Easy AND frugal in September

[Bastelmutti]

I know it's still August, but September is right around the corner and many of us are sending kids/grandkids back to school, or are taking classes ourselves, or are teaching, or are otherwise starting some new chapter right now (babies, jobs, etc.) On the August frugals thread some posters talked about needing "easy" solutions in daily life that were also frugal, rather than just slipping into "easy" - and generally more expensive - mode when busy or frazzled. Can we do it? :cool:

As for myself, there is definitely a temptation to pay for convenience a lot this coming school year due to the level of activity I have (voluntarily, gladly) set up for myself. But at the same time, I need to save money, so I'd prefer to find simple, less expensive solutions. And I better get started early!

So, post your best easy AND frugal ideas here. I'll kick it off with a couple of ideas:

* Instead of sheets and blankets, use a duvet and duvet cover. Making my bed in the morning consists of shaking out the duvet and laying it back over the bed. Done and the room looks much nicer instantly. My kids also use colorful blankets they just need to throw over their beds. Now for the rest of the house...:help:

* This morning I sat down with my kids and got them to pinpoint 2 choices for breakfast and lunch for the week. I'll shop for those plus fruit and veg to round it out. Am making my 6th grader responsible for her own breakfast, lunch and laundry. She will get a raise in her allowance, but it'll save me some time.

* Am simplifying after-school snacks for my kids and babysitting kids down to fruit and vegetables, plus dip/cheese. Maybe the occasional tortilla chips & salsa. I need to provide a gluten-free snack, and this will save me headaches making sure packaged goods or homemade baked goods are GF.

* For $4 this morning I bought the Motivated Moms calendar - a calendar with a short list of chores to do each day to keep the house running smoothly. (Great housekeepers - not for you!) I'll post a review for those of us who are housework-challenged after I've tried it out. I was basically after a ready list that I could just run through each day without planning or thinking about it too much or getting caught up in making too many pretty-looking charts. :|(

Any other ideas?

[Mighty Frugal]

Hmmm..well I plan on making both my lunch and my son's in the morning to save from eating out-well..I always do this! Will also pack a snack for my son in kindergarten.

I plan on making healthy yummy snacks for my boys to take to school-rather than buying packaged stuff

Will continue to walk to school rather than waste gas and pollute the environment more than I already do!

Don't fall into the trap that kids need all new things. My youngest is taking the same insulated snack bag he had last year. We needed to buy only one for the older one-and his old one is now used as my kid's first aid kit. I store, children's tylenol, Benadryl, inhalers (for asthma) bandaids, polysporin, etc and when we go anywhere I just grab this-so easy that it is all together and very portable and insulated!

Did a stock on clothing and we only needed a few more long sleeved shirts for the goobers-kids don't need a 'special outfit' for their first day back. We've never done this and the kids don't seem to mind

Because of scheduling we managed to cut our daycare needs in half. So i am HOPING to bank the other half of savings (will save $1000 per month!!)

Haven't figured out the house cleaning yet..probably try to do a little bit every day

[fidgiegirl]

Wow, major savings on the daycare front, Mighty!

Thanks for starting the thread, Bastelmutti.

I am thinking of doing one easy frugal but feeling a little bad about it because I really like my local pharmacy. I am thinking of signing up for the health insurance company's mail order pharmacy. I would get 3 months for the price of 2 and it would arrive in the mail instead of having to remember to pick it up at the pharmacy.

I also subscribe to my probiotics on Amazon. They will automatically send them when it is time.

I would like to pre-cook some freezer foods this weekend for lunches and for weeknights when we are tired and don't want to cook.

Water bottles! So much of a habit that I forget about it!

Iced tea: makes a lovely drink and much cheaper than buying it jarred.

Keeping mileage chart in my work bag to keep it up to date.

Need to put together a work bag. I will be traveling to several schools this year and would like to have any little thing ready in my bag to avoid stopping off to buy things I might need. Lotion, toothbrush, maybe some coffee k-cups, kleenex, pens, etc. You know, all those little things one stashes in one's desk.

