Back to School Shopping Secrets

It is one of my favorite shopping seasons.  Okay, it is not nearly as fun as Christmas shopping but the school-shopping season can be a lot of fun with a little planning.  It is that time of year when office supply stores desperately compete for your school supply dollars and with a little wisdom, like the ant you can store up for the upcoming winter.  I was on the hunt for 1-cent (yes, really only 1 penny) tab dividers and notebooks when I came across something for my husband’s business that he had been wanting for a long time.  Armed with my basket of cheap school supplies and my 15% off coupon, I was ready to make the splurge and bring him home a present. 

As I was checking out, the person running the register asked me if I wanted to donate a $1 to children who couldn’t afford school supplies.  The thought of a child having to start back to school without a backpack full of shiny new pens, pencils, and paper almost brought tears to my eyes.  I said yes I would like to donate.  The cashier reaches into a bag and says there is a coupon for $5 off your order available.  I tried to give $1.00 toward a child and I receive $5.00 off my order that I wasn’t expecting! The benefits of giving are not always an immediate monetary gain like I experienced.  You may never see the look of joy on the face of the child that you touched.  Believe me that no act of kindness ever goes unnoticed! 

Here are 7 tips to stretch your school-shopping budget:

1. Start Early – Right now many of the office supply stores offer about 3-5 things per week for under $0.25 each week some are even $0.01.
2. Plan multiple trips – stock up on the cheap things each week instead of trying to knock off your list in one trip.
3. Get in and get out – know what you are going to buy before your stop.  Remember your time is valuable and you are making multiple trips to get everything on your list.
4. Look for rebates/loyalty rewards – office supply stores often like to offer things free after rebate or get 100% back in store credits for purchases.  Free is Free.  Take the extra step to fill out an online rebate or sign up for the store loyalty program.
5. Plan for the year – stock up for your kids, household, and business.  Paper doesn’t go bad.  Better to buy 2 extra notebooks now for $0.10 each than have to go out in March and pay full price.
6. Designate a spot for your stuff – fill your child’s book bag with their stuff for the 1^st day of school and put the extra paper, pencils, pens, and highlighters in a drawer where they can access it as needed during the school year.
7. Don’t forget about coupons – coupons aren’t just for grocery items.  This time of year you will often see coupons online and in the Sunday paper for everything from notebooks to glue sticks.  Pair these with a sale and you can often get these items for free.

Happy Shopping!  I hope this helps you get ready for the upcoming school year.  By using the tips that I listed above I was able to cut our school supply expenses by 77% for our family!

Turning the Bitter into Sweet

On Sunday morning, we got to worship with a friend of ours, Joe Grubbs.  He made a statement that really stuck with me – “Don’t be bitter be better. “  It is easy to allow the words that others have spoken over us to take on offenses and allow us to be bitter and take on a cynical attitude to all who are around us.  Sometimes the high road is not paved and smooth but rugged and filled with briars.

What happens if it is already too late and we have allowed the bitterness to affect us? Our thinking has become clouded by those hurts?   I have hope for you today, God is able to turn our bitter waters sweet again.  The choice is ours though if we want to remain the same or coming to a loving God and be honest about our situation.  Just like when I take a cup of coffee with a bitter aftertaste and add some Italian Sweet Cream to it and it is forever changed.  God is able to take our bitterness and make us sweet again by adding His healing love to our situation.

I am sure that there were those that told Jesus that his loving us was a mistake as He hung on the cross for our sakes.  Rather than being bitter his response was better, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”  Bitterness is like acid it does more damage to the containers that it is stored in then to the object that it is poured out on.  Today, I hope that you are encouraged to take your bitter hurts and disappointments and lay them at the feet of a loving God who is able to heal our hearts and allow us to say, “I Forgive.”

Five Minutes to Your Success

When I was doing my social work internship, I came across the five-minute principle.  One of my coworkers shared with me that her son had been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder or more commonly known as ADHD.  She really wanted to avoid putting him on medication and so one of the techniques she used with him was to set a timer for five minutes.  If he could complete five minutes of his schoolwork without getting up, then he was rewarded with five minutes of free time.  Every time he got up before the timer went off, the timer would be reset for another five minutes with no reward.  This may sound silly to you but no matter what your attention span is everyone needs to feel the rush of completing a task.  Completing one task successfully helps spur you on to be able to complete the next task ahead of you. 

