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Volume 37, April 2015

Month of the

Military Child

SOLDIER & FAMILY TOOLKIT 1/34 ARMORED BRIGADE COMBAT TEAM

Free ACT Prep

Page 8

Summer Camps

Page 9

17 Freezer Meal

Prep Sessions

Page 15

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From the Editor: The intent of this toolkit is to provide you with available events, deals, resources, and important information. Please take a few minutes to glance at these resources and share them with Military Children you know. Thanks for reading!

IN THIS ISSUE 3 BEYOND THE YELLOW

RIBBON EVENTS & DEALS

5 MONTH OF THE MILITARY CHILD

6 CELEBRATE MILITARY KIDS

7 ART CONTEST

8 TUTOR.COM/ACT PREP

9 YOUTH CAMPS

10 PARENTING MILITARY KIDS

12 MILITARY KIDS TOOLKIT

13 MEALTIME MADNESS

15 SEVENTEEN FREEZER MEAL PREP SESSIONS

21 SPRING CLEANING

23 ORGANIZED HOME CHALLENGE

24 RESOURCE LINKS

25 FAMILY ASSISTANCE CENTERS

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Check out the Beyond the

Yellow Ribbon website and

sign up for exclusive email

updates on monthly local

Beyond the Yellow Ribbon

events and deals.

Complimentary Business Coaching for Veteran Businesses When: Any convenient Date/Time Where: Your Business About: AdviCoach has a passion and commitment to helping military and veteran business owners achieve success and meet their business and personal goals. They offer a complimentary 90 minute coaching session, to learn about you and your business, to determine how they can help your business survive and thrive. More Info: Flyer Minnesota Military Radio Hour When: Radio show airs on over 21 stations throughout the state at various times on Saturdays and Sundays About: With a team of producers from the MN National Guard, De-partment of Veterans Affairs, and Minneapolis V.A., volunteer host and Vietnam veteran Tom Lyons strives to inform and entertain listen-ers in this weekly syndicated radio and podcast. More Info: Times and Dates of the Broadcast Hotel Discounts for Military and Public Service Workers When: Now through Dec. 30, 2015 Where: Participating hotels in Duluth About: To honor those who serve, several hotels in Duluth are offering a special discount to Servicemembers and public service workers. All hotels offer a complimentary breakfast, high-speed Wi-Fi, a fitness center and extended stay rates for 7 days or more. *Excluding the Edgewater which has a hot breakfast buffet for a minimal charge. More Info: Flyer MN Timberwolves Recognizes Military Youth - Registration When: Register now! April 1, 2015 and April 15, 2015 Where: Target Center, Minneapolis Who: Military connected youth, ages 6-15 years old About: Come out and celebrate our Military Children and Youth and enjoy the Timberwolves game. The Minnesota Timberwolves recog-nize the contributions and sacrifices made by military kids and have invited them to be a part of their pre-game activities. More Info: Register Online Event Details

HOME FRONT EVENTS & DEALS

www.BeyondTheYellowRibbon.org

Free Tax Preparation for Military Families When: Now through April 15 Where: By phone, email or at a local CPA's office Who: Servicemembers that are currently deployed or were deployed during 2014 About: Certified public accountants (CPAs) have vol-unteered to prepare tax returns free of charge for qualified military personnel. This service is offered in cooperation with the Minnesota Society of CPAs and the Minnesota National Guard Family Programs. Contact the Minnesota National Guard Family Pro-grams office at 651-268-8204 to receive a referral. More Info: Website Congressional Art Competition When: Enter today through April 24, 2015 Where: Check out their website for specific guid-ance. About: Each spring, the Congressional Institute sponsors a nationwide high school visual art compe-tition to recognize and encourage artistic talent in the nation and in each congressional district. Month of the Military Child Art Contest When: Enter now through April 30, 2015 About: The theme for the 2015 Month of the Mili-tary Child Art Contest is Military Pride. This contest is open to military children of active or retired mili-tary personnel, and siblings of active members. Priz-es are awarded for each age category. More Info: Flyer

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Check out the Beyond the

Yellow Ribbon website and

sign up for exclusive email

updates on monthly local

Beyond the Yellow Ribbon

events and deals.

