Today’s tip is to eliminate waste. Or we can flip it the other direction and say we should use everything! And I’m not just talking about recycling cans and cardboard. For instance:

Did you know disposable swimmie diapers can be reused? After using the disposable swim diapers {like Huggies Little Swimmers}, wash them in the laundry!  When they weren’t “messy and beyond help”, I washed them in the laundry, and was often able to use one package all summer long!  Just don’t put them in the dryer or they’ll become crunchy… instead, just let them air dry, and they’ll be as good as new!

Save magazines for your kids to use for crafts. They develop cutting skills, they develop cognitive skills, etc.

Stop using disposable papers goods – instead use cloth napkins, cloth cleaning rags, kitchen towels, reusable glass containers (instead of baggies), soup bowls can keep nearly anything hot not just soup. Carry leftovers or a baked potato in it.

If your kids are like mine, they don’t like eating the heels of the bread loaves. Save those! Ends of bread loaves can be cooked and ground up to make bread crumbs, or cut up and made into croutons.

Browning bananas – freeze for baking later, or puree and make a popsicle. Just don’t get freaked out by the nearly black peels. They will taste wonderful in whatever baked good or popsicle you  make!

If you find yourself with a tiny bit of vegetables left from dinner, save them! Maintain a freezer container and throw them in together. Once you have enough make yourself some vegetable soup!

Boil a leftover rotisserie chicken, chicken bones, or even a whole fresh chicken in a stock pot with some of your leftover vegetables and some seasoning. Save the water as chicken stock for soup night. If you need a good recipe to do this, Gina over at Skinny Taste has a great recipe.

That’s all I’ve got for you this week. Have you gotten any new ideas? Had an a-ha! moment? Snorted in disbelief? Did you try to trim your hair? {just remember, I’m not responsible for the result if it’s negative. If it’s good, then I absolutely take credit! }

Grown-Up Grilled Cheese and Soup

This isn’t a new idea. I’m sure you’ve all made these at some point. Right?!? Well, it’s a cold day and some warm soup and a grilled cheese sounded just about right for us. So I made traditional (boring) grilled cheese for the kids. But I made a “grown-up” grilled cheese for myself. I am a grown-up, afterall.

Today, I put a little minced garlic, some roasted red peppers, marinated artichoke hearts, and some goat cheese on my sandwich. That’s all fixings I regularly have around the house. And personally, I think you should always have those on hand too.

It has to cook a little longer to get the goat cheese to melt, so be careful you don’t burn it!

Doesn’t that just look heavenly?? It is.

By the way, the soup is called “Friendship Soup.” It was a soup in a jar gift given to us by a friend from church. So  yummy! And a great gift idea.

Happy Wednesday! Now get yourself to church! Blessings!

One day I sat down and figured out how much we spent on family cuts every month. $100. YIKES…every month. It made me stop breathing for just a moment when I realized that. And we just go to the “cheap” salon. Let’s break it down. 3 kids cuts costing $15 + $2 tip = $51. Mine and Hubs cuts are $20 + $5 tip  = $50. Yep. That’s $100 a month. Or $1,200 a year.

So how do I lessen the blow when it comes to haircuts? Well, you can choose to give your kids long hairstyles that don’t require cuts very often! And it’s certainly a viable solution! My oldest daughter has long hair. But she has bangs. Which grow super fast. My other daughter doesn’t do long hair well. Plus I have a son and a husband who prefer very clean cut styles.

I used to cut my hair all the time. (And it looked like it. Ha!) There was a season when I just didn’t have the extra money to pay someone to cut my hair for me so I chose to do it myself and just live with the consequences. And it didn’t look that bad. I’m kinda picky about my hair. (and those who know me well will translate that to very picky..)

We’ve now come to a new season, but we still want to save money in this area. My solution: go to the hair salon every other month. Just in case you can’t do that math that’s a savings of $600 a year! And during the other months I trim all of our hair for us.

