Have you seen the price of vanilla extract lately? Especially organic vanilla extract. A whopping $20 for 8 ounces at my local health food store. Considering all the baking I’ve been doing lately, I knew I had to find a way make my own vanilla extract.

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This morning I was listening to the news about all the recent layoffs. I can’t stop thinking about all the people out there who are sitting at their kitchen tables right now, wondering what they are going to do next. During these tough times, every cent we save matters. We are all looking for ways to cut back. So I’m going to be writing a series of tips on how to cut costs. I pray that these tips will help a few people out there. One of the best ways a family can cut back on spending is to switch from disposable diapers to cloth. When I ran the numbers when my daughter was 6 months old, I was stunned at the savings. By switching to cloth diapers and wipes instead of disposables, you can save over $50 per month — which adds up to over $1,500 over 2 1/2 years.

Like many people, I’ve been on a quest to track our household finances and cut back as much as possible. My husband taught me how to use Quicken a few months ago. I learned how to download all the transactions, reconcile all the accounts, make categories, and prepare financial reports. I loved the idea of [...]