Living wisely...

So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Ephesians 5:15-16 NLT
Did you know that a recent government study estimated that about 1 pound of edible food is thrown out for each man, woman and child in the US each day? In 2010, 33 million tons od food waste was generated in the US - second only to paper waste in the landfills.

Thant's a staggering amount, especially considering that 5% of that wasted food could feed an additional 4 million people each day!

Simple changes in the ways we buy, store and prepare food, can cut the amount of food waste generated each year.

Here's some ideas to get you started:

- When shopping, we buy economy packages of meat which I divide and freeze into meal-sized portions as soon as I get home. By cooking only what we need, we don't waste as much.

- If I have leftovers, we eat them for lunch the next day. If there are too many leftovers, I make TV dinners from the leftover portions. These are great for evenings when I don't have time to cook a hot meal or for Dear Hubby (DH) if I need to go to take care of the grandkids.

- Sometimes I will put the leftover meat and veggies into a freezer container When it's full, I have enough to make a nice batch of broth or cream based soup.

- There are only 2 of us at home now, but DH still likes an occassional piece of cake for dessert. So I bake a cake and cut it into individual portions, freezing what we won't eat. Later we can pull out one piece at a time which satisfies the sweet tooth and keeps us from throwing out half a stale cake.

- There's often tons of leftovers at church dinners, including coffee. The coffee can be frozen in ice cube trays and stored in gallon plastic freezer bags. Take out a few cubes and nuke them for a minute for a single cup of coffee without making a whole pot. It's as good as instant coffee.

Several years ago, my sister-in-law gave me over a bushel of pears - tiny pithy ones that were too hard to peel and can. So I made a yummy pear butter from them rather than throw them out.

Recently I came home from a picnic with several bags of sandwich buns. They had been frozen once and would get dried out too much if refrozen, so they were headed to the landfill. I broke them into pieces, added seasonings, onions and celery, then baked a large batch of stuffing which I cut into meal-sized portions to serve with some frozen chicken breasts I had. Yummy!

One of our local markets occasionally gives away over-ripe bananas. When I get the chance, I take several bunches and freeze them to make large batches of banana bread later.

While I wish I could say I never wasted anything, over the past few years I have tried to be wiser about using my resources. I love finding new and creative ways to reduce, reuse and recycle food items as well as other things.

Lord help me to apply these lessons to all areas of my life - to be wiser and less wasteful in the use of my time, money and talents as well as with our food! Amen.

Hidden potential...

Are you a visual person? Do you tend to judge things by how they look?

Sometimes I do that, but being a frugal crafter, I often find myself giving things a second look to search for an item’s hidden potential. For example, old books that are coming unglued or dog-eared old maps, make a wonderful supply of “design paper” for card backgrounds or embellishments. Or an empty cereal box can be turned into chipboard embellishments like fancy monograms or buttons with a little cutting, design paper and glue, mimicking their more expensive chipboard die-cut counterparts sold at the craft store.

Maybe that’s why I also enjoy certain home improvement programs like HGTV’s Property Brothers. Two brothers, one a real estate agent and the other a contractor, help people to purchase their dream homes. They start by showing their clients a move-in ready home with everything on their must-have list. This serves as a reality check for the clients because the home is usually way out of their price range.

Then they show their clients several “fixer-uppers” along with renovation plans which fit into the client’s budget. These properties which might be glossed over as unacceptable at first glance have the potential to become the show-places their future owners want. The client decided on a property and the renovations start. Ultimately, the homes end up looking as good or even better than the move-in ready house.

But, what about people? Do you judge them by how they look as well, or do you look for their hidden potential?

The prophet Samuel was told to go to the house of Jesse and anoint the future king of Israel to replace Saul. When he got there, he met and sized up each one of Jesse’s sons – all were good looking and had the appearance of great potential. But God cautioned Samuel not to pick any of them.

“But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at the way he looks on the outside or how tall he is, because I have not chosen him. For the Lord does not look at the things man looks at. A man looks at the outside of a person, but the Lord looks at the heart.”” 1 Samuel 16:7 NLV

God had his eye on David, Jesse’s youngest son who was still a gangly, awkward teenager. He wasn’t much to look at yet, compared to his brothers who were already grown up, buff-looking warriors. But David’s heart stood head and shoulders above the hearts of his brothers because of the young man’s devotion to God. His hidden potential was what made him important in God’s plan.

We need to be careful how we judge others because we can’t usually see at first glance what’s inside. Yet God knows what they have the potential to become with a little work. and he has both the time and the patience to do it! After all, take a look inside your own heart and check out what he’s doing there!

Thank you Lord for looking at our hearts and giving us a chance to become all you know we can become. Amen.

A sweet smelling fragrance

Last night I actually made my second batch of laundry soap. I concocted the first batch at my daughter's house in Florida, after everyone had gone to bed. After all, there's no sense trying to do it with several curious little helpers!

I can just imagine my conversation with my grand children:

Eve: "What are you making Grammy?"
Me: "Laundry soap."
Eve: "Can I help?"
Jack: I want to help too. Ew! It smells and feels like slime."
Me: "Jack, Get your hands out of the slime!"
Eve: "Mommy! Jack got yellow slime all over me."

Anyway, you get the idea.

So there I was at 11:30 PM, wishing I had a clothespin to put on my nose because the smell of the melting soap seemed over-powering at times. The bar of Fels Naptha soap had to be grated and then melted/dissolved in a pot on the stove over medium to low heat while stirring constantly. That process took about a half hour and by the time I was done, my arthritic feet and knees really were protesting.

