DIY – Homemade Hair Detangler
A New Leaf: Living our Best Lives has a simple recipe for homemade hair detangler!
Do you have any tricks for getting those pesky tangles out?
Unique Ways to Get More Free Canadian Coupons
Other than ordering coupons, printing coupons and collecting coupon inserts, there are several other more unique ways to grow your coupon collection! Here are my suggestions:
Trade with friends
Get together with some coupon loving friends and trade the coupons you won't use for some you will use! Do you need baby coupon and does your friend need pet coupons? Swap them!
Check recycling bins
Pretty self explanatory, but there are tons of people out there that could care less about the coupon inserts that come in the local newspapers. I find several in the recycling box at work! 🙂
Write your favourite companies and ask for coupons
Do you have a favourite product but never find any coupons for it? Try writing/emailing the company to say how much you love their products and then ask it they have any coupons to share to help you enjoy their products more often. I recently did this with Kiju organic juice. I really wanted to try the juice, so I emailed and asked politely if they had any coupons. They sent me two coupons for free juice! Just as a note, please don't abuse the kindness of companies. Maybe request coupons once or twice a year only?
Sign up for Freebies
Many of you that already sign up for the freebies I post on Simply Frugal, probably notice that along with the samples, the manufacturers also tend to send along high value coupons. It's really a great tactic on their part as they give you a sample hoping you'll like it, then think you'll go out and buy the product with the coupon they sent you, then buy it again and again! But really, if I do actually enjoy the product, I will go out and buy it with the coupon!
So you have any other unique ways to collect coupons to share with us?
Organic on a Budget
Did you know that it is possible to save money when you’re trying to live as organically as possible? Although eating organically will still take a big bite out of your grocery budget, here are some tips to help you save your hard earned dollars while feeding your family a healthy diet:
First of all, a major way to save would be to know the Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen list of fruits and vegetables. If your budget can’t allow for you to buy absolutely everything organically, focus on the fruits and vegetables that use the least amount of pesticides.
Here are the lists:
Dirty Dozen (try to only buy these when they’re organic)
- Strawberries
- Spinach
- Nectarines
- Apples
- Grapes
- Peaches
- Cherries
- Pears
- Tomatoes
- Celery
- Potatoes
- Sweet Bell Peppers
Clean Fifteen (Buy these when your budget won’t allow for these in organic form)
- Avocados
- Sweet Corn
- Pineapples
- Cabbage
- Onions
- Sweet Peas (frozen)
- Papayas
- Asparagus
- Mangoes
- Eggplant
- Honeydew Melon
- Kiwi
- Cantaloupe
- Cauliflower
- Broccoli
Here are 10 more ideas to help you reduce your grocery budget:
Use coupons from The Healthy Shopper
I’ve posted about The Healthy Shopper coupons in the past and I think they could be a valuable resource for you! Sign up and print the coupons that interest you then use them at your local health food store or other stores that have a natural living section. You’ll find coupons for brands such as Simply Natural, ECOVER, Liberte, Natura, Seventh Generation, Sisu, Tom’s and more.
Cook from scratch
Cooking from scratch is always cheaper, no matter what kind of food you purchase. But in the case of organic eating, purchasing individual ingredients to create something that you could purchase already made (convenience items) could save you a bucket of money.
Buy in season
Produce bought while at the peak of its season, will be cheaper. Click here to find a list of in season produce in your area.
Buy locally
Purchasing locally grown and produced food, cuts down on the cost of transportation and supports your local economy. Buying locally means you’ll be receiving the food soon after it’s harvested, which means you’ll be getting a lot more life out of your purchases, in turn, reducing waste. Items that aren’t grown locally, have most likely spent a good amount of their “life” being transported to stores. Which means, you may find that the items spoil quickly forcing you to throw them away.
Buy what’s on sale
Many large grocery stores are starting to have pretty decent organic sections. Quite often, by looking in the flyers, you’ll see some items on sale that you can add to your shopping list. When you shop the sales, you be able to base your meal plan around these items and possibly purchase the items you use frequently in bulk.
Pick your own produce
Picking your own produce can be fun, especially for kids or a group of girlfriends! For a list of farms where you can pick your own produce in Canada visit PickYourOwn.org.
Try organic gardening
If you have the yard space, why not try your hand at gardening? You could even try container or square foot gardening if your space is more limited. You Grow Girl is a great resource for learning about organic gardening!
Join a CSA
With a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), you’ll be buying locally and getting a ton of produce for your buck!
Try freezing or canning
Freeze or can all the produce you’ve picked up from your local produce stands, farmer’s markets or that you’ve grown in your own garden. Doing this, you’ll be able to enjoy seasonal items all through the winter! Stop by your local library to read up on canning and freezing methods and recipes. Or, here’s a great online article to help you out!
