Today the kids and I went to a friends farm and picked black raspberries. We were there for four hours and left with very few berries but lots of purple faces and hands! We had fun and made memories because it was the second year we've done that.

Around the homestead things are busy, I spent much of last night weeding the gardens. I found a couple more squash and more tomatoes on the vines. The weather is going to be much cooler this week so we'll try to get some yard work done- I really want to clean up around the shed. It looks like a mini trash dump right now. Maybe I should put up some before and after pictures.

I'm also sorting our homeschool curriculum for our used book sale on Tuesday. The kids and I will be sorting through our book shelves tomorrow.

We had our first lightning bug case of the summer tonight. There were some tears when big brother killed one but all in all it was another great summer memory!

Menu Plan Monday

Here's what's cooking at our house this week. I used the crock pot all last week and it was so nice to not have to cook each night. This week I'm going to be using the crock pot for most of our meals again.

Breakfasts
pancakes
bacon/fruit
waffles
muffins
homemade yogurt
cinnamon rolls

Dinner
slow cooker 20 garlic clove chicken , salad, mashed potatoes, rolls
meatloaf, more mashed potato, peas, rolls
Crockpot bacon and cheese chicken/ baked potatoes/ salad
pasta/meatball/garlic bread
crock pot layered dinner- steak, potatoes, corn / homemade yellow cake....Fireworks!!
cook out for the fourth of July
grill marinated flank steaks/grilled vegetables

For more menu plans check out I'm an organizing Junkie

Step out in Faith

Frugal living is hard. I never would have thought that being frugal is like having a full time job. You can't just wake up one day and decide you'll be frugal and then never give it another thought. Your money won't save itself. You must be active in your frugality.

When I first became a stay at home mom, I assumed I would know how to be frugal. It comes with the territory right? We cut our income by more than half and our bills went up! I continued to grocery shop by buying whatever I wanted. I still shopped Kohls for clothes and toys. We even still had cable!! Honestly, I'm not sure how we made our money stretch those first few months, it was nothing short of a miracle. Our budget never worked on paper... there was never enough money to cover the bills but yet everything got paid.

After watching my husband become more and more stressed over me being home and not having money I realized I needed to learn to be frugal. It wasn't just going to happen. I had no idea how to save money. I went straight to the library and checked out a stack of tightwad books. The most helpful ones were, The Heart Has it's Own Reasons ( this is an older book but really helped me!!), The Tightwad Gazette, Not Just Rice and Beans, and How to feed your family on $50 a week. I began to study where we could cut back. I started cooking from scratch. Our grocery budget was $150 a month! Somehow I would make it stretch and we learned to use it up or do without. We turned off the cable and used an antenna. I quit taking the kids shopping for fun and started going to local parks. We played in our backyard. We stopped eating out.

We still didn't have any extra money, in fact we often paid our bills late but we knew God had called me to be at home. We stepped out in faith and trusted that He would provide. Was it easy? No way. Many times nights you would find me at the table crying because the money just wasn't there. God would provide every time. If He has called you to be at home, step out in faith. If you have doubts, I'll leave you with one more testimony....

We were living on a grocery budget of $150 a month. One month there was no grocery money. None. We ate up our meager little stockpile and were down to a roast, flour, milk, noodles, and pasta. Our cupboards were empty. Our freezer only had a roast in it. The fridge had milk. I told nobody of our plight. Many family members were not supportive of me staying home with our children, and I didn't want to add fuel to the fire. I was worried. I cried. I begged God for a miracle.

My aunt and uncle who we weren't close to at all called me out of the blue. They wanted to stop by and give us something. They came carrying bags of groceries. Meats, cereal, milk, fruit, cookies, and ice cream. My son was so excited. He kept saying " mom, there's oreo's and milk. Ice cream!! Pancakes!" I was in tears. No body knew how close we were to being out of food.

Step out on faith. Don't limit God, if He has called you to stay at home, He will provide. Faith is the most frugal thing you can have.

For more frugal Friday tips check out Life as Mom

At the Homestead

Today the kids and I went to a Cowboy Day. We learned how to rope and the kids got to ride the horses. We also watched a shooting demo. It was very interesting. This was a free program through a reading program...so no money spent.

My husband did go to Walmart to buy new shoestrings for his work boots and that was all he bought!!

I'm seeing some growth on my raspberry and blueberry plants. It's very exciting to see how everything is growing. I found more tomatoes on my plants! I'm hoping to get the area around our shed cleaned out the next time it's cooler out. I

We did turn on our air conditioning today, I figured that when the first load of laundry was dry in less than an hour on the clothes line it was too hot! However the weather forecast says that on Monday it will only be a high of 82 and then we'll turn the air back off. We ate dinner from the crockpot again and have enough leftover pulled pork for two days worth of lunches. I'll be doing some baking tomorrow since the air is on and we're staying home all day.

Cloth diapers are still working out great. Reagan wears them all night with no leaks. I'm doing a load every other day. It would be great to have a couple more but I don't know if I'll buy more or not. Originally I was only going to use them during the day but I've been using the 24 hours and using them when we're out and about too. Once our spending freeze is over I'll know for sure if I need to buy more.

We are still without a cell phone and I am finding I don't miss it. It was nice but not worth the extra money!! I would love to give up cable but the hubby would probably lose his mind!! We can afford to have it, but it just seems like a waste of money.

