Fun Friday - Scrabble

Scrabble

My husband and I have been sucked into the world of virtual boardgames on Facebook. We take turns coming over to the computer to embarrass the other with our thought provoking words and skillful placement on the board. Of course this is all done in good fun. While we have enjoyed these games that stretch out for a week at a time, we’d like to share it with the rest of the family. Today’s trip into town will include a quick run over to Wal-Mart or Dollar General to pick up a Scrabble game. I am already looking forward to evenings around the table with the big kids with tiles and little kids with popcorn. I am really starting to understand the value of “Game Night” that I’ve heard so much about. It seems that all my boys want to do is to participate in anything with their Daddy and eat popcorn.

It’s too bad that Scrabble doesn’t put out coupons! I would be using one today! I am wondering how to save money though. Amazon has some that are discounted.  The savings should cover the shipping cost.  And I could stay out of the busiest store in our town!  Perhaps there are some partial games that will become available in the yard sale season that is coming upon us rather rapidly. An extra handful of tiles could prove to be very useful in a household where the legos are everywhere except in the lego bucket. And if any of you have partial Scrabble games, feel free to send your extra tiles my way.

Thursday Thoughts - Basic Thriftiness part 1 or Do It Your Own Self

I’ll try not to step up on any soapboxes or on too many toes while I make my point. We as a people are, in general, spoiled! We have so many conveniences that are available at our fingertips that we have forgotten that they are conveniences. We have stopped seeing that they are supposed to save time and in fact complain about how long these new versions take. Perhaps an example would help to illustrate my point. I can only imagine how excited people were when that little blue box of macaroni and cheese showed up on the grocery store shelves. The traditional dish involved boiling the pasta, making a cream sauce, then baking the whole dish for another half hour. It’s not exactly a quick side dish. Now mac’n’cheese could be made in 1 pot in about 15 minutes! Wow, that’s amazing! And it’s simple enough that older children can make it by themselves. Along comes the next generation. Stove top mac’n’cheese is just not convenient. It takes a whole 15 minutes. We want the kind that we can make without a pot and takes only a couple of minutes in the microwave.

We pay a pretty price for these new versions of classics. They are less nutritious and are full of preservatives and yuckies. Oops, stepping off of the soapbox now.

Let me get back to my original point. If we can look at conveniences with a skeptical eye, then we can learn new skills and save tons at the store. Many times I walk through the isles of the stores looking for ideas, not products. I wonder, can I make this at home? Can I do this my own self or do I need to pay someone else to do it? I can make my mac’n’cheese and my chicken noodle soup. I can bake a birthday cake and a batch of biscuits. They may not be as pretty as store bought, but my children don’t mind being my guinea pigs. I can knit up my slippers and sew up my skirts. I can build a chicken house and build a deck. We can grow veggies for supper and to put up salsa. If we are willing to spend time, we can keep from spending money. The real question to ask yourself is this, “What are you willing to do to save money? Are you willing to do the work?”

Tuesday Tips - How to Make Laundry Soap

How to Make Laundry Soap


I posted a few days ago about how much money could be saved by making your own laundry soap. So today, I will show you how simple it is to make it. Put away those thoughts of "homemade" being too complicated or too much trouble.  I have made super easy instructions. Now there are no excuses!

Step 1: Boil a quart of water, then pour it into a clean bucket or garbage can. A quart canning jar works perfectly as a measuring cup.  The purpose of this is to heat up the plastic so that the soap, in the next step, won’t immediately cool and solidify when poured into the bucket.
Step 2: Boil another quart of water with soap and powder. The soap is one grated bar of soap. Fals Naphtha is supposed to be the best soap for the job, but I’ve yet to find it! The powder is ½ cup of Borax and ½ cup washing soda. Dump it all in and let it boil until the powder is dissolved and the soap is melted.
Dump this into the bucket with the hot water. Because there will be a lot of soapy residue in the pot and I try my best to waste nothing, I boil the remaining water need for the recipe.

Step 3: Boil a quart of water to clean out the pot. I just swish it around and scrape off any bits of soap that stuck to it. Then dump it in the bucket. 

Step 4: Repeat step 3. Dump it in the bucket and mix it up. Then you let it just sit there and cool and thicken.

Really, that’s all there is to it. This will make 64 ¼ cup uses. It makes one gallong of a nice and thick laundry soap that is very easy to deal with (notice the spoon standing straight up). Just scoop and plop into the washer.

