One Pot Wonder: Cheesy Sausage and Pasta

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I’m excited to introduce this guest poster to you today!  She has a yummy recipe to share that’s perfect for those nights when you don’t want to wash a lot of pots and pans.

Hello!  I am Terri from Our Good Life blog and I am here as a guest host for our friend, Angela.  I am a retired elementary school principal and I know the value of a one pot meal!  My family is grown and gone, but my husband and I are busy retirees with a full schedule!  This meal was popular with my family and I hope you like it, too!

There is no better time saver than a one pot meal! It is a much healthier way to cook than to buy a boxed meal. One pot, skillet, or crockpot and you are ready to cook! It is a quick clean up as well, which is another way to cut down time away from your family. This quick meal uses whole wheat pasta, canned tomatoes, and turkey kielbasa to make this rich, delicious meal. Fresh veggies and yummy cheese make this a kid friendly meal. I know my family enjoys it!

One Pot Cheesy Sausage and Pasta

One Pot Cheesy Sausage and Pasta

by Terri Steffes

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients (4 servings)

  • 1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
  • 1 c vegetable broth
  • 1/2 c water
  • 6 oz whole wheat rigatoni
  • 8 oz turkey kielbasa, sliced
  • 1 medium onion, roughly chopped
  • 1 green or yellow pepper, roughly chopped
  • 1/2 t minced garlic
  • 1/2 t salt
  • 1/2 t pepper
  • 2 T Italian seasonings
  • 1/2 c shredded, low fat mozzarella cheese
  • 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated

Instructions

Pour tomatoes, broth and water into a dutch oven. Add in pasta, stir. Add sausage, onion, green pepper, and seasonings. Turn on high, bring to a boil. Stir, then turn to medium heat. Let cook 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Taste noodles, let cook until desired doneness. Turn to low, add cheeses and stir until melted. Scoop into individual servings and top with grated parmesan cheese.

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Variations: I have replaced the peppers with leftover broccoli with great success!  Any favorite type of pasta, rigatoni, shells or elbows will work in this recipe but you may have to adjust the cooking time depending on the noodle.   Happy cooking!

One Pot Wonder: Chicken Pasta Salad

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This refreshing pasta salad, can be ready in just 10 minutes! Welcome, my guest blogger Blake from Style-Island as she shares her spring recipe.

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I don’t know about you but many weeknights, especially once the weather gets warm…the idea of slaving over a hot kitchen is not appealing. When you still need to pull off an awesome and delicious dinner, one pot recipes come in handy.

As the weather warms up, it’s time to put away the soups, and take out the spring salads starting with this one pot chicken pasta salad. This dish is packed with protein, and perfect for spring!

italian-chicken-pasta-salad

1 bag bowtie pasta

Grilled chicken strips – 1 Pound

2 Cups grape tomatoes

2 cups baby spinach

1/4 cup ricotta salata

1/3 cup mozzarella – cut up into squares

Boil pasta 8-10 minutes. Mix everything together in pot. Add 3 tbsp olive oil and 3 garlic gloves. Stir occasionally. Serve warm or cold. 

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It’s One Pot Wonder Week!

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one pot wondersOooooooh, I’m so excited!  One Pot Wonders are deliciously easy meals that
require minimal clean up.  They often work well for outdoor cooking over an open fire with a skillet. (A flame is ok, no need to wait for coals.) And a lot of them can go in a freezer bag for make ahead prep, and dump and go cooking.

This is my preferred cooking method when I’m in a hurry, low on groceries, or tired of washing dishes. (And by preferred method, I mean using one pot on our indoor stove, not an open flame.) It’s perfect when the fridge is mostly bare, because you can combine bits of leftover things and turn it into one BIG dish.  If that sentence just grossed you out, try to hang on a little longer.  There are a few “rules” to make sure you get something delicious at the end.  Here’s what you need:

1.  Flavor theme:  Southwest, Italian, Oriental, BBQ….. For best results, stick to one flavor profile.

2. Protein:  Ground beef, Shredded chicken, Ground Turkey, Smoked Sausage, Breakfast Sausage; Italian Sausage; Eggs; Shrimp; Salmon…

3. Vegetables: Southwest: bell peppers; onions; corn; tomatoes. Italian: everything. Oriental: Everything, but especially baby corn; sugar snap peas; bamboo shoots; water chestnuts. BBQ: corn, carrots, onions, mushrooms; sweet potatoes; potatoes.

