What Happened to Tara?

It's been a hectic week, I've been called in for extra hours at my outside job, so blogging had to take a backseat. I will be back soon!

Freezing and Storing Hamburger Meat

When I buy ground beef, I tend to buy it in bulk. Like the 10 pounds I purchases during Whole Foods' Grass-fed Beef Sale last week.

To make that much beef more manageable, here's a little trick I learned: Roll the beef out.

Here's how I do it:
1. Divide the beef up into 1 pound hunks.
2. Place the hunk into a freezer bag
3. Using a rolling pin (or a sturdy glass when your rolling pin suddenly goes missing) roll the ground beef out into about 1/2 inch thickness.
4. Make sure the bag is sealed. I happened to have vacuum bags that I used for the ones in the picture, but regular freezer bags work just as well.
5. Now your ground beef can be stacked neatly in your freezer. It will also defrost alot quicker this way.

This is linked to Works for Me Wednesdays on We are That Family.

Our Newest Morning Routine

I am NOT a morning person. If it were up to me, the world would not start until at least 10:00 am. But, the school system and corporate world refuse to listen to my requests.

So, now I have a kindergartner who MUST be at school and in her seat by 8:00am. I've been struggling to get us both out the door and her to school on time, and me to work with some hair left on my head. You see, my 5 year-old is extremely picky and opinionated about everything. I know she could give any Hollywood diva a run for their money. We've had multiple morning melt-downs over what she is wearing, how her hair is fixed, what she's eating for breakfast and lunch, etc. After some months with summer camp as a "dry run" for the mornings and lots of trial and error, here is what is working for me now.

1.) Clothes. The night before, we pick out and lay out EVERY single piece of clothing she is going to wear the next day, dress, shoes, jacket, etc. My goal is to not be looking for any missing shoes or sweaters as we're trying to get out the door.

2.) Hair. We discuss and decide how her hair is going to be done the next day, pigtails? a bow, just leave it straight? And it the morning, it's non-negotiable.

3.) Breakfast. We discuss what she is going to have for breakfast the next day, AND we lay out whatever we can (bowl, spoon, cereal box, vitamins). I've even started pouring milk pre-measured into a small container just for her,and leaving it in the bottom shelf of the fridge so that she can get it and make her own cereal. Eating breakfast has been a big struggle for us. But, having it already layed out seems to be doing the trick.

Now, I know many parents may disapprove of this routine, but, I let her watch TV while eating her breakfast. This just works for us. It allows me time to finish getting ready for work, and it gives her a chance to really wake up and be ready for the day.

4.) Backpack and lunch box is packed and ready to go the night before. I try to make sure that everything that needs to go back to school (lunch money, teacher notes, etc) is already packed and ready so I don't have to think about it in the morning.

The running theme in all these steps is letting her be involved in the process. I'm very glad that my daughter is becoming so independent, but it's and adjustment for a and inpatient mom who just likes "to do it and move on".

This is what's working for me right now. Do you have any nifty tricks to get your kids out the door in the morning? I would love to hear them. I'm always looking for new and better ideas for home and time management.


This is linked to Works for Me Wednesday at We are That Family.

Making Money when You're Unemployed

When my husband was laid off, very unexpectedly several months ago, we had to make alot of adjustments very quickly. Obviously, one of the first things we did was to try to find alternative sources of income while he was on the hunt for a permanent job. Here are some of the things we did.

1.) Contract Work. Fortunately my husband has IT skills that are in demand for small businesses and home users. He printed up some business cards on the home computer and bought some small ads in some community newspapers to get customers. He also made postcards from the home computer and mailed them (using the postcard postage rate -cheaper than the regular mail rate) to small businesses offering his services.

2.) Part-time Job. I was able to work out a deal with my former employer to come back and work part-time, my husband and I worked out our schedules to trade off child care duties.

The above items are really what kept us afloat during this time, but we also looked to less obvious ways to make some extra income.

1.) Sell! Sell! Sell! We sold several things on Craigslist and Ebay. Extra computer parts, an extra microwave, and a quilt that I never used for my child's room. I also participated in a children's consignment sale and sold some clothes to a local consignment shop.

