Mandi Ehman's Blog, page 59

Giveaway: Card Cubby Store Card Organizer {5 Winners!}

Loyalty cards, gift cards, punch cards and more!

If your wallet is overflowing with various store cards, and you’re missing out on opportunities to save money because you can’t find them when you need them, the Card Cubby is for you.

This mini alphabetized file cabinet makes it easy to keep track of all of your cards, and with dozens of colors to choose from, you can do it in style!

The makers of the Card Cubby also offer the Coupon Cubby to help you organize your coupons on the go.

Enter to Win

This week, Card Cubby is giving FIVE lucky Life Your Way readers a Card Cubby in the color of their choice!

To enter, fill out the form below:

The giveaway ends at 11:59 p.m. ET on 4/18. The winner will be selected randomly and notified by email, and this post will be updated with their name as well. Unfortunately, due to the international laws governing sweepstakes and lotteries, we’re only able to offer these giveaways to U.S. residents 18 years and older.

Giveaway: Card Cubby Store Card Organizer {5 Winners!}

© 2010-2014 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved

    Related StoriesGiveaway: WiseDecor Decorative Lettering $75 Gift CertificateGiveaway: Wood Watch from JORD ($129 Value!)Chores & Allowance Revisited {Plus a Printable Time Card for Kids!}

Weekend Reading: April 12, 2014

Big shot!

Thanks so much for all of your encouragement and prayers these past few weeks. Sean’s knee is really starting to make progress, and we’re hopeful that the bone will be completely healed within a few weeks and that the rest of his recovery will just be about rebuilding strength in his legs.

That said, he did tear his trapezium muscle (in his shoulder) last week while lifting himself up with his arms, so he’s been dealing with that pain as well.

Now, where do we sign up for human bubble wrap?

Here are some of my favorite posts from this week. As always, check out what I’m reading and what I’m pinning to see the other posts that make me stop and think (or, you know, drool…). You’ll find new posts all week long!

Lessons for Parents

Why Confessing Our Sin to Our Children is So Important | SortaCrunchy


A Better Way to Say Sorry | cuppacocoa


Cherish Your People, Not Your Floors | The Finer Things in Life

Bigger Than Us

Portraits of Reconciliation | NYTimes.com


Be color brave, not color blind: Mellody Hobson at TED2014 | TED Blog


National Geographic Concludes What Americans Will Look Like in 2050, and It’s Beautiful | PolicyMic

Spice Up the Menu Plan

I’ve discovered that I’m much more motivated to cook when I’m trying a new recipe, so I’m on the lookout for new recipes:

Dairy-Free Creamy Cauliflower Soup | Kitchen Stewardship


Carrot “Rice” Leek Risotto with Bacon | Skinny Taste


One Pot Wonder Chicken Lo Mein | The Wholesome Dish

P.S. Don’t ignore the Heartbleed internet security vulnerability. You need to change your passwords!

Have a great weekend!

Mandi Ehman is the blogger behind Life Your Way. She and her husband have four beautiful girls plus one baby boy, and together they live, work and homeschool on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia. Mandi loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces.

Weekend Reading: April 12, 2014

© 2010-2014 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved

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Follow Your Heart, Mama

There’s something to be said for adding a new baby to your family when the rest of your children are out of diapers and school-age. It turns out that it’s an entirely different dynamic than the days of four children under five, more than one baby in diapers and interruptions from multiple kids every night. Imagine that!

In some ways, it seems crazy — did we really just go back to night feedings and exploding diapers and reflux when we’d already graduated from those stages? And in other ways…it’s simply blissful.

Above all, it’s given me a sweet, sweet perspective of motherhood. There are certainly still days that are frantic and stressful, but there are also days full of cuddles and lots of helping hands.

And what it makes me wish, more than anything, is that I could go back and peel back the curtain for my 22-year-old self when we brought our first tiny newborn home from the hospital.

Although I find myself tempted to give the same ol’ advice that every mother already hears (you know, Cherish these moments. They grow up so fast. It’ll be over in the blink of an eye.), that’s not really the advice I want to give.

Here’s what I would say instead:

Above all else, mama, follow your heart. Read the books, if you must. Talk to friends. Ask your mama for advice. But then sit in the still and the quiet and listen to your heart.

Yes, I know we tend to measure mothering success in the early years by hours slept at night, and I know sleep sounds good — so, so good — right now, but it’s neither a measure of success or your ultimate goal.

If the cry-it-out method sounds right to you, then I won’t tell you not to do it, but if your heart is breaking as your little one cries, you don’t have to resist. Follow your heart.

If you want to hold your sweet baby for all of her naps, do it (you might not get that chance with number two, three or four).

It’s easy to get caught up in worrying about routines and schedules and what your baby needs to sleep in her bed or through the night, but sometimes you just need to let go and follow her lead. I promise it won’t turn her into an out-of-control toddler or a demanding preschooler. There will be a time when discipline and obedience become important, for sure, but that time is not now.

Follow your heart, even when your head disagrees, mama.

