Homemade Sidewalk Paint

We are always looking for fun new crafts or projects, especially right now while most of our social interactions is with each other.  The weather has been beautiful here in Iowa and we are loving getting outside daily.  E and I made some sidewalk pain the other day.  Our chalk is down to the bare bones so we needed something else to decorate our driveway.

Mix equal parts cornstarch and water.  Add food coloring.  That's it!  We placed ours in a muffin pan to make it easier to move around.  

Keeping Busy While Staying Quarantined

While some of our state is opening up, we are still very much staying close to home and keeping ourselves quarantined.     There is just too much uncertainly right now for us to risk getting ourselves or other family members sick, when in all reality, it could be avoided or at least we can lower the chances.    

Thankfully, we are and have always been home bodies.  The first few weeks were pretty easy for us, but the last couple weeks have proven to become a little more difficult to keep ourselves busy and entertained.  Here are a few suggestions to keep your kids entertained whether you are staying home or starting to venture out that won't cost you any money.

Teach and play board games or cards.  We just ordered this game it's called Crokibnole.  On nice days, get outside and play some games.

Instead of going out to a movie, stay home and rent your own or find something on Netflex or Hulu.  You can rent a movie, buy some popcorn and maybe even a special drink all for less than the cost of 1 movie ticket.

Play in the water.  Set up a sprinkler, wash the cars, have a squirt gun fight.  Fill buckets of water and give the kids paintbrushes to paint the sidewalk.

Go on a nature walk.

Picnics either outside in your own yard or drive to a park.

Our kids have been writing lots of letters. Everyone enjoys receiving a hand written letter in the mail!

Put together a puzzle.

                                                                         Go to the beach.

Make forts.  We do them inside all the time when it rains but how about outside?  Set up a tent for the day.

Do some baking.  Have your child pick the recipe and help with the baking. 

We have a cookie book that the kids like to pick from.

Paint rocks.

 There is an AMAZING amount of educational resources online! 
     Click here for a huge list of websites. 

Plant some flowers, or start a garden. 

 Whether you are staying home or not, these are just some fun activities that will cost you little, to no money!  Share in the comments any ideas or things you have been doing with your kiddos that are frugal. 

Take care and stay safe!

Introducing...

Felicia the Fish

and

Mr T the turtle.

As if chickens, fish, a hamster and a cat weren't enough, Emily got her own fish and Drew got a turtle!

Traveling with Kids- Travel Binders

Traveling with young children isn't easy.  Especially when you have to travel a long distance.

We recently drove to South Carolina to visit my oldest son.  We live in Iowa.  We could have drove straight east to South Carolina, that would have only taken us 16 hours.  But why would we do that?  We have never been south.  We wanted to drive through and experience as many states as we could.  So we drove south, and then headed east.  We spent 7 of our 9 day vacation driving  We stopped at random places and got out and walked around and explored.  We visited the St. Louis Arch in Missouri, Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, stopped and had some BBQ in Memphis, and spent a few hours at Tybee Beach off of Georgia, to name a few.

My point is we spent many hours driving in the van with our 3 youngest children, 9, 8, and 4 years old.  Before we left I made up these binders for each of them with activities to do while in the car. They were such a hit I thought I would share them with you.

Each child got their own binder (with names on the front, so no one fights over who is whos). 

Inside the binder I included a print out of the United States.  This way the could color the states we went through or see what state is next and follow along the trip. 

 I printed off a packet of information for each state that we were to visit (11 states in all!)  As we entered each state I gave them the packet.  I three hole punched them so they could add them to their binders as we went along.

The packet had fun facts about the state, such as state bird, flower, motto.  I also included a picture of the state and an area at the bottom to write what they had learned about the state.  For the older boys I also included a word search.  Here is the link where I found the printables for the states!  

