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Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Works for Me Wednesday - Frugal Tips

This week, Kristen of We Are THAT Family and host of Works for Me Wednesday asked us to provide our best Frugal Tip. I am providing the link to the original post I wrote about saving on newspapers as well as a couple of others you may find helpful.

How to Pay Less for Your Newspaper

5 Ways to Stretch Bread

Frugality is a Lifestyle - Organization

If you enjoyed these tips, you might enjoy subscribing to my feed in the upper right corner so you do not miss any tips. You can also find more frugal tips at Works for Me Wednesday hosted by We Are THAT Family.

Labels: frugality, Works for Me Wednesday

# posted by Heather@justdoingmybest @ Wednesday, May 06, 2009 1 Comments

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Clean Out the Fridge - Ideas for Leftovers

This week I have been writing about what to do with all your "stuff" when you are Spring Cleaning. The refrigerator certainly needs our attention when we are cleaning and I'm guessing a fraction of what is in the fridge needs to head straight to the garbage. If you have any edible leftovers remaining, you can stretch them into a new meal with just a little creativity.

First and easiest, rewarm the leftovers, but create a buffet. Let the family choose, as if it were a restaurant. The younger children love this, but don't forget to give your restaurant a name. If you have small children and especially if they do not like leftovers, create a quick menu in which they can select their own dinner. My children loved the menu idea when they were younger, especially when mom sported the folded towel draped over one arm as their server.

If you have eggs, possibly a little meat, some veggies and cheese, you can make a quiche. If you're doubting the men in your life will be receptive to quiche, you can call it "Ham and Egg Dinner Pie" or a "Chicken and Spinach Bake." You get the drift... You can make the quiche with either a homemade or store-bought crust, though the store-bought will be quicker. Provided you have a little creativity and a few necessary ingredients, you should be able to find a quiche recipe that will work.

If you routinely have small amounts of leftover meat (ground beef, ham or sausage are the best) you can start a bag in your freezer to collect pizza toppings. When I have ground beef or chicken, I sometimes turn the pizza into a barbecue or cheeseburger pizza. I mix in a little barbecue sauce with the pizza sauce and top it with shredded cheddar instead of mozzarella.

If you have an assortment of noodles or rice, veggies, and even a little meat, you can turn it into a soup. Just grab some stock, choosing an appropriate one based on the meat you have on hand, and rewarm in a pot. Add a few suitable fresh ingredients to stretch it into a big enough meal for your family. Depending on which foods you have left from a Mexican dinner, you might be able to create a taco soup. A minestrone can be created with leftover pasta and beans. The veggies, rice and noodles can also be good ways to stretch canned soup when your time is limited.

If you have chicken and veggies, you could mix up some dumplings from a baking mix or even from scratch, and allow to cook until done on top of the chicken soup. In addition to stretching the meal, the dumplings will be helpful in thickening the soup.

Betty Crocker has a series of recipes using Bisquick called Impossible Pies that are also great for using miscellaneous leftovers. While the recipes call for specific amounts of the veggies and meat, I'm certain that you could do a little substituting if you are comfortable in the kitchen. However, there are so many recipes for the Impossible Pies that you may not need to substitute.

I hope this helps you find some new ideas to spice up your leftovers. Using food before it goes to waste works for me. You will find more Works for Me Wednesday Tips at We Are THAT Family.

If you enjoyed this post, please check my main page tomorrow or subscribe to the RSS feed (top right) for more "Spring Clean Out" posts.

Labels: cleaning, Everything Egg, food, frugality, fun with the kids, tips, Works for Me Wednesday

# posted by Heather@justdoingmybest @ Tuesday, April 28, 2009 5 Comments

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Dinner Conversation - Part 2

Last week, I shared with you how we learn about the children's day while gathered around the dinner table. I promised you another conversation idea this week. This week's idea will not only make the meal time more fun, but will also give you an interesting glimpse into your children's developing personalities.

A while back I found a book called Kidchat Too! and fell in love with it. This book is intended to spark conversations by offering fun and unusual questions. We have had some enlightening and funny discussions that also taught me things about my children (and husband) that I never knew. Some of the questions are lighthearted while others are a little deeper. One example that we used is, "What do you think will be the hardest part of being an adult one day?" Another question children enjoy is, "If a soda company asked you to come up with a new flavor of soda, what would it be?"

I also found a great printable list of questions at Listplanit.com. At a restaurant recently, I asked one of the questions from the Listplanit.com list and the children had so much fun with it that they asked if I had anymore questions!

Since this week I am discussing Spring, I should mention that this dinner conversation idea can be even better by pulling your patio set out of storage taking dinner outside. Have fun!

Whimsical conversation starters work for our family and you can find more Works for Me Wednesday tips at We Are That Family.

