Migraines in children..... never fun to deal with.

Having a husband with a traumatic brain injury I am very familiar with migraines, triggers, and how to get through the pain. But when it comes to your children it is a whole new ball game. Per the Migraine Research Foundation nearly 1 in 4 U.S. households includes someone with migraine. Amazingly, 12% of the population – including children – suffers from migraine. 18% of American women, 6% of men, and 10% of children experience migraines.

My fifteen-year-old son has been battling migraines on and off for the last six years. We've had MRI scans, blood work done, and more over the years. Everything comes back normal (and I am happy for that) and we are told he just suffers from migraines. I've NEVER liked that answer. I want a reason and a treatment plan, I don't want to be left hanging, wondering what I can do to help my son. We received a referral to a pediatric neurologist and had an appointment scheduled for the end of July but we were lucky and asked if we wanted to come in for a last-minute cancelation appointment. So, two week we went to see a new neurologist with the hope we can find relief from his almost daily migraines. His medications he takes at the onset have stopped working and he is just miserable.

We spoke with a resident and he was amazing. We found his migraines are classic migraines, sadly something he will probably have to deal with for some time. We then spoke with the Neurologist who decided to get an EKG to rule out any heart issue that could be raising his blood pressure (he also suffers from dizzy spells).  The office arranged for the test to be completed that day with the pediatric cardiologist across the hall. The EKG was a simple test and luckily showed no abnormalities. Before we went to that appointment we came up with a treatment plan to help relieve some of his almost daily migraines. He is now on a daily preventative as well as an as needed migraine medication. This is a different medication he was on before now, as well as a slightly higher dose.

I am so happy to say after being on his daily preventative meds for two weeks his migraines have lessened and his as needed meds have easily helped with whatever migraines that have popped up. He has not missed a day of school since starting his medication, before he was missing at least a day a week.  I hope one day he can live a life off medication, but until now I am sop happy and relieved he is able to have a relatively normal life, migraine free.

Chickens!!!!

I am so excited to finally announce we are adding chickens to our yard. I've wanted to have my own chickens for many years but it was never the right time. I finally figured if I keep waiting g for that "right time" it wouldn't happen. Because who am I kidding, life is CRAZY and probably always will be.

We are converting a garden shed that we don't use into a nice size chicken coop and run. I will make a post in that has it happens, I'm sure it will be awesome once it's finished. 

Here in the South, and maybe other places we have a store called Tractor Supply Company and each spring they have Chicken Days event that lasts a few months. It is all about the baby chicks and includes a large area of baby chicks and ducklings for sale. It's almost impossible to not want to take those cute little boogers home. I had every intention of getting eggs and hatching them (awesome project for the kids) and going from there. I even found a breeder in my area that had the breeds  wanted. But there I stood, looking at the cute chicks and I changed my plans. I decided to skip the egg stage and jump right in with 8 super cute chicks. Four are production Rhode Island Reds and the other four are White Leghorns. Shortly after a friend gave me seven more Leghorn chicks, bringing my total chick count to fifteen. 

You should NOT go to Tractor Supply at anytime during chick days unless you plan on bringing home chicks.  I needed an item for the brooder so I found myself staring at the cute baby chicks and notice these sweet black and white chicks. There isn't a sign with the breed on the pen and no one seems to know what they are, but I had to have them. Since you must purchase a minimum of six I got to take all six home, bringing my total to 21 chickens. 21 chickens!!!

I created a brooder from two plastic containers and chicken wire. It was very simple but has worked wonders for my chicks. 

I don't have the greatest pics of the chicks, but here are a few, aren't they cute? 

 There first time outside. Boy did they have fun. Sadly, we lost one chick. He/she got out of the fenced in area and as we chased it around the yard it disappeared into a bush, not to be seen again. I've been very sad since this happened and hope that the chick found a new home.

I have narrowed down the breed of the black chicks to either Barred Rocks or Black Asian chicks. 

So there you have it, our crazy life with a family of six, one dog and twenty-one twenty chicks. Don't worry, as we sex the chicks we will re-home the roosters, we only want one male. 

Oh The Fun We Have: Trying to paint with kids in the house.

Last week I decided I would clean my dinning room, like deep clean it. I have two shelves in the dinning room that holds food and small appliances so I cleaned them off and moved them out of the dinning room. I also moved the wonderful farm table my mother in law gave me. At this point the kids were at daycare and I really thought I could paint everything in the few hours they were gone. Well I had issues with the paint sprayer and that took 2 hours to fix. I'm still not sure if it was user error or if there is something wrong with the sprayer, but hey the job is done. After finally getting the sprayer to work I went to town on the walls, hoping I only needed one coat because I wouldn't have time to do a second coat before the kids got home.

Let's say we had pizza for dinner that night and TV time in mommy's bed. I was able to finish the dinning room the next day but still need to finish up the trim work. I seriously don't know how people paint homes for a living, I absolutely hated doing this one room. I am not looking forward to painting the rest of the house in a few months.

