Frugal Recipies: PB&J Pancakes to go.

Looking for a make ahead breakfast you can send with your kids out the door in the morning?  Make PB&J pancakes.  First make your pancakes you want them about the size of a sandwich.  I add oatmeal to my mix for extra fiber and nutrition.  Cheap easy and quick can still be healthy.  

Put your peanut butter on both sides and a dollop of jelly in the center.  Smash together like a PB&J sandwich pop in a sandwich bag and freeze.  In the morning pull them out when you wake up and the should be ready to eat after you get the kids dressed.  Just don't forget them on the way out the door.

My Rules for Frugal Living

No being frugal dose not have rules.  But it helps to have your own rules set in stone for your family as they are the key to transitioning into a frugal life with out sacrificing to much.  Here are my rules that my family fallows and why they are our rules.

• Waist not, Want not.  Yup the use it up wear it out or do without way of thinking.  This is a key step for everyone.  I love candles but they are not cheap.  I use candles until the wick will no longer stay lit. Yup all the way until  theirs no wax covering that little mettle base.  Those pillows flat and past the fluffing stage.  Stuff two to a pillow case or wash dry and pull apart to stuff a homemade stuffed animal or a new throw pillow.  No one knows my little girls fluffy Dora throw pillow was at one point a very flat bed pillow.   Seeing even the Dora front and plan pink back where scraps her pillow was essentially free just because I refused to waist.
• Never pay full retail price for anything.  Yes it takes time to get to this point but you can do it.  Look for sales, use coupons, buy clearance, buy used, but never buy full price unless you have no choice.
• Don't be shy.  Yes a hard one trust me I know.   What dose that have to do with being frugal?  Here goes, the best way to save money is to ask questions.  Lets say your like me.  I can cook I can sew but darn it I can not do many other things.  Yes spelling is one of them.  Anyone interested in being my spelling checker?  The computers spell check only goes so far.  On a serious note old fashoned bartering is a great way to save money.  I needed someone to mow my lawn wile my husband was a way for Army training but could not afford the crazy prices people where charging in my area.  I wonder what happened to kids mowing laws for cash?  Anyways a neighbor needed someone to watch his kids sometimes so his wife and he could go out.  It was the perfect solution.  He dose the dirty work and mow's my lawn and I watch his kids for a bit.  Get some guts and find a trade for the things you need you will be glad you did.
• Always check the clearance rack.  This is how I save money every chance I get.  My candles, clothes even the kids holiday gifts are all clearance. If you check every time you go in you may find something useful.  The filter for my bagless vacuum less then $2 on clearance.  For my vacuum that's a $5 savings.  you never know what you will find.
• Never pay more then $1 on a cleaner.  If you can't get it on sale with a coupon for under $1 or at the local dollar store in exception to laundry detergent you don't need it.  You would be shocked what you can do with a bottle of vinegar and some baking soda.
• Stock pile wisely.  people look at the Extreme Couponing Show and see the crazy size stock piles that will count as hording and that's what they think of when they here stock pile.  That's not the case.  A smart stockpiler dose so the smart way.  Only buy what you can use before the item expires.  Whats the use of a room full of toothpaste that will dry up and be useless.  Anything made with anything natural even your laundry soap can go bad. So don't waist by over buying.  Besides how happy are you being frugal if you can't live in your own home?
• Budget.  Yup make a written budget and stick to it.  Meal planing is a great way to do this. You don't have to plan what meal will be what day just make a list shop for that list and mark meals off as you use them.
• Learn new skills.  Learn lots of new things like how to sew your old clothes into new things or how to refurnish your old items or found items.  You will be happy to see how much you can save with a little DIY.

These are my rules take them or leave them.  Some with work for you others will inspire you.  Create rules for your family that you can teach everyone even your kids.  You will be glade you did.  What are your frugal living rules?

Weekend Reading List: Free Kindle e-Books 9/9/2011

Whats on your reading list this week?  Here's my families top picks. These books are free at time of post.  Please check the price before clicking buy as the price can change at any time.

From Ashes to Honor (Loree Lough)

If he had only answered that last phone call from the World Trade Center . . .Minutes before two jumbo jets changed U.S. history, New York police officer Austin Finley ignored the call from his brother, who’d been bugging him for days. Trying to live with his one regret causes hatred and bitterness to consume Austin, and when counselor Mercy Samara recommends desk duty, Austin resigns. Haunted by her own memories of 9/11, Mercy takes a job as a school counselor in Baltimore. When Austin, now an EMT, responds to an emergency at Mercy’s school, both are stunned and wary.Finally their common—and painful—memories turn suspicion into friendship, then romance.But hard questions linger: Can they truly move beyond their past harsh judgments and harsh words? Will their past finally bring them closer or—as the tenth anniversary of 9/11 draws near—drive them farther apart?

Fatal Destiny (Marie Force)

With the week of their wedding finally upon them, Washington, D.C., Police Lieutenant Sam Holland and her fiancé, Senator Nick Cappuano, are at odds. In the aftermath of a tragic loss, they struggle to reconnect as the big day draws near, but their work keeps pulling them apart. When a new clue into a cold case surfaces, Nick asks Sam not to take any foolish chances before the wedding and to leave it alone for the time being.

