Under $1000 Per Month

For My Readers

2010-03-05T06:31:00.000-05:00

As many of you know, I shut down this blog, as it was no longer fun for me.

Upon request, I am putting it back up as an archive so that people can find recipes and whatever other information they were looking to implement.

I will no longer be posting here.

I will be writing at my old blog, A Fine Collection of Lint and Fuzz, about once per week and am the Wednesday contributor to Frugal Hacks. You are all welcome to continue to follow me at both of those blogs.

I enjoyed this blog for a long time, and I thank you all for that.

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Copyright Under $1000 Per Month, 2009-2010

The Contest - Results

2010-02-28T06:10:00.006-05:00

The poll for the contest closed on Friday, with entry #1 way in the lead. Entry #1 was amazing, really, and Nicole H., who submitted it, clearly put a lot of work into it and deserves the $25 Amazon giftcard I sent her yesterday.

However, I wrote in the post, that I didn't want this to be a popularity contest, but that is quickly what it became when an anti-me site encouraged everyone to come vote for #1. Oddly enough, my readers really liked entry #3. Why is it fair for people who don't like me to got to decide the fate of my children's room when I was giving the choice over to my readers, who went for entry #3?

Here's a breakdown of what went on the comments.

There were 63 comments.

There were 19 comments for entry #3.

There were 13 comments for entry #1.

The other comments were a mix of support for other entries and various general suggestions.

There was a recurring suggestion of combining #1 and #3, so that is what I am going to do.

I am still trying to work out the exact spacing of the four-tier bunk and I'm thinking of making it three-tiered with a trundle and am considering how to fit a small platform below the bottom bunk if it stays four-tiered.

Since it is unclear who would have won had there not been interference, I sent out a bonus $5 gift card to the runner up, Entry #3.

Mattresses, Mattresses, Mattresses

As some of you who keep up on the gossip forums know, I recieved the mattress from a reader. Sending something for my boys was a kind gesture. It was a crib mattress, though, and I am building the bunk beds to different dimensions. We are planning on keeping Thomas in our bed until he is ready to join the boys in the big-boy-bed. Thus, I am selling the mattress and any money we get will be put toward the boys' room.

Credit for the Entries:

Entry #1 - Nicole H

Entry #2 - Christena

Entry #3 - Andrea M

Entry #4 - Emily (me)

Entry #5 - Patty's husband

More credit for more entries:

I'm going to do an idea round-up including the neat ideas I got in the form of submissions. It may even turn into a short series because there were so many good ideas. If those who submitted an entry have a blog and would like some linky-love, please send me the address to your blog from the same email address you sent the submission. Then, when I showcase your neato idea, I'll include a link to your blog so people can see some of your other neato thoughts and ideas.

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Copyright Under $1000 Per Month, 2009-2010

Toy and Clothes Hammocks

2010-02-27T06:01:00.006-05:00

We used to own one of these. We got it at Walmart and put stuffed animals in it. When we moved, we didn't take it with is, but we've recreated the effect in a few places.

You can do a hammock type shelf on a flat wall, like I do in my bedroom to hold my skirts. (First picture on the closet door.)

Or, you can do a corner pocket, like I do in the bathroom to hold bath toys. (First picture, blue cloth between toilet and cabinet.)

Here is how I do it. First, you need a square piece of fabric. I use uncut square pieces for both types so that I can reuse it for something else if I want to.

On a flat walls:

Simply fold cloth in half so that it creates a rectangle and staple the corners to the wall, creating a pocket.

You want to let it droop a bit. The more it droops, the more you can put in it.

On corner walls:

Staple two corners of the fabric onto the two walls. The fabric can droop, but it doesn't have to.

Staple the other two corners as close to the corner of the wall as you can, but up higher to create a shelf.

Cost: piece of fabric and 2-4 staples (or nails), or purchase from Amazon for $12.79 (+$5.95 Shipping).

This is good for lightweight items, like stuffed animals and clothing, but I wouldn't use it for books.

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Copyright Under $1000 Per Month, 2009-2010

How did you meet your husband?

2010-02-26T06:35:00.001-05:00

This is part of FAQ Friday. If you have a question you would like for me to answer, please submit them on the FAQ page.

Question

How did you meet your husband?

Answer

First, I'd like to say, I love FAQ Friday. A lot of times, it is a fun excuse for me to spout my religious views in a blog where they otherwise do not fit. Other times, it allows me to touch upon something truly personal and fun, like how I met my husband.

After high school, Dan went to state college for a few classes each semester. He wasn't sure what he wanted to do with his life. After one year of that, his mother got very sick, planning-the-funeral kind of sick. Praise god, she's still with us now, but has never fully recovered. Dan put his life on hold for a few years to help take care of her, but finally went to Bible college.

I took a year off school after high school, then found the Bible college where I felt God wanted me.

I was a freshman and he was senior.

We went to a college where everything was structured. There was a strict dress code and rules about when you could hang out with people of the opposite gender. There was also a "No PC" rule. That is, "No Physical Contact" with people of the opposite gender. No hugs, hand-holding or even pokes were allowed.

Dan remembers first seeing me during freshman orientation, called the "Get to Know You Session."

I first remember seeing him at the supper table. Supper was the only meal where we had free seating, as opposed to assigned seating. Dan and I struck up a conversation about what brought us to the college and what the will of god was for our lives. He clearly remembers that conversation ended with me asserting, "Well, I know that the will of God for me right now is to clean dishes."

We ran into each other quite a bit around the campus. Sometimes we sat together during chapel, or at supper or at softball games. (We both played.) We both vividly remember on a Saturday night there was a bonfire at the home of one of the married students. He sat with me and we talked for hours- until curfew- about family, theology, and dreams.

He impressed me, but I wasn't looking for a relationship. I went to Bible college to grow closer to god, not to find a husband. I was thinking I needed to somehow distance myself from him, and even hid from him in a coat closet once. Finally I had a long reflection period with God while I was avoiding him. I saw that I was closer to god when I was around Dan and that god was blessing our budding friendship.

Dan's best friend's fiance was in charge of the seating chart. She was also my Resident Assistant in the dorm. She arranged for Dan and I to have assigned seating next to each other at meals. At our college there was a bit of a divide between couples and singles. No body liked it that way, but it was how it was. Some of the other students at our table griped about a couple getting to sit together.

He asked me what I thought of others referring to us as a couple, knowing that I wasn't quite ready. I answered honestly that I liked it. It wasn't long after that that we became an official couple, meaning he called my mom and asked for permission. (My Dad didn't want to be called; he's a bit of a feminist.)

So, that is how we met and fell in love. I am lucky to have him, and am thankful that he feels the same way about me.

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Copyright Under $1000 Per Month, 2009-2010

TV Time

2010-02-25T06:42:00.001-05:00

TV time or the lack thereof is something all parents have to consider. I'm going to share what works for our family and how we decided to do it this way.

Before we got married, Dan watched several hours of TV per day. I had the potential to do the same, but neither of us wanted that to be our life. We decided on watching one hour of TV per week and one movie per month. That quickly morphed into one hour of TV per night and one movie per week.

We each get one movie pick per month and one TV pick per week. We use our picks to watch something the other person may not be so interested in. The rest of the time Dan picks something he thinks we'll both enjoy simply because TV is more of Dan's thing than my thing. If there is something I really want to watch, I'll suggest it and he'll usually go for it.

The two nights that Dan works second shift, I could watch an hour of TV by myself, but often forget. I like The Office (or as Daniel calls it, "Michael") and Project Runway when I'm in the mood to watch by myself.

When Daniel was around one years old, we started to think there should be a policy for kid TV time as well. We had a Baby Einstein movie that we liked to put on for him, but he was not as interested. He would watch for a minute or two, then move onto playing. We decided that if he wanted to watch kid TV, we'd limit it to two hours a week, or roughly a half hour show each day Dan was at work.

Daniel doesn't want to watch TV, so I never push it. Sometimes he'll suggest that we watch a Thomas movie tomorrow, but when tomorrow comes around, he doesn't ask again. Every few weeks when he says he wants to watch something today and I put it on, he gets tired of watching and goes and plays. I am perfectly okay with that, except for the fact that he doesn't like me turning it off until it has played the whole way through.

The kids are usually awake when we start watching TV at night, but quickly fall asleep. They then wake up for a before bed routine when the show is over and go to bed for the night. I know that is an odd way to do things, but it works for us.

Oh yeah, and this is all done without a TV. In the fall of 2008, my physics teacher from high school, Bob Crawley, was on Survivor (and won!) and I wanted to watch it on the TV while Dan was at work. The rabbit ears weren't cutting it so I searched for TV alternatives online. We had Netflix for a while, but found that we didn't need it with all the other options available. Between hulu, YouTube, and our DVD collection, we have plenty to watch.

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Copyright Under $1000 Per Month, 2009-2010

Why I Do What I Do

2010-02-24T05:49:00.002-05:00

Who is one dimensional?

Frugal people are not.

Frugal people are stereotyped as going way out of there way to save a nickel. Although this is sometimes the case, this is rarely the only cause for going out of ones way.

Sometimes, going out of one's way is the scenic route.

Here is why I do things that are frugal:

FOR MY CONSCIENCE
-Over consumption of resources means other people around the world are left with less. I see this as a form of stealing.

TO TEACH MY KIDS
-My husband and I believe in a strong work ethic and we want to demonstrate that to our kids. Just because I don't get paid for work I do around the house doesn't mean it has no value.

TO LEARN
-This one is huge with me. Knowledge is power. The more I know how to do myself, the less I have to rely on others to do things for me. There are things I do where I am unsure if I will save money at all, in fact the goal sometimes is to break even, but I am becoming a more capable and well-rounded person by doing them myself.

FOR FUN
-There is so much I do just for fun. Sure, the activities may overlap in other areas, but fun is my primary motivation in soap making and sewing.

FOR HEALTH
-Many things I do that skim a few pennies off a meal add massive amounts of nutritional value. I may or may not have done them just for those pennies, but no matter what our income is in the future, I will continue to make food from scratch for our health.

FOR THE PENNIES
-I am God's steward of every penny he lays before me. I feel it is my obligation to think through my decisions and use his resources to the best of my ability. Yes, the pennies do come into consideration, but they are not the only thing.

TO SAVE TIME
-It takes less time to tumble my Wonderwash than it does to go to the laundromat. It takes less time to brew a cup of coffee than wait in line at Starbucks. And the more I do at home, the less obligated my husband and I are to have to earn money outside of the home.

As I think through many of the things I do, making pasta, line-drying clothes, sprouting foods, the reasons for doing these things are dynamic. For each of those, at least five of the seven reasons factor in.

What other reasons do you have for doing the frugal things you do?

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Copyright Under $1000 Per Month, 2009-2010

The Contest

2010-02-23T06:00:00.003-05:00

I was completely overwhelmed with the response I got when I asked for submissions to redo my boys' room. I got 41 entries, with the final one rolling in around 4:00 AM this morning. I had a very difficult decision paring it down to just five. Everyone had great ideas and I especially appreciated the effort and creativity that went into so many of the entries.

The criteria I used to choose was based on whether or not it would work for my boys, whether or not I thought it could be done with a reasonable budget, how versatile it was, and how much I thought my boys would like it. I truly hope no one is offended by how I chose, or for not choosing their submission.

So, here are the five. I am going to post them anonymously, as this is not a popularity contest, it is my kids' bedroom. It is also not an art contest. Many submissions came without artwork so some of these pictures are mine.

Entry #1

It has a bunk bed with clothing storage on the top bunk as well as some under bed storage. This person found a shelving unit on craisglist and a cabinet with chalkboard paint on the outside.

For decor, there are framed transportation themed artwork around the room. There is a new(ish) curtain made from washable materials. And the dog Brad came in from the bathroom.

Entry #2

This one has a custom bed in the corner that is 4'x4' with one corner cut off. It is enclosed in that there is a curtain entrance and walls on all sides, negating the need for the curtain on the door, and it has a top. The top doubles as storage space above.

It incorporated a clothes rod above the bed and a cubby-style shelving unit. The window has a road themed bench in front of it with storage underneath for larger toys. The curtains are then turned into a sky theme with a hot air balloon.

Entry #3

This was a fairly simple suggestion that centered around the four-high bunk beds like the ones over at In A Shoe. I thought it might be nice to have it a little differently than them by having the bottom bunk on the floor and have 30" of space between each bunk and having each bunk 30" wide.

Dan and I were planning on utilizing this idea when we had more kids, so this would really be the only bed solution that would not be somewhat temporary, and thus could go over budget. The bottom bunk would be for sleeping in the boys' room now, and could be curtained off to make a private little space. The higher bunks would be used as deep shelves and for storage.

Other suggestions in this entry included a new curtain to protect from the cold, one of those rugs with roads, and some fun wall art.

Entry #4

This entry said that the futon was just a suggestion. It really depends on what's available on craigslist when I'm ready to buy.

On the bottom shelf is the kids' clothes, separated by books. In the shelf above are some of the toy cars. There is also under bed storage.

The checked fabric on the wall holds favorite books, like here. The Thomas picture on the wall doubles as tent storage. This one left up the rugs on the wall, but had a plane hanging in front of it. Instead of the tree, this one turned the old chimney thing into a race's finish line.

Entry #5

This entry took a unique twist on the transportation theme. The whole bedroom is the inside of a bus!

The seating pads go on the floor to make a mattress. All storage is under the seats and could be curtained off. The seats themselves come out 18".

The "windows" show different scenes that the bus might drive by. The front window, by the steering wheel, shows the road.

On the sidebar there is a poll where you can vote. The poll will be closed on Friday afternoon.

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Copyright Under $1000 Per Month, 2009-2010

Sprouted Rice "Oatmeal"

2010-02-22T05:43:00.001-05:00

After I wrote about oatmeal a while back, I did a little bit more research on the topic. Oatmeal is one of the grains with the highest level of phytic acid content. Phytic acid blocks the absorption of nutrients. I couldn't find a definitive answer to whether or not soaking oatmeal broke down the phytic acid in rolled oats, so I started looking for alternatives.

I thought rice might be a good place to start, especially since it can be sprouted. After sprouting, I cook up a big batch of rice to put in the fridge. When the boys want oatmeal, I put a bowlful in the microwave with a splash of milk. At first, we added cinnamon and stevia so that Daniel would try it, but I slowly cut back on the stevia to the point that cinnamon alone is fine, just like with real oatmeal.

The boys eat "oatmeal" the same way that they eat everything, in phases. Some days, all they will eat is "oatmeal". Other days, they will eat everything but "oatmeal". Thus, some batches last a day and others last almost a week.

This has been tricky with providing a fresh supply of sprouted rice. If they finish a batch too soon, I have to do an overnight soak with a few tablespoons of whey, instead of waiting for the next batch to finish sprouting. When they start one batch, I start sprouting the next, which generally works out fine. This is how I sprout rice:

Day 1-
At night:
Put one pound of rice in jar (I divide it into two jars), cover with water and let sit overnight, about 14 hours.

Day 2-
In the morning:
Cover with mesh cloth. Pour out water.
Refill jar immediately with water, and pour out the water.

At lunch
Refill jar with water, then pour out the water.

Before bed:
Refill jar with water, then pour out the water.

Day 3
In the morning
Refill jar with water, then pour out the water.

At Lunch
Refill jar with water, then pour out the water.
Check for a "tail" on the rice. It should be done soon. You can continue to let the tail grow up to 1/8". After that it will start to change the flavor of the rice.

Only brown rice will sprout. I get cheapo Walmart brand brown rice for $0.72 per pound and have gotten decent tails from it. (It's cheaper than the oatmeal I was getting, too!) Any brown rice will do, but white rice and wild rice will not sprout since they are already dead.

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Copyright Under $1000 Per Month, 2009-2010

Review: Fresh Food From Small Spaces by R. J. Ruppenthal

2010-02-21T05:52:00.002-05:00

I know that many of you, like Dan and I, have the dream of owning your own land and growing much of your own food. Like me, you just aren't there yet and you want to take steps to get closer. This book was a huge jump for me.

When I saw the subtitle, "The Square-Inch Gardener's Guide to Year-Round Growing, Fermenting, and Sprouting" I got a little nervous. I've got a good handle on fermenting and sprouting. I wanted growing info. I was happy to see one chapter devoted to each sprouting and fermenting, the rest of the book was about urban gardening. The sprouting and fermenting chapters were packed with useful info as well, but I was most excited about all the gardening info.

The eleven chapters dealing mostly with urban and indoor gardening covered everything from beekeeping, to potatoes, from mushrooms to apple trees. This book outlines how to get started growing so many foods, many indoors and year-round. At the outset of the book, the author says you can be growing 10-20% of your food by implementing a few of his strategies. He then clarifies you can be growing much more if you include sprouting.

This book is revolutionizing my indoor garden, which is currently taking up only a few feet of window space. I am in the process of a major overhaul. Here is my strategy:

1) Reread the book and write down each idea I want to implement, writing down the page numbers with the most pertinent info. (I'm about halfway through with this.)

2) Categorize the ideas into those I want to start within the next month, those I want to start within the next six months, and those I want to start within the next year. (Hint: we won't be bee-keeping in the apartment.)

3) Reread each section as I implement various parts. I have an idea for a lettuce stairwell, sort of. Anyway, I'll be blogging about it all as I go!

Who is this book good for?

Everyone who wants to extent the gardening season, everyone who wants to get a jump start on homesteading, and everyone who wants fresh food and the satisfaction of growing it themselves.

My library didn't have Fresh Food from Small Spaces but I could have gotten it through the inter library loan system, so it is not totally uncommon. If you're interested in this kind of gardening, though, this is a resource you will want on your bookshelf. It is on the Amy Dacyczyn level of usefulness.

Here is an exceprt from the introduction:

"I know firsthand of the need for this book, because I had been searching for it for many years. Having lived in small urban apartments and condos, I did not have the luxury of space that most gardening books describe... By trying, failing, and sometimes succeeding, I have learned how to grow a sizable percentage of my family's own fresh food from a small urban living space. And I decided that others could use this information too, so I wrote the book I had been trying to find."

FULL DISCLOSURE: I was not paid to review this book, but I did recieve a free copy to review. All Amazon links are affiliate links, but if you want to check out this book without me getting credit, click here.

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Copyright Under $1000 Per Month, 2009-2010

Loose Ends

2010-02-20T05:52:00.001-05:00

Spiritual Life Retreat

To those who have asked, we had a great time at the spiritual life retreat. As someone who cooks a lot, I was looking forward to a few days without cooking. Still I found myself in the kitchen helping out the students as a way to get to know them a little better. Many of these students I was meeting for the first time, so I really enjoyed my time with them.

The teaching sessions were awesome, but we were only there for the tail end of the retreat, so we didn't get the full message. Still, we came away invigorated and thankful.

The kids were a big hit. Everyone wanted to hold Bobby, but he wouldn't let them. Thomas, though, was passed around to everyone. It reminded Dan and I of our pre-kid life when holding a baby would be the highlight of our day. Now, it is our whole day, but still a great joy.

Most of all, this was a retreat for us. We were able to put away the stresses of our daily lives for a few days. We didn't think or talk about the blog, work, or even classes. That was refreshing.

Mattresses, Mattresses, Mattresses

I think there has been some misunderstanding about the no-mattress idea.

First, the links I posted of alternatives were not of alternatives I was thinking of getting, but ideas of bedding types I was inspired by. Beds that fold up or roll out are neat and worth considering, which is why I used the word "like" when mentioning them.

Second I don't want a conventional mattress for reasons that have been discussed. I think the best alternative I am looking at is a nice blanket mattress. This would not be a blanket thrown on the floor, or even folded once or plopped on the floor. This would be three or four blankets folded three or four times, depending on the size and type of bed we end up with. It would also depend on what my kids want for firmness and it may talk a few nights to figure out exactly how that will go. Then, when we've got them the way we like them, I would sew them together in a way similar to how you would sew a quilt to keep the batting in place. They would then be covered and put into place. If people genuinely think this would be uncomfortable, go get a stack of blankets, fold them up and see if it is cozy.

It will take longer for my husband and I to convert our own bed to this, since we simply don't have that many blankets. I imagine we will achieve this by the end of the yard sale season for our bed.

One More For Haiti

After I wrote the post about helping Haiti without money, I received an email about one more way to help. It took me six minutes to donate $1 through Brickfish. All you have to do is go here, make an account and submit a photo. For each photo, they will donate $1. You can then tell others about it so that more money can be donated. Here is the photo I submitted:

Brickfish Faces of Hope
Brickfish

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Copyright Under $1000 Per Month, 2009-2010

Rapid Fire Round

2010-02-19T06:34:00.000-05:00

I get some questions that don't warrant a whole post, so I'm taking a handful of these and answering them all at once. If you have questions you'd like me to answer, ask them on the FAQ page.