Paint does clean up easily when the BABY knocks it over. Yup, she was the troublemaker in this mess. I have these clothes in a storage bin, I think I will keep them as a great story telling tool when they get older. LOL

Breaking the Silence: My Story On Living Through Post-partum Depression

This post is an emotionally charged post and hard to write. But I feel I need to tell my story if not for myself but for someone else who may be suffering from Post-Partum Depression and feel like they are alone or can’t talk about it. First thing first, you are NOT alone. Approximately 600,000 women suffer from post-partum depression each year, but that number can be much higher because many women do not report their symptoms or do not realize what they are feeling is post-partum depression.

“Postpartum depression seems to be brought on by the changes in hormone levels that occur after pregnancy. Any woman can get postpartum depression in the months after childbirth, miscarriage, or stillbirth.

You have a greater chance of getting postpartum depression if:

You've had depression or postpartum depression before.

You have poor support from your partner, friends, or family.

You have a sick or colicky baby.

You have a lot of other stress in your life.

A woman who has postpartum depression may:

Feel very sad, hopeless, and empty. Some women also may feel anxious.

Lose pleasure in everyday things.

Not feel hungry and may lose weight. (But some women feel hungrier and gain weight).

Have trouble sleeping.

Not be able to concentrate.

These symptoms can occur in the first day or two after the birth. Or they can follow the symptoms of the baby blues after a couple of weeks.” (WebMD)

This is where my story starts. Three years ago I gave birth to a wonderful baby boy. For two years I felt overwhelmed, upset, disconnected from my family, and just down all the time. For the longest time I really thought it was because I was a mom to a newborn again after many years (at that time my oldest was 12 years old and my now middle child was 10) and I was much older than before. I was also desperately trying to breastfeed again. With my older two children no matter what I tried I couldn’t produce enough milk. I ended up using a supplemental nursing system so I could breastfeed and formula feed them. But this time around I wanted to breastfeed so badly and it killed me I couldn’t produce enough. I finally gave up after 5 months and just exclusively formula fed. Don’t get me wrong, I am not against formula in any way. My older two got it and millions of other babies do too. But have you ever been told you couldn’t do something and it made you want to do it even more? Well that is how I felt with breastfeeding. I tried so hard with two previous babies that I was so determined to breastfeed Liam. After many emotional meltdowns I finally gave up. Liam was almost 3 months old and I just didn’t have it in me anymore. I figured all of the emotions I had were from not being able to breastfeed. Then life got crazy again, and again, and again. So I always just thought what I was feeling was a side effect from what was going on in our life at that time. It wasn’t until early summer of 2014 that I wondered if I had post-partum depression. I even did a few Google searches on Post-Partum Depression two years after a child was born, but once again I pushed the thought aside because my son was almost 2 years old. How is it possible I would still be suffering from post-partum depression?

I was so embarrassed to even bring up the topic to my husband, my doctor, even a close friend. I LOVED my son so much but at times I just didn’t like him. Even as I type this it is hard to comprehend that I didn’t like a child, MY child. As much of a mommy’s boy my son is and always has been I didn’t feel like I had a connection with him. I went through the motions of being his mom and doing what I was supposed to do, but mentally I just wasn’t there like I wish I had. I really wish I had figured things out before then and didn’t just put it aside like it would go away. Maybe it was a side effect from being so ill while pregnant, hormones, or whatever but it doesn’t change the fact that mentally and emotionally I was not connected to my child like a mother should.

In the summer of 2014 we decided to have another baby. I don’t regret our decision in the least bit but looking back I probably should have taken care of myself first before getting pregnant. I have a bad habit of putting myself and my needs on the back burner. I am a caregiver at heart and feel everyone else’s needs are more important. Fast forward 9 months through another horrible pregnancy (got to love Hyperemesis Gravidarum and yes this will be a post at a later date) I finally gave birth to a baby girl in June 2015.

I knew almost immediately something was wrong. I didn’t feel happy to have a new baby. I was just going through the motions again and all I could think of was she was one more thing on my plate I had to deal with. The three days in the hospital were just slow and all I wanted to do was sleep and let her sleep. I would change her and feed her because I knew she needed to be cared for. I kissed her and hugged her and told her I love her because I knew that is what I was supposed to do, but I just wasn’t there. I felt so disconnected from that hospital room and my baby. I talked to my Midwife who said to come in to the office in two weeks if I was still feeling that way. I didn’t even make it a week. By the end of that first week I was a mess and just couldn’t cope. All I wanted to do was cry and I didn’t want to deal with anyone, child or adult. I just couldn’t cope with life. I like to joke now that I just couldn’t adult anymore but it isn’t that far off from the truth.

The Midwife gave me a prescription for an anti-depressant and a suggestion to get counseling. I have known for a while I needed to speak with a counselor just to handle everything I go through on a day to day basis, but I was honestly to embarrassed to even admit that anything was wrong. I also didn’t want to talk to family or friends because I didn’t want them to make a big deal out of it. At this point my husband knew something wasn’t right and we talked and he was a great support. But I kept everything inside and that could have made things worse.

I took the medication for about two weeks and felt great and slowly I stopped taking them. It wasn’t because I thought I was better and didn’t need them (at first) it was because I have a really bad habit of forgetting to take meds. One missed dose turned into two, and then three. I finally gave up and let the thought of being “better” rule my life. What I didn’t anticipate was going back down the rabbit hole I just got out of.

