Making Bananas Last Longer

Bananas are great, but they can spoil pretty easily. I've found that separating them and putting them in the refrigerator help slow down the process. They'll brown on the outside but are still well preserved on the inside. I'll actually place bananas on different shelves and at different ends of the fridge. You'll have to make sure to check that none get forgotten in the back. I've done this to some reduced priced, overripe bananas before and they've stayed pretty good for several more days. For more frugal tips, check out Frugal Friday.

6 Reasons I Love Buddi

Buddi is a money management software that can keep track of your income and expenses. If you're looking for something to help you budget, consider Buddi.

1. It's free. Can't meet free!

2. It can print out reports. This has made it extremely easy to monitor my family's monthly budget by category. It can also generate pie graphs.


3. Its password protected. I've tested many free money management softwares and none gave me everything that I was looking for mainly because of not being password protected. It really should be a must-have feature and I'm glad Buddi includes it.

4. You can put it on a jump drive. My computer is no longer operable so I bounce back from my husband's computer and our "desktop" computer (laptop that's too heavy to call portable). Being on a jump drive has made it easy to manage our expenses without being trapped into one set location.

5. Available plugins. The plugins allow you to print the reports. The default plugins provide all that I need, but if you need something more custom, there's more to choose from here.

6. Financial information is not online. This is a big one for me. Call me paranoid, but I'm just not comfortable with my financial information being "out there" on the worldwide web.

For more information on the Buddi software, go here.

Buddi works for me!

How I Got 25 Bagels For Free

No dumpster diving for me. I got them the good ol' fashion coupon way. That's right. Food Lion has a printable coupon for a "FREE fresh in-store Pane Italiano Bread or up to 4.99 on any Bakery purchase". You can get the coupon here. Note that it expires on the 22nd. Of course, you can use the coupon to get a free loaf of bread, as long as you get it from the Bakery section. However, I actually used this coupon at Harris Teeter's Bakery section, since they accept competitor's coupons. I scored 5 bags of bagels for 99 cents each! This might vary from store to store, but it's worth checking out the Bakery with the coupon at hand. The bagels' sell by date was in 2 days, but I tried one last night, and it was pretty good. I plan on making a homemade breakfast bagel that I'll call the "McBagel". Basically, I'll put a slice of cheese and some eggs on it, wrap it in clear plastic wrap, and pop it in the freezer. This was inspired by fast food alternatives mentioned on The Simple Dollar.

Frugal Habits: Past, Present, and Future

I've always practiced a bit of frugality in college, but it's definitely kicked up a notch after the birth of my son. Take a look at my frugal habits: past present and future.

Frugal habits in college:
- ate Ramen noodles! (when it's 10 for a dollar, you just can't beat it)
- went thrift store shopping for home decor
- went to matinee or early bird movie showings
- shopped at Half.com, Amazon, and used bookstores for my textbooks
- shopped at the Dollar Store, especially for cleaning supplies (cleaning the apartment after moving in was a must!)
- bought groceries in bulk and split the bill with my roommate
- shopped the sales and clearance racks
- did laundry at Mom's (thanks, Mom!)
- used freeware
- used a water filtering pitcher

Frugal habits now - post college, as a wife and mother:
- cook using things that are on sale
- go thrift store shopping for home decor, toys, clothes, and books
- use the local library for books
- shop on Amazon for used books
- shop at a warehouse club
- hang clothes to dry
- use freeware
- use coupons
- use a price book
- use gasbuddy.com for the cheapest gas price
- freeze surplus food
- use CFLs
- use cloth diapers on my son
- make my own baby wipes
- keep a budget - take advantage of drugstore deals
- make homemade toys for my son
- apply the baby steps in Dave Ramsey's Money Makeover Challenge

My current to do list of future frugal projects
(a constant growing list thanks to contributers of Frugal Fridays):
- start a square foot garden
- start an herb garden
- start a compost bin
- make my own liquid detergent
- Parmesan cheese holders
- constantly check air in tires (will be doing more of after my purchase of a high quality tire gauge)

What are some frugal habits you did in the past? How have they changed?


Egg Timer photo by openDemocracy
Ramen Noodles photo by VirtualErn
Clothesline photo by t.shirbert

DIY Vacu-Seal

I think the picture pretty much explains it all. Suck the air out with the straw. It's not completely air-free afterwards, but it gets most of it. I found that the less that's in the bag, the better it works. Here's an after picture.



Check out more frugal tips from Frugal Friday here.

Movie Night for Cheap

Date night at the movies can be quite costly. An evening showing can cost as much as $16.00 for two tickets. On top of that, prices at the concession stand are ridiculously. It's amazing how something so inexpensive as popcorn can easily burn a hole in your wallet, given the right time and location. You could easily walk away from a movie date night spending 30-40 dollars.

