My husband Ed is in a league all his own when it comes to saving energy and living frugally. If I had known that Living with Ed was reality show material, I would have called Hollywood years ago. Looks like I missed the boat on that one. So I'll just give you a little peek into my own little reality show instead: Ed turns off our furnace and water heater when we leave town. For two days. He unscrews random light bulbs throughout the house to save energy. And yes, they are all CFL so that's a savings of roughly 60¢ a year. Per bulb. Pop cans are important to Ed, and are collected at work or in the ditch. Doesn't matter. I often have to talk him Keep Reading
Menu planning inspiration for tight budgets
Each week, I read posts from a handful of my favorite money saving blogs. Every now and then, I'll stumble on a line that goes something like this, "This month I ended up with $128.36 left in my grocery envelope." Gulp. Seriously? I get excited if I have $2.83 left at the end of the month. And odds are that I will splurge and buy a bag of Sunchips with it. Preferably French Onion. Kudos to those of you who have extra change rattling around in your grocery budget. I am seriously impressed. More often than not, when the end of the month rolls around, I have zip left in the ol' grocery envelope, and we eat pancakes for dinner. It's not for lack of Keep Reading
What’s for dinner? This week’s no-fuss reader menu plan (1/27)
Menu Plan by Juliann from Portland, Oregon I am a mostly stay-at-home Mom to our wonderful 15-month old daughter. I was, however, an Elementary Music Teacher before my daughter was born, so I enjoy subbing once a week. When I meal plan I want to make easy meals, that taste great and are most of all healthy. Because I have a one year old daughter the meals need to be something I can make without a lot of time and fuss. All of these meals take around 30 minutes or less hands on time, which is perfect for most people's busy schedule! Here's what's for dinner at my house this week: Monday -- Crockpot Turkey Pumpkin Chili I always start off the Keep Reading
Confessions of a Reluctant Couponer
Several years ago, my sister tried to get me interested in couponing. I gave her my three standard excuses for avoiding coupons like the plague: I don’t have time to clip coupons, and .35-off is not worth my time anyway. We don’t eat the food that coupons buy. I don’t want to be seen as cheap or stingy. She told me I might surprise myself. I was still skeptical, but I tucked her words away for a rainy day. A year later, the rainy days arrived. It was April, and I was a new stay-at-home-mom. We were suddenly in the deep end, living on one income. We either needed to sink into debt or swim with a tighter budget. We had built up a decent Keep Reading
What’s for dinner? This week’s vegetarian menu plan
Whether your New Years resolutions are going strong or gathering dust, one thing is certain: a fresh start feels good. After the glut of holiday eating, my husband and I are back on our primarily vegetable-based diet. We have cut out desserts this month (our January monthly resolution!) and have been juicing up a storm. Here are 7 ways to reduce sugar from your diet. Sliding into bad eating habits is so easy to do. If you have committed to cooking & eating cleaner this year, I'm with you (and would love to help!), starting off with a few of my favorite healthy recipes. Here's what's for dinner at my house this week: Monday -- Spaghetti with Keep Reading
Rethinking Resolutions: Setting goals one month at a time
Emily posted this back in January 2012 but it's good to revisit as we head into a new year. Enjoy! New Year's Resolutions. Blah blah blah. Even if you started January off with a bang, we're 12 days in. Which is more than enough time to fizzle out and fall back into your old habits. In college, I worked at a gym for three years. I always found it funny that our numbers tripled on January first. Like clockwork, we had a big group of eager exercisers with shiny shoes and good intentions. By the time February rolled around, we were back to our regular group. I'm in the same boat. I always love the promise and purpose of setting resolutions. I Keep Reading
What’s for dinner? This week’s menu plan (12/30)
Getting back into a normal routine after the holidays is always rough. I just want to slide cheese trays and cookie plates onto the table and pretend it's dinner. My family hasn't been fooled. So I am going to force myself to get real dinners on the table this week. Hopefully the normal routine will soon follow. Here's what's for dinner at my house this week: Monday -- Hamburgers with Homemade Buns, Banana Milkshakes Tuesday -- Quinoa Patties with avocado slices, baked sweet potatoes, green salads Wednesday -- Family Dinner Thursday -- Rice Bowls with Citrus Soy Dressing, fruit salad Friday -- Pizza Night, green salads Saturday -- Keep Reading
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