Hummingbird Nectar

Well today I brought out the hummingbird feeder to find the flowers needed to be repainted so I tackled that. Next was to find a recipe for hummingbird nectar and fill the feeder. I remembered my friend at sparing-change.blogspot.com had posted one last year so I hopped over to her blog and found it.


Hummingbird Nectar(4:1)

Ingredients:

Water
Sugar


Directions:

Heat water in microwave for 3-5 minutes or until hot
Add sugar
Stir until sugar has dissolved
Let nectar cool to room temperature
Fill feeder(s)
Store remaining nectar in the refrigerator for up to two weeks

Side Note:
It is not good for the hummingbird food to stay in the feeder for more than a week.  Otherwise, it tends to get moldy or cloudy.  For this reason, I make smaller batches of hummingbird nectar and refill the feeders more often.  Many times, I make 1 or 2 cups of nectar with ¼ cup or ½ cup of sugar.  Or, I make the full 4 cups and keep the extra nectar in a glass jar in the refrigerator so I can easily refill their feeders.

My note:
When you heat water in the microwave it loosens up cooked on food. After the water is finished, take a few minutes and wipe down the inside of your microwave.

Reuben made from leftover corned beef - now and later

The day after St. Patrick's day usually brings leftover corned beef. Usually I just reheat and eat it the same as the day before. Tonight however I tried my hand at making a Reuben. No exact recipe but this is how I made it.

Leftover corned beef sliced thinly across grain (I warmed mine up)
Sauerkraut- drained and warmed
Thousand island dressing
Swiss cheese
Rye or pumpernickel bread (I used a rye and pumpernickel marbled bread)

Butter one side of each slice of bread, lay one slice butter side down, spread on thousand island dressing to taste, add slice Swiss cheese, add corned beef, add sauerkraut and top with second slice of bread butter side up.

Grill til desired doneness.

Later

Slice corned beef thin and add to small freezer bag with slice Swiss cheese.
Take sauerkraut and put in small freezer bag.
Take 2 slices bread, wrap in saran wrap,and add to a small freezer bag.

Take all the small bags and add to a larger freezer bag. Label bag with date and Reuben and put in freezer for another day.

I did this for one sandwich but you could do as many as you like.

Review of Couponchief.com

Recently I was contacted by couponchief.com and asked to write a review of their site. I was a little taken back as I have never been asked to do anything like this and I had no idea what this site was.

After reviewing the site and playing around with it I decided to accept the offer and share this wonderful site with all my readers.

If you are not familiar with this site, they offer online coupons and promo codes. If you are like me, you have searched endlessly for codes to use during checkout to help save you some money only to be overwhelmed with the results returned. Well....look no further! This site offers an easy to navigate search feature where you can put in the store or item you are looking for.

A big plus for some will be the fact that you don't need an account or sign in to use the coupons. However, it is recommended if you want full access to the other assets of this site.

What sets this site apart from all the other sites that offer the same things? They offer a pays2share program, where you sign up for an account, upload coupons, and if someone uses your coupon, you get 2% of the sales!  It is not a quick get rich scheme but just another way to help you earn some pocket change without a lot of work on your part.

Why not hop on over to couponchief.com today and check it out for yourself!


Disclosure: I have been compensated for the time I spent reviewing this website.  However, all opinions are my own and have not been influenced by the compensation received.

UPDATE: 2012 Personal Challenge #1 - Give up Paper Towels

I thought I would take the time to update on my personal challenge #1 since it has been almost 2 months now.

I have stuck to this and we have not missed them in the least. I feel pretty confident in saying that this has now become a habit and a lifelong commitment and it feels great not adding those pesky paper towels to our trash pile.

Why not join me in saving a few extra dollars along with being a bit greener?

2012-Personal Challenge #4- Green my Toilet Paper

Well I have been wanting to start this but had to wait until my current stock of toilet paper has been depleted.

Well yesterday I ran into Giant to purchase my Sun and Earth laundry detergent as this is the only place local that sells it, and wouldn't you know they had Marcal Small Steps toilet paper on sale $4.99 for a 12 pack. It was on my list to get and was actually a few cents cheaper than what I pay for our normal toiletpaper so I grabbed a few.

So I am slowly replacing paper products in our home with reusable items or greener options. I think the only paper product left to replace are the Kleenex. Which I see Marcal makes those also.

