Cleaning Curtains

I am amazed some times by the amount of dust that can gather in no time!

My Frugal Friday tip is:

To get the layer of dust that can mount on the top of your curtains off, simply throw them in the dryer for 15-20 minutes. No need to wash them, they probably aren't dirty, but just dusty. By not running them through the washer you are not adding to their fading or wearing.

Mother's Day Dilemma

OK, am I the only one that struggles with, 'What to give Mom for Mother's Day'? Or any holiday/event as far as that goes. What's even harder is, 'What to give Grandma!' By this stage in life they have everything they need and pretty much want. I am always at a loss. I like to give meaningful gifts but I'm running out of original ideas.

While I wandered around Wal Mart feeling pretty depressed about the whole situation, I noticed that they offer a 4x6 hardcover photo book that is made in MINUTES! I took the pictures from last weekend of the girls in their Southern Belle outfits that I had edited at home (to make them look better! lol), I already had them on my flash drive and had them made into a 10 page book. You can even add text and edit the pictures more while you are there.

These are perfect! I mailed one to the grandmas out of state, and have one here waiting for my mother in a basket of sugar free candy (she just found out her glucose levels are high), and I'll have the girls write her a special letter of appreciation.

They were less than $8 a piece! Frugal and meaningful!

For more frugal tips visit Biblical Womanhood

Free or Cheap Platters

Because I do some catering, decorate cakes and practice a good bit of hospitality I am always looking for neutral platters such as white, silver or glass. Most of the time the actual platter will be covered with lettuce leaves or something like that.

Someone was tossing out a BIG, glass plate from a microwave. I thought, 'That would be great for a vegetable platter!' I actually used that last week for a wedding cake I made. The outer lip was pretty level with the rest of the plate so it was perfect!

Then yesterday our microwave went out, we tossed it away AFTER I took the glass plate out of it! I remember seeing these 'platters' quite often at the thrift store for about $2.

For more frugal tips check out Biblical Womanhood.

Stay HOME!

Every time I walk in the grocery store I am so frustrated because EVERYTHING keeps going up!!! Jeff's mother was saying that she is spending the same about of money on groceries as when she had all four of her children at home (three of them were boys!) , it's just the two of them now. I have to say that it is the same here. We are now a family of four, we use to be a family of six, I see no difference in our grocery bill.

I am a frugal shopper, but there is only so much you can cut back on. Things I am going to try even harder at:

*Be more serious about gardening this year. We always put some 'maters (that is southern for tomatoes) in and a couple other things, but this year we're going to be more serious about it.

*More gardening means more canning!

*Limit my trips to town to twice a week. I am so bad to run into town just about every day. It's only 15 minutes one way, but if I go 5 times in a week that is 2 1/2 hours of driving time, which really calculates the GAS MONEY! So if I can just cut that time back. Plus we drive 30 minutes one way to church each week. How did those pioneer women handle going onto town once or twice a season? lol I guess they stayed BUSY AT HOME. The Bible actually says, "...keeper AT home", not ...keeper OF the home.

* Less trips to town means better menu planning...better everything planning.

We are such a wasteful generation!

I've been home more this week than I've been in a long time. I have found that I have gotten so much done and am more rested and at peace. I've been able to enjoy caring for my family and home more if I am not having to run here and there. :o) I guess it's all a matter of choosing only the best things to do (and not ALL the good things) so that you can pour yourself into the needful things!

Supermarket Savings 101:

A Beginning Course Teaching You How to

Drastically Reduce Your Grocery Budget.

Living on a Dime
has a great deal on their instant downloads!

Organic Gardening
This is another area we're going to improve on.

Anyone else making changes in their schedules to be more frugal?

Frugal Friday

Frugal Friday's tip is to make your own cards, like I posted yesterday. :o)

For more ideas go to Biblical Womanhood.

Equip Them to Be Smart Shoppers

A very important aspect of running a home efficiently is to be able to shop wisely!

One of my New Year's resolutions was to be a better steward when it came to grocery shopping. I do consider myself a wise shopper, but I knew I could improve. So I chose to read and learn how to shop the CVS and Walgreens' deals. I have to tell you it is well worth the time! With the cost of groceries going up each time I walk through the doors of the grocery store every little bit helps!

In less than three months of shopping the CVS deals I have managed to stock up on most of our toiletries, over the counter medications and make up for pennies on the dollar, often getting things for free!

We live in a small town so shopping options are limited which makes me even more grateful for a CVS! When I made my trip this week the cashier said, "If I would take the time to learn how to do this (shop the deals) I'd probably save alot of money." I was SHOCKED! How can she work there and not shop the deals? She also told me that there are about 5-6 other people that come in and do what I do. I couldn't believe it. Only 5 or 6 out of our whole town shop the deals? When I say deals I mean getting the most form the ECB's.

