Travel Snack Prep

 

It's getting close to travel season and with traveling comes trying to keep the kids happy while you or your spouse is driving.  One way to help keep them happy is to keep them fed.  Let's be honest a fed kiddo is a happy kiddo.  

We went on a long trip this summer to see family in Indiana, for the most part my girls travel well, they've just always had to travel so that helps, but this was going to be a long trip.  So I prepared snack bags for the trip to and from (honestly, who wants to pack snack bags leaving your trip).  That was my best decision, it made packing to come home so much easier! So anyways, here is my how-to on prepping snacks for a long trip or any trip for that matter!

1. Make a schedule - 

Below are my schedules for there and home of our trip this summer.  These are the real scratch lists. They don't need to be pretty, just something that you can reference as you go.  Those longer trips can be harder to keep track of what everyone ate when, this really helped me.  Now, honestly did I follow this schedule like it was set in stone, did we not buy Cheetos at the gas station at one point, no.  Things changed, we had lots of rain, the schedule got bumped up a bit here and there, BUT, I was able to have a guideline to follow, I had a roadmap per say to help me. It was nice to have a reference of what we'd had or had available as we went.  

2. Make a list of snack options - 

I wanted to make sure that even though we were traveling, we were able to get some healthy snacks in along with some treats.  While treats are fun and exciting, it's those healthy snacks that keep everyone sane as well.  Snack ideas: cheese sticks, carrots, applesauce pouches, various cracker snacks, fruit strips, fruit snacks and raisins.

Repacking your own snacks is where you can save some money. Cheese sticks, raisins, and any of the cracker snacks are really easy to prepackage yourself instead of paying for them to be prepackaged.  

• Cheese sticks: you can easily buy a large block of cheese and cut your own, throw in a cooler bag and voila your own cheese sticks for cheaper.  Check out my post here: Cheese Sticks for more details. 
• Raisins: Yes it's fun to have your own individual box, but if you buy the large container you can pour your own individual baggies full.  You can also mix in some peanuts or cashews too if you are able. 
• Cracker snacks: So first of all our youngest is gluten free, so she needs her own individual cracker snacks.  Also, if your house is anything like mine, no one likes the same snacks, so I just grab a few larger containers of the snacks we usually eat and divide up smaller baggies of them for each kiddo.  It beats spending more for the prepackaged + spending even more, because we all want different prepackaged snack bags. 

3. Purchase the items needed 

Now that you know what all you want, it's easier to buy your snacks. It's really easy to go shopping and then get a bunch of items because you didn't plan ahead and end up with more than you need or items you weren't planning on.  Also, now that you know what snacks you are planning on saving with making your own, you can pick a few fun items too.  For example, yes it would be cheaper to buy applesauce and use my reusable pouches; however for the 12 hour drive it was not feasible to try and do, and honestly I didn't want to balance that.  So for this trip I saved on the cracker snacks and bought applesauce pouches.  We also bought fruit snacks and fruit strips as a fun treat. Things we don't have often, so it makes it fun.  You'll also note I had cereal listed as the first snack.  For this particular trip we took off early, so I let my girls pick ONE special box of cereal to share.  I then poured it into baggies for them.  Again a special treat, but we limited that one to one option and they only got the one bag full.  

4. Gather all your supplies, label and start packing 

Now, with all these different snacks I'm collecting, I do use our reusable baggies as much as possible.  I don't have any fancy ones we got ours from Walmart.  They work well, except the zipper sticks after I use them in the freezer, so if you are in the market for them make sure they are freezer safe.

Anyways, back to gathering your supplies.  I did use regular ziplock bags to hold all the snacks, because I wanted to write on them with Sharpie each kiddos name and either "THERE" or "HOME",  so I knew what bags were for when.  

Then I loaded each bag up.  I started with my schedule and figured out how many fruit strips I'd need for there, then put them in each kiddo's larger bag, then I did the same for the fruit snacks, applesauce pouches and raisins.  Then I took the cracker snacks and decided how many times we'd need a cracker snack and made up their individual bags of their cracker snacks choices and put those in their larger bag.  Then I repeated the process for the the trip home.  Again, seriously, this was my best decision, BECAUSE, I was having too much fun hanging out to want to pack like this while there the night before we came home.  And that worked out great, because it was already done.  

