Getting ready for spring

I saw on Facebook that spring is just 55 days away.

I have not had much success with growing vegetables, so far, but this year I am going to try starting my plants from seeds in the house. 

This is a plate of eggshells that will be used for little starter pots. 

It's easy, just crack your egg carefully on the side of a bowl, just below the pointy end and kind of keep cracking in a circle until the end is off. Use the inside egg for whatever you are cooking. Rinse out the egg shells and let dry. 

As cold and harsh as this winter is, I don't expect any early planting outdoors will survive. So hopefully my plants will get a good start indoors and be strong and hardy when spring finally gets here. 

Freezer pockets, a shaving deal and my first CVS deal of 2014

Some of my children wanted to restock their freezers with hot pockets so I made up four batches of Calzone dough. I did the rolling and they made the fillings, filled and shaped them.

They made breakfast ones, ham and cheese ones and pizza ones- 48 in all. 

When I mixed up the dough, I used the calzone recipe for all the batches but the other pocket dough is good too. I just forgot about it.

Most all ingredients were purchased at Aldi. We did a rough estimate of the cost and decided the total cost was less than $16 to make- not bad for 48 servings of convenience food.
Calzone dough recipe on a previous post
Breakfast pockets recipe on a previous post

Have you heard of the dollar shave club? I read about it on this blog and thought it sounded like a good deal. I told my son about it and he joined. He got his first shipment really quick too. He signed up for $9 a month deal which is a nice razor with 4 extra 5 blade razors. They also sent a sample of their shave butter. He texted me later and said he compared them to his razors at home and thinks the shave club razors are almost the same as much more expensive Mach 3 razors. 

Dollar Shave has 2 other other cheaper plans. 

It seems like a great deal to us if you like the premium disposable razors, 

If you belong to Swagbucks, you can get points there if you go through that link.

CVS

I have not shopped there at all in 2014 but they have some great deals this week. This is a good week to earn Extra Care Bucks to have for future deals,

I spent $39.25 and got back $22 ECB.

The Estoven was $10 and had a $10 ECB

The Tea and Hellmans mayo were $3 each, coupons in today's paper for 50 and 60 cents and got back a $3 ECB

Suave body  wash was $2 each, coupons in today's paper were B2G1F and a $4 ECB for buying 12

Pantene was $3.50 each - I used 2 B1G1f coupons from today's paper, a $3/2 coupon and a CVS scanner coupon that was $3 off a $15 shampoo purchase.

I would of spent less out of pocket today if I had done multiple transactions and rolled one ECB to the next deal.  But I don't like to spend so much time in the store and I will use these ECBs in the next weeks to come.
Our sales tax was $4.85 :(

I always wrap any ECBs around my CVS card and secure with a paper clip so I don't lose track of them.m

Money management-how we spend less on smart phones

When cell phones started becoming common, we had cell phones with AT&T and paid a pretty high monthly fee every month.  We never have spent lots of time using cell phones. The bills were just too high for what we used.

Then in 2009, when our contract expired, we switched to Tracfone, their phones are cheap but work fine, they don't require contracts and the charges for use are really low. 

With tracfone, my husband and I each spend roughly $100 a year for the phone and service. Our old plan was about $80 every month.  $200 instead of $960 a year for cell phones that we don't use much is much better. 

Just before Christmas, my basic tracfone was a year old and I was having a hard time hearing on it. (It had been probably been dropped by me or a grandchild just a few too many times) 

Many stores now take coupons on smartphones and I like to use coupons. So we did some research and ordered a Tracfone LG Optimus Dynamic for me from Amazon. 

Once it got here, we liked it so much, my husband got one too. He ordered his from QVC.

These will probably end up costing us each $150 or a little more a year. Still much better than the $960 we used to spend. 

The Tracfone LG looks a lot like a smartphone.

It is easy to check your balance.

I can read blogs, like this from Terri who writes at BlueHouseJournal, one of my favorites.

I can read silly picture text message for a son

I can read my email

I can pull up store coupons like this one from Hobby Lobby and watch YouTube videos. 

