This Frugal Momma

TFM: Quick Cookies from Cake Mix

2013-01-04T13:10:00.000-05:00

So I realized that every time I've gone to the grocery store the last month or two I've picked up a cake mix or two or four ... hey, they were BOGO! So now I have a cupboard full of cake mix, white cake, devil's food cake, yellow cake, lemon cake, chocolate cake and so today I decided to try out an old recipe my mother-in-law gave me making cookies from cake mix! What really got me thinking is a friend who is currently living over in Zambia and missing traditional baked goods - she says that while they have cake mix they don't quick taste the same - this one's for you Hollie!

Devil's Food with Peanut Butter Chips

TFM: Cookies from Cake Mix

TFM: Chocolate Peppermint Mocha Creamer

2012-12-10T08:00:00.000-05:00

Oh My! I LOVE Christmas!! And I love all the trimmings that go with it. So we've used up all the Pumpkin Spice Creamer so I had to try the Chocolate Peppermint Mocha ... it's like a Christmas party in my mouth!

Check out the recipe here Chocolate Peppermint Mocha

Make some, grab some ginger snaps (or any Christmas cookie you have on hand), put on some Christmas music, turn on the Christmas tree and sit back and enjoy!

Merry Christmas!

TFM: DIY Headlight Restoration

2012-12-08T08:00:00.000-05:00

Have you ever been driving down the road at night and thought "man everything looks dim" well unfortunately I have! When I stopped to really look at my old mini van (she's almost 13 now) I realized how hazy the headlight were. See ...

The left picture is the passenger's side headlight and the right is the driver's side. You can see that you can barely make out the actual bulb on either side, yeah they were both in pretty bad shape! It was a little hard to get a good picture but I hope you get a feel for exactly how bad they were.

Check out here to see how I solved my 'hazy headlights' for a dollar and a bit of elbow grease. Here's to seeing clearly at night!

DIY Headlight Restoration

TFM: Pumpkin Spice Creamer

2012-12-07T11:43:00.000-05:00

So have you ever really looked at the ingredient list on flavored creamers? Well I did and was SHOCKED! There was no milk or cream listed! So I figured there is a better way to do this and get the flavor I love while being a little more "natural."

Please understand I was not going for organic creamer or anything like that. I just figured there was a better way to flavor my coffee than adding all these crazy ingredients that I didn't even know! So I started researching making flavored creamer using ingredients I already had on hand here at home. I came across several great ideas and wanted to give them a try with the idea that I could even give some of these are Christmas gifts to family and friends. Pumpkin Spice was my first attempt, it made two small creamer bottles worth (about 4 cups) and I took it in to the office and had my co-workers try it ... I came home with an empty bottle!

I know it's a little late for pumpkin spice but this was so yummy I have a strong feeling I will be making it through out the year ...

Check out the recipe here: Pumpkin Spice Creamer

PS: Keep an eye out I've got Chocolate Peppermint Mocha Creamer coming in a day or so too! Just in time for Christmas ... yummy!!!

TFM: Vanilla Chai Tea Mix

2012-10-20T18:30:00.004-04:00

Christmas Crafting has begun! I just couldn't wait to try out one of the new recipes I'd found on Pintrest (Yes, I think I may have to go to Pintrest Rehab!). So I've made a double batch of this great Vanilla Chai Tea Mix and packaged several up for gifts and of course made some for home! I've been saving random jars lately too (no I don't know why so stop asking!) and I found a great use for one of the spaghetti jars - I painted the lid with some left over craft paint, dried it with the hairdryer (becuase you know I was just too impatient!) and printed and cut out a little label - I think I might need some of those fancy scrapbooking cutter things - I mean I had to use a regular old pair of scissors to cut this label ... ok well maybe not but what girl don't like more toys?!

Give it a try and let me know what you think! It's become a new fave around our house. Merry Pre-Christmas!

