PLR Club!

For those of you who use PLR in your business, on your blog or anywhere else. And, if you target moms and aren’t using PLR – definitely read on!

As you may or may not know, I co-own a PLR site with Nicole Dean where we sell PLR recipes and cooking articles. YummyPLR is a year and a half old this month as a matter of fact. (I will never forget this project because it was my first online project other than services and we released it the same month BabyGirl was born – just a few days before to be exact). That site will always be my baby and Nicole and I both are VERY proud of it.

You may have heard us talking about some of our new projects recently, especially if you follow us on Twitter or hang out in some of our other favorite places online. Today marks the opening of one of the many projects we’ve got lined up for this year and beyond. Nicole actually just released one of her own which I’ll be talking more about next week, but if you want to check it out now you can see it here.

Due to the success of Yummy, coupled with the demand for more quality PLR content from our members there and at EasyPLR (Nicole’s own PLR site), we decided to start our own little PLR family and our first addition happened today!

We are happy as clams because we’ve just given birth (in a matter of speaking) to our second PLR baby. And this one’s a definite labor of love for both of us, as it’s taken us quite some time to get it just right! Without further ado….

We Introduce to You, YummyPLR’s Newest Sibling (maybe it should be the parent and Nik and I be grandparents, hu?) ;0)

Isn’t she just adorable? ;0)

MomPLR.com was created specifically for mom bloggers who want to continue giving their readers quality content but want (or need) a break from having to come up with topics and the content itself every day.

Here’s the scoop:

1. It’s a PLR Club that costs nothing to join.
2. Members get access to quality PLR written BY moms FOR moms.
3. Club members will be the first to know about free PLR from us as well as other top-quality PLR providers who have received our stamp of approval (we like to call this our Pickiness Stamp).

You’ll get all of that and more, including more tips for making the most of your PLR and making money with it, when you join our free MomPLR Club!

And, you can do that right here => PLR for Mommy Bloggers

See ya inside!

It’s Friday (at least for a couple more hours) and time for another Frugal post from Susanne – The Hillbilly Housewife.

I’ve had one of those days … I’m sure you can relate. What should have been a quick little project dragged on and on and took a good 6 hours longer than I expected it to take. Which also explains why I’m just now writing today’s blog post here on “They Call Me Wahmmy”. Thankfully Arika is a great friend and I’m sure she’ll forgive me

Working from home, I don’t have to tell you that quite a few days each month (and sometimes a week) end up the way mine does and one think that keeps me sane and helps me still find time for my family is to plan my meals ahead of time. I’ve gotta tell ya … without my plan there is no way I could have made dinner tonight.

Let’s talk for a second about how meal planning can help us WAHMs during our busy work weeks (which are usually Monday – Sunday).Then I’ll walk you through how I make my weekly meal plans.

Meal Planning Saves Time

When I plan my meals ahead of time, I only head to the store once a week to get everything I need. I noticed that I spent a lot less time in the store when I’m “on a mission” to just find everything on my list.

It also saves me time each night because I know exactly what I’m going to cook and what I need to do to get started. No more standing in front of the fridge and pantry trying to figure out what I could possibly make for dinner. I have my plan and am ready to cook.

Meal Planning Saves Money

We save quite a bit on groceries since I started menu planning.  There are two reasons – having my grocery list keeps me from making impulse buys on stuff we don’t really need. We also use up (almost) all the food I buy and there’s a lot less that gets thrown out because it goes bad before we have a chance to eat it.

Ready to give meal planning a try? Here’s how I do it:

I sit down on Sunday night and come up with 7 dinners for the week. I usually include 1 freezer meal and 1 crockpot meal. If I think we’ll likely have quite a few leftovers I also declare one night later in the week leftover night where we just heat up everything that’s hanging out in the fridge and serve it buffet style.

Next I get my recipes out as needed and write down any ingredients I need to buy. I usually categorize the items by section in the grocery store (i.e. all meat together, all dairy, all canned goods etc.) so I don’t have to run back and forth through the store as I shop.

I also keep a master list of the meals for the week on my fridge and the recipes I’ll need close by. It makes it easy for me, but also comes in handy when I’m stuck running errands or am trying to finish up a project and hubby starts dinner.

I usually just plan on a week by week basis. Here are some other options:

Plan dinner the night before. It’s a great way to get your feet wet, but not very convenient for the long run.

Plan two weeks at a time.

Plan a month at a time. You can try to get most of your groceries in just one huge shopping trip per month, but I would recommend getting perishables like produce, meat etc. fresh on a weekly basis.

I hope you take the time to make a weekly meal plan and see if this works for your family. It takes a little getting used to at first, but I promise it is well worth the effort and it’ll get easier the more you plan.