My 13 year old daughter commented how there are so many needy people that could use the free soap and things. Oh how true! I thought of all the children that spend 2-4 hours a day just watching TV, listening to their Ipods, playing video games, and talking on the phone. What a blessing it would be if these young people would take a few hours a week and read Money Saving Mom or other blogs like that. What if they clipped the coupons from the Sunday paper and learned how to compare prices? Crystal (and others) do most of the leg work for us! Anyone that can read and do simple math can do this.

What if these same young people took on this task, invested a small amount of money to get started with their ECBs and took all of those toiletries and over the counter medications and donated them to needy people?

Possible places to give to:

Homeless Shelters
Hospice Groups
Ronald McDonald House
Senior Care Centers
Group Homes for Children
Foster Care Children
Care Baskets for the Military
Care Baskets for the elderly in your neighborhood
Fire Victims -People that loose their homes to a fire.
Disaster Victims - Keep a stock pile for times of natural disasters, not just for yourself, but for your neighbors.
Check with local churches to see of they have a food bank you can donate to.
Start a food bank at your church.
Overnight hospitality baskets for your house guest. We always place a basket next to the bed when we have guest overnight.

I'm sure there are other ways to share of your stockpile. The point is to be on a mission of blessing others.

Moms are busy, especially if you have several children it may be hard to find a couple hours a week to shop the deals. Why not teach one or more of your children to do it for you. This is a PERFECT way for them to learn to be a smart shopper and to have a ministry of giving right from home. They can do most of the research at home and then on shopping day they can have the list and coupons ready! A plan of action!

Does it take work? Yes! Will it improve math skills? Yes! Is it worth it? YES! When I walk through the door of my home and have $60 worth of merchandise and only spent $5-$6 (or less), oh yeah it is worth it!

Equip your children with this life long skill of smart shopping! One day they will be able to bring this skill into their marriage, and what a blessing that will be! Until then, they can be a blessing to their family now and to those that are truly needy!

For more frugal ideas go to Biblical Womanhood.

Make Your Own Cakes

This week's Frugal Friday tip is to start making and decorating your own birthday cakes. I have saved hundreds of dollars over the years by doing all of our own cakes. You can even make money when you start doing cakes for your extended family and friends.

If you need help learning this skill you can buy my new video. :o)

Check out my cake blog for more ideas!


For more Frugal Friday tips visit Biblical Womanhood.

Quilted Windows/Decorating

My Frugal Friday tip is another decorating idea!
This cost me NOTHING to make! :o)

This is what hangs on the wall over my desk. Jeff had some old wooden windows and I glued in some OLD hand pieced squares that someone gave me. When you look closely you can see the uneven seams and how the stitches are loose, but oh how I love it. Today quilting is so much like a math/art project. When these squares were made there was no rotary cutter and twenty different rulers to choose from, nor were there sewing machine that you have to have a degree to understand how to use. I love modern technology, I LOVE my rotary cutter and rulers, perhaps that is why I truly appreciate a square (even more so a whole quilt) that has been hand cut and pieced together!

You can see more quilting ideas on my quilting blog For the Love of Quilting:


For more Frugal ideas go to Biblical Womanhood.

Frugal Friday~ Decorating

This week's Frugal Friday tip is yesterday's post!

I'll have a fun new blog up and running later today,
so be sure to stop back by!

Frugal Hospitality

My Frugal Friday tips are all the things I've posted this week, especially the place cards.
For more Frugal Friday Tips, hop on over to Biblical Womanhood!

Frugal Friday~Teach Them Well

This week's Frugal Tip is take your time now to train your children how to shop and cook.

Most of us stay at home moms are starting from scratch with everything. Not only are alot of us first generation Christians and having to learn 'what saith the Lord", but we are learning how to be submissive wives, how to pinch pennies, how to teach our children, how to keep house, etc...

Just think how much better off (hopefully!) our children will be when they reach adulthood because we have taken the time to teach them how to be frugal! Actually...we are learning together! :o)

Be sure to read over this week's topic of What to Do When your Daughter Hates to Be in he Kitchen!

For more Frugal tips visit Crystal's blog: Biblical Womanhood!

More Creative Ways to Use Pumpkins

For my Frugal Friday is the whole week of tips!
Look back over the post from this week and read the comments,
there are some neat ideas in there!

TODAY IS THE LAST DAY!
Leave a comment, I'll put your name in the hat for the GIVE AWAY.

Post on your blog linking back to here and
I'll put your name in TWICE!

If you are having trouble leaving a comment,
just email me and I'll do it for you!
Kathy@teachinggoodthings.com

I'll announce the winner Saturday morning.


Pumpkins as Vases!

MARTHA has dozens of ideas!

Pumpkin Aligator

I LOVE these!