4. Starch: Pasta; Corn; Potatoes; Sweet Potatoes; Beans; Rice.

5.  Sauce or herbs; Cheese

I’ll be featuring recipes of tried and true one pot wonders the rest of this week.  I’m sure you can think of some you’ve had before:  Frittata; stir fry; fried rice; skillet lasagna; (hamburger helper….)

What’s your favorite one pot wonder?  Leave a comment and help us with ideas.

 

Freezer Bag Cooking: Lunch and Dinner

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Freezer Bag Recipes lunch and dinner

Yesterday I shared with you some really simple Freezer Bag Breakfast Recipes perfect for camping or just to make ahead for busy moments.  Today I’m going to give you my best Freezer Bag Lunch and Dinner recipes.  When meals are packed frozen in a cooler, you need less ice and they gradually thaw to be ready when needed. (My FAVORITE part of this series is how often I can use the word smoosh <3.)

 Dutch Oven

Dutch Oven Pizza

Crust: 1 2/3 cup water; 1 Tbs yeast; 1 Tbs olive oil; 2 Tbs Honey; 1 tsp salt; 4 cups flour.  Mix together, kneading right in the bag, then press out the air and freeze.

Sauce: 6 oz tomato paste; 1/4 cup water; 1 tsp sugar; 1 tsp garlic powder; 1 tsp onion powder; 2 tsp parsley flakes; 1 tsp basil; 1/4 tsp oregano; a few dashes of oregano.  Mix in a smaller baggie and freeze.  Snip the corner to easily spread onto the pizza crust.

Additional ingredients:  Shredded mozzarella cheese; browned ground beef, pepperoni;

This is enough for 2 pizzas. Spread the thawed crust in the bottom and up the sides a bit of your well seasoned dutch oven.  Top with sauce, cheese and desired toppings.  Top with a lid. Bake for 20-3o minutes with 7 briquettes under the oven and 21 on the lid.
Sloppy Joe

Sloppy Joes

2 lb Ground meat (I use a combination of turkey and beef.)

1 cup diced onion

1 cup diced bell pepper

2 cans, 8 oz tomato sauce

2 tsp chili powder

1 tsp garlic salt

2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

Brown the ground beef, peppers and onions together, drain.  Place the tomato sauce, chili powder, garlic salt and worcestershire in a freezer baggie.  Smoosh it around.  Add remaining ingredients and smoosh to mix evenly. Seal well and lay flat to freeze.  To prepare, squeeze thawed contents into a dutch oven or saucepan and heat through. Serve on buns or stuffed into pitas with slices of cheese.

 

goulashGoulash

l lb macaroni noodles (dry)

8 cups tomato juice

4 tsp sugar, xylitol or similar

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

2 tsp garlic powder

1 lb ground beef, browned and drained

1 cup chopped onion

1 cup chopped bell pepper

8 American cheeses slices

Brown ground beef with onion and bell pepper, drain.  Combine all but the cheese slices in a baggie (pasta should still be dry.)  Seal, and smoosh flat to freeze.   To prepare, pour contents of the bag into a casserole dish or dutch oven.  Top with cheese slices.  Bake at 350 for 45 minutes (For a Dutch oven: 7 hot coals on the bottom 21 coals on the lid) or until heated through and pasta is soft.

simple-spaghetti-008-400x266

Spaghetti

8 oz broken spaghetti noodles

4 cups tomato sauce

3 cups water

1 tsp basil flakes

2 tsp parsley flakes

1 tsp salt

dash of cayenne pepper (opt)

1 lb ground beef

1 cup onion

Brown and drain ground beef with onion.  Add all ingredients to a freezer bag (use the noodles dry.)  Smoosh flat and freeze.  To prepare, pour thawed contents of the bag into a pot, bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes or until pasta is tender and dish is thickened.

