Frugal Tip for Saving Coins

An easy frugal way to save money is to have a coin jar for loose change.  Each week empty out your wallet, purse, brief case, car and pockets and put the coins into a jar.  By the end of the year, there will often be $100 or more in the jar!  You won't notice the loss in your wallet and you will be carrying around less weight.

I keep two jars.  One jar is for nickels, dimes, quarters and half dollars (sometimes dollar coins if I happen to get one) and one jar is for pennies.  I separate them because I often will donate pennies to an elementary school that is doing a penny drive for charity like Haiti.  I don't feel the donation in my wallet and it gives me a good feeling to be able to help.  The child is always thrilled to take in a pile of pennies to contribute to the collection.  I call it a trifecta of giving.

I put my silver change into a glass cider jar that I have been using for years. This money is a gift to myself to use in any way I want.  I like to use it to go to yard sales.  I always have a pocketful of coins to offer for items and after haggling down the price on something I don't give them a $5 bill and ask for change.  I think that is rude.  

Now a days grocery stores have coin counting machines that for a small fee will sort and count your money for you.  Now that was a great idea!  When you are finished you can get bills back out of the machine and it even gives you all those paper clips, thumb tacks, slugs and other miscellaneous items that have ended up in the jar.  There are also coin sorting gadgets for those that don't want to pay the fee of the larger machines.  You drop the coins in and they fall into a tube that can be counted and then rolled up.  Fun exercise for kids and educational too. The last time I took coins to the bank to turn in I found they were not really thrilled.  Could be the teller or could be the fact that they have been scammed so many times by unscrupulous people who short change the rolls or substitute other items to fill them up.

I always check my coins for real silver.  It is seldom these days to find any but still possible.  If only we had known to save coins in 1964 when the switch was made to insert other metals and devalue the coin's actual worth.  Look for coins from 1964 and older and keep them.  Silver is worth $16.30 an ounce as of this posting.  I remember not too many years ago buying one ounce silver rounds for $5.00!  Silver has tripled in price mostly due to the demand for silver in the field of technology (and for those holding on to large quantities of silver bars as an investment...I wish I was one of those people!).

Pennies stopped being made from solid copper in mid-1982. When the cost of the copper would have exceeded one cent, the US changed the penny to copper-plated zinc. You can identify these modern zinc cents because they do not "ring" when dropped onto a hard surface...mostly a dull thud.  During World War 2, brass was needed for military use and the 1943 cents were made of steel (these can be picked up with a magnet). This same necessity led to the use of silver in the nickels made from 1942 to 1945.

If you keep these dates in mind you might just earn more money from your coin pile.  Another thing to look for are coins from other countries.  We used to just pass by an occasional Canadian coin but now with the devaluation of the American Dollar, Canadian coins are worth more than the American ones.  Separate these out and turn them in at the bank for American coins. As of today a Canadian dollar is worth 7 cents more than an American dollar so you only need 93 Canadian pennies to equal a dollar if you exchange them.

It is amazing how many people I have shared this tip with have not implemented these easy money saving ideas.  I have seen people keep jars, label the years and keep in the closet.  Years pass, often the folks pass away and when the money is counted it is staggering how much is actually there!

My Mother used to be a School Nurse in a Junior High School.  She told me that the janitors would pick up lots of change while they were cleaning  and put it away in a jar.  Seems the kids did not want to keep pennies and would throw them around.  By the end of the school year there was enough money  for the janitors to out to dinner and have a couple of drinks and toast the kids!

My Mother and I like to fill plastic easter eggs and hide them for the neighborhood kids.  We dip into our change jars and put coins in some of the eggs.  The squeals of little children finding coins is wonderful.  We also give the kids a container of some sort or a wallet with coins in it for birthday gifts.  It is a great last minute gift and so much better than some toy that probably came from China and could be unhealthful or broken within a week.  Kids love to get change.  More than once I have hired the now five and eight year old neighbors to help me in the garden for a handful of change.  They have fun working with me, I get cheap labor and they go home and feed their piggy bank.  They have learned the value of doing good work as a life lesson.  Now Tim did teach them to ask for a bonus last year and that really affected my jar! How can you refuse a four year old asking for a bonus? Another win win situation for all in the long run.

