• Halloween Candy Buy Back Programs

    Happy Halloween!   Halloween is a wonderful time to create memories with your family.  At least in our area there are a lot of Fall Festivals, pumpkin carving, hayrides, dressing up and candy…..sometimes too much candy.  Every wonder if you’ll be able to eat, share, or giveaway all the candy before the next Halloween hits?

    Dentists all over the country are participating in a Halloween Candy Buy Back Program. They buy the kids Halloween candy then donate it to the groups that send it to those in Military Service.

    • Example:  Holly Tree Pediatric Dentistry in our area (1334 South Hwy 14, Simpsonville, SC 29681 / Phone: 864-297-5585) is Buying Back Halloween Candy and giving the kids $1 per pound ($5 max per child) and a Treat bag.   All the candy will be donated to our Troops Overseas.

    If it is something you interested in participating in you can read more about on the FAQ page and search for locations near you!

    Photo by Rochelle

  • Heart Reflections: Oops I Did It Again!

    Is it just me or do you seem to repeat the same mistakes too?  Sometimes I feel like take two steps forward and one step back in the process (possibly at times is it more like 2 steps forward and 3 steps back). 

    It is hard to be find joy and contentment in every moment of every day, especially when it seems like no matter what there’s always little ripples that happen throughout the days, weeks, months, and years.  How do we find joy in the moments when we want to just go back to bed or go somewhere quiet or escape the stress of life?

    • Find joy in the little things.  Everything may not be going well, but there is always something to be thankful for in your life.  It could be your health, family, friends, a job, home, food on the table, a vehicle to drive, sunshine, or a whole bunch of other things we tend to take for granted.  Taking a few moments to count your blessings can really change your outlook on life.  A thankful heart is a positive heart.
    • Point your focus upward. When we look to Christ for our guidance we tend to see a bigger picture and we realize that it really isn’t that bad after all.  Yes, we make choices that can make life easier or more challenging for us, but we can also put our lives into the hands of the one who created the universe and trust that He really knows what is the best for us.  Just knowing that He holds my life in his hand can take some of the pressure off my tendency to micro-manage all aspects of my life.
    • Spend time helping others. We are by nature selfish people. When we take a few moments to focus our energy on someone else it can also lift our spirit too.  Take time to do something nice for someone else today and don’t expect any reward (or favor returned).  Not only will you help another person in the process your heart isn’t stuck on yourself and your issues.

    If you find yourself repeating the same mistakes over and over again.  Ask God for help, he can help you overcome even the little things that pop up in your life.  Find people that you trust to be an accountability partners for you.  You want people in your life that are not afraid to confront you if they see something in your life that isn’t wholesome for you and your family.  Take time to pray and spend time with people who will encourage you to live a life that reflects goodness instead of  repeating the same mistakes.

    Look for the blessings in your life throughout each day.  Turn your focus upward and outward.  Every one of us has the opportunity to make a positive impact on the lives around us.

     

  • Halloween Candy Buy Back Programs

    Hope everyone had an amazing Holiday.  Halloween is a great time to create memories with your family.  The Fall Festivals, pumpkin carving, hayrides, dressing up and candy…..sometimes too much candy.  Every wonder if you’ll be able to eat, share, or giveaway all the candy before the next Halloween hits!

    Dentists all over the country are participating in a Halloween Candy Buy Back Program. They buy the kids Halloween candy then donate it to the groups that send it to those in Military Service.

    • Example:  Holly Tree Pediatric Dentistry in our area (1334 South Hwy 14, Simpsonville, SC 29681 / Phone: 864-297-5585) is Buying Back Halloween Candy and giving the kids $1 per pound ($5 max per child) and a Treat bag.   All the candy will be donated to our Troops Overseas.

    If it is something you interested in participating in you can read more about on the FAQ page and search for locations near you!

    Photo by Rochelle

  • Local Activities: “Dine Out for Mom” Event on Thursday, October 25, 2012

    There is a special event going on tomorrow, Thursday, October 25, 2012 called Dine Out For Mom which is a part of the Let There Be Mom organization.  As a Mom with small children it is important for me to remember that life is precious, sweet, and short.  We never know what joys and trials life will bring our way.  You may know of a friend or family member that has gone through serious illness and given only a short amount of time to live.   This event is to remind us to celebrate life, create memories, cherish our family, and help others because our life here on earth is not forever.

