The job of "mother" is the most important one there is. It is also the most underpaid. For Mother's Day why not go out of your way to make her day special! With my list of 10 more Mother's Day gifts for the budget-minded consumer you don't have to spend a lot of money to make mom's day memorable!
1) Hand Made Sweets
Anyone can buy candy or cookies for their Mom but how many more brownie points do you think you would earn if you made them yourself? Try making something different (like pettifors) and even if it doesn't turn out quite right your effort alone will be appreciated!
2) Photo Album or Scrap BookEveryone has pictures from a trip or their children's early years that they haven't had the time to organize yet. Make a scrap book with the pictures or slip them into a photo album to keep them neat and usable until she can scrap book them herself!
3) The Gift of ShoppingI love to shop for bargains and sales but feel guilty spending money on it especially if the items are for my personal use. Consequently gift certificates to my favorite stores are some of my favorite gifts! A real bonus is when my daughter goes with me to spend them and pays for lunch too!
4) Auto DetailIf you are like my daughter you use your Mom's car an awful lot. In fact she puts twice as many miles on it as I do! One year she spent the time to detail and clean every inch of my car and even filled the tank for me! I loved it!
5) A Plant
I have always preferred plants over flowers. Flowers tend to be more expensive and can not be enjoyed for a very long period of time. Plants can live almost forever and some can even be repotted outside for years of enjoyment!
6) A Phone Call
Regardless of what else you send your Mother a phone call is always a nice added touch, especially if you live far away. Let her talk to the kids and make sure to ask her about what is going on in her life. Make sure to actually listen. A follow up text the next day is and added bonus!
7) Hand Crafted GiftsIf you have a few extra dollars to spend you can find excellent artist created jewelry and gift on www.etsy.com or www.artfire.com. Both sites cater to the unique, unusual, and special hand made items from local crafters and artisans. You are sure to find something amazing for her!
8) Massage
I love getting massages. I my town you can get an hour of massage for anywhere from $30 to $50 dollars. Chip in with several family members (at maybe $10 each) and Mom will adore the pampering! If you can't afford to purchase one check a book out of the library and teach yourself a few basic moves. The gift of time spent in preparation on top of the massage will earn you extra points!
9) Hand Made Card
This is a must when there are young children in the family. Mothers tend to cherish anything made by their children with Mother's Day cards among the most favorite items. Use old magazines to cut out pictures, scraps of fabric or lace doilies, and even beads, buttons or glitter! Let your imagination be the limit!
10) Chocolate Fountain
Chocolate fountains can be rented relatively cheaply (we bought ours at a local outlet store for $20). You can buy a few bags of chocolate chips when they are on sale at Christmas time and freeze them to use next Mother's day in a fountain. Provide small bowls of nibbles like dried fruit, marshmallows, pretzels, and cookies for a treat that is as much an experience as it is a meal!
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Are Washing Zip Top Bags Worth It?
Depending on your personal habits, line drying laundry can save as little as twenty five cents a load. Reused zip top bags can save as little as a half a penny a use depending on how little you paid for them initially. Taking into account how infrequently you perform either money saving activity your cash savings can be as little as a dollar a month between the two.
I think the important thing to remember about line drying laundry or even washing out zip top bags is that it puts us in a frugal mindset. You may not get a larger return for performing one of these frugal activities but when applied over a variety of tasks the cumulative effect can be very substantial.
It also gets you thinking in the directing of reducing your energy and product consumption. Who knows, just being in this particular mind set may lead you to thinking of an idea that could save you a major amount of money in the long run. Say for instance someone who uses a good amount of pricey hair care products who decides to go "no-poo" and discovers they love the results! This reaps them a huge savings in their particular situation.
It is just like the kid sitting in calculus class who thinks "I will never use this stuff." Classes like that taught us so much more than just how to do calculus. They taught us how to learn difficult tasks, how to persevere, how to approach a problem logically, and many other skills. You may never have used the calculus but you have used all the other skills you learned every day!
It is the same with any minor way you choose to reduce your expenses every day. You won't get rich on any one activity but the trickle effect can turn into a snowball that can net you a tidy sum eventually. Even if you never realize the monetary rewards you were shooting for the other skills you learn during the exercise will be things you will use every day of your life!
I Hate Cleaning My Kitchen
I grew up in a home that was more like a museum that a house. We even had those plastic runners on the carpet that showed you the path to the kitchen from the front door. There were rumors circulating that if you accidentally stepped off the plastic runner guard dogs would chase you back to the designated path. I mean, it never happened to me. I was too afraid to find out if it was true or not.
I dutifully stayed on the designated path only occasionally wondering how the couch could breathe while it was encased in a protective cover. Growing up in this type of environment leaves you a bit twitchy to say the least. Nothing less than perfection is accepted, and I am anything but perfect.
