The Motherload Blog

Monthly Archives: March 2007

Freebie Friday: March 23, 2007

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Here are a couple of tips from our readers- thanks so much for sending these to me! I really appreciate it! Keep those tips coming- it really helps a bunch!

Hi!

My sister, Monica (homespun heart), steered me to your blog. I just got on for the first time last week, but I’m already hooked. Thanks for the great ideas and advice, and also for researching all those free offers—I clicked on several last Friday and am excited to watch and wait for them to come in the mail.

Monica recommended your Pizza Hut dough recipe to me, and I made it over the weekend. Delicious!

Here’s a possible free offer to post on Friday: http://www.3m.com/us/home_leisure/scotchbrite/tsoffer.html

Thanks again—I’m excited to have found this on-line community of others who are interested in being frugal homemakers!

Blessings,
Carrie

Amy,

I got this link from an Orville Redenbacher newsletter. Though it isn’t completely free, 2 upc’s are required – it’s pretty close. It’s for a popcorn bowl
http://www.orville.com/promotions/freebowl_form.pdf

No shipping & handling!

Thanks for all you do,

Jennifer

Claim a complimentary one-year subscription to Philadelphia Style Magazine which covers lifestyle, retail, fine dining, home design, the arts and fashion with an innovative & cutting-edge approach. Each issue profiles interesting local & national personalities and offers complete guide to upscale living for the Philadelphia area. You can answer, “No, thank you!” to all of the offers.

American Diabetes Association is offering a Wizdom kit for children with diabetes.

Target is offering a free sample of Fruit Ripples and a free 8×10 with no sitting free from their portrait studio. This is great for all of those Easter photos!

Membership in the Amato’s Tamatos Club entitles you to some truly fantastic benefits including special coupons and a newsletter with exclusive discounts and contests that only club members can win. Join today and we’ll send you a certificate for a FREE Real Italian Sandwich! They also send you freebie coupons on your birthday. (Amatos is only in certain states, however, they allow NH, ME, VT, RI, MA and CT to join the club even though there may not be a franchise in that state)

This is a great freebie to help you raise financially aware kids. It includes thinking games to paly with your children, free kid card fold-out poster, & free blue mesh carrying bag. Please call the toll free number listed at the top of the page for this freebie.

Claim a complimentary subscription to Beautiful Woman Magazine.

Claim a complimentary one-year subscription to Boating Life Magazine. You can answer, “No, Thank You!” to all the offers.

Sign up to receive a free six ounce bag of Purina Naturals Cat Chow. Please allow up to four weeks for delivery.

Sign up to receive a free sample of Aquaphor Healing Ointment for baby. Please allow up to four weeks for delivery.

Get a free sample of Dove Energy Glow which contains a subtle self-tanner. (Note: If you set up a registered account with Dove, obtaining freebies from this company goes a lot quicker!)

Sign up for a free sample of Carnation Instant Breakfast. Please allow four to six weeks for shipping of this freebie.

Request a free sample of 3M Print to Last Paper.

Don’t forget to sign up for free tickets to see The Peaceful Warrior. You can receive up to ten free admittances to this show.

Get a free sample of Ultra Downy. They offer two sample choices, Experientials Tahitian Waterfall or April Fresh scent.

Try the new Calgon Vanilla Swirl Body Mist.

Get a complimentary sample of Nautica Island Voyage.

Get two free luggage tags with your picture placed on them. One set of two labels per person.

Order a free Breast Self-Exam Shower Card. Please limit one per household.

You must live in Orange County, CA or in the surrounding area to be considered for this freebie. This is a summer fun bag filled with items you will need for the summer. Please apply only if you live in this area.

Request a free Crossed American Pin. You must supply an explanation for why you would like to be considered for this freebie.

This offer is good for Canadians only. You can try the new Kirkland Signature Premium Diapers from Costco for free. This sample will arrive within three weeks.

