Homemaking: Chaos

Are you adding chaos to your life because you won't say no?

This weekend there was a need that "suddenly" came up at the basketball tournament my daughter participated in. They needed help at the basketball game selling tickets, t-shirts and concessions. I say "suddenly" because it wasn't really surprising. The people who run the basketball tournament chose to let teams sign up for the tournament after the deadline had passed so they had to open up another school for the games.

Had I been asked a few weeks before the tournament if I would help, I would have. The day before the tournament, nope. A few years ago I would have said yes to the "emergency." If someone needs me to watch their child because they need to go to the hospital, of course I would help out - that's a true emergency. When someone else makes a choice, it doesn't mean that you have to make the same choice.

It may seem harsh, but I love this quote:

Lack of planning on your part, does NOT constitute an emergency on mine.

Money Saving Idea

Have you found a way to save a dollar today?

How on earth could a dollar a day make a difference?

$1.00 * 365 Days = $365 in the bank

You're not taxed on this money and if I don't have "saving money" on my brain, I seem to have "spending money" on my brain.

There are many ways to save a dollar. You'll often hear people tell you to stop buying the latte every day. I think each person needs to figure out what that looks like for them. In my  October 2009 "latte" post I wrote:

"What habits do I have that cost money to my family each day? Long showers, washing dishes using a lot more water than necessary, turning the heat up, leaving lights on - it all adds up."

Today I would add running the dryer too much and wasting food to that list. Have you saved a dollar today?

Recipe - Homemade Bread Tricks

Last week I decided that I needed to share my secret about making bread:

Find one you like and make it

over and over and over and over again.

I use my bread machine to make the dough and then I bake it in the oven. I taped the recipe to the front of the bread machine and make bread Monday and/or Thursday.

So last week onThursday I made bread. I dumped out the dough on the counter to shape it into a loaf and ummmmm....it was a complete runny disastrous mess. Which I thought was comical since I had just decided to share my secret.

After adding a ton more flour and flopping it into the pan I was sure that it was not going to work at all. Of course I actually needed the bread that night since my family was having sandwiches for dinner at the basketball game.

Thankfully it seemed to turn out fine and nobody complained about the flavor. Here's my real advice:

Just when you think you have THE secret figured out, you might mess up.

I'm fairly certain that I forgot to add the third cup of flour, but I really have no idea what happened. That's okay though, it all worked out in the end.

Here's the recipe that I use:

• 3/4 c water
• 1/4 c milk
• 1 egg (slightly beaten)
• 2T melted/softened butter
• 3 cups white flour
• 1 1/2 t yeast
• 1 t salt
• 2 T sugar (I use honey if I have it)
• Put ingredients into your bread machine according to your bread machine instructions.
• When done shape the bread and put into a greased bread pan to let rise. I cover my bread with saran wrap sprayed with oil. I've tried a damp towel and it stuck to the dough. Anybody have any tricks on this? I'd like to avoid saran wrap and spray oil.
• After about 30 minutes, I preheat the oven to 400. Right before I put the bread in, I turn the temp down to 350. I bake my bread for 25 minutes in a glass bread pan.

Notes: Usually I make this bread for sandwiches. If you want more of a sweet bread you'd have to add more sugar. I've tried making bread by hand and in my kitchen aid mixer...I much prefer the taste/texture of it in the bread machine. While I don't believe that anybody needs to eat grains, if you plan to eat them (or your family does), then homemade is best if you have the time to make it. If not, then make sure when you buy bread at the store that it will eventually mold.

This post has been linked to:
Grocery Cart Challenge
We are THAT Family

Healthy Eating

PLAN what you are going to eat  and drink today, then write it in a journal.

Do not eat any other food until you've

eaten what you wrote down.

How's your New Year's Resolution going?



Safeway Deals 3/23/11 & Farm Fresh Eggs

I saw a coupon at Safeway this week where you could get $5.00 off a $15.00 frozen food purchase. Perfect, I thought! I always see couponers get amazing deals so I was sure that I could find someone that posted about this deal.

Unfortunately after a long time (wayyyyyy tooooooo long)....I gave up my search. I had to figure it out myself. There were a lot of deals out there, but I wasn't interested in the processed foods, just vegies.

