Not only is it fast-paced, but we are met with the current financial struggles and the necessity of belts tightening more to survive.

This is so super critical to learn and then to try and participate. Very few people have been turned off by this method of purchasing once they try it. BUT….there is a small learning curve to try for the first time and many people feel overwhelmed by pushing off trying and then once they do…they regret not starting sooner! So take a few minutes to read this and understand and just try it!

It’s important to note, it’s weird and it will take a step that is not the norm. But that’s what makes it so, so great!

In a nutshell:

Have you ever thought about purchasing meat and food directly from food producers and farmers?

Well, sure…pretty much everyone would want to do this for MANY reasons, but there are MANY blockers, which is why it is not common practice. And it’s not just your whole/half cow, but pretty much every food and whomever is producing it….

1. You can go direct to many farmers, which is cool, but it’s not always the best price and the farmer has more work with dealing with dozens of individual families. So it becomes an issue of wanting to eat healthy and support local. But not always money-saving or convenient.
2. In order to get other meats and foods from other producers, you have to buy truckloads of food to “go direct” which is clearly cost and convenience prohibitive for families or small groups.

Well, what if these 2 blockers plus the logistical, storage, financial and legal barriers were already taken care of and you just received the benefit of going direct…but it’s done with a community of families that are like you and want good, healthier, fresher, better food for wholesale pricing, saving 20-75% on each type of food as the “norm” for most of your food?

Guess what?!? It has happened and it’s here ready to help families all across Utah, Idaho and Wyoming currently (with more communities being added monthly!! If you are interested in heading up one of those communities, read this page)

Thanks to the emergence of the innovative and unique FoodandMeatCoop.com, accessing delicious, fresh, and budget-friendly food has become easier than ever. If you’re a savvy shopper looking to satisfy your taste buds while saving money, read on to discover how FoodandMeatCoop.com can revolutionize your food ordering experience in 2023.

1. Unbeatable Prices: When it comes to affordability, FoodandMeatCoop.com has set a new standard in the industry. By harnessing the power of collective buying, this online platform connects consumers directly with local farmers, ranchers, and suppliers, eliminating unnecessary middlemen and overhead costs. As a result, you can enjoy substantial savings on a wide range of food items, including the all-time favorite: ground beef!
2. Quality You Can Trust: While affordability is essential, compromising on quality is not an option. FoodandMeatCoop.com understands this concern and ensures that all products offered on their platform meet stringent quality standards. Through a meticulous vetting process, they partner with reputable suppliers who prioritize sustainable farming practices, animal welfare, and the use of natural ingredients. With FoodandMeatCoop.com, you can savor every bite, knowing that you’re consuming nutritious and ethically-sourced food. Read the Reviews on Google HERE.
3. A Diverse Selection: FoodandMeatCoop.com goes beyond just ground beef, offering an extensive selection of food items to cater to all tastes and preferences. From succulent steaks and juicy poultry to fresh produce, dairy products, and pantry staples, their platform has everything you need to create mouthwatering meals. Whether you’re planning a backyard barbecue, a family dinner, or a special occasion, FoodandMeatCoop.com has got you covered with its diverse range of affordable and high-quality options.
4. Convenient Ordering Process: Gone are the days of navigating crowded grocery store aisles or waiting in long checkout lines. With FoodandMeatCoop.com, ordering food is a breeze. Simply visit their user-friendly website, browse through the extensive product catalog, and select the items you desire. With just a few clicks, your order will be processed, and you can sit back and relax while your fresh, affordable, and top-notch food is delivered right to your doorstep.
5. Community Support and Collaboration: FoodandMeatCoop.com takes pride in fostering a sense of community and collaboration among its members. By joining their platform, you become part of a network of like-minded individuals who value sustainable food systems, support local farmers, and enjoy the benefits of collective buying power. Through their online forums and events, you can connect with others, exchange recipes and tips, and contribute to building a more resilient and conscious food community.

In 2023, FoodandMeatCoop.com has emerged as the go-to platform for individuals in Utah, Idaho and Wyoming seeking affordable, high-quality food options. With unbeatable prices, a diverse selection of products, and a commitment to quality and sustainability, they have revolutionized the way people order food. So why settle for overpriced and mediocre options when you can access delicious, fresh, and affordable food right from the comfort of your own home? Join FoodandMeatCoop.com today and experience the joy of eating well while saving money!

We have not only purchased food this way for YEARS but we also run the FoodandMeatCoop.com in Utah to bring food to the thousands of households that support the efforts and receive the massive benefits.

Food has now become a social experiment that has turned into a life-changing buying experience for health, budget and overall happiness for thousands of families! I LOVEEEEEE this project. So, so much!

Again, if FoodandMeatCoop.com is not in your area yet, you can help bring the mission and project to your area! We have everything in place to expand, we just need the community and the person/couple/family that will be the “head” of that project in their community. So that missing piece may be YOU! Read and apply to bring it to you HERE.

Looking for an incredible gift idea that you can still get in time for Christmas (if you order by 12/14)? Well, whether baby to adult, you can make a personalized book for your child, family member, best friend or whomever and get $15 off from Wonderbly!

What is Wonderbly? 

I made 3 personalized books for my three youngest kids, and I made them easily from my phone in just a few minutes while I was in my car waiting to pickup someone! That is how user-friendly and easy it was for me to create this one-of-a-kind gift. 

And I am so excited about it! I know my three youngest kids will get a kick out of the adventure books. 

I came across it because it was an ad on my Facebook wall. And the ad claimed that these “Waldo-type” personalized adventure books will entertain for hours and minimize screen time!

That had me sold!! 

And I also love the idea of my kids character being not only the subject of the book, but a seek and find situation. So it actually checked off many of my “wants” boxes. I cannot wait to gift this to them and see their faces!! 

So, I had to share this with you, especially since there is only 1-day left for guaranteed Christmas delivery. 

Wonderbly Discount, Coupon Codes and Deals! 

Wonderbly seems to have some nice discounts! For example, you can use this link to get $15 off your first order! That is an awesome deal! 

In addition, depending on when you go to the website, you will see coupon codes listed at the top of the website like 25% off and more. For the most current coupon code, see their homepage. 

To get $15 off, check out this deal HERE!

We want to share how to get the Back To The Roots Grow Kits that include lavender, tomatoes, mushrooms and more for CHEAP from Walmart right now with the use of the super savings app Ibotta!

First, what is Ibotta?

For starters, it is a discount shopping app. But it’s probably better than you expect in case your heart sank just a bit (from the many attempts at using a cumbersome money-saving app).

This one is super slick.

It’s a rebate app. I know…hang with me.

Easier than expected. Simply select the rebates before you shop at the store you intend to shop at.

Then shop and purchase those products.

When you get home, scan your receipt and then scan the barcodes of the products that qualify and you will receive the rebate value in your Ibotta app wallet. You can cash that out at any time via direct deposit or paypal.

SUPER EASY. I PROMISE!

Ibotta has been around long enough that they get some very valuable rebates. We get food for free all of the time.

But this one I want to highlight is a nice rebate that probably won’t last long. Ibotta’s last until the claimed number is completed. It is generally a generous amount of time. But I can’t guarantee it.

Ibotta is so amazing for our family that it fits into my “ways I make thousands of dollars of extra income as a stay at home mom” type of amazing.

$7- $10 rebates on the Back To Roots At Home Planters

Right now, if you head to Walmart you can get some super amazing rebates on the following grow kits:

• Succulent Kit for $9.93 – receive a $7 rebate = $2.93 after app rebate
• Windowsill Tomato Planter for $19.93 – receive a $10 rebate = $9.93 after app rebate
• Organic Mushroom Grow Kit for $19.93 – receive a $10 rebate = $9.93 after app rebate
• Organic Lavender Grow Kit for $19.93 – receive a $10 rebate = $9.93 after app rebate
• Organic Kids Terrarium Grow Kit (microgreens) for $9.93 – receive a $7 rebate = $2.93 after app rebate

Spend $79.65 for all of the kits (and grow some of your own food indoors) and receive $44 in rebates.

This is a GREAT rebate opportunity! It has already become a really fun homeschool activity in our home for our kids as well. We used free printables online to teach the 5 year old about germination, parts of a plant, and growing his own food (the others have done things like this multiple times, but they enjoyed planting again). We also watched time-lapse videos on youtube of seeds germinating and growing! So we had fun with this rebate as an additional educational lesson!

Here’s how it works:

• Download the Ibotta app HERE – use referral code “abqiri” for rebates on the Back to the Roots kits.
• Once downloaded, activate your app and then click on Walmart and search for the “back to roots” products and add all of them to your rebate list. Adding them does not commit you in any way to purchasing them, so I add a lot of rebates for anything I might be interested in!

• You will notice that this rebate is ONLY applicable at Walmart. checking out.
• Once you have checked all of the offers, then hunt for these items around Walmart and add them to your literal cart.

• While at the store, checkout like normal and pay like normal and BE SURE TO GET A PAPER RECEIPT!

Here’s where you get the full, easy rebate!

• When you get home, pull out that receipt. Open your Ibotta app and click on “redeem offers.”
• Then you will select the store (Walmart).
• You will use the camera on your phone to scan the barcode on the bottom of your receipt.

• Then the eligible products on your receipt will pop up to show available for redeeming.
• Then you just hit the “collect” button and you are DONE!

I also did a bunch of other rebates so I had over $58 in rebates.

How do I get paid from Ibotta?

Ok, so you went through the steps above, but as you will notice, your money hangs out in the Ibotta app until you “cash out.” You can connect your bank account for direct deposit, or you can do what we do, which is connect your PayPal account. Once you do that, you can cash out at any time.

Why are they giving a huge rebate on this grow kits?

Well, Ibotta is a marketing platform for brands.

Instead of investing in commercials and print ads, these brands find that connecting with customers directly by spending their marketing dollars on giving you a rebate for trying their foods produces much greater marketing benefits and better use of their marketing budgets.

Most of the rebates on there, you just simply click to redeem, but some, you may have to watch a 10-15 second ad, or even view a picture ad. It’s becoming the most popular way for healthier brands, or new lines of food under well-known brands to get the word out about their new product/line.

Here’s what happens when I use Ibotta normally!

I have used Ibotta for about 7 years. I LOVE it! Over 7 years, I have made thousands. This is around $80-100 per month.

As an example, in this one shopping trip, I got a $58 rebate ($44 for the back to the roots, but the rest was other groceries)

I primarily get hooked on the new, organic and health foods because at this time of our life being debt-free for a good decade, we DO spend more on groceries than we did when we started paying off our debts. Ibotta has a ton of high value of like $2-$5 each product.

As an interesting side note – our grocery budget when it was the two of us with 2 toddlers 14 years ago when I was an extreme couponer was $35 per week.

In 2020, our grocery budget with 3 teens and 3 kids, attempting to eat healthier, organic products is was $200 per week. In January 2021, we now have 4 teens and 2 younger boys growing fast and I am trying to eat Keto and so we increased our budget to $250. Ibotta allows us to keep it this low for a family of 8 of trying to eat organic, natural and whole food as much as possible. I LOVE IT. But they have foods of ALL kinds. I just love it takes the sting out of the more expensive foods overall.

We primarily by our meat and produce through co-ops like the FoodandMeatCoop.com. The rest of the foods come from the grocery or health food store.

Anyway, using Ibotta is a blessing on the non-produce and meat purchases (again, those are made through our local co-op). So besides the amazing rebates mentioned here, you really should use it regularly at your favorite grocery stores!

Are you ready to now plan and incorporate another aspect of an active, healthy lifestyle for weight-loss, fitness and health success?  We’ve talked about the tips, considerations and questions to ask yourself to determine the best form of exercise and the best diet or eating plan to ensure you the best possible scenario to help you lose weight.

But there is another thing that needs to be considered – the extra tools and equipment that you may (or may not) need. Again, each of us is built differently, function differently and have many factors that will make or break us in our health goal success! But you do need to consider whether extra tools are needed!

This is a subject that is way too broad and can be a book series most likely and so we want to open this up for discussion; plus we would love to have you share your tools that have helped to aide in making this process easier and more successful, or at least helped to keep on track or lose a little more, find a little more motivation and such!

That is part of your assignment for preparing for a successful 90-day challenge! Do you have everything you want to use? Have you budgeted and planned for a few expenses that may be involved to get what you need to be successful. The great news is that you probably have many alternatives to equipment and tools found in your home!

In fact, let us share some ideas on what you can use “instead of” to save money on your workouts – first, working out at home saves you the cost of a gym membership, but I also know that for some “paying for a gym membership” is motivating enough to do it…so in that case, if you have the money set aside I would say go for it! It’s the cost of getting healthy which will save you money in the long run.

For popular equipment, you can make these “thrifty” swaps:

1. Soup Cans/Misc. Bottles – use like you would hand weights! If you need more weight, find shampoo/conditioner bottles or other bigger bottles. You can also use water bottles and fill them with sand or other materials to make them heavier. You could eventually “graduate” to half filled and fully filled gallon size bottles.

2.  Towels – Build, tone and strengthen your shoulders with a towel. To do this: Bring arms over your head and pull each end of the towel and pull from for resistance. You can also use your towel to stretch and give you a little more resistance and stretch!

3. Robe Ties or Nylons – as a replacement to resistance bands. The robe ties will give more resistance!

4. Pillows –  Make an incline for a makeshift workout benche to do dumbell bench press exercises. These work even for inclined ab crunches.

5. Paper towel roll, pool noodle, etc. – place on the floor and jump over in mogul like fashion. Start with something smaller like the paper towel roll and move up from there. You can also use a pool noodle for push ups!

6. Chair – great for toning triceps with the tricep dips and inclined push ups!

7. Stairs – both for running up and down and strengthening calf muscles with toe lifts.

8. Wall – holding squats (pretending like you are sitting in a chair and standing with back against wall) to tone upper legs.

9. Paper Plate and Hardwood/Pergo/laminate floor – these work well for gliders replacements for “sliding” on the floor for the sliding ab and leg workouts. 

10. Basketball or soccer ball – as a replacement for medicine ball routines and a soft kids ball for thigh and leg squeezes.

11. PVC Pipe or broom handle – For the balancing exercises and to make a more challenging lunge and presses workout! For more advanced, you can fill the PVC pipe with sand or water for added weight and advanced balancing exercises as the weight of the sand/water sloshing around give greater challenge.

12. Your baby/toddler! That 15-30lb. blessing can have a fun time working out with you! It’s true! They can often “disrupt” your routine, but how about including them instead? They think it’s play time and you are getting a fantastic workout! Youtube is a great place to find workouts with baby.

There’s a dozen ideas with items you have at home to make for a thrifty routine. Don’t forget – we mentioned that YouTube is an incredible, unending source of “free” workouts of all types and times – even if you have little time, just do a 5-minute workout video from YouTube – this is much better than nothing!

Now that I’ve shared those “free” pieces of equipment, you can purchase many helpful tools for a small cost. I have been getting these slowly over the past couple of months to have “real” equipment on hand.

The VERY first thing that I feel everyone should have (the others below are nice to have, but with the tips above, not necessary) is a food scale! I tried the first week or so without one and I just wasn’t getting things measured out correctly. I invested a whole $15 into this nice food scale and I saw the weight fall off even faster; in some cases I was shocked how “little of a serving I could have” but in other cases I was “pleasantly surprised”! So if you don’t think you need one, you may want to think again! I got mine on Amazon with free shipping HERE.

Now on with other items that I have found helpful the past 30-days! Here’s what I have been using:

– Push Up Bars – My wrists hurt when I just use the ground for pushups.  I’ve found these bars to be a life wrist-saver!

– Over the Door Pull Up Bars – I use a chair at first to help “spot me” through the first pullups.  Its great to see my back strength improve from this one simple exercise.

– Heart Rate Monitor – Out of all the equipment here (except the food scale) this is probably my biggest recommendation.  I have come to really understand how important it is to exercise in the right heart-rate zone.  If your heart rate is too high then you’re not going to get the results you are looking for – no matter how much you sweat!  We’ll be sharing another article soon on the important of heart-rate in your exercise – its just so critical! But another thing I like about this particular heart rate monitor is that it also tracks your calories, which then in turn allows you to put that into myfitnesspal.com or other method you are using to track calories. And it does this without expensive fitness equipment! That is a big plus in my book!

– Hand weights/dumbell set – Although you can use the soup cans mentioned above, its sometimes nice to have a set of barbells at your fingertips.

– Resistance Bands – Many of those workout videos on YouTube use the resistance band as a great way to strength train at home.

– Mat – It took me just one day to do crunches on my hard floor to realize I needed to go find our yoga mats.  OUCH!

We hope this list helped provide you some additional ideas on how you can make your exercise routine work for you at your home.  No matter what you choose – the important thing is to do it!  We would love to have you share with us – what have you decided to do?  Are you ready to get started?!

Need to catch up?  Come join us on this challenge from the very beginning by clicking on the 90-Day Fitness and Health Challenge and sign up to start receiving your automated challenge from the very beginning!

One final thing…we also have a private Facebook Group where you can engage in discussions, receive encouragement and talk to others that are participating in this challenge for more ideas! Head to the Fitness and Health Challenge with The Thrifty Couple Facebook Page HERE and ask to join us there! You can also invite friends and spouses too!

Disclaimer: We are not licensed health professionals.  We are only a couple that are excited to offer you a place where you can find encouragement and resources to help you in your quest for health, weight loss and fitness.  Any tips we share should not be construed as medical advice but is only there to let you know of other options for your health.  If you have questions or before starting any weight loss or fitness challenge please make sure to talk to your doctor.

Today’s gardening tip comes from both mine and my friends’ garden. My friend Debbie has a beautiful, lush, happy growing garden. She’s the friend that shared her June Bugs elimination tips with all of us.

Well, she’s growing a garden in the humid and hot southeast part of the country and we’re growing a garden in the hot, dry, arid, clay dirt of the Rocky Mountain northwest desert. Well, we both have some great tips and experiences growing gardens in opposite sides of the country.