Do you follow Bill Gothard's movement? Are you part of ATI or do you strive to be? Will you use their homeschooling program? Do you associate with the quiverfull movement? Have you read the No Longer Quivering blog?

I had to ask Dan who Bill Gothard was. He described Bill Gothard as "the guy who believes that single women in their sixties should still live at home and be under the authority of their father, who is in his nineties." The fact that I had never heard of him means we don't follow his movement.

Dan didn't know what "ATI" was and neither did I, so I did a swagsearch and came up with a bunch of odd technical things until I came across Bill Gothard's homeschooling curriculum site. Although I'm sure it is a fine curriculum, we are not planning on using it. I will be writing a separate post about what we will be using for curriculum in the future.

I wrote here about our lack of association with the quiverfull movement.

I have come across the No Longer Quivering blog, but I don't keep up on it. If I remember correctly, the administrator believes that the Bible does teach families to desire a "full quiver", but that that part of the Bible is out-dated.

What do you wear when you swim?

I wear shorts and a t-shirt. I don't wear shorts any other time, since I find them not-so-cute, and I have a t-shirt designated for swimming.

On some of the forums that talk about you, people are talking about sending you gifts and things they think you need. What will you do with these things if you receive them?

It will depend on what it is. If it is something that we could use that would add value to our quality of life, we will keep it and use it. If someone sends us something we don't need or can't use, it will go to charity. To those who are seriously thinking of boxing things up and sending them through the mail, feel free to email me first just to see if it is something we want.

How do you know that your children don't need glasses like you if you aren't taking them for regular check-ups?

First, a child's first eye routine exam is at six months. Both Bobby and Daniel went to their six month check-up and Thomas isn't old enough. The second is at the age of three. Daniel is going for regular check-ups and the other two boys are not old enough for this eye exam.

Second, considering the real possibility that what Daniel had was genetic, all the boys are going to doctor's appointments. I don't think routine visits before would have prevented a genetic disorder in Daniel, but I think that if either of the other boys has it, it will be helpful for them to have a solid medical history for doctors to work with.

Third, my need for glasses is not genetic. Out of five biological siblings, I am the only one with glasses, but I will be writing about that topic in a separate post.

What kind of soap do you use to wash dishes?

I use Dawn foam in a pump. I've tried natural dish washing cleaners, but nothing works like Dawn. We have a lot of fat in our diet and thus have some greasy dishes. Dawn cuts grease. Nothing else comes close. I also use it as a laundry pretreater for grease stains I get from cooking and Dan gets from work.

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Copyright Under $1000 Per Month, 2009-2010

On "Vacation"

2010-02-17T06:08:00.002-05:00

My family is going to a spiritual life retreat put on by Dan's school. I'm pretty psyched, as I haven't been to any retreats, seminars or conferences since Daniel was an only child.

I didn't want to post anything if I wouldn't be around to moderate comments, so I scheduled a post over at Frugal Hacks for today, "SAHM Jobs".

I'll be back on Friday for FAQ Friday.

Please pray for us, that this may be a time of spiritual growth for both Dan and I.

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Copyright Under $1000 Per Month, 2009-2010

Pause... Redesign

2010-02-16T05:45:00.009-05:00

I am halting Touring Tuesdays for two weeks. If you hadn't noticed, my boys' bedroom was not very popular. I like it, my boys like, it, but most of you all don't. I decided it might be fun to have a little contest.

I've been wanting to redecorate the boys room in a transportation theme (cars, trains, planes) for a while now, but the blog has sucked up most of my creativity. I like redecorating and am open to new ideas, so I'm going to let you redesign my boys' room.

I am setting a $50 budget for the redesign. I'm thinking most of what I get will be from Craigslist or homemade, so how you use the budget will mostly be guesswork. You can look at online retailers, though, and see if there is anything there I might be interested in. I am decently handy with a needle, paintbrush, and a hammer, so I if you have some neat furniture or artwork ideas, submit them and I'll see what I can do.

The room is 6'x8'. The crib that is currently in there is 30"x56", but I'm strongly leaning towards scrapping it for an alternative, mattress-free sleeping arrangement, something like this, or this, or this. The window, which is behind the blue wall of rugs, must be able to be opened, so there can't be shelves in front of it, but there could be a futon or something. It has rugs over it because 1) the window is a little drafty and 2) the view is into the hallway.

What needs to be in the room?

A place to sleep
A place for toys
A place for clothes

Things to keep in mind:

There are two little boys sleeping in there now. A baby will soon be added, but we have a pac-n-play that we could set up in our bedroom until he is ready to graduate to a big-boy bed.
The toy collection expands and contracts. People give us stuff and we give stuff away. Nothing is set in stone, so the arrangement needs to be flexible. Also, I have found a potential spot for the largest toys, currently on the wall, in our bedroom.

Next week, I will pick up to five of my favorite submissions and you all can vote. The winner will recieve a $25 Amazon.com giftcard, puchased with swagbucks. (I may make my own submission and if mine wins, the runner-up will get the prize.) I will then resume Touring Tuesdays. When the tour is over, I will post pics of the new room.

You can either draw out your idea and email it to me me, or you can send me a written description, with product links if you want. Officials entires must be sent via email (under1000permonth@yahoo.com). If people have suggestions but not a whole entry, put them in the comments and someone else might win thanks to your great idea. There were also some great suggestions in the comments of the original post of My Boys' Room.

Please, if you have an idea, make a submission. You might be the only one who submits anything and then you'll win!

UPDATED TO ADD: I am not allowed to paint the walls.

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Copyright Under $1000 Per Month, 2009-2010

Bunch of Coconuts

2010-02-15T05:50:00.001-05:00

And my locavore readers cringe again.

I buy most of my produce at a small market. The prices just can't be beat.

I do most routine grocery shopping at Walmart. We get 10% off of produce as part of the employee discount, but the prices usually aren't good enough for me to take advantage of that.

Walmart had $0.57 coconuts. I bought two. I have no delusions about them being fresh. I researched coconuts and found that they are shelf-stable for roughly six months. I imagine Walmart was pushing the limits so I processed them immediately.

This is a new experience for me, an adventure that I thought I would share with you. I have eaten raw coconut and had coconut milk, but I had never processed a whole coconut.

There are a lot of methods to open them, but the simplest is to hit around the "equator" of the coconut with the blunt end of a heavy knife. It didn't take long for each coconut to start to crack. When the crack was large enough, I plunged the knife in and wedged it open. I did this over a bowl to catch the coconut water.

I came across a method of removing the meat that pops the meat right out of half the coconut all at once. This carried the risks of bending the knife and severely injuring me via stabbing. Although this would have made for a daring blog post, I opted out.

I cut the meat out in wedges. It came out pretty easily. I had read that this could the the hard part, and it was certainly time consuming, but not difficult. I used a peeler to get the shell remnants off of the meat. After munching on a few chunks with the kids, I froze the meat and will grate it as needed, mostly as an additive to breads or muffins.
I got over a pound, but not quite two, so this worked out to be under $1.00 per pound. We don't usually buy bagged coconut unless it is needed for a specific recipe, but even then I don't like it because it is sugar coated.

I only had a cup of coconut water. We were thinking that it would be yummy plain as a drink, but all the hair and fuzz came off the coconuts while I split and hacked them, so it was kind of murky and we skipped it.

Coconut milk is made pretty easily from the coconut meat, but I thought we would have more fun with the meat than the milk, so we didn't go that route.

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Copyright Under $1000 Per Month, 2009-2010

To Facebook Friends and The Crazy Obsessed

2010-02-14T05:49:00.001-05:00

I have removed everyone I don't know in real life from my personal Facebook and set up a blog Facebook page. I wanted to upload personal pictures for family without them being scrutinized and smeared all over the internet.

Facebook Friends, that is people who friended me because they like me, I don't want any of you to be offended, although I'm sure you understand.

The Crazy Obsessed, no worries. You still have all those personal photos of me and mine you saved to your computer, right?

So, anyone can add me and I'll confirm you. I'm listed as Emily Under, since I couldn't put Emily Under1000PerMonth.

And Happy Valentine's Day!

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Copyright Under $1000 Per Month, 2009-2010

To My Valentine

2010-02-13T05:23:00.004-05:00

This will be our experimental homemade Valentine's Day. We are going out to eat as well, with the kids, of course. So, this is what we did:

For Dan

I made Dan Star Trek pillows. One had the Borg cube and one had the Enterprise. I'm not too fond of the Borg cube one and am going try again for a bonus birthday present. (He loves them both, as he loves all things Star Trek.) The Enterprise one, though, we both loved.

For Emily

Dan is giving me a certificate of permission to completely consolidate and redesign his DVD and CD collection. Consider this the "before" picture. I have a neat idea of how I want to do it. For someone with little time to devote to homemade gifts, my husband is giving me just what I want!

Question: To those of you going out to eat, will you be going for lunch or dinner? Which would you think would be less crowded? Dan and I are still trying to decide.

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Copyright Under $1000 Per Month, 2009-2010

Dan on Frugality

2010-02-12T06:02:00.007-05:00

This question is part of FAQ Friday. If you have a question you would like me to address, please add it to the FAQ section.

Question

Does your husband support all of your penny pinching endeavors?

Answer

Dan and I have very different takes on frugality, actually. Although they are different, they compliment each other well. His frugality could be summed up in no debt and don't spend money. I like that and add in penny pinching.

Passive Frugality

Passive frugality is stuff we had to do once and are still benefiting from. I shopped around for auto insurance and got the least expensive apartment we could fit into. Those two items save us over $100 per month. We got a nice used car in good shape and haven't needed many repairs on it. Choosing a good car didn't take too long, but we have reaped many rewards from that good choice. Dan has given me the task of researching these and has been pleased by what I can do.

Active Frugality

Active frugality is what we do now, today to pinch our pennies. This is divided into how to spend and how to not spend.

There are some things we must spend on, food, gas, and clothes. Dan loves my cooking. His one complaint is that he wants more snack foods, like cookies, crackers and chips. My take on snack foods is that making them feels like trying to fill a bottomless pit. They cost money, provide little nourishment and are eaten too quickly, so I do it by request. I count on him forgetting to ask for them and he does.

Not spending money on stuff like new shoes or DVDs is pretty easy for both of us. For example, I won a $25 gift card to Marshall's from We Are THAT Family in December and I've only used $7 so far. I'll write about what I get when I use it all. Dan would have spent the whole gift card within a week, but not been tempted once it was gone. So, we have different styles of not spending money, but the same outcome.

Future Frugality

Future frugality is, in many ways, up in the air. We talk of pursuing a pastorate the most, but really we don't know exactly what it is God has for us. We have both at times felt we might be called to the mission field, yet God continues to direct our step toward a pastorate in Maine. Whatever we may do, financial discipline now is great training.

So, future frugality is in many ways hard to pin down, but it is in some ways wrapped up in housing. We've talked about where we might want to live once he graduates and have discussed ad nauseum housing options. He wants something a little more traditional than a yurt or tipi, but is still open-minded. He's all for a small home as long as it doesn't mean we have to get rid of all of his stuff. He's generally okay with me gradually putting more of his stuff into storage.

Authority

Finances are something Dan gave me general authority over when we first got married. We run our family kind of like a government, but with less paperwork. He is the President/Prime Minister and Secretary of Defense. I am the Chief of Staff, Minister of Finance, and Secretary of Agriculture. He lets me handle most of the financial decisions, but he holds the red veto pen.

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Copyright Under $1000 Per Month, 2009-2010

Wondering Where is Winter

2010-02-11T06:16:00.003-05:00

I wanted to post about what we do outside during the winter. I was hoping to get some super cute pics of the kids on a sled going down my mom's hill. She has the best hill for sledding. I wanted some shots of the boys digging snow and drawing in it, but I can't do that.
We got some snow in December and it stuck around a bit. But I was selfish and naive. I wanted more snow. Now, here we are in February in Maine and there is no snow.
When the snow is fresh and there is still some covering in the driveway, Daniel likes to draw in it with his feet. He stomps around making patterns. Bobby follows his lead, but I don't think to take pictures because surely it will snow more and I can post some decent pictures of Maine's snow.

Well, here is Maine's snow in February.
We've been going to the park and for walks, just like we do in the summer, minus the beach. The only difference is that we are bundled up. So, here are some cute pictures of my kids at the park, because that is what we are doing for outside winter activity. Sorry I couldn't demonstrate real winter fun. But, here is Bobby and Daniel going to play with the patch of snow.

It is supposed to be snowing right now, but doesn't seem to be. Maybe it will and I'll be able to show off some real Maine winter activity, but it looks like for now, y'all in the South get all the winter fun.

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Copyright Under $1000 Per Month, 2009-2010

Haiti: Helping Without Money

2010-02-10T05:44:00.006-05:00

In 2003 I went on a ten day mission trip to Haiti. Along with members of my church at the time, we worked on building a church and school. Two families from that church are now in the process of adopting children from Haiti. Some of the people I met in Haiti I stayed in contact with for a while after, but I haven't talked to any in years. When the earthquake struck, I knew that there was a strong likelihood that some of those people had died, and all had certainly been effected.
I didn't remember if the building that we helped with had the proper steel reinforcements, but I hoped that it did, so that it could be a refuge. I prayed and prayed, as many of you must have as well.
My strongest memory from my trip was an orphanage. It had disabled children downstairs and orphan babies upstairs. Everyone cooed over the babies, but my heart broke for the disabled, for "Mon Ami," my friend who was banging his head against the wall when we arrived, but then silently lead me by hand all around the orphanage. He had not been adopted, and probably would not be.

Ways to Give

The Hunger Site

The Hunger Site has an e-card you can send. With each e-card sent, money is donated to Haiti. I couldn't pin down exactly how much money is sent with each e-card, but every bit helps.

Hotels Combined

Hotels Combined has a program where you can donate to charity by writing about them. You can donate $5 for a Facebook update, $10 for a Tweet, and $20 for a blog post or button on your sidebar like I have. One of the charities you can donate to is World Vision, which has been working in Haiti for years.

Swagbucks

For 45 Swagbucks, you can make a charitable donation of $5. The Red Cross is on the massive list of charitable organizations to choose from.

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Copyright Under $1000 Per Month, 2009-2010

My Boys' Room

2010-02-09T05:50:00.000-05:00

I try to get the rooms in just a few pictures, but I ended up with a ton of pictures of my boys' room.

This is the view from the door. The bed is what I call a trundle crib. Bobby sleeps on top and Daniel on the bottom. (Thomas sleeps with us.) Daniel's mattress pulls out all the way, but more often than not, he likes sleeping under the crib. It's like his own little cave. The ultimate goal is for Bobby to join him, and Daniel seems pretty excited about that, but Bobby still likes his crib.

When we first moved, I wanted this to be a farm themed room. I made a pig, a duck, and a cow along with the horses, but the other animals didn't withstand the wear of the room. So now we have three horses and the tree.

Here we have the tents tucked behind the crib, the container with balls and the piano.

The tricycle, slide and rocking doggy are all held up with bicycle hooks.

I have a curtain over the door to help the boys sleep during naps. Thomas isn't quite ready for his Johnny Jump-Up, but the curtains can be pulled aside when he is.

Here we have the boys' clothes, bookshelves, blocks, dinosaurs and miscellaneous toys.

The wagon is filled with miscellaneous toys. There are blocks in the corner and cars on the wall.

Here we have the horse again. I really like my boys' room, brimming with color and fun.

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Copyright Under $1000 Per Month, 2009-2010

Paneer and Whey Drink

2010-02-08T06:00:00.011-05:00

Steps In Making Cheese

Paneer was my next step in cheese making. Paneer is like a pressed ricotta cheese. If you're new to cheese making, as I am, it is best to start small and work your way up.

I started with yogurt cheese made in a crock pot. If yogurt sounds intimidating, try this reader tip to get you started:

"Simply boil a cup of milk, and then let cool to room temperature. Stir in a tablespoon of yogurt, let sit (don't move the cup) and voila, the next morning you have yogurt!"

After yogurt, I moved to ricotta cheese, which involves heating the milk, then adding something like vinegar to curdle the cheese.

So now it is time for paneer, which is like ricotta, but it is pressed, which gives me practice for the hard cheeses.

Instructions:

1) Heat a half gallon or gallon of milk to a low boil

2) Add 3 tablespoons of vinegar, lemon juice or lime juice per half gallon. (I used lime juice.)

3) When you see the milk curds, separating from yellowish liquid, the whey, take it off the heat.

4) Line a colander with a cheesecloth or thin fabric. Put it in something like a pot to collect the whey.

4a) Optional: add in spices. I added some cajun seasoning and an Italian spice blend. Paneer is from India, so I am all over the place with this cheese.

5) Set up a press, wrap cheese in cloth and press until firm, about two hours. It won't be firm like a block of cheddar, but it will be more firm than cream cheese.

There are lots of ways to make a press, but for the one pound of cheese I made, I found two plates to be just right. Next time, I may put the bottom plate upside down and put it in a pan to catch any excess whey. I might have gone overboard with the books, but I wanted to be sure.

My cheese cracked because I kept playing with it during the pressing stage. I'll know better next time!

Paneer is a cheese that doesn't melt, like ricotta. We've used it on quesadillas, in place of the cream cheese, broken up in our eggs, like an omelet, and smushed on plain tortillas. It is not something we will have to have on hand all the time, but I think it will have a place in our menu from time to time.

Whey Drink

Saving the whey and using is effectively is what makes or breaks the future of cheese making for me. One gallon of milk makes one pound of cheese... and three quarts of whey. Some of that whey can be used in lacto-fermenting, but if I'm going to be making most of our cheese, we are going to have more whey than I know what to do with. Paneer whey isn't bitter like yogurt whey, and I read somewhere that the whey of hard cheeses is almost sweet.

So, I made whey limeade. I used lime juice as the medium to make the milk curdle. To make limeaid, I added more lime juice and some stevia and chilled the drink. It has most of the nutritional value of milk and is loaded with protein. It tastes like limeade. I think there are probably a lot of drinks that could be made with whey and I'll let you know which we like best.

Next up: making mozzarella!

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Copyright Under $1000 Per Month, 2009-2010

Notebook Rack

2010-02-06T06:00:00.003-05:00

My husband writes a lot. He writes stories, essay, and articles. It is his primary hobby. Thus, Daniel and Bobby write a lot as well.

The writing usually happens on the couch.

For a while, there was no designated spot for their notebooks. They would land on any surface in the living room, and stay there until used again. I set up a basket near where Dan's notebook would usually end up. This solved half of the problem, but Daniel couldn't reach it to put his and Bobby's notebook in.

Finally, I came to this solution. This is a magazine holder that was my Grampa's. Putting it right next the couch (the black thing behind the magazine rack) makes putting the notebooks away effortless.

It would take more effort to put the notebooks in the wrong place than in the right place.

That is my primary organizing focus, to have a self-cleaning home, where everything belongs where people naturally put it. I'm not 100% there yet, but I'm getting closer all the time. Of course, when I do get there, it will be time to move to a new place.

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Copyright Under $1000 Per Month, 2009-2010

Why Do You Love Star Trek So Much?

2010-02-05T06:00:00.003-05:00

This is an answer to this question and is part of FAQ Fridays. If you have questions you would like answered, you can ask them on the FAQ page.

Question:

Why does your family love Star Trek so much? It is not a Christian program and in fact it strongly promotes a lot of non-Christian ideas, including the idea that women can be leaders and should not be submissive to men? Doesn't this go against your life views? Don't you think it will influence your children in a way that is undesirable to you?

Answer:

There are many parts of this question to address, so I'm going to take it one at a time.

Why does your family love Star Trek so much?

Because it is awesome! If you haven't seen it, you can watch original episodes on YouTube and on cbs.com. The newer series' DVDs are going down in price and our collection is slowly growing.

It is the most witty, entertaining and thought provoking show that either my husband or I have ever seen, and we both grew up with cable. My husband has a saying, "Even the worst episode of Star Trek is better than the best episode of anything else." I whole-heartedly agree. We even love some of the fan series, also on YouTube.

Star Trek has something for everyone. My husband is a student of human nature, history and politics. He loves the interweaving stories of how different worlds are incorporated into the Federation and how other worlds fight against it. He loves the rebel Marquis fighters and the creativity that came when new planets were explored in "Voyager."

