A lot of times we think... oh these are bad, or they are way past their prime, I can't use these... BUT if we think and are a bit creative, what wonderful surprises are just waiting to be discovered. Speaking of, I had this large pack of cherry tomatoes. Wonderful when they are firm and fresh. Not so great when they are soft and wrinkled. BUT, by throwing them in my blender (with a few fresh cloves of garlic) or food processor for just a few quick pulses, I have a wonderful start to some homemade salsa, spaghetti sauce or soup, or pour into a freezer bag and keep it for another time. Lots of wonderful possibilities. :) Mine went into Tuesday nights spaghetti. :)
Enjoy and remember, find new uses for what you already have!
I have been organizing some of my watercolor materials to take on the road with me. I have never prepared a travelling kit, but would like to have a small stash of supplies on hand that will allow me to be creative when I am inspired on the road, without having to lug around a large box of supplies. If you have ever travelled to a hotel, on an airplane, bus, road tripped, camped, or Rv-ed then you know space and weight are crucial. However, I have had the blessing of doodling when we have been camping and reviewing those doodles are more than just memories; they tell about me as a person. This is something that a camera cannot capture. Now back to my original idea. I was still left wondering how to accomplish this. I even wondered if I could accomplish this in a way that would fit in with our business.
On errand day this week, I made a stop at Michael’s to check on the price of a travel palette and I needed a bottle of masking fluid. Masking fluid is a bit pricey, but it lasts a long time. I also had on my list a Chinese water color brush for a new technique I have wanted to try. The selection at Michael’s was in terrible condition. There was a nice lady in the asile who could see me struggling and asked what I was looking for. She asked if I had a coupon. I replied no because I don’t get the newspaper. She said, “Aren’t you on the Joann’s mailing list?” This I interpreted to mean, “Aren’t you in the club?” I replied yes, but that Joann’s doesn’t carry that supplies that I need for painting. She said to me (Are you sitting down? Oh, of course you are, because you are reading this on your computer; silly me!), “You can use your Joann’s coupons here.” WHAT? That’s what a girl gets when she doesn’t read the secret club membership book!
The look on my face said it all…I was completely clueless. Sure enough, I asked and Michael’s accepts Joann’s coupons. SO, even if I don’t need a craft item, I can get my artist’s supplies and use the 40-50% off coupons! So for all of you who were in the dark like me, I am here to inform. Now, go and save, but do so within your budget, says I! What a GREAT way to end the week!
Have FUN saving even more on your art and craft supplies!
These are my thoughts.
Leslie Valeska
~Contributing Writer~
Leslie Valeska is the lucky wife of Thomas. With children ranging in ages from 4-16, she has had a lot of time to learn and experience much of the fine art of homemaking. She is a writer, speaker, and vintage seamstress. For FREE daily tips and a FREE E-zine on simple and frugal living visit her blog Journey to Simplicity. Need a source of encouragement, inspiration, and support on your journey to Godly womanhood? Visit Simple Journey Ministries (she has a FREE E-zine too!)
When it comes to frugal living, beans just seem to come to mind, don't they? They are so inexpensive, easy to prepare in many ways, and are also very nutritious. It is no wonder so many use beans as a staple food in their diet.
Our family loves beans, well my husband and I do, and all of my children did until recently, when the youngest 2 began to get picky. Since we are living very frugally these days(the economy has done us no favors). beans are on the menu even more than normal.
My picky eaters will turn up their noses at our "regular" beans, but will eat refried beans without a negative word; and they love what they call "sweet beans", which are really those nasty canned baked beans. Since they like "sweet beans", I thought I'd try out my grandmother's recipe for them. My husband thinks that sweet beans are almost inedible, so I'll continue to make our regular beans for him, but from time to time I'll make the recipe below for the "sweet bean" fans in our household.
Grandma's Pinto Beans
2 cups dry pinto beans- cook in water until just tender
Add:
1 onion, chopped
1 Tbl sugar
2 Tbl chili powder
2 Tbl molasses
1 tsp powdered dry mustard
salt to taste
Continue to cook until beans are soft.
Grandma always served her beans with cornbread, which traditionally in our family is not sweet.
