Works For Me!

Frugality / Works For Me! — No Comments
9
Apr 08

WFMW – Homemade Frugal Nursery Curtains

As many of you know, I was laid off from my job of 4 years back in October when I was 2 months pregnant.  Although we’d always planned on me being a stay-at-home mom, we didn’t count on it happening so early in the pregnancy! 

We don’t use credit cards, so our budget is really tight most of the time.  That means that I’ve not been free to shop as much as I desire for our baby.  Fortunately, God has looked out for us and provided us with the basic necessities thanks to our wonderful family and friends.

There are a few things though that we need, and I’ve had to figure out how to “make do” with whatever was available.

One of those things are curtains for the two windows!  It’s hard to believe how very, very expensive simple curtains can be.  It gets even worse if you’re shooting for a “theme” out of a desire for a cute baby nursery.

I’m currently 36 weeks pregnant, and our nursery painting and furnishings have been up for months now.   But until this past Monday, the windows in my baby’s room have been completely bare.  And I hate bare windows – especially at night when you can’t see out….but everyone can see in. 

I needed curtains.  And I wanted them to match the decor. 

So what did I do?

I went scrimiging through my linen closet!  A few months ago I had purchased some nice sheets from the local thrift store (spent maybe, 50 cent each?).  Tucked away in the linen closet, they had almost been forgotten.  But I felt like I struck gold when I found a double sheet with blue & white stripes.  They would make the perfect curtains!

So with my trusty scissors in hand, I cut them in half, threaded the curtain rod through the blue top “hem” part of the sheet, hung them, tied them back with some ribbon that came on a baby gift and WALAH… frugal curtains that matched my baby’s nursery theme.

101_1154.JPG   101_1151.JPG 

My hubby loved the idea so much that he wants me to put a sheet curtain up in the guest bedroom (which he is currently decorating with his Clemson College memorabilia).  And I have the perfect deep purple sheet to offer up in sacrifice. :)

So, see?  Window treatements don’t have to cost a fortune – especially for rooms that you know will be redecorated within a year or two (like a nursery).   A simple cast off sheet (or a cheap set from Walmart) will work wonders, and they’re available in so many colors and patterns!

Bonus?  When Little Jack starts crawling, I can snip off the bottoms of the long curtains and make windowsill length ones without worrying about cutting up something expensive. :)

Living frugally doesn’t mean completely wallowing in gloomy white-walled, bare-window misery.  Just use your imagination and you can come up with all sorts of wonderful decorations.

For more wonderful, practical, and helpful household tips, head on over to Rocks in My Dryer – the weekly host for “Works for Me Wednesdays”.

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19
Mar 08

WFMW – Frugal Easter Decorations & Blown Eggs

Whew… I’m pretty late with this week’s Works For Me Wednesday (hosted by Shannon at the Rocks in My Dryer blog!).  Going through 2 funerals in the past week really took a toll on me, so I haven’t felt much like blogging until today.  Anyway….

Being a “newlywed” couple (married in June of 2006) who refuses to use credit (not to mention living on one income and being 8 months pregnant with our first child!), buying decorations for each holiday like I would like to do is pretty much out of the question.  So, in my deliriously happy frugal mode, I came up with some nice but inexpensive Easter decorations this year using my color printer and stuff I found lying around the house! 

First, I made “blown” out eggs and dyed them with some food coloring from the pantry.  This will allow them to last forever (as long as no one squeezes them!!) or at least until Little Jack steps on them next year.  No more stinky, rotten eggs.  (We once found an 3 month old boiled easter egg at my mom’s house….it was still “hidden” under the couch!!)

MAKING BLOWN EASTER EGGS

To make your own, take 1 dozen fresh eggs, and prick two holes (using a needle and a thimble to protect your finger!) in each end of the egg.  Make the hole on the fattest end of the egg bigger than the one on the small end.  Then, placing your mouth on the small hole, “blow” out the liquid egg from the large hole.  I blew my eggs out into a bowl (and then made an egg & cheese cassarole that night).  You’ll also want to fill the egg with some water a few times through the larger hole, shake, and blow out the water.  This cleans the egg inside and removes residue that might end up smelly in a week!

To dye them, boil water, then get out your cups, some white vinegar and food coloring.  Using one cup per color, drip a few drops of color into the cup and fill the cup about halfway with boiling water.  Then, add a tablespoon or so of the vinegar and stir slightly with a spoon.  You can use sturdy plastic cups (make sure they’re ones that can stand up to boiling water though) or regular coffee cups. 

I had a pack of red, blue, yellow, and green food coloring.  Out of those I also made some orange dye (red & yellow drops in one cup) and purple dye (red & blue drops) for my eggs.  Speckled eggs can be made by drizzling the dye drops in the water and NOT stirring.

Next, set your blown eggs into the cup.  Since they have no “innards”, they will float.  That’s fine!  Just be sure to turn the egg shells over a few times, as well as press them down into the dye for a few seconds to make sure the whole egg gets covered.  The longer your egg sits in the cup, the darker it will become.  When it’s the right shade, take the egg out and let the dye water drain (as it may have seeped through the little hole).  Then place the egg into an old egg carton to dry. 

After it is dry, drizzle some olive oil (or oil of your choice) on the egg and buff slightly with a rag to shine!

My eggs ended up with some very lovely shades!   I remember dying (boiled) easter eggs this way with my granny when I was a little girl and have never understood why people have to buy commercial “egg dye” kits.  Plus, I think it’s a lot more fun too.

RECYCLING CALENDARS AT EASTER

For a whimsical “spring” feeling, I used an old calendar that I didn’t have the heart to throw away!  The photos in there were simply so beautiful that I knew they’d come in handy for something.  All of the photos in the calendar reflected the old fashion victorian era.  Using the March, April and May month pictures, I came up with some lovely prints to hang up and place around the living room!

For added frugality, all of my photo frames come from thrift stores.  I never pay more than 50 cent or so for a nice 8×10 frame.  Sometimes I find expensive ones with the original price tags still attatched!  Since we decorate with an old country / southern theme in mind, a hodge-podge of wooden frames suites us well.

In the two pictures below, you’ll see my (calender inspired) artwork, thrift store frames, blown easter eggs, and a cardboard bunny carton that is currently holding my hubby’s favorite snack-of-the-moment (starbursts!).  Oh – and of course the blue stuffed bunny, curtesy of my dog PupPup’s toy chest.

 

PRINTING YOUR OWN EASTER DECORATIONS

Although I use mainly “traditional” easter decor (pastels, bunnies, eggs, etc), you can create a variety of Christian images to cut out and place around the room as well!  An 8×10 photo of the Last Supper, Jesus on the Cross, the Empty Tomb, or other beautiful art prints can easily be found and printed out for free - then put on display.  For our decor, I used clipart from google images and Paint Shop Pro to make some easter egg prints, some grass prints, and a few other easter themed prints.  Then I cut them out and placed them in various spots around the entry way and living room. 

When my hubby, Kevin, arrived home, he had a fun little “hunt” awaiting him because I hid all of the printed easter eggs (that shared our living room color scheme) in the corners of all of our living room frames.  It was his job to “find” them all! 

This was also great practice for when Little Jack gets bigger and we can do real easter egg hunts.  ;)

  

 

MORE INEXPENSIVE EASTOR DECOR IDEAS

It’s hard to tell in the photo, but these little pastel signs are adorable! This one is pastel pink & green, with arrow pointing that say “Flowers 5 Cents” and “Happy Easter”.  The little face is a cute yellow chicken.  I also have an easter bunny one that says “Egg Dying” and “Carrots 10 Cent”.  They are my most expensive easter decorations this year at $1.88 each at Walmart.

The old fashion country bunny in the primitive dress was a great thrift store find a few months ago for only 10 cent. 

  

AND FINALLY….