But one thing that is universal across the country are those weeds! Hers may be different than ours, but weeds are weeds and weeds are annoying. I literally spent hours at the beginning of the season to un-choke my raspberries, blackberries, grapes and goji berries from the grips of those flowering weeds called Morning Glories. I can tell you, that I fought with them every week for the first several weeks. It’s crazy how incredibly fast they grow and love to wrap their vines around my food and choke it to death. I have spent many “glorious mornings” fighting them off.

A few years ago, I had taken care of the weed problem in our garden area where our garden boxes lie. At that time, I had bought the landscape fabric as I got a pretty decent price on it and double layered it. We then covered it in landscape bark.

I would NOT recommend using the black plastic (or any plastic really) for weed barrier for gardens. You don’t want standing water. Fabric allows the water to escape and not settle. But landscape fabric is not cheap. It has done well for about 4 years now with a minimal weed issue, so I really can’t complain a lot.

Well, my berry patches had overgrown weeds when the season started. It was so much work to get them under control. They themselves had over grown quite a bit too.  Once I picked all of the weeds, I didn’t want them to come back. So I made an alternative weed barrier plan that didn’t cost me a lot! In fact, the actual weed barrier didn’t cost me a thing!

This year, we decided to lay down cardboard between the berry bushes. We have lots of boxes because much of our shopping is done online in this day and age. We recycle them in many ways, but this is yet just one more “free” way to use them.

We actually wetted our cardboard hand to make it easier to rip and place where we wanted it (and lots of tight spaces between bushes.

We overlapped quite a bit and made a couple of layers. Then we wetted it again to make it “stick” to the ground and shape and form to the ground without edges of the cardboard sticking up.

To make a finished look,  our local Walmart sells bags of 2 cubic feet of bark for $2.50. All we needed for this berry patch was 2 bags of bark – costing $5 total for a DIY weed barrier with a nice landscaping appeal and finish.

I am now working on my strawberry patch, which has also gotten out of control. I like having my plants about a foot apart from each other. We’ve been having issues with strawberry shoots all over the place, along with weeds. So I am planning to use the same method on my strawberry patch to control the shoots and the weeds with the sturdiness of the cardboard and have a nice looking and well functioning, healthy strawberry patch.

My friend down in Georgia, she also did something similar. We use sq. foot gardening, which I love, but she grows right into the ground. Which is great too if you have the right soil. I really like her layout and method of controlling her weeds for her in-ground vegetable gardens.

This is what she has done.

She has put cardboard on her pathways and newspaper around her plants.

The newspaper will be a better option for actual vegetables. The berries are hardy enough that cardboard is fine around them, but newspaper is a much better alternative around vegetable plants. She then filled in the ground with hay (we have seen others use pine needles too if you live somewhere that you can collect a vast amount) in the actual garden.

And then she too, finished the main path with the bark for a more aesthetically pleasing look!

We have used newspaper a lot in the past for weed barrier and it works great, but doesn’t last as long as cardboard. If you use newspaper, we would recommend several layers (like 4-6). We don’t get the newspaper delivered anymore, however you can still get ahold of newspaper for gardening. There are so many places to pick up used newspaper (neighbors, recycling bins, etc.) but if you just simply cannot get ahold of free newspaper, you can pick up the newspaper end rolls at your local newspaper for a pretty inexpensive price. This will end up being a much more affordable alternative than the fabric barrier and more affordable and better than the garden plastic.

Here’s to happy growing, weed-free, frugal gardens!

How do you control the weeds in your garden?

If you, a family member, or someone you know has a wart or two, you might want to pass along a tip for warts. Warts are awful, ugly, and just downright annoying! Plus, if you are not careful and don’t take care of it, they will spread!

We had an issue with a wart and I had heard about this trick from many of my natural living friends as well as from my essential oils encyclopedia.

So I decided to give it a whirl before going to more extreme methods of wart removal.  All I did was apply oregano oil with a q-tip to the bottom of my toddler’s foot (where the wart was) for a few days.

My friends had tried and recommended Oregano oil for treating warts and appreciated this approach instead of the many other methods…freezing, meds, etc.

So when one of my own was faced with it, I really wanted to give this a try and I am so happy that I did! It was painless, natural, and effective!

I now share this with everyone that I know, so I thought “why haven’t I told everyone on our site?!?”

Well….. now I have told you

I did want to make a couple of notes:

• I can’t be certain, but there may be a varying degree of success based on the essential oils that you use.  There are different qualities and grades.  As I have stated, I use the more affordable essential oils (found HERE).  Remember that for every 15ml of oil, you get 300 drops.  I only applied 1 drop 3 times = a very cheap solution in the end compared to many other options! In addition, Oregano oil can be used for so much more too!
• If you or your “patient” have sensitive skin, you will want to dilute the oil with 1 part essential oil and 1 part carrier oil (like coconut oil).
• I applied the oil when he was in bed as it was on the bottom of his foot and I didn’t want him “walking” it off.  It had a chance to soak in all night and do its job!

Since this time, I have also tried it on another wart on a different child, same amazing results, she can’t even remember having a wart! It really works!

Now, if I have ever seen one beginning to form, I will jump on this method for a natural and affordable solution!

However, let’s chat about the awesome things happening in 2020. And that’s why we are happy to share an easy, fast way to a free Thanksgiving dinner and also one that will be easier to prepare on Turkey Day!

And…if you already have your meal planned, do this to get a free Thanksgiving dinner that you can donate to someone in need!

In fact, there’s no strings attached, there’s nothing fishy or funny, it’s just using a simple, proven, effective and easy grocery shopping app.

That app is called Ibotta.

Have you heard of Ibotta?!? It’s really one of those easy peasy, no ifs, ands or buts (well, slightly I will get into that), kind of way to shop.

Essentially, it makes the life of the ‘ol time extreme couponer 10 times easier! I was one of those for a long time. I pretty much stopped clipping coupons in 2015 and I just use Ibotta and the Smiths (Kroger) store app. I will sometimes have a paper coupon, but really, I have been paperless couponer for 5 years, which has saved me loads of time (time is money…right!?!) and headache.

Ibotta is so amazing for our family that it fits into my “ways I make thousands of dollars of extra income as a stay at home mom” type of amazing.

So one with the turkey show…it’s time for FREE FOOD EASILY!

Ibotta is offering a 100% rebate on a complete Thanksgiving Dinner when you shop using their app.

The app is 100% free to use.

Here’s how it works:

• Download the Ibotta app HERE – use referral code “abqiri” for the FREE Thanksgiving Dinner.
• Once downloaded, activate your app and then find the promotional banner at the top for the FREE Thanksgiving dinner. Click on it.

• You will notice that his FREE Thanksgiving Dinner is ONLY applicable at Walmart. Once you click on it, you will see a list of foods that you NEED to select BEFORE checking out.
• So just click on each of those 9 items:

• Once you have checked all of the offers, then hunt for these items around Walmart and add them to your literal cart.
• It is VERY important that you read the details and fine print to get the EXACT items. Some are “any variety” and some are “exact.” So compare what you read to what you purchase.
• Here’s why… (this is where the no if’s, ands and buts…sort of applies). I have used Ibotta for years. And I try to pay attention, but I still get some of the wrong items. And this shopping trip was not an exception for me. I tried to buy the EXACT items. I was paying attention for the most part. But I messed up on two items and did not get my rebate. So PAY BETTER ATTENTION THAN ME!
• While at the store, checkout like normal and pay like normal and BE SURE TO GET A PAPER RECEIPT!

Here’s where you get the full, easy rebate!

• When you get home, pull out that receipt. Open your Ibotta app and click on “redeem offers.”
• Then you will select the store (Walmart).
• You will use the camera on your phone to scan the barcode on the bottom of your receipt.

• Then the eligible products on your receipt will pop up to show available for redeeming.

• Then you just hit the “collect” button and you are DONE!

Ok, so here’s where I made a mistake…there were 9 items to get a full thanksgiving dinner. Well, my qualified purchases only show 7 of those items. Some of the items on the list are “any variety” and some are the exact match. I thought I was paying better attention. But I assumed the Great Value green beans can be any variety – so I only paid attention to size, not variety. I was wrong. It was the EXACT one. Same on the 2-liter Coke. It had to be Coke ONLY not any 2-liter Coke product ( got diet Coke…whoops).

So I should have had an additional $0.94 and $1.74 for the beans and coke, but I bought the wrong ones. So although a little under $3 less of an expected rebate, I still got $17.78 for everything else! And that little turkey breast roast is perfect for a small family.

We are donating our meal to a family in need in our area.

How do I get paid from Ibotta?

Ok, so you went through the steps above, but as you will notice, your money hangs out in the Ibotta app until you “cash out.” You can connect your bank account for direct deposit, or you can do what we do, which is connect your PayPal account. Once you do that, you can cash out at any time.

Why are they giving a FREE Thanksgiving Dinner?

Well, Ibotta is a marketing platform for food brands.

Instead of investing in commercials and print ads, these brands find that connecting with customers directly by spending their marketing dollars on giving you a rebate for trying their foods produces much greater marketing benefits and better use of their marketing budgets.

Most of the rebates on there, you just simply click to redeem, but some, you may have to watch a 10-15 second ad, or even view a picture ad. It’s becoming the most popular way for healthier brands, or new lines of food under well-known brands to get the word out about their new product/line.

So it’s really like a direct reward instead of mindlessly watching ads between shows.

I know it works because I have purchased items I wouldn’t have normally, but because I was getting a $2 rebate, I tried the product, loved it and now buy regularly, which probably would have taken a while with traditional marketing.

In this case, at the top of the Free Thanksgiving Dinner, it shows it is sponsored by Campbell’s and Coca-Cola collectively. As you can see, besides the butterball turkey, the rest of the items are Walmart brand, EXCEPT the cream of mushroom soup and the Coke – both the name brand of the sponsoring brand.

In any regard, EVERYONE should do this and if you already have your holiday meal planned – DONATE THE FOOD and then it’s just your time and bit of small effort to bless someone else when you too are on a budget! Don’t let a fooditunity pass by as someone can use it.

Here’s what happens when I use Ibotta normally!

I have used Ibotta for about 6 years. I LOVE it! Over 6 years, I have made thousands.

On the SAME DAY as this FREE Thanksgiving dinner shopping trip at Walmart, I did my large monthly shopping trip for our family of 8 at Smiths (Kroger) right before.

You can see a sweet picture of what a month’s worth of groceries for a family of 8 (with 3…almost 4 teens) looks like down below. Most of this food will be gone in 2 weeks, but the second trip of the month is much smaller. We usually have one giant trip and then a couple of smaller trips to fill in what is needed.

But for this giant trip…. I not only saved with the in-store sales and the coupons on the store app, but I also came home and scanned my receipt for the Ibotta rebates and got over $79.80 in rebates from this one trip.

You can see that I also got bonuses for how much I redeemed already this month, making my savings between the bonuses, Walmart’s Free Thanksgiving meal and my normal trip around $100 already.

Here’s what that trip looked like in the back of our vehicle!

I use it off and on as some months I get really busy that I don’t even check the app, but the moral of the overall story is use it!

Monkey bread is all the rage! In fact, our Pizza Monkey Bread is one of our all-time, top, fan favorite recipes on our site. We get requests for monkey bread ideas a lot! So, we wanted to share a fun and unique Monkey Bread idea – Peanut Butter and Jelly!

That means… Monkey bread for lunch…snack…dessert…breakfast…appetizer…an all-around monkey bread!

Similar to how we shared the Pizza Monkey Bread, we will share some additional tips for quick, healthier and Gluten-Free options so your options open even wider! See those tips at the bottom.

Doesn’t this look and sound just amazing!?! Peanut butter and jelly monkey bread! My mouth is salivating and I can’t wait to make it again.

Here’s how to make Peanut Butter and Jelly Monkey Bread!

Ingredients needed for Peanut Butter and Jelly Monkey Bread:

• 2 Cans of Pillsbury biscuits or homemade dough (made from this Focaccia Bread Recipe)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 TBSP cinnamon
• 1 cup butter melted
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 cup of creamy peanut butter
• Ziploc bag for coating the biscuit pieces.
• Jar of jelly to melt, drizzle (the berry ones are best, but grape is a good frugal option and is great too)

Directions forPeanut Butter and Jelly Monkey Bread :

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees and coat bundt cake pan with pam spray. Set aside.
• Cut the biscuit into 8 pieces and place aside.

• In a small bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon and mix. set aside.
• Take each piece of the cut dough and flatten out so that you can add in a dollop of peanut butter.

• Pinch the dough closed and roll into a ball and set aside until all pieces are done.
• Roll the balls of peanut butter dough in the cinnamon and sugar mixture.

• Spray pan with pam spray until coated.
• Put the biscuits into the pan.
• In a small sauce pan, combine the butter and brown sugar. mix until melted and combined.
• Pour into pan with biscuits.
• Bake in the oven for 40 minutes.
• When the timer goes off, pull it out. The center will still be jiggly.
• Let sit for 5 minutes before place the serving plate on top of the pan and flipping the pan.
• Lightly tap the sides of the pan to loosen the monkey bread.
• Once the monkey bread is out and onto the plate, drizzle the jelly on top.
• Enjoy!

Make it quicker:

• Use canned biscuits and cut each biscuit into 6-8 pieces and roll in the balls.
• Add the balls of peanut butter and dough into the ziplock bag with the sugar and cinnamon. Shake bag until all pieces are coated. This is faster, but do it gently!

Make it healthier:

• Use a whole wheat dough from scratch or from cans.
• Add ground flax seeds in your mixing process.
• Use freshly ground peanut butter with no added sugar and a low sugar jelly.

Make it gluten-free:

• Use an all-purpose gluten-free flour to make a dough (and you can use this homemade gluten-free mix recipe)

Also, here’s a printable recipe for you!

See more recipes in our Recipe Art Gallery

Be sure to also see the Pull Apart Pizza Monkey Bread too!

It seems a little early to be talking about Christmas. I mean at this point, we are at the beginning of October and fall really just started, just barely sipping our hot cider and settling into a warmer start to the autumn season.

However, you need a Christmas Savings Plan to have a debt-free Christmas. 

This has been one of the more popular Christmas savings plans throughout the years that we have created for our readers and so we wanted to remind you to dust it off and get going (or print more for free!). 

Talking about Christmas seems to put big damper on the rest of the summer. It’s a killjoy! You know the feeling when you walk into the stores and they start putting Christmas stuff out in October, many, including us, seem to stop and say “SERIOUSLY!”

I was in Hobby Lobby the end of July, and they already had Christmas stuff up! It does make sense for a craft store, because being a hobbyist myself, you need a few months to make your projects so you can start selling them during the October and November craft shows. But it is still sorta depressing to talk about, see it and have it floating around you in the middle of summer.

But the truth is…if we DON’T talk about it now, if we don’t think about it now and if we don’t plan for it now, it will be a killjoy during Christmas time.

We have spent the last 13 Christmases debt-free. Basically, ever since we have had children, our Christmases have been debt-free. How ironic is that? When it was just the two of us, we went in debt for Christmas. Then we had cute little human beings, a time when many generally spoil and go “all-out.” Yes, we did it backwards.

How we went deep in debt for Christmas early in our marriage

In fact, I remember our second Christmas together very well. We lived a few hours from a big city. We decided that it would be really fun to stay in a downtown hotel and shop the expensive downtown mall and specialty shops for the Black Friday weekend.

After celebrating Thanksgiving with extended family, we hopped in a car and drove 3-hours south and stayed downtown for a couple of nights and shopped for two-days. We had no budget, we had no plan, we just wanted to buy gifts for each other, friends and family in the big city. And that’s what we did. As long as we could pull-out a credit card that was accepted, it was all good.

We honestly, to this day, don’t know how much we spent that Christmas or the four Christmases we had without kids. But we can tell you, those debt-filled Christmases caused us so much headache, trials, stress and frustration for many of the following years as we were still paying the bills from the previous Christmas as the next Christmas season hit.

It wasn’t until we realized that we were going to be parents that the reality of our situation really hit us.

How we have debt-free Christmases

From that point forward, we were determined to have a debt-free Christmas. And for those few Christmases where we were paying off our $108K of consumer debts, they were very low-spending Christmases, but very blessed because they were debt-free, they were not as focused on the material possessions and a time of renewal and understanding about the season.

And even today, being debt-free and heading into our 6th Christmas without any debts at all, we still avoid Christmas debt and plan. We actually save a little from the first paychecks of the year. It’s easier for us to save a little starting January 1, then saving a lot more towards the end of the year.

However, no matter where you are in your Christmas savings – whether you have a nice pocket of funds or haven’t started at all – this is where we want to help!

No matter how close we are to Christmas, you can follow the 3-6-9 plan!

What is the 3-6-9 plan?

It stands for $300, $600 or $900. When we were in debt and working hard to pay it off, we had $300 Christmases. We can’t say it was the easiest to fit in presents, food, special events and all for $300, but it also made the challenge a fun game. We also had little kids at the time.

The THREE biggest things that helped us stay in this $300 budget with kids was the fact that we started shopping in August – October. Last year’s toys and the toys would be on major markdowns and clearances. Why? The short story is that the stores (like Toys R Us) are clearing shelves and inventory to make room for the “hottest toys of the season.”

We go into more detail about this in this article titled: How To Save Money on School Clothes and Christmas Presents Right Now.

The second thing that is huge for us are garage sales, classifieds and used items. We don’t personally see any issue with gifting second-hand items as gifts. If it is something they want, something they would use, why pay an arm and a leg for a new label or packaging? Our children receive VERY nice gifts that we found at garage sales and in the classifieds online and groups on Facebook.

You can read more on this topic here (click the picture to be taken to the article):

The third thing is making handmade gifts, especially for extended family like grandparents, parents, each other, friends, etc. We have many handmade gift ideas on our site in our DIY section, as well as on our Handmade Gifts Board on Pinterest.

