Envelope Budgeting! My Favorite!

(onegoodthingbyjillee.com)

LOVED these envelopes!  I'm totally going to print these out.  Envelopes are my favorite way to budget.  They really work!  Click the caption to see and print them out.

How to Budget in Crisis Mode

(adventuresincoupons.com)

This was such an excellent article, I had to share it. (Click on the caption to read it).  We all have times like these.  Here are some tips my family uses when we need to cut down expenses:

1. Stop eating out.

2.  Make our own bread

3. Shop on Craigslist, ebay, or at 2nd hand boutiques or stores

4. Do our own home/car repairs after watching it done on Youtube videos

5. Cut my family's hair myself after watching it done on Youtube videos

6.  Cook homemade meals from scratch. (no prepackaged/precooked foods).

7. Buy meat on sale and plan meals around what's on sale that week.

8. Eat oatmeal or toast instead of expensive cereal.

9. Use cloth diapers.

10. Visit relatives for vacations and eat picnic lunches rather than at restaurants on the way.

11. Track all spending on Mint.com.  (awesome free budgeting website).

What kinds of things do you do in crisis mode?  If you are serious about saving money....read these books:  The Tightwad Gazette Series.  They are my favorites!

How to Travel more Cheaply with Children

(www.familyvacationcritic.com/)

We love to make memories by traveling with our kids, but it can get expensive!  Here are some things we've done in the past to make traveling more cost friendly:

1. The most effective thing we do is avoid eating out.  We always bring our own sandwich fixings and things, or stop at a grocery store to feed the family more cheaply on the road.  This will bring down your bill a LOT!

2. Stay with family and friends.  Over the years we've met a lot of people and they've moved on to different places in the world.  We usually plan our vacations to visit them.  And we love it when they come and visit us in return!

3. Go camping!  So fun!  And the kids love to play in the lakes and streams all day, so they're very easy to entertain!

4. Visit all the free sites! Do your research!  There are always parks and museums and national parks that are really low cost or free.  We always visit these first.

5. Bring treats to the sites so you're not tempted to buy them there, and also bring your own lunch.

6.  If you must stay at a hotel, stay in one with free breakfast and a microwave/fridge, so you can cook meals there.  Or some even have kitchenettes.  It will save you more money in the long run.

7. Take the public transportation rather than a cab.

8. Use hotwire.com to get lower rates on hotels/travel/cars.

9. Travel off season to get better rates on hotels/condos etc...


Here are some more articles on traveling cheaply with a family:

Cheapfamilytraveltips.com

10 ways to find cheap flights

Rick Steve's thrifty tips

How to Save Money Raising a Family

I'm on vacation until next week, but in the meantime, I thought I'd share this article I loved with tons of ways to save money while raising a family! (Click the link below the picture) Have fun!

(Sarahtitus.com)

Save Money on School Clothes and Supplies

(everydayfamily.com)

To save money and fight the sense of entitlement that children get at the beginning of each school year (i.e. I HAVE to have all new clothes, or I HAVE to have the latest, cutest, most expensive binder etc...) we have developed some traditions that really work.

As the beginning of the school year approaches my kids all start begging to go shopping for new clothes.  I tell them, yes, we can do that, but first you have to inventory all the clothes that you have, and take out the clothes that are too small for you.  This works ONLY at this time of year...because they are so motivated by the thought of new school clothes that they are willing to work hard to make it happen.  So I just do my other projects and wait for them to clean out their closets.  Sometimes I have to wait longer than other times depending on the child's temperament.

When they have sorted, and counted all of their shirts, pants, and shoes, etc...we sit down and talk about what they might need for the school year.  Usually this is MUCH less than they thought.  So we have really saved money over the years doing it this way.  It also helps that they have sorted it themselves, (instead of me), so they can see with their own eyes that they don't need as much as they thought, and I don't have to convince them.)

(eagnews.com)

For school supplies, I have developed a system where previously on the last day of school I confiscate their backpacks with all their supplies and don't let them empty it.  Then when the beginning of the next school year rolls around, I just take out their old backpack and compare what is already in it to their school supply list.  (We like to get plastic folders that will last longer than one year).  We check things off and usually find that we don't have to buy as much as we thought.  This is really awesome because with five kids, little things add up to a lot.

Hope you are having fun getting ready for school!  We are having lots of pre-school excitement at our house!

My Favorite Recipe Book

(source: firstoptiononline.com)

You may have been wondering why I never post any fast recipes for busy families like I do on my writing blog.  Probably not, but I'm going to tell you anyway because it's going to CHANGE YOUR LIFE!!  And after I posted about how important family dinner is to families, I needed to give some practical advice on how to make that happen!

The reason I haven't been posting fast recipes for the busy mother is because I no longer NEED them.  Because I found the greatest recipe book on earth. (That may be the humorist exaggeration taking over in me, but it's how I feel.)  The book is called, Slow Cooker Revolution, by America's Test Kitchen.

I do not exaggerate when I say I cook out of this every day.  It is full of slow cooker recipes that do not look and taste like mush at the end of the day.  They use real ingredients and the spices they use give it amazing flavor.  My kids LOVE everything I have made from this book, as does my husband.  No, this is not an infomercial, this is just a mother saying to all of you people like me who struggle to get dinner on when we are so busy parenting and writing;  this will solve your problem!

I just put it on in the morning and go.  One less thing to worry about....and there are tons of recipes for every taste, which is why I can cook out of it every day.  You will also save money and increase your family's healthiness  by cooking things from scratch instead of relying on ready-made foods.   I hope it helps your family as much as it helped mine!

Happy parenting!  You'll have much more time to do it now!