I use this same method for household chores.  Sure, after a long day at the office the last thing that you want to do is come home to dirty dishes, a pile of laundry, and a bunch of hungry family members asking you what is for dinner.  It would be so much easier to just crash on the couch for the evening and hope that you had more energy tomorrow.  However, pick one small task that you can accomplish in five minutes.  For example, see if you can unload and reload the dishwasher in five minutes … you will be amazed at what you can accomplish.  The success of completing that task will give you energy to try another five-minute task and before you know it you will be looking around amazed at how quickly you brought order to the chaos.  I am not promising that your home will look perfect or that you will cook a gourmet meal every night but if you start somewhere you will be amazed at how easily you went from stressed to success!

Freedom and Gratitude

“Don’t find fault, find a remedy; anybody can complain.” – Henry Ford

Sitting outside a local Starbucks typing since for the second time within the last 3 days we are once again without power and Internet service.  Complaining comes easy.  Action takes effort.  If you allow it, the circumstances of life will hinder you from accomplishing anything.  There is always an excuse or a reason why we can’t get something done.  Whether it is the storm that is raging outside, the lack of power, our busy schedule, there is always a reason that our plans can be thwarted or hindered.

I think about those who have been devastated by severe storms around the world and realize that a power-outage that can be fixed within 24-48 hours is nothing more than an inconvenience.  Our home is still standing, we drove down the street to get power, and I can even cook our dinner on the grill if necessary or grab a burger from the local fast food restaurant.  I really have no reason for complaints and with a little planning I can still accomplish what I set out to do today.

When I think about taking control of life’s circumstances when it isn’t convenient or easy, my husband always comes to mind.  He didn’t let sickness stop him and kept pressing on.  You can read more about his incredible journey and victory over diabetes and kidney failure at natefreemanstillstanding.blogspot.com. 

Yes, I truly have so much to be thankful for and in a few days we will be celebrating our country’s independence.  Freedom doesn’t come cheap!  The things we so often take for granted were bought with a costly price.  Jesus said that there is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for your friends.  As we enjoy the festivities these next few days, I am so grateful for those who laid their lives down for us to enjoy our freedom.  I am most grateful that Jesus laid down his life to give us true freedom over sin, sickness, death, hell, and the grave.

May we enjoy this time with our family and friends, remembering how precious our freedom is.  

Learning to Love

God has taught me a lot about love through my stepchildren.  I have heard many people say that they have learned to love through their biological children.  Do I believe that God places His innate love in the hearts of parents?  Yes, we see a glimpse of God’s love in a parent’s ability to love unselfishly.  However, how many times have we seen the headlines that report parent’s doing the most awful things to their own biological children?  The Bible tells us that God is love and that we are able to love because He first loved us.  People who don’t know God can’t love like God loves.  The Bible also teaches us that love for our children are to be taught from one generation to the next.

 

God has adopted us into His family. This type of adoption was a permanent commitment on behalf of the parent, however, the child could decide at any time to leave the relationship.  What a picture this is of the love of God!  He gives us the choice to opt out of the family but He will never abandon us.  What a contrast from our society’s adoption system that says if the kid turns out to be too difficult, return them to the state.  Or if your kids give you too many problems go ahead and send them across the country to their other parent.

So back to my step-kids, my heart broke for their time, their affection, their skinned knees, and the tears streaming down their eyes.  I rejoiced at their successes and cried at their failures. They came into my life as teenagers and through their lives I was able to see how much God rejoices over our successes and cries at our mistakes.  How He loves us even when we don’t love Him back.   

Has it always been perfect?  Of course not!  Were their times that I wanted to throw up my hands in frustration?  Sure.  It is important to remember that love never fails.  When you chose to love it might be hard at times, but it is always worth it!

Fatherhood

Too often we recognize the wrong people as heros, such as movie stars and sports figures that don't live a life worthy of recognition.  How tragic that the true heros around us often go unnoticed.  

Fatherhood doesn’t come easy.  It doesn’t come with lots of thank yous for the sacrifices made.  Sadly, the media and our legal system often devalue it.  It doesn’t end when your child turns 18 and it sure doesn’t get any easier just because they are “grown”.  I am thankful to the men who chose to stay by their families no matter what it costs them.  Those that knew that their first job was to parent and not be our best friend.  Those who chose to lead us and guide us even when they knew that our response might be, “I hate you!” as we through a tantrum only to look back and realize that they really had our best interest at heart.  For those who provided security and discipline, and whose strong arms could comfort our tears. 

With love this Father’s Day to my Dad, my husband, and my Father-in-Law.  I love you and I thank God for each of you every day. 

