Goodwill Shopping Tips & Tricks (Guest Post)

This is a guest post from my bargain shopping friend Starri.  She's a busy wife and mother to two young boys.  She's got a lot to say about shopping at one of our favorite stores, Goodwill.  I hope you enjoy this as much as I did.

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Several of you have commented to me that you never find anything at GOOD at GOODwill.  Ironic, don't you think?  I thought about what made my trips there fun and successful and made a few notes to share with you.  I have to give partial credit for this information to my mom.  I learned from the best and she's still my thrift store shopping buddy.  I'd love the hear your tips and tricks.  Hope it helps and happy hunting! 

Shop with a buddy.  Someone who knows your size style well is a plus because they can help keep an eye for things you might like.  Be sure to go through a rack even if your friend just did- it’s easy to miss things.   Often a fresh set of eyes will catch a spot or tear you missed.  Besides, being with someone just makes it less tedious!

Each week a different color is 50% off; at the Newnan Goodwill this changes each Sunday.   It will become harder and harder to find those color items as the days go by.

Shop your favorite magazines and websites for trends that you like then use these as inspiration while you’re shopping in the store.  I like People Stylewatch magazine, anthropologie.com, and shopruche.com.  Sometimes out-of-date can be on-trend with just a few tweaks and some clever accessorizing. One caveat:  It can be easy to loose your fashion-sense-of-self when your surrounded by all those colors and trends of days-gone-by.  Keep your wits about you! 

Do some research in your own closet.  Take a look at your favorite pieces and think about why you like them so much.  Is it because of the cut, because it’s so low maintenance, or because it just feels good on your skin.  Which cuts and colors get compliments?  Read the labels and find out what your most loved items are made of.  Do you notice that a lot of your items are particular brand?  What about the things you never wear-  why?  Are they wrinkly or scratchy or do they pull, bunch, or ride up?  How are these cut and what are they made of?  What brand?  Use the information you glean from the study of your closet to guide you at the thrift store.

Know you’re brands- it will help you to see the value in what you find.  Replacing missing buttons and mending small tears in the seam are worth the trouble if the item is of high quality but may not be if the fabric is cheap and the cut is bad.

Be realistic.  If it needs mending, are you going to take the time to fix it?  Do you know how?  When you add in your time, the cost of the buttons, or other sewing notions is it still a bargain?  Sometimes the answer is still "yes" but take the time to have this thought process.

Feel the fabrics.  You’d be surprised at your hands' ability to scout out wool, silk, cashmere, linen, and fine cottons. Quality just feels good.  Keep some hand sanitizer in your pocket!

Look items over carefully for stains or moth holes.  You may discover why it was donated.  That being said, you may find it worth repairing when the original owner didn’t.

Check by after big yard sale weekends and after Christmas.  People often donate their unsold yard sale items.  Since clothes don’t sell well at yard sales... SCORE for you!  After Christmas people often clean out their homes to make room for their new stuff and they’re also too broke to shop anymore.  Again, SCORE for you!!

Goodwill has even better hours than a lot of regular retail stores.  For example, they open at 9 am Monday-Saturday.  That’s an hour before most anyone else! They stay open until 9 pm.  On Sunday, they’re open to 1 to 6.  During the week check by during the day, even if you only have a few minutes, because it’s so much quieter and less picked over.

Relax, be patient, and dig in.   If you’re looking for something specific, you may not find just what you’re looking for on a particular trip but you may find a treasure.  It may take a little more time to find, but when you get a cashmere sweater for $2 and a new-with-tags Banana Republic skirt for $4, it’s well worth it.

Give the racks a cursory scan first.  The colors and patterns that appeal to you will jump out.  After that you can go through more thoroughly for things that may not have immediate appeal or may be tucked away.  Goodwill organizes by type of article (i.e. pants, skirts, blouses, etc.) and then by color.  Unfortunately, never by size.  Oh, well... what do you want for cheap.  This way is convenient, however, when you need to find something in a specific color.  

When your eyes get blurry from searching the clothes racks take a break and check out housewares, shoes, bags, or books.  It will give you a mental break to browse different items.  You can go back to the racks when you’re ready.

Try things on!  Even if it’s cheap you don’t want to waste your money.  It also makes it easier to see any flaws. 

You can make returns if you have your receipt. 

