Booster Seat Cleaning Solution

I hate cleaning underneath my daughter's booster seat, but the things that can get stuck under there can be quite unappetizing a few days after sitting there.

The other day I decided to tuck Emily's plastic placemat under her seat instead of on the table and can't believe I had not thought to do that sooner. Now after we enjoy our meal, I just pick the seat up and slide out the mat for a quick rinse instead of trying to clean under the seat, creating a sea of crumbs under our table.

It doesn't help the nasty on the top of the seat, but sure makes the nasty underneath a little bit easier.

For more fun solutions for your family, be sure to visit Works-For-Me Wednesday over at Rocks in My Dryer.

Sound Off: Do you have any clever solutions for dinner clean-up?

Be a Wrap Superstar: Use What You Have

Sometimes it is more fun to spend money on the gifts themselves than it is to spend it on wrapping your gifts. While I love an elegantly wrapped gift, I do enjoy sharing on creative wrapping solutions too. In fact, sometimes those creative solutions are right under your nose. Wouldn't Hallmark be disappointed if we used items we already had to wrap our gifts instead of keeping them in business with their gift bags and wrapping paper?

Here in this first picture is a grocery sack. This paper bag was purchased for five cents from Aldi Supermarket. This was, of course, before I had made the switch to cloth grocery bags so I have many of these useful bags laying around my house that aren't being used.

You can leave the paper bag plain or you can decorate it. I happened to have a Christmas stamp that I stamped onto the paper. The gift tag came from a book of scrapbooking tags that I happened upon at Michael's. I used my coupon to buy them and they were $2 (less with the coupon) for 24 tags. Tie it up with a bow or a piece of raffia, and you have a beautiful gift out of items in your home.

This second gift is wrapped in a map of our hometown. You can pick these up in the different cities that you visit or in different hotels or restaurants. Save them in a folder for wrapping paper and use special areas for the special people in your life.

The gift tag was made out of my business card and then the gift was tied with green raffia. Business cards can be a fun way to tag your gifts to coworkers. Considering many companies overbuy in the business card department, this is a great way to use some of these cards up and also reminds your boss how much he should appreciate your efforts, particularly for large companies where employees and superiors can be a bit more disjointed. Just give it a hole punch and loop it through the ribbon.

Last, but certainly not least, don't forget all of those lovely coloring pages and how useful they can be for wrapping gifts.
Kids love to feel special and they love to contribute towards the making of and the purchasing of the gifts for your family. These scribbled drawings, while not as appealing to the eye as many fancy gift wrap choices, are true beauty to grandparents and other family members.

If you like to have more control over the color choices and such, give your children crayons in your color scheme that you are going for or make suggestions for drawings ("Grandma LOVES snowmen, maybe you could draw her a really special one?").

The gift tag was made from scrap cardstock that I had and then I stamped the tag with the same stamp that was pictured above in my paper bag wrapping job.

Don't forget the other solutions that I have shared on like tailoring your gifts for their recipient and using wallpaper for gift wrap!

I hope this offers some other creative solutions for your wrapping needs! I plan to put this all together into an article for our website for future reference!


***For more great solutions for your family, be sure to visit Rocks In My Dryer for more great ideas for this edition of Works-For-Me Wednesday***

Be a Wrap Superstar: Wallpaper That Gift, Yo!

I was asked to speak to my mom's group this week on how to celebrate Christmas on a budget. Since I do those Tuesday morning show segments, I figured it would be in my best interest to make some pretty props to go along with my morning discussions (and that could double for my mom's group discussion).

How about serving triple duty and sharing them on my blog here too? Why not!

I have several ideas for thinking outside of the box when it comes to wrapping your gifts. Sure, I could go to the store and get a giant roll of wrapping paper, but what is the fun in that? Some of the most fun is in the inventing of new ways to wrap those gifts under the tree.

The gifts might not all match, they may not be overly red and green, they also aren't going to be uniform, but at least each gift will have their own original style.

Today's gift wrapping idea is to check your local thrift store for wallpaper to wrap your gifts. I frequently find gigantic rolls for only $1. Try to pick a design that can be used for the holidays, but also can double for those other special occasions where a gift is needed.

This gift is not only covered in wallpaper, but the gift tag is made from a deck of cards. Is your dad a prankster? Give him the Joker! Is your brother the jack-of-all-trades? A Jack! Does your mom think she is the queen of the castle? Give that woman the Queen!

Tie it off with a little holiday cheer and embellish your gifts with a little ornament or something holiday-ish. I love those ornaments for those teeny trees to put on my gifts or I love to add big old jingle bells to make my present a little more festive.

I hope you enjoyed my quick tutorial on being a wrap superstar. I will discuss another idea next week!!

***For more great ideas today, visit Rocks In My Dryer for Works-For-Me Wednesday!***

Sound Off: Are you a wrap superstar? What are some things you use to wrap your gifts?

Cheap Outdoor Music System

I love to listen to music outside, but we don't have a spare radio that we can use while we are dining outdoors. I decided to create our own outdoor music system using our baby monitor. I hooked our baby monitor up next to our computer, and then turned on our computer with our music loaded on that. The receiver got placed outside and we were able to hear all of our favorite music without making any additional purchases.

Using my baby monitor outside works for me! Please visit Shannon's entry for all of the other participants and their great Works-For-Me Wednesday ideas.

Prepping for Garage Sales

And, no, I will not be hosting a garage sale. My prep work involves everything that I need to know in order to truly maximize my visits to other people's garage sales. I am not ambitious enough to have a garage sale myself. I prefer to donate our items and take the tax deduction. It might be the lazy person's way of decluttering, but it works well for us!

