Keeper of the Home » Reviews

1000th Post Party Giveaway: Deluxe Excalibur 3900 9-Tray Dehydrator ($220 Value)

Stephanie @ Keeper of the Home — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 10:00:29 +0000

It's been a hard secret to keep, but at last I can announce that after the smashing success of our Excalibur Dehydrator giveaway last fall, it's time to give away another one!

I've owned a 9-Tray Excalibur for about a year and a half now. I keep it on my kitchen counter the way that most people have a microwave or toaster oven. Yes, I use it almost that often!

As someone who uses my dehydrator so extensively, I can't imagine going back to the cheaper model I used to have. This is the ultimate dehydrator. It is absolutely top-notch and I cannot say enough good things about it.

In my previous review, I mentioned the main reasons that I chose to go with an Excalibur Dehydrator in particular:

Large, square shaped trays (as opposed to round with a hole in the center). The means no more wonky-shaped fruit leather. No more grains falling through the cracks into the dehydrator motor. Less wasted space in arranging items on the tray.

Adjustable trays. You can remove the tray above if you're drying something tall to give it more space. You can remove all of the trays to do something like mason jars with yogurt, or for rising bread. You can remove the bottom half of the trays to do pint sized jars of yogurt and still keep drying nuts or herbs or fruit on the upper trays. The possibilities are endless!

Trays that slide out through the front. With a round dehydrator, I had to lift off all of the top trays in order to access something in the middle or on the bottom. With the front access, I can just open it up and pull out the exact tray that I want to see.

A heating/fan unit along the back, rather than down at the bottom. This allows for more even heating of the entire dehydrator and items that finish more or less at the same time.

Read the rest of my previous review.

There are so many things that I use my dehydrator for! These days, the most common is probably for making crispy nuts (nuts that are soaked and then dried). I also use it frequently for making granola, for soaking and dehydrating oats for granola bars, for drying herbs or vegetables, for making dried apples or pears or fruit leathers, for making "cheese" crackers... just to name a few.

One additional feature about the model that is being given away is a 26 hour adjustable timer, so that you can set the dehydrator to turn off while you are out or during the night, so that you don't over-dry things or waste energy! This is new since I bought mine, but it would be such a handy feature to have!

To learn more about my thoughts on the Excalibur Dehydrator, definitely check out my review.

Another great place to learn more is in this promotional video. I wanted to embed it into this post, but wasn't able to. It's worth clicking through and visiting their website, though, so that you can get more of a feel for how the dehydrator functions and what makes it unique.

So who wants to win themselves a Deluxe Excalibur 3900 9-Tray Dehydrator ($220 value)?

To streamline giveaways a bit more, we are experimenting with a new system. Rather than leaving multiple comments to get all of your extra entries, simply click on the link below and complete one survey, checking off the entry options that you have completed! That's it!

Giveaway ends Friday, June 25th at 4pm PST. Giveaway has now ended!

Our Sponsors:

Spoonk Rider: The Portable Accupressure Mat
Plan to Eat: Drag & drop meal planner with automated shopping list maker.
Fertility Flower: Helps women predict ovulation, increasing chances of conception. Outstanding charting tools.
Experience God as Your Provider: Does Your Financial Future Feel Like a Crumbling Sand Castle?
Learn to Cook With Sourdough: "Pay What You Can" Classes in Sourdough and Traditional Cooking
Holy Ambition: If you're thinking, God can't use me, think again! YOU can make a difference.

You might also enjoy:

1000th Post Party Giveaway: 5 Homestead Blessings Videos and $25 Gift Certificate from FBS Books

Stephanie @ Keeper of the Home — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 10:00:33 +0000

As a homeschooling mom myself, I've found that it's not always easy to find all of the curriculum and resources that you're looking for in one place.

So it was wonderful to realize that one of my current advertisers, FBS Books, not only has almost all of the curriculum that I have chosen for our next school year, but they even carry the one resource that I couldn't find anywhere else!

(It's Leagues and Legends-- geography for early elementary students, in case you were wondering)

They are a family-owned business, providing classical and conventional homeschool curricula. They carry all of the traditional school subjects, as well as Fine Arts, Foreign Language, Bible and Devotional, and even supplemental resources for lighter summer studying.

