It's not easy being green

It's not easy being green has been a topic of discussion on my mind for a few weeks now.

Cheapness Part Two!

Because I am cheap I have found ways to help save and cut costs on items that are expensive or just unjustifiable in my head.

1.       For starters I make sure to not waste any food!

2.       I do not waste any soaps, or other bottled material

3.       Coupon, Coupon, Coupon

4.       Reuse, Reuse, Reuse

5.       Recycle

I’ll continue by explaining number two. I do not waste any soaps, or other bottled material.

As with yesterday, I am still ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE, I turn every bottle upside down and let drain into the new bottle. Yes, I refuse to let any bottle go with more washing left.

Secondly, for those lovely bars of soap that we do not use in our house hold I place them in an old rag and hang them in closets. This allows for a nice sweet smell. The down side to this is the soap does lose its smell over time.

Third, re-gift or give away. For me re-gifting is a little hard, however, the giving away is not. All of those unwanted soaps, lotions and body sprays you get for presents and do not want; give away or re-gift. I have an abundance of items just like these. Like I said earlier I have a hard time re-gifting so I just give away. If I have a friend, sibling or mom that expresses how they like a smell or enjoys the lotion, body spray or soap….it goes home with them! I also on occasion let my sister or mom “shop” threw my linen closet.

Forth, stay over and keep baskets. I have not yet been able to do this but I am truly excited to! A nice “Welcome” for a house guest is to make a stay over and keep basket. The basket consists of items such as towels, soaps, lotions, toothbrush, toothpaste, brush, hair “stuff” and snacks. Inside the basket there is a little note that explains to please use and enjoy. Once done please feel free to take any items in the basket. *But please leave the towel*

Fifth, this one is a little harder but if done correctly you will succeed! Ask friends and family that buy you bath items to either not buy them for you or buy smaller sizes.  Like I said this one is a little harder than others. However, everyone has that one family member or friend that keeps insisting to buy them some type of bath item. It does not hurt to express your feelings about how you just done use them. It also does not hurt, if you do use them but it takes you forever, to ask for smaller sizes.

Sixth and seven, put soap, lotions or body spray EVERYWHERE in your home, office, car and purse and then re-use the small bottle! Yes, I do this, and honestly I like it. I have soap by every sink in my house, even my slop sink. I have lotion near every sink upstairs. I have lotion in the office and on my night stand. I have lotion and hand sanitizer in both my car and purse. I have lotion, hand sanitizer, and body spray in my drawer at work. The best type of items to place everywhere, other than your home, is the small travel size. As I dwindle down the travel size, I may keep two or three empty bottles that enable me to re-use them. Once my travel size products are done such as lotion, I use the bottles I save and place lotion from a bigger bottle into the smaller bottles and BOOM you have a travel size again!

Eight, use unwanted soaps to wash your toilet.   Soap is soap right!

Lastly, if you know you have it at home…don’t buy it…. Put a halt on buying items that you already have. For me, I have not bought lotion in YEARS! I have enough to supply me for my life time. LOL!

How do you not waste soaps, lotions or other bottled items?

Etsy Packaging

As the past few posts I have been talking about my Etsy's shop.

K-cups

As with most we have a Kurig and we love it!

Exciting news! I made my first sell on Etsy!

Exciting news! I made my first sell on Etsy!

I found some really awesome deals this week

Every weekend I work daylight, during my lunch break, I do my shopping. On Saturday I venture to Rite Aid, CVS, Dollar Store’s and the grocery store. On Sunday I venture to Rite Aid, CVS, and the Dollar Stores. I go both Saturday and Sunday because this enables me to hit both weekly promotions, for everything but the grocery store.

Frugal Living "Score"

A few weeks ago I talked about frugal living. In this post I explain to take advantage of food and fuel perks. Also, in this post I explain that you SHOULD use coupons.

Finishing our talk on frugal living

A few days ago I had a guest blogger, Rachel. Today to finish our talk on frugal living, I invited her back for Part 2: Baby on a Budget.

Part 2: Baby on a Budget

A lot of baby equipment does not need to be brand new. For my son, I actually bought very few things new, and the things that were new were often gifts or bought with gift cards. With a little bit of work and some creativity, I was able to purchase many of the things for my son’s nursery, or play equipment for a fraction of the price.

•  Look on Craigslist. One of the things that I bought for my son was a Fisher Price cradle swing. These swings retail new for about $150 at Babies R Us. I thought it was ridiculous to spend that much money on something that he would only use for a couple of months, so I took to the Internet. I was able to find the swing that I wanted on Craigslist for $40 instead of spending the $150 I would have at the store. There are lots of great deals on Craigslist for everything including baby clothes, toys, and equipment.