We bought some travel BINGO cards but to give it a little variety I printed off some different versions for us to try.  I bought little prizes and treats that I kept up front with me and whenever someone got BINGO they would win a prize.  The kids loved it.  We played A LOT of BINGO!  I put the BINGO cards in plastic sleeves and gave everyone a dry erase marker so we could reuse them.

Momsminivan has lots of great travel  printables.  I printed off these travel cards below for each of the kids.  I laminated them, punched a hole in the corner and held them altogether with a ring clip.

Being prepared and having entertainment can make those long car rides a lot more enjoyable for everyone.  I am very lucky because all 3 of my younger kids are great travelers!  However, having these binders made all the difference.  It kept them busy, they learned about the states we were visiting and we played some games together as a family.

Sorry for the Absence

Sorry for the lack of posting.  We've been a little busy.  Our family traveled to Fort Jackson, South Carolina to see our oldest son graduate from basic training for the U.S. Army.  We are so proud of him!
























It had been 11 weeks since we last saw him.  His baby sister was so happy to see him, as were all of us.  She stuck by his side the entire time we were there.

Here is a picture of all our children.

Proud momma and poppa!  

And while we were there visiting, my son asked his girlfriend to marry him!   So exciting!

It was a great trip and it was so good to see our son.  He makes us so proud!  

Love you Private Figgins!  

Happy Halloween!

I hope everyone had a spooktacular Halloween!  Can you believe it is the last day of October?  Christmas is just around the corner.  Yikes!  I am not ready for that!

I thought I would share with you some of the things we did to have a fun, frugal Halloween.  Being cheap doesn't have to mean boring!

For starters we went to the pumpkin patch to let the kids pick pumpkins.  We are lucky and live in an area that has lots of pumpkin patches near by.  Along with pumpkins some of them offer corn mazes, rides for kids, games and other entertainment.  The only problem is most of them charge admission.

We headed to the pumpkin patch that is just a couple miles from our house.  The kids enjoyed playing in a corn pit, got to pet farm animals, walked through a hay maze and were able to find pumpkins out in the field.  The best part-admission was free!  We just had to pay for our pumpkins!

I love decorating the house for holidays.  It is a fun tradition the kids and I do.  I have tubs in our basement marked for each holiday and it is always fun to bring them upstairs and pull out all the fun things we have.  The majority of our decorations are things I have picked up over the years at garage sales or were given to me as gifts.  Some of my favorite decorations however are the ones that are made by my kiddos.  Some of them are brought home from school and some are crafts we have done together.  


















Our costumes this year were all costumes we had in our bin of "dress up" clothes.  I have collected costumes the last couple years, mostly from yard sales.  I think the most I might have paid for a costume was $2.  My youngest boy loves dressing up as super heroes or Star Wars characters.  I just so happened to find a Princess Leia costume over the summer and put it back for my daughter with trick or treating night in mind.  With a few modifications it ended up fitting her perfectly!

Here are a few of the sweet treats I made as well.  Rice Krispie pumpkins and mummy and eyeball cupcakes.

Teach Them While They are Young

My little momma isn't quite 2 yet but she loves being in the kitchen.  It use to be that when I would bake she would be content looking at books or playing in a tub of beans.  Not anymore.  Now she wants to be right up there with me, getting her hands on whatever I am working on. 

This is her helping me make bread. 

Frugal Gift Idea for Coaches or Dad

Photo Credit

My husband was the T-ball coach for our younger 2 boys this year.  The end of the season is coming up and I was looking for something simple and cheap, yet meaningful to give him as a gift to thank him for his time and commitment to the kids.  While browsing the internet I came across this idea.  I loved it!  However, I didn't love the price tag.  $24.99??  Hmmm.  I could do almost the same thing for a fraction of the cost.

Since we are the coaches I acquired the ball from the school.  I had each of the kids sign their name on the ball and then I put the team and year.  We presented the ball to my husband at the last game and he was was more than thrilled with his gift!  My son donated his plastic baseball holder just like the one above so I virtually spent no money on this present. 

