Spelling Word Fun

I have a 7 year old boy who likes to move.  He is not a fan of sitting still.  Since we are doing this hybrid school at home thing I daily rack my brain for ways to get his energy out and allow him to learn something.

Enter spelling words - sitting and writing spelling words are so BORING.  Even for me.  I do have him write them though and then I have him sit for 5 minutes and say and spell each one silently then we have some fun.

Idea #1:  Spelling word hopscotch

Basically he starts at number one and for every letter he hops on a number.  He can keep going if he spells it correctly.  If he does not spell it correctly he has to get off of the mat and spell it correctly before he gets to hop on the mat again.

Idea #2:  Letter jumping (I just made that name up so if you have a better name let me know)

This one is even more fun - it requires an alphabet mat of some sort.  How we do it - I give him the spelling word.  He then jumps from letter to letter spelling the word.  If he jumps to an incorrect letter he has to get off of the mat and try again.  He LOVED this.

These are just a few ideas to keep spelling interesting.  If you have any other ideas I would love to hear about them!

Linked to Works for Me Wednesday from We are THAT Family

*If you are interested in the mat you can see the link below although I found mine on sale for around $17 at Hobby Lobby.  It is an affiliate link.

Grocery Shop in your Pajamas

Photo Credit

I had thought that most people knew about this but the more people I tell the more I find out they don't know.  You may know that I shop to stock my pantry.  I think some people call this the Pantry Principle.   I have a master grocery shopping list.  I even laminated it and use my dry erase marker on it.  I don't often shop at regular grocery stores much anymore.  I do most of my shopping at Sam's Club, Aldi or Trader Joe's.  I had to find creative ways to shop with kids.

Introducing grocery shopping in your pajamas - I found out about Sam's Club Click N Pull about two years ago.  You have to have a Sam's Club membership to use it.  Once you are a member, you just go on their website and create your account.  You can then make your own lists and save them like I made a "Master Grocery list" and saved it so I can just open that up and put it into the "cart" for next time.

There is no fee for the Click N Pull service and you don't have to pay until you pick it up and if you decide you don't need some of the items by then you can just not buy them.  Everytime I have been in there they will ask you if your produce is okay (since they pick it out) and you can tell them whether or not you prefer something else.

You just have to shop the day before and they will send you an e-mail the next morning when your order is ready and you just go to the service desk and pay for it.  It is that easy!

Now you know that I do try to buy more natural food and sometimes organic so why do I shop at Sam's?  Well, for starters we get their 1-lb. Organic Spinach for $3.98,  We use it for salads and in our smoothies too.  They have 3 lbs. of organic carrots for about the same price as the spinach.  It sounds like a lot, but carrots stay good for a while - keep a paper towel in with them to soak up the excess water.  I also freeze some to make chicken stock with or throw in soups.

I buy my staples in bulk there although they don't have whole wheat flour.  I do buy their 10 lbs. of  pinto beans and other products and I use the "dirty dozen produce list" and only buy the most clean produce there.

Although I absolutely read labels and I do not buy certain things - like some spices made in china or some yogurt made with high fructose corn syrup or most of the meat they sell.  I am pretty careful.  I do know that some things are higher at a bulk food store but I am careful to look at prices and I do pay a slightly higher price on certain things for sake of convenience and time because time is so much more precious to me:)

I hope you find this service to be useful to you.   What about you?  Do you have any good easy grocery shopping tips?

Works for Me Wednesday: Pantry lists and Homemade items

So on my last Works for Me Wednesday post, I asked for some coupon help and I got it. Thank you to all of you who have responded. One of the suggestions was to put the coupons away and take a break and so I have. I am officially on a coupon break (don't looked so shocked). During this time I am updating my pantry list and my "what is usually in my refrigerator" list. I am also trying to update my list of recipes that I can make with things that I have in my pantry and refrigerator. I am also looking at these lists and trying to figure out what I can make myself. One of these items is chocolate syrup. I have gathered a recipe and plan to make this myself very soon since we are almost out and my son loves chocolate milk.

Anyway, I don't have my lists completed so I don't want to post them yet, but I did want to list some recipes that I use and are going to use of pantry/refrigerator items that you can make yourself.

Refrigerator items:
Butter - I have done this myself and I just use regular cream
Chocolate syrup
Yogurt

Household items:
Laundry detergent - I use this and I love it. I am needing to make my second batch.

I also have a weekly post I do on different items you can make yourself. You will find them here.

This list is short for now, but I will be adding to it and I will hopefully post my lists soon. I got several ideas from this post.

For more Works for Me Wednesday, visit Rocks in My Dryer.