A tip if you currently have $0.00 in Christmas Fund

If you haven’t started at all, consider having a penniless week! Thousands of our readers have participated in these penniless weeks with us. This is a “jumpstart” savings and a great way to boost your Christmas fund FAST! It’s also a fun challenge!

At the end of 7-days, most everyone has had $200-$350 extra! And anyone can do this for 7-days! It may be more difficult for some, but it’s a great activity and character building opportunity for all!

Read about how the Penniless Challenge works below:

Time to start the savings!

Finally, it’s time to start saving! Whether you want an additional $300, $600 or $900 for Christmas, we have a weekly savings plan for you!

And this plan can be adjusted, meaning if one week the most you can contribute is $17, the GREAT! If you shoot for $17, but can actually contribute $34 – or even $50 – that’s GREAT! It’s made to be flexible and at the minimum, provide you with $300 extra dollars to add to whatever you may have!

How this works

Simply print off this savings plan sheet. Starting this week, save either $17, $34 or $50.

Select which one you will be putting into Christmas savings by circling the amounts. Select multiples if you have the extra money to contribute, or use the second space to write in a different amount than the $17, $34, $50. Then write your current total on the last line with the circled amounts and any extra amount you put in.

This is a fun, visual way to see what you have and what you can spend to have a debt-free Christmas.

Print off your 3-6-9 Christmas Savings Plan below:

<== Download your printable 3-6-9 Christmas Savings Plan HERE

Additional Tips for a Debt-Free Christmas

Here’s some additional articles to help and encourage you to have a nice, debt-free Christmas (just click on the image to be taken to the article):

Finally, we have a 17-page Christmas Planner to help you intentionally decide where you $300, $600 or $900 Christmas savings will be spent, along with planning your time during the Christmas season. You need to grab your Christmas planners to have a full plan to save time, money and sanity!

But you may be asking what my family’s Carnival Cruise has to do with the title of this post and how I made $200 in 48-hours?

Well, it’s because I bought Carnival Stock 2 days ago.

>>>Grab your FREE stock by downloading the Robinhood app for FREE HERE<<<

Why did I buy Carnival Stock?

Let me explain. In the process of searching for cruise deals and extra ways to save on a Carnival Cruise, I came across the fact that if you own 100 shares of stock in Carnival, you get on-board perks as a cruiser (in my case, just this one cruise, I will get $100 to spend on board- I’m going to the spa!).

So I thought about it and began researching Carnival Stocks. I am not anywhere close to a gambler and I have dabbled in investing in the stock market in small amounts here and there and have come out ahead over time, but it’s not an area that I have a ton of experience or expertise yet. It primarily started with Bitcoin a few years ago. I bought a small amount low, it shot up SUPER high and then dropped again. It’s slightly ahead of where I started, but we are taking a low investment, so it’s not much to write home about.

But I have invested in penny stocks when an extra $10, $50 or even $100 is laying around. In my portfolio, I am ahead.

I normally invest in a bull market, but the BEAR market NOW is GREAT!

However, I have invested in a bull market when things were stable and I invest small amounts in MANY things and diversify and take the recommended stocks my investing apps suggest because I am cautious and safe. I really haven’t singled out a company or stock and sought that out directly, except for bitcoin a few years back.

My apps have been right on where to invest my penny stocks as it steadily and slowly grows in that bull market (which is why I love the apps that hold your hand).

But I did something I do against my nature. Invest in a bear market, singling out a specific company’s stock – reading little to no articles about “what to invest in right now” in companies that have taken a major dip and see what happens.

I will tell you, I have invested more in the past 3 months than I do over a few year time period. Again, I prefer to put my money in the bank or a CD and let it grow in hopes of investing in real estate, which is typically far less of a gamble.

But I have pulled it elsewhere to invest extra now.

Instead of sharing my entire portfolio with you, I want to isolate my best performing stocks RIGHT NOW.

For me, that is Carnival Cruise Lines (CCL). I needed 100 shares to get the shareholder perks as a passenger, so I started with 100 shares. I waited too long though as I was hesitant and it was $11ish when I first researched it a couple of weeks ago. But I wanted to watch it for a week. It shot up to $15 and I decided to jump in.

I attempted to invest $1500 in Carnival using limit orders, but it kept climbing. After three days of raising my limit order by $0.50 each day, I went $1 above and bought at $16.60 finally. I was kicking myself for not just purchasing in the $11 range the week before (it dropped all the way down to $7.80 in March when shutdowns happened…but I can’t dwell on that because it was too volatile for my comfort, not knowing what was going to happen).

However, my $1600 purchase went through and in 48-hours, it grew by $2 per share. So I have effectively earned $200 on a single stock in 48-hours. Considering Carnival’s stocks were stably in the $50’s before this pandemic, I feel very confident that this cruise line will make it through this pandemic (and have since read articles that Carnival is likely the safest of all cruise lines to make it through) and in 2 years, my stocks will be much higher and a GREAT place to hold for a while.

It may be small-fry overall, but it’s also a HUGE opportunity for many!

In the world of stocks and investors, I realize this is small-fry and this is still minimal investment for the pros at only $1600, but for a middle-class, frugal mom of 6 kids that is not a gambler, this is great for me! In fact, Alex, who has a bigger portfolio than me overall has decided to invest in 100 shares in Carnival TODAY (as we speak or as I write actually) so he can grow faster and get his carnival benefits too (guess it will be a couple’s trip to the spa with our free onboard credits!)!

BEST places to invest in NOW

I have since read articles that Cruise Lines and Airlines are a very good place to invest in right now. VERY GOOD. Even hotel chains. Anything with travel will be likely a GREAT option if they were stable before this, they likely will bounce back. Sure, some will be better than others and this is where some research needs to come in to decide because the face of travel will change from the impact of COVID-19, but it will come back.

I believe it will take about 18-24 months for Carnival’s stock to get back to pre-COVID growth, and for me, that means thousands in returns on my initial $1600 investment. Carnival also is projected to have the lowest impact on the cruise line industry, making it the likely the most stable in a bear market.

I anticipate that we will see mergers and acquisitions within the travel industry. So buying the top dog is likely the best choice.

With that in mind and my story thus far of a $200 return in 48-hours on just ONE of my stocks, I wanted to share what my kids have done since March. Remember the article we posted towards the beginning of the shutdown regarding financial moves to make during the pandemic? Investing was one. Our kids did just that.

What our kids did in March!

Now my kids, with kids being kids, have been a little more aggressive since the pandemic has hit. They tested the waters first and well kids are less afraid than adults, right?!? I have 6 kids. They all invested in March several hundred dollars each in airlines and Tesla. We allowed them to pull the money out of their savings accounts and decide where to invest in the bear market. Two of my kids did research and advised the other kids.

Every.single.one of them has nearly doubled their money in a few months. I have been watching their accounts. Each kid invested in a different airline so they can compare who’s is doing better.

United is doing very well.

Delta is doing very well.

Southwest is doing very well.

Oh….and Tesla has remained pretty stable through this pandemic, but when successful SpaceX launch happened a few days ago, Tesla’s stock also launched in growth as part of the Musk family empire.

What I am doing next!

These three have been the best. I am personally going to invest much more in the travel industry after I get done sharing this with you today (maybe more Carnival, but also in airlines and hotel chains). Sure, I could have nearly doubled my money if I started in March, but I anticipate that investing now is still massively better than nothing and the fruits of that to show in not only a few days, but become even more profitable in the coming weeks, months and years.

This bear market will likely turn around soon. Become a penny investor and immediately download the Robinhood app, claim your free stock(around $5 value) to invest and then put in $10, $50, $100, $1,000 or more and take advantage of this now.

How to take advantage of this Bear Market TODAY and Profit TOMORROW

We have recommended a number of apps in the past. But the app we have grown to love using and had much more experience with during this pandemic is Robinhood. There are additional benefits to also downloading the other apps listed in this article, but we are going to encourage you to use Robinhood for this purposes. We will walk you through how to maximize your savings and steps. First, Robinhood does not charge any fees to buy! So let’s get you started.

(Alex just downloaded Robinhood on his phone today and went through this again. I did it a year ago.)

Grab a FREE $5 Stock with this Promotion!

1. Download Robinhood app with THIS LINK as it will give you a FREE stock!
2. You will need to link up your bank account to be able to make a purchase. You can transfer any amount, but if it’s over $1,000, only the first $1,000 will be available to use TODAY. You can transfer any amount to buy, even $10. Just do something to take advantage of this!
3. We recommend popular travel brands. You can search for any company’s stock and see their history. The ones that took a huge dip and are on the upswing right now are likely going to be profitable in a short amount of time and much more profitable in 18-24 months. You can invest in anything, I am just telling you what we have personally experienced as a family in the past few months.
4. If you want to have more than $1,000 available today to invest, when you download the Robinhood App, you will see that they have a paid membership for $5 per month. But there is a 30-day trial. If you start this trial, you can have up to $5,000 available today to invest and then you can cancel at any time.

There you have it…BTW- Alex has now finished his transaction of 100 Carnival shares and has already made $27 on his $1800 today. Obviously you can’t base it off of an hour time-frame as that can change the next hour, but the point is these travel companies are trending up FAST!

Many years ago, we shared a frugal tip about how we regrow many veggies in water in our kitchen windowsill. We shared this tip to help the grocery budget and to be a little more frugal. This was especially useful for those that want to buy and eat organic as you can buy once and eat organic many times over. 

“This was especially useful for those that want to buy and eat organic as you can buy once and eat organic many times over.” 

Well, this was nearly 10 years ago and many of our readers over the years have shared how they have loved the tip of regrowing veggies, especially the top three most popular of lettuce, green onions and celery. 

So that brings us to 2020 – that’s right, if you are reading in “real time” 2020, then we feel for you right now. We are on day #41 of quarantine at the time of writing this post and we are updating popular topics that we have shared over the past 10 years to save money but that are becoming especially useful for a time of quarantine and surviving 2020! 

And if you are reading this outside of 2020 sometime in the future, we assume that life is back to normal and people are gathering information for smart money and frugal moves or even being better prepared for a future pandemic. 

Either way…WELCOME to our little online home and we are looking forward to sharing this cool trick with you about regrowing veggies in water in your kitchen to help with the grocery budget, help you survive a quarantine with fresh veggies or to just be less wasteful as a general living practice. 

This is also great for any emergency! You often hear about the 72-hour kits (oh yeah, we had the biggest recorded earthquake in the Salt Lake City metropolis in Utah during the 2020 pandemic too, so that just added insult to injury) that many will make to prepare for a natural disaster emergency. But what’s cool is if there is a natural disaster (that’s not the cool part) is that you can raid your fridge immediately and pull out these common veggies (lettuce, green onions and celery) and start regrowing to last the 72-hours to 2-weeks that you may need emergency supply. Another great reason to learn and keep this trick in your back pocket! 

Remember that our rule is to have an emergency supply for a minimum of 3 months (who knew how important this would become when we said it 10 years ago!).  Again the reasons why are listed in our Be Prepared post HERE.

We are going to primarily focus on the topic of re-growing veggies in this article, but to have an “emergency supply” of fresh veggies, but there are three categories that you can utilize at the same time to have a good supply:

1. Regrow Fresh Veggies
2. Grow and indoor herb garden (this are relatively quick growing with consumable produce in 14 to 60 days)
3. Grow sprouts or microgreens and have fresh veggies in 3-5 days. We talk about that here. 

As a reminder, we are going to encourage you to have a “usable now” food storage and be rotating through your bulk supply and learning to use your bulk foods a few times per week (more on all of this later, but having a practical usable bulk food supply is the key to both a healthy frugality and an emergency food supply!) but having proper food storage, even in small spaces where no storage really exists.

So, hopefully you won’t feel overwhelmed talking about this like we have.  It’s funny, we have been living, doing and preparing like this for a long time now and the whole operation runs so smoothly on a weekly basis here, but then trying to write it all down to share is like “whoa, where do we start!?!”  

It will be fun, practical, thrifty, and provide some security in food preparedness that is used and rotated on a normal basis so that it is not a burden financially, time wise or health wise.

So…. here we go!

#1  – Re-Grow Common Veggies in Your Kitchen with Veggie Scraps

1. Always have a fresh supply of produce so that you can have a few days worth in an emergency.  These are something that you are eating always anyway, but making sure you are stocked and rotating through the oldest first is a good way to have a supply. Here’s the list of veggies you can regrow:
   • Bok choy
   • Cabbage
   • Celery
   • Green onions
   • Fennel
   • Kohlrabi
   • Leeks
   • Lemongrass
   • Lettuce and heading vegetables such as Napa cabbage
2. Have many veggies on your weekly/bi-weekly shopping list that can re-grow from the cut off scraps.  This way, if there is an emergency, you can immediately use that fresh produce item and then re-grow from the cut off scraps in your kitchen and have a fresh supply.  We actually do this with many foods anyway to save money.  In our experience, most of these will only regrow a few times before they really aren’t great anymore…. but this will get you to 2-3 weeks worth.  So what foods are we talking about?  These ones should be on your list always:
   • Lettuce – especially Romaine, Green Leaf and Red Leaf – just learn to make your own salads weekly with buying heads of lettuce, pick affordable ones to stay in budget, but grab one head of lettuce to always have and include in your salads! Not only is this cheaper to make your own salads with just a few minutes each week vs. the pre-cut and bagged salads, but you will give yourself a fresh lettuce option in an emergency.  How? Well, the stems of lettuce can be re-grown in your kitchen (even in a recycled sour cream or cottage cheese container!).   – You can also do this with Bok Choy and Fennel, but let’s be honest, those things would be hard to keep on hand and use weekly -we don’t like fennel!
   • Green Onions and Other Onions (including leeks!) – we shared a while ago how we re-grow our green onions. It’s very simple and pretty much any onion can be re-grown in your kitchen this way.  For regular onions, just cut of the ends where the dry roots are and place that face down in shallow water and you have fresh onions of all types! Onions are already on most people’s weekly shopping list anyway, just regrow in an emergency. Onions are also a super item to have for health purposes! They are a super food for your body and so essential during emergencies!
   • Regrow the bottoms of your celery! Buy the full stalk each week that gives you the bottom and gives you the option to re-grow in your kitchen (or start in your kitchen and plant outside later).  Either way, celery is a common veggie and a good one to make sure to always have on your list so that you can get more from one!
   • One of our favorites is regrowing Garlic! Garlic is another one of those super important super foods for your body and is a perfect source of nutrition in tough times and in pandemics (plus it also helps with social distancing – if you catch our whiff…)! These are re-grown similarly  to the onions!  Do it yourself site shares how to do this!

How to Regrow Veggie Scraps

It’s actually quite simple to regrow the veggie scraps. In addition to the links we shared in the section above, we thought we would give you an overall quick summary that works with pretty much all of the above.

• Cut the veggies off until about 1-2 inches above the base.

• Soak the bottom of the veggie in water in a container or jar – even recycling cottage cheese/sour cream containers works perfectly. You want the top exposed to air, so just enough water to cover the base.

• Place in a windowsill and watch it grow!

• Cut off the edible parts as they grow and use them.

• Replace the water about every 2-3 days.
• You can “regrow” for a few times before you need to replace your veggie with a new one. You will be able to tell when the regrowth is just not that great anymore = indicates start all over.

Even though we are focusing on the Regrowing Veggie Scraps, we want to mention two more ideas for fresh veggie supply.

#2 – Grow a windowsill herb garden

Consider having seeds or an on-going windowsill herb garden. Herbs are super foods too, they will not fill you up, but fresh herbs can be so vital and important in any emergency and then you have some immediate options!  Herb gardens are easy to grow, easy to maintain and do not take long!  They are a great addition to your prepared staple foods for an extra boost of needed nutrition.  Growing an herb garden is quite common, so we probably do not need to go into much more detail at this point, but you can head to the Bonnie Plants site here where they will give you instructions!

#3 – Have a counter top sprout farm

UPDATE: We created an entire article just on sprouting because it became a popular topic fast! Read the full article on How to Sprout HERE.

If you want an even better plan, consider sprouting! We have been sprouting for everyday health and nutritional benefits anyway, but it is a FANTASTIC emergency food supply plan.  This should be an article all it’s own, but for now, it is an easy thing to store, and you can start sprouts and have a very nutritious fresh produce option in 2-5 days! You can get a good supply of sprouting seeds for a good price.  Special sprouting jars can be purchased for about $5 in a health food stores (we show other options below)! Sprouting is one of our top recommendations! SERIOUSLY LOOK INTO THIS!!

You can get a whole emergency kit sprout farm that will sustain a family with 55 lbs total of 10 different sprout seeds for $297 (this is actually not a bad price):

• Wheat
• Green Lentils
• Fenugreek
• Green Peas
• Black-eyed Peas
• Radishes
• Alfalfa
• Mung Beans
• Garbanzo Beans
• Broccoli

This big emergency fresh food supply kit will yield over 200 lbs of fresh sprouts and the food is available in 2-5 days! This is really, really smart.  But this big kit might be horribly overwhelming to you, but don’t let that stop you from doing something to provide you and your family with fresh, vital nutrition.  We wanted to share the big kahuna idea, but let’s talk about budget options!

Now, here’s how you can get started sprouting or have them in your pantry or food storage for those emergencies:

• Mason Jars (the official ones) used for about .25-.50 or new for about .75 each
• Then you need the straining sprouting lids that you can get at health food stores or on Amazon HERE for around $15 for 3 different lids that all serve a different purpose for your sprouted seeds.  The reviews are excellent and a good way to go!
• Then you can buy the sprouting seeds either on Amazon or at health food stores for around $5 for about a 1/2 pound.  This is a really good price and so anywhere in this range is good!

For under $30, you can have a nice supply of seeds and sprouting jars to get you through a short time period.  You can see many sprouting supply options on Amazon HERE. 

