*The Thrifty Home

188th Penny Pinching Party

2013-05-22T08:53:00.001-06:00

187th Penny Pinching Party

2013-05-15T00:00:00.000-06:00

I haven't been posting much new content lately because I have been a little busy with our new dog. Having a new dog takes a lot of patience and time, but is completely worth it. My teenage son is calmer and more enjoyable to be around. He used to walk in the door after school and start trouble, but now he is greeted by the dog which instantly changes his attitude. We are spending more time as a family at the park and on walks and I am exercising more. So many benefits to dog ownership!
Here is my first post about our dog:

The Best Family Dog

2013-05-14T14:37:00.003-06:00

My kids have been begging me for a dog for a very long time, so I finally caved in and started the search for the best family dog. I am a little OCD when it comes to keeping my house clean, so a non-shedding dog was a must. I also wanted a dog that would be really good with kids and easy to train. After hours, days, weeks, and even months of research, I decided that I wanted a godlendoodle or labradoodle. They are a bit more pricey than other dogs, but I figured that since we are going to have this dog be a part of our family for the next 15 years, that I could invest some money and get the breed I wanted. When it comes to buying a dog, being thrifty is not always a good thing. A good breeder will make sure to breed healthy dogs that hopefully won't cost the owner a small fortune in vet bills. I looked at the local shelter first, but did not find the right dog for our family. I know there are great dogs at shelters, but I had my heart set on a medium goldendoodle or labradoodle. After weeks of searching, I found a medium Australian Labradoodle who was perfect for our family. Labradoodles are the dogs that look like teddy bears, so it is easy to fall in love with them.

Meet Toby, our beautiful Australian Labradoodle. He is now 6 months old and we are working on obedience training. He is doing great with his training, but like all dogs, gets into trouble. I have decided to start my own dog shaming photos whenever he does something particularly stupid. It is a good thing for him that he is so cute.

186th Penny Pinching Party

2013-05-08T08:00:00.000-06:00

185th Penny Pinching Party

2013-05-01T08:00:00.000-06:00

184th Penny Pinching Party

2013-04-24T08:00:00.000-06:00

Termite Home Inspections, are they Worth it?

2013-04-18T13:59:00.003-06:00

When my parents bought their house 20+ years ago, they did not pay for a termite inspection, which turned out to be a costly mistake. After moving into their house they discovered termites in the walls and had to pay a costly fee to get rid of them. Luckily the termites have not returned, but I learned from my parents to get a termite inspection when buying my first house.  

What does a termite inspection include? 
A routine termite inspection includes a visual, non-invasive check of the structure and foundation. A good inspector will also look at the yard, garage, outdoor structures, crawl spaces, and attic. He will knock on wood posts and other wood structures to see if they sound hollow. He will look for dirt tubes, squishy areas of wallpaper, and small holes in drywall.

  One of the obvious benefits of getting an inspection when buying a new home is of course peace-of-mind, but typically most banks will not issue a home loan without the home first passing a termite inspection. If you find later that your house does have termites, it is usually covered by the company that did the inspection. Make sure to get it in writing.

  Buying a new house can be costly and very tempting to skip this inspection to save a few bucks in the process. I rarely buy extra warranties and spend money if I don’t have to, but this is one area that I believe it is worth the expense.  

If you already own your home and you suspect you might have termites, it is always better to be safe than sorry and get your home inspected. If you choose a good company, you can get rid of them and save your home further damage.

Thank you to Terminix for sponsoring this post.

183rd Penny Pinching Party

2013-04-17T08:00:00.000-06:00

182nd Penny Pinching Party

2013-04-03T08:00:00.000-06:00

181st Penny Pinching Party

2013-03-27T08:00:00.000-06:00

180th Penny Pinching Party

2013-03-20T09:39:00.001-06:00

179th Penny Pinching Party

2013-03-13T08:00:00.000-06:00

It just doesn't get any thriftier than this:

Valentine Shamrocks from Clearance Chocolates

What kind of thrifty stuff have you been doing?

Valentine Shamrocks from Clearance Chocolates

2013-03-12T22:48:00.000-06:00

A couple of weeks ago I found a bunch of small boxes of Valentine chocolates on clearance at Target. They were 70% off making them 30 cents a box! I usually give my kids a pot of chocolate gold coins on St. Patrick's Day, but these chocolates will be so much tastier and cheaper. I just cut some hearts out of green paper and stuck them on top of the boxes. I could have made something really cute out of scrapbook paper, die-cuts, cutesie stickers and stuff, but "aint nobody got time for that!" That's usually how I feel about most projects, so I usually keep things pretty simple and quick.

178th Penny Pinching Party

2013-03-06T08:00:00.000-07:00

177th Penny Pinching Party

2013-02-27T08:00:00.000-07:00

Party starts every Wednesday at 8:00 am MST, and ends at 8:00 am on Thursday.

176th Penny Pinching Party

2013-02-20T09:18:00.000-07:00

175th Penny Pinching Party

2013-02-12T22:24:00.000-07:00

The Penny Pinching Party starts every Wednesday at 8:00 am and goes until Thursday 8:00 am.

What is Great About Retirement?

2013-02-08T12:07:00.000-07:00

Thanks to to McCarthy & Stone for sponsoring this article:

What is great about retirement?

