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How To Reduce Monthly Expenses

April 8, 2021 By: Sweet Frugal Life34 Comments

What we did to save more money each month.

I am not naturally a frugal person. I was raised by two frugal parents, but I lean more towards wanting to shop and buy all of the pretty things (I’m looking at YOU Target). It has been a huge learning process for me to become more frugal and to realize the value and beauty in cutting back and saving money. Learning my new frugal lifestyle has been over the course of years, and quite honestly, I’m still trying to better myself. Today though, I started thinking about all the things we have cut from our over the years, and I was blown away with the amount of money we are saving ourselves just by making a few different lifestyle choices! If you don’t know what to cut from budget, this article is for you! I truly hope it helps you learn how to reduce monthly expenses.

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Pack Your Lunch: $1000

Packing a lunch for work, instead of eating out with coworkers, has been our biggest money saver. Every night I pack a lunch for my husband to take to work. A packed lunch doesn’t need to be anything special or fancy. Most days it’s just leftovers from dinner the night before, occasionally he will bring a sandwich.

It’s important for my husband to be sociable and build strong relationships at work. So, a few times a year he will bring some cash to work and go out to eat with his coworkers. There has been a few times he has joined them for lunch, and ordered something small. You can keep these strong relationships, while bringing a lunch from home.

I was so surprised to find out this simple habit is saving us over $1000 a year!

Related: How to Save Money When Eating Out

Change your own oil: $210

The second thing we did to reduce monthly expenses was to change our own oil.

My husband taught himself how to change the oil in our two vehicles, all it took was watching a few YouTube videos. It takes him less than an hour to do and he claims it’s super easy.

He uses this oil drum to drain the oil. You can deposit the oil for free at most auto parts stores. This is not some natural talent he has, he had to get out of his comfort zone to learn this skill. If he can do it, you can do it too!

Once you master changing your cars oil, consider looking into other car maintenance you can DIY. My husband has changed our brake pads and spark plugs from time to time. Honestly, I get a little nervous when he does it…..but we haven’t crashed yet!

This simple task DIY oil changes saves us $210 a year. It’s not a huge savings, but every penny adds up.

Cut the Cable: $480

A few years ago we decided to get rid of our cable TV. We were actually already on a fairly cheap rate, but we decided we could do without it. There are so many budget friendly alternative TV options available now.

You can sign up for Hulu, Netflix, Disney+, YouTube TV, Amazon Prime and more! I recommend limiting yourself to one or two subscription services. If we join all of them, you’ll probably end up paying more than you were paying for cable!

The best part is, you don’t even need to spend hundreds of dollars on a fancy smart TV. Just invest in a simple, affordable Roku and you can watch each of your TV subscriptions.

We have saved $480 a year by doing this!

Related: The Best Frugal Living Tips You Need to Know

At Home Haircuts: $200

I have been giving my husband at home haircuts for over 15 years now, my son has been getting them since the year he was born. I am not a professional, hair is NOT my talent. I have watched a few YouTube tutorial videos and both my husband and son get very basic cuts. I have made a few mistakes on both of them, but I keep learning and trying. And luckily boys hair grows out fairly fast! 😉

All it took $20 to purchase clippers, and I’m still using the same set 14 years later! You can find a similar pair to ours here: Wahl Complete Hair Cutting Kit. This one quick purchase has saved us hundreds and hundreds over the years.

These at home haircuts saves us $200 each year.

Workout at Home: $840

Exercise is important for the human heart, body and mind. However, I have just never been willing to pay $70/month for a gym membership.

So, my husband and I have learned how to get a good workout from home. We go for a run or bike ride during the warm months. We love using free YouTube workout videos (my favorites are Yoga with Adrienne and PopSugar Fitness) at home and have even scored some really cheap used gym equipment that we enjoy on a regular basis.

These at home workouts are a $840 yearly savings!

The Results: $2730

Just by making these 5 adjustments to our lifestyle we save $2730 a year! So, in five years we have saved $13,650! Ten years it will be $27,300! Those little expenses don’t seem like a big deal during the day by day, but over time they add up to be a very very BIG deal.

It really has not been hard to cut any of these things from our budget. We have been living this way for years and honestly never seem to miss a gym membership or cable TV. It has just become our way of life, and it’s a great life! It can be hard to form new habits, but once you do, those habits become your way of life and you often never really look back!

Take a look at your budget and lifestyle. Can you find a few things that you could change in order to save money? I promise the pay off is so worth it!

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How to reduce monthly expenses with these budget cuts.

DIY Bathroom Cleaner

April 4, 2021 By: Sweet Frugal Life14 Comments

How to make Homemade Bathroom Cleaner at home!

