Hero Worship

There are a lot of people in this world who I respect.  Maybe even a lot of people I consider as personal heroes.  I love to keep a handful of heroes in different varieties.  I like the 20-year-heros, those who are where I'd like to be in 20 years, and the 30-year-heroes, etc.  My favorite heroes are the 5-year-heroes.  They are doing the things I'd like to be doing in five years.  That's close enough that I feel like I can really set goals right now to become more like them.  I love all of my heroes, but I am RIDICULOUS about the Prudent Homemaker. 

If you spend enough time around me, you are bound to hear about the Prudent Homemaker.  She's a money-saving, food-storing, homeschooling GENIUS.  I love her.  I want to be just like her when I grow up. :)

The Prudent Homemaker has taught me countless tips.  Real tips that I actually use.
Tips like:
1.  Stock up on turkeys and hams during the holiday season.  It's when they're cheapest and they're actually cheaper than chicken!
2.  Choose what produce you'll buy (and eat) based on what you see on sale, whichever is cheapest by the pound.
3.  Make your own laundry soap, it's cheaper and hypo-allergenic.

She makes giving homemade gifts look cool, and homeschools for less than anyone I've ever heard of.  The woman is a miracle worker!

She also taught me this little trick:

Watch for prices like these at your local grocery store:

She pointed out that you can just ask the workers in the produce department if you can buy whatever it is you want in bulk.  Guess what?  It is so easy!  As it turns out, they sell peaches in 30 lb boxes and corn (4/$1) in 48 count cases. 

I wish I had a picture of the guy pushing the cart with six huge boxes  following me with my full cart of groceries to the check out.  People kept asking me how many kids I had and what my husband did for a living!  What they didn't realize was that I got 60 pounds of peaches and 196 ears of corn for:

$75.00!!!  See that?

 

After you check out, the nice gentleman who has been following you around will push your boxes out to your car and load them up for you.

 

 

It is important to note that you may need a 9-year-old boy to manage the shucking of all of that corn!

 

Apparently, he doesn't know what the black bags are for.

Then you get to spend an entire day freezing and canning all of this:

Totally worth it.

From my initial investment of $75, I canned 26 jars of peaches and froze 40 bags of corn.  That ought to last us a while. 

Seriously, though.  You've got to spend some quality time on the Prudent Homemaker's website.  She has a blog too.  I told you I'm ridiculous!