THE FRUGAL CHALLENGE

There is a line in a 90’s song by Semisonic called “Closing Time” that “every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end”.

As one year comes to a close and another one looms on the horizon, that line especially rings true as the New Year comes closer and closer.

Recently, Old Mother Frugal was reminded of New Year’s Eve’s that were spent in Times Square. Back when my feet and hands could better tolerate cold weather and three layers of clothing.

Then I began to reminisce about other frugal activities that I used to do but have not done over the years. Instead of buying blankets and quilts, I’d make my own with knitting needles or a crochet hook or scraps of fabric.

I was an avid reader until my college days, when my joy of reading was replaced by endless hours of studying everything that I read. When Mother’s Little Helpers arrived, reading for pleasure morphed into children’s stories with as few words on a page as possible.

Jigsaw puzzles were another source of frugal entertainment as one puzzle can last for days, weeks and sometimes months. Although they can be expensive to purchase as new, that is my guilty pleasure. Thrift store puzzles typically lacked an essential piece. There was nothing more frustrating than spending countless hours poring over 1000 puzzle pieces and having only 999 of them.

Twelve months ago, the year was a new beginning coming from the end of another. How quickly the New Year will be here with the ending of that new beginning. Here is to new beginnings… and a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle for the upcoming year!

SOUND THE BUGLE! Today’s tip: Resolve to establish one frugal thing to do in the New Year. Maybe it’s an old frugal thing that you let slide and need to jump back on board with or maybe establish a new frugal thing to do. Take the “frugal challenge” for yourself or with a friend or embrace the entire family.

 

 

BELLY UP TO THE BAR

They say one person’s trash is another person’s treasure.

There may be some truth to that as on waste disposal day, there seems to be a truck driving around, picking up trash as though to convert it to a treasure. He’s a friendly guy, waving to those walking the neighborhood for reasons other than treasure hunting.

Old Mother Frugal does confess to eyeing these treasures left along the side of the road for trash day as well. A very talented family member has an eye for these types of treasures too. With a little TLC and DIY elbow grease, trash can successfully convert to a treasure.

When the Mother’s Little Helpers were young, I would frequent garage/tag/yard sales for Christmas items for under the tree. Sports equipment, a board game here and there in excellent condition, was an economical treasure find.

Then two Goodwill Stores opened nearby and this added to my places of treasure hunting. They became the “go to” place for wood furniture.

Most recently, our household acquired four bar stools that were reclaimed from a Goodwill store. They were in good shape but had potential for greatness!

Having loaded up the cart, the next stop was the bed linen section of the store in search for a sheet or tablecloth to recover the swivel cushions. Not one, but three choices!

The choices were narrowed down to an ivory sheet, a grey sheet and a black tablecloth. The tablecloth had the greatest potential to revive the appearance of the seat cushions.

Originally, these four swivel- stools would have cost well over $200 as the price tags were still glued underneath the cushions. Old Mother Frugal’s total out of pocket for the four chairs plus cloth covering for seat cushions…$45.

SOUND THE BUGLE! Today’s tip: A can of spray paint or a bottle of Old English Furniture polish is a great, economical way to bring new life to old furniture!

 

MY TWO CENTS

When the Mother’s Little Helpers were youngsters, Old Mother Frugal was always ready with two cents of advice. Most of the time it was unsolicited advice but that was not a deterrent.

Youngsters became teenagers and still the unsolicited advice continued, offering two cents worth on a variety of topics and issues.

Along the way, it became clear that advice was not always the answer. Sometimes, silence went further than advice. Sometimes it made more “sense” to listen than offer two cents.

Imparting advice on saving money was part of the repertoire. Life throws curveballs and one never knows what financial crisis looms ahead. A text message isn’t going to come along that announces “financial crisis coming on Monday”.

That is why stockpiling is important. To get most for your money, buying sale items means your money will go farther.

Before companies began to shrink their products, laundry detergent would wash 40 loads of laundry. Due to product shrinkage, now 32 loads of laundry are washed for the same price. Fortunately, Old Mother Frugal’s laundry room has several months of 40 loads of laundry detergent.

