Have you heard the one about the homeschooling family that lives on less than $22K a year in an area that costs above 100% (116%) of the National CoL Index?
I haven't quite figured out why so many people still persist in perpetuating the myth that living on a single income and homeschooling on a dime aren't possible. I can only suppose these are people who can't imagine life without a daily trip to Starbucks and dinner out several times a week. The people who actually shop at malls (*shudder*) and think "Brand Name = Best". The people who really live by the "Keeping up with the Joneses" mentality.
That? Would not be us!
Welcome to our world. We cook from scratch. Buy from thrift stores. Find 95% of our homeschool materials for free. This is my blog and this is how we do it.
Embroidery chatter.
This is the Bible cover I'm working on, that I mentioned in a comment. I'm sure you've seen these sorts of kits before. They come with instructions and a pre-stamped piece of fabric.
As you can see from the picture, I keep everything I need to work on this project in this little purse. (I purchased it from the Dollar Spot at Target.) I just stick the needle directly into the fabric liner to keep it safe. Whenever I'm going somewhere where I might be sitting/waiting for awhile - such as the kids' doctor appointments - I just grab the purse to go along. Er, yes, I sometimes get strange looks when I'm stitching (or crocheting or knitting) in public, but more often than not, it seems to bring out the friendliness of people. Many of them will strike up a conversation to ask about whatever project I'm working on.
I will make sure to take a picture again when I finally finish this one. :)
Just to mention - THIS SITE offers free vintage embroidery patterns, and includes instructions on how to transfer the patterns to your fabric.Labels: general chatter
Read the full post and comments.
Free cross stitch patterns
I'm supposed to spend HOW much?
Have a look at THE USDA FOOD PLANS: COST OF FOOD CHART for May. (The latest figures.)
Here are my family's numbers, per month:
Thrifty Plan: $567.80
Low Cost Plan: $739.40
Moderate Plan: $920.00
Liberal Plan: $1121.30 (Oh, come on!)
Considering we only actually spend around $190 - I guess the government must think we're starving to death. And my total includes things like toilet paper and shampoo. So I'm trying to decide what to call my actual costs. Is it the Conservative Plan? (Hee.) The Yes, People Really Live Like This Plan? The Reality Plan?
This chart says "Cost of Food at Home" (emphasis added). I could see where dining out very frequently would run your bill up to over $1100. But eating strictly at home? Yikes!
And just in case you were really wondering, here's where the government thinks your food dollars are going: RECIPES AND TIPS FOR HEALTHY, THRIFTY MEALS.Labels: budgeting chatter, general chatter, recipe chatter
Read the full post and comments.
Gifts for Kids.
If your kids are like my kids, it seems they get invited to at least one birthday party a month. Now, I remember going to birthday parties when I was young and gifts from friends were not typically big affairs. (I can remember one party where everyone was in awe of... a fuzzy pen. Which I think probably cost about $1.) Now we go to some parties where the other kids are bringing large gifts that cost $30 or more- gifts that when I was a child would've been considered the "big birthday wish gift" from mom and dad.
I suppose we could do the same, rush out and buy my son's friend the Pirates of the Caribbean Lego Ship for $40. But then we wouldn't be able to eat for a week, so that wouldn't exactly be a wise decision, eh? (More in full post.)
I actually treat kids gifts in much the same way I do for adults. I assemble gift baskets or bags of treats, a combination of purchased items and homemade things.
Here are some gifts we've given lately. (And no, sorry! I don't have pictures!)
