Drink More Water!

I was at lunch with some friends the other day at a chain restaurant. My friend's drink cost him $2.29. TWO. TWENTY. NINE. I'm sorry, but that is just ridiculous. I know he had free refills, but it helped me realize some math. Bear with me for a moment.

Let's give some restaurants the benefit of the doubt. Let's say the average soft drink only costs $1.50 and you get free refills. Think of how many times you go out to eat per year. I would render a guess at the average family eats out once a week. $1.50 X 52 weeks = $78! For ONE person.

Seventy-eight dollars is a lot of money, and that's at the low end for price per beverage and a low estimate for the number of drinks you order per year. Add in when you get fast food, the number of people in your family ordering, the amount you spend on groceries a year for soft drinks to enjoy with dinner, or the coffee you buy for your mornings.

You know how much money I spend a year on beverages? Zero. Nada. Nothing.

As I teen, I was drinking WAY too much pop/soda/coke/whatever-you-wanna-call-it than anyone should have ever been allowed to drink. It was easy for me to drink 8 cans of something without thinking it strange. Now, as a mother who doesn't let her kids drink pop, I am floored by this memory.

About 9 years ago, I decided to quit cold turkey. I did this during my first real job. You see, at this job, I had lunch breaks. It didn't take long to realize that my added beverage at lunch was taking up too much of my $7/hr wage. Pop was expensive, lemonade was cheaper, but a cup of water was free. I was sold. "Can I please have a cup/glass of water?" has become quite the natural question when I do go out to eat.

Whether I go out to eat, drink at home, or take something with me to the park or whatever, I don't buy anything aside from food. I haven't come across a single place that has denied me a cup of water. The very worst case scenario was when I was dying of thirst and ran through a drive-thru. Because I wasn't ordering food, I was informed that I'd have to pay $0.16 for a small cup of water. Big whoop.

Want to be really frugal? Ask for no ice. Most restaurants have their drinks ready to serve cold. Since ice cubes take up more space than water, you'll get more water in your cup AND it will still be cold.

And please understand that I am not advocating drinking bottled water. If that is your solution, you've missed the point. Bottled water costs money and produces a ton of waste.

I have a water filter on my fridge at home that pumps out ice cold clean fresh water to me whenever I want it. If you don't have a fridge that does that, you can get a water filter for under $30. You can also purchase a thermos to carry water with you if you see fit. You can find those for under $13.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but putting a $30 investment into a water filter and $13 into a nice reusable water bottle is still LESS than that original amount we added up earlier.

These products would last for years, work out to be infinitely cheaper, reduce an unlimited amount of waste, and it's all completely healthy for you.

Click here to read some reasons why water is not only thrifty, but how it has a ton of great health benefits.

For the skeptics, I know you're considering how high my water bill must be because of how much I drink water at home... Well, for one, it isn't even a noticeable increase in our water bill, but furthermore, we conserve water like crazy at home. But that post is for another day.

If your wondering where I get my caffeine fix, I don't have one. I don't drink pop, tea, or coffee (coffee and tea costs money too, you know). I've learned that a human CAN survive without pumping caffeine into their system.

10 Thrifty-Friendly Mother's Day Gifts for Under $15

Alrighty, Thrifty Readers, you have less than a week to come up with something for your mama for Mother's Day.

You want to get her something, but don't have much money? The biggest piece of frugal advice I can give you is to be creative, and put your effort into it.

Dads of small children, I am mostly talking to you. Don't drop the ball. Read this and do something for your wife on behalf of your children. These gifts can obviously be given to your own mom, but let's not forget the moms whose kids are too young to do this stuff on their own. If you just plan on saying, "Happy Mother's Day" to her, I will smack you.

On with the fun!

1. [free] Let her sleep in. Especially to the dads small children, even if this is the only thing you do for her all day, she will be glad she married you. She might not even find herself with a headache tonight, if you know what I mean.
2. [free] Spend time with her! Just treat her like the queen she is. Don't make her lift a finger.
3. [<$1] Make a card with a special message from the heart. Show her how much you appreciate everything she does. Even if it looks like you designed it with your eyes closed, it will mean so much.
4. [<$15] Make her a meal. I don't care if you have to open every cabinet in your kitchen to find something and dinner ends up being at 3 hours late, the effort you put in will be noticed.
5. [$13.75] I found this great zipper wallet by Bumble Sweet Designs that sells for $10.50. Even with shipping, you're still under $15. It's so cute, and who wouldn't love something new and handmade. This won't arrive in time, but you can make an IOU in that great card you made.
6. [$8] Etsy really is a great place to find amazing stuff. I found these earrings for $6 by Alililly. Shipping is only $2, so you really can't go wrong.
7. [$9.99] Walgreens has great photo gifts. You can make your mom a calendar of the most awesome people in her world: her kids! This calendar only costs $9.99 and you can start it at any month you want.
8. [$14.88] Does your mom already have photos printed from your special event but neglected to put them in frames? You can get her this great 5-piece frame set from Walmart.
9. [$8.79] And what woman doesn't love to be pampered? Target has these great bath sets that smell great!
10. [$11.25] Kohl's has a great sale going on right now. You can get this great FAMILY frame for less than half of what it regularly is.