I love to garage sale during the summer. I, in fact, look forward to garage sale season all year long. In the interim, I do a lot of thrift shopping until I can take advantage of all of those great garage sale prices.

I do most of our clothes shopping for the kids by visiting the thrift store often throughout the year. We also have friends & family who pass on their clothing to us, which is a huge financial help. All of these clothes were folded in several boxes in our basement, but I had never taken inventory of what we already had.

This weekend I pulled out all of the boxes and started grouping things together. All of the dresses in a pile, all of the pajamas in a pile, and so forth. And remember when I mentioned that I got some great organizing units from a university student? Well, in her stash were large three drawer rolling carts that would be perfect for organizing the kid's clothing.

I used my label maker and labeled each drawer with the child's name and the size of the clothing. All of the clothes were neatly sorted into the drawers, instead of thrown into boxes that might have been forgotten.

I also got out a piece of paper and wrote down what I have for each child. It was time-consuming and a pain to do, but now when I hit those garage sales I will know just what my kid's need. I realize that ten summer dresses are enough for one little girl, but one pair of jeans won't cut it. I know that my son is great for the fall, but his summer wardrobe is really lacking. This information will really help me when I go to the sales this summer.

Take inventory of what you already have in your house and make a list of things to look for when you go to the garage sales. Try to stick to the list, or only buy things that you will really and truly use in your house. Even if it is only ten cents! Do not buy things that will not have a purpose in your home. A deal is not a deal, if it is just taking up space and collecting dust on a shelf.

Do you have any tips for preparing for garage sales? Do you have a way of tracking the inventory in your homes? Please share! Your comments are invaluable!

Don't forget to swing by Rocks in My Dryer for all the other wonderful participants!

Getting the Car Organized

This week's Works-For-Me Wednesday solutions are all ideas for your car. Shannon requested any great ideas for moms on the go. It is great timing to read all of these entries with Spring Break fast approaching. Be sure to read all of the entries there!

I like to keep a tidy home, but the car is a completely other story. It seems like we are in the car a lot and somehow cleaning out the car becomes last on my task list.

A couple of weeks ago, the warm weather got me out to finally clean my

car though and I must say that the car is looking much better this month. Whether or not we can maintain that is yet to be seen, but I do like some of the solutions I came up with for organizing it (for now!)

- I had two small milk crates that I put on each side of the back seat of the car for each child. My son's crate is filled with crayons, paper, flash cards, and workbooks for him to work on. My daughter's crate is filled with lots of baby toys for her to play with. Each child's also contains a clean sippy cup. This solution has worked really well for us if we visit people's houses who don't have toys or when we go into a restaurant and want to keep the children entertained. The container is small enough that my son can carry his own and I have been toting my daughter's around when I meet friends for coffee and such. This is much better than toys haphazardly thrown around in the back and they now have their own organized space.

- In the front seat, I have a small folder and today I am working on printing out directions to all of the local parks and a few day trips in the area. This will be a great reference for us if we want to get out of the house when the weather is nice out and it will save me a step when we need to be somewhere. I also keep directions to other people's homes that I frequent. I belong to a good size mom's group and to try and remember where everyone is can be difficult. This makes for a great reference and saves me from printing the same directions out multiple times.

- In my trunk, I have a small tote bag filled with a few things that the kids can do when we go to the park. I put two Frisbees in there, bubbles, and bubble wands. I am planning to hit our dollar tree to get a few more things to add to the mix, but it is a nice thing to have to keep the kiddos entertained.

- We also keep a spare phone book in the trunk of our car. This makes it easy to call for directions or place reservations with restaurants.

- Take advantage of times when you are filling your gas tank, to clean out wrappers and such out of the car. I keep a tissue box filled with plastic bags under our seat and I pull that out to make gathering trash up a little easier.

- One thing that I try to do is keep a spare backpack in the trunk of our car. Sometimes we are on the road and aren't able to get home to pick up a backpack before I have to drop my son off for school. This spare backpack comes in handy for those occasions and helps the teacher too!

Feel free to share your own car solutions and be sure to check out all of the entries this week!

Caring for Your Table Linens

I love having a tablecloth on our table. We have three tablecloths that I can rotate throughout the week- a red, burgundy, & white tablecloth. Of all of the colors I have, the white tablecloth is my most favorite of all. Although spills show on it more initially, I can toss it in the wash with bleach and the stains come right out. There is just something about a clean tablecloth & napkins that makes everything look fresh.

Despite loving the look of linens, I do not enjoy ironing. The rarity with which I iron is, at times, a little embarrassing.

Frankly, there are not enough hours in the day for me to be spending them standing over an ironing board.

Since the word ironing is not in my vocabulary, caring for my linens promptly is important when laundering them. I run them through a normal warm cycle (check the tags on your tablecloths to see what is best for your fabric type) and then I dry them until they are just barely dry. They are then folded into thirds inside out and hung on a hanger. I hang these down in our laundry area until it is time to use them.

If you do iron your linens, the best time to iron them is right before you use them. Spray the linens with starch or a spray bottle of water and press away on the reverse side of the tablecloth on the recommended setting.

If linens only make a rare performance on your table, there is one other storage solution that might work better for you. Take an empty wrapping paper roll and line it with acid free tissue paper. Fold the tablecloth in half and then wrap it around the roll. Line the top again with the tissue paper and then store the tablecloth horizontally.

While on the discussion of table linens, I did want to share a few links for folding cloth napkins. I am going to attempt a few of these and see if they improve the look of my table.

Three Simple Napkin Folds
More Detailed Napkin Folds
Elegant Napkin Rolls

Cloth napkins are not only used to wipe faces, but they can also highlight something in the center of your table. This vintage napkin was the perfect place to rest an arrangement of flowers on our table.

Do you have any storage tricks for linens in your home? Do you use linens on your table?