It was hard for me to decide what I loved more about FBS... their homeschool resources OR their homesteading resources! You all know that I love me some homesteading books (and of course they carry this book, too)!

They have a wonderful selection of books on canning and preserving, gardening, raising animals, making cheese, and even traditional food classics like Nourishing Traditions and Real Food.

For my giveaway today, I get to feature another very fun part of their homestead collection: The Homestead Blessings videos!

These 1 hour videos each cover a different aspect of homesteading or homemaking, including Herbs, Gardening, Bread Making, Cooking, Quilting and Soap Making (and more). There are 10 videos in all, and each one features mom Vicki and her 3 grown daughters, Jasmine, Hannah and CeCe.

Last week, Abbie and I were thrilled to receive our copy of The Art of Herbs. We watched it together and were promptly inspired to go pick the wild mint growing in our backyard to make fresh, iced mint tea. After watching the video, 5 year old Abbie is now a pro at making the tea herself and loves to make a jug for me!

Take a look at this short promo video to get an idea of what these videos are all about:

This one is from their Art of Dairy Delights video, showing yogurt making:

FBS Books carries all of the Homestead Blessings videos, and today they are offering you the chance to win any 5 Homestead Blessings videos of your choice, as well as a $25 gift certificate for anything else in their store!

To enter the giveaway, simply click on the link below to fill out a survey form. Rather than having to leave multiple comments for each entry option, you can just complete the one survey and you're done!

Giveaway ends Wednesday, June 23, at 4pm PST. Giveaway has now ended!

FBS Books has also offered a special discount just for Keeper of the Home readers. Use the code KEEPER for $5.00 off of $75.00 purchase! Free shipping within the US for orders over $25, and now shipping to Canada as well!

Our Sponsors:

Spoonk Rider: The Portable Accupressure Mat
Plan to Eat: Drag & drop meal planner with automated shopping list maker.
Fertility Flower: Helps women predict ovulation, increasing chances of conception. Outstanding charting tools.
Experience God as Your Provider: Does Your Financial Future Feel Like a Crumbling Sand Castle?
Learn to Cook With Sourdough: "Pay What You Can" Classes in Sourdough and Traditional Cooking
Holy Ambition: If you're thinking, God can't use me, think again! YOU can make a difference.

You might also enjoy:

1000th Post Party Giveaway: Marie-Madeline Studio Fabric and Patterns

Stephanie @ Keeper of the Home — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 10:00:00 +0000

Marie-Madeline Studio is a company that I love to support and am thrilled to have as both an advertiser this month, and also a giveaway sponsor this week!

A couple of years ago, I ran a giveaway for one of their Chic Sisters aprons and was tickled to receive my own apron and a Gracie Ruffle skirt for my little girl. I still use my apron regularly (and feel so cute when I wear it!), and Abbie prances around the house in her "princess skirt" every chance she gets.

Marie-Madeline Studio is family owned and run, consisting of a mom and her 4 daughters. They take such care with each and every hand-crafted item, and now also carry a large selection of beautiful and unique fabrics, as well as patterns they have created for handbags, aprons, girls and women's clothing.

They carry fun and beautiful designer fabrics from several popular collections, including Amy Butler and Free Spirit. Their patterns are also unique and lovely, and If I ever get up the guts to try sewing something more challenging than window mistreatments and pillow slipcovers, I've got my eye on their gorgeous Brooke Shoulder Bag pattern! Can you say adorable?

The ladies at Marie-Madeline have offered a generous giveaway to one lucky lady!

I have a $100 gift certificate for the winner's choice of any fabrics or patterns from their shop!

Enter to win by filling out the survey below. Rather than leaving multiple comments for multiple entries, just complete one survey and check off the entry options you completed-- and that's it!

Giveaway ends Tuesday, June 21 at 4pm PST. Thanks for entering! Giveaway has now ended!

Our Sponsors:

Spoonk Rider: The Portable Accupressure Mat
Plan to Eat: Drag & drop meal planner with automated shopping list maker.
Fertility Flower: Helps women predict ovulation, increasing chances of conception. Outstanding charting tools.
Experience God as Your Provider: Does Your Financial Future Feel Like a Crumbling Sand Castle?
Learn to Cook With Sourdough: "Pay What You Can" Classes in Sourdough and Traditional Cooking
Holy Ambition: If you're thinking, God can't use me, think again! YOU can make a difference.

