Flash freezing

In past post I have talked about flash freezing, but I'm not sure that I have ever really explained what I've meant by it. Flash freezing is the process of freezing food for your freezer in a way that it will not freeze into a big blob of frozen food that you can't do anything with. It is the same process that large companies use when they are producing frozen good.



The idea is that you freeze all of your food separate before you bag it.



Here is what I do for flash freezing.



You will need:

• Food item cut to size for freezing


• A cookie sheets


• Freezer paper


• A little extra freezer space that will accommodate your cookie sheet.


• Storage for the item you want to freeze whether it be freezer bags or containers.

One of my favorite things to freeze is fruit, so I'm going to use fruit as my example. Last time I made a bag of frozen fruit we froze 4 different types of melons. It was so yummy and will make a great treat all year long!



I line my cookie sheets with freezer paper so that my fruit doesn't stick to the cookie sheets. I then cut my melons into cubes about 3/4-1 inch. and place as many of them as possible on the cookie sheets without allowing them to touch. If you want you can layer freezer paper and then another layer of fruit, but I tend not to have very much freezer space so I only freeze one layer at a time.



Next I put the fruit in the freezer until it is completely frozen, usually over night, but if you do it in the morning it will probably be done by evening.



I then take it out of the freezer and bag it in pre-labeled freezer bags. As long as you are only freezing produce in your bags you can reuse them.



You can use flash freezing for just about anything. Fruits, veggies, potatoes, meat balls, and mushrooms just to list a few.

Thrifty Thursday - Switching to Non-consumables

There are a lot of items that we uses on a daily basis that are consumed and then you have to buy them again.



The biggest problem with switching to non-consumables is that the start up cost is usually something that you have to save up for. Here are just a few ideas, so are probably easier than others.

• Cloth Diapers - Start up cost is more than disposable, but in the long run can actually be cheaper especially if you have more than one child.  There is a study out that I read that said that using disposable diapers in the long run is actually better for the earth, I'm not actually sure if I believe this one or not.  The study said that they are only better for the earth if you line dry the diapers and use the same diapers for several children.


• Make homemade wipes out of cloth rather than buying wipes or making them out of paper towels
  
  


• Using towels to clean up rather than using paper towels.  Use a cloth rather than using commercial dusters like swiffer or pledge.


• Switching to cloth bags when shopping rather than paper or plastic.


• Switching to cloth bags rather than wrapping paper or paper bags, the cost is about the same as a gift bag.  Most people wont reuse gift bags, but they will reuse cloth shopping bags. 
  
  


• Use a hankie rather than facial tissue


• Use cloth pads and if you are nursing breast pads rather than disposable. 
  
  


• Toilet paper is about the only thing that I'm not sure I would be willing to give up.

These are just a few suggestions, I'm sure there are more.  Do you have any other ideas for switching to non-consumables?  What have you found saves you money?  What works for you?

Saving Money 1 Step at a Time.

Here are a few tips for saving water. The first one is a good idea for everybody and every family. It will save you money and you will be using less water.





This video is a little more extreme, but it works well if you want to take a quick shower and use very little water. I enjoy my showers too much and I don't get enough of them, so we I get one I try to enjoy them as much as possible.









I hope this gives you a few ideas on how to cut your water bill.

Make it at home Monday - Toothpaste

I came across a fun recipe for tooth past the other day so I thought I would pass it a long. I know most of us can get tooth paste for free, but this recipe in the long run is cheaper than even having to buy one tube of tooth paste per year.

This recipe is taken from one of my very favorite books. Readers Digest Homemade: 702 Ways to save money and the earth!

We've grown accustomed to some highly sweetened commercial toothpastes. And to $3-$4 a tube, that acquired taste can add up to a nice chunk of change over the course of a year. Once you perfect your own homemade toothpaste recipe by adjusting the ingredients to your liking, you should be able to keep a family of four in toothpaste for less than $2 a year.

1/2 cup baking soda
2 teaspoons salt
3 teaspoons glycerin
10 or more drops peppermint or wintergreen flavoring
1 drop food coloring (optional)
Warm water

1. In a small bowl, mix the baking soda and salt. Add the glycerine, flavoring, and desired, 1 drop blue or green food clolring. Add warm water, a drop at a time, until the texture and consistency seem right. Spoon the mixture into a clean squeeze bottle or any convenient, clean container with a tight lid.
2. You may have to adjust the amount of glycerin to arrive at a consistency that suits you. This toothpaste will keep indefinitely in a covered container.

