Why Purchasing Retail is a Last Resort for Me

A great jacket at a great price!

Whenever I need something, a retail store is not the first place I turn to fill my need. For one reason, shopping retail is the most expensive way to acquire goods. Retail purchases use a significant portion of my hard earned income and don't provide a bigger enjoyment of the purchase over a similar item purchased at a thrift store, garage sale, or traded between friends. In fact, I would have to say that for me, finding what I need in a less conventional way is actually way more enjoyable and satisfying.

Here is a concrete example of my philosophy to turn to retail shopping as a last resort. My little boy needed a winter jacket this year. He is four-years-old, so it is unlikely that anything I buy him this year will be worn again next year.

I was shopping at a favorite thrift store for Halloween costumes, when I noticed a rack of very nice, good condition boys' winter jackets. I moseyed on over and began to look at the jackets. I found several in size four and examined each one carefully for condition. I chose one in a camouflage pattern that was priced at $3.99. Now I only need to add a hat and mittens to be ready for winter, if we actually have cold enough days to wear a winter jacket in central Texas this year!

 Just after I bought Liam's jacket, I had to go to Target to buy ink for my printer. This is an example of an item that I generally purchase retail (though I did have a $5.00 off storewide Target coupon to use that day). As I walked through the store I noticed boys' winter jackets on display and curious about what they cost, I moved closer to get a look at the price tag. Imagine my surprise to find that these jackets, which were not substantially different in construction or quality to the thrift store jacket I had just bought, were ten times more than what I paid at the thrift store!

Nice jacket, but not ten times nicer than my thrift store jacket!

This price is easy to absorb for
my limited budget. 

If I spend $39.99 on a winter jacket when I could spend $3.99, that removes $36.00 from my budget that I could use elsewhere. I could almost fill my gas tank twice for that amount of money. My family and I live on a small income and one of the primary reasons we can do so is that we look for the most inexpensive way to get what we need. The thrift store, clearance sales, and markdowns are my allies in my war on excess spending. Every dollar I don't spend on discretionary spending is released to my mandatory spending categories such as mortgage, electricity, water, insurance, and the like.

Can you say sticker shock? ;)

One of the reasons we live on a small budget is due to choice. My husband and I value lifestyle and time to enjoy our lives over the rat race of working a forty-hour week. We chose instead to build businesses that allow us to work for ourselves mainly from home and to spend time with our family.  We are working at earning a full-time income from our part-time efforts and are creating multiple streams of income that will allow us to work wherever we go, so long as we have our computers and a decent Internet connection.

If you have a good income and can afford to buy retail, I encourage you to give thrifting a try. The money you don't spend can go towards paying off your home or car early, saving for college, giving to charitable causes, or investing.

Buying secondhand also helps the environment by reusing and recycling items that would otherwise have ended up in the landfill. No matter what our income, we all need to be aware of how our purchases impact the world in which we all live.

Do you have a tight budget or live on a fixed income? How do you cover all your bases without exceeding your spending? Do you barter, shop garage sales, or thrift stores? Tell me all about it in the comments section!

Five Thrift Store Christmas Present Ideas for Preschoolers

                                                                     

Yep, this is a post about buying thrift store Christmas presents . . . posted at the beginning of October. If you want to have an affordable Christmas, you absolutely cannot wait until December to start buying gifts! There are lots of really nice new and nearly new items to be had for young children at thrift stores. You'll save a lot of money while still being able to get your child/children lovely items they will be thrilled to have.

Five Thrift Store Christmas Present Ideas for Preschoolers

1. Create a dress up box.        

My little guy in all his glory as Spiderman!
(Notice that he is standing in front of the markdown
shelf at our favorite grocery store, which is my first
stop on every shopping trip)

                             

Recently I was in a thrift store looking for a Halloween costume for myself to wear on Halloween, when I noticed most of the little kid costumes were priced at $2.99 each! Bells went off in this gal's head  and I started snapping up costumes for my little guy. I am making him a costume box for Christmas. I purchased a Buzz Lightyear costume (splurged $7.99 on this one), an Iron Man costume, a Transformers costume, and a Captain America costume, each of which cost $2.99. I am going to spend $10.00 more to add an Iron Man mask, and hopefully a Transformers mask to round out the costumes. I wouldn't be able to create this super hero dress up box as inexpensively at any other time of the year, so this is why I am sharing this gem of an idea now. You can easily create any type of themed dress up box during the Halloween season sales.

