Thrifty Wife Happy Life

Helping women love what they wear on a budget

5 Tools I Use to Stay Organized as a Mom & Style Blogger

by Katie Haller

 

Organizing tools for mom and style bloggers
 
 
 Every year I strive to be a more organized person.  It’s something that doesn’t come naturally to me.  My brain is all over the place.  It’s filled with ideas and thoughts and having mom brain 24/7 doesn’t help me at all.  When I was younger I struggled to stay organized and on task, but as I have gotten older I have learned ways to help me stay focused and be more efficient.  My goal is always to work smarter not harder, yet sometimes that is much easier said than done.  This is why I have created organized systems in every aspect of my life.
 
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Holiday Gift Guides for Kids

by Katie Haller

 Christmas is so fun when you have little kids.  Of course, you want to give them the world, but you also want them to learn that Christmas isn’t all about gifts.  Material items only go so far so last year when I was trying to figure out what to buy my kids for Christmas I reached out to my Instagram followers for suggestions on how to simplify the holidays and not go overboard on kid gifts.  The one suggestion that really stuck with me was to give your child something they want, something they need, and something to read.  I thought that was a great idea and that’s why this year I wanted to break down my gift guides that way.

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Favorite Books for Preschoolers

by Katie Haller

10 favorite books for preschoolers
It’s back-to-school time, and I’ve always loved this time of the year.  This is the first year in a long time that I am not busy getting my classroom ready for the new school year.  I always loved teaching preschool.  It’s such an important stepping stone in a child’s education.  This year instead of taking on a classroom of 20 preschoolers, I get to focus on one preschooler, my little guy.  Jack is at that preschool age where he is loving learning.  Well, I guess he’s always loved learning, but now he is really eager to learn new things and explore.  One of his favorite activities at the moment is reading.  We read together all the time.  I can never turn him down when he asks me to read to him. Read more

Surviving the Heat of Summer with Little Kids

by Katie Haller

I know that summer is coming to an end for most people, but for us here in Las Vegas, it feels like summer will never end.  Summer is long here and it’s hot.  Hot is an understatement.  It is brutally hot in Las Vegas during the summer.  As a mom of a young toddler, the summer months can be tricky.  I worry a lot about how the heat affects my little guy.  This is my 3rd summer as a mom and I’ve learned a few tricks on how to stay cool and comfortable during our forever summers.  Today I want to go through and give some tips on how we have survived the hot summers while having a young child.

*This post contains affiliate links, with means by clicking on and/or making a purchase through a link, I will make a commission for this blog.  I was compensated for this post.  Thank you for your support! 

Jack’s Bathing Suit (exact) || My Bathing Suit (exact) || My Hat (exact)
  

Pools and Splash Pads
Yes, pools are the perfect place to cool off in the summertime, especially when you live in the desert.  We are pretty lucky that we have a neighborhood pool, so we can go whenever we feel like cooling off.  We also have lots of parks in our area with splash pads which is always fun.  Another thing that we have started to do this summer is going to local resort pools.  A lot of them are free for locals and it’s a fun way to have a little day vacation.

Keep Your Car Shaded
We drive small cars without tinted windows, so when Jack was a little baby I was very concerned about the sun shining in on him while driving in the car.  I bought some sunshades (similar HERE and HERE) to put in our windows and they have worked out pretty well.  It’s probably best to drive a car with tinted windows in the back if you have kids, but if you don’t have them, it’s always nice to know a different option is there.

 Lightweight clothes
Dressing in lightweight clothes is the way to go in the summertime for adults and kids.  Currently, I dress Jack in a cotton t-shirt and shorts almost every day.  When he was a little baby, I pretty much dressed him in onesies every day.  A great way to dress up a onesie on a baby is to add some cute little footwear.  These lightweight booties from Bird Rock Baby are the cutest way to dress up a simple onesie on a baby.  I personally love the cactus print, because I think it goes perfectly for a desert summer.

Indoor Activities in the Air Conditioning
We all know that you can always stay inside your house in the air conditioning, but there are tons of indoor activities for kids.  I’ve learned from watching Blippi on YouTube kids that there are a lot of indoor playgrounds in Las Vegas, which we haven’t taken Jack to any yet, but I would love to go one day.  There are also children’s museums, arcades, movie theatres, and aquariums.  You can just google indoor activities for kids and I’m sure you will find a whole list of things to do in your area.  I think it’s important to not get cabin fever during the summer months.  There is enough of that during the winter months.

A vacation to Cooler Temperatures
When I lived in Michigan, I liked to vacation to warmer places.  Now that I live in Las Vegas, I like to vacation to cooler places.  We went to Oceanside, CA this summer and it was amazing to feel cooler temperatures.  It was still warm, but it was nice to escape the heat and feel 70 degrees.

