By making my own yogurt, I save at least $300 a year on just one food item. If your family eats yogurt at all, you’ve got to try this! (Ahem: if you don’t eat yogurt, allow me to introduce you to  the health benefits of yogurt. You should be using this food often to nourish your family.)

When I think of all the plastic hitting the landfills, or even the recycle centers, from single serve containers of yogurt, my stomach turns. The expense to have this healthy super food on hand, especially for larger families, can be pretty intense. Even purchasing the 32 oz. tubs could mean $2/day for my little family of 3-and-a-half (the toddler eats…like a toddler…so I count her as half for now).

Beyond saving money, saving the earth, and keeping your family healthy, I’ll save you time. This is the easiest homemade yogurt method ever, especially if you hate dishes.

I make homemade yogurt almost once a week, and it takes me about 17 minutes, split up into four parts. I’m willing to teach you my secret method, but only if you promise to get your kids to eat yogurt with as little sugar as possible. The basic steps of yogurt-making are easier than chocolate chip cookies:

1. Heat to sterilize the milk. (185 degrees)
2. Cool milk to proper incubation temperature. (90-120 degrees)
3. Add starter yogurt.
4. Incubate at warm temperature 4-24 hours.

Supplies necessary:

• Glass jars (quart canning jars or empty mayo or spaghetti sauce jars work great)
• Milk (any, from skim to whole)
• Candy thermometer, but I can show you how to do it without one too
• Pot large enough to hold your glass jars
• 2 Tbs of plain yogurt per quart of milk (Buy the freshest yogurt possible at a store and make sure it has “live and active cultures”. I prefer Dannon. I know it has the three top cultures that I’m looking for to help the gut. The little cups are often on sale for 40-50 cents.)
• picnic cooler
• bath/beach towel
• timer

Prep:

• Run jars and lids through the dishwasher to sterilize. Allow them to dry very thoroughly, then cap and store them.
• Get out picnic cooler and clean bath towel.

Method

• 1. Put jars in the pot with a sink washcloth underneath.
  2. Pour milk into your jars to about an inch from the top.
  3. Place jars into the pot and fill pot with tap water around the jars.
  4. Cook on high heat until boiling and get the milk to about 185 (you can’t burn it with this method, so if you forget it for a while, it’s OK!). Turn off the heat and put lids on the jars.
  5. Put the pot in the cooler with the towel underneath and the lid on both pot and cooler.
  6. Cool milk. You can do it on the counter, in the garage in winter, or in a sinkful of cold water with ice packs.
  7. Get milk to about 110 degrees. I know the milk is about ready when I can pick up the jars and hold them without burning my hands.
  8. Stir in ~2 Tbs. plain yogurt for each quart of milk.
  9. Get those lids on again and nestle your jars in the cooler. Keep them wrapped in one half of the towel and take the lid off the pot to let the heat out, then close the lid of the cooler to keep the heat in.
  10. My yogurt jars happily nestled in the cooler, ready to incubate. Before I close the lid, I’ll wrap the towel end from the right around the jars.
  11. Incubate 4-24 hours. Shorter incubation makes sweeter yogurt, longer is more tart. Also lower incubation temperature makes sweeter yogurt and higher makes more tart. I’ve had good success between 4 and 8 hours.
  12. When the time is up, put the jars into the freezer for about an hour. Do not stir first. No room in the freezer? They can go right into the fridge.
  13. That’s it! You have created yogurt!

I know a lot of people make slow cooker yogurt, but I hate dishes so much that washing that big insert just kills me. I’d rather dump the water out of my pot to air dry, put my cooler away and be done.

But Wait! There’s More!

Here’s another trick with your homemade plain yogurt, no matter what method you use. It’s a great money saver, another way to get probiotics into your family’s diet, and so simple I’m almost embarrassed to call it a recipe. Yogurt can be made into yogurt cheese in a few simple steps, and the result is nearly exactly like cream cheese, but at half the price of the best sale you’ll find.

You simply dump the contents of one jar into a tea-towel-lined colander over a bowl:

Then hang the towel to drain for about 4 hours.That’s how easy it is to get cream cheese in the tea towel (about a cup) and whey in the bowl (about 3 cups).

That was a very quick explanation, so if you’d like more details, you can see how to make yogurt cheese back at Kitchen Stewardship.

More Information

• If you’re nervous and would like more detailed instructions for the yogurt, my post on making homemade yogurt leaves out no details.
• What can you do with homemade yogurt? See this list of homemade yogurt recipes
• Here are my top 4 tips for eating less sugar in your yogurt.
• If you make cream cheese, you might wonder: What do you do with whey?

Katie blogs at Kitchen Stewardship, where she offers weekly Monday Missions to help you balance stewardship of God’s gifts of health, earth, time and money. Find practical baby steps, healthy recipes, green living ideas and prayerful encouragement. You can also follow Katie on Twitter.

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You know those pesky grease or oil stains, those little places on your clothes that look like they are wet even when they’re dry?  Those pesky spots that  do not come out in the wash? Frustrating right? Well, here is our solution to grease stains once and for all.

Squirt just a bit of Dawn dish soap liquid onto the offending spot and rub in with your finger then wash in warm water with a regular load.

It has worked every time for us and makes my husband very happy.

Using Dawn dish detergent to get grease stains out of our family’s laundry works for me.

Do you have any stain removing tips to share?  Ya know that I can use all the help that I can get.

You may read more of my Works for Me tips or head over to We Are THAT Family for even more.

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Yet for the past 6 years, the children and I catch a few movies at the theater each summer for FREE, thanks to Regal Cinema’s Free Family Film Festival.

Image Courtesy of Bresslau

Every summer Regal Cinemas offers free showings of select G and PG rated movies on Tuesday and Wednesday morning.  Check their website for their schedule and a location near you.  Then mark your calendars to catch the movies that you want to enjoy with your kids.

