I Dropped a Hot Chicken in my Hot Oven/Melissa Maker is a Genius

Problem: Impossible Oven Cleaning Job

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Solution: Melissa Maker's Genius Idea

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I did it. I was roasting a chicken in my Pampered Chef Deep Covered Baker and it was time to remove the lid for the final browning of said bird.

As I grabbed opposite sides of the baking dish, one hand slipped and I dropped my Deep Covered Baker....and a good portion of that well-done chicken fell out....onto the oven floor....under the base which covers the gas heating element. I quickly salvaged the rest of the bird, but my oven was doomed...and we're moving in two weeks...and I wanted to leave a clean house - and oven - for the new owners.

Even though I turned the oven off right away, it was too late for the fallen chicken not to continue to bake....and bake right on the oven floor and under the base.

Then it came time to clean the oven. I was exhausted thinking about it.

But, then I remembered Melissa Maker and one of her brilliant ideas for cleaning the stove.

Enter the pumice stone!

I remembered her saying a pumice stone would work wonders on a tough stove clean-up job.

Oh, my, word, she was SO right! That pumice stone removed the baked-on mess like magic! Oh, man, I could even start liking cleaning if it's going to be this easy!

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Melissa Maker!

But, alas, my Deep Covered Baker broke during the mishap.

Cleaning has never been this much fun.

The humble pumice stone will transform your cleaning.

~Tricia

Kitchen Drawer Organization - Gadget Organizing

A Working Solution to Health Care Costs

Problem: Rising Health Care Costs

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Solution: Drop Your Insurance and Do this Instead

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I recently read a report in Robinhood's "Snacks" email newsletter. I'm a part-time day trader and use Robinhood as my main broker for trading penny stocks. They put out a daily digest of financial news and today's "Snacks" had an article titled, Healthcare stocks fall, because, politics. I was intrigued and read further. 

One particular statement in the article caught my attention. It said, "Health insurance makes customers oblivious to treatment prices." This is very true, but it doesn't have to be that way. We customers can change that starting today. Note the article called us "customers" and not patients. They are right to do so. 

When my daughter-in-law needed an MRI, my son asked the health provider what the cost would be. The provider told him that since he had insurance, they were not permitted to disclose costs. She said they do not disclose costs to patients with insurance. So, clearly, customers are oblivious to costs through no fault of their own. Try as you might, you will find it nearly impossible to know the cost of a procedure you are about to undergo.

This is not true for me and my family. When my daughter recently had to have an MRI, I called around to all the imaging facilities near us and got price quotes from each one. I was then able to choose which one best fit our budget. We paid $450 for her MRI. That's an average cost for an MRI in the Washington, DC area, where we lived at the time.

Why am I privy to this information and my son was not?

We are self-pay. We do not have health insurance.

We have something so much better. We have something that lets us shop around, pays for the procedures with no questions asked, and gives us the flexibility to choose what works best for us with no restriction as to where we get our health care.

What we have is not health insurance; it's health cost sharing and it's far, far better than any insurance plan we've ever seen. 

When my husband had cancer four years ago, his total cost by the time he was in remission was approximately $250,000.00. We do not have that kind of money sitting around, but his bills were paid in full. Chemotherapy, multiple MRIs, multiple PET scans, multiple epidurals and several extended hospital stays were all paid, in full, and we were told the cost of everything up front. His itemized bills show exactly what everything cost, right down to the slippers and socks they gave him to wear.

We belong to Samaritan Ministries International.

Samaritan Ministries International is not health insurance. It's a sharing program wherein members pay each other's health care costs. When we mail our monthly membership fee in, we actually mail it to another member who has a health need. These needs are processed through Samaritan's home office and we're given the name, address, and health concern of the individual we are to send our monthly membership fee to. Most members attach a note of encouragement. When my husband had cancer, we received gift cards to go out for dinner, etc., as an encouragement. Children often receive stuffed animals and other gifts with the funds mailed for their health needs.

When we are on the receiving end, we receive a roster of people who are going to be sending their premiums to us in a particular month. Once we receive all the funds listed on the roster, we return it to Samaritan for their records. If someone who is listed on the roster does not send their fee to us in the prescribed timeline, we notify Samaritan and they either direct funds from someone else, or notify the late comer of their oversight. Either way, we never go chasing down any funds.

Because of this, we get exact quotes on every procedure.

We know exactly what it costs to see any doctor.

We know exactly what it costs to get any procedure done.

Also, health care providers charge self-pay customers differently. Insurance companies reach agreements with health care providers on how much they agree to pay for a given procedure. Health care facilities bill accordingly. But with self-pay customers, they have an entirely different set of fees for their procedures. Being self-pay opens a whole new world that many people don't know exists because they never see a bill.

