Duggar Family Money Saving Tips

  Money saving Tips from the Duggar Family
 

The Duggar Interview: Buy Used, Save the Difference

How do you save money? Jim Bob Duggar: Back about 18 years ago, we went through Jim Sammon's Financial Freedom Seminar. We advise any family -- Michelle Duggar: -- or young person -- JD: -- to buy this DVD set. It has 20 sessions you go through and it encourages how to get out of debt. It taught us all kinds of things about finances and saving money. From there, once we got out of debt, we were able to save up for seven years and we paid cash for a house. It took us about a year to fix it up and make it livable. From there, we started investing in commercial real estate. As far as money saving tips, we would recommend buying used MD: Buy used, save the difference. That's our family motto. MD: We get our clothes at thrift shops. You can find really nice name-brand stuff. Our girls love it. They will find tons of stuff.  JD: We have a lot of family recipes that save us money, like tater tot casserole and ice cream cake and that kind of stuff. But we also have recipes for homemade laundry soap and homemade wet wipes. We've saved a lot of money that way.  MD: It costs $2 to make 10 gallons of laundry detergent that will last us 2 months. We spend $1 a month on laundry detergent. JD: We used to pay, like, $12 for a jug of it.  MD: You can cut corners when you realize that you have a certain amount to work with. The trap when you're in debt and you're using credit a lot, is that you think they sky's the limit. You're in that mind set. But then the payments begin to fall on you, so there really isn't that freedom. That's why they named that seminar "financial freedom" because it really is a freedom when you're not borrowing.  JD: Romans 13:8 says, "Own nothing but love." There are times we've had hospital bills and stuff like that or unexpected expenses that we've had to pay off for a little while. MD: But our goal is to not go into debt. But then you live within a certain budget and you're much more creative about how you're spending it. You look for a bargain and you learn, "This really wasn't so important" when you look at the price tag. Or you find it used in a thrift shop or a pawn shop.  Do you have a budget for every day things like grocery shopping? JD: I usually give Michelle a limit so that she can kind of estimate -- each cart costs so much money. A lot of times she can go shopping and get a month's worth of groceries in bulk. Usually someone is running into town every day, five days a week, to get milk or bread or eggs or something like that.  MD: We can't keep fresh fruit. We go through it so quick. JD: We keep a list on the refrigerator of things to buy and which store to get it from. MD: Typically, we purchase the things we need for our meals, except for like the sour cream or stuff we have already bought. You can save a lot by buying family packs.  I read that once, your hospital bill didn't exactly add up so you asked for it to be itemized -- and realized you had been charged for 86 bars of soap! Do you pay extra close attention to what you're being charged for? MD: Yeah, definitely. For hospital bills, phone bills, anything -- ask for everything to be itemized. Especially cell phone bills, they always add extra expenses. They automatically put stuff on. We call them and get them to take it off. You have to keep an eye on every one of those.   Homemade Liquid Laundry Soap- Front or top load machine- best value 4 Cups hot tap water 1 Fels-Naptha soap bar 1 Cup Washing Soda 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)  Powdered Laundry Detergent- Top load machine 1 Fels-Naptha soap bar 1 Cup Washing Soda ½ Cup Borax -Grate soap or break into pieces and process in a food processor until powdered. Mix all ingredients. For light load, use 1 Tablespoon. For heavy or heavily soiled load, use 2 Tablespoons. Yields: 3 Cups detergent. (Approx. 