{DIY} Cabinet Chalkboard

We've been doing some work on our house.  One of the things we did was take a cabinet out of the middle of our kitchen.  It separated everything, kept natural light out of the dining room, and we just didn't like it where it was or how it looked.  So we took it down.

The problem with this was that the cabinet was attached to another cabinet and left a hole where it was attached.  Our cabinets are 40 years old and matching them with another could prove to be difficult.  We also didn't want another expense in purchasing another cabinet door.  So we got creative!

Hubby actually suggested this project!  We {and by we I mean he!} cut out an old piece of paneling {something we have a LOT of in this house!  UGH!} to fit the size of the opening.  We {oh, I guess hubby did this part, too!} then painted it with chalkboard paint.  To attach it to the cabinet we just used a couple of Command Velcro strips {I did this part!! ☺}  We didn't want to permanently attach it to the cabinet because we are hoping to do some more work in the kitchen in the next few years so this may be just a temporary fixture for now.

This was a simple, functional, and very inexpensive project.  We use this chalkboard often to remind us of what is going on during the week, or an errand we need to take care of, or just to write each other notes!  What made it even better was how little work I did on it since hubby did most of the work!!    I love when hubby gets excited about projects!

Blessings,


Homestead For Him now has a Facebook page.  Like what you see here, won't you like my page?!  Click the like button on the sidebar or go HERE!!

My Costly Frugal Chicken!

I have been doing a lot of research over the past several months as I'm on a mission to start feeding my family healthier meals.  One of the things I'm looking at is just where we get our food from.

I have read and heard a lot about chicken farms, and the un~healthy, antibiotic filled chickens that come from them.  The more I looked into it, the more I knew that I did not want that for my family.

When I heard that a friend was butchering chickens, I knew where I wanted to get our meat from.  She takes such good care of her chickens, that we joke her chickens eat better than our kids!   Sign me up, I'll take some!

My first surprise was the cost of the chickens!  The above chicken was almost $20!  I'm used to getting my chickens on sale at the grocery store for less than $5!  Maybe this wasn't such a great idea after all.....

My next surprise was the size of this chicken.  This bird looked like a turkey it was so big!!  I had a grocery store chicken in the freezer that looked like a game hen compared to this bird!  Ok, so I'm starting to see why this chicken was more costly than a grocery store bird.

The more I thought about this chicken, the less I thought about it in terms of money.  We were eating a chicken that was raised humanely,  fed a proper diet, was allowed to roam free, and I knew exactly where it came from.  The chicken was very tasty and tender.  It was so large that we had it for supper one night {with guests}, a lunch another day, and still had enough for several casseroles or some chicken noodle soup.  Plus I also made some delicious and very nutritious chicken broth from the carcass.  So we were going to get at least 5~6 meals from this "costly" chicken.  It no longer seems quite so costly anymore!

We also can't put a price on our health!  We are willing to spend a little more money this way, and find ways to save it elsewhere.  It is gratifying to feed our family food that is delicious, nutritious, and home~grown!

If you have a way to get a healthy chicken, I recommend it!  We're going to continue doing it!

Blessings,
 
Homestead For Him now has a Facebook page.  Like what you see here, won't you like my page?!  Click the like button on the sidebar or go HERE!!

Are You Using Swagbucks?

affiliate links included  See full disclosure HERE

 

 

I've told you in the past how our Christmas is FREE, and one of the ways we achieve this is to use Swagbucks.    Using Swagbucks is so easy, that even our kids get involved in helping our account grow!

 

Swagbucks has so many ways you can earn, that it is hard NOT to earn "bucks"!  Here's a few ways you can earn money.

 

You can use it as a search engine to earn "bucks" for many of your searches {this is where my kids love to help out my account!}.  You can use earn by watching videos.  You can earn by playing games.  You can earn by answering surveys.   You can earn by redeeming coupons for everyday items that you print off on your own printer {BONUS~you're already saving money by using the coupons, plus you earn extra just for redeeming them!!}.

