2011 Highlights

2011 sure went by fast, I swear the older you get, the faster time goes! Remember how slow it seemed to go when you were a kid? As much of a blur as 2011 seemed to go let me see if I can remember a few highlights of the year!



1.) We got to take the kids to a hands on Museum in Saginaw Michigan, while we found it was aimed for a younger age group we all still had fun and found out next time we should take them to a place called The Castle there!

2.) We got to go spend a week with my sister and visit my mom while there. Our daughter also spent a night with her grandma on daddy's side along with her cousin who just moved here from Greece. They went to Green Field Village and we went swimming and garage saling!

3.) We got to spend a day locally garage saling, it has been 12 years since we lived in a place for good garage saling so this was tons of fun for us!

4,) I went on MANY 12 mile bike rides!

5.) We spent a day walking our new town getting to know it after finding $60 on a dirt country road! We walked town, went into any stores that caught any of our eyes, and had smoothies at the local bakery! A wonderful day spent as a family!

6.) We ate plenty of seasonal foods as I gleaned and harvested local foods such as apples, morel mushrooms, pears and berries!

7.) Made friends with our elderly neighbor which works out wonderfully. We bake sweets and goodies and always give her some of it or fix a plate if we have a special large dinner. In return she gives us food items she does not want or goes to people she knows to bring us bags of pears or apples. While we have told her she does not need to do this, it is her way of returning the kindness. Her and her son also give us venison from hunting!

8.) Took the kids on the River Walk a wonderful outdoor nature trail winding along our River right outside of town.

9.) Was able to replace our vehicle after 2 months of bike riding, not the way I would of liked but we really needed the car as we approached colder months!

10.) Had plenty to eat!

11.) Did get to go out to eat twice

12.) Was able to take home pizza once a month for most months, did go a couple months without this!

13.) Met my sister in law for the first time as she has moved back to the states after 20 years in Greece and my beautiful nieces and handsome nephew!

14.) Although I had to cash out most my investments I had created the habit of automatic investing where we did not miss the money any. It did bail us out to get our new vehicle too!

15.) Our needs were met, we laughed a lot, we loved fiercly



How was your 2011?

Flour Tortillas

Flour Tortillas

4 cups Flour
2/3 Milk
2/3 Butter (softened)


Blend flour with milk and butter. Knead thourghly and make small balls of dough. Roll balls until very very thin. Bake on hot ungreased griddle, when it gets a little bubbly, turn to other side.( about a minute or two on each side, do not over cook or they get too hard to wrap!)

Basic White Sauce

Basic White Sauce

2 T. Butter
2 T. Flour
1 cup milk


Melt butter in heavy pan on stove, add flour and stir well. Add milk a little at a time stirring well in between additions. Heat stirring constantly until thickened ( do not boil or it will scorch.) About 10 minutes on medium to medium high heat.

What is a Cottage Industry?

A Cottage Industry is a small scale operation typically in regards to manufacturing and producing something at home rather than a factory. Usually ran by family members on their own equipment from their home. It can stem from a growing hobby that turns into home based work in order to start making a profit.

Beekeeping for example is becoming a huge cottage industry on the east coast and with all the problems honey bees have had over the last several years, skyrocketing the cost of honey. Candle making is always a growing Cottage industry as people will always love candles for just their scents or for emergency usages. Many people who sew, needlepoint or other handmade crafts can easily turn it into a cottage industry.

While working from home is not for everyone, A cottage industry certainly has it charms and pluses, especially when facing uncertainty in the workforce in a down economy. Cottage industries have many benefits including freedom to set ones own hours and keeping customer satisfaction and personal touches a top priority that factories of mass production just could never emulate. With an entire family involved in the operation, it builds strong family relationships and teaches children wonderful business skills that nothing else could match.

Starting a Cottage Industry, could very well be one solution to generating more income, although you would have to be disciplined and be capable of actually producing merchandise.

If you were to start a Cottage Industry, or already have one, what would it be?

