From $5000 house to $5000 property???

I have no idea how I stumble upon these $5000 properties, But I like em!!!! I found in the throw away paper today a property, It is the last street going out of town in the city where my hubby works, Nothing behind it but acerage. The paper says 6 large lots, house, big trees, privacy, all utilities, barn, chicken house, garden spot $5000. I WANTTTTT IT. I am going this evening to look at it and make an offer. I don't have $5000, So maybe we could work a trade with the house we are in now or possible I could pay him so much a month till paid off, Whatever I want it. We could definetly homestead on a lot that size and what a plus with a barn and chicken coop and garden area!!! I am quite excited about this, I know others are saying, Oh the shape of the house, Don't care, if It can't be repaired we tear it down and build what we want or I bet the property is in terrible condition, So what hard work does not deter me one bit, After what this house looked like when bought it, Not a problem. I will post about it when I get back and I will take pics when I am there, Wish me luck my friends!!! Hoping good things come your way too, Michelle

OHHHHH what a glorious day!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh did I ever have the best day ever, (Quoting spongebob there). I did a little and I mean a little research this morning (BTW Scottishtwins over at www.intendedtemple.blogspot.com got me all excited about organic)I found a family farm just 5 miles from me that sells all natural, hormone free, anibiotic free, free roaming, bug eatin eggs. OHHHH I was so excited. I got the price before I went out and they are $12 for 5 dozen. These come packaged in their own egg containers made for their family farm. I told him what I wanted and he said to give him an hour so he could pick those puppies off the ground and put em in the carton!!!! I took my 5 year old twins out with me see the farm. Steve Mitchell was the absolute nicest person I have met in a long long long time, He was so genuine and welcoming I felt like I was talking with an old friend, He loved seeing the boys and asked us to please come back when the weather was nicer and let the boys run around on the farm and see all the animals and chase the chickens and to run around with their wheaton terrior. Their website is www.mitchellfamilyfarm.us/ . I have to tell you I got these eggs home and I have never seen such large eggs before, I held them up to my store bought eggs and they are twice the size, We cracked two open and the color was beautiful, Nice and bright orange. The shells cracked perfectly in half and were very sturdy shells, These will perfect for planting plants in to transplant to the garden!!!
Also this morning while doing that search I found a farm that sells meat, They do not give hormone shots or anitbiotics or anything like that, They do eat some corn, The only all grass fed farm anywhere close was 65 miles away (Does that make any sense living in kansas??? haha) Anyway I was happy to have this meat so close, 10 miles from me, The meat was a great price only minimally more expensive then Walmart and for now I happy about feeding this to my family. I made two of the Ham steaks tonight and 1 ham steak fed my hubby myself and the twins. The ham steaks are 1 inch thick and gorgeous. You can see the one in the picture is in my biggest frying pan, and cooked ( I overcooked it actually, I was chasing baby while cooking!!!) but it still took up 3/4 of the pan fully cooked. It tasted wonderful, Like I suppose meat should taste. I bought the meat from The Clubine family farm, Mr. Clubine told me that his wife makes the best meatloaf by mixing the 1 lb of the ground beef with 1 lb of the ground sausage and he just won't eat meatloaf any other way again, So we are having that for dinner tomorrow night!! Their family website is here www.crosscranchbeef.com . They were equally as nice like a family friend, They told me that starting in March they will be bringing orders for My town to a parking lot for people to pick up so they don't have to drive out, Just call in your order and pay for it and pick it up at the parking lot, They will also be every Saturday at the farmers market in my town, And the first Saturday of May they will be cooking hamburgers for everyone!!!!
I found these local places by searching www.localharvest.org and Checking out my city's website. It really took me no longer then 20 minutes and a phone call. I am really happy I did this. I would of course like to eventually travel the 50 or so miles to get the grass fed meat + I could not find anyone close that sold Raw milk or even goat milk. I can't even find any organic milk around here that is not ultra pasturized. But I am starting and on my way. I have to tell you all that think like I did that it would be too expensive to purchase meat like this. The ranch I went to, Has their own "store", You could go there everyday if you wanted and just buy meat for dinner. A few things you need to consider, This meat does not have fillers, So when you buy a lb of beef, you darn near end up with a lb of beef cooked. It does not shrink down. Plus the healthy factor. THe prices are as follows for what I purchased:
Lean ground beef $3.05 lb
Stew meat $2.80 lb
Rump roast $3.95 lb
Fresh ground pork $2.59 lb
Pork steak $2.79 lb
Ham steaks $2.09 lb
Compared to the meat I get, Some were below what I pay at Walmart and the grocery store, Some were a bit higher, But the quality is way better, The few extra cents per pound were worth it to me. I had a ton of fun in the process, Met two of the nicest people, Chatted a bit about farming and farm life, and got some tips on gardening, Plus Steve from Mitchell family farms asking us to bring the boys out to play, and to give me more gardening tips, He also said I could purchase some of their excess garden this year if I wanted to supplement until my garden got going!!! This girl is going to bed tonight with a smile on her face!!!!! Happy farm hunting, Michelle

