Frugal Friday With Marsha -- Where Did the Week Go?

This week sure has seemed to slip by me!

Saturday evening we had a fundraising spaghetti dinner at our church.  It was a free will offering and they also had a silent auction and buy now items.    I didn't need it, but couldn't stop myself from buying this Knifty Knitter for $1.
This is the same picture from my Wednesday post.  Since then my needle did come in that I ordered with a bit of my earned Amazon so I'm getting close to being able to take it off and finish it now.

Sunday is a blur, but we did go to the funeral home after church for the family viewing time for my hubby's aunt.
Monday was the funeral.  We had a nice visiting time with a nice lunch with his family afterwards.  A lot of his family that I had yet to meet.

Tuesday is always full with Bible study and bowling both on Tuesdays.

This week for online earnings I had:

My PerkTV account was taken care of and I was able to cash in for a total of $3 added to my PerkPlastik card.  (use code 860efbf6 for bonus points for signing up)

I sold 3 of the double towel scarves from my Etsy shop.  I still have 3 listed for sale.

I cashed in and rec'd a $5 Amazon from MyPoints.  It is very much faster to earn doing the daily 5 list each day!  I see that I can redeem for $3 Amazon for 480 points, so think I will do that from now on.

I did 2 short surveys with ShoppersVoice, each worth $1 Amazon.  Not sure where I signed up for this site.  I can't seem to log in to their actual site, I just do the surveys as they come into my email.

I rec'd $4.74 in paypal from Tweety-Fied Surf.   This is one of my most favorite traffic exchanges.  Pennies are easy to earn while you surf to earn credits for your sites to be seen, and she has so many fun games to keep you entertained while you surf too!!


This week's Friday Freebie:  Free Clif Nut Butter Filled Bar or Luna Rica Kroger & Affiliates

Weekly Recyclebank points to check out:

10 Free Recyclebank Points

5 Free Recyclebank Points

5 Free Recyclebank Points

5 Free Recyclebank Points

5 Free Recyclebank Points


I'm looking forward to doing a little coupon shopping this weekend with coupons that Dillon's sent to us in the mail.  My free coupon this time around is for a dozen eggs.  That will be a nice boost.  Others include cents off cheese and also cents off $2 or more in cheese, and even coupons for our Dr Pepper. 

Thanks to Kyla for linking up last week.  I hope more of you will jump in and link in each Friday.

Frugal Friday With Marsha -- Into the New Year

Welcome to 2018!

It's that time again to think about my goals.  Basically they are the same every year.  Every year I start out fairly strong with them, then I fizzle out.  I'm sure this is the case with most people, which is why so many now say they don't make any New Year's "Resolutions".

Last year one of my goals was a 365 goal.  The goal to get money or gift cards in 365 times.  I actually didn't come too short of my goal, only by about 21 days.  However, I did have to start adding in found money, even that penny on the ground, to come that close.
I am trying for that same goal again.

I have tons of figuring to do yet on what I got from where, and then figure out what I paid for website upgrades etc.   I will be posting about my earning for the year over the next several weeks. 

I do know that my biggest online earner is no surprise at all to any of you.  It was Swagbucks, which earnings of $1,015.00 for the year.


You Can Get Free Gift Cards For Shopping, Searching and Discovering What's Online at Swagbucks.com

I'm standing good on my great start for gifts for this year too.  I've continued to crochet the headbands.  I'm almost done with Amelia's jingle bell blocks for her birthday coming up in 9 days.
I got in the BBQ Utensil set from Amazon that I ordered through Snagshout.   It's a nice set.
I used some of my Recyclebank points to order Preserve Re-Usable Utensil set.  It's not come in yet.  Once it does I will decided if it's something I can order more of for my gift stash.

Another of my goals is to declutter and organize this house.  2018 needs to be the year!! 
I dug out a couple of lists I've started in the past.  I say started because I have tried one of them twice--one time not getting past day 2 and another time I got to day 9.   This is the list I am actually starting with.  It's How to Clean Your House in 20 Minutes a Day for 30 Days.  You can find the article HERE is you would like to check it out for yourself.
Day one was today for me.  It really is surprising just what you can get done in 20 minutes, especially when that is just what you are focusing on.