2.) Working, temp & odd jobs. I have worked at a flea market selling jewelry, babysat, and other odd jobs here and there.

3.) Work the Election Polls. This is an election year, and did you know that the poll workers were paid? I didn't. I thought it was purely volunteer. But poll workers do get paid a small amount (around $125 in my county) for their service. It's a very long day, over 12 hours, so it's not even minimum wage when you work it out hourly, but it was some money for one day's work.

4.) Rent out garage space. One thing that I love about our house is that it has a 2 car garage -- I've never lived anywhere that had a garage. And I love being able to park my car inside. But, in tough times, that is a luxury that I could go without. We rented out our garage as storage space for someone that was trying to stage their home for sale. We knew this person, and so there was a comfort level with both sides, it may not be for everyone. I don't know that I would want to rent out to a stranger and be obligated to let them have access to my garage (and therefore my home since the garage is attached).


None of these items single handed made us alot of money. But the way I began to look at it was, "this will pay the light bill this month" and "this takes care of the groceries for the week". It was a little mind game I played with myself, that helped to take the pressure off a stressful situation. And, so far, we've never missed a payment and we have not missed a meal.

Have you come up with a creative way to make some extra cash? Please let me know! We're not out of the woods yet, and I'm always looking for a new source of income.


This post is linked to Works for Me Wednesday at We are That Family

My Non-Frugal Habits

I read alot of frugal mommy blogs and have gotten some great ideas. Sometimes though, I feel like they are perfect keepers of their home and finances, where I am soooo very not! But, then I thought that if you don't know me personally, you may think from reading my blog that I am a perfect keeper of finances. Inspired by The Coupon Teacher's post today, I am going to share some of my not-so-frugal bad habits.

1.) Eating Out. Somehow we got off track this summer with our eating out only once a month rule. I confess I've been very lax on my menu planning, and with the heat and all the activities of the summer, I just didn't want to cook! But I vow to start doing better.

2.) Wasting Water. Another confession. Sometimes, I let my 5 year old run the bath water longer than she should and fill up the tub so she can "swim". She likes it, and it keeps her occupied while I do something else.

3.) Let the coupons pile up. I hate filing. Whether it is filing bills, work stuff or coupons. And sometimes I miss a good deal because the coupon is on the bottom of the pile.

4.) Plastic baggies. They are such a waste. I'm working on trying to use re-usable containers for all items. But those little baggies are just so convenient. I tried washing them and re-using the bags, but I wasn't good at that either.

5.) Letting food go to waste. Oh! I hate when I do this. But sometimes I don't get all the fresh produce used up or chopped and frozen before it goes bad. I really hate doing that. And my husband hates it too, so I have to hear about it from him also.

6.) Smartphone. Oh! I want one so bad! I've almost convinced myself to pay the huge data fee that comes with a smart phone plan. "Everyone else has one!". I'm such a kid.

Do you have a suggestion on helping me overcome one of my bad habits? Please share!! Or, Do you have a not-so-frugal habit? Please share! No judgements here.

My "Free" Birthday!

I recently had a birthday. I won't tell you how old I am. Let's just say I'm legal, and leave it at that! While lately things have been looking up for us financially, we are still living very lean. So, here are the ways we celebrated my birthday for free/cheap. I took advantage of any Birthday freebies that were being offered.

1.) FREE Movie. Used a coupon from the Entertainment book for a free movie admission on your birthday. Also used a coupon in the same book for a Free Popcorn with a large drink purchase. All together that saved $14 dollars!

2.) FREE Meal. I had signed up for their birthday club during an earlier visit; and received an email coupon for a free dinner during my birthday week. Another $14 dollar saved.

3.) CHEAP Luxury. Used a Groupon for a mani/pedi. The groupon cost $25 for services normally costing $65. A savings of $40 bucks!

4.) FREE book from Amazon . I used some Amazon gift cards that I earned from Swagbucks to buy a cookbook that I had been eyeing for quite some time. I actually purchased enough items to make the shipping free as well.

