Homemade Frugal Fail - No Cheese Crackers For Us

If you're a regular reader then you know I'm making an attempt to cook from scratch more often these days. This commitment includes our snack foods as well. We all love cheese crackers here but I hate all the unpronounceable ingredients in many of the well known brands. We love Annie's Cheddar Bunnies as an alternative but they can be pricey. So last week I attempted to make some cheese crackers from scratch. I found a recipe to try online. They looked so pretty. I gathered the ingredients together-so excited to be making something that would be a treat for the kids. But even though I followed the directions to a T, we never got to enjoy any crackers. In fact, they never even made it into the oven. The dough was just too crumbly to work with. I added more melted butter than recommended when I realized I was still dealing with crumbs and not dough but that didn't help. It finally came together as dough but crumbled every time I tried to work with it. I chilled as directed and then chilled it some more. Still nothing but crumbs. So finally I gave up and just tossed it. I'm not sure what I was doing wrong but I just couldn't get the recipe to work.

Thankfully, Annie's Cheddar Bunnies are on sale for $2 a box at Target right now. We have some cheese crackers to tide us over until I can find another recipe. If any of you have a great cheese cracker recipe or any other healthy snack recipe that would be great for school lunches/snacks feel free to share them. I think I'm going to whip up some banana muffins for snacks this afternoon but would love a savory snack to try later this week.

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Lessons in Frugality from a Lady Named Grace

image credit: Chicago Tribune online

Have you heard about Grace Groner? She lived her life in a small, one bedroom home and died in January at the age of 100. She worked for Abbott Laboratories for 43 years as a secretary and lived a very unassuming life. Growing up in the Depression, she knew all about living frugally and saw no need to live any other way during her life. When she died she left $7 million to Lake Forest College, her alma mater. In 1935 she bought $180 worth of stock in Abbott, it split multiple times and she just keep reinvesting the dividends. You can read more about her story here and you can watch the news story that gives additional detail here.

We don't all have to live as simply and frugally as Grace Groner but I think we can be inspired by her. Her life wasn't about surrounding herself with stuff just because she had the money to do so. She had what she needed and used the rest to bless others. While I aspire to live frugally and bless others with my abundance, there are certainly lessons I could learn from this lady named Grace and perhaps you could too.

1) Be wise with your money. She didn't spend her life chasing after every dollar she could make and making all kinds of investments in hopes of scoring big. She worked as a secretary for 43 years. She took a $180 investment and just kept reinvesting it until she had accumulated considerable wealth. No, we won't all be so fortunate to make an investment in a company like Abbott Laboratories but we can educate ourselves and learn to invest our money wisely to make the most of the money we do have.

2) Live below your means. We don't all have to live in one bedroom homes and never drive a car but I think most of us in today's society have more than we really need. Many live beyond their means and those who live within their means seem to be ahead of the game by today's standards. But we all really could live with less. Grace Groner had the means to live an extravagant lifestyle but chose not to do so. We can make that choice too.

3) Enjoy the blessing. Grace Groner didn't just stuff the money she had accumulated away. She knew what was important to her and allowed herself to enjoy what she had. Her happiness didn't come from material possessions. She surrounded herself with friends and stayed connected to her alma mater. She attended football games and cultural events at the school. She also traveled widely after retirement. What's really important to you? Is it the latest tech gadget or spending money on a fun outing with your family. Decide how your money is best spent and put the money there. For me, I love family outings and taking my kids different places and allowing them to have different experiences. I'd much rather spend my money that way than have the latest cell phone or designer clothes. The key is to keep that idea in mind when I'm facing the temptation to spend on something that doesn't fit with that priority.

4) Bless others with your abundance. So we may not all end up with $7 million to give away when we die but for the most part, we do all have an abundance to share with others. Grace didn't just give her money, she gave her time as well, volunteering for decades at a church. She blessed others through service, friendship and through her giving-both anonymously to needy families as well as her scholarship fund. So share your abundance whether it be time given to your children's school or a local food pantry. Or perhaps money to help a child living in poverty around the world. Or a meal to a friend who just had a baby or a neighbor you just lost a loved one. We all have something to give from our own personal abundance.

