When my girls were young they enjoyed getting their hair cut because it was a good friend who did it and it meant a play date afterward!  However, I have a lot of friends who have struggles with young ones who just don’t like the idea of someone pointing scissors at their head.  Understandable really.  Poor things.

Thankfully there are now salons around that are specifically geared toward kids.  Cool Cuts 4 Kids’ stylists are trained to work with kids – even kids who don’t want scissors pointed at their heads!!!

Click here for the coupon!

Spring has officially sprung and flowers are in full bloom – what better time for little ones to get a fresh, clean look before temperatures rise? Cool Cuts 4 Kids is the nation’s largest salon chain designed specifically for kids, and they know how important it is for kids to look their best and have fun in the process! To help you get ready for the new season, Cool Cuts 4 Kids is offering a coupon good for $5 off any service!

Expert stylists follow hairstyle trends so they can give little ones the perfect cut, and even if your child is timid getting into the salon chair, rest assured – stylists are trained to create a safe and trusting environment for both kids and their parents. Plus, every Cool Cuts 4 Kids salon features Entertainment Zones filled with a wide selection of movies and video games that are sure to occupy on haircut day. Your kids may never want to leave! 

Click here for the coupon!

Last week our good friends, a young couple with three little ones, posted a picture on facebook of his two older kids (they’re 2 and 3).  The picture showed them hugging like no tomorrow with huge happy smiles on their faces standing on the beach.  It was the first time they had seen a beach and to them, it was heaven!  It was just adorable.

I remember when my girls were little and we visited the beach.  We spent hours there at a time.  Me just sitting (finally) and watching, them playing joyfully in the sand and a small pooling of water that the tide created with just their hands and two shovels.  Hours.  I kid you not.  To me THAT was heaven – my girls completely enthralled with nature and me able to just sit … and watch.

That’s the magic of the beach – for adults and kids.  Rarely do you find a place where young and old alike can just “be”.  Usually devoid of any type of technology (don’t get me started on the fact that there is cell phone coverage – blah!) the beach is a place where kids and their parents can enjoy life, simply.  Pure, simple and beautiful nature is enough.  And I love it.

There are plenty of beaching opportunities in the United States, as you know, and Virginia Beach ranks up there among the best.  Not only do you have this great opportunity for back to nature fun, Virigina Beach touts fabulous activities beyond the beach too.  Great restaurants, cultural activities, golf, arts and great shopping and eco/nature tours are all at Virginia Beach. And, even better, American History is at your fingertips, something our girls have loved ever since we first visited that area.

Many of the activities that you can do as a family in Virginia Beach are relatively inexpensive or even free.  As I type this, for instance, the town is getting ready for their “Beach Music Weekend” on the oceanfront – fun for the whole family and it costs – nothing!  Check out this link on the VisitVirginiaBeach.com site – it’s got a list of thirteen great kids activities!  Just print that out and take it along – you’ll be set for your whole trip!  YAY!

If you’re planning a longer stay, you can always take a day trip to the many historical sites within easy driving distance – Colonial Williamsburg and Jamestown come to mind.  In fact, you’ll find that once you get to Virginia Beach, you’ll either want to stay MUCH longer or you’ll be planning your next trip as you’re waving goodbye after your first!

So walk, run, drive, train or fly your way to Virginia Beach with your kiddos this summer!  And if you do, please comment here and let us know what you think! We can’t wait to hear about it!

Learn more about Virigina Beach when you visit visitvirginiabeach.com

About Virginia Beach

Virginia Beach entices visitors to “Live the Life” year-round! Located in the southeastern corner of the state, Virginia Beach is four hours southeast of D.C. by car and within a day’s drive or less for two-thirds of the U.S. population. For visitor information, call 1-800-VA-BEACH (800-822-3224) or visit www.VisitVirginiaBeach.com for online trip planning. For media information and digital images, click on www.VisitVirginiaBeach.com/pressroom.

Virginia Beach Resources

http://www.visitvirginiabeach.com

http://www.visitvirginiabeach.com/visitors/things-to-do/

http://www.beachstreetusa.com/

Virgina Beach on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/VirginiaBeachVA

Follow @VaBeachCVB on Twitter

I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and Virginia Beach blogging program. For more information on how you can participate, click here.

Enter the Kong Treat/Food Dispenser.  I got this thing on Amazon and at first I thought “this is HUGE, he’ll never get the idea”.  Wrong.  He caught on pretty quickly and it’s been a life saver.

