Swagbucks is turning 6!

By Angela on February 14, 2014

You’ve heard me talk about Swagbucks.com and how they can help you save money and earn gift cards. These gift cards paid for so many things over the years, so I’m happy to share a GREAT new way to earn get even more Swag Bucks — or even win a $600 gift card.

This year, Swagbucks turns 6, so they are giving away $600 PayPal gift cards to 10 lucky Swagbucks members — and one of them can be YOU. Here’s how: Sign up here for Swagbucks AND RSVP for their 6th Birthday Party. You’ll be assigned a team for the one-day Challenge on their 6th Birthday, Feb 25th. Now, for every 30 SB earned from the moment you RSVP through the end of Feb 23rd, you will get 1 entry into their birthday giveaway. Here’s the awesome part: ALL Swag Bucks, including ones from Swag Codes, count towards your giveaway entries.

Winners will be announced on the Swagbucks birthday, Feb 25th. Even if you don’t win the giveaway, they will hold a massive Birthday Team Challenge where all participants will get bonus SB, anywhere from 10 SB all the way to 500 SB for top earners. Make sure to click here to RSVP and learn more about the Birthday festivities and get ready to rake in the Swag Bucks and free gift cards!

Valentine Snack Mix

By Angela on February 11, 2014

We made Valentine Snack Mix this week, just because. The kids each have a basket to hold their personal snacks for adding to lunches and for grabbing on the way out the door. I thought these would be a festive and unusual addition to their baskets. Read more…

100 Years Old Today

By Angela on February 10, 2014

This week’s blog theme is “loving our children” (last week’s was “loving our husbands.”) I’m not an expert on children by any stretch, but I’ve noticed, children spell love T.I.M.E.

It was the hundredth day of kindergarten today and by miracles my work schedule allowed me to go. This is a huge treat for me, and even bigger for Brandon, my kindergartener. There are some amazing mom’s in his class that volunteer every week. My busy schedule means I just can’t be in his room as often. He lets me know he notices. He’s honest like that.

But today…today I was there. At least my 100 year old self was:

And as silly as I felt, it was worth it, to see how happy it made him, knowing that today we are the same age. (Which is probably just how God sees us.) It’s hard to tell in this photo, but we both have white hair (from an over application of dry shampoo) and white eyebrows from a white eyeliner pencil. We used the same white eyeliner to make his mustache and a gray eye pencil for the wrinkles. We found the glasses at Dollar Tree. The rest we just dug out of our closets. Some of the kid’s outfits were so amazing! Crocheted shawls, wigs, and tiny little canes. (I wish I had permission to show you!) It’s so funny how many details these little guys notice about adults.

We spent the morning in the cafeteria with the first grade. There were 13 stations for them to explore what 100 means. My station was threading 100 fruit loops on a necklace. It was surprisingly hard for these little ones. Only 2 students could finish in the 15 minute window. It totally cracked me up how often they asked me how many they had on their string. They’d slip on 5 and then say, am I done? We did a lot of counting. I told them 50 plus 50 is 100. They thought I said 15 plus 15 is 100. When I explained the difference, I thought they would faint. Little eyeballs rolled back deep into their sockets.

Some of the other stations:

Doing a strenuous exercise for 100 seconds (whew! that felt like a long time.) After which they got a snack of 1 wafer cookie and 2 oreos (which looks like 100.)

Using an ink pad to put 100 fingerprint spots on a dalmation

Making a paper chain with 100 links

Stacking 100 cups

Putting 10 stickers on each of 10 strips of paper and then sticking them to a crown band to make a hat.

Putting 10 groups of 10 objects on a placemat and then reading stories about 100 things.

Cutting out a 1 and 2 zeros from paper and then making it into a picture.

It was a great time with the kids staying active and well-behaved all morning. I was exhausted by the end and ready to go home for a nap. Those 100 year olds sure had a lot of energy.