Here's another of grandma's bean recipes. Another one I don't make often because my husband insists that beans are one dish, chili is another, and the two don't mix ! Silly man. Anyway, it makes a big pot of meaty, chili beans, that are quite tasty.
Mexican Beans
Cook 2 lbs. beans until tender.
Brown 2 lbs. ground meat
Add this to beans along with:
8 oz. taco sauce
1 can green chilis
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbl chili powder
1 can diced tomatoes (recipe says 1 large can, I would use the 14 oz. can, I think)
2 onions, chopped
1/2 tsp cumin
salt to taste
Simmer until ready to serve.
For our family's staple "regular beans", I soak pintos using the quick soak method on the package. After soaking for an hour, I add more water and bring to a boil, then add the following:
salt- to taste
black pepper- quite a bit, but to taste
garlic powder- again, to taste, probably 1/2 tsp or so
liquid smoke, 1 tsp or so (optional)
1 small onion, chopped finely (to disguise it from picky little people)
Cook, over med. to low heat, adding water as needed, until very soft and the broth has thickened.
I serve them plain, with cornbread, potatoes and a leafy green veggie for one meal, then make refried beans with the leftovers. To do this, simply add 2 tbl. or so of one of the following into a large skillet: vegetable oil, bacon grease, or lard. I use veg. oil these days since it is the healthiest option, the bacon grease gives the best flavor in my opinion. Heat over med.-hi. heat until hot, add beans. Stir and mash until most of the liquid cooks off and beans are as smooth as you like. Now you have refried beans for side dishes, or another staple in our family- breakfast tacos. Heat flour tortillas, add some refried beans, cheese, and eggs, bacon, or whatever you like. Don't forget the salsa!
Hope these recipes help you plan some frugal meals for your family!
You have heard the expression, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade,” right? Well, I believe in that philosophy, but sometimes it can be hard to get your inner core to go along for the ride, know what I mean? With so many families facing financial tightness, they are realizing that every little bit helps. Last week and earlier this week I offered some tips on how you can clean out your pantry & refrigerator without wasting a penny AND saving on cleaning supplies. I recently answered the question about how to begin to build your store house when your budget is already tight. In keeping with this thought process, here is a fresh way to lower your food budget with one simple purchaseto help save money.
Instead of buying 3 lemons for $1, consider buying a whole bag. You may not think you will use all these lemons, unless you actually do make lemonade frequently, but over time you will. The simplest way to keep fresh raw lemons on hand, instead of the cooked stuff that comes in a bottle, is to purchase that bag of lemons. All you need to do to store them is cut them in half and place in a small zip style freezer bag or food saver and place in your freezer. I double the protection, by placing these smaller bags in a larger zip style freezer bag. These will keep for about 6 months. They may keep longer, but I have never had them around longer than that to know the actual freezer life of frozen lemons.
The best part, when you defrost these halves, they will be MUCH easier to juice! This works for any citrus fruits, so stock up on limes and oranges when they are on sale as well. Simply frugal living at its best.
These are my thoughts.
Leslie Valeska
~Contributing Writer~
Leslie Valeska is the lucky wife of Thomas. With children ranging in ages from 4-16, she has had a lot of time to learn and experience much of the fine art of homemaking. She is a writer, speaker, and vintage seamstress. For FREE daily tips and a FREE E-zine on simple and frugal living visit her blog Journey to Simplicity. Need a source of encouragement, inspiration, and support on your journey to Godly womanhood? Visit Simple Journey Ministries (she has a FREE E-zine too!)
A great way to utilize space is to go vertical, right? But there is often a cost involved (even a minimal one) for organizers in the garage. But there doesn’t have to be; it can be done for FREE!
Most of us have a collection of tote bags that are given for free from a variety of companies. Every time I renew my membership or begin a new membership to something I usually get a free tote. Often times when the hubby & I attend a conference or convention free tote bags are donated a part of the free goodies for attendees. It seems every time I attend something I get a free tote with some company’s logo on it. Before long I had a complete collection of free totes!