A tribute to my soon-to-be-born son!  His Nana (Kevin’s mom) gave him the (very beloved) children’s book “Guess How Much I Love You” at our baby shower back in January.  The pastels and bunny photos were too cute to hide away in his nursery!

Being frugal is hard sometimes, especially when you love to decorate with each month’s holiday in mind!  I could easily go crazy buying all the cute decor out there.  But alas, we simply can’t afford it.  Hopefully, these ideas may inspire your own creativity and encourage you to look around your own home for decorating objects. 

Then you’ll truly be thinking outside the egg…uh.. box.  :)

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12
Mar 08

WFMW – One Pot Complete Chicken Meal

While pregnant, I’ve found myself becoming quite lazy with my cooking.  Granted, I love cooking and thinking up new things – it’s getting the initiative to do it that makes it hard.  Therefore, anything that’s one-pot-easy is terrific in my books!  I like to call them “Pregnancy Delight” dinners. :)   

So, for this week’s Works for Me Wednesday (hosted by Rocks In My Dryer), 
I’m going to show you how to make the entire meal shown above
using just one pot. 
Nothing more, nothing less.

(The Backstory) ….Before marriage, I didn’t cook anything.  Nope, didn’t have to – I was the spoilt only daughter of older parents!  The kitchen was mom’s domain.  She didn’t like her animal loving daughter messin’ around her area anyway.  Also (as I’ve learned in recent years) since she doesn’t follows recipes or any formal method of cooking herself she was never quite sure how to teach me anyway.

I’ve come quite a long way since my first cooking experience during the early days of marriage in summer of 2006. 

My first experience with whole chicken came with an aweful fright – first, I learned that the paper looking stuff on the outside needed to come off before cooking.  Then, I realized (in the midst of cooking nonetheless) that I should have dug into his cavity and removed the bag with his neck and gizzards.  Can we say, EWW?? 

Nowadays, however, I love cooking whole chicken.  They’re extremely easy and practically impossible to mess up – not to mention very economical (I can pick up whole fryers for $3 bucks or less on sale at our local Food Lion…and freeze them!).   Sooo many different meals can be made just by adding different ingredients to the stock pot.  It’s also an easy dinner fix because most people typically have all the ingredients needed to make an excellent meal in their freezer, frig, and pantry if they’d just use imagination.

And tonight just happened to be one of those one-pot-meal creations from our stored food supplies.  I started at 3:45 and it was finished at 6:45 – with very minimum work from me.

The One Pot Chicken Meal

3:45 pm – We had a whole fryer chicken (which is great for our 2 person household – another home may need a hen though) in our freezer from a sale a month or so ago.  I plopped it out of its package, and put it completely frozen (I usually don’t bother to thaw) in a large stock pot full of water, and then set it to boiling on high for an hour.  During this hour I casually added a spoon of butter, some salt, pepper, lemon pepper, and garlic powder.  You can add whatever you want as seasoning.  I also added about 16 oz of Swanson’s chicken broth from our pantry that was nearing it’s shelf life. 

4:45 pm – After an hour of high boiling (during which I had to replenish some water loss), I added 2 ears of frozen corn and a bag of frozen broccoli.  I was in the mood for veggies and broccoli sounded great. :)    I also tossed in three small white potatoes (uncut, unpeeled, but washed good) for my husband. 

5:30 pm – Normally, I toss in noodles at this point if I’m making soup, and I debone the chicken – but since this was an actual solid “meal” I had planned, I left out the noodles and didn’t debone (if you have children though, you’d want to debone it at some point before serving).

5:45 pm – About 2 hours into the boiling on high (or almost high – sometimes I cut it down if it started sloshing over the top), I added another spoon scoop of butter, a squirt of ketchup, a squirt of mustard, a dash of whole milk, and tore up 6 slices of regular slice cheese (the kind made for sandwhiches) to toss in.  I also added the rest of some frozen bag sweet peas (about 1/2 cup) in with everything to give extra bulk to the broccoli (since I wasn’t eating potatoes).  

Please note, I didn’t measure anything.  This is a true pump and dump style of cooking. :)

6:15 pm – I stirred everything quite frequently after the 2.5 hour mark, turned the burner down to below medium, put on the lid, and let it cook for another 30 minutes.  

6:45 pm – We ate at 6:45 so it only took 3 hours to get everything from frozen solid to done and dished onto the plate - and felt like I had not really cooked at all since it was soooo easy.  After it was done, I scooped everything out separately (separating is the key to making it a “meal”) and spread it around the plates.  The broccoli  & peas were topped with another piece of torn slice cheese (which melted perfectly from the heat).  I also spooned some broth out in bowls for a separate “soup” side.   Then dinner was complete with a cup of icded milk and water.  :)

All in all, from my one pot, we ended up with:

  • Boiled Chicken (so soft it fell off the bones)
  • Broccoli & Peas Mix (Topped with melted cheese, with chicken shreads tossed in)
  • Corn on the Cob
  • Whole Potatoes
  • Chicken Broth Soup

It was excellent! My hubby ate silently through the whole meal and I feared he didn’t like it. But upon finishing it, he looked up and said “Man, I feel like I’m eating like a King tonight…do you have more??”.  He even begged to take some to work.

I don’t know about yall, but I completely thrive on compliments about my cooking – especially when they come from my hubby!!   

Hopefully this will give you an idea of how to do your own one dish meal.  It’s really a give&take process and no formal recipe is required.  Just a chicken and your site items of choice.  Oh..and a really big stock pot.  :)

Pictures of my own plate below. 
I didn’t eat potatoes, and I didn’t separate a hunk of chicken for myself.
We both had the soup in bowls (it was rich and creamy and well spiced!)

 
 

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19
Feb 08

WFMW – Easy 100% Whole Wheat Bread Recipe

I’ve been pondering all day what to use for this week’s Works for Me Wednesday (Hosted by Shannon, at the Rocks in My Dryer blog) and after American Idol tonight I had a burst of inspiration.  “Bread!” I thought.   “I’ll talk about bread”.

Sounds exciting, right? The life of a stay at home housewife has many thrills.  :)  

Ever since starting my sugar free diet over 3 weeks ago (I’m a gestational diabetic), I’ve had to completely change my way of thinking about the foods I cook and what I eat.  Some of our most favorite (and easiest) dishes at our house include homemade mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, and white flour french bread made in my bread machine  Unfortunately, all of these are starches – and they turn right to sugar!

I have never cared too much for “brown bread” (whole wheat / whole grain) even though I knew it was healthiest for me even without this gestational diabetes thing.  My mom uses the whole grain bread (without high fructose corn syrup) at her house, and I’ve been eating that a little but otherwise bread has been pretty much non-existant in our house for nearly a month now and my poor bread machine has been crying in loneliness locked up in my flour cabinet.  I felt sorry for the poor machine, which has previously given us tremendously yummy french bread – but what could I do?  I like easy recipes that can be completely done in the bread machine (the kind with just a few ingredients) and the only ones I knew were with white flour.  I gave a half hearted attempt a few times to find whole wheat bread, but most recipes call for at least a cup or more of white flour mixed in.  I also read how whole wheat recipes usually come out very hard, thick, and too dense for newbie bread makers to try. 

Finally, last night, I discovered what seemed to be an easy recipe on my favorite recipe site – RecipeZaar.com.  (Here’s the link to the original post on the site!  Try it out and give the cook a review!).

The recipe is for 100% whole wheat bread, made in the bread machine.  Here are the ingredients -

1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
3 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 tablespoons white sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons nonfat dry milk powder
1 1/2 tablespoons margarine
1 1/4 cups water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)

It uses ingredients most of us already have (I used Country Crock butter in the tub instead of margarine), doesn’t call for much sugar (I only used 1 tablespoon…you can probably substitute for something else as all it is for is food for the yeast I believe), and was very “set it and forget it”.  Best of all?  No preservatives, I know exactly what’s in it, and there’s no high fructose corn syrup.

