Paperback Swap Saves Homeschoolers Money and Time

Have you discovered Paperback Swap? If you are a homeschooler or Mom who loves books then you are seriously missing out on a HUGE time and money saving website.

I have to admit, it took me a few months to really catch on to the glory that is Paperback Swap (PBS). I initially set up my account and then did not really do anything with it. However, as I began clearing off my book shelves to declutter and make room for new book and homeschool curriculum I reconsidered using Paperback Swap. I am so glad I gave it another thought!

What is so wonderful about PBS? Simply put, you get rid of books you no longer need or want and exchange them for other books you do want posted by fellow PBS members. The only cost to you is the initial cost of mailing a book that has been requested from you, which if you send via media mail postage costs range from $1-$4 depending on size and weight. Once a requesting member receives your book in the mail you will get a credit on your account. You can choose to purchase postage through PBS and receive immediate credit or mail the book yourself at your post office and wait for the book to reach its destination to receive credit. When you request a book you use the credits you have accumulated on your account and pay nothing additional. Each book is 1 credit while audio books are 2 credits.

I have gotten rid of a large amount of unwanted books so far and in exchange am receiving books that my children and I do need (or enjoy). For instance, a few weeks ago I was browsing at our local large chain bookstore. I found a book on parenting twins that I wanted to buy. First though I checked PBS via my smart phone and discovered that I could request the book for free from a fellow PBS member using a credit on my account. Cha-ching, I saved the cost of a new book which in this case was $20 not including tax.

As a homeschool Mom I have also found a wealth of educational resources to use with my children. Not only am I receiving classics, biographies, and other treasured reading books for my children to enjoy I am also finding lesson planning books and curriculum resources that I would otherwise have to pay for. PBS keeps a running tally of how much money I have saved, but I honestly think it is on the low side of reality. If I were to buy the books I am receiving in the mail from other sources such as new at the bookstore or used off of Amazon I would have spent much more money than what is listed on my account as savings. Truth be told though, this is a non-issue for me. I am receiving high quality reading books and homeschool resources for pennies on the dollar and clearing clutter off of my bookshelves all at the same time. What homeschool Mom could ask for more?

If you have not signed up with Paperback Swap and plan to do so, please consider using my username momoftwinpinkpeas or click on the link below:

Deals, Deals, and More Deals!

The basis of this blog has never been to share frugal finds or deals around town. However, the deals I found today directly relate to homeschool and well frankly, I am just too excited about the deals I got today to not share with all of you. :)

The first huge deal of the day was at Borders bookstore. I went in with the intention of buying The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home (Third Edition). Because the library in our new town does not carry this book, I wanted to get a copy of my own. I have been saving up my e-Rewards points to get $15 off a book at Borders. Which considering after the $15 off a new copy of TWTM at Borders is cheaper than Amazon, I could justify my purchase and a trip to Borders. But of course, since I was there and my family and I had time to kill I spent some relaxing time looking at books while my kids listened to storytime. I ended up buying some Singapore math workbooks for this summer to help my boys stay practiced with their Math. I also found some helpful teaching resources for next year. I am such a homeschool Mom, I love books and teaching resources. :) When I went to pay for my haul the lady at the counter mentioned something about me being ready for the summer. I then casually mentioned that I was a homeschooler and these were teaching resources for my kids. She then replied that Borders has an educational discount which they extend to homeschoolers. Now, I know I have read on other blogs and homeschool forums that Borders offered this reward but honestly with everything else going on in my life I must have forgotten. The manager informed me that I needed to bring in proof of homeschooling to get the discount card but she would kindly offer me the 25% discount on all of my educational purchases today. Holy cow!! With the huge stack of books I was purchasing, a 25% savings was huge!!! Score 1 for the bank account!

My second deal of the day was at a local thrift store. At thrift stores I always head for the book section first. Like I said, I am a sucker for books! :) Since my husband was with me today, I could sit down and really look through their stash; something I am not able to do when I take the kids on my own. I found a bunch of Dora and Diego books which my kids and I love, I also found construction books (Tonka, big machines, etc) which my boys love. All of these books were not marked with a price and when the cashier rung them up she charged me a quarter for each book. Lastly, I found a Wordly Wise B book which normally sells for $6 or more. I bought a NEW copy today for .25. Yep, one little quarter. Nothing more nothing less. Yeah! Score 2 for the back account!

