Frugal Accomplishments 9/21-9/27

This week has been a whirlwind of activity in our house. We are in our second week of school and all the parents out there know what that means. The newness of it all has worn off and suddenly the kids have realized there is WORK to be done. We have had lots of tears and "drama llamas" in our house this week. I have went out of my way to think of new fun things to do for math, reading, and science to combat some of the drama. It is really amazing what you can accomplish with an 8 yr old when you had them a white board and a dry erase marker. Suddenly that "impossible" math problem is actually FUN to solve! I love how kids minds work! 

On the frugal front this week we have been doing well. I printed out a free A unit for the twins and then laminated one copy to use with our younger children down the road. Something is still not clicking for the twins (4yrs old) with learning the ABC's. I am going to need a new approach with them soon. I have invested in some ABC sticker books and am going to look into streaming the leapfrog ABC videos.

On Saturday my oldest daughter and I kept ourselves busy (and out of the stores) by participating in a street feed. For those unaware of what a street feed is....you feed people on the street! We loaded up several cars with food (chili), clothing items, Bibles, toiletries, etc and drove up to a homeless shelter in a very bad section of a large city. Seeing how little these people had and how grateful they were for something as simple as a toothbrush or a bar of soap was really touching for both my daughter and I. It really put our "struggles" into perspective! As soon as we got home our daughter drew up plans for the homeless shelter she plans to build when she grows up. We plan to participate again next month.

 Also this week we have kept the air conditioner off for all but 2 hours one afternoon. It got stuffy in the house again and we still have not invested in any box fans for the windows.

We did a great deal of cooking at home this week. I found that if I put potatoes in my crockpot on high in the morning they are perfectly cooked by lunch time. I don't know why but I am terrible at making baked potatoes so I was thrilled with this discovery!

This week we studied the tundra in our science class. Instead of buying a boxed curriculum this year I am designing the curriculum myself. I found this adorable and very informational tundra pack on the teachers pay teachers website for $4.

We used some shortening I had in the pantry to do a science experiment concerning the insulating properties of blubber. The kids LOVED this experiment....I wasn't too fond of getting the "blubber" off our hands afterwards but it was really neat.

Over all it was a really good week and I am very happy to have the second week of school behind us!

Financial breakdown: Boxed versus homemade brownies

A while back I took part in a discussion on a message board about what you make from scratch when you are trying to be careful with your grocery budget. I said "everything" another poster said that certain things were cheaper to buy processed/boxed then to make from scratch. The example given was that brownies are cheaper from a box then from scratch. Which got me to thinking....what is the exact breakdown of homemade brownies versus boxed brownies?

Brownies

1/2 cup butter $0.47
1 cup sugar $0.18
2 eggs $0.21
1 tsp vanilla $0.01
1/3cup cocoa $0.18
1/2 cup flour  $0.04
1/4 tsp salt $0.01
1/4 tsp baking powder $0.01

Preheat oven to 350. Melt butter in a saucepan and remove from heat. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Pour into a buttered 8x8 glass pan and bake 25-30min.

Total for 1 pan: $1.11

Boxed Brownies
 Box of mix  $2.28
 1/4cup oil $0.15
 1 egg $0.10

Total for 1 pan: $2.53


So it is roughly $1.42 cheaper to make brownies from scratch. Of course the amount of the boxed brownies could be less if you bought them on sale. Lets face it though when you are craving a brownie you are not going to be waiting for the next sale cycle to start! At least this chocoholic isn't going to!

 This is obviously not an amount that is going to break the bank. However I decided to write a post about it because I think it reflects a deeper issue. I would have still made my homemade brownies even if it had been MORE expensive to make them from scratch. Why? Because I feel that we as a society are too dependent on boxed mixes and premade items. That fact was made perfectly clear to me this last winter. We had a bad ice storm and the roads were terrible. We were all house bound for several days and unable to get to the stores.  I was reading some posts on our local spouses page and was shocked by what I read. People were complaining that they couldn't get to the store to buy this mix or that box for meals. It honestly never occurred to them to make the items from commonly found pantry staples. Out of all the things to be worried about right after a bad storm not being able to make brownies because I couldn't get to the store to buy a box of mix wasn't on my list.

