1. Black & Decker 6-Cup Rice Cooker with Steamer Basket - I just recently purchased this because I want to make more brown rice, but I am always struggling with getting the right amount of water, cooking it for the right amount of time and heating up our home.  Not only does it cook up my rice quickly (I swear it takes less time than the stove top) but I can also steam veggies or fish in the top basket.  The other night I made salmon and rice in like 25 minutes.  I save money because I can cook rice more often and a quick meal keeps us from eating out.
2. Presto Electric Griddle -I’ve always had trouble with making pancakes too.  Pan is too hot, pan isn’t hot enough, pancake is burning, etc.  Hubby bought this for me a couple of years ago and I LOVE it!  I use it for perfect pancakes on the weekends and can use it during the week for grilled cheese sandwiches and quesadillas.  Again, it keeps us from eating out because I can quickly cook up a variety of foods.
3. George Foreman Lean Mean Fat Reducing Grilling Machine - I’ve had this thing forever it feels like and it’s gotten a LOT of use.  Just the other night I was feeling too tired to cook and was about ready to send hubby out for fast food.  I looked in the fridge and saw some chicken breasts - so I got out my grill and the chicken breast cooked up in about 10 minutes.  What’s especially nice too is that you can do other things while it’s cooking.  So, I set my rice cooker and my grill and put my feet up while they cooked dinner for me.
4. Cuisinart Duet Blender/Food Processor - I believe I got this as a birthday present 2 years ago and it has been so wonderful.  I had a very cheap blender and a very cheap food processor that were more trouble than they were worth.  I love having both appliances in one and it’s a good quality brand.  I can save money with this by making more foods from scratch, especially baby food and smoothies.
5. Bissell Flip-Ease All-In-One Vacuum and Mop - Ok, so this doesn’t save me money, but good Lord I love this thing!  I got it while I was pregnant so I wouldn’t have to get down on my hands and knees to mop, but truly, I wouldn’t trade it for anything now.  I run the vacuum over the kitchen floor every day and spot mop as needed.  Now I only have to do a major mopping every month or two.  I guess I can say that it saves me money because when my kitchen is clean, I am more likely to cook at home

And there you have it.  I would love to hear some other kitchen favorites - then I can put them on my birthday wish list for this year!

The diaper service dropped off 80 prefold diapers for me and the two
Thirsties Diaper Covers that my Step-Mom also purchased for me.  It took some practice and coordination, but I finally figured out how to fold a prefold, snappi it, apply a diaper cover and make sure everything is tucked in.  The baby kept leaking around the legs and after much research, I’ve discovered he is just a heavy wetter.  I’ve tried a few different combinations, but most of them are too bulky for my little guy - so I’ve just started changing him every hour to hour and a half.

Now, every Tuesday night, I throw my bag of dirty diapers out on the front porch and every Wednesday morning - like magic - they are gone and a fresh bag of diapers appears!

Since I’ve actually had a positive experience this time, I’ve decided I’m going to continue using cloth diapers even after the diaper service ends.  I’ve started purchasing bumGenius Organic One Size Cloth Diapers because I feel they are the most cost effective since I can use them until my baby is out of diapers.

So why have I decided to go through all this trouble?  The reason is three-fold.

1. I want to do my part in helping the environment by reducing the amount of disposable diapers I put into the trash.
2. I want to save money on diapers.
3. I want to protect my baby from the junk that’s in disposable diapers.

I think in the coming weeks I’ll share some of the tips and tricks I’ve learned about all aspects of cloth diapering.  Everything from how to organize them to how to use them to how to wash them.  Plus some troubleshooting tips regarding leaks and stinky diaper pails.

When I first learned about freezer cooking, I was introduced to once a month cooking (OAM).  I purchased a menu from Saving Dinner by Leanne Ely and loved the organization of it.  It had my grocery list and step by step instructions on what I was to chop up first and how I was to bag it up.  The problem was that when I actually did those things - I was EXHAUSTED!  I learned very quickly that it was not for me.

Then, right before I had the baby, I looked again at freezer cooking.  I wanted to make sure I had some meals ready for after the baby was born so I didn’t have to cook.  I’ve been a big fan of the Hillbilly Housewife for awhile now (it helped us get through some rough financial times) and she had sent out an email talking about how it would only take her a couple minutes longer to prepare a second lasagna and freeze it.  I had to check out her Freezer Cooking Made Simple eBook because it sounded a lot more feasible to me.

I think the most important thing I learned was what types of ingredients freeze well and which ones don’t.  From there, I used several of her recipes and doubled them and got them in the freezer.  I also found some other recipes on the internet and have them lined up as well.

The first night I tried it, I was really amazed.  It was a little tricky cooking twice as much hamburger, and I had to cook two pots of noodles - but after I assembled everything I had this sense of accomplishment.

And just for the record - my favorite recipe so far is the Pizza Pasta Casserole.  It was cheap, easy and quick to cook and best of all - my picky 4 year old ate it!

So anyhow, if the thought of once a month cooking turns you off, I would highly recommend trying this method.  Look for recipes online (it is also sometimes called cook once, eat twice), get the eBook - whatever you’d like.  It really doesn’t take much longer and you won’t have to eat out on the nights when you’re too tired to cook - instead you can just grab something from the freezer!