[rosarugosa]

Bastelmutti:When I was a teen, I slept in a sleeping bag on top of my bed, so I never had to make the bed:) It was one of those girly-slumber-party-type sleeping bags, not a camping type of sleeping bag.
Mighty Frugal: That is a major savings score on the daycare!
Fidgie: I continue to resist doing the mail order thing through my prescription provider, at least until that becomes my only option under my prescription plan (which I suspect will be the case at some point). A few years ago, an IBS maintenance drug that really helps improve my quality of life was discontinued. My plan touts access to brilliant pharmacists as one of my benefits, so I e-mailed them and asked if they could suggest an alternative, and the response was "sorry, no." My local supermarket pharmacist (which is where I have always filled my scripts) researched and found an acceptable alternative drug for me, and thus ensured my loyalty, at least for as long as I can manage it. When I look at the motivation of the parties involved, my plan had financial motivation to not help me find an alternative, and my local pharmacist had financial motivation to find an alternative for me.

[Bastelmutti]

rosarugosa - I did, too! We kids just loved our sleeping bags. So cozy!

fidgiegirl - I do mail-order pharmacy, and I like it so far. Except when the insurance decides they can just sub out meds for another brand. But I guess that would happen regardless. However, given the choice of a great local pharmacy, I would choose that.
Re: pre-cooking for busy times. I would like to do that as well, but we don't have a microwave, so defrosting/heating blocks of food is difficult. I think I am going to look into more/better crockpot recipes and also pre-cook some components, like dried beans.

Mighty Frugal - I did much of the same for school this year. No new lunch stuff. The girls did get new backpacks, but DD2 didn't get any clothes because I "shopped" from her existing stuff and DD1's clothes in the basement. We also do a babysitting trade to save on after-school care - it's great. And thanks for bringing up walking to school. I need to rededicate to that, at least during good weather! It doubles as exercise, which I need.

[fidgiegirl]

@Bastelmutti, I have also thought of preparing and freezing ready-to-crock meals, like cube and brown the meat, cut up all the veggies, put in the chicken base, or whatever it calls for, freeze it all together in a bag or container. When ready to use, just add water and turn on the crockpot. Never have done this but maybe it would be an alternative without a micro. This assumes you have a slow cooker :)

[Bastelmutti]

Yes, that I do have! And use a lot. Need good veggie recipes for it, though. DD2 doesn't much go for stews and such. DD1 will if they're vegetarian (or contain fish).

[Rosemary]

As usual, much of my post is going to revolve around food...

Prepping food ahead of time is a huge time-saver for me, and frugal because it results in less energy use and less food waste. How is it easy? Well, when I have some free time, usually when I've got an easy dinner such as leftovers planned, I take stock of the fridge and use that time to get things ready for the next few days. This means that when I'm packing lunches or trying to get dinner ready quickly, things are ready to go... Foods such as:
- various vegetables, chopped into both salad size and stick size for dipping (I keep both sizes in the same container)
- lettuce, washed and chopped, about 3 days' worth at a time
- large fruits, such as watermelon or pineapple, when I have them
- poached chicken: sliced thinly or chunked, for lunches; in large pieces, to be used for meals as is, in stir-fry, or in taco/burrito filling (I freeze in meal-sized containers)
- ground turkey, mixed with seasonings to make turkey meatballs and turkey sausage patties (freeze in meal-sized containers)
- hard-boiled eggs - I make enough for about 5 days
- soup - in cooler weather this displaces salad for my lunches, and I usually cook enough for about 4 days
- dried beans - I cook 1/2-1 lb at a time and freeze what I won't need in the next few days
- buckwheat-almond pancakes, DD's favorite breakfast; she eats 3/day, so I freeze them in containers of about 9 for 3 days each, and thaw in the fridge when needed

Planning meals - it takes about as much time to plan a week as it would to try to figure out what was for dinner on a single night if I didn't plan. The plan allows me to take frozen foods out a day or two ahead of time and thaw them in the fridge. And it means we always have what we need.

I need to update the "menu" I posted on our fridge for the allergy elim diet to reflect new preferences and ideas. This speeds up decisions for breakfast, lunch, and snacks, and when I'm stuck, it gives me ideas that I forgot I'd had!