If you’re on the fence about something, let ride around in your cart for a while.  Think about it, you can always put it back if you find something better.  You may also stumble upon the perfect thing to go with it.

Have the vision to see what something can be with a good washing and pressing, a lint brush, a sweater shaver, a polish and buff and some cool accessories!

Newnan Goodwill takes credit card (even AMEX!!) but I don’t believe they take personal checks anymore.

One more thing- Goodwill prices all items of certain type the same price even if one is brand new and and one is stained.  That can be good or bad depending on how you look at it.  However, one kind of stinky thing they occasionally do is that they will decide a certain item is somehow special and it will be tagged with a different (higher) price.  They are usually on different racks.  I have found no method to this madness.  It is what it is, but just be aware of it.  I haven't found them willing to negotiate, but it's often still a find.

See you at the GW Boutique!

~Starri

P.S. I'm not too consignment store savvy but I have noticed that most of them will put you on an email list to let you know when they have sales and specials.  I love the paper bag sale that Wellspring in PTC has twice a year.  All you can stuff in a paper grocery bag for $25!

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Thank you Starri!  

Please share any other tips you might have for shopping at the thrift stores or consignment stores in the comments.  We'd love to hear from you!

Enjoy!

Thrifty Thursday: Mosquito Repellent

 photo credit

We have a terrible mosquito problem.  What's worse is I have what my Granny calls "sweet blood".  I'm like a walking mosquito magnet.  Once, I was being eaten alive while I was hosting a yard sale.  I didn't realize the extent of the damage until I was brushing my hair in the mirror and saw the back of my arms.  It looked like I had measles!  I had red spots all over the back of my arms.  I guess they figured since I couldn't see them, they would chow on me back there.  

Unfortunately for us, the mosquitoes like to keep us held prisoner in the house during the summer months, and we hate it.  The kids and I love to be outside.  We have a little swimming pool for the kids and they love to play in it during the hot summer months.  And of course, we have our vegetable garden that I love to be piddling in, weeding and spraying bugs and what-not.  So the mosquitoes are a real nuisance.  

Last year, we purchase two of the OFF Clip On fans.  These worked wonderfully!  This year, I can't seem to find the refills at the stores.  They must have been pretty successful and now everyone wants them.  I did find them on Amazon.com, so I might be able to get some using my Swagbucks. There are some really great products on the market containing DEET.  I'm not really fond of spraying myself DEET.  Although this ingredient is very effective in repelling the mosquitoes and other biting bugs, I'm a little concerned by the harmful effects.  I have used it in the past, and each time I did, the sprayed skin turned bright red.  I'm probably allergic to it. 

I wanted to share some mosquito repellent ideas I've found and even heard about through friends and family.  Some of these things you might have on hand in the bathroom and laundry room.

1.  Fabric Softener Sheet.  I've been using this for the last couple of weeks and it works good, but not great.  I actually rubbed my arms and neck with the sheet the first time and it worked good.  I wouldn't recommend doing that if you have sensitive skin or skin allergies since the sheets are pretty smelly.  After that first time though, I decided to pin it to our clothes and it's been working pretty good.  They still buzz around us, but I don't see as many bites.  I even pinned the fabric sheet to the back of my daughter's swim suit and she was able to play in the pool without being bitten all over. (By the way, you might have some of these from the past FREE Snuggle deals.)

2.  Listerine.  My cousin told me about this.  I haven't actually used this yet, although I have a ton of Listerine I got for free doing the drug store deals, so I might use this soon.  She said you can spray it on you but it might leave you feeling a little sticky.  I'd rather be sticky than the feasting ground for mosquitoes.  She also said you can pour a little Listerine into bowls and place them around the deck and yard to keep them at bay.  I'm going to be trying this soon, I'll let you know if it works for me.

3.  Skin-So-Soft by Avon.  My husband can't stand the way this stuff smells.  In fact, he gets an immediate migraine from it.  So I try to use other things when he's around.  If it's just me and the kids during the day and my hubby isn't home, I'll use it.  I'm not fond of the oiliness of it, but again, I'd rather be oily than be bit.

I'm hoping to experiment with a homemade natural mosquito repellent in the next few weeks.  Once I figure it out, I'll share the ratio and ingredients.  

In the meantime, what kind of home remedy do you use to repel mosquitoes and other biting nuisances?

