Stain Pretreater

½ cup vinegar ½ cup Wisk
½ cup ammonia ½ cup water

Mix all ingredients and store in a spray bottle. Spray on anything with grease or food spots. Wash as usual.

From: Kimberly
Here is an idea for you in regards to college.
This is what my great-grandfather did and he was
a minister of limited income. He had five girls
and he assisted the first one thru her education
provided she kept the grades but they had an
agreement drawn up that it was then her
responsiblity to then pay for the education for
the next child. While they were in school they
had to find employment in order to pay for any
extras that they wanted to do while in school and
assist with paying books etc., This arrangement
was set up with each daughter, and this went all
the way thru the girls then the last daughter was
required to pay dad back.

A second idea is this. My husbands father had an
arrangement with his three children (Two sons and
a daughter) that they had to pay their first
semester of schooling and that he would pay them
back the tuition based on the grade level they
received in their classwork. But they didnt get
the money directly it went directly to the school
for the next semester of classes. Keeps them in
class and out of the parties, if ya know what i
mean! He also reviewed what type of workload they
had so they kept on track in their education and
didn’t try to just take all easy breeze classes
either. They also had to work at least one job
while in school to pay for any extras and with
bookfees. Since they were able to stay at home
while at school the agreement/contract was viewed
as “You are sill under my roof and I am feeding
you so you have some responsiblity for the funds
you are receiving from this family. Also, he
did assist them with getting a fixup car for
transportation because they stayed at home and
went to local colleges but hey had to pay for gas
and their insurance. Keeps them from doing any
extra running around and makes them a little more
responsible. Least it worked with my husband…

So they did get some assistance from mom and dad
but they didn’t get a free ride they had to take
some ownership and this way their parents helped
them to get a “HAND-UP” in this world but not
a “HAND-OUT”! My grandmother who was an english
teacher and librarian,who was daughter #5 and
baby of the family, of that wise minister taught
me was that you can loose everything in this
world but they can never take away from you
is “Your Salvation” and “Your Education”. Study
history and you will be less apt to repeat it,
learn and make wiser choices for tomorrow.

“Our riches are not for our pleasures but for our
purpose.”

“When you are blessed you must be a blessing”

God Bless –Kimberly

From: SonyaAnn
I have a little project that I’m working on now.
So many people around us are getting pink slips
and I’m getting a little concerned. So to make
myself feel a little better I put together our
unemployment budget. It’s ugly but doable. I
whittled our bills from $2700 to $2100 a month. I
won’t lie it’s a huge stretch but if I’m extremely
careful we should be able to keep our home and
cover all of the bills. In IL unemployment tops
out at $534. I just thought maybe others would
like to look into setting up an unemployment
budget before it happens. It’s defiantly helping
me sleep easier.
Thank you!

From: Tawna
I read your tip about refilling a swiffer mop. I
use your all purpose cleaner recipe and spray it
on the floor. Then I wipe it up wih my reusable
mop or tie a wrag to the mop head and later throw
it in the washer. Works great and very cheap.
Also your laundry stain prespotter is the best I
every used. I always spray my husband’s shirt
collars and no more collar rings. Unfortunatly
he must wear dress clothes to work and keeping
them clean and new looking can be hard but they
are also expensive to replace.

From: Roxie
Your roast chicken sounds very good. I will tell
you how I roast mine. I take a whole onion cut
into pieces a few bits of celery (if I have any)
and stuff this into the bird’s cavity. I also add
a bit of salt and pepper inside. On the out side
I use olive oil (but butter or corn oil work)
more salt and pepper and cook on a rack in a deep
pan. The juice and onion bits from the bird make
a great gravy.

From: Cati
Hi there. I love your website and have shared it
with LOTS of people in Roseburg, OR and anywhere
else I might meet someone that could benefit from
your advice and expertise. THANK YOU

I just wanted to share that my family and I (husband and
4 children plus one more on weekends) live in a
small apartment with no washing machine or dryer.
They do have a small room with laundry facilities
on site but we can’t afford it for the amount of
laundry we do!

I have an arangement with a good
friend of ours to clean her house in return for
using her washer/dryer. This works out very well
for us. I wash in the morning and clean up her
house which takes about 30 minutes to an hour
(each day during the week but not weekends) and
then swing back by later in the day and dry the
clothes then pick up the kids from school.