Fast forward to the present where I struggle to keep my own home in as pristine a condition as my childhood home had been. I have nightmares where CPS busts through my front door and seven women wearing white gloves start running their fingers over everything, disapprovingly click their tongues, and drag my children to safety. What? Is it just me?
I have, over the years, become a little more relaxed in my assessment of my housekeeping skills, mainly because my son and daughter are now 14 and 19 respectively, and I can now enlist their help as well. A lot more gets done, but then again, a lot more gets dirty too!
While we are all good at pitching in to help each other out with most of the house work the one area we can not seem to keep clean is the kitchen.
Part of the problem is that I work out of my home and am constantly in and out of the kitchen. But then again, if I am always there I could be always cleaning it too - right? Then there is my 14 year old, six-foot tall son. He is nothing less than a garbage can with legs. If he is breathing he is eating. If he is eating he is using dishes. To date he breathes an awful lot.
In an effort to bring a bit of organization to the chaos that is our kitchen I have recently implemented a few rules to try to help us keep our kitchen a bit more usable.
1) Paper is perfect! Don't cry to me about the environment. I have done my part for the ecosystem by spawning a few new life forms in my kitchen. You're welcome. It is now time for me to take control. I have an ample supply of paper plates and cups designated for exclusive use when you eat any foods that are not associated with a sit down meal. This has helped a bit. We reuse them throughout the day and even write our names on them so they don't get mixed up. I put them in my scrap pile and mulch the garden with them. See, I help the environment a bit too!
2) Pre-emptive Soaking is a must! I now keep one of my kitchen sinks full of water at all times. When we use something we toss it in there to soak. When it is full we rinse the dishes off and do the whole sink full with new, hot, soapy water. If we are feeling frisky (and the water is still hot) we wash them right away and put them in the dish drainer. Wash as you go is the best way to do it - but I am a realist - I often have too many other pressing things to do!
3) The less you own the less you clean - As I sat there eating a bowl of Cheerios out of the last clean piece of Tupperware with a wooden spoon I realized that the more dishes I owned the more I would use before I was forced to wash everything that had accumulated. I decided to purge my cupboards of everything but the barest of essentials. I didn't need three sets of dishes, I only needed one. I kept the nice Correll set that matched and put the mismatched set and the rarely used china one out in the garage for our next yard sale. I got rid of all the multiple spatulas, wooden spoons, random pieces of plastic ware, odd glass dishes, and cookie tins I had been collecting for years. The less we had the less we used - period!
4) Use the Grill - it is easier and faster to grill outside. We decided to use the grill to cook multiple batches of chicken, chops, hot dogs, and steaks and put them in the fridge to nibble on. After all, the pots and pans we use to cook where a large portion of the clutter. If you don't use it you don't have to clean it! I even cover the grill with foil to cut down on cleaning time.
5) I am not above paying for it! When all else fails I am not above paying one of my kids $20 to clean the kitchen for me. After all, what price can you put on sanity?
For everyone out there who is now horrified and wondering why I would pay my children to clean - this is the thing - the kitchen is my job. My children wash clothes (mine included) bathroom towels, the bed linens, clean the bathrooms and take out the trash. They mow the lawn, help with the grocery shopping, clean the living room, feed the pets, and keep their bedrooms straight with very few exceptions. They are good kids.
The fact that I work about 16 hours a day 7 days a week does make it difficult for me to keep up with the kitchen, especially since it is the most used room in the house, and they sympathize with my plight. They even occasionally clean it for free, but they understand how badly I feel that I do not keep up with it myself. Perhaps a bit of therapy will help me out - but until then - I hate to clean my kitchen, but I am doing the best I can - and getting better every day!
20 Cheap, Easy, Dinners to Serve when Cash is Tight
When money is tight there are many meals you can serve your family on a "beans and rice" budget besides beans and rice! Here are a few ideas to get creative with and try out!
1) Homemade pizza - Home made crust is really not as difficult as people think. It's great as a family project on a movie night! Here is a good one to try.
2) Pasta - With a simple sauce, pesto, marinara and stir fried veggies, or chili Mac (chili with cheese and pasta).
3) Quesadillas - Beans, cheese, and leftover veggies from the fridge
4) Breakfast for dinner - migas, scrambled eggs, omelets, shirred eggs, waffles, pancakes, biscuits, and smoothies made from frozen fruit and yogurt, cereal with fruit, etc.
5) Potatoes - Baked with chili or vegetables from the fridge, shredded and made into latkes/potato pancakes, or breakfast burritos
6) Stir-fry - Rice, vegetables, and teriyaki or soy sauce.
7) Risotto - Arborio rice, onions, chicken stock, cheese. Cook down bacon to sauté the onions. It adds a ton of flavor! Here are a few to try:
8) Soup - chicken tortilla, Veggie, cream of anything you have left over. Here is a good cream soup base recipe to start with.