Labels: fun with the kids, Mommy Secrets, Spring, teens/pre-teens, Works for Me Wednesday

# posted by Heather@justdoingmybest @ Tuesday, April 21, 2009 3 Comments

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Dinner Conversation

Do your children like to talk? Or do you have to drag information out of them? My children love to talk. I mean they really, really love talking. Honestly, I wouldn't change that about them even if I could. I understand some children do not open up much and even when asked about their day, they might shrug and give a one word answer. You will find the other extreme in our home. There is usually so much story-telling about the day that the info I need to hear, may never be shared. However, I can tell you which child in the class had two servings of french fries for lunch, despises cheeseburgers, and most of the words to the latest, most popular tween song.

One of the things I attempt when we are seated around the dinner table is to ask the children about their high and low points of the day. So far, they have been quite receptive to answering these questions. When I ask about the high point of their day, I think that it teaches them to keep things in perspective when times are tough and to look for the things that are worthy of our happiness and gratitude. When I ask about their low point, it often initiates conversations about problems that otherwise may not have been discovered as quickly as they were. This will be a time that I watch their expression and reaction to see if there may be an issue bothering them that they do not want to discuss at the table and I make a mental note to approach the issue at a more private time. Because the "highs and lows" are discussed routinely though, talking about the tough situations seems to be less intimidating.

Asking about the highs and lows of the day works for our family. Do you have a favorite way you touch base each day with your children? I have another dinner conversation idea to share with you next week, so if you are interested, you might want to save Just Doing My Best's home page as a favorite or subscribe to the RSS feed in the upper right corner.

You can find more Works for Me Wednesday tips at We Are THAT Family.

Labels: Mommy Secrets, relationships, teens/pre-teens, Works for Me Wednesday

# posted by Heather@justdoingmybest @ Tuesday, April 14, 2009 9 Comments

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Inexpensive Snacks for Growing Children

This week's Works For Me Wednesday is a Backwards Edition, meaning I ask my readers for solutions to my dilemma.

As soon as I heard it was a Backwards Edition, I knew exactly what I wanted to ask you.

Our grocery bill has been steadily rising lately. My son is almost 13, and as those of you with pre-teen or teen boys know, boys this age cannot get enough to eat. I hear their appetites get even more insatiable when they are in their mid-teens.

So, here are my questions for you:

If you have/ had a pre-teen or teen boy, please share with me your experience with their appetite and food requirements. He is my oldest and this is uncharted territory, so I'm feeling clueless.

What ideas do you have for healthy, but frugal snack ideas to hold him over to the next meal? I'm talking VERY filling here...certain snacks, like cereal bars, don't even make a dent in his bottomless pit of a stomach.

I'm looking forward to reading your experiences and ideas. For the sake of our grocery budget and my son's belly, I hope you have lots of ideas for me. Thanks!!

You can read other blogger's dilemmas and their reader's solutions at Works for Me Wednesday, hosted by We Are THAT Family.

Labels: food, teens/pre-teens, Works for Me Wednesday

# posted by Heather@justdoingmybest @ Tuesday, March 31, 2009 19 Comments

Friday, March 20, 2009

Frugal Family Fun - A New Twist on Playgrounds

In celebration of the Ultimate Blog Party, this is the kick-off to my Frugal Family Fun series. You will see posts weekly, probably near the weekends, with ideas for enjoying your family without spending much, if any, of your family's hard-earned money.

My children and I had a fantastic evening at the town's playground a few nights ago. (Stay with me here, it gets better than just a plain ole playground.) They enjoyed it and we stayed about 20 minutes or so. When I asked if they were ready to leave, of course they shouted an emphatic "no," but when I told them we were going to another playground, their eyes lit up and they raced for the vehicle. That night, we covered 4 playgrounds (though some were attempts due to construction) all within 20 minutes of our home.

This completely free idea will be used again this summer when we venture into our closest city to find more playgrounds. We will pack a lunch and make a day of seeing how many playgrounds we can fit into a day. If you try this, don't forget about church and school playgrounds in addition to the city playgrounds.

If you liked this post, be sure to check out Just Doing My Best's homepage for more tips, goodies and a give-away.

This post has been linked to:

Frugal Fridays at Life as Mom
Finer Things Friday at The Finer Things in Life, because isn't playing with our children just about as good as it gets?
Finding Freedom at Cents to Get Debt-Free
Works for Me Wednesday at We are THAT Family

Labels: Friday's Frugal Tip of the Day, frugality, fun with the kids, Ultimate Blog Party, Works for Me Wednesday

# posted by Heather@justdoingmybest @ Friday, March 20, 2009 14 Comments

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Storing cheese correctly

Are you shortening the life of the cheese in your fridge? Plastic bags and plastic wrap seem to be the most popular way in America to store cheese. In fact, we bring the cheese home from the store wrapped in plastic, then we replace the original plastic wrapper with a new plastic wrapper. Cheese is a living organism and needs to breathe, so the plastic should not directly touch it.