This arangement not only saves me TONS of money but it
also saves my friend money and time not having to
spend so much time cleaning. I admit I do not to
a perfect job cleaning her whole house. I merely
sweep and mop 1-2 days a week, load or unload her
dishwasher and wipe everything down.

I also take the time to fold any laundry she has in the dryer
or sitting around and do her laundry also (if she
has any). I wish that more people could pull
together to share resources in this way…

From: Delores
I am still smiling over Tim’s tip on using fruit
juice to tenderize meat. That’s probably the
healthy tip. However, the Korean secret for the
best bulgogi you’ll ever marinate is Coke. It’s
that simple. We don’t drink it but we sure cook
with it.

From: Robin
Hi Tawra and Jill.

I just experienced an “aha!” I love hearing
others’ ideas they have stumbled upon, so I
always want to “re-invest” in the endeavor we all
share: living life frugally, living life simply,
and making the best of what is at hand.

I make it a habit to add some type of bean to
my “Rice-a-Roni” dishes to add bulk and protein
to my meals. Understood, most of the time it is
the store brand of the box of rice, but either
will work just fine.

Looking in the pantry, I didn’t have a bean at
hand that met the need. I felt the urge to “look
harder” as God often leads me to do. I spotted a
can of “Bean with Bacon” soup. Hmmm… beans!
(I had these on hand because a recent sale had
them marked really inexpensively.)

I added an extra 1/2 cup of water as I usually
do, and then added the concentrated can of soup.
It was perfect to add to our meal, BUT HERE is
the BEST part I found…leftovers for breakfast.

I warmed the rice from last night. Making
burritos with store bought flour tortillas, I
added the leftover rice(remember the bacon and
bean added) and scrambled eggs. The bacon flavor
was perfect for a breakfast burrito!

As one who is always searching for something
interesting for breakfast and staying in budget,
this was a great find for us, as well as an
interesting use for leftovers.

I happen to think of a couple of things today that might help you not only for Thanksgiving but any on the other holidays too.

First if you haven’t already done it clean out your fridge today. It really should be done before you go buy everything for your dinner but if you didn’t, do it now. There is nothing more frustrating then to have a houseful of company and you are trying to stuff leftovers into an already full fridge so clean it now and if you can leave a certain shelf for the things you are going to store before and after Thanksgiving dinner.

Next I don’t think there is anything more dismal looking then a picked over turkey carcass. I am usually so tired from making the meal, being hostess and cleaning up that having to face the turkey carcass can almost put me over the edge.

What I finally learned to do is not to do anything with it on Thanksgiving day. Then the day after we pick on it all day long making sandwiches etc. I then pick the last of the big chunks off . I usually cook my turkey all wrapped in foil or in a disposable pan so I just wrap the foil around it or gently shape the pan around it. Stick it all in a couple of plastic bags, pop it in the freezer and forget it for a couple of weeks or until Jan. when I bring it out and toss the carcass in a large pot for soup. That is when it gets it’s final picking over.

Cooking Boo Boos:

If you didn’t cook your turkey with our recipe it may come out too dry. Don’t panic. Just slice it. Lay it on a platter and pour gravy over it then serve.

If your stuffing is too dry; once again add some turkey broth to it or gravy.

If a side dish burns and sticks to the bottom; just careful pour it out of the pot being sure not to scrape the bottom of the pan or any of the food stuck to it. You can maybe save quite a bit this way.

If your dinner rolls burn; carefully slice off the bottoms. If they all have the bottoms gone people will think that is just the way they are suppose to be.

The crust on your pumpkin pie doesn’t turn out; scrape out the filling and place it in a nice serving dish, cover with lots of whipped topping, sprinkled with a little cinnamon and call it Pumpkin custard.

If any of you have tips on how to fix Thanksgiving cooking boo boos for our beginning cooks and eve some of us old timers feel free to post. You may be the one to save someone’s Thanksgiving. : )

Jill

From: Rosie
Great alternative to Warm Delights.

Single Serve Cake

1 box cake mix (any flavor)
1 box pudding mix (any flavor)

Mix the 2 boxes together and store in a container.

When ready to make mix the following:

1 cup mix
1 egg
1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon cooking oil

Mix all in an over size microwave safe mug (soup
bowl with a handle). Put a dab of frosting on top
of batter. Microwave for one minute. When done
you have cake for one.

My son always wants me to buy Warm Delights but
they are way too expensive. And we never eat a
whole cake.