How to Create a DIY Homework Station for Less

Creating a DIY homework station isn’t hard. In fact, you don’t have to spend a lot of money to do it! This post featuring a DIY homework station is brought to you by Dollar Tree.

How to Create a DIY Homework Station for Less

With my son starting kindergarten in September and the horror stories I’ve heard of the piles of homework that now get sent home with kindergartners I thought it’d be a good idea to create an easy DIY homework station for him to do his work and projects.

Since we now have an office in the new house I made sure to include a desk space in there for him to share with me and his father. Then we got to organizing and finding storage. [Read more…]

The Smart Way to Buy a House

I’m excited and nervous to say that we’re in escrow on a new home. Not only is this an exciting moment in our lives, it’s a scary moment as well. And definitely, a new eye-opening experience that we’ve learned a lot from.

My husband purchased our current home from family so we didn’t have to deal with loans, escrow, sellers, agents, etc. He secured a loan for the agreed purchase price, below market value, and took care of the process through a title company.

Purchasing a house on our own has been completely different and has really opened our eyes to the smart way to buy a house. And we cannot wait to move on to the next stage of our journey.

Selling Your Current Home

If you have to sell your current home in order to afford your next home, it’s always best to try and get the ball rolling there first if you can. When you go to purchase a new home and purchasing is contingent on selling your current home, your offer may not look as inviting as others who don’t need to sell.

Think of this as a domino effect. Some sales require more than one player and the more dominoes you have, the more difficult the sale gets. Assuring that you have a buyer lined up and are (hopefully) in escrow on the sale of your home can make the purchase of a new home a much quicker process.

Securing Financing

Head out to the bank and secure your financing. Find out what you qualify for and what you can actually afford. Consider writing out your budget if you don’t already and consider every monthly and yearly expense your family has. That way you can accurately estimate the mortgage payment you could pay.

While you can move forward with an offer on a house with a pre-approval letter, consider moving forward with your loan by locking in your interest rate and submitting your information to the underwriter at the bank. This will make things run quicker and smoother later on.

We found that by securing our financing we felt more secure in the offer we made on the home we wanted to purchase. And we knew exactly what our limits were and where we felt comfortable negotiating to. We did not want to exceed our budget.

Finding the Perfect Home

Now that you’ve gotten the ball rolling on the sale of your current home and securing financing for your new home, it’s time to start shopping! Now, this process is both fun and emotional. Make sure to find an awesome real estate agent who can help you find all of the possible options for your family.

Write out all of your wants and things that are deal breakers so that your agent can help find places that fit your requirements. I found that by making sure I was specific with requirements we were able to avoid checking out homes that we wouldn’t be interested in saving us a lot of time.

We were pretty flexible with our wants and needs. We knew we wanted 4-5 bedrooms, at least 2 baths, and a good sized yard for the kids. Everything else we kind of figured out as we went along. And in each home we visited we were vocal with our real estate agent about what we liked and didn’t like. And believe me… some of the homes we ran into we definitely couldn’t make work out.

Staying Within Your Budget

I cannot stress this enough. When going through the home buying process the one thing my husband and I never wanted to do was stretch our budget just to accommodate a new mortgage. We still want to be able to live a bit below our means so we don’t feel the stress of bills each month.

While some of the houses we saw just slightly outside of our budget were tempting, we made sure to stick to our guns and made an offer that was comfortable with our budget. Now I’m not saying it won’t be tight for a little bit as we adjust because it probably will be. And we’ll have to cut back on going out to eat as much. But we won’t be eating ramen each night… ok, maybe a few nights… but that’s just because the kids are obsessed.

Have you purchased a home? What are your smart home buying tips?

Tree Planting Tips: Planning Your Garden

Tree Planting Tips Planning Your Garden

Anyone that heads out to a nursery to shop for a tree knows that these awkward, spindly bunch of branches has the potential to grow into something great. Adding a tree to your yard is a big commitment because the tree will serve to separate, bring together and stand in place for several years to come.

