Giving Up...

If you have read my blog for any length of time you'll know I am striving to live a frugal yet healthy lifestyle. Recently, we've been in the process of giving up some things I didn't think I could give up. We recently gave up store bought microwave popcorn. I now buy it in bulk from the grocery store and we make our own microwave popcorn. About the same time I was convicted on getting rid of the remaining convenience foods that I buy I ran out of cooking spray, instead of buying more I'm using up the ends of butter and like it much better. We also gave up margarine in favor of real butter.

Our snack list now consists of fresh fruit or vegetables...apples, grapes, carrot sticks, berries
and homemade popcorn or homemade cookies.

My pantry is looking "bare" consisting of rice and my many jars of canned goodness from our garden. The cereal cupboard is almost empty as is the "candy" cupboard. The fridge contains our homemade ketchup, milk, cheese, and butter. I'm working on getting rid of our store bought dressings and bbq sauce. The freezers are full of meat or homemade freezer meals.
My bread cupboard is empty...waiting to be filled tomorrow with homemade bread. The homemade cookies look lovely sitting on the counter in the "nice" dish.

Our remaining holdouts are sugar, pop ( for my hubby and I), and cooking oils. I hate to say but we're still using vegetable oil for cooking.

What are you changing in your life? Giving up works for me

Wishing....

My oldest daughter and I are reading Farmer Boy right now, it's amazing at how much I wish we could live like they did. My daughter loves how they were always together and they didn't need the grocery store. She's a girl after my own heart...she wants to marry a farmer when she grows up and have 10 kids.!! I appreciate how much hard work it took to survive back then and while I long to have a huge farm and be self sufficient I am grateful to have the option of grocery stores in case crops fail.

One of the things we're hoping to do this week is make butter. The kids would like to make cheese too, but I think you need special equipment for that?

What are you reading? Are you learning anything new on your journey?

Menu Plan Monday

Here's what's cooking this week at our house. The weather is supposed to be much cooler and feel like fall so we're eating lots of warm up the house and your insides food!!

Breakfast-
waffles/eggs/fruit
banana muffins/yogurt
snickerdoodle coffee cake
chocolate chip muffins
cinnamon swirl bread/eggs
pancakes/bacon/eggs
biscuits and gravy/fruit

Lunch-
Leftovers/pb sandwich
vegetable soup/grilled cheese
leftovers
leftovers/pb sandwich
snack plate( fruit/ homemade bread/homemade cookie) co-op day

Dinner-
Cuban Pork/steamed broccoli/red potatoes
Meatloaf/mashed potatoes/rolls/peas
Dump lemon chicken/rice
Tacos/Spanish rice
Homemade pizza
Hamburgers/fries
Roast Chicken/mashed potato/rolls

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

Homemade Shampoo

Yesterday I talked about using my homemade deodorant and today I want to tell you about my experiment with homemade shampoo. Again, there are many chemicals in shampoo that are bad for you. I had been buying organic shampoo but that adds up quickly. I searched the web for a "recipe" for a homemade shampoo and I found one that I think is going to work.

My homemade shampoo
Make a paste of baking soda and water. This is your shampoo. Rub it on your hair and really massage it into your scalp. Let it sit for about a minute. Rinse.

Apple Cider Rinse
I used a ketchup bottle bought from Walmart to store this in...
Mix 1 or 2 Tablespoons of apple cider vinegar and 1 cup of water and squirt it all over your hair. Let it sit for about 1 minute. Rinse.

I used this today for the first time. I was worried that my hair would smell like vinegar but it doesn't. However, my hair is the softest it has ever been. I love how cheap this is to make!!

Have you ever tried making shampoo?

Homemade Deodorant

I do a lot of research on many topics, and one of my favorite right now is how not only to live more frugally but also a more healthy lifestyle. One of the things I found was that there is aluminum in deodorant. Aluminum is really not good for you and I don't think that rubbing it in on your lymph nodes in your arm pits is a good thing. I saw quite a few different recipes for this but I decided I wanted to really make mine cheap. Here's what I did-

I mixed aluminum free baking soda and cornstarch together in a small container. I used a new make up sponge to put it on...so far I'm smelling good and not sweating at all. I'm actually very pleased with the switch. It's also freeing to know that I now have one more thing I can cross of my Walmart list!!

