I recently went to nursing school and can remember all the hours of studying that were really necessary to get through the program.  It's tough, especially going back to school as an adult!  If your mom won't accept money from you, I agree with everyone else that the best thing you can do is help alleviate some stress by helping ...

In four weeks, I will have finished my Bachelor's degree in Nursing.  This was the main goal for myself in 2009.  DH applied for and was accepted into his PhD program which he started in the fall - that was his main goal.  Up to this point, he was taking the classes he needed just to get in.  Financially, we maintained the ...

This is something I'm thinking about in 2010.  I have been so busy with school and work that I haven't made any progress at all with the garden/landscaping.  DH has managed to start several projects that he's given up on and our front yard is partially dug up from one of these projects.  Part of the problem is funds to ...

Hi Tracey, I have not been following very closely with what is going on over here in the Dollar Stretcher posts.  If you remember, I became a nurse in January after I finished up my diploma program.  I have been working full time and taking more classes (mostly full time) to get my BSN.  I only have one more seven week class and I ...

For us, it was when my now DH and I moved in together.  We had debt and we wanted to get married.  We knew that our parents couldn't help us with the wedding and we come from big families.  I sat down, crunched some numbers and quickly realized that something needed to change if we were going to ever going to live the way we ...

I love this thread - this is fun! The very cheapest things I have done include picking up stuff left out on garbage day from people who were moving.  I found great stuff including food, toiletries, cleaning products, clothes.  I also have furniture, lamps and two beautiful, large rugs from the side of the road.  I reuse tea bags ...

In the two years I went to nursing school, I gained around 15 lbs. I graduated in December and started taking more classes right away, but I was still able to slowly lose some weight.  I have 7 weeks off right now until classes start again.  I graduated weighing 160 and I'm down to 145 right now.  I suspect the weight may level ...

I think I have to play around with it more.  I had two separate visitors this summer and bought milk for their visits since we don't normally have milk in the house.  I made mac and cheese a few times afterwards to use up the milk. I think I will first try increasing the ratio of sauce to noodles and if I can't get it right, I ...

My problem with homeade mac and cheese is that it gets too dry when I bake it. I was wondering if anyone does a version of this dish that does not involve baking it at the end.  I guess I could just make the cheese sauce (I do flour, butter, milk, cheese, salt, pepper and dried mustard) and pour it over the noodles which are already ...

I love this question of where you think you are on the frugal scale.  I asked my DH to rate me and he gave me a 7.  I would give myself a 6 at the most, but maybe a 5.  I do some really frugal things, but then I spend money on things that others would not spend it on.  For example, I made a batch of beans and rice from scratch ...