9) Tacos - Fish tacos (Cajun spiced white fish, tomato, and onion, sour cream, lettuce, beans), bean, cheese, top with leftovers.
10) Panini - Use homemade bread, tomato & mozzarella & basil. Everything tastes better with melted cheese!
11) Chili - Bean, TVP, leftover chicken, toss in any leftovers.
12) Stew - Like chili, also good with any leftovers you may have.
13) Baked potatoes topped with leftover veggies and other things in the fridge.
14) PB&J with veggies sticks and dip.
15) Toasted pita with hummus (easy to make home made) and veggies to dip. Here is an easy hummus dip recipe to get you started!
16) Tuna salad or chicken salad - Stretch it by adding lots of chopped veggies and serve on toasted bread or a bed of torn lettuce leaves. Try my Universal Chicken Salad recipe here.
17) Grilled Cheese - add tomato, bacon, ham, or even veggies to spruce it up.
18) Beans and rice - Red beans and rice or dirty rice.
19) Jambalaya - In a big pot, sauté kielbasa or other spicy sausage with olive oil or butter. Add 4 c or more precooked rice. Stir in big can crushed tomatoes, frozen okra, Salt, Pepper, and Tabasco sauce to taste. Add leftover shrimp, crabmeat, chicken, or ham.
20) Hand pies - Make a thick stew of tasty leftovers minus the gravy part. Put dollops of the stew in the middle of a 6 inch circle of pie crust. Bake till golden. Yum!
Pasta - Good Food for Less
When was the last time you had any kind of pasta other than spaghetti or macaroni? With over 500 varieties of pasta on the market today there is a world of pasta out there! Pasta is a traditionally inexpensive base for many wonderful meals - many of which you already have the ingredients for in your pantry. When preparing a pasta dish, hot or cold, you can create your own next favorite by mixing and matching these basic components:
1) Pasta - Pick one you have never eaten before. Look up recipes for their use on the internet. Get creative!
If you want to stuff it with something try one of these:
Cannelloni, Shells, Manicotti, Ravioli, Agnolotti, or Tortellini
If you want to cover it with sauce try one of these:
Fusilli, Shells, Rigatoni, Penne, Cavatappi, or Bow Ties.
To layer your pasta try Lasagna. You can do so much more with lasagna than your traditional meat, cheese, noodle layered dish. Lasagna noodles can be rolled with a filling for little lasagna rollatinis!
2) Protein - I could say "meat" but we have to respect the vegetarians out there! Pick a protein and grill it simply or prepare it your favorite way. Any meat preparation is worlds better when placed on top of a steaming bowl of pasta!
Try these proteins for a family pleasing hit:
Chicken (ground, grilled, chopped), Beef (ground, grilled and sliced thin, cubed), Pork (medallions are wonderful!), Lamb (ground or grilled), Sausage (grilled and sliced is wonderful!), Tofu (marinated and fried or grilled you can fool meat eaters), Setain (Fry crisp and slice thin), Tuna (a nice grilled tuna steak is heaven!), Fish (with a nice butter sauce an fresh herbs), Beans (so many to choose from - white beans are a favorite!) or Shrimp (grilled, fried, or even battered!).
3) Sauce - Hot or cold, red or white, there are as many sauces as there are pasta choices! A simple mixture of canned soups with milk can turn any pasta into a wonderful casserole. A sauce of mayo with a bit of mustard and horse radish turns cold pasta into a refreshing summertime meal. You can mix and match sauces and pastas to come up with new and exciting variations. Research sauces online and try out a few of your favorites.
Here are a few good sites to try:
4) Herbs and Spices - I put salt, pepper, and garlic powder in almost everything I make. They are a go-to combination that I like in everything. Bay leaf is another. When simmering a red sauce a bay leaf imparts an herb quality that I adore. Just remember to remove it before serving! When choosing your spices keep it simple and fresh. Better to have a few high quality spices in a sauce than a slew of low quality flavors competing for attention.
My favorites: Salt, pepper (try different varieties!), Bay leaf, garlic, oregano, thyme, basil, onion powder.
Fresh herbs are preferable to dried but are not always available. If you buy fresh herbs you can freeze the extra in little cubes of ice to throw into your next sauce. Try starting a small pot of a few herbs on your window sill. That way you have them as fresh as can be and always on hand!
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Remaking Leftovers into a Second Meal
That especially applies to leftovers! With a few simple strategies you can find something to do with every scrap of food you have left in your refrigerator - no matter how small it is.
With these strategies in mind you can make use of planned or unplanned leftovers in a snap!
10 Reasons to Use Oven Bags to Cook Everything
The first time I used one was to cook the most succulent, flavorful Thanksgiving turkey I had ever eaten. I was hooked instantly!
If you haven't tried cooking bags you need to try them right away! Here are 10 compelling reasons why!
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