A Little about Me and this Website

I'm a veteran Mom to 4 millennials; a DIYer who's renovated several homes and investment properties; a (retired) homeschooling parent; a public school teacher; a real estate investor, a small business owner; and a freelance writer. 

This website has its origins in a collection of recipes and household and personal finance hints that I wrote for my sons as they moved into adulthood. I started compiling everything I could think of to help them as they began that stage of their lives.  

My 4 boys in their younger years. They are all grown men now, but I look back with love and affection on these very busy times.

But this blog also came about partly as a tribute to my dear, late Mom. 

I owe her debt of gratitude for teaching me so very much about so many things ---  about the practical side of life, of course, but also  about character, integrity, compassion and concern for others, and care and stewardship for our natural world.  

She was a wise and wonderful woman who raised her 9 children to seamless,  independent adulthood by sheer determination and the unrelenting effort  she put into passing on to each of us the skill set and know-how we needed to survive and thrive in the world.

We were blessed to have had her guidance. 

Not everyone is so lucky.

So my mission here is to pass along as many of her common sense ideas for living as I can, as well as others I've learned along the way, and including any of the ones I continue to absorb even now in this more mature stage of my life.

I  hope very much to show that life on a budget can be empowering and rewarding in ways you probably never even realized.

Part of that mission is to show that tasty, nutritious meal preparation does not need to be complicated, expensive, or time-consuming. The recipes I offer here are tried and true, nutritious, budget conscious, and varied  enough to satisfy a wide range of tastes and preferences.

And I also hope to make life easier for readers by sharing  household tips, steps and practices that I have used to "do it all" over a couple of decades of running a household  while working, going to grad school, and raising and schooling 4 sons. Some of them have been real sanity savers for me. 

​Additionally, I include what I hope are helpful hints for household budgeting and home management that can make life easier for you.

And if I think I have something to contribute from my experience dealing over the years with the money matters involved in running a small business, financing college, paying off debt, investing, and saving for retirement, then I will write about it.  

And then again, sometimes I might just write about a topic that strikes me as relevant for modern living or life in general. 

I hope you find some part of it useful. 

Thank you for visiting. 

Nancy Maje Gillis

Here's me, learning to multi-task when my oldest was a few weeks old. It's something every young parent learns to do.

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