Carrie's Caprice

Restaurant Supply Warehouses

2012-01-29T16:48:00.002-05:00

In my quest to cut costs I have looked at all my options for saving money. Not far from my house I have found a grocery and restaurant supply warehouse. They sell food as well as restaurant supplies and professional appliances. The warehouse is open to the public and doesn't require any membership fees. I have found that they have a better price on some things, but not everything. I probably visit the warehouse about once a month. I always stroll the aisles to see what new things they have in. My latest find has been restaurant kitchen containers. They sell a whole selection of plastic and stainless steel storage bins in sizes ranging from tiny to huge.

I have been on the hunt for something to store flour in. I wanted some sort of container that had a wide top so it would be easy to scoop that flour out. I have searched a number of department stores and thrift stores looking for some sort of jar, crock or tin that would serve the purpose. Unfortunately I didn't have any luck. Most of the containers I saw were small little jars that did not have the wide mouth I wanted and would not hold a whole 5 kg bag of flour. Last week I saw the perfect size plastic bin at the warehouse store. I was able to purchase a sturdy plastic 12 qt wide-mouth bin with a tight-fitting plastic lid. The bin is the perfect size to fit on a shelf in my cupboard. Restaurant Supply warehouses can be a great source of commercial grade kitchen supplies. I am so pleased with my new flour bin. Of course, I have a ton of ideas about how I can use more of these types of containers.

Making Meal Starters

2012-01-21T20:27:00.000-05:00

     This week there were a lot of good meat sales. Our freezer stash was getting low, so it was perfect timing. My husband and I went to a few different grocery stores to get all the specials. Most of the meat came in the big bulk packs. We spent about 2 1/2 hours preparing all the meat for the freezer.

     Some of the meat required only dividing into smaller meal-size portions (stewing beef, chicken thighs and pork tenderloin). I cut up a roast beef into strips and make packages of stir-fry meat. Some of the hamburger was frozen raw, in small packages, but most of it I precooked. I do not care for traditional OAMC recipes because I do not like the texture changes of some of the ingredients. I do like to make some meal "starters" to freeze that make it easier and quicker to get supper on the table when I am busy.

For spaghetti starter, I brown ground beef, onions, celery and peppers together. Then I divide the cooked ingredients into in freezer bags. It's quick to make a meal on days that I work . I just add the contents of one freezer bag (frozen or thawed doesn't matter) to jarred spaghetti sauce . While it heats, I cook the noodles. Dinner can be on the table within 30 minutes.

      I cook a more generic hamburger mix, with just celery and onions for recipes like shepherd's pie, hamburger helper, sloppy joes etc. Again I just add different ingredients to make different meals.

      When we got home from the grocery store we set up and assembly line to get everything done. We clean and chop all the vegetables we will be using. I use my large, rectangular electric frying pan to cook the ground beef. An entire large family pack of hamburger will fit in it. While it is cooking, we work on re-packaging all the other meat. We removed the skins from some of the chicken thighs (we save the skins for making stock). We bag all the meat, using kitchen scale to make packages all close to the same size. Everything is labelled with a sharpie. We pack the bags as flat as possible to save room in the freezer. Last of all we make a list so we can keep track of what we have in the freezer.

     In less than 3 hours we froze 6 spaghetti starters, 2 shepherd pie starters, 9 packages of stew meat, 2 packs of beef stir fry meat, 3 packs of chicken thighs (one skinless), 4 packs of plain raw ground beef, 3 pork tenderloins and 3 roasts. I love to look in the freezer and see my "stash".

Project 333 Review

2010-12-31T14:33:00.001-05:00

Today marks the last day in the initial Project 333 challenge. In September I devised my list of 33 items and on October 1st I packed away all my other clothes and only had my 33 items in my closet to wear. I'd like to review how I did.

Positives

I loved my stream-lined closet. It was easy to pick out what I needed each day. Everything was easy to find. I knew exactly what I had. I noticed if anything was missing. All the clothes on my list were things that I liked to wear and felt good wearing. I didn't have anything in my closet that was tight, worn looking or in need of mending. I know that some of the clothes I packed away did not fit this criteria!

All the items I chose were easy care. There were no delicate items that required special laundering. I valued what I had, because there was a limited supply. I carefully rehung things I planned to wear again. I was careful to turn up my pant legs, when it was wet or snowy out. I attended to any mending/damage right away. The hem unravelled on a t-shirt I had just purchased it in September. I took it back to the store and exchanged it. Most stores have a policy that will allow you to return/exchange items that does not wear the way it should. In the past I probably would have wore something else and never got around to returning the item.

In formulating my list I really had to examine what my "style" is. I had many clothes in my closet that fit some style that I aspired to, but not the way I actually lived. There wasn't any room for non-essentials. My "get real" 33 list was composed of the clothes that I usually wear, comfortable slacks, casual t-shirts and sweaters.

The biggest revelation for me was that NOBODY noticed I was taking part in the challenge. I did not share with friends/coworkers that I was doing the challenge. Nobody mentioned a thing about what I was wearing. Nobody made any comments about me wearing the same clothes and shoes over and over. I learned that I should dress to please myself, because nobody else really notices what I wear.

Challenges

I had a cruise planned with my sister. my plan was to not take my formal dress because I did not include it on my 33 list. My sister was disappointed when I let her know I was not planning to bring a dress. I ended up trading the dress for a pair of pants that I hadn't worn yet. I had to go over 33 items to include some dressy shoes and costume jewellery.

Another challenge was weather related. Our area got an early dumping of snow and -30C temperatures. The little blue ankle boots and corduroy coat I had chosen were not adequate. I traded them out for a warmer jacket and warmer snow boots.

Plans For The Future

There is a second phase of the Project 333 Challenge. I have decided not to participate. I feel that I have learned a lot in the initial challenge and want to use my experiences to make some changes that work for me and my lifestyle. Instead of limiting myself to a specific number of items I want to make sure my clothes meet certain criteria. I am using today to ruthlessly go through my packed-up wardrobe and weed out anything that:

1. I do not love or feel good wearing.
2. That is uncomfortable to wear or doesn't fit perfectly.
3. Needs repairs I will not do.

I realized that I definitely do not need to buy anything. Even though I wore the same clothes over and over, not a thing "wore out". I have enough clothes, pajamas and shoes to last for a long time. I know I can manage with much less. I am challenging myself not to buy any clothing/shoes that are not absolutely necessary. I want to make sure that I continually review my wardrobe and donate anything that does not meet my criteria. I plan to do a follow-up post about what made the cut in my revamped wardrobe.

An Expensive Lesson

2010-12-29T10:22:00.001-05:00

I came home from working the night shift this morning to a house that was freezing cold. Checking our digital thermostat I noted it was only 12C. The thermostat was set for 18C. The heat sign was flashing which it does when the furnace is on, only the furnace was not on! I did the usual, checked the pilot light and the filter. Turned the furnace on and off using the thermostat. Reset the thermostat. I even banged on the side of the furnace. Nothing made a difference so I called a repairman.

Luckily the repairman was here within the hour. He checked the furnace and found nothing wrong with it. He finally determined that our digital thermostat needed new batteries! Although it appeared to be working normally, the display was lit and it was displaying the temperature settings etc. the batteries were so low they did not initiate turning the furnace on. So I ended up having a $113 service call to replace my thermostat batteries! From now on I will be changing my thermostat batteries every year when I change my smoke detector batteries.

Check those batteries everyone!

Merging Family Traditions

2010-12-21T12:15:00.002-05:00

A post at Small Notebook For A Simple Home regarding Christmas traditions got me to thinking about how my husband and I have merged our family's traditions and created our own.

The first Christmas we were married we went crazy making sure we saw everyone. We spent the day driving from our parents to grandparents for hurried visits. We even had two Christmas dinners. One at lunch with my family and another at supper time with his. By our next Christmas we had a baby. We decided Christmas eve and day would be time at home instead of madly rushing around. We planned our extended family dinners for the weekends before or after Christmas.

My husband and I looked at what our traditions were as children and decided which things we enjoyed and would carry-on. We also decided what we didn't like and would drop. My husband was happy to dump his family's tradition of eating breakfast before opening presents. I was thrilled to let go of my family's tradition of leaving for grandma's house right after the last gift was unwrapped Christmas morning. My parent's filled stockings for each other. My husband and I tried that, but we didn't really enjoy it so we stopped. Now stockings are just for the kids.

One of the new traditions we developed was making Christmas eve more of an "event". As I child I remember Christmas eve being so hard to get through. I was so excited and it lasted so long because our family didn't do anything special except for opening one present (always a pair of new pajamas, a tradition I gladly incorporated into our family's Christmas eve). Now our family fills Christmas eve with activities. We go to church followed by a drive around town looking at all the lights. We have certain Griswald-like houses that we go back to every year. We go home and have hot chocolate and some savoury delicacies like shrimp. We stay up late watching all our favourite Christmas movies. (over the years I've replaced our videos with DVDs).

On Christmas morning we do things a little differently than when we were children. Our families used to hand out all the gifts and then everyone would attack their own pile. You always had that one person who was a much slower un-wrapper than others and was still working away when all the others were done (that same kid always saved their Halloween candy too and teased when they ate it in front of the others!). Now we take turns doing one gift at a time. That way Christmas morning lasts longer and everyone gets to be the centre of attention. Everyone gets to see everyone else's gifts. The giver gets to savour the moment when the recipient opens that perfect present.

We have learned to be flexible as well. I am a nurse and I'm required to work every other weekend and every other Christmas. I don't want to feel that Christmas is ruined because we cannot do everything exactly the same every year. The year my kids were 11 and 16 I had to work 7 am to 7 pm. We talked to the kids about how they wanted to do things. The kids nixed the idea of getting up at 5 am to do their presents. They ended up choosing to open their stockings when they got up. They waited to do their presents when I got home at 8 pm. My husband cooked Christmas dinner and they brought plates to the hospital. We all ate together, in the hospital cafeteria, on my break. Everyone agreed, it was fun stretching out Christmas day like that.

As our family has grown and changed, our traditions have had to evolve. With a daughter away at university and home only for a limited time at Christmas we have had to shake things up a bit. We always decorate our tree on my first weekend off in December. Usually we make tree-decorating an "event". We went ahead and decorated the tree but we have saved some of my daughter's favourite ornaments. She can add them to the tree when she gets home on Christmas eve.

There is a certain security in practising the same Christmas traditions year to year. But it can also set you up for disappointment if you feel that everything has to be the same. When you merge two people's expectations and traditions being flexible will allow you to compromise and enjoy the holiday season. Merry Christmas everyone!

What are your favourite holiday traditions?

Travel Medical Insurance

2010-10-11T02:39:00.006-04:00

I love to travel. Big trips, little trips, day trips and weekend trips. My sister lives in Texas and I visit her at least twice a year. I live 3 hours from the USA border. It's not unusual for us to zip down for an overnight visit. Next month I have a vacation planned that will take me to Mexico. While I look for deals on hotels, restaurants etc. One thing I won't skimp on is travel medical insurance. Even if I am just over the border for an hour, and that has happened when I have had to drop someone at the airport. I want to make sure I'm covered. Of course, my frugal nature has meant I have searched out the best deal!

There are many different options when it comes to purchasing travel medical insurance. There are multiple companies that offer travel medical insurance. Including banks, traditional insurance companies and auto clubs. Some employer benefit plans even include emergency medical trip coverage.

As for the type of coverage there are also multiple options. In the past I would buy an emergency medical plan for the specific duration of my trip (called a daily plan by my auto club). If I knew I had an upcoming vacation I'd buy travel medical insurance that would cover me for that specific period of time. Insurance companies base the cost on the age of the applicant. For my upcoming vacation a travel medical plan to cover me would cost $24.24 for 8 days. If the entire family was travelling a family plan for the same duration would cost $48.48. For a day trip to the States it would cost $12.12 for 1 days coverage for a single person or $24.24 for a family.

Another option is an annual plan. An annual plan covers you for the entire year, for multiple trips up to 15 or 30 days in duration (depending on the option you choose). For me, a 15 day annual plan would cost $75. A family would cost $150/year. This coverage is for the entire year for multiple trips. The advantage of this plan is that I can plan a spur-of-the-moment trip across the border with no worries about arranging for travel insurance. Because I travel frequently, the annual plan is a much more cost-effective option.

Since purchasing our annual plan in March, we have crossed the border multiple times. In March my daughter took a 10 day vacation. I drove her to, and picked her up from the Buffalo airport. In April the rest of the family took a 10 day vacation. Next month I will be away for 8 days. Separately, travel medical insurance for each of these trips would have cost $139.38. That is close to the cost of the annual premium, and we still have 6 months left!

Linking to:

For Works for me Wednesday.

The Clothes For Project 333

2010-10-03T17:15:00.009-04:00

I've organized my closet with my 33 clothing items. You'll notice that the clothes I picked are very colourful. I very seldom wear black and haven't included anything black in my 33 items.

Bottoms: 7 pairs
blue slacks, blue cords, beige cords, brown cords, blue jeans, beige capris, beige skorts

cardigans: 2
blue cardigan, beige cardigan

tops: 11
1 striped sweater

blue/white patterned blouse, orange/white patterned blouse

blue long sleeve shirt, green long sleeve shirt, blue striped t-shirt, 2 off-white striped t-shirts, pink t-shirt

red t-shirt, blue t-shirt

jackets/coats: 3
plaid jacket, Blue corduroy winter coat

1 brown fleece jacket

shoes/boots: 5
winter boots, rubber duck boots, Teva sandals, 2 pairs sketchers slip ons

Accessories: 5
mittens (solved the mitt vs. glove dilemma with convertible mitts) , wool toque

Not Shown:
1 gold chain with charm
1 pair sunglasses
1 purse

Winter Wardrobe Challenge

2010-10-01T23:12:00.001-04:00

In the last year I have lost some weight. It has left me with the happy task of having to buy SMALLER!!! clothes. At the beginning of summer I bought some t-shirts (all the same brand, just in different colours) and 2 blouses. Four pairs of capris and 2 pairs of shorts. I got through the summer just fine and always had something to wear. Recently I was contemplating my winter wardrobe and knew I would need some new clothes, but I wanted to shop with a plan.

