PennyPinchinMomma

Be Willing to Sacrifice

2012-01-30T08:00:00.001-08:00

Sometimes in life we realize that our dreams might always stay dreams because we are afraid of the sacrifices needed to pursue them. Our life right now is filled with sacrifices. Every day we make choices that may or may not require sacrificing comfort or wants. We choose not to eat out, which puts a strain on me at times because it means coming in and making dinner even after I've spent all day hauling firewood over a creek and up a hill. I generally enjoy preparing food for my family but after days like that I just want to crash. We eat a whole/gluten free diet which restricts much purchased food. I sacrifice my time to bring in the wood and then prepare our meals.

My children sacrifice activities at this time because due to unexpected circumstances we are making do with one full tank of gas a month. We still have our full day Wednesday but it's nice to hop in the car and go visit friends too!

I would love to have a closet full of designer clothes instead I make do shopping the thrift stores. I have a wish list a mile long on Pinterest that I want to buy!

There are also many things I desire to fix up the farm and add more animals. The reality is that this might be another make do sort of year which makes me sad. I'd love to extend our fencing add on to our chicken coop, instead I'll be purchasing some cattle panels and making a smaller pasture to rotate our goats in. My dream of raising all our meat on our own farm might have to go to the back burner. I am committed to purchasing two piglets come March which I am mostly prepared for. I might need to make a choice and cull some of our older hens to reduce our need for chicken feed. We have plans to purchase new hens so it only makes sense to give away the ones who aren't laying much anymore. We're also parting with one of our rabbits.

My focus is not only on reducing all of our outgoing costs but also how to bring in some money as well. My family and I are willing to make sacrifices to follow our dreams, are you?

This post is linked to Homestead Revival

First Year Homestead Tips

2012-01-25T05:19:00.000-08:00

We are quickly approaching our first anniversary on our little farm. It never ceases to amaze me at how much has changed in our lives! Today I'd like to share a few tips that I've learned during our first year here.

The first thing I realized is never ever buy any form of farm animal without the shelter already built. Our farm had no out buildings whatsoever. I mistakenly assumed that building a chicken coop would be easy and cheap. Wrong on both accounts. I'm sure it can be done extremely well and cheaply but we had to buy all of our materials and everything cost more than the books/blogs said. I had already bought 10 chicks so building a coop became necessary and we had to cut corners and make it smaller than we had originally planned. I thought we wouldn't need the extra space but I really regret making it half the size we had originally planned. I could really use the extra space to store hay/outside toys/extra feed.

One thing that I did right was I made sure to put the word out that I would take any free livestock. I ended up with 12 free laying hens that way. I did feel like we might have had too many hens at one point (24) I'm glad I kept them all because we lost almost half to coons. I would make sure all your animals you are offered are healthy and something you want to have. It saves you money in the long run if after you get them you decide that they weren't what you were looking for.

We heat with wood. I would highly recommend you cut wood in preparation for winter all summer long. My spouse did not take this advice and we have paid for it. This winter has been unusually mild and we haven't been able to drive into the woods, which means we are carrying the wood to our house. I will say it's great exercise and we do appreciate that wood!! Also, be sure to keep the wood you worked so hard to get dry!! Wet wood is NOT fire starting friendly and will do nothing but make you curse at the wood burner! ( and also realize that if they were offering me a million dollars to start a fire I would not be a winner. I am extremely grateful that my parents live across the road and my master fire starter dad comes to my rescue frequently) Also, cut way more than you think you'll need. Way way more.

Expect to be slightly inconvenienced. Our "high" speed Internet is extremely slow and pricey. There is no cable only satellite. We are blessed that we can pick up several local TV stations with our antenna. Cell phones may or may not get service where you are. There might not be trash pick up.

Utility bills will be higher. I don't know why this is but every time we've lived in the country our electric bill almost doubles. We have an energy cooperative and our rates are high. Be aware of this before you move and plan on reducing your need for electric.

Enjoy staying home. Running back to town gets expensive. I have had to reduce my children's involvement since we moved. We now pack as many activities as we can into Wednesdays which is our town day. I also do a major once a month grocery trip to the "city" because of the cheaper prices. I make a detailed list and stock up. Also, when it does snow your road might not be drivable. It helps to have a stockpile of comfort food in case you get stuck at home for any length of time.

This post is linked to Frugally Sustainable

Making some painful cuts

2012-01-24T05:20:00.000-08:00

I talked yesterday about how in the land of self employment we either have enough or not enough cash. We are currently in the not enough category which has inspired us to make some painful cost cutting measures. For some these might not seem painful in the least but for me this has been one of the toughest and it was getting rid of my iPhone. We have currently put our beloved iPhones on a break in order to have enough money to pay other bills. I absolutely love my iPhone. It has amazing features, if I got lost I could use the GPS on the phone, if I needed the Internet it was right there, and perhaps most of all it showed the world I had arrived. We are currently using a pay as you go phone that only has minimal minutes on it in the event of a car issue. I won't lie I miss my phone. I miss the status I had when I pulled that phone out at the store. However, I don't miss our $150 a month bill right now.

Another place that has been feeling the budget cuts is the toilet paper category. We are a family of seven and were very accustomed to fluffy soft expensive toilet paper--BUT we were flying through the rolls of toilet paper. It seemed like I was replacing a roll every single day. We were wasting all of that soft cushy toilet paper! One day (I'm sure it was because Ecb's were involved!) I bought what we refer to as John Wayne toilet paper ( it's rough, tough, and doesn't take any crap off anybody!!) otherwise known as Scott's toilet paper. It was a miracle of sorts! Suddenly one roll of toilet paper is lasting a week or more. It seems like it's the never ending roll of toilet paper. Our toilet paper budget has now shrunk to only $10 a month compared to $20 or more. I know to some that measly little $10 isn't worth it but at our house a 50lb bag of chicken feed is $10 so this cut has really helped!

Have you had to make any painful budget cuts lately?

When There's No Money

2012-01-23T04:14:00.000-08:00

It's hard being a single income family right now, it's even harder when the only income is self employment. Some months money is plentiful with enough to pay bills and even stash some cash away and other months there is an extremely slim cash flow. How do you survive? What bills must be paid? How will we feed our family and livestock?

Our current situation leaves much to be desired in the income area. There is usually enough but that's it- no wiggle room and nothing left for fun. I began babysitting to pay for gas for our van and my animals feed. It also covers any household needs that arise such as toilet paper, dish soap, etc. However, we are now seeing a huge rise in the cost of electric, gas for cars, and basic household necessities. How can we stretch an almost nonexistent budget even further?

I'm focusing on reducing our electric bill for the month of February. Our last months bill was $165 and is completely unacceptable!!!! I am making some major changes in February.

My reduce our electric consumption plan:

- buy each child a battery or solar powered night light. We currently have two bedrooms with night lights left on all night.

- unplug everything at night. We had been doing this but we got lazy.

- turn off the coffee pot and unplug after it's done. I'm going to keep in warm in a peculator on the wood burner.

- use the wood burner to heat up basic foods such as soup, fry eggs, and other skillet meals.

- our dryer broke so right now we are hanging all our clothes on a clothesline inside.

I'm looking to reduce our household budget as well. I need to start playing the drugstore game again if only for the toiletries!!! I can always donate whatever we won't use. My biggest concern here is spending more than necessary to get a good base of ECB's. Spending money just to earn ECB's isn't always cheapest.

Starting a price book again is also going to be done in February. I used to know the best prices for what we bought but since we've moved I haven't kept up on it. We've also started shopping at several new stores and we have also gone completely gluten free again. I have found that Marc's has the best gluten free flour prices around. I'm interested to see how many more organic/gluten free items they have and the cost. I still do one major shopping trip a month and with the cost of gas I don't think this will change. I have realized that I need to plan snacks better through the month. I underestimate how much my children eat!! I am going to put a snack basket in the fridge for each child and hope that reduces the " so and so ate all the apples or clementines".

One of the other changes I'm making is buying all our animal feed at our local mill. I have found it has the cheapest feed around. It will make my life easier to buy dog/cat food there as well. I will double check to make sure it has the cheapest prices for that. I'm optimistic that they will since their rabbit/chicken feed is $4 cheaper per bag!!

I would like to get our water tested, right now we don't drink the water so I'm buying a lot of bottled water. I'm looking into buying a Berkey because I do think it will more than pay for itself.

* This post is linked to the Homestead Barn Hop

Our Weekly Menu

2012-01-16T06:36:00.001-08:00

Here's what we're eating this week.

Breakfast:

baked peanut butter oatmeal

gluten free pancakes

cereal

gluten free muffins

eggs/yogurt/fruit

Lunch:

leftovers or

hot dogs/veggies

homemade lunchables

baked potato

Dinner:

crock pot pork carnitas/rice

chicken and rice casserole and broccoli

blasted chicken/mashed potatoes

homemade pizza

fend for yourself

To see more menu ideas check out I'm an Organizing Junkie

Homeschooling on the Homestead

2012-01-14T05:08:00.000-08:00

This has been our first full year of homeschooling since we moved to the farm. It's had it's ups and downs, however I believe in the end we will have had a successful year.

One of the things I really struggled with was turning down many opportunities. I want my kids to be involved in all those neat homeschool activities. There's speech and debate, homeschool sewing, basketball, volleyball, co-op, Broadway Academy, Classical Conversations, and many more wonderful programs. If we had still been living in town I'm sure we would have been part of many of those things. However, living on a small farm means we're 20 minutes each way from town and we have animals that need cared for. My children and I had to make some tough choices. I decided we would have one day a week for activities. It worked out that our co-op is on Wednesdays so that's our day "out". We fill that day full!! We have co-op every other Wednesday, followed by violin and piano lessons, a quick dinner that we pack, and then Awana. Our 4-H group begins meeting in February and it will be on the opposite Wednesday as our co-op. This does make Wednesday a marathon day but it is working well right now.

Another thing that had to change this year was my philosophy for our homeschool. There are days when things happen on the farm that take up much more time than anticipated. My plan for those days is if the kids aren't needed ( most of the time they are!) they just do reading, handwriting, and math. I've always liked the Charlotte Mason homeschool philosophy and moving has pushed us into it! I love that the lessons are quick ( but thorough) and they are meaty!

This year we are also only doing science every other week. I'm teaching a Story of the World class at co-op so history is done that week. This has seriously set me free! I always felt so much pressure to work through every single subject each day. We are loving this! Another big change was adding narrations back into our homeschool. My son always did narrations but my daughter struggled with them. I only require a couple sentences but she draws a scene from her book.

We now start our school day by 10 am. I always wanted to have it started by 9 at the latest but it just wasn't happening and then I'd feel like we were behind! The kids wake up by 7:30 or 8:00 and I start my coffee and head to the barn. We finish up chores by 9:00 and then I start breakfast. School work is out around 10:00. This has truly been one of the best things for our homeschool. Our school day lasts for two or three hours. My oldest takes longer but he's in 8th grade.

Once our main work is over the kids fill their day with reading, playing outside, checking for eggs, practicing music, knitting, or playing on Webkinz. Most of our days run smoothly and are enjoyable. There are those days when the kids wake up fighting, the chores take three times as long, breakfast doesn't happen, and nobody can find their school books. I'll be honest we have those days at least twice a month!

Homeschooling and homesteading can go hand in hand. It takes trial and error and faith. It's totally worth it. I cannot begin to list the blessings of having my children live and learn with me. Yes, it's hard, some days very very hard and I want to throw in the towel. Our farmhouse will never look like those beautiful clean homes that I long for on the blogs. My yard is filled with toys, children, and chickens! However, our hearts are full of happiness and love!

linking up with Homestead Revival

Homestead Goals for 2012

2011-12-27T06:37:00.000-08:00

I can hardly believe that this is the last week of 2011!! It's amazing to look back on how much has changed for our family since the beginning of 2011. We made a huge move to a wonderful 5 acre farm and promptly began our homesteading adventure, within one month we had two goats and 15 baby chickens! I'm heading into 2012 with some more realistic goals, at least I hope!

