“Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.”
Romans 15:13
Be sure to come back on Monday to enjoy my first guest post!
Sarah from Living To Worship is my precious sister in law; you’ll not want to miss what she has to say!
So, is the sink still clean? For the most part, yes. There have been a few days last week that it didn’t get cleaned out.
I didn’t wake up to a shiny sink. (sniff) I still cleaned the kitchen, but it wasn’t as tidy as it once was. Want to know what happened?
Well, lest you think that everything is always sunshine and roses around here….my whole family is recovering from some kind of nasty bug. I’m focusing on the word RECOVERING! We are all doing much better…just wanted you to know that we are real people too. 
Here are some interesting things I’ve read while resting on the couch…
Finding Balance: Creating Space for Solitude
13 ways to wear Your white shirt
I’ve been hearing a lot about using coupons to save money. However, when eating natural foods, coupons can be hard to come by!
After looking in the usual places like the Sunday paper and online coupon sites, try Ebay. You can search for “organic coupons” and you’ll be surprised at what you find! (You are paying them to “clip and ship” your coupons.) I’ve bought 20 $1.00 off coupons for as little as $2.50. I’m buying these products anyway…so I’m saving a lot of cash!
One of the best ways to find healthy and inexpensive food is to shop the edges of the store. After that, quickly go into the middle aisles for pantry staples. For foods like rice, beans, grains and spices, see if you can buy them in bulk.
Here’s what I bought on my last grocery trip…the total was $179.36. I think I did pretty well, since about 80% of these things are organic. These groceries, combined with food from the pantry and freezer, will feed us for about two weeks.
When you shop, look around for the mark-down areas. This week I found salad, artisan bread and milk on clearance; everything was in perfect shape and still in date.
I’m going to try making yogurt, for the first time, with the milk I bought. I’ll let you know how it turns out!
This is what works for me, but how do you save money on your groceries? Have you found any money saving blogs? Please share what you know so we can all feed our families frugally!
For further reading look at these posts:
When I started learning about nourishing food, I was really excited. But, there was one thing I was dreading….my grocery bill. Because everyone knows that healthy food costs more, right? Well it can, but it doesn’t have to.
When I first started buying healthy food, I was shocked when I left the store. I left with only a few bags to take home and a short receipt in my hand. My grocery budget was shot. Something had to change!
I’ve learned a few things that have helped me feed our family healthy food on a budget. I believe these tips will help you too!
First, having a menu plan will make the greatest difference in the amount you spend at the grocery. But, remember that a menu plan only works if you actually USE the menu you’ve written down!
Start prepping your evening meal in the morning; so you won’t be too tired to cook that night. (If you’re too tired to cook, fast food is very tempting! Ask me how I know!)
Organic and Thrifty sums this up nicely: “Remember, the way to eat nourishing without spending a bunch of money is to look for the deals on meat, poultry, and seafood as well as produce and build your menu on those things. Then, round out your meals with whatever you have on hand. And remember, you don’t need lots and lots of meat per meal; only about the size of a deck of cards!”
“For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.”
Psalm 84:11
I’m so excited about the Nourishing Frugal Recipes Carnival hosted by Kimi at The Nourishing Gourmet!
As I’m learning to feed my family healthy food, I’m always looking for ways to do it for less.
I thought I’d share two recipes that I’ve made in the last few weeks. These recipes passed the kid and husband test, so they must be good!
All I do is sprout some brown rice and cook it normally. Then to 4 cups of rice I’ll add in about 1/2 cup of salsa, 1 cup of canned crushed tomatoes, about 2 Tablespoons of cumin and salt to taste.
I cook my roast in the crock-pot on low all day. When it’s done I shred it and add in salsa, cumin and salt to taste.
I serve the meat over the rice with natural sour cream and salsa. I serve a salad on the side.
The second recipe is for raw hummus. I found this on All Recipes.com. You can see the recipe here.
This hummus isn’t as creamy as it would be with cooked chickpeas, but I found it to be easier to digest than regular hummus.
I also take the time to sprout my chickpeas. It makes them more nutritious and easier to digest. It’s very easy to do. Sprouting seems like a lot of extra work, but when I do it while I’m cooking our regular meals it’s really easy.
1. Sort, rinse and soak dried chickpeas overnight or for 8 hours. Be sure to cover the chickpeas with at least 3″ of water; they will absorb lots of water while they are soaking.
2. Drain and rinse. Rinse the chickpeas three times a day. I do it at breakfast, lunch and dinner to make it easy to remember.
3. They are ready to use when the spouts are 3/4″ long. If you can’t use them right away put them in the fridge for a few days.
Simple, fugal and nourishing!
This is so funny, I had to show it to you all!
I have had my ups and downs as the keeper of my home. I’ve worked hard and gotten the house clean, only to have it look like a junk tornado came through a week later. I needed HELP!
A few weeks ago my husband and kids pitched in and we got the house CLEAN. But, that’s been done before. What is going to make this time any different? How do I know we aren’t going to slip back into old habits and make our home a mess… AGAIN?!
I think I may have the answer to a cleaner house and a happy Mama…
A Shiny Sink.
Seems simple, right?
Not so fast! That means that I’ll be cleaning up the kitchen after each meal including shining the sink.
It’s been clean for weeks now and I just want to say… there’s nothing like waking up to a shiny sink and clean kitchen to make me feel like I’m ready to tackle the day!
Give it a try and see what a difference a shiny sink can make!
Go to We Are That Family and you’ll find wonderful tips on Works For Me Wednesday.
I rarely can wait to change from one season to the next. I can’t seem to stay with the calender! When I start feeling like spring should be here, according to the calender it’s weeks away. So…this being my home and all, I change seasons anyway. 
As much as I enjoy having new things for the house, my budget doesn’t like it at all. So, I do what any self- respecting homemaker would do, I use what I have or shop at thrift stores!
Over the years, I’ve been able to pick up flowers, vases, wreaths, urns, etc. for up to 90% off retail. When I find something I like and its REALLY on sale, I’ll get it. For example, I bought the flowers you see on this wreath last fall at JoAnns for 90% off. (This is one way to get very nice quality and not pay the outrageous prices you see on floral stems.)
I didn’t know if I would use them right away, but even if not, I could give them to my family or friends. When I was really getting tired of the gray skies a few weeks ago, I declared it to be spring in my house! Out came all the nests, birds and spring flowers. I used what I had and ended up with this wreath. The ferns are from the mantle arrangement inspired by The Nester. The wreath was from last summer. The nest is from my nest-making tutorial and the flowers are the ones I just told you about!
If you see an arrangement that you like, but want to run out of the store screaming when you see the price tag, take a picture with your phone or camera instead. Print it out and put it into an inspiration notebook. Don’t be intimidated by “designer floral arrangements”! Examine them closely. Are the flowers in a vase, a basket, an urn? Find something similar that you have at home. Look at the flowers and other elements in the arrangement. Do you have flowers in the same colors or shapes? What can you substitute and still have the look you’d like?
Sometimes when I’m ready for a change in our home, all I do is move something to a new place. Just having a different look can really boost my mood!
Try changing something around and using what you have this spring. You’ll be glad you did!
“This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.”
Psalm 118:24
Today is an easy day for me to rejoice, it’s my birthday!