So here’s my tip to successful home haircuts: I don’t trim bluntly across my layers, but rather trim into my layers. See how my scissors are cutting into the line of hair rather than across? This helps take off some length without royally messing up my layers.

My other tip to a home haircut are these puppies:

My personal opinion is these thinning shears are worth their weight in gold. They provide a very forgiving cut and really help take off a little weight until I can get to the salon next month. Here it is!

And actually, I haven’t been to the salon since November.

I think.

{I can’t wait to hear your responses to this one!!}

My Disclaimer: I’m not responsible if you end up with a hack job. Ok? Thanks!

You can. You’re welcome.

And of course,  you can make a zillion other things too. Pinterest is a treasure-trove of home helps pins. {Have I mentioned that I love Pinterest? hmmm}

I think we’ve become conditioned to believe that we have to buy everything we need. That’s not very frugal, now is it? In reality, it wasn’t that long ago we made everything we needed. We cooked from scratch. We whipped up a batter from scratch for our waffles and pancakes (Don’t shudder. You can do it!) We made our own bread (I LOVE making bread). And we sewed our own clothes, napkins, curtains, etc. (I’m working on this one. Well, maybe not the clothes part.)

So since we’re talking about making your own, I wanted to share with you my recipe to make your own laundry detergent.

It’s simple really.

½ bar of Ivory or Fels Naptha soap, shaved (a cheese grater works great)
¼ cup Borax (20 Mule Team)
¼ cup Washing Soda (Arm & Hammer-DO NOT use Baking Soda. Be sure you get the right thing.)
4 qts. of water (1 gallon; 4 cups=1 qt)

Boil your water in large pot. Stir in the soap shavings and stir until all the shavings are melted. Stir in Borax and Washing Soda until dissolved. Allow to come back to room temperature. It will become milky white as it cools. Store in a plastic container with a lid. If you don’t use it frequently, this can separate so you might need to stir it once and awhile. (But, really?!? WHO isn’t doing laundry like a mad woman, on a regular basis?!?)

I use about 1/4 cup for each laundry load.

There are a lot of recipes available online. Other liquid recipes like mine. And even some dry powder recipes.

The savings here is pretty phenomenal. If you buy one family size bottle of clothes detergent, you will most likely pay about $13.00.  The cost for these ingredients will also be around $13.00. But the difference is one of those store-bought detergents bottles will wash approximately 32 loads. While these ingredients will wash well over 100 loads. Obviously, that’s a big difference.

So what are you waiting for? Make your own!

When I talk about being frugal, sometimes I see this look come over a woman’s face. Being “frugal” is often equated with being “stingy.” Frugal people live undesirable lives, right? Ya know, they are the ones wearing stained, pill-covered, out of style clothes. Or they’re the ones washing the plastic forks and putting them back in the box for next time (the very idea of this makes me turn green).

So let’s just be clear – living frugally does not mean depriving yourself! More than that – it is possible to be classy AND frugal.

There. I said it.

So over the years we’ve started embracing our simple lifestyle. We’ve even developed a philosophy. We feel:

• People and families (that’s us) can live on far less than the cultural norms around us seem to believe.
• Debt is not a necessity. And we are determined to live within or below our means.
• More importantly, we feel strongly that life is not about consumption, and we’d rather make a difference through wise and biblical stewardship of our time, talent, and money.
• We place a greater emphasis on quality, rather than quantity. This applies to all of the facets of our lives: the tangibles as well as in our relationships.
• PEOPLE ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN THINGS.

I know, in theory, we all agree with this. The difficulty often comes in the practical application of these points.

So what do you do? You set a goal. A realistic goal.

Maybe you’re wanting to be a full time stay-at-home mom.

Or maybe you’re wanting to spend less so you can put your kids in extra curricular activities.

Maybe it’s so you can take a family vacation.

Or maybe you need to get out of debt. And so you create a debt-snowball which requires that you live on less.