We personally believe in this sprouting option as both the immediate, intermediate and long-term fresh food option, that it is worth getting enough sprouting seeds, jars and lids to start a batch a day for your family for many months in an emergency.  That is why having enough seeds to produce 200+ pounds of sprouts is a wise investment and can solve your fresh produce options for any stage and any emergency.  Plus, sprouting seeds are super easy to store, they take hardly any room and they will store for a long time.  But eating sprouts and micro-greens is very healthy anyway, so use them every once in a while to make a batch for health and rotate through!

Perhaps consider investing $10 a month in sprouting seeds to eventually have enough in storage for 100 – 200 lbs. of fresh sprouts (depending on family size) and then rotate through and eating them with salads, sandwiches or by themselves on a regular basis for those super nutritious benefits now. Plus, by using them now and rotating/refilling as needed, when that actual emergency hits, you will already know what to do!

So there’s our tips for you and your family to have fresh produce options in the immediate and intermediate emergencies.

Here’s a quick summary and review of what to do at this point to be preparing your fresh food sources on a tight budget! 

Each time you grocery shop, include these 4 veggie items on your shopping list. Nearly every home should include these on their shopping lists and incorporate into cooking.  I see no reason (other than allergies, but I haven’t heard of anyone being allergic to any of these!) why you can’t! Buy sustainable food and buy smart!

• Heads of lettuce (re-grow by cutting of end and submerging tip in shallow water) 
• Green onions and onions (re-grow by cutting off end with dry roots and submerging in shallow water)
• Stalk of celery (re-grow by cutting of end and submerging in shallow water)
• Garlic (re-grow by dividing cloves in bulb and set aside until they sprout.  Once sprouted, plant in shallow soil in a reusable container and place in wind0w)

Next, work on having a supply of fresh herb seeds (you can do this for under $10) in case you need them, or just start using fresh herbs in your cooking and growing them now!

Finally, invest $10 a month in sprouting options by buying the lids, finding mason jars around your home, and buying sprouting seeds.  Store all of these in a box together with easy access so that you can find everything you need quickly and easily in an emergency.  Start sprouting in a couple of months once you start getting a supply and keep building it up!

We hope we have shared some easy and unique ideas to get you prepared on a budget.  We want to know your thoughts on this topic too, please share! 

For the next topic regarding emergency supply, we recommend learning about water options.

We first talked about water as this is a MUST in any emergency! But food is pretty much just as essential.  Food is a giant topic and we have been trying to decide how to break this down with ideas on how to be prepared with food! Btw – if you haven’t seen our introductory article to this topic, we recommend that you read that first here. 

See the full Be Prepared Series, Articles and Topics for many tips and ideas in all areas of life! 

We posted about this on our site 10-years ago. But this year, it came up again because we are in a worldwide quarantine. Which means we have to be creative to use supplies we have at home. This idea was originally born…err, hatched because of trying to be frugal. But this year, although we still live frugal lives, it’s more of a necessity because we are ordered to not leave home except for essentials. Eggs can be delivered in 2020, purchased from neighbors that raise chickens or as an emergency grocery run. But the other supplies are not essential at the time of writing this post during the COVID-19 pandemic.

So after several years of not dyeing eggs this way, we did it again for a totally different reason!

As we are rounding the corner heading into the Easter weekend.  We try different things each year to decorate our eggs.  The simplest being, letting the kids just color them with crayons. Well this year, we did an Easter egg coloring with crayons again! But this time we marbled our eggs with broken and left over crayons!  We keep the broken crayons in a bucket for fun projects – like remelting and making different shaped mixed color crayons using silicone molds and such!

So for the great pandemic of 2020 that is encroaching on everyone’s Easter weekend, I improvised this year and grabbed a handful of the crayons for this egg dyeing project again! You probably have everything already for this Easter egg project with out having to leave the house!

What you will need to create Marbled Easter Eggs with Recycled Crayons:

• Eggs and their cartons (we started with 36, but after breaking and eating, ended up with about 32 :))
• Non-Toxic Crayons
• Wax Paper
• Heat proof containers or glass Jars
• Really Hot Water
• Spoon
• Grater

How to Marble Eggs with Crayons!

First things first, we need hard boiled eggs! The trick that we did for several years actually credited to Rachael Ray! She taught us how to make the perfect hard boiled egg!

Best Water Boil Method

1. Place eggs on the bottom of the pot to cover the bottom, without stacking any eggs.
2. Fill with cold water.
3. Place on stove and turn it on!
4. Bring it to a boil
5. Once boiling, boil for 1 minute more
6. Turn the stove off and put a lid on the pot for 10 minutes
7. Then submerse the eggs in “ice” cold water.  I actually add ice to the water
8. Let them set for several minutes to cool down, also by submersing them in ice cold water immedietly after boiling makes them easier to peel!
9. Then you must sacrifice and egg and test to see if it is done! Then eat it of course!!

All right, now you are ready to decorate and create marble eggs!

Best Overall Method By Baking Eggs in Oven

We learned a trick about 5 years ago that is nearly flawless. You wouldn’t think hard boiling eggs would be all that hard, but it’s not the easiest task to perfect. So to be a little closer to dummy perfection, try the oven method that we share in this post HERE.

Step-by-Step Crayon Egg-Dyeing Method

• Make sure all paper wrappers are off of the crayons you want to use and sort by similar colors.

• Start grating each color group and keep separated in their color groups.

• Add grated crayon to a bowl – recommended to just do one color but two can work as well. Don’t mix more than two colors because it will look like bird poo when the colors mix!

• Boil about 2 cups of hot water in the microwave in a microwave safe container
• Pour the water into the jar/bowl with the crayon shreds

• Using the tongs/spoon, immerse each egg into the melted crayon mixture

• Pull them out and look at those pretty marbled eggs – listen to the kids squeal with excitement!
• Place them in the cartons to dry!

That’s it!!

A few tips:

• Try a few different jars with a few separate colors.  The first time we did this several years ago, ours ended up dark browns, nearly black and dark green as the we mixed all of the colors. Still really pretty though, but they looked like pooed on eggs instead.
• It can be quite messy when you are melting colored wax, so cover your table with newspapers or paper table cover to just throw away.
• If you are coloring many eggs, you may need to replace the water after about 4 minutes as it cools enough to not melt the crayon shavings as well.

That is a fun, thrifty, easy, quarantine-proof and unique way to decorate your eggs this year! Please share any ideas that you have!! We love to hear them!

Our Results When We Did This for the First Time 10-years ago!

Now wondering what to do with all of those hard boiled eggs? Visit our page that is all about eggs to help you find more ideas!

Happy Easter Egg Decorating!

But although stuck at home, doesn’t mean you can’t make the most of the situation and have some creative fun too! We have been making this cake for years, many years before the quarantine, but it is more clever and easy than ever under the 2020 Easter circumstance! 

With Easter right around the corner, we wanted to share a super cute, festive, yet FAST cake idea! It’s an Easter Basket cake, but it only takes 15 minutes to create it with the right supplies!

I had so much fun making this cake and there are literally hundreds of ways to decorate the top. I wanted an Easter Basket Egg Hunt sort of theme for my cake and so my toppings were fun and simple, complete with the candy-filled Easter eggs in the grass!

It also wasn’t an inexpensive cake, not even close to the cost that it looks!

The #1 trick is to use a store-bought cake – a basic round cake that is affordable already!  I bought a single layer 8″ round cake from my local grocery store. It will save you loads of time and has that nice frosting where your candy and stuff will stick nicely to the cake. These are sold for $6-$10 in my local store, depending on theme/toppings, etc. but you just need a basic cake as you are going to Easter Basket it up so go for the lowest priced one. !

The perfect starting cake:

The green decorative frosting ribbon at the bottom is actually PERFECT for extra security on keeping your candy bars in place!

Ingredients/Supplies Needed:

• 8″ round single layer cake
• 7 regular size KitKat Bars
• Chocolate Twizzlers (for the handles of your basket)
• Coconut shreds/flakes
• Green food coloring
• Supplies for the themed top: I used mini robin eggs and 3/4th size plastic easter eggs that I got at Dollar Tree
• Ribbon for the bow (I also go this at Dollar Tree) and glue dots

How to Make your 15-Minute Easter Basket Cake:

• First, you need to color your coconut to the color green to resemble grass. Just drop several drops of food coloring into about 1.5 – 2 cups of coconut. Then using a spoon or fork, just mix until you get the desired green you would like!

• Now, unwrap your KitKat bars. Unwrap your 8″ cake and then start placing the KitKats around the cake, facing horizontally, using the frosting already on the cake as the “glue”. This is the perfect spacing, height and size for 7 candy bars to be placed around the circumference of the cake and line up perfectly!
• Then take two chocolate Twizzlers and bend them to handle shape and stick them on opposite sides of the cake!

• Now you are ready to add the grass. Start sprinkling the grass onto the top of the cake until the original cake is completely covered!

• Now it is time to decorate the top however you would like! Peeps, Easter/Spring themed picks, Cadbury Eggs, chocolate eggs, other misc. goodies that you find!
• I chose to use plastic eggs that are about 3/4ths the size of regular eggs and fill them with the whopper robin eggs. Just a fun little addition to give it that Easter Egg Hunt feel! When we served this up, each piece had a filled Easter Egg on top!

• For the final touch, add a string of ribbon around the body of the cake, securing about every candy bar width with a glue dot. Then add a bow (I made it from the ribbon spool – youtube shares great tutorials on easy ribbon making) and secured this with a glue dot. Glue dots work well because they stick well and just peel right off, not leaving a bit of residue.

That’s it! Now you can serve, share and enjoy! With a sharp knife and a steady, firm push down, you can cut through the candy bars easily or you can remove the candy bars, cut a slice and then break off a couple of pieces to serve with each piece. Either way, it serves up really nice and festive!

Fun, Easy, Festive

What a fun way to have a sweet, festive treat! What do you think of this idea? What would you top your cake with?

See more Recipes and Festive Food Ideas 

We love sprouting and we love to eat sprouts. They are healthy and full of nutrients. We have actually loved , growing, sprouting and eating sprouts for many years. But with the recent outbreak of a worldwide pandemic in Coronavirus or COVID-19, it seems the topic of sprouting is becoming very popular very quickly.

And for good reason! It’s a GREAT solution to have fast, nutritious and easy veggies in three days’ time. Which is perfect under the current quarantine conditions.

The goal of this post is to show you how easy, cheap and fast you can be eating your own homegrown veggies. In fact, if you take action in ordering your supplies as you are reading this post, by the time it arrives on your doorstep to eating your first batch, it could be less than a week!

YES! Less than a week the supplies at your door and the fresh sprouts on your plate!

Here’s the topics we are going to cover in this article: (click on any of these topics to be taken right to that topic fast)

• What are sprouts?
• What are the most popular sprouts to grow?
• Why are they a good option for homegrown veggies?
• Why you should grow them during a pandemic/crisis?
• Why you should grow them regularly, outside of a pandemic/crisis
• Cautions to take when growing sprouts
• What supplies do you need to start your own sprouts indoors?
• Step-by-Step sprout growing instructions
• How to eat sprouts
• Recipes using sprouts

What are sprouts?

Sprouts are the premature plant of popular beans, grains, nuts and veggie plants. It’s the process that occurs a few days after germination where the typically white root emerges from the seed shell. If you have ever watched a seed germinate, it’s at about the point that the young plant is an inch or two long – just a few days after germination!

What are the most popular sprouts to grow?

Here’s a list of popular sprouts:

• Bean category: Lentil, adzuki, garbanzo, soybean, mung bean, black bean, kidney bean, green pea and snow pea.
• Grains category: Wheat, brown rice, buckwheat, amaranth, kamut, quinoa and oat.
• Vegetable category: Radish, broccoli, beet, mustard greens, clover, cress and fenugreek.
• Seeds category: Alfalfa seed, pumpkin seed, sesame seed and sunflower seed.

Why are they a good option for homegrown veggies?

First, things first, they are cheap and fast fresh veggie options. They require very little work and have a yield quite quickly.

But besides that, they are filled with mass amounts of nutrients. According to healthline.com:

“Despite being low in calories, sprouts are a rich source of nutrients and beneficial plant compounds. Their vitamin and mineral content varies based on the variety.

However, generally speaking, the sprouting process increases nutrient levels, making sprouts richer in protein, folate, magnesium, phosphorus, manganese and vitamins C and K than un-sprouted plants.

For instance, several studies show that sprouting helps increase protein content. Sprouts also tend to contain higher levels of essential amino acids, with certain individual amino acids increasing by as much as 30%.

In addition, the proteins in sprouts may also be easier to digest. This is likely due to the sprouting process, which appears to reduce the amount of antinutrients — compounds that decrease your body’s ability to absorb nutrients from the plant — by up to 87%.

Sprouts are also great sources of antioxidants and other beneficial plant compounds.”

For our family, we have primarily sprouted beans and vegetables. Rarely do we sprout the grains and seeds. We usually do this because we are looking for a quick solution to fresh veggies.

However, we have sprouted wheat in the past for sprouted bread, not to necessarily eat the sprouted wheat. This topic for making your own sprouted bread from sprouted wheat is another article for another day! We want to focus on gettin nutritious veggies in just a few days!

Why you should grow them during a pandemic/crisis?

There are 4 main reasons why this is a good option during anything where the ability to buy fresh food either from a pandemic, crisis, outbreak, natural disaster, and even a job loss, etc. Basically anytime you are not able to leave your home or a financial loss has led to the lack of being able to buy food.

#1 – It stores for a LONG time. In fact, when writing this post, we are sharing pictures from sprout seeds that we have been storing since 2011, so for 9 years. And they stay in a sealed, cool place for many, many years. So you can buy them in a non-emergency and save them for that rainy day.

#2 – They grow FAST! In about 3 days’ time, you can have fresh veggies. There really isn’t much of anything else that you can grow that fast (especially from seed) and have have the fruits…or the veggies of your labor a few days later. The only other things we grow are the “regrowth” veggies where you clip green onions or lettuce head and keep regrowing it. Other than that, this is your next best option.

#3 – They are CHEAP. We bought gallon bags of seeds nearly 9 years ago. We have made sprouts a few times throughout the years, but you are only using a TBSP to 1/2 cup at a time, and so you can get A LOT of fresh food from a small amount of seeds. Buying the seeds are cheap. You will need jars and special lids, but that is reusable for many years.

#4 – They are EASY. Sprouts are really, really easy to grow. You do need to babysit daily and there are special supplies we would recommend using as mold and bacteria growth is a concern if not done properly. Similar to fermenting or kefir, it’s ultimately easy and nutritious, but you do need to take steps to avoid the bacterial growth.

Why you should grow them regularly, outside of a pandemic or crisis

Because of the 4 reasons above, they are just a great addition to any home garden and nearly any diet, filled with great nutrients and taste really good to make for some extra variety in your diets.

Cautions to take when growing sprouts

You can get food poisoning from sprouts if not grown properly or if negligible. Just like many foods, if you don’t handle it the proper way, you will incur food borne illness risk.

The biggest risk with sprouts is eating them raw (which is normally how we eat them!) because in the food industry, by cooking the foods, you kill bacteria and contamination.

Sprouts can grow bacteria easily because in order for them to sprout, they need a moist, warm area. That is a breeding ground for bacteria for any consumable product.

We use specific tools to grow our sprouts to greatly minimize the risk of bacterial growth. The supplies need to help minimize the risk is totally worth it.

Here’s what we do in a nutshell:

• We DO NOT sprout in dirt or flat growing tray
  • We DO use glass jars with netted lids and sprout at a 45 degree angle to let extra moisture drip out while they are sprouting
• We DO NOT let it sit until sprouted
  • We DO rinse the seeds at least twice a day
• We DO NOT store at room temperature once ready
  • We DO store in the fridge to reduce growth
• We DO NOT eat them right out of the package
  • We DO rinse them and even use our vinegar veggie cleaning spray and will spray, rinse and then soak and rinse again before eating
• We DO NOT eat them when they are slimy AND smelly after rinsing. They are too old at this point.
  • We DO eat them when they are not left with slimy residue after rinsing and smell fresh.

Finally, you can cook them gently, but the above steps have caused us no issues and we can keep bacterial growth away!

What supplies do you need to start your own sprouts indoors?

The list of supplies to grow safely and to reduce bacterial growth is quite minimal!

Here’s the list of the supplies we recommend:

• Glass jars
• Screen lids
• Bowls to place upside down at 45 degree angle or the sprouting jar stands
• Sprouting seeds

Even better is if you have wide mouth canning jars, then just get this kit on Amazon that has your stands and your stainless steel screen lids all in one kit!

And as another option, you can check out these kits that include the sprouting seeds as well.

Finally, here are two online Amazon stores to grab seeds. We like the mung bean, broccoli, and salad mixes. But they are all great!

• Sprouting Seeds from Country Creek
• Any of the supplies from MasonTop

Step-by-Step sprout growing instructions

Sprouts are very easy to grow! Here’s the simple step-by-step instructions:

• Measure out your seeds! For small to tiny seeds, you will want about 1 TBSP. For larger seeds (like beans) you will want around 1/2 cup of seeds.

• Place your measured seeds in a jar and put the screen lid on top.
• Rinse your seeds and swirl them around in the water, then strain the water out. Repeat this 2-3 times initially.

• Fill the jar half way with water.

• Let them soak all day or overnight (around 8-12 hours).

• Rinse again after soaking.
• Place upside down at an angle (to let water drain and air circulate).

• Rinse twice a day and keep in the upside down angle position for growing – they will start sprouting after 24 hours.

• Once they reach a decent sprouting length, rinse in water and drain and air out again by putting them back upside down at an angle.

• After they have air dried after last rinse, store in the fridge for up to 3-5 days.

• When ready to eat, we would recommend spraying with homemade veggie spray and rinsing.

