Dave and I are half-way into our month-long no-spending challenge, and honestly, it’s harder than I expected it to be! Even though I rarely step foot in a shopping mall, it’s amazing how many opportunities there are to spend money each day.

I’ve noticed that we have been relying on fast food a bit more often than in prior years. I’ve noticed that it’s really convenient for me to quickly place an order on Amazon.com any time we “need” something… especially since I always have Amazon credit built up from Swagbucks. And I’ve noticed that I’ve gotten lazy about “shopping around” ever since Nora came along. Maybe lazy isn’t the right word… probably just too tired and busy to care if I can save $2 by shopping a different store.

I think the hardest part for me so far is the fact that May is PRIME garage sale season in West Michigan… and I’m totally missing out! There are brightly colored SALE signs everywhere (many in walking distance from our house), but I’ve been a good girl and I haven’t purchased a thing. In fact, I’ve decided that it’s probably best if I don’t even go to the sales.

I also haven’t even been looking for anything on Craigslist — well, except items for a humorous post I wrote last week!

So far, we haven’t broken any of our rules.

• We went out to eat once (Culver’s with gift cards and a BOGO coupon)

• I used $20 of Kohl’s cash (which was going to expire) to purchase a $19.99 item for Dave (Kohl’s cash is taken pre-tax so I actually got $0.01 back!)

• Dave purchased 2 quarts of oil for our lawn tractor (about $5) but we deemed that a necessity since our city ordinances don’t allow lawns to exceed a certain length and we didn’t want to start a hayfield.

• We spent some money on fencing supplies for our yard — but one of our rules is that yard projects don’t count.

• We didn’t do Mother’s Day gifts — and I’m 100% fine with that. Nora is too young to understand Mother’s Day and Dave doesn’t need to get me a tangible gift to prove his love.

• I made baked goods for each of our moms and picked up cards for them before the month started. I let Nora “color” inside the cards and we traced her hand print

• I haven’t purchased anything online (even with a gift card or credit) except one item we needed for our fencing — but again, that falls under the yard work exception.

I think that’s about it so far.

I’m not exactly sure how to calculate any savings we’ve incurred at this point — but if nothing else, this simple challenge has made me more aware of how easy (almost too easy) it can be to spend our money without giving it a second thought.

That’s definitely worth it right there!

Are you participating in our no-spending challenge? Or have you ever done something similar? 

What have been the main take-away lessons for you?

Fun Fact: There are 85 different shades of white in the line of Behr paint at Home Depot! I’m sure I would love them all; however, I hope I never do that much painting — ever.

Dave and I closed on our first house 7 years ago this month — and we’ve been painting like crazy ever since. Well, I’m usually the one who paints, but Dave does the taping (and agrees to live in the mess of all my painting projects) so I still consider it a team effort!

I had never painted anything before we bought our first house, and I was sure I would mess something up. However, after a few long afternoons of painting, I started to get the hang of it and quickly realized just how easy (and inexpensive) it was to completely transform a piece of furniture or an entire room with just a little paint.

Painting isn’t necessarily my most favorite activity in the whole world, but I do enjoy it for the most part — and that’s good because we’ve gone through over 40 GALLONS of paint since we’ve moved into our farmhouse…

YIKES! 

Anyway, as I share more and more picture of the interior of our home, I continue to receive more and more emails asking about the different paint colors we use. And since I have a select few favorite colors I use over and over again, I thought it would be a good post topic.

Keep in mind, that I know absolutely NOTHING about interior design, I have no training, and I have never sought a professional opinion — these are simply the colors I like best (all of these colors are Behr colors – and no this is not a sponsored post.)

Ultra Pure White:

I use this color for all the trim — doors, windows, baseboard, crown molding, beadboard, etc.

Cottage White:

This color has a bit of a yellow undertone and it’s super cheery. It’s the color of our kitchen, Nora’s nursery, our hallway, and our office.

Antique White:

This color is more “tan” than “yellow”. I used this color in our living room, our master bedroom, and our master bathroom.

Gray Pearl:

I used this color in the bedrooms and bathroom upstairs. I really like it but I’m sure that whenever we renovate the upstairs, I’ll choose something a little more neutral :)

Bleached Denim:

We used this color for the upstairs landing area — and I really love it. The color looks quite purple in the picture below, but it really is more of a denim blue.

Black Smoke:

This color is only used for furniture - no black rooms in our house! We have lots and lots of black furniture and it all gets painted with Black Smoke.

