November 2014

Weekly Reflections For The Week Ahead, 11/30!

Hello again, savvy savers! I wanted to end my weekly posts by bring the week to a close with a post about the reflections on this past week.

The highs for the week:

Losing two pounds.
My chrysanthemums are being to bloom; I planted them last season in a candy corn color blocking pattern, and am psyched to see them this Autumn!
Trying to expand my family!
The ongoing re-purposing of two rooms in my home, and the beginning of my chalk painting adventures.
Continuing a daily devotional.
Saving $102.00 on online on on holiday purchased and in-store for my groceries; this allowed me to only spend $24.56 on groceries this week!
Being a co-host for the Merry Monday Linky Party!

My lows for the week:

Diet plateau!
Being stressed about getting my Grandmother’s gifts to her, on time, for her upcoming 70th Birthday!

Goals For The Coming Week:

Walk 1/2 mile daily.
Finish my Motivated Moms Planner Chores daily.
Read for 1 hour.
Rake for 1 hour daily, or until the mountains of leaves finish falling!
Have half of Thanksgiving prepped the night before, so I can watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, Woot!
Finish four upcycled projects to post to the blog.
Sleep eight hours a night.

Goal for the Season ahead:

I would love to find several new reader, blogger, or otherwise friends online. I live in a very small community, and often conversation dealing with topics outside of service, children, and the weather is at a premium. I would love to met others, from various walks of life, that wish to discuss, post, and grow in sisterhood, online. If anyone is looking for a new friend, I’m your gal!

What are your goals for the week, I’d love to hear them below in a comment!

Happy Sunday!

Gardening on A Budget: How To Winterize Flower Boxes With Pine Cones!

Hello again, savvy savers! For this weeks Gardening Update Post, I wanted to share one of the projects I have been up to this weekend, and that is winterizing my front window boxes!

As most gardeners know, mulching is one the most important ways to maintain healthy landscaped plants, lawns, and bed displays. In fact, one of the many reasons why homeowner’s associations insist on mulch or pine straw for that matter. Mulching has many benefits to your landscaping efforts, such as:

When applied correctly mulch has the following effects on plants and soils.
Mulches prevent loss of water from the soil by evaporation
Mulches reduce the growth of weds when the soil material itself is weed free, and applied directly enough to prevent weed germination or to smother existing weeds.
Mulches also help your lawn and landscaping not only in the spring and fall, but also during the summer time by keeping the soil cooler during the summer period.

This leads me to the topic of winterizing your beds, and particularly your window boxes this coming season. Why should homeowners winterize their boxes and beds? In the winter, mulches serve to insulate the soil, keeping beds and boxes it warmer, which helps in the preventing of winter frost damage; this process is necessary as during summer, winterizing maintenance helps to keep Spring mulches in tact longer, helps preserve the nutrients in soil, and will untimely keep you with healthier, longer living plants into fall.

For my front window boxes, I have found that a fun, inexpensive way to winterize, and mulch these areas, is with pine cones.

To winterize your boxes, simply:

Start with window boxes, planters, and pots which have been cleared of all annual plants.
Have bulbs (if being planted) already sown into soil.
Next, remove the first layer of soil, about two inches removed and replaced with fresh potting mix, and well mixed into existing bedding materials.
At this point simple place pine cones three layers deep for winter; my 36″ wide boxes used 12 cones across and 3 cones high to create neat, inter-locking winterized mounds.
Pine cones should remain in the boxes for one two weeks past the last day of weather dipping below 40 degrees.
Pine cones can be removed, used for fire pits, chimineas, as fireplace starters, composted, or mulched into your lawn come the Spring as well!

This is an inexpensive, festive, and functional way to protect your window boxes, beds, and pots over winter, and I always receive complements from my neighbors whenever I do so!

I highly recommend this project!

Here’s to gardening,

Happy Thanksgiving!

So, can you all believe that Thanksgiving is tomorrow? Geez, this month has flown by, for me anyway! This will be my last post until until this weekend, although I have several deals posts waiting in the wings, which will be posted for you all! This year I am so thankful for all of the blessings this blog has brought into my life. From meeting amazing fellow bloggers, to being able to review subscription services and products, as well as being able to post about awesome, affordable ways to save money for families, like my own, I want to let each and every reader know, how amazing you all are!