RedBox can allow you to watch movies at home for as little as $1 plus tax a night. RedBox is a dvd rental service that allows you to pick out movies from a kiosk and return it at your convenience. Since it's only a dollar a night (plus tax), it'd of course be best to return it the following day. If for some reason, you can't return it in more than 25 days, they'll charge 25.00 + tax and the DVD is yours to keep. There's technically no late fees but a DVD for 25.00 is an outrageous price that I wouldn't recommend paying.

To make things even better, there's a website called InsideRedbox that list possible coupon codes. The codes allow you to get one night free, so if it's returned the next day, the rental is free! It's as easy as that.

I found out about RedBox when Movie Gallery went out of business in our area. I understand they're still around, though. I loved their free movie gallery days, but RedBox was a welcomed alternative. I should add that the RedBox movie selection hold some pretty recent movies. You can check out their selection here. RedBox works for me! Check out more tips from Works For Me Wednesday.

Making a Purchase With No Money Down

I've recently bought a new sliding door. It was one of our many pending purchases that my husband and I were going to buy as soon as we reached a decent emergency fund, but we soon realized it couldn't wait. The glass was separating from its frame and the door starting leaving a big gap when we closed it. Yeah. It was time. Not only did it let in SO much cold air, it was a really big security issue.

We immediately went to Lowe's. There were two that we considered. One was in our price range and was Energy Star and the other we just lusted over because it was so cool. It was one of those that have the blinds inside the glass and you can open and close them from outside. It was the coolest thing, but it wasn't Energy Star and was 200 dollars more than the other one we considered. They said the blinds would help insulate it and I guess provide make me more energy efficient, but that wasn't a guarantee and I really preferred the Energy Star seal.

The sliding door we choose was $795 with installation. We could have saved $339 if we installed it ourselves, but neither me or my husband are "handy" like that. We figured that if we discovered any decaying wood or any out of the ordinary conditions, it would prove to be a more costly venture to even attempt to replace.

I can just picture the worst. Old sliding door removed. Decay wood found. Hours pass still not knowing what to do. Night time comes. Old sliding door propped against the wall, but no longer providing security or protection from the elements. Call the professionals. Wait a week. Cold air. Rain inside our house. Professionals finally come and install the new sliding door. Definitely not something I want to live through.

Our sense of security was influenced by getting the job done right, so yeah... we opted for the professional.

Lowe's had a promotion going on that if you buy something that's at least $299, buying it with a Lowe's Consumer Credit Card will defer the interest and monthly payments for 12 months. We could have easily purchased the new sliding door with the money in our emergency fund, but we were still trying to build that money up. I felt that it was best to just use the promotion, save money for it, and pay it off within 12 months.

Here's how we plan to pay it off within 12 months. If we set aside $72.28 a month in a "Sliding Door fund", we'll accumulate the $795 needed to pay it off in 11 months (1 month leeway just in case) . If you have ING account, doing this couldn't be any easier. I just create an account titled "Sliding Door fund" and set up an Automatic Transfer Plan to withdraw $76.09 out of our checking account a month. It's like making monthly payments to ourselves.

Doing this will allow us to enjoy a new sliding door and still have money in our emergency fund. With the new door being Energy Star, I also look forward to saving a little on our electricity bill as well.

Inexpensive No Sew Curtains

Here's a way that I get curtains without the price tag and the sewing! If you buy old bed sheets from the thrift store or use your own, they naturally have a hem at the top, probably for decorative reasons or to distinguish the top from the bottom. The hem naturally creates a little pocket. I just carefully cut a little bit of the hem on the sides, then I slip a rod through that "pocket". Here's a picture to better show what I'm talking about.



By the way, I bought that rod holder at Target for like $8 and got the Bamboo rod for free on Craigslist. My husband and I got to cut some down for free from this guy who moved into a house that wanted all the bamboo trees gone and there was a lot of them!

One bed sheet can easily be cut down to make two curtains. I just use iron on adhesive to "hem" the sides. Voila! Instant curtain. Below is a picture of another curtain with the iron on adhesive strip.



It holds up quite well and when the part shown in the picture is positioned towards the window, it's barely noticeable. I can imagine that if it's a light colored curtain, it would probably be seen when light passes through it. If that bothers you, I'd stick to darker colors.

Granted these curtains aren't the most clean cut, but it's only when someone REALLY looks closely at them that they can tell the difference.

I should add that the burgundy curtains was purchased for $10 at a thrift store. It was a king size sheet and came with two pillowcases and a fitted mattress cover. I've used the pillow cases to cover some throw pillows and the mattress cover is covering the coach cushions.



A standard window can take a queen size sheet with a little left over. If you want a little "puddle" action going, I'd go for a king.

To find more frugal tips, check out Frugal Friday.