At only 1.5 cents per load, I am only spending 3 cents a day on soap. ($10.92 per year)  Compare that to the name brand stuff at 20 cents per load.  2 loads a day adds up to $145.60 in a year's time.  Heck, that's enough savings to buy a dairy goat!

Back to School Monday - borrowed info

What an weekend!  For a bunch of self proclaimed homebodies we spend quite a bit of time out and about this weekend.  It has been increasingly important to us that we get out to see our friends and family, even if only to stop for a 15 minute visit.  There is always work to do, there is always laundry and a sink of dishes.  There are always floors to sweep and papers to go through.  If we wait until we have time for these imoprtant people in our lives, then we will miss out of some of the greatest joys of this life.  Yes, all of these tasks were waiting for me when I got home, but with a renewed spirt my load didn't seem quite as heavy.
This brings me to the actual point.  Because of our increased activity this weekend, I am borrowing the listing from the Homeschool Freebie site this morning.  They look to be very interesting.  I am especially excited about today's freebie.  We are already almost a week into Lent.  It offers some wonderful ways of teaching our children about this season as wel as some fun activities. 

Well, here we are again with another great lineup of exceptional and unique homeschool and family resources for you.  Hopefully you'll find something here that will inform, delight, and even surprise you this week, which will soon become a welcome visitor in your household!


(Psstt: If so, PLEASE spread the word and tell your homeschooling friends about our site this week. This will help us continue to bring these resources to you!)


Here's the rundown:

Monday, February 22: LENTEN TREE & ACTIVITIES BOOK (PDF ebook) by Miiko Gibson


Lent, which began last Wednesday (Ash Wednesday) is the 40 days (excluding Sundays) before Easter.
For many families, Easter just happens. Don't let that occur this year. Have a meaningful Lent by doing a special activity each day of Lent. Then fill in the fruit on the Lenten Tree Chart and countdown to Easter.

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Tuesday, February 23rd:  MY PLANT (PDF ebook)


A simple nature-study project, written for younger students, about growing a plant from seed and keeping a four week observation diary of its growth. Gently written, with an example "plant diary" kept by an 8 year old boy over 100 years ago. This is a great activity to start now in anticipation of the coming springtime growing season.

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Wednesday, February 24:  GRAMMAR LAND (PDF ebook)
Back by popular demand!


"What is Grammar Land? Where is Grammar Land?  Have you ever been to Grammar Land? Wait a minute and you shall hear..." In this classic read aloud book, published way back in 1878, author Nesbitt creates an amazing fantasy land not unlike "Alice In Wonderland", where the citizens are the nine parts of speech (Mr. Proper Noun, Dr. Verb, Little Article, etc.) and all are governed by the stern but wise old Judge Grammar.  It's a fun, fascinating way to learn some of the basic grammar rules all the while carried along by the very memorable characters and a wild adventure to boot. Highly recommended!


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Thursday, February 25:  THE STORY OF WILLIAM TELL (PDF ebook)


Classic retelling of the amazing true story (or is it a legend?) of the national hero of Switzerland - mountaineer, shepherd and bowman, William Tell. Read the story of how Tell was forced to shoot an apple off his son's head by the cruel governor Gessler, and how Tell became instrumental in leading the Swiss people to freedom.


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Friday, February 26:  PETER WHEAT! (PDF comic book)
Get ready for some delightful cartoon adventures as we introduce PETER WHEAT and the folk of the wheat field, drawn by the inimitable Walt Kelly (creator of "Pogo").
> > Yes, yes, I can hear it now: Many of you are thinking "yuck.  That's not for us." Well, we know this doesn't sound all that great right now to most of you, but all I can tell you is... TRUST US ON THIS ONE.
Give it a chance - your kids will absolutely love these stories,  we guarantee it! Great read alouds or reading practice too!
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You can find each of these resources on their respective days at:
http://www.homeschoolfreebieoftheday.com
NOTE: If you ever have any trouble accessing the site with that link, try
http://www.homeschoolfreebie.wholesomechildhood.com


...it works too!

Fun Friday?

We are under the weather here in my home.  It's nothing serious, just the sinus crud that makes us all miserable for a short time.  Well, for the children it is a short time.  For the grown-ups it seems to take much longer.  The children have those fast metabolisms that can repair their bodies so quickly that they scarcly even remember being ill.  They are allowed naps and rest time whenever they let me know that they are in need of it.  I, on the other hand, being the adult in charge of 4 children under 10 years of age, do not afford myself the luxury of naps and rest.  Perhaps if I did, my body would heal up much more quickly than it has this past week. 