Find the recipe here

Pumpkin Nut Muffins

2012-10-10T11:31:00.000-04:00

Here is a great and easy recipe for Pumpkin Nut Muffins. This one is a cobination of a pintrest idea and a recipe from Skinny Taste that I combined, modified and turned into these Easy Breakfast Muffins that I can't keep in the house! That's why I made this last batch while everyone was out of the house or you can forget me being able to take pictures!!

Hope you enjoy these as much as we do!

Cozi Review

2012-09-10T09:56:00.000-04:00

The opinions in this review are totally my own feelings and thoughts on this product, I was in no way compensated for this article/post by anyone.

In my search to stay organized and ahead of the clutter that two working parents and three elementary students inevitably bring to life and my house I came across an online organizer that I have been using now for several months. I originally downloaded this onto my iPad back in December 2011 but didn’t take the time to figure out how to use the program to benefit my family until sometime in March.

Now every organizer/calendar will be used by everyone differently, for me it was finding one that I could use the way my brain works that was easy and included all those little things like, school schedules, menu planning, etc and that integrated with my other calendars so that I could see it no matter where I was.

cozi.com

The program I use is an online based one called Cozi. I can keep our carpool schedule, team practices, grocery lists, school calendar as well as our daily calendar on here. It shares info with other calendars so regardless of what calendar I’m looking at I know what we’re having for dinner, who’s picking the kids up from school tonight as well as a reminder to send in the field trip permission form tomorrow.

One of the nice things is you can set it up to e-mail or text you (and any other people you choose) a weekly calendar every Sunday showing you at a quick glance what is coming up for the week.

Once a week I sit down and add our dinners to the calendar for quick easy reference, double check I’ve got any important meetings for all of us added, and run through with my husband his schedule to see if I need to add anything in that is going to affect our daily routine.

Another great feature is the journal, as a busy mom there are little moments in our lives that I want to remember, or funny stories I want to keep for later. Well Cozi has a journal section that I can write down a quick summary of what happened or if I have more time write out a full story. I can keep these private or share them with family and friends. So as you are away on family vacation you can keep a record of special fun times together and even add photos.

Home Page

I love that I can access this through my iPad (there’s an app for that!) or if I’m at work or even the library and I need to check who is picking the kids up, what time hockey practice is, what we’re having for dinner or what’s still on my grocery list to pick up on the way home I can access it quickly and even text or e-mail myself lists of groceries or to – do items.

Here are some pictures of how we use Cozi to organize this craziness called life; at least it does for …

This Frugal Momma!

tool bar

To Do List

Weekly Calendar


Shopping Lists

Monster Door Wreath on the Cheap!

2012-09-05T14:31:00.000-04:00

So I'm always on the look out for fun (and of course frugal) ways to do pretty much everything around our house. And most recently I've been drawn to the whole idea of fall ... warm soup, pumpkin spice anything, fall leaves, pumpkins, and of course ... Halloween. I guess I'm still a bit of a Northern Girl at heart! We don't go all out in any major way for decorating the outside of our house except at Christmas but I always like a little 'something' on our front door. So my latest obsession has been figuring out what I can do for our front porch to give it that little something extra but still do it super inexpensively?

Tubing Wreath by The Penny Parlor

In the past, I've put up a Christmas wreath and I've got a cute little harvest door hanger and of course a patriotic one for The 4th of July (I mean, how could I not have something for The 4th as it's oldest son's birthday!). Well this year in looking around Pintrest I found this great idea for making a wreath base - cheap!At The Penny Parlor of course I just kind of tucked the idea away as something cool someday! Well I supposed really I 'Pinned' it. Along with a million other fun things to do ... someday!

Fur-ocious Wreath by Disney Family Fun

Over Labor Day weekend the family hit the local bookstore for some browsing (a family favorite thing!) We all meandered the store looking at all the books and magazines. I love looking through craft magazines looking at all the wonderful crafty ideas that came out of someone's head and onto the page for me to drool over. Now I'm a somewhat crafty person but well ... I'm no Martha!Lo-and-behold while looking through Disney's Family Fun Magazine I saw this fun looking monster wreath! Now I will admit while I loved this wreath ... I mean it is too cute! I didn't take the time to actually read the instructions.