Have you ever tried homemade deodorant? If so what did you think?

Our at Home Day

Today is our weekly at home day. We have had a great school day and now it's time for some baking. I've already made a pan of brownies for my hubby and now I'm working on doughnuts. Tomorrow I'll need to bake some more bread in between running kids to lessons and homeschooling!!

Not only am I baking today but I'm also working on getting caught up on some housework. We are still purging our clutter and I'm taking boxes of stuff to Goodwill! We also have a large donation of food and other items for our church's food pantry.

What's going on at your homestead today?

WFMW The Go Box

As a mom of five young children I have often needed band aids at the park, or needed a diaper right now but forgot to bring the diaper bag. I used to panic and we'd have to leave the park or where ever we were or I'd run to Walmart real fast and buy a pack of diapers. Not anymore...

Now at all times in the back of our van is a box with a lid. It contains a first aid kit, extra diapers, a pack of wipes, energy bars, juice boxes, changes of clothes for my two littlest, gloves, and hats for the unexpected cold day at the soccer or football field. This has saved my behind more than once and I love knowing it's there. Now, if I ever need to leave in a hurry because of an emergency we can just run out the door without taking time to look for anything.

For more works for me Wednesday ideas check out We are that Family

Missing the coupon deals?

When I first started blogging I was using coupons heavily, I had given them up for awhile and then I started reading all the money saving blogs and decided to give it a go. Recently, however I was convicted to begin eating a local/all natural diet again. I'm also trying to be less dependant on drug stores for toothpaste, soap, shampoo, deodorant, etc. I've found recipes for all of the above and as I run out I will try each homemade recipe to see which work the best for me.

I still need to shop on a budget for our family of seven. I am working on a budget and here's what I'm thinking my breakdown will be...

$75 for meat
$100 for fruit/vegetables ( two of my girls only eat fruit/veggies)
$100 milk/juice
$50 for baking supplies
** I haven't shopped this type of budget yet, I'm just thinking out loud, I have no idea if this will work or not.***

How does your budget breakdown? Do you think I could manage on this budget without coupons?

Shopping Shocker

My oldest two girls had earned enough money to buy themselves each a Webkin so we headed to Meijer's. I also decided to stop at Kohl's to look for shoes.

We entered the store and it was really crowded. People were pushing carts full of stuff...clothes, shoes, toys, kitchen wares...it was crazy. The store was having their "spend $50 earn $10 Kohl's cash sale. They were also offering a discount for using your Kohl's card.

My girls and I shopped through several departments hoping to find some deals, instead we were shocked to see the prices of things. We usually shop Goodwill or other thrift stores for clothes. We always shop there before going to Walmart or else where. I couldn't believe how much clothes were and how ugly they were!! My oldest kept saying you couldn't pay me to wear that!!

I couldn't believe people were paying those prices!!

How to save $10 or more this week.....

What are some things that you could do to save at least $10 this week?

Here is my list...
1. Take movies/video games back on time ( will save $8.00)
2. reserve several new books at the library instead of buying ( saved $60 this way!! Yes I am addicted to buying books and yes, I do read all of them!!)
3. Try to keep driving down...this will be hard but if I plan right I should be able to cut down.
4. Avoid eating out. We've been doing really good until my hubby's vacation, now we're getting back on track. ( will save $30-40)
5. I budgeted the money I earned at our yard sale for my son's Spanish book, Math manipulative's, and any "fun" spending for myself for the next two months. ( savings of at least $50)
6. Making our bread and cookies this week.
7. Not buying wipes this week and using our cloth ones. ( savings of $7.00)

What can you do to save $10? Feel free to share your ideas with me!

For more money saving tips check out Life as Mom

Menu Plan Monday

Wow...we had an incredibly busy weekend. My husband was on vacation last week and I'm looking forward to getting everybody back into our "normal" schedule. This upcoming week will be busy as well. My oldest starts a Spanish class tomorrow afternoon, Tuesday/Thursday are his science class days, Tuesday/Wednesday are football practice, Wednesday night is Church, Thursday is ballet class and gymnastic class, and finally on Friday we have Co-op all day. I'm tired just thinking about it!!

