Inexpensive Gift Ideas!

Christmas is coming! I love Christmas. I decided it's time to come back to my blog and pick up the fun where I left off. Just too many awesome ideas out there and I want to get in on the sharing! I love giving and receiving homemade gifts more than anything. And since so many of us are on a shoe-string budget, I thought I'd pass on some great ideas that I've come up with and have gotten from other wonderfully creative people also. Here are a few of my favorites...

Cupcaking has become a popular activity. This is a great idea for a cupcaker on your Christmas list. A Cupcake kit!
 

You can find it at a great website called  The 36th Avenue.



These look really simple and fun to make, from the same wonderful website. Paperclip earrings! You could make them a million different ways!




This is a pair of my own that a friend made for me. She added seed beads to a color-wrapped paperclip. The possibility of colors and shapes are endless here!

Here's a great Beefy Bean Soup Mix from delish-dot-com. I love jar recipies. Last Christmas we made soup and homemade cocoa mixes in jars for friends and family.





And don't forget to click on the "Gifts" category to look at my gift ideas with things like
Easy Homemade Soap...









 thereliantself.blogspot.com/2010/01/easy-homemade-soap.html

 Tic Tac Toe games...

















http://thereliantself.blogspot.com/2009/12/christmas-tic-tac-toe.html
 
Your own shirt designs...





















thereliantself.blogspot.com/2009/12/more-christmas-gift-ideas.html

...and a lot more, like hand dipped candles, painted flower pots, fabric crafts...

And of course, 25 gift ideas to give that will help those you love be more prepared and have greater peace of mind this Christmas!

thereliantself.blogspot.com/2009/12/give-gift-of-preparedness.html

Dishwasher Magic

Hey everyone! I'm gone away on a trip to Vancouver to see my sister's family and watch my niece and nephew in a big dance festival! I left on very short notice and didn't get to post a great tip and success I had last week that I wanted to share with you before I left. So I'm doing it from her house.

We have a well at our house, so we have nice, clean, mineral rich water. Which means - calcium build-up! We got a new top-of-the-line dishwasher a couple of years ago. The dishes have to be well rinsed before they go in, or they come out dirty. A "professional" told me that's because we don't have a water softener. A few months ago, it just pretty much quit working. The water wasn't even spraying out of the top arm. Upon examination, I discovered that the whole machine was pretty caked with "scale" or mineral deposits. We've been washing the dishes by hand for the past few months - which is a good experience for my boys! But enough good experience. We have a nice machine there and it seems a shame to not be able to use it. So I started looking for solutions.

Mine did NOT look as bad as the one in the picture, but since I'm not at home, I found this nice crusty picture on Google Images. It makes the point. I tried spraying it down inside with various cleaners, baking soda, or vinegar. I didn't want to put toxic cleaners in there, or into our septic system. It looked like the vinegar was the ticket but would be a back-breaking undertaking and I didn't know how I would get it to clean the inside of the pipes and tubes that feed the sprayer arms. I turned it on the "soak and scour" cycle. On my dishwasher, that means the water runs into the bottom of the machine, then it runs (sprays) for 1 1/2 minutes, sits for 16, and repeats that for 4 hours, with one exchange of water in the middle. When it's finished, it then runs whatever wash cycle is selected.

I let the water run into the dishwasher. Then I opened it, dumped in a few cups of white vinegar, shut it and let it continue. I let it do it's "soak and scour" magic for 2 hours and then stopped it. The dishwasher looked sparkling clean inside and the water was spraying out of the arms just fine! The heating element is still pretty corroded but not as badly. I think the trick is to run a vinegar rinse every few weeks or so. Periodically anyway - depends on how quickly your minerals build up.

I was pretty amazed at how well it worked, and it hardly cost a thing! I hope that helps any of you who have hard water and a poorly functioning dishwasher!

Making Money In Hard Times

When times are tough, it's time to think out of the box. I've had a lot of experience with financial creativity over the years, so I thought I'd share a few good ideas from my experience in case any of you might be tired of filling out applications, or just need an additional boost to your income. If traditional job hunting isn't working, a little creativity might.