Now you might have already made the connection that took me honestly, about 15 minutes of wrangling children out the door to put together ... "Hey! Bet I could make this monster wreath cute, cheap and using that foam tube stuff!" And so an idea was born and the search was on for how to make this wreath on a very slim budget - like $5 slim! I LOVE a challenge!!

Here's what I bought, where & for how much:
Home Depot
Foam Tube $0.97

WalMart
Wiggle Eyes $0.97

Michaels
Halloween Hay (Orange)$1.99
Black Glitter $0.99
Ribbon $2.99 (also on clearance)
Michaels 40% off Coupon = $1.20 (went online and printed this before going to the store)

So if you are keeping track ... I blew my target but I think a wreath for $6.71 is still pretty good! And I didn't use all of my supplies so I have leftovers of everything to make something else! So not being a math genius, if I took the time to figure out what percentage of everything I bought and the cost of the amount I used I probably came in under $5 but you know what, I'm still extremely happy with $6.71!

Supplies

Gathering supplies

Foam Tube
Duct Tape or Packing Tape
Halloween Hay
Cardboard
Scissors
White school glue
Needle & Thread
Wiggle Eyes
Ribbon
Black Glitter
Exact-o Knife

So the first thing I did was create my wreath with the tubing. I played around with the size but ended up using a little over half the tube. I just cut it with scissors and taped it together with packing tape ... almost as good as duct tape but what I had on hand!

Then I unpacked the halloween hay, this is similar to the cobweb material but they had it in black, orange and white. It reminded me of thin fiber fill. It was folded up so I unfolded it, glued a section onto the back of my wreath and then started wrapping the form with the 'hay'. I played around with it, never making it too tight and pulling little bits to make it 'fuzzy' looking. Once I was fairly satisfied with it I ripped off the excess and glued down the end, making sure it was on the back also. I used my fingers a lot with the glue because I couldn't get the nozzle unplugged.

Now I should have probably let this sit for an hour or so to dry but I'm a little impatient and wanted to see the finished product so I kept going. I drew out the word "Boo" on a cardboard box from our recycle bin (aka free!) and used the scissors and exact-o knife to cut it out. Then I played around with the placement of everything before gluing it down. I spread glue on the front (yes, using my fingers again) of the cardboard and sprinkled the black glitter over the top. I was generous with the glitter - I wanted it to sparkle!!! But so I didn't waste any I put a piece of paper under to collect the glitter and put it back in the container.

Now in hind sight I would stop and attach the ribbon hanger because I actually sewed it on. Don't worry it's easier than you think, just make sure that you have a little longer needle. I sewed from the back right though the tube about 2 or 3 times and tied it off. Then it's time to start gluing again!

Glue all your pieces onto the wreath and give it some time to dry ... okay, you know I gave it all of 5 minutes before putting this on my front door to show y'all! But now that I have a good picture it's back on the table drying. Hmm, now I'm thinking we need to have warm crock pot soup for dinner, guess it must be fall someplace ... well maybe another night. For now we'll enjoy our funny monster wreath and the warm evenings made for walks and bike rides. I think it turned out pretty cute! Hope you have fun making it! Well that's my frugal wreath from ...

This Frugal Momma

DIY Storage Box / Garage Organizer

2012-08-30T20:42:00.000-04:00

Like many people our over flow from the house has found its way into our garage and lives in what we call “blue bins.” You know those great plastic containers that Rubbermaid makes? Yeah well over several moves we have accumulated “stuff” and these hold the “stuff” great. Sorting through the “stuff” is on my To Do List … someday! Until then we wanted a neat organized way of storing these boxes so that on those rare Saturdays when there isn’t much else to do we could easily pull a box out and sort and begin downsizing.

