Frugal Living Tip of the Day

Though I’ve never been a big fan of the stuff myself, it seems as though the people around me at a barbecue- always seem to ask for Heinz 57 sauce. Since I don’t buy it (why buy something you do not use?), I decided that I had better look around for a good frugal copy that I could make myself for these occasions.

When I found this one I wasn’t sure it would work out until I made a batch and served it to my friends. Not only did they have no idea it wasn’t off the shelf, they devoured the entire bottle!

Homemade Heinz 57 Sauce Recipe

1/4 cup raisin puree*
1 1/3 cup white vinegar
1 cup tomato paste
2/3 cup malt vinegar
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon yellow prepared mustard
2 teaspoons apple juice concentrate
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon turmeric

*1. To make the raisin puree, start by adding 1/4 cup each of raisins and water to your food processor and pureeing them until smooth. Measure 1/4 cup of the mixture into your saucepan.

2. Add the rest of the ingredients and whisk it all together until well blended, then bring to a good boil over medium high heat before reducing the heat to low and simmering for about 30 minutes or until the mixture thickens.

3. All to cool, pour into a bottle and refrigerate for a day or so before serving. I usually store it in plastic containers like those you see in seafood restaurants full of cocktail sauce and no one has ever called me on it.

Your friends will thank you, and best of all - you did it yourself!

Do you have a favorite copycat recipe you would like to see included here in a future post? Leave me a comment and tell me what you’ve got. I’m always looking for new ways to act like I know what I’m doing…

It goes without saying that we don’t live in a frugal society.

We have high definition televisions and high speed internet connections.  We have Abercrombe, 24-hour drive through windows, and we have cell phones that can do everything but wash the dishes.

Stress of your job got you down?  When we turn on those televisions we have advertisers paying millions of dollars with the express purpose of wanting us to buy their overpriced, low quality product to make our lives easier.  Or perhaps they are offering a self-help program or a pill to make it all better.

What I want to know is what was so bad about life when it was a little tougher?

What was so wrong with a kid sneezing without an overprotective mother immediately reaching for the antibacterial soap or hand sanitizer?  What was so wrong with those same kids wearing clothes that their mothers spent hours making by hand instead of the disposable cookie cutter crap that was made for pennies in China before being fluffled and folded on the department store shelf?

I long for the day when people are judged by their actions and not their attire or the car they drive.  I hope for the day when children can learn to appreciate - as I did when I was a child - the beauty and miracle of growing something from a seed instead of the flash-crash-boom of some video game their parents are still paying for months after the long-forgotten holiday on which it was given.

I pray for the day when $5.00 a gallon gas isn’t seen as the end of the world, just the end of an era.

I am lucky enough to not live hand-to-mouth anymore but I remember a time when ramen noodles and the change I found in the sofa gave me breakfast and enough gas to get to work.  I may not have to eat on $30 a week anymore, but I have tremendous respect for the incredible people who are able to do so and share their stores on the Internet so that others in their position can learn from them.

I may live in a home with advanced technology that is so complicated it would take an MBA to make toast but I remember when I couldn’t even afford the ugly $1.00 toaster at the thrift store in Ocala, Florida.  It was 1992 - yeah, I remember it that clearly.  Two weeks later on my birthday I received a toaster because that is the only thing I asked for that year.

When I joined the military a few years later I gave that toaster to a woman who was looking longingly at it at a yard sale I had.  Her hip was straddled by a toddler and there was a slightly older child tagging along, clutching her mother’s finger.  When she picked it up and looked at the price sticker ($.50), she paused slightly before putting it back on the table.

I remembered that pause, and I remembered wanting toast.

I’ll resume the regularly-scheduled frugal living tips tomorrow but for today I really felt the need to just talk from the heart; I didn’t think my readers would mind.

If you will excuse me, I’m going to call tech support now.  I want some toast.

There’s a new frugal site in town, and it is part of the Today.com family of blogs to boot! Frugal Moms is a new kid on the block, but it earned a bookmark from me the first time I visited. I’ve always been concerned - though I have been writing about frugal living for a long time - that I could not adequately cover some aspects of frugal living, especially those that relate to people with families since as of yet I don’t have any children of my own.

At Frugal Moms, there is a fantastic post entitled “Easily Feeding a Family of 7 on 300 a month” that has a short shopping list (all in bulk, by the way) and even a few of her favorite recipes. It is definitely worth checking out!

Look for another frugal site of the week next week!

It’s the holiday weekend here in the U.S., so what better way to celebrate Independence Day than to get some free stuff? Here are my picks for the week:

• Walmart.com is offering a free sample of Nivea for Men Extreme Comfort Shaving Gel.
• Nature Made wants to give you a 14 day supply of your favorite vitamin. Check it out!
• Parent’s Choice - free baby formula samples!
• Samples of Sunsilk hair products - get them now!

You clip every coupon in the Sunday paper and you shop all the clearance aisles.

You buy most of your regular use products at a warehouse store (Sam’s Club, Costco, etc.).

You are the epitome of frugal, right?  Maybe… Continue Reading »

If you are anything like I am, you are surrounded by books everywhere you look. I stash them in every corner of my house and even though I have already read most of them I can’t bear to part with them.

I recently started searching in earnest for frugal uses for old books, and came up with a few ideas that are excellent:

1. By simply stacking a few hardback books and carefully using a drill, you can create a one of a kind lamp. The same principle can be applied to creating attractive book ends. Just drill a hole through the books, insert a bolt and add a decorative ornament on the top.

2. Make a clock. This is a great idea for use in a child’s room. Take a favorite children’s book (thinner is best), drill a small hole and insert a clock that is easily purchased from any local craft store. You can adhere the numbers to the face of the book if you like, or leave them off for a more artistic look.

3. Set them free. Sign on to Book Crossing and give your books the chance to find a new home.

After a short hiatus while I attended to some personal business (okay, so I was living the life of luxury and relaxing by the pool), I felt that it was high time I got back to frugal living!

I’m hopelessly obsessed with pillows.  I sleep on two (though not always the same two), I have a body pillow and always have an extra for the periodic time when the two under my head just don’t fit right in the middle of the night.  Yeah I know, I’m high maintenance.

I’m also decidedly un-frugal when it comes to bed pillows, because I have some rather serious back and neck problems and cheap pillows are literally a pain.  I have however discovered a way to increase the overall lifespan of my non frugal pillow investments, and I want to share that with you today.

Every time I change the sheets on my bed - which incidentally is not as often as I change my underwear, in case you wondered - I take my pillows outdoors (if weather permits, of course) for a few hours of fun in the sun.

The fresh air gives the pillows a chance to air out and believe it or not that helps to keep them fresher, cleaner and keeps the fibers from going flat on me quite as quickly.

Air your pillows, not your dirty laundry!