You might also enjoy:

1000th Post Party Giveaway: Eden Sustainable Cloth Diapering Package

Stephanie @ Keeper of the Home — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 10:00:21 +0000

Do you love cloth diapering but wish that there was a more sustainable option?

Though I assumed that the PUL (polyurethane laminate) and microfleece fabrics used to make the cloth diapers I adore were not truly sustainable, I honestly hadn't put much thought or research into it. I was happy to have found a system that works to make cloth diapering a really fantastic option for us, and infinitely better than using disposables!

However, my friend Laura decided that she was willing to do the research and face the hard facts about most of the cloth diapers products out on the market today. Here's what she learned:

Waterproof covers, pocket diapers and All-In-Ones (AI2s) rely on synthetic materials. Polyurethane laminate (PUL), nylon, microfleece, microsuede, polyester, and microfiber are petroleum-derived materials. Neither the products nor the processes used to create them are in the best interest of babies (or the planet, for that matter).

With this knowledge, she determined that there had to be more sustainable options out there, better for babies and the earth. Lo and behold, she found some and she founded Eden Sustainable Diapering Company to share them with everyone else!

The video below showcases the products that Eden carries, and tells you a bit more about the why's and how's behind it all. You can also learn more about their mission and how they seek to be mindful stewards in every aspect of how they run their company.

Laura kindly provided me with a starter package of diapers so that I could give them a whirl. I have been using the Little Beetle Hemp Trim diaper in Size 2 on 9 mth old Johanna (she's about 18-20 lbs and delightfully chunky). I am also using the Little Beetle Organic Merino Wool Jersey Cover, also in Size 2.

I've wanted to try wool covers for a long time, but was really hesitant about how to go about properly lanolizing them and was worried that the washing process would be tedious and difficult. I was wrong! Laura came over to my house and gave me a quick tutorial on how to do it, and it was so much easier than I thought.

There are many reasons that I LOVE these diapers-- they're soft and comfy, they fit well, they're highly absorbent and don't leak at night, and of course the sustainability factor.

One of the neatest things about the wool cover is that it doesn't need to be regularly washed (only once every week or two). I toss the wet hemp diaper into the wash with the rest of my diapers, but the wool cover can be used many times by simply laying it out to dry. By the time it's fully dry, it smells completely sweet and fresh and ready to use again!

Here are a few short tutorial videos that Laura has created, to show you just how fast and easy it is to care for wool:

Would you like to win your own sustainable wool and hemp diapering package?

Today I have a amazing starter package worth $59 including one Little Beetle Hemp Trim fitted diaper, one Little Beetle Organic Merino Wool Jersey Cover (both diaper and cover in your choice of size), one Wool Wash Bar, and one Lanolin Balm Trial Size.

Note: This giveaway is open to all US and Canadian residents, however at the moment, Eden only ships to Canadian addresses. If you're from the US and you're particularly interested in ordering from their site, please contact Laura directly and let her know that you'd be interested in seeing her expand into the US.

We're trying out something new this week, that will hopefully help to streamline the giveaway entry process for both us and all of you. Instead of leaving multiple comments for each entry, there is just one survey that you will complete, checking off the options that you have completed, and then you're done!

Giveaway ends Friday, June 18th at 4 pm PST. Thanks for entering! Giveaway has now ended!

Our Sponsors:

Spoonk Rider: The Portable Accupressure Mat
Plan to Eat: Drag & drop meal planner with automated shopping list maker.
Fertility Flower: Helps women predict ovulation, increasing chances of conception. Outstanding charting tools.
Experience God as Your Provider: Does Your Financial Future Feel Like a Crumbling Sand Castle?
Learn to Cook With Sourdough: "Pay What You Can" Classes in Sourdough and Traditional Cooking
Holy Ambition: If you're thinking, God can't use me, think again! YOU can make a difference.

You might also enjoy:

Simplified Menu Planning with Plan to Eat: Review and Giveaway

Stephanie @ Keeper of the Home — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 10:00:43 +0000

I've been menu planning for many, many years now and I've always been a paper and pen kind of gal. However, when Clint from Plan to Eat asked me to review the site and offer a giveaway to my readers, I was excited to give something new and different a try.

