couponqueenofcorning

We are preparing for Earth Hour in our house right now. It should be pretty interesting considering we have two little ones. They will probably be staying up until 9:30 because it will be too hard to get them ready for bed before then. The only thing we are not unplugging or turning off is the freezer downstairs. What did you do for Earth Hour?

Ok. I took my little girl with me shopping today and got some awesome deals. I posted them over at blog Surviving Unemployment . Please come over and visit.

A while ago I promised to update the pictures of my stockpile. So here they are:

These are my pics from my basement. Mostly dry and canned goods. It has since been added to, and I will update it again soon.

This is what my hba (household and bath) products stockpile looks like:

Last week we had to go have new tires put on the car and have it inspected. We had it done near the mall, so we went walking around. We packed snacks and sandwiches, just in case we got hungry. This kept us from spending money on food while we were there.

I found some really great deals. I try to buy larger sizes for the kids when I find things on clearance. The most I will spend on the little ones’ clothing is $3 a piece. For my older son, I won’t pay more than $15 for pants, $10 for long-sleeved shirts and $5 for t-shirts. Well we went to Sears first and they had an extra 30% off clearance prices, plus a coupon for an additional 15% off. My husband got a new pair of sneakers on clearance for $35 (originally over $70) and I bought 2 pairs of pants for my son at $4.19 each. I also got my little girl a beautiful spring dress for $7. When they rang up, I also saved an additional $8. At JC Penney, I bought 3 long sleeved shirts for my little guy (2 were size 2T and the other was 4T) that were $1.97 each. I also got him an outfit in size 3T for $4.97. I’m not sure how much we saved exactly because I didn’t look at the original price. I just knew that they were below my max price so I grabbed them.

Shopping like this saves us so much money. When the season comes around or school starts I only have to buy a couple things, sometimes nothing. How do you save money on clothes for kids?

Today I am continuing my series on tips you can use to save money. You can see the first part of the series here: MY BEST FRUGAL TIPS - PART 1.

1. Unplug things when you’re not using them. Anything that has a light is using a small amount of energy. Plug your computer and TV equipment into a power strip and when you’re not using it, turn the power strip off. Unplug things like cell phone chargers when you’re not charging your phone. Replace your old bulbs with CFL lightbulbs. The most frugal way to do this is to replace them as they blow.

2. Turn down your heat in the winter and wear extra layers to keep warm. There is nothing wrong with wearing a sweater or sweatshirt around the house. You can always cuddle up in a blanket while you watch TV or read.

3. In the summer keep the air conditioner at a higher temperature. Dress down as much as possible, open windows at night and close them during the day, and use fans to move the air.

4. When buying new appliances, look for ones with energy saver on them. Also, if you have an upright or chest freezer try to keep it as full as possible. If you don’t have enough food in there, fill empty milk cartons or 2 liter bottles with water and put in there. Another upside to having jugs with water in there is that if the power goes out the frozen jugs will keep your food colder longer.

5. Run all your errands on the same day to save gas. If you live close enough to walk or ride your bike places, do so. Not only do you save gas, you get exercise!!

6. In order to save gas, keep your RPMs under 2000. This is about 60mph to 65mph in my car. It may differ from car to car.

Part 3 will be coming your way soon. If you have any questions or comments please leave them in my comments.