Fajitas

2 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast, sliced into strips.

1 green bell pepper

1 red bell pepper

1 yellow bell pepper

1 red onion

1 white onion

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup lime juice

1 1/2 Tbs Seasoned Salt (like Lowry’s)

1 1/2 Tbs oregano flakes

1 1/2 Tbs ground cumin

1 Tbs garlic powder

1 Tbs chili powder

1 Tbs paprika

1 tsp salt

In a large baggie combine the oil, lime juice and herbs and spices.  Smoosh all around.  Add the chicken and sliced vegetables.  Press flat and freeze.  To prepare, thaw the bag. Use tongs to lift the meat and vegetables out of the bag into a hot skillet, discard remaining marinate. Stir fry until meat is cooked through and vegetables are tender.  Serve with tortillas and salsa.  (Other toppings as desired: lettuce, cheese, chopped tomatoes, sour cream, guacamole….)

Fiesta Chicken Bowls

2 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
1/4 cup lime juice
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
1 lb corn kernels
1 tsp garlic powder
1 chopped red onion
1 can, 15 oz  black beans, drained and rinsed
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
Combine everything into a freezer bag and smoosh flat to freeze. To prepare, thaw bag.  Pour entire contents into a hot skillet and sauté until meat is cooked through.  Layer bowls with crushed tortilla chips and chopped lettuce.  Top with chicken mixture and serve with salsa, cheese, and ranch dressing.

Teriyaki chicken over Rice

2 lb boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into bite sized pieces

1 lb sugar snap peas

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup pineapple juice (I drain it from canned pineapple)

1 tsp fresh grated ginger

1 tsp garlic powder

Combine all ingredients into a freezer bag and smoosh to freeze.  Freeze 4-6 cups cooked brown rice in a separate bag.  To prepare, pour contents of the bag into a skillet and saute until chicken is cooked through. Heat rice, by simmering the bag in hot water for 2-3 minutes.  Serve Teriyaki chicken over rice.

Taco Soup

2 lb ground beef or turkey

1 cup chopped onion

1 lb corn kernels

2 cans, 15 oz each black beans, rinsed and drained

1 can rotel tomatoes, undrained

4 Tbs taco seasoning

Brown ground beef with onion, drain.  Combine everything in a freezer bag.  Smoosh flat to freeze.  To serve, pour contents of the bag into a stock pot or dutch oven. Add 1 cup of water. Heat through.  Serve with Frito style corn chips and cheese or sour cream.

Freezer Bag Cooking: Breakfast

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Freezer Bag Recipes Breakfast

Prepping food at home and freezing it in baggies takes up less space in the cooler for camping.  Things stay colder longer this way. (Here’s hoping they thaw out in time for cooking. I’ll let you know on that one.) Even if you aren’t planning a camping trip, these recipes can easily be cooked in a regular kitchen and make rushed mornings that much easier.

Today is just about breakfast.  Tomorrow we’ll talk about dinner and then desserts :).  All of these recipes are good feed our family of 8.

Quick tip: Be sure to label your bags with a sharpee.  A few weeks later pancake batter and frozen smoothie can look kind of similar.

Breakfast Recipes

protein pancakes 033

Pancakes

3 cups flour

1 Tbs sugar or stevia blend

1 Tbs baking powder (or 1 tsp baking soda plus 1/4 tsp cream of tartar.)

3 eggs

3 Tbs oil

3 cups milk

Blend all ingredients together and process for 1 minute.  Pour into a gallon freezer baggie and squeeze out the air.  Lay the bag flat smooshing all the batter into an even layer and place it on a cookie sheet or tray to freeze it flat.

