How to dry a cell phone that has fallen in water - 6 Steps

If your cell phone has fallen into water and has stopped working, you can get it working again with these simple steps.

1.  Take the battery and any memory cards out of your cell phone
2.  Dry off all parts with a paper towel
3.  Shake your cell phone out.
4. Put two cups of dry rice in a ziploc bag.
5. Put your phone and battery (still unattached) into the bag of rice.
6. Let it sit in the bag of rice for about a week (that's how long it took before mine began to work again)

To help speed it up, I put the ziploc bag outside in the sun and on top of the dryer while it was in use.  Never dry the inside of a phone with a hairdryer or anything too hot because it could fry the inside of the phone.

Save Money By Using Honey To Treat A Pimple

Instead of using harsh, expensive chemicals to treat a pimple, use honey!

1. Wash Face
2. Dab Raw Honey onto Pimple
3. Rinse after 10 minutes

The raw honey has antibacterial and moisturizing properties that speed healing and keep skin clean.

Change Your Fan Direction To Heat In The Winter And Cool In The Summer

Changing the direction of that your ceiling fan rotates could save you money!

During cooler months, change your fan blade direction to clockwise to create an updraft that recycles heat through the room.

During warmer months, change your fan blade direction to counter-clockwise to cool the room.

Easy Roast and Potatoes Dinner Recipe

This roast takes no time at all to prepare and the potatoes are pretty simple too!

Roast

Rub roast with tenderizer and your preferred seasonings.

Cook for the directed amount of time.

Potatoes

Peel and cut potatoes into 2 inch cubes.

Coat with olive oil and a few sprinkles of black pepper.

Throw potatoes into the pan with the roast about a half an hour before the roast is done.  

Thats it!  You have an easy, healthy meal that takes no time at all to prepare.

Save Money and Time by doing your Christmas Gift Shopping Online

Now that Christmas is getting very close, we are scrambling to buy the last of our gifts.  There are a lot of great deals in the stores, but I am finding that there are some better deals online.  Of course, now it is too late for standard shipping to get our online purchases here before Christmas.

I have found that you can go through shopping websites like Ebates, MyPoints or Swagbucks to find deals, put coupon codes in that you find online and sometimes even get free shipping!  If you have a cash-back credit card, you can save even more money by using it to buy your gifts online.

We have a lot of out of state family and we could have saved tons of money on shipping by buying things online and having the companies send the gifts directly to the out of state family members.  If you routinely look online for deals you can usually find better deals than if you were to buy your gifts from the store.

Another nice thing about shopping online is that you can do it in the comfort of your house and don't have to deal with traffic, crowded stores and the cold weather.  I think I will be doing most of my shopping online next year!

When it is better to buy Organic: The Dirty Dozen.

While trying to save money on groceries, I also want make sure I am buying the healthiest food I can afford for my family.  I have been trying to make the switch to more Organic or All Natural foods, but find that it is more expensive.  I have found that you don't necessarily need to buy all organic and all natural foods.  There are certain foods that you get a better benefit from when buying organic.

Meat (non-organic)


Beef:  Beef is typically clean of chemicals, but the fat contains many chemicals.
Pork: Pork can be contaminated, but pork fat has many more chemicals than beef fat.
Chicken:  The thigh is the most contaminated portion of the chicken.


Milk (non-organic)

Twelve different pesticides have been found in milk.  Since kids drink lots of milk, this could be an issue.


Coffee


Many countries that grow coffee beans do not regulate the use of pesticides and chemicals.  Look for the USDA Organic Label to find coffee that does not contain chemicals.


Fruit & Vegetable Dirty Dozen  (healthiest to buy organic)

1. Celery
2. Peaches
3. Strawberries
4. Apples
5. Blueberries
6. Nectarines
7. Bell Peppers
8. Spinach
9. Kale
10. Cherries
11. Potatoes
12. Grapes

Runners up on the dirty dozen list


13. Leafy greens
14. Carrots
15. Pears
16. Tomatoes


Clean Vegetables  (no need to buy organic)
1. Onions
2. Avocado
3. Sweet Corn
4. Pineapple
5. Mango
6. Asparagus
7. Sweet Peas
8. Kiwi
9. Cabbage
10. Eggplant
11. Papaya
12. Watermelon
13. Broccoli
14. Tomatoes
15. Sweet Potatoes

Get more money back on your taxes next year by donating unused stuff around your house this year

December is a great time to purge your closets and drawers of things that you do not need that just clutter up your life.  As an extra bonus,  if you donate all of your unused stuff, you can get more money back on your taxes next year.

If you use TurboTax to submit your taxes each year, you can use their program 'its deductible' to keep track of your donations throughout the year.

A Quote from Benjamin Franklin on Spending

Beware of little expenses; a small leak will sink a great ship. 

Double your pantry space in the winter

If you live in a cold climate area, you could double your pantry space in the winter by putting a wire shelving unit in your garage.  You could put things that need to stay cool out there like drinks, potatoes or onions.

Easy way to get lip gloss out of it's lid

My kids like to turn the lip gloss until it gets stuck in the lid. I found an easy way to get the lip gloss out of the lid.  Dial the lip gloss down as far as it will go, put the lid on and place it upright in the microwave. Turn the microwave on for ten seconds at a time and check. Once the lip gloss has melted, take it out of the microwave and stand it upright until it is cool.

Honey for a sore throat

We went to the Dr a few days ago to make sure my daughters cold wasn't anything worse than a cold.  Since she is 1 1/2 years old, she doesn't have many options for  medicine.  For her cough, he suggested that I give her a spoonful of honey (never give honey to a child under 1 year old).  I gave this to her and it helped control her coughing.  I will have to try this on myself next time I get a cough!