Making your own toothpaste is a wonderful way to cut down on your groceries. It is very cheap and it does work just as well as any store bought toothpaste, and it's better for you.

My Story Chapter 6.2

The children where very excited to have their little sister living with them, but at the same time they were very worried that she didn't seem to be doing anything. At 5 months old she couldn't even hold up her head.



We were able to get Angel enrolled in Infant Toddler Services which helped teach me how to encourage Angel in her development. Once a week at least one person from ITS would come out and work with her. At the time she received all the services that ITS had to offer. Our main concern with her was Physical Therapy. Once she started to catch up there were still some major delays that worried us. She was unable to bear weight on her legs and wasn't able to roll over.



Now that Angel has been with us for over a year we have come to realize that she was neglected. She now is doing the same things Mercy is doing and they are both doing it at about the same time. This puts her at being about 3 months delayed, which in a couple years this wont matter at all. The only thing that I have noticed that she is not doing yet is talking. I am starting to wonder if this is just a side effect of being drug addicted at birth. Both she and Jaquale have struggled with language skills. Jaquale at 2 1/2 was just learning to talk. Angel is 19 months old had a small list of words that she used. She would say Nana, Dadda, Momma and I did it.



(Upon editing this, Angel is now 2 and her vocabulary is such that her services through Infant Toddler Services have been cut to only monthly visits. They are now only seeing her to make sure she stays on task.)

Weekly Round Up of Post Written Elsewhere

This week has actually been pretty crazy! We had the dish washer, washer and dryer break this week! How all in one week they all broke I'm not sure, but at least now they are all fixed.



I've written a review on the movie Fireproof and also a post on Clicking to Give for breast cancer this month.

Frugal Recipe Friday - Roast

Okay, okay, this isn't really a recipe, but more an idea for stretching your money with a roast.



I was completely amazed the other day when I went shopping at how expensive buying meat has become. I couldn't find anything other than ribs for less than $2.00/lb. Everything that was marked down was seriously around $3.00/lb. I couldn't believe it.



The other day when I was shopping I decided to buy two roasts and cook them up. For dinner we had a little roast with our mac and cheese. With the rest of the roast I let it cook a little longer and I now have shredded beef. I'm going to use this in several different dishes.



It is my hopes that we can stretch the meat over 3-4 meals. One meal we will be having rice and shredded beef with veggies. Another we will probably have a casserole, and if their is enough left we will have stew.



Tough times call for stretching your food!



Do you have any other ideas for stretching the meat in your budget?

Saving Money One Step at a Time

I've recently changed my the way I use coupons. I used to have a huge binder and I would carry it with me all the time, but I have decided that I spent way to much time cutting coupons and sorting them, especially when I would have multiples of each coupon insert. I now only cut the coupons that I know I will use and then I date the coupon inserts and put them away for use later if there is an awesome deal that I can't turn down.



I know this means that I may miss out on some deals, but it also gives me a little sanity. I've recently realized that I cannot do it all. Coupons are great, but not if its for junk we will not use.



I have started reserving my coupon shopping for items that we need, or items that are free or have overage with coupons. I still also make sure that we have several of each coupon insert and I still get some really awesome deals, but I've also learned that I don't have to find and buy ever deal there is.



Find out if the stores you shop at will give you the overage when they have items priced less than the face value of the coupon. Many stores will because they will be reimbursed the full amount of the coupon.

Growing with Proverbs (1:1-7)

Over the next several weeks I'm going to be covering the chapters of proverbs, you will have to forgive me because I'm writing these posts as I go, so I may end up changing direction as we proceed.



In Chapter One of Proverbs we are given a lot to think about. Verses 1-4 we are given a brief introduction and are told why the proverbs where written.

1 The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel:

2 To know wisdom and instruction,

To perceive the words of understanding,

3 To receive the instruction of wisdom,

Justice, judgment, and equity;

4 To give prudence to the simple,

To the young man knowledge and discretion—

In verses 5-7 we are told what can be gained from listening to the proverbs.

