How to Save Money on Groceries by Tiffany Doerr Guerzon

I love the Internet. It would be so easy to feel a little isolated as a work-at-home mom who also homeschools and is way too busy to have many meaningful in-person interactions. But with the Internet, I have met a lot of writing moms from other states and even call quite a few of them friends! Tiffany Doerr Guerzon is one such writing mom. We met in a group of regional parenting magazine writers and found we had a lot in common. Then she said she had written a book on Amazon and I was like MORE in common! So I checked out her book and left the following review:

As a mom of 5 and honorary "foster mom" to tons more kids in the summer, I found this book to be full of tips, smarts, and humor. I found some great new things to try, including apps to download to save money and put recipes together for me, as well as blogs to check out and much more. The recipes in the back were a nice surprise!

Here is the book description on Amazon and the purchase link is here!

How to save money on groceries is a popular topic. This is because, within most family budgets, there isn't a lot of wiggle room. You can't usually change the dollar amount of your mortgage, rent, or car payment. The weekly grocery bill is one of the few places a person can save a few dollars. But how? Food costs have increased in recent years and many families have food allergies or intolerances that require the purchase of more expensive food products. In this book, I share what I have learned about saving money on groceries through years of trial and error. I have found that a “back to basics” approach works best for me. Many of these cost-saving methods—such as buying in bulk, stocking up, cooking from scratch, buying on sale, and planning meals—are probably strategies our grandparents used. By going back to basics, I can save significantly, without clipping coupons or driving to several stores each week. I also include information on saving apps, batch cooking, alternative buying methods such as food co-ops, and how to read price labels at the store to decipher the best deal. I also include tasty, nutritious recipes. 

While I can't promise you will save a certain percentage on your grocery bill, I can say that by following even some of the saving methods in this book, you can gain control over your grocery spending.

Why Should You Read Books That Help You Interact with Reality?

 

Books play an essential role in life. Books have always been something that keeps people occupied. Some people read them for pleasure. Others read for the sheer enjoyment of something new. Reading books is a rewarding experience. When people read for pleasure, they also learn without being aware of it. The following are benefits of reading something, even if it takes a few minutes every day.

10 Ways to Transform Your Life This Year

Are you ready to transform your life? Have you been thinking about making changes to your daily life or working towards a future goal? When you’ve been having these thoughts, you may start to realize that they’re just not going away. Because unless you’re ready to do something about them, you may find that you just keep wishing you could make changes. And this doesn’t have to be because you’re not happy now or you’re feeling down. It might just be that you know that you want to take your life in a new direction or that there’s more you can achieve. And that’s so true. If any of us have goals and dreams, we are certainly able to want to go after them and achieve them. But you have to decide that you want it enough.

Homeschool Hacks by Lindsay Knerl Book Review

Today I'm sharing a great book with you called "Homeschool Hacks: How to Give Your Kid a Great Education without Losing Your Job or Your Mind" by Linsey Knerl, mother of six and freelance journalist. 

I was sent a copy to read and review, and I was not compensated monetarily other than with a free copy of the book. Opinions are my own.

After you read my review, you can purchase "Homeschool Hacks" here if you wish! It's available for Kindle, in print, and as an audiobook.

I'm going to pop the Table of Contents here so you can see what's included in the book, then we'll talk some more about my thoughts on it. 

Introduction: How to Use This Book

Chapter 1: Who Are the Homeschoolers?

Chapter 2: How Do You Start?

Chapter 3: Homeschool Legalities and Requirements

Chapter 4: Tools of the Trade

Chapter 5: Sample Schedules and Proper Planning

Chapter 6: Homeschooling through the Grades

Chapter 7: Paying for Homeschool

Chapter 8: Handling the Childcare Problem

Chapter 9: Homeschooling and the Family Business

Chapter 10: Working outside the Home

Chapter 11: Military Homeschoolers

Chapter 12: Temporary Homeschool

Chapter 13: Getting Kids College Ready

Chapter 14: Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

Appendix A: Resources

Appendix B: Sample Junior High and High School Course Outline

Some thoughts:

The Tools of the Trade chapter contains quite a bit of common sense, like writing utensils and other school supplies, including a printer and a computer, so probably the book could've done without this chapter entirely. 

