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!

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.

Welcome to my Works For Me Wednesday post!

Since we have switched over to online bill paying we never use the envelopes that come with the paper bills.

I do my best to recycle what we can, so I was curious to see if there was a way to reuse those perfectly good envelopes.  Well, I found one!

When it’s time to go to the grocery I tuck my coupons inside the envelope and write my shopping list on the outside. There’s plenty of room for my list and my coupons don’t get lost in my purse, because they snugly tucked into the envelope!

I’m SO thankful for anything to help me stay organized, because I usually go shopping with my kids.  But, that’s another post in itself!

See you tomorrow for the tutorial on how to make a moss covered ball!

Setting Goals For The New Year

I’ve broken my life down into the different roles that I fill;  Christian, Woman, Wife, Mother, Daughter, Friend, Homemaker, Teacher, Servant (teaching the preschool class and helping out however I can at church)

Then I wrote down the things I’d like to improve in each role.  My goals are attainable, but will take a lot of work!
But, the things in life worth having are worth working for.

I’d really like to have everything change for the better tomorrow!  But, I’ll have to tackle a few goals at a time.  Sigh…

So….here are the goals I’ll be making into habits during the month of January.  (Nothing like telling you all to make me accountable!  Ha!  No pressure Laryssa, you just told the world what you’re going to do!)

Each month I’ll share what I’m going to be working on.  If you’d like to share some of your goals we could help keep other accountable.

January’s Goals:

Christian:  Read my Bible and pray for at least 30 minutes a day.  Pick a topic to study as well and spend 30 minutes a day studying.

*Y’all, most Americans watch 3 hours of TV a day.  We can carve out one hour to spend with the Lord.  For us Moms with young kids that may mean taking the Bible into the bathroom and reading a few verses at a time!

Woman:  Get fit!  Eat a lower carb diet and exercise 30 minutes a day, six days a week to help regulate blood sugar and loose weight.

*What a tidy little sentence!  Simple right?  Sure.  I’m counting on the self control I’ll be gaining by reading my Bible and praying when I see those steaming  O’Charlie’s rolls.  I’ll also be exercising perseverance while I haul my behind out of bed to exercise my body!

I’m realizing that heaven in the home starts with me.  As a woman I’m the heart of my home. If I’m acting ugly, loosing my temper and letting monster mommy fuss at my kids, we aren’t going to have heaven in our home.   (We’ll be having a day of …..well you know, somewhere hotter.  Yuck!)

So…I’ll be doing my best, with the Lord’s help, to make our home a place of peace and rest.

Heaven in our home is my goal for 2009.  Let’s do it together!

(Be sure to stop by on Monday.  I have a great tutorial in the works!)

Further reading:

20 Questions for Planning New Year’s Goals (by Simple Mom)

When we last heard from our heroine homemaker she was on a quest for answers.

After reading and researching she found out that most of the ingredients in her new cleaners were toxic.

After learning to avoid the top ten most toxic, she found some recipes to make her own cleaners.

She started to use them and was surprised at how well they worked and were only a few cents to make!

Our little homemaker was happy and she and her family was safe.  Now she could have a lemon fresh, germ free, sparkling home; just like she had dreamed of.

THE END

If you haven’t already guessed it, our little homemaker is yours truly.

During that time I started to switch out all of our laundry, cleaning and body products as well.

Whenever we would run out of something I’d buy or make the non toxic version.

Here are a few homemade cleaners that have worked great for my family.

* Soft Scrubbing Cleaner

Just take baking soda and mix with water until a soft paste has formed.  Usually I’ll just sprinkle it straight into the sink or onto the counter.  Scrub with a cloth until clean.  This has worked as well as other soft scrubbing cleaners, but without the beach and other nasties.

* Laundry Booster

Have you ever forgotten to take a load of laundry out of the washer, leaving it there overnight?        Yuck!   Talk about stinky!   To solve this problem wash the load again in the warmest water you can, but add a cup of white vinegar when you put in the soap.  The vinegar really helps to get the stink out!

If you’d like to have more recipes for homemade cleaners here are some great links:

Clean and Green: Natural Homemade Cleaners

Antibacterial Bathroom Cleaner Recipe

Homemade Cleaners

In keeping with my recent post about staying well, I thought I’d share how we get things clean around my house.

Our story begins a few years ago…

Once upon a time there was a young homemaker that wanted a clean, germ free, lemon fresh, sparkling home.  So, she went to the store and bought the best new cleaner on the market.  You know, the one that the TV ads said would make her home the most beautiful, the cleanest, the best smelling…

Our little homemaker couldn’t wait to try out her new cleaning products!

The first room to clean was the bathroom.  “If these handy dandy products work in here, they will work anywhere!” she said.
She sprayed and scrubbed, from the toilet to the tub.   But by the time she got to the shower a strange thing started happening.

After spraying the shower with some kind of chemical cocktail our heroine started to cough, sneeze and wheeze.  Her hands and eyes felt like they were on fire!  Something must be wrong!!!

When she was finally feeling better, she began to try to understand why those nice people on TV were saying those cleaners were so wonderful.

Why did she feel like she had been poisoned, gassed and burned with acid?  All she wanted was a nice clean, germ free, lemon fresh home!

She stared to read and ask questions.  The things she learned shocked her!

All those chemicals were actually dangerous to her health and the health of her family!

Something had to be done.

Stay tuned tomorrow to find out what happens to our little homemaker!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  There will be pictures coming in a few days.

How did you all celebrate this year?

Yesterday we took all our Christmas things out of the attic and I started making the flower arrangements.

We had our first Christmas in this new house last year, but since we had just moved I kept everything very simple.

But that was last year…

This year I’m wanting to go over the top!  All out, glitz and glam, sparkles everywhere!

Maybe I can blame it on Nester…

She has inspired me to make a garland over our mantel.   That’s on the top of the list for today.

I am SO EXCITED!

Happy decorating, see you tomorrow!

I’m joining in on the Thanksgiving fun going on at The Inspired Room, head on over and see all the great ideas everyone has posted!

Our family has enjoyed doing versions of the “thankful tree” for a long time.  It’s really sweet to look back and see what everyone has written over the years.

This year we will be using leaf cutouts and hanging them on a small bare tree I’ve put into a planter.

Each person can write what they are thankful for and hang the leaf on the tree.

It really helps us to stay focused on why we are celebrating!

(I’ll be sure to take pictures of our Thanksgiving and show them to you as soon as I can.)

Kelli at There’s No Place Like Home is hosting a give thanks celebration! One of the things we can post is our Thanksgiving menu, so I thought I’d post one of ours.

We are hosting for both my family and my husband’s family this year.  I’ll be sharing the menu I have planned for when my husband’s family comes over.

We are having:

Stuffed Pork Chops

Wild Rice With Mushrooms

Green Beans With Sautéed Onions

Baked Sweet Potatoes With Butter and Cinnamon

Cookie and fruit trays for desert

Hungry yet?!

I’m so excited to host my very first Thanksgiving!

I’d like to share my Works For Me Wednesday tip with you.

When my husband’s family comes over for Thanksgiving we are having cookies and fruit for desert.

One of the most unappetizing things to see is a tray full of brown fruit.  Yuck!

An easy way to stop the browning is to immerse the cut fruit into a bowl of lemon water for a few minutes before drying and serving.

Put the juice of  one lemon into a large bowl and fill with water, soak the fruit and you’re done!