• Financial - Store bought cleaners are for the most part, ridiculously priced.  And of course, the companies will market 20 different products that you just have to have in order to keep your home clean.  In reality, most cleaners can be made from products you already purchase such as ammonia, vinegar, salt, borax and baking soda.  Last I checked on those - they were all reasonably priced!
• Environmental - Many chemicals found in store bought cleaners are quite toxic to the environment and to wildlife.  They wind up in our water supply due to being flushed down the toilet and poured down the drain and unfortunately, these chemicals cannot be filtered out.  Natural cleaners are much more environmentally friendly and the damage to wildlife is minimal.
• Personal - For me personally, it is frightening to have a lot of chemicals around my small children, let alone my husband and me.  There are so many things in cleaners that can harm you, cause cancer and there are probably some side effects that are not even known.  When a package says that you need to wear gloves because the product may irritate your skin, it scares me to think what the fumes are doing to my lungs!

So, the next time you hear about homemade cleaners, know that they are a good thing for three different reasons.  Take the time to whip yourself up a batch and not only will you be protecting your family, but you’ll also be helping the environment (being Green is the IN thing!) and saving money.

First of all, you can use any kind of notebook you’d like - anything from a full-size 3 ring binder to a small pocket notebook that easily fits in your purse.  Just make sure that it is convenient enough that you will always remember to take it with you.

Next you will need a grocery price book worksheet, which you can either make yourself, or download here.  The worksheet should have room for the item name, size and price.  You will also need to make a notation at the store location at which you found the price.

When you are first starting out, you may not know what a good price is.  It will take some time to visit several stores and to go through a few sale cycles before you start to see a trend.  Then, once you can see what a regular price, sale price and super sale price look like, you can start to shop smarter.

Although you may not always be able to get the best deal (perhaps the item you need is not on sale anywhere during a certain week) - you can set a goal to not spend more than a certain percentage over the sale price.  If you make it almost like a game, you will enjoy looking for bargains and seeing if you can beat your previous low price.

Always remember too, to keep an eye on the unit prices.  Although items look cheaper at first glance, you will need to break down the price to make sure you are definitely getting the best price.  Even if items come in different sizes at different stores, if you make a note of your unit price then you’ll be able to easily calculate the better deal.

http://www.expectnet.com/games/LimaBeanBaby

1. Quite frankly, I’m extremely tired a lot of the time and have stopped using some of my more drastic frugal methods that I’ve written about in the past.  Simply put, I don’t want to be a hypocrite.
2. I’ve incorporated the frugal mindset into several areas of our life and don’t have to think about it so much anymore - and so now I have started focusing more on making extra money.

So, this baby will likely be born in the next 9 to 30 days (I’m sore and exhausted!), my whole household is sick with a horrible hacking cough and fevers (youngest is asleep and oldest is playing with dad) and so I will take this time to share some of my own frugal fraud confessions.

• When I’m really tired, I eat out and lately that has been a couple of times a week.  Going to the grocery store has become a marathon event and sometimes I forget to prepare the meal in advance.  I’ve yet to come up with a way to make a 8 hour crockpot meal in 30 minutes.
• I drink soda and buy bottled water. - Oh the horrors.  I cut out caffeine early on and then slowly started drinking it again.  I know how horrible it is, but it really is an addiction.  And the bottled water?  Well, I have never been good at remembering to filter water and I need something portable.
• I no longer use the foaming hand soap - it became too much of a hassle.  Now I just buy the economy refill and so I guess I’m still saving money.
• The homemade dishwasher detergent and homemade disinfectant wipes went to the trash.  I couldn’t get the dishwasher soap to dissolve no matter what I did to it and the disinfectant wipes started dissolving.  Scary.
• My  name is Lisa and I don’t shop at CVS much anymore.  It was fun while it lasted and I got some really great deals, but the amount of time and energy I had to put into it wasn’t working out for me.  Plus, most of the time they would be out of stock on the deals I wanted and it really became a waste of time and gas.

Ok, there’s my first five confessions - make sure to stay tuned for my next set of confessions coming soon to a blog post near you.

So I did my homework and found that newspaper subscriptions are TOO EXPENSIVE!  The cheapest thing I found was a Sunday only subscription for $52 a  year.  Of course, being the frugal person that I am - I started researching.  I ran across this great site that offers cheap newspaper subscriptions at 50% - 75% off!  After all was said and done, I found a paper that offered Sunday only delivery for 50 cents a week.

I’m sure that I can save at least 50 cents a week by using my coupons, so this is definitely a wise decision.  Compare that to the original price which was $1 a week, and I save $26.  Needless to say I am more than happy with my discovery and wanted to share it with anyone who may need coupons or just a cheap newspaper subscription.

So who helped me change my life in 2008 and how did they do it?

1. Courtney Tuttle - This was one of the first blogs I started reading when I decided to start blogging.  I got this blog’s theme from his site and when I contacted him regarding my ambitions, he actually responded!  Now I also follow him at The Keyword Academy.
2. John Chow - I think every potential blogger comes across this name when they look into making money online.  I really learned a lot from reading his free ebook and he even helped me out during a very difficult time in my family’s lives this year.
3. Caroline Middlebrook - Her free eBook on Niche Sites was absolutely wonderful and taught me a new way of setting up blogs to make money.  I especially appreciate her candidness when speaking of her own life.
4. Amy Bass - The Niche Blogger has been very life changing for me.  I’ve learned many of the ins and outs of SEO and think this has the potential to get me to the income level I need to stay at home this year.
5. Josh Spaulding - This was a recommendation from a friend and he was described as having good advice and being very down to earth.  His free eBook - The $5 Mini-Site Formula - got some very quick results for me.  I really like the techniques he recommends and appreciate his kind nature and the fact that he personally responded to me when I emailed him.

So, as 2008 draws to a close, I’m very much looking forward to the coming year.  I know 2009 is going to be the year where I see more success online than I ever have and where, in conjuction with saving money, we’re able to pay off even more debt and live comfortably.