This post has been linked to:

• Thrifty Thursday at My Coupon Teacher
• Frugal Friday at Life as Mom

Amazon.com links have been embedded in the above post.  If you choose to purchase through the links, I may receive a small compensation from Amazon.com.  Thank you!

Going Green - Paper Towels

Over the past year, we have tried very hard to use less and less paper towels.  First of all, they can be expensive!  I think the last time I bought paper towels, they were on sale for $4.96 and I used store rewards to get them cheaper (of course!).  At the time, we had already reduced the amount of paper towels we were using in the kitchen and at breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner.  I've since reduced the use of paper towels in our cleaning.

I used to use paper towels to clean the windows, mirrors and shower doors in the bathroom.  Now I use newspaper.  I know it sounds crazy, but it works -- and no streaks!  You need to be careful if you have white trim and walls, because sometimes the soy-based ink might smear on those surfaces while you are cleaning the mirrors and windows.  In the kitchen, we are also using newspaper to absorb oil from fried foods such as bacon, sausage, fried taters and homemade tortilla chips.  

When it comes to eating, we are using cloth napkins.  I haven't actually purchased any cloth napkins.  We're using "recycled" cloth napkins.  I've cut squares from older bath towels that are too thin to do any good after a shower, but are perfectly acceptable to clean up your face and hands.  We also have some thin cloth diapers that were never used for their intended purpose, but rather were used as burp cloths.  We've migrated these from Hunter's drawers to the kitchen drawers.  They are easy to bleach and keep pretty clean (still trying to figure out how to get rid of the spaghetti stains).  I'm hoping to accumulate enough cloth napkins to use during get-togethers and gatherings.

I'm hoping to completely alleviate the purchase of paper towels and what a huge savings that will be!

This works for us.  

Are you thinking about going green in an area of your life?

Frugal Gardening: Coffee Grounds and Worms

photo source: lizziecow

I've been reading about the love affair between used coffee grounds and worms.  Seems that adding them to your vegetable gardens and flower garden beds results in happy worms and a slow release of nitrogen into the soil.  

Did you know Starbucks gives away their used coffee grounds?  I called my local Starbucks and they held some for me.  We picked up about 50 pounds the other day!  For FREE!  You know I love FREE!  When we got back home, I sprinkled them into the raised beds and we'll see if the love affair will continue in my garden too!

Enjoy!

How to Fix Untucked Dress Shirts

If you have a little boy in your home and you attend religious services of some sort, then you might run into this same problem:

Untucked dress shirts!  It drives me crazy!

We'll have Hunter dressed for the meeting and the next thing you know, he's running through the house screaming and carrying on like almost 2 year old little boys do, and his shirt tails are hanging out of his pants.  When he was a little baby, I used to use this method all the time, but as he got older, it was easier to keep them tucked in.  Now he's like a madman and there's nothing that holds him still.  So we're back to the method.  

Now there are a couple of stores that sell dress shirts with a "onesie" type fastener, but they can be rather expensive. 

So I wanted to share how we keep our little boy's shirt tucked in nice and neatly:

Sheet Straps, or some of you might call them Sheet Suspenders.  

You know what I'm talking about right?  The little contraptions you use in your bedroom to keep your sheets from flipping off the mattress.  You can buy them at Walmart for less than $5 and you can even order them on Amazon.com (so if you have Swagbucks and redeem them for Amazon gift cards, well, they'd be free for you!)

This is what we do:

On the bottom front of the shirt, fasten the sheet straps on each side of the button.

Have the baby lay on his tummy and fasten the sheet straps about a hand's width apart on the backside of the shirt.

And that's it!  Honestly, it's the easiest way I've learned to keep his shirts tucked in.  

He looks so handsome!

It works for us and I hope it helps you too!

This has been linked to:

• Works for Me Wednesday at We Are That Family
• Thrifty Thursday at My Coupon Teacher
• Frugal Friday at Life as Mom

Haircuts at Home

 

Before my husband and I got married over 11 years ago, he had a regular appointment every other week to get his hair cut.  This usually cost about $12-15 each cut.  Then I decided if I watched carefully how the barber cut it, I could probably duplicate it and cheaper to boot! 

You can view some videos on youtube about how to cut hair.

For the last 10 years or so, I've been cutting his hair.  And for the last 6 years, I've been cutting my own hair.  I know that sounds crazy but I've had really short hair that was pretty easy to cut.  Over the last year, however,  I've been letting it grow out.  So there isn't much to maintain now.  I also cut all of our children's hair.  This is a huge cost saver and I'm glad I'm able to do it. 