And for those of you that are curious just what it is I am serving at my table, please visit the new “Aldi Queen” blog where I share my recipes and menu plans with everyone!

Be sure to visit Rocks in My Dryer for more tips & tricks from some of the best mommy experts on the net!

Frugality Births Creativity

I feel very blessed to have learned to be frugal because it has stirred within me creativity that I never knew I even possessed. The blessings from my thriftiness are endless and seem abundant in our life. When we had money, we did not feel the urge to be creative with our resources. If we wanted something, we bought it. End of story. Now that we are trying to be more careful with our funds, I have found that I am more creative than I have given myself credit for.

I just want to share with you one example of creativity that has helped us financially. Obviously the website has been a great endeavor for me, but there are little things in my life that I haven’t had the opportunity to share yet.

When we found out we were having a girl, all I could feel in my heart was love and a sea of pink. I couldn’t wait to dress her up in pretty dresses, tights, patent leather Mary Janes, and get to have tea parties with her. I love my son like crazy, and was just so excited that I have one of each child so that I can do unique things with each of them.

When she was born, I never knew that a baby could have so much hair. She had this beautiful, thick dark hair and all I wanted to do was put hair bows in it. We started out with the baby headbands and I was disappointed with the selection in our area. When searching online though, I thought the prices were ridiculous and not worth that amount of money.

Fast forward to six months later, and I had completed a spokesperson position with Cascade. We received the money from that endeavor and I turned to my husband one day and said, “I want to invest that money into a little business for myself making girl’s hair bows.” I won’t say that he was jumping up or down or anything, but he said he supported me, if that is what I wanted to do with my money.

I got a book on how to do it and started hording myself in our basement with a glue gun. I researched for hours on ways that I could get these little masterpieces to stick in their hair without ever being removed. I researched the best types of ribbon, where to purchase the ribbon, how to present the bows and pricing on them.

Pictured here is an example of some of my handiwork. These batches of bows were made for my girlfriend and I was so thrilled to put together such fun ribbon selections, chosen by her. When purchasing ribbon for her bows, I also happened upon these really cute Irish ribbons and I grabbed as many as I felt I could afford. We live in Irish Country (Notre Dame University is just minutes from our house), so in other areas this would be a seasonal item. In our area, it is a year-round type of thing.

I have had great success with selling the girl’s hair bows. Although I am not brave enough to put myself out there online, as it is a tough market, I have had great success by just taking my daughter places in her bows and people asking where I bought them. She has been a great little model for me and I have made some good money doing it. This money is being socked away for something special. What that is? I don’t know yet, but I feel empowered knowing that I can help with the finances and to have a little stash stored away for a rainy day.

The lessons I have learned through my latest little business are great…

I have learned that I can be a creative, even though I never believed that I was.

I have learned that a supportive spouse is worth its weight in gold. My husband could have shook his head and told me he thought my idea was ridiculous, but he didn’t. I didn’t say he didn’t think that in his head, but he never voiced those feelings to me.

I have learned that if there is something not out there that you want, or if there is something you want but can’t afford, find within yourself to be creative and come up with it yourself.

I have learned that there are two types of people- those who think I charge too much and those who think I am selling myself short.

I have learned that asking for money upfront is the best policy. I have had people place orders that have never paid or make requests for items that I worked tirelessly on, only to tell me that they changed their mind.

I have learned that one compliment can go a long way with me. Just one person telling me that they liked what I do is enough to push me for an extra week on whatever I am doing.

I have learned that there will always be people who think that they can do whatever you are doing, but better. There will always be haters out there, but the important thing is to not allow their negativity to take the best parts about yourself out of you.

I have learned that by teaching myself new skills, that I can draw from those skills when occasions arise and save a lot of money on gifts for others.

I have learned donating my creativity to good causes makes me feel more creative and powerful than I have ever thought I could be.

I have learned that doubting myself is the biggest creativity buster of all.

I have learned that frugality fuels creativity. Creativity fuels our bank account. Our bank account fuels a peace about what we have. The peace fuels a happy home. A happy home fuels my life. My life fuels my family. My family fuels me.

What are some of your proudest creative moments? What has frugality fueled within you?

For more Rocks In My Dryer Works-For-Me Wednesday Participants, please click here.

Kid's Craft Idea: Painting Mugs

Since it is another snow-filled day, we worked on a craft project to pass the time today. What better way to pass the time than to work on some fun projects?

When I have been going to the thrift store, I have been picking up plain white mugs. The cost on these is fifty cents and I have been putting them in a box downstairs to make gifts for our family.

I then went to the craft store and purchased a porcelain paint set. The paint set was around four dollars and I used my forty percent off coupon to knock some money off of the total on that. These types of paints require no heat-setting since the glaze that is included sets the paints for you.

With this particular paint set, you need to do a glaze on the surface first and allow that to dry. I actually did this the night before so we wouldn't have to wait on this step.

Today we painted the mugs, which my son had the best time doing. We did put a heart on each of them, in honor of Valentine's Day, and we will be giving these out to some special people in our life.

While waiting for the paint to dry (to apply a final glaze on them), I have been doing a little baking for a mommy that I am running a meal over to. She just had a baby and I get to bring her Valentine's Day dinner. I am making a heart-shaped pizza, a cold pasta salad, and these giant heart brownies. I found this stoneware dish at the thrift shop for two bucks and have been waiting to be able to use it. I hope she will enjoy the meal as much I as have enjoyed cooking for her. Hopefully the weather will hold out so that I can deliver that meal!

I also need to get moving on some laundry and make cookies for my son's class. It has been fun though getting to squeeze in some quality time with my son and do something fun like this.

Give this craft idea a try with your children! These mugs are great for any occasion and what teacher wouldn't love a sweet mug like this made by your child?