The Sample Schedules and Proper Planning chapter was pretty useful, even for a homeschool veteran like myself. This chapter also includes information about setting homeschool milestones, for example, we need to be done with lesson 80 of math before Christmas break. This way, your child can work ahead or know how much they need to do to get caught up before the break. This is helpful when you have those days (or weeks!) where everything explodes and nothing gets done.

This book is pretty much like other books on homeschooling and anything you can find on the Internet, except it's in a smallish package that you can easily carry around and digest a bit at a time. I do think it's a great resource to have around if you are just getting started, but maybe not so much for a seasoned homeschooler.

The Homeschooling and the Family Business and Working outside the Home chapters were a nice update to a lot of other homeschooling books, many of which do not take these unique situations into consideration. I don't have a family business and I don't work outside the home, but I have worked INSIDE the home and while traveling with the family pretty much ever since my first child was born 20 years ago.

There's a lot of great information in this book, and I recommend you grab it if you have small children or are just getting started. It's one to purchase for your home library in that case. For those who have been in the homeschool game longer, definitely grab it at the library first, and then you can decide if it's one you'd like to purchase.

*If you feel like sharing this on social media, please tag @TillerPress and @simonandschuster, as well as @mommykerrie and @thekerrieshow. Thanks!

Summer Poolside Reading 2021

 Instead of posting a stack of books that I won't read, I'm going to post them one at a time as I'm reading them or as I finish them. Often I read two at a time: a nonfiction and a fiction. I'll also be honest and let you know if I did NOT finish a book and instead wanted to throw it at the wall or burn it. Here we go:

Fantastic pool read: The Flight Attendant by Chris Bohjalian. I got it because I always wanted to be one, but then I ended up loving it and crying at the end.

I dare you to NOT find something in this book that knocks you off balance. There's an entire page kicking your butt about talking about being busy on social media instead of actually DOING something. Guilty. Also, tag this guy on Instagram if you love the book and he'll probably message you!

Be sure to sign up for an email subscription to The Kerrie Show here and follow me on my Facebook fan page for more updates! I'm also on Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Instagram!

10 Ways To Keep Busy In Quarantine

 

Photo by kike vega on Unsplash

If you are having trouble finding ways to fill your time throughout quarantine then take a look at our suggestions below.

1. Start a journal or blog

If you like writing, then why not think about starting a journal or blog. Writing down your thoughts and feelings can be very therapeutic. If you have an interest or hobby that you think other people would love to hear about then creating a blog online for people to read is the way forward.

6 Ways To Treat Yourself After A Long Week

 

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Working and having a family is a big job and responsibility to undertake. You do a lot for others during the week and have many tasks you need to complete and take care of professionally speaking. It may feel overwhelming at times, and you might look forward to having some free time over the weekend for yourself.

Get your spouse to help out with the kids and commit to following through with some or all of the below ideas after a long week. You’ll be glad you did and can return to working and taking care of your kids feeling re-energized after you’ve had some time to yourself.

7 Things You Can do When You're in a Funk

Photo by Inzmam Khan from Pexels

So, let's talk for a moment about what you do on those days that you are either (A) in a funk for no reason or (B) in a funk because nothing is going right; for example, you need to call someone for appliance repair because the dishwasher STILL is not working and a funky smell is also coming from it PLUS you can't seem to get anything in your life working correctly on a certain day. (I'm not talking about full-blown depression here.) 

Some people might call a friend, call a parent or sibling, take a nice bath. One of my favorite ways to get out of a funk is to go for a drive and put on some loud music. The music depends on the mood. Sometimes I'll put on a Spotify playlist, sometimes head straight for some Beatles and classic rock, sometimes current stuff. 

Below are more ideas to help you get out of a funk. One of them is bound to work, and if you pair a couple of them up, you're going to be in a better mood in no time!

5 Fun Ways to Keep Kids Interested in Reading and Storytelling

Image by Kidaha from Pixabay

When children are very young, they love being read to, then many children will even progress to reading books by themselves. There is, after all, something magical about reading and losing yourself in a fantasy world.

Unfortunately, as children grow, there are many other distractions, especially in the modern digital world. Yet, reading and storytelling are still essential to their development, it encourages creative thinking, use of imagination, and puzzle-solving skills.  

