Frugal Idea: Leftover Coffee

Ever have just a little bit of coffee left over every morning in the coffee pot? Don't throw it away! Instead, just like my idea with leftover chicken broth, pour your leftover coffee into ice cube trays and freeze it. Then pop them out and into a freezer bag. Then whenever you want a frosty coffee treat you can use your coffee cubes!

Simple Toy Storage Strategies & Solutions

Oh my goodness how I am overrun with toys! Anyone else out there feeling like your home has become the local toy store too? Crystal over at Money Saving Mom has a great post on some Simple Toy Storage Strategies & Solutions. I hope it helps you as much as it is helping me clear out the clutter!

Thanks Money Saving Mom!

Chicken and turkey broth

Do you ever have left over chicken broth while cooking? Instead of throwing it away, I have started to freeze it in ice cube trays and then storing it in a freezer bag. It is perfect for when you need a little more broth, but don't want to open another can!

Also, this may be better posted around Thanksgiving, but we had turkey for Easter this year. I left extra meat on the bird and froze the whole thing until I was ready to make broth. Then I put the bird in a big stockpot and covered it with water. I let it simmer for a few hours. Then I strained all the bones and meat out, and put it in the refrigerator overnight. I picked all the meat off the bones to save for another use. Then I scraped off the fat and started ladling the broth into my silicone muffin pans (I have way too much for ice cube trays). Freeze, pop them out and store the same way, in a freezer bag, just like the chicken broth!

Another homemade baby wipe recipe

I jumped on Kelly F's baby wipe making bandwagon and decided to make some of my own. I found an awesome blog HERE that has a different folding style that helped me make wipes just like the store-bought kind! It takes a little more work in the beginning to get started, but you'll have wonderful "pull-out" wipes! I didn't want to give up using my wipe warmer and now with this method, I won't have to!

I used an empty plastic Huggies wipe container.
*I cut the roll of paper towels in half first before I ripped the towels into individual sheets. This makes the wipes fit width-wise into the wipe container.
**I did alter the water, oil, and baby soap since I used more towels than Trina did. I used 1 1/2 cups water, 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil, and 1 1/2 tbsp baby soap.

They came out great, smell divine, and are working well. For my first try, I am impressed. I don't think I will every buy wipes again. To think, I could've saved so much money if I would've known how to do this 2 years ago!

Here's the best part: I already had a 30 oz bottle of baby wash that I got as a baby shower gift 2 years ago, so that part of the equation is FREE!
I have two 25.5 oz. bottles of olive oil that I got on a BOGO sale at Publix 4 months ago with coupons for $4.99 (total for both). That's 102 tablespoons of olive oil which comes to $0.05 a tbsp!
I got an 8 pack of Kleenex Viva paper towels on sale at Publix for $6.99. That's $0.87 a roll. There are 50 sheets per roll. I can make 100 baby wipes per roll (rolls cut in 1/2). That's 800 baby wipes waiting to be made!

So, I take 1 1/2 cups water, 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil ($0.07 approx), 1 tbsp FREE baby wash, and 50 paper towels ($0.87) and make 100 wipes.

GRAND TOTAL PER WIPE: $0.0094 per wipe!!
It would cost $0.68 to buy a 72 count box of "My wipes" in the store whereas a 72 count box of the name brands sells for $2.59+.

Homemade Baby Wipes

I tried to make baby wipes once before, when Cameron was a baby, and I hated them! I made a mistake though. I cut the paper towel roll the wrong way. I recently tried it again for Cora, and they are awesome! I am going to use my stockpile of Viva paper towels (which are really soft!!) on baby wipes with Cora.

Is it really worth it to use my precious time making baby wipes?? The answer? Absolutely!!!


The recipe:
1/2 of a paper towel roll (cut down the middle, as if you are making two rolls of TP)
baby wipes container (this may not work if you are using a double roll)
4 C hot water
1 T baby wash (head-to-toe type)
1 T baby oil
Mix the baby oil and baby wash into the water. Put paper towels into container. Pour some of the liquid mixture over the paper towels. Let soak. Repeat until all liquid has been added. When moist, remove inner cardboard tube from paper towel roll. The wipes will pull from the center of the roll.

Recently, at my grocery store, Giant Eagle, 2 packs of Viva paper towels were on sale for $3.59. I had found an IP (Internet Printable) on Kmart.com for $2 off. It was a manufacturer's coupon, so I was able to use it at my store. I bought as many packs of paper towels as of coupons I had. So in the end, I paid $1.59 per 2 pack, or $.795 per roll. One roll equals 2 containers of baby wipes, so that equals $.3975 per container of baby wipes. Now, my paper towels have 70 sheets per roll and they are one-ply, which is even better because when they get wet, the two-ply sheets will come apart (another mistake I made the first time around).

Stick with me, here. It gets better!!

You can buy a big container of Target brand baby wash for $2.74 for 28 oz. That works out to be about $.04893 per one container homemade baby wipes. You can also buy a big thing of Target brand baby oil for $2.14 for 20 oz. That is about $.0535 per one container of baby wipes.

If you add all of this together:
One 1/2 roll paper towels (70 sheets): $.3975
1T baby wash: $.04893
1T baby oil: $.0535
That equals a little under $.50 for a container of wipes. There are 70 paper towels, so that would equal $.007 per wipe. That is LESS than ONE CENT per wipe!!

I used to buy wipes at Sam's Club. It was the best deal that I could find in my area. At Sam's Club, Huggies wipes are $14.93 for 720 wipes. That equals $.0207 per wipe.

By buying wipes, you are paying over twice as more per wipe than if you made them. And as a mom, you know that some diaper changes require using 10 wipes!!

I know for sure that I am going to continue making wipes after doing the math!!