Category: Household

Ways to Have Kids Help With Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is less than a week away. Are you ready for the family, food-loving holiday? Why not include your whole family in the preparations? Involving your kids in Thanksgiving preparations can be a fun and educational experience. If you are searching for inspiration on ways to have kids help with Thanksgiving, check out the following.

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  1. Decorations: Let them create Thanksgiving-themed decorations like paper turkeys, place cards, or centerpieces. Create placemats for every guest coming to dinner. Decorate the placemats, add a name, and laminate for safekeeping.
  2. Cooking: Depending on their age, kids can help with simple cooking tasks like washing vegetables, mashing potatoes, or stirring ingredients.
  3. Baking: Allow your children to help make desserts or snacks for Thanksgiving. Baking cookies or pies is a wonderful way to involve children in the kitchen. Use the activity as a learning experience for younger children. Show the different measurement sizes as you are preparing the recipes.
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  1. Setting the Table: Teach them how to set the table properly with utensils, plates, and napkins.
  2. Gratitude Activity: Encourage your kids to make a list of things they are thankful for and share it with the family. Write out your gratitude on paper leaves to hang on a tree for a centerpiece. Or just go around the Thanksgiving table and allow everyone to state what they are grateful for this year.
  3. Storytelling: Encourage your children to share a Thanksgiving story or read a book related to the holiday. Ask open-ended questions to get the most out of the conversation.
  4. Donation Drive: Teach the importance of giving back by involving them in collecting items for a food drive.
  5. Clean-Up: Children can also help with cleaning up after the meal. But remember, smaller children may be sleepy after eating. Bringing dishes to the kitchen, washing up, and other age-appropriate tasks are a fundamental part of the Thanksgiving holiday. Praise their efforts for helping clean up.
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Remember to keep tasks age-appropriate and ensure your children are having fun while helping. Thanksgiving is a fantastic opportunity to teach them about gratitude, teamwork, and family traditions. Happy Thanksgiving!

How to Add Fall Décor to Your Home Without Breaking Your Budget

The fall season is here! Are you wondering how to decorate your home without a large expense? Using a little creativity, you can easily add fall décor to your home without breaking your budget.

Inexpensive Fall Decorating Ideas

Dollar stores, discount superstores, or thrift shops are great resources for finding inexpensive items to decorate your home.

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  1. Throw Pillows & Fuzzy Blankets: Place fall-themed throw pillows on your sofa or chair. A comfy fall colored fuzzy blanket is decorative and functional. Pick one with fall colors, maroon, orange, or red.
  2. Candles: Not only do candles make great decorations, but they also smell good too. The scent of apples, burning leaves, pumpkin, or pine brings the fall season indoors.
  3. Crafts: A fall wreath, mason jar décor, or leaf garland with fairy lights are a perfect addition to your fall theme. Pinterest has great ideas for fall crafts on a budget.
  4. Art: Buy inexpensive canvas from the dollar store and create your own art. Use reds, orange, brown, and all the other colors of fall in your artwork.
  5. Flowers: When you are at the farmer’s market, buy a bouquet of fresh flowers to display. Or pick up artificial flowers and a basket from your local dollar store to create a fall-themed center piece. Deep orange sunflowers are a great basic fall flower to start your basket.  
  6. Bring Nature In: Collect pinecones or acorns to place in a dish for display. Even dead flowers or thistles can easily turn into a center piece display. If you want to add color to your finds, use craft paints.
  7. Cinnamon Broom or Pinecones: During the fall season, cinnamon brooms or pinecones are available for purchase. Hanging a broom or displaying pinecones in a jar are a great fall accent. Plus, the cinnamon makes your entire home smell wonderful.
  8. Pumpkins & Gourds: What is fall without pumpkins and gourds? Whether you buy artificial or home grown from your local farmer, pumpkins and gourds are picture-perfect accents to your home.
  9. Dishtowels & Mugs: Fall themed dishtowels and mugs are easy to display in your kitchen. The best part is the low cost of these items.
  10. Porch Displays: Add straw bales, cornstalks, pumpkins, or mums to your front porch. Purchase or make a scarecrow to sit on top of the straw for added fun. When decorating your porch, do not forget your windows. Artificial leaves hanging in the window are a simple concept.

Autumn is a wonderful time of year. Enjoy decorating your home or living space. Even young children can help decorate for fall.

Baking Soda: A Versatile Household Staple

When most people think of baking soda, recipes of cookies, bread, or other delicious treats come to mind. Baking soda or sodium bicarbonate is an everyday household staple. Yet, many do not realize baking soda has various other uses beyond cooking. Some of the typical applications may actually surprise you.

Cleaning

When using baking soda as a cleaner, simply form a paste with warm water and apply the mixture to the object. Rinse and dry. Acting as a soft scrub, the mixture works on all sorts of everyday household appliances, including the microwave silver. The other ways to use baking soda when cleaning include:

  • Unclog a Drain: When you mix baking soda with a cup of cider, you have the perfect mixture to unclog a drain.
  • Laundry: Adding a small amount of baking soda generally about a ½ cup to your wash, helps to refresh your clothes without harsh chemicals.
  • Flooring: Add about a ½ cup to your mop water. Baking soda can actually brighten your floors.
  • Remove Stickers: Mixing baking soda with water to form a paste, the mixture will clean the residue off from stickers or labels.
  • Stain Remover: Use baking soda to scrub the inside of plastic bowls or your coffer cup to remove unwanted stains.

Deodorizing

Sprinkling on various types of surfaces, baking soda acts as a natural deodorizer. From outdoor furniture to pet bedding, use baking soda to refresh odor-producing areas. If you want to try baking soda in other areas for deodorizing check out the following:

  • Carpets: Sprinkle baking soda on your indoor carpets or inside your car. Allow the baking soda to sit for at least 30 minutes, and then vacuum as usual.
  • Furniture: Baking soda is suitable for various soft surfaces. Evenly sprinkle the baking soda on couches or chairs, let set. Then, vacuum off.
  • Kitty Litter Box: When changing your kitty litter box, sprinkle baking soda on the bottom to help combat smells.
  • Tennis Shoes: Sprinkle lightly inside shoes to absorb orders.
  • Bathroom: Sprinkle baking soda in the tub, toilet, and sink. Let stand for at least 15 minutes, clean, and rinse. The baking soda can help remove unpleasant odors.
  • Refrigerator: Place an opened box of baking soda in your fridge to absorb unpleasant smells.

Personal Health

Use baking soda for your personal health.

  • Toothpaste: Even though the taste may not be up to your liking, you can use baking soda as toothpaste. Simply, dip your toothbrush into a small amount of the baking soda, brush, and rinse.
  • Antacid: Mixing around a teaspoon baking soda with a glass of water can reduce heartburn.
  • Relieve Pain of Insect Bites: Mix baking soda with water to create a paste. Apply the thick mixture to the area of bee or insect bite. Leave directly on the inflicted spot for around 20 minutes to stop the pain.

In addition to the list above, baking soda combats weeds. Sprinkle baking soda in between patio blocks to keep the weeds from regrown.

The low cost is the best part of using baking soda in your household. The next time, you are shopping and a box or two to your cart to help with everyday cleaning and more.