In packing up my old too-large clothes I realized I had too many clothes. There were clothes that I even forgot I had. Clothes that I have had since high school (over 20 years ago) that were not wore out. In fact, I boxed up a ton of perfectly serviceable clothes. I got to thinking, why did I keep buying clothes if I had so many already? I tried to think the last time I had to get rid of a piece of clothing because I wore it out. All I could remember was throwing out a pair of pajama bottoms because the elastic went in them.

All summer I enjoyed having a stream-lined closet. Everything was easy to find and organize. I actually knew exactly what I had. I knew when I accidentally left my blue t-shirt on the line overnight :-) I liked all the clothes I had. I wore everything I had. I didn't have big piles of dirty clothes in my room. I was easily able to keep up with the laundry. Having less was just plain easier.

I was fascinated by the six items or less experiment. I liked looking at the lists of clothes and how people mixed and matched a few items to make many outfits. It got me thinking about what I would choose if I had to pick just six things. Basically I came up with a pair of beige capri's, a pair of blue capri's, a sweater and some t-shirts that matched either pair of capri's (it was summer). That basically describes my wardrobe as it is except I several pairs of blue and beige capri's and way more than 6 t-shirts.

Coming into the winter I decided to take a hard look at what I really needed to complete my wardrobe. I decided to plan my winter wardrobe similar to my summer wardrobe, beige and blue bottoms, coordinating t-shirts and some cardigans to layer. I decided what I needed to complete my winter wardrobe and bought only some pants and a few long sleeve shirts. I can wear t-shirts with sweaters throughout the winter. I can make many, many outfit combinations. My challenge to myself is to go through the winter without buying anymore clothes.

While surfing minimalist blogs I found the really interesting 333 project at Be More With Less. This challenge involves limiting yourself to 33 items for 3 months. This includes shoes, outerwear, jewelry, accessories, even sunglasses. Underwear, workout clothes and pajamas don't count towards the 33 items. This seems much more doable than the six item challenge.

I decided to devise my list of 33 items which is a little more challenging because I have a trip to Texas and a cruise planned in November. So, on top of my Fall/Winter items suitable for my Canadian climate. I need to include some items suitable for the warm weather that is possible in Texas and a Caribbean climate. I am lucky that I wear the same sort of clothes to work that I wear at home, so no separate work wardrobe needed.

So here goes:
Bottoms: 7 pairs
1 pair beige skorts
1 pair beige capris
1 pair brown cords
1 pair beige cords
1 pair blue cords
1 pair blue pants
1 pair blue jeans

cardigans: 2
1 blue cardigan
1 beige cardigan

tops: 11
1 striped sweater
1 blue/white patterned blouse
1 orange/white patterned blouse
1 green long sleeve shirt
1 blue long sleeve shirt
1 blue striped t-shirt
2 off-white striped t-shirt
1 blue t-shirt
1 pink t-shirt
1 red t-shirt

jackets/coats: 3
1 plaid jacket
1 winter coat
1 brown fleece jacket

shoes/boots: 5
2 pairs sketchers slip ons
1 pair rubber duck boots
1 pair Teva sandals
1 pair winter boots

Accessories: 5
1 gold chain with charm
1 pair sunglasses
1 purse
1 pair mittens
1 wool toque

I was surprised with how much clothing is actually on my list. I dress simply and don't use a lot of accessories so I was able to include more clothes. However, I really struggled when it came to deciding whether or not to include a cocktail dress and pumps in this list. I always wear a cocktail dress for formal nights on cruises. I decided that it wasn't worth using up 2 items for 1 night in three month. Instead I will wear a pretty blouse and slacks. The challenge is on!

Cloth Napkin Twist

2010-09-28T10:41:00.002-04:00

I try to be environmentally friendly but I sometimes struggle when it comes to my comfort. You can read about my shower saga. Some things have been a little easier, I have happily made the switch to chlorine-free 100% recycled toilet paper. I reserve paper towels for only the ickiest of messes. A roll lasts me a long, long time.

I have been reading on other blogs about reducing paper usage in other areas. I am not ready to use rags instead of toilet paper or cloth hankies. One thing I decided that I'd be comfortable with is cloth napkins. A day after I decided that I would make some napkins, I happened to see some ready-made ones marked down. I paid only 49¢ each for 12 napkins. The store was having a no-tax sale so I saved the 13% tax. In total I spent $5.88. I am pretty sure it would have cost me more to make them myself.

I liked using the cloth napkins. They washed up nice and the ones I bought didn't require ironing. There were a few things I didn't like. One thing was I did not like using the napkins for more than one meal. I know some people save their personal napkins for more than one meal, but I did not like the thought of reusing a napkin with dry crusty leftover food on it. The other thing I found was the napkins were huge. I only really needed a small corner of the napkin.

I started thinking about alternatives. I was shopping one day when I saw a display of baby wash-clothes. I was inspired! I bought a 24 pack of cloths in some pretty soft pastel colours for $6.64. They are absolutely perfect as napkins. They are soft, absorbent, wash up beautifully and don't require ironing. I just throw them in with my towel load. They are the perfect size for one meal, about 1/4 the size of a regular dinner napkin.

Six dinner napkins compared to 24 baby washcloths.

Twenty-four will last the 3 of us about a week. Finally, they fit in my old paper serviette holder.

I am reserving my "real" cloth napkins for company. For everyday use we are switching to baby washcloths. They are the perfect "just big enough" size.

Linking up to Works for me Wednesday at We are THAT Family.

Vegetarian Black Bean Chili

2010-09-23T17:53:00.004-04:00

This is a super easy vegetarian recipe. There are no exact measurements and no way to screw it up. Whatever way you make it, it's always good.

1 1/4 cups dry black beans (soak overnight then cook according to directions on package. If desired you can used drained, canned black beans)
3 small onions
3 red peppers
3 ribs celery
2 tsp oil
1 bottles of spaghetti sauce (I use ragu)
4 TBSP Tex mex seasoning
1/2 tsp Crushed red pepper flakes
2 tsp onion powder
2 tsp garlic powder

Dice onions, peppers and celery. Heat oil in a heavy, deep pot. Soften diced vegetable in oil.

When vegetables are cooked, add spaghetti sauce and beans.

Add seasonings. Simmer until ready to serve.

I serve my chili with homemade French bread. It's perfect for sopping up the sauce.

Linking to

Southwest Salad Copycat

2010-09-21T13:50:00.019-04:00

I love the D0le bagged salad kits. They are great because they include everything you need, including lettuce, dressing and toppings. I am a fan of these for easy additions to vacation meals. The whole family loves them. Especially the Southwest and the Asian salad kits. The only thing I find is the kits are a little on the small side for our family that includes a hungry teenage boy. I also wish they had more toppings, the toppings come in little tiny baggies and don't seem to go very far. I'm sure there is less than 1 oz of cheese. All the toppings and lettuce weigh only 10.5 oz (298 grams). The included dressing is 2.3 oz (68ml).

I decided to make a copy cat version and see how it compared to the bagged version for cost and taste. The D0le version includes lettuce, taco ranch dressing, sour cream, shredded cheese, carrots, cabbage, radishes and tortilla chips. The cost is is about $3.99 (on sale).

My first challenge was replication of the southwest dressing. I added taco seasoning to ranch dressing. It is not as thick as the dressing from the kit but tastes really good and very similar to the D0le dressing.

I used shredded carrots and peppers (I did not have radishes or cabbage). I shredded cheddar cheese. To replicate the tortilla chips I toasted 2 corn taco shells and crumbled them. Because we were having the salad for dinner I added black beans and corn to make the salad more filling and add some more protein (but didn't include them in the cost comparison because I wanted to do a straight comparison). You can see from the photo of my copy-cat salad that there are larger amounts of toppings.

Costs:
Ranch dressing 75 ml 31.4¢
Taco seasoning 3 tsp 9.6¢
Sour cream 75ml 22.4¢
Lettuce 3.5 oz(bagged baby spinach) $1.40
Carrot 5oz 5.5¢
Pepper free from garden 2.65 oz
Taco shells .85 oz 40¢
Shredded cheese 1.85 oz 43.9¢

Total for 13.85 oz of salad/Toppings $2.30 (rounded up)
Total for dressing/sour cream 150 ml 64¢ (rounded up)

Total cost $2.94 for a much larger/heartier salad with more generous toppings. With 1/2 can of corn and 1/2 can black beans the cost is $4.08 ($1.02/serving). The added beans and corn transformed this from a side salad to a meal. We had this for supper and we were all stuffed!

I am linking up to for Tasty Tuesday

Also Linking to

Linking to Works for me Wednesday at We are THAT family.

Menu Plan and an Update

2010-09-20T05:02:00.000-04:00

A few years ago I was really into menu planning. Every Sunday I would religiously post a list on the fridge. My kids really liked knowing what was for supper all week You'd think I was posting exam scores the way they'd rush to the fridge to see the list. I liked having a plan on the fridge. I knew exactly what to take out of the freezer. Whoever came home first could get supper going. I could plan my meals around whatever was on special that week, saving money. I planned easier, quicker meals for the days I worked. I'd try new or more complicated recipes on my days off. I added any needed ingredients to the shopping list, eliminating last minute trips to the grocery store. Finally we always sat down as a family to eat. Last week I made a menu plan for the first time in a while. I wanted to review how I did. This week's menu plan to follow.

I made the home made English muffins on Monday. We ate some and froze the rest. They froze very well. When I want one, it takes less than a minute in the microwave to be ready for toasting. I ended up making breakfast for dinner on Monday evening. The home made English muffins were begging to be eaten with eggs, ham and fried potatoes :-)

On Tuesday I did make the Chicken Paprikash. I changed the recipe a bit. I increased the amount of onions, added celery and green peppers for a super flavourful sauce. I also substituted extra-broad egg noodles for homemade spaetzle. A bag of egg noodles costs $1.69 vs. $1.08 for homemade noodles. They didn't taste nearly as good as home made and my son requested I don't use them again.

On Wednesday and Thursday we had the kraft dinner lasagna. It was just enough for 2 meals. I added a salad so we had some extra vegetables with our meal.

Menu Plan:
This week we have a 6 quart basket of red peppers from my dad's garden to incorporate into our menu plan for this week.

Monday
Spaghetti with tomato and pepper sauce(I plan to add red peppers to my veggie spaghetti sauce)
Green salad

Tuesday (looked at the weather and it's supposed to be hot Tuesday!)
Southwest salad (I'm going to experiment and try and come up with my own version of the bagged mix they sell)

Wednesday
Pork chop stuffing bake
Baked Potatoes
Broccoli

Thursday
Chili
Home made French bread

Friday
Home made pizza
Raw vegetables and dip

Saturday
Barbeque chicken
Ranch potatoes
Green Beans

Sunday
Roast beef
Potatoes
Carrots
Yorkshire Pudding

I am linking up to Organizing Junkie for menu plan Monday!

6 Year Yard transformation

2010-09-15T17:11:00.002-04:00

I'm joining transformation Thursday at Shabby Chic Cottage with one of my biggest projects ever.

I recently moved all my photos from my old computer to my laptop. I have been enjoying looking at all the old photos of friends and family. I have also enjoyed looking at the transformation of our yard over the years.

When we bought our house in 2001, one thing I was not completly happy with was the yard. I loved that the yard is private because we do not have neighbours behind. I loved that the yard was extra deep, and I loved the hill in the back (the kids loved tobagganing down it in winter!). The thing I did not like about the yard was that it was completely all grass. There was not a tree, bush or flower in the entire yard.

Over the years we have been transforming the yard by planting tons of things. It seems to take forever for trees to grow. Looking at my old pictures I can see how much everything has changed. I am well on my way to the lush landscape I dreamt of.

Front Yard
2004

2010

2004

2010
We have trimmed these front shrubs many times to keep them from getting out of control. We still have the lopsided steps. Someday we are going to replace them :-)

2004

2010
That little tiny tree is now that big, at least 3o ft tall tree! We have a new shade structure which is now over the patio. The shed was placed between the little bush and the patio stone along the fence.

2004

2010
I had to take this picture from another window because the tree has grown so big.

2006

2010
My lilacs have grown. My garden is over-grown :-0

2006

2010

OHHHH! My shed needs a power wash! I did the front last year, but not that back, and it shows :-)

Vacation Eats

2010-09-14T07:37:00.004-04:00

I thought I'd share what we ate while we were away. We had a full kitchen in our hotel suite. If I could have squeezed anything else into our already packed car, I would have brought some groceries from home. Instead when we arrived, we walked to a little grocery store a few blocks from the hotel. It is a lot pricier than the discount grocery store that I usually frequent. We chose foods that were quick to prepare so we had more time for sight-seeing. Even with higher grocery prices and buying some prepared food, cooking for ourselves worked out much cheaper (and probably healthier) than restaurants.

Day 1 Supper

Red potatoes 80¢
Carrots 66¢
Store-prepared roast chicken $8.99 (we had leftovers)
butter 42¢
Southwest salad kit $3.99
Total $14.86 (we were stuffed!)

Day 2 Lunch
(it tasted much better than it looked :-)

Frozen Tortellini $5.58
Canned Pasta Sauce $2.49
Fresh baked bread $2
Butter 21¢
Total $10.28 +tons of leftovers

Day 2 Supper
We went to the farmer's market and bought some fresh vegetables. Everything was so good.

Corn-on-the-cob $2
Yellow beans $2
Asian Salad kit $3.99
Leftover chicken (free)
Total $ 7.99(stuffed again)

Day 3 Lunch-We had fast food, totalled around $15.

Supper
We had a little buffet of leftover chicken, veggies and tortellini.(free)

Desserts/snacks

Sugar pie (something I never tried before, but was very yummy) $5.99
Cookies $2.99 (we only ate a few, my daughter kept the rest of the bag)
Chips $2.79
Cantaloupe $1.99
Total: $13.76

Drinks
4 litre jug of water $1.69
2 litres milk $3.79 (super pricey!)
Total: $5.48

Total for the trip $52.37 +$15 at a restaurant.

