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Shared Jan 5, 2011 comment

24 Books I Plan to Read in 2011

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 5, 2011 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

This year, instead of coming up with an entirely-too-ambitious list of books I want to read (like I did last year!), I decided to only pick 24 books I want to aim to read in 2011. I’ve broken my list down into a month-by-month basis to help keep me on better track.

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

I plan to review the Business or Financial book of the month on my blog on the third Friday of each month and I’ll also give a little update in that post on the other book(s) I’ve read in the past month.

If you want to read more this month and could use some accountability, Jessica from LifeAsMom is hosting a Booking It In 2011 Challenge.

Shared Jan 4, 2011 comment

Ask Jesse: Should we stop contributing to our 401K to pay off debt?

Published: by Jesse on January 4, 2011 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

I was wondering what you thought about our decision not to start contributing to a 401k until we are out of debt. My husband and I are both early 30’s and while it scares me sometimes that we have not even started saving for retirement, I feel a stronger need to get out of debt first. We have a long way to go on our debt-free plan (four to five years), so I don’t know if we should try to do both at the same time, because it would slow the debt payoff. What would you do if you were in our shoes? Thanks for your advice! -Alysia

The question of continuing retirement investing while paying off debt or getting onto a better financial footing is a tough one. There are many opinions, but you specifically asked what we would do so that makes it much easier.

I started retirement investing about a year after graduating from law school. At the time, I was working for a government agency and was not eligible to contribute into the State’s retirement system, because I had not been working as a full time government employee long enough.

I had the opportunity to take advantage of a deferred payment plan, but elected to keep more of my paycheck to help us get our emergency fund established. Once we reached our $1000 emergency fund level, I cut up the credit card I was keeping from law school supposedly for “emergencies.” Having the same amount of cash that I had as a credit level made me feel a lot more free to get rid of the thing.

It was not until then that I sat down and began planning for retirement. Because we were in our late 20’s, I opted to only throw a couple hundred dollars at it monthly through my automatic investment program with the mutual fund provider. This allowed us to save more towards our short-term goals. I know Dave Ramsey may not approve, but that is what I did because it fit our budget and our plan.

When we started saving in earnest for our house, I stopped retirement savings and funneled everything to that savings goal. My thinking was that we are young and would much rather have a paid-for house now and catch up on our retirement savings later. However, if we didn’t have the blessing of a good income and low expenses and it was going to take us longer than five years to pay cash for a house, we likely would have tweaked our plan and saved for retirement while we were saving for a house.

So, to answer your question, yes, I would (and did!) stop retirement in the short-run to build momentum to meet short-term savings goals but only if this would put us in a better long-term financial situation.

If it is just saving for a vacation or a new car, forget about it. Nothing in the short-run, apart from paying cash for a house or paying off debt, would deter me from taking advantage of the Eighth Wonder of the World in my retirement account — compound interest!

Jesse Paine is a licensed attorney who owns his own law firm. He’s married to Crystal and is the numbers nerd of the MoneySavingMom.com team! If you have a question you’d like him to answer in a future column, you can submit it here.

The content of this column intended for informational use only and is not to be construed as providing legal, investing, accounting, or other professional advice. Your situation is factually specific and you should accordingly seek qualified professional counsel concerning your specific legal, investing or accounting needs.

Shared Jan 3, 2011 comment

5 Time Management Tips for Busy Families

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 3, 2011 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Guest post by Jennifer from I Heart Organizing

1. Invest in a Great Daily Planner

My daily planner is my lifeline. It goes with me everywhere I go.

Planners have been around forever, but they are really the most genius way to keep it all together. Every paper that comes home from school with a date on it, instantly gets written in the planner.

What’s for lunch on Wednesday? It’s in the planner. What should I blog about on Monday? Oh yes, also in the planner. What night is garbage night? Family night? It’s all written down in the planner, and color-coded by category (i.e. blog post, meal plan, school event, etc.) When the planner is not physically attached to me in some way, it’s sitting on our counter to be viewed by anyone in the family.

If budgets are tight, with a little creative thinking, a spiral notebook could be transformed for anyone looking to adopt this idea.

2. Make Family Night a Priority

Family Night gets scheduled in each week at our house, just like an appointment.

Family comes first and with the hustle and bustle of all things entertainment, family functions, school activities and sporting events, important family bonding can quickly become obsolete. Making sure to pen it in each week and learning to say, “No” to other obligations that may come up on the same night, is extremely important to us spending quality time together on a weekly basis.