Tree planting is the first and most important step to adding a tree to your garden, so it is important that it is done right and that every home gardener know about the common mistakes to avoid.

We recently started adding trees to our community garden, including a Valencia orange and Anna apple, and after much research on the types of trees we were going to plant, the next step was planting the trees right!  [Read more…]

Growing Healthy Eaters and Snap Peas from Seed

This post brought to you by Miracle-Gro. All opinions are 100% mine.

Growing Healthy Eaters and Snap Peas from Seed

My son is obsessed with the outdoors. He’s the ultimate bug catching, fossil digging, mud puddle making boy. It’s pretty hard to get him indoors so we try our best to keep him busy. Since I started up our garden beds again he’s been begging to plant his favorite snap peas in the front yard. How can a mother say no? And growing snap peas from seed is fairly easy.

I handed him a trowel, some gloves, some Miracle-Gro Organic garden soil, and some snap pea seeds. And what he did next was pretty darn awesome. Not only did he plant the seeds, but he proceeded to water them daily, check them for bugs, and give me progress reports on their growth.

This experience definitely made me one happy and proud mama. He’s learning how to grow his own food and he’s requesting more and more variety in the seeds he plants. [Read more…]

Starting a Community Compost Site Featured on Someday I’ll Learn

Starting a Community Compost

Composting is a great way to reduce the amount of garbage and waste you create, improve and add to the soil that you garden with and it benefits the environment too. Starting a community compost site is an even bigger win because when there is a public option, more folks have a way of joining in and starting to compost for themselves.

To learn more about starting your own community compost site, check out my post on Someday I’ll Learn for great ways to get going today!

Do you compost at home? Looking to expand?

Pinterest Inspiration

Shared Bedroom Ideas for Brother and Sister

Shared Bedroom Ideas for Brother and Sister

My kids have been sharing a bedroom for quite some time and we’ve tried a few different shared bedroom ideas for brother and sister in the past three years. But I think we’ve finally found the perfect arrangement to work for both kids.

After my daughter outgrew her toddler bed we got the kids a bunk bed. But the whole time we had it my son was constantly complaining about wanting his old bed back – his twin bed. So after hearing the complaints day in and day out I decided we needed some changes.

Plus it was about time we turned the kids room from a toddler room to a big kid room. And painting over the hills on the walls and removing the wall decals we had up felt like it’d help us do that. [Read more…]

10 Steps to Creating a Toxin Free Home

10 Steps to Creating a Toxin Free Home #FightToxins

When I first became a mother I started to think long and hard about the chemicals we bring into our homes. And the number surprised me. Shortly after this realization I began creating a toxin free home in the hopes that my kids wouldn’t be exposed to the majority of the 80,000 synthetic chemicals introduced into the market since the Toxic Substances Control Act was passed in 1976.

Recently I’ve teamed up with Seventh Generation to help spread awareness about the importance of chemical reform in the United States. The Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) was passed in 1976, and unlike other major environmental laws, has never been updated. As it currently stands, tens of thousands of potentially harmful chemicals continue to be used in the marketplace since the 1970’s without proper testing and without disclosure by the companies that produce them.

Scientists have linked exposure to toxic chemicals to many health risks, such as Cancer, Alzheimer’s, learning disabilities, asthma, birth defects, and various reproductive problems. And those aren’t health risks I’m willing to expose my kids to.

toxin free home with kids

10 Steps to Creating a Toxin Free Home

Are you ready to fight toxins? Lets start at home.