So, as I was doing part of my Total Home Overhaul in my Master Bedroom, I realized I had a lot of closet space being taken up by these freebies. I couldn’t seem to part with them. I have so many! At one point I actually began hanging them in my garage, thinking they were easy to grab, yet out of the way. Then it occurred to me that I could actually USE all of these AND have vertical storage in my garage and all I need to do this project are some drywall nails (which we have an abundance of).
I decided I could insert drywall nails on an angle and hang each tote separately. Then use the totes to store items that have no other specific home, such as umbrellas, rain ponchos, extra vacuum attachments, gloves, hats, outdoor toys, small gardening supplies, day trip needs (like sun block, a dry wash cloth, small bottle of powder, a package of wet wipes, etc), golf balls & tees, etc. When I need a specific item I would be able to locate the specific items immediately. No more hodge podge storage. No need for more plastic tubs and boxes (at least for these items). I use up my stash of tote bags AND get storage for FREE!
These are my thoughts.
Leslie Valeska
~Contributing Writer~
Leslie Valeska is the lucky wife of Thomas. With children ranging in ages from 4-16, she has had a lot of time to learn and experience much of the fine art of homemaking. She is a writer, speaker, and vintage seamstress. For FREE daily tips and a FREE E-zine on simple and frugal living visit her blog Journey to Simplicity. Need a source of encouragement, inspiration, and support on your journey to Godly womanhood? Visit Simple Journey Ministries (she has a FREE E-zine too!)
For years I have been buying fruits & vegetables from a variety of resources such as farmer’s markets, roadside stands, farm stands and flea markets. As with everything, marketing is where it is at. I have had repeated emails reflecting the increase of prices at farmer’s markets and asking my opinion. Well, I can’t speak for every one of these resources; that’s my short answer.
My more detailed response is that this really depends. I too have noticed that certain farmer’s markets in my area have significantly raised their prices. Some of them are so high, they make my local upper end super market look like a bargain. I can’t say why this has changed, other than shopping at farmer’s markets are the “in thing” and people don’t keep track of prices. Most commonly people assume they are getting a good deal because all the middle men have been cut out. However, some markets in my local area still offer a good deal on fresh produce. I have also found that shopping at the end of the market day is still the best time to find those rock bottom bargains. Most recently I was actually given extra produce just because the family did not want to haul it home. This was at a small little row of farmer’s stands in a small town.
During that trip I purchased onions that cost 25 cents each. To show you the size of these fabulously sweet onions, I took a picture of one next to an average loose packed Granny Smith apple (and those are fairly large). Not a bad purchase for 25 cents, eh?
So my advice is to do three things:
Know your prices. Don’t over pay for your produce just so you can say you purchased your produce from a farmer’s market.
Shop at the end of the market day. Get your bargain attitude on and ask for a better deal. More likely than not, you will get it!
Be ready to walk away with nothing more than a fresh walk through a lovely market and be content. Just because you went shopping doesn’t mean you have to buy!
These are my thoughts.
Leslie Valeska
~Contributing Writer~
Leslie Valeska is the lucky wife of Thomas. With children ranging in ages from 4-16, she has had a lot of time to learn and experience much of the fine art of homemaking. She is a writer, speaker, and vintage seamstress. For FREE daily tips and a FREE E-zine on simple and frugal living visit her blog Journey to Simplicity. Need a source of encouragement, inspiration, and support on your journey to Godly womanhood? Visit Simple Journey Ministries (she has a FREE E-zine too!)
So many have noted that Spring is finally showing itself in much of Canada and the U.S. With Spring comes some tasks that we have forgotten over the last several months; Yard Work. BLECH! It is well known that I do not have a lot of shnazzy curb appeal. I do so appreciate a home with a wonderful and inviting look from the road, but I don’t have the time to maintain such a look, and so I dread the task.
But there are some easy ways you can have a nicely manicured yard, without having a picture perfect yard, offering simple curb appeal; which is also very frugal. We have a list of the bare minimum of tasks that are to be done come Spring and then maintained throughout the growing season. They are a bit tedious at first, but once they are accomplished they are fairly easy to maintain. Here is our Yard Appeal Bare Minimum List
Cut your grass. Then keep it cut accordingly with rainfall and growth.