3. Solve the Schedule Equation

On top of tossing all of our important schedules and appointments into the planner, we quickly found that it was still easy for us to get lost in our nightly routine. A quick video game or blog post writeup could simply turn into hours of lost time.

Trying to juggle homework, making dinner, baths, one-on-one time, story time and blogging was definitely a lot to manage without any type of direction. I knew I had to figure it all out, in order to completely maximize our evenings together (not to mention our super speedy wake-up-and-get-on-the-bus mornings!)

Something I found incredibly easy to do, was to break out the day in half-hour increments and plan out a “typical” day in our life.

Just looking at all the times slots paired up with all the things that I was dreaming of accomplishing in any given day was great for ensuring we get time to do all the things that matter, from time with our little ones to personal time on our hobbies or interests. I popped my visual breakdown right on the side of the fridge, because it’s great to have a time management reference point if I ever feel like we are getting a little lost.

I was beyond surprised that when the day was broken out there was so much time in the day that I then instantly wondered how I had been wasting it away in the past! Of course not every day is laid out perfectly as there is such a thing called life, but having a plan for our days has definitely proven to keep our daily goals in check and ease in our time management prioritization.

4. Create a Meal Plan

A very obvious time saver for us is meal planning. We have a meal plan/shopping list that hangs inside our pantry door, ensuring that when something runs out, we can it right to the list. Using the coupons that we have clipped along with trying at least one new recipe each week, we plan out our weekly meals before we head off to the grocery store.

Only spending time shopping for what we need, saving some money not buying what we don’t need and then doing as much of the preparation ahead of time means all we need to do is peek at the planner each day and make whatever is on the list!

5. Set Up a Dump Zone

We use a memo station to stash kid’s papers that we get home throughout the week, along with all of our mail.

Each Sunday I take a quick 10-15 minutes and recycle or file all the papers in each slot. We also have a dump basket with the same philosophy.

Since piles can form so quickly, and as much as I believe in the “return things right where you found them” idea, it’s not always practical. Keeping one basket or bin dedicated to dumping our “stuff” each week, is easy to stash away when company comes, and is gone through at least once a week to return items to their home. This is also a great task for little ones looking for ways to become more helpful around the abode!

Jennifer is currently a stay at home mom, that not only cares for her own children {three uber beautiful little boys}, but also has the opportunity to spend her days with a couple other little ones as well, as a daycare mom. She is also currently working to start up an in-home organizing business, manage an organizing blog {where she talks about things like managing cleaning schedules and creating easy ways for kids to get organized} and working on expanding an Etsy shop as well.

Shared Jan 3, 2011 comment

This Week’s Menu

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 3, 2011 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Thank you for all the Crockpot Oatmeal tips and recipes; I can’t wait to try some of them! Now I just have to figure out where to procure steel cut oats. (Yes, believe it or not, I’ve never bought them before!)

Here’s this week’s menu plan. You’ll notice some repeats from last week since we ended up eating soup more than one night, so we didn’t make it through our list of planned dinners.

Breakfasts:
Cold Cereal
Cranberry Scones
Smoothies
Orange Poppyseed Cake
Cold Cereal
Banana Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Muffins from the freezer
Amish Baked Oatmeal

Lunches:
Tuna Salad Sandwiches
Egg Roll Burritos
Macaroni & Cheese
Leftovers
Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwiches
Vegetarian Lentil Chili
Cheese Quesadillas

Dinners:
The Pioneer Woman’s Beans, Pico de Gallo and The Best Cornbread Ever (I’ve been searching high and low for a fabulous cornbread recipe and I think I’ve finally found it. I’ll share it later this month!)
Bacon Wrapped Meatloaf, Sweet Potatoes, Cooked Veggies, Flat Apple Pie
Dinner Out
Potatoes and Turkey Sausage, Green Salad, Bread Machine Buttery Rolls
Hamburgers, Cheesy Broccoli and Rice Casserole, Fruit Salad
Birthday Party
Dinner at In-Law’s House

Shared Jan 3, 2011 comment

My Goals for 2011 (plus some blogging changes)

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 3, 2011 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

I’m not a fan of New Year’s Resolutions; I think they only set one up for failure and discouragement. However, I’m a huge fan of creating realistic goals and breaking them down into bite-sized pieces. So, at the beginning of every year, my husband and I sit down and come up with a list of goals for each facet of our lives.

