Teaching Good Things

Practical Skills for Real Life

A Place for Women to Thrive in Business

Home should be a natural greenhouse for feminine industry, a place for women to thrive in business and still embrace the calling of home life.

Blisters are still made.

Struggle and toil still happen and hearts are still broken.

Income is still earned and bills still paid.

But the rewards are unfathomably greater and the success sweeter.

The women here don’t have time for meaningless gossip and water cooler chats, because they have a foundation of purpose and a far reaching vision. They are more than just wage slaves, they have the freedom to take risk.

Canning for Gift Giving

The harvest has been plentiful this year which means we can get a lot of great produce at a reasonable price. This makes for a perfect time for canning a little extra to give as gifts this Christmas.

They are also great to have on hand to give as a hostess gift, in a basket as part of a bridal shower gift or even to take as part of a care package for someone who is sick.

What would you do if all the money was gone?

Some of you may have been there before.

Some of you may be there now.

Some of you hope to never be there.

It’s the place when hard financial times hit. They may come from an un-expected catastrophe or maybe from job loss. These situations can empty your savings before you know it and leave you questioning the future… questioning everything.

So how do you respond?

How do you prepare for these times?

1 Benefit of Being Married to a Handyman!

One of the many things my husband does is restoring homes that have been abandoned. Many times the houses are full of junk and sometimes he brings home some really cool stuff!

Sometimes they are things that he re-sells or I can use in the house.

A few years ago he brought this cabinet home. It’s a quality piece of furniture but it is very 80’s. I’ve had this in my kitchen wondering what to do with it. I stored platters in the bottom but dust was an issue.

Keep Your Husband Happy without Breaking a Sweat!

Even those of us that love to cook do not enjoy the heat of the kitchen during the summer! Most of us ladies are content with a salad, but not many hard working husbands are. Even after you are married the way to his heart is still through his stomach, so lets keep that spark alive yet not heat up the kitchen too much as we seek to make him happy. 😉

PLAN AHEAD!

Plan meals that can be heated quickly, preferably without the oven or boiling water.

Wedding on a Budget: Favors - Seed Packets

Seeds are 20 cents a packet at Wal-Mart (ign

ore the 99 cent price listed there).

Cut some strips of brown paper from some paper lunch bags.

(I LOVE my paper cutter we picked up at a yard sale!)

Add a little twine and a note, and there you have it,

a very simple gift for your guest.

These are perfect for a spring wedding!

Jeff made this wonderful box to hold the seed packets for the wedding.

Free Enterprise

I love my little entrepreneur. I hear him from the other room trying to strike a deal with his 89 year old great-grandmother, he offered to tie her shoes for $1. Then his 9 year old sister scolded him for taking advantage of the elderly family member… and then says she will do it for 50 cents! Free enterprise is alive and well at the Brodock house!

Don’t constantly shower your children with all the material things they want or always pay for them to be involved in every club, activity and team. Let your children pay for some things, I promise you, they will get real creative and industrious! Great economies are built by families that know how to work!

1 Way Grown Stay-at-Home Daughters Make Money

Olivia has decided to make coupon/deal shopping for our family her part time job. The thing about a job is that you have to be committed, you have to do it even if you don’t ‘feel’ like it. I have shopped the deals from time to time, and there really is no excuse for why I don’t do it now, other than TIME. But if I were on Facebook less and surf the deals more I could make it work (there is today’s confession).

Building a Family Economy- More Than Making Maple Syrup DVD Giveaway!

I just viewed the Moore Family’s latest DVD, More than Making Maple Syrup and I love it! Whether you really do want to learn how to make maple syrup yourself to save money or make it to sell to help build your family economy; or if you just want to see how it is done as part of your homeschool curriculum this is the video for you.

What I love most about this video is that it is made by a down-to-earth family that really does work together. What a blessing it is to see that.

5 Survival Skills Your Kids Should Know Before They Turn 12!

When our son was about 12, a fellow homeschool dad did a Survival Camp. They met once a week for 6 weeks and learned some very basic survival skills. They learned how to build a basic shelter in the woods, how to skin a fish, how to coat matches to keep them dry, how to start a fire without matches, how to cook over an open fire, how to purify water and more. It was a great time for them!