Learn how to save money at home by making your own laundry soap, fire starters, and other neat ideas.

Here are some ways to save money at home by making your own products.

Save Money With Homemade Laundry Soap

Many household items have increased in price lately, and laundry soap is one of them. The detergent can be made at home very easily, and the final cost will be around 1 penny per load!

½ cup Borax
½ cup washing soda
1 bar soap
2 gallons water

The Borax and washing soda can be found at most grocery stores. Do not confuse washing soda with Arm and Hammer laundry detergent or baking soda. Shred the bar of soap into 8 cups of hot water, and melt, stirring occasionally. Add the Borax and the washing soda to 2 quarts of warm water in a five gallon bucket. When the borax and washing soda are dissolved, add the melted soap mixture. Add 1 gallon of water and stir thoroughly. Let it sit for 24 hours. The consistency will be that of chunky soup. Do not expect lots of suds when using this detergent; however, it works as well as commercial detergent, and ends up costing around 1 cent per load. Two batches fit into one five gallon bucket.

Save Money With Fire Starters

Many people are heating their homes with wood in order to save money on heating bills. To make starting those fires easier, make fire starters out of materials that would otherwise be thrown away.

dryer lint
paper egg cartons (not Styrofoam)
wax (paraffin) – found in ordinary grocery stores

Collect dryer lint and egg cartons over time. Stuff each section of the egg carton with lint. Melt the wax in a double boiler, using a large can or pot that will not be used for cooking. Pour the melted wax over the lint in the egg cartons. Store the new packages of fires starters near the fire place or wood stove, and start each fire with one section of the egg carton.

Save Money With All Purpose Cleansers

There are many recipes on the internet for homemade all purpose cleanser. It is easy, however, to make commercial cleanser inexpensive. Simple fill a spray bottle one fourth full of cleanser, and fill the rest with water. This dilutes the cleanser to make it last much longer, and is still effective enough for mostly cleansing jobs. Another option is using bleach rather than commercial cleanser. Use with caution, however, because whatever the bleach solution comes in contact with will develop bleach spots.

Save Money on Window Cleansers

The easiest and cheapest way to clean windows or mirrors is a 50/50 mixture of white, distilled vinegar and water. Obtain a cheap spray bottle at a local grocery store (consider checking the gardening center or house plant department) and fill with the mixture.

Save Money on Christmas Candy

It seems strange to begin a segment on Christmas candy with Halloween, but therein lays the secret. On Halloween night, when Trick or Treating is over, allow the children to eat all they want. After they have gone to bed for the night, collect the remaining candy and hide it in the freezer. Come Christmas time, ask Santa Claus to put it in the Christmas stockings on Christmas Eve! Get two holidays out of one bulk candy purchase!

Save Money on Soda Pop

Many fast food restaurants are starting to have “Happy Hours,” when they offer fountain drinks at half off. Plan errand-running trips around these “Happy Hours.” When the drink is consumed, do not throw away the cups. Even more gas stations are offering refills on fountain sodas if the cup is brought in. Often the costs are less than $1; some establishments offer refills for 50 cents.

The secret to most money-saving ideas is creativity. Think about what is being spent, and find a unique way to provide the same thing in a cheaper way. Just think outside the box . . . and never, ever pay for a box!

How do you save money in creative ways?

The holiday season seemed to fly by this past year, and shortly after New Year’s I discovered that I hadn’t done something that normally is second nature to me: I hadn’t planned a menu for over two months! Christmas preparations interrupted my meal preparations, and it was painfully obvious in our grocery bill. The price of food has risen quite a bit in the past few months, and it didn’t help that I wasn’t shopping the sales or using coupons to keep our budget under control.

Maybe this has happened to you, too! So what to do when you’ve fallen off what I like to call the “menu planning bandwagon“? How do you reclaim your grocery budget when you take one look at the random ingredients in your cupboard and just want to forget it? Let me share with you some tips on how to pull yourself up and where to start bringing your food bill under control once again.

 Take Inventory

Take a look in your pantry, cupboards, fridge and freezer and make a list of what food items you have and how much of each. This might take awhile the first time you do it but it will most definitely help you as you create your  menu. It will certainly help you save money because you won’t be buying so many new ingredients!

Make Meals with the Food You Have on Hand

If you discover you already have a reasonable amount and variety of food, create a week’s worth of menus utilizing only that food. Even a couple of days’ worth of meals is good, giving you time to prepare and shop for your upcoming week. If you’re out of creative juice (or just feeling lazy, like me!), use a website like All Recipes to come up with meal ideas. You can enter up to four ingredients on the website and it will generate a list of recipes based on your input.

