Mother of Seven + 2

I grew up cleaning windows with two simple ingredients.  For a short time after leaving home I succumbed to advertising and started buying the ready made glass cleaners.  I admit I kinda like the smell of them.  However, I quickly learned that my mom's easy to make cleaner was much more economical.    Mom's Glass Cleaner 1 part vinegar  1 part water I buy a spray bottle at the store and just keep it filled and ready to use.    Here is the cost breakdown: 1 gallon of vinegar costs about $3.00. It takes about 2 c. vinegar each time I fill my spray bottle.   1 bottle of homemade glass cleaner = about $0.40 1 bottle Windex = about $3.50 I save a little over $3.00. I think I'll pass on the nice smelling window cleaner and enjoy a dark chocolate bar instead.  :)

The time of year is quickly approaching where there is a lot of focus on materialism.  The ads begin flooding the mail.  The commercials inundate us with the latest gadget we need .  And every year I get frustrated because a great deal of conversation amongst our children gets focused on what I want . Two years ago we came up with "The Notebook" to help ease my stress and frustration.  We use "The Notebook" in two different ways.  The first way is for each child to have a place where they can list things they would like for their birthdays or Christmas.  These are running lists that they add to all year.  They mostly contain sports items, electronic games, legos, art supplies, and books.  When a special occasion rolls around, we look at the list and figure out what things we would like to buy.  In addition, it is also helpful to refer to when Grandma calls and wants to know what she should buy. The Notebook.  As you can tell it's h...

This year I struggled a bit with wanting to start the school year.  Last year the whining and complaining, huffing and puffing, rolling the eyes and slamming into the chair stuff really was wearing me thin by the end of the year.  I was not anxious to start again.  I wanted to enjoy my children, but this attitude junk definitely did not spell out enjoyment.  It stressed me and made me anxious to just let them loose so I could get away from them. I worked and worked at not letting these attitudes occur.  There was discipline.  There were gentle reminders and sometimes not so gentle reminders.  There was practice of a proper response after an inappropriate response.  There were Scriptures memorized.   Despite my efforts it felt like I was banging my head against the wall.  Children can unwillingly conform on the outside, but the attitude still dwells on the inside.  It continues to seep out, but many times it just spills out al...

Here are a few money saving tips for those road trips: 1.  Take your own water with you.   Fill bottles with water to take in the car on short or long trips.  On long trips fill a large water cooler and store it in the back of your vehicle.  Use this to refill your water bottles.  A bottle of water costs about a dollar at a convenience store.  With nine in our family it would cost us $9 just to get a drink.  If we buy the water ahead of time at Wal-Mart, it will cost about $1.75 for 9 water bottles. This is a much better price, and sometimes we go this route. However, the most cost effective method is to fill our own bottles with water and take them with us. Some of our water bottles we take with us in the car.  Rummage sales are a great place to find these. 2. Pack some snacks. The least expensive snacks are the homemade variety--cookies, muffins, etc. However, if your schedule gets crazy like ours, sometimes there just isn't time t...

Here are this week's money saving tips:  Remember it's the little things that add up.  It's a lifestyle of being careful with the resources God has provided us with. 1.  Fill a water cooler for the kids to get their drinks from throughout the day.   During these hot summer days, my children are in need of cold water.  We don't have an ice dispenser on our freezer and so the freezer door is constantly being opened and closed in order to get ice.  This uses extra electricity as the freezer has to run almost constantly to cool all that warm air being let in.  I fill old milk jugs or juice bottles with water and freeze them.  Each morning I pull one out, put it in the water cooler and fill the water cooler with fresh water.  Now they have cold water readily available for them all day long.  And the freezer door stays shut saving dollars on electricity. The water cooler filled and ready for use. 2. Each person use the same cup for wat...