I am a science geek myself. I find warp theory fascinating and my heart beats a litte faster when something goes wrong and I again get a further glimpse into how those engines run. I am intrigued by new species and the challenges Neelix faces in preparing foods for many different races. Looking at issues in genetic modifaction today verses in the "future" provides an interesting study of its own.

This stuff is so fascinating, and fun to think about. It is fun that my husband and I have something we both love and enjoy and discuss in depth. It enhances our marraige and our friendship. I am relatively new to Star Trek and am seeing many epsiodes now for the first time. He has been watching Star Trek his whole life. For each of our children, their first TV experience was Star Trek, and my husband can tell you which episode each child saw shortly after they were born.

It is not a Christian program and in fact it strongly promotes a lot of non-Christian ideas, including the idea that women can be leaders and should not be submissive to men?

The Bible does not say that women cannot lead, nor does it say that women have to be submissive to men in general. The Bible says women are to submit to their husbands. I don't have to submit to your husband, my father, my brother, or any other man besides my husband, who I chose to marry because I love him and trust his judgement.

As far as women being leaders, the Bible is clear that women should not be in authority over men in the church. I, as a Christian woman, have no desire to have authority over men in any capacity. However, in the Bible Deborah, was a military leader because no man would stand up to the challenge. The Bible was pro-woman in a shocking way for thousands of years. It is only recently when new standards for women have rapidly emerged that the Bible is looked on as anti-woman. The idea of a husband loving his wife as Christ loves the church is more pro-woman than the philosophies of any other major world religion, and that was written thousands of years ago. For me, that command to my husband fulfills the desires of my heart as his wife, and is as pro-woman as you can get.

Doesn't this go against your life views?

Some of what is portrayed in Star Trek does go against our life views. Some of what is portrayed in Veggie Tales goes against our life views as well. It would be impossible to find a TV show that we agreed with 100%. Some Christians decide not to watch any TV because of this. Agreeing 100% isn't our standard for TV, movies, friends, a church, or books.

We choose to watch TV but think through what we watch. Dan and I talk about everything we watch. We discuss what was hilarious, what was accurate, what got us curious for more. If a Christian is not willing to think through what they are watching, they may need to abstain from watching TV, but there is no reason that those who are willing to put in the work of discernment should abstain as well.

Don't you think it will influence your children in a way that is undesirable to you?

It is possible that our children may think the world of Star Trek is real, but we are planning on teaching them the difference between what is imagined and what is real. Star Trek is a great way to get them thinking about imaginary worlds, possibilities, new ways of thinking and other peoples' points of view. In our opinon, that is a good thing for children.

Daniel Update and Christmas Reflections

2010-02-04T06:00:00.002-05:00

Daniel Update

Daniel is fully back to himself. Every once in a while I hear a slight mid-word pause, but otherwise, everything has bounced right back to normal for him. Praise be to God.

Dan and I are still a little shaken up. Daniel doesn't remember much of what happened to him, except watching a lot of Thomas the Tank Engine movies. We'll never be able to forget, though. I have always enjoyed my children, but this has taught me to truly savour them. I am thankful for that lesson.

Christmas Reflections

I've been wanting to share some of my reflections on Christmas for a while.

Gift Quantity
Last year for their birthday, we got the boys a bunch of little gifts and individually wrapped them. At Christmas each boy opened only two presents. We saw much more appreciation for the two presents than for the bunch of presents. We're going to stick to opening two presents from now on, or maybe three, but no more. We've seen a direct correlation between the number of presents that are opened and how much the kids enjoy and appreciate the gifts.

Adult Gift Budget
This wasn't the first year I wasn't able to spend all of my Christmas budget for myself. I'm going to work on picking stuff up throughout the year this year so Dan has more to give me at Christmas. We are also allotting 10% of the budget to a surprise gift, which is something we used to do but got away from.

Homemade
I've encountered a problem with homemade gifts. I've been bit by the homemade bug but my husband has not at all. We're doing an experimental pseudo-homemade Valentine's Day to see if giving homemade gifts to each other has a strong future.

The Christmas Tree
We chose to go without a Christmas tree last year. I admit, I was a little disappointed about it at first. As the Christmas season went on I realised I wasn't as stressed. For me, the Christmas tree had become a constant visual reminder about the stress surrounding Christmas and all I had to do. We haven't decided if we are going to have a tree-less year next year, but if we do, I won't be disappointed.

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Copyright Under $1000 Per Month, 2009-2010

Printer Ink Refill Kits Save Money

2010-02-03T06:00:00.005-05:00

We have a Canon all-in-one printer.

The ink cartridges are $20. That's some of the cheapest ink out there. Some companies seem to make the ink more expensive than the printer.

Dan is in college and I put together a lot of our homeschooling material. We go through a decent amount of ink. Those cartridges were putting a dent in our budget.

So, I went on over to Amazon.com, typed in something like "printer ink refill kit canon" and I found my refill kit for roughly $20.

My kit came with two black ink bottles, one of each red, blue, and yellow, a syringe, and a set of instructions.

The biggest complaints others have about printer ink refills is that it is messy and time consuming. I find it to be neither. Here is how I do it:

Step 1: Peel back (or remove) the label on the cartridge. You will see a little pinhole.

Step 2: Get a screw and screwdriver to make that whole bigger.

Step 2: Fill syringe with the appropriate amount of ink. (It will come with a syringe and instructions on how much you need.)

Step 3: Insert syringe and slowly fill cartridge. I guess some people have different definitions of the word "slowly". I try to have it done in about a minute and have never had a problem. Some people go really slowly, drawing out this step ad nauseum.

Step 4: Reinstall cartridge and resume printing. The cartridge lasts for about six refills for me, then the ink heads don't perform as well.

The Downside: Picture quality is horrible, truly horrible. Whenever we want to print pictures, we have to buy a new cartridge. We designate the new cartridge for printing pictures and continue using the old cartridge for documents. Then when the new cartridge runs out, we use it as a regular refill. I also have to set the printing resolution to high whenever I print anything which takes more time.

The Upside: This saves us a ton of money, and will continue to do so. And, it's green, extending the life of the printer cartridges.

If you're interested, there are a lot of online stores that sell these kits besides Amazon, so I would shop around before purchasing. If anyone has had good experiences with other sources, tell about it in the comments.

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Copyright Under $1000 Per Month, 2009-2010

In the Bathroom

2010-02-02T06:00:00.003-05:00

Touring Tuesday is up and running. Today, you get to look at my bathroom. Fun stuff, huh?

Above is the view from the door as you enter. The bathroom is 5'x6'. It has a sink, toilet and shower stall. The bathroom in our old apartment had a toilet and full tub, but no sink, so it's a trade-off.

If you fold towels in three one way, then in three the other way, they fit on the back of the toilet.

This is Brad. He's been with us a long time.

On the door we have some artwork of friends and family. The Thomas potty cover is hanging by Velcro.

Some of you will be very proud of me. We had a tall narrow set of drawers below the light that held all sorts of stuff. I went through and decluttered and decluttered and was able to eliminate it. It's now part of my craft corner, but that's a whole other story.

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Copyright Under $1000 Per Month, 2009-2010

Can You Make Money Blogging - Month Five

2010-02-01T06:00:00.003-05:00

It's actually month five and a half. My five month anniversary happened while my son was in the hospital, so I am going to go by the calendar month from now on. It's easier to calculate on my end anyway. Here are the ways I made money blogging in the month of January.

Swagbucks
Swagbucks has always been and probably will always be my favorite revenue stream, simply because it is good. Swagbucks, for those of you who haven't heard me talk about it a million times already, is a search engine that pays you back a part of it's ad revenue. When you refer others, as I do through this blog, you get more. I refer, which means my blog readers are earning through their regular searching, and so am I. It is my favorite because I think I am doing a good thing by spreading the word about Swagbucks.
Total January Swagbucks Income: $205.00

BlogHer
BlogHer is the winner this month. I feel BlogHer is a great fit for my blog because I get paid based on how many people see the ads on my blog, not on how much anyone buys. For a blog with a decent amount of traffic that advocates not spending money, this is perfect. BlogHer is hard to get into, as they are not open to new bloggers right now, but if bloggers are interested, they have a waiting list.
Total January BlogHer Income: $1,044.53

Amazon Affiliates
Whenever I write about a book or product and it is sold on Amazon, I throw in my affiliate link. I then get a percentage of what is purchased by someone clicking on that link. I see this as being part of the inevitable, not pushing sales. We buy from Amazon, so I imagine others do as well.
Total January Amazon Income: $85.68

January Grand Total: $1,335.21

Yes, in the month of January, "Under $1000 Per Month" made over $1000. According to one survey, that is more than what 75% of income seeking bloggers are making, so these results are not typical.

What I've Learned

I get a lot of questions about making money blogging. First, my results aren't typical, or even desirable for many. I can't write anything without being attacked from one angle or another. I don't mind healthy debate, and I have learned a lot from readers who disagree with me, but some people go too far, way too far. Having said that this may not be for everyone, I have learned a few things about blogging.

First, don't blog for money. I don't blog for money, I blog because I want to share my ideas. I like my ideas, and I thought others might, too. Some do, some don't, but I think my readers in general like that I share them.

Second, don't be afraid of money. Even though I don't blog for money, I wanted to see if you could. When I started, I put up Adsense, wrote about Swagbucks and threw in some Amazon referral links. I found out that you can make money blogging. There are a ton of ways to do it, too, and I recommend ProBlogger to anyone who wants tips.

Some Personal Blogging Stuff

I missed the black and white. I'll still do color photos, but I missed my old background. For those of you without wide screen monitors, my background looks like this. It is my original background, and I'm glad to be reunited with it. I've learned my lesson and this should be the last time I change it. On another note, another "blog" has started plagiarizing my stuff, directly copying and pasting my posts on their "blog", advertised as: "so you don't have to give her a click." I read most blogs in bloglines, and I don't have a problem with people reading me through a feed. I provide a full feed for my feed reading readers. This feed is good for people who don't want me to earn money, or for people who like to read all their favorite blogs in one place, or for those who find my page loads a little slow.

As a recap, here are my past months' revenue:

Month One Blogging: $55.50
Month Two Blogging: $215.32
Month Three Blogging: $299.48
Month Four Blogging: $423.20
Month Five Blogging: $1,335.21

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Copyright Under $1000 Per Month, 2009-2010

Create More Storage Space in Your Kitchen

2010-01-30T06:00:00.015-05:00

We don't have a lot of cabinet space in the kitchen and the cabinet space we do have is a little awkward. I have two crates on top of the fridge to maximize our useful storage space.

The crate on the left is the most accessible. In it we keep flour, stevia, cinnamon, salt, and other items we use frequently.

The bin on the left has less used items, bulk tea, lesser used spices, and honey, to name a few.

Whenever I cook, I take down the common use crate and put it on one of the kitchen chairs. Everything I need is right there, making clean-up a cinch.

We do have cabinets above the fridge, but they are way in back. I keep chemical cleaners in there. I use mostly natural cleaners, which I keep in the bathroom, so my lesser used chemical cleaners can be kept in the less accessible cabinets.

If you like the idea, but don't like the look of the crates, I think sewing a simple cover would be pretty easy. We don't mind the look of the crates, but if I ever wanted something more sophisticated looking, I might go that route.

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Copyright Under $1000 Per Month, 2009-2010

Why I Don't Wear Pants... Much

2010-01-29T06:00:00.014-05:00

This is part of FAQ Friday. If you have a question you would like me to address, please add it to the FAQ page.

Question

Most "Fundie" women don't wear pants. Do you?

Answer

Whether or not I am a tried and true Fundamentalist is a topic for another day, but I would say that I'm not sure that I am. Oh, I would like to be, but Fundies don't generally see me as one of their own.

That said, this isn't something I talk about often because it isn't something I think about often.

I don't wear pants. Well, actually, I have two pairs, one black pair, and one pair of jeans. My post-pregnancy body doesn't quite fit into the jeans yet, but the black pair is versatile enough for me to wear well into pregnancy. I wear them once or twice a month. The rest of the time, I wear skirts and dresses. I went to a college that required it and I liked it. I built a nice wardrobe around that dress code and just kept living by it.

Modesty
I think modesty is important, but it has little to do with why I wear dresses. Pants can be just as modest as skirts if done correctly and many dresses are not modest at all. This is where I depart from most dress-wearing fundamentalists.

Beautiful
I like dresses because they make me feel beautiful. I like looking nice and a dress is an effortless way to do that. This is really my primary reason for wearing dresses.

Sexy (For Married Folks)
It is important to feel sexy. A husband will think you're sexy even if you don't feel it, but if you don't feel sexy, you likely won't feel sexual, which is kind of important in marriage. I have a few completely immodest dresses I call "housedresses" because I won't wear them out of the house.

Easy
Dresses are the easiest clothes to wear. It is a one piece outfit. You don't need to put in the effort of making a pants and top ensemble and I think the results are better. I don't wear pantyhose, even though it was part of my college's dress code, but if you think they are required with a dress, than dresses become a hassle.

Standards
I have two modesty rules. One is that clothes must go to my knees, standing and sitting. I sometimes will put a skirt under a short dress that adds a few inches and extends my wardrobe. The second rule is no cleavage. Because I buy new clothes, this has become a problem. I have to pair a lot of my clothes with a tank top under or a sweater over. Anything beyond those rules is a judgment call.

Shopping
Most of my new clothes come from mystery shopping. When not mystery shopping, I can find good deals at thrift stores if I want something. I don't buy many clothes for myself at yard sales because they don't have a dressing room at yard sales. I will buy clothes at yard sales if the fabric is pretty enough for me to use for something else if the garment doesn't fit right.

Style
I love black and white. I have some colored tops and a few skirts with color, but they are always paired with black or black and white. Other than my one red housedress, all of my dresses are either black or black and white, and dresses are my favorite.

Some Thoughts...
I think modesty is important, but beauty is too. Christian women have been pushing beauty aside in order to pursue modesty, but they are not mutually exclusive. Modesty is not something we should seek in our marriage. We should be immodest with our husbands. Likewise, beauty is not something to hide, but something God created and showing it glorifies him.

How to Live Live A Lot Without Money

2010-01-28T06:00:00.003-05:00

Every once in a while, I get comments like, "Don't you want to live a little?" and "What about the value of your time?" These comments make me sad. Without getting into the topic of cost/time analysis, I'd like to address this attitude.

I can't imagine "living" more than kneading bread with my son, or finding a new favorite book at the library, or counting as my boys take turns tumbling the wonderwash. Whether or not my time makes me money or saves me money is irrelevant to this point. Quality of life has little to do with money. Once basic needs are met, it's about relationships and pursuing dreams.

I get to spend all day every day with my family. I make money writing one blog post per day. Then, I have the rest of my time to do whatever I please. If I didn't find writing that blog post enriching, I wouldn't do it. The rest of the day I read, I sew, I snuggle with my kids, I roll my own tortillas, and I discuss religion and politics with the smartest guy I know. These are quality of life items for me. Buying new throw pillows and more shoes, not so much.

The idea that I am frugal because I have to be is a little silly. I know how to make money without putting my kids in daycare, and I knew how to do it before I started this blog. I choose to be frugal so that I can dream, teach my children to dream, and be a strength to my husband as he steps towards his dreams. That is living.

(This was going to be my FAQ Friday post, but I got a fun question that I wanted to address for tomorrow. This bumped nicely into my Family Time Thursday slot. I feel like I am getting back into the blogging rhythm. Thanks to those of you who stuck around through my absence.)

Yurts: Living in the Round by Becky Kemery

2010-01-27T06:35:00.000-05:00

I know I said I would do reviews on Sundays, but this book became a part of my personal recovery, so I thought I would include it here.

Dan only checked the mail once while Daniel was in the hospital, even though he came back to town to go to work several days. In the stack of mail when we got home was this book for me to review.

My first thought was, "How silly, as if I want to read a yurt book right now." I hadn't read anything while in the hospital, except a few Reader's Digest funny pages, which were really read to me by my husband. I stared at books, open in front of me several times, but I wasn't reading anything.

I somehow started reading this. This book about yurts became an escape. It pulled me out of my sorrows, showed me my goals and got me dreaming again.

The book weaved through the history and modern applications of yurts, or round tent-like homes. Yurts have been used in many parts of Asia for millennia and the author even gave yurts credit for much of Genghis Kahn's conquests. Now, in America, they are popping up as anything between a portable dwelling, as they were in Asia, made of modern materials, to an inspiration for modern architecture.

This book got me thinking about a lot of things. As someone interested in portable housing, yurts have an appeal to me. Modern fabric yurts can be built in a day, and taken down to be moved in a day. They can have all of the amenities of a modern home and can be heated more efficiently than a house with corners.

One thing I was most interested in was how round living impacted one's social life. The book told about how, for many people, being in a round space allows a group to have a closeness, opening up to one another. The book took it in a spiritual direction about being in touch with the earth that didn't suit me, but everything that it said about group gatherings in yurts seemed most applicable to my life and seemed like a setting that would be desirable to our family.

The book was well written and sucked me in an unexpected way. Most books about architectural structures don't have you dreaming about warriors one minute and sleeping under the stars the next. The pictures were phenomenal as well.

I would recommend this book for people that are interested in energy-efficient housing, small homes (although yurt-homes can be made to be quite large), portable housing and affordable housing. This book has a lot of info and resources to look into. Even though I'm not sure we'll go the yurt route, there was a lot of info that has inspired some new ideas in me.

TIP: If you are a blogger interested in reviewing a book, contact the publisher. Politely tell them that you blog, how many visitors you get, and that you'd be willing to do a review for your blog if they sent you the book you are interested in. I also committed to putting my review on Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com as well. This is a reader tip that works.

Another Daniel Update

2010-01-26T07:33:00.002-05:00

Although I never said it outright, some of you may have guessed that we don't do routine doctor's visits. We don't vax and our kids are developing normally. We've had some bad experience with doctors in the past and hadn't found one we were comfortable with in our area.

While in the hospital, I was discussing follow-up visits with one of pediatricians. I told her we had had bad experiences with some in our town. She asked if we vax, and recommended a D.O. who was non-vax friendly.

We had our first visit yesterday and I am very happy to report we have found a doctor that I trust. Where there is concern that this could all be a genetic disorder, we are going to continue to go.

The doctor is sure we don't need more physical therapy, as Daniel is walking, running, climbing, even pushing his brother down. Daniel still has a few lingering confidence issues, where he isn't sure he can make it physically, but he has proven himself well.

One thing that was brought up was possible speech therapy. There are two reasons for this.

Daniel has developed a Maine accent. Neither Dan nor I have a Maine accent. Maine accents are generally reserved for those in the Downeast region of Maine, around Bangor, Maine (pronounce ban-Gore, not ban-ger). We have never lived there, but we say our fare share of "wicked" when we are not talking about something evil. Otherwise, we sound like normal Massachusetts folk, just like everyone else in Maine. My son, however, now pronounces "more" as "moy-ah" and "talker" as "tock-ah".

My son has started pausing mid-word. Instead of normal "yeah" he says "yea... ah". Instead of "game" he says "gay... ame". Maybe they are two descriptions of the same problem. Anyway, we are going to keep an ear on it and get back to the doctor about progress.

Other than the newly developed speech impediment, Daniel is back to himself. He's a little unsure of himself at times, but he has pulled through rapidly. His personality has fully returned and he is back to micromanaging his brother's play.

The Imperfect Diet

2010-01-25T06:19:00.004-05:00

Dan and I have unique health goals. We aim for a Nourishing Traditions type diet with high animal protein. You may disagree with our health goals, and that is fine. I might disagree with yours as well.

We have never aimed for perfection. We eat out about once a week and aren't uptight at family gatherings and church potlucks. I will cater my meal slightly but will generally eat what's served. My husband will usually go nuts and eat pure crap.

During the week my son was in the hospital, we all ate pure crap. It was a week marked with white flour pasta and cookies. I could have put in some effort and made more food myself, but I didn't. There was no lacto-fermented salsa or soaked grain tortillas for a whole week.

We don't consider this a failure. Some of it was laziness. I didn't want to make three meals a day. Some of it was comfort food... the cookies. It wasn't a failure, though, because it was temporary.

We undid some of the things we had been working toward. Both Dan and I noticed a marked difference in our regularity. At first, I thought it was because we were using someone else's bathroom, but then I remembered the cookies. Rest assured, we have been doubling up on out lacto-fermented foods, and things are coming back to normal in the bathroom.

