Guest blog by: Inger Koppenhaver

Picture this . . . it is the early 1900’s. You have chosen to immigrate to the wild prairie ranch land in Montana. Your goal is to try your hand at raising ponies for the game of polo back in England along with your husband, Ewen, an ornithologist and naturalist. You grew up in an affluent family in which, as a child, you had a dedicated servant to help you with such tasks as brushing your hair. If this sounds familiar, you may also have the title “Lady” spoken before your proper name.

Do you know which frontier photographer matches this description by now?  Until the early 1990’s, her name was only shared locally in and around the Terry, Montana area. But, a Time Life books author, DONNA M. LUCEY, was granted permission to view the extensive journals, photographs, and glass plate negatives which were bequeathed to her loyal friend Janet Williams. This large discovery was monumental and it was at that moment the legend of Lady Evelyn Cameron was finally uncovered.

The first time I heard Evelyn Cameron’s story was when I moved to this small picturesque town with its own set of badlands outlining the town which is nestled by the YellowstoneRiver. Viewing the photographs and watching the PBS documentary, “PICTURES FROM A WORTHY LIFE”, has shed light on the fascinating story of her rugged life on the prairie on the Eve Ranch which lies outside of Terry.  During a recent viewing of the documentary, I could not help but think of Molly Green and Midge as I learned more about her life.

From growing up in a home with money to spare to moving out on the prairie where they had to scrimp & save to pay for their daily needs and pay for their property; her life became the ultimate example of living frugally and managing a life of sustainable living. Like Midge, Evelyn had to learn the art of homemaking and the tricks of the kitchen and garden which mothers in those times most likely passed along to their children while on the prairie. Even though her neighbors were at times miles away or further, she asked questions, took detailed notes of her daily living, and tried her best to manage her household with limited help from her husband. In her later years, she was able to help others, like Janet Williams, learn the ways of prairie life. I imagine her as a bit like a Molly Green on the Western frontier.

Evelyn Cameron once said that she hoped to live a worthy life. But, she felt like she had missed the mark on her goal. Yet now, with her frontier photography re-discovered and her writings being transcribed, many believe her hopes for life have now become true. Her life was worthy and one from which we can learn (and take notes on!).

Are you familiar with the story of Lady Evelyn Cameron? Which historical figures inspire you? Have you, like Evelyn, crafted a vision for your life and set one goal which you hope to attain?  

Recently, I wrote a brief K-5^th curriculum for Schoolhouse Teachers called Ditch the Desk ~ Evelyn Cameron. In this curriculum, you can step back in time with your children and learn more about this captivating woman and her tremendous frontier spirit. If you would like to learn more about this frontier photographer and this period of time, you can click on this link: DITCH THE DESK ~ Evelyn Cameron and you can watch the full documentary for free here: “PICTURES FROM A WORTHY LIFE” For more information, click here: EVELYN CAMERON FULL BIOGRAPHY

Inger grew up in a city by the beach in California, but loves living in her small Norman Rockwell kind of town on the prairie in Montana. She is a published author, a homeschool mom of four adorable children who just happens to own a 50′s style café with her mother-in-law. Inger currently writes DITCH THE DESK., a hands-on monthly themed curriculum for K-5th grade. She also writes consistently for Molly Green Magazine and on her PERSONAL BLOG. You can find her cafe HERE.

Tis the season for vacation planning. . . take a sneak peek into my FRUGAL FAMILY VACATIONS magazine today!

Keeping it All Together: Budget Your Vacation

This magazine’s theme is frugal family vacations, and we’ll be looking at a lot of different ways to save money and still enjoy relaxing time together as a family. This column will help to organize your vacation budget and finances (be sure to check the forms at the end of the magazine)!

Vacations do not have to be expensive, especially if you plan ahead. The most important step is to consider where you will need to spend your money—transportation, food, lodging, etc. I have included a worksheet at the end of this Digest for you to print out and use to help you plan the financial aspect of your vacation. First, you need to set a budget based on the cash you have on hand and whatever you will be willing to put on your credit card. If you are going to pay for part of your vacation with credit, be sure that you have a plan in place to pay off that balance as soon as possible.