Billing transparency is already being quietly done in some parts of the US. Many hospitals are now putting the prices of all their procedures right on their website for all to see. Click here to see the price list for MRIs at St. John Clinic in Tulsa, OK. Some have criticized this type of list for being "too difficult for the average person to understand," but I beg to differ. If your doctor has given you the exact name and type of procedure you need, you do not need a medical degree to look it up. It does take a little work, but it's worth it. I found the link above in one search and 3 clicks.

Health care costs can be lowered; they are already lower for a good number of us who have forsaken traditional health insurance. Instead, we pay each others bills and write an encouraging note while we're at it.

Problem solved.

Drop your insurance and do this instead.

~Tricia

My Top 5 Moving TIPS!

If you've ever moved, you know how hectic, chaotic and crazy it can be. We are in the midst of our 5th move in 6 years and I've come up with the best tips that have helped these moves go much more smoothly than I expected.

Thanks for reading!
Thanks for watching!
~Tricia

Freedom Hill Solutions is Relocating!

I've not been super active on this blog, nor on my Freedom Hill Creations blog. That's about to change, but I wanted to let you know that Freedom Hill Solutions is relocating!

It's still going to be Freedom Hill - and our new home is actually on a hill, which really helps solidify the name.

We are moving from Maryland, right outside the DC beltway, to Charlotte, NC. We are super excited to start this new chapter in our lives and looking forward to getting settled and busy with a new business opportunity. More on that later in another blog post.

I've been filming the packing and moving prep and you can catch up on that here if you're interested.

The house is 90% packed up and we are moving next weekend - pulling out on the morning of March 31, 2019.

I have not been inside our new house. We are renting a house across the street from a lake and my husband was down there a few weeks ago and got to tour the house. A local agent gave us a video tour and my hubby also did a video tour of the house. But, all I have to go by are the pictures online and those video tours.

This is not scary to me; I'm super excited to move into a house I've never stepped foot in before!

As soon as we get there, I'll be making videos of our move and my home decorating projects. My first project will be turning a formal dining room into my home office. The kitchen has a large dining area and I see no need for two dining rooms, so this is a perfect solution. I've been scouring Pinterest for ideas and found that many people are turning their formal dining rooms into home offices and the transformations are remarkable. I can't wait to do my own. Click here to see my main inspiration for my new office.

Here are a few pictures of our new home:

I LOVE the curb appeal!

This formal dining room will become my home office.

I love a grand entrance!

The living room is two stories! 

Again, that grand entrance but from the top of the stairs. I think a two story entrance is a fine thing. 

I'm especially excited to decorate this entry way because

our current house does not have an entry way to speak of.

The kitchen appears to be almost an afterthought tucked into a corner, but my hubby said 

the pictures don't do it justice.

I really don't care, though, as long as I can cook for my family.

There is a pantry, so that's a plus.

Here's the dining room attached to the kitchen. It's plenty big enough for large family dinners

and some farmhouse decor.

This might just be my favorite part of this house.....a screened-in porch!

This porch is right off the kitchen dining area and will be the perfect spot to end  - or start - my day!

Finally, there's a deck off the screened-in porch.

Our current grill goes with the house we're selling, so we'll be getting a new grill

to use out there on that deck.

Can you tell I'm excited? I didn't even show you a picture of the master bathroom and closet, but just wait till you see it. It's fabulous! Stay tuned for more as we get moved and settled in this fabulous new home!

Once I get my home office set up, my Etsy shop will reopen. 

Thanks for coming along!

Get creative, stay creative.

~Tricia

FINAL Laundry Room TOUR! I'm SO Late!

Cleaning UNDER the BATHROOM CABINET!

As You Go...

Problem: Messy Kitchen after Meal Prep

Solution: Clean As You Go

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I cook dinner at our house about six days out of seven. I also do all our baking from scratch and often hosts guests. My kitchen gets a workout daily, but I can honestly say it never takes much time to clean up my kitchen after cooking an entire meal. 

Why?

I clean as I go.

I always have a bowl or some other vessel for collecting garbage as I cook. All my onion and garlic peelings can go right into the vessel and be dealt with later. I have a garbage disposal, too, so I can quickly take care of most vegetable peels immediately by simply throwing them in the sink. 

I either measure out milk or any other refrigerated liquid, then put the container right back in the refrigerator. I throw egg shells into the sink for the garbage disposal, etc.

Cleaning as you go is free, takes much less effort than everything cleaning up afterward and brings a surprising efficiency to your cooking.

Clean as you go: your kitchen will thank you.

~Tricia~

Delegation Power

Problem: Overwhelming laundry

Solution: Delegate

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As the Mom of eight kids, I know exactly how overwhelming unending laundry and housework can be. 