Hm, there had to be a better way!

Last night when I started making my own batch here at my house, I decided to try the crock pot which took a lot of drudgery out of the process. So here's my adapted recipe.

Grate 1 bar of Fels Naptha bar soap into the crock pot. Add 4 cups of hot water, cover and turn crock on high. Stir occasionally until all soap is melted/dissolved. This will take an hour to an hour and a half but is soooooooo easy! And since it's covered, there wasn't a lot of the soapy smell through the house.

Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot water and add 1 cup Washing Soda and 1/2 cup Borax. Stir until powders are dissolved and then add the melted soap. Fill the bucket the rest of the way with hot water and stir thoroughly with a long wooden paint stick or long handled spoon (Plastic preferred). Cover and let stand overnight.

In the morning, stir again. Mixture will be thick and jelly-like. Pour into plastic storage containers using a ratio of half soap mixture and half water. The five gallon bucket of concentrated soap will make 10 gallons of ready to use detergent. That's about 180 loads for top loading machines and 640 loads for front loaders. Shake the containers each time before use.

To use your homemade detergent, add 5/8 to 1 cup of the liquid soap to a top loading machine -OR - 1/4 cup of the liquid to a front loader.

Optional - you can add 5-10 drops of any fragrance essential oil to each plastic gallon container of the mix for a fresh laundry scent (we're so spoiled by the perfumy pre-made brands). I like lavender essential oil for sheets and fresh linen for most other loads.

I haven't tried mine yet, but my daughter likes the way hers works and it only costs about 3 cents per load to make.

Frugal recipes for a more beautiful you!

For a long time now, I've tried to be frugal with health and beauty products. Over the years I've turned my shampoo and conditioner bottles upside down and drained every last drop into a new bottle. Those last few drops are hardly enough to do anything with, but they do add up over time. I can usually can fill my travel sized bottle over a few months so its full and ready to go when vacation time rolls around. It may contain several different scents so I just call it my fruit salad shampoo.

After I stopped working outside the home, I needed to be more economical when it came to purchasing beauty products like shower gel. I found I could lather up my bath pouf just as well with a bar of soap as I could with that nice gel - so I stopped buying the pricier shower gels and settled for a simple bar of soap.

But even with a bar of soap, there's waste - that little sliver that just isn't big enough to use effectively. Did you know the average person uses 656 bars of soap over their lifetime???????

This weekend I found some new frugal "recipes" I want to try - making my own shower gel and designer bath soaps from old soap slivers.

Boy was I impressed when I found this video showing how to make new designer hand soaps from stuff I already had on hand like soap slivers, olive oil, food coloring, oatmeal and oranges!


How To Turn Soap Slivers Into a New Bar Of Soap - These bloopers are hilarious

Sooooooo easy! I have some great cookie cutters that might work for molds and if I really wanted to get fancy, I could purchase some fancy soap molds to match the decor of my bathroom to make cute designer soaps. Or maybe for Christmas gifts (using new bars of plain soap instead of slivers of course!)

Of course, if you don't want to go to all that trouble of making these cute little soaps, you can always just put y our soap slivers in a sock (one of those mateless ones you can't wear anymore) and use it in the shower. Or another suggestion I found was to cut one leg from a pair of pantyhose that has a runner and put the slivers in that. Knot it and hang it from the shower. Not the most attractive way to do it, but it works.

I also made an amazing discovery - in all the recipes I found for shower gel, the main ingredient was unscented shampoo! The best recipe I found was on eHow.com

It uses equal parts of unscented shampoo and water, adding up to a quarter cup more or less water to get the consistency you like. The scent comes from inexpensive essential fragrance oils that are available in craft stores like A. C. Moore, JoAnns or Michaels. The other ingredient is regular table salt which acts as an exfoliating
ingredient.

I like citrus scents in my bath products so I used inexpensive citrus shampoo, added the water and salt and a few extra drops of citrus scented oil which made a great mix! However, if you have sensitive skin, you might want to purchase the unscented shampoo - even unscented baby shampoo.

Developing a frugal lifestyle is an adventure. Each day brings new discoveries - new things to try. Have fun on your adventure today!

Frugal Tips - Wow! This stuff works in the dishwasher too!

I sent my husband out to the store today to buy the ingredients for homemade laundry soap. Since I started reading about making my own, I couldn't resist giving it a try - especially if it works! According to the estimates, it can save a bundle over time and does just as good of a job.

Then while I was cleaning up from breakfast, I realized I forgot to put dishwasher liquid on the grocery list this week. Hmmmm! If it's not on the list, Dan won't get it.

So back to the computer I went. I found several ideas to try including a recipe on The New Homemaker. According to editor Lynn Siprelle, the main ingredient in her recipe is the same one I just sent my husband out to purchase - one cup of the 20 Mule Team Borax, along with one cup of plain old baking soda. This recipe can be found on many sites, but Lynn adds a common "secret" ingredient to hers for a great lemony smell.Click on her link for the full recipe.

The neat thing is that she stores that same powder in a metal shaker can and uses it to scour her sink. According to Lynn, it works like Bon Ami - a polishing cleanser powder and it smells good too.

Ok - my dishwasher has a compartment for Jet Dry rinse aid. So what can I put in there? Every site I checked out said the same thing - white vinegar. Once the Jet Dry is used up,I can fill that compartment up with white vinegar and let it do its thing. So easy!

