In years past, I have given you a Valentine’s Day Menu but, since the nicest thing to do on Valentine’s Day is to make your sweeties their favorite foods as a special treat, I will be giving you recipes and tips for cute things you can do on this special day instead of a menu.

Heart Shaped Biscuits

Instead of using the usual round biscuit cutter, cut your biscuits with a cookie cutter. Serve with strawberry jam.

Heart Shaped Muffins

For heart shaped muffins, place a marble on the side of the muffin paper before baking.

Heart Shaped Pizza

Make pizza and shape the dough into a heart shape instead of a circle. The red sauce is perfect for Valentine’s Day!

Valentine Meatballs

Once again, form your meatballs into heart shapes. Then, you can toss them in spaghetti sauce or cover with barbecue sauce.

Peppermint Heart Lollipops

Lay two small candy candy canes on a piece of wax paper to make a heart shape. Place a sucker stick between the candy canes at the bottom. Pour melted white chocolate into the center of the candy canes. Make sure the stick is up far enough to get some chocolate on it. Then, you can sprinkle the white chocolate with red sugar, sprinkles or whatever you like.

Lemonade Love Potion

1 – 12 oz. can pink lemonade concentrate
1 cup raspberry sherbet
1 – 12 oz. can lemon/lime soda (7 UP)

Mix the lemonade with water according to the directions on the can. In a separate pitcher, mix 1 cup lemonade with sherbet. Add soda, stir and serve. Makes 3 servings.

Note: This is the original recipe. Since I hate dirtying too many dishes, I would just fill a large glass (like an ice cream soda glass) 1/3 full of lemonade, add a large scoop of sherbet and pour the soda over everything to fill the glass.

Heart Shape Cookie Cutters

Get a set of different sized heart shape cookie cutters. Use them to cut things like rice krispy treats, bar cookies and brownies.

• Use a heart shaped cookie cutter to make an imprint on a cake to give you a guide line to decorate with frosting. For a simple but pretty cake, you could use different sizes of cookie cutters to make imprints and then just outline the shapes with frosting.

• Use the cookie cutters to cut out things like fruit roll ups or cheese.

• Cut pancakes into heart shapes and use strawberry jam or syrup with a dollop of whipped cream.

Last But Not Least…

Here is one of my favorite cookie recipes from our Dining on a Dime Cookbook. In all my 60 years, I have never been anyplace where I have seen these served. That doesn’t mean no one else has the recipe but it’s not your usual run of the mill cookie and they are oh-so-good, especially if you like coconut and nuts!

Romance Cookies

1 cup butter
2 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. salt
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup flaked coconut
1/2-1 cup walnuts, chopped
powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter. Add flour, sugar, and salt. Spread in an ungreased 9×13 pan. Combine eggs, brown sugar, baking powder, vanilla, coconut and nuts. Pour over flour mix. Bake for 20 minutes. Dust with powdered sugar. Cut into bars. Makes 24 cookies.

Do you have any favorite Valentine Recipes? Post them and your comments below!

Photo By: Amydeanne

Related Photos

Valentine’s Tresure Hunt For Your Husband

Take your spouse on a treasure hunt. Send an email message or mail a card with the first clue. Place the clues all over the house, car, yard, and neighbor’s yard. At the end, include directions to a mystery spot for a picnic, movie, dinner out or to you all decked out on the bed. Use your imagination and have fun. It’s the simple things people remember.

Here are some clue ideas to get you started:

Roses are Red
Violets Are Blue
Run to the Fridge
To Find a Clue

Now that you’re here
It’s all clear
It’s a treasure hunt!
Now to the shed, my dear.

I love you so much
Yes, a bunch and a bunch
Look in the pantry next
where we keep your lunch.

Don’t grow weary
My sweet deary
To the bathroom you go
For a note that is cheery!

Are you getting excited for your treat
My dear who is sweet?
Out by the birdbath where the birds go
Tweet, tweet.

This is the last one
Did you have fun?
Downstairs to the bedroom
Now let’s go have fun.

(Note: We were going to play Bingo in the bedroom. My My, what were you thinking?!)

Tawra

photo by: jkavo

Related Photos

Here are some inexpensive ideas to romance your husband and to have more fun on Valentine’s Day!

• Go to a bookstore, enjoy the silence and browse. Get a cup of coffee and make a date of it.

• Celebrate Valentine’s Day AFTER Valentine’s Day. Everything is half off.

• Mail a love letter to your hubby’s work.

• Send your spouse a sexy email message.

• Leave “Why I love you” messages all over the house. Buy a package of the cheap Valentines. Leave a message on each one and hide them all over the house for your honey. They will get to enjoy the gift for months!

