The Thrifty Frugal Mom Moved...

to Parents.com. Come visit my blog there!
For those of you that subscribe via email or a blog reader you will need to resubscribe to the new blog. And remember you can follow me on Twitter and Facebook too.

To learn more about my move to Parents.com read this post.

Happy New Year...and a Few Other Things

I had a busy day yesterday so I'm just now getting around to saying....Happy New Year to all you Thrifty Frugal Mom readers! I hope this year is a great one for each of you and I hope that somehow this blog can play a small part in it being that for you.

I want to give you a little heads up on some changes that will be happening around here in the next couple of weeks. In November Parents.com contacted me about blogging for them on their website. It seemed like a no brainer to say yes to them and so right now they're working hard at getting everything ready for me to switch my blog over to their site in the next couple of weeks. I'm very excited about this opportunity to reach a broader group of people and impact the way they handle their spending.

As for how this will affect you, well really it won't that much. I'm going to be blogging about the same things I already do, only I'll be at Parents.com. Once my blog is moved you will find a redirect link here on this blog that will take you to my new blog location. Other than that the change should be painless for you all. :)
And as always, if you have suggestions on topics you'd like me to blog about, questions about saving money you'd like answered or anything else please feel free to email me or leave a comment on this post. I value your input and it really does help me know what kind of content you all benefit from. Not to mention the fact that it's always fun to know that what I'm doing is helping someone. Comments are like little pats on the back for bloggers. :)

Again, a Happy New Year to each of you!

Thrifty Frugal Mom is now on Facebook and Twitter

I just wanted to let you know that The Thrifty Frugal Mom is now on Facebook and Twitter. Feel free to follow me there if it's easier for you!

You Might Enjoy...

* A "Ruler" for Marking Childrens Heights
This is a great way to keep record of your kid's height...and you can move it with you from house to house!

* Consumable Christmas Gifts
Rebekah has some great ideas on giving consumable Christmas gifts. I really need to do more of those kinds of gifts.

* Fabric Roads
Now THIS is such a neat idea- not to mentionn something that someone like me who is not one bit "crafty" could pull off! And if you need some jeans I'm sure you could find some really cheap at Goodwill.

* Will I Really Miss This?
This post was just what I needed the other day when I was feeling like my son was trying my patience severely. I just thought some of you other moms might be blessed by it as well.

* 10 Ways to Wrap Gift Cards with Stuff You Already Have
I love some of the creative ways that Rebekah gives to make giving a gift card a bit more fun...or at least look nicer!

Christmas Gift Wrapping Inspiration

I have my Christmas gifts all wrapped but I keep coming across all these creative ideas and so I thought I'd share them with you. Be inspired!

* Recycled Bread Tag Snowmen
If only I was craftier I would make these cute little fellows to go on the bags of cookies I give to neighbors and friends.

* Love the simplicity of these stamped brown paper packages

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* Love this look. And what a great way to use up newspaper!


* Skip the gift tags and just put the name right on the wrapping paper!

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* Isn't this fun? I'm thinking Christmas colors would creative a festive look!

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* Again simple but oh so sweet. :)

Happy wrapping!!

Happy Thanksgiving

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever. - Psalm 106:1

This Thanksgiving I'm thankful for:

* A warm, cozy house to live in
* A wonderful, committed husband
* A healthy, energetic son (well, I TRY to be thankful for all that energy!)
* The hopes of a healthy baby in the next couple of weeks
* Good health
* Financial blessings
* God's grace during this last year as we faced the grief of losing our newborn daughter

What are you all thankful for? I'd love if you'd share!

Inexpensive Christmas Decor Ideas

I know Thanksgiving isn't even past yet, but this year I am more into Christmas and decorating for it than I have been in a long time. I'm guessing it might have something to do with this baby being due right around Christmas. At any rate, I'm having fun getting ideas even though I won't allow myself to start decorating until after Thanksgiving. I thought I'd share some of the neat things I've come across so that you too can start getting inspired- that is if you weren't already!


* Aren't these beautiful? I'm sure you could replace the SnoWonder with salt pretty easily.

* Christmas Card Holders
I love this idea of using shutters to display your Christmas cards.

* Simple but lovely- easy letters.

* This is one of my favorite ways to decorate for Christmas. Such an easy way to use inexpensive ornaments!

* Do you have old skates lying around? Make this unique door decoration.

* Cinnamon sticks...what a great idea!

* Isn't this candy cane valance fun?

* Or maybe this window fun is more your style.

What fun, beautiful Christmas ideas have you been inspired by? Feel free to leave your links in the comment section.