Snuggle that baby as much as you want. Let her sleep in your arms or on your chest without worrying about what the next nap will bring.

I know it’s overwhelming and I know you worry that what “they” say is true and you’ll never have a good sleeper if you don’t establish “good sleep habits” now, but it’s not. You’ll be just fine.

Sure, there may be naps where you end up snuggling the baby instead of getting things done, and that may come with a little bit of regret, but I promise you won’t remember that regret in a few years. But if you give in to the pressure to create a perfect sleeper and don’t follow your heart? Well, that’s a regret that will stay with you.

And now for the clichés: They are only little once. Your baby will be a toddler and a preschooler and a preteen before you know it. You will miss these snuggle naps more than you know. And I promise your 16-year-old won’t still be climbing in bed with you.

Information and advice and wisdom passed down through the ages are all wonderful things, but God made you mama to this baby. Above all else, follow your heart.

Mandi Ehman is the blogger behind Life Your Way. She and her husband have four beautiful girls plus one baby boy, and together they live, work and homeschool on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia. Mandi loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces.

Follow Your Heart, Mama

© 2010-2014 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved

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25 Ways to Choose Joy When You’re Struggling

A couple weeks ago I shared 10 ways to proactively choose joy each morning, but in all honesty, choosing joy in recent days has been more of a white-knuckle experience.

Even though I know Sean wants to help, his mobility is still very limited, so I’m still doing most things by myself. On top of that, I think I’m probably still dealing with some degree of postpartum depression, which leaves me exhausted and short-tempered.

Like a big truck heading down a mountain, I can feel the pressure and speed building inside, and no matter how hard I tried to brake at the top of my hill at the start of each day, my brakes are giving out before too long. Reactively choosing joy on these days is a lot like using the emergency ramps carved into the side of the mountain for runaway trucks.

And sometimes the hardest part when we find ourselves racing downhill is convincing ourselves to use them.

For example, at 5:22pm the other night, I was exhausted and grumpy, but I finally pulled myself off of the couch to try to break out of my funk. I turned the music up loud, pasted a smile on my face, rolled up my sleeves and tackled the dishes and dinner preparation.

And you know what? It worked! Sometimes “fake it until you make it” is the best approach! Here are 25 strategies for choosing joy when things aren’t going well:

1. Stop to hug the child whose having a hard time or pushing your buttons.

2. Cry it out. (I don’t think you need to hide your tears. Ma Ingalls didn’t, and I think it’s good for my girls to see that I experience the same emotions they do!)

3. Turn up the music and have a dance party.

4. Send everybody to quiet time.

5. Open the windows.

6. Even better, head outside for a few minutes of fresh air. (Sunshine is good, but even standing on the porch on a chilly, rainy day helps!)

7. Or take a walk.

8. Call or text someone to tell them you’re struggling. (Sometimes just saying it out loud helps me turn things around.)

9. Pop in a movie for the kids.

10. Go for a drive with the windows down.

11. Ask for what you need. (Help, a hug, a chocolate bar…)

12. Eat said chocolate.

13. Take time to knock out the easy things on your list.

14. Do a 15-minute cleaning blitz.

15. Make a cup of coffee or tea and actually drink it while it’s hot.

16. Curl up with your kids and a read aloud.

17. Declare independent reading time and sit down and read a book for yourself as well.

18. Forget the menu plan and have crackers and cheese or smoothies and popcorn instead.

19. Take a shower.

20. Put your pajamas on early.

21. Or get dressed and put on makeup.

22. Do something creative. (Paint, color, cook, bake, play the piano, etc.)

23. Take 30 minutes to exercise hard.

24. Yell into a pillow.

25. Apologize for your short temper.

How do you choose joy when you find yourself in a funk?

Mandi Ehman is the blogger behind Life Your Way. She and her husband have four beautiful girls plus one baby boy, and together they live, work and homeschool on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia. Mandi loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces.

25 Ways to Choose Joy When You’re Struggling

© 2010-2014 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved

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Family Dinners Made Easy {And a Chance to Win a Trip to Italy!}

This post is brought to you by Ragu, but all opinions are 100% mine:

We have not done a great job of eating dinner as a family since Jackson was born. The girls all eat together, but since I often have to have something different than everybody else (because I’m dairy free while Jackson is nursing) and we often eat dinner on the go, we have only been sitting down all together once or twice a week.

This is something I really want to change, not because I think family mealtimes are the only way to build a strong family culture, but because I know it’s one more way to be intentional about our relationships as a family and, to put it more simply, the girls love it!

For example, we never sit at the same places at the table, and when we do eat as a family, the girls jostle for a chance to sit next to Sean or I.

On those nights, without fail, they’ll count “1, 2, 3…” quietly together and then shout, “Thank you, Mom (or Dad or Peyton) for dinner!”

And they often ask to play the “family dinner questions” game, sharing their thoughts and opinions on a variety of topics, both silly and serious.

