Use a long distance calling card. I have found Costco’s card to be the best buy. You can refill it, as well.

Make your own baking mix like Bisquick and bake lots of biscuits, muffins, coffee cakes and pancakes.

Turn lights off.

During the winter, bundle up and keep the house at 65 degrees. (Maybe warmer if you have a baby)

Get rid of either cell phones, or the land line.  Sometimes paying the fee to stop a contract is cheaper than fulfilling the contract. If you do use cell phones, get rid of extras like texting.

Get rid of credit cards and lines of credit.

Get rid of cable.

Eat more rice and beans.

Don’t even look at the store ads, only go to the store to buy what you need and stick to it.

Don’t run to town all the time. Consolidate trips.

Don’t buy a new vehicle.

Pray about each purchase that each dollar you spend is being used wisely.

Use the dollar store for purchasing gifts.

Stay away from the mall.

Wash your vehicle by hand as opposed to running it through a car wash

Shop thrift stores (with a list of needs). You can find some very classy clothing at very good prices if you shop around.

Pay bills online.

Keep a notebook with you to write down all purchases, even little ones. (See price book sheets on right under freebies) This will help identify the problem. Compare. Find out the best place with the best buys and shop there the most.

Use only cash when grocery shopping. Leave the checkbook and debit card at home.

Plan a menu and shop off that.

Incorporate a meatless dinner into your menu.

Incorporate a couple casseroles and soups into your menu. These usually tend to be stretchers and are less expensive than individual helpings of a veggie, meat, and bread.

Cut out sodas and expensive coffees. Consider making your own specialty coffee drinks at home using your blender.

Cut down juices to just breakfast unless fruit is served.

Make granola and yogurt or baked oatmeal for breakfast.

Change out light bulbs with fluorescents

Learn to change the oil in the vehicle, as well as the air filter.

Make your own cocoa mix, instead of buying it or mix half and half.

Don’t buy prepared gravy mixes, hamburger helpers, etc. Make your own from scratch.

Cut out prepared snack foods like chips and fancy crackers, unless for special occasions. Make popcorn in a good old pot on the stove or in an air popper. Make your own crackers. There are several recipes for crackers and snacks in the More With Less (on right).

Seek out marked down bananas. Let the kids eat the best ones. Peel and freeze the rest in a gallon zip lock bag. Pull out and make smoothies or banana bread.

Shop egg prices. Sometimes buying a large 3 dozen container is less expensive than the smaller containers. They will last for a very long time and are an inexpensive food.

Find a co-op for bulk foods like dried fruits, nuts, seeds, oatmeal, herbs, spices, vitamins and supplements, etc.

Buy generic when possible.

Make your own laundry soap.

Cook from scratch.

Make your own baby wipes.

Buy your cleaners at a janitorial supply store. They are so much cheaper and really good.

Try sharing postage with a few neighbors who have to mail the same utility bills to the same places.

Make your own envelopes instead of buying new ones by forming them from scratch paper. Take apart an envelope to use as a template.

The Tightwad Gazette (on right) suggests there are three ways to save (in a nutshell). They are: Buy it cheaper, make it last longer, use it less.

Wash out sturdy zip types bags to reuse. Just remember not to reuse any that stored meats or grease.

Use leftover rice by making a crust for a quiche. Do this by combining 1 1/2 c. of cooked rice, 1 oz of shredded cheese, and an egg. Pat out in a pie plate. For a larger quiche dish, increase rice and cheese portions slightly. Do not Pam or grease the dish. Bake at 425° for 20 minutes.

For cheap return address labels, cut out all of the mailing labels from your junk mail that has your address all nicely preprinted. Attach them to your envelopes with a glue stick, white glue, or tape.

Turning bulbs on and off wears them out. Since compact fluorescents are the most expensive type to replace, when leaving the room for less than half an hour, you should leave them on. When leaving for less than 15 minutes, leave tube fluorescents on, and when leaving for less than 5 minutes, leave incandescent on.

An inexpensive gift, if you can do calligraphy, might be to write a favorite Bible verse or saying then place it in a yard sale frame.

Buy and use a battery charger and rechargeable batteries.

Do not buy pre-processed potatoes (wedges, mashed, fries). Make them from scratch.