To cook, thaw the batter.  Then snip off a lower corner of the bag and use it to pipe the batter into a hot skillet.  (I’m going to test this method on my protein pancake batter and let you know how it freezes.) If you don’t want to use a blender, you could also just dump the ingredients in the bag and smoosh it around. It won’t be as smooth, but it will be ok.

Hash Brown and Egg Casserole

1 lb frozen hash browns (Raw potatoes don’t freeze well, so if you want a homemade substitute, cube leftover baked potatoes. For a low carb substitute, try frozen cauliflower bits or diced radishes.)

1 lb bulk sausage, browned and drained

1 cup diced onion

1 cup diced bell pepper (I like the baby bell peppers because of the pretty colors.)

1 cup sliced mushrooms

1 cup shredded cheese

8 beaten eggs

1 cup plain yogurt or sour cream

2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp black pepper

Beat yogurt or sour cream and salt and pepper into eggs.  Pour into a gallon baggie and add remaining ingredients. smoosh around until well blended.  Seal well, removing all air. Lay flat and freeze on a tray to keep it flat. To bake, pour thawed casserole into a dutch oven.  Use this handy guide to decide how and where to place your coals: http://www.dutchovendude.com/campfire-cooking.shtml Bake at 350 for about an hour.  You’ll need around 24 hot briquetts, 6 underneath and 18 on the lid.

This casserole can be made without all vegetables (but why?!) To make it dairy free, 1/2 as much plain almond milk can be subbed for the yogurt and the cheese can be left out or replaced with Daiya cheese.  I’m slightly milk sensitive, but found Daiya cheese (cheddar variety) to be pretty gross and would rather just skip it.

Apple Muffins

¾ C milk

½ C applesauce (or oil)

1 egg

2 C flour

½ C sugar

3 t baking powder

1 t salt

½ t cinnamon

1 med apple, pared and chopped

Mix everything together in the gallon baggie, then freeze flat.  To bake, snip off a corner and pipe into a seasoned cast iron muffin tin OR fill hollowed out orange skin halves 2/3 full with batter. Wrap loosely with aluminum foil (to give room for rising batter.) Nestle down into the hot coals (right side up!) and bake for about 1o minutes.  Any muffin batter can be baked this way.  Imagine chocolate in an orange. (If you compare recipes, the difference between a muffin and a cupcake are minimal….)

Omelets

Use a quart sized freezer bag for each person.  Crack in 2 eggs then add whatever you like:  spinach, onions, peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes, ham, bacon, sausage, cheese etc.  Mush it all around, then freeze.  To cook, drop the bags in a large kettle (or dutch oven) of boiling water.  Boil for 8 minutes.  Only put in enough bags that can float freely (you don’t want them resting on the bottom of the pot.)

Smoothies

Blend up your favorite smoothie ingredients, then freeze flat in a freezer bag.  Thaw until slushy, cut off a corner and pipe into drinking glasses.

Portable Yogurt

Fill snack size baggies with a half cup of flavored yogurt.  Fold over and tape the zipper seal to the side and freeze firm. Snip off the end and push up to eat. Credit

Quick Oatmeal

This doesn’t need to be frozen, but goes in a baggie….so here you go.  Add 1/3 cup quick oats; 1 Tbs sweetener (brown sugar, coconut sugar, or xylitol etc….); 2 Tbs dried fruit; and 1/4 tsp of flavor (Cinnamon, nutmeg etc.)  Other flavor options: 1 Tbs chopped nuts; 1 Tbs mini chocolate chips;  1 Tbs peanut flour; 1 tsp flax meal; 1 tsp chia seeds; 1 Tbs cocoa powder; 1 Tbs dry milk; scraped vanilla bean.  To prepare, pour contents of the bag into a mug.  Add 2/3-3/4 cup of boiling water and let stand for 5 minutes.

Just for fun, let’s clear up some confusion about the different types of oatmeal.

1. Whole Oat Groats: look similar to wheat berries and are the hulled seeds of the oat plan. Since the seed is intact, there is no danger of oils going rancid. These take a long time to cook.