I am so utterly thankful for you! This year will be a relatively quiet, at-home Thanksgiving for my husband and I, full of new found ways to smoke, bake, and grill turkey, as well taking time this year to appreciate the small things in our lives we hold so dear, one another. I will also be taking time to speak to my Grandmother, who turned the big 7-0 yesterday, and is still as feisty, able-bodied, and as jolly as she can be for this season of her life!

I will also be taking a break this year from Black Friday shopping, focusing more on Cyber Monday deals this year, to both celebrate more time at home, as well as in solidarity for those workers who increasingly, work a retail environment, on Thanksgiving, without overtime, complimentary meals, or the life. I will be keeping those workers, and their families, in my thoughts this year. While I know that many industries, including .com corporations, cellular providers, telecommunication companies, and public works employees will be working Thanksgiving, their working conditions are not nearly as hostile, forced, or as demoralizing in nature as the previously mentioned.

This time of year, I often think of the workers, in the retail industry who help to provide my family the deals, promotions, and savings we depend on daily. For those who will be schlepping out this Black Friday, please be safe, prepared, even-tempered, and thankful for the savings at your disposal! Please take a moment and wish your cashiers, store assistants, and managers a wonderful holidays season. For those eating out, tip well, including delivery drivers. Be kinder to postal and carrier drivers.And to anyone who has helped you this year, bless their lives with the pleasure of hearing seasons greetings, in a positive capacity from the public at large, like you!

Beyond all of this, I will be taking some time to enjoy my own quiet personal health victories, by stepping out onto my back patio, and watching my Japanese Maple sway in the breeze, which can be seen below!

What are you thankful for? Please share in the comments.

Happy Thanksgiving,

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DIY Organic, Natural Orange Cleaner!

Good morning, savvy savers! With so many people in the process of preparing their homes for holiday guests this week, and throughout the holiday season, I wanted to share with you my recipe for Homemade Orange Glass Cleaning Cleaner! With the outrageous cost of commercial glass cleaners, I created an organic, non-toxic, child and pet-safe all purpose cleaner which can be for under $5.00 for a years worth of cleaner! As the average cost of a bottle of store-bought orange cleaner is 3.89, and I use a bottle of spray a month, that’s a savings of $48.68 a year! Here’s how to make this!

Ingredients:

1 Clean, dried mason jar
The peels of 3 oranges
2 Cups Distilled, white vinegar
1 Empty Bottle
1 Funnel
1 Plastic Bowl
1 Sifter

Instructions:

Obtain a clean mason jar, and fill it with 16 ounces, 4 cups, of distilled white vinegar.
Place the peel of three oranges in the mason jar with the vinegar.
Secure the cap and ring on the mason jar.
Store the jar in a cool, dry place for 14 days.
On the 15th day, open the jar and strain the contents into a sifter, over a plastic bowl.
Return the solution to the mason jar with a funnel; label your jar as cleaning concentrate.
Open a spray bottle and add 1/4 cup of the solution, 2 ounces, to 5 cups water.
Seal the bottle and shake gently.
Use in conjunction with newspaper to clean most glass surfaces, including counters.

This is an awesome cleaner! I hope you will think so, too!

Enjoy the clean!

Greener Living Tips: 10 Ways To Reuse Pine Cones!

Hello again, savvy savers! For this weeks Greener Living Post, I wanted to share with you a short list of ways that one can re-use pine cones around your home and yard!

Consider making a wreath; a simple pine cone wreath can be a great way to decorate your home for the entire winter season.
Make scented pine cones! Soak pine cones in a mixture of two cups filtered water with 20 drops of essential cinnamon oil, left to dry for two days, can create a wonderful smelling cone, for a fraction of the price of most retail shops!
Help nature! Smear peanut butter on pine cones, sprinkle bird seed over the cones, and hang from trees in your yard as a treat for native non-migratory birds this winter!
Use dry pine cones as fire starters for fire pits, grills, chimineas, and the like!
Stack pine comes in a pyramid shape, to decorate flower boxes over the winter!
Indoor decorations! Consider using glass jars filled with pine cones, both in their natural state or themed painted, as simple, natural decorations in your home.
Ornaments! Re-use pine cones, spray painted and glittered, as inexpensive, natural holiday tree ornaments.
Vase filler. Use pine cones, hidden in decorative vases, as dried flower stabilizers.
Use pine cones in flower beds, spread as chunky mulch in beds with larger bushes and shrubs as a natural ground cover for the winter!
Hanging cones! Consider hanging pine cones, from ribbon or string, from chandeliers, for a natural winter themed project!