Recently, a retail drug store chain advertised 18-pack laundry detergent “2 for $4.00”. There was a coupon for $2 off 2 packs and thus began a new stockpile.

Upon checking out at the register, reward points were available on the customer loyalty card; two packs cost a total of 28 cents. The regular retail price was $5.99 each. With additional coupons, I was able to purchase additional 18-packs for $1 each. Now you have my [unsolicited] two cents on stockpiling!

SOUND THE BUGLE! Today’s tip: Pull yourself away from your favorite “brand” product and find additional savings in your wallet. A sale usually lasts a week long although the “3-day sale” seems to be popular too. It may be worth trying a different “brand” product and if you like it, return to the store before the sale is over to purchase additional items of that product. It’s not a good deal if you are not happy with the quality, so try it before you decide if you like it!

 

BEFORE PRODUCT SHRINKAGE

 

 

 

LAUNDRY DETERGENT STOCKPILE

 

THE FRUGAL TRAVELER

Last month, Old Mother Frugal had the chance to spend a week at the home of one of Mother’s Little Helpers.  Travel- buddy hubby had departed several days in advance with his one duffle bag and back-pack.

He excels at frugal packing…me, not so much.

There is my one duffle bag “equivalent” for the daytime and bedtime articles of clothing.

This is accompanied by the one bag of personal hygiene and make-up items inserted into the canvas bag of ridiculously restrictive culinary items as prescribed by my physician, along with magazines, book, spiral notebook, plastic cutlery, paper cups and an assortment of my favorite tea bags. Decaf, of course.

If one counts the bag within a bag, the total sits at three. But there is more. Bag number four. Back-pack bag contains laptop, heating pad and chargers. One for the laptop, one for the phone.

Add a purse and the car would be ready to roll except for bag number six. The little pink cooler. It’s the last item in the car because it contains items from the freezer and refrigerator for my travels.

To contain costs while vacationing, I sometimes travel with food items that I can transform into meals at my destination, spending as little money as possible on food. Welcome to my version of "Meals on Wheels".

The destination refrigerator for this trip contains a working light bulb, milk, eggs, orange juice, condiments, cheese and beer. The freezer contains ice cubes, ice-cream, French fries and chicken nuggets. Plenty of room for chicken, pork chops, turkey parts, ground beef and spaghetti sauce!

With all six bags packed, the car was ready to go to meet my travel-buddy hubby and Mother’s Little Helper. There may be a New Year's Resolution in here somewhere!

SOUND THE BULGE! Today’s tip: Eating locally when on vacation is part of travel experience. To keep costs down, save your food dollars for one meal per day, lunch or dinner. Stay at a hotel that offers free breakfast with your stay or bring cold breakfast food items. Pack picnic lunches and drinks. If you need to free up space, shop locally. It is still more economical than dining out with the family for each meal of the day.

                                                     LITTLE PINK COOLER

 

 

SIX TRAVEL BAGS

                        
                                                  ALTERNATE GREEN COOLER

 

LARGER REPLACEMENT CANVAS BAG

 

SWEET DREAMS ARE MADE OF THIS

Part of the frugal skillset is the ability to find multi-purpose for one item.

Old sheets can be transformed into valences for windows or the backing of a quilt. When fabric is required, sometimes a sheet can be less expensive to use than a cloth purchase from a chain fabric store.

Sometimes the opposite holds true. Sometimes fabric makes for some good bed linens, pillow cases in particular.

When Mother’s Little Helpers were young, Old Mother Frugal would make their pillow cases. A few of these pillow cases still exist today, albeit they are about 25 years old but still in good condition, as in they have not fallen apart in the wash!

It all began with a birthday party for the youngest of Mother’s Little Helpers. Coming up with theme parties was not always an easy task and this was long before there was PINTEREST.

One of the party games was a pillow sack race but pillow cases were so expensive to be used by preschoolers to hop and jump around in. Equally challenging to creating a party theme was the all-illusive ‘goody bag’.

The pillow case solved a multitude of party problems. It was both party game and goody bag!  What an ingenious idea from someone without a creative bone in her body. I found remnants of fabrics in the sewing department. Remnants are less expensive than fabric sold “by the yard”.

