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Shared Apr 14, 2012 comment

The Life-cycle of a Cardboard Box In The Frugal Household

Published: by Crystal Paine on April 14, 2012 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Guest post from Lucky of Making My Own Luck

This is the life-cycle of a cardboard box in our very frugal household!

Day 1:

The Amazon deals posts on Money Saving Mom have turned me into a fan of the Fisher Price Happy Days and Happy Nights diapers. I used to love Pampers but my baby’s chubby thighs fit in the Fisher Price diapers better. I order them through subscribe and save, and they come every month like clockwork in a great big box.

I’m working from home when I hear the delivery truck chugging up the hill and the telltale thud of the box on my door step. I lug the box into the house, take the diapers out of the box, and put the diapers away — leaving the box in the middle of the living room floor.

The baby plays on the floor while I work in the kitchen. I look up. Where’s the baby? Inside of the box, laughing happily.

Day 2:

My 3-year-old wakes up at the crack of dawn asking to paint something, play with play dough, go to the park, wash the car, and make a birthday cake all at once. I ask him if he would like to color on this nice box instead.

He claps and gets to it. The box has now been transformed from a low budget play pen to a race car. I enjoy my coffee while helping him draw racing stripes on the side.

Later, he asks me to ride in the car with him. While he’s pretending to strap me into my car seat, I crash through the back of his race car/cardboard box. He gets out his play tool box and spends a long time with his saw and a roll of tape playing auto mechanic. The race car is as good as new.

That night as I’m getting ready for bed, I see that the cat has decided to take over the box and is curled up in a big gray lump, and dreaming kitty dreams.

Day 3:

The kids have moved on to playing with canning rings and empty milk jugs. As usual, most of their actual toys go unused. It’s my turn to use the box and I stuff it with outgrown clothes for next spring’s consignment sale.

I challenge you to find me any “real toys” that could have this many uses!

Lucky is the mother of two young kids and a carb-intolerant kitty. Read about her adventures of balancing kids, work and life with making her own bread at Making My Own Luck.

Shared Apr 13, 2012 comment

4 Weeks to a More Organized Home: Assignment #10 Update

Published: by Crystal Paine on April 13, 2012 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

If you missed this morning’s assignment, you can find it here.

It was a pretty typical morning here: Bible, blogging, morning routine, running, radio interview, and homeschooling. I took a quick shower and then Kaitlynn and I headed out for a fun afternoon “date” together.

And then I came home and cleaned light fixtures and ceiling fans:

The kitchen

The dining room

The girls’ room {and the are we done yet look?!}

I couldn’t reach the living room ceiling fan… so Jesse and I devised a way to pull it off without a ladder. I got on his shoulders, he stood on a chair, and then I could reach it. Of course, I was freaking out that I was going to fall the whole time and he was having a grand time laughing at me. But I was mostly just being my crazy self and playing it up so he could get a kick out of me (though I really did think I was going to fall a few times!)

{By the way, I wouldn’t recommend trying this at home, but it produced a lot of laughter and provided a fun memory! :)}

Lookie who lost her second tooth today?!

And for my “assigned” 15-minutes of relaxation, Jesse and I are having an at-home movie date tonight once the children are in bed. I’m excited to set the to-do list aside and just kick back and enjoy a relaxing evening!

I hope you had a great day today! Thanks for joining me in all these projects this week. Be sure to come back on Monday morning for your next assignment!

How did you do on Assignment #10? I’d love to have you share your progress and success with us so we can be inspired. Either post a link to your blog post below or leave a comment with your update.

Shared Apr 13, 2012 comment

4 Ways to Creatively Meet Your Savings Goals

Published: by Crystal Paine on April 13, 2012 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Guest post from Katie of Along For The Journey

Do you have trouble saving money? I know, at times, I certainly do.

I set ambitious saving goals, only to have my ambition slowly dwindle down. However, I have learned that if you are determined to meet your savings goals, creativity can help you get there. Here are a few ideas to get you thinking:

1. Round up your purchases and save the change.

When you purchase something with a debit card, round up the purchase to the next dollar and transfer the extra change to your savings account. There are some banks that will automatically do this for you. If you use a cash system for purchases, then throw your change in a jar and let it add up.

