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 jelly-making. ...
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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 a couple...
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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...
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If you happen to live in Alabama, Iowa, Louisianna, Missouri, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, or Virginia, you might want to check out this link to find out what you can buy tax free this weekend. There are tax holidays planned for other states as well.
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Welcome to the Owlhaven!  Click the recipes tab at the top of the page to get a preview of some of the 200 recipes in my book.  Also included are hundreds of frugal shopping tips, sure to save you money at the store. My cookbook is available at: amazon.com Barnes and Noble borders.com Christian Book Distributors costco.com If...
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Here’s a simple affordable meal:  Egg drop soup Like crackers with your soup?  Try making your own Homemade crackers If you are contemplating raising a few chickens so you’ll have eggs all the time, here’s a simple chicken run plan.  (Pssst, hubby?  Pleeeease?) And finally, the grand-daddy of money-saving ideas:  112 ways to save money Have you come...
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A few weeks ago I saw an adorable idea over at Grace Violet– a way to make a little girl’s skirt from a kitchen towel. I found some adorable spring-colored towels at WalMart ($2 each) and on Monday, when I was in extreme need of a doldrum-lifting activity, I finally got around to...
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The other evening I didn’t know what to make for dinner. Christine mentioned that a friend of hers was having Mexican crab cakes (she didn’t mention til later that the friend was eating at a restaurant!)   I was intrigued and googled a recipe.   Last evening I adapted the recipe to be more affordable  (imitation...
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Starting your own seeds indoors is the best way to get an economical start on a garden.  One of these days my husband will be putting up a post with all the details, but I wanted to give a brief answer to those of you who are eager to get going.   Our last frost...
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