The wilder and brighter the print, the happier the party-goers would be. In the span of a morning, half dozen pillow cases were sewn on my sewing machine. In the span of an afternoon, little preschoolers enjoyed hopping, jumping, giggling and racing their way to the finish line. Somewhere in the background was an Old Mother Frugal hopping, jumping and giggling that the party was a success!

SOUND THE BUGLE! Fabric remnants come in all sizes and it could be cost effective to use a remnant in place of a piece of fabric cut from a bolt on the store shelf. A frugal source of fabric is Goodwill (sheets, tablecloths, remnants) stores or any thrift shop. It may take some hunting to find what you are looking for but the treasure of savings may be worth the hunt!

 

TUNNEL VISION

Several years ago, Old Mother Frugal began having problems with vision. It began as glasses with a single lens but quickly evolved to multi-focal lens without a stop-over at bifocals.

Glasses created a sense of tunnel vision. Seeing straight ahead took practice and there was a loss of peripheral vision. It caused me to miss some things or to completely turn my head to view something in my line of sight.

Recently, I spent a week at the home of one of Mother’s Little Helpers. I packed my pink cooler bag with groceries from my freezer and relied on local stores to supplement my food items for the week.

While shopping, I found a bag of frozen vegetables called “California Blend”.

It was a 24 oz bag for $1.00 of frozen broccoli, cauliflower and carrots at Dollar Tree. Dinner that night was pork fried rice and all I needed were carrots. So, I bought the medley of vegetables for $1.00.

Upon arriving back to the house, I separated the vegetables into their own Ziploc bags using only the carrots for my fried rice dinner and freezing the cauliflower and broccoli.

This turned out so well that I will visit my local Dollar Tree for bags of “California Blend” frozen vegetables. The 24 oz bag is larger and more economical than the 10oz or 16 oz boxes sold by the name-brand vegetable manufacturers. I can sort similar vegetables into their own freezer bags and use as needed.

SOUND THE BUGLE! Today’s tip: Looking at a food item such as a vegetable medley is a great way to use what you need and not overbuy an item that you don’t need. Avoid tunnel vision when shopping and try this tip to get the most for your money!

 

ABC'S OF A PICKY EATER

The food swings of toddlers are some of the most frustrating cycles of parenting. If you’ve ever had a picky eater, this rings true for you.

One of Mother’s Little Helpers was just one, picky, little foodie. Finding food that he would eat was more than a challenge.

The first clue that I was going to be in trouble was when he started on solid food. Most babies start with rice cereal. I proudly had my box of Gerber’s Rice Cereal, mixed up his first batch and he unceremoniously spit it out at me.

His pediatrician recommended waiting two months and trying again.

At eight months of age, I tried again. Epic fail. At his nine month check-up, she recommended oatmeal cereal. Finally, success!

Along came the terrible-twos. Desperate to find something he would eat, Old Mother Frugal would give him random tastes of things that I was eating at any given meal time.

One day, he discovered vanilla yogurt was pretty tasty. Score one for mom!

If it were not for chick peas, I don’t know he’d have ever eaten a protein. It’s not clear to me just how many two year olds eat chick peas, aka garbanzo beans, but this little boy was hooked on them.

Salvation came with the discovery of Campbell’s “Meatball Alphabet Soup”. The company no longer makes this soup, but it served its purpose at the time. Mother’s Little Helper had worked up a repertoire of food items for consumption which was just fine with me…yogurt, chick peas and meatball alphabet soup.

The pediatrician predicted one day he would eat me out of house and home. In the meantime, a well stocked pantry of chick peas, his favorite canned soup and yogurt was all I needed to keep that little boy happily fed.

SOUND THE BUGLE:  Today’s tip: Garbanzo beans are great food extenders. Add to soups and salads as an economical protein or find your favorite hummus recipe and use them as a dip/spread with vegetables or on a sandwich. One cup of dry beans will yield 3 cups of cooked beans.

 

YOU SAY IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY!

In the hours leading up to my birthday this year, there is joy in my email inbox.

