Life Your Way {Full}

Win $2,500 from Glidden Paint to Design the Perfect Nursery

Fri, 25 May 2012 13:32:49 GMT

source: Mandi Ehman

I’ve always loved designing our little one’s nurseries, which tend to use soft, pastel colors that we pull from the Classic Winnie the Pooh crib set we bought when pregnant with our oldest daughter. In our first nursery, my dad painted an amazing mural to match that set, including a tree with our daughter’s name “carved” in the trunk. I cried when we sold that house because I dreamed of adding all of our other babies’ names to the trunk as well!

If you’re planning for the arrival of your little one, find the nursery paint you and your baby will love with Baby Room Colors from Glidden® Paint, as seen in What to Expect When You’re Expecting (only in theaters).

Use the My Baby’s Place quiz from My Colortopia to discover the perfect colors for your baby’s nursery. Just answer a few questions about your parenting and design style to discover ready-to-go color palettes for your nursery:

And then head over to Circle of Moms for a chance to win a $2,500 Walmart gift card to use towards a dream nursery, buying items such as cribs, bedding, and Glidden® Brilliance Collection™ Paint. The sweepstakes runs from 5/17/12 through 6/7/12, and the winner will be announced at MyColortopia.com during the week of 6/18/12.

This post is sponsored by Glidden brand paint, but the thoughts and opinions expressed are 100% my own.

Win $2,500 from Glidden Paint to Design the Perfect Nursery is a post from Life Your Way

© 2010-2012 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved - This feed is provided for the convenience of DIY Your Way subscribers. Any reproduction of the content within this feed is strictly prohibited. If you are reading this content elsewhere, please send an email to contact@yourway.net to let us know. Thanks.

5 Ways to Make Working from a Home Blessing

Thu, 24 May 2012 22:30:53 GMT

The following post is from Brad, a web designer and father of quadruplets:

source: 4tunate Design

Jen and I have been working together from home for almost 3 years now. We are still learning a great deal about how to make that work better. But, in that short time, we have already learned some key things that have made for much smoother sailing. I thought I’d share some of those tips.

5 Ways to Make Working from Home a Blessing

1. Don’t try to do anything alone; plan your week together.
This was a huge lesson that took a while for us to learn. I thought 4tunate Design was my responsibility. We were often misunderstanding each other and our expectations for work time and home time seldom matched up. I finally told Jen that my business was going to fail unless it became OUR business. We began meeting at the beginning of each week to block our time out. This allowed us to better plan to get things done, and it forced us to consider both of our busy schedules and better prioritize.

2. Work time is NOT personal time.
Another struggle we encountered is that our work is always right there in front of us. We don’t leave an office and go home. We work right here, and this makes it difficult to get away from. We have both discovered that we need some personal time to relax, exercise, and spend time with the Lord. We try our best to allow for this personal time each week. It actually takes discipline to avoid using this time to work, and instead get refreshed on important things.

3. Get out!
We have to find time to get out of the house both as a family and as a couple. Since we don’t commute to work anymore, it can be tempting to never leave the house. We try to take the boys to parks, nature preserves, and other adventures to make sure we get out of routine. We also get out as often as possible on dates as a couple.

4. Separate yourself.
It is also difficult to separate yourself from home life to focus on your work. Personally, when I hear a child outside my office door who is in need of discipline, it is hard for me to just leave it to Jen. However, I have learned that she needs me to trust her with the kids, and I need to get my work done so that she can have a real break, and also time to spend on her consulting/blogging work. It can actually be insulting to Jen for me to stop and help as it shows a lack of confidence in her ability to handle things. Shut the door, act like you are at work. It’s worth it.

5. Count your blessings.
If you find yourself working at home with your spouse and children, it might be easy to focus on the challenges. I try to focus my attention on the rare blessing it is to work from home with young children. Are they loud? Yes. Can they be a distraction? Yes. That being said, it has been a tremendous blessing to be home with my young boys and wife these past three years. I have seen more of my family in the past few years than many fathers get to see them in a decade. Focus on the the amazing blessings, not the few difficulties.

Those are mine, how about you? Have you been mixing life and work at home? Have any tips that could help us navigate this even better?

	Brad is the father of four 5-year-old energetic little boys (quadruplets). He runs his web design business from home which blesses him with the opportunity to be a nearly constant influence on them. He has a passion for leading his family biblically as a servant, and enjoys nearly every moment of it.

5 Ways to Make Working from a Home Blessing is a post from Life Your Way

© 2010-2012 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved - This feed is provided for the convenience of Family Your Way subscribers. Any reproduction of the content within this feed is strictly prohibited. If you are reading this content elsewhere, please send an email to contact@yourway.net to let us know. Thanks.

20 Uses for Vinegar Around Your Home

Thu, 24 May 2012 19:01:48 GMT

The following post is from Emily of Live Renewed:

source: *clarity*

I can remember the first time I learned you could use vinegar for general cleaning around the house. I was pregnant with my first daughter, and was watching Jon & Kate Plus 8 (classy, I know). They had a guest on the show, Sara Snow, who was teaching them how to go green around the house. Kate and Sara were in the kitchen, and Sara told her that she could combine half vinegar and half water in a spray bottle and use it to clean her kitchen and all around her house.

At that point in my life, I don’t think I’d ever even purchased vinegar, maybe once for a recipe, but I’m not even sure about that. On the show, Sara stated that vinegar had disinfecting qualities, and Kate had remarked that she remembered her grandmother using vinegar to clean. And I figured that if they were talking about it on TV, then it must be true, and it must work well. Right?

I was brand new to the whole green and natural living thing, but I decided that using vinegar for cleaning would be a good place to start.

So, I headed to the store, bought myself some vinegar and a spray bottle, and I’ve never looked back.

Now days, I purchase vinegar by the gallon, and usually at least two at a time. I continue to be amazed at all of the many uses for vinegar around the house, and love that it is such a simple, non-toxic, and of course, frugal solution.

Here are 20 basic and easy ways you can use vinegar all around your house:

1. General cleaning

Mix vinegar 50/50 with water in a spray bottle for a great multipurpose, general cleaner that kills germs and disinfects.

2. As rinse aid in the dishwasher

Instead of using a commercial rinse aid, like Jet Dry, in your dishwasher, just pour in undiluted vinegar.

3. As fabric softener in the washing machine

Instead of using conventional liquid fabric softener, pour vinegar into the fabric softener dispenser. Your clothes won’t smell like vinegar, I promise!

4. Weed killer

Kill weeds by either spraying them with undiluted vinegar, or pouring the vinegar over them for those growing in crevices and cracks.

6. Drain cleaner

Pour baking soda into a slow moving drain and follow with vinegar. Let it foam up and set for a while, and then flush with hot water.

7. Odor remover

Vinegar can help to remove odors all around the house, either spray your vinegar and water solution into the air, use a cloth soaked in vinegar to wipe down an area that smells, or spray fabrics or carpet with vinegar to remove odors.

8. Carpet cleaner

The solution of vinegar and water makes an effective carpet cleaner, I’ve found it to be especially good on pet stains. Be sure to test a small spot first to make sure your carpet is color-fast.

9. Remove water rings from furniture

To remove white rings left by wet glasses on wood furniture, mix equal parts vinegar and olive oil and apply it with a soft cloth. Use another clean, soft cloth to shine it up. To get white water rings off leather furniture, dab them with a rag soaked in full-strength white vinegar.

10. Clean and sanitize the garbage disposal

Make ice cubes out of vinegar and run them through the garbage disposal to clean and sanitize it.

source: A Delightful Home

11. Make homemade soft scrub

This homemade soft scrub is my favorite scouring cleaner for the bathroom.

12. De-greaser

Vinegar is a great de-greaser. You can add some to dishwater when washing greasy dishes, it’s also great for cleaning a greasy range hood.

13. Clean the dishwasher

Pour a cup of vinegar into an empty dishwasher and run it through a full cycle to clean and sanitize the dishwasher.

14. Clean the washing machine

Fill your empty washing machine with hot water (or follow your manufacturer’s instructions) add a cup of vinegar and run through a full cycle.

15. Clean the coffee maker

Fill the water resevoir of your coffee maker with half vinegar half water and turn it on, letting the vinegar and water filter through. Rinse twice with just plain water.

16. Clean a tea kettle

Boil vinegar and water in a tea kettle to clean it and remove water deposits. Be sure to rinse thoroughly before using it again.

17. Clean mini blinds

Take your mini-blinds down and soak them in the bathtub with warm water, a few squirts of dish soap and a cup vinegar. Rinse thoroughly and hang back up to dry.

18. Clean the shower head

Remove mineral deposits from your shower head by filling a plastic baggie with vinegar and wrapping it around your shower head, securing it with a rubber band. Let it soak overnight.

19. Make citrus-infused vinegar

Soak orange, or other citrus, peels in vinegar to create your own citrus scented cleaner – great for cleaning floors.

20. Make homemade lemon dusting cloths

Make your own lemon scented dusting cloths by soaking microfiber cloths with water, vinegar, olive oil, and lemon rinds.

A few final notes

You should not use vinegar on porous surfaces like granite or marble because it can damage the surface.

Vinegar does have a very strong smell. I find that is dissipates quickly, and as mentioned above, actually helps to remove other odors around the house. Some people though (my husband included) still have a strong aversion to the smell of vinegar. Adding essential oils can help it to smell better, but may leave behind an oily residue.

If you find yourself having a hard time getting over the smell, my advice is to just skip the vinegar for general cleaning. You don’t have to torture yourself. There are plenty of other great non-toxic, easy and frugal ways to clean your home without using vinegar.

I’m sure there are so many more uses for vinegar that I haven’t even discovered yet. So go ahead, get yourself a gallon of vinegar and start using it all around your house!

Do you use vinegar around your home? Share your favorite household use for vinegar with us!

	Emily McClements is passionate about caring for God’s creation while saving money at the same time. She is a blessed wife and mama to two young children, and blogs about her family’s journey toward natural and simple living at Live Renewed.

20 Uses for Vinegar Around Your Home is a post from Life Your Way

© 2010-2012 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved - This feed is provided for the convenience of Green Your Way subscribers. Any reproduction of the content within this feed is strictly prohibited. If you are reading this content elsewhere, please send an email to contact@yourway.net to let us know. Thanks.

Activity Jars Full of Summer Fun

Thu, 24 May 2012 15:30:19 GMT

The following post is from Jennifer Burke, a lifelong educator:

source: Jennifer Burke

The first few days of summer vacation are exciting: sleeping in, playing under the sprinkler, lunch at the park, no homework and catching fireflies! It doesn’t take too long, though, until your ears pick up a whining, “Mom, I’m bored. What can we do?”

A Simple Idea

Save a jar for each child. Write their name on it and let them decorate. Once a day, or when your child complains of nothing to do, let them pull out one of the ideas that you have tucked inside the jar.

Here are some age-appropriate activities to get you started:

For Preschoolers

(They may not be bored, but if their older siblings have a jar with their names, you can be sure that they’ll want one, too!)

Get a paintbrush and water. Paint the alphabet on the front porch.
Make juice popsicles with Mommy.
Pick a toy that has lots of pieces. Put them into groups by color.
Make a handkerchief doll with Mommy.
Make homemade play dough.
Fill a pan with rice or dried beans. Add some cups and scoops.
Use shaving cream on the counter to practice letters and numbers.
Make a stuffed animal zoo.
Practice reading readiness skills at Starfall.com

For early elementary:

Learn how to sew on a button.
Use different colored highlighters to mark vowels in the newspaper.
Find a dozen different containers. Estimate how much liquid each will hold. Measure to check.
Display your friends’ most popular ice cream flavors on a bar graph.
Make ice cream in a zipper top plastic bag.
Make butter in a jar.
Make a map of your neighborhood.
Draw some pictures for an elderly neighbor.
Record books on tape for younger siblings to listen to.

For older elementary:

Find three toys you are tired of. Check with Mom, then organize a toy swap with your friends.
Cook dinner for the family. (Easy ideas: Salad with pre-cooked chicken on top, boxed macaroni and cheese with hot dogs, or a casserole that Mom can take out of the oven)
Invent a game using marbles and Legos.
Write a thank you note to last year’s teacher.
Write a letter to next year’s teacher, introducing yourself.
Make paper mache masks.
Organize a neighborhood Olympics.
Open a weekly lemonade stand to raise money for a charity.
Put on a play for your parents.
Sweep the sidewalks for any single mothers or older neighbors.
Publish a neighborhood newspaper.
Play online math games at sites like CoolMathGames.com and FunMathGames.com.

Once you start filling the jars with special activities, you may have to limit your kids to one slip a day!

How do you deal with summer boredom?

	Jennifer is passionate about children and education. She homeschooled her two sons for five years, established and directed a Christian school in Maryland for 20 years, and currently teaches in a public school in a Chicago suburb. She loves investing in relationships and delights in every moment that she spends with her family.

Activity Jars Full of Summer Fun is a post from Life Your Way

Forget Balance…Let’s Juggle Instead

Thu, 24 May 2012 12:01:51 GMT

source: Mandi Ehman

Ah, work-life balance. Such a hot topic these days, no?

One of the benefits of being a woman and mother in 2012 is that there are a million options for men and women alike, and we no longer need to make a choice between family and career.

In fact, earlier this week, Tsh at Simple Mom talked about doing what you love, sharing a pretty profound statement that Susan Wise Bauer made while we were chatting in her living room a few weeks ago that has inspired her to stop feeling guilty about pursuing her own passion.