National unemployment for May, was 9.7%. On the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics site, you can see what the current unemployment rate is in your state. Last month, Nevada was the highest at 14% and North Dakota had only 3.6% unemployed.  Even though Montana is at 7.2% statewide, the county I live in has ranged from 12% to 13.8% in the last few months. Yikes! My husband is employed - sort of. He's self-employed, which means that income is unreliable and we're often struggling to make ends meet. We're getting creative. Here are a few ideas:

IDEA #1 - CLEANING

If you are a fast, efficient and thorough cleaner, cleaning jobs usually pay well. Between myself, my mother, sisters, and nieces, we've had various jobs over the years cleaning for private homes, vacation rental homes, new construction, and business offices. The pay in our valley ranges from about $12 to $25 an hour. I currently have two homes that I clean every few weeks, and am paid $20/hour. It's not a lot of hours each month, but gives me enough spending cash to help out with a little gas or groceries or buy one of the boys a package of socks now and then. I swear, boys seem to go through socks like babies go through diapers!

To find a cleaning job, put an ad in the local paper, put the word out among friends, stop into offices and ask if they have someone to clean for them - and if not, would they like to? If you have a Temporary job service, those kinds of jobs are often listed there. Office cleaning jobs are very often paid at a flat rate, rather than hourly. You need to look at the size of the office, what kinds of cleaning is needed and estimate how long it will take you. If you really aren't sure, see if they would be willing to let you clean once to see how much time you need, before you give them a price. You should be able to make between $20 and $25 an hour, but must be fast a do a thorough job. To be reasonable, prices might be higher or lower in your area. I'd ask at some job services or the Chamber of Commerce to be sure you are getting what your efforts are worth, but not over-charging.

IDEA #2 - RESELLING

My sister told me of a woman in her area who made $60,000 last year (2009) just by selling used golf clubs that she bought at pawn shops and thrift stores. There are a lot of things you can re-sell. This is something you have to have an eye for. You'll need to get a feel for the value of items, how easily they'll sell and what a good price is to pay for them. Many people watch the classifieds and when they spot a great deal, they buy it up, fix it up, and resell it. Whether it's a rocking chair or a car, there are lots of good deals to be had, because people often just want to get rid of something they don't need. Other places to watch are Craig's List, E-bay auctions, and other personal selling sources. Yard sales are also full of treasures. You just have to know what to look for. Check to see if your area has a "Freecycle" group. It's an on-line listing of things that people are willing to give away rather than have to haul it to the local landfill. You can also list things there that you are looking for. Then if someone has the item sitting in their garage or attic, they call you up and it's yours.

IDEA #3 - HAULING
Do you have a pickup? A couple of summers ago, my nephew's friend put an ad in the paper that he had a pickup and would pick up and haul whatever people needed moved. He was busier that summer than a jar of red ants! He hauled construction scraps, furniture, dirt, appliances, plants, garbage - you name it. In a smaller area like I live in (and every other person owns a pickup - this IS Montana!) this wouldn't work so well. But this boy lived in a larger area, where population spreads for miles and miles. Most people in large towns and cities don't have pickup trucks. When people needed things hauled to the dump, he charged enough to pay for his gas, labor and time, and they'd include the landfill fee.  If someone has a landscaping or remodeling project at their home, they often don't have any way to haul the materials. I was told he had more work available than he could do.

IDEA #4 - CONSTRUCTION CLEAN-UP

Construction has slowed down, but it hasn't stopped. If you stop by a construction site when it's first started, your chances of getting work are better. Smaller projects, like homes, often don't have any clean-up planned for yet. It's a different kind of cleaning than what you would do in a home or office that is already in use. Since the walls are painted, light fixtures are hung, and the flooring - except carpet - is completed before the finish carpentry is done, everything is dusted with a  fine sawdust and needs to be wiped down. New carpet needs to be vacuumed. Cupboards and drawers need to be wiped out, mirrors cleaned off, tubs and showers wiped out, etc. It's just a lot of dust and scraps from Sheetrock, wood and putty. If you let them know you are interested, you may get some hours cleaning up construction scraps during the building process also.

IDEA #5 - SELL A HANDMADE ITEM

Do you have a skill or hobby? Why not make money with it! My brother has a friend here in Montana that makes birdhouses. He makes them all shapes and sizes and his wife paints some little flowers on the side. He sold them in the summer at two different Farmer's Markets and made over $90,000 in one summer. During the winter months, he makes more birdhouses. Unique things sell at Farmer's Markets, Flea Markets, and craft fairs. Wind chimes, creative wood craft items, metal work, pottery, etc.

