Best painless "stretching things" budget tips?

[Mermaid02]

I use my food processor to grate the soap. I have a bag full of shredded kirks.... looks like coconut!

 

[semo233]

I must be the only person who sort of likes the smell of Fels Naptha ... it's a pain in the bahookey to grate though...so I'm trying Ivory next time.

I cut mine into large chunks and put it in the food processor. I usually triple the recipe.

 

[punkin]

I have been doing this too, except I use 3 chicken breast HALVES - I have a family of four including 2 teenagers and its plenty.

Yes, I meant halves I just think of it as every chicken has 2 breasts, but I suppose technically, you are right-there is only one breast per chicken. There are only 4 of us.

 

[aclov]

So, for now, I'm making the change to the newer cheaper packages, but I'm still considering dumping as much of it as I can (still need a land line for DSL service) and going to Vonage. That kind of customer service really ticks me off!

Are you sure you need a landline? Perhaps it's not available in your area but I have internet service and no landline. My monthly phone bill used to be around $60 and I'm paying $35 now only for the internet. It's called a dry loop account.

 

[aclov]

Tonight I cut the top off a tube of face cream that I couldn't squeeze any more out of and could not believe how much was still in there! Than you PP for such a great tip!

I also watered down hand soap pump in bathroom that was half full and dish soap bottle in kitchen as well.....that stuff is just going to last forever this way!

QUOTE]

This reminds me of lipstick when you can't apply it anymore because you've used most of it. But there is still so much left in the tube. I get a lipliner and apply it on that way. It's amazing how much is left.

 

[MELSMICE]

This is more a personal preference thing, but can be a money saver also. When I make chocolate chip cookies, I usually make a triple batch & will only use 2 bags of chips. I prefer the cookies with less chips & 2 bags for 3 batches is more than enough for us.

I almost always make a triple batch & will cook a few dozen. With the remainder of the dough I roll them into "cookie balls", freeze them on a cookie sheet & when their frozen I put them in a ziploc bag in the freezer. We then have fresh cookies whenever we want (which is usually every day)

The money saving part of it might be moot because we do heat up the oven frequently, but we buy less pre-packaged cookies because we almost have fresh baked.

Plus, it's great to have something on hand when you need to take a baked good in to school for something. Don't have to worry about time or going out to buy anything.

Yesterday I made a triple batch of chocolate chip & a triple batch of peanut butter cookies. Mmmmmm.....................

 

[punkin]

I make a vegetable stock every other week. Instead of using fresh carrots, onions, leeks, etc, I have a ziplock bag in the freezer into which I put onion skins (it makes onions easier to peel if you peel off the top layer of white with the skin), leek and scallion ends, carrot peelings, mushroom stems, anything that looks slightly past its prime. When I have enough, I make a stock and use it for soup bases. This is economical and delicious.

 

[happycampers]

The money saving part of it might be moot because we do heat up the oven frequently, but we buy less pre-packaged cookies because we almost have fresh baked.

Do you have a toaster oven you could use? That's what I use for small batches and in the summer when I don't want to overwork the A/C by creating more heat.

 

[billwendy]

Great Ideas Everyone!

Does anyone have a tried and true recipe to refill the automatic shower cleaner? I'd love to be able to refill that! I need something that will get rid of soap scum and those little black mold dots that pop up every now and then!!

THanks!!

 

[MELSMICE]

Great Ideas Everyone!

Does anyone have a tried and true recipe to refill the automatic shower cleaner? I'd love to be able to refill that! I need something that will get rid of soap scum and those little black mold dots that pop up every now and then!!

THanks!!

The only thing that has worked for me with the little blacl mold dots is a Lysol cleaner with bleach. Not so "green" but it does the job.

I got rid of my auto shower cleaner & just use the spray very liberally when needed. Of course, I have to shut the bathroom door & open the window because of the fumes, but it does do the trick.

Maybe if you refilled the auto cleaner with it & did it once a day it would do the trick also.

 

[Sarah'sMomfrom PA]

I recently made a cake and since my daughter is away at school, it seems like it takes us forever to eat it up and it ends up going stale. In these bad economic times, I hated to throw 1/2 of the cake away so I googled "stale cake recipes" (stupid I know!) and found a recipe. I ended up cutting the cake into cubes and using milk and eggs (just like bread pudding only I called it cake pudding) and it was like custard with chunks of moist cake--it was absolutely delicious hot out of the oven with a little cool whip on it! My husband liked it so much he wants me to make it again! I felt good that I had used something that I would have normally thrown away. I guess that these bad economic times bring out the best in everyone!

 

[ticktock]

Are you sure you need a landline? Perhaps it's not available in your area but I have internet service and no landline. My monthly phone bill used to be around $60 and I'm paying $35 now only for the internet. It's called a dry loop account.