Free movies for kids, in an air-conditioned theater, during the last few weeks of  a 10th pregnancy, that works for me!

Please share other fun, COOL activities to help this hot mama pass the last 3 weeks of pregnancy with her passel of kids?

You can read more of my “Works for Me Wednesdays” or visit  We Are THAT Family for more good ideas.

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Amy points out that what we consider trials are ‘problems’ that many people pray for and would consider an amazing blessing in  Somebody Wants What You Have from Amy’s Finer Things.

Kristen reminds us just how very rich we are and we’re not talking about the people in the big houses with nice cars, but you and me who work hard to save money and live frugally.

If your family income is $10,000 a year, you are wealthier than 84% of the world.  If your family income is $50,000 or more a year, you make more than 99% of the world.

I’d love to hear if you think that perhaps our focus is not where it should be as a people who have been blessed materially above and beyond the vast majority of the world.

Do we recognize our wealth?

Are we grateful?

Are we using what God has given us in a manner that is pleasing to Him?

Do we act as if we really believe Phil. 2:3-4?

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.  Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

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We have used and enjoyed Sue Gregg’s cookbooks for years.  Healthy, whole foods cooking with real life taste and preparation sums up this set of cookbooks.  If you want to move your family toward healthier eating, but don’t know where to begin or aren’t sure that they will like healthier foods, Sue Gregg is a good place to start.  Nearly all of our breakfast and lunch meals and recipes come from her books.  (Since we prepare dinner meals with a group, we aren’t able to incorporate as many of these recipes.)

Here is the selection of cookbooks that Sue Gregg offers:

• ‘Whole Foods Cooking’
• ‘Whole Grains Baking’
• ‘Main Dishes’
• ‘Meals in Minutes’
• ‘Soups and Muffins’
• ‘Lunches and Snacks’
• ‘Breakfast’
• ‘Desserts’

While we have and use all of these books and I highly recommend them if you wish to make a move toward more natural eating,  this post is not primarily about Sue Gregg’s cookbooks.  After talking with Mrs. Gregg she offered to let us review her high school level cooking curriculum.

Amber is 13 years old, but her passion is cooking and she regularly plans and prepares meals for our crowd.  She was delighted with the opportunity to study cooking for ‘school’.

Sue Gregg’s high school level program utilizes her ‘Whole Grain Baking’ cookbook which teaches baking with blender batter* and the two-stage process as explained in Nourishing Traditions.  The course is 18 weeks long and at that point the student may work through ‘Whole Foods Cooking’ for the remaining 18 weeks in the school year.

Each of the 18 lessons is divided into daily assignments including Bible study and memorization, watching the demonstration CD, reading information about the nutrition and attributes of the ingredients and the reasons behind how we prepare each recipe.  The program also contains focus questions and writing assignments and directs the students as they keep a cooking journal.  The students then prepare the recipe or recipes discussed and evaluate how the family enjoyed the recipe.  Then based on the reactions the student considers and makes notes about improvements that could be made to make it more suitable for the tastes of their family.

Amber has loved working with this program and has learned a lot about the whys and hows of  baking and cooking.  She has learned many things that I could not have taught her because I didn’t know.  She now knows how she can alter recipes to achieve different results, something that I’ve always wished I was capable of doing.  She has also learned a lot about many of the nutritional reasons for choosing one ingredient over another.

Amber has been able to work her way through the curriculum on her own with little help from me which is wonderful for a high school level course and necessary for our schedule.  Our whole family has enjoyed the delicious biscuits, muffins, tortillas and other breads that have been part of Amber’s school assignments.

This is a high school level course and takes a good amount of time each day.  Because of this and the other responsibilities that Amber has, we’ve chosen to have Amber work through the program more slowly than scheduled.  She does Sue Gregg cooking 2-3 days each week and this has been a good pace for our family.

I highly recommend considering this for a high school home economics credit.  Normally I would not have considered purchasing a cooking curriculum because our family cooks every day.  However, taking the time out to study this more in depth has added skill and knowledge that probably wouldn’t have been gained otherwise.  The ‘Baking with Whole Grains Curriculum Guide’ and ‘Whole Grain Baking’ are available here for $60.

If you are interested in moving toward more healthy eating, I would encourage you to explore Sue Gregg’s website.  Many of her recipes are available for free so that you are able to try them at home to see if your family enjoys that type of cooking.

To give you an additional jump start on healthy eating Sue Gregg will be giving one Raising Olives reader the choice of one of their introductory cookbooks.  The winner of this giveaway may choose either ‘Introducing Whole Foods Cooking’ or ‘Whole Grain Baking’ (please visit their website for more information on these books)

To enter:

• Leave a comment sharing one thing that you’ve done to work toward more healthy eating or a reason you’d like to move in that direction.

Additional entries:

• Tweet about this giveaway.
• Blog about this giveaway.

Please leave a separate comment for each additional entry.  Giveaway will end at midnight, April 26 and is open to US residents only.

*Blender batter allows you to cook with whole grains without needing to purchase a grain mill.  This can be a marvelous way to begin whole grain cooking while lessening your initial investment.  Most of the bread recipes do require regular whole grain flours.

You may be interested in more tips and ideas about feeding your family on  a budget, menu planning or  cooking from scratch or my recipe page.

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All you need is a robe with a waist tie.

Place the baby on your back and put the robe on.

Tie the tie tightly under the baby’s bum and voila, you are wearing your baby.

Using kids to think up new and creative uses for everyday items works for me!

Tomorrow the 4 Moms, 35 Kids: How Moms of Many Manage topic will be menu planning.   Then on April 15, 4 Moms will be hosting a recipe swap.  Have a recipe that will feed a crowd? On the 15th and you will have the opportunity to link up and share it with all of the 4 Moms readers.  Enter your link on one of our blogs and it will show up on all four blogs!

Also linked at 5 Minutes for Mom’s wordless Wednesday.

