Keep an eye out for some new developments! Soon a recipe of the week section will be added with my full review. With it? Not worth it? Best recipe ever? They’ll be coming soon!
In addition to new recipes, everyone needs a good laugh every now and then. I will be adding a section entitled “Toddler-ese”. This is my take on “Kids Say the Darndest Things”. I’ve had some doozies, so I figured why nor document them all!
Here is just a little advice I’d like to pass along to the mothers of toddlers or those of babies who will soon be toddlers. This list is a culmination of advice given to me, advice read, or advice from, well, me. Please be sure to follow every single one of my suggestions, because these suggestions are the only correct ones. No, I’m serious. If you don’t follow these guidelines you’re a horrible parent. Really.
Now that you have obtained a wealth of knowledge, go forth and potty train, parents! It will be a cinch!
This has taken some time to master (and I use the word master loosely), but I have finally been able to regularly make home cooked meals for my family, even as a working mom. Is it easy? No, but I’ve found some things that have made my life a little easier. I also keep an open mind to the possibility of my plans being completely derailed by a toddler who wants to sit and my lap and read (um, yes, please… we can order pizza in that case!) or getting home too late to even begin to cook the chicken breasts I thawed in the fridge.
All of the ideas I provide are just what works for me-find a way that works for you and makes your life easier so you can spend more time with you family!
No, really… do it. You have no idea how much decision-making time this will cut out of your life. Who has time to make food decisions? Not me… or I, or… whatever. My favorite recipe app is The Recipe Box. It allows you to import from the web or add your own. At $3.99 the price is right and I have two copies-on my iPad and iPhone and you can sync them to one another.
If you’re just not a fan of using apps and you prefer good old paper recipes, browse yours instead of an app!
Once all of your recipes are in one convenient location, it’s simpler to browse your options. Choose a few that don’t require fresh ingredients. There’s nothing worse than planning a week full of meals, then having to throw away half of the ingredients because you don’t actually get to make a few meals. If a few meals are planned that require several fresh ingredients and a few are planned that use mainly jarred or canned ingredients, then you’re more likely to succeed at wasting as few ingredients as possible. I also try to plan very few meals that require me to chop a million vegetables-ain’t nobody got time for that! Usually I select at least one or two crock pot meals. Chop the veggies or brown the meat the night before and the next morning throw it all in.
Start small-plan for 2 or 3 fully prepared meals that week, then work your way to a full week if that’s your goal!
I also keep a small chalkboard in my kitchen to remind my family (ok, ok… so I use it to remind myself) what we’ll be having every evening.
Keep a running list on your fridge. When you run low on something, add it to the list. Add all of the ingredients you don’t currently have for the meals you planned for the week as well.
Choose ONE store you will go to this week. It becomes overwhelming to try to make it to every sale. Choose one store and see what might be on sale that you would normally use or may need to stock up on. Add these to your current list.
Yep-spend the money on an order pickup. If time is a problem for you, it’s money well spent. This also allows me to see what might be on sale, but didn’t make it to the sale ad. If an item on my list isn’t on sale and I can do without it another week, I leave it on the list for the following week. If you prefer to pick up your own groceries and have the time, even better!
I. Love. Shopping. I don’t like how much time it takes now that I’m a working mom. I have become a GREAT online shopper. Great deals and even greater products in a fraction of the time.
The key to a great online experience is to find what works for you. Once you nail down what you’re really looking for don’t get distracted by a “great deal”. I’ve been there… so that funky shirt was only $5. Doesn’t really matter when you don’t wear it! $5 down the drain. Here are some tips to help you avoid the pitfalls of online shopping.
What type of clothes are your favorite? Chances are you have that go-to store that you absolutely love. You know how all of their clothes fit and can pretty much pull an item off of the rack and know immediately if it will look good on you. Well, there are online stores that have the same safe and familiar feel.Two of my favorites happen to be Gap and Old Navy. I know how their clothes fit, what cuts flatter my body type, and I know the price range I have to work with.