Make your own baking powder by mixing 1 part baking soda, 2 parts cream of tartar, and 2 parts arrowroot.

Make your own cream soup mix instead of buying premade, precanned soups.

Take shorter showers.

Insulate the attic.

Air condition one or two rooms, as opposed to the whole house. Likewise, in the winter, close off rooms that don’t need to be heated.

Hang your laundry out.

Put lids on all pots while cooking

Bake more than one item at a time.

When doing dishes, try filling the sink only half way.

Stop eating out or picking up something quick, especially if it means a fast food restaurant.

Learn to cut hair instead of paying someone else to do the job.

Add a little extra dry milk powder to baked goods to boost protein.

If you dine out, only drink water.

Less expensive snack foods would be popcorn, pretzels, Costco corn chips, or home made cookies.

The least expensive vegetables are cabbage and carrots

Get yourself a farmer’s guide from the extension office.  Find out when the produce your family enjoys the most comes ripe. Go pick it. Put it up. It’s not that difficult, really.

Buy from produce stands in bulk. Sometimes you can order ahead of time how much corn you want. Freeze it the same day you get it.

Eat before you go shopping

Have a planned list ahead of shopping time.

Make a master grocery list.

Try living on beans and rice for a week.

If you have little ones in disposable diapers, I have found Costco’s to be the best buy.

Stop using paper towels and use kitchen hand towels, instead.

Buy your tp at Costco in a large amount and just store it somewhere. It’s a good buy and good quality.

Bake. Fresh bread will fill a tummy like nobody’s business and makes hearts happy.

Take cash with you when you go shopping or purchase a gift card and just fill it with the amount you have limited yourself. Plan on keeping a little in there for incidentals, especially when you start this.

Don’t cater to picky eaters, unless it is your husband.

Eat hot cereals in the winter. You don’t even need milk.

Stop buying tooth paste. It’s not good for you, anyway.

Use borax and oxy mixed together instead of laundry soap or dish soap for the dishwasher.

Buy inexpensive Suave shampoo and dilute with water to use in your pump soap dispenser

Eat leftovers for lunch.

Powdered milk works well instead of real as a substitute. I make my yogurt with it, even.

Find a dent and nick store.

Ask your grocer if you can purchase old bananas at a discount.

I’m sure this list is incomplete. Perhaps you have some ideas up your sleeve that I have not come up with. Please share!

Tags: Food, great finds, kitchen cares, recipes, winter

I was recently reminded of my Victorio Food Strainer & Sauce Maker and thought it would be grand to share this nifty kitchen appliance with you.

I own the one in this photo. My thoughtful mother in law gave it to me many, many years ago and it has served us well!

Let me share a bit why this is one of the nicest appliances a home maker can have:

• No more dipping tomatoes in scalding water to get the skins off
• No more cutting out the tomato end (the green part)
• No more peeling apples to make sauce
• No more coring, either!
• No more apple hulls or little black mysterious dots in your sauce
• This makes beautiful, fine sauce from fruits and vegetables such as squash.

The best tomatoes for sauce are Romas. With this strainer, you do not have to cut them up. Just wash, then send them on through. They fit perfectly through the hole in the top. If you are using a larger item, cut it in pieces. A plunger also comes with the appliance.

And that’s another thing… it doesn’t take electricity to run it. It is very simple to use. Even my kids like to take turns turning the handle.

Remember when we had this little chat about the Motivated Moms Scheduler? Did you drag your feet and, well, forget about it?

No worries! I bring great news to you today! Since the year is half gone, the price for these schedulers is now half off. What a deal!

If you want to give it a try, now’s a great time to do just that.  Just click here to check it out!

Lord bless your day as you serve Him through serving your family.

Tags: Organiztion

Many years ago, I put together a file box in accordance with one of Emilie Barnes’ books, Survival for Busy Women. I love my file box! I thought I’d share with you a little about it because it is so simple and compact!

For starters, I have a whole slug of 3 in. x 5 in. index cards . I started out with bright, colorful cards, but have resorted to a mixture now. My card box is a bright yellow so I can easily locate it if I set it down somewhere. Everything is written in pencil so I can erase as needed. The exception would be for some storage cards, which I will explain later. Tabs could also be in pen, as those don’t change.