Goals for animals:

We will be raising meat chickens again. Three of my children will be old enough for 4-H this coming year so I'm guessing we will buy at least 50 meat chickens. We had a high mortality rate last year and each child needs to have a pen of three to show at fair. I'd like to also raise enough to cover our chicken meat for the year.

We are going to add raising turkeys. We had wanted to this past year but the money ran out first! I'm planning better this coming year. I would like to raise five turkeys. We will need to add onto our chicken coop to brood the meat chicks and the turkeys. We also need to build at least one more chicken tractor. However, I do think we have most of the wood so I'll just need to purchase chicken wire.

We are also adding a hog. I have an area planned and will purchase the cattle panels for fencing so we can use those for other things after the hog is butchered. I'm hoping that we might have a slight surplus of goats milk to help feed the hog to reduce the cost of feed.

I am hopeful that our first dairy goat has been bred successfully! We are hoping for some cute baby/babies around the end of March. I plan on breeding our second dairy goat this coming Spring so ideally we will have fresh milk all year long.

Garden Plans-

Our garden was a massive failure last Summer. The only things that were successful were the peas, green beans, and tomatoes. We were able to put up a years supply of green beans. I am going to spend January reading up on how to improve the soil and when certain things should be planted. Ideally I'd love to supply our family with a years worth of veggies from the garden. I do know one thing, we will definitely till the soil much much better this year! Hopefully we will be able to keep the weeds down as well.

What are some of your homestead goals for 2012?

Christmas on the Farm

2011-12-20T08:58:00.001-08:00

This will be our first Christmas on the farm. I haven't decorated like I have in the past. The porch is sadly missing lights and the garland that I had hoped to hang. The barn and the chicken coop aren't festively sporting any wreaths either. Instead we are surrounded by mud. Lots and lots of mud. It has been an unusually warm December and extremely rainy. I find myself skating to the barn on muddy poo every morning.

In my mind I was going to create a beautiful farm house Christmas. Candles in the windows and wreaths on all the doors. This year hasn't worked out quite like I had planned in my mind. The weather hasn't been cooperative. It's either been extremely hot or extremely wet.

I've been learning a lot about contentment in so many aspects of my life. I had my farm planned out in my mind and so far it hasn't lived up to my dreams. The kind of dream that went like this....

December rolls in with beautiful fluffy white snow, the wood burner heats the house and the candles (all homemade of course!) light the house with a warm glow. Candles in all the windows and garland light the front porch welcoming friends and family. The Christmas music plays all day long and the smell of cookies baking fill the air. The kids all play card games contently and go sledding down our hill in the back yard. They come in (not muddy and wet!) and I serve homemade hot chocolate and fresh doughnuts. Presents are wrapped and under the tree and the children happily make gifts for each other.

And here's the reality....

The kids are fighting (again!) over who can watch what on netflix. The oldest wants to record his game play so nobody else can use our sloooow Internet until he's done. It's raining. Again. The yard is a mud pit filled with pooh from the animals. I'm bribing kids to go out in the rain and do their chores. The mean rooster attacked me again this morning. (We are now making plans to kill him) I made cookies and the blessed children ate them in ten minutes. No hot chocolate they are too hyper all ready!! We put up our tree and tied it to the wall with hay twine because the floors slant. The wood burner either burns way too hot or not hardly at all ( and people complain either way!) Presents haven't been wrapped and I'm thinking we are skipping the homemade presents this year!

With all that said, I can't imagine my life any other way. I look forward to walking into the barn on Christmas Eve and pausing a moment to think about how Mary felt so many years ago as she gave birth to our Savior in a lowly barn like ours.

Wishing you and yours a Merry Christmas from our Big Blue Farm House.

What Happens When the Chicken Crosses the Road

2011-11-15T14:46:00.001-08:00

We had been exclusively free ranging our hens since we moved here but lately we were having a situation. The roosters were leading their ladies astray. Every morning the darn roosters would lead the hens up the road to neighboring farms or across the road to my parents yard. The neighbors were constantly slowing down to avoid running them over.

One fateful morning we woke up to find that a coon had attacked the hens roosting in the tree. Our rooster fought him off but one of our hens were injured. We brought her inside to nurse her back to health. I was feeling quite happy that the rooster had been doing his job when I happened to look out our front window to see one of our hens squished on the road! Quickly, I summoned my oldest to handle the job of cleaning up. And by cleaning up I mean he took the shovel out and scraped the poor hen off the road. I was amazed at how far the poor hens flew once she was hit. They went all the way up and down the road.

The bad news is that we lost a hen. The good news is that they stick to the back yard now.

Moral of the story... always look twice before crossing the road!

Preparing for a Frugal Christmas

2011-11-15T14:03:00.000-08:00

We are preparing for a frugal Christmas this year. My husband is self employed and while he is making money it's already budgeted to go for bills. I have started baby sitting a couple days a week to pay for Christmas and I also make gluten free desserts. This year even with those we still won't be having a large Christmas. Here are some ways we're preparing our family for a frugal holiday.

One of the ways that we help curb the gimmes is by not having cable tv. We have an antenna but we only get PBS and we also have Netflix. I'm extremely grateful that neither show commercials. If my kids don't see the ads they don't want the junk!

I only grocery shop once a month and do quick trips to Aldi as needed. I love Aldi because of their cheap prices but also because they don't have a toy aisle!

We don't get a newspaper so my kids don't get to browse through the toy ads.

We have told all the kids that they are getting three gifts total! There will be a gift to open on Christmas Eve and stockings in the morning. Our budget is $50-$60 per child. I've asked each one what they want the most. My goal is to buy that item and pay the best price for it.

I shop all year round. I also check "deal" boards frequently to see if there are any deals worth buying.

We are on a spending freeze until further notice. No eating out, no thrift store trips ( with the kids!), minimal driving, and a reduction of outside activities.

How do you keep costs down at Christmas time?

Weekly Menu Plan

2011-11-14T10:08:00.000-08:00

I've decided to jump back on the menu planning wagon! I haven't been planning our meals and our grocery budget sure shows it. We haven't been eating as healthy either. Here's what we're eating this week.

Breakfast:

eggs/toast

baked peanut butter oatmeal

cereal

yogurt/fruit

Lunch:

mac and cheese

baked potato

snack lunch- crackers/fruit/cheese/veggies

sloppy joe

chicken and rice casserole

Dinner:

garlic and herb chicken/rice/broccoli

potato leek soup

pasta/garlic bread

stuffed pepper soup

homemade pizza

chili

blasted chicken/mashed potatoes/veggies

For more menu ideas check out I'm an Organizing Junkie.

Yet Another Update!

2011-11-12T15:32:00.000-08:00

We've been busy here at the farm. We took our oldest dairy goat on a date and we're crossing our fingers that she came back bred. If she is we'll be looking for a baby goat in April. I'm happy about when she should be due. Hopefully spring will come to Ohio early next year and the weather will be warm.

Our entire litter of kittens ended up dying at 3 weeks. One day they were fine and within two days they all were gone. It was an extremely sad day for us. I have found that since we've moved to the farm we have learned a lot about death. It is extremely frustrating at times and heart breaking for myself and the kids.

I've been busy preparing the animals for winter. We're cleaning out the chicken coop and putting fresh straw in and closing up some of the windows. I'm also going to be putting a light on them to encourage them to start laying again. Our goat barn is finished and wonderful. My son and I extended our pasture for the goats this past week. It was the first time that we did it without any help!!

We are the proud owners of two lion head rabbits. One is a buck, the other a doe. They are extremely tame and love to be held. They will be some lucky girls 4-H project this coming summer.

One of the other things that I'm becoming more focused on is reducing our grocery budget again. It seems like weekly the prices are going up and up. I see the cost of animal feed going up as well. I cannot wait till next fall when we will be butchering two steers. The cost of meat is incredible for our family. Our entire family enjoys meat and don't like beans or pasta. At this point I'm not ready to quit eating meat but we have started reducing the amount we use and I am constantly looking at ways to reduce our expenses.

With the economy going down and prices going up, how are you stretching your dollars?

New Babies and other Updates

2011-09-27T16:01:00.000-07:00

Yesterday our farm welcomed five new kittens! It was our first birth on the farm and everybody was excited. I have to admit that there is something about baby kittens that makes me feel like this is a "real" farm!

Our oldest dairy goat was not bred so we won't be milking anytime soon. I have been charting her cycle and she has a date with a buck next month. My goal is to avoid babies coming in January and February.

We've been busy building our goat barn and chicken run. I had plans on completely free ranging our hens but they refuse to lay in the coop. I finally broke down and had my dad build a run. Our feed cost has already gone up even though we are supplementing with all our garden scraps and kitchen scraps. We aren't getting many eggs anymore. I'm guessing it's because the colder weather is here.

The next thing on our to do list is cutting firewood. Our home is heated by a wood burner only. This will be our first winter here and we aren't sure how much wood we will need. I'm planning on ordering a cord or two from a local Amish family that will help get us started.

How are things on your homestead?

Moving Right Along

2011-08-07T19:17:00.000-07:00

July was the busiest month we've had here on the farm. We spent a week at our county fair showing a pen of broilers. My poor daughter ended up with nothing to take to fair because her market goat passed away three days before fair.

We suffered more livestock losses. We lost more hens but we were blessed to receive more hens from a friend moving out of state. Our current total of hens/ roosters is 18. As I stated we also lost my daughters market goat. We ended up with a total of 15 broilers so far. I won't call it a success until they are safely in my freezer! We take them in for processing next Saturday.

We are enjoying our surplus of eggs- when we can find them. Apparently our hens don't believe in laying their eggs in the coop so we have egg hunts every day. We were pleasantly surprised to find our first white leghorn egg this weekend! We now have 10 hens laying. Our two remaining goats are doing great. Oreo is still every one's favorite and will happily spend the day playing with my children! Ariel is supposed to be pregnant so we are anxiously waiting to see if we get a new baby soon! She was kept with a buck so we don't know her actual breeding date.

The garden has been taken over by weeds. I'm still picking cucumbers, zucchini, and tomatoes though. Next year I will take better care of the garden! The intense heat was just too much for me this year. I don't even know how much canning I'm going to do. I am feeling overwhelmed trying to run the farm, baby sit part time, keep the house clean, and homeschool my kids! This might be the year I sit out from canning.

We are also gearing up for our new school year. All of my kids are homeschooling again this year. My oldest is using an online school and we're excited to see how that plays out. Our first day back is august 22 and I still have so much to do!

Lessons From the Farm

2011-06-13T05:15:00.000-07:00

I'm quickly realizing that living on a real farm is a whole lot more involved than I thought. See, I'd read tons of books about homesteading, raising animals, and gardens and thought " I can do that!" It has become apparent that the people who wrote all those books didn't have a houseful of kids. They don't tell you that if you're on top of your outside chores rest assured that the inside of your home looks like a tornado has been through it. Here's a couple more things I've learned.

* goats really believe that the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. I'm now convinced whoever uttered that phrase was a goat owner.
* goats have the ability to squeeze through holes the size of an apple...really I've watched them!
* chickens will roost high in trees and will make you look like a crazy person while you stand underneath and shake sticks while yelling " I'm trying to save you from the coons you ninnies!!"
* said chickens will also refuse to use the coop that you and your dad painstaking finished so your children will be required to hold chicken chasing events every night at sundown.
* my free range chickens don't seem to understand that the coop is for laying eggs- they do not go in a makeshift nest in the middle of poison ivy and briers!
* lunch may or may not be served unless the children remind their mother since she's out chasing animals or weeding the garden
* a hour a day is not enough time in our new garden. I'm thinking it's going to require at least 2 hours a day.
* everything costs more than it should and you will need more lumber/fencing/chicken wire than you planned on.

I've had some set backs and some things just haven't worked out at all the way I though they would. However, we love our farm and animals. The kids get along better than I've ever seen them. We have slowed down and are enjoying life. What more could you want?

