The children and I have been scouring Pinterest for ideas to decorate using items that we already have. We paired these simple mason jar, Epsom salt candle holders with fresh greenery from our back yard, gold organza fabric (left over from a previous project), sparkly red and gold ball ornaments and the old classic string-of-lights-in-mason-jars…

Rising food prices hit every family hard, but for large families with a single income, food can be a significant percentage of their budget and it is a particular concern.   Today the 4 Moms of many are sharing some tips to stay within the food budget even with rising costs. Eat whole foods I know that many…

As a mom of many living on one income, you generally won’t find me shopping in the mall for children’s clothing. I generally shop second-hand at thrift stores or yard sales. However, one thing that I learned very early in my quest to clothe our children on less is that if I purchase something new,…

We don’t buy baby food. Well, I did buy a couple jars when Bella (our 10th) was about 8 months old, but other than that we don’t buy baby food. We buy real food and prepare it for our baby. Cheaper, healthier and simpler well not more simple, but still fairly simple. I don’t have…

This black bean soup is inexpensive, simple, spicy and scrumptious. It’s also a great vegetarian option. 4 lbs black beans 1 1/2 diced red onion 1/4 cup  chopped pickled jalapeno slices 2 TBL sugar 2 TBL red wine vinegar 12 cloves garlic, minced 1 1/4 tsp salt 1 1/2 tsp cyenne pepper 1 TBL chili…

Welcome to this weeks edition of 4 Moms, 35 Kids: How Moms of Many Manage.  This week Connie, KimC and The Headmistress and myself are sharing our tips for feeding the troops while traveling without going bankrupt. Traveling with a large family can be expensive. Gas, lodging, activities and food can all add up. One…

The sun is shining. The flowers are blooming. The grass is growing. It’s that time of year. Time to say goodbye to cold. Goodbye to snow. Goodbye to winter and goodbye to these: Even if it earns me the bad mother of the year award, I’m compelled to admit that by the end of the…

We have a great kitchen, it’s bigger than any kitchen we’ve ever had before. However, four out of seven top cabinets in our kitchen have open or glass fronts. Great for displaying pretty china or serving pieces, but not great if you have 10 kids and need the space for food storage. Despite my best…

Or at least some of them do. You know what they say about the best laid plans… Yesterday I spent much of the day holding this precious sick baby girl   and loving every single second of it. God is so very good that even in the midst of sickness, the direct result of sin,…

As homeschoolers we have part of our budget set aside for purchasing books, but over the past 2 years that budget has decreased dramatically while the number of books we’ve purchased has risen. How is this possible? We are able to get nearly all of our books for free from Amazon.com by using Swagbucks. Swagbucks…