As a little girl I remember watching my mom wash grocery baggies and hang them to dry. In Belarus there is no such thing as free grocery bags. You either bring your own or pay for one at the counter in the store. The only time my mama paid for one is when the “rewashed” bags were no longer suitable for the intended use.
During the first month of our tightwad journey, I was searching for ways to save money on anything and everything. We were using Ziploc bags pretty frequently in our household to bring sandwiches for lunch, to freeze leftovers and to simple keep open packages more fresh. So we felt like the baggies were running not only through our fingers like water, but also through our budget without a blink of an eye.
Needless to say, I took my mama’s approach to saving money by rewashing and reusing Ziploc bags time and time again. The only time I throw them away if raw meat was stored in them. I am convinced that we are saving money, but I want to hear your thoughts on reusing the baggies.
Some of you asked what Farmer's Cheese is. Below is a description from Friendship Dairies website:
The Story
Farmer Cheese was the first product manufactured by Friendship Dairies more than 90 years ago. Farmer cheese is an Old World Style, fresh, pressed curd cheese made from Cultured Pasteurized Grade A Low Fat Milk and Salt (we do have a No Salt Added product). Farmer Cheese is relatively low in fat, containing approximately 2.5 grams of fat per one ounce of cheese.
Today, many people must watch their diets due to certain digestive conditions and/ or an aversion to lactose. Farmer Cheese is very low in lactose; each serving containing less than 0.5% lactose. This is important for people with restricted diets who still crave dairy products and cheese. In fact, some "intestinal health experts" recommend Dry Curd Cheese for those suffering from digestive conditions such as Crohn's Disease, Colitis, Diverticulitis and Celiac Disease.
Good Things Come in Little Packages
Farmer Cheese has a mild, delicate milk taste, and a texture that is moist, yet dry enough to be sliced. Due to the delicate consistency of the cheese, the packaging is very important. It must protect the product’s texture and moisture.
The original manufacturing process and packaging associated with making Farmer Cheese was labor intensive and subsequently became costly with the growing use of automated technology. For that reason, many companies stopped manufacturing this product. Realizing that Farmer Cheese was still in great demand, Friendship invested in developing an effective packaging system that delivered the same homemade, Old World Style quality of Farmer Cheese.
Today, Friendship is one of few manufacturers of cultured dairy products to make Farmer Cheese. The effective packaging system has allowed the expanded distribution of Friendship Farmer Cheese as far as the West Coast.
The Many Uses of Farmer Cheese
Farmer Cheese is traditionally used in making blintzes, cheese cakes and other baked desserts; however there are many other delectable dishes that can be created using Friendship Farmer Cheese.
As a low fat substitute, use Friendship Farmer Cheese in recipes that call for ricotta cheese such as lasagna, stuffed shells or as a pizza topping. Mix it with sliced kalamata olives, green olives, roasted red peppers, and fresh herbs for a tasty dip or cracker spread. Spread it on a bagel for a low calorie alternative to cream cheese, crumble it on any salad…or simply eat it all by itself.
For more ideas on how to use Friendship Farmer Cheese, including Farmer’s Market Herb Cheese Pie check out our Recipes Section.
When it rains it pours. We experienced the pouring down when our GPS decided to break as I was driving to Atlanta to pick up my mama from the airport. To some losing GPS is not a big deal, but to me it means that on my way to Georgia, I am liable to end up California. I have no sense of direction. With a broken GPS I knew that there was no way that I could drive my mama to Hilton Head, SC to a short vacation. So no GPS means that we had to buy one. Thankfully we had a gift card to Best Buy and were able to purchase a device that tells you where you turn with very little out of pocket.
But it required a lot more out of pocket, when our dryer broke a week later. You would think that as tightwad as I am I would resort to drying our clothes on a clothes line outside to save money, but I didn’t. When I first became a tightwad, I had a brilliant idea of drying our clothes outside. My husband resisted the idea at first, but after numerous attempts of nagging he finally gave in. The first month of air drying clothes outside wasn’t so bad. Daniel’s jeans were standing on their own and were in major need of defrosting. As the weather started to warm up Daniel’s jeans were occupied with many legged friends, also known as spiders. This was it, no more drying our clothes outside. The savings wasn’t worth the surprise of seeing unwelcomed creatures popping up as I folded the clothes.