5 A wise man will hear and increase learning,

And a man of understanding will attain wise counsel,

6 To understand a proverb and an enigma,

The words of the wise and their riddles.

7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge,

But fools despise wisdom and instruction.

In verse 7 we come to the first verse in proverbs that I think all children should learn. “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction.”



In these first 7 verses of proverbs we have come to many words that it will be helpful for our children to understand what the words mean.



Definitions are taken from The Christian Student Dictionary 1982 Bob Jones University, unless otherwise noted. When reading through these definitions with your children ask them which ones fits best with the biblical meaning of the words in the context in which they where used.  There can be more than one answer.  Encourage them to use their minds and discover for themselves which of these traits are desired or not. Don't be afraid to revisit these terms when disciplining/discipling your children.  Ask them if their behavior was wise or if they where using their better judgment.  You will be amazed how much your children really understand about their behavior.  Reminding them to think about the consequences of their behavior can really help your child grow into the Godly being they are suppose to be.



Wisdom

1. Intelligence and good judgment in knowing what to do and what is good and bad and right and wrong.

Instruction –

1. Something that is taught; a lesson or series of lessons, 


2. The act or process of teaching; eduction, 


3. Directions; orders.

Understanding

1. A grasp of the meaning or intention of something; knowledge, 


2. The ability to understand,


3. A friendly and sympathetic relationship that is based on a knowledge of each other, 


4. An agreement, especially after a fight or argument.

Judgment

1. A decision reached after hearing all sides of a question or complaint in a court of law,


2. The ability to choose or decide wisely: good sense,


3. An opinion after thinking about someone or something carefully.

Justice

1. Fair treatment according to law or honor, 


2. An attribute of God, in that He is completely just and right in all that he does, 


3. A judge.

Prudence

1. Caution in everyday or practical matters, especially one's own affairs; good sense

Simple

1. Not Difficult; easy 


2. Not showy or fancy; pain, 


3. Open; honest.

Discretion

1. The ability to make wise choices or decisions Taken from www.wiktionary.com

Fear

1. A bad feeling caused by the nearness of danger or pain or something unknown

Fools –

1. A person without good sense 


2. A person who used to amuse a king, queen, or nobel by telling jokes and clowning, a jester

Despise

1. To look down on with scorn.

When working on building positive attributes with your children, they need to know what theses words mean not only so they understand the Proverbs, but so you can help them understand why you want them to behave in a specific manner.  For example, with the word obey, we started teaching our children the meaning of the word obey as soon as they were mobile. Now all we have to say is “choose to obey” and most of the time they will listen and stop the undesired behavior.

Totlol and TeacherTube

I came across a couple websites that I wanted to share with you.



Totlol is a fun website to find safe videos for your children to watch. Here is a fun one that we have watched several times. If you like cats make sure to watch it.







From what I can tell, the people who run Totlol have gone though hundreds of YouTube videos and picked out some of the very best childrens videos. My children have had a blast watching videos from Totlol.



The other site I would like to tell you about is called TeacherTube. As you can probably figure out based on the name Teacher tube hosts education videos. I am very impressed by the wealth of information found at Teacher Tube. There are science, math, history, reading, writing, you name it, if it's educational you can probably find it on Teacher Tube!

Make it at Home Mondays - Assemble a Green Cleaning Kit

I have to admit I have just recently started going green with my cleaners. In the last several months I have started using Basic H, you can read about it here. The other day I was cleaning (with natural cleaners) and I set the spray bottle on the back of the counter. I left the room and when I came back I found my youngest daughter spraying herself with it. I thank God it was a natural safe cleaner, but this was enough for me to realize I needed to get rid of everything that could be harmful to them.



I found an interesting website that gives you the information you need to assemble a green cleaning kit. They also feature an article on warning labels which I think everybody should read. I don't think we realize how dangerous the cleaners we us can really be.

My Story Chapter 6.1

Around this time, the beginning of December, I received a call during the day from the kids social worker. She wanted to know if we would take the kids sister into our home also. Angel's foster mother had not been taking care of her the way she should. They felt that she had been severely neglected and they had also found mold in her diaper bag and bottles. I stopped and thought about it, talked to Jonathan's sister who moved in with us 2 weeks earlier to help me with the kids, then called Jonathan at work.