Because they know that life is busy for many families, Ragú is helping keep family mealtimes a priority with easy to create meals. With 11 tomatoes in every jar, Ragú® Old World Style® Traditional Sauce is their richest, thickest recipe ever, and you’ll find tons of great recipes built around this signature sauce — like these Ragu Sloppy Joes (great idea!) — on the Ragu Sauce Facebook page

Plus, you can enter the Ragú Better and Better Sweepstakes for a chance to win great authentic Italian themed prizes, including a grand prize trip to Italy for a family of four!

How do you make family mealtime a priority?

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Legal residents of the 50 United States (D.C.) 18 years and older. Ends 5/6/14. To enter and for Official Rules, including odds, alternate method of entry, and prize descriptions, visit www.RaguSweeps.com. Void where prohibited.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Ragú® Official New Tra-Dish. The opinions and text are all mine.

Family Dinners Made Easy {And a Chance to Win a Trip to Italy!}

© 2010-2014 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved

     

Tech Tools to Help You Declutter, Clean & Organize

The following post is from Lauren Rothlisberger of Get Me Geeky :

We kicked off spring break last Friday, and I kicked into spring cleaning mode first thing Saturday morning. When the weekend was done, I had 7 large bags to donate to Goodwill. What does that tell me? It tells me things have gotten way out of hand! It means I need to get a better grip on the ongoing ways to give, sell, recycle, or trash items that no longer belong in our house. It also means I need to put my kids to work more. They already do help out some, but we need something more official, and a better way to track this.

A family of six can accumulate a lot of stuff! We try to be intentional about what comes in our home, but just the pure fact that my little people — 7, 4, 3, 10 months — grow at a pretty rapid pace is enough to cause a lot of build up. So like most things it is far easier to control if I put a system in place to more frequently deal with these issues.

I break spring cleaning (or really all year cleaning) into three different categories. You need to reduce clutter, organize, and clean. This all just got me thinking about what technology might be out there to help us do this.

Reduce Clutter

This is the part where I always say it has to get worse before it gets better. Reducing clutter means you either need to sell it, give it away, recycle, or trash it.

One of my favorite apps for this is ThredUp. Through them I can take care of selling and giving away with one bag. You just request one of their pre-paid bags and they ship it to you right away. You then fill that bag with items you want to sell and giveaway. Then drop it at any FedEx or USPS location.

They assess the items you send back, keep out what they are going to sell, and donate the rest. They then pay you for what they are going to sell. Now I have never made big bucks, and it is safe to say I might make a little more at our annual consignment sale, but sometimes I just don’t have time for that. This works really well and just gets it out of my house!

If you have the time to sell items yourself you can probably stand to make a bit more money by taking the middle man out. For that, check out PostMark or ThreadFlip.

Organize

After you reduce your clutter, you need to organize. But are you organizing HOW you reduce your clutter. I don’t know about you, but I am pretty bad about tracking our donations. They always hand me those cards at the drop off and I promptly lose them in the great abyss, also know as, the van.

iDonateIt helps you track and value your non-cash donations.  Also check out, ItsDeductible brought to you by the same makers of Turbo Tax. They help you track your donations and make sure you can maximize your deductions.

Organizing the donations is one thing, but how about your house? Well there are endless blogs, pins, and magazines that flood my life with organization ideas. It is almost overwhelming, but one app I really love is Brightnest. They manage to deliver fresh, simple, ideas. You can choose to look for inspiration without becoming completely bogged down.

While you are busy organizing don’t forget to do some digital organizing. If you are a Mac user check out these 5 Ways to Clean Your Mac.

Clean

Cleaning doesn’t necessarily come after organizing. At least for me, it is something I do as I am organizing. But I know once I get everything organized I feel more inspired to keep everything clean. For me that means I need a schedule. I just need my phone to assign me with this task. I am not a natural clean freak, but I wish I was; I think it would be so much easier.

HomeRoutines is a great app that helps you work through the zones of your house with reminders to help you stay on track!

I mentioned that one of my tasks is to get the kids helping even more. I am looking hard at Chore Bank to help out. Now I do believe kids need to just contribute because they are a member of the family. But earning extra money for new doll clothes or a Lego set is a great motivator to take on some extra chores. I like that Chore Bank helps me track all that. (Or, for the non-technology solution, use these printable time cards for kids.)

Before I sign off, let me mention one more thing: April also happens to be the month of Earth day too. And in honor of that, I must mention recycling your electronics. It is inevitable that you will come across some outdated electronics during your spring cleaning. Apple and Best Buy both offer an electronic recycling program to help you clear technology clutter the safe way.

How does technology help you spring clean?

Lauren Rothlisberger blogs and consults over at Get Me Geeky. As a military wife and mom of three girls five years old and under, she loves focusing on technology and productivity and finding new ways to simplify her life. She recently started putting together MacMinis, which are easy to follow videos for Mac users, and also wrote an ebook, Evernote for Moms.

Tech Tools to Help You Declutter, Clean & Organize

© 2010-2014 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved

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Giveaway: WiseDecor Decorative Lettering $75 Gift Certificate

Custom wall decals are one of the most popular ways to personalize your home because they’re easy and affordable, matching the style of hand-painted stenciling without the time, cost and trouble of inscribing!