And all of that is fine to say, but it doesn’t necessarily make the whole balance thing any easier.

Truth be told, I’m not really a fan of balance at all. In the intro to How to Have Your Cake and Eat It, Too, I say this:

To me, balance implies that we should give just a little bit of ourselves to many different things, never investing enough in any one thing to tip the scales.

If you’re trying to pursue your own passions, build a business or manage multiple obligations, that can be a very stressful and unfulfilling way to live.

Instead, I prefer to think of what I do as a work-at-home mom as juggling.

Although I’ve never been a very good juggler in real life, I really love this metaphor as it applies to my life.

If you were to take a video of someone juggling and play it in slow motion, you’d see three key parts of the process. The juggler has to throw each ball to start the momentum and catch each one to keep it from hitting the floor, but in between she lets the balls coast from one hand to the other.

Life is a lot like that.

At the end of the day, my family is my top priority. That means that we make sacrifices so that we can continue to be home together as a family every day.

It means I turn down opportunities to travel and we only have one car and our kids aren’t in a ton of activities.

But juggling these passions of mine also means that I can take a break from school or serve frozen pizza for a week (not really, but I could!) to focus on a deadline or special project.

It means my husband changes the majority of dirty diapers and volunteers to clean up my kitchen disasters so that I can make food from scratch without also having to make time to do the dishes.

In short, I’m not sure balance is possible, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing!

Giveaway

Women often feel caught between investing in they family and investing in their passions, but does it have to be that way?

What would have to change—in your life, in people’s attitudes, or in our society—for women to have an easier time managing work-life balance?

Share your answer below and like Smarter Life Better Planet on Facebook to be entered to win a Haier microwave for your family along with an additional microwave to be donated to the Food Bank for New York City!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Haier. The opinions and text are all mine. Official Contest Rules.

Forget Balance…Let’s Juggle Instead is a post from Life Your Way

© 2010-2012 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved - This feed is provided for the convenience of Work Your Way subscribers. Any reproduction of the content within this feed is strictly prohibited. If you are reading this content elsewhere, please send an email to contact@yourway.net to let us know. Thanks.

How to Wear Bow Blouses

Wed, 23 May 2012 21:30:51 GMT

This is a trend I did not latch onto quickly. In fact, I still am reluctant to commit, although I’m getting there.

I remember when my mom wore bow blouses back in the late 70′s. When I first started seeing them pop up again a couple years ago, I said NO WAY JOSE! They conjured up horrible memories of curly perms gone bad.

But I’m coming around to the new, updated bow blouses. Nowadays they are usually made in soft, flowy fabrics, and you can tie them prim and proper high at the neck or loose and casual against the chest.

My mom always wore bow blouses with her business suits, but there are more modern ways to wear this trend.

Of course you can always wear a bow blouse with a pencil skirt for a classic look.

bow blouse and pencil skirt by jolynneshane

But even better, pair it with a pair of amazing jeans. Try something like this!

Modern Bow Blouse with Jeans by jolynneshane

Or for a super trendy look, try it with a pair of shorts!

bow blouse with shorts by jolynneshane

How do you feel about the bow blouse trend? Are you on board for this one? How do you wear your bow blouses??

	Jo-Lynne is a Christ follower, mom blogger, barefoot runner, style watcher, reluctant chauffeur, amateur photographer and aspiring locavore. She writes the award-winning lifestyle blog, Musings of a Housewife, and facilitates the social networking group, Philly Social Media Moms.

How to Wear Bow Blouses is a post from Life Your Way

5 Must Have Items for Your Camera Bag

Wed, 23 May 2012 19:01:31 GMT

The following post is from Amanda of Everyday Elements:

source: Everyday Elements

If you are a new owner of a DSLR, knowing everything you should have with you or what you may need come be overwhelming. Here are some things that always stay in my camera bag.

Extra Battery

It will happen eventually, a time when you have forgotten to charge your battery and then you get to an important event and you look down to see you have one bar left on the battery. Buy, charge and keep an extra battery in your bag and you will save yourself these “I should have known better” moments.

A little trick I do is label my batteries on the ends, so that I know one from the other. And, if battery starts to not hold a charge, it is easier for me to identify and replace.

Extra Memory Card

An extra memory card is a vital thing to keep in your bag because you may forget to upload your pictures from a previous event and when you get to your location, be it a birthday party or the Biltmore Estate, you will cry when you can only take 10 pictures because the space on your card is full. Having an extra memory card will keep that potential disaster from happening.

Lens End Cap and Body Cap

(I am grouping these two together because they are so similar)

This is one I’m sure you weren’t expecting. But, if you are at all like me, situations will arise when you end up needing an end cap to a lens or a body cap for your camera. I’m not saying they are often, but they do happen. And, those are items that when you need them, you really need them.

I ordered extras from B&H Photo so I can keep spares on my camera gear shelf and put the others in my camera bag.

Lens Cleaning Cloth or Lens Pen

You have this high dollar camera, you have worked hard to learn how to use it and then you forget to clean the lens and end up with dirt or smudges on it, which show through on your pictures. That can be such a hard pill to swallow!

Get a good lens cleaning cloth, or like me use a Lens Pen, and get in the habit of looking at your lens each time you take the cap off. This little 2 second step will save you so much time later in post processing.

Gray Card or Other White Balance Tool

Yes, I know you may be new to photography, but after you learn how to shoot in manual, I suggest trying to learn how to custom white balance. It may take you a minute or two to stop and do it, but will save you so much time and stress later.

I previously used a gray card, but just recently purchased an Expo Disc and I am quite pleased with it. I bought the 72mm so that I can use it for all my lenses. Gray cards come in all shapes and sizes. Do some research, ask your friends, ask on favorite photography Facebook pages, ask for recommendations. Just buy one and learn how to use it.

Are these items you already have in your bag? What else do you keep in your camera bag at all times?

	Amanda is a quirky, introverted mom of four who is passionate about helping others learn their cameras and editing software. She homeschools her four kids, ages 13 to 6, all of whom run away when they see her carrying her camera.

5 Must Have Items for Your Camera Bag is a post from Life Your Way

© 2010-2012 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved - This feed is provided for the convenience of Tech Your Way subscribers. Any reproduction of the content within this feed is strictly prohibited. If you are reading this content elsewhere, please send an email to contact@yourway.net to let us know. Thanks.

Overcoming the Stress of Having Kids in the Kitchen {Eat Well, Spend Less}

Wed, 23 May 2012 15:47:25 GMT

source: eyeliam

For this month’s Eat Well, Spend Less theme, we’re talking about kids in the kitchen…

Although I’m learning to enjoy my time in the kitchen, I still find it a bit stressful. I have to really focus and concentrate so that I don’t make stupid mistakes, and things that might seem obvious to someone with plenty of cooking experience often trip me up.

When you add four little girls to that mix who want to help, it often results in frustration for all of us.

And yet I want to have them in the kitchen with me — to help give them the skills and experience early, to bond over the meals we’re preparing and so that they can have a new appreciation for the food that we eat.

So, how do I balance these two things?

Surprisingly, it was my two-year-old daughter, who is affectionately known as “The Tyrant”, who taught me the answer.

Feeling left out when her big sisters go outside to play in the afternoons, she’s often stuck inside with me. To make this time special for her and not focus on what she’s missing out on, I started inviting her to help me with a variety of chores…sorting and folding laundry, cleaning up toys and, yes, cooking dinner.

And I realized that having just one 2-year-old in the kitchen to focus on — something that’s never happened in our house before because our two year old’s have always had a baby sister until this one! — is so much easier than even having two of the older girls in there.

One at a Time

While there are moms who are much better at managing multiple kids in the kitchen, I realized that, for me, sticking to just one helper at a time is the answer. Rather than trying to carry on multiple conversations and delegate jobs fairly to multiple children, one of my girls can help me each step of the way all by herself. It’s much more peaceful and becomes a treasured time for just the two of us.

As far as making sure everybody has a turn, I’m not big on following set schedules or rotations because life isn’t always fair and things don’t always work out in perfect order. Instead, I’ll invite one of the girls to help me in the kitchen, keeping in mind what other one-on-one time we’ve had recently, who may need extra mommy time that day and a million other factors. It’s not a perfect system (more like an anti-system…), but it works for us!

Teach Independent Skills

Another thing that’s really helped is a focus on teaching my girls skills that they can then do independently as we’re cooking together. Cracking a raw egg (or slicing a hard-boiled egg), cutting tomatoes, peeling carrots and measuring ingredients are actually really helpful when we’re making a meal, so it’s worth investing some time in teaching these skills so that my older girls can help prepare egg salad or a dinner salad, add and mix ingredients in a bowl and more.

Let Them Do Easy Tasks

Even my four year old can serve snacks to her sisters, and these kind of easy tasks are a great no-stress way to get kids involved in the kitchen and give them confidence for future tasks.

Easy tasks in our house include things like:

serving cookies, crackers and whole pieces of fruit
setting the table
getting ingredients out (and putting them away)
spreading peanut butter on bread or crackers

Invite Them to Keep You Company Even When They Can’t Help

Sometimes when I’m trying a new dish, I just can’t have the girls assisting because it’s too overwhelming forme. But that doesn’t mean they’re banned from the kitchen entirely. Instead, one of them will crawl up at the breakfast bar with something to color, and we chat while I’m cooking. They still get to spend time with mom, see the work that goes into preparing food and learn about various processes, ingredient choices, etc.

We’re all learning to enjoy and treasure our time in the kitchen together!

For more tips on involving your kids in the kitchen, check out the other Eat Well, Spend Less bloggers:

Aimee from Simple Bites
Amy from Kingdom First Mom
Carrie from Denver Bargains
Jessica from Life as Mom
Katie from Good Life Eats
Katie from Kitchen Stewardship
Shaina from Food for My Family
Tammy from Tammy’s Recipes

Do your kids help in the kitchen? How do you make that time stress-free for your family?

	Mandi Ehman is the founder and publisher behind Life…Your Way and the co-author of All in Good Time, as well as a wife and the homeschooling mom to four beautiful girls. She lives with her family on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia and loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces.

Overcoming the Stress of Having Kids in the Kitchen {Eat Well, Spend Less} is a post from Life Your Way

© 2010-2012 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved - This feed is provided for the convenience of Food Your Way subscribers. Any reproduction of the content within this feed is strictly prohibited. If you are reading this content elsewhere, please send an email to contact@yourway.net to let us know. Thanks.

You May Be Surprised to Learn…

Wed, 23 May 2012 12:01:39 GMT

source: Mandi Ehman

…that I’ve traveled to Peru four times and to the Dominican Republic twice.

That’s me in the upper right-hand corner with the blond hair, circa 1998.

It’s not something I’ve had the opportunity to talk about often, but those six trips between 7th grade and my freshman year of college had a profound impact on who I am today.

During these short-term mission trips with our church, we partnered with local churches to serve the community in a variety of ways, including dental clinics, vacation Bible school, church building, volunteering at an orphanage and more.

I met, and fell in love with, hundreds of children throughout Peru and in a shanty town in the Dominican Republic called Santana.

I also…

hiked to the top of Machu Pichu
drank coca tea for altitude sickness
discovered the most amazing ice cream shop in Lima, Peru
tasted fried guinea pig
had my first taste of ceviche
performed various skits for churches and in city squares
built relationships with the locals that lasted from one year to the next
opened dozens of cards from my mom (one for each day I was gone, and each one ending with “Don’t drink the water!”)
and more.

Little Known Facts About Go Daddy

Go Daddy, the domain registrar I use to buy and manage all of my internet domains, wants to share some of the things they’re doing behind the scenes that you may not know about as well.

For example, did you know Go Daddy participated in the Get Radical Conference this past March, designed to empower women to maximize their life?

In addition, they actively employ and promote corporate women, including their chief human resources officer, VP of public relations, VP of marketing and many high-ranking employees in their legal department!

There’s a lot you don’t know about Go Daddy, including all the tools they have for bloggers! Check out GoDaddy.com to learn more.

Join the conversation for your chance to win 3-year unlimited 4GH hosting from Go Daddy.

Tell me, what’s a little known fact about you?

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Go Daddy. The opinions and text are all mine.

You May Be Surprised to Learn… is a post from Life Your Way

Today’s the 2nd Annual Ultimate Blog Swap!

Tue, 22 May 2012 12:00:53 GMT

Today is the second Ultimate Blog Swap, and I’m so excited by the quantity and quality of the blogs who are participating! With more than 100 blogs signed up for today’s swap, you’re sure to discover some new favorites along the way, so grab a cup of coffee, pick a random blog from the list below and start blog hopping!

Here’s how it works: Each blogger listed below is posting on another blog today and, in exchange, someone else is posting on their site! That means, theoretically, that you could start anywhere on the list and follow their Blog Swap links to find another great post and then another and then another.

Enjoy!

Do you want to be notified next time we do an Ultimate Blog Swap? Sign up here!

Today’s the 2nd Annual Ultimate Blog Swap! is a post from Life Your Way

Liza’s Delicious Brownies {Made from Scratch}

Tue, 22 May 2012 11:57:12 GMT

source: MalisaPrice.com

Today I’m participating in the Ultimate Blog Swap. You’ll find me posting over at Christian Mommy Blogger about Baby Steps to Cooking from Scratch, and I’m excited to welcome Malisa from MalisaPrice.com to Life Your Way:

My hubster, Anthony, and I recently visited New York Citywhere we met Liza and her family. They opened their home to us and Liza served the most delicious brownies. She said they were really easy and generously gave me the recipe.

