homemaking ideas

Roast with Cranberry Sauce and Leftovers

March 23, 2015 by 14 Comments

Roast with Cranberry Sauce and Leftovers

From: Shelley
I loved your recipe for the cranberry roast (see below). It was awesome. The next day, I heated the leftover roast and gravy added about a tablespoon of soy sauce and 1/2 a bag of broccoli florets. I served that over ramen noodles and it made a wonderful broccoli beef type dish.

A lot cheaper than take out!

-Shelley

Cranberry Roast

1 pkg. dry onion soup mix
1 (3lb) roast
1 can (16 oz) cranberry sauce

Pour soup mix in a crockpot. Add roast and top with cranberry sauce. Cover and cook for 8 hours. To thicken gravy, mix 1 Tbsp. cornstarch and water and add to gravy. You can add carrots and potatoes 4 hours into cooking.

Photo By: matthewreid

Teach Your Kids About Money

March 4, 2015 by 5 Comments

Here’s a real life example of a great way to teach your kids about money.

I was on welfare for a while when my kids were younger. Of course, getting only one check per month made the lack of cash flow more obvious. One day, when I said we couldn’t afford something, they asked, “Why not – you just got that big check?!”

So, I sat them down and wrote the numbers down side by side. I wrote how much the check was on one side and how much I had to pay to others on the other side. I subtracted as I went and they saw the “big” check going down faster than they realized.

They never bugged me after that quite like they had before. I derived the idea from a different idea about how to show kids the realities of cost and the dreams they have about sports cars, big houses, etc. I just adapted it for my situation. I know most parents don’t really want to tell their salaries, but sometimes it can help kids to understand when things are tight.

-Wendy

This is a great idea. I have never understood why parents won’t tell their kids their incomes and let the kids sit down with them while they are paying the bills. This is probably one the best things you could ever do with your kids.

-Tawra

Not only that, but it teaches and gives children a better idea how to use a checkbook, balance a checkbook, be responsible with credits cards and generally make better financial decisions. I am so surprised about how many adults don’t have a clue where to begin teaching their children any of these things. Once again, it shows how important it is to train your children in every area, including finances.

-Jill

Photo By: Betsssssy

Creamy Fajitas And Apple Plum Crisp Recipes

January 15, 2015 by 20 Comments

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

Fresh Christmas Tree Care

November 28, 2014 by 10 Comments

Fresh Christmas Tree Care

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

Time and Money Saving Tips and Ideas

July 26, 2013 by 22 Comments

Time and Money Saving Tips and Ideas

Here is an odd collection of tips that you might find useful:

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.

Here are some more useful miscellaneous ideas:

If you lose the plug for your bathtub, use a golf ball. If it happens to get dislodged, it just rolls right back into place.
Rub hair conditioner on your shower curtain rod to make your shower curtain slide more smoothly.
Wipe up those spills. I know I sound like a parrot but if you spill something on your stove top, clean it right away. If you turn on a burner or your oven, the mess bakes and hardens on the stove. I recently heard about a new way of doing finger nail polish and guess what they use to make it harden and stick more firmly? -Heat. The same principle works with your stove, so don’t wait to wipe up the mess.

I hope some of these ideas help make your day go more “smoothly”. : ) Have a super day everyone!

-Jill

Photo By: Brenda Gottsabend

Save Money On Your Water Bill Doing Dishes

March 15, 2013 by 19 Comments

Don’t Rinse Money Down the Drain

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.

Preventing Bills From Getting Lost

February 18, 2013 by 17 Comments

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.

Picking Up Around The House

January 14, 2013 by 22 Comments

Picking Up Around The House

Many years ago, way way back in the last millennium : ) (that sounds impressive doesn’t it?), as a young bride (that sounds depressive – am I really that old?), I read one of the best tips on cleaning and housekeeping.

The woman who wrote it was an older woman and said she had been an awful housekeeper until she asked her friend who had a spotless house what her secret was. Her secret was that she never stopped picking up. No matter where she was walking to and from in her house, she automatically picked things up to take with her and put away. It really works.

Some of you are saying, “My kids and husband just need to pick up their own stuff.” I agree that the family needs to be responsible, but the reality is that kids and husbands have their heads in the clouds when it comes to these things. There could be an elephant in the room and if you ask them, “Why didn’t you pick that up?” they would say, “I didn’t see it there.” Duhhhhh!!

God has given us all different gifts and seeing the things that are out of place is not one He gave to kids and husbands so, in the same way I need them to help do things in the areas where I’m not as gifted I need to help them in their weaker areas. : ) That doesn’t mean they are off the hook when it comes to picking up. It just means I need to do a little extra.