Here are 10 steps to creating a toxin free home:

  1. Use non-toxic cleaning and washing products when possible, like Seventh Generation products that don’t release toxic chemicals into the air. This means chlorine-free products and cleansers with natural cleaning properties.
  2. In the shower and by the sink, fragrance-free, vegetable-oil-based soaps are a healthier choice and can be found at a variety of locations.
  3. Open your windows, when possible, to circulate fresh air in your home.
  4. Use exhaust fans in the bath and kitchen and attic that ventilate outdoors to circulate any toxins in the air outdoors.
  5. When re-painting your home, consider low- and zero-VOC paints now commonly available at paint stores. Be aware that even though the chemicals in these low- and no-VOC paints don’t off-gas, they are still present so make sure to air out the spaces you are painting.
  6. Avoid new furniture coated with polyurethane. To avoid this exposure, look into purchasing furniture made of whole wood, glass, metal or chrome.
  7. Purchase clothing, sheets and mattresses made of natural materials, such as unbleached cotton, wool and hemp as opposed to synthetics which are made with chemicals.
  8. When choosing flooring, consider natural fiber carpeting such as wool, sisal, cotton or jute, laid with solvent-free adhesives. Synthetic carpeting — made from petroleum-derived plastic fibers — is usually installed with solvent-based adhesives, which emit toxic gases believed to create asthma, dizziness, headaches, and other allergic reactions.
  9. Avoid plastic food packaging. Consider swapping plastic out for stainless steel or glass. And ditch the plastic bags and purchase a good set of reusable bags (or make your own!).
  10. Purchase non-GMO and organic whenever possible. If you can’t afford purchasing all organic food, take a look at the “Dirty Dozen” list and find out what foods are recommended to be purchased organically.

How are you creating a toxin free home?

Gardening With Kids: Creating a Beautiful Butterfly Garden

Want to attract more butterflies to your yard? By creating a butterfly garden, you allow the butterflies to have a space to eat, rest, and flutter around so they feel comfortable fluttering about throughout the year! 

Gardening With Kids

Gardening with kids has come to be one of my favorite hobbies these days. Not only does it give me much needed momma time with my two little ones, it also is a great way to teach them new and wonderful things.

I’ve also found that while we spend time gardening, we’re also growing something greater. We’re growing an amazing bond and a safe place for them to come and talk to me about just about everything. 

When the family and I headed to the store last week we saw some awesome 5-gallon lavender plants among a few other plants they were selling.

As soon as I saw them I immediately when to go scout them out and found one I loved. My husband already knew I was on the hunt for a lavender plant to help entice the butterflies to come visit more often.

Gardening with Kids lavender plant

We also have some kangaroo paw and other flowering plants that do so as well. But I love the smell of lavender and had to have a place for it. There are some great plants to bring into your yard to entice the butterflies to visit. Here are a few to check out: 

Butterfly-Friendly Plants For Your Garden

Attracting Caterpillars

  • Borage
  • Cilantro*
  • Fennel*
  • Grasses
  • Hollyhocks
  • Lupine
  • Milkweed
  • Nettle
  • Thistle

Attracting Butterflies

  • Alyssum
  • Aster
  • Bee balm
  • Butterfly bush
  • Calendula
  • Cosmos
  • Daylily
  • Delphinium
  • Dianthus
  • Fennel*
  • Globe thistle
  • Goldenrod
  • Hollyhock
  • Lavender*
  • Liatris
  • Marigold
  • Musk mallow
  • Nasturtium
  • Oregano*
  • Phlox
  • Purple coneflower
  • Queen Anne’s lace
  • Sage*
  • Scabiosa
  • Shasta daisy
  • Stonecrop
  • Verbena*
  • Yarrow
  • Zinnia

*these plants are edible

Gardening with Kids pulling out the lavender plant

When we got home I asked my son if he wanted to help me plant it. He jumped at the opportunity to get dirty and quickly helped me take the lavender plant out of it’s container and plant it inside a wine barrel we had just filled with dirt.

It was the perfect task for him since it involved digging in dirt, and watering afterwards. Dirt + water = mud and mud makes my son very happy.

Once we were done we stepped back and marveled at what we had just done together. I now have a lavender plant and my son has a new place to look for beautiful butterflies.

Gardening with Kids planting lavender in a wine barrel

Being able to get my hands dirty with my son and grow these memories and experiences are something I’ll treasure forever.