Special Thanks

2010-01-24T12:34:00.000-05:00

There are a lot of things that I was thankful for during my son's hospital stay. We are, of course, the most thankful to God, for deciding to allow our son to come through the whole thing unharmed, and thankful for the many many people praying for him. We are grateful for a great hospital staff. Our family and church family was supportive and there for everything we needed. There was one other thing we are thankful for, as it just made our lives infinitely easier during this high-stress time:

We live about a half an hour away from the hospital where my son stayed. It doesn't seem like a lot, but going home would have been a lot of work. Besides the simple lack of the need to travel, the Ronald McDonald House provided a nearby haven.

The Ronald McDonald House is a charity of the McDonald's Corporation. They provide temporary housing for the families of hospitalized children. We stayed there for a week while Daniel was in the hospital. This is what they did for us:

Meals were provided. Most nights a meal was made for everyone, but the kitchen was always open and full of left-overs. Had we come home, I would have had to do a lot of work cooking, which would have kept me away from my son.

There was an on site laundry room. I could wash and dry a load in an hour and a half, just like normal Americans. We brought four outfits per person and did laundry every few days. This simplified everything.

Late night hospital visits were a must. There were a few nights that Thomas and I stayed overnight at the hospital (while Bobby and Dan stayed at the Ronald McDonald House), but on nights that we didn't, it wasn't unusual for me to visit. Either I couldn't sleep without my son or my son couldn't sleep without me. Being right down the street from the hospital made these visits possible.

They had the internet. The hospital did too, but we couldn't access Facebook from the hospital. I was able to write a post from there, moderate comments, and send out email updates to family and friends.

There was one phone designated for long distance phone calls. I discovered this after dumping a few dollars into the hospital pay phone, but it still came in handy.

They had gifts for our sick son. There was a box full of stuffed animals and books that we could choose from. We found an excellent Thomas and Friends book that we read to Daniel several dozen times. There was also a box that must have been donated by RedBox, as it had RedBox DVDs and a sign saying we were welcome to take one home. There was a Thomas and Friends movie in there that Daniel loves.

The volunteers were amazing. Between people donating food and those coordinating our stay, they were understanding of the guests' unique position, being non intrusive but still available.

Dan and I have had a long-term hypothetical debate about which would be better to sleep on: the Sleep Number Bed, or a Tempur Pedic. After a week on a Sleep Number bed, I can't imagine a bed could be more comfortable, which means I lost the debate.

Anyway, people have asked many times if there was anything we needed. Every time, we answered that the Ronald McDonald House had taken care of all of our needs. Even after the $10 nightly donation, we technically saved money staying there, considering the cost of gas to visit the hospital and meals costs. But if anyone felt led to do something, we told them they take donations. Before this all happened, I didn't know much about the Ronald McDonald House. Now, I consider it an exemplary charity.

Being Diagnosis-Free

2010-01-22T12:49:00.000-05:00

My son left the hospital a mystery. He had a lot of testing done. Everything came back negative. All leads were followed through and the dozen or so doctors and specialists working on my son's case couldn't figure out what made my son so sick. The official diagnosis was dehydration. Dehydration seems like a symptom, not a cause. I spoke to some doctors who, when pressed, showed dissenting opinions about the official diagnosis as well as some of the speculated diagnoses, but they could not provide a clear answer.

This is not my ideal situation, but the doctors did all of the testing they could and there was nothing left to do. I don't blame them or think they were in any way negligent. There are two options as to what will come of this incident.

Nothing.

Daniel may live the rest of his life without going through anything like this again. If the cause was something he ate or an undetected head injury, both of which were thoroughly tested for, it was a one-time event and unlikely to repeat itself.

Something.

This could happen again. If he has diabetes or a metabolic disorder and the test results were wrong, we will land ourselves in the hospital again. At that point, the doctors will be forced to come to a definitive conclusion and we can move forward from there.

I can't articulate exactly how much testing was done, as I don't have a copy of all of the records. However, there have been some suggestions from readers as to what it might be. As I read each one, I noted that each had already been looked into by doctors or specialists, from meningitis to botulism, and all were ruled out.

One doctor said that the hardest thing for me will be to not suspect that this is happening again each time my son shows the first sign of sickness. He was a doctor that thought it was a one-time thing. He is right. It will be difficult for Dan and I to decipher what is regular kid-sickness, and what is a serious, life-threatening event. Our plan is to continue to pray for wisdom.

We're Home

2010-01-21T19:30:00.002-05:00

As you can imagine, this has been a hard thing for us all to go through. On the second day in the Intensive Care Unit, the doctor told me that they would let me know when they knew what caused my son to get so sick (which they never did), and let me know when they knew for sure he would live through it (which he is).

I'm going to be a taking a week off from regular daily posting, maybe two. My son has a lot of physical therapy to go through. He is in diapers and not walking as much as we would like.

I have lots of thoughts I want to share with you all about it, though, so I won't be silent. You can expect some sporadic posting when I have the time, energy and passion to write.

Again, I thank you all for your prayers.

Update

2010-01-17T20:41:00.000-05:00

On Monday, I noticed Daniel was a little tired, and he ended up sleeping most of the day.

On Tuesday, he again slept. He had no fever, and got up to go to the bathroom.

On Wednesday, he wasn't waking up much. I gave him pedialite by spoon throughout the day and was worried he wasn't getting enough. In the evening, his breathing became troubling. I took him to the emergency room. They immediately transferred him to the Intensive Care Unit in a larger hospital. He was in a coma.

There were two major leads on what happened to him. The first was that he swallowed something like anti-freeze. The testing came back negative and was sent to the Mayo clinic to be confirmed. The second was that he was born with a metabolic disorder. The testing for this also came back negative. They did every other test imaginable to him, but with no luck. They don't know what happened to him. The official diagnosis is dehydration. They just can't take the next step back to find what caused the dehydration.

He woke from his coma on Friday. He isn't saying as much as we'd like, but more than he was. He is eating and drinking, but still has some issues to be worked through before we can go home. Today he was transferred out of the Intensive Care Unit and into Pediatrics.

He's definitely going to pull through. We don't know how long it will take. I thank you for your prayers.

Family Emergency

2010-01-14T05:42:00.000-05:00

I'll be away for a few days, hopefully not longer.

I'm not going to publish my scheduled posts, as I can't be focusing on comment moderation right now.

I'll give details when I'm up to it.

Please, keep us in your prayers.

Adjusting to A Drop in Income

2010-01-13T06:00:00.008-05:00

Thinking back to when our income first dropped there was quite an adjustment. My gut reaction was to make money so that we wouldn't have to adjust our standard of living. That got exhausting, more exhausting than adjusting our standard of living. So, I figured out another way to adjust to the drop in income.

A reader posted a link to this video, and Amy Dacyczyn says something noteworthy in it.

Amy said in the interview that if you track your spending, you don't need to buy her book. I think her book is full of worthwhile information, and I am thankful for it, but essentially she is right. If you write down every penny you spend, you can see where you are spending and what you can cut. If you need to cut dramatically, you will need to redefine needs.

When I evaluated our spending, I switched to cloth diapers and we dropped Netflix. We cut out all convenience foods and I learned to cook everything from scratch. I shopped around for auto insurance and we conserved energy. Now, not only have we adjusted to this standard of living, we feel better about our lives in general. The time I have at home with the kids is more valuable than the money I could earn outside of the home.

We did not dump all discretionary spending. Our entertainment is the internet, which pays for itself every month one way or another, and satellite radio, which we have on constantly and enjoy. We could afford these things in our budget, and losing them would alter our quality of life in a way we were not willing to if we did not have to. These were prioritized over disposable diapers and Netflix.

The key is to track spending. We use a debit card, so our bank tracks everything, but keeping receipts to see what we bought that we could have skipped helped to. For a while, I did the pen and paper method, where I wrote down everything, but after I got the hang of not spending, that was no longer necessary. How you record spending and what you decide to cut is different for everyone, but if you are truly interested in cutting spending, this step cannot be skipped.

The Big Bedroom

2010-01-12T06:00:00.005-05:00

This is a part of my Touring Tuesdays series, where you get to snoop around my home.

We love books and don't see that changing, nor do we want it to. The big bookshelf is mostly theology books, referenced frequently. The one next to it is my bookshelf with mostly homeschooling stuff, but also some cook books and craft books. The one in the corner is my husband's history and politics bookshelf. The bookshelf by the door has our Star Trek book collection, customized with some of my artwork. The kids' books are in their own room.

We keep blankets in the bin at the end of the bed. I made the bed just for you all, but someone couldn't resist taking a nap. Above the bed are the items that I am sentimental about. The two dresses (one not visible) are heirlooms from my Gran from when she was a missionary in Sierra Leone. The Tivoli poster has been in my bedroom since I was a child.

My husband has many trinkets he is sentimental about and they all live in the bedroom. I go through phases where I get sick of them, box them up and tuck them away some where. Then I think about how much he enjoys them, so I pull them all out and put them on display again. Then I pack them up, then pull them out again. They are his, so I can't just get rid of them, but he lets me play this packing-unpacking game with them without complaint.

To my concerned readers, both the big bookshelf and the one by the door are attached to the wall. The two bookshelves in the corner are blocked in by the blanket bin and could not toppled unless first lifted out of their home.

How to Make Soft Tacos - Easy, Frugal Recipe

2010-01-11T06:00:00.003-05:00

Tacos have changed considerably since I first wrote about them. Between home-made salsa, taco seasoning, and homegrown lettuce, I think the only thing that has stayed the same is beef and tortillas. First, make tortillas, mixing:

2 cups whole white wheat flour ($0.32)
3/4 teaspoons salt ($0.03, if that)
1/4 cup shortening ($0.25, softened butter, but you can use whatever)
1/2 cups water ($0)

For a soaked grain tortilla, add 1 tablespoons of whey, yogurt or cider vinegar, mix dough the day before and leave at room temperature until you are ready to cook it.

I divide it by ten, as that is just right for my family, with enough for leftovers for my husband. My kids have disassembled tacos. They like the tortillas with the salsa on them, but everything else they eat separately. So, each ball of dough I roll out flat. The aim is a circle, but it doesn't have to be perfect.

Fry in a dry pan for roughly thirty seconds on each side.

Brown one pound of ground beef ($1.30) with

1 large chopped onion - $0.15
1/2 jalapeno, finely chopped - $0.06
1 teaspoon of garlic -$0.04
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper or hot paprika -$0.03

Divide the seasoned beef (or chicken or shredded pork or turkey) onto each tortilla. Sprinkle with 2/3 of an ounce of cheese on each ($0.79), then lettuce, preferably from a window garden ($0.08).

Lacto-fermenting a condiment like salsa is a means of preserving it as well as turning the food into a probiotic. I lacto-ferment my salsa, but if you're not interested in lacto-fermenting, the same recipe can be used to make regular salsa. Just immediately refrigerate instead of letting it ferment on the counter. I put one heaping tablespoon of salsa onto each taco ($0.30), then fold it over.

I didn't know until I finished this post that this recipe is the exact same price as my old taco recipe, but I like these better. They are more from scratch, homegrown, with no mystery ingredients, and they taste amazing.

Those Bins

2010-01-09T06:00:00.004-05:00

Those bins were a hot topic when I posted pictures of my apartment. I stand by my belief that the most effective form of childproofing is by teaching boundaries. No one is going to change my mind on this. This is how I was raised, my husband was raised, nearly everyone everywhere has been raised, and most of us have lived to tell the story.

That said, that is not the point of this post. Here were some suggestions to my "problem bins."

#1) Move them to a basement, relative's home or storage unit.

Those bins were accessed frequently. I have a three month old, 16 month old and 3.5 year old. None of them fit exactly into standard sizes. I am swapping clothes in and out of those bins as needed.

#2) Get rid of some clothes.

I have about two weeks of summer outfits and two weeks of winter outfits for each size, with some clothes overlapping, so that suggestion didn't make any sense. However, each bin was only about a third filled, some less.

I used these bins because they were practical. We had them from moving and they fit in the space. However, I have since picked up some old milk crates from a yard sale. I had to do some rearranging elsewhere to free up the crates, but the contents of each container fits perfectly, some with plenty of space to fit the clothes that are currently in my kids' wardrobe. I put a curtain over it, as the milk crates were an assortment of colors. I like the new storage solution.

Lesson Learned: Have containers that fit what you need.

(I feel silly for wasting that much space that whole time.)

Cloth Diaper Questions

2010-01-08T06:00:00.009-05:00

What type do you use?

I use Thirsties brand all-in-one diapers with a pocket. I use Gerber prefolds for an insert, which you can get anywhere.

How many do you have?

I have a dozen of each small and large sized diapers. I don't have a lot because we do elimination communication, so we mostly use them for Bobby at night and when we go out. Thomas is still learning the communication part of elimination communication, but we see improvements and we are relying less on diapers. If you don't do elimination communication, you will need more.

I skipped the extra-small and medium sized, as a big diaper will fit a small baby easily. Thomas would have already outgrown the extra-small by now anyway and he can wear the large ones when needed. Bobby transitioned from the small to large as Daniel potty-trained.

If I were to start over and had a chance to buy them again, I would have just bought a bunch of one-sized-fits-all, all-in one diapers. I hear that Thirsties is one of the best brands. I have had no problem with them, but they are the only one I've tried, so I have no reference point.

I probably didn't get the best price. I shopped around a bit, and found them for a decent price. If I were to start again, I would spend some time finding the best price through online retailers.

How frequently do you wash?

I wash daily. I'd rather not keep those stinky things around. Washing daily is ideal for hand washing and wonderwashing, but may not be ideal with a washing machine.

What is your washing process?

When the diaper is removed, any solids are shaken into the toilet. Then the diaper is hand scrubbed in the bathroom sink. If there are no solids, it is immediately rinsed. The wonderwash acts as the diaper pail until the end of the day when I wash the load. The wonderwash is perfect as it will do a small load. I hand wring diapers before hanging them to dry.

What was your hand-washing process?

When I hand washed, I did the rinsing and everything in the sink, then would do a small load in the sink with what ever diapers had collected. I filled the sink with water and my detergent. Then I would knead the diapers, let them drain and repeat until the water was clear after kneading.

How do you disinfect?

Hand washing disinfecting is no different than the steps taken to disinfect in a washing machine. The water going into a washing machine isn't hotter than the water coming out of my faucet, and neither is hot enough to disinfect.

I add white vinegar to the soap nuts, generally about a quarter cup, since the loads are small. Then, I hang the diapers on a drying line that goes across the window, so they dry in the sun. If one of my kids starts to get a rash, which is extremely infrequent with elimination communication, I boil the diapers.

How long have you used them?

I used cloth diapers when Daniel was a baby, but got out of the habit. I only had prefolds and wet pants, so they were harder to work with than my all-in-ones, which work like a disposable. I started using them again when I got pregnant with Thomas.

Does it save money?

If you only have one child and buy a large stash of expensive diapers, they will most likely still save over disposables. If you want more than one child, even expensive cloth diapers will save money over disposables. For an elimination communication family, it saves, too, especially if you want a large brood like we do.

What about cloth wipes?

I use cloth wipes and prefer them to regular wipes. We just use baby face cloths that have been designated for bum wipes. They clean better than disposable wipes with out the chemicals. I clean them the same way I clean diapers.

Do you find it easy?

No, I would not consider cloth diapering easy. I spend about twenty minutes a day on diaper rinsing, laundering, wringing and hanging. I spend probably two hours total on all housework and cooking each day, so it is a chunk of my work. Along with being frugal, cloth diapers are better for theenvironment and a baby's health, so it is undoubtedly worth the effort.

Family Time Thursday: Cracking Eggs

2010-01-07T08:00:00.000-05:00

Don't you love these theme days? Well, I do. I love structure. Here's my schedule:

Recipe Monday
Touring Tuesday
Random Wednesday
Family Time Thursday
FAQ Friday
Storage Solutions Saturday
Book Review or Skip-It Sunday

Most of my day-to-day posts are written with my kids in my mind, but I can see how my readers may not read it as such. When I write about cooking, I write about cooking with kids "helping". When I write about gardening, I am writing about plants that are potted and watered by kids. The kids even tumble my wonderwash with me (and think it's a game we count). They hand me clothespins as I hang clothes to dry. They take turns sweeping after I've gone through the main living areas. Most of the things I write about are things we all do together, and most of the time I am writing I have at least one little one on my lap.

Still, I have had a lot of things to write about for kid specific activities, but it never seemed like a priority for this blog. I decided to make it a priority, though, because the ideas were kind of piling up for posts. General family time, family reflections, kids-specific activities and learning activities will all go here on Family Time Thursday.

Cracking Eggs

Bobby, Daniel and I eat a lot of eggs. My diet could be summed up as mostly eggs and apples. So, a month or so ago, I started having Daniel crack the eggs. There is a lot to be learned in egg cracking, and there are three basic techniques we use.

Crack and Open

This is the adult method of breaking eggs. You crack it on the side of the bowl then use your fingers to open it up. Daniel does a smash and crumble. This one makes him nervous, because
he can feel the egg shell opening in his hand. We discuss: How hard to you have to smash to break the yolk?

Smash and Smash

Yes, keep smashing until the egg shell is totally broken. Then, watch Mommy try to pick
out the little pieces of shell. This is a favorite with Daniel. So far the yolk has not once been in tact from this method. We've got to work on more delicate smashing skills it seems.

Dropping Eggs

Hold egg directly over a bowl at various heights and drop. Sometimes, depending on the
height, you have to drop it twice. We discuss: How high does it have to be for the yoke to break? How high does it have to be for it only to need one drop? How high does it need to be before some splashes out of the bowl? Will Mommy let me stand on a chair and drop the egg into a bowl that is sitting on the floor?

Dividing Whites

My son cannot divide the whites from the yolks yet, but when I started cooking, that step seemed so intimidating. It's not really. Whites and yolks are quite different from each other and can be divided easily. When we do the crack and open method, sometimes I have him crack, then I divide, just to show him. He hasn't wanted to try it himself, but he can see how it is done.

What About Bob?

Bobby always watches and listens to our little chats about the eggs, making observations. Bobby has the nickname "Bam-Bam" because he doesn't yet know his own strength. (He is a tank.) I am sure I will have a big mess if I let him start cracking eggs before he's ready.

Moving Towards

2010-01-06T06:00:00.011-05:00

I thought I would explain the plan. People doubt the plan, but I have assumed that it was from misunderstandings. So, I am laying it out step-by-step, and if people still doubt the plan, I am up for suggestions on what we might be overlooking.

Dan is in Bible college currently. He will graduate either Spring of 2011 or 2012, depending on some scheduling issues. Whichever year doesn't effect the plan so much, but it is taken into consideration for the time frame.

So, here is the plan. I will say that we have earned more money for this plan through the blog than through savings. For that I am thankful. If it were not for blog income, the plan would take longer.

Step 1) Buy a mobile home. We have no idea where we are going to end up and how often we'll be moving after, so a mobile home is the way to go for us. At first, we will rent a lot for it in a park. The money we save on rent can be used to pay utilities that aren't covered and to put towards the next step.

Step 2) Fix up the mobile home. I have grandiose plans for a layout that will suit an expanding family. We will change the layout and fix up anything else in need of work. I will start posting my layout ideas when my Touring Tuesdays are done.

Step 3 and 4) Buy land or make home energy efficient. Which we do first depends on whether Dan has a pastorate yet and which will reap savings faster. Not all lots within our price range will be hook-up ready for water, and we may end up building our own well. Thus, if we are looking at land that isn't ready for us, we will want our home to have solar panels for heat and electricity.

Step 5) Build a chicken coop. This will be our first venture into livestock, but not our last. Where we go from there is hard to write on paper, as there will be so many variables in the type of land we have, and how much, but we will continue one step at a time.

All the while...

I will be working on homesteading by increasing our garden and renewable food sources. I will also be researching, researching, researching the next step.

How much, how long?

This is not a short term goal, but I imagine we could be on step five in ten years, and probably going back to step two as we go. Right now, we're putting the blog money aside to start step one. Once Dan is through with school, we will be putting the money that was for his tuition toward these goals, one at a time.

This is MY Blog

2010-01-05T13:30:00.002-05:00

Last week, I turned off comment moderation in hopes that my trolls would simply get it out of their system. Little did I know, the source of their hate was deep. Although I am not the cause of their hatred and misery, for some reason, it feels good for them to take it out on me.

For a while, it was okay. I could see my fractions of pennies adding up as everyone threw in their own two cents. But, it has gone too far. For the second day in a row, this blog has been no fun. Once again, my husband and I are discussing what it will take for us to shut it down.

In hopes to avoid shutting it down, I have reinstated comment moderation. Here are some rules.