Grace's story has certainly given me pause. Since reading it yesterday morning I've thought a lot about how I'm really living out my priorities. Do my spending habits and saving habits truly reflect what is important to me? I'm not so sure they do. I've got some work to do. My goal has always been to bless others with my abundance but I really think I can do a much better job than I'm doing. Just looking around my house, I know I can do a much better job. So it's time to get to it and thank Grace for her lessons in frugality.

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Declutter Challenge: February Update

Time to check in and see how things are going with the Declutter Challenge. February was the month I had to admit I am too sentimental which leads to saving too much stuff-specifically cards and things made by my kids. While I have gotten better at letting go of this kind of stuff over the past couple of years, I still have loads of it from past years. I waded through scores of greeting cards as well as papers from my ahem 9-year-olds Pre-K & Kindergarten years and tossed, tossed, tossed. I did not count every single one but I'm sure I came close to my yearly goal if you counted them all individually. I know. It feels good to be getting rid of it.

I also decluttered by doing one of my favorite things, consigning! I love selling the girls gently worn clothing and toys at seasonal consignment sales. You get rid of the stuff and get some extra cash in your pocket. I prefer seasonal consignment sales over regular consigment stores because the turnaround is so quick. You get your money within a week to a week or two with the sales whereas you only get it monthly or quarterly through a store. The exception is consignment stores that pay up front but you usually get less money that way. So I stick with the seasonal sales.

Now for the update. Goal reminder: Declutter 50 items a month for a total of 600 items by the end of the year.

Here's how I did in February.

I tossed/recycled:

grocery size bag full of cards-at least 50-will count as 1 thing

5 owner's manuals for things we no longer own

8 old, worn towels & pot holders

an old food journal from when I obsessed about such things

bag of school papers-too many to count-will count as 1 thing

old foot stool

bag of 20 small toys

Placed in Yard Sale box:

2 pr. girls tights

5 Christmas themed frames

2 Christmas themed acrylic containers

1 Activity book

2 throw pillows

2 small dolls

Barbie Tea Set

Sold at Consignment Sale:

3 Wii Games

3 dolls

22 clothing items

My Monthly Total: 95

My Yearly Total: 164

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Thrifty Thursday

Shelly at Coupon Teacher hosts Thrifty Thursday on her blog. This week she is asking 10 questions to determine our thrifty habits. I thought it would be fun to join in.

1. Do you use coupons to save over 50% or more on your groceries?

Yes, my savings vary from 50-90%.

2. Do you reuse paper products like foil, plastic baggies, or plastic utensils?

Foil-no. Plastic baggies-sometimes. Plastic utensils-rarely use these but do reuse the ones we have.

3. Do you buy things like clothes, home goods, or entertainment items for full price?

Absolutely not. I actually became a bargain clothes shopper as a teenager, long before I learned to save money in other areas.

4. Do you eat out more than once a week?

I actually like to eat out but I'm working on it. We've had to cut back due to our current budget issues and hopefully the eating out less will stick. Although, I must say I enjoy being married to a restaurant manager. :)

5. Do you feel an obligation to take free samples or toiletries in hotels?

Not an obligation but I do usually take the shampoo and soap.

6. Do you send it more than one mail in rebate a month?

It varies. Some months I don't send any others I send several.

7. Do you feel an obligation or need to stop at every yard sale you pass?

I like to stop if I have the time. Generally my yard sale trips are planned though.

8. Do you recycle items on Freecycle or for money?

I've not used Freecycle since the move. We take our recycling to local collection areas. We "recycle" clothing, toys, etc. through yard sales, consignment sales, Craigslist & donations.

9. Have you lowered all your bills to the smallest amount you can pay for acceptable services?

No. We still have cable. We have a small package but not the minimal services. My husband still uses a cell phone contract service.