    What is Let There Be Mom? It is an organization that provides help to Moms when they or their spouse is diagnosed with a serious illness.  How was it started?   “Let There Be Mom” comes along side the family going through this difficult time to preserve memories.  They do this through a variety of services tailored to meet the needs and wishes of the individual families. Some examples of ways you can get involved – photography, scrapbooks,  journals, videos, meals, errands, special events, care packages, family cookbooks, and many more wonderful activities.  The Dine Out For Mom event tomorrow is designed to help raise funds for this great organization.   When you eat at one of the participating restaurants they will donate a portion of the proceeds to “Let There Be Mom” so they can continue to help families that are losing a loved one.

    Take some time out of your busy day to meet a friend for lunch or take the family out for dinner.  What a great way to spend time with those you love while helping a wonderful organization that is committed to preserving family memories.

    For more information about the “Let There Be Mom” organization, their services, and how to get involved please visit their website.

  • Book: “No One to Call Me Home” by James Close

    As I was going through a stack a books we had in the house and trying to decide which ones to keep, sale, giveaway, or donate I came across this book.  I cannot remember where it came from and hadn’t read it before but it captivated my attention so I decided to read it.  The book is called No One To Call Me Home by Reverend James J. Close and it is about Reverend Close’s ministry at the Mercy Boys Home in Chicago.  His ministry provides a home, meals, clothing, and a loving environment for homeless teenage boys.  The boys typically range between 14 to 18 years old (sometimes they take in younger siblings).  There is also a Mercy Girls Home but Reverend Close lived and worked at the Boys Home so the majority of the book discussed not only the lives of the kids he impacted but some of their struggles as well as successes.

    Some of the stories he told brought tears to my eyes…..stories of some of the obstacles small children and teenagers had to face such as starvation, stealing, crime, abuse, drugs, alcohol, neglect and so much more.  None of these children asked to grow up in these families.   The Mercy Home has reached out to many of these hurt teenagers and provided them a safe and healthy environment in hopes that they will be able to encourage the kids to heal and become successful adults.

    As a parent this book made me not only appreciate the stable (although not perfect) home environment I was raised in and motivates me to pray for wisdom as I raise my kids as well as find ways to make a positive impact on the lives of other children.  The book is short and a quick read but touches on many areas of the heart.  Although I don’t have all the same religious beliefs as Reverend Close I think he is on the right track with providing a safe, stable environment for these teenagers.  Not every story he has is successful but it is encouraging to know that through their ministry they are making a wonderful impact on many individuals and families.  It really makes you think about the ways you can make a positive impact on the lives of others.

    A few quotes that made an impact on me:

    The Mercy kids are some of the most courageous and extraordinary persons I have ever met.  Many have overcome immense odds to succeed in life.  Others were not so fortunate.  But each of them taught me about life and made me grateful for the simple blessings to be found in each day.

    Our street was as big as the universe to me…..when it started getting dark, the other kids’ moms would lean out the windows and start calling to their kids – it’s time to come home.  I would stay out there and keep playing until I was alone. I was always the last one to come home.  I always had to decide when to go in. There was never anyone to call me in – to call me home.

    Our kids have so few of the simple family experiences that most kids have growing up, it nearly boggles the mind.  I’m not talking about ritzy family vacations and Christmas Eve around the fireplace.  I’m talking about food in the refrigerator and the same bed every night.

    If all you’ve known is disappointment, if all you’ve been told is what a loser you are, if all you’ve seen is poverty and life on the other side of the law – it is hard to believe things can ever change for someone like you.

    I’m a strong believer in the power of prayer combined with effort and love. 

    They are just kids.  They need a place to live and someone to love them unconditionally.

  • Blessing Lives Everyday with Special Surprises (B.L.E.S.S.): 25 Days of Christmas Blessings

     

    I have been thinking about ways we can be a blessing to others throughout this Christmas season. It is easy to get caught up with the shopping, parties, celebrations, and everything else that we lose sight of what’s really important.  I want the girls to experience the joy of giving and helping those around us so we are delivering special surprises over the next 25 days.  I came up with the acronym B.L.E.S.S. to help remind us why we are sharing these little blessings.

    • Blessing
    • Lives
    • Everyday with
    • Special
    • Surprises

    The plan is to deliver a small special surprise to at least one person every day from December 1st to December 25th.  Each bag contains an activity to spread cheer and a scripture verse to discuss.  At dinner we will discuss our current days activity, pray for the people that received our gift, and get our bag for the next day.   The girls and I have came up with a lot of great ideas of ways we can share blessings with people around us (some will go to people we know and others to complete strangers or people we will never meet).

