Happy Housekeeping: Home And Garden Tips

If you regularly purchase several loaves of bread each week to your family, in addition to rolls, frozen pizzas and other bread products, the cost can quickly add up.  However, if you learn to make your own bread, you can take a huge chunk out of your grocery bills – especially if you often purchase expensive “whole grain” products.  Chances are, you’ll be amazed at how many different foods you can make with a single bread recipe.

Uses for Bread Recipes

If you love the taste of pizza, rolls, pitas, and bread, you might be surprised to know that you can make all of them with the same basic dough.  For example, if you find a bread recipe that’s easy for you to work with, you can toss it into a pizza shell, in addition to shaping the dough into loaves.  Or you may want to shape some of the bread into rolls, and then sprinkle them with sesame seeds before baking them.  There are many ways to shape bread dough into different food bases, and at the same time, you’ll be saving an enormous amount of money on each item.

Budgeting Advantages

If you buy bread in the store, it’s likely to cost you over $2.00 per loaf, while frozen pizzas may cost three to five times as much.  On the other hand, one five-pound bag of flour is more than enough to make two loaves of bread, plus three large pizzas, for only a few dollars a bag.  All you’ll need to do from there is add your toppings.  In many cases, you’ll find that whatever products you bake at home wind up being at least 50% cheaper than their pre-made, store-bought counterparts.

Finding Bread Recipes

If you have a basic cookbook at home, you may already have access to a good bread dough recipe, or you can find some excellent bread recipes online.  As you browse the online listings, authors will detail whether you’re working with a soft dough or a stiffer one.  You’ll also be able to read reviews left by other people that have tried these recipes.  In some cases, you may even find suggestions for recipe changes, as well as tasty additions.

Baking Bread on a Schedule

Of course, few people have the time to bake bread on a daily basis, since the process may take a few hours.  That said, if you can carve out a single five hour block of time in your weekly schedule, you should be able to bake enough bread, pizza and desserts for the rest of the week.  If you enjoy cooking, you may even find that the soothing process of baking bread becomes the part of the week that you enjoy most.

Every time you buy bread – or any other food that is based on bread dough – it’s as if you’re throwing away half the money in your food budget.  In many cases, if you can dedicate just a few hours a week to baking, you’ll have delicious, healthy bread products for your family to eat, since when you do your own cooking, you won’t be adding the preservatives or other harmful additives that commercial breads often contain.  At the same time, you’ll save money over grocery store alternatives, allowing you to stretch your food budget even further.

Regardless of how tight your budget is, there’s no need to go without soap and detergents.  In fact, there are a number of alternatives to commercial soaps that are cheaper and healthier for you and your family.  Among other things, you may find that reducing your exposure to the pthalates and fragrances found in commercial cleaning products may alleviate a number of immune-related problems.

Making Plant Based Soaps

As you may or may not be aware, most commercial soaps are made from animal fats.  While you can make these products on your own, you may not be able to tolerate the smell of fat rendering if you live in an apartment or poorly ventilated area.  That said, there are many plant-based soap recipes for you to try at a fraction of the cost.  In many cases, you’ll find that these soaps clean just as well as animal-based ones.  You’ll also be able to add a variety of herb-based skin conditioners and fragrances to improve your homemade soaps.

Budget Home Fresheners

Of course, you can always go to a dollar store and buy home air fresheners on the cheap.  But have you ever read the warning labels on many of these products – the ones that read, “Do not inhale directly”?  There’s no way to know what, if any, long term health problems could result from breathing in these foreign chemicals, so you may want to consider some other ways to deodorize your home.  For example, you may want try burning natural beeswax candles to improve the smell of your home, or try making your own blends of essential oils and potpourris.

In the kitchen, a simple open box of baking soda will keep your refrigerator and freezer smelling fresh and clean.  You may also want to freshen up carpets by sprinkling baking soda on them, and then vacuuming the next day.  This method will work well for pet odors, as well as many other unpleasant odors.  Unfortunately, if it’s humid in your area, you may find the baking soda sticks to the carpet.  If you aren’t sure whether or not this will work for you, it may be best to test the product in a small area first.

Vinegar and Your Laundry

Even though white vinegar is fairly cheap, it’s one of the best things you can add to your laundry to prevent static cling, increase fabric brightness and reduce all kinds of stains.  In many cases, presoaking with vinegar and water will restore clothes with all kinds of stains on them, including wine, grass and grease stains.  As more information becomes available about the link between the fragrances used in soaps and an increase in cancer rates, it may be to your advantage to avoid commercial products at all costs.  Fortunately, you’ll find that vinegar is a safe, inexpensive alternative.

Aside from being expensive, there’s a growing body of evidence that commercial soaps can have negative health consequences.  Therefore, being budget conscious when it comes to these items may also equate to being health conscious.  For example, simply substituting vinegar for your fabric softener and stain booster may save you from being exposed to a number of harmful chemicals.  In a similar way, using baking soda to eliminate odors can help give you a clean smelling home without the financial and health costs associated with commercial deodorants.

It seems hard to remember a time without cell phones, but it’s true – people did exist before this era of constant communication. Today, teens and adults alike feel pressured to have the newest, coolest phone with all the hottest, most expensive features. This can all be a little much for budget-minded individuals, but don’t despair! There are plenty of ways to own and manage a cell phone on a budget.

Unlocked Cell Phones

Unlocked cell phones – or those that can be adapted for use with any carrier – make it possible for you to purchase a fairly expensive cell phone at a fraction of its retail cost. At the same time, you can also use these phones on less conventional – and often less expensive – networks. Depending on where you live, this can help you save an enormous amount of money on some of the most popular cell phone models. Unfortunately, you’ll still need to research the network that the phone will be operating on to ensure you can make calls to any location you please.

Pay as You Go Plans

Without question, pay as you go plans offer a tremendous advantage over a paying a monthly bill. For example, you can purchase a cheap Tracfone for as little as $20 and spend as little as $100 per year on your wireless plan. If you only want to use your cell phone for emergency purposes, you’ll find that this is a perfect solution. Aside from the low cost, you’ll also have access to some of the largest and most reliable networks in the world without committing to an expensive monthly plan. Of course, if you’re known amongst your friends as “The Chatterbox” you probably won’t benefit from a pay as you go plan.

Assessment and Cost Effective Alternatives

When it comes to cell phone plans, think about them the same way you think about your land line phone. Chances are, you used to cringe at half-hour long distance phone calls that ran up your bill. Even though cellular plans give you a number of “free” minutes, they add up faster than you might expect. Therefore, you need to sure that every minute is used wisely.

Of course, the best way to save on your cell phone plan is just to talk less. But if this just isn’t you, you do have some other alternatives. If you find that you’re making a lot of non-emergency calls on your cell phone, consider buying VOIP service or look into cheaper computer-based alternatives. You might also be able to find special deals for new customers if you still want to sign on with a major carrier.

Many people that have cell phones today are wasting their money on expensive contracts and inefficient communication behaviors. If you look at your own cell phone usage, you’ll probably discover at least a few habits that you had to curb while using your land line. However, if you pay attention to these habits, it’s still possible to find a cell phone that’s loaded with features on a limited budget.