Losses on the Farm

2011-06-10T18:37:00.000-07:00

We had a rough day at the Big Blue House, while out looking for eggs one of my daughters made a horrible discovery- a dead chicken. There must have been a coon attack some time late last night/ early this morning. It has proved to be a devastating blow to my girls and surprisingly me. I'm no fan of chickens-- something about them creep me out!!- but I had raised this hen from just a day old and she died a horrible violent death. One that could possibly been prevented with a better coop- which brings me to what we did tonight. My dad and I along with my children re-enforced the coop. We're praying that it keeps the coon out. I'm also anxious to see what morning brings since several of my hens have taken to roosting high in a tree. I put 10 of the girls in and 9 were/are in the trees. Here's hoping that in the morning we find all 19 happy and alive!

Weekly Menu Plan

2011-06-05T18:30:00.000-07:00

Im finally getting back on the meal planning wagon! I can't afford to not meal plan anymore!!

Breakfast-
Baked Peanut Butter Oatmeal
Mini Chocolate Chip Muffins
homemade peanut butter granola
Eggs

Lunch
Quesadillas/fruit
PB sandwiches/fruit
Mac and Cheese
Leftovers

Dinner
Pasta with meat sauce
Sloppy joes
Mexican rice and beans
Garlic chicken and rice
Grilled pizza
Cesear chicken salad
Marinated flank steak with mashed potatoes

Linking with I'm an organizing junkie's menu plan Monday

New Critters on the Farm

2011-06-02T13:56:00.000-07:00

Today we picked up 22 broiler chicks. They are my sons 4-h project and our future dinner! This year we are on a mission to produce as much of our food as we can. I love being able to mark stuff off of my grocery list. I love knowing that right now we dont have to buy eggs from the grocery store. In the end of July we will be eating our own chickens. August will bring our own fresh raw milk.

Have you been able to cross anything off of your grocery list lately?

Adventures in the Big Blue House

2011-05-25T04:57:00.000-07:00

Here in Ohio we have been having tons of rain- the kind where it rains every day for two weeks and then the sun shines and everybody runs outside to work! My garden isn't in yet but we have planted most of our spring crops. I've planted several types of lettuce, carrots, peas, beans, broccoli, onions, and potatoes. I was very excited to see that all my berry plants and bushes survived the move. We even picked our first strawberry yesterday!

All of our goats have arrived. We have a total of four. Our wether, our 4-h market goat, my two month old toggenburg dairy goat, and our pregnant Sanen doe!! We are beyond excited at the thought of having fresh raw milk in late August. My next goat project involves building a barn for the winter.

We are also the proud owners of 19 chickens. Our batch of white leghorns are now 3 months old and doing great! We were given six more month old chicks that are thriving as well. Last night I picked up four hens that are laying now. Unfortunately, one of the hens escaped into the woods when we were transporting them. We looked and looked but couldn't find her. I'm hoping she shows up sometime today!

Another project we are working on is our chicken tractor for our meat chickens that arrive next week!!! We pick up 26 broiler chicks on Thursday. We have a bull calf coming in the next couple weeks as well.

How are things around your homestead?

And Then There Were Goats

2011-04-17T17:59:00.000-07:00

Two of our goats arrived on last Wednesday. I have only had an escapee one morning- so far!! One of these goats is my daughters 4-H project and the other one is our companion goat named Dirk. Dirk thinks he is a dog and should be allowed to follow us wherever we go and he complains loudly when he can't.
We have another goat arriving this week. She will be the beginning of our dairy herd. She's also a bottle baby so we will be raising her from the very start. I'm hoping that this will make her more like a pet!! Our final goat will arrive at the beginning of May.

Our chicks are doing great and growing bigger every day. We are planning on completing the coop this coming weekend.

How are things around your homestead?

Chick Days

2011-04-10T16:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the day! I have been waiting to get baby chicks for a month so I loaded up the girls and we went to pick out some chicks. We bought ten white longhorn hens. My kids are beyond excited about the chicks. I was beyond excited to see that everybody survived the night!! Here's hoping that all my girls survive another night!!

Adventures in the Big Blue House

2011-04-09T17:54:00.000-07:00

This is the beginning of our homestead series called Adventures in the Big Blue House. In this series I'll tell you how God moved us from the city to our dream home, you can follow our adventures of buying livestock, see how we manage homeschooling plus two large gardens, and other adventures!

I'm calling this series Adventures in the Big Blue House because our farm house is big and, well, blue!! Our youngest children refer to it all the time as "our blue house"!

A quick background about us- we are a family of seven who have always dreamed of living in the country, raising our kids on a farm, and raise much of our food. However, we were stuck living in town beside a grocery store so we couldn't raise livestock or a very large garden. Our kids couldn't run and explore. We had looked at several different homes for rent in the country but their price was often much higher and moat of the homes heated with propane.
My husband and I made list of things we wanted in our next rental home.
- wood burner
- no propane heat
-not too far from town
- rent had to be less than $800
- had to have at least 3 large bedrooms
- allow indoor pets
- allow for garden space and livestock
Now that's a long list!! I finally realized that I needed to be content where we were so I actually stopped looking for rentals. That's when God moved!!! We were asked if we wanted to move into a 4 bedroom house, twice the square footage of the house we were in, room for gardens and livestock, woods, creeks, and much more. And the best thing?? The rent was even LESS than what we were paying!!

So, here we are a month later in our big blue house. Today we bought some chicks and next weekend the goats come! We've added another rabbit and we are tilling up the gardens this week.

Saving Money

2011-04-01T05:33:00.000-07:00

We have always been pretty frugal but since we moved we have kicked it up a notch. We made the decision to get rid of our home Internet. We're also going without cable too. I have Internet on my cell phone so that's our connection to the "outside" world. This might not be a great choice for your family but I love not listening to my kids fight over tv shows and playing the computer, instead they go outside and play for hours!

Have you made any "radical" frugal decisions lately?

Even More Changes

2011-03-30T12:37:00.000-07:00

This week my husband went back to work. We have been trying to make my husbands photography business work, but we kept falling further behind. Finally, after five months we decided to put it on a shelf and he found a job installing cable. I'm excited to have a regular paycheck again but it is a hard adjustment getting used to him being gone 12 hours a day.

Our market goat arrives Saturday. I won't lie I'm a little ( a lot) nervous!! I have no idea what I'm doing. I've read several goat books but I'm still not confident about what I'm doing!! Our plan is to order our chicks next week and then the milk goat will arrive!!

I spent the day today baking peanut butter granola and chocolate chip cookies. I have also been planning our monthly menu and grocery list. We live far enough from town that I don't need to be making extra trips! I'm looking forward to our activities being over and enjoying our new home.

Around the House

2011-03-22T15:59:00.000-07:00

I'm finally feeling like this is home. I've unpacked and cleaned the inside and outside. Today we spent most of the day in the kitchen. We made French toast, chocolate pudding, fudge pops, and whoopie pies. I'm trying to adjust to not having a grocery store next door. I've realized that I must make a detailed menu plan and grocery list. The cost of gas means we can't make extra trips to town every time we forget something.
We are enjoying the wood burner and all the outside. I'm amazed at how much more the kids are eating after playing outside and working all day! I'll be glad once our garden is in full swing so our grocery bill won't be quite so high.

Homestead Update

2011-03-15T13:00:00.000-07:00

We're finally getting settled at our new home! We love it so far!! We are very grateful for the nice weather because we've been busy cleaning up the mess left behind by the former tenants. I've also planned where we are putting our chicken coop and we're ordering chicks in the next couple weeks. We are also planning our two gardens.

My daughters goat will be arriving in the next couple weeks as well .

Taking It With Me

2011-03-05T06:12:00.000-08:00

I planted strawberries, red raspberries, and blue berries at our current house. Last summer we had a pretty decent harvest of berries and I don't have the money to replace them so I'm going to take them with me! Honestly, I don't know how well it will work. I read that the strawberries are relatively easy to transplant but I'm not sure about the others.

Unfortunately for me today is not a great weather day- it's going to be raining all day! However, at least the ground will be soft!! : ) Here's hoping that I'll be able to save at least some of my berry plants!

Changes!

2011-03-04T09:04:00.001-08:00

I'm sorry that I've been mia but there's a great reason for it! We are moving!!!

Last weekend we found a huge four bedroom farm house in our price range and we've spent the whole week packing and moving.

We are so excited! There is a gigantic garden spot, we can raise chickens, we're buying a feeder calf, and some goats.

We are also homeschooling all the children again. I'll be posting about our new journey into homesteading next week.

Talk to ya'll soon!!

Swing Set Shopping

2011-02-16T19:05:00.000-08:00

We're getting a small taste of spring this week which makes me think of playing outside. My girls love to play outside while I'm busy in the garden. Our old swing set isn't cutting it anymore for our family size. The current one only has spots for three swings!!! I've looked around the CSN stores where they have a huge variety of swingsets for sale. I'm loving the one pictured. It would be perfect for my daughters who love to swing!!

Long Time, No Post

2011-02-14T17:39:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the unexpected blogging break!! I am knee deep in home renovations!! We have lived in our rental home for almost five years and have decided to rip down the hideous wallpaper. Luckily for us my dad is a professional house painter and is helping me make everything look nice.
This week we're working on finishing my laundry room and starting on the kitchen. I actually remembered to take some before pictures so I'll be able to show the before and after of the rooms.

We've also been busy homeschooling. This has been a productive year so far and reassuring. I finally feel like I've found a great rut to run in. I'm confident on our curriculum and I know what works for us. It's exciting to know that I won't be shelling out hundreds of dollars on the wrong curriculum next year.

I've also been planning this years garden. I'm planning on planting more early crops. There will be upcoming blog posts about my garden plans.

We're down to the last two weeks of basketball so that's a relief. However, 4-H just started!! There's always something going on with five kids!!

Weekly Menu Plan

2011-02-06T15:59:00.000-08:00

I haven't been making a menu for a couple weeks and we're all feeling it! Our meals have been late and mostly fend for yourself. I've missed being organized as well. Here's the plan for this week!!

Breakfast
Baked Peanut Butter Oatmeal
Gluten Free Banana Bread
Oven Baked Gluten Free French Toast
Bacon and Eggs
Chocolate Chip Muffins

Lunch- leftovers or
veggies and cheese
yogurt/fruit plate
grilled cheese
cheesy rice

Dinner
Easy Cheesy Potato Soup
Tacos
Pizza Subs
Meatloaf/mashed potatoes/peas
Homemade Pizza
Chili
Fend for Yourself Sunday!!

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

We Survived!!

2011-02-03T07:52:00.001-08:00

We've had some crazy weather this week! Ice, rain, more ice, and then snow. We lost power for almost 24 hours. We were able to stay relatively warm and well fed.

Today it's back to "normal" so we're doing some deep cleaning. The snow and ice always put us in the mood to clean and de-clutter. We're planning on painting some rooms next week so we're using this as a motivator to get rid of the junk!!

Did you make it through the storm??

On a Wing and a Prayer

2011-01-25T04:30:00.000-08:00

I'll be the first to admit that we might not have thought our new lifestyle all the way through. We'd been talking about making the jump into self employment off and on for a couple of years, however the timing was always wrong. Many still think our timing was/is wrong, with the economy down and prices going up how are we going to survive?

I want to encourage you today. It isn't easy following the path that God wants us too. He might ask you to sacrifice one thing or many things. The road might be extremely curving and up hill. My friends it's so worth it to follow Him though. He will never leave you or forsake you. We are following Him. I have never felt more at peace with a decision. It is hard though and at times I forget why we're choosing a path that seems hopeless. We can't get ahead. Bills are piling up and money is scarce. Many weeks we only have $20 to stretch as far as we can.

Each month we watch as bills pile up and money isn't coming in as fast as we'd like. We pray and wait for a miracle. I'll be honest that at times I am really scared. I am forever grateful for my small side jobs and being able to pinch pennies. They have kept us afloat until checks roll in.

Is He asking you to take a path that seems dark? Trust Him. Take that leap of faith. It might get darker than you ever thought it could. Trust. There is no place I'd rather be than in His hands!

Weekly Menu Plan

2011-01-24T04:33:00.000-08:00

It's hard to believe that it's the last week of January! It's still very cold so we're planning more comfort food again this week.

