Introduction to the RenoVation: I go HARD in the Paint

First, let me apologize for the lack of posting. I have been testing all of the great advice I am sharing with all of you Asians and honorary Asians. 

As Thing 2 pointed out in her "Pin THIS" post, I recently purchased an RV. (See what I did there? In the title? Thank you, Thing 2! LOL dumb) Before you revolt and "unbookmark" this blog, let me explain. I got a great deal on a used one. Remember: We save money so we can enjoy spending it, because...what's the point of saving then? lol

I am not one for camping. I completely understand that it's the best way to vacation when on a budget, but it's just not for me. I don't consider being out in the wilderness with god-knows-what out there ready to make me their dinner. My husband convinced me that we should get an RV as a compromise. I agreed, as long as we both got to choose it. 

We flip flopped back and forth between buying new vs. used for months. Here's tip #1: When making big purchases, definitely take your time. It's not called a BIG purchase for nothin'. Choose wisely. Get online, get books, do your research. There's nothing worse than buyer's remorse because you didn't know what you were getting into. (Email me if you need reference websites or books.)

We wanted the RV for lots of money saving reasons: 

• We wanted to save money on hotels when traveling to Disneyland and other destinations. 
• We wanted the tax write-off. 
• I love taking weekend trips with the kids, but don't like paying tons of money just to stay one night.

In the end, we ended up buying a used RV. Main reasons being: 

• Used was cheaper. Wayyyyy cheaper. 
• We could use the extra money to renovate the RV in the style that we wanted.
• It has more manual mechanics, so if/when something goes bad, it would be easier and cheaper to replace.

When we started to modify the aesthetics, I turned to Pinterest for inspiration. Boy, did I find it!! There are so many ideas, but I settled on a relaxing beach theme. Once decisions were made, we set off to the Home Depot and Lowe's. I wanted to keep renovations at as low a cost as possible. 

Since we are having all sitting areas reupholstered and carpet put in, I wanted to paint and decorate first. I started looking at swatches and found some nice colors. Unfortunately, it was $30+ per gallon! I wandered around a bit looking for cheaper paint, but I didn't want to exchange price for quality. Then I had an a-ha! moment and some luck! Next to the paint mixing counter was Oops paint. Ever heard of it? 

The Oops paint section contains canisters of paint that are returned because the customer either didn't like it or the employee made the wrong one. Here's tip #2: Oops paint is marked down by 75%!! I looked at the paint and found a color close enough to the shade we were looking for and fortunately, a whole damn gallon was marked $5.00. Freaking unheard of. Oh well, their loss is my gain! I grabbed brushes, tape, and paint trays before anyone tried to change the price. BONUS TIP (Learn from this one!): I got up to the counter to find out that they were having a sale on that particular brand, and I got a $5.00 rebate! I paid $0.00 for the paint!! (WTH, right?! MIND. BLOWN.)

I know...I KNOW!

What have we learned today, folks??

It pays (almost literally) to check the Oops paint area each time you go to the hardware store when you know that you have a project coming up. It could also be part of the inspiration. 

Obviously, this doesn't only apply to the RV painting job. It could apply to any home project!

OOPS! Saved some money again,

WINNING!

Here are the results of the "Junk in my Trunk" Contest (and how we decided on how we were going to determine the winner):

First off, Thing 1 refused to spin around ten times so that was out of the question. I guess it was kinda dangerous. (Whatev!) So, we ended up going the "pick a name out of a hat" route…I wrote 'em up, Thing 1 picked. We had witnesses: John, Becky, and Al, to make sure we didn't just pick who we wanted to win…I told you that fair is fair and this is serious business! 

The four platforms: Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and Blogger.

Twitter, it is! (Can you spot my friend, Al?)

We had 14 followers, mentions, retweets from Twitter. (Kathleen Garber, you're in there! See your name? lol!)

Rob Co (of The Pitcher Plant Project) aka Coy won the junk in my trunk! Here is Thing 1, she is ecstatic. Al apparently lost interest. Douche.

The "x2" was because he got double entries for retweets and following, which obviously doubled his chances, like we said it would. Lesson to all: be aggressive! haha 

Thanks everyone who entered through every social media platform! It was really fun reading your tips and watching you get involved. Much appreciated!

I definitely have more crap lying around so I'll be sure to do another one of these down the line. Stay tuned until then.

Next post from me: PINTEREST!

CONGRATULATIONS COY! 

