Living well while spending less in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area
Moms and coffee…we do love our morning brew, don’t we?
I love my coffee, made frugally at home with some almond milk and sweetener like almond syrup or stevia. Personally, I like both coffee and tea, but recently I learned that there’s coffee you can actually brew like tea! It’s called Steeped Coffee, and it started as a successful kickstarter project in 2017.
[Read more…]
“Our kids made the nice list. That must be a typo!”
Just kidding. But that’s what we said when our kids received their Package from Santa!
This week our kids received their packages from Santa from packagefromsanta.com! I was offered the opportunity to receive one in exchange for a review, but they looked so neat that I ordered a second one with the discount code of FAM2060. This way both of my kids received their own.
There are three packages – the Gold, the Silver and the Platinum.
Watch this video for info:
My kids each received the Silver Package which included: [Read more…]
Almost everyone wants whiter teeth, or at least to learn how to keep their teeth their whitest. But how do you do so without having to spend a lot of money? And what if you have sensitive teeth?
As a mom partially fueled on coffee (which you may have noticed if you’ve followed my blog for a while), I know the struggle of keeping one’s teeth white and bright! However, after some trial and error, I’ve figured out a few ways that have worked well for me (and what doesn’t). Here I round up 6 ways I keep my teeth their whitest, plus 5 myths about teeth whitening!
As a busy, frugal mom and homeowner, I know there are a lot of things to think about when it comes to your home. Not just cleaning and organizing, but maintenance of everything from your furnace (especially here in Minnesota!) to the faucets and drains around your home.
Having an active family with kids, our bathroom, kitchen and laundry room are kept busy every day of the year. We’ve been fortunate not to have many plumbing issues, but I know that’s largely due to our taking many steps to prevent them, and promptly dealing with them when we do get them!
Clogs are caused by many things, depending on the drain and what it’s used for. Here I’ll look at how to prevent drains in common drains in the home. [Read more…]
I love talking about everything that helps you be self-sufficient and save money, which is why I’m proud to announce I’m a Roto-Rooter Ambassador!
As a home owner for over a decade now, I know that home maintenance and repairs can be costly. Especially when it comes to plumbing. But our family always tries to do things ourselves to keep costs down, especially minor things like taking care of our home’s pipes and drains.
When my husband and I lived in an apartment, I was constantly calling maintenance to unclog our drains. If I had had Roto-Rooter’s clog removal products, I bet I could have easily unclogged them myself.
Why am I so sure? Of course, there are many products out there, but I like that lab tests have proven that Roto-Rooter clears tough clogs up to 50% faster than other national brands. Their gel formula is carefully balanced to penetrate the clog’s source and FAST. It literally liquifies grease and soap, weakens the hair and flushes away the debris. Just shake the bottle, pour slowly down the drain (1/4 of the bottle), let sit for 10 minutes, then flush with hot tap water. [Read more…]
This fall, my family was invited by Kamik Boots to an awesome lunch and play event for bloggers at Edinborough Park in Edina. It reminded me of how much fun Edinborough Park is – a place my kids thoroughly could enjoy for HOURS. (I had written about it a few years ago here.)
But on top of the fun that Edinborough Park offers, we were treated to an awesome lunch with hamburgers, brats, pizza, sides and desserts, along with fun crafts for kids to do at our tables. We decorated mugs and snowglobes that we were able to take home which the kids loved so much they almost forgot to eat their food!
After we ate and created cool stuff, the kids had to burn off some weekend energy in the massive climbing structure. They also have a gym area with an inflatable, wheeled ride-on toys and balls to play with. No shortage of energy-burning opportunities here.
Back in our reserved party area, we could learn about Kamik boots and get some pictures taken.
First of all, did you know Kamik has been around for 119 years? They’ve been family-owned in Canada since 1898 and employ over 400 people, so clearly they know what they’re doing when it comes to making quality footwear.
As they say on their website: “There is no such thing as bad weather. Only bad footwear.”