Breakfast- baked oatmeal, coffee cake, banana bread, bacon

Lunch- leftovers, baked potatoes, sloppy joe, bbq pork

Dinner-
salsa chicken and rice
chili
hamburgers, fries
blasted chicken, mashed potatoes
chicken pot pie
fend for yourself!!

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

Keeping Your Household Budget Low

2011-01-21T06:18:00.000-08:00

Our household budget is currently $5 for a family of seven, right now that is all we can afford. Here's how I keep our budget so low.
* I use CVS. If I have ecb's I use them to buy toilet paper and dish washing detergent.
* We don't use paper towels or napkins.
* I don't buy trash bags. We use the plastic grocery bags from the store.
* I don't use Ziploc bags. I put any leftovers into canning jars and freeze them or store them in the refrigerator.
* All my children are potty trained. I still have cloth diapers if we need them.
* We don't use paper plates or cups.
* I have a large stockpile from a year ago of shampoo, body wash, and deodorant.
* I trade baked goods for tooth paste, tooth brushes, razors, and body wash.
* I also trade free coupons for other household items.
* I have a large box of free laundry samples and dish soap samples.

For more frugal living tips check out Life as Mom

The Saved Quarter Challenge

2011-01-18T06:09:00.001-08:00

I'm joining this challenge late because at first I didn't think I could save a quarter of our income. I decided that I'll shoot for $75 a month. This will be a difficult goal for us since my husband is self employed.

I'm currently baby sitting one night a week and earn between $15-$20. I also sell baked goods but that varies from $0-$50 a month.

I also use CVS for our household needs and have reduced our household budget to $5 a month.

Once my husbands job picks up again I'll hopefully be able to use my earnings for savings.

* Other ways I'm saving*
-using Swagbucks and saving Amazon gift cards for home school purchases
- Holding an annual yard sale
- selling books at consignment stores
- using Amazon's trade in program and earning more gift cards
- cutting cable and our home phone
- bartering for milk and eggs
- bartering some of our stock pile for gas in the van

Check out The Saved Quarter to see how others are doing in this challenge.

What I've Learned so Far

2011-01-18T05:11:00.001-08:00

Having gas in your car is a gift. It shouldn't be taken for granted. Also, you can live without running around all the time. However, it is a hard adjustment when you're used to going to friends homes a couple times a week.
** my solution so far is to barter some of my stockpile or baked goods in exchange for a couple gallons of gas **

Cooking at home because you have to gets old.
** my solution- find several meals that are easy to make and always keep those ingredients on hand. I keep pasta and mac and cheese on hand all the time. Hot dogs are a top choice among my kids. If all else fails I make pancakes and eggs.

I don't need as much as I thought --BUT I want things more than I realized.
* I love to look at decorating blogs but I am realizing how discontent it makes me. I love going to thrift stores to hunt for treasures but right now it's NOT in the budget. I'm thinking about organizing a swap meet for a group of friends. No money can change hands but we can bring our unloved items and share!!

I'm getting much more done.
* I cannot run around--there's no money for it. I'm forced to stay home and actually teach my kids, clean my house, and cook!

** This is linked to Works for Me Wednesday***

Weekly Menu Plan

2011-01-17T08:49:00.000-08:00

We're entering week three of our spending freeze but we haven't even begun to make a dent in our deep freezer. Our pantry is starting to get bare though as well as the fridge. I needed some snacks so I experimented with making fruit roll ups. They turned out well and I've found a great way to use up some of our frozen fruit. I'm also going to experiment with a batch of homemade gluten free flour since I'm almost out of our favorite, Gluten Free Pantry All Purpose flour.

Here's what we're eating this week.

Breakfasts are baked peanut butter oatmeal, gluten free banana bread, homemade yogurt

Lunch- leftovers or sloppy joe, baked potato bar, mac and cheese

Dinner-
* chicken and rice soup
* Stuffed Peppers in crock pot
* pasta
* cheddar bbq bacon chicken, mashed potato
*homemade pizza
* chili

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

Homemade Fruit Roll Ups

2011-01-16T19:30:00.000-08:00

I was cleaning out our freezer and found a ton of frozen berries from this past summer. My kids won't eat them in muffins or smoothies so I thought I might need to toss them but then I found a recipe for homemade fruit roll ups!

You need 2.5 cups of fruit puree. (I used red raspberries from our garden)
* one recipe called for adding lemon juice and some sugar/honey. I made ours with just the fruit.
* cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper and cover with your fruit. Make sure you spread your fruit on the thin side!
* place in oven and cook at the lowest temperature you can. I baked ours at 150 degrees and also had our oven door cracked open.
* cook for 3-4 hours or until it's no longer sticky. I cooked ours just a tad too long. Next time I will take it out after 2.5 hours.
*cut into strips
* Store in air tight container.

One of my daughters tried them and said they taste just like store bought only crunchy. I tried a bite and they do taste like store bought and would be great had I not over cooked them!!

Another Update

2011-01-15T13:32:00.000-08:00

Today we spent $4 to buy a photo button for my daughter. It's her first basketball season and she helped pay for it. She only had $1 saved but it was something!

We also put $5 of gas in our van. We are on limited driving until I get paid for baby sitting or my hubby gets a check.

I've realized that being self employed is harder than I thought it would be. . I've also learned why many self employed folks are in debt. And the most important thing I learned is just because you've earned the money doesn't mean that you will be paid promptly!! On paper we make just enough to pay bills but we fall behind because we must wait on checks to come. I'm extremely grateful for being able to earn extra money, at this point I might be earning $100 a month between baby sitting and baking, and I'm also very grateful to be playing the CVS game again. I've been able to keep our household budget at under $5 for the month of January.

How is your spending freeze going? Have you found a neat way to reduce your spending?

No Spending Challenge Update

2011-01-11T17:39:00.001-08:00

Today I made a quick trip to the dollar store to buy some stuff for our preschool girls. Total spent $4.33. I haven't had to buy any trash bags yet because we're still using our huge stock pile of grocery bags. I'm thinking that I'll never buy trash bags again!!

I was able to make $20 this week with my new baby sitting job. My girls had a blast playing with the baby and I enjoyed earning some money of my own. If I watch them only one night a week I'll earn $80 a month. It might not be much but it does help me meet my goal of saving $75 a month.

This month's challenge doesn't seem fair really because we can't spend money that we don't have. It's been more like how far can we stretch our last $20 until the next check comes in!!! I have earned some extra money by selling cheesecakes and doughnuts so that has helped ease the crunch a little.

Weekly Meal Plan

2011-01-09T19:23:00.001-08:00

This week is shaping up to be a busy one. We have Upward cheer leading and basket ball practices plus 2 games on Saturday. We've added in a history/science/drawn into the heart of reading co-op for Wednesdays and Wednesday night is Awana night. Our other co-op starts it's Winter Session on Friday plus I start baby sitting tomorrow afternoon!! It looks like a crazy week!! I will only be baby sitting for a few hours and only on Mondays but it will be nice to have some extra cash coming in.

Here's what's cooking at our house!
Breakfast is the usual baked oatmeal, gluten free coffee cakes, eggs, and bacon

Lunch--leftovers or
quesadillas
mac and cheese
baked potato

Dinner-
Nacho Night ( this will be our new Monday night meal!)
Chili
Bourbon Chicken/rice
Garlic Rub Pork/salad/baked potato
Pizza Rice (crock pot)
Fend For Yourself Saturday

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

Quick CVS Trip

2011-01-06T05:22:00.001-08:00

My favorite thing about Wednesday nights is that it's Awana night so that means I go thrifting with one of best friends. However, since I'm on a spending freeze we decided to take a trip to CVS. I had $19 in ecbs and needed to buy dish washer detergent. I also wanted to check out the clearance make up.

I bought-
*1 small box of Cascade @ $2.99
* 2 packs of finger nail clippers @ $.49 each
* organic eye shadow @ $2.59
* organic mascara @ $2.59
* organic concealer @ $1.89

Used $10 in ecb and spent $1.50 out of pocket. I didn't earn any more ecbs but I bought something we needed and something I wanted!! I still have $5 ecbs left to roll next week.

No Spending Update

2011-01-04T18:16:00.000-08:00

Today I realized that we needed toilet paper- like right now. I made a quick run to CVS and used some ECB's and bought toilet paper= no out of pocket cost.

*I also put $5 in gas in our van because I needed to run to the library to pick up some books that were on hold. I love the library and can usually get any book I need or want and the cost is free!!

*We ran out of garbage bags and didn't want to buy more so I've been using our plastic grocery bags in place of trash bags and they work great! That is a huge money saver because trash bags are so expensive!!!

Kitchen Goals for 2011

2011-01-04T06:22:00.000-08:00

In the past year we made the switch to live gluten free and while we've done pretty well we would still cheat sometimes. This year is the year of no cheating! We are going completely gluten free. I'm learning to make all of our favorite foods gluten free so I feel much more confident about being completely gluten free.

Another goal is to radically reduce our amount of sugar that we consume. I know without a doubt this will be our hardest goal to achieve. However, I'm also convinced that this will bring the most healing to our bodies.

I'm also planning to make yogurt, granola, and gluten free bread every Monday. This will eliminate the need to buy boxed cereal and sweetened yogurt. I enjoy having granola on hand for the extremely busy mornings that creep up at times.

We are also continuing our consumption of raw milk and 100% grass fed beef and pasture raised chicken. We did fall off the wagon at the end of last year and I know our health suffered from it.

Do you have any kitchen goals this year?

Kick Starting Our Savings!

2011-01-02T18:06:00.000-08:00

One of our goals for this new year is to get our spending under control-as a self employed family we need to be prepared for the feast and famine times. As a family we are cutting all extra spending for the month of January.

There will be no eating out or renting movies.

We will have a strict gas budget and we will stick to it!! We are going to fill our gas tank once unless my husband gets a ton of work this month.

I will use my ECB's at CVS for household needs such as trash bags, cat litter, and toilet paper.

There are several bloggers, Jennifer at Getting Ahead and Sara at Learning the Frugal Life
also holding spending freezes so you can get some more inspiration as well!!

Weekly Menu Plan

2011-01-02T18:00:00.000-08:00

I'm kicking off 2011 with a spending freeze for the month of January. My goal is to eat out of our deep freezer all month and then defrost!! I want to see if there's any way we can live without it for just a month to see what impact it would have on our electric bill. Here's what we're eating this week.

Dinner-
Salsa chicken and rice
Sloppy Joe and veggies
Garlic lime chicken/rice/steamed broccoli
3 Packet roast/mashed potatoes/steamed veggies
shredded chicken sandwiches/veggies/chips
Chili

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

Goals 2011

2010-12-30T09:25:00.000-08:00

This coming year is going to be an interesting one. It will mark our first full year of being self employed so we will be trimming our budget as much as possible. I don't know how much we will be able to save but I'm planning on saving at least $75 a month.

Homestead Goals
* raise broilers again. I'd like to raise 15 this year.
* add 3 laying chickens
* extend our garden yet again. I think I'm finally figuring out what we need more of and what we need less of.
* plant a spring garden
* build a cold frame to extend our growing season
* raise a steer for beef

Food Goals
* eat foods that our locally grown. We still are buying too many fruits and veggies that are being trucked in from who knows where.
* cut out the processed gluten free foods. We made the switch to all gluten free this year and I wasn't sure of my baking skills so we were buying too many processed foods. The only item I want to continue to buy is the gluten free pretzels.
* cut back on my caffeine usage.

Money Goals
* cut our utility budget. Our electric bill is too high. I'd like to get it under $75 a month.
* stick to a strict cash budget for "fun" money
* stick to a strict cash budget for gas money for our car.

What are your goals for 2011?

A Look Back

2010-12-26T16:06:00.000-08:00

As we enter the last week of 2010 I wanted to take a look back over the last year. How did we do on reaching our goals we set for ourselves?