So, there’s a few ideas for re-using pine cones this season! If you have other ways you use pine cones in your home or garden, please leave me a comment below!

Here’s to greener living,

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Battle of the Bulge, Budget-Style: Thanksgiving Day Tips!

Hello again, savvy savers! For this weeks Battle of the Bulge, budget-Style, I wanted to share a few of the ways I plan to stick to my diet this Thanksgiving!

Whether you love or dread the Thanksgiving holiday, one thing for sure is: it’s hard to stick to your diet. A plate, or three, lovingly heaped with turkey, gravy, buttery mashed potatoes and all the trimmings can blow any progress you’ve made in the previous months.Before your grumpy cat face overtakes your entire mood, fear not for there are many things you can do to stick to your diet and still enjoy a Thanksgiving meal!

Here are some “turkey day” tips to get you through Thanksgiving as an Eater:

You know the old wives tale, to never to go food shopping on an empty stomach, right? The same applies to the holidays! Never sit down to a holiday meal on an empty stomach. Eat a high protein snack beforehand, such as a 1/2 cup of almonds and a piece of string cheese, or a small apple, and drink a full glass of water to alleviate overeating at the table.
If you’re invited over to someone’s home, bring along a tray of veggies, and low fat dip, so that you’ll have something healthy to snack on; low fat cream cheese and two teaspoons of Greek vinaigrette make an awesome option.
If you are a turkey day traditionalist, and feel Thanksgiving cannot go on if the substitution of any family favorites commences, foods,then commit to limiting how much you eat, plan to eat one plate and that’s it.
The Golden Rule: Portion control is key here. A serving of meat is about the size of a deck of cards; mashed potatoes (1/2 cup) about the size of 1/2 a baseball; use a spoon to measure out gravy instead of pouring it on, etc.
Commit to 20 minutes of exercise, even on Thanksgiving. Take a twenty minute walk with family members or friends in between courses. If the weather permits, play a game of touch football in the backyard. Just stay active!
Try to avoid empty calories. Stay clear of sugary sodas, punches, and mixed drinks or even better, water.

If You’re Doing the Cooking

Serve twice the number of non-starchy vegetables dishes as you will gravy, turkey, or calorie-laden dishes; think salads, crudites, butternut squash soup,etc.
Limit the amount of courses you serve this year. By limiting the number of dishes, you will stress less, and spend more time enjoying the holiday, food-free!
Make your mashed potatoes low fat by using skim or almond milk, think sour cream over butter. Also; consider making creamed cauliflower instead!
Instead of the array of desserts, pies,tarts, and the traditionally fair served every year, why not make an angel food cake and top it with berries and low fat whipped cream, or perhaps a low-fat, budget-friendly berry trifle instead.

I hope these tips help to keep you, and your waste, on the thin and narrow this Thanksgiving!

Love and best dishes,

Weekly Menu: Feeding A Family of Four, For Only $16.71!

Good morning, savvy savers! This weeks menu, consisting of Cupboard Clearing ideas, so stepping out to the market is not necessary! I will be eating several smaller meals in preparation for this weeks big day, Thanksgiving! As well, the subsequent days this week will consist of leftovers, which should also be noted on this weeks menu! Without further ado, here is my weekly menu, for which was derived from couponing deals, freebies, and cupboard cooking; I will be feeding a family of four this week for only $16.71!

This week we will be having:

Monday
Breakfast: Mini meatless mushroom frittatas, Fruit cups, and Juice.
Lunch: Turkey and Cheese roll-ups, with Humus dip, sweet potato chips, and Crystal Light.
Snack: Almonds, Grapes, and String Cheese.
Dinner: Crockpot Cola Chicken, Green Beans, Baked Potatoes, with Corn Muffins, and Crystal Light.
Dessert: Key Lime Cookies.

Tuesday
Breakfast: Cereal of Choice, Milk, and Apple Slices
Lunch: Freezer Cooking Chilli, crackers, carrot sticks, and Crystal Light.
Snack: Trail mix.
Dinner: Taco Tuesdays!
Dessert: Brownie Ice Cream Sundaes Sandwiches.

Wednesday
Breakfast: Yogurt with granola, and juice.
Lunch: Taco Salads, with juice.
Snack: Grapes and apple slices.
Dinner: Grilled Hamburgers, steamed corn, and crystal light.
Dessert: Homemade flurries, with leftover brownies.

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Enjoy the ideas!

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