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15 Things to Buy at Dollar Tree
I have always loved going to Dollar Tree. How can you beat knowing that everything in the store is only $1. Some things they sell are not any cheaper than at other stores and sometimes the quality is not as good. But you can save money if you know what to buy. You need to know your prices at other stores to know if it is a good deal. There are a few items that we just like better than the ones at other stores. This post contains affiliate links. Please see my disclosure policy for more details. Orchard Park Hazelnut Coffee Creamer – I started buying it because it was cheap,…
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Laundry Done – My Way
Is laundry hard for you? I know getting laundry done is hard for a lot of people. I have had some trouble here and there, but I usually keep up with mine pretty well. When we were first married, we lived in a studio apartment and didn’t have a washer or dryer. We went together one night a week to do our laundry at a local laundromat. This only lasted about 8 months before we moved into a small house with a laundry room. It was a large laundry room considering the size of the house was only about 900 sq ft total. We hung up a shelf at one…
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Should Kids Do Chores?
I think that everyone in the house should do chores or help to maintain the household. We have tried all kinds of systems over the last 20+ years. Our oldest is 24 and I am not sure exactly when he started helping out around the house, but do remember that our first formal chore chart with allowance tied to completion and behavior was at 5 years old. We gave him a quarter for each activity he completed up to $5 per week ($1 per year of age), but we also withheld a quarter if he misbehaved. I made a chore chart with simple tasks such as brushing his teeth, helping…
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Little Hamburgers in Gravy
This is an easy 3 ingredient main dish. We have been making them for years. I don’t remember where we got the recipe, but it is a family favorite. We make it every month or so. I don’t know what the real name should be, but we call it little hamburgers in gravy because that is what they look like. I assume one of the kids probably gave them the name and it stuck. It can even be made ahead of time and just finished off quickly when you are ready by making the gravy and heating the little hamburgers before serving. If making ahead of time, spread the patties…
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Creative Organizing in the Kitchen
I have never been lucky enough to live in a house with a pantry. It didn’t matter much when we were first married because we didn’t have much to put in the cabinets. But as our family has grown and we acquired more possessions, this became more of a problem. I have had to be creative in organizing our stuff. The house we live in now has a very small kitchen. It was built in the 60’s and like most houses built in that era, the kitchen was not given much space or thought. I have very little counter space, even less that is usable. There are not many cabinets,…
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Organizing my Daughter’s Bedroom
My daughter has a really small bedroom (8’8″ x 10’4″) so keeping it organized has always been a problem. When she was younger, of course I did the organizing and purging when she was not at home. As she got older, I wanted her to take more of a responsibility for her room. I have tried all kinds of ways to get her to clean and organize over the years, but nothing really worked. She is very sentimental and never wants to get rid of anything. She had way too much stuff to keep organized in that small room. While I was working full-time, her room got out of control…
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Clean and Organize a Little at a Time
Since I have been home for the last month, I have spent a lot of time cleaning and organizing the kitchen. Usually it just starts with something simple like cleaning the sink which morphs into cleaning the drain rack. Then I notice the cabinet under it needs cleaning, then I moved the toaster, then the microwave, etc… I did a deep clean on that area and then rearranged the way they were on the cabinet. I love it, angling the microwave made it easier to use and it looks so much better. I never would have thought of it if I hadn’t moved everything around to clean. This post contains…
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A Better Life
I have been blessed to work at home or work part-time most of my adult life. There were times that I worked full-time but it was usually just for a short period of time or was very flexible hours. The last year and half was not like that. I worked 40 hours a week outside of my house plus up to an hour of commute time each way. I also have 2 kids at home that are very involved in school and church activities, my oldest is an adult that lives on his own. My husband has somewhat set hours but is required to work overtime sometimes. He has to…
Organizing, Crafts, Cooking, Saving Money, and Traveling
