In keeping with my cheap living theme, I wanted to share a link to another blog where the owner is giving away free supplements this summer. She gives you several ways to enter so there is something for everybody. The blog is called Rebuild and includes important health facts that make very interesting reading.

Several articles caught my attention and I will probably repost some of them when I get time. Meanwhile, why not take a few minutes and enter the contest. Who knows, you might just win. Now, before you go saying that you never win and it’s probably not worth it, you can’t win unless you enter. I didn’t think I had much of a chance in a contest earlier this Spring but guess what, I now have a new iPod Touch that proves that theory wrong. Go ahead and enter because free fits everybody’s budget. :0)

My Mom taught me how to bake when I was growing up. It’s one way to enjoy top quality desserts without breaking the bank. Now that I’m getting older and my metabolism has slowed down, I’m also able to cut calories while keeping flavor. I’m even changing old recipes to make them healthier. It’s one of the reasons I included a Cheap Meals/Recipes category on this blog.

At one time or another, anyone who bakes wonders why some recipes call for baking soda and others for baking powder. I’ve even had some that called for both. Most of us haven’t a clue as to what the difference is.

My grandson came in covered in bug bites today so I went to the Arm and Hammer Baking Soda site to see if they could help. They didn’t say anything about bug bites but did explain the difference between baking soda and powder. According to Arm & Hammer:

“ARM & HAMMER® Baking Soda is 100% pure sodium bicarbonate. Baking powder is a mixture of baking soda and various acidic ingredients. Both baking soda and baking powder are used in baking to help dough rise, (for leavening). ARM & HAMMER® Baking Soda will react in combination with acidic ingredients in a recipe (like cream of tartar or lemon juice) to release the carbon dioxide that causes dough to rise. Baking powder, which already contains the acidic ingredients to make the carbon dioxide producing reaction, is used in recipes without other acidic ingredients.

As they are fundamentally different products, you may not substitute ARM & HAMMER® Baking Soda for baking powder in a recipe. You can, however, make a baking powder substitute using ARM & HAMMER® Baking Soda. To make the equivalent of 1 teaspoon baking powder, mix 5/8 teaspoons of cream of tartar with 1/4 teaspoon ARM & HAMMER® Baking Soda.”

That solves a long standing kitchen mystery. As for my grandson, I made a thin paste of Baking Soda and water and put it on his bites. The swelling went down and they looked 100% better in about 20 minutes. This is one time I’m glad I followed my instincts.

If you want to know more uses for baking soda, please head over to the Arm & Hammer site. I highly recommend it. :0)

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What with banks buying out other banks and credit card fees changing, you can’t assume anything when it comes to  your money.  I saw one woman on the news who’s minimum payment had climbed to something like $250.00 and she had good credit!  With things like that happening, I came across a blog post about the recent Credit Cardholder’s Bill of Rights Act  that President Obama signed into law.

Now granted, it would be wonderful if all of us were debt free and had huge incomes but just in case you don’t, you might want to take a look at these 10 New Rules For Credit Cards.  These days it pays to have all the information you can gather at your fingertips.

These days there are so many places to get coupons on the internet,  you can literally print out dollars of savings on your computer.  As with most things in this world, if there’s a way to benefit from it, crooks will try.  Save yourself from embarrassment at the checkout with these simple rules.

*  If it has no expiration date, it is probably fake.  These days, most coupons have a 30 day to 6 month expiration date.  If your coupon is unlimited it is probably an old one that someone illegally reproduced.

*  Don’t pay for free coupons.  Manufacturers always give their coupons for free.  If a coupon club or website wants you to pay for coupons, it is highly suspect.

*  If you print out coupons,  it’s a good idea to save the whole sheet rather than to cut them out.  That way if there is a problem, the store has the URL address of where you got the coupon.  They will prosecute people who are taking advantage of the system.

*  You can generally trust coupons you download from a brand’s main website.

If you want more information, please visit The Coupon Information Center.

Just a quick update today. I came across a neat site called About.com. As you can imagine, it is about all sorts of stuff. I took a quick glance at the garden section and found why radishes get hard and woody, too hot or fail to develop bulbs. Important stuff if you have a black thumb and can’t even grow a radish.

This site has a lot of categories and is nicely put together.  If you have a few moments and some things that you have been wondering about, it would be a good place to visit.  Realize though, it is put together by volunteers and their results might not be the same as yours.

Caution:  There are a lot of interesting entries on About.com and you could lose a morning there.  :0)

CheapLivingToday advocates safety first.  It doesn’t matter what the price tag is on something if it is going to damage your health down the road.

I recently read an article on a site called Safbaby.com that warned of the hazards of using PVC Shower curtains.  You know what it’s like.  You buy a fresh new shower curtain and later walk into the bathroom and get hit in the face with that new plastic smell.  Yes, it dissipates over time but what no one told us was that those fumes were toxic!  Not exactly something you want your kids playing with in the tub.  Add it to the rest of the chemicals in most homes and it’s amazing more of us don’t have allergies.  Does anyone know the true longterm effect of these chemicals?  It’s worth your time to visit this site and think about what you can do to create a safer home environment because if it’s not safe, it’s not cheap!

There are gadgets that you can have installed to save electricity.  If you are interested, your own power company is a good place to start.  They can put timers on your hot water heater and air conditioner.  My power company charged a small per month fee for the priviledge but you should save more than you spend.

