JessieLeigh from Parenting the Tiniest Miracles shows you how to make five meals from five chicken breasts.
Summer Bucket List
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Shared Feb 26, 2011
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Super Savings Saturday: Target Trip #2: Spent $6.25, Got $20 back!
Super Savings Saturday: Target Trip #2: Spent $6.25, Got $20 back!
Today’s Target trip was similar to yesterday’s, only I paid a lot less out of pocket since I rolled the gift cards I had earned yesterday!
Market Pantry Pasta — $1.02
Buy 2 and use $1/2 Target coupon
$0.52 each after couponMarket Pantry Salsa — $1.34
Buy 2 and use $1/2 Target coupon
$0.84 each after couponMarket Pantry Cheese — $1.94
Buy 2 and use $1/2 Target coupon
$1.44 each after couponBUY 7 FROZEN ITEMS, GET $5 TARGET GIFT CARD PROMOTION ITEMS:
BirdsEye Vegetables — $1.02 each
Bought 6, used 2 $1/3 Birds-Eye or Steamfresh Varieties (IE) Printable (FF)
Free after coupon and gift card
Market Pantry Vegetables — $1.02 each
Bought 8, used 2 $1/4 coupons
$0.06 each after coupons and gift cardOld Orchard Juice — $1.19 each
Bought 3, $0.48 each after gift cardWeight Watchers SmartOnes — $1.80 each
Bought 10, used $5/10 Target coupon (no longer available) stacked with $4/10 manufacturer’s coupon
$0.19 each after coupons and gift cardGreen Giant Frozen Vegetables — $1.27 each
Bought 2, used 2 $0.50/1 Green Giant coupons
$0.06 each after coupons and gift card
For some reason, I ended up having to buy 29 items to get the $20 in gift cards. When the cashier scanned the last item, it didn’t prompt her to give me the final $5 gift card, so I had her scan another juice and then it prompted it. Not sure what all went on there, but I’m not going to complain that I ended up having to buy an extra item!
I used the $25 in gift cards that I earned yesterday to pay for my total, so I only ended up having to spend $6.25 out of pocket and then I got back $20 in Target gift cards.
Did you snag any great deals or bargains this week or save money in other ways? If so, be sure to post about them on your blog and leave your link below. Please remember that this weekly round-up is to share deals you personally got and/or money you were able to save this week. In order to keep this weekly round-up focused on helping and inspiring others in their efforts to save money, links which have little-to-no content other than promoting affiliate links, etc. will be deleted. Also, to make it easy for everyone to navigate quickly through the links, your link must link directly to your Super Savings Saturday post.
We Paid Cash! :: Laptop and TV
A testimony from A. Ellis
My husband and I wanted to purchase a new LED television to replace a very old, very tiny 19” television in our bedroom, but decided it was definitely a “luxury” expense that would wait until we had saved up to pay in cash. In the meantime, we window-shopped the electronics stores and settled on the approximate type we hoped to purchase.
My high-school daughter also needed a laptop (we homeschool) so I needed enough to cover that (first priority) and the television (second).
How We Did It
I started shopping eBay and Craigslist for gift cards to the large electronics store where we planned to purchase the television. At the time, Bing was giving an extra 8% rebate for eBay purchases. Each time I found a gift card that would net me at least 15% off face value including all rebates, plus fees and postage, etc., I would purchase it using eBay rebate points (2%), Mr. Rebates (3%) and the Bing cashback program (8%). Example: I bought a $500 gift card for $475 ($25 off) + rebates (another $61.75 off) = $388.25 for a $500 gift card.
Once I had enough for the laptop, I waited a couple weeks for a sale on an appropriate model, and bought the loss-leader on the front page of the ad. Cost: Less than $250 (before tax) for a $589 laptop computer.
It took about eight months of being in the “right place at the right time”, but I finally accumulated about $2000 total in gift card value (for which I paid a total of less than $1485 after all rebates were factored in). We then waited until we received a coupon for a “free $50 gift card with purchase over $500” and started shopping for the TV.
Two weeks later, almost every LED TV in the store was featured in some type of “package deal” in which extra merchandise was included in the sale price of the TV. We settled on a LG 47” 1080i HD 120Hz LED television which was packaged with a LG Home Theater system including blu-ray player and five speakers, and an internet connection thumb drive, all for $1399 (regular price of TV alone $1699).
