Bit off topic today but I have Olympic fever. A good friend of mine has been to several Olympics as a spectator. It’s a family affair: initially it was a trip with her parents and sibling, then spouses joined in and now her son has been to his first Olympics. I was always impressed that
Life
Less is More: The Lessons of Minimalism
Less is more. Often a cliche but also often true. Trying to embrace the less is more attitude of minimalism. It’s helped me keep my expectations low since we moved here. We have a farmer’s market once a month and the first time I went to it I was brimming with excitement and even had
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Kids
3 Surefire Ways to Unspoil Your Kids
This is a guest post from Amy Suardi of Frugal Mama. This is a timely and topical post for me after reading the New Yorker piece a few weeks ago about America’s spoiled children. Amy has some great strategies here – thank you, Amy. How to raise Unspoiled Kids. Most American children are being treated
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Kids
Confessions
I’m not perfect. I’m not a perfect minimalist or mom and I’ve tried, and failed, at a lot of things. I don’t do it all. While I’m really happy with my life, the balance of family time, the chance to be a stay-at-home mom and also a work-at-home mom, I still fail, and fail regularly,
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Clothing
The High Cost of Your Cheap Clothes
Dara sent me a link to this piece on Slate, an excerpt from the book Overdressed: the Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion. Thanks, Dara. If you’ve pared your wardrobe down significantly you’ve probably made a few donations at a charity shop or thrift store. It probably felt good, as it should. But did you
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Life
Be Patient for Change (With Yourself and Others)
One of my many writing projects is a book about how we got out of debt. As I piece together a timeline of numbers and milestones, it’s been interesting to see the process, how it started, how it kept going. How some of the changes we made took a long time. Some of the changes
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Kids
Advice on Creating a Well Loved and Well Used Toy Collection
Our toy collection includes: one train table + train set, two small boxes of toys, 40-50 books, a half dozen stuffies and a balance bike my son is still trying to figure out. We also have a pack of crayons and paper and some train stickers. That’s it for art or craft supplies. My son
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Life
Things I’m Loving – July 2012
If you read a few blogs you may have seen a trend for “things I love” lists. Usually it’s a round-up of things, clothing, make-up, snacks and such, that the writer is enjoying and wants to share. It’s stuff you can buy and the author usually links to websites to buy said things. I like