My New Frugal Ways

I was inspired by Ann over at Ann's Snap Edit & Scrap for sharing some of her frugal ways and it gave me an idea to do something similar. As you all know, we are living in some very tough times and the saying, "a penny saved is a penny earned," has begun to mean something once again. For us, the days of impulse buying are over and the days of frugal living are beginning. So, to start things off, let me share with you my first step down the road of frugal living: making our own bread.

Before I began making our bread, we were paying close to $4.00 a loaf for the sourdough bread we like and just under $2.00 for regular bread. Over a period of a month, we would be shelling-out close to $25.00 on just bread. Now, let's do the numbers: we get a twenty pound bag of flour for $8.00, which lasts a little over a month. The recipe I use requires, in addition to about five cups of flour, a teaspoon of salt, two teaspoons of oil (I use Crisco) and four teaspoons of sugar. I make about two loaves of bread each week: the regular sandwich bread and a loaf of french bread. I figure that each loaf costs just under $1.00 to make (this includes the flour (about $0.55), salt (one to two pennies), sugar (about $0.05), and oil (about $0.10-$0.20) (optional).

Over the course of a month, I figure that we spend roughly $10.00 on bread, so we're saving close to $15.00 a month by making it ourselves. Now, I know that's not a huge savings, but it is fifteen extra dollars that can be allocated elsewhere.

If you would like to begin making your own sourdough bread, here are the recipes for the starter and for the actual baking:

Sourdough Starter

Baking your Sourdough Bread

Cart Buster Savings Event and Giveaway

I mentioned in a previous post about my start down the road of pursuing a more frugal lifestyle. What does this mean exactly? Well, it means that my family and myself are going to try and save money wherever we can and this means watching the ads for sales. With this said, I would like to pass along some information I just received: It seems that Kroger and its Family of Stores is having a Cart Buster Savings Event. From now until March 14th, you can save on a variety of name-brand products such as: Honey Nut Cheerios, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Pillsbury, Betty Crocker, and Hamburger Helper to name just a few. I could go on naming more of the participants, but if you just take a look at the photo on the top of the page, you can get a pretty good idea as to who is participating.

If you're not sure whether you have a Kroger's near you, here's a list of some the stores that belong to the Kroger family: Kroger, Ralph´s, King Soopers, City Market, Dillons, Smith´s, Fry´s, QFC, Baker´s, Owen´s, Jay C Food Stores, Hilander, Gerbes, Food4Less, Pay Less Super Markets, Scott´s Food & Pharmacy, and Fred Meyer.

I will be covering this in more detail in a later article, but for added savings look around for some manufacturer coupons you can use (you can go to coupons.com). I know that General Mills has several that are currently active. I'll be heading over to Fred Meyer tomorrow and I'm going to be on the lookout for some items that I can put in the pantry I'm starting. Oh, and since this will be my first pantry, I'm open to any suggestions as to what to put in it.

Now for the part you've been waiting for: They have provided me with one card to give away to a lucky reader. If you would like to receive a $25.00 gift card, just let me know in the comments and I will pick one lucky winner. If you happen to win, I'll send your mailing information to Blogspark and Kroger, who will send you the gift card.


legal stuff... The Kroger Family of Stores and General Mills provided me with the gift card, information, and giveaway through MyBlogSpark.

Tony's® Pizza Giveaway

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Tony's Pizza. All opinions are 100% mine.



I was being particularly lazy the other night, so I decided to grab a pizza out of the freezer and pop it in the oven. I had already planned on heating some of my infamous soup for my wife, so the pizza would be for my daughters. Well, I hadn't tried a Tony's Pizza for years and I was looking forward to trying it again. I opened the box and the first thing that caught my eye is the fact that it's not round; it was square with rounded corners. Well, that's different, but as I've been told, it's not the shape but the taste that matters. So, I popped it in the oven and about twelve minutes later it was ready.

The pizza was just large enough to make a good meal and it disappeared very quickly. I stole a portion from one of my daughters and I have to admit that the new crust is much better than the original. The texture is lighter and it tastes more like what pizza crust is meant to taste like. The toppings were very good, but they need to be a little more generous in the amount they put on the pizza. Yes, I understand it helps to keep the cost down, but it's just a thought. Finally, the sauce was very good and it was something both my daughters commented on. One of my kids NEVER likes sauce on her pizza, but she really enjoyed the flavor of this pizza sauce.

Now, as for the price: we got this at Winco and they charge a whopping $0.98. This is a great deal for the amount of pizza you get. This is a great pizza to give the kids or to have if you just want a nice snack.

Tony's® Pizza would like you to try their new crispy crust pizza, so they are giving away coupons for a free pizza. I have five coupons to give away, so if you would like one, just comment and let me know and I will then contact you for your mailing info and send you your coupon for a free pizza. After all, free is good, right?

legal stuff... Tony's® Pizza contacted me and provided the coupons for myself and my readers.