I declared Q&A bankruptcy. (And I made a little recipe index thingy!)
Good morning, frugal people! I've got two things to talk to you about today.
1. Recipe Index
First up, about the recipe index thing...
You've always been able to access recipes by using the category drop-down menu in the sidebar, but that wasn't super user-friendly.
Soo, I installed a new plug-in and uploaded my main dish recipes one page that has ALL of the thumbnails.
I'd love to eventually do this with all of my bread recipes, but since you have to do the photo and link uploading manually (lots of work!), I've only done the main dish recipes at this point.
I figured main dishes are usually the most pressing recipe need for most people, so that's why I prioritized 'em.
I put a little graphic in my sidebar so that you can easily find the page whenever you need it.
Once you're on the main dish page, just click on the thumbnail image of any recipe you like, and you should be taken straight to the recipe post.
Let me know if any of them aren't working! I uploaded so many images and pasted so many links, it's quite possible that I messed up a few of them. 😉
I'm excited about this and I hope it helps you get dinner on the table at your house!
2. Q&A Bankruptcy
You know how I do Q&A posts sometimes?
I somehow ended up with a huge backlog of questions and I've lost track of which questions I've answered and which I haven't.
And some of the questions are so old, I'm not even sure how relevant they are anymore.
As a result, I've decided to clear out all of the old questions and start fresh.
This means I need some new questions to answer! And since my Q&A queue is empty now, I'll actually get around to answering a question you submit.
So!
Send me some questions. You can leave questions as a comment here, or you can email me (thefrugalgirl at gmail) with Q&A in the subject line.
I'll answer questions in future Q&A posts, and I also thought it might be fun to do a Periscope broadcast where I answer some reader questions.
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P.S. In case you're concerned about privacy: I'm totally happy to use your initials, or just your first name. Or you can also go by Jane Smith or some other equally creative pseudonym. 😉
P.P.S. You can ask me questions about frugality, but if you're also wondering something about blogging or homeschooling or photography or whatever, feel free to ask. Variety is the spice of life!
Hi Kristen! I have really enjoyed you blog for wire some time, (even if I have never successfully baked any bread that wasn't pumpkin or banana flavored, despite your extensive tips ;)). My question may be way too personal, if so, just feel free to skip it. But I was wondering if the blog has significantly grown or improved your household income as of late? You mentioned a couple of years ago that it only made a small side stream of income, and I wondered if that had changed and improved over time. You are very dedicated and organized with your posts so I wondered if that hard work has paid off!
Nope, not too personal! I'll add it to a future Q&A post. 🙂
Thanks so much for the recipe index! While looking through your main dishes, I saw a couple that I had somehow missed when you posted that I want to try. So thanks for the time-consuming job of organizing them into one easy to access spot! I'll also look forward to the bread index. 🙂
Yay! I'm glad it is already seeming useful to you.
I certainly agree with Addy. Thanks for doing all the work to make this happen. I clicked on a picture and got a recipe I want to use this week!
I look forward to reading your post and admiring your frequent pictures each weekday. Thanks for your dedication to the task.
Hi! I have a question/curiosity that is somewhat off the topic of frugality (but not really because being healthy is definitely a frugal win!). Would you consider sharing a day of eats? A look into your diet on a typical day? You and your family seem fit and healthy, yet you have such a variety/balance of food - bread, occasional sweets, etc. So I'm curious about portion sizes, what a whole day of food looks like. Do you have food "rules" for you or the kids (e.g. sweets only on weekends, no snacking between meals, etc)? I've started to think that my diet needs a serious overhaul so I can finally lose weight and save $ on dr visits and meds. Perhaps I have the metabolism of a hibernating bear. But I'm curious. I know you're not a dietitian, but clearly you're doing something right in this domain!
Hi! I've recently made the switch to making all of our bread from scratch (yay!) in efforts to be frugal and control ingredients. I have always made some bread but having made the switch of full time working to staying at home with three kids, It's very important to maintain the budget. My question is about bread storage. I've been making several loaves of several types of bread at once to save time and turning on the oven. When you freeze, do you slice first or thaw then slice? Also, you routinely make whole wheat bread I see but when I use any wheat (not even close to half and half) my bread is dense and doesn't turn out well like the white variety. Any tips?
