Garage Sale Season is Here!!

Garage sale season is here! Here are some of my recent finds:

• Pair of cute, like new slippers .75

• Brand new, high quality in the box fan $5.00

•  Brand new shower curtain liner .50

•  Book on Day Trips .50

•  Cassette player (I wanted one so I could listen to some of my old cassettes) $2.00

You can't beat the prices for things at garage sales! Here are some pointers.

1. Garage sales are usually best on Fridays here, but Saturdays are good too.

2. Always keep a little cash on you for a garage sale.

3. I never look in the paper for sales, I just pull up when I see one. If you are looking for something specific like baby clothes or a dresser, it could pay to look for ads.

4. If you are going for furniture, go early.

5. Don't be scared to haggle! People will almost always take a little less if you make a respectful, decent offer.

6. If the price seems too high, if you don't really need the item yet (like the shower curtain I bought) don't buy it and hope for another. If you hit a few sales weekly, you can usually get what you are looking for at bargain prices. If someone had put $4.00 on the shower curtain, I would not have gotten it and not likely even asked for a better price.

7. I pick up jewelry I find that is silver or gold if the price is right. (If you do this, make sure you keep them in a safe place somewhere!) The ring in this photo is silver (if a piece of jewlery has 925 on it, that means it's sterling silver). I only paid .25 for this ring. I would not have paid $5.00 for it!

8. I look for items that might be good for resale on ebay. This could vary widely per person but you can really make some money doing this. When figuring profit margin, be sure to include shipping costs in your margin. You don't want to go through all that work and then make nothing because your profits were eaten up with shipping costs.

7. If an appliance, like your blender, is on it's last legs and you know you will be buying one in the next few months, start looking for a replacement now. My blender has a tiny chip in it and I know that a replacement is about $65.00. I don't like plastic for the upper piece, I like glass. I use my blender every day. I just found a replacement the other week for $2.00. I am still using the old one as of yet.

8. Have fun and buy some fun things but don't buy too much stuff or you will end up with a house stuffed to the gills.

9. Give overflow to charity.

You can save oodles and caboodles of money this way and it is great fun and feels great to save! One of the most satisfying ways to figure it is to figure out how many hours you would have had to work at your current job to pay for what you just saved. Chances are, the dollars add up very fast!

Happy Savings!

Saving Money on Laundry

1. One way to save money on laundry is to simply do less of it. Some people will wear a shirt for half a day and then wash it. Unless you are doing hot, sweaty work, there really is no need nor reason for that. Shirts can easily be worn a couple of times. Sweaters can be worn many times. Jeans can be worn usually a few more times than shirts. Towels can be hung to dry and used a few times before laundering. Not only does this save money but it also saves time. Everyone can find the level of re-use they are comfortable with. It also saves on wear and tear on clothing so clothing doesn't have to be purchased as often.

2. Clotheslines can be great money savers. I personally do not use one too often because of allergies. However, the dryer is one of the biggest energy users in the house and hanging the clothes to dry can save quite a bit. If you don't like the stiff way clothes feel after hanging, you can tumble dry for a few minutes towards the end of drying or afterwards. I also like the way ironing can be avoided with tumble drying. Make sure you don't over dry your clothes although I confess I am guilty here.

3. Only do a load when there are enough clothes to do a full load. This will save on energy expenses and time as well.

4. Use half the recommended amount for laundry detergent and tear dryer sheets in half. Some people make their own soap. I just make sure I buy my detergent on sale and steep discounts and then always tear dryer sheets in half.

5. If I had to use a laundromat, I would hand wash as many clothes at home as possible and hang dry. This might not be possible for people with families but for a single person or couple it could be done while showering easily enough.

Small changes can add up to big savings over time! Pennies turn into dollars and dollars turn into tens and tens turn into twenties and.......

Happy Savings!

Food in Your Yard! Fried Dandelion Heads!

I have never had fried dandelion heads until just the other day, but I will certainly be having them again in the future! Who would have guessed that this humble yard weed would taste so good??

I found this Appalachian recipe for fried dandelions: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/214172/fried-dandelions-appalachian-style/

First, after rinsing, they are soaked in eggs. 

 
Flour, salt and pepper are mixed and used to coat the dandelion heads. Then they are fried in butter.

 
I am very impressed with this recipe and idea I have never heard of before! I had this idea that if I soaked some in pickle juice, they would taste better, so I made some of each. The ones just as the recipe described were better than the pickle soaked ones. The pickle soaked ones are on the left and the regular ones are on the right.

 This is a very inexpensive dish! Just a little time, some eggs, flour and butter. (Make sure your yard is not chemically treated before you try this!)

Happy Savings!

Dandelion Greens for Dinner!

I haven't done much with dandelion greens in the past besides throw a few into a salad. Tonight, I tried a dandelion green side dish! I liked it. It isn't something I would want all the time but it was pretty good and it did hit the spot tonight! 

First, I picked the greens. 

                                                                                                                                                 
Then, they had to be soaked in salt water for 10 minutes.

    Next, they had to be boiled. I also sauteed the onion mixture as the greens boiled.

Then, I sauteed all the ingredients together! 

This is certainly a frugal dish! Since we don't use any chemicals on our lawn, I just picked them right outside our backdoor! Here is the recipe if you wish to try it! http://allrecipes.com/recipe/222744/dandelion-greens-with-a-kick/

Here are the nutrition facts for dandelion greens: http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2857/2

Happy Savings!

Pennies Pennies Everywhere: A Use for Bread Crusts

Don't you just hate throwing out bread crusts? There are many uses for them and here is one:

Tonight, I made sloppy joes, but instead of buying buns for the sloppy joes, I toasted bread crusts! After the bread crusts were toasted, we loaded them up with pickles, sloppy joe sauce, cheese and onions. They can be eaten either by picking them up or cutting them with a fork.

Other uses for bread crusts are using them with chicken gravy, mini-pizzas or some people like making bread pudding or stuffing with them.

A few pennies here and a few pennies there all add up to dollars!

Happy Savings!

All this for 41 cents!! And then I said "No More for Today, Please!"

I got all this today for only 41 cents!! Actually, I got more than this, but a few of the items I want to use as gifts, so they are not included in this photo. So, how did I get all this for .41?

First off, I got a $10.00 off for Kohl's in the mail. I get one a couple times a year. I also get them from JC Penney too but don't get there as often as it is further to drive to get to a JC Penney store. This $10.00 off was for anything at Kohl's so, I did as I always do and look only at clearance items. I found this pair of boots that were originally $79.99 and this pair of earmuffs that were originally $24.00. These items were both 90% off!! Then, when I applied the Kohl's coupon, the total came to .39 plus tax!

Secondly, I do something that I often do and go to Menards. Menards has great deals on many things and they have many items for free with rebate. The crackers you see are NON-GMO, no trans fats etc and have broccoli mixed in and on top of that, they taste good! These were free with rebate and no limit on how many you could buy. Then, I got 2 sets of pruning shears, some car wash, some lint rollers and some mystery items for gifts. They had more stuff for free as well, but I wasn't interested in those items even for free, because they take up space. Sometimes I buy those items just to give to charity.

I did buy a few other items at Menards but the items you see in the photo were totally free!!

It feels great to not only get needed and useful items but practically get paid to take them out of the store! Every area in the US has deals like this if a person hunts and looks and takes advantage of them. The trick is to figure out what the deals are in your area and take advantage of them.

Happy Savings!