Money Saving Mom®

I had all these plans of blogging a short recap everyday while we were at the Relevant Conference last week. But, ahem, that plan went completely by the wayside. I got so involved in just enjoying the wonderful people who were at Relevant that it was hard to break away to even check my email or post.

However, since I had promised some recaps to many of you, here’s a one-post recap of some of the events (it would take at least 10 posts to even try and scratch the surface of all that went on and all I learned and gleaned!).

Since we were one of the Relevant sponsors, we were generously given three display tables. The problem? We don’t really have any products to sell.

However, I hated for the table space to go to waste, so I asked if we could give stuff away from some companies we love and have worked with in the past. The Relevant coordinators kindly gave us permission to do that, so we contacted a few companies and asked if they’d be willing to send free items for us to give away.

Well, let me tell you, we were blown away by the generosity of these companies. In fact, we were a little overwhelmed to arrive at the hotel and have 30 boxes of free stuff waiting for us to go through and organize. Gratefully, I’d brought my assistant, Erika, along and she transformed the 30 boxes into a beautiful display.

I was worried about what we were going to do with all the freebies and whether or not we’d really be able to get rid of everything. Well, I should have known better. As soon as the 250 bloggers attending the conference showed up for dinner, our table was pretty well mobbed. It was so much fun to get to be the bearer of freebies. It felt a little like blogging about freebies, only I got to hand-deliver them this time.

People kept asking, “Is all of this really free?” And then they’d go pass the word that we had free stuff and it was going fast!

The planners from Home Educating Family were especially big hits. Erika and I could hardly keep the stack stocked. And long after we were completely out, people kept coming back asking if we had anymore left.

My publisher also offered to give away a free pre-release copy of my upcoming book, The Money Saving Mom®’s Budget, to every blogger who was willing to sign up and do a review on their blog. I was so humbled and blessed at how excited everyone was about the release of my book. Dozens upon dozens of bloggers signed up and we ended up running out of sign-up sheets!

(You can get a little sneak peek of my book’s cover here. It’s now available for pre-order on Amazon.com, too, for those who have been asking to see what it’s going to look like! I can hardly wait for the release date in January!)

One of the best parts of the whole event was getting to introduce bloggers to some of my favorite products and companies — like The Imagination Station books, All You magazines, Tropical Traditions coconut oil, and Marie-Madeline Studios products. My sister even made a bunch of bars of homemade soap that I gave out–which people loved!

Friday afternoon, I hosted the first official Money Saving Mom® Reader Meet-Up. While there were some hiccups and some last-minute scrambling (thanks to those of you who came early and patiently endured me running around like a chicken with my head cut off!), it turned out incredibly well.

I was so blessed in meeting all of the amazing women who came. I laughed until I cried at how hilariously funny you all were during the games. I was touched deeply with your stories that you came up and shared with me individually at the end. And I was so humbled that many of you drove 30 to 100+ miles to attend this event.

(A group picture of the reader meet-up. Such beautiful ladies!)

Meeting these precious readers in person solidified something I’ve long believed: I have the best readers on the planet. It’s hard to describe in words just how much of a blessing my readers are to me on a daily basis. And I can’t wait to do more get-togethers in 2012 in other parts of the country so I can meet more of you face-to-face!

Guest post by Lacey

One of the things motherhood has taught me–besides how much I love my daughter–is to value community. Yes, my baby girl is great, and I adore spending time with her, but time with other moms is incredibly important for the heart and soul. Too much time in isolation, and I find myself growing discouraged, impatient, and less likely to embrace the goodness I have been given.

Spending time with other women who are in the same spot in life provides encouragement and perspective. But, if you’re not careful, meeting up with someone else or a group can turn expensive quickly. It’s easy to say, “Meet me for lunch,” or, “Let’s get coffee,” and not think about how much money you’ll be spending.

So, here is a list of 20 things you can do with others for little or no money that still allow you to find the community that we all need:

1. Go to a park and enjoy a pretty day.

2. See if your city has a Science Spectrum. In the city where we just moved, a year long membership costs just $5 a month–and I can invite another adult woman for free, as long as our children are under age three.

3. Make your own coffee and invite someone over. If you want to make it extra special, try making some homemade syrups or your own lattes.

4. Rent a redbox movie and pop your own popcorn.

5. Walk around the neighborhood and enjoy a pretty day.

6. Do potluck lunch. Suppers are often hard to do (and that’s family time), but a potluck lunch with several friends could be a lot of fun!

7. Have a dessert buffet: everyone brings one snack or sweet to share! (This could be a lot of fun around Christmas time!)