2. Take surveys, read emails, and search the web.

I am currently saving all of my online earnings for Christmas. I have set a Christmas budget of $500 and a goal to earn that $500 online. By doing this, I will also be able to take advantage of great deals all year long.

Note from Crystal: Check out this list of Legitimate Survey Companies to Sign Up With, as well as my 15 Ways to Earn More Swagbucks series for more information on how you can earn money by taking surveys and searching the web.

3. Take on side jobs.

Find a way you can make some extra cash by doing something you already love doing. Here are a few ideas:

Babysitting
Dog Walking
Blogging
Have a yard sale
Sell stuff on Craigslist or Ebay

These, of course, are just generic ideas. We all have different talents and interests, recognize your talent and think about how you could utilize that talent to earn some extra money.

4. Automate your savings.

If at all possible, set up an electronic transfer from your paycheck or checking account to your savings account. It’s much easier to save money that you never see. Even if you can only afford to save $5 out of every paycheck, do it. Small amounts add up quite nicely over time!

Some of the things on this list may look insignificant, but it might surprise you how fast they add up. If you are having trouble saving money, remember to stay positive and think outside the box.

Katie is a mother of two beautiful girls. She currently works part-time as a bookkeeper and goes to college full-time pursuing an accounting degree. She enjoys blogging about personal finance at Along For The Journey.

photo source

Shared Apr 13, 2012 comment

4 Weeks to a More Organized Home: Assignment #10

Published: by Crystal Paine on April 13, 2012 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Can you believe we’ve been at this 4 Weeks to a More Organized Home Challenge for two weeks now? I’m so proud of all of you for the progress you’re making and the hard work you’re putting in to make your homes more of a haven.

Your posts and comments have been a huge inspiration to me! Keep them coming!

Day 10 Assignment

::Get dressed in something that makes you feel great {there’s something about dressing in clothes that make you feel great that just gives you more energy and zest for life! Get your free copy of SarahMae’s ebook, Frumps to Pumps, if you need more motivation in this.}

::Sit down with a cup of coffee or tea, refer to your list of weekly goals, and make a list of no more than 5-7 specific things you want to accomplish today.

::Complete your morning routine {if you don’t have a morning routine, take some time to create one today! Read my How to Develop a Routine That Works–And Stick With It series for step-by-step help.}

::Dust all ceiling fans and clean all light fixtures in your house. Check for burned out light bulbs and replace.

::Set the timer for at least 15 minutes and do something you really enjoy and that relaxes and rejuvenates you. If you need ideas, here are a few: read, write, call a friend, pray, exercise, bake, play with your children, laugh with your husband, stop by the bookstore and browse the book selection, work in the garden, or take a nap! Take some time to just stop and enjoy life today!

Note: If you work outside the home or have a really busy week with little time for extra projects, just do the bolded project above.

At 9 p.m. ET tonight, I’ll be posting my progress and pictures, along with a link-up for you to share your progress and pictures, too. Here’s to our productivity today!

Shared Apr 12, 2012 comment

4 Weeks to a More Organized Home: Assignment #9 Update

Published: by Crystal Paine on April 12, 2012 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Missed this morning’s assignment? Find it here.

Today was a bit different than our normal schedule because I had to finish up all of the handouts for the Cincinnati Conference so that I could get them into the printers by tonight so that they’d be ready in time. And in order to finish the handouts, I had to, you know, finish my four talks — or at least have a fairly good idea of what I was going to say so that it somewhat meshed with the handouts we’ll be passing out. 🙂

So after an abbreviated morning routine, homeschooling, and a quick shower, I spent a big block of time working on the handouts while my wonderful assistant helped and played with the children.

Joy and I finished them up just in time and Christy (Jesse’s fantastic assistant who has been helping me organize all of the details for the Cincinnati conference — I’d be so sunk without her!) took them into the printers.

{See? Those of you who think I’m superwoman can now breathe a sigh of relief. I’m so not superwoman; I just have a great team of people who work for me!}

Whew! So glad to have that project done — especially because these are talks I’m giving multiple times this year so now that we have most of the legwork done for them, the rest of the conferences shouldn’t require so much prep work ahead of time!

After all of that was finished, I spent some time with the children and tackled the bathrooms. Oh did they need help — especially the children’s bathtub.