WiseDecor offers dozens of options for your wall words  in rich, long-lasting colors and tasteful lettering styles to match any room’s style. Whether you want elegant princess-themed lettering for a nursery or something simpler, WiseDecor will help you find the perfect match based on your preference and taste. You spark the idea in your imagination, and their experienced and creative team of designers will help you bring it to life.

Each of WiseDecor’s custom wall decals is custom-made in their Greensboro, NC studio, not mass-produced in an overseas factory. They use a durable resin without any clear film on or around your design, so it really looks like a painted-on stencil! And most designs come on a single sheet that can be easily applied to your wall.

Choose from predesigned verses and Scriptures or, even better, write your own wall quote, carefully selected from your own journey.

As a small, family-owned business, WiseDecor operates with high integrity standards and values your happiness with their decorative lettering and service, offering a no-questions-asked money-back guarantee so that, no matter what, you will have wall decals that you will love. They will gladly send a replacement to you or refund your money if you are not completely satisfied with their service.

Enter to Win

This week, WiseDecor is giving one lucky Life Your Way reader a $75 gift certificate!

To enter, fill out the form below:

The giveaway ends at 11:59 p.m. ET on 4/11. The winner will be selected randomly and notified by email, and this post will be updated with their name as well. Unfortunately, due to the international laws governing sweepstakes and lotteries, we’re only able to offer these giveaways to U.S. residents 18 years and older.

Giveaway: WiseDecor Decorative Lettering $75 Gift Certificate

© 2010-2014 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved

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Weekend Reading: April 5, 2014

“Excuse me…I mustache you a question!”

Every year I promise myself I won’t procrastinate, and every year it’s the same: we’re 9 days from tax day, and my taxes still aren’t done — agh!

This year I have the world’s cutest excuse, but still, if I end up stressed out next week, I’ll have no one to blame but myself. Thankfully, my bookkeeping — both business and personal — is up to date, so hopefully it will be a fairly straightforward process. And I’ve got a few free drink rewards on my Starbucks card to fuel the process!

P.S. Don’t forget that The Mom Conference starts on Monday. I don’t know about you, but I could use as much encouragement and practical advice for this journey as I can get. With more than 30 FREE sessions, this conference promises inspiration to help you simplify your life! Register today.

Here are some of my favorite posts from this week. As always, check out what I’m reading and what I’m pinning to see the other posts that make me stop and think (or, you know, drool…). You’ll find new posts all week long!

Intentional Work

Master of None | Unfiltered


Looking for the sure thing | Seth’s Blog


Sometimes there is harm in asking. | Jon Acuff

Intentional Marriage

Conscious (Re) Coupling: What remarrying my ex taught me about anger, forgiveness, and redemption. | The Happiest Home


Why I argue in front of my kids (sometimes) | The Art of Simple


Are You Thankful For Your Husband? (30 Day Challenge) | Warrior Wives

Intentional Lunch

Thai Green Mango Salad | Food for My Family


Pineapple Chicken Quinoa Salad | GoodLife Eats


3 Creative Tortilla Roll-Up Recipes | FabFoods

And because I still can’t stop thinking about this awful situation, read about the TEN THOUSAND kids who lost their World Vision sponsors in just two days. And I think I finally figured out Where I Stand.

Have a great weekend!

Mandi Ehman is the blogger behind Life Your Way. She and her husband have four beautiful girls plus one baby boy, and together they live, work and homeschool on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia. Mandi loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces.

Weekend Reading: April 5, 2014

© 2010-2014 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved

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Traditional Cream Puffs Recipe

The following post is from Shaina of Food for My Family and Olmanson Photography:

source: Shaina Olmanson | FoodforMyFamily.com

As a child, my parents would bring us to the state fair. A huge event in my state, we would spend hours touring barns, riding midway rides, climbing the stairs to the big slide, browsing exhibition halls and the 4H building. Of course, there was plenty of eating to be done, too.

My parents each had their own ideas of what the best food at the fair was, and we’d make specific stops at booths along our route for them to share their favorites. Mine were always the cheese curds, but my mom’s favorite food came towards the end of our fair day.

In the far back corner of the fair just past the midway lights and sounds was Heritage Square. A quaint part of the fair made up old fashioned stands filled with woodworking, handmade jewelry and trinkets, and even a used bookstore you could find her treat. A plexiglass cart with a baby blue awning stood at the entrance, and at night the interior would glow. Through the glass you could see them, puffed and golden, dusted with a soft snow of powdered sugar, and filled with clouds of whipped cream.

source: Shaina Olmanson | FoodforMyFamily.com

Always the last on our fair list, we’d bite into the outer crisp shell of the eggy pastries and down into the lightly sweetened cream, powdered sugar raining down as we did. It was and still remains the perfect ending to a long day.

For my mom’s birthday this year we baked up a tray of her favorite food to get at the fair. My kids helped mix the dough on the stovetop, and then we whipped fresh cream by hand. The dusting of the sugar is always everyone’s favorite part, making it snow over the golden brown pastries before setting them on a plate and waiting for her to arrive.

