Chicken Nest Box Givaway!

#links

This could really do any chickens wonders...

Savings Queen

Fun, Fast & Easy Ideas for Lunchbox Meals

Fun, Fast & Easy Ideas for Lunchbox Meals


Free Signature Generator

ATS Coupon Cash Cow - 8/30/10 | Attention Target Shoppers

ATS Coupon Cash Cow - 8/30/10 Attention Target Shoppers

Frugal Cooking of a Different Sort

While on a cross county trip as a child with no air conditioning and four siblings. We headed form the Sacramento Valley to Waco , Texas. It was a long, hot, miserable drive. Fighting with siblings and hearing folks tell us to knock it off was just how it was. So was cooking with the heat of the roaring Oldsmobile Wagon .(with wood paneling, of course). My parents cooked foil packs while driving to save money and time.


So, on my cross country trip with my kids we did this too. Our conditioning we broken and our budget is tight. So, cooking with the heat of the van engine sounded like my choice for real food and not fast food. I was not brave enough to start out with a cooked chicken or anything to crazy so simple hot dogs it was!



Wrap food in tinfoil nice and tight. I used three layers of of thick tin foil.




Place on a hot spot in your engine. Be extra careful not to place it near any moving parts or places that will effect the running of the actual car.




And, drive for an hour or two depending on what you are cooking. See these are done, the ends have even split open. This is something that you cannot control. You just have to play with it and make sure you are safe.

When it suits your fancy take out and eat! Yum.

While we were eating our hot engine cooked hot dogs, I also heated up some marshmallow for some smores. We stopped in a roadside park and played in a creek. This was so much fun and so so yummy for a road trip! Plus I created some fun memories for my children.

Hurricane's A Comin

Well, looks like we get to prepare for another Hurricane! Hurricane Alex is heading to Houston Texas. It is expected to hit this Thursday July 1St. We went through Hurricane Ike in September of 08. Pray for us and the saftey of every one around here. Should be a fun run !

....The Big Porduce Answer Is........

Click on this link to get the answer and details of how you can do it too!

Guess How Much All This Produce Cost?????

Can you guess how much all this produce cost me?? Make a post over here and see a complete list of purchases. I will tell you how I did it and show you how much it all cost me.

Savings Of Time; Liberating

Becoming Liberated
I have been doing some things to liberate myself.

• 
  
  The pile of trash in front of my house LIBERATING


• 
  
  The 27 inches of less hair on my head LIBERATING


• 
  
  The 250 friends that no longer exists on my Facebook account LIBERATING
  My four trips to the recycling center this week LIBERATING


• 
  
  The accompanying four trips to the donation drop off center LIBERATING
  
• Why I feel like I need to liberated my life:

In December I had heart surgery followed my open heart surgery on Jan 4Th of 2010. I found my self with a lot of time to think during the 45 day recovery.

I decided that my talk show was not going the places I want it to go. I found that all the "newer" coupon guru's annoy me to death. I do not enjoy seeing and hearing all the new folks toot their own horns. I feel like one good trip to the grocery store does not make you an expert at what you do. Sometime if feels like and insult to the ones who have been around forever. I have wondered a ton if what I do actually helps people.....

You know I am about all around frugality. Maybe I should have been the Frugal Queen. This frugal life of mine is not about just having good trips to the grocery store. It is way deeper than that. I have written at least two other articles about it. You can read them here and here.

I also love , love , love to cook. can, and all around any type of preserving food. I enjoy gardening, foraging, gleaning, dehydrating and storing foods. I am all about frugality and not just coupons. I sometimes feel like my priorities are out of order. I have found that I need to change some things.

My Facebook wall would feel up in 2 hours with over a thousand things. I could never find what I cared about. I needed to simplify my time on Facebook.

My hair was a disaster from surgery and medication. I needed to simplify my stress with it.

I am not enjoying the house I live in. So I am getting rid of crap. Just because their is a place to keep it, does not mean I need to. Also we are most likely moving this summer. I have been donating tons of stuff and throwing out the trash. I cannot believe some of the things I was holding onto. I sat down with each of my four children and helped them go through things one item at a time and decide what to get rid of.

One thing I cannot change is family. Sometimes it is ok and sometimes family is complicated. I have no idea how to fix any of it. I love them all but, sometime I do not like the things they do.

Thanks for listening (reading) I would love input. By doing these things I should be SAVING myself time.

Melissa

Sunday French Toast

This week my 12 year old daughter made french toast the way we love it. Check out the recipe here.

Thanks

Facebook

I am seriously considering getting off of facebook entirely. I think that more bad comes from it then good. I did help raise money CF this week. But, I also pissed off two family members and received numerous annoying request and coupons. I think that maybe FB is part of satin's way of integrating into our lives so simply that he comes like a thief in the night. I am wanting to get away from the Savings Queen moniker entirely. I am wondering if I can go back to the occasional email from family and my other blog? I had a life altering situation last January and I am looking at life differently. Who cares?

Who pays attention to my frugal lifestyle anyway?

Two Beautiful Little Girls

OK everyone this is serious. My dearest friend Alicia's granddaughter was born with Cystic Fibrosis and this last February my niece Joylianna was also born with Cystic Fibrosis. Alicia and her family are walking in the great strides walk for Cystic Fibrosis this Saturday and are $160.00 away from meeting their goal!!!... Please click on the link and donate anything you can. These two beautiful girls are worth it!!!
Nevaeh

Donate to Cystic Fibrosis here:

Joylianna

With all they With all the money we are saving we should all be financially able to donate at least $5.00 Please help these girls find a cure...Melissa

Breakfast Tradition

Our Sunday morning breakfast tradition is going so wonderfully. The kids and I have so much fun planning and preparing new dishes every Sunday. My sweet husband gets in on the action and the entire family enjoys it.

