Frugal Fail | The Clorox Lounge

By a show of hands (what? I can totally see you raise it...) who has tried to save some money at some time in their life? Are you always finding fun and creative ways to be frugal or are you one of those people who want to be frugal, but either forget or just run out of time in coming up with money saving ideas?

I am one of the latter. I want more than anything to be frugal, but sometimes just don't know when I would have the time or patience to sit down and do the work. Sad, I know. But the thought of frugality is always looming in my mind. After all, I do have three children, a husband, a dog and a cat to take care of in my home.

In one attempt to be a frugal mom I decided that we would try out an off brand diaper. I am usually a hard core name brand diaper momma, but when I was in the store and looking at the price under a box of my favorite and a box of the off brand? My jaw dropped. Holy smokes! I would be saving SO much money by just doing a little diaper switcheroo.

I arrived back at home with a couple of the off brand diapers. I was so excited to tell Leo that I had saved us so much money. He praised my frugal find and we decided to have the girls try out their new diapers overnight. We awoke the next morning and both girls were sobbing. I had a bad feeling about this...

I go into their rooms and find to potty soaked girls. Their beds, pajamas, favorite blankies...holy cow. This? Was a disaster. It was right then at that moment that I realized I was simply a frugal wannabe. My entire dream of saving tons of money backfired completely in my face!

The Clorox Lounge

By now you are probably wondering why I have The Clorox Lounge on top of this post. Clorox has come up with a fun and new site celebrating on of the most underrated rooms in our homes--our bathroom! They have teamed up with Sherri Shepperd to turn our bathrooms into a laughroom. It is designed to be a place where moms can go for comedy, fun contests, coupons, giveaways and more! At Clorox they sympathize that sometimes the bathroom is the only place where a mom can go for a moment of silence.

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The Clorox Lounge is giving you a chance at a $10,000 prize sweepstakes. Pretty sweet, right? To be eligible to win simply sign up at The Clorox Lounge and you are automatically entered into the sweepstakes. You also can vote for your favorite Last Comic Sitting finalist where one of them will win $10,000! So what are you waiting for? Go, sign up and maybe you will be they lucky $10,000 winner.

More information: http://bit.ly/x7m1OB
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I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and Clorox® blogging program, to earn My SocialMoms Rewards Points. The opinions and ideas expressed here are my own. To read more posts on this topic, click here.

Homemade Playdough = Messy Fun!

I write on my blog a lot that I get sad when my daughters get older. But there is a part of me that loves to experience them growing older as well. Isabella is now well over 4 years old and she is fascinated with assisting me in all that I do. Well, with the exception of picking up toys or making her bed.

But if I suggest that we do a fun project together or bake something with one another? She is all over that! She grabs her helper stool and gets to work by pouring, measuring, stirring and throwing away trash as needed. I love it. It's as if I suddenly grew an extra set of hands--and who hasn't ever wished that they had more hands available to help?

Today we made homemade playdough. We usually buy them playdough at the store, but I have seen so many fun ideas floating around online that I wanted us to try it out for ourselves. I crossed my fingers, grabbed my assistant and got to work.

You will need:

1 cup flour

1/2 cup salt

1 tsp creme of tartar

****

1 cup water

1 tbsp vegetable oil

few drops of food coloring of choice (I used ~6)

Mix together the dry ingredients in a saucepan. Stir together. 

In a liquid measuring cup get your water, add the vegetable oil and food coloring. Pour into saucepan.

Stir all items together and have your stove set to medium. Constantly stir together. After a couple of minutes the dough will begin to peel away from the pan. This signals that the dough is ready.

Remove from stove. Sprinkle some flour on a hard surface and knead with hands. To store the dough place in an airtight container or bag. Make sure no air is let into whatever you are storing it in as that is what will dry out your dough.

And that is it! Super simple, super fun. We colored ours pink and we have a list of colors that we want to test out. Isabella loved having some one on one time with me--and loved being able to make some messy fun with her mom. It's not all of the time that I encourage us to make a messy fun project.