That’s it for this week. I’ll be back next week with some more frugal cooking tips. If you’re interested in meal planning, I’d like to invite you to order my Meal Planning Made Simple ebook today. 20% of my profits in October will be donated to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

Susanne – The Hillbilly Housewife
http://www.HillbillyHousewife.com

P.S. I’d love to hear your thoughts on meal planning. Is this something you do regularly? What’s your preferred method of meal planning?

Pork – The Other White Meat
16 Free Cooking Brochures – Available for download or have them mailed to your home.
Pork Lovers Get Your Free Guides Here




Subway – Kids Healthy Eating Kit
Help Your Kids Get Fit for the Fun of It with this Kit




4 Free Issues of Parenting Early Years Magazine
Great for parents of children up to 5 years of age.
Sign up to receive your free magazine issues right here.








7 Halloween Stories
by: Chuck Larkin (Master Storyteller)
Great for telling this Halloween! Spooooky – Read at your own risk!
Grab Your Own Copy of these Free Halloween Spooky Stories




10 Free Christian Songs via iTunes
If you like Christian music – here’s some good music for free. I’m actually listening to these for the first time right now. I must say the first song (a rap) was ok – I guess the kids might like it. I’m on the second song (Broken & Beautiful) right now and it’s beautiful. The 3rd song just started and it’s a little heavy metalish from what I can tell from just the opening. Seems like there’s a good mix for the whole family.
Get Your Free Christian Music Here

Hi there.. I’m Susanne – The Hillbilly Housewife. Arika was kind enough to invite me to write on “They Call Me Wahmmy.com” on Fridays during the Month of October. I’m traveling from blog to blog this month to spread the word about living frugally and to raise awareness and funds for Breastcancer Research.

Today I’d like to talk to you about freezer cooking, why I love it and how it helps me out as a WAHM. I guess I should mention that yes, I am a work at home mom. I run Hillbillyhousewife.com as well as various other website. And I don’t have to tell you how crazy it gets sometimes when things go wrong, websites break, a project is suddenly due or you land a bunch of client work (which is great but doesn’t leave much time for things like cooking, gorcery shopping etc.)

On those days, I pull a freezer meal out, stick it in the oven and get back to work. An hour later dinner is done and all that’s left to do is set the table, sit down and eat.

I wrote an enire ebook on the topic (Called Freezer Cooking Made Simple), which both Arika and I highly recommend, but today I’d like to share some tips with you that you can start implementing right away to get your freezer stocked for those busy work days.

Meatloaf

When you’re cooking meatloaf, make a double or even tripple batch, cook one and freeze the other two. I bought two inexpensive loaf pans that I use just for freezing the meatloaf. You can also set the extra meat mixture in the fridge while you’re cooking your meatloaf for that night, then line it with wax paper, add the raw meat mixture and freeze it until it’s set. Transfer it to a freezer bag or wrap it tight in freezer paper. When you’re ready to make the meatloaf, remove the wrapper, pop it back in the loaf form and bake it.

Pancakes and Waffles

I don’t usually have time to make pancakes or waffles during the week. I make extra large batches on the weekends and spread anything we don’t need on a large cookie sheet and freeze it. After an hour or so when the pancakes or waffles are frozen solid, I put them in freezer bags.

The waffles go straight in the toaster on weekday mornings. The pancakes can be microwaved or defrosted and reheated in a warm pan.

Casseroles

Most casseroles (especially those that don’t contain pasta) freeze well. Again, make a double batch or spend some time one weekend cooking up several casseroles (I do that a lot right after Christmas and Thanksgiving when we have  a lot of leftover ham or turkey). Freeze them and reheat later.

Casseroles usually taste better if you defrost them before you reheat. I also leave off any cheese topping and sprinkle it on before I stick the thawed casserole in the oven.

Stay away from pasta casseroles when you’re planning on freezing them. The pasta tends to get very soft once frozen and reheated. The only exception would be lasagna which freezes fine for me.

Soups and Stews

Most soups and stews freeze really well. Chili is a favorite in our house. You can either defrost them in the fridge over-night, stick them in the microwafe to heat, or add the block of frozen soup or stew to a large pot along with a little extra water and slowly melt and heat it up.

That’s it for this week. I’ll be back next week with some more frugal cooking tips. If you’re interested in Freezer cooking, I’d like to invite you to order my Freezer Cooking Made Simple ebook today. 20% of my profits in October will be donated to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

Susanne – The Hillbilly Housewife
http://www.HillbillyHousewife.com

P.S. I’d love to hear your thoughts on freezer cooking. Is this something you do regularly? Do you make your own or do you buy frozen premade meals at the grocery store?