10. Have you figured out the best way to save money is to spend less and stretch all you have as far as you can?

Yes, I have. I have become less wasteful over the last few years and more and more fed up with our excess. We're letting it go!

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Fave Frugal Read: Use Your Computer to Save Money

Christina at Northern Cheapskate has a great post listing some Frugal Computer Tricks to Save You Money. Be sure to stop by and discover new ways to make every penny count.

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Frugal Valentine's Day Decor

I love Valentine's Day! I love making simple and sweet gifts and decorating my house. This year more than ever I've been inspired to decorate. The walls of our rental house are all white so I find myself looking for ways to add color. Given our current financial circumstances my budget was minimal. I've found the best way to decorate on a budget is to use what you have as much as possible. I thought I would share my ideas for decorating on a budget. Some of these ideas were my own. Some were inspired by others.

The mantle:


1) I used the candles I already had on my mantle and added 1 inch strips of craft paper to them, securing with tape. I then cut red hearts out of scraps of craft paper for an accent. I had all the items I used.

FREE

2) I took two old frames of mine that were no longer being used and spray painted them black(using paint from a previous project). I then sanded them down to give them a distressed look. In the small frame I put a Valentine photo card that I send to family a couple of years back. In the other frame I placed the same craft paper I used on the candles for a background. I then printed 1 Corinthians 12:4-8 on a red background, cut it into a heart shape and placed it on the background in the frame.

FREE

3) I placed cinnamon hearts into simple glass jars.

Cinnamon Hearts $2.64 (actually less since I used ECBs but we'll go with that)
Glass jars $2


4) I placed 3 silk flowers into small vases I bought at Target a few years back.

Silk flowers $1.06

5) The word LOVE in the middle is a regular part of my mantle decor. It was purchased on 75% off clearance at Kohl's last year. It was originally ivory but I spray painted it black after we painted our walls in our house in Kentucky which made it perfect for this arrangement.

FREE

Total cost: $5.70


The kitchen window:


The windows are just a continuation of the white with their inexpensive white mini blinds. I added paper hearts made of strips of craft paper and stapled closed. I used red ribbon to tie them to mini wooden dowels at varying lengths. The used thumb tacks to hold the dowels above the windows.

Ribbon $1.50
Dowels .74 cents
Total cost: $2.24

Total for decor: $7.94

You really can create beautiful and frugal decorations with items you already have on hand. It just take a few minutes of your time and a little creativity. Do you have any frugal Valentine's Day tips to share? I'd love to hear them. Have a beautiful Valentine's Day!

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Declutter Challenge: January Update

You may have noticed the Declutter Challenge button on the sidebar of my blog. Earlier this month I joined in the Declutter Challenge at The Finer Things In Life. I've been focused on decluttering for much of the last two years. At first it was just letting go of the baby things we were hanging onto but it began to go beyond that. Last year I posted a series called Simpifying Saturday in which I shared the decluttering I was doing. This year I will be tracking my decluttering efforts monthly with the Declutter Challenge.

It became painfully obvious during our move from Kentucky to Florida that even with all the decluttering we had done it was not enough. Our previous two houses had lots of storage space allowing us to keep more than we really needed. When it was time to pack up for this last move we were very disappointed to realize all of our stuff would not fit on a 26' truck. We had to rent an additional 12 ' trailer to carry the rest. Not only was this extra work for us, it was also extra money out of our pockets. We are more committed than ever to live with less.

My goal for decluttering this year is 50 items a month for a total of 600 items by the end of the year.

Here is how I did in January.

I donated:

25 clothing items

I tossed:

12 Health & Beauty items

2 Finger Puppets

1 small ball

4 old knives

1 old scrapbook(husbands with school work in it)

I placed in Yard Sale box:

2 purses

1 backpack

1 pkg. Wall Decor

20 Christmas ornaments

My Monthly Total: 69 items

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2009 Financial Review And 2010 Goals

We had high hopes for our finances in 2009. My husband was back at work after 3 months of unemployment. And even though our income had been significantly slashed, we knew we had the tools to recover and rebuild. We were not counting on unexpected medical bills, another job loss, a move and having to pay rent and a mortgage.