IDEA #6 - OFFICE PLANT CARE

Almost all offices have plants - some silk, some real. Plants get dusty and need a little trimming now and then. If you like working with plants, this is a great job. The investment is minimal. All you need is a couple of different kinds of plant sprays and polishers. There are products for cleaning silk plants, and products for cleaning real plants. You can probably get a little education at a plant nursery of what products to use on what plants. If you know how, you can include trimming and pruning in your service.

IDEA #7 - BE CREATIVE WITH YOUR SKILLS
One summer, when I was about 14, my sister and I put an ad in our local paper. We sat down and made a list of all our skills, and then wrote an ad that went something like this:

Two ambitious, talented, hard-working, teenage girls looking for work. We will milk your cow, paint your fence, cut your hair, bake your bread, tend your animals, watch your house, mow your grass, weed your flowers, wash your car, sew or mend your clothes, tend your kids, water your lawn or just about anything else you need done. Please call Karen or Susan at...

The phone started ringing and the jobs poured in. There was a movie crew in town at the time and they ordered home made bread and hair cuts. My sister was older than me and she could cut hair and can sew like nobody's business. I was the bread baker. We both pretty much did the rest together. We milked cows and goats and took care of farms and houses while people went on vacation.  She got mending and sewing jobs and I babysat. We stayed very busy and made a lot of money that summer.

These are only a few ideas. Take inventory of your skills, interests, and resources, and capitalize on them. With a little creativity, you could bring in some nice extra cash, or maybe even a healthy income. Just think out of the box!

Cooking - Tips and Substitutions

Have you ever gotten half-way through making a recipe, only to open the fridge to get an egg and discover that there are none? Ever needed some buttermilk and didn't have any? Or over-salted a pot of soup and are afraid you'll have to dump it out? Believe it or not, there are solutions to those problems! I love solutions. :-)  They can help you save time and money, save you in a crisis, and maybe relive a little stress. Here's a few tips and resources I keep on hand...

Egg Substitute - (for use in baking) Combine 1 tsp of unflavored gelatin with 3 Tbl of cold water and then another 2 Tbl plus 1 tsp of boiling water. This will take the place of one egg in recipes for cookies, cakes, etc.

Meat Substitutes and Extenders - You can use cooked wheat, cracked or whole, in spaghetti sauces, pizza, Sloppy Joes, soups, etc. You can also add it to your ground beef for meat loaf, taco filling or hamburger patties when you don't have quite enough. Whole grain wheat berries are about 15% protein, on the average. Wheat germ can also be added to recipes, and contains about 23% protein. Millet is another grain that is high in protein, like wheat, and can be used as a substitute or extender with meat recipes.We like cooked millet with milk and honey for a hot breakfast cereal.

Boiled Eggs - To keep the shells from cracking while boiling, add a dash of salt to the water before you start.

Tupperware Stains - Spray your Tupperware or other plastic containers with cooking oil before you put tomato sauces in them and they won't stain.

Over-Salted Soup - If you give your pot of soup the taste-test and find it's way over-salted, peel a potato and drop it in the soup raw. It will absorb salt into itself. Leave it in until you're left with just the right amount of flavor.

Stained Fingers - Speaking of potatoes - I'm told that rubbing a slice of raw potato on your fingers will usually take stains off them.

Sprouting Potatoes - When you have a large amount of potatoes in the cupboard that you know might start to sprout before you get them all eaten, put an apple in the bag with them. It will keep them from sprouting.

Buttermilk - Buttermilk isn't something I use very often, so every now and then when I get a hankerin' to make buttermilk pancakes or something, I don't usually have any. Well, I discovered you can make your own. 1 Tbl of vinegar or lemon juice added to enough milk to make 1 cup, let it stand for 5 minutes, and whalaa! You have buttermilk.

Powdered Sugar/Confectioners Sugar - Put 1 cup of sugar in the blender and blend it up. Commercial products usually have corn starch added. If you want to more closely imitate that taste and consistency, add 1 Tbl of corn starch to the sugar when blending.

"Dusting" the Cake Pan - I never liked that look of gooey white flour on the sides of my cake or brownies. That's easily remedied by dusting the cake pan with a little bit of the dry cake mix instead. Or, if you're making a chocolate cake or brownies, you can dust the pan with some cocoa powder.