My hubby along with my mama was on a mission to find a “new” dryer. They purchased a local sales paper, but no luck there. Some of the dryers looked like they would need to be replaced much sooner than later. The next stop was Sears outlet, where Daniel along with my mama hit a jackpot, when they came upon a beauty. That same beauty had a few dents on a side and had $100 dollars discount attached to it. Now the dryer is a new addition to our family and is working very well.
I have a feeling before too long our washing machine will have to be replaced and I would love to hear how you save money when expensive items have to be replaced.
I am a simple gal and if I could I would live in sweat pants every day. I would never wear make up and would always put my hair up in a ponytail. My dream of always putting my hair up becomes a reality, when I step outside and am welcomed by 300° F hotness. I am then faced with a choice of either keeping my hair down and by the end of the day have a freeze ball for a hair do or putting my hair up in a ponytail and look normal. The latter always wins.
The problem that I am always faced with is finding the billion ponytail holders that are scattered around the house. You can find them probably in every corner of every single room.
You can find a ponytail holder in the kitchen
You can find a ponytail holder in the bathroom
You can also find them in the living room
But for some odd reason, I can never find them when I need them. So I decided to implement a trick that I read about in a magazine not too long ago. I was able to use an old keychain holder that has been collecting dust in our drawer.
The next step was to find all the gazillion ponytail holders around the house. Finally I clipped all the ponytail holders together on a key chain and have not had a problem of locating the much needed ponytail holder every since.
I am turning country. Perhaps to you it doesn’t mean anything, so let me explain. During my college years I was certain that I was going to live in a big city, drink Starbucks and wear high heels. And to be perfectly honest with you, I hate the latter two. So instead of glamorous New York City, I ended up in the middle of nowhere, where my neighbor is a deer and a bear. Go ahead…laugh a little…but it is true.
When we first moved to the mountains, I wondered if I was going to survive without watching the Lifetime movies and browsing the facebook. But before too long, I was perfectly fine enjoying God’s creation by spending time outside. And about a year ago the Lord began to mold my desire of becoming “I can do it myself” kind of gal. Instead of buying a pizza, I want to make pizza myself, instead of buying a jar of jelly, I want to can my own. I want my house to feel like a home filled with comfort, laugher and joy.
And very recently I began to desire a farm. For those of you who have known me of the past 5 years, I give you permission to laugh out loud. But I can’t help that I want a cow, lots of chickens and even contemplating the though of have my own pig. That’s right a city girl turned country. When I shared my dream with my mom she asked, “And who is going to get up at 3 am to milk the cow?” Without hesitation I answered, “You, of course!” She didn’t think my joke was too funny.
Funny or not, but after I have been watching my garden grow and produce beautify veggies, my wants and desires began to change. I want a land with apple trees, peach trees and cherry trees. I want blueberry, blackberry and raspberry bushes to feed my family and most importantly to be able to bless other. And this is coming from a gal who killed her own flower last year, also known as cactus.
Yep, that same gal who brutally over watered her cactus was able to grow tomatoes, beans and squash from seeds. And watching the seeds turn to beautiful plants is a blessing in itself. So here what we have thus far.
Did you plant a garden this year? I would love to hear about it.
(sharing my testimony with volunteers at Charlotte, NC processing center)
I was born in a small country of Belarus, located near Russia. In 1986, when I was two years old, Chernobyl happened. The nuclear explosion contaminated with radiation the land and the lives of many people. From the words of my grandmother (I was too young to remember anything), my parent were out of town the day the accident happened. It was a sunny day with a demonstration being held down town of my city of Mogilev. While adults were participating in a parade, us, children, were playing outside at a kindergarten. Because my grandmother was a doctor, she was one of the first people to be notified of the nuclear explosion. She rushed to get me from the kindergarten and informed the teacher to keep children inside. For the next several days I stayed home under my grandmother’s watch. One of the major side effects of the radiation is thyroid cancer. I am blessed and as far as I know my health was not affected by this tragedy. To keep things on a brighter side, I joke that I glow from time to time, but it is because I love the Lord. In fact because of the accident, God has opened many doors in my life and I have been blessed beyond my wildest imagination.
When I was 6 years old, my mama took me to a church, whose doors just opened. For the next 10 years the church played an important part in my life. It was during these years that I prayed and prayed for my family. Growing up my daddy drank, which often resulted in my parents arguing. It also lead me to spend a lot of time on my knees praying, crying and begging God to restore my family. Let me pause for a second and let you know that I have the world’s greatest dad, who has a heart of gold. And my mom, well she is just the greatest mama I could have asked for. Needless to say, God has blessed me very much with my family, it just my daddy had the chains of alcohol wrapped around him. What made this matter most difficult is that neither my mom nor my dad knew the Lord then nor know Him today. I would covet your prayers if you can lift them up in your prayer today.
