Ima Be an AUNT!!!

We just found out about a week ago that my sister is gonna have a baby! She's just over 6 weeks pregnant. We are busy hunting freecycle, garage sales and others for baby stuff... Any good advice on coupons/freebies/must haves for the mommy-to-be? I'll be posting lots of baby stuff over the coming months :) Maybe even a giveaway if we get alot of followers... I'm at 12 right now, maybe if I reach 50 before the baby comes, in December I'll do a giveaway... Baby related of course! Spread the word!

Post your advice on coupons/freebies/must haves and I'll pass them along to the mommy-to-be!

Saving Money... as a housewife

Last night it was brought to my attention, through a chat on facebook with an old junior high classmate, that there are people who look down upon those of us who take on the noble profession of housewife. He asked me what I was up to these days, and I answered with, I'm married, living in Southwest Missouri, and I am a housewife. He then continued on with telling me that he didn't believe in women being completely dependent upon their husbands, and that a woman should be able to support herself should something happen (making me think that he is saying that because I am a housewife, I am unable to work or unable to make a living for myself). He also went on to tell me that he and his live in girlfriend both work full time, and are going to school full time to be nurses. The subject slightly changed to how much "work" is involved in being a housewife or house husband (as he told me he would love to be a house husband someday). I told him that most days I do alot harder work than my husband does at his job, although mine is more physically taxing and his is more mentally taxing. This "friend" went on to tell me that house work was not hard, it was not work, it just took time. So.... I decided that I would blog about this tonight. About the hard work that I do as a housewife, and how much money we are saving by doing this hard work, and by me staying at home.

*We hand wash all of our laundry, and hang dry. Most of the time I make my own laundry detergent. By hand washing, the clothes get cleaner, and whiter, and usually they smell cleaner, not of chemicals.

*With me not working, we are able to cut our gas consumption by over 1/2. We walk to run most of our errands, or we ride the local trolley. My husband most of the time walks to work. Mostly the only car running we do is to take him to work on nights that the weather is bad or we're running late, to go to church, to run errands to far away to walk or ride the trolley, or to go out of town. We can usually make a tank of gas last 2-3 weeks, if not longer.

*With me at home, I have time to cook, and cook from scratch. I use the internet for most of my recipes. We do use some convenience as of now, but we are hoping to soon stop using processed foods and do everything from scratch. This not only cuts costs but also is healthier.

*We don't have cell phones. Currently our only bills are Internet, Skype, Electricity, Water and Rent. We pay $43 a month for Internet and roughly $5.45 per month for skype full phone service for the U.S. and Canada. So for less than it would cost us to have landline phone service through AT&T we have internet and home phone.

*Obviously, I coupon. By couponing, I have been able to "buy" free HBC products, free food, and almost free cleaning chemicals. I have been able to donate them and help out friends and family members when they couldn't afford to buy food for themselves. For the past month and a half, I haven't had to buy groceries, and when I did go buy groceries or we went out to eat, it was because it was something that we wanted special. And I still have a freezer full and 2 pantries full of food! When I was working, I didn't have time or energy to do this.

*I make the internet work for me. Currently I have 3 different websites that I use to "make money". I do Inbox Dollars, Mypoints and Listia. Inbox Dollars pays me to check my email, and sends me out a check for $30 when I reach that amount. Mypoints does the same thing, but you rack up points to redeem for gift cards. Listia is an ebay style auction site where you bid points for free items. You can obtain more points by listing items you want to get rid of, among other things. I have been able to get many wonderful things so far through this site. If you would like to join me on any of these sites, please use these urls, as they give me a bonus for people signing up from my site. Inbox Dollars and Mypoints: I have to send a referral email, so contact me. Listia: http://www.listia.com/signup/27823.

Feel free to ask me any questions about these sites, or about any of the other things that I've talked about.

These are the things that I can think of so far, I would like to hear from you, my readers, things that you do to save money. Also, if you are a housewife, how you stand up for this noble choice of staying home to take care of your family.