Liza’s original recipe called for a doctored-up brownie mix. I decided to use her fancy extras for a batch of brownies made from scratch. It took me four tries to perfect the brownies (hopefully our waistlines won’t suffer)!

They really are easy once you have a recipe to follow.

source: MalisaPrice.com

Liza’s Brownies

**adapted from Suzanne’s Best Brownies

Ingredients

10 tbsp. butter, unsalted (1 1/4 sticks)
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 large eggs and 1 egg yolk
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 (10-12 oz.) bag chocolate chips (I used semisweet, use whatever you’d like)
1 cup pecans, chopped

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8 x 8 baking pan with cooking spray. You’ll also need a 9 x 13 pan for a water bath.

Combine the butter, cocoa, sugar, and salt in a heat proof bowl or double-boiler pan. Melt over simmering hot water, stirring occasionally. Be careful not to let the water boil or the chocolate might burn. When the butter is melted and the chocolate is smooth, remove from heat. Set aside to cool for 5 minutes.

If you used a double-boiler, pour the mixture into a large mixing bowl.

Using a wooden spoon, add the vanilla extract to the chocolate mixture. Add the eggs, one at a time, stirring in between each addition.

Once the batter is shiny, add the flour and mix just until combined. Stir the entire mixture for about a minute with the wooden spoon. Add the chocolate chips and pecans. Pour the mixture into the 8 x 8 pan.

Place the 8 x 8 pan in the 9 x 13 pan. Add hot water to the larger pan, enough that it covers most of the smaller pan. Be very careful transferring the pans to and from the oven.

Bake for 50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Remove the brownie pan from the water bath and set on a wire rack to cool. The top of the brownies will be crisp and the inside will be moist. A perfect combination. Liza recommends freezing the brownies and serving with ice cream. We prefer to eat them right out of the pan.

Enjoy!

See all of the Ultimate Blog Swap participants here.

What’s your favorite way to doctor up brownies? Do you start from a box mix or from scratch?

	Malisa blogs about her experiences as a married woman and a follower of Christ in the 21st Century at MalisaPrice.com, where she hopes to encourage and entertain her readers. Her favorite things include cooking and baking, although I modify almost every recipe to make it more healthy and tasty, and she’s also a craft enthusiast.

Liza’s Delicious Brownies {Made from Scratch} is a post from Life Your Way

7 Ways New Moms Can Go Green

Tue, 22 May 2012 11:56:20 GMT

source: Lori Ann

Today I’m participating in the Ultimate Blog Swap. You’ll find me posting over at Tan/Green about Ways to Reduce the Trash in Your Garbage Can, and I’m excited to welcome Erin from The Humbled Homemaker to Life Your Way:

Up until a few years ago, I really didn’t think much about green living. To be honest, I balked at recycling and organic eating as fads, and I chalked off natural cleaning and body care products as something only the uber rich could afford.

Fast forward to June 2008. As I held my firstborn bundle of joy in my arms, I suddenly realized I was in charge of her well-being–from the food I fed her to what I put on her body to the environment I was helping sustain (or destroy) for her future.

And in those first few weeks of her life “going green” took on new meaning. It was no longer a fad. It was a necessity if I were going to best care for my daughter.

No, I didn’t dive in all at once, but that day I began baby steps to my journey as a new mom going green.

Are you a new mom looking for some green living baby steps? Check out 7 ways new moms can go green:

1. Breastfeed.

I know this is easier said than done for some women. There can be challenges like mastitis, thrush, and working, but if you can breastfeed, you’ll not only be providing your baby with the most natural food possible, but you’ll be saving waste on formula containers and bottles as well as the gas it takes to get to the store to buy those items–not to mention the electricity it takes to warm up bottles!

2. Use Cloth Diapers.

Now, I didn’t even consider using cloth diapers with my first. Even the thought turned my stomach. But when my first was not ready to potty train when my second daughter came along, I started crunching numbers and knew diapers might very well put us in the hole! Thankfully, I had several friends using cloth diapers who convinced me that they really are no grosser than using disposables. Sure, it might take slightly more time since you have to wash them, but the savings to your wallet and good stewardship to Creation are most definitely worth it! Besides, cloth diapers are way cuter and softer than disposables! (Line drying your diapers will make this step even greener.)

3. Make your own baby food.

When I buy baby food, I feel like I am wasting both money and packaging. Sure, I re-purpose old baby food jars, but at some point I have to recycle them, and then I feel bad for ever buying so many in the first place. Making your own baby food is very easy in a blender or food processor, and you don’t have to worry about all those excess jars!

4. Use natural care products on your baby’s skin.

With my first baby, I thought natural body wash and shampoo would be too pricey to try. Thus, I continued to use a conventional brand until my second came along. By that point, I realized the potential dangers of conventional soaps, and I was determined to avoid exposing my girls to those toxins! When my second was a few months old, I started making my own baby shampoo and wash. I also occasionally use Burt’s Bees–especially during the newborn stage.

5. Use natural care products on yourself.

The longer I’m a mom, the more I realize that taking care of myself is taking care of my girls. So in the past couple of years I’ve slowly been making the switch to natural skin and hair products. One of my favorite products to use is Mandi’s homemade deodorant. It’s super easy, and I always have the ingredients on hand! The best part? It actually works!

6. Switch to a whole foods diet.

When I first married, I scoured the grocery store for the cheapest food I could find. But when I became a mom, I realized that cheap does not always mean quality. And many times the cheap, convenience food I purchased was detrimental to our health–and the health of the planet. Now, my family still operates on a tight budget, but I’ve learned that switching from pre-prepared convenience foods to whole foods, like simple meat-and-produce dishes has served my family’s well-being, helped preserve the environment, and still kept my pocketbook intact.

7. Switch to environmentally-friendly cleaners.

With two (and three come August!) girls under the age of four, I am keenly aware that almost anything in our house may go into their mouths at one time or another. For that reason, I like to clean with non-toxic cleaners. I now use products like Norwex cloths and Crunchy Clean’s pure oxygen, and I make my own cleaners using mostly vinegar, water, baking soda, and essential oils. My go-to all-purpose cleaner is a very easy-to-make citrus cleaner.

See all of the Ultimate Blog Swap participants here.

What are some ways you’ve gone green after becoming a mom?

Erin is a Jesus-loving, cloth diapering, natural birthing, (mostly) real-food eating, breastfeeding natural wife and mama to two little redheaded girls (with a 3rd on the way!). She writes for her local newspaper, blogs about her far-from-perfect homemaking at The Humbled Homemaker and edits eBooks at Your eBook Resource.

Ways to Reduce the Trash in Your Garbage Can

7 Ways New Moms Can Go Green is a post from Life Your Way

4 Tips to Staying Inspired While You Work from Home

Tue, 22 May 2012 11:56:18 GMT

source: Lisa Williams

Today I’m participating in the Ultimate Blog Swap. You’ll find me posting over at Aubergine about Making Sure Your Blog Benefits Your Family, and I’m excited to welcome Martine from Dainty Mom to Life Your Way:

I’ve been working from home for a little under two years, and I love it. I suppose it’s because I’ve always been inspired by home, from the time I was still living in my mom’s well-appointed, thoughtfully-designed house, to the time I had a home of my own to appoint in the way that best fit my family.

As much as I enjoy being inspired by my home, I like being inspired by my work space. Being a mom, I need to be inspired as I work from home, five days a week. I’d like to share with you just four of these tips, which can help you get recharged and keep you motivated as you maintain that delicate balance of work, home management and family life.

1. Create an inspiring work space.

I’m a visual person. So, it’s important to me that my work space is beautiful and motivating. Earlier this year, I bought a simple yet pretty desk, hung an inspiring print above it, and prettified the tabletop with a vase of faux berries – happiness! Having a beautiful, inspired workspace is essential to staying productive when you’re working from home, especially since it’s proven that colors greatly influence mood, and even enhance productivity.

Quality light is also essential, so position your desk where there’s lots of natural light during the day, and, if you work at night, opt for warm-colored lighting. You’ll get work done faster and more efficiently when your space is visually stimulating and pleasant to your eyes.

2. Work elsewhere, occasionally.

Just because you work from home doesn’t mean you need to stay at home every day to work. For me, as a writer, sometimes a change of scenery is necessary, especially if I’m working on creatives like ads or scripts. During these times, I like to escape to the coffee shop and do my work alone. I ask my husband or sometimes the grandparents (who are always willing to oblige!) to watch my son while I get two hours of power writing done. Afterwards, it feels incredibly rewarding to have been able to accomplish a chunk of work, and I’m excited to be reunited with my son and husband again.

3. Create relaxed spaces in your home.

Jane Austen said, “There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort.” And I totally agree. That’s why, in our little home, I make sure that work and rest areas are clearly defined so that real relaxation can happen when it’s needed. Both my husband and I work from home, so we’ve made it a rule to not take our laptops into the bedroom, for example. Furthermore, we’ve decorated our bedroom to look like a haven for relaxation, investing in pretty linens, a nice paint job, subtle lighting and light-colored furnishings.

Our living room, too, is dedicated to family time, reading, lounging, even meditating. My work space is actually in a small space between our living area and dining area, and when I’m not working on it, it doubles as part of the living-dining room décor when I remove everything utilitarian from it at the end of the day. Maintaining these relaxing spaces helps create different vibes within our home, so that we can consciously separate work from pleasure.

4. Keep focused with a work-at-home mission statement.

This is core to my being a work-at-home mom! Working from home requires the same skill set as running a small corporation, and having a mission statement to support my intention to work from home helps keep me on track, both as a worker and a family woman. Try making one for yourself, creating key points for those areas in your home and work life. (Here’s a sample of my own mission statement.) Refer back to your mission statement when work levels get toxic, or when you find yourself spending less and less time with your family.

The best way to stay inspired as a work-at-home mom – more than all these tips – is simply to never forget why you’re working from home. It’s not an option that most people have or are afforded with, so be thankful every day that you can be one. Reflect on the independence you have and be grateful for it; this gratitude will actually help make you a better worker.

How do you find inspiration while you’re working from home?

Martine de Luna is a wife, mom, and freelance writer. She’s the owner and editor of Dainty Mom, a tips and inspiration blog for work-at-home moms, which recently won the 2011 Philippine Blog Awards for Best Home and Parenting Blog. When she’s not making words awesome for her clients, Martine loves to cook, decorate the house, and spend days out of the house with her husband and toddler son. She lives in Manila, the Philippines.

4 Tips to Staying Inspired While You Work from Home is a post from Life Your Way

6 Expenses You Should Be Saving For

Tue, 22 May 2012 11:55:49 GMT

Source:401kcalculator

I’m participating in the Ultimate Blog Swap. You’ll find me posting over at For the Mommas about An Easy Way to Save for Irregular Expenses, and I’m excited to welcome Phoebe from Getting Freedom to Life Your Way:

Staying in control of your finances can be really hard, especially when you’re not prepared for the everyday. We’ve made countless monthly cash flow plans. Some we’ve used with great success, while others failed from the get go.
The failures all have one thing in common–we failed to plan for any future expenses. Major budget fail!

Home Repairs

Even if you live in a new home, home repairs are bound to happen. They could be as small as repairing a hot water heater to repairing your roof. Something small can really throw off your cash flow plan if you’ve not allowed for them. Our goal is to have the amount of our home insurance deductible in it’s own savings account.

If you are a renter with the goal of owning your own home, instead of saving for repairs that are covered by your landlord, why not put back money for your future down payment?

Car Repairs/Purchase

Think oil changes, flat tires, windshield repairs.

I don’t know about you, but even with new vehicles it seems car repairs are never ending. If you find yourself drowning in them it might be time for you to start putting money in a separate savings account so you can buy a new vehicle for cash.

Clothing Purchases/Haircuts

The money we spend on clothing and haircuts is often overlooked since it isn’t a regular expense. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t a real expense! When I’ve not set aside money for clothing and haircuts, I find that I rob another budget category instead. Not only am I not being honest with myself, but I end up having no idea what I end up spending and in the process I mess up another category. Which will inevitably end up in failure. Either a total budget fail, or debt. Neither of which are pretty!

College

I know that there are varying opinions on whether to save for your child’s college education or not. My opinion:: If you’re in a position to save {even a little!}, go for it. At the average cost of $35,000 for one year of college, it’s highly unlikely that I’ll be able to save enough for all four of my children to attend college. Every little bit does help and starting them out on the right foot is important.

Retirement

You do not want to be working for all of your life–so plan now! As a general guideline, if you’re looking to retire when you’re 65, you need 6 times your annual income set aside in a retirement plan. Basically, you’d have to set aside 13% of your income for 30 years to fully fund your retirement account. That may mean cutting back in areas now so that you won’t be working later.

Unexpected

Let’s face it, life is full of the unexpected. It’s better to just plan for it so you it won’t derail your budget. A good round number for your emergency fund is $1000, although setting aside enough for 3-6 months worth of your living expenses is a safe way to ensure that if something were to happen to your income stream, your bills would still be paid.

See all of the Ultimate Blog Swap participants here.

What other expenses do you save for?

In 2008, after discovering they were close to $40,000 in debt, Phoebe and her husband decided things needed to change. She found it her mission to find every single penny in their budget, and get freedom from the lender. Resources are slim in their rural area, so she’s had to get creative! Phoebe shares her joys of gardening, canning, cooking from scratch, and crafting {amongst other things} on her blog, Getting Freedom.