I'll be in touch with you soon :) 

Cash Rules Everything Around Me (especially @ Disney)

Visited Disneyland for the Kid's graduation and Elias (Thing 1's kid) turns 5 in July, so we celebrated that, too!

We just got back from the land of Disney so obviously we have Mickey on the brain. We wanted to give you guys some tips before you go to save you some dough. 

First off, let’s get this straight: you can NOT have the mindset of saving money while on vacation. You can spend your money wisely, but you save money to go on vacation…not the other way around.

We go to Disneyland often (3-4 times a year), and try to go to Walt Disney World every 2 years.  My family and I have Premier Annual Passes to all Disney parks in America, (not to be confused with a Premium Annual Pass that can only be used in just Disneyland/DCA or WDW).  The reason we decided on the Premier Passes was because they were cheaper than buying a Premium Pass at Disneyland and 7 day-park hopper tickets at WDW (which is how many days we were planning on going anyway).

When to go: Time is MONEY! Plan to go in the off-peak season. Usually during September, October, first 3 weeks in November are great times to go for weather, price, and low-crowd reasons. (Except EPCOT- they've got the Food and Wine Festival going on then.)

Transportation: Book your flight within 5-6 months of the trip, if you plan to fly. Wait for deals, and book on a Tuesday or Wednesday. We rarely fly since we live in Northern California, but definitely for WDW. Southwest and JetBlue are the best airlines if you are flying from Northern California. Virgin also recently started doing nonstop flights to WDW from SFO. (BIG Tip: Sign up to get emails from airlines, they notify you of the great deals right when they are posted on the website!)

Hotels: I (Thing 1) touched on this in a previous post, but just in case you missed it:

• "When booking a hotel room, keep these things in mind: distance from the parks, amenities like free breakfast, and parking fees. For instance, if you are going to pay for a hotel room that is just alright, but have to pay 14 dollars for parking, you might as well book the moderate room that is 10 dollars more a night with free parking and breakfast. It'll save you money in the long run. I also use tripadvisor to view the rooms and get traveler reviews." 
• Again, I would definitely go during off-season. I use hotels.com a lot, too. I like them because they usually have great prices. When finding a great deal on hotels.com, always double-check the hotel website itself or call them. Sometimes they have specials and can be cheaper than hotels.com. When calling, mention you have AAA or you are an annual pass holder to see if there are any more discounts. Personally, I like to pay for my hotel room upfront so I don’t have to worry about it when it comes time for the vacation.

My personal recommendations:

• AAA discounts: Tropicana Inn and Suites- The location is amazing! Literally right out of the gates of Disneyland. They have big, clean rooms with refrigerators and microwaves (big plus for our BIG family). The pool is a bit small, but a heated pool nonetheless. Tip: If you will be traveling with a stroller, request a room on the bottom floor.
• Annual Passport Discount: Howard Johnson- They have a DEEP discount for pass holders! The location is awesome and about 2 city blocks from the park. They have refrigerators in their rooms, too. Tip: The pool is AMAZING! It has a pirate ship themed slide and kid area. Very clean and decent sized rooms. Definitely must stay there during the summer!

Side note: On occasion, you can find some pretty good deals with your pass at the resort hotels. But even with the discount, it can be pretty steep in price.

• With no discounts: The Anabella Hotel. We stayed there on our last trip for the first time. The hotel is a bit out of the way, but it is still in walking distance (You can walk behind DCA and enter through the Grand Californian Hotel). The room had a fridge, but unfortunately no microwave. The Anabella has a large pool area with tons of seating and hot tub. (P.S. They have a sick Happy Hour. Try the Citrus Night and ceviche!)

Tickets: Ticket prices just went up drastically! I'm not sure we can afford to buy the annual passes this year, but if you plan on going more than 7 days, you might as well. If you live in California, Disney offers a payment plan on Disneyland/DCA passes, so take that into consideration when you do make your purchase. Also, consider purchasing tickets at AAA. This is the only place now that gives a great discount. (If you don’t have AAA, I'd grab a membership. It pretty much pays for itself just on tickets alone. And really? What if your damn car breaks down?) Other ways can be kinda shady, like Craigslist, eBay or “renting” tickets. When buying tickets, keep in mind to plan long term. If you are going more than 7 days in a year to any park: buy a pass. (Be a thinker, not a stinker.)

