Free Dinner Anyone?

Right now, Panda Express is offering a printable coupon (http://184.106.246.200/Zodiac/coupon.php) to get FREE Firecracker Chicken Breast on Feb 3rd. Make sure to print your coupon asap (they sometimes pull coupons early!). Its no purchase necessary, so I suggest you spare your wallets and go through the drive thru and just get the chicken! Add a side to your chicken entree at home and WHALA- Nearly free dinner! :)

Putting It All On The Line

Smells often trigger the past. And nothing triggers the past for me like the smell of line dried laundry. Growing up, I remember that my mom used a clothesline to dry clothes in the summer on nice days. When times were hard or the dryer was broken, no matter the weather, the clothesline was the fall-back plan. I spoke to my mom recently (she currently uses a clothesline since she doesn't have a dryer) and she explained how much her electric bill has gone down since she has line dried. We have a high efficiency front loader washer and dryer, but I am very aware that NO energy use is better than even a little.

So, last week I went to Walmart and bought a retractable clothesline for the whopping investment of 7.68. We hung it proudly, yet not in the best location that night. The next morning I could not wait to get a load of laundry of the line to see how long it would take to dry and how the clothes would feel. The first two loads took me about 20 mins to hang on the line and within a few hours they were dry! I decided since they were a bit stiff hard as a rock, to throw them on the air dry cycle (no heat) for a few mins. And thats all it took- 4 mins -and they were soft and just like they were dried in the dryer. Another option to soften line dried laundry is to add vinegar to the rinse cycle. The vinegar smell will not remain but you will have a natural way to soften!

This is what a clothesline in a small home looks like. Everytime I take my daughter to nap, she plucks the clothes from the line for me. Such a little helper.....

Although, it did take more time than just throwing it in the dryer and walking away, I was willing to sacrifice the small amount of time it took to "get paid" to line dry. During my research I found, for every hour you spend hanging laundry, you are saving $10 (estimate). That will add up. In the US, dryers consume 70 billion kilowatt hours each year!!! According to Green Energy Efficient Homes, If every American line dried once every seven loads, they would reduce energy demand by one billion kilowatt hours!!

Even with the most efficient appliances, its best to remember that ANY energy use costs money. Also, buying dryer sheets or laundry softener can be a thing of the past! If you find an alternative, use it. It make take so extra time but a penny saved is a penny earned. Get paid to save. Think about it like this. If you hung your laundry each month, you could afford to go to the movies or out to dinner. Even better, you could put it into savings!

I will keep you updated as to whether we run into any problems and feel free to write comments for suggestions to others! :)

For additional information on line drying, check out these links:

http://www.green-energy-efficient-homes.com/energy-efficient-washer-and-dryer.html

http://www.instructables.com/id/Lazy-Line-Dry/

Reader Q&A: Stockpiling

"Most of coupon shopping seems to do with stockpiling items on sale. But the items don't always seem to go together in such a way to make a meal. I guess after several weeks of stockpiling, your pantry will lead to meals. I guess that because of that I don't see what makes couponing better than just careful meal planning around the weekly sales ads and only buying the things you really need. Can you help me understand? Thanks!" -Naomi of Knoxville

Stockpiling often brings hoarders to mind. And maybe this is so but its hoarding for a real purpose. Stockpiling is buying and stocking a great deal of food for the purpose of a rainy day, to save money or to just not have to run to the grocery store every five minutes! We pretty much always make budget conscious meals but to buy materials even for the cheapest meals sometimes is more expensive than it needs to be. For example, Spaghetti is $1+ a box, but in most cases on a good sale you can get it for free or under 10 cents. Spaghetti sauce is normally $2 a jar but on a good sale,its 50 cents. Most meals are made with "staples", meaning can soup, pasta, rice, etc. These staple items are used in the majority or our meals. Also, we use sales to plan our meals. We use staples mixed with perishable goods that are on sale to create our meal ideas. By stockpiling, you are allowing yourself to pay the best price for a items you are probably going to use instead of paying full price in a rush because you need it now. Grocery stores go on 6 week cycles with their sales, so I stock up on 6 weeks of a great sale each time they have it. That way during the 5 odd weeks, I don't have to pay full price, which I HATE DOING! Haha.

Hope this makes sense to you. Couponing should be used in conjunction with budget conscious meal planning. Another thing, I think couponing helps is allowing you to cook different meals because you are getting to try some stuff for free and it changes things up a bit. :)

Here are some quick shots of my stockpile items (not to include whats already in my pantry..haha):

Have a question? Send it to candiceburnham@gmail.com to be part of the Reader Q&A! I will do my best to research great answers for you!