The text messages show up in bubbles on a scroll so it is easier to follow a conversation.

It also takes photos and movies, goes to any website and probably does lots of other stuff that I don't know how to do or even want to do. 

Tracfone used to activate their phones through a call center that I think was in India. That was difficult but now, all activations, questions and number changes can be done though their website and it is very easy. 

If you do buy a tracfone, we recommend you buy one with triple minutes for life. Anytime you buy minutes, you will get triple and that makes them cheaper in the long run. 

This model does not have lots of storage so we added a big memory card to each one. 

If you are a heavy IPhone user, I don't think you would be happy with this one. 

But if you are not big time cell phone users and just want a smart phone with minimal cost, we think these Tracfones are great.

Linking to several parties including

Friday Finances at Renaissance

Saving 4 Six

From the Farm

 

 

One little dress up outfit

My granddaughter has a quite full calender and she needs a Belle dress to wear to a Beauty and the Beast event later this month. Her momma showed me a few styles of Belle dresses on Pinterest and requested this dress be more everyday than fancy.

So, I went from there. I used the same peasant dress pattern from the granddaughters autumn dresses and I even had all this yellow fabric, white lace, thread and elastic in my sewing room. 

I cut the skirt separate from the bodice and added in several inches so the dress would be fuller and twirl. It is 100% cotton with all the seams finished so hopefully it will stand up to some playtime after the event. Granddaughter can dress up and look like a princess but she can play really hard.

Some of the pins I was inspired by, especially the first one. 

This dress was a fun afternoon project. But I have 2 granddaughters and a room full of supplies so I think I will be sewing up some more princess dresses soon. 

 

 

I did not mean to take a week off from blogging but the past week was busy and that Monday holiday was nice but got me off my regular schedule. 

I was so happy and surprised to see that my old fashioned tea towels post was featured on

Create With Joy

thank you! 

this post will also be linked  up with Show Off Saturday

What's happening here

I took the Christmas decorations down around the first of the year but I left this little white tree up and got out the Valentine decorations.  I really like twinkle lights so i may of been 6 weeks early for St. Valentine, but I like it.

My mom crocheted the heart ornaments. The vintage Valentine postcards were my grandfather inlaw's and I made the felt and sequin ornaments. They were a free-hand project that I used the supplies from a thrift store Christmas ornament kit.

Toile heart wreath, idea from another blog years ago.

In the craft room, I've been sewing on this scrappy string quilt.

Handwork- I am making a set of plastic canvas zoo animal squeezums. I made them for my children back in the 80s and they had so much fun with them. I don't know if my grands will like this new set, but some of their parents and uncle have seen this set in progress and they acted silly with them, just as if they were in elementary school again. Plastic Canvas is not the coolest of crafts these days but I enjoy it, it is easy and quick. A good project for children to start out on needle skills too. 

Cooking- we've got enough weekend leftovers to keep us going for a few days.  Meals will be easy for this cook for a few days.  

Easy meals will be a good thing because I will have grands here 3 days this week

And this morning will be the 2 youngest grands- 9 months and 18 month old boys! 

Won't be any sewing or crafting going on, just lots of playing and cuddling and feeding.....

Saturday morning thrifting

I got my once a month thrifting fix today and spent $9

4 vintage cookbooks - 25 cents each

I was especially pleased to find the book by Sophie Leavitt as Precious at Frugal Makes Cents just mentioned that it is one of her favorite books and I had never heard of this author.

2 big rubber stamps - this store had a big tub of interesting stamps and I thought about buying more as they were such a deal but they were not really my taste

Little JJ needed some more winter clothes and I found quite a few- 

1 pair of GAP overalls, 4 pairs of athletic pants, 1 pjs, 1 long sleeve one piece, 2 shirts and a zippered heavy weight hoodie. Most were 50 cents and I think 2 were $1. Most are Carter's and Old Navy brands. 

I am very selective when thrift shopping- I like good deals but I sure don't want to buy stuff that will add to the clutter level in our home. 

