I'm BAAAACK

Whew! I can't believe that it's been almost a year since I've blogged. How crazy is that! Family had to come first of course so blogging just fell to the wayside. I went back to school-so I am earning my PhD part-time while staying at home. So now so much of my time online is searching for scholarships relentlessly! I am still rubbing my pennies together and I started really using my garden to supplement our food supply.

Tip for the Day...

When your grape tomatoes are starting to wrinkle and go bad, throw them in the oven with some olive oil and italian spices. It really intensifies the sweetness of the tomato and takes on the taste of sun-dried tomatoes. Use in salads, sauces and other dishes for an intense sweet tomato flavor. Hopefully I will be posting more soon!

Watch out for discount stores!!!

I wanted to post this email I received off a listserve. I LOVE to shop at places like Dollar General and Big Lots especially. I think I might have even blogged about Big Lots previously because I have found some great organic foods there at reduced prices. But after I read this I'm going to think twice before I purchase anything from there again! This is just an FYI for my readers....


"Please be careful what you buy at stores like Dollar General, Big Lots,
etc. I was a truck driver during and after Hurricane Katrina. Major
stores like Wynn Dixie, etc would sell their items to these low cost
stores. I would literally haul items out of Wynn Dixie, even Lowes and
take this stuff that was covered in God knows what kind of filth (ok,
water, sewage, and flies from the dead animals and people, raw meat in
the store) and take it straight to the low end stores. After that, I
never went to another one. And even today you just don't know where they
get their items. Sorry for the FYI in your face, but they cover the
fact up very well."

Frugal Fixins....

So I was in Wal-mart the other day and I was at the deli counter. A woman came up and picked out one of those rotisserie chickens and then made an odd request. She asked the woman behind the counter if she could have some of the chicken drippings from the bottom of that large rotisserie. The woman looked at her oddly as I did. She then explained that she liked to use the drippings to make her own gravy because the stuff in the jar was "god-awful" and she liked to add a little to rice water to give her rice a little extra flavor. So the woman gave her a container full of the stuff for free. I thought that was a great way to make some very inexpensive gravy that was delicious. Now if I were Jewish and did not observe kosher laws how great would all that free schmaltz be? It would certainly save me the trouble of rendering drippings to make my own. It really gave me a hankering for chopped chicken liver on rye with some hard boiled eggs. YUM! Sounds gross-yes, but I guarantee you go into some of these kosher delis (especially in NY) and you'd think you were in heaven! I wonder if any of my readers can think of any other uses?

More legitimate work at home companies....

Some of these I might have posted previously-I'm not sure. Someone sent me a list. I can personally vouch for alpine access, live ops, working sol, work at home agent, and westat at home. Although-I should mention that Westat at home takes a LONG time to go through the hiring process and for them to actually contact you back! Hope it helpful to someone...

www.alpineaccess.com
www.liveops.com
www.workingsol.com
www.workathomeagent.com
www.arise.com
www.accoladesupport.com
www.customloyal.com
www.sciathome.com
www.overflowusa.com
www.acddirect.com
www.westathome.com
www.convergysworkathome.com
www.hirepoint.com 

A Frugal Milk Tip...

Many people suggest using non-fat dry milk instead of buying the more expensive (more perishable) milk from the dairy case. I personally can't stand the taste of the stuff-ugh, it reminds me of when I had to eat powered eggs as a kid (deep shudder). My concession (because I AM so frugal) is that I use it in baking or items that I am going to cook-potatoes au gratin, pancakes, waffles, etc. and I save the good stuff for drinking with my cookies :), and for my cereal and milk. If you are someone who can go the non-fat dry milk route-by all means do it. But this is the compromise that I had to make. Also, I usually get marked down organic milk from Kroger and freeze it!

Has it really been over 5 months????

I can't believe that it has been so long since I have written in this blog. As we have stated before trying to make a dollar outta fifteen cents is not an easy feat and I am going on two years of being home. There have definitely been some challenges (unexpected things we did not plan for) but I have truly been enriched by being home with my daughter and raising her. I believe I made the right choice. I also (for some reason) decided to go back for my PhD in January. So that has been kicking my butt-but I love it! I am most likely going to go back to work in the fall part time for my doctorate but I am lucky enough to found someone who I trust enough to co-op with. We are going to switch off our children because I am going to be working during the day a few days per week and she is going to be going to school at night a few days per week and that way neither one of us has to pay the crazy cost of daycare! You know me..always looking for a bargain. I need to go make my usual rounds...so many people I have not checked in on...

Odd Things to Reuse.....

Some odd things I would have never thought to reuse....


Banana Peels-evidentially they are great for plants, especially roses. Chop them up and add them to your gardening soil.

Got Alot of Old Wire hanging around? (the kind coated in plastic)- Here are a few ideas...

1) Make a macramé pot holder using cork board instead of that usual loom. Am I the only one who loved to make these (out of that stretchy stuff) as a kid?

2)Use them for hanging pictures...

3)Use them to replace your line on your clothesline.


Got some expired Condoms??? Here are a few interesting ideas...

1) Use it as a gun cover when you are out on your boat.

2) Donate it to planned parenthood or somewhere where they teach sex education, they use them for demonstrations (remember that whole deal with the banana LOL).

3) Use it during camping to store matches and other small items you don't wish to get wet.

4) Blow them up as balloons for an adult themed party.


Ways to use Old Maps...

1) Wrapping paper

2) Fold and use as envelopes

3)Glue over a jigsaw kit and WHAM! You have a new free puzzle.

I hope you found these as interesting and fun as I did. I got these ideas from my new favorite website, Recycle This!

Please go check them out!