This week we made a simple and wonderful baked apple pancake. Check out the recipe here.

Save Money Buying Produce!

I just wanted to take a quick minute and share one of my secrets to savings a little money on produce...

I sometimes find (after doing all the math of course) that buying a big bag of something is a better price per pound. Just today I bought a 5lb bag of carrots for $2.99 That is .59c a pound verses the 1lb bags that were .79c !

Here is my trick. Have you ever thought to weigh those bags???

I have!!!

I weigh all sorts of stuff that is "bulk" I weighed 6 bags of carrots today before finding the one I wanted. The reason ?

They cannot possible get exact weight for everything. I found that most 5lb bags of carrots were actually less than 5lb I even found one that was a shocking 3.75lb !!! I found one that was actually over 5lb and snagged it up!

Try this trick with everything. Oranges, apples, potatoes, onions, carrots, and really anything that says a certain amount of pounds for X amount of dollars.

I think you will be surprised!

Wheat Update and Scotch Eggs

Here is this weeks yummy breakfast. I also did a post on hard white wheat with one of my favorite homemade bread recipes.

Scotch Eggs (link)

Breakfast Tradition

Check out the recipes for these amazing new little breakfast yummies over here at my Kids and Canning Jars blog. We are starting a Sunday morning tradition.

r

Kids And Canning Jars

So you might have noticed that I don't post so much any more. I am really not wanting to be one of those blogger that post up every free deal and coupon match up every day... However I do love you all and follow and use most of the deals and match ups out there. I am trying to redefine my blogging style. I am sharing with you today that I am going to spend some time of my family homestead blog. I started it almost a year ago and I have virtually no posts. I am really excited about it. I will cross link information. I Love the blogging world and find myself reading every day from the most amazing things. From personal stories to gardening tips!!! I am lucky to have found so many awesome blogs. I would really love some support over my other blog. I think some of you will be surprised at what you don't know about me and my family.

Thanks Y'all

Melissa
Savings Queen

Texas Blogging Gals

OK, so I am announcing that I am a part of the Texas Blogging Gals!!!!! So much fun.. There are over 220 of us now and we are growing. Check out this list of us Texas Gals that dig the blogging world!

My 36th Birthday!

Even though this was almost four months ago. This pic was taken of me and my honey on my 36th birthday 12 16 09 ! We had an awesome date with the Brown's!

Free Signature Generator

I am but a small drop in the bucket!

For me, my husband, and children, all that I do is worth it! But for you I question myself. There are so many of us Frugal Minded folks out there. I do it first for me and my family. I feel like my blog is my personal journal of how I do it. I enjoy my journey. I am not just about grocery coupons. That is a major part of it. But, it is so much deeper than that. I have long since giving up the idea that I will get some major sponsor that will pay me millions of dollars to spotlight them. I enjoy what I do. Some ideas are to precious to share while others are common knowledge. I work hard for a stay at home mom. I would say I am a working full time stay at home mom.

I have a large stockpile of food and work on my resources daily! I love to recycle and garden. Canning is a source of therapy for me and most people think I am nuts to do it. I make candy from scratch like popping a batch of store bought cookies in the oven is normal to you making things from scratch is normal to me. I am a homesteader. Most of you if not all of you don't know I have chickens. LIVE chickens!

Here is a list of the books I am reading that are on my nightstand.

• Flee Market Style


• The Backyard Homestead


• Home Preserving Made Easy


• The Self-Sufficient Life


• Square Feet Gardening


• Great America Home Baking


• Urban Farm


• Two Other Personal Friends Cookbooks

My kitchen counters consists of the following:

• Two Food Dehydrators


• Pressure Cooker


• Bread Machine


• Kitchen Aid


• Bag full of 15 pounds of gleaned pecans to put up


• bowl of fruit


• toaster


• and a book shelf full FULL of cookbooks

My office are has:

• two printers


• two tables


• hundreds of pounds of coupons


• I was not kidding about that


• organizers, containers, and small binders


• coupon policies


• bills, checkbooks, junk!

My bedroom:

• Let's just sum up and say my husband and I sleep in the "store" room!

Hope this helps you know a little more about how and why I am so frugal and deep minded about it. Have a great day!

Savings Queen

Are You Sick of Being Blasted About Money?

I think that I am qualified to talk about this. Anyone

who has money, needs money or uses money is!
We are being blasted about money! Everywhere you look. go , see and almost anyone you talk to is obsessed about money.

Did you see the cost of gas? Did you hear that ad on T.V. ? Have you tried the coupon for this restaurant? Come to this grocery store we are cheaper, we double coupons! We have discounts, sales and ad over"ites" !

So how do you sort through it all? I say just do what you used to do and add what you really need a little at a time. You do not have to let this world wide obsession confuse and stress you out. Ask yourself some key questions.

Do I/we really need this? Want it? Will we use it?

How about this question.....CAN I AFFORD IT? Even if it is on sale and much less expensive does not mean you should run out and purchase everything you need , want, or feel you might miss out on.

Being frugal is important in these economic times. But, being smart about frugality is equally important. Make wise decisions. Think about purchases. Think about it all the way down to the cost of one pound of cheese. Re-think absolutely everything! From interest rates, gas, and groceries , to the cost of entertainment, housing, and clothing.

These are just some thoughts this morning. I am sitting in a waiting room waiting for one of my kiddos to come out of surgery with the lobby t.v. on blasting me with money related issues.

Have a great day!

Savings Queen