I don't always have time to hang all the laundry outside. So my compromise has been to just use the dryer for the load of small stuff (socks/washcloths/underthings), which takes 3-4 times as long to hang, and to line-dry everything else. It keeps me from becoming overwhelmed, and most of the laundry dries on the line - particularly the heavy things, like towels and jeans, that use more energy in the dryer.

re: veggie crockpot recipes - I mostly use mine for cooking beans and then bean soups. Most other vegetarian foods simply don't do well with a full day of cooking time.

[Bastelmutti]

Good tip about bulk prepping foods! I will definitely have to try that w/ vegetables and fruits. I have started to do dried beans in bulk, and I really like it. Once you get used to cooking them, it's actually very quick.

[Gardenarian]

Good thread! I learn so much from you guys.
My only easy/frugal so far is making lots of blackberry pies (and scones, muffins, etc.) I pick at least a quart every day while walking the dog. Love it while it lasts!
Oh, and we have decided that we were spending too much at Costco, so have chiseled down our list there to: recycled toilet paper, organic chicken, organic frozen spinach, cheese, organic soy milk, and their giant cans of refried beans (and any other organic whole food items - they don't carry a whole lot.) Everything else we can pick up at the local market or the farmer's market. I want to get our food shopping away from the "maybe we'll need it" model.

[Stella]

I am getting into a routine of making meat in the crockpot on Mondays and Tuesdays and using the rest for dinners for Wednesday and Thursday. Fridays are meatless. As the weather cools I think Fridays will mostly be soup and bread.

I organized my chest freezer into boxes. One box holds meats, one holds produce and one holds dairy and grain products. Eventually I'll have a section for homemade frozen meals too. It makes it easy to find what I am looking for.

I've been doing quite a bit of food prep too. One thing I've been freezing is cooked steel cut oats. The kids love this for breakfast and since it's already cooked it doesn't take a half hour to make. I cook it when I do my biweekly kitchen deep cleaning so I can keep an eye on it.

[Bastelmutti]

Yesterday I spent some time cooking and made a big pot of chili for the week's lunches for DD1 and me. Leftover pinto beans will turn into refried for tostadas tonight. Also went grocery shopping and really limited the snacks/prepared stuff and spent $85 - a record! I think I will have to get 3-4 things I forgot or they didn't have, but $100 for the week would be stellar.

Gardenarian, glad you mentioned Costco. I am thinking of getting a membership there. The main things I want to get are TP, salmon, organic meat, organic frozen fruit, and large quantities of organic greens. Do they have better-than-supermarket prices on those types of things?

[Gardenarian]

Hi Bastelmutti -
Costco has better than supermarket prices on TP, salmon, organic chicken. They only occasionally have organic frozen fruit. I don't know about their red meat. They have those organic greens (mesclun salad mix) in the plastic packages for a fairly low price, but I prefer not to buy them at Costco - first, because of the big plastic case, and second, because they are not as fresh as they might be. They rarely have any other organic fresh produce.

The stores vary a lot by location. I have heard other people say they get organic brown rice and other grains - not at our Costco!

If you have any friends that belong it would be worth going along to see how much they have that you really like. Does Costco have any kind of plan where you can check it out before joining? It seems weird that you have to pay to use a store before you can see what they sell!

DH likes Costco, but I would personally would not join, unless I were thinking about buying electronics or appliances. They are super nice and informative about those things, and you can pretty much return anything at any time. I bought my netbook from them.

[Rosemary]

Bastelmutti, regarding Costco:
Last year I occasionally went to Costco with a friend and stocked up on organic chicken, organic eggs (their eggs are Humane Society-certified as well as organic), salmon, and organic frozen veggies then, and bought enough fresh produce for the week. Now we are eating a lot more vegetables than we were (and we already ate more than most people), and I think the savings on organic lettuce alone will make up for the cost of the membership, so we plan to get our own membership in the fall when we turn our freezer back on.

I read a month or two ago, in the news, that Costco is planning to require that produce vendors test for e.coli. This is another reason to buy from there, in my opinion, since there's really no way to make contaminated fresh produce safe to eat, as was learned in the spinach recall a couple of years ago.