The gift cards I had saved up and purchased over time at a discount covered the price plus tax, and we had enough left over to buy my son a video game he had been wanting with a “10% off one full-price item” coupon (they wouldn’t allow use of this coupon on already sale-priced item, I tried!) and we also received the extra $50 gift card for a future purchase.
Total cost (with 8.1% tax): $1128 for a complete home theater system with a sale price of $1512.32 including tax (and original retail of well over $2000)
A. Ellis, B.S., M.Ed. is a mom of 5, one married, two high school, two 3rd grade and lives in Arizona.
Have you saved up and paid cash for something — large or small? Submit your story for possible publication here.
Free ebook: Time Management 101
In the past year, I’ve received numerous emails from women begging me for my “secrets” to time management. They ask me to please share how I manage to seemingly “do it all”.
Every time I get an email like that, I wish I could invite the woman to my home. Because seriously, I think it’s easy to make bloggers out to be someone they are not when you’re basing all your conclusions of them upon the little sliver of their life that they share on their blog.
I know, because I’ve been guilty of it myself. I’ll read a woman’s blog, see the pictures and ideas she shares and begin to wonder if really and truly she might be superwoman’s clone. And I feel badly because I don’t measure up in any stretch of the imagination to this blogger. When in reality, I know good and well that every single woman has their strengths and weaknesses and no one has it all together.
–from the first chapter of Time Management 101
Thanks to the help of the wonderful Money Saving Mom® team, I’m excited to bring you a brand-new downloadable ebook, Time Management 101.
This 66-page ebook is a revised and edited compilation of my Time Management 101 series.
I hope it will be an encouragement to many of you! And if you know of someone you think it might be a blessing to, feel free to share the link or print out a copy and give it to them.
It’s in an easy-to-read, downloadable format. Just fill out the form below and you’ll get a copy in your email soon!
MSN: How to get groceries for free by gleaning
MSN posted an interesting article recently on how to get groceries for free by gleaning:
A truck pulls up, two people jump out, and, within minutes, they’ve loaded up a few cases of dented cans, a box of ripe pears and a few dozen loaves of day-old bread. Jumping back in the cab, they pull out of the grocery store parking lot and head for the next store on their list.
Some call it food rescue or grocery recovery, or even an old biblical term: gleaning.
But no matter what you call it, the practice of rescuing food before it hits the garbage bin is becoming increasingly popular as a way of reducing waste, feeding people who’ve fallen on hard times and even helping average families save hundreds of dollars a year on groceries.
Thanks to Ashley for passing along this article!
Three Bean Chili Chowder Recipe
This soup has been a family favorite for years. It’s simple, easy and foolproof. And it would be scrumptious with some honey cornbread.
Three Bean Chili Chowder
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 2 Tablespoons oil
- 2 cups diced cooked chicken
- 1 can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 cup black beans, rinsed and drained
- 2 cans diced tomatoes
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 3/4 cup salsa
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Cook onion until tender in oil. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer for 30 minutes to an hour. If desired: garnish with shredded cheese, green onions and sour cream. Makes approximately six servings.
Reader Testimonial: My Money-Saving Christmas
Lecia from Kindly Deeds emailed in the following testimonial which I thought many of you would enjoy reading:
Due to two consecutive layoffs, my husband has been employed for only seven out of the last 24 months. That means we’ve had two holiday seasons in a row with very little money to spare on gifts. Each year we draw names with both sides of our family, which gives us an extra 14 people to shop for, in addition to our own family of seven!
Both this year and last year, I relied heavily on my email updates from MoneySavingMom.com to help me provide Christmas for all those people. If you haven’t signed up yet for the Money Saving Mom® email list, you definitely should. Reading and using those emails has saved my family hundreds of dollars over the past two years.
As a direct result of the emails, I got:
- Two cute little change purses from Target for my daughters. They love these and keep their dollar store Silly Bandz in them!
- About $40 in gift cards to Amazon.com by using Swagbucks for several months. Plus, I signed up for the Amazon Mom program and got free shipping throughout the holiday season.
- A free Duplo-style car that I just had to sign up for. That was perfect for my little nephew.
- Three $10 credits from Kellogg’s after buying three boxes of cereal per credit (and I got the cereal three for $7, and then saved more by using coupons)! These credits were good for any toy or electronic product at stores like Wal-Mart.
- About $20 in PayPal cash from taking surveys on sites recommended by MoneySavingMom.com.
