MY ADVENTURES IN FREEZER COOKING: INTRODUCTION
I have been interested in once a month cooking, (or freezer cooking as some may call it), for a very long time. I have seen so many mommy bloggers raving about the benefits of being able to go into their freezers and pull out healthy, homemade meals for their family. I am so against tv dinners. I only serve them under dire circumstances.
With freezer cooking I will be able to prepare quite a few meals and freeze them for later use.
The final push that I needed came when I found the website Once A Month Mom. I decided that I would try my f...
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MY FRUGAL DINING ROOM MAKEOVER
I have been without a formal dining room for over a year now. When we moved from Alabama to Florida we gave away our gently used dining room set (that was given to us for free) because there was absolutely no where to fit in our storage unit. Now, a year-and-a-half later, I am beyond ready to have a nice dining room area for my family to enjoy our meals and gather together to play games.
I had a budget of $400 and that amount had to include the dining room table itself.
Most people would have found that to be impossible. Me? I saw a challen...
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THE ANATOMY OF A COUPON BINDER
In a previous post, I gave my readers the chance to download my Penny Pinching Diva Coupon Binder Dividers. The response and downloads from that post was overwhelming so I have decided to show you exactly how my coupon binder looks, and the supplies that you would need to make your own. Not every coupon binder will look the same, or be organized the same, but I believe in K.I.S.S. (Keeping It Super Simple). This binder has the bare necessities but it still allows me to organize my coupons with efficiency.
Step 01. Purchase a zippered binde...
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CREATING A COUPON BINDER + A DOWNLOAD
My favorite coupon organizational method is the coupon binder. I have wavered back and forth between all of the couponing methods but this one has afforded me the convenience that I need whether I'm going grocery shopping by myself or with my children in tow.
There are many different ways to organize your coupon binder.
Some systems are simple and some are very detailed oriented. Three of the most common ways to organize the coupons in your binder are:
Alphabetically: A common way to organize the coupons in your binder is in alphabetica...
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SCALING BACK YOUR GROCERY BILL BY MENU PLANNING
I am an avid supporter of menu planning. I even wrote an article on menu planning over a year ago. For 2010 I have decided to do a year long series of getting “frugally fit.” 2010 is going to be a year where a lot of families will need to tighten their budget. It is my goal, here at Penny Pinching Diva, to provide you with tips throughout the year to help you stretch your money.
Grocery Shopping.
Hearing these two words together can cause any person to cringe. In some families the grocery bill can amount to be just as much as a rent or ...
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SURVIVING ON ONE INCOME IN A TWO INCOME SOCIETY
With the rise in unemployment hitting all time highs, it’s affecting a lot of families in a negative way. Companies have gone on hiring freezes and raises/bonuses are becoming few and far between. Budget cuts are taking affect and families are finding themselves going from two incomes to one, or one income to none. A loss of income is stressful on anyone, but there are ways that you can stretch the money that you have to carry your family further by making changes in your everyday life, spending habits and by cutting back on the extras.
T...
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FREE CALLS TO HAITI FOR TIME WARNER CUSTOMERS
I received this email from a reader of my blog today:
Good Morning Shynea,
I love your site! I found this in my inbox and thought others may be interested.
Have a great day
~Shaniqua
I love it when my readers send me tips through email. Although I haven't written a post on Haiti, which I am working on right now, doesn't mean that I'm not concerned. At work we are doing a "themed" supply drive every week and I create the fliers to pass out and solicit donations from my co-workers. (I work for a nice sized corporation.)
When I recei...
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QUICK TIP: GETTING THE MOST OUT OF YOUR DIAPERS
As the mother of two small children still in diapers, I know how expensive purchasing diapers and diaper wipes can be. We go through at least half a case of diapers and two refill packages of wipes per week. I try not to be brand loyal but I find myself gravitating towards Huggies diapers because they afford me the quality that I need for the amount of money that I want to spend. Whenever I can find my favorite brand of diapers on sale I make sure that I stock up until the next sale.
Huggies and Pampers are two great diaper brands, not just be...
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WAYS TO SAVE MONEY WHEN WASHING LAUNDRY
Having a family of six, you can only imagine the mounds of clothing that pile up at my home. Or can you? I vividly remember days where I would wash 2-3 loads of laundry every 1-2 days. It was very tiring and my checkbook was not thanking me for my escalated electricity and water bill. Not to mention that my house constantly smelled of bleach.
I wised up. I was determined to not only figure out how to stop the massive amounts of dirty laundry that were piling up, but to eliminate the annoying smell of bleach that was overwhelming my house. Wh...
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HELPING YOUR CHILDS SCHOOL WITHOUT EMPTYING YOUR POCKETS
I am pulling this article from my archives. This was originally posted in October of 2008 but these programs are still used by many schools. I hope you enjoy this article. It's an oldie but a goodie.
Now-a-days schools are asking for donations left and right. Currently my son's elementary school is asking for donations for their outside classroom, the library and their fall festival. If your family is on a budget like mines, it doesn't include making monetary donations every other week per child to their school.
Don't get me wrong, I like h...
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WHAT MY FAMILY HAS DONE TO SAVE MONEY
With the price of everything going up and raises on the job being few and far between, my family has been feeling the pressure in these economic times. We have had to make some changes in our way of living and our budget in order to stay above water. Does that mean that our quality of life is any lower? No. As a matter of fact I haven't noticed much change in our quality of life at all. I just wanted to highlight a few of the things that we have been doing to "pinch our pennies" lately.
We moved into a smaller house in order to save money o...
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