Tammy's Recipes

I just ordered some new (unused) 41-cent postage stamps for 34 cents each. That means that the roll of 100 stamps cost $34.00 instead of $41.00 (includes shipping). How is this possible? Ebay. :)

For some time now (at least a year), my younger brother Phillip has been ordering unused postage stamps from eBay for less than face value. Often, the stamps are a cent or two below the current first-class postage rate. For example, my last roll was 39-cent stamps, and I had to add a 2-cent stamp each time I mailed something. However, the stamps were cheap enough that I was still saving several cents on each mailing.

Since I've never ordered anything from eBay myself, I interviewed Phillip to get the scoop on how he finds these great deals (which he passes on to me!). Read more...

Lindsay shared about making homemade deodorant, which of course piqued my interest. While I still use and like my deodorant crystal, I still haven't come to any fully satisfactory conclusions about how healthy it is.

This homemade recipe, however, is truly completely natural and harmless. And cheap. Maybe not cheaper than a deodorant crystal (since those last years and years!), but still cheap. :) Read more...

Joshua took us garage-saleing at a nearby town this morning. There were dozens of sales and we walked for about 2 hours before collapsing in the car with several bags of goodies and two very tired children (the boys walked and I wore Ruth in my mei tai).

We got several toys for the boys with some gift money that had been set aside for garage sales. I got this complete vintage Sesame Street camper/rv set for $1.50. I honestly bought it because I love all the pieces and it's a perfect "boy toy"... and no batteries or annoying sounds. Now I found it on eBay and it looks like the set's worth more than $25!! What to do, what to do...

First, I love the toy set. I wanted the boys to have fun with it, but they'd just break it after a while (it's plastic, after all). I don't like keeping things that aren't being used and enjoyed, but I don't know if I want to let them play with a collector's item. I don't really want to re-sell it, though... I like it too much!

What would you do??

Joshua just informed me that the box the camper was in is the original box. Oops! Guess I'll take it back out of the trash!!

Have any of you tried using dryer balls? Do you like them? Are they worth buying/using? (Side note: DO NOT order from the site I just linked to! They're way over-priced!)

As an alternative to fabric softener sheets, these plastic balls tumble around in the dryer with your clothes to soften them.

One advantage is that these dryer balls last "forever" and are therefore more frugal than purchasing dryer sheets. They are also much better for your dryer than fabric softener sheets, and are healthier for you than fabric softener.

A friend gave me a pack dryer balls, and I've used them a number of times now. I honestly can't tell a difference in the laundry afterwards! The friend who gave them to me said that she loves hers, and that the dryer balls make her laundry even softer than dryer sheets ever did.

I normally dry laundry in the dryer without any fabric softener sheets, which is healthier and simpler, anyway. My laundry doesn't get static from drying in the dryer, which I think is because we wear mostly 100% cotton fabrics. (That's just my theory!)

Of course, the real frugal thing to do is to line-dry your laundry. Regular readers here already know how much I love my clothesline!

For other frugal tips, visit Frugal Fridays! :)

We made our own toothpaste!!! It was fun, easy, frugal, and tasty! I'm totally hooked. Read more...

Okay, first, this is not a link to sign up for free mailing supplies. (If it were, you'd probably be seeing it over at Money Saving Mom, and not here!) ;)

However, I have been requesting lots of free samples for all kinds of other things, and another perk is that some of the freebies come in little boxes or bubble envelopes.

I open them carefully, and then I can re-use the bubble envelopes (I just tape a paper with the recipient's address over the spot that had my address). Bubble envelopes are so nice for mailing things! :)

One handy little box became my children's crayon box. And the boys have had loads of fun playing with countless other little boxes that I didn't plan to re-use. :) And this free sample of Always came in the cutest striped box, which I flattened into an envelope. (And no, the box didn't say "Always" on the outside! It was just a neat design.)

In the course of the past 4 months of receiving free samples, I now have a nice little stash of mailing supplies, mostly bubble envelopes. Those are like an "extra" freebie, right? :)

And while we're on the topic of freebies (can you tell I'm addicted?!), the free sample-size packets of granola bars, snacks, or other food items are just perfect for sending in Joshua's lunch. It's even more fun when he didn't see them come in the mail, and I get to surprise him with something new to try! :)

Now, head on over to Crystal's blog for more frugal ideas and tips! :)

I've been getting requests for more blog posts about frugality. I actually don't really have many new tips on this topic -- at least, none that seem worth sharing at the moment.

We're still living frugally, but it's not very glamorous at times. We're just plugging along, I guess. :)

I think one of the main things I've learned about being frugal or saving money is that it requires waiting. A lot of waiting. The longer you wait, you have a much greater chance of coming up with a creative way to meet your needs.

The more you wait, the more you grow accustomed to waiting... and the things you needed become less important -- at times -- unless it is a true NEED, and then as you wait, it becomes more important instead of less important, and you end up appreciating it even more! :)

If you want to find ways to save money, you first need to know where your money is going.