I could have easily spent $50 for one sit-down meal for the 3 of us, so I think we did pretty good :-)

Things I liked about cooking for myself on this Vacation:
#1 Saving Money
#2 Eating Healthier than restaurant food
#3 Having some treats we don't usually eat (like chips and sugar pie :-)
#4 Having some familiar foods
#5 Being able to buy/cook fresh veggies from the Byward market
#6 Getting to explore a different grocery store
#7 Being able to walk to the grocery store
#8 Cooking in that cute kitchen that was sooo easy to tidy afterwards.
#9 Having snacks available in our hotel room
#10 Leaving all the leftover groceries with my daughter to start her off cooking for herself at University.

Linking to:

at Oh Amanda

Tasty Tuesday at Beauty and Bedlam.

Works for me Wednesday's at We are THAT Family.

Menu Plan Monday

2010-09-13T06:30:00.001-04:00

I am going away this weekend so I am only planning my meals until Thursday. I am planning to make a batch of homemade English muffins on Monday. Breakfasts I do not plan. Everyone fends for themselves. Our breakfasts usually consist of cereal, toast, english muffins and/or eggs.

We eat lunches at work/school. They consist of the usual sandwiches, salads and leftovers.

This Week's Suppers:

Monday
Green salad, shake-n-bake chicken, potatoes and corn.

Tuesday
Chicken Paprikash, homemade noodles and carrots. Leftovers will make my lunch for the next 2 days.

Wednesday

Kraft Dinner Lasagna

Thursday

Leftover lasagna

I am linking up to Organizing Junkie for menu plan Monday!

Frugal $700 Car Repair?

2010-09-11T10:12:00.000-04:00

This week my car needed over $700 in repairs. I consider it money well-spent, a bargain really. How is that possible? My trusted mechanic assures me that if I keep up the repairs on my 11 year old car I can drive it for a few more years.

I had been toying with the idea of buying a new car. I have been out to the dealers looking at new and used cars. Payments on the cars I have been considering range from $300-400/month. These are for very basic, non-luxury models. In total I would be making payments of $3600-$4800/year. My insurance costs would rise. My insurance company quoted me about $400 more for a new vehicle versus the one I have now, that brings the yearly cost of a newer vehicle up to $4000-5200/year.

My car has been very reliable over the years and besides regular maintenance I haven't had to do too many repairs. In 11 years I have replaced the front brakes twice, replaced a oxygen sensor, replaced the brake and fuel lines, fixed an exhaust leak and this week the ball joints. In total repairs, so far this year, I have spent about $1060. Last year I only spent $800. I haven't had a car payment on my car for many years. If I consider the additional repairs an older car requires as my "payment", $800-1060 vs. $3600-4800 per year seems like a bargain. $1060 works out to only a $83.33/month car "payment". I anticipate that my car will require more repairs in the coming years. Quite possibly my repair costs will rise, but I would have to do a lot of repairs to equal the yearly expense of a newer vehicle.

The funny thing is, when I was looking a new cars, most dealers wouldn't give me much (if anything) for my old car. Simply because a 1999 car "isn't worth anything". I plan to be driving Old Trusty for a few more years, that's worth a lot to me!

Hotel Review

2010-09-08T07:00:00.000-04:00

Spent a long weekend in Ottawa. We enjoyed our second stay at an excellent suite hotel called "The Business Inn". I highly recommend it, should you ever visit Ottawa. It is within walking distance to tons of attractions. It is a wonderful place, great suites, great services and an even greater price. The price is sooo great, I hope they don't get wise and start realizing they could charge a lot more, because I plan to stay there whenever I am visiting my daughter in Ottawa.

We had a pull-out couch and a double bed. Everything was super clean.

Every room has an iron/ironing board and clothes steamer. Great if your the type who would consider ironing on vacation (I'm not ;-) they also have a free laundry, they even provide the detergent. I did do some laundry.

Big TV

Some of the rooms have balconies. We didn't have one this time, but we did have a huge wall-to-wall window.

The bathroom was small but had everything we needed including Neutrogena products.

The rainfall shower head was nice.

Every room has a computer with high speed Internet and a printer with paper. Printing was free! And if you need colour printing done, they will do it at the front desk for free!

The best thing about this hotel is that every room includes a fully-equipped kitchen. All we had to do when we arrived was grocery shop! I'll share what we cooked up in another post.

We did not have to worry about breakfast. The hotel had free continental breakfast. It included things like fruit, toast, bagels, waffles, pancakes, eggs, juice, milk, cheese, yogurt, tea and coffee. (Didn't I say this place was great! :-)

The price for our studio suite was $107 per night (plus tax). Parking is a little pricey, $11 for outside parking and $15 for indoor. I sprung for indoor parking since our truck was packed with all my daughter's worldly possessions. The grand total for our 3 day stay was $415! This is more than reasonable for staying in downtown Ottawa.

A Weekend Break

2010-09-03T17:31:00.002-04:00

Well, my daughter has been planning for this all year. We are finally set to move her into residence at University. Even with all the planning, we were still up late packing and re-packing the truck last night. We will see how our planning was when we get her all moved in :-)

We made the 6 hour drive to Ottawa today. We are spending the weekend here. We plan to see the sights and enjoy ourselves before moving her into the dorm Sunday. I'll be back next week with a report LOL :-)

Coffee Sack Cork Board

2010-09-01T11:42:00.005-04:00

Today I am Linking up to We are THAT Family.

My daughter made the cutest cork board for her dorm room. She was able to get a coffee sack from a specialty coffee shop. She just called and left her name and they saved her one. She used the cork board that has been in her room for years. She simply cut the sack in half. She used brass tacks to tack down the edges and then trimmed off the excess.

Cost:
Cork board free
Coffee sack free
Brass Tacks $2.83

Before:

After:

Meatless Spaghetti Sauce

2010-08-31T17:27:00.001-04:00

It's Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam.

My husband was diagnosed with borderline high cholesterol back in January. Since that time we have overhauled our diet and lifestyle. We have started exercising. We are eating more vegetables and less meat. Between us we have lost close to 90 lbs. I am going to share a hearty vegetarian spaghetti sauce I make. It is loaded with vegetables and has tons of fibre.

I don't have any exact measurements. I just chop up whatever fresh vegetables I have. This batch had carrots, onions, celery, mushrooms, green pepper and broccoli. I chopped up all the vegetables. I cooked them in a a bit of canola oil over medium heat (except for the broccoli).

I added some Italian seasoning.

When the vegetables were almost cooked I add minced garlic.

I added 2 bottles of Ragu and the chopped broccoli. This will make enough for 2 meals.

Simmer until broccoli is tender. This makes a really chunky, hearty sauce.

I serve this over whole wheat spaghetti and add some grated cheese.

Cost:
Sauce
carrots 33¢
onions 48¢
pepper 49¢
celery 32¢
broccoli $1.83
mushrooms $3.08
Italian seasoning 35¢
minced garlic 38¢
ragu $1.98
Sauce total: $9.24 for 8 servings, $1.16/serving
Whole wheat pasta $1.27 for 4 serving, 31¢
Grated Parmesan cheese 36¢/serving

Total per person: $1.83
Total cost for a family of 4 $7.32

Huge Savings in 10 minutes!

2010-08-27T14:00:00.001-04:00

I called my insurance company the other day to ask about the cost of insurance for a car we were considering purchasing. My agent asked me about deductibles. She noticed we only had $300 and $500 deductibles, probably pretty standard when I first opened a policy with them 15 years ago. She let me know I could save if I raised my deductible to $1000. I know, realistically, I wouldn't make an auto claim for less than $1000 because my insurance rates would rise. I went ahead and changed the deductible on my auto policies saving over 13% on my auto premium. I raised my home policy deductible from $500 to $5000, lowering my house insurance premium by 33%! My agent told me that if we had a catastrophe and had a big claim, you ca be credited for doing some of the work (such as cleanup) yourself, to make up your deductible.

Overall we are saving $602.18 per year, or $50.18 per month. Now, I am kicking myself that I didn't do this earlier. I could have really used an extra $600 last year!

When was the last time you had a look at your insurance policies? Have you thought about what your comfortable deductible would be? The call to my insurance company took less than 10 minutes and saved me $600/year!

Linking to Frugal Friday at

$5 Night Tables Re-done

2010-08-26T09:15:00.001-04:00

Party Time!

There's a Transformation Thursday Party at The Shabby Chic Cottage!

There's a Thrifty Thursday Party At Bloggeritaville!

There's a Show off Your Stuff Party at Fireflies and Jelly Beans.

I recently re-did my bedroom (pics in an upcoming post). The re-do took it from a dark room to a light and bright place. Part of the makeover included re-doing the my tired $5 pair of garage sale night tables. I painted them with 2 coats of Bin paint leftover from another job. Then I did 2 coats of semi-gloss white paint (leftover trim paint). The new pulls cost $3.99 each. Total entire cost $14.02 (including tax and the original cost of the night tables).

Before:
I forgot to take a picture of the night tables by themselves so I'll use this old picture that shows them before.

Here is a picture of the back and inside of the drawer, so you can see the colour of the wood.

Pretty shiny pulls.

After:

All loaded up with my beloved collection of Donna Parker and Trixie Beldon books.

Homemade English Muffins

2010-08-25T09:15:00.000-04:00

I found a neat recipe for homemade English muffins at Happy Housewife. In fact I found a whole lot of recipes and neat ideas I want to try. Our family loves English muffins, so they were the first thing. I was thrilled that the recipe incorporated whole wheat flour. I usually have packages of whole-wheat store-bought English muffins in my freezer, ready to pop into the toaster for breakfast.

I did modify the recipe a bit, I used 3 cups whole wheat flour and only 1 cup of regular flour. I don't have a griddle, so I used my electric frying pan. It worked out just fine. It took a max of 10 minutes to mix the dough and less than 15 minutes to roll it out and cut it after it had risen.

The recipe yielded 19 muffins. They ranged in size, but most were about 55-60 grams. A store bought English muffin was 63 grams. Store-bought English muffins are 99¢ for 6, so 16.5¢ each. I did the math to figure out the cost of the homemade ingredients (digital kitchen scale came in very handy for this). I guessed for the cornmeal, because I used only a sprinkle.

Cost of Homemade:
whole wheat flour 23¢
white flour 8.8¢
honey 6¢
water free
milk 12.5¢
yeast 9.5¢
salt 1¢
butter 30¢
cornmeal 1¢
Total: 91.8¢ or 4.83¢ each (for a slightly smaller muffin)

Not only were the homemade muffins cheaper, they tasted sooooo much better than store-bought. They don't last very long, though. Half of them were eaten before they even cooled :-)

Bathroom Reveal

2010-08-24T10:09:00.012-04:00

My daughter has been happily using the remodelled bathroom for a few months now. Everything is finished, but it still needs some finishing touches. It's a little bare without any pictures on the wall. At my daughter's request I painted the room purple. She loves it, but I'm not too keen on it. She's leaving for university next week so I don't think she'll mind if I decide to change the colour ;-)

I was trying very diligently to keep track of the costs of everything. My husband has a bulging envelope of receipts. It seemed like every time we turned around we needed something else from the hardware store. The plumbing was the worst, he kept going back for valves, couplings and I don't know what else. When we did the tiling we went through buckets of thin-set and grout. Part way through the renovation my DH pulled down freshly installed green-board and decided to replace it with cement board. In the midst of this months long renovation, I think I lost track :-( Following are the best totals I have.

Sink Faucet $83.89
Bath/shower faucet set $160.18
Toilet $47.52
Tile supplies $46.21
plumbing supplies $46.48
paint $74.08 (primer and ceiling paint)
Trim and wall paint $67.77
dump fees $19.45
tile $586.43
drywall/cement board and screws $150.83
vanity/sink/granite top/mirror $666.69
granite back splash $57.50
New window $600
Shower curtain $11.29
shower curtain hooks $11.29
Towel bar $22.59
Toilet roll holder $24.85
light fixture $45.19

total $2722.24

We kept the same tub, vinyl shower curtains and shower rods.

Before:

After:

I love the vanity, we added the strip of granite backsplash to make it look more finished.

Mirror and energy efficient light fixture.

We have a window in the shower. Such a bad design, but really the only place for window. We replaced the window with a vinyl window with a waterproof vinyl surround (instead of wood). I love the way my husband "framed" the window with tile.

To keep the window dry, we put a 2nd shower curtain up. It can be closed while showering and left open the rest of the time for air circulation. I really had trouble getting a good picture.

I love the new brushed nickel shower set.

New brushed nickel towel bar. I went with white towels and shower curtain (what else matches purple LOL!)

I love the detail on this white shower curtain.

And, just to keep things real, the super thick, messy, first time caulking, line ;-)

Cooking For A Crowd

2010-08-22T11:26:00.010-04:00

Today we hosted friend's for lunch. We had 10 people total. I don't entertain often and 10 is a real crowd for me ;-)

These friends live quite far away and we don't get to see each other too often so it was important to me to have time to spend visiting. I did not want to be in the kitchen the entire time they were here. We planned our menu so we could prep as much as possible ahead.

For our main course we had chicken drumsticks done on the barbeque. We marinated the chicken overnight, added a crispy coating and baked the chicken on tinfoil in the barbeque. Side dishes were broccoli with cheese sauce and flavoured rice. I made the cheese sauce in the morning then reheated in time for lunch. The rice was easy, I put all the ingredients in the rice cooker and it cooked the rice perfectly and kept it warm until ready to serve. Dessert was fresh fruit with a yogurt/cream cheese dip (tasted just like cheese cake filling!). The dip was made in the morning and the fruit was cut up, stored in baggies and quickly arranged on a tray right before serving.

In the end I made too much. The menu stuffed the 10 of us with leftover chicken and rice for 2 more meals for us (Except for fruit, we ate that all up!)

Cost breakdown:
Chicken $13.18
Barbeque sauce 99¢
Cornmeal, flour and spices 50¢ (guesstimate :-)

We had two pans of chicken like this.

Broccoli $4.11
Cheese $1.99
Milk 38¢
flour 6¢
butter 82¢

Basmati Rice $2.35
Butter 41¢
bouillon cubes 43¢

Total: $25.22

Fruit (honeydew melon, bluberries, pineapple, green and red grapes) $10.45
fat-free vanilla yogurt $2.49
low-fat cream cheese$3.19
icing sugar 16¢
I didn't get a picture of the fruit, but it was a huge tray.

Dessert Total:$16.29 (fruit is pricey, but oh so good!)

What do you cook for a crowd?

Can University Be Frugal?