This took a little planning and arranging schedules. But it can be well worth it in order to have a little fun and relaxation on your birthday while keeping a small budget!

Want to know who does Birthday freebies? Try Hey, it's Free! For a list of restaurants and other retailers that give birthday freebies. They try to keep the list updated, but just remember that all businesses can change their policies anytime.

Happy Birthday!


This post is linked to Works For Me Wednesday at We are That Family

Saving Money on Dance Class

My 5-year old just completed her second year of dance and her first recital. It's been a great experience for her. I'm convinced she was born to be on stage, which is quite a shock for her father and I who were born to be anywhere but the stage!

Dance class can be very expensive, the classes themselves, dance apparel, shoes, recital fees, recital costumes, the list goes on and on. And this past year has been a particular hard financial year for us. We simply could not have even afforded the dance class had it not been for the generous gift from the grandparents.

Here are some ways that I saved on the classes and other items that go along with it.

Shop around for different dance studios. We live in a metropolitan area, so there are many dance studios. I discovered that by just crossing the county line to a surburan area, that the tuition costs were much less.

Ask about a discount for siblings. If you have more than one child interested in dance, ask the studio if they will give you a break on the second child's class fees.

Purchase attire and shoes at consignment shops. Ask your studio if they require you to purchase their dance attire and shoes. Many do not. I shopped consignment shops and seasonal sales and found leotards and tap shoes for a quarter of the price that the dance studio sold theirs for.

Take your own pictures. The professional pictures were very expensive. We chose to take our own pictures of our daughter in her costumes at home. These pictures were just as good, and with all the photo deals that are available from Walgreens, Target, Snapfish and other online photo sites, I can get as many copies and sizes as I want for zero or little money.
Another option for pictures is keep an eye out for promotional deals at some of the in-house picture studios at Wal-Mart, Target, JCPenney, etc. Often you can get a small promotional package of professional pictures for just a few dollars.

Make your own video. We were not allowed to video the actual recital (because they wanted you to purchase the $50 dvd). But, we could video the dress rehearsal that was held on the same stage. My husband videoed the rehearsal, and edited it using windows movie maker, and we have a very good video record of the event for free!

These tricks helped us to afford an activity for our daughter that otherwise would not have been possible right now. What do you do to save on extra-curricular activites for the kids? I would love to know.


This is part of of Works For Me Wednesday at We are That Family.

Reorganizing the Bathroom Closet

I've been taking some time off from blogging to concentrate on some work issues and also household issues.

One of those household issues is my closets. They are out of control. The worst offender, was the bathroom closet. My bathroom closet serves multiple purposes. It is the linen closet (bath ,bed and table), my medicine cabinet, where my stockpile of toiletries are kept and also just a home for odds and ends. My stockpile had taken over the whole closet and it was assured that you would be hit by some falling object each time you opened the door. So here's how I organized:

1.) I took inventory of my toiletries. Wow! I had a huge amount of stuff, so much that I didn't even know what I had. So, I sorted and donated alot of it so that I could fit it all onto one shelf in the closet. Don't worry, I still will not run out of any shampoo, bodywash or deodorant for at least 6 months or more.

I have found that putting things in baskets or some kind of container helps keep them organized and prevents things from falling over on one another or getting shuffled around. I designated a basket for the following categories:
- Kid/Baby toiletries
- Dental & deodorant (yea, those 2 things don't really go together, but they all fit nicely into the basket)
- Skin (bodywash, lotion, etc)
- Hair (shampoo, conditioner, hairspray, etc)
- Paper products (TP, feminine products, wet wipes, etc) - because of the size, this actually ended up on the floor of the closet - but it's nice and neat now.

* Frugal Note: for inexpensive storage containers, check the thriftstore. I find plastic baskets for as little as .25 cents and the wicker and lined baskets for about a dollar. Way less than some specialty store or even WalMart or Target. They don't match, but if they're just going to be in your closet where no one but you sees them, who cares!