So, at 9:00 pm last night, I excitedly dragged my trusty $2.00 electric bread machine down (Goodwill second hand shop is great…my bread machine retails for $100 brand new).  Then I opened the first pack of whole wheat flour I’ve ever purchased and started dumping my ingredients into my bread machine pan.  The instructions say you can set it on “Whole Wheat” (if your machine has that setting) or “Basic Bread”.   I set mine on Whole Wheat and chose a light crust (I always choose light crust).   Then I turned it on and crossed my fingers.

The whole wheat setting on my bread machine takes 3 hours and 20 minutes – which means my bread wasn’t finished until 12:20 am.  I could have put it on a delayed cycle but I was so excited that I didn’t want to wait to try it out.  And honestly, I didn’t think it would do well – so I had low expectations anyway and figured I could just dump it out before my hubby awoke and found out I’d bombed a new recipe (I like for him to stay under the spell that I’m a natural whiz in the kitchen).

By midnight, the aroma of this bread made my whole house smell like a bakery.  It was honestly the best smelling bread I had ever..well…smelled!  And I was famished.

I hoped and prayed to God (literally) that my pregnant belly wouldn’t be dissapointed.  The faint trickling thought that “Hey, I hate whole wheat bread” crossed my mind a few times, but I quickly dismissed it in hopes that it would taste as good as it smelled.

Ok – so 12:20 hits and my dinger goes off to let me know the bread is done.  Using my trusty little blue flowered oven mitt, I pulled the pan handle up and lifted the bread pan out of the machine.  I tried to dump the loaf out on a plate, but it was  a wee bit stuck so I had to trace around the edges of the bread with a butter knife to loosen it from the pan and POP…out it came.  And out came my trusty bread knife ($8.95 from Walmart..yay!).

The first bite was absolutely heavenly.  The loaf sliced easily, didn’t crumble and wasn’t too dense.  I cut 3 thick slices (I love my homemade bread slices to be realllllyyyy thick) and couldn’t resist putting a small dab of honey on the first slice (although my 2nd & 3rd stayed au natural).   Paired with a glass of ice water, I must confess that this was absolutely the best wheat bread I’d ever tasted in my life.  It was a gazillion times better than loaf wheat bread from the grocery store.

After finishing off my 3 slices I went to bed a happy camper.  Then for lunch today, I ate 3 more slices (it’s addicting) and gave my mom and dad each a slice to test when they came over to visit. 

For dinner tonight, I cooked turkey, homemade mashed potatoes (for my hubby, Kevin…I, sadly, can’t eat them), and peas.  I cut 2 thick slices of the bread for Kevin – and quartered them, then slathered on cream cheese.  He used them as little bisquit cakes (and complained when he learned there was none left!).  For myself, since I couldn’t eat the potatoes, I made a turkey sandwhich with some lettuce and a bit of mustard spread on 2 sandwhich style slices of the bread.  It made a fabulous sandwhich – held together well, was very filling, looked pretty, and tasted better than any deli sandwhich I’ve had.  Needless to say, I am very very pleased with my newest discovery!

I would have taken pictures of the bread, but, well, I’ve already eaten it all – and didn’t think of using it for this week’s WFMW until American Idol went off and I realized it was time to think of a good WFMW topic. :)

For more great tips on tried and true things that really work for other ladies, head over to this week’s Works for Me Wednesday list.

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6
Feb 08

WFMW – Keep Your Wallet a FatWallet

Ok… I know, I know. 

I’ve already posted a WFMW today with links to my favorite online shopping sites (ones that completely support home-based businesses).  But it suddenly occured to me that with all of the online shopping sites being promoted by Mr. Linky at the Rocks In My Dryer WFMW tip page, there is one place you should always go before you shop online!

www.FatWallet.com

FatWallet is an online tool / community / forum / wiki all rolled into one.  It provides the best up-to-date information about online coupons, forums where people share hot deals they have found, plenty of discount codes, tips on how to get things for free.

They also have a dedicated “online stores” section where links to corporate shopping sites (such as staples, photoworks, and even American Eagle!) offer cash back percentage on EVERY order.  Some companies even give a cash reward (such as $10 for first time orders), which means “profit to you!” if your order cost is only a few dollars in the first place!

To make this site work for you, sign up for a free membership account.  Then, whenever you are in need to “shop” for something (anything!) go to fatwallet first, ensure that you are signed in, then search their list to see what cash back offers they have.  Click on the desired link - you’ll then be taken to the site you were going to go to in the first place (i.e. Banana Republic), but now when you order, you’ll be given a cash back discount which will appear in your FatWallet account within 30 days.  It will be “on hold” at first (to protect FatWallet from losing money on product returns to the original company) and it usually takes 2-3 months for the hold to be released.  After the hold is released, you can request a direct deposit or check to be sent to you for the amount in your FatWallet account!

If the company you are wanting to buy from, or the product you need, is not in their cash back list, head over to the forums and do a “search” for the product you are looking for a discount on.  Someone in the forum probably has some valuable information for you!  The forums also hold great tips on current credit card / bank promotions (i.e. $100 bonus for signing up for ABC Checking..or whatever!).  In-store deals are also discussed on how to make the best use of paper coupons.

So what are you waiting on?  Head over to www.FatWallet.com and sign up.  Then don’t forget to go there first before shopping anywhere online!  You’ll save money every time. :)

Here is a list of current companies that offer cash back from every order that is generated from FatWallet users!