Jungle Trail:

I use Jungle Trail a lot — on Dave’s dresser, the armoire in our living room, and our kitchen chairs to name a few. I usually go over it with a brown glaze to “dirty it up” a bit… but it’s definitely my favorite green color!

Awning Red:

If I had to pick a favorite accent color, Awning Red would be it. Red is my all-time favorite color for decorating (along with white of course) and this red is perfect for our farmhouse. My most favorite red piece is the hutch in our dining room.

Wooden Cabin:

This is another color I use for painting furniture — and it’s such a lovely deep brown color. Very rich, warm, and rustic.

So like I said before, I honestly know nothing about proper use of color or have any skill with interior design — these are just my favorite go-to colors after 7 years of painting (and way too many gallons of paint)!

Oh, and if you’re wondering why I always use Behr paint from the Home Depot — it’s simply because they almost always have a $5 rebate per gallon over Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends. I usually buy 3-5 gallons of untinted paint to get the rebates, and then I bring the paint back in to be colored whenever I have a new project.

My next painting project…

Painting ALL the white railings around our front porch, back porch, and back entryway — which means I’ll be buying lots more white paint this Memorial Day

What are your favorite paint colors?

top image source

True story: Over the past 2 years, we have owned TEN different strollers! 

Yes, you read that correctly.

10.

One umbrella stroller was a gift, but the other 9 were purchased by me from Craigslist.

Single strollers, double strollers, jogging strollers, umbrella strollers, travels systems, etc. etc. etc. There were (and still are) so many different strollers to choose from, it was nearly impossible to know which ones would fit our needs the best — so I just kept buying strollers until I found ones we liked.

I should mention that I always sold the strollers we didn’t want, use, or like as well — so we never had more than a couple strollers at one time.

I should also mention that because of my mad deal-finding skills, when all the buying and selling was over, we ended up with 3 strollers we absolutely love and we MADE over $250!!!

Yes, you read that correctly too.

All my stroller indecision generated an income of over $250, and we still ended up with $500 worth of strollers for free. So essentially, we came out about $750 ahead!

Not too shabby

Now, let me assure you, I’m not an overly-picky person; however, since Nora and I go for a long walk almost every day (sometimes multiple times per day), I was willing to keep looking until I found the stroller that was just right for us. One that I liked, one that Nora liked, one that was reasonably price, and one that was still in good condition.

I received countless recommendations from friends, family, and facebook — but after testing out 10 different strollers in our own everyday life, these are our 3 favorites.

I’ve listed many of the different stroller features below; however, I want to point out that the MAIN reason we really love each of these 3 strollers is because the canopies are completely adjustable to block out the sun at any angle.

1. Peg Perego Una Stroller

This is hands-down our most favorite “every-day” stroller for countless reasons — one of which is how adjustable it is. There are so many different recline angles for the back of the seat, and at least 3 or 4 different angles for the foot rest. Plus, as I shared above, the canopy completely covers the entire stroller seat to block out the sun, wind, and rain.

As you can see, Nora loves her stroller — and she also loves playing peek-a-boo with the large canopy

I’d say that the only negative thing about this stroller is the price. It retails anywhere from $300-$400 but I found ours for $40!

2. Baby Trend Expedition Jogging Stroller:

I’m honestly not a huge fan of jogging strollers in general, but Dave really wanted one — so when we found this one for sale just down the road, we snatched it up at $25 (retail = about $150).

The front wheel was out of alignment but I brought it to a bike shop and they fixed it while I waited for free — good as new!

This stroller is a fixed-wheel jogging stroller and while I personally think that makes it more difficult to turn, Dave insists that the fixed-wheel makes it easier to run with (I wouldn’t know).

It has many adjustable features, a large basket underneath, and it has the capability to hold an infant carseat carrier, which most of the fixed-wheel jogging strollers I saw didn’t have.

3. Chicco Capri Lightweight

This was our favorite umbrella stroller — mainly because it was way more “sturdy” and had many more features than some of the other umbrella strollers we tried. It retails for about $80 but I found ours for $20, which included the carrying case (SO handy).

Not only does this stroller have a 5-point harness system, it also has a great recline feature, a small storage basket underneath, and a large canopy — all while still folding up super small like all other umbrella strollers. We keep this stroller in the back of my car all the time so we always have a stroller with us “just in case”.

Also, as I mentioned in My Favorite Things post from March, I use this Infantino Umbrella Stroller Organizer to add a little extra storage.

