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Money Saving Mom

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Summer Bucket List

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Money Saving Mom
Shared Apr 11, 2012 comment

Ask the Readers: Is it worth it to pay for an Amazon Prime membership?

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Ask the Readers: Is it worth it to pay for an Amazon Prime membership?

Published: by on   |  This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.


Today’s question is from Julie:

Is an Amazon Prime membership worth the cost?

I live in an extremely rural community and initially decided not to purchase it the membership after my one-year free trial expired. But, I now really miss the two-day free shipping (with no minimum purchase), along with some of the deals available with Subscribe & Save.

I know these aren’t comparable to some deals other readers find, but for someone living in a rural area, the deals are great (especially when you factor in the increasing cost of gas).

What do you think — is it worth the $6.58 a month to purchase an Amazon Prime membership? -Julie

Do you have a question you’d like to ask Money Saving Mom® readers? Read the submission guidelines and submit it here.

Money Saving Mom
Shared Apr 11, 2012 comment

4 Weeks to a More Organized Home: Assignment #8

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4 Weeks to a More Organized Home: Assignment #8

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Missed the first few days’ assignments? You can see all the posts in the 4 Weeks to a More Organized Home series here.

Day 8 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 go through your dresser drawers. Remove items you no longer love, need, and/or wear. Quickly organize the remaining items.

::Wipe down all the door handles in your home. 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. 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!

Money Saving Mom
Shared Apr 10, 2012 comment

4 Weeks to a More Organized Home: Assignment #7 Update

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4 Weeks to a More Organized Home: Assignment #7 Update

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If you missed today’s assignment, you can read it here.

We had a good day today. It was full and the children seemed to have an extra dose of energy, but we survived — and God gave me grace to not lose my patience, even though I was really tempted to a few times! 🙂

We’re loving reading Crossroads of Character at breakfast right now.

After homeschooling and chores, we headed to the park in the afternoon for a play date with friends. It was the perfect weather — not too hot, not too cold. I love spring!

I scrapped my original plans for dinner at the last minute and made a sort of hamburger, potato, and vegetable hash for dinner.

I also whipped up a loaf of Easy Whole Wheat Bread. It was very easy — and it turned out beautifully!

Before dinner, the girls helped me tackle the baseboards.

I discovered one thing in the process: I have a lot more baseboards than I realized I did! Whew!

Now I know why some of you were saying this was not an “easy” project. It definitely took more time than I was expecting! But we finally finished and it felt so good to know that all the baseboards in the whole house are clean.

Today’s 7+ things to get rid of: odds and ends I found around the house while cleaning the baseboards. I wondered if I was going to be able to keep finding 7 things to get rid of every day, but so far, it’s not been too much of a challenge, unfortunately! 🙁

How did you do on Assignment #7? 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.

Money Saving Mom
Shared Apr 10, 2012 comment

8 Make-Ahead Breakfast Ideas

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8 Make-Ahead Breakfast Ideas

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You can save a lot of money and feed your family more wholesomely if you ditch breakfast out of a cereal box. However, much of the time, mornings can be busy and there’s not a lot of time to spend making breakfast from scratch.

What’s the solution? Try make-ahead breakfasts!

Here are eight of my favorite ideas:

1. Pancakes and Waffles

Pancakes and waffles can be made ahead of time and frozen. Just whip up a batch of pancakes or waffles, let cool, and then stick in airtight freezer bags. When you’re ready to serve, you can warm them in the oven, microwave, or toaster oven.

If your family prefers fresh pancakes or waffles, you can save time by mixing up the batter the night before and then just cooking the waffles or pancakes in the morning. Or, you can mix up a quadruple batch of the dry ingredients together, divide into fourths, and freeze in freezer bags to make pancake and waffle prep a snap.

A few of our favorite freezer-friendly recipes: Whole-Wheat Chocolate Chip Pancakes, Whole-Wheat Chocolate Pancakes, Gluten-Free Dairy-Free Waffles, and Carrot Cake Waffles.

2. Homemade Breakfast Burritos

Breakfast burritos are a hearty grab-and-go food that teenage boys and men seem to especially love. Make a big batch on the weekends, freeze individually in foil, and then they can just be pulled out and microwaved before heading out the door in the morning. (Be sure to remove the foil before microwaving!)