Apps---so many apps that I "let slide" again throughout the year.  One of those was ShopKick.  I rarely messed with it at all.  At one point in the year my oldest daughter asked me about it.  I opened it and did the discover books for points.  The past couple of months I've been remembering to at least get the walk in points when I've been to Wal-Mart.
I had always gotten Target gift cards from ShopKick.  With the announcement that our Target will close it's doors on February 3rd, I went in and got the final few points I needed to cash in for a $5 Target card.   My intention was to get $5 off of cat food, but when I walked into the store, it's half empty and there was NO cat food left.
I ended up heading to the Christmas clearance aisle and getting a few items for 70 and 90% off.
Adding these items to my gift stash (except the Lindt chocolates, which are being adding to my stomach).

As I said, other apps that I just let slide and didn't do.  Doing so took away a lot of earnings for me.  Over the next several weeks I will also be writing about different apps.  Perhaps when I redeem would be a good time to write about them.

I've gotten too wordy again in this post, so will leave you with a few goodies to check out. 

Free Eggs & Bread at Walmart

Free Larabar at Kroger & Affiliates

30 Free Recyclebank Points

Win a $1000 Yankee Candle Shopping Spree

Frugal Friday With Marsha --Preparing for Our Camping Trip

Happy Friday to all!
Our family camping trip/vacation will be here before we know it. We are all excited.
My daughter and her family have reserved and paid for 9 camp sites at one of the lakes. There will be a ton of us there--around 50 I am guessing. It's going to be hot, but it's also going to be an awesome family time too.

In preparing for the trip, my husband has gotten out the camp stove and lantern that he got from his mom's house when she went to the home. He's got both of those in working order.
He also received a free first aid kit from work to add.

I had $13 left from my church cleaning paycheck and spent it at Aldi. I bought a bag of charcoal, styrofoam plates, plastic cups, paper towels, and ibuprofen.

I traded points on the lucktastic app for $20 in Target gifts cards. I have cashed out with swagbucks for $10 Walmart, and should be able to earn another $10 before the trip. I've cashed out with PerkTV for $5 Walmart and should also be able to get another $5 there before the trip. (If you happen to sign up for PerkTV, please use the code 860efbf6 and you will get 50 bonus points)
All of this I will spend to help buy our food and any other non-food items that we still need.

Of all vacations, I would say that going camping is one of the most frugal you can do.
We will be tent camping though, which is something we've not done for close to 20 years! Not sure I'm looking forward to sleeping on the ground, but unfortunately, air mattresses aren't in our budget.

We've owned out tent for almost that many years but have never slept in it. The year we bought it we found that our favorite RV park to stay at rents out campers and cabins too. Yep, we rented a camper and have gone that way every time we've been there since. I didn't even know what our tent looked like until we let my daughter and her family borrow it last year. It's a cool one....tent on each side with a tunnel in between the rooms.

What do you do to make your vacation more frugal?

An InLinkz Link-up

Frugal Friday With Marsha Week in Review

This has been an interesting week. Monday was my middle daughters birthday and I said I would keep the 3 children overnight.
Their 3 plus my oldest daughters 5 meant 8 children overnight. Gluten for punishment that I am, (LOL) I offered to also keep them the next night as well.

Of course I love having them, but they do require a lot of energy, especially that many at once. Food was provided by the parents though. Pork chops, cucumbers, strawberries and bananas for the first nights supper and pizza and watermelon (with popsicles for later) for the next nights supper by one daughter. The other daughter brought Icee treats, fruit snacks,Kool-Aid, 3 boxes of cereal, and milk.

My middle daughter also paid me some dollars for keeping hers a second night which enabled me to buy some lunch and other household items. My oldest daughter put some gas in my van.

All of this adds up to what I posted a couple of weeks ago.....that things work out.
Hubby and I did spend a little on groceries, but under $20. Actually, he let me shop. I chose to buy bologna, cheese slices, bread, potato salad, a bag of chicken fingers, tomatoes, a head of lettuce, mayonnaise, salad dressing, bbq sauce, and a gallon of milk and paid $19.51. I think I did well and didn't even use any coupons.

How was your week?

An InLinkz Link-up

Frugal Friday with Marsha -- Week in Review

I intend from now on for my Frugal Friday posts to be a week in review.  This will encourage me to really be watching for the things that I do, even the little things.  Hopefully it will not only motivate me, but others as well.

I can't say that we've had a frugal week this past week.   Hubby took it upon himself to go grocery shopping and spent close to $100.  Sigh....he obviously didn't understand the deal.  The deal being that he is to not spend any money outside of paying the bills and keeping gas in his truck.

He's not even supposed to be willy nilly spending on food and drinks while working.