The cooler items, like the carrots, cheese sticks or other veggies I packed the morning of. I got them ready, carrots in one bag, cheese sticks in another, etc.  But, then packed them in the cooler in the morning.  

When I loaded our larger snack bag, I made sure the "HOME" bags were on the bottom and the "THERE" bags were on top. Then I didn't have to dig so much.  

5. Tips & Tricks I learned after 14 hours on the road: 

1. Pack few extra snacks - you never know what might happen, pouring rain FOREVER or just extra hungry i.e. bored kiddos. I had a bag at the bottom that was leftover items we got; applesauce pouches, fruit snacks, fruit strips and we used a few of them. 
2. Snack/hour - really even if you don't end up having a snack that often, if you are going for a longer trip plan snack/hour. 
3. Have those fun snacks intermixed. Whatever is a fun snack for your household, us it's the fruit snacks and fruit strips.  I made sure to have those a few times for our long trip.

So if you are traveling for 5 hours or 20, I hope you find something here that you can use to help make that trip a little less costly, but still being able to have some good snacks along the way.   

Blessings on your upcoming travels 

Weekly schedule after grocery shopping

So, I've shared a lot of things I do to save on groceries.  A lot are things that take some prep work when you get home and that can be a little daunting to get started. So I wanted to share my tips and tricks for how I go about it. 

There are 3-4 big things that I need to get done for prep when I get back from the grocery store.  If you've been following my blog these last few months you'll notice a few I've talked about.  They are as follows: 

1. Fruits & veggies following Amy Cross from A Cross legacy 

2. Dividing up the eggs 

3.  Making the cheese sticks

4. Dividing up the meat

When we are talking 2 weeks of fruits and veggies + 5-10 lbs of hamburger meat + 7-8 chicken breasts + 60 eggs + making your own cheese sticks, that can add up fast.  Let's be honest after a long shopping trip the last thing I want is extra work to put it all away.  So, I've started dividing up the chores.  

On the day I get home from the store: 

First, I divide up the eggs.  I have 4-5 18 egg cartons that I divide up the 60 eggs into.  That doesn't take that long and it's done. 

Second, I wash and prepare all my fruits and veggies.  You can check out Amy Cross' blog for her how-tos for the different fruits and veggies.  But, I usually can work on that as I unload a few groceries here and there.  

Then, I get the meat and cheese in the fridge as I bought it.  I don't worry about dividing it up right at that moment.  

Later that week: 

In the next few days, I take time to cut up the cheese into cheese sticks.  This isn't something that takes a lot of time, but to have to plan on cutting it up right after I get home can seem overwhelming, I mean I'm ready to sit for a bit, so I wait and do that within a day or two of the shopping trip.  Any more time and then I won't get it done either.  Make it a "chore" on your to-do list if you need to.  

Finally, I divide up the meat as I use it that week.  Usually, the hamburger meat and chicken are good in their packages for a few days.  The first night we have something with chicken, I divide the rest of it up as I'm cooking.  Same goes for the hamburger meat.  This also saves me from freezing it all and having to thaw something right after I bought it.  

And that's it! Rather than get everything done as I get home, it's nice to divide and conquer.  I hope it helps you if you are beginning to buy more in bulk or make your own items.  

What are some things you do that help you unload groceries? 

Breadcrumbs Re-visited

Way back I wrote about how I use breadcrumbs.  If you didn't see it you can check out that post here: Bread Crumbs. A pretty simple concept, but a process that can save you money over time.  If you've already started saving those bread crumbs from your toaster drawer, then this won't be a huge change as well. 

If you're like our house your kiddos don't eat their crust very often.  Most days, I will eat their crust, but there are days I just don't want to.  I started adding the crust pieces to my bread crumb jar.  I keep my bread crumb jar in the freezer so after a few days the crust pieces are easy to break down and crumble.  