3. Muffins

We love muffins at our house! To make them ahead, just bake your favorite muffin recipe, let them cool, and stick them in an airtight freezer bag or other container. When you’re ready to eat them, just pull out however many you need and microwave or let them thaw for 15 or 20 minutes and they are ready to eat!

Recipes to try: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins or Pumpkin Carrot Cake Muffins

4. Homemade Instant Oatmeal Packets

Love oatmeal? Make your own instant oatmeal packets! They are quick and easy to make, very inexpensive, and you can get creative adding in a variety of mix-ins.

5. Smoothies

If your family loves smoothies like we do, but want to speed up your prep time in the mornings, try your hand at making Homemade Smoothie Kits with some of your favorite smoothie recipe ingredients. Or, Jessica just cuts right to the chase, makes her smoothies, and then freezes them for later use.

Some of our favorite smoothie recipes: Pick-Me-Up Smoothies and Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Smoothies

6. Homemade Granola

Homemade granola is such a delicious and filling breakfast. You can eat it like cereal with milk or you can layer it with yogurt and fruit to make a parfait. One of our family’s favorite quick and easy granola recipes is this Peanut Butter Granola.

7. Homemade Egg McMuffins

Why stop at McDonald’s when you can make your own Homemade Egg McMuffins for half the price — or less? These can be made ahead and frozen and just pulled out and microwaved or baked when you’re ready to serve.

8. Baked Oatmeal

We’re big fans of Baked Oatmeal around here! You can make it up the night before and refrigerate to bake in the morning or you can freeze it to thaw and bake later.

What are your favorite make ahead breakfast ideas?

Money Saving Mom
Shared Apr 10, 2012 comment

Do It Yourself: Cherry Pie Lara Bars

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Do It Yourself: Cherry Pie Lara Bars

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Creative Juices Decor shows you how to make homemade Cherry Pie Lara Bars.

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.

WANT TO SAVE $100 FAST?!Join the FREE 14-Day Savings Challenge!

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Money Saving Mom
Shared Apr 10, 2012 comment

4 Weeks to a More Organized Home: Assignment #7

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4 Weeks to a More Organized Home: Assignment #7

Published: by on   |  This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Missed the first few days’ assignments? You can see all the posts in the 4 Weeks to a More Organized Home series here.

Day 7 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.

::Wipe down all the baseboards in your home. If you have children who can help, you might divide your home up into sections and have everyone take a section so you can get this job done quickly!

::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. 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!

Money Saving Mom
Shared Apr 9, 2012 comment

4 Weeks to a More Organized Home: Assignment #6 Update

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4 Weeks to a More Organized Home: Assignment #6 Update

Published: by on   |  This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

If you missed this morning’s assignment, you can check it out here.

Truth be told, I was kind of wishing I hadn’t assigned this project today when it came time to do it. 🙂

Especially when I found what looked like a popcorn party in the van. I’m not sure what it is with us and popcorn strewn everywhere. I guess it’s because popcorn is one of the childrens’ favorite snacks? But man is it messy!

After I was finished vacuuming the van out, I was so glad I’d followed through with this project. It felt so good to have the van all nice and clean again! And it only ended up taking me about 20 minutes from start to finish.

The seven things I found to get rid of today. Well, eight, actually. Two reusable bags, two books, and 4 bibs. I loved these bibs that a reader made for us when our girls were little, but I realized that it was probably time to part with them seeing as Kaitlynn is almost five! 🙂

How did you do on Assignment #6? 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.

Money Saving Mom
Shared Apr 9, 2012 comment

This week’s menu

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This week’s menu

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Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

We’re easing back into eating more normally after many weeks of eating gluten-free. One of our children is still eating gluten-free, dairy-free, but they have adjusted to just eating a bit differently than us and are completely okay with that. So, I’m excited to get to do a bit more regular baking again!