So do you think I’m crazy yet? 

I realize that buying and selling 10 different strollers over the course of two years is somewhat excessive – however, it honestly wasn’t very much work for me at all. I used one stroller for a while, and if I didn’t like it, I sold it. Then I looked for a new one.

I’m always buying and selling on Craigslist so it really wasn’t a big deal for me — especially since I was making a nice profit and getting free strollers out of the deal!

Also, I’m completely aware that many of you may have tried these exact same strollers and hated them. That’s why there are so many choices I suppose — everyone is looking for different features.

However, if you ask me for my favorite stroller recommendations (and many of you have) these are the ones I would suggest!

What are your favorite strollers and why?

This time of year, I’m always looking for ways to use our grill — it’s just so nice outside and it means Dave can help with the cooking

I love marinating meat for the grill but I hate that it often requires a full 24 hours of advance preparation. So about a month ago, I found this recipe for a 2-hour marinade. Dave and I were so impressed the first time I made it that we thought we better test it again the next week (with a few of my personal adjustments).

I’ve used this marinade a handful of times already (both for pork and chicken) with fabulous results each time. And I just LOVE that you can whip it up later in the day and still have great-tasting, juicy meat in time for dinner.

So for those of you who don’t think about marinating your meat the night before (ahem… guilty!) this recipe is for you!

Recipe for 2-Hour Meat Marinade

This makes about 1 cup of marinade — or enough for 4-6 cuts of meat

{Print Recipe}

INGREDIENTS:

• 4-6 pork chops or chicken pieces (with or without bone)
• 1/2 c. water
• 1/4 c. soy sauce
• 1/4 c. vegetable oil
• 2 T. lemon pepper
• 2 t. minced garlic (or 1 t. garlic powder)
• salt and pepper to taste (I don’t use much)

DIRECTIONS:

In a shallow bowl or pan, mix all ingredients.

Add meat and marinate in refrigerator for about 2 hours (I’ve had good results with as little as 30 minutes)

Cook meat on a preheated grill for around 5 minutes per side (based on boneless 1″ thick cuts of meat).

We usually grill on our outside gas grill, but you could also cook the meat on a George Foreman grill, in a frying pan, or even in the oven.

The last time I made this marinade, I served the pork chops with mashed potatoes, green beans, and grilled corn on the cob — so good!

What are your favorite grilled foods?  

Oh, and if you’re looking for more BBQ favorites, check out these 30 delicious BBQ side dishes.

Visit my virtual recipe box for more simple, delicious, family friendly recipes!

Last week, I shared some sweet pictures of Nora playing with bubbles — one of her favorite warm-weather activities so far.

She loves, loves, LOVES bubbles.

Sometimes she wakes up in the morning and (before she even gives me a hug or lets her eyes adjust to the sunlight) runs to the back door shouting “BUBAS! BUBAS! Peeze bubas mama!” And any time we step foot outside, she starts pleading for her “bubas”.

Nora is on a mission and her #1 priority is bubbles.

However, I find it interesting that when I blow bubbles for her, she almost always fixates on one specific bubble and chases it until it pops or until it’s completely out of her reach — then she points up shouting “buba… uh-oh!

Meanwhile, she lets 30 or 40 other bubbles pass her by.

I suppose this is normal for small children, and I’m thrilled to see her focus and determination at such a young age. But sometimes I find myself getting slightly frustrated with how many bubble-popping opportunities are being “wasted”. I should save my breath (and our bubbles) and invest in a bubble wand that only blows one bubble at a time

I try to get her to notice some of the big bubbles coming her way, but she’s often too busy following one bubble — THE bubble — whether she can catch it or not.

This got me thinking about life… and goals.

I’m a big fan of setting goals and then working really hard to achieve those goals. However, I’ve also learned the hard way that sometimes, when you’re SO focused on one specific goal, you can miss out on lots of other really great opportunities (maybe even better opportunity) passing you by.

Striving to achieve a goal, grow a business, meet a deadline, or finish a big project will always require focus, drive, and determination. That’s good! After all, I certainly don’t think it’s wise to constantly change directions or bounce back and forth between tasks — you’ll accomplish nothing if you do that!

I simply think it’s a good idea to keep take a step back every once in a while and look around for some of those other bubbles of opportunity you might have missed as you pushed towards your goal.

You might find that you’re still on the right track — following the best bubble for you. Or you might see a new perspective, a better idea, a different opportunity, a simpler solution, more bubbles!