I did find $1.00 off Cascadian Farm products by searching the Internet (which I didn't use because they didn't have the vegies that I wanted).

You save 33% with this deal if you buy $15.00 worth of items. I spent $16 so I technically didn't save 33%, but you'll get the idea.

• Organic corn, broccoli, spinach and green beans normally $2.50 I paid $1.68 per pound
• 1 bag of cherries $4.00, I paid $2.68 for one pound (for smoothies)
• 2 cans of frozen juice (I make jelly with this) was $2.00, I paid $1.34 for two cans
• pesticide (LOL) grapes $2.28 - better than buying snacks at the basketball games this weekend
• farm fresh eggs $12.00 for 4 dozen eggs

When I received my Azure Standard order, I didn't receive broccoli or beans so this sale will come in handy. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to go back again or not.

Before I went I wrote down the costs of each price:

• $1.00 = $.67
• $1.50 = $1.00
• $2.00 = $1.34
• etc

The trick is buying $15.00 exactly. I thought I was a penny short and bought another juice just in case.

I planned on buying 6 bags of organic veggies at $2.50 * 6 = $15.00 minus the $5.00 coupon which would make them $1.68 each.

I think.

No wonder I don't like to do deals - makes me think way too much!

This post has been linked to:
Money Saving Mom

P.S. The coolest thing I heard today was this...I was working at the food pantry here and a lady said "no, I don't need those, please give them to someone more in need than myself." COOL!!!

Home making: Laundry

Please do not attempt this at home. This is a picture of a washing machine, but my hint is about the dryer.

I have to tell you that when I was a kid, I loved playing hide and seek with my loving sister. Word of advice: never hide in the dryer when loving sister isn't feeling loving.

When you dry a load of clothes, put a dry towel in with your wet clothes. You may save a bit of time and money. I think I got this tip from milehimama. I truly have no idea if it works. Our dryer is so bad though that I'll try anything to help save a few minutes of drying time. I only dry a few loads of clothes a week, but every bit o' money helps.

Recipes - Chocolate Concoction

 

My chocolate concoction (adjust amounts according to your tastes):

• Cocoa powder (1 spoonful)
• Melted butter (about 1 T)
• just a little raw honey (pasteurized honey just doesn't have the same flavor as raw) 
• Mix and enjoy! Sometimes I'll add unsweetened coconut flakes for a mounds candy bar flavor. Nuts are good too.  

I like dark chocolate, but I don't always like the ingredients in it. If I like the ingredients then I don't like the cost. If I like the cost and the ingredients, I really don't want to have it around. I'll eat it. ALL.DAY.LONG!

By the way, my husband and daughter hate this - if you like really sweet milk chocolate you probably won't like this! You could add a bit of cream to this if you wanted.

This recipe has been linked to:
Grocery Cart Challenge
11th Heaven Homemaking Haven

Goals: Tell Your Time

In February, I wrote a review of Tell Your Time by Amy Lynn Andrews. There is one thing that I failed to mention... the part in the ebook that I really don't like:

I actually have to DO something.

Nobody else can make the changes for me. Hmmmmm....not sure I like that.

On Sunday my husband went for a run up on trail not far from our house. Instead of sitting around the house, I decided the kids and I needed to go. We all ended up running for a bit and had a fabulous outing. I didn't feel like going, but I knew that we should go.



My 14 year old daughter.



My 11 year old son.




The VIEWS!!!

I just re-read part of the book while writing this post. Amy talks in her ebook about the roles you have in your life. One major role in my life is being a Mom. When I choose to do fun activities with my kids, we all act a little differently. We are in "play" mode instead of "I'm the parent, you're the child mode." Not sure if that make sense, but our relationship changes a bit when we're outdoors having fun.

My kids are a huge priority for me, but my actions don't always show that.

Again, I'd recommend buying her book AND re-reading it every month. Something I need to add to my calendar for sure!

This post has been linked to:
11th Heaven's Homemaking Haven
We are THAT Family

Azure Standard Order

My food budget is getting interesting. I wrote about how my food budget breaks down, but I am finding out that I'm wrong (thank goodness because it didn't actually work out on paper!) I don't always spend $20 a week at the store like I thought I would....it's almost as if I know I only have $20 to spend so I naturally spend less. That's why I LOVE using cash. We went to Sam's this weekend and I found that I don't spend as much there as I thought I would either - not sure I'm going to renew my membership in August, but I say that every year.