Here's what I hope I'll be cooking this week....

Breakfast-
Pancakes/eggs
Muffins/yogurt
Waffles
Muffins/yogurt
leftover muffins
pancakes/eggs/bacon
hashbrowns,toast, eggs

Lunch
Tacos
Leftovers or mac and cheese
Sloppy joe/fruit
leftovers
pack lunch... pb sandwiches/fruit
grill
roast in oven

Dinner
chicken dumplings/mashed potato
lasagna/ garlic bread
stuffed peppers in crockpot
Carolina Pork
Homemade pizza
grill steaks/baked potato

For more menu ideas check out I'm an organizing junkie

Frugal Fridays

One of the ways I keep clutter at bay and make some extra money is by having a yearly yard sale. We are a family of seven living in a small house and are currently working our way to get debt free, I decided yesterday to have our yearly yard sale today and tomorrow. So far we've made a decent amount of money and we've cleared out so much clutter that we're clean sweeping the house again tonight so we can fill the yard up again tomorrow!!

My tips for a successful yard sale are...
1. Price your stuff to sell...not make money. All of my clothes are always $.50 each, kids shoes are $.50 each. My books are $.25 each unless it's home school curriculum and then it's usually $5 or less!! Toys are usually $1 or less.
2. Collect stuff all year long. I store all my stuff in our basement until I get sick of looking at it and then haul it up for our yearly sale.
3. It helps if you are really tired of all the clutter then decide to have yard sale as soon as possible...you'll get rid of stuff and make some cash!!
4. I let the kids keep their money if they sell any of their toys.

For more frugal ideas check out Life as Mom

Works For Me Wednesday

I have just recently celebrated three years of being cancer free...four years since diagnoses, in that time I have tried to find anything and everything on why and how to prevent cancer. My four daughters will be fighting a double whammy...both their paternal grandmother and I have had breast cancer. I want to do everything in my power to prevent them from getting this horrible disease. I have to admit that I've given up some of my healthy habits to "fake" foods again. However, after a recent scare of having a recurrence I'm back on the health food wagon. I am diligently working to rid our home of anything that has chemicals or has been highly processed.

One of the things that we love here is microwave popcorn. I always bought the microwave popcorn filled with all the fake buttery chemicals. But then I read how to make our own microwave popcorn...

1/3 cup popcorn kernels
1 paper lunch bag

put your kernels in the bag and fold the bag two times. Microwave on high for two or three minutes. Melt some butter and add salt. This tastes sooo much better than the fake stuff- and it's much cheaper.

This works for me...for more tips check out we are that family

Menu Plan Monday

My husband is on vacation this week and I'm planning on focusing on breakfast and dinner...hopefully he'll be willing to man the grill at lunch time!!

Breakfast-
The Best Ever Waffle and scrambled eggs and red raspberries
banana muffins and chocolate chip muffins
pancakes/bacon
snicker doodle coffee cake/yogurt
toast/egg/bacon
cereal
homemade doughnuts

Dinner-
Zesty ranch chicken/salad/rice
pulled pork ( didn't make this last week)/homemade fries
Lasagna/garlic bread/salad
Taco Thursday
Stromboli
Homemade fast food
Grill

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

SnickerDoodle Coffee Cake

I try to make my family a warm breakfast each day so I'm always looking for easy and good tasting recipes. I was beyond excited when we found this recipe and everybody enjoyed it. I think this will be on our weekly winter menu!!

Here is a link to the Snicker Doodle Coffee Cake

Making Apple Juice

Yesterday I made and canned 7 quarts of apple juice. It was much easier than I thought it would be. The only thing that I'm not sure of is the color...it's much lighter than store bought juice. I also think that next time I'll use apples with a stronger taste.

Here's a link to the recipe I used... it's also the one I saw in the Blue Ball canning book.

A great post

I have been blog surfing while my dear husband is watching the OSU vs USC game and found an awesome post....if you are struggling with wanting more children or wanting more children and others think you're crazy I hope you'll read this...it's very encouraging and wonderfully written.