Just for giggles, here’s a video of Brandon doing the old man shuffle when he was asked to hand out papers in the morning. Bwa ha ha.

25 Ways to Date your Mate

By Angela on February 6, 2014

My friends Stacy and Jenna have been joining me all week for a frugal date blog hop. And now it’s my turn.

The idea was for DH and I to take a super fun and creative date, photograph it and then post it here for inspiration. Bwa ha ha. We were able to sneak in one “leave the house date” in January. It was basketball tournament night, so we took all our kids to the basketball game, stayed long enough to cheer our son on to the end, and drop the little ones off at the babysitting exchange. From there we made our way to the church, where the college youth had a nice chili supper waiting. We enjoyed a meal with them and then gave a little class on financial stuff. (I don’t know about them, but I had a blast.) They changed direction after we left to a game night. We thought about staying for that….but we’re so old, we didn’t want to cramp their style. So, we drove around town wondering what on earth we should do for the next half hour before we had to officially pick up our kids.

Ice cream? Nope, I’m stuffed.

Window Shopping? It’s on the other side of town…

Home for some fun? Not enough time….

So we went to pick up our kids early and visited with the Mama for a while. We’re boring like that. But happy :).

That was a pretty exciting date night for us. Our date nights typically include a run to Chipotle, and then a trip to the hardware store, and home for a Netflix movie. Yawn. It’s pretty satisfying being dull.

If we had a super cool list of surprisingly cheap date nights then we’d have more of a chance a chance at being creative… Oh lookie here!

1. Swimming at an indoor pool

2. Blindfold date: Blindfold the non-driver then take them somewhere and have them guess the location. Suggested destinations: library; ice cream parlor; favorite shop at the mall; bowling; mini-golf; park…Remove the blindfold and have some fun at the first location, Then swap.

3. Have a progressive fast food dinner. Picking up a different item at each restaurant.

4. Play racquetball at the local YMCA.

5. Take a class together at continuing education services at the local High School. They typically offer ballroom dancing classes, art classes, cooking, and computer stuff too.

6. Go to an art museum (our big one is free.)

7. Give each person $10 and split up at the grocery store. Assign each person a vague list of items such as “meat” “dessert” “Side Dish” “bread” and let each person pick whatever they want. Go home and cook it up together.

8. Build a snow family to greet the kids when they come home.

9. Bake cookies together, then deliver them to widows and widowers from church.

10. Write down 10 of your favorite things about each other, then read them aloud: My favorite outfit you wear; Your cologne I like best; My favorite way you do your hair; My favorite thing to do together; My favorite memory; The thing I first noticed about you; The thing I miss most when you’re away; My favorite place we’ve been together; My favorite way you touch me; My favorite talent you have.

11. Write down 10 of your favorites and see if you can guess them about each other. Each item you guess right, gets rewarded with a kiss :). Favorite: Color; Food; Ice-cream flavor; Soda Flavor; Decor style; vacation spot; movie; song; book; car…

12. His/Her Spa night; bubble bath, candles, massage

13. Learn to Dance at home (via youtube)

14. Double date and have a game night

15. Formal night: Surprise him in your nicest gown then go someplace just for fun (Taco Bell, Frozen Yogurt, or the Mall Food Court)

16. Lift weights together, following up with protein smoothies and a muscle rub down

17. Plan your dream house or vacation

18. Talk about your 1, 5, and 10 year goals and make some plans to reach them.

19. Ice Skating

20. Watch your Wedding Video (via Imperfect Homeaker)

21. Browse an ethnic grocery store and try something new

22. Build something together from Ana-White.com

23. Write a bunch of post-it love notes to your kids and hide them in their stuff (inside their socks, school bag, bathrobe, book etc.) (While your at it, sneak some into your spouse’s stuff too–but don’t let him see you!)

