If you’re like me, you want three things. One, to feed your family healthy and delicious meals. Two, to not spend all day slaving over a hot stove accomplishing number one. And three… self-cleaning kitchens. Well, I can’t help you with the third thing. But I CAN recommend my 3 favorite simple healthy cookbooks to […]
Foca Laundry Detergent: 5 Frugal Uses Outside the Washing Machine
Last summer during my no spend challenge, I looked for the cheapest laundry detergent that still had positive reviews. That turned out to be Foca. Foca laundry detergent comes in huge bags and is dirt cheap. Like, 4 pounds for $3.42 cheap. I liked the convenience of a large bag of detergent. It meant I […]
How To Homeschool and Work From Home
One of the questions people ask me most often is about how to homeschool and work from home. People email me or ask in person, “how do you do it all?” These issues have been on my mind a lot lately and I thought my response would be helpful to others. How To Homeschool and […]
Best mom sayings that will simplify disciplining kids
Disciplining our kids effectively can be exhausting at times. We want to impart our values to our kids, but we sometimes fail due to sheer overwhelm or fatigue. Here are some of my best mom sayings to memorize to make your life with kids easier. I also explain why they work so well. Read on… […]
Things I’m Enjoying Lately
Every once in a while I post things I am enjoying. It’s a sort of product review meets gratitude list. This list is for stuff I liked in February. I moved this month, so a lot of stuff will revolve around that (I’m talking to you chocolate, comfy shoes and Epsom salts!). Lily’s chocolate – […]
Drugstore game: why I don’t play
The drugstore game is a method of stacking store sales (especially BOGO deals) with coupons in order to obtain drugstore items for pennies on the dollar, or even for free. I learned how to do the drugstore game back when I was a single mom getting out of debt, and I did it for a […]
Moving: routines and the power of place
Our move is complete, although our “settling in” is far from done. Turns out, 9 people have a lot of stuff. The only thing we haven’t unpacked: the books. We need to buy a bookcase first. My body is aching and exhausted (*except for one part) and for the last two days I’ve been having […]
How to Get Over Mommy Guilt
The following is a transcript of an interview I recorded with Aviva Pflock and Devra Renner of Mommy Guilt. They join me to talk about their book Mommy Guilt: Learn To Worry Less, Focus On What Matters Most, And Raise Happier Kids. We discuss how guilt feelings are at an epic high in our time, and how […]
The truth about homeschooling a large family
Homeschooling a large family looks a bit different than people expect… This week I had an enjoyable luncheon with a group of blogging moms. When my turn came for an introduction, I said that I write about, among other things, homeschooling a large family with 7 kids. (There’s usually a tiny, collective gasp right about […]
Clean with pretty things
Yesterday I talked about how I want to have a cleaner house (even while living with a husband and 7 kids – what can I say, I like to dream big). A thought came to me late yesterday afternoon. I remembered something I read years ago. The main message was this: Use good tools. Clean […]