- A free photo collage from Walgreens. I used my son’s Homecoming photos to make a collage for him that he treasures.
- Free or nearly free photo books from various sites that made perfect gifts for grandparents.
We also scrambled together a few more dollars by trading in books and video games at our local used bookstore, and transferring some prescriptions at a time when K-Mart was offering $25 gift cards for each transferred prescription. Since three of my five kids take daily medications for asthma, we were able to get $100 in gift cards this way.
Once I got through the Christmas season and took a minute to breathe, I realized how blessed we had been, and I was so full of joy and gratitude for the wonderful and frugal Christmas we were able to have.
Lecia Crider lives in Mesa, AZ with her husband, Jay, and their five children. She blogs about service opportunities at Kindly Deeds, and she’d love for you to take a peek at her husband’s resume on LinkedIn!
Mortgages, Paying Cash and Goal-Setting Run Amuck
I finished sharing our story of paying cash for a house two weeks ago and but I promised I’d follow it up with a few thoughts on mortgages and paying cash. Unfortunately, I completely forgot about writing this post last Wednesday, so I’m finally getting it done this week. Thanks for your patience!
While being debt-free is a wonderful thing, I want to stress very clearly that it’s not the be all, end all. Paying cash for a house doesn’t make you a better person than someone who is barely struggling to make ends meet and doing good to pay the utility bill and grocery bill.
We all have different families, different backgrounds and different situations, so our financial stories are all going to look quite different. And that’s perfectly okay! I want to give you ideas, inspiration and encouragement here, but then I hope you’ll take it and go find how to best steward the resources God has given to you.
With that said, if you are considering the benefits of paying cash for a house versus getting a mortgage, here’s what I’d encourage you to think about:
1) What are the costs of housing in your area?
Don’t just believe what everyone says about how much houses cost where you live. Go research it out yourself. All real estate is local. The prices in one area will be different from another, even if in the same city with comparable cost of living. For example, if you live in an area where most houses cost $400,000, you very well may be able to find a fixer-upper for $200,000 in a decent part of the other side of town.
Since we live in the Midwest, housing prices are really affordable, compared to many parts of the country. In fact, with some looking and patience, you can buy a very decent relatively new starter home for around $100,000 to $110,000. (Some of you who live in high cost of living areas just had to pick yourself up off the floor, I know!) The low housing prices is one reason we moved here and one of the big factors in our decision to save to pay cash for a house.
2) How much can you save each month?
This is not meant as an exercise in frustration, but as a reality check. Look at your written budget and see if there are any areas you’d be willing to cut or downsize for a time period in order to free up more money to go to savings.
Our family decided to keep our grocery budget low, have a moratorium on spending, not have any monthly subscriptions, delay college and retirement savings and downsize in rental home in order to free up more money to put toward savings. We also were blessed with a good income from both of our businesses, so the fact that we kept our expenses as minimal as possible and didn’t have any debt allowed us to be able to save a sizable amount of our income each month towards a house.
3) What do the numbers look like in ten years?
Once you have a good understanding of how much you can expect to pay for a house and how much you can save each month, you’re ready to run numbers and calculations to determine what is the best plan of action for your family. Figure out how much you could potentially save over the course of the next ten years if you were to live on as little as you can, rent and save as much as you can.
Then, calculate how much you’d have in equity in a home in ten years if you were to instead save aggressively for a great down payment (at least 20% down, maybe even 40%+) on a 15-year fixed rate mortgage on a very modest home, buy the home and then throw everything you could at the mortgage payment to pay it off early.
Running these numbers can give you a very helpful gauge to decide what is the best course of action for your family.
Don’t Get Too Focused and Miss Out On Life
My husband and I are very focused, driven and stubborn people (well, it’s probably just mostly me who is stubborn!). These can be wonderful qualities when exercised in balance.
Unfortunately, we didn’t exercise a lot of balance while saving for a house. Since we’re both self-employed and our income is based a great deal on our productivity, we became work-a-holics with a single-minded focus of earning enough to make our monthly house savings goals.
Instead of pacing ourselves and allowing ourselves margin, we sprinted and ran ourselves ragged. We accomplished our goal, but not without it taking a major toll on our family, friendships and health.
I’m grateful that God was gracious, our friends and family were forgiving and we survived the grueling months of hard work. But neither my husband nor I would recommend that you follow in our footsteps.
