October, 2013 | Saved By Grace

Tips for Saving on Winter Sports Gear

October 24, 2023 By Christine Leave a Comment

With the chill of winter already taking place in many parts of the country and snow starting to fall at higher elevations, you may be thinking about winter sports. Just like warm-weather sports, winter sports are great for exercise, but winter sports gear can get quite pricey, especially if you plan on going on a weekend ski get-away.

Following, here are some tips for saving money on winter sports gear, as well as winter get-aways:

If you are new to a sport, rent before you buy. This will give you a chance to even find out if you like the sport to begin with or if the equipment fits right before you invest.

Buy early-bird lift tickets and ski packages. These are most likely on sale in October and run until the major season gets going in November.

Go skiing mid-week, rather than weekends at peak times. Many ski resorts offer mid-week specials that are at a much lower price.

When you find that you are comfortable enough with wanting to purchase winter sports gear, consider buying from a used equipment retailer like Play It Again Sports. They will not only have lower prices, but knowledge to help you pick the right gear for you.

Look for ski swaps in your area on Craigslist or in your local newspaper. These swaps allow people to sell or trade their used equipment with others. This is a perfect option for those with kids because they may have outgrown their last season’s gear.

Buy online at a discount from eBay and Craigslist. Just make sure you know your size specifications before doing so to ensure a proper fit and feel.

Don’t buy used boots for snowboards and skis. Not only might they be faulty in ways ou cannot see with the naked eye, but they have most likely been molded to someone else’s feet and will be uncomfortable.

Wait until later in the season to buy. After Christmas sales often include sales on winter sports equipment because in just a month or so, stores will be gearing up to sell warm weather gear.

Check out thrift store in the area for deals. However, use extreme caution. Helmets and safety gear might be ineffective as it may have already been involved in a few accidents. Also, be very diligent in checking every detail of the equipment to make sure it is not cracked, torn, or broken in any way.

Filed Under: Family, Frugal Living Tagged With: Family, Kids

Tips For Preparing a Perfect Turkey

October 22, 2023 By Christine Leave a Comment

Thanksgiving is on it’s way and everyone is looking forward to that beautiful bird on the dinner table. If you want to have the best tasting and moist turkey in town, follow these tips for Thanksgiving heaven on a plate.

Make sure your turkey is completely thawed before putting it in the oven. It will cook more evenly and correctly. It is also vital to do this for food safety as well.

There are several ways to thaw a bird. The first way is in your refrigerator. Note that it will take several days to thaw using this method, but it is the safest. The second way is in the sink with running water. You can do this if you are in a pinch for time, but it may still take several hours. The water must be cool and running. If you use the sink method, make sure to clean and sanitize your sink before and after.

Choose the proper size roasting pan. You want to make sure you won’t have an overflow of liquids and that your bird will fit in the pan.

Remove the giblets if they are included and set them aside in the fridge if you plan to use them. They must be cooked separately.

To give your turkey a wonderful taste and appearance, brush on melted butter on every area inside and out. It will also help seasonings stick.

Try a variety of seasonings. Nutmeg is wonderful for poultry and will give it a flavorful nutty taste.

If you plan on making gravy afterwards from the drippings, give yourself a good start. Instead of water in the bottom of the roasting pan, try chicken broth. It will help your turkey remain moist as well as an extra layer of flavor to your gravy. For a cheaper broth, use bullion cubes. Just add them to hot water and stir.

Never put stuffing inside the bird as it can be a food safety issue because it will be done before the bird and if you remove it, you will still have potential bacteria that has not been cooked out.

Cover your turkey with a lid or at least aluminum foil. This will help keep the moisture in and allow the outside to not burn.

The general rule for cooking time is 20 minutes to every pound, so if your turkey is 16 pounds, expect it to take at least 4 ½ to 5 hours at 350 degrees F.

Check your turkey at regular intervals once it gets well on it’s way to cooking. This is when you will want to baste. Add more liquid if it appears that it is running low.

Keep in mind that a turkey will often appear cooked on the outside, but still be raw inside.

To check if your turkey is done, insert a meat thermometer into the breast, just behind the leg. This is the densest part of the bird and if it is done, you can be assured that the rest is done. The thermometer must reach a temperature of 165 degrees F and stay at that temp for 15 seconds.

Allow to cool for a few moments with the lid removed before carving to allow it to set.