Make Your Own Pumpkin Spice

1/4 cup cinnamon

1 T allspice

1 1/2 tsp. ground ginger

1 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1 tsp. ground cloves

Store in airtight container.
Use in muffins, pancakes, bread...

Here is a GREAT way to make your own pumpkin!
Love it!

Frugal Friday~Towels

My Frugal Friday tip is yesterday's post about how to make EASY hanging kitchen towels.
For More Frugal tips go to Biblical Womanhood!

I know my tutorial links on the sidebar aren't working right now, I'm trying to get that fixed as I type! Please be sure to check back. :o)

Bartering

This school year I am bartering lessons with another homeschool mom. I am teaching her daughter, age 16, homemaking lessons. Right now we are working on piecing a quilt together and in a week or so we will do canning. My daughter, age 16, is receiving piano lessons. She has had 8 years of lessons, but now she is learning how to improvise.

This is working out GREAT!

btw...if you'd like to
learn how to quilt
you can download lessons from my site,
or
if you live in or near Blount County, Alabama
I give private and group lessons!

For more Frugal Ideas check out Biblical Womanhood!

Frugal Friday ~Tomatoes

This weeks Frugal Friday is You Pick Tomatoes.

Where we live there are ALOT of tomato farms. After the workers go through and pick, they open the fields to the public. Even though these are fields that have already been picked there are BUNCHES of 'maters left. We can pick a big box for about $3-$5 . I like to get 3-4 boxes in the fall and do all my tomato canning at one time. This year I want to also make veggie soup and tomato soup. I hope to do this next week.

For more Frugal Friday tips hop over to Biblical Womanhood!

Be Frugal~Have Babies!

This week's Frugal Friday Tip is
HAVE BABIES!

Having children really does not cost as much as the 'experts' say! It is only common sense and good economics to birth children. If you don't buy into the culture's lie of materialism you will realize that children really don't cost much. And when they get to where they eat more food and their shoes cost a bit more, they are to the point where they start contributing to the family. It is the THINGS that people think kids need that cost so much.

Now that our children are older 13, 16, and 19 it is incredible! We ALL work and play together. We ALL make money in one way or another and we ALL contribute to the household. Do you know what it is like to have a 13 or 16 year old daughter WANT to go buy some groceries and then come home and COOK THEM? This is true education for them, they will make great wives. It is wonderful, it is rewarding, and it is exciting for them!!! They love it. They feel important.

When yard or house work needs to be done, we ALL do it! When there are community events we ALL help. At these community events it is mostly adults doing the work, kids are off doing their own thing, thinking only of themselves and their friends. We always get comments about how nice it is that ALL of our family participates in these events. This is part of our witness of Christ and His ways.

I only wish I would not have cut off God's blessing of fertility 13 years ago.

One last thought...God said debt is a curse we embrace that, He said children are a blessing and we kill (abortion) and prevent (birth control) them. How sad. That debt won't bring happiness, but the list of blessings that children bring is endless.

Here is a great blog about birth control.

As our children grow even older and God brings them mates, we plan on helping them in their families. We hope to help them build up treasures in heaven by having strong, God-lovin' families, where God is in charge of the number of children. He is smarter than we are! If He provides for the birds of the air and knows the number of hairs on our head, won't He provide for each child HE creates?

Check out Biblical Womanhood for more frugal ideas!

Frugal Friday~Baby Shower Gift

Since I have so many irons in the fire that I don't know which end is up, I will refer my FRUGAL FRIDAY post (hosted by Biblical Womanhood), to the post just below this one.

Below you will find a unique baby shower gift! Make it yourself and it will cost a fraction of what we are going to charge for them! :o)

Frugal Friday- Free Newsletter

P. Allen Smith is a wonderful, free gardening newsletter, full of tips, reminders and recipes.

This week he has articles about drying flowers, what to look for when buying mums, how to make homemade sorbet, and more.

For more Frugal Friday Tips go to Biblical Womanhood.

Frugal Friday

Today's Frugal Friday (hosted by Biblical Womanhood) tip is a Newsletter put out by my very dear friend Kelly at Hearts For Family.


It's FREE just sign up. This mom to #7 in just s few weeks knows all about frugality first hand! You too can glean from her wealth of wisdom.

Frugal Friday- The Computer Lady

This week's Frugal Friday Tip is about the Computer Lady. This is a free newsletter you can sign up for and she sends out 'how-to' information, about 4-5 topics each newsletter. They are pretty simple to understand.

This week's topics are:
In This Issue...

1. Introduction
2. Free Auto-Fill for Internet
3. Saving E-mail to CD
4. How To Double Space in Word & OpenOffice.org Writer
5. Adding Columns in MS Outlook
6. Your Comments

It's worth the effort to sign up for this one. :o)