Try this creamy fajitas recipe, fajitas with a twist, along with a delicious apple plum crisp recipe and more to round out this easy and delicious menu! [Read more…] about Creamy Fajitas And Apple Plum Crisp Recipes
If you are buying a fresh tree this year, remember it needs to be watered and watered A LOT. You don’t have to buy special tree extender stuff or food. Just water it and water it.
In our area I have noticed that most real trees go on sale December 15th, so if you don’t need to have one early you might consider waiting until then.
Also I know we so often think bigger is better but be sure you get a tree that will fit into your house. This seems like an obvious thing but I once sold a nine foot tree to a lady. I kept asking her if she was sure it would fit into her house because, at that time, most people had 8 foot ceilings, but she insisted it would work. A week later she came back and wanted her money back because she couldn’t fit the tree into her living room.
Jill
Your advice on keeping a fresh Christmas tree watered reminded me of a tip I got from the lady we buy our real tree from. She always told us that when we got the tree home, to cut approximately a 1/4″ to a 1/2″ off of the bottom of the trunk. This will give you a new fresh end for the tree to “drink” from. Also, drill a small diameter hole (3/8″ to 1/2″) from the bottom of the trunk up into the center. This will insure that water will get deep inside the trunk as well. We do it every year and it works great!! From: Dave V.
photo by: chippenziedeutch
From: Stephanie
“Because we think we have to give our kids everything they want … we are losing everything we have.”
Stephanie made this comment on our blog. Boy did she put it all in a nutshell. This is true for the parents too because we think we deserve everything we want… Meanwhile, we are losing everything we have. Be careful– God has given most of us a certain amount of money and, in some cases, children and He wants us to use that money wisely for the care of those children and in ways that glorify and honor Him.
-Jill
photo by: tracy_olson
This morning I went to buy eggs. I usually try to get them on sale but couldn’t find any. Since I needed the eggs right then, I had no choice but to pay full price, so I bought a carton of medium eggs.
Sometimes we automatically buy the large eggs (we do that with so many things) thinking that they are the best but for my purpose (baking), the medium eggs worked just fine and they were cheaper.
If you are having trouble with a recipe being extra sticky or not quite right in some other way, you might change your egg size and see if that helps.
Another thing I did this morning was hang my clothes out. After writing an e-book about laundry and how to hang clothes on the line I didn’t think I had missed anything. As I was hanging some T-shirts on the clothesline, I noticed that one of them was sagging in the middle, so I pinned it on the line and I re did it. You need to hang the items taut on the line, not stretched too tight but not sagging. This helps get rid of much of the wrinkling that some of us experience. Sometimes we tend to let our clothes sag in the middle to give us more clothesline space but don’t do this. It’ll only make more work for you.
I hope some of these ideas help make your day go more “smoothly”. : ) Have a super day everyone!
-Jill
Photo By: Brenda Gottsabend
Here are some suggestions that will help you simplify and save money on your breakfasts.
Then cut into pieces the size of a piece of cake and serve. This will save you from greasing and washing individual muffin tins.
Use a sundae dish with fruit, granola, coconut, or brown sugar on top. This is a treat that makes breakfast more exciting for the kids.
Before bed add oatmeal and milk or water to a bowl with 1 drop of maple flavoring and brown sugar to taste. Let it sit overnight in the refrigerator. In the morning microwave for 90 seconds and enjoy!
Don’t let kids eat or watch TV in the morning until they first are dressed and ready for school and have their beds made and their rooms picked up. Then let them eat breakfast.
Use it for frying eggs, flavoring corn bread, muffins or for greasing pans.
Substitute equal amounts of apple juice for the milk, then add 1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon.
Stir in 1-2 tablespoons of orange marmalade into a cup of warm maple syrup. It perks up ordinary pancake syrup.
What Do I Do With My Tax Refund?
It’s that time of year when all that "free" money starts rolling in. I’m talking about the bonus money– you know, the fun money (otherwise known as our tax refund)! That is the way so many of us think of a tax refund and, five minutes after we spend this year’s tax refund, we are already thinking about what we are going to do with next year’s refund money.
Many of us look at getting a tax refund almost as if we have won the lottery. We are going to do so much with it and it seems to have such amazing powers. I mean a $1000 tax return can buy a car, furniture, a big screen TV or a family vacation all in one fell swoop. There is almost nothing it can’t do; no problem it can’t solve. It’s our mad money– our fun money.
