August Frugal chatter

[Crochetlady]

That`s always a good thing!

[momof5boys]

I'm thinking of trying to wash my throw pillows on our couch. These pillows do not have a zipper so I would have to wash the entire pillow. Has anyone here done this? Do I just maybe spray spot cleaner over the pillow and then dab them with a wet cloth? Any suggestions?

[Natalka]

Would depend upon the size of the pillows, and the fabric, too, I suppose.

For our throw pillows (microfibre, polycotton, and some woven), I do them in the washing machine, no problem, two or three at a time fit in mine - regular top loading machine. When you put them in the dryer, throw in a towel or two to absorb the excess moisture.

[sweet sparrow]

Have fun, guess it is kind of hard to shop that far into the bush, but knowing me I would be able too lol.

Me too. I would bring along a notepad and pencil and make shopping lists.

[thriftygranny]

Just a heads up so you ladies are in the loop I will be away until late Monday evening. So no worries I will be thinking of you and it should be pretty frugal as I will be in the deep deep bush (5 1/2 hours from home) as we are heading to a fishing derby at the moose camp.

Hope you have a blast and win that derby and make your trip a money maker!!!

[cdngal75]

No Sports Chek here. I miss Sports Check. They used to have awesome sales. Only Canadian Tire and a local sports store, which is $$$. I had to buy him size 10.5 skates this year. Yes, my 12yr old (and he just turned 12 like 3 weeks ago) wears a size 10.5 mens. He hasn't been in a junior size for a few years now. Did I mention he's been on a HUGE growth spurt?! This year, we sized him at Canadian Tire and then in the end ordered from thehockeyshop.com They were free shipping and so far I've been impressed. I almost ordered from prohockeylife.com but the shipping was going to be "free" plus an extra $50 because of where we live. I'm hoping that since the equipment is men's that he'll use it for a really long time. I bought the skates a half size big to account for a little more growth too.

$600 is because he's house league. If he did development squad it'd be an extra $225 plus all the travel.

$815 is our house league registration. If my son tries out for rep this year it would only be $50 extra if he made the team. We live in an area where we have to travel for all our games. So it doesn't matter if you are rep or local you will be driving. I will have to let my husband know about the sites you mentioned for hockey gear. He does all the shopping for that stuff.

[Angela273]

Today I did a lot of baking. Nearly all of it will be delivered to 5 different schools in the next 2 days.
Brownies were done before dh headed to work this morning, so I was able to send warm brownies to work with him again. I had a friend over to give me some help with LO.

3- lemon mirangue pies
2- 9x13" pans of cocoa fudgie brownies
1- 9x13" pan of oatmeal chocolate chip squares
72 banana chocolate chip muffins

I made chicken and vegetable stirfry with rice noodles for supper. Our friend was here for supper. I sent her home with a pie, some squares and some brownies.

[cath007]

@ Angela 273: Nice baking and nice to have help and give some to your friend.Would you mind sharing yours recepies,especially the bananas-chocolate muffins and the brownies one? I am in search of a good recepies,homemade is just better than store prepared one.

Oh and if anyone is willing to sign in my link for the promo of Oasis juice FPC or coupon I will be glad of that.Wishing everyone a good night.Some good sale start this week ,yes

[thriftygranny]

@ Angela 273: Nice baking and nice to have help and give some to your friend.Would you mind sharing yours recepies,especially the bananas-chocolate muffins and the brownies one? I am in search of a good recepies,homemade is just better than store prepared one.

Oh and if anyone is willing to sign in my link for the promo of Oasis juice FPC or coupon I will be glad of that.Wishing everyone a good night.Some good sale start this week ,yes

Used your link Cathy!!Hope you get enough,

[cath007]

Just a heads up so you ladies are in the loop I will be away until late Monday evening. So no worries I will be thinking of you and it should be pretty frugal as I will be in the deep deep bush (5 1/2 hours from home) as we are heading to a fishing derby at the moose camp.

Have a great time

[cath007]

Used your link Cathy!!Hope you get enough,

Thank you.that will put me to 4.