2. Steel cut oats: Whole oats that have been chopped into pieces for faster cooking.

3. Old-fashioned rolled oats: Whole oat Groats that have been rolled on a press. Oats can be thick rolled if the setting is changed on the roller.

3. Quick Oats: Rolled oats that have been chopped into smaller pieces for faster cooking. Nutritionally no different than Old-Fashioned roll oats.

4. Instant Oats: Quick oats that have been steamed and re-dried for faster cooking.  There is likely some nutrition loss in the heat process, but instant oat’s bad reputation mostly comes from the sugary additions in the prepackaged individual serving variety that make it so yummy.  By packaging up your own flavors you can control the quality of the ingredients and nutrition profile.

We are going camping!

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lit up tent

I’m terrified!  I have great memories of family camping as a child.  We went several times a year, almost always to Watkins Mill where they have a fabulous swimming lake and a gorgeous paved bike trail.  In the autumn, we would lie on lounge chairs after riding at least 10 miles, glistening with sweat.  If we were still enough, butterflies would come and land on us and lick up the salt from our skin. It was peaceful and renewing. At least for us kids. As I think back on things, Mom had to work pretty hard to give us such a relaxing time.

stock-footage-a-monarch-butterfly-sits-on-a-person-s-hand

I couldn’t wait to start a camping tradition with my own family!  I begged Darren to take us.  I did all the planning and packing, just like my mom did when I was growing up. Except things were different for us. I was 7 months pregnant with WD and it was the hottest day of the year. The first night, my 23 month old daughter cried all night long.  We helplessly comforted her while listening to our neighbor’s Harley revving into the wee hours of the morning.  The next day,  I begged Darren to take us home.  He said, “No.”

Watkins Woolen Mill State Park and State Historic Site, Lawson

We groggily continued with our plans to enjoy the area.  The swimming lake had been drained for repairs and the bike trail was torn up in the section that went over the dam.  Undaunted I strapped my  toddler daughter in the bike child seat and headed on the 5 mile trail around the lake.  When I got to the torn up dam I had two choices, go back the other way and ride 5 miles back to the start or carefully ride the rubble.  It was 104 degrees, I was exhausted—none of this had been fun so far.   I chose the rubble.   In my attempt to ride carefully, I fell way behind Darren who was pulling our older 2 children (aged 5 and 3 in a double bike trailer.)  He was completely out of ear shot when I fell off the dam, taking my pregnant self, bike and back seated baby with me.  Thank the Lord we had helmets!  They were dented but we were relatively safe.  I was bloody and Heather was crying pretty hard.  I put her back in the seat and walked the bike back to our campsite.  I left a trail of blood in the road.   When Darren saw me, I didn’t have to beg to go home.  We just went.

Watkins Mill Bike Trail

We tried camping again 5 years later. This time we went with friends who knew what they were doing and agreed to do the cooking if we would help with clean up and paying for food. I packed no supplies except a borrowed tent, a sleeping bag and a hand crank flashlight. (Yes, not even a pillow or a lawn chair.) The first night, I sat up all night sitting at the campground supplied picnic table, cranking my little flashlight with all my might and pointing it into the woods.   My arm got tired really fast, but I had to keep my babies safe from those loud, stick-popping sounds coming from the woods.  The best part of that trip was the FOOD!  Oh man, my friends knew how to fix a mean campfire meal.

With my frequently pregnancies, illnesses, and financial strains, we have only taken 2 family trips with all the children.  We would like to fix that now that life seems to be settling down for us. Camping is one way to afford a family trip, enjoy lots of together time and see the country.  So off we go!   Here’s what I’ve learned:

1. Prep work is the key to a successful trip.  Planning food in advance can help make the trip more relaxing for all.

2.  The right gear is important. Battery flashlights are better than hand crank ones in this situation :).  We will invest in a few small pieces of gear this time, but are borrowing some things to help keep the trip affordable.  If we go camping again, we will be able to buy a couple of things next time too.