2.) I re-purposed some spice racks and hung them on the inside wall of the closet and one on the inside of the door for medicines and medical supplies. These shelves are all high enough so that even if little hands managed to get through the locked door, they could not reach the meds. I organized as such:
- Dog/Cat Meds (yep, my animals have their own shelf of meds)
- Cold/Allergy meds
- Pain relievers
- Prescription meds
- Vitamins/all natural meds
- First Aid supplies
- Band Aids

3.) The next issue was the bedsheets. We have tons of bedsheets, and actually only use 3 sets on a regular basis. I got rid of some (still probably not enough). To keep the sets together, I folded the flat sheet and fitted sheet cases and placed them inside one of matching pillow cases. When I change my bed, I can just grab the pillow case and everything I need should be inside.

4.) My breakdown of the closet shelves are now the following:
- 1 shelf for bed linens
- 2 shelves for bath linens
- 1 shelf for toiletries
- 1 shelf for odds and ends that need a home (beach towels, heating pads, table linens)

It feels so much better to be able to open my bathroom closet and not get struck by a UFO! Have you got a tip for organizing closets or stockpiles? Let me know, I have several other areas I want to tackle.

This post is part of Works for Me Wednesday at We are That Family!

Nashville Flood

I have been living through the Great Flood of Middle Tennessee. We've received more rain in the past 2 days than any other time since they began recording rainfall. The entrance to our neighborhood has been under 4 feet of water and the road leading to our neighborhood has been washed away. We are very lucky and grateful that our house is on a hill and water has not gotten to it.

There are hundreds of families living in shelters right now and thousands more without power. Lots of damage to homes and businesses all over town.

My thoughts and prayers go out to all affected. To help with the cleanup and recovery go to Hands On Nashville. To make a monetary donation go Nashville Red Cross

Big Birthday on a Small Budget

We just celebrated our daughter's 5th Birthday. She had a blast and I think she will remember it for a long time.

This year our birthday celebration budget was smaller than ever before. So, I had to get creative in ways to celebrate this milestone birthday.

1. Party at Home. Instead of having a party at a location (i.e. Chuck E Cheese) we decided to have an "old fashion" birthday party at home. We played games like duck, duck goose, Red Rover, Simon Says, and we had a pinata. Exactly when was it decided that every child's birthday had to be celebrated at an expensive venue?

2. Use Evite for invitations. I sent out electronic invitations using the FREE website, Evite. No cost for invitations or postage. Evite lets you customize your invitation to any event, including letting you use your own pictures. It also has a function that lets you keep track of all the RSVPs. And, automatically sent out a reminder to the invitees a couple of days before the event.

3. Homemade Birthday Cake/Cupcakes. Using cake mix that I paid .25 cents after a coupon and sale at Publix and FREE frosting from a different sale, my sister made a beautiful cupcake/cake creation. She actually made a couple of designs. The one picture above with vanilla cupcakes and one with chocolate cupcakes arranged in the shape of Mickey Mouse! The whole thing cost about $2.00!

4. Snack food and drinks from sales. I began to stock up on soda and snack food items back in February when I could find them on sale. We had potato chips, tortilla chips with Rotel Dip, veggie tray, cheese, rice krispie treats , cheese & crackers and marinated meatballs all for about $20.

5. Generic party paper products. Instead of buying the trademarked themed paper plates, cups, party hats, etc, this year I purchased generic "princess" themed party items from Dollar General. Each pack was about a dollar each, but then I used a special coupon that DG put out for 20% off your total purchase. They worked just as well, and my daughter was very happy with them -- they were pink and purple, her favorite!

6. Make your own decorations. We are always making arts & craft projects around my house. So, I decided, why not turn some of those crafts into birthday decorations? We made flowers and butterflies, hung them with curling ribbon from the ceiling for decorations. My sister brought over some streamers and balloons to add to the decorations and it made for quite a festive environment.

7. Free Kids Music. We pulled up I-Tunes and played kids songs that we had downloaded for free. Keep an eye out for places like Amazon, where they will often offer legal free music downloads (particularly kids music) for a limited time. We have over a hundred kids songs that we've downloaded for free - legally!

