Holiday Savings (Thanksgiving)

Just a few ideas that might help you to have a great Thanksgiving while not breaking the bank.

Make Pintrest your friend.  Great recipes for left overs.

First of all, remember that Thanksgiving is a day of Thanks.  Not a day of "eat as much as you can in one day".  Make your holiday about being thankful.

1.  Turkey.  You do not need the biggest turkey in the store.  You do not need the most expensive turkey in the store and you do not need to get it in your most pricey of stores.  Pick the bird clean after your meal.  Divide into individual freezer baggies and freeze.  This will make several future meals.  If you freeze it you do not have to feel like you need to have turkey for 3 meals a day for the next week. 

2.  Pies.  Make them from scratch.  It's not that hard and So worth it.  Make them ahead so you are not cooking everything at the same time. You do not need to have one of every pie you can possibly think of.  Pick a few favorites of those who will be sharing the meal with you.  Again, freeze what you have left over and enjoy them at a later date, so you are not stuffing yourself just so you can get your share.  Buy your pie fillings after Thanksgiving for the next year.  They will be cheaper afterwards.  

3.  Vegetables.  Make the veggies that your family likes, you do not have to stick to tradition.  If your family doesn't like it, don't make it.  There is no law saying you have to have yams for your Thanksgiving dinner.  

4.  Decorations etc.  It's nice to have some decorations to make your homes feel festive.  You do not need to go out and spend a bunch of money on decorations and Thanksgiving themed dinnerware.  You can make many things yourself or find them at your local D.I. Corn stocks and pumpkins can be festive and fun.  You can raise your own or ask a neighbor, they will be glad to share.  Bales of hay etc. Pintrest has so many ideas that can be fun for the family.  

5.  Use real dinner ware. This will save you money. Make cleaning up a part of you celebrations.  Use washable napkins, dishes and silverware.  This will also make your meal more classy.   

6.  Make sure you have everything you need before the big day.  Running to the store wastes time, gas, and the item you need will be WAY over priced.  

7.  Make a menu, and a list of everything you need for the meal.  Get what you need a few days ahead of time.  Nothing worse than doing your Thanksgiving shopping the night before.  

Make your preparations and clean up part of your celebrations   

Happy Thanksgiving. :)

#2 Low cost energy saver ideas

There are some huge things you can do to help make your home more efficient.  I wont mention these.  If you had the money to install solar panels and windmills you would probably not be on this blog.  So I will try to help will some ways you can still make your home more efficient with only spending a little money.

1.     Weather stripping.  Check around your doors for cold air coming in.  New weather stripping could eliminate the problem.

2.     Calking around windows.  Check the calking around all your windows, if it's cracked or crumbling, you should replace it.  Make sure your windows are closed all the way and latched, this will ensure a nice tight seal.

3.     If you have a pet door, you will loose a lot of heat through there. Do what you gotta do here.

4.     If you have a swamp cooler, cover it well with an insulated cover and also cover the venting part that opens into your house, you can loose a lot of warm air through these.

5.     Attic doors.  Make sure they are shut all the way.

6.     If you have any holes in your outer walls, seal them up with some spray insulation.

7.     Check your attic for insulation  make sure you have a few inches at least.  This is a big one.  If your house doesn't have proper insulation it will be very cold in the winter and very hot in the summer.

8.     Check your foundation for cracks or holes, these can be filled with a spray foam insulation.

9.     Put outlet insulators in all your outlets that are on an outside wall.  You'd be surprised how much cold air comes in through there.

10.   You can get  thermal drapes for your windows.  You can also get thermal blinds.  This will help especially if you have older or single pain windows in your house.

11.   Make sure your vents aren't blocked by something.  My fat cat likes to lay right on top of one, and that area of the room will be significantly cooler.

12.  Direction covers for the vents to push the warm air out into the room better.

13.  If you have unfinished rooms, finish them.  Put rugs on your cement floors in the basement, cement floors just radiate cold air.

14.  Paint a warm color, white is just so cold.

#1 No cost ideas

Ok, where to begin?
There are several things we can do to our house to make it run more efficiently.  I will mention
the ones I can think of and would love insight from you for more. There are a lot of big things we can do, but there are also many little things we can do as well. I am going to start will the little things because, let's face it, the last thing you want to do when you are pinching your pennies is to spend thousands of dollars putting in new windows throughout your entire house. So first I will start with things you can do that will cost you nothing out of pocket and start saving you money today.  Then I will move up from there.  Remember that I would love for you to add to this list so I can do even more to save too.

#1 No Cost ideas

1.  Turn off the lights.  Good Grief, do it already!  If you are not in the room turn them off.  Is your room scared of the dark?  Are you in a room with 3 lights on? Turn 2 of them off.  Hello! This one is easy.

2.  Shut the door.  Were you raised in a barn?  Don't let that precious heat out.  When it's cold and the door gets left open I can just see the dollars flying out the door.  You cannot heat the outside.
          a. Summer time is different, I will address Summer time at a later date.

3.  Turn things off that you are not using.  Shut down the computer in the other room.  Turn off the T.V that you are not watching.  Go around your house room to room and check for these things.  You will be surprised,  I bet you didn't think you had anything on anywhere did you?