Also at this thrift store I found an amazing deal on canning jars. Now I know this isn't homeschool related, but if you homestead or grow a garden and can you can relate to my excitement. The jars were marked at between fifty and sixty-five cents each. I chose a few of the pint jars that were marked fifty cents. Upon checking out, I causally asked the cashier (who knows me because I am in this store once a week or so) if she would give me a discount on the rest of the canning jars that are back on the shelf. She replied that yes, she could sell them to me for a quarter each.  I about fainted! I got about 8 pint and 22 quart canning jars for a quarter each. If you can regularly, you know what an awesome deal this is. When I brought the jars home to show my Mom, she was so shocked to hear that they came down on price for me. She didn't think you could bargain with them at all. All I can say is, it never hurts to ask. What did I have to loose? Nothing! But man, I sure did gain (and save) a lot by asking. Our garden is packed full this summer, these canning jars will come in very handy this fall when I am elbow deep in tomatoes, peppers, carrots, and beets to just name a few. Score 3 for the back account!

I consider each of my purchases today a huge blessing. God knows my needs and provides them to me at a price I can afford. He opened the doors for me today to supply the things my family and I need to continue down the path He has set before us; homeschooling, homesteading, and happiness.

Glorious Garage Sales

One thing I am truly enjoying about our new Midwest home is all the glorious garage sales. If there is something you are looking for at a cheap price chances are you will find it at a garage sale if you look long enough. While you are looking for that sought after item you are sure to find other things that you can use at amazingly low prices. Clearance racks, sale prices, and discount coupons hold no water next to the prices you will pay at a garage sale. If you are conscious about your spending and could use a little money in the bank at the end of each month then start heading out on the weekends (or even as early as Wednesday in some areas) to your local garage sales. The weather is warming up around the country and people are purging, spring cleaning is upon us. What a wonderful time to explore some glorious garage sales.

Some of my recent garage sale finds include clothes like new for my children for .25 to .50 cents, like new brand name sweaters for myself for just a few dollars (all less than $3), a Columbia jacket for my husband in amazing condition for $10, books for home school for as little as .25 cents, 2 sets of BOB books for $1, 2 sets of lace curtains for my house for $1, and the list goes on. There isn’t a day that my Mom and I head out to garage sale that I don’t find a deal.

The first time I took my 3 kids garage saleing I was a little nervous. I thought for sure they would be a handful out of sheer boredom; much like they can be at the mall or other store where I have to do some shopping. Much to my surprise they did amazingly well. Every garage sale was an opportunity for them to play with new toys that were for sale. Every house had new things to look at and sometimes tough. My kids and I soon started calling our garage sale outings “treasure hunting”.

If you are looking to cut costs form your clothing, household, education, or entertainment budget I highly recommend hitting your local garage sales!

Update: Eating from the pantry challenge

A week ago I shared that due to unforeseen circumstances my family and I would be eating from the pantry through the end of the month. Since my last post our financial situation has dramatically improved but I am still committed to following through with the challenge. Saving money and stretching our dollar is always a priority to me. 

First I want to share what I bought earlier this week to hold us over for the next 2 weeks. In addition to the items shown below I also bought 6 Jenny-O extra lean ground turkey and 1 more sour cream. I had put these items away in our extra refrigerator before I took this picture. The bananas, apples, eggs, and salad are organic.

I bought all of this (and the stuff in the garage refrigerator) for $100. Savings totaled $50. Prior to this shopping trip I had to buy milk and some tortillas which totaled $20.  Grocery prices in my area are MUCH higher than in other parts of the country.

I will not have to grocery shop until the end of the month. So for 2 weeks I only spent $120 to feed my family of 5. Compare this to spending on average $600-$700 for a month to feed my family in previous months and I am doing fabulous! 

Of course my success in this challenge is helped by the fact that I stocked up on ground turkey earlier this month when it was on sale for $1.99/pkg. 

Some of our meals for this past week have included:

Lasagna; noodles left over from lasagna the previous week, used my Mom's canned pasta sauce, 1 package of ground turkey, and thinly sliced zucchini bought earlier in the month.

Tacos; these are a staple in our house, otherwise affectionately known as Taco Tuesday. This week though we had them on Monday because of time constraints and defrosting meat. They were bare bones this week. Homemade pinto beans, ground turkey, tomatoes, chopped olives, and sour cream. Usually we also include lettuce and avocados but I couldn't justify spending the money when we didn't have them in the house. 

Salt & Pepper Chicken; Thank you Sam the Cooking Guy for your inspiration! Pounded thawed chicken breasts until they were even thickness. Season with a little olive oil, salt (I used sea salt) and pepper. Pan cook until done. Squeeze lime juice over before serving. Very tasty and easy! With this dinner we had salad and rice.

Lentil soup; a wonderful item I pulled from our pantry and finally used. Add some thinly sliced carrots and celery (wilting in the fridge but fine for this soup, yeah for not having to throw these out). Served with garlic toast, I used just a regular loaf of bread, nothing fancy.

Flank steak; another treat from our freezer, saved and refroze from a meal earlier this month. Pan grilled with olive oil, garlic pepper, and sea salt. Served with homemade pinto beans and garlic green beans.

