AND THE BAND PLAYED ON

Pictures of Pontiac Marching Band Competition 09/25/10

It was Wet...

And It was Cold...

But they tried their hardest...

And received a 2nd Place and Best Percussion in their Class!!

**A.Marie**

EIGHT SECRET WAYS TO SAVE MONEY

When I was blog browsing/hopping this morning, I came across a fabulous article by Little People Wealth listing eight secret ways to save money. Since I love to save money, of course I read the entire article! Check it out for yourself!

What are your secret ways that you save money?

Come on, tell us....we promise not to tell anyone else!!

I mean, what are friends for?? LOL

**A.Marie**

I WILL REMEMBER AND NEVER FORGET

Remembering is easy-it's the forgetting that's so hard~Anon

**A.Marie**

GIVEAWAY TIME!

I am having a giveaway over at my other blog, My Money Mission Online!

Hop on over there and check it out!!

This is a sample recipe from the cookbook that I wanted to share with all of you. It sounds wonderful!

Cooker Chops

4 pork chops

10 3/4 oz cream of mushroom soup

1/4 cup ketcup

2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

1. Put chops in slow cooker
2. Combine remaining ingredients. Pour over chops.
3. Cover. Cook on High 3-4 hours, or Low 8-10 hours.

Variation: Add one sliced onion to mixture.

And, for dessert (I LIVE for desserts! LOL):

Quick Yummy Peaches

1/3 c. buttermilk baking mix

2/3 c. dry quick oats

1/2 c. brown sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

4 c. sliced peaches (canned or fresh)

1/2 c. peach juice, or water

1. Mix together baking mix, oats, brown sugar, and cinnamon in greased slow cooker.
2. Stir in peaches and peach juice or water
3. Cook on Low for at least 5 hours. (If you like a drier cobbler, remove lid for last 15-30 minutes of cooking.)
4. Serve with frozen yogurt or ice cream or just hide it and eat it all yourself (that last suggestion was mine! HAHAHAHA!! :)

This giveaway runs through Sept. 17 at 11:59 CT.

Hope you are all having a Fantastic Friday!

**A.Marie**

HOW TO MAKE MY LITTLE PIGGY FATTER

My little Ms. Piggy Bank keeps getting thinner and thinner. So, I have decided that she needs to be fattened up. I already have some money in our savings account, but I tend to view that as "untouchable unless absolute necessary." The type of savings that I am trying to accumulate is what I am going to view as "liquid savings.

Liquid savings is important for every family to have. This is money you have stashed away, but can still access in case you need it. There are a number of ways for you to build liquid savings for your family but I just can't seem to "find" money in our budget to allocate to Ms. Piggy. So, I going to do these 2 steps during the month of September and report back, on October 1, what I have "fed" the pig:

I found these ideas over at www.ehow.com:

• During a recession, use cash to pay for items and then save your change. Every time you make a purchase use a paper bill. At the end of the day, put all the coins you've collected into a piggy bank. At the end of each month count, roll and deposit the change into your savings account. You maybe surprised just how much money you can save this way.
  


• If you still can't find money to put into a savings account look at your expenses and figure out ways to save money on them...then put the money you saved into a savings account. This is a good practice to follow anytime, but especially when you're trying to survive a recession. For example, you have to buy groceries. Why not clip a few coupon (from online and in your newspaper), use a club card, buy what's on sale and switch to the less expensive store brand. At the bottom of your receipt it will most likely list your savings. Write that amount into your check book as a secondary grocery bill, then when you get home transfer the money you saved into a savings account.

What do you think of this article and especially the two ideas that I am going to be implementing? You know that you want to comment, so please do! I love comments!

**A.Marie**

"It can be difficult to give up things that we might consider "vices." For you, that might be the daily latte. For me, it's always been comic books. (Sad, but true.) These are constant money drains, but they also bring joy to our lives. Instead of giving these things up, I encourage folks to find ways to reduce them, or to save on them.

But to really save money, look for ways to reduce recurring monthly expenses. These are constant drags to your budget, and if you can reduce them, it's a great way to improve your cash flow. " Excerpt from, "Your Money: The Missing Manual," by J.D. Roth