This is just one more way you can get bread crumbs.  This has been really helpful with our family's recent shift in being more gluten free.  We don't all need to be gluten free, but my youngest has done better when she's not eating gluten.  With that, she also doesn't like the crust.  We now have a bread crumb jar and a GF bread crumb jar in our freezer.  Instead of having to buy GF bread crumbs, we were able to make our own without spending any extra money.  That is huge when GF food is just so much more pricey. 

Hope this helps you save a little 

Blessings, 

Potato Soup with Sausage

    As I said in my previous soup post, it's soup season!  Being one who really likes soup, IF I had my way, we'd have soup 2-3 times a week during this time.  But, alas I have children and so we have soup twice a month at most. If you missed my last post on how to make your garden produce go farther by making soup you can check it out here: Soup.  Potato soup is my favorite soup.  I have different versions of potato soup that I make, but one way the whole family enjoys is adding sausage. 

We have made potato soup based on recipe I found years ago that added andouille sausage.  It's really good.  But, I wanted to make it cheaper.  So one day I bought a summer sausage.  Now, summer sausage is a little more, but I halved it and only added half the sausage in the potato soup and then froze the other half for another time.  You can do this with the andouille sausage as well, but there's just a little more sausage to the summer sausage roll so I found it works a little better.  Also, if you have a SAMS' CLUB or COSTCO membership, you usually can get them even cheaper in bulk. 

Another way, I've cut back on the expense of sausage in our potato soup is by using pork sausage.  Pork sausage is even less expensive than summer or andouille sausage.  If you can handle the more ground beef texture in your potato soup then this would work great. I accidentally stumbled upon this one time when I was cleaning out the fridge.  We had a little pork sausage and potato soup leftover, I decided to just combine them and see.  I actually really like it this way; however my family does not agree, so we stick to the summer sausage, but only use half the roll each time.  

Andouille sausage: $4.69/lb

Summer sausage: $4.74/lb

pork sausage: $2.32/lb 

Soup

As we near Fall, we near soup season.  Although, I'm one that can eat soup all year long, but that's not the case with everyone else in my family.  So, I save soup for the Fall and Winter seasons.  I really enjoy making homemade soup and one thing that works great is to use up all those vegetables that you haven't used from your garden to make your soup.  Then you can store the soup in smaller containers and freeze for when you need them.  

This is great for those busy school nights, just pop a container or two out of the freezer and put in your fridge in the morning.  Then around supper, all you need to do is reheat it.  Quick, easy and you saved money by using produce from your garden.  

Garden Produce

Here are some garden produce that are great to add to soups:  

• squash
• peppers - ours had a woody taste this year,  (that's the best way to describe it) but cooked in a soup, you can't tell. 
• tomatoes - all tomatoes work well in soup.  I accidentally planted multiple cherry tomatoes this year and we don't like tomatoes.  I usually use them to make sauce.  So I found myself with a lot of cherry tomatoes to use up.  I gave away a bunch and then added the rest to my soup. Also froze them before hand so I could wait to make my soup when I had the time. 
• cabbage 
• sweet potato 
• carrots 

Those are just a few, there's so many more veggies from the grand that are great to use in soups! 

My favorite soups

Potato Soup  

This recipe is one that I start with, but have changed a few things.  Instead of bacon, I use sausage.  Instead of the green onions, I use our onions & peppers from the garden, you could keep the green onions too. 

Cabbage Soup

This one is a great recipe to use up that cabbage, it uses 1/2 a cabbage head!  It also uses up carrots &  potatoes.  Plus, you could cut the sausage in half you used for the potato soup and add the other half to this soup.  We tried this one this late summer and I froze it.  It froze and thawed well (I only had it from for about a month).  Also a great add in after you thaw it, make some white rice and toss it in.   

Autumn Squash & Sweet Potato Soup 

This soup uses squash, sweet potatoes and tomatoes. 