For a young girl turning 9 whose mother told me, "She wants to learn to crochet like your daughter, but I don't know how myself so I can't teach her." - I bought a blue plastic, two-handled basket from Dollar Tree that she can use to tote her new supplies. ($1). I got out several bright colored yarn skeins I have purchased from various garage sales and made 6 round rolls of roughly the same size. (At most this was 30 cents.) From the Super Wal-Mart I purchased a crochet hook pack for about $3.50. Sorry, I'm being a bit lazy here. I could go grab my budget book and pull out the actual receipt, but I do remember the total with tax was just under that price. I then printed out THIS PAGE with a little handwritten note at the top encouraging her to practice and in her birthday card, which my daughter made, I included a "coupon" for 3 crocheting "private lessons" at my house to learn basic stitches and eventually use the yarn I gave her to make a scarf. We finished this gift basket off by my daughter adding a crocheted belt she made for her friend in her friend's favorite color. My daughter came home from the birthday party and said, "Mom, now all my friends want to know how to crochet." so I took that to mean the gift was well-received. :)
For the just-turning-five daughter of a homeschooling family, we made a "My Rainy Day Basket". The basket was a plain pink basket bought after Easter for 25 cents. In it we put several bags of homemade playdough (Sidebar: If you ever make homemade playdough and want really bright colors, generic kool-aid drink mix packs - usually cost 10 cents each - work really well, mixed in with the dough.); a package of plastic cookie cutters from Dollar Tree to play with the playdough; a flexible cutting board to play with the playdough on (Which - I don't know how much these really cost, but we found a pack of five of them for $1 at a local flea market and they work great as play mats or painting mats.); plus we added a "personalized" coloring book, which was created by me printing several free coloring pages off the internet, making a cover with her name printed on it in large letters, and I bound it by using a comb binder machine*, and a box of crayons purchased last summer during the big back-to-school sales. (25 cents) We finished this basket with a boxed puzzle, also purchased from Dollar Tree.
For a 11-year-old boy, we recently created a "Bag or Tricks" gift. He loves magic tricks and so using free internet sources, my son and I printed him a magic trick booklet and then got the supplies he needed. (These were just simple things like rope, a deck of cards, an empty bottle, some coins - none "tricked" out, like a two-headed coin or anything, just regular household items.) We put this all in a plain brown paper bag and stapled it shut and my son wrote "For Brian's Eyes Only - Top Secret!" on it. This was apparently the hit of the party, according to Brian's mom. She said it sat on the table with the other gifts and it was obvious the boys all REALLY wanted to know what was inside, and once he finally opened it, that's all the kids wanted to do - practice and learn the tricks - for the rest of the party.
As you can see, our gifts are very simple and old-fashioned. Generally, they cost around $5 to put together. Anytime my children get a birthday party invitation, if I don't know the child well enough already, I call up the mom and quiz her on her child's interests. Once I know that, I can start brainstorming ideas.
A few other hints:
Personalized gifts always seem to be winners. I once made a set of hair ribbons for a young girl out of solid colored grosgrain ribbon where I wrote her name on each end with a fabric pen. She loved them.
Get creative with the packaging. I guess you can see from all my gift posts, I rarely actually use wrapping paper. It seems like such a waste. It serves one purpose, then gets thrown away. THIS PATTERN shows you how to make a simple draw-string backpack that's a cute gift all in itself and can be used to hold other gifts.
Look online for instructions to make other gifts. Try googling something like "make your own toys" for more ideas. And you might even find some fun things to make for your own children.
*A long time ago I bought a comb binding machine at a church rummage sale and it has been a great thing to have on hand. I've used to to make coloring books for kids and "publish" books my children have written and illustrated as gifts to adult family members. I also use it to make a "best of" sort of portfolio of my kids' work samples each school year, just to keep for myself. I don't think I would ever say they are worth the $40 or more new, but you might want to consider purchasing one if you ever come across it used like I did. Or perhaps you might have 4 or 5 friends who'd be willing to all chip in and buy one and then share it. :)
ETA - Er... that was "wise decision" not "wish decision", though - Hee.
Labels: gift giving chatter
Read the full post and comments.
Free online textbooks.
As most of these are written on a college level, they are, of course, advanced materials. However, if you have a high schooler interested in a particular topic/subject, or perhaps you are yourself, you might want to check out some of these offerings.
FREE TECH BOOKS - covers computer science, programming & scripting, mathematics, and other related fields
FREELOAD PRESS - mostly maths and computers, but a few other books are available, such as "Writing Exploratory Essays". Just note - the site says "most" of the books are free, but some have a end-users fee.
WIKIBOOKS - covers a very wide range of topics, languages, sciences, history, and more. Has a section called wikijunior specifically for younger children. This site, being a wiki, is definitely a work in progress, but it does have some nice reference resources.Labels: curriculum chatter
Read the full post and comments.
Photos?
