We are tightening our belts the most we ever have. We are even keeping a register log of our cash so we know exactly where it goes. (Think check register but for pocket cash) I keep cash that we have in an envelope and if one of us is leaving and needs some, they take it from there and then put back the change. Currently, it is empty so nobody is going anywhere!

I cut down my trips to town this week. It about drove my grandfather crazy as he is always wanting to ride with me to get out for a while. It comes in handy as he can sit in the car with the kids while I run my errands. I saved my town trip this week for when the library called to say they had a book we requested for dh come in from another library. That saved us money too as we didn't have to buy the book for him to get to read it. (Silly thing everybody knows but sometimes I have to remind myself to look there first.)

We turned off our satellite service two weeks ago. We still have internet and netflix so there is something if you can't go outside but the kids haven't mentioned missing the satellite and they aren't constantly exposed to advertising or other things we'd rather they not see.

We are considering selling our house. The Realtor came out and said that if dh did a few repairs to things we needed to repair anyway, we could probably get what we want out of the house. We'd be looking to get enough to pay off the mortgage and start building another smaller house paying as we go. Dh says we could get a used single wide mobile home to stay in temporarily that he would hook on to the new septic tank and we could take our time building the new one with no debt. We are trying to follow God's principles for money and know that getting out of debt is a big one. We just don't know if we are supposed to work extra hard at paying this house off or starting over with no debt.

Now I need to go find a low cost Sunday dinner!

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Learn As We Grow Farm: Follow along our misadventures and fun in trying to farm!

My favorite homesteading/self-reliance supply site!

HillbillyGal: I know someone who lived in their RV while they built the house. First they built a shed for their farm equipment and hay(two sided against the wind) This allowed better protection and electricity. Also, it was a farm expense on taxes.

I know someone else who bought a used singlewide to live in while they built with plans to sell later. Don't know if they did, but it would be a nice guest house if you added some cottagy touches. Or, chickencoop? Goat house?
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Just a reminder:
A 1 pound bag of dried beans will yield:

6 1/4 cups cooked black beans
7 1/2 cups cooked garbonzas
6 1/4 cups cooked pink beans
5 cups cooked pinto beans
5 cups cooked red kidney beans
6 1/4 cups cooked white kidney beans (cannellini)

1 cup of dried beans will yield about 3 cups cooked beans. Healthy and Cheap!

Beans are high in protein with large amounts of thiamin, folate, vitamin B6 and niacin, beans can provide you and your fat burning efforts with plenty of health benefits to promote wellness. You also get lots of nutrients when you add beans to your diet, including; calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, zinc and manganese.
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I'll be making beans in the crockpot overnight for side dishes this week. Some will be made into hummus for lunches (I like it on crackers with fruit on the side--healthy lunch)
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Free simple finish
https://www.facebook.com/FinishDishw...75604282562989
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I save up all the freebies I can get online and from conferences and use these for fun stockingstuffers. I shop for Christmas all year long when things are on sale. Each person has a laminated bag in my guest closet and I stash the presents there. I can see who has enough and who needs more. If I ever get too busy, I'll just slap a bow on the bag and put them under the tree
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Bigger zuchinni and squashes are good for stuffed squash, Scoop out the middle and stuff with a mixture of meat, bread crumbs, cottage cheese, cooked rice, tomatoes, herbs, cheese, etc.. and top with tomato sauce. Cook at 350 for 40 minutes or until the squash boat is tender.

Just bought two half price pint jars at Goodwill & of course they aren't standard size lids. I'm going to put a ring & flat in my purse so I can check from now on!!

this week's coupon circulars in some papers have coupons for jars and lids. i bought three papers, and only one had that particular insert though.

i am on hurricane prep mode right now. i like to buy UNscented candles at dollar tree, because i know some people that waited during another hurricane and all they could find was vanilla. they still get ill whenever they smell vanilla, after being out of power for close to a week and smelling those candles all the time.

