Here's a Moneysaving Tip...

1. Buy your cheese in bulk and shred it yourself. You can always divide it in half and freeze it for later use. YES! You CAN FREEZE CHEESE...just in case you didn't know that. It will freeze better if the bag isn't stuffed with cheese.

2. Buy large cans of whole olives and slice or chop them yourself. You can store them in the fridge, to use as needed.

3. When butter goes on sale...buy at least 4 boxes. You'll thank me later. And guess what? YEP! You can stick your butter in the freezer as well. Oh, and PLEASE buy UNSALTED BUTTER, especially when you bake with it. Nothing worse than putting salted butter in your cookie recipe along with the additional amount of salt it calls for. If you use unsalted butter in your baking recipes, you can tell a difference.

4. I have recently learned a hard lesson. Don't store your milk on that neat little shelf on the door of the fridge. Especially in the summer when our houses are a bit warmer, every time you open that door, the warm air will hit the milk container, raising the temperature a bit. That "little" bit every time might just make your milk expire a few days before the expiration date.

5. This is a good one for all you moms whose kids love Lunchables. I don't buy them. Give me a break! Packaged cheese and crackers with little circles of meat? Mini-pizza shells with sauce and shredded cheese that cost over $2? NOPE! Won't do it! Our local grocery store (shout-out to Winco) makes small pizza shells ready to go in a package of 6, package their own pizza sauce, and even have pizza dough ready to go. My son loves the mini pizzas that I make for him. And remember that bulk cheese that you shred yourself? For literally a fraction of the price of that pizza Lunchable, I make a homemade version for him. Don't even get me started on the cheese and cracker Lunchable.

So those are my money saving tips for now.