Next, I have dividers. They are labeled:

• Daily
• Weekly
• Monthly
• January
• February
• March
• April
• May
• June
• July
• August
• September
• October
• November
• December
• Storage

Emilie Barnes recommends the following:

• Daily
• Weekly
• Monthly
• Quarterly
• Twice a year
• Annually

I prefer my way, because then I can nail down an exact month in which to assign items. If the items are quarterly, I make 4 cards. If the item is twice a year, I make 2 cards. I hope you are following me now

Now to explain what comes behind those headers on the cards….

Behind my daily tab, I have several cards that need to be done each day. Yours may vary. Mine are as follows:

• Consider dinner preparations: Pull out meat for thawing
• Make Bed, tidy bedroom
• Balance checkbook
• Have quiet time
• Take garbage out of each bathroom and put in new bags
• Wipe down sinks
• Sweep floors
• Laundry: Wash 4 loads, dry, fold, and put away
• Do school
• Dishes: Maintain
• Wipe down front of cupboards and appliances

I do not do all those tasks. Some are shared and some are assigned. They are in no particular order. Each day, I go through my cards and make sure each task has been accomplished. I have been doing it so long, though, that I know them by heart and are routine here. I do revisit the box no and again, though, to see if I should add or remove something.

Behind my weekly tab, I have a card labeled for each day of the week. The days of the week could be in pen since that doesn’t change. Mine are as follows, yous could be different.

• Sunday: Plan for next week, take a break
• Monday: Iron, mend, vacuum, water the live tree in the living room
• Tuesday: Mop floors, do bills
• Wednesday: Vacuum, bathe littles, yard work
• Thursday: Town day, get garbage cans out for garbage service
• Friday: Clean bathrooms, plan menu
• Saturday: Check over undone chores, bathe littles, vacuum

Behind my monthly tab, I have 4 cards, which are labeled

• Week 1
• Week 2
• Week 3
• Week 4

On each of those cards, I have written tasks. Mine are as follows:

• Week 1: Clean all 3 upstairs hall closets (blankets & linens, towels, coats & shoes), yard patrol, clean garage
• Week 2: Clean out van, clean refrigerator
• Week 3: Change linens, clean pantry, watch kitchen walls
• Week 4: Follow up on things to be mailed, sorted, and filed, clean washroom, wash appliances thoroughly.

Here are the things I have behind each of my month tabs. I have a card for each task:

• January

1. Clean under refrigerator and stove

• February

1. Straighten drawers
2. Clear upstairs bookshelves, clean thoroughly and put back together

• March

1. Sort through clothing boxes and rotate clothes.
2. Clean the shed

• April

1. Wash windows, inside and out.
2. Defrost & clean garage refrigerator & freezers
3. Change smoke alarm batteries

• May

1. Put bacteria in toilet/septic

• June

1. Clear downstairs bookshelves, clean thoroughly and put back together. Rotate books.
2. Change furnace filter
3. Clean the shed

• July

1. Clean the dryer vent in back of dryer

• August

1. Rearrange some furniture or consider what might make my home warm and welcoming. Make changes as desired.
2. Clear upstairs bookshelves, clean thoroughly and put back together.

• September

1. Clean screens from windows for storage over winter.
2. Clean the shed

• November

1. Sort through clothing boxes and rotate clothing.
2. Change the smoke alarm batteries
3. Harvest/can/freeze
4. Put bacteria in toilet/septic

• December

1. Clean shed

I know… I have some duplicates often, but the idea is maintenance before it gets bad.

I am going to share about my storage tab another time, because it is a little involved and will probably take another post.

Tags: Organization, schedule

Last week, I published this list of ideas for some fun activities to do with your kids. I have another set of them for you. I hope you enjoy!

• Cut pictures out of catalogs and glue onto paper
• Make finger puppets from toilet paper rolls. Draw faces and glue yarn on for hair. Use a sheet over a table for a puppet show.
• Use a long wrapping paper tube to make a slide for small cars, balls or other toys.
• Make a collage by gluing different kinds of beans, cereal, colored toothpicks, rice, foil, macaroni, etc. onto cardboard.

I would love to hear about some of the activities you used to do when you were young and the summer seemed long. Leave me a comment and share with us. Let’s share ideas!

Tags: just fun