Not familiar with Marcal products? This is their story, which can also be found at
Marcalsmallsteps.com

Based in Elmwood Park, New Jersey, we at Marcal Manufacturing have prided ourselves as being one of the oldest environmentally friendly paper companies in the US. For 60 years Marcal® has been making paper products using recycled paper.
In 2009, Marcal Manufacturing, LLC, introduced the Marcal® Small Steps® line of 100% recycled bath tissue, towels, napkins and facial tissue for both home consumption and to distributors for commercial use. These products deliver strong performance without the typical “green premium” cost. The name Small Steps® signifies the small and easy steps toward making a difference in the world that you can make by using these recycled paper products.
For over five decades, Marcal has reducing landfill by making our paper products from recycled paper. We use paper collected from curbs in residential neighborhoods in cities and towns across America–from the small blue baskets in office buildings, unwanted junk mail, and waste from printers–all in an effort to do something good, to produce something that people need.
Marcal is an integral part of the northern New Jersey community. Our company uses recyclables from local municipalities and recycling facilities for our paper recycling process.

McDonalds Sweet Tea

My daughter was in love with McDonalds Sweet Tea and then she was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis and put on a special diet which restricts her from eating white sugar, white flour, high fructose corn syrup, white flour, artificial anything etc... Needless to say the tea was cut from her diet. Well, that's until I found a recipe for it on topsecretrecipes.com.

Yes I know how to make sweet tea and I must say it's pretty good but apparently it doesn't taste like McDonalds. So I set out to find a recipe that I could tweak to fit her diet guidelines.

Mcdonald's Sweet Tea

3 Lipton tea bags - standard size
2 qts water
1 cup sugar

Bring water to a rapid boil, remove from heat, add tea bags, and cover and let set for 1 hour. Add to pitcher and add sugar. Mix well.

*please note that I use decaf tea bags and instead of white sugar I use Sugar in the Raw.

Needless to say my daughter is very pleased with the results.

E-coupons and Printable Coupons

Are you familiar with the term E-coupons? It is the newest invention among couponers. Just go to the site,register your store card or cards, and click on the coupons that you want on the cards. It's that easy! Some of these work a little differently that the traditnal coupons though. One site you can earn money but it doesn't save you at the time of shopping and one site uses your savings to help build a college education for your child.

The printable coupon sites are great also as you can just pick which ones you want or you can print them all. Also some sites will let you print more than one of each. However, I have never been able to print more than 3 of one coupon.

I will share the list of sites I use and/or am familiar with. If you happen to have any not listed please share them with us. Thanks!

Printable: 

RedPlum.com 

SmartSource.com

CouponNetwork.com 

Coupons.com 

Shortcuts.com


eCoupons:

SavingStar.com - Giant, Food Lion, CVS, Rite Aid. Can register multiple cards from same store. Reloads on Thursday. When you buy a product, the savings does not come off your grocery bill like a coupon. You get credit for it on SavingStar.com and when you reach $5+ you can request the money back via your bank account, PayPal or gift card.

Safeway.com Register your card and/or log in, click on the Just for U tab then Coupon Center and add all the deals to your card each week. Pretty sure you can stack these and manufacturer coupons.

P&G eSaver Looks like you can register any store card since you type in the name and number. It says "Coupons must be redeemed from card to add more". Not sure if that means you have to use the ecoupons you select before you are offered any more?

uPromise You don't get the instant discount, but the ecoupon amount will go into your uPromise account for college. Plus click the "Coupons and Deals" tab to find promo codes for discount at TONS of online stores.

FoodLion This is powered by RedPlum, which also has some ecoupons so I'm not sure if they will conflict. Never hurts to try!

RedPlum You can load eCoupons to your FoodLion card. Looks like the same ecoupons from the FoodLion site.

Shortcuts.com Register your Safeway card as a Carrs card. I have redeemed ecoupons from Safeway using this site. Also has printable.

Coupons.com For your Safeway card and has printables. Interestingly, some of the eCoupons are the same as the printable and I'm wondering if they can be stacked?

2012 Personal Challenge #3 - Green my laundry room

Well I started off the year with making my own laundry detergent and fabric softener sheets only to be disappointed in the detergent and not liking the messy softener.

The detergent worked great on everyday clothing without a lot of dirt but didn't do much for work clothes or my 2 yr old clothes so I have decided to try and find an inexpensive but good natural/green laundry detergent.

In my search I was able to find Sun and Earth laundry detergent at our Giant, regular price $8.99, on sale for $7.99 for 100fl oz and doing 52 loads. I love the light citrus smell and hope that it works well.

As for fabric softener I will be using white vinegar in a downy ball and sprinkling arm and hammer baking soda in the wash. I only use fabric softener in the winter as I hang my clothes to dry during warm weather.