As I said, he did not keep up his end of the deal, and, I've been pretty upset with him all week!

Don't think that I am not appreciative of the groceries that he bought...and not only bought, but did most of the cooking all week as well.  However, what he bought was: 3 packs of hot dogs, large can of pork and beans, large tub of potato salad, gallon of milk, box of Lucky Charms, 3 dozen eggs, 2 packages of bacon, pound roll of sausage and quite a lot of 2 ltrs or Dr.Pepper.

I think you will see the theme that we've had a lot of breakfast meals all week.  Not complaining there either really since that is my favorite meal foods.

And, my complaint is that he shopped BEFORE paying bills to see if that money he spent was really spendable money.

I have once again not been keeping up with my coupons.  In fact, I owe my friend for at least 3 weeks worth on insert orders.  Money is an issue....I don't have the money to go pick up my coupons and pay her!   It does no good whatsoever to pay for extra coupons and then not keep them cut and organized and actually use them!  I will be contacting her to get them picked up.

I did a review this past week of The Gnome Project, which talks about the importance of regular routine.  Starting today, not only is working on sewing/crafts each day, working on coupons is also going to be a daily must for me!

I hope to have a nice list for you to read next week.  In the meantime, please do link up some frugal/money saving/DIY type posts and motivate me to keep going.

An InLinkz Link-up

Frugal Friday With Marsha -- Things Work Out

Sometimes I am amazed how things work out. How the Lord does provide just as he promises he will.

I, myself, did very little grocery shopping last week. Just a gallon of milk, a jar of pasta sauce, a dozen eggs, a box of Hamburger Helper, a cantaloupe, and 4- 2 ltrs of Dr.Pepper.
Yes, all of it had rebates from ibotta.

My mom gave us a package of sausage patties, which with eggs and toast made a nice breakfast for supper.
I cooked up the last 2 turkey patties and cut them up for the meat in our spaghetti another supper.
I cooked a huge whole chicken in the crockpot that made chicken sandwiches the first night and then a pot of chicken and noodles that we ate 2 nights in a row.
We did splurge one evening when my daughter and her family were in town for my granddaughters 4th birthday, and we went and bought 3 of the $5 Little Caesar's pizzas.

I've been so grateful for the $50 amazon that I cashed out for with the Lucktastic app, along with earnings from my amazon affiliate. It's paid for 80 lbs of cat litter and 66 lbs of cat food for our animals. It's time now to get it added back up though so that I can order more...hopefully before what we still have is gone. Amazon Prime is awesome with the free shipping!

I don't know yet what this week's shopping will bring. It's been a whirlwind week and I don't even know what gift cards I have available. I spent one of my $5 Target gift cards buying Zelda some gifts from the Spot for her birthday last Friday.

How has your week been?

An InLinkz Link-up

Frugal Friday with Marsha --Basic Grocery List

What is your basic grocery list?  The food you like to always have on hand no matter what?

Here is my list:
Eggs
Cheese
Bread
Crackers
Milk
Sugar
Flour
Chicken
Ground Beef
Ground Turkey
Vegetable Soup
Tomato Soup
Cream of Mushroom Soup
Tuna
Margarine
Powdered Sugar (this to make myself a bit of frosting if I am having a sugar attack)
Peanut Butter
Jelly

With these things I can always come up with a meal.

Things I like to always have in the house are:
Chocolate!
Cheez-Its
Carnation Breakfast Drink
Honey Wheat Puffs cereal
Dr. Pepper!!!
Microwave popcorn
Fresh fruits and veggies

I actually did my grocery shopping yesterday instead of today, paid for with Walmart gift cards earned from Swagbucks and PerkTV.
I bought: cantaloupe, gallon of milk, Hamburger Helper, Ragu pasta sauce, 4-2 ltrs of Dr. Pepper, a a dozen eggs.
I paid $13.91 and got back $2.85 from ibotta.  I am so thankful for all of the any brand, regular grocery foods, that ibotta has with rebates!  I got money back from ibotta on everything that I bought.

Not bad, but not much food.  Thankfully my mom gave us some ground beef and other beef, plus cans of beef stew, some soups, and some canned vegetables.  These will help us get through this week along with what we still had left on hand for meats.