Souvenirs: I buy t-shirts, stuffed animals, and other cool items at Disney Shopping before the trip and hide them so the kids don’t see them. They sell the same products that you would find in Disneyland at least 20% off. Always google “free shipping” coupon codes before submitting your purchase. It's always worth a shot.

Food: Must have food in Disneyland/DCA

• Churros (cart)
• Pineapple Dole whip (Adventureland next to the Tiki Room)
• Beignets (Jazz Kitchen in Downtown Disney)
• Plaza Inn fried chicken (Disneyland Main Street)
• Clam Chowder in a Boudin sourdough bread bowl  (DCA Pacific Wharf  Cafe or River Belle Terrace in DL)
• Chimichangas (Cart)
• Bengal BBQ skewers (Adventureland)
• NEW! Hand Dipped Ice Cream Bar (Clarabelle's Hand-Scooped Ice Cream on Buena Vista St. in DCA)
• NEW! Cozy cones: chili and chicken verde (Cozy Cone Motel in CARSLAND!)

Chili Cone Queso!

Thing 1 (left) and Thing 2 (right) with our cones.
(See? We really are asian!)

Hope this helps! Let me know if you have any questions, comments, and/or suggestions. I would love to hear from all of you.

A dream is a wish your heart makes,

aka Cinder-skrilla &



helped out a bit, as well.

Got { T } Pain?

Hey there, homie!

   Heard you got a pain in your neck and it's not your baby mama/daddy. I am sorry, Bro, but I got a solution for you:
     Take pain reliever aids. Notice I didn't say, "Tylenol, Advil or Motrin"? That's because I don't buy them. I buy the generic form or store brand. If you look at the ingredients they are the exact same dosages, just in different packaging,  and at times DOUBLE the price! So why not save some dough, and buy the cheaper one?

     The same goes for any type of over-the-counter pills. This is just my opinion and observation. Please consult a doctor...yada..yada..yada...yada... I might be Asian, but I'm not a nurse.

Per the FDA website:[The] FDA firmly believes that generic drug products that have gone through the approval process can be used with the full expectation that consumers will receive the same benefits from generics as they do from brand name equivalents.

"Got my mind on my money and money on my mind." (But I definitely don't have a headache because I just saved money on my pills!)


50 Cent richer,

Thing 1

The "Junk in my Trunk" Contest

All right, here's the deal. I am in the process of redecorating my room. I have found so much random stuff. But alas, I'd like to make my random stuff YOUR random stuff.

I was going to start with just sending out an extra Hellogoodbye album that I found in my sock drawer. I purchased a bunch of them when they were on sale for times like these. (It's an awesome summer album! I love them!) But Thing 1 mentioned last night that Justin Halpern of @shitmydadsays recently did a giveaway since he has a new book out, I Suck at Girls. He gave away something like a box of condoms and his new book. Genius.

Now, I'm not promising any prophylactics, but we're turning it into more of a grab bag situation. The Hellogoodbye CD may or not be in this lovely package. We'll value it at $20, I guess.

THE RULES OF THE GAME: 

(will run for two weeks: starting NOW until June 27, 2012 at 11:59 pm)

Un. To become eligible:

- Follow us on Blogger. Comment on any or all posts.

- Share a link to a post on Facebook (tag one of us so we can see it)

- Follow us on twitter and hashtag #thefrugalasians or @thefrugalasians when you link a post.

- Email us at thing1@thefrugalasians.com or thing2@thefrugalasians.com and give us a money-saving tip or your favorite budget-friendly recipe, we'll feature it if we feel like it!

- Pin one or more of our posts. 

- Follow one of our other blogs: Beyondtheballs (Thing 1) and @212degrees (Thing 2)

Deux. Don't be a jerk and email us if you haven't done any of these things. It's just not nice, and I will find out and send you a lump of coal. (HOW'S THAT FOR A GRAB BAG?!?) Friends, relatives, randoms are eligible to play along (mainly because I hate not being eligible to win cool shit just because I'm related to someone…and don't worry, we don't play favorites). Make sure we have a way of contacting you! At the end of your comment, leave your email, twitter, etc.

Trois. Have fun with it! Basically, pimp us out somehow and you could win something fun AND FREE! Pick your fav (if you have one), and let us know what you're up to! I know we're going to have a blast with these grab bags. If this goes well, we'll do another one, and another one…BONUS: Become eligible more than once by posting on multiple platforms, we'll give you double entries. Because we can.

