Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer, online content manager, wife and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania in the middle of the woods but close enough to Target and Home Depot.
The author of many magazine, newspaper and online articles, Mary Ann enjoys writing about almost any subject. "Writing gives me the opportunity to both learn interesting information, and to interact with wonderful people."
Mary Ann has written more than 5,000 blogs for Families.com since she started back in December 2006.
Contact her at maromans AT verizon.net or visit her personal blog http://homeinawoods.wordpress.com
Yard sales, garage sales, tag sales, whatever you call them, they are in full swing during the early summer and a lot of fun to shop. Through yard sales, you can pick up some great deals, and since you never know what you are going to find, yard sale shopping can be a real treasure hunt. You do have to be careful when shopping at yard sales. There is buyer’s remorse, of course, when you pay too much for an item or get home and realize it isn’t what you wanted. There really is no return policy. If you aren’t … Continue reading →
We are planning to have a birthday party for my youngest son at our house in less than a month. We are in the middle of some chaos at the house (nothing new), so we have our work cut out for us to get everything ready. If money was no option, we might just hire things out, but as it is, we are opting for low-cost or no-cost ways to get it all done. Here are the ideas I am batting around today, as we start to make our plans. Cleaning in Pieces In the last few weeks, we have … Continue reading →
Today is the last day of school for my two older children. I have some interesting things planned for them (insert evil cackle here). All of these things are free or inexpensive, but I hope they make a big impact in welcoming my kids home, to roughly two months of warm summer days of fun. My kindergartener just got up from bed. He has been out of school since last week and already getting quite used to sleeping in. He will be my partner in crime today, helping me to set up and execute our welcome to summer projects. First, … Continue reading →
For my family, summer is not all about cooking, unlike during the winter holidays. Instead, it is about spending time outdoors, going on summer adventures, visiting with friends and family, days at the park or pool, and nights on the grass watching a movie or music concert under the stars. It is about inviting the neighbors over for a campfire and smores, catching lighting bugs, trying to get all of the ice cream drips before they run down your arm, and re-experiencing the feel of a light breeze coming off of the ocean. Still, we all have to eat, so … Continue reading →
Last week was a rough one. From a fallen tree to the truck’s transmission going bad, it has been one challenge after another. That is why we were pretty much exhausted by the end of it and almost lost $600. My family and I ran some errands on Saturday that kept us out pretty much all afternoon. We did want to make sure that we made it back home in time for the town’s free firework show at the park. So, with just enough time, we left the kids in the car and ran in to the house to grab … Continue reading →
If it wasn’t for our sink fund, we would be in a lot of trouble this week. In fact, even with the sink fund, things are looking a little shaky. This week alone, we lost our water to our house faced with a major repair costing a few thousand dollars to a truck we just bought, after already sinking $500 into this same truck. Sigh. It has not been a good few days financially. We’ve only owned the truck for about four weeks, did all of our homework, bought it from a relative, and did everything we could have to … Continue reading →
When our store-bought fire pit became a victim of one nasty storm (a tree limb fell on it and crushed a big dent into it), we started to look around for a new one. The problem was that it was out of season, so such things weren’t easy to come by, unless we wanted to special order one in the hundreds of dollars. The one we had was a clearance item at our local grocery store and cost us less than $60. It was functional and decorative and served us well. We looked around a bit and couldn’t find anything … Continue reading →
Do you have to settle for something that you don’t really want, all because you want to save money? Of course not. There is a difference between making do and living with something you hate. I’ve always told my husband that unless something was an absolute necessity, I would often choose to do without rather than deal with something that I didn’t like. For example, I would be happy to look at a half empty living room instead of filling it with Aunt Ida’s putrid green couch. At the same time, if the washing machine broke down, I really won’t … Continue reading →
Today was my first pick up at our CSA (Community Sponsored Agriculture) farm. My friend Amy and I met there. Sharing a full membership can be a great way to save money. Often, a full membership is less than the cost of two half memberships. Plus, if one of you goes on vacation, the other can still pick up, so that week’s share isn’t lost. With Amy and I, we are going to alternate weeks. One week she will pick up the items and then drop my half off to me, the next week I will do the same for … Continue reading →
Chances are that you have a bunch of buttons laying around your home. If not, they are easy enough to find cheaply. Put them to good use with these smart reuse ideas. They help solve common problems and save money. Identify Family Towels Don’t waste money rewashing clean towels or going out and purchasing a different color for each family member. Instead identify an individual towel by sewing a button on the lower corner. Use a different color for each family member. This will also make each person responsible for his or her towel, so there should be no more … Continue reading →
