Within the Lines

I have seen the logo for Pay Per Post around the blogosphere but I didn't really understand what this program was all about until I read a few reviews by fellow bloggers. They all really enjoyed the program and were consistently bringing in at least $100 per month by writing about ideas, products, and sites that they enjoyed. It sounded simple enough and it really is! You write about what you already know and the advertisers pay you.

Get paid for blogging. Write about web sites, products, services, and companies and earn cash for providing your opinion and valuable feedback to advertisers. Disclosure required.

How Big is God?

"But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:19)

When homeschooling limits your finances, do you trust God to provide for your every need? As I sat in the doctor's office and listened to him confirm my fourth pregnancy, I had no idea how God was going to help us afford the medical bills. Homeschooling and daily living expenses involved with raising three children had consumed my husband's total income. I knew we had no way to repay the costs for prenatal care and was forced to inform my doctor of our situation as he attempted to schedule my next appointment. Compassionately, he replied, "OK, let's just go ahead and schedule your next visits anyway. If God provides the money, you can pay me. If not, we'll just forget about the bill."

Reluctantly, my husband and I accepted our doctor's proposal and I proceeded with my monthly visits throughout the summer months. Then, as we began our regular homeschooling schedule in August, the most amazing thing happened. A local business called and offered me a part-time accounting job writing dividend checks. I could perform the work at home during the evening hours; and if I finished the project before October, I could earn an hourly rate that was far above the current minimum wage. For the next two months, I worked long hours to homeschool during the day and complete my work at night for my new job. Exactly one week before I delivered our fourth child, I finished the project and earned not only enough money to pay our doctor, but also enough money to cover the entire hospital bill. God in His goodness had proven Himself faithful to provide for our every need.

Are you facing a financial crisis in your family because you have chosen to homeschool? God is big enough to meet even the most challenging situations. There is no problem too great that He cannot solve and no need so large that He cannot provide. Simply lay your burden before the Lord in prayer, and you'll be amazed at what He can do! "I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. He is ever merciful, and lendeth; and his seed is blessed." (Psalm 37:25-26)

Budget Talk and More…

Tightening the budget belt has been on my mind lately. With the cost of gas continuing to go up as well as the cost of food and other items it is requiring an extra degree of thought to how the money is spent. One of the things I have been doing is instituting a “No Leftovers” policy. In the past if I had a few leftovers from a dinner I would not think to much of it. But now I have started to scale down how much food I make (especially with Leanne gone and Emily not always home for all meals) and make sure the kids eat what leftovers we have for lunch the next day… or I even serve them for dinner the next night if there are enough. I did this yesterday. I made Yummy Pinto Beans the day before and used 4 cups of dry beans (and a pound of hamburger added to the recipe) so it made a large pot of beans for us. We had enough for dinner last night too. I also will examine all leftovers that aren’t enough to serve a second time and see what new creation I can make from. Stir fry from leftover rice, chili over baked potatoes, goulash from a small amount of leftover spaghetti sauce, fried potato patties from leftover mashed potatoes, adding leftover pot roast to noodles or potatoes and adding a cream sauce to make a casserole. It is amazing how much I can save by thinking creatively with leftovers! I am also watching what I buy so it does not go to waste.. like too many tomatoes or fruit or whatever it may be. I am keeping my meals simple to make with a minimum amount of ingredients. So far my efforts have been noticeable on the budget! And I am still able to buy various organic products and still save.

The next area we looked at was how many cars we have on insurance policies that we don’t drive. My husband has a truck he only drives occasionally and we have a full size 12-passenger van we now only drive occasionally due to that $125 price tag at the gas pump fill up. So we talked with our insurance man and he said it was fine to put the cars on a comprehensive policy only as long as we are not driving them. IF we would want to drive them we just call the insurance company up and let them know we need the vehicle for the day and they adjust the policy for that day. The cost has been about $10 every 6 months for each vehicle.. which has been a huge savings. I have heard that not every insurance company will do this but I do know State Farm is one that will.

Walgreen's deals for the week of July 6, 2008

The deals looked really slim at Walgreens this week to me. Here's are two I saw:

Buy 1 Bayer Heart Advantage Aspirin at $4.99, Get $2 Register Rewards
Use $2.50/1 coupon from 05/18 SmartSource insert
$0.49 each after coupon and Register Reward

Pledge - on sale for $3
Buy 2 and use B1G1 coupon
Send in for $2 EasySaver rebate (#21)
$0.50 each after coupon and rebate.

Also, the diaper deal mentioned last week is good all month. However, since diapers are no longer on sale for $5.99 like last week, it isn't quite as sweet. For those who missed it, though, it's still a great deal:

Buy 1 Nature Made Rx Essentials at $9.99, Get $9.99 rebate
Use $1/1 coupon from 04/20 or 06/01 insert*
Free plus overage after coupon and rebate!

*From Bethany:

Buy 1 Hebert's Fully Loaded Chocolate Bars (2.75 oz.) at $0.99, Get $0.99 Rebate
Free after rebate

CVS deals for the week of July 6, 2008

As always, remember that if you've not updated your email address here, you can do that and print out a $4/$20 CVS coupon.

Buy 2 Dawn Dish Detergents at $1 Each, Get $1 ECB (Limit 5)
Use 2 $1/1 coupon from 07/06 P&G insert (some areas will only get $0.25/1)
Free after coupons and ECBs!

Buy $20 Worth of Select Olay Skin Care Products (including Gillette, Old Spice, Zest Body Wash), Get $10 ECBs (Limit 1) There will be many coupons for the participating products in the P&G insert on 07/06.