After reviewing a ton of information regarding the use of oxi-clean I have chosen to forgo using this product and instead use Arm and Hammer washing soda which can be found in the laundry section next to the borax.

I already reuse the dryer lint to make homemade fire starters, I only use water when I iron, I use a timed setting on my dryer and I wash clothes in cold water. Not too sure if I can do anything else to make it greener except maybe vent the dryer into the basement during the winter to add some extra heat. Hmmmmmm that's a good idea so I guess I will be researching that also.

Updates for this challenge will posted in the future.

Body Wash vs Bar Soap

I bet it's safe to say that a majority of the population uses body wash over bar soap.  Up until about a year ago I mainly used bar soap but made the switch to body wash because I was able to find it on sale and use coupons making it more affordable.

However, I have been finding that bar soap actually works out to be cheaper because it lasts longer and if you use a soap saver you get to use every last bit of it. No more little slivers being stuck to soap dishes or going in the trash. Add your bar of soap to the soap saver, close, wash, rinse it out and hang to dry.  Thats all there is to it!

Now there are several places you can purchase these nifty little inventions or if you can crochet or knit you can make them yourself to save even more money.  Why not make the change? It's better on the environment as there will be less plastic going into our landfills and it's better on your wallet.

2012 Personal Challenge #2 - Find a better alternative for trash bags

This challenge has several parts to it. One, to find a better bag for our environment and two to cut back on our household trash.

The first one was easier than anticipated as I walked into Walmart on a search to find a trash bag easier on our environment. I was pleasantly surprised to find a bag made by Hefty called "Renew". These bags are a bargain at $3.34 for 20 bags and are made from 10% post consumer and 55% pre consumer materials for a total of 65% recycled plastic. You can also bring down the price by finding and using coupons.
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Now all I need to do is to cut back on the amount of trash we produce which will also cut down on the amount of bags we use making them even more earth friendly.

How do I intend to complete the second part of my challenge you ask?
Well, I plan on buying less prepackaged items, prepare more items from scratch, buy in bulk, recycle, up cycle, and making a compost pile. Look for updates on our progress in the near future.

2012 Personal Challenge #1 - Give up Paper Towels

For the start of the 2012 year I decided to forgo buying paper towels even with the family not being 100% on board with the idea. Questions like how do we prevent splatters in the microwave, drain grease from bacon and other fried foods, and wipe up spills etc... I didn't have all the answers and we are still trying to figure out the best alternatives for some of these things but It's been almost one month and it's working out just fine.

As a family of 6 we were buying 1 -2  six packs of paper towels a month. Not only were we wasting money but adding to our landfills. That's when I decided we needed to do something.

I purchased 8 bar mops from Walmart for $7.45 with the intentions of rolling or folding these up in a pretty jar or bowl and setting them on the counter but haven't found one I like yet so for now they're folded up in a drawer with one being hung on the oven door handle at all times and others taken out as needed.


So now some of the answers to the questions asked by my family.

1. How do we prevent splatters in the microwave? Well we are using leftover parchment paper I had in the pantry but as of yesterday I purchased a splatter cover from Walmart for $1.97.


2. How do we drain grease from bacon or other fried foods? By using paper bags instead of paper towels and we have a grease catcher to pour grease into from the bacon and other foods. Eventually we won't have to deal with this as I cut fried foods like bacon out of our diet or cooking it on a broiler pan in the oven. While at Walmart yesterday I saw a microwave plate that you cook bacon on and the splatter cover I purchased fits this. This may be a purchase in the near future.

3. As far as spills go... If on the counter, table, stove or in refrigerator use the dish cloth and then rinse out. If it's on the floor grab a rag and wipe it up.

I will update you in a month with our progress in this challenge.

My personal challenge to give up paper napkins in 2011

A few years back I purchased six blue cloth napkins from our dollar store and six more from Kmart on clearance with all intentions of using them everyday. However, these were put in a drawer and only brought out occasionally. Then I hit the jackpot with someone offering a bunch of restaurant ones on free cycle. Once again I decided I was going to use these on a daily basis and failed. Well I didn't give up and  now it's been a year since I've purchased paper napkins and strictly use the cloth ones. No more running out of napkins and no more extra trash in the landfill. 

I know there are people out there who will argue that you are wasting more water, using more detergent, using more electricity etc...by having to wash them but I can honestly say there has been no difference in any of these things.  No need to do a load of just napkins just toss them in with your towels and washcloths and you're done. 

Go Green with your bills

Have your bills e-delivered.
The same principal and advantages apply to your credit card, utility and other monthly bills as apply to financial statements. You get timely notification and access through a secured Web site.