24. Pass it on: Do a bunch of random acts of kindness around town. Leave a quarter in the cart at Aldi; shovel someone’s driveway; drop off baked goods on a neighbor’s porch, ring the bell and run; pay for someone’s order behind you in the drive thru; etc

25. Hot and Cold: Give each person $5 and tax and buy gifts from Dollar Tree. Go home and hide them around the house and play hot and cold until each spouse finds them.

The Way I Speak About Him…

By Angela on February 5, 2014

…will determine the way the rest of the world sees him. I know him better than anyone else. If I say unflattering things about my husband, his reputation will suffer. My girl-friends will lose their respect for him. My mother will hold a grudge as a protective reflex for me. I will eventually forgive him, but the rest of the world won’t.

If I speak only kindness about my husband, and give him the benefit of doubt, I will grow in admiration and respect for him. The world will see the person, who knows him best, holds him in highest regard. I will free him to be his best self. I will encourage the parts of him that are the most noble. I will see him in his best light.

How I speak, influences how I feel. How I feel influences how I act. How I speak and act, influences everyone around me.

We are opposites in many ways. I get frustrated, so does he. The things that frustrate me, belong in the conversations I have with my Lord, the only One who loves him more than I do. The only One with the perfect ability to forgive. The only one with the power of the Holy Spirit to mold him into the man he needs to be. The man he really wants to be. If I nag him, I will bring rise to his pride, his natural reflex to defend himself. This will interfere with what God is trying to do in his life. If I do my nagging on my knees, I give God the opportunity to change both of us in the process.

He is my companion,

My protector,

My Lover,

The father of my children, My provider,

My friend.

He deserves my highest regard, and distinction above all other persons. I purpose to guard my tongue.

*****************************************

I’ve dedicated this month to encouraging us to love our husbands and our children. Two other bloggers are joining me by giving an inspiration for a frugal date night. Yesterday, Stacy posted her scavenger hunt date.

Today, I want to introduce you to Jenna from Rain On a Tin Roof. Jenna is gifted with decorating on a budget while making it look fab. If you like classy family-friendly style, furniture rescues, and a smattering of humor tossed in, you’re going to love her blog. She is posting today about how to make a romantic haven for an at home date night.

Ground Rules for Babysitting Exchanges

By Angela on February 4, 2014

In yesterday’s post, I promised to introduce you to Stacy from Stacy Makes Cents.

Stacy is a young mother of 2, living in Virginia who is famous for her healthy crock pot recipes. She has published several books and is currently working on a new cook book with nothing but creative oatmeal recipes. They are living a debt free lifestyle and appeared on the Dave Ramsey show with their debt free scream in 2011. I love her blog because of her great sense of humor and it’s practical information. Here’s Stacy’s mission:

We aim to teach families to live on less than they make, live free from the bondage of debt, live well while eating well, and have fun while doing it – all for the glory of God.

Stacy has posted today about her creative Scavenger Hunt date with her husband, Barry. You can read all about it here.

Yesterday, we also talked about getting free babysitting for your date night by trading babysitting with another family (or forming a babysitting coop.) In order for this to go smoothly, the parents need to sit down ahead of time and set up some ground rules. It’s way easier to talk about these things before incidents happen then to find an awkward situation where you have to confront someone.

Here are my recommended rules/things to discuss:

a. The babysitting mother cooks for all the children on date night. Every mother needs a night off from the kitchen once in a while.

b. Decide on a starting and end time for the date and make it the same every time. Then stick to it.

c. Decide ahead of time what will happen if a child disobeys. What kind of discipline is acceptable? At what point should the babysitting family call and interrupt the date? How should you handle a picky eater? A fussy baby? A homesick child?

d. What is pick up procedure? If the date ends at the same time every time and the ending time is respected, make sure the children have their shoes on and things by the door, so the parents aren’t delayed longer than necessary to get them home and into bed.

How to Choose a Coop Family:

Not every family with children makes a good babysitting partner. I wouldn’t be able to trade with a mother who:

Was brutally honest (no tact) and obviously had a bias towards her own children. I know my children aren’t angels all the time, but I’ve been with families who had children who could do no wrong so any conflict was obviously my child’s fault. I definitely want to know if my child has been a problem, but there’s always a gentler way to say it.

