I got a big ol’ comment written on the previous post in response to some questions and realized maybe it warranted a post of its own. First of all absolutely, yes, I’m planning to post some of the recipes not in my book as I mention them. Although the majority of my favorites are...
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Click here to join the $75 a Week Grocery Challenge Click here for a great perspective on the month: 30 Days of Something Different ———— Today was the best day of home-school so far this week. We’re getting a bit more used to getting up earlier. We’ve fine-tuned our school/chore charts so that they’re...
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Note: if you want to see who else has joined the $75 Grocery Spending Challenge, click on the green words that say “Mr Linky” in the previous post. So far 30 other bloggers have joined! ———– We started school again this week, which is leaving me with about one brain cell’s worth of energy...
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In previous years I’ve done a big shop the day before the beginning of the spending challenge and counted it as the previous month’s budget. This time I did a medium shop and since we didn’t actually eat any of the food I bought til September, I decided to count it in the September...
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My goal was simple: to spend no more than $100 at the fair for all 11 of us. Except I wanted the whole enchilada: admission, rides, and food. Could it be done? First expense: Admission We have 6 adults, 4 kids, and 1 free preschooler. (Letting preschoolers in free is strategic, I realized while...
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A couple of you mentioned you’d like to see the process of canning tomatoes. Since I had some to process anyway, yesterday I got the camera rolling again. Canning tomatoes the easy way from Mary Ostyn on Vimeo. —————————— In the comments on the grape jelly video, I showed some of the costs of...
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Two out of the last three Septembers, my family has done something called “30 Days of Nothing”.  You can check out the details by clicking the link in my sidebar, but basically we’ve spent a month experimenting with spending a little less money.  Seeing how far we could stretch our resources and what we...
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Guess what? Family Feasts for $75 a Week is now IN STOCK! —- Often people resist small money-saving changes exactly because they seem so small. The tiny savings don’t seem to outbalance the inconvenience of doing without an item, or switching to a different one. Take paper towels, for example. If instead of using...
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Just got home from seeing Julie and Julia for the second time, this time with my daughter Erika. It is a hilarious, warm-hearted, yummy movie. For those of you wondering if it was family friendly, eh. It earned its PG-13 rating, due to language and innuendo. But that warning aside, I totally enjoyed it....
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