Measuring Sticky Stuff - Run your measuring spoons or cups under hot water before measuring molasses, honey or syrups, and the sticky stuff will all come off clean. Or, coat them with oil first.

Separating Eggs - If you have trouble separating eggs, use a small funnel. Crack the egg into it - the white will run through and the yolk will stay in the funnel.

Maple Syrup - I don't buy imitation maple syrup because it's basically High Fructose Corn Syrup with flavoring. HFCS is REALLY not good for you. Real maple syrup is extremely expensive. When I can't spare the money to buy it, I buy Mapleine at the grocery store. It's a natural maple extract mixed with some of the usual not-so-natural things. The little 2 oz. bottle will make 24 pints of syrup and costs about $4. You make the syrup with boiling water, sugar, and the Mapleine. I wouldn't call it a healthy "food" but this is one of those times when I'm happy to use good ole' regular sugar, because it's much preferable to the alternative. It has a real good maple flavor, is very inexpensive to buy, and is a great storage item.(Hint - make small batches that will get used right away. It tends to "sugar" on the bottom of the jar as it sits in the fridge.)

Some of these tips I've used, and some I haven't yet. They're all taken from various sources of information I keep on hand for food storage, cooking and other things. One of my favorite sources is a book my mother gave me a couple years ago, called Jumbo Jack's Helpful Hints Almanac. It's only $4.99 on Amazon, and worth every penny! I hope some of these ideas can make your life a little easier.

Heirloom Seeds - Sustainable Living

Anyone can grow food! Everywhere I look, I'm confronted with articles and information urging everyone to get and store food, food, food! Political, spiritual and economical sources are all saying the same thing. Everyone who is "in the know", or who is watching the trends in our nation and world, are warning and urging everyone else to get ready. So let's do it!

I just want everyone to know that they CAN grow food for themselves - no matter where you live. If you are in a city apartment, you can grow vegies on your balcony, in your living room, in your kitchen, or in your bedroom! Maybe you can use a spot on the roof! Even if you just start with one package of seeds in one yogurt container -

ANYthing you do, is better than nothing at all! Please start. And once you do, you'll be hooked. Plants are "infectious", in a good way! Something about dirt and growing things has a healthy nurturing, even healing effect on us. Indoor plants also purify and recycle our air into good oxygen. So this is my best shot to inspire you all to grow something.

If you are already a gardener, many of you probably already have seeds in the dirt, especially if you live farther south than I do. But whether you've started or not, I want to pass on what I've learned about where to get the best seeds for the smallest price.

The goal is to grow "SUSTAINABLE" PRODUCE. That means you can collect some of your own seeds every year and continue to propagate your own garden from one year to the next without having to buy new seeds. Not all seeds will grow plants that can reproduce, and not all seeds will grow healthy, natural plants. But it's really simple if you are just aware of a couple of basic things to look for.

Non-Hybrid - HYBRID SEEDS DO NOT REPRODUCE. They are specially cultivated from "genetically dissimilar parents or stock" (dictionary). The plants will not produce seed that can be germinated, and they are genetically manipulated plants. I prefer to eat food that I know has grown naturally, just the way God made it to grow.

Hybrid plants are developed for a number of commercial reasons. They could be more insect or disease resistant, have brighter color, grow larger than normal, need less water so they can be grown in harsher climates, produce more "fruit", or many other reasons. Some of them are good reasons, maybe to help people in developing or third-world countries have food that they wouldn't have otherwise.  Never-the-less, I want real food that I can propagate and continue to live on.

Non-GMO - GMO stands for Genetically Modified Organism. I'd suggest that we all take the time to learn a little about it. It was an "experiment" started 40 or 50 years ago. More and more books are being written to warn us of the dangers of eating GMO foods. Our grocery shelves are full of them. They affect us, insects (like bees), the soil, and everything in nature adversely. The scientists do unnatural things like cross genes of a plant with a fish, or a goat with a spider. The results are ruining once-good soil content, killing important insects, creating devastating bacterias and other organisms, and even altering human DNA. That's all I'll say here, but the books will shock you with scientific study and evidence. Some of what is happening is like something from a horror movie. Here are a few of the most touted books, and I'm sure there are plenty of others. None of these are very expensive and would be well worth the education.

