The Tightwad Times

If you love flavored coffee creamers but don’t love the expensive price, here are some frugal recipes for making your own flavored coffee creamers, without spending all that money at the grocery store. Using just a can of sweetened condensed milk and lowfat of fat free milk as the base, you can make a variety of yummy coffee creamers.

Each of the following coffee creamer recipes can be stored for up to two weeks in the refrigerator. For each recipe, mix all ingredients in a glass container, and shake before pouring.

French Vanilla Coffee Creamer
1 can sweetened condensed milk (also available in low fat)
1 1/2 cups nonfat milk
1 tablespoon vanilla

Almond Orange Cappuccino
1 can sweetened condensed milk (also available in low fat)
1 1/2 cups nonfat milk
1 tsp almond extract and 1/2 tsp orange extract for cappuccino.

Amaretto
1 can sweetened condensed milk (also available in low fat)
1 1/2 cups nonfat milk
Add 1/2 tsp cinnamon and 1 tsp almond extract

Almond Cappuccino
1 can sweetened condensed milk (also available in low fat)
1 1/2 cups nonfat milk
1 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp orange extract

Chocolate Almond
1 can sweetened condensed milk (also available in low fat)
1 1/2 cups nonfat milk
1 to 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp almond extract

Chocolate Truffle Mint
1 can sweetened condensed milk (also available in low fat)
1 1/2 cups nonfat milk
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon peppermint extract.

Liquid coffee creamer base can also be made by mixing one cup of dry coffee creamer with one cup of hot water. Mix until dissolved. Add one cup of cold water. Store in a glass jar in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.

Popularity: 57% [?]

A lot of people living the tightwad life are looking for ways to make money at home, without spending a fortune trying to make money. With that thought in mind, one of our new features will be about work at home jobs that are free or require very little money to start or maintain.

To kick things off, our first tightwad work at home post is about having an online store. While there are many places to do this online, this is one I ran across that sounds good.

Free Online Dollar Store: Have Your Own Online Dollar Store Open Your Own Online Dollar Store
- No startup cost
- Complimentary Quick-Start Guide
- Thousands of products to sell for profit
- For a limited time only!

They offer a 14 day free trial, and afterwards the bill you $39.95 a month. You can cancel anytime during the trial period without being billed if this is not for you.

Popularity: 55% [?]

It’s that time! Valentine’s Day is gone and the stores have chocolate for the occasion that didn’t sell. This is when you can get some yummy chocolate without spending a ton to stock up. The morning after a holiday or special occasion, I often head for our local Walmart stores in search of their clearance items.

I love chocolate but I don’t love paying full price for it. So shortly I’ll be doing some after Valentine’s Day chocolate madness shopping, searching for any good bargains I can find. I suspect that I will return home not only with a nice chocolate stash, but perhaps a stuffed pink bear friend or two.

Most stores will have the chocolate candy goodies marked down very low in order to sell it and get it off of their shelves. You can get sometimes 75% off of the regular price of Valentine’s Day chocolate and other seasonal goodies. If you have coupons for any name brand items, even better!

Some people use these clearance sales to stock up on things like stuffed animals and decorations for the next year and to take advantage of the markdowns on items like fresh flowers. Whatever your favorite clearance item is to shop for, you can be sure to find some great bargains and discounts if you shop early.

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I usually use coupons when I shop, but this week I got an especially great deal on Honey Bunches of Oats With Chocolate Clusters cereal.  Using this online coupon, printable $2 off coupon on NEW Honey Bunches of Oats With Chocolate Clusters cereal,  I got five boxes for only .80 cents.  The regular price per box was $2.16 at Walmart. 

When going to print the coupons, use your browser’s *back* button to go back about two pages to print the coupon again.  Then on the main website, at the bottom right, there is another button to click to allow you to print the coupon a third time.  I first printed the coupons using Internet Explorer, then copied and pasted the link into my AOL browser and was able to print the same coupon two more times.  I ended up with five printed coupons for the same cereal.

Popularity: 40% [?]