 So get out those chipped canning jars and begin to put away your coins.  If you see someone bending over at the gas pump, in the mall parking lot or in front of the grocery store picking something up off the ground, it is me.  I pick up every coin I see on the ground and am not too proud to do it.  I think of those janitors and my jar, smile and go off on my merry way humming, "I'm in the money, I'm in the money, I've got a lot of what it takes to get along:

Frugal Way to Give

Frugal Hacks, a newsletter I read frequently, reminded me of the Free Rice  website.  FreeRice is a non-profit website run by the United Nations World Food Program. Our partner is the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University.

FreeRice has two goals:
• Provide education to everyone for free.
• Help end world hunger by providing rice to hungry people for free.

As you play a word game, and increase your vocabulary, you are giving grains of rice for each correct answer. This is made possible by the generosity of the sponsors who advertise on the site. You can even set it to keep track of all of the rice you give by choosing definitions for the words given. How wonderful to learn and provide rice for hungry human beings, enabling them to function and be productive. Somewhere in the world, a person will be eating rice that you helped provide. Visit FreeRice.com.

What a fun and frugal way to help others!  Please pass this site on to your friends.

What To Get For The Dog That Has Everything

 Mister T, my best friend is tops on my Christmas list.  When he went to see Santa Claws he barked he wanted stuffed animals that he could rip apart and pull the stuffing out of, squeeky toys to bite till the squeeker is silenced and rubber balls that can be shredded into millions of pieces so he can watch me clean up his prizes.  But these are the things he asks for every year.  What do you get the dog that has everything?

Well, I have found the perfect gift.  He will be the envy of the big bad Rotweiler down the street who fiercely barks at him when he walks by on the walk to Grandma's house.  The envy of Driveway Kitty who lives across the street and never leaves her driveway day or night. Mini Pincher who jumps up and down and barks nervously when Mister T checks out the mailbox (why he always wants to do his business under the mailbox is a myster to me) will be annoyed.  Bentley, his best Dachshund friend will surely be jealous. Finally, Midnight The Kitten who has had the nerve to move into the house next door and does not understand the boundary of his yard and ours will be confused.

Mister T is going to be a male fashionisti (is that the male version of a fashionista?) and will set the vogue fashion standard for the entire neighborhood.  He just may be called to be on Jay Leno or Ellen Degeneras for being a trend setter not an Irish Setter.

Pup and Co Boutique has a fabulous selection of accoutremonts for your canine buddy.  What caught my eye was an accessory that will make Mister T's day and have him really stand out and show his inner self.  What do you think?

There are other wigs to choose from to match your dog's personality and inner diva.  Since Mister T is a real guy type he will be able to show his power with the spiked look.  He is really a wild and crazy guy and wants to show off his individuality,  Can you hear him say, "It's good to be me"?

The other selections just weren't the real Mister T but are worth sharing with you.

The afro look was his second choice.  It is a strong and handsome statement.

The pink  tosseled look and this vixen model did catch his eye. He is thinking of asking for her number.

The blue flowing look might be good for the beach.

The pink flip was cute and too flirty.  Just not his style.

He did actually ask for the Bob Marley look but we thought he might be easier to catch by the Rotweiller.

And finally, the Sara Palin look.  Mister T didn't vote for her so he said it would be politically incorrect to dress up like her. Cross dressing is really not his thing.

Although these gifts aren't frugal, they are fun and Mister T will be the toast of the neighborhood and that is worth all the money in the world to me.  I love you Mister T and Merry Christmas!!

Mister T wants to wish you all a Merry Christmas by singing a little song.

woof, woof, woof

woof, woof, woof

woof, woof, woof, woof, woof

woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof,

woof, wooooof, wooooof, woooof, woooof, wooooooooooooooof

Black Gold - Blackberries

I love blackberries! In the Pacific Northwest they are abundant, free, full of vitamins, free, easy to pick and did I say free? When I go to the Farmer's Market and see people buying a flat or worse a pint of blackberries for up to $25 a flat and $6 a pint box I cringe. I want to take them by the shoulders and shake them and ask them what their problem is. When blackberries are on every corner screaming to be picked why would someone be so lazy that they could not stop the car, get out and pick free, juicy blackberries in just a couple of minutes? I actually have asked people why they buy them and they usually answer they don't like to mess with the thorns and get scraped or have their fingers turn purple. Whatever! Being the Frugal Fraulein, I dream about blackberry season!