Frugal Living - Wash Day Blues

I remember my mother-in-law doing wash every Monday morning with her old wringer washer. Rain, snow, sunshine - it didn't matter. If it was Monday, it was wash day!

Clothing was gathered on Sunday night and sorted so mom could begin washing at the crack of dawn on Monday morning. All of the children had to strip their beds and make sure their bedding was in the back porch mud room by the washer right after they got up.

Since she used her wringer washer, she washed from light to dark clothes, using the same water for several loads to conserve on water.(They had a shallow well which made conservation a necessity.)Dad's clothing from the coal mines was the last load of the day. She changed the water once during the process so she could add bleach and do whites, towels and bedding.

With my washer and dryer, it doesn't matter what day I do laundry; or even what time of day I do it, as long as it gets done. But I have found some frugal ideas to help me get it done.

I haven't tried it yet, but I'm considering it - making my own laundry detergent. I found a lot of resources with recipes for this including the book by the Duggars - The Duggars: 20 and counting I just can't imagine the mounds of laundry their family has to do each day! I've helped my daughter with her family laundry for a family of 7 and even that seemed endless!

Other homemade laundry soap recipes can be found on Tip Hero - these are all recipes submitted by readers.

Another great blog was one written by Trent at The Simple Dollar Trent gives his recipe, a cost breakdown for the product he makes and even a video of how it looks and the steps to make it! Great resource. According to his blog, he gets 312 cups of laundry soap for about $7 and in his own stain tests, it works as well as the brand name laundry detergent.

Ok - the wash is done and it's time to dry it. The most frugal way to dry clothes is on the wash line. I love blankets and sheets hung on the line on a spring day. The smell is so relaxing at bedtime. But practically speaking, I don't always have time for that.

But I have cut costs by making my own dryer sheets. Old towels can be cut into small squares and drizzled with liquid fabric softener. Old or mismatched white socks work well too. These can be tossed in with the rinse cycle of the washer if you're hanging your laundry outside, or tossed in the dryer with a load. I like to put the softener on the cloths and then let the air dry before using them so the fabric softener doesn't leave spots on my clothes in the dryer.

Of course, if dryer sheets and fabric softeners cause allergies or problems for you, vinegar is a safe alternative - just 1/2 cup of white vinegar in the rinse cycle will work as well as fabric softener - but don't mix use with bleach - since that may cause toxic fumes.

Tennis balls work well in the dryer too (rather than those pricier dryer balls) at helping to keep down static. Since static is produced by synthetics more than by cotton fabrics, you might want to air dry your synthetics.

I will say this - my mother in law had the right idea - when she did laundry, she did the whole process from start to finish - washing, drying, folding and putting it away. Sometimes I get too busy and the clean loads pile up for a few days before I can put them away. That makes extra work since they tend to get wrinkled and need pressing. If I can hang and put away each load as it comes out of the dryer or off the line, it is more frugal time-wise for me than if it piles up.

Who knew laundry could be so complicated??????

Frugal Baby Food

Babies are wonderful! As I sat here this morning missing my new grand baby, I decided to do the next best thing - write about babies!

When my children were small, we pastored a small town church which couldn't pay my husband a large salary so it became an adventure in creativity to find ways to make ends meet. Around that time, I bought a cook book called "Feed Me, I'm Yours," by Vicki Lansky (first published in 1975, newly revised in 2004 so it's still available) with all sorts of healthy recipes and helpful hints on feeding my babies. That book became my child care"Bible" and by the time I passed it on to my daughter to use with her 5 little ones, the cover had fallen off and pages were oil stained.

One of Vicky's suggestions was to cook the family's vegetables without salt so they could be pureed for baby at the table using a baby food grinder. The baby food grinder I used (back in the good old days LOL!)was available in the baby section at the larger department stores for about $5. It was plastic tube with a hand cranked grinder mechanism on the top. Food was inserted into the tube and forced through the grinder. It was completely washable and easy to use.

Now the same manual food grinder costs $14.99 online. There are also electric baby food grinders available at $29.99, though you could probably purchase a small electric food processor or smaller containers for your regular electric blender for less that would do the same thing rather than buying a "baby" food grinder.

So EASY! My babies ate the same veggies and later meats as we did so it saved me the expense of buying jars of baby food.

After the meal, Vicki suggested pureeing leftover veggies and freezing them in a plastic ice cube tray. The tray created perfect baby-sized portions that could be popped out of the tray after freezing, labeled and stored in a freezer bag. When I needed a meal for my babies, I could pop out a variety of "cubes" and heat and serve.

Vicki Lansky also offered ideas for healthy finger foods and even recipes to make baby biscuits for teething. I found this recipe which was adapted from her cookbook at another online baby food site:

http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/teethingbiscuits.htm

Teething Biscuit Recipes - Try These Banana Bread Sticks

Ingredients:
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup oil
2 eggs
1 cup mashed banana
1 3/4 cups flour (white, whole wheat, or a combination)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Directions:
Combine ingredients and stir only until smooth. Pour into a greased loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 1 hour or until firmly set.Cool, remove from pan, and cut into sticks. Spread sticks out on a cookie sheet and bake at 150 degrees F for 1 hour or longer until the sticks are hard and crunchy. Store in a tightly covered container.