Opportunity Knocks

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” – Thomas Edison

I like this quote because often the harder you have to work for something the more value it has. Marriage takes work.  Managing your home takes work.  Making money takes work.

Each of us have different things that come easy for us and other things that don’t come quite as easy or are just down right difficult.  For me, schoolwork came easily.  In fact, I was told in high school that I would have been a nerd if I didn’t play basketball.  However, when it came to driving this wasn’t the case for me, in fact, I failed my driving test twice.  I didn’t quit just because it was difficult for me.  The freedom that a driver’s license brings to a teenager is an easy goal to work for.  What about the things that are difficult when the result doesn’t bring immediate gratification?  I was helping Trey with Geometry homework the other day and there is no immediate teenage gratification for acing a Geometry test in the same way there is for getting a license.  On a sunny spring day when all you want to do is go outside and all your friends are texting you, how do you sit at a desk and work Geometry problems? 

A favorite quote for our family is “If it were easy, every one would do it!”  We have been saying that a lot around here as Nate furthers his education.  If you are chasing after a dream and it gets difficult, now is not the time to give up! 

Touching Video on Being a Mom

The other day as I was searching for a rebate and I came across this youtube video.  Thought that I would share this link from Procter and Gamble entitled "Best Job in the World".  Very touching message!  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.  As they say on their website, "Being a mom is the hardest job in the world. But it's also the best."  We don't say it often enough, "Thank you Mom!"  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NScs_qX2Okk

Faith like a Recipe

I was contemplating adding a recipe for my newest homemade cooking endeavor when it hit me that our faith is like a recipe.  I remember asking my mom for her chili recipe and she told me all the ingredients but no proportions.  I asked her for some exact measurements and she said that you just put it in till it looks and tastes right.  I remember always wanting an exact recipe as I started out cooking and now I tend to throw different ingredients together until it tastes just right. 

When people ask what my secret ingredient is for a recipe, I like to joke that it is love.  Think of it this way:  love is to faith as warm water is to yeast.  Just as yeast can sit dormant for months and then become activated upon hitting warm water, so our faith can lie dormant until it is added to love.  The Bible tells us that our faith is activated through love.  We can have all the right ingredients. For example, we can know what the Bible says and we can say all the right “Christian” cliché sayings. However, our faith will not activate if we are not loving God and loving others.

When I think about faith, I find often we are looking for an exact recipe for a miracle.  The thing that I have found when talking to people who have a deep walk with the Lord and have experienced His hand move mightily on their behalf, they can give me the ingredients for faith but not the proportions.  Faith isn’t about how many hours a day you read your Bible or how long you pray or how many days you fast.  Faith is learning to trust in a loving God by knowing who He is and His character.  Of course, we cannot really know someone unless we have spent time with him or her.

One evening around midnight I was ready to fall into bed exhausted and Brittany told me, “I just remembered I have to bring brownies to school tomorrow.”  Off to the store we went for the necessary ingredients and as I began to make the brownies my eyelids grew very heavy.  As soon as I heard the timer go off, I pulled the pan out of the oven and went straight to bed.  I woke a few hours later to realize that the brownies were a gooey mess.  In my haste to get to bed, I forgot to check to see if they were really done.  I had all the right ingredients but I tried to rush the baking process.  If only I had left the brownies in the oven for 5 more minutes, the results would have been so different.  How often does that happen in our lives where we are tired and want to rush the faith process?  The result: our lives become a gooey mess!  Just because someone else received his or her miracle instantly doesn’t mean that you will receive yours in the same timing.  My husband received a miracle this past year that was 38 years in the making!  I want to encourage you today to not give up! 

As we go about our busy days, preparing our meals, may we have faith like a recipe!  Faith that tastes just right activated by love and not a gooey mess.

Homemade Hot Pockets

Today I thought I would try my hand at some homemade Hot Pockets.  I would suggest if you have a teenager in the house that you plan to double this recipe.  I found that the recipe made 12 and after lunch only 5 remained to freeze for snacks.

Plan about an hour for prep, cook, and clean up. No waiting on dough to rise.  Hint:  I clean up while I cook so I can sit down and enjoy with my family when they are done and not come back to a mess.

Things that I like about this recipe:

v    Freezable – let cool completely, freeze, reheat in microwave for about 2 minutes

v    Teenager approved – Trey told me that one-day I would be on HGTV!

v    Inexpensive – don’t forget to watch for sales and coupons for your fillers

v    Great way to “hide” leftovers . . . I am thinking of making some with chicken, broccoli and cheese.