Breakfasts

Cereal
Strawberry Pineapple Smoothies
Scrambled eggs, fruit salad
Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free Waffles, scrambled eggs, fruit
Healthy Homemade Poptarts, hard-boiled eggs, fruit
Carrot juice, Easy Whole Wheat Bread toasted, fried eggs
Oatmeal

Lunches

Leftovers
PB&J, carrot sticks, apples, granola bars
Snack-y lunch
Chips, refried beans, veggies, fruit
Rice & beans, carrot sticks, apples
Salmon, veggies, fruit, corn chips
Leftovers

Dinners

Dinner with extended family
Chicken Rice & Veggie Casserole, fruit salad, sweet potatoes
Barbecued Meatballs, Baked Potatoes, Broccoli, fruit salad, Easy Whole Wheat Bread
Parmesan Chicken, steamed veggies, fruit salad, Vegan Bite-Sized Pumpkin Brownies
Steak, sweet potatoes, fruit salad, steamed veggies
Dinner with extended family
Dinner out

Freezer Cooking/Make Ahead Projects

Chewy Granola Bars
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
Vegan Bite-Sized Pumpkin Brownies
Healthy Homemade Poptarts

What’s on your menu this week? Share details and/or your link to your menu plan in the comments.

Money Saving Mom
Shared Apr 9, 2012 comment

15 Recommended Preschool and Kindergarten Resources

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15 Recommended Preschool and Kindergarten Resources

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15 preschool and kindergarten educational and learning resources

In recent months, I’ve gotten email after email after email from people asking for me to write more about our homeschooling. Truthfully, it’s a topic I don’t feel ready to broach much as my children are only 7, 4, and 2. Maybe in 10 years from now I’ll have a lot of words of wisdom to share, but for now, we’re just enjoying our journey and learning much along the way.

For those of you who have begged, though, I wanted to share 15 of our favorite preschool and kindergarten resources. These are things our family has especially enjoyed and found beneficial over the last few years. I can’t guarantee that any of these things will work well for your family or child as each child is unique and has different learning styles. However, these are all resources I would definitely recommend looking into if you’re thinking of homeschooling.

1. My Father’s World: Kindergarten

We absolutely loved this Kindergarten curriculum! It is very simple, fun, hands-on, and easy-to-use. There are 26 units and each unit covers one letter of the alphabet and corresponding Bible, Character Development, Art, Math, Creative Thinking, Reading, Phonics and Science lessons. We’ve used this with both of our girls and I’d highly recommend it, especially if you are looking for a Bible-based curriculum with a mix of a Classical Education and a Charlotte Mason approach.

 

2. StarFall

This is an entirely free website has lots of fun interactive educational games and teaching tools for preschoolers and kindergartners. We don’t allow a lot of computer time for the girls at our house, but Starfall is a special treat that our girls get to enjoy on occasion. There are a few minor things on the website which aren’t in line with a Christian worldview, but overall, we’ve been very impressed with Starfall.

 

3. Letter of the Week Curriculum

One of my very favorite homeschooling blogs, Confessions of a Homeschooler, has a fantastic Letter of the Week Curriculum that has lots of printable worksheets that we’ve used to supplement the letter we were studying each week in My Father’s World. The curriculum is only $10 and an exceptional buy for all the amazing downloads and helpful resources which come with it. If you can’t afford to buy the curriculum or would like to check out some of the printables before purchasing, there is a huge list of incredible free printables available here. You can also find many free preschool printables available here.

 

4.Wee Sing Bible Songs

The girls have loved listening to this CD before they go to bed or while playing together. And they’ve learned so many great children’s songs as a result!

 

5. Come Look With Me: Enjoying Art With Children

These are the best books I’ve found so far for teaching art appreciation to young children. Each book in the series introduces children to twelve works of art and engages the imaginations and interest of young children by asking thought-provoking questions about the picture.

 

6. BOB Books

I love these beginning readers – and so have the girls! Some early reading books can be frustrating, but not the BOB books. They introduce new phonetic sounds so engagingly and at a pace that wasn’t overwhelming so the girls rarely even noticed they were adding a new concept.

 

7. Homeschool Share

This free website has tons of great printables, educational resources and lapbooks. When planning our homeschool for the week, I often search for extra printables or fun activities we can supplement with which go along with our unit themes and have found all sorts of free goodies on this site.