Shopped my yard for food today. Mess of green beans, cucumbers, jalapeno peppers and 2 watermelons from my little garden! Then got a bowl of wild grapes from the vines. Also, I've been inspired by this thread to try to save some vegetable seeds for next year. My grown son brought home a bag of potatoes and onions from a co-worker. He loves to garden and be frugal just like his Mom.

Has anyone tried canning mushrooms? We got 26 quart boxes of Green Giant little button mushrooms and after drying 2 one gallon bags of them, I decided to try canning the rest. Got 9 half pints and one half of a half pint jar full. They look very nice on the shelf. They were about 1/3 the cost of regular mushrooms so we were very happy with the purchase.

We got a good deal at Aldi's and canned up a bunch. They are very nice looking and I feel a lot better knowing where they came from.

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Life is uncertain, eat dessert first

I am so proud of you!!!

I wish you lived closer. I am in the flea market business, and as always, get house stuff mixed in with boxes.

Right now, I have new PVC plumbing fixtures, switches, switch plates, lots of screws and nails of all types, some paint, etc. This type of stuff doesn't always sell well, and I wish I could give it all to you, or someone like you who is building and trying to stay out of debt.

Keep up the good work on getting debt free!!!!

I am a newbie at the joys of fresh milk, but realized last week that the milk I pour off after making butter makes great yogurt! Up to now, I only used it for cooking pudding, gravy, etc.

Invited my son and his family down for barbecue today since I got a good deal on a pork butt roast. The menu plan was pulled pork, coleslaw, broccoli salad and iced tea. DIL was bringing dessert. As I was breaking broccoli and cauliflower last night, I realized that I didn't have nearly enough mayo to make the dressing - vowed to make do with what I had and went to bed. This morning I got up and made some homemade mayo to round out the requirement for broccoli salad as well as slaw dressing, AND made buns for our pulled pork sandwiches. It gave me a case of the warm & fuzzies knowing that I could manage just fine without running to the store.

My window cleaning tip is to use a bucket of hot water to which I add a very healthy glug of ammonia. I wash the windows with terry cloth rags, then dry with old cotton sheeting or a microfiber cloth.

Thanksgiving will be here before you know it...so I'm cutting up and saving my bread ends for making homemade dressing. Always keep a qt. jar of bread crumbs in the freezer,too.

Last year we gave the boys beef from the steer we butchered but this year they are paying $1 a pkg...yeah,not asking much but decided they needed to realize that raising that beef cost us about $800 total with buying of calf,milk replacer,hay,grain,butchering. A large sum for us on a fixed income. They all appreciate the home grown beef and think they should pay us more but money is not the point! They all help us on the farm and we always give them produce/eggs/chickens. Food is so expensive and I like to know they are eating well.

i called in to work today, due to dd8 having yet another tummy ache. i think we are dealing with a food issue. so, i have been going back through past pages of hte "what's for supper?" thread to get ideas.

dd likes roast, which is what we were going to have for leftovers tonight. to make it last a little longer for her, i am making a spicy cheeseburger soup for us to eat on for a couple days. i have got to find a way to get more vegetables in my kids though.

Envelopes can be messy because they are hard to open and close many times. I use zip lock plastic bags.

We worked out our budget and every two weeks we put this amount (cash) in the different bags for groceries, gasoline, allowances, entertainment, pets, meds etc.. When we go out we take the bags with us and every receipt goes in the correct bag and then the amounts are entered in the budget ledger. If there is no money there is no spending. If there is left over we put it in a jar as backup for unexpected expenses. Real money is real. Credit is not real so it is easy to overspend.

This is the web site that got us out of debt and all the information from this financial expert is FREE and easy to follow

Gail Vaz-Oxlade|Debt-Free Forever|Money|Book|Budgets & Personal Finances

Click on "resources" at the top of the page and you will find all the interactive budget sheets. Gail has been doing this for 25 years and her TV show is 10 years old and now showing in the US. If you like the no-nonsense approach to life and a person who will tell it like it is then she is just great.