6 Expenses You Should Be Saving For is a post from Life Your Way

© 2010-2012 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved - This feed is provided for the convenience of Money Your Way subscribers. Any reproduction of the content within this feed is strictly prohibited. If you are reading this content elsewhere, please send an email to contact@yourway.net to let us know. Thanks.

10 Ways to Organize Clutter Hot Spots

Mon, 21 May 2012 22:30:34 GMT

As part of my role as an Official Apartment Guide Organizing Blogger, I’ve had the opportunity to contribute to their Organize the Clutter Pinterest board.

Their entire Pinterest account is enough to make any organizer or decorator drool, but this board — with its nifty organizing solutions to corral and organize clutter — is my favorite.

Check out these cool solutions I found:

source: Classy Clutter

If you’re lacking in pantry space, this may just be the answer for you. ClassyClutter.com shows you how to build a skinny rolling shelf unit that sits next to your refrigerator for all of your cans and jars.

source: Erin's 2 Centz

Swapping seasonal clothes for growing kids is one of my least favorite activities. However, we use a system much like Erin’s, and it’s made a world of difference.

source: BHG.com

Whether they’re alphabetized or not, a shelf full of DVD cases can make a room or shelf feel cluttered. Try using pretty photo or storage boxes for your cases instead.

source: Random Thoughts of a Supermom

I love these labeled galvanized steel buckets for outdoor toy storage. My favorite label is “dirt”.

source: Mona Luna Design

Recycle an old frame for practical jewelry storage that looks pretty too!

surce: Unsophisticook

A little chalkboard paint and a few old baby food jars is all it takes to makeover your spice drawer. This setup is so much easier than the one I’ve got going on. How about you?

source: MSN

Add a few hooks and a bench to your entryway to keep it neat and organized through all of your comings and goings.

source: BHG.com

This is such a great idea, especially for younger children. Use garden baskets to hang toys on the wall where they can easily be gotten out — and put away!

source: beautyRIOT.com

Similar to the jewelry frame, this magnetic makeup frame is a great way to keep your makeup easily accessible and use vertical space rather than surface area.

source: iMOM

If you’re struggling to get your children on board with keeping your home clean, try setting up a “clutter jail”. Toys that are left out can be put into clutter jail and redeemed through various activities.

You can also follow Apartment Guide through your favorite social media networks (see above) for real-time tips and updates on making the most of your space and living on a budget!

What clutter hot spots are the biggest challenge in your home?

	Mandi Ehman is the founder and publisher behind Life Your Way and the co-author of All in Good Time, as well as a wife and the homeschooling mom to four beautiful girls. She lives with her family on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia and loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces.

Apartment Guide and owner Consumer Source, Inc. have partnered with bloggers like me as Official Apartment Guide Bloggers. As part of this program, I have received compensation. They have not told me what to purchase or what to say about the products used, and believe that consumers and bloggers are free to form their own opinions and share them in their own words. Consumer Source’s policies align with WOMMA Ethics Code, FTC guidelines and social media engagement recommendations.

10 Ways to Organize Clutter Hot Spots is a post from Life Your Way

© 2010-2012 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved - This feed is provided for the convenience of Home Your Way subscribers. Any reproduction of the content within this feed is strictly prohibited. If you are reading this content elsewhere, please send an email to contact@yourway.net to let us know. Thanks.

Start Digging out of Debt Today

Mon, 21 May 2012 19:00:41 GMT

The following post is from Christina of Northern Cheapskate:

photo credit: Tommy Sea

The best financial decision you can make is to never get into any debt.

If you’re like the majority of Americans, you’ve already botched that one. But you can do the next best thing:

Get out of debt now and stay out.

But how do you dig out of debt when the hole seems so deep? Start with these steps:

Assess the situation.

Sit down with all of your bills and statements and figure out exactly how much money you owe, who you owe, and how much interest you’re paying on each debt. As painful as this step can be, it’s critical for establishing a plan to get rid of your debt. Determine what you will have to do to get out of debt.

You should also do some soul searching to determine what lead to your debt problem. Too much house? Expensive cars? Bought lots of gadgets? Took a lot of vacations? Consider the emotions behind your spending decisions. Most people who are in debt have something else going on in their lives and use spending as a way to cope with that turmoil. Figure out what motivated you to spend beyond your means, and work on developing a new way to deal with those issues.

Stop spending money you don’t have.

It sounds so simple, but once you’ve got into the habit of using plastic or taking out loans, it can be a hard habit to break. Refuse to take on any more debt. Use cash for everything. Start stretching your budget by cooking at home, taking care of what you already have, and shopping secondhand stores and sales. Take advantage of all the free resources in your community and focus on free experiences instead of stuff.

Find money to throw at your debt. Sell some of your stuff, downsize to a smaller home, raise your insurance deductibles, or get a second job. Do whatever you can to bring in some extra money and apply it to your debt. Every little bit counts, so be sure to look for ways to save on both big things and the little things.

Establish a support system.

Get your entire family on board with your plans to get out of debt. Find friends and community members who are also working to become debt-free, and be sure to spend time with them. You won’t have to worry about “keeping up with the Jones” when you are all on a tight budget. You’ll find inspiration and support from those who share your journey. Read frugal living books and visit frugal living websites and online forums to find additional information and support to help you break the cycle of debt.

Stick with it.

It is really hard to get rid of debt. My husband and I slogged through $70,000 of student loans and car debt for seven years on mediocre salaries while we paid down our debt. It was hard to watch our friends take vacations and buy the latest gadgets while we ate dinner at home and watched movies we borrowed from the library. Becoming debt free (except for our mortgage) has been worth all the work. We now live in our dream home in the country, and I’m able to stay home with our kids.

I’ve learned that you can wallow in self pity, and denial and bad financial habits, or you can choose to change your life for the better.

No matter how hard it seems, stick with it. You’ll find more freedom – both financially and emotionally – then you ever dreamed possible when you are free from the shackles of debt.

Are you working to dig out of debt? How do you stay motivated?

	Christina Brown is the creator of Northern Cheapskate, a blog dedicated to frugal living through coupons, freebies, and money-saving ideas. She lives in the rural north woods of Minnesota where she clips coupons, pinches pennies, and chases her three boys (a 6-year-old and twin 4-year olds) as a stay-at-home mom.

Start Digging out of Debt Today is a post from Life Your Way

Homeschool-in-a-Box {Quick Tip}

Mon, 21 May 2012 16:30:13 GMT

source: Mandi Ehman

Over the next few weeks, we’re going to be talking about homeschooling. I’ll be sharing my thoughts from my weekend visiting Peace Hill Press and Susan Wise Bauer, our 2012-2013 curriculum plan, how I’m balancing homeschooling and working, especially as we’re getting ready for our third daughter to start kindergarten in the fall, and more.

But before we jump in, I wanted to share my planning/organizing system with you, because this box is my sanity saver.

Although we have a homeschool room upstairs, we’ve found that we much prefer doing school downstairs on the main level — sometimes in the kitchen, sometimes in the master bedroom, sometimes outside.

I’m also a big fan of gathering materials ahead of time so that we’re not having to hunt for or gather them in the middle of school, and when we first started homeschooling, I used these handy scrapbooking organizers for all of our homeschooling stuff. I loved how convenient they were, but we outgrew the system as we added more workbooks and notebooks and games.

Then I received a set of these pretty Rubbermaid bento boxes last year, and I immediately knew that the big one would be perfect for all our homeschool stuff.

It doesn’t really matter what type of box you use, though, as long as it’s sturdy enough for the weight of your books and big enough to hold the things you need.

What I love about this system is that:

Our schoolwork is truly portable. I add/remove things every couple of weeks based on what we’re currently working on, and I could theoretically grab the box on my way out the door and have everything we need to do school for a few weeks. We’d run out of read-alouds after a week or so, but the rest of our curriculum stays in there pretty much all of the time. We take the box outside on nice days, and I’ve even taken it to my mom’s so that we can continue schooling when we’re staying there for a few days.

The books stay neat and organized. When I’ve used a shelf or cabinet or desk to hold our current homeschooling materials, they inevitably end up in stacks that are sliding all over the place. Because there is limited space in the box, there’s really only way to put things in it, and it keeps it naturally neat. (To some degree, at least. I do still have to clean it out every few weeks.)

Our supplies and extras are organized too. Using the small dividers inside the bento box (and a separate small bento box inside one corner), I’m able to keep pencils, pens, scissors, crayons, flashcards, games, etc. organized and convenient. I sharpen a big pile of pencils every weekend so we’re not running around looking for supplies when it’s school time.

The box serves as an extra work surface. When the lid is on the box, we’re also able to use it as a work service for working with manipulatives, writing in our journals, etc.

I’m not sure what we’re going to do when we add two more kids (and the extra journals and workbooks that entails) to the mix. But it’s the best system we’ve tried so far, and it’s working for us!

How do you organize your schoolwork for the week?

	Mandi Ehman is the founder and publisher behind Life…Your Way and the co-author of All in Good Time, as well as a wife and the homeschooling mom to four beautiful girls. She lives with her family on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia and loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces.

Homeschool-in-a-Box {Quick Tip} is a post from Life Your Way

Announcing the Break the Sugar Habit Challenge!

Mon, 21 May 2012 12:01:07 GMT

When I mentioned in passing a few weeks ago that I was thinking about doing a no-sugar challenge, I got a lot of comments from readers who, like me, know that giving up sugar is something they need to do for their health. I’ve been debating doing this — or, more accurately, procrastinating — since December, and so next month I’m finally going to bite the bullet and give up sugar for four weeks.

The Break the Sugar Habit Challenge launches on 6/2, and I’d love to have you join me. I’ll be sharing more information and tips the week before the challenge starts so that you’ll have plenty of time to prepare yourself, your family and your kitchen.

In our home, we’ll be focusing on eliminating all refined sugars plus natural sweeteners. Our plan once the challenge is over is to stick to natural sweeteners, but because we want to break our bad habits and sweet tooth addictions, we’ll be eliminating sweets altogether for the duration of the challenge.

Your family may choose to eliminate refined sugar and use natural sweeteners instead. That’s okay! The purpose of this challenge is to set a goal and encourage one another along the way, but that doesn’t mean your goal needs to be the same as mine!

Break the Sugar Habit Challenge Schedule

Each Monday I’ll post an article about the current week’s theme:

5/28 – This first week we’ll be looking at why you would even want to go sugar-free and what the Break the Sugar Habit Challenge will look like for our family.

6/4 – If you’re already convinced that the challenge is a good idea but not sure how to actually make it work, this week is for you. We’ll be talking about how to successfully cut sugar from your diet and break a sugar addiction. I’ll share tons of meal and snack ideas.

6/11 – As the challenge progresses, we’ll focus on more sugar-free recipes. Because our family is eliminating all sweeteners for the month, I’ll be sharing recipes that don’t require any sweetener at all.

6/18 – I’m hoping that by two weeks into the challenge I’ll already be seeing and feeling some of the benefits of eliminating refined sugar that many other people have talked about. We’ll talk about the short- and long-term benefits of eliminating refined sugar.

6/25 – To end on a high note, we’ll talk about what life will look like post-challenge and tackle issues like dealing with sugar at social and family events and how to substitute natural sugar alternatives for refined sugar.

Each Wednesday I’ll follow up with a long list of links so that you can do more research, hear more inspiring stories from people who’ve already broken the sugar habit and find plenty of recipes to keep your family well fed throughout the month.

And each Friday we’ll do a Break the Sugar Habit Challenge check in, where I’ll share our family’s struggles and successes and you can do the same! I’ll open up a linky for anyone who wants to blog their experiences during the challenge, and you’ll be able to share your stories and experiences in the comments as well. I’d love to have you join us whether you have a blog or not!

To Participate in the Challenge

Between now and 6/4, you’ll need to:

Decide how your family will participate in the challenge. Will you be eliminating all sweeteners? Just refined sugar? Are you going to participate for the whole month or just a week or two?

Clean out your fridge and pantry. For the greatest level of success, I highly suggest packing up the sugar in your home so that you’re not tempted to cheat. You may want to finish up any snacks and then pack your ingredients away in a storage bin for the duration of the challenge. I am debating giving away my refined sugar altogether so that I can’t go back to using it once the challenge is over!

Decide on any exceptions. For example, I will still be adding a couple drops of liquid stevia to my daily apple cider vinegar water, although I’ve decided to cut the number from 5 to just 2 so that it’s not too sweet while I’m trying to recalibrate my taste buds. This cheat is worth it to me because I drink ACV for its health benefits, and stevia is a very healthy choice as far as natural sweeteners. My older girls are also attending VBS at my mom’s church during the third week of the challenge. I’ll share more thoughts on this later, but my plan is to limit their sugar consumption that week but not forbid it.

Make food lists. I recommend making lists with as many meal and snack ideas as you can come up with so that you don’t feel discouraged by the limits on your diet during the challenge. I’ll be sharing ideas as well, but the earlier you start on this list, the better position you’ll be in.

“Anything in life worth having is worth working for.” ~Andrew Carnegie

There’s a reason we’re calling this a challenge. No doubt it’s going to be tough — not just at home, but especially when eating with other people. I expect that I’m going to have to fight my cravings, especially at a certain time of the month, and remembering to read labels and watch for hidden sugar will be a whole ‘nother issue.

But I truly believe that finding freedom from my sugar addiction and learning to enjoy food without sugar to prime my tastebuds will be worth it.

Will you join me?

