Blemish Tool

I know what your thinking. Is here really a tool for a skin blemish??

Yes, and I call it the zit tool. Not many people know about it. It happens to be one of my favorite things ever. I use it daily for white or black heads. I know it might be T.M.I., but if you knew about it and I didn't and I found out that you knew all along and didn't tell me, I would feel bad. I got mine at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. Walmart carries one. This picture is from the one sold on Amazon. I paid around $10 for mine more than 4 years ago. Its is as important to me as a good pair of eyebrow tweezers.

Christmas Cards

For those of you who send out Christmas cards this is invaluable information.
You can get 50 free cards from SeeHere Photo Sharing. I just ordered mine and had to pay some for shipping which was less than $4.
The promotion code you use is code "freebies4mom-1109" and it expires on Nov 30. If you have pictures ready to go, I would suggest you order them asap. The discounted shipping is 7 business days. Here is a little peek at what our Christmas cards will look like:

Deseret Book

I know all of you out there can appreciate a good book. I know I do. Well, what about a free download of a book?? Don't think its possible? Think again.
My good friend Lisa told me about this. Deseret Book has a site of books you can down load for free. There is only one book offered that I have read already. Its 10 Secrets Wise Parents Know and would definitely recommend it. From what I hear from my siblings, parenting through the teen aged years can be tricky, but this book give some great ideas on how to avoid some of the struggles.

Check it out, or uh, down load for free!
http://deseretbook.com/free

Minty

Ever heard of Mint.com? Its free personal finance software, money management online, and budget planner . You can link your bank accounts and set up a great itemized budget all for free. You will get emails notifying you when you are close to your spending cap in your different budget areas, or if you have gone over in any area.
We love it. It is very secure website. Check it out!

Thirsty??

Ever heard of Tummy Tickler Apple Juice? Walmart carries a three pack for around $4. The containers come filled with apple juice and the lid is spill-proof. They are dishwasher safe (just cut off the label before you wash it). The lids are interchangeable and come with cute cartoon carachters on them. We have Clifford, Bob-the-builder, Princess, and Little Einsteins lids. I have also seen lids with Sesame St characters. I like them much better than spill-proof sippy/straw cups (parts are not interchangeable with different brands, and if you loose a piece, the cup is no longer good). So next time you're at the Walmart, mozie on over to the juice isle and pick up some Tummy Ticklers. You'll thank me later. ;^D

Cause You Know You'll be Baking a Pie This Fall

This is my new favorite tip ever! I can't believe I had never heard of it before this last week. It is for pie making, which I am all over. I love baking pie, eating pie, serving pie, I just love pie!
When baking a pie it will tell you to cover the edges with foil so they don't over brown during the baking process. I used to fold thin (4-5 in. wide) pieces of foil together to make a long strip and then fold them over the edge of the pie.
That will never happening again.


The new technique:
-pull out just more than enough foil to cover your pie plate
-tear off the square of foil and fold into quarters
-cut a sizable arch from the center corner of the foil (this will result in a big circle shaped whole)
-unfold and place over pie, gently tighten edges of foil around rim of pie, and bake!

Seriously, so much easier than what I used to do!

Rice-A-Roni

Because I am cheap, we have bought this stuff before. To make my cheapness extend as much as possible, I have discovered how to make a box of Rice-a-Roni extend into an entire meal.
For those of you who have had the privileged of feeding my husband and/or children, you know that they are eaters! Before I perfected my Rice-A- Roni meal, a box of this was near useless in feeding my family.

Here is what I do:
I add an extra 1/4-1/2 C plain rice, white or brown, to the rice mix from the box.
I follow the regular instructions, just using a larger pan. If it says fry rice, I fry all of the rice- my added rice included. Then when it comes time to add the water, I add twice as much water as I did my extra rice in addition to what it calls for on the box, (ie: 1/2 C extra rice, add 1 C extra water, if it was only 1/4 C extra rice I only add 1/2 C water.) Then I add chicken. If you want to add raw chicken, add it right after the water and seasoning, stir in, cover and cook for the required time. If you add canned chicken, you can add it when you have 7 minutes or so to go in your cook time. Then, I always add a vegetable to the top of the rice and chicken 5-7 minutes before the cooking time is complete.
For the chicken and broccoli Rice-a-Roni, I add broccoli. For the chicken fajita, I add 1 chopped green bell pepper, etc.

There you have it. A meal in a box. Better for you than hamburger helper and most of the time cheaper. When you can get Rice-A-Roni on sale for 69 cents a box and already have frozen veggies in your freezer and left over/canned chicken meat from a meal, that makes out to be a super cheap, easy meal for the whole family.

Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs

The Disney BuleRay edition of Snow White came out yesterday. At walmart, you can buy it for $19.99. BUT before you do- go to snowwhiteoffer.com and print your $10.00 off coupon. Yes, then you will get a brand new Disney BlueRay for $9.99!

ps: if you already bought it before you found out about the coupon like I did, take in the coupon and your receipt. They refunded me the difference no problem. :)

pps: I forgot to mention that if you don't have a BlueRay player- you still want to buy it, as it is a BlueRay/DVD combo.

Put out the fire!

We have to put the dog dish on the stove (ideally it would be the counter but the place where it is out of the way is by the back door, which is right next to the stove) when it is not in use because Miles likes to eat the dog food and play in the water. Amelia has been vigilant about watching out for Miles and the dish.

A few days ago I had finished processing some jars so I moved my steam canner to the sink. The element on the stove was still super hot. As usual, Miles was making his way for the dog food. Amelia, being on the look out, promptly moved the plastic dish to the top of the hot stove. Melted plastic dish and smoke ensued. I grabbed for our baking soda and dumped a generous amount of it onto the plastic that was melting/melted onto the element and the smoking stopped. Once it had cooled completely, it was much easier to scrape off (than it would have been without the baking soda).
Keep baking soda above your stove in case of melting plastic or small oil fires. It will smother the flames and stop the smoke.

Yeast Daiper Rash??

For those mothers out there, I would be shocked if none of your babies have ever had a yeast diaper rash. Many of you know that you can get a perscription of Nystanin yeast diaper rash ointment from your doctor. But did you also know that there is an over the counter product that works to treat yeast rash??
True story: We were on vacation in OR and Amelia and Miles had yeast diaper rashes from the antibiotics they were taking for their ear infections. I asked my father-in-law, who is a doctor, to call in a prescription for Nystatin. He told me to just pick up some Lamisil when were in town at Walmart, that it has the same active ingredient and would work just as well.
Sure enough, Lamisil did he trick for both bums.

Save at Savers

Did you know that there are coupons to use at Savers Thrift Store??
I didn't, until one time I was checking out and the lady at the register asked if I had a coupon to use for the transaction. I was a little confused and asked her how I would get coupons? She said that when you donate stuff, you ask for a coupon and they will give you one to use on a future purchase.
I was a bit bummed seeing as I had taken loads and loads of stuff in the past to Savers and none of the men working offered me a coupon for my donations. Apparently this is something they don't offer you, you must know about it and ask for it.
Now every time I go to drop off stuff to my neighborhood Savers donation center, I am sure to ask for a coupon.

Get rid of the wall paper!

Some of you know that I am in the midst of a "Repainting the kitchen!" project. For this to happen, I first had to take down wall paper the covered the upper half of my kitchen walls. (The bottom half was paneling which is a different story entirely.) This has near been the death of me! I spent roughly 6 hours scraping a 6x4 foot area, after puncturing the paper with the hole gadget ("the paper tiger", but lets face it, hole gadget sounds cooler), before hand, then using the special gel/non-drip wall paper remover that I bought at the Home Depot, ). Needless to say after hours of work, and little result, I was not the happiest of campers. Thankfully a dear friend came to the rescue and told me this tip. The results were almost instant and it gave me the courage to continue scraping the wall paper. I am happy to report the walls of my kitchen are near paperless!
Here's what to do:
Pull the top layer of paper off the walls (this shouldn't be difficult). Put some dish soap in a spray bottle with hot water and spray down the walls. Let it set for a few minutes (3-7). Using a putty knife, scrape the glue gunk wall paper right off!!
Why this bit of information isn't in every do-it-yourself book and web site proclaiming to have tips for removing wall paper, is beyond me. But you found it here!

Sour Cream

You take a spoonful of sour cream out of the container and return it to the fridge. Time passes, and later you return for more sour cream and there is liquid separated and pooled in the bottom of the concavity.
Next time, take your spoon and level out the sour cream. This will prevent the liquid separation.

Easy Chocolate Mousse

Folks, chocolate mousse is delicious. And here's an easy way to make it.

What you'll need:
Chocolate pudding mix
Heavy whipping cream
Yes, that is it.

Make the pudding mix with whipping cream rather than the milk it asks for.
This will make super thick, rich chocolate mousse. If you want to get fancy garnish with shaved chocolate or drizzle with chocolate or caramel syrup. So yummy!

