Frugal Friday With Marsha--Linky Party

It's been a full week again since I've blogged!  Life is so full for me and I sure have some catching up to do.

We've had snow, a LOT of it, these past couple of days.  More snow than we've seen at one time in Kansas in a decade.  It's sort of nice, past the fact that I have to go out to work today.

I cheated one night this week for supper....and it wasn't frugal.  I ordered pizza from Papa Johns.  Sure, it was a special for $9.99 for a large.  I ordered 2 though and we did eat them for 2 nights.

I only went to the grocery store once this past week!

I spent $7.83.  I saved $14 with coupons and had a total savings of 74%.
There were printable coupons for $1 off any pork.  I used those to get the pork riblets that were marked for quick sale.  One package  for .87  and the other was $1.37.  Yes, we had those for supper that night.

We were able to get 2 loaves of bread and 2 packages of hamburger buns from the warehouse free. (If you don't know, my husband is a route driver for Sara Lee).  We then did have to buy a gallon of milk to finish out the week as well.  It was on sale for $2.99.

What have you posted this past week?  I really do enjoy reading posts that are linked up.  The learning and the motivation are great!


 

Frugal Friday with Marsha--Linky Party

I hope this week has found you saving money, being frugal, accomplishing whatever your goals are!

Here are my shopping trips since last Friday:

Only 55% saved on this trip, but fish for a month and a few more cans of chili in our stockpile.  Spent $13.87, saved $6.40 with coupons and I rec'd a $5 catalina towards my next trip for buying the fish!

 Using the $5 catalina and an addition $2.50 in coupons, I saved 94% on these 5 items, spending just .80!

 The total for this order was $8.98, but I spent nothing out of pocket because I used part of a $10 gift card that was sent to me by bzzagent.com and Kroger to try the Kroger Yogurts.
I used $12.05 in coupons for a savings of 65%

We were stocked up enough that this was the only shopping for the entire week.


Other news this weeks is me cleaning out and reorganizing my craft room.  I am just in amazement (more like appalled) at how many items I have allowed to get into my craft room that don't belong in there.  I won't post the before photos here, but if you would like to see them, you can click over to my gather post: (will open in a new window) Craft Room Before Pictures
I've been wanting my fabric and such organized into cubbies since seeing a photo of a room on pinterest using them.  I've bought myself a couple of small cubby organizers, but hubby bought me a 12 hole unit with part of our state income tax refund.  Not exactly frugal, but will be good for my peace of mind and simple living once my supplies are organized.  If you check out the pictures in my post above, you will know why I haven't had much motivation to get into my craft room and get any real work done.

Your turn to share!
 

Squidoo Hopping---New Lens and Heads Up

 

(sigh)  I hadn't built a new lens since Dec 2!  I finally stop procrastinating on a music review and spent 3 or 4 hours working on this lens.......only to get it put into heads up status for duplicate content.

That is the hardest part for me with these reviews, as the company sends me info that they want in with the review.....mostly along the lines of about the author etc.
I went through the info sent to me and rearranged sentences, changed words, eliminated some words, even eliminated some whole sentences.   The filter still caught it as duplicate content.

I now have gone in and only left 1 or 2 sentences (still in my changed form) from each paragraph and then linked to the biography on his official website.  I do hope it's enough to get it out of heads up, but 3 days later they haven't changed it yet.

How do you handle when you are in this situation?  It's frustrating for me.  I am linking the lens first in this week's linky.

 



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Frugal Friday With Marsha--Linky Included

    Another week has seemed to have flown by.
We had a bit of excitement last Friday for my daughter's 27th birthday.  She was in an auto accident and her van was totaled.   Thankfully she didn't have the children with her and she is ok.  Right now she's having a blast driving a nice rental car, courtesy of the other guys insurance.

I did grocery shopping Friday and Saturday too......haven't been back to store the whole rest of the week!    

 I spent $43.18 total for everything in all 3 photos.   
That figure sounds high to me!  But, there are hot dogs, tuna, Salad Additions, canned chili, Healthy Choice and 4 bags of meatballs for meats.  There are chips, crackers, rice cakes and dips for snacks.  There's fruit cocktail, Craisins, lettuce, spaghetti sauce and pickles for fruits and veggies. 

I saved a total of $104.68 in coupons for everything pictured. Savings of 81% total including sales and coupons. That makes what I paid sound so much better. :)

I also want to say that in January my coupon savings for the entire month were $579.70!! whew! Wish I could do that every month.

I do have to say that my husband went to the store to buy 10  2 ltrs of Dr. Pepper for us on the sale----he came home with 20 2 ltrs!  Also ribs, chicken breasts, chicken legs, a bag of apples, a bunch of bananas, and a bag of oranges.  Admittedly I was happy to see more fresh fruit and some different meats......I was disappointed that he spent $77!! ($35 of that was for the ribs)    I guess though after all the scrimping and attempting to only eat what I could buy with coupons, we deserved a treat.