2010-08-21T14:37:00.006-04:00

Even the most frugal people might think that it's not possible to save any money when it comes to higher education. My daughter is going to university in less than 2 weeks. It is going to be quite expensive. Besides doing the usual like applying for scholarships, she has done some other things to try and get the most for her money.

Before she even applied to university she investigated the the various schools that offered the program she wanted. She then investigated the tuition and residence fees. Residence fees differed by as much as $5000/year between schools. Another aspect she looked at was the cost of rents, she is sure she won't want to live in residence for all four years. She investigated the transit systems in different university towns, she isn't planning to have a car. She looked at the cost of meal plans. Some universities have mandatory meal plans which can be quite costly, running several thousand dollars a year.

She ended up choosing a good university in a major city, with reasonable rents and a great transit system. Her student fees even include a transit pass! She will be living in a reasonably priced residence that doesn't have a mandatory meal plan. She will have access to a full kitchen and is planning to do as much of her own cooking as possible. She was also able to save $180 by opting out of the university's medical/dental plan because she is already covered under our family plan.

There is no way around it, university is a costly proposition. You can still get a quality education and save some money at the same time.

In preparation for cooking on her own she has been shopping thrift shops for kitchen supplies. I'm including some pics of some of the cute things she's found.

Tiny Cornflower corningware that will fit in a toaster oven, the littlest one is about 4 inches square

Pretty retro pyrex mixing bowls!

Supper for $6.59

2010-08-20T10:06:00.022-04:00

The Shabby Nest is having a Frugal Friday blog party!

This post was inspired by watching an Opr@h show about the thriftiest family in America. Opr@h seemed surprised that they could make supper for a family of 6 for less than $4. I can think of a quite a few meals such as soup and sandwiches or spaghetti that I could make for less than $4. I wanted to figure out what the cost was for something a little more elaborate. This is a recipe I usually make a few times a month in the winter. It is a real comfort food for us.

Today I am going to share my version of chicken paprikash with spaetzle. This meal will serve my family (2 adults and 2 teens) for 2 full meals. It is a very forgiving recipe. The measurements don't have to be exact and It can be seasoned to taste

First mix 1/2 cup flour with 2 tablespoons of paprika. Dredge 8 chicken thighs in the flour mixture. I used boneless, skinless thighs this time but usually use thighs with the bone in. I think using thighs with the bone in makes for a more flavourful recipe. I always take the skin off to reduce the oiliness.

Next brown the chicken pieces in oil. I do about 5 minutes on each side.

When chicken is browned, set aside and brown 2 chopped onions in the same pot. Again, you can use more or less according to your taste.

When onions are softened, add the chicken back to the pot along with a large container of chicken broth. You could substitute homemade broth and save even more. At this time I add more paprika 2tbsp, salt 1tsp, pepper 2tsp and a tiny bit of crushed hot pepper flakes.

Let the pot simmer until chicken is cooked, about 45 minutes. When chicken is cooked, check the consistency of the sauce. It can be thickened with a little flour if desired. I used flour to thicken this batch. At this time add a little more seasoning to taste.

While the chicken is cooking I make my noodles (spaetzle). I mix together 2 cups flour, 4 eggs, 1 tsp salt and 1 1/2 cups milk. You will be left with a wet, gluey dough.

Bring a pot of salted water to the boil. I use a barbeque vegetable roaster to make my noodles. It is basically like a colander with really large holes. I place it on top of the pot.

Put 1/4 of the dough in the colander. I use a silicone spatula to force the dough through the colander. This takes some muscle!

You are left with a pot of noodle (spaetzle). Let them cook for about 2 minutes then remove to another colander to drain. Complete the same process with the rest of the dough (about a 1/4 at a time).

Cost Breakdown:
chicken thighs $5.51
flour 21¢
eggs 36.5¢
Chicken broth $1.99
spices/salt/pepper 20¢ (guesstimate ;-)
salt 2¢
milk 38¢
onion 39¢
Total: $9.07 for 8 servings.
Per serving cost $1.14

Serve the chicken and sauce over the noodles with some vegetables on the side. Very good and filling. The fresh broccoli for this meal cost $1.37 and the fresh carrots were 66¢ (for 4 servings). Total cost of supper for 4 people $6.59.

Boneless/Skinless Chicken

2010-08-03T16:41:00.004-04:00

I went to Costco today to get some chicken thighs for dinner tonight. They had both bone-in, skin on and boneless/skinless. The chicken without the skin was twice the price. I decided to do a little comparison to see which actually cost more. I am using my digital kitchen scale (it has been worth it's weight in gold for measuring food while I've been dieting).

Using a sharp knife, it took me 17 minutes to remove the bones and skin from eight chicken thighs. I was left with a big pile of bones and skin.

Now for the numbers. The eight chicken breasts weighed 1.104 kg. At $4.99/kg, it was $5.51 worth of chicken. After removing the skin and bones I was left with 0.611 kg of chicken. If I had bought boneless/skinless chicken it was $9.99 kg, 0.611 kg would have cost $6.11. I only saved 60¢ for 17 minutes work!

Exciting Day For Me!

2010-07-06T17:34:00.006-04:00

I had the day off so I took the kids down to Toronto to see the Queen. It was a great day I saw the Queen, Prime Minister, Premier, Lieutenant Governor and the Governor General. It was sooo worth the long wait in the heat to see the Queen!

Bad Blogger!

2010-05-29T16:45:00.003-04:00

Like the title says this is Carrie's Caprice, and apparently Carrie hasn't felt like blogging much lately! Actually I have had millions of ideas for posts over the last few months but have been very poor about actually getting anything done. I'm planning to get right back into things.

I originally started this blog with a focus on frugality. At the time my husband had just lost his job so that was my focus. Then the blog progressed to other things I was interested in like decorating and home renovations, basically I followed my whims. So Carrie's Caprice is a perfect name!

There have been some big changes over the past few months. My daughter has been accepted to university so we are going through the process of collecting things to outfit her dorm room, so expect some posts about that whole process. My husband was diagnosed with high cholesterol (at the tender age of 37!) so we have been focusing on healthy eating and exercise. There will be some upcoming posts on healthy recipes (since January we have lost a combined total of over 75lbs!). The bathroom renovation is complete and I promise a post with the after pictures.

I am really looking forward to getting back to blogging! And just because I think pictures make a post interesting I am going to include a sneak-peek of the finished bathroom.

Living Room Change

2009-11-29T13:02:00.010-05:00

My dog would not stop barking at our new neighbours, so in desperation I changed my living room furniture around to block the front window. Problem solved. Now she can't see out and has stopped barking. Now normally I am against blocking a window with furniture, but felt I had no choice (she was driving me..and the new neighbours nuts). I have been surprised at how much I have liked the change. Moving the couch from the long wall to the shorter wall has really made my long, skinny living/dining room feel a lot less like a bowling alley. I had been getting tired of our 8 year old furniture (in it's 8 year old spots) but just changing it around and changing my perspective has given it a fresh new look. It just feels different in here now. It is nice and clean because we are going to decorate for Christmas today, so I thought I'd share. (and just to keep it real the black strings hanging under the couch and chair is where the cat has clawed the lining. I have been meaning to rip the lining off but I don't really notice it until I start taking pictures :-)

Before:(I had to go back a few years to find before pics)

After:

Progress With Bathroom Reno

2009-09-21T12:35:00.010-04:00

The vanity is still in the box waiting to be installed. I took a picture of the box.

The drywall has been all replaced with cement board.
My DH is very proud of his first attempt at tiling.
I love this tile. It has sparkles in it!
I am realizing I don't think it's possible to do a cheap bathroom reno. The costs are adding up and we are not using high end materials. There are so many expenses behind the scenes, drywall, cement board, copper pipes etc. Here's a rundown of the costs so far (I've included the tax in the prices).

Sink Faucet $83.89
Bath/shower faucet set $160.18
Toilet $47.52
Tile supplies $46.21
plumbing supplies $46.48
paint $74.08 (primer and ceiling paint)
dump fee $3.45
tile $586.43
drywall/cement board and screws $150.83
vanity/sink/granite top/mirror $666.69

total $1865.76

There are more expenses to come. We must replace the window and estimates are coming in at around $600. We have not installed the vanity or toilet. We need still need a new light fixture and a final coat of paint. We have saved by doing the work ourselves, but we are learning as we go so progress has been slow.

$34 Toilet

2009-08-15T18:33:00.003-04:00

We are still working our way through our bathroom renovation. Today we got a great deal on a toilet. They were running a promotion at one of the big-chain hardware stores. They had certain models of low-flow toilets on sale. They had also partnered with our municipality to offer instant rebates for buying a low-flow toilet.

My DH got up early to be at the store when they opened because they had a limited number of toilets (within 2 hours of opening, they announced on the radio, that the store had run out). We bought a dual-flush low flow toilet for $34. The regular price was $149, on sale for $104, minus a $70 instant rebate. It was such a great deal we bought 2 so we can change the toilet in our powder room as well. I am hoping to see a reduction in our water use.

Saving At The Local Hardware Store

2009-08-10T09:26:00.002-04:00

I am currently reading the book "Affluenza". It has been very eye opening. They describe ways that we consume and how they impact the environment, the economy and our quality of life. One item discussed in the book was how it was beneficial to shop at your locally owned hardware store versus the big box stores. This hits home right now because we are doing a bathroom renovation.

I am already an advocate of shopping at Canadian-owned stores. I do a lot of my shopping at Shoppers Drug Mart, Canadian Tire, Home Hardware, Rona and Zellers. Of course I still shop some of the American big box stores like Costco.

While doing our bathroom renovation I am trying to buy everything we need from our locally owned Home Hardware. I was willing to pay a little bit more to support the local store. I have always had the impression that smaller stores are more expensive and had less selection than the big box stores. But, actually I am finding that my local hardware store is priced fairly competitively. It has a great selection of goods. Even though the store is small, they have tons of products available online, to order. The experience of ordering there is very pleasant. I placed my order for a bathroom vanity on Sunday and it arrived Wednesday. In contrast, the local Rona store takes 5-6 weeks for an order to arrive. I looked at vanities there and they do keep certain popular sizes in stock, but of coarse not the size I needed. Waiting 5-6 weeks for a vanity for my already torn-up bathroom was out of the question!

The other area that has been helpful with our local hardware store is that knowledge that the staff has. We have some plumbing fixes to do. My husband is very inexperienced in that area. The fellow at the hardware store was able to show my husband the plumbing supplies that he needed. Gave him advice on how to solder without burning anything and even gave him advice on how to fix his torch. I'm not saying that big box stores do not have knowledgeable staff, but the day I was there to enquire about the vanity I got the teenager who was there working for the summer. He could not even tell me the price of the vanity I wanted because he didn't know how to work the computer and he was "just covering" for the kitchen/bathroom section (and I had to wander around for quite a while to even find him).

We are saving money at the local hardware store because we are able to buy exactly what we need. Nails and screws are sold individually, instead of large packs with more than you need. You can buy vapour barrier by the foot instead of a huge roll. We only needed 6 feet. We bought 6 feet for less than $6. At the big box stores you must buy an entire roll for more than $50. We needed 6 inches of copper piping. We were able to buy a 3ft length for $2.79. At Rona the smallest length they sell is 12 ft. I am happy that we will not have a ton of leftover construction supplies.

The best thing about our local hardware store is that it is very close by. It is about a 5 minute drive away on a not-too-busy side street. Very close when we need to run and get something. The local Rona is 15 minutes away in an area where all the other big box stores are (they actually share a parking lot with Costco). The traffic is always terrible and backed up in that section of town.

Our bathroom renovation is moving along with the help of our local hardware store ;-)

Funny!

2009-08-07T14:05:00.002-04:00

I have been a little bit absent from blogging recently. My sister is here visiting from Houston, Texas. She lives in a very urban area and my nephews have been quite fascinated by my "old fashioned" ways. They have been watching me compost, recycle, hang laundry and collect water in rain barrels. They have taken pictures of my rain barrels because my sister assures me that none of her friends believe such a thing existed!?! Yesterday I did all their laundry with my family's. Everything was lined dried. My 11 year old nephew put on a freshly washed, crisp, line dried shirt today. He buried his nose in the shirt and commented how wonderful the shirt smelled "just like brand new"! :-)

Windexing The Couch

2009-07-29T21:06:00.004-04:00

I have a 8 year old dark green couch that is covered in a really hard wearing chenille fabric (so I anticipate having this furniture for a long time). My dog always lays on the floor and leans against the side of the furniture. There was a sort of light whitish "haze" on the lower part of the couch from the oils in the dogs coat. It also makes the whole room smell "doggy". I have had the couch professionally cleaned. It is very expensive and doesn't last for long because she always lays in the same 2 spots right up against the furniture again (The professional cleaner said this is very common thing for dogs to do).

It was hot and humid yesterday so I had the windows closed and we used the air conditioning for the first time this summer. I really noticed the doggy smell with the windows closed so I knew I had to do something about it. A friend had mentioned that she has used Windex on her upholstered furniture to remove oil/odour from her dog. I checked the Windex bottle and it does say it cuts grease. I diluted the Windex with water and used a cloth to rub the soiled areas. It worked like magic! It removed the "haze" and left a really, really light Windex scent (instead of doggy odour). I wish I had thought to take before pictures.

Now I probably should have tested this in an inconspicuous spot but sometimes I just tend to dive right into things and my couch fabric has proved to be pretty sturdy stuff. The Windex didn't seem to bother the fabric. It didn't cause fading or anything like that. I will totally try this again and maybe experiment a bit with something a little more environmentally friendly like vinegar. Now if I can only find a way to get the dog hair off the couch!

Frugal Bathroom Renovation?

2009-07-27T09:48:00.004-04:00

Is it even possible to do a frugal bathroom renovation? We are going to see. We have known for a while that we would have to do something with our 20 year old bathrooms. Our main bath, used by our teenager and guests has really taken a beating. Years of my daughter's hot steamy showers have caused some water damage. It came to a head last week when we noticed an odour. Yep, she had mould. We knew it was time to get to the renovation we have been putting off for a long time.