Here are the original goals we set for ourselves:
1) Pay off my husband's car.
2)Make monthly "car payments" into a car savings account each month.
3)Build our emergency fund up to six months of living expenses.
4) Continue our normal contributions to retirement savings.
5) Paying extra on our mortgage.
6)Save $1000 to cover all expenses for next Christmas.
7)Finally, by the end of the year, we plan to evaluate our savings plan and find a way to begin saving for college expenses.

So how did we do?
1) Well, the car was paid off in January and that has been a huge help to us as we were able to navigate all the financial challenges a little better with no car payment.
2)We attempted the monthly car payment but were not able to do that every month.
3)Our emergency fund has been greatly reduced over the last few months.
4) We've not added anything to our IRA is the last few months.
5) We stopped paying extra on our mortgage when we realized we would have to sell the house.
6) We saved about 3/4 of the money we'd planned to save for Christmas and were able to stick to the reduced budget.
7) We were never able to address the college savings this year.

Looking back, I'm so thankful for all the tools that helped us navigate a challenging financial year. I have no doubt God provided us with the wisdom and resources we needed. In 2008, we learned to make and stick to a buget from Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover which is still a favorite resource of mine. I had also become a coupon shopper which had allowed us to greatly reduce our grocery budget. We also learned to say no to more stuff and find contentment with what we had.

As we look forward to 2010, the immediate outlook is more of the same. Until our house sells in Kentucky our finances are going to be very tight. Our income covers our basic expenses. Things like clothing, entertainment, travel to visit family, gifts, etc. are not part of the budget and will have to come from any extra income I am able to generate. But I have to say, it's kind of exciting to know that once the house sells we are going to be able to really save knowing just how little we really need to get by on.

So there are no big, grand financial goals for 2010 at this time. Currently our three goals are:

1) Sell our house.
2) Stay within our current budget so we don't have to deplete our savings any further until our house sells.
3) I need to find ways to generate extra income to cover the extras as well as best utilize coupon shopping for the things we need.

Once our house sells, we will revisit our budget and financial goals.

If you are new to budgeting and living frugally, I will be sharing a post soon on how to set up a budget that works for your family so stay tuned.

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Breaking The Shopping Habit

It's been about a year and a half since my husband and I really started to revamp our approach to handling our money. We've come a long way in how we view needs and wants in our lives and we've eliminated a lot of bad habits.

I think that for me one of the hardest habits to break was shopping for social entertainment. I have fond memories from my childhood of going shopping with my mom and sister. We would go to the mall, eat lunch out, get some new clothes and at the end of the day we'd get a yummy cookie before heading home. I developed a lot of positive feelings about the social aspects of shopping because of that. As an adult I began to follow that same pattern of shopping for social entertainment. And while I don't think there is anything wrong with doing that occasionally as we did when I was a child, as an adult I did it frequently; often weekly. I wouldn't always buy something at the stores but I would still be spending money on lunch out and sometimes a cookie at the end of the day. I really didn't see any problem with it because I was a bargain shopper. I never spent full price on anything. I tried to spend my money "wisely" by learning how to get the high quality clothing I liked at deep discounts. I admit my biggest weakness was buying cute clothing for my kids and Gymboree was and still is a favorite store of mine. I learned how to use sales and Gymbucks to maximize my savings to the fullest. The thing was that even though I wasn't paying anywhere near full price, I was still buying things we didn't really need. I also wasn't following any planned budget for that money. I would usually go on these shopping trips when the bills were paid and we had some extra money so I felt somewhat justified in spending it.

