Nothing fabulous going on here this weekend but thanks to my brother’s blog I can at least get to live HIS life vicariously. ;) In the pics below my sister-in-law and my nephew are standing on The Great Wall of China. And below that, take a look at the beautiful little boy they are bringing home with them via adoption!!

TGIF! Have an awesome weekend everyone!

This week I have been consumed with frugality and saving money. Why? Well, I have never been what I would consider money-wise. But green living and my move toward simple living has really helped reform me. Now I am enjoying cutting expenses and getting great pleasure out of knowing we are not “wasting” money.

A couple months ago my husband and I joined a rewards program through our bank. It cost $25 to join and I had my doubts but I wanted to give it a try. It required us to use the “credit” feature on our bank card as much as possible because debits using our pin number would not qualify. Well, I am about to cash in on my second $25 Amazon.com gift certificate through this program so it is a HUGE success in my book. I have doubled my money after only three months. I think the fact that we pay almost all our bills online with a debit card helps.

Which reminds me… I am REALLY impressed with the new ATM machines that Chase is using. They are very green! You no longer need envelopes or deposit slips to make a deposit at the ATM. It scans the cash or the check(s) and then if you deposited a check a little image of it prints out on the receipt. I usually decline the receipts but this I had to see. It is so COOL! Way to go banks for cutting needless costs and paper!

This week I decided I wanted to whittle my cable bill. I cancelled three premium channels saving about $35.00 a month. I did decide to keep HBO though. I can’t be without Big Love and True Blood. ;) I also dropped one of the features of my high speed Internet that I was not using for more monthly savings. I would have cancelled my land line phone entirely since we don’t use it and only got it because the Internet required it. But alas they won’t let me cancel the phone without entering a new contract for Internet service. Since we are moving that could be a bad idea. They also increase the price of the Internet to defray the costs of losing a phone customer so it wasn’t that big of a savings after all was said and done.

I joined a local co-op this week that will enable me to buy bulk food at lower prices than what I could buy in stores. We will be getting bulk nuts and seeds, dried fruit, cocoa butter, agave nectar, and sea veggies at really good prices. They have lots of other stuff too but those are the main things I am interested in. We will be ordering almost a 100 pounds of raw nuts and seeds for our first go round and in the long run we will be saving big time.

I have my calendar marked with upcoming auction dates and garage sales so that I can start looking for some furniture we need… dressers, King size headboard, etc. This will keep me from making a trip to Ikea in Cincinnati. It just might take me longer to find what I need.

I cancelled my husband’s Sirius Satellite radio since we have a few hundred songs on our iTunes account and a hefty gift certificate balance. There is no reason why we need to waste money on satellite radio….especially since his commute will be cut to 10-15 minutes a day after we move.

I am also designing a spreadsheet so we can track every penny we spend. We need that monthly slap in the face I think. But overall I am happy that we are managing to save money already and it goes immediately to our emergency fund so we are not tempted to find something else silly to spend it on. This is actually kind of fun… a challenge. ;)

In keeping with the theme of this post I wanted to keep the link love relevant to saving money and being thrifty.

Lots of places let you clip digital coupons. The concept is really awesome. Instead of clipping paper coupons you select digital coupons and transfer them to your grocery store rewards card. Then when you go to the store and buy that product the coupon is used automatically and the number amount deducted from your total bill. There are also numerous places online to print coupons for all your favorite products.

Right now the service only works with the Kroger/Frys family of stores but they will be adding more. I rarely use coupons because they are almost always for processed foods we don’t eat but I am hopeful. It is another cool paperless feature at any rate. Also, you can use digital coupons with Upromise. It is a college savings program where your purchases earn cash back that goes into an account for your kids. I have been a member for years and thought this was a nifty way to save for college if you don’t need the money back.

And while I am on the subject of coupons I saw this nifty coupon organizer the other day called the Couponizer. It is REALLY cool. Basically it is a binder with pockets for each category of purchases… toiletries, canned foods, frozen foods, etc. It has a CoupStacker – presorting mat  that allows you to quickly figure out where the coupons go, a CoupTracker for recording monthly savings and even a carrying bag and scissors. It is also small enough to fit under a car seat, in the door of car, or in the glove box. My mom used to carry around a shoe box with index cards…she would have been in heaven had this been around! I guess it sold out on QVC in 7 minutes when it was debuted there.

Have a great weekend all!!

Spring cleaning and all that jazz has been making me want to get more organized. After taking stock of why my desk area was in total chaos I decided that I needed some kind of organizer to keep things tidy. I needed a place for pens and sharpies, incoming mail, birthday party invites, the kids schools forms and book order forms, etc.

I stopped at the local Walmart and checked out what they had but most of it was plastic or ugly black metal. They would also not protect the contents from curious toddler fingers. So back to square one… I supposed I would have to sew some kind of organizer to hang on the wall but since I have other sewing projects in the works I MUST finish first… place mats, kids aprons… I put the whole issue out of mind. But then I stumbled upon my glorious answer… beautiful, stylish, eco friendly cloth, and out of a child’s reach. Oh yeeeeah!