The Children’s Place offers a free birthday club. They will send you a special surprise on your day and your child’s big days.

Use this printable coupon for a free ten dollar haircut at Master Cuts. This coupon expires on 06/30/2007.

Amy’s Notebook 03.22.07

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Save Some Money:

Baby Cheapskate shares about the new Amazon program for parents. They will automatically ship your diapers at regular intervals and knock off fifteen percent. Not sure if this would be that good of a deal? Check Baby Cheapskate for the nitty-gritty details.

Boston Gal’s Open Wallet shares a Fortune Magazine article that discusses whether you should pick paper or plastic when you are at the grocery store. There are some very interesting quotes in this one.

Frugal for Life shares the different ways you can stop buying books without using the library. Our library rocks though so I can’t imagine not using it, but there are some people who are funny about using that resource.

Mighty Bargain Hunter has an excellent post about the social needs we have that require us to give gifts for occasions and certain people in our life, just because it is obligatory. How does one break this cycle?

MyMoneyBlog has a great post on discussing whether homes are a good investment or a horrible investment. Some of the statistics that were quoted were quite interesting!

Apartment Therapy discusses an article from the Wall Street Journal which states that children are not going to the library as much. The parents are purchasing the books for children or children are relying on their computers for information.

Make Some Stuff:

Visit The Sampler to get instructions on how to turn an umbrella into a kite. This would be a great way to recycle my umbrella that turned itself inside out last year!

Foodie Food:

Home Ec 101 shares how to make your grocery dollars scream in mercy. They suggest roasting a chicken and have some really great tips on how you can roast the perfect chicken. I love these ladies!

Moms the Word shares ten frugal date ideas that you can accomplish without spending more than twenty dollars.

Clean & Organize:

The Simple Dollar has compiled a fabulous list of all the things you should be keeping in your car, should you ever face an emergency. Be sure to read this one!

Get Rich Slowly shares a timeline for when you should replace those common household items.

Carnivals & Festivals:

Carnival of Debt Reduction

Festival of Frugality

Carnival of Personal Finance

Make it From Scratch

Carnival of the Recipes

Carnival of Family Life

Ask Frugal Momma: Happy Homemaking the Homemade Way

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I am not going to launch into a preachy prose about how bad commercial cleaning products are today when it comes to cleaning your home. It is common knowledge that a healthy home is not doused in heavy-duty bleach and preserving our environment should be tops on our priority list. The truth is, if you peeked inside of my caddy of cleaners though, you would see some of these harmful products in there. The fact is that I am trying to rely less on these cleaners and rely more on homemade cleaners. I am in the process of making the transition over to using only healthy homemade cleaners, and I feel a lot of pride when I take the time to do this. I know how much better it is for our environment….and for my wallet!
Making cleaners does not mean that you need to purchase a ton of items; in fact, most cleaners can be made from things you already have in your house. The main components that I like to work with are white vinegar, baking soda, liquid dishwashing soap, and lemon juice. One purchase that you may need to make though, to begin getting started, is purchasing a few spray bottles. I pick these spray bottles up from our local dollar store. These clear spray bottles will make it easy to measure and label your new cleaners in your house.
If you do decide to use these types of cleaners regularly, I would suggest making a trip to your wholesale club to buy the ingredients. A small box of baking soda can cost around fifty cents at your local grocery store. The same baking soda, in a twelve pound bag, from Sam’s Club costs about $5.42. What a savings! All of these products can be purchased in bulk and once you begin using them regularly, you will go through them quickly.
While you are at the warehouse store, be sure to swing by the automotive section and pick up a bag of microfiber cloths. The cloths sold at the warehouse store are larger and thicker than the ones you can get in other stores, and these are great for all of the jobs around your house. You can use these wet or dry. You can also use these just using water and not even bothering with a cleaner because they are that amazing.
Be sure when you launder your microfiber cloths that you do not use any type of fabric softener and use a very little amount of soap or cleaner on them. If you overload them with cleaning products, they will become less and less effective, particularly when you are trying to attract dust towards them.
Because these cleaners are homemade and use less harsh ingredients, they will require a little more elbow grease than your commercial products. There are lots of great recipes on the internet though and typing in the search phrase, “homemade cleaners” should you give you lots of different ideas and give you an array of recipes to choose from to find which one works best for the jobs you have around your house. Everyone uses different measurements; it just depends on the difficulties of the jobs around your house.
Here are some of my tried and true recipes that we use in our house:
All-Purpose Cleaner- Mix together two tablespoons of mild dishwashing soap and two cups of water in a spray bottle and give it a shake. Use these anywhere that you would use a commercial all-purpose spray. This cleaner is particularly great for countertops, bathroom surfaces, and high chairs.
Glass Cleaner- Mix together one part white vinegar to one part water in a spray bottle. Spray this solution on your mirrors and windows and dry your windows with newspaper. The newspaper is great for lint-free drying and is a great way to repurpose some of those old papers you have laying around.
Homemade Oven Cleaner/ Deep Kitchen Cleaner- Mix a paste of three parts warm water to one part baking soda to clean away kitchen stains or to clean your oven.
Bathroom Cleaner- Mix dishwashing liquid with baking soda until you have a thick paste and use this throughout your bathroom.
Toilet Bowl Cleaner- No measuring is required with this recipe. Sprinkle a little baking soda into your toilet bowl and then pour a little vinegar in and watch it fizz it up. Give it a swish with your toilet brush and then flush.
Floor Cleaner- Add ½ cup of vinegar to a gallon of water. The scent of the vinegar will fade in approximately an hour, but you can also add a couple of drops of essential oil to help with the scent. I like the smell of Tea Tree Oil, but you can buy any essential oil that smells best to you. Essential oils can be picked up at stores offering nutritional supplements or can be purchased online.
Furniture Polish- Mix ¼ cup olive oil with four tablespoons of vinegar and two teaspoons of lemon juice. Pour into a spray bottle and shake well before using. If you do not use all of it in one cleaning session, store the remainder in the fridge, as the lemon juice can go sour. You can also substitute the lemon juice with twenty to thirty drops of lemon essential oil and then you won’t have to refrigerate it. Using the essential oils though will up the price a bit on your homemade product.
Silver Cleaner- Although I don’t polish silver very frequently, this is a great to have in your bag of tricks. This will clean all of those nooks and crannies that are hard to reach in more detailed pieces and is great if you have a big batch of silver that needs cleaning. In a large bowl (or you can use your kitchen sink) place strips of aluminum foil in and place the silver pieces on top. Cover the silver with boiling water and then add three tablespoons of baking soda and soak for ten minutes.
By making your own cleaners, you will save hundreds of dollars over the course of the year. For example, a bottle of window cleaner will usually run you around two or three dollars. A bottle of your homemade window cleaner though, will cost you about five cents. What a difference that will make to your grocery budget and helping the environment is a wonderful benefit of your fabulous frugalness.
For more tips visit the following links:
Next week, I have received a request to discuss cleaning out the fridge so I will share some tips for that next week. Please, please send me your questions about anything! Email your questions to amy@momadvice.com and I will be sure to add your requests to my list. Without
your requests, this column wouldn’t be possible and I would love to keep this going. I have enjoyed sharing through this format and it helps me come up with more content for our site. The answers will be added to our website as articles for quick reference!

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Bellazandra Custom Designed Jewelry: A Mother’s Gift You’ll Remember

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I was contacted by the owner and designer of Bellazandra jewelry to see if I would be interested in doing a product review of her custom designed jewelry. One look at her website, and I knew that I would be more than happy to be able to share about her product, particularly because she is a work-at-home mom who is doing what she can to remain home with her daughter.
Zandra was an interior designer and was born and raised in Sweden. She moved to the United States in 1999 and was looking for a way to be able to stay home with her daughter Bella. She wanted to implement her creative background in some way, and decided to apply her background as a mother and as a designer towards designing jewelry.