Winner will be picked by opening up the following windows: twitter, pinterest, blogger, email, closing our eyes, and picking a platform first. Then, spinning around ten times then pointing at the screen thus deeming the winner. 

Hey, this is serious business and fair is fair.

 We will be in touch with the winner shortly after the deadline. I'm sure there's legal mumbo-jumbo that's suppose to go here, but we'll keep it light and fluffy for now. Oh, no purchase necessary. (Right? That's always at the beginning of the fine print!)

Happy cooking/shopping/pinning/tweeting whatever you're doing today!

(May the odds be ever in your favor.)

(Yeah, I just quoted The Hunger Games.)

Sincerely,

Thing 1 in the hizzzouse! Holla!

Wuzzzup? Wuzzzup? Wuzzzzzzzzup!

Let me take the time to introduce myself. I am Thing 1: the older, louder, embarrassing Frugal Asian. I have 3 children with my husband of almost 10 years, 2 sisters, and a brother. We all live together! One BIG happy family! As Thing 2 has already said, we feed hella folks, but don't like to skip out on taste and quality. Same goes for what I will be posting: I like to have fun and have fairly nice things, but I don't skip out on quality of items/activities.

 I just don't want pay FULL price.

 I will be posting random tidbits of money saving tips. Some of them you may already know from just talking to me or following me on twitter, but bear with me, we have some newbies and I want them to save some dollars, too. :)  Let the money saving commence!

Tip # 1: Read EVERY post of this blog. Follow us on twitter @thefrugalasians!

I don't make dollars. I just make sense,

Best Summer Purchase EVERRRR

Popsicle molds!!

 My niece, Camryn, helped make watermelon popsicles a while back. It's so fun to do family projects, insanely cheaper than the boxed ones...AND BETTER FOR YA! Plus, the popsicle molds were really cheap (less than $8/pack of 6 and 4) and they're reusable.

Watermelon Popsicles

1/2 medium sized watermelon (like the size of your head), diced

1 lemon, juiced

2 tsp. sugar to taste, optional

Popsicle molds

Patience

Now, I'll tell you, this could've been a lot easier to do. Like, a lot freakin easier than I made it. I could've pulled out the blender and thrown all the stuff in and hit the puree button. But guess what?

THAT'S A WHOLE BUNCH OF NO FUN.

Camryn wanted to help, and in omitting the blender altogether, we made that possible. Our friend, Monica, was over and helped her "juice" the watermelon (pressed it through a collander into a bowl).

They had a lot of fun doing this, but I'm pretty sure they were incredibly unsanitary…I saw them sneaking bites. Brats.

As they pressed the watermelon (like you would grapes for wine), I added lemon juice. I ended up adding two lemons, but I went overboard. I should've tasted after the first one. Rookie mistake. (Sidenote: here's where you add the sugar if you want.)

Throw the tops on…(Goofballs)

Important things to remember:

Tip: Use a funnel and ladle to fill the popsicle molds. No one likes a messy and sticky kitchen. Also, make sure the lids are on tight and pour slowly!

Et voila!

Here are the molds we used: Rockets and the other ones were ice cream cones! SO. FRIGGIN. CUTE. Toss them in the freezer for at least 4 hours, but overnight would be better to ensure they're firm enough to stand on their own.

The half watermelon had tons of juice so we saved some for the next batch. (If I had to guess, it was about a quart and a half)

So, I'd love to show you a picture of the finished product, but wouldn't you know it- our damn refrigerator broke that same night! They never froze! So bummed. In other news, I'm pretty sure my little brother drank the juice even though the bag said not to. Cool.

We're gonna make them again once we get a new fridge this weekend. It's so hot outside, these things are necessary! 

Total for 25ish popsicles (that we would've made with the extra juice): $2.50! If we would've used the whole watermelon, we definitely could've made at least a million. Just saying. 

Enjoy your weekend, all! We are up in the few hundreds in views- so awesome, thanks! 

Sincerely,

Thing 2

P.S. Don't ever leave Mon alone with my phone again.

P.P.S Don't worry, Thing 1 is working on her posts…I think.

P.P.P.S Maybe this was a bad idea…Should've made it thefrugalasian.com lol 

Chicken Adobo & a Rant on Food Waste

One of my biggest pet peeves in life is wastefulness. More specifically, food waste. It's a waste of time (usually my time) and money, among other things. I come from the culinary world, and food waste meant time and hard earned money down the drain. Hard work should never go wasted.

