Toy and Clothes Hammocks

We used to own one of these. We got it at Walmart and put stuffed animals in it. When we moved, we didn’t take it with is, but we’ve recreated the effect in a few places.
You can do a hammock type shelf on a flat wall, like I do in my bedroom to hold my skirts. (First picture on the closet door.)

Or, you can do a corner pocket, like I do in the bathroom to hold bath toys. (First picture, blue cloth between toilet and cabinet.)

Here is how I do it. First, you need a square piece of fabric. I use uncut square pieces for both types so that I can reuse it for something else if I want to.

On a flat walls:

Simply fold cloth in half so that it creates a rectangle and staple the corners to the wall, creating a pocket.


You want to let it droop a bit. The more it droops, the more you can put in it.


On corner walls:

Staple two corners of the fabric onto the two walls. The fabric can droop, but it doesn’t have to.

Staple the other two corners as close to the corner of the wall as you can, but up higher to create a shelf.

Cost: piece of fabric and 2-4 staples (or nails), or purchase from Amazon for $12.79 (+$5.95 Shipping).

This is good for lightweight items, like stuffed animals and clothing, but I wouldn’t use it for books.

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Copyright Under $1000 Per Month, 2009-2010

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From Under $1000 Per Month.

February 27, 2010 | Filed Under Frugal Living | Leave a Comment 

Freebie Friday

It is absolutely gorgeous here today where I live. The snow has melted and the temperatures today are going to be in the 50’s and almost 60’s tomorrow. The kids and I are going to be getting out and doing some much needed exploring and walking to get some fresh air and wonderful sun!

There are tons of great freebies today so I am not going to waste a lot of time chatting today. I will say that you should get my newest cookbook full of slowcooker recipes! There are tons of real pictures and comments from the test kitchen that help make this book a real winner! The recipes are delicious and you will love the layout.

Here are this week’s freebies:

  • Free Biz Magazine is offer a free two year subscription to Tennis Magazine.
  • Favecrafts is offering a free Beautiful Beads eBook. The eBook will be sent to the email address you enter after you click on the link.
  • Amazon is offering a free “The Best of Countdown Kids” MP3 album download.
  • Click here for a printable coupon good for a free small cup of coffee or tea at Seattle’s Best in Borders. Coupon is good through 2/21/10.
  • Sign up to receive a free sample of Axe Shower Gel For Men.
  • Clorox is offering a free “Original Story of Winnie The Pooh” digital booklet and a free MP3 download of “House at Pooh Corner”. You will need to enter the code NAPTIME.
  • Click here to sign up to receive a free Asian Recipes for Diabetics eBook download.
  • You may find Johnson’s Soap Buddies priced at around $0.97 at Target and Walmart. Use this $1/1 any Johnson’s product printable coupon to get it for free.

Those are the freebies for this week. Please let me know if you find a link not working or the offer is no longer available.

Thanks to Freebies 4 Mom, The Freebie Blogger, Engineer for a Debt Free Life, and I Love Free Things for posting all these great freebies to share with us!


Free Kindle download app for Blackberry

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From Econobusters.

February 19, 2010 | Filed Under Frugal Living | Leave a Comment 

Bunch of Coconuts

And my locavore readers cringe again.

I buy most of my produce at a small market. The prices just can’t be beat.

I do most routine grocery shopping at Walmart. We get 10% off of produce as part of the employee discount, but the prices usually aren’t good enough for me to take advantage of that.

Walmart had $0.57 coconuts. I bought two. I have no delusions about them being fresh. I researched coconuts and found that they are shelf-stable for roughly six months. I imagine Walmart was pushing the limits so I processed them immediately.

This is a new experience for me, an adventure that I thought I would share with you. I have eaten raw coconut and had coconut milk, but I had never processed a whole coconut.

There are a lot of methods to open them, but the simplest is to hit around the “equator” of the coconut with the blunt end of a heavy knife. It didn’t take long for each coconut to start to crack. When the crack was large enough, I plunged the knife in and wedged it open. I did this over a bowl to catch the coconut water.

I came across a method of removing the meat that pops the meat right out of half the coconut all at once. This carried the risks of bending the knife and severely injuring me via stabbing. Although this would have made for a daring blog post, I opted out.

I cut the meat out in wedges. It came out pretty easily. I had read that this could the the hard part, and it was certainly time consuming, but not difficult. I used a peeler to get the shell remnants off of the meat. After munching on a few chunks with the kids, I froze the meat and will grate it as needed, mostly as an additive to breads or muffins.
I got over a pound, but not quite two, so this worked out to be under $1.00 per pound. We don’t usually buy bagged coconut unless it is needed for a specific recipe, but even then I don’t like it because it is sugar coated.

I only had a cup of coconut water. We were thinking that it would be yummy plain as a drink, but all the hair and fuzz came off the coconuts while I split and hacked them, so it was kind of murky and we skipped it.

Coconut milk is made pretty easily from the coconut meat, but I thought we would have more fun with the meat than the milk, so we didn’t go that route.

