Meal Planning, Saving Food and Cluttered Pantries (1)

Today I spent four hours cleaning our pantry out. We’ve always had a spare large portable pantry in our kitchen, along with the built in pantry closet. We stored mostly snacks in it at the beginning, but in the past year it has expanded to hold canned goods, boxed items and much more. It was time to get the second pantry out of the kitchen and condense the items into one. I never dreamed it would turn into what it turned into. If your pantry hasn’t been cleaned out in awhile, and you aren’t sure what’s in there, do it … Continue reading →

Half a Cow…and Save Money

Stop having a cow about your grocery bills each month…and *half* a cow instead! (Sorry..I couldn’t resist.) One of my husband’s coworkers approached him with an idea last year. “Why don’t we contact a local rancher and buy a cow.” “Our families can split it and we will both save money”. It was a great idea and the timing couldn’t have been better. We’d just received our tax return and figured that filling our freezer would be a great way to spend the money. All together, our half cost us a little over $300 and we had nearly a years’ … Continue reading →

Storing Your Stockpile

How do you store your stockpile? Good storage of your stockpile allows you to take advantage of great deals without having your house overwhelmed with cereal boxes falling from the top of the fridge or soup cans falling on your foot. I’m always curious as to how people store their stockpiles. Does your stockpile have its own designated space or do you just fit things in where you can? We struggled with our stockpile for a bit before we found a solution that works for us. Here in Pennsylvania, I am about and hour-and-a-half from Lancaster and Amish country. The … Continue reading →

Adventures of the Stockpiling Queen (2)

In Adventures of the Stockpiling Queen (1), I shared “how a desire to save money and be prepared for anything creates a kingdom onto itself.” If you answered yes to the questions I asked, you, too, may be stockpiling royalty. I also shared the one thing that I keep hidden from my husband. Read on for the rest of my stockpiling adventures, including the reasons I stockpile… Stocking up also gives me a sense of security. I can whip up pretty much anything anyone wants for dinner, even if unexpected company drops by. Sure when they go to hang their … Continue reading →

Adventures of the Stockpiling Queen (1)

This blog is about how a desire to save money and be prepared for anything creates a kingdom onto itself. Are you stock-up royalty? Take this test: Do you have at least a six-month supply of shampoo? Are you still getting through the extra toilet paper you bought for Y2K? If the neighbor came over to borrow a cup of sugar, could you oblige? What about 5 pounds of sugar? What about the entire makings for a cake that serves three hundred? If you answered yes to the above questions, then congratulations my friend. By the power vested in me … Continue reading →

8 Practical Stockpiling Tips: Save Money!

Practical tip 1: Buy up “loss leaders.” Grocery stores entice you into the store by offering a few items at ridiculously cheap prices. These items are generally on the front page and can be seasonal. So when soup is on sale four cans for a dollar, fill your pantry until the next sale. Practical tip 2: Combine coupons with sales. Ask friends and neighbors to save their coupon inserts for you, buy extra Sunday newspapers, or make friends with the local convenience store, all great sources for lots of coupons. When instant oatmeal went on sale at 1.00 each, I … Continue reading →

Free Sample Stockpile: Creative Uses

I love getting free samples wherever I can. In an earlier blog, Top Places for Free Samples, I listed the best sources for everything from shampoo to coloring books. But now that you have all of those great freebie samples, what do you do with them? Well, here are some of the ways I use up my free sample stockpile. My favorite way to use free samples is by creating my own custom travel kits. I have a kit for my husband and myself, one for my older two children and one for the baby. The sample sizes are perfect … Continue reading →

Frugal Uses For Tin Foil (4)

I love finding new ways to use common household items! With stockpiles of product, there are so many different ways to use up all that stuff. Tin foil is no exception as I’ve shown you in the articles Frugal Uses for Tin Foil (1), Frugal Uses for Tin Foil (2) and Frugal Uses for Tin Foil (3). Over the years I have tried various things, or have collected ideas from my grandmothers, or other family members, using tin foil. I have compiled these into a series of articles all dealing with frugal uses for tin foil! Be sure and check … Continue reading →

Stockpiled Shampoo? Here’s What To Do With It!

As many members on our site will attest to, especially those quite familiar with the DEALS area, stockpiling is a great way to get things for free and have them whenever you need them. One of the most common items I see stockpiled is toiletries, in particular, shampoo. What does it mean to stockpile? First of all, when you use it over in the deals section, it can be used as a noun or a verb. The noun definition, is simply something kept back or saved for future use or a special purpose [syn: reserve, backlog] or a storage pile … Continue reading →

Frugal Uses For Tin Foil (3)

I love finding new ways to use common household items! With stockpiles of product, there are so many different ways to use up all that stuff. Tin foil is no exception as I’ve shown you in the articles Frugal Uses for Tin Foil (1) and Frugal Uses for Tin Foil (2) . Over the years I have tried various things, or have collected ideas from my grandmothers, or other family members, using tin foil. I have compiled these into a series of articles all dealing with frugal uses for tin foil! Be sure and check out the frugal living blog … Continue reading →