An InLinkz Link-up

Frugal Friday with Marsha --Preparing for Vacation

Who knew that preparing for vacation was so hard? Well, it is for me. LOL
My daughter and her boyfriend are going to stay at the house to house and pet sit for us. Even though they are over here all the time, I feel the need to do a bunch of extra cleaning.
Yesterday I steam cleaned the carpets. Speaking of that, buying the steam cleaner is what I feel was a good investment. Just using it a few times more than covered what we would have paid to rent a machine. It was something we chose to buy 2 years ago with part of our income tax refund.

Today I am preparing for a yard sale tomorrow. I am going over to the little town where my middle daughter lives for their 'city wide' sales. City wide is a population of 1,100 people, but tons come in to town for the sales too. Cheap cost of just $5 donated to the 4-H to be on the map with an ad of what we have at our sale. So, minus the small amount of gas, a lot cheaper than trying to host and advertise one from home (it's just a 24 minutes drive from my driveway to theirs), plus I get the added plus of spending time with my daughter and grandchildren too.
Do wish me luck of actually selling some things though.

We will be gone next week on vacation, and I am also taking a vacation from blogging. I have a plan to do a Wordless Wednesday post with some pictures, but that's it.
And back to speaking of vacation----I have managed to earn $22 in Target gift cards that will help us take some of meal foods with us on the trip to avoid always paying to eat somewhere. Plus I also have a $5 Walmart card as well. With that we will stop and get some macaroni and potato salad from the deli. Yum!

Until then, I can't wait to see what posts you share this week to inspire and motivate us all to keep living frugally, saving money, do it ourselves etc!

An InLinkz Link-up

Frugal Friday with Marsha--Frugal Vacation?

I made my husband, yes, made him, buy one of the cheap vacation packages while we were at the State Fair this past September.  You know, the package where you have to sit through a 2 hour sales presentation for a time share or a resort membership.

The package was $139.  We procrastinated knowing we really couldn't even afford that.  Then the salesman knocked the price to $99.  Yes, we jumped on that.
Our package includes 2 night at the Palace Hotel in Branson, Missouri. (I was just looking at our reservation and it says 3 nights?)  It also includes 2-2 day passes to Silver Dollar City.

Why did I insist on buying it?  I want to take what I will feel like is a REAL vacation for a change.
I know tons of people take advantage of these packages. In fact, there was at least 3 other booths at the fair for other resorts selling packages so you can easily do this yearly.

We will be renting a car too though.  None of our vehicles are safe on the highway for that long of a trip.  That will be another $150 to $200 added on to the cost of the trip.

We will have a full breakfast provided at the hotel and will have to have our own meals otherwise.  We will pack up a lot of foods--sandwich supplies, fresh fruits and veggies, our own drinks, etc.  I'm sure we will splurge though and eat out as well.

All in all I think we are looking at about $400-$450 total for our vacation.  That's not too bad.

Our trip is scheduled for May 5-7.   I'm really looking forward to it!


In the past the closest we've come to what I would call a real vacation was the year that I saved all my change, which then paid for a 3 night cabin rental at a nearby RV park.  That was lots of fun too!

Otherwise, we have packed up some things and a mattress and camped out on the living room floor of my middle daughters house for a few nights.  Activities in their town with them included going bowling and going to the water park.  Otherwise it was watching movies with them and playing games on the wii.  Don't get me wrong, that was an awesome time too.

One year we went for one night to Dodge City.  We left my daughter (don't worry, she was 16 years old) at the motel while we went with our $42 to the casino to play the penny slots.  The following day we made a day of it going to Boot Hill and then to the wax museum and the Teacher's Hall of Fame museum.  On the road we stopped at another museum as well.

Another time we only did things right here in our own town---a visit to the county museum, a picnic in the park, a trip to the Cosmosphere, eating at a nice restaurant, a trip to the local zoo over the week.

Those vacations are also fun and a much time needed away from home.

What kind of "cheap" vacations do you take?

An InLinkz Link-up

Frugal Friday With Marsha 3/27/15

What does being frugal mean to you?

For me it's making due with what you have....finding ways to re-use.......recycling.....planting a garden to provide some of your foods......saving money wherever you can.

This past week I've thought a lot about my couponing.  It never fails that when I post about good deals I have gotten, that at least one person comments such as  'you aren't saving if you are buying things you don't need'  or  'you aren't really saving unless you putting the money that you saved with the coupons into a savings account' or even things like 'I would never buy that brand of toilet paper unless it was free' or 'we don't buy boxed and processed foods'.    You get the picture.

Yes, I buy a lot of things that we don't really need.  Yes, I buy things that I wouldn't buy if it weren't for the fact that they are so cheap with coupons.