I decided that all of the miscellaneous toys in the bathrub could go in the 7-things-to-get-rid-of pile for today. {By the way, in case you are wondering why we have so many of these stacking toys, they came free with some online deal awhile back. Silas has had fun playing with them at bathtime, but I think we probably don’t need to hang onto 20 different stacking cups for bathtime!}

Much better!

Jesse and I went out on a date tonight (woot!) and then I came home and the children and I worked on the light switches.

Silas really got into the cleaning the light switches business. He loved it!

And then he took his cleaning cloth and started cleaning the mirrors and the walls. We could hardly pull him away from his cleaning when it was bedtime!

While today was definitely different from a “normal” day (though I’m not exactly sure what “normal” looks like since every day is somewhat different around here!), it was a good day and I’m thankful for the many things that were accomplished.

And I’m very ready for bed!

How did you do on Assignment #9? I’d love to have you share your progress and success with us so we can be inspired. Either post a link to your blog post below or leave a comment with your update.

WANT TO SAVE $100 FAST?!Join the FREE 14-Day Savings Challenge!

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Shared Apr 12, 2012 comment

We Paid Cash: A New Roof

Published: by Crystal Paine on April 12, 2012 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

A testimony from Scott who blogs at In Due Sea$on

As followers of Dave Ramsey, my wife and I live, eat, and breathe avoiding debt. We have been following the Total Money Makeover plan for over four years, and always pay with money we have, versus money we plan to have.

Early in the program, with the threat of a possible job loss, we began to save as much cash as possible, for what Dave Ramsey referred to as the “rainy day fund”. With storm clouds looming, we temporarily halted our debt snowball and socked away as much money as we could for several months. After a job change and a more stable income, we were prepared to put that money back towards paying down our debt.

However, our 27-year-old roof saw to it that our savings would go elsewhere. We tried to hold off as long as possible on the repair. However, once it began to rain in our kitchen, we knew we couldn’t hold off anymore!

After pricing quality roofers in our area, we found a great contractor to do the job for $20,000. For the extensive amount of work we needed, that was actually a good price.

But we wanted better. It’s hard to part with your emergency fund money, even for an emergency.

So, when drawing up the contract, I broached the question, “What will you take for the job if we pay in cash?” A surprisingly quick “$17,000.” was the response. Still painful, but it was encouraging to realize we could have bought a decent used car with the money we saved by “going green”!

That expense set us back close to a year on our Total Money Makeover progress, but I can tell you that it’s a good feeling to pull into our driveway everyday and look at that roof, knowing that it’s paid in full. Had we financed the roof, it would probably have to be replaced again by the time we finished paying off the interest and payments!

Scott Kerzner blogs at In Due Sea$on, a site based on the life of a Dave Ramsey follower. He and his family just finished Baby Step 2 of the Dave Ramsey plan and have paid off $100,000 of debt… even after many setbacks along the way!

Have you saved up and paid cash for something — large or small? Submit your story for possible publication here.

Shared Apr 12, 2012 comment

Freebies in my mailbox

Published: by Crystal Paine on April 12, 2012 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Here are the freebies that showed up in my mailbox this past week:

Lipton Green Tea samples

Free bottle of CoffeeMate

Free Annie’s Homegrown product

Tide samples

Bigelow Tea

Gud lotion

Vitamin Code samples

Hyper FX sample

Comfort for Baby coupon booklet — includes a coupon for a free package of diapers and wipes!!

What freebies have arrived in your mailbox recently?

By the way, if you want to start getting great freebies in your mailbox, just start signing up for the freebies I post every day that interest you. Within 4-6 weeks, your mailbox will start filling up with great freebies!

Shared Apr 12, 2012 comment

Reader Testimonial: How Budgeting Has Changed Our Lives

Published: by Crystal Paine on April 12, 2012 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Guest post from Kaui of Thrifty Military Mommy

I grew up as a typical American who went to school but wasn’t taught basic budgeting skills. I can’t really blame my parents for this because they too were not taught how to budget by their parents.

“Go to school, get good grades, get a good job and you’ll be successful,” was the typical mentality. When I left the nest I found out pretty quickly that graduating from school and getting a good job did not make me successful.

Two Incomes Didn’t Solve Our Problems

When I got married, having two incomes didn’t help things out much. In fact, in many ways, things got even worse because there were two people who didn’t budget and spent their money on anything they wanted!

