Busy Mommy Media » Frugal Holidays

Frugal 4th of July Cookout

Lorie — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 13:04:58 +0000

The 4^th of July is right around the corner and many families like to celebrate by having cookouts. However, cookouts can get quite expensive. There are ways though that you can save money on this special, once a year event. Here are some ideas to get you started.

Use Dollar Stores for Decorations and Paper Goods

If you look around your local Dollar Stores, you will find lots of really cool decorations just perfect for your event. I have especially found great decorations at the “everything is a dollar” type dollar stores. They seem to have a great selection. You can also save a ton on paper goods and flatware at these types of stores if you choose to use these items. So give the Dollar Stores a chance to save you lots of money on your event.

Ditch the Paper Goods

This is a personal choice as paper plates and cup save so much time, but you could save even more money by choosing to use plates, cups, etc from your house. This could save you as much as $20. That could be worth the effort it take s to clean-up and better yet you are saving the environment.

Buy Cheaper Cuts of Meat

Looking for cheaper cuts of meat can really save you money. You can also usually find lots of these kinds of meats on sale during this time. Some include hot dogs, ground beef, and chicken. Try to avoid more expensive cuts of meat like shrimp, steaks, and ham, unless you can find a sale on these items.

Go Potluck

There is nothing wrong with asking your guest to bring a dish. You will have lots more food and a lot less work for yourself. Most people love to bring a dish, so don’t think twice about asking them. Just make sure you let them know what the main dish is going to be so they can plan around that.

Serve Cheaper Drinks

You can spend a lot of money on drinks if you are not careful. Your guests would probably be happy with just lemonade and water instead of pop and harder drinks. Lemonade and water are also very refreshing and cheaper for you. You can even make homemade lemonade to make it look fancier.

Look For Sales

At this time of year, you can find great sales on cook out type foods, especially side items like ketchup, mustard, pickles, mayonnaise, and barbeque sauce. I recently purchased a brand name mustard for only 50 cents! What a great deal! I did this by matching a coupon with a sale. What a great time to stock up on these items! So take advantage of this time of year sales to make your cook out more frugal.

Make It Yourself

You can save lots of money by making your own breads and desserts. There are a ton of great summer dessert recipe ideas online. So, choose something you think your guests will like and make it yourself. You can also make your own hamburger and hot dog buns with a little practice. I have also found in season fruit to be on sale during this time of year, so you could just make your dessert around those types of fruit or the fruit itself.

Wishing you and your family and friends a happy and frugal 4^th of July!

Watch Holiday Movies Online

Lorie — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 01:20:07 +0000

During this time of year, I love to watch made for tv movies on my home television. Well, if you are trying to save money and don’t have all of the channels, or if you don’t have cable or satellite you can still watch some of these movies for free online. Many network websites have video players of full movies. You can even watch full episodes of some of your favorite show. This is a nice feature even if you do have access to the channel because you can watch the movie when you have time. Here are a few networks and the holiday movies they have on there right now. So, take some time and enjoy some movies for free on your computer.

Hallmark Channel

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year- I loved this movie. It’s about a woman who is kind of a Scrooge when it comes to Christmas and then her Uncle comes for Christmas and brings a stranger who teaches her about Christmas. This is a really cute movie.

Moonlight and Mistletoe- This is a movie about a woman who comes home to help her dad save his beloved Santaville business. I really enjoyed this movie too.

The Christmas Choir- I have not watched this one but it is about a workaholic who leads a chior of men living at a shelter.

ABC Family

Special Delivery

A Holiday For Love

Christmas Romance

I’ll Be Home For Christmas

Snowglobe

A Holiday to Remember

Cranberry Christmas

And three other ABC Family original movies, but you can’t watch those until later in the month after they show on television You can go to ABC Familyand scoll to the bottom to see all the video player movies and when they show. I have not watched any of these yet, so I have lots to watch when I am ready!

Lifetime

12 Men of Christmas

The Family Holiday

Lost Holiday

Do you know of any other movies playing online? Share them with us in the comment section. If you have watched any of these give, us a brief review.

Homemade Caramel Apples: Easy, Inexpensive, and Taste Better!

Lorie — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:34:27 +0000

It’s Halloween time and what’s better than a Caramel Apple oozing with all that wonderful tasting caramel! I have always made caramel apples with the little squares that you just melt in your pan. Well, this year I found a recipe from Crystal that I decided to try. I had everything in my pantry except for the apples which all seemed to be on sale right now at my grocery. I also made my own sweetened condensed milk since I had those ingredients on hand too. So, this recipe was pretty cheap for my. It also taste so much better than the caramel squares! I promise you that you will never go back to those squares again! Hope you enjoy these and have a Happy Halloween!

