Conquering your grocery, specifically your food budget, is one of the easiest ways to trim your overall budget and get your household finances under control. The more processes you can put into place for your everyday tasks and responsibilities, the more time and money you can free up - meaning less stress in your life!...
5 Tested Cookbooks for Easy Dinner Planning
Have you ever had your family look at you at dinner and say, "this again?" Whether you heard it or you just knew that's what they were thinking, we've all been there. Sometimes you just need a little inspiration to get you out of your rut. Here are some great cookbooks to check out, guaranteed...
6 Ways to Get Kids Gardening at Any Age
One of the things I love about my kids is how excited they get to try out new things. I also like to inspire them to be self-sufficient and make healthy choices in life. One of the best examples of those practices is gardening. It’s something I did with my parents, and it’s something we...
My 8 Favorite Realistic Camping Hacks
Pinterest is full of great camping hacks, but how many of them are realistic? I mean, REALLY realistic? I’ve got two kids, two good-sized dogs, a husband, and a Hyundai SUV. I don’t have room for a bunch of plastic totes if I’m actually going to take a cooler full of food AND the dogs!...
Quick and Easy Mitered Corner Napkins
Recently I noticed how often I was refilling the napkin holder in the center of our dining room table. It seemed like we were going through the package pretty quickly, and then I thought about cloth napkins. Since each one is just a square of fabric, they're super simple to make.
10 Reasons You Need a Garden This Year
I grew up helping in the family garden. I remember eating the peas before my mother could get them in the house, and a good percentage of the cherry tomatoes were sampled to make sure they were good. As an adult, it wasn't until about five or six years ago that I started gardening for...
Five Ways to Find Time for Creative Projects
I can’t believe I squeezed extra creative hours out of my regularly hectic week. I didn’t think it was possible. When you get up at 5 a.m. and can barely stay awake until 10:00, it seems crazy. When you can barely go to the bathroom without a child bursting in the door or yelling for...
How Cleaning Your Closet Can Lower Your Stress
I’m on a constant journey to get more organized. I can plead a full time job, 60-90 minutes twice a day for commuting, kids’ activities, and a ton of papers that come home from school, but at the end of the day, the buck stops here. The reason we’re disorganized and have clutter around the...
Quick and Easy Kitchen Sponges – DIY Crochet Tutorial
I’m a recovering user of store-bought kitchen scrubby sponges. They were great, if you bought the right one. With the right sponge, you can clean more delicate dishes and glassware while still having the ability to scrub stuck-on or baked-on food off your other dishes. But they have their drawbacks. For one, they get stinky...
How We Saved $24,000 (and counting!) on Siding
If you think residing your house means you have to take out a loan or pony up as much cash as it would take to buy a car in order to pay for it, you're wrong! We just finished replacing the siding on one side of our house and we've saved THOUSANDS so far. Yes,...