Provident Living - Save $$$

Whenever I hear of good tips for saving money I always like to pass it on. On my links on the right side of my blog you will find websites for deals, coupons, and other items. My mom is part of the Provident Living committee at our church in Orlando and they put together a little catalog of specials and how to become more self reliant. She sent me the recent tips...I thought someone might enjoy them...

This week at Publix you can buy one bag of Nestle' Toll House Morsels and get a bag free. This is a good deal @ $1.25 a bag, HOWEVER , what makes it an awesome deal is that there is a coupon machine right next to the chocolate chips that gives you a coupon for $1.00 off of 2 bags of Nestle' chips. That brings your price down to 75 cents per bag. STOCK UP!! (I was at the Publix @ 13th St. and Kissimmee Prkwy) ** With the holidays right around the corner start looking for baking good, especially sugar and flour, to go down to there cheapest prices.
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There is a program called Anglefood that is for anyone who needs some relief on their grocery budget. Here is the website to get more information: www.angelfoodministries.com Our local site is at the Life Assembly of God Inc., 2269 Partin Settlement Road, Kissimmee, FL 34744. You can order a box of food for $30 that feeds a family of 4 for 1 week. There is not an income requirement and they accept food stamps. You can call the Life Church for more information, 407-847-8222.
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homemade laundry detergent. The cost savings of making your own laundry detergent is staggering, it comes out to approx. .01 cent per load! Here's the recipe:

1/3 bar of Fels Naptha soap (found in the laundry aisle, but not at Wal-Mart, I found it for 99 cents @ Publix). You only need a 1/3 for one batch.
1/2 c washing soda (NOT baking soda, Publix stocks Arm & Hammer brand in the laundry aisle, I paid approx. $2.30 for a 55 oz. box)
1/2 c borax (Wal-Mart & Publix stock 20 Mule Team brand in their laundry aisle, I paid less than $3.00 for a 76 oz. box)
1 small bucket

Grate the soap and put it in a sauce pan. Add 6 cups water and heat it until the soap melts. Add the washing soda and borax and stir until it is dissolved. Remove from heat. Pour 4 cups of hot water into the bucket. Now add our soap mixture and stir. Add 1 gallon plus 6 cups of water and stir. Let the soap sit for about 24 hours and it will gel. Use 1/2 cup per load.

*A few tips: If you leave about a tablespoon of your store bought laundry detergent in it's original container and fill it up with the homemade detergent the consistency of the homemade detergent will become smoother. Also, if you add 1/4 cup of white distilled vinegar to the wash water the clothes will come out brighter and fluffier.
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You can use the same ingredients for a homemade dishwasher detergent:

1 Tablespoon Washing Soda
1 Tablespoon Borax

Combine and put in dispenser. Add distilled white vinegar to the rinse dispenser and run dishwasher, (the vinegar is used to remove the water spots). The cost per load is approx 3.5 cents per load.

I've been (remember this was someone else who sent this to me-Kate)using these homemade detergents for a week and I'm happy with the results so far, but pre-treating stains are still necessary for soiled clothing. Here are two website with additional information: www.thefamilyhomestead.com/laundrysoap.htm and
http://natural-products.suite101.com/article.cfm/washing_dishes_for_pennies (including a recipe for homemade liquid hand soap).

Couples dinner

So we have been trying to be good people and make some friends. Omar spends a lot of time at work with Jason who also goes to our Spanish Branch. So we have done a few meals together. They were married the same day 6 months after us and so that is exciting. We ended up cooking at their apartment and they would come and cook at ours. I must admit the meal they made was insanely yummy - shrimp tostados (not pictured). Omar and I made burritos.
Omar and I with the finished product prior to eating
Chopping that lettuce
Cooking (or should we say about to savor) refried beans
RICE - Omar's first love
Jason y Carolina with a strawberry shortcake with orange glaze for Family Home Evening the following day of the burritos. That was a lot of fun.

The Breadmaker

Me with my new creation - a 2 lb loaf of 2 cheese bread!
trying to get that bread holder out of the breadmaker - man was it hard!
We cut off one end when we realized we could use our bread slicer to get a perfect bread slice
slicing away!

So we got pretty much all the kitchen gadgets when we got married. I finally tried out one of them. I have always wanted a bread maker because I have envied all those people that can make bread...we never home-made bread in my house when growing up. We had the missionaries over for the 3RD time this week and I made Italian food - you have to have bread with that. I found a recipe for 2 cheese bread and made it. Too bad I didn't know how long it was going to take to bake until I actually started it. It wasn't done in time for the Elders - so we could eat more - MuHAha! And we were able to even use our handy dandy food slicer too. How exciting! Who thinks we can open our own bread factory?