Well, I have to admit, I've only once ever taken a picture of a gift I made, and while I'm posting it here, I'm afraid this will be a little misleading! You see, this was a gift made for a woman in our support group and is not like my usual gifts, because this was coming from all of us and other women contributed to the over-all costs. In fact, that's *why* I took the picture - so the other moms could see the final product before we presented it.
I can tell you this - the candle was $1.00 from Dollar Tree, as was the ceramic trinket box (The round thing by the basket handle.) The chocolates cost $1.00 total. I don't know about the basket or bath soap; someone gave them to me. The green material was - er, maybe .15 cents? I cut it from a fabric I bought at 50 cents a yard. The cloth that I embroidered I got in a large bundle of embroidery fabrics from Goodwill. I would say about .25 cents for that, rough estimate, based on how much I paid for the entire bundle.
In any case, as per requested by Iris, here is one picture anyway. I will have to start taking more pictures! It simply never occurred to me before!
 Labels: general chatter, gift giving chatter
Read the full post and comments.
Ready. Sit. Read!
Target's "Ready. Sit. Read!" program is available for free and is open to homeschoolers. Essentially, you are starting a book club. You can choose from books the club lists, along with worksheets and activities to go with them, or use books of your own choosing. You can work just with your own family, or invite others to join you. When we joined, we received a package by mail that included some signs and a flag and a book about the program. (Something that came as a total surprise since I wasn't expecting something like that from a free club!)
You can learn all about it HERE.
Also - just to note - you can access the book flyers/worksheets directly, without even creating a club, by going TO THIS PAGE. There's a wide range of books listed, including Charlotte's Web, Little House in the Big Woods, and The Giving Tree.Labels: general chatter
Read the full post and comments.
Wednesday Quick Tip (2)
When's the last time you went through your first aid kit and made sure it was properly stocked? Do you still have an old bottle of acetominophine in there that expired in 2004? Ideally, you should have at the very least two first aid kits, one in your house and one in your car, and everyone in the family should know where they are kept.
The American College of Emergency Physicians offers this list of items all first aid kits should contain:
Acetaminophen, Ibuprofen, and aspirin tablets: For headaches, pain, fever, and simple sprains or strains. (Aspirin should not be used for relief of flu symptoms or given to children.)
Ipecac syrup and activated charcoal: For treatment after ingestion of certain poisons. (Use only on advice of a poison control center or the emergency department.)
Elastic Wraps: For wrapping wrist, ankle, knee, and elbow injuries.
Triangular Bandages: For wrapping injuries and making an arm sling.
Scissors with rounded tips.
Adhesive tape and 2" gauze: For dressing wounds.
Disposable, instant ice bags: For icing injuries and treating high fevers.
Bandages of assorted sizes: For covering minor cuts and scrapes.
Antibiotic ointment: For minor burns, cuts, and scrapes.
Gauze in rolls and in 2" and 4" pads: For dressing wounds
Bandage Closures: 1/4" and 1": For taping cut edges together.
Tweezers: To remove small splinters and ticks.
Safety pins: To fasten bandages.
Rubber gloves: to protect yourself and reduce the risk of infection when treating open wounds.
First Aid Manual
List of emergency telephone numbers.
Check your local discount stores and dollar stores for any items you might be missing or need to replace. Accidents do happen. It never hurts to be prepared.Labels: household chatter
Read the full post and comments.
What are your financial goals?
Sometimes this seems like an obvious question, but then, if you haven't reviewed your goals recently, this might be a good time to do so. (More in full post.)
Some years back there was a television commercial that started off showing a handsome man and his elegant-looking watch. The voice-over described the watch in glowing terms and went on to tell you the staggering price it cost. Then the voice said something along the lines of, "And what does he do with this watch? He tells time."
It turned out this wasn't a watch commercial, but rather a commercial about financial planning. The voice-over broke down the numbers of how much money this watch owner wasted in buying something that served no more use than a $15 Timex, and how the money could have grown over the years to make a tidy nest egg.
I remember being extremely amused by it.
If you are facing very specific financial needs currently, such as paying off debts or simply making sure all your bills are paid on time, it can be hard sometimes to think past that point to future goals. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't have at least some ideas of where you want to be in five years, ten years, and more.
