"There are only a few big ways to save money but there are many small ways ....that all adds up."

This weeks tip...

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Now, with it being cooler this winter we need every trick in the book we can get to make our homes warmer.    I learned not to long ago if you close your curtains it warms up the your room by 5 degrees in the winter and cools down the room by 5 degrees in the summer. 

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I have been on this journey to become a better fugal gal for over 18 years and I am always learning new things do be more furgally and stretch that dollar even further.

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  Now, I wanted to share some of the changes we have done personally different this year to save money....

-Started to wash clothes in cold water

- Turned down the hot water temp.

-  Closed curtains to warm up or cool down the house

- I started to cut Handsome's hair and my own hair. ( I am hoping to post how I cut my hair next week b/c I didn't get the pictures yet.  It is still to come)

- Make my own laundry soap

-Make my own automatic dishwasher detergent

-Stoped using the charge card to buy groceries or majority of things.

- Pre-saved money for Christmas and trip to see family and friends.

-Made and sold rhubarb juice

-Purchaced 200 lbs of flour while on sale to make it to the next time it went on sale.

-Made my own napkins out of curtain samples

- Made crockpot apple butter

-I have learned alot more about saving my own seed for the garden and to sell it for our family bussiness. ( to cover the cost of the garden purchases)

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 I am always looking for better ways and I want to thank ALL you gals who have contributed to Tightwad Tuesday.  You have taught me TONS.  Thank you !

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Now please go visit all these wonderful gals and read their TWT Tips .

I am joining in on the fun with Suzyscribbles meme this year.  She has made it so we can cheer eachother on in reading the bible in one year together.  Go check out the details at Suzy's blog.

My reading for January 1st to 3rd is...

Gen.  1-3

Gen. 4-6

Gen. 7-9

This weeks goal is...

Gen. 10-12

Gen. 13-15

Gen. 16-18

Gen. 19-21

Gen. 22-14

Gen. 25-27

Gen. 28-30

 I am using Motivated Moms Planner with Bible reading

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I only need to read tonight still from Gen. 5-9 .  I am really excited about reading the bible in a year.  I know God is prepping my oldest two boys and I for our short missions trip to Vanauatu ( in the South Pacific ) at the end of the year.  Our very good friends Dave and Abby for Bibes For the Poor Society go and hand out bibles in their own lanuage and mountains have moved dramaticly.   I still need to sit down and really share about this trip more. Details are to come!!!  God has already started moving for us to go !   Please pray for our preperations to go and fund raising too.

It's that time again....

On New Years Day Noah wanted to participate in the Polar Bear Run into our local lake.  He was crazy brave to run into that icy water.

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Here he is after he came out of the water and is all wrapped up. 

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Here he is changing out of his cold and wet clothes under his banket.

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The nice thing was b/c it was a fund raiser for our local hospital they had chili by dontion.  It was one of the best chili I have ever had.

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 I had to take some winter pics.  Ohhhhh I just loved what I was able to get on my digital.

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Noah and his cousin even got some time at the play park.

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One more winter pic of the day.

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If you want to join us  just....

Kelli had come up with the idea last year to post the first sentence of your first blog post of each month. You can also add a favorite picture from each month.  Sooo here is a year in a glance for 2008.

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January 2008

I thought I better take this opportunity while the two younger ones are out sleding and the two older ones are sleeping in to write.

February

In everything in life we need to find a balance.

March

Wash clothes in COLD water.

April

Last Night

This Morning

May

Spring Is Here !

I wanted to show you that I don't live in Narnia (where winter never ends) and spring did arrive ! 

My First tulips !!!

June

Outside my window...is a cloudy wet day but there is still beauty.  I see the iris's blooming and all kinds of growth in the garden. 

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July

(do I dare put this sentence down !?!)

Tomorrow is my 39th birthday.

Top row... Dan, James

Bottom Row... Me and Mom

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August

I know this is long over due to those who have been keeping up with our story of The House That God Built.

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September

Well I pray that your week with your projects were good.

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October

 Homestead Ramblings

 Here is a pic of the sunrise this mornng

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I think it is due time for another ramble. 

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November

Ohhhh it is that time of year that we get baking more.

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December

Winter time is setting in and it is a great time for candles at dinner or just b/c. 

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This has been a great year but a busy one.  More busy than I would like.  This coming year I am going to take the notes of what I said I would do differently and try to apply them.  Plus I will try to simplify and focus on what is most important.  I want to focus on my family, home, homeschool, and this year my two oldest are going with me on a short missions trip to Vanautu at the end of the year.  I will be going into that a lot more soon.  I just mentioned it aloud on Sunday at church and things are starting to move in us getting the funds to go.  Please if you think of it pray for us this year in our preperations.  Thank you all for who have visited my blog this last year. 

Blessings and ((HUGS)) in Him<><

I was hoping to show you in pictures how I cut my own hair but my batteries for my camera ran out and I can't find my battery recharger.   So the how to's will be shown next week.  It will also be a new and improved addition of my haircut because the ends were too thin and I trimmed it a bit more.  So stay tuned till next Tuesday for giving yourself a haircut.

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But in the meantime I have two other Tightwad Tips !  Just incase you didn't catch this savings notice. 

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The discount prices ends December 31st !!! SO,  Go right away and check this out !! 