• Use lipstick to make hearts and love notes on the rear view mirror, car windows, bathroom mirror or windows of the house. Leave a kiss on his napkin for lunch or dinner.

• Make a bunch of hearts out of construction paper. Put a love note on each one. Paste them all over the front door or car before your hubby or kids come home from work.

• If you don’t have money to go out, have a picnic on the floor. Use some candles and lay a soft blanket on the floor. Put on some soft music and have a romantic Valentine’s dinner on the floor. Use some white Christmas lights for additional romantic lighting!

• If you are planning on spending the evening in front of a warm crackling fire snuggling with your true love, (Yeah, right! What planet am I from? Did I forget about the 3 kids, 1 dog and 2 cats in the middle?) try spicing up the romance with a couple of handfuls of dried orange or lemon peel thrown into the fireplace.

• Cover the inside of your love’s car with cut out hearts with romantic notes written on them.

• Buy a balloon bouquet at the dollar store. Most dollar stores have nice Mylar balloons for $1 each. You can also get some cute cards for 50 cents.

• Make chocolate covered strawberries and enjoy them with sparkling cider.

• Don’t forget to stock up on Valentine’s cards and other Valentine’s Day supplies for next year on February 15 when they’re all marked down.

• I love fresh flowers, but they are so expensive and are a luxury item for me. The morning after Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day, I go to my regular grocery store where I can usually find unbelievable buys on fresh flowers. One year they had one dozen roses for just $3!

• Everyone has her own favorite way of keeping flowers fresh. Mine is to cut all the stems at an angle, add about 1/4 tsp. of sugar and 2-3 drops of Clorox to a vase of warm water. The warm water helps the blooms open fully. Change the water every 3-4 days. Most of the time, my flowers last for two weeks or more when I do this. I also remove any flower as it dies so it won’t contaminate the other ones.

• Mail a card to your spouse or kids each day during the two weeks before Valentine’s Day. A nice surprise that’s even cheaper is just to put a card or note in each of their rooms or in hubby’s car each morning.

• Decorate a small box and fill it with cut out hearts for your spouse or kids with messages saying why you love them. Give it to them on Valentine’s Day or give it to them February 1 and let them draw one message each day. Here are some sample messages:

  • “I love you because you love me unconditionally”.

  • “I love the way you smell so good.”

  • “I love it when you think of me first and do things like the dishes.”

  • “I love it when you take the kids to the store with you and give me an hour to myself.”

photo by: Walt Stoneburner

Related Photos

One of our readers, Bea, sent this quote to me.

“If you buy what you don’t need you steal from yourself”.

You are stealing from yourself by wasting your money on more unneeded things (or junk).
-Bea

People are also stealing their freedom from themselves. They go into debt to buy  things and they are chained to that debt from the time they wake up to the time they go to bed.

Even if they don’t go into debt, they still lose their freedom because then they have to use their time, energy and money to take care of these things and to store them.  Instead of being able to spend the day or their time on something more worthwhile or to spend it with their kids, they have to use their time taking care of things.

We are stealing our peace. Too much stuff can be so overwhelming. When I first became sick with my CFS, I had a closet full of clothes. Just trying to make the decision about what to wear for the day became overwhelming for me because I had so much to choose from. I ended up picking 3 outfits out and packed the rest away. It was so freeing and I had one less worry for the day.

Now I have gone back to having more clothes but I really learned a lesson. The more things I had, the more decisions I had to make and the harder those decisions were. Think for a moment about how much time you spend each morning with your kids trying to decide what kind of cereal they want from the 3-5 boxes they have to pick from. How much time is spent choosing clothes for the day or which toys they will play with?

We talk about things being so stressful now but a lot of the time we make our own stress. We set ourselves and our children up for having to make too many decisions each day.

Do you really need more toys, clothes, electronic games for entertainment, purses or shoes? Buy one kind or at the most two kinds of shampoo, conditioner, cleaners, etc.

Don’t steal any more money, time or peace from yourself. Don’t buying more than you need.

-Jill

Related Photos

No related photos.

Here are some cute and easy ideas for Valentine cards.

Hi Tawra,

I was just thinking of a new idea this morning as I read the Sunday paper and browsed through the colorful comic section. As I read and chuckled through some of the comic strips, I realized how perfect some of them could be to add to a Valentine Card.

Being familiar with the song, “My Funny Valentine,” I noticed a couple comic strips that would be well suited to be cut out and glued to a piece of festive paper with the phrase, “You are my Funny Valentine!”

