Today we remember the reason for the crucifixion. Jesus said all these things would happen in order for the Resurrection. Today is the day. HE IS ALIVE. Let us rejoice that the grave did not hold him. And may we forever more remember he is coming back.
Have a very Blessed and Happy Easter.
Reading the story of the Crucifixion should bring a tear to every eye and humble every heart to think that someone loved you so much enough to die for you. ❤️🩵
The Bible tells us to be content with what we have. We can be content and still be frugal at the same time.
Being frugal does not mean it has to be boring either. Here are some ways to be frugal with kids:
1- Find free activities like parks, playgrounds, outside gardening, backyard games, hiking, etc. Save money by packing lunches and have a picnic. Avoid taking them out to eat or trips to malls or toy stores where the temptation to buy something is tantalizing. In other words, when you are out and about it makes you spend more money. Stress and boredom will do that.
2- If you homeschool your kids, check online or in libraries for free resources for curriculum to organize their classes with.
3- Shop yard sales and thrift stores. If you want to shop retail stores, shop going out of season clothes but go up a size for each kid. They will have new clothes for when that season rolls around again. Hit the clearance racks.
4- Save money by not going out to eat as much. Cook from scratch when ever possible. Take the money that you save from going out to eat and pay a debt off, put in a savings or put towards a vacation you have been wanting to take with the family. My parents use to save all their spare change and roll it up in the coin wrappers and take it to the bank and get cash for it. Believe it or not, this paid for the expenses of half of our vacation and sometimes, all of it. Coins equals dollars, I don't care if it's pennies.
5- Sign up for rewards programs with apps like Fetch, Retail Me Not, Receipt Hog, ibotta, etc. I have Fetch and Receipt Hog and last year I cashed in and got two Amazon gift cards. I have a referral code for Receipt Hog for you. Down load the app and sign up and use code: prub8555. You can also scan e-receipts as well. If you would rather use Fetch Rewards, use the same process as Receipt Hog but use code:8586R.
6- Sign up for grocery store membership cards like Sam's, Costco, Kroger, Aldi, Food Lion, Hoover's, Dollar General, etc. Clip tabloid or online coupons and download apps that have digital coupons. We save a lot of money by using Kroger because we also get fuel points.
7- Believe it or not, unplugging appliances that are not being used saves a little on the light bills. When things are plugged in, they are still pulling some kind of power from the outlet. They are just setting on ready to be used. Unplug things like toasters, can openers, air fryers, deep fryers, bread machines, food processors, blenders, electronics like laptops, chargers, etc. Only plug them in when ready to use.
8- Repurpose things like, milk jugs, plastic grocery sacks, etc. I use milk jugs sometimes to wash out and store filtered water in, in case of emergencies. I also use them to cover tender plants to protect them from frosts or freezes in the garden. I reuse grocery sacks to line my trash cans with. I also save wipes containers too and use them to put my grocery store bags in. I fold them like those little paper footballs we use to play with in class in school. Remember those? When I need a bag for something like sending the grandkids home with goodies, I grab a bag.
You can also use them for packing kids little lunches or snacks for road trips. You can put toys or paper and crayons also. You can make emergency baby necessities like a change of clothes, diaper, wipes, etc. and keep it in your vehicle in case of emergencies.
9- You can repurpose cardboard boxes to use as a weed barrier in gardens and flower beds to reduce weeding.
10- I save Ziploc freezer bags and wash them out and reuse them. I don't reuse them if they have had meat in them. I throw those away.
11- I save gift bags to reuse.
12- If you sew, use scrap pieces to make a quilt or hair bows for girls.
These are just some areas that I save money on in our home. I hope you can use them for your home as well.
#frugal #frugalliving #saving #groceries #budget
It has been a very good season so far. Calving season. We now have two more additions to 4D Farms. One is a bull which in now a steer, and another little heifer. All calving went fine, all mommas are fine. No problems. We did have one set back a few months ago or even before that. We had 3 AI'd but only two gave birth. The third was confirmed pregnant by blood tests but in her second trimester, she started bleeding and did this on and off for three months. She must have lost it some time in that period. Poor thing. Life on the farm is not always easy. You get to bring joy into the world and then you bury some.
