header-photo

Thrifty Is As Thrifty Does

You aren't saving money when you buy something you don't REALLY need, even at a half price, super-duper, clearance sale; you are still spending money. Instead REALLY save money by not spending it.

Below you'll find tips to help keep your hard-earned money safely in your pocket.

Have some great ideas?  Email us.

 

  • Make beautiful FREE plant markers from aluminum cans. Very stylish! Instructions at www.littlehouseinthesuburbs.com


  • Making Your Own Cake Flour from all-purpose flour is incredibly easy: Sift together 2 cups minus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, and 2 tablespoons cornstarch. That's all there is to it.


  • Surprise! The "Shampoo, rinse, repeat" cycle actually makes your shampoo last at least twice as long. The trick is to use only a grape-size dab of shampoo for the first shampoo--I know it feels insufficient, but bear with me-- and rub it in well. It may not feel as if it was enough to wash your hair because it didn't lather so much, but don't worry; rinse your hair as usual, and now for the "repeat," part, use a pea-size dab of shampoo. It will lather like there is no tomorrow, yet even with shampooing twice, you've used less than what is usually used for just one shampoo cycle.


  • Home-made Gatorade is really simple to make. Here are several recipes. Our favorite recipe is:
    • 1 package unsweetened kool aid (any flavor)
    • 2 quarts water
    • 1/2 cups sugar
    • 1/2 teaspoon salt
    • 1/2 cup orange juice

    Combine all the ingredients. This is supposed to equal the electrolyte replacement found in many popular drinks on the market.



  • For super-simple oven fried chicken, instead of Shake-n-Bake type crumb coating mixes, use Costco's Vigo Italian-Style bread crumbs. The Vigo crumbs cost about $5 for a huge jug, and will probably coat 20 or more chickens. The boxed mixes are nearly $2 a piece, and only do one chicken.


  • Make your own whipped topping. It is far cheaper and chemical free. Here is a recipe from Hillybilly Housewife. Here is one from Better Homes and Gardens, and here is one from CooksRecipes.com.


  • Those cans of tomato sauce, tomato paste, tomato juce, and tomato soup take up so much room and can really add up in cost. It is simple to make a powder out of dried tomatoes that only needs to be combined with different amounts of water to become exactly what you need. Here are some recipes from Budget101.com. Here is an easy Cuisine Du Monde recipe for making tomato paste, and some recipes from RecipeZaar.com.


  • You can easily make your own sweetened condensed milk in your blender. You save about $3 each time you use it versus store-bought. Try this great recipe at HillbillyHousewife.com, or any of these recipes from www.cooks.com.


  • How about mayonnaise? It is not difficult to make. Here is a good recipe from thefoodguys.com. Here is a recipe from about.com. Here is a very detailed recipe with lots of photos from Cooking For Engineers. I like this recipe from CDKitchen.com best. For those who prefer Miracle Whip, try this recipe from Make It From Scratch.


  • Regular ketchup is loaded with sugar, salt, preservatives and other things you don't want to think about. With this Easy Homemade Ketchup recipe you can make 12 ounces for less than 50¢. Here is another recipe from CDKitchen.com. Here are recipes for 3 different flavors of ketchup. And here is a site, www.ketchup.wonderland.org, entirely about ketchup that has tons of recipes. Here is yet another recipe for canning your own ketchup.


  • Flavored Coffee Recipes:


  • Flavored Coffee-Creamer Recipes


  • Buy unflavored gelatin and make your own "jello" with fruit juice. It doesn't take any more time, and you know it is supplying the family with much needed nutrition instead of empty calories.


  • Simple powdered sugar: Process a cup of granulated sugar and a generous tablespoon of cornstarch in your blender until it's powder.


  • Make your own chicken stock quickly and easily in a pressure cooker/canner. Using an ordinary stock pot, making chicken stock takes hours, but chicken stock only takes 30 minutes when using a pressure cooker. There is no canned or packaged chicken broth that can compare to this all natural and flavourful stock. You can serve it simply as a broth, liven it up with rice or noodles, carrots, and celery, and it can be used in dozens of recipes that call for broth or stock. You can have an incomparable chicken stock at a cost of next to nothing. Click here for the instructions.


  • Making your own wet wipes for cleaning makes a really convenient idea very affordable. Here is an ezine article with a ton of recipes for cleaning solutions to use in different situations. Here are some recipes for baby wipes from kangahh.com in Canada. Here is how to make cloth baby wipes.


  • Instead of buying expensive toilet paper holders with air freshener in them, add a couple of drops of your favorite essential oil to the inside of the cardboard toilet tissue roll. With each turn, fragrance is released into the room.


  • Save empty toilet paper rolls, dryer lint, and grease. Stuff the rolls with lint and swish through the grease to make fire starters.


  • If there is no writing on the back of the front of Christmas cards you received, you can separate the two pieces and use the "picture part" for a postcard. Simply write your greeting on the back add a stamp and address.


  • If you have a recipe that calls for heavy cream, put any you don't use into a jar with a lid, and shake it until it turns into butter. Rinse the butter with small amounts of very cold water, mashing the butter against the sides of the jar to squeeze out the whey and water. The butter will last longer than the leftover cream would have, and it's much better than store-bought. It can be used as-is, or salted (after it forms) if you prefer.


Top of Page