Zandra offers bracelets for mothers, birthstone bracelets, children’s bracelets, fathers bracelets, necklaces, & earrings. Most importantly, she also makes awareness bracelets, in which part of her proceeds are donated towards great causes such as St Jude’s Hospital, breast cancer awareness, and Operation Smile.

Because all of her jewelry is made for each individual, you get the opportunity to pick anything and everything that goes into making your piece. You can choose the charms, the style of clasp, the birthstones, and the size of your bracelet.

I received my bracelet this afternoon and I am in utter delight & awe at just how pretty it is. My bracelet has my son & daughter’s names on it with each of their birthstones surrounding their name. I chose a toggle clasp, which is easy for me to open and shut myself, and a small charm that says happiness on it. The happiness charm is to remind me of just how lucky I am to have these two kids in my life.

The best part about it, for me, is that the bracelet is made to fit me. You are able to provide the measurements of your wrist to the company and they will make the bracelet the proper size for you. I have tiny wrists and usually bracelets end up looking like the size of necklaces on my wrist. It was so nice to have one that fit perfectly for me!

There is so much thoughtfulness that has went into this product. The bracelet was packaged in a small brown pouch and placed in a Tiffany blue box with a brown bow. She also includes a thank you note and instructions with each piece detailing how to care for your jewelry.

I can’t rave enough about how nice this product is and how much I admire moms who are able to create a niche for themselves in the work-at-home world, doing something they love while having the benefits of being home with their children.
This bracelet would make a lovely Mother’s Day gift (hint, hint to the male readers out there!) and you can place orders for Mother’s Day up until April 26 to insure that your bracelet arrives on your special day.

Many thanks to Bellazandra for giving us this opportunity to share our opinion on such a beautiful product! Please visit Zandra’s site to view all of the great choices that she offers.
*If you are a mommy inventor and would like to see your product showcased on our blog, please email me at amy@momadvice.com*

Iron Chef Moms Challenge: The Final Results

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Meredith has posted her last meal of the contest, a Cheese & Spinach pie that she found in an old cookbook. Be sure to check her post to get her recipe and more creative ways that she is able to stretch her grocery dollars.

She also compiled all of the meals and the total amounts spent so that you can easily reference all of our dinners and the cost breakdowns. Included in this post is also the final results for the contest, and I am shocked to say that I beat her by a dollar. One mere dollar! This means that my Aldi shopping and her sales flier shopping are pretty much on equal ground. For those of you who do not have an Aldi near you, this is great news! You can shop anywhere if you take advantage of all of those great loss leaders and still be under budget.

This was such a fun week and I have enjoyed all of your comments more than you can imagine. I know that many people read my blog, but I have to be honest and say that the comments are what fuel me creatively. Your ideas and cheerleading through the comments is what keeps me motivated on this site! Thank you all for your invaluable feedback.

Much thanks to Meredith for challenging me this week and for being such a wonderful friend! Her blog has provided much inspiration to me and challenged me in my daily life. She is resourceful, thoughtful, and kind. I know her readers would agree!

Freebie Friday: March 16, 2007

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Olay and the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery proudly present “Bring a Buddy” Free skin cancer screenings. That’s two potentially life-saving screenings for the price of one all during May! For more information please visit their site.

Who can resist a “Hot Mom Driving” bumper sticker for your car?

Register as a free member of CBS Games and get a free deck of cards.

Get a free subscription to In Motion from Castrol, designed specifically for those whose businesses depend on their trucks.

Claim a complimentary one-year subscription to Sweet 16 Magazine. You can answer no to all offers, making this truly free!

Claim a complimentary one-year subscription to Flying Magazine. Again, you can answer no to all offers.

Register to receive free samples of Avalon Organics products made especially for baby. You must put the word SAMPLES in the comments section. These samples should arrive within the next two weeks.