While reputable early childcare establishments such as this childcare Liverpool encourage reading, it is important to continue the trend at home. Your children will thank you for it one day in the future!

Audiobooks

Storytelling doesn’t just mean reading a book. Children can get lost in fantasy and learn from it just as easily by listening to an audiobook. This allows them to do other things at the same time and it appears much cooler than simply reading.

If they are still not keen try playing audiobooks in the car and talk to them about it while you’re driving.

Just remember to use open-ended questions if you actually want a discussion.

Try Different Books

If your child isn’t interested in reading then consider what they are reading. This isn’t a one-size fit all option. Take a look at the different books available and encourage your child to try different themes and genres, they are certain to find something they enjoy.

Schedule Time

A great way to ensure everyone is reading is to create a schedule that dedicates just 15 minutes to reading every day. During that time no electronic gadgets are allowed in the house, everyone reads and no one feels like they are missing out.

15 minutes doesn’t seem like too much for a child to read for but it will build the habit.

Children Choose Their Own Books

It’s essential that children are allowed to choose their own books. Just like most things in life, choosing something for yourself automatically makes it more interesting and more valuable.

If your child has chosen a book themselves they are more likely to want to sit down and read it. That’s three-quarters of the battle taken care of!

Lead By Example

Don’t forget that children are naturally curious and rebellious. If you’re telling them to read a book you should be doing the same thing. This encourages them as you’re leading by example. You can do it at the same time as them to reinforce the reading schedule.

If you’re not visibly reading then your children will question the importance of reading and will be more likely to give up. Reading is beneficial for adults as well so it’s not a bad thing to take a few moments to enjoy a good book.

You can even leave the books you are reading lying around and other potential titles, it will ensure your children are interested and help them to choose their next book.

Don’t forget that reading also expands your child’s vocabulary, and may even expand your vocabulary. That’s definitely beneficial as they grow into adulthood.

Train Your Brain to Break Habits and Boost Productivity

Image credit 

We all have habits, routines, and patterns that don’t work in our best interests: it could be smoking, over-eating, procrastinating, or snacking. On the reverse side, there might be things we’d like to get into more, like healthy eating, exercise, or being more productive, but we never seem to get around to it. 

If this sounds like you, you're not alone! According to New York Times business writer Charles Duhigg, whose book The Power Of Habit explores the science behind habit-forming - our brains are hard-wired to fall into patterns. There is the habit-loop, he says, which is a three part process. First, there is a trigger that tells your brain to go into automatic mode. Next, there’s the routine, the unfolding of the automatic behaviour; then there’s the reward - that little hit your brain gets that reinforces the loop. 

According to neuroscience habit patterns are located in an area of the brain called the Basal Ganglia. This part of the brain is responsible for emotions, memory, and pattern recognition. Meanwhile, decisions are made in the prefrontal cortex, which effectively goes to sleep during part two of the habit-loop - following the trigger. 

This is one reason a change to our environment can help us change our habits. When we go on holiday, for instance, none of the usual triggers is there, so we find ourselves craving things less, feeling different, and making new promises to ourselves.  

The good news is we don’t have to go on holiday to break the cycle of bad habits or get into productive patterns. We can train our brains to pull in the direction we want them to. 

Brain re-training 

The body learns as well as the brain. Actually, it’s an intelligent machine with signals and feedback loops communicating regularly with our brains, and therefore us.

What we put into our body has an effect on how we feel and what we crave. If we eat a lot of salty-sweet food, our bodies quickly learn that this is what to expect. It distributes the energy and nutrients it has available as best it can. In the case of ice-cream and popcorn, much of it is stored as fat. 

Since the reward centre of our brain is triggered by those foods we crave them all the more and it becomes a self-perpetuating cycle. Luckily our bodies learn quickly, and if we swap ice-cream and popcorn for smoothies and healthy snacks, we will soon notice the benefits of healthy juices.

Wake-up your muscle memory

Exercise works in the same sort of way. The basal-ganglia is relatively instimulated in an environment that is routine and predictable. If we see the same things day-in, day-out, then we feel the same things too.