Works for Me Wednesday – Coupon help and Financial stuff

I am feeling more like what doesn’t work for me. I am, again, in a coupon funk. I go back and forth about every other month trying to decide if couponing really is worth it. I know I have saved a lot of money buying different things and at some times it really is fun. I now have several family members doing it a lot more than they used to. I think I just need to challenge myself more to not have to get every deal (because sometimes I feel like I have to). I really, really like homemade stuff. I love to cook and bake from scratch. I know it takes more time, but I really enjoy doing it. I like making my own laundry detergent. I feel good every time I do a load of laundry (which is often).

I really want to chuck my massively huge coupon book out of the window, but then I’m afraid I may regret it.

My dad asked me why I don’t blog about money matters on my blog. I considered myself a Dave Ramsey groupie at one point. I worked for a financial firm for 5 years and I constantly preached at people that did not have a Roth IRA (I still love Roths by the way). I explained what a mutual fund was. I helped people pick out their mutual funds for their 401K’s. I like numbers; I just don’t think I’m very good at them. I love spreadsheets. I have tons of them. I just leave the frugal/saving money website blogs to others who really enjoy it more. Besides I’m not a fan of spilling ALL my dirty laundry, especially not my financial dirty laundry.

So, I guess I’m asking What Works for you as far as saving money? If you don’t use coupons what do you do and how well does it work?

For more Works for Me Wednesdays, visit Rocks in My Dryer.

Works for Me Wednesday . . . Sam's Club Click 'n Pull

Well, I tried an experiment. I decided to finally get another Sam's club membership for the sole purpose of using their "Click 'n Pull" feature. I set up my account and put in an order on Friday night. I ordered only things that I knew we would use. I know the price I pay normally for things and I am careful to not overpay because it is a bulk item. But, the convenience is so nice. I did have a problem. When I ordered my items, I got an e-mail that said it would be ready for pick up by 9am on Saturday. I went there expecting to pick up my items and they said, "Oh, well, you are the second person to come here. Our lady that does that isn't here on Saturday's so you will have to wait until Monday." I said, but the e-mail said Saturday after 9am. They said, we know, but you can wait here for us to pull the items. Well, that is the whole purpose for me doing the program - not to wait. Well, I went back on Monday and picked up the items. I did have to wait for someone to actually go and get the items for me. They were all ready in a cart, but it took her about 10 minutes just to find someone to wheel the cart to me. Anyway, here are the pros and cons that I have experienced:

Pros: It is very convenient and I can shop at home for the things I want. I don't have to pay for the items until I pick them up. I can check out through the Customer Service desk. I get someone to bring me all of my items.

Cons: The customer service still isn't the greatest, but I knew that going into it. You can't actually see how big the items might be if you don't know this ahead of time. You may still have to wait for them to bring you the cart so don't expect to get out of there quick.

**One note, I don't love Wal-mart or Sam's for the main reason that they get so much of their stuff overseas from China. We actually got some frozen fish from Sam's and it said it was "Made in China". Seriously, that is ridiculous. I definitely won't get that again and I will always look where something is from if possible!

Overall, I think I am happy with this service, but I am going to try it a few more times to make sure. I wish there was a Costco closer to me because they have more organic stuff.

For more Works for me Wednesday's, go see Rocks in my Dryer.

Works for Me Wednesday . . . Container Gardening Update

I have learned some things since doing my container garden. One is that green peppers do better in the ground than in a container. We planted one in the ground and two in a container and the one in the ground is doing so much better.

Our cucumbers are doing better than I thought. They are growing in a bucket that my husband decided to try. He is growing them upside down. If you look closely you can see one cucumber hanging towards the bottom. I wasn't sure we would get any.

Our broccoli is coming along. Hopefully no creatures will eat it.

And our tomato plants. They are all doing pretty well. My son and husband were outside last night. My son decided that he was hungry and picked a pretty good size green tomato and took a bite of it.

And if you would like to start your own container garden, there are some things you can plant. Go here and it gives you information as to what to do month by month.

For more Works For Me Wednesday ideas, see Rocks in My Dryer.

Works for Me Wednesday . . . Recipes with 5 or less ingredients

Here are links to several recipes that I have previously posted that actually have 5 ingredients or less and they are homemade!

Alfredo Sauce
Freezer Smoothies
Honey Mustard Vinaigrette
Really Easy Breakfast Casserole
Tortillas

For more recipes go to Rocks in My Dryer.

Popcorn!

I know that I have been marketed to way too much! I just recently started making popcorn on the stove instead of in the microwave. Where have I been all of these years? I thought it would take forever or burn if I made it myself. Well, guess what - it comes out perfect every time and it literally takes about 2 minutes.