2. Make a Lego, Duplo, or other building block set

In just about every thrift store I visit, I notice small bags of building blocks- Lego, Duplo, etc. Start now to pull together a nice set of building blocks for your preschooler. Many thrift stores have sales on certain items or certain color tagged items and these sales often change daily. Check your favorite store's Facebook page or website for info on what is on special. If toys are half price, you better plan on going to that thrift store that day! In the past, I have made a Marbleworks set, an oversized "Lego" set for a toddler, and other building sets, simply by knowing what my kids really liked and going to the various thrift stores frequently. I also purchase a large plastic tub to use as the container for the thrifted building sets, again, at the thrift store if at all possible!

3. Give books

I paid $3.00 for this set of eight board books! 

Books are usually plentiful at thrift stores and many are in new or excellent condition. If your child likes a certain character (Spiderman, Barbie, Harry Potter), it is relatively easy to gather a good sized bunch of books in great condition from your favorite thrift store. One of my daughters liked the Babysitter Club books and one son liked the Animorphs. I buy books when they are on sale at half price and can give my kids a huge collection of their desired series of books.

4. Give puzzles and games

Every thrift store I visit has puzzles and games. I watch for sales on these items and stock up on high quality wooden puzzles, floor puzzles, and games of all kinds. I focus on wooden puzzles and floor puzzles because these two types are a bit more special than a simple cardboard tray puzzle and at retail price these are also quite expensive. Little kids love games but can lose interest in them quickly, so I would much rather buy them as inexpensively as possible. If the games or puzzles have beat up boxes, simply purchase a plastic box from the dollar store and print a photo of the game or puzzle to decorate the box.

5.  Give art supplies

You can't go wrong with these popular children's character
coloring books priced at only 25 cents each! 

Thrift stores often have construction paper, stickers, coloring books, crayons, colored pencils, paint sets, sidewalk chalk, stencils, etc. When I can purchase coloring books for 25 cents each or 12 cents during a half price book sale at my favorite thrift store, this is a fantastic gift item to be able to give. I look for new or nearly new coloring books and carefully remove used pages to create a pristine book.

These coloring books were new and unused throughout!

I encourage you to think thrift store when doing your
Christmas shopping for young kids this year. Your  money will go so much farther and you won't be paying for Christmas gifts long after the holiday season has passed.

I would love to hear how your shopping goes and what you found! Please share in the comments section!

Recent Victories in Thrifty Living

I like to encourage and entertain myself by turning necessary activities like bargain shopping into a game. When I do well at my self-imposed game, I feel quite victorious and smart.

Here are some of my recent little victories in the money saving game I enjoy playing:

KOHL'S CASH DEALS

Just a few weeks ago, I declared to my husband that I was badly in need of some new pants. Kohl's was nice enough to send me a postcard good for $10.00 savings on a purchase so off I went to paw through their clearance racks in hopes of scoring something to fill the gap in my wardrobe. Not only did I find a cute pair of petite sized Capri jeans for myself, I also found a gift for someone in my family for Christmas (I cannot reveal what exactly I found because that person sometimes reads this blog).

I ended up spending a total of $5.94 and saving $61.50! I make sure that I go to Kohl's every time I get one of those $10.00 Kohl's cards in the mail. I have gotten all kinds of amazing deals for my family, home, and myself this way. As I write this, I have another $10.00 card in my purse that has to be used by August 31 and since my grandson has a birthday coming up, I may be able to snag him a cool present using nothing more than my time and a bit of cash out of pocket.

Healthy Breakfast for Pennies a Serving

Whenever I shop, I make it a practice to check the clearance items in each department of the grocery store. I stroll through the produce section, meat department, and the miscellaneous clearance rack in the back of the store. Recently I found a dented box of oatmeal with added oat bran marked to just $1.00 from its normal price of $1.69.

My grandson loves oatmeal and we used to buy the pre-made packets of oatmeal. Each box has 10 servings at $1.69 per box. So, 17 cents per serving. Not bad, except he eats two packets each breakfast, so the cost is actually 34 cents per breakfast. I decided to just buy rolled oats and flavor it myself with various ingredients we have on hand. Some days, Liam gets apple brown sugar cinnamon oatmeal (if I have unsweetened applesauce on hand), other days he gets strawberries and cream oatmeal if I have strawberry jam on hand.

I'd say he enjoyed his oatmeal!

The oatmeal I purchased on markdown has 11 servings so it cost 9 cents per bowl of oatmeal.  The cost of the add-ins is negligible because those items were all purchased for other  purposes and the amount added to flavor his oatmeal is fairly small. Creating flavored oatmeal at  home doesn't take much time at all. It is just a moment or two to measure out a spoonful of strawberry jam or to sprinkle cinnamon on the oatmeal before popping it into the microwave.