As I have already told you, this season I have picked berries and canned berry quick bread. I am now watching the vines in my back yard and in some of my favorite places along the road for them to ripen.

In picking season I always have large stainless steel bowls, a small pair of sharp garden clippers, hand wipes, zip loc bags, a towel and a hat in my car. I have also begun to carry an old apron so if I happen upon a really good patch I can cover my clothing.

The stainless steel bowls are industrial sized and were found at a yard sale. That memorable day, there were two of the bowls and a colander that I picked up for $1 a piece. It was one of those days that you have to keep your legs from running back to the car before the people realize the treasures they just parted with. Those things are worth their weight in gold to me. I use them when I pick produce in my garden, when I chop for canning and especially when I soak produce in absorbic acid to keep fruit from discoloring. When I pick berries they sit on the ground to leave my hands free for picking.

The garden clips are an old pair of Felco pruners that Mom gave me one year for Christmas. When I am not using them in the garden I keep them in the car. I can't tell you how many times I have used them to pick flowers along the roadside. In berry season, I use them to clip my way into the middle of the berry wall and to trim away those stragglers that are wanting to grab your arms and legs. Since berry vines grow produce fruit off new vines, it is actually doing the plants a favor to be trimmed. There is one place I have frequented for about 10 years near a sand lot and I witness year after year the area I pruned the previous season. That is my favorite place to pick and I have never seen anyone else there! No, I won't tell you where it is!

I keep a container of disinfectant hand wipes in the car to clean up after picking. My hands will be purple and full of the dried stuff that falls off the ripe berries. I get them at the dollar store and if the container seems to be getting dry I just add a wee bit of water to rehydrate the wipes. I keep a towel in the car for the final wipe of my hands if the towelettes are too wet. Nothing worse than sticky hands on the steering wheel.

Ziploc bags are always handy. After filling the bowls I transfer the berries into the plastic bags. If you don't do that you could have an awful mess if the bowl should happen to spill in the car. In the bags the berries are safe and if I don't get to process them that day they are safe in the refrigerator when I get home.

I happen to love aprons and think it is a fashion that needs to be resurrected. I use them all the time to protect my clothing. In fact when I teach canning classes I always recommend that the students bring an apron and I loan them to those that don't have one. Yes, I have a habit of wiping my hands on the front of me when I cook and can. Aprons have saved me many dollars over the years. If anyone ever wants to know what to buy me for a gift it would be an apron.
I have garden aprons with lots of pockets, a painting apron, a shop apron, a good apron I try to keep for company and many others to wear daily. Many holidays I wear one all day long and have pictures to prove it. Oh my blog picture is a Thanksgiving picture of me picking brussel sprouts fresh from the garden in November!

That old baseball hat keeps the sun out of my eyes, my hair away from my face and away from getting caught by the berry vines. There is always a hat in my car.

I have also tried the cup with handle method. Holding a coffee cup or paper cup with handle you reach into the vines to pick berries with your thumb and first finger. Supposedly the cup will push back the prickly vines and keep you from being scratched. I have had success with the method but think the few scratches I get are worth the trouble and I seems to me I can pick more berries with my hand unencumbered. To each his own... Try this method you might like it.

Ok, enough about supplies. You get the point. Put some items in the trunk of your car and next time you see some luscious berries, turn on your directional signals, slow down and park the car safely on the side of the road. Get out and pick some berries!

More on Day Lilies

Did a bit of research on eating day lilies today and now am excited to cook some up tomorrow! Word of caution is to only eat a few or you could get day lily revenge or a gastric experience. Eating anything in moderation is always advised.