It’s more than just that lavender plant. It’s the bond I’m forming with my son while tending to that lavender plant.

It’s the moments we share watching the butterflies flitter in our yard and land on one of the plants. It’s seeing a caterpillar make a cocoon and watching a butterfly emerge.

Gardening with Kids lavender butterfly garden

Our ferns, kangaroo paw, and other ornamental plants in our yard have bloomed beautifully with a little love from the kids. And I’m sure this lavender plant will as well!

How do you Grow Something Greater?

Love to garden? Read on! 

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4 Tips for a Smart Home: Creating an Energy Efficient Home

Tips for a Smart Home: Creating an Energy Efficient Home

Ever since my husband first moved into our current home – a house built in the 1960s – we’ve been in a constant battle to create a smart home that was more energy efficient. And we’ve found that creating an energy efficient home isn’t as hard as we thought. It just takes a little time… and sometimes a little money.

But the outcome of creating a smart home has actually allowed us to save money each month on our energy bill and gives us a little satisfaction knowing we aren’t wasting precious resources.

Below are a few great tips to help create an energy efficient smart home of your own. Some tips are easy, inexpensive fixes, and others take a little more time and money.
home energy efficiency tips smart strip

4 Tips for a Smart Home: Creating an Energy Efficient Home

1. Unplug –

You’d think something as little as unplugging appliances and electronics you’re using would be common knowledge but even I had devices plugged in that I hadn’t used in weeks (like the charger to the camera).

Now I’m more aware of what is plugged in and I consciously unplug devices I’m not continually using. And for the devices that I have plugged in all the time, like my computer and printer, I use a nifty smart strip to help conserve energy.

Creating an Energy Efficient Home with smart appliances

2. Buy Energy Efficient Appliances

This one was a no-brainer for our family but it took a while for us to actually switch everything over. And we still haven’t purchased an energy efficient washer and dryer. But we’ve come to find some great rebates out there for energy efficient appliances.

When our old dishwasher finally bit the dust and my husband was unable to fix it so we jumped in and purchased an energy efficient one. Luckily there was a great sale at Sears Outlet AND there was a rebate through the energy company. Win win!

Another great big purchase is energy efficient windows and insulating the house. We had old, single pane windows in our home and I could feel the hot or cold air coming in and out of our home through the windows and the walls.

home energy efficiency tips weather stripping

3. Seal the Gaps

I’ve come to find that sometimes the simplest of solutions can be the cheapest. By using weather stripping on windows and doors, switching out lights, and purchasing a programmable thermostat for the home.

By sealing the gaps, and making sure that the temperature inside the house is regulated, you can make sure that the energy you are using isn’t wasted.

solar solutions

 

4. Go Solar

A great way to become more energy efficient is to create our own energy. Since we live in Southern California we have a surplus of sunny days. And recently we had someone come out and talk about our solar options.

We realized that it isn’t as much as we thought to add solar to our home and there quite a few options available to us. Plus there are great rebates that help reduce the cost of the solar panels even more. Check with your city or county to see if they’re offering these great rebates.

How do you create an energy efficient home?

5 Easy Herbs to Grow In The Garden and Use In The Kitchen

If you’re looking for a few easy things to grow, whether in a raised bed or container garden, I highly suggest checking out these 5 easy herbs to grow in the garden. Best part? They’re perfect to use in the kitchen! 

5 Easy Herbs to Grow In The Garden

When I’m considering what to put in my raised beds and vertical gardens there’s one thing I always think about. How will I incorporate these plants into my everyday cooking? So I’ve tried to stick with easy herbs to grow in the garden.

The 5 herbs listed below are the easiest ones I’ve worked with here in San Diego and have required little more than regular watering and a little pruning every now and then (my basil). Some of these herbs even create great flowers when you let them attract bees over to help pollinate and do their thing.

If you’re looking for a few easy things to grow, whether in a raised bed or container garden, I highly suggest checking out these herbs.

[Read more…]



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