MTM, I know its a pretty basic question. But, when you cook up beans in your crock pot what exactly do you do? Do you soak the beans overnite, drain off the water, then add fresh water to the soaked beans in the crock pot? Cook on low for how long or high for how long? The crock pot is a big help to me since I work everyday and its good to have some of the prep and pre cooking done ahead of time.

Yes Trailrider that is how you do it.........usually takes longer, maybe two days to cook though, at least for pintos in my experience. I rather do mine on the stove, because to me they don't taste the same....probably just me though

Mid TN Mama- No the suits were not rentals. That is what they were going to do but I told them it didn't make any sense when you could BUY a suit with the extras for less than what you could rent just the suit!!!

Wedding ideas......well we I got married we had $1000.00 to do the whole thing, rings, ceremony, reception and the honey moon.........and I made it work
maybe I should just write a post on that?? what do you think?


My Son and his now Bride paid for their own wedding but pretty much on the same budget, maybe even less........ My son bought their 3 piece wedding ring set from Kay's jewlers. They are beautiful white gold with diamonds, his/her matching set with a very nice sized Marquise diamond engagement ring with diamonds all around it. I helped him find it online as he is in the Military. I told him to wait till they were on sale. He bought when they had a 70% off sale and got them for just under 400.00.....for the entire set!

Ok, now deals of the day......10# bags of potatoes .99, dry pinto beans 2# .79, 5# rice 1.99, 5# apples .99 and whole chicken .79 lb., bought two 5 pounders and a little trick here....... have them drain the excess water and remove that soaked paper thats in with the chicken and reprice for you.....saves about .50 per 5lb chicken Also you can have them cut it up for you and season(think fajita or bbq seasonings) at no extra charge!

Mid Tn Mama Mid Tn Mama is offline

>> I'd like to know a little bit more about your jumble-aya. I find Im more efficient if I dont' try to freeze or cook ingredients from the garden all by themselves. I like to make kimchee (Korean sour kraut) with the last bits from the garden. It's probiotic and a fresh-tasting side in the early winter.>>

DH and I made quart jar sauerkraut last year with instructions from this thread. Loved it, and loved how easy it was!

Our jumble-laya makes a good sized potful in our dutch oven. It's plenty of rice, a couple of pieces of smoked sausage, cut into dice (2-3 is usually enough), an onion, 4 cups of crushed tomatoes, a few cups of broth, and we replace the chicken and shrimp in a typical recipe with a few cups of a mixture of peeled, shredded carrot, some cooked beans, squash, bell peppers, or whatever we have on hand. It doesn't matter because it's thick and spicy and the additions are just for texture and bulk. The spices we usually use are chipotle pepper or red pepper, some hot sauce, garlic, a splash of liquid smoke, salt, pepper and a bit of sugar to cut the acidity. I'll post the recipe if specifics are wanted, but we do it a little differently each time! I've even hidden cabbage and fresh limas in it before.

>>I feel your pain about having enough greens for your compost! I've been thinking more about permaculture and planting trees near my garden just for leaves. I also believe my southern garden needs a little shade in the hottest months.>>

I think you've got something there. Our garden is on the south side, too, but time and different neighbors have changed our shade patterns over the years and it was gradual, it's become something I've only lately noticed.

I was thinking about a shade sheet for our berries, too, which shriveled up for the first time ever this year. Need to read more about those.
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We had a set failure of one batch of apple core jelly we made in the spring. It was completely my fault, still learning by trial and error using the spoon test because I don't have a thermometer yet. I guess I'm doing okay, only one set failure in a year. But the syrupy jelly had been sitting unused because I hadn't figured out how I wanted to use it. It was kind of plain to put on pancakes. DH warmed some in the micro last week and added cinnamon and a touch of pie spice, and now we have a new favorite syrup.