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I visited two of these consignment sales on the last day when everything was marked half price.  I was able to find a lot of things for my two youngest girls (5 and 6) and a couple things here and there for some of the other kids.

Three outfits with denim skirts for Sadie (6) and Savannah (5).Four more dresses/ skort outfits  for Sadie and Savannah.

A denim jumper, pair of capris, pair of shorts and 6 tops for Sadie, Savannah and Alyssa (9).Four tops for the bigger girls,  Amber (13) and Alyssa (9).We have 4 boys and I walked away with this one outfit for Matthew (10).

I purchased all of that for a $32.

Do you have trouble finding clothing for your boys second hand?

I generally steer clear of consignment sales because the prices are considerably higher than yard sales, but a friend was telling me that if you go to these big, short-term consignment sales on the very first day you can find great deals on quality clothing.  Have you found that to be true or are the prices still higher than yard sales?

You may be interested in reading my rules for shopping at yard sales seeing some of my other yard sale finds or reading about other ways that we save money.

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That said, we feed our family for less than half of the average per person cost.  My husband loves meat, our kids are big eaters and we eat healthy.

There are also 3 other moms who are going to be tackling the topic of budgeting to feed a crowd, so be sure to see what they have to say.Connie at Smockity Frocks
The Deputy Headmistress at The Common Room
KimC at Life in a Shoe

From what I researched the average household spends $150-$200  on food per person per month.  Our grocery budget (which includes personal care products, cleaning supplies and paper products) is $800-$900 per month.  That’s $75 for food per person per month. (Well, it would be $75 if we were eating the shampoo and toilet paper, we don’t so it’s actually less than that.)

Feeding your family on a budget is all about balance, the balance between time, health and money.  Each of us are going to have different priorities and different tolerances for what we consider “healthy” and what we consider “expensive”.  Sometimes healthy choices will save you money and sometimes they will cost you money, they’ll almost always cost you time.  It’s just a matter of balance.

Here are some tips that our family has learned that can keep our expenses down.

Have a food budget and know what it is.

If you don’t have a food budget or at least a number to shoot for, it’s pretty hard to plan to hit it.  My hubby is the budget guru in our family and so I know exactly what I am able to spend.  Our food budget also includes personal care products, cleaning supplies and paper products (more about saving on these items later) so I usually take a certain amount out for those things.  For menu planning purposes I figure out how much we have to spend per meal.

Have a menu plan.

I have a  menu plan for breakfasts and lunches that we only change occasionally.  We currently bulk cook freezer meals for dinners, but before that I planned out several weeks of dinners using the same planning methods that I use for my breakfast and lunch plan.  (See above link for my “secrets” to menu planning.  ) As you plan your menus keep your budget in mind.  I like planning some meals that cost less, so that we can splurge and have more expensive meals at other times.

Have an extra freezer.

This enables us to stock up when something is on sale and to do a lot of freezer cooking.  You can purchase a used freezer very inexpensively and we’ve found that it has more than paid for itself.

Buy in bulk.

I suggest looking for a food buying co-op in your area.  If there isn’t one already, it may be worth your while to start one.  Our co-op enables us to buy basic staples such as wheat, oats, rice, beans, honey, etc. at prices much lower than we would spend at the grocery or health food store.

We purchase our beef  directly from the farmer and then pay the butchering fees.  We work together with other families so that we don’t have to buy a whole cow at a time, but are able to buy a quarter or half.

Cook from scratch.

Bread, bagels, granola bars, tortillas, granola, yogurt, buttermilk, kefir, desserts and sometimes even pasta are supposed to be made from scratch.  Doesn’t always happen, but that is the plan and it saves us a lot of money.  Usually if we’re not making it from scratch we simply go without.  That is good motivation to get cooking again.

Shop at discount groceries.

This is not something that we do much anymore, but before we made all of our own bread, we would shop at the day-old bread store.  I’ve also found great deals at salvage and other discount grocery stores.

Shop at produce stands.

In my effort to balance health and budget I set aside a specific amount of our food budget to spend only on fresh fruits and veggies.  I find that I can cut my produce costs by about 20% by shopping at local, side-of-the road produce stands.

Avoid fast food by keeping some quick meal options in the pantry.

My standard for “instant” meals is not as high as for regularly planned meals. I don’t mind spending a bit more per meal and they don’t have to be quite as healthy.

Some of our “instant” meals:

• Pasta and canned spaghetti sauce for a quick spaghetti dinner.
• Saffron rice and canned black beans for beans and rice.
• Canned chicken and/or refried beans, cheese, salsa and tortillas for burritos or chicken quesadillas

Snack healthy.

This is one of those things that short term can seem more expensive (fresh fruit and nuts are more expensive than Little Debbie’s and chips), but long term yields healthier kids, fuller bellies and less cravings.

Skip dessert.

We have dessert every Sunday and whenever we have company.  Outside of that we skip the sweets.

Drink water.

Um, self-explanatory.  We serve milk or juice each morning for breakfast, but other than that it’s all water.

Don’t forget to plan for hospitality.

Our food budget is tight.  However, we believe that we should practice Christian hospitality.  The way that we reconcile these two concepts is that our “hospitality” does not come out of our food budget.  This enables me to plan much “nicer” meals for company and to not cringe at the thought of feeding a large crowd.

Use re-usable.

I mentioned earlier that paper products and cleaning supplies come out of our food budget.  With 12 people these things can add up very quickly. (Seriously, we recently won a month’s supply of toilet paper.  When the children opened the package they all exclaimed at one time, “That won’t last us for a month!!”)  To cut down on these expense we don’t buy a lot of  disposable items.

We generally use cloth napkins (click link to see how this helps with dinner time spills and I avoid spending all day washing napkins), old cloths rather than paper towels, cloth diapers and wipes.