HOME FRONT EVENTS & DEALS

www.BeyondTheYellowRibbon.org

Light Up the Night for Heroes - 5K Run When: April 25, 7:30 p.m. Where: Jacque B's Kitchen & Cocktails About: Get out your glow in the dark clothing, glow sticks and glow in the dark paint and light up the night for heroes! Servicemembers are free with a valid mili-tary I.D. More Info: Flyer Eyes of Freedom When: April 29 to May 3, 2015 Where: Arden Hills Armory About: A remembrance for all who have answered the call of service. The memorial now travels to tell the story of love and sacrifice, as a reminder of the great price men and women are willing to pay for their country. More Info: Flyer Eyes of Freedom When: May 6 to May 11, 2015 Where: Black Bear Casino About: A remembrance for all who have answered the call of service. The memorial now travels to tell the story of love and sacrifice, as a reminder of the great price men and women are willing to pay for their country. More Info: Flyer Duluth-Superior Military Appreciation Week When: Nov. 8 to Nov. 14, 2015 Where: Select ZMC hotels, Duluth About: ZMC Hotels proudly presents Duluth-Superior Military Appreciation Week! Enjoy discounts on select hotels, retail stores, attractions, and dining out. More Info: Flyer

Harlem Globetrotters When: April 4, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Where: Target Center, Minneapolis About: The World Famous Harlem Globetrotters bring their high flying jokes and hilarious basketball tricks to Minneap-olis on April 4th. A special military discount is being offered to Servicemembers and their Families. More Info: Flyer Disney on Ice Presents Frozen When: April 8 through April 12, 2015 Where: Target Center, Minneapolis About: Enter a fantastical winter wonderland at Disney on Ice Presents Frozen! The Academy Award winning movie is LIVE and coming to Minneapolis with dazzling special effects, astonishing skating and inspiring songs. More Info: Flyer Tween Overnight - Great Lakes Aquarium When: April 18-19, 2015 Where: Great Lakes Aquarium, Duluth About: Child and Youth Programs of the Minnesota National Guard is hosting a tween overnight event at the Great Lakes Aquarium. Tweens (ages 9-13) will learn how animals are resilient through fun and cool activities, behind-the-scenes tours, and more. More Info: Flyer Eyes of Freedom When: April 22 to April 27, 2015 Where: Sandstone Old School Arts Center About: A remembrance for all who have answered the call of service. The memorial now travels to tell the story of love and sacrifice, as a reminder of the great price men and women are willing to pay for their country. More Info: Flyer

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MONTH OF THE

MILITARY CHILD

April is Month of the Mil-itary Child and was first celebrated in April 1986 under former Secretary of Defense Caspar Wein-berger. The MOMC rec-ognizes Military Children and Youth for the sacri-fices they make so their parents can serve our Nation. In addition, it re-inforces to Military Chil-dren and Youth that they play an integral role in supporting their Service member. Please help us spread the word to local communities about MOMC and Purple Up! Day. In Minnesota, Mili-tary Kids are often invisi-ble to their local schools and communities. Pro-moting MOMC provides a safe environment for Mil-itary Kids to self-identify.

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Enter Senator Franken’s Poetry Contest Encourage your child to write a poem about being a military child! Enter the Poetry Contest. Senator Franken is hosting his 3rd Annual Poetry contest in April. The theme of this year's contest is "Celebrating the Veteran in My Life." Poems must be submitted by April 18, 2015 to poetry@franken.senate.gov

2nd Annual MOMC Art Contest Encourage your youth to explore their creative sides and submit an entry to the State Family Programs Office. The art project can be their best drawing of a tank, a plane, or a shadow box answering the question, “A Day in the Life of a Military Kid, what does being a Military Kid mean to you?” There are four age categories, K-2nd Grades, 3rd-5th Grades, 6th-8th Grades, and 9th-12th Grades. Prizes will be awarded for each category. Entries will be accepted from April 1st-30th and can be sent to Child and Youth Programs, 8180 Belden Blvd, Cottage Grove, MN 55016.

HOW CAN WE CELEBRATE

MILITARY CHILDREN?

“Purple Up Day!” Wear purple on April 15th! Purple Up is another way the community and schools can show support during April. Communities and schools are en-couraged to wear purple on April 15 to show their support. Take a picture in purple and have it post-ed on our FaceBook page in celebration of Month of the Military Child. Please send pictures to Laura Groeneweg, laura.l.groeneweg.ctr@mail.mil

“Purple Up Day!” Timberwolves On April 15th, the MN Timberwolves will be invit-ing all military kids and teens to go down on court to be a part of their game and activities! The Tim-berwolves have donated 600 tickets to military Families to attend this game. At the game, they will be recognizing all military kids and teens for their sacrifices and just how strong military kids are. Look for more information on your E-postcard. Remember: wear purple to the game.

