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Want to make something special for your family for Valentine’s Day? Here are some delicious ideas:
Make Homemade Heart-Shaped Fry Bread — yummy!
Meek & Chic shows you how to make Sweetheart Pancakes.
Amy’s Finer Things has a recipe for Valentine’s Day Fruit Kabobs.
I Can Teach My Child shares a recipe for Stained Glass Valentine Cookies.
Whip up a batch of Maple Oat Heart-Shaped Scones from Life as MOM.
What are your favorite Valentine’s Day themed recipes?
Guest post from Jennifer of Pure and Simple Organizing
Our garages and attics are often the most neglected areas of our home. How often do you actually get in the garage to sort through your precious stuff? We just pile and stuff, pile and forget.
We think that once the garage door is closed, we will forget about all the boxes we have piled and stuffed. However, our sneaky subconscious mind reminds us day in and day out about our clutter lurking in these neglected places.
Does the clutter in your home (visible or not) bother you?
My guess is that it does. We, as humans, crave order, and clutter is not order. It causes stress and anxiety, not to mention, it packs our homes full of stuff that we don’t really need or use. Thus, your home becomes a storage unit, not a peaceful, relaxing domain.
1. Start with the room that bothers you the most (garage, attic, kitchen)
Pick a weekend to tackle the project — it will take longer than you think!
Talk to your family and get them on board with sorting, purging, and cleaning — if the clutter is bothering you, then I bet it is bothering them, too.
If you have a friend who loves to organize, call her, too! You could treat her to dinner or babysit her children for a few hours in exchange for her help.
2. Take everything out. Yes, everything must come out! Make sure that the space is clear.
Sort like with like. (Toys, holiday decorations, pictures, memory lane)
Throw away anything that is broken, moldy, faded, and not in great condition
Donate multiple items and anything you don’t use, love or need.
3. Evaluate your progress and repeat with the next space!
Organizing helps energize and inspire you. You want to live in the moment rather than be succumbed to the past. Treasure your memories as they live in your head and heart, not in your stuff. Display treasured items. If you keep something special, then serve its purpose. Frame your christening gown and hang on the wall! Put your first report card in a photo album.
Keep what you love and use. Toss or donate the rest.
These pictures are of a garage that was badly overstuffed and forgotten. In four days, I managed to create inventory zones for holiday decorations, pool storage, and memory lane. The owners were thrilled! The husband even mentioned putting a pool table in the middle — he had no idea there was so much room up there!
Organize to live simply. Downsize, learn to live in the moment, and you will soon forget about all of the extra stuff.
Jennifer is a home organizer in Charlotte, NC. Her mission is to help families and individuals find calm within their home after clearing out the chaos. Giving someone the opportunity to increase their quality of life by cleaning up and out is her passion! She blogs at Pure and Simple Organizing.
Not too long ago, I was getting ready to check out at Aldi and noticed they had their beautiful floral bouquets on sale for half price. Since Aldi typically sells their floral bouquets for $3.99, they were marked down to $1.99 each and they still looked amazing!
I love fresh flowers and I love a great deal, so I was excited! However, as I walked over to pick one up and put it in my cart, I felt a twinge of guilt. Immediately, I started questioning whether or not I should buy the flowers. Yes, they were on sale for $1.99, but I don’t have a fresh flower budget category (!) and the money would have to come out of our grocery budget for the week.
Back and forth the arguments went in my head: Should I really use our grocery money to buy flowers? I shouldn’t spend that $1.99 on me–especially on something that’s just going to look pretty for a few days and then die. But $1.99 is a great deal and they will really brighten our kitchen table.
I picked up the flowers and then put them back three times. I was so conflicted about what I should do.
Finally, after a few minutes of standing there having my mind play tug-o-war, I snapped back into reality and realized how crazy I was being (and how ridiculous I must look to other people passing by!)
Yes, it’s a good thing to carefully examine every purchase. Yes, it’s a good thing to make sure anything you’re purchasing is a good deal and that it’s something you can afford.
For me to stand in the Aldi check out lane, though, and spend close to five minutes waffling over whether or not I should spend $1.99 on beautiful flowers is not only wasting time and energy, it’s taking frugal too far.
Frugality is not about living a miserable and bland existence, it’s about being wise stewards of our money so that we have more to save, give, and yes, spend on the occasional splurge. As long as you have the money in your budget, it’s okay to buy things on occasion just because.
In fact, if I can’t justify the occasional splurge for something that will bring beauty into my life, then I’m probably bordering on becoming a tightwad.
So, armed with fresh resolve (and the realization that we had plenty of wiggle room in our grocery budget), I picked up the flowers, purchased them, and guiltlessly enjoyed their beauty for the rest of the week.
Have you ever taken frugal too far? I’d love to hear your stories and how you’ve worked to find a healthful balance between living a frugal life, but also allowing yourself enough breathing room to enjoy life, too!
Today’s question is from Elizabeth:
How do you save money on purchasing K-Cups for Keurig single-brew coffee makers? I have tried using coupons for K-Cups, but it’s often hard to find the specific brand the coupon is for. I have also tried ordering them online from different sites, but I found that the sites that offered coupon codes and great deals weren’t working properly and my orders did not go through. Does anyone know what the best sites are {with or without coupon codes} to order K-Cups from? -Elizabeth
Do you have a question you’d like to ask Money Saving Mom® readers? Read the submission guidelines and submit it here.
I loved Amy’s post from January on celebrating your crazy, frugal self. Here’s a snippet:
Being frugal isn’t always easy. Living below your means, while reaping great benefits, isn’t necessarily fun. Saving money is hard work, and likely won’t net you a membership into the cool kids’ club. But never mind all that!
One thing I’ve learned about debt-free living is that we have to make our own fun. Celebrate our own cool. Stop for a quick dance while marching ahead to our own goals. Take note of the frugal milestones and get happy about them!
Long-term, successful frugal living is so much more about attitude than about which coupons you clipped this week.
“How does one balance keeping sentimental items from the past and living a clutter-free, simple lifestyle?” -Emily
As most of you probably well know, I disdain clutter. But even though I can get pretty ruthless in ridding our home of anything we don’t love and use on a very regular basis, I do keep some memorabilia.
Here are some things I consider when deciding whether to keep sentimental items:
When it comes to sentimental items, my rule of thumb is to ask myself, “Will I wish I had kept this 25 years from now?” That really helps me in determining whether or not to hang onto something.
Photographs, letters, and journals are what I hang onto more than actual memorabilia. Sure, it might be fun to show your grandchildren the very first shoes you wore or the very first drawing you made and it’s totally fine to hang onto a few of these things, but if you don’t set some fairly strong ground rules for what you hang onto, you’ll soon have to devote an entire room or storage unit to memorabilia!
Just because something has sentimental value, it doesn’t have to be stored away. Some of my favorite sentimental items are things we use on a regular basis–such as my tea set from my grandma. Yes, we run the risk of breaking it if we use it, but it’s so fun to enjoy tea parties with my girls and to tell them about their great grandma whom the set came from.
I also have a set of embroidered dish towels from my grandma that I use almost every day. They are getting worn from use, but I think of her almost every time I pull them out to dry the dishes. To me, it’s much more special to be using her towels in my kitchen than to have them tucked away in a tub in our storage closet.
This might seem to fly in the face of point number one, but I’ve been grateful that I’ve followed it over the years–especially with my ruthless clutter-ridding personality! If you’re not sure whether you’ll wish you had hung onto something 25 years from now, don’t get rid of it–yet.
I inherited a KitchenAid from my grandma after she died. I thought I would really love it. Instead, it sat in a closet unused. A couple of times I was seconds away from selling it in our garage sale, but I mentioned this on Facebook and a bunch of you strongly encouraged me to hang onto it. I’m really glad I did because I’ve since fallen in love with it and use it regularly in cooking and baking.
You can always throw something out or pass it on later on, but you can never get something back after you’ve gotten rid of it (well, unless you gave it to someone you know!)
Set Up a Special Memorabilia Storage Space
One thing that has been really helpful to me is to buy two big tubs with lids that I’ve designated specifically for storing mementos. Not only does this provide a place to put special cards or pictures that come in the mail, but it also keeps everything contained and not overflowing into other parts of the house.
We’ve found that two big tubs are currently big enough to house everything we want to hang onto–pictures, childhood memorabilia, letters, and things passed down to us from grandparents that we’re not currently using on a regular basis.
The other beauty of having a designated spot is that it provides boundaries for how much we can keep. When the tubs are getting full, we go through them and pare things down a bit so that we can have more space for new things that might come in.
What about you? How do you balancing hanging onto sentimental items versus having a clutter-free home? I’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas!
We made a quick run to the health food store and Aldi today. Here’s what we bought:
Tuesday’s Shopping Trip
Health Food Store
4 bags of organic oranges marked down to $0.99 each!
Total with tax: $4.25
Aldi
2 bags of spinach — $1.69 each
1 gallon of milk — $2.82
1 tub artisan lettuce — $1.99
6 avocados — $0.29 each
1 head cauliflower — $0.99
1 bag sweet onions — $1.49
1 bag baby carrots — $0.99
3 multi-colored peppers — $2.69
1 package of kiwi — $1.69
2 bags of bananas — $1.21 + $1.29
Total with tax: $21.76
To start off the Clear Out the Clutter project this month, I began at the front door and tackled the coat closet. I was excited to discover it wasn’t as cluttered as I’d thought.
In fact, it only took me around seven minutes to go through and I only found four items to get rid of. But hey, that’s a start!
Tomorrow, it’s onto the girl’s closet. I’m pretty near positive there’s going to be a lot more than four items to get rid of in there–provided I can gently convince the girls that it’s time to let go of some of the extra stuff (like that Happy Meal toy from two years ago!)
“But mom,” I can just hear my daughter protesting, “That Happy Meal toy is really special to me–it makes me think of Grandma because I got it the day Grandma took me to McDonald’s.”
Yup, my daughters are pros at figuring out a very good reason why they need to keep all of their items–including papers and toys with missing and broken parts. Cracks me up how different they are than me! They help to balance me out! 🙂
Did you do any clutter clearing this week? If you posted about it, link directly to your blog post below. We’d especially love to see before and after pictures, if you’re brave! 🙂
Many, many of you have written in or commented in the last few months that you are really struggling with home organization. So I’m excited to let you know that I’ve teamed up with Andrea Dekker from Simple Organized Living to bring you a brand-new monthly feature called called “Ask the Organizer“.
Each month, we’ll feature one organizing question and let you weigh in your thoughts, answers, and opinions. Then later in the month, Andrea will pick one or two of the most popular responses and share her tips, ideas, and suggestions for dealing with those issues!
So, to start things off, this month’s question is:
What is your biggest clutter hot spot?
Leave your answers below and then check back in a couple weeks for Andrea’s expert organizing advice!
Want to make your own Valentine’s Day cards this year? The Idea Room shows you how to make these cute Handprint Valentine’s.
And Happy Clippings shows you how to make these Handprint “LOVE You This Much” Valentine’s.
Do you have a fun and frugal DIY idea to share? I’d love to hear about it! Read the submission guidelines and submit it here.
Green Monster Smoothie–it was a huge hit with everyone in our family, including Jesse!
We’re starting our second week of a gluten-free, dairy-free experiment for one of our children. We’ve been amazed at the improvement in their health issues in just a short while of eating this way. It’s been a bit of a challenge, but overall so worth it. We’ll see how this week goes.
Here’s the menu plan:
Breakfasts
Granola Bars
Green Monster Smoothie
Fresh carrot/orange juice, scrambled eggs
Green Smoothie
Oatmeal with brown sugar and raisins
Cereal
Gluten-Free/Dairy-Free Blender Waffles, FruitLunches
Lunch at Cracker Barrel
Gluten-free pasta, hamburgers, steamed broccoli, apple slices
PB&J on rice cakes, carrot sticks, apple slices
Refried beans, rice, carrot sticks
Tuna salad, carrot sticks
Sweet potatoes, baked chicken, steamed broccoli
LeftoversSnacks
Healthy Chocolate Mousse
Fruit/Veggies
Black Bean BrowniesDinners
Hamburgers, sweet potatoes, broccoli, fruit
Baked chicken, tossed salad, mashed potatoes, fruit
Meatballs, steamed veggies, fruit salad, rice
Frito Chili Pie, fruit, brown rice
Goulash, tossed salad,
Dinner at Valentine’s Banquet at church
Breakfast for dinner: Blender Waffles, scrambled eggs, fruitFreezer Cooking
What’s on your menu this week? Share details and/or your link to your menu plan in the comments.
Download free Just Popping Through Valentine’s Day printables from Our Best Bites.
Download a free Valentine’s Rolo Rocket Favors printables from Shindig Parties.
Download a free Blowing Kisses Your Way printable from The Mother Huddle.
Myra from My Blessed Life shows how you how quickly and easily make Rice Krispie Hearts for Valentine’s Day.
Guest post by Amber from Click. Pray. Love.
Do you have a 12-18 month old child? Have you found it challenging to come up with age-appropriate activities for them to do at home that don’t require the purchase of another toy? If so, I have a few ideas and a challenge to share with you.
First, consider a few of the developmental milestones for a 12-18 month old:
Now, here comes the challenge: How many objects can you find in your home that will encourage your child to accomplish or build on those milestones? Here are a few ideas:
Fill muffin tins with small objects – Cover each tin with tape or a lid allowing your child to discover what’s in each tin.
Work on opening/closing flip top lids. You can also teach them how to thread a ribbon through the opening of flip top lids.
Play-doh – Make Play-doh balls and other shapes for your child. Have them place each one in an egg carton or other container. Give them cookie cutters and begin teaching them how to make their own shapes
Box Fun – Keep various size boxes (i.e. cereal, rice, cracker, cream cheese, soap box, etc.). Stack the boxes inside one another allowing your child to pull out each one and attempt to place each one back inside another box.
Plastic vacuum Hose – Do you have any balls that will fit inside? If so, try holding the hose up and dropping the ball from top to bottom. You’ll be surprised how quickly your 12-18 month will begin doing this independently. You could also use a paper towel roll.
The list could go on and on, but hopefully these ideas will help get your creative juices flowing. Just remember to look at each object in your house and ask, “How could I use this to create a fun, safe, learning experience for my child?”
Amber is a Physical Therapist turned stay-at-home-mom to her son Bennett. She enjoys photography, wants to begin sewing, and is often thinking about the next fun activity to do with her family. You can join her quest of finding the Divine among the daily at Click.Pray.Love.