Shop at your local farmer’s market
Buying directly from the farmer will help you save some dollars. In shopping at your farmer’s market, you’ll also know exactly where/who the produce and other items come from! Find a farmer’s market near you on FarmersMarketCanada.ca.
I hope that this will help those of you who were asking for some tips on eating organically!
Do you have any other tips to share for eating organic on a budget?
Freezer Cooking Day – The Makings of 11 Meals in Three Hours
Over the weekend, on the Simply Frugal Facebook page, I was talking about trying to get dinner time under control around these parts. Between waking up at 4am on workdays, working at the golf course all day, coming home to work on Simply Frugal, and trying to be in bed by 8pm, I was having troubles with finding energy or the time to make a decent dinner! (I really do love my life despite my whining! :)) I thought a freezer cooking day would be a great start to get things under control.
I asked the wonderful readers of the Simply Frugal Facebook page for some of their favourite meals to freeze. As usual, they did not disappoint! Armed with all the suggestions, I set to making a list of meals that I could do in an afternoon. I mainly concentrated on coming up with the main course (meat dishes) as I find it easy to whip up a salad, cut up some vegetables or put on some rice to go along with the protein part of dinner.
My Mom came over to help me kicking and screaming happily, which was, I think, a large part of me feeling so successful at the end!
Here are the recipes we made yesterday:
- Chicken Satay x2
- Peanutty Asian Wraps x1
- Meatballs (about 4 meals)
- Teriyaki Chicken x1
- Cheesy Beef & Rice x2
- Freezer Mashed Potatoes (obviously not a main dish)
- Mesquite Chicken Pasta x1
- Gyoza (actually bought from Costco, but I divided them into three bags for appy nights)
Here’s how I made these into freezer meals:
- The Chicken Satay: I (my mom) cut up chicken into 1 inch(ish) chunks. I placed a bunch of chicken into a freezer bag, then poured the sauce over top. (I also used chicken instead of pork)
- Peanutty Asian Wraps: Cooked the turkey, added carrots, then added all the sauce ingredients while still cooking. Once finished cooking, I placed into a freezer bag.
- Meatballs: Put all the ingredients into my Kitchenaid mixer. My Mom polled them into balls, then placed on a cookie sheet for freezing. (I’ll later put them into freezer bags)
- Teriyaki chicken: Cut 3 chicken breast in half, then placed them into a freezer bag. Poured the sauce ingredients over top, omitting the corn starch
- Cheesy Beef and Rice: I followed the steps in the recipe
- Freezer mashed potatoes: I followed the steps in the recipe
- Mesquite Chicken Pasta: For this I only added the mesquite marinade and some ground pepper to a freezer bag with cut up chicken. I’ll add the cream, bacon, pasta and other ingredients when I cook it up.
Here are some tips I discovered that made the afternoon a breeze:
- Start with a clean kitchen
- Start cooking the things that will be the most time consuming. For me it was the ground beef, ground turkey and brown rice. I found I was excited to get going at first then started to wear down at the end and was glad to have only chicken and sauces to cut and create.
- Have a sink full of soapy water to wash dishes as you go along.
- Have a helper! My Mom was an absolutely amazing asset. As I cooked, she washed dishes. As I made sauces, she cut chicken. I must add, it was great to spend the time with her and have some fun conversations!
- Have enough freezer bags/freezer pans on hand. I did, so no last minute trips to the store!
- Only make 1 of each meal if you’ve never tried the recipe before. You don’t want to have some meals sitting in your freezer for ever because you weren’t impressed with the first one. I doubled up on the recipes I knew we loved and would use quickly.
- Label your meals with the date, the meal name, and cooking instructions.
- Try to freeze your bagged meals flat. My Mom suggested I lay the bagged meals on a cookie sheet so they lay flat. Once they’re frozen, I can stack them easily so they take up less space!
Here are some pictures of all the dishes we prepared:
All the chicken meals and the Gyozas
Cheesy Beef & Rice and a package of plain ground beef to throw into sauces
Freezer mashed potatoes
Meatballs!
The ground turkey and carrots and sauce for Peanutty Asian lettuce wraps
Finally, here’s the cost break down for everything I bought:
Chicken: $16 (not on sale…expensive, included 9 chicken breasts)
Ground beef: $8 (not on sale, again expensive)
Ground turkey: $5 (not on sale)
Mesquite marinade: $3.60 (not on sale)
Cream cheese: $2.48
Sour cream: $2.19
Everything else I had on hand, so the costs for those ingredients were very minimal.
Total: under $40 for the main part of 11 meals. Not bad!
The gyozas from Costco were $6 (and something) and I didn’t include them into the total cost.