 Seeds of Deception















Genetic Roulette















The World according to Monsanto















Your Right to Know - Genetic Engineering and the Secret Changes in Your Food















When you are choosing your produce in the grocery store, you can watch the numbers on the little stickers that you find on each piece of fruit or vegetable. They tell you a little about the food's origin, based on the number of digits and what the first digit is:

•  Organic - 5 digits, starts with the number 9
•  Conventional - 4 digits, starts with a 3 or 4
•  GMO - 5 digits, starts with an 8

I carry a little paper in my wallet, with that info for reference when I am shopping. 

Heirloom - This is the term used for seeds that come from original, natural, unmodified in any way plants. Many heirloom seed growers can trace their seeds back to the pilgrims and early settlers. Sort of like seed genealogy, I guess! Heirloom seeds are not GMO, or genetically modified. However, if the vendor doesn't say they are Non-Hybrid, they may not be. They could be from plants with mixed breeds, like a Crenshaw Melon with a Honeydew Melon. They could be cross-pollinated or grafted from original heirloom plants and still be sold as "Heirloom". I think that's wrong. Natural is natural. Nature never mixed an apple and a pear together. Man did. However, if you can find out what kind of "tampering" has gone on, and you are OK with it - that's fine. Just know what you are getting.

Where to buy - I buy all my heirloom seeds on E-Bay. Last year I spent days searching every heirloom seed seller I could find on the internet, only to discover that many of them also sell on E-Bay - for a much smaller price. On E-Bay, do a search for "heirloom seeds". You will find individual seed packets for a certain plant, herb, vegetable, etc., or "seed kits" or package deals with a huge variety of seeds for a bulk price. Just watch for "Non-GMO" and "Non-Hybrid" labeling. Many of them are also certified organic. If you collect a few seeds each year from your home-grown produce, you will only have to buy seeds once, and will be set with good healthy food for life!

If you've never sold or bought anything on E-Bay, here's how it works: The buyers rate (and can comment on) the sellers after they buy something. They rate quality of product and the service they received. The sellers who are not one-time and want to continue to sell on E-Bay, will have good products, send them out quickly, and have great prices. It's a great system that self-perpetuates quality assurance. I looked up a few of the current deals to give you a place to start:

• 70,000 seeds,  $69.99,  seller is Mozybeau Auctions, and they are a Top Rated Seller on E-Bay.
• 50,000 seeds, $59.99, Mozybeau Auctions
• 30,000 seeds, $19.50, Seller is twinoak12, Top Rated Seller
• 1900 seeds, $12.50,  twinoak12
• Seller: Ohioheirloomseeds, Top Rated Seller - They have a lot of individual packets for sale. Like: 200 cabbage seeds for $1.99

That's only a very few. There are MANY more to shop from. The individual prices and number of seeds in a packet varies depending on what the produce is. You might only get 7 miniature banana tree seeds in a packet, but 1,500 carrot seeds. Most of the vendors also have links to info on the best way to plant your seeds, take care of them, and collect your own seeds for next year. Be sure and copy off that information while it's easily accessible. It does not come with your seeds.

How to keep your seeds -  Fresh seeds don't stay good forever. At room temperature, most of them will need to be planted within a year or two, maybe more, but as they dry and age and their living enzymes die, they won't germinate anymore. Storing them in a cooler place makes them last longer. Many people keep them in the fridge. I keep mine in the freezer. In the freezer, the enzymes go dormant, and most seeds can still be warmed back up and will germinate 15-20 years later, or longer.

You've probably heard about the World Seed Bank in the frozen mountains of Norway. They are freezing and saving seeds due to the fear of pending catastrophic global disaster that many are anticipating. (That was a mouthful!) Well, you can have your own Family Food Bank right in your freezer. We've already pulled a few out this year to start some corn, tomatoes, peppers, cilantro and a couple of others, in the house while we wait for our "crazy weather" outside to mellow out a little.

I hope you are all inspired to get on-line and order a few good seeds. It's quick. It's inexpensive, and it's a lot of fun to grow your own food! And that "fun" may just end up being a life-saver.

Light - One More Idea (Addendum!)