Reverse Stock Splits: My Biggest Stock Loser for 2011

A Reverse Stock split is when a company takes back  the Original number of shares it offered and condenses it into a smaller number of shares available. They do this in order to raise the price of each share and can be a sign the company is in financial trouble.

This is what happened to a company I chose for 2011 and was for sure my biggest loser for 2011.

When I first saw the stock symbol COIN I was intrigued instantly, who could not help but like a company that had COIN for a symbol? This began my research into this small cap stock that was a fairly new company but had been in business for at least 3 years. I liked that part and it showed fairly sound management as well, or at least for an amateur investor it appeared so.

When I read what the company Converted Organics was about it resonated with my core values and I fell in love. I love picking a company that has value and integrity written all over it.

Then I watched through the entire year as I pretty much lost all but a penny or two as it dropped in share prices. Yes this could be a bad sign and in November when they announced the Reverse Stock Split, well that was not very good news at all! I should run like the blazes, I should drop them perhaps and pick something else. My ETF's are doing really well and if it was not for Converted Organics, I would of showed a small profit from my choices.

So I looked further into why they are doing so poorly and while they have spread  themselves really thin and maybe got a little over  their heads in debt, it was due to acquiring new assets and company growth. They have a seemingly good potential of rebounding ( if they do not fall off the stock market list completely that  is)

So in my end of the year portfolio review, I have decided to ride it out and give them a little while longer. At this point it would  cost me more in the trade fee to dump them than I have in my meager 20 shares of Converted Organics. I will also put more money into purchasing more shares but am limiting that to only $100 as I can live with losing a $100.  Hopefully they can bounce back in 2012 but if not, at least I have my other picks that balance my portfolio out. It is only a meager amount right now ending the year at only $50 due to us having to cash out much of our stocks to get another vehicle and deal with heating costs and such this year.

But hey everybody has to start somewhere right?

A few more ways we save

I am well aware that the things my family does to save is really not anything new, as there really is only so many ways to save. Many of these ideas have been shared in books or online over the years. But, these are the things WE do and have done over the past several years which falls in our comfort zone of how extreme we are willing to go in our savings and living within our means.

So with  no further ado, here are a few more things we do in our savings that I have thought of since the last post on Ways we Save!

1.) Wash laundry out by hand or make own laundry soap (While I no longer do this, I HAVE done it and then hung up on line outside or hangers on the shower curtain! got to hard on my back though so no longer do it and also decided it was not worth the time spent to do it for 5 people!)

2.) Unplug the Computer from Wall at night- ( not a large savings, only saves 2 kilowatts a month but hey it does save!)

3.) Drink WATER- we drink a lot of water here, no kool-aid, pop or other flavored drinks however in summer there is one I will buy on occasion- a mango flavored tropico drink that comes in gallon jugs oh and break down for root beer float items for 100 degree days! LOL ever spend a summer in a trailer with no air conditioning or shade?)

4.) Keep hair short and do our own hair cuts- ( just started keeping mine short but it does save on shampoo and conditioner!)

5.) Buy everything USED- not much I buy brand new other than underwear, swim suits and shoes ( shoes is only because me and my girls have a large size not commonly found at garage sales!)

6.) Buy LITTLE meat- we use small portions of meat for meals usually for meals such as in stir frys, casseroles and such, very seldom have meat as part of main course like for country fried chicken or something!

7.) Eat at home mostly and do not go to town very often- We hardly ever eat out and when we do, it is the most exciting thing to do for the kids! We also plan our trips so we are not having to go to town that often to save on gas.

8.) Use dial-up Internet= Yup it sucks and slow but only 10 bucks a month, however I would love to get high speed eventually!

9.) Not too quick to replace items- I just replaced my slippers after the soles were flapping so bad I was tripping all over the house and it started to become a real danger to walk in them! LOL) So we do not replace something that may not be working perfectly until it becomes a total break down or falling off. When my coffee pot quick working I went a week of boiling water and ladling it through the coffee filter on my pot to get a pot of coffee!)