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In the introductory issue of New Harvest Homestead:

 The Homestead (Home-Centered) Woman:  Steadfast at Home      

Homestead Life:   What is the "Homestead Life"?

In the Garden:      Growing in containers and raised beds

In the Kitchen:      The "Heart of the Home" plus tips for getting ready to preserve the summer bounty                           

Titus 2 Keepers at Home:   How do we really fulfill the call of Titus 2?  Ask about my free Titus 2 Meeting Guide! 

The Introductory Issue is Free!  Write to us to request yours:

newharvest@gotsky.com

The newsletter, including the free sample copy, is sent via email as an Adobe Acrobat file.  If you do not have Adobe Acrobat on your computer, you can download it free here.  If you have a spam blocker, please add this email address to your "allowed" list.

 The November/December 2008 issue is now available!  Take a peek at what's inside

Christmas Special!  Purchase one year at the regular price of $12.00 and receive a second year for half-price.  That's two years for $18.00!  Hurry!  This sale only lasts until December 31. On January 1, the subscription price will increase to $15.00.  See payment details on the Subscribe page.

I LOVE this newletter !   My friend BChsMamaof3 introduced me to this newsletter and it is a goldmine of neat info and recipes. 

Now for the second Tightwad Tip for this week is a digital picture frame substitute.  I have been seeing this craze and thought it was soooooo neat but it isn't in my budget right now.  They are about $50 dollars up here  and my hubby and I thought of a solution.  You can have the same effect by using the screen saver on your computer to play your pics that you have downloaded onto your computer and let it run.  Same idea but a whole lot cheaper.  No it doesn't look like a picture frame but it is the next best thing.

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"There are only a few big ways to save money but there are many small ways ....that all adds up."

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Please go visit all these gals and their GREAT Tightwad Tips

Making After Dinner Mints

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Making Fluffy Marshmallows

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Decorating Gingerbread Men

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And for those who asked to see....

I had a busy but wonderful Christmas.  I still have to clean the kitchen up better.  We had 19 people over for Christmas dinner.  I hope to recooperate and get ready for our family tradition of having the New Years games and fireworks night.  I decided to save most of my baking and candy making for then.  I still plan to post a pic of all the goodies and making them the the next short bit.

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I wanted to share one of the three songs our church choir sang in the last couple of weeks.  We sang at the Christmas play/concert, Sunday before Christmas, and Christmas Eve service.  I hope you enjoy it.  It is a song my pastor composed and we were blessed to be the first to sing it.  It is easy to spot me. ( I didn't plan it, lol)  I am the one in green.

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If you can't see the video then please go here ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLlfq9btaVY

Well, it was finally the day to go on a tree hunt.  Dad was handed the hand saw from the two littles and mom was getting her snowboots on.   Micah the dog had to joined in on the fun.  We looked and looked.

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We looked for the perfect little tree.  It had to fit on top of our entertainment center.  We started to wonder if we would find one or not.

                                                                      Maybe this one ???

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We were going to chop the top off but too many dead needles. ((sigh))

We kept looking.

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                           And we found one !

It's that time again....

I have been racking my brain in what I was going to share this week.  I wanted to show some special Christmas ornaments but haven't pulled them out...yet.  We are going to decorate on Monday.  So.....after this morning I thought up what I was going to share.  I have been wanting to try out a way to cut my own  hair with long layers and layered bangs. Well, I did it this morning and was VERY happy with my results. 

 If people are intrested I will show how I did it on the next Tightwad Tuesday after the holidays. 

 I am going to be taking next week off with Tightwad Tuesday and Show and Tell Friday.  Sooo the next ones are December 30th and January 2nd.  But please do still check in on me because I would like to post pics of all the goodies we are going to be making over the next week.  Baking and candy making galore ! 

So...here is my first pic of my new hair do.(the one I like)

And now here is the second pic my Handsome took b/c he wanted a more soft and natural pic of me. 

If you want to join us  just....

~Make a Show and Tell Post and make sure it is wholesome.  It can be pretty much what ever you want to share.  It could be about you ...or your family ....or what is going on in your homeschooling.

~Some how link me ( Canadagirl ) so others will know where to go to join S&T.

~Come back to me and  let me know you posted your S&T by using Mr. Linky. ( I need you  to tell me each week that you want to participate  , okay ?  )

~If you want the S&T button to put on your blog go HERE

~Then please go visit other gals wonderful Show and Tells !  Oh,  don't forget to comment.  EVERYONE  loves comments.

Mary's Ramblings

Here I thought things would slow down for me but I was wrong.  But life is still easier than it was in November.  I am busy trying to get the seed lables cut up for our garden seed bussiness and to help finish packaging the seeds all up before my MIL leaves in the first week of January.  I only need Handsome to pick one more gift up for me.  So that means I want to get it all wrapped up ( pun intended...lol) by this week.   I always put waaaaaaaaay too many things on my goodies to make list, surprise ! not.   Then I will need to get the house all ready for the BIG family dinner too.  So that leaves me here with not as much time to get around bloggyland. (())  Today I am making my Grandma's Christmas fudge and hope to start getting the house organised.  It has been very cold here and that made tabogganing on the week end very intresting.  I guess I still have a bit of the Pacific Northwest girl in me.  Still not use to this much cold.  It really hasn't been this cold very often in the last 10 years that we have lived here.  Well that is where I am at in a nutshell.