Category Archives: Frugal Living

Making Your Own Coffee Creamer

Posted by Ney@ShopahoicSavers.com on October 4, 2011 None comments

One grocery item that we go through like water and constantly run out of is coffee creamer. It is so much cheaper to make coffee at home than to buy it, even with the cost of coffee creamer, but I wondered- could I make it myself for even cheaper?

Using the recipe of-

-1 can of sweetened condensed milk ($3 for two)

– 1 ½ cups of nonfat milk (~$.50)

– 1 tablespoon of vanilla ($1.5 for about 2 tablespoons)

Mix everything together and shake

I doubled the recipe and it made the amount in the water jug in the picture above. So for about $5 I made just a little bit more creamer than what a $3 coffee creamer generally holds from the store. This coffee creamer was MORE expensive than the coffee creamers from the store plus the time and energy required to buy everything and make it. The taste was good but not quite as good as store bought coffee creamers. Overall, this project didn’t save money but it was fun to try. I may try other recipes in the future to see if they will be more cost effective. If you already have the ingredients on hand (I didn’t but you might!) then this would be much cheaper and it is easy to make.

Waking up to Cold Florida Air and Oranges

Posted by Ney@ShopahoicSavers.com on October 2, 2011 None comments

This morning, I woke up early even though it’s my day off. It’s hard to sleep in now that I have to get up at 6:30am every day for work. I was shocked at the cold weather when I ran outside in my PJs to get my Sunday newspapers. For those of you who don’t know I live in Florida and this is the first cold day of the year. I grabbed my boyfriend’s winter coat from the back closet and tiptoed into our backyard to take a picture of our Water Well for another post (see HERE).

I was so excited to see that our three orange / tangerine trees haves started to grow fruit. As a Florida child I grew up with orange and tangerine trees in the back yard. I have great memories of being a child and going out to pick oranges in the cold air. We usually had so many that we couldn’t even give them all away and that was only from one or two trees at a time.

I can’t wait to have baskets of fresh FREE fruit to eat or give away. In my experience Orange and Tangerine trees are really easy to take care of (plant them and that’s it!) and yield tons of fruit year after year. I think having a fruit tree is a great frugal venture. I may try to make homemade jam this year. Or we may simply be able to give baskets of oranges to friends and family as early Christmas presents.

$200 Grocery Challenge

Posted by Ney@ShopahoicSavers.com on October 2, 2011 None comments

Before we moved into our new house my boyfriend and I spent way too much money eating out, take out and fast food. We decided that after we moved we would eat at home and cook more often. So far, we are doing really well. This month we decided to take it a step further and limit ourselves to a budget of $200 for groceries and household items, like toilet paper. The people that I have mentioned this to that don’t coupon think that this number is extremely low. The people that do coupon may think it’s too high. I think it’s a start.

One thing that we are doing with this budget is putting the $200 cash into a jar and when we spend any of it we are putting the receipts in the jar with the rest of the money. I am very curious to see how many of certain items we purchase in a month. For example- We have well water that is fine for daily activities but we don’t use it as drinking water (see my post about it). I want to know how many gallons of water we buy in one month. I want to know how many gallons of milk we buy in one month.

Finding out this information will be beneficial because I hope that it will allow me to make purchases of food and household items in bulk that will last for one month’s time.

The Results-

Our first month of our $200 Grocery Challenge ended yesterday with good results. We spent $197.68 total, almost exactly our budget of $200.

I now know that in one month we use-

– 19.5 gallons of water

– 3 Gallons of Milk

– 4 Coffee creamers (this would have been more but we ran out of money and used sugar and milk instead)

– 4 12 Packs of Toilet Paper

– 2 Loaves of bread

And those are just a few things I picked out.

Some of the strategies we used –

– Shopping at ALDI a discount grocery store – Click HERE to read about ALDI

– Using CVS and Walgreens store dollars to our advantage

– Using what we already had in our pantry and freezer

– Not wasting food

– Buying what was on sale

– And we stopped buying when we ran out of money

What we won’t do again-

– A couple of times we went to the closest store instead of the cheapest store and this really made a dent in our budget. One of my big shopping trips this month was at WinnDixie after a really long day at work when I didn’t have the energy to make the longer drive to ALDI. I was able to take advantage of their B1G1 meat department but almost everything else that I bought cost a lot more.

– The couponing trips that I was able to make this month saved a lot of money, especially at Publix who probably has the best couponing deals in the area I live in. It is not always easy for me to find the time to do large couponing/grocery shopping trips but it really is worth it. (See shopping trip HERE)

– We bought a large quantity of Ibuprofen that we were out of and it will last a long time, but it was more money than we probably should have spent on one item and we didn’t get that great of a deal on it.