•  Go to consignment sales. Consignment sales are a great way to get a good deal on many of the products you will use for your baby. At consignment sales, people are able to sell their gently used baby toys, clothes, and equipment. This is great because you have a large amount of stuff, in all ranges, in one place. Instead of searching Craigslist or walking around at garage sales or flea markets, it is a one stop shop for everything that you need. In addition, there are often multiples of toys and equipment so you are able to compare prices and conditions. Consignors are able to set their own prices, so there may be some variation between the items. Once again, you will be able to pick up these items at a fraction of the cost of what you would pay at the store. And to be honest, when it comes to many of the things for infants, they will only use them for a few months and then be done with them. Also keep in mind that the last day of the sale is usually a discount day where you can get 25 to 50% off many of the items.

•  Look for items and flea markets or garage sales. I found a lot of items for my son at garage sales and flea markets. I was able to find a hamper with a frog on it for my son’s nursery. I had a frog theme for his nursery and the hamper that went with the set was $38 at the store. Although the pattern wasn’t exactly the same, the one that I found at the flea market was close enough and I only paid $2 for it. In addition to the hamper, I bought some picture frames and even a dresser for his room at garage sales, and paid a fraction of what I would otherwise.

Even though buying equipment for a baby can be very expensive, there is no need to take out a second mortgage on your house to pay for it! I paid a fraction of the cost for my son’s clothes and equipment that I would have had a bought it all new, and I was able to buy him a lot more because of the money I saved. Just invest in some Magic Erasers and some laundry detergent and most of these things clean right up!

For more on raising kids on a budget, follow Rachel at Third Stop On the Right (www.thirdstopontheright.com) and like her page on Facebook (www.facebook.com/thirdstopontheright).

I hope you enjoyed our frugal living talk. Make sure to stay tuned in for more tips, tricks, and helpful hints!

Rewind to the end of June

Today I will rewind to the end of June……..

Part 1: Having a baby on a budget

Part 1: Having a baby on a budget

~Guest Blogger

Coupon Binders

Following the conversation from yesterday, I would like to share how to make a coupon binder. It is really simple and consists of three parts.

Coupons

Use them!

Every week there is a coupon insert in your local paper. Ours comes every Wednesday in the mail with the weekly ads. To some; these are just a waste of paper that get thrown away just like a newspaper. However, in my family they are a gold mine! They enable us to buy free things or discounted goods.

Take advantage of food/fuel perks.

You have to excuse me, I have been a little under the weather the past few days. Slowly recouping from this horrible cold/flu, that is why I have been away for a while.

Back to talking about frugal living! Today's topic TAKE ADVANTAGE OF FOOD/FUEL PERKS. 

Reuse and Upcycling

Today, to continue the conversation about frugal living, I would like to talk about the most common entry in my blog, reusing or upcycling. A lot of you might not even realize that I do a lot of this already without even considering it. Heck a lot of you might even be doing this without considering it a form of frugal living.  Here are a few examples in which I have reused or Upcycled:
When remodeling:

Frugal Living

AS a crisp Sunday morning in late august is coming to an end, I cannot help but think of fall and how wonderful it is. Every year around this time I start to get ready to decorate with leaves and vibrant colors and I get ready to hunker down in my home for winter.

One step closer to being Green

I was green before green was cool. I choose to listen to green podcasts and look up green information. I wanted to be that next top “green” person. Well, nowadays this being green thing is the cool thing and not only are the old “greenies” sharing their stories but the new “greenies” are sharing theirs and asking how.

While I may be an old “greenie” I do not share most of my stories, I listen more than tell. I enjoy hearing how people weed items out of their live, or how they even though they have tried still cannot give up something.  

While you do not have to be green by not using plastic bags, you can go meatless for a month or forever, you could also grow your own produce. Take for instance this article 30 days Veggie or take for instance this website Make it with Nature.  These two girls are being green in their own way by not eating meat and growing their own produce.  

As I have become successful in weeding out plastic grocery bags and recycling almost everything I can I still have my own battles. Come on people being green is not easy! The worst battle I come up against is cleaning solutions.  

For some, like my mother, this has been an easy task to overcome. She has found one cleaning solution, even though not green and sticks to that and only that. She found that one solution that does it all, and for those hard to conquer places she’s uses gold ol’ vinegar.

A while ago I started cleaning out under my sink.  Placing all those pesky cleaning solutions in order of fullness, I started weeding them out one by one. The bad part about all this…..I noticed I was using more for the same jobs. So, I decided to go back to my normal cleaning habits, except this time once a product was empty I just substituted it for another  that I already had or for vinegar. I was slowly becoming successful in my cleaning solution battle until…. I moved…..