Traditional Cream Puffs
 

Print

Author: Shaina Olmanson | FoodforMyFamily.com
Recipe type: dessert
Serves: 10

Ingredients

1 cup water
1 stick unsalted butter (1/4 pound)
1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
1 tablespoon sugar
½ teaspoon salt
4 large eggs
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar, plus more for dusting



Directions

Preheat your oven to 425º F.
In a medium saucepan, combine the water, milk, and butter. Heat over medium-high heat just until the water simmers.
Remove the pan from the heat. Using a wooden spoon, quickly mix in all the flour, sugar, and the salt. Return to the heat and cook for an additional 3 minutes.
Allow the dough and pot cool for 5 minutes.
Once the dough is cool, mix in the eggs one at a time, until the dough is thick and sticky.
Fill a gallon bag or a pastry bag with the dough. Clip off the tip to make a ½” opening. Pipe 1-2″ rounds onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.
Bake for 10 minutes at 425ºF, and then reduce the oven temp to 350ºF and continue baking for 10-15 minutes, or until golden brown and hollow sounding when tapped. Allow to cool completely.
When cool, in a medium bowl, mix together cream and confectioners’ sugar. Whip until thick with stiff peaks.
Fill the cream puffs by slicing the pastries in half and piping or spooning whipped cream into the bottom half and then placing the top half on top. Dust with confectioners’ sugar before serving.
Serve fresh.


3.2.1284

 

What are your favorite childhood desserts?

Shaina Olmanson is the freelance writer, photographer, and home cook behind Food for My Family. Cooking daily with and for her four kids and husband, Ole, drives her desire to inspire other families to do the same. Shaina is also the author of Desserts in Jars and contributes regularly to a variety of online sites and traditional print magazines.

Traditional Cream Puffs Recipe

© 2010-2014 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved

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Earth Day Repurposing: 101 Ways to Reuse Your Trash

The following post is from Katie of Kitchen Stewardship:

If you visited my house, you might wonder why I have an old sock hanging on top of my toilet scrub brush in the bathroom.

Of course, after reading this, you won’t have to ask….

I’ve been collecting all the crazy ways I reuse items that most people would toss or recycle for over two years just to see if I could get over one hundred to share in honor of Earth Day in April, and not only has it been really fun, but easier than I though to get to the century club. I have personally done {almost} everything in this post…and if anyone is keeping count you might find that there are some bonus lessons in this “101″ course.

So how can you reuse and repurpose your trash? I hope you find at least one new idea you’ve never heard of on this list!

Don’t Trash the T-shirts

Old T-shirts are good for more than Goodwill. Here’s what you should do with the ones too trashed to donate (and other clothing too):

baby wipes
wipe up/dusting rags (cut them in half or fourths so they never end up back in your dresser on accident)
strips to tie tomato plants to cages (nylons with a run work even better!)
to season cast iron (one of the final frontiers where I still used paper towel, I finally realized I could just cut up and throw away a T-shirt I was going to toss anyway. I still end up using each piece about 5-7 times.)

source: Kitchen Stewardship

stuff in places to keep the bees out (our swing set poles have T-shirts crammed in the end = no hornet’s nests!)
my Lenten centerpiece is a square of old turtleneck and a square of khaki pants that got bleach splashed on them (back when I used bleach but still didn’t throw anything away…)
make holey jeans into gardening shorts (or patch them like our grandparents used to)
save scraps of any clothing for quilting; jeans make nifty quilts (check senior centers in your area if you don’t sew yourself)
make purses out of jeans; use other wrecked shirts for accents – here and here are two of the many tutorials on the web.
30 more things to do with T-shirts!

Blow Your Nose and Wipe Your Hands for Free

source: Kitchen Stewardship

Cut old receiving blankets or flannel PJ pants with holes in the bum into handkerchiefs, a different pattern for everyone in the family.
Hem old tablecloths into cloth napkins.

Save the Socks

…even if there’s only one. Whether the dryer mysteriously orphaned a sock (or five dozen of them) in your house or they sprouted holes, you don’t have to throw them away just yet.

scrub toilets (then throw them away; this is my solution to feeling kind of gross about a rag used on the toilet potentially being used on the counter later)
clean floors (ditto)
put around your kids’ glass cups to keep them padded if they drop and the shards contained if they do break

Other Ways to Clean Green

source: Kitchen Stewardship

Green cleaning starts with the solutions you’re using and avoiding toxic chemicals, for sure, but the tools you use can be “green” as well if you repurpose instead of buying new:

old toothbrushes make excellent grout scrubbers and are fantastic for getting around the bottom of your sink faucets, along with rims and ridges while doing dishes (another surprising dishes trick!) I never throw a toothbrush away until I’ve used it to clean – just toss your toothbrushes in the dishwasher after you get a new one. (They’re good for scraping nasties out of drains too, and then you’ll have a great excuse to finally throw it away – ewwwwww…)
the bottles you use to squirt in the bathroom after giving birth – you know the ones I mean You’d think they’d be unusable for anything, but they’re actually wonderful for homemade natural toilet cleaners – gets under the rim! I just use straight vinegar. Easy Peasy.
junk mail credit cards – free pan/pot scrapers for dishes (or give to your little girls for their purses)

