You’ve heard it said many times that paper napkins are not good for the environment and that we should switch to cloth napkins and washable products as much as possible.  While I’m no self-proclaimed Tree Hugger, I do many things to cut back our our expenses and I try to recycle and cut back on waste as well.

I had been giving a lot of thought to our family using cloth napkins.  The problems that I faced were:

We have three kids; three young kids.  Trust me, these three kids are so messy.
The extra washing from the napkins.  I have enough laundry …read more

Some friends of mine have confessed to me that they still have their kid’s baby toys.  Some still have the baby clothes.  These are people whose children are 8-12 years old.  Sure, I can understand hanging on to a *few* momentos.  The key word being “few”.  What I don’t understand is people that are hanging on to stuff just to have it.  It just doesn’t make any sense to me. 

I can hardly wait to get stuff out of my house.  I know that I have way too many posssessions, but if there’s something that I know I’m not going to …read more

It all started with my son.  He had some seasonal allergy and asthma problems when he was a baby.  When it was time for him to give up his plastic covered crib mattress and move into his big boy bed, I looked into some hypoallergenic mattress covers.  Dust mites were on the list of things he was allergic to, so I wanted to find something that could protect him from this allergen.

I looked around at Wal-Mart and Target and found that they had similar mattress covers.  Actually, these were more than a cover.  They were actually a mattress case.  These were …read more

You may be looking at the title of this post and be wondering what in the world is sharing prepared foods.  I’ll share a little story of how this worked for me.

Several years ago before I had children, I had a very close friend.  We did almost everything together.  We were both married without children and we shared similar interest and faith.  We went to church together, shopped for clothes and groceries, clipped coupons for one another, watched movies, went out to eat, and hung out together.  
My friend and I also did a lot of cooking.  Sometimes my husband and …read more

After I started teaching school, it didn’t take me long to figure out that kids have lots of little pieces, parts, and do-dads for everything.  Whether it be flash cards, game pieces, craft supplies, or other whatchama diggers, you’ll be needing some kind of organization to keep these little parts from scattering all over the house or classroom.

While I have been fortunate enough to review some plastic organization bags, the cheapest, most frugal and earth-friendly choice is to reuse the plastic zipper bags that we get from purchasing bedding and other home accessories.  I have put to use all of the bags in …read more

Long gone are my days of having a clean home.  All is takes is one child walking through the house and there will be scattered toys, dirt and leaves, or crumbs.  We love them all though and must find a way to make life a bit more organized. 
One of our main problem with toys was finding a place for all the little toys.  For a while we tried baskets.  I had a basket of cars, a basket of people, a basket of this and that.  The baskets were driving me up the wall.  I guess it would be fine if …read more

Welcome to this week’s Works for Me Wednesday.  This week the theme is for you to help me solve a problem.  Are you ready?

It was a hot August day in 2007.  The kids were making me totally crazy and I had not been given time away from them for many days (or weeks).  I informed my husband that I was going out and he was going to watch the kids. 
After dinner that night, I went to Target and some other stores.  My husband called me while I was at Target and said something like, “Can you pick up some cat food and …read more