Homestead Goals-
Expand our garden--completed. We added three more garden plots this past year. I am planning on adding on even more next year. I also kept a journal of what we planted and how it did. I also recorded how many things we canned so I'll know what we need more or less of.
*Canning more produce--completed. I know that I still need more tomato products canned but I did successfully freeze lots of pasta sauce and pizza sauce. I canned salsa, pizza sauce, and ketchup. We canned grape juice and froze peaches, strawberries, raspberries, blue berries, and tons of peppers.
I do need to work on storing root cellar type things. I'd like to store potatoes, onion, apples, and garlic next year. I also want to make a cold frame to extend our growing season.

Food Goals-
Continue eating real food-- We raised our own meat chickens. My son did this for 4-H and we will be doing it again. It went very well. Next year I'd love to raise 15 meat birds. We are still drinking raw milk and loving it! I've started making our own butter and yogurt. We make syrup, chocolate milk mix, hot fudge sauce, breads, and started making granola.

Financially--
Here's where we didn't do to well. We had hopes of not eating out at all this past year but it didn't happen. We tried but I would get tired or busy or both!!! I should have relied on freezer meals more.
We also didn't save as much as we wanted. I am proud to say though that we always had enough to pay our bills! We also took a huge step and became self employed. I'm hoping to branch out with my baking/selling produce this coming year and my husband is doing photography.
We were able to do pretty well at having a no spend month every other month but we got lazy there too.

How did you do on your goals for 2010? Are you making any new goals for 2011?

Weekly Menu Plan

2010-12-26T15:57:00.001-08:00

I cannot believe that it's the last week of 2010. This year has flown by! Here's what we're eating this week.

Breakfast-
baked peanut butter oatmeal
gluten free snicker doodle coffee cake
bacon and eggs
gluten free pancakes
gluten free banana muffins
hash browns and eggs

Lunches are leftovers or
steamed veggies with rice
baked potato bar

Dinner-
mini meatloaves, mashed potatoes, steamed carrots
potato soup
3 packet roast, fried potatoes, broccoli
veggie soup
New Year's Eve will be a snack type dinner--meatballs, popcorn, homemade pizza
ham, scalloped potatoes, biscuits

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

Christmas Baking

2010-12-23T16:24:00.000-08:00

The past two days I've been busy making cheesecakes and I'm just now getting started on our Christmas goodies!! I found the perfect gifts for my oldest two daughters and was able to sell enough cheesecakes to cover the cost.

Today I made three cheesecakes, gluten free sugar dough,and cookie dough truffles. I still need to make buckeye bars, caramel corn, and gluten free chocolate chip cookies. I'm also making some frozen cookie dough logs to give away for gifts.

One of our family traditions is having a nice sit down ham dinner with all the trimmings on Christmas Eve so I'll also be busy with that!! It seems like we'll be very busy but I love this type of busy. I enjoy preparing our home for Christmas- it's my very favorite time of year!!

Wishing you all a blessed Christmas!!!

WFMW--His Will

2010-12-22T05:07:00.000-08:00

December has been a rough month. It's easy to become discouraged and bitter that we cannot afford the kind of Christmas I want to give my children. I begin to question if we're walking in God's will with this business. I get snippy with my husband when he reminds me that we can't afford to spurge on anything right now. Frustration reigns.

But the, a glimmer of hope- a check arrives in time to pay some bills, I find a gift that only God could provide and sell enough cheesecakes to cover it. I begin to be reminded that He cares for the small details as well as the big details. I feel the peace of walking in God's will again. My faith is renewed and I find it easier to smile when the balance is low. I encourage my husband to stay strong- that this too shall pass. I stretch the budget till it screams. We pull together to support my husband. We stay home, we play games, my girls stop asking for more and find content in being together.

Remembering that walking in His will isn't always easy but there's no place I'd rather be Works for me!!

In the Kitchen- Real Food Basics Review

2010-12-12T17:07:00.000-08:00

Today I'm excited to bring you a review of a wonderful e-book written by the Modern Alternative Mama. Her book is called In the Kitchen- Real Food Basics.

If you're just putting your toes in the water of eating real food this book is for you! It's a quick and easy read yet full of information. She starts her book out by telling your her story of why she made the switch to real food. I love reading the testimonials of people whose families are finding healing in changing their diets so I found it inspiring.

Modern Alternative Mama gives you straight facts that explain why we should eat a real food diet. She sets the record straight on some of the big lies that we've been fed by the USDA such as consuming Real dairy, Grains and the Food Pyramid, and Fats. What I really liked is that it is easy to understand and she explains why she feels the way she does.

In the Kitchen also contains tips on where to find real food and a list of top 20 things that you can start working on. There is also recipes on how to make chicken stock and how to soak your grains.

The recipe section is great. I especially love that the recipes don't call for any weird ingredients and are things you could find in a local grocery store. They are also affordable which is a plus since so many people think eating real food is so expensive.

I would recommend this book to anybody who is looking for a quick and easy read on how to transition into eating and cooking real food.

To read more by the Modern Alternative Mama check out her blog and if you're interested in purchasing her ebook here's a link to that as well.

Weekly Wrap Up-- A Good Week

2010-12-11T06:39:00.001-08:00

Here are some of our highlights of the week!!

We've struggled this year with getting a good routine going. I was hoping since my oldest started public school that it would be easier to put my younger children on a routine but it hasn't worked until this week. I was amazed to discover a routine that seems to be working for us.

My oldest daughter passed her next level in her Awana book. This is our first year in this program and we LOVE it!! My girls have learned so much about the Bible and God in this program!

My middle daughter's reading is improving. She's 7 and I haven't stressed phonics until this year. I'm excited to see her progress.

We've also found an English program that we all enjoy. We're using First Language Lessons and all my girls ages 9-2 are doing the same book. I am amazed what my youngest two are learning while listening. My older girls are enjoying memorizing the poems and I enjoy how easy it is to teach!

I've finally been able to consistently find time for a preschool activity for my youngest girls. It was so exciting to see my 5 year old doing a page in her school book on her own. I will need to buy some cheap workbooks for my 2 year old as she wants her own school books!!

** this post is linked to Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers weekly wrap up**

New Traditions

2010-12-09T06:43:00.000-08:00

As a newly self employed family we've been working on cutting our spending to the bare minimum. This Christmas season has been a test of faith as we're busy waiting on payments to come in. We've stretched our gift budget far-- we weren't comfortable completely cutting out our budget and here's why. My children are used to gifts under the tree. I'm grateful that we were able to carve out a goal of $100 for all of our gifts. I was able to meet that goal by using Amazon trade in which earned me $75 in gift cards and swagbucks. I was able to purchase a couple of most wanted items that way and used my cash budget on Cyber Monday American Girl deals. My kids are getting three gifts a piece, a stocking that contains two very small gifts, and gently used presents from each other on Christmas eve.

In years past we've always had a real Christmas tree but this year the $50-60 dollar tree was not in the budget!! God was good to us and we found a beautiful fake tree at the thrift store for $10. We also bought some huge bags of ornaments for $1.50 so we've been able to enjoy a Christmas tree. I won't lie though my kids were disappointed about not getting a real tree but did understand that the money just wasn't there this year.

This year we've also been enjoying lots of Christmas specials on tv. I make special snacks and we snuggle under blankets and stay up late to watch all our favorite shows. Another new tradition is making every Friday gift/baking day. We invite friends over and make homemade gifts or goodies for food baskets.

Have you made any new traditions this year?

Piggie Paint Winner

2010-12-03T15:41:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to 22bmommy2 who said....

22bmommy2 said...: I like Girls Rule and the Forever Fancy colors! I think those are what my daughter would enjoy. :-)

Winner has 48hrs to claim their prize!!

A Couple Ways to Earn Christmas Money

2010-12-02T06:20:00.000-08:00

Since our Christmas budget is extremely small this year we're trying many different ways to earn money to help pay for Christmas. One of the main things I've done this year is sell my old junk gold. I'm talking about jewelry from outdated stuff from high school.

I am also using Swagbucks again. I quit for awhile but now I'm using it all the time. If you would like to try swagbucks click on the swagbucks icon on my blog!! I don't have many people who I've referred so I'm only earning $10 in Amazon gift cards a month- but that's something!!

Have you heard of Amazon's trade in program? It's a really neat program that you can trade in your old movies, playstation/xbox games, and textbooks for Amazon credit!!! I just earned $75 in credit that I'll use toward presents, groceries, or homeschooling needs. Go here to learn more about trading in your gently used items.

I've also used a children's consignment store and Half Price Book store to help make some money.

Do you have any creative tips on earning some extra money?

Making Memories

2010-12-01T06:11:00.000-08:00

One of the ways we're making our low budget Christmas special is by making memories that don't cost a thing. A tradition that was passed down to me is watching Christmas specials on tv. I'm a firm believer that it's only special if we watch it on tv--renting a dvd just isn't the same thing!! So, last night found us snuggled on the couches, eating homemade caramel corn, and watching Rudolph the Red nosed Reindeer.

Today we awoke to magical December 1 snow. My girls have already been outside walking around and this afternoon will find me making homemade doughnuts. It's our tradition to make homemade doughnuts on the first snowfall.

Do you have any memories of watching your favorite Christmas special?

Weekly Meal Plan

2010-11-28T16:48:00.001-08:00

Here's what we're eating this week.

Breakfast
Overnight Crock Pot Potatoes
Baked Peanut Butter Oatmeal
Toast/sausage
Pancakes
Homemade Peanut Butter Granola
Overnight Cinnamon Rolls

Lunch-- leftovers or
mac and cheese and veggies
sloppy joe
Veggie soup

Dinner-
3 Packet roast
Turkey Hash
Shredded Chicken sandwiches
Meatloaf
Bourbon Chicken
Chili

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

Surviving Self Employment

2010-11-26T14:45:00.000-08:00

Today is Black Friday and I'm sure many of you went shopping. I usually go but this year I didn't see any awesome deals that begged buy me!

There were a couple of things that were on sale at Walmart that started at 12:01 this morning so I headed out at 11 pm. The store was crowded and I watched as people staked out their spots by things they planned on purchasing. I had already filled my cart with the 6 things that were on my list so I was just waiting and killing time until I could check out. I was amazed at how much people were buying. It seemed like they were feeding off of each other. If so and so was buying whatever then they were too.

I realized something right then- when I go shopping with others I tend to spend more. Last night I spent exactly $37.42- if money stops flowing in our Christmas could be finished now. My plan is still to spend less than $100 out of pocket for our family. I'm not including any money made by selling things to consignment or money earned in Swagbucks. I'm hopeful that I'll earn my full trade in credit from Amazon and if I do I'll have $75 to use for presents.

The best feeling of all is that my husband knows that he can trust me to stay in our budget. He can feel and see how much I'm supporting his dreams.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-25T06:15:00.000-08:00

Wishing you and yours a blessed Thanksgiving!

A Give Away!

2010-11-23T06:43:00.000-08:00

As a cancer survivor I'm always looking for ways to reduce the amount of toxins in our bodies and home. My girls love nail polish but I don't love the chemicals and horrible odors that the nail polishes carry. I was so excited to learn about a company called Piggy Paint.

I received a sample of their nail polish and nail polish remover to review. My girls were drawn to the awesome pink color that we received and I admit that even though I'm not a bright pink color fan it is a beautiful color.

They advertise their nail polish to be odor free and kid friendly. I'll admit I was skeptical about the odorless part but I was pleasantly surprised to find it completely odorless!!! The paint goes on easily and didn't require more than two coats to make their nails beautiful. The paint dries quickly so even my two year old was able to enjoy a "manicure".

I'm excited to announce that Piggy Paint has offered me a $15 gift certificate to give away to one of my readers!!!

To enter please leave a comment about what color nail polish you would choose from Piggy Paint if you win. For additional entries become a Google friend follower or let me know that you already follow me. Please leave a separate comment for each entry. Please be sure to leave a way for me to contact you!!!!

**** This give away will be open until December 2, 2010***** Winner will be chosen on December 2, 2010

**********This give away is now closed**********************

Supporting Your Spouse

2010-11-22T19:18:00.000-08:00

Sometimes being the support person is a hard job. It means saying no when you want to say yes. Walking away when you want to stay. Such is the life of a wife whose husband is just starting his own business.