We have started by tearing everything out. Twenty year old sheet vinyl flooring, dated 80's look ceramic tile, a 20 year old melamine vanity and laminate counter. We found a few surprises the builder's left us. We found out that the area where the plumbing comes up for the tub was full of insulation. They never finished the floor in the attic above this area so the blown-in insulation has fallen down into the cavity. When installing the recessed soap dish in the ceramic tile they actually cut through the vapour barrier, so for 20 years it has been compromised. These things will need to be fixed.

The sink and counter will both need to be replaced. The taps for the tub and sink both definitely need replacing. New insulation, vapour barrier and drywall. The tub surround and floor will need to be tiled. All new trim and 1/4 round will need to be installed. The whole bathroom will need painting. The 80's style light fixture has got to be replaced. It's going to add up.

There are some ways we are going to try and save some money. First we are doing the work ourselves with some guidance of my dad who has a ton of building/renovating experience. We are not changing the footprint of the bathroom. Moving fixtures and the plumbing is a major expense. We also are not moving any of the wiring. We are leaving the tub in place, there is nothing wrong with it. We are re-using the old toilet. It is eventually going to be replaced when our municipality runs the low-flow toilet rebate program. We are considering re-using our vanity. It is in perfect shape, just a little dated looking. I am considering just doing a cosmetic fix-up, applying trim and painting it.

I will update here how things are going. Here is what we are staring with.

Garden Progress

2009-07-22T10:10:00.009-04:00

It has been so cool and rainy this year that most of my garden has not been growing very well. There are only a few plants that don't seem to mind the weather. Here are a few pics.

I bought assorted sweetpeas and ended up with a bunch of different colours!

A friend gave me this hollyhock from her garden. It really hasn't grown at all but it is starting to bloom.

Virginia creeper has been growing like crazy. These were just a few inches high in the spring.

Brocolli, grown from plants. It has grown a bit but something has been nibbling at the leaves.

My smoke bush is getting ready to smoke.

Price My Space

2009-07-13T09:39:00.022-04:00

Over at the Nesting Place they are having a blog party. I think this is a fabulous idea and I can't wait to show off my space. The room I have chosen is my sitting room. I love this room and spend most of my time there. It is such a cozy little room, only 9x13ft. I recently re-did the paint and decorating in this room pulling together pieces from all over the house. You can read about that here.

I'll start with the big ticket items. The 2 chairs and ottoman were custom made pieces from Krohler. I did save a bit by buying them when they were having a 20% off custom made sale. I saved by using a less expensive, well wearing, steam cleanable, neutral fabric for the main part of the chairs. I splurged a bit, by using a pretty, pricey fabric on the throw pillows. If I had covered the entire chairs in the pricey fabric it would have been much more expensive. Total cost of 2 chairs and the ottoman: $1980. The table between the 2 chairs is from a discount furniture place. I bought it in a set of 3 for $99. The other 2 have broken and were thrown out. I only have this one left Cost $33.

I honestly don't remember what I paid for these 2 lamps. I had them in my bedroom when I still lived at home. I bought them at the home show one year. I think they were about $25 each (total $50). The shades were white but I replaced them with these pink shades. I do not remember what I paid for them either. I bought them from Zellers when I was first married and just dug them out of the basement recently.

This garage sale basket is used to hold magazines. Cost about $2.

These pictures above the chairs were made with 2 dollar star canvas's and dollar store scrapbook paper. Total cost $3.

these pictures were bought from Zellers many years ago. I think they were $7 each, total $14.

This is a silhouette of me, as a child, in a $30 Michaels frame. The matting came with the frame.

These wind chimes were bought in Mexico for $1. I have sets of these all over my house.

The barn star was just bought this summer from Botanix (a garden centre). It cost $25. The fireplace poker set was from Costco. Bought a few years ago, on sale, for $40.

This is the display at one end of the fireplace. The picture frame and the tall candle holder both come from the dollar store. Total$2. The smaller glass candle holder was from Partylite and I think it was $15.

This is the display at the other end of the fireplace. The cup and saucer was handed down from my grandmother. The clock is from a garage sale $5. The frame is from the dollar store $1.

This is another view of the room from a different angle. The red box on the desk was in a clearance bin at Michaels. I use it for all the cords from our cameras, ipods and cellphones. Cost $3. The chair is from Zehrs. Cost $35.

This is a hand-me-down desk from my parents. I remember my dad getting it from a garage sale when I was about 5. The boxes are from IKEA, I think they were $5 each (total $15). They hold a ton of papers. The elephant I got in Mexico for $3.

These are new, bought this summer from Botanix. They are planters, only $9 for all 3. I think they are pretty. I am using them for corralling junk on the desk like pens, pencils and paper.

These curtain panels are from Giant Tiger. I paid $9.99 each for them and also bought an extra panel to make some pillows with. Total $30.

The TV was given to us as a gift for Christmas 1992. I'd like to replace it with a flat screen if it ever wears out. I am tempted to paint the black power cord the same colour as the wall so it doesn't stand out so much. The table it sits on is a garage sale find. It is the perfect height/size to hold the TV. The legs were already painted black. Cost $1.

So thats the whole 9x13 room. Total cost:$2297 (if my math is correct)

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Canada Day!!

2009-06-30T16:26:00.002-04:00

I am working tomorrow and won't be on the computer so I thought I would post this today. I hope everyone has a great Canada day!

Keeping Cool

2009-06-25T10:41:00.004-04:00

It's hot, hot, hot here right now. We are in the middle of our first heat wave. Temperatures have been in the 30's all this week. It's been sunny, sunny, sunny too. I have resisted the urge to turn on the central air. I try to use my A/C as little as possible. We have a 20 year old unit that is extremely inefficient. My hydro bills are horrendous if I run the A/C all the time. Another reason I resist using the A/C is I love having the windows open. I love having fresh air in the house. Finally it's much more environmentally friendly to avoid the use of the A/C. My criteria for deciding to use the A/C is nighttime temperatures. As long as the forecast calls for lower temperatures at night, so I can sleep, I'll leave the A/C off. I am trying to keep cool in other ways.

We don't have ceiling fans but we do have portable fans. I use extension cords for the fans so we can move them to wherever we are sitting. We can even take them outside to the shaded patio. I always feel cooler with a breeze blowing. At night we have a fan in the window blowing cool night air into the bedroom. We leave the interior doors open so we can get good cross-ventilation.

We seek shade. We spend a lot of time sitting on our shaded patio. I will even take my laptop outside and work away. We will spend time in our basement. It is the coolest space in the house and is always much cooler than the upstairs.

We often fill up a small wading pool on the patio and just dip our feet in it. You would be surprised how just cooling your feet down really cools you off. We also have lots of ice water, freezies, popsicles and ice cream on hand.

We avoid adding heat to the house. We cook outside on the barbecue or plug in our toaster oven or electric frying pan outside and cook on the patio. We make sure we close the blinds on the sunny side of the house so extra heat is not added to the inside of the house. I avoid using heat generating appliance like the dryer.

Finally we sometimes go somewhere cooler. We are lucky to live 5 minutes from the beach. It's quick to get to for a swim after lunch in the hottest part of the day. Our town also has sprinklers at the park that my children enjoyed when they were little. Another cool place is the library. We can go there in the afternoon to check out some books and read in cool comfort. I avoid going to a store or mall to enjoy the A/C because I find that I just end up wanting to buy things.

When the forecast calls for a number of really hot days in a row and the nights are not going to cool down then I use my central A/C. I make sure that I turn the A/C on in the morning when the house is at it's coolest. It would make the A/C unit work really hard (and use a lot of energy) to cool down an overheated house.

Enjoy the summer! Keep Cool!

Frugal Motivation

2009-06-20T20:37:00.006-04:00

There are different reasons for being frugal, sometimes the motivation is a low income and the only way to meet your basic needs is to watch every penny (I certainly have been there). There are many other reasons, perhaps you are saving for retirement, or a college education for your children. There are probably about as many reasons for being frugal as there are frugal people.

I have a confession to make. I just cannot stay put! I travel a LOT. Now you might wonder what that has to do with being frugal because it sure is expensive to go anywhere. But it's because I am frugal in some areas that I can afford to indulge myself in others. Money spent on travel is money well spent to me.

I remember travelling with my parents when I was a kid. My dad would not pay an entrance fee for anything. So we drove by a lot of places, but never went in. I saw the CN tower but never took the elevator to the top. I saw Niagara Falls but never went on the Maid of the Mist. My dad was willing miss out on these things to save some money.

I'm a little different from my dad. I consider $75 for a fabulous snorkeling excursion in Belize a good investment. But I wouldn't spend 75¢ on a plastic magnet that says Belize on it. The important thing to me is the experience (some people might prefer the magnet).

I am just finishing up a vacation to New Orleans. On this vacation I ate alligator for the first time (tasted like chicken), tried crickets and waxworms at the Audubon Insectorium (they were crunchy), petted an alligator at a Alligator farm, saw my first 3D imax movie and strolled Bourbon street at twilight. Most of these things cost money. Sure I could have saved some money if I skipped some of these things but I decided a long time ago where my priorities lay. I will bake my own bread, line-dry my laundry and shop garage sales and thrift shops so I can continue to try new things.

The important thing is to think about what are your motivations? What do you want? What are you saving for?

Linking up to We are THAT Family for Works-for-me Wednesday reflections edition.

Hooked on Annual Flowers

2009-06-11T18:38:00.016-04:00

Julia at hooked on houses is having a blog party!

I'm hooked on Annual flowers. This is such a pretty time of year. I love how annuals add instant colour to my garden. This year I have experimented with some new varieties of flowers (along with my favourite begonias).

I was so upset, I broke the top off this Salvia when I brought it home from the nursery.

Pink pot on my porch with Salvia, Coleus and my favourite begonias.

Hanging basket with fushia, Snapdragon, Diantus and Begonia.

Snapdragons and Begonis(of course!)

Salvia

Snapdragons, Dianthus, Sweetpea vines, Coleus and Portulaca.

Hanging baskets with Nasturtium, Geraniums and Coleus.

Potentilla (not an annual but oh so pretty!)

Check out what everyone else is hooked on!

Garage Sale Finds

2009-06-10T08:57:00.010-04:00

I was off last weekend and went garage "sailing". There were a lot of great sales. I got some great buys. In total, I spent $24. Not bad for a whole morning of shopping and a trunk-full of goodies!

The cute little country-style sign is already hanging in my laundry room. There is a white ceramic platter and a CD (DH's pick). The set of 3 nesting boxes are already decorating my guest room. I ripped the yucky plastic lining from the basket and I'm using it to hold magazines in my TV room.

I have big plans for this cabinet. I'm going to paint it and use it on my desk for organizing bills.

These pretty plates matched my kitchen. They are already up on the wall in plate racks.

These two baskets were very cute. One is a picnic basket lined with fabric. The other is like a little suitcase. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them yet but they were too cute to pass up.

These were my big buys. I paid only $3 for a complete set of Little House on The Prairie books. And only 50¢ for both the Joy Of Cooking book and the baking racks. I could write a whole post about how much I love older Joy of Cooking books.

So that's what a frugal $24 shopping trip looks like!

The Art of Hanging Laundry

2009-06-05T12:06:00.015-04:00

Hanging laundry is "IN" right now. Last year the Ontario government passed a law that banned laws that restricted use of clothes lines. They are trying to encourage people to be environmentally friendly and avoid the use of energy-sucking dryers. I have to admit that my neighbourhood did have a covenant that forbade clothes lines. Despite that, I had a contraband clothes line for many years. Thank goodness, with the new law my clothes line is now completely on the "up and up".

Today I have a ton of laundry to do. The planets all aligned exactly right and my DD actually cleaned her room this week finding baskets and baskets of dirty clothes and towels. This is a perfect day for a laundry post.

When I am planning to hang my laundry on the line I prefer a sunny day with a breeze. You can dry laundry on a cloudy day but it takes longer. A breeze helps because it helps remove wrinkles and softens the towels. If it's a really hot day the clothes will dry in a few hours and I can fill the line up again.

First I sort my laundry. I do it a little differently when I am planning to hang dry. I take into consideration clothes that create a lot of lint. I try and wash all those clothes in one load that I will put in the dryer because I don't want a bunch of lint on my other clothes that will be dried on the line. I usually take out most small items like socks and underwear and put them through the dryer too (unless I am feeling very ambitious). I keep a basket by the washer and add the things I want to dry in the dryer. When I am done I am usually left with one decent sized load for the dryer.

See, I told you it was a lot of laundry!

There is a special setting on my washer for "hang dry". I don't use it. It slows down the final spin and leaves more water in the clothes. It's supposed to reduce wrinkles because it leaves more water in the clothes and leaves them heavier. This helps stretch them out on the line and reduces wrinkles (in theory). I found no difference in the amount of wrinkles, but it sure made things take longer to dry.

Now to hang laundry you don't have to have a regulation clothes line. You can get creative. I have an umbrella clothes line and I hang a lot of clothes on hangers wherever I can. Here is my latest invention. A metal trellis on two patio chairs makes a great place to hang in the sun.

I have a rod in my laundry room. Anything that is stored on hangers is put right on a hanger straight from the washer.

I prefer very sturdy plastic hangers. You need a sturdy hanger to hang heavy, wet clothes on. I get these hangers from IKEA.

I have experimented over the years with different types of clothes pins. I have 3 different types of clothes pins. All made of wood. Plastic clothes pins just don't last. The sun makes them brittle. I have regular size wooden pins for lighter things, extra large pins for thick or heavy items and old fashioned clothes pins for t-shirts. Shirts are hung up-side-down. This avoids clothes pin wrinkles on the shoulders. I use the old fashioned clothes pins because they prevent the fabric from puckering at all and making wrinkles in the shirt. I was able to buy the old fashioned clothes pins at the dollar store.

See no wrinkles!

Don't hide your clothes line away! Put it in a sunny area as close to the house as you can. Baskets of wet laundry are too heavy to carry far.

A chair nearby helps to hold the basket and clothespins so I'm not bending as much.

As I am hanging clothes, I give each item a really good shake and "snap" with the wrist. This helps reduce wrinkles. When I remove clothes from the line I fold everything right into waiting laundry baskets. Before I know it my piles of laundry will disappear. Only one member of the family will be disappointed!

Frugal Not!

2009-06-01T09:53:00.004-04:00

Recently I reading the Parents Canada magazine (comes free with my son's Owl magazine). It caught my eye because it had an article in it about how to "painlessly pinch pennies" and save $7000 a year. Save $7000 a year!!!!! I'm in.