So when we started seriously budgeting and giving every dollar a place to go, I had to begin to reevaluate my approach to shopping. It was honestly very hard at first. I missed going to the mall just because I felt like it or because there was a great sale at a particular store. It was downright difficult to let those Gymbucks earning opportunities slip right on by but with time it began to get easier. I began to find it easier to stay home instead of taking advantage of the latest sale. And I have discovered lately that I hardly think about going shopping just for the fun of it. Shopping is becoming something I do because I need to not something I do because I need to do something fun. I'll be honest, I still have moments when I feel that pull and think I'd like to get out of the house and go do a little shopping but it's much easier to just brush it off these days.

This was a long process for me. I had to learn to replace old habits and ways of thinking about my life and my money with new ways of thinking about them. It all began with the decision my husband and I made to be more responsible with our money; better stewards of the financial gifts we'd been blessed with.

If you are a social shopper and want to break the shoppining habit, here are some of the things I did that you might find helpful as well.

1. Change your attitude about money.


2. Set up and follow a budget.


3. Stop viewing shopping as social entertainment.


4. Find positive new ways to fill that social need: find frugal ways to have fun with your family, blog, find places to volunteer your time, go for a walk with friends or have a friend over for lunch, etc.


5. Remind yourself as needed that buying things on sale doesn't save as much money as not spending the money to begin with.


6. Learn to be content with what you have.

I suspect that with time my attitude towards spending will continue to change. I'm sure there is still some wasteful spending that I do and need to work on but I've come along way and have found a lot of joy in being free from the shopping habit.

If you are a former social shopper, how did you break the shopping habit?

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Emergency Mode

Well, that lovely reworked budget that I worked so hard on yesterday just got thrown out. My husband lost his job this morning. We were completely caught off guard by this, just not even remotely expecting it. We are now in emergency mode with the budget. There is no severance package this time around. There is no comfortable cushion in the checking account this time. We do however have our emergency fund and a lot of skills we've gained over the last year and a half. We trust that the Lord has this all worked out for us already and we just have to move forward and see where He is leading us. And if you like, you're welcome to come along for the ride.

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Reworking The Budget

I've been somewhat lazy about budgeting the last couple of months. I've needed to rework our budget for awhile now but have been avoiding it because it's not a very fun task. And honestly, I've been avoiding it because I really didn't want to have to look at how little wiggle room there is in it these days. So I spent a little time this morning doing what I've been avoiding, reworking the budget. Almost 8 months after my husband went back to work after his unemployment, we still seem to be adjusting to the new reduced income. When we made up our first budget about 15 months ago, we really didn't think about budgeting in terms of percentages. We just gave our money a place it had to go and put it there. This morning I was watching the Today show and their group of financial advisors gave the following percentage guidelines to use when creating your budget.
-10% long term savings
-35% home-mortgage/rent, property taxes, insurance, maintenance
-25% daily living expenses
-15% transportation-car payment, insurance, gas, maintenance
-15% other-debt reduction, etc.

So I sat down and started going over our expenses. It was somewhat discouraging but it is what it is. We are taking steps to reduce our living expenses and possibly increase our income over the next year or two but for now we have to make the best of our current situation.
Here is the reality of our current budget percentages:
-13.5% giving-This is non-negotiable for us.
-40% home-Ouch! Before the job loss this would have been less than 25%. If the housing market was in better shape, we'd go ahead and sell. For now we're staying put but exploring our options.
-15% transportation-We don't have a car payment thankfully! This really helps in this category. We can pay for gas and insurance and still have some left for future car savings and maintenance.
-4.5%-long term savings-The 10% suggested is supposed to be non-negotiable but that's just not our reality right now.
-27% daily living expenses-As much as I would like to trim this a bit I'm not sure how. We've cut things so much over the last year, I'm not sure where else to cut.

So now I have a better picture of our money and where it needs to go. It's just a matter of actually being able to put it there. We have back to school fees, multiple doctors and dentist appointment co-pays, birthdays and so many more extras coming up the next couple of months that making them all fit into the daily living expenses category is going to be a challenge. But I have a goal to work towards and will just have to be smart and creative to reach it.