It looks as though Family Fun Friday will be spent with school books closed, blankets piled into the living room, with movies and story books to occupy our minds while my health catches up to theirs.  I'm certain that the children will agree that it should be a fun day for them.

Thursday Thoughts - Gardening and the Sabbath Year

Gardening and the Sabbath Year


The Lord gave a long list of 613 laws for his chosen people to follow in order to please him. While we as Gentiles are not bound by these laws, they still hold much wisdom that we can use in our lives. One of these instructions is to only farm a piece of land for 6 consecutive years before allowing it to be fallow for a year. This 7th year is the Sabbath Year. Blessed are those who obey without knowledge! They obey because they fear and trust in God! Unfortunately, I’m a little more hard headed.

While learning more about gardening these past few years, I am amazed at how he has orchestrated his creation. Even atheist gardeners recommend allowing the land to rebuild itself and replenish the microorganisms in the soil. Science has proven that the Sabbath Year is a good for the dirt, but what about the people? Is it good for us? Where will we get our food?

Let me share with you what I have experienced and how that has reminded me how great God is! This past year was a terrible year for our garden. The first half of the summer was dry. It felt wonderful! The low humidity caused my spirits to stay as high as the water bill. We dumped water on the garden and made practically no progress. Then the floodgates opened. The second half of the summer was making up for the dry first half. So this is what the Farmer’s Almanac meant by a wet summer. We had just enough to eat throughout the summer. My dozens and dozens of quart mason jars remained unfilled with veggies.

This doesn’t mean that the pantry stayed empty! The wild blackberries growing on the fence line produced a bumper crop. We picked enough to make cobbler and syrup. The apple and pear trees at my husband’s parents’ house next door had more than enough fruit for both households. (There were enough to share with the children at church who were learning about the fruit of the spirit) We were invited to pick gallons of blueberries with friends of the family and with cousins. We celebrated summer with blueberry pancakes and blueberry ice cream. Another friend had so many plums on her trees that she was picking them and giving them away. We had enough to make several cobblers and jelly! There was even a cold afternoon spent picking up pounds of pecans in my aunt’s front yard this winter.

You see, this year was El Nino, a weather pattern that only occurs every 7 years. Are you wheels turning yet? The Lord has made it so that when we follow his plan, we are not disappointed with poor gardens, we rejoice with the bounty of all of the trees! We set aside that gardening year to reflect on how the Lord has taken such good care of us. Perhaps all of this extra rain that is turning my yard into Shrek’s playground could be aiding that replenishing of the soil. Perhaps it is helping everything to compost. Perhaps God can take care of us better than we can take care of ourselves.

Yes, I know that He can!

What’s for Dinner Wednesday - Utilize the markdowns!

Unfortunately I can’t tell you what is in the sale papers for this week. Mine were absent from my usual Tuesday mail bundle. Perhaps it was the preplanned three day weekend that turned into four due to snow. Whatever the reason, I have no fabulous deals to point out to you. I can, however, tell you about a few things that were on our menu.

Most grocery stores have an area for meat that is nearing it’s expiration date. This is where I find some of my most wonderful treasures! Because I am feeding a fair sized family, I don’t have to worry about not using all of it before it goes bad. Also, because I make up my menu on shopping day, I don’t worry about forgetting about my find. This past week I found a one pound package of smoked Cajun sausage for 99 cents! Woo Hoo! Meat for less than a dollar a pound! Yes, sir, I’ll take all 4. Three of them found their way into my freezer. I also found a 12 ounce package of sliced bacon for 99 cents. While it wasn’t quite as cheep as the sausage, it’s still below the $2 per pound limit that I have set for myself.

The bacon was used for my sweetie’s Valentine’s Day breakfast. There was even enough left for a little kitchen experiment of my own. I mixed up a batch of cornbread, then mixed in a little of the bacon grease and bacon bits that I’d just fried up. I dropped spoons of my batter into my nice black, greasy cast iron skillet. Oh yum! They turned out fantastic! A pan of cornbread is super cheep to make. The portion of bacon was probably only about 10 cents worth. Less than $1 to get my boys up and moving just from the smell wafting into their bedrooms makes me a happy momma.

The sausage went toward a slow cooker dinner. Those are my favorite kind. The best part is that there are only 4 ingredients: a bag of black beans, a bag of frozen corn, a package of sausage, chopped tomatoes or salsa. I used the salsa because that’s what I had on hand. I cooked up a pot of rice to be served in the bottom of our bowls just to bulk it up a little.