With no more having to get up at the crack of dawn and battle your way to work in all kinds of weather and spend nine grueling hours in an office, it is not surprising many people look forward to their retirement. One of the biggest pleasures of our impending golden years is deciding how we are going to spend them but what if you are coming up to retirement age and are still unsure of what to do or how to make the most of it?

Having money to spend

Whilst being on a pension may not be the most affluent time in your life, if you want a cash injection to ensure that you can do all of the things you said you wanted to do when you retire; then you may want to think about releasing some equity in your home.

With an equity release scheme you can continue living in your property but use some of the capital to obtain a lump sum of money, which you can then pay back over time. This also works with another item that has a large capital value. Alternatively you can use the scheme to generate a steady stream of income in your later years.

There are hundreds of different equity release schemes available – all of which vary significantly. You will need to assess these plans on their own merits and talk to financial planners to ensure you take out the right plan for you and your family.

Go where you want, when you want

With no job to go to or young children keeping you awake at night or tied down to a particular location, retirement is perhaps the only time in your life when you can go where you want, when you want.

Who’s to stop you jetting off to sunnier exotic climes or embarking on the worldwide cruise you’ve always dreamed of?

Buy a lovely, secure home

Of course, you’ll still want somewhere comfortable to live when on home soil – but does this have to be your current place of residence?

Retirement homes are becoming increasingly popular and with so many apartments for the retired being of an exceptionally high standard and having the right balance of facilities, amenities and services. It is easy to understand why retirement houses and apartments are becoming an increasingly sought after place to live.

174th Penny Pinching Party

2013-02-06T08:00:00.000-07:00

The Penny Pinching Party starts every Wednesday at 8:00 am and goes until Thursday 8:00 am.

173rd Penny Pinching Party and Winner

2013-01-29T20:48:00.001-07:00

The winner of the Let's Get Organized Party is entry #9 Organizing the Craft Room. Congratulations Shannah, your craft room looks amazing!

172nd Penny Pinching Party and Voting

2013-01-22T16:45:00.002-07:00

While you are here for the Penny Pinching Party, please take a minute and vote for your favorite organized space from the Let's Get Organized Party.
The winner will receive a $50 gift card to Lowes.

Voting is at the top of the sidebar.

171st Penny Pinching Party

2013-01-15T18:46:00.000-07:00

You have until midnight (Wednesday, January 16th) to link up something you have organized at the Let's Get Organized Party. So far there are only 6 entries, so the odds of winning the $50 Lowes gift card are pretty good. Don't forget to come back and vote for your favorite organized space!

Let's Get Organized Party!

2013-01-08T20:26:00.002-07:00

This is an ongoing party for organizing solutions that don't cost a fortune.

Here are the rules:

1. Give credit with links to any ideas you used from other blogs.
2. Link back here.

Here are some of my organizing projects:

Simple Solutions to Organize a Deep Pantry

Framed Plastic Canvas Earring Holder

Bathroom Drawer Organization

Organizing Hair Accessories

This is an older post from when I had a small house and had to share a bathroom with my daughter.

Knife Storage in a Small Kitchen

This is another old post from when I lived in a much smaller house. Now I have tons of space and a drawer for my knives. Sometimes I miss the creativity that comes with a small house (not very often).

170th Penny Pinching Party

2013-01-08T20:18:00.000-07:00

Simple Solutions to Organize a Deep Pantry

2013-01-08T19:47:00.001-07:00

My pantry is very deep and things tend to get lost in it's depths. I spent 1 day shopping and organizing and came up with some solutions:

My husband cut about 3 inches off the shelves and moved the shelf support bars back, which enabled me to put some racks on the doors. You can see in the photo below where we moved the shelves back.

I bought 3 wall mounted cabinet rack sets from Wal-Mart for $7.44 each (each set came with 3 different racks).

I bought an extra large lazy susan at Bed Bath and Beyond for $10 (after my $5 off coupon).

I bought the 3 baskets with handles at Wal-Mart for $2.50 each.

I bought the large cereal containers at Wal-Mart for $5.74 each and the totes were $4.47 each.

I got my free printable labels here: http://blog.worldlabel.com/2012/chalk-labels-in-fillable-templates.html

I just printed mine on regular paper and ran them through my Xyron sticker maker.

As I was sorting out everything, I discovered lots of duplicates. With such a deep pantry, it was hard to see what we had, so duplicates were bought and food in the back went bad. I spent a total of $57.07 on containers and racks, but will end up saving hundreds of dollars on food.

I had 2 racks left over, so I decided to give one of my kitchen cabinets a quick makeover.

It wasn't too bad since I already had OXO containers that I bought and labeled about 4 years ago.

By putting racks on the cabinet doors, I didn't have to put stuff in front of my containers and could get it out of the way on the doors. I also really liked my new chalk labels in the pantry, and decided to re-do the ones on my OXO containers.

These are some extra spices that didn't fit into my spice rack that is hanging in the other cabinet. I had them sitting in a drawer, which I was able to empty out after hanging this rack.

Now I have a completely empty drawer!

Total cost to organize and clean cupboard: $0

It is amazing what a little cleaning and some fresh new labels will do.

Once I start organizing, it is hard to stop. I was only going to do my pantry, but loved how great it looked and had to keep going. Even my husband who hates cleaning and organizing started to get into it when he saw what a difference it made.