After our last baby was born, we decided to have our 2 older boys share a room. We live in a small house, with small rooms. It’s hard to squeeze 2 beds into any of our bedrooms. I know, because we’ve had children share rooms in the past. This time, I knew that purchasing space…
Corn and Two Bean Burgers with Chipotle Ketchup
This is a family favorite that is cheap and easy to make. I only made the ketchup the first time. It was good, but with all the other condiments we have in the refrigerator, it wasn’t worth the extra effort to me. You have to handle them with a little care, but these bean burgers…
Budgeting tips to help you save cash
Now that we have our new savings goals planned out, we are once again looking over our budgeting techniques. We’d like to trim the fat and tighten our belts. I thought this would be a great time to talk about expenses we have eliminated from our household over the years. We don’t even miss most…
Sloppy Joes
Not everyone in the family is a huge fan of Sloppy Joes, but I love them. This recipe makes a big batch so we have leftovers for 2-3 more meals. Again, I use 2 bags of the Gardein Beefless Ground, but if you eat meat, this recipe is ready to go. One thing we always…
Cheap Easter Fun
With the coronavirus quarantine in full effect here, all Easter egg hunts have been cancelled. Fortunately for us, the police department decided to hold a Easter door decorating contest! I knew the kids would love to participate. So earlier this week, we threw together a plan and got to work. The process took a few…
Meatless Loaf
You read that right. Meatless Loaf. I know that doesn’t sound right, but this is a great substitute for that delicious meatloaf that your mom made when you were a kid. I found this recipe from Morningstar Farms (recipe has been removed since the original posting), but I make some modifications. The biggest is, I…
Paying Yourself First
In the past, John and I have been great at saving. John always got paid on the 15th and 30th, so we had the money set-up to automatically transfer on those days. This system of ‘paying ourselves first’ worked great for years. Last year, my husband’s company changed their pay schedule to biweekly. This made…
Sour Cream Noodle Bake
My lovely wife makes this noodle based casserole from time to time. It’s good comfort food and an easy weeknight dinner. Some of the kids complain about it, but they don’t know what they’re talking about? How can you complain about something that has sour cream and egg noodle in it? The Pioneer Woman is…
The Coronavirus Blues
As Christy mentioned in a previous post, we are on lock down due to the coronavirus, like most of the country. To be honest, I don’t get it. I’m not minimizing the danger of it. I understand it could be a death sentence for the elderly, people with deficient immune systems, and those with underlying…
Weathering the Pandemic
It’s pretty hard to avoid talking about the elephant in the room – the dreaded coronavirus pandemic. Within a week, I went from thinking everyone was overreacting, to quarantining my family indefinitely. We haven’t left our house in over a week, and honestly, I am feeling a little freaked out at the prospect of even…