Life is CRAZY in my house. Really it is controlled and uncontrolled chaos most of the time. I live in my van it seems, going from one appointment to another, sports with the kids, and just random stuff. My house is falling apart (literally and figuratively), laundry wasn’t getting done, and I just felt overwhelmed. Once again I was making excuses about why I was feeling certain things. Why I just wanted to sleep (because I had a newborn and a two year old who doesn’t sleep), why the house was a mess (because I am so busy), why I wanted to cry all the time or had bursts of anger (because my house was a mess and I was feeling overwhelmed from that perceived lack of help). Now I can look back on all of this and know everything I was going through or at least what I was feeling was because I was depressed, but I couldn’t see it at that time.

I was so lucky to have already planned a trip to Florida with a great friend (who is such a Disney Addict) to visit the Food and Wine Festival at Disney World in October. I don’t think I could have asked for a better reprieve from life than what I got. We slept in, stayed out late, and enjoyed ONE alcoholic drink. I know, I know…. We were at the Food and WINE Festival and we only had one drink. Well I am not a big drinker really and just don’t like the taste of alcohol. But let me tell you what, the French know how to make a drink. I have no idea what it was but it was green, in the form of a frozen push up pop, and delicious. But holy heck they added a lot of alcohol.

 

The trip is what I needed right then but it was not a fix all for what I was going through or feeling at that time. My friend was awesome to let me talk about some of my deep dark thoughts but even then I felt so judged. But how could I not? I mean the thoughts I was having, the feelings I was having were just awful. I knew at that time I needed to get help. I needed to talk to someone and figure out what was wrong with me. Of course I got home and it was right before Halloween, then November, and then off to Christmas so I was once again super busy and making excuses. But I made myself a priority for once. I made an appointment for a complete physical and made sure to bring up what I was feeling. The doctor gave me a new prescription for med and set me up with an appointment for a therapist and sent me on my way (after drawing like 2 liters of blood for every type of test imaginable since it had been so long).

I made sure to take my meds EVERYDAY because I hated how I was feeling. I hated feeling so overwhelmed, down, and like nothing was worth doing. I hated feeling so tired all the time in spite of sleeping ok (you can only get so much sleep with a baby who wakes up a few times each night). I just hated life, not in a suicidal way but just how things were going. But what I hated the most was the feeling like I can’t tell anyone about what was going on. I didn’t feel like I could tell a friend I had Post-Partum Depression and I was having a bad day. I didn’t want the sympathy or the feeling like people needed to help me. Because honestly I didn’t think anyone could help me at that time. It wasn’t like someone coming to the house and doing laundry or the dishes was going to make ME better so why ask for the help. I also finally talked to a therapist about what was going on. We have only had one session (she was sick the second appointment and I was sick another) but I really have a feeling this will help me sort out what is going on in my head. My life and my family is crazy. We have so much going on and I pretty much oversee everything and that is a lot of stress and pressure on my plate. In general I love doing it. I love seeing my family happy but when I am feeling down it becomes hard to handle it all. I don’t want to be that way again. I want to be here for my family, physically, emotionally, and mentally present for everything. I have been on meds for a month now and I can say finally I feel good. I am not tired anymore, I don’t want to sleep, and I feel motivated to do things. I don’t want to stop my meds just yet but I know I will be ok and that this is just a bump in the road.

I mentioned above how I didn’t want to tell anyone what I was going through but it wasn’t just from embarrassment but because I didn’t want others to worry. I am sure this post will come as a surprise to many people because I still have not talked about it to many. When I was younger my Aunt Eileen had a baby girl; my cousin Sammy Jo. I was too young to know what was going on but I knew we would go to my Aunt’s house almost every day. I loved it, I loved playing with cousins in the neighborhood and just having fun but things changed and not for the better. I remember waking up in the middle of the night to my mother crying but I was so young (maybe 8 years old) I just went back to sleep. The next day we were pulled out of school early and told our Aunt had died. Many years later it came out that she lost her battle with Post-Partum Depression. That event set off a lot of hurt in my family that is still trying to mend so many years later. But I didn’t want to worry anyone. I didn’t want people to think I would lose my battle with Post-Partum Depression like my Aunt had. I feel for my Aunt and EVERY WOMAN who has lost the battle. The fight is so hard and even with support it can feel like a losing battle. This is one of the reasons why I chose to share my story. I didn’t want someone to feel they are alone and can’t get through this. It has taken me 7 months but I finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. This fight is worth fighting and worth winning for myself and my family.

www.1800ppdmoms.org is a great organization to help you. If you are feeling like you want to harm yourself or someone else please call the suicide prevention hotline at 1 (800) 273-8255 or visit their website www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org

I know things will be great from here on out. I know I will have set backs and that is ok. I know I have a great support network, even if I don’t reach out to them.

Bacon Ranch Chicken and Potatoes

I love shopping at Sam's Club because we have a large family and use a lot of stuff in general, but they also have great deals in general. During a sale a few months ago I stocked up on frozen boneless skinless chicken breasts.  Well being a sleep deprived mommy I ended up in Sam's Club a week later and stocked up on a few more bags. So now I am doing a lot of chicken dishes to open some room in my freezer for other things. I was running out of ideas on what to do with all of this chicken so I turned to Pinterest to get a few new ideas. I ran into a Bacon Wrapped Ranch Chicken recipe that sounded yummy but I don't like bacon wrapped things. So I thought I would just cut up the bacon and chicken and go from there. After cutting up the chicken I realized I needed to add something else to the baking dish and decided on potatoes.