All daylilies are edible. But check for the botanical name, Hemerocallis fulva, or any of its cultivars.
Culinary Uses: The young green leaves are edible raw or cooked. Older leaves become fibrous. Tubers are also edible raw or cooked and have a nutty flavour. Young tubers are best, though the central portion of older tubers is also good. Steam or boil the tubers as a potato substitute, or toss them raw onto a salad instead of croutons. The flowers can be eaten raw or cooked. The petals are thick and crunchy, making very pleasant eating raw, with a nice sweetness at the base because of the nectar. They taste somewhat like fresh peas. They can be fried for storage and used as a thickener in soups and stews, or used as a relish. Leaves and young shoots can be cooked and used as a substitute for asparagus or celery. Take small shoots under 15cm, strip away the larger leaves, saute in a little garlic and oil, add raw to salads, or simply steam and drench in butter for a nice, crunchy treat.
Warning: Large quantities of the leaves are said to be hallucinogenic. Because of the acrid nature of the green foliage, some experience nausea, diarrhoea and vomiting after eating raw plant parts. Such people will not be affected if the plant is cooked. Eating excessive amounts of raw flowers may cause diarrhoea.
Daylily Bud Saute 2 dozen daylily buds, white bases removed 1/2 cup flour 1/4 cup olive oil 3 eggs pinch of nutmeg salt and pepper I clove garlic, finely chopped
Saute the garlic in a little olive oil. Beat eggs, mix in enough flour to make a thin batter. Add the garlic, salt and pepper, and nutmeg. Add a teaspoon of milk if the batter is too thick. Dip the buds in the batter and saute until golden brown.
Daylily flowers can be stuffed, or added to soups and vegetables dishes. They can be boiled, steamed or added to stirfries. Add them to salads, or coat with batter and fry. Daylily leaves taste a little like creamed onions. Choose young leaves for best flavour. Add to soups, vegetable dishes and stirfries.
Day Lily Pork 3/4 cup onion rings 3 tablepsoons butter 1 clove garlic, mashed 8 thin slices of pork 1 tablespoon cornflour 2 tablespoons soy sauce 1/4 teaspoon powdered ginger 1 tablespoon Madeira wine salt and pepper to taste 1 1/2 cups chopped day lilies
Saute onions in the butter until translucent. Remove onions from pan with a slotted spoon and set aside. To butter, add garlic and pork slices. Cook both sides of pork, and remove from pan, leaving the juices and butter within the pan. Stir cornflour into the soy sauce until smooth, add to the pan with ginger, wine, salt andpepper. Stir ingredients until thickened and clear. Add the chopped day lily and onions to the pan and stir 2 minutes over medium heat. Pour this mixture over pork and serve.
Pasta with Day Lily Buds and Mushrooms about 185g oyster or shiitake mushrooms 1 heaped cup daylily buds, 2-3cm long 2 tablespoons unsalted butter 2 tablespoons olive oil 2 shallots, finely minced 1/2 teaspoon freshly chopped marjoram 1 tablespoon fresh chopped parsley salt and pepper to taste freshly grated parmesan cheese 500g fresh fettucinne noodles
Put water on to boil while preparing vegetables. Tear mushrooms into large bite size pieces and remove stem of shiitakes. Rinse the daylily buds and pat dry. In large frypan, heat butter and oil over medium heat. Add the shallots and saute them about 1 minute. Add mushrooms and stir for 1-2 minutes. Add daylily buds and stir 2-3 minutes. Add the herbs and season to taste with salt and pepper. Cover the pan and let stand over low heat for a few minutes while pasta is cooking. Drain the pasta, add it to the vegetables, and toss well. Add another tablespoon of butter or oil if necessary. Taste for seasoning and serve hot. Garnish with bread crumbs and parmesan if desired.
Spiced Pickled Day Lily Buds 2 litres day lily buds, freshly boiled and drained 3 cups white vinegar 3/4 cup brown sugar, packed 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon whole allspice 2 sticks cinnamon, 5cm long, broken up 10-12 whole cloves
Rinse and drain unopened day lily buds; clip off any stem remnants. Put buds in a saucepan, add water barely to cover. Bring quickly to the boil, cover, and simmer 20 minutes. Drain. (At this point, the buds can also be served as a vegetable dish after adding salt, pepper, spices, etc. Or they can be stuffed with ricotta cheese and served.) Pack hot buds into 8 sterile 400ml preserving jars. Combine vinegar, brown sugar, salt, allspice, cinnamon, and cloves in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Boil 3 minutes. Pour pickling solution over buds, distributing spices equally. Seal at once. Leave for a few weeks before using.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/04/09/HOG7UC42QO1.DTL

I can only think how often I have seen day lilies on the side of the road or in median strips and did not realize they were edible. Another common roadside flower is Queen Anne's Lace. I am going to pick some tomorrow as well. I am so pleased that I have both growing in my front yard. My knowingness must have been working when I planted them. I actually got the Queen Anne's Lace from digging some up on the side of the road and bringing it home. Yarrow and Lupin are another plants I brought home that way. There is an area around my garden shed that I am landscaping with local plants I have liberated from the side of the road. This year I have a hollyhock coming up from seeds sent to me from Marblehead, Massachusetts which is my home town.