Even if I had to purchase the materials you could still make this gift  for less than $10.  This post is linked to the Frugal Tuesday Tip, hosted here at Learning the Frugal Life. 

The Gift of Time

Mothers Day is coming up soon.  If you are like me your thinking...what do I get my mother?  What do you get  the mother who doesn't need anything and wants nothing?  Instead of giving a monetary gift, how about giving the gift of time?

You could offer to clean the house, wash the car or do the laundry.  Every mom needs a break and taking some of her daily/weekly responsibilities off her hands may be the perfect gift.  She could spend the time she would use on doing chores on something she actually enjoys.  You could even offer to mow the yard or help with other yard work.

You don't always have to spend money on holidays.  Sometimes the gift of time holds a higher value than any store bought present.

Shoe Dilemma

I hate clothes shopping. I really hate shoe shopping. With 4 boys I feel like I have to buy shoes every couple months. My 2 younger children especially are extremely hard on shoes. And they both have really smelly feet. I'm sorry but they do.

I usually buy cheap Wal-Mart or Target shoes. I spend somewhere around $15 typically. However the last 3 pair I have gotten from Wal-Mart the kids have burned through pretty quickly. They just don't last.

So last night we took the kids to the mall to try and find shoes for my husband as well as my son. We checked out a few stores and ended up at Kohl's. I finally found a pair that seemed to fit him good and was a much higher quality shoe. But when I saw the price I about fell over $49.99. Seriously? For kids shoes? Ugh.

So there came the dilemma. Should I spend the $50 bucks and get the higher quality shoe and hope that they last more than a couple months? Or should I just go back to Wal-Mart and get the cheaper shoes. I can get 2 maybe 3 pair of shoes for the price of these ones. Finally my husband made the choice for me and we bought the $50 shoes.

Thankfully I had a 20% coupon so that brought my total cost down to $40. I am hoping these shoes last for a while. I guess we'll find out.

How do you save money on kids shoes?

Summer Fun That Doesn't Break the Bank

Today's post comes from Julie in West Des Moines, Iowa. Julia has been blogging since 2007 about multiple topics from Homeschooling (Homelearningresouces.com) to crafts, geocaching and nature (Juliecache.com) and frugality (Examiner.com).

A friend once told me that even if treasures abound locally, people tend to think that the grass is always greener on the other side – as in, the other side of the city boundary. Things might look more impressive and attractive if you sacrifice time and money to get out of town, but with the price of gas getting higher every day, I’m finding local stuff more attractive by the minute.

The great outdoors. For do-it-yourselfers, geocaching, letterboxing, camping, nature study in your back yard, and hikes are relatively easy picks for summer fun. For families desiring something more formal or needing direction, many nature programs are available through city parks and rec, county conservation boards, Izaak Walton leagues, Meetup groups, and your state DNR. You can also take the family watch athletic events in the community -- maybe to learn about sports you’re unfamiliar with such as cricket or rugby.

Caption: Exploring a local park can be free, easy, and eye-opening.

Free manufacturing tours. What’s the local industry where you live? Here in the Heartland where I live, there’s a lot of agriculture and food. Over the years, I’ve arranged for my family to tour a frozen noodle plant, a water treatment plant, an organic farm, a dairy, a pizzeria, and an earthworm farm.

Caption: Visiting local attractions is usually free and can bring the out-of-the-ordinary to life.

Government buildings. Great architecture and observing “community helpers” can be interesting and educational. The courthouse, capitol building, police station, fire station, public works department, etc. might make good field trips. My family has also visited a national wildlife refuge, a national grassland, and many government-owned parks for no admission charge.

Caption: Programming at nature centers can add a new frugal dimension to family entertainment.

Local historical societies. If your family has older kids, this can be pleasant, eye-opening, and educational. These groups usually have short museum hours and are run by volunteers. County museums in my neighboring county are large and free of charge.