Just in the last year, we’re finally feeling like we’re beginning to learn to know our limits, have our priorities in better order and have more margin in our life — and we are happier and healthier for it.
So please, go right ahead and set big goals and work hard, but pace yourself and give yourself grace and breathing room.
Ask the Readers: Is a chest freezer worth the investment?
Today’s question is from Corrie:
I am thinking of purchasing a chest freezer. I have a family of six and the refrigerator in my apartment is so small. In fact, it is shorter than I am and I can only fit enough food in it for one week. I wish I could get a bigger one but the cabinets above it won’t allow anything larger.
My question is, is it worth it to buy a freezer so I can stock up on sale items? Am I going to pay the difference in electricity for a five-cubic-square-foot chest freezer?
Do you have a question you’d like to ask Money Saving Mom® readers? Read the submission guidelines and submit it here.
Reader Tip: Milk is cheaper at Indian stores
Sheeba from Desi Saving Mom emailed in the following tip:
I know a lot of moms out there are struggling to pay for milk with prices as high as $3.59. Indian stores here in NJ (Apna Bazaar Cash & Carry) has gallons of milk for only $2.89. It has gone up just $0.10 in price and is cheaper than most stores. -Sheeba
In our area, Aldi seems to consistently have the best milk prices. Though I hadn’t thought to check an Indian store for milk!
How about the rest of you? Where are you finding the best deals on milk right now?
OVER-SPENDING EVERY SINGLE MONTH?Grab these FREE Budgeting Sheets!
Click here to download!
This Week’s Menu Plan
(Strawberry Smoothies I made for the children for breakfast recently. I’ve found I can hide all sorts of healthful things — like ground flax seeds and more! — in smoothies and the children just lap them up and ask for more!)
I set a goal for myself to try at least two new recipes every week. That might not seem like a lot to those of you who are really adventuresome in the kitchen, but for someone like me, who tends to get stuck in a rut, it’s been a good challenge.
And I’m finding that the more I branch out and try new things in the kitchen, the more I’m enjoying it!
Breakfasts:
Scones, Smoothies
Homemade Granola, Fruit
Raisin Toast, Scrambled Eggs, Fruit
Cold Cereal, Juice
Orange Cream Smoothies, English Muffins
Toasted Bagels, Fruit
Bread Machine Cinnamon Rolls, Scrambled Eggs, JuiceLunches:
Leftovers x 3
Macaroni & Cheese, carrots
Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwiches, fruit
Cheese Quesadillas, frozen veggies
Seapak Frozen Fish, frozen veggiesDinners:
Dinner Out
Tilapia, Toast, Frozen Veggies, Grapefruit
Brown Bag Burritos (from the freezer), Green Rice Casserole (from the freezer), Fruit
Turkey Chili Taco Soup,* Homemade Bread, Veggies
Whole Grain Chicken Soup With Rice,* Olive Garden Breadsticks,* Apple Slices
Homemade Pizza, Tossed Salad, Ice Cream
Dinner at Extended Family’s HouseExtras:
Homemade Starbucks Peppermint Mocha* (I’m going to tweak the recipe some, per instructions that Beth from The Natural Mommy emailed me.)
*Denotes a new-to-me recipe. If any of these become winners, I’ll be sure to let you know. And I promise to post my Homemade Starbucks Peppermint Mocha recipe, as soon as I get it perfected.
By the way, I’m on a restaurant recipe knock-off kick, so if you have any incredible restaurant knock-off recipes (especially Starbucks, Panera or Olive Garden!), be sure to leave the link in the comments below so I can consider trying them.
Four Tips for Becoming a Successful Mystery Shopper
Guest post by Mystery Shop Mom
For several years, I have been following frugal blogs to help my family save money. More recently, however, I decided to become proactive and actually help make my family some money. I wanted the extra income but not the extra time away from my family. That is when I delved into the world of mystery shopping. Here are some tips to help you decide if mystery shopping is for you and, if so, how you can get started.
1. Understand the Realities of Mystery Shopping
If you are expecting to put in little or no effort to get paid and receive free goods, you need to adjust your expectations. Mystery shopping does require time and effort but, in my experience, I have been pleased with the reward for my work.
Additionally, you should not expect to get fine-dining and five-star hotel shops in your first months of shopping. You have to prove yourself to the companies with small jobs before you will be entrusted with the more luxurious ones.
