Thank goodness it's the weekend!

It's been a long week and I'm ready for the weekend! But I'm excited to take Grandma Eva's name to the temple tomorrow for an endowment session! That will be glorious! And I'm hoping to spend the day re-organizing my office. It's just not functional the way it is. So that will be fun!

So what did I do to save money these last few days? To be honest it's more what I didn't do. I didn't use my dryer at all. I didn't go out to dinner. Instead of buying treats for Book Club I made cookies. I didn't buy any extra groceries this week other than salad. Instead of buying fresh fruit from Costco we're eating our canned peaches and other fruits. Boy do I love our peaches! So I guess I haven't actively done anything new in the last few days but there's always tomorrow! 

So when you're making choices with your hard earned money, stop and think about:

1. Is it made from quality materials?
2. Will it last 10+ years (5 for clothing)?
3. Is it made in the US?
4. Is it something I have a specific use for?
5. Can we make it instead?
6. Do we have something else we could use?
7. Who are we supporting if we buy it?
8. How long will I have to work to pay for this?

These questions are courtesy of www.LittleHouseLiving.com

Have a great and financially stable week!

Mason Jar Herb Gardens

What Did You Do Today to Save Money?

I wish I could say that the above was a picture of my mason jar herb garden but that would be a lie! However, I did see a post about this on one of my blogs and decided to try it. Mine are sitting on a tall stool up against the dining room window. I planted parsley, basil and thyme. What's pretty cool is that I didn't spend a dime on this experiment. We had a pot of dirt in the shed out back, I have lots of wide-mouth mason jars and we had herb seeds. I also had a decorative jar with some clear beads that I put at the bottom of each jar. I'll let you know how it works out.

I also spent my day off from school taking an inventory of our 4 freezers. Yes, I do know how to live it up! I discovered that I have a lot of squash that I need to use up as well as a lot of corn. But now I have an inventory sheet hanging by each freezer and hopefully this will help me use our freezer food better.It feels really good to have that done!

And now I'm making bread! I love the smell of baking bread and i also love toast made from homemade bread! Dad is out in the gully cutting branches from the tree that fell in the gully during the last windstorm. They make for a great fire in the wood stove downstairs!

So what did you do today?

Let's remember to be frugal, conservative and smart in our financial choices!

Love you all!

Thanks Emily, for choosing to be baptized!

How did you save money today?

From the delicious looking picture that Ginanne posted on Facebook and Instagram, she made homemade doughnuts! They actually made my mouth water! Great job Ginanne!

We saved money tonight by not going out to dinner after serving in the temple. It's become a habit to pick a restaurant and enjoy a meal before going home. And we really enjoyed that. Such a treat. However, it could cost us anywhere from $20 to $30 dollars for the meals depending on where we went. Double that each month and that's just not contributing to our goal to get out of debt. So tonight we came home and had chicken fajitas and enjoyed the Packers-Cardinals game!

This morning we saved money by using our drying rack to dry our bed sheets and clothes. Just a little thing but it does all add up!

So what did you do today to contribute to your goal of freedom from debt?

Happy Winter!

As you all know, this family has had Friday night pizza for decades! And through the years we've grown to include BBQ Chicken pizza as well as our basic family pizza. Last Friday night I made Calzone's. They were delicious! You make your regular pizza dough and divide it into 4 balls. Then roll them into 8 inch circles and put your toppings and cheese one one side. Then fold over and seal them tightly. I dipped mine into pizza sauce but dad put the sauce right on the calzone before he sealed it. What a rebel. He also decided that he needed to put more toppings inside. Dad really likes toppings! But they were great and very filling. I recommend them wholeheartedly!

I finally spent some grocery money today. Yoke's had 3 great deals. So early this morning I bought bananas for .33 cents a pound, eggs were 4 for $5.00 and a pound of bacon was $1.88 each, of which I bought 5! So my total was $17.41! That's all I hope to buy this month.We'll see! But whatever I save from grocery and mad money will go to the mortgage! Ya baby!

I also want to report that Dad is now on board with getting chickens of our own! Rejoice, rejoice! He's waiting for a book from the library that teaches about raising backyard chickens and building the coop. So very excited! I try not to worry about the future but the stock market craziness and employment concerns tend to raise a red flag. So the more we can become self-sufficient, the better I feel.

So I hope that each of you will work on becoming more self-sufficient in your lives.Whether it's building your food storage, saving money, doing without the extras like cable or making other sacrifices. It's worth it to have peace in your life!

What a Wonderful Day!