How to eat sprouts

There are several ways to eat sprouts. After washing them right before eating, you can gently steam or stir-fry and eat them on anything, but the most popular ways are:

• Raw – even as a snack by itself!
• On salad
• In pasta salad
• On sandwiches
• On tacos
• Stirred into steamed veggies (in raw or steamed form)
• Gently stir-fried
• Gently steamed
• In recipes of all kinds (see link below)

Recipes using sprouts

We wanted to share a couple of quick recipes using sprouts, but be sure to see ideas from Bon Appetit HERE.

Sprouted Pasta Salad:

This is an easy, quick, frugal and delicious way to enjoy raw sprouts. It is actually one of our family’s favorite sprout recipes.

Ingredients for Sprouted Pasta Salad:

• Sprouts of any kind (mixture is great too)
• Whole Wheat Pasta of any kind
• Diced Tomatoes
• Sliced Black Olives
• Diced Red Onions
• Pepperoni or Salami
• Shredded Carrots
• Green Onions
• Diced Bell Pepper
• Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
• Italian Dressing or Homemade Italian Dressing from HERE

How to make:

• Boil the pasta with about 1 TBSP of olive oil in the water for 1-2 minutes under the recommended cooking time (al dente)
• Drain and rinse the pasta in cold water until the pasta is cold
• Add all of the above ingredients and toss all together
• Serve cold!

There you have it! Now it’s your turn to give this really cool, fun, delicious and nutritious fast indoor garden too!

Our family is on day #13 of our self-quarantine or social distancing during the Coronavirus or COVID-19 worldwide outbreak. There are millions of families that have lost some form of income and millions of small businesses at risk just in the United States alone, let alone worldwide.

While we are all in a world-wide quarantine and making sacrifices for the health of our fellow man (which is amazing to see the world’s sacrifices for the safety of others – brings tears to our eyes!), there are some very important financial moves you can make right now that will not only stabilize and perhaps even improve your finances, it will also help the finances of your your fellow man at the same time.

“…there are some very important financial moves you can make right now that will not only stabilize and perhaps even improve your finances, it will also help the finances of your your fellow man at the same time.”

The goal here is to protect your own family’s finances as much as possible, even with lost income, while also supporting those around you.

This is not comprehensive by any stretch, so we welcome more ideas and thoughts on this topic. Please leave a comment with your thoughts and ideas for the thrifty community here reading this article!

We are going to cover the follow topics:

You can click on any of these to be taken right to that topic

1. Refinance Mortgage
2. Consolidate Credit Cards
3. Call To Negotiate Interest Rate or Defer Payment on Bills and Credit Cards
4. Fund Emergency Fund
5. Start the 2% Rule To Get Debt Free Fast For Debt OR Savings Goals!
6. Invest (even small)
7. Smart Shopping
8. Support Local Restaurants and Businesses
9. Keep Local Business Memberships
10. Clean Out House and Find Things To Sell
11. Start a Side Business or Side Hustle
12. Further Education and Update LinkedIn Profile
13. Defer Mortgage, Rent and Student Loan Payments
14. Find Financial Aid
15. Plan Your Next Vacation(s)

Refinance Mortgage

You might wonder how this will help you, and not everyone will qualify, but you might want to do this while before income loss catches up!

According to NerdWallet.com:

“The worse the COVID-19 outbreak gets, the lower mortgage rates will go.

That’s the mortgage rate forecast for March, in a nutshell: If COVID-19 becomes an epidemic in the United States, then rates on home loans are likely to fall even further.

In NerdWallet’s daily surveys, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.37% APR on Feb. 28, a decline of 38 basis points in just one month. (A basis point is one one-hundredth of a percentage point.) It marked the lowest rate on the 30-year fixed since NerdWallet’s daily survey began in May 2016.“

Mortgage rates are falling currently, but that can also change even overnight. So it’s a really good idea to look at this option and get rates locked in asap to save you money monthly.

Although we would always prefer a 15 year or 10 year loan so you can pay it off fast, in the case where incoming income can vary, we would probably recommend a 30 year so your payment is overall lower. Then during better financial times, apply these 4 Strategies to Pay Off Your Mortgage Faster.

But this also gives you a bit more liquidity with your cash if your mortgage payment is lower for those leaner times (like a temporary job loss from a pandemic!).

Additionally, refinancing also generally means that you can defer payments by a month naturally, which may be just enough time for you to get your job back after this pandemic and start getting a regular paycheck again.

Consolidate Credit Cards

This is a great time to consolidate credit cards and get those 0% balance transfer cards. Paying interest each month is a total waste. This will defer your interest for a time while money may be lean, but be careful to not use your credit cards for everyday spending, unless it’s absolutely necessary.

The goal here is to lower your overall monthly expenses, not increase debts. But we also know that times of emergency may call for a temporary use of credit cards, just be careful and use the 0% balance transfer options to your advantage and not frivolously use it for more debt.

Call to Negotiate Interest Rate or Defer Payment on Bills and Credit Cards

This is a GREAT thing to do regardless of a a pandemic or not. But a pandemic time period might make your creditors more sympathetic and willing to help you out more than other times. We haven’t tried it as we don’t have any left, but it’s just a guess.

However, when we were deep in debt, we got lots of experience negotiating. We wrote an article about how to negotiate your bills including credit cards and medical bills.

Check out these articles (click on the image) for the tips and steps to lower your interest rates and/or balances:

Fund Emergency Fund

If you are going to “store” money anywhere, it should probably be in your emergency fund. This is a great time to try and quickly fully fund your emergency fund or refill your fund if you have used any of it without replenishing – now is the time to do so. You may need it, so you need to have a stash of fast cash available.

If you want to know our thoughts on how much should I put in an emergency fund? we would recommend reading an article we previously wrote on this topic. Note that we do not think a “one-size-fits-all” fund is sufficient. You will need to do just a bit of math to find out what your fund should be.

Check out this article on Emergency Funds:

Start the 2% Rule To Get Debt Free Fast for Debt OR Savings Goals

Have you heard of the 2% Rule To Get Debt Free Fast? It’s a system that we created to help families pay off their debts and meet their financial goals in a shorter, but less painful, time!

This is a WONDERFUL time to start this program and get on track financially without a huge lifestyle change overnight (we’ve already had enough of those!) and allows you to get on track to your financial goals. Paying off debt really should be at the financial forefront of anyone’s mind, but in a time of pandemic, it’s not the right time to be shoving it down anyone’s throat!

However, the 2% Rule To Get Debt Free Fast is a method that no matter pandemic or not, we don’t shove anything down your throats, but help you ease into a lifestyle with small changes and positive habits that allow you to pay of your debts much quicker with much less pain.

We would encourage you to grab the book, read it over the next few days (it’s an easy read) and the get started!

Please reach out to us if you have questions!

Invest (Even Small)

If we have learned anything from the financial history of our country and world, it is that when the market is low from emergencies, panic, pandemics, etc., it’s a great time to buy as the market will swing up again, even if it takes a few years. So investing when it’s low is smart. I think most have learned to not panic and sell but instead take advantage and buy!

The smart simple key is buying when markets are down is buying when prices are low.

Even if you invest just $100, it’s a start! But determine what you can completely comfortably do and use really cool apps like these that allow you to even invest $1!

We will share the list below with investing bonuses:

• Acorns helps you invest your spare change so it goes to good use. It’s very easy to set-up but it will automatically invest whatever amount you want. We invest about $50 per month just on this one app! Get a FREE $5 to invest HERE. Find out more information HERE.
• Stockpile is another easy, affordable and easy “penny stocks” type of app to use. In fact, not only do we have accounts, but our kids do as well too! You can read about Stockpile HERE and claim a FREE $5 investment bonus HERE just by downloading the app and creating an account.
• Robinhood is the last one that is another investment app for the rest of us! When you use this link, Robinhood will give you 1 Free Share of stock in a popular company right now. This is just for registering, which is completely free to do so and claim this gift!

In fact, if you utilize the unique features and free bonuses from each one, you will have a nice overall investment bonus in a down market when the stocks are priced low = great long term investment!

We would say there is no reason not to use all of them, but even just starting with one option is better than none. You can get started now.

Smart Shopping

We just wanted to throw this in there. After seeing the panic shopping, especially in our current state of Utah, it’s high time that we say “calm down” and don’t go panic buying up everything. It’s not a great investment and it doesn’t allow for the supplies to be available for others, just making this whole pandemic experience even more painful.

Some of you may have a handful of cash tied up in toilet paper instead of something cool and long term like the emergency fund, or the stock market.

Smart shopping right now is to be a normal consumer. And in fact, the world needs you to be a normal consumer and keep your every 2-week normal shopping trip, keep eating out by purchasing from your local restaurants and picking it up.

Just shop like your normally would. No need to change anything here or panic in any way. You are just wasting money when you do.

Support Local Restaurants and Businesses

This leads us into our next point. And this next point will help you keep your sanity in quarantine, but keep the world going round. There is no doubt economies worldwide will take a hit from this pandemic. But you can lessen the economic curve, while flattenening the health curve, but supporting your businesses still and ESPECIALLY the local, small, ma and pa businesses.

They need you!

Buy from them online, or do whatever you need to be able to direct some of your spending to the little guys. PLEASE!

Do your small part economically to patronize them virtually or from a safe distance from others.

Keep Local Business Memberships and Services

And along the same lines, if you have a membership, music lessons or anything else that supports your local economy that is based on a monthly service fee, now is NOT the time to cancel. Even if you can’t take full advantage of the service they normally offer, please don’t cancel. Just eat it and be thankful that they are a small local business.

For example, we have a very small, very local crossfit gym. They are staying open and just trying to clean like crazy. We personally are not comfortable going during this time as we don’t want to be responsible for any spreading, but we won’t cancel even if we can’t use the service for a month or two. This is a family’s small business and our small monthly fee is not worth them losing their business. Obviously, just us canceling for a couple months likely wouldn’t put them out of business, but it probably wouldn’t take many people doing this to do so.

Also, two of our kids take music lessons from an older lady that has lung cancer. She is amazing about being flexible with our busy travel schedule and already adjusts our payments according to our planned travels. Well, we are totally not comfortable with our kids going during the quarantine to put her at any risk at all. But we will not be asking for reimbursements or make-up lessons. This is her only source of income.

Please keep these businesses and people in mind and while your making big sacrifices to stay home and potentially even losing a job or business yourself, you can understand the importance of doing what you can if you can.

Clean Out House and Find Things To Sell

Make a good use of your time at home to get your home organized, cleaned out and in good working order!

And in that process, find things you could get rid of and sell! This will help the community overall where you can bless someone else with something they need for much less, while you help bring in some income during this time. Just practice safe and healthy practices in the selling process and use apps like Venmo to make the touchless transactions, etc.

In fact, we are doing a 30-day organizational challenge live right now.

Start a Side Business or Side Hustle

Have you ever thought how much you would like to use your hobby, skillset, time or other resources to be able to offer a product or service to earn a little extra on the side?

Well, what better time than now! You may have some extra time on your hands and the need to bring in extra income may be right at hand. So it is a good idea to look at starting a side business or side hustle right now!

If you don’t know what a side hustle is, you will want to check out this article:

Most people can start with very little investment into their side hustle for a low-risk, near-immediate return. The world of side business or side hustles is HUGE that there is no way we can even begin to cover the topic here but we want to provide some resources to browse and research what you need to do:

• Read the list of over 130 Ideas on How to Make Money on the Side
• Listen to the podcast Take Back Your Finances. Listen to the recent episodes for ideas on side hustles
• Join our Side Hustles Facebook group where we are exploring side hustle ideas
• Check out a few of the past articles we have written on this topic
  • How One Mom Makes $3,500 From Side Hustles
  • Become a VA with a 6 figure business in a short time
  • Blogging and other online business
  • Fiverr

Again, this topic is so big that we are trying to spend some time this year exploring and focusing on this, but of course, got derailed with the Coronavirus that the topics on our blog changed temporarily, but there’s a lot to explore and you can find something to start tomorrow!

Further Education and Update LinkedIn Profile

Right now, this could be one of the easiest ways for you to change your future.

First, go into LinkedIn and update your profile (or start one) and start marketing yourself through this platform.

Second, find some free or discounted educational resources to further your skillset and make yourself more “promotionable.”

The workforce will get back to normal. Although the national debt could follow into the next generation, work will resume and if you better yourself through furthering education, additional certifications and more, you are more marketable and can possibly get a promotion or better job!

Spend this time for an amazing opportunity to do this. We are doing this in our own family.

For example, many universities are offering free classes and as you are taking them, have an opportunity to receive a certificate for a low fee. Many of these are Ivy League schools, but almost nearly all universities are offering something like this right now especially.

Our daughter is taking classes on neuroscience from online lectures on the subject that are sponsored by Harvard and a Harvard professor. She will not come out with a degree, but as she is taking the course, she has the opportunity to take a test after each unit and pay $99 for a certificate and test. For the Neurology Class, she will have three areas of study that she can get a certificate to add to her LinkedIn profile. She’s only 16, but this has been a wonderful experience thus far.

Also, our other daughter, who is 15, is taking python programming courses through Coursera. You can work at the pace you want and pay $50 per month. When you complete a course, you will get a certificate (again to add to her LinkedIn profile). They have TONS of options, including full degrees in many areas. This is a wonderful way to expand skillsets and get certified in many ways. This is the easiest, most affordable way to just to jump in!

Right now, there are thousands of higher education options that are cheap and free, along with many K12 resources more than ever right now. We thought about writing an article compiling many ideas, but it just got out of control and there are thousands, that it was unreasonable to attempt it. However a google search or search on Facebook or inquiring with your Facebook friends, you will probably get dozens of ideas and options.

But as a final example, from a Google search, I saw that Shaw Academy was offering 4 weeks of instruction for free. After that, it is $39 per month. Many certificates can be acquired in 4 weeks of instruction = one free certificate. So myself and our 15 year old daughter are taking a graphics design course. It is a 4 week program, with two 2-hour classes per week and by the end will be issued a certificate in graphic design. I am a digital marketer, but one skill I lacked was the ability to do my own graphics. I can do the basics, but anything more complex or professional, I would hire out or have a team member that would assist me. I want the ability to market myself better as a marketer by being able to create my own designs.

That is a VERY small taste of what is out there right now! Go find something that complements what you currently do to expand those skills!

Defer Mortgage, Rent and Student Loan Payments

This is a growing solution that banks and lending institutions around the globe are working through.

In the United States, at the time of writing this post, lawmakers were in the process of passing a $2 Trillion Stimulus package in the wake of the coronavirus’ impact on the current economy. As such, banks and lending institutions may not just voluntarily provide options, but they simply may be required to. However, interest may not be deferred in all situations, so just be aware of that.

As this subject unfolds, we will share more, but a great place to start to find out if you qualify for payment deferment on any of these categories and more, check out these articles:

• Fortune.com covers the different types of mortgage payment deferments and forebearances.
• Bankrate.com lists the current available programs to help defer payments on many categories, including listing state-by-state options.
• USAToday.com is covering information regarding mortgage and student loan deferment.

Again, this is a developing category and as the days pass, the options will become clearer and more available. We are pretty confident that there will be required deferments for those that need it in the area of mortgage, rent, student loans and perhaps even more bills, loans and utilities. Stay up to date on the current happenings so that you can take advantage of what you need, if you need it.

Find Financial Aid

CNBC.com has an article that seems to be getting updated with information on what options are available for additional financial aid during this time.

We would urge you to use the smart resources available to you, but please try to find alternatives to taking on more debt. Some of these ideas could be good and some may help ease the pain in the immediate, but make your financial future difficult.

Regardless, just be wise about the aid that you take on.

Again, we also think that there will be many options available for those of you that are in a very difficult situation. Obviously, if debt is the only option, you need to do it to survive, but just understand your personal situation to where is this just going to make me more comfortable in the immediate or is this a true need. Most everyone is more uncomfortable than they have been in the past, so this is not easy, not matter how you slice it!

Plan Your Next Vacation(s)

Finally, to top off this article, we would recommend that you spend some of your quarantine time as a family planning your next vacation!

The vacation industry is taking a huge economic hit, but that doesn’t mean you can’t finally plan that trip now that you have the time. And since you have the time, finding the best deals or the best value.

Even if you don’t actually book because you are unsure of the future, just planning alone will be a great step!

This will also help you mentally and with your sanity. It will be a reminder that all will be ok and it will be a reminder that life will go on and back to normal.

We are all making sacrifices in major ways, but celebrate life in the process and celebrate this opportunity to clean up your finances, to have great investment opportunities, to be able to further your education and be eligible for promotions or starting a business! Let’s make the most of this stressful time and be productive and come out financially healthier, even if not financially healthier in the immediate, you can in the future just by doing some of these things!

We would love to hear your ideas too! Please share what you have discovered or would recommend in the comments below!

Friends, please stay well, not only physically, but financially during this time! God Bless!

At the time of writing this post, we are all experiencing a “social distancing” type of quarantine as we deal with the Coronavirus or COVID-19 here in early 2020. 

And I don’t know about you…but we are going a little stir-crazy. So while we are writing posts sharing tips for DIY, toilet paper alternatives, educational plans from home, hand santizer and many more relevant posts, we also realize that we want to use this time to maximize our time and our quarantine and make the most of it, while curing our boredom and “stir-crazy-ness” but getting our homes organized, cleaned-out, decluttered and even sell some of the stuff we find that will bless another family while helping our own family’s economy! 

So, right now is a great time to organize.  With the organization challenge it is also a great time to start new schedules, help life at home calm down from being more organized and develop that desire and need to get home in order to prepare for upcoming events, gatherings and holidays after this quarantine is over! 

So, we are hosting a 30-day organization challenge over here at our home and want to invite you to join us!

It’s quite simple –  we will post a different small task and area of focus to get organized each day for 30-days.   By the end of 30 days, your home should be organized and in order – perfect to start out your next several months of life enjoy lots of fun family and friend memories and time without your disorganization coming out to get you!