Do you have a messy recipe that your little one loves? Submit your fun and messy recipe to Clorox Clean-Up Recipes for Fun site and Utimate Mess Party contest. Your recipe must fall into one of the four categories: Wacky Science, Arts and Crafts, Kiddie Cooking or Creative Cooking. There are a lot of fun recipes over there and if you do submit your recipe for fun you could win one of many prizes to include a grand prize of $10,000!

I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and Clorox Clean-Up Recipes for Fun blogging program, for 8,000 My SocialMoms Rewards Points. For more information on this program, click here and see the Terms link.

My Kitchen Sidekick

Raise your hand, nod your head or murmur in agreement if you have a child that loves to be your assistant in the kitchen. Maybe they are younger like my Isabella, or perhaps they are a tween and have recently decided that cooking is cool again. Luckily for me Isabella is in love with being my sidekick in the kitchen and I? Love this about her.

Whether she is helping me to gather the necessary ingredients, measuring with my supervision (I may love her help, but I kind of want my food to taste decent, too), or pouring in ingredients as directed, she is so enthusiastic about being my kitchen helper. She is an amazing helper and so eager to learn how to cook. A  task may seem trivial to an adult, but to her it means the world to be helping Mommy out.

As a parent I believe that one of the best gifts that I can give my children is proper nutrition. When I say give them proper nutrition I do not mean by only feeding them a healthy, well-balanced diet, but to teach them the life skills to know what being a healthy eater truly means. Sure, I can just give them their whole grains, fresh fruits, fresh veggies, but how will that help them when they are old enough to make their own healthy choices? This is where teaching in the kitchen comes in to play in my home.

If you are thinking to yourself sure this sounds like a good idea but how do I make this happen, I have a few ideas on how to incorporate the entire family in cooking healthy meals for all to enjoy:

• Make a meal plan on Saturday and on Sunday do the grocery shopping for the week--as a family. Let your children be involved in picking out a healthy side dish or main course for a certain day. Once they are involved with the decision making they may be more apt to want to be involved. At the store let them help pick out the products that are on your list. 

• Make meal time fun! Do you sit around the table as a family? If not, I encourage all parents to do this with their family. Maybe start a new tradition that you do at the dinner table. Have interesting dinner conversations, have each person ask another family member a question about their day, etc. Sometimes dinner can be so rushed that it is easy to scarf down your meal, leap up and rush around. Try for a more laid back type of dinner a few times per week and see if that makes it more enjoyable.

• Let your children (age appropriate of course) help out in the kitchen. Have them help tear up lettuce for your fresh salad. Allow them to measure out your brown rice that is for a side. Tear up that fresh head of broccoli to be cooked. 

• Remember that your plates should be a rainbow of colors at meal time. While doing your meal planning ask your children which yellow/red/green fruit/veggie/side they would like for the meal. What is a healthy (and kid loved) side that everyone would love? Could you mix all the ingredients together to make a great dish and serve it with brown rice? Use your imagination in this and see what your children will come up with.

There are so many different, fun and interesting ways to make eating healthy a fun activity for the entire family--children included! With our country's overweight and obesity percentage on the rise it is up to us, as parents, to ensure that our children are as healthy as possible. Make it a fun time for the entire family to be healthy and to get on track towards a healthier lifestyle.

Uncle Ben's is hosting a wonderful contest Let's Get Kids Cooking! on Facebook. It's super simple to enter: 1) Cook a rice inspired dish with your child and help inspire healthy choices. 2) Film your child(ren) sharing their enthusiasm in the dish and what they learned. 3) Upload the video on Uncle Ben's Facebook page on the enter contest tab.

You have until February 26th 2012 to enter--good luck!

I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and Uncle Ben’s blogging program, for 6,000 My SocialMoms Rewards Points. For more information on how you can participate, click here.

Gift Cards = My Favorite Gift

When I give someone a gift I want it to be something that the recipient will love. There is nothing worse than being the giver (and in some cases the receiver) of a gift and seeing a fake sort of happiness spread across someone's face.

It is one thing to know someone so well that you will know exactly what said person would love to receive. But it is another to have an office gift exchange, a house warming party, sibling gift exchange, or a birthday party where you may know the recipient, but you don't know them so well that you feel comfortable giving them a gift.