We did have a tragedy on the farm. Our son who lives in his later grandmothers house which is where the momma cows and babies are now, someone poisoned his herd dogs which have always protected the cows and they knew the dogs very well and felt safe. We do not know who did it but their day will come. The Lord always take care of things like this. We do have cameras around but they were not pointed in the right direction. We adjusted them. My son was so upset and still is. He and his wife do not have children yet and this was their companions. She cried for a week straight. Vengence is mine saith the Lord. Our girls are loving playing with the calves and have already named them. This actually helps get them use to us so they will not run or be skittish of anyone needing to take care of them. Our Daughter in law actually banded her first ever calf. We're gonna make a cow girl out of her yet. Last years calves are at our house in our pasture and have been since weaning time. It is wonderful to have life on our farm again. For those just now following me here on Blogger, I use to raise Registered Dairy Goats 11 years ago. Due to physical health reasons, I had to part with my herds. I was so upset for a few years prior because I saw it coming. I miss seeing little kids running around and playing in the pasture. The little noses and kisses. I guess I can still get big slobbery kisses from the calves I guess. If you want to know how I raised them, you can check out any of our Goat Pages on our blog. Go to the top of the home page and in the sub-header, there are titles. Each title is a link to that page. Just click on it and away you go. Happy reading. You can also click here
While new life happening on our farm, we are on a work trip and I got to venture out. We love Duck Dynasty and The Robertson family and each and every one of their personal testimonies. They truly are blessing to anyone who gets the chance to meet them. I went to West Monroe, LA where they live, work and go to church. I visited the warehouse in which they have turned half into a museum and gift shop. I didn't get to meet anyone. Ms. Kay has actually been in the hospital there recovering from surgery and intensive physical therapy for a broken foot. I got to visit their church. Their oldest son Al just so happened to not have been there that day. Dadburnit. lol I was so hoping to meet anyone that day, but they have lives too. The museum was wonderful. I got to cross this off my bucket list. There are so many pics but this is just a few. I did get to eat at the donut shop they frequent and one of the episodes was actually filmed in this shop. It was an experience. I even got to make my own duck call.
We are headed out tomorrow for the next place to work. More to come.
#farmlife #farm #homesteading #homemaking #traveling #recipes #meals #cooking
My new video in my Breadmaking for Beginners series has gone live on our YouTube channel. There will be more to come. I hope you enjoy. If you visit our channel be sure to give us a thumbs up, subscribe and turn your notification bell on to get notified every time a new video has uploaded. And feel free to share our channel and videos.
Well, hopefully we can shed our coats, hats and gloves for the year. I am so ready to get my hands in the dirt and bring new life to this season. I just want to take the time to give you a few tips to get you started for the season.
Before I start planting anything, I will first take an inventory of what is in my pantry and freezer. If I see I have enough of something to last for another season, I will skip a summer. Then I can use that space in the garden to plant something else that I may want to try, or grow what I'm out of or need to restock. By doing this, you don't overplant something that you don't have room for, or get overwhelmed by an abundance of several things coming in all at one time. This helps us year after year. We had such a blessed season last year that this year all we have to concentrate on is tomatoes, peppers, a few plants of zucchinni so I can process some more pickles, because those are about gone. My grandkids have just about eaten all of them, and maybe a few more stalks of okra. They have just about eaten all of my pickled okra too.
This year will be more relaxed for us because with growing minimal items this year, we can focus on our flower beds around our home and other areas. Last year we were so busy harvesting a big garden that they were all neglected. We never got around to them. So the visual around our home was not as pleasant as we wanted.
Gardening tip number two: if you are just now wanting to get into planting your own food, I would love to suggest planting these 6 Garden Staples to get you started. Green Beans, Corn, Potatoes, Tomatoes, Squash and Zucchini. There are so many things you can do with just these 6 veggies. They are so easy to plant, grow, maintain, harvest and process. Not to mention, some fine eating.
Normally people start seeds indoors in January and February, depending on your zone, or as late as March and April. If this suits your fancy, check into seed starting indoors. If you would rather wait until all danger of frosts are gone and would rather purchase the plants, feel free to do that.