Aside from college for the kids, and maybe a nice bit of traveling for yourself, there is one aspect that it is never too early to be planning for. Yes, I am speaking of retirement, but not in the "hanging out on the golf course" sense.
Americans are living longer and longer and because of that we are needing more money to support ourselves in our old age when we can no longer physically work. Not too long ago, my aunt called me to let me know we have a bit of a crisis in our own family. My grandmother has reached the age of 94. She's developed Alzheimer's and needs constant care. My aunt told me she's starting to become very concerned because my grandmother is running out of money. No one ever thought this would happen and I know, though her mental capabilities have dwindled, she would never have ever wanted to become a burden for her children, were she aware of the situation. As of right now, it looks quite likely that our entire family will need to start chipping in as much as possible to meet her monthly bills.
So, even if you have immediate goals that swallow every last dime right now, such as paying off a college loan, just take a few moments to sketch out all your financial goals and plans and even write down some things you might do to reach them. This goal list is very useful to have handy, especially on days when you might be tempted to make a questionable "splurge" purchase. You can whip it out to remind yourself of where you really want to be in your own financial future, and stop yourself from buying that way over-priced watch you didn't need anyway.
Labels: budgeting chatter, general chatter
Read the full post and comments.
How I shop, Part 5.
The lowdown.
I said I wanted to give a complete breakdown of one entire shopping day, and so here it is. Please note - if you were to only buy what I've bought this week alone, you wouldn't be able to make many meals. This is because I buy things over time and keep them as staples, so each week I'm only picking up some particular needs and items I find on sale. (More in full post.)
We did not go to any garage sales this week. The weather was hot and we aren't currently looking for anything in particular. We did stop by a used book store, where I found a Spanish 1 for Christian Schools textbook and teacher manual for $1 each and I picked those up. We have been listening to Spanish language CDs from the library and I figured this could give us some reinforcement.
Total: $2.13
Our first store stop was Dollar General. I bought a 6 pack of toilet paper (which we won't actually need until next week) for $1, a bag of cat food for $3, also not needed for another week or so, and a $1 stick of Suave deodorant.
Total $5.33
Next we went to Save-Rite, where I bought:
1) 1 bag of potatoes: $2.50
2) 2 lbs yellow onions: $1.25 - didn't need them right away, but this was a good price.
3) orange gelatin mix: .32 cents
4) raspberry gelatin mix: .32 cents - My daughter handed her cold on to my son and jello is one of his "comfort foods".
5) one can of no-salt added corn: .40 cents
6) one can of diced tomatoes: .50 cents
7) two cans of tomato paste: .68 cents
8) 1 bottle of BBQ sauce: $1.00 - because we'd used up the last of it in our BBQ chicken sandwiches last week; don't need it right away, but I consider it a staple to keep on hand.
9) 1 carton of oatmeal: $1.35 - my son also loves oatmeal for breakfast when he's feeling ill - this will last us a long time.
10) vegetable oil: $1.65 - don't need it currently, but was on sale
Total: $9.97
At Winn Dixie we only bought 2 bell peppers for .98 cents and a 4 lb. bag of kidney beans for $3.49 - another item that will last us a long time.
Total: $4.47
At Wal-Mart we bought:
1) 1 lb. bag of carrots: .79 cents
2) bananas (at .48 cents a pound): $1.15
3) raw spinach: $1.98
4) mayo: $1.00 (to use in a salad dressing)
5) Cajun seasoning: .50 cents (didn't need right away, but is often hard to come by at this price)
6) oregano: .50 cents
7) 12 oz bag of egg noodles: .60 cents
8) one whole chicken: $3.62
9) ham: $2.50 (marked down)
10) 1 5 lb. bag of "tortilla mix" on the clearance aisle - .50 cents. I've never tried making tortillas before, but I figure if I blow it, I only wasted 50 cents, but if I succeed, each tortilla will cost less than 2 cents.
