Tightwad Mom's Frugal Book Pick Of The Month

When it comes to reigning in the grocery budget, it is a essential to have a game plan. That is why menu planning is an important slice in the thrifty pie. I, however, stink at menu planning. I have good intentions and will set a tenative line up of dinners, based on what's in my freezer, what's on sale that week, and the family's schedule, but at sometime during the week I end up winging a dinner or two. Either that, or I will sit down with calender and pencil in hand, ready to coordinate a week's worth of well balanced, gourmet dinner delight's (notice the sarcasm!); when my brain freezes up and I can not think of one thing that sounds even remotely appetizing. That is why I admire those of you who faithfully sit down and plan out a week or month's worth of menus.

So, for those of us, who rely on other peoples menu ideas, Jana Schofield has come to the rescue!
She has written a cookbook that does the work for you!


She has designed a cookbook that provides 30 weeks worth of dinner menus! It is broken down by each week. At the top of the page is 7 days worth of dinner ideas (including main dish, salad or side dishes, and dessert). Underneath the menu are all the recipes.


Jana is a Home Economics teacher (something that I admire), and she really knows her stuff! She also provides basic information for beginner's, and time (and money saving) tips. In the back there are two indexes: one is alphabetical, the other is categorized by item. Making it fast and easy to find any recipe.All the recipes are very easy, delicious, and call for basic ingredients and pantry staples. You can either follow the book religiously, or mix and match to meet your needs.
There are some divine dessert recipes included. I have made several of these desserts for potlucks and family gathering. There are rarely leftovers to bring home, and I get numerous requests for the recipes!

A dear friend of mine (also a Home Ec. teacher that I very much admire) introduced me to this fun cookbook. I love it so much I ordered one of my own immediately! Now, I have used my copy so much the pages are pockmarked with stains, and they getting very dog eared! I try to keep a stash of these books on hand to give as wedding, graduation, Christmas, and birthday gifts. Go check out Jana's website www.whatsfordinner1.com. soon!

Tightwad Mom's Frugal Book Pick Of The Month

Happy Earth Day! Baking soda is one of my most favorite things (strange I know). I consider it one of nature's wonder products! It is cheap, earth friendly, non toxic, and versatile! So,in keeping with my week of green tips, I thought I would review "Baking Soda" by Vicki Lansky (who is a contributing editor for Family Circle magazine). I checked this book out of our local library (in fact, I have checked it out so many times, the library should probably start charging me rent!). In the book is gives over 500 uses for baking soda. Everything from a kitchen deodorizer to a first aid staple! Did you know:

1. To ease sore throat pain dissolve a regular aspirin (crush it up)and 1 level teaspoon of baking soda to 1/2 cup very warm water, and gargle with it.
2. Pour 1/2 cup of baking soda into a new vacuum cleaner bag to help eliminate stale odors.
3. Make a paste of baking soda and water, and apply it to mosquito bites to relieve itching.
4. Sprinkle it on vomit on carpets. It will absorb the moisture and clump making it easier to clean up.
5. Add it to litter boxes to absorb odors.
6. Sprinkle it in stinky shoes. Shove the shoe full of wadded up newspaper and let sit for several days. It will absorb the smell (I swear by this one!).
7. Mix a teaspoon in cold cream to make a facial exfoliater.

Each chapter is categorized, for example, home maintenance, cooking tips, kitchen care, etc.; making it easy to find solutions for a particular problem. It's a fun and informative read. In fact, it would make a wonderful Mother's Day gift this year (Hint! Hint). Go grab a box of Arm and Hammer, and check out your local library A.S.A.P!

Gardening Reminiscing and Tightwad Mom's Book Pick of the Month

The weather here has been almost "spring like" the last few days, and I have to say, it has gotten my gardening juices flowing! I even went so far as to buy a few seed packets at CAL Ranch on Saturday.


I'm itchy to go start tilling up my garden, but I'm sure that if I do, it will snow three feet the next day! It's not to early to start tomato, pepper, and herb seeds indoors, though. I discovered several years ago that starting your own seeds is much cheaper than buying the plants at the nursery, and in some cases they actually were heartier than the commercial plants. I am hoping to start mine later this week, and I will also be posting how to do it. Growing some of your own veggies is a great way to save on your food budget. Anyone can do it, and you don't have to grow a half acre garden, either. Which brings me to my next thought ( and the Tightwad Mom's Book Pick for March).