10.) Find another way!- For example we bought wine without knowing it had corks instead of screw top and we had no wine bottle opener. Hubby simply screwed a screw in the cork and used pliers to pull out the cork- worked great no need to ever buy a cork bottle opener!

11.) Make up our own fun- make up our own games and fun, some which we play again and again because they turned out so fun. My 10 year old came up with a car game she named confused and we play that one quite a bit when we go places!

12.) Price Compare EVERYTHING- While hubby is horrid and will jump the guns on purchases sometimes, I price compare EVERYTHING to get the best price. Sometimes however depending on what we are wanting to purchase, I will spend a little more to get a good QUALITY item. Sometimes Cheap is NOT the best buy and quality really needs to be taken into consideration.

13.) Non-Consumer Mentality- This means I am blessed and happy with what I have and I feel no need to keep purchasing things to add to that. Do not get me wrong there are a few things I do want such as our own house, a tent, and such BUT it is limited to my not wanting to spend on STUFF. My wants and needs are very conscious decisions. No matter what we ever end up making in any given year for income, I believe one can live quite well on around $20,000 a year and have a low impact lifestyle. Consumerism adds to the environmental problems of waste and pollution in huge ways. By consuming less and recycling items ( buying at garage sales and such) we are being much more kind to the environment with much less impact.

Staying Positive When Poor

Awhile back I wrote a post about Staying Positive and thought I would do another post about Staying Positive When Poor. ( To be frank, it is because that is what came up in the keyword search for this blog so I thought I could go a bit more in detail on the subject!)


So how do you stay positive when you are poor?


1.) Focus on what you have, not what you lack- Modern Poverty is a  whole new game with 70 percent are living with video games, air conditioning, computers, DVD players and 700 square foot of living space PER PERSON. Compare that to undeveloped countries that live on less than a dollar a day and I think that alone has us counting our blessings here in America!  Our basic needs are food, shelter and clothes on our back and if we are meeting those needs than that is where our focus of blessings should be counted.

2.) Get Busy! Clean and organize house, draw, read books you can learn something from, start a hobby, start a business, create plans of action, go for daily walks or runs, exercise, you get the point! GET BUSY-GET ACTIVE

3.) Focus on Solutions, not problems- It is easy to get bogged down when we focus on the problems at hand , turn this around by focusing on solutions and coming up with plans of actions that will improve your circumstances

4.) Strengthen Relationships- Work on building strong, close relationships for their is strength in numbers, do not let your situation deteriorate your relationships, this is your team and a team needs to work together!

5.) Watch Comedies or put Feel good music on- The more you laugh or feel good the better so watch tons of comedies and laugh til you hurt or put on that feel good music, a smile on your face and a dance in your step!

6.) Try to always see the humorous side of situations- While this is not always easy, a person can usually find something to joke about almost any situation, learning to laugh at your circumstances can go a long ways in staying positive.

7.) Does not matter where you ARE- It only matters where you are going so have a plan of where you are going!

8.) Be Adaptable- Be ready to adapt to any situation, knowing life does not give you anything you yourself are not capable of handling. Adaptability goes a long ways in surviving circumstances. When we resist change, that is where struggle comes into play.

9.) Marvel at the Beauty of each Day- Take a moment each day to step outside or look around at your surroundings and marvel at the beauty of it. Each day is a miracle. Accept it for what it is.

10.) Obstacle or Opportunity?- Many times opportunities come in the disguise of obstacles, try to see the opportunities that surround us each and every day!

Budgeting Software

I have never used any financial or budgeting software, I have always simply used a notebook.

However I am considering joining the modern world for 2012 and purchasing some type of software.

I would like it to be able to not only do household but home business in mind as well.

So my question to you is what program do you use? Is it fairly easy to use? What do you like and what do you NOT like about it?

Quicken, Peachtree?   Something else altogether?

Determining Personal Assets: The Value of YOU

No I am not talking about material assets here that equate to your Net Worth! When I speak about your personal assets, I am not talking about the cars you own, nor the houses or how much you have in savings accounts or investments.

What I am talking about is is figuring out what YOU are worth as this may be important when figuring out ways to increase income streams.