It seems to me that the act of cooking actual food has been lost on our generation. You can now buy just about any completed meal item you can think of either frozen, boxed, or canned.  I am very surprised how many people do not know how to make simple things like soups or bread items. I was speaking to a woman a few months ago about how we make our own pizza dough on pizza night. She was shocked that we would "have the time to go to all that trouble". When I told her it takes me 5min and just pennies to make enough dough for 5 pizzas she was shocked.

I don't know about you but I don't like feeling helpless. Which is just how I feel when I am 100% reliant on someone else for my meals. I have been there. Standing in front of my pantry looking in and saying "I can't make anything for dinner" because we were out of boxed Rice a roni or cans of cream of whatever soup. I like knowing I can make the items I need from staples I buy in bulk once a month. I don't need to run to the store constantly to get that "needed" item.

I hope to teach my children that there is life outside of the box, can, freezer section! What about you all? 

Chicken and stars soup

Ever have one of those days when your kids are starving and the last thing you want to do is make dinner? Yeah, been there done that........ a lot! I decided to make soup last night since it would be nice and simple to put together. I had a box of Pastina (little stars) in my pantry and decided to make a knock off of the canned chicken and stars soup....

Chicken and Stars Soup

12 cups of water
12 tsp chicken base or 12 cubes of bullion
1 cup diced celery
1 cup onion
2 cups diced cooked chicken
1/2 box Pastina

Simply add all ingredients to the pot and simmer till veggies and pasta are cooked through. I served this in bowls but it was very thin and would have done better in a thermos or a coffee cup. Over all it was yummy and very nice on a cool evening. I loved getting out of the kitchen quickly and that my kids came back for seconds!

Frugal accomplishments 9/14-9/20

This week was our first week back to school and we have been super busy figuring out our new normal now that we have 4 kids in school.  I did take the time to write down our frugal accomplishments, otherwise I am sure I would have forgotten all of them by now.

The weather here has been lovely. Lows of 50's and highs of 70's. We were able to go 7 days with no ac or heat. I have been tempted to turn on the air conditioner several afternoons just because it becomes very stuffy in the house even with the windows open. I need to look into get some box fans for the rooms without ceiling fans.

We made some homemade play dough for our homeschool coop science class a few weeks ago. The kids used it to model the different sections of the brain. So the colors were all mixed together. I started to just throw it away after the class but decided my kids wouldn't care if their play dough was rainbow colored so I kept it. The kids have had a blast playing with it this week. There is something about play dough that brightens my kids day like nothing else can.







Also this week we have been busy in the kitchen with real dough. We made homemade bread, honey butter, ranch powder, cream of chicken soup, coffee creamer, chicken and stars soup, chicken pot pies, and an "I didn't get to go to the store casserole".  I will have to post about my casserole soon.

I also used my crockpot to make a roast that called for 5 hours in the oven.  I don't even want to know how much gas it would take to run an oven for 5 hours.






We were blessed this week to do several science experiment at home that were at little to no cost.

I also was very blessed to find a 3T winter coat for our son for $3. I was able to pull quarters out of my grocery envelope to pay for it. I am still looking for jeans for my son and my oldest daughter for this winter. My project for this weekend is to go through our shoe bin and coat box in the basement and see what is needed for this winter and start my thrift store rounds. I am hoping we will just need new shoes and snow boots for everyone. 

Overall we had a wonderfully productive and frugal week.

How did your week go?

Our First Week Back to School

We are a bit out of sync with the rest of the world around here....but then what else is new! We just started back to school this week and we are in the middle of working out our new house/new curriculum/new students kinks.  So far things are going pretty well. Just the normal summer forgetfulness going on for the most part. We had originally planned to school year round with 4 day weeks and several weeks off through out the year for holiday breaks. However when we decided to move to a civilian house we took a month off to get the packing and such accomplished. As I mentioned before I managed to hurt myself pretty badly during the move and was on bedrest for a week and now two months later am still in physical therapy 3 times a week. So our 1 month school break turned into a 2.5 month break. Of course when we started back up no one remembered how to do even the simplest math problem. So this week has been a lot of review and reteaching things they learned last year. Lesson learned...no more 2.5 mth breaks if we can help it! 

