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Author: Laurie

Green grass, where are you?

Saturday Morning Ramble, or The Truth About Homesteading

Life on the farm
Life on the farm

Happy Saturday, Frugal Farmer friends!  This may or may not become a regular series, but today, I just kind of feel like rambling.   It’s been a long and busy week.  Good, but incredibly busy.   On another note, some of you know that, along with our debt mountain that we’re working to chop away at, I also have a weight loss goal.  I was at my ideal weight when we moved into this house, but I think the stress of making such a big change, along with the realization that we were up to our ears in debt, took a toll.  Many pounds and months later, I woke up to the fact that I’d gotten, well, chunky! 

Then, I spent the next year living in denial about my appearance.  I’d lose 5 or 10 pounds, get all puffed up about how well I was doing, and then pack ’em right back on again.  Ironically, this sounds remarkably like our life before January 1, 2013.  We’d accumulate debt, and pay it off.  Then we’d get all snobby about how cool we were being debt free, and then the “it’s only”s  would start again.  Round and round we went before we made our permanent money lifestyle change on DE-day.  Read more

Fourth of July Greetings and Great Food Ideas

ID-100100260Happy 4th of July, my friends!!  The 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays, for a number of reasons, but mostly because it reminds me of how very hard the pilgrims and founding fathers fought and worked to establish America as a nation.   How blessed we are to live in a country with so many freedoms and so much opportunity.

I’ll be keeping it short and sweet today by, first of all, sharing a link with you about how it’s vitally important that you take care when dealing with fireworks tomorrow and throughout the holiday weekend.  You can find that story by clicking here.

Second, I thought I’d share some of my favorite recipe ideas in case you’re looking bring or make food for a holiday gathering of some sort.

Looking for something sweet?  Try my Delicious Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe or my Blueberry Streusel Muffin recipe.  Pineapple Upside Down Cake and Pistachio Salad are two more party favorites.

Looking for something on the salty side?  Try our Homemade Pico De Gallo, our Homemade Guacamole or our Homemade Potato Chip/Veggie Dip.  If you’re looking for a dish, try these delicious Hot Roast Beef Sandwiches, or, a potluck favorite, Mom’s Spanish Rice. 

Whatever your plans, I hope you have a safe and super fun weekend.    Thank you, so much, for being a part of the Frugal Farmer family. 🙂

 

 

How to Deal With Criticism

ID-100260522Whether in money or in any other area of life, the one constant seems to be criticism, and so learning how to deal with criticism is, I find, a crucial factor to a joyful life.

When we started this blog, I knew that, to some extent, we’d be opening ourselves up to criticism.  Read more

How to Save Money

How to Save Money by Planning Ahead

How to Save Money
How to Save Money

As we consistently work to learn more about saving and managing money, we’ve learned to think in a new way about how to save money by planning ahead.  Saving money by planning ahead isn’t just about putting aside a little cash each month for Christmas or car insurance.  You really can save a ton of money by thinking differently about how you plan ahead. Read more

Free E-Books!

kids-and-money-1Happy Saturday, friends!!!  As a “thank you” to all of our faithful readers, we have decided that, from now on, all Frugal Farmer published e-books will be FREE!  Yes, you heard it right: FREE.  Zero dollars.  Since much of the wisdom contained in the books was free to me, I wanted to pass that blessing on to all of our readers and visitors at The Frugal Farmer.  So if you click on the “e-books” tab at the top of the home page, you’ll be able to download them all at no charge.  Thank you so much for supporting our vision here at The Frugal Farmer.  We appreciate you!

When is it Okay to Break the Rules?

DSCN3110This story is about when it’s okay to break the rules, so fishing might not seem to fit, but bear with me.  I promise I’ll get to the point.

So, right near our house is this awesome fishing lake.  It’s one of those lakes where you just cast your line in and the fish fight over it.  Last time we took the kids there, we were pulling fish out 30 seconds after we put our lines in – every one of us – as evidence by this adorable pic of our son. 🙂

This lake runs along a county road that is fairly busy Read more

Personal Finance Tips – You’re Not Done Learning Yet

ID-100246950I was just thinking to myself the other day that, after a year and a half of learning personal finance tips to help us pay off our debt, that I knew all that I needed to know.  I was getting bored, honestly.  This point in our journey to debt free is a bit difficult, because we’re kind of sailing now, only at a super slow pace.  We’ve learned how to budget, how to spend-track, and how to say “no” to the Joneses.  We’ve learned lots about side hustling and earning extra income.  Now we’re just kind of trudging through the mud to the finish line.  We started our journey with a 65% debt-to-income ratio, so it’s a bit slow-going, but we’re moving forward.  We’re spending our money on  what’s truly important to us, and we’ve let the other spending go by the wayside.  Read more

Happy Father’s Day

Happy Father’s Day, Frugal Farmer friends!  Today I want to wish a Happy Father’s Day to all fathers, stepfathers, grandfathers, like-a-fathers, and all of those men who’ve worked so hard to impact the lives of those younger generations around them.

And an extra special Happy Father’s Day to:

My dad.  Dad, you are the best.  Thank you for being so loving and good to us.  Thank you for teaching us the value of hard work, and thank you for being there for us whenever we need you.  I am so very thankful that God chose you to be my dad.

My husband.  Rick, thank you for being the father of our children, and for working so very hard to be the best dad you can be.  Thank you for working so hard to make sure our children know love, laughter, integrity and God.  I love you, with all of my heart.

My stepdad.  Thank you for working so hard to be there for us without ever trying to replace our dad.  You are awesome at being a great stepdad.

Whatever your situation with your dad, I hope you have a wonderful day today.  You are loved!!!

Quinoa and Black Beans

SSCN5084I’ll let you in on a little secret: I’m not much for trying new things.  I pretty much have my old standbys, in food and everything else.  I love to experiment with those old tried and true foods, but I’m always hesitant when it comes to trying new foods.  So when a BFF brought over a bowl of quinoa a couple of weeks ago, I have to say I wasn’t lovin’ the idea of trying it out.  Two days later, out of a desire to show appreciation for my friend, I heated up the hot quinoa and black beans salad and tried it.  YUM, YUM, YUM!!!! Read more