When we had our first baby we chose to go to one income so I could stay at home, which brought even more strain as we tried to figure out how to survive on one income. Everything changed when my husband got out of the Marine Corps and our daughter was one.

The School Of Hard Knocks

With no jobs and just a small amount of money coming in from my husband’s GI bill, we both kicked into survival mode, realizing that we had to get our finances in order now or we wouldn’t survive the year. We didn’t realize then that we’d be thanking God for allowing us to go through that temporary time of suffering, and if it weren’t for Him we would have self destructed for sure.

Thankfully, some friends of ours were excellent at budgeting so they taught us how to use the emergency budgeting technique since we had so little to work with. They also advised us to use the envelope system and only spend the cash that we had on hand until we could refill it the next month.

At the same time we were becoming familiar with MoneySavingMom.com and Dave Ramsey. Because of all the support we received online, the vast amount of education regarding budgeting, and the help of our friends, we were able to avoid more debt and live within our means.

Our Success Today

Now we are so much more successful with our finances than I ever could have imagined. I have come to love budgeting so much that I now have my own blog to help spread the word about finances and handling money properly. We have been blessed with another baby (boy), we own our own home, and we have more money left over in the bank at the end of every month than I thought we’d ever have… and it continues to grow!

We owe it all to budgeting!

Kaui is a proud army wife and mother to two very active children. She saves her sanity by blogging about the military, saving and making money, investments, and her own struggles and triumphs as a mom to two military brats at Thrifty Military Mommy. She is passionate about nurturing anyone else who has been through the same struggles she has and loves offering her advice and wisdom.

photo source

Shared Apr 12, 2012 comment

4 Weeks to a More Organized Home: Assignment #9

Published: by Crystal Paine on April 12, 2012 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Missed the first few days’ assignments? You can see all the posts in the 4 Weeks to a More Organized Home series here.

Day 9 Assignment

::Get dressed in something that makes you feel great {there’s something about dressing in clothes that make you feel great that just gives you more energy and zest for life! Get your free copy of SarahMae’s ebook, Frumps to Pumps, if you need more motivation in this.}

::Sit down with a cup of coffee or tea, refer to your list of weekly goals, and make a list of no more than 5-7 specific things you want to accomplish today.

::Complete your morning routine {if you don’t have a morning routine, take some time to create one today! Read my How to Develop a Routine That Works–And Stick With It series for step-by-step help.}

::Set the timer for 15 minutes and do a quick-clean of your bathroom. Need specific directions? Read this article on How to Clean Your Bathroom in 15 Minutes.

::Clean your light switch plates. You can use a damp rag with a little disinfectant on it or a cleaning wipe. If you have younger children, they’d probably enjoy joining you in tackling this project!

::Find 7 items to get rid of today. Throw them out, stick them in a donate or garage sale box, give them to a friend who can use them, or list them on Craigslist or eBay.

Note: If you work outside the home or have a really busy week with little time for extra projects, just do the bolded project above.

At 9 p.m. ET tonight, I’ll be posting my progress and pictures, along with a link-up for you to share your progress and pictures, too. Here’s to our productivity today!

Shared Apr 11, 2012 comment

20 Chore Ideas For 7-Year-Olds

Published: by Crystal Paine on April 11, 2012 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

So many of you have loved the lists of chore ideas for toddlers and chore ideas for four-year-olds, so I finally made up a list with some of the chores that Kathrynne, our 7 year old, does or has done.

Giving 7 Year Old Chores: Things To Consider

1. Children Need to Know What You Expect of Them

If you don’t show your children how to do a job well, you can’t expect them to know how to do it right.

Before asking them to do a chore on their own, work alongside them a few times showing them specifically how to do it.

2. Don’t Expect Them To Do It Well – Especially At First

It often takes a lot of repetitive teaching, gentle correcting, and practice before a child can do a job well. Don’t expect perfection – especially when they are young.

What matters is that they are putting forth effort and trying their best.

3. Praise 10 Times As Much As You Correct

It’s easy to want to focus on pointing out all the things a child does wrong and where they need to improve.

Instead of dwelling on what they didn’t do right, focus most of your energies on praising those things they did well. Encouragement and affirmation go a very long way!

The Importance of Chores For a 7 Year Old

Chores are a great learning tool for children — even young children.

They are often more competent than we give them credit for. It’s surprising what children can do when they are taught well and allowed space to make mistakes (because they will make mistakes!)