School lunches

Let's talk school lunches.  While sometimes purchasing hot lunches are more convenient they can add up. We've done both hot and cold lunches over the years.  I am not against hot lunches, if you are able to do them go for it.  Or if you qualify for free/reduced lunch then that is more affordable.  However, if you are the in-between and are paying for hot lunches at full price, but want to try and save a little this post is for you. 

     This post includes affiliate links, which means if you click on the link I get a portion of any sales at NO COST to you.  See my disclosure page for more details. 

Recently, we've tried to budget our lunches more and therefore have limited our girls' hot lunches.  So of course, that means that I needed to start thinking about cold lunch ideas.  With subbing, I wanted ones that are quick and easy to make, preferably the night before and with one kiddo gluten free, I needed to make sure that was considered as well.  

Now, I will say, as I stated in the beginning, getting hot lunch is a convenience you pay for, so the times I am subbing long term, we may let there be more hot lunch options.  But otherwise, we will do cold as much as possible. Here are a list of some of our favorite cold meal options that do save money. 

There are a lot of different options when it comes to fruit and veggies.  I do try and use the fruits and veggies that are in season because they are more affordable. 

Fruits: apple slices, applesauce, grapes or mandarin oranges 

Veggies: carrots, celery, frozen peas, green beans (from the garden) or cucumbers 

*Also, for the cheese sticks we don't buy prepackaged cheese sticks, but instead we buy a large block of cheese and cut it up into smaller cheese sticks.  You can check out that post her: Homemade Cheese Sticks. 

1. boiled eggs  + cheese stick* + veggie + fruit 
2. tuna salad on crackers + veggie + fruit 
3. peanut butter cracker sandwiches+ cheese stick* + fruit + veggie 
4. peanut butter on celery + cheese stick* + fruit 
5. peanut butter + jelly sandwich + veggies + cheese stick 

How do I know these are not as expensive as a hot lunch.  Well let's break it down. Bare with me we are going to do some math.  Our current school lunches are around $2.50 so let's see what each cold lunch I've planned adds up to.  Now, I will say prices can vary, especially with the fruits and veggies, but if you shop the sales + what's in season that makes a big difference. The following are Walmart prices because that's what we have close at the moment.  Another way to save, would be if you have a Sams Club or Costco nearby, because some of the things you can get in bulk and then it's cheaper. 

Option 1: boiled eggs + cheese stick + veggie & fruit 

1. eggs = $7.47/60 eggs = .12cents/egg 
2. cheese stick = $7.32/32oz = .25cents/cheese stick 
3. carrots $1.24/1lb bag = .25cents/serving 
4. applesauce $3.52/48oz = .32cents/serving 

SO, if you were to take the first lunch meal your total would be .94 cents.  IF you were to double your egg and cheese stick, it would still only be $1.31. This is also with regular prices of carrots and applesauce, just think if you were to stock up on applesauce when it was on sale. With that, we don't buy the individual applesauce cups/pouches.  Those cost more.  We buy the big applesauce container and pour out in a small cup for the lunch boxes.  You can do this ahead of time the night before, or if you have enough containers and fridge space, you can make ahead what you would need for the week.  Then it's just grab and go in the morning.  Here are some more prices for the rest.  I would encourage you to mix and match your options, but add up the individual prices to make sure.  

1. crackers = $3.88/120 = .03cents/cracker = .26cents/4 sandwiches or .32cents/5 sandwiches 
2. tuna salad = $3.52/4 pack = .44cents/serving (1 day's lunch) 
3. peanut butter = $5.92/40oz = .17cents/serving (1 day's lunch) 
4. bread = $1.78/20 slices = .09cents/slice = .18 cents/sandwich 
5. jelly = $2.92/17oz = .12cents/serving 
6. apple slices = $5.28/3lbs = .66cents/apple = .33cents/serving 
7. grapes = $3.78/bag = .38cents/serving 
8. mandarin oranges 
9. celery = $1.34/stalk (about 8 slices/stalk) = .17cents/slice (2 slices for each serving) 
10. frozen peas $2.28/2lb bag = .21cents/serving 
11. cucumbers $1.97/bag = .28cents/serving 
12. green beans + free from garden 