 

You also earn money by shopping as I did this past holiday season.  We've been wanting to buy a small flat screen TV for several years, but there was always something else to spend money on.  So I saved up my Swagbucks until I had enough to receive a gift card to Best Buy.  Then I shopped through the Swagbucks site at Best Buy the weekend after Thanksgiving to get a great price.  BUT...Swagbucks had a great deal to offer with this purchase!!  When you shop through Swagbucks, you will earn "Swagbucks" {are you confused yet?!} back for every dollar you spend {the amount varies with each merchant}.  Since it was Thanksgiving weekend, I earned extra Swagbucks.  So I not only paid for this TV with Swagbucks, but I also earned 280 additional Swagbucks!!!!  We not only received the TV for almost free, but we earned more "bucks" to our account for buying it!!  You can't beat that!!

 

If you haven't already signed up for Swagbucks, head over HERE to get started.  You'll get 30 Swagbucks to get you started.  See what you can get for free with SWAGBUCKS!

 

 

Blessings,

Homestead For Him now has a Facebook page.  Like what you see here, won't you like my page?!  Click the like button on the sidebar or go HERE!!

 

Most Read Posts of 2013

As we head into the new year and reflect on the previous year, I wanted to share ten of the most read blog posts of 2013.

This post was originally from 6/2011 and just reposted last month, but my recipe for Easy Bacon and Cheese Quiche was popular this year.  A lot of you were looking for an easy and yummy idea!!

Apparently many of you can relate to How Our Life is "Normally" Crazy as this was a most read post of 2013!!

 

Interested on Saving Money When You are on Vacation and Eating out?  Many found my tips helpful to have a frugal vacation!

 

Letting Your Husband Lead became a hot topic for many of us!  How are we doing in this area?

Many of us were also looking at our marriages, and 8 Ways to Bless Your Husband had some helpful information.

 

While I also wrote this post on Making Your Own Fabric Softener in 2012, it was also clicked on many times this past year!

 

You found My Transition from Pants To Skirts interesting and I was blessed by how many of you were considering the same things.





My Stockpile Challenge encouraged many of you to start the same thing.

 

How Our Christmas Is Free shows that with a little effort, you can get Christmas gifts for free.  Now would be a good time to start some of these ideas and see just what you can get for free this year!

 

My series on the Proverbs 31 Woman had us thinking each week about how we can become better wives and mothers.  I'll be starting this up again soon!

And the number one most read post continues to be Why I Wear Skirts.  Whether your just curious, or thinking about the same thing, this post explains my heart as the reason for why I wear skirts.



I have lots of ideas for my blog for the new year, and thank you for joining me along this journey!

 

Blessings,

Homestead For Him now has a Facebook page.  Like what you see here, won't you like my page?!  Click the like button on the sidebar or go HERE!!

 

Frugal Living~Saving Money

I'm taking the rest of the year off to spend the Christmas holiday with my family.  This post is part of my "best of 2013" series.  Have a Merry Christmas!

source~google

Since I became a stay~at~home mom 6 years ago, I've found a few ways to save a few dollars here and there.  My thinking is even if it only saves me a few dollars a month, it adds up to a lot of money over time.  Hubby brings home the paycheck and I find it my job to get creative sometimes to make it stretch.  I'm not complaining about this role, as I desire to be a good steward of what God has blessed us with.  Here's a few things we've done to save money.

Get rid of the cable/satellite dish.  We actually did this before I quit working, and we really don't miss it at all.  We never really watched much TV, so it was actually quite a relief to get rid of this bill.  With the exception of missing NASCAR (our 14 year old loves racing) and a few holiday movies at Christmas time cutting the dish was one of the best things we did for our family.  We still have movie night every Friday which leads me to the next tip....

Use the library.  We get movies for our family night from them.  Our library is part of a group in Wisconsin so if our local library doesn't have a movie we want to watch, we can place a hold on it and it will come from whatever library it is at.  We get lots of books each week, and we also get magazines and music CD's.  Free entertainment!

