My family harvests food from our garden to make our own food. We make it by canning, and freezing it too. We grow ruttabaggies, wax beans, green beans, peas, potatoes, corn, carrots, pumpkin, watermellon, lettice, spinach, squash, cabbage, beets, turnips, strawberries, rasberries, sunflowers for their seeds, tomatoes, green peppers, cucumbers, and lima beans in the family garden. We have a couple apple trees as well on our property. I get to pick any I want to eat. I bring it home and make things and can them and freeze pumpkin pie rasberry pie and others. I also make fudge from scratch. Chocolate, sugar and nuts with evaporated milk.

I make my own pickles to sell to neighbors from the cucumbers at my family garden. Bread and Butter Pickles are my family favorite to make to eat. We also make Christmas sugar cookies.

Presents are made by me too. Cards too. I use a library computer and a disc for card making and print them out for 10 cents a copy. That's $2.50 for 25 cards made by a computer written by me. This cost is for one store boughten card at Wal-Mart or whereever. I save $62.50 by doing this on a computer. I don't spend a dime on my own paper at the store. For presents I make them. Doilies, Dolls, candles, candies, cookies, special fruit cakes, Norwegian food like Lefse, Krumkaka, Russian food too, potholders, pillows for bed decoration yes even for men and boys, scarfs and mittens knitted and chrocheted, toys for children that are sewn too. I get my sewing supplies from thrift stores and the dollar stores in town. I live frugally and tightwad every month of the year. Well this is how I make my own. Find your own creativity and make your own. Seriously do make your own because everyone differs on what they have at hand without spending too much money or none at all. I don't want you to copy what I do in this blog as it might differ in your country or part of the country.

Here in Minnesota dollar stores really are a dollar elsewhere they are any amount under $20.00 including North Dakota, so find your own on making your own.

Tanya

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Well to begin there are a lot of frugal and budget tightwad things to do for dating. For instance, take a walk in the park and find a quiet spot for a picnic and nature sighting with opposite sex. Me I have all my dates at his house or mine. We watch a movie we already have usually rated G or PG, since I am a Christian I only date Christians. You can choose who to date. Don't let any one bully you into dating someone you don't want to date that is no fun.

Save money by eating at each others house. You can also bring left overs or sandwiches or anything home made on a picnic with a basket or bag it. Just spread a blanket on the ground and you have it made for a picnic date.

Another idea is group dating or in my case go to a social club for people with Specific and Long Term Mental Depression (illness) and food if you are both members that is good. Support groups also can be an excellent dating source since everyone there is on the same page so to speak. They usually have a potluck or dance twice a year. Again bring leftovers enough to feed some people and yourselves. This can cost a little or a lot.

Getting there is half the fun I always quote. Use the bus if neither one of you drive. This can be done free or for a small amount of money to pay for a monthy pass. If you are a college student use your ID to get free bus rides and other things at school like movie entrance on the college grounds. Ride bicycle too if you want an outing make it a bicycle built for two. A scooter moped can be rented by the hour too if you have enough money.

Make the most of your time together. Check out more ideas in The Tightwad Gazette I,II,III, & IIIV (1,2,3, & 4). You can get this book on ebay cheaply all it cost is what is said on the sale page on-line. You can pay by money order if you have no paypal account or credit card. I, however, think money order is the way to go for infothis girl/woman. There is a lot of cheap things to do in the book called TightwadGazette in it. It is my motto for living too. If you order on ebay via money order all you have to do is wait up to 9 days in the USA and 21 days internationally for your product to come to you. It's worth the information to wait that long otherwise there is next day mail which cost a pretty penny, especially overseas delivery costs.

Finally for frugal fun my dates and I go shopping at The Family Dollar Store in Moorhead, MN on Highway 10 East Mall for picnic items of food, which we take to the parks again via bikes, bus, or driving. Also each others home. Trust in God is another quote I live by and he provides.

Well good luck with discovering frugal and tightwad and fun creative ways to date.