March NO SPEND month!!

I am going to try to explain this NO SPEND month the best I can. I have never done an entire no spend month before, We have done weekends and week before. First thing I did was make a list of stuff for us to do during no spend month, Lots of projects etc. I posted this list on a previous post, I have also added to it. I have 3 jars of change saved already and plan to save all the change we get until April 1st, This is our reward for No Spend month. I think everyone has it narrowed down to two things, Either a trip to the Tulsa zoo or a trip to the Museum of natural history in Wichita Kansas, Whichever it is the jar money has to cover all costs. Ok back to no spend month. I also have spent this passed month ( and will up to March 1st) getting all the supplies I will need for the month of march, I have my stockpile built up fairly well, But don't want to use it all up either. I am not grocery shopping this month at all, Just purchasing things we will have to have....
Paper towels were top of my list, We are paper towel wasters I might as well admit this now, The shame. Well no more I tell ya no moreeeeee. I have taken paper towels off the list, I have spent the last week making a huge rag bag, outta of old scraps old t shirts etc. We shall see how the mass takes to this, Actually they have no choice muhahahaha. The other things on my list are:
Powdered milk- I use alot of this, But I have ordered some different "organic" types for us to try during the month.
garbage bags,Laundry supplies-2 bars fels naptha,1 box borax,1 box washing soda-With this I can make up two 5 gallon containers of my laundry soap. $50 kerosene, coffee, flour, sugar, brown sugar and eggs. This is what is left that I have not purchased yet.
We also kinda use the envelope system, We use the checking account for bills. And the household budget oney goes into these envelopes. I will put in just enough to cover the Gas for the car, Regular milk, Fresh produce. That is it. I can't buy enough of this ahead of time.
That money will already be in the envelopes before any of the March paychecks come in. This No spend month is turning into two things, Not only so we can see how much we nickel and dime our selves and spend on crud, But also exactly how prepared are we, Becuase we think we are pretty darn prepared, We shall find out, All a learning experience.
NO SPEND MONTH
The entire paychecks,Tax refund check from state ($550) can only be spent on current or back debt, That is it, That is final. No ohhhh darn I am out of butter, Run to the store and get some, I have planned for this and have heavy cream stored in the fridge in smaller containers just in case. And I have also researched alternatives to everything. If we run out of toilet paper ( which we won't due to stockpile, but you never know) I have some old flannel shirts cut up into squares and ready to be utilized. Although I have tried to prepare in every way I know I have not, And that is good, I want us to run out of something, Have to make due. We can't learn if we don't. We are really hoping this goes well and we understand how much we could pay down debt and still live the "good life", We want a homestead worse then anything, And we want to pay cash for it like we did this house. The only way to do that is to pay down debt and save alot of money quickly. If all goes well, I plan on doing this every 3 months. With my plan, we could pay off our debt, save enough money for the land we want paying cash by the end of the year. Then we could start building our house next year, Put this house on the market and get outta dodge so to speak!!!
Also the change jars are incentive to the kids to not ask or want to spend, With the option that this is completed without too much argument or resistance an entire day trip somewhere, Well this they are quite excited about. If you have any more ?'s about this just ask and I will answer them for you. I am going to post twice weekly during march as to how we are doing, what we have done, all the experiences good and bad. Happy saving and no spending, Michelle