Busy Day!

After picking what seems like a billion apples yesterday the girls and I decided to make apple juice. It isn't very hard but it does take a long time. It doesn't look like store bought juice...perhaps it's the apples I used?? I will be canning 7 quarts of apple juice...if we like it we'll be canning much much more of it. My kids love their juice and I love that this juice isn't made from apples grown in China!!

I also finally made yeast doughnuts...oh my word...these are really good. I could eat all of them. Our house smelled like apples and doughnuts all day today. If I just didn't have to clean up the mess it would be great!!

Weekly Homeschool Chronicles

I just found this totally neat weekly meme, it's all about posting how your home school is doing. We are almost done with our first month of home school. I was a little worried how our home school would run this year but so far it's been pretty great. Here's a weekly breakdown...

Trenton my oldest is in sixth grade this year. He will be starting a science class this week at the Broadway Academy. This will be his first official class besides his co-op classes. He is taking a full load of classes at our home school co-op as well.... drama, gym, Dangerous Book for Boys club, and a Chronicles of Narnia literature course. This is also his first year using the Math-u-See curriculum. He really likes this and so do I...it makes math time fun!! Currently, Trenton is also playing football.

Madison is in third grade this year. She is taking some great classes at our home school co-op...Prairie Primer, Art, Music, and gym. We are also using Math-u-See for her as well, she really likes it too. Madison is in gymnastics this year and so far is really enjoying it. She is my little helper in the garden. She is always willing to watch some of my "littles" and is a real help when apple picking or raspberry picking.

Riley is in first grade this year. This is her first "real" year for a full load in our home school. She is my school lover!! She worked through 12 weeks of her math u see in three days for fun... She also did her entire first grade handwriting book in a day just because. Riley is my animal lover. She loves horseback riding lessons and this year we finally caved and let her take home school ballet lessons which she rocks at!!

Kaitlyn and Reagan are our current "littles" and their school day consists of playing with assigned toy boxes, having a preschool time with one of the older kids, listening to our read aloud time, art, and nature study. These two keep us on our toes!!

May We Never Forget

We will never forget your sacrifices to help others get home safely. God bless you and your families. God bless America.

Homestead Happenings

Today after we finished school we headed to a local orchard to pick apples. The girls were in apple heaven!! We ended up with about 4 bushels of apples. Total cost $22.00

We then bought 2 dozen eggs for $1.25 each. After dinner we headed out to a berry farm and picked 2 quarts of red raspberries total$7.00

I'm still hoping to find some grapes to pick to make grape juice...if any of my local readers know of any grapes could you let me know where to find them??

Sharing the Bounty

I have hung up my couponing hat for right now. Shocking isn't it? Why kill the golden calf who has saved me so much money? First, I was convicted of how much time and money it was costing me to chase all my deals. Second, I did an inventory and realized that I have years worth of many things. Who needs 85 bottles of shampoo or 50 boxes of toothpaste? Even in a family of seven it would take a long time to use that up!!

So, what can I do with my bounty??? Some people like to have yard sales and sell off their extra inventory. Some people give it away as gifts. I like to use some of my extras for hostess gifts or holiday baskets. I also like to share. I take a weekly bag full of goodies to our church's food pantry.

I try to keep my ears open to see if anybody needs any thing. Many people are unemployed right now and while it's easy to receive food stamps to provide food you can't use that for shampoo and other items. For some people even buying the cheapest shampoo is out of their budget. If I know families who are struggling I give a shopping bag full of household supplies. It's my way of giving back for all the times when we struggled to survive!!

Sharing the bounty works for me!

Doughnuts

Do you love homemade doughnuts? We do. I had intended on making some cake type but I got behind schedule and didn't have time. I have used the Happy Housewife's recipe twice and we love these!! Here's a link to my favorite hurry up doughnuts!!

I hope you enjoy these!!

Canning Update

Yesterday my dad helped me can 7 quarts of vegetable soup, two quarts of Ketchup, and 4 quarts of sauce. Tonight I will be making two more batches of ketchup.

