The Poor Woman’s Guide to Gourmet Coffee

I love my coffee. What I don’t love is spending money on it. After all, water is free. Add some brewed beans, and you have to pay for it. Doesn’t seem to make much sense, does it? Well, combine my need for coffee and my need for living at our means and you get one motivated woman. I’ve learned a few things about saving money on coffee, even the gourmet kind. Organic coffee usually doesn’t cost any more than standard coffee. It is one of those weird but true things. So, if you only want organic, you don’t usually have … Continue reading

Your Typical American Mormon Family

So, I was watching the Today show this morning and there was a lot of focus on Mitt Romney and the Republican Convention. Big surprise there, I know. The story also included the subject of MItt Romney’s faith because apparently he is going to speak about it in his speech tomorrow night. So, once again, Mormonism is in the spotlight. But, one thing that surprised me was that they said that most people don’t know a lot about our faith. And, I thought, really? Sure, maybe you don’t know a lot about specific theology, like the fact that we do … Continue reading

You Can Window Shop All You Like

‘You can window shop all you like so long as you don’t take the goods home.’ This is the attitude of many to marriage. Another along similar lines is ‘you can flirt as much or lust as you like, so long as when you’re having sex it’s with your spouse.’ These are the type of attitudes a young married couple hear a lot from others they work with and even their friends. The idea is that it is harmless but is it? Faithfulness in marriage isn’t only about sex. It also means not going off for coffee with another of … Continue reading

Things To Do Before Baby Arrives – Part I

When you have a baby, your whole world changes. You will have to sacrifice a lot of your independence, time and resources. In return, you will receive love, wisdom you can’t get anywhere else, and priceless memories. Children will reveal what you want to change and mold you into the person you want to be. They force you to become selfless, honest, full of integrity, creative, generous, adventurous, patient and tough as nails. There is a whole list of reasons that having children will change your life for the better. Some things will never be the same again, and are … Continue reading

Frugal Living Can Be a Blessing

We all have different reasons for trying to save money and live a frugal life. But too often, we focus on the deprivations of living frugally, such as not being able to eat out often, or living without cell phones and cable television. But this is the wrong attitude. Frugal living is a blessing in many ways. It fosters appreciation Just the other day, my family and I were at a local park and everyone was having a great time. I felt completely blessed to have this great free resource nearby. In the past, before living frugally, I wouldn’t have … Continue reading

Do You Have a Room of Your Own?

In your home is there a place that is meant just for you? Do you have a room of your own? Having a room of your own is coming back into popularity. It can be a space to relax, to read, to craft or just to be. I first came across the concept of having a room of your own thanks to a coffee table book called, aptly, A Room of Her Own.. The book chronicled spaces carved out by famous female writers, artists and others as their own. These gorgeous spaces reflected the interests of the owners, and ranged … Continue reading

Mom Fitness: So Moms, What Do You Think?

Newsweek features an interesting article this week that found moms who have kids are not necessarily happier. In fact, it showed that stay at home moms and moms who work have a lot of things in common when it comes to what makes them happy. According to the list, the top things that made moms happy were: Taking a bubble bath alone Working out and going on a family holiday tied Receiving a massage or a romantic date with a spouse tied Playing with the kids or downtime by herself tied Sleeping What was interesting is that both SAHMs and … Continue reading

Coffee and Scrapbooking – Organization and Storage You’ll Love

If you have been reading the scrapbooking blog for any period of time at all, you would know that finding innovative scrapbook storage is a major goal for me. On everything from ribbon storage to finding a way to store pens and markers, to finding items in weird places, I am always on the watch for something new! I have discovered a way to enjoy two of my favorite things, well perhaps three when you think of organization. I am a major coffee drinker and periodically I treat myself to the Starbucks or Godiva chocolate coffee drinks you can buy … Continue reading

How to Frugally Make the Perfect Cup of Coffee

We all long for that perfect cup of coffee, don’t we? That is, after all, why we spend so much money going to our favorite coffee houses and spending a fortune on those designer coffee’s that we could honestly re-create at home for a lot less. Here are a few frugal money saving tips to creating the perfect cup of coffee at home and not having to pay the high prices to do it! Coffee Pot Maintenance – This is important because a coffee maker that is not working properly will never make the perfect cup of coffee, and usually … Continue reading

Meet a Families.com Blogger – Valorie Delp!

Welcome to a new series here in Media Reviews, where we will get to know our Families.com bloggers a little bit better. Our first interview will be with Valorie Delp. Valorie, how long have you blogged for Families.com? I started in June of 2006. What topics do you blog about? Currently–homeschooling, food and baby (or as someone else aptly put it–the breastfeeding blog) What is your favorite thing about blogging for Families.com? There are lots of things I like–but one thing that stands out here vs just a plain old freelance writing job, is the community. You get to know … Continue reading