This lovely wall organizer is an Etsy find! It is from the Glady & Cloudy Shop. Isn’t is lovely?!

Disorganized desk photo credit: chiacomo

Childhood is a time of curiosity, exploration, and joy. A garden of is one of those mysteries of life that can bring wonderment and joy to our children and it is such an educational experience for them. Not only are they able to have a hand in bringing forth new life, kids benefit from being involved in an outdoor activity that enhances their health and an appreciation for natural environments.

Digging in the soil and tending their garden will always be among the top things children love to do.  We can help them out by purchasing child size and age appropriate tools for them. I know my kids absolutely love to have their own tools and gloves. It makes them all the more eager to get out and garden with me.

Here are some really great garden finds for kids:

ToySmith Garden Tote with Tools- An adorable tote bag with pockets for all their gardening tools. It comes with three sturdy tools for them… a trowel, rake and a shovel. They are metal tools with wood handles. The canvas bag is also sturdy with cute pictures of ladybugs and frogs, making it appropriate for boys or girls. Every time they head out to the garden they can grab their bag and they are ready to work!

For bigger tools and bigger jobs kids might need these garden tools. The set comes with a garden rake, spade shovel, hoe, and leaf rake.  they are sturdy tools made with wood handles and metal. I love the bright colors.

This Sassafras Ladybug Garden Apron Set is adorable and will help them keep some of the dirt off their clothes. It has a lime green apron with an embroidered ladybug, a pair of children’s gardening gloves, and a rake and trowel.

A watercan like this red metal one is a must have for a child gardener. If your kids are anything like mine, watering is the best part of the process! Plastic watering cans are pretty much worthless IMO as they get cracked and broken if they are left in direct sunlight too much.

If you want help transferring loads of soil, compost, or weeds then you may want to get the kids their own wheel barrel. My oldest child can use and adult one, loaded by half, but my younger kids need a pint sized one like the Radio Flyer Kid’s Wheelbarrow. Very cute!

If you have kids that love bugs you may want to get one of these wooden Bug Bungalows. We have a couple and they are REALLY worth having. We find various bugs in our garden all the time since we do not spray. Usually I just relocate them but sometimes the kids like to house them in a Bug Bungalow for a couple days so they can study the bugs up close. My only rule is NO Wooden Bug Bungalow in the house.

If you live in an apartment or you just want to garden on a small scale… perhaps indoors there are some cool solutions for that too.

First there is the Green Toys Garden Set I reviewed a while back and also a VERY awesome set I just found recently. It is the Root-Vue Farm. When you garden outdoors much of the growing is done underground and kids never get to see that. With this unique Root Viewer, you can actually watch the “underground” growing process, from sprouting to full harvest. Grow and then eat radishes, carrots and green onions for a scientific salad! The Toysmith Garden Root Viewer is a similar product.

And… after a hard day’s work in the garden (inside or out) the kids might want a glass of fresh lemonade while they swing on this adorable tree leaf swing from Sassafras. Ah….the joys of spring and summer. Enjoy!

This past weekend I read the book Out of the Mouth of Babes – Parenting from a Child’s Perspectiveby Dyan Fybergen RN. I liked it quite a bit because it is basically the story of one family’s journey with attachment parenting.

I subscribe to the ideas and values of attachment parents myself and yet hearing the theories and ideas only means so much. It is also important to hear stories from REAL parents who are parenting this way. It is important to hear what they did, how they tackled problems, how they found that their approach had to differ from child to child.

Sometimes I think it is too easy to read about the basic concepts of attachment parenting and think… “wow that sounds lovely”. Then you try to put it into practice and you may be shaking your head wondering what am I doing wrong? I did it just like that web site or book said right?

The author had three boys with very different personalities and had to vary her approaches to many things and cater it to the child. This is the most basic thing about attachment /instinctive parenting… understanding the needs of the individual child and finding a way to interact with them effectively.

She covers solutions she found for her kids in areas like sleeping through the night, eating, toilet training, sibling rivalry, and discipline. Like her I also had a child who slept through the night at 6 weeks and then a subsequent child who never slept through the night until 3 years old. Instead of stressing over the sleeping habits of the last child I just rolled with it and yes I didn’t sleep through the night for three years either but who said this parenting thing was supposed to be easy anyway?

Unlike books written by doctors or other clinical experts, this book was written by a mom and has real mom stories told in the first person. While I love every attachment parenting book I have ever read I think this stands out for that reason. We all need to hear from the other moms living in the trenches.

The other thing that makes this book unique is that all throughout she quotes her children and the children of others who say some pretty hilarious things. Some of it just very cute and some of it is slightly shocking but it is all very realistic.

It is a smaller size book and great weekend read. Enjoy!

Special thanks to Mother Talk for sending me the book.