To participate – don’t miss a challenge by joining our email reminder list below so that you can stay on track with the challenge by receiving daily reminders (right after we post the daily challenge) right to your inbox.  This is the only way to stay on top of the challenges and to receive a challenge each day.

Once you sign-up for the email reminder, you will receive your first task the following day and then a subsequent daily task for a total of 30 days.

We will address each of the areas of the home starting with the papers, desks, files and more.  Then we will move into the kitchen and bathrooms and end with bedrooms and other misc. areas.  We also hope to share DIY ideas for better organization throughout the challenge as well.

It is also fun to have a team to motivate and inspire – plus share ideas. We will be sharing video and posting pictures of our progress too!

We also have a Facebook group called Side Hustles and Challenges with The Thrifty Couple HERE. This is separate from our public Facebook page, and is a small, intimate group that is a private group for encouragement, inspiration, discussion and to also keep up with the tasks there too! Of course, the best way to be involved and ask questions is here on our site on the posts – so comment away with your progress too!

We will be sharing LIVE updates starting on Monday, March 23rd, 2020, but anytime that you are reading this post, you will be able to see the videos, updates and join the group! 

Will you join us live in cleaning out our homes starting on Monday, March 23rd, 2020? 

Currently, at the writing of this post, much of the world has gone on a social distancing and self-quarantine to help alleviate the burden on the healthcare system to slow the spread of Coronavirus or COVID-19. As such, many schools in the United States have gone to distance learning or extended spring breaks.

As a result, we see many that are asking for advice and ideas to help get through the next few weeks with home education ideas. As a homeschool graduate and as a homeschool mom, homeschooling is certainly not new to me.

Here at TheThriftyCouple.com, we do not focus on homeschooling or education. We have an occasional post on some educational ideas, or freebies, but this is not the focus of our site.

However, desperate times call for some unexpected topics and articles. I will also state that I am in no way giving you a comprehensive plan! But throughtout my life, I have personally encountered a number of parents that have found themselves in an unexpected, unplanned or emergency type of homeschooling situation due to bullying, health issues, travel and other life-experiences that can cause upheaveal in a family’s life.

I have personally shared ideas and advice to ease and start homeschooling to help them make a gradual transition without feeling overwhelmed to the point of madness and hysteria in the home.

While I do not consider myself an expert, I wanted to throw in my two cents during this trying time on our nation. Millions of families have found themselves in a homeschool-like situation. I am sharing what I share with emergency homeschoolers. This is not comprehensive and the world of homeschooling is incredibly vast, but this is more than enough to help give your child a well-rounded education over the next few weeks/months.

Basic Principles To Remember

Let me start off by sharing some “ground rules.”

1. What a wonderful opportunity for you! The most important thing to remember during this time is love, patience, grace and being thankful for this forced time to really spend some great time with your child.

2. Throw expectations out the window! Don’t put pressure on yourself. The most important things and memories for your kids during this time is to relax, enjoy and slow down. I am an intense, never-stop person and I have learned that my style is damaging to my children. They need to learn and grow in their own way and every child is different. Just learn their styles and adapt.

3. Do.Not.Compare. Period. Do not go online and see what others are doing or see how they are doing things and think this is the only way or the right way. Every family’s style is as unique as the family itself. There are no standards that apply to everyone. If your day is chaotic, sporadic learning with play, sleeping in and doing school at night, it’s ok!

4. Only do what’s natural. While I do think some structure in general is good for kids, if it causes more stress, don’t make a strict schedule. Perhaps have generalizations and feed and sleep at a consistent time, but in terms of work time, it’s ok to relax! Learning is an all day adventure, it’s not only when they have their noses stuck in a book.

Where to start – 3 Steps to Implement

We encourage a “read, watch, do” type of concept where you will learn and read about the topic. Next is to watch something related to it to further seal it in the mind. Finally, complete an activity to further solidify the information!

For older children, using the read, watch and do PLUS add the elements of research, write and present. The process of the first three learning methods, combined with the ability for the child to research on their own, write a paper or summary and then give a verbal presentation will hit the various learning methods in older children as well!

Here are some ideas on how where to start for the next few weeks. In addition or to replace whatever is happening in your community, these ideas can help you lay a good foundation and build from that!

Most homeschoolers (us included) don’t use just these ideas below, but most of us have invested into individual textbooks for each subject, grade and child and generally have a more comprehensive plan. However, I am NOT sharing permanent ideas with you. I am sharing ideas that can be applied to those temporary situations, or for those that want to “test” it before fully diving in, or in the odd situation of a temporary world-wide social distancing (hopefully this is the only time in our lives this scenario arises). Regardless, this will be enough to really get the educational creative learning juices flowing nicely at your home!

1. Buy a whole-year curriculum-based workbook like Brain Quest or School Zone Workbooks– they are super cheap and create a good foundation. Buy the grade that your child would be in. This is a daily exercise and practice in the required subjects for their grade. Have them do a couple of pages in each subject each day or so.
2. For history, a really fun and easy activity is to use Google to find out what happened this week or day in history. We use YouTube for things like this quite a bit. I will quickly research a topic and then turn to YouTube to see if someone has created an educational video on the subject. Afterwards, I will Google free worksheets to print off for that topic to help the hands-on learner absorb the information. So we will read, watch and do on whatever we are learning. This is good for history as most of those all-in-one subjects do not have history, but this same concept works with any subject.
3. That leads me to science! The all-in-one workbooks do have science in them and they can do some quick learning, but then you are able to add to it by following the read, watch, do steps shared in #2.
4. Use this concept for math too! Watching videos on YouTube or Kahn Academy really helps to solidify the concepts for you and for your child!
5. Those all-in-one workbooks will teach some geography and social studies. Use the topics that they have in those books to further expand on concepts through the use of the “read, watch, do.”
6. Just read…a lot! Reading fiction, reading non-fiction, reading articles on current events (depending on the age) and then have them write and/or present what they have learned to help solidify the concepts!
7. For teens, not only are the all-in-one books good, but go buy an SAT or ACT prep workbook. This covers what they need and then add reading materials and even the “read, watch, do” but also had research, writing and presenting for these older kids on these concepts.
8. Khan Academy has a schedule for 4-18 year olds, which is a fantastic resource to stay on track. Combined with the ideas above, you will be able to cover all corners of education and more!

A Few Cheap/Free Resources To Bookmark

1. We really like SuperTeachWorksheets.com for printable resources on nearly everything that helps with the additional “do” part of school. They have a lot of free printables, but we pay the membership fee of $25 per year to access everything! This is worth it, even if just used for a short time, but you will probably find it useful during any school break!
2. ABCMouse is FANTASTIC for your preschooler – second grade. So worth the $8 per month, but you get it free for 30-days! We actually did an in-depth review a few years ago. Check out the written post HERE and the video review HERE.
3. Apps galore! I especially love apps for flashcards as they have flashcards apps for everything from math to geography in all of the grade levels. If you see your child needing some additional help in a certain area, google what apps will help solidify the concepts they need help with.
4. The Geography Games on Sporcle.com – FANTASTIC! My kids have learned the names of the countries and so much more with this game-ified geography learning.
5. Music learning- my kids have learned many concepts through learning songs related to that! For example, the periodic table song is awesome!
6. Consider a Science subscription like Mel-Science. We have been members for a year and get a new kit each month for $30. This is one of the best educational investments we have made. It is not enough science but there is a lot to learn and build off of in the concepts and experiments they are learning.
7. Again, Google, YouTube, Khan Academy become your best friends. If you have a Disney+ streaming membership, they have the National Geographic Channel, which has some great educational shows! These resources will answer many questions for you, whether you teach it to your kids after you learn or if they watch directly.
8. The library! But of course your libraries may be closed like ours. However, they often have MANY resources online.

Teach Basic Life Skills – Home Economics to the Core!

Use your time at home to teach basic living concepts! I have to be honest and say that I really appreciate what this kid says in this YouTube video.

Honestly, he’s right!

• Teach your kids to do the taxes with you.
• Teach your kids to cook and bake.
• Teach your kids to do laundry.
• Teach your kids to garden.
• Teach your kids to clean.
• Teach your kids to balance the checkbook.
• Teach them about the necessary requirements to live life that schools don’t have the resources to cover!

These are all FANTASTIC learning opportunities and just as important as book work.

Have mass amounts of FUN!

Send them outside for a nerf battle, baseball, soccer, tag, etc. Go PLAY and PLAY HARD!!

Get fresh air and sunshine!

Screentime is FINE and probably needed so you can also get work done. Don’t stress about it, but also try putting playdoh, legos, markers, scissors, glue, glitter, magazines, watercolors, paper and let them get creative.

How to Balance School and Work…All From Home

I am a work-at-home homeschool mom. It’s hard to homeschool six children and work the equivalent to nearly full-time hours. Everyday, life changes. But one thing I try to do is work early and let them sleep in. Sleep is very important for healthy growth of our children and they often don’t get enough in the school years. So let them sleep in and this gives me quiet time in the morning to get focus work done. In the 2-3 hours I have in the morning, I can get the equivalent of 4-6 hours done.

“Sleep is very important for healthy growth of our children and they often don’t get enough in the school years. So let them sleep in and this gives me quiet time in the morning to get focus work done. In the 2-3 hours I have in the morning, I can get the equivalent of 4-6 hours done. “

Then I really put good focus into my kids the rest of the morning/day and work again starting around 3-4 pm into the evening as needed.

But there are some days that I need to get more work done. I will let my kids know the expectations and we will have 2-3 hours of me teaching them hands-on and then the afternoon is creative learning and play where I will put a bunch of materials in front of them for them to get creative, where they can go outside and play, where they can watch those YouTube videos to help solidify a concept and where they can watch those educational shows from channels like National Geographic. I will work in 2 hour stints and they know that they cannot interrupt me once I get stuff set up for them, unless there’s an emergency. On these occasional days, they know that i will focus on them for a few hours and they need to give me the rest of the day. This may be your reality everyday if you are working from home AND homeschooling too! And that is perfectly fine!

You will probably find that the 2-3 hours your get with your kids each day are massively productive and they will have absorbed so much information in such a short time, that they will need an afternoon for just fun!

How to Control the “Snack Attack”

Finally, if you homeschool, your food bill can go up quite a bit from the snack attacks! Snacking can get out of control for homeschool kids! We are in a constant battle to keep our kids from eating everything.

“We are in a constant battle to keep our kids from eating everything. “

But one thing I have found that works the best for us on the days I am intentional about it is that we ban them from the pantry or fridge, but we will set up a snack tray for the day and that’s all they get between meals. They will learn quickly to ration throughout the day.

The tray will have veggies, fruits, crackers and sometimes things like olives, cheeses, etc. I basically fill it each morning after breakfast with things we have on hand that need to be eaten up! Popcorn is also a fantastic snack as it is cheap and goes a long way.

Take this as a warning, if you do not set strict ground rules on snacks, it will get out of control FAST! Believe me, I know.

Time for YOU to share too!

There are hundreds of thousands of homeschoolers in this country and many of you that also continue school education during summer break. I have shared a very quick summary, but it would be so great to have any of you leave your ideas, resources, tips and tricks in the comments below!

Please share your thoughts too so all can get through this time!

Well, we have you covered, or at least your undercarriage issues with these 10 Alternatives to Toilet Paper in a Crisis

Why is Toilet Paper Sold Out?

Why is toilet paper sold out and a hot commodity during Coronavirus COVID-19? 

During the coronavirus outbreak of 2020, that originated in late 2019 (official name of COVID-19), there has been a mass run on toilet paper and a mass shortage of toilet paper in the United States. 

At first glance, this is a baffling scenario. How does toilet paper help with preventing or protecting from Coronavirus? Even before the United States had been hit hard with the COVID-19 outbreak, people rushed to the stores (especially Costco) and raided the TP aisle and cleared the shelves in just a matter of a couple of days. 

But why? WHY are people stocking up on toilet paper during a virus outbreak? It doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense, but let us break down why this is happening. 

1. The hoarding started in China first. Before the US was hit, we were first hit with China’s example of hoarding toilet paper, already placing many Americans in a confused, but sheepish state where many just followed the example blindly…because, whelp, there must be a good reason why those in China were hoarding! 

2. People are worried the stores will run out after, so why not stock up for a year? 

3. People are worried the stores will be closed. Whether the store closes voluntarily or due to a required quarantine, running out of toilet paper is a basic hygiene nightmare. 

4. People are quarantining themselves. If you aren’t planning to leave your home for a couple of weeks, toilet paper is the one thing you don’t want to run out of. 

5. China manufacturers some of the world’s toilet paper supply and so many are worried that there will be a shortage due to the lack of manufacturing in China right now. 

6. Monkey see – monkey do. This is perhaps the #1 reason. People in the prepper states like Utah started clearing shelves and then posting on social media, where it went viral and spread from there. So the scarcity and “fear of loss” set in with people nationwide and for some “in the back of their minds” nagging reason, had to get in on the action too.

So if you are like any of the millions left without toilet paper, you may be wondering what your options are at this point. We actually sat down as a family and had a family meeting about rationing our toilet paper and what we are possibly going to need to do in order to make it through the The Great Toilet Paper Apocalypse.

Many of these ideas have come from our kids. But we have also heard from some readers as well and their great ideas! So check out the 12 Alternatives to Toilet Paper in a Crisis. 

12 Alternatives to Toilet Paper

We are here to give you 12 alternatives to the toilet paper shortage

1. Use any napkins or paper towels and practice what they already do in much of Europe and wipe and throw away. Don’t flush paper towels or napkins, but this is probably the easiest and most logical solution. So whether you rummage through your home and find a supply of unused paper products, or buy online or find in any stores, this is a great solution and do like the Europeans do = wipe and toss! 

2. Get a supply of flushable wipes to last for 3 weeks. As of the writing of this article, there were still several sources of flushable wipes available on the store shelves and even on Amazon. One of the writers here at PreventCoronavirusInfo.com even ordered a case from Amazon last night, and they arrived at her door today. 

3. Use baby wipes and wipe and toss! Similar to the paper towels/napkin option or even the flushable option. Just don’t flush them! We had a few packs left over from our diaper days that we can use to get through. If you don’t have any and you see any at the stores, please only grab one pack and what you will need temporarily. No need to hoard, toilet paper will be coming back soon!

4. Make reusable toilet paper. It sounds gross, but toilet paper wasn’t invented until 1857. So just what did people do for thousands of years before that? Perhaps they had resusable!  Making your own is seriously a viable option in a crisis. What’s the alternative. If you don’t have toilet paper or paper towels or flushable wipes, this may be your next best step. Make them, use them,  wash them, reuse them. Here’s a video we found on how to make them. 

5. Use socks. Find all of those lone and alone socks and make a new match with the rear end! Seriously! Cut them in half, use them, wash them, reuse them and when this crisis is over, you will finally feel free to toss them once and for all because they completed their end of life duty. Socks are quite absorbent and soft. So it really could work well – but I haven’t tried it yet! This idea was direct from our 13 year old son! It was pretty smart thinking if you ask us!

6. Get on a subscription service with Amazon. Amazon is currently out. But if you add your TP to a Subscribe and Save list for the next available delivery, perhaps you can make it through with one of the above 5 ideas before they get there. 

7. Get a bidet. Let’s finally do like the French (have they had a toilet paper shortage?) and use some water pressure to clean up! It’s a good time and excuse to finally come up to speed on this high tech hygiene option by installing a bidet.

8. Use old t-shirts and rags. Cut squares or strips and you can reuse them by washing or you can just toss them if you have enough to get you through.

9. Use that baby birthing squirt bottle = cheap, homemade-ish version of a bidet and if you have had a baby recently, you probably have one!

10. Forage for foliage – but be aware of what you should look for so you are not in more pain! In fact, here’s the guide on some of the best foliage to forage:

What ideas do you have as an alternative to toilet paper? 

Leave a comment below and share your thoughts on this topic!

Finally, as we are all trying to make the best out of a weird and crazy situation, consider commemorating your experience with the Toilet Paper crisis with a mug or a t-shirt!

This post has been updated to include several recipes for hand santitizer, partly based on the ingredients you have on hand as well as intensity of effectiveness.

To jump to specific categories fast within in article, just click on the subject below:

• Benefits of the Gentle Homemade Hand Sanitizer
• Coronavirus and Hand Sanitizer
• How to stay well during Coronavirus and Flu Seasons
• Why Homemade Hand Sanitizer Is A Good Option
• Containers Needed for Homemade Hand Sanitizer
• Quick Round-up of Homemade Hand Sanitizer Recipes
• Original Gentle Formula Homemade Hand Sanitizer
• Video Instructions for Homemade Hand Sanitizer

Benefits of the Gentle Homemade Hand Sanitizer

For everyday use, for years, our family has used a gentle version which seems to have worked well for a decade. Here’s the original reasons we like the gentle version:

This is such a great recipe to keep in your back pocket for many reasons:

• It’s SUPER easy to make
• It’s affordable
• It contains no alcohol, which in turn means…
• No burning effect
• Smells great
• All-natural
• Actually moisturizing
• Not sticky
• Absorbs nicely into skin

But in light of the recent outbreak of Coronavirus or COVID-19, we wanted to update this post to include some more intense hand sanitizer recipes that use the proper percentage of alcohol recommended by the CDC to kill the virus.

Coronavirus and Hand Sanitizer

At the time of writing this post, Coronavius or COVID-19 specifically, is spreading across the world at a fast pace.

It is currently causing quite a panic as evidenced that 50% of my Facebook wall is littered with Coronavirus news, panic and planning.

Well, one thing we saw over and over again was that water, toilet paper and hand sanitizer were wiped clean off the shelves in the state we live in. So much so, that the news got involved and we have yet to report in cases of Coronavirus that originated in our state (we had some Princess Cruise passengers treated here and now have around 7 infected).

I actually haven’t been out this week, but I was at the grocery store last week when it was hitting high panic and the supplies were all still in stock and no prepper panic had happened yet, so I was surprised to hear about what happened a few days later. I was just doing my normal shopping and it didn’t occur to me personally to stock up on these things if Coronavirus took a bigger turn in spread.