One of the best ways to save money is to look for vacation packages that include lodging and entertainment in one price. Usually you have to book a room for a certain number of nights, but you’ll save money on tickets to theme parks and other local attractions. Often it is worth it to use a local travel agent, as they have access to deals that you cannot get on your own. You might want to call a couple of local agents to see if they have any specials available. You can also save money by staying at a campground.

Before you get in the car or plane to travel to your vacation destination, plan activities that will keep the kids busy. If they are busy, you might not hear, “Are we there yet?” as often! Head to the local dollar store, and buy some items for a travel “goody bag” like coloring books and crayons, search-a-words, handheld games, stickers and paper, Mad Libs™, etc. Wrap each item and have a schedule set so that the kids know when they can open up a new “present.” This could include times when you cross state lines, stop for a gas refill, see a certain roadside sign, etc. Make it a fun travel “treasure hunt.” Don’t forget to include some snacks and times to eat them. Hungry children do not make for a good trip!

If you are able to afford to travel this year, here are some more tips for saving money when planning for your vacation. At the end of this magazine, you will also find a vacation checklist to remind you of all of the steps to take to plan the perfect vacation.

For more of this article on planning a frugal vacation, CLICK HERE to purchase Frugal Family Vacations as a single issue.

Molly members already have this magazine in your member page! Simply click the “Molly Members” tab above, log in, and search out June 2009.

If you’re not a Molly member, check out everything you receive and sign up now on our SUBSCRIPTION PAGE! 

There are so many different ways to live a frugal  lifestyle. . . this is a great place to learn new things and encourage one another! Below you can share the link to a post on your own blog, share a little about your frugal life and encourage others. Be sure to come back each Friday and link-up to this great community of frugal followers!

If you get my Friday newsletter, you most likely read Midge’s question about my favorite appetizer to serve at parties (if you don’t get my FREE newsletter be sure and subscribe via the sticky note in the upper right corner). Read below to see my response.  Molly

Dear Midge,

I have to admit, I used to enjoy making appetizers or fancy hors d’oeuvres more before having children. This is ONLY because it seems I had more time and I needed less of them! Now whenever I bring food to a party I find myself thinking quantity over appearance- LOL! One of my favorite appetizers to make (or bring to a party) are chicken wings. Who doesn’t love chicken wings? It’s a fairly inexpensive food to purchase and prepare and they’re yummy (and messy!). It’s true chicken wings aren’t very fancy but they’re almost always a hit! You can choose many different flavors and sauces to coat your wings, what about GARLIC AND PARMESAN? BUFFALO CHICKEN WINGS are one of my personal favorites! Maybe you’d like to try baking your wings, HERE’S a yummy recipe. Looking for something a bit different? ROASTED ASIAN CHICKEN WINGS may be your new favorite.

Ok, I know that was a bit of a chicken wing rabbit trail. . . I’m back to thinking about your love for different kinds of dips. Have you ever tried serving them in a bread bowl? Check out THIS RECIPE, you could totally do this and impress the crowd! Remember that punch bowl you bought last year when we were garage sale shopping? A pretty and tasty punch is sure to steal the show! Check out THESE YUMMY PUNCH RECIPES.

Now I’m thinking we need to plan a family get-together so we can make some of these foods! Grab your calendar. . .

Love ya, Molly

To share a link to your post about frugal living, use the Linky below. But first. . .

1. We’d love for you to share your links that include anything  related to DIY projects, saving money, frugal living, made from scratch cooking, cleaning products, sustainable living, gardening, organic, and anything else related to homemaking! You can also  include your struggles while trying to live a frugal lifestyle (like  Midge!)! Show us about how you are thriving while surviving on a smaller budget!

2. Please, no link-ups to giveaways or blog topics in which you are just selling a product.

3. Link directly to your frugal post, not to your home page.

4. Grab our linky graphic (from the sidebar) and put it on your blog or on your linky post.

5. If a linked up post does not meet the above guidelines, it will  be removed.

6. If you link-up, please click on other’s links as well. Our frugal followers have a lot to share!

Living frugally means living, learning, and growing from each other. We can’t wait to see what you are going to share (to see other blogs who have linked up, click the link below)!   Ready, set, link!

