Five Ways Frugal Living Benefits Kids
Photo by Peter Klashorst Sophie is a single mother raising a five-year-old boy. She’s working to establish her own house cleaning business after losing her job nearly two years ago. Sophie and her son...
View ArticleWorst Christmas Became Most Memorable Christmas
Photo by doortoriver via Flickr, CC by 2.0 One year it seemed we were having the worst Christmas ever. That autumn my husband had been in a car accident. His broken neck was healing, but it left him...
View ArticleThe Boy With No Toys
Image courtesy of eyeofboa.deviantart.com Before he was born, his mother decided her son would have no toys. Abandoned by the father, she was already a single parent. She made a living cleaning for...
View Article1,000 Ways To Play With A Cardboard Box
CC 2.0 Flickr photostream mollypop A large appliance box waiting at the curb has always been a call to action. We’ve done whatever is necessary to get it home, mostly dragging it behind our bikes or...
View ArticleEat Your Dandelions
Image courtesy of thaowurr.deviantart.com “You EAT them?” a little boy new to the neighborhood asks. He leans forward for the answer, his face ready to constrict in doubt. Children already well...
View ArticleGlobal Village Construction Set
It’s possible to plant 50 trees in one afternoon. To press 5,000 bricks from the dirt beneath your feet in one day. To build an affordable tractor in six days. It’s possible thanks to the members of...
View ArticleThe Antidote Is Awe
We seek refuge on the porch each afternoon in a ritual known simply as “time for coffee.” Somehow just out the door we’re a step away from the pull of obligations and worries. Here we feel centered by...
View Article25 Ways To Spread Some Kindness
Image: SweetOnVeg’s flickr photostream 1. Take your compliments about an employee to management. Chances are you’ll never see the impact. Chances are, it’ll be greater than you imagine. 2. Give up a...
View ArticleHow Kids Benefit From Chores
Helping out early=long term success. (Image: 2.0 clogozm) Years ago my two older kids, about seven and nine at the time, were getting ready to wash the floor. A neighbor girl knocked at the door asking...
View ArticlePrevent Sweatshop Horrors As You Shop
The cart stops here. Shopping is cheaper and more convenient at big box stores. And on that giant site that shares its name with South America’s longest river. But we know more all the time about the...
View Article10 Reasons To Become A Library Addict
Image: CC by 2.0 ricardo266) My name is Laura. I have a chronic library habit. Sure, I have other, less socially acceptable habits. We can talk about those another day. Right now I’m trying to convince...
View ArticleOn Being A Frugal Geek
There are plenty of assumptions about what geeks do. We own the most advanced technology. We see the latest movies, watch the newest series on subscription channels, play the most recently released...
View ArticleWhat A Cow Taught Us About Free Range Learning
Isabelle. (Photo by Claire Weldon) Look closely at any one thing long enough and you start to see how much more there is to know, stretching your mind (and often your heart) well beyond the supposed...
View Article100+ Non-Toy Gifts for Toddlers to Teens
What do we really want when we offer gifts to our kids? I’m guessing excitement, happiness, hopefully some lasting joy. It’s disheartening to give a highly anticipated toy or the newest gadget, only...
View ArticleWorst Christmas Became Most Memorable Christmas
Photo by doortoriver via Flickr, CC by 2.0 One year it seemed we were having the worst Christmas ever. That autumn my husband had been in a car accident. His broken neck was healing, but it left him...
View ArticleThe Magic of Fresh Air for Babies & Other Beings
CC by 2.0 Abigail Batchelder’s flickr photostream For centuries it was common wisdom that a few hours of fresh air each day was an absolute necessity. Children from infancy on up were bundled in warm...
View ArticleBits of Joy List
I was spawned by list makers. My mother made grocery lists, task lists, correspondence lists, and gratitude lists. My father, an elementary school teacher, made lists of students who needed...
View Article13 Smart Ways To Make Healthy Foods Fun
Eat outside. It makes an everyday meal more fun. Image: CC by 2.0 Rolands Lakis You want the little darlings to eat what’s good for them — and like it. You know power plays, bribes, and other control...
View ArticleUse It Till It’s Tattered
Porch peace flags still hanging in there. Erma Bombeck, comedian of all things domestic, once wrote, My mother won’t admit it, but I’ve always been a disappointment to her. Deep down inside, she’ll...
View ArticleKids Can’t Filter Out Advertising
Image: Dad Zen CC by 2.0 My son was invited to take part in a market research session when he was eight years old. The whole idea seemed bizarre to me. We were raising him in a frugal household out of...
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