Drink lots of Water
For my last tip, I think that it’s pretty obvious, but important not to forget.  Staying hydrated is so important when it’s hot out, especially for little kids.  I always keep a water cup in my purse whenever we leave the house.  When Jack was nursing the doctor told me to make sure he was eating often to stay hydrated and once he turned six months I started keeping some water in a little sippy for him.  You can’t forget water during the summer.

Quick and Easy Week Night Meals

by Katie Haller

It’s that time of the year when kids are going back to school and life is getting busy.  Cooking for your family is probably the last thing you feel like doing, yet you can’t wait around for mom to make dinner because guess what?  You are the mom!  That’s why today I wanted to share some of my favorite quick and easy meals that I like to make for my family. 

There used to be a time when I enjoyed cooking, but now with a toddler, a full-time job and a blog that I like to keep up with, cooking is my least favorite thing… just behind cleaning my house.  The problem is, we don’t like to eat out all the time.  It can be really expensive and it’s not that healthy to always eat out in restaurants.  Not to mention, going to a restaurant with a 2-year-old is not very enjoyable for us right now.  We do go out to eat once or twice on the weekends, but most of the week we eat at home. 
Every weekend, I try to put together a meal plan for the week.  I typically go to the same 3 grocery stores every week.  For my everyday shopping needs, I like Smith’s, because I’m familiar with the store, it’s convenient and they have great prices.  I use their app to load up my mobile coupons and save extra on almost everything I buy.  I also like to do my big weekend grocery shopping trips at WinCo. WinCo is great because they have great prices, unique local brands and ethnic foods.  The only downfall for me is that WinCo doesn’t accept credit cards, which I earn cashback rewards for shopping at grocery stores, so I have to forfeit my points when I shop at WinCo.  The last grocery store that I regularly shop at is Trader Joe’s.  I look forward to my Trader Joe’s trips because I love that store!  I usually spend a little more when I do a trip to Trader Joe’s, but it’s worth it, because they have so yummy frozen meals and premade meals, that they keep my family fed for a while. 
Today, I want to share 6 quick and easy meals for you.  No difficult recipes, just simple meals for you and your family.

Trader Joe’s Clam Linguini 

This is a go-to meal for me.  The frozen bag of Clam Linguini is really yummy and it takes under 10 minutes to cook.  I always like to have a salad with my pasta and bag salads are the best to go with weeknight meals.  I love this Chopped Mediterranean salad from Taylor Farms, but I usually just buy whatever is on sale.  I usually make some garlic toast to go along with our meal, because my husband always likes it.

Trader Joe’s Turkey Meatballs 

After making these Trader Joe’s meatballs, I don’t know if I’ll ever make homemade meatballs again.  Well, maybe one day if I have a lot of free time, but these meatballs are delicious!!  I just microwave them for 2 minutes and I serve them with angel hair pasta and marinara sauce.  Again, I like to serve my pasta with a bag salad and some garlic toast.  Since it’s only my husband and me who eat the salad, I split the bag so it will last us for more than one meal.

Avocado Pasta

Avocado pasta was one of the first Pinterest recipes that I ever tried.  I love avocados and this is the perfect way to use them in a pasta.  I’ve been making this meal for so many years that I have simplified my recipe.  In my hand blender measuring cup, I add 1-2 avocados, depending on the size, 2 Tbs of Olive Oil, 1 tsp of minced garlic, a splash of lemon juice and some Morten seasoning.  I blend it all up with my mixer and serve it over whole wheat spaghetti noodles, with salad and bread on the side.  It’s an easy way to get kids to eat a vegetable too!
Mediterranean Chicken Wrap

I love Mediterranean food.  This wrap is the perfect fix when I feel like some sort of chicken wrap.  I buy all the ingredients at Trader Joe’s.  This pre-cooked chicken breast is the best.  It’s all-white meat, fresh and perfect for wraps and salads.  I use hummus to line the pita with, then add chicken, feta, and tabouli.  It makes for a nice fast summer meal.  Plus there is no cleanup since there is no cooking involved.

Fish Tacos

I love fish tacos and these fish tacos are so easy.  I buy the fish nuggets at Trader Joe’s.  For a topping, I buy some kind of slaw in a bag.  This Tahini, Pepita and Apricot Slaw Kit from Trader Joe’s was the perfect veggie toppings with these.  For cheese, I usually like to use feta with fish.  I made my tacos on a corn tortilla, but my husband prefers flour, so you can use either or depending on your preference.

Bean and Rice Burritos

This meal is pretty much poor college student food, but it’s so easy and it tastes good too.  I use refried beans, Spanish rice, cheese, avocado and salsa.  For this meal, I grilled my burrito, but if you want to make it really easy, you can just pop it in the microwave.

So there you have it.  Those are 6 easy meals that you can make for your family within 30 minutes.  Let me know if you try any of them.  For more quick and easy meals, follow me on Instagram and watch my instastories where I will share more recipes as I make them.

*This post contains affiliate links.

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