We do on the other hand purchase toilet paper, lot’s of it.  Here’s a tip I read recently, before you place the toilet paper  on the roll, smash it so that you bend and flatten the cardboard tube.  This helps cut down on toilet paper waste.  We’ve noticed a big difference!

Make your own cleaning supplies.

We make our own laundry soap and disinfectant cleaners.  We are talking serious savings on this one.  We do buy some cleaners for heavy duty cleaning, but our day to day cleaning is done with homemade, non-toxic cleaners.

For more grocery budgeting tips check out these other posts:

Connie at Smockity Frocks
The Deputy Headmistress at The Common Room
KimC at Life in a Shoe

What tips for saving money on your grocery budget have I missed?  Do you use coupons?  If you do, do you really save money on the basics?  Should I reconsider my “no coupon” policy?

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We celebrate their history.

Each year on their birthday, Mark and I work together to tell them the special story about the day that they were born, the events surrounding it and our joy at meeting them for the first time.  When we are done all of the children that are old enough to remember the experience, tell about the first time they saw and held their new sibling and their joy at meeting this wonderful little person that God brought into our family.

Another thing that we do is we watch the clock all day long and when their actual birth time rolls around we celebrate with with singing, hugs and kisses and congratulate the child for actually being their new age.

We express often and openly how grateful we are to God for giving this child to us for the amount of time that He has.  (Of course we do that throughout the year, but we give it a special focus on their birthday.)

Sadie celebrates with ribbons

We celebrate the day.

If you live in our house we will wake you up on your birthday morning by coming into your room singing a rousing version of “Happy Birthday to You”.

We sing “Happy Birthday” a lot on the kid’s birthdays.   At any point in the day, anyone may start singing and everyone just joins in.  Of course it has to end with more hugs.

At different times during the day the grandparents call, sing to the birthday child and give them their love.

The children use our magnetic wall and our chalkboard wall to decorate for the special day.

A train "mural" to celebrate Colby's train birthday

We celebrate them.

Each child gets to plan the whole dinner (and sometimes breakfast and lunch menu) on their birthday.  We’ve had elaborate dinners like Blue Cheese Stuffed Pork Chops or a completely made from scratch (including the pasta) Italian feast to more kid-like choices like homemade pizza or hot dogs.  Sometimes the choices are odd (like mashed potatoes with spaghetti and meatballs), but we always enjoy a special meal of our child’s favorite foods.

Soup in bread bowls with green salad and strawberry cake.

As each birthday rolls around I try to get the camera and head outdoors (or to someplace with natural lighting) to get some nice portraits of the birthday kid.

We typically choose one special gift for each child’s birthday.  Siblings also enjoy making or purchasing gifts for each other.

Savannah gives Alyssa a birthday drawing

We let our children choose what type of birthday cake that they want.  A favorite option is decorating it themselves.

We celebrate their future.

Before cake Mark prays a special birthday prayer, asking God to guide and direct this child and that our child would grow to be a mighty servant of Him.

We use this day as a time to focus on and pray about what God has planned for their future.

We make it theirs.

Despite having birthdays every week for four weeks in August/September and then another group of birthdays in January and February, we’ve never combined birthdays.  We always give each child their own celebration.  I know a lot of people combine birthdays with great success, but for our family individual birthday celebrations rule. 

I’d love to hear about your special, frugal birthday celebrations.  I’m always up for new ideas.

4 Moms, 35 Kids Live Blogging Event, Thursday, March 18.  All four moms will live blog throughout the day about what really happens in a homeschooled, houseful.  Coming tomorrow so don’t miss it and check back for often for live updates.

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Now sometimes we do a nice theme cake for the birthday child.

Click image the train cake post

Click image for princess cake post

However, a few years ago while dealing with severe morning sickness, I hit upon an idea that is easy on mom and that our children enjoy even more than having me spend time making a pretty cake for them.  We let the child decorate their own birthday cake.

The first time we did it, it was honestly out of necessity.  Kaitlin’s birthday is just a few weeks after Christmas and I was nauseated, tired and unprepared.

We purchased some pre-made cookie dough (don’t think too poorly of me, you can certainly make your own) and  rolled it out to make a large cookie cake.   We bought some gel writers and sprinkles and Kaitlin decorated to her hearts content.

She loved it and we had fun working on it together, but I felt like I deserved the bad mom of the year award for not making a real birthday cake for my child.

Our next birthday was just a few weeks later and this time I was ready.  With plenty of time to spare I asked Carter what type of birthday cake he wanted.  He asked to have a cookie cake and decorate it himself just like Kaitlin.  And so a tradition was born.

I still enjoy making a special cake for a birthday celebration, but now we also give our children the option of decorating their own.  Sometimes we make a more traditional, layered cake for them to decorate but most often they prefer a large cookie cake.

Birthday cake/cookie a la 6 year old

I realize that these cakes/cookies will not be earning any decorating prizes and I probably won’t be up for mom of the year since I don’t make a lovely, elaborate birthday cake for each child, but a simple birthday cake/cookie that makes my kids happy and saves me time and energy, that works for me.

Next Wednesday I’m going to post about how we make birthdays special without spending a lot of money.

More ideas for simple, fun cakes:

• Hamburger cupcakes and ant cupcakes
• Spaghetti and Meatball cupcakes

Wonder how we deal with potty training,  or how we don’t spend any money on paper and still allow our children to get crafty, curious about why I feel a special reason to celebrate that Carter is still here with us?  Please browse the archives or read more of my Works for Me Wednesday posts.

This post is linked to Frugal Friday and Works for Me Wednesday at We Are THAT Family.

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I saw this at We are THAT Family and once again knew that this was one that we would tackle.  Kristen posted a complete DIY tutorial, so head over there if this is something that you want to tackle or book mark it for next year.

Here is how the children helped with the process.  The kids designed the letters to monogram using Microsoft Word.   They enjoy clicking print and watching the printer go.  The 6 and 7 year old cut the pillow shapes out of the burlap.  All of them were able to do the following steps.