1 lb dried beans = about $1
1 lb frozen corn = about $1
    Or 2 cans
1 lb sausage = clearance $1
1 can chopped tomatoes = about $.75
    Or homemade salsa = pennies
A cup or two of rice = around $.25

Liz Price = less than $4.00 for supper for 6 people. That’s tough to beat.

Tuesday Tips - Command Station

Many studies have been done on how much a housewife would make if all of her duties were hired out. It seems like the total pay rate for a mother/housewife is somewhere around $150,000.00 a year! I use this only to point out that we have many very important responsibilities that if left undone would cause our harmonious homes to be come crazy chaos. With so much responsibility that ranges from fix lunch to prepare the taxes it is easy to loose track of what we are to accomplish next.

You see, it’s not that I forget a lot, it’s just that I can’t remember it all at once. I have tried to use everything I could imagine to tame the wilderness including a PDA, several paper calendars, a programmable calendar on my desktop, spiral notebooks scattered around my home, and sticky notes everywhere.

Finally, I found my solution. Instead of having information spread out all over my life, I needed to have it all in one constant area where I could coordinate and contain the chaos. I have a three-ring binder open on my counter top in an area that, due to poor building planning, is unusable otherwise. The two exposed sheets of notebook paper contain most of the information that I need for my week. It has my weekly menu, the important events for the week, a shopping list, and list of things I need to accomplish for the week. If I’m feeling particularly motivated I’ll even have the projected high and low temperatures penciled in.

I’ll check over it a few times a day, which is no bother since it is already open and accessible. By the end of the week I feel less ed and frazzled. My tasks were able to be worked on at my pace without being forgotten or past due. My menu was coordinated with our activities which prevented planning a 2 hour preparation for supper on an evening following an afternoon spent at the park. On the day with errands, I can planned for sandwiches which could be taken with us since we were running behind on time. This is usually the case, because somehow no one can ever find his or her shoes when it is time to leave.

My day seems just a little smoother when I utilize my external brain.

Back to School Monday- Learning the Alphabet

Occasionally we find a product that we love so much that we wish we had found it years earlier. I found such a product at my library. It is put out by Preschool Prep Co. This series is a mother’s dream! Without any gimmicks, bells, or whistles it teaches children everything from their colors to their alphabet and even a handful of sightwords. It seems that little ones learn best by repetition. Yes, there are a few tricks that help, but to really get things stuck in heir heads they just need to see and hear it over and over and over until it is memorized. Imagine your little boy watching his favorite show. He can recite all of the dialogue to the entire show including the theme song. You probably can, too, because you’ve watched it 3 times a week for 6 months!  Repetition! 

I picked up a DVD on the library shelf that was titled “Meet the Letters”. It looked cute.  Besides, my almost 5 year old was having a tough time with some of the letters at the end of the alphabet. On our 15 minute rides into town, he mastered those letters.  He just needed the repetition. Little did I know that my 2 year old was picking up quite a bit as well. I admit that I hoped that she would learn a letter or two, but I never expected the entire alphabet to be memorized! We followed up this DVD with others that taught vowels, shapes, numbers, and eventually sight words.

I can’t say enough wonderful things about them! They even have a website that offers things like flashcards and coloring books that correlate to the pictures in the program. http://www.preschoolprepco.com/ They aren’t expensive, but you know me. I’m always looking for ways to save. I made my own flashcards. Had I found these when my oldest was learning these symbols, I would have no problem spending the $15 for the DVDs. I think that it covers all of the material necessary for preschool and most of the material in kindergarten. Workbooks and patience can cost so much more. But since our family has probably reached it’s maximum capacity, I find that using the library is a wonderfully frugal option! Liz Price = Free!

P.S. If you do decide to buy the DVDs, ordering from Amazon.com through my links will help us. I believe in full disclosure!

Frugal Fun Friday - Snow Day!

Play in the snow!  It's free!  It's for a limited only!  It's all natural!  It's sugar free!  It's unisex!  It makes your yard look pretty! 

Thursday Thoughts - Who is Valentine anyway?

I remember reading that a bishop, Valentine, was jailed because he was marrying Christian couples in secret. The Romans had outlawed marriage. What a wonderful story! A man who followed God’s rules instead of man’s rules! What a role model for those of us who struggle with laws that are set against Christian beliefs. I had hoped to find this story and repost it here. I had hoped that this new knowledge would remind those of us who share that covenant to be grateful that we do not have such restrictions and persecutions.