Once the oatmeal is gone, we may switch to some other breakfast item that I purchased on a clearance or coupon deal. We stay flexible on what we eat so that we are always spending the least we have to spend. When I find a great deal, I buy as much as I can afford to lock in that deal for as long as possible.

 Going Bananas

When I go to the produce section looking for good deals, I always look for a big bag of marked down bananas. The bananas are still fresh enough to eat out of hand for a couple days and I have a lot of uses for them as they ripen. I happened upon a large paper sack of bananas recently weighing about 20 pounds that was marked down to $1.50 for the whole bag! That is 7 cents a pound folks!

 This go-round I made grain-free banana pancakes and dairy-free banana ice cream. The beauty of these recipes is how they can be customized for the consumer. I spent some time cutting up bananas for our "ice cream" and freezing them so they would be ready when the desire for a cold, creamy dessert hit.

My grandson and I are both dairy-free so regular ice cream is out of the question. We love our banana "ice cream" and so do the dairy eaters in our home. Another plus on this tasty treat is that it is friendly to those of us watching our waistlines. And, finally, it is very inexpensive!

The grain-free banana pancakes were amazing. With nothing more than mashed banana, eggs, and some seasonings, I made pancakes! They were tasty, gluten-free, dairy-free, inexpensive, and easy! I encourage you to give them a try! Everyone in the house who tried them, liked them.

Here they are just about ready to flip. 

I have found that being willing to try different foods and recipes is one of the keys to the biggest savings in a grocery budget.


Well, it has been a very busy week. School began for me and my youngest son on Tuesday. I have a bunch of homework and since I want to make A's, I will sign off now and get to studying.

If you decide to try the banana "ice cream" or banana pancakes, please let me know what you think of them.

I will be back soon with more tips, tricks, and encouragement to help you to thrive instead of just survive on a tight budget. And please, share your tips and tricks with me!

Think Healthy Equals Expensive? Think Again!

It's tax season...no matter how much we wish it wasn't. We are faced with our income or lack thereof in stark black and white and we start thinking about earning more money in the future or how to pay those stinkin' taxes!

I am in the category of thinking about how to increase my earnings and because of that, I live extremely frugally. I am also kind of a health nut unless I eat something sugary and then I become a voracious eating machine, but that is the subject of a different post! Can being frugal and healthy co-exist?

Many folks think that living a healthy life is expensive. They are sure that eating healthy food is pricey. They are sure that they can't get in or stay in shape without a membership at a fancy (meaning costly) gym. With those assumptions, a lot of people just give up or they blow their budget at the grocery store and don't have money for much else.

When I am faced with prevailing thinking such as, "It costs a lot of money to be healthy," I take it as a personal challenge to see if that school of thought is true or not. Let me encourage you that giving up a large portion of your budget to groceries to have quality food is not necessary if you are willing to change your mindset just a bit. Isn't that good news?

What do I mean by changing your mindset? You have to be willing to buy marked down items at the grocery store. These items are marked down because the packaging has been damaged, the item is about to go past its sell-by date (which isn't its expiration date, by the way), or the store is clearing out the item because it wasn't a good seller. Generally, these items will have large orange stickers on them showing the original price and the new, reduced price and the savings is anywhere from 25-80% off of the regular price. I also use coupons and oftentimes I can use a coupon on a marked down item for the maximum savings possible.

This nice California mix made a delicious
addition to our healthy stir-fry. 

I don't know about you, but I would rather get the best and most items I can for the least amount of money and have some funds left to put towards other items I have to buy.

Recently I made a nice pot of vegetarian chili. It made 7 1/2 cups of chili, which was about seven 1-cup servings. I often serve my chili over rice so we don't need huge portions of chili that way. This pot of chili cost me a shade under $2.00 to make and I got two dinners and a lunch out of it. Right now, you are thinking that can't possibly be correct. I can feel your skepticism coming through the computer. I will explain so you can do similar feats of financial alchemy yourself.

My husband, who wasn't frugal when we married but has been a good student, purchased two cans of pinto beans that were marked down because the cans had been dropped and dented. The regular price of these beans is 72 cents per can, but in this instance, one was reduced to 36 cents and the other to 18 cents.