But.......my Christmas and birthday gift stash is growing immensely.  I soon will have a shelf in my bedroom where my children can come in and get the things they need.   I have given lots to charities.
Mostly, if I am going to have a hobby, or something that I enjoy this much, then couponing is a great hobby to have.  I have FUN.

This past week I only got a few things at Walgreens.  I paid less than the sales tax, paying just 55 cents.  And, I came home with $4.50 in their register rewards coupons to spend on whatever I like next time I shop.   How can that be wrong?

The Glade plug ins made sense.  I love to have a scented home and I have so many of the plug in units that I bought as fillers on KMart's double coupon days.  We all use toothpaste....and hopefully hand soap.  The headband is now in my gift stash.

Well, that's it for me this week.  I have a huge list of things to look for at Target while I am out today.  I'm pretty anxious to get to shopping, in hopes that our Target does sell at least most of them.

I look forward to your share this week of your frugal posts.

An InLinkz Link-up

Frugal Friday With Marsha --Welcome to the First Day of Spring

Yay for Spring!  Here in Kansas it's to be a very pleasant first day of Spring.  I've already read of some who woke up to snow in other parts of the country.   I do remember a first day of Spring when we got 3 feet of snow! 

Do you suppose I should actually start my Spring cleaning now?  I don't know about Spring cleaning, but I do know that I need to reestablish housework routines. 
I've had good luck with Flylady when I've kept up.
I've had good luck using the system in the Sidetracked Home Executives book.
I've had luck using the How To Clean Your House in 20 Minutes a Day for 30 Days list.
Another one that I was doing really well with was 4 Weeks to a More Organized Home.

Now, which one of these do I want to get back to, and actually stick to it this time??

A clean house and an uncluttered home leads also to an uncluttered mind!
I will pick one and give you an update next week.

An InLinkz Link-up

Frugal Friday with Marsha --Week in Review

This week has been about as busy as last week!  I need a slow down.

I wrote a couple of bubblews posts pertaining to being frugal:
Cancelled my Club Pogo Subscription  and  Supper 2/19/15

$5.99 a month may sound like frugal computer entertainment, but it's not frugal if you aren't actually spending time playing the games.
$3.60 for our supper foods last night is very frugal.
I hope you will click over to read more.  Both will open in new windows.
Here is a picture of my supper plate though:

Gasoline is holding steady at $2.19 a gallon.   I still wish it was under $2 a gallon like it was for awhile, but still can't complain after prices we have seen in the past. 

I'm still working on crocheting the pink washcloths and working on the pink hexagons.   I bought the yarn at a yard sale and the hexagons fabrics were given to me.   I love that I rarely buy any materials new and that I have about 10 years worth of projects that can be done right now.
The fact is that the only thing I should have to buy in those 10 years is some needles for my sewing machine and blades for my rotary cutter.   I seriously have collected so much fabric and other things either by buying at yard sales and thrift stores, or that has been given to me, that I can work all day every day for many years. (Now if I would just get in to my sewing/craft room and organize it all!)

Still working here and there are eliminating clutter and organizing.  There is a lot to be said about the saying "less is more".  Even going back to the cleaning and organizing of my sewing room, I have lots of things in there also that I will never use.  I wonder if next Friday I can tell you that I've been working in there?

I Love Being Frugal Postcards by giftshirt
Browse I heart frugal Postcards online at Zazzle.com

An InLinkz Link-up

Frugal Friday With Marsha--Week in Review

This week sure seems to have flown by!
Frugal highlights of my week were:

Bare bones grocery shopping and eating from what we already have in the freezer and cabinets.  Unfortunately bare bones shopping is a necessity right now.

We went to the Salvation Army and had the certified IRS tax preparers there do our taxes for free over paying H&R Block over $200 this year!  This was a major accomplishment on my part to finally get hubby to agree to go there and save all of that money.

I haven't had a chance to take advantage of sales with coupons this past week.  I did use 4 Angel Soft TP coupons to stock up a bit on those and I shared my other 2 coupons with my mom so she could get some cheap too.

A code that someone shared on TSU for amazon enabled me to order and receive a pair of socks for .50. They are now added to my gifts stash tote.

Our supper last night was ham slices from the freezer, oven fried potatoes, peas and carrots, and crescent rolls.   I opened the Tightwas Gazette book and used her easy instructions for making the oven fried potatoes.  They were yummy and simple.  There are several other recipes in the book that I look forward to using as well.