Please visit Shannon's Blog, Rocks in My Dryer, for more Works-For-Me Wednesday tips!

I Heart You!

Lucky for me, today's theme for Works-For-Me Wednesday is all about Valentine's Day ideas. I happened to have posted a whole article of budget-friendly ideas for the holiday last week, so please stop over to the article to get tons of ideas that won't break the bank!

On a related note, I attempted to do Valentine's this year with my son. Now being the frugal self that I am, I realize that the store-bought cards are really not expensive at all. You can get a ton of them for a couple of dollars that have dogs on them and say, "You're Top Dog!" and such...They are very nice and we have done that in year's past.

This year I decided I wanted to make the holiday a little more meaningful and with only eleven kids in my son's class, we could definitely swing actually making the cards this year. I was proud that we did it because it required more effort than the store-bought hearts and it was a creative way for the two of us to pass another snow day at home.

Since the weather was bad, all I did was pull all of the red & pink construction paper from his craft bin. I would have loved to incorporate doilies, but after seeing them going for $4.99 last week, I decided that we could do without these. The idea was to save some money, not spend four times as much!

I did have some of those cool jagged scissors that the scrapbookers use and by cutting all my hearts out with those, it gave a pretty lacy effect on the hearts and also on the edges of the cards.

I sat everything out for my son to put his cards together including a big box of buttons and a glue stick to incorporate different dimensions into his work. He came downstairs with a piece of paper (not provided for this mission) and covered it with buttons saying he would rather make lots of planets instead of doing the task at hand.

I then came upstairs to redirect his attention to all of the paper I had cut out for him and all of the pretty hearts and what happened next was exactly what I had expected...I sat and made Valentine's for an entire hour while he made planets on other sheets of paper.

Me: "Do you want to even sign your name on these?"

Son: "Nah!"

So much for being a fun & creative mom! Maybe there are more creative ideas on Rocks in My Dryer as mine was not inspiring enough even for my own kid!

Are You Looking for Redbox Codes?

I love using the Redbox kiosk that is located within our grocery store. For those of you who live in the Michiana area, these kiosks are located inside Martin's Supermarkets.

We tried a movie club, but we didn't watch enough movies to really justify the cost. We also rent a lot of movies from our local library, but sometimes you want a new release that day.

Redbox has been a great alternative for us. You can rent the movie, as long as you want, for only ninety-nine cents a day. Since we typically keep our movie one night, it is only a dollar to watch a new release. You can reserve your movies online through the Redbox website, or you can just pick a movie when you get there.

Recently I discovered this great website called Inside Redbox. I have been using this site for several weeks now and I absolutely love it. The website shares all of the current coupon codes for the month. People can add codes they have used or report codes that no longer work. I have been using these codes for my movies and we have yet to be charged for a single one.

If you like movies and you like free, then please visit Inside Redbox.

As a side note, the reason I had not posted this site before was because I was afraid that it might be shut down with the traffic they would receive or that Redbox, the actual movie company, might be upset that people are sharing these codes. Luckily, the guy who runs the site recently reported a great conversation he had with the VP of Marketing at their company...Guess what? Redbox loves the site and so do we!

Please visit Rocks in My Dryer for more great ideas!

Spinach & Tomato Orzo with Chicken

This week's Works-For-Me Wednesday has a theme and the theme is sharing a low-fat recipe with everyone. I wish I would have saved my low-fat chocolate chip cookie recipe for this week, instead of last week, but hopefully you can still enjoy that recipe.

Here is one of my absolute favorite low-fat dishes that I love to eat. The chicken in this dish could be omitted if you wanted to keep the dish vegetarian.

This recipe came from one of my Rachael Ray cookbooks and it was originally prepared without the chicken, and was served as a side dish. I thought the addition of the chicken would make it a wonderful main dish.

This is one my favorite recipes to bring to potlucks because it something different than people normally prepare and it can be served warm, room temperature, or cold.

I hope you will enjoy this recipe as much as I do. The only bad thing about this dish is that it isn't as good reheated the second day. The tomatoes make it a mushy mess. The good news though is that there are rarely any leftovers! Enjoy!

Be sure to swing by Rocks in My Dryer for more great recipes!

Spinach & Tomato Orzo With Chicken

1 pound spinach, washed, dried, stems removed

1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes, halved

2 lemons, zested

1 1/2 cups orzo, cooked to al dente

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

24 basil leaves, torn or thinly sliced

1 pound cooked chicken breasts, diced

Salt and pepper

Pile spinach leaves in stacks 1 on top of the other. Thinly slice stacks of leaves to make spinach confetti. Pile shredded spinach into the bottom of a medium sized mixing bowl. Halve grape or cherry tomatoes with a paring knife and add them to the mixing bowl. Add the zest of 2 lemons to the bowl and save the lemons in the refrigerator to juice for another recipe. Next add, the cooked chicken to the bowl. Add hot cooked and drained orzo pasta to the mixing bowl. The heat of the pasta will wilt the spinach and warm the tomatoes at the bottom of the bowl and get the juices flowing from veggies. The heat of the pasta will also release the flavor and oils in the lemon zest. Drizzle 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil over the pasta and toss to combine the veggies and orzo. Add basil and salt and pepper and toss to combine. Taste your orzo to adjust seasonings and serve.h

Make Your Own Scented Oil Refills

I have an obsession with making sure our house always smells really nice. House that smells really nice= six or seven of those scented oil plugins all over the house. The problem with having all of these is the cost to maintain them.

My first solution was to find the generic versions at Aldi. They had lots of scents to choose from and they are only $1.67 per plugin. That was a better deal than most places, but times that by six each month and that was quite the cut into the grocery budget.