Normally, being an optimistic over-achiever, I come up with many more goals than I could ever actual accomplish in a year. This year, though, I decided to make a new policy for all goals on my list: they could only be on my list if there was a time slot for them on my schedule.

Taking the things I learned from Amy Andrews’ ebook, Tell Your Time, I tweaked our daily schedule and created a slightly different schedule for each day of the week for 2011. This allowed me include time slots for everything on my 2011 goal list — from reading to sleeping to once-a-week lunch dates with my husband to time with my children to ministering to others to blogging.

This was incredibly helpful to me in streamlining and just picking goals which are actually doable. Instead of being a bit overwhelmed by an ambitious list, I’m excited this year as I feel like — barring some major catastrophe or unexpected upheaval in our lives — most of these goals will, Lord-willing, become reality.

My Goals for 2011

Personal:
Read through the Bible in a year (I’m using the chronological plan here.)
Read at least 25 inspiring books (I’ll share the books I’m planning to read in 2011 on Wednesday.)
Continue to eat well, exercise faithfully and drink enough water (I’ve finished P90X and am taking a break at least for a few months to do my own and slightly less intense workout regimen. I’ve been tracking my exercising, eating and drinking through SparkPeople and it’s been very helpful in keeping me accountable and on track with my personal health/fitness goals.)
Continue to make getting 7-8 hours of sleep each night a priority
Tackle 12 Do-It-Yourself Projects

Marriage:
Once-a-month evening dates with my husband
Once-a-week lunch dates with my husband
Twice-a-year Marriage Retreat
Flirt with my husband every day 🙂
Read four books together
Go on a cruise! (Something we both decided we’d do if we paid cash for a house before I turned 30!)

Children/Homeschooling:
Once-a-month dates/outings with both of the girls individually
Play with the children at least three times each week (games, Wii, etc.)
Finish reading through the Little House on the Prairie series together
Memorize Psalms 1 and Psalms 23 together
Finish first grade, begin second grade with Kathrynne
Finish preschool, begin kindergarten with Kaitlynn
Go on at least one field trip every month
Have a weekly Family Night

Ministry/Friendships/Extended Family:
Have at least one family over for a meal each month
Write one encouraging handwritten card or letter at least every other week
Be involved in ministry opportunities in our local church
Continue with weekly get-togethers with both sides of our extended family

Business/Blogging:
Continue to practice media-free Sundays
Continue working towards keeping strict Office Hours for the business/blogging time each day
Follow a weekly blogging plan (see below)
Plan blog posts out a month in advance
Write blog posts at least a week in advance

Financial:
Continue to tithe 10% of our income
Give generously to needs in our community and around the world, as God prompts us (We’ve been looking for 1-2 specific needs to give to each month and find so much joy in giving as God leads us!)
Complete all items on our current Financial Goals List
Save at least 40% towards our Commercial Real Estate Investing Goal

One major change I’ll be making is in the area of blogging. Thanks to the help from my team, I’ve gotten much more organized and efficient this past year (and also really good at saying “no” to stuff — one of the most freeing things ever!). Instead of feeling constantly overwhelmed and behind, I’m actually keeping up with things most day.

But, there is much room for improvement — especially when it comes to the actual writing of posts. While I’ve actually been planning my blogging out a week in advance, I’m still writing most of the posts the day they are supposed to be posted.

Amy Andrews has helped me to re-prioritize things enough in my life and blogging work, that I’m finally to a point to be able to blog ahead — something I’ve always wished I could find a way to do! During the last month, I’ve been working behind-the-scenes to come up with a way to have my blog posts, features and series planned out at least a month in advance and written at least a week ahead.

One thing which is going to help me carry out this plan is to actually have set days for posting set things. I know that I’ve been a source of frustration to many of you all many times because you just never know what is going to be posted when. I’m sorry and I hope you will find much more consistency here in 2011.