The square foot gardening method is a great way to get a lot of (manageable) produce in a limited space. A couple years ago when gas prices soared, crops were failing, and food prices were on the rise I had a little freak out ( okay, a huge, breathe into a paper bag because you are hyperventilating freakout). I had no idea how I was going to afford to put gas into two gas guzzlers, and put food into six (seven if you count the dog) hungry tummies on our budget. I needed to increase the amount of produce that I could grow in my limited garden space. I also wanted to add to my food storage in the basement without breaking the bank.I checked " Square Foot Gardening" by Mel Bartholemew out of our local library, and it was an answer to my prayers. With a little tweaking to his method ( I used black ground cover around my tomato and squash plants because I am NOT a fan of weeding. I also used good old fashion manure for fertilizer. I could get that for free from the local pet store that also has a petting zoo. All I had to do was come and get it). I was able to produce enough veggies to feed my family, the neighbor's family, and can 75 pints of green beans, 24 pints of beets, 40 pints of carrots, 12 pints of yellow squash, 24 1/2 pints of jalapeno peppers, and 48 quarts of tomatoes. I froze 2 gallons freezer bags full of chopped green peppers, 36 quart freezer bags of banana squash (don't tell your kids, but you can use any pureed winter squash in place of pureed pumpkin in any recipe that calls for it, including pumpkin pie. You can't tell the difference!),20 quart freezer bags of shredded zucchini, and 18 quart freeze bags of brocolli. Not bad, considering my garden space is maybe 200 sq. ft. The beauty of this method is that you can plant vegetables in 5 gallon buckets (tomatoes, and peppers), in flower beds, along fences (cucumbers, green beans, and peas), or in raised beds (he explains how to build raised beds in his book). You can start out small or on a grand scale. He also has a website that is very informative (the book does explain some things in more detail.)

It has been kind of fun for my kids to watch their dinner grow. My experiment was such a success that last year I planted eight blueberry bushes (unfortunately, I have since been told that Idaho's soil stinks for growing blueberries, so I'm afraid this project may be doomed), and dug out an old flower bed where I planted strawberry starts ( that I bummed off of a friend for free). So start watching the sales ads for seeds (here are a couple links if you would rather order online Henry Fields, Burpee, Abundant Life Seeds . Spring is on its way!

Tightwad Mom's Frugal Book Pick Of The Month

This month I thought I would spotlight "Family Feast For $75.00 A Week" by Mary Ostyn. As I have already admitted, I am a sucker for a good cook book. When I can find one that has great frugal recipes, and money saving ideas, it's like I've died an gone to heaven. I loved this book for several reasons:
1. I'm always trying to shave a few extra dollars off the family food budget.
2. I love getting someone else's ideas on creatively tweaking my grocery shopping game plan.
3. The author is the mother of ten so I know she has had real world experience with balancing the grocery budget!

Mary Ostyn's book is a step by step plan for shopping wisely and trimming your grocery budget. The book is great for beginners, but even as a seasoned veteran I gleaned several useful tactics.
She includes handy guides for pantry staples, seasonal produce, the life span of produce, cooking legumes, and organic vs. regular produce. She explains the merits of shopping in a variety of stores, and what deals can be found in each one. She also highlights coupon shopping, bulk buying, and sales tactics. I found her ideas for breakfast and lunch very helpful.

The majority of the book is a collections of her tried and true budget friendly recipes. She includes some ethnic recipes that sounds delicious. Mrs. Ostyn also includes numerous make your own mix recipes, which I love. Now you can have convenience and a stay within your grocery budget! I have tried several of her recipes with great results. I give this book four star! Check out your local library to check out a copy soon. It is well worth it!

Tightwad Mom's Frugal Book Pick Of The Month

I have a confession to make! I love to read! I also like to learn new things. It makes me happy. Especially, if I am learning something while I am indulging my habit. So, I thought every month I would share my thoughts about some of my favorite frugal books! Who knew that someday I would enjoy writing a book report!

I thought I'd start off with my all time favorite, "The Tightwad Gazette" series, written by Amy Dacyczyn. Originally, the Tightwad Gazette, was a newsletter published monthly between 1990 - 1996 by Amy and her family to share her insights on frugality, and to share tips and ideas that her readers sent in. She felt like fellow penny pincher's needed a forum to share ideas and for support. After she stopped publishing the newsletter, she decided to compile those articles and ideas into easy to read books to help beginners get started and handy ideas for the more advanced.

I checked her books out of the library several years ago when I realized that I really wanted to streamline our budget, and cut corners, so that I could scale back my hours at work (I love my job. So I didn't want to quit, entirely). I wanted to be home more with my kids raising them; instead of sending them to daycare everyday. I always felt like I was a fairly frugal person, but Amy made me realize that there are a hundred little painless ways to cut corners that add up to big savings. Her books are full of ideas, tips, and recipes that help make stretching your budget easier. She also adds in plenty of funny commentaries on her own frugal journey. Some of her ideas are a little extreme, but they give food for thought. The most important things I learned from "The Tightwad Gazette's" are:

1. Think outside the garbage. How can I reuse this container, cardboard, box, milk jug, etc. to save me money? You paid for it; so it's silly to throw it away before you have gotten all of the use out of it that you can.

2. There is a satisfaction in finding ways to maintain your lifestyle in the most frugal way possible.

3. Money isn't everything.

Anyway, I loved the books so much, I watched thrift stores and bought them. In fact, so many friends and neighbors asked to borrow them, that I bought a second set (used from Amazon.com) to loan out. I broke out in a sweat thinking about not getting my books back, because I refer to them constantly. In fact, my husband jokingly calls them the Tightwad's "Standard Works". Happy reading everyone!