The best way to store hard to semi-hard cheese is in foil, parchment paper or wax paper. Foil is the only way I store block cheese and it always lasts for a very long time with no signs of mold or drying out. We have used it for semi-hard to hard cheese, from cheddar and Gouda to Parmesan, and it works beautifully.

For more kitchen tips and recipes, visit Kitchen Tip Tuesdays at Tammy's Recipes.

For more Works for Me Wednesday tips, visit We Are THAT Family.

Labels: food, tips, Works for Me Wednesday

# posted by Heather@justdoingmybest @ Tuesday, March 17, 2009 10 Comments

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Fast and Free Homemade Cleaner

I have white counter tops. I love the crisp and clean appearance, but they can be an absolute pain. I've had gorgeous shades of purple from grape juice and a beautiful pink from something I couldn't identify. Usually a quick spray of a commercial cleaner is enough, but when regular kitchen cleaners don't do the job, I have a quick and powerful cleaner that I can whip up from my pantry.

I do not have exact measurements, but it's easy to eyeball. Just put a little bit of baking soda into a small bowl. A couple of tablespoons will probably be more than enough. Then, add just enough lemon juice to make a paste. This paste is one powerful cleaner. Just rub it onto the stained item and if it's stubborn, let it sit for bit. If the stain still won't budge, cover the stain with the homemade paste and let it sit outside in the sunlight for a while.

Once when an item transferred rust to my white dishes in the dishwasher, I used this paste and it came right off.

Do you have any tips for great homemade cleaners?

For more tips, visit Works for Me Wednesday at We Are THAT Family.

Labels: cleaning, frugality, recipes, tips, Works for Me Wednesday

# posted by Heather@justdoingmybest @ Tuesday, March 10, 2009 9 Comments

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

The Necessary Items for an Unexpected Sick Child Day

Tonight as the evening wound down, I realized I may have a sick child tomorrow. You are probably just as familiar with that dreaded in-between phase as I am. You know the one, where you wonder if sleep will produce a happy child ready to face the day with only a couple of sniffles or rather a child who has succumbed to the most popular virus at school.

Tonight is one of those nights, but I feel relieved that regardless of what the morning brings, I am ready. I have the basic items needed for a sick day, or at least the first several hours until my guy gets off work in the evening and can stop by the store.

The items I always have on hand for sick days are:

A good thermometer - In my opinion, this is not the item to chance to generic brands found at the $1 type stores. An investment in a quality thermometer will last years.

Chicken soup - I like to watch for the sales that usually run in the Fall and I will then combine the sale with coupons. I can stock up for the winter/ flu season very inexpensively.

Applesauce - I do not see many coupons for applesauce, so we usually buy the Wal-Mart brand. My family likes it and it seems to be a fair price.

Cans of ginger ale or Sierra Mist - We generally keep cans on hand because the cans allow us to only open what we need, rather than an entire 2-liter, thereby keeping a supply on hand for the next illness .

Saltines or oyster crackers - I love the idea of oyster crackers because when my children are too sick to do much moving around, I can bring a bowl of oyster crackers to them on the couch and there will be alot less crumbs than with saltines.

Medicine for stuffy nose - Several times throughout the year, stores will run a Buy One Get One Free (BOGO) Sale on the store brand medicines and this is when I stock up on the ones I'm certain we will use.

Pain reliever/fever reducer medicine - see above

If you have these items on hand, you will not have major problems from children waking up sick unexpectedly. Being prepared and purchasing the items with frugality in mind, works for me.

Do you do anything differently to prepare for sick children? I'd love to hear what works for your family.

You will find more tips at Works for Me Wednesday hosted by We Are THAT Family.

Labels: plan ahead, tips, Works for Me Wednesday

# posted by Heather@justdoingmybest @ Tuesday, March 03, 2009 6 Comments

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

How to Pay Less for Your Newspaper

At one time, when the economy was stronger and the newspaper industry was not cutting jobs, I could occasionally pick up my Sunday newspaper at Walmart or Walgreens for 99 cents, which would be a sale price from the original $1.75. I am an avid coupon fanatic, so I would buy a couple in order to have the extra coupons. For one 99 cent paper, I could break even by redeeming just one 50 cent coupon at a store that doubles.

These 99 cent newspaper bargains have ceased and $1.75 is the new weekly norm, unless I go to the Dollar Tree. They still sell papers for $1.00 so when there is a week that I know I want extra coupons, I head to the Dollar Tree to pick up my $1 newspapers. (I'm not sure if this is available in other newspaper markets or other $1 only type stores. Maybe a few readers could fill us in if you know this is available in your area.)