In fact, for the sake of accountability — and so you’ll know pretty much exactly what to expect! — here’s my blogging plan for the first half of 2011 (I’ll be re-evaluating and changing things up somewhat halfway through the year):

Monday: A guest post, our weekly menu plan, Giveaways Galore and a new 31 Days to a Better Grocery Budget video blog series (starting next week)

Tuesday: Ask Jesse feature, a DIY idea and possibly a Shopping Trip post with pictures and price breakdowns

Wednesday: The next post in whatever series I’m working through (During the first half of 2011, I’ll be finishing up the How We Paid Cash for a House series, then the 31 Days to a Better Grocery Budget series then re-writing and re-posting my Blogging for Profit series.), and an Ask the Readers question

Thursday: A recipe, a DIY idea and possibly a Shopping Trip post with pictures and price breakdowns

Friday: We Paid Cash feature and a weekly rotating feature (Week One: Financial Update, Week Two: My DIY Experiment, Week Three: Book Review, Week Four: Frugal Family Fun post)

Saturday: Super Savings Saturday

Most of these items will start this week, though a few aren’t starting up until next week. Of course, there’ll be the usual fare of hot deals, coupons, freebies and the occasional giveaway, as well. And I’m sure I’ll throw in some unexpected, written-on-the-fly posts here and there, too, when inspiration strikes and I can’t keep silent. 🙂

Thank you to each and everyone of you for reading here, for leaving comments, for sending in deal ideas and frugal tips, for your encouraging letters and many suggestions for how I can improve this blog. My hope is that you will find better content and consistency in posting in 2011, which will, in turn, allow you to glean more ideas to save money, spend less than you make and give generously!

photos by Paul Worthington; jek in the box

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Shared Jan 3, 2011 comment

Turning emergencies into inconveniences

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 3, 2011 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Being intentional with our money turns emergencies into inconveniences.

It’s not enough to pull in the reins and spend “only” what we make. Being intentional with our finances means spending less than we make and stashing the rest for the inevitable. It means sacrificing cable, lattes, and home fashions now in order to stay warm and be mobile when things go wrong.

It’s not always fun being so disciplined with our income. Saying no (or not now) to things we want and opportunities that come our way does bring satisfaction, though, when we’re able to pay cash for inconveniences.

-Read the full post over at Amy’s Finer Things

photo by onwheelz2

Shared Jan 1, 2011 comment

Super Savings Saturday

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 1, 2011 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve hosted a Super Savings Saturday link-up. I gave myself a break for December without telling you all. 🙂

At any rate, these are back and will now be posted every Saturday afternoon; I’d love to have you participate!

Dillon’s Shopping Trip: Spent $9.25, Saved $31.97 — read details and price break-downs of this shopping trip here

Health Food Store: spent $11.71

Another Dillon’s Shopping Trip: spent $13.66

Walmart Shopping Trip: Spent $8.94, Saved $32.38 — read details and price breakdowns of this shopping trip here

Aldi Shopping Trip: Spent $28.31

Would you like to know what the best deals and coupon match-ups are for your local stores? Be sure to check out the Store Deals section of our site where we post the best deals and coupon match-ups each week for over 100 different stores across the country! You can sign up to receive the top deals in your email inbox each week as soon as they are posted!

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 Jan 1, 2011 comment

Deals and Freebies to Help You Get Organized in 2011

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 1, 2011 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Tell Your Time: How to Manage Your Schedule So You Can Live Fulfilled — As I’ve shared before, the tips and tricks in this ebook have revolutionized my life and our home. I cannot recommend this ebook enough. It’s simple, concise and packs a powerful punch. It has helped me streamline my life so that I’m not rushing through my days like a chicken with its head cut off. You’ll learn how to plan margin into your day, make long-term goals and strategies and focus your time and energies on what really matters. Through January 7, 2011, you can use coupon code CLEANSLATE to get this ebook for only $7.

Organizing Your Life as Mom — This 125-page ebook is written by my friend Jessica over at Life As Mom — a mom of six who knows more than a thing or two about organization! It walks you through how to create a personalized household notebook to keep your home and life running more smoothly. This ebook includes worksheets to help you think through your jobs at home as well as daily, weekly, monthly and yearly calendars. There are also holiday, budget and meal-planning sheets. Plus, some of the worksheets are customizable. Download a free 15-page sample here. You can get this ebook for only $7 when you use coupon code NEWYEAR.

The Project Girl’s Customizable Weekly Planner — This downloadable planner is fully customizable and includes Daily Chores, Weekly Chores, a Shopping List and Week-At-A-Glance for each page, plus quite a few other downloads. It’s on sale for $9.09 right now, plus you can use coupon code JAPLANNER11 to get an additional 15% off, making it only $7.73.

Motivated Moms Chore Planners — I have used this in the past and really liked it as it tells you exactly what you need to do each day to keep your home organized and running smoothly. If you struggle with coming up with a plan for home organization, I’d definitely recommend this. There are sample pages to check out at the bottom of the products page. Use coupon code LLNOE to get $1 off your order.

