Tips to Make Easy, Inexpensive All Saints Day Costumes

Tips to Make Easy, Inexpensive All Saints Day Costumes

Every year now, my girls and I look forward to them choosing a saint to dress up as for All Saints Day. Our parish has a party, as does our homeschool co-op. Even if we didn't have those events, I still think dressing up as saints for the feast is a wonderful way to get [...]

How I Finally Printed and Organized 7 Years of Family Photos

How I Finally Printed and Organized 7 Years of Family Photos

I have long wanted to make family photo albums - not fancy scrapbooks with all sort of fun stickers and notations - just plain old photo albums. My parents used to develop all of the film from the family camera once a year and do a massive sorting of the photos, putting them into albums [...]

My Best Tips for Weekend Getaways on a Small Budget

My Best Tips for Weekend Getaways on a Small Budget

+J.M.J.+Last week I shared my best tips for traveling with kids in this post here, and today I wanted to share how we plan little weekend getaways on a small budget. Consider the Location We tend to make trips in a 2 - 3.5 hour range away for weekends. This is close enough that Ethan [...]

How We Paid Off $23K + A Catholic Perspective on Dave Ramsay

How We Paid Off $23K + A Catholic Perspective on Dave Ramsay

+J.M.J.+ We have paid off $23,031.00 of student loan debt in two years on an income less than the national average. It was our only debt and it is a relief like no other to have this gone. Ethan graduated with his bachelors degree debt free - this was from a post graduate program. We [...]

42 Tips to Eat Real Food on a Tight Budget

42 Tips to Eat Real Food on a Tight Budget

+J.M.J.+ Nourishing food and tight budgets are really hard to reconcile. I know, because I'm constantly balancing what we're eating with our small income all of the time. People often times want a magical solution to feed their families a beautiful, organic, locally grown diet for "cheap". While my tips below and other ideas out [...]

$65 4 Year Old Girl Fall/Winter Capsule Wardrobe

$65 4 Year Old Girl Fall/Winter Capsule Wardrobe

+J.M.J.+ A few weeks ago I went consignment sale shopping for Philomena's Fall/Winter wardrobe. I got her some items not shown here like snow pants, snow boots, and a winter hat. She also has pajamas and a couple sweaters from a spring sale or hand-me-downs that will work well this winter. I'm just sharing her [...]

Side Jobs For Stay At Home Moms

Side Jobs For Stay At Home Moms

+J.M.J.+ I am very blessed to have a hard working husband to provide for our family's needs. I am also grateful to have some side sources of income that don't take me away from my kids as we plough through Dave Ramsay's financial baby steps. (If you don't know what they are you should really [...]