I’ve been thinking a lot about gift-giving lately — and I want to know how YOU feel about giving and receiving gently used gifts. The holidays are right around the corner and used gifts are a great way to cut costs while still giving great gifts to everyone on your list.
I’m sharing my experiences with both giving AND receiving used gifts, but I’d love to know what you think too!
I made these simple {almost no-sew} curtains for our master bathroom last week — and I was simply thrilled with the results. Plus, they only took about an hour of time and cost less than $2.00!!
See how I used a little burlap, twine, and a few wooden buttons to create these adorable curtains for our home!
Today, I’m revisiting the issue of “sentimental” or “emotional” clutter and how great it is when you can actually USE something that is also very sentimental.
When my grandma died a few years ago, I was the only grandchild who knew how to sew — which meant I was “willed” her oldie-but goodie sewing machine…and ALL her sewing supplies.
See how I manage to actually use this otherwise “sentimental clutter”!
Yes, I know it’s still the middle of September — but believe it or not, Christmas is only 100 days away!
Since our baby is due right in the middle of this very busy time of year, I’ve already started planning ahead… and have a bunch of helpful tips and resources that will help you to get a jump-start this year too!
I LOVE this time of year!
Due to the large influx of medical and insurance paperwork from my pregnancy, changing insurance companies, and our two international students, I decided that it was time to re-organize our medical paperwork.
The whole process was relatively painless and only took about 15 – 20 minutes — and I was able to save hundreds of dollars in medical bills since I could quickly and easily access my newly organized files!
See how we organize our medical and insurance documents.
Ever since we started eating dinner together with our two International students, I’ve been much more aware, not only about WHAT I serve for dinner, but also HOW I serve dinner.
I’ve been using a great meal planning method for the last several weeks, but I was still going back and forth about the best way to serve the meals. Now that we have more mouths to feed, I’ve been trying out a few different options to see which method works the best.
I’ve been cooking a lot these past few months and have always found a reason NOT to clean our stove-top — either I didn’t have time, or I was just going to make another mess, or… you get the idea.
And while our current stove-top isn’t anything close to my “dream stove/oven”, it’s what we have for now. So even though it’s a huge pain to clean, I’m stuck with it!
Last week, I finally decided to bite the bullet and clean my filthy dirty stove!
It seems like everyone now days is looking for ways to save more and spend less. However with the rising cost of living, that isn’t always the easiest thing to do — especially if you have a family!
I talk a lot about using coupons, shopping the sales, buying on Craigslist, etc. as great ways to save more and spend less. However, even if you haven’t implemented any of my ideas so far, there are still plenty of ways you can spend less.
Dave and I love a good, hot, crispy English Muffin for breakfast; however, I refuse to buy them from the store because they rarely go on sale, and the regular price can be over $3.50 for 6 lousy {preservative filled} English Muffins.
Thankfully, my mother-in-law shared her recipe for English Muffin Bread with me and for the last few years, it has been our much tastier, much healthier, and much cheaper alternative to store bought English Muffins.
source: Fall is my most favorite season! I absolutely love the cooler weather, the changing colors, decorating my house for fall, making our favorite cold-weather foods, and preparing for the holidays. However, I DON’T love all the extra clutter that the Fall season seems to bring. Have you noticed this too? One part of “Fall …
Read More about Clearing the “Fall Clutter”
{Dave and I eating at a really fancy restaurant on our honeymoon} Although Dave and I enjoy going out to eat every once in a while, we make it a habit of eating at home, packing our own lunch, and making food from scratch as a way to significantly reduce our monthly expenses. However, I know there are …
Read More about 11 Simple Ways to Save Money at Restaurants
Today is the first day of school for Dave and for our two international students! Seriously, where did the summer go??? They all left the house at 6:50am this morning so Dave could make sure the girls knew exactly where their classes were, find their lockers, and so he could finish up a few last …
Read More about My NEW Meal Planning Method
It’s been a week since our International Students arrived… and what a week it was!! I’m SO appreciative of all the emails, phone calls, Facebook messages, blog comments, and “tweets” that you’ve sent my way over the past week. I’ve put many of your tips into practice already and soaked up every encouraging word! Thank-you THANK-YOU!!! …
Read More about One Week In… Parenting Teenage International Students
Two months ago, I blogged about our first garage organizing project. It was actually our “extra garage” / “man cave”… yes, we have a man cave! The extra garage was stuffed full with all the junk we had been tearing out of our house during our renovation process, so it was a full-day project with …
Read More about Cleaning Out Our Garage: a Good Labor Day Project
Have you ever left a store, gotten home, looked at your receipt, and realized you were over-charged? I’m guessing that you have… and if not, it’s probably because you never look at your receipts! Over the past few weeks, I’ve been doing some MAJOR grocery shopping to stock up our new deep freezer, our pantry, …
Read More about Save More by Checking Your Receipts
The following post is written by Elvie Look of Elvie’s Essentials: Whether you work in the corporate world, as an entrepreneur, raising a family, or going to school full-time; you are likely very busy and wonder how you will keep up. Being organized is the answer! And you don’t need to wait until “life settles …
Read More about 15 Habits Of An Organizing Junkie
Today will most likely be Dave and my very last day without kids… for the rest of our lives! No, our baby girl isn’t scheduled to arrive for another 10 weeks; but later today, we will be welcoming two high school International Students into our home for the entire school year! Now, for those of …
Read More about Our Last Day Without Kids!
A few months ago, my friend Mandi from Life… Your Way published an excellent eBook, How to Have Your Cake and Eat It, Too. I’ve raved about this eBook before because as a work-at-home person, {and soon to be work-at-home-mom} it is essential for me to balance work, home, family, and personal life all at …
Read More about How to Have Your Cake and Eat It, Too
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