These are just a few quick ideas to get you started, but if you would like to have a full detail tutorial of how to grow a garden, you can check out my Gardening Page here and I will walk you through planning, planting, growing, maintaining and harvesting our garden and the things we grow in ours.
If you are a visual learner and enjoy watching videos, you can check out our Gardening Playlist here on our YouTube Channel.
If you enjoy or blog and content, be sure to sign up to receive emails of when a new post is published so you don't miss a thing. You can find the sign up box on the top right hand side of the screen. We would love it if you would join us. Enjoy your reading.
If you are curious of any products you see in our images or that we use in our kitchen, please feel free to visit our Amazon Store where we have everything organized onto lists for each category.
Check out our Amazon Storefront here:
https://www.amazon.com/shop/keeperofthehomeat4dfarms
4D Farms LLC. is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. Our storefront link is an affiliate link that earns our farm a commission at no additional cost to you, if you click through and make a purchase. You can trust that we recommend products that we use in our own home and love and maybe some we wish to have. Our storefront is designed to help you locate items easily by specific organized and titled lists.
Thank you for your support.
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https://youtube.com/@keeperofthehomeat4dfarms?si=UwX-ofYFu9GhriXp
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Are you wanting to plant a garden this year but you just don't know where to start? Well, I can help. Check out our Gardening Page here and find out how we plant all that we do.
You can also check into Garden Towers and self watering pots if you are not able to have an outdoor garden. You can check out all the neat ideas of indoor gardening and plan away. Just visit here and check out all the cool indoor gardening supplies. Click on the Garden Essential List and you will see.
You can also try Hydroponics Systems. They are also on our Garden Essential List from the link above. If you want a video version explaining these you can catch these two videos:
I hope you enjoy your journey into gardening and growing the best you can for your family and mostly saving money on the grocery budget.
Happy Gardening.
I have a passion for helping people and sharing my knowlege. I love to journal and share those experiences in my writing. That is the reason for my blog. I would love to reach as many people as I can. I need your help in doing this. I would love if each of you would share my blog with friends and loved ones or just total strangers. The more people I can help, the better I feel. I would love to know that my knowledge and writings do not go in vain.
If you could start sharing, liking, and subscribing to my blog, I would so greatly appreciate it.
If you could encourage others to sign up to receive emails of when a new post is published so you don't miss a thing. You can find the sign up box on the top right hand side of the screen. We would love it if you would join us. Enjoy your reading.
If you are curious of any products you see in our images or that we use in our kitchen, please feel free to visit our Amazon Store where we have everything organized onto lists for each category.
Check out our Amazon Storefront here:
https://www.amazon.com/shop/keeperofthehomeat4dfarms
4D Farms LLC. is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. Our storefront link is an affiliate link that earns our farm a commission at no additional cost to you, if you click through and make a purchase. You can trust that we recommend products that we use in our own home and love and maybe some we wish to have. Our storefront is designed to help you locate items easily by specific organized and titled lists.
Thank you for your support.
If you like video versions, feel free to check out our YouTube Channel here:
https://youtube.com/@keeperofthehomeat4dfarms?si=UwX-ofYFu9GhriXp
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Spring Break is upon us. Is it for you? We all know how this is going to go don't we. "Are we there yet?" "I'm hungry!" "I gotta pee!"
I've got you covered with tips and tricks on traveling with kids. Everything from car organization for you and the kids, tips and tricks for keeping them busy for the long ride, and even stroller hacks for moms and even us grandma's.
Check out my Traveling and Car Organization Playlist on our YouTube channel here
I promise you will thank me later.
Are you tired of all the chemicals that are in our products these days? Are noticing how they are negatively effecting your health? Do you want to get away from all those products?
Well, I can help. First let me say I believe God made everything for our purpose for sustainability. Wether it's our bodies or elements. He knew what he was doing when he created plants, trees, etc. He even has detailed instructions in the Bible stating how to use them for specific things. 😉
I started expiermenting with some natural products like vinegar, peroxide, essential oils etc., and started researching the properties and benefits of each one. Vinegar and peroxide are anti-fungal, anti-bacterial and anti-viral. Believe it or not, lemon juice is too.
