I saw on one of the sister thrifty websites that keeping a clean Kitchen was one way to save money.  The lady was Tawra Kellam of the Saving on a Dime.  I hope I spelled her name right.

What she said made sense.  She said that the reason so much time was spent eating out was becuase the kitchen was dirty.  It was not an inviting place to cook or entertain.

It made so much sense to me I started cleaning the kitchen.  I live with my parents; so my mother was a little concerned with me fooling around in her kitchen.   But I told her what was happening and she decided to watch.  I even cleaned out the freezer and repackaged everything in the innumerable Tupperware and Ziplock containers we had in our drawers,  closets, shelves, and you get the idea.  On this,  my mother balked a little bit.  She likes seeing her stuff where she stored it. But then I notice just yesterday that the cereal was being put in see-through containers.  Maybe suggestion is better for my Mother than out right telling her.

Anyway, we have saved even on the regular groceries.  We saved $20 dollars the first week, becuase we knew exactly where and how much of everything we had in the food storage.

  Then Dad is on the kick of eating at home since almost having a heart attack of the the cost of two KFC dinners costing about $16.  He said that he would rather eat at Golden Corral for about the same price where you can eat as much as you want.  But then he would rather eat at home anyway.  He finds he doesn't have to take any water pills for his feet. He has had hip repleacement and knee surgery and the water pills keep down the swelling in his legs. They swell miserably whenever he has to travel and eat out.

Well, today, Mother wanted fried chicken. We had bought chicken at Kroger's for 99cents a pound.  And we had all dark meat ---which happens to be this family's favorite, because it doesn't dry out.  I went to the website that gives out free restaurant recipes and made cheddar biscuits and fried the chicken thighs that I had boned. You know, I saved those bones with the leftover meat for our pug's dogfood. (I would have made the original recipe, but I did not want to go and buy the ingredients.)  

Needless to say, we were all satsified; but we actually ate less than when we eat out.  We each had about a thigh and a half to eat with cheddar biscuits, potato salad and gravy.  I stored the rest in the fridge to be eaten for another meal.  The grand total for all three chicken meals was about $4 if not less, but I don't know how much the potato salad cost.  It was one of those convenient items in a moment of weariness from travel.

But cleaning the kitchen is just the beginning,  The cleaning has spilled over into the rest of the house. Mother trusts me to tell what she needs and she herself is able to tell when I don't need something becuase she finds cleaning supplies now that the house is claener than before.  She won't commit to home made wipes and laundry soap, but baby steps.  Baby steps. Now to just get Dad to throw away his little pieces of trash.

I have a friend called Eric who is a neat person.  Vinnie, his co-worker says you can't visit without Eric cleaning the house.  He isn't picky with the guests,  he just constantly chases dirt.  But then he has a  very nice house that was easily refinanced recently.  His wife said that the loan officer couldn't believe the credit score that they had.  It is a joke that Eric could have taken Bob Saget's role on Full House, but a high credit score and refinancing is no joke whatsoever.

Keep up the good work you neat people and keep on saving!

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