Sign up to receive a free sample of Kodak Inkjet Photo Paper. This offer is valid only while supplies last and please limit one per household.

This is a great freebie for those of us who suffer from allergies. Get a free $6 coupon for a 6-count box of Alavert Orally Disintegrating Tablets or you can use this coupon on any other Alavert product. This valid is good through April 9, 2007.

Do you have a university student in your household or are you part of the faculty? New York Times Select is now available to university students for free. You will need a valid college or university email account for this freebie.

Get a free sample of Purina’s Fancy Feast Elegant Medleys. This sample will arrive within four weeks. Just click on the Free Sample button.

I have not tried this freebie yet, but the site is called PoshPoints. It is a trading community that is free to use and they offer fifteen free points for signing up. This looks like something that I will be checking further into!

This freebie is just for educators. A&E; is offering a free subscription to, “The Idea Book.” This is a biannual teacher’s magazine of ideas for your classroom.

Receive a free sample of Natural Liquid Organic Fertilizer. Please limit one per household.

Best Buy is offering up to ten free tickets to see The Peaceful Warrior. IT will take a few minutes for the page to load, but be patient. These tickets are good for the opening weekend only, March 30-April 1. Come early to guarantee a seat at the show!

This freebie is good for California and New York Residents only. From Parenting Magazine- Join us for the Parenting Film Festival at The Pacific Northridge Theater on March 24th and at Clearview Cinemas on April 14th for FREE movies, entertainment, and giveaways for your family. To RSVP, call 310-268-7104 in Los Angeles or 212-522-4551 in New York. For more information, visit this site.

This is a fabulous freebie! Receive a printable certificate for free GNC Mega Men Multivitamins or GNC Women’s Ultra Mega Multivitamin. This offer is good through March 18th or while supplies last. This freebie is an $8.99 value!

Just a reminder that Dunkin Donuts is offering the FREE iced coffee on March 21st all day and all evening! Don’t forget to cash in on this freebie.

SoyJoy Bars are offering three free nutrition bars. Enjoy a freebie for yourself and give two to friends. That is a nice freebie! These will arrive within three to four weeks.

Johnson & Johnson is offering a New Parents Pack. You will need to call for this freebie. Call 1.800.526.3967. Selection options 1, 1, & then 1 again!

Get a free one-year subscription to PC Magazine by filling out the survey. I have had trouble with this free magazine site before since the magazine offers are based on occupations, but it is worth a shot!

This freebie comes from Mr. Cheap Stuff, for the men out there! You can watch the NCAA March Madness online for free. Visit his site for the scoop!

That’s it, folks! Hope you are enjoying all those freebies! This has been a busy week for my blogs so if you only come for the freebies, please take a look around. I just completed an Iron Chef Moms Challenge that is great for anyone who is looking to eat on the cheap.

Don’t forget to submit your questions to, “Ask Frugal Momma.” You can ask me anything. Honestly. Can’t say I will always have the answers, but I promise to try to hunt them down for you. Submit your questions to amy@momadvice.com

I have already received four great requests so I will be adding these to my week!

Iron Chef Moms Challenge: Day Five- Mini-Meatloaves & a Great Conclusion

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This is the final day of the Iron Chef Moms Challenge and I have been both challenged & inspired by the dishes that Meredith & I have put together. I hope that you walk away with a sense of what we were both trying to accomplish. Meredith has proven that it is possible to eat very inexpensively by just going to your local supermarket and picking up the items that are on special at the stores. I was trying to prove that Aldi offers many affordable choices for your dinner hour.

I think more than that, at least for me, I wanted to prove how you can eat well and not spend a lot of money. I think a lot of times people walk away with the impression that if they go to a discount store, that they are reduced to eating processed meats and chips. I know about this impression, because that is how I had thought of it a few years ago. The food, at that time, looked like a bunch of junk food to me and I didn’t see anything there that would be worth serving to my family.

