Yard Sale Question

Have any of you ever had a yard sale?  We're thinking of hold one to sell our furniture and household items preparatory to moving cross country.  What are reasonable prices to expect people to pay for items like books, childrens clothing, womens/mens clothing & shoes, furniture, and toys.  Is it worth it? What have your experiences been?  Any sage advice? 

Just like I-Hop

Do you love eating out at I-Hop (or a similar pancake house) and eating their delicious pancakes? Me too. Unfortunately, it's not in my family's budget to do something like that very often. I mean, maybe once a year we have done that. It's just not something we can afford to do -we rarely eat out AT ALL, let alone for pancakes on a Saturday morning with the kids. But I ran across a pancake recipe a couple years ago that is awesome and the pancakes turn out fluffy and perfect, very similar to those of a restaurant. (I honestly would give credit to where I found the recipe if I could remember, but I can't. So please forgive me for that one.)

I will say that once we discovered this recipe, we no longer have the desire to "eat out" for pancakes. They are really yummy and so much cheaper than taking the whole family out to eat! We have added chocolate chips to them on occasion, and that is really good too. I am sure you all can come up with many delicious variations! If you do, please share them with us.

Buttermilk Pancakes:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 egg
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup vegetable oil

Combine all ingredients and mix well. Pour onto the griddle to form pancakes. Flip pancakes when edges appear top harden. Cook pancakes on the other side until just slightly golden. Makes about 6-8 medium sized pancakes.

Buttermilk Waffles:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoong baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 eggs, separated
2 cups buttermilk
2/3 cup sour cream
1/2 cup vegetable oil

Combine ingredients and mix well. Spray waffle iron with cooking spray and cook until lightly golden brown. (Now that I type this, I don't know why the eggs are separated. Hmmm....can you tell my husband always makes these? lol. I will ask him in the morning and come back and fix this part).

Slash Cell Phone Bills

For those who know me know I'm just slightly addicted to my Blackberry... and addicted might be a tad too loose of a term.  Pretty sure I keep better tabs on my phone than my children sometimes.  Well, we've been looking for ways to cut costs as we move our life into the living-on-student-loans-and-loving-it-mode.  One "extra" we pay for is the data plan on my BB.  Which means I get IM, Facebook, Internet, etc all from the nifty little thing in my hand.  However, it costs me an extra $20 a month which equals an extra $240 a year.  Blast.   What's a girl to do? 

Well, get excited.  For those of you who get the shakes just thinking of going without the data plan on your phone.... there is a new wonderful program called OPERA MINI that you can download (while you still have your data plan).  It somehow grabs low running network and allows you to continue to use BB messenger, all the other IM plans (yahoo, msn, aol, etc), facebook, and certain news webpages.  Yes friends.  That means you can have those plans WITHOUT paying for the data plan (or being charged for RIM access).   Plus, it forces you to be a leeeetle less connected to the internet. 

Wanna take it a step further?  Get all your friends who usually text you to download it and then you can all talk on the IM's on your phones.  You'll still be "texting" but won't be paying per text nor having to pay the extra $15 a month for the unlimited text.  Potentially, if I was able to cut out my unlimited text and data plan, I would be saving myself $35 a month = $420 a YEAR!  

I downloaded it tonight and am calling to cancel my data plan tomorrow.  I'll let you know how it all goes. 

**update** apparently I'm not super duper tech savvy. This plan will only work if your phone already has a Wifi chip. Most "smart phones" released in the last two years do, but of course mine doesn't. geeeeeez. good thing I'm getting a new phone next month eh? yay for a contract expiration!!***

Stretching Cold Cereal

I know that cold cereal is not a very frugal way to eat breakfast. However, I have a 10-year-old die hard cold cereal fan in my house, a kid who likes the expensive kinds! And personally? I like cold cereal too. I had to come up with a solution to stretch the cold cereal a little, and hopefully make it more filling and nutritious in the process.