I think it is easy to develop budget fatigue and lose sight of the big picture of your financial goals sometimes. It was helpful to take a fresh look at our finances and change the way I've been viewing budgeting. I feel re-energized in a way and ready to take on this new budget. How does your budget compare with the suggested percentages?

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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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Frugal Father's Day Gift Ideas

With Father's Day approaching, I thought I'd share some gift ideas for Dad that won't break the bank.

Scrapbook-This may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think about gifts for Dad but I assure you he'll love it. One year I made a "10 Things I Love About My Dad" scrapbook for my dad. I gathered pictures from when he was a little boy all the way through recent pictures. I made the cover for the book from corrugated paper and bound it with jute twine. The book was very rustic looking and I printed all the pictures in sepia. Each layout included one of the reasons and a picture from his life that best matched that reason. It was a huge hit. Several years back I started an ongoing scrapbook for my husband from my daughters. Each year we add a 2 page layout. One page includes a picture of my husband and our daughters with a quote about dads. The other page includes an individual picture of our girls and something they've contributed to make it personal like a handprint or a quote from them about why they love daddy. Both of these are inexpensive gifts that are packed with meaning for the recipients.

Personalized T-Shirts-We've given my husband a couple of these over the years. These are a lot of fun to make. You can use iron-on printable paper to put a picture of the kids or a phrase about dad onto a shirt. Another fun idea is to paint the shirt. You can give your kids fabric paint tubes and let them go wild or you can put handprints our footprints on them. My husband's favorite shirt is one that has our daughters' footprints going up the front with the words "My kids walk all over me."

Coupon Book-What parent doesn't love these? You can use this template from Family Fun or have your kids create their own. Any dad would be thrilled with a day off from taking out the trash, cleaning out the garage, washing the cars or mowing the lawn.

Photo Gifts-Dad's love pictures of their kids. Even if you're not handy with photo editing software, photo websites like Kodak, Shutterfly, CVSPhoto, WalMart, and Walgreens make it easy for you to create a photo collage of your kids to give to dad. If a collage isn't what you had in mind there are plenty of other gift ideas to choose from including travel mugs, puzzles, mouse pads and photo books. These 4x4 books from Shutterfly are reasonably priced and would be a very handy way for dad to show off his kids.

Personalized Gift Baskets-Another way to show dad how much you love him is to present him with a gift "basket" filled with things you know he'll love. Decide on a theme, find a container and fill it up with items that relate to that theme. These do not have to cost a lot of money. Reuse boxes, containers or baskets you already have or pick them up for very little money at yard sales, flea markets or dollar stores. You can also use coupons to purchase many of the items included in the baskets to save money as well.
Some ideas are:
-Favorite Snacks Basket-Fill your container of choice with the things your dad loves to snack on. For example one for my husband would include Snapple Green Tea, diet Dr. Pepper, Lays Sour Cream and Onion chips, Fritos, Almond Joys and Reese's cups.
-Car Cleaning Bucket-Get a bucket and fill it with car wash, tire cleaner, wax, Armour All, a wash mitt, a chamois cloth and air freshener. All the things dad needs to keep his car clean and shiny.
-BBQ Basket-If the dad in your life loves to grill out present him with a BBQ basket. Get a plain canvas apron and you and your kids can personlize it for dad. Place the apron along with grill spices/rubs, barbeque sauce, a grill brush, grill tongs, and a spatula in the basket.
-Golf Basket-Fill a basket for the golf lover in your life with any combination of the following: golf balls, tees, glove, visor, hat, or towel. Here's an inexpensive travel mug set that you could add along with a few snacks.
-Spicy Foods Bakset-Fill a container with hot sauces, chili mixes, spicy cheese spreads, hot and spicy nuts and salsa. This will surely be a hit with the dad who likes his food hot and spicy.

Dad and Me book-Have your kids write and illustrate a book that tells all about what they love about their dad and the time they spend with him.