FREEBIES!

Download a free printable Goals Sheet from Get Buttoned Up.

Click on the “Like” button on the Get Organized Wizard Facebook Page and you’ll get a special coupon code to download a free 2011 Goals and Priorities Diary with printable pages to help you prioritize and get organized in 2011.

And don’t forget to check out my recent Time Management 101 series and free customizable Daily Docket and other free household organizational downloads.

Shared Dec 30, 2010 comment

Today’s Dillon’s Shopping Trip: Spent $9.25, Saved $31.97

Published: by Crystal Paine on December 30, 2010 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

1 box of Quaker Instant Oatmeal — $1.99, used $2/1 coupon (no longer available) = free

1 bottle Xtra Laundry Detergent — $1.99, used $1/1 printable coupon = $0.99

1 jug Minute Maid Orange Juice — used free catalina coupon which printed from our last shopping trip (Don’t ask me why, but every time we use my husband’s Dillon’s Shopper Card, we get great catalina coupons!)

2 cartons of Silk — reduced to $0.99 each

2 cartons of Almond Breeze Almond Milk — $1.50, used $0.55/1 printable coupon (which doubled to $1 off) = $0.50 each

1 International Coffee Creamer — $1, used $0.55/1 printable coupon (which doubled to $1 off) = free

1 Horizon Organic Milk — $1, used $1/1 printable coupon = free

1 Marie Callender’s Bakes – used free product coupon they sent to me

1 Excedrin — used free product coupon

1 Roast — reduced to $5.03

2 Jalepenos — $0.28

Total spent: $9.25
Total saved (according to my receipt): $31.97

I couldn’t figure out why my total was as low as it was, until I realized later that they ended up taking off the full product value on the free Excedrin and Marie Callender’s coupons, which gave me overage on my order since these were on sale.

You can see a complete list of Dillon’s deals here.

Shared Dec 29, 2010 comment

This Week’s Menu

Published: by Crystal Paine on December 29, 2010 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Cinnamon Scones — I’ll post the recipe next week. We had these for our Christmas Eve Brunch and they were delicious!

I’ve had numerous requests to bring back the weekly menu plan feature and I’m excited that this is one thing I’m making a priority in 2011 — along with a number of other new and revived features!

(Stay tuned next week when I share more about goals for 2011 and my blogging plans and new weekly blogging schedule. I hope it will not only mean that you find more quality content on MoneySavingMom.com, but that you’ll also have a better idea of what will be posted each week — instead of my typical blogging-by-the-seat-of-my-pants, always-behind style.)

I have a plan for executing this new blogging schedule, and I’m actually pretty optimistic that it’s going to work out fairly smoothly and well. We’ll see, though. Sticking with stuff is not always my strong point, as you all well know. 😉

Menus will be posted weekly on Mondays, starting next Monday. Since it’s my “vacation” week this week, I’m giving myself the freedom to post this on Wednesday!

This Week’s Menu Plan

Breakfasts
Crockpot Oatmeal (This royally flopped! Anyone have a reliable Crockpot Oatmeal recipe? All the ones I have tried so far have turned to mushy, icky goop overnight!)
Pancakes
Cold Cereal
Smoothies
Orange Poppyseed Cake
Cold Cereal
Banana Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Muffins

Lunches
Tuna Salad Sandwiches
Stirfry over Brown Rice
Hamburger Vegetable Soup (recipe coming in January!)
Middle Eastern Lentil Soup
Macaroni & Cheese
Leftovers
Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwiches

Hamburger Vegetable Soup — I’ll be posting the recipe in January.

Dinners
The Pioneer Woman’s Beans, Pico de Gallo and The Best Cornbread Ever (I’ve been searching high and low for a fabulous cornbread recipe and I think I’ve finally found it. I’ll share it in January!)
Bacon Wrapped Meatloaf, Sweet Potatoes, Cooked Veggies, Flat Apple Pie
Hamburger Vegetable Soup, Whole-Wheat Popovers, Raw Veggies and Fruit
Beef Hot Dogs, Cooked Peas, Baked Potatoes
Marinated Chicken over Lettuce with Pico de Gallo and Cheese
Finger Foods for New Year’s Eve (We’re celebrating with friends and family and bringing finger foods and goodies to share!)
Dinner Out

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Shared Dec 29, 2010 comment

Contentment is a Choice

Published: by Crystal Paine on December 29, 2010 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

My husband was going through old financial statements a few days ago and we were aghast to read the numbers. During the first year Jesse was in law school, there were six months when we made less than $900 — and some months it was as low as $650. I recall that season of our lives fairly vividly, but seeing those numbers on paper again after a number of years have past was a shock to our systems.