8. Start a book club.

9. Have a baby sitting circle–one mom watches the other kids while the other moms shop or run errands.

10. Have a baking day and get caught up on all of your baking for the month.

11. Take a picnic.

12. Take a nature walk with all your children.

13. Walk the mall (and window shop!).

14. Visit a museum.

15. Hold a craft party, or any other “skill:” knitting, photography, etc.

16. Make brunch.

17. Have a weekly/monthly group where each member takes a turn teaching the others how to do something.

18. Start a blogging group.

19. Plan menus together.

20. Create an accountability group.

To Remember:

::It doesn’t matter what you do. The point is to build a community of people that helps you stay encouraged and in the proper perspective.

::In order for this to happen, the people with whom you are in community (yourself included) need to be real, vulnerable, and honest. This is the surest way to build solid community.

::As well, each person needs to be willing to be sensitive to the needs of others—listen at least as much as you talk (if not more). Keep your eyes out for new people to include–remembering that you were once where they were!

What are your best tips for finding and building community, without spending a lot of money?

Lacey lives in Lubbock, Texas with her husband, Kade, and sweet daughter, Selah, where they work at Redeemer Church. She regularly captures her musings on all things related to being wife, mommy, and recipient of grace at her blog. There’s usually a cup of coffee involved.

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Guest post by Melissa from Mom’s Plans

By the time my second child was born, I was a die-hard freezer cooking mama. I had my freezer cooking session every month, and we ate meals from the freezer every week. I couldn’t imagine it any other way.

After my third child was born, I relied on freezer cooking even more. I followed Crystal at Money Saving Mom® and Jessica at Life as Mom and had my freezer cooking day on the same weekend everyone else did. I loved feeling like I was part of a freezer cooking community.

But then I quit my outside job so I could stay home. Without my income, our family could not make ends meet, but I was willing to sacrifice so I could be home with our kids.

We trimmed our budget, but I still found it necessary to bring in some money, so I began to do work as a freelance writer and virtual assistant in the evenings when my kids were sleeping. God does provide, and slowly more and more work trickled in until I was making enough to supplement our budget so that it finally balanced every month.

However, I was no longer able to get all of the work done in two to three hours at night. My husband watched the kids on the weekend so I could go someplace quiet and write for a few hours on Saturday and Sunday in addition to my evening work time.

My weekend work time was when my freezer cooking time used to be. I could no longer find a place to fit a large freezer cooking session, and I was growing frustrated. Shortly before this, Crystal admitted that having a freezer cooking day was no longer working for her, and she turned to freezer cooking in an hour.

I loved the concept! Seeing Crystal’s flexibility created a new way of thinking for me. Instead of stressing about not being able to freezer cook, I gave myself permission to realize that in this season of life, it was no longer working for me.

The five o’clock hour with three small children still gets crazy, so I had to come up with another plan. Now, I prepare our meals based on the week. If it has been a chaotic week, then on the weekend I do what I can which may be only prepping some foods such as veggies to make dinners easier on the week nights.

Last weekend I had time to prep all of our upcoming meals for the week night and put four additional meals in the freezer. This will give me some leeway when I have another chaotic week. Other times I cook all week long, but I double each recipe so I have five new meals in the freezer for another week. In short, I do what I can, and it seems to be working.

Here are some of my favorite meals to put together quickly:

• Tacos – We make up a large batch of taco meat and put some in the freezer to pull out on a busy night. This meal is great because it takes no more energy to prep five batches of taco meat instead of one meal size serving.
• Chili – I love meals that I can double and put in the slow cooker. I just put one in the freezer to save for another night.
• Chicken “Dump” Packages – Simply put the chicken breasts in a freezer bag with the sauce of your choosing. Put this in the refrigerator to use later in the week or put it in the freezer – Simply toss it in the slow cooker in the morning.
• Meatloaf – I make three batches of meatloaf, bake them, and put two in the freezer for later.

Don’t forget if you work outside the home to take some of these meals and put them in the freezer in single serving packages. They make quick, nutritious lunches and will save you a bundle.

Also, I love to cook up a bag of dry beans and put the extra in the freezer. I just pull them out when I am cooking; it is like using canned beans without the extra price and sodium.

Thanks to Crystal’s inspiration, I have modified my cooking plans, which has lifted my guilt and made me feel less tense about meal preparations. It is still busy around our house, buy I am much more relaxed about feeding my family.

Melissa is a work-at-home mom to three little ones ages 7, 2, and 1. She blogs at Mom’s Plans where she shares her family’s desire to learn to live a fulfilling life on less.

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