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MILITARY YOUTH CAMPS

This is only a portion of the wonderful opportunities that are offered to our

youth! Be sure to check out

www.beyondtheyellowribbon.org/youth-camps

Contact Laura 651-268-8695 or Moriah 651-268-8378

For any questions about

Operation Purple Camp Campers will participate in camp activities such as mili-tary day, bonfires, swimming, fishing, camper games, and other fun activities Dates: July 12 to 17, 2015.

Tween Overnights Military youth ages 9-13 can spend the night at the Minnesota Zoo and other fantastic locations to network with other military teens and learn how animals are resilient. April 18-19, Great Lake Aquarium, Duluth May 29-30, Minnesota Zoo, Apple Valley September 5-6, Mall of America Sea Life Aquarium Defending the Blue Line Youth Hock-ey Camps Nearly a dozen camps, located throughout the nation, are available for free or at a discount for military youth. The camps are one of many ways Defending the Blue Line ensures that chil-dren of Servicemembers are afforded every op-portunity to participate in the game of hockey. Check the website for dates: http://

www.defendingtheblueline.org/programs/camps/

MN Elks Youth Camp Campers will go fishing, play mini golf, go bik-ing, kayaking, swimming, participate in archery, and other great activities at camp. July 12-18, Nisswa, MN.

Teen Summit Teens will participate in unique team-building activ-ities, attend fun engaging leadership workshops, participate in a service learning project, and go on an outing. June 26-28th in the Metro Teen Panel The goal of Teen Panel is to build resiliency through empowering teen participants in develop-ing leadership skills, learning teamwork strategies and giving back to the communities. July 30th-August 1st. Camp Corral Camp Corral provides kids non-stop fun with activi-ties like canoeing, swimming, fishing, arts and crafts, ropes course challenge, archery, and horse-back riding. June 7-12 in Lake Park, MN. National Guard Youth Camp Ages 10-15 gather on Camp Ripley, Minnesota Na-tional Guard Youth Camp. The youth spend seven days experiencing Camp Ripley and its surround-ing. Camp is not a "boot camp". Activities in-clude, biking, archery, orienteering and night vision goggles. Cost is $100-150. Week 1: 26 July - 1 August Week 2: 2-8 August.

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PARENTING MILITARY

CHILDREN TAMI ESTES –SOUTHERN MN FRSA

If you have children, you have heard the phrase “Kids are resili-ent, especially Military Kids!” Can I be honest for a moment? There was a time during all the pre-deployment and re-integration events that I would get tired of hearing this phrase, but the more I actually understand what resiliency is, the more I agree with it. A little background about my children and my military family- Our family has been through four deployments with my hus-band and five with my brother, who is active duty. My two oldest children, at the tender ages of 11 and 10, have been through all of these with the exception of one from each Sol-dier! My 7 year old daughter has been through 2 with Daddy and her Uncle gone. This past Christmas was the first time in years that we got to celebrate both Soldiers being home at the same time, it seems that the Army schedule always wanted my guys to overlap. People say to me all the time, “Oh, I’m sure since you’ve been through so many, it just gets easier?” My answer is usually something along the lines of, “Actually, from a parenting point of view it gets harder.” When we went through our first de-ployment with kids, the boys were 14 months and 1 month old. Yes, it was tiring as any new mom adding a second child would be, but from a deployment stand point it was the easiest, even more so than the one deployment when it was just me! Now, I know that each person deals with deployments in their own way, so please don’t take it as I feel that it should be a breeze to everyone with young children or being a newlywed with your husband deployed. My experience of having 3 children in 3 different activities, on the same night, all within 15 minutes of each other is what exhausted me. The “meet the teacher” nights, explaining three times to three different teachers how Daddy is gone and it may/may not affect the school year. The Christmas concerts that were attended by the whole family without my husband, and having to comfort my daughter be-cause Daddy missed seeing her in her beautiful, new, sparkly dress. We all have our lists that we can each add to this!

For additional Military Kid parenting per-spectives, check out MilitarySpouse.com.

The picture above is from their article enti-tled, “When Daddies Dance,” by Morgan Slade.