If everything you currently purchase seems like a need, then select something that you think you could live without for a week (or two). Do without it for that amount of time, and then ask yourself if you could go even longer without it. If another week (or two!) wouldn't be the end of the world, then hold off. I find it's best to try this with things that you have run out of.

For example... (read more)

Aline asked about seeing a wedding photo that actually showed our faces. ;) Here we are at our reception. :) I can't remember who took this picture, but it's one of my favorites! :)

I thought that I'd also write a little bit about our wedding, for anyone interested. I've been meaning to write about our wedding ever since I read this post by my cousin Willa. So whether you're looking for frugal wedding ideas, or you just like reading about weddings, here you go! ;) (Read more...)

(Leftover Casserole)

Following Crystal's lead: Five painless ways we saved $100 last year. :)

1. Ate leftovers. Leftovers means a night off from cooking without having to eat out, right? :) I think I could count on one hand the number of times we ate out last year... and not eating out is pretty painless to us since we are too picky to enjoy most of the restaurants we've been to, anyway... :)

2. Line-dried our laundry. If this doesn't sound like a painless task to you, just read some of the comments left by other crazy interesting people like me who think hanging wet laundry on a clothesline is therapeutic. :)

3. Kept our house cool during the winter months. I posted some ideas here about keeping warm without turning up the heat! :)

4. Did all hair cuts at home. My hair doesn't need cut very often, but Joshua and the children get hair cuts about once a month. That's 24 childrens' haircuts and 12 adult haircuts that I gave last year! It's worth learning... or even swapping skills with someone who does know how to cut hair.

5. Skipped paying for trash pickup. I shared some ideas on how we do this in this post... and even more details here, about making less trash so there's less to get rid of. It won't work for everyone, but in our case, it's been a huge savings!

I received this email from Brittany:

I would like to know if you have any tips about saving money on health & bath products. I've found that I spend the most money in this area, especially because I've have problems with acne - and soaps are really expensive for that. If you have any suggestions I would really appreciate it!

Hi, Brittany!

Although I spend very little on personal care items, I'm certainly no beauty expert! However, I'd be glad to share what works for me... and perhaps some bit might be useful to you as well. :) Read more...

In another month or so, we'll be retiring our 2007 calendars and hanging 2008 ones! I love to make homemade envelopes from old calendar pages. Here is how I make mine...

Brittany wrote to me with this question about rummage sales:

I've found your posts about rummage sales very interesting! I'm anxious myself to go to one now. I was just curious as to how you find rummage sales in your area. Do you find about them in the newspaper or by word of mouth? Do you know of any internet sites where I could find these in my area?

I live in Indiana and I'm trying to find a way to find when and where some are in my area. Do you have any ideas on the best way to find about them? I'm hoping whatever works in your area to find out about them may help me find some in my area. I'm so excited about going to one now - that I wish there was one I could go to tomorrow!! :)

Hi, Brittany! I love rummage sales, though they aren't as common as garage sales. :) As with most second-hand shopping, you just never know what you'll find -- and while sometimes we walk away empty-handed, most of the time we come home with something we had been needing. :)

Sometimes rummage sales (or, "bag sales" at thrift stores) are advertised in the local newspaper, or with signs in peoples' yards. Sometimes organizations or churches have semi-annual rummage sales -- and plan them for the same weekend each year (e.g. the first weekend in April). So, once you find out about the sale the first time, you can be watchful and plan on going every year!

There aren't a lot of rummage sales in our town... usually 2 or 3 a year. Sometimes our thrift store has a bag sale where anything can be stuffed into a bag for $3, which is a good deal! But, I don't get the newspaper, so I don't always find out about those. I'll bet I could call the store and ask if they're planning any bag sales, though! :)

Do you know anyone who goes to rummage sales (or garage sales or thrift stores)? I would ask locals if they know of any rummage sales in the area! :) Does anyone else have good tips for finding out about rummage sales, or other second-hand bargains? :) I'd love to hear them, too! :) And be sure to visit Crystal's site for more frugal ideas and tips! :)

Here's a little Frugal Friday post about how we spend less money on long distance phone calls. :) I'm sure we all have varying "needs" when it comes to the telephone, but I'm just sharing what we do for our family. :)

First, we have a simple, no-frills phone service. That means we don't have long distance service on our home phone. Our phone bill is always right around $22.00 each month.

We also have an answering machine for when we're away or too busy to get the phone (or outside hanging up laundry and don't hear it ring... :D). This is a lot cheaper than having voice mail, and since we don't get a lot of calls, it's hardly used, anyway.

For long distance phone calls, we use a pre-paid phone card. We have an AT&T phone card from Sam's Club, which we re-charge. We've had it for years and years... and have all the numbers memorized! Very convenient. :) But recently, they added some extra fees (and I think the government added some additional taxes) and the cost went from 4.5 cents per minute to double that, or more, depending on which state we were calling.

