Spring Planting

This is also a reminder to get your flower beds, gardens or porch pots ready for spring planting - a homegrown tomato is cheaper and tastes better than the grocery store variety, as does lettuce, green beans, herbs, cucumbers, and most any other thing you can possibly grow - plus, if you start from seed, it is even cheaper!  A packet of about 100 tomato seeds costs about 1.50, one tomato plant costs about $2.99.  If you're planting a whole garden, that makes a huge impact on your start up costs - and if you have tons of produce, sell it on a roadside stand and recoup virtually all of your investment.

PAID OFF!

Hey! Look to the right!  As of today, ourtruck is paid off!  Next one up, the car, followed by the computers, followed by the boat!!!  Of course I will eventually change the boat from years to dollars, but it's embarrassing!

On a motivational note, if you have a 'pay off list' or 'debt snowball' that you're working on paying off, please post it somewhere that you will see it everyday to remind yourself of your goals!

Breakfast Choices

Breakfast can get expensive quick - for instance, if your kids eat poptarts, they cost about $2.50 for a box of 8, and let's face it, since they come 2 in a package your serving size is 2 even tough the package says the serving size is 1 (at about 300 calories per 1) - so anyway you get 4 servings of poptarts for $2.50 which makes them cost about .63 per serving.  Now if poptarts were a nutrient dense, filling and lasting breakfast, it would be okay - just a little on the pricey side.  Now let's look at some other options:

• Eggs - currently $3 for 18 = .17 per egg, full of protein and other vitamins and only about 70 calories each, and oh, by the way, they are nature made not chemically concocted - although that can be debated a little depending on your egg supplier - I get mine from local farmers, but still a regular grocery store industrially laid egg is closer to as God intended than a poptart ;)
• Oatmeal - about $3 for the 42 oz round box (not the instant stuff) = .10 per serving (1/2 cup dry which equals almost a full cup cooked), and 30 servings per package.  A complex carbohydrate powerhouse, minimally processed, few if any chemicals added
• Pancakes - the homemade kind are cheap as dirt, they cost about .65 per recipe and one recipe feeds more than one person, and of course, the homemade kind are less polluted by stuff you can't pronounce
• Muffins - there again, the homemade kind are about .75 per recipe and one recipe makes 12 muffins, and you can feed several people on those also
• Cheese toast, waffles, biscuits - CHEAP> CHEAP> CHEAP!!!

The best options, I think is to mix and match.  Serve each child a scrambled egg with a side of pancake, muffin or oatmeal.  The next day, give them cheese toast or something simple like that on your leftover homemade bread (use real cheese of course).

My kids rarely eat boxed cereal or poptarts, or anything like that.  We eat homemade pancakes, biscuits, muffins, waffles, cheese toast, etc.  They enjoy the occasional cereal treat, but that's what it is, a treat, not a daily staple.  And while my kids are realtively picky eaters, they do well with breakfast, and that makes me happy since it's the meal that carries them through their busiest part of the day and the part of the day most of their intense learning takes place.

Vacation Spending

My family and I are on vacation in the western part of NC this week.  We love to ski, and skiing is very expensive, there are a few ways to save a few bucks on this wonderful sport though:

• Clothing - we buy our ski bibs, goggles, etc at yardsales through out the year.  The boys have bibs that cost $1 each and they worked fine.  We also have hand me down coats that fit well (thank you snippity!), and we purchased new waterproof ski mittens out of the 'sale box' at the local ski shop here for $13.
• Ski Days - go during the week, because the weekends are usually marked up $10-$15 dollars per person per day, ditto for the night skiing - opt to sleep instead. 
• Food - the resorts generally have lockers you can rent for .75-$1.50 each, so rent 2, put your shoes, etc in one and pack a lunch cooler to put in the other because a bottled soda is $2.25, a cheeseburger is $5, a grilled cheese is $3.50 and French fries are $3.50.  It's cheaper to pack the cooler and pay for the locker a couple of times if you need to go into it more than once than to even buy one soda!!!
• Purchase ahead - if you have a set week you go on vacation, many resorts will offer discounts for buying your tickets at least 2 weeks ahead
• Special discounts - the resort we ski at offers family value packages for skiing, and they also give you 50%-100% off of a child's lift ticket if you bring your receipt or proof of rental for hotel/condo locally

That's all I have for today - please enjoy your favorite sports, but don't go broke doing it!!  Plan ahead and save your hard earned money for other things, like more sports!

Homemade blocks

In my household, we love blocks. We are pretty hard on them too!

I have purchased cardboard blocks. They work pretty well, but can get expensive. However, since we are so hard on our toys...they get messed up. I've come up with a solution to add to our collection, while making use of what would be waste items. I saved cardboard food boxes. I stuffed them full of shredded paper and crumpled newspaper. Seal closed with packing tape or hot glue, and you have a great toy. Pictured are pasta, bacon and easy mac boxes. I've also used frozen waffle and cereal boxes. My kiddos use these to build castles and towers...but these are versitile, because the kids use them in the kitchen area to cook and grocery shop.