This is why I adore giving gift cards as gifts. Gift cards are an easy way to ensure that the person on the receiving end will get just what they wanted--or they could use it towards an even larger purchase that was out of the price range for asking someone to give them.

Another thing that I love about gift cards? You can do so much more than just mailing them in an envelope. Here are my top five ways to give (and hey, even receive for myself!) a gift card.

• Buy something small that you can tuck the gift card into. You could get a cute change purse, a cozy pair of socks, or a cute coffee mug and then give the remaining balance of gift money in a gift card. So if your gift amount is $20 and said coffee mug is $5, buy them a $15 gift card. It's a cute and fun way to give a gift card.

• Stick them in a stocking as a fun way to stuff your stocking during the holidays.

• Hang them from your tree. This is especially fun if you're doing a Secret Santa type gift exchange and you are the host. Ask your guests if they plan on participating to bring "x" amount on a gift card and then wrap the gift. When they arrive you can punch a hole in the paper, tie a string and have them hang it up on the gift tree. Then draw numbers to see who gets to pick the first card on the tree and so on. Doing a White Elephant exchange? This would be a fun way to try and get the much coveted gift card on the tree.

• A lot of gift cards can be purchased electronically. This can be a little tricky to email to the recipient. You could always buy the amount, e-mail it to yourself and then once the big day arrives e-mail it to your recipient.

• If you are giving a baby gift, you could roll up a diaper cake and then attach a gift card to the cake. If the parents-to-be only have one item left to buy for their new little one, try to plan with the other guests and family members to donate a gift card to the same store and attach them all to the diaper cake. Now they can have a starter on that crib or nice carseat that they have had their eyes on.

With almost all stores offering some sort of gift card program these days you can really be creative on how to give the gift of a gift card. Have fun and remember when in doubt, buy a gift card!

I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and Gift Cards Rock blogging program, for 6,000 My SocialMoms Rewards Points. For more information on how you can participate, click here.

Real Moms Love to Eat

When I first heard about Beth Aldrich's newest book, Real Moms Love to Eat, I nodded my head up and down just hearing the title of the book. It's true. I love to eat, but somewhere down this road of being a mom it has become a huge struggle to me.

I often wonder why I make sure that my daughters all get healthy and balanced meals, yet I don't take that same precaution when it comes to what I eat. A majority of my daughters' snacks are healthy snacks--fruits, all natural yogurt, baby carrots. They do get to enjoy a fresh cookie or unhealthy snack on occasion, but I try my hardest to really limit the unhealthy products that go into their bodies.Why can I not do this for myself?

Sometimes I think that it is due to what is readily and easily available for myself. With all of my girls being home it is rare that I get to sit down during an actual meal with the family to eat. I find myself serving others, filling up sippy cups with milk, wiping up spills, breastfeeding Brynlie--basically doing everything but enjoying a meal. And to be honest? It's sometimes easier to grab a few cookies and a Diet Coke while nursing Brynlie.

Real Moms Love to Eat is written for all of us moms. Whether you are already a healthy eater or you are struggling in taking care of you like I am currently doing, this book is for you. Beth Aldrich has included delicious healthy recipes that the entire family will enjoy, whole food meals for you to prepare as well as food facts that will help keep you educated in healthy eating so you will not only feel better about yourself, but you will start to look better, too.

If you are interested in reviewing Real Moms Love to Eat, check out the Food Affairiate program! You will get the opportunity to review an e-copy of Beth Aldrich's book! Once you sign up to be a Food Affairiate, you will review the book (again via e-book), and get the chance to be the winner of randomly drawn prizes. A great way to jump start living a healthy life for your entire family!


I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and Beth Aldrich - Real Moms Love to Eat blogging program, for a chance to get 3,000 My SocialMoms Rewards points. For more information on how you can participate ,click here.

Outdoor Fun with My Family

If there is one thing that my family loves to do it is playing outside. We could spend hours at a time playing and just enjoying one another while we have fun outside. Being such an outdoors loving family I wanted to share a few of our favorite outdoor activities that we do with one another.