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Continued. It’s easy to see how resilient children can be during times of deployment; they learn new coping mechanisms and how to get through the routine of the day without their Soldier, but what about when

that Soldier has been home for a while? We are part of the Guard family, which means our Soldiers serve once a month (I didn’t say weekend, because there are a lot of extended weekends) and for AT during the summer. It doesn’t matter what age a child is, when he walks into the front room and sees the sea of camouflage, as his Daddy is going through his packing list for AT, there are feelings stirred up! MN does have Soldiers and Families going through the beginning of that deployment cycle, but for the most part we are in that “Steady State of Readiness”. It’s important to remember that even though the Brigade has been home for almost 3 years now, children- like adults- has their own timeline for when that “new normal” occurs. You may still be experiencing problems in school, disconnection between the Soldier/child, regression of bedwetting at night- this can all still be normal behaviors! As mentioned above, our Soldiers are still drilling each month which means they are still missing important events; such as the dance recitals, birthdays, Father’s Day, graduations, ball tournaments, and the list goes on…. We, as the non-military parent, are still explaining to the little friend, “Yes, her Daddy is home, but he’s at drill” (which we all know opens up a whole new conversation with school age children!) I encourage you to talk with your children about how they are feeling with our unique military lifestyle. How do they feel reintegration has gone for themselves and for the family as a whole? Ask how the last deployment has made them a different/better person? Discuss if they DO have any feelings come up when they see Dad/Mom pack-ing for drill weekend. For those children that have not experienced a deployment, it may be harder for them to deal with Dad/Mom being gone for those important events during drill- make sure that you acknowledge their feel-ings and talk with them about it because their feelings are valid. Often time’s children get left out of the biggest family conversations; we all need to remember that just because they are young they also have a voice! April is the Month of the Military Child; consider doing something special in recognition for YOUR military child! Take advantage of the highlights in this Tool Kit to help recognize your child, you could even take it to a more per-sonal level with doing something special, like an ice cream date to say “Thank you. YOU are appreciated!” Remember, our military kids really are the silent heroes that serve, too!

TAMI ESTES –SOUTHERN MN FRSA

PARENTING MILITARY

CHILDREN

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“What’s for Dinner?” This question sends chills down the spine of any parent. If a meal wasn’t al-ready planned, panic sets in. What can I make? What do we have on hand? Why is this always my responsibility? Why can’t other family members handle this on occasion? Where are all of the gro-ceries I bought at the store last weekend?

All too often, the solution is a drive through, and then mom guilt sets in and financial guilt soon fol-lows. I knew it was bad when our then two-year old could name all of the fast food restaurants on the drive home. Now that we are hockey parents and go straight to practice after we pick the kids up from school, we had to find a better solution. We institut-ed a few rules and life has been much better ever since.

Rule 1: On weeknights, I don’t cook dinner on nights that it is served. Hungry preschoolers and dinner prep don’t mix. If we are eating at home, dinners need to ready to eat in 10-15 minutes with plenty of pre-k interruptions. Dinners are made the night be-fore or come from a slower cooker. They simply need to be reheated and voila!

Rule 2: On hockey nights, parents eat dinner at work before they leave and kids eat dinner in the car. This is not limited to just hockey nights either. We have found so much peace having easy to eat (usually healthy) foods waiting for our kids in the car when we pick them up at 5pm. It used to be so time-consuming sitting down at the table when the kids wanted to burn off some energy. Yep our car is a

mess, but this has been a life changer.

Rule 3: Precook proteins in bulk on weekends. On Sunday, I baked twenty pounds of chicken and cooked several pounds of beef. I portioned it all and put it in the freezer for easy access to quick and easy meals. I also try to use my oven only once or twice a week and have it completely full when I do.

Rule 4: Try to serve a cold dinner at least one night a week. With preschoolers I am always heating things up, just

to cool them off. By having a cold meal ready like pasta salads and sandwiches, I don’t waste time/money/energy

reheating things and cooling them off. Cold meals also make much better leftover lunches the next day.

HEALTHY HABITS

MEALTIME MADNESS

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Rule 5: Drill weekend pizza. I really love pizza. I once tracked in high school how many days in a row I ate pizza and I stopped counting after a month. Most of the national pizza places have deals that add an additional pizza to your order for $5-10. During drill weekends, I get pizza the first night and enough leftover to stretch another two meals. While this isn’t healthy, it is a stress-free, somewhat econom-ical way to deal with things. If I am being really good, I’ll grab a take and bake pizza.