Much to my dismay, I could not find such a story. In researching the origins of Valentine’s Day, I found so many differing stories that I sit here now confused by it all. One source claims that there were in fact 11 men who were all Valentines. They were celebrated throughout the year until they decided on a date in February. Another states that the fourteenth originated as a pagan holiday celebrating a fertility goddess. Several say that the holiday was fashioned after just one saint that was thrown in jail after performing miracles in the name of God during the time of Roman persecution. Wow, that does NOT make for a very romantic story!

Luckily, just as I was about to give up my search, I found it!

Saint Valentine: Holy Priest of Rome: The date of this Saint Valentine's birth is not known. Along with Saint Marius and his family, Saint Valentine assisted the martyrs during the persecution they suffered under the rule of Claudius II (also known as Claudius the Goth and Claudius the Cruel). In addition, since Rome was at the time involved in many bloody and unpopular campaigns, the emperor found it difficult to recruit the male populace into joining his military leagues. Believing this to be because Roman men were adverse to leaving their loved ones or their families, Claudius cancelled all marriages and engagements within the City of Rome. Saint Valentine and Saint Marius, however, continued to perform wedding ceremonies in secret. When is was discovered that Saint Valentine was defying the emperor's decree, he was apprehended and dispatched by Claudius to the Prefect of Rome who, being unable to force the saint to renounce Christianity, ordered that Valentine be clubbed, stoned and then beheaded. According to tradition, while Valentine waited in prison for his execution, he corresponded with those under his care by sending letters and love notes to his parishioners. It is also believed that while incarcerated, the Bishop fell in love with a young woman who visited him during his confinement. According to some sources, this was the blind daughter (whose name may have been Julia) of Asterius, the jailer. It is said that God enabled Valentine to miraculously restore the girl's sight. Popular belief indicates that Valentine's farewell message to his love contained a closing that has now transcended time: "From Your Valentine." The saint was executed on February 14 in either 269 A.D. or 270 A.D. In 270 A.D., Pope Julius I is said to have built a church near Ponte Mole in the saint's memory at a location once known as Porta Valentini and now called Porta del Popolo. The relic bones of this Saint Valentine, who may also have been a physician, are now housed within the Church of Saint Praxed in Rome.

(http://www.novareinna.com/festive/saintval.html)

So perhaps I left out some of the details and a few of the big things as well. But this remains my favorite story about the Saint Valentine. I hope that it allows you to view this holiday just a little differently. Will you be more willing to stand up for what you believe in? Will you be more grateful for your marriage? Will you remember what the soldiers from this country are missing everyday, especially this Sunday?

What's for Dinner Wednesday

“Why are we supposed to buy stuff for people on Valentine’s Day?” This is the question that my 7 year old asked yesterday. It broke my heart, but just for a second. This was the perfect opportunity to plant a seed of what love should be and to pull up the weed that tells us that you can buy another’s affection. Luckily, the Lord has granted many of us mothers the gift to respond to these important questions with instantaneous wisdom. I told him that Valentine’s Day was not about buying things for others, but showing others that you love them and how important they are to you. We can do other things to show people that we love them.


This got me pondering what I would do for my sweetie. Our finances simply don’t afford extravagant gifts and over the top expenses. Besides, those gestures would most likely cause him to worry about the state of our finances, not feel appreciated and loved. I decided that cooking his favorite meals would do the job.

He loves biscuits with tomato gravy, something that this city girl had never heard of until I married my country husband. Luckily I had looked over the new sale papers for this coming week. IGA has my vote for the best sales this week.

Sale                                    Biscuits
Flour, 5 lb bag $1.99        3 cups self-rising flour = 30 cents
Oil, quart $1.99                1/3 cup oil =17 cents
Milk, gallon $2.99            1 cup milk = 19 cents
                                       Tomatoes put up from the garden = time

His special breakfast only costs our family 66 cents, but I’ll need to get up extra early to get everything done before he leaves for work.

My husband also loves fried pork chops, but rarely gets them. It makes a big mess, I wind up cooking while everyone else is eating, they don’t keep very long in the refrigerator. I could go on, but I won’t. The point is that it’s something that I don’t care to do, but I would do it for him. That’s how we can show love. Selfless acts. This is what is taught in the gospel over and over.

Sale                                   Supper
Pork chops $.99/lb             2 pounds of chops = $1.98
                                          Flour for breading = about 10 cents
Potatoes, 8lb $1.59            4 lb for mashing = 80 cents
                                          frozen green beans = $1.25
                                         Garlic toast, half loaf of bread = 30 cents
                                          stick of margarine = 20 cents

This dinner will cost us just $3.53, but is worth so much more! Add cookies made by our boys and the monetary value goes up to $4.11, and it’s value becomes priceless!