I purchase hair clippers at Walmart about every other year since it's cheaper to buy new clippers rather than to have the blades sharpened.  A nice set of clippers will cost about $20. 

Cutting your own hair can save you as much as $400 a year!  That's a lot of moo-la!

Enjoy!

This post has been linked to:

• Thrifty Thursday at My Coupon Teacher
• Frugal Friday at Life as Mom

Shopping at Natural Organic Food Markets

photo source: qmnonic

You might be thinking to yourself, "Natural Organic Food Markets are EXPENSIVE!"  That can be true.  Or you might be thinking, "Those stores rarely have coupons I can use on product."  That may be true too.  But let me put your mind at ease on some of these issues.

Shopping at organic food markets can be thrifty and frugal.  You need to have a plan, a budget and a little know-how.  

1.  The Plan.  If you are new to the organic scene, as I am, ask your friends if there are any good quality stores in the area.  My friend Carrie tries to stick to an all natural way of life and she suggested Sevananda.  The first time we went there, I was a little surprised at the size of the store.  It's not a huge supermarket, like Trader Joe's or Whole Foods.  It's a small store with a wide variety of products.  The prices were very reasonable on many pantry items, though I chose not to purchase any.  My plan was to scope out the bulk bins and see what kind of price I could get on bulk whole wheat pastry flour, bulk whole wheat flour, bulk dried beans, bulk honey, bulk spices and herbs.

2.  The Budget.  I know, don't groan!  Budgets are set in place for our own good.  Sort of like training our children, they need boundaries and we need boundaries to avoid over-spending.  Currently our budget is $50 a week on grocery and food purchases.  Since it was the first of the month and I hadn't been shopping for nearly two weeks, my envelope was full.  I know I need to buy milk, eggs and butter and a few other sale items at Publix, so I decided to only take $20 cash with me to Sevananda.  

3.  The Know-How.  Here are a few tips and tricks to help you save money on natural foods for your family.  

• Buy from the Bulk Bins.  The bulk bins are a great way to stock up on organic products at reasonable prices.  Beans in bulk usually cost about $1.50 per pound whereas a bag of beans on the shelf in the same store are about $3.00 per pound.  Sometimes they offer sales and you can pick up the dried bean in the bulk bin for as little at $.99 per pound.

• Buy from the Bulk Spice Jars.  The bulk spice jars are truly heaven-sent!  A regular size jar of dried spices can cost anywhere from $3.00 up to $5.00.  In the bulk spice jars, the price is per pound and since you are only buying barely an ounce or so of the spice or herb, you are paying less than a dollar for them.  For example, I purchased about 30 bay leaves at $23.49 per pound and spent only $.47!  Normally a jar of bay leaves at Walmart can cost around $3.28 and there might be 10 bay leaves in the jar. 

• Buy the Sale Items.  Walk around the store and check out the sale tags.  Once while shopping at Sevananda, the Organic Soy Milk was on sale for $2.99 and there was a tearpad coupon on the shelf for $1.00.  I was so excited I bought two!  Check out the produce and see what's in season.  Seasonal produce will be less expensive.

You can watch the video blog of our shopping trip, but the first half of the video was recorded on the wrong setting and is a little fuzzy. 

Do you have any other saving tips for shopping at a natural organic food market?

This post has been linked to:

• Shopping Superstars at The Thrifty Mama

Frugal Gardening: Weed Control

First of all, I am really excited to be hosting my first meme and I hope it's successful - thanks to you!  Each Thursday we'll come back here and share our gardening triumphs and successes (and hopefully not too many failures, but life happens and that's how we learn, right?).  I'm going to try to have themes each week in case you'd like some writing inspiration.  However, it's completely optional.  The point of this gardening meme is to share advice with newbie gardeners like myself (and others who might be popping by).  So if you've written a post last week or last year, link and share what you know.  Grab the button in the sidebar (also completely optional) and link back here from your blog post.  If you don't have a blog, no worries!  I still want to hear from you, please leave a comment and share what you know.  I thrive on comments!  

Now without further ado, this week we're learning about Weed Control...

Lord knows we have enough weeds in and around the house, we definitely don't want them in the garden!  But inevitably they creep or crawl their way in.