It’s often thought that children who do chores have higher self-esteem (especially if parents praise them for their efforts) and are more responsible (from being entrusted with more responsbilities).

The skills they learn doing basic household chores can eventually lead to success in school, work, and relationships.

Plus it’s just really nice to have a few extra sets of helping hands around the house!

20 Chores for 7 Year Olds

1. Pick Up Their Room — Make sure you show your child exactly what a clean room looks like. And if their room is really messy, I’d suggest working with them to clean it and giving them a few specific projects to work on at a time. Children at this age are often still learning the concept of staying on task, so you want to make sure you don’t overwhelm them by giving them too many tasks to accomplish at once.

2. Make Bed — 7-year-olds can usually do a pretty good job of making their beds, especially if they are not sleeping on the top bunk of a bunk bed (I still have trouble making the top bunk of a bunk bed!)

3. Vacuum – Kathrynne often helps by vacuuming two rooms in our house. Two rooms seem to be a great number for her age and ability — not too much to overwhelm her, but it’s still a big help to me. And if she vacuums two rooms each weekday, I don’t have to do much vacuuming myself! She also enjoys using the attachment on the vacuum to vacuum cracks and crevices.

4. Water Plants and Gardens — A milk jug watering can is perfect for 7-year-olds. Just the right size — and it makes watering the plants and gardens fun!

5. Sort, Start, Switch, Fold, and Put Away Laundry – I recently taught Kathrynne how to sort and start the laundry. She still needs a little help with figuring out whether some things qualify as lights, darks, or colors, but she can do most of the sorting and starting of the laundry herself. She also often helps to fold and put away her clothes.

6. Clip Coupons — Kathrynne does a great job of clipping coupons for me — and it saves me a lot of time, too! I pay her for the amount of coupons she clips for me so it’s a win-win for both of us.

7. Take Care of Pets — Kathrynne is in charge of most of the care for our bunny from feeding her and keeping her water fulled up, to cleaning out the cage and making sure there’s enough hay in it. Jesse helps her out, as needed, but she’s almost entirely responsible for Fawn. It’s been a great learning experience for her and a great opportunity for her to show maturity and responsibility.

8. Dust/Wipe Down Surfaces — 7-year-olds are great at cleaning baseboards, small floor areas, wiping down cupboards, or dusting surfaces. If you have a feather duster, they might have fun trying that out, too!

9. Wipe Down Sink/Toilet — Cleaning wipes work especially well for younger children to use. Or, you can spray some nontoxic cleaner onto a rag and let them wipe down the sink, toilet, bathtub, shower, or floor in the bathroom.

10. Empty Trashes — 7-year-olds can usually handle tying up the trash bag and hauling it out to the garage or back door — or even hoisting it into the dumpster.

11. Wipe Down Door Handles/Light Switches — Give your child a cleaning wipe or a damp rag and have them wipe down all the door handles. This is a favorite chore at our house!

12. Clear the Table – Teach your children to clear their plates after each meal (our children are still working on doing this without needing to be reminded!)

13. Rinse Dishes/Load Dishwasher –A 7-year-old is usually old enough to stand on a stool at the kitchen sink and rinse nonbreakable dishes (be sure to remove the knives and other sharp or dangerous objects before letting them do this). They can also help to load silverware, plastic cups, and other nonbreakable dishes into the dishwasher.

14. Dry/Put Away Dishes — Children can also help with drying dishes (if you handwash dishes) or putting dishes away from the dishwasher. We’ve found it seems easiest to start with silverware and then work up from there.

15. Simple Meal Prep — Kathrynne can pour her own cereal, make toast, crack and cook scrambled eggs (with my supervision), flip pancakes, make 3-ingredient recipes, pop popcorn, make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and do a number of other simple meal prep things. It’s a big help to have her take care of making breakfast, lunch, or snack, on occasion.

16. Set the Table — Teach your children how to set the table correctly from the time they are young–it’s a skill many adults still don’t know!

17. Sweep — 7-year-olds are usually capable of using a broom and dustpan. You may start your child out by having them just sweep up your dirt pile and then teach them how to use the broom to sweep the whole floor.

18. Mop — My dad got the girls child-sized mops for Christmas and they love them. Kathrynne can do a pretty decent job of mopping the kitchen floor by herself and she enjoys trying her hand at it!