2. Decide Your Purpose for Mystery Shopping
Do you need to make some serious cash or are you shopping for a little supplemental income? There are people who have actually quit full-time jobs to full-time mystery shop. I am, however, enjoying a little extra income and the extra space in our food and entertainment budget thanks to the grocery and restaurant shops I have been able to do.
After you sign up with companies and see how much shops pay, set monthly goals for yourself. Decide how much time you want to put into finding jobs, shopping and writing reports to determine how much income you would like to have per month.
3. Sign Up With Numerous Legitimate Mystery Shopping Companies
Most legitimate companies will be members of the MSPA, the international Mystery Shopper Provider Association. Currently, scammers have caught on to the names of legitimate companies and are using them in emails they are sending. You should never sign up with a company through a link you receive in your email.
Most importantly, you should never pay a company a fee to shop for them!
Resources exist to help you sort through these companies. I have compiled a list of companies that I have shopped and name some resources on my blog Sense to Shop. Always go directly to the legitimate website and sign up that way. The more companies you sign up with, the more opportunities you will have.
4. Branch Out of Your Comfort Zone
When you first sign up, you are probably not going to immediately get offers to shop your favorite restaurant or retail store. Be willing to take some jobs that involve some different locations or tasks than those to which you are accustomed. I have found some of my favorite shops by doing just this!
Mystery Shop Mom is a behavioral therapist turned stay-at-home mom of two amazing children ages two and six months. She enjoys spending time with her wonderful children and husband and partnering with him in ministry at the church where he is Associate Pastor.
Time Management Without a Schedule
My friend, Jessica, over at LifeasMOM, shares how she’s learning to manage her time without a schedule:
Remember the love-hate relationship I have with schedules? Well, a few months ago I gave it a go. I really did. I wrote up a schedule and I ran it through the paces.
And ya know what? It really didn’t support what the players on my team were doing. It wasn’t good for morale. It really rankled the coach. So, I cut it from the team.
Yes, yes, I did.
But, am I throwing all caution to the wind? Have I thrown in the proverbial towel? Have I given up in the last quarter of the game? No, no, I haven’t. But, I’ve found a way to manage my time without an hour-by-hour schedule.
And it. is. amazing.
Shared Feb 19, 2011
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Super Savings Saturday: The “I-Didn’t-Cook-Clean-or-Shop” Edition
Super Savings Saturday: The “I-Didn’t-Cook-Clean-or-Shop” Edition
Those who are frequent readers here may have noticed I was rather absent last week. That’s because I spent all week with my husband on a cruise!
As I’ve mentioned before, we purposefully chose to go on a very inexpensive honeymoon because we knew Jesse was going to be going to law school soon after we got married. We’d both agreed that if we made it through law school debt-free and paid cash for a house by the time I was 30, we’d save up to go on a cruise. But I’d sort of assumed this was just one of those dream vacations which would never actually become reality.
So I shoved the idea to the back of my brain and pretty much forgot about it.
But Jesse didn’t and near the end of 2010, he completely shocked me by telling me he had a big surprise for me. I was baffled as to what it could be and totally giddy when he presented me with two different cruise vacation options.
Since we’d never traveled outside the U.S. before, never been on a cruise ship and never left all of our children, this was a really big deal (you moms with young children can likely empathize). In fact, just to make me feel better and more at ease, we actually left our children in December for two and half days as a trial run while Jesse and I went to Branson together. They survived beautifully and we truly had a wonderful time.
So, early last Sunday morning, we boarded a plane for Florida, leaving our three young children in the able care of our wonderful mother’s helper, and took off for our “Second Honeymoon” Cruise.
While I missed the children so much, it was really wonderful to be away with my husband — by ourselves. With no phone and little internet access, no dishes to wash, no meals to make, no diapers to change, no laundry to do, no children to wake us up in the night and basically no agenda but to just have fun and enjoy one another.
It was absolutely wonderful, though very weird. I realized that I hardly know what to do with myself without a long to-do list (not sure whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing)! We experienced all sorts of firsts and we soaked up every minute of it, got lots of time to talk through goals and areas in our lives we want to improve, we took hundreds of pictures and we laughed harder than we’ve laughed in a very long time.
We are so thankful to our mother’s helper, Jesse’s assistant and the wonderful MoneySavingMom.com team who covered all the bases at home so we could be gone this past week. We’re indebted to each of them and could never have had such a relaxing vacation without their help!