Last month I ordered from Azure Standard and I remembered how much I like ordering from them, therefore I placed a larger order this time. I think next month I'll be getting my beef again so I won't order as much since I'll fork out about $350 for a 1/4 of a beef.

I ordered more than I thought we would need and they didn't send everything that I ordered. Probably a good thing, but I was bummed that I didn't get any oranges. Not sure where I would have put 25 pounds of oranges considering I bought 15 pounds of apples ($.63/lb for organic apples!) They are absolutely delicious too!

• 1 lb flame raisins $2.00 (my friend orders 5 pounds and lets me have a pound - we don't eat dried fruit very often, but these are delicious!)
• 3 avocados $3.10: not sure that I'll buy these again
• 5 pounds Oat Groats $4.35: I bought steel cut oats a while ago and we still have some, but thought I'd try something new for a change for my husband. Right now they're soaking so we'll see how they go!
• 25 pounds rolled oats $17.65: I make granola, peanut butter oatmeal, and oatmeal for my family
• 15 pounds of apples $9.50
• 5 pounds peas $7.70
• 10 pounds strawberries: smoothies and jelly $17.10
• 2 pounds Blackberries $5.15: I'm hoping my daughter will like these in a smoothie since she doesn't care for bananas or strawberries.
• 5 lbs organic carrots $4.70
• Celtic Sea Salt $3.65: I must have ordered something different than I ordered last time - the chunks are huge! They taste awesome, but you can't sprinkle it on your food.
• Sucanat $5.30 for making homemade kefir
• 4 lbs butter $15.80
• 16 oz olive oil $8.80
• 5 lbs Basmati rice $7.55: see the link for why we eat white rice
• Cocoa powder, taco seasoning, tortilla chips, dishwashing gloves, laundry detergent, hand soap, and I'm sure I missed a few other things!
• Total $168.74 with freight cost - not sure how much is for food and how much is for supplies (I take $50 a month for supplies)

I ordered macadamia nuts, dates and goat cheese for my treats. This money comes out of my allowance. I spent $25 (yikes!!!) I really cannot handle having any kind of nuts around, I just can't seem to stop myself from eating a whole bunch of them. I planned to put them in my smoothie for a bit more protein, but once I started eating them I couldn't stop. It's best not to have them around. However, I've found that with the goat cheese I only want a little bit and it seems to satisfy my hunger. The dried dates are weird/different - not bad not good. They cause some insulin issues in people so I need to be careful of that.

This post has been linked to:
Grocery Cart Challenge
Money Saving Mom
Frugal Follies

Volunteering in the Classroom

If I had it to do over again....

Now that my kids are in Middle School, I'm no longer needed as a volunteer in their classroom.

In the past, volunteering in my kids' classrooms made a huge impact on all of us. Knowing what I know now, I would give up all of my other volunteer/social activities as long as I could be in the classroom. The relationship that you develop with the teacher is so incredibly important - especially if you have a child that struggles with academics.

At the end of my volunteer days, I was only in the classroom 45 minutes a week. I enjoyed the time with the kids, but more importantly I enjoyed getting to know my son's teacher as a person.

If at all possible, I recommend helping out in the classroom. You will have time to volunteer in other places after your kids are older.

Eat More Vegetables and Fruits

Sara over at MyFrugalFunLife.com mentioned that 100 Days of Real Food is having some mini "real food" pledges over the next few weeks.

This first week, the challenge was to eat 2 different fruits or vegetables. No problem, I thought to myself...then I continued to read....with every meal. YIKES!

I don't usually eat traditional foods for breakfast so it makes it a bit easier. Eating cereal with carrots and celery would be a bit strange. I've been doing pretty good so far, even though as I write this, I've only had 4 meals LOL.

So far my vegies/fruits have been:
Breakfast: smoothie with spinach and strawberries
Lunch: brussel sprouts and avocado
Dinner: salsa and avocado
Dessert: brussel sprouts (when I eat sweets I am absolutely starving later in the day...I don't normally eat brussel sprouts for a treat)

Breakfast: smoothie with spinach, strawberries and a 1/2 of a banana.