Homemade Caramel Apples

8-10 Granny Smith Apples
1 c. butter
*1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk

2 1/4 c. brown sugar
1 c. corn syrup
1 t. vanilla

Popsicle sticks

Instructions

1. Wash and dry apples. Stick popsicle sticks in the stem. Place aluminum foil or wax paper sprayed with non-stick spray on 9×13 pans.
2. Melt butter and brown sugar together over medium high heat, stirring constantly. Add in sweetened condensed milk and corn syrup and keep stirring constantly! Heat until 245 degrees (keep stirring!) on candy thermometer or until small amount of mixture dropped into cup of very cold water forms a firm ball that holds its shape until pressed. Immediately remove from heat and add vanilla.
3. Roll apples in caramel and place on foil/wax paper lined pan. Allow to cool for 2 hours.

*You can also make your own sweetened condensed milk my mixing ½ cup hot water, 1 c. non-instant dry milk, 1 cup sugar, and 1 Tablespoon butter in your blender.

First Ever Kids’ Woot-Off

Busy Dad — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:08:48 +0000

The first ever Kids’ Woot-off has just begun at Kids’ Woot!. For those of you that have never attended at Woot-off, basically it is a sale of a random assortment of products that are sold until they are gone. Then they put up the next product. Some products are great prices and wonderful products, while others are not so impressive but you may only have moments to decide. There is also one with other types of product going on at Woot!

Dell Latitude Netbook Computer Deal

Busy Dad — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 23:04:14 +0000

Dell is offering the Latitude 2100 netbook computer starting at $183 (refurb). This has the 10.1″ screen and smaller keyboard which is perfect for children’s hands and was designed for classroom use. In order to purchase at the price, first click here to join Dell’s mailing list and receive a 20% off coupon good at the Dell outlet. Then click here, pick your configuration and input the 20% off coupon code which was emailed to you.

Thrifty Thursday – Saving Money on Halloween Costumes

Rachel — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:43:08 +0000

I had to laugh the other day when I had a friend tell me that her older son always gets to pick what he’s going to be for Halloween but her middle child gets told what he is going to be every year, depending on what costume fit him. I had to wonder how many families do that because my middle child knows what he is going to be for Halloween three years in advance. Many moms are reluctant to spend much money on Halloween costumes since they will only be worn for one night but fortunately there are ways to save money on costumes so you don’t have to spend a fortune.

Participate in a Costume Trade

Talk to moms with other young kids. Chances are they have a few costumes that don’t fit their own children that year and they may be willing to loan them out. Look through your costume stash and start asking moms who have kids that are the right ages if they need a costume to borrow then don’t be shy to ask other moms if they have costumes in the sizes that you need. Trading costumes lets kids get a brand-new to them costume for free.

Make Your Own Costume

With a little bit of creativity, homemade Halloween costumes can be so much fun. I usually find that my kids are more creative than I am so I let them come up with their own ideas when we need a costume. My 6 year old came up with the idea for a Lego costume made out of cardboard boxes one year. Many costumes can be made from things found around the house, old clothes, or things found a a thrift shop for next to nothing.

Freecycle

Freecycle is a great way to give a new home to something that someone else isn’t using any more. As Halloween gets closer, many families donate their old Halloween costumes on freecycle. If you don’t see something that will work for you, you can always post the costume sizes you need or ask for items to help you make a homemade costume.

Get Some Use Out of Your Costume

I always hate to buy a costume and only let my kids wear it for a day so we make the entire month of October dress up month. This month we’ve had a Batman, a Giraffe, and a Duck walking around my house. Our Halloween costumes are helping my kids participate in more creative play and they have the opportunity to really enjoy their costumes before they outgrow them.

Shop Late

Stores heavily discount their leftover Halloween costumes immediately after Halloween. While it is sometimes hard to guess what a child will be interested in being for the following Halloween, it is a great way to get dress up clothes for next to nothing and sometimes you luck out and end up having just what your child wants to be the next year.

Do you have a great way to save money?

My Love Affair with Freecycle

Erin — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 02:30:24 +0000

It all began when I moved to New Jersey. The same home that cost $60,000 in Nebraska (where I had moved from) cost $300,000 in Jersey. So I sat on my new living room floor. A three year old jumping on my back, my 18 month old having an accident on our couch and nursing our new baby. Oh-did I say couch? Yes. That being-peed-upon couch was one of our few pieces of furniture. There was a bassinet, a crib, a twin mattress and a queen bed. My underpaid policeman husband and I had decided that our love would see us through.

But the knowledge of the errant potty trainer was on my mind.