I'm going to start doing a separate blog post from the 99 Cent Solutions book.  Watch for those posts throughout the week  :)   Then I will link them here each week as well.

Your turn to share!
 

A Year in a Camper--Book Review

A Year in a Camper  a family's story of rediscovering the american dream
Written and Illustrated by Mama and Papa of AmericanFamilyNow.org.

ISBN 9781480016415
104 pages available in paperback or kindle.







I found AmericanFamilyNow.org through the weekly homeschool hop linky at Hip Homeschooling Mom.  I was so excited to find their blog and I have been following by email ever since.

See, I have this dream in my own head of living in a camper.  Not necessarily like Mama and Papa and family do, with the camper in a stationary place, but living in a camper all the same.   I have so enjoyed following along with their adventures through their blog.

When I seen the blog post that they had published a book, I couldn't wait to get my hands on it to read.  I am happy to bring you this review.

A Year in a Camper begins with a letter to the reader, written by Mama.  The story starts in the Spring of 2011.  Other chapter are: Summer 2011, Fall 2011, Winter 2011-2012, Spring 2012.  The book ends with Me with You with Ukelele and an End Note.

The book is intermixed with past memories, future hopes, and what was happening right then.
Strung throughout the books are some of Mama's journal entries.  Sprinkled throughout are pictures, drawn by Mama and Papa.

The back of the book reads:
Ever daydream of letting go everything that keeps you tied down?
Of abandoning a traditional lifestyle for a more unique, adventurous experience?
We did, and we wrote this book as a window into the journey of our first year untethered.
(My answers were yes, yes, and I can't wait to read it)

My thoughts:
I truly loved reading A Year in a Camper.  It brought several things to life for me that I hadn't really thought about in my own dream.
Among those was basic survival.  Mama and Papa are stationary.  They have gardens, and a chicken coop, an outhouse, a well.  (I asked my hubby if he would know how to build a well, to which he told me yes)  

Another thing that was on my mind, was how would it be when you, or others are sick--particularly to their stomach.  Here at home I can hide away from the sick person, or hide myself if I am the one sick.  Mama touches on that in the book, but not much more than to say that she had worried about it, but that it wasn't really that much different than when the family was sick in their house.

One thing that wouldn't happen to me-----I wouldn't get pregnant like Mama did  :)  They adapted to it quite well, including giving birth with a midwife at the camper, just as they had done so with their first 3 children in the house.

Preparing to leave their house, renovations on the camper, building and more changes to the camper once they were set up, storage, eating, entertaining, education, and more are all written about.

This book is a keeper for me.  I intend to look in to it quite often.  My middle daughter is really wanting to homestead, so I will be allowing her to read it and give me her thoughts.   It's more of an eye opener to me than a lot of websites I've visited, because it's a true story on a personal level.


All proceeds from the sale of the book are going to Mama and Papa building a permanent home on the land.
Click the top photo for more information on purchasing the paperback version.
Click the bottom photo to buy A Year in a Camper in Kindle

 



Disclaimer: I was sent a complimentary copy of A Year in a Camper for the purpose of this review. I was not compenstaed in any other way and all opinions are my own.

Squidoo Hopping--Motivate Me!

There are some things going on in my personal life that are bogging down my brain.  I find myself with so many things to do, all the way around in my life, that I don't know where to start, and most of those things aren't getting started!

So, this week, motivate me!!  Share any motivational or helpful lenses that you have built.   To give you some ideas----lenses that teach about squidoo, lenses where you share you earnings on squidoo, lenses on organizing, whether it's your home, your office, your life, etc,  lenses with motivational or Christian sayings, verses and quotes, even lenses about books that are motivational.

I want to say thank you to those who are here each week to link up with me, and to those who stop in occasionally too.  It means a lot to me, and I love linking over to your lenses!

WIP Wednesday--Challenge, Puffs and Savers

Oh my!  I'm working on a rather large crochet order right now, but I snuck in some sewing time to have something quilt related to also share in this week's post.

I didn't do a post last week....didn't think I had enough to report.  However, last week was work day at quilt guild.  We are making pillowcases this year for our community project.  They are being given to local foster care children.  Our guild goal is 200.  We almost has that many turned in and completed on the one day.  I sewed up 3 and gave one that was already made up.  I wish I had gotten photos, but my thinker doesn't think so well these days with so much going on.

I worked this week on my challenge for quilt guild.  It's interestingly busy.  This is my lay out for a wall hanging, which will match the table runner top that I have previously shared.