19. Clean Out/Organize — Kathrynne has recently started helping me with cleaning out and organizing — especially when it comes to her things. I’ll assign her to go through a basket of books or a pile of toys or clothes and have her pick out those they are no longer using/wearing. While I sometimes have to help a little, she does a pretty good job.

20. Sorting — I’ll often have Kathrynne sort books, DVDs, or other items and get them in order by kind, size, etc.

Looking for other age-appropriate chore ideas? You might find these chore lists helpful:

OVER-SPENDING EVERY SINGLE MONTH?Grab these FREE Budgeting Sheets!

Click here to download!

Shared Apr 11, 2012 comment

4 Weeks to a More Organized Home: Assignment #8 Update

Published: by Crystal Paine on April 11, 2012 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

So today’s assignment was much easier than yesterday’s — and judging from the comments, it sounds like you all felt the same way!

I got a great night’s sleep (so thankful that we’ve not been up with a coughing child the last few nights — Vick’s with socks works wonders!), had an early morning radio interview, and then got going with my usual morning routine.

We had a great homeschooling day today and we finished Kathrynne’s history book for this year — yay! It’s always fun when the girls are excited about learning and beg if we can go ahead and do extra pages of some of their subjects.

The doorknobs took me all of five minutes to do. The girls have been doing them almost weekly, so they weren’t really dirty. But I did them anyway since I knew so many of you would be counting on me to actually follow through with the assignment and all. 🙂

My dresser didn’t take me too much time at all since I had just cleaned it out about four weeks ago. I did decide to get rid of an extra pair of glasses and a few other things I had kept the first time around.

(Zenni Optical lost my order the first time around so they sent a second pair. Then they found my order and sent it, too. So I ended up with a free pair of glasses that I’ve just hung onto for two years. I only wear them occasionally since I usually wear contacts. The frugal person in me has hung onto them thinking that my other pair might break, but the minimalist in me won over today!)

I also went through the girls’ shoes today and we weeded out a few extra pairs that they can no longer fit into. And when I was doing the laundry, I found that one of Silas’ shirts was hopelessly stained with something pink down the front (I have no idea what!) so I stuck that in today’s get-rid-of pile. And finally, I went ahead and got rid of a pair of adorable sunglasses that are now too small for Silas. So we ended up with nine things for our get-rid-of pile today.

How did you do on Assignment #8? I’d love to have you share your progress and success with us so we can be inspired. Either post a link to your blog post below or leave a comment with your update.

Shared Apr 11, 2012 comment

Reader Tip: Saving Money on Meat

Published: by Crystal Paine on April 11, 2012 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Carrie emailed in the following tip:

Recently, I bought two whole chickens for $0.98 per pound and was able to feed my family (three adults) four meals! I took three of the breasts off of the bone to use for a future meal. I used two thighs, two wings, four legs, and one breast to make fried chicken. I took two thighs and all of the meat/bones from the back and breast to freeze for a later use.

Here were the four meals I made from two whole chickens:

Meal 1 = Fried Chicken
Meal 2 = leftover fried chicken for lunch
Meal 3 = General Tso chicken with the three breasts
Meal 4 = Chicken and noodles using the thighs and all of the little bits of meat off of the bones

I also bought a whole ribeye the other day for $4.29/lb, and, with a little time and planning, we were able to eat several high-quality beef meals for a very low cost. We cut our ribeye into: 14 steaks, 1 lbs. of scraps for three steak sandwiches, and .75 lb. scraps for stir-fry

When I buy pork butts I will usually have the butcher cut off a three pork steaks for me and then I take rest of pork butt and braise it for more meals. You can braise pork and freeze it in small cooked portions with some of the broth for future meals like: Pork and rice, BBQ pork, and Chinese food. Depending on the size of the pork butt I can get anywhere from four or five meals!

I have been able to reduce the cost of the meals in my house by almost half with a little planning and work on my own part. -Carrie

Note from Crystal: If your family is willing to have less meat at each meal, Laura posted about how she stretched one chicken into six meals for her family!

photo source

Shared Apr 11, 2012 comment

Ask the Readers: Is it worth it to pay for an Amazon Prime membership?

Published: by Crystal Paine on April 11, 2012 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Today’s question is from Julie:

Is an Amazon Prime membership worth the cost?