After cutting up the chicken and potatoes I sprinkled on a package of Ranch Dressing mix.

While the chicken and potatoes were cooking I cut up the bacon and cooked that up on the stove top.

I made sure to drain the bacon because I didn't want to add all of that bacon grease to the dish.

Once the chicken and potatoes were cooked all the way I pulled it out and covered the top with Ranch dressing and cheese and topped with the bacon. I placed back in the oven to let the cheese melts. The end result was nothing short of AMAZING. The kids loved the dish (and really that is what matters when you are cooking for a large family), the husband loved the dish, and of course I did as well. I will be adding this to my line up this month.

The Rabbit Who Wants to Fall Asleep

While chatting with a friend from high school on Facebook about our children and how hard it is to get them to sleep at night another one of her friends mentioned a book to help get their child to sleep. The book is called The Rabbit Who Wants to Fall Asleep: A New Way of Getting Children to Sleep and it is written by a Swedish Psychologist (Carl-Johan Forssén Ehrlin). CBS News did a segment on this book and she gave it a try and has had great results. Here is the link to the video if you want to see it. 

With nothing to lose (but the $11) I went on Amazon and ordered it. Man, I love Prime because that book arrived the very next day. Seriously, if you don't have prime you should get it. I also suggest using Amazon Smile too. This way you can help out a non-profit organization of your choice while shopping.  

So this package was dropped off by UPS at 7pm and Liam was hyper as can be. Like bouncing off the walls hyper. I grabbed his little hand and took him to bed. We laid down and he was rolling all over the place. I was very doubtful that this book was going to put my son to sleep. I could see how it could work but really didn't think it would. You can clearly tell the book is using suggestive terms and is emphasized with how you are saying those works. At the beginning of the book it gives directions on how to read certain words. Bold words are to be emphasized while italicized words are to be said in a calm and slow tone. The book also tells you when to insert your child’s name into the story.  

After a while, they met the beautiful and wise Heavy-Eyed Owl again. Heavy-Eyed Owl told Roger the Rabbit, “I can see that you are tired, Liam, and that both of you are very close to falling asleep, now.”

Roger was very tired and slowly nodded his head, said yes, and felt how right Heavy-Eyed Owl was.  

I am well on my way to falling asleep now, you thought.

“Good night.” Said the wise Heavy-Eyed Owl. You are now shutting your eyes and yawning yourself to sleep. 

We are now half way thru the book and Liam is still acting wild (but rubbing his eyes). I realized I left the TV on with the sound of mute for light. So I flipped the TV on and turned on the bedside lamp. I really was hesitant about doing this because the light is a little bright and I wasn’t sure how this would help him go to sleep. I continued to read the book using soft and calm tones like the directions told me too. I was doing this all while Liam rolled on top of me and played with my hair.

Then something amazing started too happened. Liam started to settle down and rub his eyes more and more. At this point we were almost to the end and I really wished there were a few more pages because Liam was almost asleep. I think if we had turned the TV off at the beginning or at least earlier than we did he would have fallen asleep. I closed the book and gave him a kiss and walked upstairs to get him some water he asked for. By the time I got back down stairs he was out cold. I was amazed that a book could calm my crazy, wild child and actually encourage him to sleep.

This could have just been a fluke so I will continue to read the book each night to see if it continues to work. I will post an update at that time. If nothing else it will be a nice change up from the normal story of Winnie the Pooh or Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site.

Life Is Crazy with a Family of Six

Life has been crazy this last year. Many times I wanted to start a new “frugal” blog but just didn’t have it in me. Not because I wasn’t being frugal but because I just didn’t know how to write a blog on all the things I did to save money for my family. Life is crazy in a house of six people so I rather share our life’s ups and downs and all the stuff in between. I am sure you will learn some new tips and tricks on how to save money, get a few laughs, and probably shed a few tears (I hope not too many though). Because in a house with six people life can be crazy.

Not My Boobies: using donor breastmilk

When Layla was born I knew almost immediately I had no want to try and breastfeed. Don't get me wrong, I know the importance of breast milk but she is my 4th child and I tried and tried with the first three but couldn't produce enough to sustain life. If you would have told me eat dirt mixed with a magic powder and you will produce I would have done it in a heartbeat.

My oldest child lost so much weight (beyond the normal weight loss a newborn loses) he was almost diagnosed with failure to thrive at 6 weeks. I remember sitting in the lactation consultant's office everyday for hours at a time. We would weigh him before feeding and again after. We would weigh his wet diapers (or lack of). Finally she looked at me and said I needed to supplement.  I knew this was not something she took lightly but it was the best for the baby. She gave me this supplemental nursery system, it was a small vile connected to a tube. I was able to breastfeed and formula feed at the same time. I did this for an additional 3 months and finally gave up. When my daughter was born I went straight to the supplemental nursery system. I fed her this way for roughly six months and then gave up.

