In honor of Mother’s Day, our May song is a reworking of the age-old Rock-a-Bye Baby. I’ve always felt the traditional version lacked the comfort of a lullaby, with the baby falling out of the tree and all. So here’s an adaptation that sings about the manifestations of unconditional mother love and safety available to us in every moment, no matter who or where or how we are. It’s called Rock-a-Bye, and is a song for the mother — and the child — in each of us. Dream on!

Free gift idea – You’ll receive an email for each download request. Forward the download link to a loved one, along with a special note.

Charity & the JAMband have one more great freebie for you.  You can download I’m a Little Bunny.  Enjoy this springtime song with your little ones.  Jump, hop, laugh, and dance while you pretend to be a bunny.

While you’re at the JAMband site, take a few minutes to listen to more music.  My favorite still remains Peanut Butter and Jam.  From the mouth of my 3-year-old, “This music makes me happy!”.

Enjoy!

image from Charity & the JAMband

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Image: sxc.hu

Volunteer as a mentor:

Cost: FREE to very little.

Volunteering as a mentor is as cheap as charity gets but rich in many other ways. Many programs, such as Big Brother/Big Sisters of America advocate activities that cost little to nothing, and will even give out freebie tickets to sporting and other events. Most mentor programs require as little as one or two hours per week but the time you spend with a child adds up big time. Learn more about mentoring in general OR read about my experience as a mentor.

Volunteer with Habitat for Humanity:

Cost: FREE

You can volunteer in your community to help build homes for families with Habitat for Humanity. Not only is this a free way to make a positive difference, but it cuts out your gym fees too (building is excellent exercise!)

Donate your gear:

Cost: FREE + one cleaner house for you

Gather up clothing, cell phones, old laptops, and more and find out how to donate this gear to a great organization.

Run, walk, or bike for a cause:

Cost: FREE + a leaner and healthier you

There are any number of events each year that raise money through activity. Race for the Cure is a good example but your local community center or newspaper will know of all sorts of other events.

Be kind:

Cost: FREE; but not always easy…

Here’s what gets me; I meet people who really like to talk about how they give so much money to specific places or how they collected such and such cash for an event because they “want to give” and then you see them treat other humans around them like dirt. You know who I’m talking about. In my opinion, it’s far better to treat those around you with kindness than to give a billion away. Your interactions with people make the biggest impact on this world, not the money you spend – so give your kindness freely and often.

Charity is not always about money – how are you giving back to the world?

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Post from: Thrifty Mommy

Harrison Ford – the man, the myth, the… I’d like my senior discount, please. Sorry, where was I? Ah, yes. According to The Independent, Harrison Ford, the snake fearing Indiana Jones, doesn’t fear claiming his senior discount at the movies.

Of course, being a movie star, he has different ideas of frugality than I do, but he has stated in several interviews that he doesn’t spend freely. In an interview with The People, he actually spells it out, saying, "I am relatively frugal…" He does have one very un-frugal hobby, though. Airplanes. He literally jetsets with Calista Flockhart and her son Liam, flying them where they need to go in his private jets. (I guess he was able to be frugal on the movie set, too, by saving them the expense of a stunt pilot in all of his flight scenes.)

Post from: Thrifty Mommy

I know that some of my family members have always been coupon phobic and others have found my frugalness a bit funny. However, with the change in the economy, a lot of the less thrifty folks are cutting coupons and asking for shopping help.

Have you suddenly become popular with friends and family members who used to slink through another check out line if they were shopping with you or "forgot" to give the waitress a coupon you’d clipped when you went out to eat together?

If you are new to frugal living, are you wishing that you’d paid more attention when friends tried to teach you about couponing a few years ago?

I’d love to hear your stories of new found fame!

photo by rolve

Post from: Thrifty Mommy

Special duration: September 15 – December 28, 2008

Special details: If you purchase a frozen beverage you’ll get a second frozen beverage (of equal or lesser value) for half-price. Along with the half-off deal, Baskin-Robbins is also currently offering two pre-packed quarts for $9 or three quarts for $12.

This half-off deal makes a fun family ice cream date night less expensive. This would also be a good time to try out some new Baskin-Robbins fall flavors such as Apple Pie a La Mode and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. (I’d go with the Cookie Dough!)

Visit Baskin-Robbins to learn more about this offer.