40 loads)  Inexpensive Fabric Softener Recipes Recipe #1 1 Cup White Vinegar Add vinegar to rinse cycle. Works great. Removes residue and odors. Also helps to keep washing machine and hoses fresh and clean too. Recipe #2 1 Container of Name Brand Fabric Softener 4 Inexpensive sponges, cut in half Pour entire container of softener into a 5 gallon bucket. Fill empty softener container with water twice. (2 parts water to 1 part softener) Add sponges to softener/water mixture. When ready to use wring out extra mixture from one sponge and add to the dryer as you would a dryer sheet. RECIPES TATER TOT CASSEROLE 2 lb ground turkey cooked, seasoned, drained 3 2lb bags tater tots 2 cans cream of mushroom 2 cans evaporated milk 2 cans cream of chicken Brown meat drain; place in large cass. dish. Cover with tater tots. Mix soup & milk together. Pour over top. Bake at 350 for 1 Hour. (One of Daddy’s Favorites!) Makes 2- 9”X13” pans BROCCOLI CASSEROLE 3/4 lb. Velveeta™ cheese, cubed 2 small boxes frozen chopped broccoli 1 cup cooked minute or brown rice 1 onion, chopped 1 stick butter 1 can cream of chicken soup 1/2 cup milk Saute onions in butter. Cook broccoli as package directs, drain. Cook rice, combine all ingredients; pour into 9x13 dish. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until brown. Yum! Yum BROCCOLI CHEESE SOUP 7 lbs. frozen broccoli 2 lbs. Velveeta™ 1 quart sweet whipping cream enough water to cook broccoli 1 c. cornstarch w/ cold water to thicken after hot Cook broccoli first. Add Velveeta™ & whipping cream. Add corn starch to thicken. Enjoy! SLOW COOKER LASAGNA 4 pounds ground chuck 4 (28oz.) jar spaghetti sauce 32 lasagna noodles 3 (15oz.) cottage cheese 4 t. dried Italian seasoning 11/3 cups water 4 (4oz.) cans of mushrooms 6 cups shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese Cook beef and Italian seasoning in a large skillet over medium-high heat, stirring until beef crumbles; drain. Combine spaghetti sauce, mushrooms, seasoned meat and water in bowl. Layer thinly in bottom of lightly greased 5-quart electric slow cooker: 4 uncooked lasagna noodles, sauce mixture, cottage cheese & mozzarella cheese. Repeat for each layer (approx 8 total layers). Cover & cook on high setting for 1 hour; reduce heat & cook on low setting for 5 hours. Can do ahead and store in fridge!! Yields 16 Servings (one FULL 5 quart Crock Pot!!!) \ HASHBROWN CASSEROLE 1 (32 oz.) pkg. frozen hash browns (2 lbs.) 2 cans cream of chicken soup 1/2 c. milk 2 t. onion powder 1/2 t. pepper 2 c. grated cheddar cheese 1/4 c. melted butter 3 c. cornflakes, crush cornflakes in Ziploc™ bag, pour melted butter in & shake. Spray casserole dish with oil. Layer 1/2 hash brown first. Then pour 1/2 of soup mixture = cream of chicken, milk, onion powder, salt, & pepper. Then half of the grated cheese. Repeat… Hash browns, soup mixture, grated cheese. Top with crushed, buttered corn flakes. Bake at 350 for 45 min. (Jana’s favorite meal!) LAYERED SALAD 1st- 1/2 head lettuce 6 boiled eggs, chopped 1/ 2 lb. turkey bacon, crumbled 2nd- 1/2 head lettuce 1 can peas, drained 1 small onion , chopped 3rd- 2 cups REAL* Mayonnaise 1 small container sour cream Shred cheddar cheese over top. Chill. *Be sure and use REAL mayonnaise, it makes a big difference! (One of Mommy’s favorites!) ALLIE’S NO BAKE CHEESECAKE 2 pkg. cream cheese (12 oz.) 1 c. powdered sugar 8 oz. Cool Whip™ Beat cream cheese & powdered sugar together & fold in cool whip™. It will fill 24 cupcakes with a vanilla wafer in the bottom, or 1 heaping gram cracker crust, or 2 thin gram cracker crusts. (This is one of Jill’s favorite desserts!) LAYERED ICE CREAM CAKE Makes a 9”x 13” Pan 24 Ice cream sandwiches 8 oz. Cool Whip™ 1 Hershey’s™ chocolate syrup bottle 1 Smuckers™ caramel syrup bottle 2 king size Butterfinger™ candy bars chopped up 1st layer -12 ice cream sandwiches 2nd – half of whipped cream 3rd - half of Butterfinger™ bars, Squeeze 1/2 of caramel & chocolate over that. 4th - rest of ice cream sandwiches 5th – Cool Whip™ 6th - rest of Butterfinger™, caramel & chocolate You can freeze this and eat as desired! Yummy! Yummy! BUCKEYES (Michelle is originally from Ohio) Combine & mix: 1 lb. peanut butter 1 lb. powdered sugar 2 sticks melted butter (1c.) Shape into balls & cool in freezer. Combine in double boiler on low: 1/2 slab paraffin 12 oz. choc, chips Dip balls in with toothpick. Cool on waxed paper. Store in layers on waxed paper

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