Using the more expensive fruit and veggie option here are what the totals could be:  

Option 2: tuna on crackers + veggie & fruit 

    

    tuna crackers .76 cents/5 sandwiches + apple slices .33cents + cucumbers .28cents = $1.37 

    tuna crackers .76 cents/5 sandwiches + grapes .38cents + cucumbers .28cents = $1.42 

Option 3: peanut butter on crackers +cheese stick + veggie and fruit 

    peanut butter sandwiches .49cents/5 sandwiches + cheese stick .25cents + grapes .38cents + cucumbers .28cents = $1.40 

Option 4: peanut butter on celery + cheese stick & fruit 

    peanut butter on celery .52cents + cheese stick .25cents + applesauce .32cents = $1.09 

Option 5: peanut butter and jelly sandwich + veggies & cheese stick 

    peanut butter sandwich .47cents + cucumbers .28cents + cheese stick .25cents = $1.00 

Now let's talk drinks.  If you can find a water bottle that will fit in your child's lunch box, that is the best and most affordable option.  However, if you can't there are options for drinks that still will keep your lunch more affordable.  

1. Orange juice packs $4.46/6pk = .74cents/bottle 

2. Apple juice packs $3.96/6pk = .66cents/bottle 

3. Milk at school .35cents 

So one last adding. Again I'm taking the most expensive of each item so there will be times that it will be less.  I also wouldn't plan orange juice for each one, but would rather make sure water or milk were their first options, with the orange juice and apple juice here and there.  But, I wanted to show you how even with the more expensive drinks, the whole lunch is still cheaper.  Some buy 15 cents others more.  

Option 1: boiled egg(2) + cheese stick + veggie + fruit + orange juice = $1.80 

Option 2: tuna on crackers(5 sandwiches) + grapes + cucumbers + orange juice = $2.16

Option 3: peanut butter on crackers + cheese stick + grapes + cucumbers + orange juice = $2.14 

Option 4: peanut butter on celery + cheese stick + applesauce + orange juice = $1.83

Option 5: peanut butter sandwich + cucumbers + cheese stick + orange juice = $1.74 

With that, if you wanted to toss in a homemade cookie here and there, you'd be able to and still stay in budget.  

That was a lot, I hope it gives you some help if you are trying to save some money this school year.  It's definitely something that takes a lot of time to organize, but if you get most of the items ready ahead of time, it won't take long afterwards.  For example with the cheese sticks, we've made them so much now I'm in a rhythm of cutting up the block within the first day or two of buying it from the store.  Then I freeze most of them and have them ready when needed. Pick a couple things to start and do a couple cold lunches if you can, then add more in as you're able. 

Also, don't forget, even if you do hot lunch here and there, the times you are making cold lunches saves you and that adds up over time.  

One more thing before I finish.  Anything you can do ahead of time to help the morning be more efficient the better.  As I said with the apple sauce, if you can make them ahead for the week, then you or your kiddo can just grab one and go. Check out the amazon link below with great options.  

You can also do this with the cheese sticks, throw in what you'll need for the week in the fridge and then they can grab in the morning.  Make a menu for the cold lunches for the week so everyone knows what they are having.  The veggies, fruit, eggs and cheese sticks can all be ready to go for the week.  A little bit more time in prepping saves those busy mornings. 

Don't forget to check out the links below: 

1. The first link are the cups we have and I really like them. We had bought the lunch box containers that they came with and so  they fit in our lunch box well. 

2. The 2nd option I haven't tried yet, but when I was looking at buying more containers this one stood out. I like how they are stackable.  I also like how I could get three different colors, so each of my girls could have a color and know what one to grab in the morning. AND, I could use them for fruit, veggies, the boiled egg and maybe even the crackers with pb.  

3. This option would be nice to pair with one of the other two above options.  Then you have a space for the large meal (sandwich, crackers, etc) and two smaller containers for the veggies, cheese stick or eggs. 