CLICK HERE TO LINK-UP!

Guest post by: Midge

We have a mountain of dirty clothes and my washing machine decided to wash the floor instead of the load in its belly. You can always tell when it’s going to be “just one of those days”! It was not a great day for it to break  because my little one is in the midst of potty training.  So, having a washing machine is a DIRE need. Sigh . . .

With the passing of the Mother’s Day holiday, I found myself pondering the plight of potty training mothers everywhere. Some of my friends have remarked that their children potty trained themselves ~ practically overnight! Other friends have suggested that their children struggled until they were five, and some continued past that point with overnight issues. It seems as if everywhere I look someone has an opinion (and sometimes these opinions contradict each other!)

What has really been on my heart is not just the trials of training your child but the COST of all of those fancy products. It appears as if I have to buy half of the diaper aisle in order to confidently lead my child on the road to being a “big kid”. Potty training, from the perspective of the consumer, can be VERY expensive. Today, my guest post is not long but more of a thoughtful inquisition of your opinions.

What has helped you out as a mom on the road to potty training your little ones? What products do you feel are necessary? And which products are more fluff and fun than useful?

I think it’s safe to say we all enjoy a nice smelling house. Carpet can be tricky. . . nice and warm in the cold months but hard to keep clean (and smelling good) year round. I used to buy the carpet freshener and sprinkle all over my carpets before vacuuming. On my quest to chemical-free living, I quickly discovered the store bought carpet freshener was full of chemicals. With a few ingredients (you probably have in your home right now), you can freshen your carpets frugally (and chemical free!).

The basic ingredient is usually baking soda. Did you know you can buy large bags of baking soda at those “big box” stores? When I began cleaning with baking soda I found I was going through it pretty quickly. I stopped buying the little boxes and switched over to the large bags.

Here’s a simple recipe for carpet freshener using just two ingredients. THIS RECIPE has a few additional ingredients but it is still very simple and affordable! Ohhh, THIS RECIPE is a little different than the others. . . I bet it smells yummy!

If you have carpet you may want to give this kind of freshener a try. You’ll not only have a great smelling home but a happy pocketbook. Natural carpet freshener works for me!

Do you make your own carpet freshener? What ingredients to you use?

Get this FREE 4.5 x 6 Brag Book from Walgreens while it lasts!

Go to the Walgreens website here: http://photo.walgreens.com/walgreens/

At checkout enter:  BRAGABOUTIT

*You will have to pay for shipping which is only $2.99.

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “The first wealth is health.” We couldn’t agree more, and so we’re here to guide you in the direction of a few healthy, frugal eating tips. Healthy eating is a priority for more and more households. Information about food allergies and food processing has led many a mom to take control of grocery shopping with new determination.

One thing that has not changed is the desire to shop economically. Whether eating gluten-free, going organic, or tweaking an existing diet, there are several strategies that work for all to keep costs down.

1. Plan, Plan, Plan – Meal planning saves both money and time, and it makes eating healthy easier! First, take inventory of your pantry and see what needs to be used right away. Then create your meals for the week. Creating meals around what needs to be eaten first means less waste and fewer unnecessary purchases at the store. Make your list based on your meal planning and start checking it against the weekly coupons offered. Most stores provide online options for coupons and weekly specials and many will honor competitor coupons.

2. Eat Naturally - Fresh fruits and veggies will always be an enormous part of any healthy eating plan, and there are tricks for keeping costs low. Keep a chart of what is in-season and try to buy as much of that as possible. Get familiar with The Dirty Dozen (foods to always buy organic) and the Clean 15 (foods that tested low in pesticides). Don’t forget about frozen choices; frozen fruits and veggies are a great addition to a well-stocked pantry.

3. Supersize it – Buy in bulk whenever possible. This means stocking up on Buy-One-Get-One-Free items or shopping at wholesale stores for specific items. Another option is online retailers like Amazon, where organic and gluten free products are often on sale.

