Online money making

So I don't have tons of time to be online and research all the different companies that you can get free samples from, or earn money from - but I will occasionally share the best resources that I have found so far.

One thing that I take part in is Inbox Dollars. You have to have $30 to cash out (they will send you a check) and I haven't gotten to that level yet. I have heard pretty good thins about them overall, and their program is easy to take part in. You get $.02 for every email you read from them. You confirm reading the email by following a link at the bottom of it.

They also have surveys and other ways to build up the account, which I sometimes partake in too.

If you are interested in joining, follow this banner!

Beans for beginners

I was talking with a friend and fellow vegetarian the other day about some of our favorite recipes. I believe that beans are a wonderful staple for every one's diet but is even more true of vegetarians and vegans.

Beans are good for us, filling, and cheap. Dry beans are cheaper and more pure than what is canned. No don't get me wrong, I'm do eat canned food but when I feel something is better for me and cheaper I love it.

The biggest problem is most beans need to be soaked and have long cooking times. My solution? My trusty crock pot. I rinse the beans in cool water, dump them into the crock pot with enough water to cover them by a few inches. Cut the crock pot on low and walk away.

Beans can be added to nearly any dish to fill it out or make it more hardy. They also accept most flavorings really well, so experimentation is key.

I'm in love

So there has been someone special in my life for a few months now.

I'm in love with my bread machine. (Maybe addicted is a more accurate word - do you think there is a 12 step program somewhere?)

I am shocked at how simple it is to use and clean. It has saved lots of money and created a healthy eating style too. It is easier to avoid snack cakes filled with preservatives and more when you know you can have a piece warm homemade bread with butter and jam.

Homemade croutons are so easy and yummy with real bread too. Using the dough cycle for pastry dough, pizza dough and even veggie burgers is just wonderful.

I found a my machine at Wal-Mart for about $50. It also has a jam cycle which I am looking forward to using in the near future - I'll have to report back on that one.

If you really love bread, investing in a bread machine might be for you. It doesn't put of a lot of heat, especially compared to our oven so it is wonderful to use in the summer. And in the winter - well when isn't homemade bread good?

For Thanksgiving we used the bread to make homemade dressing. It was wonderful!

If you get a machine, don't be discouraged if some recipes don't turn out right. I've had a couple duds, but also many wonderful loaves.

Like the commercial says - the most expensive bottled water is...

If you watch TV as much as I do, you might have noticed a commercial talking about how nearly all laundry detergents are water down. Now the point of the commercial is that their brand is more concentrated - the moral that we should learn is that making your own soap is cheap and easy.

I want to say that I love being frugal but if something takes forever I'm less likely to do it. I will think, "Hey! That's a great idea," but won't actually follow through. I can handle making laundry soap.

We already bought those big containers of liquid laundry detergent - so we kept the last one aft it was empty. There are lots of specific recipes and ideas that are helpful when you are just starting out, this site and this site are good starting points.

This is roughly the way we do it:
To make the process easier we have a glass container that always has a bar of soap sitting in water. It will slowly dissolve on its own so if we need to make dish or laundry soap on the run it comes together a lot easier.

The soap making ingredients are a bar of soap, washing soda (can find it in most grocery stores), borax and water. We do about 1/4 bar of soap, 4+ quarts of warm water, 1/2 of washing soda and 1/2 cup of borax. That's it. Pour it a container and use 1/2 cup or so per load of clothes.
This is what we have been using for about 3 months. It is a lot cheaper, and the clothes are cleaning up well. What more could you ask for?

Yummy goodness

So as the weather is a little cooler - even for Florida. And the AC is turned off so the oven starts to get more use. It is just hard to even consider turning that hot box on when it is over 80 degrees outside - and humid.

Today has been a cool day and a wonderful day to turn on the oven instead of turning on a heater to get the damp chill out. During the week I don't tend to cook much, but the weekends carry the chance to get lost in a bit of kitchen experimentation.

What was on the menu today? These muffins! The recipe is wonderful and they really aren't that bad for you. I made them last weekend and added some dried blueberries that I happened to have on hand. Really wonderful. This time I added some chocolate and coconut. Don't let the fact that it is vegan scare you off - I'm a vegetarian myself but I used regular butter instead of soy butter it mentions. The true plus is how sweet they are without a lot of sugar. The best tip to share is that these are better if you can bear to let them cool. The warm muffins are a little more bland and stick their muffin paper. Somehow they are 20 times better after they cool.

We also made a batch of corn muffins. Kind of sweet corn muffins, but they turned out well.

And since the oven was already on, I threw in a butternut squash to roast. Although, I'm not quite sure what I am going to do with it yet. Better to cook it while the oven was on for something else - than to have to turn it on just to roast the one squash.

That has WHAT in it?

I think one of the simplest things to downsize your life style, or live more frugally is to look at nearly everything and ask, "Can I make that?"

From food, to cleaning supplies, and home decor projects it is pretty cool what we can do ourselves. It is like there has been this giant disconnect with what we use in our daily lives and how it is made. With that said, not everything is worth the time, effort, and money to make on your own.

Last week, I flipped over a bottle of special teeth whitening mouth wash to read the ingredients. Wow! The first ingredients listed? Water. Peroxide. Then a bunch of scary looking chemicals. So why not occasionally use peroxide instead? It is cheaper, and I actually know what is in it compared to my mouth wash with 15+ compounds that I can't pronounce, let alone explain what they are.

The last couple weeks I have been trying to look at everything sideways. What can I downsize? What would be easy to make? Better to make?

The coolest thing about looking at everything like this? It is almost anyways more environmentally friendly. Making my own tea instead of buying sodas...? That is a lot less trash in this world. Using my Brita filter...? Saved my lots of money on those plastic water bottles and WAY less trash from my household.

Full disclosure: I am working towards lessening my paper towel addiction. Wish me luck.

First of many..

Hi!

I am looking forward to sharing crafts, frugal ideas, and more!

Like always, I am working on several crafts at once so details about those will be coming soon. What else is in the near future? Posts about my new bread machine, my foray into making my own dish soap/laundry soap, and an ode to Halloween.

I will always welcome comments!
Savvy