Healthy Cheap Food

I am always interested in new ways to earn extra money and that is what I have been able to do lately by making crafts. I have been selling our homemade crafts at craft fairs lately, but the real boon is coming this Christmas.

We devote a few hours every week just to make Christmas crafts. By November, the Christmas craft fair season will start in earnest and there is a lot of money to be made with Christmas handicraft items.

I think this prove to be a real winner for my family.

Don’t you just love going to garage sales on the weekend? I just love it. It’s a chance to get some real treasures for cheap prices. So many people just want to toss out their old stuff. Well, it might be old to them, but it’s new to me and my family.

I especially love going out with my mother in law and and sister in law. They are real experts on garage sales and they can spot the duds and the good ones even before we get out of the car. It’s great learning from such garage sale experts.

Life doesn’t have to be as difficult as some people make it out to be. Some people think that life has to be difficult or not very fun at times, but that doesn’t have to be the case. There is real joy in life if we seek it out. This joy can become a part of lives and the lives of our family.

Easy living isn’t just about lots of money, it’s about low stress and trying to make our lives easier and less complicated. There is a lot of happiness in easy living and I am glad to have found it.

I have just realized that how many old websites I have out there on the net. I first making pages on Geocities and then added new pages at Tripod, Angelfire and other sites. I think at open time I had seven of these free sites up and running. It was an interesting time of the net, everyone wanted a simple page and there many tools to have one.

Unfortunately, as time went by, I forgot about them. Now I can hardly remember the sites and I am trying to find the old ones, maybe to resurrect them a bit or maybe just to relive some fond memories. I know I have pictures of old friends in them.

I never really thought cell phones were that good of an idea for families until recently. It seemed like they were expensive toys that were of limited value in a family and in fact were something that took family members away from spending time with each other.

Recently, I have seen the great benefits that comes with family cellphones. We can keep in contact with each other, no matter where we are or what we are doing. It’s great for vacations when we want to split up and go different directions or see different things.

We handle the logistics of this by having 3 cheap prepaid phones. When we go out, we divy them up among ourselves so that each group has a phone. That means everyone stays in contact with everyone else.

Making extra money in work at home opportunities seems to be quite popular these days. Just about everyone I know is exploring these kinds of opportunities. I can see why it’s so popular.

Not only can you get a chance to earn extra money, but you don’t have to go through the expense of getting to a job. That’s means no commute time and no money spent on gas and transportation. That means even more take home money.

I think it’s a good idea and my husband and I are utilizing the opportunities we have to maximum benefit possible.

The neighbors have a dog and I have watched lately how the kids have started to get close to the neighbors dog. Before they seemed to be very shy and even a bit scared of the dog, but lately they have been really warming up to him.

This has got me thinking that maybe it’s time we look for a puppy. I think a Lab would be a great addition to our family and would give the kids a sense of responsibility as well as teach them how to care for another living thing. It could be very educational for them.

I guess I just need to convince my husband that having a puppy won’t increase his workload.

I often wonder where is the best place to live. I am asked that question often, and it’s something I have done a lot of pondering over. It seems like it’s difficult to come to any real idea without looking into some of the studies that others have done.

Unfortunately, it’s hard to find subjective surveys that fits my definition of the best place to live so I have done the next best thing. We are going to relocate and there are several factors that are more important for our family.

1) Low cost of housing

2) Low unemployment rate

3) Low crime rate

4) A growing economy

So far, we have come across some very interesting places. Maybe in a few weeks I can share some of my results.

A friend of mine has been having a hard time making ends meet recently. I really feel for her. It’s been a tough year so far for her family and it doesn’t look like it will be getting better anytime soon. It’s even gotten to the point of her family not having enough food to eat.

She finally took my advice to go in and apply for food stamps. Hopefully she will get them very soon. I also suggested that she go to the Food Bank for help, but she has been too shy to do that. Yesterday, I went with her to the food bank for moral support. She was very happy with the food help she got.

I really suggest that if you need help with food, check out your local food bank.

I am anxiously awaiting Father’s Day. My father is no longer with us. He died when I was 12, but at least we can celebrate Father’s Day with my husband. I am having fun going out with our boys looking for a great gift for Father’s Day for him.

I won’t post here the gift that I am getting for him or what my sons have been looking at because he reads this blog. But I can share with you some of the ideas we passed on in case it can help you find a great gift.

Here are some gifts we passed on: Fishing pole, fishing reel, new TV, shortwave radio, teddy bear, legos, pokemon toys(yes the kids thought those all would be great for daddy!), gift certificate for The Olive Garden, and collectible baseball cards.