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February 15, 2010 | Filed Under Frugal Living | Leave a Comment 

Bunch of Coconuts

And my locavore readers cringe again.

I buy most of my produce at a small market. The prices just can’t be beat.

I do most routine grocery shopping at Walmart. We get 10% off of produce as part of the employee discount, but the prices usually aren’t good enough for me to take advantage of that.

Walmart had $0.57 coconuts. I bought two. I have no delusions about them being fresh. I researched coconuts and found that they are shelf-stable for roughly six months. I imagine Walmart was pushing the limits so I processed them immediately.

This is a new experience for me, an adventure that I thought I would share with you. I have eaten raw coconut and had coconut milk, but I had never processed a whole coconut.

There are a lot of methods to open them, but the simplest is to hit around the “equator” of the coconut with the blunt end of a heavy knife. It didn’t take long for each coconut to start to crack. When the crack was large enough, I plunged the knife in and wedged it open. I did this over a bowl to catch the coconut water.

I came across a method of removing the meat that pops the meat right out of half the coconut all at once. This carried the risks of bending the knife and severely injuring me via stabbing. Although this would have made for a daring blog post, I opted out.

I cut the meat out in wedges. It came out pretty easily. I had read that this could the the hard part, and it was certainly time consuming, but not difficult. I used a peeler to get the shell remnants off of the meat. After munching on a few chunks with the kids, I froze the meat and will grate it as needed, mostly as an additive to breads or muffins.
I got over a pound, but not quite two, so this worked out to be under $1.00 per pound. We don’t usually buy bagged coconut unless it is needed for a specific recipe, but even then I don’t like it because it is sugar coated.

I only had a cup of coconut water. We were thinking that it would be yummy plain as a drink, but all the hair and fuzz came off the coconuts while I split and hacked them, so it was kind of murky and we skipped it.

Coconut milk is made pretty easily from the coconut meat, but I thought we would have more fun with the meat than the milk, so we didn’t go that route.

Bookmark and Share

You might want to check out my new comment policy .
Copyright Under $1000 Per Month, 2009-2010

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From Under $1000 Per Month.

February 15, 2010 | Filed Under Frugal Living | Leave a Comment 

Freebie Friday

This week has been a very loving week in my household. Each day building until Valentine’s Day, everyone has went out of their way to do something loving for one another. My children, for example, folded and put away the laundry for me yesterday so that I did not have to do it. I hope that you have exercised some type of love act this week for your loved ones.

The newsletter on Monday will be all about tax preparation. I am not one to procrastinate in this area and I am hoping to offer some tips to help you prepare for that dreaded day of filling out your taxes. If you have not signed up for the newsletter, you can do so by going to the home page and entering your email address in the top right hand corner where the yellow clipped paper is.

Also, the Slow Cooker cookbook should be releasing within the next week or two and our new Molly Memberships should be launching closer to the end of this month (more on that at a later date, but I am SO excited about it! I promise you will love it!) Be looking out for those two things coming soon!

Here are the freebies for this week:

Those are the freebies for this week! Thanks to Freebies4Mom, The Freebie Blogger, and Freebie Save for posting all these fabulous freebies to share with everyone!

Continue reading Freebie Friday …

From Econobusters.

February 12, 2010 | Filed Under Frugal Living | Leave a Comment 

Diapers for $3.70 a package

If you tried to get in on the great diaper deal last week and they were sold out, try again. I just checked and they are re-stocked.

I ordered and got mine the NEXT DAY! I think this is one of my new favorite sites! The prices are the same as Walmart and I don’t have to hike to the back of the store to get it! Since I’m feeling like I can’t hike into the kitchen right now (the new meds didn’t work)  that a very good thing for me!

Tawra


Continue reading Diapers for $3.70 a package …

From Living On A Dime Blog » Living On A Dime Blog.

February 5, 2010 | Filed Under Frugal Living | Leave a Comment 

Freebie Friday

Hope you all had a fabulous week this week. I am so excited about next week! The newsletter will be about Valentine’s Day and it is full of great ideas and freebies for you! I also have some wonderful frugal stories from other readers that I will be posting throughout the week as well. It will be a week of love next week that you will not want to miss!

Here are the freebies for this week:

Happy Friday friends!

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From Econobusters.

February 5, 2010 | Filed Under Frugal Living | Leave a Comment 

Grocery war didn’t help overall prices in Monroe

Grocery shoppers who were living in Monroe, Mich., when the former Farmer Jack supermarket opened a few years ago certainly remember the grocery price war that resulted for a few weeks among the local retails. It was definitely fun while it lasted.

So what was the impact when Wal-Mart Supercenter opened last fall and another full-line grocery was available?

My co-worker Charles Slat looked into that situation when he did his quarterly grocery price story for Tuesday’s edition of The Monroe Evening News: War between Meijer, Wal-Mart fails to bring down overall prices.

A snippet:

Meijer and Walmart had the lowest total prices on the basket of 14 items.

It was clear from the most recent price survey that Meijer made some strategic price cuts since Walmart entered the grocery retailing arena with the opening of its new supercenter in Frenchtown Township in September.