 I hope these ideas help you find something for that special lady in your life. Make sure you treat her well. She brought you into this world; she can take you out of it.

To the moms reading this, feel free to leave it open for your children (or husband) to read. :-)

Freezer Recipe: Making Beef and Bean Burritos in Bulk

I got this recipe from an AMAZING book called Fix, Freeze, Feast. A friend had told me about the book a few months ago, we did this recipe for her family, and now I just did it again for my own family. It takes a bit of work, but it is sooooo worth it.

The idea behind freezer meal in bulk is to save you money, time, and sanity. Many of the recipes that I will post are from this book. The authors gear the recipes to buy from warehouse stores like Costco or Sam's where you can often buy things cheaper by the pound when you buy it in bulk. The great thing here is that you are using all of your fresh ingredients before they spoil. You get homecooked meals from scratch, and you have a large assortment on hand for dinner when you need it.

I am HORRIBLE at planning ahead. My husband comes home from work and asks me whats for dinner. My answer? "Ummmmmmmmmm......."

Recipes like this one allow me to have it already made and ready. All I have to do is throw it in the oven. Bam. Dinner is ready.

I'll talk more about freezer meals later with other recipes, but lets get started with these burritos.

As one of the authors of Fix, Freeze, Feast describes these burritos, "We keep these on hand for quick lunches - homemade 'fast food.'" 100% truth right there.

This recipe makes about 40 burritos, so make sure you have room in your freezer for about 6 gallon size bags.

Ingredients:

1 Tray (6 lbs) Lean Ground Beef (cooked)
1 Cup taco seasoning
3 Cups of water
8 15-ounce cans of Refried Beans - any flavor
40 10-inch Flour Tortillas (I happened to buy mine in packs of 6, so I bought 7 of them, making 42 shells)
Mix-ins (Salsa, cilantro, cheese, onion, etc.) optional
Aluminum Foil - Sams sells Aluminum foil sheets. I bought those to save my sanity. It cut down my time for sure.
Gallon size Freezer Bags

Directions:

Brown your ground beef. Doing this much ground beef will take about 20 minutes.
Drain.
Add in taco seasoning and water. Bring to simmer. Let cook until most of the water has evaporated.
Let beef cool.

The next step I suggest is lay out your aluminum foil and your tortillas. I found that doing it this way allowed for my to do about 14 at a time, and I could be sure I added in everything I wanted to. My set up looked like this:

Notice my little helper.

This setup allowed for me to keep track of doing different fillings. I have a strange weakness for cilantro, so I made sure that some had that in there. My husband, however, does not share this love of cilantro with me, so I made sure that I had several groups without it. My kids like their burritos without onions. You see where I'm going with this. Just make sure you group them together and label your bags!

I strongly suggest you do not do this with a 1 year old running around. I turned around to grab something and I found her like this:

She stole a tortilla right off the table!

Once you have your set of burritos like you like them, wrap the burrito (Side note: Did you know that on the tortilla package, you can often find instructions on how to wrap it properly?) and then wrap it in tin foil. My tip for this step would be to lay out your foil and then lay your tortillas right on top. Before you wrap it, you should have something like this:

A burrito for my non-salsa/cilantro/onion-loving children of mine.

Once you have them wrapped, start putting them in freezer bags and put them in the freezer. I repeat, make sure you label your bags! My permanent marker *somehow* disappeared off of my desk. I chose to use some leftover Avery labels instead. Make sure you have the date on there as well.

Yummy goodness!

These burritos are good for about 3 months after you make them. If you're like me, I can eat Mexican food all day long. I know these won't go to waste around this house.

Now I bet you'd like to know how to cook them. Let me tell you. It's soooo easy!

To Cook:

You can thaw them out if you want or just bake straight from the freezer. If thawed, bake at 300 degrees for 30 minutes. If they are frozen, bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

You can also cook them in the microwave if you're in a rush. Unwrap it (duh!), hit "Thaw" and then "Reheat."

Now, when my husband asks me what we're having for dinner, I can tell have an answer and food on the table quickly.

These are also fabulous for when you have guests come over. Ten people from church decide to come over? No problem! Just bust out your cookie sheet and a few bags of your burritos, and you are good to go.

My total burrito count: 41 (it would have been 42 if it hadn't been for some thievery)

Let me know if you try this recipe! I know I love it!