This month, for the first time, I didn’t want to read my new Molly’s Money-Saving Digest. The topic is “Emergency Preparedness,” and I kind of like a stick-your-head-in-the-sand mentality. Of course, that is neither wise nor prudent nor good, and I really should tackle some of these projects. With Molly’s practical tips, it will be easy.
However, “The Basics” column this month is not about disaster, but about the comfortable and comforting topic of ground beef. In our area ground beef is not inexpensive, but it is still versatile and yummy, and occasionally there are good deals. Recipes for making ahead and freezing are included, and so are some sauces.
Molly’s organizational tools include calendars for two months so that you can plan ahead for next month as well. It also includes links to helpful emergency preparedness forms prepared by experts.
This month’s “Feather Your Nest Frugally” project is one I’m planning to work on: making emergency kits for the car. The kits shown are excellent for warm weather, but if you’re in an area where winters involve frost, do not put liquids in your kit unless you know that the containers will withstand freezing without popping or losing their seal.
“In the Kitchen with Molly” is about stocking your pantry and learning to cook from it, another important way to prepare for an emergency, but you don’t have to wait for an emergency to try these yummy-looking recipes. I also love this month’s new frugal feature: After the usual pretty recipe pages there are picture-free pages with the recipes in card-sized format: printing this way wastes no toner!
In keeping with the emergency preparedness theme, the “Kid’s Corner” discusses preparing for house fires and dangerous weather. For some of my imaginative little ones, just the thought would cause many nightmares, so I’ll have to figure out how to get the concepts across without scaring them.
“Something Old and Something New” describes the simplest way of ensuring there will be safe light during an emergency and any other time: making candles. I want to emphasize the need for carefully following the instructions to melt the wax; I’ll never forget the wax fire on my Mom’s stove!
The “Emergency Preparedness” feature emphasizes that you should prepare for the most likely disasters rather than worrying about them all. Foundational is a well-stocked pantry, which saves time and money during ordinary life as well as when disasters happen. Carefully packed emergency back packs would have been helpful when we were forced out of our home due to the 1998 ice storm; I forgot to pack undies in the half hour I had to get us ready to evacuate! Although it’s not practical for us to have 7 back packs sitting around, individual packing lists could be handy. And of course a winter emergency pack for the van is important. Now that I’m well enough to take the kids out, I need to think of that again.
I got a heartwarming glimpse of Penny Raine (of the homemaking e-books, yes, her!), in “This is My Story.” If you receive Penny’s e-zine or read her blog, you’ll be as thrilled to read about her frugal journey as I was.
After all the emergency preparedness information, helpful but slightly depressing, the Digest finishes with an inspiring poem about preparing ourselves for winter. That’s going onto my bulletin board, and this fall I will work at “Storing September” in my heart and soul.
And I want to end with this month’s most inspiring quotation:
“…time is more important than money. More money can always be made, but lost time can never be replaced.” Penny Raine
You can order Molly’s September Digest for $4.95, or get it as part of a Molly Membership for $3.95.
Disclosure I received a complimentary download of Molly’s September Money-Saving Digest in order to give you my honest opinion of it.
For more great tips, visit Works for Me Wednesday and Frugal Friday.