These great plastic storage bins are a great organizer for all your keepsakes and seasonal decorations, but what happens when you get more than 3 of them together? If you’re anything like me they get stacked one on top of them until you have something that resembles the leaning tower of Pisa! Let’s face it these containers scream for me to stack them the way they are made! Inevitably one of two things happens:

1. The bottom box starts to buckle under the strain of holding up the rest of the stack or

2. What I want is in the bottom box and so I have to move everything to get at that one box.

Before

What if it didn’t need to be this way, what if you could easily access any of your storage boxes at any time without the hassle of re-stacking? Well this weekend we decided to try and tackle this project by creating a PVC storage box organizer. After looking online, visiting Lowes, Ace & Home Depot we came up with an idea (again this started with a Pintrest Pin!) and modified it to work for what we had and our budget. We did this for about $70.

Basic Grid

Here is what we used:

1 rubber mallet

1 pvc pipe cutter

8 pvc ¾” corners

16 pvc ¾” X pieces

32 pvc ¾” T pieces

9 – 10’ lengths of ¾” pvc (you will have a bit left over, we are saving it to make another project!)

Here are the cuts we made & how many of each we used:

18” pieces (24)

12” pieces (12)

9” pieces (48)

And this is how we put it together (and by “we” I mean my darling husband and our two boys – they loved helping on this project!) If you think of it as a front and back grid you are attaching them together with the 12” pieces. So here is how we made 1 grid (you will need to make 2 grids)

Here is a grid:

from the side

Corner + 18” + T + 18” + T + 18” + Corner

9” + T + 9”

X + 18” + X + 18” + X + 18” + X

9” + T + 9”

X + 18” + X + 18” + X + 18” + X

9” + T + 9”

Corner + 18” + T + 18” + T + 18” + Corner

As you look at the picture (right) you can see the 12” pieces are the cross bars holding the two grids together.

So once they put the cross pieces and used the mallets to make sure each connection was tight we moved it (again this is the collective “we” meaning my darling husband J) into the garage and proceeded to organize what we had already downsized from the above picture into this tidy, loveliness. Oh, and the great thing is that you can expand this on either side, I’m already thinking if we did another grid of 4 on the side and if we put a board across the top the kids could store their bike helmets here … or whatever. I’m just sayin’ it sparked ideas of expanding the whole storage unit and it’s barely been in my garage for five minutes! Well at least it did for …

After! Easy access to each container - YEAH!!

This Frugal Momma!

Back to School Lunch in a Snap!

2012-08-29T22:52:00.004-04:00

So frugal to me doesn't always mean saving money, it can also mean saving time so that I can "spend" it other ways. So I thought I'd share with you a couple of my favorite frugal school morning time saving tips. Enjoy!

Whether your school year has already started or is getting ready to start soon, there certain things that are synonymous with a new school year, new pencils, fresh notebooks, and new backpacks. There are also the typical questions - will I like my new teacher, will I know anyone in class, will I buy lunch or bring one from home? While I can only encourage and reassure my kids about the new school year the lunch question is a no-brainer! I get more control over what they are eating and the cost if I send lunch. Sorry kiddos - Momma pulls rank on this choice!

So new lunch bags were purchased, water bottles were labeled and lunches were planned.

Ready for the first day of school!

With three kids who are not weekday morning people (cartoons on the weekends somehow magically change the mood of these same school day morning slugs) and an early start school (the late bell rings at 8am) mornings are always a little rushed making sure everyone gets ready (dressed, teeth & hair) and fed. So we try and do as much pre-planning and organizing before hand. Clothes are picked out, papers and planners are signed, homework is packed back into backpacks, water bottles are filled and put in the fridge, and showers are taken the night before so mornings are a little easier for everyone (ok read "for Momma" here!)

To make my mornings easier and to give me a couple extra minutes to get ready (or hit the snooze button one last time perhaps) I try and prep as much of the kids lunches before hand. So here are my favorite time saver tips for Back to School Lunches in a Snap!

On Grocery Day:

I keep all of these things in plastic bins either in my school lunch & snack cupboard or in the refrigerator. I find if they are portioned out and in a central location grabbing 3 of each thing in the morning is quick and easy!