I was reading a list of tips from Mary Hunt, that are provided by her readers, and I saw this tip. This is one of those tips where I literally smacked my head and said, "Why didn't I think of that sooner?"

The tip was to take scented oils, from cheap places like your local Dollar Store, and refill those puppies yourself.

I went to our Dollar Store last night and picked up an apple cinnamon scented oil. I brought it home and took the oil refill apart. The generic ones basically come apart by being pulled. I am sure the brand name ones probably can screw apart. I then took a small funnel and poured in the new scent. I dipped both ends of the scent-stick-thingie in the oil, just to give it a good start, put it back together & plugged it back in.

Total cost, about five cents a pop! Isn't that such a brilliant idea? I just love when I find a good idea like that!

Oh, and our house smells like a dream. I did get a few weird looks from my husband as I was performing my science experiment, but whatever!

Be sure to visit Rocks in my Dryer for more great solutions!

WFMW: Don't Throw Out Those Take-Out Menus!

It has been awhile since I have participated in Works-For-Me Wednesday, but I have been drained trying to get ready for the holidays. I actually had no original thoughts to contribute!

This week I actually had (I thought) a brilliant idea for those take-out menus that I get in the mail. Usually I get take-out menus from all sorts of restaurants in our area and we also get a booklet from a dining in service that picks up food for you so you don't have to run out and actually pick it up. Normally I throw these in the trash, but they came in handy this week as I have been preparing my menu plan.

This week I was stumped for ideas for dinner, but I pulled these take out menus out and I had a bunch of great ideas for what to fix for dinner. Say you want Italian one night? Well, whip out the Italian take-out menus and pick from those. Don't have a recipe? Well, just head to your computer and look a recipe up on AllRecipes.com. Craving some good pub food? Make your own at home. How about diner food? Why not make it at home instead?

Now since we all know that I love to save money, I had a blast preparing the food and then saying to my husband, "You know, if we went to such-and-such restaurant we would have paid a lot more for this same dish." Since I have the menus I can quote down to the quarter how much I saved us. I am sure it drives him crazy, but it makes me happy!

Menu planning became a lot easier once I saw the menus and even the uncreative can be inspired by reading these.

I hope this works for you too! Check out Shannon's blog for all of this week's participants.

Works-For-Me Wednesday: Organizing Software That Works!

Today I wanted to share about a new software program that has greatly improved my life. The software is called Cozi Central, and it is absolutely free.

This software is made with a mom in mind. It is easy to use, color-coded (for each family member), includes pictures of your sweet little ones, helps you with your grocery list, has calendars with alerts letting you know when your appointments are and you can send love notes to your hubby…all from one central location.

I have been using the software for a couple of weeks now and it has helped my life so much already. One of the features that I appreciate the most on it is the ability for my husband to login from work and see what is going on with our week. He has his own color and so do all of the other family members. He can quickly look at the day and see whether or not that particular night is a good night for him to work late. For example, when he sees that his folks are coming for dinner, he knows that is not the night to make plans to work late. He can also add his own things to the calendar and I can login and add things that the kids and I do during the day too.

I am not into text messaging, but I know that many people would benefit from the text messaging feature. I can write my hubby a note and send it directly to his phone letting him know that we have run out of milk. I can also send my grocery list to his phone or by email.

On their website, they have included these features as highlights of their free program:

Personalize your Cozi Home Page by adding a favorite photo

View upcoming appointments

Access shopping and other lists quickly to keep them up-to-date

Send a Cozi Message to all family members

Simply type in a few words to describe your upcoming appointment and Cozi Central will place it correctly on your calendar

Add and view upcoming appointments at a glance—color-coded for each family member

Easily view the current day, week or month by zooming in and out

Print any view you want to

Cozi Central helps you manage and keep track of the various items you need to purchase and tasks that need someone's attention. It's easy to view and edit shared lists for groceries, big ticket items, birthday gifts, chores, and more.

Information is only useful if you know it's there and can get to it when you need it. We all know what happens when we forget to take a look at the family calendar and other vital family information! Cozi Collage places reminders of your upcoming appointments amid photos of your family to make intelligent use of your computer's down-time.

When there's something quick you want to tell other family members about, it can be a hassle to give each and every family member a phone call or be sure they received your email. Cozi Central enables you to send a quick message. Simply type in your message and then select how to have it sent to each family member: email to Dad, text messages to the teenagers—Cozi Central takes care of the rest.

Doesn’t this sound too good to be true? I thought so too! I did email a representative of their company to find out what the catch was. Would they later be charging you? Would you need to pay to get a different type of membership to get access to other features? Just how did they intend to keep this product free? It was explained to me that Cozi will always be free and that the company receives it revenues by getting paid sponsorships, that way the users are never affected. Well, you know me and free (unless you have been missing my awesome Freebie Fridays) so this sounded like a dream come true.

I highly recommend this software, and heck…it’s free! What do you have to lose to try it?

Thank you to Cozi for contacting us about their wonderful product and we wish the company much luck in giving disorganized mothers everywhere some organization in our lives. As my husband is a former employee of Microsoft, we have a true love for guys who break out on their own from this company and create such fantastic products! Kudos to you all for making such an awesome product!

If you would like to view more solutions for your family, please visit Rocks In My Dryer today!

Works-For-Me Wednesday: Making Restaurant Food From Home

Welcome to this edition of Works-For-Me Wednesday. After being on hiatus last week, it is up and rolling again. Please visit Shannon's blog for a listing of all the participants and their solutions.

I have decided that I no longer enjoy going out to dinner. The only time I really enjoy it is for a special treat or a really nice date night with my husband. If it is not a special occasion, chances are that you will find us eating at home.

I do enjoy certain foods from restaurants, but the hassle and the poor service usually outweighs the desire to go out to dinner.