	Mandi Ehman is the founder and publisher behind Life…Your Way and the co-author of All in Good Time, as well as a wife and the homeschooling mom to four beautiful girls. She lives with her family on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia and loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces.

Announcing the Break the Sugar Habit Challenge! is a post from Life Your Way

Amazon Deals: Kindle Freebies, Diaper Deals + More

Mandi — Sun, 20 May 2012 16:30:46 +0000

My mom and are having a lot of fun sharing the best Amazon.com deals over at our new site, Jungle Deals & Steals. In case you missed them, here are some of this week’s hottest deals that are still available!

{Click here for the full list of current deals.}

Kindle

Diapers & Wipes

If you’re not currently a member, sign up for a 3-month trial of Amazon Mom with Amazon Primeto save an extra 15% on diapers and get FREE two-day shipping!

Toys

Grocery

Health & Personal Care

Household

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Amazon Deals: Kindle Freebies, Diaper Deals + More is a post from Life Your Way

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Giveaway: 2012 Summer Survival Calendar (6 Winners!)

Sat, 19 May 2012 16:30:03 GMT

This giveaway is now closed! The winners are Kate F. (prfksd04@…), Lindsay (dozer_bug@…), Sharla (sharlacruz@…), Krissa (krissajeldy@…), Terri (t5castle@…) and Angela (angwells79@…)!

Earlier this week I introduced you to the 2012 Summer Survival Calendar from Susan at The Confident Mom.

Truly, though, this is more than just a calendar. This great pack includes:

Over 100 new boredom buster ideas
Links to instructions, recipes and useful tools for each project
4 easy to read calendars
Weekly planning page
Summer goals worksheet
Summer fun checklist
10 Strategies for Your Best Summer Ever guide
Your Best Summer Ever audio workshop
Quiet time activities worksheet
Important summer dates checklist
Standard operating procedures worksheet
Weekly menu planner/grocery list
Summer weekly planner
Be summer organized checklist

If you’re looking to make the most of your summer with your kids without a lot of stress or running around, Susan’s done the leg work for you so you can jump in with both feet!

Be sure to like The Confident Mom on Facebook, where Susan shares tips and posts from across the blogosphere to help you be a confident mom.

Enter to Win

This week, Susan is giving six lucky Life…Your Way readers each a copy of the 2012 Summer Survival Calendar (including all the extra goodies listed above)!

To enter, fill out the form below:

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This giveaway ends at 11:59 p.m. ET on 5/23.The winners will be selected randomly and notified by email, and this post will be updated with their names as well! Open to U.S. residents 18 years old and above.

Giveaway: 2012 Summer Survival Calendar (6 Winners!) is a post from Life Your Way

Weekend Reading: May 19, 2012

Mandi — Sat, 19 May 2012 12:01:24 +0000

source: Mandi Ehman

Last week the big girls and I headed to Camp Highroad, a Christian adventure camp in Virginia, for one of our very favorite field trips. We spent the day with friends learning about edible plants, doing a stream study, taking a wild and crazy hay ride, playing hide and seek in a bamboo forest and canoeing on the pond. It was the perfect summer kick-off for our family!

Here are some of my favorite posts from this week. As always, check out what I’m reading to see the other posts that make me stop and think. You’ll find new posts all week long!

Calling all homeschooling moms! If you’re looking for tips, ideas and inspiration for pursuing your passion — whether that be a business, ministry, art or hobby — while homeschooling your kids and caring for your family, be sure to join the new How to Have Your Cake and Eat It Too for Homeschoolers group on Facebook. There just may be a goodie in it for you as well!

Organizing {Tackling the Pantry}

This week in the SentrySafe Spring Cleaning Blogger Challenge, I shared my tips for organizing your pantry! Head on over and like SentrySafe to see those tips. Leave me a comment for a chance to win a SentrySafe safe for your family. If my post receives the most comments, they’ll also make a $150 donation to Children’s Miracle Network, a charity that we support because of the way it has touched our family.

Motherhood {The Do-It-All Myth}

If You’re Not Sure You Measure Up… | Half-a-Hundred Acre Wood

For Those Who Think I Do It All | SarahMae.com

How to Overcome Burnout and Get Back on a Routine (Part 3) | Money Saving Mom

Work {It’s All About Boundaries}

Influence. You’ve already got it. | Becoming Minimalist

The Fine Line Between Working Hard and Letting Go | Michael Hyatt

Your Phone DOES Shut Off (And So Do These Other Things) | Stepcase Lifehack

Food {Summer Desserts}

Strawberry Cobbler | My Blessed Life

Lavender Ice Cream (Dairy Free) | Frugal Granola

Grilled Dessert: Pineapple Right-Side-Up Cake | Family Kitchen

Have a great weekend!

Weekend Reading: May 19, 2012 is a post from Life Your Way

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Thanks for linking my ice cream! by Katie Stanley

Kid-Friendly iPad Cases

Fri, 18 May 2012 16:30:37 GMT

The following post is from Michelle of Mommy Misadventures:

source: Marcus Kwan

Kids these days are learning their colors, numbers and letters with the iPad as learning devices. But as much as I love the idea of technology being such an integral part of childhood and the learning process, the idea of my preschooler running around with an iPad makes me cringe.

If you plan on allowing your kids to use your iPad on a regular basis, consider investing on a kid-friendly case. A good case will make your iPad easier for your kids to hold and protect the device from less-than-careful handling. There are a bunch of different iPad cases available on the market that are geared towards a younger use, with bright colors and extra safety features.

Here are three of my favorites, picked for their awesome designs and age-appropriate safety features.

source: GripCase

Grip Case (GripCase)
Price starts at $29.99

Designed by a father with a two year old in mind, the GripCase is a case with a minimalist style built with child-friendly materials and is super protective. The case features handles that make it easy to hold while offering crumple zones in key areas that can protect the iPad from drops. (I highly recommend checking out this third-party demonstration of the case’s drop features. Very impressive!) Definitely a great case to check out that’s appropriate for kids of all ages (including butterfingered adults!).

source: Fisher Price

Laugh & Learn Apptivity Case (Fisher Price)
Price: $35.00

It seems like it’s never too early to let your child play on your iPad! This ultra-cute case is made specifically for babies (6 months and older) offering unique protective features such as drool and teething protection. It also comes with a selection of free learning apps. One of its most impressive features is that it offers three different ways to play, allowing your child to play with the iPad flat, set up as an easel or on a rocker base.

source: Speck

iGuy (Speck)

Price: $39.95

How cute is this iGuy stand? This top-rated EVA foam case comes in three colors, is drop-tested and be used as a freestanding unit that makes watching videos a breeze. Its easy to grip, soft arms are perfect for little hands.

When Accidents Happen

No matter what case you get for your iPad, kids will be kids and accidents can still happen. Consider either an extended warranty or insurance to help protect your investment. Apple offers AppleCare+ for $99 which covers your iPad for two years after the original purchase date. AppleCare+ is an extended warranty and covers hardware failures (including battery) and accidental damage. If you have a mobile (3G or 4G) enabled iPad, you may want to check with your mobile provider to see if they offer any insurance which typically covers hardware failure as well as lost or stolen devices.

AppleCare+and most mobile provider coverage must be purchased within 30 days of buying your new iPad. If you bought your iPad over a month ago, try a third-party insurance carriers that can insure your iPad like GoCare and Ensquared. Premiums typically run $100 for two years of coverage, with a $50 to $150 deductible, depending on the type of claim. Ask your prospective insurance carrier directly for more details.

Do you let your kids use your iPad? What type of case do you use?

	Michelle Mista is an IT professional, freelance writer and blogger. She blogs about technology and work at home at her portfolio blog and muses about motherhood at Mommy Misadventures. She is on the constant quest to balance life, work and geekery.

Kid-Friendly iPad Cases is a post from Life Your Way

4 Simple Ways to Make Your Kids the Best of Friends

Fri, 18 May 2012 12:00:15 GMT

The following post is from Amanda of OhAmanda.com and Impress Your Kids:

source: bohman

My children have a clubhouse. It’s got a clubhouse sign, a password and even a calculator outside so you can punch in a PIN before entering. They will go to their clubhouse and spend forever talking, playing and who-really-knows-what-they-do. And where is this awesome clubhouse? In the backyard? In some old refrigerator boxes? The woods? Nope. It’s in the cabinets under my son’s bathroom sink. But to my kids it’s Swiss Family Robinson’s Tree House!

My favorite part of the clubhouse is the sign. I took a picture of it so you can see it in all it’s glory…

source: Amanda White

And in case you can’t read Kindergarten-er, here’s the translation, “Secret Hideout. We go inside everyday. Brothers and Sisters come in. Only Lydia and Asa. You can come and check on us.” I love that it’s just a brother and sister hideout. One of my top-ten parenting goals is to make sure my kids are the best of friends. I actively work on their relationship and help them work on it, too.

Here’s some ways (I hope) we’re helping them stay the best of friends…

1. Keep Them Together

One reason we decided to homeschool is so the kids could be together most of the day. Of course, you don’t have to homeschool to keep your kids’ tight. But you can limit after-school activities, or at least do after-school stuff together. You can make a priority to do family activities everyone enjoys–camping, movies, games and more. You can eat meals together, have all the family involved in bedtime routines and even sit at church together. Give them the opportunity to make memories, play together and work together.

2. Keep Them Respectful

The two biggest “sins” in our household are disrespecting Mommy and Daddy AND disrespecting siblings. If I hear whining, yelling, complaining at the other sibling, I will not allow it to go on. We work on apologizing to each other, hugging and keeping our words gentle. It’s hard but I don’t want the after-school-cartoon standard of “Ugh! My little brother is sooooo annoying!” to be the norm in our household.

One of my favorite tricks for keeping siblings loving even when they don’t want to is from our illustrious editor, Mandi. She says she has her girls sit in time-out holding hands until they are ready to be kind. Here’s how it usually goes down…

source: Mandi Ehman

Perfect, right?

3. Keep Them Sharing

One of the best parenting tips I ever received was from my friend, Jodi (mom of 5 girls and 1 adopted boy!). She said when her daughters are fighting over a toy she says, “If you’re loving that toy more than you’re loving each other then it’s time to put it away.” It puts the fighting in perspective and has a built in consequence.

I’ve used this several times with my kids and I know sometimes they probably do think, “I’d rather have the toy!” but it still shows what we value in our home. Not fairness. Not equality in playing time. We value each other. We value relationship.

4. Brainwash Them

My kids are only 3 and 6 so this is a little easier now. When they go to bed, I make them give hugs and say, “I love you!” It usually ends in a hugging-wrestling-giggling match. I tell them, “She’s your best friend!” and “You will be best friends forever!” on a regular basis. And you know what? They believe it!

I know how much I love my little brother (who is now taller than me, married with a daughter and owns his own business), and I want my children to know that forever relationship of loving your sibling. I want them to recognize the built-in best friend God gave them–for their whole life!

How do you help your kids become and stay best friends?

Amanda is a stay-at-home mom of two who blogs at OhAmanda.com and Impress Your Kids. In her former life, Amanda was a Children’s Pastor — overseeing, organizing and developing ministry for kids in nursery through middle school, but now that she is a mom, her “skills” are used up on her kids!

4 Simple Ways to Make Your Kids the Best of Friends is a post from Life Your Way

Ask The Community: What Do You Blog About and Why?

Thu, 17 May 2012 22:30:08 GMT

The following post is from James of Google+ Tutorials:

Source: quinn.anya

My last blog here at Blogging Your Way was titled Does Your Blog Have Clear Direction? In that post, I talked about the importance of our blogs having a good focus so that your audience can know exactly what to expect every time they come by your blog, and that actually by limiting your content to a specific niche, you are more likely to build a loyal base of readers.

In the comments, I was replying to a question that someone had asked, and it really got me thinking again about our motivation for blogging and the topics that we blog about. I am sure that there is a wide range here in this community, and I thought that it would be really great for us to have a discussion about this. Not only would it help us here at Blogging Your Way to know the sort of posts that would be helpful to you in reaching your goals, but also a great opportunity to discover new blogs written by others in the community and finding out the motivation behind them. Pretty cool idea right? I think so!

I thought that we could all introduce ourselves, our blogs and our motivation. So what I would like to propose that we do is each answer three questions in the comments below. This will be a great opportunity to discuss, discover, and grow as bloggers!

The questions that I would like as many people as possible to answer in the comments are as follows:

1) What is the web address of your blog

2) What is your blog about?

3) What is your motivation for blogging?

(Fame, fortune, sharing knowledge, meeting new people, being involved in a community, etc!)

Perhaps we will all find some new blogs to add to our Google Reader!

I am really looking forward to seeing some of your blogs, talking to you about your blogging motivations and making some new connections!

Let’s go! Answer the three questions from above in the comments below!

	James Brooks is a professional blogger, web designer and social media consultant based on the South West coast of England. As well as being a co-founder of GPlusTuts, a blog about Google+, James also enjoys blogging about technology, food and tea!

Ask The Community: What Do You Blog About and Why? is a post from Life Your Way

The Positives of Paying with Plastic

Thu, 17 May 2012 19:00:19 GMT

The following post is from Christina of Northern Cheapskate:

photo credit: 401K

If you have ever read Dave Ramsey, you know that he hates credit cards. He encourages people to pay with cash (or a debit card) instead of using the plastic.

Using a cash-only approach can certainly help someone get out of debt and stay out of debt.

But if you are disciplined, there are some positive benefits of carrying a credit card that shouldn’t be ignored.