Leftovers; who doesn't love leftovers? These nights are a frugal Mom's dream come true. Leftovers from the week included lentil soup, ground turkey from tacos. and chicken. My oldest had a bean, cheese, and turkey burrito. Another son had chicken and veggies, my daughter had some chicken too, hubby had lentil soup and salad, and I had salad. 

I am missing 2 dinners which for the life of me I can't remember, so sorry. I will take notes this coming week on what we make for dinner. By the way, my entire family eats every meal at home, 7 days a week. We are fortunate enough to have my husband work close enough to our home that he can come home for lunch everyday. 

Breakfast during the week are typically cereal for the kids and a smoothie for my husband. I eat a protein bar when I get a minute to grab something. Lunches are more leftovers, soup, sandwiches, quesadillas, or bean and cheese burritos.

Family Friendly Friday #3

Bigger isn't always better. . .sounds simple enough right? 

When you are out shopping how often do you assume that "family size" packages are cheaper without really comparing prices?

As I eluded to earlier this week, the grocery purse strings in our house are cinched as tight as they can possibly go.  Push came to shove today though and I had to do some shopping for essentials. One of my essentials included frozen fruit for my husbands daily breakfast smoothie. At first I grabbed a large bag of mixed frozen fruit, the bag labeled "family size". On a hunch though, I noted the per ounce price and headed down the aisle to the smaller bagged frozen fruit. And what did I find? The smaller bags were on sale and priced .02 cents cheaper per ounce than the bigger bag already in my basket. Score one for frugal shopping!

The take home lesson in all this though is:

• to check your prices and price per unit
• do not assume store brands are always cheaper, compare everytime you shop
• use your calculator! Store pricing labels do not always calculate the price per unit in the same units for the same items.
• Case in point, today I scored big when shopping for toilet paper. Using my calculator I realized that a 12 roll of name brand was cheaper than the store brand. The price tag was misleading at first glance though because the price per units between the two brands was different, thereby giving a different value.
• use coupons whenever possible to make your purchases even cheaper

Even if your grocery budget has wiggle room and it's strings are not tight, frugal shopping will save you money that you can use elsewhere in your budget.

Impromptu Pantry Challenge

A few circumstances this month have unexpectedly created an impromptu pantry challenge in our household. Depending on the results and success of this challenge I may propose and host a larger group pantry challenge in a month or so.

What is a pantry challenge you ask?

Essentially it is a challenge to eat from your pantry for a month. You plan and prepare meals with the ingredients you have on hand stashed and hidden in your pantry, fridge, and freezer. There are several advantages to a pantry challenge; not only do you use things you might otherwise forget you had, you also save money, and when done in a large group you gain encouragement and accountability.

My personal one-woman pantry challenge will be for the next 2 weeks; through the end of the month. Thankfully I stocked up on meat last month when it went on sale. Prayerfully I will be able to make it through the next couple of weeks on the ingredients I have on hand. I will certainly keep you updated and be on the look out for a group-wide pantry challenge.

New batch of laundry soap

I liked my homemade powdered laundry soap so well I decided to make a big batch today to last us a while. I had 12 bars of soap so I used everything I had and by the grace of God just had enough of the dry ingredients to make it complete. After bar #5 my arm was getting tired of shredding so I cleared the cob webs from my mind and tried to think of something that could shred for me. My solution: my food processor. It worked like a charm!! The shred was larger than my hand shredder but it will still do the job in my washer just the same. What a time saver!! I am interested to see how long this batch lasts.

The blue bucket is what I am using to store my large batch of laundry soap. I have a smaller container I use on a daily basis and add to it as needed from the larger bucket.

Edited to add: homemade laundry soap can be used in HE washers. Instead of 1T-2T use half of a tablespoon per load. Here is the link to the recipe I use, she specifically states that this recipe can be used in HE washers.

Family Friendly Friday Tip #1

As mothers I think we always want to do better for our families. Be it keep a cleaner home, become more organized, stretch the family budget, or even just be a more Godly parent. To that end each Friday I will be posting a family friendly tip on a variety of topics. And if there is something you would like help with please do not hesitate to contact me because if you need help with something I can guarantee so do a lot of other women.


Family Friendly Friday Tip #1: Make your own laundry detergent. 

Help the environment and save a ton of money!! I have started making my own powdered laundry soap and I love it. Originally I had planned on making the liquid detergent but I found a very easy and quick powder recipe so I gave it a try. The liquid recipe will still save you a ton of money over store bought versions but the powder is quicker and easier which not only saves you money but also a TON of time (something we can all use more of in the day).
Just to give you an example of my cost savings, store bought detergent costs me anywhere from 0.15 to 0.20 cents per load. The powder homemade detergent costs me just over 0.1 cent per load. Praise the LORD!!

Here is the recipe for powder and liquid homemade laundry detergent.

I pray that you all have a blessed weekend!!