Once you find that “thing” – work to keep that goal in the forefront of your mind. Write it down and put it in an obvious place. Track your success and you’ll begin to realize the benefits of your frugality.

If you feel like falling off the wagon, remind yourself of this goal. And think about your needs versus your wants. Is this present need really worth losing that goal?

So we come back to living frugally and how and where you cut. This week I’ll show a few of the things we do around here to keep it simple. I can’t wait to see what you think of some of them. And I bet some of you have some great suggestions too. So jump in the conversation and offer your thoughts along the way! Remember this is meant to be a place where we can share and be a community together!

1. People. Well, it’s a good thing I love people! Since that’s the bulk of this job, huh? But seriously, I do love people. I’ve been called a “social butterfly” a time or two. Or three. I love getting to know them, and do life with them. It brings me so much joy and satisfaction. It’s what I believe the ministry is all about.

2. Food. True to all stereotypes? Probably. But I love having social events! And cooking for them. I love having people over to my house and having dinner. I love going to women’s teas. I’ve enjoyed a few potlucks in my time. And I especially love taking food to families who just brought a new baby home from the hospital! I think food is one of my spiritual gifts.

3. Family. I love the sense of family that comes from being part of the ministry. I’m blessed to have a wonderful Christian family on both my husband and my sides. My dad and mom are missionaries. My brother-in-law and sister are pastors. My entire life has been about living this life of ministry. And I love the connection all of that brings. I love all of the ministry families we’ve served with over the years. Each has impacted us in individual ways. I love the special sense of connection I feel with other Pastor’s wives. We are a unique breed. But I’ll stop there. I love family.

4. Praying. To me the opportunity to pray for and with the people around me for their needs, desires, wishes, hopes, dreams, fears, and guidance is one of the most important parts of this “life” of the ministry. Many nights are spent praying for friends and loved ones and their needs. And I love that. Because I have confidence that the same Savior who I entreat for the needs of others, also knows and is working on behalf of my own needs as well.

5. Knowing There’s A Bigger World. The ministry has moved us to several places over our years (7 to be exact). And while I don’t relish moving (hates it, I do!), I have certainly seen a lot of the world (well…the Eastern seaboard of the US. It’s PART of the world!). I have experienced some bi-polar cultures within the US. And I have LOVED that! The South is NOT like the North, people. And the Midwest isn’t like either of those. It’s been cool to realize that while the US is a melting pot of cultures, those cultures are still unique and distinct and that affects how we “do” ministry. Thankfully, with all these differences, we serve a great big God who created all things and gives us the ability to reach these people when it’s not within our natural ability to otherwise.

I love this life.  I feel blessed to be called by God to love on His people.

What’s your favorite part(s) about the ministry?

Lisa, a minister friend from upstate New York, has been freezing meals for a few years. But she never did a large meal plan, or did a day of cooking. She decided that starting with a whole month was too much so she planned a TAMC (Twice-A-Month-Cooking) meal plan for her family! She sent me a few pics to say how it went and I was very impressed. Thought I’d share it with you so you can see that others are giving it a try!

Lisa’s meal plan was:

4 pizza crusts, par baked and wrapped and 4 batches of pizza sauce (their normal Friday dinner is homemade pizza)
1 chickie pie pie
2 mac- n -cheeses (with bechamel sauce and several cheeses! nom nom!)
1 stroganoff
1 batch of scalloped potatoes and ham for the crock pot
1 batch of taco meat with cheese
1 salmon and veggies
1 big batch of cornflake crusted chicken
1 “woodland” soup (what’s this, Lisa?)
1 Hawaiian chicken

See how she bagged sauces in plastic and fixings alltogether in another freezer bag? It’s a smart way to put together pieces to a meal.

Lisa spent $146 at the grocery store, which included all of the stuff for her boys’ lunches and 3 extra gallons of milk, which she froze. She also saved some money because her husband is a hunter, so anywhere there is beef in a recipe she used venison. She marinated it overnight in buttermilk (reconstituted powder) which (apparently) tenderizes it and takes that nasty gamey taste out {{phew}}.