He also bought a bag of black beans that had been torn open and re-closed with tape that had been $3.00 but was reduced to 25 cents. I had some Northern beans in the cabinet from an earlier purchase to add to the mix of beans and I had a can of diced tomatoes. I had purchased some cans of seasoned tomato sauce that was originally intended to make meatloaf the store was clearing out because it hadn't been selling (I am always thinking of multiple ways to use items). Each can was marked to 24 cents and I bought a dozen cans (when you see a great deal, buy as much as you can). I had onions and the seasonings for chili already on hand that I had used for other dishes so the cost of these ingredients had already been paid. The total of all items used in the chili was $1.77! And it was no-meat chili which is healthier.

It may say Dinner Starters for Meatloaf
but the way I think, that is merely a suggestion.

We scour every store where we shop for clearance items or hugely discounted items. Because of this unique acquisition method, I do not make a menu prior to going shopping. Once we get our goodies home, then I proceed to create a menu and see if I will need to buy any additional items. We eat a good variety of foods due to this creative way of procuring groceries.

I carry this way of thinking to just about every budget category as much as possible. Anytime I have to spend money, I see if I can reduce the expense somehow. I pretty much live in hyper-frugal mode. 

 Because I am interested in living a healthy lifestyle, I also am into exercising. Exercise equipment, workout clothes, and gym memberships can really take a big bite of a budget if you allow it. I work out at least three times a week and I can safely say that I haven't spent more than $50.00 in the past two years on anything fitness related.  

I have purchased my gym clothes at the thrift store or found them at retail stores deeply discounted. I received an exercise bike from my brother-in-law for free because he was tired of it and all my free weights were given to me by people who no longer wanted them. My yoga mats were gifts as were many of my exercise videos. Some videos I purchased I found at the dollar store. I also found great exercise programs on my local PBS station. Working out doesn't have to be expensive any more than eating healthy does, especially if you work out at home.

Perhaps you don't need to watch your spending as much as I do. But, what if you did anyway and you saved the difference? What could you do with those saved dollars? Travel? Fund a retirement account? Buy a vacation home? 

Healthy, Inexpensive, & Fast Valentine's Day Ideas

So, Valentine's Day is Friday...of course you already know that because unless you haven't left your house in six weeks, you have seen Valentine's products EVERYWHERE you go.

My sweetie and I have each lost quite a bit of weight over the past few years. I lost 60 pounds and hubby lost 120 pounds. We both make much better eating choices than we used to in our nachos and pizza eating days. Boxes of chocolates aren't exactly on the gift giving list with the changes we have made!

With Valentine's Day approaching, I was wondering what to do for Joe this year. As I was walking through the grocery store today, a nice bunch of bananas caught my eye and I knew right away what I was going to put together for his gift!

I am going to make him a fruit basket with a funny little homemade card tucked into it. I am going to include bananas, a couple of pears, strawberries, oranges, and perhaps a pineapple. The card will say something like, "Hey baby, I hope you know that I am BANANAS about you. I think you are the BERRY best thing that ever happened to me. I try not to PINE(apple) away too much when you are gone. I think we are one of best PEARS I have ever known. Will you be my Valentine?"

If your sweetheart is an outdoorsy fitness buff, you could create a nice basket with bottles of vitamin water or Gatorade, a variety of protein bars, a cute towel for mopping a sweaty brow, and some sunscreen from the dollar store.

For a gardening spouse, a basket with some new gardening gloves, tools, and seeds would be appreciated! Or put all the gardening items in a new gardening hat! Your gift can be very thrifty (think Dollar Store or thrift store) or you can splurge on items you know your sweetie would not buy for himself or herself.

The point is that we can show our love and appreciation for our loved one without breaking the calorie bank! And if we can do it inexpensively, how much better is that? It really isn't the money you spend but the thought and effort that you put into a gift that makes it appreciated.

My honey REALLY loves tostadas as a meal and we do bean tostadas so they are pretty healthy, too. I think I will make tostadas and guacamole for dinner this Valentine's Day. I am still trying to decide on a dessert that is gluten-free, dairy-free, and healthy. Suggestions are appreciated!

What gifts are you giving this Valentine's Day? How will you celebrate the day of love? (keep it PG, people!)

Did Christmas Wreck Your Budget? Ten Ways to Do Better Next Year

Christmas 2013 has now come and gone. We had a very nice celebration and I hope you did too. We have five children, three of whom have significant others, and we have two grandchildren. We get gifts for all of them as well as for my husband's parents, my three younger sisters, some nieces and nephews, a few co-workers, and we pay cash for everything.


We don't have a big budget with which to purchase all these gifts and we don't generally purchase big ticket items but everyone is usually pretty happy with what they receive. Let me share some of my tips and techniques that I have used to accomplish this feat each year.