Had no idea how to handle children. I don’t want her to call me for every little thing….just the emergencies. Like if an ambulance is on the way, or someone died.

Is a yeller/screamer. My children need it firm and consistent, but they will cry and stay awake all night if terrorized.

Also, it would frustrate me to agitation if I picked up my children from a date night, and they weren’t offered any dinner. (Totally different if they were served dinner and refused to eat it.)

Another bad match is a family with values so different from ours that I would worry about what my children would be exposed to. Unsupervised access to the internet or cable TV would be a problem for us.

It takes a special family to even consider trading with us. We have 6 kids, and that can be overwhelming if they aren’t used to it.

Prepare Your Children for The Trade

Tell them to use their manners * Say, “Yes Ma’am, yes Sir” * To not beg for food (or juice, or soda…) * To be content and never say the word “bored.” * To keep a stiff upper lip since Mama will be back at 9:00 * Help the younger ones * Clean up after yourself * Say, “I’m sorry.” * Keep your stuff by the door. * Don’t beg to play with special toys (the ones the owner REALLY cherishes.) * Don’t tattle unless someone is being bullied/about to be hurt. * Own up to your fault in a conflict. * Be quick to forgive. * Share, but don’t cause a scene if someone isn’t sharing with you (the stuff all belongs to them any way.) * Don’t bring anything that will make you sad if it gets lost or broken. * If they are watching something you know you aren’t allowed to watch, find something to do in another room. * If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all. * Eat what you are served * Remember you are mine * Have a good time :).

The Glue For the 2 of You

By Angela on February 3, 2014

Nope this isn’t a craft post. It’s about marriage. Some say the glue for a marriage is love, but I disagree. Romantic feelings come and go and sometimes you just don’t “feel” it. But that’s not a reason for a marriage to fail if it’s held together by commitment.

Marriages are breaking apart all around us and that’s enough to make DH and I hold on tight to each other and pray. We’re no strangers personally to conflict in marriage, some of it serious. It scares us when people we’ve been close to and love dearly suddenly split apart. No only do we grieve the death of their family, but it feels close. Like if we aren’t watchful and purposeful it could happen to us.

One drive home from school my youngest daughter asked me, “Who do you have your eye on next? You know, for when you get tired of Daddy?” As if it was inevitable that we would split one day and I would move on as she had seen so many other parents do. It was all I could do to keep the car on the road and I said, “Honey, that is one thing you will never have to worry about. Your Father and I promised before God and 400 witnesses to stay married until one of us died. That doesn’t mean that we will never disagree or always be happy with one another. That doesn’t mean that one or both of us won’t mess up badly. But we will never quit trying. Do you understand?” I drove with my peripheral vision as I looked at her in the eyes. “I give you my word, that I will never leave your Daddy.” A that moment, something inside her finally felt secure.

There are seminars, books and dvds on how to have a happy marriage. I’m pretty sure my dad has a copy of everything in his home library and uses them weekly as he works as a lay counselor. There’s lots of good things to read and watch and learn, but if you only do two things today, try these:

1. Honor your husband daily. Men need honor more than love. Gasp when you meet him at the door after work like he’s the best thing you’ve ever seen in your life. Think of things you value about him and tell him. If you know there is something you could do to please him, do it. Does he prefer long hair? Why cut it short? Does he have a preference for food? For s*x? Work it in. If you honor him, he will start to treat you even better. But don’t honor to get something in return. That ruins the effect. Just freely, sincerely, honor him.

2. Plan for a weekly or bimonthly date night. This could be as simple as a Netflix movie at home and some “cuddle” time. Or as elaborate as a theme date from the Dating Divas. If you have young children, you can put them to bed early and start a home date after they are asleep. Even better, find another family that you can trade babysitting with. We’ve been doing this for 5 years and works great as long as there are ground rules and each family respects them. (I’ll share my ground rules tomorrow :).)

