Does it look like something's missing, here?

Maybe not to you, but I can see that there are no paper baking cups on this batch of muffins. This is not earth-shaking, frugal living, by any means. But over the last 15 years, I had become accustomed to using paper baking cups with muffins and cupcakes. I thought I was saving a whole lot of time by using them.

Well, I ran out of plain white, everyday baking cups a month ago, and don't want to use up my "special" holiday baking cups. Until I can bring myself to buy some more "everyday" baking cups, I'll be buttering the muffin tins.

But do you know what I was thinking about? There's a generation of young people who don't know that a muffin tin can simply be buttered. Kids and young adults who have mostly seen muffins in grocery stores and bakeries, always wrapped in a paper baking cup. Isn't that funny to think? Meanwhile, many of our mothers always buttered muffin tins. So many things have changed in just our lifespans.

So, you know I wouldn't just leave this post as is, don't you? That I would simply HAVE TO figure if there was any significant cost savings to buttering my muffin tins. LOL!

Okay, so a dozen paper baking cups are around 13 cents (Dollar Tree, 100 ct., $1.10 including tax). I use less than 1/2 tablespoon of butter to grease a 12-cup muffin tin. 1/2 tablespoon of butter costs me about 2 & 1/2 cents cents (at the price per pound I most recently bought butter, $1.69/lb). So I do save 11 cents per 12-cup muffin pan, by buttering the tin.

Now all of this, whether or not it's cheaper to butter your tin or use paper baking cups, is highly dependent on 2 things -- the price of butter and the price of paper baking cups. If the price of paper came way down, but the price of butter skyrocketed, the outcome of my calculations would change.


But wait . . .  here's another possibility. I can buy baking cups in a super duper large quantity (about 10,000 which would be a 20-year supply even for me), for just over $50. Of all of my searching for cheap paper baking cups, this is the absolute cheapest that I found. A dozen of these bulk-purchased baking cups would cost about 6 cents. Even at this price, I still save almost 4 cents per dozen, by buttering my muffin tins.

But how about the work saved by using baking cups? It took me under 5 minutes to butter the entire tin. I was waiting for the oven to preheat in this time, anyway. So, not really an issue. How about sticking to the pan? My muffins don't generally stick to the pan. Higher sugar recipes will leave a sticky crumb residue, but the muffins still pull out of the pan.

So, will I continue buttering the tins? Well, despite all of this, there is this thing I call "mental time". It's not real time, but perceived time. My mind wants to believe that paper baking cups are SO much more convenient. I can read the facts that I just typed, but it's hard to convince my mind. I know myself. At some point, I will buy more baking cups. But I'll be looking for a great deal on them.

In the meantime, at 2 dozen muffins per week, I am saving at least 12 cents, maybe 22 cents per week. Okay, not a grand savings, but over a year, that does add up to a whopping $6.24 to $11.44 by buttering my muffin pans. I won't be getting rich by buttering my muffin tins, but I could go out to lunch on those savings. What I have figured is this -- my "stock-up wildly" price on baking cups is about 25 cents per 100 count. Could happen.

Do you do anything to save money that only saves pennies, but you do it anyway?

________________________________________________________________

One of the things we've missed . . .

has been juice.

We're not terribly picky about which kind of juice. I love orange, pineapple and tomato, myself.

One of my daughters, in particular, loves tomato juice.

Well, remember all of those canned whole tomatoes that I've been oven roasting? There's all of that liquid from the cans leftover.

My tomato juice-loving daughter has been enjoying this "juice", as juice. And she's right! It is delicious. A pinch of onion powder and a bit of salt, and it's unbelievably good! If I had some celery salt in the house, I imagine a bit of that plus onion powder would be very tasty.

While this tomato juice is not exactly free, it is a by-product of making oven-roasted tomatoes. And even at the price of the large can of whole tomatoes, our juice is still a bargain compared to the 46 ounce cans of canned tomato juice selling for around $2.50 or so per can at the supermarket.

"Ship to store" shopping

In addition to checking the brick-and-mortar versions on our local stores, I also check each store's websites, for specific items for which I'm looking for a deal.

Sometimes, a web version of a store carries inventory not found in the brick-and-mortar. And sometimes, the website offers the exact same merchandise, but at a lower price.

My local Dollar Tree is the spot where I've been getting my baking soda for the last couple of years. It has been 59 cents for a 16 oz. box. The next best price I have found in our area is Walmart, in a large bag, for 62 cents per pound.

A little over a week ago, I was in Dollar Tree, and horrors!! the baking soda had been marked up to 79 cents per box.

I slid on home, went online to the Dollar Tree website, and found it had not been marked up online, yet. It was still listed at 59 cents per box. So, I ordered a case of 24 boxes., for 59 cents per box.


With Dollar Tree, there's a handling fee if you split up a case. But if you buy the whole case, there's no handling charge. In addition, you have your choice on shipping. You can have it shipped to your home, for a shipping charge. Or, you can have it shipped to your local store, for you to pick up, with no shipping charge.

So, I obtained the pre-mark up price, and saved on shipping charges.

I saved $4.80 by making my purchase this way. That's like buying 18 boxes, at the new price and getting 6 boxes for free. If 24 boxes of baking soda sounds like a whole lot to you, keep in mind that I use baking soda/vinegar in place of all of my baking powder in recipes, and I use baking soda as my scouring powder in sinks, tubs and showers. I'll also be experimenting with making my own dishwasher detergent this year, so that will use more baking soda.

When ordering food products, you do want to keep general expiration dates in mind. I looked up, in advance of my order, the approximate shelf life of baking soda. I suspected that I would have 2 or more years on the case. And I was correct. The case is stamped "best by 04  06  2018". And from what I've read about storage of baking soda, it can maintain its potency long past the best-by date, if stored properly. So, I'm in the clear with regards to shelf life.

I completely understand that ordering large cases of products is not for everyone. I get that.

Not all "ship to store" purchases need to be in large quantities. Sometimes a store carries a specific item that you want, online, only. For instance, my daughter was needing a special pencil for an art class. It was available online, through an office supply website, but not in their brick-and-mortar store. We've ordered food items through Cash & Carry that weren't part of their regular inventory, but they could have it delivered to their storefront.

The procedure is usually as follows:

• you place your order online and prepay
• the item is usually non-returnable, unless damaged or not delivered in the time-frame you were quoted
• there's a time-frame for delivery to your designated store (you choose the store location)
• you receive several emails, so check spam and junk folders
• you print out an emailed order receipt and bring it with ID to the store's customer service department 
• you sign for your purchase, but are not charged at this time (you have prepaid this order)
• they give you a pick-up window of about a week. If you miss your "window" the order may be canceled.

It's that simple! Just another shopping option for finding the best prices on your needed items.

**I'll be making another "ship to store" purchase in the next month. I've found bath tissue at a great price through a website for an office supply store. I'll give you more details when I make that purchase. (I want to make sure everything goes smoothly with that transaction before recommending this store/website).

______________________________________________________________