My first impression of Plan to Eat was, "This is fantastic. And it looks so easy. If only I didn't have to spend hours upon hours entering in all of my recipes. Maybe I better stick with my pen and paper and recipe binder."

However, the more that I played around with the site, the more that I realized how simple it really was to get things set up and how much infinitely simpler my menu planning would become once I invested a little bit of time upfront. I decided to really give it a try and spent some time over the course of two evenings (probably about 2-3 hours total) inputting as many recipes as I could.

Plan to Eat has two ingenious features that make incorporating the recipes you already use quite quick and simple:

1) Import a Recipe From the Web

This option allows you to do a web search of a particular recipe name or general search terms like "black bean soup". The search includes many major recipe sites including Epicurious, AllRecipes, RealSimple, Recipezaar, Taste of Home, Food Network and more. Once you find the recipe you're looking for looking for, importing it into your Recipe Book is a click of the mouse and you're done!

2) Bulk Input

This is the method I used the most often, since many of my recipes are either up on my own blog or other real foodie blogs. These cannot be imported with just a click, but I was surprised at how easily it could still be done. I just typed the name of the recipe, and then copied and pasted the ingredients and the directions for the recipe into a form.

The program does a surprisingly good job of converting the pasted text into a correct recipe format and then all I needed to do was select the type of course, cuisine, how many servings, etc. and save my recipe!

**Click for a larger and clearer image**

With my small time investment, I now have about 30-40 of my own recipes stored in my account. If there's a new recipe I want to add or a recipe I realize that I'm missing, it now just takes me 1-2 minutes to import it which isn't a big deal at all.

Additionally, there is a brilliant feature where you can share recipes with friends! I have shared recipes with two friends so far and this just helps us all to build up our recipe books faster, as well as try out new recipes.

Drag and Drop Meal Planning

This is really the crux of what makes Plan to Eat so powerful and easy to use. To make my meal plan, I have the current month open with a left sidebar displaying the recipes in my account.

I can find what I'm looking for faster than scrolling through all of my recipes by using the filter options-- viewing my recipes by course (main dish, dessert, soup, etc.), by cuisine style (Asian, Mexican), by tag (I added these while uploading recipes- things like crockpot, fast or easy, gluten free, GAPS), or by popularity (based on how often I use particular recipes) .

Once I've decided that on Tuesday night we will eat Cabbage Roll Casserole, I just click on that recipe, drag it over to Tuesday on my calendar and drop it into place. Voila! As I do that, all of the ingredients for that meal are instantly added to my shopping list! If I decide that it would be better to have it on Wednesday instead, I just pick it back up and drag it over to Wednesday.

Initially I wasn't sure what to do with things like oatmeal or smoothies for breakfast, or having a simple steamed veggie or green salad with a dinner. I don't use recipes for those types of things and it seemed silly to make up a recipe just for the sake of putting it on the meal plan.

I realized instead that I could use the "Add Ingredient" or "Add Notes/Events" features by clicking on the day that I am planning. A box pops up, giving me the option to manually add a note or additional ingredient to my meal plan. I can add "steamed broccoli" as an ingredient and then it will show up in my Shopping List.

If I don't care about the list (as with foods I buy in huge bulk, like oats for breakfast oatmeal) then I just add it as a note, "Breakfast- Oatmeal". I use the notes function as well to indicate guests or something noteworthy about that day (an early dinner time, my husband not eating with us, etc.).

Here's a look at my completed June meal plan:

If you'd like to catch a glimpse of Plan to Eat in action, check out this video I did for the Cook More Real Food event, as I share my meal planning process.

I will confess that I haven't yet mastered the use of the Shopping List. Because I buy so much in bulk and keep my pantry/freezer very well stocked, there are sooo many ingredients in my meals that automatically go on my list that I have to spend time removing because I don't need to buy them very often (like spices, grains, oils, meats, etc.). I do still find it handy, though, to glance through and note the produce that I need. I'm sure there is a way to utilize it better, but I'm still a newbie at this and it will come with time! :)

Free Trial and Recipe Sharing

For those who think this sounds like a very helpful tool (and it really is in my opinion) but aren't quite sure they'll make good use of their membership, there is a free 30 day trial membership! Give it a go and see for yourself whether this will help to make your meal planning and grocery shopping smoother and easier.