Trimming Roses

I love roses! I remember caring for the rose bushes in our front yard with my grandma, while I was growing up. I never got much farther than holding the hose to water and pulling weeds, before she passed away and we moved from those roses. Now with my own house I have a few rose bushes and I just LOVE them! Last summer, after the first buds bloomed, no more really grew. I was totally bummed. Later in the season, I learned how to properly trim the roses so that you will maximize the production of blooming buds. I have been doing it this summer and they keep coming!

7 leaf cluster

Here is what you do. Once the rose petals fall off and you are left with the empty center, follow the stem down to the nearest 5 leaf cluster ( I couldn't find a picture of a 5 leaf cluster, but you can get the idea from the 7 leaf cluster seen above). Trim to just above that 5 leaf cluster. I love that it is so simple and yet I had no idea that is how you do it. I used to just trim off the ugly-looking-empty-what-used-to-be-a-rose part. Trimming to that 5 leaf cluster has made such a HUGE difference. Now you know. :)

Want to learn a 2nd language?

I learned from a blog that I read (Thanks Karla!) that you can learn a second language for free through many libraries websites and Mango Languages.

You can go to mangolanguages.com, type in your zip code and it will tell you what libraries in your area offer their card holder's the ability to take lessons for free. It is great! I have been wanting to learn German but have not had resources available.

Mango Languages offer lessons in:
Russian
Spanish
Greek
Mandarin Chinese
French
Portuguese
Italian
and German

Now with my Orem City Library card, I can log on to their web site, lib.orem.org, and take lessons free of charge. For more info on using Mango Languages with your Orem library card, go here.

Like Tucanos?

Did you know that you can sign up to get a free meal from Tucanos the month of your birthday? Sign up with Club Tucanos. A postcard coupon will show up in the mail at the end of the month before your birthday month. Sign yourself and your spouse up! Happy Birthday eating!

Permanent Marker on Dry Erase Board

If you ever get permanent marker on the dry eraser by mistake, there is a simple solution. Take a dry erase marker and draw over the permanent marker, and wipe away. It will be gone!

What to do with dry beans?

I, like many of you, was at a loss when it comes to cooking dry beans. All of my previous attempts were for naught. This is, until a good friend (who is an expert at cooking beans) told me the best way to cook them.

In a crock pot place-
1 lb. bag of dry bean of choice
6 C water
Clove of garlic
1/2 onion (I prefer mine diced)

Cook on high for at least 3.5 hours or until bean is soft. Salt to taste.
You can use this recipe for any kind of bean, pinto, black, kidney, etc.
The onion and garlic help prevent gas.
You can even re-fry them in a little oil on the stove top if you like re-fried beans.

This bean recipe will change your life. It's changed mine. So easy. So cheap.
Enjoy!

First Birthday Cake

Did you know that Albertson's will give you a 1st birthday cake for free?! Just call the bakery a few days before you want the cake, give them your information, choose white or chocolate and the kind of frosting you want, and get a round one layer first birthday cake at no charge!

Super Value Laundry Detergent

This is a great recipe for home made laundry detergent. The ingredients (washing soda and borax) cost about $5.00 at walmart, and will make quite a few recipes. I STRONGLY recommend this laundry soap. It is inexpensive and does a good job of cleaning. It doesn't leave a strong scent in the cloths, just a nice general clean smell. Try it out and see if it is something you want to do to save your family some money. The recipe costs approximately $2.

Homemade Liquid Laundry Soap- Front or top load machine- best value

-4 Cups hot tap water
-1 Fels-Naptha soap bar (You can try other soap, just be sure to use one that is not highly perfumed.)
-1 Cup Washing Soda
-½ Cup Borax

- Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with water. Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted.

-Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing soda and Borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to top with more hot water. Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken.

-Stir and fill a used, clean, laundry soap dispenser half full with soap and then fill rest of way with water. Shake before each use. (will gel)

-Optional: You can add 10-15 drops of essential oil per 2 gallons. Add once soap has cooled. Ideas: lavender, rosemary, tea tree oil.

-Yield: Liquid soap recipe makes 10 gallons.

-Top Load Machine- 5/8 Cup per load (Approx. 180 loads)

-Front Load Machines- ¼ Cup per load (Approx. 640 loads)

Kids and Cafe Rio

Did you know that when you go to Cafe Rio you can get a kids quesodilla for free? With the order of our meals, to stay, you get complementary meals for the kids you have with you. When Tim and I go there we always ask for two kids quesodilla and it comes at no extra charge!

Also at Cafe Rio, you can ask for whole wheat tortillas. They are super tasty!

WElcoMe

Welcome to my new blog. After reading a post on my niece's blog about some helpful things I have taught her to save money, I decided that all of you should benefit too! Check here for ideas and information that will help you save money, time, and energy.