4. Make Your Own – Want to reduce the amount of processed foods eaten or need to eliminate particular ingredients? Making foods from scratch is an easy way to eat healthier and save money. Look for free recipes for Gluten Free cooking and to discover new combinations for those in season veggies. And don’t forget options that can often double or triple a recipe and freeze some for later.

5. Grow A Garden – Planting even a few herbs or vegetables can produce big results. A family garden gives the opportunity to cut out pesticides as well as plant what will inevitably be eaten. Even without a yard, several plants like tomatoes and cucumbers can be grown in pots and do well virtually anywhere. Look for resources to help maximize square footage and tips for canning, freezing and preserving so that the savings keep going after the garden ends.

Eating healthy and living frugally can work together. Although it takes a bit of time and effort, the end results of a balanced meal and balanced checkbook are well worth it.

About the author:

SelectAware.com offers free website coupons, coupon codes, promotions, product specials, sales, and any other type of information to help consumers get the best deal on what they are looking for. The SelectAware.com Savings Blog offers savings tips, shopping news, savings tutorials, store reviews and tips for bargain hunting.

Take a sneak peek into my A Light Heart in Dark Times magazine today!

Coping with Job Loss: A Lesson From the Trenches

by Christina Wong

I was completely unprepared for my husband’s job loss. Some people think that the hardest part about losing a job is the financial side of the equation, but there are so many other worries. Most people who lose their source of income don’t plan for it; I know we certainly didn’t. We were not prepared for the financial and emotional consequences of going from a nice income with benefits to having to draw unemployment and doing whatever we could to make ends meet. If you are in a similar situation, you might wonder how to cope. Let me share with you what we did to help keep ourselves afloat.

I had just signed a lease on a bigger, newer apartment that cost about $300 more a month. I was also having some health issues, and the bills were already beginning to stack up. I had anticipated following my husband to wherever the Army sent him, so I had taken the semester off from school and had no paying job. I had started my blog, Youthful Homemaker, and intended for it to one day become a business, but that day was far into the future.

Instead of letting the bills pile up, I found a few easy solutions to help infuse a little income into the budget. The first was through a friend of mine. She has two beautiful twin girls who needed a nanny, and I took the job. She dropped them off at my house four days a week, which meant I could watch them and work on my website at the same time. The other way I added a little more income to our budget was to spend more time working for my family’s business, Wheat-n-Things. My parents were selling their whole grains and homemade bread at one of the local farmers markets and needed an extra hand baking and selling. I also started baking my own specialty breads and made an occasional craft item to sell, bringing in a nice little income that way.

Ways We Saved More Money. . .

For more of this article on coping with job loss, CLICK HERE to purchase A Light Heart in Dark Times as a single issue.

Molly members already have this magazine in your member page! Simply click the “Molly Members” tab above, log in, and search out May 2012.

If you’re not a Molly member, sign up now on our SUBSCRIPTION PAGE! 

There are so many different ways to live a frugal  lifestyle. . . this is a great place to learn new things and encourage one another! Below you can share the link to a post on your own blog, share a little about your frugal life and encourage others. Be sure to come back each Friday and link-up to this great community of frugal followers!

If you get my Friday newsletter, you most likely read Midge’s question about her gift giving idea for Mother’s Day (if you don’t get my FREE newsletter be sure and subscribe via the sticky note in the upper right corner). Read below to see my response.  Molly

Dear Midge,

What a great idea to write little love notes to your daughter! Notes of your hopes and dreams for her throughout the years is such a sweet keepsake. . . my mind automatically went to a little book/journal where you can write a small note each year. Maybe something along the lines of “This year you blessed me as a mother by….”

What a great gift to give your child when she is grown and how special to look back on those memories. I think choosing a small book/ journal may hold up better than individual notes but if you do choose to go with individual slips of paper, you could maybe place those in a scrapbook later on. That would be a neat look too!

If you do ever come across a heart shaped rock, you could add it to your handwritten “Mama notes.” This is such a neat idea, I may need to go in search of supplies and do this myself!

Happy Mother’s Day!

Love ya, Molly

To share a link to your post about frugal living, use the Linky below. But first. . .

