Now is a time to give thanks!  I’m thankful for so many things:

1. Little things like my warm cup of tea, sugar cookies candles, and my cat purring next to me.
2. Big things like my family, my love being home for the holiday, and my little girl and all she has taught me.
3. Things in each moment like my chance to choose, to smile, to share.
4. My blog and the real connections I have made online.
5. My health.

I am also sending many thanks to my fellow blogger and mama friend, Michele at Frugal Granola because she is sharing a discount to her e-book.  It’s called “Herbal Nurturing: A Family Healing & Learning Guide.”  It’s packed full of homeopathic and natural ways to cure the common cold, flu, and bumps children get (among so many other things).  I am thankful for my health, but sometimes we end up fighting colds around the holidays.  Make sure you get this e-book for 50% off to help you stay ahead of the game!

Use the code THANKS50!  Get “Herbal Nurturing” for less than $4.50!

It’s only good until November 26 – so hurry before it’s too late!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Val was raised on raw food first the first year of her life, and we still try to get her to eat a lot of raw and unprocessed foods.  We do enjoy sweets here, but the amount of flour and sugars in regular cookies is just not needed for a toddler’s growing body (or any body really).

I used to buy her packaged, raw macaroon cookies from Whole Foods, but then we moved back to MI and I didn’t have a Whole Foods close anymore.  I started to order them online, and now I must buy them in bulk if I’m going to order them.  And they are expensive!

So, if I make my own cookies to save money why wouldn’t I also make hers?

These are much cheaper to make at home – the only thing I had to buy extra was coconut and they are super easy!  No baking required!

Raw Macaroon Recipe

• Ingredients:

1. 2 cups shredded coconut
2. 1/4 cup coconut butter
3. 1/2 cup almond or coconut flour (I used coconut)
4. 1/2 cup agave nectar
5. Pinch of salt
6. Drizzle of maple syrup (I added this for some *glue* to make it stick together better)

Mix all together, mold into balls with hands, and eat them up!

For other Frugal Friday, ideas visit Life As Mom for others who are sharing how they save money in their homes.

This may seem like an obvious Frugal Friday hint, but take full advantage of your library and all it has to offer.  With my daughter, I have learned the potential of a library.  It’s not just books, folks!

We have been visiting the library about once a week lately, and we are both loving it.  She plays with blocks and puppets and theme boxes like the nutritional food one in the picture above.  She uses musical instruments and puzzles.  We read books and watch movies like Elmo’s Potty time.  We play with a felt board and stringing games.  We sing songs from CDs.

AND WE CAN CHECK THEM ALL OUT!  :)

Our library recently got an early childhood education grant, which expanded the children’s area to include manipulatives, more puppets, and learning activities for check out.  It is such a great, well-rounded learning experience at the library now (and at home since I don’t have to purchase all of these things).   There are teaching books there too, and informational books for parents included in this grant.  It’s good stuff!

The beginning of next month, we will also be attending a story time too!  Since we have been busy visiting (and attempted an older kids’ reading time), the child librarian offered the little one’s reading time again.  Yay!

For other Frugal Friday blog posts, visit Life as Mom.  Happy Friday!

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I have just started using Soap.com and Diapers.com to stock up on my monthly health and beauty supplies, paper products, garbage bags, cleaning supplies, and baby goodies at these sites. I saved time and money by ordering this way – my shipping was free over $25 and I saved 15% on my first order.

By clicking the pictures above, you can save 15% on your first order too! AND if you do make an order, you can refer others and get more savings!

You can also save money by being on their mailing list – they send deal codes right to your inbox, the more you buy in bulk – the more you save, you can use e-coupons on their site, and you can use manufacturer coupons too.

My experience was excellent with them! The site was easy to navigate and everything I ordered shipped on time. Shipping was quick and my package seemed to be here in no time. You can’t pass up shopping in your pjs.

For other frugal ideas, visit Life as Mom.

It’s that time of year when gardeners start preserving food by freezing and canning food.  Since I am an amateur gardener now, I am also an amateur preserver too!

Lucky for me, my mom is a little more knowledgeable about the subject than I am.  She has talked me through tips for freezing zucchini, making my own spaghetti sauce to freeze (even when it has been 85* and I don’t have A/C), and trying something new with me – making ketchup!

We used this ketchup recipe, which is actually really simple if you read the instructions carefully before starting.  We did everything the LONG way, but next time we’ll know better.

{Our finished product}

How are you preparing for winter?

{Photo Credit}

I have been making my own, raw almond milk because I don’t like that there are sweeteners in the store bought kind.  The only thing I had to buy for extra “equipment” was a milk bag (mine is actually a produce bag that has fine enough holes to use as a milk bag).  You could also just use a cheesecloth, I bet.