Here are some other links to interesting and informative webpages/blogs on day lilies
http://www.100-garden-articles.com/articles/Daylily-A-Perennial-Favorite.shtml
http://www.henriettesherbal.com/archives/best/1996/hemerocallis.html
http://ddrblog.wordpress.com/2009/06/30/day-lily-buds-and-zucchini-blossoms-eating-for-free/
http://www.crossviewgardens.com/CGDayliliesInformation.htm
http://wildeats.blogspot.com/2007/06/salmon-stuffed-daylily-blossoms.html
http://www.stoptheride.net/2007/06/eating-wild-flowers.html
http://www.pfaf.org/leaflets/daylily.php

Let me know if you try them or if you have any other recipes for day lilies or other flowering plants in your yard!

Lessons Learned from the Edible Front Lawn

My edible front yard has evolved over five years. Many lessons have been learned that are worthy of sharing. Let me save you some needless grief and work.

First of all, I pride myself in being frugal to the point sometimes of fault. My friends call me the Frugal Fraulein for a reason. Although I strive to be a Martha Stewart wannabe, I don’t have her bank account and resources. I live very simply. If it is free, I am interested in giving it a second look. Therefore ridding my yard of grass had to cost little or nothing but my own time and effort.

I looked at many gardening books, articles, websites and television shows. I did not find many resources that provided instruction on what I hoped to accomplish. I was on my own. I could not afford to bring in heavy equipment, de-sod the yard, skim off the previously poisoned soil and then dump in yards and yards of new top soil. I had to make due with what I had.

Cardboard and newspapers were the answer. Paper products will cut out the sun and in time breakdown and self compost. Many layers of clean, black and white paper products were collected. I worked at a hospital and found out they have an abundance of boxes and packing paper to get rid of daily. The department head was glad to have me fill the car every few days. I picked up boxes at every store I visited. One day I found the holy grail of broken down boxes at the local re-cycle center. Here was an unlimited source of material to lay on the front lawn. I only had to climb the side of the container, hang in from the waist down and pull out the prizes. I am not a small person so I am sure this must have been a sight. Who cares it was free!

Who would think there were lessons to be learned from cardboard? Yes, there are. Look for heavy duty cardboard. It lasts longer before it begins to breakdown allowing more time for the plant matter to die off. Choose paper material without color and ink to reduce adding more unwanted chemicals to the yard. Large boxes work really well because that means you have to collect fewer and that means less work. Cut off all tapping material. It will only come to haunt you later on by rising to the top and appearing in unsightly clumps and being very slippery if you step on it. Newspaper works well too but must be layered thickly. In fact, all paper products work best when layered thickly. If you think you have enough, go get some more. Be sure you add another layer over all seams. If you don’t heavily layer you will have grass and weeds popping out in lines. When lines of green appeared a few months down the line, I tried to say they were simply access lines but no one bought the story.

In a couple of months the paper and cardboard began to breakdown. Since I live in the Pacific Northwest, there are slugs. Composting paper products did create a perfect breading ground for those slimy critters. I put out containers of beer and ended up with drunk slugs. I tried salt and ended up with slug goo everywhere. Finally, I resorted to early morning safaris picking up slugs and putting them in a jar. I fondly remembered living at a former residence that had loads of slugs. One sunny spring morning I went to my garden box that was still covered with black plastic. The box appeared to be moving. I pulled up the plastic and the box was full of garden snakes. At the time, I was horrified but now it is just another lesson learned. Garden snakes love slugs.

If you have any suggestions for ridding the garden of slugs please include in comments. When I was a child we delighted in sprinkling salt on them and watching them wizzle up. That is probably why my garden is so loaded with them now. Slug Karma!