A frugal DIY idea for storing your Christmas ornaments is to ask your grocery store for empty wine cases. They are made of cardboard (like the inserts in store bought ornament cases) and the wine sized dividers are perfect for holding ornaments.
If you are going to be traveling within the US this summer, you will want to check out Free-Attractions.com. It has listings for free museums, parks, concerts, parades, festivals, and zoos in over 1,500 US cities.
It’s also a fantastic resource for planning a “staycation”. Search their database for attractions in your area and enjoy events for FREE! I was really surprised to see all the listings in my own area including attractions I didn’t even know about!
More ways you can save money on travel.
One way I save a ton of money off my grocery bill is by making my own laundry detergent. It’s very easy to make, super cheap, and it works great! I’m going to show you exactly how I make it.
Homemade Laundry Detergent Recipe
Ingredients:
1 bar Ivory Soap
1/2 cup Washing Soda
1/2 cup Borax
Directions:
The first thing I do is grate the Ivory soap using the fine side of a cheese grater. Ivory soap is relatively soft, so this task isn’t as strenuous as it may seem. I can grate a whole bar within minutes.
You need the soap to be as powdery as you can get it. Ivory soap has a lot of moisture, so you can’t really use your hands to crush it down. A food processor will work, but I’ve found if I go ahead and add the washing soda and borax, it will dry up the Ivory soap. At this point, I simply use a large spoon to chop up the grated soap.
Once it is all broken down into powder, mix it up and pour it into a container. You only need to use 1 – 2 Tbsp per load of laundry!
The Fine Details
You can find Arm & Hammer Washing Soda in your grocery store’s laundry aisle. In my area it is high on the shelf at Kroger and low on the shelf at HEB. Most Walmarts do not carry it. If you cannot find it in your area, you can order it from Amazon.com. Even with shipping you will save over store bought laundry detergent!
You can get 20 Mule Team Borax just about anywhere including the grocery store laundry aisle.
The Washing Soda and Borax run about $3 each a box. You can purchase Ivory soap for around 3 for $1.00. Using these figures, you can make a batch of homemade laundry detergent for around $.70!
More homemade cleaning recipes at Clever Homemaking.
This Saturday – June 27, 2009 – is the Great American Backyard Campout. It’s the perfect opportunity to offer your family a free and rememborable vacation at home! If you don’t want to camp in your own backyard, there are several options for your family. You can check the map here for registered Great American Backyard Campout sites in your area or find campsites in your area here.
If you can’t camp this weekend, any weekend is perfect to campout at home!
Here are some additional resources for your camping “staycation”:
Photo by Bryan Kemp
While dusting your ceiling fans today, keep a few things in mind that can help you save money on electricity!
Ceiling fans use very little electricity, but can actually do a lot to keep you cool in the summer (and warm in winter!). Before running your fans, make sure you inspect the direction your blades turn to ensure you will get the desired results.
What direction do your blades turn?
There is a switch on your ceiling fan that changes the direction your blades rotate from clockwise to counterclockwise. Have you ever wondered exactly why that switch exists?
Counterclockwise: When your ceiling fan rotates counterclockwise, the air is blown down into the room. This setting should be used in summer to cool you off.
Clockwise: When your ceiling fan rotates clockwise, the air is blown upward. Since hot air rises, your warmest air is at the top of your room in winter. If you turn your fan on in the winter, you can actually help circulate that hot air back into the room.
More ways to save money on electricity.
There are several patterns available on the internet for Swiffer Cloths, but the Ballband Dishcloth Reusable Swiffer Cover pattern by skullcharms is by far my favorite. It requires 2 colors cotton yarn and size 7 knitting needles. The full instructions can be found on the skullcharms blog.
Many people use compact flourescent lamps (CFLs) as a way to save on electricity. Did you know if you use a CFL in a light fixture that gets turned on and off for short periods of time, you will spend significantly more money? Turning a CFL on and off for periods of less than 15 minutes can shorten its lifespan to that of an incandescent bulb.
If you are leaving a room that uses CFL lighting and plan to return within 15 minutes, the Energy Star program actually recommends you leave the light on instead of using the energy it takes to turn the bulb off and back on again in a timespan of less than 15 minutes.
Canadian Crafter has developed a wonderful method for making homemade scrubbies. They are made of nylon and canvas yarn. You can view the full instructions on the Canadian Crafter blog.
Photo by wheat_in_your_hair
Don’t forget when a store runs out of an item that is on sale, you can ask for a rain check!
My Kroger ran out of all the Pillsbury products that were on sale this past week. I knew the catalina deal would run through March 23, so I asked customer service for a rain check on the advertised price. I got 3 separate rain checks for the cinnamon rolls, crescents, and grands biscuits. Even though they are no longer on sale this week, I’ll get to enjoy the deals I missed out on!
It’s not often that a book not only changes you, but changes your entire family tree. Those of you who read and follow Dave Ramsey are nodding your head. If you haven’t discovered Dave Ramsey yet, there is no better time than the present.
Dave’s books take you through every financial “step” of your life from saving money and getting out of debt to saving for college, saving for retirement, paying off your mortgage, and living like no one else. Whether you are struggling financially or have a fully funded savings account, I guarantee you can learn something.