Rule 6: Bring the sides. I am not a fan of fast food French fries. On Saturdays, I bring my grandma lunch from Wendy’s. The kids get chicken nuggets and grown-ups get chili and baked potatoes. I bring the cheese and sour cream from home and I also bring fruits and veggies for the sides. The four of us eat for under $10 when the gro-ceries are added in.

Rule 7: No sauces or anything that needs cutting/help for kids. If we are eating pasta, the kids eat their noodles with butter, parmesan, and kelp granules (that is a whole other article). Bottom line: sauces are hot and messy. Right now, our kids don’t eat them and we are all happier for it. They also don’t eat anything that needs cutting. It can be way too time consuming.

Rule 8: Just get spinach. With rare exception, the only leafy greens I buy now are spinach. I used to buy spring mix, kale, and different types of lettuce and have them go bad and need to be tossed. Now I just buy spinach for salads, and green smoothies. If it is about to go bad and I won’t use it fresh, I have some quick and easy freezer reci-pes to use it in. I also get the prewashed kind, so there is no rinsing.

Planning is a big part of this process. I am constantly looking at what we have on hand that needs to be used up before it expires. An en-lightening experience is to keep a list on the refrigerator of food that gets thrown away. I have heard that 25-40% of food in the US gets thrown away. This may sound strange, but I try to keep our refriger-ator as empty as possible. I look at our week and always know what we are having for meals today and tomorrow. I also keep a cal-endar with ideas for the next few days. This allows me to adapt quickly to an invite for dinner or to a sale on fresh items.

One of the issues Families face is that meal planning is not very ex-citing. Kids usually like the same things and parents get bored. There is an article in this issue on slow cooker meals. Perhaps, it might provide a few ideas for Families to choose.

HEALTHY HABITS

MEALTIME MADNESS CRISTY HOUSE –NORTHERN MN FRSA

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Here are 17 freezer meal prep sessions that will help you stock your freezer with healthy and delicious dinners. During the “prep session,” all you need to do is com-bine the meats, vegetables, sauces and spices, and freeze (That’s right – there’s no cooking required ahead of time!). Every prep session includes free printable reci-pes and a grocery list, so the process couldn’t be easier. I’ve made hundreds of freezer meals and I’m excited to share my favorite freezer prep sessions with you. If you’ve never frozen a meal for your crockpot before, prepare to be amazed. All you need to do is combine the ingredients in gallon-sized plastic bags and freeze. Since the meals are so easy to prepare, I like to spend an hour on the weekend making 6-8 at once. That way my freezer is stocked with meals for the week and I don’t have to do any extra cooking. In the morning all I have to do is dump a freezer meal into my crockpot and dinner is done. (And, boy, does my house smell amazing!) I’ve done all of these freezer prep sessions myself so I can tell you that the recipes are delicious, budget-friendly, and 100x healthier than the drive-thru. Preparing meals like this has changed my life so much that I wrote three cookbooks about it. Once you see how easy it is to make freezer meals for your crockpot, I know you’ll be hooked too.

HEALTHY HABITS

FREEZER MEALS NEW LEAF WELLNESS

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Eight Healthy Crockpot Freezer Meals in 75 Minutes: This session includes recipes for beef roast and car-rots, chicken fajitas, Mexican chicken soup, and gar-den veggie soup with ground beef. To save time and money, you double each recipe and make two of each. Eight Crockpot Freezer Meals in 35 Minutes: This session includes recipes for cranberry pork roast and green beans, Italian chicken, Mexican chili with corn-bread topping, and honey dijon pork. To save time and money, you make two of each recipe, but you can vary the meat to make the meals different (For exam-ple, making one freezer bag of cranberry pork roast and one freezer bag of cranberry chicken.) I spent a total of $60 on ingredients. The chili with cornbread topping is to die for. Eight Crockpot Freezer Meals from Whole Foods in 35 Minutes: This freezer session includes recipes for chicken teriyaki, chicken chili, honey dijon pork and green beans, hot pepper pork and butternut squash, beef fajitas, and pepperoncini shredded beef. I only spent $92 total on ingredients, which is awesome be-cause these meals are packed with healthy and or-ganic ingredients.