Once I moved I felt like I had to have the bleach for those bathrooms and the spic and span for those floors, the kitchen countertops never shined so well until they were bleached and spic and spanned! Not only did I have those urges that I completely fell to, my hubby had/has a love for Windex. I am only allowed to dust the tv stuff with Windex and a paper towel……Don’t ask it’s a battle that I chose not to fight or care about….

So, know that I am back on my green horse and want to only use my good ol’ vinegar I have a whole bunch of cleaning solutions. I have made steps closer to success; I cleaned out under my sink. I gave the one and only cleaning solution my mom uses to her and I just finished a pledge can today. I also, have found that Windex does work perfectly for the normal stuff and dusting the living room. While I vowed to myself to weed out all the unwanted cleaning solutions I still took a long hard look at this tonight……..

 

I did however, leave the coupon right where it was and reminded myself that not only am I saving the environment and my family, I am also saving money!

So my challenge to you today, is to clean out your cleaning solutions and pledge to only use one.

Saving a Dime

Do you like getting bargains? Do you enjoy clipping coupons??? Do you like getting more bang for your buck? Well, over at Third Stop on the Right, that is exactly what you will get! Rachel, the founder of Third Stop on the Right, explains that you will never “pay full price” for anything again.  

Rachel is currently a stay at home mom who loves a bargain, she insists that you will never have to pay full price unless you want to. Her Facebook page and blog site talks about saving money, current deals and frugal living.

Be sure to check Rachel out on her blog at  Third Stop on the Right or her facebook page (make sure to like her, you will see me there also!). And lastly make sure to check out her most recent published artical at Money Saving Mom's!

CouponConnection

Along with my posts this past week I thought it would be fitting to share a group on Facebook I just joined. It is called Coupon Connection and ran by a dear friend from college. This group is still young but has a lot of fun couponing ideas and welcomes you to share your local coupon match ups and deals you find.

I wanted to bring this to your attention because I find this group to be awesome. Unlike most groups you are actually able to post your own deals/coupon match ups and share with the group!I believe for those of us involved in couponing, we will find this group very helpful and fun to participate in.

The group is open so you can be invited by anyone and invite anyone once you are in! If you are my friend on Facebook and would like an invite please message me and I will be sure to do so!

The groups "opener" explains that the group was created for this reason: " I created this group so that we can share deals we find and also share coupon match ups. Please feel free to invite anyone else you may know!"

Please come and join in on the fun! Who knows what she might have in store for us next!

Cheapness Part Five

Because I am cheap I have found ways to help save and cut costs on items that are expensive or just unjustifiable in my head.

      1.  For starters I make sure to not waste any food!

      2. I do not waste any soaps, or other bottled material

      3. Coupon, Coupon, Coupon 

      4. Reuse, Reuse, Reuse

      5. Recycle

Recycle is basically the same concept as reuse. However I view Recycle a little differently. I would consider items from Good Will, Salvation Army, or yard sells as recycling. These items are used and already had a great run at someone else home but they work great and just might look beautiful in your living room.

These areas are truly great. I have a few items around my house that came from the Good Will and Yard Sells and you would never even know. Great items such as: old china for decoration and crafts, old wooden spoons for crafts, pictures for decoration, and holiday decoration are just a few items you can find.

Remember when you go keep an open mind, only buy items that you will use, weather it is a great craft idea or a picture for your living room.

How do you recycle? What do you normally buy at yard sells?



Cheapness Part Four

Because I am cheap I have found ways to help save and cut costs on items that are expensive or just unjustifiable in my head.

1.       For starters I make sure to not waste any food!

2.       I do not waste any soaps, or other bottled material

3.       Coupon, Coupon, Coupon

4.       Reuse, Reuse, Reuse

5.       Recycle

Ah, we are now getting into a topic that I could go on and on and on about. However to spare everyone’s eyes and boredom over my rambling I will try to stay to the point and be quick.

Reuse is a very common term in the “green” world. As most of you know I am part of that green world and I get filled with excitement when we reuse something. Not only is reusing good for the environment reusing is good for your pocket book.

If most of you have been following my blog or have talked to me now that D and I have been remodeling our house and reusing a lot of items that were already in the house, gathered up, or already owned.  Some examples occur in current posts such as Planters 101 and As Promised.

I explain how we re-used items that we already had to help keep cost down and yet help bring nice charm into our home or outdoors.

In our case we have been re-using items to update our home, however, there are many other items you can do. Here are some examples: Tea-Cup Lights, Turning a T-shirt into a vest, or Recycle a wine bottle.

As I said above this is a topic I could go on and on about, but like I promised I kept it short. I do love to re-use and I hope you do too.

How do you re-use? What do you re-use? Any good websites to give ideas?