A dear friend informed me that she would be making homemade jelly this week and graciously invited me over to help. I can remember my mom canning when I was young, and I have dabbled in it myself, but the idea of making my own jelly is SO daunting- all that mess, and squeezing grapes and extracting liquid... no way! But then this friend, a true "domestic diva", told me that she would be making it out of juice rather than grapes- and I was intrigued! Juice? This was definitely worth learning about.

To my surprise, it was SO easy, not very messy, and FAST! Even better- it is frugal! There are other benefits as well:
-Knowing exactly what is in your food
-The joy of making it for your family
-Having your children help (my kids can't WAIT to do this!)

Would you like to hear how? I thought so.

Basic canning skills: (you can learn more about canning here)
-You need to have glass canning jars- this will be your biggest cost investment, but they are reusable, so that cost is easily recouped. They need to be clean and sanitized- you can use the dishwasher with the heated dry. My friend also puts her jars in the oven on 350 degrees until she is ready to use them.
-You need to get the lids for the jars- they should be the one-time self-sealing lids and rings. I believe that these are sold separately, but it has been a while since I have purchased them. All of this can be purchased at Walmart.
-The lids can be put in a pan of hot water until you are ready to use them. Making sure that your lids, jars, and liquid are all very hot is a great way to ensure that they will seal properly.

Grape Jelly recipe: (we doubled this, which you should easily be able to do with one bottle of juice and one bag of sugar)
-4 cups of 100% juice, no sugar added
-4 cups of sugar
-1 packet of pectin (found with canning supplies. Look inside the box for a coupon!)
*One batch makes 30 oz of jelly.

Using a large heavy pot, add pectin to juice and stir over high heat until completely dissolved. Stirring constantly, bring to a boil that cannot be stirred away, and then add sugar (you may need to reduce the heat to keep the mixture from boiling over). Keep stirring and bring back to a rolling boil. Boil hard for 1 minute, stirring the entire time, making sure that the sugar is dissolved and that the mixture is not "lumpy" or grainy. To check: using a cold spoon, dip into your jelly mixture and let cool for a minute. If it is a "gel" consistency, it is ready!

Reduce heat to low to keep it hot. Working one at a time, remove a hot jar from the oven (take care! These will be extremely hot! You can use special jar tongs, purchased with the other canning supplies, to help with this). Using a canning funnel (you can often get these for .99 at Kroger), ladle the hot liquid into the jars, leaving about an inch of space at the top of the jar. Wipe the rim of the jar- you don't want anything interfering with the seal and compromising your jelly! Using tongs, remove a sterilized lid from the hot water and place on top of your jar. Screw on a ring (remember that your jar is EXTREMELY hot!!) as tight as you can and set aside. Repeat for the rest of the jars. Set in a draft-free place and listen for the "pops" that indicate that your jar is sealed. You will be able to tell if a jar is sealed by looking at the middle of the lid- if it is slightly inverted rather than a slight bump, the jar has sealed! If it does not seal (wait about an hour to make sure), you can put it in a boiling water bath for 5-10 minutes, depending on jar size.

You will now need to wait for your jelly to set up properly- to become a solid rather than a liquid. This should happen within 24 hours, but if it has not set up within 2 weeks, you can reprocess it with more pectin (instructions for this should be included with your pectin).

That's it! We did 4 batches of jelly and had the kitchen cleaned in an hour and a half. (note: the apple jelly takes 5 cups of sugar per batch)

Once you have your equipment (jars, lids, etc), this can be a very cost-conscious way to make your own jelly! Be sure to buy everything on sale and to use coupons whenever possible. Stock up on sugar as we are heading into the Christmas baking season. There is also a $1/1 Welch's Juice coupon here- use these when Welch's goes BOGO at Publix to really score!

Once you get the general instructions down, play around with different flavors of juice to make different flavors of jelly. If you use little jars, you can easily make gift baskets of jelly (and bake up some homemade bread to go along) for frugal and delicious Christmas gifts! Have fun!

To see other great tips for saving money every day, check out our Frugal Tips for Everyday Living section!
(thanks Robin for teaching me!)

One of my friends posted these tips in the Discussions part of my Facebook page, and I LOVED them, so I thought I would share! Above and beyond couponing, these are some great tips to get the most savings for your every-day life. (I have also posted this in our Frugal Tips for Everyday Living series- if you've never checked this series out, go do it!)

1. Use coupons! I cannot stress this enough. Many people don't realize this, but you can often mix a manufacturers coupon with a store coupons. I combine Publix coupons with manufacturers coupons all of the time and I usually can get a lot of free items this way. You can even mix a bogo deal with coupons and get paid to shop!