Buy 1 Playtex Tampon (16-18 ct.) at $4.99 each, Get $3 ECBs (Limit 1)
Use $1/1 coupon from 06/22 insert or $1/1 printable coupon
$0.99 plus tax after coupon and ECBs

Powerade is on sale B1G1 (making it 2 for $1.49) this week. Use 2 $0.75/1 coupon from the 06/08 SmartSource insert to get both free!

Pert shampoo is on sale 2 for $5. Use $2/1 or $3/1 coupons from 06/29 insert to get them for free or $0.50 each!

Honey Bunches of Oats are on sale B1G1. Use free coupons from recent rebate offer or 2 $2/1 coupons here to get it free!

Buy 1 15-count CVS brand cleansing towelettes at $2.99, Get $1 ECBs (Limit 5)

Buy 1 CVS Pantiliners at $0.99, Get $0.99 ECBs (Limit 2)
Free after ECBs!

Buy 1 5-ct. CVS Tampons at $1.49, Get $1.49 ECBs (Limit 2)--now reported to be working correctly
Free after ECBs!

Buy 1 15-count CVS brand cleansing towelettes at $2.99, Get $2.99 ECBs (Limit 5)

Buy 1 Bic Soliel Razor and 1 4 ct. Cartridges, Get $5 ECBs (Limit 4)
These are reported to be priced at around $6.99 each. Buy both and use two $4/1 coupons from the 06/02 SmartSource insert.
$0.98 after coupons and ECBs

Milk Cans and Coconut Oil

First-I have two old milk cans and I would like to use them somehow. I know I could paint them and then????? They work good as decor, but is there anything more practical I could do with them?

Second-I only use olive oil and coconut oil when I cook and bake. Well, I usually get my coconut oil from Wal-Mart and the price has jumped from $4.25 to $6. 98. Has this happened all over? Does anyone know of a place where I could order it for less and maybe get my wheat berries and other commodities? We don't have a food buying co-op around here and I'd have to put in a $400 order and go all the way to Duluth for pick up if I used the only one I've found.

Well that's it. I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend. We have a nice, hot day with thundershowers promised tonight. We're just wrapping up a rummage sale. It went pretty well. It would have been nice to get rid of everything, but anything at all is better than nothing.

SWD #2

Outside my window...

the scent of wood burning into charcoal in a can in the side yard. My husband and oldest son working hard to clear the space for our new "firehouse"- the home for his blacksmithing forge and my outdoor earth oven. I'll definitely be posting photos when the time comes for that.

I am thinking...

about getting dressed at some point today. I don't want to rush things though- it's only 3:10 in the afternoon.

I am thankful for...

three-day weekends! It's like getting an extra Saturday. All day yesterday, Honey and I kept thinking it was Saturday and then remembering that it was only Friday; it was great and worth the day of lost pay (as long as it doesn't happen every week :D)

From the kitchen...

wafts the savory aroma of GARLIC- three head of it, to be precise, in the buttermilk brine for my fried chicken. I am testing out a recipe from Cook's Illustrated's American Classics cookbook, a thrift store find from week before last. $2.99 is often more than I want to spend on a used book and if I had noticed the cigarette smoke smell in the pages of this one I probably would have passed it up. I'm glad I didn't now because I don't notice the smell any more and it's a great book. I think I'm going to try the thick and chewy chocolate chip cookie recipe next. I also have peach puree in the fridge and freezer that needs turning into more jam. Not my favorite chore but a satisfying one nonetheless.

In the sewing room...

that baby quilt is still waiting to be basted. I bought one of those new-fangled basting guns at Walmart recently, the kind that insert those little red plastic hang tag thingies into the quilt sandwich. I have to test it still to see if it will make holes or if I can use it. That must get done this week- baby is due on 7/11 and lives 3000 miles away.

I am reading...

Clifton Fadiman this week. Also several volumes on keeping goats, Max and Ruby books, a new-to-me Annie Dillard (we go way back to my high school AP English days) at a leisurely pace, Jeremiah. I always have time for reading- it's not optional. Oh, and Woe is I - brushing up on the grammar I never learned in that AP English class, or any of my other English classes. Blasted school systems anyway.

I am hearing...

the dulcet tones of Coldplay's X&Y album (yes, I still call them "albums") Coming up next on the ole iPod is Death Cab for Cutie's Marching Bands of Manhatten. Man, I love my iPod. Who ever said that was a frivolous gift?? Not me!

Around the house...

the laundry is ganging up on me. I really need to get it under control. I might have to resort to the dryer since my forecast shows a cloud with a nasty lightning bolt for each of the next 3 days.

I am looking forward to...

cooking in my earth oven. It's so hot in the summertime here and I have been really good about keeping the AC off for most of the warm weather so far this year. If I could keep the cooking heat outside with the rest of the heat, I might be able to keep our power bill under control. Despite a rising price per kilowatt in the past few months, I have actually kept the bill BELOW our budget amount.

One of my favorite things...

is folding dish towels, napkins and cleaning cloths. Those are my favorite loads to deal wtih, I think because they stack up so nicely into just a few piles and they all get put away in the same spot. No running hither and yon around the house to put away one measly load.

A picture thought to share...

Don't forget to head on over to Peggy's blog and read all the other Simple Woman's Daybook entries. Maybe you can make one of your own!!

Within the Lines

Pay Per Post

How Big is God?

Budget Talk and More…

Walgreen's deals for the week of July 6, 2008

CVS deals for the week of July 6, 2008

Milk Cans and Coconut Oil

SWD #2

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