Archive for the 'Frugal living' Category

Get A Free Uni-ball Pen

Saturday, February 13th, 2010

Newell Rubbermaid is giving away 500,000 Uni-ball Jetstream™ RT Pens.

Free Uni-ball Pen

Offer expires April 30th, 2010 and only 10,000 requests will be honored each day. Limit 1 request per person, no PO Boxes allowed and you must live in one of the contiguous United States.

 

Blessings,

Denese

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Are You Ready For The Winter Storm?

Friday, January 29th, 2010

We’re still waiting on the big snow storm here next to the Smoky Mountains. The current forecast is calling for 4-9 inches total for Townsend and  6-14 inches in the Park –but you never know, it could be a lot less or a lot more.

Smoky Mountains Weather Forecast

Radar

Are you prepared if the power goes out?

Staying Warm

If you have a woodstove or fireplace, make sure you have enough wood to last a few days, and stack it somewhere out of the weather –it’s no fun digging out wood from under 3 feet of snow (did that during the blizzard of ‘93). Same thing if you use a kerosene heater -be sure you have a few days supply of fuel.

Here are some ideas to stay warm, if you don’t have an alternative heat source:

  • close off all but one room of your house
  • cover all your windows and doors with blankets
  • share body heat –dress warmly and pile up together under blankets
  • stay with a neighbor who does have heat

Eating

If you have a woodstove or fireplace, you should have no problem –just cook right on top of the woodstove or on the coals in the fireplace.  You can also heat food on top of a kerosene heater, depending on how hot it gets. Do you have a BBQ grill? You can cook on that, too (outside).

No way to cook? Just make sure you have plenty of food stocked up that you don’t have to cook.

Some examples:

  • cold cereals
  • canned tuna
  • crackers
  • peanut butter
  • bread
  • granola bars
  • fresh and canned fruit
  • Vienna sausages
  • Beanie weenies
  • lunchmeats –ham, bologna, turkey, etc.
  • cheese
  • salad vegetables –carrots, celery, cucumbers, etc.

(Be sure you have a manual can-opener)

And, if the power does go out, don’t worry about your refrigerated or frozen food –stick it outside in the snow!

Water

Be prepared by jugging up some water, anywhere from 1-4 gallons per person per day for drinking, cooking, washing, and using the bathroom (and don’t flush the toilet each time you go). If you have pets, you’ll need water for them, too.

You can also melt snow (it takes a lot) or get water from a creek for your bathroom needs (8 drops of bleach per gallon will purify water for drinking –or boil it, which is best).

Be sure you have a big pot to heat water in (if you have a non-electric heat source).

Light And Communication

Be sure to have on hand:

Candles or oil lamps (and lamp oil)

Battery operated radio

Extra batteries

If you have a cell phone, be sure it’s completely charged (and have a car charger in case the battery runs down)

 

Above all, stay safe and don’t go anywhere unless it’s an emergency (life or death situation) –and don’t bother the police with trivialities.

 

Blessings,

Denese

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A Freebie To Help You Save Money

Friday, January 22nd, 2010

Need some ideas to help you save money?

Penny Raine is giving away a free study guide to help you do just that –”101 WAYS TO SAVE MONEY”.

To get this freebie, go to Penny’s bookstore and click on the “Freebie Download For Today” tab at the top of the page, but get it soon –it’s free through this weekend only (January 22-24, 2010).

 

Blessings,

Denese

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10 Free eCookbooks: Soups And Stews, Healthy Eating, Pasta Recipes And More

Tuesday, January 19th, 2010

For those cold winter days and nights:

Betty Crocker Soups Stews And Chilies –Includes 28 slow cooker recipes and quick-to-fix breads, from General Mills. Read online or downloadable as an executable (.exe) or zip file, offline version is 33 mb.

Quick and healthy dinners:

20 Fresh, Light & Quick Dinners (PDF) –Recipes for pasta, burgers, chicken, fish and more.

Make a three course meal for a special occasion:

Impress Your Friends with a Three Course Meal (PDF) –Cream of squash soup, herbed pork tenderloin with buttered vegetables in cherry pineapple sauce and drunken mangoes with vanilla ice cream.

Grilled Panini recipes:

10 Best Panini Mini Cookbook (PDF) –Recipes and grilling tips from PaniniHappy.com. Only available through January 31, 2010; subscribe by email, rss or become a fan on Facebook to get the free download.

Free eBook from ZestyCook.com:

Simply Zesty (PDF) –A free ecookbook of the best recipes from ZestyCook and other talented food bloggers. Included are recipes for Baked Sweet Potato Fries, Pump It Up Muffins, Fired Up Chicken Chili, Hot Spinach and Artichoke Dip, White Chocolate Almond Brownies and many more –22 in all! Subscription required (free).

Kids in the kitchen:

Kitchen Kids (PDF) –Downloadable recipe booklet from the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board. Contains 12 recipes using Wisconsin cheese plus tips on age-appropriate cooking activities, kitchen safety and preparation methods.

Make “secret” restaurant recipes at home:

31 Top Secret Restaurant Recipes (PDF) –Eat out at home! Includes copycat recipes for Olive Garden, Macaroni Grill and P.F. Chang’s dishes.

