Toddler’s Toy from Recyclables

I’m at a stage in my life where I have more time than money. I have found that being creative can save me a few bucks, and entertain my boy, Tigger. Here is a simple toy I made from things we had around the house.

A family member gave me a stack of old cards they weren’t using that Tigger could play with. I decided to make a container that he could drop the cards in and then dump out and start again.

I found an old corn meal container to use. I started by cutting a slit in the lid.

I could’ve stopped here, but I wanted to make the container a little more colorful. So I added construction paper and personalized it. I then dropped all the cards inside and let Tigger play to his heart’s content.

Now Tigger has a fun, colorful toy to play with made from recyclable materials. It keeps him and our budget happy, it works for me.

See more ideas at Works for Me Wednesday hosted by We Are That Family.

Homemade Crockpot Applesauce

Last week Aldi’s had a terrific sale on fruits. In the middle of January I got apples for $0.33/lb, and oranges for $0.38/lb. Needless to say that I stocked up so that we can enjoy the fruit for weeks (well maybe not the oranges, they’re a hot commodity for the men in my house). We will eat many of the fruit raw in lunches and for snacks but if some of the apples start to get spotty then I’ll make up some homemade crockpot applesauce

I had never thought about making applesauce in the crockpot until I read Allison’s recipe online. I loved how easy the concept was, since I love my crockpot and the thought of making applesauce seemed so daunting. But thanks to earlier preparation this recipe was a breeze.

This fall when apples were under $0.33/lb I stocked up on more than 20 lbs and took them to my mother-in-law’s. She graciously let me use her apple corer/slicer and and helped me prep all those apples for later baking. She added some cinnamon and sugar to half of the bags to use in pies or applesauce, and left the other half unsweetened. I then used these bags for muffins, apple crisp, or applesauce. Here’s what I did when I made applesauce last week.

I took a bag of sweetened, prepared, apples from the freezer.

I plopped it in the crockpot, and set it on low.

I waited until it smelled really yummy and the apples were mushy.

I enjoyed my yummy snack, and wished I had added another bag to the crockpot.

Storing and Rotating Children’s Clothing

This week, once again, it was time to rotate my little, chubby, 5-month old Sweetpea’s wardrobe. We’ve been blessed with a multitude of outfits and hand-me-downs from friends and family, and in our little apartment I had concerns about storing all of hers and Tigger’s clothes. I used to dread rotating Tigger’s baby clothes because I always felt disorganized. But somehow, with Sweetpea it wasn’t so daunting. Here are a few tips I’ve learned.

1) Decide how many clothes you really need. I know people who only have seven shirts and seven pants for each child, (plus I assume pajamas). Such limited outfits keeps their laundry at bay and their storage and expenses minimized. I’ll admit to having more than seven outfits for each kid, and I’m always amazed at how many outfits I put into storage or donate when rotating that clothing. Perhaps that’s because I keep Sweetpea in pajamas all day in the winter, or let Tigger run around without a shirt on in the summer year-round. These habits are things I need to take into consideration, when deciding how many clothes to keep.

2) Find a storage solution that works for you. Starting out I put Tigger’s clothes in empty diaper boxes, and stored them under his crib. But then I heard about the big Ziplok bags and decided to give them a try. They worked for me and the best thing was that I could easily view the clothing inside, and their smaller size limited the amount of clothes I would save. I store them under cribs, beds, and dressers due to the size of my apartment. My only complaint is that they don’t retain their smaller shape after being shrunken. I also have a couple of sizes of clothing stored in rubbermaid boxes.

3) Keep Track of What You Have

Last summer, I noticed Tigger was outgrowing his clothes and began looking through his size 2 pile. I was surprised to find only a few shirts and a couple of pants, and discovered I had dropped the ball on keeping track of his clothes. We had received hand-me-downs that only ran up to size 2 and I didn’t realize he didn’t have any more clothes. Luckily it was the start of garage sale season and I was able to find some cheap clothes. I tried to keep track of all our clothes in a catalog grouped by size, but I invariably lost the list, or forgot to record new clothes. I’m going to give this a go again this summer when garage sale season comes around so that I am not buying clothes that I already have. If I still can’t manage to keep a list of clothes I’ll just have to go through that size and make a quick  tally of what is missing.

4) Sort, Wash and Store New Clothes Right Away

Soon after giving birth to Sweetpea a good friend of mine blessed me with a trunkload of girl’s clothing ranging from newborn to preschool. I was very grateful but a little daunted with the enormity of the pile. Even though I wasn’t getting much done around the house due to Sweetpea, I made it a priority to take care of the clothing right away. That way I wouldn’t misplace any of the clothes and they would be kept in good condition.

I’m sure as time goes by our clothing system will change, but as for now this system is working for us and keeps all our children’s clothing manageable.

Going Paperless

The other day I walked into our apartment’s entryway to find our bank statement lying on top of our community mailbox, instead of being locked safely inside. Morbid tales of identity theft rushed through my mind and I quickly snatched the piece of mail. After a short discussion with my husband we signed up for online statements with that account.

Although I frequently tell my husband I prefer old-fashioned paper to online resources, my attitudes are quickly changing in-line towards his tech-savvy ways. We still have one or two bills trickle in through the mail each month, but now the majority of our budget, bill pay and even statements are stored online. This action saves us space, clutter and time, not to mention online statements prevents thieves from stealing our mail.

I have to say that except for tax purposes I find our need for actual bank statements obsolete as we check our accounts multiple times during the week and balance them against our neobudget account. I find toggling between my bank account and neobudget much easier than balancing transactions with a paper and pen. My statements are always weeks old and if I referred primarily to them my checkbook would quickly be out of balance.

When it’s time to pay the bills, I just have to check my husband’s e-mail for the amount and the date due and then pay it online through my bank. I can easily do this juggling a baby on my lap, which is a frequent occurrence. I know others swear by setting up bill pay in advance, but I haven’t tried that yet, I just pay the bills when the check deposits.

With the advances of paperless technology I feel more secure and organized in my financial dealings. Some things truly are better and easier online, while others (like a good book) will forever be the best on paper.

Grocery Budget Buster: Forgetting the Groceries

I poured over the ads, coupons and multiple couponing blogs to put together an awesome list for Meijers and Kroger last week. I was stoked that I found multiple items for free and had survived the five hours of errands with my two children.

I quickly unloaded my bags of groceries for pictures and found I was missing a bag. Somehow I had left all of the Healthy Choice entrees at the store that I had gotten on sale for about $6 total. A whole week’s worth of lunches for Tim were either sitting in some forlorn cart or abandoned at the customer service center, where I had to visit to use my high-value $5/5 coupon.

I called Krogers and there was no trace of my bag. They offered to let me bring in my receipt and get new boxes, but I declined as nap-time was approaching and we had plans for the rest of the day. I doubted whether they would let me bring in my receipt the next day, and I was too timid to go back, thinking that they might not trust me.

Although I scored some great deals, especially at Meijer’s, I was a little bummed that I had forgotten food at the store and wasted money. The best way to stretch your grocery dollars is to use your food up, and that’s hard to do if you leave the food you’ve paid for at the grocery store.

Chock this to a lesson learned in frugality. To see more frugal posts check out Life As Mom’s Frugal Friday.

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