We all prayed about this and decided that it was the best thing for the kids. I called their worker back and told her that we had offered to take Angel in the beginning, and that offer still stood. The only problem at the time was that the rule for foster care placements in our state was that you could have 4 foster kids and 2 of your own kids and that you could only have 2 children under the age of 18 months. We would end up having to get an exception on both cases. We would have 5 foster kids, and 3 children in the home under the age of 18 months. At the time Mercy (our daughter) was 2 months old, Angel was 5 months old and Jaquale was 16 months old.



When Angel moved in with us it became apparent that she was either extremely delayed or had been severely neglected. The day she arrived I fed her an 8oz bottle and she drank very quickly and then acted like she was still starving. I called my mother in law because I had no clue what to do. If she was still starving should I feed her more or just let her go hungry, until the next feeding time. She told me to give her another 6oz, but not over that. She drank that down quickly but then acted like she was full. Angel was the same size as Mercy, which was around 14lbs. This was very small for a 5 month old.

Weekly Round Up of Post Written Elsewhere

Here are my lasted posts written at Furgal WAHMS Talk Radio. I've written about YouData, Click to Give for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Frugal entertainment in the community, Freebies4Mom, Angel Food Ministries, a few thoughts on frugality and of course I've shared a few of my favorite recipes. Make sure you don't miss out on the great information shared over at Frugal WAHMs Talk Radio.



I also wrote a post over at Mommies With Cents you will find my introductory post and I'm also started a series on buying in bulk. You can see the first post in that series here.

Frugal Recipe Friday - Tuna Noodle Casserole

2 box Mac and cheese - usually from Aldis or from Angel food

1 can on Cream of mushroom soup either Aldis brand or Campbell with a coupon

1-2 cans of tuna - depends on what I usually buy tuns from Sam's and freeze what we don't use

1 bag/can of peas



Cook mac and cheese according to the box, you will most likely need butter/margarine and milk.

Stir in other ingredients and allow them to warm.

Serve and Enjoy.

Use for Old Magizines - Learning colors

I've been working on teach my 3 little ones their colors and we have been doing a fun activity that works on several other skills while they are learning their colors.



Since I've become more frugal I have lots of free magazines that I wasn't sure what to do with them. We are now using them to rip pictures out of and glue the pictures to colored paper. Right now I'm just working on one color at a time. For example we will go through a magazine and rip out a handful of green pictures and then glue them a green sheet of paper. I then tape it to the wall and every time we walk past it we will point to it and say, "green".



The little ones love this and they are learning to tear (not that they really needed help with this) and to use glue sticks. It is also teaching them to be able to find what they are looking for when they are skimming through books, magazines, etc. Believe it or not this is a skill that some children really struggle with.



Other color projects we can use magazines for could be sorting colors and color scavenger hunts. There are tons of uses for old magazines we just have to get creative!

Growing with Proverbs - Part 1.3 - a few parents should learn

This next group of scriptures from the Proverbs are grouped together because as I was reading through the Proverbs they were the most convicting to me as a parent.

Proverbs 13:24

He who spares his rod hates his son, But he who loves him disciplines him promptly.

Proverbs 15:1-2

A soft answer turns away wrath, But a harsh word stirs up anger. The tongue of the wise uses knowledge rightly, But the mouth of fools pours forth foolishness.

Proverbs 23:13-14

Do not withhold correction from a child, For if you beat him with a rod, he will not die. You shall beat him with a rod, And deliver his soul from hell.

As a woman who has adopted 5 children, three of them have been very easy for me to discipline. Two because they are younger and one because she is older and I can reason with her, and she is generally very well behaved. The other two are at an age where they were older and already had ingrained behaviors, but young enough that you can't reason with them. Proverbs 13:24 jumped out at me because I realized that what I had been doing is telling them what they where doing wrong and then waiting for dad to come home a deal with their behavior. In some things this is okay, but in others it's not. It's okay to tell my children I expect them to have their school work done by six o'clock or their father will deal with them, but its' not okay for me to tell them their father will deal with them when he gets home after they have used unkind words, were violent, stole, told lies, etc. They are sinners. In most cases, they will fail more than once during the day on an issue that needs to be dealt with immediately. They need to be dealt with promptly. The Bible makes this extremely clear. Strike one for me, and lesson learned.