However, the best way to save money is to look at what you have that uses power and ask yourself how you can conserve it.  How many times do we go out and leave our computers running?  I know we think that it’s ok because it will go into sleep mode but it is still drawing power.  Does your printer have a little green light shining on it?  It’s drawing power.  Granted, these are small things but they all add up.  An easy way to deal with appliances that are grouped together like your printer, scanner, computer, etc.  is to plug them into an electric strip that has an on/off switch on it.  Then when you are done for the night, you simply press the switch and all the little lights go out.  Don’t forget to include your modem, TV, etc.  Sometimes things like our TVs are drawing power so that they will stay warm and start quickly.  You really don’t need that extra start time if you get in the habit of turning on the TV and then going for your coffee or visit the restroom.  When you return, the TV will be on and you will have put that start up time to good use.

Speaking of TVs, do you really need it blaring in the background while you are trying to get some work done?  Get in the habit of checking the listings and putting it on for the shows you want to watch but turn it off when you are done.  Alternatively, I like to wait a day or two and watch my shows on line through a program like http://hulu.com .  That way there are fewer commercial breaks and I can check email or update my Squidoo lenses as I am watching my show.  To make it easier, since I use a laptop, it is easy to hook an old monitor to the back of it and watch the show on that while I work.  You have to go into your desktop properites and widen your viewing screen so that it includes the monitor but I like having it added.  Since the monitor is on my desktop, it is easy to turn off when I don’t need it.  In addition to shows, I use it when I have more than one program open and need to refer back and forth.  It’s much easier than working off one screen.  Since many of us are using laptops and there are a lot of old monitors hanging around, this is one way to keep something you thought you no longer needed from going to the landfill.

Since this is a blog, feel free to add your own ideas.  Together we really can make a difference.

Did you get a Blu-Ray for Christmas?  If so, you need Blu-Ray disks to play in it.  Now is the time to get ready for summer because Amazon is running a huge sale.

Blu-ray and DVD Buy 2, Get 1 Free sale that allows you to mix and match Blu-ray with DVD. This sale is going on now through April 24, 2009 while supplies last. There are over 400 titles in the sale including 300 [Blu-ray], Into the Wild, I, Robot [Blu-ray], and many more. [SORRY, TIME RAN OUT ON THIS ONE.]

You can also save on 600 DVDs as Low as $4.99 from now until May 12, 2009 while supplies last

Last but not least, there’s a Disney Preschool Sale that allows your customers to save up to 43% on DVDs for kids from now until May 1, 2009 while supplies last [SORRY - time's out on this one.]

See, I told you it is a huge sale but it is only for a limited time and each offer has its own alloted time.  Be sure you check it out before it’s too late!  Why spend more for the same movie?

In my last post I mentioned making homemade vegetable soup.  I used to think this was an all day deal that I couldn’t manage and work too.  You can cut the time considerably if you use premade chicken stock or water and chicken base.  Feel free to change this recipe to include the things your family likes to eat.  I often use frozen green beans but cut them in half.  If you don’t have any tomato paste, add a small can of diced tomatoes.

Start cooking the chicken and when it looks done, add the rest of the ingredients in order.  Once you have everything in the pot you simmer it for another 10 to 15 minutes until everything is cooked.  Don’t over cook and you won’t have to worry about ’stinky cabbage’.

Garden Vegetable Soup with Chicken

1 boneless, skinless chicken breast, cubed
2/3 cup Sliced Carrots
½ cup chopped onions
2 cloves minced garlic
3 cups chicken broth (can be from chicken base)
½ cup green beans
½ cup diced zucchini
1 Tbs tomato paste
½ tsp dried basil
½ tsp dried oregano
1 ½ cups diced cabbage

In a large pot, put a little stock and simmer the chicken breast a few minutes until done. (It could be done in olive oil if you prefer.) Add the ingredients in order adding the cabbage last so that it cooks the least amount of time.  As you can imagine, the vegetable amounts can vary according to how many you are feeding and what they like.

My family loves some biscuits or toast with this.  When I make it for my husband and me, we have leftovers and still freeze a container for one of those nights when you just don’t feel like cooking.  I often make family sized batches of whatever I am cooking and freeze some for later.  That way we still enjoy family favorites but don’t get tired of leftovers.  If you plan ahead, you can have a whole week of dinners in the freezer with very little extra work.

I know, Barley isn’t one of those grains that most of us eat on a regular basis but why not?  I made some yesterday that is really good and can be used as a side dish when I’m scrambling to make dinner this week.

According to the box, for a cup of pearled barley you will need 2 cups of water.  I actually added a little more while it was cooking as I wanted to simmer mine a little longer to make it softer.  Bring the water to a boil and add your barley.  When it returns to a boil, reduce the heat so that it simmers, cover and cook about 40 minutes or until the water is absorbed.  That’s the basic recipe.

When I added the barley, I also added some diced green onion, celery and carrot.  You can replace the water with chicken stock or do as I did and add some chicken base to the mix.  If you do that, you really don’t need to add any salt.

The result is a very tasty pot of barley that your family should love.  If you serve it more than once and have leftovers, you can freeze them to add to soup the next time you make it.  What’s that?  You don’t have an easy recipe for soup?  I guess I will have to add that next.  :0)

By the way, I buy little jars of beef,vegetable, turkey and/or chicken base in my grocery store.  They are similar to bouillon but taste better and are easier to use.  (I think one brand is called ‘Better Than Bouillon’.)  In my store they are on a shelf near the soup.  I keep these in my refrigerator for soup starters, to flavor grains or even make gravy.  It’s one of those things that make life a little easier.

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