When we moved here though and my husband’s salary drastically decreased, we had no choice but to cut corners. I did not know a lot about cooking and never had the opportunity to be a stay-at-home mom before.

Aldi Supermarket does offer good food for low prices. I do miss the frills of the other supermarkets- a bagger, picking my groceries up at the door, and the thousands of choices of each product. I don’t miss the price tag though, which keeps me shopping there.

Despite Aldi being my favorite store, I do love to shop the other grocery stores for the exact reason that Meredith has pointed out. Shopping loss leaders in the fliers can be a huge savings to your family. My well-stocked freezers prove that theory! I have tons of meat and cheese that I have purchased at greatly reduced prices and I enjoy shopping the end of the day when the manager’s special tags are calling my name. I have gotten great deals from the supermarket and do feel that shopping the fliers can save you a lot of money. Imagine combining the Aldi shopping with one extra trip to a supermarket to pick up the very best deals of the week.

Setting aside ten dollars even, to shop the loss leaders at the other stores, can be beneficial in the long run to your grocery budget. Coupon cutters can get even more savings by bringing their tote of coupons with them. I know many people, with proper planning, that get food for free or even get money back on their purchases! That is amazing and a tribute to what good shoppers we all could be if we invested a little time into it.

I hope you see through my meals, the desire to provide good food that looks like restaurant-quality eating, but costs you only three or four dollars compared to the twenty or thirty dollar tab you would run if you went out to dinner.

I am anxious to hear all your thoughts and what you have gained from this challenge. What meal was your favorite? What has changed about the way you want to shop? Are you able to eat less expensively than you thought?

For our final day, I made one of my favorite foods for the kids…meatloaf. For some reason, my children are not big meatloaf fans, but make meatloaf muffins? Well, now that is a different story entirely! The best part about preparing meatloaf in your muffin tins, in my opinion, is how much quicker it is to do these versus in the loaf pan. Smaller portions cook up in thirty to thirty-five minutes instead of an hour like the larger loaf. They also transport well for lunches. This recipe tastes like meatballs to me and it is so yummy.

Please ignore the fact that we are eating instant mashed potatoes. Those are my husband’s favorite kind and they are much easier for me to make, so how can I argue with that request?

I served these with a side of steamed broccoli. I love the fresh broccoli hearts because I get the part of the broccoli that I really want. The frozen variety carries more stems than anything else, but mixed in a casserole or dip, they are just fine. If you want to save a little money though, prepare the frozen variety using the microwave instructions, but cook them just a hair under then what it says on the bag. Then take a handful of parmesan cheese a drizzle of olive oil and sprinkle it on top with a little salt and pepper. Give it a light toss and the kids will love it more because it has a little cheese on top.

I can make just about anyone a lover out of broccoli. My only trick is I cook them just until they are done so that the broccoli still has a bite to it and it is still that pretty bright green. My kids will even eat it this way. I just cook the broccoli in an inch of boiling water. Put the broccoli heads in and let them cook four minutes. Drain them and let them sit in the hot pan until the rest of the dinner is ready (about five to ten minutes). They will be perfect!

Meatloaf Muffins
Yields Four Servings

1 pound ground turkey (purchased in the frozen section)
1/3 cup breadcrumbs (the Italian variety work well or fresh breadcrumbs)
1/3 cup parmesan cheese
1 egg
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
¼ teaspoon garlic powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl, but only use about ¼ of the tomato sauce in the meat mixture. Press the meat into the muffin cups (you should be able to get eight out of this amount of meat). Top with a dollop of tomato sauce on each one. Cook for 30-35 minutes. Serve two per person.

This was served with freshly steamed broccoli and mashed potatoes (we like the butter-flavored variety).

