When I tell people where I shop for groceries they often say, ” I’d love to shop there, but it’s too expensive!”.  But, if  I didn’t use some strategy, it would be too pricey for me as well!

Here are some frugal tips I use to make my grocery money work hard:

* Find out when your local grocery puts out the managers specials.  These are foods that will expire in a few days and the store is motivated to get them out the door!

By finding these products and using them up quickly or preserving them, you can save up to 50% off full retail! Our local store marks things down early Monday morning…so that’s when we do our shopping!

*Every store has mark down areas.  Locate these super saving areas and check them every time you are in the store.   You never know what you’ll find!

* Use your coupons. Yes, I know this isn’t a secret tip, but it really works!  I try to remember to bring my coupon book with me to the store,  because the store seems to always have unadvertised sales that match my coupon.

Well, these are some things that Work For Me…what helps you save money in the grocery?

Don’t forget that…

I’ve added a bunch of new designs to my store and in honor of Mother’s Day I’m offering a coupon code!

You will get 10% off your total order through May 11th, 2009.
All you need to do is use the coupon code: MOTHER when checking out.  Happy shopping!

Remember that…

I’ve added a bunch of new designs to my store and in honor of Mother’s Day I’m offering a coupon code!

You will get 10% off your total order through May 11th, 2009.
All you need to do is use the coupon code: MOTHER when checking out.  Happy shopping!

On to the post…I’ve run across some great posts in the last few days and I wanted to share them with you!

Nester from Nesting Place has come out with her first ebook, It Doesn’t Have to be Perfect to be Beautiful!

This is good news just by itself, but she is offering this book FOR FREE!!! Head on over to Nesting Place to get the details!

For the other great ebook that came out today…Remodeling Guy has written: The Power of Remodeling — how remodeling your home can change your life. You can get this ebook for free as well!!

Sarah from Sweet Thing(s) has posted the most wonderful, frugal modeling “clay” recipe! See how she made this robin by clicking here.

The Children’s Nest has a great idea for making your own beautiful file folders.  I think most of us have some pretty paper laying around, so this is frugal and fun!

Ashlee from Pretty Partridge has shown how to make these adorable hair clips!  Click here for the details!

Enjoy!

I got this recipe for crock pot yogurt at Nourishing Days.  If you are interested in nourishing foods and wondering how they will fit into your life, this is the blog for you!  Shannon makes healthy cooking easy and has great recipes.

Here is how my yogurt turned out:

It was thinner than store bought yogurt because it’s without any extra thickeners.  I usually sweeten it with unsulfered molasses, pure maple syrup and pure vanilla extract.  I also add a little water in it and we drink it like keiffer.  I used these sweeteners because of their high iron and calcium content.

We only use cultured dairy and a little organic cheese.  I just buy organic, lightly pasteurized milk at the store and make our own yogurt.  I’d rather be using raw milk, but the culturing process adds back most of the enzymes and vitamins lost in the pasteurization process.

This is SO easy! You’ll have a lot of fun making this.  I’ve made about 4 batches and it’s turned out great every time!

This is the time schedule that works well for us:

3:30 pm- pour the milk into the crock pot and cook it on low

6:00pm- turn off the heat and let it sit covered with the lid

9:00pm- stir in the 1/2 cup of yogurt and cover with towels

9:00am (the following morning)- take out 1/2 cup of yogurt to use next time, stir and and enjoy!

I also made yogurt cheese with one batch. It was so good that the kids and I dipped our veggies in it. Yum!

I laid a piece of cheesecloth over a mesh colander, put the colander into a large bowl and poured the yogurt over it.  The whey drained out in a few hours and I was left with the yogurt cheese…so easy!

For more yogurt info be sure to stop by Kelly the Kitchen Kop’s blog. She just did a great post on yogurt and the comments people left were very informative and helpful.

If you’d like to learn more healthy recipes go to Fight Back Fridays at Food Renegade.

If you try making your own yogurt or have some tips to share, please comment below. I’d really like to hear what works for you!

Welcome to an unusual Works For Me Wednesday!  We use the internet, especially videos, to supplement our regular studies.  There are so many great educational videos that bring your current topic to life….and what kid won’t like getting to watch videos on the computer?!

(Just a tip: Because of the nasty content of some videos on You Tube, be sure to stay with your kids while they watch these videos. The video you’re watching will be clean, but after it’s over other small screen video options could pop up.)

Here are a few of our favorites:

Are you looking for a healthy, quick snack for your kids?  I have a great suggestion…Dino Eggs!  They are easy to make, look really cool and taste great.  These eggs use natural food coloring…purple cabbage juice!  (The juice will only add color, not flavor.)