I hope that this shows you that we don’t have to go out and “buy stuff for people” on Valentine’s Day. (And gives you some ideas for your menu this week.)

Homemade Valentine Cookies

I think that I will take on the adventure of baking heart shaped cookies with my boys. You can see that I have decided to keep with the Valentine’s theme this week while discussing the Around the House topic or Tuesday Tip. (Still haven’t quite made up my mind. )


Many busy people opt for the ready-bake cookies in the refrigerated section, while others use a mix. Hmm, I wonder what the difference is between store bought and homemade. There could be a math lesson in this!

When presented with the possibility of participating in a project, they focused all of their attention on me. Their first question asked what sort of project it would be. I explained to them that it was a math and cookie project. You can imagine the puzzled looks that I received. I explained further: math is fun, cookies are fun, math and cookies are REALLY FUN. I had absolutely no problems keeping their attention during this math lesson!

• Refrigerated cookies - 24 cookies for $2.99 $1.50 per dozen
• Mix - 36 cookies for around $2.30   77 cents per dozen The mix that we found was $1.99. You must add an eggs and ½ cup of butter. If we assume 1 egg at 10 cents and 1 stick of butter at 20 cents it brings our cookies up to $2.30. This is barely over half of what the dough costs.
• I have a favorite recipe for Scotch shortbread. Am I drawn to this because of the Scottish blood running through my veins? Perhaps, but more likely it is because of it’s simplicity!

Scotch Shortbread - yield 24 cookies costs $.61    31 cents per dozen

A pound of margarine costs about 80 cents for 4 sticks making them 20 cents each. We need 1 ½ sticks costing 30 cents total. ¾ cup margarine = $.30

Sugar costs 50 cents per pound which is approximately 2 cups. That makes our quarter cup cost only 6 cents! ¼ cup sugar = $.06

Flour also costs 50 cents per pound, but measures 4 cups. Our 2 cups will cost 25 cents. 2 cups all purpose flour = $.25

We are not including electricity costs for cooking these, nor the cost of making icing since we want to compare apples to apples. All must be baked and none have frosting. All of the calculations above were done by my K, 2nd grade, and 4th grade students. The boys even helped me gather some data. They were amazed at how much of a bargain we had when we make things ourselves. “Wow, Momma, that costs a lot! I don‘t think we should buy that.” Doesn’t every mother dream of those words coming from her children?

When we compare our homemade shortbread to the prepackaged cookies, we find that there is quite a difference. One of those differences is that the children will be proud of what they have done and will believe that their own cookies taste much better! But what you really want to know is, “How much did I save?” Shortbread cookies Liz Price = 79% off!

  It is the beginning of Valentine’s week. I am so grateful that we have all week to prepare for it. Valentine’s Day is one of those holidays that does not hold a lot of traditions at our house. That means that it is open for any sort of harebrained ideas that I can dream up! We are making sure that we make time in our day for the many crafts and activities that will come with this holiday. Let me confess, getting boys excited for V-day is not such a simple task. For them it is more about hoping for chocolate goodies than it is expressing their affection for anyone, including their own sweet momma. It brings a certain comfort that vanishes once the talk of girlfriends starts filling their minds.

I have found a couple of cute ideas for our crafts this week.  http://www.lessonplanspage.com/Valentines.htm#4
This site has ideas that include art, computer, language arts, math, and even science and social studies. Oh yes! I am excited about the math facts written on one side of a broken heart while the answer is on the other half. I fully expect the construction paper hearts to be completely worn out by the time Friday gets here! There is even a writing assignment involving chocolate kisses! This is my kind of assignment. While it’s not exactly frugal, it does involve chocolate! Of course, there are the classic art projects like weaving a heart shaped basket and making a little man out of different sized hearts.  I really encourage you to take a look at this site. It looks like there are lots of activities that use the simplest of materials, just a little time and effort.

Another project that we will have this week is to address our many Valentine cards to all of our homeschool friends in preparation of our party this week. Perhaps a penmanship lesson could be made out of this! Just in case you didn’t buy your children’s valentines in March of last year for 90% off, you can print out your own. There are some really cute ones that I have found, most of which are free.  http://www.currclick.com/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=0&products_id=33641&it=1 This is a link to a packet of Valentines that are very appropriate for little ones. There are no kissy and mushy cards, plus several for family members. It’s very cute! There are several more listed here: http://www.currclick.com/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=Valentine&manufacturers_id=&author=&pfrom=0&pto=.50&x=41&y=9

We must also decorate our shoebox that will become our mailbox. I can just imagine the masses of crayon, colored paper scraps, glue sticks, foam stickers, and glitter that will be decorating my floor through out the week.

