ThriftThis article is dedicated to crafts! With the economy the way that it is (do I dare say “Recession”?) , we have had to get creative when the need arises for a present, or decorations within our homes. These are all ideas that either myself or my best friends have used in the past or recently. I was so impressed by these ideas that I wanted to share! If some of the needed materials are not common household items you can buy them inexpensively ( I would no steer you wrong).

Have a blank wall to decorate? How about post cards? You can frame them, or like one of my best friends did in her bedroom,stagger them all over the wall ( she had a lot of them). You can just tape them up or use push pins, whatever you prefer or are allowed to use. How about other collections? Do you have a large collection of anything you could hang? This could be any kind of picture. Some examples could be scenery, fairies, angels, sports. Take a look in your closet or basement. What about baskets or a beautiful, old quilt or blanket? Anything is fair game.

This is a great gift for just about anyone. You will a length of fishing line, maybe 10 inches or so, and a handful of beads. You can use any kind of bead you prefer, but make sure you have at least 2 that have small openings. Tie the beads you chose with the small openings about 2 inches in from each end, one on each end, so that they do not move. Add enough beads to fill each end of the fishing line and tie the line in a knot or around the ending beads. Now you have a creative and beautiful bookmark! My best friend has one, and it is very pretty. If you know someone who uses large book often ( like cookbooks) you could make them a few to mark their favorite recipe/pages.

A good universal gift idea is the “basket”. I use this often. You can use a basket you have on hand or that you got at the thrift store OR you could use a gift bag. In my area I can by them for $1.00. You can fill these with homemade baked goods (cookies, chocolate covered pretzels), small soaps ( I frequently get these as part of gifts and cannot use them myself so I save them), homemade body oils/lotions, homemade or inexpensive candles, a book. For men you could fill them with appropriate items that your man would like. I have done male fragranced cologns and facial products and other small, inexpensive gift ideas they liked. Check out your local dollar store for these.

I hope some of you try these ideas. Let me know what you think and please comment or email your ideas! I would love to post them!

Thanks to All!

The Domestic Goddess

Hello Everyone!

This article has recipes in it! Nobody has enough frugal recipes! Most people should have all these ingredients in their pantries/cupboards already, but if you don’t they are inexpensive to buy at your local grocery store. I hope you enjoy them as much as we do!

Shepherd’s Pie

1 pound ground beef or turkey

1 sm or med. onion, chopped or diced

1 can mixed vegetables

1 can mushrooms ( you can use any vegetables here or with the mixed veggies that you and your family prefers)

mashed potatoes (enough to cover the top of the meat/veggie mixture in your size casserole dish)

spices to taste

shredded cheese (whatever cheese your household prefers)

Brown the hamburger and onion and add seasonings to taste. Drain. Layer in bottom of an appropriate size casserole/baking dish.  Layer your cooked and warm veggies on top of hamber mixture. Spread warm mashed potatoes over veggies. Bake in a 350 degree oven until mashed potatoes are a golden brown ( about 20 - 30 minutes, this depends on your oven so keep an eye on it the first time you make it). Top with shredded cheese and put back in  oven just until cheese melts (about 5 - 10 minutes). Serve and enjoy! This recipe is courtesy of my roommate, Danica.

Homemade Chili/Cheese Nachos

1 brick velveeta cheese ( generic brand works well also, just tastes slightly different)

2 cans chili ( we use with beans, but without is fine. You can also use vegetarian or any other chili or HOMEMADE)

Nacho toppings: sour cream, raw onion, salsa ( whatever your household prefers)

Cut velveeta into small squares and put into large microwavable bowl. Pour chili on top of velveeta and microwave for 2 minutes. Stir with rubber spatula or spoon. Repeat this process until cheese is completely melted. I put these ingredients in my crockpot and cook on low or “keep warm” all day. Use any desired chips, the scoop chips work best or the large, triangle tortilla chips are just as yummy. You can dip the chips in the chili/cheese dip or pour over all the chips on your plate and then add your desired toppings. My friend made this at her Makeover party last sunday. I have made this recipe frequently for potlucks. Very Yummy!

Pulled Pork sandwiches

1 pork roast (size according to how many people you are serving, you can use beef roast also)

1 - 2 bottles of your favorite BBQ sauce

1 small or medium onion, skin removed and quartered

You will be cooking the roast in your crockpot, so you can get a cheaper cut of roast. The slow cooking process will make your roast very tender. Add desired seasonings and quartered onion to roast with about 2 inches of water. Remember to make sure your spices jive with your BBQ sauce. Slow cook your roast about 8 hours in your crockpot. Remove your roast and set aside. Drain the liquid out of the crockpot into a strainer. Pick out any meat put with roast, throw away cooked onions (all the flavor is gone). Return roast to the crockpot. Using forks or whatever utensil you have that will work, shred your roast into small pieces. This will be easy because your roast in extremely tender. Add desired amount of BBQ sauce and stir to mix. We like a lot of sauce. You can put the BBQ pork or beef on bread, homemade rolls, hamburger buns, or store bought rolls; whatever you prefer. Baked beans, potato chips, homemade or store bought french fries, salads are great side dishes to use. This is my favorite recipe and I make it at least once a month, when the roasts go on sale at the grocery store.

