Frugal Living

Save Money Using Gift Cards Specials

November 15, 2010 by 9 Comments

Save Money Using Gift Cards Specials

If you like to eat out, check and see if your favorite restaurant is offering gift card specials right now.

I just drove by Applebee’s and if you buy a $50 Gift Card, you get a $10 gift card also.

At Spangles (a local hamburger joint), if you buy a $10 gift card you get a free Christmas CD. My brother and his family were going there to eat. They saw the deal, so they bought the gift cards first, then ordered dinner and paid for it with the gift card. They got a free Christmas CD to take home just for eating out that night which they were going to do anyway.

So if you’re eating out, see if the restaurant is offering any gift card specials before you order. If so, get a gift card first, then order, then pay for your meal with the gift card!

-Tawra

photo by: bfishadow

Using Leftover Oatmeal

November 6, 2010 by 13 Comments

Easy Idea For Using Leftover Oatmeal

Hello. I just thought I’d share a tip I learned recently about oatmeal (after seeing your post of breakfast tips). We find re-heated oatmeal unappealing to serve again as a cereal. But the thrifty in me hates to throw it out. I learned recently to put it in pancake batter.

Just mix your batter normally and add in the oatmeal to the finished product. You may need to add just a touch of milk, but I rarely do. This actually makes the pancakes heartier as well as using up something that may otherwise go to waste. The same gal that told me of this trick also adds it to bread dough. I haven’t tried it yet, but look forward to doing so soon!

Rachel

I bet this would be good in bread and even in muffins or other quick breads.

-Jill

photo by: kthread

Easy Cornbread Recipe

September 23, 2010 by 13 Comments

This easy cornbread recipe is an easy and especially delicious variation on regular cornbread submitted by one of our readers, Gail. It just takes a couple minuted to out together and then you can bake it while you prepare the rest of your meal!

Easy Cornbread Recipe

2 boxes Jiffy Mix
2-4 tsp. grated onion
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 can creamed corn
1 cup grated cheese

Mix and pour into a 9×13 pan and bake at 350 degrees until done, about 20-30 minutes.

Tip:

One of the best ways to cook this easy cornbread recipe or any cornbread is in a cast iron skillet greased with bacon grease. If you can, heat the skillet nice and hot before pouring the batter in. I sometimes place the skillet in the oven while I am preheating it and mixing the batter. I then pull it out, grease it and pour in the batter. Be careful you don’t burn yourselves. Thanks Gail for the recipe!!
Tawra

Photo By: davidpbaxter

Fixing A Broken Hairdryer

September 4, 2010 by 7 Comments

Hi Tawra and Jill,

Just wanted to share something I learned the other day. My husband was taking a power nap on Saturday morning, and I went to the bathroom to dry my hair. My hair dryer would not turn on. I thought the breaker was thrown, so I went to the garage, but all appeared normal. I then took the hair dryer to our hall bathroom, and it wouldn’t turn on there either. I figured it broke, and tossed in the trash.

When my husband got up I told him I needed to get a new hair dryer. He said that he might be able to fix it, so I dug it out of the trash and wiped off that mornings grits.

Next I saw him going back and forth to the garage and bathrooms. Then he told me something I never knew. Our two bathrooms are GFI grounded, whatever that means. All I had to do was push the red re-set button in the hall bathroom and power was then restored to both bathrooms. There was not a thing wrong with the hair dryer.

If he had not been there to find this out, I would have probably headed to Wal-mart for a new one, spending $10-$15. So his few minutes of looking around saved us quite a bit of money. BTW, the hair dryer and curling iron were Christmas gifts from my mom. She always calls to see what I want and I like practical gifts, not things that just accumulate but things I can actually use. One year my dad got me new baking pans. Why do I need bottles of perfume, expensive jackets or purses?

Rachel

Photo By: Brent Kern1

School Fees

August 6, 2010 by 24 Comments

From: Rachel

Tawra, I was reading some of your older blogs, and you mentioned paying textbook rental fees for your kids. Do you still have to do this?

Yep! This year it will be almost $400 for our 3 kids to attend "free" public school, on top of what we pay for taxes, which for us is the highest in the state.

It’s $75 for textbook fees for each, $25 technology fee (for computers) and we then we have to pay for field trips, shirts for the class and other extras. I have to say I wouldn’t mind except that I see so much waste. In these supposed hard times why does each kid in the class need a matching T-shirt to wear each Friday? We also have to pay for some class parties like Christmas and Valentine’s Day.

It is also very irritating that the list will call for things that the kids don’t even use. Notebooks come home with 3 or 4 pages used. Camera film is asked for but not used. Then kids are taught not to be wasteful. I know mom who had to buy 30 glue sticks for her son. Just crazy!!!

I am waiting until the very last second to enroll them since we are trying to sell our house. That last second is 4:00 next Tuesday! I am still holding out hope that we can get it sold this week! 🙂 Thankfully I don’t have to pay the fees until the day school starts.

We did go shopping today for school supplies and it cost us about $25 for each kid including backpacks (thrift store finds).

So I’m curious, how much do you have to pay for the your kids "free" education?

Tawra

photo by: seeveeaar