Here’s how to make them:

1. Boil a purple cabbage in a few inches of water. Drain off the juice and cool.  Be sure to eat the cabbage, it’s very tasty!

2. Make hard boiled eggs by putting eggs into cold water. Bring the water to a rolling boil and then remove the pan from the heat.  Let the eggs sit, covered, for 10 minutes.  Drain and then add cold water and ice to cool the eggs. (This will prevent them from continuing to cook.)

3.  Crack the eggs, by tapping them on the counter.  Put the eggs into the cabbage juice and leave them overnight in the fridge.

4.   Peel your eggs and they will have a cracked surface like dino eggs!  Enjoy!

For more ideas from awesome women, visit We Are That Family for Works For Me Wednesday.

Be sure to come back tomorrow! Nester and I have new art prints coming out…you can see them here and at Nesting Place.

I don’t want to gross you out, but do you know what’s in an old makeup brush?  If I tell you, it may make you want to stop reading this and go clean your brushes right now.  Don’t say I didn’t warn you!

Old makeup, bacteria, natural oils from your face and dead skin cells build up on your brushes. If you don’t wash your brushes regularly, you’ll irritate your skin and could also cause breakouts.

I’m cleaning my brushes regularly from now on!

Here’s how:

1. Wet the bristles of the makeup brush under warm, running water.  Hold the handle of the brush upright, so the base of the bristles won’t get wet.  The bristles are held in plcae by glue and if the glue gets wet your bristles may fall out.  Not good.

Limited-Time Giveaway
Free through March 31st
Join a family of ten on a million-mile journey of evangelism, home education and discipleship!

Click here to go to Behemoth.com

“Journaling his family’s travels, experiences, and ministry, Arnold Pent, III (the third of eight children) first published Ten P’s in a Pod in 1965 at the age of twenty-one. In this book, you’ll learn of his father’s commitment to family Bible reading, Scripture memorization, and singing, as well as enjoy all the antics one might expect from piling eight children into two old cars and hitting the road to take the gospel message anywhere they found a group willing to listen.” — Vision Fourm

It’s amazing to be feeling better!  After what my family just went through, I thought it would be good to remind myself and you, dear reader, to ….stay well!  As a Christian, I believe the Bible is The Truth and God wants us to be healthy!  I also know we should do what we can to stay healthy and the Lord will help us the rest of the way!

“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; Who heals all thy diseases.” Psalm 103: 2&3

If you listen to the news you hear a lot about flu and cold season.

So, I thought I’d share what has helped our family stay well.

When our babies were sick I would have given anything to make their pain go away.
So after suffering through a few colds, I had enough!

It was time to be on the offense.

I  found our there is  SO MUCH we can do to keep from getting sick!
Here are a few things I’ve learned over the years:

Sugar is public enemy number one.

Eating one teaspoon can lower the immune system up to     six hours.

Ever wonder why the flu season happens around the holidays?

Think about all of the pies, cakes, brownies, sugar cookies…

It’s hard not to eat sugar but it’s even harder to see your babies with what my daughter calls “booger nose”.

Enough said.

Over 80% of your immune system is located in the intestinal tract.

Help keep the digestive tract working well by taking  a good quality probiotic or by eating naturally fermented foods, like yogurt or sauerkraut.

Peroxide is a wonderful helper in the fight against disease.

Bubble out your ears with peroxide.
(Just dip a cotton ball into the peroxide, lay on your side and use the cotton to drip peroxide  into your ear canal.
Wait until you hear it stop bubbling and then tip your head and pour it out.
It’s helpful to have a hand towel on the pillow.)

I do this whenever we have any symptoms and it really seems to help.  With little kids you can just take a cotton swab and dip it into the peroxide and gently put some into their ears.

If you are having a sore throat you can gargle with a mixture of  half water and half peroxide.

Wash your hands, eat healthy foods, get plenty of rest and STAY WELL!

I hope these things help your family too.  I’m not a doctor, so these are just tips from one Mom to another.  May your family stay healthy this winter!

“… I am the LORD that healeth thee.” (Exodus 15:26 KJV)

If you enjoyed this here is some additional reading:

My homemade germ killing cleaner.

How to treat a cold.

Drink enough water.

For more info on improving your health visit Food Renegade on Fight Back Fridays

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:

Top 100 Blogs for the Frugal Gourmet

The Nutrients You Need

S-T-R-E-T-C-H Your Food Budget

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!”

Stay tuned for part 2 on Wednesday.  I’ll be showing you what I bought on my last grocery trip and how I saved almost $30 in a regular grocery store!