60-day returns • free shipping on USA orders $129+
Stretching the Food Dollar
- This topic has 106 replies, 26 voices, and was last updated 14 years, 3 months ago by
.
- Posts
Hi all,
I haven’t read through all the posts here, but I will try to. I have a good book compiled from various homeschool parents, with lots of great ideas to save money.
I would love to contribute some of the things we do, and find out where we can improve!
Gaeleen
Do the soap nuts work in hard water? I was making my own liquid soap before we moved and had no problems, but when we moved a year ago my laundry has not been the same and I had to go back to comercial stuff. I would love to go back to a natural or homemade soap, but so far everything I’ve tried has not cleaned the laundry in the really hard water we have here. We are in military housing so I don’t want to go through the process of a water softner system.
What do you use rose water for?
Ruth
6boys1girl- My first thought for you is that you can make your boys jeans into skirts for your daughter and also pillowcases and sheets make great jammies and play dresses. Skirt are super easy. You just cut it, sew the sides, hem the bottom and put elastic in the top. Check youtube for sewing videos. Also most blogs have great pictures and tutorials. Google search skirt or dress or whatever you want to make and put tutorial, so toddler dress tutorial.
Ruth- I tried soap nuts here in our very hard water and they did not seem to work at all. That has been about 3 years now so maybe I was not using them right or enough of them? i heard you need to use more for hard water and thye may not last as long. I do have luck with making my soap though. I plan to try the soap nuts again soon as making my own is time consuming!
Just in case you don’t go back to page 5, my post from last night was just freed from the spam tyrant! I gave multiple links to co-op distributors and a couple of others that I would hate for ya’ll to miss.
So pop back to page 5 and there have I appeared and I hope it is helpful. BTW, the Heavenly Homemakers has gluten-free recipes, too.
Rachel
Oh, the West Ladies can be found at Vision Forum as The Homestead Blessings:http://www.visionforum.com/browse/product/?productid=43835&cid=414
and the soap nuts are on sale at the site given previously. Haven’t compared with other prices elsewhere, just thought you’d like to know.https://store.naturoli.com/home.php?cat=291
Rachel
Here is a Q & A page I found for those of you curious about soap nuts.
http://www.soapnuts.pro/soap-nuts-faqs/
Maybe this can help some!
I only just got away to check on the site here, and I cannot tell you how gratified I am that we are all trying to be better moms and stewards – I things work better when we have others to encourage us and come up with ideas. I love the sewing ideas, and maybe the blog can have a section with those helps as well. I think as long as it is simple and civil and based on the thrifty talents we can all offer it could be a huge blessing to many – and in return we are all encouraged and know we are not alone with our worries about making ends meet. Bless Lindsey for offering to set it up and I have told her I will help with content and moderating if necessary – so now we just have to be patient and set it up. Because the aim of the site is to stretch our dollars I was thinking the name may need to really make that clear – Lindsey already suggested one are there any other ideas to make it clear what we are about? Linda
Here’s a link to the West ladies DVD’s I was referring to. Just had several be returned to my lending library today. I have a bad back today so it may be a good time to pull up a DVD.
The West Ladies. I don’t own their dvd’s, but we got them through Netflix. They are great!
Also, watch their music video, Green Beans in the Garden. Very cute!
I’m very excited about the blog – thanks everyone!
Linda,
About those bugs….have you tried “companion planting” with your vegetable garden yet? The basic concept is to plant more than one kind of vegetable (or flowers with vegetables) together – of course when pairing up a person wants to make sure the vegetables are compatible. The best resource I have ever found on this subject is the Vegetable Gardener’s Bible by Ed Smith. It was just reprinted in a 10th anniversary edition, by Storey Books I think. Anyway, if you are able to pair up your vegetables it might help out with some of those pesty bugs. Radishes as a “trap” crop for cabbage family plants came to mind off the top of my head. Also, I think because the US is a big country (geographically speaking) the bug population, climate and specific gardening challenges can vary quite a bit depending on where you live. I personally have enjoyed gardening more up north (even with winter) than in the south. But that’s just me.We also have clay soil, and it sure isn’t as easy! I had a sandy soil previously and literally moved about a mile up onto a hill with clay, clay and more clay. I’ve only just started looking at what types of vegetables grow well in clay soil. And I was surprised that potatoes were on the list for heavy soil. Well, I grew an amazing patch of weeds this year (morning sickness) but the small amount of red potatoes we planted produced far beyond my expectations. And the pumpkins survived and produced, a bit less, but enough considering the neglect.
You might also consider checking to see if the state university has an extension office. I believe most state universities do. If so, there should be some ag resources through their office. They might be able to provide more specific information for whatever region you live. Hope something here helps!
How about “Relearning What Our Grandmothers Knew”? Making the Money Last to the End of the Month. Dollars and Old-Fashioned Sense. Thrifty Renaissance. Frugal Families. SCM ‘Saves’ the Day. A Penny Saved. Keeping Costs Down. Stretching Your Dollar. Making Ends Meets. Um, that’s all I can think of.
Heather
Well, I’m only up to page 3 on this thread, but I just wanted to say that it is really helping me out with A LOT of things that I had been wanting to know. We have been trying so hard to save money, cut costs, AND eat the things that are good for us. We have many different health issues in our home and things like cutting out processed foods, dyes, pre-prepared foods, etc. Have become something that I feel very compelled towards. We have started down this road but do not have things like a grain mill or a garden for that matter. We rent and our landlord will not let us have a garden, not even in the garden beds that are already here! Go figure. There are not even any plants in them! HAHA!
. Anyway, there are so many things that I want to start doing and I just have no idea where to start in a lot of areas. This thread has been wonderful to read and I am looking forward to reading the rest! One thing that I do that really stretches our meals has been to make large pots of soups and stews out of meat bones. And if I make a spaghetti sauce I always make a large pot of the sauce and then turn that sauce into something like a chilli by adding the extra spices and the beans. Then we can usually make that pot last for several meals as well. It makes one package of meat last for quite a while!
Blessings,
Miranda
Great ideas for titles, thanks Heather – good ideas. Also thanks for the garden hints, I did companion plant like I did in England but things are different here – so I did get a book on the subject which is US based and I hope that helps next year. Blessings to all. Linda
Thanks so much Lindsey and Linda for being willing to help get the ball rolling on this. =) This is such an exciting idea, and I’m loving the idea of having a “one-stop” sort of place to find this sort of information rather than having to hunt all over the internet when my computer time is already limited. I also second the idea of having an area for sewing/repurposing things too, that is one thing I’ve had a lot of fun with over the past year or 2, as I also have a very tall, thin, daughter who really can’t wear off-the-rack clothes. Where we live we have abundant second-hand stores and I’ve had fun going and buying adult sized clothing that I’ve just liked for the fabric, and cutting them down to fit her, or using the fabric to make simple pairs of pants. It’s really become my top “hobby” (which I figure is justifiable because it is useful!)
Anyhow, all that to say that this is a really exciting idea and I’m looking forward to it!
Jen
. Anyway, there are so many things that I want to start doing and I just have no idea where to start in a lot of areas. This thread has been wonderful to read and I am looking forward to reading the rest! 
- The topic ‘Stretching the Food Dollar’ is closed to new replies.