Hello all! Last week was a jam-packed week of events and now we are embarking on a slower week. Yeah! Shali got her shots for her sports hernia and is a whole new girl. No pain and playing normal again! Another yeah!

On the downside, we had two different bugs come into the house, but they only affected the kid who came down with them so that is good. Although both kids felt free to infect their mother with the cold part of their bugs. Thank you to them!

We had our last basketball senior night and parent night with Shali. Makes me wonder where time really went! She will be 18 in March, graduate in May, and go to college in August. In case I forgot to share this news, she got ACCEPTED to UNI! She is thrilled beyond belief! This is the only college she looked at and the only one she wanted to go to.

In other news, I have been experimenting a lot at home. Some of it has been going well and all of it involves food. The goal is to knock the preservatives, dyes, and junk out of our diets. I have had a hard time getting rid of soda, but I try. We have been going the organic, all-natural, not created from factory route. I thought this would be a hard thing to do, but really it is not. Controlling the cost is, however, very difficult at times.

I have been experimenting with soaking grains because soaked grains are easier on the digestive system. We have tried soaked baked oatmeal, bread, and granola with excellent results. I thought maybe the kids would not be game for any of it, but they have been giving great reviews so far. I wish I could say that I am an expert, but I am not. Shaye at The Elliott Homestead has been an excellent resource so far and I would recommend checking out her recipes. I love them!

As for this week’s (and the week before) frugal activities, they have been somewhat slim. I had to spend a fair amount of money last weekend for things needed in the house that could not be made by us and to fix some things around the house. I also found a few good clearance deals too from after the holidays. I was a bit surprised by that.

This week’s (and the week before) frugal activities are:

1. I made soaked bread and granola this week. Delish!

2. I also made yogurt for the first time. The cost savings is immense on this. I made a batch for $3.60 that equaled three pints. Three pints in the store cost me $2.99-3.99 each.

3. I downloaded books again for free from Amazon for Kindle. I love it!

4. I did not eat out once for lunch this last week. Yeah me. I did have a co-worker who bought lunch one day, but that is a different story!

5. I found cards at Target for $1 each and gift bags 2/$1.00 so I stocked up. Also got cool looking band-aids for $1.00 a box and several items on clearance.

6. I spent time doing more decluttering and re-organizing. Who knew we had so much junk?!?!

7. I have been using up half bottles of shampoo for various things around the house and in the shower. I love to use up items like this so the money spent is not wasted.

8. I sold some books on Amazon and items on eBay. Extra money is always needed around here.

Like I said, not a lot but some things happen. I hope to have more to report to you in the next week!

Thanks for reading! Have a great day!

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