Want to make your own DIY bathroom cleaner? It’s easy, cheap and quick! Plus, it only takes ingredients, ingredients you probably already have inside your home. These is a very easy homemade bathroom cleaner recipe that will only cost you a few pennies and a couple of minutes to whip up. No need to go to the store!

I have been busy Spring Cleaning my house. This usually takes a few weeks to do. But, I get it done eventually!! My least favorite room to clean in the house is the bathroom. I’m sure I am not alone in this! I always put this job off for days! However, if I am going to clean the bathroom, I might as well be doing it with a cleaner that I know was affordable and environmentally friendly, right??? Right!

Years ago I started making my homemade bathroom cleaner and have not looked back since. Making your own DIY bathroom cleaner is so easy and is a great way to save money! Store bought cleaners are expensive!

How To Make DIY Bathroom Cleaner

The first thing you need to do to make this homemade bathroom cleaner recipe is to gather your supplies. For this recipe you will need:

Plastic Spray Bottle
Baking Soda
Vinegar
Lemon Juice
Dish Soap
Water

Put the plastic spray bottle in the sink (it can overflow).

Add the 2 tsp of baking soda and 1 cup vinegar to the spray bottle. Allow the foam to settle and then add the rest of the ingredients.

Pour 1/3 cup of lemon juice, 1/4 cup dish soap and 1 1/2 cups water into the spray bottle.

Put the lid back on and then shake well.

This solution should last for 6-12 months. I use it to clean the toilet, sink, countertops, shower and bath. It’s basically your one stop shop for bathroom cleaner!

Print Recipe

Ingredients

2 tsp. baking soda
1 cup vinegar
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup dish soap
1 1/2 cups water

Instructions

First, add the baking soda to the spray bottle and then add the vinegar. I do this in the sink, and do it slowly because it will foam.
Squeeze the foam out and then add the rest of the ingredients. After all of the ingredients are added put the lid back on the bottle and shake it up really good. That's it! You are ready to tackle the bathroom! This lasts me about a year and I use it for every part of the bathroom; the toilet, sink, countertops, shower and bath.

Enjoy This Cheap Bathroom Cleaner Recipe

Alright, well, now that I have taught you how to make my favorite DIY bathroom cleaner, I suppose it’s time to go actually clean the bathroom! If I know I am saving money, I am much more happy about the job!

Do you make your own cleaners? Have you noticed a savings when doing so?

Homemade Outdoor Window Cleaner

Homemade Cream of Chicken Soup Mix Recipe

How to Make Homemade Butter

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I hope you enjoyed this DIY bathroom cleaner recipe!

Free Printable Chore Chart

April 3, 2021 By: Sweet Frugal Life5 Comments

Best free chore chart for kids.

Are you looking for a free printable chore chart for kids? Because I have one for you today!

Teaching my kids how to work is a huge priority for me. In today’s world with busy schedules and so many kids focused on screens, it’s hard to find the right way to instill a hard work ethic. I’ve tried so many different methods and kids chore charts to try to encourage my kids to be hard workers. Many of those methods have failed, but the method we are using right now has been going strong for 7 years. That’s definitely a record in my house! Of course, I don’t know if it is teaching them the hard work ethic I desire, but I know it has been teaching them a lot about household chores and so I am happy with it!

Honestly, my chore system is nothing fancy, SO un-fancy in fact that it probably shouldn’t even be called a “system”! 😉

Kids Household Responsibilities:

Here are the three main household chores my kids are responsible for each week.

Bedrooms

First, the kids are responsible to keep their rooms clean and tidy, including making their bed each day and putting away any clutter. This usually only takes 5 minutes each morning, sometimes more or less.

Once a week they are required to vacuum and dust their rooms, we usually do this on Saturdays. I always check on Saturdays to make sure they did what was asked of them and to verify that they haven’t stuffed anything under the bed or in their closets (because, that has been known to happen from time to time….).

Dishes

We have three “Dish Duties” that we rotate each week between our three kids. These duties are: Load the Dishwasher, Sweep the Floor, and Wipe the Counters.

After our nightly dinner the family all cleans up the dishes together with the kids each helping with their specific assignment.

Household Chore

Each week my kids are assigned a Household Chore. The Household Chore is usually centered around a room in the house; one that the entire family uses, so we all need to help keep it clean. These chores are rotated each week, so that the kids all get even turns with each job.

Saturday is the day we complete household chores. After breakfast the kids work on both their household chore and bedroom chores. Once they have completed both of these, and I have inspected to make sure it was done correctly, they can then have free time.

Our current list of household chores are:

Family Room
Bathroom
Basement
Kitchen
Entry
Your Choice

I love to include a Your Choice option in the rotations so that the kids can have a little control over the area they clean. They all look forward to when they get a Your Choice chore.