Here are some additional resources to help you start stockpiling today:

http://www.suite101.com/content/save-money-on-food-and-toiletries-a213504

http://www.ehow.com/how_6601484_create-stockpile-food-using-coupons.html

www.southernsavers.com

Shopping Success 1/23 Kroger Trip

Today was a great success at Kroger. I don't usually like to do the primary part of my shopping at Kroger because their sales are okay most of the time but not as great as Publix. I am a bit spoiled with Publix because each week I get a ton of groceries there for next to nothing. But this week was Kroger's Mega Event and I thought it might have potential. I prepared for the trip by using Southernsavers.com (SOSA). I printed and clipped all the listed coupons on SOSA and managed some great deals! I got all of this for 19.96 after tax! I like stocking up when things are on sale, so you will notice that I buy a great deal of sale items when 1)I have a coupon and 2) when its a worthy sale.

At Kroger this week, they have DelMonte Veggies and Hunts and Rotel Tomatoes as part of their buy 10 get $5 back promo. 50 cent can veggies are not amazing since you can buy them at Walmart everyday for 50 cents but I think that Delmonte (and not having to go to Walmart) are worth the price even more! I was THROUGHLY excited about the can tomatoes which were also 50 cents a can (and I had coupons for!!!). You know you are old when you get more excited about can veggies than your Saturday plans (which just so happen to be planning my grocery trip.....haha). If you are in need of can veggies, jump on this deal! In addition to that, I found French's mustard (with coupon!) was also a great deal.

Though Kroger's deals aren't totally up to par with Publix, you can't beat a good sale! :)

If You Don't Know Jack, You're Might Be Missing Out!

A year ago, I was pondering life after having my daughter. After maternity leave, I had to return to my job but only part time from home. After discussing the linguistics of how my working from home was going to go, I realized that I would need a phone-not my cell phone- for the many business calls that I get each day because we couldn't afford blowing our small budget for minutes. My employer does not provide free phones to those who work from home, so I began to panic thinking that I was cutting my hours and now adding another cost.

During my research, I found Magic Jack. Don't let the name fool you, its not magic. Magic brings magnificent tricks to mind and thats not Magic Jack but it does offer a basic solution. Before I explain more about the Magic Jack, I feel you should have to watch a couple of informative hilarious videos on the topic.

Now that you have been schooled by an 11 year old, you can understand a bit of the potential for savings with the Magic Jack. We have used our for nearly a year now (all be it not daily) and we have found it to be extremely worthwhile if you need a home phone. It works for us perfectly when we need it and does exactly what it was meant to do.

There are cons for the Magic Jack though. You must have a computer and it must be on for you to be able to receive or make calls. The call quality is great for ours and when the computer is not on, messages are forwarded to your email. How amazing is that?? You can check your message from ANYWHERE you have a computer! Yet, its still not "magical" even with this feature. The customer service is also not great.

With all of that being said, I must say that for $40 (includes device and service) for the first year and $20 for every year after that, it is a worthwhile investment for those who have to have a home phone. For me, the best feature was that all calls to the US and CANADA are free! My best friend lives in Canada so I was sold. If you don't need a home phone and can rely on cell phones, this is not for you. A more reliable and cheaper option might be Skype. Yes, it still requires a computer, but its also free. What's better than free?

So now you know Jack. Maybe you will be friends or maybe you will choose to be a bit pickier! :)

365: A Year of Saving!

365 days doesn’t seem like a lot of time to change your life, but for anyone that has experienced life-altering circumstances, they know that even one day can change your life entirely. The life lessons you are taught by each day give you the opportunity to change.

Now, lets get to the life-altering moment in my life that brings me to creating this blog and taking on the hefty task of saving $15,000 in 365 days.........

As a child, my parents owned a business, a beautiful home in a quiet country neighborhood in Oklahoma and it was the picture perfect life for our family of six. But come on? That wouldn’t be interesting, right? No, of course not, so we continue.

Flash-forward one year. Switch the beautiful home in a quiet country to this....

No, we didn’t own it.....

For almost two years, we shared time living at this motel, a van and a WONDERFUL homeless family housing project. The time we spent homeless was stressful at times, but we also gained unimaginable memories and strengths from the lessons that we learned EVERY day. Surprisingly, some of my favorite childhood moments came from a time that my family and a dog camped out and lived in one van eating $1 Whoppers from Burger King for many dinners.

With that being said, it also created indescribable fears that I would carry through life and I will probably never be able to shake. I don’t ever want to live the life of uncertainty ever again, especially as a mother. And luckily, I haven’t since graduating college.

And here we are with 2011 freshly sprung upon us, we are changing our habits and everyday lifestyle as we “tighten the belt.” With our income, we could get by living comfortably like we have done in past years, but we wouldn’t be able to save for the all-to-common “rainy-day” that I know too well can come in an instant.

So here’s the plan: Cut every unnecessary cost, luxury and bills down to the bare minimum that our sanity can withstand! This blog will document our journey that leads us to $15,000 in 365.

And no post about childhood would be complete without a glorious family photo (sans dad). Marvel at our eye-catching style and please don't be too jealous....