1. We’d love for you to share your links that include anything  related to DIY projects, saving money, frugal living, made from scratch cooking, cleaning products, sustainable living, gardening, organic, and anything else related to homemaking! You can also  include your struggles while trying to live a frugal lifestyle (like  Midge!)! Show us about how you are thriving while surviving on a smaller budget!

2. Please, no link-ups to giveaways or blog topics in which you are just selling a product.

3. Link directly to your frugal post, not to your home page.

4. Grab our linky graphic (from the sidebar) and put it on your blog or on your linky post.

5. If a linked up post does not meet the above guidelines, it will  be removed.

6. If you link-up, please click on other’s links as well. Our frugal followers have a lot to share!

Living frugally means living, learning, and growing from each other. We can’t wait to see what you are going to share (to see other blogs who have linked up, click the link below)!   Ready, set, link!

CLICK HERE TO LINK-UP!

Guest blog by: Midge

I used to think that the closest I would ever come to gardening would be to buy a Chia pet. Yet, even the grass seeds in elementary school never grew out of my white Styrofoam cup. Thinking I was doomed to never have a green thumb, I gave up on the idea of gardening until recently.

After a few false starts and stalls, I discovered tending to a large garden was just not going to be my cup of tea. So, this year, I am determined to do it right. Container gardens have become my answer. I am hoping that this time, I can actually grow something rather than a really great patch of weeds.

DIY ~ Re-purposed Window Pallet

My in-laws had a window delivered and it came in the sturdiest pallet box I have ever seen. One look at the empty space inside of it and I knew it was going to become mine! So, I asked politely if they could part with it and “ta-da”, I became the brand new owner of large window pallet.

A couple of weeks ago, I convinced my husband to work on converting the pallet. He took off all of the riff-raff boards & nails and soon I was left with the perfect frame for my container garden. We set it down in the spot I had selected and my husband used his level to ensure that it was balanced.

Re-Purposed Pallet ~ Container Garden

After it was set up, we filled in the bottom of the pallet (which only had a few 2×4′s to hold the pallet together) with local dirt. We purchased a large bag of garden dirt and mixed it with it. Soon, we realized that we had underestimated the size of our container with how many bags we would need to fill it. All in all, we used three bags of purchased dirt and about a wheelbarrow full of local dirt from another part of our yard.

Container Garden ~ Time to Plant!

A year ago, I purchased a small container garden in order to spruce up the front of my home and create a seasonal focal point for visitors. I took out the petrified tree pieces and cute rocks which I had decorated it with at the end of winter. Then, I put in a little more fresh garden dirt then planted basil, oregano, and some strawberries.

I also invested in a cool self watering pot for my front deck. I decided to grow a container tomato plant in this pot. This was the first time buying a pot like this so I am hoping I wasn’t just taken in by a gimmick and it actually works! This is not my first time trying tomatoes. But this time I hope to be eating some fresh tomatoes from my plant!

Planting Time! ~ Frost Time

Seriously, of all the not so green thumb moments, my recently transplanted tomato plant withered in a recent freak cold spell not unusual in our part of the country.  As soon as I am sure the weather will hold, I will be purchasing another starter tomato plant. I also bought a sweet pepper plant for my large pallet garden. Even though the pepper plant looked pretty frail for a few days, I believe it is now on the upswing!

Soon, I will transplant some flowers into the pallet garden and purchase a few more veggies and other odds & ends. I still really have no idea what I am doing except getting dirty and hoping for fresh fruit and veggies! By the way, shhhhhh, I also planted a secret zucchini plant by a bush in my backyard. Zucchini plants seem to grow quite nicely around here, so I am hoping this one will be abundant!!

Have you started planting your garden yet? Any tips for a girl who is trying real hard to earn her green thumb?

Some of the resources I have read regarding gardening recently: Gardening for Beginners PART ONE and Gardening for Beginners PART TWO

And I also found this past Molly Magazine which I can’t wait to delve into! Molly Magazine which shares GREAT ideas for gardening!

Maybe this will be the year I earn my Green Thumb badge! lol