Thriftism

Spring has sprung and Easter is around the corner! Such a fun time, filled with bright colors, candy, family, and more. It can also be a scary food time -- candy filled with corn syrup and other artificial ingredients, eggs dyed with petroleum products, and thousands of empty calories to name a few issues. I can't stop you from overindulging on your ham dinner, but I can help out reducing some of the artificial ingredients you're putting at your table this year. Colored Easter eggs have long been a staple at Easter time, whether you hide them for a Easter Egg hunt or put them out as decoration. Coloring Easter eggs is also just plain fun! That is until you start looking at what is in that dye you are using. Yellow 5, Red 40, blue 2.... Does that sound like something your body can digest well? If you dig a bit deeper you find that these colors are actually petroleum based and are known carcinogens. Yet we use these on food we are feeding our families. This year you can ...

Whether it is St. Patrick's Day or you just need come luck, wear this 4 leaf clover headband and it's sure to come. This easy crochet pattern can be completed in less than an hour so no excuses not to wear green this year! If you're not so much into headbands, feel free to use just the shamrock as a pin or make a bunch and string together for a scarf or garland. Materials Needed: Worsted Weight Yarn Crochet Hook G Pattern: Round1:  ch-4, join with slipstitch. ch-9, join to center with slipstitch, ch-9, join to center with slipstitch, ch-9, join to center with slipstitch, ch-9, join to center with slipstitch, ch-12, turn, skip first stitch, slipstitch next 10 Round 2: Continuing along your first round of ch-9, Complete the following stitches in the center of your round, not within the existing chains: sc, hdc, 5 dc, 2 tc, dc, hdc, sc, hdc, dc, 2 tc, 5 dc, hdc, sc. Slipstitch to center of ring, Repeat for the next 3 ch-9 sets, ...

Walking along a bustling street in the center of Manhattan, you can smell the hundreds of different food cart options available for lunch. If you're lucky there won't be too long of a line and you can grab a plate from the Halal Guys or maybe find a good Shawarma place. If you're anywhere else that doesn't have these types of food available you're usually out of luck and have to settle for something from home or typical chain fast food restaurant food. But maybe you don't have to settle... By making your own version of this chicken and rice dish along with that mystifying white sauce, you can have almost all the joy of eating from your favorite food cart anytime. An added benefit is you can reduce your sodium intake or avoid certain ingredients if necessary and you can save a lot of money by not eating out. So whether you're in the heart of the Midwest and can't get to a restaurant or in the center of Manhattan and just want to save some dough, try you...

Dreaming of a beach getaway? Oceanside resorts can get fairly expensive depending on where you are looking. In the United States, beachfront hotels can be over $300/night and this doesn't include food, drinks, or entertainment. Also, in the winter, the weather is not always warm enough to lay out on a beach in the USA. This is why we started traveling internationally. There are many amazing countries and cities to visit that offer budget-friendly beach front options, however, today we are going to focus on Mexico. More specifically, Puerto Vallarta. While there are still more expensive resorts available in Puerto Vallarta, there are many, MANY places that are very affordable. If you are willing to stay at a non all-inclusive, your price will drop even further. In January of this year we stayed at an all-inclusive for 8 days. For airfare and the hotel (which included food, drinks, and had entertainment) it was $600/person. To put this in perspective, we live in the northern M...

Blue sky, warm sand, sounds of the ocean, and a fresh mixed margarita in hand. Does it get much better than this? Too bad it can cost an arm and a leg to go on vacation right? I mean who would get to go more than once every few years? To the first question, no it does not get much better than that. To the next two questions, it can actually be cheaper to be on vacation than to live at home and with a little bit of planning you can go EVERY year! Maybe even more than once. :) So maybe a beach vacation isn't for everyone, but I bet there is someplace you'd like to go. Our Thrifty Traveler posts will be giving you new ideas for vacations, ways to save money going just about anywhere, and how to fit those trips into your yearly budget. Follow along as we teach you about new locations, proper packing techniques to avoid having to check a bag, bartering, best travel times and more.