Do not allow your turkey to sit out on the counter at room temperature for too long after your meal. It must be taken apart and cooled quickly to ensure it is safe to eat at a later time.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Filed Under: Food, Homekeeping

9 Things You Need in Your Cleaning Arsenal

October 18, 2023 By Christine Leave a Comment

Many people think you need to have a ton of different cleaners and many styles of brushes to clean your whole home, top to bottom. This is simply not true. In fact, you really only need 10 things in your stash of cleaning materials minus the obvious mop and broom.And, you don’t need chemical cleaners, either. You can get your home sparkling clean by just using natural things you probably have in your kitchen.

Here is a top 9 list of things I keep in my cleaning arsenal:

1. Vinegar. I think vinegar is a miracle. It can be used on nearly every surface, is safe to have around kids and pets and cleans just about every room in your home. Vinegar can be used in so many ways.

2. Baking soda.This less than a dollar a box powder is an amazing gentle abrasive for many surfaces in your kitchen and bathroom. Make a paste out of it and scrub your grout. Sprinkle it in your kitchen sink and go to town on it.

3. Melamime foam (Magic Erasers). The name says it all. These little white gems are really a miracle in cleaning. You can even use them in your car.

4. Rags: You don’t need to buy them, either. I use old towels cut into rags, old socks that long ago lost their match and even old t-shirts cut up. If you own a Swiffer style floor mop, a washrag works great as a reusable towel for them as it fits perfectly.

5. And old gift card. This seems like a very silly thing to have in your cleaning arsenal, but they are great for removing stickers, gunk and grime that you are having a hard time getting off mirrors and other surfaces. Plus, they won’t scratch.

6. An old toothbrush. While it might sound a bit “neat freak” to have one of these, bear with me. I am not on my hands and knees scrubbing my kitchen or bathroom floor for hours. However, they are great for getting in tight spots and around moldings.

7. Old socks. Another strange one, but amazing for dusting. Slip one over your hand and dust delicate items. Run your hand over the back of the TV. You won’t go back to a duster. I promise.

8. Fancy Gloves. This one may not be necessary, but for me, it is. I love a little eccentric flair in just about anything I do. I have owned zebra design cuff gloves and even ones with pink feathers attached. It adds a bit of fun to my routine and who doesn’t like that?

9. Lemons. Lemons are amazing at degreasing, so if you find yourself with a little extra time and a greasy kitchen, use a lemon to get it in shape.

Filed Under: Frugal Living, Homekeeping, Homelife Tagged With: Cleaning, Frugal living, Green Living, Homemaking

10 Ways to Save on Medications

October 16, 2023 By Christine Leave a Comment

If you want to have a fully stocked medicine cabinet and not have to pay full price when a need arises, you must buy beforehand. This can get costly and if you throw prescription medications into the mix, the price of staying well can really add up.

In this post, I want to share 10 ways to save on medications from OTC (Over The Counter) to vitamins to Scripts.

1. Coupons. This is one of the best ways to save when buying OTC medications, vitamins and even scripts. You can find OTC and Vitamin coupons in all sorts of places from printed coupons online to Sunday inserts. You can also find them as peelies on the actual product as I often do. For scripts. Ask your doctor for them or even contact the manufacturer themselves. Look in magazines as well.

2. Ask for samples. Pharmaceutical companies hire representatives to go to doctor’s offices to tell them about their newest drugs available. They often give samples to the doctors they see and the doctor is allowed to hand them out to patients he or she prescribes that drug to. All you need to do is ask.

3. Ask for generics. Most pharmacies will substitute generics, but some will only do it if you or your doctor asks. You can’t get generics for every drug, as new ones do not have that option yet, but you can ask for older drugs and ask to be put on a similar medication that has a generic. There are even some pharmacies that have special programs and offer a 30 day supply of these generic meds for under $5.

4. Buy vitamins in bulk offline. Just make sure you trust the source as many vitamins are poorly made and therefore poorly absorbed in your system.

5. Ask for a higher dose. As long as the pill can be split evenly, you can get a higher dose of a medication and simply split it in two. For instance, let’s say your doctor wants you to tale 50 mg of a certain pill every day. Ask for 100 mg pills and make on pill last two days or doses. Often times, a medication will cost the same per pill no matter what the dosage.

6. Ask the manufacturer about assistance programs they offer. Many of the big pharmaceutical companies offer programs for low income folks to get life saving medication free or at a reduced cost. Just a quick phone call can get you on the way to joining these programs.

7. Know what your drug coverage covers. If your doctor prescribes something that is not covered, ask for a similar medication to substitutes. Also, some companies will cover a limited number of vitamins and even OTC medications.

8. Do your homework and shop around. Prescription medication can vary greatly in cost from one pharmacy to the next. The same goes for vitamins and OTC drugs. Look for sales in drug store flyers and stock up when there is a good sale.

