As a Stay at Home Mom working with one income, I'm always looking for ways to save money.

I found these great ways to save money without having to spend a lot of time coupon clipping and such.

4 Ways to Save on your Grocery Budget


1. Saving Money while Planning:

• Make a menu for the week, or for the month.
• Plan for leftovers or double the recipes.
• Plan a few meatless meals (meat's expensive!)
• Use no-name brands for cooking and spice it up yourself.
• Have a set budget money amount & stick to it.

2. Saving while Shopping:

• Don't go shopping while hungry & bring your own drink.
• Check store flyers for sales and coupons to match your list only.
• Buy meat in bulk, bone in, skin on. It's cheaper to cut & prep it yourself. (besides I think the bones add a lot of flavor).
• Stick to your list.
• Keep track of the amounts and add it up to stay within your budget.

3. Saving Money after the Grocery Trip:

• Use several shopping Apps to "earn money" with your receipts (such as Walmart's Savings Catcher)
• Put your spare change in a "jar" and that will grow over time too (enough for a week's worth of groceries).
• Make note of where things were cheaper as you shopped (Such as Walgreen's Milk is about $1 cheaper than most grocery stores).

4. Saving Money at Home:

• Let nothing go to waste. Find recipes to use up the leftovers.
• See how little you can get away with. Just because the instructions say use "1 Cupful" of laundry doesn't mean less can't clean as well.
• Consider rewashables. Instead of spending $$ on paper towels and the like, use washcloths & rags instead.
• Identify your most expensive buys and then see if you can make it from scratch instead and if it's cheaper to do so.

All this can be done without the hassle of couponing, which on some weeks I just forget to do! So just remember don't stress over it too much, and your kids won't care if you have to serve Kraft Dinner for a while when things are tight.

Tracy,
One finds limits by pushing them" ~ Herbert Simon

When spring is in the air, there is this sudden urge to go and start fresh. Unsurprisingly,many people direct their  thoughts to sprucing up their  homes.  Nothing feels better than coming home to a clean, refreshed and modernized place that offers protection, rest and all conveniences you can imagine. Changing the interior is just a few steps away; before you get there you need to consider a few things. Here is what you need to get you started. Take a close look.

Check out the Trends for Interior Painting...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/jinkazamah/2439866544/

…and figure out for yourself whether they are worth trying. Decide whether your new project will follow these trends or whether you want to stick to a more standard design. This is a perfect moment to drastically change your home interior if this is what you want. Of course, you can always stick with a light interior makeover that will brighten up your home.

Select a Color

There are several questions you need to ask yourself when picking a color for your interior painting project. What are your top three favorite colors? Do you prefer bright or dark colors? How likely are you to experiment? What is the mood you want to create? Or what impression do you want to make? It can be a little discouraging to select a color out of tens of thousands of options available on the market. Here are a few suggestions:

Bedroom – this is the room you go to when you need to rest, which is why it makes perfect sense to use neutral or soothing colors such as grays, cream, green, blue, violet, etc. This will create you a perfect restful mood.

Kitchen – select bright colors that will make your cooking adventures more passionate and more frequent. If you are brave enough, why not try using bold colors?

Playroom – is there a playroom in your home? This is the room you can let your imagination run wild. Pick bright, cheerful colors that will stimulate your children's interest in the games, although they probably don't need much encouragement when it comes to games.

Living areas – you can either use open, bright or dark colors or soothing colors. It depends on how you want your living room to look like and what mood you aspire to create for your loved ones as well as your visitors.

Select a Contractor

Unless you want to complete the project by yourself, you need to choose a professional painting company to get the job done. You can't go wrong either way. It totally depends on your skills and goals. Are you ready to spend so much time and energy on this project or do you prefer using a professional contractor instead that will do the work for you? If you would rather hire a painting company, you should probably do some research before you make a decision.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ikkoskinen/3576704874/

Buy Supplies

If you want to carry out the project all by yourself, step by step, consider buying all the necessary supplies, starting from paint brushes, finish, paint, sponges, rags and other things. You probably already have some of them, so before you head for the store, make sure you go through your kitchen and basement cabinets and drawers.

Once you have it all figured out, start by emptying the rooms and preparing the surfaces. Cover all floors with newspapers so that you don't have to spend a whole week scrubbing and cleaning. Make sure you remove every coat of old paint before applying fresh ones. Enjoy the time spent painting your interior. It will be worth the effort.

The article is contributed by Anna Aamone who is a manager of Loft Converting W9

As a writer, reader and all around nerd I love the T-shirts on this site! Here's a few of my favorites!

Well back to the books!
Tracy,
One finds limits by pushing them" ~ Herbert Simon

Check out these Amazon Sales coming for Saint Patrick's Day!! Host a Party, Wear a Leprechaun hat, or just get great sale discounts!

I have just finished publishing my first e-book at Smashwords. It's called "Navigating Life with Low Vision - Coping & Adjusting to Living with Vision Loss". If you or a loved one is losing their vision due to Macular Degeneration, Glacoma, Usher's Syndrome, or any other way (more explained in the book) please get this book for them!

I also would like to thank Jon Savage of JonSavageGallery for the cool cover art! Please check out his other works.

Happy Reading,

Tracy,
One finds limits by pushing them" ~ Herbert Simon

This Friday, February 13th will be 17 years that Randy proposed to me. It was very late Friday night and he had just come home from a week away on a Project in Montreal. I had made a late dinner and dessert & had a bottle of sparkling cider in the fridge. We got married 8 months later!

If you've forgotten, here's some great deals at Amazon and free 1 day shipping!

Even if you're single, go ahead and spoil yourself!

Tracy,
One finds limits by pushing them" ~ Herbert Simon