When I am really hungry for restaurant food, I go to my recipe files and pull out these recipes (for whichever food I am craving that particular night).

Craving Olive Garden?

Italian Veggie & Pasta Soup

2 lbs ground turkey, 3 carrots, chopped very small, 4 stalks celery, 2 cans diced tomatoes (do not drain), 2 cans red kidney beans (drained, 3 cans beef broth, 1 jar spaghetti sauce, 8 ounces noodles (elbow macaroni works great), salt & pepper to taste.

Brown the ground turkey in a skillet. Drain fat from turkey and place in the slow cooker. Add to the slow cooker all of the ingredients except for the pasta. Cook soup on low for seven to eight hours or on high for four to five hours. During the last thirty minutes (if on high) or one hour (on low) add the pasta.

Rosemary & Cheese Breadsticks

1 cup grated Parmesan, Asiago, Romano cheese (made by Kraft in the dairy aisle) 1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary leaves, 1 (11-ounce) container refrigerated breadstick dough (recommended: Pillsbury), 1 tablespoon olive oil

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 heavy large baking sheets with silicone baking sheets or parchment paper. Pour cheese and chopped fresh rosemary on a paper plate to roll the dough in. Separate the dough strips. Using a pizza cutter or a large sharp knife, cut each dough strip in half lengthwise to form thin strips. Working with dough strip at a time, coat each strip with the cheese mixture, pressing very gently. Twist each cheese covered dough strip and place onto prepared baking sheets. Sprinkle with the salt, if you wish.
Bake until the breadsticks are golden brown, about 10 to 15 minutes. Transfer the warm breadsticks to a basket or tall glass and serve.

Chicken Parmesan

4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves, ½ cup Italian breadcrumbs, 1 egg beaten, 4 teaspoons butter, 2 cups spaghetti sauce, 4 slices mozzarella cheese & 1 teaspoon of grated parmesan.

Pound chicken to flatten. Salt & pepper to taste. Dip chicken in egg; then in breadcrumbs. Fry in butter in hot skillet, turning & browning for ten minutes or until chicken is done. Remove from skillet. To skillet, add the spaghetti sauce & heat thoroughly. Add chicken back to the skillet. Place slices of mozzarella on top of chicken and sprinkle with the parmesan cheese. Cover & cook until the cheese is melted. Serve this with a side of spaghetti.

Craving Red Lobster?

Easy Garlic-Cheese Biscuits

2 Cups Original Bisquick, 2/3 cup milk,½ cup shredded Cheddar Cheese,¼ cup butter or stick margarine melted, ¼ teaspoon garlic powder

Heat oven to 450 degrees. Mix Bisquick, milk, and cheese until soft dough forms; beat vigorously 30 seconds. Drop dough by ten to twelve spoonfuls about two inches apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake eight to ten minutes or until golden brown. Mix butter and garlic powder; brush on warm biscuits before removing from cookie sheet. Serve warm.

Linguine with Clam Sauce

1 pound linguini, Salt, 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, 2 tablespoons of butter, 4 cloves garlic, chopped, 1/2 to 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, 1/2 cup dry white wine, Juice from ½ a lemon, 2 (15-ounce) can whole baby clams, with their juice, Handful flat-leaf parsley, chopped.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add salt and the linguini and cook as directed or until al dente. The linguini will continue to cook in sauce, later.
To a large skillet heated over medium heat, add oil, butter, garlic, and red pepper flakes. Cook together. Add wine and the juice from the clams to the pan and give the pan a shake. Finally, add the clams. Drain pasta and add it to the clam sauce. Toss and coat the pasta in sauce with clams until the pasta absorbs the flavor and juices, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat and season with salt, add parsley and serve.

Salmon Baked In Foil

4 (5 ounces each) salmon fillets, 2 teaspoons olive oil plus 2 tablespoons, Salt and freshly ground black pepper, 3 tomatoes, chopped, or 1 (14-ounce) can chopped tomatoes, drained, 2 chopped shallots, 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice 1 teaspoon dried oregano, 1 teaspoon dried thyme

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Sprinkle salmon with 2 teaspoons olive oil, salt, and pepper. Stir the tomatoes, shallots, 2 tablespoons of oil, lemon juice, oregano, thyme, salt and pepper in a medium bowl to blend. Place a salmon fillet, oiled side down, atop a sheet of foil. Wrap the ends of the foil to form a spiral shape. Spoon the tomato mixture over the salmon. Fold the sides of the foil over the fish and tomato mixture, covering completely; seal the packets closed. Place the foil packet on a heavy large baking sheet. Repeat until all of the salmon have been individually wrapped in foil and placed on the baking sheet. Bake until the salmon is just cooked through, about 25 minutes. Using a large metal spatula, transfer the foil packets to plates and serve.

Craving IHOP?

Pumpkin Pancakes with Yogurt

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour,1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 2 teaspoons baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, 3 eggs, 1 cup plain yogurt, 3/4 cup milk, 1 cup pumpkin, canned.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda and spices. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs, adding yogurt, milk and pumpkin puree. Mix well. Pour the egg mixture into the flour mixture and stir until just blended. Spoon the batter onto a preheated, oiled griddle, using 1/4 cup batter for each pancake. Cook pancakes slowly over a low-medium heat for approximately 4-6 minutes, flipping after 3 minutes.

Fluffy Pancakes

1 egg, 1 cup flour,¾ cup milk, 2 tablespoons margarine, melted, 1 tablespoon sugar, 3 teaspoons baking powder, ½ teaspoon salt.

Beat egg until fluffy. Add milk & melted margarine. Add dry ingredients.