For example, each morning, before anyone gets fed, their rooms must be picked up. Sometimes during the day or evening if things are getting out of control, we have a “pick up” time where everyone jumps in and helps. I usually try to make a game of this. Then at night before their snack and bedtime story the family room and, once again, their rooms get picked up.

I also taught everyone to clean up the bathroom after themselves and take care of all their dirty clothes and dishes so, as you can see, I am not solely responsible for all of the picking up. The type of thing I’m talking about is picking up that stray toy in the corner, that piece of paper or throw pillow on the floor and all those small odds and ends which so often get overlooked or that everyone refuses to claim as his or her own. With those things, it’s not worth the time to wait until the family gets home to demand to know whose it is. It seems everyone in the family is waiting for someone else to do it and then it never gets done. As the mom, you have to just do it and pick it up. It saves so many headaches.

As I walk through a room, let’s say on my way to the bathroom, I will scan the room as I go through to see if anything is out of place. If it is, I pick it up to deposit where it should go on my way to the bathroom. When I come out of the bathroom headed back, I pick up things from in there that need to go to the other end of the house.

Most of the time this takes me less than a minute. It has become such a habit that I didn’t realize how much I did it until I was over at Tawra’s the other day and started doing it at her house. As I was walking along, I spied a marble, then a Lincoln log and grabbed those up… next, a scrap of paper. I put the paper in the trash can that I passed on my way to the boys’ room, where I put the other things. I was headed that way anyway and it didn’t take me 5 seconds to scoop, grab and put away. It is such a habit that, even when I am tired, I do it without thinking.

Try doing this with one room. If the room is mostly picked up go in, scan the room and pick up those little overlooked things and see what a difference it makes in the room. Then get into the habit of always picking up those little “out of place” things. You will be surprised how many little things there are laying around and out of place in your house. One word of warning: Be careful of piles. I have the bad habit of piling things at the foot or top of the stairs and planning to take them up later but that is my weakness – not seeing the pile when I head upstairs – so try to do as I say and not as I do and keep the piles under control.

-Jill, the lean, mean, picking up machine

photo by: whgrad

Homemade Gift Baskets

November 7, 2012 by 25 Comments

From: Donna

I have a great and cheap idea to share for Christmas savings. I love giving gift baskets. They’re versatile, personal, and best of all… cheap.

This year I am making a candle and potpourri basket for my sister in law. I bought a bunch of the $1 tiny jar candles from Wal Mart and Dollar General so she can test out new scents, and a big bag of potpourri on clearance for $2. ($10.00)

My best friend’s husband loves to grill, so I bought a basting brush, paper plate holders, grilling spices, and marinades. ($6.00)

And for my best friend (an Air Force wife and employee and mother of a one and a half year old), a spa basket. She always seems to be stressed out and never gets downtime. I bought a 4 piece green tea bath mix ($3) from Wal Mart, added two small candles, potpourri, a bath pouf, and a sleeping mask. ($18.00)

Needless to say, most of my ideas came from Dining on a Dime. I just switched them around a little to compliment my friends and family. I have a few more people to shop for, but so far I have not spent over $20 on any gift, and everyone is getting about 6 different items.

Dining on a Dime contains a very large section on gift baskets and jar mixes. At different times in her life, Tawra worked in floral shops and part of her job was making gift baskets, so we added that as part of the cookbook.

In addition to the large lists of ideas to use for gift baskets, Dining on a Dime includes many recipes for gifts in a jar that you can make yourself and add to the gift baskets. For example you could make an Italian basket with bread, noodles, sauce and some homemade Italian Seasoning from Dining on a Dime or make a basket with soup fixings with our Bouquet Garni Bags. If they like spicy we have a Cajun Seasoning, BBQ sauces or special mustards.

You could make up a basket with the ingredients for pumpkin pie, adding our homemade pumpkin pie spice and our recipe for pumpkin pie. And of course, there are lots of cookie mixes, muffin mixes, etc.

Besides the holidays you could give a laundry basket of cleaning supplies for newlyweds or for a housewarming gift. Make up some of our homemade cleaning supples (and of course a copy of Dining on a Dime 🙂 or use a cute container to help stock the couple with spices and seasonings, filling it with cinnamon, nutmeg, chili powder etc. and adding homemade seasoned salt or taco seasoning from the book.

Dining On A Dime also includes recipes for hot chocolate, flavored coffee and spiced tea mixes, kids things like Easy Bake Oven mixes, play dough and slime. There are potpourri and sachets recipes. Homemade ornaments.

These and many more ideas are included in Dining on a Dime. Hopefully these get you started!

photo by: merelymel

Organizing Kids’ Schoolwork

August 17, 2012 by 9 Comments

How To Organize Your Children’s Schoolwork

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