But you’ll never know unless you stop and look around.

In my own life, I’ve often found that some of the best opportunity bubbles have come my way when when I was focused on something entirely different.

I would get frustrated because “my plan” wasn’t working, things weren’t moving as quickly as I wanted, or I just couldn’t quite reach my goal. It wasn’t until I took a step back that I realized I was headed down a dead-end road or pushing too hard at something that just wasn’t natural for me.

Bigger and better bubbles of opportunity were right their waiting for me. I just had to look! 

In case you’re wondering, my business, my blog, and my husband are 3 “bubbles” I would have missed if I didn’t stop and take a look around.

So as you continue to set goals and work diligently to achieve those goals, just remember to take a few moments every now and then to look around at the many other bubbles of opportunity floating by.

You might just be surprised by what you see! 

to the Mothers who are

the Mothers who were

the Mothers who will be

and the Mothers who wish they could be

Happy Mother’s Day

Thanks to the last 2 weeks of gloriously sunny skies, we’ve been spending lots and lots of time outside.

And thanks to our cute little 8th grade neighbor girl who plays with Nora, Dave and I have accomplished lots and lots of yard work!

One of the first projects on my to-do list was pruning — trees, bushes, flowers, ivy, ground cover, etc. Everything was over-grown and in need of some serious pruning.

Thankfully, I really enjoy pruning — can you see me in there, behind all those branches?

I realize pruning isn’t exactly the most glamorous job, but I think I enjoy it so much because of my organized mindset and the fact that it reminds me of purging — out with the old.

I love cutting back the old dead branches, the over-grown foliage, and all the “stuff” that doesn’t look great… and in effect, make room for new growth, new green leaves, and new brightly colored blooms.

Last week, as I was finally getting around to pruning back all the “dead wood” on my hydrangea plants, I had my usual panic attack before I made the first few cuts. I worried that I would ruin my plants by cutting them back too far or that they might not bloom again.

But I pruned anyway.

They certainly didn’t look like much after just being pruned… but new leaves and branches are already emerging. And come mid-June all the way through late-September, my hydrangeas will look like this…

Big beautiful blooms — so many, I can afford to fill vases full of freshly cut hydrangeas all Summer long.

And they’ll look almost as lovely during the Fall and Winter months.

But only because I pruned them back in the Spring.

Only because I took the time to weed out the dead branches and crunchy dried flowers.

Only because I gave the plants a little room to breathe, to grow, and to flower again.

I get a good 8-9 months of ‘beautiful’ from one afternoon of pruning. Not bad!

.

I feel like our homes, similar to our gardens, also need a good “pruning” every now and then — clearing the clutter and making a little extra breathing room.

Yes, it can be scary — and it’s so easy to make excuses. However, after even just a few minutes of “pruning” back the junk in our homes, we’ll have more room to breathe, more room for new growth, and more room for the beautiful things we actually DO use, need, and love.

Pruning (and purging) is never glamorous but it’s also not difficult — we just need to do it.

And don’t you agree it’s worth the effort?

You know how much I love Craigslist — right?

Not only did we buy and sell our house on Craigslist, we also purchased the majority of our home’s contents on Craigslist, and I even wrote a mini blog series all about buying and selling on Craigslist.

Craigslist is one of my favorite online shopping sites for a reason. However, since Dave and I are challenging ourselves not to spend any extra money in the month of May (more about that challenge here) I can’t shop my beloved online garage sale for 3 more weeks!

So instead, I thought it might be fun (and hopefully funny) to share a few of the things I most likely will never purchase on Craigslist

1. A vehicle without a picture.

Obviously, before I purchased a vehicle  I would need to go look at it in person, test drive it, etc. But seriously, why would you even waste your time trying to sell a vehicle without at least one picture?

To be perfectly honest, I usually won’t even inquire about anything if it doesn’t have a picture.

2. Extremely out-dated technology.

I realize there may be a market for some outdated technology simply for the parts, but this computer monitor for $10 is not a deal. It’s big, it’s bulky, and you can easily find an older flat-screen monitor for around the same price (at least that’s what my area’s listings show).

3. A mattress that looks like this one!

Gross! I would be pretty leery of purchasing ANY mattress on Craigslist, let alone a mattress with tons of stains. And the price you see is correct, they are asking $125 for this dirty mattress and a really junky looking headboard.

