How to Freshen Your Home Cheaply

I love when my home smells fresh and clean even when it is not. It is pretty easy to pick up air fresheners to make your home smell fresh, but remember you are a penny saver and every penny counts. Instead of using that money to buy air freshener, us it to buy needed items. Why not use what you probably already have at home to freshen your home.

               Lemon Peels               

After I make ice tea with lemons, I save the used lemons and peels and place them in a pot on the stove. I fill the pot with water and turn the stove on low. As the pot simmers, the smell of lemon will fill your house. Do not leave the pot unattended!

                 Vanilla

I use a little bit of vanilla extract and place it in water on the stove. I fill the pot with water and simmer it on low. Soon, your home will smell like vanilla. Do not leave the pot unattended!

               Essential Oils

I usually use lavender oil in my home but you can use what ever essential oil you like. I saturate a cotton ball with lavender oil and place the cotton balls around my home. I may have one in the  closet or on top of the refrigerator, on top of my bathroom cabinet, any place I want to smell fresh. If you have children and pets make sure you place the cotton balls where little hands and paws cannot reach.

Tell me, how do you freshen your home cheaply?

              

Low Cost Cleaning Products

I am not a fan of cleaning, but unfortunately, I have to do it.In order to save pennies,I  try to use inexpensive items to clean my home.

                  Vinegar    

I like to use vinegar and water to wipe down kitchen counters. I dilate the vinegar with water and sometimes add essential oil to the water. I wipe down the kitchen with my solution. Once it dries it doesn't have a vinegar smell.

                Baking Soda

Baking soda is my favorite cleaning product! I use it whenever I need to scrub something, like a bathtub or even the toilet. I even use baking soda when I wash my clothes, the baking soda freshens my clothes. I also use it when I vacuum my carpet. I sprinkle the baking soda on my carpet and let it sit for a while, then I vacuum it up and my carpet is fresher.Baking soda has a variety of uses, I am never without it.

                Soap and Water

A clean sponge and natural soap in a bucket, is something that can be used to clean your house. I will wipe down my counters with soap and water and then rinse with water. You can use soap and water to clean any room in your house.
                Lemon Juice  
I know some people use lemon juice and water to wipe the cabinets, bathroom sinks and kitchen sinks down.

What natural products do you use to clean your home?          

More Ways to Save at the Grocery Store

I would like to add a few more tips to help you save more at the grocery store. Many of this tips I have used while shopping recently.

 Potatoes

I love potatoes for three reasons. One, they are delicious,two they are versatile and three they are inexpensive. I will usually buy a bag of potatoes and I can make many meals from them.
I can make breakfast: potatoes and onions, homemade hash browns.

I can make lunch: baked potatoes with low cost toppings,potato salad and homemade potatoes chips.

I can make dinner: mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, french fries, cheesy potatoes, potato casserole,potato chowder, potatoes and gravy, garlic potatoes, potatoes and chives and potatoes skins.

Store Brand

I love store brands because I noticed a large difference in the price of store brand products and
and name brand products. I have noticed the biggest difference in canned goods. For example,I love to make pasta sauce using canned tomato sauce.I can buy store brand sauce for .50 cents, but the name brand tomato sauce is $1.25. Of course I chose the store brand sauce and saved my pennies.

Meat and Poultry

When I go to the meat section I always look around in the section. I look through the meat, I look underneath,I look beside and I look all around. I have noticed that each tray has a different price. For example, I notice one tray of chicken thighs for $4.50 but underneath that tray I notice a tray for $3.50 with the same amount inside. When you are in the meat and poultry aisles look around and underneath for different prices.
Breakfast

One of the most important  meals of the day,can be one of the most inexpensive meals of the day. Oatmeal is one of the most nutritious and inexpensive items you can have for breakfast. I'm not talking about the  flavored oatmeal packages but the large container of store brand oatmeal. You can flavor the oatmeal your self! You can add brown sugar, fruit, cream and sugar, frozen fruit, cinnamon and vanilla to your oatmeal.
Beverages
If you are a penny saver you have to cut back on "luxury food items." Now, I love drinking ice tea, lemonade and other drinks but I do not buy per-packaged drinks. I buy a large box of tea bags and make my own ice tea. I flavor the tea with lemons and sometimes frozen fruit.
I hope these tips are helpful, there will be more tips to come.

Seven Tips for Saving Money at The Grocery Store

Grocery shopping can be a headache for penny savers.But for penny savers, it doesn't have to be a budget busting nightmare. I have included seven tips below to help you save money at the grocery store. Feel free to add your own grocery saving tips in the comment section.

