I know that this is all over the blogosphere already, but if you haven’t tried Swagbucks yet, I highly suggest giving it a try.  You can win points for whatever searches you’re already doing – whether for copycat recipes or RV finance or car parts, or whatever.  The toolbar (or Swagbucks search in the Firefox search bar) does not louse up my computer like other “paid-to-search” sites have done.  And the search results are pretty decent.  Occasionally I have a more advanced search to run and find I need to switch over to Google, but in Firefox, that’s pretty easy – just pick a different engine from the drop-down list.  I usually earn the equivalent of a $5 Amazon card about every month – and I’m not doing anything I wouldn’t already be doing.  That’s free books, people! 

Filed under: Frugality & Economics by Rachel
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Even if you don’t have children in school, or you don’t need much by way of school supplies, consider shopping these back-to-school sales.  The drugstores and office supply stores run some really great deals.  Mass merchandisers have pretty good deals, as well (‘though usually not quite as good as what you can find at the other stores).  It’s quite possible to pick up lots of supplies for pennies, and these are great for donating to abused women’s shelters (many of the women have their children with them), homeless shelters, etc.  (Many  items make good gift components, too, for the holidays.)  If you want to donate the easy way, I found that, in our area, both Staples and Dollar Tree had donation boxes available.

For those of us on tight budgets, this is one way we can bless those around us, even with our limited resources.  This works for me.

Filed under: Frugality & Economics, The Church by Rachel
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One of the trickiest things for me is managing to stay on top of things – or to get back on top of things – once something has happened to throw my routine off-kilter.  I’m not talking about minor glitches in the plan.  I’m talking about when either something big happens, or when lots of little things happen all at once, so that the entire daily/weekly routine is derailed.  This usually results in a big enough backlog that I don’t know where to start.

For instance, our kitchen was in disarray because we’re halfway done remodeling.  The counters were coming in on Monday and would have to be in that evening for the plumber’s arrival on Tuesday to install the sink.  Meanwhile, our van was missing certain key “car accessories” – like, oh, say windshield wipers and brakes (!) – we were still recovering from having been out of town and needing to get set up for starting back to school, and Michael sprained his ankle pretty badly on Saturday, so much of what he intended to do he hasn’t been able to get done.  All of that, taken together, really throws a wrench in the works.

A couple of things I have learned about these times:

1. Don’t be too hard on yourself.  If you expect too much, you will just be frustrated and discouraged.  Recognize that you have experienced some setbacks, and give yourself grace as you catch up.  If you’re making progress at all – well, that’s progress!

2. Don’t try to do everything at once.  Especially if it has been a fairly long-term thing, or a big life change (a move, new baby, etc.) that has upset your routine, and you are starting over entirely, do not try to jump in with a whole new all-day routine all at once.  Inevitably, you will “fall off the wagon,” because that’s just too much new information for your brain to process at one time.  Instead, plan the whole schedule (so you’ll know you aren’t omitting anything major), but then work on one section of it at a time.  I usually like to focus on my morning routine until it’s, well, routine.  Then I can add on the next piece, then the next, and so on.  I am not perfect, by any means, but this has been far more effective for me than trying to jump in with both feet!

Do you have any great tips for those times when life derails your routine?

Filed under: Organization & Time Management by Rachel
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One major timesaving tool for me has been my master grocery list.  It is slightly less helpful now that I am couponing regularly and, thus, not doing all of my shopping at one store (I guess I need to find a different way of structuring it), but it is still useful.  Because I put it in aisle order, it saves me time when I get to my “fill-in-all-the-stuff-I-haven’t-stockpiled-on-sale” store.  But more importantly, it keeps from forgetting anything, like cat supplies (I am terrible about remembering we need cat food) or aftershave (as rarely as we have to replace that, it doesn’t make the list if it isn’t already there).  As these sorts of items are already on my list, all I have to do is highlight or check them off – the list itself is my reminder to add them.

Now if I could just figure out how to organize my couponing routine…

Filed under: Frugality & Economics, Kitchen, Cooking, & Recipes by Rachel
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Some of you will have already read this; sorry.  I wrote it last Tuesday night for Works for Me Wednesday, set it to post in the morning – and then completely forgot that I needed to go over and add the link to the Mr. Linky.  Oops.  So none of the WFMW readers got to see it.  Let’s see if I can get it right this time.

This week’s Works for Me Wednesday tip is one that I learned from my mom: the beauty of a red washcloth.

When a child falls down and scrapes a knee, or gets some other variety of bleeding wound, when does he generally freak out?  Typically, it isn’t when he first gets hurt.  It’s when he first sees blood.  At that point, oh me, oh my, there is no calming him.  So my mom always kept a red washcloth in the first aid basket – and now I do, too – to be used for cleaning up these injuries.  If they can’t see the blood, the children are often much calmer, and it’s far easier to get the wound cleaned up and bandaged and the child back outside playing happily.

The most recent beneficiary of the red washcloth in our house was actually my husband.  He and my dad were installing the counters that arrived on Monday, and cutting out the openings for the cooktop and sink.  As he pressed on the edge of the stainless steel sink to pop it into place (and test the size of the hole), it dropped in suddenly, pinching his hand quite firmly and cutting a nice gash across his palm.  (This is how I know my hubby loves me.  He has been very long-suffering through this kitchen project for me!)  While big, strong daddies may not panic at the sight of blood, it is still nice to have the washcloth available (and clean), and to know we don’t need to worry about blood stains on our regular kitchen or bath linens.

Filed under: Babies & Parenting, Health & Safety by Rachel
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