Gasoline has jumped up to over $2 a gallon now.  I can't complain about $2.09 compared to over $5 we've seen in the past.  I have been making sure to not just run to one place.  If I am out I make the most of my trip.  It pays to plan the best route for no back tracking and to make sure you get everything done that you need while you are out.

I finished my first locker hook rug.  I love having yet another use for scrap fabrics.  I'm itching to start another rug as I still have 2 bags of strips that were given to me.  Currently I've gotten out the big cone of cotton yarn that I was fortunate to find at a yard sale, and crocheting dishcloths/washcloths.   I feel so blessed with other give me materials to work with or I find them cheaply at thrift stores or yard sales!  That makes my crafting very frugal.

I think that's about it for this week's report.  I look forward to seeing what others have posted this week.

An InLinkz Link-up

Frugal Friday with Marsha 1/23/15

We've made it to another Friday.  How has your week been?
This week I thought I would give you a run down of the frugal/money saving things that I've done this past week.


I've started buying coupon inserts through a coupon friend for .40 each insert. I'm buying in sets of 5.  This is giving me the ability to take better advantage of the sales. 
I've been able to get Glade candles for just .33 each after coupon, clearance, and the cartwheel app at Target.
The dollar store sell the Lance cracker 6 packs for just $1 and we have $1 coupons.  This means paying just sales tax and we have snacks in the house.  We've had a huge shortage on anything to just snack on for some time now.

I have been blessed many times over the years since I started sewing and quilting to be given fabrics, whether full pieces, scraps, and such.  This week I took the rug I am making to show my progress when I attended my stitch group.  It so happened that one of the other ladies in the group had picked up this balls of fabric strips out of a free box somewhere she had been that very morning.  She took them knowing that she would find someone who could use them.  Little did she know she would find someone that same day!

I'm not too proud to tell you that I went to the food bank this week.  Our food bank allows you to go once every 2 months.  I will say that in my adult lifetime, this is only the 4th time I've ever gone to the food bank.  I'm glad it's there.  Finances are not as such that we can go do any "real" grocery shopping and hasn't been for a long time.  We can rest easy this week now knowing that we have meat for our meals, plus the other foods that we were also given.

On the note of the grocery shopping, I'm still shopping with the $5 Target and Walmart cards that I am earning from swagbucks and PerkTV.     Today I am using those to buy a block of cheese to take as my part of the carry in dinner we will be having for quilt guild on Monday.  I am also buying Bushe's baked beans as our part of a carry in dinner at church on Sunday (using $1 coupons on the beans).  I will also be getting a gallon of milk for the week and my box of Carnation Instant Breakfast (a $2 coupon on the Carnation printed from swagbucks is saving me $2, but also earning me 10 swagbucks for using it).

If you have a Kroger owned store in your area, don't forget that today is Friday to go in and add the freebie to your card today.  My mom and I will be stopping in to get our freebies.  This week is a

Free Chobani Simply 100 Greek Yogurt (5.3oz) .   Last week was a free Muller yogurt and the week before that a free Power Bar.  We have all 3 things to pick up today!

My husband is finally taking food from home for his lunches at work.  Most of the time he takes leftovers from supper.  If we don't have something leftover he is fixing himself a sandwich, taking a banana, and thanks to the Lance coupons, a package of crackers.

I look forward to seeing what you have posted this last week!

An InLinkz Link-up

Frugal Friday With Marsha--The Tightwad Gazette

A few months ago I pulled out my copy of The Tightwad Gazette. 

It's a book I had heard about for years and wanted to own.  Now being the frugal person that I am, ok, the poor person that I am, there was no way that I could purchase the book new.  I had checked it out from the public library and read through it.
The copy you see above I found at our public library book sale.  I was so excited to finally own a copy of my own.
In fact, she talks a lot in her book about never buying anything new, with yard sales being a prime place to find things that you need.

My copy is copyright 1992.  She wrote 3 books, adding to each new version.   I will highlight the last one, which is a compilation of all 3 books at the bottom of this post.

This book is just invaluable.  You can read through it over and over and discover something new each time.  It's set up in sections by seasons of the year. 
It includes how-to instructions on several item.s  For example, you will be amazed just how many things you can make with a gallon milk jug.
There are a lot of recipes throughout the book---food recipes, cleaning supply recipes, baby wipes, play dough, etc.
The book has reader's letters throughout.  Letters that she received from readers while she was putting out her Tightwad Gazette newsletter.  Her readers had some good ideas to add to what she was already putting out.