Saturday Projects - Beekeeping

Saturday-Project

I learned how to make scented votive candles about a two years ago in the efforts of starting a small home business. It was so simple yet complex. The process was almost easy enough to do in my sleep. The trouble came in keeping the cost of the materials down. I would use 50% off coupons and scour the internet for discounts on scents. Still, I wondered if I could do better. I still couldn’t manufacture my own candle for less than Wal-Mart could sell one. Then the extreme discount section of my brain took over. “Well, if I can’t buy the wax any cheaper than I’ll just produce my own!” This is the crazy idea that sparked my interest in beekeeping. They seemed to be comparatively hands-off. They didn’t need to be milked twice a day nor weeded nor replenished every year. Wow, this may be just up my ally. If I were to have a beehive, what else could I make with the wax? I have had so much fun envisioning soaps, lip balms, and beautiful candles! I studied the beehive with excitement. All of the components were simply squares and rectangles that fit together so nicely and organized! It wasn’t cluttered and chaotic. Ah, this hobby is looking better every second. I flipped through the catalog admiring all of the beautiful accessories. I had a passion for all of the yields as well as the equipment, but what about the bees? I tried to envision having to brush the bees off of the frames. I thought about having the grass cut around the hives with the great big loud zero turn mower. I remembered that beekeepers develop and immunity to bee stings, because they get stung so frequently. I imagined my little boys running inside crying because their excited playing threatened the colony. Hmm, perhaps I don’t love beekeeping after all.

Frugal Fun Friday

There are days when I wonder if my children have ever heard me utter the word “yes.” I feel as though I spend most of my day either correcting behavior with “no” or answering requests of children for privileges with “no.” It is no wonder that my 2 year old was proficient in her use of the word long before she learned how to form her mouth around it’s opposite. It’s not that I am opposed to fun projects, in fact, I love them! It just seems that their requests come at the worst possible times.

 

Yesterday afternoon, I gathered the boys around the table and let them know that I had a small project for them. “Oh no, is this one of those projects that is really just work?” Wow, maybe I’m not even as fun as I thought that I was! I asked them to write down fun things that they would like to do, but I always tell them no. Oh, they had fun with this task. I saw quickly that I did need to lay out some guidelines. They couldn’t ask to break any of our house rules. They couldn’t ask for a lot of money to be spent. These were to be activities, not prizes. The two older boys would whisper back and forth between each other, giggling as they thought of things that I would surely hate. The youngest boy would dictate his requests to me while I wrote them on little slips of notebook paper.

 

We had taken construction paper and a marker to make a label that said “YES, you can.” Each slip of paper was folded and dropped into the coffee can with our new label on it. We now have a yes can! On those days that are deemed worthy, one boy will pull one slip from our can. That will be our activity for that day. No matter how much extra cleaning is involved, no matter how nutritionally unsound, no matter what it is, we will be following the rules of our new game. I must follow them, for I am the one who made the rules!

 

Now to see what sort of discount we got today. Craft materials from the craft box- practically free. Ideas from the children’s heads- free and abundant! Liz Price= FREE!

  

Oh, and just incase you wondered what sort of things the children came up with, I’ll list just a few:

• Peanut butter sandwiches for supper
• Melting crayons in order to make new ones
• 20 minutes extra time on the computer
• No school for the rest of the day
• Crafts with beads
• Costume day
• Print and bind our own authored stories
• Peanut butter sandwiches for breakfast (Yes, they love peanut butter!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thursday Thoughts

I was just sitting down to write a request asking for your help.  I have not been able to think of a topic for my Thursday posts.  The plan was to write about a certain topic each Monday, another topic on Tuesdays and so on and so forth.  (Side note: I am a compulsive planner!)  Thursdays were left blank.  What in the world should I write on Thursdays?

So far, here is my schedule

• Back to School Monday - homeschooling
• Around the House Tuesdays (or perhaps Tuesday Tips) - Instead of thrifty products, this is about thrifty actions that we can perform around our homes.
• What's for Dinner? Wednesdays - recipe and menu ideas
• Frugle Fun Friday - Fun things that we can do with our families without spending too much
• Saturday Projects - This will be different projects that I have done or plan to do that save my family money or time.  This will include successes and failures!