Portion out cookies into snack bags
Make snack packs of chips (some times I will buy the small bags of chips depending on price)
Open the package of cheese & peanut butter crackers so I can grab a pack quick and easy.

On the Weekend:

Depending on our weekend schedule I do these things either Saturday or Sunday, whichever works out. So long as they're done by the end of the day Sunday that's all I really care about!

Even making sandwiches has a 'frugal' process!

Make snack packs of carrots or celery sticks, this includes washing/peeling or chopping if necessary (they get whichever I find on sale, but I try not to have the same thing for more than 2 weeks or they get bored!)

packed, stacked and ready for the freezer!

I make a weeks worth of peanut butter sandwiches, bag them up, label them and ... freeze them! I do give the kids the choice of if they want jam, jelly or honey on their sandwich so this is why I always put an initial on the outside of plastic baggie (I have a grape jelly hater in my house ... I mean seriously?!)

In the Morning:

So packing lunches in the morning is a real snap and only takes me about 5 minutes I always use a specific part of the counter because this is where I have the empty lunch bags waiting ..

Grab water bottles, fruit & veggies from fridge
Grab sandwiches from freezer (they are defrosted by lunch time and any jelly hasn't squished through the bread making it soggy!)
Grab 3 drink pouches from the top of the fridge
Grab 2 boxes from the snack cupboard
Pack lunch: Sandwich, Juice Pouch, Apple or Orange, Carrots or Celery, Crackers, Cookies & a bag of chips. Grab the water bottle and into the backpack it all goes!

Add a bag of chips on the top and it's ready to go!

So if it saves me a few extra minutes to spend snuggling with each of my kids as I wake them up, a little organizing, planning and preparation it is totally worth it to ....

This Frugal Momma!

Soft, Sexy Legs for Summer

2012-08-28T09:01:00.000-04:00

It’s a rainy day today, the kids are in school and I want to make something. My diet can’t handle baking right now and my budget can’t support a project that I don’t have the supplies for on hand. So this has sent me to my favorite creative inspiring place … Pintrest! I just love looking at all the creative ideas people post here from food to crafts to cute outfits – I think it’s a one stop shop kind of place for me!

About a month ago I saw (& pinned of course!) a scrub that claimed it would give you amazing silky smooth legs. I had a friend’s wedding to attend in a few weeks so I decided to whip up a batch as I would be wearing a dress, something I don’t normally do so of course my legs must look amazing! So for two weeks before the wedding I used this sugar scrub on them every couple of days, even if I wasn’t shaving. I did tweak it a bit to my personal preference but used the same basic ingredients (sugar, lemon juice & oil)

So here’s the recipe:
1 1/3 cups plain white sugar
1/2 cup oil (I’ve used olive oil and grape seed oil so feel free to use your favorite.)
2Tbsp lemon juice

That’s it! Told you it was simple! So next step after mixing your scrub is to use it of course! Now I did mix it in my glass bowl but I don’t take that into the shower with me (I can see so many bad outcomes!) So I transfer what I think I will need into a plastic container and take it with me. I keep the rest in the fridge – no particular reason except I didn’t know where else to keep it but if you have a shatter proof container I would think you could easily keep it in the bathroom – it would sure be more convenient!

Now I personally don’t shave in the tub – eww gross! So instead I shave in the shower and here is my best suggestion for getting great soft sexy legs year round:

Wash & condition your hair – this will give your legs and the hair time to get wet and ready for shaving. You know what the shampoo bottle says – lather, rinse, repeat!

All mixed up!

Now things get tricky … well not really! Scrub your legs with the sugar scrub, rinse and shave (don’t use any shave gel, etc.) then scrub and shave again. I know shave twice? This scrub exfoliates the dead skin cells off your legs and shaving them twice using the scrub in between shaves gets any little stubble so you end up with soft, smooth and sexy legs.