My husband always says, "What's the difference between a flower and a weed?"  He replies, "the gardener".

He's right.  If you are a vegetable gardener, likely you'd be pretty unhappy with a giant rose bush growing up among your corn and green beans.  But if you are a rose gardener, you'd love to see the roses climbing among the trellis' in your garden. 

As far as other nuisance weeds, we have quite a few in our yard that I need to tackle every year.  The University of Georgia has done extensive research on the subject of weed management.  You can view some of the pictures and descriptions to identify what's in your garden.

I've heard of many ways to prevent weeds, and it usually has to do with weed killers.  I'm pretty new to gardening myself.  We're trying to go the organic route.  One, it's cheaper; and two, it's better for the environment and us.  One way we kept weeds down last year was by placing newspaper in the rows and in and around the plants themselves.  The newspaper will smother the ground, killing everything beneath.  It's one of the techniques in Lasagna Gardening.  In the book, she suggests using thick sections of newspaper to smother grass or weeds to begin a new garden spot.  When I was younger, we visited an older man (and I mean older, he was probably 85 years old) who had a beautiful flower garden filled with hollyhocks and poppies.  While we were walking through the rows, I noticed he had newspaper underfoot.  I asked him about it and he said it kept the weeds down.  Old people know tried-and-true methods to just about anything and everything.  I figured if it worked for him for all his years, then it would work for us.

We have two major weeds in our yard and gardens...wild blackberry runners and large crabgrass.  I've tried "taming" the wild blackberries into bushes but they are oh so painful and I worry so much about the kids falling around them.  They are truly ridiculous how they send runners everywhere.  Do you know I pulled one up last year that was over 20' long!!!  And no, I am not exaggerating.  And the worst part was it broke off so I didn't even get to the end! 

When I see a little weed trying to grow, I pluck it out.  The easiest thing I've found to pluck out weeds is using an old dinner fork.  Dig down under the weed and pull up, everything comes out in one swoop, weed and root system.  You might be able to find a fancy weed puller, but I'm trying to do our garden as frugally and thrifty as possible.  And I don't need to start another habit of buying tools, I already have a kitchen tool habit.  

What do YOU consider to be a weed?  What method of weed control do you use?

Next week's topic:  Fertilizer - what do you use and what do you recommend?

Frugal Gardening: Winter Progress

I am so excited to be sharing the successes and hopefully not many failures of our gardening this year.  Last year we attempted a little garden and unfortunately it was pretty late in the season, June and July to be exact.  While it was late going in, we were still able to eat fresh green beans, cucumbers and a few ears of corn and zucchini.

(This was from last year)

This year, I can't wait to get started.  Some new things we are doing this year:

Raised beds.  In the fall of last year, I purchased four 1"x 8" x 12' cedar boards.  I had the home improvement store cut them into 6' lengths before I left.  Then we use sheetrock screws to hold them together and my brother and dad came over to stabilize the corners with some pine blocks.  We did not use pressure-treated lumber since I've read about the harmful effects from the chemicals leaching into the soil, and eventually into the produce.  So I have two 6' x 6' raised beds.  Eventually I'd love to build two more raised beds, but keep them around the 3'-4' depth and maybe make them longer.  

Lasagna Gardening.  Originally, I had planned to do the Lasagna Gardening Technique in a raised bed.  However, as I mentioned before, I jumped-the-gun and tried to layer the garden beds before actually reading the book.  I started off layering single sheets of newspaper in the bottom of the beds.  Next I topped the newspaper with composted cow manure.  Then we layered in peat moss and shredded, mulched leaves (we have an abundance of oak trees on our property which love to drop their leaves and kill our grass so my husband was thrilled to shred and chop up a huge pile of leaves which I used in the beds).  I added thick sections of newspaper in the next layer and topped them with some more composted cow manure...then I ran out of compost.  The beds are not covered, not composting, and not doing very well.  Because I didn't read the book first!  Oh well...next year I'll get it right!  Most likely I'll have to tear down the beds and start over with top soil and compost to grow anything this year.  I'm just not sure yet.  We don't own a tiller (hence the reason for the layering technique in the first place!) and it looks like we might need to borrow one or rent one from the home improvement store, if we choose to put this years garden in the ground rather than the raised beds.