4.0% * 1-800-Flowers.com
  12.0% * 1-800-PetMeds
  20.0% * 123Inkjets
  5.0% * 1800Contacts
  4.4% 39DollarGlasses.com
  10.0% 4checks.com
  17.0% 4inkjets
  5.0% 911HealthShop
  6.0% A&E/The History Channel Store
  5.0% A.T. Cross
  2.5% a1Books
  8.8% AAA Fruit Baskets
  12.0% Abacus24-7
  5.0% * AbeBooks
  2.0% AbtElectronics
  7.0% AC Lens
  3.0% * Ace Hardware
  6.0% Adagio Teas
  5.0% * adidas.com
  6.0% * Adobe Store
  3.0% * Aeropostale
  1.5% AJ Madison
  6.0% AJ Prindle & Company
  5.5% Alibris
  1.0% Alienware
  4.0% Allergy Buyers Club
  3.0% Alloy
  4.0% Altrec Outdoors
  Amazon
  3.3% American Blinds, Wallpaper & More
  2.0% American Eagle Outfitters
  $15.00 * American Express
  American Express Canada
  1.0% * Apple Store
  1.0% * Apple Store Canada
  3.0% AppliancePartsPros.com
  5.0% Armani Exchange
  19.0% Art Select
  art.com
  4.0% Ashford
  AT&T Wireless
  $20.00 * AT&T Yahoo!
  Tier * Audible.com
  5.0% AutoAnything
  10.0% AutoCheck
  6.0% Avenue.com
  B back to top
  B&H Photo Video
  2.0% BabyAge
  5.0% BabyCenterStore.com
  4.0% BabyUniverse.com
  5.0% Backcountry.com
  10.0% Bagsbuy.com
  3.0% Banana Republic
  Tier * Bank of Internet USA
  7.0% BareNecessities
  Tier * Barnes & Noble.com
  Baseball Savings
  4.0% * Bass Pro Shops
  5.0% Batteries.com
  7.0% * Beauty.com
  2.0% Belkin
  6.0% Bellacor
  3.0% * Best Western International Hotels
  $10.00 * Bidz.com
  5.0% Big Girls Bras, Etc
  6.0% Birkenstock Central
  6.0% Blair
  4.0% Blinds Chalet
  3.0% Blinds.com
  4.0% Blindsgalore
  $20.00 * Blockbuster Online
  2.0% * Bloomingdale’s
  3.0% * Blue Nile
  25.0% BlueDolphin
  5.0% Bluefly
  5.0% BoatersWorld.com
  8.0% Boca Java
  6.0% The Body Shop
  7.5% * BodyBuilding.com
  7.0% Book Closeouts
  1.1% Books-A-Million
  2.0% * Borders
  4.0% Boscovs
  8.0% Botanic Choice
  5.0% Bowflex
  8.0% * Breck’s
  3.0% * Brooks Brothers
  6.0% * Brookstone
  3.0% Brylane Home
  Budget Rent a Car
  5.0% BunnyShop
  1.0% * Buy.com
  12.0% BuyBeauty
  7.0% BuyCostumes
  C back to top
  2.0% * Cabela’s
  CafePress
  10.0% Calendars.com
  3.0% Callaway Golf Pre-Owned
  5.5% * Calumet Photographic
  4.0% Calvin Klein Underwear
  3.3% Cambridge Soundworks
  3.0% * Camera World
  4.0% Camping World
  CampusTech
  4.0% Canvas On Demand
  Capital One Direct Banking
  Car Toys
  Tier * Carnival Cruise Lines
  Carrot Ink
  CarsDirect
  3.0% Casual Male XL
  3.0% Catherines
  CatsPlay.com
  3.0% CCS
  Celebrate Express
  10.0% Cell Phone Shop
  CellHut.com
  2.0% CensusPC
  3.0% Chadwick’s
  6.0% Champion Catalog
  Charter High Speed Internet
  Chase Online
  $3.00 Cheap Tickets
  5.0% ChecksUnlimited
  6.0% CHEFS
  50.0% * Chemistry.com
  10.0% Cherry Moon Farms
  5.0% * Cheryl & Co.
  ChiefValue
  3.0% * Choice Hotels (Comfort Inn/Econo Lodge/Rodeway Inn…)
  2.0% * Circuit City
  6.0% ClassicCloseouts.com
  1.5% ClubIT.com
  7.0% CoastalContacts.com
  6.0% CoffeeforLess
  Collectibles Today
  3.0% * Collections Etc.
  $10.00 * Columbia House DVD Club
  ComcastOffers.com
  The Company Store
  1.5% Computer Geeks
  2.0% Computers4SURE
  6.0% Cooking.com
  8.0% Costume SuperCenter
  3.0% Country Inns & Suites
  Cox High Speed Internet
  7.0% * Crabtree & Evelyn
  1.0% CreativeLabs
  Cricket Wireless
  5.0% * Crucial Technology
  1.0% * Crutchfield
  3.0% Cyberguys
  11.0% Dale & Thomas Popcorn
  7.0% Dan’s Chocolates
  5.0% Danskin
  Darling Shoes
  5.0% David’s Cookies
  3.0% dELiAs*cOm
  1.0% Dell Canada
  3.0% * Dell Home Systems
  3.0% Dell Outlet
  1.5% * Dell Small Business
  Delta
  5.5% DERMAdoctor
  3.0% Design Within Reach
  6.0% Designer Linens Outlet
  Tier * Diamond.com
  8.0% Diamonds International
  1.0% Diapers.com
  4.0% * Dick Blick Art Materials
  7.0% * DicksSportingGoods.com
  Directron
  $35.00 * DIRECTV, Inc.
  Discount CandleShop
  Discover Card
  $1.00 Discover Gift Card
  Tier * Discovery Channel Store
  7.0% * dog.com
  3.0% * Dollar Rent A Car
  1.0% * Domestications
  3.0% * Dr. Jays
  Tier * Drs. Foster & Smith
  7.0% * drugstore.com
  DVDPlanet
  7.0% e.l.f. Cosmetics
  EagleBit.com
  6.0% * Eastbay
  4.0% Eastern Mountain Sports
  8.0% * eBags
  6.0% eBatts.com
  1.0% * eBay
  EBgames.com
  3.3% eCampus.com
  2.1% * eCOST.com
  4.0% Eddie Bauer
  4.0% Eddie Bauer Outlet
  3.0% eDesignerShop
  Edmund Scientifics
  $4.00 eFax
  2.5% * eforcity
  2.0% ElectronicsNation
  3.0% eLUXURY
  EmigrantDirect.com
  $3.00 * EMusic
  7.0% Endless.com
  Enterprise Rent-a-Car
  $7.00 * Entertainment Books
  EpsonStore
  12.0% Equifax
  6.0% ESPNshop.com
  5.0% Esprit
  3.0% * eToys
  5.0% EVOGEAR
  1.4% * Expedia.com
  6.0% EyeBuyDirect
  F back to top