Everyone has a unique persona filled with skills and special expertise based on your own personal life experiences, past job history, education, hobbies and past times that have developed over time into making YOU the most important asset you have, yet many do not ever stop to take into consideration. Before the start of a new year, and even before you set goals for the new year, it may help to write out a page that shows your Personal Asset Value. For everyone this will look very different from another!

Mine would look like this:

Past Employment
Certified Nurse Aide
Chore Worker for home bound elderly
General Laborer on Construction Crew
Waitress
Humane Society Employed Worker
Cashier as Gas Attendant
Molly Maids ( housekeeping)
Stall Hand at Arabian Horse farm

Self Employment
Scrap Metal Work
Candle Manufacturer
Professional Tarot Reader ( Surprised?)
Day Care Provider
Free Lance Writer
Hobby Breeder  for Local Pet Store
Authored 1 book (so far)

Accumulative Experience in Hobbies or Daily Activities

Organic Gardening
Frugality ( Oh yeah baby, it is a skill!)
Dog Training ( done it since I was 10 and still doing it!)

Animal Behaviorist ( I have a very keen gift of understanding the language of animals NO I CANT hear them talk! LOL just understand their language and signs on how they communicate or why the act certain ways!)

Cooking ( again since I was about 10 Lets see Chef Ramsey make a Delicious meal on 2 to 4 bucks!)

Camping 

Photography

Investing ( very amateur right now but improving my skills and knowledge every month!)

Birdwatching and Identification

Wilderness Survival

Physical Therapy and Disabled Children ( have 2 that have had to have daily extensive physical therapy!)

Homeschooling ( going on 9 years now!)

small scale farming



Well there ya go, a birds eye view of what would be considered my personal assets. I am sure if I really really really stopped to think about it, I could add to this list even more but it non the less is a good list!

Now looking at this, I can determine the things off this list that I have really enjoyed doing ( most of them to be honest) and how I could use these skills to generate money! It may surprise you that for the most part I have dedicated my life for 25 years as a stay at home mom. So taking that into consideration the list is pretty impressive as over the years I have fit things in that have built up my list of skills.

The more skills you acquire, the easier it will be to do something with it. You can also look at your list to see maybe what should be added and make a commitment over the year of 2012 to develop a new skill or two that will really add to your own personal net worth. Investing in yourself is one of the most beneficial things you can do. The more skills you have, the more marketable it is to turn to cash...........

What does your Personal Assets look like?

What We Have Been Eating

A week ago, our sweet neighbor had too much food coming that she could eat so she gave us a bag of free food as her way of thanking us over the year of bringing her baked goods, plates of nice dinners and always keeping a look out for her if she needs help getting things out of her car, heavy lifting and things like that. ( She is 77 so we keep a watchful eye on her!)

She gave us 10 lbs of potatos, stuffing, can of corn, box of hamburger helper, box of Rice a Roni, green tea, bread, milk and a jar of peanut butter.

I also cooked up another Turkey leaving one more Turkey for Christmas dinner ( 4 turkeys from thanksgiving to christmas, my family is NOT complaining!)

I realize I am behind in getting some of the recipes up and I will work on that! I just don't want to be posting 10 new items a day of recipes! LOL.

So this is what we have been eating!

Breakfast

Fried eggs and toast,
Bananas and Cream
oatmeal,
cornbread,
 left over biscuits
, peanut butter and toast,
corn meal mush
oatmeal muffins

Lunches

Peanut Butter and Jelly
Cold Turkey Sandwiches
Ramen
Ramen Dishes
Corn bread

Dinner

Homemade Pizza ( cost $4 to make 3 pizzas! 1 hotdog, 1 hotdog and turkey and 1 turkey and broccoli!)

Hot gravy and Turkey over biscuits

Left over night ( mixed left over refried beans, left over spaghetti sauce and added can of beans and pepper jack cheese into cooked rice.......not bad at all actually!)