You can ignore the snickers bar ice cream that I had at a birthday party. I'm sure it's not relevant.

Anyone else doing the challenge?

Grocery Shopping: Timely Tip

Eight years ago, I was a professional volunteer, one child in preschool and one child home with me. In addition, I had a small very part time job and attended a Bible study. Yes, I was BUSY.

Grocery tip for those who are in a very busy season of life.

When you go to the grocery store, take all of your junk food/snack type items and put them on the belt first when you go through the checkout line. If you are doing self checkout, note the subtotal of those items. Otherwise, put a little doohickie divider thingie down and ask the clerk to give you a subtotal before adding the rest of your items to your total. This tip only takes a few extra minutes of your time.

Why should you do this?

It's important to realize where your food money is going. If the total of your groceries is $100 and you've spent $25 on junk food, you know where a significant amount of money is going.

Note that each family will have a different idea as far as what is considered junk. Today, I would consider anything that is processed, junk food (including pasta, granola bars, cereal, etc). Years ago I wouldn't have said that.

Being thrifty doesn't always take a lot of time.

P.S. Instead of buying junk food/snack food, how about fruit, vegetables or cheese? I rarely need to snack anymore since I stopped eating most grains and increased my protein and fats. This coming from the hypoglycemia girl who used to eat every two hours.

Do you have any tips that only take a few extra minutes?

Find other tips over at We are THAT Family.

Cold Cereal Alternative - Homemade Granola

(Updates are in italics)
I have reduced our grocery budget a LOT by serving food other than cold cereal at breakfast.

I FINALLY found a granola recipe I love! I think the recipes I was using always called for honey and I just didn't care for them. My family eats this mixed with yogurt or mixed with store bought cereal and milk.

Homemade Granola
Preheat oven to 375

In a bowl combine:

• 3 c. old fashioned oats
• 1 c. almonds (or any other kind of nut)
• 1/2 c. brown sugar (or more depending on how sweet you like your cereal - I increased the amount of brown sugar and stopped using maple syrup)
• 1/8 c. dry milk (I don't use dry milk at all anymore. There has been some debate about powdered dry milk containing oxidized cholesterol. I have no idea if it's true or not, but it sounds bad
• sprinkle cinnamon over the top and mix well

In a different bowl combine:

• 1/8 c. maple syrup (I don't use this anymore. I was using homemade maple flavored syrup and not the real thing.)
• 1/2 c melted butter (previously I used 1/8 cup oil with the maple syrup)
• 1/4 t. salt (decreased the amount of salt from 3/4 t. since I am using salted butter)
• 1 t. vanilla (I don't use this because I ran out of homemade)

Pour wet ingredients over dry and mix well. Now here is the cool part about baking them. I believe it was on moneysavingmom that I read you could make "lazy granola". Which is this:

Spread the granola out in a 9X13 pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Stir, turn the oven off, put the oats back in and let sit overnight. This was so much easier than the other recipe I was using and oh so good! 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

New Recipe without all of my babbling:

Homemade Granola

1. Preheat oven to 375
2. In a bowl combine:
• 3 c. old fashioned oats
• 1 c. almonds (or any other kind of nut)
• 1/3 - 1/2 c. brown sugar (depending on how sweet you like your cereal)
• sprinkle cinnamon over the top
• 1/4 t. salt
• mix well
3. Pour 1/2 c. - 2/3 c. melted butter over the top
4. Spread the granola out in a 9X13 pan.
5. Bake for 10 minutes.
6. Stir, turn the oven off, put the oats back in and let sit overnight. I have found that I have to stir it a few more times after I turn the oven off.

Check out other recipes at Grocery Cart Challenge and 11th Heaven's Homemaking Haven.

Home making: Clean House

The only way I've been able to keep a clean house is by following Flylady. Here are a few of the reasons why I love her system:

1. She tells me what to do in manageable increments (15 minutes at a time).
2. She helped me realize that I'm a perfectionist.
3. She doesn't allow whining. Compassion and understanding, Yes. Whining...NO.