8. Inexpensive Goody Bags. Goody bags can be a budget buster for sure! Just the pre-printed bags themselves that are in the birthday aisle are several dollars for a small quantity. I purchased a pack of 50 white paper lunch bags (in the paper/plastic wrap aisle at Wal-Mart) for $1.50. We decorated them with crayons, markers and stickers we already had. I went to the "Everything's a Dollar" store and purchased multi packs of toy items like crayons, spinners, and other items that I could break up and put in each bag. I also purchased a box of individual snack items and mini juice boxes, and put one in each bag. Wallah! Each child got a goody bag full of exciting things that cost me about a $1.50 a bag.

So, you can have a great kid's party on a small budget. It does take some creative thinking, and some advance planning. But, it was totally worth it to us!

If you've got a creative and inexpensive idea for a kid's party, let me know! The next one will be here before we know it!

This is link to Works For Me Wednesday hosted by We Are That Family

Taking the Day Off - Partying Like a 5 Year Old!

Today is my daughter's Birthday! So I will be taking a break from the blog!

Happy Saturday!!

Happy No Housework Day!

Ahhhh!!! I can wish!

Home Depot Do it Herself Workshop

Home Depot is doing another Do It Herself Workshop. These are great classes and can really help you save some money on home improvements.

Sign up for the Home Improver Club. Click Here

I won a DiGiorno Pizza Party!

A couple of months ago, I signed up with House Party to host a DiGiorno Pizza Party. I was one of the lucky winners! This party was to introduce their new pizza and breadsticks line. I have to say, it was really good pizza.

In the "party box". I received coupons for free pizzas, an apron, paper coasters and party beads and coupons for all my guests. I also received a bottletop basketball game that the kids enjoyed playing with.

My sisters, a couple of neighbor kids and my sisters in-laws joined us. One sister brought drinks that she picked up from the Kroger Mega Sale for .79 each and the other sister brought brownies she made from a mix that she got from a sale for only .25 cents. The pizza and breadsticks were free with the coupons from DiGiorno. We figured that we had a nice little family party for less than $10!

It was a great time had by all. Even the littlest member of our family enjoyed it! Notice the snowman plate?? I thought I had plain paper plates, but realized shortly before the party that they were all Christmas themed plates! Oh well! You use what you have!

If you are interested in applying to host a house party. Go here to see the current offerings. There are ally kinds of products that you can promote while having a house party.

WFMW: Homework for the 4 Year Old

Recently we've had some role reversals in my household. Hubs is playing "Mr. Mom" while I am working outside the home a few days a week. It's tough for dads who are used to going to a job outside the home and being with adults all day to suddenly be trapped at home with babies and preschoolers.

Of course the biggest challenge is how to keep our 4 year old occupied all day - without her watching 8 hours of television!

Here's the plan I came up with: Homework assignments for my 4 year old!

Everyday before I leave for work, I write some assignments for her to complete on her chalkboard. Some of the assignments so far have been:

Write the number "4" and the number "9" (those are two numbers she struggles with)
-- she also had worksheets to help her with this.

Write your phone number 7 times.

Draw a triangle 10 times (I had discovered that she could draw every shape except a triangle)

Complete the hidden pictures puzzle in her Highlights Magazine.

This has been working pretty good so far. She was thrilled to have an "assignment", it's help to keep her on track for kindergarten preparation, it's made me feel less bad about having to go back to work, and it's given my husband a little break because she will concentrate on this activity for quite a while.

It Works For Me! See other helpful tips about all kinds of things at Rocks in My Dryer: Works For Me Wednesday.

How Thrifty are You?

1. Do you use coupons to save over 50% or more on your groceries?
Yes, I'm averaging 65% right now! Yea!

2. Do you reuse paper products like foil, plastic baggies, or plastic utensils?
I do re-use plastic baggies as long as what was in them originally was not yucky or smelly.
I tried washing them in the dishwasher for a while. That didn't work for me.

3. Do you buy things like clothes, home goods, or entertainment items for full price? No. Most of those items come from consignment sales, thriftstores or the clearance shelf.