Composted Horse Manure.  We should not use composted horse manure.  I'm saying it now so I don't get a ton of comments telling me how bad it is for the garden.  I know, I know, I know...BUT there was a man giving away composted horse manure for FREE!!!  So I asked my husband to pick up a truck load.  And he did.  It's not nearly as composted as I had hoped.  I need to cover it with a tarp and get it heating and decomposing so it can do it's thing.  Horse manure has a lot of seeds which, if not composted properly, will fill your garden with lots and lots of weeds and grass.  Since I have two small garden beds, I really don't think it will be a problem to weed often.  It will just be a hassle since I we have 6' x 6' beds.  It will be difficult to reach to the middle of the bed without stepping in and disturbing the dirt. 

Seeds and Plants.  This year we are in the midst of growing tomato seeds indoor.  I really loved this tutorial on how to do it.  Currently, our seeds have sprouted (except for the FREE Campbell Soup seeds) and I have thinned them out (reduced the number of sprouts to only one per peat pellet).  

They are just now putting out their "real" leaves which is a very good sign.  

I'm hoping by March 15th, we'll be able to pot these into newspaper pots.  We're also planning to plant green beans, bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, zucchini, squash, eggplant, carrots, cucumbers, parsley and cilantro.  We have seeds for green beans, carrots, cucumbers, zucchini and squash.  I'll buy the peppers and eggplants in plant-form this year.  We can get these for around $3 per plant at any of the local stores.  Last year I planted a small parsley plant in a large garden pot and placed it on my back deck.  We had fresh parsley all summer into the fall.  I mulched it really well and noticed we have some new light green growth coming up from the pot.  I'm hoping it will grow again.  I've also started parsley and cilantro from seeds and they are doing pretty good, a little slow to start but they are growing well.  

Herb and Lettuce Garden.  I have what used to be a small flower garden between the back deck and the side of the house.  I had a huge New Dawn rose bush climbing over the arbor and it completely took over.  After all, it had been in the ground for 8 years without a pruning.  A few months ago, I whacked it back and chopped out all the long climbing stems.  It looks pretty bald, but I figured if it lives, it will eventually bloom again.  And if it dies, well, it will give more light to the ground beneath it for me to plant more things.  That area is sort of a micro-climate (where the ground is cooler and not really a true zone 7/8) where I could plant lettuce and it would probably grow all year without burning.  We'll have to see.  I need to remove some daffodils, tulips, ivy, peonies, iris and a few others.  The ground is very fertile and I don't think it will have a problem taking off.  I'd like to put the parsley and cilantro in this area to help keep the little varmints from eating our lettuce.  That's definitely something to consider...

This is what we're planning to do this year.  

What about you?  How does your garden grow?  Share your plan for this year.

This post has been linked to:

• Thrifty Thursday at My Coupon Teacher
• Frugal Friday at Life as Mom
• Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home
• Finer Things Friday at Amy's Finer Things

Frugal Skin Care

I still remember when my Momma and Dad took me to Lenox Mall in Atlanta for my first bag of Clinique cosmetics.  I was really excited because at sixteen years old, every other girl in my High School had been wearing make-up since Middle School.  But my Dad really wanted me to wait until I was 16 to wear any real makeup.  I mean Momma let me wear lip gloss and she even let me buy some of that clear mascara (Don't tell me you don't remember that stuff! Boy am I telling my age or what!), but real mascara and real blush and real lipstick, I couldn't wait!

But before wearing any makeup, Momma taught me a very important lesson in caring for my skin, especially my face.  She always encouraged me to wash my face in the morning and at night.  Removing any dirt or oil accumulated over time.  We only purchased Clinique facial bars since they were fragrance free and non-comedogenic (didn't clog your pores).  She also purchased the Clinique Skin Toner to help remove leftover make-up or oil not removed by the soap.

I'm not going to say Clinique cosmetics are thrifty by any means.  In fact, I've given up my beloved Clinique after almost 20 years of using it.  I quit my secular job to be a stay-at-home mother to my children almost 4 years ago, and well, frankly, we just couldn't afford it anymore.  After I learned the coupon game and how I can still purchase great cosmetics at a fraction of the cost (like Almay and Neutrogena), I still needed to find a good and affordable skin toner.  And that's when I remembered something Momma told me once.  She had been checking out at the grocery store and noticed the complexion of the cashier.  She commented on how pretty her skin was and the girl told Momma she only used Witch Hazel to maintain her skin.