No anonymous comments. You can type your name in the Name/URL box. If you don't have a URL, use mine, or just type in google. Better yet, throw in your swagbucks referral code. But anonymous comments will not be moderated. They will be deleted.

Be productive. Didn't your mother teach you that if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all? Well, if you have criticism, make it productive. Make a suggestion, or include a link or a reference.

Get a life. I know this may be counterproductive to my blog income, but people who are spending their time calculating calories and trying to measure my stuff may be able to find something better to do... in their own life.

Join sybermoms. Yes, sybermoms, I have finally written about you. If you can't be nice, productive or intelligent, join sybermoms for mindless chatter with like-minded people.

Lay off my husband. None of you know him, but he's a great guy, great enough for me to want to spend every day of my life with. No insults about my husband will be published.

Stay on topic. I wrote posts about what I find interesting or noteworthy. If you're interested in something else, start your own blog.

Touring Tuesday Overview

2010-01-05T06:00:00.012-05:00

I am kicking off a new short series, Touring Tuesdays. I always love snooping around the homes of other bloggers who put up pics of their homes, so I thought you would enjoy the same.

Our apartment is small, roughly 450 square feet. I think we use the space well, but you can judge for yourselves. This week I am posting one picture of each room. In coming weeks as I go through one room per week, I will post at least four pics of each room, one from each corner of the room. I will add additional if more are needed to get the whole idea.

I decided to be honest about how my apartment looks. I sweep every day, but I only mop as needed. I vacuum as needed as well. I leave my dishes in the drainer and toys on the floor to be played with. I almost never make the big bed because there is usually someone snuggling in it. This is a lived in home, not a museum, and that's how we like it.

Bedroom
Bathroom

Boys' Room

Living Room

Kitchen

If you have questions, ask and I'll try to highlight it on the individual room post or in a Storage Solutions Saturday post.

(I brightened each of these pictures. Our apartment gets good light with three large south-facing windows, but it didn't come through in the pics and the darkness made it hard to see.)

Hot Chocolate, Baking Powder, and Spaghetti Squash

2010-01-04T06:00:00.012-05:00

Hot Chocolate

For us in Maine, winter means hot chocolate. I admit, when we were first married, I bought the powdered hot chocolate mix that you add to hot water. Never again...

Heat on stove or in microwave

1 cup milk

Add

1 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon stevia (or 2 tablespoons sugar)

I haven't done a price comparison of this to store bought. Store bought might be cheaper, but this is far yummier and made from real ingredients, so we'll go with this.

Baking Powder

In a quest to clear my home of all genetically modified foods, I discovered my baking powder has cornstarch as it's leading ingredient. I remembered the Tightwad Gazettehad discussed baking powder alternatives. Amy Dacyczyn's baking soda and cream of tartar recipe will save a fraction of a penny each time you use it, as well as being a natural, non-GMO alternative.

The formula is a little tricky, but it works perfectly. I made this chart that I taped to my old box of baking powder, which now holds my cream of tarter. For each part of baking powder called for, use 1/4 part baking soda and 1/2 part cream of tartar.

Spaghetti squash

Spaghetti squash is my version of fast food. Dan has been home for more meals while he is on Christmas vacation from school. To save me some time in the kitchen, I have turned to spaghetti squash, which is cheap right now.

I cut the squash into quarters and use one quarter in the place of pasta in recipes. It cost roughly the same as my pasta recipe, depending on how large the squash is. It saves me about fifteen minutes of hands on prep time in making and fermenting dough, rolling it out and cutting it. I just boil the squash for 20 minutes, peel off the skin, and mix it in with the rest of my dish.

I get most of my produce from a local market that gets shipments from Boston to Maine three times a week, sorry locavores. I have no idea where they came from before they got to Boston. I don't imagine they are grown there. This small market has the best produce prices I have ever seen, and it almost always beats my 10% discount on Walmart produce. They are the reason for my $1 per pound produce rule, because they have an amazing variety of produce that fits into that category.

Free Books for Bloggers

2010-01-03T06:00:00.006-05:00

I recently discovered the Thomas Nelson Book Review Program from the blog Proverbs 31 Woman in Training.

It's a pretty simple program for bloggers. You pick out a book to review from their site. They send you that book for free. You write a review on your blog and link it to their site. Repeat.

Knowing that my book reviews may not be extremely interesting to all of my regular readers, I am only going to post them on Sunday, which has traditionally been my day off. I expect I will do about one per month, maybe two, depending on how fast they ship. By putting the review on Sunday, I will not be displacing my regular content.

Now that I'm with BlogHer, I am a little more limited about my reviewing capacity, but their rules state:

"You may also accept for free and review any product(s) with a retail value of under $40 (U.S.) as long as you properly disclose that you were given the product."

So, I am disclosing that I will review these free books, and am recommending that if you are interested in free books, you might want to check out this program, even if you're with BlogHer.

Tool Storage - Where to Store Tools When You Have No Space

2010-01-02T06:00:00.005-05:00

This is my living room wall. It has pictures hanging on the left, a pretty scarf hanging on the right next to an old wrench on pegboard. On the bottom are storage solutions that will be discussed in future posts. Today's focus is on our tools:

When the scarf is moved, you see our tools. We have them lined up with the sharpest tools toward the top, going down to the less sharp tools toward the bottom. The bottom is blocked off from the kids, but we still didn't want the screwdrivers within their reach.

We also have an electric saw on the wall in our bedroom. It has a special hook and we couldn't hide it neatly behind the cloth.

Our tools are pretty basic at this point, with an electric drill and electric saw. Everything else is a hand tool, including a wrench set, screwdrivers and a hand saw. The plastic bait container in the middle is a catch-all for various pieces of hardware.

We had a toolbox, but we found this is a way to make our tools more easily accessible. This way we don't have to pull out half of our stuff to get to what we are looking for. I don't mind the look of pegboard on our living room wall, but if I did, I could paint it any color, or even turn it into a fun mural.

What about socialization for homescoolers?

2010-01-01T06:00:00.007-05:00

This post is part of FAQ Fridays. If you have a question you would like answered, you can ask it on any FAQ Friday post, or in the FAQ page.

Question

What about socialization?

Answer

To newcomers, I plan on homeschooling my children. You can read why I am homeschooling here. This post will only address the socialization aspect of homeschooling. It will not address the budget, time management, curriculum or qualification questions you may have about homeschooling. You can ask them in the comment section and I will add them to the FAQ.

So, there are two basic camps about socialization and homeschooling.

Sports and Extracurricula Activites

Some homeschooling families want to model the public school's version of socialization. Enrolling kids into sports programs and extracurricula activities at the local school is the logical answer. This is hanging out with kids their own age doing things that they are all interested in together.

Community

The other camp says that hanging out with kids the exact same age as you is not socialization, because in the real world and in the work force, you are interacting with people in a wide range of age levels and interests. These families lean toward community activites for socialization, where children will play with other children and learn to interact with adults.

Our Family

Our family generally belongs in the second camp. Festivals, parks, libraries, church: these are real life things that our children right now are mostly spectators of, but are becoming more involved with. This is where real socialization happens for us, where our children interact with people similar to them and with people very different. They learn to respond to differences and understand them.

What about sports and extracurriculas?

Hanging out with people who are the same age as you and do the same things as you is not a well-rounded means of social interaction, in our minds. These activites have nothing to do with our plan for socialization, but have a lot to do with our plans to have each child pursue activities they enjoy. It is more of a curriculum activity than a socialization activity.

Six New Years' Resolutions

2009-12-31T06:00:00.015-05:00

I think goal-setting is extremely important, and the New Year is a convenient time to make measurable goals for the upcoming year. Writing down your goals as a reminder is wise. Telling over 1,500 people, via a blog, is a sure way to be kept accountable.

Frugal/Green/Health Goals:

1) I want to go "no poo". I want to end my and my husband's shampoo addiction and stop my kids' before it takes hold. My husband has oily-ish hair, where my hair is rather dry, so this will be an adventure.

2) I want to start soap-making. I've wanted to for a while, but we had a large stash of store-bought soap that we've been working through. When that's used up, I am going to start churning out my own soap.

3) I want to start cheese making. This is not a frugal undertaking, but a hobby. I think I've figured out a way for it to not cost more than store-bought cheese, but I'll save those details for another post.

Personal Goals

1) I want to be a better wife. Mainly, I want to be a better forgiver. My husband is very forgiving, and I would like to reciprocate with Christ-like forgiveness.

2) I want to blog with reckless abandon. Whenever I try to make this blog less controversial, it becomes more and more of a battleground. Believe it or not, that is not what I am aiming for. So, I'm going to stop trying to avoid the the controversy and blog however I want.

3) I want Daniel to be able to write his name by the end of the year. He can recognize maybe half of the letters of the alphabet. I would like him to know them all by the summer, and start writing enough for his name by the end of the year. If he writes "DAN" and not "DANIEL" that counts as success.

What are your goals?

It's Called Homesteading

2009-12-30T06:00:00.027-05:00

I had actually never heard of homesteading before I started this blog. I may have heard the word thrown around, but I didn't know that there was a segment of our population called homesteaders.

What I did know was that I was aiming for a more and more sustainable and self-sufficient life. I am aiming for a life that demands less and less outside income and outside resources.

As an apartment dweller, I am admittedly more limited in this. Dan won't let me build a chicken coop in here, but I am practicing now for larger goals.

Gardening

Our indoor window winter garden is not only thriving, it is multiplying. We have all the fresh lettuce and green onions we could want. I just started three more pots for lettuce, so we will have six pots growing. My two garlic plants are getting tall, but neither has started a bulb yet. We eat some of the greens in recipes calling for garlic.

Cultures

We have our water kefir and our sourdough starter for yeast and bacteria cultures. These are our pets. We feed them and they feed us. I made my sourdough starter from the Nourishing Traditions recipe, but used wheat instead of rye flour. It turned out okay. I'm still playing with some other starter recipes so I can report on one I whole-heartedly love.

Sprouting

Sprouting seeds can multiply the quantity of food for the price of the water. I do this with beans for our chili, starting the sprouting on Tuesday for Friday's chili. I also have been experimenting with sprouting wheat, which metabolizes as a vegetable after sprouting.

I love that I have this apartment homesteading time. It is a low-pressure time that gives me practice and allows me to study for future plans. I love that I can do this step by step, adding in new things leisurely, yet with purpose. Sustainability and frugality go hand in hand and I find the possibilities thrilling.

Thanks, Walmart!

2009-12-29T06:00:00.005-05:00

Walmart gives out gift bags to employees at Christmas and some people win a big prize. My husband won a prize. (Some people have all the luck, huh?)

He brought home this big gift, all wrapped in paper, and told me that his co-worker said it was a toaster oven.

A toaster oven?

So, I listed to my husband the ways in which my crock pot was far superior to a toaster oven and that we didn't need it. Having expected this, he said we couldn't return it, so I set my mind to selling it on Craigslist.

I tore off the paper so that I could get information to list it properly only to find...

A roaster oven!

A roaster ovenis like a giant crock pot/mini-oven.

It is more energy efficient than an oven by up to 70%.
It holds more stuff than a crock pot, up to an 18 pound turkey, or larger if I hack the legs off first.
It fits all of the pans I own except my pizza pan, but I can cook a good sized pizza in it anyway. It also fits the car pan I got for my kids, so I won't have to turn on the oven to play with it.
It has the temperature control of an oven, with ranges of 150-450, plus a lower range for warming.
It has a rack that slides in, like the racks in an oven.
The enamel "crock" of it is removable for easy cleaning.

There is nothing I can't do with this roaster oven, except keep my counter clear. This thing is huge, about the size of my microwave, which is also huge.

My crock pot adventures have now turned to roaster oven adventures. I'm even thinking of figuring out a way to make cheese in it.

Easy Quesadillas Recipe

2009-12-28T06:00:00.003-05:00

Quesadillas are our favorite meal. It's pretty tricky to calculate the actual cost of a quesadilla meal, since it changes every time based on what we have on hand. So, I'm calling it $3.00 even.

First, make tortillas. Mix

2 cups whole white wheat flour
3/4 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup shortening
1/2 cups water

For a soaked grain tortilla, add 1 tablespoons of whey, yogurt or cider vinegar, mix dough the day before and leave at room temperature until you are ready to cook it.

Divide the dough into however many quesadillas you want. We make seven, two for each adult, one for each Bobby and Daniel, and one for Dan's lunch the next day. Roll the dough into a circle. It doesn't have to be perfect, just symmetrical. Then, fry it in a dry pan on both sides.

Now, for the filling. Quesadillas can have anything you want as long as it includes cheese. We like to spread cream cheese on one half when we have it. Then start loading in meat, veggies and spices, then put more cheese on top.

Here are some combinations we like:

chicken, green onions and Cajun spice
sausage and bell peppers
beef, peppers and onions
chicken and salsa
taco beef, salsa and green onions
garlic and chicken

You can use whatever cheese you have, whatever fillings you have. It's great for using up leftovers. When you've got your ingredients assembled, fold the tortilla over. Fry it in a hot pan, flipping it over halfway through, until the cheese is melted and the tortilla is crispy.

Introducing a Price Chart

2009-12-27T14:30:00.001-05:00

(This is an old post that I am republishing. I wrote about the topic yesterday, assuming it was common knowledge. Through some valid criticism in the comments section, I decided to repost this information because I think it will be helpful to readers. I do apologize to any that were offended. That was not my intent.)

Would you pay $0.98 per pound for potatoes if you knew you could get them for $0.35 per pound elsewhere? Would you pay $1.99 for pork chops if you knew they went on sale regularly for $0.99? How do you know when a sale is really a good sale?

As far as I can see, there is only one way to get the lowest prices on food. It is commonly referred to as a price book, but I find a chart easier to work with and fit in my purse. First, list all of the most common ingredients you buy. Here is my list, basically divided by where they are in the store:

potatoes
carrots
onions
bananas
apples

white wheat flour
stevia
vanilla
cinnamon
lard
oatmeal
tomato paste
diced tomatoes
dried beans
tonic water

ground turkey
chicken quarter
ground beef
pork shoulder
butter
eggs
milk
cheese
frozen broccoli
frozen green beans
frozen strawberries

Your list will probably look different.

Next, what stores are in your area? The best way to find this out is the yellow pages. There were stores in my town I didn't know about. Most of them were high priced Mom-n-Pop type stores, but I found a small market where I get most of my produce for way less than anywhere else.

I also live a short distance from the biggest city in Maine. I go there frequently, so I included a few stores, but certainly not all. I included a Dollar Tree with a big frozen section and a Save-A-Lot, which we don't have in our town.

So I have Walmart, two in-town supermarkets, the local market with good produce, Save-A-Lot and the Dollar Tree. If you have a Sam's or BJ's membership, include these. I went into all of them and got their regular price on the items on my list. This is a time investment, but it will pay for itself quickly.

Walmart and Save-A-Lot have the most general low prices. Walmart has a better selection, but Save-A-Lot has better meat prices. One supermarket has the best prices on cheese, dairy and ham. The other supermarket has high prices but good sales, along with an "almost expired" produce rack, where I can add variety to my produce menu I would otherwise not afford. The local market has the best price on produce and a few other things. The Dollar Tree has the best price on strawberries ($1/lb, frozen!) and a few other things.

Now, with this knowledge, I DO NOT GO TO EVERY STORE EVERY WEEK. I go to Walmart every week, because that's where I get my flour, eggs, and butter, which I seem to run out of a lot. When I go to the other stores, I go to buy several weeks worth of what they have cheapest.

I check www.mygrocerydeals.com almost every week to see if any of the stores are having worthwhile sales on my ingredients. This website is an excellent free resource that gathers the sales flyers for the supermarkets in your area.

I also have a basic price guide for buying things that aren't in my regular menu when the mood strikes. I don't pay more that $1.50 per pound for meat or more than $1.00 per pound for produce, with occasional exceptions.

Is Angel Food Ministries A Good Deal?

2009-12-26T06:00:00.006-05:00

This post is part of FAQ Friday. Yes, I know it's Saturday, but I really enjoy FAQ Friday, so I'm doing it anyway, because it's my blog and I can do what I want to.

Question:

Why don't you use Angel Food Ministries?

Answer:

First, to explain, Angel Foods Ministries sells boxes of food for $30 which are supposed to be worth $60, so that sounds like quite a bargain. It is not a handout, as you pay for the groceries, and it is not bound by income restrictions, as WIC, Food Stamps, and often food pantries are. Anyone of any income level can take advantage of it. I have been asked about it several times.

I don't use Angel Food for a simple reason: it's not a good deal.

I have some general food shopping rules:

Produce: I don't buy produce for more than $1.00 per pound. I sometimes stretch this rule to allow for $1.00 to be the average in a meal. This rule allows me to regularly purchase: oranges, apples, pears, bananas, berries, potatoes, onions, bell peppers, tomatoes, broccoli, cabbage, and carrots along with a larger variety during various seasons when other items go on sale.

Meat: I don't pay more than $1.50 per pound for meat. Within that I can get chicken quarters, whole turkey, whole chickens, ground beef, brisket beef, beef ribs, ground turkey, pork shoulder, ham and eggs. I break this rule for bacon, like yesterday for Christmas, or tuna, which often goes on sale.

Grains and Spices: I have no rule for grains and spices, but I shop around for prices and buy in bulk if it saves. I count some produce as a spice, like ginger, chili peppers, and garlic.

I looked for the best prices for the Angel Food Ministries boxes. You have to buy a whole box, you can't just buy individual items. Angel Foods Ministries best price on meat, for example, in their December menu, is 10 pounds of poultry for $20, or $2.00 per pound. You can get whole chickens for $0.88 per pound without looking too hard, so you can get 10 pounds for $8.80.

Their fruit and veggie box, for $22.00 includes 3 pounds sweet potatoes ($0.75), four large russet potatoes ($0.50), 3 pound bag of onions ($1.20), 1 pound carrots ($0.45), 1 head cabbage ($0.80), one stalk celery ($1.30), four lemons ($1.20), six oranges ($2.00), four grapefruit ($3.00), 1 mango ($2.00), one avacado ($0.79), one pound kiwi ($2.00). It's been a while since I've priced kiwis, mangoes or grapefruits, so I guessed high for those. So, for $22.00, you can get $16.00 worth of produce. No one in my family likes grapefruit, so those might even go to waste. I would rather buy produce that I know we like for a reasonable price.

Even worse, the meat and produce boxes are additional boxes. You have to buy their $30 signature box to get the meat and produce box. Their signature box, in December, includes nutritional gems such as: chicken nuggets, fish sticks, french fries, shelf stable milk, white flour tortillas and a "dessert."

It's possible that in some areas, like maybe Hawaii, the prices of Angel Food Ministry boxes beat out shopping around. However, I use a price chart, find the best prices for the food my family eats the most of and get lower prices than Angel Food Ministries. I'm not going to say it is not worthwhile. For people who live in an area with a very high cost of living, and for the perpetually lazy who can't bother to make themselves a price chart*, this is a good deal.

* (A price chart, or price book, is made by listing the foods you most frequently buy and checking local stores to see where you can get the best price on each. I don't stop at every store every week. I buy a few week's worth of an item each time I go to the store.)

Man of Sorrows...

2009-12-24T06:00:00.008-05:00

...what a name,
For the Son of god, who came,
Ruined sinners to reclaim...

Guilty, vile, and helpless me,
Spotless lamb of god was he.
Full atonement, can it be?

~

Roughly two thousand years ago, a baby boy was born.

Even as a child, he spoke authoritatively about the ways of God.

Many people have sought to know this man and to understand what he taught.

He taught a standard of ethic that no man could live up to, except he himself did.

After he was executed for his teachings, he could not stay dead, but conquered death.

The man-God, who is Yeshua, Jesus, the majestic creator, is worthy to be worshipped.

That he became a man is what we celebrate at Christmas, but it should be celebrated daily. The fact that God became a man and conquered the curse of death on our behalf has in every way changed my life for now and forever. My gratitude can never be fully expressed, as it is eternal.

~

Hallelujah! What a savior!

"Man of Sorrows" © Phillip P. Bliss, 1875

Planning For Extended Family Christmas - Four Christmases

2009-12-23T06:00:00.006-05:00

Yes, four Christmases. How many do you have? Ours get kicked off today.

Dan's Paternal Nana

Nana and two of Dan's aunts are visiting us today, weather permitting. We exchange a small gift with Nana and are going to give a few pictures to the aunts. Daniel is pretty excited to see them. He loves it when Dan or I are chatting with either Nana or "Auntie" on Facebook. I expect a lot of rough play with "Auntie" today. She is a gem of an aunt.