I have several pages marked with things I want to make or do.  This coming from me, someone, who has lived a frugal type lifestyle all of my adult life.  There is still something new to learn each day.

For example:  I was reminded of taking the broken crayons and melting them down to make colorful crayons using a muffin tin.   Just the other day I found myself cleaning up after the grandkids had jumped out both totes of craft supplies.  I started throwing away the broken crayons.  I then asked myself what was I doing?   Her book suggests using the "scribble cookies" as stocking stuffers.  That is exactly what I plan on doing!  I even have a mini cupcake pan that I will use to make them.  I will put them into snack size zipper bags (bought on sale and with a coupon, of course) and give each of the grandchildren some.
This is just one of many things from her book that I will be doing.

I have fun living frugally!  How about you?

I found this video of the author, Amy Dacyczyn to share with you.  Of course I love it as she's in her sewing room giving a tour as well.







I look forward to what you will share this week.

An InLinkz Link-up

Frugal Friday with Marsha--The Stash

 Most couponers call their stash a stock pile, I call it my stash.  Over the years of using coupons I have always stashed away health and beauty items throughout the year.  Getting razors, shave gel, toothbrushes, floss, body wash, deoderant, and make-up free, or extremely cheap with sales and coupons.

In 2014 I let my couponing go by the way side.  In August 2014 our grocery store stopped doubling coupons.  About that same time I lost my free source of getting multiple coupon inserts free each week.

My grown children have grown accustomed to expecting these things from me each year.   I had thought all I had in my stash was men's shave gel.   I made a mad dash earning Target gift cards through swagbucks and the PerkTV app.  Target was having some good deals such as buy 4 items and get a $5 Target card back.  Plus, I had coupons as well for most all of them. Plus additional savings through the Target Cartwheel and Target coupons as well.   I was making lots of trips to Target, but my boxes just weren't going to be as full of as many things as usual.

Or, so I thought......
It came time for me to go get in to my stash for the shave gel.

Look what I found:

Because I hadn't been using many coupons anymore, I hadn't added anything to my stash.  I had NO idea that I still had so much in there. (I keep my stash by category in strawberry crates stacked in the corner of my bedroom)
I was able to put together nice, and pretty complete boxes for all of the adult children after all.

Now, I am working my way back to using lots of coupons again.  I have found a source to buy inserts through a local friend for much cheaper than buying multiple Sunday papers.  I am working to keep my coupons cut and in my binder, and carrying my binder with me at all times.
I hang out in the #couponcommunity, #target, #walmart, and #walgreens hashtags over on TSU.  So many members there posts deals.  It's phenomenal! 

I originally wrote about my stash on bubblews.  You can find my post here:

My Stash Was Larger Than I Thought 

 

 

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Frugal Friday With Marsha --- Christmas Gifts

Let me first say Happy New Year.  Yesterday had it's ups and downs, but for the most part if was a nice start to the new year.

Christmas is over, so now I can share the gifts that I made as gifts for Christmas 2014  :)

Let's start with the fabric bags that I made.  Each year I give everyone a Christmas sack with some candy and then little goodies.  Goodies that I've collected over the year, Christmas items that I buy on sale, etc.   In January I learned how to make lined fabric bags at quilt guild.  It was our community service project, giving the bags to the women's shelter. 
I had amassed quite a bit of Christmas fabrics, so thought it would be nice to make fabric fabrics to fill.  I did.....25 of them total.

I made a doll bed, quilt, pillows, and a rug for my 3 yr old granddaughter, Zelda.  (I'm in the process of making lots of these sets to lists in my online craft shops over the coming year)

I made a sock family for my 18 month old grandson, Killian.  (I am thinking of making lots more of these too)

I thought about making an apron for my son since he bbq's a lot.  While looking through a box of fabric for 'manly' fabrics, I ran across some Elvis fabric and fabric with records on it.
I will make my son an apron for his birthday in April, but stopped and made my mom an Elvis quilt for Christmas.

Throughout the year I made 42 hot pads with blocks that I had left over from quilt tops.  I didn't save a picture of them all made, but here is a picture of one of them in the making.  Every adult, or adult couple in the family rec'd 2 hot pads.  It was strange, that my oldest daughter didn't even own 1 hot pad.  She was using old t-shirts for hot pans on the table.  She will be getting 2 more for her birthday Feb.1.