 

8. Signing Time DVDs

Hands down, these are the one educational DVDs we’ve pretty much worn to a pulp. We got one as a demo a long time ago and enjoyed it so much that we asked Grandma and Grandpa if they’d buy the set for the girls for Christmas. Not only do I believe it is valuable to introduce your children to the deaf culture, but we’ve found that our children’s vocabulary has increased by leaps and bounds as a result of teaching them ASL.If you have a baby, I’d also highly recommend Baby Signing Time. Being able to communicate with your child at a young age makes life so much easier!

 

9. Explode the Code Series

We’ve fallen in love with the Get Ready for the Code and Explode the Code workbooks this past year. It makes learning phonics and practicing handwriting and spelling so much fun and the girls look forward to doing these books each day, often asking if they can go ahead and do more pages than what I’ve assigned them!

 

10. The Jesus Storybook Bible

We’ve searched high and low for quality children’s Bible story books — ones that are accurate, doctrinally sound, and not filled with nonsense and fluff are hard to find. I apprehensively ordered The Jesus Storybook Bible based upon the strong recommendations of friends I trust. It has since become our most treasured read-aloud. The girls would pick this over any other book any day.

11. PaperBackSwap

I know I’ve mentioned it over and over again here, but we love PaperBackSwap. We’ve basically built our entire children’s library through books from PBS and Grandparents. So we’ve ended up spending very little out of pocket to do so.

 

12. Magnet Boards

I don’t know that there’s an official name for these, but we call them “magnet boards” at our house. And they are one of the girl’s all-time favorite things to do! I got some cheap cookie sheets and these Power Magnets and we’ve used them for all sorts of educational activities.I often give the girls the Magnet Boards and a the magnet sheet from the Letter of the Week Curriculum (see an example below) and let them fill all the magnet holes on their board while I’m reading aloud to them. When they are finished, they can create shapes, letters or whatever else they’d like.

 

13. Read Alouds

Speaking of read alouds, books make up the core of our homeschooling curriculum. I think that there is so much value in reading a wide variety of books to your children. We’ve learned so many new things, explored so many fascinating cultures and time periods and had so many excellent discussions as a result of books we’ve read. You can see some of our favorite picture books here.

 

14. Do-a-Dot Art Markers

These markers are so fun. You can use them to create your own pictures, on the downloadable sheets in the Letter of the Week Curriculum (see #3 above) or there are also Do-A-Dot Coloring Books available. Just make sure to supervise the 2-year-old with them, unless you want Do-A-Dot Artwork all over the walls (ask me how I know!). These wash off of hands and clothing quite well. Walls, not so much.

 

15. ABC Scripture Memory Book

I used this for Scripture Memory as a young girl, so I especially enjoyed using it with the girls. We just read through it every day at breakfast for a number of months and the girls memorized the verses by that daily repetition. Plus, Kaitlynn (then 2) picked up on quite a few letters, too.

 

What are your favorite preschool and kindergarten resources?

Money Saving Mom
Shared Apr 9, 2012 comment

How to Save on Meals While Traveling

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How to Save on Meals While Traveling

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how to save on meals while traveling

Guest post by Jenifer.

When we made the long trek from Indiana to Estes Park, Colorado, packing everything we needed for our family of 7 was like an extreme sport. Even still, the thought of all the fast food and snacks that might hinder our tight budget was even more challenging.

I knew that we would not be able to eat “perfectly on budget” (it is a vacation after all), but I wanted to do the best that I could to save money and feed my family well. 

So I implemented a “Don’t-Go-Crazy-on-Vacation Challenge” armed with a notebook, a pen, grocery store fliers, and my computer!

Here’s how we managed to save on meals while traveling!

1. Pack Non-Perishable Foods

I knew that we would have a kitchen in our cabin in Colorado, so I planned our meals for each night and gradually filled two paper boxes with the dried goods we needed.

I also stocked what I could for breakfast, lunch, and snacks.

NOTE: I started planning about three weeks ahead of our scheduled departure and watched the sales over those few weeks.

2. Buy Fresh/Perishable Foods in a Non-Tourist Location

After I had our meal plan and non-perishable foods, I made a list of all the fresh or refrigerated items that we would eventually need to buy.