Oh, I almost forget these 2 25 cent goodies. Grandson Gavin will especially have fun wearing these hard hats . 

Homemade carpet shampooer machine solution

Another idea from Pinterest is this simple cleaning solution to run through a carpet shampoo machine.

I had to make a double batch to fill the tank on our machine. 

I used about 3 quarts of hot water, a half cup of hydrogen peroxide, a good squirt of dish soap and a good glub of vinegar.  The original blogger added essential oil for scent.  My scented dish liquid was scent enough.
 

It seemed to work fine and certainly as good as the expensive store bought kind that is more than $10 a jug.

This dish soap is Meyers Lavendar scent. I really liked the scent for carpet cleaning, but I don't much care for it on the dishes.  I don't plan to buy store bought solution again so this pin is a great money saver. 

I did not take before and after carpet photos. The carpet I cleaned is 14 year old white carpet that is in our 3 extra bedrooms and the big hall that connects them. The carpet is much cleaner after today's cleaning but it hardly looks new. It is better and for now, that is fine. 

 

 Pin #3 done for 2014. 

Money management- how we buy Gas

    When I watch news stories with money experts helping people with their budgets or debt, it seems the people usually have all their bills in a grocery sack or 2 that is full.  I just cringe and can't imagine how they ever keep up with so many accounts.

When I was working on my homekeeping notebook and looking at sites with printables and forms to keep up with your money, I realized our spending is more simple than most. 

So, how we do things might help somebody, so I will share.

We use cash for most local spending but we don't like having to go inside the gas station twice when buying gas with cash. We tried using our credit card for gas but it seemed when looking at our credit card statement, those gas purchases were just so much. 

My husband likes to buy gas at Walmart, it is convenient to us and they give a discount at the pump when you purchase with a Walmart credit card (no thank you) or with a Walmart gift card. 

Gas prices change often but we tried to budget an amount to spend on a Walmart gift card to use just for gas. At first we were buying a $250 card every month but that was too much as after doing this for just about 4 months, we still had a full card in December and did not buy one that month. The January one was $200 and so far, we think it will be just about right.

If there was an emergency and we needed more gas than we had prepaid for, that would be OK, as we have a credit card and emergency funds too. 

My husband pumps the gas and he keeps up with the card and balance. Some families who choose to do it this way might need their own card. It might be a great way to budget your teen's gas. 

Financial people would say we should not tie up our money like this with no interest but for us, it works and keeps our gas expense at an amount that fits our budget.

JJ clapping

Just because he is so cute, too cute not to share......

Old fashioned Tea towels

back in the fall,  Manuela posted about ways to make and decorate tea towels.  She had them hung on her stove and I thought they looked so cute.   I remembered I had embroidered some and I found them in my sewing room and got them out. All the embroidery was done but I thought they needed a little something more,  so those towels sat longer in the sewing room......

Until this week,  I wrote in my homekeeping notebook on my things I wanted to
sew quilt squares together
iron
put rick rack on towels
start Valentine dresses for granddaughters.

well,  I did sew rick rack on those 4 towels last night. 
And then I was reading blogs and saw on Lil Red Hen is going to do hope chest things for her 2014 project.  She posted some beautiful red work tea towels.  I am looking forward to seeing what she makes in 2014.  In 2013, she made an apron every month.

 

So,  for now I have a pretty towel hanging on my oven.  Until one of the toddling grands walks by and pulls it off :)

New chicken recipe - Pinterest #2 for 2014

I cooked a new to us recipe from Pinterest tonight,  Grilled Chicken Tenders, Without the Grill.

It's a simple recipe- just chicken with 1 cup of Italian dressing and a little honey and lime juice. 
As the first blogger describes, it really looks like a mess when it starts cooking but as it cooks, the liquid cooks off and the flavor goes in the chicken. 
My chicken did not get as dark as the first blogger's photos but we liked it a lot and will cook it again. 

Cricut Challenge #1 for 2014

One of my goals for 2014 is to do at least one Cricut challenge each month.  Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog hosts a challenge every week but realistically, I probably can't do it every week.