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12 Crockpot Freezer Meals from Costco in 75 minutes: This freezer session includes recipes for red pepper chicken, honey sesame chicken, tomato turkey and veggie soup, and turkey and black bean chili. To save time and money, you make three bags of each recipe. I spent $87 on ingredients and was so glad I made three of each. These recipes are awesome! Six Freezer Crockpot Meals from ALDI in 40 Minutes: This freezer session includes recipes for cranberry chicken, Italian chicken, and tomato beef veggie soup. To save time and money, you double each recipe and make two of each. I spent $44 on ingredients. The tomato beef veggie soup is so good even my toddlers inhaled it. Six Budget-Friendly Make-Ahead Crockpot Meals in One Hour: This freezer session includes recipes for white chicken chili, ham and potato soup, and ham-burger vegetable soup. To save time and money, you double each recipe and make two of each. I only spent $26 on ingredients – such a great deal!

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Six Healthy Crockpot “Comfort Foods” in 40 Minutes: This freezer session includes recipes for beef roast and carrots, pot roast and green beans, and beef barley stew. To save time and money, you double each recipe and make two of each. These are my favorite recipes to make when boneless beef chuck roasts are on sale at the grocery store. They are seriously, seriously deli-cious. I spent $50 on ingredients during this session. Six Cheap Freezer Crockpot Meals in 50 Minutes: This freezer session includes recipes for shredded BBQ chicken, beef lime chili, and Mexican chicken chili with cornbread topping. (We love all three of these reci-pes.) To save time and money, you double each recipe and make two of each. I spent $30 on ingredients. Six Freezer Crockpot Meals in 30 Minutes: This freezer session includes recipes for Mexican chicken chili with cornbread topping, balsamic chicken and pears, and Hawaiian chicken. To save time and money, you double each recipe and make two of each. To be honest, I was-n’t crazy about the balsamic chicken and pear reci-pe. It’s the only recipe I’ve made from Once a Month Meals that I didn’t like.

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Six Ground Beef Crockpot Freezer Meals in 50 Minutes: This freezer session includes recipes for beef vegetable soup, Mexi-can beef chili with cornbread topping, and beef black bean chili. To save time and money, you double each recipe and make two of each. I spent $56 on ingredients. These are the best reci-pes to make when ground beef is on sale. They are so yummy. Six Crockpot Soup Freezer Meals in One Hour: This freezer ses-sion includes recipes for sausage spinach tomato soup, meatball veggie soup, and chicken soup with Mexican seasonings. To save time and money, you double each recipe and make two of each. I spent $46 on ingredients and peeled more carrots than ever before, but it was worth it because the soups were deli-cious. Six Chicken Freezer Crockpot Meals in 30 Minutes: This freezer session includes recipes for red pepper chicken, orange-ginger chicken, and lemon pepper chicken. To save time and money, you double each recipe and make two of each. I spent $20 on ingredients. These recipes are super healthy and don’t include any processed foods. Seven Slow Cooker Freezer Meals in an Hour: This freezer ses-sion includes recipes for beef roast and carrots, chicken fajitas, spicy Dr. Pepper shredded pork, and chicken pot pie with tater tots. The chicken pot pie sauce requires some cooking before freezing. We really loved all of these recipes.

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Six Make-Ahead Meals from Costco in 40 Minutes: This freezer session focuses on frozen meatballs from Costco and includes recipes for meatball veggie soup, sweet n sour meatballs, and spaghetti and meatballs. To save time and money, you double each recipe and make two of each. I spent $45 on ingredi-ents. These are probably the easiest freezer meals I’ve ever made and the spaghetti and meatballs were extra delicious.

Five Freezer Slow Cooker Meals in an Hour: This freezer session includes recipes for chicken curry, mini meatball soup, and beef roast with carrots. I need to make that curry again some-time soon – it was so good! Six Healthy Freezer Crockpot Meals in 50 Minutes: This freezer session includes recipes for chicken teriyaki, balsamic beef roast, and lime shredded pork. To save time and money, you double each recipe and make two of each. I spent $73 on in-gredients. The lime shredded pork recipe is one of our favor-ites. Six Make-Ahead Freezer Meals in 50 Minutes: This freezer ses-sion includes recipes for honey sesame chicken, brown sugar meatloaf, and turkey white bean kale soup. To save time and money, you double each recipe and make two of each. I spent $60 on ingredients. I love that the meatloaf recipe can be fro-zen without any cooking ahead of time and cooks in the ov-en. Perfect for nights when we need a break from the crock-pot.