11) large bottle of white vinegar: $1.85 (didn't need immediately, but my supply was getting a little low)
12) one bag frozen mixed veggies: .78 cents
Total: $15.77
Grand Total: $37.67
In the interest of full disclosure, my husband bought yogurt and fruit on Friday on his way home, for a total of $5.85, so he could make my son some smoothies as snacks, so to be fair, our real total for this week is: $43.52
When you combine the things we bought this week plus things we already had on hand, these are our 14 lunches and dinners for the week -
1) chef salad and cheese bread
2) roasted chicken and vegetables (onions, carrots, potatoes), steamed green beans (from a frozen pack), rolls
3) baked potatoes "stuffed" with broccoli and covered in a cheese sauce, spinach salad
4) "fake" red beans and rice w/ ham chunks (I say "fake" because I used kidney beans instead of genuine red beans), biscuits, jello
5) chicken noodle soup and garlic cheese biscuits (both at son's request.)
6) garden chili - a chili made with beans, ground beef, and veggies: some carrots, corn, bell pepper, and tomatoes - Texans you are free to groan at my calling it "chili" ;), corn bread
7) chicken enchiladas, refried beans, Spanish rice
8) ham and mashed potatoes, broccoli, rolls
9) vegetable-beef soup, garlic bread
10) chicken creole served on rice, biscuits, chocolate pudding*
11) hamburger-macaroni casserole, jello
12) Sloppy Joes, oven fries, carrot sticks with ranch dressing as a dip
13) veggie-topped pizza and garlic bread, leftover jello or pudding
14) Potatoes O'Brien and scrambled eggs. (Yes, we eat eggs for dinner sometimes, typically on Fridays if we do.)
Breakfasts are a choice of waffles, pancakes, muffins or oatmeal - with bananas, apple slices, or oranges on the side.
If you look over what I bought and compare it with what I have/will be cooked/cooking, you'll see that several ingredients I already had. For instance, I still had several containers of ground beef from last week, as well as already prepared refried beans. I also had eggs already and some iceberg lettuce. I almost never buy iceberg lettuce, but we had it from last week because of the tacos we had, so I used it up in a chef salad with ham, cheese, cucumber and carrots. We had BBQ chicken on hamburger buns last week, so I'm using the remaining 4 buns from the pack to make Sloppy Joes this week. I also didn't need any baking supplies this week. My muffins were made with leftover zucchini from last week and I had plenty of my master baking mix on hand to make waffles, pancakes, rolls and biscuits.
One other note - because of the price of milk lately, we've cut back to only one gallon every two weeks. I "stretch" it by mixing it with reconstituted powdered milk.
I don't know how helpful this information truly is, but I wanted to show specifically what one week's shopping produced.
*I make chocolate pudding using this recipe:
1 1/2 cups instant nonfat powdered milk
5 cups sugar
3 cups cornstarch
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa
Mix all ingredients until they are well blended. Store in an airtight container.
To use, stir the mix in the container before measuring out 2/3 cup of the mix into a saucepan. Add 2 cups milk and cook over low heat, stirring, until mixture thickens and comes to a boil. Continue stirring for 1 minute. Remove from heat and pour into individual serving dishes. Pudding will thicken further as it cools.
Labels: budgeting chatter, kitchen chatter, recipe chatter
Read the full post and comments.
Hello.
I just wanted to take a quick moment to say a "Hello!" to everyone who has stopped by my blog. This blog is just a few days shy of being one month old and I'm so glad to know that people are already finding it useful. And to those of you who have made comments or e-mailed me, thank you very much for taking the time to write.
Welcome to you all and please feel free to "speak up" and post any of your own ideas or suggestions or favorite links or anything else that comes to mind. :)Labels: general chatter
Read the full post and comments.
Creative writing with Aesop's Fables.
Here's something a little different from your typical creative writing prompt:
CREATIVE WRITING USING WORDLESS PICTURE BOOKS
I really do like the concept and think it would work well for my dyslexic daughter, but, well, *ahem*, I don't want to buy any wordless picture books. So instead, I popped on over to Project Gutenberg to see what I could come up with, and I found this: THE AESOP FOR CHILDREN. It has lots of lovely illustrations, and as they are WOO! public domain, I can print as many as I want. My daughter loves animals of all kinds, so I picked several and now I'm going to let her choose one and write a short story about what she thinks is happening in the picture. Then we can read the "real" story together and see how hers compares, in a same/different sense, not a "this one is good, but yours is bad" sense. I think she'll enjoy this much more than a word prompt of the "Imagine you're sailing a boat on a jungle river...." kind.