Here are this week's money saving tips. 1.  Give thanks for the generosity of friends and the abundance God provides through them.   We live in a farming community.  Often times people have produce they are not using and many times we have been blessed through them.  Apples, pears, potatoes, and corn are just a few of the things we have been able to enjoy over the years.  This weekend a friend let us pick corn.  Just finished putting up 69 quarts of corn yesterday.  What a blessing!  But the important thing to remember is always be willing to bless others with what God has given you as well.   Don't always be on the receiving end.  It saves money to share with one another! Because of a generous friend, the freezer is filled with corn. 2.  Save water that you use for washing produce, blanching vegetables, canning, etc., and use it to water your flowers and garden plants.   When I'm working with produce, I use a lot o...

This week's money saving tips: 1.  Don't throw out over-ripe bananas.   If you don't have time right away to bake with them, peel them and put them in the freezer.  They work great for making banana bread and muffins.   Just take bananas out of the freezer and let warm to room temperature.  Then add them to your recipe.  We also like to use them for milk shakes.  Just put your shake ingredients in a blender and add the frozen banana.  Yum!  Nice treat on a hot summer day. Bananas peeled and ready for the freezer. 2.  Freeze those extra garden beans.   We don't plant enough green beans to can because of our limited garden space.  However, sometimes we end up with just a few more then we can eat.  My aunt suggested I freeze them.  It works great and takes little time.   Letting food go to waste is like throwing money away.  Glad to have those few bags of beans in the freezer.  It will save buyin...

This is a healthy breakfast that is easy to throw together.  It is a great one to bake when fresh strawberries are in season.   Remember I'm not much on cooking first thing in the morning, so it has to be easy for me to do it. Dry ingredients: 2 c whole oats 1 tsp. baking powder 1/4 tsp. salt Mix together and set aside. Wet ingredients: 1 tsp. vanilla 1 1/2 cups milk 1 egg 1 mashed banana Mix together and then gently fold in dry ingredients. Pour into well greased pie plate.  Bake for 25 minutes at 375.  Then lightly sprinkle the top with 1-2 tablespoons of brown sugar.  Put back in the oven for 5 minutes.  Serves 4.  (I have to four times this recipe for my growing teens.)  Serve topped with fresh strawberries that have been lightly sweetened.

This weeks money saving tips: 1.  Plant trees that are useful for food.   We have a peach tree and an apricot tree.  I'd really like to have a couple apple trees.  We just haven't figured out if we really have a good place to plant them.  Our peach tree looks like it's dying, so perhaps we'll replace it with an apple tree.  The kids love eating the fruit they pick off the trees.  Fruit is expensive, and so I'm always happy when the fruit on our trees is ripe.  Last week we enjoyed eating apricots.  The fruit we couldn't eat before it spoiled was made into apricot jam.  Yum! Cory getting ready to enjoy an apricot he picked. 2.  Re-use plastic food storage bags when possible.    I rinse out plastic bags almost daily and dry them to use again.  Those ziploc bags add up in expense.  If I've just stored bread or fresh vegy's in a bag, it is an easy wash job.  I don't generally re-use bags that I've store...

This week's tips: 1.  Install devices on showers to turn water off temporarily.   We found our water bill to be sky rocketing.  Last year my husband installed some handy dandy little devices in our showers so that we can take "military" showers.  We turn on the water and get wet.  Then we push the little button or turn the knob and the water turns off.  Time to soap up without all that water just running down the drain.  Then we push the button or turn the knob and the water comes back on and it's still adjusted to the temperature we like.  Rinse off, and our shower is completed having used at least half the amount of water normally used.  (Now I have to admit--in the winter I do not like "military" showers.  Brrrr...Cold.  I like the warm water running on me constantly.)  I don't know how much these little devices cost, but it's not much.  It saved us money immediately. Downstairs shower head with button turn off...