Works for me Wednesday

I have always loved to read, as a kid I would check out 20 books on Friday and by Sunday I needed more to read. I love to own books and buy books but living on one income that be a really bad thing when we don't have room in our budget for my splurges. What's a book lover to do?

We don't use it during the winter due to germs and having two high risk people at home so I stock up on yard sale finds for our winter reading. I made a rule that we don't read much out of our home library during the summer that way we have plenty of books to last all winter.

At our local library we can have 99 books out at a time. Honestly, we usually have at least 50-60 books checked out each week. This saves me hundreds of dollars. If I find a book that I love and know I will read it again and again I will buy it. I can't even begin to tell you how much this has saved us over the 9 years we've used it. Here's a breakdown of what it would have cost us if we bought what we checked out yesterday...
*10 DVD... I'll say that the retail value would be $7 each... $70
* 2 Red Rock Mysteries...$5.95 each....$11.95
* 5 hard back books for my son....$10.95 each...
* 5 new Christian fiction for me...$10.95 each... $109.50
Total savings....$191.45!!
using the library saves me on average of $200 a week. Now, you might say I don't actually save that because I wouldn't purchase that many books, buy you'd be wrong. I could easily purchase that many items each week!! Books are my week spot....

Using the library works for me...

No Spend Day 2

Yesterday the kids had a program at the library for the summer reading program. They had read enough hours to earn their free food coupons which we'll save until we "need" to eat out. I also stopped and bought our local milk for a total of $9 , we also borrowed 10 dvd's from the library for free entertainment this weekend.

We ate leftovers for lunch and then we headed outside for fun on the slip n slide. It was so nice to be weeding the garden and listen to the kids laugh and yell as they were playing. I hung two loads of laundry and made dinner in the crockpot. We still haven't turn on the air conditioning yet but today it's supposed to be 90 so we'll see if we cave or not.

I made a quick Kroger run last night for fruit, rice milk, ice cream, and steaks. I also needed a calling card. My total spent was $30.00

No Spend Day 1

Today was a beautiful day! We spent most of the day at the beach with my mom. We had a picnic in the back yard and I brought ice cream from home for a treat. We did stop at the bulk food store for some baking supplies for a total spent of $22.00 and I put $20 in gas in our van.

At the homestead I washed and line dried a load of diapers. I had dinner cooking in the crockpot all day ready when we got home. I got out the new slip n slide and the kids played until dinner was on the table. It was a very filling day and very fun.
Daisy is still doing well and the garden is thriving. I found five little tomatoes on one plant and most others have blooms. I also found cucumbers on my plants. My blue berry bushes are growing a lot. I am hoping to clean out back by our shed to make room for some more berry bushes. My son is also asking for a rabbit and it would be a good place for a hutch.
My son has also asked if I would make some whoopie pies, I'm going to try that on Thursday since we'll be out of the house tomorrow and Wednesday.

If you're joining on the no spend/homestead challenge how was your day?

Menu Plan Monday

Today is the first day of our spending freeze and this is going to be a busy week so we'll be eating from our crockpot a lot! Here's what's cooking this week at our house...

breakfast
pancakes
cereal
yogurt/fruit/toast
muffins
bacon/hashbrowns
waffles/eggs/fruit
cereal

Dinner
Crockpot Italian Chicken/rice
3 packet roast/mashed potato/salad
bbq pork sandwich/chips/fruit
slow cooker honey mustard lime chicken/rice/broccoli
homemade fast food
grill
grill

For more menu ideas go to I'm an organizing junkie

Meijer Trip and Match Ups

My youngest three girls and I made a quick run to Meijers today. Here is what I bought and the coupons I used...
** FYI some of the following isn't all that healthy or even homemade because my husband was starting to rebel against my all natural food in the house so I picked up some cheap treats for him**

Buy 20 kool aid packets for $2 get a 5 pack of Kraft mac and cheese free....also there was a $2 off a 5lb bag of sugar in today's smart source when you buy 10 kool aid packets...
* I bought 40 kool aid packets for $4 and got 2 5 packs of mac and cheese free plus two 5lb bags of sugar for $.60
Poptarts 1.99 used $.55 off coupon from recent red plum insert
* I bought 1 and paid $.89
Danactive yogurt is 2/$4 there is a $1 coupon in recent insert
* I bought 2 and used 2 $1.50 off catalina from Meijer paid $1 for 2
Kraft salad dressing Use $1 coupon in today's smart source
* I bought two and used two $1 off coupons paid $2 and used a coupon for free produce Up to $1...look for these at the salad dressing display...
Skippy peanut butter 3/$4 buy 2 of the all natural and get a $1 catalina off your next purchase
*I bought two and received my $1 on your next order
Kraft all natural shredded cheese 3/$6 buy 4 get $3 on your next order
* I used two $1 off any shredded cheese and $1/2 cheeses and received $3 on your next order
Ritz crackers $1.75 use buy one ritz cracker get 1 wheat thin artisan cracker free
* I bought 3 and had $1 off Ritz cracker coupons from before and got 3 artisan crackers free
Kashi waffles 4/$9 I used $2 off any frozen food coupon found at Kroger
* I bought two and used two of the $2 off coupons
Edwards pie singles $1.18 use either $.75 off one or $1/2
* I bought 4, used two $.75 off and one $1/2
Bananas $.39 a pound
Kelloggs cereal $1.99 for 23 oz box...use $1 off coupon from recent red plum insert
* I bought two boxes and inside there were $5 worth of coupons paid $.99 each

I also bought coffee, lunch meat, 2.5lb hamburger, A-1 sauce, grapes, and 6 bottles of apple juice my total after coupons was $53.26 and I bought 89 items total...
I was pretty happy with what I bought. I know it doesn't appear to be much food but my husband was very happy with all his goodies. I also bought a $20 slip and slide for the kids that I didn't include from my grocery budget. It's going to be very hot this week and since the spending freeze starts tomorrow I thought it would be nice to have something to make our lazy days at home more fun.