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Last month’s healthy money habit was building emergency funds. One of my primary strategies for doing this was selling stuff. There are many ways to do this and I will outline my personal experiences.

Craigslist: When Craigslist works well, it is wonderful. When it doesn’t, it can be time-consuming. Some things to consider are pick up time and location and methods of communication. Al-ways arrange for pick ups to be in a safe place and ideally as a part of your normal schedule. I have had multiple no-shows or people that are late, so I generally don’t go out of my way any-more. Usually transactions should be fairly large, otherwise the process is not worth the hassle. A down side is that it can be easy to under-price items. If something sells in a few hours, chances are it would have sold for a higher price. The best part is that us-ing the site is free and simple.

Ebay/Half.com/Amazon: Ebay is great for high value easy to ship “niche” items. There is a learning curve. Half.com and Amazon are good for books and other media items. Beware of shipping. All of these sites charge fees. One of the benefits to Amazon is that they offer fulfillment services, which can dramatically reduce your hassle and your profits.

Etsy/Pinterest: Some people have hobbies that simply get out of hand. In some situations, Etsy or Pinterest may be ways of selling these items. I personally have never sold or bought on these sites, but I really enjoy looking at them. These sites are for sellers with amazing photography skills. They also cross into the tax ter-ritory of going from a hobby to a small business, so you will need to keep good records. Consignment Shops: These tend to be the least hassle and have the least monetary return. Very little of your time is required and you don’t have to arrange meetings, store the items or set up a space. This is a good venue for antiques, clothing, or children’s items that need a new home quickly. The best part is that stor-age is free.

Interest Group: These are good places to sell very specific items like hockey gear on a bulletin board of your local hockey associa-tion .

HEALTHY MONEY HABITS

SPRING CLEANING CRISTY HOUSE –NORTHERN MN FRSA

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Garage Sales: These can be time and space con-suming, but when they go well, they are fabu-lous. I have never heard of a sale having too many signs or the prices marked too clearly. Neighborhood sales tend to draw more people. I have had sales go really well and others go terribly with weather and timing being one of the biggest factors. Preparation is key and plan that people will show up early. I have had peo-ple stop by at 6 am on the day of a sale. I also suggest having a space heater near the checkout table because it can be cold. If you are selling chil-dren’s items, make sure to have nearby parking. Your best customer may be a mom with small chil-dren in the car napping.

Craft Sale: I did craft sales for several years and these are great places to sell certain items. They are also time-consuming, but the venue is provided for you. The customers are provided as well, but there is a lot of competition for their business. There are fees to have tables at events. You also have to be careful about spending your profits at other tables at the events. Family or Friends: This may be a good way to sell certain things depending on your relationship with individuals. The nice part is that it can be pretty easy to coordinate pick ups. Pricing can be an issue though. Some buyers expect to get a good deal and some sellers overvalue their items. Have a plan for if large items break. I know of a situation where relatives bought a car from one another and the transmission broke shortly after. The situation put a strain on their relationship for years. Facebook Group: These are springing up all over the place and are a really good option if the item photographs well.

HEALTHY MONEY HABITS

SPRING CLEANING CRISTY HOUSE –NORTHERN MN FRSA

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RESOURCE LINKS ARMY / NATIONAL GUARD minnesotanationalguard.com armyonesource.com militaryonesource.mil CHILDREN ADAPT: cehd.umn.edu/fsos/adapt operationwearehere.com mnchildcare.org ausa.org/family mdva.state.mn.us/child guardfamilyyouth.org militarykids.org DISCOUNTS beyondtheyellowribbon.org military.com/discounts/category EDUCATION education4military.com gibill.va.gov militaryonesource.mil militarychild.org EMPLOYMENT esgr.org mn.gov/deed FMLA: dol.gov/whd/fmla HEALTH / MENTAL HEALTH tricare.mil militarymentalhealth.org Counseling 24/7: militaryonesource.mil MARRIAGE AND RELATIONSHIPS Marriage Retreats: strongbonds.org militaryonesource.mil PARENTS OF SOLDIERS bluestarmoms.org operationwearehere.com/Parents.html PET CARE dogsondeployment.org netpets.org guardianangelsforsoldierspet.org SPOUSES & SIGNIFICANT OTHERS militarysos.com spousebuzz.com milspouse.com msccn.org nationalmilitaryspousenetwork.org STRESS MANAGEMENT militaryonesource.mil defense.gov/specials/stressawareness

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