Frugal Friday Ideas

Today I decided to participate in Frugal Fridays, sponsored by Biblical Womahood. Actually the funny thing is I have been feeling a little un-creative because I keep seeing that the frugal things I do are already written by others, which is great, but I was trying to think of something original. Last night I did something, and then I thought about it and said to myself, "I've never read that anywhere before!" So that will be the first idea below; the others are things that I do for frugality, but are not original ideas. Hope it helps someone somewhere!

1. Use the back side of your used Swiffer wet pads (or Lysol wipes, which I get for free at CVS anyway!) to clean your trash can. Our kitchen trash can is white, which means everything shows! So when I am finished mopping, I just pull off the pad and wipe my trash can until it shines. An added bonus....it smells great!

2. Use coupons....but only when the item goes on sale. Manufacturer's use coupons as a way to advertise their product, and that's fine. But the real savings comes in when you clip that coupon and WAIT. I did this with some Swiffer coupons I had recently, and ended up getting those expensive pads for free! In Florida, we have a great grocery store called Publix that has tons of BOGO's every week. I try to match my coupons up with the BOGO's (and use 2 coupons) to double the savings!

3. Use reusable plastic (or glass) for food storage. This saves money for you, and is good for the environment. I have always done this with leftovers, but only recently have I begun doing it with other things like sandwiches, snacks, etc. Since I was reusing my Ziploc bags anyway (bringing them home and washing them), I might as well just use my Rubbermaid containers, which are so much easier to clean. Yay for frugality and being green on this one!

4. Teach your family about the Bible the frugal way! I have to give thanks to my hubby for this one. He taught me to shop for the Biblical holidays AFTER the holiday. So after each holiday, we wait about a week or so and then go buy the same things for at least 75% off! For example, after Chanukah this year (John 10:22), we went to Bed Bath & Beyond (make sure to use your 20% off coupon that comes in the mail almost every other day, haha!) and bought those expensive silver hand-dipped candles for about $1 (usually are about $10-$15). He also started a tradition of buying me a new holiday tablecloth after the holiday (they also mark-down the Sabbath table cloths after the holiday as well). Awww thank you honey!

*Today is the festival of Purim (from the book of Esther). Try making some special Purim cookies with your children, which I posted here. Your children will love the cookies (you will too!), and you can tell them about Queen Esther as you make them.

Well, those are my ideas for the day. Head over to Biblical Womanhood and Crissie's post for more ideas! If you want, leave a comment with your idea here. I sure could use some more help with this!

Now I need your help! We got married over a year and a half ago, and I still haven't gotten my wedding dress preserved. It runs about $150-$200 around here, which is about what I paid for the dress. Any ideas on how to preserve a wedding gown frugally?

Purim Sameach! Happy Purim!