World’s Scariest License Plate

You can try to pass her, but I sure wouldn’t honk the horn.

*********

Never Argue with a Woman

One morning, a husband returns the boat to their lakeside cottage after several hours of fishing and decides to take a nap..

Although not familiar with the lake, the wife decides to take the boat out. She motors out a short distance, anchors, puts her feet up and begins to read her book. The peace and solitude are magnificent..

Along comes a Fish and Game Warden in his boat.

He pulls up alongside the woman and says, ‘Good morning, Ma’am. What are you doing?’

‘Reading a book,’ she replies, (thinking, ‘Isn’t that obvious?’)

‘You’re in a Restricted Fishing Area,’ he informs her.

‘I’m sorry, officer, but I’m not fishing. I’m reading.’

‘Yes, but I see you have all the equipment. For all I know you could start at any moment. I’ll have to take you in and write you up.’

‘If you do that, I’ll have to charge you with sexual assault,’ says the woman.

‘But I haven’t even touched you,’ says the Game Warden.

‘That’s true, but you have all the equipment. For all I know you could start at any moment.’

‘Have a nice day ma’am,’ and he left.

Moral of the Story: Never argue with a woman who reads. It’s likely she can also think.

I have been thinking a lot lately about how I approach things in my business. I’ve also been really focusing on why I do the things I do, where those things do or don’t fit in with my long term goals and how each action I take (or don’t take) affects who I am and where I’m headed. Yeah, I know pretty deep right? In reality I have always been a very deep thinking person…yes sometimes even to a fault.

Anyway, before I start rambling about deep thoughts that make you say “Forget that!”…and click away from this post, I wanted to show you something and then ask you a question.

This clip is from a movie that I watched for the first time a few years ago. I absolutely loved this movie and caught it on TV a few times before I ever found out what the name of it was called. When I did find out I thought it was very appropriately titled, “Facing the Giants.” Even though the movie is about a football coach who takes a losing team, everyone has pretty much given up all hope on, and turns them into winners, it fits so many areas of life in general.

Anway, I’ll let you see it and then I’ll be back.

Pretty enlightening isn’t it?

Talk about giving it your all. There are so many times in my life that I could have gone further if I’d just kept going for a little bit longer, pushing past where I thought I needed to stop.

So, here’s my question for you.

Has there been a time in your business and/or life when you pushed on even when it seemed the cards were stacked against you?  Have you ever pushed yourself beyond the limits even you thought you were capable of and ran on heart alone?

Happy Friday!

If you’re just stopping by and don’t know what the Fat Loss Quickie/Sexy Mama Abs workout is…you can head over here to catch up. The goal of FLQ is to create a healthier and wealthier home business owner without spending a ton of money (the entire program costs less than 20 bucks) and without taking a ton of time (as business owners and parents, we don’t HAVE tons of time to workout).

I’ve been having a blast with it and I think anyone who works from home should at least check it out. As WAHM & WAHD, it’s no secret that we let our health slide a lot, but if we begin putting our health as a priority, the wealth will come because we’ll be more focused on the business goals we’ve set for ourselves and won’t have to spend hours and hours working at the computer.

***Today’s Fat Loss Quickie/Sexy Mama Abs Update***

So, today Nicole wants to know “Who’s the Squattiest?” in her Computer Butt Challenge. To find out all about it and jump in (you’ve got until midnight tonight your time to get in if you aren’t already) click right here.

Every Friday of the Fat Loss Quickie Home Workout, we have to do 100 squats for the cardio portion of our daily exercise. That in itself is quite the feat. ;0) Leave it to  Nicole to bump it up a notch and hold a contest on her blog to see who could do the most squats (thank goodness tomorrow is a day of rest!).

I’ve been doing my squats off and on all day long and I won’t lie…I’m freakin’ sore! But it’s awesome to see everyone pushing their limits. Absolutely Amazing! I LOVE it!

I stayed offline most of the day until a few hours ago, when I hopped on and saw that Patti, “The Mom”, who mind you is a 50-something spunky lady, was in the lead with 325 squats – yes you read that right THREE HUNDRED TWENTY FIVE!

When I first checked in a few hours ago I was up to 351 squats myself. Just before I sat down to write this post, I checked in again and realized another participant, Kevin “Mr. eBay” Johnson had blown right past me and was up to 435 squats. So, the competitive person I am did some more. I’m now up to 401 squats and plan to do more before hitting the sack tonight. Whether I’ll beat him I don’t know but I’m sure going to give him a run for his money!

I’ll report back with the results over the weekend. For now, I’m off to squat my heart out – speaking of hearts, I know mine is lovin’ me today with all this work.

Onward & Upward to Health & Wealth,