Mom's Interest Led Learning

Lately I've been working on a few personal interest (learning as I go)  like recycling, using coupons to save money and incorporating thrifty ideas to help our family and the environment, growing our own food and learning how to save money on other foods such as meat. I figure it's my part of contributing to our family income with saving money instead of earning money now that I need to stay home with my mom.

One thing that I have done is recycle all that we can.  I've reduced our trash bags from about 5 bags a week to just one (not including cat litter... oh yes, I have figured out it's more economic to use scoopable cat liter than the regular, especially with 3 cats.)  Now I can call our trash service and get a smaller/cheaper trash container and save us money.

A wonderful thing about the recycling bin is that Noah always has a ready supply of "project" materials when he needs them. 

The Ojibwe Indians always keep in mind The Seventh Generation meaning treat the earth with care for your future grandchildren, seven generations from now.  I love the thought that seven generations ago Noah's ancestors thought of him and took care of mother earth just for him. Recycling is a beautiful way to honor our future children, seven generations from now.

I read on a blog somewhere about cereal boxes... save the heavy duty wax bag from the inside and use to wrap up other things. This idea has worked awesome for us. The wax bags are very useful... I just wipe out the cereal crumbs, fold them up and store them in the drawer. The cereal box can then be flattened for the recycling bin. I also save some bread wrappers and twist ties to be reused. 

My husband was a big fan of bottled water, ugh. I just knew this was a waste of money for us. Then I watch the documentary Tapped and learned how awful the whole idea of bottled water really is. There will be no more of our money wasted on bottled water. We'll use our tap water and reusable bottles.
I've cut up two old bath towels for housecleaning rags (some people...um hum, say I should cut up all of my bath towels for rags) I say if they still dry your butt then they are still good. Really!  Anyways... trying to live without paper towels, we'll see how that goes.  Household cleaners: simple... vinegar, baking soda, dish soap and water.

I've been watching the new show called Extreme Couponing, whoa... the money these people save is just mind blowing!  My first week of coupon clipping (nothing compared to their savings.) I saved $55 with coupons, $45 with my store customer card and I received a $5 gift card for my next shopping trip... grand savings of $105! I was so excited, it wasn't that hard at all.   I clipped coupons, loaded my customer card with downloadable coupons, check the stores sales flyer, made my list with notes of which items to buy, how many and if I had a coupon to use. The best deal was shampoo and conditioner on sale for 88 cent a bottle I had a coupon for $2 off 3 bottles, end price was 3 bottles of shampoo for about 21cents each.  Yes, it was Suave but I like Suave:) Now when I get some more ink for our printer I'll be printing out multiple online coupons.

Last week we took a trip to Merindorfs Meat in Okemos MI. We purchase a 40lb. meat bundle: steaks, roast, ground burger, sausage, hot dogs, ribs,bacon, pork chops, and 3 whole chickens. It averaged out to $2.36 a pound.  Nice savings, the meat is so delicious and fresh. What a difference from grocery store meats!

Sunday is Easter... it's suppose to be nice outside finally! (I hope)  While the Easter dinner is cooking, we'll be in the backyard putting together our raised vegetable bed kit. I've started lettuce and spinach seeds in the kitchen and they are coming along. We've decide to give raised beds a try this year.  We are also investing in a rain barrel and a compost bin. I've started a compost bucket for kitchen scraps.

Sunday will be a good day to have a seed blessings. We will send out a prayer of blessings for our heirloom seeds and our vegetable beds... Hey, I need all the help I can get! Maybe have a little bonfire and roast a marshmallow peep or two:)