Fabulous Frugal Follower Friday

Welcome to another Fabulous Frugal Follower Friday where I introduce you to one of my readers and feature a blog post written by that reader that relates to frugal living, saving money or finding deals. I also include a Mr. Linky so that everyone can participate even if they're not being featured. Just use Mr. Linky to link to a frugal post on your own blog each week.

This weeks Fabulous Frugal Follower is Rachel from Busy Home Economist. Rachel is a housewife and at home mom to two young girls, ages 2 and 6. She enjoys a simple lifestyle and strives to be a good example of responsibility and frugality to her daughters while raising them to love the Lord. The original purpose of her blog was to help her friends and family locate great deals (that they could trust to be legitimate, tried and true) and money saving methods. Now, she just wants to share what she and her family have learned and what has worked for them with anyone wanting to reduce spending or get out of debt. The resources offered at Busy Home Economist are so important in this present economy! This week Rachel shared a great blog post with tips on how to select the freshest bread at the grocery store.

Do You Know How To Select The Freshest Bread At The Grocery Store?
By Rachel @ Busy Home Economist

I recently read an article that related the delivery date of bread to the color of twist tie on the package. I wanted to ask my Kroger breadman about this, but just never seem to hit the bread aisle at the right time. Well, yesterday I had my opportunity. I have to admit that he seemed a little surprised at my question, but was eager to talk about the subject.

Like many of you, I have relied on the "squeeze test" in selecting the freshest feeling bread for my family. I knew that each bread bag was labeled with a "sell by" date, but I didn't know the significance of the other numbers stamped on the bag. What I learned yesterday is that the sell by date is actually the date that a wholesale (or day old) bread shop must pull the bread from the shelves. On most plastic bread bags, there is another number immediately below the word "sell". This is the date that the store should pull the bread from the shelf. It was explained to me that if you subtract 10 from that number, you get the date that the bread was actually baked. Who knew?!

A big thank you to Rachel for agreeing to be my Fabulous Frugal Follower this week. I've enjoyed getting to know her and her blog a little better. Now it's your turn. Leave a link to your very own frugal post. Please link directly to your post and not your homepage. Also, please make sure all posts are family friendly.

If you would like to be featured as a Fabulous Frugal Follower in the future, please drop me an email with a link to a specific blog post at janetridge at gmail dot com.

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Fabulous Frugal Follower Friday

Welcome to my very first Fabulous Frugal Follower Friday. Each Friday I will be introducing you to one of my readers and featuring a blog post written by that reader that relates to frugal living, saving money or finding deals. I will also be including a Mr. Linky so that everyone can participate even if they're not being featured. Just use Mr. Linky to link to a frugal post on your own blog each week. So without further ado..........

My first Fabulous Frugal Follower is Jessica from Another Thrifty Mom. Jessica is an army wife and a stay at home mom with a beautiful 14 month old daughter. She loves movies, photography and big family gatherings. Her blog helps people get the most of thier hard earned money by using coupons and finding the best deals around. This week Jessica shared a great post featuring inexpensive kids craft ideas.

Thrifty Kids Crafts
by Jessica @ Another Thrifty Mom

So the kids are out of school for the summer and you are trying to figure out what to do with them to keep their little hands and heads busy!

Well, there is hope yet! Here are some thrify crafts to keep you sane!

Bookmarker - Take a strip of construction paper(or cut out a strip from an empty snack or cereal box. Thanks Janet!) and let the kids decorate it with markers, sitckers, glitter (if you dare!) and any other fun items. Use contact paper to cover it. You can even punch a hole at the top and tie ribbon through it. This is a GREAT project to help encourage reading during the summer.

Edible play-"dough" - Clean your hands and mix 1 cup peanut butter, 1 cup honey, and 1 cup powdered milk. Sculpt, use cookie cutters and the imagination to create something fun & yummy!

Edible necklaces or bracelets - Use licorice shoestring (or yarn) and thread cereal (Fruit Loops or Cheerios), marshmallows, licorice, life savers or any other fun items to thread.

Coffee Can bank - Take a used coffee can and cut a slit in the top. Use construction paper, stickers, markers, glitter, crayons, etc to decorate the outside and make it a "savings can" or "wish can" for a certain item/goal. This is fantastic for teaching your kids to save for what they really want!

Make a time capsule - find items that are important, special, or trendy and put it in tin or metal canister (find one at Goodwill). You could even keep it in an old oatmeal canister if you keep it inside. Then you can bury it in the backyard or just store it in the attic or garage. Set a time to open it in the future!

Also, don't miss Jessica's post on Thrifty Father's Day Ideas.

A big thanks to Jessica for being my first Fabulous Friday Follower. I've really enjoyed getting to know her and her blog a little better. Now it's your turn. Leave a link to your very own frugal post. Please link directly to your post and not your homepage. Also, please make sure all posts are family friendly.

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