by Jamie Jeffers | Sep 18, 2017 | Recipe
Inside: A few simple ingredients make these cream cheese and chicken taquitos the easiest recipe you’ll make all week! Snacks and lunches just got better!
Most Moms’ ears perk up when they hear the works quick, easy, and chicken. Who doesn’t want another simple (and affordable!) recipe to add to their collection??
That’s why I’m such a huge fan of this cream cheese and chicken taquito recipe. It’s as easy as making a sandwich would be. But I can make these ahead of time and put them in the fridge for lunches or snack time.
And, pssst, I’ve frozen these with success, too! I know “they” say cream cheese doesn’t freeze well, but we’ve had no problems with it.
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by Jamie Jeffers | Sep 15, 2017 | Ways We Saved This Week
In case you aren’t familiar with our story, our family is wading through month number 20 of paying off a big chunk of debt. We’ve stuck with the plan through thick and thin.
In late July our ratty old paid off van quit on us. And now my computer died. It wasn’t even that old! We have no idea what happened to it (though I suspect the kids…ahem.)
I’m kind of glad all of this is happening now rather than a year ago. I might have been more tempted to give up then. Now it just makes me double down on my resolve to be out of debt so we can have a deeper savings account for problems like this!
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by Jamie Jeffers | Sep 13, 2017 | Saving Money
Inside: Doing a few things now can save you a ton of cash later. Just follow this simple checklist and you’ll be sitting pretty this fall!
To do lists seem to get longer every year. Everyone is busy all.the.time. So it’s no wonder that things slip through the cracks. The next thing you know, you find yourself with an expensive repair bill that could have been avoided. Ugh!
Let’s prevent the problem before it happens. Take some time this week to go through this checklist. Be a little proactive and you can save yourself a ton of money later.
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by Jamie Jeffers | Sep 11, 2017 | Happiness & Giving, Parenting & Household Tips
Inside: Inexpensive thank you gifts are just what you need to keep your volunteers going. They’re amazing, and they need to know it!
We all know that one person who works tirelessly to volunteer and give, give, give. If you’re lucky, several people come to mind! They don’t do it for money or appreciation. But you know what? Appreciation never gets old.
You don’t have to give them a big gift card to a fancy restaurant. Little touches go a long way when it comes to brightening someone’s day.
And if you got tasked with getting a pile of thank you gifts for everyone who volunteered at the school this year, no worries. This list should help you get the job done and stay inside the budget!
So even if you’re pinching pennies or going through a #yearofno, you can still find ways to make the good people in your life feel valued. After all, no one likes the division in people that’s in the news every day. You can bring people together, and it has to start in our small communities.
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by Jamie Jeffers | Sep 6, 2017 | Debt, Goals
You know how Dave Ramsey tells you that Murphy will move in when you try to pay off debt? Boy, is he right! July was a tough month emotionally when it came to debt. But August was a doozy for bills!
With an eighth grader joining marching band this year, we were introduced to high school sized fees. Remember back when you couldn’t wait for the kids to leave diapers and formula because you would save so much money? Well it’s kinda like that all over again.
So we used one of our nice chunks of debt money to cover those bills instead. But we didn’t go into debt to cover these bills. And it didn’t leave us without food on our table. It simply backed our debt free date a little further down the calendar.
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by Jamie Jeffers | Sep 4, 2017 | Happiness & Giving, Parenting & Household Tips, Parenting Tips
Inside: A whole list of funny picture books that kids love to hear. Bonus for parents, because you can read all of these books without powering through boredom!
*this post contains affiliate links
One of the first things I did after learning that we were expecting our first child was to buy a few books. Casey at the Bat and Sing Sophie were favorites to read to my belly bump! Besides, we weren’t chasing small kids yet and had plenty of time on our hands.
Reading to small kids is important for many reasons. If you can get kids interested in books at a young age, they are more likely to enjoy reading when they are older. As for our family, we love to laugh! So funny picture books are among our top choices.
Here are some of our favorite, time tested, funny picture books.
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by Jamie Jeffers | Sep 1, 2017 | Ways We Saved This Week
Life has been so busy, and while I try to keep up with blogging as much as possible, it just didn’t get off that pesky back burner this week. But don’t worry! Medium Sized Family is here for the long haul, and I’ll be back to writing new content for you very soon.
On a related note, if you have any amazing advice for a beginning PTO group, be sure to leave a comment!
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by Jamie Jeffers | Aug 25, 2017 | Ways We Saved This Week
Back to school time is anything but frugal. You have to fight tooth and nail to find ways to save money this time of year. Between school fees, supplies, clothing (and I’m just talking about what’s needed for growing reasons, not fashion!), pictures, and sports playing fees (plus the cost of getting into games), a family could go broke!
At this point, we really need to treat this like another Christmas. It takes months to save the money needed for Christmas gifts and fun. We should spend our summer saving up for all of these back to school fees, too.
These are the kinds of things that lead to crazy amounts of credit card debt if you aren’t careful!
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by Jamie Jeffers | Aug 23, 2017 | Parenting Tips
Inside: Parents are as busy as ever, and it’s easy to miss things. Even important things like your child’s health! Use a free app to check your child today.
This sponsored conversation is written by me with SoFluential Media on behalf of
Shriner's Children's Hospital.
My 13 year old son began the summer wearing a size 7 shoe. Granted, it was tight on him then. When we got to the store, we found that he needed a size 9. A couple of weeks later, we went back for size 10.5 shoes. Before school started, we were shopping for size 12s!
You’ve probably experienced the same thing with your preteen or early teenager. (If not yet, get ready for it!)
An Easy Way To Make Sure They’re Growing Right
Kids this age grow by leaps and bounds in a short period of time. While it leaves us amazed (and scrambling for clothes that fit), there’s something we’re all overlooking.
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by Jamie Jeffers | Aug 21, 2017 | Goals
Inside: Blogging is a ton of work, but over time you’ll learn what’s worth it and what you need to stop worrying about. Get advice from a 2nd year blogger!
August marks the birth month of Medium Sized Family! I love to spend a little time reflecting on how far the blog has come, and this year I have 2 years under my belt as a blogger.
When I wanted to be a music teacher, I went to college and studied the subjects they told me to. Blogging is a whole different beast! Sure, you can take classes to learn how to be a better blogger. But it’s tough to figure out what’s valuable… and what’s just noise.
While I have no intention of becoming a blogger who blogs about blogging, I would like to share some of my experiences this year. Maybe this will give other bloggers an aha moment. Or maybe you’ll decide that you’d like to try blogging yourself! Or…not. 😉
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My family is clawing out of debt, one un-bought fast food bag at a time. When I'm not sharing frugal tips, you’ll find me indulging a sweet tooth, juggling our 5 kids’ activities, or playing Rescue Bots (though the preschooler always insists I'm doing it wrong). Hope you'll join the fun and chaos at Medium Sized Family! 