• Keep a gift notebook. I use a plain old spiral notebook but you might like to set up something in your phone or computer. I allot a page to each family member and I pay close attention to anything they say that they would like to get. I write this info on their page and keep my eyes open all year for these items to give to them for Christmas or birthday gifts. 

• Use the Kohl's or other store gift cards that come in the mail to you. I received three $10.00 Kohl's gift cards in my mailbox. The first one I used to help purchase some lovely Melissa & Doug puzzles for my grandsons. Kohl's had the puzzles on sale at 20% off their regular price and I applied the $10.00 gift card to the purchase and got two nice wooden puzzles valued at $27.00 for a total of $11.50. The second $10.00 card was used to purchase a $56.00 sweater for my youngest son for only $11.99. The sweater was on sale for $21.99 and I applied the $10.00 card towards it, making it an amazing deal. My son was delighted with his sweater and wore it to his grandparents' house for Christmas. The third $10.00 gift card helped me to purchase $52.00 of items for only $17.99. I bought my older daughter a pair of Lauren Conrad leggings on sale for $9.99 (were $20.00) and I bought some very nice bath and body items for my son's girlfriend at 50% off the regular price, then applied the $10.00 card and went home very happy with my purchases. The young ladies were also very happy when they opened their gifts on Christmas Day. If you are keeping track, you will note that I purchased $135.00 of items for five people for only $41.48! That is nearly 70% off the original retail price of the items. Even on a very limited income, shopping this way allows me to stretch my precious dollars and bless my family.

• Watch for bargains all year: I have a spot in my closet where I store items I bought on clearance for future events such as birthdays and holidays. I purchased a plaque for my daughter's boyfriend that said Man Cave. It was on clearance at Target for $5.00 but was originally $12.00. Colin loves his man room so I knew this would be a fun addition to his room. I saw it and purchased it in March 2013 and held on to it until Christmas. When I see a sign that says “Clearance” or see those wonderful orange clearance tags, I make a beeline to that area and go through that section to see if there are any items that would make great gifts.

  

  I bought this after Christmas last
  year to save for my younger grandson.
  I only paid $5.00 but I count it as a
  $10.00 gift. 

•  Shop thrift stores: Yes, even for Christmas! Thrift stores are full of brand new and like new items. It is true that you cannot return the items that were purchased at thrift stores but don't let that discourage you from shopping there- you just need to know the person very well for whom you will be shopping to make this work. I have gotten many new items at my favorite thrift store that still have the retail tags attached. My thrift store runs a different daily special each day. A few weeks ago when I stopped in, the specials were: 50% off all books, puzzles, and bagged toys. I got six new condition board books for my younger grandson for $1.50, a new condition wooden puzzle for the same child for $1.00, and several amusing paperback books to tuck into stockings for 12 cents each! Earlier in the year, I bought a new 4-piece sushi serving set for $4.00 to give to my younger daughter.

4. 

   At retail price, these books would have
   cost me $13.00, but I paid 75 cents!

   
   

   

   What little boy or girl wouldn't love this
   puzzle for Christmas?
   
   

 

•  Purchase memberships to certain stores to get discounts all year long: my youngest son has a memberships to Game Stop which enables him to get a 10% discount on purchases. He allowed me to use his discount to purchase items for my daughter's boyfriend for Christmas. I bought one game brand new and one game previously owned and saved 10% on the whole purchase. 

• Many stores offer a bonus gift card for the purchase of a certain dollar amount of gift cards. Case in point: Half-Price books offered a $5.00 gift card good in January for each $25.00 gift card purchased in December. I had a lot of books on my list for Christmas gifts so when I went into the store, I bought gift cards, got my bonus gift cards to use in January, made my selections, and then used the gift cards I had just gotten to purchase my Christmas gifts. In January, I get to take $15.00 in bonus gift cards to go shopping for myself or get a head start on 2014 Christmas shopping.

I took $75.00 in gift cards and turned into
$90.00 worth of purchasing power

• Shop discount stores: I live in a fairly small, semi-rural town so shopping options were, until recently, quite limited. This year, just before Christmas, a Ross store opened in our town. My middle son wanted an electric shaver for Christmas and when I looked at Walmart and some other stores I felt that this item would be out of my means to get for him. While in Ross, I went to the men's section and noticed a Remington shaver with the specifications he wanted for under $25.00 dollars. This same razor was nearly $50.00 in other stores! Thank you, Ross, for making my son happy this Christmas.   