This is Part 1 of a 2 part series. Head over to Juliecache.com for Part 2.

Family Fun WIthout Spending Money

Now that we are well into our 30 Days of Nothing challenge, we are on the lookout more for free entertainment. Here are a few suggestions that I came up with.

Have a family game night. Turn off the TV gather around the table and play a game.

Crafts. Even my oldest will engage in a craft once in awhile. Get out the glitter, glue and paints and let their imagination run.

Movie night. Pop some popcorn and pop in a movie. You can check your local library for rentals that don't cost a thing.

Go on a hike. Hikes aren't just for warmer weather. Take a winter hike. See what kind of tracks you can find in the snow.

Build a fort. You can set up a few chairs and drape them with blankets to make a pretty cool fort. Or you could set up a card table and place blankets over it. Bring out pillows and you can have a camp out.

What does your family do for free entertainment?

Introducing...

Emily Joy

November 2, 2010

11:31 am

8 lbs 4 oz

20.5 inches

Teaching Kids Good Spending Habits

I know I have seriously lacked in teaching good spending habits with my older children early in their childhood. I do think that I am doing a much better job now then I have in the past. Thankfully I have one child who is a natural saver but the other spends money before it even hits his hands. My younger two children are just learning about money, so I have been doing a little reading and have found some good tips about teaching children about money.

First help your children learn the value of money at an early age. Talk to your child about how many hours you may have to work to buy that new video game or Lego set. Or, if they are older and have part time jobs, how many hours they would have to work to earn the item.

It is ok to include your children in on discussions about the family finances so that everyone can help take part in making goals and watching spending. However, if you are really having financial trouble go easy on the details so your kids are not worried. You do need to be honest and tell your kids you cannot afford something they ask for if it is not in the budget.

To instill good decision making about money into your kids include them in the decision making process. Help them weigh out the pros and cons of making a new purchase. Take them with you to the grocery store and compare prices. Show them how to save money by using coupons and reading labels. Also take them with you to garage sales and thrift stores so they can see how far you can stretch your money.

Remember to set a good frugal example for your kids. Just as with others areas in life your kids are watching you and follow your lead.

How do you teach your kids about money?

Linked to Works for Me at We are That Family and Frugal Friday at Life as Mom.

Starting Them Early!

Your never too young to start clipping coupons!
Hey, it works for me! I could always use the help!

Visit We are That Family for more Works for Me Wednesday!

Free Book For Kids From Barnes and Noble

Kids can earn a free book from Barnes and Noble when they read 8 books this Summer. Kids need to fill out the reading journal found here. Parents you need to sign off and then bring in the completed forms between May 26th and September 7th to get a coupon for a free book! Go here to get all the details.

Earth Day

(This is taken from my other blog. I wanted to ask all my frugal readers if they had any ideas or plans for Earth Day. If you are a reader of both blogs, sorry for the double post!)

Earth Day is April 22. I have been thinking alot about this day because I think it is important for my kids to be aware of our earth and take steps to help take care of it. I was thinking that we could do something special as a family on this day. And since it is going to be family night (Wednesday) it will work out perfect! My thought right now is to go to the park next door to us and pick up trash as one activity we can do together.

I also found some great websites of things to do with your children. From crafts, to songs, to coloring pages there is lots of things to do. Here are a couple of sites you can check out if your looking for things to do.

DLTK's Earth Day Activites
Enchanted Learning
Making Friends (craft ideas)
Kaboose
About.com

What about you? Do you have any plans for Earth Day? I would love to hear about them.

Frugal Family Night

The price for a movie ticket at the theatre
for 6 people = $42
Popcorn and a drink at a theatre for
6 people = $36
The price of a Monday Redbox Movie Rental = $0
Air popcorn and a tall glass of ice water for 6 people = $.20
Sitting at home in my own comfy lazyboy, with
all my boys around me = Priceless!

This post linked to Amy's Finer Things Friday and
Frugal Friday at Life as Mom.