Cost Breakdown:

1 pound ground turkey for $0.89
1 egg for $0.07
1 can tomato sauce for $0.19
I package of broccoli hearts for $1.29
1 package of mashed potato mix for $0.40

Total Cost For a Family of Four: $2.84
Total Cost Per Person: $0.71

My overall total for five meals, feeding a family of four, was $15.38. This means that my average cost per person for an entire week of dinners was $3.85!

I am feeling pretty pumped about this! This is how we eat every week so this has helped justify all the time and effort I put into our dinners. What a savings for our family! We could not eat out once for that amount of money unless we dined on nasty fast food.

This also demonstrates how our $50 a week budget works. I still end up with about thirty-five dollars leftover for the other stuff. We also keep an extra ten out each week for maybe a little splurge here and there. This is usually reserved for those little social engagements like coffee with a good friend or those unexpected events where I have to pitch in a little money at a playgroup. There are
weeks that go by where I never even spend this money. If I can go under the fifty dollar amount and still provide great food for my family, I have a little extra for a special treat for myself or for the kids.

Please share with me your thoughts. Was the Iron Chef Moms Challenge worth it? Would you like to see another face-off with a different type of shopper? Share away!

Please check Meredith’s blog for her final tally and her last meal. I am sure she has something wonderful going in her kitchen and I will be anxious to see the final totals!


Note: This recipe will be added to “the Aldi Queen” and all ingredients listed will be added to my weekly menu planner. My planners are posted every Friday so you can get a week’s worth of ideas and a grocery list in one stop! I am running a little behind today so the planner will be up by this evening.

Amy’s Notebook 03.15.07

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Thrifty Mommy shares a fabulous free way that you can give to women’s shelters. With just a couple of clicks, you can donate to a shelter without even leaving your desk!

Frugal For Life points out a fun read that I literally devoured. I got a pen and paper and wrote stuff down. It is that good. The article shares how to look oh-so-chic by just shopping at thrift stores. I attempt this , but the brand names were ones I never heard of. When it first came through my feed, I actually thought Dawn had wrote it. I thought to myself, “Who knew Dawn was such a fashionista?” Then I figured out she was just sharing the article. I am sure Dawn is still highly fashionable though. No doubt!

Punny Money asks the question, just how much can you afford when it comes to gigantic televisions? I loved his formula and the picture tutorial at the bottom. Great to read before making your next television purchase. According to his calculations, we can afford a five dollar television. I wonder how big that will be.

The Simple Dollar shares tips for shopping at your local farmer’s market. This is definitely something I would like to do more of this summer!

Skip to My Lou has a great activity for Easter. How about making Easter Egg Sidewalk Chalk? Check this blog for the instructions!

Parent Hacks has a great tip for baby-proofing your hotel rooms when you are on vacation.

Crafty Daisies have quick and beautiful candle holders made from platters and bowls. These are super cute and easy to make!

Anyone else following Top Design on television? DIY Maven suggests taking on the Top Design challenge and painting a plate.

It’s Just Money had a lovely dinner at McCormick Schmick with a great promotion they are running to get people to utilize their online reservation system.

Ask Frugal Momma: The Amazing Dishwasher

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I have decided to start a weekly segment on getting to know items in your home. I got some emails and comments about my post yesterday, regarding some tips for your dishwasher, and I thought it would be great to start a little segment explaining frugal tips for caring for your appliances. If you have an appliance or item in your home that you would like to be featured, or you have a question about an item in your home that you would like to know more about, please email me at amy@momadvice.com and I will try and hunt for all those answers for you. Consider it a Frugal Momma question and answer column and ask away! I am not an expert in anything so take my advice with a grain of salt!

I don’t know what I would do without my dishwasher! There is an urban legend out there that says that washing dishes by hand is cheaper than washing them in the dishwasher. You actually waste less water by using your dishwasher, which makes the dishwasher a great addition to a frugal homeowner’s house.

