Injured, Again...

I want to apologize in advance for the brevity of this post, it is just currently quite hard for me to type.

Today the kids and I met up with my friend and her kids at a skate park in a nearby city, for her to teach us how to skateboard.

The kids picked it up very quickly... and I, the first second I stood on the skateboard, fell flat on my bottom and my right wrist.

And my wrist hasn't stopped hurting since.

7 Helpful Ways To Use Your Credit Card Wisely

I currently have no credit cards and no debit cards and its causing me such an issue. I had two debit cards but currently have none; both of them are getting replaced but one will be sooner rather than later. It's a pain right now to have no cards; I can't pay bills without them and I'm stuck. But hopefully my new card will arrive in a few days, and then I can go back to life as normal. So this post from a reader on responsible credit card use is very timely, since I'm sorely missing mine now.

At the present time, most people who are functioning in the job market are most likely to have a credit card. It comes in handy in times of need when you need to make an urgent payment, or when you need to purchase something online, or even at the end of the month, where you may have run out of hard cash.

Source: https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2017/03/07/23/34/wallet-2125548_960_720.jpg

There isn’t a country in the world that has banks that don’t provide credit card services. Especially in developing countries. If we take Norway as an example, where the payment system for most transactions is automized for convenience. People who use credit cards, or what is referred to as a kredittkort in their native language, they are made aware of all the benefits and uses that having a credit card has to offer and usually their banks are informative. It’s important to understand how they work, and how you can make it work to your benefit. There’s a fine line between where having a credit card can be a curse or a blessing, and this is why it’s so important that we all understand how we should be using our credit cards in order not to drown in a deep sea of debt.

This is why we’re going to go over 7 different and helpful ways in which you can utilize your credit card wisely.

Books, Books, and More Books!

I've written before about the book stop in the city nearest to my house, the old bus stop that was turned into a library where you take what you want and leave what you want, no limits, no rules.

While its really amazing, because I am an avid reader, and have no good English public library available near me, its on the other end of the city from where I live, and I don't usually get around to stopping there. And when I am in the area, I don't always have the means to carry things to or from the book stop.

However, recently I was in the area, and I had a backpack, and a little extra time, so I said I'd pop over quickly to see what they had. I was hoping to grab maybe two or three books...

And then I came home with lots more, as you can see.

The Best Gifts For Your Husband That Won’t Break the Bank

I don't currently have a husband for whom to buy gifts, but I do know that among my friends "What should I get my husband for his birthday/our anniversary?" is one of those most frequently asked questions. Here's some tips from a reader on what to get that special someone in your life.

Do you know what the biggest difference between men and women are? You, of course, have the obvious things like clothing, shoe size, and appetite but what about those differences that no one ever really thinks about? Well, one of those differences is gifts. Men often times get the short end of the stick when it comes to receiving gifts but why is that? The world may never know…

This may not be a real issue in your particular family but you can’t deny the fact that it is a real issue in some families. From birthdays to Father’s Day, men just don’t have any luck in the gift department. On Mother’s Day, the kids will get up and make their mom breakfast, give her flowers, and just give her the works that entire day. For Father’s Day, the kids will get up and give him a tie that they colored in class… it’s not breakfast in bed but it will do. USA Today even recounts epic Father’s Day fails that mothers would never experience on Mother’s Day!

Well, the time has come for your husband to get better gifts this year for whatever occasion may come. It’s time to ditch the ties and rethink gift options for him. If your husband goes all out for you, there’s no reason why you can’t go all out for him, and the thing is, it doesn’t have to be an overly expensive gift for him to love it! If your husband is like a lot of husbands, it doesn’t take much to make them happy…

Men are very simple and if you give them a gift that looks like you put a little bit of effort into it, they will cherish you forever! Take a look at the top five best gifts to give your husband that won’t break the bank.

Tuna Bread Casserole Recipe -- Gluten Free, Frugal, Easy

My house is predominantly gluten free. My kids decided that they don't like to eat the gluten free bread that I make from scratch, so I go to a store where they sell relatively frugal gluten free buns and stock up each time I'm in the area. Unfortunately, because I don't have a spare freezer and I have other things in my freezer, I'm limited with how much bread I can buy at once so what I have is precious to me.
Imagine, then, my consternation when the bread that I buy gets left out to get stale, crumbled into unusable pieces, or otherwise makes it unable to be used for sandwiches and then likely to get wasted.

The problem with things like this is so many recipes of what to do with leftover bread need them to be sliced, like french toast, or they're completely crumbled into bread crumbs, which I don't use much in my house so its a waste.

