Surviving The Stores™

Healthy Living, Smart Spending, Essential Oils

3 Ways To Make Homemade Ketchup!

Have you ever wanted to try making your own homemade ketchup? It's not hard to make and you likely have all of the ingredients sitting in your pantry! The great thing about making ketchup is that you can add extra spices, use less sugar, add more tomatoes... whatever you think sounds good... and it will probably still turn out great. Also, if you're planning on planting tomatoes in the ...

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How To Have A LEGO Birthday Party For Under $100!

This was orignally published in 2012 and are re-posting for those who have not seen it yet or for anyone who would like to share it. Those of you who are following us on Facebook know that a couple of weekends ago we had a LEGO Birthday party for our 7 year old boy! We typically don't do the themed parties… in the past, birthday parties have just been an excuse to have a bunch of families we ...

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5 Easy Ways to Save on Healthcare Costs

With healthcare costs continually on the rise there are few who aren't asking themselves how they can keep more of their money from the ever increasing appetite of the healthcare beast. Here are the five most effective ways I believe one can significantly reduce their healthcare costs now and for years to come. 1. Consider an HSA or FSA An HSA (Health Savings Account) is a medical savings ...

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Easy Grain-Free Crockpot Chili Recipe!

One of my favorite things to eat during these cold winter months is chili.  It's down in the 50s right now here in Houston and we need something to help warm up us cold-weather-wimps down here in the South.  ;) This is by far my favorite chili recipe and it's completely grain-free! Back before Ryan and I were grain-free I would just buy the McCormick chili seasoning packets in the store but ...

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20 Ways to Use a Lemon!

Lemons have many uses from cooking to providing a safe and inexpensive way to clean your entire house! Here are 20 different ways that you can use a lemon.     1.  Fridge Freshening After cleaning out the fridge place a cotton ball soaked with lemon in the fridge and allow to sit or clean directly with lemon.   2.  Natural De-greaser Sprinkle salt on ...

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