I grew up with a self employed father so I know the whole feast or famine routine by heart. I knew times would be tough and money would be tight. I'll be honest though, and admit that I was hoping we'd start out in a feast routine!! Since we're not yet rolling in the dough I'm learning to say no.

No we can't drive out to a friend's house ( even though we all really really want to).
I'm sorry but we're going to have to give up field trips for a little while.
Pick three things you really want for Christmas.
Let's make homemade ornaments this year instead of buying Hallmark ones.

It can be tough trying to help your children realize that it's a gift to be able to encourage their daddy by saying no. I won't lie- sometimes I forget that it's a gift as well.

Right now we're in a season of it's just enough. Needs are covered with not much left over and we're all learning to say no.

Menu Plan Monday

2010-11-22T03:39:00.001-08:00

Here's what we're eating this week. I'll be feeding all seven of us breakfast, lunch, and dinner since my son will be on Thanksgiving break starting Wednesday.

Breakfast-
gluten free snicker doodle coffee cake
baked peanut butter oatmeal
bacon and pancakes
overnight cinnamon rolls
cereal ( I'll be out with the crazies shopping!!)
muffins

Lunch- leftovers or
mac and cheese
sloppy Joe
tacos

Dinner
stuffed peppers
chicken and rice soup
pasta and meatballs
Thanksgiving dinner
homemade pizza
chili
Thanksgiving dinner ( the 2nd edition)

For more menu ideas go to I'm an Organizing Junkie

Please Pray

2010-11-18T14:32:00.000-08:00

Our town has experienced a great and tragic loss today. The bodies of the three missing people were found today. Please pray for their families, friends, all who helped search, law enforcement, and our town. This has shaken us to our core and has affected everyone.

When it Doesn't Make Sense

2010-11-16T16:19:00.001-08:00

Right now in my small hometown there is a missing family. There are so many unknowns. One child was found but her mom, brother, and family friend are still missing. It's times like these that I shake my head in disbelief, in our small town things like this don't happen. We see the same people week after week. It feels like we know everybody. It felt like we were safe. How quickly things change! As of tomorrow the family will have been missing a week. The kidnapper is in custody. But they haven't found the rest. It's an unfinished story that has us all on edge.

Things like this makes us hold our children closer, smile at our neighbors. We're all thinking and wondering the same things. How could this happen here? In our quiet little hometown? What can we do?

We search with our neighbors for hours. We pray. We hope.

Please pray for these families involved and my hometown.

Until they all come home we believe in miracles.

Weekly Menu Plan

2010-11-15T06:20:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure how it's happened but it seems like we're entering the week before Thanksgiving!! Where did this month go??

Here's what we're eating this week.

Breakfast-
baked peanut butter oatmeal x2
bacon
gluten free pancakes
snicker doodle coffee cake
crock pot breakfast potatoes

lunch- leftovers or
grilled cheese
mac and cheese
baked potatoes
cheesy rice/veggies

Dinner
pasta
blasted chicken
chicken pot pie
enchiladas/rice
homemade pizza
chili

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

Gifts from Scratch Day 1

2010-11-15T04:30:00.000-08:00

I love the idea of giving homemade gifts at Christmas time but this year I have no extra money to buy any supplies so this time my gifts need to be made from items I already have in my pantry.

Here's one of my favorite gifts to give-
Homemade Hot Chocolate Mix
Ingredients:
3 1/2 Cups of Sugar
2 1/4 Cups of Cocoa
1 Tablespoon of Table Salt

In a large bowl combine all ingredients; Whisk together well. Funnel into a jar or Ziploc baggie. (If you don't have canning jars you could use a pasta sauce jar washed well.)

For individual hot chocolate servings:
Fill a microwavable mug with one cup of whole milk. Microwave on high for 30 seconds and stir. If needed, microwave at additional 15 second intervals, until desired temperature is reached. Add 2 tablespoons of cocoa mix, stir to dissolve, and top with homemade marshmallows.

For a larger batch of hot chocolate:
Warm the milk in a saucepan over medium-low heat; taking care not to let the milk boil as it warms. Stir in 2 tablespoons of mix for each cup of milk. Top with homemade marshmallows.

Homemade Marshmallows
Ingredients:
2 1/2 Tablespoons of Unflavored Gelatin {approximately 3 1/2 envelopes}
1/2 Cup of Cold Water
1 1/2 Cups of Sugar
1 Cup of Light Corn Syrup
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
1/2 Cup Water
2 Tablespoons of Pure Vanilla Extract
Confectioners' Sugar {10X Powdered Sugar}

Makes 40+ Large Marshmallows

Combine unflavored gelatin and 1/2 cup cold water into the mixing bowl of a stand mixer, let sit for 30 minutes. {This can also be prepared without a stand mixer - Just place ingredients into a large bowl and use an electric hand mixer}.
In a small saucepan, combine granulated sugar, corn syrup, salt and the additional 1/2 cup of water. Place over low heat, stirring constantly until the sugar has dissolved.
Increase the heat to high and boil mixture, without stirring, until it reaches 244°on a candy thermometer. {Approximately 12 minutes} Immediately remove pan from heat.
With a stand or hand-held mixer on low speed, slowly pour the syrup mixture into the gelatin.
Increase the speed to high and beat until the mixture is very thick, white and nearly tripled in volume. {Approximately 15 minutes} Add the vanilla and beat to incorporate.
Spray a glass baking pan with a light coat of non-stick baking spray and dust with confectioners' sugar. Pour marshmallow mixture into pan and sift a good layer of confectioners' sugar on top. Wet your hands and gently press on mixture, making sure it is even in the pan and somewhat smooth. Sift another generous coating of powdered sugar on top and place in fridge {uncovered} for at least 3 hours up to 24 hours, until firm.
Dust a large cutting board with confectioners' sugar. Run a butter knife around the edges of the pan and invert. You may need to use your fingertips to gently pull the marshmallow out.
With a serrated knife, trim off the rounded edges and begin to cut into squares. It helps to dust the knife before each cut with confectioners’' sugar. If the knife becomes sticky wash, dry and complete steps above. A clean dry knife helps keep the cuts precise and the marshmallows square. Toss the cut marshmallows with additional confectioners' sugar to fully coat; This will prevent them from sticking together. The marshmallows will keep for several weeks in an airtight container.

Putting your basket together-

Fill jars with cocoa mix and attach directions for making it. Fill another jar with homemade marshmallows. Put in a basket or gift bag.

Finding Extra

2010-11-10T04:46:00.000-08:00

As the holiday season approaches it seems that every one is looking for extra money. This year our Christmas money is coming from what we can find. My husband has started his own business and we're pinching our pennies till they scream right now!! We're good on our bills but there isn't much left over for any extras so we're getting creative.

Tips for finding extra...

1. Sell things you don't need or use anymore. I'm sorting through some of our boxes of books and toys to take the extra to local consignment shops.

2.Offer drop off child care during the busy holiday season. Offer to take in children for a couple hours two days a week.

3. sell baked goods. Many people love real homemade food but don't have the time to make it.

4. House cleaning. Who doesn't need extra help keeping up during the busy holiday season?

Finding creative ways to afford the holidays works for me

It's Cut Back Time!

2010-11-07T16:15:00.000-08:00

We're in a transition right now. My husband just started his own business that he is working at full time. I am supportive of his decision but I will admit that it's nerve wracking going into the holiday season!!

We are looking at many different ways to cut back. We are going to be scaling back on some of our activities because gas is $3 a gallon!! I'm committed to leaving the house Sundays for church and Fridays for our home school co-op- at least that's my goal. I need to be a better steward of our time so this is a win win situation!

I'm also sorting through our things again to sell at consignment shops. I'm getting better at letting go of some toys that the girls have outgrown. My goal is to make enough money to buy at least one of our kids Christmas gifts.

I'm making a list and checking it twice to see what everybody really wants for Christmas this year. We're making a budget and sticking to it!!

Turning Dreams into Reality

2010-11-02T18:27:00.000-07:00

My husband has been working part time for his own photography business for about a year and a half. We've talked on and off for most of that time about when and if he should make a jump into working full time on his business, and now we decided to jump!!! Originally, our plan was to wait until the end of January to go this route but he's been keeping busy and had to turn down some opportunities so we decided to go for it. I won't lie, I'm scared silly. I worry about where the money will come from and how we'll adjust to the feast or famine lifestyle that comes with being self employed. I'm aware that I might need to find a part time job during the day to help out for awhile.

I'm also aware that I'm in a unique place right now. I can either support my husband's dreams by tightening our belts and going black belt style frugal or I can hinder him. It will be hard- we're entering into the holiday season where we're encouraged to spend way more than we make. We've gotten used to being comfortable- eating out whenever we want, buying stuff at thrift stores ( just wants--not needs), driving more than necessary. We'll be giving up the things that we were used to. However, the cost of following our dreams is priceless!

Have you made any life changes lately?

November Menu Plan

2010-10-31T17:35:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe that November 1 is tomorrow!! It seems like October was just beginning. As we head into the holiday season I'm preparing for our big grocery trip and making our monthly meal plan. We're also entering into an exciting phase of our lives as my husband is stepping out and starting his own business full time. This means our money will need to stretch for awhile so watch for some black belt thrifty tips!!!!

Here's our meal plan for November. I'll be feeding 7 people breakfast, 6 lunch, and 7 at dinner.

Breakfast
Baked peanut butter oatmeal
Gluten free snicker doodle coffee cake
pancakes
bacon/eggs
waffles

Lunch- leftovers or
tacos
sloppy joe
baked potato bar
mac and cheese/hot dogs
soup
grilled cheese

Dinner-
Chicken and dumplings
Chicken Pot Pie
Blasted chicken
Meat loaf
creamy cheesy potato soup x4
chili x4
veggie soup
3 packet roast
bourbon chicken x2
lawnmower tacos
jambalaya
pasta x4
thanksgiving dinner
tater tot casserole

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

Gluten Free Amazon Deals

2010-10-22T07:55:00.000-07:00

Does your family eat gluten free? If you do Amazon if running some awesome deals. Here are a few of my favorite-

The Gluten Free Pantry All Purpose Flour 16 oz (6 boxes)
$22.22 but if you subscribe and save the price drops to $17.19 and then there's a special coupon code that takes an additional 10% which brings the total cost to $15.17!!!
This is the very best price I've ever seen on this flour. I love baking with this flour--it makes everything taste like normal!!

Pamela's Product mini chocolate chunk cookies 7 oz package (6 packs)
$15.48 but if you subscribe and save the price drops to $13 and there's a Pamela's coupon code to save an additional 10% which drops the price to $12.39
Again this is the cheapest I've ever found these cookies. They are very nice to have on hand for quick snacks.

Cheesy Crock Pot Potato Soup

2010-10-19T13:52:00.000-07:00

Are you looking for a great potato soup recipe? Then look no farther-this one is awesome and it's gluten free!!

Ingredients:

Servings:

3 cups chicken broth
2 lbs frozen hash brown potatoes
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3/4 teaspoon pepper
3 cups milk
3 cups shredded cheddar cheese (Monterey Jack tastes great too)

Directions:

Prep Time: 10 mins

Total Time: 4 1/4 hrs

1 Put chicken broth, potatoes, salt and pepper in crock pot.
2 Cook on high for 4 hours or until potatoes are soft.
3 Mash the potatoes to desired consistency.
4 Add milk and cheese and blend.
5 Cook on high until cheese melts.

Weekly Menu Plan

2010-10-17T18:47:00.001-07:00

Here's what we're eating this week!

Breakfast
cereal or baked oatmeal or muffins

Lunch
grilled cheese
left overs
pancakes

Dinner
meatloaf/smashed potatoes/salad
Blasted chicken/mashed potatoes/rolls/broccoli
pasta
crock pot potato soup/bread
homemade pizza
chili
grill

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

The Thrift Store/Yard Sale Challenge

2010-10-15T04:35:00.000-07:00

As the weather gets cooler and the leaves start falling I like to make our home cozy. I know that in a few weeks (or less!) our lovely weather will take a turn for the worst and we'll be hunkering down in our home. I used to believe that I couldn't afford to redecorate my home on a budget but now I know that's not true!