Spending Freeze Approved List

Here is my approved spending list for while I'm on my spending freeze....
* used curriculum sale...however I will be sticking to a cash budget, I'm also selling so I hope to break even.
* basketball camp for my son
* local milk
* local eggs
* produce
* my husbands tobacco spending
* shorts for my oldest daughter
* bathing suits for both my oldest girls
* horseback riding lessons
* gas for car
* vet bill

Are you up for the challenge? Leave a comment and we can all support each other as we strive to be good managers of our money.

Homestead Update and a Challenge...

I've spent the last two days going to yard sales. My budget was $20.00 and I still have $1 left!! Here are some of the deals I found...

X-Box 360 game
5 shirts for me ( American Eagle and Abercrombie!)
8 shirts for my daughter
1 doll bed for Molly
slippers for daughter
various goodies the girls picked out of the $.05 box
5 books
1 puzzle
1 game
4 shirts for my son
swimming trunks for my son

I just love yard sales, it is the thrill of the hunt and how much can you get for your money. I was very pleased to find some shirts for me, I needed some winter/fall shirts and they were only $.25 each.

Our puppy is doing great. She is still a sweet little girl and doing very well getting housebroken. I must admit that she does add work to my day but it is worth it! Having the puppy has also made me realize that I need to do some more organizing because she is finding many things to chew!

We have had some rain and the garden is really growing but so are the weeds. I think I will need to pay the kids to help since it's supposed to get hot this week. I'm also thinking that we might turn the air on this week as well. It isn't too bad as long as there is a breeze but if it's really humid that sure makes it hard on me.

We have saved enough money for our beach vacation which is a blessing since we think we found a place to stay. I am starting a spending freeze tomorrow. I will post a pre-approved spending list since we have various camps and other things going on that we need to sign up for.

Have you ever done a spending freeze? Were you successful? This will be my second and the first went pretty well. I think this one will go fine since I've eliminated the need for pull ups and diapers and wipes which were always on my spending list.

Finding Freedom Friday....

I chose to accept the frugal challenge this week. Here is how it went...

The most frugal thing I did and this was a new to me thing was to switch to totally using cloth diapers and pull ups. This has really decreased my household budget. Currently I have $50 for a household budget but don't spend it. My stockpile is huge and the only things I needed to buy were diapers and wipes. Now that I've made the switch to cloth I will have no reason to spend any money out of our household budget. I plan on using my ecb's from CVS to keep my family stocked up on toilet paper and once we run out of cleaning supplies or laundry soap I will be making our own.

We have decided to not get a cell phone and that will free up $40 a month. I am also researching a cheaper way to have a home phone.

I made all of our snacks from scratch this week. I made bread, granola bars, and hot milk cake. All other snacks were fresh fruit.

June will be a month of free entertainment from our local library reading program...we are really looking forward to the Art museum trip...for FREE!!

Today has been another stay at home day. We are busily trying to train Daisy to go out to use the potty. She has been really good about it so far. The kids are getting a little tired of "helping" out with the dog. I keep using her as an example of how much work animals take. It is a great experience for us. It really has made me grateful that we don't have more animals right now. I will definitely need to wait until my youngest two are bigger before I can invest a lot of time in farm animals.

I made two loaves of bread and homemade granola bars for snacks and lunch today. We have had leftovers for lunch and frozen waffles for breakfast. I have baked potatoes in the crock pot for a side dish for dinner. I'm changing my menu plan up a little bit. I also need to figure out something else for dinner tomorrow since it's going to be 88 degrees!! I don't want to use the oven in the heat of the day.

I've been thinking about more ways that we can simplify our life. I am starting a home management notebook and hope to find a cleaning routine that works for me. I really need to just do what needs done when it needs done and stop putting things off.

The garden is doing wonderful. I am amazed at how great everything looks. I have been keeping up on the weeding and that helps a lot.

Reagan's new diapers came today. I think I have enough to use cloth all the time. I still need buy more cloth pull ups since my 3 year old doesn't want to use the potty. Any tips on getting the girl to use the bathroom?!!??? I have never seen anybody refuse to use the bathroom.

Stockpile

I started using coupons almost one year ago, in a very short amount of time I ended up with tons of household supplies. I have more free make up, shampoo, toothpaste, and cleaning supplies to last years. I kept hunting down the deals for the fun of the hunt when I realized my household budget should be dropping...not rising. I was inspired to take inventory of exactly what I had in all my closets. I was surprised to find out that I had at least three years worth of soap, shampoo, toothpaste, and numerous other items.

I don't budget anything anymore for our household budget. I am so stocked on everything that we use I only "buy" it when it's free. I've also been able to donate bags of stuff to our church's food pantry. The last items that I was buying were pull ups and diapers but since we have switched to cloth I no longer have any expenses.

Stockpiling works for me....