My Mom's Family

We alternate Christmas between Dan's family and my mom's family. This year is Dan's family's turn, so we see my mom's family on Christmas Eve. There is a massive gift exchange here, with everyone buying everyone else presents. On Christmas Eve, my mom hosts a get together. I like to help her with the cooking. My kids love to play with her young step-children.

Dan's Maternal Nana

We will be going to the home of Dan's maternal Nana on Christmas day. We exchange gifts with Dan's parents and Dan's Nana. I love my in-laws, especially Dan's cousins, who have become dear friends. We went from seeing them several times a week to seeing them a few times a year, so we are looking forward to seeing everyone. Most of Dan's family hasn't met Thomas yet. Even though our children are the only ones of their generation, we expect a lot of playing to be going on.

My Dad's Family

We always get together the week after Christmas. We go to an all you-can-eat Chinese restaurant, then go back to my sister's house, that used to be my grandparent's house. We do a small gift exchange, where everyone buys for everyone else, but nothing big. My Dad sells stuff on ebay for a living, so he gives out the yard sale stuff that wouldn't sell.

My Multiple Christmases Tip

My non-tightwaddish but sanity-saving holiday tip for people with a lot of Christmases: buy a package of disposable diapers. That's my solution for pretty much all hectic times. It's my Christmas present to myself. I get a week without washing cloth diapers. I don't have to bag up poopy diapers and take them with us in the car for two hours. I don't have to explain anything about cloth diapering to family members, because no one will ask.

Do you have any tips on surviving many christmases and hectic holidays?

Santa isn't Mandatory (Or Frugal)

2009-12-22T06:00:00.008-05:00

I've done a little bit of research on the folklore of Saint Nicholas. Stories conflict about who he was and who he helped. One thing seems consistent through the various stories: Saint Nicholas was a man of God who helped the destitute.

Santa Claus of today seems to be a glutton who probably has some serious gut dysfunction from all those cookies. He seems to pass over the poor of the world, and heap toys onto the wealthiest children this world has ever seen.

My parents did Santa when I was growing up. We got a stocking from Santa. When I asked Santa for a piano, I got a mini piano, because he only can bring things that will fit in a stocking. One year, my Dad had my oldest brother, who was nine years older than me, get us all up in the middle of the night to peer down the stairs at Santa putting toys in our stockings. We thought it was awesome how the dog didn't bark at Santa, since the dog always barked at strangers.

Dan's parents omitted Santa because they thought it was lying to their kid. I can agree with this point. If we put gifts in stockings in the future, we won't lie to our children and tell them someone else bought them for them. We might tell the story of a kind man who gave to the poor, and remind our children that they too should be thinking of those less fortunate than themselves.
I don't like that for some families doing Santa feels obligatory. No tradition should feel forced. We may do Christmas differently than others, but we are evaluating each tradition open to us and deciding if it is something we want for our family. It will probably be years until we have a set of traditions that we are truly content with for our family, and I think that's a good thing.

Johnny Mazzetti Recipe

2009-12-21T10:00:00.002-05:00

There are about as many recipes for Johnny Mazzetti as there are people cooking it. Growing up, the recipe was elbow pasta, ground pork, green peppers, onions, black pepper, Parmesan cheese and tomato soup.

Mine is different, since ground pork is usually over $2 per pound and tomato soup has corn syrup.

I make the sauce from

12 ounces cooked pork shoulder - $1.20
1 can, 28 ounces, tomato puree - $1.08
1 pound peppers and onions, chopped - $1.00
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped - $0.14
1 tablespoon black pepper - $0.03

Stir in

whole wheat pasta - $0.24

For the peppers and onions I will do one of two things. I can get a bag of peppers and onions chopped and frozen for $1 per pound. They have green, yellow and red peppers. It is a variation of my mom's recipe, but it is still good. Or, if I can find green peppers for under $1.60 per pound, I will buy large ones. One large pepper and one large onion bring the average cost for the produce to just under $1 per pound, so it still fits into my produce rule. If the price is good enough, I buy several and chop them and freeze them for this meal. It tastes more like home with the green peppers.

Merry Christmas Blog Readers!

2009-12-20T18:00:00.001-05:00

I can't really express how much my blog readers have done for me. I know that sometimes I get a little testy with some of you and for that I am sorry. I am learning to pray before I type.

My Christmas present to you is COLOR. I hope you like it.

I liked having a black and white blog, but adding in color for advertisements and the food posts took away from the crispness of it. So, I've been searching around for a high contrast background that would welcome color in the posts. I really like it.

This coming year, I want to turn this blog into more of a resource, not just a hobby, or even just an income. I'm going to do a lot of redesigning in the sidebars to make it more reader friendly and so that you can more easily find useful information that you are looking for. I enjoy a good debate with you all, and will continue the FAQ Fridays, which I am sure will stir up controversy. It seems like my perspective is controversial whether I want it to be or not. However I want my focus to be more useful, informative and fun content, even if that means my readership goes down a little.

It's going to take some time for the blog to look exactly the way I want, so bear with me and leave me some feedback. If you're here at the right time, you might see the blog while it's a real mess!

Cheap Christmas Gift Wrap Ideas

2009-12-19T06:00:00.004-05:00

I buy clearance wrapping paper after the holidays. Sometimes I use newspaper, magazine pages or kids' art for smaller gifts. To wrap food gifts, I got some rolls of clear plastic after Easter, the stuff that you use to wrap up an Easter basket. I buy clearance ribbons after the holidays, though sometimes I use colorful string or yarn for a more dainty look

I always omit the bows and put something different in its place. I like paper toys as a whimsical touch on gifts for kids. A sculptural shape from some pipe cleaners can take the place of a bow. On gifts for women, I might attach a fake flower. In a pinch, I'll use curling ribbon to make a bow effect.

Some other bloggers that I read are doing it differently.

Trent at the Simple Dollar is keeping things really simple with packing paper and yarn.

Amy at the Simple, Green, Frugal Co-Op sewed fabric wrapping paper. This isn't so good for kids who like to tear open paper, but for green-thinking adults, this is a great idea.

Lynnae at Being Frugal has some creative ideas for reusable wrapping paper.

Slugmama explains the Japanese Furoshiki, among other frugal alternatives to wrapping paper.

Amy at Circus McGurcus has a great way to wrap a gag gift with paper grocery store bags.

Stacy at Moderate Means has her gifts under the tree in their cloth sacks.

(If anyone else has recently written a post about wrapping paper, link it in the comments section and I'll add it to the post.)

How do you save on gift wrapping?

If I had a Million Dollars I Would

2009-12-18T06:00:00.007-05:00

Friday is dedicated to answer questions from the Frequently Asked Questions. If you have questions you want added to the FAQ, you can ask them on any FAQ Friday post or in the FAQ page.

Question:

What would you do if you were given a million dollars, taxes were already taken out and you had to accept it?

Answer:

I'm not sure how this would happen, where I would be forced to take money, but here's my answer. My husband and I talked this over, because it was kind of hard for us to come up with an answer that accounted for all of the money. The first $100,000 would be a tithe, split between the local church we attend and our "home church" that Dan is in the process of being ordained by. That was the easy part.

Another $100,000 to $200,000 would go into setting up a modestly built-by-us, sustainable homestead.

This is where it gets sticky. My husband wants to help our kids through college. I think putting kids through college teaches them they don't have to work for their goals. With our current income, we'd be splitting our annual $2 from UPromise between ten kids. I'm not sure how he's planning on helping more.

In real life, I am winning this debate by default, but if we had $1,000,000, he would have a better chance at winning the debate. At this point in real life, we are considering it an open discussion, since it is so far off.

If it weren't for the college debate, the rest would be put into savings of some sort. I'm sure we would be booted from government health insurance and would start paying our own health insurance with that money. (We are still on the government insurance and waiting to see what happens with the health care bill before deciding on the most economical way to proceed.)

My husband would continue college and continue working and seek a pastorate. I would still mystery shop for free restaurant meals. It's kind of a boring answer. Sorry if you were hoping for something more exciting.

What I find interesting is that the premise of the question suggests that we are frugal due to a lack of funds. That is not true. We are frugal because it is the right thing to do. Having a lack of funds has just given us better practice at being frugal.

Our Family's Christmas Gifts

2009-12-17T06:00:00.009-05:00

My husband and I have a $50 budget for each other and a $10 budget for each kid. The reason that ours is much higher is that we are the only ones who buy gifts for each other. We get money and gift cards from the rest of our family and that mostly goes into savings or general funds. My kids get a ton of toys from everyone else. Not wanting to add to the clutter, I don't spend much on them.

Kids

Daniel

Daniel loves Lightning McQueen. I bought him a Lightning McQueen tambourine and a Lightning McQueen block puzzle, each $1.

Bobby

Bobby is obsessed with wallets. So, for a few months, I've been saving those cards that come in the mail for him, along with my expired AAA card and used gift cards. I got him a $1 wallet that was distinctively different from mine and Dan's so he learns the difference.

Thomas

Traditionally, we have bought nothing for our babies on their first Christmas. That may sound harsh, but if you are spending money on a two-month old baby at Christmas, you are buying yourself a gift-giving memory. The baby doesn't know the difference. However, I wanted to make these super-cute booties. I enjoyed making the craft and I think they are cute. They don't really affect Thomas' quality of life.

Collective Gifts

I got four Lightning McQueen toothbrushes on sale for $0.75 each. Daniel was with me when I got them. He is really excited about these. He's only seen the "Cars" movie once, but he loved Lightning McQueen even before the movie because it was everywhere and he loves cars.

I got this pan for $24 at Target. I also bought a box of crayons from the Dollar Tree. The first thing we will make will be car-shaped crayons. I found the idea from Organized Everyday. Having a car shaped mold allows us to make an infinite quantity of cars. We can make clay cars and paper mache cars to paint and color. I am excited about the various crafts this will create for my boys over the years, along with some fun baked goods from time to time.

Adults

Dan

Dan and I pick out our own gifts. With a small budget, we find this is the best way for us to get what we actually want. He picked out a book, some DVDs, a CD, and an iPod accessory for his iPod, which was a gift from years ago.

Emily

I'm the toughest person to buy for. My birthday was a month ago, and I still feel quite satisfied with the gift of the Wonderwash. I have wanted a kitchen thermometer so I can start making cheese, and a black dish drainer that would look nicer in my kitchen than our gawdy red one. Between those two, I have spent only $10 on myself. I am thinking of buying a coffee grinder to grind sprouted wheat berries into flour, but I'm not sure that is what I want. Another possibility is a metal pasta strainer instead of our plastic white one that never quite looks clean or a cast iron skillet instead of our aluminum one. I could probably buy all of these things with the remainder of the money, but I'm not sure if any of them are what I really want. I'll have a standing "IOU" until I figure it out, which won't be by Christmas.

Can You Make Money Blogging - Month Four

2009-12-16T06:00:00.012-05:00

It feels like the months are flying by. This blog is four months old today. This month I lost my Adsense, but gained BlogHer. I'm going to give a brief description of how I earn or could potentially earn through each ad medium.

Swagbucks

Swagbucks is my favorite. It is a search engine that pays you back a portion of their ad revenue. I earn through referring others. They match all referrals' first 100 swagbucks, or about $10. I love swagbucks because I am genuinely enhancing my readers' life through referring them.

BlogHer

With BlogHer, I am paid per impression or page view. I can earn anything between one twentieth of a cent all the way up to half a penny per impression, depending on the ad. If you like me and read my site through a feed, don't worry that I'm not getting a fraction of a penny through you; I'm doing okay. If you come to my site and don't want me to get a fraction of a penny from you, subscribe and read me through a feed. But beware, you'll be missing out on the comments section, which is half the fun of this blog.

Amazon

Often in a post, I include an Amazon affiliate link to something I bought or I am talking about. If you click on the link, you don't have to buy the product I'm talking about for me to be paid, but if you buy something else, I will get a percentage, around 6%.

Adsense

My Adsense account was cancelled, but I got paid for some of what Adsense owed me. I may or may not get the rest of what Adsense owes me, including some earnings in my fourth month. With Adsense, I earned through people clicking on links.

Commission Junction

I haven't done anything with Commission Junction except browse and create one relationship with a seller, Fabric.com. They have clearance fabric for $1.95/yard which isn't bad, but I really only like paying up to $1/yard for fabric, unless I have something special in mind. I'm a little hesitant about buying fabric online as I like to feel it first and I'm afraid the colors will look different in real life. I'm a great salesperson for them, huh? They have free downloadable patterns, though, which I think is something that some of you might be interested in. I haven't decided what I'm going to do about putting an ad up.

Selling Ad Space

I haven't technically sold ad space, but I'm open to the idea. I would warn those who are interested that a good chunk of my readers are trying to not spend money, so this may not be the best place to advertise, unless you sell something that will save money. I do get a good chunk of traffic, though, and I have a lot of readers who think I'm crazy for not spending money, so they might be buying what you're selling.

Bonus

As a bonus, I won two giveaways this past week. Neither has anything to do with my blog, but I sure do love winning giveaways! I won a dishrag from Ultimate Money Blog and a $25 Marshalls gift card from We Are THAT Family.

Total

My total in my fourth month blogging, not including the Adsense money that I'm not sure I'll get or the giveaway stuff, is $425.20. I haven't seen most of it yet and almost half of it will be coming by way of Amazon gift cards. Swagbucks out earned BlogHer this month, but I didn't start BlogHer until December first, so I think that will be different next month.

For a recap:
Month One Blogging: $55.50
Month Two Blogging: $215.32
Month Three Blogging: $299.48
Month Four Blogging: $423.20

The month three income includes unpaid income from Adsense, so I'm not sure that one is accurate. Although our savings is only technically up $200 from the blog, we didn't have to take out the money that we had set aside for my birthday and for Christmas. So, I think I can definitively say, "Yes, you can make money blogging."

Small Home Living: Advantages and Disadvantages

2009-12-15T06:00:00.008-05:00

The financial advantages of living in a small home are pretty obvious. You spend less to heat the place. You don't need as much furniture to fill the space. It takes less electricity to cool a small place. Less is more in that way.

An interesting question came up about stockpiling with sales, and how to balance frugality in a small space. I'm all for stockpiling and thought it was time to address this.

Freezer

The one thing I wish we had but don't is a chest freezer. I've got a spot picked out where we can fit it, even in our little apartment. My husband says it's not the right time, though, and he's right. Our family is still small enough that the extra $5 it would cost us in electricity would not be saved by stockpiling on sales more than we do.

When we get one, we will get a BIG chest freezer and a new energy efficient one. A chest freezer is more energy efficient by design than an upright. The reason for that is that when you open a door of an upright, the cold air falls out the bottom. Cold air is heavy, so it basically stays put in a chest freezer.
(Currently in my freezer: Shown: ten 5lb rolls of ground beef, one 3lb roll of ground beef, five 5lb bags of mozzarella cheese, three 1lb bags of chopped peppers and onions, five 1lb bags of mixed berries. Not Shown, on door: four 1lb rolls of turkey, 2lbs grated summer squash, 2lbs broccoli, 2lbs brisket beef, bag of chopped apples for applesauce. Click to see in color)

So, I have to maximize the space in my freezer. It's not that hard to put 100 pounds of food into a standard sized freezer, but you have to pick and choose what goes in. I can get various fruits and veggies at a reasonable price year round. So, it takes a rare deal for me to stock up on a sale of veggies. Some meats I can get consistently at a good price, but other meats vary in price, like beef. When I see brisket beef for $1.30 per pound or ground beef for $1.25 per pound, I stock up. I consistently can get chicken for $0.59 per pound, turkey for $1.00 per pound, and pork for $1.12 per pound, so I don't stock up on those.

Refrigerator

In the fridge, I keep my semi-stable foods. There are obvious ones, like milk, cheese, butter, and eggs. I keep my potatoes and onions in my fridge as well, along with most vegetables. Most fruits reside on the table until eaten. We eat the potatoes before they turn sweet and onions that have been refrigerated don't make me cry like room temperature onions do, but I don't keep them in the same drawer as the potatoes. I keep lacto-fermented veggies in the fridge, and my husband's leftovers. I also keep a jug of water in there just as filler for the electric bill.

Cabinet Space

I don't buy a lot of shelf-stable foods. I buy flour, lard, salt, and canned tomatoes. Canned tomatoes are rarely on sale lower than the Walmart price. Salt and flour rarely go on sale either, so I don't stock up much on these.

For couponers who have shelves upon shelves of boxed food, bought for pennies, I would recommend stacking. In a small home, thinking vertically is crucial.

Clothes

I have a full boys' wardrobe up to four years old. I have bins stacked in the kitchen and labelled. I have two near empty bins for when Daniel turns five and six. When I hit yard sales, I am on the look out for a few pieces to finish his 4T wardrobe and pieces for the next few years up. Working with vertical space allows these bins to take up a little more space than a bureau would. With my bins, the lid of one holds the bottom of the next one up securely in place. When stacking bins, look for features that will make it near impossible to be tipped over.

Coming soon...

In the coming year, I'm going to be kicking off two new series. Touring Tuesdays will give you the opportunity to snoop around our apartment. Storage Solutions Saturday will highlight some of the ways that we can fit a bunch of stuff into small spaces without feeling crowded. Just like with FAQ Fridays, these are posts I've been meaning to get around to, but I need a structured framework to remind me to fit them in.

Meet Therese, Our Pet Kefir

2009-12-14T06:00:00.009-05:00

Months ago, I posted about my soda recipe to break my husband's soda addiction. Since then, we have bought water kefir grains. Water kefir grains are small masses of bacteria and yeast that ferment sugars. Although we call our kefir Therese, she is actually a community of many organisms.

When we first got Therese we had to rehydrate her in sugar water for a few days, then she was ready to get to work. Every day or two, Dan pours out the fizzy fermented sugar water. He then fills her jar back up with water and feeds her a few more tablespoons of sugar.

The sugar water she has fermented he then turns into a soda-like beverage. For something like sprite, he adds some lemon juice and lime juice. For cream soda, he just adds vanilla. For a cola-like beverage, he adds vanilla, cinnamon and lime juice.

You can also make fruit sodas by allowing the kefir to ferment juice instead of sugar water. There's a free eBook with kefir recipes from Cultures for Health. It has mostly milk kefir recipes, but it has some water kefir recipes toward the end that use fruit juice.

When I found the free eBook, I excitedly told my husband about all the kefir recipes: lemonade kefir and cherry kefir and grape kefir. He asked, "Did they have Mountain Dew kefir, or Dr. Pepper kefir?" No, they didn't, but if anyone has any suggestions on how I can make our kefir taste something like Mountain Dew, that would make my husband very happy, and in turn make me happy, too.

Kefir is not only a nourishing soda alternative, it is a money saver. We paid about $20 for our kefir grains from Amazon, but as long as we keep feeding them, the community will not die. The sugar we feed them costs less than the tonic water we used to use for Dan's soda. Pets generally are not frugal, but there are useful pets, like our kefir, Therese, who save us money.

More Christmas Crafts

2009-12-12T06:00:00.009-05:00

I still have some more Christmas crafting to do. I find cold winter months are my best crafting months. Crafts keep me from the winter blues and give me fun indoor activities since we can't go outside as much.

Baby Booties

I have a love-hate relationship with booties. They are basically useless, but so cute. If a baby is not wearing booties an older lady is bound to approach you and scold you for it. My husband and I used to ignore these older ladies, knowing they were well meaning but that our babies don't need booties in August. Our resolve has been battered-down and broken. We now plan our children's wardrobe so as not to be approached and scolded by older ladies. When we take Thomas' snowsuit off at church, he will be sporting these booties. I found this free booty pattern, through Dustin's blog. I thought a choo-choo train would be so cute for Thomas. They need a little finishing around the opening and then they'll be ready.
I usually see my sister sometime between Christmas and New Year's Eve, so after Christmas I'll be making at least one pair for her baby girl. I'm thinking black Mary Janes.

Ukranian Eggs

This Easter tradition can make great tree ornaments. You can find full instructions and tons of patterns here.

I am going to be making egg-shaped lady bugs. Lady bugs are supposed to symbolize good luck on a tree. I'm not buying any of the traditional materials, but using household items. I draw on the pattern with lard, which repels the dye as well as wax, but you have to be careful about smudging it. I put it in a baggie with a pinhole to draw, just like you would draw with frosting.