I wanted to avoid any higher costs of shopping in tourist areas, so I researched the grocery stores in the surrounding towns.

I decided on a Walmart (a gift card we had helped) and bought all of our fresh and refrigerated items there before heading into Estes Park.

You could also order your perishable foods online and have them delivered directly to your vacation home via one of the grocery delivery services.

3. Have a Plan for Meals on the Road

With the cabin meals tackled, I still had to consider the meals we’d need to eat on the road.

To help avoid fast food costs, we packed a picnic lunch for our first lunch. It ended up pouring rain, but a picnic in the car makes memories, right?

We visited family for the first night, and they graciously fed us homemade meals.

Our 2nd son had his 10th birthday while we were on the road, so before we left, I had him choose where he wanted to eat. He chose his favorite restaurant, Fazoli’s, so I looked it up online and found one on our route. I also checked out the menu and specials while I was there to help me estimate costs before we got there.

That left us with just a few fast food meals, which worked out fine, and we had mostly happy campers.

A Few More Tips:

  • Find a place with your own kitchen.
  • Plan meals ahead of time.
  • Stock/pack food in the weeks before you leave.
  • Watch sales and use that for your vacation stockpile.
  • Research restaurant menus and nutrition before you go.
  • Avoid tourist area grocery stores if prices are higher.
  • Pack picnic lunches for the road.
  • Have fun and don’t forget to treat yourself, too. It’s vacation after all!

What are your best tips for saving money on meals while on vacation?

Jen blogs at Fit 4 Miracles. She was a teacher in her “previous life,” but is now a stay-at-home mom of five children. She lives in West Lafayette, IN, where her husband runs a small business. They have always had to be as frugal as possible, but believe they are rich in faith, love, and family.

OVER-SPENDING EVERY SINGLE MONTH?Grab these FREE Budgeting Sheets!

Click here to download!
Money Saving Mom
Shared Apr 9, 2012 comment

10 Goals for This Week

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10 Goals for This Week

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Update: For those of you who have written in and asked: I’ll be speaking four times at the conference — twice on Friday and twice on Saturday. My workshop topics will be:

You can download a complete conference schedule and description of workshops here.

This week, my main goal is to keep up with our homeschooling, continue to work on my home organization plan, and get all the prep done for the Cincinnati Homeschool Conference next week.

For some reason, I thought the Cincinnati conference was going to be fairly small. Don’t ask me why, I just did. Well, I found out last week that they are expecting something like 10,000-12,000 people! So I have some extra work to do this week in order to prep things for our booth.

And I also want to practice my speeches at least three times each since I found out that I’ll be speaking in front of a lot more people than I was originally envisioning (one of the rooms I’m slated to speak in has a capacity of 1800! Did I mention that public speaking is still way outside my comfort zone?!) and some of these are new talks that I’ve not given before.

It should be an interesting experience — and another great opportunity to step outside my “safe” zone. But truthfully, I’m really excited about it, especially since I’ll get to meet some of you there!

Last week’s goals:

Family/Mothering Goals

1. Read five chapters of Quest for Truth:Taken aloud to the children. Finish reading Mountain Born.

2. Continue our Countdown to Easter study as a family.

3. Write a love note to Jesse.

4. Grow Easter Grass with children. {We never got around to this. Oh well! There’s always next year!}

Personal Goals

5. Finish reading One of Us Must Be Crazy and I’m Pretty Sure It’s You. Start reading The Three R’s.

6. Complete weeks 8 & 9 of the Couch to 5K program.

7. Listen to at least one more hour of The 10 Habits of Happy Mothers.

Home Management

8. Follow my Spring Cleaning plan & blog about it every weekday.

Business Goals

9. Host the live webcast on Thursday.

10. Continue working on my talks for the Midwest Homeschool Convention.

This 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.

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.

Money Saving Mom
Shared Apr 9, 2012 comment

4 Weeks to a More Organized Home: Assignment #6

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4 Weeks to a More Organized Home: Assignment #6

Published: by on   |  This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Missed the first few days’ assignments? You can see all the posts in the 4 Weeks to a More Organized Home series here.