Homestead Happenings

Saving for the dream....
My husband finally sold his Harley, we broke even which makes us very happy.
We stayed home with Daisy yesterday so we didn't spend any money.
I hung our laundry on the line.
I used our cloth diapers all day...I did order 3 more so I hope that will be enough and I ordered a bag to hold the used diapers until i wash them.
Instead of buying cloth wipes, I bought a 18 pack at Walmart for $4, I also bought more dish clothes so we won't need to use paper towels except for puppy accidents.

In the kitchen...
We're still eating from the freezer.
My menu planning is going well. I still need to work on a lunch menu!!
We've been eating up all the leftovers and not letting fruit or veggies go bad.
I've saved all my milk bottles and will get free milk later.

In the garden...
We weeded the berry patches yesterday.
Most of my plants are doing great.

Around the house...
I'm joining the Happy Housewife in a summer challenge of de-cluttering. Today we will be taking 3-4 large garbage bags to Goodwill. I want the house to be really clutter free for the upcoming school year.
We will be going to the library today for free movies and books.

Menu Plan Monday

Here's what's cooking this week at our home... We are still eating up the meat from our deep freeze and we're finally making some progress. We're almost half way into the deep freeze! I will buy meat if I find an awesome deal and do some once a month meals to put in our refrigerator freezer.

breakfast
muffins/yogurt
pancakes
bacon/toast/hashbrowns
waffles
cinnamon rolls
pancakes/bacon
cereal

Dinner
Crockpot turkey/mashed potato/rolls
fried pork chops/onions/potatoes
tacos
Crockpot chicken/potato/rolls/gravy
homemade pizza
Zesty ranch chicken on grill/ salad
marinated flank steak/baked potato

For tons of menu ideas check out I'm an organizing junkie

Meijer Deal

I found organic waffles at Meijer for $1.24 a box. They're the kind with Sesame Street characters on the box. This is my kids favorite kind so I stocked up for those mornings I don't have time to cook from scratch.

A New Addition to Our Homestead

My five year old and I were yard sailing on Saturday and at our first stop we found.....a puppy!! Daisy is a nine week old half lab half Australian shepherd and just beautiful. The kids love her to pieces!! Daisy will cost us some money but having a puppy to love is priceless!!

I'm still enjoying the cloth diapers but I definetly need some more. I used cloth overnight last night and we had no leaks!! I was impressed. I like the Bumgenius 3.0 the best. It isn't bulky and it doesn't leak.

Our weekend was busy and we did eat out twice. My husband might have sold his Harley though so at least that was frugal! I also signed up to sell our used curriculum at our used bookstore so I'll make money and declutter!

My cucumber plants are starting to bloom and the zucchini are covered with huge blossoms. I need to figure out an easy way to keep the pup out of the garden!

Skirts...

I love my skirts. I used to totally dislike them but since I am home and I don't need to get dressed up I find myself wearing my skirts more and more. The only problem I have found is a lot of the skirts make me look frumpy. I want to look modest and cute! Price is also a factor, many cute skirts cost a lot. I just wanted to let you know I found this really neat website that has some really cute skirts. www.denimskirts.com The prices are still on the high side but not too high.

Do you know of any cute modest skirt sites?

Fun Friday

My mom, my girls, and I went to "town" today and went shopping at Whole Foods. I love that store!! I have found some of the best prices on certain foods there. I bought some stock up items like organic chicken broth, various organic fruits, cereal ( we only eat organic or additive free or artificial color free cereal), milk, turkey, ice cream ( only place to carry Rice Dream for a great price), and other fun stuff. Total Spent- $140.00

We stopped at two yard sales and I found various books, a couple outfits for the youngest, a few small toys, shoes, and more stuffed animals. Total spent $25.00

Garden Update...
Two of our tomato plants have blooms!
My zucchini all have blooms.
I found buds on two more pepper plant.
My potato plants are coming up nicely.

I can't wait to start eating from my garden!!

Food...
We ate at home today except for a quick lunch out total spent $10
I wanted to eat out tonight but instead I made a pizza. We're watching a movie from the library and eating popcorn from the stockpile for fun.

It's Raining, it's pouring...

Today was my first day using cloth diapers and I am amazed. They are so easy. I can't believe I didn't use these before. I bought two different brands of diapers and I really really like them. They are no more difficult than using disposables. I didn't need to change her very often but I did because I wanted to play with all the diapers. It did take me a couple minutes to figure out how to put them together after I washed them but all in all they are great. I will definitely be buying some more. I originally thought I'd use them only during the day but I might try using them at night too.

I had planned on doing yard work today but we woke up to a dreary rainy day. We did get some much needed inside cleaning done and between storms we did go out to play. While the kids played I got some much needed weeding done in one of our berry patches. I also found a small pepper on one of my plants!! The kids and I all enjoy watching the garden grow. Our beans are growing really well right now too.

My dear husband has been working really long hours so I haven't been able to do a big stock up grocery trip yet this month so my mom and I and the kids are heading to Whole Foods and Trader Joe's to get some staples.

How was your day?

Today was our second stay at home day in a row. Riding lessons were cancelled due to sickness (not ours!) but we did go to church.

The cloth diapers I bought came today. I was so excited. They seem really nice and they arrived really quickly...I ordered them on Sunday and received them today. I washed them right away and was ready to dry them when I realized my dryer wasn't drying the clothes that had been in their 1.5 hrs!!! GRRRRR we've only had this dryer for a year. I'm glad I've gotten used to using the clothes line. Tomorrow will be our first day in clothe diapers and pull ups.