Save gas by making fewer trips.  I will admit this is an area I am still working on.  Try to do your running on only one day per week.  Get your banking, errands, shopping, library, etc. all in one morning or afternoon.  It will not only save you gas (for our big van this equals big savings sometimes!) but saves you time also!

Stay out of the stores!  When I just run in for eggs or milk, I inevitably find something on sale I just need to buy.  This does NOT save me money!  I am doing once~a~month shopping right now to help in this area.

Go down to one vehicle.  Ouch....did I really just say that?  We have two vehicles, but going down to one is something we've discussed.  I'm still praying that this could happen in the future.  I know this wouldn't work for everyone, but for many (including us!) it could happen with a little creativity.

Get rid of or seriously cut down on cell phones.  Again, did I really say that?  In a world of smart phones and i~everything, we opt out of this.  We have a tracfone that we add minutes to every three months.  We use the cheapest minutes we can.  We use this cell phone for our long distance calls (we don't have a long distance plan on our home phone~another way to save money!), and the few times we need to call someone when we are out.  I am astonished at the prices some people pay for their cell phone service~and the fancy phones.

Think outside the box!  We get our milk, eggs, and butter from a convenience store here in town because they are cheaper than the grocery stores.  We also use dollar stores for some items we know are cheaper there.  I don't care if things are brand name or generic as long as I know they are good!

What are some things you are doing to save money?

Blessings,

Black Friday Sale At Lilla Rose!

 

Lilla Rose is having a HUGE Black Friday Sale!!  For two days only, November 29 and 30, you'll receive 20% off ALL ITEMS!! 

 

PLUS.....

 

25-50% off select products!!!

 

AND.....

 

FREE SHIPPING on all orders over $50!

 

This sale is only November 29 and 30, so head over to Lilla Rose and start your holiday shopping!  Lilla Rose hair clips make a great gift!  Start shopping for mom and sisters, then don't forget your nieces, babysitters, piano teachers, or Sunday school teachers.  When you've checked those off your list, start shopping for yourself!! 

 

 

Blessings,

Homestead For Him now has a Facebook page.  Like what you see here, won't you like my page?!  Click the like button on the sidebar or go HERE!!

Thanksgiving 2013~Turkey Stock

 

While the thanksgiving turkey can last for a while after the big day, you can also make that bird go farther by using the bones and making a delicious and nutritious stock.

 

Take all the bones and throw them into a large pot.  Get them as clean as you can {because you want to use all that meat!}, but don't worry if there is still some meat on them.  It will add more flavor to your stock.  Throw in some vegetables into the pot as well.  I usually use onions {leave the peels on them}, celery, carrots, and green peppers.  I also add a generous sprinkling of pepper and garlic powder as well.  Then add a splash of vinegar to the pot.  The vinegar helps draw healthy minerals out of the bones.

 

Cover the bones and veggies with water.  Heat it until it is just about to boil, then simmer.  You can simmer it for a few hours or overnight {I'm not a fan of leaving something on the stove overnight, but maybe in a crockpot I would consider it.  Unfortunately, I don't have a crockpot large enough!}.  I had mine on the stove for about 4 hours or so.

 

Strain the veggies from the broth and your ready to go.   I canned this batch, but you can also put it in the freezer.  You now have healthy, delicious homemade turkey stock to make soups with. 

 

A frugal, healthy, and easy way to make your own turkey stock.  And you were going to just throw those bones in the garbage!!

 

Blessings,

Homestead For Him now has a Facebook page.  Like what you see here, won't you like my page?!  Click the like button on the sidebar or go HERE!!

The BEST {And Easiest} Gravy Ever~Thanksgiving 2013

 

 

I am not a gravy lover.  My grandma would make the tastiest gravy, and when she died, my desire for gravy died, too.  I just don't like the taste of store bought gravy, and when I tried to make my own, it never tasted like grandmas.  