All you do is fill the insides (the top screws off) with some puppy food or treats (they just have to be small enough to come out of the hole in front).  Screw the top back on and set it down.  Show the puppy how the food spills out of the hole when the Kong is tipped and before you know it he’ll start batting and biting at the thing until he can figure out how to make it work.  Amazing.

Here’s a video of our puppy having “lunch”

See how easy that is! So get your own when you CLICK HERE and go to Amazon.com.

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Are Warehouse Stores Wearing Out Your Wallet?
Do they save you money or just create more work?
by Jill Cooper
http://www.LivingOnADime.com

It’s Saturday morning. With grocery list in hand, you drag a very unwilling family out to the car where you proceed to take them on a mega shopping spree at Sam’s or Costco.

Marching down each isle you tell your family members “We need 3 cases of corn, 4 cases of green beans and — Oh! That’s a good deal on peanut butter so let’s get 3 gallons. Of course Susie, your can get a bag of cookies. They are so cheap! …and Billy you can have a few bags of your favorite chips! Yum! Oh look — samples! These taste great. Let’s get some! What a great buy on chicken – we need 20…”

At the dog food aisle the excitement mounts as each member of the family grabs a corner of the 50 lb. bag of dog food to stack on top of the basket. (We won’t mention you only have 1 toy poodle at home.) After waiting in line and waiting in line and waiting in line you push your agonizingly heavy and overloaded baskets out to the car. Getting everything into the trunk of the car makes putting together a 1,000 piece puzzle seem like a breeze but, finally, home you go.

After you lug everything into the house, it’s time to spend the next few hours repackaging things for the freezer. You double wrap your 20 chickens (they could be in that freezer for quite a while) and frantically try to find places for everything else in your cupboards and pantry. By the time you are done, you are so exhausted that you couldn’t begin to lift a finger to cook, so you all go out to eat.

A few weeks later you gingerly sniff the gallon of half used peanut butter as you try to decide if that strange taste is because it has gone rancid or simply because you are sick of peanut butter. You threw out that partially used gallon of maple syrup yesterday because it had sugared and was looking really strange. You still have ten of your chickens left but if you bathe them in some spicy sauce you are pretty sure your family won’t notice the freezer burned taste. In spite of having to throw out most of the 50 lbs. of dog food (after a growing family of mice had invaded it), you’re sure you saved money because “they” said you would.

People constantly ask me, “Can you really save more money at warehouse stores?” I usually answer, “Not any more so than at other stores.” I have checked prices at various stores on many different occasions and factoring everything in, I haven’t found any exceptional savings at warehouse stores.

Here are some tips to help you decide if a warehouse store is for you:

Do your homework and compare prices. Buying in bulk is not always cheaper. You can really save by checking and comparing prices. I was at Costco one day where there was a display of two Clorox one gallon bottles for $1.98 AFTER rebate. I stood there amazed as people frantically grabbed this “great deal.” I knew I could get that same Clorox for $.98 a gallon at my regular discount store and I didn’t have to mess with a rebate, pay postage or lug two gallons of Clorox shrink wrapped together to my car.

Don’t buy impulsively just because it sounds like a good deal. Say you can get 12 bottles of sunscreen for a great price. Think it through before you buy. If your family only uses one bottle of sunscreen a year, that means you will be storing sunscreen for 12 years, not to mention that most of the sunscreen will expire long before then.

In most homes, one quarter of the food people buy gets thrown away. If your family of four eats pancakes once a week, that gallon of syrup is going to last you a VERY long time. You might also consider that unless dry goods and freezer items are very carefully stored, they will go bad or get bugs in them. Remember to buy the size that is appropriate for you.

You need to be very well organized to buy in bulk. Finding places to store everything and then carefully keeping track of what you have is critical if you want to use it all before it spoils.

Most people usually spend more than they originally planned on things they don’t need. This never saves money. We taste samples and so often end up buying. If this is you, be careful. Maybe sampling is a bad idea (unless you’re making lunch of it)!

If you have ten kids, run a day care or are buying for an organization then you almost have to buy in bulk. If you have a small or average sized family, you will probably save as much shopping for sales at your regular grocery store or discount store. The key is to do the math and evaluate your practical needs. You have to decide for yourself if buying at warehouse stores actually saves you money or just creates more work.

-Jill

For more easy and practical ways to save money and get out of debt, check out Dig out Of Debt (click the title to go to the info page) and learn more about how to keep more of your money!