I was trying to figure out what to do with my crumbled bread, then remembered the tuna I bought cheaply, and decided to make up a recipe, a tuna casserole, using bread chunks instead of noodles.

And it came out amazingly. My children had over a friend who is a picky eater and he even loved this. I definitely will be making this again. Even if its just about the least photogenic meal ever.

Tuna Bread Casserole Recipe -- Gluten Free, Frugal, Easy

What Defines a Good Garbage Disposal and what are the Best Ones in 2019

I never had a garbage disposal growing up, but my friends did and I heard wonderful things about them. They can also help a sink not get clogged if you have a tendency to have large things go down your drain. But how do you know which kind to get?

There are a lot of things you need to think about when you’re buying a garbage disposal. These are one of the kitchen appliances which are rarely thought about- people think it doesn’t really matter what one you get, that they’re all the same and it’s best to look for the cheapest version possible. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth. These are actually one of the most important aspects of your kitchen and you need to make sure you do all the right research when you’re going to purchase one. But what actually makes a good garbage disposal? Where do you look for them, and what are the best ones? Don’t worry, we’re here to tell you everything you need to know about what defines a good garbage disposal.

When Marriage is Financially Devastating, Divorce Can be a Solution; A Case Study

So many people in marriages that are horrible end up staying in their marriage because of finances. Especially if finances are terrible together, you may be afraid that divorce will only make your situation worse.

I reached out to friends to share their stories with you, if divorce improved their financial situation. I shared my friend Deb's story, and I got lots of flack about it, that Deb was only able to succeed financially without her ex because she ruined him financially (which isn't the case, but there were details in the story that couldn't be shared publicly). But in short, the consensus seemed that... you can succeed financially in divorce only by ruining your ex's finances. 

This story by my friend Val, another case study, shows a completely different situation. One in which she not only did not ruin her ex financially, but ended up providing for him financially, and still ended up better off financially post divorce. Here's her story.

When Marriage is Financially Devastating, Divorce Can be a Solution.
Facts.

When I was 30, I had perfect credit. I bought a house all by myself with no help from parents or anyone else. Then I eloped with my boyfriend, and 10 months later we had our daughter.

1997 perfect credit, 1998 baby, 2001 declared bankruptcy. 2003 divorce was final. 2007 he went after me for child support which I paid until she turned 18.

2019 I'm co-signing her college loans after already contributing more than $60,000.
I'm going to stick with facts, and then I can also write about how I felt going through it.

Watermelon Gazpacho Recipe -- Easy, Frugal, Paleo, Vegan

I've been begged by so many people to share this recipe, that I pushed it to the front of my posting schedule. I have been making watermelon gazpacho for so long, but never had a specific recipe, since its one of those things that is completely flexible and is more or less made to taste. But because you asked, here it is.

Gazpacho is a cold soup made of raw, blended vegetables, originating in Spain. While traditionally made with tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers, this version is made with purely watermelon as the base ingredient. I went to dinner at a friend's house who is allergic to raw tomatoes, and she could eat this, even though traditional gazpacho is off limits to her.

The reason why I especially like making watermelon gazpacho is that it is the perfect thing to do with a less than perfect watermelon. If you have a watermelon that you don't want to be eating raw, whether its a bit old and soggy, or not too sweet, gazpacho transforms it into something delicious.

7 Tips for Saving Money When Shopping for Food

I love grocery money saving tips, because that is one of the areas in which you can make a difference every single time you shop, and if you mess up one time, you have many more chances to improve things and fix them. Here's some tips from a reader on how to save money on your groceries.

One of the most common questions you might hear in any cost of groceries continue to rise. Eating out and ordering in is an even worse alternative, so the most you can do is figure out a way to make your trips to the grocery store worth your while.
home is, “What’s for dinner?” and if you have a family to feed, this can get asked more than once on any given day. Coming up with meals that are healthy and cost effective can be difficult, especially because the

Planning your meals ahead and figuring out a shopping plan is a great way to curb financial problems – click here to learn more about solutions to money troubles. Keep reading for some important tips to keep in mind before heading out to the grocery store.

How to Have a Frugal Tie Dye Party

My girls proudly displaying their shirts

The other day my friend Tanya invited myself and my kids and also her whole neighborhood pretty much for a fun tie dye party in her yard. It was such great fun and such an awesome frugal summer activity that I wanted to share with you how it was done.

Tie dye itself is relatively inexpensive. Tanya bought six colors for about $5 each locally, but looking online you can get tie dye kits for anywhere from $5 to $15 and you really don't need that large a variety of colors, in my opinion. If you're doing this for the first time, you can use just two or three colors. The amount of dye Tanya bought was enough for at least 30 people to tie dye many articles of clothing.