    Here’s how we put our B.L.E.S.S. activity together:

    Stack of B.L.E.S.S activities with scripture verses

    B.L.E.S.S. Cards to give out during our activities

    One of the B.L.E.S.S. Cards we made

    Day 1 through Day 25 bagged and ready to hang up

    All 25 Days of B.L.E.S.S. hung up and ready for us to start!

    The girls are very excited about doing this fun 25 Days of Christmas Blessings activity.  I hope to share some of the stories, what we did, experiences, pictures and lessons learned as we go throughout the the 25 days.  It is my intention to update you at least once a week.  I will share as much as I can but the real reason for doing this activity is to teach our family the joy of giving to others.

    (Update) I have been asked by a number of people for a printable version of the  25 Days of Christmas B.L.E.S.S. activities, verses, and sheets to handout so here they are for your family to enjoy as well:

  • Living on a Budget: Creative Cash (September Update)

    September is my eighth month tracking my Creative Cash.  What is Creative Cash?  Creative Cash is finding ways to come up with extra cash to share with others as well as work on our current goal.  I am working part time, a stay at home Mom, and wear many other hats from day to day, however, I feel that it is important to save money for our family by using coupons and buying items on sale but to earn a little money to help with the extra expenses and to share with others.  The extra amount I bring in on top of the work is what I call “Creative Cash” which means finding ways to make money creatively or with items and talents I have already.  I plan to continue this goal for the remaining months of the year.  Despite the many financial obstacles that we have faced as a family we have been blessed with so much.  My husband and I believe it is important to be accountable with our finances and give to others.

    Explanation: The creative cash will be made throughout the entire month through various endeavors.  As it comes in the money is placed into our savings account and withdrawn at the end of the month so it can be split.  It is my goal to make at least $100 extra a month to help with our goals as well as share with others.  At the end of the month the money will be split 50 / 50 with half going towards our current goal we are working on (which at the moment is paying down debt) and the other half going to charity.

    To be honest September was not a great month, however, it was better then August.  In August I wasn’t able to do any extra activities to generate creative cash; our family had several out of town trips, guests, events, and a lot of other activities in August that took up the extra time I had available.   I am thankful that we have had the opportunity to travel together as a family and create many great new memories, however, the creative cash has been effected by it.  Although life is still busy we are at least home more now giving me the flexibility to focus on this goal as well as other ones.  I anticipate October being another busy month but now that the girls are back in school life will once again return our new “normal” and I hope to come closer to meeting this goal.  Thankfully I was able to save some extra cash even though I did not reach my my goal of $100.  I want to share with you the ways we did it so if you are looking for ways to make a little extra creative cash for your family hopefully we can be an inspiration in getting your creative juices flowing:

    • $7.97 – Items sold on Ebay (after fees):   The all the items sold were coupons.  I encourage you to look around at some of the coupons you get the mail, newspapers, magazines, in your stockpile, or other places and if you will not have the opportunity to use them then consider selling them for a little extra creative cash.
    • $39.00 – Other miscellaneous amounts earned  (rebates, returns, cash back,  extra money, etc…) that was added to my stash for the month.  Most of the cash this month was from a rebate check I received.

    It was a harder month to set the extra aside because it was very busy and I was not able to participate in as many extra creative cash activities.  The good news is despite the crazy schedule I was able to get a few dollars of creative cash.  September’s “Creative Cash” total was $46.97 which means $23.48 extra that goes towards our current goal (saving for 3 to 6 month Emergency Fund) and $23.49 goes towards charity.  I didn’t hit my $100 goal this month.  It has been really busy with school being out part of the month and traveling with the family.  I am happy that I was able to contribute something this month and every little bit helps us get a little closer to our goals as well as helps others along the way.  I have a plan of action on ways to earn creative cash in October so stayed tuned, hopefully, it will be another month where we can get closer to our goal and share with others.  Each month I do a variety activities to accomplish this goal, the items above are just the ones I did specifically in September.  I look forward to sharing more of the things that work well for our family as I do them in the upcoming months.

    I will share with you the challenges, successes, and updates as I go through this journey so you can keep me accountable or even go through it with me by participating  and sharing your story. Taking the extra time to find ways to help our family as well as invest in the lives of others is important to us.  I hope that we have been able to encourage you to find ways to come up with some creative cash for your household as well.  Obviously, each situation and family is unique so decide what works for you and go for it!  Do you know of another way to earn creative cash?   I would love to hear your idea!

