printable – Page 8 – Pollywog's Place Blog

Getting Ready for the Holidays Week 5 (The Week Before Thanksgiving)

Published on November 13, 2023September 16, 2025 by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog7 Comments

Thanksgiving is getting closer and I’m sure you are getting constant reminders about how close it is getting to Christmas! Over the past few weeks, I’ve posted about some of the things we are doing to help prepare our homes for the holidays and hopefully prevent a little of the CHAOS. We will continue to review those things and work on a few more things this week. Our list is as follows:

We continue to look for things that don’t belong and get them put away where they belong or get rid of things we don’t really need as we do our weekly ‘Home Blessings’.
If we have items (or cards) that need to be mailed, we will try to get them taken care of ASAP… sometimes I have gifts sent directly to the recipients, but I try to warn them ahead of time so they can be on the lookout for them.
If I haven’t bought the wrapping paper and supplies, then I will try to make sure to get those this week. I also make sure that I have ordered any special tablecloths or tableware that I may need so it gets here in plenty of time.
I’m also trying to plan to do the 3 gift rule here this year, but I’m not sure how it will go yet. I’ve got some links about this idea HERE, HERE, and HERE. This will hopefully encourage the focus to be more on Jesus than Santa and the gifts he will bring.
I will review the menu lists in my Holiday Planner so I can try to add as many of the pantry goods to my weekly grocery list as well as double-checking to make sure that we have plenty of the everyday essentials like toilet paper and paper towels because we don’t want to run out of those things when we have guests.
I’ll review my list of ‘make-ahead’ items and try to knock out a few of them so there will be less to do at Thanksgiving. I will also pull out some of my recipes that will use up the leftover turkey and such if we have any.
I will also look up some information about Thanksgiving traditions and history to add to our homeschool lessons as well as some fun Thanksgiving activities. You can check this post HERE for some ideas!

Life is crazy enough without adding holiday stress to it. The simpler we can keep things, the better in most cases and we are always trying to find creative solutions to things we need to get done. By spending just a few minutes a day working on these tasks it helps to get us prepared without causing a lot of unnecessary stress.

For more great ideas you can check out the FlyLady website HERE.

Getting Ready for the Holidays Week 5 Download

The Story of the Treasure Seekers Quiz – FREE Printable with answers!

Published on August 24, 2023November 29, 2023 by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog4 Comments

It is often said that necessity is the mother of all inventions and I guess that probably is pretty true. I’ve searched high and low for a quiz to go along with the book that the kiddos are finishing and haven’t been able to find one.

I decided to make one and I figured that I might as well put it here on the blog so that others can find it as well. There are two choices to choose from as I know some kiddos do fine with written answers and others really need multiple-choice questions.

It’s not absolutely necessary to purchase the exact books we used but there may be other variations out there. We read this version:

Continue reading →

Starting the New Year Off Right with Bill Organization!

Published on December 26, 2022December 3, 2022 by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog2 Comments

These are a couple of older posts but the information still holds true and I am still using those printables… last year I didn’t print off a new set and things got a little confusing as I was trying to just ‘reuse’ the old ones but I’ve already printed out my new ones for 2023 so I can get a head start.

I also went ahead and wrote down the balances on any accounts that I am working on paying off so I can keep track of my progress… it feels so good to pay something off! We are slowly climbing out of debt even though we’ve had a couple of rough years. We’ve been making repairs to the house whenever we get the cash saved for a project while trying not to go into debt for anything else.

Sometimes we have to go without something for a bit or we have to wait a bit longer than anticipated but the money we save in the long run is a great bonus. With the increased costs of EVERYTHING, we need to save money every place we can!

Having all of your bills organized so you aren’t forgetting about due dates and such can save you a lot of time and money because hopefully, you won’t have as many late fees. I keep a simple pocket folder in a desk drawer with a place for my printouts and any incoming bills for easy access. It truly does make paying bills an easier process although it can still be a bit painful on the wallet.

Here are the links to the posts and printables if you want to check them out yourself!