Stacy from Stacymakescents.com

In honor of Valentine Season, I’ve partnered with 2 other bloggers to bring you some inspiration for some fun but frugal Date nights. Tuesday, I’ll introduce you to Stacy from Stacy Makes Cents.

Jenna from Rainonatinroof.com

And Wednesday you’ll meet Jenna from Rain on a Tin Roof.

Thursday and Friday, I’ll share my ideas for creative dating on the cheap.

Be sure to subscribe to Feedburner on the right to make sure you don’t miss a post.

Homemade Pizza Rolls

By Angela on January 29, 2014

We got the privilege of babysitting our cousins the other night. We used to trade every week but with remodeling/rearranging in both households it’s been awhile. To be honest both families have oldest daughters now who are old enough to babysit their own families. Trading babysitting really isn’t necessary, but we don’t say that out loud. The kids LOVE getting together and I like knowing they will have good memories of growing up with their extended family.

I promised the kids I would make pizza and then promptly forgot. Instead I boiled up two chicken carcasses in the crock pot and made homemade chicken noodle soup. Except I didn’t watch the time and the noodles got waaaay too soft. So not only was there no pizza, but the soup was gross. (I’ll take their word for it–I couldn’t even bring myself to taste it.)

I had Darren’s favorite junk food frozen pizza rolls in the freezer. He said we could use them. But I looked at the number of kids (10) and the number of rolls and knew there would never be enough. My first thought was to run to the store and grab more, but my budget couldn’t take that. Whatever I did was going to have to be from what I already had on hand.

My workspace this day was the top of our giant deep freezer. The freezer has it’s own little closet but it had to move out while we tiled the floor. The extra workspace in the kitchen was a blessing. (The water bottle looks like misplaced junk right here, but it was functioning as my rolling pin.)

Normally I make this crust with fresh ground whole wheat flour, but I’m not sure where I packed my wheat grinder. For now, we just used white. (The kids tolerate my whole wheat stuff but every one of them prefers white, sigh.)

I tried to deep fat fry these babies, but that was a disaster. They unrolled themselves in the hot oil and all the cheese sank to the bottom and melted. So we slapped them on the griddle instead. (Baking them in the oven would have been a lot better way to go. If I had an oven, I would have baked the logs and cut them into bites afterwards to keep all the goodies inside.)

They didn’t last long. Every child called these a win (and when they were the course after soggy noodle soup–how could they lose?)

Homemade Pizza Rolls

Ingredients

1 2/3 cup warm water
1 Tbs yeast
2 Tbs honey
1 Tbs olive oil
1 tsp salt
4 cups flour (unbleached or 100% whole hard white wheat)
1 cup marinara sauce
2 oz pepperoni, chopped
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Instructions

In a bread machine or electric mixer, combine the first 6 ingredients, making sure the salt doesn't come in direct contact with the yeast (use a little flour as a buffer.) Let rise for 1 hour (skip it if you are in a hurry, but the dough will roll out better if you let it relax for an hour.)
Divide dough into 2 balls. Roll each ball into a rectangle 1/4 inch thick. Cut into 3 strips. Stop with marinara, pepperoni and cheese (leaving a border on the edge of the dough plain so you can pinch it closed.) Roll up and pinch closed.
Placed on a baking sheet and bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, then cut into bite sized pieces.
Or cook on a 350 degree griddle for 5-7 minutes on each side until golden brown. (Be careful not to burn them.)

http://www.groceryshrink.com/homemade-pizza-rolls/

Did I tell You?

By Angela on January 28, 2014

That I set up a new way to get my blog posts via email? I used to use Benchmark as my blog delivery service, but the font was super small and the pictures didn’t email. I talked to tech support several times and their terse answers didn’t get me very far in making the emails more attractive. The Benchmark service is functioning, so you may still be getting those ugly emails. No need!