Banana Pancakes

1 cup flour,1 tablespoon white sugar, 2 teaspoons baking powder, ¼ teaspoon salt, 1 egg, beaten, 1 cup milk, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, 1 ripe banana

Combine flour, white sugar, baking powder cinnamon, & salt. In a separate bowl, mix together egg, milk, vegetable oil, vanilla, & bananas. Stir flour mixture into banana mixture; batter will be slightly lumpy. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop batter onto the griddle, using approximately ¼ cup for each pancake. Cook until pancakes are golden brown on both sides; serve hot.

Oven Fried Bacon

Use a large, rimmed baking sheet, such as a jelly-roll pan, that is shallow enough to promote browning, yet tall enough (at least 3/4-inch in height) to contain the rendered bacon fat. To save time, you can add the bacon to the oven before it reaches 400 degrees, but exact cooking time will vary from oven to oven. If cooking more than one tray of bacon, exchange their oven positions once about halfway through the cooking process.Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Arrange bacon slices in a large jelly-roll pan or other shallow baking pan. Roast until fat begins to render, 5 to 6 minutes; rotate pan front-to-back. Continue roasting until is crisp and brown, 5 to 6 minutes longer for thin-sliced bacon, 8 to 10 minutes for thick-cut. Transfer with tongs to paper towel-lined plate, drain, and serve.

Craving Tacos?

Slow Cooker Taco Meat

3 tbsp taco seasoning, 1 cup chicken broth, 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Dissolve taco seasoning into chicken broth. Place chicken breasts in slow cooker and pour broth over them. With two forks, shred the chicken meat into bite-size pieces. To freeze, place shredded meat into freezer bag with juices. Press out all the air & seal.

Taco Soup

1 pound ground turkey, 1 can chili beans, with liquid, 1 can kidney beans, with liquid, 1 can whole kernel corn, with liquid, 2 cans diced tomatoes, 1 can tomato sauce, 2 cups water, 1 package of taco seasoning mix.
In a medium skillet, cook the ground beef until browned over medium heat. Drain & set aside. Place the ground beef, chili beans, kidney beans, corn, tomato sauce, water, diced tomatoes, & taco seasoning mix in a slow cooker. Mix to blend and cook on Low setting for eight hours.

How about a burger?

Amy’s Famous Burgers

1 pound ground beef, 1 egg, 1 package dry onion soup mix, ½ cup cheddar cheese, ½ cup mozzarella cheese, 1 t. oregano, Salt and pepper to taste.
Mix all ingredients together and form into patties. Grill according to grill instructions. I usually throw these on the George Foreman grill for ten minutes to cook quickly.

Amy’s Butter Burgers

1 ¼ pound 80% lean ground beef, 2 Tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce, Salt and Pepper, 1 pat of butter per burger

In a large bowl mix together the ground beef, Worcestershire Sauce, salt, and pepper. Shape into four patties and make an indentation in the center of each burger. Fill this indentation with a pat of butter and gently shape the meat around the butter until the butter is sealed. Grill five minutes on each side or until you have achieved desired doneness.

Cheddar Cheese-Stuffed Burgers

10 ounces ground sirloin or lean ground beef, 1/3 cup finely chopped red onion, 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley, 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, 1/2 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese, 2 large (4 1/2-inch-diameter) English muffins, split horizontally

Prepare barbecue (medium-high heat). Combine meat, onion, parsley, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper in medium bowl; blend well. Divide meat mixture into 2 equal portions. Shape each into ball. Poke deep hole in each ball and fill each with half of cheese. Mold meat around cheese to enclose. Flatten each filled burger to 3/4-inch-thick patty. Grill burgers to desired doneness, about 5 minutes per side for medium. Grill muffin halves until beginning to color, about 1 minute per side. Serve burgers in muffins.Serves 2; can be doubled.

Oven Steak Fries

5 russet potatoes, cut into thin wedges 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 1 teaspoon dried thyme. 1 teaspoon dried oregano, 1 tablespoon steak seasoning blend, such as Montreal Steak Seasoning or, salt and pepper.

Preheat oven to high. Cut potatoes and spread out on a cookie sheet. Coat potatoes with extra-virgin olive oil, dried herbs and steak seasoning or, salt and pepper. Spread potatoes to the corners of the cookie sheet. Cook potatoes in very hot oven 25 minutes. Turn potatoes once, half way in the cooking process. Serve fries hot from the oven.

Now you know some of my cooking secrets! I hope you can reach for one of these recipes if you are in the mood to dine out. It will be much friendlier on your wallet!

WFMW: CheckFree Works For Me!

Thanks for swinging by my little blog. I am participating in the Works-For-Me Wednesday this week, despite feeling very uncreative. For more creative ideas than what I am offering, please visit Shannon's blog and get extremely inspired for your week.

I wanted to recommend a service that I have used to pay my bills online. I have blogged about it in the past, but didn't really share this solution in the WFMW spot. I have been using CheckFree for years now to pay all of my bills, and just like the title says... it is free.

We had looked into paying our bills through our bank, but (much like everything in our bank) they charge to do this. I did some research and happened upon this website and I have never used anything else.

How is it free? I guess they have relationships with these companies. The companies want their money, they will pay someone to extract it from our bank account, and we have our accounts extracted for free...um, sort of.

Click the companies that you want them to work with, plug your account information into it, and then let them do the work for you. Saves on stamps because you aren't mailing anything. Saves on paper because you don't need to print every single bill out. Makes tax time a cinch because you have one place where everything is located. Finally, think of the clutter you will reduce in your home if you pay your bills online.

I did want to mention that I am hesitant to have things automatically taken out of my checking account, so instead I wait for the friendly email reminder from CheckFree to remind me that the electric bill is coming up. I then pay things as they come in, that way I can check all of my bills for any inaccuracies.