[image via Baskin-Robbins]

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Child entertainment: Of course we all know this one. Kids love chalk. You can use it indoors and out. You can use it for drawing, or rub off colored dust and sprinkle it on glue to make a dusty looking print.

Stains: If you have a stain on a shirt, say the collar, armpit, or you just dumped juice down your front, mark the stained area with chalk right before you wash. The dust supposedly helps to absorb the oils in some stains and makes them easy to clean. Note: Ive used this with some success for some stains, but I wouldn’t rely on it for heavy duty stains.

Markings: Use chalk instead of pencils or pens when you need to hang a picture, measure a room for furniture, or mark a wall for any other reason. Chalk comes off much easier than some other marking tools.

Gardening: There are tons of uses for chalk while gardening. You can mark seed types year after year on pots, and create colorful garden plant signs (use plastic sticky covers over the top of the sign).  You can plot out space on your driveway before planting – i.e make a grid to follow in your garden plot. Sprinkle it around the base of a plant to keep some bugs away, and more.

Bug detour: This tip is iffy. I’ve tried it with varied success rates. In any case, if you draw a chalk line in front of a door or window, some bugs will keep out of your house because they don’t like the calcium carbonate found in it.  Ants are supposed to be especially freaked by chalk lines. That said, I’ve seen some ants step back and others walk brazenly over that line – maybe I’m using the wrong color chalk?

Make things look better: If you have cracked paint on your white window frame (or walls I suppose) you can cover the crack with chalk until you have time to repaint. This works well on well sanded woods and tiny hairline cracks. I don’t suggest going over a large area with chalk, it’d be dusty and likely look silly.

What else can you do with this inexpensive tool? 

[image via stock.xchng]

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Just because you choose to live thrifty doesn’t mean you have to throw a thrifty picnic. Here at Simply Thrifty we looked at tips for an elegant and inexpensive potluck

At Declutter It you can read five tips to help you organize your summer BBQ. 

Strawberry Rhubarb Crunch by Robust Cooking

Watermelon Raspberry Lemonade at All Holiday Cafe

Rice Krispie Treats at Keeping the Castle

Homemade Oreo Ice Cream at Chocolate Bytes

Cool Summer Snacking at Inside Motherhood

Pasta Salad at Thrifty Mommy

Baking Delights is bringing enough chocolate for everyone to catch a chocobuzz with her favorite brownies

Nothing like sweet tea on a hot, summer day…Wait..I taste lime..mint…is that a non-alcoholic Mojito? Kettle and Cup has the answer.

Blogfabulous is serving up a super easy, keep your butt out of the hot kitchen solution to Hors’ devours.

Weary Parent is serving Chocolate Puppy Chow, a snack that’s bound to be popular with the kids

Offbeat Homes is sharing details on how to hold an offbeat picnic in four easy steps.

Tree Hugging Family shares 10 tips for an easy green picnic or green potluck

10 Summer party ideas and themes for your next backyard barbecue, or potluck.

Add some backyard Olympic games to your next barbecue, in honor of the Summer Olympics

And speaking of games, Marriage Actually is bringing a fun game for the grownups. Life Stories – a fun way to find out more about your spouse, friends and extended family.

Cyndi won’t go anyplace to picnic unless she can grill, but she doesn’t want to spend all day doing it. Try her tips for Grilling Chicken Fast, and get a jumpstart on your next picnic!

Who says picnics have to be complicated affairs? Keep it simple with cheeses, meats and homemade bread. Brewha-ha.com has a few suggestions – including a recipe for Polish beer rye bread

Whether you’re having a picnic, a barbecue or just looking for a fun activity to do with your kids outside, Susan at PlayLibrary offers a list of 50 outdoor toys and games that are perfect for summer.

This time of year there are bugs everywhere, don’t forget to bring the bug repellent along with your favorite dish to your next cookout.

Christine at Mad Cropper not only shares her favourite winter or summer recipe but also shares that you can turn recipes into creative works of arts. Find out how!

And while you’re out having all the fun and good food you can handle, don’t forget your pets – they enjoy special summer treats too!

At Quilting and Patchwork enjoy an array of potluck foods and memories from the Food Bloggers.

You never know what medical emergency could happen while your are picnicking…Marye at Simply Home Remedies is bringing the antidote for nearly ANYTHING!