4.  Open the curtains to the windows that the sun shines in.  It wants to warm you up, so let it.

5.  Close the vents to unused rooms.

6.  Unplug everything that you don't need to have plugged in.  I know it's off, put there is still a trickle of electricity running through to your cords.

7.  Turn Down The Furnace! I keep thy thermostat set on 68 during the day and 60 at night.  I would set it even  lower, but then there would be a rebellion and my life would be in danger. Put on a sweater or a hoodie and some warm socks.

8.  Shut doors to rooms that you are not using.

9.  Wash and rinse your laundry in cold water.

10.Set your dish washer to a lower setting.

11.Turn down the thermostat on your water heater.

12.Don't take marathon showers.  (once in a while if that's your thing, but not everyday)

13.Bathe with a friend.  Do you have a huge Jacuzzi tub? I rarely Bathe alone (this is my favorite one).

Thrift Store Shopping Hints

Shopping is fun, but can be a pretty expensive hobby or past time.
Try shopping your local thrift stores.  My favorite is the Deseret Industries (D.I.)
If you are creeped out by shopping in a thrift store, keep a small bottle of hand sanitizer in your purse.
Also, Get over It. The best bargains have to be worked for.
I've put together some ideas that will help you in your Thrift Store shopping.

1:  Patience, you are rarely going to find what you are looking for.  So look for what you are finding.
     It is key to shop your thrift stores regularly.

2:  Keep an open mind.  Look at things with potential, a piece of furniture might be rickety,
     an ugly color or have other blemishes.  These are a gold mine.  If it's clean and needs no
     repairs it's going to cost more.

3:  Keep a list of items that you are looking for in your purse. Write measurements next to anything that
     may need it. When shopping, scan for these items every time you go.  You never know when you will
     hit the jackpot.

4:  Keep a small tape measure in your purse.

5:  Shop the hot spots first.  I go to the "As Is" area first.  It's hard to take it when you see the exact
     thing you want 'In Someone Else's Cart'.

6:  You have to be willing to fix things.  Tighten some screws (I love this one). Check your items over good
     to make sure the problems are minor.  If something is broken or just needs to have the screws tightened.
     A little sand paper and paint will do wonders.  Example: An old dresser might be covered with
     stickers, an ugly color, loose or missing nobs etc. If it's built well, then it is worth the work to tighten
     or replace knobs, do some sanding or stripping, paint or varnish, glue and clamp the bottoms of
     the drawers etc. You can turn an ugly, dirty, rickety dresser that you spent $15 on into
     a beautiful piece of furniture worth over one or two hundred dollars.

7:  Don't buy anything just because it's cheap. Even if it's only a quarter, if you do, it's like throwing
     that quarter in the trash. If you didn't find anything worth while in your shopping, don't feel bad.
     Walking away empty handed is OK, in fact it's great (look at all the money you saved).

8:  If you get something that has something wrong with it that you didn't notice before purchasing the
     item, some stores will let you return for store credit with in so many days.  If not, don't be upset,
     consider it a donation, and remember that it wasn't much $ anyway.

9:  The possibilities are endless, and you never know what you will find on any given day.

10: By all means, Have Fun. It is a blast.

11: Find out if you are one that enjoys shopping alone or with a buddy. Some people want to browse
     at their own leisure, and others might be more comfortable with advice.  I shop differently when
     I am alone, and even one way with one person and another way with a different person.

12: Touch it, pick it up and examine it and see how it feels. (you have sanitizer in your purse for later)
     This is a huge deciding factor on whether something is "worth it" or not.

Introduction

I want to introduce my blog.  I have found my self once again in a position where I need to be as thrifty as possible in order to get by.  I am a stay at home mom with all kinds of home making skills. However, I have very little job experience.  I have held a few jobs, but never really made a lot of money at any of them.  So, I turned to do what I think is pretty equal to earning money, and that is, Saving money.  My Father taught me that "A penny saved is a penny earned".  My Father taught me not to waste anything and how to do without.

I've always been thrifty, I thought everyone grew up the way I did.  I didn't realize that this was something that I was taught.  My parents were perfect examples of living on less than they made.  They had no debt, if they wanted or needed something, they would save up for it.  When some one awes at my thriftiness, it makes me want to laugh, because compared to my parents, I don't even come close.

I had a friend who once told me that she could tell that I lived thrifty and wasted very little.  I asked her how she could tell.  Her reply was that my trash can was never full, where theirs was always overflowing and they would often ask if there were room in mine and if they could put a few things in it.  It took me a while to figure out how that meant that I was thrifty.  I started to notice people's trash after that.  (I know, that's weird, but it really helped me, maybe it will help you too.)  The main thing that I noticed was packaging.  Yep, that was it.  Freezer meal boxes, conveniently packaged items etc.

Here I plan to take those things I've learned on how to stretch a dollar and share them with my fellows who have found themselves in need of cutting back and saving as much as they can in these hard times.  Please feel free to improve on anything, and add your experiences and ideas that you've tried that I haven't.  I'm hoping to find more ways to cut back and stretch my buck even more.