In case you don't know here is what I do (I just use the instructions on the back of the popcorn bag).

I have a pot with a lid. I heat up the pot while I prepare my 1/4 cup of oil. I pour the oil into the pot with ONE popcorn kernel. When that kernel pops I pour enough popcorn to cover the bottom of the pot (a little less if you don't want a whole pot of popcorn).

I stand there doing something in the kitchen while it pops. Usually, I am holding up my 3 year old son to show him the kernels popping. He thinks this is amazing!

I usually melt some butter while the popcorn is popping. When the popping slows, I pour the popcorn into a big bowl, pour the butter next and add a little salt - and there you go!

Just as easy as microwave popcorn, I know, except you have to dirty up a pot, but come on - it is not that bad! And you saved some money by making it yourself.

If you want to add some interest to your popcorn, head on over to Frugal Granola and check out this post!

You can see more Works For Me Wednesday ideas at Rocks in My Dryer.

Works for Me Wednesday . . . Container Gardening

I have talked about this a little bit, but this year we are doing some container gardening. I have done herbs in the past and we have done tomato plants, but this year we are doing a little more. Here are some pictures:

This is our Burpless cucumber. It's looking a little droopy but it still seems to be doing well.

Above is our "Better Boy" tomatoes.

Right here is our broccoli, the picture is sideways!This is my neighbor's cherry tree. She said I could pick off any cherries that I want so I plan to do that because my dad loves cherry cobbler.


This is my husband's idea. He wanted to try them growing upside down. And, it seems to be working as you can see from the picture below we have some small green tomatoes!




Also, I have to tell you a quick funny story about green tomatoes. My cousin planted tomatoes one year. My grandma said, "Oh good, we can have some fried green tomatoes sometime soon."
And my cousin said, "I don't think we planted any green tomatoes."

Isn't that hilarious?

Anyway, with having a small yard, so far, container gardening works for us!

To see more tips check out Rocks in my dryer.

Lunch is in the freezer

I have written about this before in different posts. But, really having things on hand that are homemade that I can throw into the oven or microwave really helps. I especially like the chicken nuggets and English muffin pizzas for lunches. I also have breakfast cookies, pumpkin pancakes and granola for breakfast. I have frozen cookie dough that I can just slice and bake a few cookies at a time. I have grilled chicken portioned for salads. Of course, I have actual meals in there too, but quick lunches are a big help! Those are just a short list of what freezer meals works for me. Even if you don’t do a lot of freezer cooking now, it might be worth it to invest about an hour or so each month to do a few lunch ideas for the kids. Start small and work your way up!

For more tips on this WFMW see Rocks in My Dryer.

Simplifying my life . . .

I really am not attached to stuff. I never have been. It works well in my marriage because my husband cannot stand too much stuff. Shortly after we got married we went through everything we had (Ha! We just got married. We barely had anything!). We made a big pile of stuff in our living room and gave it all away. So one thing we got rid of is sheet sets and towels.

Why would we do that you ask? Simplify, less laundry, less space to store those things. There were only two of us in the house. How many towels do you need? You might need two per person and then a few extra for guests. Also, how many sheet sets can you put on a bed at one time? So we went down to two sheet sets. Well, we do have a few more than that now. We have two winter sets (I love flannel sheets in the winter). I believe we have 4 regular sheet sets, two for our bed and two for our fold out couch when guests come. My stepmom regularly makes fun of me for having like one wash cloth per person (we have more than one).

But we don’t have a lot of towels. We have been hanging up our towels after we dry off with them for a while now. This is what my husband did growing up. So that means you don’t need a lot of towels, and you also do less laundry. My husband says, “Well, you were clean when you dried off with them so how dirty could they get?”

So there you go, those are a few things that work for me. I should also mention my mother here. She is the queen of organization. She made me go through my closet quarterly in high school and get rid of things. So I do come by the simplifying thing honestly.

Check out more great tips at Rocks in My Dryer!

Works for Me Wednesday

So it is a little late for the “Works for Me Wednesday” post but I will post a few things that work for me. Right now though it doesn’t feel like anything works for me!

Putting all my sheet sets into their pillowcases. I learned this trick from a book. You take a sheet set and you put the flat sheet, fitted sheet and the other pillow case into one of the pillow cases. This way your sheet sets are always together.

Doing my laundry on Monday and having a cleaning schedule. I don’t always get to everything, but at least I have a plan and I can just wake up and know what needs to be done for that day.

Freezer cooking a.k.a. Once A Month Cooking – It is so nice to be able to grab a meal from the freezer when I don’t have time to think about what to cook.

So, those are just a few things that work for me.