If a child is assigned “your choice” for the week they can then choose from these job options:

Wash Windows
Laundry
Clean Out Car
Refrigerator

I keep a chore list hanging in our kitchen so that my kids always know exactly what is expected of them each week. These chores are changed every Saturday as we prepare for a new week.

Free Printable Chore Chart

After a lot of request I decided to turn these free chore chart for kids into a printable for you to use in your home!

You can download your free printable chore chart for kids at the bottom of this article.

I recommend printing these printables out on white cardstock to keep them sturdy and durable.

After printing it, cut out each of the the household chores checklists and then laminate them using contact paper.

Next, laminate the the Family Weekly Chores, Chore Chart, and Bedroom Checklist. I prefer sticking these larger printables in a page protector, because it’s easier. But, you can do whatever works best for you!

Printable Bedroom Checlist chore Chart

Now that you have your chore chart all put together, it’s time to start using them with your kids!

Hang one bedroom checklist in your childs bedroom. The closet door is a great place for this. Now, whenever your child completes their daily and weekly bedroom chores they can use a dry erase marker to mark off each chore. This helps you as the parent to quickly see what they have completed, and reminds the child of what should be done each day.

Family Weekly Chores Chart

Next, hang up the Family Weekly Chores chart somewhere that your family will see it often. I like to put mine in the kitchen or entry area. Write each of your kids names next to a chore. That will be their assigned household chore for the week. Once the week is over, rotate the names down to the next chore. This gives everyone a fair chance at each chore.

Your child can use the chore checklists while working on their household chores. This helps them stay focused on the chore and remember all of the details.

Chore Chart Printable

I also included a basic chore chart printable. This gives you the option to fill in the chores you want your child to do each week, just in case they are different from our families chore chart.

Grab Your Free Printables Below!

I truly believe one of the greatest gifts we can give a child is teaching them how to work. They WILL look back one day and thank you for giving them this gift. I whined and yelled and cried and complained and told my parents they were the meanest in the world…..but I grew up….and I realized just how GRATEFUL I am that they taught me how to work!

The saying says there is more than one way to train a horse! That falls true with kids too! This is what works for my kids, you might find something different that works for your family. All that matters is that we are TRYING. Keep trying mamas! We got this!

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Don’t forget to download my Free Kids Chore Chart Printable using the link above!

Deciding What To Plant In Your Garden

April 1, 2021 By: Sweet Frugal Lifecomment

Wondering what is the best things to plant in the garden? I’m here to help you decide!

I am so excited that Spring is here! The snow has (finally!) all melted around my house and I’ve been anxiously checking my garden every day. I can’t wait to start planting little seeds. There is nothing more exciting to me than planting a tiny little seed into the ground and watching it grow into a beautiful plant producing a bountiful harvest. It’s so satisfying! If you are trying to decide what to plant in your garden this year, here are a few steps to help you make the decision!

Trying to decide what to plant in my garden each year can be a lot of fun! I love receiving my Burpee Seed Catalog each year and planning what to plant and when. It usually involves a lot of big dreams of a huge garden bearing lots of produce….and zero weeds….. To bad it never ends up exactly that way! 😉

While fun, this is also one of the most important steps to gardening. If you are wanting a successful harvest, it’s crucial that you think hard about what to plant. Not every seed is right for every gardener.

Related: 9 Easiest Vegetables To Grow In First Garden

Questions To Ask Yourself When Planning Your Garden

Here are a few questions you can ask yourself when deciding what crops to plant. They should help you make the best decision about what will be best for you personally to grow. Let me know in the comments if you have any other gardening questions!

What Produce Does Our Family Enjoy?

One of the first questions you should ask yourself when deciding what to plant in your garden is what fruits and vegetables does your family enjoy eating the most?

It’s really easy to get carried away planting “this” vegetable and “that” vegetable, many people often forget to focus on the foods their family eats most often. If you have a bountiful harvest, but nobody will eat it, then it’s not worth planting in the first place….right???? Right!

Spend a minute thinking about the produce you buy weekly at the grocery store, and then make a list of these grocery staples to help give you some gardening inspiration.

For example, my list would look like this:

Apples
Pears
Bananas
Oranges
Strawberries
Grapefruit
Watermelon
Broccoli
Spinach
Onions
Lettuce
Tomatoes
Peas
Corn
Green Beans

Now, this is a list of the produce I buy for my family most often, but not everything on this list will grow well in my garden. This is where the following questions come in.

What Grows Well In My Climate?

The next question you need to ask yourself is what grows well in your specific location. I would love to tell you exactly what to plant and when, but there’s a good chance your growing season/climate will be very different from mine.

The first step to learning what will grow well in your location is to find out what zone you are in. Your planting zone will tell you when to plant which crops. You can easily find your planting zone here.

For example, I live in Zone 5. This means that I have a shorter growing season than somewhere like Zone 9. The crops that grow well in Zone 5 can differ from the ones in Zone 9.