When my so third child was born I really wanted to breastfeed. I figured I was older, more responsible, and just able to cope with it all better. How wrong was I. I cried and cried because my son was screaming because he was hungry. My breasts were sore and nipples were scabbed over. It wasn't a pretty or soothing experience. There wasn't this bond I expected. It was just sadness. After three months I made the choice to bottle feed him. I hated that choice but again, it was what was needed for my son.

My fourth and final child was born and once again I said I would breastfeed her no matter what. But after being up for 24 hours giving birth to her I was exhausted and a sudden peace came over me when I realized I had nothing to prove to myself or anyone else. Formula is just fine. My older three kids thrived on it and did great. Why should I put myself through hell and back again when in the end I will end up bottle feeding. I looked at my husband and told him to feed her a bottle. He wasn't sure what to do and my midwife even tried asking me if I really was sure with that. But I was, I felt at peace with my choice and it was a calming feeling.

Almost right away formula feeding was difficult for her. she would spit up with every formula we tried. We tried the sensitive stuff, soy, the Gerber formula (the protein is partially broken down) but she would spit up to no end. We also had several scary episodes of choking and starting to turn blue. I knew something wasn't right but I listened to the nurse practitioner  (small town no pediatricians were available) when he said she would out grow it.

Now I regretted the decision to formula feed her. I knew breast milk was designed for human babies and she was not doing well on formula. I was so lucky a friend suggested using a donor for breast milk. I really wished I knew about breast milk donors before. Maybe I wouldn't have beaten myself up so much with my other babies. I used a group on Facebook called Human Milk 4 Human Babies and found a wonderful donor who had an excess of milk and just didn't have the room to store it anymore. Thank goodness I had an extra freezer or this endeavor wouldn't have worked.

As you can see my freezer was FULL. But it did not last long, maybe 3 months and I was back to meeting my wonderful donor who had more than enough to supply my baby girl and feed her son. But eventually her supply slowed and she did not have enough to send milk to our daughter. I was grateful to find another local mom who had a supply that was close to its freezer life. I picked up her stash and organized what little I had left from my previous donor and what she had by date, this way no milk went bad. 

At one point I was able to pay it forward and supply a new mom with a few bags of breast milk to feed her newborn while she desperately tried to get her supply to come in. It wasn't much but I know it meant the world to a new mom when her baby was so hungry and you couldn't fix it. 

I will forever be grateful to these ladies who not only fed their wonderful babies but supplied something I was unable to give my baby girl. We are still having issues with choking and spitting up but we are working with the nurse practitioner to resolve them. All I want is a happy and healthy baby. Sometimes formula works and sometimes it doesn't. I try not to get involved in breast is best debates because FOOD is best for babies. It doesn't matter if it comes in a can, boogie, or a bag. Feed your babies to the best of your abilities and know they will do just fine. 

Cooking the Frugal Way

As we have gone to a more frugal life and really implement the changes we wanted to make our biggest issue was our food budget. Before we would make meals that were elaborate and super yummy, but really expensive if you did it too often (and that is what we did). We have learned how to stock up on meat and it not cost too much money (read this post I wrote a few months ago.), but we were still spending so much money on food. I am learning how to use coupons to stock up on things we use all the time like deodorant and toilet paper, but other things that cost money and we use often like mayonnaise, ketchup, and mustard. I don’t want a stock pile of 45 ketchup bottles because I don’t even think I would use that in my life, but a few bottles here and there at a great price would be nice.

The last few weeks we have been getting back to frugal cooking and I LOVE IT. I did not grow up with a lot of money and I remember always having yummy meals on the table and I never knew how much it cost to put on our table. Now as an adult I knew they were meals that were filling but less expensive to make.  Here are a few of the recipes I LOVE and have been go to meals the last few weeks.

I have a family of 5 so my recipes are set for approx. 8 helpings. You can cut it in half if you would like, or add to it if you know you need more to feed your family.

Hamburger Rice

2.5lbs ground hamburger

2 cans Cream of Mushroom Soup

1 cup milk

3 cups of uncooked rice

Brown the hamburger and add seasoning if you want. Once your hamburger is cooked add the cream of mushroom soup and milk and mix it all together. While you are browning the hamburger you will want to cook your rice per the directions for your rice. We use a rice cooker so that makes things easier for us. When rice is done you will scoop the hamburger over the rice and your dinner is served. This is one my children’s favorite meals and they go back for seconds each time.

Poor Man’s Pie (Sheppard’s Pie)

2.5lbs ground Hamburger

2 can Cream of Mushroom Soup

1 Cup Milk

2 cans Corn

5 cups mashed potatoes.

2 cups shredded cheese. We use Colby Jack or Cheddar Cheese

Brown the hamburger and add seasoning if you want. Once your hamburger is cooked add the cream of mushroom soup and milk and mix it all together. Layer this on the bottom of a casserole (baking) dish.  Drain the corn and layer this over the hamburger mixture. We use instant mashed potatoes in our house for meals like this, but you can make “real” mashed potatoes if you want. When you have your mashed potatoes you will layer over the corn and top with the cheese. Place in the oven at 370 for about 30 minutes. Make sure the cheese is melted and let your dish continue to cook for a few minutes; just don’t let the cheese burn.

You can use green beans in place of the corn.

Poverty Hamburger

I got this recipe from Pinterest, so here is the pinned post. 