Check the Grocery Store Sales and Plan a Menu

Once you’re armed with your inventory list, check your local store flyers to find out what food is on sale. Using your family, favorite cookbooks or All Recipes, create meals based on your food inventory combined with any desirable sale items. If possible, check for any coupons you may have found that can be stacked with sale items for additional savings. Remember also to account for breakfast and snacks.

Try to use as much of your inventory as possible, substituting recipe ingredients if needed. Many ingredients can be swapped with others in a favorite meal and still taste great! Start by planning a week’s worth of meals at a time if that makes the transition to full-time menu planning easier. Remember, it’s what works for you!

Restock Your Fridge and Pantry

Hopefully you can find an opportunity to go to the store by yourself, but if not, there are ways to survive grocery shopping with your children! While you’re at the store, don’t forget to restock pantry and fridge staples like milk, eggs and bread.

It may take some time, but it’s definitely possible to get back into the swing of menu planning – at least, until next Christmas!

photo credit

Since we decided to begin giving Evan a weekly allowance for his extra jobs around the house, we wanted to have the ability to teach him money skills. The timing was perfect for us to become involved with Kidworth – an amazing online tool to teach kids about money.

Here is the video of us setting up Evan’s Kidworth account. I was so proud of his choices – saving some money this year, wanting to donate to Samaritan’s Purse fabulous ministries, and of course, what 7 year-old boy doesn’t have his eye on a big Lego kit! Sidney and I will make monthly payments into Evan’s Kidworth funds for his saving, spending and sharing goals – reserving a few of his spending dollars in cash for smaller items each month.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The set up on Kidworth is rather intuitive. It was very easy to create a new Sharing goal for Evan that wasn’t on the list. It was also easy to edit one of the existing goals – in this case the Lego Kit – with a different dollar amount than was provided by default.

I would have liked to see the image portions of the goals set up to allow us to upload our own images but otherwise I love the Kidworth set up. One of my favorite parts is that I can send the “public” page to friends and family to allow them to contribute, while still protecting the more sensitive private information.

I am going to recommend a Kidworth account for my sister Paula who is saving up for an extended mission trip to Ecuador. It will make it very easy for people to contribute and track her progress towards her ultimate goal!

You can create an account for your own family at Kidworth.com – and be sure to like them on Facebook and share the great resources they have for families and kids and money!

I was compensated for sharing my Kidworth experiences, but we really are saving up for a goat!

As my children are growing more responsible, I want those skills to include money skills too.

We’ve reached a point in our family where the amount of work being done by our oldest child was not equal to the amount of work being done the other kids. Sidney and I are seeing a development in his maturity; doing things without being asked, helping take care of his younger brothers, etc.

Our Chore and Allowance Philosophy

In our household you have certain things you do just because you’re a living, breathing human member of the family. Your laundry? You put it away. Your dish? You get to put it in the dishwasher. Those aren’t paid for – they are just part of being alive.

Nor do my husband and I believe in paying children to just exist. “Oh you were alive for an entire week? Here’s 5 bucks.” That doesn’t happen in our house either.

Why We Decided to Pay for Certain Chores

What we’ve noticed happening the last couple months, however, is that Evan is sweeping up in the kitchen and NONE of it is his mess. It’s mostly Adam’s mess under his high chair. Or cleaning up the bedrooms – it’s a mess that Micah and Adam made, not Evan. Or carrying in firewood for the entire family? Evan is being helpful and giving his dad a hand, whereas the other two boys aren’t yet able to physically carry it in the house.

So we are sitting down this week to brainstorm what chores are the “extra chores” and what those tasks are worth. Sweeping the kitchen floor? That sounds like a cool $.50 per day to me and well worth it considering at this point in my pregnancy I can’t even bend over with the dust pan! Things like that. The extra above-and-beyond stuff.

What Will We Do With the Money?

This is where the timing of my invitation to consider being a Kidworth brand ambassador was a total God-thing! It’s only the third brand that Untrained Housewife has agreed to work with so far and listening to the founder explain the concept behind it made me realize this was an excellent choice.

Kidworth will help Evan and Brianna create saving, giving and spending habits that will be of tremendous benefit in their future lives as adults. Did you know the average child gets $25,000 in their lifetime yet most leave home with a networth of zero?