– Next month I won’t forget my shopping list at the last shopping trip of the month and forget to buy any drinks including water. This is very important because we can’t drink the water from the well.

Overall-

Overall, I think that limiting ourselves to a $200 budget was a good for us because it did help restrict what we bought this month. I wanted to buy B1G1 Tilipia Filets towards the end of the month but it didn’t fit in the budget and we ended up having more meat than we used this month anyway. I have found that it is much harder to stock up on larger quantities of food that we will not use in that specific month because we have budgeted for exactly one month.

I also made the mistake of forgetting to buy drinking water and any other drinks on my last shopping trip of the month and we ran out of everything to drink in the house on the 29^th besides milk and even that was running low (see Two Gallons of Milk for the Price of one Forever). It was the 29^th and we ended up making a trip to CVS with the $7 ECBs (CVS dollars) that I had left over. We used those to buy water, milk, and a 2 liter of soda which got us through the last two days of the month.

This really does highlight how running to the closest store for a couple things you need can make a huge impact on your budget. It also shows me how much money I save shopping at ALDI for basic grocery items and then hitting sales only at more expensive stores. We are planning on using the $200 budget again next month and now that I have learned a few things from this month I’m excited to see how it will turn out.

Having a Water Well- Does it really save you money?

Posted by Ney@ShopahoicSavers.com on October 2, 2011 3 comments

When my boyfriend and I moved into our new house we were very excited to have a water well and NO WATER OR SEWER BILL. While wells no longer come with a bucket and a rope that you have to haul up every morning (see the above picture of our well), having a well has been more interesting than we expected.

Our very sweet landlords had lived in our house and drank the well water for thirty years. They assured us it was good to drink and that they have had it recently tested. In addition, we don’t have to add salt to the well and it doesn’t turn our clothes or anything else yellow, like most wells, because it’s a spring fed well.

Once we moved into the house though, we noticed that there were small particles in the water. I don’t know about anyone else but I don’t like amebas with my water. That’s a joke, but we did stop drinking the water right away. We are still able to use it for everything else besides consumption. As renters, we didn’t want to make a long term investment in a water filtration system because we don’t know how long we will be living here.

I kept track this month and we used 18 to 20 gallons of water for drinking, which cost us about $15 dollars. In my former apartment, our water and sewer bill cost us around $35 a month and I know that is a lot cheaper than most houses. My sister’s water bill is around $60 a month at her house. We really are saving a decent amount of money but I will comment that it is much less convenient to be constantly having to buy gallons of water. I may look into other options such as filters or water coolers in the future but for now we are sticking to the simplest solution- buying water jugs. When I am hauling them into the house I remind myself that it’s one less bill to pay every month and that alone makes it worthwhile.

Edit- Since I published this post we have been able to go back to drinking the well water. I think they might have been due to pipes sitting for too long before we moved in. We make sure to flush the well regularly and we have never had a problem with particles in the water since and I’m very picky. We use a Brita pitcher and we have both been very healthy. I actually had the chance to speak with a local man who does water testing and he assured me that we have spring fed wells and that the water is good quality.

Winn-Dixie Fuelperks

Posted by Ney@ShopahoicSavers.com on September 21, 2011 3 comments

Depending on where you live, certain grocery stores offer discounts on buying gas as an incentive for shopping at their store. I had researched it in the past and before there weren’t any programs in my area. However, I went to WinnDixie the other day and on the spot they registered me for their gas rewards program- Fuelperks. Depending on the amount of money you spend in their store you receive a discount at local Shell gas stations. You can also get additional money off of gas by purchasing featured items. I haven’t tried it yet because I haven’t spent enough yet to qualify but I am willing to give it a try. I wonder if your spending total that counts toward the discount is before or after coupons? Click HERE to go to their website and get more information.

How to Fix a Broken Pressed Powder Compact- With Pictures

Posted by Ney@ShopahoicSavers.com on September 20, 2011 1 comments

Almost a year ago I posted on How to Fix a Broken Compact. Well after freaking out two days ago when my compact broke, I realized that I had four broken compacts again and could once again create a ‘new’ one. Yay! This time I took pictures. *Tip* You can also do this with other makeup like eyeshadow.

1. Gather your broken compacts. These are the broken ones that a year ago I would have thrown away.

2. Combine them.

3. Mash them up.

4. Add a small amount of rubbing alcohol and mix. You don’t want to use too much or it will dry extra hard (You can still use it, it will just be harder).

