Produce pre-packs

You know those 3, 5 and 10lb bags of produce at the store?  Apples, potatoes and onions, especially come in pre-packaged 3,5 and whatnot sized bags.  Well, did you know that when the bag of apples says "3lb" it does not mean that there is only 3lb in it, but that the minimum has to be 3lb.  So I started weighing them, and turns out, most of them are 3.25lb, some are 3.5lb and I have even found a few almost 4lb.  Now I don't stand there and weigh them all day, I look through the stash, pull out the ones with the best looking produce (no bruising, rotten spots, etc) and then I weigh only the best looking ones and buy the one that weighs the most.

This is one of the many wonderful tips I picked up out of one of the editions of "The Tightwad Gazette"

If you have never read the tightwad gazette I, II or III - I highly, highly recommend it!

Ice Cube Tray Uses

Not just for ice anymore!

I use them to freeze milk too - the kind towards the end of the jug - you know what I mean, it's not spoiled, but nobody wants to drink that 'old' milk when there is a fresh new jug right beside it.  So I take the milk no one wants (when it's iffy but not actually bad) and freeze it in ice cube trays then pop them out into a big zippie bag.  So, when I'm baking or cooking and a recipe calls for milk, I can use up the 'old' milk instead of my fresh milk.  No waste!

I also use ice cube trays for leftover bits of pizza sauce, spaghetti sauce, chicken broth, etc.  Just have your collections in different bags.  Thaw in the microwave for a minute or so and you're ready to go. If you like to drink tea, but don't like the way ice dilutes it, make a tray of ice tea cubes and use those in your tea

One of my friends told me she does this with cream of mushroom soup too - she said it separates just a little bit when thawed, but that a quick whisk fixes that and she's ready to go again.  She likes to buy the huge can and separate it out to save money since cream of whatever soup is so expensive.  If you try this, let me know what you think.  If I try it I will definitely post a review.

Workshop #1 - Last Night

I had so much fun - the audience was a small women's group from our church, and I had 24 in the audience.  I managed to talk for about an hour and maybe 15 minutes (about strategy to save money on food) without dry mouth or blubbering (if you know me well, you know this is a first for me).  I also passed out some evaluation form and received some great feedback about what people were interested in learning savings strategies for:

9 votes for utilities, shopping, debt reduction strategy
7 votes for reusing
6 votes for cleaning and home
5 votes for clothing, insurance and children
3 votes for natural/organic, travel, recipes
2 votes for media, priortizing, and crafts
1 vote for auto and beauty

A couple of these suprised me  -  I would have expected reusing to fall lower on the scale and clothing to rise higher - but hey, it's alright with me, I just like knowing what people want so I can deliver according to their needs to the best of my ability.

New Blog Site Starts Tomorrow

This site is closing due to threat of a legal hassle.  Please go to:

http://economicallysavvy.blogspot.com/

to find me!  Thank you -

And my first blog post there will be about my speaking engagements!

Speaking Engagements

I have 2 speaking engagements coming up.  I am so excited and nervous at the same time.



The First one is at our church's Whole Ministry Center at 7pm on January 13th, and the topic will be related to food, grocery shopping, meal planning, making things homemade, gardens, etc - pretty much anything food related.


The second one will be at our local library in their multipurpose room in the back on Monday January 31 from 630pm until 8pm.  I will begin with the same topic (different crowd) but will expand into laundry and electricity as needed.


I am soooo excited!