Let's Save Some Money

During these uncertain economic times, it makes me think twice about how we spend our money. We feel very fortunate that D makes a good living and that I am able to stay home with the girls but you just never know what can happen. D works in an industry that is directly affected by the Housing Market and we all know where that is, yep, the crapper. So, rather than take it all for granted, we've decided to make some changes while the getting is still good. Pre-kids, living off of Ramen Noodles and PB&J sandwiches everyday if you had to, was always an option. But with 2 little ones to feed (and both in diapers to boot), it's just not somewhere I want to go plus I'm out of college now, heh.

With that said, we are trying to save every extra penny for that just in case fund. You would be surprised what you could do if you put your mind and willpower to it.

These are some of the things that we've started doing recently. I'm sure I will think of more and will post as they come along.

• D takes not only lunches to work but snacks too. You would be surprised how the little snacks add up. A quick stop to the gas station for a soda. a bag of chips here and there, 75 cents into the vending machine, it really all adds up. The best part is he's been eating so much healthier and has lost weight doing it. He looks great!
  

• Turn off the TV, lights and unplug all appliances and other electronics and appliances when not in use. Even though the power switch is off, it is still drawing energy so unplug it if you're not using it. I had been very cautious this past month and actually noticed a difference in our bill. I compared our monthly power bill to that from the same time last year. We had consistently been paying about $30 more from the same time last year until last month. It was only $3 more! How about that for a $27 savings. I know, I know, big deal, $27, but hey, it adds up! So turn it off and unplug it!

• Shop & compare rates and I mean all rates. When was the last time you shopped for insurance? Auto & Homeowners insurance rates can be pretty competitive, so make those calls and you would be surprised at how much you could save.

• This goes the same with home phone, TV, internet. I knocked $30 off of our Time Warner bill in July just because I asked. I called and asked for the retention department. If your area has competition for Cable, phone and etc, this will work for you. They'll offer you a deal. I have gotten a deal every time I called, some are better than others and be careful of getting into a contract that you may not want to follow through on.
  

• Meal planning: I've always been a meal planner but have stepped it up a bit. If you don't have anything quick to eat, you are more likely to pick up convenience foods and they quickly add up. Not only do I plan out our menu for the week, I freeze foods and stock the freezer for that rainy day. I also stock up on things when it's on sale, especially the supermarket loss leaders like meats. I will scan the first and last page of the Supermarket mailers and plan my meals around that.
  

• Coupons: I had tried using the Grocery Game but it didn't end up working out for us. I buy too many specialty & organic foods to make it worth our while. They do offer a free trial offer of a month. If you get the Sunday paper or are not opposed to buying it, then give it a whirl for a month. You have nothing to lose. For now, I just google for printable coupons for the staples - trash bags, Windex All Purpose Cleaner, Yo Baby Yogurt, Organic Milk and etc. Just last week, I found a $2 off coupon for Windex All Purpose Cleaner any size. I was pretty happy about that one. You laugh but hey, it adds up!
  

• Speaking of the freezer, the freezer has become my best friend. I freeze anything that can be frozen. My favorite to freeze is probably baked goods and the girls lunches. If I buy rolls or bread from the bakery, into the freezer it goes. Before doing this, we were throwing out so much. This is especially important for organic goods. It just doesn't have the preservatives as the commercial goods so it goes "green" quick (pun intended). When defrosting, you can either pull it out about 30mins or so before ready to eat and it should defrost in time or better yet, just slice it and toast it. Something that I plan on doing from now on is freezing leftover veggies. In a quest to minimize the amount of food that gets thrown out, I have decided to start freezing all leftover veggies. These are good vegetables but somehow always get forgotten about in the back of the fridge. If I had stuck them in the freezer, they could be thrown into soups, pot pie, chili or something, anything really. The other day we had 3 bananas getting ready to go bad. I decided to whip up some gluten & corn free banana bread. I froze half of the loaf for later and we ate the other half. It was delicious and fairly healthy too (I even snuck in some Flax Seed Meal).

• In a quest to also save time, I make a huge batch of pancakes for the girls (thank you Joy of Cooking for the very flexible pancake recipe) and freeze them in a ziploc bag. Not only does this save time and money but I know they are healthy. The last batch I made I used brown rice flour instead of regular flour, added blueberries and a couple of teaspoons of Flax Seed Meal which is a great source for Omega 3's. Now, I always have a goto meal or snack for the girls. I do the same for homemade biscuits and cookies. I freeze the biscuits and cookies precooked and preportioned. All I do is stick them on a pan and cook them about 5 mins longer than the recipe calls for. Perfect!