My mom was a perfectionist. What I didn't realize for many years is that I am one too. My mom was a perfectionist that would stay up until 3:00AM to get something done right.

I am a perfectionist that won't start something unless I can do it perfectly.

Don't have 3 hours? Why bother trying to clean the bathtub. Don't have an hour? Then I'm not going to try to sort through the mess on my kitchen Island. 15 minutes couldn't possibly make a difference. I'm just going to sit down and do nothing.

I am a recovering perfectionist. Truly, I am. I still have negative thoughts about myself when I enter someones house that is much cleaner than mine. I am still trying to get over my perfectionism so my husband is free to invite someone over for dinner....especially spur of the moment (had a mini heart attack just writing that).

Years ago, before Flylady, if I was going to have anyone over I had to spend about 12 hours on my house. Not because it was totally cluttered and dirty, but I had certain expectations of how clean my house had to be.

All I wanted was to have a clean house.

Everything to be clean at the same time.

I couldn't manage that. I could manage to have a sparkling bathtub or a clean counter top or vacuumed carpets, but nothing was every done at the same time.


Fast forward about eleven years.

I have a clean house. Nope, far from perfect. In fact as I type this I have piles of "Clothe-A-Kid" stuff all over the place. However, the bathrooms are clean (enough), my floors are clean (enough), and my kitchen Island is clean (enough).

If you are having problems trying to keep a clean house, I'd strongly recommend that you read the book or check out her website.

Groceries - Food Budget and Grocery Store Purchases

Comparing your food budget to someone else's budget is not always a good idea. Carla had mentioned in a comment how expensive everything is where she is at.

Here was my response to her comment (you might need to read the whole post/comment section for it to make sense):

You hit the nail on the head - most people cannot compare their grocery budgets. They can compare their shopping strategies and see how they can save money. For example, the asparagus. Broccoli is only $1.00/lb vs. $2.00/lb for the asparagus. I believe I compared the nutrients of the two veggies before and found them comparable (haven't done that for a year so I can't remember for sure). I can choose the broccoli or choose the asparagus. After eating the asparagus I think I'll still choose it - YUMMY!!!

Last year when I got serious about lowering our food budget (again), I started reading Money Saving Mom and Grocery Cart Challenge. I could have easily given up on trying to save money. We don't get coupons here like Crystal does and the prices Gayle posts are amazing. However, by following their strategies, I was able to lower our food budget to $260.

Today my food budget is $400. This includes vitamins, but not shampoo. It includes breakfast and dinners for us. However sometimes we go out to eat and that comes from our entertainment money. If I were to pick something up instead of make dinner then whatever I bought would come out of our food money. My husband often times has free lunch at work, but sometimes I have to send something for him. My kids lunch would cost $10 a month if I sent lunch to school with them, but we're trying something new with them and those costs are not in my $400.  Any gardening costs don't come out of my food budget...since I spend WAY more than I could ever save that would be the first thing that would go if I were trying to save money.

It gets a bit complicated. If you were to compare your budget with mine, you would be comparing apples to oranges.

However, you can take the strategies that I use and see if they work for you and your family.

• Food Budget Goals or Priorities
• Kinda/Sorta Menu Planning
• Batch Cooking
• Pantry Principle
• Wants Vs Needs
• CASH
• Have a Plan

Do you find yourself comparing yourself to others? If so, trying looking at the person's strategy and see if you could implement that in your own life. If it doesn't work, that is okay too!

Grocery Shopping:

Not much shopping has been done this week. I'm planning on picking up 2 dozen eggs today.

• wine $4 - making some burgandy? steak or something for my husband's birthday. Not sure of a recipe yet - it'll be merlot though since they didn't have cheap burgandy
• bananas $1.07
• brown sugar $1.72
• ketchup $2.18
• Garlic $.49
• Total about $10 with tax

This post has been linked to:
Grocery Cart Challenge
Money Saving Mom

Being a Mother

This post about mothering over at Clover Lane is absolutely beautiful. 

Maybe you think you are "just a housewife" or "just an aunt" or "just a friend." I think all women are mothers - one who takes care of...

I know my teen daughter is a mother already.

Time to BE



Photo Credit

I have a challenge for you.