As well, I mentioned above that you can share recipes with friends. In order to do this, you need to send an email to those that you would like to share recipes with. In the Keeper of the Home forum, I have created a topic called Plan to Eat: Recipe Sharing where we can exchange our email addresses in order to add each other as "friends" on our Plan to Eat accounts. You could also leave your email address in a comment, if you are comfortable with doing that and with having others contact you to share their recipes with.

Edit: Clint from Plan to Eat just let me know that you can also use login names. So mine is "keeperofthehome". This is a nicer option than having to share email addresses! For those who would like to, you can just add your login names in your comments, or in the forum topic linked to above.

Would you like to win a membership to Plan to Eat?

I have 2 one-year Plan to Eat memberships up for grabs ($39 value each). Here's how to enter:

(Please remember-- leave a separate comment for each entry. Thanks!)

Leave a comment telling me what Plan to Eat feature sounds the most helpful to you.
Sign up for a 30-Day Free Trial at Plan to Eat, then leave a comment telling me you did so.
Follow Keeper of the Home and Plan to Eat on Facebook.
Share this giveaway on either Facebook, or tweet about it on Twitter (follow me @keeperhome) "I've entered to win a meal planning PlantoEat.com membership from @keeperhome. Enter here http://bit.ly/b5L7eh "

Thanks for entering! Giveaway will end Wednesday, June 9th at 4pm. Giveaway has now ended. Thank you!

Disclosure: If you sign up for Plan to Eat through one of the above links, I will earn a small commission. You are by no means obligated to use these links, but it is one of the ways that you can support this site. Thank you!

Our Sponsors:

Spoonk Rider: The Portable Accupressure Mat
Plan to Eat: Drag & drop meal planner with automated shopping list maker.
Fertility Flower: Helps women predict ovulation, increasing chances of conception. Outstanding charting tools.
Experience God as Your Provider: Does Your Financial Future Feel Like a Crumbling Sand Castle?
Learn to Cook With Sourdough: "Pay What You Can" Classes in Sourdough and Traditional Cooking
Holy Ambition: If you're thinking, God can't use me, think again! YOU can make a difference.

You might also enjoy:

Healthy Snacks to Go Ebook: Review and a Giveaway

Stephanie @ Keeper of the Home — Tue, 11 May 2010 10:00:22 +0000

This giveaway has now ended.

One area that is really tough for a lot of mamas is figuring out what kind of simple, fast and nourishing snacks they can feed their kids.

Committed to whole foods myself, there are the odd days when I long to be able to just grab a few packaged fruit roll ups or plastic containers of apple sauce or crackers as we fly out the door. We all crave convenience sometimes. One of the fastest ways to start making unhealthy eating choices is to get hungry when you're away from home. Temptation is bound to get you.

Fortunately, it doesn't have to be that way. Katie has crafted a stellar handbook for moms wanting to keep everyone happy, healthy and NOT hungry. Her snack recipes and ideas are sure to please.

Enter the Healthy Snacks to Go ebook!

Healthy Snacks to Go is the first ebook from Katie Kimball of Kitchen Stewardship. I think that she has really outdone herself and created a useful resource for busy moms, who want something healthier to give their families (and themselves).

A few reasons I loved this ebook:

:: For anyone still learning and transitioning to more real and traditional foods, Katie makes it all so simple and basic. She offers lots of explanations and info, in a completely down-to-earth way.

:: The recipes are very kid friendly. I don't think there is anything in the book that my kids would take issue with, and plenty of yummy things that would thrill them (an in fact, already have!).

:: Beyond some different takes on things that I already make (power bars, granola, baked goods, etc.) I found a few completely new ideas, like Tater Skin Crispies, made out of potato peels (that's right- the part you usually throw away or compost). Brilliant! Just another way to make food out of something we might otherwise waste. Love that!

:: I had been wanting to figure out how to make Larabars recently, and this ebook had impeccable timing. It saved me from having to experiment and figure it out myself, and not only that, gave me 14 scrumptious variations to choose from based on what's available in my pantry! We've tried 3 versions so far, with definite plans to try more. They've all been winners, for sure.