Painting the monograms onto the burlap.

Stuffing the pillows.

Unraveling the edges of the burlap.

These ended up being inexpensive, cute, and fun gifts for our little ones to make.  We made about 7 or 8 and they ended up costing less than a dollar each. 

There are a lot of possibilities with this.  You could make the pillows spell something or put a full message on one.  Get creative, this is quick and easy!

Did you see my tutorial for making Christmas ornaments out of dominoes?  It’s also a great idea for kids to make as gifts!

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Thanks to having an additional hour because of the time change, I actually remembered to catch a picture as we headed out the door.Nicholas, was not happy with the decision.

As you know, we don’t spend a fortune clothing the children.  All the clothing that the children are wearing with the exception of Nick’s sweater (I made that) and Amber’s blouse (Salvation Army) were given to us.  I must say that I think our large family has an advantage in that when people wonder who to pass clothing on to, they think of us.  We routinely give away several, to many large trash bags full of clothes every few months.  It is a wonderful blessing.

A friend of mine told me that you can find boy-sized suits at Burlington Coat Factory (an outlet shop) for about $30-$40 which seems very reasonable to me, since you only have to purchase one per size because the boys don’t really have the opportunity to wear them out.  (Until recently, not all of our boys have had suits to wear.  We’ve just been recently blessed with hand-me-down  suits.)

Another way that we keep our clothing costs down and our life simplified is that we limit the amount of clothing that each child has. This season each girl has two church dresses and the two big boys have a suit each.  The two little boys have two church outfits and yesterday, Nick wasn’t dressed in either of his.

We dress up for church because we think that there is value in showing honor to God by dressing up when we go to worship Him.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that you can’t worship God in jeans and a t-shirt.  In the above picture Nick is wearing jeans, tennis shoes, and a casual sweater.   I am saying that since our family would dress up to meet the Queen of England or the President of the United States, we feel that we should at least show that same respect to the Lord of Lords and King of Kings.

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2. Preschoolers in Church and Coming Soon
3. Worshiping with Toddlers
4. Not Me Monday
5. What I’m NOT wearing to BlissDom

I spent $1.50 today, plus $10 of some one elses money.

I bought this Spirograph set ($.50) for the children.This falls under what to buy #9.  I do not intend to keep this forever, but the children have already gotten more than 50 cents worth of enjoyment out of it and I have loads of lovely spirally pictures up on our magnetic wall to prove it.  When they tire of it or when I tire of finding pieces of it around the house, we will give it away.

I’m not going to show you a picture of the hostess gift that I purchased for $1.  (Some of my friends do read this blog and some  even invite us over for dinner. )  I only purchase things that are new and still in the packaging.  I like to find home decor items, candles or fun kitchen gadgets to use as hostess or thank you gifts.

The items that I bought for my friend were actually the most interesting and fun.
I found these old windows that Gabrielle wants to use to make a cold frame for $2 each.

You can see more yard sale finds or see some more ideas to save money.

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Related posts:

1. Yard Sale Rules
2. Yard Sale Saturday: My Pottery Barn Connection
3. Consignment Sales: Yard Sale Saturday
4. Yard Sale Saturday: Trains
5. Yard Sale Saturday: Big Girl Clothes

Mark was out of town camping with the big boys, so I shopped with the 5 girls and 2 boys.  You’ll see that the kids did well with their purchases.Another nice, lined skirt for me $.50.Cross country season began a few weeks ago and some of the little ones didn’t have their own water bottles so I picked up this pair, two for $.25.Alyssa bought this large box of sidewalk chalk for $2.50.  I had just bought a pack at Wal Mart for $5, so I told her that if she reminds me to return it, I will pay her the $5 that I get back.  She made $2.50 on the deal. Savannah needed tennis shoes for the winter and these are light-up, PRINCESS shoes (.50).  God is good!  We came home, she put them on and ran outside to play.Amber bought this cast iron corn bread pan for $1.

We have never had Duplos before, but our children have always enjoyed playing with them at friends homes.  All these Duplos (and more that I didn’t take out of the box) for $10.Colby’s birthday is tomorrow and he loves trains.  I found all of these things at different yard sales!  Don’t you love how God provides wants and not just needs?  Thomas Puzzle (.50) Thomas t-shirt (.25) Thomas Duplo set with track ($5).

So for a total of $15.75 Colby wll have an amazing, dream birthday.

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Related posts:

1. Yard Sale Saturday: My Pottery Barn Connection
2. Yard Sale Saturday
3. Yard Sale Saturday: Slim Pickin’s
4. Yard Sale Saturday
5. Consignment Sales: Yard Sale Saturday

Feel free to link up your Saturday finds here. Please link back to this post so that your readers can see what others found this week.

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Related posts:

1. Yard Sale Saturday: My Pottery Barn Connection
2. Yard Sale Saturday: Trains
3. Yard Sale Saturday
4. Yard Sale Saturday: Big Girl Clothes
5. Consignment Sales: Yard Sale Saturday

The Olive Rules, where to go:

1. Pray before  starting.  I pray for specific needs or wants that we may have and I pray that I would make wise use of our family’s resources.
2. Don’t buy a paper, check sale ads or research the route.  I don’t have time to do this.   I’ve found that sometimes the best “sounding” sales are  not really the best and you can end up wasting valuable time and gas.  (Remember, these are my rules   I know I may miss some great sales, but God has always provided what we needed.)
3. Have a regular or semi-regular route.  I always drive the same loop and just follow signs.  This allows you to learn the area and more easily find sales that are not signed well.  If you are regular you will also get to know several people who have regular sales.  Remember my Pottery Barn connection?
4. Leave early but not too early.  I know from hosting yard sales that people will show up WAY TOO EARLY.
5. Set a time limit before beginning.  This allows my family to know when to expect me home and I am not tempted to stop at “just one more sale”.  My normal schedule is 7-9 on a Saturday morning.  During the late fall or early spring I move that to 8-10.
6. Stop at every yard sale, even the ones that don’t look appealing.  This is the hardest rule to follow and deserves some explanation.  I have found some of the best bargains at yard sales that I would not have chosen to stopped at.   I still regularly have to force myself to obey this rule, but I have found that the payoff when I find something is worth the small amount of time wasted at sales that truly have nothing to offer.
7. This rule is related to #5, look at every part of each yard sale.  Again, sometimes the item that you are looking for will be in the oddest place, so look over everything that they have out.