There was no way at all we could afford a new couch. Or a kitchen table. Or the whole wardrobe of clothes that all three kids seemed to grow out of every three months. So my internet addicted self and the frugal Nebraskan got together.

They had a love affair with http://www.freecycle.org

Freecycle is an entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (& getting) stuff for free in their own towns. It’s all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills. Each local group is moderated by a local volunteer. Membership is free.

Within the first three years of using it (I was in New Jersey, so keep in mind the group had about 15,000 members) I had a new (lovingly used) couch, a new (refinished) dining room table and chairs, bookcases, end tables, countless toys,craft items and lots of crap I decided I “needed” without spending more than the gas I used to go and pick it up. And I gave back just as much. I felt guilty about selling some things when I knew there were people out there like us who could just not afford to buy a bassinet. So I freecycled it. Hence the “cycle”.

When you want to find a new home for something — whether it’s a chair, a fax machine, piano, or an old door — you simply send an e-mail offering it to members of your Freecycling group.
Maybe you’re looking to acquire something yourself. Simply respond to a member’s offer, and you just might get it. After that, it’s up to the giver to decide who receives the gift and to set up a pickup time for passing on the treasure.
The main rule: Everything posted must be free, legal, and appropriate for all ages.
Non-profit organizations also benefit from Freecycling.
Usually you must give before you take. Think of it as good karma.
Post the item or items you want to give away and where you are located.
Then request the things that you may be needing.
It’s a free cycle of giving. Think globally, recycle locally. The Freecycle Network is open to all communities and to all individuals who want to participate. Freecycle groups are run by local volunteer moderators from across the globe who facilitate each local group – grassroots at its best!

But pay attention!!

Some groups are really busy. Make sure the email selection you choose works for you. Options include Daily Digest (bundles of 25 messages at a time delivered all in one email), Individual Messages (receiving a message just as it is sent out), No Mail (reading the messages on the web so your inbox is free of the messages).
Not all groups allow the No Mail option, so read carefully to see if your group allows it or not.
These rules are the same for all Freecycle groups: everything must be free, legal, and appropriate for all ages. Local groups sometimes add other rules, like no pets, no coupons, no services. Be sure to read the guidelines for your local group so that you know what is or isn’t allowed.

Visit http://freecycle.org, http://freesharing.org or http://sharingisgiving.org to find a group in your area.

And think before you throw that spaghetti jar in the garbage! I need that for my next kid’s art project!!

Don’t Let Easter Leftovers Go to Waste

Lorie — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 06:01:58 +0000

If you are like me and had a wonderful Easter dinner, your refrigerator is probably full of leftovers. There is a time limit as to how long foods can stay in the refrigerator, so you want to make sure you use these so they don’t go to waste. If you know you can’t use the food within the recommended time limit consider creating casseroles that you can freeze. That away, you can still eat it later and enjoy a night off from cooking. You can also freeze many of these foods quite well, like ham and homemade rolls. I also like to keep the ham bone; it makes a great pot of soup beans! Many people just throw this away. So, don’t let your leftovers go to waste. Store them properly and save money later by having meals ready to be put in your oven or meat ready to be put in your casserole.Here are some recommended refrigerator storage times for a few popular Easter foods:

Cooked ham slices- 2-3 days

Hard cooked eggs- 1 week

Dressing- 2 days

Gravy- 1-2 days

Here are some recipes that are going to be made in my house with leftover Easter foods.

Creamy Potato and Ham Bake

1 (1 lb. 4 oz.) Bag of Simply Potatoes Shredded Hash Browns

1 Cup Frozen Peas, thawed

8 oz. Diced Lean Ham

1/2 teaspoon Dried Parsley Flakes

1/2 teaspoon Black Pepper

1 (10 oz.) Can 98% Fat Free Cream of Mushroom Soup

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl mix potatoes, peas and ham. In a smaller bowl mix soup, parsley and pepper. Pour the soup mixture over the potatoes and mix well. Pour into an 8X8 square dish sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Bake uncovered for 25-30 minutes. Serves: 4 Per Serving: 268 Calories; 4g Fat (14.3% calories from fat); 18g Protein; 40g Carbohydrate; 4g Dietary Fiber; 36mg Cholesterol; 1366mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1/2 Grain (Starch); 0 Fat. From: Aimee’s Adventures