Then I started reading and I started laughing out loud. It got to the point where I was reading the "tips" out loud to my husband and 17 year old daughter. We were all having a giggle. Apparently the target audience of this magazine is a little higher socioeconomic class than us. We couldn't afford most of the things they were telling me I could save money on. For example tip #2 recommends giving up a biweekly maid service for a savings of $1920 a year (see why I was laughing!). The article also recommended giving up two $12 bottles of wine per week ($1920 a year saved!). Stopping your daughter's weekly riding lessons saving $1560 a year! This really made my daughter giggle since she doesn't have time for riding lessons with her part-time job and school (this is reality for those of us without trust funds).

The final little quote they offered was "Conspicuous consumption is out and the new frugality is in"....I'll try and keep that in mind next time I'm loading my cart up at the thrift store.

They ARE Listening!

2009-05-27T09:49:00.005-04:00

So often my daughter rolls her eyes and tunes out when I try and explain my frugal ways. She especially tunes out when it comes to clothing . It doesn't matter to her that many things can be found cheaper at a thrift store, garage sale or discount department store. She wants her Americ@n E@gle! Of course she is 17, and I am know I was the same way at that age (except for me it was Benetton and R@lph L@uren). Even now I am frugal in some areas so I can choose to splurge in others.

Yesterday I realized she IS listening and watching me. We went to the convenience store to buy some slushies. When we got there I was focused on trying to decide what flavour I wanted. It was my DD who asked if I wanted to share a slushie with her. She pointed out that a small slushie was $1.29 for 350ml, while a medium was $1.69 for 710ml. While I was trying to decide between flavours she had figured out that if we shared a medium we would get over twice as mush as a small for only 40¢ more.

We quickly agreed on a flavour and brought our treat home and divided it into 2 glasses. It tasted so much better because not only did I save 80¢, I realized my kids have been listening to all my frugal ramblings over the years.

We've Got Shade!

2009-05-24T20:16:00.006-04:00

This weekend my DH installed a "new to us" sun shade in the backyard. Our backyard is super sunny and having some sort of shade is a necessity. Our old sun shade's fabric fell to pieces last year so we were on the hunt for something new. We were lucky to find a used sun shade. We couldn't be happier with how the "new" sunshade looks. We have laid some additional patio stones for it to rest on and we have some more work to do on the landscaping around it, but I just couldn't wait to show it off.
The total cost of this project was less than $300. We bought the sun shade for $250, 6 new patio stones for $33 and some bolts ($7) to secure the shade to the patio stones.

Before

After

Repair Vs. Replace

2009-05-20T19:18:00.008-04:00

So many times, something breaks and we end up buying a new one because we figure it would be too costly/time consuming to repair. Recently the burner on our gas barbeque broke. Now our barbeque is not a high end model. I think it was only about $199 brand new. My husband investigated the cost of the part we needed and it was over $50! Seemed like a lot for a 5 year old $199 barbeque. We debated whether it was worth replacing or if we should just buy a new barbeque. We figured that a new burner would probably last about 4-5 years (based on how long the origional burner had lasted). We examined our old barbeque and beside the broken burner it seems to be in pretty good shape. It's not all rusty or anything so we decided to go ahead and replace the burner.

My DH bought the part and was able to install it in about 2 hours. He is not a technical genius but there were instructions that came with the part that were easy to follow. Since he repaired it we have used the barbeque several times and it works just like new. If we get another 4 years out of the barbeque that will be a savings of $150 over buying a new one. Not to mention the green factor of using our old barbeque for a few more years (instead of using up resources/materials for a new one).

Very little in the way of tools was required.

The old burner.

Putting together the new burner.

The new burner ready to be installed.

Saving In The Garden

2009-05-19T11:02:00.011-04:00

I have to admit I am a sucker when it comes to spending money in the garden. When we moved here our yard was just plain grass. I always longed for a lush, mature yard with big trees. I have spent a lot of money trying to achieve that. I have bought and planted a ton of flowering shrubs, added some fencing, a garden shed and a patio. Four years ago we had a nursery transplant larger trees in our yard. It gave us a head start on getting trees large enough for shade (vital in our southwest facing yard). You can see the tree planted 4 years ago on the far left. The one on the far right was planted 8 years ago. You can see quite a difference in the size so we figured that it was a good investment for us.

I would love to spend even more money but with a tight budget there are places we have had to economize. One thing that has saved us money is buying smaller shrubs. We don't get "instant" results but when the shrubs fill out they look just as nice. I have also had a lot of "donations" from friends and family. We have a line of plum trees across the back of our yard, all dug out from around my parent's plum tree. We have lilacs and bridal wreath spirea, all from cuttings from their yard. Maple tree's that started as seedlings around a neighbour's maple trees. Rose of sharon sprouted from a friend's bush. Patio stones from a friend who was throwing them out. You get the idea.

This year we had to remove our shade gazebo because after 4 years the fabric was falling apart. I am buying another, second-hand, from a friend who is taking hers down to put in a pool. There was still a lot of usable parts on the one we took down. I have re-purposed the panels into trellises for my Virginia Creeper (dug up from my mom's yard, of course) The panels will make a great trellis to get the vines up the fence.

The other thing I have done is make my own hanging baskets. I have been re-using the same baskets bought a few years ago. I use a mixture of top-soil and compost to fill the baskets. I buy annuals at the garden centre. For my baskets this year I planted 3 different plants in each one.

Costs
compost $3.99 (enough for 7 baskets)
soil $2
Cost per basket for soil= 86¢
geranium= $2.49
nasturtium= $1.67
Celosia= 38¢
Total cost per basket $5.40

It took me about 1/2 hour to make up 5 baskets.

I think they turned out pretty good.

Spring Has Sprung!

2009-05-13T14:48:00.008-04:00

I love this time of year! Everything has greened up so quickly. Honestly I think I forget how green things get, because every spring the grass seems to be the greenest green ever. Our yard and gardens are a work in progress. I take pictures every year of my yard and love to see the progression from the plain patch of subdivision grass we started with 8 years ago to the yard it is now.

This is a picture of the yard from last July. I wish I had a picture from when we moved in. There was not a tree, shrub or flower in the yard. It was just a big patch of grass. I'm so proud of how it's coming along (and I love showing it off!)

There are some things that I love about the nice weather. I love that I can have the windows open and let the fresh air in. It's so nice to air the house after a winter of being closed up tight. I love that I can move my big plant outside and the outdoor furniture is set up and I can use my front porch again.

But my favourite thing about the nice weather being here is that I can hang my laundry outside again! I love the smell of line-dried laundry. I love looking out and seeing it flapping in the breeze (and breezy days are the best!). Today there is a beautiful, warm spring breeze so I filled the line, ahhh Heaven!

Good News

2009-05-04T16:00:00.001-04:00

We returned from vacation to a message on the answering machine from DH's work. They have called him back for 2 weeks of work. It's not much but we'll take what we can get. The extra that he earns above unemployment will help pay some of the bills from our trip. I am working on a review of the trip and will post it soon.

Groceries On Vacation

2009-04-24T14:18:00.005-04:00

Well, we are into the second day of our vacation. Our plan was to eat at restaurants because we thought it would be easier. Yesterday we went to 2 different fast food restaurants. That was enough to send us screaming to the grocery store LOL. By lunch time today, even the kids were asking for "real" food. They wanted some fruit and vegetables. I have to admit that I feel the same way.

We made a trip to the local grocery store. Not only did we get a delicious meal. We saved some money in the process. They have a special that you can buy a rotisserie chicken, 2 sides and rolls for $10.59. We also got one of those salad kits that includes everything, even the dressing. It was $3.59. For dessert we bought some strawberries $2.50. The grocery store had plastic cutlery and paper plates. We took everything back to the hotel to eat. We had a great satisfying meal (and there are leftovers in the fridge) for $16.68. Much more than we would spend for a meal at home but much less than fast food. Yesterday we spent $23 at McDonalds and $26 at Wendys and it was nowhere near as good. The whole family is unanimous, none of us wants another fast food meal for a while.

Earth Day and Laundry

2009-04-22T09:17:00.008-04:00

It's earth day today and I thought I would share a story and some thoughts about being "green" when it comes to laundry.

Last year I had a repairman in to remove a pencil that I dropped down the lint trap of my trusty 10 year old dryer (right next to my equally trusty 10 year old washer). While I had a repairman at my disposal I asked him about front loader washers and what brand he recommended. I was thinking of switching to a front loader because I had heard about how much water and electricity they saved. The repairman told me something that really got me thinking. He said the make and model of washer I already had was an excellent, reliable brand and had many years of life left in them. He questioned how environmentally friendly it was to get rid of a perfectly good appliance and replace it with a new one. He told me about many of his customers that were choosing to replace perfectly good appliances with new "greener" ones and how many resources that was using up (and how many perfectly good appliances were being sent to landfill)

I started thinking about the resources that went into making an appliance. Not just the raw materials like steel, plastic etc. but the water actually in the manufacturing process (since one of the big pluses is water savings with a front loader). The only information I could find was that it takes over 2000 gallons of water to make 4 tires and over 39,000 gallons to make a car. Now I know a washer is not as big as a car but it does give and idea about that manufacturing anything takes quite a bit of water.

Now I am going to get into some math. Now a washing machine is much smaller than a car and I have no idea how much water goes into making one but lets try and make a guesstimate. A small car can weigh about 2000lbs. A washer might weigh 150lb. So if a 2000lb car uses 39,000 gallons of water to manufacture, we could guess that a 150lb washer would use about 2925 gallons of water. I did some research, a front loader uses anywhere from 40-70% less water than a top-loader (which can use 35-40 gallons per load depending on the model). So lets say you have a middle of the road front loader that uses 55% less water than a top-loader. You would use about 18 gallons of water per load, a savings of 17-22 gallons per load. I actually had trouble finding exact amount of water front loaders used, it always seemed to be expressed in a % less than top-loaders. Based on this it would take 173 loads of laundry to even make up for the water used in manufacturing the washer. The average family does 400 loads a year so it would take almost 6 months to just save the amount of water that was used to manufacture the machine.

Now I am not against front loaders. I am against sending a perfectly good appliance to landfill so I will be using my trusty top-loader for some time to come. I will definitely consider buying a front loader in the future...when I NEED a new washer. In the meantime, I try and be as environmentally friendly as I can be when it comes to laundry. I only run full loads. I use a bio-degradable phosphate-free laundry detergent and I hang quite a bit of my laundry (outside in the summer and in the basement in winter).

Finishing Touches

2009-04-21T11:26:00.005-04:00

A few weeks ago I wrote a blog post about fixing up my laundry room. I knew it looked a little bare and needed some finishing touches.

Once I decided that new shelves were not in the budget my DH fixed the holes in the wall from the previous shelves. I put the old blind back up. I found a valance from the thrift store for $3.99. I didn't have a curtain rod so I actually just put the valance up with 2 tacks! (I'll get a rod eventually) I found a picture in the basement to put up. Just the finishing touches the room needed.

Bird In The House. A Tutorial!

2009-04-20T15:44:00.007-04:00

Why does my house look like this?

Everything from my sitting room had to be piled into the living room because we got a bird in our chimney! And the only way to get a bird out of the chimney is to open the flue and let it into the house, and *hope* it flies out the window. We know this because our chimney seems to be particularly attractive to our feathered friends. Despite the chimney having a screen, certain determined birds still manage to squeeze their way through at least once every spring.

We now have "getting birds out of the chimney" down to a science. We move everything we can out of the room (from past experience we know a flying bird in the room can make a mess and they get tangled up in wind chimes when they try and perch on them!). We cover the furniture with sheets. Take down the curtains. Open the window and remove the screen. Close the blinds so only the open part of the window is exposed. Close the door to the room. Then...my DH opens the flue.

In the best case scenario, the bird goes right out the open window. But, sometimes he gets spooked and flies around the room a million times before he finally flies out the window. While the bird is flying around the room you are stuck in there with him (because you had to open the fireplace flue). Don't think that it might be a good idea to try and leave the room (because you *know* you are freaking the bird out). If you try and leave the room, suddenly the bird is your best friend, he *will* want to follow you. Let me tell you, a bird that is not confined to one room is a difficult thing indeed (Again I speak from experience). Anyways, we were lucky this time. The bird flew around the room twice and went out the window. Bye, Bye Birdie!

Thrift Store Finds

2009-04-15T15:05:00.012-04:00

My husband and I often find ourselves browsing the thrift stores. I find that patience is the key because many times there isn't anything good and we walk away empty-handed. Today we went looking for a tie for my son. Well I found the tie and a few other great finds. I got a nice tie, 3 vintage Cherry Ames books (I'm a nurse and a sucker for "nurse books")and a window valance for my laundry room. The valance is pretty wide. I'll be able to cut it down to have a topper for the laundry room window and have fabric left over to make something else. All this came to a total of $20.62! I could have easily spent double just for the curtains. I have to admit I was getting inpatient about getting the laundry room done. I had my eye on some curtains at BouClair that were considerably more than the $3.99 I spent at the thrift store!

My great score at the thrift store!!

For more frugal ideas see Getting Ahead.

Pre-trip Report Part 2

2009-04-14T17:02:00.000-04:00

We have made some new plans for Florida. We are changing plans a little bit. We have booked a kayak excursion through Fins Expedition for the day prior to our cruise. I am so excited. I am really looking forward to this. I hope we get to see some manatees. I think manatees are just amazing. Last year when we were in Florida we bought a manatee Christmas ornament as a souvenir of our trip to Florida. I would love to get pictures of some real ones!

On the day of the cruise our plan is for a quick breakfast from the McDonalds across from the hotel. The hotel does have a breakfast buffet but it is super busy because of the ton of cruisers that stay there. When we were there before the whole lobby is filled with people waiting to get on the hotel shuttle bus. We will pack up, stop at a gas station and take the car back to Avis. They will shuttle us to the port where we will board our ship!

We haven't made any plans for on the ship itself. We don't do the spa, casino or supper club etc because the prices are so expensive. We usually do the shows, swim in the pool, do trivia, watch karaoke and eat! We always eat supper in the dining room and dress up for formal nights. Dressing up is part of the fun and we make sure we take tons of pictures of ourselves all dressed up.