So, I got a Sprint phone card from Aldi. It has 333 minutes and cost $10 -- 3 cents per minute. There are no hidden fees or taxes, and you really do get to use that many minutes. Each time I call, it tells the dollar-amount balance and the minutes for the call I'm making. It's also re-chargeable, but I haven't done that yet since I'm still using the original minutes. But it is a LOT cheaper than our old one was. Yay! :)

Yes, the title of this post just proves that you never know what you might be reading about here on TammysRecipes.com!

For anyone who doesn't think it's too strange a topic for my blog, click here to read more...

Here's a quick and easy soft butter spread recipe! Joshua made this for me, because he was tired of our butter always being too cold to spread on bread (we keep our house cold!).

This spread is really simple -- two parts butter, one part oil, and one part (this is where it gets... exciting!) water.

Yes, we're now spreading water on our bread! Now, if that isn't frugal, I don't know what is! ;)

Well, last week I dropped off the past year's worth of recyclables from our home. Granted, I don't recycle everything we possibly could (we burn paper, for example, which is cheaper than buying a paper shredder), but I was quite pleased that every last bit of junk fit into our car's trunk. Glass jars, "tin" cans, aluminum cans... and now that summer's here, we'll be eating even more food that's NOT from a can or a bag!

So, it's nice to clear out the garage a little, get rid of trash for free, and feel happy about not filling up a landfill.

What's not nice, is getting a flat tire after driving through the drop-off place.

Seriously, I highly doubt that trip saved me any money, since I had to idle the car while I inflated my tire, and then go and pay $10 to get it fixed. ;)

By the way, for those interested:

Here's a post about how we avoid paying for trash pickup, and another post about recycling.

Joshua likes to have hand sanitizer in his lunchbox, for times when he's supposed to take his (15-minute) lunch break and is at least a 5-minute walk from the nearest sink. (Sometimes he's a 5-minute walk from his lunchbox, too... don't ask me how they expect him to actually eat!)

We purchased a travel-sized bottle of hand sanitizer at Wal-mart for 84 cents, and it lasted quite a while.

A few months ago, I came across a recipe for homemade hand sanitizer on a blog. I'm not sure how I originally found the recipe, but I bookmarked it for the day when Joshua's little bottle was empty.

Last week, I purchased some aloe gel to make the sanitizer. I tried to get a more natural kind (though I know it still had some weird ingredients in it...) and it cost more than I had planned to invest... but, oh well. ($3.97 for 24 ounces)

Before I made my sanitizer, I decided to google for more information. After all, it never hurts to have several recipes to compare, and find the best way to do something before you even start, right? :)

After reading this informative article from The NY Times, along with a few other random links, I realized that the homemade hand sanitizer, which has 1 teaspoon of rubbing alcohol per CUP of aloe gel, wasn't going to come close to 60% alcohol content(which is the minimum amount needed), and wasn't  going to sanitize.

I returned my unopened, unused aloe gel, and instead bought an even bigger bottle of Germ-X hand sanitizer for $4.97.

This amount will probably last us years, which is great, since I'm sticking to good old soap and water in our home! :)

It's nice to feel frugal, and it's fun to make homemade. It's great to save money, but it's best to do some research first!

Friends, be sure to research the things you read about on blogs... including this one. And never hesitate to let me know if I recommend something "questionable". I make mistakes, and I sincerely appreciate the wisdom my readers share here! :)

My most recent "frugal addiction" is... homemade bagels! After our most recent guest chef, Bethany, shared about her homemade bagels, we made some.

I had never made bagels before, since for some reason I thought they were really complicated. They're not. They're actually really easy! And as might be guessed, hot, fresh bagels from the oven just don't even compare to bagels from the store!!

One batch of homemade bagels makes 12 large bagels. I was paying $5.00 for an equivalent amount of bagels from the grocery store! Our homemade ones tasted so much better, and I'm sure they're healthier, too. After my first homemade bagel, I knew I was going to have difficulty every buying a bagel from the store again.

Visit Crystal's blog for more frugal ideas!

Flannel receiving blankets can often be purchased very inexpensively at thrift stores or garage sales. Read more for a photo tutorial of making pre-folded cloth diapers using receiving blankets!

Since I had plenty of spinach, today I tried making something that I've been wanting to make for quite some time now. Homemade spinach tortillas! They turned out GREAT. I'm so thrilled. I could hardly wait for naptime, so I could blog about them! ;)

I've been wanting to have spinach tortillas, but can't bring myself to pay for ones full of preservatives and artificial green coloring, like the ones sold at our local grocery stores. They're expensive, too! So, I decided to alter an old recipe from my recipe box, and make homemade ones with my fresh spinach.

It had been a long time since I last made homemade tortillas. In fact, the last time I had made them, I was living with my parents and 5 siblings, and I remember how long it took me to roll those all out.

So I've been buying tortillas, telling myself that they're too much work to make. Of course, now I'm faster at rolling them, and we are a small family, with just two little children, so I felt like today's spinach tortillas were a breeze.

I can feel a new frugal pull. As much as I want to resist the extra work of making homemade tortillas, the Spinach Tortillas I made today were so delicious, healthy, and CHEAP. I'm afraid I might not be able to ever buy tortillas again, period.

Read more for a photo tour of making the tortillas!