My daughter, Anna Maria, is a lover of the earth and has encouraged me to take better care of my corner of the planet. A few years ago she was talking about hanging a clothes line and drying her clothes outside. I decided to surprise her and order one from the internet and send it to [...]
My husband and I are fans of talk show host and money guru, Dave Ramsey. In fact, he is the at the source of most of my blogs about budgeting and finances. One tool Dave employs in the use of “money envelopes”. My husband and I have incorporated these tools into our budget and have [...]
I subscribed to the Dave Ramsey Total Money Makeover program a few days ago and am anxious to track and report my journey to financial fitness. I have read both of Ramsey’s books and found them to be very helpful. Ramsey has a “7 Baby Step Program” to achieve financial freedom. He has quotable gems [...]
First, let me say something about cooking: Everyone can cook! I often hear women say, “I just can’t cook!”. What I hear is, “I WON’T cook”. Well, it’s time to suck it up people! The recession is at our door and we can no longer sneak past it on the way to the restaurant. Also, [...]
There are so many ideas out there by experts who are also contributors to magazines and talk shows. The problem with these experts is that they are often testing their ideas in a lab kitchen or closet, not a real one like yours and mine. My tips are used in a real home, so you [...]
Now I DO love my Rachael Ray. She makes ordinary dishes take on a new and tasty personality. But Rach, as much as I love you and your recipes, I don’t always have the time you do for these creations. I do indulge in the money and time now and then and enjoy the delicious [...]
Yes, you can buy your milk, eggs, bread and your Christmas gifts for your family during your weekly grocery trip!
Most grocery store chains have a gift card mall with gift card for everyone! There are gift cards for everything you can think of! Of course we are all know about gift cards [...]
It’s time to take care of what you have! Let’s face it, times are tough and are about to get a lot tougher. Families in most homes across the country are rethinking their budgets. Every news program, talk show and magazine and news paper articles are featuring how your family can employ budget cuts. Budget [...]
“Black Wednesday” will be a date our children will study in their American History, economics and social studies classes. I hope and pray they are not going to be paying for the fall out of this crisis! If not handled correctly, hell, if even handled the only ways possible, may still put the burden of [...]
I recently had to defend my view on hiring household help. If you read a prior blog entry, you may know that I do my own housework, not by myself, my family helps too. In a nutshell, my thoughts are, if we dirty it, we clean it! We are the ones who [...]
My husband made 4 of these Emergency Kits last Christmas and gave them to each of our immediate families. You can personalize them to match your needs and even do one with just food and water! Having these little luxuries in an easy to carry duffel bag would mean so much to us if we [...]
Can you believe it? Gas is over $4.60 a gallon and financial experts predict we can go up t0 $12.00 a gallon in five years and see this period in history as the good old days! The other day I filled up my tank and it was $65.00! I remember [...]
Why does Christmas still take us all by surprise? It has been on the same day for a million years and still we all panic on the 20th of December like it’s a brand new concept! What? Get an evergreen tree and pull it into the house? Put lights up on [...]
Yes, you read it right! I clean my own house. It seems as if I am the only one who does. I used to pay for someone to come in twice a month to clean. My husband could never understand why I would have someone come in because the night [...]
I am an actress, a talk show host and a stand up comedian. I love what I do. It is my oxygen. I feel alive when I am on stage and connecting with the audience; ranting and raving about children, marriage, sex and current events. I love interviewing people; each question [...]
Do you cut coupons? Not worth your time huh? Well, let’s say you can save anywhere from $20.00 to $70.00 in one shopping trip? It takes maybe an hour to search, scan or cut out and organize coupons…..so now I ask you, I would love to make $20.00 to $70.00 per [...]
Most homes nowadays have a thermostat that you can set to work for you. A programmable thermostat set to AUTO will turn the unit off when it reaches a certain temperature. Turning it down during times when you are under covers will save on your energy bill too. Besides, it’s your spouses job to keep [...]
Preventative maintenance on your car only takes a few minutes and usually less than $40 bucks. First, stop putting off that oil change. (You’re supposed to do it every three thousand miles!) The cost is about $30 and will literally save your engine. While you’re there, have the mechanic change your air filter and check [...]
Having every light in the house on makes sense if you’ve just watched a scary movie. That’s the only time though. Leaving the lights on in rooms that no one is in uses a lot of energy and for no good reason. Take a few minutes to patrol the house for unused lights and you’ll [...]
Did you know that there is a building in almost every city that has thousands of hard and soft cover books, magazines, books on CD, videos and a quiet place to sit once in a while? It’s a magical place where you can borrow things that could cost upwards to hundreds of dollars per year [...]