Who do you get this through? I've been wanting to drop my land line but the only internet my local Direct TV carries is BellSouth.

 

[eliewriter]

Great thread!

Well, this might sound gross (my boyfriend is super frugal but he doesn't do this) but I re-use my coffee grounds. Since I use the gold filter (not paper) I just leave the grounds in there for the next day, add half the amount of coffee for the # cups I want and put my coffeepot on the feature (I think it's intended for making four cups or less) that double-heats the water.

I usually use Folger's or Chock Full 'o Nuts coffee since the cheaper brands seem to upset my stomach. Since my re-used grounds taste fine to me, it's my way of offsetting the price difference. Just don't re-use the grounds too many days in a row, especially in the warmer months!

Oh, and I know you asked about ways to stretch items so I guess this is a little off-topic, but I buy the bigger bottles of green Palmolive dish soap when they're on sale. I've got a big ceramic dispenser from Target near my kitchen sink and another in the bathroom so I fill them both up with Palmolive and it lasts a long time.

We also have cut out things like restaurant food of any kind and things like pop, just drink water or juice from concentrate, occasionally Kool-Aid too but that leaves me craving sugar. And my son is making all the cookies for his lunch these days, we're not buying granola bars or anything lately. I've also become less of a toilet paper snob and found the four-pack our Kroger store puts on sale for 89 cents is actually not the end of the world and though it seems thin, actually lasts longer than the "good stuff".

My boyfriend and I split our cell phone plan and are scrupulous about not running over more than about 500 minutes we share each month. We also buy larger packages of Ivory soap bars or a big bag of rice or a 10-pound bag of chicken leg quarters and divide the cost.

For laundry soap, I buy the big dispenser jug of Surf/All (or whatever they're calling it these days). It's cheaper than smaller bottles overall and lasts forever.

I also try to make something like banana bread to eat breakfast on the road so I'm not tempted to swing by Tim Horton's! Thank goodness my car gets 30 mpg, that helps a lot! : )

 

[Mermaid02]

I'm not advocating "shopping around" with pharmacies- but since my one doc prescribes all my meds I am going to get my next 2 scripts at Rite Aid pharmacy instead of my regular pharmacy- with each new one (up to 2) they will give me a $25 rite aid gift card. The coupon was in the weekend flyer.

 

[Mermaid02]

Another good one.... I found yeast at our local natural food store for $2.99 a POUND. I got 4 oz of it at the grocery store for $5.... it's a no brainer!!! I'm taking the 4 oz back to the grocery store (it's unopened!)

 

[travelbug]

I recently made a cake and since my daughter is away at school, it seems like it takes us forever to eat it up and it ends up going stale. In these bad economic times, I hated to throw 1/2 of the cake away so I googled "stale cake recipes" (stupid I know!) and found a recipe. I ended up cutting the cake into cubes and using milk and eggs (just like bread pudding only I called it cake pudding) and it was like custard with chunks of moist cake--it was absolutely delicious hot out of the oven with a little cool whip on it! My husband liked it so much he wants me to make it again! I felt good that I had used something that I would have normally thrown away. I guess that these bad economic times bring out the best in everyone!

Wow, that's amazing. Good thinking to do a google search before throwing the cake away.

 

[semo233]

Love this thread!

 

[Chicklogic]

I like making my own. Store bought laundry detergent is a petroleum product and so is the plastic the liquid comes in. When I make my own, it is better for my septic system and the only ingrdient that involves petroleum is the Fels Naptha soap, though lots less than store bought.

Fels Naptha does not smell great, but after rinsing, you can't smell it at all.

Zote is pretty much the same....but my grandmother used Fels Naptha....I'm still hooked.....

 

[Mermaid02]

I use the Kirk's in my detergent- it's biodegradeable and smells nice.

I went to Save A Lot yesterday for some staples. I got some canned goods- bisquick type stuff- FABULOUS looking plump green grapes for 1.28 a pound- I spent $43 even and that includes the 2 bags I had to buy for .99 each (I should have known they didn't bag- oh well, I know now!) Anyway- I got a lot of stuff! I also got some nice Tyson Chicken thighs for .69 a pound. My family prefers dark meat.

I never checked it out before- I was being a shopping snob. Some things were more- like I knew I could get sour cream at Hannaford for .99 and it was almost $2 there. So I buzzed over and got some when I left.

 

[CobraBubbles]

I almost always make a triple batch & will cook a few dozen. With the remainder of the dough I roll them into "cookie balls", freeze them on a cookie sheet & when their frozen I put them in a ziploc bag in the freezer. We then have fresh cookies whenever we want (which is usually every day)

I looooove this idea because when I make batches of cookies they usually don't get eaten but people would LOVE fresh baked every now and then. Do you cook them from frozen....and for how long...is it the same as you would from fresh?