Two Frugal Chicks

We are a game lovin’ family….well, me and the kids, anyways.  A couple of weeks ago we had a snow and ice storm and the power was out for 6 days.  I think we played every game in the house – and that’s a lot of games.  We had so many candles going around the game table it looked like a seance.

I have found that thrift stores are THE greatest places to buy board games and they usually have a huge selection. When I was at Goodwill the other day, I found this Cranium Primo Edition.  It came in this cool embossed tin.

You see that little red price tag on there?  It says $1.99!  I just looked up the price of this very same game on Amazon.com and they sell it for $89!  AND, it was brand new, all the cards were still wrapped in cellophane.

 

Another great find on a game was a “vintage” (aka from my childhood) Game of Life.  My elementary school BFF, Gracie, and I used to play this game over and over trying to see who could get the most kids.  We’d lay the little people pegs in the cars sideways if we had to.

Garage sales are also great places to buy games.  Just be sure to look them over and open the boards.  If  you are lucky enough to find instructions in the box, it will usually tell you what the contents of the game is so you can check to make sure it is all there. You can also usually find game instructions on-line..

 Play the “You Pick The Winner” daily instant win game on the Kroger website.  Either sign-in or create an account, then pick which car you think will win and see what happens.  If you win, your prize gets loaded onto your store card.

You can play once a day through February 25th.  Good Luck!.

I used to make these sweet Valentine hearts with the kids. All it takes is a piece of eyelet lace and a red pipe cleaner. Quick and easy project that kept them busy for a while 🙂

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With the recent storms a lot of us had tree damage. Now the question is what to do with all that wood. Please don’t try to burn green wood as it smokes too much. It’s best to let it dry.

We have heated our house with fire wood for years. I’ve gotten pretty choosy about what type of wood we will burn. Different woods produce different btu’s. It’s worth researching before buying firewood. Certain woods are more valuable/desireable than others. I have had many people try to sell me cotton wood. I am not interested. It’s very fiberous and difficult to split. I also do not desire an entire load of cedar. It’s great for getting a good coal bed going but burns much too quickly. I prefer hard woods for long lasting fires. Wood stored 1 year under cover dries to 20% moisture and ends should be cracked.

I asked my step daughter to help me stack wood one afternoon and she asked why we were going to so much work. I explained to her that we could save thousands of dollars a year in heating oil. She asked “Well, if it’s so valuable, why don’t you SELL it and BUY oil”! Smart kid, but seriously,,,,,,, GET BACK TO WORK!!!

Here is a list of different trees and their equivelant in gallons of oil. You can see it widely varies.

hickory 206
oak 202
beech 195
birch 190
ash 171
walnut 168
maple 164
tamarach 161
sweet gum 158
tupelo 152
elm 152
cherry 152
magnolia 149
sycamore 149
douglas fir 146
hemlock 139
pine 142
willow 118
alder 125
spruce 119
sasafrass 140
cottonwood 111
basswood 113
redwood 114
fir 115
cedar 116
butternut 116
aspen 117

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Our next Couponing 101 class is Thursday, February 16th from 6-8:00pm at the Burien Community Center.

We teach you where to find coupons, how to organize them, and how to utilize them properly for maximum savings. This two hour class covers the basics all the way to extreme couponing. 

Click here to register..