Sit for 5 minutes on the couch - no interruptions allowed. No t.v., computer, cell phone, book, etc. Just you and your couch (or chair or floor). Set the timer for 5 minutes and just "BE".

1. Be grateful for everything that you have.
2. Be aware of the roof over your head.
3. Be aware of the priorities and goals in your life.
4. Be kind to yourself - grab a notebook and doodle happy faces. Whatever it takes to clear your mind of everything you need to do.

Time to sit and simply "BE".

Note - this isn't the time to obsess about everything you still have to do. You are NOT being lazy if you do this...you are being intentional with your time.

Obviously if you have a baby, you have to work around their schedule. Older kids still home with you? They can have "kid alone time". It's good for them too. They can sit in their room for 5 minutes and look at a book, "read" a book to their stuffed animals, play legos, draw a picture, etc.

When my kids were home with me, I found that if I spent some time with them before I wanted some time alone they were much more cooperative. Telling them I would spend time with them afterwards didn't work very well.

Quite honestly, it's harder for me to do this now that my kids are gone. Do you have any idea how much you can accomplish without kids at home? I was completely exhausted the first year I was home alone all day. I did everything I used to do when they were home AND a million more things. When my kids were home with me, I "had" to stop to play with them. I "had" to go to the park. I "had" to slow down to teach them things.

Enjoy the time with your kiddos home, but take 5 minutes for yourself too.

While 5 minutes is a great start, I would try to increase that amount of time to at least 15 minutes. Let me know if you try it - I'd love to hear your stories.

If you are a Christ follower, Psalm 46:10 is a great verse to reflect on.

Taxes

Wooooo Hoooo! I'm done. I've filed my taxes. It's always such a great feeling to be done with it. Have you started yet?

Read my post about why it's important for you to do this yourself regardless if you use an accountant or not.

Flylady - Shiny Sink

So what do you think is the equivalent of Flylady's Shiny Sink concept for feeding our family healthy food on a budget?

Earlier I published a post that wasn't my typical "I want to help people post". It was more of a "helloooo, I'm cranky post." I know that if people are reading blogs they probably want help and don't want to read a ranty post.

So anyway, back to the topic at hand....

I remember what it was like spending a ton of money on groceries and never having any food to eat. I read book after book after book...so many that my brain was fried and I couldn't do anything! I was thinking about Flylady and how she tells you exactly what you need to do to keep your house clean. One step at a time, you just have to take the first step in faith.

The one thing I do that helps me feed my family on a budget?

Have a plan.

I don't know that there is one answer for all situations/personalities. In my case when I first started down the road of frugality, I went to the grocery store, walked up and down every aisle putting food in my cart that I thought we needed. I don't remember having a list. I just remember that I wanted food in our house to eat. By having food in our home, I was able to decrease our grocery spending a few hundred dollars. Today, I cringe at that idea, but it worked at the time.

Last year, I had the $75 grocery budget plan. Today, my plan is called the pantry principle.

What is the ONE thing that you do that helps you feed your family on a budget?

This frugal tip has been posted at Life as Mom.

Supermarket Savings and Shopping Trip

Saving Money at the Supermarket

Instant Gratification. We don't want to work for it. We want someone to do the work for us. We want to save money on groceries, but we don't want to spend any of our time to do it. We're too busy to spend time trying to save a few bucks - we have more important things to do. So and so's budget is only $75 per week - there's no way I can do that.

Stinkin' Thinkin' - as Flylady would say. By the way, I've said all of those things at one time or another!

You can see what is important to you

by how you spend your time.

It takes TIME to figure out how to save money at the store. If you aren't willing to invest the time, then no, you will not be able to save money at the store. I spend a significant amount of time figuring out the best way to feed my family.

People often ask me what I do all day long when I don't have kids at home with me. I spend a lot of time on food. I might be planning meals, shopping for food, ordering food, preparing food, etc. It's important to me - saving money and serving healthy food, therefore I spend a lot of time on it.

I can't save you money at the store. I can give you the tools you need, the information you need, but YOU HAVE TO take responsibility and DO IT!!!

Okay, rant over - now for the helpful part:

1. Find the time.
2. Write out your goals.
3. Break down your receipts to determine how much you are spending on wants vs needs.