Another great idea for either long or short-term alternative lighting is outdoor solar lights. For those of you who didn't see the comment left by "Kristy", she mentioned using those after Hurricane Ike. If you are lucky enough to have sun during the day, charge them up and then bring them indoors at night. I had intended to include that option and then forgot about it, so thank you Kristy for the insightful comment!

I don't have any experience with outdoor solar lights. I'm wondering if they need direct sunlight, or if they'll charge even on a cloudy day. Does anyone know? I'd love some comments if you have experience or knowledge about that.

And look at all the options! With ambiance like this, I think they would be a very soothing alternative during a crisis. Maybe I'll start using them - crisis or not! And save a lot of money on electric bills at the same time.

Becoming Provident Providers

Homemade Toothpaste

Well, it's actually tooth powder. This is an excellent substitute for commercial toothpaste. It does a better job, promotes a healthier mouth and costs a whole heck of a lot less! Besides, what will you do when your tube runs empty and you can't buy any more? This is a simple recipe that you can make any time from your kitchen pantry.

Homemade Tooth Powder

3 parts baking soda
1 part table salt
optional: add drops of peppermint oil or any other flavor to your liking.
Stir it all together.

Pretty simple. I guess some people really dislike the taste of baking soda. It's never bothered me, but if you find it unpleasant, the flavoring might really help. I added peppermint oil to ours and I really like it. It leaves a cleaner feel and taste in your mouth than any commercial toothpaste I've ever used. Here's a quote from an article by Patrick H. Bellringer that explains pretty well how and why it works so well:

"Baking soda is chemically a base or alkaline substance, the opposite of an acid. When an acid and a base are combined, they react chemically to neautralize each other and form a new substance known as a salt. Baking soda is a weak base and reacts in the baking process to form gas bubbles. The gas bubbles form air pockets in the pastry as the gas dissipates, shich causes the bread/cake to 'rise'. "

"Common table salt is produced by the chemical combination of sodium (Na), a powerful toxic powder, with chlorine (Cl), an extremely toxic gas. The salt produced is known as sodium chloride (NaCl) or common table salt. NaCl is found naturally in nature and is deposited on the floors of evaporating desert lakes. NaCl is required for proper metabolism in all living cells, yet in pure form NaCl can kill all life forms. This is why the salt flats of the Great Salt Lake in Utah, have no life forms living there."

"... Our forefathers used salt and soda as a tooth powder for cleaning their teeth..."

"...the soda will neutralize the organic "food" acids which erode the calcium of the enamel of your teeth and cause cavities. The salt will kill bacteria present in the mouth, and the salt and soda combination will act as an abrasive to clean the plaque and food particles from your teeth. Never will your teeth have been so clean and with no harmful side effects to you..."

Stay Warmer and Save More Money

It's snowing at our house today. While most of the rest of the country has been having unusually cold weather, we've been having unusually warm. We live just 60 miles below the Canadian border in the Rockies and usually get a lot of snow in February, but the past week has been in the 40's and 50's instead! The forecast for today was high 40's and sunshine, so the snow this morning was a little unexpected.

Our 3-story home is entirely heated by one wood stove on the lowest level. It's radiant heat. There are no ducts, vents or blower to push the warm air through the house. Because we have two stairways, the main one and an additional spiral stair, there is a natural air circulation that happens as the heat rises and cold falls. The fire goes out, or is burned down to coals by morning, but the house was still warm and comfortable this morning when we woke up, even with the snow falling outside. The home holds heat well in the winter, and stays cool in the summer. There are several simple things you can do to better maintain the temperature in your home, and save heating and cooling costs.

On a cold day, walk around the inside of your home and do a check around all the doors and windows. Hold your hand close to the edges of the door and move it all around the perimeter. You will feel cold air coming through the gaps if there is not a good seal. Do the same around the edges of the windows. Sometimes I can feel cold air pouring in through electrical outlets and plug-ins. Check around any other vents, flues or intakes.

If there is cold air coming in around a door, look at your weather stripping. It's either worn out, gone or doesn't fit well enough to do the job. First check to see what is already there. If it was well-fitting and efficient but just worn out, then buy the same kind to replace it with. There are many options for weather stripping.

The thin foam strip type is very inexpensive to buy. It would be used to fill a small crack where the door comes against the lip of the door jam. But remember that you usually "get what you pay for". If it will be getting any amount of rubbing against it, it won't last long. It's a thin, flimsy type of weatherstripping, but does have it's value when used in the right circumstance.