This has been a very productive year for me!! I'm so grateful for parents who are willing to help their daughter can!!

How is your canning going?

American Girl Deals

Do you have an American girl fan at your house? If so check out this link American Girl is offering all the movies for $5 a piece. These would make great Christmas gifts.

Goodwill Deals

Today only all local Goodwill stores are having a 50% off everything in the entire store.

I went to look for a new coat and found one just like I wanted for $3...I also found a Penn State t-shirt with tags still on it for $2. I also picked up three long sleeved shirts for Reagan, a pair of pants for Reagan, one winter coat for me, two books, and my t-shirt for a total $10.06

Did you find any good deals today?

Menu Plan Monday

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

Breakfast-
pancakes
muffins
snickerdoodle coffee cake
bacon/eggs/toast/fruit
homemade doughnuts
pancakes/eggs/fruit


Dinners-
grill- brats
pulled pork in crockpot/homemade rolls/coleslaw/chips
fast food Wednesday
Taco Thursday
Pizza Friday
grill
grill

For more menu ideas checkout I'm an organizing junkie

Spending Today

Today my girls and I had an adventure. We went red raspberry picking. We planted two red raspberry bushes this year but they're obviously not producing much so we needed to locate a local source. We had been buying them from an Amish family but today we decided we wanted them to be really fresh. We picked two quarts of red raspberries for a total of $7.00

I also had to run to Walmart for freezer bags since I was completely out. I also bought a package of paper lunch bags and a magazine. Total spent $11.00 I shouldn't have bought the magazine and I would've saved $5

No Spending...sort of...

My family is going on a spending freeze for the month of September and possibly beyond to help us save money and get our frugal groove back. My plan was not to spend any money except for produce, canning items, and homeschool classes...however not even two days into our freeze I found a few things I just couldn't pass by.

We use cloth diapers on our youngest daughter and during the night for our 3 year old. I needed to buy a few more diapers but just kept putting it off because of cost. I happened upon 3 all in one diapers for $5 a piece...Sold for less than the cost of one!!

My oldest needed some personal items and I found some brand new with tags at Goodwill for $.49 a piece...I bought 4 pairs and saved at least $5.

Going on a spending freeze is an awesome idea but I believe that if your budget allows and you find something you need not want and it's at a rock bottom price it's okay to break it. My two purchases saved our family over $40 and that's nothing to sneeze at!!

For more frugal ideas check out Life as Mom

Canning Jars

This week on works for me Wednesday we're sharing an organizational tip. I love reading how other people organize their homes.

We are currently trying to reduce our dependence on grocery stores and one of the ways we're doing this is by purchasing canning jars. Of course I use them to can but I also use them for a variety of other things to.

* I buy most of my spices in bulk and instead of having tons of bulky bags sitting in my cupboard I pour them into pint size canning jars. This does two things...first we don't use any bad plastics and the jars are reusable.

* I also use the jars to store crayons and markers for easy access for my older children.

I find that canning jars are a pretty and useful addition to my kitchen. It helps keep small things like thumb tacks, nails, or screws all together.

For more works for me Wednesday check out We are that Family

No Spending Month Goals

September is a no spend month for us. We have gotten a little free with spending money lately and we need to get it under control again. I am hoping not to spend any money unless needed. Here are some of our goals for our no spend month...

1. No eating out. We have been eating out much more than usual due to daily football practices. However, public school is back in session so now we are only running two nights a week.

2. No online window shopping... this always breeds discontent for me and I end up spending "a little" money to get a good deal on something I didn't need to begin with.

3. Avoid thrift stores and yard sales unless I'm looking for something specific and shop with cash- not the atm card!!

Those are my top three areas in which I waste our money. I am hoping to really see our savings add up by avoiding those three areas.

Update

Many of you know that I am a breast cancer survivor. I was diagnosed in 2005 when I was pregnant with our fourth baby. Both baby and I are still doing well, today I went in for a check up with my oncologist since I haven't seen him in awhile. Everything still looks okay but my white blood cell count is very low. He did send me to get some chest x-rays and hopefully I won't hear from them telling me any bad news.

Do you know of any natural ways to raise your white blood cell count?