Star Trek Stockings

My husband and I recieved a pair of stockings for a wedding present. They were hideous. We never got into the stocking tradition because of it. I've wanted a uniform stocking for everyone in the family. My mom made stockings for all of us and they were basically the same, each with our names on them. So, when I saw these on GeekCrafts, I had an "ah-ha moment." I have found our stockings. My goal is to have one made by this Christmas, as a bonus gift for my husband, with the promise of having a whole family of stockings by next year, probably finished by the spring. With this free stocking pattern, I can easily add another one when we have another baby.

Generation Block Tower

This is what I did last year for my kids' great-grand parents, but I thought I'd share it anyway. I got three photo cubes and filled each one with photos from a specific generation. My grandparents got a block with my mom and her siblings at different ages, one of me and my siblings, and one filled with my kids. The blocks build a tower that is suitable for displaying baby pictures. I made a set for each of Dan's Nanas, customized with pictures they would enjoy. It takes some work collecting these pictures, but was a cute personalized project that older family members would love.

Why We Want To Homeschool

2009-12-11T06:00:00.004-05:00

Sometimes, I feel inspired to answer a question from my FAQ page, but sometimes I don't. The result of my only doing things when I'm inspired is usually an inefficient system of not getting stuff done. So, I'm starting "FAQ Friday," where I pick a question from the page and answer it. Some questions I will answer because I am inspired to write about the topic and others will be chosen at random.

If you have questions you want added to the FAQ, you can ask them on any FAQ Friday post or in the FAQ page.

Question:

Why do you want to home school?

Answer:

First, this will answer only this question about homeschooling and not any others. Like most homeschooling parents, we have researched and thought through the topic thoroughly. It will take whole other posts to explain our thoughts on socialization, curriculum preferences, frugality and homeschooling, and time management, among a host of other homeschooling topics. If you feel like the questions in the FAQ do not address your homeschooling question, ask. I will happily add more questions to the FAQ.

Christlikeness

My husband and I have the same primary reason for homeschooling. We want our children to be like Christ. We want them to strongly pursue a relationship with God. We want it to be their number one priority. The best way to instill this in them is by teaching them ourselves.

We could just add Bible lessons on top of a regular public school education, but children are taught priorities and behavior at public school as well as academics. They would be spending their prime waking hours being taught by someone who probably doesn't believe the same thing as us. They would be conforming to their peers' behavior, peers who probably are not striving toward Christlikeness.

In our opinion, children are the way we can have the largest impact on the world. It's funny, because I have a blog that over 1500 people come to each day, which is probably numerically the largest audience I will ever have. But my true audience is my children, whose life my actions form. I can impact each of your lives a little, but I will impact their lives in every way. It's just too big of a responsibility for us to hand over to anyone else.

Israel

My husband's secondary reason for wanting to home school is Israel.

"And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." - Genesis 12:3

Many people say that this is the old dispensation and that it is not for today. If that were true, I wonder why God still stands by it. If you look back over recent history since the nation of Israel was established, each nation who has supported them has prospered and those that turned their back on them have declined.

Often, although not always, Israel is spoken of in public school as though they were the enemy. Now, neither my husband nor I would say that Israel has done no wrong in their dealing with Palestinians, but they are God's people and we stand by them. It is important to us for our children to, as well.

Education

My secondary reason for wanting to home school is that I think I can do it better. Some may think that is arrogant. Others may think it laughable, because they think I'm an idiot for coming to different conclusions about life than they have. I excelled all through school, and could give you a list of credentials, awards, honors, and even my IQ to prove it, but the fact remains that the only higher education I received was one year of Bible college at an unaccredited school. This means I am seen as worthless as a teacher to many. But how I am seen doesn't matter, what matters is what I can do.

I can spend years developing curricula catered to my children's needs. I spend time with each of my children, knowing their weaknesses, since I am their mom, and knowing what will motivate them to want to learn. If you think a large family limits my time, compare it to the public school. One teacher has twenty students that they will only know for a few months before getting another twenty students, for six hours a day, five days a week. I will have maybe ten students who I live with twenty-four hours each day, seven days per week for years and years, who I have seen through each of their triumphs and failures. Even if all I had was a high school diploma, I am better equipped to teach my children than any one else in the world.

Under $1000 Per Month

2009-12-10T06:00:00.009-05:00

My husband makes less than $1000 per month.

Our monthly expenses are under $1000 per month.

Our annual household income is higher than $12,000. I currently make money mystery shopping and from ad revenue. My monthly mystery shopping income rarely puts us over $1000 per month, but my ad revenue has for the last few months.

No matter how much money this blog makes, it would be counter productive for us to spend more than $1000 per month. Here are three reasons why:

#1) We don't need to.

We have everything we need on my husband's income. Our basic monthly expenses are taken care of. These include food, shelter, gas, electricity, car maintenance and any odds and ends that come up.

#2) It goes against our long-term goals.

Our long-term goals involve drastically reducing our expenses. We are practicing now and are getting better and better at cutting our expenses. Increasing our standard of living to match a new income is not the best thing for us in the long run.

#3) It is a catch 22.

If I spend more money, the information in this blog becomes obsolete and the blog income goes away. To me, this reason is not valid alone, which is why it is third.

What are we doing with the extra money?

We are building our savings. We had to take some money out of savings to pay for our midwifery bills and it is still at a level below what we are comfortable with. I can usually throw $20 into our savings each month, sometimes more, but when I threw a little over two hundred in from Adsense and Amazon last week, that felt good. That is not money we want to touch, as it is counter productive. It doesn't help us to spend that money.

Don't you want a better life ?

Of course I could find things that I could justify as "needs" to spend extra income on. Since our true needs are met though, we are using extra money not to increase our standard of living and level of luxury now, but to invest in our goals for the future. That is having a better life.

Stevia Fudge and Basic Chocolate Chip Cookies

2009-12-09T06:00:00.008-05:00

I found my stevia fudge recipe here. It was originally chocolate-peanut butter fudge, but I make it just chocolate. I also sort of mush some of the steps together to streamline the process.

Heat the following ingredients in a saucepan on medium heat. Add one ingredient at a time, making sure the mixture is completely combined/melted/dissolved before adding the next ingredient.

1/3 cup water
1 1/2 tablespoon stevia*
1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup dry milk powder
6 ounces of unsweetened chocolate*

*I used my NuNaturals white stevia powder and added a lot more than the original recipe called for. Some stevia is sweeter than others, so keep that in mind with any stevia recipe. I used Ghirardelli chocolate because these are Christmas gifts.

Line an 8"x8" pan with tin foil and spread fudge in it. Let chill in fridge for at least one hour, then cut.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Dan's Bible college has a gift swap party today. I never know what to give at those gift swaps, especially since there is such a vast age range among students.

I was seriously thinking about making a batch of soaked grain, sugar-free chocolate chip cookies, but I could picture how that would go. Dan would say they were some kind of healthy cookie; he might even use the words "sugar-free" and no one would want them. I'm still using my whole white wheat flour, but I'm not going to highlight that to Dan.

Cookies are great for these kinds of swaps. I don't know a college student who wouldn't want cookies, my husband included.

I make chocolate chip cookies by the recipe on the bag of chocolate chips, just like my mom taught me.

Beat together:
1 cup melted butter
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs

Add:
2 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

Fold in:
12 ounces of chocolate chips

Bake for 10 minutes at 375. Then feed this massive batch of cookies to a large crowd or one college student.

How to Make Lacto Fermented Salsa - Cheap, Easy Recipe

2009-12-08T06:00:00.014-05:00

Last week I posted my taco seasoning recipe, so now for salsa. It's funny, when I bought a jar of salsa, it didn't fit into my $1 per pound produce rule, as I got 24 ounces for $1.98, GV brand. Now I make 32 ounces for $1.97.

I was using the lacto-fermented recipe from Nourishing Traditions, but when I posted my taco seasoning recipe, a reader posted a good recipe that I adapted in my last batch to be lacto-fermented. By lacto-fermenting condiments they will last longer, although that is not a problem with us and salsa. A batch of salsa doesn't last us two weeks here because it is so good. Lacto-fermenting also adds nutrition for no extra cost.

Salsa has proven to be a better solution to getting some lacto-fermented veggies into my husband than pickles. Although he likes the pickles, unless I put them on his plate, he doesn't think to eat them. Since I'm obsessed with salsa, I just put it on his food when I put it on my food.

To keep the lacto-fermented benefits, I add it to the food when it's on the plate ready to be served, not when it's cooking on the stove. I add it to eggs, tacos, quesadillas and taco mac. By adding it to our eggs in the morning we are getting a lacto-fermented condiment every day, which I am thrilled about.

1 lb tomatoes - $1.19
2 small onions - $0.13
2 jalapeno peppers* - $0.25
3 cloves garlic* - $0.20
1/2 tablespoon cilantro* - $0.06
1 teaspoon oregano - $0.04
2 tablespoons lemon juice - $0.06
1 tablespoon sea salt - $0.02
4 tablespoons whey (or additional tablespoon of salt) - $0.02
1/4 cup water - $0

I don't bother peeling or deseeding my tomatoes, but you can.

Chop the veggies, then put all ingredients into the blender, a few at a time if necessary. Put in jars, covered and let sit at room temperature for two days. I had divide mine into two jars, since I was using old salsa jars. Then move it to the refrigerator.

*The garlic and cilantro are optional. I put in half the amount most recipes call for because I like the flavor of both, but I don't want them to be overpowering. You can add more jalapenos, but I add less because the hotter it is, the less I use. By keeping it mild, I can pour it on my food.

If you don't want it lacto-fermented, reduce the salt to a teaspoon, add more water, and refrigerate immediately.

Two Cent Apples

I'm not sure if this is regional, but my Walmart has apples on sale for $0.06 per pound. It was not an error. I checked with the produce guy. We bought over 21 pounds for $1.30. My husband put a limit on how many we should get, but I thought this was an amazing deal. I'm processing them into applesauce so I can freeze it. I'm going to have a busy crock pot!

Drugs, Alcohol, Tobacco, and Frugality

2009-12-07T06:00:00.007-05:00

I will start by saying that I started following Christ when I was a senior in high school. Before that time, I had my indiscretions with drugs, alcohol and tobacco. Frugality would come later. When I decided to go to Bible college at age nineteen, I was still secretly smoking cigarettes on occasion, but I stopped then. They don't look too fondly on smoking at Bible college.

The Legality

Most drugs, at least the ones I'm thinking of, are illegal. Biblically, I'm not supposed to be doing illegal things, so my argument against drugs stops there. Drug addictions are expensive to boot. My life is not one that I am looking to escape, so drugs are not a temptation.

The Health

Tobacco is something I could slip into if I weren't careful. Cigarettes are that addicting. Sometimes when I'm near someone who's smoking, the smell grosses me out, but sometimes it makes me remember when that was the smell of relaxing.

Not only is smoking ridiculously expensive, it is horrible for your health. I've recently, within this past year, become uber health conscious and smoking would go against all of the work I have done.

The Frugality

Alcohol is legal and morally acceptable in small quantities. Jesus turned water into wine, not grape juice. But Proverbs says strong drink is a mocker, so excess is not okay or wise. My husband and I don't drink. We don't drink because we don't want to. Alcohol was the least enjoyable indiscretion and I only did it because I was a looser swayed by peer-pressure. Alcohol is not worth the cost to us. None of it is, and drugs, alcohol and tobacco are areas where many people could save a lot of money.

I was asked what I thought about some of the alcohol ads running in the sidebar sometimes. This post is a response to that query. I don't mind them. I could have opted-out of those ads but I didn't because I don't mind them. It is my opinion that drinkers will drink regardless of this blog and non-drinkers will not drink, even though there is a coupon on the ad. I find the ad makes me thirsty, but not for what it's promoting. A glass of water will do.

Apple Scrap Applesauce

2009-12-05T06:00:00.004-05:00

My kids and I eat a lot of apples. They are a whole food, super-cheap, full of nutrition and purely delicious. They are a lazy mom's food, since they take less work to serve than oranges or even bananas.

Bobby always need me to "start" his, which means I take the first bite. That first bite is hard for him to get his little teeth into. Daniel has recently been having me "start" his, too. They like having things the same. Then, they are ready for consumption.

I don't cook apples often because I don't need to. They are fine just as they are. Peeling and cooking reduces the nutritional content as well as costing extra money in ingredients and electricity. It takes extra work on my part. That is a lose-lose all around.

My kids don't always finish their apples, though. Amy Dacyczyn recommends making individual microwave apple crisps with these reject apples. Putting sugar and unsoaked grains onto a perfectly good apple seems like a bad idea to me.

When I find a half eaten apple, I chop it up, with the peel on, and throw it into a bag in the freezer. If I find an apple with a small rotten spot, I chop off the bad bit, chop up the rest, and throw it into a bag in the freezer. When the bag gets full, I throw them all into the crock pot with some water. I cook them overnight on low. I add a pinch of stevia, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. With little effort, I have turned my reject apples in to a prized treat: applesauce.

Extended Family Christmas Budget

2009-12-04T06:00:00.011-05:00

I am a daughter of a divorced household, so we have two Christmases. My husband's parents are married, but both grandmothers are alive. Thus we have two sides of the family to work with there, too.

My Mother's Family

Adults

They usually want pictures of the kids for Christmas, and I like making food for them. One Christmas craft with stevia fudge will be going to everyone. I'm going to be making my mom some Ukranian egg ornaments and, if I have time, I'll make some for my aunts and Grammy. I'll be posting about these this coming week. I budgeted $20 to give my mom some fun jewelry and she will also get surplus stevia.

Kids

I have a young step-brother and step-sister, aged five and eight. I have budgeted $5 for each. He is getting a small toy car, and she is getting an ice cream sandwich maker. Both gifts will contribute to their ever growing car and kitchen collections.

My Father's Family

Adults

My Dad had more kids than my mom. My mom had me and my two brothers, who are twins. One brother is counted in my Mom's family, getting a Christmas craft and fudge, and the other doesn't celebrate Christmas. Then, from my Dad, I have my half brother and sister, each of whom will get a Christmas craft with fudge.

Dad and my step-mom will get a Christmas craft with fudge, my old bread maker and bulk yeast that I never got around to putting on ebay, and surplus stevia. I asked if they wanted the bread maker and surplus yeast for Christmas and they did. I might have gotten more than what I usually budget for them if I resold it, up to $40, but I'm glad to be giving it to someone who can use it.

Kids

I was thinking of making a cheesecake for my step-sister. I did cheesecakes for everyone a few years ago and she ate the one I gave to her family real fast. She's 13 and doesn't eat much, so she needs it. I found a Wham-o ball for my eight-year-old nephew and a Baby Einstein toy for my three-month-old niece. They each had a $5 budget, too.

My Husband's Family

They used to have a gift swap where everyone drew a name and gave a gift of about $10. Dan's uncle has been under-employed for several years now and has two kids in college, so that has stopped. They still buy for our kids, which I would rather they didn't, but I guess it makes them happy to buy gifts for little kids. Just about everyone buys too much for our kids.

We exchange gifts with Dan's parents. We have an up to $40 budget for them, and it's Dan's job to decide what to do. I always have lots of suggestions for him, though, because I like to help. They will also be getting the Christmas craft and fudge.

Dan's maternal grandmother has Alzheimer's so we are giving her lots of pictures of us and the kids along with her Christmas craft with stevia fudge. Dan's paternal grandmother will also get a Christmas craft and some Turkish egg ornaments if I have time to make extra.

Everyone in each branch of the family will also get wallet sized photos of the kids.

To sum up, we have a $20 budget for each of our parents, including step-parents. We have a $5 budget for the kids we buy for. Everyone else gets the same homemade gift.

The purchased gifts have been bought with swagbucks Amazon.com gift cards. Yes, swagbucks paid for Christmas. If you haven't signed up yet, you should. If you have, refer your friends. Referring is not only good for you, it is good for your friends, too. (For full disclosure, this post is full of Amazon referral links, but their primary purpose is to show what cool stuff I'm getting, not to sell you that stuff.) If I didn't have swagbucks, about half of this would have been saved for, and half would be purchased through mystery shopping.

So, I've gotten my family's shopping done, but I still have crafts and cooking and wrapping. I'll be writing a separate post about our immediate family's budget and what we'll be getting each other. That shopping I have not finished yet.

How much shopping have you gotten done?
How do you decide how much to spend on everyone?
Will this year be different than last?

Why I Don't Re-Use Toilet Paper

2009-12-03T06:00:00.006-05:00

If you're anything like me, you hate throwing things away. You hate contributing to the landfill and you also think that reusing as much stuff as possible saves money. Toilet paper, in it's current form, seems to be the exception. Reusing toilet paper is disgusting, unsanitary, and just all around no good. Agreed?

But, there is another option. Yes, you can use cloth toilet paper. Just take a soft fabric, like flannel, and cut it up. Keep it in the bathroom. Make separate spots for the clean and dirty ones and you've got reusable toilet paper. It is a one time expense. You will save money and trees. It might even be softer than what you use now.

Why Don't I Do This?

Even though I scrub the poop off of my kids' diapers daily, I don't have any inclination toward scrubbing my husband's or even my own poop off of cloth wipes. This may be what Amy Dacyczyn refers to as "selective squeamishness." I'm not sure why kid poop seems less dirty, but it does. Maybe some day I'll feel differently.

What Do I Do?

I am a compulsive counter and folder of squares. There are folders and scrunchers when it comes to toilet paper. Oh, I used to be a scruncher, until I started thinking it through. Scrunching, in my opinion, allows for less control and forces you to use more to get equal results. So, even though I don't reuse toilet paper, I am toilet paper conscious, and I'm teaching Daniel, my oldest, to fold as well.

How do you feel about reusable toilet paper? If you use store-bought toilet paper, do you fold or scrunch?

Rolled Oats Vs Steel Cut Oats

2009-12-02T06:00:00.013-05:00

Oatmeal is one of the few convenience foods I use. I confess, I buy rolled oats. I still soak them, as they are a whole grain, but I'm not sure how much good it does, since they are already partially cooked by the time I get them.

I've wanted to make the switch to steel cut oats, so I've been searching everywhere for the best price. Here are the best prices I have found for each kind of oat:

Quick Oats: $1.80/42 oz, $0.67/lb, Save-A-Lot

Old Fashioned Rolled Oats: $2.20/42 oz, $0.84/lb, Walmart

Steel Cut Oats: $22.95/25 lbs plus $11.20 shipping, $1.36/lb, Amazon

One serving of steel cut is a quarter of a cup, but a serving of rolled and quick oats is a half a cup. So, steel cut is cheaper, right, and we all live happily ever after? Well, no. They are priced by weight not by cup.

I found out that a quarter cup of steel cut oats is 40 grams. One gram equals 0.0022 pounds, so forty grams equals 0.088 pounds, or 1.4 ounces. One serving of steel cut oats costs $0.12.

Guess how much a half cup of rolled oats weighs. Forty grams. It is the same for quick oats. So a serving of quick oats is $0.058 and a serving of old fashioned rolled oats is $0.073.

It is one of the few foods I have found where the whole food costs more than the processed, although according to chow.com, even steel cut oats go through some heating and processing. The other whole food that comes to mind is milled four, which costs less than buying the grain whole and milling it yourself. Oh, and tomatoes, that are cheaper to buy canned and already cooked into a paste than to purchase fresh and cook them into a paste yourself.

I'm willing to pay an extra penny and a half per serving to get old-fashioned rolled oats, but I'm not willing to pay twice the price for steel cut.
Sometimes, health wins out over budget, like for ketchup, which I didn't even bother comparing in cost to store-bought. Sometimes budget wins out over health, like with oats.

In the comments, you can either share where budget trumps health for you, or you can explain to me why I am a horrible person for compromising my kids' health this way.

How to Save On Your Heating Bill

2009-12-01T04:50:00.009-05:00

Oil heat is included in our rent, but we don't like to take advantage of that situation. When we lived in our old apartment, oil heat was included there. We lived on the third floor, the top level, and never touched our thermostat from where the landlord had set it. Some mornings were a little chilly, but we were never truly cold. Heat rose from the other apartments and we were all set. We try to conserve here, too, even though it is paid for.

Why?

God gave us brains, and using them glorifies him.

My husband always says, "It's a hundred-year-old technology. You don't see people going around with a Victrola. So why are we still using the same basic car engine?" We know how to do this another way. The auto industry is a little further behind, but we can heat our homes in a myriad of other ways.

Oil won't last forever.

We know it won't. We know we have a only a few decades left of oil, yet our consumption seems to be increasing. Everyone else says they find this crazy, but if everyone agreed, why isn't our oil consumption decreasing?

I hate government regulations.

