Frugal find: Easy loose leaf tea brewing

I've been enjoying Earth Mama Angel Baby Heartburn Relief Tea the last few weeks. The only problem? It's a loose leaf tea and my muslin tea bag has disappeared. My guess? Josh tossed it and I can't really blame him. I had a hard time getting all the bits of tea of it myself. We use to have a tea ball. You know one of those metal balls that you can fill with tea and steep in your cup. Not sure what happened to it. All in all, I didn't get much use out of the muslin bag and I don't feel like spending the extra money to go buy a new tea ball.

The solution? Coffee filters! A simple paper filter can be set down in the cup and filled with loose leaf tea. Pour hot water over it and let steep for 2 minutes. Then simply pick up the filter at the top and all the tea will come with it. I keep a small bowl on the counter and put my filter and tea in it for an additional steeping. If you are buying high quality tea, you should be able to get 2-3 steepings.

I think of this as a frugal find because it serves two purposes. We use the filters for coffee and tea, and it's something almost everyone already has in their house!

Drum Roll Please!

I am a woman with many interests. I definitely fall into the category "Jack of all trades, Master of none!" As such balancing what this blog is about versus some of my other passions has been daunting at times. So I've made a decision. EcoMomics will continue to a great place to come for couponing, cleaning, and home decor/organization tutorials. However, with the upcoming arrival of Sydney in March, I know I've been a little baby crazy. I've also been wanting to spend more time writing about parenting philosophies, products, and theories but I haven't wanted to overwhelm EcoMomics with it. So I've created a second blog which will now house my baby/child project tutorials, articles on birth and parenting issues as well as reviews of various products. You can expect it to be super crunchy and very AP-friendly. So if you are as interested in cloth diapering and co-sleeping as you are cleaning, come over and check it out (warning: it's a big work in progress!): http://connectedmom.blogspot.com

Couponing: Live like no one else!

Josh and I are attending Financial Peace University and tonight was a lesson on cash flow planning. Dave Ramsey discusses in the video that when he and his wife first started budgeting and doing the envelope system, they had a grocery budget of $500, which he says was a lot back then. I immediately thought, geez! $500! I would kill to have a $500 grocery budget. Our budget for groceries, personal care, laundry and more is $200/month, and I would like to get that down to less than $150 so we can put the other $50 in savings.

And then it hit me, we do get almost $500/month in groceries. I'm saving between $200-350/month couponing and sale shopping. Coupons are essentially money in your pocket. Some people think of them as inconvenient or an affront to their pride, but my goodness if you aren't couponing, I want you to consider something. I just told you I save over $200/month by couponing a couple hours a week - what could you do with $200, $300, or more a month? What bills could you pay? What could you save for? Even if you don't need the extra money, it's almost criminal not to take advantage. And if you do need the money, give it a try! It's a little tricky at first but well worth it.

Sustainablebabyish Giveaway on Dirty Diaper Laundry

If you cloth diaper, you want a Sustainablebabyish over or longie set, they are gorgeous but oh so pricey. Lucky you, Dirty Diaper Laundry is giving some SBish away: Click here to enter!

KC Moms: 1 Day left for Hy-Vee Deals!

I apologize for not getting this posted yesterday. Hy-Vee is running some awesome specials through today, Sunday Jan. 17th. You can get some amazing deals if you have time to stop in. Please not, we don't shop the center aisles much, so there are probably some great finds down them as well.

Also, I can't say enough good things about the store at 40 Hwy and Noland Rd. It's really worth the trip for us to go there from Blue Springs. I'll even tell you why. According to my Uncle, who worked for a while as a butcher after he retired from the force, meat department managers are allowed to set their own sales. They have a specific quota to meet (hee hee) and it's up to them how they do it. Well, the meat manager at this location is one smart cookie! He runs 2-3 amazing specials every day (in the past, he's had fresh ground buffalo 2.50/lb and smart chicken for $1/lb for instance). It's always changing and since it is location specific, it's not advertised. he also runs the dairy department, so there are great deals there. Anyway, I save bravo to him! I'm sure he's meeting those quotas just fine from the swarms of people shopping the store.

Sorry no picture for this trip! We did have 8-10 bags of groceries for less than $50 though.
Dairy
Kraft Natural Shredded Cheese 5 for $6 + get a $5 coupon good toward your next transaction - that's like getting 5 bags of cheese for $1! You can only do this deal once per transaction. When Josh and I got there, we each went through the line, bought 5 bags of cheese, got our $5 coupon, and went back to finish grocery shopping!
eggs - large dozen 99¢ w/ coupon in store flyer available at door or online
Horizon Naturals Yogurt Little Blends 4 pack for 39¢ - set to expire on the 19th, but you can freeze them! (this deal may be limited to the location at 40 hwy and noland)
Smart Balance 16 oz sour cream - 78¢ (may be limited to 40 hwy and noland location)
Horizon Organic Eggnog - 99¢ (may be limited to 40 hwy and noland location)
Hy-Vee Orange Juice - 99¢

Frozen
Blue Bell Pints 4/$5 - bit of a splurge for us, but Josh loves them and it is a really great price.

