by Jamie Jeffers | Mar 23, 2020 | Parenting & Household Tips
If you’re feeling seriously bored at home, here are some simple ways you can use your time. Believe it or not, you can have fun at home!
At some point, you just cannot spend one more minute scrolling Facebook and playing “Is this scary story true…or not??”
It’s all too much!
And you know darned well that if you let the kids play hours of video games, it turns them into monsters.
(Seriously. Mine fight like cats and dogs if they get more than a couple of hours per day on screens. I don’t know the science and I don’t want to look it up. I already feel like I’m living a weird social experiment here.)
What this calls for is a tried and true list of things you can actually DO.
Even if you’re stuck at home and seriously bored.
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by Jamie Jeffers | Mar 21, 2020 | Parenting & Household Tips
Here’s a fun DIY family game you can play at home tonight. Try something different (but easy!) this time.
When screen time has caused quite enough fights for one week, thankyouverymuch, it’s time for something completely different.
After being stuck at home for a week, I wanted to try something a little different with the kids.
Something to make Family Fun Night different from every other night that we’ve been stuck at home.
And I think we came up with something pretty fun. Also totally easy. That you can DIY at home, even if you stink at being crafty or creative.
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by Jamie Jeffers | Jan 15, 2020 | Holidays
When it comes to Valentine’s Day, you can’t forget your favorite munchkins! Show your love with these adorable Valentine Gifts for kids…sure to get a smile!
It was a quiet, cold February 13th evening a few years ago. The kids were snoozing, and I was up contemplating, as usual, whether I had done enough to make the holiday special for them. I already had a small box of $1 chocolates for each of them.
Now I’m not the type of Mom who believes that every event needs to be over the top. Celebrating in simple ways works out best for my family.
The more you give to kids, the less they appreciate what they have. It overwhelms their little systems.
So I decided that I’d give them just one more small gift. Something I could put together at home for free. Something that would be a small bit of “icing on the cake”. (more…)
by Jamie Jeffers | Nov 9, 2019 | Holidays
Finding the right inexpensive Christmas gifts that still show how much you care can be tough. But this list of unique ideas makes it easy!
Remember in the Little House on the Prairie books when Laura receives the inexpensive Christmas gifts of an orange and some candy?
One year she even got her very own tin cup to use!
And the year that she received her rag doll was so special to her.
Think about that. Do you think your kids could even tell you what they got for Christmas last year?
The season has morphed from a simple celebration to an over the top holiday.
Even if you don’t long for those Little House on the Prairie style days in your home, you probably like the idea of cutting back a bit.
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by Jamie Jeffers | Oct 31, 2019 | Parenting & Household Tips
Learn how to get kids to do chores. Let’s make that chore chart more than just another wasted piece of paper!
As you walk through the kitchen to do the dishes, you notice the chore chart stuck to the refrigerator.
It’s giving you the stink eye again.
Because here you are, once more, doing a job you should probably have given to one of the kids instead.
You’re just glad your mom can’t see you right now. She’d be going on and on about how “the kids made the mess, and they can clean it up.”
“Kids have plenty of time to play on their phones, but no time for chores.”
Great points, sure, but they don’t help you to get the kids to actually follow through on the work…do they?
Maybe a chore chart would help. (Scroll down for our chore chart for teens!)
But what you really need is the follow through.
They don’t have to do it while they sing a song in three part harmony. (Even though those old cartoons made chore time look so much more fun in chorus.)
Nah. You just want it done.
Instead of preaching to you about why kids should be helping, let this mom of 6 show you how to get kids to do chores.
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by Jamie Jeffers | Oct 8, 2019 | Holidays
Looking for $20 Christmas mantel ideas? Here’s how to use what you have (with a few fun freebies!) to create a fun look.
I’ve always felt pressured to make my mantel look extra special at the holidays.
There are two problems with that.
One: I’m not a DIY kinda gal. Being crafty just isn’t in my skill set.
And two: I hate to spend money! It seems like you have to spend a fortune to create most of the beautiful looks you find on Pinterest.
None of that has changed. But I still decided to set out to create a beautiful Christmas mantel for our home.
And I pulled it off for less than $20!
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I'm Jamie, and I want to help you afford a beautiful life with your family. 
