At the beginning of the year, I discovered a planner that has revolutionized my housework system.  After years of tweaking different systems and trying to find something that worked for me, I found it.  It’s called the Motivated Moms Planner.  Click here to visit Motivated Moms.

I’ve written reviews on it a couple of times before (here and here) to give you a basic overview of what this planner is.  I think the biggest reason this system works for me is because I didn’t design it.  All my chores for each day are laid out for me and I wasn’t the one who planned them out, so I don’t try to talk myself out of doing them.  Sounds weird, but whatever works, right?

If you weren’t quite sure you wanted to spend the money on a planner you had never used before and couldn’t see before buying it, here’s a great opportunity for you.  Since the year is half over, the 2010 planners have been marked down to only $4 for the full-year planner!  This is a great chance to try it out and see if you like it before you would pay full price for the 2011 planner.  It’s like getting samples of the best wrinkle cream before paying the full price!

This price only lasts until October, when they’ll put the 2011 planners up on their site and 2010 ones will be gone for good.

Disclaimer: I have not received any compensation or free products from Motivated Moms for this post.  It was written because I really like this product.  However, I am an affiliate of Motivated Moms and will receive a small percentage for every planner bought through the link above.

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As an avid reader, I’m always on the lookout for interesting books at great prices.  I use the library quite a bit, but there are some books that I just have to own.  Browsing through used book stores is a thing of the past now that I have small children, so I was so excited to find McKenzie Books!

McKenzie Books is an online used book store with a wide selection of categories to choose from.  The prices are very reasonable and they offer free shipping for orders over $25!  After spending just a few minutes at their site, it was pretty obvious that it would be very, very easy to get an order that qualified for free shipping….and not because of high prices.  They have so many books that I’d like to read!

One thing that sets them apart from any other used book store I’ve ever seen is their BRAIN (Books Recently Added Inventory Notice).  Basically, you can create a books wanted list and they will email you as soon as a book comes in that matches one on your list.  You can have it search for books by title, author, ISBN or even keyword!

I think this is a very valuable feature given the nature of used book stores.  It’s impossible to predict when a certain book will be available and we get busy and forget to check back in.  This does all the work for you!  Now that’s my kind of used book shopping!

Disclosure: This review was sponsored by McKenzie Books.  However, all opinions in this post are 100% mine and it was not edited by the sponsor.

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This year, having guests got a whole lot easier.  Instead of stressing out trying to get everything spotless several days before they arrive, I found a new system and I’m never going back!!

What’s my secret?  I bought the Motivated Moms Planner and it has made housekeeping so much easier!  Of course, it helps me keep the house cleaner all the time, not just when we’re having guests….that’s just what’s on my mind right now because my grandparents are coming to visit in a couple days and I’m strangely un-stressed!

The idea behind this planner is that it plans out several chores for you to do each day so that you don’t ever have to spend an entire day cleaning the whole house.  This way, the house never gets completely, out-of-control messy!  You can have a clean house and still have time leftover to read diet supplements review or whatever it is you like to do in your spare time.  LOL

Click here to visit Motivated Moms. You can also use coupon code “giveaways” (no quotation marks) to get $1 off your order!

Disclaimer: I have not received any compensation or free products from Motivated Moms for this post.  It was written because I really like this product.  However, I am an affiliate of Motivated Moms and will receive a small percentage for every planner bought through the link above.

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I’ve never been a lucky person when it comes to contests or giveaways.  I’ve entered literally hundreds of giveaways for everything from cloth diapers to baby slings to books to office furniture …you name it, I’ve probably tried to win it!  But I’ve never won a single thing…until recently!

I entered a giveaway on The Frugal Homeschooling Mom‘s blog and was shocked when I got an email telling me I won a crayon bag from Simply Stitching!  And when I say shocked, I truly mean that…I may have screamed.  It doesn’t take much to make me happy, folks!

I’m incredibly impressed with this bag, and not just because it was free.  It’s well made and came with the crayons and a coloring book inside!  Ava loves it too, as you can see from the picture.  I’m glad I asked for a Dora one (Lori didn’t have one listed, but told me she had a lot more bags in stock than she had pictured on her site) because that was just the icing on the cake for Ava!  I’m pretty sure I’m going to be ordering another bag for Kelvin in the near future because he already loves carrying Ava’s around with him (when she’s not looking, of course!).

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This week, we tried Crayola 8 ct. Washable Window Markers for the first time. After hearing about them for months, I finally found them at Walmart and decided to give them a go.

I was a little bit worried about the mess factor…would it come off the window sill if they got a little too wild? What about clothes? And how hard would it be to clean it off the window? I also wasn’t sure if the kids were even old enough to enjoy using them.

I shouldn’t have worried. These markers were a blast to play with and a snap to clean up! Both kids thought it was awesome to be able to color on the windows and they had all three of our living room windows decorated by the time we put them away. We had their names, smiley faces, fish, and scribble masterpieces! I may be useless when it comes to annuity explanations, but the kids think I have the best ideas ever when it comes to art! LOL

I’m happy to report that both kids got the markers on the window sill and on their clothes, but they were completely washable. And they came off the windows with no trouble.

Even Chad liked them because it meant I finally got around to washing the windows!

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links, but I did not receive free products or compensation to review this product.

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I have to admit: I was a little skeptical as I ordered my first set of Smartipants diapers.  In my experience in the cloth diapering world, you get what to pay for.  Inexpensive, one-size pocket diapers seemed way too good to be true (kind of like weight loss pills that work! LOL).  I waited anxiously for them to arrive, washed them and tried them out.  I instantly fell in love!!

I honestly don’t have a single bad thing to say about these diapers!!  They’re so easy to stuff because there are slits on both the top and bottom of the diaper.  They fit snuggly, but don’t leave red marks on either of my kids (29 pounds and 23.5 pounds).  I’ve used them a lot and haven’t had them leak yet.  And I’ve had bad luck with snap diapers, but even though they have snaps instead of velcro, they stay in place perfectly!

My former favorite pocket diaper was BumGenius, but Smartipants are so much better…mainly because of the way they fit, but also because of the price!!  They’re about $7 cheaper and are so worth every cent you spend on them!  I can’t recommend them highly enough!

Want to try them out for free?  The “Cent”sible Sawyer is giving away a 3-pack to one lucky winner!!  It’s so easy to enter, so go now!!  The giveaway ends Friday, August 7.

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This year for Ava’s birthday we bought her a Melissa & Doug Classic Deluxe Kitchen.  She absolutely loves it, as you can see from this video!  I was a little hesitant to buy it for her two year birthday because I didn’t know if she’d really know what to do with it yet, but she certainly does.  She has a blast with it!

We’re extremely pleased with it, too.  The reviews on it said that it would take 4 hours to build, but it only took Chad 2 hours.  It’s made out of wood and is sturdy enough to rival any industrial equipment supplies.  Seriously, most toddlers are pretty hard on their toys, but I don’t really see any way Ava could damage this kitchen.  I accidentally gave it a couple of good bumps carrying it up from the basement (with Chad’s help of course) and it doesn’t even show at all.

Plastic kitchens don’t have anything on this toy.  Even though it’s wood, all of the knobs turn and there are buttons on the microwave that Ava loves pressing (and since they’re painted, not just stickers, they’ll be there forever).  Plus, it’s so cute!  Everyone who came for Ava’s party today commented on how adorable it was.

I would highly recommend buying this kitchen for your kids.  It’s high quality and will last through many kids and probably even grandkids.  Plus, Amazon has this listed for an extremely reasonable price.  And, of course,  your kids will get hours and hours of playtime with it!

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