Sears hosts a neat program called Kidvantage. As long as you purchase kids clothing and/or shoes, they will replace the item with a new one of the same size/brand if it wears out. Yes, you heard me right! If your little fellas, crawling on their knees to play cars, wear a hole in their knee, you wash that pair of pants, take them back to the retail store and they replace the garment! And boy, do those 5 and 6 year olds go through the jeans!

Now don’t kick yourself too hard if you didn’t know about this before. It’s one of the best kept secrets around these days.

Some stores/states require you keep the receipt. Be sure to find out when you go in and sign up. One state we lived in did require one to bring the receipt back in with the garment. The state we live in currently, does not.

After $100 has been spent on the Kidvantage program, you receive a coupon, attached to the bottom of the receipt, for 15 percent off your next purchase.

Since they use your telephone as reference when you go in, even grandma could use this plan.  My mother-in-law would use my Kidvantage number when she made purchases and received the discount. We rarely new clothes.

Tags: great finds

Reuse the back of junk mail envelopes and the envelopes you remove bills from. I use the backs of them for my note paper to makes lists: Grocery lists, to do lists, or jot down things I need to remember. I never buy cute/fancy note pads, although I have been known to receive a few as gifts.

Tags: great finds, Organization

I admit it. I’m a list-maker. I like to make lists of what’s for dinner, l what I need to do today, what I need to pick up at the store, what I want to do in the future. You name it, I list it ~grin~

I wanted to share with you about Motivated Moms planners. I have heard of these before, but had not purchased it. I know… I’m cheap. $8 for a planner seemed like a lot. Ha! It really isn’t, though, at least not for this planner.  AND…. it’s half off because the year is half over! So, if you are interested in taking a peek at her other items, this may be the time to give them a spin. Then you’ll know if you want to go back and spend the extra $4 later.

She has check off boxes for daily and weekly tasks. They rotate week to week.  These are a great starter kit for anyone wanting to jump start their daily schedule.

Some items she has are:

• Full Size Planner
• Half Size PlannerFull Size Planner with Bible Reading Schedule (I wish I had tried this one out)
• Half Size Planner
• Half Size Planner with Bible Reading Schedule

Let me know if you end up purchasing one of these that I don’t have. I’d like to know what you think… or if you already have one that I don’t have, would love to hear.

Tags: great finds, Organization, schedule

This is for teachers and administrators.

http://rochester100.com/index.jsp?action=show_teacher

Filling out that form got me to wondering…. Do you have a name for your homeschool? If so, what is it? Ours is Home of Higher Learning. I’d love to hear yours!

Tags: great finds

Yesterday, in this post, I shared a little about Azure Standard, a company that supplies businesses and co-ops with whole foods, grains, supplements and more. Today, I am going to share some of my favorite products.

When I started with Azure, I didn’t have a wheat grinder, so I bought my flour from them.  They have everything a person could want for all types of diets. Much of it, if not most, is grown on their own farm, Azure Farms. They carry wheat berries, oats, barley and corn for grinding.

Their seed, nut, and dried fruit assortment has been perfect for making granola and trail mix, along with their oats. We have very large bins in our pantry for large quantities of certain items such as flour, oats, sugar, rice, chocolate chips and dried beans.

Early in my relationship with Azure, my orders included additions to my kitchen arsenal. Cookie sheets, pizza pans, and lasagna pans, to name a few. They are stainless steel, which lasts forever. We’ve been using ours for over 12 years now and they hold up so well. The prices at Azure are very good. This is an investment, indeed. Metal bowls were also a must.  At that time, I had 5 children and our growing family was outgrowing my mixing bowls. Plus, if one wants to make bread, or anything else, in large quantities, at least one of these bowls are a must.

I found that they have a super selection of books that appeal to me and my family’s health. Books such as The Encyclopedia of Country Living, How To Raise a Healthy Child in Spite of Your Doctor, Midwifery and Herbs, Prescription For Nutritional Healing, What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Premenopause, books on vaccinations that got me to thinking, and many more, which are no longer listed. Perhaps I will share some of my favorite books in detail later.  We also found some books that work well with our home schooling. They are The Story of Liberty, Sweet Land of Liberty and the Boys of ‘76, written by Charles C. Coffin. These are now required reading for our kids to be considered graduated from our homeschool.

Moving right along… Azure’s prices on baking products such as yeast, baking powder, garlic, and sea salt are good.  Anne to add amino acids in our meals, which is not only healthy, but improves the taste of the foods. I also have come to really enjoy brewer’s yeast on my popcorn, both of which I buy from Azure.

When I place my orders, I make a point to check out the current prices on produce, as I have found some very good buys, such as organic oranges for .65/pound.

I can do so much shopping without having to run to the grocery store.  This saves time and money.

Tags: great finds, kitchen cares