Leftover Easter Candy Cake

2 c. coarsely chopped leftover Easter candy*
2 3/4 c. sifted flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla
8 oz. unsalted butter
1 1/2 c. sugar
3 lg. eggs
1/4 tsp. almond extract
1 c. sour cream
Optional: Confectioners’ sugar*Such as: Chocolate eggs, marshmallow chicks, chocolate bunnies, candy eggs, jellies.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a tube or bundt pan (10 to 12 cup capacity) and dust with fine bread crumbs. Tap out excess crumbs. Set pan aside. Sift together the flour, salt and baking soda and set aside. In large bowl, cream butter until soft, add vanilla, almond extracts and sugar. Mix well. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each one. On low speed, alternate adding dry ingredients with sour cream, scraping bowl as necessary. Place 1 1/2 cups mixture in prepared pan. Add candies to remaining batter, fold in gently. Pour this mixture into pan over plain batter. Bake 1 hour or until tests done. Cool 15 minutes. Cover pan with rack and invert. Remove pan. Let cake cool. Serve plain or with confectioners’ sugar dusted on top. NOTE: This is a great way to use up any holiday’s leftover candy – Halloween treats, Christmas candy canes, Valentine sweets, etc.

What do you do with your leftovers?

Saving Money on Holiday Gifts

Lorie — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 05:19:55 +0000

Christmas is a time that most people spend a lot of money or go into debt. Does it really have to be that way? I think we can have a really fun and relaxed holiday without spending a lot of money. Gifts is one area that we can really save money on. An expensive gift does not always mean the best gift. Some frugal things can be even more meaningful than an expensive gift. Here are some frugal gift ideas:

Frugal Christmas Gifts

-Baked goods wrapped nicely make a nice gift.

-Have the kids make something or use the holiday crafts they make at school. Family Fun magazine has some really neat ideas for kid’s crafts.

-Write a poem or a special story for someone.

-Give coupons to redeem service, like washing the car, watching kids, etc. Here are some downloadable ones.

-Gifts in a Jar, such as soups, hot cocoa, cider. Here are some recipes and here are some more.

-Used Books

-Homemade Jams and Jelly, here is my favorite

-Framed school pictures, grandparents love these! You can find frames at dollar stores for real cheap!

-Collect samples from companies online throughout the year, Walmart is a great place to start, and put them in a gift basket decorated nicely. Teens love this!

-Make a recipe book with your most loved recipes to pass down to your family.

-Make a family ornament with a picture and the date included on it.

Christmas on the Cheap

Guest Writer — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 04:45:37 +0000

Being a SAHM means less income and usually, less money for gifts for the holidays. That combined with today’s economy has sent many people looking for more “cost-conscious” gifts to give. Below are some ideas our family as implemented for this years’ gift giving.
Wearable Gifts

I put my Knifty Knitter to work and made some scarves for family members in colors that I knew they would love! The Knifty Knitter is great because you do not really need to know how to knit to make something, and it goes a lot quicker than actual knitting (atleast for me!)

We also did a lot of shopping on etsy.com. We managed to find some unique necklaces for ladies in the family and hair clips for our niece. It’s nice to know your money is going directly to a person as opposed to a corporation!

Edible Gifts

Who doesn’t love food? When I was a teacher, yummy goodies were always well received! One of my favorites was the mixes in a jar. Many people immediately think of cookie, hot chocolate or coffee mixes, but there are others, including soups, spices and bread mixes. One thing I love about jarred gifts is that when the recipient goes to make the item, they will remember the giver!

We made Peppermint Marshmallows this weekend to give as gifts. Unfortunately, I think more was eaten than will be given!

Photo Gifts

Many sites such as snapfish.com, kodak.com and winkflash.com (to only name a few) offer photo gifts such as calendars, coasters, blankets, sweatshirts and puzzles (and the list goes on and on and on!) You can usually google a coupon code for these sites and get even better deals on these unique items!

Decorating

The best idea I have seen this year is to take old Christmas cards and stencils. Trace your desired word (“MERRY CHRISTMAS” for example) – one letter per card and then string them up!

To Wrap it all up…

There are so many unique and crafty ways to wrap gifts (not to mention “green” ways – upcycling). One thing we have implemented this year, instead of using gift boxes, to re-use cereal and pantry boxes (from muffin mixes and whatnot). I tried cutting them so I could tape them inside out so the brown was showing – I don’t have that patience!

Also, using cloth shopping bags as gift bags for bigger items.

A project I also started, was to take glass ball ornaments and pour paint inside and shake them for a marbled look. I plan on writing the gift recipients name on the ball (and the year) and attaching that to the gift as opposed to a name tag.

You can also take brown butchers’ paper or white art paper and have your children draw on it and use that as wrapping paper.

I saw a neat idea for using up those magazines sitting around your house – turn the pages into bows. I haven’t tried it yet, but can’t wait! (this could work for all gift occasions!)

How are you keeping the holidays simple this year?

by Terra Jones