Using Kidworth, Sidney and I will be able to sit down with the kids and help them create a savings plan, a giving plan and a spending plan that will serve them well for years to come. And teach them the values about finances and money that are important to our family. We will be able to pay the majority of the job earnings directly into our children’s Kidworth account and allow them to visually track their progress!

Watch for future posts coming soon on how we set up our kids account and how the children respond to this new-found wealth.

What are your philosophies of work, chores, allowance, etc? Do you have a system in place to help your children learn important financial skills? 

Fruits & Veggies are cheaper when they are in season (Photo Credit to Amanda Govaert of Flickr Creative Commons)

Everybody is trimming back the budget these days, but that doesn’t mean your healthful diet has to suffer. In fact, tightening your grocery budget can lead to better eating as you cut back on extras and really pay attention to what you are buying and preparing.

Sometimes, this will include cutting some things out of your diet. Going vegetarian full- or even part-time can really make a difference in your grocery bill, and cutting back on breads and starchy snacks to opt for more filling, nutrient rich foods can help as well.

Dietary restrictions can play a significant part in grocery budgeting, as usually the cheapest available items are not an option. Tonight, at 8 EST, the Udi’s gluten-free community will be chatting about this very topic. Whether or not you have a gluten intolerance, I’m sure there will be plenty of tips and tricks for any situation.

While you wait for the chat to begin, here are some tips to get you started saving money and building healthy habits:

Meal Plan

Planning in advance is incredibly important. Not only does it keep you on track when making your grocery list, but it keeps you on track during the week to use what you have instead of running out of staples halfway through the week.

Make (and Follow!) a Grocery List

Make your list based on your meal plan, and then stick to it! You will be surprised at how much you save by following a list. This can help you use coupons to your advantage, as well.

Prepare Meals  in Advance

Nothing adds up quicker than pizza or fast food runs because you got caught up and didn’t get dinner going in time. Having plenty of meals in the freezer or ready to go into the crock-pot will give you a head start (or a back up plan) when the day gets away from you.

Choose Snacks Wisely

Opting for a handful of almonds instead of chips or crackers will keep you going longer and on less. It may cost a bit more to buy protein-rich foods, but you will be buying and eating less than if you try to sustain on “junk” foods.

Garden

Wherever you can, grow your own foods. This is, of course, limited a bit by time, seasons and locations, but even a single planter in your kitchen can yield a difference. Give it a shot! You have nothing but a bit of dirt and time to lose, and who knows- your thumb may be greener than you’d thought!

Stay Close to Nature

No one can deny that the closer foods are to their natural state, the healthier they are. But with some planning, list-making and possibly even growing, you may find that eating whole foods can also help your budget.

 Do you have any tips for saving money, especially with diet restrictions being gluten free? Share here, and be sure to come back at 8 EST for the live chat!
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If you are looking for the Holiday entertaining and shopping tips, experts Dawn Sandomeno and Elizabeth Mascali are here to help! Their best tip above all: shop for gifts and products for your holiday parties on Black Friday.Dawn Sandomeno and Elizabeth Mascali are entertaining experts, authors of Plan To Party, and the founders of The Party Bluprints Blog. They have appeared as featured experts on TV, radio, and in national publications, namely, the Today Show, Martha Stewart Radio, Good Housekeeping, Redbook and Kiplinger’s Personal Finance Magazines.

This Holiday season, the Party Bluprints experts teamed up with CheapSally.com to find the best deals on Holiday gifts, and they are judges in the Holiday Giftee Awards by Gifts.com.  You can find their gift recommendations in the Best Holiday Gift Ideas for 2011 at Party Bluprints Blog, and then click to CheapSally.com to find the gifts from the gift guide on the lowest prices. Many deals sell out quickly, so you need to locate and act on the information fast.  You will save time and money by visiting CheapSally.com’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday pages.  They aggregate all the best deals across the internet for you, offering a one-stop resource for saving.

But before you shop, read these Holiday Entertaining tips from Dawn and Elizabeth. Their approach to gifting and party planning is simple: keep it easy but elegant, and save money and time where you can.

Tips for Holiday Entertaining

Ho! Ho! Ho! It’s time to start thinking about Christmas Gifts (if you haven’t already finished your shopping) and you know what’s better than finding a great deal on a gift? Getting cash back on top of that! I started using these sites a few months ago and I LOVE them!

Here is a breakdown of the two best cash back sites and how they work.

ShopAtHome.com 

I have had great success using this site.  Sign up with ShopAtHome, click thru to the stores you normally shop at online and receive cash back on your purchases. Once you hit $20 in cash back, they mail you a check.