Obviously, shop the sales AND use as many coupons as you can. You might be able to find the boxes for a $1 or less if you do this. You have to be on top of your game and a careful shopper, who might have to make trips to more than one store, or special trips to certain stores, just to hit the sales. But it can be really worth it. If you want more grocery tips, specific to your state (U.S. only), visit Pinching Your Pennies for some great money saving tips.

The other method I came up with was to buy the cereal in the bags, the "Malt-o-Meal" brand, where you are not paying for the packaging. You can get 32 oz for $4.99 (reg price) in the Malt-o-Meal (cheerios) or you can get about 12 oz for about $2.50 (on sale). So, it is much more cost effective to purchase the bagged cereals.

I took it one step further and mixed the sugary cereal that my son loves with the Cheerios. I bought a container and fill it up with cereal mix when needed. My kids haven't complained one bit. I am slowly planning to increase the Cheerios to sugar cereal ratio, gradually, so that they doesn't notice that they are eating more Cheerios than sugar. Yes, I am a bit devious that way. :)

For our readers: What methods do you use to save money on cereal and/or what recipes can you share that you use for inexpensive breakfast foods? Thanks! Hope to hear from you!

Vacation Frugalness

Granted... the most frugal way was to buy our own breakfast and eat IN the hotel room...but I wasn't that organized.  So instead I took our starving children to the hotel buffet.  My husband was still sleeping and after paying an undisclosed amount of money for me and my 6 year old to eat I refused to pay any more money for my husband and baby to eat.  So what did I do?  I asked the waiter for a take-out box.  I then took the take-out box and filled it up with a nice sized breakfast for my hubby and some sides for the babe. So *technically* I only paid for 2 breakfasts instead of 4! I threw food in and ran... kinda felt like that family on Lampoons Vegas Vacation at the buffet.  hahaha. 

But it got me thinking.... what would be some other ways to save for restaurant meals?  My sister-in-law told me that she signs up for the email alerts from local and chain restaurants.  Just this week Mimi's Cafe had a promotion for up to $10 off of breakfast.  She signed up a different email account for all her family members...for for the family of 4 they only paid the tax of $6 because they each had a $10 off coupon with their name on it.  Now THAT is the kind of deal I'm talking about. 

Any other ideas or suggestions you all have? (btw, Happy Mothers Day everyone!)

Cooking Tips for Potatoes and Rice

Here's a tip for cooking mashed potatoes and rice that is energy efficient and it saves a lot of time. I got this idea from the cookbook "Dinner Is Ready" by Deanna Buxton, pages 65-66.

Mashed Potatoes:

Bring a pot of cubed potatoes to a full boil, then turn off the heat. Leave the pan on the burner and cover with a tight-fitting lid. The potatoes will be ready to mash in about three hours.

Rice:

Measure rice and water into a pan. Bring to a full boil. Turn off the heat and leave the pan on the burner. Cover pan with a tight-fitting lid. The rice will be fluffy and perfect in approximately three hours.

And guess what? It really works! I have tried it for both rice and potatoes. They turn out great every time. It's not a super frugal tip, but this shortcut will save you time, and save you a little energy on your stove because it doesn't have to be on so long. And, you don't have to be home while the potatoes and rice are cooking. You can leave and when you come home, it will be ready to eat.

"Debt-Proof Living": Book Recommendation

I am recommending a book about money management. No -- I am not getting paid or anything for mentioning this book. (And no, you can't click on it and really "look inside" -- that's just from the picture from Amazon.com. You could if you go to that website). I have not completed reading the book, so I am perhaps a little hesitant to rave about it, but I have read the first 5 chapters and so far, I am hooked. This book was recommended to me by a very smart friend who manages her money very well, so I decided to give it a try. It is called "Debt-Proof Living" by Mary Hunt. I got it at http://www.amazon.com/ for $11.55 and if you spend $25 then it qualifies for free Super Saver Shipping. This same friend also told me that all of Mary Hunt's books are good, so if you are trying to get free shipping, maybe you want to research some of her other books.