Over the course of several years, I have signed up for email “alerts” to my favorite eating establishments and in return, they help me celebrate my birthday with a complimentary meal.

I have enough meal coupons that I could dine out all day!

There is a complimentary breakfast from International House of Pancakes with a pancake breakfast or Einstein Brothers with bagel and a beverage.

Lunch is being picked up by J.R. Log House, a favorite restaurant for smoked BBQ meats and authentic Southern cuisine.

If I would like a free waffle cone for dessert or mid-day snack, I can select from either Dairy Queen or Brewster’s.

Dinner is courtesy of Ryan’s Buffet.

Well, that’s a lot of dining out for one day so I may have to spread the birthday celebrating over the course of several days. Each coupon has a generous expiration date.

Frugal celebrating is on the horizon and it was as simple as joining the e-club at my favorite eating establishments!

 

SOUND THE BUGLE! Today’s tip: The next time you are dining out, consider enrolling in the e-club programs of your favorite restaurants. When your birthday comes around, enjoy some frugal celebrating too!

 

 

WHAT IS IN YOUR WALLET?

There is a credit card company with a celebrity spokesperson inquiring, “What is in your wallet”?

For the past three months, it has been cash.

What I’ve discovered over the course of these months is that I am doing a much better job at budgeting using old fashioned, paper money.

In September and now in October, I have been able to slice $10 off my budget by using cash.

I did fall into a fantastic sale on 10 lbs of chicken quarters which fed us for an entire week, and then some! There are gallons of stock ready for a variety of homemade soups. With summer vegetables in the freezer and fall vegetables such as butternut squash, it will be a hard decision on what types of soups to make for dinner.

Another coupe was my success in stockpiling store and manufacturer coupons at my local grocery store and Dollar Tree, catching some needed pantry items while on sale. Straight up, my bill would have been $15.07 without coupons and paying full price.

My final price was $4.50.

What is in my wallet…is cash savings!

SOUND THE BULGE! Today’s tip: I often hear “my family won’t eat any part of the chicken but the breasts”. Families are spending $1.99 - $3.99/lb on chicken breasts. The chicken quarters are more economical part of the chicken. Pre-cook chicken quarters and remove the meat from the bones. Use the cooked dark meat in your “Master of Disguise” meals. I can’t think of any other protein that I can buy for .49 - .69/lb during these times of high meat prices. Then re-use the bones for stock. Now that's a twist on "buy one, get one free".

 

                                                    MY PRICE $4.50

                                                                   

LOAFING AROUND

If given the opportunity to do nothing, I wouldn’t know what to do. I suppose that’s a casualty of being “Type A” personality.

Looking back at my youth, a collection of blankets were crocheted while watching television. Before there was a term called “multi-tasking”, juggling more than one task at the same time was my forte.

In my first career as a nurse, these skills were put to the test. One nurse, more than a dozen patients, only 8 hours to get 10 hours of work done.

Motherhood came along. Once you go beyond two Mother’s Little Helpers, you are just outnumbered. There are not enough arms to accommodate three little helpers.

With an encore career in higher education, I discovered how to merge my nursing career [where the job can’t get done in 8 hours] and motherhood [not having enough arms to accommodate what needs to be done] into one job.

No, there isn’t much loafing around in my life but I wouldn’t have had it any other way!

SOUND THE BUGLE! Today’s tip: After defrosting ground chuck for slider sandwiches for lunch one day, I set aside enough ground chuck to form a meatloaf for dinner the following week. I have two forms of presenting meatloaf. One is the traditional loaf form and the other is formed in a muffin tin. Using a muffin pan will reduce your cooking time from one hour to 20 minutes saving you time to loaf around!

                                          INDIVIDUAL MINI MEAT LOAF

 

 

BACON WRAPPED MEATLOAF

 

WHEN A PENNY SAVED BESTS TWO NICKELS

Very early on in my childhood, frequently overheard were the expressions, “a penny saved is a penny earned” and “didn’t have two nickels to rub together”.

The adage, “a penny saved is a penny earned” implied it was better to save your money than to spend it right away. Not having two nickels to rub together implied someone had no money.