The heavier foam tube or rubber types are more dense for better protection, and in most cases, will last much longer. Here are a few different types that are on the doors in our home:

Or you can attach a metal-backed weatherstrip to the outside door jam. When the door shuts, it seals against the tubular vinyl or rubber seal. In my opinion, these aren't as aesthetic as the hidden seals, but if it is what you need I'm sure the sacrifice will be well worth the savings. Even though the one in the picture is a silver metal, you can buy or paint it to match.

A door sweep, like the two shown below, will stop the draft from coming in under the door.










For your windows, there are various types of weatherstripping that are applied either inside or outside. Often, just a bead of caulk around the window frame will insulate against air coming through. Caulking and weatherstripping will also help keep the bugs out.

Electrical outlets are just a plastic box inserted between the outer wall and the Sheetrock on the inside, so there is no insulation between them. For only a dollar or two, you can buy a foam insulating gasket. They go on the outside of the Sheetrock (inside wall), under the plate/cover. The picture shows gaskets that fit both outlets and switches. They are easy to install by just removing the cover, placing the gasket around the switch or plugs, and then replacing the cover. Since cold air will still want to come through the holes in the plug outlet, insert some plastic child-protection covers into the outlet and no more cold air will be allowed through. So simple and inexpensive, and yet so effective!

Vents, pipes, gaps in siding, or other areas that can let air through, can be insulated, caulked or filled in with foam spray insulation. This picture on the right is of foam spray insulation that was used to fill the gaps in our wood siding around doors and windows. The excess was removed so it would be less noticeable. The picture below is of a pellet stove vent pipe. It was sealed from the inside of the cover. You can see some of the sealant that oozed out around the pipe. In spite of how it looks, it is well sealed and no cold air comes in around it. However, the pipe is a single-layer metal pipe that conducts cold to the inside through itself. We don't use the pellet stove and plan to remove it. When we do, we'll just remove the entire pipe and seal it over with an insulated cover.

Window blinds can make a very big difference in your heating and cooling. In the winter, I shut the blinds at night to add a little more protection from the cold that comes through the glass. These insulated blinds do a great job of keeping heat in. When the sun shines during the day, I make sure the blinds are open on the sunny side of the house. We get a lot of solar heat through the windows. In the summer, we leave some windows open at night to cool the house back down after a hot day, and then make sure to close them in the morning before it starts getting hot outside. I also keep the blinds shut on the sunny side if it's too warm. Good quality windows make an enormous difference in heat loss/intake. If yours are really old and inefficient, you may want to consider saving up for some new ones.

While I was thinking about this today, I remembered an outlet in my kitchen that pours in the cold air. Looks like I still have plenty of projects to stay busy with! Although we're not paying for our heat, it is a lot of work to get 8 or 10 cord of firewood every year, so I'm highly motivated to do some more weatherizing!

Even if where you live normally has mild weather, we're all seeing that "normal" can't be counted on any more. Prepare now and be ready for crazy unexpected changes. Life gets very busy, but sometimes the smallest things can add up to the greatest benefit if we'll just take the time to give them a little attention. One report I read, said that improving the weatherizing around windows and doors, can save you better than 20% on heating bills! It's one more simple way to save some money and be better prepared for the storms ahead.

My Mom's Awesome Sweet Bran Muffins

My mother has made these bran muffins since I was a little girl. I've always loved them, especially hot out of the oven! So naturally, I had to take her recipe with me when I left home. Now my husband and teenage boys love them like I do.

These muffins are sweet and moist. This is a great recipe to have for baking with storage ingredients. They are also healthy for you, inexpensive, and quick to make. What more can you ask for?!


Mom's Best Bran Muffins

1 1/2 c. millers bran, unprocessed
1 c. milk
1/2 c. honey
1 egg
1/2 c. butter
1 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
1 Tbl baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp soda

Combine the bran, milk and honey. Stir and let stand for 2 minutes or more. Then add the egg and butter and beat well. The butter should be softened or melted. Mix together the whole wheat flour, baking powder, salt and soda. Stir the two mixtures together, stirring only until combined. If you want to add blueberries or other berries or fruit, now is the time.


Fill 12 well-greased large muffin cups 2/3 or almost full. Bake at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes.

