Makin' Money Mondays

Today's post is how to make money doing what you love. What is your special niche? I love teaching and exercising. I decided to use these two abilities to my advantage. I now teach at a local gym. I can teach as little or as much as I like. I make my own shedule. Daycare is provided, and I love this special "me" time.

You can do this too. I have a friend who loves to make crafts. She has rented a small space in a consignment mall. She makes the crafts and sells them. She is not getting rich, but she makes rent and has all her crafting supplies paid for through this enterprise. She makes great money during holiday months.

Your challenge today is to find what you love and let it work for you.

Food Storage - Preparing for the Worst

Food storage is a must if you believe what the news media is saying. Whether or not it is true, that is up to you to decide. I believe food storage is a must even in a good economy. Food storage basics consist of the following:

wheat
white wheat
flour
sugar
honey
yeast
noodles
dry milk
oatmeal
dried fruit
dried beans
salt
shortening

I also add the following for enhancement for these basic meals:
raisins
dried apples
unsweetened cocoa
meat (canned tuna or chicken would work)
cheese
brown sugar
potato pearls or instant potatoes

As I can I stockpile my freezer with foods we like and enjoy. I can always eat from my pantry. I incorporate these foods into our daily lives so if hard times did hit we would not know any difference. My kids eat oatmeal with raisins and brown sugar, I make our own homemade bread, and I incorporate rice, instant potatoes, or noodles into our dinner. I have even tried to incorporate "wheat" meat into our meal plans. I have found that we do not like it completely alone but mixed in with other meat we can not tell a difference. I also shop local sales for canned/frozen fruits and vegetables. I pay close attention to the food pyramid and make sure that my kids are getting nutrition from each of the areas. By being thoughtful in the area of nutrition, my kids are used to eating a variety of fruits and vegetables.

I would strongly encourage you to invest in food storage. We have relied on it in the past and have found it to be a lifesaver.

Super Saturdays

I'm sorry I have been so neglectful in my blog. This week I picked up more classes at the gym, and I have had sick kids. Even though these are good reasons to have slacked, I feel bad because I stated I would try to post everyday, and I haven't. I will do better.



Great news today! My oldest son was selected for the magnet school in our local school district. This will save us considerable dollars next year as we had as a backup plan a church-sponsored Kindergarden program. It would have cost us nearly $400.00 a month to send him there.



This may sound foreign to those of you with great school systems, but in the area I am in our local elementary school has had 2 assaults and one weapon at the school last year. The scores are barely a C-. When I say I live in a horrible school system, it is truly horrible. The people I work and associate with would never consider sending their children to the local school -even the local magnet school. The magnet school is extremely competitive, but the majority of children here go to private schools. I have had actually had two different people look at me and my three children and ask "How will you ever educate them?" They are not talking about college, but K-12. Amazing. Let me know your thoughts and about your local school system.

Thrifty Tuesdays

Today I will be cooking for my meal group trade on Sunday. The basics of this group involves preparing 7 to 8 meals (all the same) for a family of six adults. I will then on Sunday go to my neighbor's house and swap my meals for their meals.

There are many reasons why this is advantageous to all of us. It saves money. Since you are buying in bulk, the ingredients are cheaper. Another reason I love this group is because I do not have six adults in my house. We are a family of two adults, 2 preschoolers, and one infant. We will get at least two meals out of one with 2 days of leftovers for lunch. My overall food bill has dropped significantly using this group.

It is also a time saving device. Many times I have wanted to go out to eat because I am just too tired to cook. If I have not already thawed a meal out, I will simply put it in the oven at 375 for one hour, and it cooks as well as if I had thawed it out before. With young children this is a time saver.

Today I will be making Kid Friendly Chimichangas. I know that they are yummy because they are a meal group rerun. They involve the following ingredients:
1pd. hamburger
1 packet taco seasoning
1 15 oz. can refried beans
1 22 oz. mild salsa
16 oz. cheese

Simply wrap like you would a traditional burrito. Place them individually on a cookie sheet and flash freeze for 1 to 2 hours. Then take them out of the freezer and place in gallon Ziploc bag. When ready to eat, bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes or deep fry until golden brown.

If you want the basics of starting your meal group, head over to hubpages.com. I will be posting our rules for the group as well as tips for selecting just the right recipe on that site later today.

Makin' Money Mondays

One of the things that I do to save money is to secret shop. Many people will ask is it really worth it for the amount of money they pay versus the gas. I think so. I will group errands and secret shops in one area and then pick a day to do them. This is a way that I can justify the gas for the secret shop. If I pick up just a couple, it is a little money for fun shopping.

I am also choosy about which secret shops I will do. If it is labor intensive, it will not be worth my time for $6.00. If I am asked to click "yes" or "no", then it's okay for $6.00. My favorite one is for an oil change location. It will pay up to $32.00 for the oil change + $5.00 for my time. The oil change location is right around the block. The survey is also extremely easy to fill out. With three children, I can not spend too much time with long narratives decribing the decor of the bathrooms. Some of my best secret shopping websites are www.serviceevaluation.com and a-closer-look.com. Have fun shopping!

Best Recipe for Homemade Bread

One of the best ways to save money is by cooking from scratch. I do this by cooking my own homemade bread. Disclaimer - Before I found this recipe, my bread was horrible. YUCK! Luckily, I found a fool-proof recipe (in a children's book) that has worked for me. Here it is- try and see.

In a gallon-size Ziploc bag, combine the following:
1 1/2 c. whole-wheat flour
1 Tbsp. dry yeast
1 tsp. salt
Mix in the bag. Add the next ingredients
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil (I use olive oil.)
2 Tbsp. honey
1 c. hot water
1 c. unbleached flour
Knead in bag. I usually put it in my Kitchen-Aid with the kneading attachment.

Bake in oven at 350. This makes one loaf. I usually will do 2 loaves at the same time. This has work wonderfully for me; I hope it works for you.

** Forget to mention it needs to rise for 45 minutes in a bowl. Then put in loaf pan and let it rise for another 45 minutes, and then bake. Sorry for any mishaps.

Spending for Today

After carefully analyzing my budget last night, I realized that I sent too much money to the principal of my house. I thought I had more money than I had -- Oh,oh! This has left my grocery budget at $200.00 for the month for the five of us. Creativity will be a must!

I decided that I would buy the ingredients for my once a month cooking club (more info in later post) and the bare necessities. I opted for the following:

2 gallons of milk
brown sugar (for oatmeal)
baking soda
peanut butter
jelly
spaghetti sauce
eggs
bananas
mixed bag of fruit
bag of chips
2 jar of salsa
3 packs of 36 tortillas