My husband and I have always lived within our budget so I felt generally satisfied with the way we were handling our money. Last year I made a financial New Year’s resolution and in my quest to succeed, I discovered Dave. I set out to change our year, but instead I changed our lives. Last year was a huge eye opener. I learned so much about the way we see and handle money. Like so many of Dave’s followers, I wish I had discovered him years ago!
I’ll highlight each of his books for you, but the book I recommend the most is his “Total Money Makeover“.
The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness
The success stories speak for themselves in this book from money maestro Dave Ramsey. Instead of promising the normal dose of quick fixes, Ramsey offers a bold, no-nonsense approach to money matters, providing not only the how-to but also a grounded and uplifting hope for getting out of debt and achieving total financial health.
Ramsey debunks the many myths of money and attacks the illusions and downright deceptions of the American dream.
The Total Money Makeover Workbook is a companion guide you can purchase to help implement the steps provided in his Total Money Makeover.
In this fresh, interactive guide, respected financial expert Dave Ramsey offers a proven, comprehensive plan for getting in shape financially. The Total Money Makeover Workbook takes you one step closer to getting out of debt and achieving financial health. Against a playful backdrop of fitness terminology, Dave gives solid, hard-hitting advice and the hope and the how-to needed to turn goals into reality. The Total Money Makeover Workbook includes:
* Useful worksheets and forms
* Readable and informative charts and graphs
* The four factors that keep people from getting in shape financially
The Total Money Makeover Workbook is an essential resource for anyone desiring total financial fitness. Dave’s no-nonsense, tell-it-like-it-is approach translates into results for those who diligently follow this complete action plan. Tens of thousands of people have already transformed their financial situation with Dave’s advice, rooted in God’s and Grandma’s common sense. With The Total Money Makeover Workbook, countless others will be on their way to financial fitness.
Dave Ramsey knows what it’s like to have it all. By age twenty-six, he had established a four-million-dollar real estate portfolio, only to lose it by age thirty. He has since rebuilt his financial life and, through his workshops and his New York Times business bestsellers Financial Peace and More than Enough, he has helped hundreds of thousands of people to understand the forces behind their financial distress and how to set things right-financially, emotionally, and spiritually.
In this new edition of Financial Peace, Ramsey has updated his tactics and philosophy to show even more readers:
* how to get out of debt and stay out
* the KISS rule of investing-”Keep It Simple, Stupid”
* how to use the principle of contentment to guide financial decision making
* how the flow of money can revolutionize relationships
With practical and easy to follow methods and personal anecdotes, Financial Peace is the road map to personal control, financial security, a new, vital family dynamic, and lifetime peace.
More than Enough: The Ten Keys to Changing Your Financial Destiny
In his first bestseller, Financial Peace, Dave Ramsey taught us how to eliminate debt from our lives. Now in More Than Enough, he gives us the keys to building wealth while also creating a successful, united family. Drawing from his years of work with thousands of families and corporate employees, Ramsey presents the ten keys that guarantee family and financial peace, including: values, goals, patience, discipline, and giving back to one’s community. Using these essential steps anyone can create prosperity, live debt-free, and achieve marital bliss around the issue of finances. Filled with stories of couples, single men and women, children, and single parents, More Than Enough will show you:
* How to create a budget that fits your income and creates wealth
* What finances and romance have to do with one another
* What role values play in your financial life
* How to retire wealthy in every way
* And much, much more
Resonating with Ramsey’s down-home, folksy voice, heartwarming case histories, inspiring insights, quotations from the Bible, and exercises, quizzes, and worksheets, More Than Enough provides an inspiring wealth-building guide and a life-changing blueprint for a vital family dynamic.
How to Have More than Enough: A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Abundance
From the bestselling author of Financial Peace, this companion volume to More Than Enough is a step-by-step guide to building wealth while strengthening your marriage and family.
In Financial Peace, Dave Ramsey showed readers how to get out of debt. Now he uses the same blend of down-home wisdom and straight talk to take readers to the next step: building wealth. But success means more than money–it means having a happy marriage and family. In How to Have More Than Enough, Dave Ramsey guides readers down the path to true success.
Rather than gimmicks or quick fixes, Ramsey’s method for achieving financial and familial stability focuses on ten traits essential to creating prosperity, teaching children about money, living debt-free, and achieving marital bliss when it comes to finances. His easy-to-follow workbook illustrates each of these traits and allows readers to frequently assess their progress and honestly evaluate their situation. How to Have More Than Enough offers readers and their spouses the chance to work toward building wealth and strengthening their families.
The Money Answer Book: Quick Answers to Everyday Financial Questions
This quick and simple, question and answer book is the perfect resource for equipping individuals with key information about everyday money matters. Questions and answers deal with 100+ of the most-asked questions from The Dave Ramsey Show–everything from budget planning to retirement planning or personal buying matters, to saving for college and charitable giving. This is Dave in his most popular format–ask a specific question, get a specific answer.
If you are a fan of Dave Ramsey, I’d love to hear your stories!