All of the ingredients in these muffins can, and would be good to have in your storage. I have made them with powdered milk and powdered eggs and they turned out great. I haven't used powdered butter, but I think that should work fine also. Sometimes I use some oat bran. When I made these today, I doubled the recipe (they disappear fast!) and out of the 3 cups of bran, I used 2 wheat bran and 1 oat bran.

I hope you and yours enjoy these as much as we do!

Stock Up Without Paying More!

Snow at the Whitehouse! When the power went out in freezing temperatures and store shelves emptied in a few hours, many more people than before realized the need to stock up for emergencies. Freezing temperatures, ice and snow is ruining much of our country's commercial crop. While it's blizzarding in the north, it's freezing in the south, and flooding in between!

We're hearing a lot of warnings to stock up on food, and most people I know are doing it! So, what if you're feeling that sense of urgency but just can't scrape up an extra dollar to do it with? Don't despair! By shopping a little bit differently, you can spend the same amount you usually do, and still fill your pantry at the same time!

Let's use canned peaches for an example: A regular can of peaches will cost between about $.79 and $1.50 - maybe less, maybe more - depending on exact size, brand, the store you purchase it from, etc. A #10 can of peaches at Costco costs about 3 1/2 dollars. It's a 106 oz. can. That's the equivalent of just over 7 of the regular 15 oz. cans, which comes out to about $.50 per 15 ounces. It's pretty darn hard to find a 15 oz. can of peaches for 50 cents! Unless your local grocer is having a whopping case lot sale.

So here's how you do it: The next time you go shopping, you by-pass the 2 cans of green beans for dinner, and put that cost towards one #10 can of peaches. The next time, you cut back on something else, and instead buy a #10 or two of green beans. Each time you shop, for-go a few non-essentials and instead, get a 20 lb. bag of rice (no more little boxes!), or a 10 lb. bag of beans or dry soup mix. Even if all you can do is one or two items each time you shop, it really will add up fast! Buying in bulk gets you a whole lot more for your money. You can apply this principle to just about any food item.

Hopefully you have access to a warehouse style store. If not, even grocery stores sometimes carry a few bulk items. And if all else fails, there is always the internet. Because of shipping costs, it's a better value to shop on line when you have larger orders. Get some neighbors, friends or relatives to add to an order and you can all benefit together, and help each other out at the same time.

You can find most all the wet-pack items in #10 cans - peaches, pears, pineapple, apple sauce, peas, beans, carrots, beets, corn - and a whole lot more. Warehouse or wholesale stores sell all the major cooking items in bulk for restaurants. You can get #10 cans of tomato sauce, spaghetti sauce, pickles, olives, mayo, other spreads and condiments, kidney and other legume beans, cheese sauce, chili, soups, etc. Dry-pack items also come in #10 cans, as well as other packaging.

Instead of buying one small bottle of cooking oil at a time, cut enough items out of your regular list one day to buy a 5 quart jug of oil instead. Then use that to keep refilling a small bottle that you keep in the kitchen.

I buy almost all my staple ingredients in bulk. Things like powdered milk, popcorn (50 lb. bags), honey, oats, rice, wheat, millet, black beans, kidney and other beans, lentils, split peas, pasta, sugar, flour, cracked cereals, corn meal, and dry soup mixes. I usually grind fresh flour for cooking and baking, but I also keep some flour for times when the power is out or I specifically need some white flour for a recipe. (I also have a small hand-crank grinder.)

This really is easy to do! I can make a meal for a fraction of what it would cost to buy all the same ingredients in smaller, one-meal sized portions. Buy the largest sized bag of frozen vegetables you can find. Then, while you are using that a little at a time for your meals, use the saved cost towards another item on the next trip to the store. Think BIG! Stocking up really is do-able!

If you live alone or have a small family, buying #10 canned items of wet-pack may be a little less convenient for you. I buy both, and maybe you'll want to do the same. If you are single, or a couple, maybe the #10 cans can come in handy when the kids come to visit with all the grandkids. Also, you can open a big can, use what you need, and put the rest in the freezer in single-serving containers. My mom will often buy a large bag or bucket of something and then split it with my sisters and I, and we've all done the same. It won't save you any money if the food ends up going to waste, so plan ahead so it fits into meals, freeze it, or do whatever else works for your situation. Just be sure and put a little peace of mind in your pantry!