Once you have your go-to sites, keep your cart full at all times-you never know when there may be a pop-up sale… you’ll be ready! The clothes aren’t going anywhere, so it’s time to have a spending strategy…
I usually have an idea of how much I want to pay for certain items in my mind. I never pay much for clothes because I tend to favor trendy pieces over traditional lately because I can find great deals. When I start to feel like I’m starting to be not-so-trendy, I ditch them for some new trends at minimal cost.
Always look for promo codes. Always. There are usually great promo codes out there and I rarely settle for anything less than a 30% promo code in addition to items being on sale. This is when having your cart full comes in handy-once you see a sale and have promo codes, you can decide what items are worth purchasing and which items are still a little too pricey and you can purchase them later.
There are very few sites I will pay for shipping. Most of the time if you purchase $50 or more in merchandise or have their credit card (Gap/Old Navy, Victoria’s Secret, Target). Sometimes being able to have items shipped directly to your door outweighs the cost of taking the time to drive to the store to purchase items.
Promo codes. Promo codes. Promo codes. There are frequently promo codes or free item promotions for cosmetics from Ulta and Sephora. Target also frequently has gift card promotions for purchasing a dollar amount of beauty products. I normally don’t purchase beauty products online unless there is a large giveaway in addition to a coupon.
Although some higher priced products such as Too Faced or Benefit at Ulta are excluded in coupons, they frequently have free item promotions for those product lines.
Amazon is one of my favorite go-to online shopping options. However, I have found that sometimes deals aren’t so great for some items. Always do a quick Google search on the item you’re considering to make sure there isn’t a high markup. You never know… another site just may beat Amazon’s prices.
I’m normally not an advocate of store/company credit cards, HOWEVER, they can be extremely beneficial for online shoppers. Here are some of the perks they provide:
I never carry a balance on any of my credit cards, so these benefits really help me out when finding the best online deals. Here are some of the cards that have great benefits to online shoppers:
I know what you’re thinking… seriously? I’m not making my own cleaner. I don’t have the time and I would rather just go pick some up at the store. Normally, I would wholeheartedly agree, but this time I have found a cleaner that is mild, easy to make, and easy to use.
What You’ll Need:
Mix all of the ingredients in a large spray bottle, or if you’re like me and don’t want to take up space with an ugly, large, industrial spray bottle, mix the contents in a storage container and fill a smaller spray bottle when it runs low.
Easy peasy! Check out more detailed instructions from the Detoxinista.
Did you know that your child can receive free books in the mail every month
? By registering your child with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, your child may receive a free book every month until their fifth birthday. If your city doesn’t have an ambassador, you can become one so all children in your area may receive books.
My son loves seeing his books come in the mail addressed to him every month and we enjoy reading each one together even more. The books are very high quality hardback books. We’ve even received a few of my favorites as a child-The Little Engine That Could and Corduroy.
Happy reading!
Makeup-we have a love/hate relationship. I love makeup and I hate that I have hardly any time for it in the morning. With a few amazing products, I have refined a routine in the morning that even the busiest moms will have time for and still look put-together.
First, the basics. If you’re a new mom (you know who you are… yes, you… the one with spit-up in your hair who hasn’t showered in a week-I’ve been there), you may only have time to hit the basics. If this is the case, here are a few awesome products for you:
The Beauty Balm is a great foundation that blends well and doubles as a moisturizer. Moms get the shaft when it comes to catching Z’s-fortunately bareMinerals Stroke of Light Eye Brightener helps keep the dark under eye circles down to a minimum. Follow up with shadow insurance that is used as an eyeshadow. It’s easy to apply, very forgiving with no blending needed, and lasts all day. The Too Faced Lash Injection Mascara and Benefit Roller Lash Mascara both curl lashes-forget those eyelash curlers… these products have you covered! The Lash Injection mascara acts as a tubing mascara and extends lashes. The Roller Lash mascara has a similar concept, but doesn’t have quite the tubing effect the Too Faced mascara has. I’ll also note that sometimes the Benefit mascara leaves a black shadow below my lower lashes, where the Too Faced mascara does not. Burt’s Bees Lip Crayons add subtle color to lips to finish off the look.