If there is nothing new in our environment to stimulate a new mood, feeling, or emotion, we will be destined to repeat the same old habits ad Infinitum. But we don’t need to book a flight to Tenerife to free-up an ingrained habit or routine. It’s easier than you might think.

Use your prefrontal cortex to make a decision. Decide to do something new and different, something you’ve never done before. It could be as simple as walking instead of driving, jogging instead of walking; or doing some yoga to wake up your muscle memory.

Creativity 

Do you think you aren’t a creative person because you could never draw anything decent in art class? Chances are you are creative and express it everyday in the way you communicate, in the choices you make, and in the routines you choose to follow. 

You don’t have to be a gifted artist to get the rewards of a creative life. Reading, writing, painting, photography, meditation, walking, are all creative pursuits that can help tell your basal ganglia that you're into something new. 

Journaling is an excellent habit to start. Writing just 500 words a week, that’s three pages of a small notebook, is a wonderful way to reflect on the previous few days. Any worries you have are sure to come up as you write and you will get a clearer picture of where you’re at and what you need. After you’ve written through your worries, keep on writing and enjoy the process. 

Remember the basal-ganglia is a powerful emotional centre, but it’s not your enemy. It will only respond to any stimulus that comes its way. The more joy you discover in your creative life the more your brain will enjoy it to, and start to crave it.

Summer Reading Update #1 2020

Happy Memorial Day! I couldn't sleep last night, so I was up at 2 a.m. reading Little Fires Everywhere. It's one of the books on my Summer Reading List 2020 (click the link to check it out).

Here's my Goodreads profile, if you'd like to follow me and check out my progress and notes (and reviews) on each of the books I'm reading.

I'm doing additional "updates" posts here on the blog because things change fast around here, plus books I'm reading to my kids are not on the original list. We read year-round here at my house, and I wanted to share some of what we're loving (or not).

You'll find over on Goodreads that we're reading:

Little Fires Everywhere for fiction fun that makes me think, touches a nerve here and there, and makes me want to write fiction because it's so well done.

The War of Art to help kick my butt into some creative and life action.

Junior Great Books Series 5 Second Semester is what I'm reading to my three youngest kids (ages 10, 12, and 15) for the rich short stories, including Shirley Jackson's Charles. I may have bought 6 more of these books since we love them so much. These are also going to translate into a fabulous class at our homeschool co-op, pretty much from grades K-6+.

Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman is what I plan to start with my teen boys this week when they're not working or busy (ages 17 and 18).

Ghosts of Greenglass House by Kate Milford is what I'm reading to my 15-year-old daughter. It's the follow-up to Greenglass House, which we loved.

Hope you're gearing up for a wonderful summer! I'd love to hear what you're reading this summer!

Here's a post I wrote on Goodreads: I love being a homeschooling mom of 5, which means we are always reading lots of different things. I'm usually working on a fiction book and a nonfiction book for myself, then we love read-alouds at my house, so I might be reading something different to each of my kids, who are ages 10, 12, 15, 17, and almost 19 :-) It's such a great bonding activity and a chance to talk about different issues.

Summer 2020 Reading List (plus more) by The Kerrie Show Blog

Yes, friends, family, fans and freaky fast readers, it's that time again, and I don't know about you, but I'm excited to get crackin' on The Kerrie Show Blog's Summer 2020 Reading List!

Not sure what your part of the world looks like right now, but our library system here in the middle of America is a little bit still on lockdown and has been for a coupla months. That means I've been digging out some buried books from my closet as well as ordering some new ones from eBay … and then sitting by the mailbox in a chair waiting for them to arrive. My husband thinks I have a problem but, hey, when I'm reading I'm out of HIS hair, right?!

Conversely, find me on Goodreads and let's connect so you can see what I'm reading and I can see what you recommend! And here is the 2020 Summer Reading List!

I have to admit I already started this one. I get bored with it, then something perks me up and makes perfect sense. I read it to Sam the other night and it made him sleepy. He's 10. Anyway, my goal is to get unstuck from a whole lot of writing projects as homeschooling slows down and summer hits my household full force.

I think I picked this one up at church and never read it. It's pretty thin but I'm hoping it packs a helpful punch.