The second strike for me came when I reach Proverbs 15:1-2. When my children would misbehave my initial reaction was to yell and get frustrated. I am slowly learning, with the help of our Heavenly Father, to not let frustration get the best of me. I have noticed when I slow down and respond with a soft answer my children are usually more responsive and easier to correct. Proverbs 23:13-14 goes right a long with everything that I have been discussing. This may seem a little harsh when you first read it, but what we need to remember is in discipleship and discipline of our children we are to do just as it says. Our discipleship and discipline is to deliver and save their souls from hell.

My Crazy Child

Today I would like to send you over to my buddy Magen's blog for a bit of fund about my oldest daughter. My children have taught me so much over the past several years. I don't know how many of you have played Apples to Apples, but it has provided endless hours of laughs and entertainment for our family.



Check out Magen's post at Be Productive! to learn my about my crazy oldest child.

Make it at home Mondays - Birthday cake

With my daughters birthday yesterday we had family over to celebrate and had a blast. One thing that struck me though that I had never really thought about before was the cost of buying a pre-made cake at the store. I knew they where expensive, but I didn't realize they where so outrageous. My mother bought her a store bought cake and it cost $14.00 for a little 12x8 inch cake, that wasn't even very good. I don't know about you, but I know I could make one awesome cake for $14.00 even if I used box mixes and canned frosting!



Seriously if you are buying store bought cakes you need to stop! If I bought a store bought cake for everybody in my family it would cost me $126 a year. I don't know the exact cost of making a cake at home from scratch, but I'm pretty sure I could make 9 cakes for around $26 or less saving me at least $100 per year. Not only would I be saving money, but the cakes would be healthier without unnecessary preservatives and food dies.



I want you to look at the length of the ingredients in this cake!







Joy of Baking has a wonderful basic Yellow Butter Cake recipe. If you get a chance look at the ingredients. There is a total 11 different ingredients and that is in the frosting and cake batter.

My Story Chapter 5.2

The children have also taught me a thing or two about history. Here is a conversation between Jonathan and Emmanuel (our oldest boy). Jonathan was explaining to Emmanuel that we elected politicians every two years on the second Tuesday in November this is the conversation that followed.



"Like the boy who's head is on the penny."

"Yes, but he lived along time ago and he was shot."

"I know, my sister had a book about him. He got shot in the head on his porch."

"Actually, it was at a theater, he was watching a play... but he was on a balcony which kind of looks like a porch."

"Oh.. I never saw the big TV screen."

"Um.. he was at a play. They didn't have TVs then."



Shortly after this conversation Jonathan had another rather interesting conversation with Alisia and Nicole (our two oldest girls). Alisa had been picked at Mary for our church's Christmas pageant. Nicole had asked a friend of ours (with Alisa in earshot) what Mary did in the pageant. Our friend explained that Mary was Jesus' mother.



After overhearing this, Alisa approached Jonathan and said, "I feed God."

Naturally, he was slightly taken aback not knowing where this had come from however, knowing it had to be amusing, he started laughing. He then stopped long enough to ask Alisa how she fed God.



She answered, "With a bottle, I think."

Mommies With Cents

I just wanted to give you all a heads up that on top of my posts at Frugal WAHMs Talk Radio I will be writing occasional post for Mommies with Cents. You can click on the button to the right. Holly and Mindy have asked me and 2 other bloggers to help them out. They are both expecting little ones in the near future and will need some extra time to spend snuggled up with their new bundles of joy. I'm excited for both of them and am looking forward to being able to help them out a little bit as well.

I also wanted to take a few minutes to ask some advice of you as my readers. Since I'm going to be posting at both wonderful frugal blogs, are there other topics you would like to see me write about here? There is so much I could/can write about. If you have a few seconds, could you leave me a comment and let me know if there is something additional you would like to see me write about.

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

It doesn't seem like 2 years ago today I had my little Mercy! I can't believe how quickly time flies, she is such a smart beautiful young lady. She is constantly amazing me with how bright and beautiful she is.



At birth!





At 1!





At 18 Months!







At almost 2, holding her baby brother, yep you can't tell they are related!