I soak 1 cup of almonds in water for 12-24 hours.  When I want to make the milk, I rinse the almonds and put half in the blender with 3 cups of water.  Blend.  Place the milk bag into a pitcher and pour the blended almonds and milk through the bag.  Then you can strain it into the pitcher just like you are “milking” the bag.  I repeat the process once more and I have homemade, and raw almond milk for drinking, using in lattes, or pouring over my cereal.

Enjoy!

I have written a lot about cloth diapers – where to start, how to wash and strip the diapers, how to store them, and how much you can save by using them.

But, I have heard “They are expensive to buy!”  It’s true, they are on the expensive side but imagine how many times you will use them.  With one child, you use and reuse HUNDREDS maybe THOUSANDS of times.  The start up cost is more pricey with cloth, but you save so much more in the end.

If you save them for more children, you double the life of that diaper (and they are so well made that yes they do last that long).  I recently passed my prefolds onto my sister, who will use them on her new baby and give them back to me when child #2 comes along (don’t get any ideas).

To save money on cloth diapers, you should try buying used!  Diaper swappers is a great place to start.  You can trade, buy, and talk to other parents out there using cloth or living the Attachment Parenting lifestyle.  Just think, when you are done with the diapers then you can resell them on that site too!

For more ways to spend money and celebrate Frugal Friday, visit Life as Mom.

I have done a cloth diapering series with posts that cover  what kinds of cloth to use, how to wash and strip the diapers, and how to keep them organized when storing them.  Now it’s onto a big reason to use them – to save money and save the landfill from TONS and TONS of diapers.

How much will I save using cloth diapers?

It really depends on what kind you use, if you supplement with disposables, if you have an HE washer,  and if you line dry or not.  But, for comparisons sake let’s just say we compare the cost of using prefolds and covers from newborn to 2 1/2 years of age to the cost of using disposables…….

You will save…..

Approximately….

$2200! Yes, you read that right.  TWO THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS!

Statistics and many more were found here.

Will it save the Earth if I use cloth diapers?

This is a heated debate, but according to this site in 1988 (that’s quite awhile ago) over 18 billion disposable diapers were sold and essentially thrown into the Earth.  In a household with a diapered infant who uses disposables, over 50% of their trash is just diapers!  Disposable diapers are the third largest consumer item in landfills – now that’s a lot of poo!

But, when we use cloth we use water to wash them… disposables don’t use water, do they?  According to the same site, the “manufacture and use of disposable diapers amounts to 2.3 times more water wasted than cloth.”  Wow!

This series is not over yet, be sure to check back for another post or two about why I love cloth and how I can help you love the fluff too!

If I haven’t convinced you to use cloth yet, what questions do you still have?

And for more Frugal Friday ideas, please visit Life as Mom.

Photo Credit

Happy Frugal Friday!!!

I just recently got an espresso machine and these hot summer days have been great for making cold coffees.  I am loving my new Caramel Frappe Recipe (and saving money by making it at home).

Caramel Frappe Recipe

• 2 cups ice
• 1 cup espresso (or strong brewed coffee), chilled
• 2/3 cup milk of choice
• 1/4 cup caramel syrup
• 2 T. sugar

Blend in the blender.  Top with whipping.  Serve and sip.

For other Frugal Friday ideas, visit Life as Mom.

Cloth diapering is something that I love to do, and it is easy to me now.  However, when I first started researching it was SO overwhelming to me.  I have been asked quite a few times to share about how I cloth diaper, what to buy, how to wash them so I thought I would share that information here.

First, we’ll start with what cloth diapers to buy.  (This is what I have used and liked.  I make no money from these referrals.)

When Val was a newborn, we used prefolds like these.  They are flat pieces of cloth that you fold by yourself.  I talked a little about how to fold them here.  Once they are folded, they need to be secured.  Luckily, there is a new invention called the snappi so you no longer need to use pins on your little one.

Now you need to put something over the cloth so that it doesn’t leak onto their clothes.  There are covers for that (and they are so much better than the old school rubber pants).  The covers can be used through a few diaper changes, so you don’t need a new one each time you have to change the cloth.

For a newborn, I had 30+ prefolds and 6 small covers and that would get me through 2 days.  Washing on the third morning.  We will cover how to wash in another post.

As Val got older and could roll over to making diapering a little more challenging, we started using the BG 3.0′s.  I love these diapers.  We still use them without any problems.  Now there is a BG 4.0 which I haven’t tried yet, but I am in love with the Flips.

Now, I have 12 BG 3.0′s and 2 Flips to get me through 2 days with washing on the third morning.  I have a few other random diapers and covers that I have as backups in case laundry takes me a little longer.  Who can pass up cute diapers once in awhile?

I hope that is a good starting place for you.  Remember, this is just what as worked for us.  Experiment and find what works for you and please share below.

Be sure to check back to see how to store them when clean/dirty, how to wash, and how to strip them if they get icky.