Kelly's Thrifty Tips

After all the yummy candy indulgence that Valentine's Day brought, I thought I would share with you an awesome fitness site. FitDay.com is amazing. It is a free online diet and fitness journal that helps you keep track of calories, exercise, goals and lots more. Seriously it is a fabulous fitness tool that you can enjoy for free. It has very extensive information that will really help you make wise decisions and stick to your fitness goals.

LINK: FitDay


Lately I have been thinking about preservatives along with prices. Prices are still one of the highest concerns for me. This has caused me to start looking into what I can make at home rather than pay for the convenience of premade. Here are a few recipe links that I have found.


MEATBALL RECIPE



Back in the day, I used to make meatballs, sausage and peppers. For convenience sake, I stopped making my own meatballs and started buying frozen. They were definitely convenient, but not necessarily a good value. One of the good things about frozen meatballs was that they taste great. I had no idea that they did. I finally realized that if I can make meatballs fresh, I can certainly make them and freeze them for later. There are a lot of great recipes out there, but one that I liked is from Tammy's Recipes. Tammy has a lot of fabulous recipes. Even if you do not want to try your hand at meatballs take a browse around her website. You will not be disappointed. The link here is for a spaghetti and meatball recipe, but it is separate so check out the meatballs they are good for anything. I also have a great Italian meatball recipe that I got from Cooks.com that is pretty awesome too.

Freezing is super easy too. I fill the sink up half way with water, put the meatballs in a freezer bag, and submerge the bag enough in the water to get the air out and also making sure the water doesn't go in. This has worked like a charm.



HOMEMADE LAUNDRY SOAP


Another thing I have wanted to make of my own is laundry soap. I have found lots of great recipes and this one below I have found all over. This one in particular I got from the Duggar's Favorite Family Recipes. :)

4 Cups - hot tap water
1 Fels-Naptha soap bar (can get at some grocery stores and many hardware stores)
1 Cup - Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda (this is not baking soda make sure you buy the right stuff)
½ Cup Borax

- Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with water. Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted.

-Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing soda and Borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to top with more hot water. Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken.

-Stir and fill a used, clean, laundry soap dispenser half full with soap and then fill rest of way with water. Shake before each use. (will gel)

-Optional: You can add 10-15 drops of essential oil per 2 gallons. Add once soap has cooled. Ideas: lavender, rosemary, tea tree oil.

-Yield: Liquid soap recipe makes 10 gallons.

-Top Load Machine- 5/8 Cup per load (Approx. 180 loads)

-Front Load Machines- ¼ Cup per load (Approx. 640 loads)

HOMEMADE YOGURT


I am a true lover of yogurt, and though I am thankful to find it on sale fairly often, I was thrilled when I found a totally easy recipe. This is from one of my favorite bloggers, Kristen The Frugal Girl. This is a recipe that you can do without any fancy equipment. Check it out here.

GRANOLA BARS

Kristen also has a fabulous recipe for granola bars. I only by these when they are on a super sale and I have coupons with this recipe, I won't have to. My son loves them. Check it out here.




FREEBIES

Okay this is again one of those deals that you need to go to Facebook for and you need to be there at a certain time. To show appreciation to their fans, Tide is offering a bottle of Tide Stain Release to the first 5,000 fans to respond at 3:00 pm EST. Give it a shot by following the link below. Don't forget to "like" them.

LINK: Tide Facebook Freebie

Join P&G Everyday Solutions, and you can request a huge variety of coupons that will be mailed to your door. They also have a great quarterly free sample program.

LINK: P&G Everyday Solutions

If you didn't order these last week, I highly recommend ordering Love Handles Cards from Dr. David Jeremiah. I ordered mine last Wednesday, and I got them this Wednesday. They are really cool. You get to see how men and women approach things and how to merge those ways together to better your relationships. Truly I highly recommend this set.

LINK: Love Handles Cards

Join Benihana's Chef Table and you will get a $30 Benihana Birthday Certificate.

LINK: Benihana

Sign up with Rewards Gold, refer three friends, take a survey and do two reviews, and you can get a subscription to Forbes magazine. It is VERY simple. I have been fortunate to get many subscriptions through Rewards Gold, and I cannot recommend it enough. Follow the link below.

LINK: Rewards Gold subscription to Forbes magazine



Download the Parachute Band's "Peace On Earth" at FreeCCM. As usually FreeCCM still has some of their amazing download offerings from the last few week's artists Jonny Diaz, Todd Agnew, Sara Groves, Phil Wickham, Chris Rice and The Afters.

LINK: Free CCM Music downloads

iTickets.com has some wonderful music downloads this week with "Show Me" by Audrey Assad, "Attention" by Know Hope Collective, and "Be Lifted High" by Bethel Live.

LINK: iTickets Music downloads

New Release Tuesday Members can download "Skeleton" by Hawk Nelson from their new CD "Crazy Love" and "Gave It All" by Parachute Band from their CD "Love Without Measure." Join up, it is free to join, you get great music and great CD previews too.

LINK: Free Music Downloads from New Release Tuesday