Rewards

From cash back on your purchases to frequent flyer miles, there are plenty of credit cards on the market that offer rewards. If you put all of your recurring regular expenses on a rewards card (like your utility bill, gas fill-ups, etc) and pay the bill in full every month, you’ll earn hundreds of dollars worth of rewards for just doing what you would normally be doing. Make sure the credit card you choose doesn’t have any minimum purchase requirements to earn rewards or charge exorbitant annual fees, or the rewards won’t be worth it.

Consumer Protection

Some credit cards offer additional consumer protections, such as extended warranties on your purchases. If you have a dispute with a merchant, sometimes your credit card company can help you resolve the issue and get a charge removed.

Rental Car Insurance

If you’re renting a car, hold off on paying for costly insurance until you’ve checked with your credit card company. Some credit card companies offer some rental car insurance protections if you pay for the rental with your credit card.

Special Discounts

Some credit card companies offer special discounts and perks for their customers. Everything from free museum admission to discounted concert tickets are available through special offers. So, find out what your card can offer you.

Foreign Travel

Traveling out of the country? Carry plastic. You won’t have to worry about the exchange rate when you use your credit card. And you won’t have to carry too much cash. Which leads me to my next point…

Cards Can Be Safer Than Cash

Carrying a large sum of cash can make you a target for thieves. And if your cash is lost or stolen, it’s most likely gone forever. On the other hand, if your credit card is lost or stolen, you can quickly cancel the account and contest any charges you didn’t make. It’s a good idea to use credit cards instead of debit cards when making purchases or payments online, as the credit cards offer better protections. Ask your credit company about their fraud alert programs (sometimes you get this service for free) and protect your money from would-be thieves.

Credit cards should never be treated like an emergency fund. You shouldn’t use them to live beyond your means. But when you pay the balance in full every month and take advantage of the positive perks they offer, credit cards can be a useful tool to helping you manage your money.

Do you use credit cards? Why or why not?

	Christina Brown is the creator of Northern Cheapskate, a blog dedicated to frugal living through coupons, freebies, and money-saving ideas. She lives in the rural north woods of Minnesota where she clips coupons, pinches pennies, and chases her three boys (a 6-year-old and twin 4-year olds) as a stay-at-home mom.

The Positives of Paying with Plastic is a post from Life Your Way

How a Second Chance Question Can Make Us Better Moms

Thu, 17 May 2012 15:30:24 GMT

The following post is from Kat of Inspired To Action:

Source: Alyssa L. Miller

A few months ago I stumbled upon a phrase that has saved my sanity. A phrase that single handedly reduced the amount of bickering in my home. A phrase that frees me from mommy guilt and shines the hallowed light of wisdom on the hearts and minds of my children. A phrase that shall go down in history…

“Kat…will you stop with the melodrama and get on with this magical little phrase of yours…?”

Oh, yeah, right…

The phrase is… {drumroll} “What could you have done differently?”

Perhaps you were hoping for something a bit more profound? No worries, let me show you how powerful these words are.

Second Chance Scenario 1

My kids are playing outside. My son and youngest daughter are fighting over a scooter. It’s my son’s scooter, but my daughter was already playing with it when my son walked over, pushed her off and tried to take it. They both come running into the house upset and telling their sides of the story.

This is all completely hypothetical…of course.

Formerly, my response would have been:
1. Calm them down.
2. Ask what happened.
3. Ask them to stop talking at the same time.
4. Calm them down, again.
5. Ask one kid what happened.
6. Listen while kid #2 hops around desperate to tell their side of the story.
7. Decide who should have the scooter.
8. Listen to protests.
9. Send them back out to play, operating on a very weak truce.

Now, I simply say:
1. “I see you are upset with one another. What could you have done differently?”
2. Then, I listen as each of them comes up with the exact answer I would have previously given to them in lecture form.
3. Then I say, “Great answer! You really know how to handle the situation. Now go do that.”

Honestly? It’s like magic. Even my 4 year old knows where he’s gone wrong, and how he could do things differently. And since the question is entirely self focused, my children spend their brainpower fixing what is actually in their power to fix, instead of blaming or trying to control one another.

I know it almost sounds “too simple” to work, but trust me and try it. It’s kind of awesome.

Second Chance Scenario 2

I am a wreck. It’s the end of the day and the kids are finally in bed. I was grumpy, impatient, grumpy, annoyed, grumpy, tired, grumpy, frustrated and…grumpy.

Closing the doors to their rooms after kissing them goodnight was akin to dragging myself across the finish line of a 100 mile ultra marathon. Except harder.

I could have lamented about how miserable I was at being a mom. I could have listed all the things I did wrong. I could have berated myself for not living up to my ideals.

Instead? I asked myself a simple question, “What could I have done differently?”

After I’ve sufficiently answered, I continue the conversation with myself, “Great! Now go do that tomorrow.”

When I ask that question, I know that those thoughts are the only ones that matter. I am better able to recognize guilt, condemnation and other unhelpful thoughts and replace them with positive actions I can take the next day.

The Power of Second Chances

Training our children isn’t about simply punishing wrong responses. It’s even more importantly about giving second chances and teaching them the right responses.

When we ask them “what they could have done differently?” we are giving them the gift of a “do over.” We are saying that we believe in them and their ability to do the right thing.

Could you give yourself or those around you more second chances? What are the “phrases” that have helped you as a mom?

	Kat blogs at Inspired To Action, a site dedicated to helping moms develop the habits and skills they need to effectively manage their homes and raise children who are prepared to change the world. Kat loves music, running, technology, Jesus and Tex-Mex food. Not necessarily in that order.

How a Second Chance Question Can Make Us Better Moms is a post from Life Your Way

Doing More with Baking Soda {Summer Fun & Shiny Sinks}

Thu, 17 May 2012 12:09:45 GMT

source: Mandi Ehman

In many ways, Arm & Hammer Baking Soda is the ultimate green, frugal and simple product. You can use it in a variety of ways, from your kitchen to your bathroom, from the nursery to the laundry room. And at under $1 a box – a box that stretches and stretches and stretches – the price can’t be beat either.

I already use Arm & Hammer Baking Soda fairly religiously at home…in my homemade deodorant, in the trash can to absorb odor, on bee stings and rashes, and – of course – for baking.

But those things are really just scratching the surface as far as possibilities. Last year I put together a list of 60 uses for baking soda, and I still need to try many of these for myself.

This month I’m going to attempt to cross a few off my bucket list:

My girls haven’t yet discovered the fun of baking soda, so I’m looking forward to doing some of the fun activities on this list, like a volcanic eruption and bath fizzies.

In addition, we’ve been struggling with hard water stains in our bathroom and kitchen sinks, and I had completely forgotten about the scouring power of baking soda, so I’m going to attempt to get those shiny and new looking with a little help from baking soda and its partner in crime, vinegar.

Giveaway

The maker of Arm & Hammer products challenged me to switch to Arm & Hammer Baking Soda this summer, and they are giving away $12,000 in the Arm & Hammer Switch & Save Challenge Sweepstakes. To be entered to win one (1) of twelve (12) $1,000 prizes, simply reply to the question below!

Remember to join other Arm & Hammer Switch & Save conversations for even more chances to win.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Arm & Hammer. The opinions and text are all mine. Official Sweepstakes Rules.

Doing More with Baking Soda {Summer Fun & Shiny Sinks} is a post from Life Your Way

How to Prepare Your Home Business for a Natural Disaster

Wed, 16 May 2012 21:30:45 GMT

The following post is from Lisa of Working Naked:

source: Thomas Good

No one wants to think about being in a hurricane, tornado, or fire, but bad things happen. While you may not know when a natural disaster is going to hit your home office (if ever), it’s important to be prepared to handle whatever comes your way.

Get it on film.

Videotape everything in your home office and the rest of your home. As you walk through your home, describe in detail everything you see. Start on one side of the room and work clockwise to make sure you film the entire room. Take the time to back up the video online.

Organize receipts.

Store receipts and warranty information from large purchases in a hanging file folder labeled “Purchases.” Within the folder, label interior folders (they’re cut lower than manila folders) “office equipment” and any other general category of purchases. Before you file a receipt, staple it to the warranty booklet for that item. In case an item is damaged, you’ll know where to find the receipt.

Back up, back up, back up

Back up your data often (at least weekly) and keep at least two copies. Actually, three copies is ideal. Store one copy in your office and two off-site. Some people put off backing up data, but finally take the time to do so after a disaster hits. Remember that your computer is easy to replace, while data is difficult and time-consuming to recreate.

Don’t let it burn.

Store important business and personal documents in your safe deposit box or in a fireproof file cabinet. Information ranging from insurance policies to investment information can be time-consuming to replace. You may not need to refer to the information often, but when you need it, you know it will be safe.

Protect important info.

Start a file labeled “Emergency Information” and keep it in a nearby file drawer. Inside it keep copies of your insurance papers, credit card numbers and other vital information that you would need easy access to in case of an emergency. It’s a good idea to store a duplicate file off-site in your safe deposit box.

Have enough coverage.

Don’t assume that your homeowner’s insurance covers your home office equipment. Many policies don’t, so you may need to purchase additional coverage. The time to find out whether or not you have enough insurance is before you need it.

Natural disasters from tornadoes to fires to hurricanes can be devastating both personally and professionally. Although you can’t control disasters, you can take steps to prepare for the unexpected.

How have you prepared your home office for a natural disaster?

	Home office expert Lisa Kanarek is the founder of WorkingNaked.com and the author of five books about working from home, including Organize Your Home Office For Success. Lisa works with entrepreneurs and home-based employees through seminars and individual consultations, to create functional home offices that meet each individual’s working style.

How to Prepare Your Home Business for a Natural Disaster is a post from Life Your Way

Take Charge of Your Summer with the 2012 Summer Survival Calendar

Wed, 16 May 2012 16:30:49 GMT

source: Mandi Ehman

It seems like there are two versions of summer vacation: The first is the busy summer full of camps and activities and play dates, while the second is a laid back summer with no structure or outside activities.

Well, maybe there are three versions. For those of us who have kids home all day long anyway (whether it be the toddler/preschool variety or our homeschool students), summer can feel like a continuation of the rest of the year, without anything special to remind us of the summers of our own youth.

None of those options are necessarily bad, but I’ll have to admit I always dream of more!

I wish for the lazy days of summer, without a ton of commitments or places to go, but I also wish for ways to mark these days as special — a little activity, a special frozen treat, a picnic in the backyard.

And honestly, summer seems to fly by a little faster every year and it never quite looks the way I expected.

Part of the problem is gathering the ideas and committing them to the calendar. Sure, my Pinterest board of activities for the girls is overflowing with ideas, but getting those ideas from Pinterest to real life doesn’t always happen.

2012 Summer Survival Calendar

Susan from The Confident Mom wants to help you take charge of your summer and make it the summer you’ve always dreamed of with the 2012 Summer Survival Calendar.

Packed full of boredom-blasting activities, creative craft projects, kid-friendly recipes, and more, this colorful summer calendar features at least one affordable (often free!) activity each day from May 15 to August 31 — from making your own kite, ice cream in a bag, hopscotch, and solar s’mores to sandpaper painted T-shirts, driveway baseball, pajama day, and pepperoni pizza cups!

And the best part, each activity includes a clickable link with project directions and supplies to make planning and execution easy.

You’ll also find printable calendars, planning tools and worksheets to help you organize and plan your summer.

A summer full of activities that keep my kids engaged and excited for each new day? It sounds like a dream!

Click here to get your 2012 Summer Survival Calendar now.

This is a sponsored post, but all opinions and dreams are 100% my own!

Take Charge of Your Summer with the 2012 Summer Survival Calendar is a post from Life Your Way

7 Ways to Use Evernote to Manage Your Chaos

Wed, 16 May 2012 12:00:05 GMT

The following is a guest post from Lauren Rothlisberger of GetMeGeeky.com:

source: GetGeeky

Evernote is a fantastic tech tool that can help you get a grip on all the loose ends in your life. You simply install it on your computer and smartphone, and it will quickly develop into your digital file cabinet. Below, I have listed 7 examples of ways I use Evernote in my everyday life.

Shot Records

It is always at the most random and inconvenient times I get caught needing one of my kids shot records. With my records saved electronically their shot records are with me wherever I go.

Babysitting File

It seems that every time we have a babysitter planned that it is total chaos beforehand. Keeping a babysitting file on hand with the bedtime routine and emergency information makes it simple to get out the door. I just email over the info to the babysitter. This is especially handy in the event of an emergency.

Vacation Planning

Planning a vacation for a family is no simple task. Finding a place to stay, making travel plans and keeping track of the paperwork. Not to mention the work to get everyone out the door. I keep all my lists with everything we need to get packed in Evernote. It is so easy to share notes. I can send them over to my husband too.

Honey Do List

Family life is pretty busy, but it doesn’t stop those nagging tasks from needing to get done. Weekends in our house get pretty crammed. So, when there is time to get things accomplished, it is easiest to pull out my on-going “honey do” list. Always having this information it makes our trips to Lowes, Target and grocery store much more efficient.

Home/Property Management

Managing your home or multiple homes is a lot of work. However, there is massive amounts of time to be saved by tracking all your home information through a paperless system. You can put warranty info, appliance info, leases, paperwork, pictures, and repair contacts all in Evernote. This allows you to easily and promptly deal with any home situation that occurs.

Kids’ Artwork

I love all the awesome artwork and projects that my kids bring home from school, however, I can’t stand all the clutter of the paper. I save the absolute best of the best. The rest I snap a photo of, save in Evernote and throw it away guilt free.