He also made some chocolate syrup several months ago, while I'm thinking of it. It calls for cocoa powder, sugar, water. It tasted good but a bit weak at first, but after a week or so in the fridge, it tasted exactly like Hershey's syrup. I was amazed that plain old cocoa powder would do that. Perfect consistency, no crystallizing. It was a nice treat, especially after buckling down so much, to have something so tasty and so easy to make. He used the Hillbilly Housewife recipe.

A few years ago I got really annoyed with our thrift store. The volunteers go through all items donated to make sure that they are saleable. When I started volunteering there I was amazed to see that they just threw out so many items. I went through these throw-aways and pulled out anything that was natural fabric, took them home, washed them and cut them into rag sizes while watching TV. I then bundled them together and took them back to the thrift store and we put them for sale for $1 for a very large bundle. They sold in 10 minutes. One lady whose husband was a mechanic even asked if she could place an order. I can no longer do the cutting but thankfully a younger lady has taken over this job.

The public library is such a great resource, in addition to borrowing books you can look at newspapers, the internet, magazine, and borrow CDs and books on tape. You can download library books to your kindle.

My neighbor just gave me a bunch of tomatoes, she said she was sick of canning them and she hoped I would take them so she didn't have to can anymore. My tomatoes don't produce as well as hers so of course I took them! The rest of my grapes are ready for picking, too. Canning bruchetta in a jar tonight, and cooking down grapes to strain overnight for grape juice for jelly.

Hello all-I ran across this forum a few weeks back and have been going through the Tightwad Tips Archive. I have not gotten through them all yet; but I do have a couple of notebooks full of GREAT ideas. So many that I got together several notebooks that our company gives away at events and have labeled:
1. Canning
2. Garden
3. Around the house
4. Recipes and cooking hints
Now I have an organized spot for all the good tips you all share.

You all have made me giggle and shed a tear. I love this group and feel like I know many of you already just by ready several years worth of posts. I love that you are all so positive and supportive. God Bless you all!

Here are a couple of hints that I use (forgive me if they have been mentioned before)

I keep All the bacon grease left over from frying bacon in a glass container in my fridge. My momma always had a bacon grease container in her fridge. In fact I wouldn't know how to make milk gravy or fried potatoes without it!

I use my cast iron skillet for most all my cooking. It makes all your food taste better and I've heard it puts iron in the food you cook in it. Plus you can't get an easier skillet to clean. Just put a bit of water in it, set it back on the stove till it boils, shut it off and wipe out and rinse. Then you just dry it back on the burner it just came off of (usually you don't even have to turn it back on).

We raise horses and this year we are struggling to find enough good quality hay. So this year I looked into growing Fodder. It is basically barley and wheat seed that you sprout and grow in trays without dirt. It goes from seed to ready to feed in 7-9 days. I just use a shop light fixture, shelving unit, old plastic tote and I purchased some seed trays at the end of the season from Rural King for .99. Now I am growing a protien rich feed for my horses for around .48 a day per horse. This way I can feed poorer quality hay, some even feed straw (you just need the roughage to keep their system going). Plus I'm growing wheatgrass, so I plan on cutting a bit and juicing it since they say it is sooooo healthy for you.

I love craigslist. We used to living close to Indianapolis and I purchased and sold so many items on there it wasn't funny. Now that we live closer to our families in Central IL, its a bit of a drive to get things; but there are lots of bargains to be had.

I recently signed up for Freecycle and am keeping my eyes peeled for "the goods" I would love to find some canning jars....{fingers crossed}

I have been saving seeds from the best fruits and veggies this year so I will have a supply for next year. I want to try the winter seed sowing that you all have talked about and am looking into the Back to Edan gardening method. It makes so much sense!!!!

Well, I know I was long winded for my first post on here; but again I want to thank you all for your great tips, ideas and mostly attitudes. The right attitude will get you a long way in this harsh world.

Blessings to all!!!

Countryshore05: I will definately try your "jumble-aya" Love this idea!