How to stay well during Coronavirus and Flu Seasons

Regardless, it got me thinking that perhaps we need to get a bit creative in how we prepare to try and stay well.

Obviously, the TWO MOST important things to do are to wash hands and to keep hands off face and mouth. This is and still remains the BEST advice for staying well from any virus and NO hand sanitizer will be the total replacement to this basic, simple step.

But taking other precautionary measures is probably a good idea. We have lots of home remedies for keeping well from the flu and much of the same process appears to be the same advice for keeping well from this latest outbreak as well. One of my favorite solutions is the Homemade Elder Berry Syrup.

Why Homemade Hand Sanitizer Is A Good Option

So while hand-washing is the biggest response, sometimes when you are out and about, simply washing hands is not as simple. With that, you need t use the hand sanitizer recipe that is primarily alcohol-based FIRST and then follow up with this delightful blend of witch hazel and essential oils to lock in the protection and moisturize hands after without rinsing off the alcohol. So in this post, we are going to share the milder hand sanitizer for general wellness in our homemade hand sanitizer gel recipes!

I LOVE the gentle version because it’s natural, it’s effective, it’s cheap (hand sanitizer is already pretty affordable regardless) and the best news is that if a store runs out of hand sanitizer, you can make your own!

But we also need a harsher formula to effectively kill coronavirus. We would recommend making both and following up with the gentle moisturizing one for everyday use!

PLEASE NOTE, Coronavirus is killed with a formula of at least 60% alcohol. So while the witch hazel and essential oils will kill and prevent many things, you will want to make the one with alcohol to kill everything during the Coronavirus outbreak! This is a milder version that will help general wellness and makes it nice between the harsh alcohol one to keep hands smelling, and feeling soft and clean. My poor kids’ hands crack and bleed and so this version is a nice follow-up to temper the pain with alcohol-based sanitizers.

And this formula is so pleasant, that you just may use it to replace any anyway! This is an alcohol-free formula, which means it doesn’t sting or burn.

It is also not sticky, unlike many homemade and even store-bought versions. It softens skin in the process and smells amazing!

It is natural with no harsh chemicals (depending on your aloe base) and is super, super easy to make!

Overall, the general consensus amongst my family, they prefer the homemade version because it doesn’t burn their hands and it isn’t sticky.

Containers Needed for Homemade Hand Sanitizer

The hardest part about this recipe is finding a container to make it in. We have a few suggestions.

If you rummage around your house, you likely have some small squeeze bottles somewhere. I have used my vitamin E bottles and I love this because it also adds a bit of the vitamin e from the residue left in the bottle.

But that’s not likely you have a squeeze bottle of nearly used up vitamin E like I happened to have this one time. However, you probably have small shampoo/conditioner bottles, already used up store-bought hand sanitizer bottles that you can refill.

Hotel shampoo, conditioner or lotion bottles are perfect for purse or backpack size.

For larger bottles by the sink, you can also use pump bottles!

Finally, if you head to the dollar store or a place like Walmart, you can get empty travel-size squeeze bottles. So if you can’t find something around your home, just grab a handful of these bottles. You can easily order a set from Amazon and have them in your home in a day or two if you want to avoid stores!

After you have figured out your bottle situation, there are only a few simple ingredients needed to make an amazing hand sanitizer!

Quick Round-up of Homemade Hand Sanitizer Recipes

The full detailed original gentle recipe is posted below with video and pictures. But we wanted to include this section as a bunch of altneratives based on what you may have on hand AND what is most effective against Coronavirus. Please find the following recipes below:

BASIC Strong Formula Gel

• 99% Isopropyl Alcohol
• Aloe Vera Gel
• Fill about 2/3 of the bottle with the alcohol and the rest with aloe vera gel and shake vigorously.
• Use as needed

Basic Strong Formula Gel with Liquor for the Alcohol

We have found ourselves in a shortage of isopropyl alcohol. So you may need to find yourself in a liquor store buying a STRONG liquor. According to the CDC, it has to be 60% or higher, the higher the better. This is 180 proof, which is hard to find.

From the food and wine website, they list the types of brands of liquor that are the strongest on the market. So see what you can find and then you can make this version:

• At least 60% alcohol liquor
• Aloe Vera Gel
• Fill most of the bottle with the liquor and top off with the aloe vera gel.
• Shake vigorously and use as needed

Spray formula for Hand Sanitizer

Please note, you can turn any of the recipes here into a spray by either using witch hazel or water with the alcohol.

You can also add any essential oils to any of the gel or spray formulas.

With these ideas to adapt based on what you have on hand, hopefully you can come up with a homemade formula to provide an extra layer of protection. But again, nothing beats plain ‘ol soap and water.

After sharing these modifications, check out our original gentle formula below that does a pretty decent job of keeping our family well!

Original Gentle Formula Homemade Hand Sanitizer

Ingredients needed for homemade natural hand sanitizer gel

• Aloe Vera Gel –
• Witch Hazel or 99% Isopropyl Alcohol (Please note, the 99% Isopropyl Alcohol is also currently on low stock across the country. In some articles, if you use a vodka that has at least 60% alcohol, this can work as well).
• Essential Oils – recommended: Cinnamon, Clove, Tea Tree (a.k.a. Melaleuca)
• Essential Oil for smell – Recommended Orange

Orange with cinnamon and clove make for a nice smell. Tea Tree is probably the most important oil and it has a strong smell. Cinnamon and clove are great sub-support to tea tree and have a great smell and so the orange oil to add additional smell is a nice combo ultimately!

How to make Homemade Hand Sanitizer

• Fill your bottle with approximately 1/3 of witch hazel or the alcohol. This amount will vary based on bottle size, but just estimate. It doesn’t have to be perfect.

• Fill the remaining amount with aloe vera gel.

• Shake the bottle vigorously to mix these two ingredients

• For each ounce of your bottle, add 1-2 drops of each oil to the bottle. So a 1oz bottle will have at least 4 total drops of oil, but I like to do 2 drops per ounce, per oil.

• Shake the bottle again to mix the oils into the blend!

• Use your new hand sanitizer just like you would any hand sanitizer!

• When you use it, you should have minimal/no burn as there is no alcohol like with typical hand sanitizers.
• It should have a slight softening benefit to your skin as well (thanks to the witch hazel).
• It should absorb nicely to where there is no reside or stickiness!

I hope this Homemade Hand Sanitizer Gel keeps you “well” and is a great solution for your family!

Leave a comment and let us know your results.

Video Instructions for Homemade Hand Sanitizer

When you stumble on a great bulk stock-up deal on meats, it’s a great opportunity to get creative and fill your freezer, but spread the bulk meats over many more meals than you initially think you can make just by simply being creative! In this post, we want to share some ideas for bulk ground turkey freezer cooking. 

I recently stumbled upon a great ground turkey meat sale. We are quite picky about the meat we purchase and in fact, rarely purchase in-store, unless it is a great deal/mark-down or some other promotion.

In the past, we’ve purchased a cow with other friends (usually buying 1/4-1/2 for us) and most recently, purchase beef and pork from a small family farm that delivers across the west and get our poultry from Perdue Farms home delivery (the BEST option we’ve found!). Anyway, our meat buying list is quite short. We don’t buy lunch meat because of the nitrates and other ingredients and rarely anything else. But it does happen…and when it does, it’s usually a bulk or bigger amount.

That’s why when our local Kroger had a markdown sale on Simple Truth Natural Ground Turkey, I jumped on the chance to get a good deal on better quality ground turkey.

As a side frugal and health tip…ground turkey is often costs less than the beef option of the same amount of pre-cooked pounds everyday anyway. Plus, the ground turkey does not shrink as much as beef when cooked due to the lower fat content, so you actually get a bit more after cooked meat per lb. too and it is lower fat.

So, I got this ground turkey for $2.99 per lb.

This is a better price by far when comparing to conventional ground beef that is 93% lean. It’s around $5.99 per lb. in our stores. But this ground turkey is also a more natural version. Although not organic, it is a good deal for the price. Of course I would love to buy the organic ground turkey, and I will if it ever goes for a great price, but at $6.99 per lb., it’s just not that feasible in our tight grocery budget. A more natural conventional version at $2.99 per lb. will do and be great!

So, one thing I love to do to save a little extra money is to cook half or more of the meat I buy in bulk for fast dinner options. From my own experience and from talking with many of you, one of the biggest factors for not getting dinner on the table has been the issue of having to defrost and cook meat. Well, if you cook it, then freeze it, it only takes minutes to prepare dinner!

 I’ve also made “Dump Chicken Around The World” for chicken dishes that have an American, Asian, Mexican and Italian flavors for even faster meals!

But for the ground turkey, I wanted to do something a little different.

So this was how I turned 8 lbs. of ground turkey into 12 meals:

• I made 72 meatballs. 36 traditional and 36 Mexican flavored. I used a mini-muffin pan – they are perfect meatball size!
• I made 24 single serve meat loaves. 12 traditional and 12 Mexican flavored. I used regular size muffin tins to bake these. They are perfect for a single serve meat loaves!
• I made two 2-lb. turkey meat loaves. I make these in a regular bread pan.

I baked all of these up and then froze them in meal size ziploc bags.

• • 12 meatballs per baggie = 6 meals using meatballs
  • 6 single serve meatloaves (we call them meat muffins) per quart size baggie = 4 meals using meat muffins
  • 2 two-lb. meat loaves = 2 meals from meal loaves

Eight pounds of turkey cost me $23.92 (plus tax). And since everyone knows that for most meals, the meat is the expensive part, this means that the most expensive part of the above meals was less than $2 each family meal! I will couple the meatballs with whole wheat pasta and homemade tomato sauce, or in a rice casserole with steamed veggies, or over mashed potatoes with gravy (like a faux salisbury steak in ball form). I will couple the meat loaves with potatoes, steamed veggies and bread for complete meals. It’s really fun to top the meat muffins with mashed potatoes and gravy drizzled over the top – YUMMO!

We’ve actually already taken advantage of some of these meals before I could even get these ideas posted for you. Something that my children have recently discovered is how much they enjoy a “meat muffin” for breakfast. Yes, we’ve been using the single serve turkey meat loaves for breakfast. I can pop them in the microwave for 1-minute each from the freezer, add a piece of toast and a scrambled egg with a piece of fruit. These breakfasts have been incredibly filling and helped our children make it well into the next meal satisfied and full of energy. And at only .33 each meat muffin, I am feeding my kids a 4-course breakfast for around $1-$1.50 each! Normally, I don’t spend this much on breakfast for each person, but it has been a once a week gourmet breakfast for the past couple of weeks and a nice treat for them.  I am not a huge breakfast meats person as breakfast meats are so expensive (and not very healthy to boot!).

Now that I have shared these ideas with you, let me share the quick recipes too!

Traditional Meatballs/Meat Loaf:

• 3 lbs. of ground turkey
• 1 15oz. can of Tomato Sauce (I used my homemade version from fresh tomatoes, which is fine too!)
• 2-3 eggs
• 2 TBSP Italian Seasoning (recipe HERE)
• 1 TBSP minced garlic
• 1 onion diced
• 3/4 cup bread crumbs (I used crushed GF crackers)

Mexican Meatballs/Meat Loaf:

• 3 lbs. of ground turkey
• 1 19 oz. can of Enchilada Sauce

• 2-3 eggs
• 1 TBSP Taco Seasoning (recipe HERE)
• 1 TBSP minced garlic
• 1 onion diced
• 1 bell pepper diced
• 3/4 cup bread crumbs (I used crushed GF crackers)
• To make a bit spicy: add red pepper flakes to taste

Simply add all of the ingredients into a bowl and mix with your hands until well blended. I start with 2 eggs and if it is not sticking to itself enough, I add another egg. If you have too much egg, you can add more bread crumbs. You can also add more of any of the ingredients to add even more flavor! It is very forgiving and flexible recipe.

Once mixed, form balls and place on a pan or in a mini-muffin tin, regular muffin tin or bread pan.

To bake:

• Meatballs: bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes or until nice and brown. Inside temperature of at least 165 degrees needs to be achieved!

• Mini-meat loaves: bake at 375 degrees for 35 minutes or until nice and brown. Inside temperature of at least 165 degrees needs to be achieved!

• Meatloaf: bake at 375 degrees for 75 minutes or until nice and brown. Inside temperature of at least 165 degrees needs to be achieved!

Let them cool a bit and then freeze in whatever portions you plan to serve! When you are ready to eat, you can microwave for a minute for few (depending on size) or pop in the oven at 325 degrees for 10-15 minutes until hot all the way through. You can also add them to a crockpot with sauce for reheating. Just cook for a couple of hours on low.

How would you serve these?

Here’s a printable recipe for you:

See more recipes in our Recipe Art Gallery

Items used in this recipe:

So if you would like to learn how to make homemade natural Jet-Dry too, I can show you quite simply in this post! You will have your own rinse agent to save money too. 

Here’s what we will be talking about. You can click on anything in the list and be taken right to that section:

• Why Make Your Own Natural Rinse Aid?
• The Essential Oils Brand I Use
• How to make Homemade Natural Jet Dry, a.k.a. DIY Rinse Aid
• What to do with the leftover rinse aid solution
• Even works great for Stainless Steel Dishwashers
• Video instructions for Homemade Natural Jet Dry
• Here’s the cost breakdown for Homemade Natural Jet Dry
• Here’s a printable recipe that you can put in your home binder

Why Make Your Own Natural Rinse Aid?

Before I share the recipe for homemade natural Jet Dry, we previously shared our Homemade Natural Dishwasher Detergent for only .05 per load, which is an awesome recipe that you will want to chek out. This is the perfect recipe after much testing and tweaking. It’s great. 

BUT…there was something still missing.  It was that perfect finish to the load – rinse agent like Jet Dry! So I made up my own Jet Dry with 2 ingredients, less than 5 minutes to make and only .30 each Jet Dry bottle equivalent to end up with a finishing wash! When you combine the Homemade Natural Dishwasher Detergent and the Homemade Jet Dry, you will have beautiful wash results too. 

The Essential Oils Brand I Use

As a reminder, you may know that I use essential oils for many things, including cleaning. These are the “secret” ingredients to make these cleaners have their “antibacterial effect.”  I have used many different oils over the years. I currently use the oils from Young Living (and have been for nearly two years now) and have found that the quality does exceed that of many others. I have tried many.  Read up on my Young Living and general essential oil experience. I have been using essential oils in general for about 14 years now. I FINALLY tried Young Living after fighting it for many years.  

If you want my honest opinion, I think it is acceptable to use a 100% pure lemon essential oil for Amazon for half of the price as Young Living for this purpose as well. With the oil from Amazon, each batch of rinse aid will cost around $0.30. With the bottle from Young Living, your price is around $0.55 per batch.

How to make Homemade Natural Jet Dry, a.k.a. DIY Rinse Aid

Ingredients needed for Homemade Natural Jet Dry: 

• 1 cup of 3% Hydrogen Peroxide (around $0.22 for each cup)
• 10-15 drops of essential oil (I like to use lemon, cinnamon, or lavender oil)

Directions for Homemade Natural Jet Dry: 

• Step #1 – Add 1 cup of 3% Hydrogen Peroxide to a measuring cup.

Step#2 – Add your 10-15 drops of lemon or other essential oil to the Hydrogen Peroxide.

Step #3 – Pour into your rinse agent compartment of your dishwasher. I have to do this about every 30 days, just like Jet Dry. 

What to do with the leftover rinse aid solution

If you have any left over, I usually use it to clean my sinks and other spots in the kitchen.  Fill-up your sink with some hot soapy water (not very much as you don’t want it diluted a whole lot), maybe about 1″ deep. Then pour your remaining Jet Dry mixture into the sink.  Let it soak for a few minutes and then use a rag and shine up your sink, oven, microwave, counter tops, appliances, etc. You can also dump the remaining in the bottom of the dishwasher and run an empty cycle for a good dishwasher cleaning too. 

Even works great for Stainless Steel Dishwashers

I have used this solution for so long that I used it for years in my old dishwasher with the plastic interior (as you can see in the pics). In 2015, we got a stainless steel dishwasher when we remodeled and upgraded our kitchen and it works EVEN better in stainless steel. Stainless steel interior dishwashers can get quite nasty, so along with making for sparkling dishes, this helps the dishwasher keep clean too!

Video instructions for Homemade Natural Jet Dry

We did a live video of this process and recipe on our Facebook page. So I have included the video below in case you are a visual learner.  

Here’s the cost breakdown for Homemade Natural Jet Dry:

• 32 oz. bottle of 3% Hydrogen Peroxide for .88 – this will make 4 batches (or 4 months worth) = .22 each batch
• Essential Oil around $6-$12 (depending on where you get it) for a 15 ml bottle (approximately 300 drops) a bottle which will last for a LONG time (ours has lasted forever) so we will estimate around $0.28 to be conservative?

TOTAL per batch = .30 per 8oz. bottle compared to $3.50 each 8oz. bottle of Jet Dry at Walmart. But the homemade version would also be a natural option as well! 

Here’s a printable recipe that you can put in your home binder:

We also HIGHLY recommend that you put this in your home binder along with many more things we will be sharing! See all of the information on this in our previous post HERE about Put Together Your Home Binder with Free Downloads.

Don’t forget to print off your shopping list to make 23 Homemade Products for around $12 that includes the items for this and the other 222 products!

Finally, use this new thrifty and healthy cleaning product as part of our Spring Cleaning Challenge. 

Join us for our Spring Cleaning Challenge to Organize and Clean for a Thrifty and Healthy Home!

Ok, it happens… whether you have toddlers or pets, pee happens! It’s annoying, it’s frustrating and it seems to ruin the day and perhaps seems to feel like it’s ruined your furniture.