2. You can get free music every week. Every Tuesday, Starbucks picks a new artist of the week. You can pick up cards at your local Starbucks for a special code that gets you a free Itunes download. In addition to this, Itunes offers a free song each week as well.

3. For those of you who love cappuccinos, order a coffee with steamed milk instead. This will save you a few dollars every time.

4. Instead of getting a manicure and pedicure each week, you can go to the nail salon and ask them to do your nail polish only. You can get your nails and toes done for half price just by not using the water tub thingys.

4. Sign up for the groupon.com deals. You will receive a coupon via email each week for restaurants, spas, and more. (Also check out Living Social, Tanga, kgbdeals, Plum District, and Tippr- remember that no matter what city the deal is in, you can get it if it is an online deal like Fandango, soap.com, etc!)

5. Pack your lunch. Eating out is way too expensive. If you must eat out, order water. Drinks can cost up to $2.00 a pop.

6. Save your ticket stubs after seeing a movie. Apparently it's good for a free chicken sandwich from Chick-Fil-A. (Call your local store to verify this).

7. Save your church bulletin after the service, many places will give you a discount on Sundays if you bring the bulletin with you.

8. If you are a student, ask local shops if they offer discounts. You can receive discounts at Starbucks, movie theaters, and other places.

9. If you feel like catching a movie at the theaters, check out what is playing at your local dollar theater. It's not a dollar anymore, but it is still a lot more affordable than paying $10.00 elsewhere.
 (Atlanta area: check out the Picture Show at Merchant's Exchange in Marietta! Tix are only $1.75, and I think that the matinees are even cheaper!)

10. Instead of paying tons of money for framed pictures, make your own. If you take pictures with your own camera, you can have them developed (pretty much anywhere) as a black and white photo. Buy a fancy frame and voila, you can decorate your bare walls! (I have to give credit to Charlene, she's the one who thought of this one).

11. Shop amazon.com. I haven't paid full price for books or dvds in years. (You can also check out www.paperbackswap.com for free books! I use it all the time to get rid of books I no longer read and to pick up new FREE books! When asked who referred you, tell them Katie-M!)

12. Switch from high speed dsl to economy dsl. My friend Rachael says she can't even tell the difference and she saves a ton of money each month.

13. Pay attention to special offers on items that you buy. I usually ignore these, but just last week I got 25 free music downloads just for buying a package of razors for $2.00 (I used a coupon). What a steal!

14. Look through the clearance bins at Kroger. I have found tons of deals in these each week. I just bought 3 packs of gum for 99 cents.

15. Shop for clothing at Plato's Closet. That store rocks and you can buy name brand clothing at super low prices.

16. Look in the creative loafing for free events. (Atlanta Area) Often times there are days when you can visit museums, concert and other events for free!

17. If you buy the daily paper, be sure to look for the Publix penny item. Every Thursday, Publix has a mystery item that only costs you a penny. These items are often things that you buy anyway like coffee and toilet paper.

18. Sign up for a gym membership in the summer. This is when their enrollment drops (because everyone would rather be outside). The winter months are the worst time to sign up for a gym membership.

19. Make your own cards. It will be more meaningful than a store bought one, and can save you a ton of money in a year.

20. If you are wine drinker, then you should definitely try two-buck chuck from trader joes. These wines are actually about $2.75 a bottle and are available in red, white, and blush. It's yummy wine at a price you can't beat!

21. For those of you with kids, take advantage of "kids eat free" specials at your favorite restaurants. Look on their websites to find out what day you can take advantage of those offers. (Fab Steals and Deals also has a page dedicated to Kids Eat Free- check it out, and if you know of any others, send me a message!)

22. Sign up for emails at your favorite stores. You may want to create a seperate email account just for this. You will receive fantastic coupons at places that you already shop. I receive emails from New York and Company, Victoria Secret, and Sweet Tomato, and they are SO worth having an additional email address.

23. Looking for a cheap way to spend your Saturday? Volunteer! Not only is it free, but you'll be making the world a better place. Spend a few Saturdays building with Habitat for Humanity or walking dogs for the Humane Society. It will keep you out of the malls and it will boost your self esteem!

24. Buy staple items on sale. Anytime laundry detergent, toilet paper, or paper towels go on sale, I stock up. You will use it eventually, and you don't want to pay full price for these items. They tend to be pretty expensive.

25. Don't ignore free offers that come inside of the items that you buy. I have gotten free music downloads from buying a pack of razors and free movie tickets from buying a box of tampons.

26. You can download free audiobooks from your local library. All you do is check them out, download them to your computer and then put them on your ipod. They delete the file from your computer, but it will stay on your ipod indefinitely. I got the whole Twilight series for free!

Thank you, April, for these awesome ideas!