Adapted from Feed Me I'm Yours by Vicki Lansky **Freezes Well**

The folks at Wholesome Baby Foods also suggested making teething biscuits from your favorite healthy breads ( like carrot, pumpkin, zucchini or apple bread) by baking the bread as usual, then slicing, cutting the slices into sticks and returning them to the oven to bake until hard and crunchy. I wish I'd have known that trick when my children were small!

Even after my children grew up, I loved making the recipes in Vicki's book - especially the craft recipes for play dough, finger paint and other crafty recipes which I adapted for my children's ministry.

So what resources have you used to live "green" or frugally as you raise Baby? I'd love to hear from you!

Frugal Baby Wipes

Oh the joys of being a Grandma! I can hold 'em and spoil 'em and hand 'em back!

Honestly though, I just returned from my son's house where I was privileged to help out after the birth of their second child. Little Autumn was born on Groundhog Day and weighed in at 9 pounds, 9 ounces.

So with a newborn granddaughter, my mind naturally turned to ideas for frugal living that involve babies. Recently I found a great frugal website called Tip Hero filled with all kinds of great tips for cutting costs. While looking through all the tips, I found this "recipe" for homemade baby wipes which was submitted by a reader.

Ingredients:
1 tbsp. baby wash
1 tbsp. baby oil
1/2 roll of strong paper towels
1 3/4 - 2 cups of water

Cut the roll, including the cardboard tube, in half. Add all liquid ingredients to a plastic container (about 6 or 7 inches in diameter, and about 6 inches high - or reuse an empty baby wipes container). Put in the cut roll of paper towels, place top of the container on and turn the container upside down until the liquid absorbs. Remove the cardboard center, and pull wipes from the center.

Since you're only using a tablespoon at a time of the baby oil and baby wash, the bottles last a long time. If you wanted to, you could purchase soft terrycloth wash cloths for use at home with this solution and keep the paper towel wipes in the diaper bag. The cloth squares are washable and re-usable, a great green alternative.

One reader commented that she used a serrated edge knife or an electric knife to cut the roll of paper towels more easily since they are difficult to cut without shredding them.

Other readers suggested using the Viva brand because they are thicker and softer to use for the baby. Viva makes a "select-a-size" paper towel so you can tear off a smaller piece at a time, making them last longer.

Another reader makes her own moist towelettes by pouring a 3% solution of hydrogen peroxide over squares of cloth which she cuts from old tee shirts or other cotton type fabric. She keeps them in an opaque container in her purse. She places the used ones in another container or baggie and washes them at home so they can be used again.

I plan on passing this suggestion along to my daughter in law ans my daughter who also has children still in diapers. What other helpful baby money-saving things have you tried? I'd love to hear from you!

Frugal living - There's nothing like a big pot of soup!

Mmmmm! There's nothing like a big pot of soup or savory stew simmering on the stove on a cold winter day. Couple that with the aroma of fresh baked bread and my mouth starts watering right away.

The great thing about soups and stews is that they work well for big batch cooking - as a matter of fact, they even taste better when made in a big batch, simmering slowly to blend the flavors.

I have a large electric roaster to cook my soup and by the time I finish adding ingredients, it is usually 3/4 full of delicious soup bubbling away. We always eat some of the freshly made soup, keep enough for a second meal or a few lunches and freeze the rest. That way, I only have to cook once to make several meals which is a real time, money and energy saver.

One of my favorite frugal soups is Bean Soup.

1 package of dried beans, soaked and drained according to the package directions.
1 small chunk of ham or a ham bone
4 large carrots,
3 stalks of celery,
1 medium onion
Seasonings to taste.
Water to cover the vegetables and ham.

Throw all the ingredients in a large pot (I like to use my large crock pot so this soup doesn't scorch)After cooking on low for 6 hours, I add 2 cans of diced tomatoes and cook on high for several hours to blend the flavors. This usually makes 4 to 6 quarts of soup which freezes well.

Another frugal tip for soup making is to save all your leftover cooked vegetables from other meals - you know - that spoonful of peas which doesn't seem like enough to bother with? I put the leftover veggies in a freezer bag each day and when I make soup, just take it out of the freezer and toss it into the pot. That way, nothing goes to waste. You can do that with little bits of leftover meat too. Keep a separate zipper sandwich bag in the freezer with each kind of leftover meat and use it to help flavor your soups.

I freeze my soup in meal sized containers - our empty margarine containers hold about 2 cups of soup, just right for a single lunch meal.

For cream or milk based soups, you can make the soup and freeze your portions BEFORE adding the cream to it so it will keep better. Just thaw and reheat later, adding the cream at that point.

A frugal use of time

Hurry up and wait!

In the supermarket, the store manager had to cut back on cashiers due to the economy so now ten people are ahead of me. All of them are irritated, grumbling about the length of the line and how many "important" things they have to do after they leave the grocery store.

Meanwhile, the harried clerk tries everything she knows to do to ring up an item with a damaged bar code. After about five minutes, she gives up and calls the manager for a price check which takes another five minutes as the line grows longer.

Breathing a sigh of relief as the customer finally pays for her purchase and moves toward the exit, the poor cashier is faced with a red-faced, not-so-gentle-man whose clipped words and short manner let her know "she" is to blame for all the world's ills.

And so it goes as she muddles her way through the angry impatient line of customers. When I finally reach the register, the poor girl looks like she'd rather be anywhere else at the moment.

Standing in that line, I have a choice to make about the way I will spend my time. I could get angry, decide I really don't need the item in my hand and storm out of the store. I could join my fellow shoppers in complaining all the way to the register. Or I could redeem or "buy back" the time so it isn't wasted by a bad attitude or simple inactivity.