I have two questions that I've intended to ask for a while now. I guess today is a good opportunity. 🙂
First, how did you decide which kids clothes to store, and what did you give away immediately? How did you store them? I have a 3-year-old girl in size 5T, a 2 year-old boy in size 2T, and a six-month-old boy transitioning to 12 months. We want one or two more kids, but we obviously cannot predict their sexes and don't know what season it will be at their birth. Half of me wants to free up storage and clutter by parting with almost everything (especially from my daughter), but the frugal part of me thinks that may be unwise.
Second, what did you do for homeschooling in the preschool years? We aren't doing formal homeschooling yet, but we intend to eventually. Are there any materials you recommend covering in these early years?
I second both of those questions! And Kristin, once again, THANK YOU for being so real with your readers. It would take me a novel to explain how getting glimpses into your life has helped lessen the stress of my own crazy life right now. Thanks for being a part of that!
Aww, I'm so encouraged to hear that. Yay!
No joking, the other week, my hubby mentioned that he would wait to ask me about something till I was over the craze of planning/beginning the homeschool year. I replied, "Oh, I'm over my stress now. I re-read a couple of one of my favorite blogs [yours] and I'm much more self-assured in how I'm doing this right now." It's just waaaay too easy to compare myself to all I see all over the net and see how I lack in so many ways. But you have always pointed back to people's strengths and likes rather than insisting it MUST be done this way. So thanks! Hah - you're getting a novel, anyhow!
I second this question about what clothes to keep or pass along!
OMG you are the BEST for doing this! I'm all the time searching for "key" words on your site to find old recipes. I think this is a huge value add! Thank you!
My question: What's your beauty/skincare routine? I know you've posted a little about your morning routine before, but I'd be interested to hear a recap of that with a focus on how much/little time you spend grooming.
What are your go-to recipes for using up food that's about to go bad? A list of recipe by ingredient would be super helpful/useful.
I asked this a while back, and I am still interested in hearing your perspective.
Suggestions for how to find quality products? I am willing to spend more for something that will last, but how do you determine which choice is high quality?
Related question, would you rather buy something new with high quality or something second-hand with lower quality? How do you decide which is better?
Oh good, I'm glad you re-asked! I know there were a lot of unanswered questions in the my queue and I hoped that if people had a pressing unanswered question, they'd just re-submit it.
Yours is in my fresh new queue now. 😉
Thanks for this resource, Kristen! We love your fishcake recipe and have used it several times; we will have to check out some of the others.
Hi! I can't wait to check out your new recipe links! 🙂
I would love a glimpse into your typical day.
Hi,
I have a question for you! I always dreamt of homeschooling (maybe this has something to do with the lousy education I received) and I have even started working on an MA in Childhood Education so that I can be properly prepared. I don't have any kids yet, but I was wondering if you can tell me more about what homeschooling is like? What are the pros and cons? When did you start homeschooling? Until what age do you homeschool? I'm afraid that it'll be too overwhelming! I am a bit of a control freak and I want to know if this is a bad thing for a homeschooler. Thanks 🙂
Hi Kristen!
I love what you have done with the new recipe page and setting up all the pictures and links for us.
My question is blog related: You said you used a plug-in. Would you mind sharing what you used, how you implemented it, any tips for using and managing it?
Sure, it's called cata-blog and it's a free WordPress plugin.
Hi! I've been a reader for the last couple of years, since I started staying home with my 3-year-old daughter, and your blog has been a real encouragement to me. Thank you. A couple of random questions for your queue: 1) You've mentioned keeping the library basket full, and I am intrigued. How does that work? Do you pick out a big stack of books for your kids, or is the basket for their picks? Do they like (and read) the books you pick? 2) I love the idea of having some savings accounts for things like clothing, etc. But when you go to the store, how do you handle the money transfer? Pay with the regular debit card and then transfer the money from your savings account? What if it's a big purchase?
Thanks again. 🙂