This week's money saving tips: 1.  Use beans to stretch your meat.   Most hamburger is almost $3 a pound right now.  Dry beans which you have to cook yourself are the most economical, but the prepared canned beans are also less expensive then beef.  When I make taco meat, I often add one can or about 1 1/2 c. of cooked kidney beans to each pound of hamburger.  This enables me to use about four pounds of beef rather then eight pounds.  It cuts the cost from about $22 to $16.  That's an amount worth saving. Crock pot full of hamburger and kidney beans. 2.  Save #10 cans to use around tomato and pepper plants in the garden .  We live in town.  The cost of water is high.  We had previously watered our garden by running the sprinkler on it.  Last year we found that it was much more economical to change our watering habits.  We saved #10 cans (which I have a lot of because we buy green beans, pineapple, re-fried beans...

Money Saving Tips for the Week: A reader commented that many times "it is the little things" when it comes to saving money.  That is true.  I don't have one huge thing to tell you that will save lots of money.  However, when the little things are combined, they do add up to be a significant amount.   This week I'm going to share some "little things."   Re-use and Re-cycle is my motto. 1.  Re-use birthday candles.   I've been known to buy only one box of birthday candles in a year.  We always save them from birthday to birthday using them for three or four birthdays before trashing them.   A few times we've had to rush the birthday song because the candles were getting so short.  Fun memories!  The kids will probably grow up telling stories about the year the candles on their cake were only one inch tall and the cake about went up in flames. My container of used birthday candles. 2.  Use plastic shopping bags to...

Money Saving Tips for the Week: 1.  Reinvent leftover bread .  There are a couple different things I do with leftover toast or bread that is getting dried out.  If I have a whole loaf of bread that for some reason didn't get used quickly, I make french toast.  Sometimes I'll have just a couple pieces of bread that are getting dry.  These I rub over my grater and make bread crumbs.  I store the crumbs in an airtight container in the freezer until I need them for salmon patties or meatloaf or some other dish. Sometimes I have a hard time gauging how much toast I need for breakfast.  Often there will be a slice or two left on the plate.  I throw these into a baggie and store them in my freezer.  When the bag gets full, I cube the bread, sprinkle it with Italian seasoning and garlic, and place it in a warm oven to dry out.  (It already has butter on it.)   It makes the best croutons.  Leftover slices of toast and bread fo...

Money Saving Tips for the Week 1.   Shop the clearance rack .  I always look at the clearance racks when the seasons are changing to see what bargains I can pick up.  However, I've found that one must watch out for two dangers when shopping clearance.  One is that just because it's on clearance doesn't mean it's a good deal.  The second is if you don't need it, then you didn't really save any money.  With that said, I'd like to share the bargains I picked up last fall. 7 pairs of boys shorts sizes 14-18  These shorts will fit at least three of our five boys, and here is the best part.  I only paid $1 apiece for them. Enough summer clothing to outfit Amber for the summer. I found a rack of girl's clearance again just priced at $1.  I picked up summer outfits for this year and only paid $10 total. This shopping trip was in October last year.  I also found swim trunks for all the boys for this summer and again I only paid $1 a...

Money Saving Tips for the week: 1.  Hang Laundry Outside to Dry .  I shared previously how I hang my clothes on a line in our basement to finish drying clothing during the winter months.  Well, now that spring is here, I hang my laundry outside.  This may seem a little strange, but I do enjoy it.  There is something fulfilling to me about seeing the clothes hung neatly on the line, and I love the smell of line dried clothes.  Then there is the added plus that the sunshine and Kansas wind are free.  I don't have to pay a cent for drying my laundry.  However, time is a factor for me, so I've learned to not spend my time hanging out all the socks and underwear.    I wash socks and underwear twice a week.  That means each time I wash them I would be hanging out 54 to 72 individual socks and 27 to 36 pair of underwear (providing everyone changes like they should).   It just takes too much time.  Those go in the drye...

