My Delightful Journal

 How often is your reply "No thank you" to the question, "Do you want your receipt?" when you're at the grocery store or fast food. You need to STOP! You're throwing away money! I've had multiple people ask me about which websites and apps I use to earn money back on receipts. Some I use, you can also do small tasks like take a survey or watch an ad. All these little things really add up! For the majority of them, you'll need some type of smart phone.  Take a look down below! 1. Swagbucks I'm starting with this one first because capturing receipts is only one of its many features! You can take surveys, watch ads, answer questions, play games, and make purchases through Swagbucks for money back! This is easily used on the desktop, and there's an app to upload receipts as well.  Head HERE   to sign up! Earn an extra 300 SB (Swagbucks) when you earn 300 points within your first 30 days. 300 SB = $3 gift card. You can easily get that within the f

This post contains affiliate links, in which I earn a small commission at no cost to you. So thank you for looking, shopping, and sharing! <3  I've followed Crystal Paine ( The Money Saving Mom ) since Aaron and I have been married. She has great tips for living on a low budget, and we needed that when we were first married. So she always intrigued me.  Her oldest kids are only teenagers, so she never claims to know everything about parenting. I appreciate her fresh approach to parenting and coming strictly from the heart. She shares some of the background of her legalist mindset as a new mom and equates that into how it affected her parenting style.  I find that fascinating because it's a temptation for anyone to want to hear, "Hey, you raised some good kids" or "Congrats on your son's/daughter's accomplishments." But is   that the goal of parenting? Is raising "good kids" to be "good adults" the pinpointed accomplishment? It&

I've been making slow cooker lasagna since we've been married. In fact, I think this may have been the first meal I cooked my in laws. It's a great recipe if you have a large family (*define large here*) or you're having guests over.  I'm always impressed with slow cooker recipes because I can dump it all in sometime in the morning, and dinner is prepared in the evening when I don't feel like cooking. :)  I've tried several slow cooker lasagna recipes, and I've used different aspects of each over the years to create my own.  This is a husband and kid pleaser in our home! Recipe 1 lb. ground sausage* (We prefer sweet but hot would work too.) 1 onion, chopped Clove of garlic  2 jars pasta sauce  24 oz of ricotta 16 oz of shredded mozzarella cheese  8 oz shredded parmesan cheese  16 oz oven ready lasagna noodles * You can certainly use ground beef as well. Be sure to generously season it with Italian seasoning and spices.  Brown your ground beef in pan on m

This post contains affiliate links in which I receive a  small commission at no cost to you. Thanks for looking!  What's your reason for wanting to cut your spending? You must have something on your mind if you clicked on this post.  Paying off debt? Saving for a trip? Send your kid(s) to college? Give more to your church?  Income loss? Whatever it is, I have a few helpful tips that I'm still learning and refining!  1. Establish a budget (and use it!) I feel like this should be an easy one... like, DUH. But it's not so easy to keep track of a budget and stay on track. I've found myself slacking up in knowing where my money was going many times.  You can't cut spending to save money if you don't first know where it's being invested!  Track your... Income Budgeted expenses Actual expenses This overall view will determine where you can cut and where you can't.  If you haven't used a budgeting system before, here's a few downloads to help you get sta

  Y'all (sorry, I shouldn't really use that word when I'll soon be referencing the great New England King Arthur Flour), this recipe is so good.  Who makes these?! Not me! - My husband! We buy flour (King Arthur to be exact) in huge bulk, and this is one great reason why.  There's a few tweaks that Aaron makes to the recipe that I wanted to share before you dive in!  As far as we can tell, salted or unsalted butter hasn't made a difference. Someone smarter than I may be able to weigh more into that! He uses regular (whole) milk instead of dry milk.  He hasn't added in the potato flakes yet! We will have to try that some time, but man - I can't imagine how they could get any better than they already are!! We use our fabulous  6 quart Kitchen Aid Mixer  to knead everything together!  PRO TIP (😂😂Nah, just something he figured out) Use a pizza cutter to slice your dough into sixteen equal portions.  Sprinkle a little flour on these babies before you cook them

     I asked my husband what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday. He replied, "The chocolate cream cake that my mom and Nana make." UGH!!!! Now, I have to live up to the standards of my mother-in-law. 😳 I'm only somewhat joking; my MIL and I are fantastic friends.. It did make me nervous though!      My MIL was very specific when I requested the recipe... "About 2 cups of confectioner sugar and somewhere 2-3 tablespoons of cocoa..." Thanks, Mom. I'll figure it out on my own.       Either way, I did it! And everyone loved it! It's super  easy and super delicious. It's a nice cake to take to a party or church fellowship, which is what I use it for.      INGREDIENTS: - Marble Cake Mix (and the other ingredients on the back of the box) - 2 cups of confectioner's sugar - 3 Tablespoons of baking cocoa  - 1 pint of heavy cream  Step 1: Make the marble cake according to the instructions on the box. If you've never made marble c