With e-bills, you don't have to worry about lost mail. That means you can be sure you will know what you owe in plenty of time to make a payment. You'll avoid costly late charges on your credit accounts, while protecting even more trees from a needless death.

Pay your bills electronically.
Once you're online looking at those charges, it just takes a couple extra clicks to make the payment.

In addition to helping you become a prompt payer, which will help your credit score, and saving even more forests, e-payment can help you make a little money. Because you'll be able to make payments later in your billing cycle, your money will have more time to earn more interest for you.

You'll also save on stamps -- 15 stamps a month for a year equals almost $75 -- and last-minute trips to the post office that consume not only your precious time, but also fuel that adds to greenhouse emissions. An added bonus: You protect yourself from identity thieves who cruise streets, looking for curbside mailboxes full of bill payments and checks with all that personal information.

There is one thing to watch out for here. Even though it usually saves creditors money, too, a few still charge extra for e-payments.

Go Green with your investments account statements

Get your investment account statements electronically.
In most cases, the process is identical to the one used for your bank's monthly e-statement. E-mail notification directs you to a secured Web site to see how much your assets are earning.

Instant online access means you can quickly see if you need to rebalance your portfolio. Once you're at the secure Web page, it's usually just a few mouse clicks to shift to another, higher-yielding fund. And you'll feel good knowing that while you're saving money for your future, your dedication to electronic investing instead of by paper means you've saved even more future forests for your kids to enjoy.

Go Green With savings

Automatically put pay in savings account.
Have part of your pay automatically put into a savings account. All this typically takes is one extra checkbox when you have your paycheck directly deposited.

The financial benefits are obvious. By sending the money directly to an account, you're not tempted to spend it frivolously. Also, it starts earning interest immediately. The system also saves you time and you won't waste gas by driving to the bank to make the transfer between accounts.

Go Green with your pay

Direct-deposit your pay.
Most employers and banks can handle your request. In fact, they probably prefer the method.

Your paycheck will always be in the bank, not in the mail, and there's no environmentally wasteful paper paycheck to worry about. So even when you're on vacation, your money is in your account, earning interest or making sure your upcoming bill e-payments can be made without any problem.

Go Green by donating

Donate clothing and household goods.
Donate clothing and household goods to the environmental nonprofit of your choice. Many charitable groups, including those dedicated to saving the planet, will take such gifts.

On the pro-environment side, the organization can sell the items in its thrift shop, producing needed income to keep operating. As for your finances, such donations are as tax-deductible as cash gifts to approved groups. Just make sure the donated items are in good or better shape or the IRS could disallow the deduction.


Donate your old vehicle to an environmental cause.
Yes, many of these groups will welcome that jalopy. Some will even come tow it away for you.

The advantages to the groups are many. It might use the auto to help transport volunteers to environmental projects. It could sell the vehicle and use the cash for other projects. Either way, if you itemize, you might be able to get a deduction for your vehicular gift on your tax return. Just be sure to find out how the auto donation is used, as that will determine just how large your write-off will be.

Go Green with a cash gift

Make a cash gift to an environmental group.
All these groups -- and there are thousands -- will happily take money via cash, check or credit card. Some even offer estate plan help so that you can leave a final bequest to the group.


Your gift obviously will help the environmental group continue its efforts. But it also could save you some tax dollars. If you itemize, you can deduct your donations to IRS-approved charities. Just make sure you get a receipt in case the IRS has follow-up questions. If your gift is one of your final ones, it also could help lower any potential taxes on your estate. See your attorney or financial planner on how to structure these types of estate gifts to you maximum tax benefit.

Go Green with paying your bills

Pay bills by credit card.
If you don't want to pay directly from your bank account, pay your bills by credit card. In fact, this might be easier. Not every business accepts e-payments yet, but almost all take plastic.

You get the same great environment-saving advantages of paying electronically while also earning yourself some financial perks. Set up an automatic credit card payment; that way you'll never face another late fee. Make sure the card is one with a low or no interest rate. If it's a rewards card, all the better. Your eco-friendly payment method will earn you extra points.

Go Green with your canceled checks

Cancel the canceled checks.
If you still get paper bank statements that include canceled checks, at least cancel the canceled checks. You can reconcile your account just fine without all those extra slips of paper.


Savings are immediate for many account holders, because some banks charge extra to keep sending along canceled checks. Once you start getting a less-imposing statement, it also should make it easier for you to check it each month. Timely account reconciliation can help you spot any financial trouble spots. And no canceled check clutter means more forests for us all.