Thriftism

Happy Fall!! The leaves are changing colors and it's time for the house to change decor as well. This can be an expensive change over if you buy decorations from the store. Luckily there are wonderful crafts you can make at home. Today we are making a leaf bowl. This was a very neat item to make and would be even more enjoyable during a craft night or perhaps creating this with the kids. It's just messy enough to be fun for everyone, but clean enough to prevent the post craft mess hangover. It doesn't take much time and the best part is that it is nearly free to make.  What You Need Plastic Wrap Rubber Cement , Mod Podge , or Elmer's Glue  Leaves - Real or Fake (we used real) Bowl or Balloon Stand to place bowl - we used a water bottle - another option is a paper towel roll Step 1  Wrap bowl in plastic wrap and place on stand. Step 2  Begin applying rubber cement to leaves by painting a thin layer on one side of the leaf. Paint the sid

Almost done with October and I'm finally putting out our September report. Sorry for the delay. Are we still staying within our thrifty budget?  For a quick reminder, we run our budget solely on my income of $2,400/month which gives us a gross income of $31,200. We do not include health insurance in our budget as ours is currently covered by our jobs, but if this was our household income we would also be taken care of by insurance subsidies. We do not include all discretionary spending such as traveling or major home renovations, but we do include all entertainment, grocery, dining out, and every day expenses. It is our essentials budget that we live on before adding in trips! If we can do it, so can you! The Budget Our goal budget is balanced with total income minus expenses equal to zero. Numbers in red are expenditures, while black is income. The green background indicates under budget. Red squares point out our overspending.  We did chan

If you want to know more about getting a sample box sent to your home every week, check out our Money Makers and Freebies page or visit our post on PINCHme Perks . I also added a post for Crowdtap. Be sure to check that out to start earning giftcards and more full size samples! WHAT I GOT THIS WEEK The sample box I got today had around $40.88 worth of samples!! There was a lot of coffee and quite a few hair products as well as some expensive supplements. This was a huge haul this week with many full size samples. This week was definitely worth the few surveys needed to earn these samples. Below I break down the approximate price/value of each product I got this week. Watch for reviews of some of these products coming soon. I also got a few coupons as you can see in the picture, but some of them were expired and some others are not a good deal so I chose not to include them this week.  Garnier Fructis Nourishing Treat 1 Minute Hair Mask ($0.41) 3.

Colder weather has arrived as have an abundance of school and work activities. The extra to-dos that come with fall make cooking a healthy and still budget meal much more challenging. Enter the crock pot or slow cooker. Slow cook meals can be both a time and wallet saver, not to mention the benefit of having home cooked meals most nights. Slow cookers allow you to set and forget and can work around everyone in the family's schedules. Scroll to the bottom for a printable recipe. What you'll need 1.5 Cup Rice 6 Cup Broccoli (Chopped) 1 Medium Onion 1 Can Cream Soup (Mushroom, Chicken, Celery, Your choice) 1.5 Cup Milk 3 Tbsp Margarine 3 Cups + soup can Water 1/2 Cup Shredded Cheese (your choice of flavor - cheddar, colby jack, mozzarella) 6 Qt Slow Cooker Start by combining the ingredients except the shredded cheese in a 6 qt slow cooker. Cook on high for 3-4 hours.  Add cheese and continue cooking until melted.  Printable to lette

What's better than waking up to fresh baked cinnamon rolls? Changing out those cinnamon rolls for chocolate rolls! We do a very simple variation on a favorite morning treat that can be enjoyed for breakfast or exchanged for a dessert. We also cut down on the steps needed for made from scratch cinnamon rolls to make this even easier to make. What You'll Need Dough 1 Egg 1.25 Cup Water 1 tsp Lemon Juice 4.5 Cup Flour 1 tsp Salt 1/2 Cup Sugar 1/3 Cup Oil 2 tsp yeast Filling ~1/2 Cup Chocolate Buttercream Frosting Steps Combine ingredients for dough in order to your bread machine. Use dough setting. Refrigerate if sticky.  Preheat oven to 350. Roll out dough to ~16"x24" on lightly floured surface. Microwave frosting 10-20 seconds until lightly melted.  Spread frosting on rolled dough. Roll tightly and cut into 1" sections. Place rolls in greased 9x13 pan or multiple smaller pans. Bake 25-35 minutes until lightly browned.  Printabl