homemade instant oatmeal packets

I got this from Money saving mom...THANKS!!

I'm always on the lookout for good tasting, easy, and good for you recipes! THis one certainly qualifies.

Oatmeal Packets Recipe

1 large canister quick oats
1 large canister rolled oats
1/8 cup cinnamon
2 cups flax seed, ground
1 box of snack-sized zip-top baggies

Mix rolled oats, quick oats and cinnamon together in a large bowl. Take 2 cups of mixture and grind it in a blender or food processor until it becomes powder-like.

Set up an assembly line with a small bowl of the ground flax seed, a small bowl of the ground oat mixture and the large bowl of oats. Take a baggie and put in 1/8 cup flax seed, 1/8 cup ground oats and ¾ cup oat mixture. Seal the baggie.

Repeat until you’ve successfully filled all your baggies.

To prepare, add ½ to ¾ cup boiling water and stir. Top with dried fruit, nuts or sweetener of your choice.

super fun and easy cupcakes for kids!

Here is a great recipe for "rainbow" cupcakes that would bring a smile to any kids face for a special occasion. fun and easy to do. The down side.. thats a lot of foodcoloring, and organic food coloring isn't cheap. I guess this one is a pick which is more important, cost or healthy(ier) for you.

http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/taste-a-rainbow-cupcakes-842128/

a question I had ..so you probably did too!

I pulled this out of Jillcataldo.com 's FAQ. I found it extremely helpful, and figured you might as well!

How do I know when an item is at its lowest price in the 12-week cycle?

As shoppers, buying the things we need when the price hits its 12-week low saves us the most money, especially when we use our coupons to bring the price down even more. Typically, a product is at its 12-week low when the sale price is 50% less (or better!) than the non-sale (shelf) price of the item. If a price drops to half of what it usually is, or less, it's a buy! Sites like www.couponmom.com, www.grocerygame.com, www.groceryguide.com and www.mygrocerydeals.com help track the sales for you and let you know when an item is hitting the 12-week low.

Also, after a while, you will just start to "learn" what good prices are for the items you buy frequently. Typically, it takes 12 weeks for you to go through the cycle and start to notice the highs and lows for everything you buy. Remember too that every item is on its own, independent 12 week cycle. If cereal is low this week, pasta could be high, and so on. Each product and product category cycles independently of the others.

the coupon queen

Every sunday I eagerly get out of bed and dash out for the sunday paper for two..well, sorta three reasons. One is the coupon inserts of course, I'm going to skip the second reason momentarily so I can go back and talk about it far more in length .. the third reason is because I like to scour the ads, I usually do this online, but it's easier to look them over when they are in my hand.
The second reason, is something I sorta chanced upon finding. A sunday column by a lady name Jill Cataldo. She is known as the coupon queen. I Love her. She has taught me soo much about coupons. (yes some of my friends have taught me a great deal as well, but I think Jill's column and website have been the most eye opening.)
She even offers classes, which I've really thought about attending. Each week I tear through the sunday paper pulling out the coupon inserts, the weekly ads that interest me, (yes, the comics), and Jill's column. If your paper doesn't offer her column look it up on her website, I'm betting you will be glad you did.
My friend Bekah had told me to write to companies and tell them when they have done well, or done bad, and you'd be surprised by what you get from them. She is right. Each time I have wrote to a company to express my disatisfaction with a product-- it went stale before the exp. date, it broke my kid out, etc, I've recieved some very nice coupons. I tried writing to a company to tell them how awesome their soda was and asked if they ever offered coupons... so far they haven't replied. boo!
Jill reinforced this idea though, saying to write to 3 companies daily to tell them how much you love their product and ask for coupons. Many apparently have no problems giving out coupons when they recieve compliments. I definetely prefer handing out compliments more than I do complaining, so I'm going to attempt this. I will still be the first to complain when something isn't right, after all, thats my hard earned money I'm paying for something and I'd like it to be as good as they claim. I don't care how "perishable" bread is...if 2 bags mold within 2 days.. something isn't right.

so.. that being said. I highly reccommend you check out Jill's website! I think you will be glad you did!
http://www.jillcataldo.com/

some recipes that look really good

AS I posted previously.. All You is my newest favorite magazine. They have a TON of coupons, recipes, tips, ideas and even exercises, It's just an all around great magazine, and the coupons alone pay for the subscription! Here is teh recipes from the July issue. some of my favorites that I want to try are nectarine-raspberry hand pies, roasted peaches with cookie crumble and slow cooker baked ziti, and slow cooker pulled pork.