Turkey, Rice and Gravy, Green Beans, Biscuits

Hot Dog Stir Fry

Flavored Rice with Broccoli and Brats

Brats/hotdogs  and fried potatos served with green beans and corn

Sirloin Beef Soup served over Rice

Spaghetti

Snacks

Apples
Bananas
Homemade Gingersnaps
Popcorn
Yogurt


NEW Recipes coming soon!!!!!!

A Fun Twist on Fried Eggs

I thought I would deliver breakfast in a fun way for my kids last week ( although my PICKY PICKY daughter still complained! LOL)

Very simple I just buttered both sides of bread and cut out the center with a small  glass. I placed the bread on a hot griddle and cracked an egg into the center of each slice of bread. The circle centers I also grilled up as small pieces of grilled toast to go along with the eggs. After browning on one side, I flipped them and browned the other side!

Guess the kids are not used to me doing things like this because even my son thought I had lost my marbles but I should think MOST children would find this a fun way to be served eggs! But then again after 25 years of motherhood........what do I know?

A Moment of Giving Thanks

I just wanted to give a quick thank you to my readers here, I have been getting a lot of emails that have been very supportive and uplifting! I appreciate the supportive words, links and ideas!

I have also  had a family email and offer to send my children gifts, their generosity of an act of kindness to complete strangers blew me away. A SPECIAL thank you goes out to this family, I am feeling very very blessed this month.

I so believe in the pay it forward concept and look forward to improving our financial path and being able to help and give to others when opportunity presents itself to do so.

For now we give to our elderly neighbor by anytime we bake anything sweet like cookies or muffins, we always take her a plate. She is 77 and just does not bake anymore so she really appreciates it. We also fix her a plate and take it to her anytime we have a really big dinner like for the holidays or special occasions.

Anyway, I did not want things to keep going without saying a special thank you to those who have stopped by and read our little corner of the world here. Your kindness and generosity and words of encouragement have touched our hearts in more ways than I could ever express!

THANK YOU!

Rich Dad's Book Review

This is what I have been reading AGAIN this week, this time going over it with a fine tooth comb and highlighting all the important items he goes over in this book that is written by Ken McElroy when asked by the Rich Dad Company to do so.

While I am not sure I would go about Real Estate Investing with the same gusto or ways they cover in this book ( I am not sure I want to run a huge corporation of a real estate management company or even come close to being considered a real estate tycoon!) However this book still covers tons of points that would be important to anyone looking into real estate investing!

This book covers how to do market research in depth, because you make your money the MOMENT YOU BUY.  I love how they show you how to evaluate the records and properties to know if you will have a positive cash flow from the beginning and shows you how much you should be offering based on what you discover in your research and analysing phase.

While this book is mainly on multi-rental unit properties , I think it is a must have for any home library for the person seriously considering real estate investing.

One of the more interesting aspects is showing how you can actually obtain rental units without putting any of your own money down. It is actually possible to use other people's money by attracting investors to a great deal.

This book also covers how to go about purchasing property that is not even up for sale at the moment and hints that this may be the best time to purchase as to when the for sale sign goes up.......it is too late.

I would  highly recommend this to anyone considering real estate investing.

What is your favorite real estate investing book you think should be in the home library?

Money Ideas Blogs of Note! Check Them Out!

I have been following Life and My Finances  for a little while now and think this is one blog to really follow and watch! He posts thought provoking articles and writes a lot about money making ideas worth considering! Life and My Finaces  is inspirational and a great motivator of trying new things to generate great streams of income striving to get out of the 9-5 world. He has recently started a new project The 30K Challenge to challenge folks to earn $30,000 in a year from online at Online Money Bloggers that will kick off in January 2012. This site is partnered with 20's Finances and with everyone joining in the challenge we will hear articles about ways to turn your blog into a successful stream of income.

Another Project he has partnered with JT to create Grand Per Month along with Melissa from Moms Plans where starting in January they will cover a money making idea every Monday that could generate a thousand a month income and on Thursdays will post things to inspire and motivate.

These are the blogs to watch for the new year that could be beneficial on so many levels and since my own blog here is on coming out of hard times goes with the theme here on helping others get back on the horse and on their way to financial Independence!