If you didn’t save your money, you wouldn’t have two nickels and this began my first lesson about money and indirectly, about frugality.

Reinforcing that message was watching my dad count his coins from his metal mailbox bank. I loved that bank. It was a miniature replica of a stand-alone mailbox. The kind one would see on the street corners, back in the day. For him, it was a very appropriate vehicle to use to collect his coins. He spent his entire career as a letter carrier.

The other place dad found money was in the Sunday newspaper. Yes, dad has been couponing for decades. He will coupon for himself, for Old Mother Bugle and for Mother’s Little Helpers.

Te acorn didn’t fall from the old oak tree. Just yet another one of those frequently overheard sayings when growing up!

SOUND THE BUGLE! Today’s tip: Some banking establishments have promoted “Save the Change” accounts but without careful monitoring, this costs money instead of saving money. Find a coffee mug or a mason jar or piggy bank to deposit your change every day. Count your coins when the container is full for some exciting, unexpected savings!

                                                     TOTAL: $16.50

 

STEWING ABOUT SOMETHING

When Mother’s Little Helpers were younger, they could always tell when Old Mother Bugle was upset about something. Suddenly, it was time for housecleaning! There was nothing like vacuuming and cleaning counter tops to release that inner angst.

As they grew older, going for a long brisk walk was a good way to release the inner turmoil and those happy endorphin hormones.

Then as I grew older, a third technique came along. I would have a huge collection had I not destroyed them. Letters to me.

Many a sleepless night were spent at 2AM or 3AM writing a letter or a note that contained my thoughts whether it was resolving a problem or scribing thoughts to someone who would never read them. It felt good to release the turmoil within.

Simmering emotions is like meat in a crock pot. In the end, all you have done is stew.

SOUND THE BUGLE! Today’s tip: A technique to save money on meat is to buy whole food. When purchasing a whole boneless pork loin, ask the butcher to cut it into your specifications. One way to cook any unattractive end pieces is to make cubes for stew. Add vegetables and pork cubes to a crock pot and simmer on low for 6 to 8 hours. It’s best served the next day when the flavors have a chance to blend with each other. It makes for an economical meal using those end pieces and leftovers, if you have any, makes a very tasty soup!

 

 

RIP VAN BUGLE

I just can’t recall the last time it happened.

First, I slept through the night. Honestly, sleep for me is a series of long naps but not this night.

At the end of the series of these naps, I ready myself for work and seemingly perform well enough for eight or more hours. Returning home, I repeat the series of long naps. Night after night. Lather, rinse, repeat.

It’s a skill that has come 30 years too late. As a young mother raising three Mother’s Little Helpers, sleep deprivation was a way of life. By 2PM, I found myself asleep at the wheel. I could not survive the day without a 20 minute power-nap in the carpool lane.

Some mothers would arrive early to get a “good spot” in the car pool line. My motivation was solely to build in nap time.

A few nights back, sleep was long and it was constant. There were no interruptions with the exception of one unusual dream sequence that woke me up. When I turned to the clock, the realization hit like a ton of sheep.

This was a nightmare. I overslept on a day when it was critical to be to work on time.

Sixty minutes was a lot of time to shave off the morning routine. Instead of being out the door, I was just getting out of bed. I had but a minute to devote to “what to wear” and “what to pack” in my lunch box. Not nearly enough time but somehow got it done.

It must be true when they say "you snooze, you ......." as 35 minutes of the day were lost to oversleeping. The routine of long naps resumed promptly that night putting an end to my Rip Van Bugle nights.

SOUND THE BUGLE! Today’s tip: Don’t let a crisis like this cost you money. With this experience, I could have used it as an excuse to purchase breakfast at the drive-thru and lunch at the nearby restaurant and watch $10 exit my wallet. Instead, rely on “grab-n-go” foods or a pre-made sandwich from the freezer to toss into your lunch box before heading out the door!

                                   "Grab and Go" Breakfast and Lunch

 

THE FRUGAL TIMEKEEPER

Are you harried and busy and just haven’t the time to review ads from the local grocery stores or to clip coupons?

