As I tried to pack men’s size 12 running shoes into our emergency kit, I thought there was no way. It was the shoes or the food…not both! The shoes fill the entire backpack! What are we to do? Here is our solution: First, we will tell everyone that if there is an emergency they […]
How to Make Leftover Pasta Taste Freshly Cooked
After having been married for over twenty years, you’d think I could always judge the right amount of pasta to cook. Ummm….nope. So with a little ingenuity we came up with this plan to make leftover pasta taste like new. My ten year old daughter kindly took pictures of how to reheat pasta…since she loves […]
Christmas Time Fragrance
This fragrance idea is simple and frugal. You use orange or clementine peelings, water, and a few shakes of ground cinnamon to create a light aroma throughout your home. Put the ingredients in a small pan and place on low on your stove top. Be careful to put it on a burner that the children […]
Refinish Faucets
Has your faucet seen better days? Try this makeover and help it look like new. The hard water build up on my faucet made it look dirty. It has a brushed bronze finish so if I scrubbed it very hard the finish would scrub off, too. I was embarrassed by the look and cringed when […]
Playground Hop! –A Family Activity
The idea for this activity was initiated when my two youngest kids and I had to drive an hour away to drop off one of my older kids. To make the return trip more fun, we decided to try out the playgrounds in each of the small towns we were passing through. We took mental […]
Creamy Pasta Sauce
This sauce is made from scratch in the amount of time it takes to cook the pasta! It doesn’t come from a jar or a box, and it uses simple ingredients most homes have on hand. Inexpensive and Fast! Creamy Pasta Sauce 2 TBS margarine or butter 2 TBS flour Melt butter in a small […]
A Frugal Way to Print Pictures
Do you have “millions” of pictures that you’d love to have printed…yet the expense and time involved keep you from accomplishing your wish? Here is an idea for you. You may wish to create 4×6 collage prints of your pictures. It is very inexpensive and quick. I like to put two to five pictures in […]
How to Save Money on Gift Wrap Year-Round
Christmas gift wrap is inexpensive. As you look for the perfect wrapping paper, consider this: Search for another couple rolls of paper that aren’t necessarily Christmas wrap (plain red, silver, or gold, polka-dot, striped, etc). Purchase those rolls along with your Christmas wrap and use them year-round for your wrapping needs. Happy shopping….
Harvesting Carrots
When my grandma was little, her family kept their carrots in the cellar in a bucket of sand. I don’t really have that option so I like to preserve carrots by freezing them. Here’s the process we use: 1) Wash the carrots. 2) Peel and cut off the tops and the ends of the carrots. […]
Budgeting Tips — Watching Your Money
I was asked the other day how my husband and I budget. I chuckled a little and shook my head…budgets have to adjust as situations change and kids come along and as kids get older. There is no set formula for the perfect budget. But if 20 years of marriage and continuing to raise six […]