Until this Summer I only shopped yard sales for toys, books, and clothes which saved me a bundle but then I discovered blogs like Thrifty Decor Chick and The Nesting Place and our home hasn't looked the same since!!

So far at the yard sales I've bought a kitchen cart/island for $10, an old Secretary desk $20, end tables $7, wicker rocker $10, tons of pictures and mirrors for under $5, lamps less than $5, two kitchen chairs for under $7, and my favorite thing a quilt for $5!! Our home is finally taking shape--I've dreamed of creating a warm, cozy, welcoming place to rest for years and it's coming together.

The best part is that our budget hasn't taken a hit. It's all been spent out of my weekly allowance of $20!! Have you taken the thrift store challenge of redecorating your home on a budget?

**This is linked to Frugal Fridays at Life as Mom

Tips on Getting Out of the Pit

2010-10-12T05:09:00.000-07:00

It's hard on mom and her family when she's battling with burn out and discouragement which can add to mom's burden as she is often overwhelmed with guilt for being burnt out!! Here are my top 10 things I do to help myself get out of that pit.

1. Remember God is in control- not you! Give you burdens to Him. ( trust me when I say I need to do this all day---sometimes every minute!)

2. Each day is a gift. Even if the kids are screaming, there are no clean dishes or clothes, or money in the bank.

3. Clean something. Do you have a junk drawer that annoys you every time you open it? Take 30 minutes and clean it.

4. Throw things away. It gives me a feeling of accomplishing something when I attack a stack of "treasures" that aren't treasures...like a drawer full of half colored coloring books or notebooks full of scribbles ( real scribbles from the 2 yr old)

5. Make meals simple. Pancakes and eggs for dinner. Fruit and popcorn for lunch.

6. Have a catch up day. What chore are you most behind in? If it's laundry take a day and just get it all done. Use your dryer (not so frugal I know but it's okay just this once!!) so you can get it all done-washed, dried, folded, and put away. Reward yourself with some computer time, coffee, or chocolate!! Same goes for dishes---run that dish washer till all the dishes are clean!!

7. Go thrifting. Some weeks I might only have $2 or $5 but I challenge myself to see how much I can get for it. Sometimes a new to you shirt is just what you need!!

8. Take a nap. Let your kids watch some tv or play a computer game and take a cat nap.

9. Go to the library. Check out a book that doesn't have to do with saving money, teaching your children, cooking, etc. Pick a book that looks interesting and get it!!

10. Spend time with a friend who makes you laugh. I don't get away by myself much at all. 99% of the time I have at least one child with me but I still manage to get some friend time. It might be coffee with our youngest children while the others are in Awanas or taking a friend along on my monthly shopping trips. Recently, it's been taking 8 children and 2 moms and going to yard sales.

How do you battle burn out?

**This post is linked to Works For Me Wednesdays at We are that Family

Are You Here?

2010-10-06T04:26:00.000-07:00

Lately I've been battling a serious case of burn out. I'm burnt out from cooking, cleaning, teaching, and parenting!!! I told you it's a serious case! I've realized that in order to keep my head above water that I must change things. I need to be gracious with myself and realize that sometimes it's okay if the kids eat cereal every day for a month. Or if lunches are leftovers or simply popcorn, yogurt, and fruit. It's okay to say no to all the different activities and to stay at home.

Mommy guilt is a bad horrible thing. I want to feed my kids whole real foods because it's good for them and that's what a good mother would do. However, at this point I need to accept that I don't want to!! It's takes a good 45 minutes to make, cook, eat, fight about who likes baked oatmeal and who doesn't, and clean up from a good wholesome breakfast. It only takes 5 minutes for my girls to pour a bowl of organic gluten free cereal. They clean up after themselves and there is no arguing!!
It's a great thing!!!

I've also been buying our snacks!!! Horrible isn't it?!? Right now it is so much easier to keep store bought snacks on the shelf. I don't buy a ton and the kids know once the snacks are gone that is it. I always have fresh fruit and veggies and cheese for snacks. Cookies and chips are bonus snacks. By limiting how many store bought snacks we have in the house the kids are forced to decide if they're really hungry or if they're bored. And I like that they usually choose apples, bananas, or yogurt instead of chips!!

Accepting organic gluten free convenience foods in my burn out season works for me!!

For tons of tips check out We are That Family

Menu Plan

2010-10-04T05:13:00.001-07:00

I cannot believe it's October!! This year is flying by. October is a busy month for us with flag football, volley ball, co-op, and sewing classes so I've done my monthly menu plan and my monthly grocery shopping trip!!

Here's what's on our monthly menu plan.

Marinated flank steak x2
3 Packet Roast
Veggie Soup
Blasted Chicken
Chicken Pot Pie
Chicken and Dumplings
Chili x4
Pasta/meat balls x2
Meatloaf
Bourbon Chicken x2
Homemade Pizza x4
Crock Pot Enchiladas
Sweet and Spicy Shredded Pork
Meatball Sandwiches
Brown Sugar Bourbon Pork Tenderloin
Marlboro Man Sandwich
Bratwurst
Breakfast for Dinner
Stuffed Peppers

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

Weekly Menu

2010-09-26T16:09:00.001-07:00

Fall weather is here! I love the summer but I really enjoy cooking in the fall. It's going to be chilly for a couple days this week so I'm bringing out some of our fall favorites.

Breakfast
Baked Peanut Butter Oatmeal x2
chocolate chip muffins
banana bread
pancakes
waffles
overnight cinnamon rolls

Lunch- leftovers or
pasta
grilled cheese

Dinners
Blasted chicken/mashed potatoes/green beans
Chicken pot pie
Corn Chowder/grilled cheese
bbq pork
salsa chicken/rice

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

Making a Price Book

2010-09-24T04:56:00.000-07:00

Have you noticed that grocery prices are creeping higher and higher? Our tight grocery budget has been getting tighter each trip to the store. I finally decided it's time to redo my price book. I've kept one for awhile but it's filled with outdated prices and foods we don't eat anymore. I especially need to work on finding the best prices on gluten free flours.

I keep track of prices from several different stores and places. Right now my book contains the normal prices for CostCo, Amazon, Krogers, Whole Foods, Trader Joes, Aldi, and Raisin Rack ( a local health food store). I like buying in bulk so it's very important to me to ensure I'm paying the best prices.

I keep my receipts from each shopping trip and then write the prices in my purse size notebook. I find this is the easiest way for me to do this since I always shop with all the kids!!

I'm amazed at how much some items have gone up and also amazed at the price differences I'm noticing between stores. I'm excited to see how much I'll save once my price book is complete.

Have you found that keeping a price book saves you money?

This is linked to Frugal Fridays

Are you discouraged?

2010-09-22T18:29:00.000-07:00

Today was a good day. The weather was beautiful. We had a productive home school day and on our nature walk we found three black tiger swallow caterpillars which led us to a wonderful science lesson. I took all the girls with me to run errands and they all behaved at Krogers. I felt like a great mom.

Other days though I stumble through the morning exhausted from a four year old who still doesn't sleep through the night. I spend all day correcting bad behavior and get frustrated at the seven year old who has totally forgotten everything she learned the day before. I'm frazzled and tired and crabby.

I think about all those "other" moms who have it together. They never look frazzled!! Their children always obey the first time ( and do it CHEERFULLY!!) and I worry that I'm a failure. I think about the verse that says "my yoke is easy and burden is light" and wonder why I don't feel like being a parent is easy!! I give up control over and over but still the burden is heavy. I believe homeschooling is God's plan for our family but that load is anything but easy. Parenting a larger than normal size family is the same way. I want others to know I believe my children are blessings but I can't seem to bring that joy to my face as I chase down a toddler in the produce aisle!!

Do you struggle with any of these issues? How do you bring back the joy in parenting again?

WFMW- Thinking Outside the Box

2010-09-22T04:13:00.000-07:00

Living in a small house means you need to get creative sometimes. I would love to have a room for toys and school but in our current home there isn't any extra space...or is there? I'm blessed to have a decent sized laundry room- it's long and narrow with a huge closet and lots of natural light. Over the last week I've been doing a lot of decluttering and rearranging of furniture to create a laundry room/ play area.

I moved most of the toys onto shelves in the laundry room closet. Cost Free!! I just put the plastic shelves in there that used to hold cereal. I also reused some of my baskets from other rooms. I moved the kids table in so they have a place to play.

Thinking outside the box works for me

Baked Peanut Butter Oatmeal

2010-09-21T05:42:00.000-07:00

Peanut Butter Baked Oatmeal

3 cups quick cooking oats
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons butter, melted
2 eggs
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup peanut butter

Mix all ingredients together and stir well. Spread in a greased 9×13 pan. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes. If you like it a little crunchy on top cook for a few minutes longer. Serve with warm milk poured over top. Enjoy!
I add chocolate chips before baking as well.

Menu Plan Monday--the Burnout Edition

2010-09-20T03:50:00.001-07:00

We're into week three of public school and all is going well. There is an abundant amount of paper work that needs to be filled out along with a supply list that seems never ending!!! My daughters' activities have started as well. We're now running to home school co-op, a science and history class, volleyball, and soon home school sewing!! I feel burn out slipping in and I'm trying to stay ahead of it! This week I'm focusing on simple meals from the freezer and really working on getting de-cluttered around the house, catching up on chores and lessons!!

Here's what we're eating this week

Breakfast-
baked peanut butter oatmeal x2
gluten free chocolate chip muffins
gluten free pancakes
gluten free snicker doodle coffee cake

Lunch leftovers or-
grilled cheese
taco soup
hot dogs

Dinner-
Bourbon chicken/rice
lasagna/salad
stuffed peppers
3 packet roast/smashed potatoes/Parmesan green beans
homemade pizza
grill
grill

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

Do the Hard Things

2010-09-14T04:20:00.000-07:00

Are you a working mom who longs to be at home with your children? Maybe you're a stay at home mom who feels like they can't make it anymore on one income. I want to encourage you to recheck your budget and make some hard decisions.

I've found that we almost always have an area or two that we can cut back on, right now the areas that are screaming at me is our internet/home phone and gas for our van. My husband walks to work and we live next to a grocery store-realistically I don't need to drive anywhere. I want the freedom to go and do as I please. I could easily get by on one tank of gas a month instead we use much more. We have the potential to save $100 a month just by cutting back on gas!! We also have cell phones that get internet so we don't need our home line and internet. We enjoy having those things but they aren't needed. We could save another $100 right there!!

Even when we lived on $10/hr there were ways to cut back. We had no internet, entertainment budget, cable, and only had 5 outfits each. However, we still had phone service, trash pick up, and found ways to eat out 3 times a month. If we had needed to we could have saved another $100 a month by cutting out all our extra spending.

It isn't easy to cut out the hard things. We don't have credit cards- none. We can only spend what we have in the bank. We have to say no to a lot of good things to enjoy the great things like having a stay at home mom and being debt free.

Menu Plan

2010-09-12T19:14:00.000-07:00

We survived our first week of public school. It's been a learning experience and I'm still trying to adjust! I have found that making a warm breakfast isn't going real well at 6 in the morning!! My son just isn't hungry yet! I think this week I'll have a baking day on Monday so he'll have the choices of toast, muffins, or granola bars before the bus comes.
Here's what we're eating this week....

Breakfast-
cereal (my girls and I will be peeling wall paper on Monday)
pancakes
toast/eggs
snicker doodle coffee cake
chocolate chip muffins/banana muffins
eggs, bacon
chocolate chip coffee cake

Lunch leftovers or
taco soup
chicken tenders
pasta

Dinner-
Cheesy BBQ Bacon chicken/smashed potatoes/broccoli
pasta/salad
potato soup/grilled cheese
chicken pot pie/mashed potatoes
homemade pizza
chili
beer can chicken/smashed potatoes/broccoli

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

9-11

2010-09-11T05:40:00.001-07:00

May we never forget...

God bless those families who lost loved ones. I pray that you will feel His peace that passes all understanding as you grieve and begin to heal. Please know that I will never forget that morning or watching you as you looked and prayed for your lost loved ones. I prayed for you on that morning and I pray for you today.