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There is no difference between the two religions that both honor nature and a God of sorts. I, however don't ever celebrate it. Why because my birth day is three days before the holiday. I get really affended when a support group celebrates birthdays of the month of October. Mine is celebrated only if my brother who 9 years younger than me celebrates his birthday first. His is two weeks before mine. They insist I celebrate it in the support group on Halloween. I am a Christian with a real low sense of self-esteem this being a touchy subject with me. I always have an anger outburst usually this gets me kicked out as no one really cares about me there and the members never wanted me their in the beginning even told me so too behind the leaders backs and staff members. Last year I was passed up again on my birthday. Never mind that I don't celebrate it without my brother celebrating his on my birthday. I have decided from now on I will go it alone birthday and all with my children that I am getting from the state. I will insist they celebrate Halloween however they want too. I am not that cruel Not like Cindy Z, Susan, and Tina at that group I was kicked out of for my last year outburst over my birthday when it was Susan's they were celebrating on my birthday day as I already had to put up with my family's version of celebrating my birthday not really though as it was more for my brother. I have been called bitch over that and a meanie for insisting they celebrate my birthday on group day. So from now on I celebrate it with my own birthday with a birthday cake for me and me sharing like my grandparents taught me too. My children that I will get are all the gifts I need to get for me to be happy. I will forget Cindy Z, Susan, and Tina meanness to me and inconsideration of my feelings and beliefs. I see Halloween as a devils holiday and always have in the past too.

 Wiccans see it as a celebration too just like everyone else in the world except me. Their beliefs are different, but the same as Christians. My friend is a Wiccan and she says the only difference is that there are several different sections of Wiccan practices and only one of Christians. I tell her that we are all the same in Gods eyes yes even in both religions.

For Halloween at my church they have asked me to help make it special for the little kids, so I will help make decorations of paper chains  and paper wall decorations and such. This way I can let the children know I care about their celebration of Halloween. Some of them think I am weird that I don't personally celebrate it due to my religious beliefs. They ask why and I tell them truly my religion belief system doesn't allow me too. Wiccan sounds like a good religion to me too. I may just convert to it, if my support groups and family don't change the way they treat me every end of October. I feel like the afflicted one in the bible I have read since I learned to read it. I feel this way daily. Well I will tell all to have a happy Halloween and shopping at the last minute for candy usually gets a lower price at Wa-Mart, K-Mart, and Target, or a store like these stores I mention. Use the dollar store as they have candy galore for a dollar for two sometimes or a dollar a piece or .88 cents  a piece. The kids will love you for it. Get your decorations at the dollar store too with construction paper and glue and scissors for a dollar each who can go wrong with those prices. well have a good day.

Images:

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Well this log is about how I eat when I don't have foster children to take care of in a month. I usually run out of food stamps by the end of the month each month, so what I do is with my last of my money which doesn't exceed $4.50 each month and sometimes $4.00 is I go thru my whole cupboard take a list of my stock including my fridge. I then go to my purse and get out the flier left over from the middle of the month going to the store for bread. The money gets me milk a pint, noodles to make casseroles with for that last week, dried beans for soup, and a big can of fruit from these things bought at the dollar store with some money left over to buy cool-aide packs from a grocery store sometimes. Potatoes and other veggies are given to me by friends and relatives who know I am strapped for cash on my SSI income of $552.00 a month with $81.00 a month from the state since I am physical disabled. I work too very parttime. Just so you know too. I get no money for my foster children personally. It all goes for their needs. I live quite happily on what I get in money.

I also go to a food bank for food at the end of the month sometimes every other month, but I do go there without any prejudices about taking free food. It is live or die and I prefer to live. Anyone who doesn't utilize this service in their community if they have one is nuts as far as I am concerned. It's also suicidal. You need to eat to live. If you cash is low take any charity you can and swallow what you think pride you have left. You always have your pride no one can take that away unless you give it away. Getting groceries for free is the ultimate tightwad and frugal capture and find. I love to say I get food for free. It feels good and I am not abusing anyone in the process. I never get enough food benefits just like anyone else who doesn't get enough money without having children in their home from the state or their own. They go for the same thing I do free food. I also go to soup kitchens too for lunch sometimes. This is how I eat frugally or free.

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Well I have three cats that love attention, but keeping one from peeing outside of the box is a major problem for me. What I do is put an incontinency pad right down in front of the kitty litter boxes and that works. I also make sure she is in a kennel during the day when I am gone on one of them pads with food not a whole lot of water. I am only gone a couple hours at a time and this seems to work. If I am gone longer I use a room with alot of continency pads on the floor with the litter box in the same area.

I also have a dog that I just got free from the paper from someone who was moving. She uses those pads as well since she is only a year old and She is not very well trained, but I am working on that issue with her. She gets along wonderfully well with my other two dogs and three cats. It is a perfect match with our family. My foster children that I will get always seem to respond well to pet therapy and pets I have in my home. I think it helps the healing process even more in that respect. It helps my chronic lifetime depression too. I don't hate the peeing. I hate the ineffectiveness of training in me so I try to improve my patience by being one step ahead of my pets. I cook for them still as well.