Sometimes getting little sleep creates dark under eye circles and , let’s face it, sometimes you have to choose between actually washing your face or getting a little more sleep. I’m always in favor of sleep! These products have helped me save time, but still look a little more well rested by eliminating puffy eyes, dry or oily skin, and remove makeup, dirt, and oil quickly:
If you’re the mom with a little more time, there are a few other products that save time, but provide a little more coverage:
All of these products provide great coverage and enhance features. The greatest part of most of these products? Ultra frequently has free gifts with Benefit and Too Faced cosmetics. They also have gift bags frequently-the best time to purchase these items is when there is a free gift bag and free gift with Benefit or Too Faced cosmetics.
Best diaper deals? Target. Have I mentioned I love Target? Oh… I have?
Target frequently has great deals on everything baby. Here are some helpful hints on diaper buying at Target.
Ahhhh, diapers, wipes, and diaper rash creams. There are so many brands, so many fits, so many absorbancies, and sooooo much money. If you’re looking for great diaper deals, check out my Target deals in my Diaper Deal post. Here’s a little breakdown of what we’ve tried, what worked, what didn’t, and what was most cost effective:
Huggies
Huggies have by far been the best we’ve tried. We used Little Snugglers and Snug and Dry when our son was a newborn and Little Movers as he began to crawl and walk. We original had a lot of leaks from any diaper we tried. Unbeknown to me, his diapers were a little too small. They gapped in the top when he would sleep causing them to leak. No diaper stopped this from happening, but the least leaks occurred with Huggies.
Warning on the wipes: DO NOT use Huggies Natural Care wipes. They gave our son the most horrible diaper rash I have ever seen. I thought maybe we were alone on this one and it was a fluke, but our nephew had the same problem-horrible, open rash as a newborn after using only a few of the Huggies Natural Care wipes. We normally use Huggies Simply Clean and they have been our favorite so far-no rashes from these wipes and they seem to take the least amount of wipes to really get him clean.
As for cost, there are usually a lot of promotions for Huggies, so the cost can be comparable to cheaper brands.
Pampers
We have tried Swaddlers, Baby Dry, and Cruisers and all have been pretty good overall. The fit of all Pampers seem to be a little larger than Huggies, so if our son seemed to be a little too big for his Huggies sizes, we used the same size in Pampers and this seemed to solve the problem.
We’re really only used Pampers Sensitive wipes and they’ve been pretty good-I prefer Huggies Simply Clean over Huggies because they’re thicker and seem to stay moist longer, but overall Pampers passes the test.
Pampers also usually have promotions and coupons, so the price of Huggies and Pampers are usually fairly comparable.
Luvs
I DO NOT love Luvs. At all. They gave our son a horrible, horrible rash and we had to give away the rest to someone we knew who already used them.
Babies R’ Us
Same as Luvs-horrible, horrible rash and had to give them away. I wanted to like them-we received a free pack as a promotion and their prints are adorable, but no luck.
Boudreaux’s Butt Paste
Winner, winner chicken dinner-FINALLY a diaper rash cream that works. This one has it all… it prevents, it protects, and it heals diaper rash that is already under way. It healed the worst rash my son ever had-I mean broken open, painful, reoccurring rash. It healed the rash and kept it from coming back. We used the maximum strength for the horrible rash, but we’ve had great luck with the original as well. It’s well worth the price!
A+D Ointment
This ointment is also great-it also helped heal a pretty bad rash our son had. Although it didn’t heal the rash as quickly as Butt Paste, it did the job when others failed. We like the original ointment in the brown and yellow packaging. As it says, it’s an ointment rather than a cream and does a great job at healing.
Desitin
Desitin is a great everyday, affordable diaper cream option. We use it every day to prevent any rashes from creeping up on us. It doesn’t really heal the horrible rashes, but it helps ward off any future rashes.
The Engineered Mama 