BTW: Not ONLY is my garden on the south side of the house, I live in the SOUTH so it's a double whammy in the hottest part of the summer. Most of this summer was too hot for, say beans, to set flower!!
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If you are looking for another way to use zuchini and okra--I like to make a cornbread batter and mix some cut up okra (thinly cut) and shredded zukes or squash. Cook on the waffle iron and serve with salsa and sour cream (we use yogurt in place of sour cream as it is healthier)

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How I do beans in the crockpot. As you may have noted from my posts, I am a lazy cook and gardener. Rinse, pick the beans and throw in the crockpot to just soak all day. Then after dinner, I turn the crockpot on. Before work the next day they are done and I put in the fridge to make various things out of it. Usually I throw a couple garlic scapes I froze in it for flavoring before other flavors in the recipes. I'll take some out to make hummus for lunches, Some is packaged in sandwich bag sizes and frozen to stretch casseroles/soup. Rest is usually made into portuguese beans. I'll have to post that recipe soon.
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Welcome BHFreesians!Yes, we are a nice, fun bunch and like you, I have learned soooo much over the years. Often I'll be doing something and thinking about how nice it is to do things this way. I remember who told me about it on this board and I say a prayer for them and am thankful for that blessing.

Congratulations on saving seed for next year. Reminds me that it's good to save and plant pit fruit pits because they, unlike seeds, come pretty true. I have a neighbor who said the best peaches she ever had were from a tree that popped up in the middle of her garden courtesy of some compost!

This fall I am going to get a truckload of mulch, then rake where I want to plant in the spring. We started with hard red clay soil that I couldn't even dig a shovel into. Didn't own a tiller, couldn't start things from seed in the garden. The first year, I had my husband dig holes for bought plants (often using a pickaxe).I put a little compost in the bottom of the hole before planting and covered the surface with newspapers and cardboard to mulch.

Each year I added a bit more space and after a couple seasons, the soil was enriched and so transformed that I could plant seeds and easily plant without tilling or using a pickaxe. Never bought an ammendment or fertilizer--just paper, kitchen compostables that the chickens didn't eat and the chicken manure (composted with junk mail instead of using straw in the garden).
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Dancingfatcat: That is an amazing deal on suits!!! Boy are they lucky they listened to you!

You reminded me that I always pour the leftover bloody water from meat packages into my garden watering can. You really see plants leap after you water them with that "free" fertilizer.
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Bama: I may be reading between the lines, but I'm guessing your DD's tummy problems and wanting to get more fruits and vegetables into her may be related to , um, regularity? Let us know what she will eat and we can help you extend that. Also, I KNOW there are a LOT of sneaky mothers and wives here (and maybe DAds) who can put a lot of fruits and vegetables into their kids/spouses. Will she eat oatmeal?

MTM - yes, she was constipated. i put some miralax in their juice tonight, but would rather the fiber be more natural. she does like that instant fruit and cream oatmeal - not great, but could be worse i guess. alot of our problems stem from the fact that i used to either not cook or cook just processed junk. she likes peeled apples, bananas, green beans (if forced), iceberg lettuce (plain, no dressing).nothing just wonderful for her, kwim? i started a post yesterday, and got some great suggestions, but i welcome others also.

With the heat my climbing beans did not do well earlier in the summer, now that it is cooler they are blooming well though, so there will be a good fall crop. The thing with a garden is to NOT GIVE UP!!! Most gardens I see at this time of year are just a big old patch of weeds, mine still looks pretty good and is still producing. You can often eat fresh all the way up to Christmas.

Get the word out that you use canning jars. Talk about your canning endeavors and you will be amazed at the people willing to give you jars. I have picked up so many unwanted canning jars lately from friends at church and elsewhere. DH just told me he was talking about my summer kitchen and canning Sunday, at church, and now I may have more jars coming- woohoo.

My beans did the same thing. I was getting really bumbed out in July but a friend told me to keep them alive. I'm glad I did not give up. I have lots coming.
My tip is an old one- but I have to remind myself often to do this: try to do a little something each day to plan, preserve, save. Last year I really struggled with this when I started back to school. This year I 'make' myself get one big goal done before I crash. Things like, go to the garden and pick, put up some food in jars, cut coupons- something each night.