• Buy in bulk when you see a great item at a great price: a couple years ago, I walked into my local Walgreen's and saw that they had an end cap full of really nice jar candles originally priced at $9.99 marked down to $2.00. I bought five candles and gave them as Christmas gifts to folks with whom I worked. They got $10.00 gifts and I got to stay within my budget. I do this whenever I can as often as I can.

• Use the discount coupons that various stores publish in the Sunday paper. We shopped at Hobby Lobby using 40% off coupons to purchase a hobby knife set and portfolio for our middle son. The items together would have retailed at $38.99 but using the coupons we only paid $24.00 which freed up our money to be used to purchase more gifts for more folks on our list. 

And finally my tenth way to do my gift giving affordably-

• Sell books to Amazon: I sell my college children's used textbooks to Amazon when I have items they are interested in buying. This year I only had one book that was on the list of items they wanted. This book brought me $11.44 in Amazon credit. I also earned a $10.00 Amazon credit for doing a survey for a company so I had $21.44 in credit with Amazon. I let whatever credits I earn just accrue until it is time to start Christmas shopping. The small amount I had was enough to purchase 12-month magazine subscriptions for four people for Christmas gifts. Note that I was able to give four gifts without spending a dollar out of pocket.

I hope these ideas will help you to enjoy shopping for the holidays regardless of the size of your budget. I would love to hear what you do and how you save on these types of purchases, too!

Are You Ready for Christmas Update

Christmas is approaching rapidly. According to http://www.xmasclock.com/, there are 68 days until Christmas! Eek!

The last time I posted on this topic was near the end of August. If you want to refresh your memory or you didn't see the post, you can go to it here-http://thewhollyholly.blogspot.com/2013/08/are-you-ready-for-christmas.html.

My main focus was earning money that I would be earmarking just for Christmas spending. I do not have credit cards to fall back on when I have a budget shortfall so planning ahead is the key to success for me. ; )

A short while ago, I got an email from Amazon.com that I was given a $10.00 gift card. I received it by doing a survey for Math-U-See and being entered for a gift card drawing. Just a bit before that I traded in a book to Amazon and earned $10.44 on my gift card balance. So, with this recent gift card, I am now up to $20.00 in my account. This is enough to purchase at least one nice gift for someone on my list or a few gifts if I find really great deals! I also have an Amazon shopping portal right here on my blog. Folks can buy through Amazon just as they always do but enter through the "door" on my site and I earn a little bit of money. I have loaded my store with items I recommend but those are not the only items someone can buy through that portal.

I am also listing items on Listia to earn credits. I can use the Listia credits I earn to get all kinds of items later on. I will save my credits until closer to Christmas to use for Christmas shopping. You can sign up to trade/give away items there too. If you sign up using my link  (https://www.listia.com/signup/4087751) , both you and I will earn FREE credits that we can use to get items for those folks on our gift lists. Recently, my husband used 55,000 credits he had amassed giving away seeds from our garden plants to get me some much needed and desired skin care products. Christmas came early for me!

I participate in another cool website called Moolala where I can purchase very cool deals and refer these deals to other folks. Everyone on Moolala has the opportunity to build a paymatrix when people sign up under them. I have earned $21.00 so far from my group. Give it a try and see if it is worthwhile for you too. Just cut and paste this code (http://whollyholly.moolala.com?pid=M7TVP75&cid=VND5J9J) into your web browser and give it a try!

These various ventures do not take an expenditure of money on my part but they do require some of my time. I have a little Acer netbook that I take everywhere I go, so that when I am waiting for one of my sons somewhere that has free wifi, I can be productive on these different earning ventures. If I can do this without having an Internet connection at home, just think what those of you with the Internet can do to earn needed funds.

Another thing I do to get ready for Christmas is to begin to purchase holiday food items a little bit at a time the last three or four months of the year and right after the holidays if they have a long enough shelf life. I have several bags of brown sugar in stock that I purchased at $1.00 per bag on clearance. The brown sugar is good through the middle of 2014. I also have gingerbread mix that I purchased for $1.00 a box that is good until January 2014. I have cans of mandarin oranges and pineapple chunks also stored for holiday Ambrosia salad. I can look forward confidently to my Thanksgiving and Christmas cooking and baking with a stocked pantry.

And finally, I purchase nifty gifts all year that I see at good prices. A couple years ago, my local grocery superstore had women's fashion scarves marked down to $1.00 each from the original $8.00! I bought 15 scarves and was able to give seven gifts of two pretty scarves. Another time I went into a Walgreen's and found really nice scented candles in jars marked down to $2.00 each (originally $9.99). Such gifts are great for many gift giving occasions and do not break my limited budget. A little advance planning and watchfulness gives such peace of mind!