Our rent alone during those months was over $500. I’m still not sure how we made it on so little! No wonder we rarely ate meat and did so many other pretty “extreme” things. (Yes, we had money in the bank to cover most of law school, but that money was locked up in CDs and we’d both decided that it would be untouchable to us except in the case of a dire, life-threatening emergency.)

Our commitment to live within our means and stay out of debt was hard. There’s no doubt about that.

I remember we’d pay our tithe money, our rent check and our basic utility bills and then we prayed that somehow the rest of the money would stretch until the next check would come in. How we were going to afford basic necessities was constantly looming over our heads.

And yet, those months were some of the most precious and memorable in our lives. We saw God provide for us in amazing and unexpected ways. We learned to be wildly creative. We were forced to be incredibly entrepreneurial.

Most of all, we discovered that contentment is a state of the heart, unaffected by outward circumstances.

Contentment is a choice. So choose today to bloom where you’re planted. Choose to make the most of whatever situation you find yourself in. Choose to stop focusing on what you don’t have and start being thankful for the many blessings you do have.

And remember, no matter what difficulties you might be dealing with today, somebody else would love to be in your shoes.

photo by tanakawho

Shared Dec 28, 2010 comment

Yesterday’s Shopping Trips: Aldi, Dillon’s and the health food store

Published: by Crystal Paine on December 28, 2010 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Health Food Store (purchased only the mark-downs): spent $11.71

I gave myself the last four weeks “off” from bargain shopping and using coupons because I was feeling uninspired and motivated to bargain shop and use coupons and because I wanted to spend that time focusing on other Christmas-related things and activities.

It was so nice to have an almost complete break where I didn’t clip a coupon, look at a sales flier or open my coupon box up. We just shopped mostly at Aldi, used up stuff from our pantry and freezer and ate lots of super simple meals.

Dillon’s trip (most purchased mark-downs, including a 10-pound bag of potatoes marked down to $1.59!): spent $13.66

The break very much re-energized me and brought back my bargain-shopping motivation and my cooking and baking inspiration. In fact, I’ve been whipping up a lot of new recipes and stepping outside my comfort zone in the kitchen.

I even bought fresh cilantro yesterday (something I’ve never purchased before!) in order to make fresh Pico de Gallo. For those who know me well, you’ll know that this is very out-of-character from the way I’ve been the last year or so. Hmm, maybe I’ll even start making my own homemade tortillas at this rate? 🙂

I’m so excited to have rediscovered my long lost love of cooking and baking and how cathartic it can be to putter around in the kitchen and make delicious food for my family! Expect quite a few new recipe posts here in the near future.

In the mean time, I’m going to go eat some of the delicious Cranberry Pecan Oatmeal I made for breakfast! I’ll share this week’s menu this evening.

Aldi Shopping Trip: spent $28.31

Shared Dec 27, 2010 comment

Do-It-Yourself: Snowflake Quesadillas

Published: by Crystal Paine on December 27, 2010 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Heavenly Homemakers shares another creative way to use the Snowflake Tortillas — to make Snowflake Quesadillas!

Do you have a fun and frugal DIY idea to share? I’d love to hear about it! Read the submission guidelines and submit it here.

Shared Dec 23, 2010 comment

Celebrating a Simple Christmas: Snowflake Tortillas

Published: by Crystal Paine on December 23, 2010 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Okay, so Snowflake Tortillas aren’t exactly a Christmas activity, but we included it with our planned fun family activities for this week anyway.

The girls had so much fun cutting the tortillas into different snowflake shapes.

Kaitlynn pretended hers was a mask (nevermind the un-matching clothes, she’s still learning that just because a top and bottom have pink in them doesn’t mean that they match!)

They thought the sprinkling with cinnamon/sugar mixture was the coolest thing ever.

Ready to go into the oven.

Fresh-from-the-oven Snowflake Tortillas. Yum!

Snowflake Tortillas

Recipe adapted from Mob Mom

6 tortillas
1 tablespoon butter
2 teaspoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Fold tortillas in half and then in half again (like you would make a paper snowflake). Use clean scissors to cut out shapes. Open up and brush with melted butter. Mix cinnamon and sugar together and sprinkle over the tortillas.