Anyone else working Menard's rebate deals?

It is incredible the amount of stuff you can get for free, or super cheap!!!

Not sure how many of you are still on dialup, but after all, this is the tightwad tips, so I'm throwing this one in the pile, too:

We have a dialup connection. No satellite or broadband prices in this house! I am grandfathered into a dialup quarterly price deal with a startup company from the 1990s, and my price won't go up as long as they're around (thank goodness). That part isn't a frugal tip, just frugal luck

This weekend, we had a very long thunderstorm that moved very slowly, and dumped over 10" of rain in two days, to make up for some of this bone dry weather, I guess... tried to dial up Monday morning and didn't get a dial tone. Tried my phone, it worked fine.

The lightning or electricity in the line fried our modem! I've heard that it could happen, but didn't know how common (or true) it was. Couldn't find a single dial up modem in stores in town. Had someone tell my DH that they were obsolete. Ha! Called up a local computer place, and the owner literally had a dusty boxful of the things. Gave us two used for cheap and offered a refund if we couldn't get either to work. Popped the first one in and now we're back up! And we're keeping the extra one, just in case.

So I guess my frugal lesson is to unplug the phone line from my modem when a severe storm is coming, when possible. We get storms almost every afternoon, but I'll try to remember to unplug the phone line, especially if there's a lot of lightning.

Yesterday my DH went to Staples and got me a bag of paper clips, a 5-pk of highlighters, and 10 mechanical pencils for 1.00 total plus tax after rebate. Also turned in 4 ink cartridges for recycling. They give $2.00 for each eligible cartridge, so that's $8.00 towards new ink once we get the coupon in the mail.

Printing: I print in fast draft, in black and white only. When I get the "ink low" message, I ignore it. Many times. For probably two weeks. When my prints begin to show streaking, I change from fast-draft to normal. It slows the printing rate, and the prints look fine again. I get several days more ink this way. When I get streaks again, I switch to best quality, which slows the printing rate even more. At this point, I usually have to open the front, take out the cartridge and shake it before each print, but it's worth it. I can milk another 2-4 weeks of life out of cartridges I used to give up on!

I also use a tip I learned here, because it seems to work well: Century Gothic font has narrower letters than most other fonts, and uses up to 1/3 less ink compared to thicker fonts.

I print more now than I ever have before, especially with coupons, rebate lists, recipes, etc. Even so, I have cut my ink cartridge usage down a lot. I used to go through 5-6 blacks, and 1-2 color cartridges a year. Since last October, I used two cartridges total, and just started on the 3rd, which should take me well beyond this October. Not bad!

Printing coupons: Another tip I learned here that I love. I save junk mail - even half sheets - if I can print on the back. I like the half-sheets because often when you print one coupon, an ad prints at the bottom. If I use a half-sheet, the printer stops printing at the half-page, ejects the sheet, and resets without the ad trying to print. You can even use a lot of junk mail envelopes this way. Just trim off the sides, unfold, and cut neatly to desired size. When I print from scrap paper, I remove the other paper from the printer first, and slide the paper guide to fit only the sheet I'm using. I hardly ever get jams when I do it this way. I've also used paper packaging to print on. I've printed coupons on the backs of sugar and flour bags, peanut butter labels, packaging from free samples, junk mail and advertisements. Why throw out free paper?

I recently ran out of blank white labels. When my recent Amazon order came (I used Swagbucks gift cards to pay), the shipping label in the box was one big adhesive sheet with mostly blank space. I cut out a bunch of blank labels from this. A few days later, another similar sheet came in the mail, and I was able to glean more labels from it. Now I have a baggie full of free labels, for my filing and my canning.

I like what another poster said about using their notebooks for Tightwad tips. I have a binder of these, I get it! I like to reread them often, and sorted out about 10 categories so the tips are easy to find. I used packaging from a food box, the blank white side, to make folded binder tabs.