Eliza at Babylune provides a checklist of tips to consider when taking baby picnicking.

Finally, when it’s all said and done – perhaps you can kick back with a nice frozen beverage. MomGadget prefers the Dominican Coco Loco

[image via stock.xchng]

Post from: Thrifty Mommy

Potlucks are known as a thrifty alternative to other dinner parties, but rarely do the terms elegant (or cool), and potluck go together. Here are some inexpensive ways to liven up the typical potluck event.

Have a theme. Same old potluck = dull. Create a theme; like an around the world potluck, a fiesta, a Hawaiian potluck, or a nature based organic potluck. You’ll still only be called upon for a dish or two, but a theme will bring something creative to the table.

Have a nibbler potluck: Have people bring their best appetizers, deserts, and cocktail fixings. This is a more adult gathering than your typical casserole potluck event.

Make your decorations work double time: Create a neat centerpiece that can actually be devoured. Use fresh fruits or edible herbs. You can freeze tiny violets or lilacs in ice cubes for pretty drinks, or even create ice bowls to use for serving. Learn how to make an ice bowl.  Ice bowls are especially nice with fruit salad or sorbet inside. Other decoration ideas can be inexpensive summer paper fans as place markers, flowers from your garden, or a plain white paper tablecloth livened up with stamps.

Shiny drinks: If you have an old tin bucket – or can find some sort of tin bin at a thrift store, cover it in clear glue, and sprinkle on the glitter. Fill with ice, and use for holding cold drinks. This looks better at night, with say, torches shining light on it. If you do it well, it’ll look good during the day as well though.

Lighting: Pull out last year’s holiday lights and hang them up. It’s an inexpensive way to create a nicely lit evening potluck. If you don’t have any left over lights, snag some LED string lights. They’re not always cheap, but one, you can find great deals online, and two, the LED lights conserve energy and will last and last.

Another idea that does double duty – lighting plus keeping bugs away, are these bamboo citronella torches. They’re a great deal for a set of six, and would look really nice either on the beach as shown, or you could place them in sand, in pretty containers or big garden pot.

What other ways can you think of to liven up a potluck; maybe bring in some extra style? 

Post from: Thrifty Mommy

Here are some ideas for you:

Hiking, walking, getting out: Of course this is an obvious free fun activity. No matter the weather, you can get out. Depending on your location you can find various things to do. In Humboldt we used to go to the beach, the main street boardwalk, check out cool houses in weird places, and hike in the redwood forests. In New Mexico we of course, spent more time in desert settings (not as much fun, but free). Now, in Oregon, there are plenty of free and cool park and recreation areas to visit.

Free days: Check your local museum or zoo for monthly family free days. It’s more crowded to go on these days, but fun.

Make overs!: Ok, my son and I don’t do this, but as a Big Sisters volunteer, my littles and I had plenty of make-over fun – even just doing our hair in a new style was fun and free.

Go visit a train yard: My son likes this one. Although he thinks it’s a little loud, so we don’t go often.

Window shopping: I don’t like to shop, but I like to walk, and walking in a downtown area, full of things for my son to see is fun, free, and keeps him entertained.

Memberships: Zoo and museums memberships are not totally free; true. However, after we’ve paid once our memberships tend to pay for themselves within three visits, which means the rest of the year is pretty much free, so I’m counting this.

Rock collecting: My son is a rock freak. He’s really, really into rocks. He can spend hours looking for rocks outside, and while this does slow down our walks, it’s fun for him and free for me.

When gift times roll around, I ask people to get Cedar rock based gifts. Over the years, he’s gotten a magnifying glass, rock books, and rock holders, so his rock collecting has stayed free (for us) and people can get him something he really enjoys.

The library: Always fun, and if you get your books in on time, free. You can even watch for events like meet the author, story time, or art shows.

Art centers and more: Most cities have something like art night once a month, and even if your city doesn’t, you likely have college art centers, art galleries, and more available to go look at. Some people think those art nights are adult based, but I think kids should be exposed to art early on, so I’ll take Cedar to them.

Grow stuff: Gardening can cost money; but not if you’ve been saving seeds, or can save seeds. Using leftover seeds is free, and kids love to grow almost anything. We’ve been reusing seeds from many of our flowers for years now.

What do you do that’s free and fun?

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