Potatoes Potatoes and more Potatoes

These french fries are easy, Just cut them how you like your french fries, soak for 30 minutes in cold heavily salted water, Drain well, Place in baggies. Being soaked in the heavily salted water they do not turn brown on me. My potato soup recipe I have posted before, mmmmmmmm.

These are just diced tossed with oil, Salted and peppered and baked at 400 until done.

At our local market, Last week I found 25 lb red potatoes (which I love) for $2 a bag, I bought 4 bags, So 100# potatoes for $8. I took one bag today and used my new potato/veggie slicer and make 15 sandwhich size bags of french fries. I then made diced potatoes cooked in the oven for potato burritos and my son's fav from taco bell, Cheesy fiesta potatoes, Lastly I made up a big pot of potato soup. We will be having the potato soup for dinner, With a salad because I have been craving my ranch dressing Plus I went ahead and matchsticked all my carrots while I had the veggie cutter out. I will also make some buttermilk biscuits and everyone has been bugging me for tapioca pudding.

Tonight I have on my to do list:

Make yogurt-We go through about 6 quarts a week and I am down to 1 left.

I also need to work on my last shopping trip coming up the last week of the month, So I can be completely( I hope) prepared for the NO SPEND month in March!!! I think I am probably already prepared other than powdered milk and regular milk. We have already spent all but $1000 of next months paychecks, In out budget I mean. I think if we can do 3 more NO SPEND months this year, We can have almost all of our bills paid off, With the exception of about $3000 in DR. bills. I am so excited about paying off the bills-Our goal is to pay them off and purchase a piece of land with cash-We can get about 12 acres around here for $6000-$8000. Then as soon as we figure out what kind of house we will build we will start that next year. I am researching straw bale houses(http://www.balewatch.com/ has some ideas), I also like the shipping container houses(http://www.shippingcontainerhousedesign.com/). We also checked out at the library a couple of books on building your own log cabins. I am more leaning toward the straw bale houses, I love the curved edges inside the houses< href="http://www.lifeunderablueroof.blogspot.com/">www.lifeunderablueroof.blogspot.com They have such amazing details for house and a chicken coop etc. I really love this blog. We found a few properties that are owner finance that we are gonna go look at in the next few weeks, That would also be an option, Then we could start building sooner rather then later.

Well off to finish up cooking, Happy

Up all night!!!

Well I have been resting off and on so much over the last few days with being sick, I knew all the rest would catch up with me!!!! All kids are doing better and recovering, I am feeling quite a bit better tonight, Finished up the last of the cleaning, So I am feeling less like I am surrounded by dirty germs hahaha. Tonight I will be working on Laundry, I stripped everything from every bed every pillow everything and am in process of washing it. Plus I have not done laundry in a week, So I have mountains to do. I should at least get it all washed tonight. The only thing I could not get was the baby's "Pretty" that is what he calls his blankie, Which is probably the starting point of disease!!!! I am going to try and sneak up in a few.....borrow blankie for 1 hour, wash disinfect with some vinegar in the wash....dry as quickly as humanly possible.....get back in his arms before he smells it is gone!!! Wish me luck with that. I always thought kids having a blankie was too cute, And at first I thought it was adorable that he did too. Ok I still do, But when we have to drag that thing everywhere and some people look at me like put that thing out of its misery and I have to beat it with a box of spaghetti in the pasta aisle cause it growled at someone(bahahahaha, Oh well he loves it, makes him happy!!!