I really don't think you can have too many crock pot recipes, especially in the summer when the last thing you want to do is heat up the house by cooking dinner!

http://www.allyou.com/food/recipes/

Enjoy!!

stockpiling groceries 101

Many of you have been asking me what teh best way to save on your grocery bill is. Well, All you Magazine (one of my favorite magazines!) has made that answer extrmemly simple for me. here is a great article from their July issue.
http://www.allyou.com/budget-home/money-shopping/save-on-groceries-stockpiling-food-00411000068289/page10.html
You will have to click on each individual step, but it's well worth reading!

"but missy, I don't have the money to spend that much extra right now". Truth is... neither do I... but, what I've been doing is similar. I make my list based off the recipes I plan to use. Then, I search online for every and all coupons I can find to help me get extra savings on these items. I bring my coupons in a seperate envelope that I will mostly likely be using, but I bring ALL my coupons along, in search of those amazing deals. If I find something on sale for dirt cheap and I have coupons, I spend a lil extra of my grocery budget to stockpile, that way, I won't have to buy it the next time at a higher price. It's the best I can do until I can get that big stockpile of my dreams to really reduce my grocery bill.

soul searching for answers

Have you ever been trying to figure out where life is taking you, and if your dreams will ever come true? If so, have you ever had something that isn't a direct answer, but is enough of a "clue" that you just had to pay attention?
I'll be the first to admit. I'm not the most religious person on the face of the planet. I believe in God, and say prayers occassionally, but I typically don't base my day around thinking a supreme being will answer my prayers, hopes, wishes or desires. There have been times my faith has been pushed to teh very brink, and chances are, if it wasn't for the fact that I need to believe that some day I will see my sister, grandparents, and anyone else I have lost, that I love dearly, I very well may have lost that faith altogether. ...but then.. there are times, where something happens, that can only be described as divine intervention, so to speak. Faith is renewed.
This is sorta one of those things.. It's not an undenyable divine intervention for me.. but from whatI can tell, it was (in part) for the people who's story I read. My part of it, could easily be chalked up to "fate', "random chance", or even just plain old "luck".
Enough rambling. I happened to see status on FB from one of my money saving blogs I really like, that said something about no more renting for them, and 100% down for their house. This piqued my interest to say the very least and I went and read the entire story, and am eagerly awaiting the final post.
She talked about living debt free, no school debt, no car debt, no house debt. What an amazing concept. How different would out lives be if we had no debt at all. Unfortunately this is impossible for me since I already have school loans racked up, and we currently have a car payment. But.. what if I could make those debts disapear, and then save for a house of our dreams? It's a big dream.. it's a monster step...but.. ultimately.. I think it just might be doable. How awesome would that be? Admittedly getting there won't be much fun. The budget will have to go through some drastic cuts...which I'm not sure I want to eat mac and cheese only for the next 5 years.
As a result you may soon se some major changes to this blog. It might begin to start looking a bit more like a savings blog, with some other stuff still mixed in. You may start seeing ads for coupon sites, or other reputable companies. Don't worry.. I'm not about to sell my friends and readers out to just "anyone" for the sake of making a buck. Just like when I pass on a deal I have saw on FB, I will continue to be picky when posting deals. When possible, I will still post all the best deals on nonprocessed foods, and things that are more along the back to basics line of thinking.. but.. when you really stop and think about it. Saving money is going back to basics also. Our grandparents scrimped and saved and used everything to it's fullest potential. Some of them even went thought hte great depression, and their thinking was greatly influenced from that. So, even by posting deals, I'm not straying from my "back to basics" mentality, I'm just embracing it in the fullest way possible.
May our journey to saving money, eliminating processed foods, etc, be fruitful and rewarding! Thanks for coming along with me during this time of transitioning