First, there is no exact science to loading a dishwasher, but there are a few guidelines. Heavy duty stuff (pots, pans, plates, & utensils) go on bottom & delicate items and glassware go on top. Place everything in the upper rack facedown and put everything on the lower rack aimed towards the center. Silverware should have forks and spoons alternating, otherwise you will get spoons stuck together and they will need to be rewashed.

The important things to know to keep your costs low for running a dishwasher are pretty simple and straightforward. First, it is not economical to pre-rinse your dishes, especially with the newer models that they have out now for dishwashers. If you have an older dishwasher, like me, a quick pre-rinse with cold water only is the most efficient way to get your dishes clean.
Secondly, try and run the most cost-effective cycle on your dishwasher. Try the shorter cycle first and see if your dishes come out clean. If you need to still run the full cycle, don’t run the drying cycle and allow the dishes to air dry. It is more cost-effective and there is less chance of spotting on your glassware.

It is also important to read the manual for your dishwasher to see the recommended amount of dishwashing detergent you should use. The manufacturer will have the best suggestion for the amount of detergent you should use. Are your dishes looking a little gritty? Do you have a nasty residue on your glasses? The remedy to that problem is decreasing the amount of dishwashing detergent. If you don’t have the guidelines handy, you can always look them up on the manufacturer’s website or you can do your own test run to see how much you actually need to get those dishes clean.

If your glasses are looking spotty then you might need to add something to your dishwasher to make it perform better. I fill our rinse agent dispenser with white vinegar. Vinegar is great for removing spots on dishes and it leaves everything squeaky clean. Just fill the rinse aid dispenser as you would with the commercial stuff and stand back in amazement. You won’t believe how much better your dishwasher will perform with just this simple household solution.

I noticed that our dishwasher was looking pretty bad on the interior and I found the quickest way to get your dishwasher looking like new again is just running an empty cycle and filling the detergent cup with a drinking mix with citrus in it. You can use any citrus drink mix and fill it just as you would with your regular detergent. Any drink mix will do- lemonade, Tang, Crystal Lite, or any other drink mix with the citrus ingredient in it. We had a drink mix that the kids just didn’t like and that ended up going in the dishwasher instead. Doing this once a month will help keep your dishwasher looking like new.

Stubborn spots on the dishwashing door are also bothersome. If running a cycle of citrus drink powder doesn’t do the trick, you can try using other products on the door to get rid of the stains. Tomato-based stains will just have to fade with time, but you can sprinkle a little baking soda on your door and let it set for awhile. Take a soft dishtowel and add a little water to make a paste. Then rub the heck out of it and see if that removes the stain. The baking soda paste is also great for countertops or for burnt on gunk on your dishes.

There is a feature on dishwashers that I have never used, and only after writing this article would I even be aware that it even exists. The feature is the Rinse & Hold feature. This is a great feature for those dishes that you just absolutely cannot picture leaving in the sink until the dishwasher is run in the evening. Instead of washing a few dishes, you can run the Rinse and Hold cycle and have the dishwasher rinse them off for you. But how frugal is this feature? According to Consumer Reports, using this feature only takes two gallons of water compared with four gallons for a typical hand-washing. The energy needed to heat the water though, makes this a less than frugal feature so only use this feature when absolutely necessary. It is much more energy efficient to run your dishwasher with a full load.

Finally, you can make your own dishwashing detergent for a fraction of the cost. All you need to make dishwashing detergent is Borax (at our local store a box of this runs about $3.99), baking soda (cheapest at your wholesale club store) and regular old salt. Mix one cup Borax, one cup baking soda (you can also substitute this with washing soda, but most people don’t have this on hand) and 1/4 cup salt. Add a tablespoon of this to your detergent dispenser and run it through a normal cycle. With vinegar added as a rinse aid, the dishes will be clean & spot free.

These blog entries will be added as articles to our Organize section of the site, for quick reference.

Up next week, Amelia’s question on making your own cleaners! I can’t wait to talk about this one!

Don’t forget to submit those questions. I hope that this will be a fabulous addition to the blog!