MelissaStuff

LOL, I know what a lovely topic, right? If you want to read a bit about the potty training travails in our household - head over to the Plum District blog and check out my contribution to today's post!

I am asked to review more books than I can possibly read, let alone review. Now when I receive requests to review books that are a good fit for some of my friends and associates, I pass them on and have them review them in my place. This guest post is written by one of my wonderful friends who has a heart for the left behind, the forgotten and the broke. My name is Jamie Trisler and I am a seasoned foster parent. I have been licensed for well over 365 days and I have had upwards of more than one child in my home. Okay, so I am actually pretty new to the world of foster parenting. My family, which consists of me, my husband of 12 years, and our three biological children ages 8, 6, and 5, have only had one placement that only lasted a total of 12 days. In other words, we are very inexperienced! That is why, when Melissa offered me the opportunity to read The Supportive Foster Parent for a guest post on this blog I was really excited! I never pass up the opportunity to read a book th...

Finding ways to give back when you are on a tight budget can be tough. Whether you are currently saving up for something special or you need every penny to get by, finding the funds for yet another project can be difficult. What you may not realize is that everyone can give to charity, and every little bit will go toward helping others. If giving back to others is something you do frequently, you may feel guilty about not doing so in the future. On the other hand, maybe you’ve never given to charity and you would like to start, but you don’t know where these funds will come from. There is good news for you. There are many ways you can make a difference without having to spend much of your hard earned money. Donate your time Some charities would like nothing more than your time. Volunteers help some of them stay afloat, and most can’t afford to pay employees to do the work necessary to keep the charity running. Go to your local animal shelter for a few hours a week, help plan...

  Excited to find out that I was quoted in an article published today at SheKnows.com . If you’re into garage sales, you need to check it out. The article has some great tips for making the best of your garage sale time. “How to Navigate the Garage Sale Scene” by Selena Dehne

Today’s post is a guest post by Crystal at www.survivingateacherssalary.blogspot.com . Her husband is a teacher and she works hard to make the best use of his income. Teachers work very hard during the year, but when it comes to the holidays it seems our budgets are just stretched a little too tight to consider a gift for our child’s teacher. Many times they are the last ones on the list, but it’s not hard or expensive to show appreciation for their hard work. I’ve compiled a list of the best (and worst!) ideas for teachers for Christmas based on not only my husband’s opinion (an elementary teacher) but also from other teachers that read my blog. The two best (and inexpensive!) gift ideas to give to teachers is something handmade from the child, and also gift cards . Most teachers will treasure anything that your child has made them because it is a thoughtful gift that took time and effort, and that is what they are expending into our children. They like to know that they are t...

Today’s post is a guest post by Lisa E.   at Sweet as Sugar Cookies . Christmas will soon be upon us and, if you're like me, you're already thinking about all the people you want to give gifts to. The list is probably a little long - friends, teachers, neighbors, the mailman, the paperboy, etc., etc. But, let's face it, sometimes (okay, a lot of the time for me) it just isn't possible to buy gifts for every person who has touched your life. At the same time, you don't want to forget them, especially during this time of year. My solution? Bake up some cookies, wrap them up pretty, and then give like there's no tomorrow to as many people as you choose. I've even got a great recipe that you can use and it won't cost too much to make them because you only need four ingredients, that's right, I said four. Did I mention that they're chocolate too? Plus, you can add whatever you want to them to make endless types of cookies. It's a great way to ...

Originally posted on Saving Cents with Sense . . . I thought I would share this post for those of you that didn’t head over there to catch it.   My family has been living on a weekly $50 Grocery Budget since I quit my job in June of 2007. On that $50, we buy not only food, but hygiene items, medicine, diapers and formula. Our family has two adults and three boys – ages 4, 3, and 3 1/2 months. I don’t expect everyone to mirror our choices or our budget, but I thought I would share with you some of the ways that we are able to do this. Making Meals from What’s on Sale I know some people who meal plan and some who cook whatever sounds good, then they go out and buy what they need. That kills my budget. What our household does is take inventory of what we have and then make general plans for what we need to purchase. So, if we have lots of vegetables, I know I need to buy meat or desserts. And another week, we may have a bunch of frozen chicken but I buy noodles an...

Today, I guess posted for Saving with Cents who is attending Blogher. Wish I could fill her shoes at the convention, but since that wasn’t possible I did my best to fill in on her blog. The article was 10 Ways to Save on Your Grocery Budget . . .

I have a wonderful, crazy SIL that has journeyed through life with me for the last almost 8 years. Together we have trekked through many a store with our coupon books and number crunching brains . . . and together we have braved the new frontier (to us) of blogging in the last couple of years. She is guest posting today with an incredible post on couponing. We don’t have an HEB by us and she doesn’t have any of our local grocery stores in her hometown. I will cover them another time, but she has done an amazing job with Target, CVS, Walgreens and HEB so I wanted to share that with you. *********************************** So I'm gonna try my best to complete a series on how my family makes our income stretch by being frugal. (I like to call it 'Frugality'!) I pray that this is a blessing to all who join in on this Frugal Living Journey! First up: COUPONING! Let me start by saying I am NOT an expert.  I was taught by my sister-in-law Melissa and have picked up new tec...