27 Secret Restaurant Copycat Recipes (PDF) –Included in this ecookbook are recipes similar to ones served at Cracker Barrel, Cheesecake Factory, Applebee’s, TGI Fridays, KFC, McDonalds, Chili’s and Panda Express.

Fresh pasta recipes:

Latina Fresh eCookbooks Volume 1 and Volume 2 –2 free ecookbooks full of recipes using Latina Fresh Pasta from General Mills International. (I’ve never seen Latina Fresh pasta here in the United States but I suppose you could substitute another brand or make your own.) Click on the “View Online” link for each ebook and it will take you to another page, then you can either read each one online or click the “book” symbol at the bottom right to download in PDF format.

 

Blessings and happy cooking,

Denese

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Free Ebooks: All Kinds Of Craft Projects

Saturday, January 16th, 2010

FaveCrafts has a new ebook out:

25 Sewing Crafts from Bloggers eBook (PDF format) –65 pages of sewing patterns, including; a girl’s tiered skirt, easy appliqué flowers, heating pillow with buckwheat, camping or sleepover bag and many more.

Here’s another ebook, from CraftyPod Publishing:

Crafts for The Knittn’ Kitten (PDF format) –22 pages containing 9 different projects, such as; Crocheted Ribbon & Bead Necklace, Knit & Stitch Zipper Pouch and Jersey Doily Scarf.

Like to quilt? Check out this ebook from Quilting Arts:

Seven Quilted Bag Patterns: Handmade Quilt Bags from Quilting Arts (PDF format) –Patterns for small handbags to totebags are in this lovely little gem –you can’t have too many bags! 18 pages, requires registration (free)

 

Blessings and happy crafting,

Denese

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Free Online Tax Filing Starts Today

Friday, January 15th, 2010

It’s tax filing time and you can file them online at no cost, if you qualify!

If you earned less than $57,000 in 2009, you can file your federal income taxes online for free through the IRS’s FreeFile program. Plus, if you are expecting a refund, you can choose to have it direct deposited in your bank account and receive it in as little as ten days.

IRS FreeFile

There are 20 different companies to choose from, but be sure and read each company’s FreeFile information carefully as each one has different requirements to qualify (we use the TurboTax Freedom Edition and have been highly satisfied).

We have filed our taxes online since 1997. It’s a lot quicker and easier than doing them with pencil and paper –and cheaper than going to a paid tax preparer.

 

Blessings,

Denese

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Cold Car Battery? Use Aspirin

Thursday, January 14th, 2010

Our Jeep didn’t want to start yesterday morning –too cold (it’s a wonder it didn’t happen earlier in the month).

Lacy came back in the house and asked me if I had any aspirin -“I’ve got a sick battery”.

Aspirin

Aspirin???

He took 3 aspirin, cut them in half and put one half in each cell of the battery.

Car Battery

30 minutes later the Jeep started right up! Apparently, the aspirin reacts with the battery acid and warms it up.

What about that!

Does it work every time?

“I ain’t sayin’ it will and I ain’t sayin’ it won’t  -but it’s worked every time for me.”

So the next time your car won’t start because the battery is cold, try some aspirin. :)

 

Blessings,

Denese

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Free Old-Time Southern Recipes

Tuesday, January 5th, 2010

Ever wondered how to cook leather breeches or collard greens? …or how to make red-eye gravy or apple dumplin’s?

Find recipes for all these and more at:

The Table of Our Ancestors –Old Time Southern Recipes, part of the free online Tennessee genealogy project “TNGenWeb

There’s even a whole section on possum …and you never know when that info might come in handy! ;)

 

Blessings and happy cooking,

Denese

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A Frugal Houseplant

Thursday, December 10th, 2009

SweetPotatoVine

Do you have a sweet potato that has sprouted?

Pinch the sprouts off and stick them in a water-filled vase or jar –the vines will continue to grow and make a beautiful trailing houseplant.

We used some old Sprite bottles as vases (don’t throw those glass jars and bottles away!) and the green glass really brightens up the winter view.

 

Blessings,

Denese

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Free Calendar, Recipes And Coupons From Pillsbury

Tuesday, December 8th, 2009

Not to be outdone by Betty Crocker, Pillsbury has some free goodies too!

Free calendar:

  • Free Pillsbury 2010 Calendar –Register as a member and sign up for one or both of the newsletters: “Pillsbury” and/or “Cooking 4 Two”

Free digital magazine:

More recipes:

  • Pillsbury Recipes –All kinds of recipes from appetizers to pies, even more when you become a member.
  • Pillsbury RSS Feeds –Get “Today’s Recipe” in your feed reader or subscribe to one of the forum feeds.
  • Pillsbury Bake-Off –All about the Bake-Off, monthly challenges, how-to videos and award winning recipes from past Bake-offs.
  • Pillsbury Baking –Recipes, baking basics, tips and more.

Free coupons:

  • Pillsbury Coupons –As a member, get free printable coupons for General Mills products –possible savings of $14 this month.

Doughboy fun:

These last two weren’t on Pillsbury.com, so I’m not sure if these are “official” or not:

 

 

Blessings,

Denese

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