LOVE Shirley Jackson. Watched The Haunting of Hill House series a while back based on her novel, then recently read a short story by her called Charles to my 12-year-old daughter and we laughed and laughed. Our ex-neighbor recommended the story The Lottery, so I said why not get even more stories by her? (I'm wondering already if Suzanne Collins got the idea for the Hunger Games series from The Lottery)

I like my husband. I love my husband. I should be praying for him with more specific intentions.

This will just be a guilty pleasure read, I'm guessing. (started May 11, finished _______)

I like my kids. I love my kids. I'm gonna pray for them with more specific intentions.

I kinda feel like I have to read this one since we moved to a city called Peculiar, MO. My kids don't normally like this kind of dark stuff, so I'm doing a pre-reading for them. I like that there are more books after it.

Been meaning/needing to read this one for years. 

I love me some vintage times. When the kids are all moved out, Aron and I plan to burn all our current furniture (except for the items he made himself) and buy up all the mid-century modern we can get our grubby hands on!

My friend Ginette mentioned this once and I thought it sounded like a good thing to check out.

I got this one years ago with a Half Price Books gift card from my dad and stepmom, but I never read it. Loved his earlier stuff when I was in my 20s. Hope I also love this one.

Pretty sure I proofread this for one of my very first clients on Fiverr like 7 years ago. Full of good info.

This is one of my favorite authors, or she used to be anyway. Haven't read her work in a long time. Loved The Handmaid's Tale … haunting (check out the slow taking of power from the women and the people over time). Read The Robber Bride to Aron when we were first dating (poor guy). Got my daughter Callie's name from The Blind Assassin in 2000. Hoping to fall deeply in love with this book.

If none of these float your boat or you flew through them and need more ideas, check out the 2020 Summer Reading List by Sarah's Bookshelves here.

Resurrecting Reading as a Mom: Hands-Free Life (9 Habits for Overcoming Distraction, Living Better & Loving More)

I used to be a voracious reader. I remember those first few years of marriage when Aron would be cooking (he loves to do it and does it well) and I'd be snuggled up by a fire (our first apartment had a fireplace!) reading a book. I remember Memoirs of a Geisha, Little Altars Everywhere, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood and a ton more, many of them from Oprah's book club list. (by the way, friend me on Goodreads so we can share book recommendations!)

Then I had my first baby and ... I KEPT READING! I structured my life so that I had plenty of time to read. I nursed my baby to sleep and instead of putting him down somewhere else in the house, I kept him in my arms and picked up a book. Okay, sometimes I watched soap operas and daytime talk shows, but a read a lot. I read mostly nonfiction then ... books on attachment parenting and parenting in general and self-help books so I could try to be the best mom for my kid. After my second baby came along I was able to keep it up ... focus moved to homeschooling books and "how to parent boys" books, since I now had two of those.

6 Ways To Document Your Memories

The older you get, the more things you have to remember and the more other memories start to fade. The big things that happen, often stay with you, but the little day to day things that make you smile are sometimes forgotten about. In the moment, you vow to remember it forever, but a few months later it might as well have never happened. There are ways that you can combat this and keep track of memories that you want to remember in the moment, so that you can look back at them in the future and give yourself something to smile at. You could even keep track of the exact age you were when certain events happened so you can reminisce about how far you have come. 

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Journaling

There is no correct way to journal. It is a collection of your thoughts, feelings and events of the day. You can even just write about whatever you want to at that time. You could decide that you are going to write in it at a specific time every day, or carry it around in your bag so that you can add to it whenever you feel like it. There are absolutely no rules! If you want it to look pretty, make it look pretty. If you want to scribble all over the pages, scribble all over the pages. Don’t worry about how everybody else's journal looks, because your journal is a way for you to relax and record things, it isn’t for anybody else to look at. 

If you don’t know how to start, you should aim to write one sentence a day or answer the same few questions and see how it develops from there. You can even set a reminder on your phone so that you remember to journal as it can be challenging to keep up with a habit when you first start to do something. There is no need, however, to feel guilty if you do forget or just don’t want to some days. 

Journaling and writing, in general, is an excellent way to remember things because you write about how you felt at the time, exactly what was going on, and what you could see, taste and smell. It can bring the memories flooding back to you in a way that just looking at a picture will not.