Some Things We Do To Save

Garbage
wet food items like banana peels, coffee grounds, egg shells ( no bones or meats) are placed in a gallon jar (pickle jar originally) and when full taken outside and placed on compost pile.

Tin cans from vegetables, spaghetti sauce, tuna or whatever are all rinsed, paper label removed and thrown into a box. When box is full it is taken out to shed. We save them all winter and turn them in to the scrap metal yard with our other accumulated metals for money.

Plastic containers from cottage cheese, yogurt, dips whatever are all washed out and saved rather than buying storage containers.

We do not buy garbage bags, we use the ones we get from the store when our groceries are bagged.

This leaves very little other garbage, mostly cardboard or paper items which get burned in a burning barrel.


Aluminum foil I only buy maybe 2 rolls a year as it is washed and reused as many times as possible. We store it folded in empty oatmeal containers

Bread Bags- are saved in empty oatmeal containers and used for storage bags, freezer bags or for putting homemade bread, or leftover biscuits in.

Cleaning Products- The only cleaning product I buy is Toilet Bowl Cleaner, other than that I use baking soda and vinegar to clean everything else. ( it don't work where I live for my toilet...too many minerals in the water leaves stains unless I buy toilet bowl cleaner)

Water- I do not have a water bill, we live in the country and have well water however where we live at the moment it is HORRID so hubby fills up empty well cleaned milk jugs at his place of work for free. It is filtered 3 x there and we can drink it just fine!  So we do not pay to drink water however I do plan on buying a few cases for emergency stash.

Laundry- I have no washer and dryer  but I pay about $18 as we only go to the laundry matt once a month. We have plenty of underwear and socks but practice a minimal wardrobe other wise and where our clothes more than once.

Eating Out- Whats that? LOL something that happens VERY RARE , a precious gem in this house where going out is very appreciated when we get the rare chance to do it.

Cooking- Almost everything we eat is all made from scratch, also when I go to the store and price things on unit prices, I also calculate how much in total for a meal and use that as my gauge. I typically like to fix dinners between $2 and $4 for a complete meal and will usually NOT buy things if they will cost more than that to make the meal..........exceptions are holidays, our holiday meals will run around $20 for the meal but usually also is more than one meal worth with all the leftovers!

Propane Heat- Hate it but can't change it in a rental and a Trailer can WASTE a lot of heat and paper thin walls means my 70 degrees will seem much cooler than your 70 degrees in a well insulated house. We plastic off the windows and back door.  Then we keep the thermostat set at 65 for day and 55 at night! Brrrrrrrrrr I KNOW!

Slippers are a must have in a winter climate living in a trailer ( I swear if your feet were wet they would instantly freeze to the kitchen floor!  We each have 5 blankets on our beds which keeps us plenty warm at night. During the day we wear a T-shirt then a sweat shirt, then a hooded jacket over the sweat shirt! Keeps us comfy. I only turn the heat up to 68 when kids take thier baths.

Also if the sun is out, I open the curtains to allow the heat in, cloudy days I close the curtain or hang thin blankets over the plastic.

Returnable Cans- When we walk , bike or drive anywhere we collect them so we can return them for 10 cents a piece when we have a lot or need a few extra bucks. Unfortuantly I know every state does not offer refunds for pop or beer can returns!

Homeschool- I purchase 30 notebooks, crayons, markers, colored pencils, regular pencils, pens and glue at the back to school sales when all this is dirt cheap. I then get interesting books or supplies  from Amazon Gift Cards I earn for free from Swagbucks.  For example I got a poetry magnetic kit, a book on the Quipu and how to make them and use for accounting and record keeping, Japanese language CD and more!

I also take full advantage of Garage Sales for supplies , the library and a membership to Netflix where I can get ANYTHING including biology and chemistry courses from

I spend probably no more than 200 a year at the moment including the membership to netflix fees. I would like to up this as money improves to offer more experiences though!