Prayer is a powerful tool, yet often as a child I felt that God was silent to my prayer and wondered if He was even listening to my cries. Today I know that He cares so much that He even bottles my tears. In Psalm 56:8 it says, “You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each on in your book.” Isn’t it amazing to know that God cares about us that much?! I sure do find comfort in this verse.
As time passed, the Lord reminded of His comfort, when one day my classmates and I were instructed to go to our classroom. The bright and beautifully wrapped shoe boxes, sponsored by the Samaritan's Purse, were all piled in the corner of the classroom. The joy of receiving a gift from overseas made us all very happy. We could not wait to pick out our own box and see what goodies we received. For the next day, week and what felt like a month we all asked each other, “What did you get? And what did you get?” More than any toy or school supply, every single child wanted to receive a letter in his or her shoe box. Unfortunately only 1 or 2 children in my class received a letter and we were all so jealous that we could not write and thank the family for the gift.
I am sure you are all wondering what I have received in my shoe box! Drum roll please….
Well. I hate to disappoint you, but I can not remember. My mom remembers toys, colorful pens and pencils, but all the content of my box have been completely wiped out from my memory. I joke that if I knew that God was going to use me ten years later to share my testimony, I would have written it down. But I did not know and did not write it down. As I wondered why didn’t God allow me to retain in my memory all the goodies that I received, and one day He revealed to me as I was sharing my testimony with a congregation in small town in Arkansas. When it was time to tell the congregation about me not remembering the content of thebox, I froze. And right then, right there, the Lord has revealed it to me the truth. The reason that I do not remember all the items is because they were not that important.
(processing my own shoe box at the processing center)
Now let me explain to you why the toys, candy and school supplies were not important before you quit reading. Candy won’t fill up a tummy of a hungry child in Africa for years; toys may comfort a broken heart of a child in Russia for only days. Pens will be lost and broken. BUT the message of Jesus Christ that the shoe box carries, gives the eternal hope that is found in my Savior to a child! God is so much bigger than any shoe box and He uses a simple shoe box to answer some children’s prayers and to remind others that He loves them so much. As I look back in my life and wonder what the shoe box meant to me, the Lord brings me to Joshua 1:5, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” The days that I prayed as a child and wondered if God was listening, He gently reminded me through a stranger’s kindness that He was there when I wept and He was there when I rejoiced. He did not leave my side. This makes me want to SHOUT and praise His name!!! I don’t know the family who packed my shoe box, but I sure am thankful for their obedience of gving me the gift.
A year after I received a shoe box, God opened the door for me to come to the US to attend high school. A loving family in South Carolina opened their hearts and their home for me to finish high school. During the youth trip in high school, I came to have a personal relationship with the Lord. After my high school graduation, I went on to majoring in international business at the University of South Carolina thinking that I will be a CEO one day living in a New York City. Today I am happy to report that I am not a CEO and I do not live in a New York City. In fact, the Lord has molded me during my college years and shortly after my graduation I went on a mission trip to Kenya for one month. Two weeks after the mission trip I married a man of dreams, whom I am happily married now for three years.
(receiving a hug from Franklin Graham)
In a fall the Lord blesses me beyond my imagination by keeping me busy as I travel to different churches and share my testimony. I always meet the most wonderful people and always blessed by their desire to serve the Lord through the Operation Christmas Child. If you ever participated or will participate in this project, Thank You for blessing me and all the children around the world through a simple gift of a shoe box.
But before I let you go, we need your help!!! Would you share this story with someone today? If you have a blog, will you link up and share with your readers? If you have a tweeter, will you tweet? If you have a Sunday school class, will you share it? If you have a friend, will you e-mail it? The goal is to involve as many people as possible in this wonderful project, so many more children around the world can experience the blessing of a simple shoe box. At the end God will get all the glory, honor and praise!
If you have any questions, please feel free to e-mail me at tightwadintraining@gmail.com .
Welcome to Tightwad In Training!
My goal is to focus on saving money by sharing with people tips and ideas all while learning to be a good steward with what the Lord has blessed me with.
Thanks for stopping by!