So what can I do during that waiting time?

1. Being a "fixer" I like to diffuse the growing tension in the line by chatting with my fellow customers. By observing those around me, I can usually find something that makes me smile or a compliment I can give. By turning the attention away from the "wait" to pleasanter topics, the people around me will often relax a bit, enough to prevent them from taking their irritation out on the cashier.

2. If you don't feel comfortable talking to others, you might carry a book with you or even a pocket Bible which you can pull out and read during the waiting time. It's also a great time to memorize a scripture verse. Not only does it get your mind off the wait, it will improve your attitude in general and help you keep spiritually "fit."

3. You can always use the time to pray. Since prayer is conversation with God, you can carry on a mental conversation with Him anywhere. Picture Him standing in line with you and begin talking to Him about any of the needs on your heart - both for yourself or others. Or pray for those in line. You may not know their needs, but He does.

4. Being a writer, I try to keep a pen and notepad with me. Waiting in a long line is a great place to jot down snippets of conversation I hear around me or ideas for a scene in a short story or novel. Who knows? The ire of the customers in line may spark an idea for a blog about anger management or things you can do while waiting in line. LOL!

5. Get organized. Waiting in a line is a great place to organize my life. I can make lists of things I need to do, develop plans to achieve goals, make a list of Christmas gifts I want to buy or make for the grandchildren, make a wish list of craft supplies I need and prioritize it - anything that might need to be organized.

Any of the suggestions above could end up fitting into category #1 as conversation starters or openings to witness about the love of Christ as you wait - definitely a great way to frugally "spend" your waiting time.

So as the lines increase all over town, how do you frugally spend your time? I'd love to hear your suggestions!

Creative Opportunities Ahead!

Thanks to Amy over at In Pursuit of Proverbs 31 for supplying this week's quote for "In Other Words."

Caution: Road Slippery When Wet

Eleven years ago, my husband and I pastored in Northern New York. In January that year, the area was hit hard by one of the worst ice storms they had ever experienced. The Governor declared a state of emergency because the heavy ice toppled electrical poles in a domino effect, causing the area to lose power. Roadways were covered with ice, slush and downed trees. A nearby river flooded, affecting a low income and Senior Citizen complex.

Though the storm crippled the area, some pretty amazing things began to happen. As a reporter for our local newspaper at the time, I wasn't housebound. There was no time for getting discouraged or sitting around waiting for the power to come back on. I had a wonderful job to keep me upbeat and encouraged - I was able to travel around and see firsthand how people were coping, giving and sharing with each other. Then I had the opportunity to encourage my community by writing those stories.

The temperature had dipped to -20 degrees Fahrenheit after all the rain, which forced those without power to seek other shelter. Several of the large local churches, the schools and even the local prison opened their doors as shelters for those without electricity and heat. Others who had alternative heat sources like fireplaces or wood stoves opened their doors to their neighbors. Families shared the contents of their refrigerators and freezers to avoid losing all their food to spoilage. I still chuckle when I remember how our neighbors "borrowed" our shower because we had hot running water.

For me, it was a unique lesson in giving out of our own need. We all faced the same circumstances, but everyone who was able, gave and shared with those who were in greater need. We all learned to get by without TV, without the things we once considered necessities. For me, it cemented the joy of giving firmly in my heart. Even when things were tight, it became an adventure to find creative ways to give and share what I had.

As I see the signs for slippery economic roads ahead, I remember those days of the ice storm and know in my heart that giving is a part of frugal living. I suffer from less stress when I stop focusing on my own needs and focus on the needs of those around me. I am energized as I look for creative ways to help meet those needs. As I found out during the ice storm, writing is an awesome gift God has given me which allows me to give encouragement as well as materially to those around me.

If I were to post a sign on this leg of my life's road, I think it would read:

"Rejoice: Creative Opportunities Ahead!"

If you'd like to share your thoughts on today's quote, simply blog about it on your site, then visit Amy at In Pursuit of Proverbs 31 and leave your URL in the Mr Linky Box! Then take a few minutes to read some of the other blogs and leave a comment.

Have a blessed day!

Frugal Living - Bread Crumbs of Wisdom

Since I started eating healthier last June, I have probably eaten the equivalent of a whole produce aisle of dark leafy greens.

Well, maybe that's an exaggeration, but I have learned to like salad and I eat a large one almost every day. But I do have to confess, the greens are more palatable with 2 tablespoons of fat free salad dressing, a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese and a few seasoned croutons sprinkled on top.
Without those additions, I doubt I could get the greens down.

So as I continue writing about living frugally, I thought it was time to share a few salad secrets to make a healthy and less expensive tasty green salad. And yes - I have done these!

With the rising cost at the grocery store, I make more things from scratch at home. But there are some things I really like - for instance Kraft Catalina Salad Dressing. I just wasn't sure I could duplicate the taste, especially the low fat or fat free variety. That's when I discovered there are sites with "copy cat" recipes where I can make my favorite taste-alike foods from ingredients I usually have on hand at home!

CDKitchen is one of these sites where I find a lot of my favorite recipes like this Kraft Catalina :

1 cup of sugar
2 tsp. salt
a dash of paprika
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon celery seed
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
grated onion to taste
1/2 cup vinegar
2/3 cup ketchup
1 cup oil

It's easy to make too - just put all ingredients in the blender, mix and store in the refrigerator. The recipe makes 3 cups.