Now you can subscribe on the right for rss emails with full post text in a readable font and pictures! That way you never have to check and see if I’ve updated the blog, you’ll just get an email. (If you are still getting Benchmark emails, just hit unsubscribe at the bottom of the most recent email you have and sign up for the feedburner service.)

This is just a screen shot of the freebie form to the right.

The top sign up form, is for the freebies. You won’t get blog emails from that. But you will get a great coupon for my ebook set along with my debt free story and homemade cleaning recipes.

And a screen shot of the form that will get you the cool blog post emails. Look for it on the right.

The sign up form right under that is the one to get the blog post emails. While you’re at it, sign up for both ;).

The details: $400 January Food Budget

By Angela on January 26, 2014

I’ve been taking a little blog vacation. It gave me the reduced schedule I needed to start homeschooling my 4th grader. I was really nervous about that extra responsibility on top of our crazy house remodel, my teaching part time up at the school, and writing the menus for GSP. But we found our rhythm and Heather is super cooperative (until Friday when we are both just plain exhausted.)

It’s time to get back to blogging and I have a lot of stuff to show you. First up is how in the world did the 8 of us eat this month for $400? It’s getting harder, I tell you. Food prices are up.

We are a breath away from getting an oven which will help a ton. But the steps getting us closer to the oven have removed even the marginal functionality I had in the kitchen in the past. Basically I couldn’t even go in the room for a few days. In our other home I made up for a limited budget by baking and making nearly everything from scratch. That hasn’t been possible for us for the last 9 months. I keep telling myself to be grateful for a guilt-free break from the extra work. But I still feel the stress. The pull from both sides–needing to be frugal more than ever, but without the familiar ways that I made it work in the past.

The extra budget challenges this month: Weekly bake sales at school. My daughter is on the yearbook committee and was supposed to bring 4 dozen cookies every Thursday to school, bagged and ready to sell. They were selling the treats for $1 a bag to help reduce the cost of yearbooks for the middle school. The first week it was fun but after that I felt the drain on my grocery budget big time. Without an oven we were making chocolate no bakes, rice krispie treats; and peanut butter cheerio bars. Flour baked cookies are by far more affordable to make. It would have cost less for us to just pay for our yearbooks, but that wouldn’t have helped as many people I suppose.

The blessings this month: My mother-in-law showed up with a huge box of food from the food pantry in her tiny town. The residents there usually don’t take the fresh produce, preferring the pastries and boxed foods. So instead of throwing it all away, they sent me fresh lettuce, spinach, Halo Clementines, low carb pitas and flatbread, rotel tomatoes, pink lady apples, peanuts in the shell….and a few other things that we already ate so I can’t remember. The thing about food from a pantry like this, is it has been donated because it is close to the end of it’s shelf life. It needs to be used or frozen right away, or it will spoil within a day or two even in the fridge. The next week my mother-in-law brought fried chicken over for our lunch. That night my mother had us all over (in-laws too) for Heidi’s birthday dinner. We had enough chicken leftover to pack for lunches. My mom had us over another 3 times because I couldn’t get into my kitchen space.

One day this month, one of my former students came and spent the day helping Darren lay hardwood floor. It was an honor to have him here! While they were working, I didn’t have access to my fridge or dishes, or anything. So I used a gift card to offset buying sandwiches for the kids at Wendy’s, and then used my blow money to buy Subway sandwiches for the adults for lunch. It was an unusually warm day (it has been swinging between 50-60 degrees and 8 degrees (-11 windchill) here and we were blessed with a warm one this day.) So I bought deli pizzas and soda at Aldi and grilled them outside for dinner. Yum!

So we are down to the last week of the month, and I have $12.30 left. I plan to buy a loaf of bread and a gallon of milk and then use all my loose change to buy some fun stuff for a small party we’re having here on Friday.

And if you want to know exactly what I bought, when and where and for how much. It’s below.