5.0% Fabric.com
  10.0% Famous Footwear
  8.0% * Fannie May Candies
  3.0% * FAO Schwarz
  3.0% Fashion Bug
  FastFloors.com
  10.0% Fathead.com
  4.0% * Fingerhut
  5.0% FinishLine.com
  Fira Cosmetics
  7.5% Fleurop.com
  3.0% * FogDog
  6.0% * Folica Beauty Supply
  6.0% FoodSaver
  6.0% Foot Locker
  10.0% * FootSmart
  10.0% FOSSIL Online
  3.0% * Four Points by Sheraton
  10.0% * FragranceNet.com
  3.0% FramesDirect.com
  6.6% FranklinCovey
  4.0% * Frederick’s of Hollywood
  10.0% FTD.com
  1.5% * Furniture.com
  3.0% FYE.com
  3.0% G by GUESS
  5.0% GAIAM
  $10.00 * GameFly
  3.0% GameStop
  GameznFlix.com
  3.3% Gap.com
  7.0% Gardener’s Supply Company
  9.0% * Gardens Alive!
  Tier * Gevalia
  Giardinelli Music
  3.0% * GiftCertificates.com
  8.0% * GNC
  11.5% * GoDaddy.com
  5.0% Godiva Chocolatier
  3.0% GoGamer.com
  Golf Galaxy
  3.0% * The Golf Warehouse
  5.0% golfballs.com
  5.0% * Golfsmith
  Goody’s
  7.0% Gorton’s Fresh Seafood
  12.7% * Got Fruit
  Tier * Green Mountain Coffee Roasters
  10.0% Griffin Technology
  GrowerFlowers.com
  3.0% GUESSFactory.com
  GuitarCenter
  9.0% * Gurney’s Seed & Nursery
  6.0% * H20 Plus
  Haband
  3.0% Half.com
  11.0% * Hallmark Flowers & Gifts
  7.0% * Hammacher Schlemmer
  Handango
  4.0% HandHeldItems
  5.0% Hanes.com
  Hawaiian Airlines
  5.0% HearthSong
  8.0% Hello Direct
  5.5% Hickory Farms
  6.0% Highlights Catalog
  6.0% HobbyTron.com
  Hockey Giant
  6.0% Home Bistro
  4.0% Home Center
  3.0% * Home Decorators Collection Outlet
  3.0% HomeClick
  8.8% The HomeMarketPlace
  9.0% * HomeVisions
  6.0% Hot Topic
  4.0% * Hotels.com
  2.0% * Hotwire
  3.0% * HP Home Store
  3.0% HP Small Business
  HSBC Direct
  4.0% * HSN
  11.0% * ICE.com
  2.0% iFloor
  12.0% iFrogz
  7.0% igourmet.com
  7.0% * Illuminations
  ING Direct
  InkCarts.com
  5.5% Instrument Pro
  3.0% * InterContinental Hotels (Holiday Inn/Crowne Plaza/Staybridge Suites…)
  Iomega
  12.0% iPrint.com
  4.0% iRobot
  7.0% Irv’s Luggage Warehouse / Executive Essentials
  2.0% * iTunes
  2.0% * J&R Music & Computer World
  5.0% JC Whitney
  3.0% Jessica London
  10.0% JJ Kent Jewelry
  6.0% Joann.com
  4.0% Jockey
  6.0% Johnston & Murphy
  4.0% Jones Soda Co.
  5.0% Jos. A. Bank
  2.0% JourneyEd
  5.0% Just My Size
  2.0% JustDeals.com
  3.0% * KBtoys
  8.0% * Kiehl’s
  3.0% King Size Direct
  2.0% Kmart.com
  7.0% * Kodak EasyShare Gallery
  4.0% * Kodak Online Store
  2.0% Kohl’s
  4.0% L’Occitane
  6.0% * Lamps Plus
  6.0% Lancôme.com
  3.0% * Lands’ End
  6.5% * Lane Bryant Catalog
  3.0% LaneBryant.com
  6.0% Laptops For Less
  2.0% Last MinuteTravel
  lastminute.com
  3.0% LeapFrog
  5.5% Leaps and Bounds
  3.0% Lee Jeans
  3.0% * LEGO
  8.0% * Lenovo
  2.0% Lenovo Canada
  6.0% Lenox
  6.0% Lens.com
  4.0% Lensmart
  Tier * LetsTalk.com
  8.0% Lids.com
  6.0% Lillian Vernon Online
  4.0% Limited Too
  9.0% LimogesJewelry.com
  3.0% * Linens-N-Things
  5.0% Linensource
  3.0% Little Tikes
  8.0% LizClaiborne.com
  6.0% Lobster Gram
  3.0% Lucky Brand Jeans
  7.0% LuggageGuy
  2.0% Lumber Liquidators
  2.0% Mac Connection
  2.0% MacMall
  3.0% * Macy*s.com
  25.0% * Magazines.com
  8.0% Makeup.com
  1.0% * Marriott
  MasseysOutfitters.com
  30.0% * Match.com
  4.0% * MC Sports
  12.0% McAfee.com
  1.0% Meritline
  3.0% metrostyle
  MGM MIRAGE
  9.0% * Michigan Bulb Company
  6.0% * Mikasa
  3.0% Miles Kimball
  4.0% MisterArt.com
  6.0% MLB.com Shop
  3.0% * Modell’s
  Tier * Mondera
  7.0% * Montgomery Ward
  5.0% Moosejaw
  12.0% * MotherNature.com
  2.0% MotorCycle Superstore
  6.0% Mrs. Fields Cookies & Gifts
  3.0% MTV Networks (MTV Shop, ComedyCentral Shop, CMT Shop…)
  4.0% Music123
  MusicBoxes.com
  Select * Musicians Friend
  2.0% Mwave
  10.0% myFICO
  $2.50 * Napster
  3.0% * NASCAR.com Store
  6.0% National Geographic Store
  $18.00 * Netflix
  NetMagazines
  4.0% * New York & Company
  1.0% * Newegg
  6.0% * NFLShop
  4.0% * Nickelodeon Store
  6.0% Nike Store
  3.3% * Nordstrom
  3.0% Northern Tool
  3.5% NOVICA
  8.0% * Nutrisystem
  Oakley.com
  1.0% * Office Depot
  3.3% Old Navy
  OneCall
  3.3% OneHanesPlace
  $6.00 OneShare.com
  5.0% * OneStepAhead
  6.0% OneStopPlus
  7.0% * Onlineshoes.com
  2.0% onSale
  $3.00 * Orbitz
  2.0% Oreck
  3.0% Oriental Trading Company
  8.0% * Origins
  3.0% * Orvis
  6.0% Outdoor Decor
  4.0% * Overstock.com
  Overton’s
  1.5% Pacific Geek
  2.5% Pacific Sunwear
  Tier * Packet8
  6.6% Palm Beach Jewelry.com
  4.0% Palm, Inc.
  3.0% Panasonic Direct
  12.0% Panda Software
  Pans.com
  5.0% Paragon Sports
  6.0% * Park Seed
  3.0% Parts Express
  5.0% PartsAmerica
  4.0% PartStore
  4.0% Patagonia
  7.0% Paul Fredrick Menstyle
  8.0% Payless ShoeSource
  2.0% PC Connection
  1.5% PC Mall
  1.5% PC Microstore
  $5.00 * Peapod
  $22.50 * PerfectMatch.com
  5.0% Perfumania
  8.0% * Perfume Emporium
  9.0% * Perfume Worldwide
  6.0% Perfume.com
  12.0% Personal Creations
  12.0% * PetCareRx
  8.0% * Petco.com
  5.0% PetFoodDirect.com
  7.0% PETsMART.com
  7.7% Pfaelzer Brothers
  4.0% Pfaltzgraff
  2.0% Philips
  Photobucket
  6.0% * PhotoWorks.com
  $7.00 * Pingo
  7.0% Piperlime
  $40.00 * Pitney Bowes
  Play-Asia.com
  4.0% Plow & Hearth
  8.0% The Popcorn Factory
  2.0% * Priceline Cruises
  3.0% * Priceline.com
  Printfinders
  10.0% * ProFlowers.com
  6.0% Puma
  7.0% Puritan’s Pride
  10.0% * Quicken
  3.0% QVC
  3.0% * RadioShack.com
  Radisson Hotels & Resorts
  Rampage.com
  $12.00 * Real Arcade
  $16.00 * RealtyTrac
  7.0% * RedEnvelope
  3.0% RedOctane
  3.0% * Reebok Store
  3.0% * REI.com
  10.0% Restaurant.com
  Tier * Rhapsody
  3.0% * RitzCamera.com
  Road Runner High Speed Online
  5.0% * Road Runner Sports
  3.0% Roaman’s
  7.0% Robeez
  4.0% * RockCreek
  3.0% Room for Kids
  4.0% Roots Direct
  3.3% Ross-Simons
  6.0% Roxio
  6.0% Rugman.com
  6.0% S&S Worldwide
  $2.00 Safeway
  3.0% Saks Fifth Avenue
  6.5% SameDayMusic
  3.0% Samsonite
  6.0% The San Francisco Music Box Company
  2.0% * Sandals & Beaches Resorts
  2.0% * Sears.com
  4.0% * Second Act
  4.0% * Sephora.com
  7.6% * The Sharper Image
  3.0% * Sheraton Hotels & Resorts
  8.0% ShindigZ
  Tier * Shockwave Games
  10.0% Shoebuy.com
  10.0% ShoeMall
  13.0% * Shoes.com
  Tier * SHOP.COM
  5.0% * Shop.NHL.com
  4.0% Shop4Tech
  5.0% * ShopAtHomeTV
  6.0% shopbop.com
  6.0% shopKitchenAid.com
  4.4% ShopNBC
  3.0% ShowPlace
  Tier * Shutterfly
  Sierra Trading Post
  5.0% Signature Days
  SilverJewelryClub.com
  6.0% Simple Shoes
  7.0% * SIRIUS Satellite Radio
  3.0% Six Flags
  4.0% Skechers
  8.0% * SkinStore.com
  4.0% SkyMall
  Tier * Skype
  5.0% SmartBargains
  6.6% * Smarthome
  7.0% SmileMakers
  6.0% Smith+Noble
  10.0% * Snapfish
  4.0% Soccer.com
  Software Outlet.com
  7.0% * Sony
  3.0% * Southwest Airline Vacations
  6.0% * SpaFinder
  8.0% SpaLook
  7.0% Spirit Halloween
  2.5% * Sport Chalet
  3.0% * Sports Authority
  9.0% * Spring Hill Nurseries
  4.4% Stacks and Stacks
  Stamps.com
  Staples
  12.0% Steve Madden
  6.0% Sticker Giant
  5.0% * Stonewall Kitchen
  6.6% StrawberryNet
  4.0% StubHub
  1.0% * Super Warehouse
  3.0% Supermediastore.com
  Surplus Computers
  8.0% SwimsuitsForAll.com
  4.0% The Swiss Colony
  6.0% SwissOutpost.com
  Symantec
  Tier * T-Mobile
  Tier * TaxBrain
  12.0% * TaxCut from H&R Block
  2.0% Tech Depot
  Tech for Less
  5.0% The TechGeek
  10.0% Teleflora
  6.0% Teva
  3.3% TextbookX
  TheNerds.net
  ThinkGeek
  Thrifty Rent-A-Car
  Ticketmaster
  5.0% TicketsNow
  TigerDirect Canada
  3.0% TigerDirect.com
  4.0% Tilly’s
  8.0% TimeLife
  3.3% The Tire Rack
  Tier * TiVo
  2.5% ToolKing.com
  5.0% Torrid
  2.0% Toshiba
  TotalVac
  7.0% * TracFone Wireless
  TradePub.com
  1.2% * Travelocity
  10.0% Trend Micro
  4.0% True Jeans
  TrueCredit by TransUnion
  8.0% * TurboTax
  2.5% * uBid.com
  5.0% Ugg Australia
  6.0% Uncommon Goods
  $2.00 * United Airlines
  2.0% United Vacations
  7.0% The Upper Deck Store
  10.0% Uptown Prime
  3.0% * Urban Outfitters
  US Search
  $10.00 * USA Today
  25.0% ValueMags
  1.5% Vanns
  Venere
  $20.00 Verizon High Speed Internet
  $15.00 Verizon VoiceWing (VOIP)
  Verizon Wireless
  3.0% The Vermont Country Store
  ViaTalk
  3.0% * Viator
  7.0% * Vision Direct
  12.0% VistaPrint.com
  6.0% Vitacost.com
  6.0% * Vitamin Shoppe
  8.0% Vitamin World
  $15.00 * Vonage
  $2.00 Vons
  2.0% * Wal-Mart
  10.0% Wall Street Journal
  8.0% Walter Drake
  Washington Mutual (WAMU)
  5.0% WatchZone
  5.0% WBShop.com
  $5.00 * WeightWatchers
  2.0% West Marine
  Tier * Western Union
  3.0% * Westin Hotels & Resorts
  3.0% * Wet Seal
  6.3% * Wilsons Leather
  5.5% * Wine Enthusiast
  3.0% * WolfCamera
  3.0% Woman Within
  3.0% Woodwind & Brasswind
  8.0% WorldofWatches.com
  WTDirect
  3.0% Wynn Las Vegas
  $12.00 * XM Satellite Radio
  Xoxide
  YesAsia.com
  4.0% * YOOX.com
  10.0% * Yves Rocher
  Tier * Zagat
  4.0% * Zales.com
  6.0% * Zappos
  12.0% * Zazzle
  15.0% zChocolat.com
  17.0% * Zinio Digital Magazines
  ZipZoomfly.com
  8.0% ZIRH Men’s Skin Care