    Living on a Budget is a series of ways our family uses a budget to help keep us accountable with our finances.  Life doesn’t always go as planned.  We have used some of the ideas I will be sharing for years while others are ones we are just starting to implement as we continue finding ways to be creative and have fun with what we have been given.  Having a plan in place allows us the freedom to be smart with what we have been given, get more creative when it is a tight (week, month, year or a season) and when necessary live a much more simplified life.  A budget helps us stay on track so we have more opportunities to enjoy the many blessings we have been given as well as share what we have with others.  There is so much more to life than having all the stuff.  We may not have the newest or greatest items in our house, we drive used cars, and wear hand-me-down clothing…..however, if our family is taken care of and have love for each other and others we have more than all the riches in the world.

    Photo by StopNLook

  • Living on a Budget: Creative Cash (July Update)

    July is my sixth month tracking my Creative Cash.  What is Creative Cash?  Creative Cash is finding ways to come up with extra cash to share with others as well as work on our current goal.  I am working part time, a stay at home Mom, and wear many other hats from day to day, however, I feel that it is important to save money for our family by using coupons and buying items on sale but to earn a little money to help with the extra expenses and to share with others.  The extra amount I bring in on top of the work is what I call “Creative Cash” which means finding ways to make money creatively or with items and talents I have already.  I have tested this goal over the last couple months as I am challenging myself to make my life more simplified.   I plan to continue this goal for the remaining months of the year.  Despite the many financial obstacles that we have faced as a family we have been blessed with so much.  We believe it is important to be accountable with our finances and give to others.

    Explanation: The creative cash will be made throughout the entire month through various endeavors.  As it comes in the money is placed into our savings account and withdrawn at the end of the month so it can be split.  It is my goal to make at least $100 extra a month to help with our goals as well as share with others.  At the end of the month the money will be split 50 / 50 with half going towards our current goal we are working on (which at the moment is paying down debt) and the other half going to charity.

    To be honest July was not a great month, our family was extremely active in many other areas.  I have only been home one weekend the past couple of months so it has been difficult squeezing in the extra activities to generate the creative cash.  I am thankful that we have had the opportunity to travel together as a family and create many great new memories, however, the creative cash has been effected by it.  I anticipate August being another busy month but hopefully once the girls get back in school life will once again return our new “normal” and I can come closer to meeting this goal.  Thankfully I was able to save some extra cash even though I did not reach my my goal of $100.  I want to share with you the ways we did it so if you are looking for ways to make a little extra creative cash for your family hopefully we can be an inspiration in getting your creative juices flowing:

    • $18.98 – Other miscellaneous amounts earned  (rebates, returns, cash back,  extra money, etc…) that was added to my stash for the month.  Most of the cash this month was from rebate checks I received from prior purchases.

    It was a harder month to set the extra aside because it was very busy and I was not able to participate in as many extra creative cash activities.  The good news is despite the crazy schedule I was able to get a few dollars of creative cash.   July’s “Creative Cash” total was $18.98 which means $9.49 extra that goes towards our current goal (paying down debt) and $9.49 goes towards charity.  I didn’t hit my $100 goal this month.  It has been really busy with school being out and traveling with the family.  I am happy that I was able to something this month and every little bit helps us get a little closer to our goals as well as helps others along the way.  I have plan of action on ways to earn creative cash in August so stayed tuned, hopefully, it will be another month where we can get closer to our goal and share with others.  Each month I do a variety activities to accomplish this goal, the items above are just the ones I did specifically in July.  I look forward to sharing more of the things that work well for our family as I do them in the upcoming months.

    I will share with you the challenges, successes, and updates as I go through this journey so you can keep me accountable or even go through it with me by participating  and sharing your story. Taking the extra time to find ways to help our family as well as invest in the lives of others is important to us.  I hope that we have been able to encourage you to find ways to come up with some creative cash for your household as well.  Obviously, each situation and family is unique so decide what works for you and go for it!  Do you know of another way to earn creative cash?   I would love to hear your idea!

    Living on a Budget is a series of ways our family uses a budget to help keep us accountable with our finances.  Life doesn’t always go as planned.  We have used some of the ideas I will be sharing for years while others are ones we are just starting to implement as we continue finding ways to be creative and have fun with what we have been given.  Having a plan in place allows us the freedom to be smart with what we have been given, get more creative when it is a tight (week, month, year or a season) and when necessary live a much more simplified life.  A budget helps us stay on track so we have more opportunities to enjoy the many blessings we have been given as well as share what we have with others.  There is so much more to life than having all the stuff.  We may not have the newest or greatest items in our house, we drive used cars, and wear hand-me-down clothing…..however, if our family is taken care of and have love for each other and others we have more than all the riches in the world.

    Photo by StopNLook