She said her day went pretty well, although she  got a little bogged down in the middle because she chose pot pie AND mac and cheese, both of which are quite a bit of work.

So – overall, Lisa felt like it was a success. And now she’s thankful that she has all these meals because she’s sick with the epic cold of the century. Ugh! Sorry Lisa! Hope you feel better soon!

So, anyone else giving it a try? What’s your plan look like? Or have you done some bulk cooking? Tell me about it! Send me pics! I’d love to see what you thought!

And considering my confession last week, you might think that someone is me.

But, actually, it’s not.

It’s my oldest daughter. God bless her – she just can’t keep her bedroom clean to save her soul.

a peek in the closet

 I’ve tried everything I can think of to get her to clean it and keep it clean. None have worked. And of course, there’s always the parenting technique of “picking your battles,” but at some point this comes down to life lessons. My daughter is officially a “tween” (Ahhhhhh….) and I figured it’s time to start getting things under control.

I saw this idea on Pinterest and decided we would do it, with a twist. I informed my daughter that once we came home from our Christmas vacation, I was going to clean her room (dun, dun, dun…).

Then I informed her that I wasn’t putting anything away. I was just going to put everything that was not in its place into a trash bag.

And then I informed her that she was going to have to win her bags back (cue hyperventilation).

So when we got home, I bought a box of lawn and leaf bags, and came right home to get to that room.

4 bags later…I showed her what types of activities she would have to complete to earn her bags back.

I got my list from Organic Families - she had so many great ideas! I printed it out, cut it into strips and put them in a shoe box for my daughter to pull from.

The rule is: with each chore there is a time limit within which it must be completed. She must do one chore per bag, and must empty and put away everything in each bag before she can do another chore to earn another bag back.

So, what chores did she pull? He he he – this time she got “Give daddy a 10 minute foot rub and then do This Little Piggy with his feet when you’re done.”

I love that laugh!

So far, we’ve gotten the room to stay clean. This was taking place along with re-organizing her bookshelves. I’m hoping she’ll find this new, clean room is worth maintaining. The shelves have been clean so far. Time will only tell if the rest of the room will remain clean, too.

Cilantro Lime Shrimp Soft Tacos

Now, I realize that this might seem like more of a summer recipe. But I’ve got my foot planted firmly in the “if it’s what I feel like eating, I’m going to” camp. And because I like to include a fair amount of seafood into our monthly diet, this is a perfect choice!

I don’t have the disposable income to buy fresh shrimp, so if you’re a purist this might not be the recipe for you. For the rest of us, it’s awesome.

1 tsp Mrs. Dash Extra Spicy Seasoning Blend (more if you want)
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp brown sugar
1 lime (juice and zest)
2 tablespoons cilantro; chopped
1 pound shrimp; peeled and deveined

Mix the Seasoning Blend, olive oil, cumin, brown sugar, lime zest, lime juice and cilantro in a bowl. Make sure the shrimp is thawed and peeled (including the tails). Mix it in the marinade and let marinate for 20 minutes.

Skewer the shrimp if you want to cook it on the grill (indoor or out), or just saute until heated through. Then build your yummy taco. I prefer to put fresh diced tomatoes, some more cilantro and crumbled feta cheese on my tacos. Hubs prefers a corn chutney and regular taco fixings.

Whatever your preference, this meal requires next to no time, but is pretty awesome. If I do say so myself. (I think I already said that.)

My kids, who still see this as taco night, insisted on having tortilla chips and salsa. {sigh} I don’t think I’ll ever cure that. But I also made some basmati rice and threw a little lime juice and fresh cilantro in there too. It was divine. If you give this a try, I recommend the rice as your side dish option. But you do what you want.

I found a great article on the Women In Ministry website titled Shedding the “Pastor’s Wife” Label that I thought you should read. It’s encouraging and liberating.

Seriously, go read it. Now!