We have made plans for our 3 ports of call. In Nassau, Bahamas we are going to spend the day at the British Colonial Hilton. We will buy day passes so we can use the beach and pool. The resort is within walking distance of the ship. We are only in the Bahamas from 8am-2pm.

In St Thomas we have booked a snorkel excursion with Captain Nautica. Here we will be going to Turtle Cove. My son loves turtles so he is excited for the chance to see some "in the wild". Our family loves to snorkel and on this excursion we will get to go to 2 different areas!

In St Marten, our plan is to take the bus to Maho Beach. My kids have been dying to go here after seeing videos of planes landing right over the beach!

We are planning a little shopping in each port. I do not like to spend money on a lot of plastic, junky souvenirs. We decided a long time ago to limit our purchases to Christmas ornaments. Every year when we take our ornaments out it reminds us of all our great holiday memories. Makes for a VERY interesting Christmas tree!

Pre-trip Report

2009-04-10T10:27:00.001-04:00

Things have been a little quiet here on the blog front. Simply because I am going away in few weeks for a long-awaited family vacation that has been in the works for over a year. Honestly it is the only thing on my mind right now. I am sure my friends and co-workers (only 5 shifts left!) are tired of hearing me talk about it. Going through the layoff and all the associated worry, knowing that this trip was coming up has given me something to look forward to when things were feeling pretty bleak at home.
I truly believe that half the fun of going away is the planning. I have to admit when it comes to travelling I am an obsessive planner. I make exhaustive lists. I surf several favourite travel and cruising websites. I looking for the best time for my family, the restaurants with good ratings, the insider secrets to the greatest things to see and do, I am also looking for a bargain.
Just for my upcoming trip I have compared hotel prices, cancelled reservations at 2 hotels and had another price-match a rate saving me $30. I have changed my car rental reservations when I found a better price somewhere else. I checked the cost of flights daily for months until I found the absolute rock-bottom price and booked it. I even have a coupon for parking at the airport.
On one travel website, people often post pre-trip reports. They have everything planned right down to making reservations at each restaurant. I have to admit that compared to some of those reports it positively look like I am "winging" it. Anyways here is my "pre-trip" report.

Day 1

We are getting up early. We will have a quick breakfast at home, pack a lunch (this will be the last frugal thing we do for the duration of our trip) then hit the road by 9 am. We should reach the airport by 12:00 depending on traffic at the border. We are leaving lots of time before our 2:05 flight. We can hang around the airport and eat our lunch.

Our flight arrives in Orlando at 4:40. We have reserved at car at the airport through Avis. For supper we are going to the world's largest McDonalds for a character meal. Then we will head out to to Cape Canaveral. We are staying at the Radisson Resort at the Port. We stayed there in September and it is a great hotel. has a beautiful pool and grounds. The rooms are very nice. They are decorated in a tropical style with bright paint and curtains. And they have sleep number beds. If we have time after checking in we'll hit the pool.

Day 2

Today at 9am we are going to Cocoa Beach for a mangrove kayak excursion. I hope we see some manatees and dolphins. Lunch will be Wendy's. They have great salads. The afternoon is going to be spent at the pool/hot tub. Supper this evening is at Grills. They have great seafood. We ate there in September.

Grills is great. It is right on the shipping channel. Last year we ate supper here and watched the Disney ship pass by. This time we will be able to see the Royal Caribbean ship go by.

After dinner we will head back to the Radisson to spend the evening around the pool then off to bed early so we will be ready for our cruise bright and early the next day.

Trip report continued later...

Earth Hour

2009-03-28T16:46:00.003-04:00

Today people are encouraged to turn their lights off between 8:30 and 9:30 pm for earth hour. We did this last year, we sat around and played board games by candlelight. We were a little disappointed that many of our neighbours had their houses lit up. I hope the word gets out and more people participate this year.

My Frugal Kitchen

2009-03-24T19:37:00.008-04:00

We've made some changes in the kitchen in order to save as much money as possible. My DH used to do most of the grocery shopping. Now I accompany him armed with a calculator to make sure we are getting the best deals possible. Just today I figured out that the econo-size bottle of President's Choice ketchup actually worked out to a few more ¢ per litre than the smaller bottle.
Today we needed Parmesan cheese. I usually buy the Kr@ft shaker. It runs $11.69 per 500mg container. I managed to find a 1kg bag in the refrigerator section at COstco for $13.69. One KG of the kr@ft would have cost $23.38 so a pretty good savings.

I have been pulling out all the stops and making some of my cheapest recipes. Here are a few that are tasty and filling.

Kraft Dinner Lasagna

I can't take credit for this. I got it from the kraft website. I just juggled the recipe a bit to use less cheese and more macaroni to make it go a little farther.

1 lb hamburger- $1.88
onion- 4¢ (10lbs for $1.99, about 50 small onions)
ragu- 99¢
kraft dinner (2 boxes) $1
shredded cheese (1 cup) $1.40
total: $5.31

Brown ground beef and onion, add spaghetti sauce and heat through. Meanwhile make kraft dinner according to package directions (Cook the pasta so it is slightly underdone, so the pasta does not get soggy in the oven).

Put a bit of the sauce mixture on the bottom of a casserole dish then layer on 1/2 of the kraft dinner, 1/2 of the meat mixture, 1/2 the cheese and then repeat. Heat at 350F for 30 minutes to melt the cheese.

This will make 2 meals for us at less than 67¢ a serving. We serve it with a salad or vegetable.

Chili

kidney beans 50¢ (I cook my own dried beans and this is is A LOT of beans, I did not end up using them all. I froze some)
cooking liquid from beans free (I did not use all)
hamburger 1 1/2 lbs $2.82
2 big carrots 20¢ (10lbs for $4.39)
onion 4¢
ragu 1 1/2 jars $1.50
tex mex seasoning 25¢ (guesstimate)
total: $5.67

Brown the ground beef and onion. Meanwhile chop the carrots. Combine all ingredients in a large pot. I added enough of the bean liquid to make it look saucy enough. Season to taste with tex mex seasoning. Simmer until the carrots are tender.

This makes a huge pot of chili. Served with home made rolls Enough for 1 supper, 1 lunch for us plus enough for chili cheese fries.

Cost of Homemade Bread: I Did The Math!

2009-03-24T18:24:00.009-04:00

We have been saving a significant amount of money by making our own baked goods. We use a basic french bread recipe for our dough. From this we have made bread, garlic bread, dinner rolls, hot dog and hamburger buns. If the bread gets stale before we use it all up we put it through the blender and make our own bread crumbs. We freeze bread crumbs in zipper bags and just take out whatever we need for each recipe. I did all the math (no small feat for me) to figure out exactly what it costs to make a batch of dough.

Cost of dough ingredients:
flour= 8.8¢ per cup (10kg for $6.99, 80 cups in 10 kg)
yeast= 4.7¢ per tsp
sugar= 4.1¢ per tsp (2kg bag, 200gr in a cup, 48 tsp in a cup)
salt= .45¢ per tsp (1kg box for 89¢, 200 tsp in a box)
water= free

Cost to make dough:
1 1/4 cups water= free
1 1/4 tsp salt= .56¢
1 tsp sugar= 4.1¢
3 1/4 cups flour= 28.6¢
1 3/4 tsp yeast= 8.23¢
Total= 41.49¢ (but lets round it up to 42¢, it's still a good deal)

Now I make my dough in the bread maker. If I'm making bread I let it cook in the breadmaker. I could not find any information about how much energy a breadmaker uses, only that it uses less than a coffee maker so I imagine it is pretty efficient. If I am making buns or a french stick I take the dough out of the breadmaker and shape it the way I want, then cook it in the oven which I am sure costs a lot more than the breadmaker. The cheapest bread ever goes on sale for here, is $1.49, even with the cost of electricity added in we still save making our own bread. Of course the taste of homemade bread trumps the store bought any day.

It's Not Easy Being Green

2009-03-23T12:58:00.004-04:00

My DH put the old shower head back up (see this post)

Kermit was right. It's not easy being green. I did not want to get dressed today because I could not stand the thought of another trickly, freezing shower. I am always shivering under the meagre spray from the water saver shower head. It was miserable because I could only get part of my body wet at a time in the narrow spray. So I insisted my DH reinstall the old shower head.

I guess I'm not as green as I thought. I only lasted 3 weeks. I didn't even wait to get the first water bill before deciding that my water-guzzling-Niagara Falls shower head is a luxury that I am not willing to give up. I better watch out, next thing I know, I'll have GreenPe@ce at the door for my environmentally unfriendly ways. I'll have to hang my head in shame when I drive my smart car around town knowing that it's all a sham. Unlike Kermit, I'm not green!

Laundry Room

2009-03-19T17:08:00.019-04:00

I've been busy for the past few days fixing up my dingy laundry room. The laundry room had the original builder beige paint. Even the trim was beige. The floor was yellowing builder-grade vinyl. The room is right off our main hall so when the door is open you can see it from the living room and it really was in need of a fix-up.

Before:

After:

We started with painting the walls a pretty blue ($25). We used leftover white trim paint to paint all the trim and the door. I had a shelf that we used as a coat rack. It was primed and painted white as well.

The only other thing we changed was the flooring. We found a vinyl plank flooring product that really looks like wood but is as easy to care for. Perfect for the laundry room. Because the room was small we only needed 2 packages ($42).

We moved all the appliances back in. Ta Da!!!I think it turned out great!

Some of my favourite things in my laundry room.

Shelf over the laundry tub holding my detergents. Keeps the mess down, Any drips go right into the sink.

My Funky light switch cover.

My iron and ironing board holder, stores the ironing board behind the door.

Pole that stretches from wall to wall for hanging.

Tin bucket on the dryer to collect lint for composter.

There are still a few things to do. Either the old shelves are getting painted and put back up or we are considering installing a pantry type cupboard with doors to match the existing cupboards. Finally, I am going to clean and reinstall the blinds and keep my eye out for suitable window treatments. Probably some sort of topper. Just the new paint and floor has made a huge difference. I am so pleased with my $66 laundry room makeover.

Laundry Detergent Followup

2009-03-17T20:06:00.003-04:00

I heard from the laundry detergent company. They relate that the caps they use for all the different detergent are "universal". They said it would increase the cost to have the correct caps for each different detergent. They recommend I just use more detergent, 45ml for a regular load and 60ml for a large load (since that is what is marked on the cup). That is the equivalent of using an extra 13-20% for each load. That would be at least 25 loads worth of detergent wasted in one bottle. If they use a universal cap why can't they just put the extra markings?

"Green" Products

2009-03-14T19:03:00.009-04:00

I have to admit I am a toilet paper snob. I love my Ch@armin extra strength. A few months ago I read an article about how bad premium toilet paper is for the environment because it does not have recycled content. I told my DH we would have to start buying the recycled toilet paper. For the past few months I have been working my way through my stockpile of the "good stuff". We are now down to our last few rolls. Just this week I read this article.

So yesterday we went out and bought our "green" toilet paper. We looked over the choices of recycled paper. They actually had 2 kinds. One was made by one of the well-known makers of premium toilet paper. It was more expensive than the other brand and each of the bazillion rolls in the package was individually wrapped in plastic!? Kind of cancels out the "greenness" of being recycled when you add in all the excess packaging. We ended up buying a package of "mega rolls" equivalent to 100 regular rolls for $16.99 (about 17¢ per roll).

I took a roll out and it is not as soft as my usual brand but it is acceptable. It is textured like the other brands but seems a little thinner. It is definitely a green choice that is easy to live with (I am still struggling with the shower thing. Here)

While on a green "roll" I decided to buy some green laundry detergent. I got some phosphate-free, biodegradable, Canadian-made laundry detergent. It cost $17.99 for a bottle that promises 200 loads. I went to use it today. I carefully read the instructions. It recommends using 40 ml of detergent for a regular load and 50 ml for a large load. It also says use the provided cap to measure it. Unfortunately the included cup has only 45, 60 and 100ml measurements marked on it?! I improvised and used something else to measure it. I did fire off an email to the company (still waiting for a response). How green is it if you end up wasting/using much more detergent then you need?

Instructions

"Oversized" cap

Making The Most of Warehouse Club Memberships

2009-03-13T15:09:00.007-04:00

Many people have memberships to various warehouse stores such as S@m's or C0stco. Now I won't get into a debate of whether it's a good buy to get a membership. I really believe it depends on what you buy (and they do offer limited stock). For us it has been worth it. There are certain things that we use consistently that are cheaper than the grocery store (dog food, laundry and dishwasher detergent to name a few). I'm not trying to convince anyone that to buy a membership. That would hardly make financial sense if they don't sell things you use. But for those of you who have a membership I hope you are using it to the fullest.

There are many services where your warehouse club membership entitles you to discounts and rebates. Today I was in C0stco and they had a table set up with brochures about the various service they offered ie. insurance, cell phones, real estate etc.

Two brochures caught my eye. One was for car rental discounts. I am going on a trip soon and so I went ahead and priced out a rental car for our trip. It was about $50 cheaper using the membership rate.

The other brochure I picked up was for home phone, cell phone and internet services. Looking at the prices for that I could save some money over the provider I have now for home phone and internet. They offer home phone with 18 calling features and unlimited long distance for $29.95/month. I pay $44.32 (+tax) and I only have 1 calling feature (call display). They offer DSL internet for $32.95/month. I am paying $47.95/month (+tax) right now. That would be a savings of $29.37 per month. Now I need to check into the fine print but it sounds like it could be a great savings.

So if you have a membership in a warehouse club it might be worth looking into what other services they offer.

Often they have various manufacturer's rebates offered on merchandise. I try and visit C0stco weekly just to see what they have on sale (even if I don't need anything). Today I scored 6 cases of Kr@ft Dinner for $35.94. Each case had an instant manufacturer's rebate of $5 off the regular $10.99 price. I got 72 boxes of Kr@ft Dinner for less than 50¢ a box. That is even cheaper than the no-name mac and cheese sells for. It may be Friday the 13th, but I think I got lucky!

I Think I Found My Silver Lining!

2009-03-10T12:12:00.009-04:00

Well, it's been a few weeks since DH got laid off. We have made a few changes in our lifestyle. One big thing is, we are living in a much cleaner, more organized home. Who knew my DH was a neat freak?! I always knew that he was more helpful around the home than some of my friend's husbands. Now that he isn't working, outside the home, I think he has found his calling, in it!