Have you ever done any freezer cooking? Have you got any tips to share? I hope this post will help out a bit. I’ve got to say this was my first time really doing some freezer cooking!
How to Eat Gluten Free on a Budget
Eating gluten free on a budget can be difficult. But here are 4 useful tips to help you stay healthy and eating well on a gluten free diet.
How to Eat Gluten Free on a Budget
The following post is a guest post by Jeanine, from Faithfully Gluten Free! Make sure you check out her fabulous blog!
Whether you've been diagnosed with Celiac disease, are gluten-intolerant, or are eating a gluten-free diet for your own health benefits, you will know that it is not a cheap diet to be on. I'm going to try to list some points that helped me to eat gluten-free on a budget.
Eat real foods
Vegetables, unprocessed meats, most dairy, and rice do not contain gluten. By staying away from processed foods, which may contain gluten, try to cook a meal using ingredients in their natural state. For example, use potatoes instead of frozen hash browns.
Buy your flours in bulk
By purchasing your flours in large quantities, you will get a better price per pound than if you buy the small packages of flour.
If you are in Canada, you can save money by purchasing the large, unopened bags of gluten free flours and starches at Bulk Barn. Since the bags are still sealed, you don't have to worry about cross contamination.
To extend the shelf life, you can store the unused portion in sealed containers in the freezer or fridge. You could also team up with others that have to eat gluten free, and divide the large bags between the group, assuring that you always have fresh flours on hand.
Learn to cook & bake
When you are on a gluten-free diet, eating gluten-free is usually a life long commitment that you have to make to keep yourself feeling well. Since it is not just a phase, you might as well learn to make the best of it!
By learning how to cook and bake, you open your kitchen up to endless opportunities.
The gluten-free doughnuts, bread, granola bars and muffins that you can buy in the store may be good for convenience, but that is about it. Nothing beats home baking! With some practice, you will be able to replicate nearly all your favourite gluten-filled goodies using gluten-free flours.
You will just have to trust me on this. I have been eating and baking gluten-free for nearly 3 years now, and I am definitely not "living without".
Plan ahead
When you go out for the day, you should take a gluten-free snack along from home. Some gluten-free crackers, nuts, and dried or fresh fruit are all some ideas. Once you are out and about, you may not be able to find a suitable snack for your diet. Having something to munch on is better than going through a drive-through for French fries.
These tips, combined with all the great menu planning and grocery shopping articles provided on Simply Frugal, will help you to eat gluten free on a budget so well, that you won't feel like you're missing out.
Jeanine Friesen authors Faithfully Gluten Free, a blog dedicated to recipes for those on a gluten-free diet, because she believes no one should have to go without.
Does Frugality equal Deprivation?
Does the word frugality make you think of the word deprivation?
To me, frugality brings to mind the the word freedom. Freedom from debt, freedom to spend my hard earned cash (I just try to chose wisely), and freedom from worry. It’s a lifestyle I’ve chosen to follow. I don’t feel deprived in the least! I may not buy brand new stuff all the time, but my needs are met! I’ve not always thought this way.
The following story is a part of my personal story about one of my life lessons that has shaped the frugal path I’m on today.
There was a time when I was leasing a car. It was brand new and a realistic dream car. I had plans to buy it out after the lease was over, which meant getting a loan. I loved the car so much that I was willing to take on debt. It was around the end of my lease contract that my mindset started to change. I knew I couldn’t go into debt over a car, something that decreases in value so quickly! I struggled with this decision for a while before I started looking at used cars. Looking back, that was the best decision I could have made. I paid cash that I had saved up, for a great older car! No payments, no debt. I didn’t need a brand new car!
Since that lesson, I have truly taken to frugality. I know where I need to spend more money and where I need to save my pennies. But…I’m not perfect and I’m still learning!
I have found that frugality makes me:
- Focus on the little things. I find much joy in a simple cup of tea or coffee, enjoyed in the quiet of my home. Or enjoying using my hands baking something. Or even watching the birds search for food in my back yard.
- Appreciate new purchases. Since I’m not buying something every time I go out, when I do buy something, it feels special! (and will feel special for a while!)
- Use creativity to come up with a less expensive way to do something. (outdoor/indoor activities, re purposing…etc)
- Do it myself. Why pay someone to do something that I can do myself? I want a new purse but since I can sew, I have no excuse to buy a new one. I love doing stuff myself, it makes it more fun! I also believe that there is a time and a place to hire someone though, I don’t want to hoard my money.
- Sleep better at night. I don’t spend my nights tossing and turning worrying about where the money for the next bill is going to come from.
- Look for a deal. If I need something in particular, why would I pay full price if I don’t have to?
Does frugality mean deprivation to you? Care to share part of your story that led you down the path of frugality?
