Category: Product Reviews

Don’t Forget This Back to School Essential!

Published on by Susie @ Pollywog's Place BlogLeave a comment

**This post does contain affiliate links at no charge to you. These links help to support our blog and our family!

This is one part of the back to school adventure I do not miss at all. It never failed that when my kiddos went back to school the girls would eventually come home with those dreaded head lice. EWWW! I would always get a bit paranoid when one of them would start to scratch their head for any reason.

I am gonna spare everyone the description of what head lice are and how they infest anyone around them because I really hate thinking about them. 

I can vividly remember many a time combing through long thick hair with that little metal comb trying and trying to get all those pesky little buggers and their eggs. It would take several comb-throughs before I was satisfied. Even after being very meticulous with the treatment they would often have a reinfestation.

My girls would be in tears because those metal combs really hurt!

I can’t tell you how much money I spent on Lice Killing Shampoos. I tried everything I could get my hands on. They smelled nasty and made me wonder how safe they were. I even tried some of the home treatments like the mayonnaise treatment. Yuck! It left their hair so greasy I didn’t think it would ever wash out.  Continue reading “Don’t Forget This Back to School Essential!” →

Homeschool Organization. Simple. Flexible.

Published on by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog19 Comments

This post is sponsored and includes affiliate links, yet the opinions are my true opinions, as always.  We really do love using this program in our home and I feel that you will too!

‘Scheduling and planning that’s flexible and organized.’

Has the idea of keeping track of lesson plans and schedules got you feeling overwhelmed? The thought of keeping records for report cards, transcripts, and attendance can be enough to make anyone second guess their idea to homeschool.

Just a few years ago I was overwhelmed with the task of record keeping for my large brood. I had one child who needed transcripts and several others in multiple grades with different needs. I was suffering from an informational overload trying to sort it all out and make everything work together without losing my sanity.

Then on October 8th of 2015, with the help of my friend Google, I found the perfect app for our family. It was Homeschool Manager. It sounded so easy and I decided to give it a try.

They had me at the Free 30 day – No Card Required – Trial period which was more than enough time for me to know that this was just what we needed. This one tool IMMEDIATELY brought order to the homeschool chaos we had. (Our Cozi app keeps the rest of our life running smoothly.)

Homeschool Manager completely changed my life and has allowed our homeschool to be the productive and fun learning environment I had envisioned!

Homeschool Manager also gives us the flexibility to adapt and reorder our school year as needed when life throws us an unexpected curve ball or two. We can also easily rearrange our schedule to fit in time for new learning experiences that pop up. We have been able to be more spontaneous and have had the ability to incorporate so many more spur of the moment activities into our homeschool which has allowed our children to have a much more fulfilling and enriching learning experience.

Portfolios are so EASY with Homeschool Manager!

Continue reading “Homeschool Organization. Simple. Flexible.” →

Simplify Your Life: Step 7 Pay Off Those Debts and Bills

Published on by Susie @ Pollywog's Place BlogLeave a comment

Pay Off Those Debts and Bills

Money is a big cause of stress in many people’s lives. So it would only make sense that getting rid of debts and bills can help us to simplify our lives and reduce stress. Credit cards and online shopping make it is so easy to buy things and accumulate debt without realizing it. We see something we want and we buy it and then we regret it when the bill comes in.

If we can learn to live a bit more frugally then we can learn to buy less, want less, be more eco friendly, simplify our budgets, and reach our financial goals of being debt free. We can’t do a lot about what has already been done but we can work towards simplify our lives to prevent the stress from these debts and bills.

One way we can do this is by setting up automatic deposits and payments. You can have your paychecks automatically deposited and you can also set your bills on auto pay. By doing this you can get those bills paid while preventing late payments. If you want to save a little bit more then you can even go paperless which will help to cut down on paper clutter and mail.  All of this adds up to less stress and a simpler life as there are fewer things to worry about.

I have found that I can not only simplify some of my shopping but save time and money while helping the planet by using subscription services and the convenience of online ordering for some things like cleaning supplies, household supplies, groceries, essential oils, and other items. My favorite place to use are:

  • Google Express  Get $10 off your first Google Express order and have one less errand to run! Use promo code: 5EK6F7555
  • Grove Collaborators Waiting for you is a FREE Mrs. Meyer’s 5-piece set
  • Sam’s Club   Join using my referral link and you get a $20 e-gift card.
  • Simply Earth Use this link for a FREE $20.00 gift card right now.

Now if you have already overspent and just don’t have the money to cover the bills then that is another story. That can lead to a lot of stress. You can set a budget and work on learning to only buy what you need. You may also want to look into ways to bring a little extra income. Many of these places I listed above also offer affiliate or referral bonuses which can help out too.

I really like the simplicity of the Wealthy Affiliate program. It not only teaches you the ins and outs of affiliate marketing but helps you to set up your own website. With the company’s ‘pay it forward’ attitude there is a constant supply of support from other members who have been right where you are right now. Go ahead, check it out, and sign up for your FREE account right now.

Congratulations!

This was the last step of my Simplify your life series. I hope you found some of the information useful. If you implement these easy steps into your life you will find you have more FREE time for quality moments with your friends and family. Good luck!

Have you thought of starting your own blog to make a little extra money? Check out 3 Steps to Start that Blog You’ve Been Dreaming Of for some great ideas to get started.

wealthy-affiliate-membership-grid

Is Your HomeSchool Area ‘School Ready’?

Published on by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog1 Comment

**This post does contain some affiliate links which could possibly earn me a small commission if a purchase was made through them. These links help to support our blog and our family.

If this is your first year homeschooling this is an important step to making sure you get your year off on a good start.

You don’t need a huge Pinterest perfect school area as I’ve talked about in this post but you do need it to be organized if you want to be successful. Having stuff here and there is a surefire way to get overwhelmed in a hurry. Trust me, I know this from experience.

Our main area is our dining table. We have some bookshelves which hold the majority of our books plus I have another shelf with the books I am using that are specific to our curriculum for this year. Continue reading “Is Your HomeSchool Area ‘School Ready’?” →

Paying Off All Of My Debt With The Snowball Method

Published on by Susie @ Pollywog's Place BlogLeave a comment

As I mentioned in an earlier post I finally got all of my hospital and doctor bills paid off. I am still working on getting my emergency fund built back up and then I’ll be working on paying off my other debts like credit cards. I plan to use Dave Ramsey’s snowball method to get them paid off.

I’ve made me a list of all of my debts and how much I owe. I’ve put them in order from the smallest to the largest as well. Then I will work on paying off the smallest while making minimum payments on the rest. As I knock them out, one by one, I will put that money towards the next one on the list.

I’ve used a similar method before and it worked very well. I am still paying off bills that I accumulated during and after my divorce.

Please note that this post does contain affiliate links which help support our blog.