Making money through books I love!
Making Do Monday- Getting creative with your resources
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
Christmas gift alert!
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 …
Weekly update- week two
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 …
Fudge-it or Budget
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 …
Book Review: The 100 Mile Diet (first installment)
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 …
Wood or plastic?
The other day I received an intriguing news article from a family member. The article, entitled “Don’t chuck that wood cutting board”, promotes the merits of using a wood, rather than plastic, cutting board. Basically, the article explains in detail the study done by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, proving that wood cutting boards …
Making Do Monday- Nipping discontentment in the bud
It’s often when our budget is the tightest that these small thoughts starts to creep into my mind: “Gosh, I wish my house looked like ____ (fill in the blank with whomever’s house I have most recently visited)”, or “I have nothing to wear”, or “I know we don’t have the money, but I just …
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I get to go Shopping…
…but it’s not going to affect our budget (I can’t believe we’re already 1/3 of the way through our month of trying not to spend any money)! My husband’s Grandma, who is just so sweet, just sent us a cheque for getting some things that our kids need, and it is just perfect timing! New …
It never hurts to ask!
Lately I have spent a lot of time brainstorming the ways that I have learned to save money, in order to share them with those who are joining me for the Savvy Spending Challenge (read all about my frugality challenge for the month of November and join my family and others as we try to …
Weekly update
As promised, here is the first of my updates as to how the Savvy Spending Challenge is going in our home! The first significant challenge that I faced in implementing these major budget cuts was in my meal planning and grocery shopping. We cut our grocery budget by 36%. That left me $50 for my …
Natural help for teething babies?
Alright, Shannon at Rocks in my Dryer is hosting a backwards Works-for-me-Wednesday. In other words, rather than suggesting my own tip or advice about a subject, I get to ask all of you about a question that is burning in my mind! Here it is… how do you help (and cope with) your teething babies? …
Mystery shopping
After reading Crystal’s blog at Money Saving Mom, I felt inspired to rack my brain and think of another way that I’ve made money from home, and then it hit me- I’ve never mentioned mystery shopping! Now, in my experience it’s difficult to actually make cash money from mystery shopping. Perhaps in the US there …
Cheap children ’s clothing!
Last weekend, I went to my favorite place to buy my children’s clothing! I shop at a local children’s swap meet, where there are over 100 tables of other local moms, selling their used children’s and infants clothing, shoes, toys, strollers, etc. It is a phenomenal place to get everything you need for your kids …
Coming up- Making Do Mondays!!!
Just wanted to give you all a heads up that this Monday (Nov.5) will be the kickoff of Making Do Mondays! As a part of the Savvy Spending Challenge, you will have the chance to write a post sharing a way that you save money by: simply going without (there are so many things that …
The how-to of the Savvy Spending Challenge!
What a great response we’ve had to the Savvy Spending Challenge! As promised, here are the rest of the details about what will be happening over the next month. First of all, it’s important to establish where you’re at right now, and set a goal for where you want to be at the end of …
Kitchen tip for honey lovers
Here’s my quick and simple tip for Kitchen Tip Tuesdays, hosted by Tammy’s Recipes. I don’t use regular white or brown sugar (any processed sugar, for that matter) in my cooking or baking. Instead, I use honey, molasses and sometimes maple syrup. There are a few challenges to doing this (substituting honey for sugar in …
The Savvy Spending Challenge! How low can you go?
Do you have extra debt that you’d like to pay off faster? Are you saving (or wish you could start saving) for a particular item your family needs (a car, a computer, etc.)? Are you just as curious as I am to see how much more you could stretch your regular budget, what you could …
He disciplines those he loves
I often make discipline about me. My frustration, my desire for a particular behavior, my anger, my sense of justice, my convenience, my level of energy. When life feels simple and the day is flowing smoothly, the chores being accomplished, no major crises happening, the baby’s not crying, and I feel overflowing with love and …
From my Bookshelf
Here’s just a list of a few of mine and my husband’s many, well-loved books! Home Management and Organization: Shopping for Time: How to Do It All and NOT Be Overwhelmed– Carolyn Mahaney and daughters Living Well on One Income: …In a Two-Income World-Cynthia Yates Christianity/Theology/Doctrine: Trusting God: Even When Life Hurts– Jerry Bridges Humility: …
Making money through ESL
Over at Money Saving Mom, Crystal asked us to write about ways that we make extra side income. In our home, we have chosen to use our experience with the ESL (English as a Second Language) community as a way to bring in some extra money. When we were first married, we spent a year …
My story
Welcome to Keeper of the Home! My new blog is up and running! How exciting to post my very first post (which I have linked to Money Saving Mom’s new series, “Money Making Mondays”). This blog has been a long time coming, and it is the fruit of many, many (did I say many?) hours …