Dad's Dream Fund-Is there something dad really wants but can't afford. Start a dad's dream fund for him. Decorate a jar, empy oatmeal container or coffee tin and have the kids contribute some of their money to start Dad's fund.

Making Dad's day special doesn't have to cost a lot of money. Just be sure to fill it with lots of love and gifts from the heart.

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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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8 Ways to Practice Frugality and Environmental Awareness

Earth Day is just a week away. I find living a frugal lifestyle and practicing environmentally friendly habits go hand in hand. Here are 8 ways practice frugality and protect the environment at the same time.

1. Make sure your tires are properly inflated. It's not only safer to make sure your tires are properly inflated, it also saves fuel. Properly inflated tires can improve gas mileage by up to 3%.

2. Repair those leaky faucets. A small drip can waste up to 100 gallons a week. That's not only water down the drain, if you don't have a well, that's money too.

3. Switch to cloth napkins. A set of 4 cloth napkins can be purchased for as little as $2 if you find them on clearance. According to the Sierra Club, if a family of four used cloth napkins at every meal for a year, they would save 4,380 paper napkins from the landfill.

4. Use reusable lunch containers. Purchase a reusable lunch container, water bottle, utensil set and snack container instead of using plastic bags, disposable drinks & plastic utensils. Wastefreelunches.org estimates the cost of a disposable lunch at $4.02 a day and the cost of a waste-free lunch at $2.65 a day. That's a savings of $246.60 per person per school year and as much as 67 pounds of waste.

5. Eat less meat. Raising livestock for our food supply contributes to global warming, deforestation, soil erosion as well as having other negative environmental impacts. Having one meat-free day a week will not only have a positive impact on the environment, it will also have a positive impact on your wallet since meat tends to be expensive.

6. Switch to Energy Star CFL bulbs. Each bulb is estimated to save $30 over it's lifetime and uses 75% less energy.

7. Take showers instead of baths. You'll save water and money. For greater savings switch to a low flow shower head.

8. Unplug appliances when not in use. As much as 20% of your homes energy usage can be contributed to stand-by power. Unplug to save energy and money.

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Living Frugally: Putting It To The Test

I wanted to share a little bit about how I came to the place in my life where I'm making a conscious effort to live more frugally, which in turn led to me blogging about it. My husband and I have been married for 14 years. For several years early on we lived fairly frugally because we just didn't have much choice. I had graduated college just 7 months before we met and still hadn't found a job in my field and he had stopped taking classes and was working full time. We were engaged 4 months after we started dating and married 7 months later. We both worked as servers in a restaurant and there just was not much extra money. We both had some debt when we met, mostly credit card but I also had a small student loan. We decided we didn't want to start our marriage loaded down with debt so we focused on putting every extra cent into elimating that debt. We started our marriage with almost every last penny paid off and took care of the rest shortly thereafter. Unfortunately, we didn't get rid of the credit cards completely and over the years that surely cost us a lot of money. We mostly just kept the credit cards for emergencies. There was virtually nothing leftover to save so there was no emergency fund to fall back on. If the cars needed repaired or an emergency arose, we had to use the credit card. There were a lot of money saving skills that we just didn't have then.

A few years into our marriage , tax time rolled around and we discovered that the company had messed up the federal withholdings on my husbands income and we owed the government a chunk of change that we did not have. My wonderful parents gave us the money and we learned our lesson the hard way that we had to figure out a way to save up an emergency fund. I was determined to never have to go to my parents for a bail out again.

As the years passed, my husband worked his way up the ladder of restaurant management and our income increased. When we had our first child in 2000, I was able to become a SAHM and even though money was tight, it was also manageable. We kept an emergency fund, had a mortagage and car payments and felt we were doing okay. We tried to never charge too much on credit cards but from time to time we'd slip and carry a balance for a few months.