At this point I take a small squirt of soap (or shampoo) and using my foot rub the floor of the shower – it gets a little oily with the scrub but this seems to take care of it no problem. Now, I put lotion on after I get out of the shower, but that’s up to your personal preference.

So in just a couple of minutes I had an inexpensive scrub using simple ingredients from around my home. And soft, sexy summer legs that will look great in shorts or a dress! Totally fit my budget!

Well that’s it for …
This Frugal Momma!

P.S. Now I have to run and shave my legs before I have to pick the kiddos up from school!

DIY Laundry Soap

2012-08-26T03:14:00.000-04:00

I had a wedding shower to attend a month or two ago for a dear friend. I was so excited to go but wanted to come up with a creative, unique gift for this wonderful girl. So checked out my regular blog stops and of course spent a bit of time surfing around pintrest. Came up with some great ideas!

So I pulled out some of my favorites and tried a few new homemade products. Here’s what I made for her:

HM Laundry Detergent
HM Stain Remover
HM Fabric Softener on reusable Dryer Sheets
HM Gel Air Freshener
Personalized bottle of Hand Sanitizer

Here is are some of the items I used to make her gifts – out of all of them the laundry detergent is one of my all time favorites! Here’s the recipe for me it works out to about $0.015 / half cup – yes that’s right about a penny and a half per load!

Here’s what you need

1 bar Fels Naptha Soap (.97)
1 box Borax (.29 / cup)
1 box A&H Super Washing Soda (.17/cup)
Water
3 – 1 gallon jugs (empty & rinsed out, labels removed if you like)
1 medium – large pot
Spoon
grater of some kind

I will say that I don’t have a problem using my pots or kitchen equipment to do this – I wash everything really well afterwards by hand after all everything I am using is a type of cleaner! But if you want to use an old set of kitchen supplies then I’d hit up your local goodwill or thrift store.

First you need to grate your soap, put this in your pot with about 3 cups of water. Over medium heat stir until completely dissolved.

Add 1 cup each of borax and washing soda, continue to heat and stir until all the powder is dissolved, maybe 3-4 minutes.

This is where it gets hard … okay not really!

Pour the soap into your three bottles, I just eye ball it when I’m using my regular bottles because they are all about the same size and shape. A couple of times I’ve been making several smaller bottles to give away and so there have been times I will take a measuring cup and put equal amounts in all the bottles – but I’m a little OCD like that!

Final step – add water to each bottle filling each one almost to the top – you need to leave a little room for shaking. Yes you heard me right – shaking! Put the lid on tightly and SHAKE! SHAKE! SHAKE! Leave it overnight to thicken some and you are ready to go!!

You will need to give your bottle a shake before each use as it does tend to separate as it sits. When you shake the bottle you will see suds – when you wash your clothes you don’t see much/any suds – it took me a while to get past that because I don’t know about you but I always associated suds = clean. Trust me your clothes will come out just as clean as when you use commercial products but at a fraction of the cost!

And with three kids every penny counts! Well at least it is for …

This Frugal Momma

Hello World!

2012-08-26T02:40:00.000-04:00

Welcome! I hope as you read this blog you will find some creative and interesting ideas to help you and your family save money while having fun!! That’s what it’s all about for me – its not worth saving the money if I can’t do it with my family and we can’t have fun doing it.

I’m a full time mom who happens to work full time too, outside the home that is. My Darling Husband and I have three awesome kiddos, who keep us busy, on our toes and never cease to amaze.

DH & I started working towards becoming debt free in 2011, it has been an interesting roller coaster ride this past year and a half and we are getting closer each month. Even though this is important to us we still want to give our kids a great childhood full of memories, laughter and good times.

So In my OCD little head, one way we can do this is if I’m frugal with every dollar we have and find ways to save us money on the everyday of life so that we can enjoy the memory making moments. I have found some of those memory moments have happened when we build things together, try a new recipe together, or when we’re trying out one of the crazy crafts Momma found on Pintrest (another obsession, but more on that later.)

Come back and visit often to see the crazy fun we’re up to.
See ya soon,
This Frugal Mom