Costco will let you in to view the selection without a membership, but you can't buy anything.

I don't recall exact prices, but a 1# tub of organic spinach or organic salad mix is about $4 or less. A tub of either gives me about a week of salads. A week or organic lettuce elsewhere, even at Trader Joe's (where I buy the organic Romaine hearts), runs me a minimum of $6. I find the price on fresh wild Alaskan salmon to be comparable to TJ's (frozen). Costco's frozen salmon is cheaper, but often is packaged in China (check the label). The organic chicken and eggs are cheaper than I can find them anywhere else.

[Bastelmutti]

Thanks! I think the salmon and lettuce might save us the membership fee pretty quickly. It's further to drive, but I could do it maybe twice a month.

[Merski]

We love their salmon burgers ...they are one of our go-to meals. We also believe that they are good to their employees, which matters to us.

[Bastelmutti]

Yes, Merski - I had heard that, and it's the main reason we are considering Costco 30 min. away rather than the Sam's Club up the street.

Something for the "easy" category - delegation! DD1 started making her own lunch yesterday (from the giant pot of chili I made) and is doing a great job. DH has been saying he would make dinner more often if we could wait and eat a little later. I always said no thanks because the kids would be hungry. Well, I'm letting him make dinner 2x this week. Such a relief to think of having a break, and he wants to make simple things like chicken & salad or fish & greens, so the shopping isn't any trouble either. Whew!

[Stella]

Rosemary that's great information about the e.coli testing! I shop at Costco every other week and I think I probably save enough on just eggs over the course of a year to make it worth the membership.

[Rosemary]

Here's a reference about the e.coli:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/16/business/food-companies-act-to-protect-consumers-from-e-coli-illness.html
"Last month, Costco, one of the nation’s largest food retailers, quietly began requiring its suppliers of bagged produce, including salad greens and mixes, apple slices and baby carrots, to test for a broad range of toxic E. coli... The company also plans to test all of the ground beef sold at its warehouse stores. "

[Mrs-M]

What a great time to introduce this thread. I find when school ends in June, and the kids are home full-time, I tend to grow a little lax in the housecleaning department. Don't get me wrong now, our home is never dirty or unkept, just that I tend to take a rest from my old set schedule of cleaning select rooms daily, and at intervals which conform to the at-home time/away from home time pertaining to the kids.

So now that September is bearing down upon us and school is just a matter of days away, I'm working on conditioning myself (again) and reintroducing a daily routine into my schedule to deal with all things busy. I've slowly started preparing frozen meals once again, as summer tends to take the nip out of all that due to everyone's reduced appetites related to the heat, and I'm already thinking of pre-bedtime lunch prepping. (One of my favourites). Getting all the little things together to help make mornings that much more simple and easy and stress and trouble-free.

Additionally, meal planning. Seems over the course of summer it's easy to wing this and wing that, while never giving time so much as a second thought, however (I find) with simple meal planning I'm able to free-up blocks of time (for myself) to do other things, which helps keep me on the level and straight when it comes to family organization and flexibility.

[Rosemary]

Mrs. M, I think that's what summer's all about: relaxing the regular routines and going with the flow. Frankly, if I tried to keep the house looking like it does in winter when DD's in school all day (as opposed to playing inside and outside and creating the associated messes), I'd go crazy. But like you, now I'm ready to have some more regular routines... which will begin bright and early next Tuesday as we get back to the morning school routine.

[Mrs-M]

Rosemary. What you say is so true. It's funny, because each and every year we all see the arrival (and departure) of new and changing seasons, yet each and every year- particularly when summer nears, I go through repeat pangs related to knowing certain domestic things will need to be put on hold or transferred to the back-burner for a time. Must just be my old ways.

[Bastelmutti]

How is everyone doing? Last school year I started bulk-cooking lunch for myself (I work at home), so I could just pull out something and heat it up every day. I decided to do that again. Today I made soba + tofu + spicy sauce, enough for lunch today and 2-3 more lunches for me or DD.

[fidgiegirl]

I think the meal-in-the-crockpot-ahead-of-time one is one that I had forgotten about! We did this a few times already in September and how nice.