You Might Enjoy...

* How to turn an old door into a headboard
I've heard of people doing this but never actually saw one. Isn't that one beautiful headboard?

* Quiet Time Tubs
I'm loving this idea!

* 10 Wood Pallet Decor Ideas
I love the concept of re-purposing things but I sure lack the creative gene to come up with my own ideas. Blog posts like this one sure help get the few creative juices I have flowing though!

* Homemade Coffee Creamer
I do not use coffee creamer but if you do you might be interested in the recipes posted here. I'm not going to guarantee that they are cheaper to make than buying coffee creamer (because I don't even know what it costs!), but they will definitely be MUCH healthier!

Phone Tip

I had barely gotten online yesterday morning when I suddenly had no internet . I finally decided to call our provider to see what was going on and after getting frustrated with the ridiculous automated help system, hung up and called back to talk to a real, live person. As I was doing that, I realized that I should share the tip I learned while working as a pharmacy technician.

We frequently had to call insurance companies and the like and I soon learned that most times if you simply push zero you can bypass all the automated stuff and get to a real person. If that doesn't work try * or #. Most times one of these will get you a real person but of course there are always those systems that are just plain annoying and make you wait it out. I guess they think they need to be an assistant in teaching us about patience! :)

Is Couponing Worth It?

Sometimes I ask myself, "Is using coupons really worth it?" I'm usually thinking of all the time spent clipping coupons, getting my shopping lists together and then of course shopping. And it just makes me wonder somtimes.

And then I've had people ask me that very question, "Is it really worth it?". Occasionally I've even heard some very rude comments about "those people that waste their time couponing". So finally last week as I was thinking about this whole thing some more, I decided to crunch some numbers and see what I could learn. Here's what I discovered.

Between coupons and sales, this is what I saved each month on my grocery and household items for the first six months of the year.

Jan.: $551.47
Feb.: $624.50
March: $554.15
April: $410.34
May: $265.12
June: $405.28

Total Saved: $2810.86

Now say I was doing this as a job and wanted to see what my "pay" was based on the money I saved buy using coupons and shopping sales. There were 25 weeks in those first 6 months and say that I spent 10 hours each week clipping coupons, planning my shopping trips, and actually shopping. (And trust me, I'm pretty sure I spend NOWHERE near that amount of time!) I would still be making the equivalent of $11.24/hr.! (This is calculated from the amount I saved.)

Not only did I save $2,810.86 in those six months but I also got LOTS of grocery and household items for myself. Plus I was able to have fun sharing my stockpile with others.

So, the next time I have someone ask me, "Is couponing REALLY worth it?" I'm going to ask them if they think making $11/hr. by going shopping is worth it.

What do you think?

How I Organize My Coupons

I was organizing my coupons yesterday and thought about the fact that you all might find it interesting to see how I do it. I know there are many different ways that people do this and mine is kind of a hybrid between several of the "typical" ways. I like it because I feel like it takes less time than clipping every single coupon and yet I feel organized with it too.

I have three different places that I keep coupons- an envelope that I keep just clipped or just printed coupons in, a small coupon folder that I put printed/clipped coupons in that I take to the store with me, and a file folder satchel where I file my coupon inserts.

Envelope
I have this envelope tacked to the cork board by my desk, right next to where my computer and printer are. (Very glamorous looking, eh?) :) When I cut a coupon out of a magazine, print a coupon online or get a coupon in the mail with a sample, I tuck them in here. It's kind of my landing place until I have time to put them in my coupon folder in a more organized fashion. But in the meantime, I don't have them cluttering up my desk, which is what used to happen.

Coupon Folder
I store all my clipped coupons in this little file folder. When I am getting my shopping trips ready for the week, I take any coupons from the envelope (as talked about above) and put them in their correct spot in the file folder.

I have the file folder set up with these categories: Grocery, Household, Personal Care, and Baby. I know that isn't as many categories as many people use but I like it and find it easier to work with than when I tried having categories like Oral Care, Feminine Hygiene, Cereal etc.

Then in the front I have a spot where I put the coupons that I plan to use that week for my shopping trip to each store. I take all the coupons for each store, paper clip them together and put them in the front. Then when I get to the store, all I need to do is pull out the appropriate clipped together stack of coupons and I'm ready to go. I also keep all my FREE product coupons clipped together and put in the front there so I am reminded of them often and can use them before they expire.

File Folder
I found this lovely file folder at ROSS one day. I was excited because I was looking for something to file my coupon inserts in that wouldn't look ugly sitting by my desk. It fits the bill perfectly.