Produce
Bananas - 28¢/lb! (Varying levels of ripeness too)
Jonagold Apples - 69¢/lb
Red and Golden Delicious Organic Apples - 1.18/lb (advertised, but not avail. at 40/noland)

Meat
Smart Chicken Ground - $1/lb (in a tube frozen near dairy at 40/noland)
We are picky on our meats, but I'm sure the 40/noland store is running lots of great specials!

Health Market
Boca burgers - $2.67/package (probably a coupon out there for these)
Kashi single serving Roll bars - $1.20 ea -$1 peelie = 20¢
Hansen soda (select varieties) $3/6pack

So here's a run-down of everything we got and our total cost (please note I was shopping with Josh, so there were some splurges in there that brought our bill up about $10 )

1st and 2nd trip through line
Kraft shredded cheese 5 for $6, received $5 coupon (did this twice)
OOP=$12

Barbasol Shaving Cream - $1
Diapers (James has outgrown his cloth) - $5.99
Eggs - $1.60
Egg nog - 99¢
Orange Juice - 99¢
Horizon yogurt 4 packs - 39¢ x 5
Smart Balance sour cream - 78¢
Boca burgers - $2.67
Kashi bar - $1.25
Hansens 6 pack - $3
Sahale Nuts (fancy pants snack nuts for Josh) - $4.69 x2
Blue Bell Ice Cream Pints - $1.25 ea x 6
Bananas - 4 1/2 lbs - $1.31
Apples - 2 1/2 lbs - $1.82
Celery - 98¢
Smart Chicken - 4lbs - $4

Total $48 - $10 from cheese deal - $1/kashi coupon - 61¢/eggs coupon
OOP= $35.76 (even with my having my husband there)

How to get started couponing

I was talking with some other moms today about how addictive couponing has become for me. When they heard how much money I was saving, they wanted to know how to get started. One even told me she had tried and gotten too frustrated. Boy, do I understand that feeling. I spent a good year reading other mom blogs, drooling at their savings, but feeling completely overwhelmed with getting started.

Couponing can be as much or as little work as you want it to be, but you will obviously see more rewards with more work. I spend as much as 5-10 hours a week organizing, clipping, and creating grocery lists. I clip from the Sunday paper (and I get 3 sets of those coupons from family), print coupons online, and cross check sale lists for all 4 major grocery stores in my area as well as CVS and Walgreen's.

Now it wouldn't be very ecomomical of me to spend a lot of time explaining the basics of couponing when many others have written detailed accounts on the same topic. So my first set of links will take you to a variety of articles on how to get started.

The second set of links are legitimate coupon printing websites and forums that can help you get started couponing.

Lastly, always check company websites for coupons and promotions. Just because you are budgeting doesn't mean you always have to go without! I'll often check a website for a new product, get a coupon, and watch for it to go on sale to get the maximum deal.

How to get started couponing:
http://www.mrsmoneysaver.com/getting-started/
http://momsloveshopping.com/easy-steps-for-grocery-savings-show-21/
http://www.moneysavingmom.com/money_saving_mom/2008/03/cvs-101.html

Great sites to get coupons/get started:
http://www.afullcup.com/
http://www.organicgrocerydeals.com/forums/
http://coupons.target.com
http://www.coupons.com (this site provides many of the same coupons you can get in the Sunday paper)

If you want help matching your coupons to store sales, I recommend the following websites. If you are interested in local and organic couponing deals, I try to post the best deals every week. However, I no longer buy non-organic, non-natural groceries.
www.thegrocerygame.com
www.moneysavingmom.com

I challenge you to DECLUTTER

Today I am going to do something extraordinary. Ok, who am I kidding? I'm nearly 8 months pregnant this may take 2 days. Anyway, I'm taking trash sacks into every room in my house and filling them up. With what you might ask? With all that stuff that is not being used. The clothes Josh accidentally shrunk in the dryer. The excess fabric scraps that I really will never use. And the books, oh the books, that threaten to topple over and trap us in our home. Now my friend, Lara, did this and was able to produce 20 - TWENTY- 20! bags of stuff to donate to local charities and shelters. That is pretty impressive. I'd love to say I can beat her, but I'm using those amazing Glad ForceFlex and they hold quite a bit (anyone buying that?). Actually, a significant amount of the stuff is in the frigid garage/basement, so it may have to wait until Josh is home to help.

So what's my challenge? Simple. Do the same thing. Get a handful of grocery bags, pop in some Abba and get going (Abba is optional). Bag it up and take it to your local goodwill or call around to local shelters and see what they need.

But before you do, take a pic of all that extra stuff, all bagged up and ready to go and share it with us on your blog or comment below. Let's start 2010 off right - clean and clutter free!