Homemade Toffee

I have never made toffee, until last night.  A relative of my husbands called me to get an opinion and bounce off some ideas about a recipe he was trying that wasn't coming out to his liking.  So we talked and went over some things, and he led me to a toffee recipe on cooking for engineers.  So I went to it and BAM I fell in love  - this may be my favorite cooking website because it goes into wonderful, readable technical information about cooking, which is right up my alley.  Anyway, the recipe was easy, had plenty of pictures, and I made the toffee which turned out perfect.  When I calculated the cost, the homemade is about $1 less (or more) per batch than buying the bag of pre crunched toffee bits, and I use those a lot for different recipes.  BTW  one batch and one bag are approximately equal weight.

Follow the link and enjoy some homemade toffee.

http://www.cookingforengineers.com/recipe/159/English-Toffee

Budget Billing

I don't know if this one actually saves you money so much as making how much you need available for bills each month more predictable.  Dominion North Carolina Power offers a service called budget billing, which means they average your past 12 power bills and just bill you that same amount every month.  This way, you don't have those large upswings in summer and winter.  I just started it this month, so I'll let you know how I like it.  It was easy to sign up for, right on my account page on the website.  They do reevaluate their average every 4-6months, so it's not a free for all for leaving all the lights on either;)

Popcorn

Here is a really easy, fast and cheap way to make popcorn in the microwave.
Items you need:
popcorn kernals (the big, cheap bags work fantastically!)
a brown lunch sack
a piece of scotch tape

Open your brown bag. Add 1/4 cup unpopped kernals. Fold top of bag over once. Tape it closed. Place in microwave, and cook until popping becomes slow.(Just like prepurchased microwave kind...mine took 1:30). Remove from microwave and open carefully. You can add a little bit of spray butter & a sprinkle of salt if you don't want to eat it plain.

This is so much easier than pulling out the air popper...and WAY cheaper and healthier than storebought! The brown bag can be reused many many times...

Public Domain Books

Public domain books are basically books old enough that the copyright is expired.  That means you don't have to buy a copy in order to read it, you can read it for free online, and I'll list several sites for you.  The trick to public domain is that the book was initially copyrighted prior to 1923 or the author has given permission for it to go into public domain.


http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page

http://www.authorama.com/

http://www.feedbooks.com/publicdomain

http://www.clasic-literature.co.uk/

Another great find!

yesterday, I found a near perfect Matthew Henry's Commentary in one volume for $2.  now I normally read this online for free, but at that price and in such great condition, I can have a printed copy too!!

Leftover Bread

One of the pitfalls of making your own bread is that it goes stale pretty quickly - usually within about 2-3 days.  Alas!  My heart distresses over waste! (Yes, I'm embellishing a bit :)  Anyway, when my bread is going stale, I just go ahead a replace it with a fresh loaf and slice up whatever is left of the stale and put it in the freezer in a big (gallon or 2 gallon) size ziploc bag.  You see stale bread is perfect for french toast  or bread puddings or those casseroles that require stale bread.  I personally love to use my stale bread for french toast in order to create my favorite concoction ever - the Monte Cristo!  And with a sandwich like that, you need your bread to hold up a little :)

If you want to know what to do with the bread loaf heels - buzz them in the food processor and freeze them - you now no long have to purchase bread crumbs!!!

Syrup Update

I don't know how may people actually try some of the things I post up here, but I hope a few people do.  A few months ago, I posted a Homemade Syrup recipe.  Now, I actually use this recipe and I will say that I haven't purchased pancake syrup in about 6 months - but I have also learned a few things about doing this that I would like to share:

• don't place syrup into jar until it is completely cooled or you will have crystallization issues (of course if you are a homeschooler and need a science project, this a perfect example of crystallization project)
• If you over-sugar the mix in order to get it really thick, you will get crystallization because a liquid mixture can only hold a certain percentage of sugar molecules before they start reforming again, when the mix is heated, it can hold more molecules, when it cools, if it is too concentrated, they will reform.
• If you get crystals and don't want to waste the syrup, put the liquid and the crystals back in a pan with some water and reboil (I love organic chemistry).  then you can cool again to package, or serve warm.
• If you serve the syrup warm or hot, your pancakes don't cool down very much while eating

Okay, that's about it for the kinks I've noticed in doing this - enjoy!