Did you enjoy your weekend “off”? I know I did. In fact, I even got in a two-hour nap yesterday afternoon!

And the good news is that the house doesn’t look like a “stuff bomb” went off today! 🙂 Sure, it’s a little messy, but nothing too overwhelming.

Are you ready to have another productive week? Here’s Assignment #6:

Day 6 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 create a list of weekly goals. I’ll be posting my weekly goals around 11 a.m. ET today along with a link-up so you can share yours, as well.

::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 run through your home quickly picking up everything that’s out of place and putting it away.

::Clean out the inside of your vehicle. Remove all trash and clutter. Use a vacuum attachment to vacuum all the seats and floors out.

::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!

Money Saving Mom
Shared Apr 7, 2012 comment

Caring For Curly Hair on a Budget

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Caring For Curly Hair on a Budget

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Guest post from Randi of Caring for Curly Hair

I learned the art of couponing from a close friend when I was a young bride. This same friend also directed me to MoneySavingMom.com. We didn’t have much money, and when I discovered that I could get shampoo and conditioner for free or almost free, I was sold on being frugal. This worked great for us until we adopted our second daughter.

Alexis has very coarse, kinky-curly hair. I didn’t know much about African-American hair care, but I knew that her curly hair was going to need different products than my limp, straight hair. Unfortunately, all those products were expensive and didn’t have coupons.

When I first started out, I thought all the organic, expensive products were the only things that would work. I was shelling out over $30 a month on her hair care alone.

This was a far cry from the nearly free products I was getting for the rest of the family! I was conflicted with how much it cost, and I couldn’t help but wonder if there was an affordable way to properly care for her hair.

It took some time for me to understand my daughter’s hair care needs. Through the years I also have found ways make it more affordable. If you, too, are in position where you care caring for curly hair and wonder if you can do it frugally, you can!

Here are some ways to cut down your costs:

Research hair care.

Just because someone is African-American, doesn’t mean they have the same hair as other people who are African-American. Learning about hair will help you know what type of products you really need so you don’t waste your money on products you don’t need or products that won’t work.

Ask for samples.

Whole Foods, for instance, often has samples of products that you can take to try before you buy them full size.

Find products you like and join the mailing list.

Often, online companies like Darcy’s Botanicals or Curls will run sales and have promotional codes for 20% or more off their products. You will have a heads-up on these deals if you are on their mailing lists.

Wait for sales.

If you buy a product sold in stores, wait to buy the product until it is on sale. Products made by Organix, for example, often go on sale at Walgreens or other stores with buy one get one free offers. Stock up when these sales happen so you never have to pay full price.

Make your own hair products.

There are lots of natural ingredients, like coconut oil, that are great in curly hair. Websites like Derby City Naturals and Curly Nikki list recipes for frugal hair products that work and will save you a bundle.

While you might not be able to get the hair products for free, you don’t have to break the bank to properly care for curly hair.

Randi is just your average almost-thirty homemaker who loves the Lord. She is happily married to Robb, and together they have four young children. God has grown their family through the miracle of adoption and the miracle of pregnancy. Randi is also the author of the eBook Caring for Curly Hair: An Adoptive Parents Guide to African-American Hair Care. She has a passion to see other adoptive parents understand their children’s hair and learn to happily care for it.

Money Saving Mom
Shared Apr 6, 2012 comment

4 Weeks to a More Organized Home: Assignment #5 Update

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4 Weeks to a More Organized Home: Assignment #5 Update

Published: by on   |  This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

If you missed this morning’s assignment, you can find it here.

Today was such a good day. I slept in and woke up feeling quite out of it. It has been a full week and Jesse and I missed quite a bit of sleep due to a child that was up a lot at night coughing.

I was so thankful that I’d intentionally set aside today on my calendar as a laid back day. I’ve found that I need days like this every once in awhile, otherwise, I start feeling burned out.

So, knowing that it was going to be a laid back day, I just took my time getting around, sipping my coffee, reading my Bible, and writing a short to-do list.

I took the day off from running and took a leisurely warm bath instead (which sort of counted for my 15-minute rejuvenating activity!) and we had a lighter homeschooling day, too.