4. A wet rug.

I literally laughed out loud when I saw this listing. We’ve had TONS of rain in West MI over the past month, so flooding and water damage have been hot topics around here. No one wants a rug that has been wet — let-alone a rug that is sitting in water in a picture!

5. Expired baby formula.

Yeah, this is another super weird thing to sell — and they even admitted it was expired but figured it didn’t really matter that much. I do agree that if it’s JUST expired, it might still be OK… but not OK to sell (or trade) to strangers!

6. Dried up Play Doh.

Yup, this ad was for Play Doh and accessories — but it was noted that most of the Play Doh was dried up. Come on!

Oh, and just in case you’re interested, here’s a recipe to make your own PlayDoh

7. Adult bathing suits.

So maybe I’m weird, but the thought of wearing someone else’s used bathing suit grosses me out — even if I wash it a few times.

And in case you don’t need a top, here’s just a bottom for sale

I’m probably forgetting a whole bunch of Craigslist faux pas, but these are just a few of the listings I found as I was scrolling through Craigslist the other night, knowing that I wasn’t allowed to buy anything.

Obviously, this is supposed to be humorous — did you laugh?

I certainly hope I didn’t offend anyone… I guess it’s just amusing to me what some people try to sell!

What items would you never consider buying used?

Thanks to a recent gift from one of her aunts, Nora now LOVES bubbles.

We keep the bubbles in a “secret spot” in our kitchen but Nora knows where they are. So naturally, she stands there pointing up and pleading for her “bubus” every time we go outside to play.

It’s pretty cute!

However, after a few days of intense bubble blowing, we were running low on our supply.

I knew there were recipes for homemade bubbles, so I searched the internet and I found several. After trying a few, I decided this one was the simplest.

Recipe for Homemade Bubbles

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 c. water
• 2 T. corn syrup (I used “light” because that’s what I had)
• 4 T. liquid dish soap (I’ve successfully tried it with Dawn and Palmolive so far)

DIRECTIONS:

• In a small container, mix all ingredients together (I use old yogurt and sour cream containers)
• Pour into bubble dispenser (it’s easiest with a small funnel)
• Have hours of summer fun!

It took me all of 5 minutes to mix up the bubbles, refill our bottles, and head back outside for more fun.

I have a feeling I’ll be using this recipe many, many times in the years to come  :)

What are your favorite inexpensive ways to entertain kids during the spring and summer months?

We love pizza — all types of pizza — so we almost always have lots of pizza toppings in the house.

A couple weeks ago, I decided to mix things up a bit.  Instead of making homemade pizza or doctoring up a frozen pizza, I tried making muffin tin pizzas. The only “problem” was all the recipes I found online called for  pizza dough as the crust… and I didn’t have pizza dough or the time to make pizza dough.

So, I improvised using a package of refrigerated biscuits — and it worked marvelously!

Not only did these taste delicious, they were so easy to make. I literally had dinner on the table in about 25 minutes — and I didn’t even have a recipe to follow or know exactly what I was doing.

There’s probably less than 10 minutes of hands-on time involved in this recipe, and I have a feeling your kids would love to help!

Recipe for Muffin Tin Pizzas

This recipe makes 8 individual pizzas or about 4 servings

{Print Recipe}

INGREDIENTS: 

The ingredients can be as simple or as complex as you like. I just used whatever we had in the fridge — so feel free to customize them to your family’s tastes.

• 1 8-count pkg. (16 oz) refrigerated biscuits
• 1/2 c. pizza or pasta sauce
• various meats and veggies for toppings (cut into small pieces)
• 1/2 c. shredded cheese
• 8 Pepperonis (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

The directions are as simple as the ingredients…

• Lightly grease a regular muffin tin with cooking spray
• Press one biscuit into each muffin cup
• Add 1 T. of sauce to the bottom of each biscuit
• Add whatever toppings you like
• Top with 1 T. shredded cheese and a pepperoni (for looks)
• Bake at 400*F for approximately 12 minutes — or until biscuits are golden brown
• Eat and enjoy!

I served our pizzas with a simple side salad and a few raw veggies.

That’s it — so simple.

Oh, and if you love pizza as much as we do, here are a few other recipes you might want to try.

• Stromboli
• Pizza Pasta
• Pizza Pasta in a slow cooker
• Homemade Pizza (7 different recipes)
• Scrambled Egg Pizza (not exactly pizza but it’s good and it’s simple)

What is your favorite way to eat pizza?

Visit my virtual recipe box for more simple, delicious, family friendly, recipes!