Search Results for: frugal home see also home blog baby and child

Daddy’s Birthday Part II

I did however find the somewhat rare swiss gruyere cheese with relative ease. In addition to our weekly groceries, I also needed to find Vermouth for the French Onion Soup. We checked out and headed home to continue with our birthday preparations. Once at home (and after the groceries were put away), I started on freezing the ice cream in one of those very trendy no ice and no salt ice cream makers. With my ice cream base chilled nicely, it only took about twenty minutes for the ice cream maker to work its magic. With the help of my … Continue reading →

Raising Kids On a Budget

Money is always a concern, even more so when you are a single parent. Kids need lots of stuff. They start off so small but quickly seem to take up so much space and need so many things. Some things you should not scrimp on, car seats, cribs, things that are important for your child’s safety. There are plenty of other areas to save money. Let’s start with clothes. Babies and toddlers in particular grow so quickly, clothing is usually outgrown long before it is outworn. Take all the hand me downs that are offered. They won’t all be to … Continue reading →

Natural Gas Drilling: Safe or Not

I will be the first to admit that I don’t know a lot about how we get our energy. I don’t give much thought to what goes on behind the scenes to light my house, power my television, heat my stove, or cool my house. But, in writing this green blog, I must do a lot of eye-opening research. Today, I stumbled across an article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette about drilling for natural gas. Specifically, the article focused on a coloring book to teach children about natural gas drilling. The coloring book features a cute little dinosaur called Terry, a … Continue reading →

Getting the Room Ready

When your application is complete and you have passed your home study what do you do next? How do you get prepared for a child that you don’t know their age, how many of them will there be, boy or girl? There are so many factors that come into play when you start preparing for a child to be placed with you. When you have a child biologically you know about when the baby will be here, with adoption it could be very quick but it can also take a very long time. The time that it takes to adopt … Continue reading →

The Chocolate Adventurer

Spending time with our son at home has been a blessing. I truly cherish the times we are able to spend together. In truth, he will probably be the only child in this family to spend such a lengthy amount of the daytime hours with his Dad. The goal (and hope) is that this student-parent becomes a full-time-employee/father in the very near future. That, of course, will mean less daytime hours spent kicking a ball, changing diapers, reading stories with thick pages and few words (and lots of pictures), and gently setting a (finally) sleeping child into a crib for … Continue reading →

Macy’s Back to School Sale

It is the time of year when many stores are having Back to School sales. These sales can be extremely helpful for parents who have more than one child who needs new clothing to wear to school this year. Macy’s is having a Back To School sale on children’s clothing right now. Macy’s is a department store that sells clothing for men, women, juniors, children and infants. They have a great toy department, and also sell shoes, purses, bedding, perfume, and the kinds of items that one would need to decorate a home. You might recognize the name Macy’s from … Continue reading →

Green Parenting Tips

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Being green starts at home and if you are like many of us, you have children. But, you can adopt green parenting strategies that can help the environment. Here are a few green parenting tips: Swap Kid’s Clothes Most kids outgrow clothes before they can stain them or tear them up, so swapping your child’s clothes with family and friends is a great recycling idea. Unfortunately for me, most of my son’s friends are girls, but there are a few younger boys he knows that we give good condition hand-me-downs to. Another great recycling idea is, as your child ages … Continue reading →

Easy Ways for Single Parents to Make Extra Money

One of my biggest challenges being a single mom is dealing with finances, especially around birthdays and holidays. However, I have discovered some easy ways to make a little extra money when times are tight (well, tighter than normal, anyways). eBay and Craigslist Ebay and Craiglist are excellent places to sell your old, unwanted things online. I usually put smaller items on eBay and larger items on Craigslist. I can typically earn an extra $50-$100 selling mostly old clothes and toys on eBay. Craigslist has always been hit-or-miss for me. I once listed a treadmill for $75, and it was … Continue reading →

Babies Welcome?

My husband and I had plans with a group of friends this weekend. I automatically planned on bringing our baby along, until someone asked, “Oh, she’s coming with you guys?” After being asked that question, I wondered when the day would come that I’d feel comfortable leaving her with someone else. I go shopping quite often without her, but I leave her with my husband. I’ve left her on a couple of occasions with her grandparents, but it’s only been for less than an hour. I’ve never left her for an entire evening, and we certainly haven’t left her overnight. … Continue reading →

Homeschool Groups and Resources in Indiana N-Z

Getting involved with other homeschoolers is very important to a family’s success in homeschooling It is important to join a homeschool network or support group in your area, There are also many homeschooling groups as well as many homeschooling classes, and programs that your students can enjoy. In this series, we are covering homeschool groups and resources across the country. This installment will cover Indiana homeschool groups and resources, N-Z. Northeastern Indiana Catholic Home Educators (NICHE) Catholic Homeschool Support Group for Fort Wayne, Indiana and surrounding areas. South Central Indiana Home Educators (SCIHE) Serving the Columbus, IN area, this is … Continue reading →