This afternoon, I left the children with a sitter for a few hours and went to Panera to work on outlining my workshops for the Cincinnati Homeschool Conference. Since I was in no rush, once again, I just took my time to think and write, all the while listening to music I love in my headphones.

It was so relaxing — and I got a lot of writing and processing done, too, in a short amount of time. Often, I think that being more relaxed lends itself to being more productive. Don’t ask me why, but it just seems like that’s the way it is for me.

I came home to find these beautiful flowers from Jesse waiting for me, along with a really sweet love note. It was so random and meaningful to me. {Jesse isn’t big on celebrating “Hallmark holidays”, as he calls them, but instead loves to surprise me with flowers when I’d least expect them!}

This evening, our family went out to the new Chick-fil-A that just opened in town. We’re so thrilled that we finally have a Chick-fil-A here!

When we came home, I tackled the cushions. Honestly, I was a bit scared as to what I might find lurking underneath them — especially after yesterday’s pretty horrific results.

It was surprisingly clean! In fact, the only thing I discovered was a lone bobby pin! So it took me all of about five minutes from start to finish.

Thanks so much for joining me in this challenge this week. It was a great week and my house and life feels much more clean and organized going into the weekend. Have a wonderful weekend off — and we’ll resume our daily challenges on Monday!

How did you do on Assignment #5? 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.

Money Saving Mom
Shared Apr 6, 2012 comment

Punching Debt in the Face

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Punching Debt in the Face

Published: by on   |  This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Guest post from Rebecca of Change Your Life in 100 Days

I can’t believe how naive I have always been about money my whole life. That just goes to show how much parents need to be teaching their kids about spending, saving, and earning money. I didn’t have any education at all about finances and I am definitely paying for it now.

I also strongly believe every student who starts their freshmen year of college should be required to sit down with a financial adviser provided by the campus. College students need to be taught about school loans, interest, planning for their financial future and paying loans back later when they graduate.

I, again, didn’t have this knowledge presented to me so I was the typical college student who took out more than necessary because it seemed great at the time. Now this, too, is a tremendous issue in my financial life.

Fact: I paid $240.91 last month for just one of my student loans.

Fact: Only $27.78 went to principal.

This makes me want to punch my debt in the face.

The positive is that I am still in my late 20’s and I am finally figuring out how to face this debt head on and trample it out as fast as I can. All my thanks goes to Dave Ramsey for being such an amazing educator on financial freedom. My hope is to be able to say I have financial “freedom” as well in the coming years.

Here is my family’s plan for getting out of debt:

  • Use our tax return this year to pay off a consolidation loan (and tax returns in the future to pay off student loans).
  • Use my husband’s bonus this year to pay off our last credit card (and bonus in the future to pay off student loans).
  • Use all of this year’s extra summer income (tutoring, nannying, part-time side job) to pay off one of three student loans.
  • Lower our cable bill by $30 a month by switching to satellite TV (I wish we could only purchase ESPN…if it wasn’t for that for my husband we wouldn’t need cable at all).
  • Stop going out to eat unless it is a very special celebration. We’ve learned to love cooking at home together so this eliminates the desire to want to go out for dinner.
  • Stop shopping. We buy all our son’s toddler clothes either on sale or at consignment sales. Why would we pay full price for something he’ll grow out of in two months?
  • Stop traveling on the weekends. We have saved so much money every month by staying home. If we are home we don’t spend the necessary money on gas, food, and shopping.
  • Learn to say no. If your friends are really your friends they will understand when you say you can’t go to dinner, get your nails done, or on a weekend trip because you’re trying to get out of debt.

The one thing we will not stop paying is our monthly 10% tithe. God has shown us in the past two years just how much he blesses us when we tithe. We will continue to tithe diligently and honor Him with our firsts because He deserves all the glory.

One day I will be debt-free and be able to scream from the mountain tops “I am free!”

Rebecca is a wife, new mother, full time teacher, mentor, and runner. Her goal is to be more intentional with every aspect of her life –  her relationship with God, her family and friends, her job, her time, her finances, her workouts, her eating habits, her relaxing time, etc. She wants to live an intentional, purposeful life that follows God’s plan. Follow her blog at Change Your Life in 100 Days.