It’s a short list, because I’m awful at camping :).  I’ve love to hear your tips in the comments.

Tomorrow I’m going to share some camping friendly recipes I’ve gathered.  If you aren’t planning a camping trip, don’t worry.  These are perfect at home freezer meals too!

How to Make Everyone Insane….

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Answer: Start a bunch of home improvement and don’t finish any of them….. In the midst of the insanity I can see life getting a little better bit by bit, so I keep doing it.

I reached a point where I couldn’t take it any more….the disorganization, dirt and 45 year old carpet with disintegrating pad.  I dove into a bunch of projects pretty much simultaneously. We don’t have much of a budget for each space so we’re doing some unorthodoxed things…like thumbtacking placemats over windows, painting sub floors, and cutting curtains in half so we can have 2.  In the past few weeks:

1.  Caleb’s room: Removed carpet and wallpaper. Painted walls and subfloor. New rug, new bedding, new curtains, new desk, lego organizational area. Still need: Lego desk, dust ruffle….and doors.  Doors would be really nice.

Calebs room before and after

2. Painted the Family Room French Doors white and started to white wash the fireplace. Bought supplies for a giant chalkboard.

family room 2015

family room fireplace

Plus that cabinet on the ground, to the right, with all the stuff on it belongs on top of the fridge.  We now have the screws in hand to take care of that. Happy Dance. The chalkboard will cover the end of the fireplace that the cabinet is leaning against. It has an unsightly seam on it that use to be hidden under a wall.  We discovered it when we opened up the floor plan and it’s been visible from the front door for 2+years.

3. Master Bedroom: Removed Carpet.  Painted subfloor. Deconstructed bed. “new” rug, sofa, curtains, light, lamps, mirrors, side table, plants…..Still needs pillows and artwork….later

Master Bedroom before and after

4.  Girl’s Bathroom: Removed wallpaper and popcorn ceiling.  Still needs Skimcoat, paint on walls and trim.  New faucet, new toilet. Tile around sink area.  Refinish tub and sink top so they will be white.  Shower curtain, window shade and bamboo blind. Towel hooks…..don’t make me go on.

Girl's bathroom mood board

5.  Entry: Took carpet off stairs (I did this before Christmas actually.) Still needs a coat of stain on treads and bannister and white paint on trim. Still need to paint walls…but parts of the room will need scaffolding…

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All of these jobs are on a gentle pause while I figure out how in the world to do the next steps.  When I get stuck in one space, I start on the next one.  It’s a bad habit.

In the meantime, I’m getting ready for our Spring Concert, taking the choir to World’s of Fun for a play day, and preparing graduation music.

Totally Unrelated News: I’m 1 contact away from earning a trip to ATLANTIS BAHAMAS with MomCeo.  If you are at all mildly curious about how I earn money with MomCeo, put in your info and let me give you a call.  I would be super sad to be this close and not qualify for the trip, plus I think it would really bless your family too.  Atlantis is the place Dave Ramsey took us when we were finalists with his Total Money Makeover Contest.  I can’t express how awesome it would be to go back as a successful small business owner.

Tips for a Low-Work/High-Profit Garage Sale

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Garage Sale Tips

Having a garage sale can be a lot of work, but it can also raise a lot of money.  Here’s how we do it to minimize our time spent and maximize our money earned.

1.  Have a staging area in your house, out of the way of daily life.  I have a small area in the unfinished portion of our basement where I can stack tubs to hold our stuff we are purging.  When someone outgrows a piece of clothing, or I find a toy we no longer play with, I put it in the tub to wait for garage sale day.  When I fill a tub, I put a fresh one on top and keep filling.  After each sale I return the empty tubs to the staging area and start again.  This has an extra benefit of time delay.  I can be ruthless with filling the tub and if I figure out I really did need that item after all, it’s still there.

Bonus tip: Keep a pen and price tags on top of the tubs and price things as you put them in the tub.  Then on garage sale day the hardest part is already done.