How are you doing at getting ready for Christmas giving or other gift giving seasons?

Meal Planning for Busy People Update

Gluten-free zucchini muffins and banana muffins cooling so I can store them for the week's grab and go breakfasts.

Okay, so after my trip to Little Caesar's, I was more determined than ever to master my meal planning issues. Check out this link to see why I am whining about my meal planning http://thewhollyholly.blogspot.com/2013/10/menu-planning-ideas-for-frugal-busy.html. Right now I am feeding three adult men (hubby, a 21-year-old son, a 19-year-old son), myself, and my 27-year-old daughter and her 1-year-old son who live with us on a semi-permanent basis.

My husband brought home the following items from his shopping trip on Thursday (Oct. 3), all of which were marked down items: veggie kabobs (peppers, onions, mushrooms, yellow squash, and zucchini), two bags of broccoli and carrot mix, a package of sliced zucchini and yellow squash (this will be shredded and put into gluten-free zucchini muffins), a bag of sliced mushrooms, a five pound package of ground beef, a large container of medium salsa, and a large bag of tortilla chips. Then, on Saturday (Oct. 5) as he was leaving a market days event where he was selling craft and jewelry items, he purchased sausages, barbecue beef, and smoked pork loin that the concession stand was selling really cheap. There were two large (32 oz. size cups) of barbecue beef, a dozen sausages, and a package of pork loin sliced into about twelve good slices. He spent $9.00 for everything!

The vegetables in this package were on skewers as they were intended for veggie kabobs. I turned them into ratatouille and Slow Cooker Mediterranean vegetable stew. I put the mushrooms aside to use in pasta primavera, so this package of vegetables became ingredients in three meals.

Slow cooker Mediterranean vegetable stew is spicy with red pepper flakes in it and delicious over rice. 

I had on hand some frozen chicken, some cooked pork chops, rice, potatoes, refried beans, tostada shells, flour tortillas, some canned vegetables, spaghetti sauce, dried pinto beans, okra, and peppers from our garden and other staple items such as spices, eggs, and the like.

Here is the dinner menu I created from the items listed above:

Saturday, October 5- We ate the barbecue beef and had potato salad with it that hubby had picked up to make dinner easy on me. Because I am gluten-free, I ate my barbecue beef on tostada shells.

Sunday, October 6-Ratatouille, pasta, smoked pork loin.

Doesn't the ratatouille look pretty?

Monday, October 7-Smoked sausages on buns and tater tots. We have a very long Monday each week so I keep this meal simple.

Tuesday, October 8-Meatball sandwiches, oven fries, baby carrots.

Wednesday, October 9-Tostada casserole (I will use the dried pinto beans in this and cook them overnight in my crockpot the night before, making extra for Saturday's chili). This can be made ahead a day or two before and just popped into the oven for 20-25 minutes to reheat.

Thursday, October 10-Pasta primavera (will use the mushrooms, broccoli, and carrots in this), topped with sauce and meatballs from Tuesday's dinner.

Friday, October 11-Clean Out the Fridge Day. We will eat the leftovers that have piled up during the week today.

Saturday, October 12-Chili . We eat our chili over rice so I will make a big batch of rice to use with this meal and in the coming week. This is the third of four meals that I will have made with five pounds of ground beef.

I got three cups of shredded zucchini from the package of zucchini and squash. I used one cup in the gluten-free zucchini muffins and used the squash in ratatouille and Mediterranean vegetable stew.

I love my salad shooter for shredding
small quantities of foods quickly with
easy clean up.

What a deal! Isn't my hubby a savvy shopper?

I am feeling better about my menu and meal planning for this week. ; )

Menu Planning Ideas for Frugal Busy People

Over the years I have had many challenges in my life. Who hasn't? One of my biggest current challenges involves menu and meal planning. I used to be really good at it but lately, not so much, due to a jam-packed schedule and the unpredictable way we do our grocery shopping.

This not a typical meal served at my house these days!

My husband does some of our grocery shopping and buys whatever he can find that is marked down or on clearance. This stretches our funds and is a huge help, but it also makes meal planning have to occur once shopping is completed rather than before. Most every article I see about meal planning encourages a person to get the sale ads, make a menu based on what is on sale, and then go shopping. We end up seeing what we can get for the funds available and then I have to gather my cookbooks together to compile recipes and a menu that make the best use of the raw materials I have available.

Frozen chicken tenders, a can of black beans, a can of corn, and a can of tomatoes and green chiles are the main components of Santa Fe Chicken. The canned items were all purchased on markdown by my hubby and cost 50 cents each!