1.You should always check out the store advertisement before you go to the grocery store.

Your trip to the grocery store should begin before you arrive on the grocery store parking lot.You should check the weekly grocery advertisement before you go.Many grocery stores have their advertisement online and some delivery to homes free of charge.

 

2. Your shopping list should be based on what's on sale.

Your list should include items on sale at the grocery store for the week.For example, if the grocery store has chicken thighs on sale at a low price, buy chicken thighs and plan your meals around chicken thighs. The same principal applies for any other item.

3. Don't go to the grocery store hungry.

Yeah I know it sounds easy.However, a lot of people go grocery shopping hungry and they are usually the ones with items in their baskets that they do not need or they purchase impulse items at the register.Eat before your shop.

4.Be a vegetarian, for a day.

Try to have one or two meals without meat. Why? Look at the price of meat in the grocery store and check out the price of a bag of beans, or a bag of rice, or even pasta. You can make a great pot of spaghetti with marinara sauce. Calculate how much money you would save by going meatless for a day or two.Also, the extra veggies in your diet will be good for you.

5. Don't over look the frozen food section.

The frozen food section is where a lot of high price food items live. But hidden in the frozen food section, is one of the best places to find low cost items that bought fresh would cost you more, most of the time. I'm  talking about frozen fruit. Now, I don't mean fruit in syrup or flavored fruit. I'm talking about bagged frozen fruit without sugar. Compare and see if it's a better deal than it's fresh counter part. I have found, frozen strawberries to be a lot cheaper than fresh strawberries. However, check for yourself, it maybe different for you.

6. Try the bakery section

No, don't go there to buy high priced cakes and other baked goods. In every grocery store I've been in, there is a bakery section and off to the side there is usually a rack with discounted baked goods. No, I don't want you to buy that discounted birthday cake.But, you should take a look at the bread they usually have marked down. I have found loaves of bread marked down to 25 cents. Take a peek in the bakery section with caution, you don't need that marked down cake.

7.The Bargain Bin

Most stores have them and they probably won't tell you that they do. It is usually in the back of the store off to the side, the bargain rack. Usually you will find items that are heavily discounted for varies reasons. I have recently found premium olive oil for $2 and pasta for 40 cents a box. Also, don't forget to check out the bargain section in the produce aisle.

What are some of your money saving tips for shopping at the grocery store?

Handwashing to Prevent Colds

 It is that time of the year,cold and flu season. Many people will get sick over the next few weeks and some of you may have already gotten sick.

Do you know the best way to prevent yourself and your family from getting sick this cold and flu season? The best way to prevent illness is cheap and highly effective.However, many people do it incorrectly.
                  

The best way to prevent infection is to wash your hands properly. Properly is the key word here. Many people do not wash their hands long enough to destroy germs. According to the CDC, we should wash our hands for at least 20 seconds or long enough to sing Happy Birthday two times.

You should wash your hands in the following manner:
1.Turn on the water and wet your hands.
2. Lather and Scrub your hands with soap under running water. Don't forget to sing!
3. Rinse your hands clean air dry or wipe with a clean towel or paper towel.

Now, you know the proper way to wash your hands. Don't forget to teach it to your children.Help keep your family germ free this cold and flu season.

 

*thepennygirls is not affiliated with the CDC.

Welcome to thepennygirls!

If one of your goals for the new year is to save money, this is the place for you. Saving money is my only goal for the new year. Yep, I just have one goal  because I realized that one goal covers many. I know you maybe thinking how can saving money help me lose weight, be happy, find a mate, exercise more and rule the world (sorry, rule the world is my other goal). 

Well, saving money can help you lose weight. How you ask? Good I'm glad you asked. Well, if you make the goal to save money you will be more conscious of the food you buy. For example, let's start small, say you decide to cut out $10 from your grocery bill this week. You know you cannot cut out food you actually need to survive,so you have to look at "luxury items". 

 

Luxury items are non nutritional items that we eat that has no nutritional value. Yeah I'm talking about that fizzy stuff that you drink and that chocolate circle cookie with the cream in the middle or the round potato like items that crunch when you bite into them. As tasty and delicious as they are ,and I know they are, they are holding you back from your money saving goals. So after lusting for these items in the grocery store, you decide  to leave them  in the aisle, pay for your real food and go home. 

 

You are so strong! When you unload your groceries you should notice two things, you should have saved money from not buying those snack items and you don't have those snack items in your house for you to nosh on and if you continue your money saving pursuits you may lose weight in the process. See, easy peasy, Yeah right. Let's at least give it a try!