9. Don’t try to save a buck by shopping for prescription medications online. While you may save cash, they may be unregulated and even illegal drugs sold through these places and it is never a good deal if something could make you very ill.

10. Generics are a good idea with OTC medications as well. You can often get them at dollar stores and big box stores. The savings are crazy good on these and you don’t have to worry they will not work as well because they are generic. By law, they are required to contain the same levels of active ingredients as name brand counterparts. Just make sure to see how many dosages are in a package to be sure you are getting a good buy.

Filed Under: Frugal Living, Health Tagged With: Frugal living, health, medications

Get Cash for the Holiday Season

October 14, 2023 By Christine Leave a Comment

This is about the time of year when you might start thinking about coming up with money for gifts for the holiday season. The sooner you start planning for it, the better off you will be come time to do your holiday shopping. Here is a list of ways to help you come up with cash for the gifts you are hoping to buy your loved ones:

1. Take on a small seasonal job. Even if you just pick up a few hours a week, you will have a couple hundred dollars in no time.

2. Sell your used Cd’s, books or textbooks. These items are just what other people may be looking for.

3. Start saving all change you get from now until shopping day. In just a month, I was able to save over $60, once and I didn’t even feel it in my pocketbook.

4. Offer to house-sit. Many people will be taking off for the holidays and may need a pet-sitter or a house-sitter. You can make some cash doing this in time if you offer your services.

5. Do pre or post holiday cleanup. With everyone being so busy over the holidays, everyone could use a helping hand with holiday clean-up. Offer to dust, vacuum, clean bathrooms and mop or any other services that may be of use.

6. Don’t forget to coupon! If you save some money on an item you would normally pay full price for, put what you saved away for the shopping trip.

7. Cut down on driving and save money from not needing gas. Instead, car-pool or take public transportation. There is always a good walk if you don’t live too far from work as well.

8. Find a craft to make and sell. You can do this online or at the many craft shows at this time of year.

Filed Under: Frugal Living Tagged With: Frugal living, gifts

15 Healthy Spooky Snacks for Halloween

October 11, 2023 By Christine Leave a Comment

Healthier Halloween Snack Options

While candy is central to Halloween fun, there are some fun and spooky healthy alternatives. These simple recipes will be great to take to classroom parties, have at your own Halloween get-together or even just make with the kiddos at home to celebrate the spooky season.

Some of these recipes call for peanut butter, almonds and other allergens. Please feel free to substitute with soy “peanut” butter or anything else that suit’s the recipe.

Banana Ghosts:

Cut a banana in half. Stick upright on a plate of push a popsicle stick through the bottom. Attach chocolate chip eyes. If you want to create fuzzy ghosts, simple roll in shredded coconut.

Roasted Pumpkin seeds:

After the fun of digging out your Jack-o-lantern, you will have the seeds. They are simple to bake. Just clean them off well, boil in salt water for approximately 10 minutes and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes. Check halfway through and flip them over. Pumpkin seeds are rich in minerals and iron. For seasoning, try using salt or even just some garlic powder.

Deviled Egg Spiders:

Just make deviled eggs the way you normally would but here’s the twist: Cut a black olive in half for the body. Slice the other half thin into “legs”. Place the black olive spider on top for a spooky fun treat. You could also turn them into deviled egg eyes with just a green or black olive slice for a pupil.

Finger Sand-witches:

Make sandwiches like you normally would. Nutella or peanut butter works best. Slice the bread into finger sized strips. Attach a slice of almond on the end to look like a fingernail. This can be done with a little peanut butter.

Pumpkin Oranges:

There are two ways to do this. You can peel off the outer peel on the orange and attach a pickle sliver at the top for the stem or you can leave the peel on and take a black food-safe marker and draw a jack-o-lantern face. This would be a great thing to send in a lunchbox!

Jagged Monster Mouths:

Slice apples (green look ghoulish!) and leave the skins on. Spread some peanut butter on one side. Put two pieces together to look like a mouth. Add slivered almonds to the “mouth” to resemble jagged and brown monster teeth.

Bloody Monster Eyes:

Use round crackers for this one such as Ritz. Put a little strawberry or other red jam on the cracker. Place a banana slice on top and a chocolate chip for the pupil. You can also use a marshmallow for the banana part, if desired.

Mummy Muffin Pizzas:

Slice English muffins in half and cover with pizza sauce. Place mozzarella cheese on top. Make a place for two mummy eyes to stick out and place sliced black or green olives in it. Bake at 350 degrees F for 1-15 minutes.