Bake at 375 degrees for around five minutes. Let cool slightly and then enjoy eating your creation!

Shared Dec 22, 2010 comment

No-Bake Oreo Pie Recipe

Published: by Crystal Paine on December 22, 2010 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

This easy no-bake pie will be a hit with everyone around your table… and you can whip it up in 15 minutes or less!!

You will love this Oreo Cream Pie Recipe

Looking for a super simple recipe to take to a Christmas gathering this weekend? How about some Oreo Pie?

Cool Whip sent me a basket of ingredients and encouraged me to try a new recipe using Cool Whip. Truth be told, we prefer making our own whipped cream with real cream. But I had fun looking through Cool Whip recipes and choosing one to try. I finally decided to go with the Oreo Pie recipe, considering everyone in our family loves Oreos.

Did I mention we love Oreos? Just to prove this statement, I’ll confess that it took me three tries to actually get the pie made, because the first two packages of Oreos I bought were consumed before I could so much as attempt to make the pie! And it wasn’t just the children who were responsible for the disappearing Oreos.

Ahem.

Oreo Cream Pie Ingredients

1/4 cup butter (or margarine)
1 package Oreo cookies (at least 36 cookies)
1 1/2 cups cold milk
2 packages (4-serving size) vanilla-flavored instant pudding
1 8-oz. tub Cool Whip, thawed

How to make No Bake Oreo Pie

1. In a large bowl, melt the butter and set aside.

2. In a blender or food processor, crush 24 cookies.

3. Pour cookie crumbs into the bowl of melted butter, mix, and press onto the bottom and sides of a 9-inch pie plate.

4. In the same bowl, beat milk and pudding together until thick (approximately 1 to 2 minutes).

5. Carefully stir in Cool Whip topping and blend well.

6. Crush or chop 12 additional Oreos and fold them into the pudding mixture.

7. Spoon pudding mixture into crust.

8. Garnish with Oreos and refrigerate at least four hours.

Oreo Pie Recipe Variations

My husband declared this pie “delicious!” despite the lack of real whipped cream. However, his first question after telling me it was good was, “Do you think you can make it with real whipping cream?”

Yes, we’re real whipping cream “snobs” like that!

There are so many ways you can mix up this recipe to make it your own (or just use up the ingredients you already have in the house!

Use homemade whipped cream instead of using Cool Whip
Use a graham cracker crust, or even a different type of cookie crust instead of Oros.
Use a different flavor of pudding.
Add sprinkles or other garnishes
Try freezing the pie for a frozen “ice cream” type pie!

No Bake Oreo Pie Recipe tips

This pie will taste absolutely delicious no matter how you present it — but here are a few tips to help the process go smoother and the finished results look extra special.

Take the time to crush your cookies well to create a firmer crust that sets better.
Don’t over-mix the whipped cream into the pudding or it can get flat

How to store leftover Oreo Cream Pie

This pie needs to be refrigerated , and will last in the fridge for several days (it’s a great make-ahead dessert).

You can also freeze this pie and either eat it as a frozen pie or let it defrost before you’re ready to eat. \

Recipe

15-Minute Oreo Pie

Author Crystal Paine

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 15

Ingredients

1 pkg Oreo cookies at least 36 cookies
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1 1/2 cups milk
2 pkg vanilla instant pudding 4-serving size each
8 oz. Cool Whip thawed

Instructions

In a large bowl, melt the butter and set aside.
In a blender or food processor, crush 24 cookies.
Pour cookie crumbs into the bowl of melted butter, mix, and press onto the bottom and sides of a 9-inch pie plate.
In the same bowl, beat milk and pudding together until thick (approximately 1 to 2 minutes).
Carefully stir in Cool Whip topping and blend well.
Crush or chop 12 additional Oreos and fold them into the pudding mixture.
Spoon pudding mixture into crust.
Garnish with Oreos and refrigerate at least four hours.

Nutrition

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Snowflake Tortillas

You will love this Oreo Cream Pie Recipe

Oreo Cream Pie Ingredients

How to make No Bake Oreo Pie

Oreo Pie Recipe Variations

No Bake Oreo Pie Recipe tips

How to store leftover Oreo Cream Pie

15-Minute Oreo Pie

Ingredients 1x2x3x

Instructions

Nutrition

Love this recipe?

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Ingredients