How could it not be overwhelming?

Everyone I know wears their clothes more than one time, creating laundry, sheds dirt and dust in the same spaces, creating the need to clean and uses the same dishes again and again, requiring them to be washed again and again. As long as we're alive, we're creating work for ourselves and our families are creating work for us.

Let me tell you a laundry story. 

(The laundry room at Freedom Hill.)

When my oldest son was about 10 years old, I had five kids and was pregnant with the sixth. 

There were times I got behind on the laundry. 

One such time, said son came to me and said he wanted his laundry sooner than I was getting it done and asked if he could do his own.

Glory be!

Yep! Son, you can do your own anytime you want!

So, I taught him how, assigned him a day and he's been doing his own laundry ever since.

Delegation was born in the laundry room.

I had delegated other jobs before, but this one was a game changer. They all had chores such as setting the table, doing the dishes, vacuuming the floors, etc., but this was different. 

This was a personal responsibility that would not end.

As each child reached age 10, I turned their laundry over to them, taught them how to do it and assigned them a day. I saw my workload decrease a little more each year.....well, sort of....I kept having babies, creating more work. 

(But, for the record, they are worth it.)

Delegate for an easier time.

Delegate to get more done.

Delegate even if it means they don't do it just like you.

Delegate and let them develop their own style and systems.

Happy delegating!

~Tricia

The Anatomy of a Day Trade

Problem: Need Money

Solution: The Stock Market has Money

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I'm a Day Trader in the stock market. I day trade penny stocks only, however, and regular day traders who trade the bigger stocks might not consider me a legitimate Day Trader. But, my brokerage calls me a Day Trader, so I'm going to stick with that however naive it might seem to experienced Day Traders.

I am a nervous Day Trader. 

No one ever knows what a stock is going to do, so you can buy it thinking it will go up and it can plunge in the next second.

Because of this, I get super nervous when making a trade because I don't want to give all my money to other traders. There are ways to minimize your chance of losing and make trading penny stocks less of a risk. There are some who will tell you that it's a risk no matter what, and they are right, but stocks follow consistent patterns. Learning to spot these patterns is key.

In this blog post, I'm going to walk you through a trade I made today so you will see my thought process throughout the entire trade.

I bought 50 shares of $ABIL (Ability) for $7.60 a share.

This is a "big" buy for me because I rarely buy anything over $3.00 a share, so this was out of my comfort zone from the start. 

I got the tip for this stock from Benzinga, who gives a daily chart for the lowest and highest penny stocks for the day. It indicated that $ABIL was growing fast. 

I went into my brokerage account at Robinhood and read articles about $ABIL to see what was up and why it was growing.  

I discovered it had just announced entry into a stock purchase agreement in Tel Aviv, and this was driving the price up. 

Of course it would! 

As soon as I bought the shares, it began to go up and I was excited. I didn't buy it on a market share, I bought it on a limit buy. The difference is, a limit buy will buy it at the lowest price I'm willing to pay, which, in this case, I was $7.60 per share. When I set that limit order, it was selling for $7.74 per share.

But it had been going up and down for hours. 

I gauged how far the dips were and they were generally 15 to 20 cents each. 

I watched the stock for about half an hour, as it climbed. It climbed up to $7.98 while I was watching, but dipped back to $7.74, then dipped sharply to $7.55, then immediately to $7.65. I decided to buy if it dipped to $7.60 because it had shown it was going to dip and rise. 

I set my limit buy and went about other business, keeping a close eye. 

I was delighted to find my limit buy had been executed while I prepared creamy mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving dinner.

Once the limit buy executed, I was glued to the app on my phone.

It shot up to $7.90 out of nowhere!

Should i sell? Should I wait?

While I asked myself these questions, I dropped to $7.53!

Just that fast! 

I've lost! Should I set a stop loss order? What if it goes back up?

It dropped to $7.44!! 

Oh, no! It's tanking! 

As fast as I could think that, it shot up to $7.60.

Whew! A break-even. I can do that if needed.

But it shot up to $7.84!

I should sell now! Don't get greedy, I told myself.

Before I could take any action, it fell to $7.65. 

I didn't want to sell at $7.65, but decided I was willing to sell at $7.80.

So, I set a limit sell at $7.80 and put the mashed potatoes in the refrigerator.

When I came back to my phone, my shares had sold at the limit sell price of $7.80 and I was $10 richer!

This is a small profit but small profits add up.

As you can see from the picture above, the rise did not last and the stock ended up at $4.98. I bought on the dip and sold on the rise, keeping a close eye on how it was doing while I owned some of it. This one was a quick $10.

To learn Day Trading, I've been studying Timothy Sykes' trading courses, particularly this book, The Complete Penny Stock Course by Jamal Ben Alluch. Jamal is a student of Timothy Sykes and took his lessons and put them in this book, creating a comprehensive course that anyone can buy and learn from.

I highly recommend you get this book if you have any interest in trading penny stocks. Timothy Sykes is a multi-millionaire who made his money on penny stocks. It can be done and anyone can do it! 

Happy Trading.

Trade cautiously.

Trade wisely.

~Tricia

The Top 7 Ways I Make Money Online

Problem: Need Money

Solution: Make Money from Home

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Can Anyone Make a Living from Home?

Making a living from home has become more popular with each year and the internet has allowed home businesses to boom.

Here, I'm listing my real-life money-making internet gigs. 

You can do any or all of these things, too.

These are in no particular order.

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1. FIVERR.COM gives users the opportunity to sell a service or information starting at $5 a gig. Your gigs are not limited to the $5 price point and you can also add gig extras.

I have steady work on Fiverr as an editor and have gained some regular, repeat clients. 

Pro: You will find clients you would not have found otherwise.

Con: Fiverr takes 20% of all sales, so your profits are reduced.

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2. FREELANCE WORK. In addition to my work on Fiverr, I also do freelance editing and writing. Editing and writing are my specialties, but there is a huge variety of options.

There are freelance opportunities in photography, graphic design, website creation, illustrations, etc. Anything you can offer on Fiverr, you can offer in the private sector.

Pros: You get to keep all the money. 

You get to be a published author.

You can charge more than you can on Fiverr.

Con: Marketing yourself is more challenging.

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3. E-BOOKS. I have several e-books up on Amazon and not one month goes by that some of them don't sell. I've written e-books on writing, protecting children, patriarchy, potty training and even put together one containing articles I've had published but are out of print. E-books are easy to write and can go live within a day of uploading via Kindle Direct Publishing. 

If you have knowledge to share on any topic, put it in an e-book and start making money today!

Pro: You will be a published author and make money.

Con: You have to do the actual writing and I advise hiring an editor.

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4. ETSY  Opening an Etsy shop is quick and easy and allows you to offer an endless variety of things for sale. Etsy started out being more for handmade items, but has grown to include printables, collections, planners, as well as handmade items and much, much more. I offer a variety of die cuts, unique, one-of-a-kind pillow covers, zipper pouches, drawstring bags, baby items and even a printable poster. 

Pro: Selling is quick and easy and their fees are low.

Con: There are fees.

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5. EBAY. I have been selling on Ebay off and on for about 20 years. I have worked it full-time and helped pay the bills and I have worked it part-time just to have spending money. Ebay is fabulous and they've streamlined the selling process over the years, making it one of the easiest selling forums to use. It's quick and easy to sell and you can make hefty profits on items you pick up at a thrift store or garage sale. 

I find that my home school books sold for catalog prices on Ebay, even after we'd used them. 

My best-ever sale on Ebay was when I bought a pair of leg braces at a thrift shop for 99 cents and sold them for $300.

As far as selling forums, I have to mention apps like LetGo, Facebook Marketplace, 5Miles and many others.

Do a search and find one that works for you.

Also, you can sell more than just books on Amazon.

Online selling is an excellent way to make money.

Pro: You can even print your postage and have your postal carrier pick up your packages. 

Ebay has protections in place.

Con: There are fees (but they are low.)

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6. DAY TRADING Day trading in the stock market is another way I make money from home. This used to be something just for big, long-term investments, but I have found profits in penny stocks through studying and learning from those who have had success. I use the Robinhood appto make my trades and they have no fees, so each trade is free. Robinhood gives you a free stock worth up to $5 when you sign up and you can sell it or buy more.

I suggest following Tim Sykes for education and information to help you get started. A great blog to follow is Taking Charge, a great resource for beginners.

The stock market is risky! Do not trade without education!

There are ways to lessen your losses....I have a small account and I only trade 10 - 20% of my account at a time. This means my gains are smaller than some, but my losses are also smaller. 

Pro: There is no limit to the amount of money you can make.

Con: You will lose some money along the way; losses are part of the process.

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7. BLOGGING Blogging is another great way to make money online. I have several blogs, here and here are two of them. Monetizing your blog is easy and can start generating revenue quickly. If you have something to say, say it in a blog and get paid while you're at it. 

Some bloggers make a full-time income through blogging. 

Pro: You control all the content and can post as often as you like.

Con: You might have to pay an editor.

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As you can see, I have a lot of irons in the fire. I like variety and get bored with just one or two things. Tailor your online earnings to what works best for you. There is no right or wrong way. You decide what's right for you and what works for you.

I'm currently working on ramping up my YouTube channel so it can monetized. That will be number 8!

~Tricia