Money Saving Tips for the Week 1.  Make your own bathroom cleaner.  We live in an old home with an old porcelain tub and sink.  The best cleaner is the old fashioned Comet or some other generic cleanser.  It's less then a dollar a bottle.  However, we added on a bathroom about three years ago, and the cheap cleanser can't be used on these newer surfaces.  It will mess them up.  I hate paying $3 or $4 a bottle for the cleaner that is required.  Recently I've begun using baking soda and vinegar.  When I compare the cost of vinegar and baking soda to the expensive bathroom cleaners, I find I pay about the same for the two ingredients but that it lasts at least twice as long.  Check out this link for tips on using baking soda and vinegar as a cleaner:  How to Use Vinegar and Baking Soda to Clean .  By the way, it works great, it is safe for our newer surfaces, and it is environmentally friendly as well! 2.  Walk instead ...

This week I'm in my hibernating mood.  My great desire is to curl up on my bed with a good book and some dark chocolate. The little things bother me.  My temper is short.   I just want left alone.  What's a mom to do when she feels this way? My moods are cyclical.  However, I have to keep functioning in my role as a wife and mother.  God made me this way, yet his Word doesn't seem to allow for me to act badly because that's how I feel.  How do I cope?  What must I do to manage these emotions? 1.  Pray.  God promises to supply all I need.  He will give me the added strength.  Sometimes I forget to ask though.  God reminds me that I do not have because I did not ask. 2.  Exercise.  The last thing I want to do is exercise, but the sunshine and fresh air boosts my mood.  It also gives me the little bit of added energy I need to finish the day.  I force myself to get out and move. ...

We've been gone for a few days visiting family.  It was great fun.  Now we're home and the week looms ahead of me.  Lots to do.  Laundry is piled up.  Papers need graded.  Lesson plans are still waiting to be written.  Food needs fixed.  I find myself dreading the coming day.  It's days when I feel overwhelmed that things seem to go wrong.   They soon spiral into those "horrible, awful, no good, very bad days."   As I was setting up my blog posts to run in the coming week I ran across something I wrote a couple years ago on such a day.  Reminded me to stop and take a few deep breaths, say a prayer, and then take things one at a time and do my best for the Lord and my family.  I don't need to allow any weeds opportunity to grow. So from the archives I've pulled up "Weeding the Farm" to share with you. Image: Bill Longshaw / FreeDigitalPhotos.net Just need a moment to vent a little. Do you ever have one of those day...

This weeks money saving tips: 1.  Make your own glass cleaner.   An inexpensive bottle of glass cleaner measuring no more than a quart in size will cost you at least $2.  I make my own by mixing 50% water with 50% white distilled vinegar.  The cost is about 40 cents for a quart of homemade window cleaner.  I'll have to admit that the smell is not nearly as refreshing as Windex, but it works just as well. My spray bottle for window cleaner 2.  Use eggs as your protein in a meal.   Eggs frequently go on sale for between $1 and $1.50 per dozen.  That is less expensive then a pound of meat.  Our family often has fried egg sandwiches for lunch. This tip came from one of my readers.   She said, "There are so many things to do with eggs for lunch or supper.  Frittatas--add cheese and salsa for a Mexican dish.  Quiche--my recipe only takes 2 eggs and who doesn't like something that comes in a pie crust.  Fried Egg s...

My husband often jokes about all the little ways I save money (although he is very grateful I do).  He says I can stretch a dollar farther then anyone he knows.  The state of our countries economy is changing.  Our family is not the only one feeling the financial pinch caused by increased prices in gas and groceries.  We also are facing the loss of my husband's side job, but are grateful it's not his primary source of income we're losing.  However, we are being more careful with our pennies.  As I revive some money saving techniques I had laid aside, I thought I would share.  Perhaps they will help others. This week's money saving tips: #1 Hang laundry up to dry.   I don't like to hang laundry outside in the winter when it is cold.  It takes too long to dry, and my hands get cold.  However, I have a huge unfinished basement.  My husband has strung clothes lines for me down there.  I often partially dry a load of jeans ...