Walmart has been advertising a new program called “Savings Catcher”. I tried it out for the first time this weekend.

I bought groceries using some gift cards that I’d been saving for a rainy day. Food donations that I make to local charities do not come out of my monthly grocery budget but from other sources of savings.

A few weeks ago, I set up my Savings Catcher account. You do this by logging on to www.savingscatcher.walmart.com. Upon arriving home, I opened my Savings Catcher account and it asked for a “TC” code from my receipt. I entered the information and now I wait 72 hours for an email result.

What result, you ask?

Well, if the Savings Catcher program finds any item on my receipt at a lower price, Walmart will issue the difference on an e-gift card.

How is this being a frugal timekeeper?

First, I did not run from store to store shopping the lowest prices. I did have coupons for several of the items that I purchased but no time to scout grocery store websites seeking price comparisons.

Savings Catcher saved me time and gas. I may have been a little “greener” shopping this way too, by limiting my fuel consumption.

In the past, I would bring my paper grocery ad to Walmart for a price match. That now may be a thing of the past. This program will do the work for me, saving some time and money!

SOUND THE BUGLE! Today’s tip: You have up to 7 days to enter your receipt information into the website. There is a limit of nearly $600 that Walmart will refund in a calendar year. More details are on the website.

SLICE OF SEPTEMBER - UPDATE

Here it is, the last weekend of the month. It’s time for me to assess my month of ‘cash only’ grocery spending.

I did very well the first week, even having cash to carry forward into the next week. I was feeling like a cash cow going into the 3^rd week of the month.

Then, I met a 25 lb box of tomatoes that I couldn’t resist along with a bounty of summer squash and a half-peck of Granny Smith apples. My savings quickly evaporated that day at the farm, but I was still in good shape going into the last week of the month.

My “shopping with cash” self-imposed challenge was a success. Do I wish I had the $10 that I sliced off my September shopping? Yes. Do I need to have that $10 for grocery shopping? No.

Shopping with cash brought me back to my first lesson in food budgeting from my days as a nursing student. We were given $25 to buy groceries for the week.

It forces one to give careful thought to each transaction. Is this a “want” or a “need”?

I wrote up my grocery list each week and assigned a dollar amount to each item. Then I subtracted my coupons to get a final dollar amount of my purchases. When I reached the cashier, I had a pretty good notion of how many dollar bills were leaving my hands for the cashier’s.

What remained these last four days of the month was $8 in cash with a few items to purchase and $10 in my squirrel fund. My squirrel fund is now at $100 which I may need for the last quarter of the year.

Looking ahead to OCT and NOV, there is the potential for more month than money. With nearly 5 weeks of shopping in each month, it will require careful planning. I suspect there will be no future slicing of the budget. With cash in hand and lessons learned from these past 4 weeks, I’m ready for the next challenge!

SOUND THE BUGLE! Today’s tip: To make this challenge successful, I withdrew the full amount of my grocery money on the first of the month and divided the cash into four jars. Unspent cash from one week was moved to the next week’s jar. This allowed for the unexpected splurge of produce at the farm. The temptation to overspend is removed when using cash. It also reduces waste… and waist!

                                                       MY LAST $8 FOR THE MONTH

                                          

 

THE MASTER OF DISGUISE

The month of October is only a few weeks away and thoughts are turning to Halloween.

Empty stores are converted annually to selling costumes and accessories for the one day a year when the inner child comes out in many of us.

My Grand Little Helper seems to be considering his role as a super hero.

Like most little boys, he likes to play dress up, as his dad did before him. His dad’s super hero power was to be invisible. Really, he wasn’t but you have to play along.

His uncle’s super hero power was he had “power eyes”. This inner belief went on for well into his early grade school years. He would squint and stare and magical things would happen, if only in his imagination.

The Grand Little Helper is the “Blue Caped Crusader”. He dons his blue mask and his blue shirt with matching blue cape to combat crime. I suspect the criminal to be his little sister because 18 month old girls have the potential to drive their older brothers crazy.

The youngest of the Grand Little Helpers likes to be a cow. Just a little over a year, once he gets the “moo” sound going, I suspect he will believe too.