Of course, the truly frugal thing to do would be to borrow the book from the library or a friend......see? I still need help working on this frugal business. :)

I don't have a lot of debt (though I have had it in the past). At first I thought that maybe this book was more about getting out of credit card debt, but it is much, much more. It is about teaching you how to live frugally and to manage your money so that you can live on 80% of your income. One of the things I like most about it is that it is written in language that the average Joe can understand, whereas a lot of money management books are not as simply written.

Here is an excerpt from the book (from pages 60-61):

"Debt-proof living depends more on your spending habits than the size
of your paycheck......The more you practice restraint in your spending, the
easier it will become because, simply put, you're going to get better at
it.......

"Reducing your living expenses so they fit within 80 percent of your
income requires scrutinizing every expense and then finding the best way to
reduce it. By reducing everything a little bit, you may be able to avoid
eliminating any spending categories. This is going to require creativity
and discipline. And your reward for your willingness to endure temporary
sacrifice will be a light at the end of your tunnel, and I promise it's not a
train.

"I don't know what frugality means to you. The word has taken a
good bit of heat in the past few years as a buzzword for some economic
extremists. As a result, many people have come to view frugality with
disdain, assuming it demands a lifestyle based on dumpster diving and recycling
dryer lint. Believe me. That's not it. To me frugality means doing
whatever it takes to keep your living expenses within 80 percent of your net
income.

"Frugality is not about stuffing everyone into the same mold so we all
spend the same amount of money on things like food or housing. Frugality
is about personal restraint, discipline, finding the best value, and not being
wasteful. It's about making choices and understanding that if you say yes
to one thing you may need to say no to something else. And that is okay
because finally you are going to be managing your money in a way that will bring
you tremendous personal satisfaction.

"Because I live frugally doesn't mean I don't spend money. It
means I spend money thoughtfully and with a sense of discipline and
purpose. As my life is blessed and my income increases, 80 percent of my
net income increases as well. It's a beautiful thing."

If you decide to read this book (or if you have read it and already have an opinion), please share it with us. So far, I am really enjoying this book and I hope it will help get my family on a path toward financial security, like it did for my friend. Isn't that what we are all hoping for?

Milk, Bowling & Weekly Question

Hey All.  Sorry I've been MIA, we've been knee deep in preparing for our big move to the South.  I have a feeling I'm going to be coming up with a LOT more frugal ideas now that I know what our Grad School budget is.  Oye.  Here's two ideas for this week:

-Re-using milk.  It may sound gross but it'll save you on average 2-5 cups of milk a week, depending on how much you drink milk.  I've found my kids don't always drink their entire cup of milk nor finish the milk in their bowl.  What I've started doing is creating two "leftover cups" in the fridge.  One that holds the milk they didn't finish drinking, one holds the milk from the cereal.  Usually I can't get my husband or kids (or even myself...) to actually drink the milk but I've been able to re-use the milk when feeding my kids cereal, making oatmeal, even baking.  It may sound gross but as long as your child/husband is healthy re-using it should be just fine and dandy!  If you're really worried then use it to make oatmeal and boil the milk before hand, making sure the germs are out.   It's been great for us, I've extended our gallon of milk at least a half a week longer.  May not be much but over the extensino of a year it adds up to at least 3 gallons of milk saved!

-Kids Bowl Free!  This program hasn't hit Utah yet, but it's alive and well in most other states.  

http://www.kidsbowlfree.com/

They send you a weekly coupon that is good for children under the age of 15 to bowl free every day from May 1-August 31.  I haven't yet signed up so I'm not sure what the fee is for parents, but if you're looking for a free activity for your children it's a great option!!! 

Weekly Question:

We're moving cross country here in a month.  We're trying to figure out how to cut costs with driving over 2,000 miles.  One idea I've proposed is to determine our path based on where friends/family live so we can stay for free with them.  My husband thinks that's a little too moochy-moochy.  Thoughts?  Would you be offended if someone called you and asked if they could crash on your couch for a night while they are driving?  What other ideas do you fabulous people have for cutting moving costs?