Frugal Quickie: Make your own Playdough!

The Hillbilly Housewife just had a great article about how to make your own playdough!  When I was a kid we never made our own playdough, but we did make our own Goo-ey Flarp-like thing.  We just mixed corn starch, water, and food coloring until it was a consistency we wanted to play with.

Homemade playdough is a great project to do with kids, and its great for the environment!  You eliminate all the chemicals and carbon costs of making and packaging playdough, and you don't have to worry (too much) about the kids eating it.

I might just make some myself...
Katharine
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Frugal Food Help: Menus!

So, from time to time I've chimed in with little ideas or recipes meant to make the worry of providing for yourself and/or your family less stressful on you and your wallet. Lately, a project I've been working on for myself has been menu planning, which I share with my mom, who cooks for herself, my dad, and sister.
Probably my number one reason for having menu plans does not apply to many of you (unless you're a young twenty-something/college student on your own)--if I don't have a plan, I could frugal myself to death. A terrifying thought, but basically what I've been known to do is eat very small portions of food to stretch my budget. Thus, menus!

I'm going to recommend planning your menus on a weekly basis. Having two such menus is optimal. I, personally, do this in order to mix and match daily menus according to what I've bought and what my schedule is like. Lunch also generally derives from dinner of the previous night. Yay for time saving! Let me give an example:
Yesterday for breakfast I had a corn muffin, yogurt, and pineapple. My pineapple was the IGA deal (16oz pineapple for $0.50), the corn muffin was homemade, and I used a coupon on the yogurt ($2.79-0.50=$2.29/2lb Columbo yogurt). Lunch was ziti w/cheese sauce (cheese sauce from the night before, ziti from the day before) and salad. Then, dinner was with my family and my mom served homemade pizza with mushrooms and onions!

As you can see, I try to have protein, starch, and fruit/veg at every meal. It just helps me feel full longer and I think its generally healthier. If anyone would be interested I'd be happy to post full weekly menus and more recipes. I think you'd be surprised with some of the info--I love retro things, so I have recipes and menus from the 1920s-1960s. Lots of fun and new (sort of!) ideas puts a different spin on cooking. Also, I'm currently looking for a lentil soup recipe with a tomato base, so if I find a good one, I'll share it here (free Muir Glen tomato products + lentil--good source of cheap veg. protein = great meal!).

Happy weekend!
Ali

P.S. - Check back on Monday for coupon deals and steals of the weekend!
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Another Frugal Failure

Having spent the last 2 weeks at my parents house, I cam back to my apartment on Saturday afternoon.  Having no wish to immediately go shopping, I missed my chance to go to Haymarket (the farmer's market in Boston) this week.  Instead I just got back from a run to Stop and Shop, where I had to go to buy produce this week.

Item                          S&S      Haymarket
Romaine Lettuce       $1.79     $1.00
1lb Strawberries        $2.88     $1.00
1 Sweet Onion          $1.08     $0.20 (maybe)
Bananas                    $1.50     $1.00
-----------------------------------------
Total                         $7.25     $3.20

Now, a difference of $4.05 may not be large amount, but the cost of my produce is more than double at Stop and Shop! Next week maybe I'll get off my lazy bum and go to Haymarket...

See you later!
Katharine

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Frugal Quickie!

Hi everyone,

Yesterday in the P&G flyer there was a BOGO coupon for Cover Girl lip color. And, conviently, CVS is offering BOGO on most Cover Girl products! You following me? Because if you haven't gotten the picture, what I say next should clear it up: I went yesterday and got 2 Outlast Cover Girl lip colors (9.99x2=19.98+tax) for $0.60!! This is probably the best deal I've ever gotten my hands on--and will make for great Christmas present for my Mom and sister!

On that topic: Christmas is less than 4 months away! Haha, I know...but seriously, start shopping for gifts now! Money for me is really tight right now and couponing is a life saver. So far I've spent $2 each on my mom and sister, but I've gotten them $25 worth of presents. Granted, most of these are not that exciting (hair conditioner, razors, chocolates, and lip color), but I kind of like giving practical gifts and since money is as tight with them both as it is for me, they'll definitely appreciate them.

Also, I've gotten my dad chocolates and a book that he'll like, but I'm pretty much stumped on what to add to his pile. Any ideas? Unfortunately, it seems that most couponers are women and so they mostly coupon for themselves or kids...has anyone found anything good for fathers lately? I'd like to keep his presents around $2 also.

Happy couponing,
Ali

P.S.-The $2.25 off Silk Milk coupon is back! Print yours now! Its organic, vegan, and delicious (try the chocolate flavor if you're not a soy milk drinker)!

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