Captivating - My Review

I wanted to tell you about a wonderfully Awesome book that I just read. It's called Captivating Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman's Soul written by husband and wife team John and Stasi Eldredge.



This book has taken me through a wonderful healing journey, healing me in areas that I never understood where normal. It explains that the curse placed in Eve is actually presented in the form of constantly feeling empty and unworthy, in a search to answer the question, "Am I beautiful?". She helps you find your true beauty and explains that only being redeemed and on fire for out true love, Christ will heal our hearts. I would recommend this book to every woman, our souls have all been wounded at some point in our life. John and Stasi Eldredge show their readers the desires of a man's and a woman's heart and explains what is needed to attain them.



This book is beautifully written and easy to follow. If you are looking for something to read then I suggest that you pick up a copy of Captivating by John and Stasi Eldredge.

Frugality Gone Bad

I came across this video and thought I would share it with you. This is my idea of bad frugality, I think you will understand once you watch it.

Growing with Proverbs Part 1.2 - a few parents should learn

If we do not shape, mold and direct our children's path, and leave them to themselves they will in a way self destruct. I grew up as a unbeliever, and most of my friends where unbelievers.



Proverbs 29:15 says:

The rod and rebuke give wisdom, But a child left to himself brings shame to his mother.

I cannot begin to express how important it is to know exactly what your children are doing and to make sure that what they are doing is God honoring. We are all sinners, but as youth none of us know what is expected of us. This is why it is our job as parents to teach our children.



As Christians it is of utmost importance that we teach our children Biblical wisdom and to fear of the Lord. What could possibly be a better honor than to know you have a quiver full of bright shining arrows ready to be shot into the world for our Heavenly Father?

Menu Planning - Recipe Book

A couple weeks ago I gave you a list of common main dishes and asked you to make a list of common meal which your family loves. If you still have your list now is a great time to get your recipes that match your list and make a master recipe book of all your favorite family recipes. Print them off, write them out, stick them in a binder. This way you can add recipes as you find ones that you want to try. If you enjoy them great, if not it is also easy to take out and not use them again.



Having all of your favorite recipes handy and in a place that you can use them has many benefits. How many times have you searched that has taken you hours to find because it's in a stack of recipes somewhere? I know this has happened to me before, so rather than spending my time searching for recipes I have started putting them into a notebook.



Another fun advantage of having a recipe book is that you are able to pass down a very special keepsake with all of your family favorite recipes in it.



Keeping on top of you menu will become much easier once you start keeping a recipe book because it will help keep you organized. All of your favorite recipes will be in the same place, just an arms reach away when you start planning next weeks menu.

Make it at Home Monday

This week I wanted to share with you something that I tried last week. It was something that I knew was either going to be a complete flop or it was going to be something I loved. It turned out being something I love enough that I want to share it with you.



This week I tired making my own laundry detergent. With 9 people's laundry, including several bed wetters we where spending about $50 a month on laundry soap (including borax and baking soda). Since I'm already using two of the three ingredients in my laundry, I figured I might as well try making things a lot cheaper.



Since I decided to make this my own laundry soap after watching a vlog from one of my favorite bloggers, at Frugal Upstate, I figured I would share it with you and let you decide if it is something worth trying.



As for me my laundry smells wonderful and is nice and clean. I'm going to enjoy my home frugal laundry soap!

My Story Chapter 5.1

These kids have taught me a lot. When they came into our home they where very racist. We received a lot of comments such as, "I'm black I like rap, you are white you like country." They also made it extremely clear that they hated Hispanics. It took a while, but slowly Jonathan and I started to teach the children that we are all people and that skin color didn't matter.



We explained to the kids that it wasn't that we didn't like rap, it was that we didn't like the language, the sexual contents, the violence or anything that was demeaning towards women. We have since helped them build up a library of clean rap music which they can listen to and we have also taught them that listening to country isn't the end of the world. Actually we don't listen to country that much, but sometimes it is something we do enjoy.



Another area where the kids struggled with skin color was with the judge who was in charge of their court hearings. We heard a lot of "he is white, he hates us." We had to reassure them that the judge didn't hate them and that he was only doing his job. The kids mother struggles with drugs, which is a hardship nobody should have to endure. The judge's job was to protect them and to make sure that they were safe and healthy. I will discuss the kids mother more in depth later.