Don’t Pitch the Peanuts

source: Kitchen Stewardship

Packing peanuts should never hit the landfills if you can help it:

take to the post office to reuse
put in the bottom of pots below the dirt for drainage (secure in a tied-off leg of panty hose so you can separate them from the dirt later)
simply reuse to mail a package
fill beanbags
make crafts (the eco-friendly ones stick together with just a little water and make great structures, which you can then hose off in the yard so the kids don’t cry because you threw away their masterpiece.)
if you get frozen food in the mail, that Styrofoam cooler with holes in it makes a great worm bin (more on reducing Styrofoam usage HERE)
try not to let other mailing supplies fill the recycle bin either:

Use packing paper for long posters and paint projects, or also to wrap packages to mail
If you order online often, don’t recycle the cardboard. Save up and freecycle it or list for free on Craigslist for people who are moving or take to the post office or UPS store for reuse.



Give New Life to Styrofoam Trays

source: Life Your Way

Styrofoam is my nemesis, especially when I buy produce and it comes on an unnecessary tray. Try to save those from the trash by using them for:

playdough “mats”
crafts (we made sailboats with a bit of playdough, a popsicle stick and a sail)
weaving boards (above)
“serving tray” for little ones to carry around to serve others food
ask your local elementary school art teacher if s/he can use them as paint palettes for the kids

Redeem the Paper Pile

Does the mail pile clash with whatever dumps up out of the kids’ backpacks and make for a paper clutter hazard in your house? Or do you recycle it all immediately? Sorted wisely, some of your paper clutter can have new life:

a child’s artwork becomes wrapping paper, or at least give the art as “gifts” to the grandparents (who can throw it away/recycle it for you so the children don’t feel like you’re trashing their work)
keep the envelopes that come in junk mail to use for sending money or notes to school; if they’re quite empty of text, you can put a label on them and use as an envelope for regular mail.
keep school papers with blank back sides near the computer for printing recipes, notes, etc., and also encourage children to use for their artwork (my kids are so indoctrinated into using leftover paper that they’ll make special cards for people out of paper with a notice about the next PTA meeting at school on the back…)
half sheets of paper from school = scrap paper for the next 30 years

The Many Lives of Empty Food Containers

source: Kitchen Stewardship

Yes, you should keep some “disposable” food containers on hand for gifting food to friends in need. But you can also use washed out food containers to:

store small toys in lidded containers
hold the water for waterpaints
use a plastic lid as a palette for poster paints – super easy to rinse off
freeze beans or broth in 2-cup portions in cottage cheese, yogurt, or sour cream tubs
make a giant checkers game with peanut butter lids – blue and red are perfect pieces!
repurpose an empty soy sauce bottle to ration your real maple syrup
squeezable ketchup, mustard and dressing bottles make great bath toys, or use for a target practice game at your next messy party
baby food jars can hold individual servings of homemade yogurt – culture right in the jar
broken dishes for mosaics (freecycle for an artist)
washed out glass jars make great crayons or colored pencils holders, or these ideas:

as drinking glasses or mugs
to store toys
food storage
decorate with thinned glue and magazine pictures, ribbons for party favors/mugs
flower vases
plus TEN more ideas HERE



Don’t Leave Kids’ Cups at Restaurants

My first choice is to “reduce” by asking for real cups for my kids at restaurants, but if I forget, we don’t leave the cartooned cups on the table unless we know the restaurant washes and reuses (rare). Bring them home for:

water table or bath toys
sandbox toys
pencil cups on kids’ desks
keep a pile to avoid using disposables at birthday parties

Oatmeal Canisters Never Leave My House

source: Kitchen Stewardship

I buy oatmeal in bulk and refill the canisters, but there are 4 other great uses too:

make a small motor skill activity out of an old oatmeal canister with a slit in the lid and milk/juice caps to insert
a free drum
reuse for food storage: great for homemade crackers or granola and probably lots of other things (label the outside well)
cut the bottoms out, tape 3 together and store tall things like toy hockey sticks or umbrellas

Can the Parm, not the Can

source: Life Your Way

If you haven’t switched over to shredding your own Parmesan yet, use the green lidded containers for:

baking soda for cleaning
shaking garden fertilizer
carting around nuts or seeds for snacking
storing dehydrated greens to sprinkle on soups and eggs

Reusable Bags Way Beyond the Grocery Store

source: Kitchen Stewardship

Those bags that onions and citrus are sold in have a myriad of uses:

scrubbing dishes (sew onto a washcloth or wrap a sponge)
for sprouting beans, grains, or large seeds – DIY instructions here
storing kids’ floor puzzles, beach toys, wooden blocks, or other games with many pieces (beach toys are particularly nice because they can air dry as you walk)

source: Kitchen Stewardship

Even though you probably use a reusable shopping bag at the store, those plastic grocery bags still seem to show up. A few ideas:

line a garbage can
separate categories in the freezer
make painting easier by covering supplies in between work days
for dirty laundry in suitcases
swimming wet bags
produce bags for bulk purchases
details on these + 9 more ideas right HERE


I don’t even throw away bread bags after we finish a loaf. Try this:

storing homemade bread or rolls or tortillas
enclosing other bags that are too hard to close on their own, like a bag of frozen peas with just a few missing that keeps wiggling its way out of its twist tie.



