Guest Contributor, Author at Humorous Homemaking

Five Ways to Figure Out What’s For Dinner

Guest post by Katie of Finding Home.

Getting dinner on the table can be a chore. I like cooking and baking sometimes, but for some reason, all the people in my house want to eat more often than once or twice a week. So I am always on the lookout for recipes that are quick and easy, and that don’t have too many ingredients. And if at least half of my people like the same thing at the same time? That’s a winner.

So where do I find recipes that fit all of these criteria? Here are a few of my favorite places. [Read more…]

We Make Too Much Money to be Broke {a debt free story}

Guest post by The Former Mrs. Jones

It was 11:30 at night when I swiped my Discover card through the credit card slot at the gas pump. I remember feeling nervous because I wasn’t sure if little screen would read back “card declined” or “see attendant.” I was pretty sure there was at least $80 of credit left on the almost maxed out $5,000 credit card, and all I needed was $20 in gas so my husband could get to work the next day. The screen read back “select fuel” as I breathed a sigh of relief and began pumping 4 gallons of gas into his truck. It was in that moment that I was “sick and tired of being sick and tired” as Dave Ramsey says. I felt so stupid. Here I was leaning against his $23,000 truck while my $16,000 car sat in the drive way of our $155,000 home and mixed in with all that was our 8 month old baby sleeping in a $300 crib and I couldn’t even scrap together $20 of my own money to buy gas. I had no idea what I was doing. We made too much money to be this broke, and yet we were. This is the start of our debt free story.
[Read more…]

4 Products I’ll Never Buy Again (and what I’m using instead) plus a 2-ingredient Stain Remover That Really Works!

Guest post by Julie Chittock of Domestic Contessa

In my kitchen, I have always enjoyed making as much as possible from scratch using real food ingredients. This includes everything from hummus and salad dressing to coffee creamer and granola bars.

But it wasn’t until about 5 years ago that I realized that I should do the same thing in other areas of my home. My closets and cabinets were chock-full of all sorts of dish soaps and detergents, toilet bowl cleaners, shower cleaners, kitchen cleaners, window cleaners, laundry detergent, fabric softener, hand soaps, creams and lotions, facial cleansers, body washes, shampoos, conditioners – I could go on and on and on…. I was amazed to learn that so many of those expensive and unnecessary products could be replaced with mostly basic ingredients that I already had in my pantry!

So with no further ado, here are 4 products that I will never buy again (and what I’m using instead). I’m also including a super quick and effective 2-ingredient recipe for a laundry stain remover that really works! [Read more…]

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Sticking to Your Food Budget Even in Stressful Times

Hi there, It’s Angela from Grocery Shrink. Thanks, Stacy, for inviting me to be a guest blogger today!

Sticking to a tight budget while under a lot of stress is crazy hard, but not impossible. Ask me how I know! Two years ago we were living in a small house with 6 children. I loved our house with it’s fun wrap porch, but our 4 boys needed to share a room, with our 2 girls in the other one. Our kitchen area was so small that my husband or I stood to eat so everyone else could have a seat at the table. We had been house shopping for awhile, but with our small budget, not much was coming up that was bigger.

Easy to overlook, huh?

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One day we saw a listing for a 5,000 square foot brick house (click for a video tour) in a very nice neighborhood. [Read more…]

10 Things You Already Know {But Will Probably Forget} About Sticking to Your Budget at Christmas

Guest post by Christy of The Simple Homemaker

Christmas is just around the corner. While your kids are enjoying sweet dreams of stuffed stockings and presents under the tree, you’re suffering through nightmares about your budget shattering like Humpty Dumpty on an off day. It’s a legitimate fear. Through some strange twist of cosmic irony, people who are religiously responsible with their finances eleven months out of the year, often ditch reason and overspend when Christmas temptations roll around.

Not this year!