The Olive Guidelines, what to buy/what not to buy:

1. Keep a list of sizes and needs for clothing.
2. Keep a list of decorating ideas or areas that need work.  (Remember the empty walls in the boys room? That is an area that has been on my list.) Have measurements, color samples, etc available.
3. Have a list of items that sell well on EBay.  I have bought several things that I have turned around and sold on EBay for a large profit thus allowing me to yard sale for free.  (I only do this if my profit margin is going to be large.  i.e. I’ve bought several things for $5 or less that I have sold for more than $40)
4. Purchase inexpensive books in nice condition to resell to your local used book store.  I know that if I can purchase nice books for a quarter or less, I will be able to make money on the resale.  I generally earn at least $30 each time I head to our local used book store.
5. Look for inexpensive items that are brand new or still in the packaging to use for hostess or thank you gifts.
6. Purchase paper plates, napkins, etc. that are still in the packaging to include with meals that you make for those who are sick, just had a baby or are moving.
7. Remember to think about ways to re-purpose an item, but ONLY if you will really do it.  If you have anything at home that you purchased to re-purpose and have not done it yet, then skip it.
8. Remember that wood furniture can be painted.
9. Remember that you don’t have to keep an item forever.  I purchased beach chairs and a boogie board, just before our trip to the beach.  It was worth the $1.50 to have the use of those items for the week while we were at the beach.
10. USE YOUR NOSE.  Trust me.

The Olive Plan, how we budget:

1. We have money set aside for spending at yard sales.
2. If I make money by selling something that I bought at a yard sale, that goes back into our yard sale budget. (That is called motivation.)
3. If I buy a birthday gift, that comes out of our gift budget, not the yard sale budget.
4. If I buy needed clothing, that is on our clothing list, that comes out of our clothing budget.
5. Furniture  may come out of our household budget.  For example, currently our couch in the family room has a large and thanks to the children, getting larger rip in it.  We are currently saving to buy a new couch.  So, if I find a couch at a yard sale, I don’t need to have all of that money in my yard sale fund.

Now what are YOUR rules for efficient and profitable yard sale shopping?

Read more about yard sale-ing here in the grove.

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Related posts:

1. Consignment Sales: Yard Sale Saturday
2. Yard Sale Saturday: Slim Pickin’s
3. Yard Sale Saturday
4. Yard Sale Saturday: My Pottery Barn Connection
5. Yard Sale Saturday: Big Girl Clothes

Look how pretty they turned out.And since I know you are curious, all the bedding that you see was purchased at yard sales and the fishing net and other wall decor?  Yard sale.

So:

• drawers under bed – free, salvaged from a yard sale
• bunk bed with the mattresses – free, given to us by friends
• all wall decor  -  $5 Purchased together as a large lot with what you see here plus a great stained-glass, light house lamp, a shadow box with a nautical scene and different knots (you can see part of that at the edge of the picture), and several other little nautical do-dads.
• red, white and blue bed set (Pottery Barn) – $10
• blue and white bed set – $5

Total cost for this half of the boys room? $20

As you can tell the room still needs a few things, but the key to successful yard sale shopping?  Patience.

Check out how I found multiple lovely ways to re-purpose this $1 yard sale set of shot glasses.  You may also be interested in some of Raising Olives’ other money saving ideas.

Click over to We are THAT Family or read more of Raising Olives’ Works For Me Wednesday’s.

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1. Yard Sale Saturday: My Pottery Barn Connection
2. Yard Sale Saturday: Slim Pickin’s
3. Yard Sale Rules
4. Yard Sale Saturday
5. Feeding Your Family on a Budget: 4 Moms, 35 Kids

Today was another productive day for me.   I found this Omagles construction set with all the pieces and the box still intact.  Since it will be a birthday gift I spent the $10 they were asking.  Think the children will enjoy building things that they can actually ride and climb on?  The one I picked up is the larger set.

I found a glass 9 x 13 dish for $.50 which will be perfect for our bulk cooking.  Is $.50 cheaper than buying a disposable foil 9 x 13?  I also picked up a glass pie plate for $.50. I only had one and honestly we are a two pie plate family.

I bought this set of blue glasses.  6-8 glasses in each style for a total of of 26 glasses,  plus 2 of those mugs that I will probably give away in gift baskets. Paid $3  I really prefer glasses over cups, but with a tile kitchen floor and 9 children we are constantly buying more.One of my favorite sellers was having her yard sale today.  She sells new Pottery Barn, Williams Sonoma and other nicer name brand things. We just recently switched the boys and girls rooms and painted so I have been looking forward to her sale to find some things for the finishing touches.

This Pottery Barn shark mobile new in the plastic and box for $5 was just the thing for our  red, white, and beige, fishing/boat-themed boys room.

Here’s more of the boy’s room so that you can see that it really does go with the room.  Can you spot my free drawers?I also bought these $5 Pottery Barn, wooden, butterfly wall hangings for the girls room.  Perfect!  Last, I picked up this popcorn gift set ($2) to use as a hostess gift, but my husband saw it and promptly confiscated and put it to use.So, total spent today was $26, higher than normal, but whenever my girl has her Pottery Barn yard sale, my total is always higher.