Stop Shopping Saturdays

Since school started in the beginning of September I have had real trouble keeping up with my shopping and publishing posts about it.



Here is what I did this week.



I went shopping at Sams and Walmart.



I bought fruit, crackers, pickles, ramen, bbq sauce, raisins, crasins, pancake syrup and a few other things in bulk on the request of my children. I also bought a few things for my SIL and 2 boxes of diapers and calcium. I spent around $140, about $100 of which will come out of our food budget.



Until things start to slow down a little I think I might try to come up with something else fun to share with you on Saturdays.



If you want to learn how I earned $5.00 this week viewing ads check out my post over at Frugal WAHMs Talk Radio.

Some Thoughts on Frugality

I have a new post of at Frugal WAHMs Talk Radio. Some of my thoughts on frugality, if you are interested make sure to check it out.

Frugal Friday

Did you know that field trips don't have to happen only at school? I have found that going out as a family is not only a good way to bond and spend time with your loved ones, but it can also be a great educational tool. When you make a field trip with your children a teaching opportunity, there's a good chance the kids won't even realize that they are learning. Using real life experiences can teach your children in a way that is not only fun but also encourages long term retention.

 

Taking field trips and spending time with your family doesn't have to be expensive. It can be as little as the cost of the gas if you choose to drive, or family outings can be completely free. They can also be as simple or complex as you want them to be.

 

A simple field trip could be as easy as taking a nature walk in your back yard. If you truly look around there is so much to see and learn. Here is a few ideas of things you could do in your own back yard or in your neighborhood.

• Bark rubbing


• Leaf and seed collections,


• Exploring bugs and insects


• Bird/Animal watching


• Star Gazing


• Walking around after a rain, or first thing in the mornings, everything is so much prettier when there is water droplets around.


• Walk to the nearest park for a picnic

If you wanted to make your field trip a little more complex you could go to a nature trail, take a hike while looking for different animals, and have a picnic when your are finished. There are so many different things that you can do as a family.

The amount of time and money put into a field trip is completely up to you. I would recommend getting out and doing something special as a family at least a couple times a month, or even more often if you have the time. Children are like sponges in everything, not only will they soak up lots of information, they will also soak up the much needed love and affection they will receive from this special time with with you.

Say Nation

I'd like to take a little time away from my usual. Today I would like to tell you about a website I have found called Say Nation. I spend few minutes a day filling out online surveys and I have to say that Say Nation is one of my favorite.



I have only been a member for a few months and I'm already 48% of the way to the payment that I have picked. They offer lots of different options from books, to DVDs, to Video games, to my favorite gift cards! Filling out surveys like the ones offered at Say Nation is just one way that I can bring in a little extra money while making a difference by giving compainies my opinion.



If you are interested in Say Nation you might want to check it out. If you decide to sign up because of this post could you please refer me? Here is my referal code: 1918947988.

Growing with Proverbs - Part 1.1 - a few parents should learn

If you don't do this already, I would like to strongly encourage you to start reading one chapter of the proverbs everyday as a family. Begin with Chapter One and read one everyday of the month. Then start over again once you have reached Chapter 31.



There is so much to learn from the Proverbs and it's not just for your children! There is plenty there for you to learn also. What I have done in the past when my children have broken one of our rules is to find what the Bible says about it and have them write it, however many time we feel necessary. The place that I have found losts of encouragement for them and me is in the book of proverbs.



There are many things as parents that we should take from the proverbs and use them in raising our children. The following verses that I have picked out of the Proverbs are only a few that state very clearly how we are suppose to raise our children.



Today I would like to start with Proverbs 22:15:

Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; The rod of correction will drive it far from him.

Proverbs 22:15 is a very important verse and one that we all should learn and have our children memorize. When my children misbehave this is one of the verses that I often find myself directing my children to read, write and memorize. Children need to be able to test and push the limits, but to also know that there will be a firm hand to correct. If this correction is not immediate, especially the younger the child, then there is a very large chance that they will not make the connection between the behavior and the discipline. I will touch on this more a little later.



For today make a commitment to read one chapter of Proverbs together as a family. Also start having your children memorize Proverbs 22:15. For younger children start with only half of the verse and work your way up to the whole verse.