I made banana muffins for breakfast/snacks and my son wanted chocolate chip muffins so he made a batch all by his self!! Lunch was leftover pork loin sandwiches and carrot sticks. I put sloppy joe in the crock pot for a quick dinner. I also cleared out the cupboards of expired foods and took a few bags to our churches food pantry.

How was your day today?

Homeschooling on a Budget

Do you want to homeschool but have no idea where the extra money will come from to buy supplies? You can use the library for a lot of items but sometimes you need curriculum. You can check used sales but sometimes you might not even have the funds for that. Here is a great way to earn free money to buy your curriculum... Swagbucks... I'm sure you've heard of it but if you're not using it you're missing out. It only takes 45 swagbucks to buy a $5 amazon gift card. I usually earn two $5 gift cards a month...some people earn many many more. You can buy a lot of curriculum if you save up and spend at least $25 to get free shipping. This is such a wonderful way to keep your homeschool costs down.

Another low cost homeschooling curriculum is the Charlotte Mason way. She advocates using real books and copywork and art. You could easily use your library for everything and just buy a math curriculum and a couple books on the Charlotte Mason homeschool. There is a website Ambleside online that offers curriculum out lines for free. We will be using this a lot this coming year.

Do you have any money saving tips for homeschooling?

Set a Date

In our home one of the ways we have chosen to save money is by picking a certain date to turn on our air conditioner or our furnace. For example, we try not to turn on the heat until November... now that doesn't always work but it does get us through the chilly days by knowing if we last another couple days we can turn on the furnace. We also pick a date to shut it off by. In our home we aim to stop using the furnace by mid-April.

We do the same thing for our air conditioner. We do not turn it on until mid July and we stop Sept. 1 unless there is a crazy heat wave or extremely high humidity. It also helps simplify our days because when it's really warm we just read books or play in the sprinkler.

For more works for me ideas check out we are that family

The Simple Life?

I used to think that having a more simple life was well, more simple. As each day of my homestead challenge goes by I realize that living a simple life isn't simple...it can be exhausting!

Today my son and I decided to take apart his old bed and bring the new bed frame in, sounds simple enough right? Okay, here's where I went wrong first, I asked my 10.5 year old to clean his room and his old bed also had a toy box so that needed emptied too. I love my son but his version of clean and my version of clean are two totally different things!! We were finally ready to take apart the old bed when my one year old wanted to take a nap, however we pushed through ( mistake #2) and walked around the screaming baby and yelled at each other. I've never done any taking apart of beds or putting them together and my son thinks he knows everything so I didn't listen to him when he had a great idea...my idea cost us at least 30 minutes more work (mistake #3). After a quick nap and cool down time we were back to work. At some point there was a temper tantrum ( not mine!!) and a light bulb was broke. There was some loud voices used (mistake #4... are you still counting?) and a slight temper tantrum by me. But, 4 hours later my son's room looks way too grown up and awesome. I can't deny that he's growing up on me...and it was nice to complete this project together...when did my little boy become a little man??

Simple living takes work...it means planning ahead.

It was very humid here today so I used our crock pot for dinner and waited until after dinner to weed the garden. I missed out on making homemade rolls for dinner because I lost track of time. I almost bought some from next door but decided that wasn't an option. I should have planned better and dinner would have been great... I also should have picked our lettuce for a salad...but again I didn't plan well. I am grateful that I found a twin bed frame for free instead of spending at $100 for a bed and this time planning ahead paid off... I knew what I needed and waited till I found it.

The benefit of a simple life...

After dinner I took my youngest girls outside and they played in the sandbox while I weeded. My son and hubby were playing the X-box together and having guy talk. My other daughters were playing a very elaborate game on our back porch and eventually came to find me and helped me weed. It was then I realized... we could enjoy each other because we chose to have a simple life...we don't have ball games or practices every night. The only night we have to be out is Wednesday for riding and church, the rest of the time we just enjoy each other...even while pulling weeds.

Homemade Granola Bar Recipe

My children and I love these. They do not last a day around here no matter how many I make. I love them because they're chewy but not hard.

2 1/2 cups crispy rice cereal ( I use an organic kind)
2 cups quick cooking oats
1/2 cup raisins ( we don't put these in)
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup peanut butter ( I use the all natural kind)
1 teaspoon vanilla

In a large bowl combine cereal and oats and raisins and set aside.
In small saucepan, combine brown sugar and corn syrup.
Bring to a boil, stirring constantly
Stir in peanut butter and vanilla blend until smooth
Pour over cereal mixture, mix well
Press into ungreased 13 by 9 inch pan
Cool cut into 24 bars.

We have put chocolate chips in them and peanut butter chips. We've also used micro sized marshmallows.

Homestead Monday

Around the house...

* washed a load of laundry and hung them on the line...only to have it rain off and on most of the day. The clothes did finally get dry and they are so soft! Gotta love nature's fabric softener!!
* Today was our daughter's first day in cloth training pants. I think I should have bought more. I ended up using some underwear as well and they definitely don't work as well as the training pants. I'll have to search at the thrift stores for some more. She keeps telling us " No potty train me...potty train Reagan." I decided if you're old enough to argue your case you're old enough to use the potty!!
* made homemade granola bars
* made a successful homemade angel food cake...yea!!
* went online and reserved about 10 books for my son saved about $50
* my seven year old read an entire book today on her own. Cost- priceless!! I am so proud, she's been a struggling reader for two years now.
* We are going to give up the cell phone...I think. It would save us $30 or more a month
* we're also thinking about using Netflix through the X-box 360...hubby says you can watch tv and all the movies you want for $9 a month. If that is true we could get rid of cable too and save another $30. Has anybody used this? Did you like it?
* My son borrowed a cd he really wanted from the library. Saved $15

In the Garden...