I had fun with this weeks which was to use a sentiment on a project. I dressed up my homekeeping notebook and used a new cartridge called The Country Life. 

The paper is from Anna Griffin, a multisheet package bought years ago. 

 I think the little pennants with cut outs are so sweet. 

Thank you FCCB for hosting the challenges.  I've had my Cricut machine for several years but have used it very little.  I am hoping 2014 will be the year that I Cricut more and maybe move from beginner to intermediate. 

 

All of the cuts were made with The Country Life cartridge except for the framed to-do list, I used From My Kitchen for it. 

 

linking up with Inspire Me Monday at Create With Joy

a temporary fix that is almost 5 years old and still looking good

http://ahomewithasmile.blogspot.com/2009/08/monday-to-do-list-quick-fix.html

Almost 5 years ago, I was cleaning the hall bathroom and noticed the white shower curtain bar was not too white anymore. It was chipped and had rust spots it.  I wanted to get a new one but chose to just refresh that old one with some spray paint until I could go shopping, 

Surprisingly, that quick paint job is still holding up and matches my new toile shower curtain just fine. 

In the bottom picture, the curtain has been ironed and the black ties added to each ring.

My advice - if you get a new shower curtain, iron it before you attach it to the shower liner with 12 rings and ribbon ties, just saying! 

I take most all my photos with an iPad and the lighting makes the colors look different. The curtain is black and cream toile, the wall paint is pale yellow. 

Crazy people frugal doings

First, I do not think taking way too many condiment packages is the right thing to do.

And I did not take these. 

My son treated us all to Olive Garden take out over Thanksgiving. He said the server that sacked up his  order was especially enthusiastic and added handfuls of grated cheese packets to his sacks even though he did NOT ask for them,   The Olive Garden Take Out

I guess a few us used some of the cheese when we ate that time. But the rest of the packets ended up in my pantry. I found them this week and decided I should do something with it, 

I got out a pint jar, funnel and scissors. Then I opened and shock them all out. 

I ended up with about a cup of grated Romano that I will use in future recipes. 

I am not advising to take extras, but if you do end up with extra packets, use them, 

Plans and Goals for 2014

My plans and goals for 2014, in no particular order at all though I did try to group them by topics

Keep records in homekeeping notebook and put a copy of my goals in the front of it  to remind me

Menu plan a week ahead and try at least 2 new recipes each month. I've already tried 1, Lena's soup

Sew at least 6 quilts with stuff in the craft room- I will need to buy batting and am wondering if I should buy a giant roll or would it be nuisance to work with and store.  Any advice from anyone who has ever bought a whole roll of batting? 

Quilt # 1 in progress in photo at bottom

Cricut- follow the challenge blog and do at least one challenge a month

Pinterest,  like Tammy plans to, DO at least one Pin every week, especially when I find pins that the grands would like to do,  get the stuff ready before they get here. 

As in 2014, clean out every drawer, cabinet and closet in this house at least once.  Less is More :) 

Make some  gifts.  look on Pinterest of course!

Health wise- eat more fruit, aim for 2 fresh fruits a day, I buy lots of fruit and serve it to my husband and grands but I don't eat as much of it as I should

Walk at least 5 out of 7 days -aim for 10000 steps

Bible study every day - I mostly read and do 2 or 3 devotion series on the YouVersion Bible App. 

Swagbucks everyday -make goal #1 everyday and shoot for goal #2 on days when Swags has many quick earners.

take time every week to watch one old movie or TV show 1962 or older - just because I like them. 

Make baked treats for husband's work once a month

Now that we have a gas stove,  get out the cast iron skillets and try cooking with them. 

blog 15 times a month

Financial goals-

I have 3 very specific goals but decided to not list them here. I have them in my notebook but for privacy and because we all have different incomes and expenses, I just don't feel confortable listing them,  

Stay with our budget and there should be more than enough to accomplish these goals and increase our savings.

There are several financial choices we have made that lower our costs for watching TV without a cable bill, low cost cell phones, easy way to buy gasoline and keep track of that expense and using the envelope system of groceries and personal spending  I will be sharing these in future January posts. 