I haven't posted a recipe in a while but it's been a while since I've used one that impressed me. However, tonight I made a great Breakfast for Dinner recipe! Let me tell you that it can be time consuming. But Dad went to a Shadle Basketball game after work and I had scripture study so I didn't get started until almost 7:00 PM. So I recommend that if you try this that you make the syrup earlier. Here we go:

Apple Pancake Syrup

1/2 cup sugar (I recommend maybe 1/3 cup instead. It was too sweet for me)

2 teaspoons cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup pure apple juice (I used the apple juice we canned when we made applesauce)

1 Tablespoon lemon juice

2 Tablespoons butter (I used margarine)

1. In a small saucepan, combine sugar, cornstarch, and cinnamon.
2. Whisk in apple juice until mixture is smooth.
3. Cook over medium heat for 5 minutes or until bubbly and thickened.
4. Stir in lemon juice and butter.
5. Serve with pancakes
6. Yield: Approx 1 cup

Apple Cinnamon Waffles

For the apples:

3 apples  peeled and quartered (I used only 2 wrinkled apples)

1 Tbsp margarine or olive oil

1-2 Tbsp brown sugar

1/4 tsp cinnamon

For the waffles

1 egg

1 Tbsp melted butter (margarine)

1 cup milk

1 Tbsp honey

1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce or pumpkin puree (I used some leftover pumpkin)

1/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 Tbsp baking powder

1 cup flour (I used 1/2 whole wheat and 1/2 regular flour)

1/4 cup oats (I used quick oats)

1. Saute your apples in a skillet over medium heat. When it's hot add butter then the apples and stir. After a few minutes add in brown sugar and cinnamon. cover to steam and soften, stirring frequently. Let it go for 4-5 minutes them remove lid to let caramelize a bit more
2. For waffles mix egg and then add honey, applesauce or pumpkin, oil, brown sugar and whisk. Add milk and stir once more.
3. Add flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon to a sifter and sift over wet ingredients. (I just added everything together) Gently fold in oats, then the apples. You may want to add only 1/2 the apples and use the rest to go over cooked pancakes. I added them all in. Let batter rest for 5 minutes while you warm up waffle iron.
4. Once preheated, generously spray the waffle iron with cooking spray and spoon about 1/2 cup of batter onto the center of the iron, press down to spread the batter, and cook according to your machines instructions.
5. Once done, remove and serve with pancake syrup. Very filling and delicious! 

I hope you try this recipe. Dad and I really enjoyed this and I'm adding this to our faves list!

Love, love, love this picture!!

So here we are in January of 2016! Can you believe that your baby brother will be home in FIVE MONTHS! It was so great to chat with him and see how much he's grown spiritually. 

But we have a new, wonderful year to fill with family fun and wonderful memories. We are still trying to figure out a good time to visit everyone this summer so that Brady can reacquaint himself with his growing family! We'll let you know as soon as we have solidified dates. 

This year your dad and I have set a goal to pay off this home no later than March of 2017, earlier if we win the lottery! Just kidding! But we are making double payments now and  hope to continue until this house is officially ours! Why are we doing this? Well first because we have been instructed by our church leaders to get out of debt! And your mom and dad really, really hate to be indebted to anyone! So this is our main goal for 2016. 

How am I making this a reality? Well, first it helps that I'm working right now. I was telling your dad that we could have probably paid off the house earlier if I had worked when you children were young, but I am SO HAPPY that I didn't. It was such a blessing to be at home when you were home and I so appreciate your dad working so hard to make that a reality. But now I am able to work and so I am helping by paying the extra on the mortgage. And there are also a few extra things I'm doing. Little things maybe, but they add up. Like this:

1. We got rid of cable and we have Netflix only. Again a huge thanks to Jordan and Ginanne for our Roku! I love getting all the extra channels for free, including BYU!
2. I'm making more bread and using whole wheat in my loaves. Nothing beats homemade bread and soup for dinner! It also helps to have a wheat grinder.
3. We've started to use our drying rack during the winter to dry our clothes. We use the outside line during the Spring, Summer and Fall. And dad makes our laundry soap. Win-win!
4. Dinners out are becoming fewer and fewer. And the fact that so many restaurants are having problems with their ingredients being safe makes this another win-win.
5. Of course my commute across the park to work has made my gas portion pretty nil. Love that!
6. I'm already planning what we'll have in our gardens this year. And I'm hoping to utilize the areas around the house for veggies instead of flowers.
7. I found a great list of questions to ask yourself before you buy anything on a blog called www.LittleHouseLiving.com. There are 8 questions which include 'Do we have something else we could us?' This reminded me of Patrick making a chicken feeder from items he already had around the house. Good job bud! So check out that list if you're interested. They're called the Spending Initiative Questions!
8. I love our composter and I just know it will help our garden to do even better.

I know this probably sounds boring and mundane but we are so excited to pay off this house and hopefully be able to help you kids more, or spoil the grandchildren more! 

The guidance we receive from our church leaders will lead us to safety and peace. I truly believe this! Stay faithful, stay close to the Spirit and be obedient to the leadership of our church and you will forever be joyful!