We are back to our original plan of 4 day weeks and a year round school year. I like having Friday's "free" since we have co-op those days. We are gone all morning and then go to the library that afternoon for new books for the next week. It is just a really busy day around here. I also like having the Friday open to finish any work that didn't get finished the 4 days before hand if needed. That way we are not constantly "running behind" if someone is sick or life happens and an assignment doesn't get done as planned. 

Also this year we are learning how to add two new preschoolers into our program. They did a bit of school work last year but since they were 3/4yrs old we really didn't push it. They did school when they felt like it and were excited to do so. This year they are 4/5yrs old and it is time to get the basics in place. We are focusing on learning the ABC's and 123's to begin with then see where we are in the school year. If they were in public school they would be in pre-k this year so I don't think we are too far behind the curve on this one. I am learning how to keep them involved in our group lessons (History, Science, Geography, Bible) and  divide my time between them during their individual lessons. I have a great deal of respect for public school teachers. I have a great deal of trouble dividing myself between the girls as they are working through the same assignments. It is much easier for me to have children of different ages working through different assignments at the same time. I am sure it is just because that is what I learned to manage first. I am hoping I will get a bit better at bouncing between the girls making sure they each get my individual attention as needed.

The method to my madness with the older girls is really pretty simple. Lots of hands on experiments and learning activities and very little "busy work".  We can read about gravity all day long but it will not come close to the level of learning you get when the kids have to design a system for getting a marble through a series of tubes. After about 6 failed attempts they finally realized that they needed to work with gravity instead of against it.  I love watching the light go on when they really honestly understand a lesson.

 

 I also am not all that fond of doing school work inside a structured school room. Yes I have a school room and not having one was deal breaker for me when we were looking for a new house. That isn't to say we only do school in our school room. We use it for messy activities where we don't want the wind blowing our supplies away, for storing our books and supplies, and for working in when the weather is yucky outside. It however isn't the only place we do our work. I love to take the kids outside and do our work while sitting under a tree or laying on a blanket. I figure that is the best part of homeschooling, not being stuck in the same room for 8 hours a day. Sometimes we even snuggle up in bed to do our reading! I have found that my 8yr old who dislikes reading will gladly read me a bedtime story. Just taking the school out of the classroom really helps her relax and enjoy the process of learning.

We also like to stop at random times and play with the information we have been learning about.  While reading about Constantinople in history we found that the Hagia Sophia church was decorated with complex mosaics. Of course we took that opportunity to put down out books and pick up our art supplies. We did some researching about what mosaics were and the girls were very happy to make their own paper versions. I can promise you that they will remember the name of the Hagia Sophia now thanks to this art project more than they ever would have from my just reading about it to them.

So what does our actual schedule look like these days? Well for days I don't have physical therapy it looks roughly like this.....

6am wake up and eat breakfast
7:15 Son gets on the bus
7:20 Group lesson: Bible 
7:40 Group lesson: History
8:10  Group lesson: Geography
8:30 BREAK (mom cleans the kitchen and starts dinner)
8:45 Group lesson: Science
9:15 5th and 3rd grader do handwriting
9:30  5th grader does English readings/assignments while 3rd grader does math with mom
10:00 Pre-k time with the twins
10:30 5th grader does math with mom
11:00 3rd grader does English with mom
Noon  Lunch and 3 youngest go down for naps
1pm In home therapies begin for the children

On days when I have physical therapy the schedule gets stopped at the 8:30 break and resumed at 10:30 when I get home.  It isn't ideal but you gotta do what you gotta do to keep up with these little ones!

How is school going at your house?

Cinnamon Coffee Creamer

My husband has become obsessed with cinnamon flavored coffee creamer from the dairy section of the grocery store. Since we started shopping at a new store in an effort to reduce our grocery costs we found that the new store doesn't carry his creamer. I was not fond of the idea of driving to a second store to buy just one thing so I asked my husband if he would let me try to make the creamer here at home. He was game so I gave it a try. The results were pretty amazing. According to my husband and his co-workers this creamer "tastes like Christmas in a cup". I don't drink coffee but I can say it does taste pretty good just straight out of the jar on a spoon!

Cinnamon Coffee Creamer

1 cup Brown Sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 1/2tsp Cinnamon
2 cups milk

Add all ingredients to a mason jar and seal. Shake well. Store in the refrigerator and shake well before use.