I thought this might be a 14 in 2014 list but it ended up a bit longer.  
and No,  I probably wont accomplish all of them but I like lists and plans and having ideas in written form helps keep me on track.  

Hopefully I will get lots done. 

Do you make goals or do you call them resolutions or do you just wing it?

2014 Pinterest #1 done!

Paper towel tubes, cut to different lengths, taped to the freezer.

Braeden says it is fun. 

You can't go wrong with pop poms and little bugs. 

51 more to go........

Another good soup with thanks to Lena

Lena writes a really sweet, frugal and helpful blog called On My Side Of The World. She posted this soup recipe recently and I made it yesterday. I had thought we would just have the last of the smoked turkey soil but when I checked, there was only one serving left.

I remembered this soup and it was perfect since I had not thawed any meat for supper.
I like meatless meals best but the rest of my family think meals usually need meat so my husband had the last of the turkey soup and I had this yummy and easy soup.

Cabbage and Bean Soup

I made it just like Lena's recipe except I substituted a pinch of sage and Rosemary for the marjoram and I had to leave out the white beans as we had neither cooked or canned white beans or marjoram.  Next time,  I will add the beans. 

This is a really nice soup, light and made with basic kitchen ingredients. 

 

chicken broth, carrots, onions, potatoes, cabbage, a little butter, some spices and beans

 

I will be making this soup again! 

Thank you Lena. 

Happy New Year and a new home record keeping notebook

Isn't he silly? I got him from  a thrift store years ago.

My kids think he is creepy, my grandson said he is an elf, but whatever he is, he makes me smile. 

This last year may of been my most fly-by-the-seat-of-my pants, unorganized year ever. I prefer to plan things ahead and have time to think about choices and decisions. So I am really hoping that 2014 will be smoother. 

I tend to write lots of lists on spiral notebooks and then they get messy or switched around, with no real plan, just what I write in them.  I've seen on several blogs about homekeeping notebooks and decided I need to do one of those. 

I shopped online and at one store, seeing if I could buy a readymade one, but none of the ones I looked at had just the things in them that I need to plan and keep track of. 

So, I made my own!  First I bought a notebook and a package of 8 dividers, but when I was looking for my page protectors at home, I found an old notebook that would work fine. I returned the first notebook for a refund. 

 Not sure I like this cover but it is what I used in 2008, the last time I had a home keeping notebook.

Mine has 8 sections so far, mainly because my dividers came in a package of 8. 

The sections may change as the year goes on.

My notebook has 2 pockets on my sides, I knew it would need pockets. 

My 8 sections

1. bills, I used a printout from organizedhomelife.com called annual bill schedule, with a page protector behind it to hold the bills needing attention. Thankfully, we don't have stacks of bills every month and I pay most bills online so this section is not big. Some families will need a notebook dedicated just to their bills. 

2. birthdays   I used a printout from organizedChristmas.com and filled it in with family birthdays and anniversaries by the month. My father in law's birthday is in a few days so I noted beside his name what gift we sent. 

3. Holidays- this section will be to keep menu plans and any special things I hope to do. So far, it is just a page protector holding our 2013 Thanksgiving and Christmas menus. 

4. Kitchen- I put my freezer inventory here and used a printable at organizedhomelife.com for it. 

5. Home receipts- another page protector that will hold them and some lined paper to keep totals. 

I know this ticket is dated 2013 but it is part of my current spending period. 

6. Daily- I printed off 53 pages from TheConfidentMom.com, one for each week. I can write things for each day as well as plans for the week. It also has a spot for menus. 

7. Create- where I will plan and keep track of crafting and sewing projects,

8. Home- for projects and needs 

There are oodles of free and pay to print printables on the sites I mentioned and on many other sites. 

This system is what I think will work for me and it looks a lot tidier than my old spirals. 

I am also pleased that the only money spent on it was buying the new dividers, and the printer ink.  It is always nice when things come together in a frugal way.

What is your system for keeping up with these things?