTS of TV's for sale. . .big, in good shape, and cheap! At least 5 of the posts that I read said that the TV's worked great, but they just bought a new one on black Friday. My assumption was confirmed! To make a long story short, we bought a 60" TV (with remote) that was only 5 years old. How much? $100! Our 32" had a built in dvd player so I talked to my daughter and she had an extra one that she gave us for FREE! So we went from this:

To this:

We fulfilled a family want with a very inexpensive budget and in a much more Earth friendly way. We were able to benefit from the sales of Black Friday without the expense to our wallet. And we did not have to contribute to this:

(picture source)

A Dozen Ways to Save at The Pump & Some Gasoline Humor

Tired of dumping cash into your tank? We all are! Here are a dozen ways to help save a little cash at the pumps.

Let's start with a little gasoline humor as sometimes the best way to deal with stress is through laughter. We all know going to the pump these days is very stressful, so let's laugh a little.

                                      

Now that we've had a good laugh, let's talk about ways you can make going to the pump not hurt so bad!

1. Drive Like Your Grandma! Driving too fast, rapid acceleration, and excessive breaking all burn fuel faster, not to mention these driving behaviors are also very bad for your car and increases the amount you spend on repairs. No more making fun of Grandma's driving, she's just driving frugal!
2. Obey the Law! Don't speed! It has been proven that gas mileage decreases immensely when your vehicle exceeds 60 mph. It cost and additional .25 cents per gallon for every 5 mph over that limit. Hey, this also prevents you from having a very pricey speeding ticket!
3. Loose Some Weight! No, not you (well unless you feel you need to=). I'm talking about your car. Do you have heavy equipment or tools you store in your vehicle? Transporting extra weight will cost you more. Improve your gas mileage by loosing the weight!
4. Don't be Idle! Don't leave your car running while it is not moving.  This is one of the worst ways to waste your gas. Keeping your car running while idle gives you ZERO mpg on your gas!
5. Pay More to Save More! Cheaper isn't always better. Higher quality, more expensive oils can improve fuel efficiency. Synthetic is good, or a standard oil that has friction reducing additives. Never use a grade that is lower then what your car calls for.
6. Know The Pressure! Invest in a tire pressure gauge. It's important to keep your tires properly inflated with the correct pressure as under inflated tires create more resistance which cost you more in gas. Also, tires properly inflated last longer and are much safer.
7. Get a Tune Up! Get a yearly tune up for your car. You may think that this isn't frugal, but rather costly. However, the cost to get a good quality tune up will cost you less then the money you would spend on gas running a car with an engine out of tune.
8. Stop! Go! Stop! Go!. . .STOP IT! Try to avoid the accelerate, stop, accelerate, stop between all the red lights. Let off the gas a little when you see a red light ahead. This kind of goes back to the "drive like your grandma". The less stopping you do, the better gas mileage you will get.
9. Travel Smart! In this world of technology, we should be able to plan our trips out carefully so we don't get lost or spend time back tracking. Also, don't ever buy gas from a gas station you can see from the highway. The prices at these stations are generally higher. It's worth going a mile or two off your path to fill up cheaper.  Fill up whenever and where ever gas is cheaper even if your tank is half full.
10. To A/C or Not to A/C. . .that is the question? Running your A/C can decrease your gas mileage drastically. Only use it when you really need it! However, rolling the window down also drastically increases gas consumption. . .so. . .If at all possible leave the A/C off and the windows rolled up. I know, this won't always be possible. =)
11. And to Top it All Off. . .or just don't! Avoid the temptation to "top of the tank". There is a reason there is a mechanism in the pumps to automatically shut off. Over filling your tank can cause spills and is just a waste of gas. This one is tempting for me because I like to see an even #. I know, the OCD in me!
12. Drive Less! Hmm. . .seems like a no brainer! Combine errands and car pool with others. Walk or ride your bike to work/school or other quick errands. You'll save gas and get in shape, a win win situation!

Being Frugal Sometimes Takes Work and Why You Should Never Buy Baby Carrots

Being healthy and frugal isn't always a walk in the park, it does require some work. I discovered years ago that I was wasting SO much money and food by putting fresh fruits and veggies in the fridge straight from the bags. My kids love fruits and veggies, but it was far too much work to clean and cut the veggies so they would sit in the fridge day after day until they went bad.

I invested some money into the Tupperware Fridge Smarts, but as most of you know, I didn't buy them brand new. I utilized ebay, amazon, and thrift stores. These Fridge Smarts, in the long run have saved me lots of $$. They were worth the investment. Now, when we bring the fruits and veggies in, we take the time to peel, cut and wash the veggies. Fridge Smarts make fresh veggies last MUCH longer.                                                                                        

We never buy baby carrots anymore as they are more expensive and just do NOT taste as yummy. My kids pick full size carrots over baby carrots any day. Do you think baby carrots have a funny taste? Ever wonder what that slime is on the carrots? Click here to find out why you should never eat a baby carrot again. Perhaps after reading this info you will never want to eat baby carrots again either!