A bottle of Witch Hazel can cost anywhere from $.50 - $3.00.  Sometimes you can get it for free if you are using a coupon and combining that with store rewards.  Witch Hazel acts as a natural astringent and promotes good skin health.  If you choose to use Witch Hazel, make sure it's 100% natural and does not include alcohol which can dry out your skin. 

I've been using Witch Hazel for the last 2 years and love it.  What I love even more is not paying $20 for a bottle of toner at the Department Store!  Witch Hazel is very thrifty on your wallet and a bottle will last a very long time!

Enjoy!

This post has been linked to:

• Thrifty Thursday at My Coupon Teacher
• Frugal Friday at Life as Mom

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I was not compensated by any one company to state the above.  This is purely from my experience using witch hazel.  However, there are a few links embedded which will direct you to amazon.com.  If you choose to purchase products through the links, I will receive a small compensation from amazon.com.

Thrifty Thursday: Cloth Diapers

No, I didn't use cloth diapers for their intended purpose.  We used them for spit rags and burp cloths.  They have lasted through two children and almost 4 years.  These things are amazingly durable!  So it got me to thinking the other day of the many different uses for cloth diapers.

When my kids have runny noses, I tie a cloth diaper loosely around their necks to easily wipe their noses.  Haylei usually turns her diaper around backwards so she looks like a super-hero! 

Now that Hunter's 19 months old, we use them for big bibs.  He's a super messy eater (he was eating strawberry jello in this picture).  It keeps his clothes from getting stained and it's an easy way to clean him up afterwards.

We also use them for wash cloths in the bathtub.  Haylei likes to trap air under the wet cloth and create a huge bubble. 

More recently, I've been trying to reduce the amount of paper towels we use in the kitchen.  My Momma has always kept lots of kitchen towels on hand.  Like mother like daughter, I too have a drawer full of kitchen towels.  I never thought of it as being earth-friendly, but it truly is.  We've actually replaced paper towels at the supper table.  We've been using some of the cloth diapers for napkins and they're working great!  Kevin is not opposed to using cloth napkins.  In fact, he prefers them when we're eating sticky chicken wings.  Since the diapers are white, I can easily bleach them and keep them clean.

Do you have leftover cloth diapers too?  I'd love to hear how you have re-purposed your cloth diapers.

This post has been linked to:

• Thrifty Thursday at My Coupon Teacher
• Frugal Friday at Life as Mom
  

In the Kitchen: Homemade Greek Yogurt

Have you tried Greek Style Yogurt?  I love, love, LOVE Greek Style Yogurt.  Believe it or not, but that thick goodness perfectly satisfies any sweet craving I have.  Stonyfield Farm offers a delicious one called Oikos.  I have no idea how to say it but it tastes really good.  My favorite is the Honey flavor.

The other day Kroger had Oikos on sale for $1.00 and there were coupons in the paper for $1.00 off one -- yes that's right, making it FREE.  I picked up four little containers while at the store but it left me wanting more.  So I decided to make my own!

First I made my own yogurt using a half gallon of organic milk I got on sale at Publix for $.99 the other day.  And I had 1 cup of plain yogurt leftover from some yogurt I purchased at Aldi (about $.40 per cup).  If you don't want to make your own yogurt, buy a quart of PLAIN yogurt (approx. $2.00)  

To get started, you'll need to have:

• cheesecloth (I tried to do this with a strong paper towel and a colander but it did NOT work.  Don't waste your time, just head to Walmart and pick up some cheesecloth.  It's over in the craft section.  You can get an entire package for around $4.50.  The best part about the cheesecloth is it's totally reusable.  You can wash and dry it like normal clothing and it's ready to use again.) 
• rubber band (I save the ones that come wrapped around my newspapers.)
• a bowl with a wide rim 

Cut a length of cheesecloth to cover the bowl.  Then hold it in place by stretching the rubber band around it.

Next, fill the the cheesecloth with yogurt (I used a smaller mixing bowl, so I added about 1 cup of yogurt at a time.)  Set it into the refrigerator on the top shelf UNCOVERED and let the whey drain into the bowl.  The whey should be sort of yellowish, greenish, clear liquid.  IF the whey has a milky look, you need to add an extra layer of cheesecloth because the yogurt is coming through.  It should look like this:

Once it has drained, spoon the thickened yogurt off the cheesecloth and put into a covered container.  (Look how thick it is...YUMMY!!!)