* our beans are growing!! We'll need to weed our spot in the other garden soon. I just don't want to pull something that should be there. My dad and son planted that one for me.
* Our strawberry plants are doing well and we were getting a couple berries everyday but now we're fighting with a robin who seems to think they belong to him. Any ideas how to get rid of him?
* I will be doing some heavy weeding again once the rain moves out.

My cloth diapers have shipped and I'm anxiously waiting on them to arrive. I can't wait to try them. I also found a couple of homesteading books at the library today. I am enjoying being home again. The girls helped me make our goodies today and it was nice working beside them.

How was your day?

Kroger Deals 6/8-14

Here are the best deals I see this week at Kroger...

* buy 2 cheez-it crackers at 2/$5 get 3 12 packs of Coke for 3/$5
* Kraft cheese Shredded Variety $1.69 use the $1 printable coupon ( I don't think it's still available but not sure) pay $.69 for one
*Hot Pockets $1.69 use $.50 off coupon in recent insert $.69 each
* Colgate toothbrush $1.50 use $.75 off in SS 6/7= Free
* Colgate toothpaste $1.50 use $.75 off in SS 6/7 = Free
Buy 2 of those and earn a coupon for a free reusable cloth bag!!!

Do you see any other great deals? I'll make a Kroger run tonight and post if I find any more deals.

Homestead Living Sunday

Yesterday was another low spend day. I made a trip to CVS to do the Pampers deal...it was advertised on line that you would earn $5 ecb for every pack purchased. No deal at my store...I need to call customer service. Total spent $1.18

I also shopped Kmart super double event and bought wipes... total spent $2.24

We did order pizza and spent $19 but we have enough left for lunch today.

I also ordered some cloth diapers, I spent a total of $35 for two diapers, liners, and that included shipping. I also bought two different brands in another sample pack for $30 so I will have four cloth diapers. I'm planning on using those during the day and disposables at night. I will order more when I decide which type we like. Do you have any opinions on what type is best? Do you enjoy using them?

Once I get the diapers I should be able to stop buying wipes/diapers because I have a large stockpile and I only use 1 overnight. They should last a long time...especially if the ecb start printing from cvs!!

We also finally made our jam yesterday and the girls are busily eating the rest of the 4lb we had leftover. I'm hoping to make homemade yogurt at some point this week. I will also put my granola bar recipe up tonight.

Organic Printable Coupons

Here is a link for some awesome high dollar coupons here
Some are coupons for
Annie's crackers and their new fruit chews
Stoneyfield yogurt
Late July Sandwich cookies
and many others!

Thanks Savings Makes Cents

Menu Plan Monday...Eating From the Freezer

We are still eating from the freezer, I haven't bought any meat in two weeks. It's definitely helping keep our grocery bill down!

Here's what's cooking this week at our homestead...

Breakfast-
hashbrowns/toast/yogurt
pancakes/fruit
muffins/fruit
waffles
bacon/pancakes
cereal

Dinner-
crockpot garlic lime chicken/rice/salad
country style pork loin/mashed potatoes/rolls
sloppy joe/chips
sweet n spicy herbed chicken/rice/broccoli
homemade buffalo chicken pizza
Grill
grill

For more menu plans check out I'm an Organizing Junkie

Frugal Living Addition

Frugal Living Edition...

On the way to visit our friends with baby chicks I noticed a sign at a local church stating: Yard Sale Saturday, now I don't know about you all but here when a church has a sale it usually makes for cheap stuff so I put it on my to do list for today. I left the house with $2.50 and headed to the sale. I get there and am quickly informed that everything is free. Here's a list of what I received there-

twin bed frame ( a need)

Columbia winter coat for me ( a need)

Baby Gap winter coat for 3 year old ( a need)

tons of Clubhouse Jr. magazines for my younger kids ( fun)

a few clothes for Reagan and a pair of comfy pants for our 7 year old ( a want/need)

a couple books ( fun/school)

After that awesome stop I headed to another sale and found a free box, here's what I got there...

Christian Liberty Press Nature Reader book 5

Writing Strands ( new!)

Abeka Science book

Abeka Health book

I then went to the Dollar store for batteries, graduation cards, and birthday cards. Total spent $5.33

I went home and the boys went to the driving range for some dad/son time. After they got back the girls and I headed out for more yard sale fun. We went to about 6 sales that were way over priced and we were getting discouraged when I remember that Friendly's had free ice cream today. We went there and our store wasn't doing the promotion but was honoring it any way. We got 4 ice cream cones for free!! On our way home we stopped at one more yard sale. All the clothes were $.10-.25 shoes were $.50 and toys were $.10

We bought

4 pairs of cloth training pants

4 pairs of shoes

5 different outfits

a purse

brand new pluto

my little pony

Total spent $4

My cousin graduated high school and tonight was his open house so we ate dinner there...no cooking which is always a good thing. All in all it was a good money saving day. How was your day today?