The living room and dining room are cleaned and vacuumed (he actually moves the furniture when he vacuums!). The laundry is caught up (with help from me, I'm one of those weird types that actually enjoys doing laundry). Over the weekend he cleaned all the appliances. The fridge has never sparkled like this before (I'm not sure it was even this clean when it was new).

My sparkling refrigerator

Today he worked on the cupboards. He took everything out. Sorted everything. Washed the insides and outsides of the cupboards then put everything back in! My kitchen has never been so organized.

Notice how he lined all the glasses up by size!

He has been researching on the internet for "green" oven cleaners because that is his next project. I don't have the heart to tell him that I think it's going to take more than oven cleaner to clean our oven. I've owned the oven since 1996 and I only recall cleaning it once. I won't say anything though, I'd hate to discourage him...

Yeast

2009-03-09T15:00:00.005-04:00

My DH went to the bulk store to get more yeast today. We buy yeast at the bulk store and refill our yeast bottle. We store our yeast on the refrigerator door. This has always worked well for us. We know that it is much cheaper to fill up our yeast bottle at the bulk store then to buy a new bottle or packets. I never figured out the price of yeast precisely...until now.

I am not even sure how much a 113g bottle of yeast costs, but several years ago they were around $6 each. Yeast at the bulk store is $11.89/kg. Right off the bat, it was easy for me to figure out that a KG of yeast would cost $53.09 if you bought it in those little bottles versus $11.89 at the bulk store (what a racket those Fleish*manns people got going on :-O).

Really FULL bottle of yeast

My husband bought enough yeast to fill the bottle right to the top (175 grams versus the 113 that comes in the bottle (usually the bottle comes with a big airspace at the top). He paid $2.08 at the bulk store. I measured how many teaspoons we got for our $2.08. There were 44 teaspoons in the bottle so that means it costs 4.7¢ per teaspoon.

I was always "guesstimating" the cost of yeast when figuring out the cost of a recipe. Probably over estimating actually. Now I need to go and figure out what everything costs all over again :-(

Cheap and Cheerful

2009-03-04T22:08:00.013-05:00

It's always the same. This time of year, when winter just seems to be dragging on and on, I start getting cabin-fever. When I get cabin-fever I start looking around my house and becoming dissatisfied with it. I decide it's too small, not decorated right and generally just not good enough. I start visiting the real estate sites more often, studying the real estate paper and dreaming about something bigger and better. We cannot afford to buy a new home and it wouldn't be sensible because this place is big enough. So I turned my eyes on this place. I started finding things that annoy me (and came up with quite a few). I couldn't afford to fix everything so I settled on my family room/office/sitting room.

This room is a remnant of the previous owners. This is the one room that has many incarnations. It has been a TV room, dining room, office and now it is my sitting room. It was painted dark, dark forest green. There was a flowered border all along the ceiling.

Before as our office/computer room.

I moved the computers/office furniture down to the basement. Now the kids have their "office" down there. I didn't have a lot of money to put into decorating so I worked a lot with what I had (shopping at home first).

I started with removing the border, cost: 2 sore shoulders but no money. (There is nothing worse than working above your head. I wonder if i should add in the cost of Advil?)
I primed and painted the room off-white, cost: $46. I was lucky to hit a paint sale so each can was only $23.
I furnished the room completely with furniture I already had. I used Knick-Knacks and accessories I already had, cost: free (but there ain't a lot of accessories)
I looked around and managed to find pretty curtain panels at Giant*Tiger. I bought 2 panels for the window and an extra panel to make pillows out of, cost: $30. (I haven't made the pillows yet)
I used a print I already had for over the fireplace. For some extra small pictures, I picked up some pretty paper and canvases at the dollar store and created my own artwork, cost: $4.50 (including the cost of glue and I still have glue left :-)
I switched out the lampshades with ones I had in my basement (remnants from my rose and blue living room circa 1991)

Total cost: $80.50. Now it's not going to make the decorating magazines, but I'm happy with it. The room is so much brighter and I like that it's got pink accessories and looks a little "girly".

After my bright, comfy, girly sitting room.

Homemade Hamburger Buns

2009-03-04T20:50:00.003-05:00

I did all my figuring and came up with a cost of 71¢ for a batch of french dough. That does not include the hydro for baking, just the ingredients (I'm not even going to try and figure that out). Today I mixed up a batch of french bread dough in the breadmaker and shaped the dough into hamburger buns. I was able to make 14 buns (although 2 were on the small side). A package of 8 hamburger buns costs $1.99. Store bought buns 24.8¢ each, homemade 5.07¢ each. The homemade ones were better tasting and more filling than the store bought.

Rising

Finished baking.

I Thought I Was Green!?!

2009-03-04T12:36:00.005-05:00

I always thought I was trying to do a little good for the environment. I have a clothesline in my backyard (and I use it). I have an organic garden. I have rain barrels that I use to water my garden. I keep my house freezing in the winter and hot in the summer. I avoid disposable products like paper plates, cups, paper towels etc. I buy recycled toilet paper. I compost, reduce, reuse and recycle. We only produce 1 bag of garbage a week. Heck, I even drive a smart car!

Yep! That's my car, parked in my driveway.

But there is one thing I am struggling to be "green" about. In an effort to find a way to save on utilities I put in a water saving shower head. I did not know how much I would miss my un-green water-guzzling Niagara Falls of a shower head. The mornings are just not the same without the pounding spray I'm used to. I don't feel like the meagre trickle is rinsing the soap from my hair and darn it, it just doesn't feel as good. Everyday I tell my DH that if our water bill isn't significantly lower next month I'm putting the old shower head back up. I have even had evil thoughts of trying to "waste" water somewhere else so our bill won't go down and I can justify putting the old one back up (but off course I would never do that ;-)

So even if our bill is way down, I might still put the old shower head back up and decide it is a luxury I can afford....

Done Whining Now!

2009-03-01T17:15:00.005-05:00

So I'm moving on now. Done worrying about the layoff. I've accepted my new reality and now I'm moving on to my next project. The next big thing we have on the go is a Caribbean cruise. We are booked on the Carnival Glory for April 25th. This is a long awaited family cruise that we booked over a year ago. The cruise itself is paid for so we are going.

I am a super-planner so I am just finalizing all our arrangements now. We are planning to drive down to save money. We are going to take a cooler and packed lunches. Hotels are booked. We have some plans for what we are going to do in Florida. I am counting down the days. It's wonderful to have something to look forward to.

Just Go Back To Bed

2009-02-25T16:13:00.004-05:00

I slept in until 11:00 this morning. I got up and had such a craving for a hamburger. Of course we didn't have any hamburgers. We just can't justify the expense of going to a restaurant. My DH was going to the grocery store to buy the fixings for hamburgers. I ended up just going back to bed, just didn't feel like there was a reason for staying up. I ended up sleeping for 3 more hours. Sometimes sleep is good. Stops you from thinking for a while. I just hope I'm not coming down with something. Can't afford to be missing work right now.

We are watching Oprah right now. They are showing middle-class families that are living in homeless shelters and tent cities. Makes my situation not look so bad. It was a perfect day to air this because it made me feel better about my own situation. Makes me feel like a whiner. Anyways, back to the hamburgers.

My DH went to the grocery store and and bought the stuff to make a hamburger dinner. I have the receipt, want to make sure it is cheaper to make it yourself then just to go to a fast food restaurant. Here's what he spent:

hamburger patties (16) @ $9.99 (equals paying $3.33/lb)
frozen fries 1 kg @ $1.59
no name cola (12) @ $3.69 **
hamburger rolls (8) @ $1.99 (can make them cheaper but we have to plan for it)

Total for the meal for 4: patties $2.50, fries 80¢, pop $1.23, rolls $1= $5.53

So it is much cheaper to eat at home. This was a lazy man's meal too. We used pre-made hamburger patties, pre-cut fries and store bought buns. We could have made our own hamburger patties and buns which would have made it even cheaper. Even doing it the easy way it was still a much better than the $3.99 "value" meals at a restaurant. Of course I didn't include the cost of the ketchup, mustard and pickles, but that is just too fiddly. This is a blog, not a math test:) I am going to make sure we keep the fixings for hamburgers at all times. I felt so deprived because I couldn't get myself a hamburger today :(

** note, my DH and DS did not have cola with supper but I included it so I could compare with a restaurant.

Working Away

2009-02-22T14:44:00.002-05:00

Well, several days after the layoff and I have fallen off the frugal wagon. I spent $5 at work to get Mc Donalds. I am trying to justify it. I deserve it, don't I? I am supporting the entire family single-handedly. Nope. Didn't work for me either. I shouldn't have got it. I could have bought groceries with that money.

I am working at trying to get some extra shifts at my other job so we can have money for our upcoming vacation (the vacation is paid for and I'm not missing it). I gave availability up until the time we go away. I decided not to kill myself so I made myself available for extra day shifts. I cannot face doing extra nights. So far they haven't called but I am fairly confident that I could work extra all summer if I want. I'm not sure that I can really make myself work all summer. I will just have to see how bad things get.

The letter my DH got from his employer said the layoff would only be temporary, but I'm not sure I believe that. My DH believes it. I think that's why he's OK with all of this. he is just looking at it as a little vacation. One of the guys I work with said he was surprised I was handling things so well. He said if it was him he'd be freaking out. I just can't see the use in that. If I panic I can't think and I need to keep my head on my shoulders right now. We are actually in a much better position than some other people. I have a good job. I have benefits. We can manage on one income. We won't live high but we'll live. Another friend pointed out to me that I am luckier than many other people. I have to agree.

Inventory

2009-02-20T14:25:00.006-05:00

So our plan for today is to clean, organize and do inventory. By inventory, I mean, we will find out exactly what we have lying around the house. Sort of ties into my "shopping at home first" idea. We can see how we are fixed for essentials like food, toilet paper, shampoo and cleaners. This way we can make sure we are using what we have and avoid buying things we don't need. I am pretty sure we have enough household cleaners to last a lifetime (for me anyways, I'm not known for my housekeeping skills). There are quite a few half used bottles of shampoo and half squished tubes of toothpaste lying around here.

Since our big family meeting with the kids, The new refrain is "Can we afford..." You fill in the blank. Today my DS asked if we can still afford to have dessert. Afford it? Yes. Need it? No.

The hamburger buns turned out pretty good. They had a really nice texture, were very filling and tasty. I did find them a little sweet. Next time I will cut down on the sugar. I ended up with 13 buns. We are going to use the leftover buns for our lunch tuna sandwiches (Inventory showed we are heavy on tuna). I'm going to use up the tuna while it is still cool out. A brown bag tuna sandwich is no good when it's hot out.

So we went to Costco today to check out prices and buy some essentials. I took DS's advice and filled up on as many free samples as I could. I still came home hungry. We ended up spending $210.52. Hmmmm, did I say we have no money? We bought quite a bit of food for that money, 18 KG of dog food that is. Actually we did buy the fixings for quite a few people meals too. We bought 5 kg of basmati rice for $13.44 (on sale). That will last us months. Lots of beans and rice dinners out of that. Two family packs of chicken thighs cost $31.82. This was dived into 8 packages. Each package has enough for a meal for the 4 of us with an extra thigh for a leftover lunch. Basically 5 servings for $3.98. We bought a family size pack of ground beef. We will get 6 meals from it for $2.43/meal.

Poverty Mode

2009-02-19T13:23:00.003-05:00

So my DH was laid off yesterday. In this economy, how can I really be surprised? There had been some talk that there might be some cutbacks in March and he might have to go down to part-time. So it was a complete surprise when he showed up back home, shortly after he went to work yesterday. It was a Wednesday too. I thought they would have laid him off on a Friday but who knows the rhyme and reason to these things. I am writing things down because there is so much swirling around in my head that I just have to organize it somewhere.

Since we were anticipating that this could happen and I am a cautious type, I think we will be OK. Since last year we have been trying to live on what I make and pay down our LOC. So we are pretty well used to living on my money. So that will continue. He has 45 weeks of unemployment coming to him. That will pay his car payment and minimum on our LOC for a while, after that things will get tight :-)

Even though I am fairly certain we will manage I am still looking for ways we can cut back. We had a family meeting and talked about the places we could save. Many of our expenses are fixed. I can see the main places we can save are groceries, utilities and discretionary spending. My DS suggested going to Costco and filling up on free samples. That might work on Saturday and Sunday, but for the rest of the week.... Anyway, here's what we've come up with:

We can start eating cheaper. More beans, rice and pasta. More vegetarian meals. Less meat. In-season fresh fruit. We can start making our own bread again.
Shopping at Wal*mart again. We had been avoiding it in an effort to shop at Canadian retailers. Now that we can't afford to be picky. We are just going to have to look for the best deals and the cheapest ways to buy things.
Making a price book. My DH has been doing the grocery shopping for a while. He usually just buys the same stuff all the time. He really isn't aware of the cost of things. We're going to find out if it is cheaper to buy the 18 pack of eggs from Costco or a 12 pack from no-frills.
We are extending our garden. Thank goodness we found out about this prior to the spring growing season. My DH will have plenty of time to dig out the grass to expand the garden.
Today I have been scouring the Internet for new recipes. I am sure I can make many of our baked goods for less. I have a batch of home-made hamburger buns rising right now. I'll have to add up the cost of ingredients and see if it's cheaper than buying a pack of 8 for $1.99.
We are buying a new shower head for our shower. Right now we do not have a water saver one. I love the "Niagara Falls" effect, but I am sure that it costs us a lot in water.
We are going to install a low-flow toilet. The city will rebate us $70 so it won't be a big expense out-of-pocket. I'll check my water bill next month and see if there is a difference.
We have adjusted our programmable thermostat. The heat used to go up at 4:30 am when my DH used to get up for work. Now he isn't working we can set it for later when the kids are getting up for school.
Shopping at home first. My DS needs some new pants. His are getting short. I was planning to buy him some. I decided to check the bags of hand-me-down clothes I have been given. I found several pairsw of size 14 and 16 pants. The bonus find was a white dress shirt. He needed one of those too.

So far these are the cost-cutting measures we have come up with. We'll see what else we think up.