It sometimes takes us about an hour to do all the work, but as you can see many hands make light work. The work results in a fridge full of fresh fruits and veggies that are ready to eat. The kids are able to have veggies at their fingertips at all times, and they eat them all the time. The work pays off; the kids eat healthy, and food doesn't go bad. That's the ideal example of a healthy frugal family. Look how beautiful the results are.

Meal Planning for Our 30 Day Challenge

 My sweet 12 year old daughter and I went shopping today for our last minute shopping before our 30 day challenge begins tomorrow. While driving, she helped me to finish up the dinner menu for the month. This was a little challenging as I usually do not do an entire month of meals at a time.

We decided to make things simpler we would have a breakfast menu that consisted of having the same thing every Mon, same thing every Tues, etc. We put oatmeal on the menu a few days a week as it is cheap and our family loves it. I do vary the taste on occasion by putting freeze dried fruit and sometimes pureed frozen fruit in it.

As for dinners, a few years ago I made a folder with a list of 25 dinner recipes in it, all vegetarian of course (SO much cheaper). With each recipe is a list of the ingredients needed for the recipe. We make a 2 week menu up and shop according to the ingredient list. I know some people may say, "What a pain." or "Who has time to do that?". Well, let me tell you that the 10-15 minutes it takes to prepare the menu it saves me a lot of time, money, and frustration on figuring out what to buy, what to make 15 minutes before dinner should be on the table, and it also helps to avoid the pitfall of impulse buying.

This is a sample of one of the pages in my family recipe book.

I plan on doing a post in the near future with a list of 20 things you can do to cut your grocery bill drastically!

5 Jars of Spaghetti Sauce for only $2.33!

In our family we have a lot of dietary restrictions do to allergies and health choices. I came across the blog this recipe came from and was really excited. It gives lots of great recipes for allergy free foods that are healthy. I was given permission from the blog owner to post her pictures, but I will give a direct link to her site for the exact recipe. I am excited to try this as our family uses lots of spaghetti sauce in other recipes beside actual spaghetti. Along with the ingredients she puts in I might also add some cooked veggies (ie. carrots, zucchini, onion, mushroom). The possibilities are really only limited by your imagination. It is really easy. Have fun!

For the exact recipe click here.

How to make a seedling starter tray for FREE!!

I got the tray a year before and saved it so I guess that part wasn't "free". This is a picture tutorial on how to make the little seedling "cups" out of toilet paper rolls. I feel like the pictures should be clear enough to teach you how to do it. If you have any questions please just email me or leave a comment. My 12 yo, and 8 yo helped me do this. Gardening is a big part of us being a frugal AND healthy family. We used to do plants, but realized it is so much cheaper and rewarding to do the gardening from seeds. We try to buy all organic seeds.

No Coupons? How do we survive?

For a while I really got into that reality show from TLC called:



I was so excited and on fire to try this out in my area. I made phone calls to stores to find out their coupon policies, asked friends and neighbors to save their papers, scoured the internet for couponing tips and ideas, and even ordered coupons from ebay. I gave this a very fair attempt.

So what were the issues then?



First of all, I struggled to find coupons for products our family even used. With us being an all natural family, we discarded all coupons for laundry soap, body soap, toothpaste, cleaning products, etc. Okay, so that left us with coupons for prepackaged name brand foods. Well, with our size family we don't use prepackaged products, and even if we did the savings were just not there. None of the stores in my area do double coupons, and even with the coupons on the name brand it still was not as inexpensive as the generic brands. In many cases you'd have to buy 2-4 products to save $.75.

Also, they portrayed on the show that you could get more value from your coupon by getting the smallest size possible. Guess what? The retailers have caught on to this little trick and now put size minimums on most coupons.

Last of all, but by no means least, is the coupons I got for a clothing store saving me 50-75% on any item. We got an entire booklet of similar coupons at one of our favorite clothing store. However, after reading the print we realized each coupon represented a different day. I mentioned before that we live 20+ miles one way from shopping. We would have to travel 40+ miles on each day to save a pretty good amount on ONE item. Sound worth it to you? I've mentioned before that my time is precious to me.

So the conclusion? Coupons ended up taking up my time, telling me how many I had to buy, what day I had to buy it, what size I had to buy, and what brand I had to buy. It sounded more restrictive and controlling to me. Please don't think I'm bashing the couponers. I am sure there are areas out there that make couponing worth people's time. If you live in a "coupon friendly" area and don't care what you eat, drink, and put on your body, then couponing may be for you.

For a family who does not eat meat, prepackaged foods, and uses all natural products, couponing just isn't worth it. So for our family, we will be finding other ways to save.