by Jamie Jeffers | Apr 4, 2020 | Recipe
Creamy potato soup is the best homemade frugal meal to serve your family when you want comfort food. Use up leftover mashed potatoes! Try it tonight.
Soup is just about the perfect frugal meal, isn’t it?
It’s easy to put together, and it always brings back memories. Which is why it’s such a great comfort food.
If you’ve been searching for ways to feed your family on the cheap, you’ll definitely want to add this potato soup to your meal plan.
It’s so delicious that your family won’t even realize you’ve served them a meatless meal.
And potatoes are always cheap…and pretty easy to keep on hand. (They last a long time if you keep them in cool, dark storage like a pantry or potato bin like this one.)
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by Jamie Jeffers | Apr 4, 2020 | Holidays
Celebrating Easter at home this year? Here’s how to celebrate Easter when you’re stuck at home…and how to keep it special for kids and families.
Last year our 5 year old son had a fairly serious spine surgery and was admitted to the hospital for several days.
We spent Palm Sunday there.
And when they released us, it was with orders to stay home for at least a couple of weeks.
(No one wants a still healing child exposed to more germs.)
That meant that we missed Easter Sunday mass, as well.
Who would have guessed that we’d miss them again this year?
Well, spending a special day like Easter at home, without the traditions you usually keep with loved ones, is a tough thing for adults to deal with.
And no, it’s not nearly as hard as what lots of other people are struggling with right now. But it’s ok to admit that you’re bummed about missing out on this special day.
And for kids, it’s even harder. They don’t really get what’s going on.
So how can we keep Easter special, even when we’re stuck at home?
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by Jamie Jeffers | Mar 31, 2020 | Parenting & Household Tips
Taking a nature walk with kids isn’t always as much fun as it sounds. Get more “woohoo” and less “I’m bored!” with these memory making tips.
Let’s be honest.
Taking a nature walk with kids sounds more fun than it usually is.
It always seems like a good way to get out of the house.
But no sooner are you out there walking than you start hearing, “How much loooooonger??”
“My leeeeeeegs hurt.”
Followed by the classic…
“I’m booooooooored.”
Forget that jazz.
Here’s how you get the kids to burn off some of that energy (you know, the stuff they only have when they’re inside and bickering with their siblings?) without the hassle.
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by Jamie Jeffers | Mar 27, 2020 | Ways We Saved This Week
Like you (probably), our family has mostly stayed home for almost two weeks now.
That’s made it pretty easy to save money.
If you can stay away from online shopping, you might be finding the same thing. Maybe you’ll even have time to develop new habits that will stick when life gets back to “normal”.
(Whenever that happens…and whatever that means!)
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by Jamie Jeffers | Mar 24, 2020 | Recipe
This beer bread recipe is the easiest thing you can make. But everyone at your next party is going to beg you for it! No yeast needed bread.
“You’re bringing that beer bread, right??”
I think people at family gatherings are more excited to see these loaves of bread than me.
But that’s ok, because I know how delicious it is.
The secret is that this beer bread recipe is just about the easiest thing you can throw together.
That makes it perfect for family gatherings, pot lucks, or times when you’re trapped at home with no yeast for bread.
If you aren’t the beer drinker in the house, promise the one who is that they will not regret letting you have one of their cold ones.
Don’t worry, you’ll be able to keep that promise!
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by Jamie Jeffers | Mar 23, 2020 | Parenting & Household Tips
If you’re feeling seriously bored at home, here are some simple ways you can use your time. Believe it or not, you can have fun at home!
At some point, you just cannot spend one more minute scrolling Facebook and playing “Is this scary story true…or not??”
It’s all too much!
And you know darned well that if you let the kids play hours of video games, it turns them into monsters.
(Seriously. Mine fight like cats and dogs if they get more than a couple of hours per day on screens. I don’t know the science and I don’t want to look it up. I already feel like I’m living a weird social experiment here.)
What this calls for is a tried and true list of things you can actually DO.
Even if you’re stuck at home and seriously bored.
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by Jamie Jeffers | Mar 21, 2020 | Parenting & Household Tips
Here’s a fun DIY family game you can play at home tonight. Try something different (but easy!) this time.
When screen time has caused quite enough fights for one week, thankyouverymuch, it’s time for something completely different.
After being stuck at home for a week, I wanted to try something a little different with the kids.
Something to make Family Fun Night different from every other night that we’ve been stuck at home.
And I think we came up with something pretty fun. Also totally easy. That you can DIY at home, even if you stink at being crafty or creative.
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by Jamie Jeffers | Mar 20, 2020 | Frugal Living
With stores struggling to keep food on the shelves, we’re finding ways to make food last longer. Try these simple tips at home!
Well, with the chaos that 2020 has melted into, I thought maybe it was less fitting to do a 5 ways we’ve saved money this week post today.
I’m guessing you’ve had trouble finding everything you need at the grocery store.
Or maybe you’re trying not to go out at all and sticking with self isolation.
And that’s why you need help making those groceries and supplies stretch longer than normal.
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by Jamie Jeffers | Mar 17, 2020 | Recipe
Got some oats to use up? Learn what to make with oatmeal using ingredients you probably have on hand. Easy, simple recipes that will make you drool.
That container of oats has been sitting on your pantry shelf forever.
You bought it with the best of intentions. But somehow, that fancy Pinterest recipe just didn’t make itself.
(Again.)
The thing is, oatmeal is so cheap. It would be great to find recipes that are actually good and easy enough to throw together.
Well, you’re in luck!
There are a bunch of recipes out there that you can throw together in a flash.
A lot of these recipes are perfect for using up fruit that’s been left to rot. Or that lonely container of yogurt that got pushed to the back of the fridge.
Unbelievably (a little, let’s admit it) the best part is that these recipes use up scraps and cheap oatmeal…but they are still delicious! My kids always get excited when they come in the kitchen and see one of these foods cooling on the counter.
Yum.
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by Jamie Jeffers | Mar 9, 2020 | Saving Money
Trying to figure out how to save money for a house can make you want to pull your hair out. No worries, here’s a big list of out of the box ideas to try.
The corner of the couch had never been so cozy. My favorite cuddly blanket was wrapped around me as I settled in to watch one of my favorite shows.
Just as I was getting really comfy, there was a sudden
PLOP
outside the window next to the couch.
Of course I looked outside to see what had happened.
And there was a big bag of stinky garbage.
My lovely upstairs neighbor…the ones who let their kids run in circles around the apartment at all hours of the night…who fought constantly to see which one could argue the loudest…
decided that carrying their trash down the stairs and out to the dumpster was just.too.much.work.
Ah, the joys of living in an apartment.
I guess the one good thing about all of that was that it inspired us to save up money on a down payment for a house. We couldn’t wait to get out of there.
But how do you go about saving money for a house? It’s super intimidating to save up that kind of cash.
Well, let me show you a few tricks that make saving easier.
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I'm Jamie, and I believe that you can build your savings, even when life is frustrating. 
