Time for Frugal Friday again!

So, I just realized that it has been a WEEK since I’ve posted…with school starting, tons of working last weekend (worked 12.5 hours on Saturday at the restaurant), a bridal shower Sunday in Madison, and school again this week, not to mention TRYING to keep the  apartment clean, keep the hubby happy and fed, I just plum forgot to post! Okay…so I thought about it once…but I was way too tired to type a coherent sentence.

Anyway…carrying on!!  I had to wrack my brains for a tip this week…I mean, really think. And in listening to the radio in my car on the way home from my trip to the doctor in town, I heard a commercial for Boston Store. For those of you not in the Midwest, I believe Boston Store’s sister stores are Carson Pirie Scott, Bergners, and Dayton’s. Boston Store participates in a semi annual (it may be more!) donation/sale. For every item you donate, you get a coupon toward 20% off regular, sale, or clearance priced merchandise. Definitely a cool thing, and sometimes these coupons are good for a certain period of time (hello holiday gifts!). I tend to buy Christmas gifts when these sales occur; most of our family loves Boston Store, so it works out for me!

 My other tip also concerns shopping for beauty products…no, not your regular ol’ Dove bar… I mean makeup, fragrance, stuff to make you feel even prettier than the good Lord made you! I used to get sucked into Estee Lauder, Clinique, and Chanel a lot when I was in college. I’d buy one $30 lipgloss, and well, I’d literally break it open to get that LAST LITTLE BIT out because, darn it, I spent $30 on it! And then I started paying my own rent…and things got real. I remembered my mom ordering Avon products all the time when I was younger….I loved their bubble bath, and my parents’ two dogs, Bella and Deuce, get sprayed regularly with a mix of water and Skin So Soft (keeps skeeters away and keeps the dogs from smelling like, well, dogs). I thought “hey, why not try THEIR makeup and other products?”

Needless to say, I use a lot of Avon products….I even became a rep because friends and family were ordering from online, and I wanted them to get great service and a discount.   I also encourage you to check out Mary Kay. Both companies really have wonderful products; where one is lacking, I feel that the other makes up for that.

If you’re looking for great quality products, try www.avon.com or www.marykay.com 

Avon also offers some great gifts for Christmas, so if you hate the malls like I do, ordering through a rep might be the solution!

Frugal Fridays!!

Well, this post is something that been bouncing around in my head all week, so I’m way excited to post it! Crystal over at Biblical Womanhood Online had a great idea…Frugal Fridays!! It’s been a lot of fun reading how other ladies pinch those pennies and still get what they need when they need it!

Being a full time graduate student, and only working part time can get way expensive (even with the DH’s salary!). Books are so expensive, and there’s a huge monopoly on selling textbooks out there. After a few semesters of spending close on to 500-600 dollars on just books, I got sick of that, especially since I didn’t necessarily NEED those books after the class was over.

I don’t know why it never occurred to me (especially since I’ve been studying library science for a few years now, both grad and undergrad…I go to the library for many of my “fun” reads…the library is a great resource for videos, cds, and, of course, BOOKS. After searching both my local public library and the university library, I found ALL of the text books I needed that next semester.

What is so wonderful about your local library is this….if they don’t have it, chances are you can either a) find it at another public library in the local consortium of libraries, or b) you can ask them to order it! Most libraries are willing to do this from time to time, especially if it is something that will be used by other patrons too! My husband and I have often rented movies from the library for movie night too…sometimes you may have to plan ahead as you might have to wait for the movie or book for a few days, but renting it for free is better than paying 3-6 bucks a movie rental!

On average, I now only spend 50-70 dollars on books a semester. This semester cost a bit more because I had to order books from a specific printer, but they are books that will be used for a very long time.

Another thing that helps is menu planning…during the school year, I don’t always have tons of time to menu plan/ make big fancy dinners. My husband’s cooking skills are limited (we say, he’s in Andrea’s Graduate School of Cooking…), so I like to make sure dinners are taken care of when I can’t be home until later in the evening. The slow cooker is our best friend, and especially in Wisconsin when it gets cold and all you want is warm food, its the perfect solution. We utilize a program called SHARE and it really helps to keep our grocery bill down. Once I know what is in the package for the month, as well as the other ‘a la carte’ items that are being offered, I hit my cookbooks and plan! We like simple, down home food in our house, so it is never hard to find a tasty recipe. Once the recipes are marked for the month, and the food is ordered, I’m free to make and bake as I please! I usually make a meal or two and throw it in the freezer right away…this way, I won’t feel so inclined to say “honey, I don’t feel like cooking, let’s go out to eat!’ or even worse, make Hamburger Helper (love the stuff, but my tendency to get migraines from anything with lots of MSG isn’t so fun to deal with).