Also try to invite interesting people over on a regular basis! Kids learn an amazing amount from discussions and interesting people!

Gleaning/Foraging- I admitt, I love to glean and forage from climbing apple trees on the side of a road, to dandelion greens, moral mushrooms and even puff balls! Can't wait til spring for wild asparagus to be in! I will also glean from farmers fields after they have been harvested ( ask permission first) for cucumbers , pumpkins and such!


Well for now that is a few things, so much is habit for me, I do not always think of it as helpful so I will do another post if I think of more things or add them in the comments sections

So what are a few things you do that you find saves a lot of money?

$85 Groceries

Grocery List #3     ( 1, 2 and 3 is for a whole month worth of groceries that in my area comes to $205 in groceries for a whole month for family of 5 NOT BAD AT ALL!)

1 bottle shampoo
1 bottle conditioner
1 pkg of 12 double rolls of toilet paper  ($4.98)

2 gallons of 2 percent milk ( $2.49 a gallon)
5 pounds of margerine ( .69 a box)
1 1/2 dozen eggs          ($1.49)
2   2lb containers of Yogurt ( 1 peach, 1 strawberry)
3 packages of hotdogs ( .88 cents a pkg. ) each package of 8 hotdogs cut in half to provide for 6 meals)
1 package of reduced meats Bratwurts  ( $1.98 for 5 brat links) will provide for 2 meals

2 bottles of 48 oz veg oil  on sale ( made this cheaper than a gallon container)
5 lbs  White flour
5 lbs Yellow Corn Meal
10 lbs Sugar ($5.69)
1 jar molasses ($2.89)
1 bottle Worcestershire Sauce

1 large can generic coffee  ($5.29)
2 boxes of 12 packets Ramen
1 large container Oatmeal
6 cans generic green beans ( .43 cents a can)
small bottle ketsup
2 cans meat flavored HUNTs spagehtti sauce ( .98 cents a can)
2 Cans generic Chunky Sirloin Burger soups ($1.50 a can)

3 loaves white bread ($1 a loaf)
1  2lb bag of frozen broccoli cuts
1  1 lb bag frozen broccoli cuts

4 lbs fresh bananas
3 pound bag of apples on sale ( $2.50)

Bag of cheap Tortilla Chips 13 oz bag for $2
french onion dip

The 2 items in red are NOT Typically in our lists they are a RARE treat. This particular day it was a consolation prize to hubby who was GRUMPY by not getting his NAP before going to the store after he got out of work LOL. The kids loved it later when they got chips and dips for a movie time snack however!


We probably buy chips maybe 3 times a year!

Jack and the Bean Stalk Bake

Jack and the Bean Stalk Bake

White Bread Dough
Refried Beans
18-20 Slices of Pepper Jack Cheese
Spaghetti Sauce

Make the Refried Beans and after you mash them, make the bread.

Make the White Bread, dividing into 2 balls and roll each ball out onto a well floured surface into rectangles. Transfer each rectangle to a greased cookie sheet.

Spread a layer of Refried beans generously on each rectangle. Arrange Cheese slices on refried beans on each loaf, reserving 6 slices for later.

Roll up each rectangle into a loaf, sealing ends and edges. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Place 3 slices of pepper jack cheese on top of each loaf and bake another 10 minutes.

While Bread is cooking last 10 minutes, heat up spaghetti sauce on top of stove.

Remove bread from oven and slice into servings. Put spaghetti sauce into small individual serving bowls ( I use little custard cups) so those who like suace may dip their bread into.


(This was a HUGE hit here and everyone loved these very much!)

Bread ( Wheat or White!)

Homemade Bread

4 cups flour ( white or wheat)
1 1/2 cups warm water
2 packets of yeast
1 Tablespoon of either honey or white sugar ( honey is better, it actually helps activate the yeast where sugar helps kill it! but honey can be expensive so white sugar will work if you have no honey!)