Initially I thought of my Grandmother who is in a nursing home and can always appreciate a colorful “hello.” She would love to receive a Valentine with something so bright and cheerful. Also, my DAD, who is always so serious, might even be caught off guard with a little chuckle when a comic strip Valentine arrives in the mail.

I also remembered that my kids always like to see the “Peanuts” comic strip as well as the “Family Circus.” As a plan for next year, I will create a file folder and fill it with some of the cutest comic strip editions throughout the year to use for making a poster sized version of “My Funny Valentine” to present to each of my kids next year.

For my kids, “Bigger always means Better!” A poster sized Valentine will surely bring a smile and hopefully… a laugh!

The challenge of “Living on a Dime” is so much fun!

      -Robin

Photo By: Spec-ta-cles

Related Photos

Be sure to check out this free E-book Saving Money on Groceries  from Christine over at The Menu Mom.   Tawra

Related Photos

Hi
We are on a serious budget after my husband and I set up our own business last year and made a few misjudgements. We have two small kids. I’ve been enjoying your newsletters these last couple weeks. I’m keen to buy your e-books but I’m just wondering if you’ve noticed a recent trend in blogs and in general.

There’s a movement about nourishing foods, like those in the book, Nourishing Traditions. They are touting this as the best, most healthful diet ever. It’s expensive-ish to follow but they have a little guilt trip with it saying things like, “Your kids are in their important formative years. You can’t feed them cheap junk,” along with all the eco-warrior and organic foods movement stuff. I feel that people like me are afraid when they have to go on a budget because they wonder if their family’s health will suffer . Do your books give good  balanced diet recipes that I know will be nourishing my kids? Did your diet when you lived on a dime contribute to your chronic illness later on?

Thanks,
Diana

Diana,

First let me answer your question, “Did your diet when you lived on a dime contribute to your chronic illness later on?”

No. A virus or bacteria (doctors are pretty sure it’s a virus) is what caused us to become ill, not what we eat. Having said that, I do now have to go on a special and expensive diet to help try and fix some of the immune problems caused by this virus but it is cheaper than the medical bills that we have to pay for if it works.  The diet I am currently on includes no wheat or starches, no sugar, no dairy, no corn or no beef. It’s an elimination diet. Basically all I can eat is fruits, vegetables, chicken, fish, nuts and homemade chicken broth.

Frankly, I think this new movement in nourishing foods is just putting fear into people. Unless you have some medical reason to be eating this way, I suggest that you STOP READING THOSE WEBSITES!!! I am very serious. We have gone from “learning about nutrition” to “being afraid” and that is not at all what God wants for us.

My grandparents are in their 80′s and in very good health. Most of their lives were spent eating all the preservatives that are supposedly killing us now. Before we had things like preservatives and added vitamins and minerals, people were sick and dying from malnutrition. During World Wars I and II, they discovered that the farm boys who lived off the great organic foods on the farm were very malnourished and that is why they started adding vitamins and minerals to foods after that. They added these things to save lives.

Having said that, there is a happy medium. You don’t have to eat all raw organic food but you don’t have to live on boxed macaroni and cheese either.

Make life easy.
For breakfast, eat cereal or oatmeal with a piece of fruit.
At lunch, with your macaroni and cheese, eat some carrots and cucumbers with ranch dressing.
Eat a sandwich with lettuce  and tomato.
Make broccoli and apple slices to go with your chicken and rice for dinner.
Eat sliced apples with peanut butter or yogurt with granola or a smoothie for a snack.

Don’t make it so complicated. It sounds like you are overwhelmed and this is just making it worse for you.

Yes, the meals in our books are balanced and nutritious but we are moderate when it comes to food. We do not swing either way because you can go insane if you do!!!

-Tawra

Here’s something for everyone to think about: Since the organic and eco-eating frenzy started in the late 80?s and 90?s, there has been a rise in child obesity, diabetes, allergies and many other things. It should make you wonder and stop and think. Yet, like Tawra mentioned, many people like my parents who were raised on preservatives and all the foods so many people are poo pooing are living to a ripe old age.

There is something else going on here more significant than the food we eat. We need to stop bowing down to fear and start rationally looking at the reasons that this is happening. Stress is a big factor in heart disease (and other illnesses) and fear, among many other things, causes extreme stress, yet we fluff over the fact that obsessive worrying about what we eat is causing us to be very stressed in our lives.

How much stress do you think it causes a child if you are always bugging him about not eating this or touching that or, even worse, how stressed is he when his classmates sit and eat a candy bar. Kids are torn between wanting one too and the fact that their parents have told them they will die of something awful if they eat one. Just the stress of being unnecessarily different from the other kids can cause a problem.

