Penny Pincher Recipes

I will admit I like to save money wherever and whenever I can. One place is at meal time. Here is one of my "penny pincher" recipes we had this week.

Sausage and shells

1 16oz box medium shell pasta

1 jar favorite pasta sauce

1 lb sausage

1 pkg mozzerella shredded cheese

Cook pasta according to package and drain. Brown and drain sausage. Mix pasta, 1/2 of sausage together, and jar of sauce. Pour into a 9x13 baking dish. Top with cheese. Place in a 350 degree oven for 20-25 minutes or till cheese is melted. Freeze the other half of the sausage till next time.

Homemade Laundry Soap

I made my first batch of homemade laundry soap about 8 months ago and I have never looked back. It is so much cheaper than buying already made bottles of soap that are mainly water. My boys have eczema so I have to be careful what I use on their clothes and skin. I truely feel like their skin has improved since I have been using the homemade soap. Here is the recipe I use.

4 cups hot water
1 Fels-Naptha soap bar
1 cup Arm & Hammer Washing Soda
1/2 cup Borax

Grate the bar of soap and add to a saucepan along with the water. Stir continuosly over medium low heat till soap is melted. Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full with hot water. Add melted soap, washing soda and Borax. Stir well till powders are dissolved. Add more hot water till bucket is full. Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken. Stir. Fill clean, used laundry containers half full and then fill the rest of the way with water. Shake before each use.
Use 5/8 c per load for top load
Use 1/4 c per load for front load

I use my old All small and mighty bottles and get 30 bottles from each recipe.

Just a few cards

I haven't had much time to work on cards lately. Here are some of my more recent ones. By recent I mean sometime back.

Altered paint cans

This was my first attempt at altering paint cans. I made these for my son to give to his preschool teachers as an end of the year gift. I am putting candy and a gift card in them.