Anyway, I'm kind of getting on a bunny trail am I not? Back to how I use the file folder to organize my coupons. When the coupon inserts come each Sunday, I immediately get them and mark the date on the front of the insert in the top corner. Then I file them in my file folder, putting each month together in order by date.

So one slot in my file folder will hold all my June inserts. One, all my July inserts and so on. Then when I need a coupon from a certain insert, all I need to do is locate it and cut out the coupon.

At the end of every month or so, I go through the inserts and take out any pages that have only expired coupons on. In other words, if the page has a coupon that is still good I keep it, otherwise it gets tossed. This keeps my file from getting too huge and thick and saves me from leafing through pages unnecessarily.

I really love this system because I found that cutting out each coupon took way too much time plus my coupon folder soon had so many coupons in it that it was frustrating to find what I was looking for. For me, this has been a real time saver.

So there you have it. Nothing glamorous or amazing but it's what works for me when it comes to organizing coupons!

You Might Enjoy...

It's been a long time since I did one of these post and since I have been extremely busy this week and have not really had time to post much I thought it might be just the time to do a You Might Enjoy post. Have a lovely weekend!

* A Reminder to Cherish Your Children
- I don't know about you, but I needed this reminder. I've been so busy lately and it's just too easy to see Logan as an interruption to my schedule. Sigh. I love that little boy dearly and he is NOT an interruption but a huge blessing to our lives. But I need serious help some days to remember that!


* 8 Tips for Clutter-free Counters
- One sentence: I wish my counters looked like that picture! :)

* A Neat Cake Decorating Method
- Loved this way of decorating a cake. I only wonder if I could actually pull it off!


* Walking in God's Economy
- I thought this was a good, worthwhile read. And I needed to be challenged again to remember that what I have I am simply a steward of...it is all really God's. Read Jen's post, I'm sure you'll be challenged!

Birthday Freebie Update

Back in June I had posted a list of birthday freebies you can get. Well, since I just celebrated my birthday, I've discovered a few more that I need to add to the list. It has made my the weeks around my birthday such a fun time!

* GGP Mall- First check to see if your mall is part of this group and if it is, join The Club and you'll likely get a voucher for a free $10 mall gift card. I say likely because I got one but my husband didn't- but then he never gets any gift card offers from them. Thanks to reader Sarah for the reminder about this!

* Maggie Moo's- Join the Email Club and you'll get a coupon for a free Kid's sized ice cream creation

* Rita's- Sign up for the Birthday Club and you'll get a free Italian ice on your birthday!

* Sonic- Sign up for the Sonic Cruisers Club and on your birthday you'll get a choice of one of three birthday freebies: medium Tator Tots, regular cream slush, or medium drink.

* Swagbucks- Join Swagbucks and you'll get 50 Swagbucks on your birthday! I didn't post this one earlier because I can't figure out where I added my birthday to get this. Anyone know?

Any more that you all know of? I'd love to know about them!

Birthday Freebies

It's our little family's birthday season- June and July- and I thought I'd post an updated list of birthday freebies. Since I've discovered these, it is one of the highlights of my birthday. Only problem is, you can gain a lot of weight if you do them all! :)

* Baskin Robbins- Sign up for the Birthday Club and you'll get a coupon for a free scoop of ice cream for your birthday.
* Burger King- Your child can receive a free kid's meal on their birthday when you sign them up for Club BK.
* California Pizza Kitchen- Sign your child up for CPKids and they can enjoy a free kids meal.
* Dunkin' Donuts- If you have a Dunkin' Donuts gift card, you can register it for the DD Perks Rewards and among other things, you'll get a free medium beverage of your choice for your birthday.
* Krispy Kreme- If you live near a Krispy Kreme you may be able to get a dozen free doughnuts on your birthday! Simply call your local store ahead of time to see if they participate. (I've never tried this one since we don't have a store near us, but I'm told many locations do offer this yummy treat!)
* Panera Bread- Sign up for a Panera card and you'll get a coupon for a free sweet or pastry.
* Red Robin- Sign up for Red Robin's e-club and you'll get a free burger on your birthday.
* Ruby Tuesday- Join Ruby Tuesday's So Connected club and you'll get a free hand crafted burger- no purchase necessary- on your birthday. I couldn't believe it last year when they let me choose any burger I wanted and gave me fries and a drink too!
* Starbucks- Have a Starbucks gift card? Register it here and one of the perks you'll get is a coupon for a free Starbuck's birthday drink. It might be worth getting a $5 gift card and registering it just for this! :)

Two deals that are not quite as good but that I'll mention anyway...
* Cold Stone Creamery- Join their birthday club and receive a coupon for a free treat with the purchase of another one.
* Dairy Queen- Join the Blizzard Fan Club and receive a coupon for a Buy 1 Get 1 free blizzard on your birthday.