Works For Me! — 14 Comments
5
Feb 08

Fabulous Home-Based Business Shopping

This week’s Works for Me Wednesday is all about our favorite subject – Shopping!  To be more specific, Shannon, from Rocks In My Dryer (WFMW Host) has asked us all to post our favorite shopping sites.  You know, the places that really, uh.. work for me. :)  

My list is going to be dedicated to quality home-based business sites as well as those site that help home-based business women.

I wasn’t really quite sure at first what I would write about.  After mulling it over, however, I realized surprisingly that the majority of the places I do shop from are those home based business sites that are run by women and men all over the country from the comfort of their living room.  The quality of these products tend to be above and beyond those of more commercialized chain stores.  Why?  Because these people are focused on making a living (or good hobby money) – and they are very proud of their work.  My favorite ones to frequent are unique artwork sites, photography & clipart sites (especially the country craft ones!), odds & ends stores, and stores that sell retro themed products (such as the old fashioned gingam ruffle apron!!).

The other few online shopping sites I visit are actually those companies which help support home based businesses.   From these sites I’ve purchased (or gotten for free!) soy candle making supplies, shopping cart software, business cards & pamphlets, unique software, website hosting accounts, website management software, and much more.  And I appreciated the quality and ease at which they helped me out in my own home-based business ventures.  Every site I list in the second section, I have used in the past (or still use!) to generate that wonderful home-based greenbacked moola that all of us housewives crave.  :-D   If anyone has any questions about how to get started with your own business, I’ll be glad to help you out.  Please note though, I do not play with “get rich quick” stuff.  I take the hard way out and actually like the fulfillment that comes from seeking out the best legitimate home based opportunities!

So, here they are  My favorite online shopping sites in support of the home-based business -

Awesome Home-Based Businesses -

     

  1. CollieShop – this is my very own homebased business.  It’s pretty neat, in my humble opinion. :)  I design rough and smooth collie breed artwork and sell on base products.  It’s been open since 2002, has over 3000 unique products, and does me well!
  2. Binkie Baskets – my sister-in-law is the inventor of a unique baby product called the Binkie Basket (a pacifier holder that attatches to your child’s crib or sits on a desk).  She crafts them all by hand at her home and then sells them to frustrated mommies everywhere.  Her products can be purchased through Etsy or custom made by contacting her through the email listed on her site.
  3. Country Clipart By Lisa – she shares the same name as me, but I wish I shared the same creative talent as her! Her fabulous site (open for 10 years now) showcases thousands upon thousands of very high quality country / primitive clipart she has created.  The prices are very reasonable, and I have yet to find another clipart source as wonderful as this one.
  4. Heavenly Promises – This Las Vegas based business sells high quality uniquely designed themed candy & gum wrappers!  I love themed candy wrappers and think it’s just the cutest idea ever.  Baby showers wouldn’t be complete without them!
  5. The Kitchen Madonna – love aprons?  I do!  The Kitchen Madonna not only has advice, but the most adorable
    homemade aprons you have ever seen

  6. Kimberlee Faith Bags – these totebags, available in various sizes, can be customized with the fabric of your life..uh..choice!   And they are completely gorgeous.  I typically do not like “contemporary” and “modern” looking things but these are absolutely fabulous.  They’re handmade by a mom of 2 who started out making these for herself…then for friends…and it exploded from there!
  7. The Craft Mall – ok, this isn’t exactly one business…more like thousands!  It’s designed where you can browse and purchase thousands of unique homemade crafts from individual sellers.
  8. Etsy Shopping Mall – this is a more corporately styled version of the Craft Mall.  Individual sellers set up “free stores” to showcase and sell their handmade products (very awesome products, I must say!).  You can browse through the “buy” section of Etsy and find just about anything you can reasonably imagine.
  9. Shop or Create What's on Your Mind at CafePress – whenever I need a customized “look” or certain theme on clothing (especially when Im looking for personalized gifts for baby and mom!), the first place I head for is the cafepress marketplace and browse their topics.  Their marketplace is comprised of millions of individual home-based “cafepress shop owners” who have worked their butts off creating unique artwork for the based product cafepress prints on.  You’ll find any topic imaginable here (from religious to rowdy to rover!). 
  10. Busy Bodies – this  cafepress based store is one of the most adorable sites I’ve ever encountered.  The lady who runs this is really sweet and has been designing her own tshirts since the late ’90s!  Thousands of stick figures with every possible theme imaginable are portrayed doing whatever it is you would love to do, all with the slogan “I [something]” on them.  My favorites include “I Play” (clarinet), “I Blog”, “I Farm” and “I Bake” and “I Do” (a little stick figure groom!).  It’s hilarious!