• Consolidate car trips. It costs money everytime you get in the car so make each trip count. Do you really need to go pick up that item today when you're headed out tomorrow anyway? At $3 a gallon, those extra trips start to add up. I had an appointment with the photographer last week and planned my Trader Joe's trip along with it. That was almost 65 miles roundtrip that I saved.

• Speaking of Trader Joe's... I comparison shop my groceries including wine and have found that TJ's can't be beat on some items (Walmart beats everybody else in the other stuff). I collected a stack of our latest grocery receipts and went through the most commonly purchased items. It was very-eye opening. TJ's had the best prices on Organic Applesauce, block cheeses with limited ingredients, frozen vegetables and wine just to name a few. Even if you don't buy the 2 (2.99) buck Chuck, there are still great deals on good wines. I enjoy a Pinot Noir that they carry and it's $5.99, they also have a great Chardonnay for $4.99. Got to love that. I also buy 3 or 4 bags of frozen red, yellow and green peppers for under $2 a bag every time I go. I also buy Buffalo Burgers and their Chili Lime Chicken Burgers, these make great lunches or last minute dinners for us. We usually have buns in the freezer and lettuce and tomato in the fridge plus they are much healthier alternative to fast food! I try to make a Trader Joe's trip once a month (when I am headed that way anyway) and stock up. There's just no reason not to.
  

• Online Coupons: I buy alot of stuff online. Many people will say that you end up paying more because you can't catch a good sale or whatever. I have to disagree. Everytime I make an online purchase, I do 2 things. I always google for an online coupon code. There's just no reason not to. I usually find anywhere from 10%-30% off coupon codes. For Father's Day, I bought D a new putter. I wanted to get him a good one so it would last awhile plus I wanted to splurge a bit. It was his first Father's Day and we had just gone through so much. Anyway, I found the club I wanted at Dick's Sporting Goods for $150. Eeek. Not really what I wanted to spend but that was what I wanted to buy him. I googled "coupon code dick's sporting" and would you believe I found a 30% off coupon + free shipping. The total came to under $110. Not bad for a few minutes of work. The second thing that I usually do but couldn't with Dicks, is I go through a site that gives you cash back for clicking through their site. I use Fatwallet.com but there are plenty of others out there. Every time I go to purchase something online, I go through Fatwallet first. For instance, if I were to buy something from OneStepAhead.com and if I went through Fatwallet first, I would get back 5% of my purchase. After awhile, it really adds up.
  For just good deals in general, I always check Fatwallet.com and also Slickdeals.net. Love them both.

With all that being said, I am going to leave you guys with one of my latest favorite freezer food lunch (and sometimes dinner) for the girls. It's my version of Chicken Nuggets. It's not the healthiest but definitely healthier than eating out and so easy. The good thing is you can identify every ingredient and truly know that it is indeed chicken. The best part is you can freeze them and just pull out and heat what you need. I make a batch every Sunday. I threw a few nuggets in my salad today and it was great.


Chicken Nuggets

1 pack of boneless skinless chicken thighs (I like to buy the All Natural/antibiotic/hormone free) Trimmed of the fat and cubed (boneless skinless breasts get too dry)

1/4 to 1/2 stick of unsalted butter melted in a bowl (you may need more depending on how much chicken you have)

Crushed Brown Rice Crispies (this is Julia safe so is what we use- but you can use crushed corn flakes, seasoned or unseasoned breadcrumbs, whatever)

Freshly grated cheese- I either use Block Sharp Cheddar or Parmigiano Reggiano or both. I have tried using the Kraft pre-packaged grated cheese and it just sucked. I think it must be the anti-caking ingredients in the pre-shredded/grated cheese that ruined it. I don't know but I won't do it again. It wasn't good.

Of course, I don't have any exact measurements. I would say try it with equal amounts of both or somewhere close to that. After you make it once, you'll get the hang of it and tweak it how you like it.

Melt the butter in a bowl.

In a separate bowl, mix together the cheese and crushed cereal/breadcrumbs. You can season it how you like. Salt & pepper is usually all I add if that. Garlic and onion powder would also be good options.

Working in batches, add the chicken to the bowl of butter and coat entirely. Remove the chicken and coat it in the crumbs & cheese mix making sure you cover it well. Place the chicken on a cookie sheet and bake it at 375-400 for about 20 minutes or until done. I wing it everytime so check the chicken to make sure it's cooked.

When cooled, place all of the chicken into a freezer safe container and stick it in the freezer. All you have to do then is pull out some nuggets when you want them and nuke them for 30 seconds to a minute depending on how many you're warming up and your microwave.

The girls love these and I do too. I love knowing that if we get back to the house late that I can always whip up lunch in a minute and it's not crap. Throw some nuggets in the microwave, slice some bananas (or dollups of applesauce), chop up a few cherry tomatoes and they are good to go!