A few years ago, some of my relatives requested a gift card from a chain movie rental store for Christmas. I was happy to oblige, and as I was standing in the store purchasing the gift card, I realized my husband and I have not rented a movie from a traditional video rental store —…
I recently discovered Oui French Style Yogurt by Yoplait. It’s a smooth, creamy yogurt that tastes great and is sold in a glass jar or pot with a foil lid. A lot of consumers like the glass jars because they are novel and better for the environment compared to typical plastic yogurt cups. You can…
I’m frugal and conservation-minded, preferring to save money and resources — and reduce waste — whenever I can. As a result, there are some things I never buy or only buy on rare occasions. 1. Fabric Softener I find that often my clothes are fine without using fabric softener. I sometimes use it during the…
My husband and I live a frugal lifestyle, and our children request some things that I say no to because they are not essential or because they are too expensive. However, I can bend our budgeting rules at several children’s resale shops in the metropolitan area where our family lives. In these places, often I…
Your freezer is for more than just pizza. It’s a valuable way to preserve food, especially if you don’t know how to can, don’t like to can, don’t have the resources to can, or only have a small amount of food that needs to be preserved. Freezing is also a good idea when you stock…
I have a tall utility shelf in my basement that is dedicated to storing extra food. I’m not a prepper or otherwise preoccupied with apocalyptic thoughts, but I do like to be ready for emergencies that might realistically happen. I lean toward minimalism in many other parts of my house; I don’t have a lot…
Basil is an easy herb to grow directly in the ground in your garden or in a small container on your patio or windowsill, but it can be hard to know what to do with the stuff besides making pesto sauce. No offense to pesto, but this Tomato Soup is a nice change of pace….
My husband introduced me to this chili recipe shortly after we got married. It’s based on his mother’s recipe, but he made a few tweaks to improve it, and then I made a few tweaks. This is what we ended up with. It’s simple, but everyone always enjoys it. The addition of baked beans is…
I am an Aldi nerd. When I was in middle school, an Aldi opened in my hometown and my mom began shopping there for many of our grocery staples. When I grew up and got married, I began shopping at Aldi myself. I now buy about 90% to 95% of my family’s groceries at the…
It’s a popular time of year for cleaning house, purging clutter, and generally tidying up. Small bedrooms are a unique challenge in this respect. My youngest daughter’s bedroom is 8 feet by 10 feet, or 80 square feet. The main piece of furniture in her room is a junior loft twin bed with a set of…