2.  Price Tags:  Have everyone label their price tag with 2 unique initials.  Then it’s easy to keep track of who earned what.  It’s better to price your items individually then to just expect people to ask what each item is.

3.  I like to print my tags on address label sheets.  3 tags fit on one lable, so it’s cheap and easy:

garage sale tags

I have pages with $1.00; $.50; $.25; $.10 and then a mixed sheet with $10, $5, $2, and $3 tags. For seldom used prices I use masking tape and a marker.

4.  Keeping Track:  Use a spiral notebook and make tabs with masking tape, giving each person their own set of pages–One page for each day the sale is open.  Label the tab with their 2 initial code so that you can turn right to that page easily.  In addition have a legal pad for adding up totals for your customers.

Example: A customer is buying several items all from different people.  On the scratch pad, write down the prices and the initials it belongs to, all in a list together.  Add up their total, take payment and give their change.  Then the customer can leave while you transfer the amounts to the individual pages according to the initials.  As you transfer an amount, cross it off your legal pad.  If there’s a long line of people, you can keep a tally on the legal pad and transfer the amounts to the individual pages during a lull.  As long as you cross of things as you go, you won’t lose track.

5. Signs: Make high Quality signs that you can use year after year.  The most important information is the word “Yard Sale or Garage Sale, or just SALE” and an arrow with the direction.  Addresses, dates, and times just clutter up the sign and are hard for drivers to read anyway.  You can make your sign waterproof with packing tape or contact paper.  Take down your sign after you close each evening.  This prevents vandalism and stops people from wasting their time driving to a sale that isn’t there.  It’s just better manners to take your signs down when you aren’t open.

Good sign: garage-sale-signs-new-bench-008

Bad Sign:

garage-sale-signs-new-bench-001

Bonus tip:  The metal framework from an expired political sign is a good starting piece for garage sale signs.

6.  Invite lots of friends to join you for your sale.  The more items you have, the more people will stop and shop.  But insist they price their items in advance and assign them their unique 2 initial code to put on their tags.

7.  How bad is your garage?  Start cleaning it a week in advance if it’s been awhile.  If you garage sale several times a year and just need a basic sweep out, you can do that 2 days before.

8.  The day before your sale, set up tables and hanging racks inside your garage.  Designate areas for clothing, toys, housewares, etc… and label them so other people bringing items know where to put them.

9.  Have a sign up sheet for helping to watch the sale.  That way 2 people are around at any one time, but no  one is stuck there all 4 days.

10.  I used to be strict about opening a sale on Wednesday, but April showers forced us to open Monday this time and it was wildly successful.  There’s no bad day of the week to have a garage sale if the weather is good ;).

11.  Post your sale everywhere with pictures: Craigslist, facebook, instagram.  Cross-post your high price items like strollers and furniture with their own ads.  Just be sure to delete the ads as things sell.  Kindly let people know that you won’t be holding items.  I didn’t do that and still have items for friends who requested them but didn’t come get them.  When the sale is over, I like to be cleaned out.  That’s the point of the process after all.

12.  Have a half price day.  A few years ago we started making our last day half price.  Guys!  It’s like mad dogs that day.  We make more money on our half price day than we do any other day of the sale.  It’s all going to be donated at the end of they day, so don’t get hung up on prices and what things are really worth. For things that are $.25 we just sell them 2 for $25 so we don’t have to worry about pennies.

13.  Have a counterfeit pen.  I’m sad I have to write this, but it’s just a fact of life these days. We got a counterfeit $20 at our last sale and didn’t catch it until later.  The paper didn’t feel right, but it was close enough to throw us at the time.  A counterfeiter can buy something small at a sale with a fake bill and then get good money back in change.  Likewise, be suspicious of someone paying a small amount with $100 bill. Counterfeiters are getting good enough that their bills might have the strip in them or be undetectable by a pen. The one we received wasn’t that great. I think seeing that pen come out will discourage a lot of the funny business.