A few years ago, we had our first wake up call that we'd gotten a little too comfortable with the new income level. We had 2 children to shop for and I was guilty of wanting to buy my girls cute little matching outfits, my husband bought a car we really couldn't comfortably afford as well as an expensive life insurance policy because he wanted the girls and I to be taken care of in case something happened to him. And suddenly, it seemed, we were starting to have trouble getting by each month. I had heard about Dave Ramsey from someone I went to church with. I bought Total Money Makeover and read it and suggested following his plan to my husband. He balked at giving up the credit cards but agreed to implement some changes to correct our financial situation. But we didn't fully commit to the plan. We sold the too expensive car, dropped the insurance policy and just had the one offered through my husband's work and I reigned in my clothes shopping. We made a few other small adjustments and, once again, felt like we were doing okay.

Shortly after that, my husband received a promotion and we moved to an area with a higher cost of living. Thankfully the promotion brought a pay increase which helped balance out the cost of living difference. Still we had those credit cards and sometimes the balance would creep up on us. Early this year, when my husband got his W-2s he was looking at it and commented that we should be able to save more than we were. I agreed and suggested Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover again. He agreed to it so I reread the book and then he read it. Then, we sat down and drew up our plan. We had a mortgate, $8000 in car debt, and $1800 in credit card debt. We also had about a month and a half of living expenses in an emergency fund and a good start on retirement savings. Retirement savings is the one thing we are good at. We made our first budget and were quite amazed to see how much money we were wasting each month. Note: I've always handled the money and never had much knowledge about budgeting. Each month I would write down all the money we owed for bills and then try to make whatever was left cover all the rest. Not a super budget plan by any means. So, we started looking at things we could cut out and reduce the expense of so we could save more and eliminate debt.

As soon as we received our tax return we eliminated the credit card debt. And we did make the commitment this time around to stop using credit cards. Then we began attacking the car debt as well as trying to build up the emergency fund. To create more money to do this we cut our grocery budget. I learned how to really use coupons to my advantage. We also stopped taking my husbands pants to the cleaners to have them cleaned and pressed. He continued to take his shirts because he likes them super starched but by me taking over washing and ironing the pants we saved ourselves $800 a year. We also changed my cell phone to a pay as you go plan. This saved us over $400 a year. We also began budgeting for items like clothing, entertainment, meals out, gifts, etc. We knew what we could spend and would not go over it. No more impulse buys that really add up. We had a plan and it was working.

On September 3rd of this year my husband lost his job due to restructuring, another company suffering the impact of all the problems with todays economy. We did not freak out. We had 3months of expenses in the emergency fun and had reduced the car debt to $4000. I also had an almost fully funded Christmas account so that was not going to be a worry. I knew I could cut the grocery budget some more and still have plenty, especially since I already had a stockpile to work with. We made a few more small cuts in things like entertainment, meals out, etc. and figured we could make more dramatic cuts if it looked like this period of unemployment was going to drag on. My husband also received a severance package which we promptly put into savings. We were able to live off of what we had in our checking account up until the last week of November when we finally had to dip into savings.

My husband spent his days the last few months working on finding a new job. I don't know if I've ever been as proud of him as during the last few months. He did not get down. He did not slack off. He just kept moving forward. He started his new job on December 8th. We are incredibly grateful that he has a job. This job does come with a significant decrease in pay from the last job though. While in training, he's making almost 40% less than he did at his last job. His pay will increase over the next 6 months to a year but it will still be 25%-30% less than he made before. So now we get to put all that we've learned about living frugally to the test. We know we can pay our bills but we're going to have to get creative to come up with extra money to save. But I'm confident we can do this because we've learned the skills and have access to the resources to do it. And I am so thankful to have these skills to pass onto my children so that they can go into their adult lives fully equipped with the knowledge to successfully manage their money.

All of these experiences led me to create this blog. At first, just because I was wanting to share all the great deals with others who would appreciate them but now even more I want to share what I've learned and what I continue to learn with others. I hope you will find what I share to be useful.

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