Snowed in...

Well, we were snowed in for the past couple of days. Today it's pretty much all gone though.

Friday it was 70*, we were out in the garden, tilling & planting. Went for a walk with my friend's kids, it was a great day!

Saturday morning we woke up to 38* temps, and a forcast of snow. Within a few hours the snow was falling. By that night it was below freezing, and there was 6 1/2 inches of snow on the ground.

Sunday there was no church, there was another 2-3 inches on the ground, and when we woke up there was sleet coming down. By afternoon it was all over, but we had lots of snow...

Today it is 53* and most of the snow is gone. Tomorrow is to be in the 70s again...

I broke...LOL

So, yesterday we went to Price Cutter... (I know... I know... I'm in the middle of a pantry challenge!!! What was I thinking, going to a grocery store!!!) We only spent $7.79 though. Here's what I got.

(2) $1.00 Hodgen's Mill Macaroni & Cheese (Whole Grain)

$1.25 Hodgen's Mill Whole Grain Mini Shell Pasta

$3.29 Pimento Cheese Spread (So that when hubby isn't home I have something quick & easy for a meal)

$.89 Cream Cheese

Last night we had yummy grilled hamburgers with mozzerella cheese & french fried onions on them... OOOOO they were sooooooo good!!!

Tonight we are having hamburger gravy & cornbread :)

Rachel Ray's Oven Fries

This is the recipe that I use for my oven fries. I don't remember which of her cookbooks it came from, but it is one of Rachel Ray's recipes. I didn't write down how long to cook them for on the recipe card when I copied it down, so we just watch them to see when they're done. Probably about 15 minutes in our oven.

Oven Fries with Herbs

3 All-Purpose potatoes, scrubbed & dried

About 2 tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon herb mixture:

1 teaspoon dried parsley

1 teaspoon sage

1 teaspoon rosemary

1 teaspoon thyme

salt to taste

Preheat the oven to 500*. Cut the potatoes into wedges and place on a cookie sheet. Pour the olive oil over the potatoes, and evenly rub them all with it. Rub the herbs onto the potatoes as well. Bake.

We've been continuing on with our pantry challenge. We made chili the other night, with 4 different kinds of beans, just to use up what we have. We used great northerns, pintos, kidneys & lentils. It's not too bad...

Let's Hear it for My Followers!!!

Wow, Guys! I had all of 4-5 followers as of about a month ago! Now I have 8!!!! I know that doesn't seem like much, but those 4-5 people were all people that I personally know here around town! I would truly love to hear from my followers, what they've gotten out of my blog, or what they would like to hear from me... I am planning on posting more recipes...

I forgot to post yesterday on how the challenge was going, but the baking the fish worked well, I would say that most of the grease dripped off in the baking! Last night we then had macaroni & cheese and hot dog sandwiches. I cut the hot dogs longways and put them on bread with ketchup. (We didn't have any buns, so it makes it to where you don't have to have buns...)

Today for lunch we had the last of the leftover fried rice and mac & cheese. Not sure what's going to be for supper tonight yet.

Leftovers!!!

We've been eating on leftovers for the past 2 days... Leftover fried rice and leftover fish & oven fries. The fried rice is almost gone now, and we finished the fish & fries today at lunch. We'd been having problems with the grease from the fish being fried, so today I thought I'd try something a little different. I took one of my cooling racks, and put it down in a "walled" baking sheet, and put the fish on top. This allowed the fish to warm up evenly all around, without having to be turned, and also for the grease to drain off. It worked like a charm! I'm thinking that from now on, we are going to make the things homemade (chicken nuggets/popcorn chicken, fish, french fries, etc) in the fry daddy, but not cook it completely, and then allow it to finish cooking in the oven. I'm going to try doing this idea and freezing the pre-battered items as well... :) I can't wait, I'll let you know the outcome!