Jill Cooper and Tawra Kellam are frugal living experts and the authors of the Dining On A Dime Cookbook. Dining On A Dime will help you save money on groceries and get out of debt by cooking quick and simple homemade meals. For free tips & recipes visit http://www.LivingOnADime.com , sign up for our free Living On A Dime Newsletter and learn to save more!

Image by Tony Tr?n via Flickr

Just finished reading an EXCELLENT article by my friend Katy on how to encourage walking with your children.

The premise:

When it comes to children, walking is essential to developing the human body. Each type of exercise has its benefits, but the mechanoreceptors throughout the human form require walking (and a lot of it) to fully develop all the systems. Walking is not an option. It’s a requirement. For you, and your kids.

And:

…first model the behavior you’d like to see in your children. And then, after you’ve been a good little walker for some time, begin to insist the entire family walk — first short walks and then longer as the bodies adapt for better endurance.

If you’re thinking “Insisting on something with my children won’t work!” please consider the must-dos in your home. Do they have to do their homework? Do they have to be kind to others? Why wouldn’t “have enough endurance to move your skeleton around without some sort of contraption” be on the list of your family rules?

Loved this quote:

The “brushing the teeth rule” is in most homes. Walking daily is actually more important to health than brushing your teeth, and brushing your teeth is pretty gosh darned important. Your kids do it, though, because for some reason, the dental committee really made a compelling argument that people subscribe to, so you brush your teeth at least once a day.

 

 

READ the rest of the article when you click HERE

“Unfortunately many adults and children don’t know what to do if they lose each other in a public place or are faced with other unsafe situations,” said actor Tim Kang. “That’s why the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children is offering advice on how to remain safe and avoid panic and potential dangers.”

 

Read the rest of her post when you click here.

Related articles

• Keeping your shop safe this winter – 7 tips (simplybusiness.co.uk)
• Keeping the Worst From Happening to Your Kids (abcnews.go.com)
• Strangers Aren’t The Danger (yesmeansyesblog.wordpress.com)
• FBI releases free Child ID safety app for iPhones (news.consumerreports.org)

Image via Wikipedia

by Tawra Kellam
www.LivingOnADime.com

Peter Piper Picked a Profoundly Plump Pumpkin — Now what does he do with it?

How to Roast a Pumpkin

You can only do this with a freshly carved pumpkin! Do not use on a pumpkin that has been carved and sitting out for several days.

To bake a fresh 6 to 7 pound pumpkin, halve the pumpkin crosswise and scoop out the seeds and strings. Place halves, hollow side down, in a large baking pan covered with aluminum foil and add a little water. Bake, uncovered, at 375 degrees for 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until fork-tender. Remove. When cool, scrape pulp from shells and puree, a little at time, in food processor or blender. Mix with a little salt.

To freeze pumpkin puree. Put 1-2 cups in freezer bags along with spices and use in pies.

To use pumpkin puree for recipes: Line a strainer with a double layer of cheesecloth or a flour sack dish towel and let the pumpkin sit to drain out the extra moisture BEFORE cooking with it. Pumpkin is very moist, so in order for your recipe to come out correctly, you MUST strain it.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Boil seeds in water for 5 minutes. Drain well. Sprinkle with salt or seasoned salt. Place a thin layer on a cookie sheet. Bake at 250 degrees. Stir after 30 minutes. Bake 1/2-1 hour more or until crunchy.

*Squash seeds may also be used.

Pumpkin Smoothies

1/2 cup pumpkin
3/4 cup milk or vanilla yogurt
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
2 tsp. brown sugar
4 ice cubes
whipped cream (optional)
sprinkles (optional)

Place all ingredients in a blender. Blend until smooth. Pour into 2-3 glasses. Serve with a small amount of whipped cream on top. You may also add orange sprinkles if you like. Serves 2-3.

Pumpkin Crunch

1 package yellow cake mix
1 can (15 oz.) solid packed pumpkin
1 can (12 oz.) evaporated milk
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup nuts
1 cup butter, melted

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix pumpkin, milk, eggs, sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl. Pour into a greased 9×13 pan. Sprinkle dry cake mix over pumpkin mixture. Then sprinkle with nuts. Drizzle with butter. Bake for 50-55 minutes or until golden brown. Cool, served chilled. Serve with whipped topping.