1. We love going on walks. Whether we are walking around our neighborhood, walking the track at the park, or even when we were on our vacation in the Smoky Mountains hiking their beautiful trails outside. Walking not only encourages you to observe different things with your children, but also is a great way to sneak in some exercise.

2. Paint with water. I love getting some water in containers and gathering up many different sizes of paintbrushes. The girls then "paint" with water out on our driveway or one of our porches. They love creating and then watching the magic of the sun dry it up. This is a fun and expensive outdoor activity that you can virtually do anywhere with your children.

3. Head to your local park. My family is so lucky that we have a gorgeous and spacious park literally less than a minute away from our home. There my daughters can run, climb, jump, swing and then when they are done they can play in the splash pad to cool themselves down. If we go during the early evening hours I take this opportunity to walk the track for some exercise while my husband watches the girls.

4. Hook up your sprinkler! We have bought and tried so many expensive sprinkler toys out there on the market, but our favorite is a normal sprinkler that you would use to water your lawn. The girls beg to put on their suits, turn on the sprinkler and play with one another under the sprinkler. Bonus? We are watering our lawn at the same time. It is a win for everyone!

5. Go on a hunt for something. I cannot tell you how much fun we have collecting different things. Some of our favorite hunted items include flowers (I try to name a specific color for them to collect), rocks of all shapes and sizes, pinecones from the pine trees we have lining our streets, acorns to gather for the squirrels. The girls love the little scavenger hunt and it really works out well for all seasons.

There you have five of my family's favorite outdoor activities. What are some of the activities that you love to do as a family while you are enjoying the outdoors?


I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and Clorox2® blogging program, for a gift card worth $40. For more information on how you can participate, click here

The Story of Squirmy Wormy

You're probably asking yourself what in the world or more accurately, who is squirmy wormy. Before I go any further I am certain that we all know a squirmy wormy or two--whether by birth or just association.

Madelyn is my current squirmy wormy. As in when I change her diapers she morphs into a squirmy wormy which can be a full out battle at times! I can't remember what age this all began, but it is still continuing to this very day. Diaper changes with my Madelyn, as they were with Isabella, are a battle. I hope you have your battle gear ready if you have the job of changing her diaper.

Need a visual scenario to play out in your mind? Here is a quick replay of a diaper change with Madelyn:

• Madelyn tells me she's 'tinky or "poppy"
• I go and gather all of the needed gear (Huggies wipes & diaper, bag, etc)
• I hunt her down
• Once she is caught and I start pulling out the wipes she runs away once again
• I catch her yet again where she proceeds to scream, go boneless, crying
• I pin her down, take off the dirty diaper and try to get her new one on
• Due to her wiggling, squirming, fighting, the diaper gets placed on crooked
• Repeat diaper putting on until it is on perfectly

As Madelyn has gotten older I have figured out a few tricks along the way to make her less of a wiggle worm during her diaper change. A few of my favorite tips and tricks include:

• Have all diaper changing necessities in one place--preferably where you do diaper changes at
• Always, always, always make sure your wipes container is stocked! Nothing is worse than needing wipes, opening the wipes container and seeing that--ack!--you are out!
• Distract your child with something. Whether it be a small toy, small book, or engage in counting/abc's/song. This usually works like a charm for us. 
• Offer your child a wipe of their own. I will hand one to Madelyn and ask her to clean her hands. She loves this and it gets her to practice cleaning up her hands or face.
• Doing one of these usually will result in a successful diaper change without failing to get it on and secured properly.

I hope that by me sharing a few of my favorite tips it will help you out in the diaper changing department. If they all seem to fail on you, I am excited to announce that Huggies has come up with a great diaper (one that I've wondered since having Isabella why they weren't around yet!). The Huggies Little Movers Slip On diapers! Seriously--how great is that?! I can't wait to buy a pack and test them out on Madelyn.

If they will help in diaper changing I am all for trying them out. Especially once Brynlie gets older and learns that moving around is a lot more fun than staying still!

Do you have any nicknames for your little one during diaper changing time? Or do you have a tip to share to cut down on the frustration of changing a squirmy wormy's diaper? I would love to hear what you have to say. Leave it below in a comment to share with me and my readers!


I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and Huggies blogging program, for a gift card worth $35. For more information on how you can participate, click here.