Grocery Shopping

 

After I broke down the grocery budget, I realized that I wouldn't need to spend much every week at the grocery store. I take $20 cash to the store - it's true that $20 doesn't go very far at the store, but it works well for me since our "pantry" is full and I like the challenge!

We have oats, carrots and apples from my Azure Standard order and our freezer is full of fruits, veggies and meat so I don't have to worry about that. Basically I have about $13 for loss leaders/stuff that's on sale/items that we need.

This week bananas were $.39 per pound for "old" bananas. We'll eat a lot of them and then freeze the rest - they are great for smoothies.

• Bananas $4.00
• Oranges $.80
• Asparagus $2.11 (Yikes!!! Pretty sure this is a luxury item...I can definitely get those nutrients elsewhere.) 
• Half and Half for yogurt $1.35
• Buttermilk $1.29 trying a new recipe for the family called Oatmeal Muffins
• Whole milk $2.99 for yogurt and recipes
• 1 quart 1% milk for cereal/drinking $1.39 (I just realized that I used to buy 3 gallons a week - what a change!)
• Total with tax: $16

When I don't have very much money to spend, I naturally seem to get better about my spending. I don't want to buy "cheap" things, I want to get the most for my money by buying the best nutrients for my family.

Check out other blogs att:

Money Saving Mom

Grocery Cart Challenge

Vitamins

Even if you eat a balanced whole foods diet, you are probably deficient in Vitamin D. At least that is what some experts are saying. I can tell a huge difference when I take vitamin D. Unfortunately I ran out of them and haven't been able to take some for a few weeks. From about.com:

Research on vitamin D deficiency and depression, vitamin D deficiency and back pain and vitamin D deficiency and heart attacks all show that vitamin D has a larger role to play than just bone health. Vitamin D has been implicated in auto-immune disease too. Diseases like multiple sclerosis may be caused by vitamin D deficiency (according to some theories -– read more on Multiple Sclerosis and Vitamin D).


Vitamins are one thing that I do not buy locally as I am allergic to corn and soy. Unfortunately those two ingredients are prevalent in most vitamins you can buy here locally.

Enter my favorite place to buy them. IHERB.COM. If your order is over $40 then shipping is free. This time I received an additional 6% off as well. I can't remember if I normally do or not - doesn't really matter because it's the best place I've found to buy vitamins online.  Here are a few things I bought this last time:

• Vitamin D 
• Zinc (helps with acne issues)
• Sucanat (healthy sugar LOL - I believe that is an oxymoron. I think it's not as bad for you sugar. I use it when I make water kefir.)
• Enzymes (great for those who have abused their bodies by eating way too many grains and way too much sugar - read the product reviews. This has made a HUGE difference in what I can eat!) 
• Hair gel (technically I could get this locally at Wal-Mart and pay $8.00 - I usually make my own flax seed gel, but occasionally I get lazy. This is coming out of my own allowance money due to the laziness factor)
• Magnesium (my son was diagnosed as ADD - once he stopped drinking milk and added magnesium, he doesn't show the ADD symptoms anymore. I take them as well for many reasons)

Ideally we'd get everything we need from our diet. Unfortunately that doesn't happen around here! If you use the referral code EDE958, then you will get $5.00 off your first order and I'll get a commission as well. Not sure how much I get, don't really care if I get any money. Check around and see if you find better deals. If you do, be sure to let me know!!!

In your spare time, you can read more about it:
Reduce Cancer Risk
Vitamin D Council
Interesting Forum (check out cillakat)
Using Swagbucks - Vitamin D Deficiency Issues

** Note: I am NOT a doctor, nor do I play one on t.v. :-) consult your medical professional before taking vitamins. I'm a computer geek remember!!!

Ordering vitamins online WORKS FOR ME!

Check out other tips at We are THAT Family.

Controversies in Healthy Eating

I started another blog called Budget Healthy Eating. I don't plan to update this blog very often, but I wanted the information all in one place. The following post is a list some controversies that I've found regarding "how to eat healthy".

BudgetHealthyEating

So many opinions! I would love to hear any comments you have or if you have any other links to add. You can email me (jaebroeder at yahoo dot com) or leave a comment!