Weekend reading: Feed your family on $250/month; save on clothing; home workouts
I thought Vivienne’s runny nose and fussy attitude was solely because she was cutting teeth. And then Johnny joined in on the unfun, and has a runny nose and feels lousy, too. He has all his teeth. Oh, baby colds. Hope they can get well soon. That’s all I got this week. Here’s the roundup:
I was included in this week’s Yakezie Carnival, with my post on how small amounts can have a big impact on the mortgage
Callie = Joy – You won’t want to miss this photo essay, showing a couple whose first child was stillborn. I can’t even imagine their grief. But it was great to celebrate with them when their second child was born, screaming! Beautiful!
How much is $20? @ So Over Debt. It’s not much, in theory, but can be a big deal psychologically. And saying, “Oh, what does it hurt to spend $20 on this?” can lead to financial problems.
Should I prepare my own taxes? @ LifeHacker I thought this year would be the year we hired out our tax prep services. I had always done them myself in the past with Turbo Tax or the H&R Block software. The 2011 tax year is our nuttiest by far — two states, a move (and deductions for that), my business income, buying our house, sold some stock, and on and on. And yet, I *think* Turbo Tax can still cover me. One CPA quoted me at $600-800 to do our return (um, what?) and Karen told me that was nuts and encouraged me to shop around. The next firm put me in the $250-300 range. I’ll save even more if I do it myself, but only if we can catch all of our deductions. We’ll see.
How to save money on clothing@ Saving Advice Good stuff! I’m finding that I prefer to buy shoes and scarves right now — things that fit me at any size.
11 things you may not know about retirement accounts @ Get Rich Slowly #5 was new to me! I’m going to see if we can do this.
Home workout programs can be a cost effective way to work out @Bible Money Matters. Going to a gym just isn’t going to work out for me right now, unless I can figure out how to get up early. I’ll stick with home stuff for now.
What I would feed my family on $250/month and How I would improve my budget even more @Keeper of the Home. Wish I could have written these posts! I’m still a ways off from figuring out how to cook whole foods on a budget. I can do “budget” cooking or “whole food” cooking, but combining the two? Still working on that.
Our playroom and office, updated (and their Very Hungry Caterpillar birthday)
My daughter turned 1 on Dec. 17. My son turned 3 on Dec. 20. We threw a small party for them with the “Very Hungry Caterpillar” theme. I purchased wall decals on eBay (way cheaper than I could find anywhere else!) and put them up in our playroom on the night before their party. It was party decor, but also (semi) permanent decor and I’m happy with how it turned out. Roughly $45. I’ve seen other sets of VHC wall decals in the $15 range, though they have different and fewer stickers.
I created some construction paper caterpillars and wrote their names on it.
We had The Very Hungry Caterpillar board book, but I also borrowed another, larger version from the public library. And yes we had story-time while people were eating dinner and I read it to them. I wanted to explain why I had a platter of pickles, salami, swiss cheese….and a fruit salad of apples, pears, plums, strawberries, oranges…you know the drill.
We put up some balloons shaped like caterpillars and called it a day.
Between their birthdays and then Christmas a few days later, we had a toy avalanche over here.
Related: See the before shots of these rooms and how they looked in September, shortly after we moved in
I wanted to show you our playroom now. Our playroom is intended to be a dining room in this house, but we don’t care. We dine in the eat-in kitchen. We love the placement of their playroom because it’s right off the kitchen and office.
I determined some other things I wanted to add to this room and put them on their Christmas wish list. Some doting grandparents helped finish the playroom. That’s a cheaper way to do it (for the parents) — tell the grandparents what you want and if they get those things, cool! If not, no harm.
The floor puzzle mat is great because it provides a cushy surface that they can play with and take apart, but also it keeps the floor a bit warmer. This version is thicker than others I’ve seen.
I wasn’t sure if the kids would play with the town landscape floor rug or if it would just be a rug, but they play with it quite a bit and push cars around to the little stores and houses.
I bought the play kitchen from a mom in my local mom’s group.
The car/train table is particularly cool because it has hills and roads to push trains and matchbox cars around, but it also comes with a heavy-duty lid. Pop that thing on and you have a surface for coloring, stacking blocks, whatever. (pictured both ways)
The 3×3 organizer came from Target and we bought it before Johnny was born. We have it anchored to the wall in case someone ever tries to climb it. My kids aren’t climbers, but we like to have playdates and I want others to be safe here, too.
The 3-drawer blue plastic organizer holds the wooden train pieces, wooden alphabet blocks, and small toys.
We keep their board books and small toys in the cubbies. The drawers hold cars, plastic animals, balls, etc. We have a brown cube on the floor behind the train table that holds stuffed animals.