Paying with Cash and a Little Dave Ramsey

Like millions of people in the country my husband and I have debt. We both have student loans, credit cards, care loans, etc. WE HATE IT, we don’t want to owe people money. Over the last year we have been making sense of all our debt and coming up with a plan on how to pay it all off, not just the minimums and then some. This is a big adjustment for our family because we are used to eating out, driving new cars, buying things we want over just the stuff we need, ok really we live beyond our means.  It is time to change this because we are in our early 30’s, we have a family, and we want to teach our children that they can have the better things in life if they save for it and pay cash.

We started the Dave Ramsey program last year and I was not a big fan of the whole program, but we did take a few good things away from it. The biggest thing we took away from it is the need to budget our monthly expenses, as well as some yearly expenses and pay cash for most expenses. For example, we have budgeted $450 a month towards our groceries. We will take $450 cash at the beginning of the month and place it in an envelope. When we run out of cash in that envelope we are done for the month. That sure does put the pressure on to make sure you plan things out and stay within a budget. But, if we do well at budgeting and planning things out and we have extra money left in the envelope we can choose to keep the money in that envelope to make things easier the next month, we can put it in the savings account, or take the few extra dollars and place it towards the debt we have to pay off.  

Some expenses we have each year that we usually don’t plan out or save for until the end of the year are Christmas gifts, holiday dinners, and even car repairs.  We know it will be about $500 to get new tires on our car and that will need to happen in the next year or so. So we have a sinking fund for this, we took the $500 and divided it by 12 and each month we will put that amount ($42) in an envelope. This way we have the money and there will not be an issue or freaking out about where the money will come from when we need new tires. We will use this same method for Christmas gifts and such for next year. Again, this way when it comes time to buy gifts for everyone the money (and budget) is there and there is NO STRESS. We use this same method to plan a vacation a few years in advance, this way our family makes awesome memories and see the world but the stress of finances are not there and when we are done we will not have any more debt from that vacation. In 2012 we took an AMAZING vacation to Florida and then a cruise to the Bahamas. We visited Clearwater to see Winter the Dolphin, and a few days at Universal Studios before and after the cruise. It was amazing and completely paid for before we even left home.

Another important thing we took from our brief jump into the Dave Ramsey world is an emergency fund. We all have emergencies that come up, but as soon as we have an emergency fund this emergencies won’t be as stressful.

I am so excited to make these changes. I think by cutting out the debit cards and having cash on hand for things we need to buy will keep us in line. It is so easy to swipe a card and $5 here and $3 there really do add up before you even realize what is going on.

Our goal for 2015 is to save approx. $10,000 and pay off about $10,000 in debt. I will keep you updated on how this is going during the year and some of the things we have done to help meet this goal. I hope you all can keep me in line. 

Coupons… Where do I start?

My family has changed how they eat over the last few years and we rarely eat boxed dinners or foods with a ton of preservatives. So I never paid attention to coupons because I never thought they would be good for my family. Now I realize I should look at coupons and figure out this whole game of extreme couponing. Maybe not to the extreme as some of people take it, but I wouldn't mind a small stockpile of toilet paper, deodorant, and the other things we use often. But where do I start? Someone please help me out.

I see coupons for $1 off toilet paper, but when the original price is $9.99 how and that heck do I get it for free like you keep seeing other people? So over the next few months I will update you all on my quest to save money with coupons. I know it is possible and it is time I sit down and figure it out. 

Let’s Bake Some Bread

Baking bread is one of the easiest ways to cut a few dollars off your grocery bill each week.  What do you spend on bread each week? If you are like my family we eat one to two loaves a week, even if we were to get the inexpensive bread that adds up to $3.50 a week, about $14 a month, or $168 a year.  What could you do with an extra $168 a year?

Baking bread may seem scary but it really isn’t hard at all. It also seems like it will take all day long with the proofing and rising and baking, but again it isn’t as bad as it sounds. Here are a few simple recipes you can use. My husband is the baker so he has a bunch of recipes he uses but those are a tad more complicated than what I like to use.

My favorite bread is a simple Amish White Bread.

Ingredients:

§  2 cups warm water

• 1/3 cups white sugar
• 1 1/2 Tbls active dry yeast
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 6 cups flour

Add sugar to a bowl and then add water (make sure it is approx. 115 degrees). Sprinkle your yeast on top of the sugar and stir gently for 30 seconds and let sit for 10 or so minutes. When the mixture bubbles up you know you can move on to the next steps. Add your oil and half the flour mixture and then your salt (salt after flour as the salt kills the yeast). Add in the remaining flour and mix. If you are using a mixer you can put on your dough hook to mix.  Add flour to your counter top or baking mat and place the dough on your counter and knead the dough for approx. 3 to 5 minutes, forming a soft round ball.  Lightly grease a bowl and then add your dough ball to the bowl, flip it over so all sides are coated with the grease. Cover the top of the bowl with a damp warm towel or saran wrap and let it sit for about one hour. 

Once again lightly flour your counter surface to prevent the dough from sticking. Once the dough has doubled in size you will remove it from the bowel and punch it down and then cut in half. You will then need to form your dough into the shape of a loaf. Pinch the ends, or tuck the ends under, this will help create uniformity as your bread bakes. You will want to prepare a bread pan (9x5) by greasing the sides. Put your dough in the pan and cover and let rise for about 30 minutes (when the dough doubles in size).  When you cover your dough turn your oven on to preheat to 350 degrees. 