Before You Compost it, Make Use of It

source: Better Than a Box

Not all food that you don’t eat needs to be trashed, or even composted — use it up first!

bones and veggie scraps for homemade stock, of course
potato peels for a crunchy snack
bit of leftover veggies in cream of potato soup
bread heels to make breadcrumbs for any purpose, including homemade chicken nuggets (above)
apple cores and peels for fruit scrap vinegar
OR if you’re making applesauce, put the cores in a separate, smaller pot on the stove with a little water, cook until soft, and then press through a fine-mesh strainer. You’ll be surprised at how much apple you can get out of it that way!
save the peels too – squeeze out as much juice as possible (adding the juice back into the recipe, of course!), and then lay the peels out on a cookie sheet. Put them in a warm oven (about 175 degrees), checking frequently, until the peels have dried. Then you can chop them up by hand or use a food processor to get them into small pieces. Store in an airtight container and add some to your oatmeal cookie dough for extra nutrition, fiber and flavor.

source: Kitchen Stewardship

orange peels for homemade power cleaner vinegar
coffee grounds are really healthy for acid-loving plants, like holly, rhododendron, azalea – spread around the base of the plant
you can also freeze coffee in ice cube trays to add to any recipe including chocolate; a few tablespoons brings out the chocolate flavor, especially if the coffee is concentrated a bit
or if you make coffee regularly, pour that last bit that no one wants into one jar in the fridge; in a few days you have enough for a good iced coffee
carrot tops can be eaten too!  Here’s a carrot top soup we tried that was pretty good.
save the crushed chips at the bottom of the bag – especially tortilla chips – in the freezer for a crunchy casserole topping, or even whizzed in the blender for a pie crust for a Mexican quiche (made like a graham cracker crust). Add ½ cup in place of some cornmeal in your next batch of cornbread for a fun crunch.
eggshells alone can be use for

boiling in coffee to take away the bitterness
culturing with water kefir to add minerals
sharpening your blender blades by whizzing with water
starting seedlings
plus 26 MORE ideas for eggshells


More details on some of these plus FOUR more ideas to cook with garbage HERE and 25 more ways to use fruit and veggie scraps HERE

Give Up-cycled Gifts

source: Kitchen Stewardship

try to reuse wrapping paper in general, and even if you don’t open if carefully to reuse it on another gift, run it through the shredder (not cross-cut) to make padding for pretty gift bags and baskets or shipping material
use maps and comics for pretty wrapping paper
let your kids make “homemade” wrapping paper by drawing on packing paper
use old calendar pictures as covers for handmade cards

also framed art (can be a gift for a new couple starting out)
cut out images for kids to practice letters – a homemade alphabet book makes a great gift too (include photos of family members for a special personal touch)



Threadbare Doesn’t Mean a Sheet is Dead

Don’t even think about throwing away an old sheet, even if you can see through it.

rainy day forts
picnic sheets
superhero capes
braided dog toy
disposable cloth diaper liners
toilet paper
nighttime nursing pads
cover plants to protect from frost
cafe curtains
cut into squares and sewn to make beanbags
and half a dozen MORE ideas plus details on the above HERE…

Create New Opportunities for Christmas Cards

source: Green Your Way

Your friends and family don’t have to be recycled after December 25th. Try these ideas:

star of Bethlehem craft (above)
make homemade gift tags
donate to St. Jude’s
details HERE

Outdoor Tools from the Kitchen

source: Kitchen Stewardship

Repurpose plastic containers from sour cream, cottage cheese, and yogurt as “cutworm collars” – cut off the bottom and protect the stems of your cucumbers, peppers and more by planing the seeds/seeding inside the ring pressed into the soil. Cutworms travel on the surface and can’t climb over. You can also use the little plastic pots you might buy small plants in.
Plastic gallon milk jugs serve as a deep-root watering system for tomatoes (and other veggies). See how here.
You can also cut the top off a milk jug and use it to bail water from the bottom of boats after it rains (leave the handle on).
Feed your tomato plants banana peels every few weeks, all summer long.
Sprinkle crushed eggshells around plants to deter slugs or snails who can’t crawl over the sharp pieces of shell.
Cardboard egg cartons (or toilet paper rolls) make biodegradable seed starter trays, and a nasty cookie sheet that deserves retirement makes a quick drainage tray. Here are 6 MORE repurpose ideas for all sorts of egg cartons…