Repeat the steps above until all the yogurt has been drained.

You'll be left with yummy thick Greek-style yogurt.  Sweeten it with honey and top with fruit and granola for a delicious treat!

Enjoy!

This post has been linked to:

• Thrifty Thursday at My Coupon Teacher
• The Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap
  

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I was not compensated by Stonyfield Farms to mention them above.  But if they want to send me some coupons for Oikos, I'll be grateful :)

Thrifty Thursday: Shopping for Clothing

Coupon Teacher brought up a good point:  we can find the best grocery and drug store deals, but what about other aspects of our life.  She has initiated a "Thrifty Thursday" blog carnival.

This week I thought I'd mention how we shop for clothing for our family.  We are blessed to live in the best little town.  We have access to many thrift stores and consignment stores.  My two favorite places to shop in person  (although we're always on the lookout for other great stores) are Goodwill in Newnan and Red Door Consignment in Tyrone.

The Goodwill in Newnan is huge!  They have recently renovated and created a Career Center to help others get much needed jobs.  Their clothing selection is unbelievable.  Yesterday we went shopping for the kids.  I was able to get a feather-down winter jacket for Hunter for $4.14 and a pair of black dressy shoes for $2.99.  For Haylei, we picked up two pairs of jeans for $2.99 each and a pair of adorable sateen princess pajamas for $2.99.  Goodwill put color-coded plastic tags on the clothing when it goes out on the floor.  Each week they put a "color" on 50% Off.  Since Monday is the start of the week, it would be logically to get the best choice of items on sale.  I, on the other hand, ALWAYS forget and usually end up there later in the week.

Red Door Consignment in Tyrone is a very nice consignment store.  I consign some of Haylei's dresses with them since they offer 50% commission.  Red Door has a very good selection of children's clothing.  They also color-code their clothing when it goes out on the floor.  After 30 days, that color goes 50% off.  Then if the consignee doesn't want to pick up their items, Red Door host "Dollar Days" and everything is literally $1.  This usually happens on the 1st and 2nd of every month.  You can sign up to receive emails from them with more information.  I've been able to get a Laura Ashley dress for Haylei for $1.00. 

As for online stores, I love eBay.  We usually start looking for Spring and Summer dresses during January and February, since no one really wants to purchase them in cold weather.  We do the opposite for Fall and Winter dresses, looking for them during the Summer months.  You usually don't get outbid as often and that's my goal, to get the dress at the least amount possible.  I try to spend no more than $5 for a dress (shipping not included).  I also try to pick a seller who has many items to choose from so you can combine shipping and sort of get a "two-for".  One year I was able to get Haylei two beautiful boutique dresses for $5 (one had a huge tear in the tulle so the seller was including it for free) and they shipped for $5.  Once I received the torn dress, I was able to mend it pretty seamlessly since the tulle had really just pulled out of the seam.  Another time I was able to get Hunter and Austin matching dress shirts despite the 12 year difference in their ages.  Thank goodness for The Children's Place.  Most sellers will list clothing from The Children's Place as "TCP" or "Children's Place".  And of course, they have amazing coordinates that can be interchanged.  We bought Hunter's shirt for $1.00 plus $2.25 shipping and Austin's for $2.00 plus $3.50 shipping.  Not too bad.  I consider the shipping costs as part of the deal of shopping online.  You can always search for clothing that ships FREE, but be assured the seller has raised the price of the item for sale to cover the shipping cost.  I try to look at the shipping cost versus the gas I would have used up in my vehicle traveling around town to find clothing.  It saves me a ton of time and money shopping online.  With two little kids you can imagine the meltdowns that would ensue if we had to travel to 4 or 5 different stores to look through racks and racks of clothing.

Here is a couple of points to remember when shopping on eBay:

1. Make sure you read the description CAREFULLY. Sometimes sellers will note any problems with the item in the description.  If there is no mention of problems, don't assume there aren't any.  Email the seller to find out if there are any defects. 
   
2. Always choose a seller with good feedback ratings.  Usually the higher the number the better.  You can read all the feedback from that seller and see how many negative feedbacks they have received. 
   
3. If measurements are not included in the description and you are unsure of the brand (meaning you've never purchased anything from this brand and you're not sure what size your child will wear) email the seller requesting measurements.

Be sure to visit Coupon Teacher to read other Thrifty tips.

Enjoy!