Not!!!!!!!!!
If you have debt, a tax refund is none of the above. It is not mad money. It is the opportunity to move closer to getting out of the debt you have already committed to pay. If you have credit card debt, use your tax return to pay off that credit debt rather than to buy that big screen TV or the couch you have wanted.
Use common sense and wise thinking when it comes to spending that tax return. It is no different than a regular paycheck. In fact, when you look at the fact that you make so much money a year, the tax refund is actually part of the salary that you say you make.
Stop looking at it as a bonus and instead think of it as more income available to pay your debts. Once you pay off those debts, a tax refund can be a great opportunity to start a savings account.
We get so many questions from people who are panicking and asking what we do for an emergency fund. Instead of throwing away that tax refund check on something that gives you instant pleasure, set aside that tax refund money for an emergency (keeping in mind that even most "emergencies" are not true emergencies).
Once your debts are paid and you have enough savings, then use your refund for fun. We live in a society where we always put the cart before the horse. People used to get married and then have children but now it is common to have children and then get married. We used to carefully save our money and buy what we wanted from our stockpile but now we charge what we want and later try to figure out how to get the money to pay for it.
Because of how we think about credit, many of us don’t give any serious thought to paying for something until it is worn out and we want to buy the next one. Once the item is worn out, how do most of us feel about still paying for it? "It’s not fair that I have to pay for this and I don’t even have it anymore…" Avoid the stress later — Pay off what you owe now and stop buying things on credit.
If you are behind on your credit payments or if you’re not making the payments at all, use your tax refund as an opportunity to get current. When we buy an item on credit or with our credit card we are saying "If you let me have this product now I promise (vow) to give you money for it later". When we don’t pay our credit card bills it is no different than walking into a store, filling a basket with whatever we want and walking out with it. To my knowledge that is still called stealing. (I’ll have to check because they change the meaning of words so often to make them more politically correct. I mean who knows, maybe it’s not stealing anymore but just "temporarily using it until it is repossessed").
When you literally put the cart before the horse, (kids before marriage, buying and then trying to save money to pay for something, etc.) it will cause extra stress in your life and will make it much harder to get where you are going.
Re-think not only how to use your tax refunds more wisely but give the same consideration to any other "extra" money that comes into your life. Once you get a handle on your debt and your spending habits, you will be surprised how far your money will go. Start by making a wise decision about your tax refund.
One other thought– Make sure you have your withholding set up with your employer to not take out so much money. Set up a direct deposit into your savings account and save it yourself instead. Considering the fact that many states are on the verge of bankruptcy do you really want to give over all that money so the government can just "save" it for you? You may not get it back one day.
For more ideas to help you get out of debt, check out Dig Out of Debt!
At an average of 120.00/month, our water bill is our most expensive utility (due to private ownership of the local water company, no regulatory oversight, etc.). One way I save money is to use all of the frugal settings on my dishwasher. I use the water miser, the light wash, and of course, the air dry settings (to save on electricity). All of my savings were going “down the drain”, however, when my 15 year old daughter loaded the dishwasher. She was running the water the entire time she rinsed the dishes, even though I told her how to do it a different, more frugal way. So, I assigned other chores to her and now do the dishes myself. I am happier that it gets done my way and it also saves on our water bill.
-Sharon Y.
[Read more…] about Save Money On Your Water Bill Doing Dishes
I thought I’d share a short post about preventing your bills from getting lost. If you keep things organized you can save money on fees and reduce the stress of worrying about bills being late.
Margaret Writes:
Our bills are sorted by date–the due date is written on the envelope. Then the pile is organized by due date, with the ones due soonest on top. These are paper clipped in the checkbook. Top bill gets paid first.
-Margaret
My system is similar. I line my bills in order in a napkin holder (one that just has 2 bars to hold the napkins because I can see the bills easier), with my checkbook behind them.
Hope from New Jersey writes:
I definitely can relate to living on a low income. I just paid off $3000 debt in less than a year playing the credit card game, making some financial sacrifices and getting a windfall. I love using a credit card (I only have one now with a $400 credit limit), but being in debt like that scares me. I don’t want to go back to that again. I’m thinking about getting rid of the card, but then what will I do to build a good credit history? I’m also afraid that I might need it one day. (I’m living on a low income with one special needs child and one child that’s not.) Should I keep my credit card or get rid of it?