Best Sites for Home-Based Business Women

  1.  Cafepress – this one is the biggie for me.  If it wasn’t for Cafepress, I wouldn’t have my wonderful income generating online store, CollieShop.  This California based print-on-demand company was founded in the late 1990s (1999, I believe).  They offer individual artists base products, premium ecommerce website framework, business support forums, designing tips, marketing knowledge, product-printing-on-demand, drop-shipping, customer service for your own customers, and MUCH more.  As an artist, you can open a free basic shop (which requires absolutely no web expertise), and feature your artwork on one of each of their products, OR you can open a full blown “premium shop” (for less than $7 a month!!) which gives you complete ecommerce / website control and the ability to sell thousands upon thousands of products.  This is not a “get rich quick” scheme, but a truly satisfying endeavor for those willing to work at owning their own home business!  Sign up is quick and easy – why not try it??  If you’re an artist (either by hand or by computer), you can sell your artwork on their products.
  2. eBay Stores – Ebay is great for selling…anything.  It’s like going to a flea market – if you can’t find it there, you can’t find it anywhere!  Ebay stores is for home-based sellers.  It requires only minimal web knowledge and opens your products up to a lower listing cost and gives you a full personalized page on eBay!.  Depending on your store options, you’ll typically pay $5-15 per month for the shop, a small listing fee, and a small commission price on sales.  The best selling things on here tend to be brand new electronics, “pop culture” things, very very odd items, and name brand apparel (such as baby clothes – which, by the way, you can find very cheap at local thrift stores and resell pretty high on ebay!!!  I’ve done this quite a lot).  Ebay sellers also provide an EXCELLENT resource for wholesale items (use the word “lot” at the end of your supply searches).  So go ahead - Start selling online today! Open a storefront on eBay!
  3. Etsy Stores – what eBay! did for second-hand auctions, Etsy has done for crafts.  At the Etsy.com “Sell” section, you can open your own store (for free) and sell your homemade crafts or homemade products.  They allow 5 photos per product and a place for a great description.  The store set up is very simple and requires no web expertise.  It also requires no monthly payments!! They charge only 20 cent or so per listing and then a small 3% fee when a product sells – not too bad for a massive multimillion person networking and marketing opportunity!  They have forums there where you can interact with other Etsy users and your products get listed in their marketplace.
  4. ProStores – an eBay Company - Being a spin off of Ebay, it is fully integrated with Ebay auctions, but also gives you a complete, full blown ecommerce solution and product catalog so you can have a website (and domain) outside of ebay stores.  You don’t even have to use the Ebay integration. Get your own web store at your own web address!
  5. Mary Kay Cosmetics  – I use to be a Mary Kay Consultant.  In fact, I was a consultant during the time Ms. Mary Kay herself passed away (a very sad time).  There is plenty of great money to be made in this (and fabulous prizes) if you are a social bug.  I also love their Christian & family focus – with their theme of “God first, then Family, then Career”.  One of my biggest life lesson’s also came from a Mary Kay consultant meeting.  I learned that it’s aerodynamically impossible for a bee, with such tiny wings and a fat body, to fly.  Yet he does!  It’s a great encouragement to women who are downhearted in their homebased business endeavors.
  6. Avon – who doesn’t love Avon?  I have personally known many Avon Reps.  But what’s surprising is I actually love, love, love their products also.  Their selling theories for consultants differ from Mary Kay’s in that they allow you a bit more freedom.  It’s also more popular with men – so it broadens your market!
  7. LoneStar Candle Supply – if you like making homemade candles, why not turn it into your own business?  After many, many hours of research, I settled on LoneStar Candle Supply for my candle making needs.  They were the cheapest and the customer service people were friendly.  I think it’s a smaller, homebased company as well and not some corporate conglomerate!  They have the best prices that I have found anywhere on candle wax (even soy!!), wicks, jars, and scents.
  8. 30% Off + Free 14 Day Shipping – the first place I usually send my friends when helping them set up their own business is to VistaPrint.  This site offers the ultimate “low priced” marketing materials for home-based businesses!  They are most famous for their 250 high quality free business cards (you pay only 4.95 shipping!), but did you know that if you hang on long enough you can catch everything they sell for free?  Order their freebies at one time and you’ll only pay $10-15 in shipping MAX for everything.  I typically have 3-5 home based business ventures going at all times – and once, I was going through a “gotta market these!!” spell and ordered 250 premium business cards, 50 calendar magnets, a notepad, 100 premium 3-fold fliers, 25 oversized postcards, 50 regular sized postcards, 25 business card refrigerator magnets, and 250 address labels for a total of $14.95 shipping.  I truly do not know how this company stays in business.  Your best deals will come by email after your first purchase (make sure you opt in to their emails).  AND, they come pretty frequently (about once a week for me).  Wait for the ones that say “Everything…Free!”. Here are some free links I have if anyone wants to take advantage of them! FREE Personalized Note Pads, Get FREE business cards for your business or personal use — an $85 FREE gift. Top quality! Full color! , FREE 2008 Calendar, FREE Return Address Labels, Free Business Card Magnets, FREE Invitations, FREE T-Shirt
  9. Amazon.com Marketplace – have a lot of books?  know where to find really cheap books in your town?  Sell them for a profit on the Amazon marketplace.  I’ve done this before with success.  In my experience, popular titles and college textbooks sell really well! 
  10. WordPress.org - ok, this last one…well, I confess, this isn’t exactly a shopping site.  Everything on here is actually free!  Many of you who blog may already be familiar with WordPress.com and their free blogging accounts.  WordPress.org provides the actual open source software for you to host and use yourself.  WordPress is *the* ultimate blogging software and website content management system.  It’s easy to use, has many, many useful free add-on’s (made by wonderful, hardworking individual people around the us!!) and it’s what I use to control all of my websites (it’s much easier than having a complete HTML based site like I use to on my massively large collie dog educational portal – www.colliedogowners.com!).  I also use it as an extention to my cafepress based CollieShop because of it’s search engine optimization abillities!  WordPress is simply awesome, imho.
Works For Me! — No Comments
30
Jan 08

WFMW – How I Keep My Bathrooms Guest Ready

Welcome to this week’s edition of “Works for Me Wednesday” (hosted by Shannon, from Rocks in My Dryer) here at Little Jack’s Corner.

Ok.  Imagine this.  It’s 12 pm Saturday, the kids are screaming, lunch is burning, hubby is snoring, and the door bell rings.  And?  It’s one of your uppity-up friends aquaintences and her snooty teenage daughter.   You know, the one who walks around with a sneer on her face and runs her pointer finger over any spottable dust?   The one who just so happens to be the church gossip?  They were passing by and…unfortunately…had to stop for a potty break because, uh, like, you know, like they like, soooo would not be caught dead in a public restroom, ya know?

Would your bathroom be ready for such a challenge?

Well, at one time mine wouldn’t have.  I would have begged for any excuse to not let them in!  Anything from “the roof caved in from the shower steam” to “our toilet is broke…darn water snakes…sorry!”   The first year of marriage, it was a hard challenge for me to re-learn life…and the fact that toilets do not stay clean by flushing alone.

Can we say, EW?

For emphasis, here is a photo I took sometime during that first year:

Yes, that is a mushroom you see there.  And no, we were not inventing a new way for cultivating stir-fry.  That photo was taken in our master bathroom, and the following week that carpet was ripped up (of course). 

So anyway.  Thanks to the help of FlyLady.net, this past fall (2 months after our 1 year anniversary) I began creating a workable solution to maintaining a clean house.  And after modifying her theory of the “swish and swipe” to suite my own tastes, that’s when I knew I struck gold.  Even though they are in use every day, my bathrooms are now the pristine of clean.  And I’m going to show you how I do it!  (After this post, everyone will also know that showing my toilet to the public doesn’t embarrass me in the slightest.  Either that, or they’ll realize I’m bonkers :) )


Welcome to my Bathroom!

 

We have 2 in our home.  The one is the hall is considered “mine” since it has the tub and best storage.  Our master BR is my hubby’s.  This also doubles as the guest BR.  It’s pretty tiny, but it fits our needs.  A toilet, tub/shower, sink…what more could one want?  It’s kinda cozy too when you think about it.

Each morning before I leave from in there (doesn’t everyone go there first thing??), I do a quick swish & swipe of the bathroom.  My toilet bowl gets a quick swish with the brush (which is all ready to go in its own pinesol-filled container) and everything else (basin, sink, tub edge, light switches, door knobs) gets a quick run over with a clorox wipe (or 2…or 3..).

Here are my daily helpers…

 

…Clorox wipes, Orange Pine-Sol, a cute-in-its-own-container Toilet Brush… and my pig (we blame all smells on him; he’s been in my family for 20 years!).  Personally, I prefer lemon-smell pine-sol, but after trying for a month to use the bright yellow liquid for this routine, I gave it up since it’s not too visually appealing in a bathroom.