I live in an extremely rural community and initially decided not to purchase it the membership after my one-year free trial expired. But, I now really miss the two-day free shipping (with no minimum purchase), along with some of the deals available with Subscribe & Save.

I know these aren’t comparable to some deals other readers find, but for someone living in a rural area, the deals are great (especially when you factor in the increasing cost of gas).

What do you think — is it worth the $6.58 a month to purchase an Amazon Prime membership? -Julie

Do you have a question you’d like to ask Money Saving Mom® readers? Read the submission guidelines and submit it here.

Shared Apr 11, 2012 comment

4 Weeks to a More Organized Home: Assignment #8

Published: by Crystal Paine on April 11, 2012 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Missed the first few days’ assignments? You can see all the posts in the 4 Weeks to a More Organized Home series here.

Day 8 Assignment

::Get dressed in something that makes you feel great {there’s something about dressing in clothes that make you feel great that just gives you more energy and zest for life! Get your free copy of SarahMae’s ebook, Frumps to Pumps, if you need more motivation in this.}

::Sit down with a cup of coffee or tea, refer to your list of weekly goals, and make a list of no more than 5-7 specific things you want to accomplish today.

::Complete your morning routine {if you don’t have a morning routine, take some time to create one today! Read my How to Develop a Routine That Works–And Stick With It series for step-by-step help.}

::Set the timer for 15 minutes and go through your dresser drawers. Remove items you no longer love, need, and/or wear. Quickly organize the remaining items.

::Wipe down all the door handles in your home. You can use a damp rag with a little disinfectant on it or a cleaning wipe. If you have younger children, they’d probably enjoy joining you in tackling this project!

::Find 7 items to get rid of today. Throw them out, stick them in a donate or garage sale box, give them to a friend who can use them, or list them on Craigslist or eBay.

Note: If you work outside the home or have a really busy week with little time for extra projects, just do the bolded project above.

At 9 p.m. EST tonight, I’ll be posting my progress and pictures, along with a link-up for you to share your progress and pictures, too. Here’s to our productivity today!

Shared Apr 10, 2012 comment

4 Weeks to a More Organized Home: Assignment #7 Update

Published: by Crystal Paine on April 10, 2012 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

If you missed today’s assignment, you can read it here.

We had a good day today. It was full and the children seemed to have an extra dose of energy, but we survived — and God gave me grace to not lose my patience, even though I was really tempted to a few times! 🙂

We’re loving reading Crossroads of Character at breakfast right now.

After homeschooling and chores, we headed to the park in the afternoon for a play date with friends. It was the perfect weather — not too hot, not too cold. I love spring!

I scrapped my original plans for dinner at the last minute and made a sort of hamburger, potato, and vegetable hash for dinner.

I also whipped up a loaf of Easy Whole Wheat Bread. It was very easy — and it turned out beautifully!

Before dinner, the girls helped me tackle the baseboards.

I discovered one thing in the process: I have a lot more baseboards than I realized I did! Whew!

Now I know why some of you were saying this was not an “easy” project. It definitely took more time than I was expecting! But we finally finished and it felt so good to know that all the baseboards in the whole house are clean.

Today’s 7+ things to get rid of: odds and ends I found around the house while cleaning the baseboards. I wondered if I was going to be able to keep finding 7 things to get rid of every day, but so far, it’s not been too much of a challenge, unfortunately! 🙁

How did you do on Assignment #7? I’d love to have you share your progress and success with us so we can be inspired. Either post a link to your blog post below or leave a comment with your update.

2hr Cleaning Checklist

2hr Cleaning Checklist

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Day 1:

Day 2:

Day 3:

1. Round up your purchases and save the change.

2. Take surveys, read emails, and search the web.

3. Take on side jobs.

4. Automate your savings.

Day 10 Assignment

WANT TO SAVE $100 FAST?!Join the FREE 14-Day Savings Challenge!

Two Incomes Didn’t Solve Our Problems

The School Of Hard Knocks

Our Success Today

Day 9 Assignment

Giving 7 Year Old Chores: Things To Consider

The Importance of Chores For a 7 Year Old

20 Chores for 7 Year Olds

Share your ideas for Age Appropriate Chores for 7 Year Olds!

OVER-SPENDING EVERY SINGLE MONTH?Grab these FREE Budgeting Sheets!

Day 8 Assignment

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