So what did you find this week?  Feel free to link up your yard sale find post to Mr. Linky.  If you would link back here so that others can read more yard sale-ing posts that would be great!

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Related posts:

1. Yard Sale Saturday
2. Consignment Sales: Yard Sale Saturday
3. Yard Sale Saturday: Slim Pickin’s
4. Yard Sale Rules
5. Yard Sale Saturday: Trains

So here is what I found this week.

Two pairs of nearly new shoes for me and two skirts for Amber, $0.25 each for a total of $1.  Plus this cute purse with the tag still attached (The Sack) and the shoulder strap still packed inside, original price $32, paid $0.25.

Pampered Chef cooling rack (this will stack with my other PC racks) paid $0.50.  My husband calls me the Pampered Chef queen.  I have also found 2- 15″ Pampered Chef pizza stones with an easy carry rack, $4 for the whole caboodle and a Pampered Chef Large Bar Pan and cookie sheet for $2 a piece.

I purchased these three wire baskets that will go over our front porch railing and hold pots of flowers or plants and this large white basket for storing treasures in the girls room, $1.25 for all.I did mention I have a weakness for chairs.  I found this antique high chair/bar stool for $5 and bought it to put in an empty corner of my living room.  It now has a plant on the bottom shelf and 4 antique Henty books sitting on top.

A few weeks ago I found some beautiful clothes for myself at bargain prices (a little less than $0.75 each item).

Everything looks new and yes, everything fits me.

Last week I brought home some pretty antique drawers.  I plan to put casters with wheels on the bottom and use them under the bunk bed in the boys room. They were free.  I’ll share pictures when I get it done.  I just have them sitting under the bed now and they look really nice.

Our home is more beautiful, our children dressed more nicely and we have nice quality things because of God’s blessing our family through yard sales.

Several of you local gals have mentioned yard sale-ing with me.  You are more than welcome, just give me a call.  Is anyone interested in my rules for successful yard sale-ing or do y’all already have it down.

Now just for fun, I’m going to put up Mr. Linky and you may link up if you would like to share your yard sale treasures. What did you find this week?

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Related posts:

1. Consignment Sales: Yard Sale Saturday
2. Yard Sale Saturday: Big Girl Clothes
3. Yard Sale Rules
4. Yard Sale Saturday: My Pottery Barn Connection
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Kool-Aid dyeing your own playsilks is simple and it’s a fun and interesting project to do with your children.  It also makes these lovely, colorful silks affordable for the rest of us, less than half the cost of purchasing already dyed silks.

Materials needed:

• Silk material or scarves.   We used these high quality Habotai scarves from Dharma Trading Co. The traditional size for playsilks is 35 x 35. We purchased several of those as well as a few of the 55 x 108 veils for tent building.
• A variety of colors of Kool-Aid. (I suggest using the name brand for nicer color blending.)  Pink Lemonade for pink, Grape for purple, Cherry, Strawberry, Black Cherry and Fruit Punch for red, Blue Raspberry for blue, etc.
• Water
• Pots
• Quart size canning jars if you want to do a multi-color effect
• Stirring utensils

Instructions for making a solid color playsilk:

1.  Soak the silks in hot water. (Some suggest adding white vinegar, but this is unnecessary because Kool-Aid has sufficient acid to set the dye without this addition.)

2.  Empty and mix a package of the desired flavor color of Kool-Aid into a pot of nearly boiling water on the stove top.  One package of Kool Aid for a 35×35 will yield a rich vibrant color.

3.  Wring out excess water from the silk and add the silk to the Kool-Aid mixture over med-high heat. Stir the silk to ensure even absorption of the dye, although some variation in the saturation levels add to the hand dyed beauty and appeal of the silk.

4. Check it often and bring it out when the color looks right to you. If you want a rich shade, leave the silk in the water until the water is nearly clear. You can achieve a more subtle shade by limiting the time in the dye.

4.  When you are pleased with the color, rinse the silk in cold water until the water rinses clear.  Red is the only color that takes a while to rinse clear at our home.

5.  Hang your playsilk to dry and then enjoy.

Can you believe it is that easy?

Instructions for making a rainbow or multi-colored playsilk:

1.  Pick the colors that you want on your playsilk. Remember to think about color mixing when deciding which colors will be next to each other.  Our favorite combination has been yellow (Lemonade) next to blue (Blue Raspberry) next to red (Cherry).  Where the colors overlapped we ended up with a lovely green and purple resulting in a beautiful rainbow.

2.  Fill 1 quart size canning jars 3/4 of the way with water and then dump one packet of Kool-Aid into each one.  You should end up with one jar of colored water for each color you are planning for the playsilk.

3.  Place the jars in a large pot of water on the stove and heat.

4.  Divide the silk into the sections that you want the different colors to be.

5.  Put each section into the appropriate jar and stir to evenly distribute the dye.  If you are doing a silk larger than 35 x 35 you may want to use 3 or 4 different pots of water to allow more room for the silk rather than the quart jars.

6.  Pay careful attention to the parts between the jars.  If you want the colors to overlap and mix be sure to move some of the already colored section from one jar over into the other.

7.  When you are happy with the color saturation of each section and the blending, remove the silk and rinse.

8.  Hang the silk to dry!

Now sit back and enjoy watching your children’s imaginations go.

Other Tuesday Tips:

Sasha at Cherished Moments is participating in Tuesday’s Tips for Mum (you’ve got to love that Australian slant) and she shares how to keep sleeping babies asleep. Can you believe that even after 9 children it is something that never occurred to me?

Kimarie at Cardamom’s Pod reminds us that they are children after all so stay flexible.

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Since then it has been smooth sailing and I have had clean, shiny, non-shampooed, wavy hair.  I have even discovered how to put my hair up before bed  so that I have nice, non-flattened curls in the morning as opposed to having to rinse and allow my hair to air dry EVERY morning.