My most recent binder project was putting together a book of practical-for-us canning recipes, shelf-stable recipes, and information on food preservation and storage, and emergency tips for storing water and alternative cooking methods.

I'm so excited I finally learned how to can and make yeast doughs this year. So excited, that the Amazon order I mentioned above included a canning tool kit, and a handheld pastry blender. I love the canning tool kit. I love it even more because it was free with Swagbucks.

I'm a member of Recyclebank. I use my points for coupons, and to treat myself to free magazine subscriptions I normally wouldn't buy. I also sign up for quite a few free samples. It's nice to have those free treats come in the mail when money is so tight. It really feels like a nice reward. I'll start putting them away soon, to use as stocking stuffers around the holidays.

Unit price, and cost per use. I use my calculator often to compare prices. I started a price list spreadsheet last year so I'll know the usual prices, per use, or per unit, of things we frequently buy. Tonight I found myself pricing the cost per ounce of a cat food on sale at one of our stores, versus the same at Walmart using a coupon. (Walmart usually doesn't win. Not these past few years, anymore.)

I missed that one!! And boy your tips are fantastic If you aren't an Industrial Engineer, you really missed your calling!!!
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Bama: This mom has been there and done that with kids! When ours were small they had favorites, like yours, but we said they needed to try a tsp of another food that wasn't their favorite to "stretch their tastebuds" Be thankful for what she will eat. ALso, lots of kids like vegetables if there is a cheese sauce on it. I always kept a can of cheese soup on hand to dilute with water and put on their vegetables (whatever I was serving) Don't use too much cheese because it can cause constipation. A little parmesan can help, too and it's not so constipating.

The instant oatmeal is not as helpful for fiber. Here is a quick way to use the whole oats and make a quick breakfast: When I get up I put a handful of raisins in a small saucepan, one cup of oats, one cup milk and 1 1/2 cup water. Put the lid on it and wait in the kitchen while it comes to a boil (on high)2-3 minutes. I make lunches while this is going on. When it boils, I turn off the stove eye (keep the lid on) and take a shower.

I don't use sugar, my bowl today is mostly banana and chopped peaches. Just load up the bowl with fruit and put 1/2 cup oatmeal on it. That will definately help her.
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Another thing is to make sure (measure) the amount of water she drinks. She may be drinking water, but just not enough. Is she getting enough exercise every day? If she isn't eating enough fiber, she definately needs to move to get the bowels going.
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Greens and beans are the old timers favorites for getting things moving, as they say. I know she might not eat greens or beans, per se, but you can start putting a little in casseroles or spaghetti where she doesn't realize it. Start small and then add more.

You can mash beans and put them in any casserole and she will never be the wiser.When you make hamburgers, add a little mashed beans. You get it....

**BTW: all my kids became adventurous eaters and cooks--some at a very early age!

thank you MTM! i am going to be working hard on it!

can i just say i wish i was just HALF as organized as some of y'all, with your binders and notebooks?

Canning hint. Classico glass jars fit standard size canning lods/rings. There are either 24 or 26 ounces, I forget which (haven't done much canning since GFB stomped the enjoyment out of it for me) My neighbors and coworkers used to save their Classico jars for me and I would at Christmas give them a couple jars homemade jelly and spaghetti sauce.

I confirm this. I have quite a few people who collect these for me. I must have almost 10 dozen now. They are great!

I don't can much anymore but loved canning in the Classico jars. I called them my "short quarts." Great size for just two people. Co-workers loved saving jars for me and thought it a great way to recycle.

Chickens love the cucumbers that have gotten too big. I try to pick them cleanly but miss some once in a while. When they turn yellow and are huge, I just break them in half, step on them and the chickens go crazy eating the seeds. The don't like the skin but will eat the rest! I barely feed my chickens any feed and will soon have about 20 roosters to butcher which did not cost much at all to raise.