Witches’ Brooms:

Take string cheese and slice off the solid bottoms about 2 inches. Make cuts in it to make the broom look like it has bristles. Attach to a large pretzel rod with a bit of cream cheese to hold it in place.

Candy Corn Fruit Cups:

Layer Mandarin oranges, then pineapples in a glass or plastic see-through cup. Top with whipped topping.

Cheesy Bats:

Using a cube of cheddar cheese, gently make a small slit in each side. Now, place a corner of a blue corn tortilla chip in and you have a simple bat!

Snow Pea Vampire mouths:

Make a small slit in the side of a snow pea. Add fangs using slivered almonds. To add blood, just slip a little pizza sauce inside. These taste great baked for just a few minuets at $550 degrees F.

Filed Under: Food Tagged With: Family, food, health, Homemaking, Kids

Make Tonight a Family Game Night

October 10, 2023 By Christine Leave a Comment

When I was a kid, I loved to play board games and I was excited to be able to bring that tradition to my own daughter. She and I love to spend at least one weekend a month playing board games. With electronics taking our lives so much, it is great to be able to “unplug” and do this special family time together.

According to this info-graphic, we are not the only ones who try to do a family game night as often as we can:

familygamenight.net

How can you do a family game night? Check out these tips:

*Buy games on sale this Christmas season. Make them “gifts” to the family.

*Use a snow day at school or a rainy day as a chance to get together and do your game time.

*Schedule your game night and make a commitment to stick to the time.

*Feel free to customize your games and make rules that you allow as a family. This will make the time special and unique.

For more tips and ways you can create a family game night, check out the Family Game Night blog.

Filed Under: Frugal Living

Target BOGO sale

October 2, 2023 By Christine Leave a Comment

I normally don’t post too many coupon deals on my blog because although I appreciate thrifty living and couponing, this isn’t a coupon blog, so I try to keep it a bit separate, but I have to tell you about the latest deal I got so you have time to get it yourself!

Target has a coupon with their mobile coupon alerts right now that is too good to pass up. It is NOT a glitch and I could barely believe it myself! Through 10/4, Target has a BOGO deal on their jewelry department. (BOGO is buy one, get one free in case you aren’t hip to coupon lingo). This means you can buy ANY jewelry, item (including watches, sunglasses and all jewelry) and get one free. Normally, these coupons have a limit on the free item such as “of equal or lesser value” than the item you are purchasing.

However, with this coupon, it is ANY item at ANY price that you buy and get a FREE item up to $58.99. This means, you can buy a clearance item for a couple dollars and get a free item worth up to $58.99!

Now, you know you are thinking what I was thinking-No way! That has to be a mistake.

It isn’t. I would never tell you, my valued readers, about a deal that was not true and tested by myself personally. I bought a $5.99 pair of earrings/necklace and got a $39.99 Timex Watch for FREE. The only thing I paid for was the Earrings/necklace + tax. My total was only $6.51.

No kidding!

How do you get in on this amazing deal?

Simply text OFFERS to 827438 and follow the instructions. You will need to register for Target mobile coupons, but let me tell you, it is so worth it. I got my coupon in about 2 minutes and rushed to the store before it closed.

The deal is only good through 10/4/2013, so HURRY!

Filed Under: Frugal Living

Growing your own Onions in Your Kitchen

October 2, 2023 By Christine 14 Comments

Did you know you can re-grow some of your produce you buy at the store no matter what season it is? No need to waste money buying produce you can reproduce several times is there?

I tried to grow green onions after hearing about it on Pinterest.

I was amazed! I don’t have much of a green thumb, although I get better all the time, and even I could grow these babies!

There are two methods to growing them. One, is placing them in soil in a little pot on your kitchen window. All you do is just stick your finger in the soil and place the white root part in the dirt. Water and allow to grow.

The second method, the one I used, is to place the white root part in a glass with some water-about 2 inches-and grow. This method works great if you don’t have space for a pot and very little lighting. I placed my glass of onions near indirect lighting and they grew about an inch and a half every day. I was seriously stunned and amazed!

Now, you may be thinking, “But green onions are less than a dollar, what is the point, really?” The point for me was to save money. While a dollar is not much these days, why waste one? With this method, you can grow your onions 3-4 times before needing to throw them out and get new roots. I bought these green onions for 55 cents. If I grow them 5 more times, I am spending a little over a dime each time. Plus, green onions are one thing on my shopping list I seem to always forget.

In less than a week, you will have a whole new set to use in your recipes and if you won’t use them this fast, you can cut them off, chop them up and freeze them for use in omelets and other recipes as these kinds of onions freeze well.

Just look at the growth after a week: