ItsGravyBaby.com shows you how to make edible finger paint.
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.
Summer Bucket List
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4 Weeks to a More Organized Home: Assignment #12
Day 12 Assignment
::Get dressed in something that makes you feel great {there’s something about dressing in clothes that make you feel great that just gives you more energy and zest for life! Get your free copy of SarahMae’s ebook, Frumps to Pumps, if you need more motivation in this.}
::Sit down with a cup of coffee or tea, refer to your list of weekly goals, and make a list of no more than 5-7 specific things you want to accomplish today.
::Complete your morning routine {if you don’t have a morning routine, take some time to create one today! Read my How to Develop a Routine That Works–And Stick With It series for step-by-step help.}
::Set the timer for 15 minutes and vacuum the main living areas of your home.
::Clean your microwave, stove top, and/or oven.
::Find 7 items to get rid of today. Throw them out, stick them in a donate or garage sale box, give them to a friend who can use them, or list them on Craigslist or eBay.
Note: If you work outside the home or have a really busy week with little time for extra projects, just do the bolded project above.
At around 9 p.m. EST tonight, I’ll be posting my progress and pictures, along with a link-up for you to share your progress and pictures, too. Here’s to our productivity today!
4 Weeks to a More Organized Home: Assignment #11 Update
Okay, so I have a confession to make: I never made it out of my PJs today, nor did I exercise. I think that sort of means I failed today’s assignment–at least when it comes to the first project on the list.
I had every intention to run and take a shower, but after reading my Bible, making a list of goals for the week, making a to-do list, blogging, homeschooling, having a radio interview, more blogging, and taking care of a bunch of little details in prep for our trip, I finally decided late in the afternoon that it just wasn’t happening today.
The good news? I had a productive day.
I told you that my house was a mess this morning.
Why yes, that’s a box of Annie’s mac & cheese on our bedroom floor. You mean you don’t store those on your bedroom floor?? Ahem. I’m not sure how it got there!
And I certainly wasn’t kidding.
But it’s clean tonight — thanks, in part, to my husband and children pitching in to get it all picked up.
So. much. better!
And I also got the silverware drawer cleaned — though it wasn’t too messy to start with since it had been cleaned out not too long ago. But I found a few things to get rid of and some crumbs to wipe out.
My 7+ items to get rid of — mostly from the silverware and utensil drawer.
Tomorrow, I promise I’ll make getting out of my PJs a priority — especially since I really want to head to Target to buy some Starbucks coffee before our store is cleaned out. 🙂
How did you do on Assignment #11? I’d love to have you share your progress and success with us so we can be inspired. Either post a link to your blog post below or leave a comment with your update.
8 Goals for This Week
Last week was a good week and it was encouraging to realize just how much was accomplished today when I went to update my goals list today. Yay for productivity!
Since we’re traveling to the Cincinnati Conference later this week, my big focus this week is to rest up and prepare for a few whirlwind days of speaking, meeting many people, and running our booth. Now that most of prep work is done for the conference, I’m getting really excited about it — especially since so many of you have written in to say you’ll be attending!
Last week’s goals:
Family/Mothering Goals
1. Read five chapters of Quest for Truth:Taken aloud to the children. Start Thomas A Edison: Young Inventor.
2. Write a love note to Jesse.
3. Meet friends at the park for a playdate.Personal Goals
4. Finish reading One of Us Must Be Crazy and I’m Pretty Sure It’s You. Start reading The Three R’s.
5. Complete week 10 of the Couch to 5K program.6. Finish listening to The 10 Habits of Happy Mothers.
Home Management
7. Follow my Spring Cleaning plan & blog about it every weekday.Business Goals
8. Finish & practice my talks for the Midwest Homeschool Convention.
9. Finish & print handouts for the Midwest Homeschool Convention.
10. Create Powerpoints for my talks for the Midwest Homeschool Convention.
This week’s goals:
Family/Mothering Goals
1. Read five chapters each of Quest for Truth:Taken and Thomas A Edison: Young Inventor aloud to the children.
2. Write a love note to Jesse.
Personal Goals
3. Finish reading One of Us Must Be Crazy and I’m Pretty Sure It’s You and The Three R’s.
4. Run at least two times.
5. Finish listening to The 10 Habits of Happy Mothers. Start listening to Integrity: The Courage to Meet the Demands of Reality.
Home Management
6. Follow my Spring Cleaning plan & blog about it every weekday.
Business Goals
7. Continue practicing my talks for the Midwest Homeschool Convention.
8. Attend and speak at the Midwest Homeschool Convention.
How did you do on last week’s goals? What are your goals for this week? I’d love to have you share your progress on last week’s goals and your goals for this coming week in the comments. Of, if you’ve blogged about it, leave your direct link below. Let’s cheer each other on to live purposeful and productive lives!
You can download a free customizable weekly goal-planning sheet here.
4 Weeks to a More Organized Home: Assignment #11
Missed some of the first assignments? See the links at the bottom of this post for Assignments 1-10.
It’s Monday and that means we’re back to cleaning and organizing our homes again. And boy does our home need some cleaning and organizing!
It was a bit of a crazy weekend around here — especially with all the stormy weather and tornadoes. In light of the tornado damage and destruction others experienced this weekend, I can hardly complain about a messy house.
But I still need to whip this place back into shape. I think it may look worse than these mess house photos I posted last month!
Day 11 Assignment
::Get dressed in something that makes you feel great {there’s something about dressing in clothes that make you feel great that just gives you more energy and zest for life! Get your free copy of SarahMae’s ebook, Frumps to Pumps, if you need more motivation in this.}
::Sit down with a cup of coffee or tea and make a list of weekly goals. I’ll post my goals along with a link-up around 1 p.m. ET this afternoon.
::Complete your morning routine {if you don’t have a morning routine, take some time to create one today! Read my How to Develop a Routine That Works–And Stick With It series for step-by-step help.}
::Set the timer for 15 minutes and quickly pick up your house and put things back into order after the weekend. If your house looks like mine, you might need to spend longer than 15 minutes. 🙂
::Clean out your silverware drawer. Remove all items, vacuum out the crumbs with your vacuum’s attachment, wipe down the drawer with a damp cloth, get rid of anything you don’t need or no longer use, and then put everything you’re keeping back into the drawer in an organized manner.
::Find 7 items to get rid of today. Throw them out, stick them in a donate or garage sale box, give them to a friend who can use them, or list them on Craigslist or eBay.
Note: If you work outside the home or have a really busy week with little time for extra projects, just do the bolded project above.
At 9 p.m. ET tonight, I’ll be posting my progress and pictures, along with a link-up for you to share your progress and pictures, too. Here’s to our productivity today!
8 Ways to Save on Medical Necessities
Guest post from Rachel who blogs at RachelWojo.com
As mother to a child with a long-term, life-threatening illness, innovative methods of securing medical supplies have been crucial to our family’s financial sustainability. Obviously the following list is not comprehensive, but perhaps you will get a fresh idea or two that can practically assist you during high-demanding medical crises.
1. Use your private health insurance for every doctor’s visit, prescription, and therapy.
This point may seem like a no-brainer, but often consumers will forget to provide current information, especially at the beginning of a calendar year, or insurance plan year.
2. Take advantage of Flex Spending Plans.
If your employer has a medical flexible spending plan available, be sure you take advantage of this avenue to save from paying taxes on your necessary medical supplies. There are guidelines and restrictions as to the covered items, so be sure to identify the items and coverage you need from the flexible spending plan before you commit to it.
3. Determine if the prescription or therapy is truly medically necessary.
Often something as simple as the location of therapy changes the cost dramatically (such home versus facility). Get a second opinion if you are not confident.
4. Use a medical supply mail-order company for long term prescriptions.
Purchasing a 90-day supply over a 30-day supply will usually save money in the long run. Many companies have free shipping and you save time and money on pickup and gas.
5. Ask for samples.
When looking at medical supplies, weigh both quantity and quality. Ask for samples and test them before committing to a box of 500.
6. Use generic.
Ask the doctor for a generic brand prescription instead of the brand name.Whether the item is medication or testing supplies or whatever, often the generic will serve the same purpose while saving money.
7. Be proactive in asking others about their medical/financial strategies.
Social workers, clinical workers, nurses, fellow parents…you never know who has information about a program or benefit of which you are unaware.
8. Don’t be afraid to ask for a payment plan.
If you owe a medical bill you cannot immediately pay in full, make payments. Most medical billing companies try to prevent turning the bills over to collections as long as the consumer is faithfully making payments, regardless of the size.
Many people encounter serious financial difficulty due to unexpected medical issues and it can be discouraging. My hope is that this list will promote new ideas that evolve into long-term solutions for you or your loved one’s continual medical care.
How do you save on medical bills?
Rachel Wojnarowski is originally a small town country girl who converted to a suburban mother of seven by way of life happening. She and her husband, Matt, enjoy caring for their busy family, whose ages span 9 months to 21 years and include a special needs daughter. She loves to inspire others through her blog by sharing faith, family, and fun.
The Life-cycle of a Cardboard Box In The Frugal Household
Guest post from Lucky of Making My Own Luck
This is the life-cycle of a cardboard box in our very frugal household!
Day 1:
The Amazon deals posts on Money Saving Mom have turned me into a fan of the Fisher Price Happy Days and Happy Nights diapers. I used to love Pampers but my baby’s chubby thighs fit in the Fisher Price diapers better. I order them through subscribe and save, and they come every month like clockwork in a great big box.
I’m working from home when I hear the delivery truck chugging up the hill and the telltale thud of the box on my door step. I lug the box into the house, take the diapers out of the box, and put the diapers away — leaving the box in the middle of the living room floor.
The baby plays on the floor while I work in the kitchen. I look up. Where’s the baby? Inside of the box, laughing happily.
Day 2:
My 3-year-old wakes up at the crack of dawn asking to paint something, play with play dough, go to the park, wash the car, and make a birthday cake all at once. I ask him if he would like to color on this nice box instead.
He claps and gets to it. The box has now been transformed from a low budget play pen to a race car. I enjoy my coffee while helping him draw racing stripes on the side.
Later, he asks me to ride in the car with him. While he’s pretending to strap me into my car seat, I crash through the back of his race car/cardboard box. He gets out his play tool box and spends a long time with his saw and a roll of tape playing auto mechanic. The race car is as good as new.
That night as I’m getting ready for bed, I see that the cat has decided to take over the box and is curled up in a big gray lump, and dreaming kitty dreams.
Day 3:
The kids have moved on to playing with canning rings and empty milk jugs. As usual, most of their actual toys go unused. It’s my turn to use the box and I stuff it with outgrown clothes for next spring’s consignment sale.
I challenge you to find me any “real toys” that could have this many uses!
Lucky is the mother of two young kids and a carb-intolerant kitty. Read about her adventures of balancing kids, work and life with making her own bread at Making My Own Luck.
4 Weeks to a More Organized Home: Assignment #10 Update
If you missed this morning’s assignment, you can find it here.
It was a pretty typical morning here: Bible, blogging, morning routine, running, radio interview, and homeschooling. I took a quick shower and then Kaitlynn and I headed out for a fun afternoon “date” together.
And then I came home and cleaned light fixtures and ceiling fans:
The kitchen
The girls’ room {and the are we done yet look?!}
I couldn’t reach the living room ceiling fan… so Jesse and I devised a way to pull it off without a ladder. I got on his shoulders, he stood on a chair, and then I could reach it. Of course, I was freaking out that I was going to fall the whole time and he was having a grand time laughing at me. But I was mostly just being my crazy self and playing it up so he could get a kick out of me (though I really did think I was going to fall a few times!)
{By the way, I wouldn’t recommend trying this at home, but it produced a lot of laughter and provided a fun memory! :)}
Lookie who lost her second tooth today?!
And for my “assigned” 15-minutes of relaxation, Jesse and I are having an at-home movie date tonight once the children are in bed. I’m excited to set the to-do list aside and just kick back and enjoy a relaxing evening!
I hope you had a great day today! Thanks for joining me in all these projects this week. Be sure to come back on Monday morning for your next assignment!
How did you do on Assignment #10? I’d love to have you share your progress and success with us so we can be inspired. Either post a link to your blog post below or leave a comment with your update.
4 Ways to Creatively Meet Your Savings Goals
Guest post from Katie of Along For The Journey
Do you have trouble saving money? I know, at times, I certainly do.
I set ambitious saving goals, only to have my ambition slowly dwindle down. However, I have learned that if you are determined to meet your savings goals, creativity can help you get there. Here are a few ideas to get you thinking:
1. Round up your purchases and save the change.
When you purchase something with a debit card, round up the purchase to the next dollar and transfer the extra change to your savings account. There are some banks that will automatically do this for you. If you use a cash system for purchases, then throw your change in a jar and let it add up.
2. Take surveys, read emails, and search the web.
I am currently saving all of my online earnings for Christmas. I have set a Christmas budget of $500 and a goal to earn that $500 online. By doing this, I will also be able to take advantage of great deals all year long.
Note from Crystal: Check out this list of Legitimate Survey Companies to Sign Up With, as well as my 15 Ways to Earn More Swagbucks series for more information on how you can earn money by taking surveys and searching the web.
3. Take on side jobs.
Find a way you can make some extra cash by doing something you already love doing. Here are a few ideas:
- Babysitting
- Dog Walking
- Blogging
- Have a yard sale
- Sell stuff on Craigslist or Ebay
These, of course, are just generic ideas. We all have different talents and interests, recognize your talent and think about how you could utilize that talent to earn some extra money.
4. Automate your savings.
If at all possible, set up an electronic transfer from your paycheck or checking account to your savings account. It’s much easier to save money that you never see. Even if you can only afford to save $5 out of every paycheck, do it. Small amounts add up quite nicely over time!
Some of the things on this list may look insignificant, but it might surprise you how fast they add up. If you are having trouble saving money, remember to stay positive and think outside the box.
Katie is a mother of two beautiful girls. She currently works part-time as a bookkeeper and goes to college full-time pursuing an accounting degree. She enjoys blogging about personal finance at Along For The Journey.
4 Weeks to a More Organized Home: Assignment #10
Can you believe we’ve been at this 4 Weeks to a More Organized Home Challenge for two weeks now? I’m so proud of all of you for the progress you’re making and the hard work you’re putting in to make your homes more of a haven.
Your posts and comments have been a huge inspiration to me! Keep them coming!
Day 10 Assignment
::Get dressed in something that makes you feel great {there’s something about dressing in clothes that make you feel great that just gives you more energy and zest for life! Get your free copy of SarahMae’s ebook, Frumps to Pumps, if you need more motivation in this.}
::Sit down with a cup of coffee or tea, refer to your list of weekly goals, and make a list of no more than 5-7 specific things you want to accomplish today.
::Complete your morning routine {if you don’t have a morning routine, take some time to create one today! Read my How to Develop a Routine That Works–And Stick With It series for step-by-step help.}
::Dust all ceiling fans and clean all light fixtures in your house. Check for burned out light bulbs and replace.
::Set the timer for at least 15 minutes and do something you really enjoy and that relaxes and rejuvenates you. If you need ideas, here are a few: read, write, call a friend, pray, exercise, bake, play with your children, laugh with your husband, stop by the bookstore and browse the book selection, work in the garden, or take a nap! Take some time to just stop and enjoy life today!
Note: If you work outside the home or have a really busy week with little time for extra projects, just do the bolded project above.
At 9 p.m. ET tonight, I’ll be posting my progress and pictures, along with a link-up for you to share your progress and pictures, too. Here’s to our productivity today!
OVER-SPENDING EVERY SINGLE MONTH?Grab these FREE Budgeting Sheets!
Click here to download!
4 Weeks to a More Organized Home: Assignment #9 Update
Missed this morning’s assignment? Find it here.
Today was a bit different than our normal schedule because I had to finish up all of the handouts for the Cincinnati Conference so that I could get them into the printers by tonight so that they’d be ready in time. And in order to finish the handouts, I had to, you know, finish my four talks — or at least have a fairly good idea of what I was going to say so that it somewhat meshed with the handouts we’ll be passing out. 🙂
So after an abbreviated morning routine, homeschooling, and a quick shower, I spent a big block of time working on the handouts while my wonderful assistant helped and played with the children.
Joy and I finished them up just in time and Christy (Jesse’s fantastic assistant who has been helping me organize all of the details for the Cincinnati conference — I’d be so sunk without her!) took them into the printers.
{See? Those of you who think I’m superwoman can now breathe a sigh of relief. I’m so not superwoman; I just have a great team of people who work for me!}
Whew! So glad to have that project done — especially because these are talks I’m giving multiple times this year so now that we have most of the legwork done for them, the rest of the conferences shouldn’t require so much prep work ahead of time!
After all of that was finished, I spent some time with the children and tackled the bathrooms. Oh did they need help — especially the children’s bathtub.
I decided that all of the miscellaneous toys in the bathrub could go in the 7-things-to-get-rid-of pile for today. {By the way, in case you are wondering why we have so many of these stacking toys, they came free with some online deal awhile back. Silas has had fun playing with them at bathtime, but I think we probably don’t need to hang onto 20 different stacking cups for bathtime!}
Much better! 
Jesse and I went out on a date tonight (woot!) and then I came home and the children and I worked on the light switches.
Silas really got into the cleaning the light switches business. He loved it!
And then he took his cleaning cloth and started cleaning the mirrors and the walls. We could hardly pull him away from his cleaning when it was bedtime!
While today was definitely different from a “normal” day (though I’m not exactly sure what “normal” looks like since every day is somewhat different around here!), it was a good day and I’m thankful for the many things that were accomplished.
And I’m very ready for bed!
How did you do on Assignment #9? I’d love to have you share your progress and success with us so we can be inspired. Either post a link to your blog post below or leave a comment with your update.
We Paid Cash: A New Roof
A testimony from Scott who blogs at In Due Sea$on
As followers of Dave Ramsey, my wife and I live, eat, and breathe avoiding debt. We have been following the Total Money Makeover plan for over four years, and always pay with money we have, versus money we plan to have.
Early in the program, with the threat of a possible job loss, we began to save as much cash as possible, for what Dave Ramsey referred to as the “rainy day fund”. With storm clouds looming, we temporarily halted our debt snowball and socked away as much money as we could for several months. After a job change and a more stable income, we were prepared to put that money back towards paying down our debt.
However, our 27-year-old roof saw to it that our savings would go elsewhere. We tried to hold off as long as possible on the repair. However, once it began to rain in our kitchen, we knew we couldn’t hold off anymore!
After pricing quality roofers in our area, we found a great contractor to do the job for $20,000. For the extensive amount of work we needed, that was actually a good price.
But we wanted better. It’s hard to part with your emergency fund money, even for an emergency.
So, when drawing up the contract, I broached the question, “What will you take for the job if we pay in cash?” A surprisingly quick “$17,000.” was the response. Still painful, but it was encouraging to realize we could have bought a decent used car with the money we saved by “going green”!
That expense set us back close to a year on our Total Money Makeover progress, but I can tell you that it’s a good feeling to pull into our driveway everyday and look at that roof, knowing that it’s paid in full. Had we financed the roof, it would probably have to be replaced again by the time we finished paying off the interest and payments!
Scott Kerzner blogs at In Due Sea$on, a site based on the life of a Dave Ramsey follower. He and his family just finished Baby Step 2 of the Dave Ramsey plan and have paid off $100,000 of debt… even after many setbacks along the way!
Have you saved up and paid cash for something — large or small? Submit your story for possible publication here.
Freebies in my mailbox
Here are the freebies that showed up in my mailbox this past week:
Lipton Green Tea samples
Free bottle of CoffeeMate
Free Annie’s Homegrown product
Tide samples
Bigelow Tea
Gud lotion
Vitamin Code samples
Hyper FX sample
Comfort for Baby coupon booklet — includes a coupon for a free package of diapers and wipes!!
What freebies have arrived in your mailbox recently?
By the way, if you want to start getting great freebies in your mailbox, just start signing up for the freebies I post every day that interest you. Within 4-6 weeks, your mailbox will start filling up with great freebies!
Reader Testimonial: How Budgeting Has Changed Our Lives
Guest post from Kaui of Thrifty Military Mommy
I grew up as a typical American who went to school but wasn’t taught basic budgeting skills. I can’t really blame my parents for this because they too were not taught how to budget by their parents.
“Go to school, get good grades, get a good job and you’ll be successful,” was the typical mentality. When I left the nest I found out pretty quickly that graduating from school and getting a good job did not make me successful.
Two Incomes Didn’t Solve Our Problems
When I got married, having two incomes didn’t help things out much. In fact, in many ways, things got even worse because there were two people who didn’t budget and spent their money on anything they wanted!
When we had our first baby we chose to go to one income so I could stay at home, which brought even more strain as we tried to figure out how to survive on one income. Everything changed when my husband got out of the Marine Corps and our daughter was one.
The School Of Hard Knocks
With no jobs and just a small amount of money coming in from my husband’s GI bill, we both kicked into survival mode, realizing that we had to get our finances in order now or we wouldn’t survive the year. We didn’t realize then that we’d be thanking God for allowing us to go through that temporary time of suffering, and if it weren’t for Him we would have self destructed for sure.
Thankfully, some friends of ours were excellent at budgeting so they taught us how to use the emergency budgeting technique since we had so little to work with. They also advised us to use the envelope system and only spend the cash that we had on hand until we could refill it the next month.
At the same time we were becoming familiar with MoneySavingMom.com and Dave Ramsey. Because of all the support we received online, the vast amount of education regarding budgeting, and the help of our friends, we were able to avoid more debt and live within our means.
Our Success Today
Now we are so much more successful with our finances than I ever could have imagined. I have come to love budgeting so much that I now have my own blog to help spread the word about finances and handling money properly. We have been blessed with another baby (boy), we own our own home, and we have more money left over in the bank at the end of every month than I thought we’d ever have… and it continues to grow!
We owe it all to budgeting!
Kaui is a proud army wife and mother to two very active children. She saves her sanity by blogging about the military, saving and making money, investments, and her own struggles and triumphs as a mom to two military brats at Thrifty Military Mommy. She is passionate about nurturing anyone else who has been through the same struggles she has and loves offering her advice and wisdom.
4 Weeks to a More Organized Home: Assignment #9
Missed the first few days’ assignments? You can see all the posts in the 4 Weeks to a More Organized Home series here.
Day 9 Assignment
::Get dressed in something that makes you feel great {there’s something about dressing in clothes that make you feel great that just gives you more energy and zest for life! Get your free copy of SarahMae’s ebook, Frumps to Pumps, if you need more motivation in this.}
::Sit down with a cup of coffee or tea, refer to your list of weekly goals, and make a list of no more than 5-7 specific things you want to accomplish today.
::Complete your morning routine {if you don’t have a morning routine, take some time to create one today! Read my How to Develop a Routine That Works–And Stick With It series for step-by-step help.}
::Set the timer for 15 minutes and do a quick-clean of your bathroom. Need specific directions? Read this article on How to Clean Your Bathroom in 15 Minutes.
::Clean your light switch plates. You can use a damp rag with a little disinfectant on it or a cleaning wipe. If you have younger children, they’d probably enjoy joining you in tackling this project!
::Find 7 items to get rid of today. Throw them out, stick them in a donate or garage sale box, give them to a friend who can use them, or list them on Craigslist or eBay.
Note: If you work outside the home or have a really busy week with little time for extra projects, just do the bolded project above.
At 9 p.m. ET tonight, I’ll be posting my progress and pictures, along with a link-up for you to share your progress and pictures, too. Here’s to our productivity today!