Homemade Pumpkin Muffins

1 cake mix (any flavor works, but chocolate is our hands down favorite!) 1 can pumpkin or 2 cups mashed cooked pumpkin

Beat together with electric mixer until smooth (It will be really thick). Add 1 cup mini chocolate chips and stir. Line muffin tins with paper muffin cups and spray with non-stick spray. Use an ice cream scoop to put batter into muffin cups (I can get 24 muffins from one box of mix). Bake at 350 degrees for around 20 minutes. Cool and frost if desired. My family likes them just as they are when they are hot from the oven.

Spice cake mix is great – add white chocolate chips, peanut butter chips or butterscotch chips.

I have made pumpkin muffins with white cake mix and yellow cake mix too. They have around 120 calories apiece with the mini chocolate chips and are virtually fat free. If you are on weight watchers, they only count as 1 point.

This is a fabulous way to sneak some vitamin A rich veggies in on the kids. Just don’t let them see you put the pumpkin into the muffins and they will never know it is there. These are more moist than very expensive name brand double chocolate chip muffins.

Pumpkin Pancakes

2 cups flour
2 Tbsp. brown sugar, packed
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1 1/4 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup pumpkin
1 large egg
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 cup milk
1/2 cup nuts, chopped (optional)

Combine ingredients. Stir just until moistened; batter may be lumpy. Heat griddle or skillet over medium heat. Brush lightly with vegetable oil. Pour 1/4 cup batter onto hot griddle. Cook until bubbles begin to burst. Turn and continue cooking 1 to 2 minutes. Serve with Pumpkin Maple Sauce and nuts.

Pumpkin Maple Sauce

1 cup maple syrup
1 1/4 cups pumpkin
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice Mix together until well blended.

Visit www.LivingOnADime.com for more easy recipes!

Jill Cooper and Tawra Kellam are frugal living experts and the authors of the Dining On A Dime Cookbook. Dining On A Dime will help you save money on groceries and get out of debt by cooking quick and simple homemade meals. For free tips & recipes visit www.LivingOnADime.com , sign up for our free Living On A Dime Newsletter and learn to save more!

Related articles

• Pumpkin Streusel Muffins (mybeautifuldisasters.wordpress.com)
• Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins (blessedrootsblog.wordpress.com)
• Yummy Pumpkin Muffins (expetesso.com)
• Pumpkin Creme Cheese Muffins. (amandajeanne.wordpress.com)
• Glazed Pumpkin Scones (Like Starbucks!!) (brilliantlyred.wordpress.com)

Visit Homeschool Creations to get your free printables.

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• Wash your hands. This is just plain ol’ common sense that we dish out to our kids all the time. Washing your hands frequently helps keep germs and bacteria off surfaces that regularly make contact with your eyes, mouth and nose. Remember to wash especially after you have been out at the store or library, and when your kids come home from school. I have gotten into the habit of just washing my hands whenever I get home, period – no matter where I have been. Keep a little bottle of hand sanitizer or individual wipes in your purse for on-the-go cleansing (you can also use those wipes to sanitize the covers of library books and shopping cart handles).

• Eat lots of healthy, cold-busting foods rich with ingredients like onion and garlic (you know the old chicken soup remedy is still a good idea!). When I feel like I might be coming down with something, I’ll even eat a raw clove of garlic… and follow it up with a big glass of water! Nasty as that may sound, it usually works. If you don’t think you can stomach it, you could try the tastier, gourmet version: cut the top quarter off a head of garlic and put it in a small baking pan. Drizzle olive oil on top until it’s coated and bake it at 400ºF for about a half our, until it’s nice and soft. Then you can dig out the individual cloves and spread them on bread with a little salt and some parmesan cheese if you wish. Not a bad way to knock out a cold, eh?

• Keep a clean house. This is along the lines of washing your hands. Keeping your bathroom clean is important, especially a shared bathroom. Wipe it down regularly with an antibacterial product, such as Lysol, or if you prefer a more natural cleaner, try Thieves Cleaner.

• Stay warm! When the weather turns cold, keeping yourself warm when you go out  plays a big role in staying healthy. Wear a hat. Did you know that most of your body heat escapes out of your head? Wearing a hat conserves your body heat and keeps you warmer… which helps keep you healthier!

• Already have a cold? Do everyone else a favor and keep it to yourself. Don’t go out unless you have to, and if you do have to run to the store, remember others and cough into your sleeve, and make sure your hands are clean before you touch something that someone else may handle after you.