Style? Isabella's Got It...

I believe in letting my girls show their sense of individuality. Whether it be through art, choice of shoes, choice of clothes, to how they wear their hair, I will let them shine in their unique way. Lately Isabella has proven that point to me--that she is indeed her own individual. If we have somewhere to go that day I will assist her in picking out an outfit--usually by picking out some outfits or cute summer dresses and letting her choose from the selections that I have set out.

But if we aren't going anywhere, which to be honest we don't do a lot of since Brynlie was born, I let her pick out her outfit for the day. This will usually end up with the result of a bright striped skirt that she will wear as long as it is folded and put away in her dresser, a bright Hannah Montana shirt that was given to her from a certain someone (thanks, Mom!) and her silvery glittery Mary Jane shoes that we bought last fall--sans socks of course.

I love it when I tell her that it's time to get dressed and she runs into her bedroom so fast to pick out the outfit of the day. I love seeing her experiment with different clothing options, learning what matches and what doesn't (although to be honest, we haven't hit that mark yet), and just watching her individuality shine through. She is her own person, her own little being.

I think that there are a lot of people out there that pressure their children to look and dress a certain way at all times. I agree that there is a time and place for my three daughters to look put together, but if we're at home why not let them choose their unique look? Eventually they will each have their own sense of style and I love having them experiment when they are little. While I would never pick out Isabella's concoction of clothing pieces, I would never tell her to change her clothing choices either. It  makes her who she is and not a little cookie cutter of a child.

What about your child? Do they like to pick out their own outfits? Is there something that they add to their look that will show off their true personality? I cannot wait to read your submissions! Children and their individuality is what sets them apart from their friends and siblings, don't you think?


I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and jcpenney blogging program, for a gift card worth $50. For more information on how you can participate, click here.

Top Ten Ways I Make My Life Easier

As a mom to three little girls I have learned quite a few ways to make my life both easier and more efficient on the go. I have been a mom for almost four years now and let me tell you--my efficiency skills have improved so much since day one of holding a baby in my arms.

Here are my top ten ways of making things a lot easier on myself on those days when we have errands to run and for the days that we will be staying at home:


1) Set clothes out the night before. I cannot tell you how much easier this makes my life! Not only for myself, but for my girls, too.

2) Get a coffee pot that has a self timer that you can set for the night before. If you don't care for hot coffee or you would rather grab something quick to drink, grab a Seattle's Best canned iced latte--perfect for this summer heat wave we have going on here on the Gulf Coast.

3) Pack the diaper bag the night before. This is a no brainer for me. Remember extra clothes, diapers, wipes, snacks and activities.

4) If you have pets feed them the night before for the next day. Our dog sleeps in a crate so I always make sure to feed her the night before.

5) Get your bowls, spoons, and cups out for the next morning. I also fill up my girls' juice cups for the next morning and have those in the fridge to grab out first thing in the morning.

6) Shower and do your hair the night before. I love doing this--makes my life way easier the next day. No messing with my hair dryer and straightener in the morning.

7) Set your alarm a little earlier so you can get yourself ready first. Eat, brush teeth, get dressed, do makeup. Knowing that I'm ready first makes my morning much easier.

8) Plan your menu for the work week. Not trying to come up with a quick and easy dinner last minute makes my life and my family's life much easier and less stressful.

9) Have plenty of prepackaged snacks like crackers, fresh fruit, etc on hand. Having a newborn in my house makes life a lot harder, so having easy to grab and healthy snacks for my girls makes all of our lives less stressful.

10) Don't let the laundry pile up-both clean and dirty. Before you know it you'll have a mountain and from experience that is totally overwhelming. Keep up with it and fold it as soon as possible. That alone makes me feel a lot better overall.


So there you have my top ten tips that make my life both easier and more efficient. I've learned that being as prepared as I can be ahead of time makes my life easier in the long run. When I'm happy, the house is happy. When I'm not stressed the rest of my house runs a lot smoother!

Do you have any tips that make your life easier and more efficient? I would love to learn more and snag some great tips.


I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and Seattle’s Best Coffee blogging program for a gift card worth $30. For more information on how you can participate, click here.