Another great way to find out what grows well in your climate is to ask other gardeners in your area. If you have neighbors or friends who enjoy gardening, ask them what they enjoy growing most and have had the most success with.

Once you have determined your zone, start researching the best crops for that zone. This can easily be found using a google search.

How Much Garden Space Do I Have?

The size of your garden is a huge factor when deciding what to plant. If you have a small garden, you might not want to plant crops that take up a large amount of space, like pumpkins, corn or watermelon.

If you have a smaller garden, I recommend planting crops that need a smaller space, such as spinach or carrots.

And, if you are planting in containers, you will want to only plant what grows best in containers. I’ll share a few ideas below with you.

Plants That Grow Well In Containers:

Tomatoes
Potatoes
Beets
Herbs
Lettuce
Onions
Peppers
Strawberries

Plants That Need A Lot Of Space To Grow:

Corn
Pumpkins
Bush Beans
Peas
Raspberries

Plants That Grow Well In Small Gardens:

Lettuce
Onions
Potatoes
Beets
Peppers
Tomatoes
Radishes
Pole Beans

What Crops Are Most Expensive To Purchase At The Store?

If you are gardening as a way to save money, which I recommend, try to focus on growing the produce that is most expensive to buy at the store.

A few of the crops I have found that are cheaper to grow than buy are:

Bell Peppers
Tomatoes
Herbs
Squash
Lettuce
Berries
Green Beans

One of the great parts of gardening is the ability to preserve what you grow, so that you can use it throughout the year. This is especially important for the produce that is most expensive.

Bell peppers and berries can easily be frozen using the flash freeze method I talk about here. Herbs can even be frozen using the ice cube method taught here. This gives you even more bang for your buck all year long.

How Much Time Do I Want To Spend Gardening?

Gardening is time consuming, that is just a fact of life. In order to get grow and harvest a garden, you will need to be able to donate some of your time to each crop.

If you enjoy gardening and want to spend more time on it, than you might consider growing more high maintenance crops, such as”

Green Beans
Peas
Fruit Trees
Corn

If you are looking for some easy to grow, least time consuming crops, I would consider:

Carrots
Potatoes
Beets
Onions

So, still wondering, “What should I plant in my garden?”

If this is your first year planting a garden, I always recommend starting small. Choose a few of your favorite vegetables, that will grow well in your area to plant this year. If it goes well then you can add a few more next year.

It truly takes trial and error before you find the right crops to plant in your garden, but you will figure it out. I believe in you!

Want a little inspiration? I’ll share what I am planting this year!

This year I am planting:

Peas
Green Beans
Pumpkins
Corn
Onions
Carrots
Potatoes
Beets

I usually plant tomatoes and peppers, but have finally (and a little reluctantly) decided they are just to difficult for me to grow in my very windy garden spot. And that’s ok!

Happy planting!!!

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I hope this article helps you decide what to plant in your garden.

Quick Waikiki Chicken Recipe

March 17, 2021 By: Sweet Frugal Lifecomment

Looking for a new easy chicken recipe to try? You’ll love this one!

Do you ever eat a recipe and it immediately brings you back to your childhood? Like when the smell, taste, and look of a specific dish reminds you of something you use to eat regularly as a child? That is what this Waikiki Chicken Recipe does for me.

This was a staple on the table when I was a child, and I love getting to make it for my own kids. Plus, it is so easy! Which is always a HUGE win in my book!

This Waikiki Chicken is a very simple and frugal dinner to prepare, making it perfect for those busy nights. All it requires is mixing a few ingredients together and cooking a couple of chicken breasts. I love meals that require little prep work!

Gather Your Ingredients

First, you will need to gather all of your ingredients. For this recipe you will need:

3-5 chicken breasts
1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp cooking oil
1 8-ounce can crushed pineapple
1/2 cup barbecue sauce
1 Tbsp cornstarch
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground mustard
1 green bell pepper, seeded, cut into rings

How To Make This Easy Waikiki Chicken Recipe

First, heat a couple of Tablespoons of oil in a large skillet over medium heat.

While the oil is heating, stir the flour and salt together on a plate.

Using a fork, dip each chicken breast into flour and then add it to the hot oil.

Let the chicken cook over medium-high heat for 15 minutes, or until golden brown.

While the chicken is cooking stir the crushed pineapple (undrained), barbecue sauce, cornstarch, brown sugar and dry mustard together in bowl.

It might not look pretty, but it tastes great!

Once the chicken is done cooking, pour the pineapple mixture over chicken in skillet.

Cover the skillet and allow the chicken to cook in the pineapple mixture for 30-40 minutes.

Garnish the chicken with green pepper rings and serve over hot steamed rice.

This is the perfect quick to fix dinner recipe. It requires very little prep, and is always a favorite with kids and adults!