Available at stores like Gander Mountain, Mills Fleet Farm, R.E.I., as well as Sears and Nordstrom, I could see firsthand that these boots are of top quality. Prices range from $34.99 to $119.99 but I recommend shopping on amazon.com or searching for a sale or in-store coupon deal! Check out the variety:
As a busy family with growing kids, our lives have become more and more like many others’ – dependent on technology and devices.
I myself spend most of my working time at a computer – primarily between blogging, social media and emails. (And if I’m not working at a computer, I’m on it regularly to keep in touch with friends and family, or just shop for awesome deals…)
As a student, my husband has his classwork. And the kids – well, they’re at that age when they can use a computer to find things, play games, and watch YouTube videos about ridiculous stuff (you know what I mean).
All of this means either fighting for time at the computer (“Kids, you’ve spent enough time watching videos about kids playing with toys – play with your own!”), or each of us just getting our own.
My 6-year-old son is too young to have his own device, but my 9-year-old daughter is getting to that age when she’s starting to ask for her own phone. We’re not getting her one yet, but I do occasionally let her use my old phone, which still works for online surfing on our wi-fi network.
But between our kids using our computer and old phone, we’re always concerned about what they might be exposed to, and how long they’re spending on a computer or phone.
We’ve had Comcast’s Xfinity Cable and Internet service for years. I’ve always been happy with them, but now they have a new feature that makes me an even more satisfied customer. They’ve offered parental controls as long as I’ve been a customer, and now they’ve brought these features – and more – to a new web portal that’s super easy and convenient to use.
This new web portal is called Xfinity xFi. Basically, you use it to control any device on your WiFi network with just the click of a button. You can set parental controls to keep your kids off of inappropriate sites, and you even can control their WiFi access, turning it on and off whenever you want.
If you have Xfinity WiFi, it’s automatically included at no additional cost. Xfinity xFi is available for both desktop and mobile devices. You can access it via your account and via the free xFi app on your phone or other mobile device.
I access it from both a regular desktop or from my phone. [Read more…]
I think I’ve found my new favorite chocolate, and it’s from right here in the Twin Cities!
7th Street Confections is a new brand from Pearson Candy Company, which you may recognize as it’s based here in St. Paul. Pearson’s Salted Nut Roll and Nut Goodie are some of their popular candies.
Pearson’s launched their new 7th Street Confections brand in 2016 to align with the current trend of “better for you” snacks that use more healthful ingredients.
Who doesn’t love something sweet that’s a little bit good for you? [Read more…]
*Update: EatPakd is no longer available.*
Recently I attended a Twin Cities Moms Blog event for social influencers/bloggers to introduce us and our kids to EatPakd, kid-approved, ready-to-eat meals that are delivered to your door. It was an awesome event with yummy samples (like these turkey wraps!) and fun at InnerActive Playground in Minnetonka. Lots of healthy fun for everybody!
EatPakd is a new kids’ meal subscription service based in Chicago that has now expanded its delivery coverage to areas like the Twin Cities (yay!). It was co-founded by Kara O’Dempsey, Rebecca Sholiton and Nate Cooper who wanted to help busy families feed their families wholesome, healthful food.
Designed to be a healthier, fresher alternative to convenient but not-so-healthy pre-packaged foods for kids, EatPakd saves families a lot of time, hassle and worry.
EatPakd also sent my family some meals in the mail to try at home. [Read more…]
Recently I was invited to sample Try the World, a newer subscription box that gives you the experience of exploring the world through food. Because I LOVE getting boxes of goodies in the mail, I jumped on it, plus this one looked particularly appealing. For me, one of the best things about traveling is learning about and trying different foods. And since I don’t expect to be traveling around the whole world with my kiddos anytime soon (as cool as that would be), this sounded like the next best thing, and educational for all of us.
Here’s what I thought – and some deals for getting a box cheap or even free!
About Try the World
Try the World is a growing food-startup that sources undiscovered artisan foods from countries around the world. They even work with Michelin-star chefs like Alex Atala and George Mendez to curate selections from each country to include in their monthly subscription boxes. They’ve grown quite a bit – they started two years ago with 500 members, and now have 50,000 subscribers! [Read more…]