Weekly Wrap Up

It's Friday and time for another Weekly Wrap up over at Getting Ahead here is how my week broke down.

We spent a lot of time in the garden weeding, planting, and digging. I'm tired at the end of each day but it's a good tired. I know I've accomplished a lot each day.

We didn't eat out all week and when we needed bread or buns I made them from scratch. I also made homemade granola bars and they were awesome! I'll be doing some more baking this weekend before a small heat wave comes.

We had two days of no driving and one day of driving only 5 minutes away.

I made what I hope will be my only trip to Walmart this month and spent $60 for various household needs and grocery needs.

I'm in the thick of our I wanna be a homesteader challenge and am really enjoying it. Most nights I'm too tired to even read a book, but that's okay I know I'm saving money towards our dream.

For more weekly wrap ups check out Getting Ahead

Homestead Friday

Another beautiful day in Ohio! I am so grateful for the nice weather and being able to play outside with the kids. Here's what happened today at our homestead...

In the Garden-
*My daughters, two of their friends, and I spent 1.5 hours picking strawberries at the orchard. We ended up with 13.5 lbs. I will wash up some for snacks and the rest we're going to make into jam tomorrow.
* I dug a bed around my blueberry bushes and spent the afternoon chasing away some birds who were trying to steal some berries.
* Added lots of vegetable/fruit scraps to compost

In the home-
* Made pancakes for breakfast and had leftovers for lunch. Berries were the snack of the day. Instead of making pizza tonight I made homemade fast food.
* We had planned on going to First Friday tonight but my hubby worked late and was tired so the kids and I played outside till bath time.
* Washed bed linens today and hung them on the line.

Saving Money-
* Stopped at one yard sale and got 1 book for me and 15 taste of home/ quick cooking magazines for a total of $.80
* hoping to have a yard sale next weekend. We live beside a small grocery store and it's their anniversary bbq and it always attracts a lot of people. I'm hoping we'll get more traffic from that to our sale. I'll be spending a lot of time this coming week sorting clothes, books, and toys.

How was your day?

Don't Buy that Paper!

Do you buy a paper every Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday to scope out yard sales? I used to do this every week. In my town the daily paper is only $.50 it doesn't seem like much but for the same price I can buy clothes for my children or a box of books at the sales! I found out that by going to our local paper's web site I can access their classified ads for free! It saves me time and money.

For more frugal friday ideas check life as mom

Super Doubles are Back!

Kmart is having a super double coupon event next week. There is a limit to 10 coupons per day per customer. Mount Vernon Kmart is participating. I am still really stocked up on household and beauty items so I probably won't do any doubling especially since they keep reducing the number of coupons we can use.

You can check out next week's ad by going to Kmart.com and putting in your zip code.

Homestead Thursday

In the garden...
I dug a nice "flower" bed for our raspberry bushes. I also hauled some old bricks up to make a edge so my hubby can weed whack without hitting them... hopefully. I weeded and mulched some of my strawberry beds. While my son mowed the yard the girls and I tackled the garden spending two hours weeding. At Walmart I bought a huge yellow pepper plant and another blue berry bush to keep our lonely one company- I'll be planting these tomorrow.

In the kitchen....
I made homemade granola bars for the first time, they were declared awesome and better than store bought by all and all 24 bars were gone by dinner time. The next time I make these I will need to make a double batch. Lunch was leftovers and for dinner a friend of mine gave me a huge bag full of spinach and lettuce so we had baked potatoes and a chicken salad made from a leftover chicken breast and free lettuce.

In the home...
I did another load of laundry and hung it on the line. I also made a quick trip to Walmart to buy canning jars for strawberry jam...however they were out of the jelly jars so I decided we will make freezer jam instead. Tomorrow we are going berry picking again and on Saturday we will be making jam and strawberry ice to freeze for the hot days of July and August.
* I sorted through some of my books and filled an entire box with books to give away. I am trying not only to be self sufficient but also live a much simpler life. I'm hoping to get rid of a lot of clothes as well...how many do we need anyway?!?
*All of our tv's and computers were unplugged as well as any other electric item to help save money on our bill. We don't turn on lights until it is almost 9 p.m. or later if we're just watching tv. I wish I could find a couple of bright candles because I'm the one who needs light to read!! Maybe I'll get a camp lantern? We haven't needed our fans on for the last two days and we definetly haven't used the air conditioner yet.

I find that I am very content when my day is full of taking care of our home. I love to play in the dirt and hang my laundry. I enjoy trying new easy recipes instead of buying the same thing from the store.

How was your homestead day?

Homestead Wednesday

Today has been a rainy chilly day. Our riding lessons were cancelled so we haven't left the house which means no money spent!

I spent much of today baking bread and chocolate peanut butter chip cookies. I made pancakes for breakfast. Lunch was leftovers and fresh bread. I'm making Chicken Lover's Ultimate Baked Chicken, parsley red potatoes, steamed vegetables, and fresh bread for dinner. I'll post the recipe for the chicken if it is as good as the reviews say.

The girls and I de-cluttered their bedroom and we had 1 trash bag full of trash and another trash bag full for our yard sale. We have a small 3 bedroom house with three girls in one room so I have to stay on top of the toys and stuffed animals. Thankfully they really like little farm animals and Littlest Pet Shop toys which are easy to store.