Half.com

This is my new go-to books website.  You just type in the name of your book (or ever how much you can remember of it) and it pulls the list for you.  You click on the correct title and wha you get is not a file on 1 book (like Ebay), but a list of all of the books of that title and edition for sale listed by condition.  For instance, if you type in 'Nourishing Traditions' you get a few book covers to choose from, you click on the one you want and then your list pops up.  You get several listed under new, very good, good and acceptable.  There are also further descriptons available and you can see how sellers are ranked with the star system just like ebay.  You also pay with paypal.  I have purchased several books from them and so far I highly recommend it as a go-to source so you don't have to pay full price for a book you may need to buy rather than just rent at the library.  Of course finding it at the thrift shop is still cheaper most of the time, but you have to ravel to many and dig and you still may not find it.  I have a long term list for things to pick up 'just in case I see it on a thrift shop shelf' but more urgently needed items I get at half.com


****Correction - I was mistaken!  You can't use paypal - I hope you can soon though :)

Proofing Bread

I am a breadmaker, and by that I mean that I make bread several times a week.  I can honestly say that so far in 2010 my family has not eaten commercial bread except for hot dog and hamburger buns - Partly because when i made my hot dog buns, my dough didn't rise for a looooong time and I ran out of time and had to buy some.

Anyway, I used to use the 'proofing bread' setting on my oven from time to time to control the temp so that my dough would rise properly, but now I use a different method.  Instead of leaving my oven on for 1 hour at the proofing bread temp, I just turn my oven on at 350 for 2 minutes and then shut if off.  The oven gets warms enough without geting hot, and the stays warm long enough to get the job done!  and of course it uses less electricity.

Stainless Steel Cleaner

I have a lot of stainless steel appliances, and they need to be cleaned A LOT!  Stainless steel cleaner is pricey - usally about $4 a pop, so I have been working with some things I alredy have in my home that are cheap, environmentally friendly and kid friendly.  Oh yeah, and I don't want it to streak - turns out white vingear in water (1:20) does a good job, and so far, no streaks.  Cheap, easy, and if the kids get into  it and drink some - no worries!

**Ooops - 1:10 on the vinegar and water, course you can go higher if you need it!!

For parents of active little girls

I have found that my youngest daughter loves to wear dresses! With the extremely cold weather...she has to wear some sort of covering on her legs. Tights are pretty, but my daughter loves to play hard! Tights are expensive, especially if your child is very active. Almost every time she wears tights, a hole appears. Our solution is to put on pants under those everyday dresses. They are easier for children to pull up & dress themselves, plus they offer more warmth than tights and are extremely durable. We save the tights for church or other more formal occasions. We have also found that when some dresses still fit up top, but are getting a little too short in the length, Using the pants helps extend the life of the dresses as well. Too-short dresses worn with pants or leggings (that you already have!) is so practical!

The Experiment & Cream Cheese

Well, the shampoo is a bust, my hair felt nasty and I had to wash it with regular shampoo - I will have to work on that formula.

The Dollar Tree cream cheese was okay - the texture is not as smooth as regular cream cheese.  I used it in a recipe where it was melted and it did just fine.  I have not baked with it, and since there are texture differences, I probably won't.  It doesn't spread very well either, it crumbles.

15% off at Gap

Had to go to gap tonight and get hubby dear some workpants, at the check out the cashier gave me a slip of paper to fill out a survey online for a 15% coupon - I did it and I got it, it took me all of 7 minutes to complete.

I have been watching some of those 'how things are made shows' on HD TV in the past couple of days, and I'll tell you, it's a bit scary to see what goes into our food, bath, beauty and even cleaning products.  So, over the next couple of months I will be performing some experiments in my home and on myself and I'll let you know how it goes.   I don't know if they will all be money saving because some of the conventional products I'll be substituting for are dirt cheap because of the cheapness of the chemicals they are made from.  They WILL however, be cheaper than the organic or all natural variations you could go buy in the store.

Experiment #1 - Shampoo

• Have you ever really looked up what those chemicals are in your favorite shampoo? - Well, i would suggest that you do so you know how many carcinogens you are putting on you very vascular scalp while it's pores are wide open.  
• My mix:  2oz castile soap, 2 tbsp baking soda, 1 tsp olive oil, 1/4 tsp glycerin
• test time - 7 days (will be used for every shampoo)
• hair type - for those of you who have never seen me, my hair is average texture, slightly thicker than average, shoulder lenght, not colored, and curly (well, not keri russel curly , but maybe the julia roberts slightly more than wavy type of curly - something along those lines)
• I will not be using a conditioner or any other styling product during this time EXCEPT a curling iron when needed and a little hairspray.  no gels, foams, creams, glossers, puttys, etc.

Anyone else ever done anything like this?  What were your results?

New Year Thrift Shop Sales

With Christmas and New Year's comes decluttering - and therefore, the thrift shops are abounding with donated goods and having sales.  Just today I went thrift shopping and the sales were 50% all clothing or bag sales or basket sales with all the items in the bag or basket for $5.  I loaded up one with 5 tops and a book that I had been wanting for a while, all for $5.  The book was Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon which you normally have to pay at least $15 for plus shipping - so I was psyched to say the least!!!!

So take your want/need/wish list and hit the thrift shops and save some dough!