I ended up making two jars for my husband. One to leave at work and one for home. He has gotten quite a few questions when he pulls a mason jar out of the fridge to pour in his coffee but once they try it they are sold. I would like to play with the recipe and try vanilla but my husband loves the cinnamon so much he refuses to let me play around with it!

Pork Chops with Golden Ranch Gravy

Today before my husband left for work I asked him if he wanted chicken or pork chops for dinner. He chose pork chops so I decided to whip up some Pork Chops in Golden Ranch Gravy. I found a recipe online and then tweaked it to remove all the processed items. The result was a quick and seriously good meal that I am happy to share with you all! 

First up was a homemade version of Ranch Dressing Powder.  

1 cup parsley flakes

1/2 cup onion powder

1/2 cup garlic powder

1/4cup salt

1/2 cup dried minced onions

Mix together and store in an air tight container. Two Tablespoons = 1 packet of ranch dressing mix

 Next up was a homemade version of Cream of Chicken soup

3 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp flour
1/2 tsp Chicken flavored better than bullion
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup milk

Melt butter in sauce pan. Once melted add flour and whisk quickly to combine. Let cook for 2 min to cook out the flour taste. Remove from heat and add remaining ingredients. Return to the heat and whisk till the mixture starts to combine.

 Next up brown the pork chops in a pan till cooked through. Remove from the pan and add the cream of chicken mixture and 2 Tbsp ranch powder mix. Stir continually while scraping the bottom of the pan to loosen up the brown bits from the bottom of the pan.  Return the pork chops to the pan and simmer to combine the flavors.

We all went back for seconds! So yummy!

Frugal Accoplishments 9/7-9/13

This week has been a whirlwind of activity at our house. My mother has been visiting which always means lots of sightseeing and traveling. We are extremely blessed that my mother treats our entire family to these outings otherwise this week would have been VERY non-frugal.

This week we did have some frugal wins however...

The weather here is turning cooler and we were able to keep our a/c off  at night for 3 nights and for 2 full days. I adore having the windows open and enjoying the cool breeze. Fall is my favorite season for sure.

Also this week I took advantage of some wild blackberries growing in an open field near my house and did some transplanting. I managed to transplant 8 blackberry bushes to the fence line closest to the road. I am hoping that as they grow they will provide not only fruit but also privacy. They are looking pretty rough right now due to my having to sever the root systems between the plants to move them (they send out root systems to produce new plants in a runner type system.). I am hoping that come spring they will bounce back and be good to go. I figure if it works I saved myself $120 in plants....if it doesn't I am just out an afternoons labor.

While I had the shovel out I transplanted 12 day lilies from a back fence line where they were struggling up to our fire pit area. Then it was on to moving iris plants from another fence line where I am planning to plant tomatoes to a flower bed in the front yard to fill in around the existing iris plants.

We are also planning to start our fall semester of school this coming Monday. So I spent my weekend organizing our supplies and getting our first lesson plan written up. I have been trying to find a complete free Bible curriculum to use this year. I lucked out and found this curriculum by Calvary Curriculum. It starts at the beginning and progresses in short lessons through the entire Bible. I will let you know how we like it. You can't beat free however!

Also this week I have been printing up lots of pre-k packs for our 4 yr olds.  This is the first year we have done a structured school with them and they are seriously looking forward to it. I was very excited o find both Frozen and Sophia the First pre-k packs. I am sure they will be massive hits in our house. I laminated the pages and will be using dry erase markers with them. This will cut down on the number of times I have to print the packs, allow me to keep them for our younger children, and the kids get to use markers which is a HUGE incentive to them to do their work. Again gotta love free!

I also decided to scrap the pre-school curriculum we have been using. It is just too advanced for the girls and I really don't like having to read a teachers manual to figure out how to teach the letter A. I think I just don't do well with being micromanaged which is what I feel this curriculum was doing. I decided to instead go back to basics and focus on just the ABC's and 123's as it were. I am in love with the 3dinosaurs site. Especially her ABC printables! We are going to start simply learning the letters and numbers and doing lots of read alouds. The girls already know all their colors and shapes so we are going to skip learning these this year. My goal at the end of the year is for the girls to be able to identify all the letters and numbers, write their name, use scissors, and be able to count up to 10 items. Seems like a good start to me!