One of the most crucial parts of cooking for so many people (8-12) at least 3 times a week is keeping food waste as low as possible. My main asset to the family is turning nothing into something. Majority of meals include a protein, a starch, and a vegetable. Luckily, we live in a straight farm town, and veggies are readily available. 

The day I came up with this blog, I was making Chicken Adobo in a crock-pot. My mom used to make this Filipino dish, and my Grandma before her. Everyone in our family has their own versions: chicken only, chicken/potatoes, adding hard-boiled eggs. All different, all great in their own right. You can do that, too! Change it up to make it yours. 

Chicken Adobo 

(can be substituted with beef*, pork**, etc.) 

-yields 20 servings (divide into 4 for a 5 person dinner)

My weapons of choice: 1 crock-pot, 1 cutting board (or two), 1 chefs knife, 1 really good peeler.

4 lbs. chicken thighs (boneless, skinless…will fit in the crock-pot better and faster cooking time!)

20 garlic cloves, crushed

1 yellow onion, chopped

1-2 c. vinegar (Heinz white distilled, not apple cider)

2-3 c. soy sauce (Kikkoman, the best and only brand I ever use. You can use their low-sodium if you want to cut down on salt)

5-7 bay leaves

5-7 medium Russet potatoes, peeled medium diced (smaller you cut 'em, shorter the cooking time) Pictured: Russets and reds. I had a few leftover so I decided to use them.

4-6 c. white or brown rice, cooked
Steamed vegetable of your choice, I chose broccoli!

Set your crock-pot to 6 hours on HIGH. Throw the garlic cloves and onion in. 

Add vinegar and let it warm up (about 7 minutes). Prep your chicken in the meantime; trim off all extra fat.

Add soy sauce and bay leaves. Taste. 

Sidenote: If it makes your eyes water, and clears your sinuses, you're going the right direction. (My family likes tart and tangy Adobo, so 1-2 c. is good for them. It may not be for you, so start with 1 cup. Go from there). 

Add chicken, stir it up, and make sure the liquid covers as much as it can. 
If it doesn't immediately, don't worry. It will. 

Add potatoes on the outside ring of the crock-pot. Cover and let it ride.

 About 3 1/2 hours in, give it one full stir. Serve with some rice and veg (suggestion: we are big broccoli eaters). 

* Cook on low for 8 hours, use stew meat if it's available ($15 per 4 lb. package)

** Cook on low for 8 hours

Important things to remember:

- Do not stir frequently while using a crock-pot. Doing so depletes the temperature by 25 degrees each time. Ever heard the saying, "A watched pot never boils"? YEAH. 

- Tip: Vinegar mellows out as it cooks. So, even though it's super eye-watering at first taste, it will turn out to be way smoother at the end of cooking time. You can always adjust at the end, too. That's the beauty of cooking! You can change things and make it seem like you did it on purpose :P

And hey man, clean up is easy. Remember you're working with poultry, so make sure your work area stays tidy and sanitary. Cross-contamination is not the business.

Total for this meal: $21.66 for 20 servings including starch and vegetable. That's two dinners for 8 people, which comes out to less than $1.50/person per night.


Print this recipe

Want the breakdown? I will post it if you want! Let me know in the comments :)

Hope you try this one out, it's forrealzies bomb. Let me know if you do!

Happy Cooking! (Sorry, Julia! Still working on it)

Sincerely,

We've only just begun...

Hello! Hello!

How do people come up with blogs? There's literally millions out there. This one in particular is fun because it's "A Tale of Two Sisters". The idea popped into my head while making dinner for my family of  8.  In so many words, one will handle all of the money-saving tips (you know those commercials where "______ is my anti-drug"? Hers is saving money. We'll call her Thing 1.)  What's mine, you ask?:

I'll be dishin' out budget-friendly meals for you folks. Extra pun intended. Yup. I went there.

So, stay tuned! Like I said, we come from a big mixed-up (not to be confused with, messed up...although sometimes we're that, too) group, and we feed, clothe, and house them all. It's a family affair. 

If you have any suggestions or questions, feel free to email us at thing1@thefrugalasians.com or thing2@thefrugalasians.com. 

Happy Cooking!

Wait, no, that's Julia Child. Crap.

(Note to self and sister: We gotta come up with something better.)


Uh bye...Uh, til next time?…Sincerely,