Naturally inspired living for homemakers
It’s over! You did it (and all across the continent, there is the sound of a collective sigh of relief)! In some ways, this month has been a real stretching experience, and in other ways, it’s flown by and I barely even noticed that I wasn’t spending any money. It’s encouraging to know that life …
All good things must come to an end (yes, this is the giveaway!)Read More
No, this isn’t some warped version of a vacation time share! But to this nutritionally minded gal, it almost ranks up there with a holiday (well, maybe… Greece or cow share? Hmmm, I’ll get back to you on that…) Here’s the deal: We are going to pay into owning a percentage of a small herd …
As requested, here is my favorite ketchup recipe. My disclaimer is that it’s not my own creation- I wish it was. We like this so much better than bought ketchup. You could double or triple the recipe easily (or more, if you have a lot of little ketchup lovers), although it’s so easy that I …
Just wanted to remind all of you that this Friday is the official end of the Savvy Spending Challenge! To finish the challenge off, I will be posting an overview of how our family did this month (I need to get my hubby to crunch some numbers for me, first). And… I will be giving …
If I had known what the chapter was about, I wouldn’t have read it. I should have guessed by the title, I suppose. But there’s no going back now. I read it, and now I have to deal with the consequences. The chapter, in the book Shopping for Time: How to Do It All and …
There is something so incredibly homey about having a piano. It just feels almost like a member of the family. I love to hear my husband song writing while I cook dinner, or to hear my little girl tinkling on the ivory keys as she belts out (with no particular melody), "nothing but the blood …
Since I couldn’t access my blog until late last night, I wasn’t able to get my regular Making Do Monday post up. Seeing how this is the last week of the Savvy Spending Challenge, I wanted to make sure that I still posted the money saving post I had been thinking about. It’s a topic …
I wondered last time how many people were hoping for a list of every natural substance (vinegar, baking soda, lemon, etc.) and how I make different combinations and concoctions in order to cheaply make my house sparkling clean and non-toxic, with the scent of lemons wafting on the breeze. You won’t find that from me. …
; I know that one thing we are doing for sure is purchasing magazine subscriptions from Amazon, as I mentioned recently. This will account for at least 2 or 3 of our gifts. Another thing that we will be doing for our own children, rather than buying them "stuff", is that we are going to …
I’ve only got a little bit of time to post about our lovely tea party birthday for Abbie (I’m just taking a quick break in between cleaning up after the party and preparing dinner for friends tonight). I’ll just give you the highlights in photos: I was up until 12:30am last night, decorating after a …
It feels like it’s getting a bit easier. I’m not quite sure why, but perhaps because we’ve just gotten used to knowing that we can’t buy things! I’ve even stayed strong with the temptation of $2 ebooks at Biblical Womanhood– and I love books! But with any challenge, there are always a few bumps in …
Biblical Womanhood is having a Black Friday Sale to say "thank you" to all their readers and customers! All of their ebooks are on sale for only $2, for the rest of the week (until Sunday, I believe). Personally, I have two of Crystal’s ebooks, Simple Tips for Successful Home Management and How to Start …
; Happy Birthday, Abigail Jennifer Grace! I love you!
My sweet husband found this video on YouTube tonight, and said that it made him think of me. I loved it and thought it was so encouraging. Being a Mom can be such a tiring job. I relate to his wife, who sometimes feels at the end of the day that she hasn’t accomplished anything …
When I walked back into the kitchen this morning after changing my baby, I was greeted by this: " Look, Mommy, I can do it. I can do it all by myself. ALL by myself! No, it’s ok, Mommy, I don’t need any help. I already did it. All by myself!" ; ;; ;; ; …
This weekend I had a small, but significant, breakthrough on my site! I made my first sale as an Amazon Associate! Quite honestly, one sale is pretty piddly, but it’s the hopeful beginning of a way to bring in a bit of income on my site. As a book lover, I had already intended to …
One of the most challenging parts of this spending challenge has been to come up with ways to do the things I need or want to do, without spending any extra money. It’s fine to go without sometimes, but what about birthdays? Road trip food? Unruly hair? It’s often a matter of creatively evaluating the …
Making Do Monday- Getting creative with your resourcesRead More
Jill at The Diaper Diaries posted about magazine subscriptions on for ridiculously cheap at Amazon. Great prices to start with, plus an extra $5 rebate until the end of December! I just checked it out and there is a good selection of magazines that would appeal to many people. I am strongly considering them for …
Crystal just posted recently about taming her cravings, such as chocolate or ice cream, especially in light of wanting to lose or maintain weight. I will confess that sugar is often still my downfall. I grew up eating a lot of junk and sweets and old habits die hard. very. hard. The most basic method …
Since my post about using a cash system, I have had several comments and questions from those wanting to know more about how we determine our budget and establish our cash system. I’ll try to answer the questions and comments that I think will be most helpful for you! This is a big topic, so …
Here is my second weekly update for the Savvy Spending Challenge. I’m sorry, but I have no exciting pictures or stories of grocery store victory this week. However, I have news that is equally as good- we didn’t go over our significantly decreased grocery budget! This week’s grocery spendings: $6 (plus change, but I can’t …
This was taken the other morning, when Abbie wanted to hold Caden. He doesn’t look too thrilled in this picture, but he actually enjoyed being held by her, and as you can see, she’s just delighted. I would have to say this is one of the most rewarding and beautiful aspects of having a second …
I wish I could claim to be so creative as to have come up with the title for this post, but it wasn’t me. My hubby, Ryan, was making jokes about non-budgeting methods of money managing (er, mismanaging?) and calling it “smudge-it” or “fudge-it” and I said “Hey, I like it! I’m using that!”. He …
This weekend I finally got my hands on a book that I’ve been really excited to read since I heard about it. It appeals to the back-to-the-land, everything natural and homemade, wish I was born in the 1800’s, side of me. And yet, this book is so current, so relevant, that it is worthy of …