Aesop's Fables is by no means the only illustrated book at Project Gutenberg. If you have a child who might need new ideas for writing, poke around the PG site and see what you can find. :)Labels: curriculum chatter
Read the full post and comments.
Free printable recipe cards.
GRAPHIC GARDEN offers some very cute, free printable recipes cards you can use with the "Gifts in a Jar" recipes I mentioned in my last post. The site owner specifically says you can give these cards as gifts, so you are not bound by any "home, personal use only" restrictions.Labels: kitchen chatter
Read the full post and comments.
Another source of Master Mix Recipes.
More master mix recipes, courtesy of the Ohio State University extension.
MASTER MIX COOKBOOK
There's also this: HEARTY SOUP MIX
And if you're looking for "Gifts in a Jar" type recipes, here's a site with dozens to choose from: FOOD GIFTS FROM YOUR KITCHEN - (Watch for people selling canning jars at garage sales; you can often pick them up for mere pennies and just buy replacement lids if needed. Since you are not actually canning the food for safety/storage, you can even buy plastic screw-on lids.)Labels: recipe chatter
Read the full post and comments.
Week 4 of American History and Language Arts.
Canned Cream of Whatever.
If you have a recipe that you want to use that calls for canned cream of soup, here's a mix recipe you can use it its place.
BASIC SOUP MIX
2 cups powdered milk
3/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup instant chicken bouillon*
2 Tablespoons dried onion flakes**
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
Mix all the ingredients well and store in an airtight container. Makes the equivalent of 9 cans of soup. In order to substitute this recipe for canned soup,
combine 1/3 cups mix with 1 1/4 cups cold water. Cook and stir on the stove top or in the microwave until thickened then add to the recipe.
* chicken bouillon is LOADED with salt. Try to purchase the lower salt alternative, even if it costs more.
** look for dried onion flakes in the Hispanic food section if your grocery store has one. Sometimes they are cheaper there. If you can't find flakes at a reasonable price, leave them out and add 1 1/2 teaspoons onion powder if you have it or skip the onion altogether. (You can buy 5th Season brand onion powder for as low as 50 cents.)
Note - this mix can be turned into a cheese sauce by mixing the 1/3 cup of mix, 1 1/4 cups water and 1 cup grated cheese. It can be turned into tomato soup by again mixing the 1/3 cup mix to 1 1/4 cups water and adding 2 cups tomato sauce. Alfredo sauce can be made by mixing the 1/3 cup mix, 1 1/4 cup water, 1/2 cup low-fat sour cream, 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.Labels: recipe chatter
Read the full post and comments.
Learn to Crochet & Knit.
Lion Brand Yarn has free instructions to learn to crochet and knit and includes some patterns for beginners.
CROCHETING
KNITTING
I shop for yarn at garage sales and when I find it, I bargain for 10 cents per skein. The seller almost always takes the deal. I do also sometimes find yarn in discount stores and dollar stores, but I only buy it there if it's the really nice "fuzzy" yarn and I use it for special projects and borders.
One thing I like to do is make baby blankets. When I give them to expectant mothers, I include a little card with this message:
Precious baby, though we haven't yet met, I made this gift just for you. My thoughts and prayers were carefully woven in to each chain and stitch and turn. And so each time this blanket is wrapped about you, know that it is more than simple warmth and comfort you are receiving. It is a loving hug from me.
That isn't from anything - I wrote it myself and you're welcome to use it, or any version you come up with. It grew out of what I told my own children about the blankets I made them when I was pregnant. I've always told them any time they needed, if I wasn't available for some reason, they could wrap up in their blankets and know this was a hug from me.
If you take the time to learn to knit or crochet, if you don't already know how, you will be able to create many lovely gifts. Free patterns abound on the 'net. I like to listen to audio books while I work, and often the kids and I will sit in the den and listen together. My daughter and I will work on some type of project and my son likes to just lie on the floor and listen. Just to note - crocheting (which I do enjoy more, sadly for me) does use more yarn than knitting. It also typically produces a "heavier" result.Labels: general chatter, gift giving chatter
Read the full post and comments.
|
|
|
|
© 2007. All rights reserved. No part of this website may be reproduced by any means
except for print-outs for individual home, private use.
|
|