Recipe for Homemade Hot Pockets:

Dough Pocket:

Dissolve 3 packages of active dry yeast in 1 cup of warm milk

Mix in 3 ½ Tablespoons sugar and 1-teaspoon salt

Gradually add in 3 cups of flour

Filling:

Use your imagination

Example: Ham and Cheese or Pepperoni, Cheese, and Spaghetti Sauce

Mix until dough pulls away from side of bowl and continue to kneed for about 5 minutes.  Divide dough into 12 pieces and roll into a ball.  Using a rolling pin, roll into rectangles.  Put filling on ½ of the rectangle and then fold other half over and pinch all sides together securely so no filling comes out during backing.

Bake in oven at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

Please let me know if you try it and how it works out for you and also if you come up with a good variation.

Everyone has a Hustle

One day my husband’s uncle told me that everyone has a hustle.  He then proceeded to ask me about my hustle.  I promptly answered that I go to work 8 hours a day and come home and enjoy my family.  I laugh as I look back on that day because I realize that many people we meet in life do have a motive or an agenda and I often find myself thinking, “What is their hustle?”  Today, I probably would answer that question differently.  It might sound something like this, “Kate is my name and couponing is my game.”

Life doesn’t always turn out the way that we plan it.  One year into our marriage, my husband started getting violent ill each morning.  He fought through it and continued to head into work.  Then he stated having difficulty hearing and doctors said that tubes in his ears would alleviate the problem.  We went to the hospital thinking that we would be out in an hour or so and on our way to have a much-needed lunch date.  The nurses began to scurry around and we soon learned that they couldn’t do the ear procedure because my husband’s kidneys were failing. He needed emergency dialysis.  At the age of 29, this was not how I planned for life to go.  This leads me back to that idea of having a hustle.  I soon realized that if we were just making ends meet on two incomes, that one income over the next year would be nearly impossible. 

One of the only things that my husband could drink during that time was Cranberry juice – the 100% juice variety.  If there is anything I hate, it is telling my husband or kids that we can’t afford something.  I knew that there just had to be a way to get the juice he needed; and so my hustle began.  Maybe I went a little overboard as my husband shook his head in amazement seeing 9 bottles of cranberry juice on the counter.  Through watching sales and using coupons, I spent less than $9.00 for what would have previously cost us $36.00.  If I had figured this out as an amateur, what could I get if I put a little effort into this couponing idea? 

I know what is like to wonder what you will do for Christmas . . . to face a mountain of bills . . . to wonder when things will change. Our story doesn’t end in struggle and loss but one of victory.  There were many hard days but God never left our side.  Our bills were paid and my husband received a double transplant.  I continue to coupon and watch for sales knowing that saving money each week on groceries will allow my family to enjoy other things and to be able to bless those around us. Yes, I will admit it.  I get a rush from getting things for free or discounted.  Not things that we would never use or enjoy but what our family really wants.  There is a thrill in walking out of the store with things that you got for free legally.  Who knows, you may see me with my purse-sized coupon bag in a store near you! 

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Do you want to hear more about my husband’s story? Please visit "Still standing"

Family

I don’t have what some would refer to as the traditional family.  I live with my loving husband Nate and my wonderful stepson Trey.  My stepson Myles, stepdaughter Brittany and son-in-law Brandon live miles away.  We are not the dad and mom, with 2.5 kids.  We don’t have a white picket fence around our yard but we have two dogs that do their best to terrorize the neighbors!  Although not traditional, I would not trade my family for anything!

While making dinner tonight, Trey told me that homemade is “the imperfect perfection”.  It doesn’t always look like what you would find in a high quality restaurant but it sure tastes like something that you can’t get anywhere else.

People look for family in all different places and once again I go back to that thought about homemade.  Yes, family is that imperfect perfection.  Would we choose all the members of our own families?  I would guess that most would answer that question as no.  However, as imperfect as each member might be (including ourselves) there is something so comforting about being surrounded by those you love.  Our families share our greatest joys and our deepest sadness.  They know our greatest triumphs and our most devastating failures.  Yet somehow love us through it all. 

So where did the idea of family come from?  I believe that it formed in the heart of God, our loving Father.  God who loved us enough to know that we would mess it up and yet still wanted us to experience the joy that comes from having children.  God who knew that it was not good for man to be alone and He wanted man to have the companionship of a woman made just for him.