MegfromAllAboutAppearances's comments

Practical Gifts for a Frugal Family Part 2 - Blog Entry

16 Nov 2008 06:24 PM

I think good gifts are things that help people do things for themselves easier. Personally, I like kitchen gadgets, so it's easy for me to imagine a lot of kitchen gadget gifts. For example, a bread machine or a soy milk maker for someone who drinks soy milk (and would be willing to make it themselves, of course). Those sort of things can often be picked up cheap second-hand and I think most frugal families wouldn't mind getting something second-hand (they might even be happy to know that you got a good deal).

Five Little Grocery Shopping Tricks: Hide and Seek - Blog Entry

06 Oct 2008 06:38 PM

I love that my husband makes our bread now since sometimes we'd have to go to several stores before finding the kind he likes! Shopping, in general, has been a lot easier for me since I started focusing on eating more whole foods and making things ourself. For the most part, I just hit the perimeter. My shopping list looks something like: veggies, fruit, cheese, milk, meat, eggs (though we'll no longer need the eggs once our two urban hens start laying). We do sometimes need other stuff, of course, but it usually takes a while before we run out of oil, spices, tea, dried beans, flour, etc.

Another things that helps is that the grocery store we now go to is a lot smaller than most supermarkets around here. It's a locally-owned store and somehow they have more things I need/want than the large chain stores (and cheaper, too). If I could get up early enough, I'd go to the Saturday morning farmers market, but I'm a night owl.

Meals to Make from Bread - Blog Entry

14 Sep 2008 08:54 AM

Nope, not really sure. I've scanned through some of the many how-to's online, but I'll still be glued to the laptop the entire time. Doesn't seem too complicated, though.

Meals to Make from Bread - Blog Entry

10 Sep 2008 01:46 AM

Have you tried making mozzarella? My husband and I want to try to in the near future.

Frugal Food Options - Blog Entry

03 Sep 2008 10:07 AM

I agree with you on the slow cooker, especially! You can cook a lot of stuff with very, very little prep, especially if you simplify recipes. Then you can have leftovers for a week, or freeze leftovers for even later. My husband and I are just about to chow down on some slow-cooked ribs that were waaaay too easy to make.

I'm actually a big fan of kitchen appliances. We have a slow cooker, a steamer, a George Forman grill, a bread machine, a toaster oven, and of course, a microwave. We don't have to have them, but they do make certain types of cooking a lot easier since I have the attention span of a goldfish and usually forget about anything I leave on the stove. Fortunately, the other night it was just chickpeas cooking on low heat. Made great hummus, lol.

I'd also recommend a good microwave cookbook, or to search online for stuff that's easy to microwave like couscous and eggplant.

Really, cooking doesn't have to be a lot of work. If you don't want to put in the time for a huge, elaborate meal, you eat simpler stuff that's more set-n-forget. A few minutes prep, then you can do other stuff like chores or watch t.v. or both. And at least they have each other! Maybe they can cook together!

Meals to Make from Bread - Blog Entry

28 Aug 2008 10:16 PM

Those are some really yummy ideas! Will have to keep the bread machine cranking away ; )

One of my fave meals right now is tomato sandwiches with homemade wheat bread, organic tomatoes, and grape seed oil vegenaise. It's healthy, tasty, and surprisingly cheap.

Preschoolers and ADHD Research - Blog Entry

17 Aug 2008 10:21 AM

Awwwww, thanks, Mary! But I can't say it was 'on my own'. My mom was definitely there for me, as were the teachers who didn't mind if I zoned out with a book while they taught so long as I did great work. And I know I'm blessed with a pretty sharp mind that can handle the multitasking (most of the time at least). So, I know that my situation is unique just like everyone else has a unique situation with unique needs.

It's hard to know how things might have been different. I think they'd have had a hard time convincing my mom that I had a learning disability regardless and I don't think we could have justified the expense of meds then.

One thing is for sure, though, she'd have never let me use it as an excuse. She could be tough on me when it came to grades because she always expected me to do my best in school. She's always wanted a good life for me, including going to college, and she knew that I'd need good scholarships to go to college. Something must have worked because I only got one C ever -- taking high school math middle school, and I had straight A's through high school and college.

It was a lot of pressure, but looking back, I really do appreciate that my mom never gave me the option to not succeed and we're both big fans of each other ; ) I look around me at a lot of my friends and I see a lot of really fortunate people making excuse after excuse, while other friends of mine who have faced major hurdles in life push ahead no matter what happens.

"No Pooing" Method - Blog Entry

17 Aug 2008 10:00 AM

Well, if any of you are in my area, please feel free to come smell my place and vouch for my kitties. The people who have made the comments about the cats are generally friends of mine who do NOT have cats. But hey, maybe our cats are just special. Also, I can't vouch for cats who stay outdoors.

I can't vouch for dogs or ferrets, though. I've had both and they definitely smelled. Never again!

Frugal in the City - Blog Entry

16 Aug 2008 07:57 PM

I love where my husband and I live because it's a rather small city in a rural area. We get the best of both worlds: the cost of living is reasonable and we can have a decent yard for gardening, but we have a lot of shops and services here that we didn't have such easy access to when we were both growing up in the country.

For those that aren't so lucky, though, there are definitely things that they can still do -- and I love that you've pointed out some.

If I might add, I hang my clothes indoors on their hangers on a pole over the dryer. Works just fine! I don't use fabric softener either, so if you're looking to save money that may be something to at least try.

Growing stuff in the city is a bit harder if you don't have land. We're lucky to have a third of an acre here even though we're in a (rather rural/small) city. However, for those living in more cramped quarters, you might want to see if there is a community garden nearby or if one could be started (along those lines, I really liked the book Food Not Lawns). You can also try growing things even from containers on balconies. And the more adventurous might also want to check out what edible 'weeds' there are available in the area. You might be surprised!

Preschoolers and ADHD Research - Blog Entry

14 Aug 2008 05:54 PM

ADD is an interesting topic for me. I wasn't diagnosed with ADD till college when I realized that I almost certainly had it and that it was making it hard for me to concentrate in lecture classes. Before then, I had always coped by just reading up on the subject enough to pass tests without any problems (even though I'd zone out in class). In fact, I was a straight A student. I chose to go on medication as needed to get me through certain college classes and other times when I've needed to be able to concentrate. For the most part, though, I'm just careful to tell people around me that I have ADD so they don't think I'm ignoring them if I seem off in my own little world.

I don't see ADD as a disability per se. Growing up, I had all the signs but because I had a high IQ people around me like my mom always thought that my ability to multi-task and be creative was a great gift -- so the idea that I had a "learning disability" didn't really cross their minds. If I had problems with school I was just "bored" because I was "too smart". And because of that, perhaps, I still value the way my brain works even if it's different than others'.

I hate to try to diagnose others, but I definitely see it as a trait that runs in my family and it's interesting to see how it is seen in my relatives. The guys in my family tend to be trouble makers, lol. I've heard it said that they're "too smart for their own good". And if some of them were going to school now, they'd probably be diagnosed with ADD. I still don't know if mine would be caught, though. Girls are still very under-diagnosed I believe. And I don't know if I would have wanted mine to be caught earlier. Sure, it would have helped me understand myself better, but I was lucky and got to find my own ways to cope with most situations.