So I became one of those people who just has butter with their potatoes.

Then a friend gave me a recipe and said it tastes just like grandma's.  I wondered when she was ever at my grandma's house, but graciously took the recipe.  I reluctantly tried it and was surprised to find....

It tastes just like grandma's!!

This recipe is super easy to make, and the best part is NO LUMPS {A problem I've had when I previously tried to make my own gravy}!!  So in honor of all the grandma's who've spent countless Thanksgivings making their own gravy, lets all make our own gravy this year, too!!  Your family will thank you for it, and you just might start a new tradition!

Easy Turkey Gravy

1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 cups pan drippings

In medium saucepan, melt butter.  Add in black pepper and flour.  Whisk continuously over low heat for 3 minutes.  You'll notice a change in the consistency of the butter/flour mixture as you whisk.  When it goes from pasty to a thinner consistency you have it right.  Add in the turkey drippings.

Continue to whisk over medium~low heat until bubbly and the gravy has thickened.  This should also take about 3 minutes.

Serve with your mashed potatoes and turkey and gladly accept all the praise you'll get for the delicious gravy!

Enjoy!!

Blessings,


Homestead For Him now has a Facebook page.  Like what you see here, won't you like my page?!  Click the like button on the sidebar or go HERE!!

Thanksgiving 2013~Squash Seeds, A Yummy Snack!

 

When you make that Thanksgiving Squash, save the seeds from it and make a delicious, easy, and frugal snack with it.  If you love roasted pumpkin seeds, you'll love this, too!

Place the seeds you spooned out of the squash into a bowl.

Add water to the bowl.  This makes it easier to separate the seeds from the other "gunk".  You'll need to get your hands in there to loosen the seeds.

 Pour the seeds through a strainer and rinse with water to remove any leftover "gunk"!  Then pat dry with a towel.

 Place on a cookie sheet, spritz with olive oil and sprinkle with salt.  Bake at 325* for 10~20 minutes.  Cool off and enjoy!

Does the lure of a tasty snack want to make you go out and get a squash?  Give it a try!

 

Blessings,

Homestead For Him now has a Facebook page.  Like what you see here, won't you like my page?!  Click the like button on the sidebar or go HERE!!



Fun DIY Project~Make Your Own Butter

If you're looking for a fun and cheap activity to do with your kids, this is it!!  I recently did this with my homeschool co~op class and they loved it!  Since then, Sweetcheeks has been asking to do this almost every day!

It really is quite simple!  You just need some heavy whipping cream and a glass jar.  A hand mixer works well also, but then you'd miss out of the "funnest" part {sweetcheeks' description}!

Add some cream to the glass jar.  Any amount is fine.  If you want a small amount of butter, just add a small amount of cream.  If you're looking for an upper arm workout, then fill that jar!!  You can also add a pinch of salt if you want.

Next step.  Shake jar. 

 

Shake some more. 

 

Keep shaking.

 

When you get tired of shaking, have someone else shake the jar!

Look, you now have whipped cream.  Too bad that's not what we're making today!

Keep shaking!

 

Almost there!

Shake your entire body!!

Look, you now have a soft lump bathing in milk!

You did it!!

Yep, that's butter!

Strain the milk from the butter.  Save that milk.  This is buttermilk and can be used in recipe's.  Then wash the butter in cold water.  This gets the buttermilk off the butter which can make the butter go bad.

Put your butter in a container, and enjoy!

Blessings,

Homestead For Him now has a Facebook page.  Like what you see here, won't you like my page?!  Click the like button on the sidebar or go HERE!!

My Disorganization Is Wasting Money

I just recently mentioned to hubby that since we moved we just can't seem to find our groove.  That's a normal thing after a move.

The problem??

We moved 6 months ago!!

We've been busy with home improvements.  We've been busy with homeschooling and gardening and camping trips and soccer games.  We've been busy with life! 