5. Let it dry!

It’s that easy! I just saved myself $25 dollars. For those of you who are wondering I use PUR minerals 4 in 1 compacts that can only be bought at ULTA stores. They aren’t cheap but if I bought the four products separately they would cost at least that much. It also saves me time of having to purchase and then apply four different products. There are a few things I will pay full price for (even though I try not to) and this is one of them. 🙂

How to get Two Gallons of Milk for the Price of One Forever- Doubling Milk

Posted by Ney@ShopahoicSavers.com on September 19, 2011 8 comments

Before

After

One grocery item that is almost impossible to buy with coupons is a gallon of regular milk. My boyfriend drinks a lot of milk so we always keep it in the house. The cheapest place that I have been able to buy it is at Aldi but it is still over $2.50 and it usually expires quickly. But what could we do except buy it anyway? Or so I thought.

Tonight, I came across an article that shows how to turn one gallon of milk into two by adding equal parts milk and water. A crazy idea right? But maybe not. Skim milk tastes watered down to me anyway. Have we simply stumbled on what milk companies have been doing all along?

I tried this last night and it worked! It tasted exactly like skim milk to me. Actually, it tastes better because I believe skim milk also removes some of the fat content. If you don’t like the 1/2 and 1/2 mix try doing 3/4 milk and 1/4 water.

This is a saving money tip that I have never heard of before. It’s little unusual ideas like this that can really add up. If we pay $3 a gallon for milk (on the cheap side) four times a month (most families buy more) that’s $12. If we can cut that in half that’s $6 savings per month or $72 dollars a year that I can spend on something else. And this takes less than 5 minutes to do. People working for minimum wage will work for half an hour to buy a gallon of milk. Your savings rate per hour here is at least $36 an hour.

EDIT- I would link you to the original article but the site no longer exists.

Shopping with my Mom and Sister

Posted by shopaholicsavers on September 8, 2011 None comments

I had a great day yesterday shopping with my mom and sister. We went to several thrift shops, CVS, and Big Lots. We got a lot of bargains. Here are a few of my favorite.

At CVS the CVS coupon printer was printing coupons for free candy bars and there is also a Hershey bar Free after ECBs (CVS dollars). I also bought 4 small boxes of cereal for .50 cents each

At Big Lots my sister found cat litter for $1 a bag

I have needed a new curtain for the small window in my shower. While it is unlikely that anyone could actually see in we didn’t want to take that chance. I bought 1 yard of clearance fabric for $1.50 and made my own curtain by draping it over the curtain rod and cutting the excess. Why pay for expensive curtains?

About the Author

Posted by shopaholicsavers on September 3, 2011 None comments

I want to clarify something that I often think when I am typing my posts. You do not know me besides for this blog. I could be a crazy cat lady with absolutely no money. The things I write about in this blog could be strategies of desperation not frugality. However, thankfully, neither of those things is true. I live in a beautiful home in a nice area with my boyfriend and our pets. We have plenty of money to pay our bills. We have expensive furniture and decent cars. Why are we frugal? Because we want to choose where our money goes and when. We don’t want to owe anyone anything. The truth? Our cars were bought with cash years ago and we don’t have car payments. Our expensive furniture was not expensive for us because most of it was obtained second hand or with smart shopping or was given to us. Instead of using the money we have left over after we pay our bills frivolously we try to use it consciously so that we can save for really amazing experiences.

And guess what? We just returned from a cruise to the Bahamas!!!! We had an amazing time, we lounged in the sun and stuffed ourselves with unlimited food.

That being said, we do occasionally go out to eat and to the movies and shopping (sometimes even without coupons *gasp*). We do not live a life that in anyway makes us feel deprived. Our smart spending enables us to live a really amazing life, work less, do more fun stuff and help those we love when they need it. 🙂

Recent Free Stuff

Posted by shopaholicsavers on September 3, 2011 3 comments

Who says nothing in life is free? I love free stuff! Here is some of the stuff that we have recently received.

My boyfriend and I needed a toaster for our new house and I was given this one at my work because we had an extra.

I don’t buy a lot of candy. There are only two adults in our household so when I do get candy I set it aside for when we have a craving. It’s better than buying candy bars. This falls under the every little bit counts category.

My boyfriend likes to have some soda in the house from time to time. He wanted me to buy some today when I went shopping . I work at an apartment office and people give me all kinds of stuff. Today I was given this 12 pack of soda by someone who didn’t want it. I’m was excited to have one less thing to buy later (It was unopened when I got it).

Across the street from my work is an Albertsons where we buy many of our work items. Albertsons usually has some kind of “game” running where you get game pieces at the register. They recently has Yahtzee and I won this box of Wheatables. I had idea what they were but I like trying new things.

The other day a trusted resident/friend gave our office a Spanish rice dish. That was my boyfriend and I’s dinner that we didn’t have to cook. I try to use all of my resources to the fullest and it really does save money. The stuff on this page is worth at least $10 that I can now put into my savings account.