Tawra: Hope, we would suggest that you keep your credit card. Here’s why: Credit cards aren’t the problem –it’s self control that’s the problem. You sound like you have your spending under control, so I would suggest that you keep the card.
I would use it for convenience when you know you have the money to pay it. Keeping a credit card is good for things like making online orders or for getting gas when you don’t have time to go to the bank and withdraw the cash. As long as you have the money to cover the charge and you don’t spend it on something else before you pay your credit card bill, you should be fine.
Then pay it off each month so that you can build your credit. They are very handy to have around for those types of things. If you need a way to keep track of what you put on it just write it down in your check register and put a C in the left column so you know that is what was put on the credit card. This is also a handy way to double check and make sure they charged you correctly.
A credit card can also help with emergencies, but you have to be careful what constitutes an emergency. If you use the card for an emergency, you have to expect to plan to sacrifice somewhere else to cover the emergency, but it sounds like you’ve already experienced this.
This part is not really directed at you, Hope, but for other readers who are reading:
Regarding emergencies, going out to eat or taking a vacation because you’re under stress is not an emergency. An emergency is something like a life and death hospital emergency, fixing the only car you have so you can go to work and earn money, etc. Keep in mind that even “emergencies” have to be paid for eventually!
If you feel that you don’t have control of your spending, I would suggest only keeping a credit card for true emergencies.
As for you, Hope, it sounds like you have done very well and are on your way to being permanently debt free. Congratulations on your hard work!
From our Dig Out Of Debt e-book
photo by: kanir
School has started in many places, which means more mounds of paper clutter to keep under control. Here are some tips to help keep all of that school paperwork from multiplying, reproducing and generally taking over your home and your life.
Set a certain time and place to go through your kids’ backpacks and paperwork each day. Use this time to sign all those papers you need to sign, mark upcoming meetings or events on the calendar and sort through everything.
The best time and place to organize schoolwork will vary for each family. For us, it was best to do it the moment the kids walked through the door while it was fresh on their minds. I would have a snack ready for them, they would explain the papers to me and while I was dealing with them (signing, writing on the calendar or admiring their handiwork), they would tell me about their day.
Then I would return everything that needed to go back into their backpacks, trash the rest or put it in a special place or folder. This helps prevent things from getting tossed on the counter or table where they are eventually lost or forgotten.
Of course you will need a calendar and/or small bulletin board or dry erase board.
My calendar has very large squares where I simply mark what needs to be done. If there is something very important that I must not forget no matter what, I mark it in red, but I write everything else in pencil in case I need to change it. Then I can just erase it and make the necessary changes.
There have been times when I used a purple pen if I wanted the kids to remember something. I read about a study which found that people will remember things better when marked in purple.
Use different colored markers or pens for different things. For example, one child’s events will all be in green, all dentist appointments are in blue or whatever works best for you.
If there are special papers that go with an event, I either paper clip them to the calendar page, pin them to a small bulletin board or place them in a folder, making a star on the calendar so I know to look on the bulletin board or in the folder for the paper that goes with the event.
All my events seem to fit fine on one large square of a calendar. If your events don’t fit, you might need to look at changing a few things in your life and cutting back on some things. This could be a sign you are too busy.
There are many many fancy and expensive calendar systems out there. I personally find them to be more confusing and more work than they are worth but if they work for you, use one.
I know that some of you who work away from home need day planners and other organization systems but that is another whole subject that I deal with in my e book Plan It, Then Do It.
Another system some people like is to have a folder for each child with special papers in it. For example, if one child is having a class party, I will mark the class party on the calendar but then place the paper with all the info about it in the folder. Once again, I would place a star by the event to remind me more info is in the folder. Once a week these folders should be sorted through so they don’t get cluttered.
Always keep folders of any kind in an upright position in a holder. Most folders or papers that are laid in a horizontal position get forgotten, lost, piled on or not used.
KEEP IT SIMPLE. This could be the most important point of all. If it is complicated and too involved neither you or your family won’t bother to use it. Sometimes it isn’t our families which are the problem but the system we choice to use. Just because it comes highly endorsed by a famous organizer or some such does not mean it will work for you so don’t fight it and try something different.
Well I will sign off for now. I am looking at the piles of paper on my own desk and think I might need to take a break, practice what I preach and clear my desk. : )
-Jill
Photo By: magma666