Put yeast in a bowl with sugar or honey and add warm water stirring enough to dissolve yeast. Let rest 5 minutes. Add the flour and mix in well, if too dry add a little more water. Turn out on well floured surface and knead about 10 minutes. Divide into two balls and shape into loaves. Place in greased bread pans, turning over to coat in grease, cover with greased aluminum foil and place in warm area. Let rise until double ( an hour or two)

Place in oven at 400 degrees and bake 30 to 35 minutes. Last 10 minutes spread butter over top and finish baking. ( I use a fork with a tab of butter and smear over top as it melts.

Refried Beans

Refried Beans

2 cups Dry Pinto Beans
8 cups Water
2 Bay leaves

Add together, bring to boil, turn heat down to medium-high and cover gently boiling for 2 hours.

Then Add

1/4 cup diced tomatos ( diced tomatos, ketchup,spaghetti sauce- all work fine!)

1/4 cup vegetable oil
seasoning to taste ( can use 1 tsp of garlic powder and 1 tsp of onion powder, I have also used red pepper flakes, curry and cumin for great results)

Gently boil about another 1 1/2 keeping covered. Take off heat and remove bay leaves. With a potato masher, mash well and keep stirring beans off bottom as you mash until you have a refried bean consistancy!

Once you make these you will never want to go back to store bought! These are sooooooooo good with a fraction of the oil that is used in commercial brands or other typcial recipes!

Don't Under Estimate Yourself

Let me tell ya a little story......

A guy was being lazy and sloughing off on his work on a construction crew. This construction crew did a lot of concrete work, sidewalks, parking lots and curbs mostly in subdivision settings......things like that. The supervisor of the crew told the lazy man he was fired and that a woman could do a better job than him. The lazy man looked at the supervisor with utter and total disbelief and told him NO WAY! The supervisor looked at another man and said do you know a woman that can start tomorrow? The man thought for a moment and said yeah actually I do, my wives best friend is the toughest country girl I have ever met and would love a great paying job! He called this woman right away who happened to be recently divorced and wondering how she was going to feed 2 children working a below minimum wage job for cash under the table at the present moment. She jumped at the opportunity and told him yes, she would accept this job that was union work and paid $18 an hour for a general laborer plus time and a half for overtime!

The Supervisor called  her later that night to confirm and tell her where to show up the next day. So the next day this woman shows up on sight and every man on the crew stops working to see such a sight and see what would step out of the car. Now this woman had lost quite a bit of weight in the divorce proceedings so she stepped out of the car at 5 foot 6 inches and weighing a whopping 105 pounds.

Every man on the crew including the supervisor dropped to the ground rolling in laughter thinking this is gonna be good, she won't last an hour!

That first day was a 17 hour day of some of the most back breaking work you could imagine. They had a huge parking lot they were working on and afterwords ran over to another site and did several hours of curb work on a 100 degree day. As general laborer this tiny woman was shoveling concrete and hauling steel frame beams for the curbs all day. She was setting pins and setting up the forms and basically doing all the grunt work that concrete finishers do not like to do. By the end of the day nobody was laughing anymore, this tiny woman lasted the whole day and returned the next. 5 other men were hired that day and at the end of a whole week, those 5 men were gone yet the woman was still there gaining muscles and strength every day. Each day she reminded herself of the 2 children at home she needed to feed which gave her the strength to keep going anytime she thought of quitting.

After the first week, what had started as a joke made company history for she was the first woman in the company's history that ever worked out in the field side by side with the men that did not include just being a flag girl. She stayed the duration of the season, and could of easily returned the  next season......however a car accident had left her with no car to return the new season.


That woman was me when I was 27 years old.

The point of this story is never say you can not do something, never under estimate what you are capable of doing....if you can dig deep inside yourself and find the motivation of why you want to do something..........ANYTHING is possible. The only limits we have are the  ones we put upon  ourselves. Remove any idea of limitations and the world is full of unlimited opportunities and we can accomplish more than we ever dreamed of being capable of. Find something to deeply motivate yourself and the world is yours. Do not limit yourself with I CANT'S, dare to dream, dare to be and open your mind to the I CAN'S and see what happens.Anything can be accomplished with proper motivation and strong desire.