I planted some more seeds today, The other day I found some cute as can be metal planters from dollar tree. I planted some more lavender because I knocked over my other one and the seeds did not germinate. I planted tomatoes, lavender, vidalia onions and more green peppers. My window is getting very full. I love looking at it and all my seeds growing. The other night I found a link to $20 off $40 from http://www.gardensalive.com/ I have been wanting some organic seed non gmo to plant. I purchased

organic bean bush blue lake

organic Nantes carrot

organic renegade spinach

organic sweet cucumber

organic baby sugar watermelons

organic progress peas

organic broccoli

organic Paris romaine lettuce

organic hales best melons

organic big max pumpkin

organic fordhook giant Swiss chard

organic luscious corn

Total: $32.85 including shipping

The only one I am skeptical about is the corn, I thought I had read somewhere unless you buy heirloom corn, you can't be sure it is not GMO. I am gonna have to do some research on this one. I may be returning that one.

I am so excited about this year's garden, Last year being my first and my learning year, I did not do to well. I have spent this past year researching, learning and reading all I can. I think I will do alot better this year, Especially with some container gardening and the raised beds. I am still not rushing out to purchase all the canning supplies needed until I see I am doing better with this garden. It would be a dream come true to have my pantry stocked full of my own garden goods all canned by me!!!! Happy wishing for spring to come soon, Michelle

The sickness of '2010

This will be remembered as the sickness of 2010, I hate hate hate it!!!! I get a bit angry when we get sick, Which is not often. I drove daughter to work today and just looked at everyone like germ breeders (aren't I a lovely ray of sunshine today!!! hahaha) I do not like to be sick, It is a waster of time, it is expensive if serious and I hate to feel cruddy and worse breaks my heart to see my babies sick. The baby is doing fine, He is all but over it, Myself and the 3 older ones are doing better but I still feel way worse then I want to feel. The only ones not to get this are the twins and hubby, Hopefully they just avoid it all together, I scrubbed every inch of this house with bleach to kill everything and I doubled them up on Vitamin C , D3, ecchanacia and probiotics. Anyway just wanted to let everyone know I will probably be back in full force tomorrow, One more night of resting here for me. Have a quiet evening all, Michelle

Round 2

Uggghhh Round 2 scarlet fever. I am $275 in so far this week in Dr. bills and prescripts. Last night 3 more of us came down with it, Myself, My 17 year old son and my 14 year old daughter. I did get the Dr. to agree to just call in antibiotics for the older kids and myself, But she said if the 5 year old twins come down with it she will have to see them in the office, But will only charge for one visit. I can't for the life of me figure out how people do it with no insurance. We knew going into having a large family that alot of our income would go to medical bills and insurance. We do write off alot at the end of the year which helps. My oldest who went in the other day with the baby has no insurance right now, She just got dropped of ours and has to wait 90 days before her new job's insurance kicks in. I haggled with the Dr. which I often do and got her $80 doctor visit down to $60 and after explaining the situation to our pharmacist at Walgreens she found a coupon that took $30 off her prescription, So medication and Dr. visit for her cost $90. Now I realise that I have a large family, But I encourage all to "haggle" with their doctors and make those pharmacies work for you. I often get discounts from these places just for asking. In November My hubby had nasal polyp surgery with the ENT and the same Ent then did the baby's Thyroglossal duct cyst surgery a few weeks ago. I told him that I was going to have a hard time paying him for what I already owed him, Could I just call in after the baby's surgery and tell him he was doing well. I already know how these things go if all is going well, It is 2 minute look to tell you everything is good and costs $80 visit plus for us it is a 100 mile round trip to this particular Dr. so we add in gas and it gets pricey. The Dr. laughed and said I'm glad more people don't know to haggle with me, He said we owed him enough to just bring him in and the office would comp the visit, And I was right, We drove all that way and the Dr. was in the room exactly 1 minute 45 seconds. Not all Dr. will do this, But I have only ever run into a few that would not. When my twins both had their tracheal surgery I joked with the Dr. could I get a BOGO hahaha, She laughed and said well not on the surgery but she only charged me once for the scope and office visits, That saved me over $200 in copay's. Stay well , Michelle ( Going to wash the house down in bleach to kill this bug)