Use an edger around all curbs and walkways. This really adds curb appeal with minimal effort once you actually do the initial task.
Trim bushes and shrubs of all dead limbs, leaves, and other debris from the winter months. Be sure to haul away this debris.
Weed your gardens. Remove any dead plants or shrubs. You can choose to leave the area bare or replace these items, but you need to get rid of the dead stuff.
Mulch your garden with the bedding of your choice. This is easy and it will really help keep your work to a minimum if you keep up with it.
Now, for me to implement this into my schedule!
These are my thoughts.
Leslie Valeska
~Contribtuing Writer
Leslie Valeska is the lucky wife of Thomas. With children ranging in ages from 4-16, she has had a lot of time to learn and experience much of the fine art of homemaking. She is a writer, speaker, and vintage seamstress. For FREE daily tips and a FREE E-zine on simple and frugal living visit her blog Journey to Simplicity. Need a source of encouragement, inspiration, and support on your journey to Godly womanhood? Visit Simple Journey Ministries (she has a FREE E-zine too!)
I am sure many of you are like myself and are trying to get away from plastics. One place that I use plastics frequently, is storing leftovers.
Instead of storing them in plastic containers, I have decided to use my canning jars.
Canning jars and lids are ideal to store leftover soups, side dishes and much more.
If you look for them at yard sales and flea markets you can find them much of the time for very little money, esp if the top is not ideal for canning.
So gather up your canning jars, even if it isn't time to can your harvest.
From My Homestead to Yours,
~Chas~
Chasity L. Burrell
Senior Editor Homesteadblogger Heritage Acres Farm
Chasity L. Burrell is the Senior Editor for Homesteadblogger and is the happy Christian homesteading wife to Shannon her beloved, Moma to their 4 homeschooled children. They live in North GA on 20 acres of promise, and a LOT of hard work! She spends her days gardening, baking, schooling and always doing laundry, while dreaming of chickens and Praising the Lord for His Infinite Love and Mercy...
Join them on their journey to farm life on their family blog Heritage Acres Farm
Budgeting can be very complex and detailed by nature. If you have been working with a budget for any length of time, you already know that you have to keep on top of it and tweak regularly, like weeding your garden. But once you have your main budget set up there are three ways you can simplify!
Make sure you have a working budget in place before the month begins. There is nothing worse than having a semi-budget outlined and wondering where all your money went at the end of the month.
Use the envelope system. Keep all money for each category of household spending (utilities, groceries, paper supplies, extracurricular activities, etc) in an envelope. This has a two-fold purpose: 1) You will only be able to spend what is in the envelope and 2) You are training yourself to spend cash only.
Spend 15 minutes at the end of each week balancing your budget. That is really all it should take if you are following your written budget. To make this even simpler, have a small box or drawer to keep your receipts for that week only. Each day, empty out your wallet or handbag of receipts into the box or drawer. You will have everything you need at your fingertips to balance at week’s end. Want to add a little more simplicity to your yearend finances? Tally those receipts and mark with a paper clip. When the week has been balanced you can take this clipped and tallied stack of receipts and place them in a box for your yearend taxes.
These are my thoughts.
Leslie Valeska
~Contributing Writer~
Leslie Valeska is the lucky wife of Thomas. With children ranging in ages from 4-16, she has had a lot of time to learn and experience much of the fine art of homemaking. She is a writer, speaker, and vintage seamstress. For FREE daily tips and a FREE E-zine on simple and frugal living visit her blog Journey to Simplicity. Need a source of encouragement, inspiration, and support on your journey to Godly womanhood? Visit Simple Journey Ministries (she has a FREE E-zine too!)
Lamp shades can really change the look of a room. They can add much needed accents without creating a lot of clutter. You can make even the simplest decor POP with some cute and unique lampshades. Of course, you can purchase beautiful lamps to match your décor, but you can also create special, yet simple focal pieces for relatively no money with just a little creativity. Here are some ideas that are sure to get your creative juices flowing!