 

10 things you can make homemade

Homemade.  Making things homemade is not only more affordable; in most cases, but it also it usually a lot more earth-friendly too.  In the last 5-8 years I've become more and more earth conscious.  I personally feel God gave us this planet and as He states in Genesis; "we are to be stewards of the earth", and therefore, I'm am doing my best to do just that.  So with that, here are 10 things you can make homemade, save money and help out our planet as well.  

     This post includes affiliate links, which means if you click on the link I get a portion of any sales at NO COST to you.  See my disclosure page for more details. 

BATHROOM

1. Hand Soap 

I recently shared on my IG account my homemade hand soap recipe.  Making homemade hand soap is so easy.  Plus you can make it to fit your needs/wants.  For example, in the winter I usually add little extra aloe vera juice to help with the extra dryness. Also, I like to switch out my essential oil smells with the season as well. 

I would also invest in a good foam hand pump.  It makes this recipe work well + last a long time.   

My basic recipe: 

• 1/4 cup Dr. Bronner's soap
• 1 Tbsp Olive Oil 
• 1 Tbsp Aloe Vera Juice 
• Fill the rest with water 
• optional 2-4 drops of essential oils. (I like lavender for Spring and Summer and orange or Rose Geranium for Fall/Winter. ***Make sure if you are making this soap for kids you use caution with what oils to use, I like the books "Just the Essentials" and ""Naturally Bug Free" as references for appropriate eo ages. 

2. Shampoo 

I have two posts on homemade Shampoo: 

• Save on Shampoo has a recipe that use Dr. Bronner's soap, essential oils and a few other ingredients. 
• Homemade Shampoo has a how to recipe using very basic ingredients; baking soda and water. 

3. Bath Soak 

LAUNDRY

4. Laundry Soap 

KITCHEN

5. Brown Sugar 

6. Hot Chocolate 

7. Pizza/Pizza Crust 

8. Homemade Breads

9. Baby Food

10. Chicken Broth 

11. Burritos

FOR FUN

12. Bubbles 

13. Ornaments: 

Up-cycle Ornaments 

Homemade Ornaments 

Teacher Gifts (Back to School edition)

 School is almost here, what a great time to show those teachers we are so blessed to have them in our kiddos lives.  Gifts don't have to be elaborate or cost a lot, actually most schools don't want gifts for teachers due to maybe leading to favoritism and such.  So with that homemade gifts are really best.  

Here are a few ideas for some homemade beginning of the school year teacher gifts. 

1. Potted plant 

If you've started to have more plants, then you know they often have babies that you need to find homes for.  What better home than in a classroom.  

2. Homemade canned goods 

If you have a garden and can your own produce this is a great homemade gift. Pickles are a favorite of ours to give. Or give a small basket of some of your freshly picked tomatoes, beans, squash etc. 

3. Name plates  

There are so many fun craft ideas out there for your teacher's  name.  I recently, saw one of scrabble letters glued to a scrabble plate that spelled the teacher's name. 

4. Supplies 

How often do teacher's donate their own money to extra supplies for their classroom.  If you followed my last post on ways to save on school supplies (you can check it out here) then you already have some extra supplies on hand.  Make a small package that includes: a folder, a notebook, glue bottle and a box of crayons to give to your child's teacher.  This gift can be a double gift; helping out a student who many not be able to get supplies and the teacher who already supplies a lot of the materials in the classroom.  

5. Flowers

This is one I've mentioned before for Teacher Appreciation week, you can can view that post here with more ideas. But back to flowers, using the flowers from your new flower garden, you can pick a free bouquet to give to your child's teacher. 

These are just a few ideas to get you started.  What are some ways you show your child's teacher you are happy to have them as their teacher this year? 

Homemade Shampoo: Baking Soda & Water

I know a few weeks ago I shared about making your own shampoo, but I wanted to share this simple recipe that a friend shared with me.  This is an easy and affordable way to wash your hair.

What you will need: 
Baking soda (1 TBsp)
8oz bottle for water

The easiest way is to start with the Tbsp of baking soda in your bottle and bring it in the shower with you.  Then, fill the bottle in the shower and shake well.  You'll want to add it to your hair as soon as you mix it.
Use whole bottle each time to wash your hair.  Make sure to apply to wet hair, let it set a minute or two and then rinse.  Helps with dandruff too!