In the third quarter of 2009, the sampled items cost more at Meijer than at Walmart. In the fourth quarter, the total cost of the items was higher at Walmart and some items at Meijer that were higher priced three months ago now are lower.

However, Walmart still had more items in the market basket at lower prices than Meijer. Meijer had specials on laundry detergent — knocking about $3 off the price — as well as sales on pork chops, hot dogs, milk and paper towels.

Continue reading Grocery war didn’t help overall prices in Monroe …

From Monroe on a Budget.

January 12, 2010 | Filed Under Frugal Living | Leave a Comment 

Thanks, Walmart!

Walmart gives out gift bags to employees at Christmas and some people win a big prize. My husband won a prize. (Some people have all the luck, huh?)

He brought home this big gift, all wrapped in paper, and told me that his co-worker said it was a toaster oven.

A toaster oven?

So, I listed to my husband the ways in which my crock pot was far superior to a toaster oven and that we didn’t need it. Having expected this, he said we couldn’t return it, so I set my mind to selling it on Craigslist.

I tore off the paper so that I could get information to list it properly only to find…

A roaster oven!

A roaster ovenis like a giant crock pot/mini-oven.

  • It is more energy efficient than an oven by up to 70%.
  • It holds more stuff than a crock pot, up to an 18 pound turkey, or larger if I hack the legs off first.
  • It fits all of the pans I own except my pizza pan, but I can cook a good sized pizza in it anyway. It also fits the car pan I got for my kids, so I won’t have to turn on the oven to play with it.
  • It has the temperature control of an oven, with ranges of 150-450, plus a lower range for warming.
  • It has a rack that slides in, like the racks in an oven.
  • The enamel “crock” of it is removable for easy cleaning.

There is nothing I can’t do with this roaster oven, except keep my counter clear. This thing is huge, about the size of my microwave, which is also huge.

My crock pot adventures have now turned to roaster oven adventures. I’m even thinking of figuring out a way to make cheese in it.

Continue reading Thanks, Walmart! …

From Under $1000 Per Month.

December 29, 2009 | Filed Under Frugal Living | Leave a Comment 

Introducing a Price Chart

(This is an old post that I am republishing. I wrote about the topic yesterday, assuming it was common knowledge. Through some valid criticism in the comments section, I decided to repost this information because I think it will be helpful to readers. I do apologize to any that were offended. That was not my intent.)

Would you pay $0.98 per pound for potatoes if you knew you could get them for $0.35 per pound elsewhere? Would you pay $1.99 for pork chops if you knew they went on sale regularly for $0.99? How do you know when a sale is really a good sale?

As far as I can see, there is only one way to get the lowest prices on food. It is commonly referred to as a price book, but I find a chart easier to work with and fit in my purse. First, list all of the most common ingredients you buy. Here is my list, basically divided by where they are in the store:

potatoes
carrots
onions
bananas
apples

white wheat flour
stevia
vanilla
cinnamon
lard
oatmeal
tomato paste
diced tomatoes
dried beans
tonic water

ground turkey
chicken quarter
ground beef
pork shoulder
butter
eggs
milk
cheese
frozen broccoli
frozen green beans
frozen strawberries

Your list will probably look different.

Next, what stores are in your area? The best way to find this out is the yellow pages. There were stores in my town I didn’t know about. Most of them were high priced Mom-n-Pop type stores, but I found a small market where I get most of my produce for way less than anywhere else.

I also live a short distance from the biggest city in Maine. I go there frequently, so I included a few stores, but certainly not all. I included a Dollar Tree with a big frozen section and a Save-A-Lot, which we don’t have in our town.

So I have Walmart, two in-town supermarkets, the local market with good produce, Save-A-Lot and the Dollar Tree. If you have a Sam’s or BJ’s membership, include these. I went into all of them and got their regular price on the items on my list. This is a time investment, but it will pay for itself quickly.

Walmart and Save-A-Lot have the most general low prices. Walmart has a better selection, but Save-A-Lot has better meat prices. One supermarket has the best prices on cheese, dairy and ham. The other supermarket has high prices but good sales, along with an “almost expired” produce rack, where I can add variety to my produce menu I would otherwise not afford. The local market has the best price on produce and a few other things. The Dollar Tree has the best price on strawberries ($1/lb, frozen!) and a few other things.

Now, with this knowledge, I DO NOT GO TO EVERY STORE EVERY WEEK. I go to Walmart every week, because that’s where I get my flour, eggs, and butter, which I seem to run out of a lot. When I go to the other stores, I go to buy several weeks worth of what they have cheapest.

I check www.mygrocerydeals.com almost every week to see if any of the stores are having worthwhile sales on my ingredients. This website is an excellent free resource that gathers the sales flyers for the supermarkets in your area.

I also have a basic price guide for buying things that aren’t in my regular menu when the mood strikes. I don’t pay more that $1.50 per pound for meat or more than $1.00 per pound for produce, with occasional exceptions.

Continue reading Introducing a Price Chart …

From Under $1000 Per Month.

December 27, 2009 | Filed Under Frugal Living | Leave a Comment 

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