So in my asking for your thoughts this Thursday, I think that I may have found an answer.  Thursday Thoughts!  I would LOVE for this to be a day with lots of feedback.  I'll start with my thought of the day, and you, the readers, can just run with it!  So as our first  thought of the day, please let me know what you like and dislike about my blog.  What would you like to see or not see?  (I'll try to put on my thick skin on Thursdays!)

What’s for Dinner? Wednesday

I have learned recently that making a menu for the week’s meals is a very smart investment of my time.

Could you believe that menu-making could save money? Bizarre but true! Food only lasts so long before it goes bad. And since I tend to buy “good deals” in bulk, it would be very easy for it to go bad before I remembered to use it. On Wednesdays, when all of the new sales for the week have started, I do my grocery shopping as well as my menu planning. “Good grief! What am I going to do with 30 pounds of potatoes?” (Yes, this has happened.) I’ll schedule a morning or two for hash browns, a lunch with oven fries, a supper with mashed potatoes, and maybe one with scalloped potatoes. Potato salad would be nice with lunch as well. Those little spuds don’t stand a chance of sprouting in my pantry!

The dividends of this investment are also paid in the form of sanity. My menu is in a three-ring binder on my kitchen cabinet. When the children are tempted to ask one of the most irritating questions known to mother, they are directed to the notebook. “You are more than welcomed to look,” is a much nicer reply than, “I don’t know! I’m busy, why does it matter?” This is one fewer conversation in which to test my patience. It leaves more patience for other events throughout my day. I sure could use a little extra when it comes time for potty training and grading schoolwork!

The third return on this investment of time is even more time! The two hours before supper are hectic. The children are finishing up schoolwork. The toddler is waking up from her nap and wants lots of attention. The kitchen needs straightening….again! My husband has come home. This chaos is not the best environment for trying to figure out what everyone would rather have for supper. (Never do they actually agree on any food.) I could spend 30 minutes trying to decide what to fix. Spending this 30 minutes on Wednesday saves me at least 30 minutes at suppertime each night, not to mention the time saved at breakfast and lunch. If I were to translate this into price tags, because as we know time costs us, using a menu would only spend 1/7th of the planning time that it would take without one. Liz Price: 86% off !

Around the House Tuesday

  By now, almost all of you thrifty mommas have learned how to make your own laundry soap. So let’s take it one step further. Do you know how much it is costing you per load? What is the magic number that store bought detergent would have to reach before it became a good deal? That is the topic of today’s post: Are you getting a good deal?

My calculations are going to be based on this basic recipe using good ole unit analysis.  (And you thought that it had no real application in the real world!)
½ cup washing soda
½ cup borax
1 3oz. Bar of soap

Let’s start with the soap. I pay no more than 50 cents per bar of soap. It is occasionally on sale for 3/$1. So we will use $.50 because it is much more likely.

The Arm & Hammer Washing Soda costs about $2.99 for a 55oz box. So the soda for 1 bucket of detergent costs just $.23!                                                                                          

$2.99 x 4.2oz = $.228

 55oz     ½ cup    ½ cup
The 20 Mule Team Borax costs $3.99 for a 76 oz box. So the borax for 1 bucket costs only $.18.
    
     $3.99 x 3.5oz = $.184
     76oz     ½ cup     ½ cup

Our whole bucket of laundry soap that washes 64 loads of laundry has only costs us $.50 for soap, $.23 for soda, and $.18 for borax; a total of $.91 !

All of that was just a whole lot of number crunching to show you that when you make your own laundry detergent it is only costing about a penny and a half for each load of laundry! I certainly can’t image Tide running a special on a jug of detergent for a dollar. The name-brand cleaners can cost up to 20 cents per load. So by doing just a little extra work, we just got an 97% off discount! Now THAT is a “Liz Price!”



Do I have your attention now? Just in case you have not learned to make your own, there is a picture tutorial at http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/laundrysoap.htm that is very helpful.

There are a few things that I have learned the past year cooking laundry soap.

• Many recipes dilute the mixture until it measures ½ cup per load. I have found that I don’t care for the uneven texture. I’m not really sure that the first load is cleaning the same as the last. So I did the same thing that the manufacturers are doing: cut the water in half. Once half of the water is gone, the mixture is much more homogenous! It is more like a gel and less like egg drop soup.
• Another alteration that I have made in some batches is to add a little bit of commercial detergent. Occasionally and rarely you may be able to find a store brand running a super sale. Just make sure that their version of one load measures your version.