And two non-food related deals...
* Magazines.com- If you create an account at Magazines.com they send you one of these offers and you can then redeem it for a $5 check. Not a bad birthday gift in my mind! Just be watchful, the subject line of the email just says something related to birthday and nothing about a coupon.
* Toys R Us- Sign your child up for the Toys 'R Us Birthday Club (click "Birthday Club" at the top of the page) and they'll receive a free gift (rumored to be a $3 Toys 'R Us gift card) on their birthday.

Have you ever done any of these freebies? Do you know of others? I'd love to hear about them!

You Might Enjoy...

* Ways to Make the Monotonous more Fun
Do you ever feel, like I do, that daily life can start feeling a bit dull? I thought these were some great simple suggestions to make it more fun.

* Natural Ant Control Remedies
Thank goodness we don't have trouble with ants, but I'm sure some of you do. And they are so annoying! Hopefully one of these remedies might work for you.

* Do-It-Yourself Veggie and Fruit Wash
Maybe I'm weird, but I actually just wash my fruit and veggies in water. But I thought that this was a great inexpensive alternative to using the wash that you can buy. And I actually just might have to start using it on some of the "dirtier" stuff I buy.

* Making Daddy Feel Welcome
An excellent post on small things to do to make Daddy feel welcome when he walks in the door after a long day. It was such a good reminder for me! I can too quickly get in the harried, putting-together-supper mode and not give Vince the welcome he deserves.

:(

I'm sorry about the lack of posts this week. My plan had been to do an Obtaining Coupons post last night or this morning but every time I tried to sign into my blog Blogger was down...until now. And now I don't have time because we have plans for the evening and I need to be getting ready.

So, hopefully next week I'll be a little more present. Until then, have a great weekend!

You Might Enjoy....

* Diaper Cakes
- You've likely seen these before. I've always thought they were kind of neat, but I never was quite sure how to make them. Now I know!

* 15 Ways to Use Baking Soda
- I especially like the tip for using it to clean combs and brushes. I'd be embarrassed if any of you saw mine right now!

* How to Make Map Wall Art
- If we ever have a home with a study I'd love to make some of these. Aren't they so cool?

* Artificial Food Coloring- Is it Safe?
- I found this post very fascinating. I have a nephew who can't eat anything with the dye red40 in it (and it's in a LOT of things) because it makes him feel hyper and wired. More companies are switching to natural food coloring. Why not make it mandatory?

A Smile for Your Day

Who knew Garfield had a coupon clipping habit?

Cheese Anyone?

This, my friends, is why you are to pay attention to your 2 1/2 year old when he is shopping with you. AND this is why I hate those shopping carts with the cars on the front.

Yes, what you see in the picture above is a package of Kraft Singles cheese that Logan chewed into today when we were shopping. He was getting bored so I gave him that package of cheese to hold, and yes, he was in the car part of the cart where I can not see him very well. I noticed not long after I gave it to him that he had it up to his mouth and sternly informed him that he may not chew on it or put it in his mouth. That generally is all it takes for him to listen when it's something like this.

Well, I had a bunch of stuff to get and I was almost done when I decided to peek down at him since I suddenly realized I hadn't heard anything out of him for a long time. And I was horrified. He had two of the pieces of cheese in his mouth...still in the plastic wrapper mind you. And the rest of the package was laying at his feet. Boy was I not impressed. Let's just say that I took the package from him and I don't think he'll be doing that again anytime soon! :) And I think this mama learned a lesson about getting so involved in shopping that she forgets to check what her little boy is occupied with.

Seriously though, I really don't like those carts with the cars in the front. I think it's a conspiracy against parents. Logan always wants to use them of course and I hate them. They are bulky and hard to maneuver, he's forever wanting to lean out of the thing, nearly banging his head on stuff, and I can't see what he's up to very well. Anyone else share my feelings?

So anyway, if you're hungry, stop by for some cheese. I'll try to give you some of the un-chewed-upon stuff!

Using Ham Broth- Can You Help?

I have a bunch of ham broth in the freezer from a ham I made several weeks ago. It's good rich broth and I know there has to be some good ways to use it but truth be told, I'm not sure how. I spent quite a bit of time looking for recipes on line and really didn't come up with much. So I thought I'd turn to you. What do you do with your leftover ham broth?