January 18, 2012

Can Coupons Be Used Responsibly?

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Written by Courtney, Contributing Writer As mothers raising families in a tough economy, we are always looking for ways to save money and make our dollars stretch a little further. Since the beginning of time, mothers have learned to be wise stewards of the limited resources available to them. More recently, many have turned to coupons to help make the most of their family's hard earned dollars. Using coupons and taking advantage of sales and other promotions can be valuable tools to help us maximize [...]

Filed Under: Frugality, Good stewardship, Real, whole food Tagged With: , , , , , , , , 56 Comments
January 12, 2012

My New eBook- Plan It, Don’t Panic: Everything You Need to Successfully Create and Use a Meal Plan

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Announcing my newest eBook... Plan It, Don't Panic: How to Successfully Create and Use a Meal Plan! What if you could learn to meal plan in a way that helped you to eat better, while saving you money, time and stress? After the huge success of the Plan It, Don't Panic Meal Planning Challenge that I ran on my blog this past fall, I realized that there was a definite desire for women to learn how to meal plan more effectively and to start doing [...]

Filed Under: Books, Frugality, Getting organized, Homemaking, Menu Planning Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , 18 Comments
January 10, 2012

Book Review: The Money Saving Mom’s Budget (5 Copies to Win!)

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If you want to learn something, one of the best ways is to learn from someone who has actually done it. Do you want to learn to get your budget under control, cut your expenses drastically, simplify your life, and live both frugally and generously? My dear friend, Crystal Paine, is just the person to ask. Her story speaks for itself. She and her husband began their marriage on a penny-pinching, rice and beans budget of as little as $650-900 (total!) some months, while he went through law school, [...]

Filed Under: Books, Budgeting, Frugality, Giveaways, Reviews Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , 1,133 Comments
January 6, 2012

5 Tips for Saving Money on Natural Skincare

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Written by Stacy Karen, Contributing Writer As we learn more about how our skin absorbs the products we slather on, it's only natural that we desire to use safe alternatives as part of our regular skin care routine. If you’ve taken a peek at some of the organic/natural skin care products on the market, you already know how expensive they can be. When we are seeking to do what is best for our health and the health of our family, this can be really frustrating. [...]

Filed Under: Frugality, Natural living Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , 33 Comments
December 27, 2011

11 Ways to Save on Your Grocery Bill

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  As 2011 comes to an end, we’re sharing helpful lists to help you save money, stay healthy, get organized, creatively repurpose, frugally gift-give, intentionally celebrate and more in our “11 Things for 2011” series throughout these holiday months. By Contributing Writer Brandy Ferguson As a busy wife and mother of almost eight boys, it's been necessary through the years, to find more and more ways to save on our growing family's grocery bill. The list could be endless, of course, including practical tips like [...]

Filed Under: Frugality, In the kitchen Tagged With: , , , , , , , , 35 Comments
November 3, 2011

11 Ways to Use Stale Bread

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As 2011 comes to an end, we’re sharing helpful lists to help you save money, stay healthy, get organized, creatively repurpose, frugally gift-give, intentionally celebrate and more in our “11 Things for 2011” series throughout these holiday months. If there is one thing that I truly disdain, it’s waste in my kitchen. I firmly believe that one of the most effective ways to learn to save money on your grocery bill is to buy less food because you’re wasting less of it. Did you know [...]

Filed Under: Frugality, In the kitchen, Recipes Tagged With: , , , , , , 30 Comments
October 31, 2011

Plan It- Don’t Panic Meal Planning Challenge (and Simplifying Menu Planning for Busy Times)

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Snow is lovely. Except when it delays my flight home from Pennsylvania by 24 hours, keeping me from my family. These things just happen, though, and so here I sit in the Harrisburg Sheraton hotel, attempting to come up with a suitable meal plan filled with simple meals for a week of transitioning back to regular life and coming home to an empty fridge! Unexpected circumstances and hectic times don't have to mean that we can't still meal plan effectively. By definition, the whole purpose [...]

Filed Under: Getting organized, Menu Planning Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 21 Comments
October 24, 2011

Plan It- Don’t Panic Meal Planning Challenge Week 5 (And 7 Ways to Use Those Leftovers)

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Can you believe we've been consistently meal planning together for over an entire month now? I don't know about you, but after a summer of inconsistency, in both my planning and in the meals I was serving, it feels good. Really good. We're eating better, saving money, and there are certainly less panicked dinner hours because I have a plan and I use it. It also enables me to take advantage more often of one of my favorite meal-making techniques... leftovers! Leftovers are a busy [...]

Filed Under: Getting organized, Menu Planning Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , 31 Comments