14.  When it’s over have a plan for where the leftovers will go.  Some places have a truck and will come pick up the things.  We found some places had restrictions on home improvement items or size of furniture, so it’s good to ask.  And we also found it best to schedule the pickup in advance or you might be holding onto stuff for awhile.

P.S. 5 years ago I wrote a post on garage sales.  There’s still good stuff there.

P.P.S. This is an excellent value, but only available for a short time.

Garage Sale Season is Here!

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Why I have Garage Sales

We had a garage sale last week.  That on top of a public speaking gig and choir contest kept me offline most of the time.  I didn’t get rid of any big ticket items at our sale but still made $450 on bric-brac.

I talk to a lot of people who would rather just donate their stuff instead of going through the hassle a garage sale.  I don’t have a problem with that at all.  The thrift stores do a good work for charity and need good quality donations, and if you itemize for taxes you get a monetary benefit without all the work.  Here’s why I choose to do a garage sale anyway:

1.  It’s immediate cash.  We are gathering an envelope fund for our family vacation this summer, camping in Colorado.  We won’t see the tax benefit from a donation until next January which won’t help us take that trip.  We rarely take a vacation, so most of my garage sale proceeds go for home repairs/remodeling projects or to cover clothing needs for our big brood of kids that our regular budget can’t handle.

2.  I can sell things for a cheaper price at my garage sale than the thrift stores can.  I like giving families who need it a chance to get it cheap.  It saves their pride to be able to pay for things themselves verses taking a donation from a charity facility.

3.  I still donate to thrift stores.  When our yard sale is over, I take everything that’s left to a donation site so I get both the cash in hand and a tax benefit.

4.  I love talking to the people who come to shop.  I’ve met my neighbors in the new neighborhood this way, and even connected with some blog reading fans :).

5.  My garage gets clean twice a year.  We have a sale in April before it gets hot and in October after things have cooled down a bit.  I am motivated to organize and tidy my garage before each sale :).

My mom comes and helps me with all my sales, she’s the garage sale Diva! Plus I invited several friends to bring stuff which gave us a super huge sale that wasn’t all my stuff.  All combined our sale brought in nearly $2,000. Tomorrow, I’ll give you my tips for a low-work/high-profit garage sales.

P.S.  I recommend this.

Read These This Weekend

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Hi Friends, there are 3 blogs I want you to read.  These ladies are among my favorites and they all have a similar message:  We are perfect because Jesus completes us, but that doesn’t mean we’re flawless.  Those flaws can be beautiful, because they are real.

Don’t get me wrong this is not an “I’m ok, You’re ok” message.  It’s the “YOU have value, because God made YOU” message.  I’m all for improving ourselves and stomping out sin.  I’m against hiding or not trying something new because we don’t think we can do it good enough.  It’s good to remember that we’re all a lot alike: beautifully flawed.

1.  Home Decor:  Nesting Place Her motto is “It doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful” Nuff said.  Her imperfect is definitely beautiful. She’s the reason I took a risk in my master bedroom the last two weeks.

To turn this:

Master bedroom before

Into this:

Master Bedroom After

Even unfinished, it has gone from my yucky place to my favorite place.

2.  Makeup: Maskcara  This girl is the queen of highlighting and contouring.  If you have fat cheeks, she’ll tell you they’re beautifully youthful.  If you have hooded eyes, she’ll show you a picture of every super model with hooded eyes just to prove how gorgeous you are.  You can’t get past her without feeling like the most beautiful creature.  She can teach you how to do this:

lucy

And this:

10e98a58a2eef038d147545be5969ee8

All while almost convincing you that you’re too beautiful to wear makeup at all.

If you can’t see beauty in your naked face, you won’t feel beautiful with makeup on either.

3.  And Mothering:  Finding Joy  This girl will not make you feel inadequate for eating box macaroni, or buying your Valentines ready made at Dollar Tree.  She will love you where you are and remind you that you are the best Mother for your kids. They don’t want any other. No tutorials, no recipes, just encouragement.

love,

Angela