Tag Archives: frugal

Cheap & Easy Recipe: Ben Likes Hootenany Pancakes!

by Sparkbark | Leave a comment

Ben likes hootenany pancakes so much that he sang for them and we got it on video. It’s a classic Rolfson recipe and oh-so-easy-and-cheap. It is a staple in our household for breakfast OR dinner. Sometimes we even have to make two pans.

Hootenany Pancakes

1 cup flour
1 cup milk
6 or 7 eggs
pinch salt
1 stick butter

Cut 1 stick of butter into several chunks and put in bottom of 9×12 or 10×13 pan. Place in 400° F oven until melted. While butter is melting, whisk or blend flour, eggs, milk and salt. When butter is melted, pour into pan with swirling motion. Bake for approximately 20 minutes. Pancake will puff up! Best served with elderberry syrup but also great with jelly, powdered sugar, etc. I have been known to serve these in the car in baggies – cold – and the kids eat them just as well. Enjoy!

Homemade Laundry Soap – from Diana McInelly

by Sparkbark | Leave a comment

Thanks, Diana, for scouting this out. What a great idea. This could only come from a friend who has more boys than I do!!! Click on her boys’ pic above to see her blog.

Homemade Laundry Soap

– 1 bar of soap (I bought Ivory but most recipes call for a soap called Zote, I haven’t seen it but they say it is at wal-mart and in all fairness I didn’t look)
– 20 mule Borax
– Arm and Hammer WASHING soda

1. Shave the soap and add to 6 cups of slow boiling water and stir until dissolved.

2. Add to the water 1 cup of Borax and 1 cup of Washing soda. Now different recipes say different things some do 1/2 cup and others do 1 1/2 cup so I just did 1 you can play around with it.

3. After it all dissolves add 4 cups of HOT water to the bucket that you will be holding the soap in. I bought a plastic container that will hold 32 cups of water cause that is how much you will have when its all done. And it came with a hinged lid on it.

4. Pour the soap mixture to the hot water and stir

5. Now finish by adding 22 cups of water to the mixture.

6. Stir and let sit for about 24 hours

It will be a gel mixture but everyone says that the mixture will separate so you just have to stir it before you scoop it.

Scoop 1/2 cup to your laundry!

Healthy Meals Under $10

by Sparkbark | Leave a comment

Found this article today – looked like pretty good meals and they serve at LEAST 4 people. Worth a try, anyway – especially since I went to the grocery store the other day and about passed out at the prices. They really are going up! I figured I wasn’t the only frugal person in search of such recipes. Check them out here.

Image from health.com attributed to 123rf.

Going Green: Tip for Saving Paper!

by Sparkbark | Leave a comment

I’m supposed to be “on the road” this morning so I’ll make this one quick: The VERY BEST tip I’ve heard for saving paper in the home office is this: when your children come home from school with papers, take all of the papers from their backpack and select those that do not have printing on the back – even their school work sometimes fits this description (bonus: great excuse to not have to save every little thing! I’ve been known to run their graded spelling tests through my laser printer!). Remove any staples, etc. You will be amazed at how much paper this provides. I print a lot of labels for ebay shipping and during the school year I hardly ever have to use a new sheet for a mailing label – mind boggling how easy this is to do. Just imagine one backpack X4 kids and you can imagine how much paper we had last year…I’m anxious for school to start again just so I can stop using fresh paper for my mailing labels! Ditto for flyers on your door, in the newspaper, the possibilities are (unfortunately) endless…