Honestly, the chances are just as great that I could get a horrible illness stewing over whether or not I should buy an organically grown banana and worrying about how to get the money to pay for it as they would be if I just tossed a regular banana in my cart.

Here’s one last point you need to really think about: Any doctor will tell your more than 50% of illness is caused from stress. The confusion and hesitation you’re experiencing is a perfect example of that stress and what this movement is doing to people.

Moderation. Don’t go extreme in either direction.

-Jill

It is important to make good choices with your food. Clearly, if all you eat is meat and bread, it’s not a good choice. Most people eat too many carbohydrates and not enough fruits and vegetables so reminding yourself to lean a little more toward fruits and vegetables and a little less toward breads and other carbohydrates is generally a good choice.

Regarding the “guilt trip” you mentioned – It’s good that you recognized that’s what it is. When you get the feeling that you’re experiencing a guilt trip, you’re probably right. In this case, there are two reasons for it. First, in order to motivate you to buy their products, many people know that if they tell you your children are going to die or be horribly damaged for life, you will buy just to alleviate the fear that it “might” be true. I remember one news promo that aired at 2:00 in the afternoon where the reporter said, “Could you be poisoning your child right now without even knowing it? … The story at 6.” If it’s really that serious, why do you have to wait 4 hours for the answer? That message is a good way to get you to buy it without really considering whether or not it’s wise or necessary.

The second reason someone may use a fear tactic is that the person has invested a lot of emotional effort in that area. Maybe the person does get some benefit from the extreme diet but a lot of people soothe their own fears and feel more like they’ve made the right choice if they can persuade everyone else that their way is finally the secret perfect solution everyone’s been waiting for.

In any case, when you feel afraid something terrible will happen if you don’t immediately adopt someone’s apparently extreme eating regimen, you’re probably being touched more by guilt than by common sense, so don’t let it scare you.

-Michael

Related Photos

Frugal living is all about making the most with what you already have. Here are 11 tips from Penny Pinching Mama to help you get started:

1. Barter for services when possible. For example, we exchanged lawn mower repair from our neighbor for a table (garage sale find) that he was looking for.

2. Learn to fix things for yourself. These days, with the Internet making information so easily available, you can fix most things yourself. We do 95% of the repairs around our house and we aren’t that handy. We just keep looking for the information about how to do it and keep working until we get it fixed!

3. Stop eating out. I know you hear it all the time but STOP!!! The “average” family spends $300-$500 a month just eating out! Eating out truly is one of the biggest causes of debt! I am always amazed how someone can be “totally broke” and can’t pay their bills but are still able to go to the drive-thru of their favorite restaurant.

4. Study nutrition information and find out what you need to eat to have a healthy and balanced diet. Then stop eating the junk and eat healthy inexpensive meals at home. We have a lot of menu ideas here at LivingOnADime.com that can help you get started.

5. If something breaks and you don’t have the money to fix or if you are out of something and you don’t have the money to buy more, figure out a way to live without it. If the lawn mower breaks, can you borrow a friend’s lawn mower? If your washer breaks, go to the laundromat. If you break your tea kettle, use a saucepan to heat water. In most instances, you can find a way to make do or do without something until you have the cash saved up.

6. Do things for free. Go to the library, have a picnic or read a book. Kids are just as happy playing with mom and dad in the backyard as they are going to the zoo. If you can’t pay cash for the “fun stuff” you can always have fun at home.

7. Buy items used. We buy 90% of the items for ourselves used. Going to yard sales and thrift stores does not take any longer than going to a retail store but you can save 90% off the retail price!

8. Just say no…to your kids. Let kids buy their own toys and extras! Our kids pay for all their own soda, candy, treats like nail polish, their own computers and extras. You are not the Bank of Mom so just say no!

9. Find a cheaper way to do things. Go to a beauty school to get your hair colored (or don’t have your hair colored at all it isn’t something you need to survive). Go to a mechanic school to get your car fixed. Hire a kid instead of a lawn service to mow your yard (only if you can’t do it yourself for medical reasons. Paint your own house instead of hiring someone, cut the cable and the cell phone (gasp!), and have birthday parties at your house. There is almost always a cheaper way to do things so try to find the cheapest way and save some money!

10. Cut kids’ activities. Most kids are in way too many activities and they’re often expensive. I know families who pay $175 a month for gymnastics lessons but can’t pay the mortgage. There is a problem with this kind of thinking! Kids won’t die if you don’t give them all the lessons and activities you can’t afford.