Another tip use Apple Cider Vinegar for conditioning:
Dip ends of hair into the Apple cider vinegar and then just rinse off.

It's that easy.  And imagine how more cost friendly this is as opposed to buying shampoo and conditioner.  Plus for all of you out there who are like me and are trying to stay healthy, green and chemical free, but don't want to break the bank, what better way than to use basics such as baking soda and apple cider vinegar?

If you liked this post, then you may also like

Household Items (Ways to use baking soda and vinegar in the home)

Save on Shampoo (More options on homemade shampoo) 

Great Reads

 

I've shared a few books over the years and I wanted to make a spot for all of them.  I'm sure I'll add to them, but for now here is a great list of books to help you not only save money, but also do better for the planet as well.  

This post includes affiliate links, which means if you click on the link I get a portion of any sales at NO COST to you.  See my disclosure page for more details. 

1. Naturally Bug Free

This book has many recipes for ways to deter or kill bugs, rodents from your home, pets, self and more. She breaks down the recipes along with the supplies you will need.  She also does a great job of giving you guidelines for what essential oils to use based on age or pets.  At the end of her book she has a great list of resources for where she purchases and more! If you are looking to try and swap your chemically based bug/rodent deterrents this is a great start! I liked this book so much and was trying to use so many recipes I ended up buying my own copy.  I would recommend buying this one instead of just checking it out, but in my opinion always check it out first then buy if you are finding you are using it a lot. 

 2. Just the Essentials 

This is another book that I would recommend owning, just because there are so many different recipes to use and try.  In this book Adrina helps break down essential oils, their potencies and how to use them.  I really like how she helps guide what oils are save for kids and what ones are not.  She has a great collection of homemade recipes for things as simple as perfume all the way up to homemade toothpaste ad deodorant.  If you are looking for ways to switch a lot of your household and beauty/self care products to more natural and homemade, this is a great book option! 

3. Vegetables Love Flowers 

I recently shared this one in my post: Grow Your Own Flower Garden Thanks to this book, I was able to successfully plants flowers in my garden, harvest them for inside enjoyment and help my vegetables grow by having flowers for the pollinators in my garden.  A great resource to have for beginning flower gardening that you want to make work for your garden and inside.  She shows how to cut, when to cut, what to plant and more.  Buy your own copy or check out your local library! 

Homemade Scavenger Hunts

    Summer is the time for traveling.  And traveling with kids can be an interesting combination.  A while ago I posted about our busy folders that we use for church and traveling.  If you missed it you can check here: Busy Folders . Recently I added a homemade BINGO/scavenger hunt to our busy folders and wanted to share.  

Have you tried BINGOS/scavenger hunts while you travel yet?  They are so fun and they really work great for all ages.  It's a fun new twist on the old games we used to play, you know before DVDs in the car. 

You can search Pinterest for travel scavenger hunt ideas or even download printable ones, or you can make your own.  

Some of our favorite themes and ideas include: 

Fall ~ colorful trees, leaves

Easter ~ flowers, crosses, Easter eggs, bunnies 

Christmas ~ Christmas lights, Christmas trees, manger, snow,  Santa 

Summer ~ flowers, trees

Special places ~ We travel to a couple different cities often and there are certain things our girls want to see.   I include these on the scavenger hunt list as well.  They make for easy spots to mark to keep it going and not drag on. For example, when I was little and we traveled to Missouri and my sister and I always watched out for the green bridges. So if you have a normal route you can think of places to add, this makes it more personable. 

Items you could include on all or a basic list: red car, motorcycle, semi, street lights, highway sign, speed limit sign etc.  I have included our Christmas and general one for you to use.  Just click on the image and right click to save then print. 

Tips and Tricks: 

Pictures for younger kids vs. words 

Markers to cross off the items 

Going further: 

If you want them to be reused; print on cardstock and laminate or use dry erase pockets.  Then use dry erase markers & a reusable towel. This is great for themed scavenger hunts like; Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter etc. 