Since this is not the "diet" version, I tweaked it a little and added Splenda instead of sugar and only 1/2 the oil with 1/2 cup water. It's really good!

Seasoned bread crumbs and those tasty croutons can also be made at home just as easily.

For years I've been storing my broiler pan in my oven. I just lay the crusts of each loaf of bread on that pan and leave them inside my oven until they dry out completely. The pan catches any extra crumbs and allows air to circulate around the bread. Once dry, I just chop them up in my food processor and add the desired spices to the mix. I store the crumbs in an air tight container and always have them on hand for breading my oven baked fish and chicken.

To make the croutons, I cube several slices of bread (it's a great way to use up older bread or sandwich buns that are starting to dry out.) I lay them on top of the broiler pan as well and allow them to dry thoroughly, usually a day or 2. I like to do this right after I get done cooking something else in the oven since a hot oven will speed the drying process.

When the cubes dry, I mix 2 Tbsp of olive oil and the desired spices (garlic powder, a pinch of salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, etc) and drizzle it over the croutons on a baking sheet, tossing them lightly to coat them all. It goes back into the oven on the lowest heat for an hour or two until the cubes are thoroughly dried out. Then I store the croutons in a plastic container.
Just a few of these on my salad make all the difference. They taste every bit as good as their restaurant counterparts. Yummy!

Frugal Living - Spicing Things Up a bit

Ever since I started looking for creative ways to cut costs, even my dear hubby has gotten into the act!

I have a lot of pumpkin in the freezer and in jars on my shelf here at the house so I needed some pumpkin pie spice from the store for several of my recipes. Dan pulled it from the grocery bag and remarked how expensive that little jar was.

Then he got this goofy grin on his face and said, "Look! Now you won't have to buy any more of this - you can just read the label and make your own!"

His idea does have merit, since several places in our local area sell bulk spices. Buying them in bulk is generally cheaper - but only if you can use what you buy in a reasonable amount of time. Spices have a good shelf life, but they won't retain their peak flavor forever. Nothing is a bargain if you end up wasting half of it!

So how about making your own spice blends and gifting what you can't use yourself?

Over the Christmas holiday, I found these two great articles with interesting spice blend recipes:
Enhance the flavor of your food
Healthy Homemade Gifts

I've tried the Ranch dressing mix from the homemade gift site and found it to be a great alternative to the packets of Ranch seasoning mix at a fraction of the cost.

Ranch Dressing Mix:
4 tablespoon dried parsley
2 tablespoons onion powder
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon dry dill weed
2 teaspoons paprika
2 teaspoons fresh ground pepper (or to taste)

There's no salt in the recipe so you can add it to your taste and cut the calories by using light sour cream or low fat yogurt.

Since my DH suggested making my own pumpkin pie spice, I googled it and found this great recipe at All Recipes .

4 tablespoons ground cinnamon
4 teaspoons ground nutmeg
4 teaspoons ground ginger
3 teaspoons ground allspice

Simply mix well and store in an air tight container.

I'm definitely going to be looking up more spice blend recipes as I continue on this frugal lifestyle adventure!

Do you have any favorite spice /herb blend recipes? I'd love to hear about them.

Frugal Living - Downsizing

Well, we finally took the plunge - after having cable for many years, we decided to try satellite for our television service.

When we first moved here, we invested in the television/Internet package with the cable company. But wow! When the introductory offer expired on the Internet hookup after the first 6 months, our Internet payment rate skyrocketed. Six months later, the cable TV rates went up as well.

In order to save some money each month, we switched to DSL with our phone company when they offered a really great deal on a fixed rate for Internet service for the life of our account. It has worked just fine, despite the turtle-slow claims the cable competitors make about DSL.

Finally today, we parted ways with the cable company all together, switching to the satellite service. Everyone we talked to in our neck of the woods seemed satisfied with their service which costs less than half the price we were paying for cable.

Many of the people I have talked to over the last several weeks have said the same thing - they are considering downsizing the services they already have in order to live more frugally as things tighten up economically. Many are limiting the use of their cell phones and going to "pay-as-you-go" plans. Another friend is giving up her land line and using her cell phone exclusively rather than having two payment packages.

Others are switching from higher priced Internet and TV services to lower priced ones or downgrading their service to a less expensive package. Many of the folks I know are even shutting off their TV all together and using the mail order video plans or upgrading their computers so they can watch movies or television shows online.

Many of my friends who watch a lot of movies have found it is more cost effective to go with a video mail order service like NetFlix rather than pay the extra cost for pay-per-view movies or the higher rate movie channels. Some have decided to shut off their TV service all together and just use these video rental services.

No matter what options you choose, downsizing is a good way to cut back. Not only will you be able to save money, you may just find yourself exercising more, learning new skills like cooking from scratch, finishing projects that have waited for a rainy day or just spending more quality family time.

Frugal living will be what we make it - a hardship because of all the things we feel we must "give up" or an adventure where we enjoy each day in Christ as He helps us find creative ways to cope. The choice is ours.

Frugal Living - I've got the gardening blues!

It's that time of year again - when the seed catalogs arrive in the mailbox, stirring memories of the aroma of freshly turned earth, seedlings erupting through the soil and mouthwatering fresh veggies.

Last year, for the first time in many years, I had a small garden. It whet my appetite for an even larger garden this year; partly because it's a frugal thing to do, but mostly because I just enjoyed planting it, caring for it and especially eating it. But planting a larger garden presents a problem - with the arthritis in my knees, I can't kneel down to plant the rows, especially the tiny seeds like carrots, lettuce and spinach.