As you bundle up for the cold season, I hope these tips will prove useful to keeping your home sickness-free this year!

“I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and Lysol blogging program, for a gift card worth $40. For more information on how you can participate, click here.”

About Lysol
We do more not just because we can, but because we must. Health matters. To all of us. That’s why we’ve started the Lysol Mission for Health. With new mom programs, healthy habits initiatives in schools and disaster relief efforts, we are dedicated to doing more for health. Our mission is fueled by passion and backed by our expertise in killing germs. So when you use Lysol at home, you’ll know you’re a part of something bigger.

More info on Lysol: http://www.lysol.com/mission-for-health

Lysol on Facebook

Image by rocketlass via Flickr

by Jill Cooper
www.LivingOnADime.com

I’ve always dreamed of having an apple tree in my backyard. You know the old saying, “Be careful what you wish for?” Now that I actually have my own apple tree, I stand in my yard watching the apples piling up around me thinking, “Oh no — What do I do with this mess now?”

If I could make gasoline out of apples, I could retire, but since that is not an option and my frugal mind will not allow me to waste one apple, I have had to come up with some yummier “apple disposal” methods.

If you find that you have a few dozen more apples than you know what to do with, or if you just can’t resist the great sales that stores have on apples this time of year, these recipes from Dining On A Dime will help settle your frugal dilemma.

Apple Tips:

When you have a partially eaten apple, save the good part and chop it into pieces. Place in a microwave safe dish. Blend together 1 tsp. each brown sugar, flour, oatmeal and margarine and a dash of cinnamon. Top the apple with the topping and microwave until tender.
Core and slice apples very thin. Dehydrate and use in granolas, eat alone or soften in warm water to use in recipes.
Slice apples and use in pancakes or waffles.
Freeze extra apples for later. Peel, slice and core them and then store in 2 cup portions in freezer bags.
Use soft apples in cooking.
Cut apples into small pieces and add to salads with a fruit based dressing.

Homemade Apple Butter

9 to 10 apples, cored, peeled and chopped
2 cups sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. cloves
1/8 tsp. salt

Place everything into a crockpot. Stir, cover and cook on high 1 hour. Cook on low for 9-11 hours or until thick and dark brown. Stir occasionally. Uncover and cook on low 1 hour longer. Stir with whisk until smooth. Refrigerate or Freeze. Makes 2 pints.

Apple Pie Filling

9 cups baking apples, peeled, cored and sliced
1 1/2 Tbsp. lemon juice
5 cups water
2 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. nutmeg

Toss apples with lemon juice and set aside. Combine the rest of the ingredients in a Dutch oven and bring to a boil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add apples and return to boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until apples are tender (6-10 minutes). Cool for 30 minutes. Then ladle into freezer containers or bake immediately. Makes two 9-inch pies.

Fried Apples

4 large apples, cored and sliced
3 Tbsp. butter or margarine
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Cut apples into 1/4 inch slices. Heat butter in a large skillet. Put the apples, brown sugar, and cinnamon in the skillet and cover. Over medium-low heat, cook apple slices 7-10 minutes or until they begin to soften and the syrup thickens. Serve coated with excess syrup on top. Serves 4.

Baked Apples

apples, cored
raisins (optional)
1 tsp. margarine
dash of cinnamon
dash of nutmeg
1 Tbsp. honey or brown sugar
(These ingredient amounts are per apple.)

For each person, use 1 apple. Fill the center of the apple with all the ingredients. Bake at 350 degrees until tender or put in a Dutch oven on top of stove and simmer on very low until tender.

Apple Snack

2 qts. apples, peeled, cored and halved

Coarsely grate apples. Place on a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 225 degrees until dry. Remove from cookie sheet and break into pieces. Store in an airtight container.

Apple Crisp

6 apples, peeled and sliced
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup flour
1 tsp. cinnamon and/or nutmeg
1/2 cup water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Arrange apples in a well-greased baking dish. Blend all remaining ingredients except water. Spread evenly over top of apples. Pour water over the topping. Bake 45 minutes until apples are tender and top is crisp. Serves 6.

Peach Crisp

Use peaches in place of apples.

Jill Cooper and Tawra Kellam are frugal living experts and the authors of the Dining On A Dime Cookbook. Dining On A Dime will help you save money on groceries and get out of debt by cooking quick and simple homemade meals. For free tips & recipes visit www.LivingOnADime.com, sign up for our free Living On A Dime Newsletter and learn to save more!