Well, we had one of those days a few days ago. Our toddler was exhausted from a busy morning, came home, and fell asleep on the couch. I decided not to move him into his bed and let him be. Well, let him be meant a couch covered in pee a couple of hours later. I was thankful this was the first time for him and the first in a long time, but it was still like…WHY?!? I know that whenever my kids fall asleep hard, they are going to wet their pants no matter where they sleep. They must be too tired to realize they need to get up and use the potty.

It’s okay though because it’s not as bad as it could be and it’s a simple…ish problem to solve, whether it be your toddler, dog, cat, or other pet.

I want to show you what I did from past learning experiences to remove the pee, disinfect and remove odors from the couch.

Above, you will notice the nice wet pee spot on the couch cushion. It spread to the whole cushion, with the epicenter being the most saturated.

Well, let’s get on this problem with natural, frugal, effective solutions!!

How to remove pee and urine from a couch

With any new cleaning method/product, test on an inconspicuous spot first! 

Step #1: With an old rag, soak up as much of the urine as possible. You can do this no matter where on the couch the pee is located, but it is especially easy on a removable cushion where you can “step” on it with the most force to soak it up!

Step #2: Deodorize. With a mixture of 4 parts water to 1 part distilled white vinegar, you can easily and naturally deodorize the couch cushion and give it a good cleaning! I know what you may be thinking…”vinegar’s smell is just about as awful as the pee itself…are you crazy?”

Well, I might be crazy on many things, but when it comes to this, I am perfectly sane. Vinegar is a #1 natural household cleaner. It is also a fantastic product to use in every load of laundry. It actually does not leave a smell! It’s weird! You will smell it as you apply and clean with it, but afterwards, there is no smell. I have always found this to be such a strange household ingredient, but it does marvelous work!

So with a rag, just wipe and rub and scrub the vinegar into the pee spot until you feel like you have covered the spot well.  Please note, if you catch a “dry” pee spot, you would skip step one and go right to this one. It works the same way. You could spray with a vinegar/water solution, soak it up and then scrub it to be sure you are getting it all up! Basically by re-wetting the pee spot with the vinegar, water solution. If you feel confident that the pee is primarily on the surface, there’s no need to re-wet – just scrub and wipe with the vinegar.

Step #3 – Moisture and odor removal and restore to original shape.

For this third step, you just need 2 ingredients: Baking Soda and Lavender Essential Oil. The power of the two of these natural ingredients together will accomplish your odor and restoration goal.

Just simply measure out about 1 cup of baking soda, at least for a spot size about as big as one cushion. Then add about 15-20 drops of lavender essential oil per 1 cup (adjust your amounts based on how much you need).

Blend this mix with a fork to evenly distribute the oil throughout the baking soda.

Then generously sprinkle the baking soda/lavender oil mix over the soiled area on your couch.

Step #4 – Let this sit for several hours, or even over night to dry out, soak up and absorb the odors. Then come back and vacuum it all up and it should be good as new and smelling great!

*If the spot is old or very saturated, you could consider doing this a second time as needed.

This has been the most effective solution for couches and mattresses in our household and we hope this frugal, natural solution is a help to yours too!

This is a link HERE all about Lavender Essential Oil, it’s uses, where to get it and more in case you don’t have any on hand! 

This week we continue on our venture exploring side hustles. This one can be a great fit for many as there are so many ways to make becoming a Virtual Assistant (VA) work for you. Today we interview someone that today makes a six-figure income in being a VA.

She is offering to teach others how to become a Virtual Assistant and start earning from home immediately. She normally charges $297 for this service, but will be giving Thrifty Couple Readers $100 off by using coupon code THRIFTY100.

Join the class for only $197 HERE and earn that back in your first task!

We start off with a lot of fun with the normal banter between Cassie and Alex – you’ve just got to listen in to join the fun!

PLUS, Alex (our guest – not your lovable host) was expecting during the recording of our podcast, not knowing whether at any moment she would need to be rushed to the hospital to have her baby. The next morning she had her beautiful baby girl. Coming on our show helps get the delivery going and in this case just a few short hours after recording. We don’t expect that record to be beat any time soon.

This is quite appropriate as this is why being a VA is such a perfect fit for Alex! She is able to work on her schedule, in the comforts (if you can call pregnancy comfortable) of her own home, and adjust as needed! What a perfect fix and introduction to her speaking on her side hustle (which became her full time gig).

Alex starts off sharing with us what a VA is. A VA is someone that can virtually assist you with your business, including book keeping, data entry, anything that a virtual assistant can do. If you are good with computers and able to pick up new skills, this could be a perfect fit for you.

“A VA is someone that can virtually assist you with your business, including book keeping, data entry, anything that a virtual assistant can do. If you are good with computers and able to pick up new skills, this could be a perfect fit for you.”

This is not only a great fit for someone that wants to be a VA, but other small business owners that need help with their own businesses. When you start a virtual business, sometimes you just want to focus on your passion and business goals. As such, having a VA assist you with some of those tasks that you don’t have time for (or where your time might be spent better elsewhere) can help make your own business even more successful.

In our world today we have such amazing opportunities at our fingertips. All businesses have some sort of online presence, so no matter the skills you offer (think outside the box – there is someone out there that needs the skills that you can provide), this can be a great fit.

“In our world today we have such amazing opportunities at our fingertips. ”

Plus, don’t think that having a side hustle means you have to deliver pizzas, working some part time job where you make almost nothing and live off tips. We often limit ourselves so much because we put ourselves in a box, but in the online world there are so many amazing ways you can make money.

Alex shares with us how you can go out and find clients. There are so many answers on this question so we won’t go into all of it here. But Facebook Groups are a great place to start as there are many groups setup for businesses looking for VAs to offer their services. She talks through a number of those options with us.

There’s some great nuggets in this interview. We hear how Alex was able to grow and hone her skills as a VA and find very specific skills that she is passionate about and use those to form a new business. In other words, because as a VA she was able to explore all the different skills she was performing for a number of businesses, she grew those skills until she was able to determine “what she wanted to be when she grew up” and learned many of those skills on the job as a VA. What a great way to start and then create a new business – all based on those skills learned while she was a VA.

She shares with us where she started as far as her income, earning about $1,000 her first month, $3,000 by month number three. Just eighteen months later she was earning at the level of six figures. Alex (the host) then works through the numbers how this income increase is so much greater than our 2% increase each month we work towards. But this is a perfect example of how we share that the desired 2% increase in income each month is just a goal with the potential for earning so much more becoming a reality!

Alex (our guest) then shares her biggest piece of advice. “Just start.” There are so many people that want to start something but don’t because they wait for everything to be perfect. Find a few services you are passionate about and it will go from there.

She then shares how she has put together a “business in a box” called Virtual Assistant Jumpstart.

This is a seven-module course on everything you might need to get your own VA business off the ground. The topics cover everything from deciding what services you want to offer, to how much you should charge and even what payment processing platform you should use. She has learned so much and is so passionate about the whole world of things you can do from home so she put together a business to help others do the same thing!

Alex provided all our listeners (and readers) a special coupon code to get $100 off her course (use code THRIFTY100). You’ll need to go through this link to her Virtual Assistant Jumpstart course to get that discount.

This is not sugar coated but simple actionable steps to get you started as a Virtual Assistant.

The 2% Money Saving Tip

There are so many ways you can cut your budget – and especially in the area of food. Cassie shares this tip on how she makes five meals out of one rotisserie chicken. And yes, this works for large families as well.

Cassie goes the extra step to buy organic, whole chickens in an instant pot with the goal of the five freezer meals and making her own bone broth as well. Check out our resources below for all the links.

Resources mentioned in this podcast:

• Thank you so much to our guest, Alex, for sharing your course Virtual Assistant Jumpstart (aka, her “business in a box”) to our listeners. We encourage you to check it out by clicking here to view her course and use code THRIFTY100 to take $100 off!
• To read more about why we talk about “2%” whether we’re talking about earning extra income or cutting our budget, we encourage you to check out our book, The 2% Rule To Get Debt Free Fast: An Innovative To Pay Off Your Loans For Good (learn more about our story here as well) and accompanying workbook to help you put those tips into action.
• As promised, here’s Cassie’s tip on how she makes a rotisserie chicken stretch over five meals for a family of eight! As promised, she also shares how she cooks a whole chicken perfectly in her Instant Pot with the added tip on how she cooks two whole chickens in her Instant Pot as well. Finally while we were searching through our posts, we found this Instant Pot recipe converter that we thought you might find helpful too.

Don’t Miss an Episode:

If you want to make sure that you never miss an episode we encourage you to sign up for our Take Back Your Finances Podcast email.  As mentioned above, we will send you the free Spouse Questionnaire sometime during that first week just for signing up.  Additionally, we will also send you other resources from the latest podcast episode like checklists or related worksheets.  You just might receive resources on some of our favorite money-making or money-savings tool as well!

Play this episode:

Finally, as we continue to share, if we help anyone, then it makes everything we do worth it!

If we and this podcast have been a blessing to you in any way, we would greatly appreciate a favorable review on iTunes.  Our goal is to reach more people with this message of hope and your review will help in doing that.  Thank you!!

I hate sponges.

They are so gross, disgusting and nasty – even before they start smelling! They are home to billions of disgusting organisms.

In fact, Discover Magazine share that, “Looking at 14 different used kitchen sponges, the researchers found up to 54 billion bacteria per cubic centimeter, spanning 118 genera. Many of these pose no harm to humans, it should be said, but among the species the researchers also found varieties of E. coli, Klebsiella, Staphylococcus, Salmonella and others implicated in food-borne illnesses. They found that the bacteria appear most often on the surface and visible cavities of the sponge, and their analysis indicated rapid growth.”

I actually get really sick feeling when I am not at home and see sponges being used because of reading facts like the above one and not knowing if that sponge is being disinfected (naturally) regularly.

However, they are so, so useful and easy to use for cleaning and more specifically, scrubbing. My cleaning is far more efficient.

So to save money and instead of pulling out a new sponge everyday, I found a cool trick that helps to deodorize and clean your sponge for healthy cleaning.

It is easy and cheap and it is so easy in fact that I do it everyday as part of my cleaning routine.

Here’s what you need to naturally deodorize and disinfect your sponge:

• shallow bowl or a plate with a bit of a lip
• Your sponge
• An essential oil that you really trust
• Water or white vinegar

For the essential oil, I am not going to strictly promote one brand or type as there are many that are sufficient. I will show you what I use and if you would like to order, I would love for you to order through me if you would like. I personally choose to use Young Living, because it does have good reviews, especially of one of my favorite oils….Thieves! I really, really do love Thieves oil from Young Living!

As a bonus, since I am a history buff and LOVE all things history, I love the history of the creation of this oil!

But that is all a nice side antecdote. If you want to order Young Living Thieves stuff for a naturally healthy home, consider ordering under our family!

But for the oils, you can use Thieves from Young Living, doTerra’s On Guard, or lemon, or a combination of clove, cinnamon, lemon, rosemary, eucalyptus (all ingredients found in Thieves). The point is, get a naturally disinfecting oil from the brand you trust.

Check this simple sponge cleaning and disinfecting trick out:

• Place your sponge, porous side up.
• Sprinkle a few drops on the oil.

• Add water to the bowl/plate.

• Stick the bowl is the microwave and microwave for about 3-4 minutes.

Afterwards, DON’T TOUCH IT for several minutes! It will burn you! But the smell will be fantastic and your sponge will be cleaned and disinfected without harsh chemicals! For me, this means I can feel comfortable with washing my dishes since it is something we eat off of.

Rinse your sponge and then wipe your microwave clean as the steam will have softened the particles. Congratulate yourself as you just completed two cleaning tasks in one!

By doing this, I feel more comfortable about using the same sponge daily until it falls apart. I have seen reports on what Thieves can do, so I am trusting it.

But I suppose that part #2 of this should be a follow up with a homeschool science experiment and compare two sponges – one with traditional daily use and rinsing clean and setting out to dry and this method and see the results.

So I will follow up with part #2 soon!

We shared a post a while ago that shares the 16 ways you can earn money through Amazon. These side hustles are perfect whether you have just a few hours a week or more to invest in yourself. Today we give a quick summary of all sixteen and share some examples for each. Please make sure to comment below on which of the following you would love for us to focus on in a future episode!

A lot of times people think that we, as The Thrifty Couple, just have an easy time working side hustles. It’s true we have a lot of experience making money on the side (racking up six figures of income just from the tips we share in this article over our years of side hustlin’) but we also have a lot of friends that don’t work side hustles all the time that have made thousands – and some even seven figures – as they have made these work for them! In sum, yes – everyone can do something (and more). In the words of Nike, “Just Do It!”

1. Be a customer service representative – Get your feet wet as this doesn’t require a lot of extra skillset but just a bit of training.
2. Sell t-shirt designs with Merch by Amazon – We have a great friend that does this exact thing. You make the design (Amazon gifts you the parameters) and upload it to Amazon. You can also use Fiverr to make designs as well. What’s great is you don’t have to invest thousands into stock, but instead Amazon prints the t-shirt on demand and ships it to the customer, all for a fee.
3. Be an Amazon affiliate – If you do have a website or blog, post links to Amazon and if anyone clicks on your link to order that product (or anything else from Amazon within the next 24 hours) you will earn a percentage for that order.
4. Become an Amazon influencers – Don’t worry if you don’t have a blog or website. If you’re on social media, you are an influencer. With the trust you have established with your followers, you can post links to products that mean a lot to you and similar to the affiliate program above, you will earn a percentage of that order!
5. Sell products on Amazon through the “Fulfilled by Amazon” option – The next two tips (#5 and #6) are the ones that have made a few of our friends the seven-figure earners on Amazon. We will direct you to the information in our article to get all the details.
6. Sell Products Directly on Amazon – This is the second tip where our friends have made a lot of money. Again, this is a huge topic.
7. Trade-ins with Amazon – Whether you have a lot of items around your house you are looking at getting rid of or if you like to go to your local garage sales, the right products can be traded into Amazon for Amazon credit. And yes, we count that credit as income as we buy so much through Amazon and this cuts down the money we need for those items! Don’t miss the story of Cassie’s dad and what he specifically does in the episode.
8. Earning Amazon gift cards – These are not directly with Amazon, but methods to earn Amazon gift cards. We share links to our articles on Swagbucks (we just shared in a post how we paid for Christmas just a couple of years ago with over $1,000 in Amazon gift cards from Swagbucks).
9. Have your book published by Amazon – Similar to #2 with the Amazon Merch program, you can upload your digital books to Amazon and when a customer orders the book, they will print the book, bind it, and ship it to the customer for a fee. We did this and in our first three months made $512 after their fees.
10. Sell your professional services on Amazon – If you offer professional services like a handyman, willing to clean, or any other type of service repairs, Amazon will allow you to post your offer to their customers. There are no fees other than a revenue share when you complete the job. This is also great as well if you are looking for a professional service as you can see reviews and know whether this is someone you want in your home. Amazon actually lists that as one of their benefits, stating that by offering your services on their site, you are leveraging the trust of Amazon.
11. Publish a book through Kindle Publishing – Similar to what we mentioned in #9, you can publish your book to the Kindle store! You simply upload your book and work through the steps to get your book added to their store.
12. Do random tasks through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk – Amazon boasts that there are some tasks that a human can do better than a computer. As a worker, you provide these services. Check out the links for Mechanical Turk – this doesn’t seem to be as popular as it once was but is something to still check out.
13. Make $18-25 per hour Delivering Through Amazon Flex – As Amazon just keeps being the #1 company in the world and exceeding their record breaking sales each year, they need people to deliver those products. Through Amazon Flex you use your own vehicle to make those deliveries for a nice commission.
14. Own Your Own Amazon Delivery Business – This one does require an investment (the only one on the list). But with that $10,000 investment, they will provide the vehicle and everything you need to have your own delivery business. Business owners are paying themselves a $300,000 but this also includes more serious work.
15. Selling Your Own Items Through Amazon Handmade – We don’t know a lot about this but link to it. This is much like an Etsy where you can see your own handmade products on Amazon – good for hobbyist or crafter that wants to sell your products for a profit.
16. Create Audiobooks on Amazon – Create your own audiobooks and get your books heard! Plus for their authors, they get special links for referrals that sign up for Amazon at an outstanding amount (like $75) that is much higher than you can find elsewhere.

This was a very fast summary for all sixteen, but we encourage you that pretty much everyone should be able to find at least one of these money-saving idea to help them in their own money-making journey.

The 2% Money Saving Tip

We shared this tip a number of years ago in a popular magazine – and the tip is Dinner by 10! We adopted this in our home many years ago and it helped us save so much money. Whether you are someone that stays at home during the day (you have until 10 am that day) or someone that works outside the home (you have until 10 pm the night before), you need to decide and get everything prepared to ensure dinner is on the table and keep you from going out to eat.

We also through in an extra tip, the No Food Waste Menu Planner that we use to creatively use food in our food pantry and refrigerator to ensure we are not throwing out food but instead using it. You really need to check out this planner as we have had tens of thousands that have downloaded and used this throughout our years sharing it!

Resources mentioned in this podcast:

• We encourage you to check out the article that inspired this episode, 16 Ways You Can Earn Money on Amazon
• Don’t miss out our tip we shared on Dinner by 10 – a simple way we save hundreds of dollars each month! And you really don’t want to miss our No Food Waste Menu Planner to help you save even more!

Don’t Miss an Episode:

If you want to make sure that you never miss an episode we encourage you to sign up for our Take Back Your Finances Podcast email.  As mentioned above, we will send you the free Spouse Questionnaire sometime during that first week just for signing up.  Additionally, we will also send you other resources from the latest podcast episode like checklists or related worksheets.  You just might receive resources on some of our favorite money-making or money-savings tool as well!

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Finally, as we continue to share, if we help anyone, then it makes everything we do worth it!

If we and this podcast have been a blessing to you in any way, we would greatly appreciate a favorable review on iTunes.  Our goal is to reach more people with this message of hope and your review will help in doing that.  Thank you!!