If you’ve been reading Stacy’s blog for any length of time, the following money-saving principles should be firmly ingrained in your head. Nevertheless, I’m going to ingrain them a little deeper this December to help ward off holiday-induced budgetary dementia and financial frazzle. [Read more…]

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How Cloth Diapering Can Save You $$$

Guest Post by Erin of The Humbled Homemaker

Part of this post is an excerpt from the eBook, Confessions of a Cloth Diaper Convert: A Simple, Comprehensive Guide to Using Cloth Diapers.

It’s not hard to see how cloth diapering can save you money. The question is: Will you get passed the cloth diapering myths and let cloth diapering open up more room in your overall budget?!

When I was expecting our second baby and it was obviously that our firstborn was not going to be easy to potty train, I started to fret about how in the world we would be able to afford disposable diapers for two.

[Read more…]

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A College Degree Without Debt? Yes You Can!

Today I’m excited to have a good friend of mine, Cy Vanover, sharing his knowledge on getting a college degree without debt. Cy is a genius at this stuff and just came out with his first book on the subject so even though this post is a bit long, READ IT and SHARE IT with anyone who may be planning for college anytime soon.

Since 1978, the average price of college tuition has increased 1,100 percent. No folks, that’s not a typo … a 1,100 percent increase, even when adjusting for inflation. But don’t take my word for it; that statistic comes directly from William (Bill) Bennett, former Secretary of Education under Ronald Reagan.

There was a time (not that long ago) when students could pay their way through school by working part-time jobs and graduating completely debt-free. Yes, they had to live very frugal lives in order to do it, but do it they did. What happened to those days? [Read more…]

Babywearing with a Ring Sling

Guest post by Brandy Nichols

The very first way I learned to carry my child (other than my arms) was in a ring sling. My husband’s mother gave me one in those very early days with my first baby. I think I must have gone around for a year or more, wearing my sling or mei tai much of the time. Many folks love using ring slings for getting their child up and down quickly and praise them even in the toddler years.

A ring sling is a length of cloth where one end is threaded with sling rings, folded over and sewn (very well). The other end, the tail, is free. It’s threaded through the rings, too, to make an adjustable pocket for the baby. Ring slings are not the same as those infamous bag slings from a few years ago. I like ring slings for carrying very small babies most of all. There’s not lots of fabric to wrap around them and no special inserts or adjustments required, such as for soft-structured carriers. Babies are only very little for a short time, anyway. [Read more…]

Barbecue Chicken Dinner Packets

Guest post by Meredith Kimelblatt.

We interrupt my usual Friday crock pot recipes to bring you another quick and easy dish from Meredith Kimelblatt of Ready Set Eat.

If you think of spring the prime season for fresh produce and salads, you’re completely right. But the warmer weather indicates something else too; the beginning of grilling season! As soon as it gets nice outside, cookout foods come right back into season, making spring the perfect time to whip out the grill and cook outside.

Grills are great for a few reasons: not only do they add amazing flavor to whatever you throw on them, but grilling is also one of the healthiest cooking methods out there. As opposed to pan frying, sautéing or deep frying, you don’t need loads of oil or butter to cook most meals on the grill. Many grilled recipes call for marinades, too, meaning you won’t have to add as many extras to chicken or steak since your meat will already be packed with flavor! [Read more…]

Crock Pot Freezer Cooking Tutorial: 6 Meals in 1 Hour

Guest post by KM Logan

Are you a busy family?

How would you like 6 chicken recipes that can be assembled in less than one hour, and cost well under $100, especially if you have a stocked pantry?

These recipes couldn’t be simpler – assemble the raw ingredients ahead of time in freezer bags then freeze. Thaw in your refrigerator the night before cooking and throw the contents in the crock pot, 6 hours on low or 4 hours on high. (Always check for doneness as all crock pots are different.)

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When it comes to the amount of ingredients for these recipes let the size of your crock pot be your guide. If you have a 4 quart crock pot and are using gallon-size freezer bags, be sure to leave some room in your freezer bag so everything will fit and cook well in your crock-pot. [Read more…]