And now, back to reality and our regularly scheduled programming here. 🙂
__________________
Did you snag any great deals or bargains this week or save money in other ways? If so, be sure to post about them on your blog and leave your link below. Please remember that this weekly round-up is to share deals you personally got and/or money you were able to save this week. In order to keep this weekly round-up focused on helping and inspiring others in their efforts to save money, links which have little-to-no content other than promoting affiliate links, etc. will be deleted. Also, to make it easy for everyone to navigate quickly through the links, your link must link directly to your Super Savings Saturday post.
Shared Feb 18, 2011
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Books Read in February: Organized Simplicity, Pour Your Heart Into It, On the Banks of Plum Creek
Books Read in February: Organized Simplicity, Pour Your Heart Into It, On the Banks of Plum Creek
I was excited to read Organized Simplicity by my friend, Tsh, from SimpleMom.net. I’ve long followed and loved her blog.
Truthfully, though, I figured the message of this book would probably be something I was well familiar with. And I figured the book would be filled with ideas I was mostly already living out.
Well, I was wrong.
In fact, it’s hard for me to describe in words how reading Organized Simplicity impacted me. The beauty of the book drew me in, but the message of the book convicted me more than I ever imagined it would.
(Me reading Organized Simplicity while on a trip with my husband this week — more on our special getaway tomorrow! Chapter 7 was my very favorite chapter of the entire book.)
As many of you well know, I love simplicity and I strive to only have a things we love and use in our home. But in the last few months, consumerism and busyness has inched its way into my heart and life — without me even realizing it.
Reading Organized Simplicity was a wake up call for me. It forced me to examine my life, stuff and to-do list in a whole new light. I realized that maybe I wasn’t as much of a minimalist as I thought I was — especially if you were to open some of my closets and cupboards! 🙂
I usually go through our whole house from top to bottom twice a year and aggressively eliminate things which we no longer love and use. And while this book inspired me to do another total house overhaul, more than just eliminating stuff, it caused me to dig down deeper and examine my heart and what simple living really means for our own family.
Tsh’s thoughts in chapter seven on streamlining your life so you can savor the moments that matter especially hit home for me. Life can become so busy. Organized Simplicity really challenged me to be purposefully intentional and prioritize my life so I don’t miss out on those precious fleeting moments.
Want to get a copy of Organized Simplicity for free? Go here to enter to win one of ten copies.
(Pages of notes I took from Organized Simplicity)
Also read in February:
Pour Your Heart Into It: How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time — This was an interesting book written by the CEO and Chairman of Starbucks on how Starbucks was born and the company philosophies and practices which have made it so successful. It’s a story of hope and perseverance and one which I found inspiring, though the book did drag a little at times. (Note: There is a little bit of language in the book. And I know some disagree with me, but I always find four letter words in books bothersome because I feel like they are unnecessary and crude.)
On The Banks of Plum Creek — Finished reading this next Little House book aloud to the children. We loved this book, though, after a few weeks of cold and snow here, I cannot imagine what it would be like to live without modern conveniences in the long, cold winter blizzards!
24 Books I Plan to Read in 2011
Business and Financial Books I Plan to Read and Review This Year:
January — 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think
February — Organized Simplicity: The Clutter-Free Approach to Intentional Living
March — Becoming a Person of Influence
April — Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking
May — Life on the Wire: Avoid Burnout and Succeed in Work and Life
June — Debt-Free U: How I Paid for an Outstanding College Education Without Loans, Scholarships, or Mooching off My Parents
July — Have a New You by Friday: How to Accept Yourself, Boost Your Confidence & Change Your Life in 5 Days
August — Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t
September — America’s Cheapest Family Gets You Right on the Money
October — Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
November — Shift Your Habit: Easy Ways to Save Money, Simplify Your Life, and Save the Planet
December –Personal Investing: The Missing Manual
Other Books I Plan to Read This Year:
January — Calm My Anxious Heart: A Woman’s Guide to Finding Contentment
February — Pour Your Heart Into It: How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time
March — The Possibilities of Prayer
April — The Blessing of Boundaries
May — Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time
June — Honey for a Child’s Heart
July — One With Christ
August — A Charlotte Mason Companion: Personal Reflections on the Gentle Art of Learning
September — Womanly Dominion: More Than A Gentle and Quiet Spirit
October — The Rose Conspiracy
November — Disciplines of a Godly Woman
December –Benjamin Rush: Signer of the Declaration of Independence
What books have you read recently? Any you’d highly recommend?