Meet the Potty


….he’s been a good guy to us.  Takes a lotta junk from everyone, but just keepsa runnin’.  See how shiny he is?  This, ladies, is a 20 year old toilet.  You know the gunk that piles up in the bottom back and sides of the toilets thatnoonementionsandalwayslooksawayfrom?

Well…not this one.  This one stays nice and tidy at all times.  And it’s amazing (and embarrassing) at how fast the bottom of your toilet can become in just a short amount of neglected time.

Getting Down and Dirty

(Close your eyes if you get squeemish)


No rust, no streaks, just pure clean porcelain! And it looks like that every day. Can you tell I’m proud? (Ohh the wonderful life of a newlywed!)

Ok. For my toilet cleaner, all I use is my handy toilet brush and half water / half pine-sol solution. Every two weeks or so I refill the little toilet bowl brush container halfway with hot water, and fill the rest up with orange pine-sol (again, I just can’t stomach the yellow pine-sol…for shouldbeobvious reasons). I keep him in the corner behind the toilet. For safety’s sake, please don’t keep your own out in the open if you have (nosey) pets or kids around.  Just store it in a cabinet or closet.

The Swish Effect 

To keep your potty spotless, all it takes is 60 seconds one to two times daily of swishing with this pine-sol solution soaked brush:



….be sure to rinse off your brush before returning it to it’s container! :)  I typically let the running water from the flush wash over it, then swish it in the clean toilet water after the flush.  Every few days or so I pop it under some hot running water from the tub.  The brush and pine-sol always stay really clean looking. 

Wipe Away! 

Next, just grab a chlorox wipe (or wipe of your choice…wet rag also works just fine for the frugal among us) and -quickly- wipe down the seat (top & bottom), back and entire basin (including the oft forgotten back regions near the floor). Done daily, this isn’t as disgusting as it sounds and takes no more than 60 seconds. Use as many wipes as needed (usually just 1 or 2 for me). When finished with the toilet, quickly sweep around the room with one more wipe and quickly wipe down the sink bowl, counter top, tub edge & side, and light switches. This also takes no more than 60 seconds.


…and you’re done! Light a linen scented candle, flick out the lights, and enjoy your guest-ready bathroom. :)

My less-then-3-minutes-per-day (I have gotten through the whole process in 1.5 minutes before) routine lets me live with the relief that I will never again spend 3 hours cleaning up a most disgusting bathroom. (I have long hair, as well as indoor pets…so you can imagine what problems that can cause in itself!) And… best of all… my bathroom is relaxing and always ready for guests.

Now, we do have (inherited) carpet in this bathroom - but we don’t in our master bath (due to the tendency for mushroom growth). The only different thing I do in there is a quick sweep (30 seconds, tops) to get the hair up.

So that’s my WFMW for this week. All of you ol’ timers who’ve been married forever might laugh at me, but this was a huge hurdle for me to cross in marriage (keeping a clean bathroom). And I finally did it… hehe. :)

Frugality / Works For Me! — No Comments
23
Jan 08

Works for Me Wednesdays – Our Budget Sheets!

Ok… there’s this popular thing with a lot of the wife & mom blogs called “works for me wednesdays”.  It’s hosted by Rocks in My Dryer (rocksinmydryer.typepad.com) (hehe, love the name!).   With WFMW, different bloggers post little tips that have…well…worked for them along the way.  Then, they put a link  to their tip on the Rocks in My Dryer website for others to read.

I just discovered this a few weeks ago as I was going through some nice blogs on blogger.com.  Well – after Kevin left this morning (he leaves at 5:30 am for work) I realized that today is Wednesday and I have a new blog!

So, here is my very own “Works for Me!” Wednesday post. 

OUR BUDGET SHEETS

…really work for us.

Here’s our backstory – every since Kevin and I were married we’ve combined our money.  Both of us were working full time, bringing in 50/50 of the household income.  We were brand new at all of this budgeting stuff, newly married, with a new house mortgage and other bills that we previously had never had (before Kevin met me he had never even used credit!  He’s cash only and likes it that way). 

We both believed that for our marriage to work, we needed to based it on the principles of “being as one” like that Bible teaches.  There would be no “his money” or “my money” in our home unless it was specifically categorized as that.  The money from our jobs would go together into a household bank.  Tabs were not kept on how much “he” made or “she” made – we just both did what we could to ensure we had the money to pay our bills and eat.  I also took on the duty as the designated “financial manager” for our money.   Brainy wifey manages finances, Hubby doesn’t need to worry.  Sounds easy enough, right?  Wrong.

Both of us didn’t realize just HOW hard it would be to combine our personal money habits!  We made many, many mistakes during our first year of marriage that almost ended us – one of which was a build up of $10,000 on credit cards (we cut our cards up in Nov. 2006 and never looked back….we have only $3,000 left to pay off now and no longer use credit cards).  Coming from different backgrounds of money thought (Kevin being “cash only” and me being “electronic only”), we fought back and forth as we tried different methods….one using strictly my way (electronic banking)…one using strictly his way. (cold hard cash only).. with neither of us being happy.  In fact, we were downright miserable!

Thankfully, after a huge breaking point in our marriage at the end of May, 2007, we decided to develop a system that we both understood and could relate to.   We no longer used credit cards, but we went back to me using a debit card and checking account for household bills and my own personal spending.  Kevin would receive a personal cash budget to do with as he pleased.

It took us months, but we finally worked out a system we both understood and could relate to.  It combined a mixture of cash use and electronic use, and a mixture of visual budgeting and account management.  Using a booklet we call our household notebook, we created a visual budget that works very well for both of us.

At the beginning of our notebook, we have 8 different categories listed and how much we needed for each category per month.  Then, we divided that number by 4 (weeks), for our weekly budget for that category – and that is how much weekly money would go into that category.

For instance,  we need $675 per month for our mortgage.  That means that $168.50 goes into our mortgage category each week – and that money is “unspendable”.  We use a handy income tracking sheet to divide things up with… and, each category has it’s own sheet….

  

 Going back to our mortgage example, here’s a look at our current sheet…

As you can see, each week we have a “weekly deposit” in our plus column and the balance carries up.  In this example, by December 22 we had reached our monthly mortgage goal, paid our mortgage early, and had a week of “extra money” when we didn’t need to make a deposit! (12-28).  The last column is the Ref. column for whoever makes an entry. 

Each of our budget categories look like this, and we currently have 8 categories that fit our money management needs 

Six of our categories are considered “house money” – bills, utilities, gas, etc.  I’m usually the only one with entries in those since I work with the set bills.  A 7th category is “couple spending”  – this is money that benefits us as a couple…groceries, food, entertainment.  Everytime we spend from here, it get’s “tracked”…trips to Food Lion, Wendy’s, baby items from Baby’s R Us.  Everything .   A final sheet is budget for personal “free” cash.  This is our “mad money”, no-questions-asked cash.  The only thing that gets tracked here is ATM withdrawals!     Once money is “placed” into a category, nothing -and we mean nothing- can remove it except for it’s intended purpose.  Mortgage category money is never used for Burger King…. and Utility category money is never used to pay our car loan.  Money is kept in a checking account and I get to use the handy Bank of America online bill pay to my heart’s content!  (Good for me!) and Kevin gets to visualize our cash flow very easily – and still have personal cash to work with! (Good for HIM!).

We have been using our new system for 2 months now, and it is working beautifully.  The best part about it is both of us understand it completely and if by some unfortunate event I am unable to do our bookkeeping, Kevin can pick it up easily and perform all needed activities.

So that’s our Budget Sheets.  They work for me and they work for Kevin. :)

UPDATE!  I’ve loaded these online.  Here they are if you want them. :)   Just click on the link and you’ll be taken to the download page.  Click on the link there to download the MS Word file.

Downloadable Household Budget Forms