Example: Looking to purchase a new video game for a gift? If you would normally order it from Target.com, then simply go to ShopAtHome, click on Target – there will most likely be a coupon code to use as well as the cash back (3-10% depending on the promotion) – and make your purchase. A tracking ticket is created when you click through, and there is nothing more for you to do!

Keep a look out for their “Wild Limited Time Deals” for some extreme savings (I scored a few free deodorants). Need to order Christmas Photo Cards? You can get 24% cash back right know if you use ShopAtHome. You really can’t lose here. Just keep in mind that you won’t get a check until you hit $20 and they only mail checks once a month. You can also request free samples and find printable coupons at ShopAtHome.

Ebates.com

This site works essentially the same way, but they pay you every 3 months once you have earned over $5.01 in cash back. And, you can choose your payment method- check in the mail, PayPal OR have them give your cash back to your favorite charity or a family member.

Make sure and sign up for their email so you will know what store is offering the Daily Double in cash back! Through Ebates, you can earn up to 25% cash back on purchases you were already going to make. New users at Ebates receive a bonus of $5 cash.

Other options

There are a lot of other cash back sites out there on the vast world wide web, but make sure you are using a reputable company. You should not have to give these sites anything other than your name, email and address.

Many credit cards and banks also offer cash back – for example, I know Bank of America has the Add It Up program, but I haven’t seen the same high cash back percentages as you would on other sites.

If you are a regular customer on Amazon.com, then you might want to consider getting an Amazon Credit Card (I hate the idea of credit cards, so I am only suggesting this if you have the discipline to pay it off each time you use it). You earn points on all purchases, and now you can check out at Amazon using points that you’ve earned.

And of course there are sites like MyPoints and Swagbucks where you can earn points for taking surveys, searching the internet or reading emails and trade those points in for gift cards.

Even if a few bucks in cash back here or there doesn’t sound like much – it adds up! Think of it as a $1 off coupons (or $5 off!).

Bottom line: DO NOT PAY FULL PRICE – FOR CHRISTMAS GIFTS (*because it pains me to hear about it).

Make your hard-earned money work for you and go score some great deals.

Happy Shopping!!

(Some of these are my referral links, so yes, I get a credit – but I wouldn’t share them with you if I didn’t think they were great programs)

Don't let those windows break your budget! Image credit: Andersen Windows

Choosing new windows for your home can be an exciting time. But before long, little costs that you didn’t expect can add up, and that can wreak havoc on your budget. Even if you are doing the work on your own, there are a few caveats to keep in mind.

Keep your replacement window cost down by keeping an eye on these potential budget-busters:

Delivery

How will your new windows get to you? If you buy them from a home improvement store and have a truck with ample space, there’s no problem. But if you are having them delivered from the manufacturer or dealer, the costs for shipping those heavy and fragile windows can quickly add up.

Disposal of the old windows

Many homeowners choose to keep their old windows and sell them to others at a discounted price. But what if your old windows are too far gone to turn a profit? Check into options for disposal that won’t cost you more than you bargained for.

Changes in the framing

Most of the time, new windows will slip into the space for the old ones. However, problems such as wood rot in the frame or a slightly uneven house can lead to a little construction, and that sends costs up.

Repairs

When you are working with any home improvement project, accidents can and will happen. A broken piece of trim here, a cracked window sill there and you suddenly have to make a special trip to the hardware store.

Permits

This is an issue many homeowners completely forget about until it is time to install the windows. Some areas might require permits before the work can be completed. This is especially true in historic districts, where you might have to run your replacement windows by a commission and have them approved before you can move forward with the work.

Access to upper floors

Most of the time, installation of windows on the first floor of your home doesn’t require a ladder. But those upper floors are a different story. Renting the proper scaffolding and other equipment to keep you safe while you’re up high can be an expense you might not have anticipated.

Painting and finishing

New windows might be finished and ready to install, but the area around them could require some touch-ups before the space looks good as new. Be ready to paint or stain as necessary around the new windows.

Avoid the hidden costs of replacement windows by doing a bit of homework before the purchase. If you are hiring a contractor to handle the job, most of the issues above will be covered. However, if you are doing it yourself, take the extra time to make sure you have covered all the bases before you hand over your hard-earned money and start on the job.

I am not generally a Debbie Downer. My first thought is not thinking about the worst. I hate thinking of what would happen if my husband lost his job. Truth is, rarely anyone really thinks about job loss until it is staring you in the face. With company closings, cut backs, and job loss in America at a 15 year high, it forces us to think of the “what ifs” in order to better prepare for the future.