Now, about this crochet order.  I am making 15 soap savers and 5 bath puffs for Sherry's Lavishing Soap & Bath.  She is going to have my work in combination with her homemade soaps.  So cool!    
I have made the soap savers, but had to adjust my pattern to fit her soaps.  I've never made bath puffs before.  She sent me several different patterns she found online.  I adjusted and adapted between 3 of them to come up with the one that is completed in the multi-colors.  So fun!
She emailed yesterday to add 15 washclothes to her order as well.  What will I be doing this next week?  A world of crocheting, that's what!

I have a bag packed with UFO's that I planned to take to sit n' sew this Friday at the quilt shop.......I think I better crochet those 4 hours instead.  The group won't care what I bring to work on, it's more about the visiting than what we are accomplishing while we visit.  :)

I am linking up with the following blogs:


 

Homeschool Journal--How Do You Handle Days In a Row of Chaos??

This is a me ranting post......but how do you handle having days and days of total chaos??

Last week we only got in one good day of school work with texts and workbooks.    We ended up out and about and not getting to come home when expected day after day.  We didn't even have the usual workbooks in the van to work on.  I had brought them in the house to take the time to go over the work she had done in them.  We only have gotten over one of those workbooks, and yes, that was on our good day of schoolwork.

Let me give you examples of what I am talking about.  One day last week, we started out the day by taking my mom to pay some bills.  It was my oldest daughter's birthday.  After taking my mom around, we stopped back by our house to check the mail for my paycheck.  Got the check, went to the bank, then to the grocery store where we did some coupon shopping.  Driving out of the store's parking lot, my phone rings.  It's my oldest daughter asking if I can please pick her kids up from school (it was early release day) because she was in a car accident.  Pick the kids up, go to the scene of the accident, have to run to my mom's and get copies of the insurance.  We were then at the scene of the accident for over an hour.  But, we then had to sit at the DMV for well over an hour to get my daughter's license renewed.  Directly after that it was to take my daughter to the ER as her neck pain and dizziness had gotten worse.  Dropped her off at the ER, went to Walmart to do my merchandising job, then home to make my daughter a birthday cake.  The cake barely had time to cool to get to my mom's house for the birthday party.    I don't remember what we did the rest of the evening!

Yesterday the morning started out with me going to do my merchandising job.  I often take Jasmine along because we have things that we do with our smartphones to earn gift cards and money.  We scan things at the stores.  We did our scanning at Walmart and then on to Target to scan more items.  From there we headed to my friends house to sort and cut coupons.  Oh oh...forgot that my mom had a dr. appt.  Take mom to her dr. appt, then my daughter called.  She needed me again to pick her kids up from school, take her to get a pre-paid credit card, then to the car rental place.  Once home there was laundry and dishes to deal with before we could get supper.  A last minute text message from the youth group leader reminded the kids that they were doing a movie and pizza that night.

Yes, lots of real life lessons in these days----learning what happens at the scene of an accident (pictures, paperwork, watching ambulance workers, watching the tow truck work), finding out the hassle of the DMV, coupon shopping to save money, earning money from work....the list does keep going.

Lesson learned??  Pray for patience!    Also, keep those workbooks in the van no matter what.  When I am ready to go over them with her,  just bring one in the house at a time, just in case.

Thank you for reading my ranting  :)

I am linking up with:
 

 

Frugal Friday with Marsha --linky included

It's Friday again, and the first day of February too!  It's my oldest daughters 27th birthday today.  Frugally, we are baking her cake from a mix  :)

I've had more coupon shopping trips.  I didn't take pictures of all of them, but here are a 3 of them:

 Spent $53.56.  Used $79.48 coupons.  72% total savings.

Walmart spent $7.65.  Used $8.50 in coupons.  Price matched the milk to $1.99 sale at Aldi.

Spent $12.74.  Coupons used: $47.96.  86% total savings and I rec'd a $3 catalina for my next shopping trip.

My total coupon savings for January 2013 was $579.70!!   Yes, I think I can beat my 2012 total coupon savings of $2, 071.03.


This week's share from the 99 Cent Solutions book are ways to use toothbrushes:

1.  Put a toothbrush to grate use.  Have trouble getting cheese, or carrot pieces off of your grater?  Just use a toothbrush to clean the grater.

2.  Tame your brows.  If your eyebrows are going every which way, just spray a toothbrush with a light coating of hair spray and brush them down.

3.  Get dirt out of the grout.  Use an old toothbrush to get in the crevices of your grout.  Also around the faucet.

4.  Brush before you eat....no, not your teeth, but your fruits and vegetables.  Especially brush those mushrooms, asparagus and peppers with a toothbrush before throwing them in the pot.  You will get off a lot more of the dirt and such that you normally would miss.

Your turn!



 

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