Last year my back ached from bending down to try to get the seeds into neat, narrow rows. I ended up with 1 spinach plant in the 7 foot long row and about 5 mystery plants in the area between rows. I lost about 3/4 of my romaine crop to the birds because I didn't put them in right. My 2 small rows of carrots grew so close together, even after they were thinned out, I still harvested many tiny deformed tubers.

My failures haven't dampened my enthusiasm for trying again this year, but I did learn from my mistakes. So this year I decided to make my life a little easier. I remembered hearing about seed tapes - strips of biodegradable paper with seeds attached at the proper intervals. You just dig your furrow, unroll your seed tape and cover. Voila! Painless, neat rows of veggies.

The problem is the price of such modern gardening marvels. Two 7 foot rows of seed tape cost an average of $4.95 as opposed to a seed packet which would make several times that many plants. And not all seeds are available as seed tapes.

But thankfully, the Information Super Highway (a.k.a. the Internet) had an alternative answer - make my own seed tapes! With my seed packets, a roll of toilet paper and a little flour and water "glue" I can use these long snowy pre-Spring days to create my own seed tapes and be ready for the April gardening start date. For a FRACTION of the price.

Here's how to make your own tapes: Mix a thick flour water paste - you'll probably have to measure out 1/4 cup of flour and add water slowly until it gets to be a pasty consistency - not too thick, but not runny. (One gardener I saw recommended using Elmer's glue instead of the flour paste, but I think I prefer the flour).

Tear off a three foot length of toilet tissue and cut it into one inch wide strips. Lay the strips on a flat surface next to a yardstick. Follow the directions on the seed packet for spacing and place a small dot of the flour/water glue at the proper intervals. Dip a toothpick into the "glue" and pick up a seed, placing it on the glue dot on the toilet tissue. Allow the strip to dry thoroughly before rolling the tape. Store in an envelope until ready to plant.

After the danger of frost is past, just dig the furrow, unroll the strip and cover with the proper amount of soil. The flour paste and paper will degrade, leaving the seeds to germinate in beautiful properly spaced, even rows.

Not only is this a money saving solution, it will save my knees and back a lot of agony. Let's see - I think I'll make some tapes of beans, carrots, peas, lettuce.....

Frugal Living - Trimming the Fat...

You're definitely living a more frugal lifestyle when you start trimming the fat out of your budget and other areas of your life. But I recently ran across a really neat way to visualize the fat you're trimming!

Many of you know I've been dieting since June last year and have lost 47 pounds. Yay! So I've "trimmed" quite a bit of fat from my dinner plate which in turn has saved on the grocery budget. I've had lots of help and support from a website called Spark People.

For starters, Spark People is a free site which is a frugal choice in itself since many other dieting sites which offer the same level of support and help come with a membership fee attached.

Once I log in, I have access to food and exercise trackers which help me keep on track. The Spark Teams and message boards are another great feature of the site where I can share the ups and downs of the weight loss journey with others. I found and am enjoying the fellowship of pastors' wives, writers and rubber stampers as well as a few other interesting groups.

Recently I read one of the daily Spark e-mails which contained an article about a "Canned Fat Drive." For every pound of "fat" the team members drop from their waistlines, they set aside some kind of food staple.

One of the gals places hers in a canvas bag in a high traffic area of her home. Each time she passes the bag of food, she lifts it a few times before continuing with what she was doing. The bag of food serves as a powerful visual reminder of the "fat" she is trimming from her body. It also is a motivator to keep going toward her goal.

Once she has collected several pounds of food, she donates it to a local food pantry. Again, it has become an interactive weight loss too so she can mentally imagine herself shedding those pounds - never to see them again. The added benefit is that her shed pounds will help others in need.

Giving is an important part of life, both for the receiver and the one who gives. When I choose to give, the satisfaction and joy I receive far outweigh the cost. By incorporating the suggestions I've learned from the canned fat drive, I have found myself being doubly blessed as I learn to live more frugally, eat healthier and see the visual results of my choices while being a blessing to others.

Sounds like a win-win situation to me!

Frugal Living - Learning the art of giving

Like most people, I have a "wish list" of things I'd like to have someday. But it's just that - a wish list. Most of the things on that list aren't really necessities. As I look around, I have what I need to live comfortably, especially when compared to others.

A friend recently forwarded an e-mail that contained the testimony of a 70 year old widow living in an African nation. This woman not only lost her husband, but her home when he died. Once she lived in comfort, but with his death, everything changed.

Since she didn't receive any inheritance, she survived by selling what she could - all the remaining household furniture and even the precious gifts her husband had once given her. Medical and dental care are non-existent for this woman so she pulls her own teeth and stitches up her own wounds with a needle and thread. She supports herself by painting and selling her work, gardening and limiting herself to one meal per day.

Yet somehow, in the midst of her own need, she has found a precious secret - that of giving to others, even when she doesn't really have it to give. She banded together with another family of seven, even more destitute because they have no income at all. A small family of four with two infants and a young man with limited resources also comprise her "family." Together they look out for each other, doing what they can to survive.

In the midst of her loneliness, she finds her joy by helping others - at 70, she hopes to share her nursing skills in areas of the country where cholera runs rampant, but government officials think she is too old to help and refuse to allow her to go.