Don’t Organize the Junk, Organize WITH Junk

source: Kitchen Stewardship

My house can get filled with so much, so quickly. Stuff comes in without my permission all the time! Toys and games with many parts and no container particularly get in my craw, and I’m finally learning that if I organize my own stuff into smaller containers, it’s easier to find what I actually need. For example:

I keep often-used essential oils in a little blueberry clamshell with the lid cut off – it fits perfectly in the medicine cabinet and contains the tiny bottles so they don’t sneak around behind my husband’s contact solution. Larger clamshells also house wooden puzzles that came with no container.

source: Kitchen Stewardship

Teachers and librarians know that books facing out will attract more children to read them. I realized that the wooden Clementine boxes are perfect for forward-facing board books. I used to hang onto those things for months before finally pitching them with much guilt because they felt far too sturdy for the trash but had too many holes in the bottom to be used for most purposes (now I try to opt for the cardboard ones and recycle  unless I need new bookshelf organization).
I wash and reuse most plastic zippered bags – but when they come with non-food stuff in them in the mail or home from school, I tuck them into a box in my linen closet and use them for any other non-food opportunities. They’re all over the house keeping puzzles, Polly Pockets, back-up toiletries and more contained where they belong, and I didn’t have to use a new bag or wash an old one. Score!
The thick zippered plastic bags that new blankets or mattress pads come in are valuable finds. They’re great for storing larger toys with way too many parts, and for storing off-season sheets. Don’t ever pitch one – I guarantee you’ll find many uses for them!
Old cookie sheets too nasty to donate make surprisingly helpful organizational magic happen:

Put small ones under your kitchen or bathroom sinks for sliding bottles around and out of the way, rather than digging through 10 layers of “stuff” to get what you need.
Super cheap boot tray for winter!
Try keeping “in process” crafts somewhere safe from toddlers (top of fridge) but yet all together and easy to move around (Do you have daughters who work with beads? You know what I’m talking about…)
Bonus: folks are using those surfaces for artsy food photography nowadays!


Shoe boxes just have to be recycled sometimes, but they’re also useful for:

individual winter hat/mitten storage with names written on the boxes
separating items on a deep shelf, usually without a lid (if you can pull out the whole shoe box and see the back half of your cupboard, it’s a lot easier to navigate than having to take out 10 cans or boxes of food – thanks to Andrea for the organizing series she helped me with last fall!)


My purse is organized using all re-purposed random bags (below) – snacks in one, little emergency toys in another, miscellaneous in the third and a zippered one that holds produce bags to reuse. Separate supplies and your cavernous “mom-purse” will be so much more manageable!

source: Kitchen Stewardship

Weird Kitchen ReUses

What happens in the kitchen…doesn’t always stay in the kitchen. Here are a couple ways I reuse kitchen items that just didn’t fit in other categories!

expired baking soda – take it in the bathroom, on the carpet, and more…at least TEN super helpful uses for baking soda HERE
little papers from between pre-sliced cheese (not meats) – use between frozen pancakes so you don’t have to flash freeze. (The trick? You have to put TWO between each pancake.)
plastic tubs from ice cream, bulk-warehouse nut and candy purchases, etc – store bulk foods like rice, oats, dry beans
Altoids tins – store extra buttons that come with shirts, tiny puzzles for the purse, homemade lotion bars
wine bottles – save up enough that it’s worth the drive for a home winemaker, maybe a half dozen, then list them on Freecycle or Craigslist “offered for free.” It’s always better to reuse first than recycle.

source: Kitchen Stewardship

An Earth Day Challenge

Depending on where your family’s trash output and reusing prowess is now, I challenge you to choose one of the following goals for Earth Day. If we can set New Year’s resolutions just because January 1 is a date on the calendar, why not Earth Day resolutions in April!

Save four different items from the trash this month and figure out how to repurpose them – things you would normally have never thought to reuse.
Create a system for saving – a place to put scrap paper or envelopes, a box for jars and bottles or other items that can be used to store things and organize, a spot in the freezer for scraps you know how to use, a container in the craft area for little things to use in projects, or a box to collect stuff you can freecycle or cart to the local art room once a month (plus a calendar reminder to actually do it).
Set a “less trash” goal – by weight or number of bags – for your household to hit 3 months from now as you work to reduce what comes in and reuse what you can.

And last but not least –don’t fall prey to the temptation to keep everything. I don’t want to be fostering anyone’s hoarding tendency. Set limits on your saving.

Happy Earth Day!

What other reusing tips do you practice regularly?

Katie Kimball has been “green” since 5th grade when she read 50 Things Kids Can Do to Save the Earth. She remains slightly disappointed that she didn’t actually save the whole thing back then, but now that she has 3 kiddos counting on her, she keeps plugging away hopefully. Katie blogs at Kitchen Stewardship about real food and natural living and is the author of Healthy Snacks to Go and other eBooks, available for Kindle.

Earth Day Repurposing: 101 Ways to Reuse Your Trash

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CommentsAnother use for orange peels & eggshells; sprinkle in your ... by nameI love this list. How can I print it? by SarahRelated StoriesDoes Garbage Decompose? The Myth and What You Can Do About It