Paying a discounted price for newspapers work for me. For more Works for Me Wednesday tips, visit our new host at We Are THAT Family.

If you enjoyed this tip, please check out my main page at Just Doing My Best.

Labels: frugality, tips, Works for Me Wednesday

# posted by Heather@justdoingmybest @ Tuesday, February 24, 2009 10 Comments

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Information Board

I should have titled this: Never Miss the Garbage Pick-up Again.

We missed getting the trash out to the road for pick-up once again. Our disposal company does not seem to have a rhyme or reason to which holidays it observes. I assumed that since Monday was a Federal holiday and they did not come on other Federal holidays, they would observe this one too, making them a day late. I was wrong. My olfactory senses and I are glad it's not summer, which would allow quicker fermentation of the garbage within smelling distance of our home.

This smelly oversight has a solution though. I have an information board on the inside door of a cabinet that we use for miscellaneous household supplies. There is some information we need routinely and looking up the same phone numbers grew old, so I began taping them to the inside of the door. I included the numbers of our doctors, my hair stylist, the dog groomer (guess I need to update since we no longer have a dog), the tax preparer, etc. I will print out the garbage pick-up schedule from their website and tape it to my information board.

Missing the garbage didn't work for me but I found a solution. For some ideas that actually work, visit Works for Me Wednesday at Rocks in My Dryer.

Do you have a handy method of keeping track of important information that needs to be at your fingertips?

Labels: organization, tips, Works for Me Wednesday

# posted by Heather@justdoingmybest @ Wednesday, February 18, 2009 3 Comments

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Shopping for Free

I love going to my local consignment shop because I usually shop for free. Sound to good to be true? It's not and it just takes a little planning. At the beginning of each season, I am faithful to make my appointment to bring in the items I want to sell. I usually make two appointments since I have growing children and she has an item limit.

Then, a few weeks later when I stop in to see if there are any new bargains that my family needs, I do not request the cash or a check for the items that she has sold. I simply let her keep it in my account and whenever I need to buy something, she simply deducts it from what she owes me. I have only had to pay out of pocket a few times.

The deal is even sweeter when I stop by on the sale and clearance days. At the end of the season, she clearances items for $1 and I buy ahead for the next season, all from the account I have built up.

You could shop for free too, just check with your local shop and ask about their policies. If you stop by the store regularly, you will build a rapport with the staff and will be aware of any store policy changes.

For more tips, visit Works for me Wednesday at Rocks in My Dryer.

Labels: clothing, consignment shops, deals, tips, Works for Me Wednesday

# posted by Heather@justdoingmybest @ Wednesday, February 11, 2009 5 Comments

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Double duty with clean microwaves and clean sponges

There are very few things that I am fanatical about. First is not ever, ever, EVER allowing noodles in my grandpa's Best Ever Texas chili recipe. If you are from the Ohio Valley area, like me, or can cook a mean pot of Texas chili, you can understand what a big deal and paradox this is. (For those of you who do not understand the problem here....Texas Chili must never be defiled with noodles. But, most people in my neck of the woods think chili is best with noodles. Herein lies the problem.)

The other fanatical obsession I have is my microwave must always, and I do mean always, be spotless. I have one of those plastic, inverted bowl type lids that is constantly being used and washed routinely. This helps keep the microwave clean most of the time and I quickly wipe up any spills before they dry. Sometimes though, a family member tries to be helpful and cook something themselves in the microwave. Since they do not share the same microwave compulsion as me, inevitably, there will be splatters as a result of their electromagnetic culinary skills. Of course, I am quick to clean the mess that they "didn't see" but when I miss one of these events, I have a double duty trick.

I sanitize my dishwashing sponge in the microwave and when it is done, the dried on nastiness will wipe off with no effort. Just grab a papertowel and wipe down the entire microwave as soon as you remove the sponge.If you do this routinely, your microwave will never be dirty either and you can join me in my clean microwave compulsion...

Ok, seriously now...A word of caution: it is recommended you sanitize the sponge for 2 minutes, but this makes it dangerously hot. To prevent fire, the sponge must be thoroughly soaked before nuking.

The jury is still out on the best way to sanitize since there are variances in sponge sizes and power levels in the ovens. Because some germs are rather nasty, I would be remiss to say I know the best way, but this is how we do it. The microwave though...that's another story. We've got that one nailed.

For more tips, visit Rocks in My Dryer for Works for Me Wednesday.

Labels: cleaning, tips, Works for Me Wednesday

# posted by Heather@justdoingmybest @ Wednesday, February 04, 2009 3 Comments

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