Five Money Saving Purchases at Yard Sales

The weather is nice and school is out.  This means that it is time for a favorite summer activity.  Yard sales will be popping up throughout your town, and we have found some great purchases that can save you money in the future.  Grab your family and friends and head to the yard sale to save your household money this summer.  Apartment Therapy has some great articles for your family this summer.

1. Rugs. Rugs are notoriously difficult to sell secondhand, which is why you will see plenty of them around at yard sale time. Head out for a few Saturdays, you are bound to find a new rug for the kids' room for under $30. I found one recently, a 5x7 foot 100% wool rug for $5! It had been passed over by others because one small corner was a little frayed - a problem easily solved by tucking it under a crib.

2. Baby gear. Babies need so much gear and for such a short time, everything bought new ends up looking practically new still once they are done. Save money for your new nursery budget by scouring your local yard sales for the gear you need. Not sure what gear to consider getting secondhand? Check out this post for a few ideas.

3. Dress up clothes. Costume jewelry, hats, old bridesmaid dresses, low-heeled dress shoes: these exist in abundance in yard sale-land, and no one would love them more than your four-year-old daughter who is crazy about dressing up. Haven't got a dress-up box? Put one together, starting with this list, and a fist full of quarters, which is probably about all each of these items will cost.

4. CD players. Given the opportunity, kids love to listen to music, and they love to dance. Remember back in the 80s and 90s when you hoped and wished and dreamed for a stereo so you could boogie all on your own? Now that everyone's passing them up for MP3 players, for just a few dollars, a yard sale-found CD player can transform any kids' bedroom into their own disco. Just be sure to test it before you take it home!

5. Outdoor play equipment. Especially easy to find at the end of Summer, when Moms and Dads are getting ready for the Winter snow, outdoor play equipment can be snatched up at yard sales for a fraction of the price of buying it new. If it's looking a bit shabby, never fear, a fresh coat of paint will do the trick - much like the Little Tikes playhouse above - found for $30 secondhand, now looks better than anything you could find in the store! (For this and more playhouse makeovers, check out our roundup of them here.)

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Memorial Day Recipe

Are you going to a party on Memorial Day?  There is a great simple recipe that will produce a great dessert.  This will only take a few minutes to make, and everyone will be impressed with your contribution to the party. You can learn more at all recipes.

Rated: Submitted By: Allrecipes Staff Photo By: ChuckSeattle Prep Time: 1 Hour 30 Minutes Cook Time: 30 Minutes Ready In: 3 Hours Servings: 16

"Unfurl the red, white, and blue with this beautiful, easy, and patriotic flag cake perfect for the 4th of July, Memorial Day, or any favorite occasion. Assemble and frost the pretty cake and wait for the oohs and ahhs!"

INGREDIENTS:

3 (10.25 ounce) packages white cake mix 9 egg whites 1 cup vegetable oil 3 3/4 cups whole milk 2 tablespoons clear vanilla extract 2 tablespoons red food coloring

1 tablespoon blue food coloring 1 cup white chocolate chips 10 cups fluffy white frosting 1 tablespoon white chocolate chips, or as needed 2 tablespoons white sugar, or as needed 1 4-inch round paper or cardboard stencil

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and line 4 8-inch round cake pans with parchment paper.
2.	Combine white cake mix, egg whites, vegetable oil, milk, and vanilla extract in a large mixing bowl. Beat for 30 seconds using an electric mixer on low speed. Increase mixer speed to medium and beat for 2 more minutes. The batter will still be slightly lumpy.
3.	To make the red cakes, measure half the batter into a separate bowl and whisk in red food coloring. Evenly transfer the red batter into 2 of the 8-inch prepared cake pans; smooth tops of batter with a spatula. Transfer half of the remaining uncolored batter into a 3rd prepared cake pan; smooth top as before. This will be the white cake portion.
4.	Add blue food coloring to the remaining uncolored batter in the large mixing bowl; fold 1 cup white chocolate chips into blue batter until combined. Transfer batter to remaining prepared 8-inch cake pan; smooth top of batter with a spatula.
5.	Bake all 4 cakes in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center of each cake comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Remove the cakes from oven and place onto cooling racks until cooled completely.
6.	Run a knife around edge of each cooled cake. Invert cakes, remove pans, and peel off parchment paper. Use a sharp knife to trim tops of cakes flat and even. 7.Cut both of the red cake layers and the white cake layer in half horizontally. You will have 4 thin red cake layers and 2 thin white cake layers. 8. Place a 4-inch round stencil on top of 1 thin red cake layer; cut out a 4-inch red cake round. Repeat, placing stencil on 1 thin white cake layer to make 1 4-inch white cake round. Center the 4-inch round stencil on the blue cake; cut out and remove center portion covered by the stencil to make a blue cake ring. 9. To assemble the cake, you will need 2 thin 8-inch red cake layers, 1 thin 8-inch white cake layer, 1 4-inch thin red cake circle, 1 4-inch thin white cake circle, and 1 blue 8-inch cake ring. Reserve the leftover thin red cake layer and other cake pieces for making crumbs for decorating. 10. To assemble cake, place 1 8-inch thin red cake layer on a cake pan and frost the top generously with white frosting. Place the thin 8-inch white cake layer on top of the red one, and frost the top. Place remaining 8-inch thin red cake layer atop the white one. Frost the red layer. 11. Place the blue ring cake on top of the 2nd red cake layer and carefully frost the inside of the blue cake ring. Gently fit the 4-inch white cake layer into the blue cake ring. Frost the top of the 4-inch white center. Place the 4-inch red cake layer on top of the white one. Gently press small cake circles flush with the top of the blue ring. 12. Frost the entire outside of the cake generously with the remaining frosting. 13. Crumble red and blue pieces of leftover cake into 2 separate bowls. Score lines into the top of the cake's frosting with a kitchen knife to make a flag design on top of the cake. It should have a 2-inch square at the upper left for blue field and white stars, and 7 thick horizontal stripes about 1 inch wide. 14. Fill the square field at the upper left with blue crumbs and press 1 tablespoon white chocolate chips upside-down into the blue crumbs to make 'stars.' Fill the bottom stripe and every other stripe with red crumbs to make red stripes. Sprinkle white sugar generously into the white stripes to make them stand out. 15. To serve, cut cake into wedges. The inside of the cake will reveal its layers of red and white stripes and blue field with white chocolate chip stars in every slice.