But busyness does not excuse my disorganization!  I've let a lot of things slide.  I haven't been good at housecleaning.  I've let laundry get behind.  I have had a hard time keeping up with groceries.  And all this disorganization is costing us money!

Since I've gotten behind on meal and grocery planning, I'm making more trips to the grocery store.  More trips to the grocery store means spending money on things I could have gotten on sale, or things I normally would not have bought.  Our grocery budget has definitely been taking a hit lately. 

I am wasting money on laundry also.  Hanging out clothes on the line helps save electricity, but if I'm not paying attention to the weather or getting behind on laundry, I use my dryer more often.  This is not helping my budget either!

My disorganization has affected my time at home also.  I'm running here and running there.  This wastes gas, but more importantly takes time away from my family.  I've become a scatterbrained mom!!

So, we've all had enough!  Hubby and I have "date nights" where we go out for supper, then go grocery shopping.  I'm planning my weeks out and making sure I am prepared for the week so I can do less running.  We're trying to find ways to get home improvements done, and still stick to cleaning schedules.  We are going to get back into a "groove"!

I'd love to know what you do to stay organized while doing home improvements!

Blessings,


Homestead For Him now has a Facebook page.  Like what you see here, won't you like my page?!  Click the like button on the sidebar or go HERE!!

How This Christmas Is Free

{affiliate links included~see disclosure}

December is on it's way and so is Christmas!!  Christmas is my favorite time of the year!  One thing I like just as much is saving money.  I want to enjoy the Christmas season without spending lots of money.  I've found a few ways over the years that have helped me do just that!

Swagbucks:  Swagbucks is a search engine that you use just as you would use Google or Yahoo.  The only difference is that you can earn "Swagbucks" each time you search something online.  You can then use these bucks to get prizes.  My favorite prizes are gift cards to Amazon or money deposited into my Paypal account.  I have then used that money to buy presents~free presents!  If you use the search engine often, the points just keep coming and coming!  This is one of the easiest ways to make a few bucks!  Even our kids get excited about winning Swagbucks!  If you haven't signed up yet, you really need to get started!  Register HERE and earn 30 Swagbucks just for signing up!


Pampers Gifts to Grow:   I don't use disposable diapers or training pants anymore, but this is a great resource for those of you who do.  There are codes on each of the packages of Pampers diapers, training pants, and wipes, and after creating an account, just enter your codes for points to be added to your account.  I have used those points over the years to "purchase" gifts for our children.  There is no charge for shipping, so these gifts were entirely free!  Also, Freebies 4 Mom is a great resource for promotional codes.
 
National Consumer Panel:  National Consumer Panel (NCP) is a program where you track your purchases via a scanner they provide and then transmit them to NCP by phone.  Each time you transmit your purchases you will earn points.  You will also earn points for answering surveys.  You then use those points to "purchase" gifts from their catalog.  All your equipment is provided by the company, and the gifts are also shipped free.  I've saved my points for the past year or so, and we are using them this Christmas for free gifts!  Check out the NCP website to see if they are accepting applications from your area.

Inbox Dollars:   You will get paid to read e-mails, watch advertiser's video's, and take surveys.  It isn't much money and won't make you rich by any means, but you do have the possibility of making a bit through out the year with this company.  They also have coupons that you can print out and you'll get another 10 cents added to your account for every coupon redeemed.  There are various other ways to earn money, and after your account reaches $30, you can request a check.  I have never had a problem with them over the past 5 years~I've always gotten the money credited to my account, and have received and cashed the checks without problem.  I saved the money and purchased gifts with it.  Every little bit helps!  Go HERE to sign up and receive a $5 sign on bonus!

My Points:  My points is another opportunity to receive gift cards.  You get e~mails from the company, click on them and points are added to your account.  You can also answer surveys, install a toolbar on your computer, and do online shopping through this company.  You'll get around 5 points for each e~mail you click on, but again, they all add up!!


You probably won't be able to get free gifts for everyone on your list, but it is a great start.  See what you can get for free this year!
Blessings,