You Saving Money??

We're tightwads wherever we can be. We spend money on stuff, but only when we think it's really worth it. Going to the swamp, worth it. Buying garbage bags when the grocery store sends you home with plastic bags, not worth it. Savings don't happen $200 at a time. They happen $5 at a time, over time. And most people who save a lot of money are in the habit of doing it. They have a certain frugal mindset that spenders disdain. This first set of money-saving suggestions are the sit-ups of the money saving world. It will get you used to thinking of places to save money. And just like any other diet, it won't be pretty at first. Still, the results are good! So here are my money-saving suggestions to date. There will be more. I know, I know, you have the vapors.

1. Use a small trash can for your kitchen and line it with the bags that you get for your groceries. Smaller bags mean more exercise from the frequent trips to the garbage can outside, less garbage bag smell in the kitchen, and a wee little savings in the budget.

2. Wash out those zip lock bags, dry them out, and use them again. This is kind of the acid test for the miserly. If you're already doing this, you'll probably have some things to add to this list that I haven't even thought of.

3. Make your own bread, cookies, muffins, crackers, tortillas, naan bread, pita, pancakes, waffles etc. Pretty much anything that you purchase that's made with flour you can make yourself easily and for pennies on the dollar. Plus, when you make it, you know exactly what's gone in it. No mystery ingredients in your staff of life. You can even make your own dog bones. Bake once a week. Freeze what you aren't going to eat within two days. Don't let anyone at the hot baked goods. They'll eat twice as much as they regularly would--unhealthy. Bonus: the house will smell like fresh bread or cookies or brownies or muffins all day long. Save money on those house smeller-upper candles, to boot.

4. Institute a family pizza night. It's a cheap meal. Once a week put three cloves of garlic into a hot pan with some olive oil, whirl a 28-ounce can of grocery-store-brand tomatoes in the food processor (mini chopper works great if you drain the tomatoes first), dump the tomatoes in with the garlic and let a lot of the juice cook out. Slather two-three tablespoons of that on a large tortilla, top with cheese, veggies, and a little pepperoni and cook in a 450 degree oven for ten minutes each. Sprinkle with herbs, slice, eat. This makes about 6 individual pizzas. They're low carb, too. Bonus.

5. Mind your leftovers. Do you have stuff sitting in your fridge gathering mold? Either buy less at the grocery store or put the left overs directly into the fridge and pick a date on your calendar when you're going to eat them. This was a huge problem for us. I finally realized that my family of four only goes through a teeny tiny can of baked beans, a teeny tiny can of corn, and a small bag of chips each when we have burgers or dogs. I was buying the larger ones because I felt bad that we were eating unhealthy burgers or dogs and I wanted lots of veggies on the table to counteract the guilt. We weren't eating them all. Now I get the little ones, we eat them all, and if we're still hungry we eat apples and grapes to fill up.

6. Switch from cold cereal from a box to oatmeal and/or home made granola. Again, easy to make, you know what's in it, and cheap cheap cheap. It also tastes better and you can make it to suit yourself.

Okay. That's it for now. I'm off to buy some curtains that are half off at Bed Bath and Beyond. I think I have a coupon here somewhere.