Cheaper than Cheap-Bloggings of a Frugal Mom

Well here we are again at that time of year, when you want to have some summer fun yet do it on the cheap! How am I going to do it? Well after a certain meeting two weeks ago my income level is uncertain as of August 1st so I plan on doing an experiment. First I took radical steps to cut my costs: got rid of the land line because we are never home especially during the summer. So we now have one cell on a decent plan…$45and all the minutes this mom needs.I got rid of the Internet as well and will be blogging for free from cafes and the library. So after rent and bills it leaves me with $450 to go everything with. So what are my plans?  How am I going to cut costs in Toronto this summer and even have money to go away with?

The Cheap Summer Experiment

1. Take advantage of the FREE stuff to do here in the city. From public pools, libraries, and free events there is plenty to do here in town.

 We will only TTC to one event per week, the others we  can walk or bike too. The first event we will hit is Luminato.It was so worth going to last year and we had a blast! It starts June 6thand is a great way to start off your summer with a bang.

2. Use the money jar approach to spending.

Our jars are $4o for groceries per week, $7.50 for laundry, and $12.50 for other–all clothes are bought so there is no need for new stuff.

3.When shopping utilize coupons, points collection(ie SDM), and flyer shopping to get the best prices you can find.

 UsuallyI can spend $40 on meat for a month ( we eat meals that include meat about 4 times a week). Usually2 big bags of chicken pieces and a big club size of lean ground beef that I can stretch with TVP does us.

4. Have a garage sale of all that stuff you don’t need- use this money as summer fun money or use it for something you need. Other great ways are to utilize Craigslist or Kijiji to make a sale.

We are doing this and Roo especially is clearing out stuff as she becomes a preteen on a mission of a new room design which is one of our other summer projects.

By doing this well will have enough money to do what we really want late in the summer and that is take our first family vacation ever. We are headed to Nova Scotia and PEI for a couple of weeks. Roo will get to spend time with her cousins and grandma. For our trip we are using  the train to get there, and have FREE places to stay so we should be okay going with $500.  We can’t wait and are getting excited about our first real chance to travel.

 While at Lifefest recently I had the chance to sample Dove Chocolate and well feel in love with the Dusk flavor! Just last week I got an email telling me that Dove was looking for 300 Canadian women who are active on the net ie bloggers to give a mountain full of chocolate for them to share! Well today FedEx delivered a big box of yummy chocolate as well as a few freebies: a great size tote bag that will be great for trips to the library, a wine glass that I promptly filled with Dark and Milk Chocolate and gave it to my upstairs neighbour, a pedicure pamper kit, and oddles of chocolate! I receive 20 purse packs to share with friends, as well as 4 tablet bars and  3 cartons of  the bite size chocolate. Tomorrow all of Roo’s teachers and EA’s are getting a chocolate care package. The rest will go to some of my girlfriends. Don’t you wish you lived close by? Now if you live in Toronto, Vancouver or Montreal they are still looking for women between the ages of 25-45 who want to sample and share. Follow this link to get the details!

Now if you want to try this yummy chocolate in a great recipe try this great mini cakes one:

Yield: Makes 8 4-ounce cakes

6 DOVE® Dark Chocolate 1.3 oz Singles Bars or 29 DOVE® Dark Chocolate Miniatures
8 ounces butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
5 eggs, room temperature (about 70 degrees)
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup all purpose flour, sifted
Powdered sugar, for dusting

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Butter eight 4-ounce individual ramekins and set aside.
3. Over a double boiler, melt the chocolate and the butter. Keep it hot.
4. In the bowl of a standing electric mixer fitted with the whip attachment, add the eggs and sugar, and begin to whip the mixture on medium speed. Beat for 2 to 3 minutes, just until it turns lemony yellow (not pale or white).
5. Meanwhile, whisk the all-purpose flour into the hot chocolate mixture.
6. Add the hot chocolate mixture all at once to the mixing bowl containing the egg and sugar mixture, and whisk for 1 minute.
7. Remove from the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Divide evenly among the containers filling up just to the top. Place on a baking pan.
8. Bake for 5 minutes. Turn the pan one-half turn and continue baking for 3 to 4 minutes more. The cakes will be firm on the outside rim and erupting in the center. Lightly dust with confectioner’s sugar and serve immediately.