One of the biggest fears accompanied with job loss would be making the mortgage payment each month to bypass being foreclosed on.

Home mortgage payment protection will take some of the “what ifs” out of your life when it comes to job security. We also have home mortgage insurance in place in case something happens to my husband – our homes would be automatically paid off, giving me a huge peace of mind.

What is home mortgage payment protection?

Simply put, home mortgage payment protection is a safety net for your mortgage payment in the event of unprepared job loss or unforeseen sickness. If you ever were to lose your job, your mortgage payment would be covered, thus eliminating the fear of being foreclosed on.

Why do you need a home mortgage payment protection plan?

With the ups and downs of employment, you want to make sure that in the event that the unthinkable does happen, your assets are covered. A home mortgage payment protection plan is not something you can put off for tomorrow. You can not wait until you have enough money. Many protection plans are tax deductible and offer incentives after so many years of service. With all of life’s uncertainties, this is not something you can afford to miss.

So, what is your game plan?

In today’s climate of uncertain job security, do you have a game plan if the worst was to happen? If you lost your job today,  do you know how you would pay for bills, sickness, your mortgage? I know with four kids and one on the way, things would be more than a little tight for my family.

Genworth Financial has many options when it comes to home mortgage payment protection. They have options for discounts, assistant programs, and homebuyer privileges.  Home mortgage payment protection does not have to be out of your reach. You do not have to worry about tomorrow or always be asking “what if?”

This post is a sponsored post but I am extremely grateful my husband made arrangements for our mortgages to be paid off if anything happened to our steadiest breadwinner. Everyone should make sure they would be covered in case of the worst. Five Minutes for Mom is asking a related question – How is the housing market where you live? Are foreclosures on the rise?

You are excited just from the title aren’t you?!

I am proud to admit that I have a teensy bit of an obsession with organizing, the problem is, I often have trouble deciding on a final method or system for whatever it is that I am currently organizing (within an inch of its life). I have run into this problem with the coupon organizing system, but hopefully I can give you some suggestions so you don’t have to waste your time trying every available method.

You can’t dive headfirst into … couponing (still cringing at that word)… if you are just gonna stack Sunday coupon inserts and printable coupons up in a corner by your desk, can you? No, you cannot. If you are going to do this, and I mean really do this, then you are going to need a system. It’s like anything else – put in a lot of work now and then eventually it will become second nature.

There are coupon boxes, binders, satchels and envelopes- and there are numerous places on the Internet where you can buy  ”coupon organizing systems.” I recommend researching all the methods but buying your own supplies.  It is much cheaper than buying someone’s (overpriced) system – and I mean, isn’t this all about saving money?

There are a ton of sites out there with advice on how to organize your coupons (I know, I have visited all of them…. ALL OF THEM).

Here are some examples:

A video of the Krazy Coupon Lady teaching Kathie Lee on the Today Show how to organize your binder

Coupon Binder DIY

MomSaves tutorial

Money Saving Mom’s organizing method

But as I have said all along – what works for one person won’t work for another – so you will have to try a few different systems before you find what works for you. In fact, I am currently using about three different methods – but it works … for now.

The Coupon Binder

I recently had to upgrade to a 3″ binder because my 1″ one just wasn’t working anymore- way too over-stuffed. I went with one that has a nylon exterior and zips closed to prevent any coupons from falling out. This one also has a few file folders which I use for store circulars, restaurant coupons or rebate forms.

As far as whether or not to cut each coupon and file accordingly – that may be a matter of preference and available time. I originally was separating each Sunday insert and slipping the full pages into sheet protectors and then keeping them in the binder- making sure to use file tabs to separate by date they were in the paper because that is how the coupon deal websites categorize them (i.e. You need the razor coupon from the 9/18 Smart Source coupon insert). And this method worked for a while, but once you start to clip the ones you need it can start to get messy.

So now, I cut each coupon and file by category (free printable categories).  I use 4-pocket currency pages, baseball card holders, and full sheet protectors to file the coupons. When I sit down with my store lists (matched with coupons), all I have to do is flip through the binder to pull out my coupons, and then I put them in an envelope (one for each store) in the same order as my list. It makes the process much faster.

Bottom line – you have to plan ahead before heading out on a shopping trip, or you will inevitably spend more than you had planned.

Happy shopping everyone!

Next up … Using cash-back sites, just in time for Holiday shopping!