And if you were wondering, yes, those sales people just *love* me!

Past Entries:
Cleaning Up Yo' Grill
Good Ol' Plastic Bags
Easy Carrying & Storing
Find Just What You Are Looking For
Target Pharmacy
Say No to Hand Cramps
Foamy Soap
Adventures in Shipping
Frugal Exercise Solutions
Microfiber Obsessions
Sand Between Your Toes Blues
Giving the Gift of Magazines (Frugally)
Solution for Cheap Trash Bags
Programming Your Cell Phone
Free Up Pantry Space: Make a Snack
Weeding Through Your Child's Art Work Creatively
Using the Coffee Maker With Ease
Making Your Spice Rack Usable
Maximizing Space

WFMW: Cleaning Up Yo' Grill

Welcome to Works for Me Wednesday. Each week a bunch of us share our solutions for our family with our readers. If you want to get the full experience, please visit Shannon's blog and you will find hundreds of ideas for your family & simplifying your life.

I have a quick and easy tip if you are looking for an easy solution for cleaning your grill. If you have a self-cleaning oven in your home, simply take the grill grates from your outdoor grill and pop them in with your oven. Run it through the self-cleaning cycle and go to bed. In the morning you will have a shiny clean grill and a shiny clean oven. What could be better than that?

Here is the listing of all my other grand ideas- feel free to browse around and I hope you find this tip helpful!!

Good Ol' Plastic Bags
Easy Carrying & Storing
Find Just What You Are Looking For
Target Pharmacy
Say No to Hand Cramps
Foamy Soap
Adventures in Shipping
Frugal Exercise Solutions
Microfiber Obsessions
Sand Between Your Toes Blues
Giving the Gift of Magazines (Frugally)
Solution for Cheap Trash Bags
Programming Your Cell Phone
Free Up Pantry Space: Make a Snack
Weeding Through Your Child's Art Work Creatively
Using the Coffee Maker With Ease
Making Your Spice Rack Usable
Maximizing Space

WFMW: Good Ol' Plastic Bags

Welcome to my little corner of the world over at Works-For-Me-Wednesday. For more great solutions and ideas for your family, please visit Rocks In My Dryer and click through all of the great participants.

I love plastic grocery bags and use them for just about everything- from carrying my library books to lining our trash cans.

I have a caddy with all of my cleaning supplies in it and I take that from room to room when I do the weekly house cleaning. Within it are two of my favorite free tools- newspaper and plastic trash bags. I take a giant trash bag with me from room to room and pull all of the trash from each room. In the bottom of each trash can, I put three extra trash bags and then line it with a final bag. When the trash is full, it makes it easy to toss and then place one of the empty trash bags (from the bottom) in its place. I also keep one newspaper in my caddy of tools for wiping down windows and mirrors....But I digress.

My favorite use for plastic grocery bags is to line my counters and kitchen sink. Instead of dirtying my counter when I open fresh poultry or beef, I just open the package over the empty grocery bag and dump the juices (and bacteria) directly into the trash can.

They are also really handy when peeling potatoes or carrots. Just line the interior of the kitchen sink and clean-up becomes a cinch when you gather up your bags and toss the vegetable peels in one fell swoop.

I hope this helps save some of you some clean-up time out there! Thanks so much for stopping by. For new visitors, I always include links to my past entries. Feel free to browse around!!

Past Entries:

Easy Carrying & Storing
Find Just What You Are Looking For
Target Pharmacy
Say No to Hand Cramps
Foamy Soap
Adventures in Shipping
Frugal Exercise Solutions
Microfiber Obsessions
Sand Between Your Toes Blues
Giving the Gift of Magazines (Frugally)
Solution for Cheap Trash Bags
Programming Your Cell Phone
Free Up Pantry Space: Make a Snack
Weeding Through Your Child's Art Work Creatively
Using the Coffee Maker With Ease
Making Your Spice Rack Usable
Maximizing Space

WFMW: Easy Carrying & Storing

Good morning and welcome to this week's edition of Works For Me Wednesday where hundreds of mommies share solutions for their families. Be sure to stop by Miss Shannon's blog to read all of the entries!

I do a lot of cooking for other families because that is how I feel like I can help in crisis situations and to show my appreciation to people. Since I take meals all over, I have gotten the whole process down to a science. Because balancing and carrying items was hard, I did finally invest in a serving tray that I could carry everything on, but I had a creative solution before which worked for a long time. This solution works really well, in particular, for those flimsy aluminum pans. Just invert a lid of a 9x13" pan and rest your dish into that. I used the edges of it as a handle for carrying the dish and it made it easy to put it in the car.

This also works really well for stacking casseroles (until they become frozen or until you remember you put it in there) when you are freezing multiple dishes.

I also find, when I am running meals, usually the space in my fridge is limited. I just use my cooling racks and stack using those. I can usually get two or three stacks going, which saves on space.

Past WFMW Entries:

Find Just What You Are Looking For
Target Pharmacy
Say No to Hand Cramps
Foamy Soap
Adventures in Shipping
Frugal Exercise Solutions
Microfiber Obsessions
Sand Between Your Toes Blues
Giving the Gift of Magazines (Frugally)
Solution for Cheap Trash Bags
Programming Your Cell Phone
Free Up Pantry Space: Make a Snack
Weeding Through Your Child's Art Work Creatively
Using the Coffee Maker With Ease
Making Your Spice Rack Usable
Maximizing Space

WFMW: Find Just What You Are Looking For

I am stumped for ideas on what to share with you this week for the official Works For Me Wednesday segment (sponsored by my blogging friend, Shannon) so I have decided to take a different approach this week.

Here are the top twenty keyphrases, that people have searched under, and happened upon our site. Maybe