"I am still here and refuse to let go. There are too many people left in this country who need compassion, care and hope to go on. Although there are organisations and charitable groups who try to help, there aren't enough of them. But the solution lies with all of us here - black , white and coloured, to start caring for each other. It takes more than courage, it takes fury and grief to explode into action," she writes.

"To all those who live elsewhere and who have never experienced this deprivation, let me tell you, it is a testing experience. Above all, learn from it, because - but for the Grace of God there goes You."

Father, help me learn to live frugally so I may give to others - not only sharing Your words which are rich beyond measure, but also to give tangibly, doing what I can to ease their hurts and desperate needs. Amen!

Conquer Impulse Shopping - Use it to buy it

Like most avid crafters, I have a "stash."

It used to be a stash of fabric - after all, you NEVER know when you'll need a certain type of fabric to make something for your home, for a gift, for the grand kiddos or for yourself. I loved to shop at discount fabric stores and no matter where we lived - I knew where all the best fabric buys were.

Several years ago, I fell in love with paper crafting. Paper takes up lots less room than bolts of fabric and you don't have to thread needles to make things out of paper LOL! So I began collecting anything to do with paper crafting from tools to various types of paper and embellishments.

Whenever I got a 40% off coupon to a craft store, I HAD to use it. After all, you never know when something will come in handy to make a card or for a craft for children's church. And so my stash grew.

When we moved 18 months ago, my craft supplies filled a room in the new house. After settling in, my husband built a wonderful wall unit to fit around my craft table to store all of my stash. Of course, with all that extra new space, there was even more room for more paper crafting goodies.

I did make some cards, probably about 250 of them last year, mostly for wedding and shower gifts. But I must confess, I continued to accumulate more than I used. My stash strained at the boundaries of the craft room, threatening to drive me out of my creative space.

So what is a girl to do?????

I found s great web site dedicated to rubber stamping. Each week they featured new card crafting challenges which tickled my creative fancy. But still I had trouble getting motivated to create, though my stash kept growing.

Shortly before the new year one of the message boards featured a challenge called "Stamp to Spend." Each of the participants vowed to allot themselves money to spend on their rubber stamps and paper supplies based on the amount of cards, scrapbook layouts or altered items they made. The idea was to cut down on impulse buying by earning an allowance to spend on their craft.

This challenge has some real advantages:
1. It gets me motivated to use what I have on hand.
I have stamps that have never been inked and a stack of paper and cardstock almost 2 feet high! I purchased tools to create many of the trendy looks, but my good intentions just never happened. Now, if I want to buy new tools and paper, I need get creative first.

2. It makes me prioritize my "wish list." Since I must earn the right to spend money, I think twice before just buying something because I "might be able to use it." Now I have a purpose/goal to save up for so I can buy specific items in a specific order.

3. It cuts down on impulse buying. It's like going to the grocery store with a list -It saves money because I only buy what's on my list. Thank goodness for craft store coupons which help me go through the items on my wish list more quickly.

4. The challenge holds me accountable too since everyone keeps a spreadsheet to record how she's doing and reports back. So far in the month of January alone, I've made 108 cards - a third of my yearly total for last year! Though I have bought some necessary supplies, I remain in the black so far.

5. It is challenging me to use the cards I make so they aren't just sitting around in the craft room. So far, I've started making my Christmas cards for next year (that's another challenge, LOL!) as well as making sets of gift cards to give as wedding and baby shower gifts. I've often wanted to send handmade birthday, encouragement, get well and sympathy cards, but just never got around to it. Now...

This is a great strategy to help conquer impulse buying. Instead of buying because "it's on sale" or I "might be able to use it" someday, I now buy it because I've already used my supplies and I need to replace them. It's also helping me to defeat the dark clouds of depression which engulfed me last year after the deaths of my parents.

So what tips do you have for conquering impulse buying? I'd love to hear from you.

Good to the last drop!

Many years ago as a young pastor's wife, my motto was, "Necessity is the mother of invention." When I looked at home decor items, I tried to figure out what I had on hand to create a similar look. Sometimes it worked and sometimes....well, let's just chalk it up to "lessons learned."

In one of the rural settings where we lived, I had a wonderful next door neighbor who always had an open back door. We visited frequently, just talking about anything and everything. To show my appreciation for her, I made a kitchen wall hanging with the old saying on the card above:

Use it up.
Wear it out,
Make it do...
Or Do without.

I painted a silhouette of an Amish buggy on red fabric and carefully printed the verse above it, framing it in an embroidery hoop and finishing the edge with lace. (I think those types of fabric hoop pictures were a crafting "trend" at the time!) She hung it proudly on her kitchen wall until their home was damaged by fire.

Over the past few months with the financial woes facing many, I was reminded of this old saying again and began a list of other "frugal" things I have done in the past to save money and stretch our family resources. I asked other friends for their suggestions as well and have been amazed at the response. I already have a list of 4 pages of easy suggestions to save money and stretch the family budget.

Starting with this post, I'd like to pass along those suggestions to my readers with the hope you will find them easy, fun and useful.

Blessings to you from a Frugal Pastor's Wife!

Tip #1 "Use It Up"

I'm not sure where I first heard this, but I have been doing it for several years. When I reach the bottom of a bottle of shampoo or conditioner, I turn the bottle upside down and rest it in a funnel overnight to drain the last drops into another bottle. I collect the drips and dribbles until I have a full bottle. I usually collect enough over the course of a year to make a half to a full bottle of shampoo or conditioner. Talk about it being "good to the last drop!"