R-n-R Reviews

Recipes and Crafts for Moms

2009-06-04T12:01:00.004-05:00

Over on Parenting.com I found some great ideas for kids treats under their recipe section. This has recently become an issue with my ever-growing picky eater.

I also love their cake section. I just have to find a way to take this castle idea and turn into a boy castle and I'm set.

They do have tons of boy cakes too, of course. There's rockets and bulldozers and tons of unique ideas.

They had a cool idea for a little St. Patrick's day activity, though it could just as easily work for Father's day too:

1) Design thumbprint shamrocks: Dip your child's thumb in green paint, and make three prints close together on white paper. Create a whole field of 'em!
2) Cut a paper plate in half and have kids finger-paint a rainbow on it. Then shape a pot of gold out of construction paper, and tape it to the end of the rainbow.

Travel Sites

2009-05-22T13:15:00.000-05:00

Last year was the first in my husband's 10 years together that we did not take a vacation. This year, we're going to Savannah, Georgia. This is one area of the country we've yet to really explore.

Here are some travel sites I enjoy and/or found helpful:

Roadside America shows you the "offbeat tourist attractions".

Intrepid Travel is "for travellers with a yearning to get off the beaten track, Intrepid opens up a whole new world of adventure travel."

Along the lines of adventure and fun while traveling, High Trek Adventure "is an unique urban race where brains beat brawn! Teams of 2 solve clever clues and face fun challenges all while navigating the urban landscape via foot or on public transportation! It's a scavenger hunt, with all the thrills of the amazing race, mixed in with trivial pursuit, throw in a mini road race and add a dash of cat-and-mouse. And voila! You've got High Trek Adventure"

AWA (Active World Adventures) gives you an extensive list of extreme sports with locations where they can be done. This list includes zorbing, which I would love to do. Basically, you roll down a hill in a huge plastic ball, like the one shown.

I first saw it on the Amazing Race and it's been on my things to do list since.

Theme Parks Online gives a complete list of theme parks. Personally, I love, love, love theme & amusement parks!

Fuel Cost Calculator tells you how much your trip will cost. This year, we're flying, but I love road trips because you can see so much more. Gas is definitely something to consider though.

Holiday shipping facts you should know

2008-11-23T12:52:00.005-06:00

If you're doing a lot of shipping this holiday season, then you probably want to find the cheapest postage. Shipgooder.com compares prices from the post office, FedEx, UPS, and DHL just by entering your packages information.

Now, for those who prefer to pay more, thinking their package will be handled with more care or get there quicker using other shipping places instead of the post office, it's not always true. Some of those other places ship through the post office. I know because I have family who works for the post office and FedEx.

Though it may sound like I'm endorsing the post office, I am not, I just want you to have the facts. If you do want to ship through the post office, use their click n ship web site here. You actually can ship cheaper by doing it on-line and you get free delivery confirmation. Not to mention all the time it saves not having to stand in those lines.

Please don't be intimidated by printing your own postage. It's super easy. You just sign up, put in the label info, weight, and choose how you want to ship. Then you print the label and tape it to the package. You can either schedule a day for your carrier to pick it up or set it out by the mailbox.

As it is right now, you can only do priority, express and international through their site, not parcel post. However, I've found that priority is very close in price lately and with the money you save on-line, it sometimes evens out. Don't forget to get your free priority boxes either.

If you don't have a postage scale, then by all means, run into the post office, they usually have a scale out in the lobby for you to use. Get the weight and go back home to do it yourself. That is, if there's a long line. Otherwise, you can always just ship it there. Personally though, I like the freedom of doing it at home.

Quick Tips on Being Frugal

2008-11-03T12:16:00.003-06:00

Okay, because I'm having some trouble keeping up with my posts due to the overwhelming demands of a 1 year old, I decided I'm going to have to do quick tips whenever I can't find the time to do more.

These quick tips come from a book a friend loaned me, called Cheap Talk with the Frugal Friends.

Quick tip #1: It's a very small thing, but something I hadn't thought of and that's to buy 100% consumable products when possible, like with produce that can be eaten entirely, skins and all. No waste that way!

Quick tip #2: Buy all the same color socks for you and your kids. Usually white makes the most sense. That way, when you lose one or get a hole in one, you can easily match it to another. I actually do this and have for years because I hate trying to match socks to clothes and it bothers me if they don't match exact. So, finally I was like screw it, I'm just buying white.

Quick tip #3: when pajamas with feet get to tight, cut the feet off and you still have a lot of use out of them. I figured this out with my babies clothes because he's very tall and nothing was fitting him right.

Cleaners

2008-10-19T13:02:00.005-05:00

I'm sorry readers, I suck at this. I've been super busy with my baby boy and ... life. Don't worry, I still have plenty of rants. Because I have been focusing a little more on home and family, I can say I'm sick of the cleaners out there. Swiffer, you're on my sh*t list. I cannot stand this ...not a broom, not a mop... not helpful thing. All it does is push dirt around. It may grab some dirt but the pad gets dirty so quick that you'd need to replace it every 5 minutes and that money adds up. Personally, I'm going to write them for a refund. It's not for me.

Febreze is another cleaner that I can't stand. It may temporarily cover smells but I don't know that the febreze smell is any better than what it's covering. I think it stinks; and it's so distinctive that anyone coming over knows you febrezed 10 minutes before they got there. That's not obvious or anything.

I should say I have a heightened sense of smell so it may bother me more than most. I'm just sayin'...

Just some tips about this and that

2008-09-03T11:55:00.004-05:00

I recently read an article in Woman's Day that had some great frugal tips and you all know how much I love those.

Lightly dampen a sock with fabric softener and throw it in the dryer instead of using expensive dryer sheets -OR- use 1/2 cup of vinegar in the final rinse.

Try lessening the amount of dish detergent because the magazine says using "too much can actually damage dishes".

Drop denture tablets in your toilet to keep it clean and use toothpaste to clean hard water stains in your bathroom.

Remove mud from carpets with a good amount of table salt. Leave it for an hour then vacuum. If that doesn't work, try 1/4 tsp dish liquid. Leave it for an hour then vacuum.

Just another notable that has nothing to do with cleaning your house so much as your teeth. Don't brush your teeth 30 to 60 mins. after eating. The enamel on your teeth is softened by the foods and it leaves your teeth vulnerable. Thought everyone should know.

Household tips and tricks

2008-08-16T11:03:00.006-05:00

I've recently been given some ReadyMade magazines and I found some great tips in them I thought I'd pass on.

If you're like me, you're sick of plastic packaging with the sharp edges that's impossible to open. Well, try using a can opener.

I have hardwood floors and they collect dust bunnies like nothing else. Try covering your broom with old panty hose to capture the dust bunnies. Then remove them and finish sweeping the rest. Don't throw the hose out, just shake em clean outside and use them again next time.

Wrap rubber bands around hangers to keep tanks and other clothes with spaghetti straps from falling off.

Here's a great article on a cool way to store magazines. I don't tend to keep my magazines. I like to pass them on but my sister hoards them. For what, I don't know. If you're like her, you'll probably like this idea.

They have a lot more cool ideas so check out there site at readymade.com.

House Cleaning Tip # 1: Windows

2008-06-24T11:57:00.006-05:00

Don't get too excited. I don't know how many there will be of these, considering it's not my favorite thing to do or anything. I just thought I'd pass on the tip that my mom told me about cleaning your windows & mirrors with newspaper instead of a cloth or paper towel. I know how it sounds, but it works--NO STREAKS! Just make sure that you don't use too much newspaper or I'll feel guilty that it's not being recycled.