I'm not sure yet if we'll go to church tonight or not...I totally forgot today is our wedding anniversary!! I know...bad wife huh? It's okay though, I don't think he remembered either!! I wouldn't mind staying home and watching Wipe Out with the hubby and kids.

Hopefully the weather will clear up tomorrow so we can get out in the garden and weed. I'd also like to go pick some more berries but we might wait until Friday... I don't want to get stuck in the mud!!

How was your homestead day?

Kroger Tripling Again?

Rumor has it that Kroger will be offering triple coupons again this Thursday-Sunday. I haven't confirmed this and when I shopped on Monday night I didn't see anything that stated this. If you have confirmed this and know the details please leave a comment and let us know.

Homesteading Update

Today I used leftover pork tenderloin and made shredded BBQ sandwiches and made homemade hamburger buns. For dinner I made Salsa chicken made with homemade salsa and Spanish rice.

I didn't drive anywhere at all today and didn't spend any money. We spent the day cleaning and de-cluttering. I also tried my hand at homemade angel food cake but it didn't turn out well at all. Tomorrow I'm planning on having a small baking day and am planning on making bread, pancakes, and gluten free peanut butter cookies. I also need to find something I can throw in the crock pot for dinner since tomorrow night is crazy busy with horse back riding and church.

It felt great to be at home and not spending money. If I could just keep it up for at least 21 days...and make it a habit!!

How was your homestead day?

Spending for the month of May

We have been trying to save money for our trip to the beach in September/October, here's how our spending broke down for the month of May and where we need to work....

Eating Out $75.00 ** We only went out for fast food twice and ordered pizza twice. It sure doesn't take much to add up. This month we're striving to not eat out at all again.

** Gas** $60.00 not including the money spent in cash. This really is because of my driving, my husband walks to work every day. I can get this down. Unfortunately probably not in June though... the kids have church and riding lessons on Wednesday and then starting June 10 is our Summer reading program which is really great this year and we'd like to attend all of them.

** Misc. Spending** this includes thrift store purchase, Walmart, Household spending, etc. $200** this will definitely get cut back. I am committed to curbing my spending habit yet again. We don't need anything and I have realized we have way too many clothes, stuffed animals, and I hate to say this but books. I am planning on having a two day yard sale here in the next couple of weeks. Time to cut the clutter!!

How was your spending in May?

Uh Oh

I learned something today...when an angel food cake calls for cake flour, you really need cake flour not all purpose flour. Today was my first attempt at a chocolate angel food cake and I followed the directions except for the cake flour...it really wasn't a very nice finished product. Unfortunately it went to our trash can.

Bummer...now I know I need to keep cake flour on hand. I love chocolate angel food cake and have only found them in a farmer's market for $5 each. I will get this right!!

Do you have a tried and true chocolate angel food cake recipe? If so I'd love to have it.

What we did yesterday...

The kids and I went berry picking and picked 10lbs of strawberries... half of which has already been eaten. The berries weren't really ready yet so we'll be going back on Thursday to pick more for jam making.

It finally rained so the garden has perked up. I will be doing a lot weeding later this week.

We hung two loads of laundry yesterday, I was tempted to just use the dryer but didn't give in...it looked like rain but the wind dried the clothes in record time.

I did our grocery shopping last night... a total of $59.00

6lb organic apples
1lb red raspberry
2lb cherries
1lb hot dogs ( used free coupon)
2 packs of organic pop
2 packs of chips a-hoy---for hubby
2 bottles of organic lemonade
1 bag of gluten free cookies
10lb potato
1 pack of organic gummies
1 box organic granola bars
1 pack of organic graham crackers

If you noticed there's no meat, milk, or eggs it's because we're eating down the freezer stash and we've found local milk and eggs.

Homestead Update

I am reading the Encyclopedia of Country Living and it has been really eye opening. I find that maybe my view of homesteading is off a little. I want to be self sufficient as possible with what I have. Living in town and renting we can't have livestock but I can grow a lot of our food. My husband hunts but I've always hoped that he wouldn't get a deer because I wouldn't eat it or prepare it. My attitude hasn't been correct... if deer is what we can do then I should eat it. Imagine the savings...especially since my uncle processes his own and will help my husband. Here is a part that really made me think....
" My ideal woman milks a cow or goats, gardens, and cares for her children herself. She hasn't got time for dishes with 10 ingredients. And my ideal woman wants to use as few store-bought ingredients and gadgets as possible. She's looking for from scratch recipes or making up her own."
I want to be like that...I want to use few store bought ingredients and gadgets.... but I have been so brainwashed that we need everything....it will make life easier...it will take less time... etc. How do we break free from all society says we need?

The grocery store makes it so easy not to cook... bread is cheap, yet filled with all sorts of preservatives and other yucky things. It takes time to make our own bread and buns- we must make time in our day and get busy! Eating out is so easy since there is a fast food place every five feet in town- cooking from scratch again takes time and effort to plan!

Another part of the book that got me thinking is this
" To have 365 days of independent eating, you've got to learn to eat what you grow, and you've got to learn to grow what you want to eat. If you don't like what you have, eat it anyway and use the energy of your distaste to figure out how to get what you'll like better. If your only meat is deer, eat deer until you can raise something else!!"

How true that is... and how spoiled we've become to demand all sorts of fruit not in season and meat that has been raised filled with hormones and antibiotics!! Not that long ago our nation only ate what they could grow....meat, dairy, and garden!!

How do we get back to the basics? And be content with it?