Sam agrees, but she can't let it go entirely and winds up trapped in an explosive situation. Then an unwelcome visitor from her past threatens her future happiness… With trouble at every turn, will Sam survive long enough to walk down the aisle?

The Murder at the Vicarage (Agatha Christie Mysteries Collection)

Jody Hedlund

The Preacher's Bride 

Make $5 A Week Doing Almost Nothing

Yup you read that right make five dollars extra a week doing almost nothing.  How you ask?  Swagbucks that's how.  Many people just laugh and keep going when they here about Swagbucks. Or they sign up and for get about it.  Well here's your chance to take advantage of Swagbucks and see what the people that stick to it are enjoying.  First Sign up with Swagbucks (Referral link.)

Now to earn 450 swag bucks a week or about 65 a day.

Start with the search that's where you will get the most. Use Swagbucks search to get to every site you go to.  just type it right into the swagbucks search instead of the address bar.

Then do the daily pool for 1 swagbuck

Then fallow the NOSO in the earn tab clicking skip till the end.  That's another 2

Visit the trusted serveys after you have been a member for 30 days to get 1



Some days you will do great and get 65 or more a day just going to your normal sites.  Some days not so much,  But theirs other ways to earn Swagbucks  Here's a list.

• Swag Codes
• Swagbucks TV
• Games
• Your normal online shopping
• Print and use coupons.com coupons on swagbucks.  (This one gets me $5 for ever 45 coupons I use)

So now its been a week of diligently visiting swagbucks instead of using that handy little address bar.  What now?  Easy.  Go to rewards click the option for gift cards and turn in your 450 Swagbucks for $5 on amazon.com.  You can stack Amazon.com gift cards and they really add up fast.  If you get one a week that's $260 extra bucks a year that you could use for holiday shopping or even groceries. And with supper saver shipping it's all free to you.  So why not join today?  Just click here

Get Last Years Clearance Halloween Costumes.

Looking to save money on Halloween this year?  Stop by you local seasonal Halloween shop Right now when it's first opening to grab clearance Items from last years stock.

This is the costume we scored for our little princess yesterday for $5 original price $40 came with the costume some really great sturdy wings and tights.

  Share the deals you find in the comments bellow.

Cloth Diapers: What you need to start.

Are you thinking of using cloth diapers?  It can feel over whelming when your trying to figure out the bare minimum you need to start.  Giving cloth a try is a great step towards a more frugal life.  It really frees money up in your budget for other things.  You can start cheap and work your way up so you don't have to go at it all at once.  If you want to start out all at once but not spend a fortune here's my starter list.  Yup this is what I started with don't laugh It was cheap and we where not sure about cloth yet.  This helped us save money and we are continuing on the cheap but it works for us.

12-18 one size cloth diapers and covers (snaps)
    One size diapers really help you save money as you don't have to buy more diapers in the next size.
    Snap diaper covers last longer and are harder for your child to get out of as they grow older.
    We started part time and had one Flip Day Pack.  We fell in love and quickly ordered another day pack.
    This allowed me to diaper out two week old with one load of diapers a day. As time went on a got two
    more and a few other types of diapers that will I'm not such a fan of.  If your on a supper tight budget
    look at Econobum their not as good as Flip but they are great for someone on a tight budget.


A diaper pail
     For me this was a 1 gallen Ice cream bucket and oneday we got to the point we had to move up to
     something larger.  Now we use a big Cheese balls container that hubby had around the house when I
     needed to up grade.  Yes he finnished all the greeasy cheesy things first.

Cloth wipes
     Yes, really you need them you will thank me later.  In the beginning I used disposable wipes and put
     them in a plastic grocery bag with each cloth diaper change.  That got old fast.  So I decided to try
     cloth wipes that could just go in the bucket with the diaper.  One of thoughts Light bulb moments.
     Cloth wipes can be cheap or even free.  You now the crazy amount of baby wash cloths you got at
     your baby shower you never use?  They are perfect.  You can buy your own at most dollar stores.  Or
     You could cut old stained clothes into cloth wipes.

A good detergent
    You need a good detergent with NO sents, colors, softeners, brighteners, or other fabric enhancers.
    My fave is All Free Clear military version.  Its only sold in the X3 concentrate bottles.  It's the one that
    has a winter cameo design on the bottle.
 
 

Free Fun With Kids: Nature Walk Scavenger Hunt List

Going on a Nature Walk with your kids at the local park is a great way to have some free fun.  A great way to get your kids to look around is to ask them to find different things found in nature.  Here's a list you can use for ideas of things to ask your kids to find.  Pick items that work for your child's abilities.

• Forked stick
• Flower
• Oak leaf
• Acorn
• Interesting rock
• Bug
• Butterfly
• Bird
• Water
• Trash
• Maple leaf
• Small animal
• Something in each color of the rainbow
• A cloud with a shape
• Give them a shape to look for

Now you guys are looking around what else do you see that you could point out to your kids?  Up for a game of I Spy?

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