I wanted to start making my own Homemade All Purpose Cleaner, Homemade Disinfectant and Homemade Deodorizer (Febreeze).
Here is what I came up with and how I make them.
Homemade All Purpose Cleaner:
To a spray bottle, large or small, I add (no measurements) some vinegar, lemon juice, anti-bacteriall Fabuloso and a little Awesome cleaner. Next, I fill the bottle with water the rest of the way reserving a little space to add a few drops of Dawn Dish Soap. Put the cap on and shake.
The reason I don't have measurements is because you can adjust these to your liking. I will recommend using just a small amount of the Awesome because it is concentrated. The reason why you wait until the end to add the dish soap is so you don't create a lot of bubbles while you try adding water. The water will force it out. So put it in last. If you do not want to use the Fabuloso and Awesome, omit them. The rest will be fine. You can add a citrus essential oil like Lemon, Orange, Grapefruit etc.
I use my All Purpose cleaner on everything from, kitchen countertops, sink, cabinets, appliances, stove, table and chairs, to shower, tubs, toilets, sinks, bathroom countertops, cabinets, basically everything.
Homemade Disinfectant:
To a spray bottle (large or small) add equal amounts vinegar, alcohol, and peroxide. Then fill the rest of the bottle with water. I didn't give measurements because you can make this as strong or weak as you want. Then add 10 to 20 drops each of tea tree essential oil and a citrus essential oil of your choice. Lemon and Orange smell really nice. Give it a shake and spray. All of these ingredients are super power anti everything. Use this just as you would a can of Lysol or off brand disinfectant. Allow to dry.
Homemade Upholstery or Linen Spray (Mock Febreeze):
To a spray bottle add the amount of your choice of a floral scent warming oil like the kind you put in a candle warmer. I love the smell of Lilac or Rose. It doesn't take much oil, probably a capful to a small bottle and maybe two to three capfuls for a large bottle. then fill the rest of the bottle with water. A second choice is to use liquid fabric softener. To a spray bottle pour the amount of liquid fabric softener of your choice, then fill the rest of the bottle with water. Give a shake and spray. Your house will smell amazing. Use this just like you would Ferbreeze Upholstery Freshener. I love using this on our couches and bedding. We go to bed at night and our sheets smell like they were just wash. Comes in handy refreshing them between washings.
Another homemade cleaner you can make is by using the peels of oranges, lemons, limes or grapefruits. Yes girl, save those peels and add them to a jar with a screw on lid. Maybe a Mason jar. Then fill with vinegar all the way to the neck of the jar. Let this steep for about a week maybe two. This will be a concentrate so it will need to be diluted. When it is done steeping, pour a small amount into a spray bottle and then fill the rest of the way with water. Give a shake and spray. Great all natural cleaner.
Vinegar, Alcohol, Peroxide, Citrus Oils, and Tea Tree oil all have anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, anti-viral properties. They are great for killing germs. You can also use Tea Tree Oil and a citrus essential oil in a diffuser to kill virus's in the air as well.
Hope you give these a try.
If you enjoy or blog and content, be sure to sign up to receive emails of when a new post is published so you don't miss a thing. You can find the sign up box on the top right hand side of the screen. We would love it if you would join us. Enjoy your reading.
If you are curious of any products you see in our images or that we use in our kitchen, please feel free to visit our Amazon Store where we have everything organized onto lists for each category.
Check out our Amazon Storefront here:
https://www.amazon.com/shop/keeperofthehomeat4dfarms
4D Farms LLC. is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. Our storefront link is an affiliate link that earns our farm a commission at no additional cost to you, if you click through and make a purchase. You can trust that we recommend products that we use in our own home and love and maybe some we wish to have. Our storefront is designed to help you locate items easily by specific organized and titled lists.
Thank you for your support.
If you like video versions, feel free to check out our YouTube Channel here: https://youtube.com/@keeperofthehomeat4dfarms?si=UwX-ofYFu9GhriXp
When you visit our channel, be sure to subscribe and turn the notifications bell on so you will be notified every time a video is uploaded. We will see you there.
I highly recommend this book. I would like to encourage every wife or soon to be wife to read this. This book will take you through every aspect of what your husband's needs are and how to pray specifically for him.