Homestead Happenings

2010-09-09T18:27:00.000-07:00

We've been busy around our homestead!! Our oldest started public school this week- so far it seems to be going okay. I'm still homeschooling our younger four so we're plenty busy!!

The girls and I have been picking lots of red raspberries from our garden as well as melons and tomatoes. I didn't pull up our cucumber plants yet and they seem to be thriving on this cooler air! The plants are bursting with baby cucumbers!! I hope it still warms up for a few more weeks, I have hundreds of green tomatoes on the plants as well as tons of baby peppers! I don't want to lose any of them!

We managed to get some free surplus veggies today so we're going to be canning more salsa tomorrow. My grapes I ordered should be coming in soon as well.

We've also been busy working on our budget. It's amazing to see how much money we save when we just don't spend it! We've been using a cash only system and it's working great! We've been practicing being content in all things and it has been a huge blessing.

How are things around your homestead?

Menu Plan and Some Changes!

2010-09-05T19:35:00.000-07:00

We are preparing for some MAJOR changes at our home this week. My oldest child is heading off to public school for the first time! This will bring many changes to our routines. We'll be getting up much earlier and I'll be preparing two breakfasts each day (!?!?) as well as packing a lunch. I won't lie- I'm more than a little nervous about sending him off. I can't imagine how it feels to send a kindergartner off!!! Any tips from parents who have home schooled and then put their child in public school would be much appreciated!!

A big plus about this change is that I cook when I'm nervous and this weekend I browned 20lbs of beef and cooked a chicken that I'll shred and freeze the broth. I've made several batches of freezer cookie dough (must have warm chocolate chip cookies ready after school!!) and mixed up muffin mixes.

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

Breakfast
baked peanut butter oatmeal
eggs and bacon
chocolate chip coffee cake
banana muffins/fruit
pancakes
hash browns/eggs

Lunches leftovers or
taco soup
baked potato bar
grilled cheese

Dinner
grill
lasagna/salad/garlic bread
3 packet roast/mashed potatoes/Parmesan green beans
bourbon chicken/rice
marinated flank steak/crashed potatoes
grill
grill

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

Money Saving Ideas

2010-08-31T18:35:00.000-07:00

Do you ever read a book on frugal living and think "I do ALL of these things already!!"? Are you in need of some frugal encouragement? Are you burnt out on saving money? I just want to encourage you to keep going. It is hard to live within your means. It takes work and sweat to swim against the stream and stay at home with your children. I want to encourage you not to throw in the towel--don't quit. Don't start using that credit card or use your debit card freely. Here are some of the ways we live on one income and thrive ( usually!!)

* Grow our food. We raised meat chickens this year and I expanded my gardens. I am working on canning and freezing enough produce that we won't need much during the winter. I'm also working on building a cold frame to extend our growing season. I'm also going to try growing a pepper plant, tomato plant, parsley, and lettuce indoors.

* buy our clothes at the thrift store. We do not buy new clothes unless absolutely needed. If I can't find what we need at the thrift stores or yard sales I check out Once Upon a Child. I always try to have something to sell at the consignment store and that helps lower my out of pocket cost. We're also big fans of hand me downs!!

* We don't have cable anymore. We use netflix or the library to watch dvds or tv shows.

*We say "no" a lot. I want to give my kids everything but it isn't possible. We've had to turn down classes and lessons because the funding isn't there.

* We do NOT buy new toys. The only time we buy new toys is for Christmas or birthdays. All other toys are from yard sales or thrift stores.

* I cut every body's hair- even mine!! I don't color my hair anymore either.

* I make most of our household cleaning supplies. We have gone "no-poo" and are using my stockpile of free toothpaste and deodorant- when those run out I'll be making those too!

* I grocery shop once a month. It is much easier to do in the summer because we're eating from the garden but I love doing this when school starts too. It frees up so much time and I try to make it fun--recently one of my best friends has been joining me!!!

What are some of your best money saving tips?

This post is linked to Frugal Fridays

Menu Plan Monday

2010-08-30T05:37:00.000-07:00

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

Breakfast-
gluten free snicker doodle coffee cake
gluten free pancakes
gluten free banana bread/yogurt
baked peanut butter oatmeal
bacon/eggs/hash browns
pancakes/bacon
waffles

Lunch -- leftovers or
grilled cheese on gluten free bread
chicken tender sandwich
loaded baked potatoes
taco soup

Dinner-
herb crusted pork chops/smashed potatoes
salsa chicken/rice
crockpot lasagna/salad
3 packet roast/ mashed potatoes
homemade pizza
grill
grill

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

A Day in the Life of our Home School

2010-08-27T14:35:00.000-07:00

I've been asked how I find time to take care of a large garden, home school our "large" family, can most of our produce for winter, and bake all our foods from scratch. I thought I'd describe a typical day at our house.

We generally wake up around 7:30 and I drink some coffee, check email and blogs. I start breakfast around 8. Our usually breakfasts are gluten free pancakes, gluten free snicker doodle coffee cake, or baked peanut butter oatmeal. While I make breakfast the kids are working on their morning chores-unloading dishwasher, feeding animals, dirty clothes clean up.

After breakfast we do Bible and circle time. Circle time is our little girl time. I assign the older kids their independent work (copy work, worksheets) while I do preschool with the littlest. My son is busy doing his independent Sonlight work and I teach phonics, grammar, and have my oldest daughter read aloud at this time.

Next comes our Sonlight read a loud for history and discussion. Once that is finished we move on to science followed by a narration time for the girls.

My son does all his independent work in the morning while I teach math to the girls.

We break for lunch at 11:30. I send the kids outside while I make lunch. After lunch I help my son with any of his work.

Once we finish up our school work we head outside and work in the garden. If I need to do any canning I work on it now. I also try to have dinner ready to put in the oven around 3ish.

We eat around 6 and after that it's free time or scouts, church, or other activities.

How do you schedule your day?

Extreme Savings!

2010-08-22T17:44:00.000-07:00

As a one income family we're always looking for ways to save money. Recently money was flowing a little too freely out of our pockets so we decided to take some extreme measures. Our first move was to find the leak and plug it. For our family our biggest money leak is using our ATM card. We decided to cut it up. We now use cash only! I have to plan all of my spending to the penny. We put a set amount of gas in the car and if we run out before payday it's too bad. ( this works for us since my hubby walks to work!)

It's amazing the difference it is when you have to plan for your purchases. I no longer walk through the thrift stores for fun. I don't stop at yard sales. It is hard to get used to spending only cash, however for our family it's been a huge help.

Have you found a great way to save your family money?

This post is linked to Frugal Fridays

Price List for Produce Stands

2010-08-20T05:16:00.000-07:00

I do a lot of grocery shopping from Farmer's Markets and Amish road side stands in the summer. I buy produce to can and freeze as well as eat. I want to make sure I'm getting the best deal I can so I started keeping a price book. I have five different Amish families that I shop from on a regular basis so I keep a list of produce I buy from each one as well as their best price.

By doing this I saved $2 a bushel on tomatoes- the best price I found per bushel is $10 for fresh organic tomatoes- highest price was $15 but going rate seems to be $12. It might not seem like much but when purchasing several bushels it adds up!!

Check out more frugal tips at Life as Mom

It's Canning Time!

2010-08-18T18:49:00.000-07:00

Ya'll I think I might have lost my mind. A friend and I placed an order for 8 bushels of tomatoes from a local Amish farm and I went to pick them up tonight. Have ya'll ever seen 8 bushels of tomatoes??? It is a huge amount!!! It completely filled the whole back of our van!!

We're planning on doing some canning together and between us we'll have 10 kids ages 12-1.
10 kids + 8 bushels of tomatoes = 2 very tired mommies by the end of the day! We're planning on doing ketchup, pizza sauce, and sloppy joe sauce. I'll let you know how it turns out. I might even take some pictures!

U-Pick Farms

2010-08-18T05:05:00.001-07:00

We love going to u-pick farms! It's a great way to save money and a great way to eat local food. This year I've found two new u-pick farms that offer halves. Halves means that you give the owner half of what you pick and your half is free!! We've picked organic blueberries and organic red raspberries for free this way!

You might think that you don't have any farms around you that do this but I encourage you to look - I've lived here for 7 years and it's taken me this long to find them! This is an awesome way to stock your freezer or pantry full of yummy foods for free.

Free fruit works for me

Celebrating Birthdays

2010-08-15T16:33:00.000-07:00

This week is a birthday week at our home. My middle child is turning seven! Here's how we celebrate birthdays at our home.

The birthday child gets to pick breakfast and lunch. Breakfast is home made chocolate cake and grandma is bringing lunch! The birthday child also gets to pick a special thing to do. This year we're going to a local "beach" which is free and then later this week we're going red raspberry picking and I found a place the does halves...we get to keep our half for free!!!

We give one special gift to each child on their birthday. It's been a new webkinz lately.

How do you celebrate birthdays frugally?

Freezer Cooking

2010-08-11T04:05:00.001-07:00

We've recently made some changes to our diet- more than half of my family now eats gluten free. I had planned to feed all of us a gluten free diet but my husband and son just aren't digging it yet so I had been making two different meals at breakfast and lunch. It was just too hard to figure out a good gluten free lunch that would fill up my hubby that didn't take an hour to make!!

However, I finally figured out a solution!! I've always been a huge fan of freezer cooking but I only made dinners. I decided to make a months worth of breakfast sandwiches and lunches like brown bag burritos and pizza rolls so instead of cooking two meals I only need to heat his up!!
My girls and I enjoy baked potatoes and salads or gluten free pasta and my hubby and son get filled up too!

Cooking gluten free and gluten filled works for me!

My Freezer Cooking Plan

2010-08-07T19:05:00.001-07:00

Here's my food plan-
4 rolls of chocolate chip cookie dough for the freezer
2 loaves of bread dough
4 pizza dough
muffin dough- banana and chocolate chip

I'm also going to grill some chicken tenders to have for the rest of the week.

PennyPinchinMomma

Be Willing to Sacrifice

First Year Homestead Tips

Making some painful cuts

When There's No Money

Our Weekly Menu

Homeschooling on the Homestead

Homestead Goals for 2012

Christmas on the Farm

What Happens When the Chicken Crosses the Road

Preparing for a Frugal Christmas

Weekly Menu Plan

Yet Another Update!

New Babies and other Updates

Moving Right Along

Lessons From the Farm

Losses on the Farm

Weekly Menu Plan

New Critters on the Farm

Adventures in the Big Blue House

And Then There Were Goats

Chick Days

Adventures in the Big Blue House

Saving Money

Even More Changes

Around the House

Homestead Update

Taking It With Me

Changes!

Swing Set Shopping

Long Time, No Post

Weekly Menu Plan

We Survived!!

On a Wing and a Prayer

Weekly Menu Plan

Keeping Your Household Budget Low

The Saved Quarter Challenge

What I've Learned so Far

Weekly Menu Plan

Homemade Fruit Roll Ups

Another Update

No Spending Challenge Update

Weekly Meal Plan

Quick CVS Trip

No Spending Update

Kitchen Goals for 2011

Kick Starting Our Savings!

Weekly Menu Plan

Goals 2011

A Look Back

Weekly Menu Plan

Christmas Baking

WFMW--His Will

In the Kitchen- Real Food Basics Review

Weekly Wrap Up-- A Good Week

New Traditions

Piggie Paint Winner

A Couple Ways to Earn Christmas Money

Making Memories

Weekly Meal Plan

Surviving Self Employment

Happy Thanksgiving!

A Give Away!

Supporting Your Spouse

Menu Plan Monday

Please Pray

When it Doesn't Make Sense

Weekly Menu Plan

Gifts from Scratch Day 1

Finding Extra

It's Cut Back Time!

Turning Dreams into Reality

November Menu Plan

Gluten Free Amazon Deals

Cheesy Crock Pot Potato Soup

Ingredients:

Servings Size

Directions:

Weekly Menu Plan

The Thrift Store/Yard Sale Challenge