As I mentioned last semester we are designing our own Science curriculum this year. I just felt that at this age the kids needed a more diverse curriculum. It seems like all the curriculum out there are very topic specific and spending an entire semester studying just one type of animal was not working for our kids. We spent a month studying Dinosaurs and this month we are working on ecosystems and biodomes. I spent the evening printing out free pages from education.com and teacherspayteachers. com  I am very much looking forward to this unit. We are going to be doing a lot of notebooking activities and field trips. It is going to be a lot of fun. This may or may not be the science nerd in me coming out!

Next up was History. We are doing the Story of the World curriculum and were blessed with the second book in the series for free. That just left the student activity pages to purchase this time. I decided to buy the pdf version of the student pages for $9 and then print two copies. I like the pdf version because I can then save it on my hard drive to use with my younger children down the road. I however do not like printing a 185 page work book....times two! It probably would have been cheaper to just buy the 6 sets of student pages in print ($11 per) by the time I count in printer ink and paper!

This week also happens to be the end of one two week budget and the start of a new two week budget.  I was able to review how we did in the last two weeks and set our new budget for the rest of the month. We were under budget on our food and utilities but went over budget on our "household" account.  Not great but lesson learned. I will be keeping a tighter reign on that category this next two weeks.

How did your week go?

This weeks frugal accomplishments 8/31-9/6

This week has been a whirlwind of activity thanks to the start of our fall homeschool co-op and my mother coming into town.

This week we have:

Completed two no spend days

Had 3 meatless meals

Downloaded 17 free books for my kindle, saving me around $255 in costs!

Downloaded several free coloring pages from Dover sampler

Downloaded a free Bible study unit from Grapevine studies to use with the kids this fall. I am attempting to do a 100% free bible curriculum this year so every little bit helps! 

Our girls dressed up in items we already had and put on a play for us.

 I practiced my hair styling skills using colored rubber bands. Instead of purchasing the 100 pack of rubber bands for $2.00 I instead purchased the ones intended for making the rubber band bracelets that are all the rage right now. I was able to get 2,000 bands for $7. They work exactly the same and saved me $33.

 As I mentioned this week was our first week at co op for the fall semester. We were given free backpacks for the girls and free school supplies thanks to a program in place for military children. The co op itself is $10 per family! You can't beat that when you have 6 kids!!

Also this week our son started back to his private autistic only preschool. We reused his old backpack since it was still in perfect condition.

Over all we had a pretty exciting week in our house! How was your week?

Tomato Basil Soup with Cheddar Dill Scones

Necessity is the mother of invention, right? I had several food items I needed to use up quickly before they went bad so I had to get creative. Which lets face it can be dangerous or brilliant. I am leaning towards brilliant this time!

First up I had a giant bowl of tomatoes that were starting to go bad and some Basil that was past it's prime but still usable. Enter Tomato Basil soup!

Tomato Basil Soup

2 lbs carrots, peeled and diced
1 large onion, diced
1/3 cup olive oil
4 cups pureed tomatoes (skin and all)
5 cups chicken broth
1/4 cup basil
2 Tbsp minced garlic
1/2 cup milk

Add the olive oil to a pan and saute the carrots and onion till cooked through. While waiting for the carrots and onion mixture to cook puree your tomatoes in a blender. Pour your tomato mixture through a cheese cloth or fine mesh strainer to remove any tomato skins or seeds.  Add the tomatoes to a medium sized sauce pan along with the garlic.

 Once the carrots and onions are cooked add them to the blender with the basil and puree them with a bit of the chicken stock to keep everything moving. Once pureed add to the tomato mixture and heat to a simmer. Add milk and continue to simmer for 15min to combine the flavors.

I stored mine in mason jars in the fridge just for the ease of storage and pouring into bowls (and because my husband says I am obsessed with filling jars full of stuff).

I had a bowl of the soup right after making it and felt it needed something to go along with it. I thought about making some standard rolls but wanted something a bit different. I had some dill that was going bad and needed to be used so I decided to make a dill scone. I also had some cheddar cheese leftover from quesadillas  a few nights before so I added that as well.