I hope you enjoy these recipes. If you would like a recipe for something, just comment and let me know! I will do my best to provide you with  whatever you are looking for.

Thanks to all!

The Domestic Goddess

On our weekly talk show “Mom’s Coffee Break” ,featuring Myself, Tonya Ramsey and Jody Maley, I have noticed that the last two shows we have talked alot about teenagers. What they do, don’t do, how they behave and so forth. I thought this would be a great article idea, not just because I have one, but because many parents are going through what I call ” The Teenager Experience”, but also because many will go through it someday.  All children, no matter what their age or what they say, want to be paid attention to. They NEED to spend time with their parents and families. So here are some ideas of spending time with your teens: go to the zoo. Noone is to “old” to enjoy animals. The monkey exhibit is always fun, they seem to do some pretty inappropriate stuff that most teens, especially boys, find amusing. If your teen enjoys music, take a couple of pills for the headache that will occur, then go to a music store, concert ( if you can handle it), etc. If he/she is into gaming, check out some game stores or exhibits. There is  local facility here that hosts monthly gaming tournaments. The point is to try to spend some time with your teens that focuses on their interests.

Let your teen help prepare at least  one meal a week. It might be a little stressful for you in the beginning, but this will teach them valuable skills that they will need when they venture off on their own (hopefully) in the not so far off future. You don’t want them living on pizza, ramen noodles, and macaroni and cheese, do you?

Have them participate in the cleaning of the house. Yes, I am speaking of CHORES! If your child(ren) do not already, assign some household duties for your teen to complete. Reward them appropriately for your families situation and value system. If your teens don’t know how to keep up a home, can you imagine what theirs will look like?

Teach your teens the importance of doing what we can to help the environment, even if it is as basic as recycling and using reusable shopping bags. Maybe you will learn something, too.

As always, make sure you communicate with your teen. Your child(ren) DO listen to you, even when you think they do not. Let them know, and prove it, that they can always talk to you about anything, even things that they think “will make you mad”. It is so important for your kids to know that they can ALWAYS come to you about anything and you will help them work out the tough problems that is best for them and your family.

I hope this article provides a little bit of information. As always, please leave your comments! I hope everyone has a great week!

The Dometic Goddess

My best friend and my stepmom and I were sitting around talking the other day, and knowing that I am a frugal person and have this website the conversation naturally drifted towards “thrifty” topics, and some mom topics. I decided to write a post about these ideas. They are very good tips and I hope you all like them. The first one was brought up by my step mom. She is a “hair dresser”, i apologize that i do not know what the current professional term for this is, and has been since before I was born. She gets an hourly wage, but mostly survives on tips, like a waitress does.  For years, she has “put away” $5.00 a day out of her tips into envelopes. She has an envelope for each month. She uses this money to pay for her camping expenses (she owns a very nice camper in a camp ground, where it stays permanently year round). She saves the money in her envelopes all year. She also uses this money as an emergency fund, and pays the envelopes back by increasing the dollar amount per day, say $10.00 a day instead of $5.00. This system has worked for her for years. Just in case you are all wondering, she does not trust banks and likes to keep her money close by. This is a very useful tip that all of us can use. I have an old tootsie roll container that i put all my spare change in. When the Tootsie Roll is full, I cash in or deposit the money into my bank account, depending on what I need at that time.

The second tip was provided by my best friend, Tonya Ramsey. She has a four year old son, and when her son was small, her and her husband wanted to combat the “scary monster under the bed/in the closet” problem all of us parents face. They took a unique, and frugal, approach. They filled a spray bottle with water and told him it was monster repellent. Every night at bedtime, they sprayed the “monster repellent” around his room. They also gave him an empty 24 ounce soda bottle, and told him to keep that by his bed, and if he got scared or needed to ” beat up the monster”, to use the bottle. These two things worked like a charm, they have NEVER had to deal with him waking up in the middle of the night crying because of “monsters in his room” I think this idea is brilliant! Hats off to you, Tonya!

I hope these two tips prove useful to many of you. Please comment or email me with your tips and hints, just follow the links on the website! I look forward to hearing from you!

“It is not quantity that should define our lives, but the quality with which we live it.”

The Domestic Goddess