11. Get it for free. When the landscapers were laying sod in our new neighborhood, I asked for the scraps and we were almost able to put in our entire backyard for free. When they were building houses, I asked for the 2×4′s that were going into the dumpster and got enough wood for our shed. When they were pouring concrete patios, I asked for the leftover concrete and they just poured our entire cement pad for our shed for free!! If friends have kids older than your kids, ask if you can have their hand me downs when they are done.

Get as much as you can for free and you can save thousands of dollars!

-Tawra

Related Photos

From: Misty
First, let me say I LOVE your website!!!I use it EVERY DAY! Since you have inspired me to start being more frugal with my money, I search high
and low for great deals.

I recently started shopping at Garage Sales, Dollar stores, thrift stores, etc., but sometimes I think I am getting a great deal only to realize it wasn’t that good of a deal. For instance, I spent $2.25 at a thrift store on a bunch of 12 plastic clothes hangers and that day I went to a department store that had them on sale for $2.00. Seeing this made me realize I had not saved any money at all!

Does this ever happen to you? Have you ever bought something that you were sure was a great deal, only to realize it wasn’t a good deal at all?? Should I do something different?

Hi Misty – Yes, I have made mistakes like this and still do it sometimes. I try to be as careful as I can to get the lowest price on an item. If it’s at a thrift store, I try never to pay more than half the retail price if it’s in great condition.

If it’s at a yard sale I try to pay 10% retail on small items and no more than half the retail price on large items (furniture, etc.) that are in excellent condition.

If you buy something from a store and it goes on sale shortly afterward, you can take it back to the store and most stores will give you a refund for the difference as long as it’s only been a couple weeks to a month since you bought it.

What do I do for other situations, like the hanger mistake you mentioned? Well, I repeat to myself , “Let it go… let it go.”  Really, that’s exactly what I do. I just write it off and move on, knowing that the next time I need hangers they will be cheaper at the store.

Part of that is just the learning process. You will win some and lose some. Hopefully, I have more wins.

If it makes you feel any better, I just had that happen with mulch. I had gotten free mulch many times in the past from companies who cut trees and just wanted to dump the wood chips. I thought the mulch I was getting from a tree company was free, but after they had delivered it, I received a $100 bill for it. Talk about making a person sick to her stomach! I didn’t have $100 to waste on paid mulch even if I do love gardening but I just had to let it go and move on. I did ask God to cover it for me and He did! It was a mistake on my part so I didn’t feel right to have the company come and take it back. (Mike: But just as we were looking at the bill, two more trucks drove up and I explained the mistake and politely asked them not to deliver the two additional truckloads )

Don’t beat yourself up over it because it sounds like you are doing great!

      -Tawra

I have had that same thing happen to me. I have learned two important things from these experiences. The first is “practice makes perfect.” The more you do it, the more familiar you become with typical prices for various items. Second, it’s important to realize that it all works out well in the end. For all the “boo boos” I make, I still end up saving so much more in the long run going to garage sales, thrift stores and so on that the savings far outweigh the mistakes.

Here’s one thing that helps me: If I know I need something, I check out what it costs at a department store when I am there. Then I will have a better idea about what to pay at a thrift store. Of course, there are many things I can’t plan and I just have to use my experience to determine whether to take a chance on them.

Like Tawra said, you just have to move on and realize that we all make some bad choices shopping for brand new things, too, except when you’re buying new you are often losing even more money. It happens no matter where you shop.

      -Jill

One of the biggest ways to save is to anticipate what you’re going to need long before you need it, if possible. When you’re not in a hurry to have something now, you’ll have more opportunities to notice prices at other places and to get it at a better price. We especially try to do this with cars, but it applies equally to virtually everything.

Tawra starts looking for winter coats in the summer. She looks for the next larger sized shoes before the kids grow out of the old pairs. If she knows she is going to be painting a room a certain color, she starts looking for mis-mixes at the hardware store or paint that has been donated to the thrift store to see if they have the right color. If so, she can usually get it for a fourth of the price of buying it new. These are just a few examples of how planning ahead can help you save a lot!

      -Michael

For more easy and practical ways to save money and get out of debt, check out Dig out Of Debt.

photo by: awfulshot

Related Photos

We’ve decided for a limited time to offer a free Valentine’s Day on A Dime e-Book!

Here is your free copy of the Valentine’s Day on A Dime e-book from LivingOnADime.com. We hope you enjoy it!

Here’s what to do now:

1. Right click the “Download” link below and save the files to your computer.
If you are a Mac user, you may have to use “Control+Click”.

Right click here to download the free “Valentine’s Day on A Dime” e-book now!

2. Open the pdf file using the program of your choice.
(If you would like to download the free Adobe Reader, you can find it on Adobe’s web site here.)

Related Photos