Top 10 Frugal Tips of 2010

In honor of the new year, I thought it would be fun to look back at last years frugal tips and find my favorites.

Hope you find a new frugal idea!


1. Energy Efficient Curtains - These curtains have made such a difference for us! We can really tell the difference in the comfort of the rooms.

2. Homemade Fabric Softener

3. Homemade Cleaners

4. Homemade Detangler Spray

5. Homemade Chocolate Sauce - yummo!

6. Making Homemade Broth

7. Homemade Acne Soap

8. Saving Money on Condiments

9. Saving Money on Cheese

10. Saving Money on Tomatoes  and Recycled Garden Marker  - It's time to start planning our gardens again!

For more frugal ideas, visit:
Frugal Friday at Life as Mom
Fantastic Frugal Friday
Homemaking Link-Up

Energy Efficient Curtains

We really try to keep our electric bill down to a dull roar during the winter months. We have found our windows to be a great source of lost heat. So we've covered our windows with plastic. You can get the clear kind that you use a blow dryer on to tighten the plastic up. When your looking through the window, you can't eve tell the plastic is there. really.

I had wanted insulated drapes for quite a few years, but I thought they were too expensive. Well, this year, I really started looking around at them.

I found these Energy Efficient Curtain Panels at Walmart.com for under $15. When I bought mine in October, they were only $11. a panel for the size I needed. I picked the Khaki color. I actually bought the curtain rod in the picture, too.

My actual curtains, in my actual living room.

I decided to try them first before a more expensive curtain, and before ordering some place else on line. Just because it's easier to return something to our local Walmart store, then shipping it back and waiting for a credit.

You know what? I loved them! They are nothing fancy, but they get the job done. When the curtains are closed, I can stick my had between the curtain and the window and feel cold air trapped back there by the curtain. They really do work!

All that cold air kept out of the room translates to being able to keep the thermostat set lower, which means a lower electric bill!

Yes, you can find fancier insulated drapes. But if your looking to lower your electric bill without breaking your piggy bank to buy new drapes, these curtains from Walmart will do very nicely.




For more frugal ideas, visit:
Frugal Friday at Life as Mom
Fantastic Frugal Friday
Homemaking Link-Up
Please visit Things I Love Thursday, for more things to love!

Frugal Recipes

It seems like every week when my husband goes grocery shopping the prices go up. With 4 hungry kids still at home, ages 16,14,12,and 10, we go through the food! lol

I am always trying to cook frugally, and always have my eye out for new frugal recipes.

Friends can be a great source of new recipes, and the preferred choice, but the internet is also a great tool for finding frugal recipes.

I always try to be careful, though, I don't want to make a recipe only to have no one want to eat it. There's nothing frugal about tossing out food because a supposed frugal recipe was inedible.

So I thought I'd share my favorite frugal recipe sites, as well as some of my favorite frugal recipes.

These 2 sites are my favorites. I have used numerous recipes from them, and all have been great.

Hillbilly Housewife
$5 Dinners


Frugal Recipes is a new favorite of mine. I will be making the Chocolate Oat Snack Cake very soon!

Here are a few of my favorite frugal recipes that I have shared here:

My Homemade Chocolate Sauce

Crockpot Cheeseburgers
Homemade Sports Drink
Brownies for a Crowd
Homemade Chocolate Sauce
Cooking & Freezing Dried Beans
Homemade Hot Chocolate Mix
Make Your Own Breadcrumbs

Do you have any great frugal recipes to share? I'd love to try them!


For more frugal ideas, visit:
Frugal Friday at Life as Mom
Fantastic Frugal Friday

Homemade Fabric Softener

I hang my laundry outside on the line, year round, no dryer here.

Well, we own a dryer, it's out in the shed. And it doesn't really work. You can run it 2 hours, and the clothes still won't be dry. So I had my husband move it out. No since taking up space with a very large metal box that doesn't do anything except collect junk of top.

I don't like using store bought liquid fabric softeners as they all smell like chemicals. Yes, they try and pretty them up with scents, but really, all I smell is chemicals. And then the chemicals on the clothes come off on our skin all day long. Not something I want for my kids. Or me.

Plus, it's dangerous to use fabric softeners on my husbands work clothes, as if exposed to flames, it will ignite on the clothes, and cash a flash fire on the clothes. My husband had this happen to him when he was welding. We later so a news report on it, and figured out what had happened. If you do a search, you'll see that this does happen and it's very dangerous

I often use plain vinegar as a fabric softener and it works well for most clothing items.

Sometimes,though, the jeans and towels will still be a little stiff when I take them off the line. I found this recipe for Homemade Fabric Softener online somewhere about 3 or so years ago. I don't remember where, though. This works great on jeans and towels!


Homemade Fabric Softener

2 cups baking soda
2 cups vinegar
4 cups water

Put the baking soda in a large container. Add the vinegar, then the water.
I do this in one of the vinegar bottles that I saved. Just make sure you do mix it in a container large enough, or you will be cleaning up a volcano!

Shake well before using each time.

I used to use one of those fabric softener balls and fill it up to the line. My new washing machine (ok, it's 2 years old now) has a fabric softener dispenser, so I pour it in there.

Works great! Saves money! And no unwanted chemicals!


For more frugal ideas, visit:
Frugal Friday at Life as Mom
Fantastic Frugal Friday

Make Your Own Breadcrumbs

Bread crumbs are one of those things that are so easy to make, that I often as myself, "Did I really used to buy these?"

There are many different methods for making bread crumbs. From putting fresh bread into the food processor for fresh crumbs, to toasting or baking the bread for browner, drier crumbs. You can also use different kinds of breads for crumbs.

Here's how I make my crumbs.

I start when we finish a loaf of bread, except for the heels. No one likes to eat the heels. So as we finish a loaf of bread, I put the heels in the freezer.

When I need bread crumbs, I take out the number of heels that I need, and throw them in the food processor. No need to defrost first.

If you don't have a food processor, or don't want to have to wash it for only a few bread crumbs, you can use a hand grater. Use frozen bread for the grating.

If  you prefer to make a lot of crumbs at once and store them, you can toast the bread in the oven, then grate. You can store your crumbs in the freezer for a longer shelf life.



For more frugal ideas, visit:
Frugal Friday at Life as Mom
Fantastic Frugal Friday
Kitchen Tip Tuesday