[Angela273]

@ Angela 273: Nice baking and nice to have help and give some to your friend.Would you mind sharing yours recepies,especially the bananas-chocolate muffins and the brownies one? I am in search of a good recepies,homemade is just better than store prepared one.

The oatmeal bars is a new recipe to me, but they are SO good. Taste like soft cookies. FYI: though dough is very firm, but do not be alarmed. Though I am definitely a chocolate fan, I reduced the chocolate chips in these recipes (as indicated below).

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Bars

Ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups quick-cooking or old fashioned oats
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips (I only used 1 cup, and that was plenty)
Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375. In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter, sugars, eggs and vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Gradually add the flour mixture to the mixing bowl and beat just until combined. Fold in the oats and chocolate chips. Spread in a rimmed 10x15 baking pan, using a spatula or your hands to press into place. Bake for 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool, but cut the bars while they are still somewhat warm, as a knife will go through them more easily.
*Note: I halved this recipe and baked it in a square 9x9 pan and it turned out perfectly. I think you could do a 9x13 pan with the full recipe, they will just be very thick (which isn't a bad thing!) and you will have to increase the baking time. I haven't tried these in the 10x15 pan so I can't say for sure how thick they turn out.



Fudgey Brownies

1 1/3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter
1 cup cocoa
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

1. Stir together flour, baking powder, and salt in small bowl. Melt butter in a large saucepan. Remove from heat. Stir in cocoa. Blend in eggs, sugar, and vanilla. Blend in dry ingredients and nuts (optional). Pour batter into greased 9x13-inch baking pan. Bake in pre-heated 350F oven 30 to 35 minutes or until done. Cool.



Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Ingredients

3 large bananas
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 tsp soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup melted butter or unsweetened applesauce (recipe calculated using applesauce)
Chocolate chips (to taste--1 cup calculated...I only used 1/2 cup)


Mash bananas
add sugar and egg
add melted butter
add dry ingredients
mix in chocolate chips
Bake for 18 - 20 minutes at 375

***The recipe said: to get 24 muffins, I do not fill the muffin tins. I usually fill them about 1/2 way or less.
I did a quadruple batch and ended up with 6 dozen nice sized muffins.

[Crochetlady]

Brownies yumm. Haven`t made any for a long time.

I`m off to Grand Bend for lunch and the theater today. A friend and I do it once a year. Not frugal but we don`t do holidays and I plan for this.

[sweet sparrow]

I like finding surprises on shopping trips. On a recent trip to RCSS, I found a tube of Aveeno diaper rash cream marked for $5.97 but rang in at $6.47. SCOP! Yay! I bought one more since the budget allowed me to pick up an extra and DH uses the stuff liberally. The cashier also forgot to ask about the "deal of the week" and I picked up a box of Pampers wipes for free as well. I was quite happy to get two things I needed for free!

Did anyone else have a memorable frugal moment in August?

[SassyAshley]

Good Morning Everyone,
SO happy it is almost the weekend, this has been one super long week and I cannot wait for it to be over.

Still trying to decide what my goals for September should be, I have a lot I need to get done, a lot of it is stuff I was supposed to get help with but that won't happen now so I am going to have to do it on my own. Kind of my own fault for letting it slide for so long believing in the end I would get the help. I have always been pretty independent but really fell in love with the idea of having someone around to help and maybe getting a little help, but that is over and it is now time to just get it done.

Right now I am leaning towards (but nothing is final yet) meal planning (we have to stop eating out and now that mom is hurt it is getting bad again and we are so busy at work right now that by the time I get off I am just like whatever I don't care), cleaning the bathroom stockpile (which is currently living in the hallway) and trying to fill all 3 sort through and fill all 3 freezers (I have really enjoyed the last couple weeks where I could not shop knowing we had food so if something was not picked up or missed it was no big deal and coming out in the end and not having to spent 100s on food to re stock).

Tonight I need to wrap pork chops and make homemade burgers to freeze.