Last minute I decided to also give each adult or adult couple a set of 4 coasters.  I made 10 sets plus 2 coasters.

 All in all, it was a nice handmade Christmas in additional to good deals I got throughout the year and at the last minute to make up my total gifts for the year.

I have pulled out a book that I bought 2 years ago and marked pages of things that I am going to start working on making THIS month and work on throughout the year instead of mostly last minute.
The book is highlighted here:



I look forward to the frugal posts you will share with my readers and myself this week!

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Frugal Friday With Marsha 12/5/14 Crafts as Gifts

Christmas is literally right around the corner now.   I have tons of things that I would have like to have made for gifts.  Maybe 2015 will be the year that I actually start working on gifts in January?
I have enough past gifts that I have made to take me until Christmas so that I can share the ones from this year, AFTER Christmas.

Corduroy Teddy Bear Blanket that I made for Killian at his birth.   It's actually not finished in this picture, but I don't seem to have a picture in my computer of it after it was finished!

In 2010 I gave Ariel, Willo, and Araya bags for their birthdays.  The intention was to fill them with things to keep them busy and hopefully quiet during church.  I made each bag from a pillowcase I had bought at a yard sale for .25 each.   The items inside each bag I won with points on Listia.

A quilt for Zelda.  She wasn't born yet when I made quilts for the grandkids.  Just as the quilt above for Killian. (I do still have one grandson that I've not made a quilt for so need to work on that for his birthday in 2015!)

I am having trouble accessing pictures from my disc so that's going to be it for this week.  Please wish me luck on getting my disc to read....it has lots of pictures on it that I don't want to lose! 

I look forward to the frugal posts that you link up this week.

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Frugal Friday with Marsha-- Craft Gifts for the Children

This week I am writing about some of the different things that I've made for the grandchildren.  I have shared some of what I've given them, as well as all of the pillowcases last week.

This baby set I found in the One-Yard Wonders
book.   I had never made anything like this.  A lady at church helped me when I couldn't quite understand the instructions.  Since then I have made lots of the bibs.  The lighter colored bib is an extra to the set.  The set was made for Zelda when she was born.

One year, the granddaughters, Ariel, Willo, and Araya all received a doll quilt and plarn jewelry from me for their birthdays.   The plarn bracelet and necklace are laying on the doll quilt.

This little Minnie Mouse hat was also crochted for Zelda as a newborn.  It was so small that she only got to wear it like 2 days, literally.   It was might cute through!

This sock family went to Jacob for his first Christmas.  I actually got the idea from the church nursery as there were some in the toy box.      I have well over 200 mismatched socks in bags, plus I have plenty of stuffing.  It's time to start making a LOT more of these.   I do plan on making a family for Killian this year.

 This cute little cat with it's blanket was made from the Crafty Creatures
book and was a gift for Zelda this past Christmas.   She loved it!  It was so so cute.  There are lots of creatures in the book that I yet want to make.

That's it for this week.  Since Thanksgiving is upon us, I want to wish you a

Happy Thanksgiving Postcard by touchministry
Find other Happy Postcards at zazzle.com

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Frugal Friday with Marsha 10/3/14-- Crafts as Gifts

Christmas is right around the corner.  From now until Christmas I am going to highlight different crafts that I have made for gifts over the years.

You will notice that I have a handmade linky page here on my blog.  I have went through and removed the dead links. Please feel free to add your homemade posts.  Also feel free to add your stores with handmade items as well.

This week I'm going to start with my biggest Christmas challenge.  I made quilts for my 4 children, 5 of my grandchildren and my sister-in-law!  This was no easy task since I didn't start on them until October.  I was a brand new quilter so they are all patch quilts.

This first one was for my grandson, Allen.

This one was for my granddaughter Araya.

My granddaughter Ariel's.

My daughter Elizabeth's

My daughter Heather's.

My daughter Jasmine's.  This was my very first quilt ever.

My son Johnathon's.

My grandson Skyler's.  This isn't a quilt, as you can see.  I was given a bag of these crochet squares already made.  I sewed them together with yarn.

This is the one I made for my sister-in-law.  Hubby went out and bought the fabrics for me as she is a KU fan.

Last, but not least, this is my granddaughter Willo's.

I made these in 2008.  The grandkids still only like to sleep with the quilts that Grandma Marsha made them.  They are getting pretty ratty, but they don't care!    Maybe it's time to make new ones for everyone.....not this year though.  :)


Here are some quilting supplies that you will need:

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