Saving Money

Last night we allowed a gentleman from Rain Soft to come into our house and give his talk on how bad our water is and how we *NEED* his purification system. I shouldn't say "we" allowed, they flashed a $10 Target gift card in my face and friends I will take that bait every single time... so "I" allowed him in. Well his 40 minute lecture turned into 2 hours 15 minutes, yes Monte was timing him! It truly was a lot of good information, but I am not interested in a 7 THOUSAND DOLLAR purification system. Can you even imagine? I will drink out nasty chemical infested water and not think twice thank you very much!

So when he asked us/me how much we spent each month on cleaning supplies, shampoo, lotions and so on... I told him $50. The man did not believe me... flat out didn't believe me. He told me that on average a family of 5 should be spending NO less than $150 per month on those types of supplies. I love being below average!

So, I thought I would share with you some sites that I use to help us save money each month. Once again I have to give credit where credit is do. I have gotten most of my information from my friend Monica. She is feeding a family of nine, for $400 per month. I am still amazed at how she does it... she is wonderful!

http://www.moneysavingmom.com/ This website has saved me a lot of money!

http://thriftyfloridamama.blogspot.com/ I don't use this one as often, but I really should be.

http://www.couponsurfer.com/ These are online coupons.

I also have been starting to COOK from scratch. Those who know me well know that I do not enjoy anything about the kitchen. A friend of mine, Sarah, got me this accent piece a few years back. Even though I am changing my ways, this will remain in my kitchen! I actually have enjoyed cooking and trying new things. It is by no means a hobby, but more out of necessity and I enjoy saving money.

My better half is a natural in the kitchen. Whenever we have friends over he comes up with some new creative meal to try... I am very thankful I have him! With him being away from the house almost 70 hours per week I knew I needed to start doing something, so I have embraced cooking head on! I have been making bread and pizza dough from scratch... with some small help from my bread machine. If you don't have a bread machine, the recipes will still work! It makes the house smell wonderful. Here are the recipes for those.

http://www.moneysavingmom.com/2008/02/homemade-bread-for-beginners.html This is for the bread

http://tammysrecipes.com/search/node/pizza+dough This is the pizza dough.

http://thefulltableshineagain.blogspot.com/ This is my friend Monica's recipe blog. I have gotten a lot of great recipes from here! They are for larger families, but my bunch does well with leftovers or I just half the recipe.

Of course I have to let everyone know that Davey Ramsey has gotten us on the right track of paying off debt. I could go on for days about this man and his ministry, but I will just direct you to his website!

http://www.daveramsey.com/

As always if you have any questions let me know. I love getting your feedback!