Apple Pickin'

Pick Your Own


It's a yearly tradition around here to go apple picking. It's fun for the whole family, especially fun if you go with friends, and it's so much cheaper than buying them in the store. At only $16 per bushel (I got 2 bushels), we can make plenty of applesauce and apple butter this year; not to mention apple crisp, apple cobbler, caramel apple pie, etc... is your mouth watering?

I saw this sign in the market, my husband didn't think it was as funny as I did.

Another yearly tradition...a picture of my son Jonathan ;o)

Frugal Decorating Ideas

If you live near a Dollar Tree or Deals, get there! They have a ton of items there that you can use to decorate, or even make decorations. From ribbon, leaves, flowers, & wreaths, just a lot of stuff. Here are a few things that I made this week from dollar store items and things that I had on hand. Some of these ideas came from here.

I used a quart sized canning jar and put some artificial pumpkins & leaves inside. The floral arrangement was $1.00, the pumpkins $1.00, and about 1/4 of a bag of leaves ($1.00 for the bag).

No, I cannot tie a bow. I tried and tried but this is what I got. I told my husband and he said to let him try and he did it. This picture is before he made his beautiful bow. He told me it's just like tying your shoes. Duh.

Plates for my plate rack, $1.00 each and the leaf garland was $1.00.

I made the floral arrangement with about 3 bunches of flowers and the basket has little pumpkins painted on the sides.

I took the spring colors off this hat and made it more autumn-like. This hangs in my bathroom.

For less than $20, I decorated my living room, bathroom, dining room, and have some things left for the kitchen. If you haven't figured it out, I think autumn is the most wonderful time of the year!

Saving $$ Through the Year

With grocery costs skyrocketing, I am constantly looking for ways to cut those costs. With a family of 8, it is sometimes difficult to keep our grocery bill low. But, it is possible. First, ask the Lord to give you wisdom in this area. God has shown me many resources and put me in the path of many people who are looking for the same things as I am. I specifically look for frugal ways of living and but added to that, I want to feed my family un-processed, low sugar, whole foods.

frugal + healthy = LOTS OF $$$ reasonable budget

Here is one of the many ways to cut costs in your grocery bill. Stock up when produce is in season! This is KEY!! If you want blueberries right now, you can get a great price, because they are in season. What if you want to make a blueberry dessert or add blueberries in your fruit salad in February? You pay 3 times as much (or more!) But if you plan ahead, you could throw in some blueberries for your healthy smoothie in November without breaking the bank.

There is a wealth of information out there, so I am not going to try to reinvent the wheel, so to speak. I am just going to give you a few pointers and ideas of what to look for at various times of the year. Most produce can be easily frozen. You can get tips for preserving food here.

• January-Citrus fruits and pears
• February-Chocolate
• March-Frozen veggies
• April-Broccoli and cauliflower
• May-Asparagus, buns, ground meat
• June- Strawberries
• July- Blueberries, peaches, plums, watermelon
• August- Corn, tomatoes, peppers, beans, zucchini
• September-Apples
• October-Pumpkins (if you wait until Nov 1, you can get them FREE), sweet potatoes
• November-Turkeys, baking items
• December-Citrus fruits, cranberries, ham

These are just to name a few! Here is what I did with my blueberries this week.

Wash berries

Lay flat on a cookie sheet and freeze overnight.

Put frozen berries into gallon bag, seal, label, and freeze! "Fresh" blueberries until next July :o) If they (grocery stores) can freeze and preserve foods, then you can too; at a huge saving to you!

My Garden & the Coming Harvest

I have been gardening for a few years for several reasons. Fresh produce is always better from the garden and it cuts costs in the grocery bill. This year, I have grown an all organic garden, just to see if I could. So far, so good. We had a ton of rain this past month and things are growing beautifully. I also tried something that I found in one of my gardening books. I planted sunflower seeds next to each tomato plant to stake them together. The sunflowers are very sturdy to hold the tomato plants up and in a few weeks, it will be beautiful! Next year, I think that I will plant the sunflowers a few weeks before the tomatoes so they can have a better start.

My bed of tomatoes and sunflowers

Cucumbers, melons, squash, peppers, and broccoli bed

See my little cantaloupe?

It's Coming...

The harvest is coming! The harvest is coming!

This photo was taken a few days ago, so my squash did grow a little more. I cut it last night! I sliced it and sauteed it with a red, yellow, and orange pepper with a little butter and onion. YUM-O! I can't wait! They are getting ready to all come on at once. No more paying sky-high prices at the store (for a little while anyway!) for fresh produce.

It can't get any better than that!

CVS Deal and Why Coupon?

Yippee! I went to CVS today to pick up the end of the month ECB deals and got some good deals. I got 4 bottles of pain relievers (dh's headaches), 1 bottle of softsoap bodywash, 1 package of Pepcid EZ chews, and a TruBlend whipped foundation. With my coupons ($2.50 CVS coupon for pain reliever, $1 off softsoap, $2 off pepcid, $2 off foundation, $5 of order over $25, $10 ECB's from last visit), I spent $18.09 oop and got back $26.96 in ECB's!



I was never much for couponing. I was always the store brand and/or Aldi type of shopper. I always thought I was wasting money on buying items that I don't normally use just because I had a coupon. BUT, I have since figured out that I am buying items that I don't normally use and I am just plain enjoying trying new things! When you can get items cheaper than store brand/Aldi (or even free!), then it is worth the "risk".



Just for fun, I thought I would share some items that I would never normally buy, and my thoughts toward them:

• Pepcid EZ chews-I always used cheap-o tums but the pepcid actually took away my heartburn!!


• Tums QuikPak Instant Dissolve Powder-again, heartburn gone within a few minutes. Also thought it might be a good sub for my son who occasionally has to take prevacid.


• Walgreen's Brands of Claritin & Zyrtec-I have taken off brand of benadryl for 20 years (!) for my allergies and I never liked the way it made me feel, so tired that I couldn't keep my eyes open (not the best feeling trying to raise 6 kids)
• Various grocery items-I am not a real big fan of boxed type/heavy preservative type foods but sometimes, it is nice to have on hand in a pinch. (Remember, it is not only healthier, but more frugal to shop the perimeter of the store!)
• Shampoo, pain relievers, body wash, deodorant, toothpaste, dish soap, laundry detergents-many of these items I have gotten for free. If you are not "brand" particular, your savings can really add up! It is nice having our bathroom closet stocked up on these items (really nice because of the price!!)

Those are just a few of those things since I began couponing in December. It's actually been king of fun! There are a ton of deals all the time at Money Saving Mom. You'll have to go over there and check out Crystal's money saving tips!