And we'll add this to the list of frugal failures

As you all know, I'm always in the market for new ideas to reduce our outgo. So, I thought I came upon another one recently when I'd heard of a number of people who only did their laundry in cold water.

Brilliant, I thought. It's much better than taking cold showers (yes, we did that for quite some time when we were first married!) and, best of all, no one will even notice.

Well, let me tell you, lots of people will notice. You see, after a week of washing everything in cold water only, I learned that cold water does not get pre-treated toddler stains or six-month-old stains out of clothing.

Not in the least.

I guess the people who do the cold water only thing must not have children. Or at least they don't have children as messy as mine.

At any rate, despite lots of stain remover and hot water-washing, the stains are still there on multiple articles of clothing, some which were almost brand-new. Let's just say that I think any money saved by using only cold water would be quickly lost in all the clothing we'd need to replace.

So much for a great idea.

Your turn: Have you ever had a brilliant frugal idea which flopped on its face? And do you have any great suggestions for reducing the costs of running laundry besides using cold water?

Originally published January 2008.

It will be a long time before I'll be able to eat another hamburger

Remember that I said we were going to use our economic stimulus check to buy a 1/4 of a cow from a local farm that specializes in hormone-free grass-fed beef? I was so excited to tell you about the great deal we got on this and how we found a freezer to store it in for a steal off of Craigslist.

However, that was not to be.

Oh, we bought the meat alright--all $614 worth of it. And we bought the freezer, too. We were thrilled with the whole experience and were looking forward to lots of great hamburgers and roasts and steaks over the next number of months.

We didn't get a chance to eat any before we went on vacation, but I couldn't wait to get back and get cooking. I had visions of all these various dishes I could make and all the great grilling we could do. Since we've cut back on our meat consumption for years in an effort to keep our grocery budget low, this high-quality meat was going to be a real treat.

We arrived home from our week-long excursion to Arkansas refreshed and rejuvenated and ready to get back to real-life. As we were unpacking our bags, I went to throw something into the recycle bin in the garage.

I noticed a somewhat-strange smell when I opened the garage door and went to investigate.

You guessed what it was... our whole entire freezer full of meat was off and completely thawed! Not only that but it was room temperature and wreaked of spoiling meat!

Apparently, it rained while we were gone and the electric outlet our freezer was plugged into was shut off as a safety mechanism. (We didn't know that our garage outlet did this or we sure as ever wouldn't have hooked our freezer full of meat up to it!)

Gratefully, since we had just purchased the freezer, it wasn't also full of other things, too. Had it been a few weeks later, I very likely could have had it full to the brim with food in addition to the meat. It was still quite a big disappointment, though, not to mention being disgusting.

I'll spare you the details, but let's just say it will be a very long time before I'll be able to eat another hamburger again. So much for our bright idea of buying meat in bulk.

Note: It looks like we're going to be able to recoup about $140 from our renter's insurance, but since our deductible is $500, that's all the recourse we've been able to drum up. Oh well, at least it was our economic stimulus check and not money we'd worked hard to set aside for this purchase.

Do as I say, not as I do...

...well, at least not as I did yesterday.

Read about how a lack of organization and foresight cost us sleep and $17 in my Frugal Friday post.

Bargain-shopping: What doesn't work for me

Shannon over at Rocks In My Dryer (a blog I adore even if it doesn't have much to do with saving money!) usually hosts a weekly Works-For-Me-Wednesday feature with loads of helpful ideas, inspiration, and information--especially for moms!

She's mixing things up today and asking everyone to share what doesn't work for us. I thought it would be fun to share some bargain-shopping things which I've found don't work well for me at this current season of my life:

1) Sending in for manufacturer's rebates. Believe it or not, I usually find mail-in rebates to be more work than they are worth. In addition, since we are on a strict $40/week grocery budget, I don't have room to pay for extra things just because I get a full rebate back.

My only exception to the no-rebates-rule is when I buy something at CVS that is already free after ECBs and there is a full manufacturer's rebate I can send in for. Then, and usually only then, I'll normally take the time to send in for it.

2) Buying groceries more than once per week. I rarely shop outside of my designated once-a-week shopping trip. Otherwise, I find myself wasting time and money buying things I probably didn't need in the first place. As an added bonus, I like staying home and find I am much more productive and calmer when I make an effort to stay home more.

3) Shopping at Walgreens. Should I admit this?! I stopped shopping at Walgreens almost eight months ago and have only been back three times since then to hit some exceptional-can't-miss deal. I shopped there regularly for a few years but after I had my second baby, I felt the need to streamline my shopping in order to keep things simple.

I've found that one or two transactions at CVS each week keep us plenty stocked on household items. Plus, I prefer the CVS system and cashiers to Walgreens. If we ever move somewhere that does not have a CVS, I will certainly be happy to go back to Walgreens shopping again since I know there are lots of great deals to be had there!

So there are my bargain-shopping "what-doesn't-work-for-me" confessions. What about you? We are all in different situations and locations with different families, different diet preferences and restrictions, and different time constraints so it should be interesting to hear what doesn't work for others.

Also, I'd love to know if I'm the only person who only shops once per week, doesn't send in for rebates, and skips Walgreens most of the time. Do tell!

And speaking of things that don't work, if you want to hear about one of my biggest over-achieving, first-time mothering flops, you'll enjoy this post.

Maybe this is why we should just stick with buying Saltines

I had this "brilliant" idea yesterday to make homemade crackers to go along with our chili for dinner. And I thought I'd found the perfect recipe.

I was all excited to tell you about this new frugal idea--so quick and easy, so much better than store-bought, and as frugal as it gets. Only my homemade crackers were nothing but a complete flop.

I followed this recipe exactly, but it turned out too dry. Like this...

I had to add quite a bit more oil and water to make it even somewhat able to be rolled out. The dough still really fought the rolling pin, though, and I finally just ended up pressing them down on a cookie sheet with my hands.

And then I baked them for the time recommended they ended up burning quite badly. So badly, in fact, that they weren't really even edible. Unless burned sandpaper is now considered "edible."

I guess my homemade cracker experiment can be chalked up to another frugal failure. Yep, right up there with washing our laundry in cold water.