4. Do you eat out more than once a week?
Hah! Try once a month and then only with a coupon or a B1G1 special.

5. Do you feel an obligation to take free samples or toiletries in hotels?
I do send off for free samples of some things especially if I think they may also send coupons along with the sample. I don't normally take the free toiletries at a hotel. But I haven't stayed in a hotel since we brought our little girl home. Maybe I'll start taking the free toiletries now.

6. Do you send in more than one mail-in rebate a month?
Sometimes, but one a month is my average. Usually rebates have to be a money maker for me to invest money in the product up front. Unless it's a product that I had to buy anyway.

7. Do you feel an obligation or need to stop at every yard sale you pass?
I often wish I could stop, but most of the time I'm going somewhere and don't have the time. I'm not great at the yardsaling thing. But I do hit a few every season.

8. Do you recycle items on Freecycle or for money?
I've taken things offered on Freecycle but I've never posted an offer yet. Need to do that.

We recycle and compost 90% of our trash but we don't earn money for it. We do save money by not using a trash pickup service. What little trash cannot be recycled is dropped off with a garbage collection truck that is permenantly parked at our recycling center.

9. Have you lowered all your bills to the smallest amount you can pay for acceptable services? I think so. I hang dry quite a bit of our clothes to avoid the dryer. And my husband has sacrificed ESPN and I've sacrificed Lifetime so that we only pay $12 bucks for a limited satellite TV package.

10. Have you figured out the best way to save money is to spend less and stretch all you have as far as you can? Yes. It took 30 years, but I got it.

See what others said at The Coupon Teacher

Supernanny comes to Nashville

I have days when I would pay Super Nanny a million dollars to come to my house. This week we're in luck.

Supernanny producers will be at the Adventure Science Center from 1 -4 on Sunday looking for "out of control" (their words, not mine) families to appear on the show. If you're interested in getting into the reality TV show world, here's your opportunity! No need to pretend to put your child in a runaway balloon.

Do You Know Where Your Food Comes From?

I watched a very interesting show on Oprah yesterday. It was about how our food is processed in America and how the process has changed so much over the last 20 years. They talked about the genetic engineering that is done with our everyday food (beef, chicken, grains, vegetables etc). And the amount of antibiotics, preservatives, and everything else that we cannot even pronounce that is put into our food. And the sugar! Sugar is in everything! No wonder we're getting fatter, and having more and more health problems.

There is a very interesting documentary out right now, called Food Inc.
It shows exactly how our food is raised and processed. I think it's a good opportunity to see things first hand and make informed decisions at the grocery store. The frugalista in me cannot bear to actually purchase DVDs normally but I did buy this one. Okay -- actually, I used a free Amazon gift card I earned from a Coinstar promotion. But, this dvd can also be checked out at the library for free! Or, most major video stores and Netflix are carrying it as well (I did not see it on Redbox though).

If you want to buy the dvd, Amazon has it on special for $9.99. This is a special Oprah deal and is only good till midnight Friday, January 29.

I WISH I could purchase all my food organic, natural, not pre-packaged. But sadly it is not always time efficient or financially feasable right now. But, that is what we must change in our nation. Why is it cheaper to buy big bag of potato chips rather than a 10lb bag of whole potatoes?? I will be making even more conscious food choices that can fit into my budget going forward.

Frugal Dessert

Tonight my family went out for our "monthly dinner out". With the help of a B1G1 coupon, we were able to eat for about $15. My 4 year-old spied some cookies that she wanted for dessert. I told her she could have one provided she ate her dinner. I didn't notice the price of the cookies before agreeing. $2.00 for one, 2-inch cookie! Ugh! It killed me to have to pay that much (especially since I knew I had cookie mix at home that I paid .25 cents for) but she held up her end of the agreement so I had to hold up mine.

Then I noticed out the window, Walgreens. Walgreens had candy bars on sale for .39 cents this week. So, I offered her a choice, a cookie from the restaurant, or a candy bar from Walgreens. She took the candy bar! Yea!

The whole family ended up getting candy bars for less than the cost of one cookie. And I will rest easy tonight knowing that I didn't pay $2 dollars (plus tax) for one little cookie!

Who's writing this blog anyway?