The completed dish of Santa Fe Chicken. We serve ours over rice and with either tortilla chips and a salad or with flour tortillas. Some of us like to sprinkle a little Monterey Jack or Cheddar cheese over this. The total cost to feed four of us was around $5.00!

In addition to the challenge of creating a menu based on available ingredients, four out of the seven nights of the week, I do not arrive home until between 7:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m. This makes cooking a meal a little dicey unless we want to eat around midnight. So, I am currently reformulating my cooking routine.

On Sundays now, I am making two meals. One to eat on Sunday and one for Monday. Reheating an already prepared meal is much easier than preparing a meal from scratch. I am now avidly searching online and in women's magazines for recipes that are cook once, eat twice type of recipes. A recent issue of Family Circle was a big help in this area. Some ideas they featured were: roast a chicken one day and the second day make a pot pie, serve spaghetti and meatballs one day and the second day serve meatball sub sandwiches. This type of meal preparation will go a long way to make serving meals in my home much easier. Here are a couple URLs that look promising to me: http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20333807,00.html and http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes_menus/recipe_slideshows/cook_once_eat_twice_recipes.


I used to do freeze ahead meals years ago and I think I will incorporate that into my meal planning as well. I really enjoyed looking at the nicely stacked packages filling the freezer shelves and knowing that we had meals at the ready. I used Once-a-Month Cooking by Mimi Wilson and Mary Beth Lagerborg as my guide to cooking up to a month's worth of meals in one day or over a weekend (check out cookbooks in my Amazon store link http://astore.amazon.com/thewhollyholl-20/detail/B0072O02AA to get their books). Most likely I won't have enough groceries at the ready to do a month of meals in advance but perhaps I can start with a week and utilize a freezer meal once or twice a week for those days when I am extremely pressed for time.

I am also employing the power of crock pot cooking at least once a week to help me over the meal planning and eating later in the evening hump. I am enjoying perusing the recipes at Stephanie O'Dea's website devoted to crock pot cooking. A big bonus for me in following her blog, A Year of Slow Cooking, (http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/) is that she is also gluten-free. I have eaten gluten-free since 2007 and I really appreciate being able to grab a recipe and not have to take the time to convert it to a gluten-free concoction.

Stay tuned as I share favorite recipes from my frugal busy cooking journey and please share how you handle menu planning and meal prep in your household. I need all the help I can get right now because last night I had to make a stop at Little Caesar's!

How to Build a Wardrobe on a Budget

Those of you who have known me a while know that I lost a lot of weight over the past few years. I weigh about 60 pounds less than I did most of my adult life.

This photo is from my driver's license and was taken about 15 years ago.

I lost the majority of my weight by late 2010 through portion control and exercise and then I had some health issues that sidetracked me from working out from April 2011-January 2012. I maintained the weight I had lost but still wanted to lose more. 

In the spring of 2012, I began exercising again and found a program on television that started me on the path to additional weight loss and increased physical fitness. Within a month of beginning to do essentrics (http://www.essentrics.com/ and  http://www.classicalstretch.com/), I had lost a clothing size! I also lost 6 more pounds and am still working on about ten more to finish my weight loss goal from four years ago. 

I now weigh within two pounds of my high school weight and I feel great!

All this recent weight loss and improved shaping of my body has caused me to need all new clothes. I know, it is hard to sympathize with my problem! I have almost no budget for clothing so I did what I always do when confronted with a challenge. I prayed for wisdom and then formulated a plan of action. 

I decided to hit up the thrift stores but to focus on only buying from their daily sale promotions. At my local thrift store, a certain colored tag is chosen each day to receive a 50% discount if purchased.

I recently bought a pair of khaki Dockers, a pair of black crop pants, a Crazy Horse purse (division of Liz Claiborne), an exercise top, a top for work, and a casual top for fall for $13.00! I also received a sweater for free because it has a tiny pinhole in it and the store won't sell items with holes so they gave it to me! 

My recent purchases minus the khaki Dockers. 

I still need more clothing to round out a full wardrobe but I have a good start. I have made an concentrated effort to go to the thrift store at least once a week. I go to the racks and look for items in my size with the discounted tag and march off to the dressing room to try on everything I found that meets a need in my wardrobe. Sometimes I only purchase a single item. 

Just about every thrift store I have frequented has a daily sale of some sort. If you need clothing or household items I encourage you to give your local thrift store a shot at helping you fill your need without breaking your budget. 

Let me know of your deals, steals, and tips for building your wardrobe on a budget. 

I am off to the thrift store...talk to you soon!