Stretching your dollar and making healthier food for your family

One of the tricks that I have found to stretch my dollar in the kitchen is to add more vegetables and grains to my dinner meal and to add less meat.

Vegetables and Grains are cheaper than most meats, plus they are packed with vitamins and minerals.  Our American diets have become meat heavy in the past few decades and cardiovascular disease has increased along with it.

I have been trying to buy a new vegetable every week or so and find a recipe for it.  It has been a fun adventure.  A few weeks ago, I made butternut squash for the first time (it was on sale).  I added brown sugar and cinnamon to it and drizzled maple syrup on it.  It was delicious, nutritious and my kids loved it!

I can barely ever get my kids to eat vegetables, but experimenting with different fruits and vegetables has opened up our choices for healthy food!

Organic Food on a Budget

As a Stay-at-Home Mom, I am always on a budget.  I also want to make sure I am giving my family the best food they could eat.  Processed foods are normally cheaper, but I am not willing to give up nutrition for our budget.

I have recently been trying to find organic or natural alternatives that I can still buy on my budget.  I have found that Costco has great prices on organic foods compared to regular or natural grocery stores.

I can, however, buy some organic foods at my local Kroger for a great price occasionally.  I try to match up sales with coupons at the Kroger store I go to.  They have two aisles of organic products and also have organic products peppered throughout the store.  When I find that an organic product has gone on sale and that I have a coupon for it, sometimes I can get it for less than its processed version.

I still buy mostly non-organic products because of the price, but slowly, I plan on purchasing more organic foods and stocking up on organic products when they go on sale.  I hope I can make the switch without blowing my budget!

Sweet Pepper Chicken Recipe. Fast, Easy & Inexpensive!

Sweet Pepper And Chicken Recipe

Ingredients:  

3 Chicken Breasts

2 tbs oil

1 lb of small sweet (red, orange and green) peppers

1/2 small onion

1 clove garlic

3 green onions

2 cans of stewed tomatoes

4 cups of rice

Instructions:

- Prepare rice and set aside

- Cut vegetables 

- Slice chicken breasts

- Saute vegetables in pot with 1 tbs oil until tender

- Remove vegetables

- Saute Chicken in pot with 1 tbs oil until cooked

- Add sauteed vegetables and the stewed tomatoes

- Simmer for a minute or two

- Add about a cup of rice onto each dish

- Spoon Chicken & Vegetable mix onto rice

- Enjoy

Low Cost Spaghetti Dinner recipe

Tonight, I am making my meatless spaghetti dinner.  Here is the recipe:

Spaghetti recipe

Ingredients:
-1 jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce
-1 cup of any vegetable you would like to add in (I like to add peppers, onions and garlic)
-2 tablespoons of olive oil

To Prepare:
-Heat olive oil in a large skillet or pot
-Add diced up vegetables and stir until the veges are soft
-Add your tomato sauce

This meal goes nicely with a salad and garlic bread.  You could add some of the leftover vegetables that you diced up for your sauce into your salad.

Garlic Bread Recipe

Ingredients:

-Any bread you have on hand
-Butter or Margarine
- 1 or 2 pinches of garlic powder,  garlic salt or fresh minced garlic

To Prepare:
-Heat the butter and garlic in a pot or in the microwave
- Spread butter mixture onto pieces of bread
- Toast in oven or toaster oven

Turkey Recipe for your Thanksgiving Day Leftovers.

We were able to make several meals from our turkey.  First we had our turkey on Thanksgiving Day with family.  We ended up having half the Turkey for leftovers.  At first we made Turkey sandwiches.

Turkey Sandwich Recipe:

-Cut Turkey into thin slices.
-Toast bread
- Cut tomatoes, lettuce and any other toppings
-Put sandwich together and eat.
- You could put mustard or leftover gravy in the sandwich to make it less dry.

Afterwards, we still had a few pounds of turkey left.  I made a turkey noodle soup in my crockpot.

Turkey Noodle Soup Recipe:

- Cut and peel 2 cups of carrots
- Slice 1 cup of celery
- You can crush one clove of garlic if you would like
- Put your vegetables in the crockpot
- Add your turkey on top of the vegetables.  You can put bones and everything in.
- Cook on high for 4-6 hours or low for 8-10 hours
- An hour or two before you are ready to eat, pull the bones and skin out of the crockpot.  Be careful to pull all bones out.  Some of the smaller bones are like clear toothpicks and hide in the soup.
- Put two cans of chicken broth and two cans of water into the crockpot
-Add chicken bouillons or chicken broth powder for flavor if you would like
- Add a few pinches of black pepper and any other seasoning you would like.
- Cover and let it simmer for the last hour or so.
- Boil egg noodles on the oven for the suggested time on the package and add it to the soup right before you serve it.
- Serve and eat with bread and butter or cheese.

This made so much soup that I still needed to make yet another left over.  I ended up making Turkey Tettrazini.  I made four batches.  One for dinner that night and three others for freezing.  I split the meat, veges and some of the broth into three separate Ziploc bags (about two cups for each bag).

Turkey Tettrazini recipe:

7 ounces (one box) of cooked spaghetti
2 cups chicken or turkey broth
2 cups 1/2 and 1/2 or milk
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup butter
a dash of salt and pepper
2 cups cooked turkey
1 cup sliced olives
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Mix everything but the cheese.   Spread in an ungreased 2-quart casserole pan.  Sprinkle with cheese.  Bake uncovered for 25-30 minutes.

I did not add the cheddar cheese or spaghetti noodles to the freezer batches.  Pasta can become soggy when frozen and defrosted.  Now, when I am short on time and need to make dinner, all I have to do is boil the spaghetti, mix it in, spread it in a casserole dish, sprinkle with cheese and bake.  This goes great with a salad!