You definitely don’t need to be talented to menu plan…Just find a cookbook or two that you like, find recipes you can actually make (this means, stick to your cooking level. If you’re a beginnner, stick to recipes with a small amount of ingredients, and that don’t require a large working knowledge of Emeril-like skills. You’ll get there in time. In the mean time, don’t blow up the twice baked potatoes.) This is also when you can hit up your local library for a new cookbook or two to borrow for a bit!!

Cook what your hubby and your family like…if they like it, they won’t waste it. Also, I like checking out Kraft Foods website too…many of the recipes are made for busy people and families, so they’re awesome. Just watch what the ingredients are…some recipes really utilize a lot of processed/ helper type foods. I just round these meals out with a huge salad and fruit salad usually.

If you live in Wisconsin, Illinois, or the UP (Upper Michigan), check out www.sharewi.org. You can search to see if your area has a Share distribution center nearby! You can also check out the latest menu as well. If you live in other parts of the country, I know Angel Foods is an area that serves more of the central/Southern Midwest. Good luck, and happy savings!!

Autumn leaves and cool night air

Autumn is officially here in Wisconsin….my tomato plants are starting to die. I’m hoping I can eek out a few more weeks (and a few more tomatoes!) from there. I’ll have to find a place for my indoor herb garden though; there’s no way I can part with fresh basil and thyme now!The air at night is cool; cool enough to sleep with the windows open and not be uncomfortable at all. During the day, it has only been in the low 70s, with no humidity; which is a blessing, as far as I’m concerned!

I do love fall though! School starts back up, the leaves begin to change colors, the holiday season fast approaches. This time of year always brings me back to “You’ve Got Mail” when Joe Fox says of the weather, “It makes me want to buy school supplies. If I knew your name and address, I’d send you a bouquet of freshly sharpened pencils.” Perhaps his thoughts are fueled by the sense of beginning again; I never felt like New Year was a new beginning. In January in Wisconsin, there’s snow, its colder than cold, and there’s no new life ANYWHERE. Not that I’m complaining about the snow; I still know how to make a mean snow angel, and will gladly do so anywhere, including on my Step Mother in Law’s yard (of course, that always illicits a few raised eyebrows, but at least I’m making the most of the season!:) )

Today was a day of productivity for me… I got my kitchen cleaned up, vaccuumed the entire apartment (no small feat considering I moved a ton of furniture!), went through the scary magazine bin (it was overflowing…frightening), made my own laundry detergent, thanks to a recipe Amy over at Contemplations Amid Chaos found a while back. I have to say, I’m pleasantly surprised at how nicely it cleans our laundry. And hopefully, hubby’s skin won’t flare up as badly this winter now (yes, we deal with psoriasis in our house too!) minus all those nastly chelating agents and perfumes. I’m saying a prayer and crossing my fingers. I do need to mention though, I had to use a little more than she recommended on her website. Amy states that you should only need 1 tablespoon for light loads, 2 for heavier soiled loads. I noticed that the clothes didn’t get quite as clean with 2 tablespoons (we have hard water here, and even with a water softener, well, its still hard.), so I actually upped what I was using to 6 tablespoons, then 5, and now am very happy with 4 tablespoons. I found one of those cough syrup cuppy things, and its a perfect little measuring cup! I ended up using Fels Naptha, mainly because I know and trust its name. And, it was the biggest bar out of the three laundry bars I found for the best money: Kirks Castile, Ivory, and Fels Naptha. I bought two bars, which was roughly 4 cups total, grated. I then added 2 cups borax and 2 cups washing soda, and put it all in a cute little plastic tubby I found at the dollar store. No more heavily scented laundry for me!

 Well…that’s about it for tonight. Cleaning really has brought to mind a bible verse I found in a journal I wrote in college…4 years ago now! Of course, in those days, I was great at finding the obscure books that no one ever talks about in the bible, and dissected them like crazy. However, then, as a new Christian, the following verses really shaped how I thought for a season. I found myself thinking today how easily we can forget such simple wisdom:

Now this is what the LORD Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. 6 You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.”  – Haggai 1:5-6.

Crystal over at Biblical Womanhood  blogged on this today, in a roundabout way. I think reading her blog really impressed upon me what the Lord has been asking me for a while…”Are you doing this for Me, or for yourself?” As I re-evaluated certain thoughts, deeds, and actions, I had to say, “No, Lord. I haven’t been doing “x” for you.” Living for Christ, and Christ alone is something I am continually convicted of, and it is always so liberating when the shackles of the world are thrown off when you give up something for the Lord.  O Lord, that I may have clean hands and a pure heart yet!