Artificial flowers
Paints
Rubber stamps
Hats
Fabric
Beads
Scarves
Costume jewelry
Birdhouses
Placemats
Kitchen gadgets (such as cheese graters & colanders)
Patches
These are my thoughts.
Leslie Valeska
~Contributing Writer
Leslie Valeska is the lucky wife of Thomas. With children ranging in ages from 4-16, she has had a lot of time to learn and experience much of the fine art of homemaking. She is a writer, speaker, and vintage seamstress. For FREE daily tips and a FREE E-zine on simple and frugal living visit her blog Journey to Simplicity. Need a source of encouragement, inspiration, and support on your journey to Godly womanhood? Visit Simple Journey Ministries (she has a FREE E-zine too!)
Hello Everyone!
I have a treat for you. I know you will be just as excited about this as I was. There is a great site I was introduced to a few days ago and it is just what I have been looking for.
The site is called Econobusters. And as a treat to you, they have a Free E-book for you!!!
This is tremendous, the e-book has LOTS of information and pages and pages of tips, lists, ideas, menu planning pages, grocery lists... virtually everything you need to menu plan a month at a time and enjoy it!!!!!
I'm sure you will bookmark this site and find it as helpful as I have. Share this with your friends. I am sure there a many others who would really enjoy a FREE e-book also!
From My Homestead to Yours,
~Chas~
Chasity L. Burrell
Senior Editor Homesteadblogger Heritage Acres Farm
Frozen vegetables can be not only a last minute dinner saver, but they can be an extremely frugal & nutritious option to fresh produce. Winter is no exception, since produce is generally priced higher because most produce is not in season. Most of us meander through the grocery picking up the items on our list. Frozen veggies are picked up and tossed into our shopping cart as needed. If you are using some of the techniques I outline in Trim the Fat: The Ultimate Book on Cutting Food Costs then you are never paying full price for your frozen vegetables. But in the last few months as prices have been rising & falling on items for no apparent reason, I have noticed a trend that can save you even more!
Frozen vegetables are available at warehouse clubs. I have never been big in purchasing these because they did not offer a significant savings, if any at all. I recently sat down to update my Price Book* in an effort to spike our family’s plan to stock pile cash into our savings and noticed something very interesting. Those large bags of frozen vegetables are often less expensive than the smaller bags in my local groceries on sale now. But I have secret to disclose. In times past when I have purchased those larger bags, some always went to waste from freezer burn when not used quickly once opened.
I thought about how I could take advantage of this without having any waste or loss, because that throws the savings right out the window. When you return home from the warehouse club with your bags of frozen vegetables re-package them immediately into portions that are just right for a meal for your family. Use zip style freezer bags or Food Saver bags to assure freezer burn prevention. Be sure to write the date on the bag. I re-use the same freezer bags now. Each time I empty one, I simply cross off the date before I wash the bag. This works great and has been saving us money, while allowing us to have more nutritious vegetables.
These are my thoughts.
*You can learn more about Price Booking by checking outPrice Booking the Simple Way. You will never pay full price for any food items again!
Leslie Valeska
~Contributing Writer~
Leslie Valeska is the lucky wife of Thomas. With children ranging in ages from 4-16, she has had a lot of time to learn and experience much of the fine art of homemaking. She is a writer, speaker, and vintage seamstress. For FREE daily tips and a FREE E-zine on simple and frugal living visit her blog Journey to Simplicity. Need a source of encouragement, inspiration, and support on your journey to Godly womanhood? Visit Simple Journey Ministries (she has a FREE E-zine too!)
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Speaking of, I had this large pack of cherry tomatoes. Wonderful when they are firm and fresh. Not so great when they are soft and wrinkled.
BUT, by throwing them in my blender (with a few fresh cloves of garlic) or food processor for just a few quick pulses, I have a wonderful start to some homemade salsa, spaghetti sauce or soup, or pour into a freezer bag and keep it for another time.
Lots of wonderful possibilities. :)
Mine went into Tuesday nights spaghetti. :)
! Silly man. Anyway, it makes a big pot of meaty, chili beans, that are quite tasty. 
I am sure many of you are like myself and are trying to get away from plastics. One place that I use plastics frequently, is storing leftovers.