I had a plastic tote, but the lid went missing. The tote then became perfect for holding their large cardboard blocks.
They have a few toys in their bedrooms, but we keep most of the toys downstairs since that’s where we are most of the day.
Our office is in the adjacent room and there is a set of French doors that we sometimes close.
The desk came from craigslist for $50. The computer was a refurbished model from eBay (just the tower…the monitor came from Walmart). Messy desk, I know. That’s me.
The curtains came with the house (we included that in our offer), but these were originally hung in the family room. I switched them with plain brown ones because I thought it matched our rooms better. The windows were the same size, so it worked out.
The end table you see came from craigslist. We have two of them, actually, and the other is in the family room. Below is our printer which is wirelessly connected. The cherry wood chair was my great-grandmother’s.
Our awesome glider and ottoman was a Christmas present from Shane’s parents. See — put stuff on your Christmas list and let generous family decorate your house :).
All we need now is a small area rug to anchor the room, and I think we’ll be done in there. This stuff is fun!
Disclosure: I linked to some items mentioned here and used my Amazon affiliate link.
12 ways lemons can save you money
Note: The Clumsy Coquette and I are swapping blogs today. She has a guest post below, and I’m posting on her site about ways to stay warm this winter.
Hello, I’m the Clumsy Coquette. I’m a 20-something aspiring author that just finished graduate school and is trying to take the world by storm. I have a live-in boyfriend and we have two furbabies: Penelope our cat and Daisy our dog. I blog about a variety of topics, including : frugal living tips, recipes, life stories, beauty tips, giveaways, and product reviews.
(photo Chug)
It wasn’t long ago that I started cutting back my spending so I could enjoy other things in life and pay off some debt. Since the recession started I personally have been faced with a lot of financial decisions and budget limitations. My job has conducted a few rounds of layoffs, I haven’t been given a raise in years, and the prices of basically everything have gone up consistently. Not only did I cut my grocery budget significantly by couponing, I also started using other products in different ways.
Around my house, you will always find a lot of lemons. That’s because lemons are pretty inexpensive and they have a ton of uses. I use lemons a lot more than probably the average person. Not only do lemons have health benefits, they are a great addition to your frugal lifestyle. Here are 12 ways you can incorporate lemons into every day use:
1. Cleaning Copper.
One way to clean copper-bottomed pots is to squeeze lemon juice into a container and mix with salt. All you have to do is use a cloth to scrub the pot until the tarnish comes off. Or you can just cut a lemon in half, apply salt and scrub that way.
2. Vinegar Deodorizer.
Do you clean with vinegar? Hate the smell? Squeeze some lemon juice into your cleaner and not only will it help enhance the cleaning, it will also dilute the smell of vinegar.
3. Garbage Disposal Clean-Up.
If you have some funky odors coming from the garbage disposal used the shell or a juiced lemon or just the lemon rinds in your disposal. It won’t hurt the disposal, and it will help clear up the odor.
4. Soil enhancer.
If you are a gardener or have plants in the house, adding a lemon shell or rind to the soil is a great way to improve the quality. If your soil needs more acid, this is a cheap and easy way to get it.
5. Bleaching.
Did you know that lemon is a natural bleaching agent? If you put some lemon juice on the stains of your white linens and allow them to sun dry, the stain will disappear.
6. Cutting Board Clear-up
Is your cutting board stained or not completely clean? Cut a lemon in half and use it to clean a plastic or wood cutting board. Do you have dried-on food or red berry stains? Add coarse salt beforehand and then use lemon on it.
7. Natural Highlights.
If you are a fan of the sun and those summer blonde highlights, use lemon juice in your shampoo to help enhance those natural highlights.
8. Soften Brown Sugar.
Does your brown sugar get hard between baking escapades? If so, you can add a little lemon peel to the container and it will soften the brown sugar up.
9. Ant Problem?
A lot of insects are repelled by D-Limonen which is found naturally found in lemons. Use lemon juice on window and door thresholds. Don’t forget those holes and cracks too. If you can, leave peels in the thresholds.
10. Remove Faucet Limescale.
If your faucets are covered in limescale, take a lemon and rub it on the faucet. You can also use the inside of the lemon to hard water remove stains and soap residue. This can be used on porcelain too.
11. Soothe Sore Throats.
Mix lemon juice, honey, and warm tea together and drink before bed. You can also use honey, lemon juice and whiskey to soothe your throat.
12. Soften Dry Elbows.
Cut lemon in half and sprinkle with baking soda. Rub lemon on elbows for several minutes. Rinse, dry, and add lotion.