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Well today marks the 6th year of the crashes and deaths of the Twin Towers in NYC and Flight 93. I have this day marked in red on my calendar as a day to remember every year since the day the world ended as we know it. For frugal empathy of all those who lost a loved one I have a homemade flag a small one tied to my cars antenna in memory of those brave souls. I sewed it with scrapes of red, white, and blue from clothes that don't fit me anymore. I sewed it by hand so I would have some idea of some of the pricking pain going on in some people's life since 9/11/2001. You see . I am an excellent sewing machine seamstress, but when it comes to sewing by hand I always prick myself with the needle and it hurts, so this is the reason. I wanted to feel some pain and not be detached from the day. I do feel numb when I think of all those people of 9/11. I watched the news broadcast interviews last night and wondered what can I do to ease the feeling of sadness some in my community have over a lost loved one. An Idea came to me when I looked at my sewing machine and my clothes I was taking to the thrift store today make a flag, so I did by hand. It wasn't the best and most certainly it had a few drops of blood on it, but it was my memorial to all of the victims alive and dead of 9/11. I know nothing of their pain, but plenty of the pain it took to make that flag today which I am willing to display on my car's antenna the rest of the year. Sewing helped ease my anger management in some ways. I am no longer angry over 9/11 and what it did to our country. I find solice in the fact that my grandma taught me to sew so I would always have a health outlet for my anger and creativity. I am teaching my foster children nowadays too.

Sewing brings out so much good in a person and sometimes it even helps us destract ourselves from our sorrow and grief from tragedy comes creativity and from creativity comes happiness once more, so my tip and try sewing to distract yourself or another art like crocheting and knitting. Teaching your children or a friend is another form of distraction too. We can never forget, but a healthy distraction is always what we need. God bless you all and may he walk in your presence daily.

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I will keep this simple. If you buy an older mobile home expect wear and "tear" because some people who own them before you couldn't afford to fix it up before they bought and sold it. Sell as is if you are selling a mobile home is the best way to get rid of one. A handyman and his family can repair what needs to be fixed further on and in your home. I fixed all my pipes when they burst last winter due to the former owner never telling me they were not taped underground. What worse I was on vacation when it happened, so water got soaked in and froze. Now I have that problem fixed and I am selling and living in an apartment for right now. I will be moving in a couple months into another mobile home in a better climate for the winter and transporting it back to my home state in Minnesota myself in a car with a hitch. One word to the wise though if you are selling "as is" tell the truth in the selling of it. The prospective buyer will be thankful after buying it. This also scares off anybody who can't afford to fix up after buying you older mobile home. I learned the hard way since my former owner of my home never told me what was wrong with the home I was buying. If I had known then what I know now. I would have run. I have fixed the pipes, my water heater, my bath tub faucets and shower, and my heater leaving me no money room to fix anything else in the home. Putting in new carlet when selling is also a nec. Do it. End of discussion. I am putting it in myself with the help of a Resell store clerk and a male friend who knows about carpet installing. They are instructing me on how to do it properly. Now on a final note just because your selling don't just sell to anyone think of your neighbors first when selling. Also parking is an issue. I am getting a neighbor evicted because they have continually parked in my spot while I was gone for 9 months, so the new tennant and owner doesn't have to put up with them. This is a respectful thing for me to do since my neighbor never cared about a handicapped woman before what would make him think of the new tennant and owner I say, so think of your new tennant and owner too.

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Shopping at WalMart is good for the middle class and upper border line poor and middle class, but if you are like me middle poor it can be expensive. What I do is buy milk there every twice a month and freeze a jug of milk too. It last two weeks. I then go to the Family Dollar store in my neighborhood for food that isn't freezer related every middle of the month. The nineth of the month I use food stamps to shop for hamburger and vegatarian meat at the local warehouse grocery store this takes up most of my food stamps, so twice a month I go to the food shelf too aka community food pantry for food that is free. You have to live in the area and county, but if you find one near you and can't afford food for three meals a day every month go sign up its worth it. Also, don't be afraid to complain if the food is not good. It may be free, but that is no reason it has to be spoiled or bad to eat, even they have guidelines they have to follow about health codes and such. well good luck:).

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