Jean pants turned into jean shorts

 

Jeans have too many holes? Make them into shorts! 

I know this is something that our moms did that we'd swear we'd never do; well at least I did.  But, really truly it's awesome! Can I just say how much I love not having to try on shorts! I already know my jeans fit me; but they have too many holes in the knees, so what better idea than to make them into shorts. 

Plus, I can send the scraps to For Days  and they can recycle them for me into something new.  Since I'm not the best at making something new out of the scraps this is a win win for me! 

But, cutting jeans into shorts seems complicated you say....really it's not the hard! It took me 30 min tops to do from beginning to end! 

First lay our you jeans length wise with one leg on the other.  

Second, cut just above the hole. Later, after you've cut other side and rolled them up, you can see if you want to cut them shorter. 

Third, cut the second leg to match.  The best part is you can roll them up so the cuts don't have to be even!  

That's it! You don't even have to stitch them!! 

You can stitch the sides, if you'd like, but its not necessary.  Also, if you are better at hem/sewing, you can cut them shorter and leave them not rolled up.  I would suggest at least making a slight hem so they don't unravel though.  This also would work better with tight fitting jeans, because when you roll the tight fitting jeans they are even snugger as shorts.  

I hope this helps you make your wardrobe go farther. The nice thing about this, is if they don't work they were jeans you were already going to get rid of anyways. 

Save on Shampoo

    

     This post includes affiliate links, which means if you click on the link I get a portion of any sales at NO COST to you.  See my disclosure page for more details. 

    Have you made your own homemade shampoo before? I've switched to making my own for a few of us in our household.  My favorite is one I found from the book "Just the Essentials" it's a great book on ways to use essential oils around your house and to be more chemically free in the process. I'd say it's a must read if you are looking for a way to start swapping out your household cleaners/hair care and more for a more natural approach. 

    While there are many homemade shampoo ideas out there, one thing I feel has worked well is investing in some foaming soap pumps.  Have you seen these yet or tried them?  They save you so much on soap.  As I said we use the shampoo Adina listed in her book, we were struggling with some dandruff and her recipe worked great! But, it was hard to not get too much shampoo and then not be able to wash it out.  I found these foaming soap pumps and they made all the difference.  In order for the pump to work it needed a little more liquid, so I doubled the recipe + added about 1/3 cup of water.  With just 1-2 pumps that's all we need for shampoo.  Plus it makes our shampoo last longer, which saves money.  

    The nice thing about this set of foaming soap pumps is it comes in a pack of two.  I put one in our girls' bathroom for their hand soap.  I also added water to it as well.  I've made my own hand soap, but also have used Myers hand soap. I start with filling about 1/3 of the bottle with soap and then the rest with water.  I haven't replaced it in forever! 

    So whether you are making your own shampoo or looking for ways to save on shampoo or soap, I hope this post helps. 

Homemade Compost

So I've been working on composting the last few years.  When I first started composting, I used a small ceramic compost container that I got from World Market.  When it was full or about 1/week, I'd run it out to my garden and put it in the posts.  However, I wanted to have a bigger compost so that I could do throw even less away. 

A couple years ago I found this sweet galvanized trash can at Walmart on sale...only $11.00!  It was perfect, I was so excited! 

Then my husband drilled some holes all around the sides. 

It was so simple to make!  We added a couple cinder blocks for it to sit on in our backyard.  That's it! 

Now, I am able to dump my under the sink compost right out my back door into this larger compost, along with clippings from our yard and I can make my own compost! 

Last Fall was the first time I added the compost from this bin to my garden.  We recently planted some vegetables and the soil was so soft and easy to till.  I did give my larger compost in the can two years before I used it on my garden.  BUT, it is large enough that I didn't have to empty it in-between and was able to add all our food scraps throughout the year. 

So if you are looking to make your own compost, grab an old trashcan, plastic works too, and get started.  It really is easy to do!  Just make sure to layer brown items too; egg cartons, toilet paper rolls, leaves, that will help it to not be too wet.