If I use too much heat on my landlord's dime, he may raise the rent. If we all use too much oil, the government may be forced to ration it. This wouldn't effect my family much. Our family won't be using more than it's allotment any time soon. It's just something we don't want to happen. Can't we be responsible if we're not being forced to?

Some wars do not need to happen.

If oil were not so precious a commodity, the Middle East would be a less volatile region. We as a nation would not so readily step into Middle Eastern affairs, often messing things up further, if there were not oil interests.

How?

Last fall, the landlord replaced some windows. One window in the kitchen was great. The other two were still horrible. We got curtains with a thermal lining and kept the windows covered all the time. It let in less light, but the kitchen wasn't that cold. This fall, the non-efficient kitchen windows were replaced as well.

Our door really should be replaced. It is drafty up top, and as far as I know, there aren't door jams for the top of the door. Again, we put up a thermal curtain that we close when we are home, covering the door completely.

The boys' room has a window that was an original when the house was built. The view from their window is into the hallway, so I wasn't too fond of that window to begin with. I hung two heavy floor rugs onto the wall. I leave them there all year long as a decorative element.

Besides home improvement techniques, most other heating options are about keeping your body warm. Consider the difference between the crock pot and the oven. The oven heats a large empty space around the item it is cooking. The crock pot heats very little space, but only heats a small space directly around the food cooking. If we keep our bodies warm, we don't have to keep the air around us as warm.

Starting in the fall, I wear slippers. Some may not have appreciated it when Jimmy Carter told the nation to put on another sweater, but it was sound advice. We have a blanket on our couch and will put on another layer of clothing before turning to the thermostat. All the kids wear at least as many layers as I do. Changing the thermostat is our last resort in keeping us warm, not out first.

What other ways do you reduce heating costs and consumption?

Christmas Craft How-To

2009-11-30T06:00:00.019-05:00

I feel like December is about to fly by. It always does, and people say that time goes even faster when you're older, and time flies the fastest when you have little kids. Well, last week I turned older and I have a flock of little kids and December is always fast anyway!

I have a lot I want to say, but don't think I'll get it in because I have a lot of holiday related stuff to say, too. So highly anticipated posts about homeschooling and how to fit your stuff in small spaces may have to be put off until next year. Actually, writing that sentence about them makes me excited to maybe squeeze one or two of those posts in. We'll see.

Today, I wanted to run through the how-to of my Christmas craft. Here is my template. I used a paint document to superimpose the shape over the photographs I wanted to cut out. I'm sure there are better programs out there to do that, but I like paint.

Step One

Pick out and print pictures. You can either get a copy of the whole picture and cut it into the shape of the side or bottom, or make it the shape on your computer and then cut it out. Also, I made each side three layers of card stock thick so it would be sturdy. I printed out two extra template pages for each bowl I wanted to make. I chose to paint the outside black, but you could choose more pictures on the outside, kids artwork, a different solid color, pictures on the outside and a color on the inside; there are a lot of options.

Step Two

Cut and assemble sides. Since I painted the outside, this was included in this step. I used little tape rolls to tape the three layers of the sides together, as painted paper is a little uneven and glue didn't hold well.

Step Three

Laminate and cut each side. I got a pack of ten laminating sheets. Depending on who you're giving them to, this may not be necessary. I was able to laminate the sides and bottoms for twelve bowls with nine sheets, leaving the tenth for any sides I mess up in later steps.

Step Four

Punch and assemble sides. My Gran used to assemble them by doing a fairly simple stitch around the outside of each side, and sewing them together. I felt this cut into the pictures too much. So, I chose to literally tie them together. I made one model to mark where to punch holes on each side to they were even.

First I tied two sides together, then added each one until I had a string of six sides. Then I tied the two ends together so they made a sort of loop. Then, I attached the bottom. I choose the first spot to tie pretty randomly, then tie a spot on the opposite side. This was the trickiest part of the whole thing, as the bowl had to be help in position as you tie. After that, the bottom was sturdy enough to easily tie the rest together.

Step Five

There are a few finishing touches. I tied around the top to give it a more polished look. I need to go around and cut off the loose strings. I will then put a dab of clear nail polish on each knot so that it doesn't unravel.

Total Cost:

Card stock: $4
Laminating Pages: $10
New Printer Ink: $20
Mini Whole Punch: $5
Thread: Bought long ago for jewelry making.

We refill printer ink, and would have needed a new cartridge eventually anyway. With refilling ink, I can refill it about seven more times before the ink head gets too clogged, so $20 is not a true cost. I have put the old cartridge back in so that I can use it to it's fullest before working on the new cartridge. I have a ton of leftover card stock for future projects, and the mini whole punch will be used again, so none of this is the actually the true cost, but even if it were, each bowl cost $3.25 out of pocket.

I haven't finished all the bowls yet. I have to make twelve, but I've only completed five. I am somewhere along step four or five for the rest. The deadline to have them all finished was this past Sunday, but that was an arbitrary deadline set up so that if I didn't meet it, I would still have time left. Good planning, huh?

Hoe to Make Taco Seasoning - Cheap, Easy Recipe

2009-11-28T06:00:00.010-05:00

My family is obsessed with Tex-Mex food. It is the cheese with the spiciness... we just can't get enough. I personally have a salsa obsession, which I will write about at a later time. Salsa on my eggs, salsa on my hamburger, salsa on my tongue; it is so yummy.

Taco seasoning is another obsession, but not so much on my tongue, more on my meat. I've been looking for a good taco seasoning to replace those little packets, not just because of the cost, but because of the mystery ingredients. Whenever it says "spices" on the ingredients list, it means "something we don't want you to know." So the best price I had found on the packets was $0.35 at Save-a-Lot, so this is definitely a savings.

I liked this recipe because it was for one pound of ground beef, not a bulk mix that I would be stuck with if I didn't like. I can also cut it down and make a smaller serving of taco beef for a snack. It is perfect. It tastes just like the packets, which I love.

1 tablespoon chopped onion - $0.03
2 teaspoons of chili powder -$0.08
1 teaspoon of garlic -$0.04
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper or hot paprika -$0.03

I used cayenne because I like it spicy and my paprika is not that hot. I use fresh onion and garlic, because because that's what I have on hand, and I usually throw more onions into any taco dish anyway. The recipe calls for cumin, but when I ran out, I omitted it and still thought it tasted amazing. If you want to try it with cumin, add one teaspoon; it will only raise the cost by a few more pennies. You can mix the ingredients separately, or just dump them on your browning beef on at a time, like I did. It makes for a fabulous taco.

**ADSENSE UPDATE: Yesterday I got paid by Adsense for what I had earned through October. I'm not sure that they'll pay me what I had earned since then since it didn't reach $100. I'm real thankful that I got some of what I earned, but I won't pursue business with AdSense in the future. I have another advertiser lined up that should appear on the blog by the end of the week.

Christmas Tree

2009-11-27T15:00:00.001-05:00

About five years ago, my brother, whose name is Dan, moved across the country to Colorado. A lot of things have changed for both he and me since then, including his decision to remove himself from contact from everyone in our family, everyone except my husband and me. This has put me in an awkward position, but I'm glad he's still in my life.

He is a devout Christian, and I am thankful for his zeal. Brother-Dan and husband-Dan have interesting discussions on various Biblical topics and I am glad that they share that fellowship. But brother-Dan doesn't celebrate Christmas (in a non-Jehovah's Witness kind of way). He has been sending husband-Dan anti-Christmas Bible verses, which I would argue are being taken way out of context. I'm a "submit-to-your-husband-even-when-you-disagree" kind of girl, so it looks like we don't get a Christmas tree this year, although the rest of Christmas is on. So I'm going to tell you about how I would normally be decorating the tree today, the day after Thanksgiving.

No Ornaments

We have a fine collection of jovial, colorful ornaments given to me by my mother on my first Christmas as a young wife. They are lovely and colorful and breakable and maybe will be used some day when we don't have little kids.

Roses

I have dried all of the roses that Dan has given to me since our courtship days. I don't get as many after four years of marraige, and some have been damaged through our myriad of moves. Still, roses would be adorning the tree.

String of Pearls

The pearls were bought at the Dollar Tree years ago, and are just a string of plastic white pearls. I used them to decorate our wedding hall, and they have been used for many things since, including the garland on our tree.

Potpourri

Last year, when I saw a few more roses had been crushed, I went to Walmart's craft section and found a bag of cream colored potpourri. It had fun shapes and the color was perfect for my little tree of neutrals.

Lights and Tree

I used white lights. I can't remember if I got them in an after-Christmas sale or if I got them from the Free Store. The Free Store was a small shop where you dropped off what you didn't need and looked through what others had dropped off to see if there was anything you needed. We moved away from it, sadly, but that's where I got my three foot fake tree.

The Story of Stuff Video - Did It Change Your Life?

2009-11-27T03:00:00.006-05:00

Although I don't agree with everything in it, this video is worth watching, especially today. Today is a day when Americans can spend less money and get more stuff. I'm all for saving money, and the primary way I do that is by not spending much of it.

For me, frugality isn't about purchasing more stuff for less money. It is living with less, making do, and being content, even when we can afford to have more.

Happy Thanksgiving

2009-11-26T06:00:00.006-05:00

I hope everyone is enjoying their Thanksgiving festivities. I thought today would be a good day to highlight The Hunger Site.

By clicking on that banner, you will be redirected to The Hunger Site. By just visiting that site, you will be allowing them to donate another portion of food to the hungry. This works through paid per view advertisements. They feed people in deep poverty around the world as well as needy families in the US that have been effected by natural disasters. So go ahead, click on it. I have their banner on my sidebar, so click every day if you think of it.

If you think this is a hoax charity, see what snopes says about it, then, please, donate your click. You can click from the snopes' link as well.

Ten Things I Am Thankful For

2009-11-25T06:00:00.006-05:00

#10) Dancing with my children and husband.

#9) Opportunity, and the freedom to pursue my dreams, hobbies and passions.

#8) My craft corner, which houses all of my art and craft supplies, which allow me to watch beauty manifest itself out of my hands.

#7) Blog readers, who are an encouragement to me as well as a source of ideas.

#6) Concordances, and online concordances, which allow me to find whatever Bible verse it is I'm looking for when my husband isn't around to tell me where to find it.

#5) Star Trek, and the creative geniuses who opened up a whole new world with the new movie.

#4) Full access to the Bible, which many Christians around the world and through the ages did not have have.

#3) My children, each of whom has enhanced my life in countless ways.

#2) My husband, who refreshes my mind and spirit each day.

#1) My saviour, without whom my hopes would rest only in this world.

What are ten things you are thankful for? Or three? Or one?

XXV, Laundry, and Carrot Cake

2009-11-24T06:00:00.017-05:00

Today, I am officially older than I have ever been before. I have now technically lived for one score and five years. I was recently discussing with a friend the unique feeling in turning twenty five, especially when you already have three kids. In my mind, it is the doorway to aging. Some older readers may disagree.

We have a small Christmas and birthday budget for our kids because they get a ton of toys from relatives. Dan and I don't get toys from relatives. We mostly get gift cards and checks, which usually go into savings or general funds. So, we give the big gifts to each other. We could get each other little gifts, then spend the money we get on big gifts, but that's just not how we like to do things.

The Old Laundry System

I hand washed everything. Diapers were soaked, then scrubbed and washed in the sink. Regular clothes went into a large Rubbermaid bin that lived in the shower stall. The best way to describe the general wash was a ten to fifteen minute kneading of clothes in water with soap nut liquid. Then I dump out the water and refill the bin with clean water for a five minute rinse cycle.

If someone doesn't have a washing machine hook-up and finds the laundromat inconvenient and pricey, this works. A good video that demonstrates my basic kneading technique on a smaller scale can be found on Ridiculously Extraordinary.

All of the clothes were then line dried. I would bring the tub into our room, where the largest line is. The line just goes from one wall to another, like outdoor lines go from tree to tree, attached with heavy duty S-hooks. I would hang everything to drip dry over the bin on hangers. After a few hours when the dripping stopped, I would spread the clothes out over the line to finish drying. I have two lines going across the window frame in our bedroom, one above the other, so that the diapers can hang in the sun, which helps kill bacteria.

The New Laundry System

I got the Wonderwash for my birthday. It was purchased with my swagbucks Amazon gift cards. I had read all reviews carefully, which indicated that the base was not sturdy and the handle flimsy. The base can be easily rebuilt from sturdier materials, and the handle in unnecessary, as the whole thing can be tumbled as you would roll a large barrel. Anyway, I have been using it for two weeks, and I agree that these parts were made out of the cheapest parts possible, but have not broken, and will not if used correctly. (Dan was happy about how excited I was to do laundry, so he let me play with it early.)
The barrel part of the Wonderwash is a work of genius. I can do the wash cycle in three minutes and the rinse cycle in one minute. It uses much less water than the Rubbermaid bin method. It also uses less soap nut liquid and the clothes come out cleaner. The drying is the same, except we do drip drying on the line in the shower stall, then transfer the clothes to the line in our bedroom or the one in the kids' room, depending on whose clothes they are.

This gift is truly a luxury, as it was not necessary, but makes my life easier. It does seem like a better long term solution. Right now, we can still do one load a day, plus diapers. Some days I have to do two loads, but it is still less time than one load with the old method. By the time I have to do three loads a day, some kids will have learned how to do this for themselves.

Here is my other birthday luxury, lovingly made each year by Dan (with supervision).

Carrot Cake

Beat with blender until fluffy:

2 cups brown sugar
3 eggs
1/2 cup oil or melted butter

(I used the stevia baking blend I got from NuNaturals with some old molasses instead of brown sugar, but otherwise would have used maybe a tablespoon of stevia and a cup and a half of white wheat flour with molasses.)

Add in:

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt

Blend together, then add:

2 cups grated carrots
1 can crushed pineapple
1 1/2 cups raisins
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup coconut

Bake at 350 for forty-five to fifty minutes, or in crock pot for about an hour and a half to two hours on high.

Luckily, cream cheese frosting is the easiest frosting to make with stevia. I am using this recipe, with my crock pot cream cheese, but adjusting the measurements until it tastes right. I also add lemon juice to cream cheese frosting because that's how my mom taught me. I didn't calculate the cost because I used expensive NuNaturals stevia ingredients that I would not have used if they were not given to me.

I'll Turn On My Oven For This

2009-11-23T06:00:00.013-05:00

We celebrate Thanksgiving with just our nuclear family. In 2005, we were married the Saturday before Thanksgiving and I shared my birthday with Thanksgiving day. As newlyweds, we had decided we would alternate years between in-laws for Easter and Christmas, and wanted Thanksgiving to be all our own.

That first Thanksgiving, my twenty-first birthday, I had bought two turkey legs, thinking we could not afford a whole turkey. I bought a box of stuffing and made my Grammy's recipe for mashed potatoes. Of course, my Grammy's recipe was to feed twenty, so I cut it in half. I opened a can of corn, dumped it in a bowl and popped it in the microwave. I also bought two of those individual pies, pumpkin flavored. I think I bought a can of refrigerator rolls, too.

This year's Thanksgiving menu looks quite different.

Turkey with gravy - The best sale we have here for turkey is for $0.40 per pound. I have bought two and already cooked one. We've eaten about half of it. I might buy a third. I just cook turkey according to the package directions, in the oven, but if you need help, you can call the Butterball hot line, 1-800-BUTTERBALL (1-800-288-8372).

Sourdough rolls - I'm using my regular bread recipe but forming the dough into rolls. I might get real spiffy and try crescents.

Sourdough stuffing - I'm making a regular loaf of sourdough bread and making it into basic bread stuffing. I'm taking out the water and poultry seasoning in this recipe and using broth, sage, thyme and parsley instead.

Crock Pot Applesauce - I'm making it from the rest of the apples from my mom's orchard, stevia, cinnamon, nutmeg and a pinch of cloves.

Corn - I went to Whole Foods and got some of their organic frozen corn for a special treat. This will be a GMO free Thanksgiving, except for the turkey's feed.

Mashed Potato - They will be mashed with my cream cheese and fresh grown green onions.

Blender Egg Nog - I sometimes get eggs from my step-mom, who keeps chickens, but if you're worried about consuming raw eggs, the cooked egg nog recipe doesn't look too difficult.

Pumpkin Custard - This is basically pumpkin pie filling without the crust.

Do you think we'll have enough?

Once again, we were offered a Thanksgiving basket from our church. This year, an elder graciously called with the offer, as opposed to last year when a lady we didn't know approached us telling us she had our turkey in her car. We didn't feel uncomfortable with the offer this year and are thankful to be loved.

Getting Blocked From Adsense

2009-11-21T06:00:00.007-05:00

Yesterday I switched to a three-column blog. It is a move I have been thinking over for a while and one that I like. I am still considering switching to this background, but that's a whole other story. Yesterday afternoon, I checked my Adsense reporting to see how many people had visited my new-and-improved blog. My heart sank as I saw a red lettered message saying my account had been disabled.

I looked into it, and it wasn't someone hacking into my account again. I actually think it was the opposite of hate, but love that caused my Adsense account to be disabled. It is my suspicion that a kind reader may have been over-clicking to help my revenue. If someone did that, that was kind, and I'm not mad. I've clicked on ads just because I like the blog or site, too.

I do think Adsense is sleazy for disabling my account a week before cutting me my first check. If I had known that would happen, I would never have used their ads. Needless to say, they were fine with me leaving the ads on my site without having notified me of my account being disabled. I have taken the ads down and will not offer Adsense further free advertisements.

I did not click. I did not ask others to click. I followed their rules.

I appealed the decision and was replied to pretty quickly, with them saying, "We've re-confirmed that your account poses a significant risk to our advertisers." I guess that a blog that discourages frivolous spending and over consumption really is a threat to their advertisers.

However, it was always my intention to monetize this blog. I am going to play around with other advertising options and I want honest feedback. I don't want anyone to feel like different advertising makes this a less reader-friendly site. I am happy when I see this blog making me money, but I am even happier when I hear that my blog is making a difference in someone else's life. So, honest feedback about any advertisements I try out would be appreciated.

To other bloggers who are worried Adsense may do the same to you, I wouldn't be. My blog grew suspiciously fast, or at least it looks suspicious to Adsense. When I find a replacement means of advertising I like, I'll recommend it.

How to Make Lacto Fermented Pickles - Easy Recipe

2009-11-20T09:00:00.005-05:00

My husband is the person in our family whose health I am most concerned about. He is twenty-nine, so he's not exactly getting old, but he's older than the rest of us. Also, he has lived his whole life on processed foods. My family ate processed grains, pasta and cereal, but not much else processed except sausage and lunch meat. His family had processed everything. His body is the most damaged.

He's on board with the diet reform we've been going through. He likes my cooking and has no problem as I figure out the healthier versions of our favorite meals. My soaking grains doesn't change much for him, and he prefers the higher proportions of meat I serve. Cutting out sugar has been hard for him, so I've put extra effort into making him stevia sweets, homemade soda and milkshakes.

Most recently, I've been adding lacto-fermented produce into our diets. This has been a health goal, as adding lacto-fermented fruits and vegetables is a huge benefit in digestion. A comprehensive article on the full health benefits can be found on the Weston A. Price Foundation's website.

My husband doesn't really get the lacto-fermenting fruits and vegetables. He's been good about everything else, and has become an advocate for some of the health issues that I am passionate about. But sometimes I think I might take on too much too fast and it gets overwhelming for him. So, how do we find a compromise?

Pickles!

I don't like store-bought pickles, but my husband does. So, I'm making him lacto-fermented pickles, which are the original way pickles were made. He loves pickles and agreed to try them. He knows from experience that my home made version of anything is better than the store-bought. It's really not a compromise at all.

Pickles are super easy. The recipe I stole can be found here or in the book Nourishing Traditions. I'm using an old peanut butter jar that held one pound of peanut butter. I cut two pickling cucumbers, $0.78, into spears and put them into the jar. Then I added

2 tablespoons whey - $0.02
1 1/2 teaspoons salt - $0.01
1 tablespoon dill - $0.10
1 1/2 teaspoons mustard seed - $0.10

I don't know the prices of the dill and mustard seed, as these were given to us as a wedding present as part of a spice rack, but I'm guessing $0.10 each. Also, if you don't have whey, you can double the salt instead.

I added enough water to fill the jar to 1/2 inch away from the top. I covered tightly, then shook vigorously. I let it sit on the counter at room temperature for three days. After the three days, it needs to be refrigerated or transferred into cold storage. The pickles were perfect, and Dan loves them. I am looking forward to some fun variations, like adding garlic, red pepper flakes, or even stevia for sweet pickles.