Kids’ Activities Schedules

Keeping up with the back and forth of all the kids is exhausting. School schedules, sports information are all saved in Evernote. That way no matter where I am I can reference these events that we need to work around.

If you would like to learn more information on getting up and running with Evernote and organizing everything within, check out my ebook, Evernote for Moms. It is a quick and easy read designed to get you started in one afternoon.

So, what other lists and notes do you store on Evernote? I’d love to hear how you use this tool to make your life easier.

Lauren Rothlisberger is a mom to three girls and an Army wife who bounces around the country. In 2007 she went paperless and has never looked back. She blogs at GetMeGeeky.com on all things geeky, and she recently wrote an ebook called Evernote for Moms to help other moms achieve a paperless life!

7 Ways to Use Evernote to Manage Your Chaos is a post from Life Your Way

9 Binder Benders for Kids

Tue, 15 May 2012 22:30:37 GMT

source: Mandi Ehman

A couple months ago I talked about ways to use binders to get organized at home. Today I’m sharing more ideas specifically for kids. Binders not only help them organize but also archive and showcase their stuff, as seen below:

1. Art Binders: With four crafty girls in our home, we can only keep a fraction of their artwork or we’ll end up on Hoarders within just a few years, but I love the idea of storing the stuff we do keep in a special binder, one per child. Unlike the popular memory box option, which is how we’ve done it until now, using a binder makes it easier to actually flip through and appreciate their art. It also keeps it in order so you can see the progression of their skills over time!

2. School Binders: Use binders not just during the school year but also to archive your student’s best work after the school year ends. Use one color per child or a different color for each grade level.

3. Lego & Game Manuals, Puzzle Guides, etc.: Put manuals in page protectors and keep them in a binder. Not only will you avoid hunting for a missing manual, but the page protectors also, ahem, protect them so that they’ll last longer in better condition.

source: Shaina Olmanson

4. Homemade Books: Homemade books are a great way to teach colors & numbers, body parts, animals and more. Use pictures from magazines or your own collection and use page protectors to make the book more durable.

5. Baseball Card Collection: Besides school papers, this is probably the most obvious way to use a binder for kids, but I still had to add it to the list!

6. Activity Books: Print out activity pages (make your own or search Pinterest for tons of printables) and put them in page protectors to do with dry erase markers for reusable fun!

7. Scrapbooks: Create homemade scrapbooks for a fraction of the cost, a great way to introduce kids to documenting a season or trip with pictures and words!

8. Writing or Poetry Journal: Encourage your kids to write stories and poems and save them in a binder. Similar to an art journal, a writing journal not only showcases their best work but also lets them see their skills progress over time.

source: Mandi Ehman

9. Study Tools: We use a binder for studying our Classical Conversations memory work as part of our homeschooling, but you could use a binder to organize study notes and images for any subject as easy way to study and memorize information.

Naked Binder, a Life Your Way sponsor, makes a line of environmentally friendly binders that are perfect for kids. Not only are they completely recyclable and made from 97% post consumer waste, but they’ve also been independently tested to withstand more than 250,000 flexes. That’s a lot of use!

In addition, the project binders come with your choice of colorful spine wraps so that kids can choose a binder in their favorite color.

What other ways could your kids use these great binders?

	Mandi Ehman is the founder and publisher behind Life…Your Way and the co-author of All in Good Time, as well as a wife and the homeschooling mom to four beautiful girls. She lives with her family on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia and loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces.

9 Binder Benders for Kids is a post from Life Your Way

Gardening with Your Kids

Tue, 15 May 2012 19:01:09 GMT

The following post is from Shaina of Food for My Family and Olmanson Photography:

source: Shaina Olmanson | Food for My Family

I happen to know that Mandi is going to talk about cooking with her kids in a week, and while I have shared my personal feelings and a few strategies for doing just that, I thought I’d take this opportunity to tell you a little bit about what comes before the cooking in our home.

We’ve gone over how important I think it is to involve the kids from beginning to end, which means plenty of time spent perusing supermarket aisles and farmers market stands kids right there with me. However, in our home, we view the gardening part as equally important.

But I don’t have space!

I’ve had this problem before, too. We lived in an apartment, and then we moved to a rental property where we didn’t have control over the yard. Still, a few small pots filled with herbs taught the basics of gardening: Seed to plant to food. That is the lesson I’m going for. Where exactly does our food come from?

Why is growing a plant important?

This idea becomes even more important as you live in small spaces where the kids aren’t exposed to it on an annual sort of basis, if ever. I think how lucky my kids are, living near the state university’s farm campus, how a museum down the street serves to show them just how life was like 100 years ago. They are privileged, for sure.

source: Shaina Olmanson | Food for My Family

Without exposure to the ways in which food is grown and harvested, it is easy for kids to take for granted the work that goes into producing food. Even the act of growing a small pot of rosemary can help to teach them how a plant is a living thing that must be cared for grown before we can pick it and eat something. This small lesson can serve to teach gratitude for the food that sits in front of us, and the act of growing something yourself can help curb those fears of new food.

Will growing our food mean our kids eat everything?!

I regret to tell you the answer is no. However, this process of teaching your children about the food you eat can help to broaden their horizons and make them more receptive of new foods that you might want to introduce them to.

I remember when my eldest was four. She was right at the age where asserting your hatred of certain foods becomes pretty common. Children want to have a voice, and so for Kiera that meant that all flecks of anything on food were “spicy” and not to be eaten. Black pepper? Spicy. Minced parsley? Spicy.

source: Shaina Olmanson | Food for My Family

It was her exposure to garden herbs that won the spice war, teaching her different fragrances for the different herbs, giving her the responsibility of watering them, having her help stir them into dishes. It was educating her that not all flecks of spice in food equaled spicy on the tongue.

How do I get started?

This process doesn’t have to be difficult. Whatever area you have will work. A small Ikea pot with a bit of potting soil and one solitary herb plant can be a great start to getting your kids growing. If you already have a garden, encourage the kids to pick a single vegetable that they’re responsible for. My kids’ favorites to grow are: tomatoes, carrots, peppers, cucumbers, funny-shaped squash (crooked neck and patty pan). Bring them to the nursery or market to pick out their plant, let them get their hands dirty digging the hole, and teach them how to check to see how wet the dirt should be so they know when to water it.

It is a simple lesson that will pay off in far more ways than one.

Did you garden with your parents growing up? What do you remember about the experience?

	Shaina Olmanson is the home cook and photographer behind Food for My Family and Olmanson Photography, a daily contributor to Babble.com’s Family Kitchen Blog and the editor of the food channel for Lifetime Moms. Shaina can usually be found in one of three places: cooking, at the computer or behind the camera.

Gardening with Your Kids is a post from Life Your Way

DIY Teacher Appreciation Gift: Photo Flower Pens

Tue, 15 May 2012 15:30:24 GMT

The following post is from Kristina of Toddler Approved:

source: Toddler Approved

I have intense gift giving anxiety. If I want to thank someone I love or really appreciate, I think about what gift to give to them for weeks and weeks… and then when I can’t figure out something special or thoughtful enough, I resort to procrastinating. This typically leads me to the gift card aisle at the grocery store on the morning that I am supposed to be giving the gift. Does anyone else have that problem? (I love gift cards and loved receiving them as a teacher, but sometimes I want to do something that shows a little more effort).

I really admire people who have the ability to create thoughtful, sweet, and creative gifts. I love receiving them and wish I was better at giving them. My son and I have loved his preschool teacher this year, so we got started working on an end of the year gift a few weeks early. One of my favorite gifts that I received as a teacher was a set of felt flower pens that our classroom “room mom” had my students make for me. This week I decided to recreate that adorable gift and personalize it a bit with photos of my son saying “THANKS!” I have used the pens I received for years and every time I see them still I have great memories of the students who created them for me. I’m hoping my son’s teacher likes them just as much!

source: Toddler Approved

This project wasn’t that hard but does require a few special things that you might not have lying around.

Materials Needed for Photo Flower Pens:

colored felt (we used 6 different colors)
fabric scissors
flower template (we used this one)
ball point pens
floral tape
hot glue gun/glue sticks
puffy paint/glitter glue pens
photos
colorful buttons
vase or flower pot

source: Toddler Approved

Directions to make Photo Flower Pens:

1. Use your flower template to help you cut out several felt flowers. We used 12 flowers to spell “Thanks.”

source: Toddler Approved

2. Decorate the felt flowers with puffy paint or glitter glue pens to add a personalized touch. We painted 6 flowers and left 6 flowers blank. I tried to encourage my four-year-old to not just put giant globs of paint every where. We enjoyed trying out different colors, designs, and motions to see how the paint would fall onto the felt.

source: Toddler Approved

3. While you let the paint globs dry, snap some photos of your child for the backs of the flower pens. Here are a few examples of what we did. I just printed out the letters in the word “THANKS” on some card stock and then my son gave me all sorts of crazy expressions while I snapped pictures.

source: Toddler Approved

4. Print out the photos on photo paper so that they are small enough to stick on your felt flowers. Ours were approximately 1 in x 2 in.

5. Use hot glue to attached one photo to each felt flower that hasn’t been painted.

6. Use the floral tape and wrap it around 6 pens to make them look like stems. Floral tape gets stickier as your wrap it, so wrap it several times up and down the pens, and it should attached to them.

source: Toddler Approved

7. Once your puffy paint felt flowers are dry, sandwich the pens in between them and hot glue them together. Have a painted flower on the front and a photo flower on the back.

source: Toddler Approved

8. Add any other glue gun embellishments you want. My son liked adding different colored buttons.

source: Toddler Approved

9. Stick the pens in a cute vase or flower pot and give them to your favorite teacher or friend as a gift! I typically like to add a $10-15 gift card to a favorite treat shop inside the gift as well so that the teacher can go relax and celebrate at the end of the year.

source: Toddler Approved

These are a few other homemade gift ideas I’ve collected that would be fun to give as a teacher appreciation/end of the school year gift:

The nicest gift I think you can give a teacher is a thoughtful note expressing your gratitude and a year’s worth of support and help.

Do you like to make homemade gifts for teachers and friends or do you prefer store bought ones? What is the most thoughtful or creative gift you have received or given? If you are a teacher, what has been the best gift you’ve been given?

	Kristina is a mom of 2 and a former Special Ed teacher for children with communication disabilities. She blogs at Toddler Approved as she looks for ways to make life a little more fun and creative with her kids while embedding learning into everything that she does. Kristina tweets as @ToddlerApproved and can be found on FB and Pinterest.

DIY Teacher Appreciation Gift: Photo Flower Pens is a post from Life Your Way

SEO Optimize Your Blog Posts Using Keywords

Tue, 15 May 2012 12:01:48 GMT

The following post is from James of Google+ Tutorials:

source: stopnlook

Learning to SEO optimize your blog posts can make the difference between having a blog that gets tons of traffic, and having a blog no one else – except maybe your friends and family – will ever see.

One of the best ways to search engine optimize your blog posts is by using keyword phrases people might actually use to find information on the kinds of things you write about.

Here’s a crash course on using keywords to get more traffic to your blog:

Choose the Right Keywords

Keywords and keyword phrases help to determine how well your blog post will rank in the search engines. The better it ranks the more visits that post, and your blog, will get.

Keywords are the words and phrases web surfers use when searching for specific information. To find out which keywords are getting a lot of searches in your niche, use the free Google Keyword Tool. Under “Match Types,” uncheck “broad match” and check “exact match.” The more searches a keyword has, the better and the fewer words there are in a search term, the more competition there will be.

For example, you’d have an easier time ranking well for “third party car insurance” than for “car insurance.”

Use Keywords the Right Way

Once you have a keyword that’s highly searched, but has low competition, you want to use it in the right way. Try to work your keyword phrase into the title of the blog post, and the post’s very first paragraph. You can also try to work the phrase into the last paragraph, although there’s some debate over how important this really is. You should also try to work the keywords into the H1 tag and the H2 tags, which are usually used for subheadings. But only do this if it looks natural, many have abandoned this practice because using keywords in every subhead can be difficult to do naturally.

What you don’t want to do is use the keyword too many times in your post. This is called “keyword stuffing”, and search engines don’t like it. So if your keyword phrase appears 20 times in a 500 word blog post, some pruning is in order.

Use Images Wisely

Using images can add a nice, visual element to a blog post, which will appeal to your readers. Images are also another way to SEO optimize your post.

If your keyword phrase is “car insurance online,” you can use that phrase as the name of your image. You can also use the phrase in the image’s alt and title tags, but only do this if it fits. If you have an image of people frolicking on a beach, giving it the alt tag “car insurance online” would be misleading. Instead, choose an image that fits the keyword. For example, an image of a computer with a car on its screen would be perfect for a “Car Insurance Online” blog post.

If you want more traffic, you need to SEO optimize your blog posts, and while there are more advanced ways to do that, using keywords is a relatively simple method that gets results. I hope that these tips will help you to get more targeted search engine traffic to your blogs!

Do you have any other tips for SEO optimizing blog posts? Why not share them in the comments below!

	James Brooks is a professional blogger, web designer and social media consultant based on the South West coast of England. As well as being a co-founder of GPlusTuts, a blog about Google+, James also enjoys blogging about technology, food and tea!