When your dough has doubled in size, place in your oven and bake for 25 minutes or so, until golden brown.  Right before the bread is finish you will melt 1 or 2 tablespoons of butter to brush on top when you pull the bread out of the oven. Let your bread sit and rest for 10 minutes after removing from the oven (and brushing the top with butter) and then remove from pan and let cool on a cooling rack.

I know, I know, that seems like a lot of work for a simple loaf of bread. But trust me it really isn’t a lot of work (just very detailed directions) and it really is worth it.  For starters the bread tastes amazing, way better than what you would get in the store. Second, you know what is in your bread because you put it there. Take a look at the ingredient list on the back of your store purchased bread. I bet there are more ingredients listed than what is listed above and some of those you probably can’t even pronounce. Last but not least making your own bread is less expensive in the long run than buying a loaf of bread or two a week.  Kristen from The Frugal Girl did a very thorough investigation into how much it you’ll save by making your own homemade bread. She estimated that you’ll save at least $0.50 per loaf if you typically buy the very cheapest bread on the market (that typically sells for $0.99 per loaf). However, if you typically buy a little bit higher quality bread (that usually retails for $2-$3 per loaf, than you’re going to be saving $1.50 to $2.50 per loaf easily.

So happy baking everyone, I can't wait to hear how well your bread came out and how amazing it tasted. My husband just made fresh French Bread so I am off to enjoy a nice warm slice with lunch. 

Cutting Meat to Save Money.

Cutting your own meat you purchase in bulk DOES save money. This is something my husband and I have been doing for years now and we have noticed a really big savings. We started with a Costco membership but since moving this summer we ended up getting a Sam's Club.


This is what we purchased to last this month and a little bit of next month.

2 large pork loins. They were about $20 each.
2 beef sirloins. These are a little on the pricey side at $85 each. Don't let the price scare you though.
20 pounds of Hamburger (not pictured). Each 10 pound package was about $20

How much do you think all of that came up to? Come on, you can take a guess. =)  Ok, I will tell you what it came up to. Everything listed above was only $250; not bad huh?  All of this meat will feed my family of 5 for a full month and will give me extra for next month.

Here is a run down of all that is shown in this picture.

8 packages of Hamburger (2.5lbs each). 

2 large pot roasts. 

3 bags of stew meat. 

3 packages of steak (5 steaks each package)

2 large pork loins

5 packages of pork chops with 6 pork chops in each. 

Not pictured or added in the total above are the frozen hamburger patties we purchased. The package was only $13 and will give my family enough for 3 full meals. I know I could make my own hamburger patties but I am too lazy to do that.  

No, we don't only eat pork and beef all month, but I stocked up last month on chicken and some fish so I had no need to get any this month. My freezer has been so empty since we moved and I am working hard at stocking up on my meats and my freezer meals. 

Cutting your own meat does not have to be difficult or scary, really it is easy. All you need available is the meat (of course), a good knife, and something to store your meat in. 

When you cut your pork loin into chops you cut them into 1 in segments (or however thick you want them).  If you want a large pork loin to throw in a crock pot (makes great pulled pork sandwiches) or grill you just cut that portion. I just cut the large pork loin in half and this will give us enough of a pork loin for my family. 

Picture from "I believe I can fly"

The sirloin comes in this big chunk of meat and may look a little scary to cut up.  We cut larger chunks off for our roasts and then work on the steak and stew meat. I just cut the steak into sections like I do for the pork. I will put a small section aside and cut that into chunks for stew meat. 

The hamburger comes in large 10 pound packages like you would buy any other package of ground hamburger. I use a small scale to weigh out the meat into 2.5 pound packages. If you don't have that you can also cut the large section into 4 sections. 

Not only does cutting your own meat save you money but you are less likely to go to the store on a whim to buy meat or call for take-out because you didn't go to the store and this will save you even more money. 

I'm baaack... many changes to come.

I must apologize for my absence over the last year, it sure has been an amazing and hectic one. However, it is now time to share all of my cost cutting secrets with you so you can living an amazing year like we have.  The biggest and most exciting news I have to share is that we are now home owners.  Yes, you read the correctly, we are home owners and we are loving every minute of it. 

The few things I have learned from moving one house to another are: 

1.) Moving Sucks.

2.) Moving is Expensive.

3.) If it can go wrong it will go wrong.

4.) You find so much nifty stuff you forgot you had.

I am sure that list is a pretty common list when someone moves,but for me it was even harder because I was doing everything on my own. Due to my husband's injuries he wasn't able to help much more than keeping an eye on the baby while I pack and move things around. We chose to rent a Uhaul and hire moving helpers to load and unload the truck. We did save money and that was the point but honestly I think if we ever move again we will hire a company to come in and pack and do all the work. I was stressed to the max, very ill (from exhaustion), and just not a happy camper by the end of the move. 

Now that we are home owners I have the fun task of decorating an entire house on a budget. I am sure we will have home maintenance issues pop up that we have to deal with as well. I have a feeling YouTube and I will become really good friends over the next few years. But that is okay because we are home owners and I love my house. 