Journaling can not only be a great way to remember things about the everyday, but it can also have many benefits to you. It can help you slow down and take some dedicated me time. It can also help you to work out how you are actually feeling about things and give you time to work through issues and emotions that you need to. It may feel like just writing, but it can have a positive effect on your life. 

Blogging

Blogging is slightly different from journaling because you are posting whatever you write online where anybody can see it. Blogging started off as a sort of online diary that people post to, but has branched out into other things; you can now choose if you want to use your blog for business or keep it personal. You could blog about anything you want, or you could decide to keep it to specific subjects. Maybe you travel a lot and want to keep track by writing about each trip or perhaps you want to document your days out with your kids! 

With a blog, it is easy to include pictures relevant to what you are writing, so when you can look back through your posts, you can look at the photos as well as what you have written. 

If you want to start a blog about your life or your hobbies, it could help you to connect with people who have similar interests to you. It can also be an excellent way to share while doing something that you love.

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Scrapbooking

Scrapbooking is a great way to organise all your keepsakes and photos together into one place. In your scrapbook you can put tickets from shows, tickets from traveling to new places and other sentimental bits and pieces. Mixing these with photos from the same day or event will give you a clearer picture of what happened when you are flicking through. You can even write dates and information.

There is no right or wrong way to scrapbook. There are, however, a lot more things that you can buy to help and inspire you with scrapbooking. You can purchase scrapbook albums and a whole load of paper, tags, pocket and labels etc., to help you to come up with different ideas on how to display the items and photos in the book. It might be a good idea to walk around the scrapbooking section of a craft shop to inspire you. 

You can create scrapbooks of one-off special events, or it can be something that you continue to add to throughout the year. However you decide to scrapbook, it is nice to have something tangible that you can flick through to remind you of specific times and events. Photos get kept on our phones or in files on our computers to be forgotten about. By scrapbooking, we make sure that our memories are always to hand.

Posting photos online

This is a way that you can take all those photos that are sitting on your phone and use them. You can post them on websites like Facebook or Instagram or any other social media that you use with information about them. There are challenges that some people do, like posting a photo of their day for a whole year. Posting your photos can be something that you do privately for yourself to keep track of things that have happened, or publically with your friends. 

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Yearly Diary/Planner

Your yearly planner is not just something that can be used to keep track of upcoming appointments and events, but it can also be used as a way to jot down things that have happened during the day. 

If you want to get fit, planners can be a great way to document your fitness journey. When you make progress, you can look back at what you could do when you first started, and compare it to what you can do now and feel proud of yourself. If you have a child, you could write down all the new little things they have learned each day. Children grow up so fast, so it can be hard to remember precisely when they first smiled at you or when their first tooth cut through. You don’t need to go into much detail, but just seeing how much has happened over the year will amaze you. Diaries can come in week view and day view, so you can pick a design that you like with as much space as you think you will need. If you don’t fancy using a diary, you could do the same thing with a calendar.  

Record 1 second of your day

One second may not seem like a long time, but you can get a good feel of your day from that second. This could be a great option if you don’t really like to write or don’t like the thought of uploading photographs to the internet. There are apps that can help you to document the short video and put them into a longer, more manageable video, preventing you from being overloaded by one-second videos saved individually to your phone. Some apps even give you the space to write an entry about what was happening at the time, so you have the option to write a little bit if you want too. If you have children, this could be a great way to document how much they have changed over the course of the year!

Take the time to document your memories

You are continually evolving as a person, and writing something at the time that it happens will capture the most accurate representation of what happened and how you were feeling at that moment. We will never remember anything completely without prompting. Reading something that you wrote a few years ago can feel like you are reading something written by a completely different person. We can witness our growth and see how far we have come. When we have goals that we hit, we often don’t appreciate them enough before we move onto something else, but if you can see how much you wanted something and remember that you managed to achieve it, it can give you the chance to feel proud. 

There are so many ways that you can document your memories that there is sure to be one that works for you. You don’t have to stick to any guidelines, and you can choose who sees them and whether you write, take pictures, videos or save small items, or do a mixture of everything! However you decide to record your memories, one thing is for sure, you will be happy that you did when you come to look back through them in years to come.