Why the topic of costumes and disguises?

Leftovers. The trick to getting the family to eat leftovers is to disguise it as something else to make them believers too.

A frugal yet simple way to disguise leftovers is to wrap them in home-made crepes. You have these ingredients in your kitchen. A cup of flour. Two eggs. One and one-half cups of milk. A pinch of salt and a tablespoon of oil. Wisk and pour 2 TBS or more into a hot, non-stick skillet. Flip when the edges brown. Cool. Repeat.

This recipe makes 12 crepes. They freeze well when layered with wax paper (or cereal liners) and stacked. These can be used as a breakfast or dinner entrée or dessert! It will take 20 minutes of your day to disguise ordinary leftovers and transform into an eloquent dish!

SOUNG THE BUGLE! Today’s tip: Leftover chicken and broccoli with a white cream sauce is tasty in crepes. Drizzle sauce over the crepes and bake, covered in the oven at 350 degrees until warmed through. Serve with a salad and a crusty bread and you have a delicious meal.

 

 

A BIRD IN THE HAND

When Mother’s Little Helpers were young, they enjoyed being read too. In particular, they enjoyed Little Golden Books and such classics as “The Little Engine That Could” and “The Little Red Hen”.

Or maybe, those just happened to be the favorite story books that Old Frugal Mother kept near their beds. They were rich in lessons that frugal mother wanted her offspring to learn.

Recently, I learned the difference between a chicken and a hen.

An older female chicken is a hen; the male bird is a rooster.

The female hens are tougher birds than roosters. Tougher in taste. Not as tender, needing more time to break down the toughness.  

Conversely, chicken fryers are younger, more tender, as they are smaller in weight than the hen. They are more versatile for cooking than the older hen.

The best method for cooking the hen is covered in the oven or the crock pot because it needs time and steam to break down the toughness while keeping it moist.

I experimented with a different technique. 

After sectioning the hen into parts, making cutlets from the breast, soaked in buttermilk, hoping the buttermilk will break down the toughness of the breasts. Breaded, baked in my toaster oven with a quick browning in my frying pan. The remaining parts will go into the Crockpot and the carcass into a pot for stock.

This old hen just may make that old bird last for a week’s worth of meals!

SOUND THE BUGLE! Today’s tip: A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. I would rather have a hen on sale at .69/lb that I can learn to cook than to wait for something else to come along and have nothing.

 

NO CANDLES ON THE CAKE

One day, I read a quote “age is something that doesn’t matter, unless you are a cheese”.  It came from Billie Burke who was Glinda, the good witch, of Wizard of Oz fame.

What does aging have to do with a frugal blog? Age matters in my frugal world.

Children eat free at some restaurants if they are 10 and under. When Mother’s Little Helpers were young, it was such a treat to eat at a restaurant where the children ate for free.

Prices on menus went up once Mother’s Little Helpers turned 10 years of age. The children’s menu was for “10 and under”. The selections must not have been too appealing as often the words “can we order off the adult menu” were heard around the table.

Each of Mother’s Little Helpers had plans made well in advance on how and when to begin celebrating their 21^st birthday. Would someone like to explain to a 21 year old that age doesn’t matter? I didn’t think so.

On the other end of the life cycle, I find age matters once again as one gets older.

Senior days! Senior discounts! Senior living! The definition of “senior” varies anywhere from 55 to 65 years and above.

My favorite age-related discount is at the grocery stores. Several where I shop offers  5% discount on a specific day of the week to a shopper 60 years of age and older. By virtue of one’s age, a discount is given to the shopper. No coupon required!

When Mother’s Little Helpers were younger, I avoided the grocery stores on Wednesdays. Now, I eagerly look forward to them.

I have begun a “to do” list for when I become a senior. And yes, being at the grocery store on Wednesday is top on my list!

SOUND THE BULGE! Today’s tip: Submit your email address to local eating establishments and you may find freebies coming to your inbox for your birthday! If you don’t want to have your inbox filled with such announcements, seek out restaurants that will provide you a free meal on your birthday by just showing your driver’s license. Bon appetite!