I can't wait to share all of my DIY projects, even if they are considered a fail and I am sure we will have a few of those. Besides the unpacking and decorating the house I have three projects lined up and so far the first project is coming along nicely. So don't forget to come back and learn some awesome DIY projects, money saving tips, and general life advice.

Now I am sure you all are waiting to see pictures of the new house so here they are. 

This is our gorgeous Cap Cod style home. 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and a completed basement. 

This is most of our backyard. The yard goes further down to a creek.

The day we got the keys to our home. I kept this larger key so I can add it to a shadow box one day. 

The one area in my home that is put together. 

We all love extra money.............

With hundreds of thousands of workers furlough during this Government shutdown, and over a million Veterans and disabled Americans possibly not receiving their monthly check come November 1 the need for cash (or a good deal) is more important than ever.  So what are some ways you can earn money NOW or add extra money overall to your pocket book.

1.)    What do you have to sell? In my house our garage is the big black hole of the house. We have boxes that were put in there when we moved into the house three years ago, and we have steadily added to that. At the beginning of the summer we decided when the weather starts to cool down we would finally get out there and clean out all of the boxes, donate whatever we need to, throw away the trash, etc. With the Government shutdown looming over us we decided to utilize different media outlets to sell whatever we could and donate the rest (or after a few days donate what doesn't sell). 

These few ideas are great to make some money but also great to find an amazing deal on something you need. Winter is coming and you will need warmer coats for you and the kids. Why spend $80 on each coat when you can get it for $15/$20? Expecting a blessing (baby) and need some extra supplies, why not save upwards of 75% off retail. The list goes on and on.

I am on Facebook (take a look at this page’s fan page HERE) and in my local area there are groups designed for buying/selling household items (or really anything). Try a simple search for your area with “virtual yard sale” in the title. I know in my area there are several groups, some designed for baby items, and others designed for “man things” while other groups are just general groups that accept most items. 

Another website I regularly use is Bookoo.com. You can do a search for your zip code to see if there is a group for your area, if not you can create one. This site is very popular near military installations and has been for some time.

I am sure many people have heard about Craigslist.org. If not Craigslist in a website that you can buy and or sell your goods, hire someone to do something for you, offer a service you have to offer. It is a great way to save money or make a few bucks. 

What happens if you don’t have internet access to utilize these websites? No worries call your local newspaper and see how much they would charge for a classified ad. This may not be a great idea if you have an item you are selling for $10, but some of your higher priced goods would fit perfectly in the newspaper.  A free way you can list items for sale is by placing an ad on your local community boards. These can be at school, grocery stores, local gyms, pet stores, etc. 

So far I have sold about 15/20 things that I was just going to donate and have earned roughly $200. What could you do with an extra $200? 

2.)    Opening your own business is a great way to earn some extra income. I am not talking about a store at the mall, but a small home based business.  There are some GREAT options available that pay you to sell their product. Remember Tupperware? The company is still around and doing great. Visit Jenn’s Tupperware page HERE to see the deals she offers. Love doing your nails? Take a look at Jamberry Nail Wraps. This company is new to the direct sales business but already making waves in the fashion industry, making appearances on the runways of Fashion Week, and celebrity Instagram pages. Take a look at the products available and see if it is something you and your friends would like – click HERE. So many other companies like Scentsy, Posh, Miche, and Tastefully Simple. Most have a small start-up cost but you can easily add a few hundred dollars to your bank account at the end of the month with a little work. 

3.)    Do you have old jewelry just sitting in your drawer? Maybe some broken pieces you couldn't bring yourself to throw out or get rid of before? Now there are companies (even home based businesses like in number two) that will buy your gold and give you cash on the spot.  You can host a party and even earn money from your friends selling their gold and earning cash. Just Google what the market rate is for gold the day you decide to sell. This way you know if someone is really giving you a fair price for your gold or taking advantage.

4.)    Become a mystery shopper. I know it sounds crazy but companies will pay you to check up on their employees. You should NOT have to pay a company to become a mystery shopper with them.

5.)    Are you a crafty person or good with tools? You can refinish furniture you find at thrift stores or the free pile and resell these pieces. You can sell your crafts at a local craft fair or online. You can become a handyman for your community, doing odd jobs here and there. 

6.)    Sell CD, DVDs, and books you have laying around the house. There are stores and online companies willing to pay you for these items. 

7.)    “Donate” your plasma. There are centers in most cities and states that will pay you (upwards of $300 a month) to come in and sell your plasma. Plasma donation is as simple as donating your blood, the only difference is a machine spins out the plasma and pumps your blood back into you. 

8.)    Do surveys online test out websites, and get paid to read emails,. Here is a list of different companies that can match you with people hiring for these easy tasks.   Volition.com  usertesting.com  and http://www.surveypolice.com 

9.)    Get a paper route in your community or a job delivering pizza. These jobs pay minimal wages but tips can be very lucrative.

10.) Tutor for money. Parents will pay upward of $25 an hour for you to tutor their child in a subject they need help with. Are you great with number, perfect with spelling and grammar, or love history? This is a great way to add some extra cash to your wallet.

Even though things are tight now with these simple tricks you can easily earn some extra money for your household to ease these frugal times.