SEO Optimize Your Blog Posts Using Keywords is a post from Life Your Way

Confessions of an Autopilot Parent

Mon, 14 May 2012 21:30:29 GMT

source: Thomas Beck

Before I had kids of my own, I had a vision of what kind of parent I’d be. Let me tell you, in my dreams I was some kind of awesome! Fifteen years and four kids, I’ve fallen short of those expectations more times than I care to count. But you know what? That’s okay. I’m human, and if there’s one thing I know, it’s that there’s no perfection in parenting.

Even though I’ve given up on my dreams of being a perfect parent, I still try my best to be a good one. Despite that, I’ve developed a nasty habit of turning my parenting skills on autopilot on a pretty routine basis. Look it up in the dictionary, and you’ll find that being on autopilot is “a cognitive state in which you act without self-awareness.” Uh oh. Sounds awfully familiar.

What is Autopilot Parenting?

Autopilot parenting happens when we go through our days without being fully aware of what’s going on around us and specifically in our interactions with our kids. We set a parenting goal of just surviving the day, rather than striving to be actively engaged with our children. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes we all have days when we do a little victory dance just because we made it to bedtime. But that shouldn’t be how we feel about every day. Instead, more days than not we need to be intentional and aware in our interactions with our children.

My worst autopilot parenting trap is the computer. Email. Blogs. Facebook. Twitter. Pinterest. Pretty easy to tune out the kids with those online distractions to tune in to! My most frequent response to my kids when I’m on the computer is “in a minute.” Most of the time when I say it I don’t even look up to pay attention to what they’ve asked. My response just comes right out of my mouth automatically, to buy me a few more minutes on the computer.

But truthfully, it’s more important to look my kids in the eye, hear their request, and then respond to them appropriately than it is to automatically respond “in a minute.” Take my advice, when I’ve said “in a minute” to my kids on autopilot and without truly listening, I’ve agreed to some pretty ridiculous things. Honestly I once said “in a minute” when my daughter asked for a cookie for breakfast! That was a wake up call for this autopilot mom.

Finding a Cure.

If you think about it, there are probably lots of situations where you find yourself parenting on autopilot. Driving. Cooking. Cleaning. Homework. Bedtime. You name it and as parents we can shift into autopilot so fast we don’t even realize it.

Luckily, it’s just as easy to get out of autopilot as it is to get into it:

First, actively listen to what your children say. When they talk look them in the eye and respond in a way that shows you’re listening. Be eager to engage them in a conversation.

Next, vary up your routines with your kids so that you’re less likely to zone out. Drive a different route. Take a walk around the block. Put away the electronics. Just make it different.

And finally, be on the lookout for autopilot traps. If you have the ability to notice them, then you can come up with a game plan to avoid them.

Do you ever find yourself parenting on autopilot? Share with us. We’d love to hear about some of your traps, and how you manage to get out of them.

	Dr. Polly Dunn is a licensed psychologist, specializing in child clinical psychology. As a mom of four, she’s found like you that many of the textbook parenting techniques recommended by professionals are hard to apply in real life. At ChildPsychMom.com her ‘Perfectly Imperfect’ parenting solutions combine expert advice with real world tips to best help you on your parenting journey.

Confessions of an Autopilot Parent is a post from Life Your Way

7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess (Plus a Giveaway!)

Mon, 14 May 2012 16:36:50 GMT

This giveaway is now closed! The winner is Sarah (sej1032@…) and Debbie (balix1@…)!

There are a handful of books I’ve read that I’d consider truly life-changing. Grace for the Good Girl, The Screwtape Letters, Last Child in the Woods and In Defense of Food are among those.

And now? I’d add Jen Hatmaker’s 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess to the list as well.

The premise of this book is simple, but the results are anything but.

Jen Hatmaker, author and Bible teacher, took seven months, identified seven areas of excess, and made seven simple choices to fight back against the modern-day diseases of greed, materialism, and overindulgence.

Over the course of seven one-month challenges, she fasted from excess in seven different areas: food, clothes, spending, media, possessions, waste, stress.

This book is a journal of her struggles along the way and the lessons she learned through each fast.

Can you imagine eating just seven foods for an entire month? We have an unbelievable variety of food at our fingertips, while much of the world suffers without enough food for basic nourishment, and yet we take it for granted. What if we took time to actually think about and appreciate every bit of food that went into our mouths?

Or as you look at your closet overflowing with clothes, can you imagine wearing just seven articles of clothing for a month? Without worrying about what other people might think?

While every chapter in this book touched me in some way, it was the possessions chapter that had the most impact on me. I literally cried my way through it, which may seem odd given my focus on decluttering and living as somewhat of a minimalist.

But here’s the thing. You know why I declutter my home so often? For my own sanity. For the peacefulness that comes from not having overflowing shelves and an abundance behind every door.

Jen challenged this thinking so poignantly in this as she talked about the needs not just around the world but in our own communities. As I shovel things out the door and to the closest donation center, she was prayerfully donating items to specific families who needed them. As I wash my hands of all this excess stuff (that seems to find its way into our home time and time again), she is looking for ways to bless individuals and to hold on to items until she can bless someone specifically with that item.

What a selfish stance I’ve taken in the past, thinking only of the effect that stuff has on my own life. I still want to clear that stuff out, but I want to do so for the benefit of others; and I want to sacrificially give to others as well, not just when something happens to be in my way!

Jen’s book is radical, no doubt, and she doesn’t ask her reader to imagine living the rest of their lives with just seven foods or seven items of clothing. The goal is to step back and look at each of these areas with a new sense of clarity and intentionality. To see the waste and the excess and to walk away from those things.

Enter to Win

I received a review copy of 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess for free, but I loved it so much that I want to buy a copy for two Life Your Way readers!

To enter, fill out the form below:

This giveaway ends at 11:59 p.m. ET on Thursday, 5/17. The winner will be selected randomly and notified by email, and this post will be updated with their name as well! Open to U.S. residents 18 years old and above.

7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess (Plus a Giveaway!) is a post from Life Your Way

5 Free Things You Can Do to Help Your Finances

Mon, 14 May 2012 12:01:18 GMT

The following post is from Christina of Northern Cheapskate:

photo credit: Eirik Solheim

When you’re feeling stuck because of debt, or you just can’t seem to get any traction when it comes to increasing your income, it can be very frustrating. Watch any late night television, and you’ll be bombarded with sales pitches to consolidate your debt or make money quick.

Fortunately, there are some very simple things you can do right now, that are completely FREE, that would help your finances.

Check your credit report.

You can get a free credit report from each of the three reporting agencies (Experian, EquiFax, and TransUnion) once a year. It’s a good idea to check your report to make sure that there are no errors. Look closely to make sure debt you’ve paid off has been recorded properly. Make sure there isn’t any outstanding debt that isn’t yours, which could indicate identity theft.

Make sure to correct any errors you find. An erroneous credit report can make it difficult for you to borrow money and can affect your credit score. A low credit score can mean you’ll pay more for interest rates on borrowed money and increased insurance rates as well. It doesn’t take long to check your credit report. It’s totally free, and it’s easy. The best part – you can see just how far you’ve come on your journey to better finances!

Start a budget.

If you’re serious about being a good steward of your money, then you should track your expenses and start a budget. There are plenty of free budget tracking resources available – from printable spreadsheets to software to smartphone apps. You’ll know where you stand when it comes to your money and you’ll know what expenditures are problem areas for you.

Negotiate your rates.

Pick up the phone and call your cell phone company, your cable/satellite company, or your internet service provider, and ask them for the best rates they can give you. Do the same for your auto, home, and life insurance. You could save a decent chunk of change with just a few minutes of your time.

Drop unhealthy (and expensive) vices.

Now, I’m not saying you should give up things that bring you enjoyment. It’s ultimately up to you to decide what you value. But consider giving up some of the more unhealthy vices you may have such as smoking, drinking, gambling, or fast food meals. Consider dropping soda from your daily beverage consumption or avoiding relationships with people who drain you of your financial and emotional resources. You’ll not only save a huge amount of money, you’ll also help prevent future financial difficulties caused by unhealthy habits. And you’ll feel so much better.

Read. Read. Read.

Head to your local public library and check out all the personal finance books you can. Read books on saving for retirement, getting out of debt, investing, and economics. Check out books and magazines about cooking, sewing, home improvement, gardening, and do-it-yourself projects. You’ll arm yourself with the tools to manage your money for free. And you’ll learn valuable skills and enjoyable activities that can help you save money.

The truth is that when we’re stuck there is always something we can do. We just have to stop and think a bit about what that is.

What free things have you done to get your finances on track?

	Christina Brown is the creator of Northern Cheapskate, a blog dedicated to frugal living through coupons, freebies, and money-saving ideas. She lives in the rural north woods of Minnesota where she clips coupons, pinches pennies, and chases her three boys (a 6-year-old and twin 4-year olds) as a stay-at-home mom.

5 Free Things You Can Do to Help Your Finances is a post from Life Your Way

Amazon Deals: Kindle Freebies, Diaper Deals + More

Mandi — Sun, 13 May 2012 16:30:06 +0000

{Click here for the full list of current deals.}

Kindle

Diapers & Wipes

If you’re not currently a member, sign up for a 3-month trial of Amazon Mom with Amazon Prime to save an extra 15% on diapers and get FREE two-day shipping!

Toys

Grocery

Health & Personal Care

Household

Media

Make sure you don’t miss any deals! Subscribe now by email or in a feed reader.

Amazon Deals: Kindle Freebies, Diaper Deals + More is a post from Life Your Way

Comments

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Giveaway: 250 Custom Die Cut Business Cards

Sat, 12 May 2012 16:30:17 GMT

This giveaway is now closed! The winner is Ashlee (angashlee@…)!

I have a bit of a business card problem. As an entrepreneur, I regularly start new websites and businesses, and not all of those make it!

Whenever I attend a blogging conference or event, I end up ordering new business cards that reflect my current business interests, which means I choose the cheapest option available so that I’m not wasting money (just, er, paper).

I’d love to get beautiful, high-quality, unique business cards, though, and recently I’ve thought about getting generic business cards for my company, Purple Martin Press, LLC, without listing my individual sites.

UPrinting die-cut business cards come in a variety of specialty shapes (like those seen above), to give you a business card that really stands out.

Choose from:

2 x 3.5″ Rounded Corners
2×2″ Rounded Corners
1.75×3.5″ Rounded Corners
2×3.5″ Leaf
2×3.5″ Rounded one corner
2×3.5″ Half Circle Side
2×3.5″ Oval
2.5″ Circle

And choose high-quality 14 pt. cardstock in gloss, matte or high gloss (UV) or 13 pt. uncoated cardstock.

The die cut business cards start at just $46.53.

For a variety of business tips and news, be sure to follow Uprinting on your favorite social media network:

Enter to Win

This week, Uprinting is giving one lucky Life Your Way reader 250 custom die cut business cards!

To enter, fill out the form below:

This giveaway ends at 11:59 p.m. ET on Wednesday, 5/16. The winner will be selected randomly and notified by email, and this post will be updated with their name as well! Open to U.S. residents 18 years old and above. Winners of a Uprinting giveaway during the past six months are not eligible to win.

Giveaway: 250 Custom Die Cut Business Cards is a post from Life Your Way

Weekend Reading: May 12, 2012

Mandi — Sat, 12 May 2012 12:01:42 +0000

source: Heidi Scovel

I will be sharing more thoughts about our time with Susan Wise Bauer in a homeschooling series that I’ll be doing in June, but I had to share the proof that we really did get to meet and spend time with her last weekend!

The entire weekend was amazing and refreshing and thought-provoking. Heidi, Stephanie, Tsh, Jessica, Sarah (not pictured) and I spent the entire time talking — about blogging, family, homeschooling and more. And we spent quite a bit of time with Susan getting her thoughts on everything from pursuing her own passion as a writer to when to change math curricula.

Beforehand, I wondered if leaving our family vacation a couple days early for this opportunity was the right thing to do; thankfully, I left knowing it absolutely had been the right decision!

Here are some of my favorite posts from this week. As always, check out what I’m reading to see the other posts that make me stop and think. You’ll find new posts all week long!

This week in the SentrySafe Spring Cleaning Blogger Challenge, I shared my tips for organizing your junk drawer! Head on over and like SentrySafe to see those tips. Leave me a comment for a chance to win a SentrySafe for your own family. If my post receives the most comments, they’ll also make a $150 donation to Children’s Miracle Network, a charity that we support because of the way it has touched our family.

Motherhood {A Heart for Tanzania}

This week, a group of bloggers traveled to Tanzania with Compassion, including my friend Amy from Resourceful Mommy. The group’s reflections on their time there have been honest, heart-wrenching and real. Here are some of my favorites:

Decorating Truths from A 15-Year-Old Tanzanian Boy | Nesting Place

{What I Found at the Market.} | Gussy Sews

The Difference a Gift Can Make | Homeschool Creations

Meeting My Sponsored Child | Resourceful Mommy

In Defense Of Jesus | Shaun Groves

Miracles So Great | Minivans Are Hot

Food {Little Steps, Big Payoffs}

Let’s Save Some Money: The Eat from the Freezer and Pantry Challenge! | Keeper of the Home

Transitioning To a Whole Foods Diet | Retro Momma, Vintage Wife

The Brownie Experiment: Which Takes Longer to Make, Boxed or Homemade? | Heavenly Homemakers

Have a great weekend!

Weekend Reading: May 12, 2012 is a post from Life Your Way

Comments

Thanks, Stacy! by Mandi @ Life...Your Way
How exciting for you to meet Susan Wise Bauer and enjoy a week ... by Stacy