An article about scrimpBoston!

Hey everyone!

It's sure been a while, but I just became so busy designing my line of natural cleaning products (which you can check out here) that the blog became too much to handle! Plus, I really got discouraged when I noticed less and less people were reading. But, I promise you I'll be back with a vengeance soon.

Here's the link to an article my friend, Holly, from school wrote. She's great! Hey Holly!

So stay tuned, I won't abandon you again. Posts coming up will be fruit and vegetable pantry building, vinegar and spice pantry, and making your own flatbreads for wraps (soooo much cheaper than buying whole wheat organic at the store!)

Anyways...thanks for reading and I'll be seeing you soon.

Updates! I've added pictures!

So, I finally got my camera back (thanks, Dad!). My Dad mailed it to me...here's a few details about that that I'd like to share with you:

1. In the return address field it said "Dad". I got a slip in my mailbox: "SENDER: Dad".
2. It also had a heart with an arrow through it drawn in sharpie on the outside...drawn by my Dad.
3. It had an additional love note of "I love you, a bushel + peck xoxoxo Mom".
4. I'm a 23 years old, and I have a son.

The women in the post office went crazy because my Dad is such a sweetie!

(My Mom is, too, but it's expected for a lady to be sweet!)

Anyways, (short story made long much?), the point is I was able to put pictures up of Mia's PreBirthday Dinner and the Very Vanilla Vegan Cupcakes that I served. I also got a chance to go back and do the cost-analysis of the cupcakes, which are $4.55/dozen. That's $.40 each. You'd pay 5 times as much easily at the bakery.

I'm back people!

So I was in NY for a week for my sister's (21st) birthday, and have just now returned. I'm sorry for the lack of posts these past 2 days, but travelling and celebrating AND blogging is quite the task with an 8 (almost!) month old. I will be back with all new posts tomorrow. This week, stay tuned for:

-Pantry Party Part 2
-Pantry recipes
-my stir-fry recipe
-my last minute birthday dinner for my sister Mia (hey Mia!) (hey Lauren!)

and much more!

"It's been a long time (long time), I shouldn't have left you (left you) without a dope beat to step to (step to)" - Timbaland, R.I.P Aaliyah

A little apology from the bottom of my heart

Hey everyone! Happy Tuesday. I just wanted to get on here and apologize for all the formatting issues as of late, and any typos/mistakes/broken links that have occurred because of them. My computer crashed, and I was using my fiance Mike's, and his is pretty messed up from spilling 2 Cokes in a row on it (so sorry that you had to find out like this, Debbie). I am on Long Island (where I'm from) for the next week, and will keep up with posting as best I can. In the meantime, I'm going to be fixing the formatting on this past week's posts.

There are also going to be some changes here at scrimpBoston. Since this is my first foray into blogging, it's always a work in progress. I will be updating the design and attempting to make it more user friendly.

Stay tuned this week (and weekend) for:

• 20 minute meal Thursday - Linguine with White Clam Sauce
• Building a well stocked pantry
• Whole Foods, Shaw's and Stop and Shop sale highlights
• Breadmaking Workshop I - Whole Wheat Rolls
• Details on my journey to become a container gardener
• A new subscriber give-away feature
• A guest post by Mike - The Friday Haymarket Roundup - except on Saturday, because unlike me...Mike's employed.

I hope you're all looking forward to at least one thing posted up there!

Props to my ads

Hey all,
I was weary to put adds on the site, thinking they'd be garbage, but today I was surprised again! I got some seventh generation coupons (which are great to have on hand in the event they go on sale at Whole Foods - ideally you should use coupons in conjunction with a sale!) and some organic valley coupons. I've also found a pretty neat bulk organic grains/beans/nuts site that only charges $7.50 for shipping. All the prices I've found online haven't really been too much of a savings, but the prices here are actually lower than what I've managed to find in the city, if you can anticipate your need for, say, brown rice. However, once you average out the shipping you have to order A LOT to see the savings.

Just saying, I'm happy with these ads, and I don't feel like they're harassing you with pointless scams and other junk. Click on them, you'll make me money and probably save yourself some.

New (Sexy?) Look!

Hey everyone!

So, my blog got a little makeover tonight. I never really liked the layout, and planned to change it, but I couldn't really figure it out. With my free time today (which I actually had some of, since I'm sick...) I made a new header, and installed ads on the blog. Click on them (even if you're not interested), they make me a bit of money (please?).

I hope you all like the new layout, we're getting some followers, so a big scrimpBoston WELCOME to all of my wonderful readers! I just found out that my girlfriend from Belgium/Northeastern is a reader, which is great. Hi Holly! Thanks for reading!

I'm really surprised by how exciting getting followers is. I suppose when I started writing, I never really thought I'd have any followers, but here I am, with FOUR followers! It's so exciting to come on and see that people have been checking out the blog. I love it, and it motivates me to keep the content fresh and updated. Hopefully I'll feel better tomorrow and will be able to post something interesting.

Here's a few ideas I have for this week:

- How to make your own wet wipes for the bathroom and/or the baby (you won't believe how much money you save)
- Why you should make and use your own cleaning supplies
- The first FreezermealFriday
- CVS SaleSunday (coming up tomorrow, stay tuned!)

As always, happy reading and I hope you're all having a great weekend!

xo
Taylor

Makin' some money with my blog!

Hey all!

As much as I love staying home with Dylan and being able to share all of my tips with you, I also miss having a paycheck of my own. The only thing that could make blogging more fun would be to make some dough and has always been in the back of my mind. Once I really get going I figured I would concentrate on promoting the blog and trying to do a little advertising for products as well. It's been a few weeks of writing, and I came across an amazing service for Bloggers called Blogsvertise. Blogsvertise allows Bloggers to assist makers of products generate buzz and increase online exposure, and it allows me to introduce you to new products and services that become available. Even better news for me is that this helps me to make some income from my blog (which we could really use!).

I have also recently added scrimpBoston to blogcatalog. blogcatalog is an online directory of blogs, which will help people interested in my topics find me. Hopefully this will be a great resource for myself and others looking for information about living naturally and on the cheap in Boston.

So, that's what's going on with scrimpBoston. Just figured I'd give you all a head's up on what's happening and what fun changes the future holds. Even though it seems like just writing about whatever, keeping up this blog has proven to be a pretty significant task. It's a labor of love, and the wheels are always turning -- coming up with new ideas to share with you.

My newest idea is compliments of my cousin, BriAnne (my second follower! Hi BriAnne! Hi Liam!). She called me on Sunday asking if I had any ideas for meals that were easily frozen. I figure many of my readers work during the day, and don't have the energy or desire to cook a whole healthy meal when they walk in the door. Freezermeal Fridays will be a post I write on Fridays about making meals and other foods to freeze. So, stay tuned for that. You can read the post on Friday, and then spend some time over the weekend making one for the week ahead. And, of course, you can bet they'll be quite scrimpy (I'll try to include ingredients that are on sale locally!).

I will be posting my creme puff recipe that I brought to my friend, Tracey's, house. Just a tease...I made 18 creme puffs and the total for ingredients was.....






...$4.06! (and it was simple...kind of...but you can do it! They're scrimpy AND impressive, what more could you want???)