Here’s the routine that is working for me.  I rinse my hair thoroughly in the shower and really scrub my scalp. Then I use conditioner, finger brushing it through my hair and don’t rinse.  When I’m done I scrunch it with a towel, apply some gel and allow to air dry. I am not and have not used any baking soda or vinegar and I’m still not using a brush.

Read the whole “no shampoo” journey:
Why it started
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3

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1. No Shampoo: Week 3
2. No Shampoo: Week 2
3. No Shampoo-Week 1
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I have learned and now I have an emergency box. This box is kept under the seat in the van at all times. So I’m not stuck unprepared. Well at least not until one of the children can figure out how to stump me.

Here is what we keep in our emergency box:

• A roll of paper towels. Perfect for the unexpected mess or meal out.
• Diapers in all current sizes and wipes. That’s obvious.
• Windbreakers/rain coats in all current sizes. Great for east Tennessee weather changes.
• Cups, plates, cutting board, and sharp knife so if we can find a grocery store, we don’t need to settle for fast food.
• Maps
• Phone book
• A change of clothes for some of the smaller children. In the event of impromptu wading or too long a wait for a rest stop.

Being prepared works for me. So tell me what am I forgetting, what do you have in your car?

Read more WFMW post here at Raising Olives or head over to We Are THAT Family for even more variety.

Don’t forget to enter my two giveaways this week, $20 from Sugar n’ Spice Boutique or a 16×20 poster of your favorite photo.

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1. Laundry Help: Clothing Limits
2. Affording Clothes
3. Knoxville is Sick, Very Sick
4. Dressing for Church
5. Not Me Monday: What is it with Bugs?

So you may wonder how we clothe 11 people for about the price of a pair of jeans. (You can still get a pair of jeans for around $20, right?) Simply put, it is God’s provision for us. There are several ways that He has provided for us in this area. One year when I was switching out the seasons I realized that we had no clothing for our oldest, Amber. Mark and I prayed and the next day, literally the next day we were given two big bags of clothing for Amber. The clothes continued to pour in throughout that week until she had more than she could use. We make it a habit to pray for our needs and the Lord has been faithful to provide for us. (Luke 6:38 and Mal. 3:10)

The vast majority of our children’s clothes are given to them via hand-me-downs. It is another way that God has graciously met our needs. We often receive more hand-me-downs than our children can wear. We have benefited from hand-me-downs from friends at church, co-workers, receptionists at our dentists office. We have even had friends of friends ship us boxes of clothing.

We have had people buy clothing for our children. It is amazing to me, but in both the churches where we have been members we have had women who enjoy shopping at second hand shops who have bought clothes for our children. Oh, and the adorable matching dresses that our girls are wearing in this picture? They were a surprise, made for them by a precious, talented lady in our church.

Another way that God has provided clothing for our family is through yard sales. Whenever I leave the house to go yard sale shopping I pray that I will be wise with our money and ask God for any specific items I’m looking for. I recall clearly telling Mark before I left the house one Saturday, that I needed a couple maternity shirts (am I the only one who outgrows maternity clothing at the end of a pregnancy?) and that if I didn’t find any at the yard sales then I would head over to Target and pick up one or two. At my very first stop that morning they had a clothesline full of maternity clothes in my size priced at $.50 each.

This past Saturday I had a specific list of items that we needed for summer. For $2 I purchased 2 pairs of capri’s 4 shorts and 5 tops in the sizes that I needed and all in like-new condition. (I did tell you that I’m a clothes n*zi, right? Our children only have 8 outfits at a time, so I like the clothes that they do have to be in nice condition, at least to begin with.)

We rarely shop at consignment shops simply because the prices are a lot higher than at yard sales, but have been blessed with a multitude in the area which are a great resource if we need something specific that I haven’t been able to find at yard sales.

Waiting on the Lord to provide clothing for our large family. That Works for Me!

You may read more clothes or laundry management posts or search my categories for lots more money saving ideas and even some humor.

Read my other WFMW posts or head over to We Are THAT Family for more.

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Related posts:

1. Yard Sale Saturday: Big Girl Clothes
2. Yard Sale Rules
3. Consignment Sales: Yard Sale Saturday
4. Dressing for Church
5. Get Grease Stains Out of Laundry

Now for the down and dirty (literally?):

• Oil – still a problem, but still not too noticeable to others. However, that may just be wishful thinking. It is driving me crazy and I’m missing that boar bristle brush.
• Frizz – much better. Only slightly frizzy, if I’m not careful when I towel dry.
• Curl – after 2 weeks of increasing curl, it looks a little flat this week!? I stopped using gel, but am wondering if I’m having a problem with build up or maybe it’s because I stopped using gel.
• My hair looks dull and like I haven’t washed it in a couple of days. Um, DUH.

I have been very tempted to use shampoo this week. I just miss my clean, shiny hair. Will this get better? Overall this week has been the most difficult, not because my hair is any worse that in the previous weeks, I think that the oil is about the same and the frizz is certainly better, but because that wonderful curl that was appearing has seemed to have diminished. I’m not giving up, but am open to any and all suggestions.

My plan for next week is to get my hands on a copy of the  Curly Girl book. I think I need some more specific direction (like some type of cleansing rinse) and perhaps a haircut. My mom did give me some nice headbands and combs to pull my hair back and make things more manageable. Also, I’m having to relearn how to fix my hair sans the hair brush. So to any of you who have curly hair, how do you fix it?

WARNING visual is upcoming:

Read my whole “no shampoo” journey:
Why it began
Week 1
Week 2
Week 4 – 5 1/2

Did you know that you can browse my site by tag words in addition to the categories listed across the top of the page? The tag words are green and located in the right sidebar.

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1. No Shampoo: Week 2
2. No Shampoo-Week 1
3. No Shampoo: Week 4-5 1/2
4. Going No Shampoo
5. Not Me Monday: Mid-Week Addition