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A Better Night's Sleep

Is your bedroom keeping you awake at night?  There are five reasons that may be the cause of your lack of sleep in your own home.  This blog has a list of those reasons. It also includes a list of possible solutions that could help you in your quest for a better night's sleep.  You can learn more at apartment therapy.

PROBLEM #1: ALLERGIES

Is your stuffy nose keeping you from getting shut eye? Seasonal allergies are one thing, but dust mites are with us all year round. Your bed is Disneyland for those little critters, who thrive on all the dead skin cells your body provides.

Fixes: Vacuum your room with a HEPA filter and clean your bedding as often as you can— including your pillows, which you can throw in the dryer for 15 minutes to kill off any existing bugs. Instead of scented detergent, use a few drops of eucalyptus oil in your laundry. Put hypoallergenic protective covers on your mattress and pillows. And lastly, strip your mattress before you go out of town to give it time to air out. (I won’t rile up pet owners by suggesting you ban furry loved ones from the bedroom, but it’s worth thinking about.) Read more onbedroom allergies here.

PROBLEM #2: LIGHT

Your room is too bright at night. Whether it’s coming from the outside, a nightlight, the television screen, or your blinking alarm clock, any light keeps your body fooled into thinking it’s not sleeping time.

Fixes: Buy really dark curtains, or add liner, to block out street lamps. Also turn off electronic devices and remove anything else that emits brightness. (If you’re worried about getting up in time, try covering your alarm clock instead.) Lastly, swap out higher watt lightbulbs in your bedside lamp for dimmer ones; these will aid the transition as you’re winding down from the day by reading in bed at night.

PROBLEM #3: TEMPERATURE

Some nights you're too hot, and other times, it's too cold. Sleep is induced when you are at rest and your core body temperature lowers. If your heat is on too high (or too cold for that matter), your internal thermostat fluctuates which leads to restless sleep.

Fixes: Everyone is comfortable at different temps, so experiment to find the right one for you. There's no right answer but cooler is generally better - start in the 65 degree range. There are always fans and blankets to help you regulate, but know that bedding material makes a difference too; memory foam pillows and mattresses, for example, are hotter than more traditional ones. If you are still having trouble staying asleep, look into bedding and pads that keep you cooler at night.

PROBLEM #4: NOISE

There’s the 5 am garbage truck variety that’s impossible to ignore. But when it'stoo quiet, the slightest disruption can reach epic proportions and you find yourself focused on that weird hum or dripping faucet. Either way, you need a way to soundproof your sleep.

Fixes: If it’s too loud, wear earplugs as a first resort. Or, try a white noise machine or app —or even a basic fan— to drown out any noises that violate your REM cycle. If it’s really bad, get as far away from the offending noise as possible. Either move your bed to another wall to dampen neighbor noises, or, if you have the option, try swapping your current bedroom with another room entirely. Read more on bedroom noise here.

PROBLEM #5: MATTRESS

Having a healthy, comfortable, supportive mattress is critical to a good night's sleep.

Fixes: Flip your mattress with the seasons, alternating between end-over-end and side-over-side rotation. If it's time for a new one, check out Danny Seo’sgreat tips on mattress shopping. A couple of years ago, Maxwell also experimented with different mattress brands for twelve months and wrote about it in his Year in Bed series.

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Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all of the mothers out there!  We hope you have a great day with your friends and family.

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