Well I am where it is right before check day at the beginning of the week so you will see some menus that have me digging into my food storage pantry. I think digging into food storage should be part of our routine. So what ingredients are from the pantry: TVP, oatmeal, Kraft dinner, peanut butter, tuna,dried mango, pasta, pasta sauce and Kool Aid. These are all things that do get used on a regular basis here in this house so it was important to have them as part of my food storage.

The oatmeal will be used for breakfasts along with the Rice Krispies and Cheerios that are already in the cupboard. So will the PB for toast.

Kool Aid will be for an afterschool drink with Roo taking water for her lunches. Her lunches this week are a pizza lunch that the class won, chicken noodle soup, mini ravoli, ham and cheese sandwich and a grilled cheese. These will have some fresh fruit or dried mango added to them.

For dinner

Monday : Tuna Bake and salad

Tuesday: Mashed Potato Tacos

• 2 cups TVP 
• left over mashed potatoes
• 1 package Taco Seasoning mix
• 1 package  Taco Shells, warmed
• Toppings: shredded lettuce, chopped tomato,   Shredded Mild Cheddar Cheese,  Thick & Smooth Salsa

BROWN beef; drain. Add mashed potatoes and seasoning mix; mix well.

FILL taco shells with beef mixture. Top with lettuce, tomato, green onions, cheese and taco sauce.

Wednesday-Spaghetti with Tomato Sauce, brocolli and dip

Thursday-Chicken Nuggets, French fries, carrots

Friday- Honey Mustard Curry Chicken, rice, salad, apple crumble and icecream

Saturday-leftovers

Sunday- we have been invited out

Well I am off now to read what is cooking for everyone else over at Laura’s!

Okay some of my readers know I receive sociall assistance ( aka welfare or Ontario Works). Not that I dont want to work I do but solo parenting a special needs child with a lack of support makes the typical job not in the cards right now.

Well today I met with my worker who presented documentation to me that will change my benefits to a huge degree come August 1, 2008!

Here is what is happening:

No longer will Ontario Work recipients who are parents receive:

BASIC needs allowance for children — a loss of $211 dollars to this parent of one child per month

No Clothing Allowances– loss of $180 per year

total losses equal $2712.00 for this mom!

What do we get to replace this?

The Ontario Child tax Credit $50

and the end of the claw back the National Child Tax Supplement  $121.76 for this parent

so a gain back of only $171.76 per month

Total gainback per annum $2055.00

Total overall losses per annum $657 overall for this mom

So basically as of August 1st instead of having a $50 positive cash flow from the introduction of the Ontario Child Tax Credit there will be a $50 per month loss with the expectation that we stretch it     further to include back to school and winter clothing expenses. As one who already lives as cheaply as I can this is going to hurt. It means getting mean and leaner then lean and I thought I was already pushing the limits of creativity but this will push me to do better.

This means that us “poorer” parents in Ontario will in no means benefit by the creation of the the Ontario Child Tax Credit.

Well Mom’s Day is around the corner and well Im cheap and a mom who has a mom so of course I want to show my mom I care but I want to be frugal about it!

So what are some options for me?

1. Write your mom a poem perhaps a haiku about what she means to you.

2. Make a card( or ecard ) There are lots of sites for help with this one.

3. Get a canvas and paint her a picture

4.Decorate a small glass vase or perhaps a cup..you can fill it with flowers you pick.

5. Clean the house

6. Invite her to do one of her favorite activities whether it is a game of Scrabble, doing a puzzle, playing a card game, going for a walk.

7. Give your mom a manicure (great for tween girls to do).

Now what am I really doing well…. for my mom she is getting  a framed pic of me and Roo and the frame was decorated by Roo.

I wonder what Roo is going to do? Well I hope you all have a great day on Sunday and dont forget your Mom’s.