Cheddar Dill Scones

2 cups flour
2 tsp ground mustard
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup cold butter cut into chunks
1 cup cheddar cheese
1/4 cup dill
1/2 cup milk

Combing all dry ingredients in a stand mixer bowl. Add butter chunks in and use your whisk attachment to work the butter into the flour till it reaches a corn meal consistency. Change to your paddle attachment and add in remaining ingredients till the dough just comes together. Turn out on the counter and press to 1 in thick circle being sure not to overwork the dough. Cut into 8 triangles and place on baking sheet. Bake 400 for 20min till golden brown.

They were super easy and quick to make and so yummy they all disappeared in a matter of minutes.

Strawberry Jam

 Our local Acme just had a buy one get one free sale on strawberries. I decided that since my kids were obsessed with strawberries I would get 14lbs and make some jam and smoothies.

I sliced up 5 lbs for the freezer to use in smoothies, used 3lbs to make jam, and let the kids eat the last 6lbs of berries that day....yes they did eat 6lbs of berries in 12 hours. There are 6 of them so I guess 1 lb of berries per person isn't terrible. The last time we went to a pick your own farm for berries my oldest two daughters and I picked 15lbs in 10min and they were all eaten within 24 hours...so this was a little less extreme I guess.

My oldest daughter really REALLY wanted to help with making the jam so I took the opportunity to let her make it all by herself (I did the water bath canning). She was so proud of herself and I was thrilled not to have to stand there and stir!

Strawberry Jam

2 quarts of strawberries (3lbs)
6 cups of sugar
1/2 cup of water
3 Tbsp of pectin

Squish the berries up as much as possible with a potato masher before adding them to a large pot. I used my largest pot to leave room for the foaming that occurs with boiling.  Once squished add all other ingredients and boil stirring constantly till you reach gel point.

Fill your clean jars with the hot jam leaving 1/4in head space. Add your two piece lid and finger tighten your rings into place.

Process in a water bath canner for 10 min remembering to make sure there is 1-2in of water covering the top of the jar at all times.

Remove from water bath and place on a towel leaving several inches of space between jars. Allow to cool for 12-24 hours before moving them into storage. Remember to check your seals before storing. If the top of the jar lid has any motion when you push down on it the jar is not sealed. If a jar didn't seal store in the refrigerator instead of the pantry and use first.

 I managed to wait an entire 24 hours before I opened our first jar to use on homemade bread with butter. It was amazing! So amazing we are almost to the end of our second jar and it has only been a week!

Our New House: Laundry room

There are two rooms on the ground floor of our house that I didn't paint. The laundry room happens to be one of them. I was not overly concerned with what the laundry room looked like....and I was tired of painting!  The previous tenant had painted a custom saying on the wall in grey and it worked well enough with the colors throughout the downstairs to just leave it be. 

 Before we moved in

That is until I got completely overwhelmed with laundry for 8 people in a very small room. I shouldn't complain since in our last house the washer and dryer were in our kitchen so you were constantly tripping over dirty laundry anytime you tried to leave the room. I was thrilled to have a laundry room in this house regardless of the size. I just had to get used to having to actually remember go into a separate room to work on the laundry. It was always right in my face before so it was easy to remember to start the machines. 

I was finding that I had mounds and mounds of laundry stacked everywhere waiting to be put away. My bedroom was overrun with baskets and the laundry room had a mountain of clean laundry taller than my 4 yr olds. No one could find anything and I was so overwhelmed I just wanted to cry anytime I contemplated sorting it and putting it all away. It was just too much!

I needed something to help contain the disaster and make my life considerably easier. I remembered seeing plans for a laundry basket dresser on Ana Whites website and practically ran to get my tape measure to see if we could make it work in our new laundry room.

I was thrilled to find that we had plenty of room to do two stacked units. I went alone to Lowes and had an employee there help me get the pieces of plywood loaded in my cart and even had them cut the pieces into the proper dimensions for me.  It was very simple to load them into my SUV and then put the units together by myself. They are basically just a box with rails for the laundry baskets to hang from. Very simple to build. I think it took me longer to paint them then it did to build them.

I now have 6 baskets to sort clothes into right out of the dryer. That means I can sort clothes for all 8 people in one location (the husband and I share a basket as do the twins). This has relieved my stress over laundry considerably. Don't have any more shorts in your drawer? No need to rummage through 4 massive piles of clean laundry and make a giant mess just go to your basket in the laundry room and pull a pair out. Brilliant! 

Total cost: $65 per unit which includes the 3 baskets

Totally worth every dime in my opinion!