:: Plenty of options for those with allergies and food restrictions (including dairy, gluten and grain free). There are easy-to-spot icons that will tell you at a glance whether a recipe is easy to make, low cost, needs cold storage (or is backpack friendly), includes soaking, or is free of common allergens.

:: There are fantastic bonus tips, like the fact that I could toss potatoes into the oven to bake for dinner while my granola baked (which I thought was s super idea and helped me to make granola AND potato salad with little fuss or wasted energy). Katie has a wonderful focus on stewarding our time and energy well, and she's always looking for ways to make things more efficient and streamlined in the kitchen.

Would you like to win yourself a copy of Healthy Snacks to Go? I have 5 copies to give away!

Leave a comment telling me what your biggest struggle is with serving healthy snacks and to-go foods (or why you want to win Healthy Snacks to Go).
Subscribe to Keeper of the Home.
Follow me on Facebook
Follow me Twitter (@keeperhome)
Subscribe to Kitchen Stewardship
Follow Kitchen Stewardship on facebook
Follow Katie on Twitter (@kitchenstew)

Giveaway will end Friday, May 14th at 4pm (PST). Good luck! Giveaway has now ended- winners to be announced shortly!

Image by anne.oldeorfhirsch

Disclosure: I have received a copy of this book for review, but have not been paid or compensated to write this review. These are my honest opinions about the book. I do receive a small affiliate commission on each sale from my site, but I only recommend products I truly think are worth buying.

Our Sponsors:

Spoonk Rider: The Portable Accupressure Mat
Plan to Eat: Drag & drop meal planner with automated shopping list maker.
Fertility Flower: Helps women predict ovulation, increasing chances of conception. Outstanding charting tools.
Experience God as Your Provider: Does Your Financial Future Feel Like a Crumbling Sand Castle?
Learn to Cook With Sourdough: "Pay What You Can" Classes in Sourdough and Traditional Cooking
Holy Ambition: If you're thinking, God can't use me, think again! YOU can make a difference.

You might also enjoy:

Giveaway: Fuzzi Bunz One-Size Diaper, Hemp Insert and Bamboo Wipes

Stephanie @ Keeper of the Home — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 10:00:34 +0000

Now that I've got you all thinking about diapers (not to mention the fact that one of the themes at Keeper of the Home this month has been reducing waste), it's the perfect time to offer a giveaway of my current fave, the Fuzzi Bunz One-Size pocket diaper!

Just Bumming Around, who happens to be one of my fabulous March sponsors, kindly allowed me to review several of their products on my own little sweetheart. Now it's someone else's turn to give these wonderful diapers and accessories a go!

Barbara has a policy of only selling cloth diapering supplies that she absolutely loves and thinks are the best. I've been cloth diapering a long time and I think she's got pretty good taste.

Here's what she's giving away to one lucky mama:

1 Fuzzi Bunz One-Size diaper, winner's choice of color/pattern
One Countoured Hemp Insert
6 Bamboo Wipes

Fuzzi Bunz One-Size Diaper

Here's what I recently said about this diaper that I use and love:

"I wasn't sure that I could love another diaper as much as I initially loved my BumGenius, but I was wrong. The new Fuzzi Bunz one-size is hands down my current favorite diaper.

It uses a unique cinching system with the leg elastics that allows you to change the size from the inside, rather than using a snap system on the front of the diaper (like most pockets). This ultimately means a less bulky, funny shaped one-size- hooray! It also keeps the legs fitting snugly, no matter what size your baby is."

To read the rest of my thoughts, see the Keeper of the Home Pocket Diaper Review.

Contoured Hemp Insert

I have tried several different hemp inserts previous to this one, but I can see why Barbara was eager for me to try it. This is the mother of all hemp inserts.

It is made with 4 layers of a mix of hemp fleece and organic cotton, making it super absorbent. It is cleverly designed so that it opens in the middle, with 2 layers above and 2 layers below. This means that it offers a full 4 layers of absorbency, but dries relatively quickly for its size, because the layers separate in the dryer. It also has a large, wonderful contoured shape which means that it really fills the pocket completely, for full coverage.

It is ideal to use as a single insert during the daytime, or to double up with a microterry insert (micro on top, hemp on bottom) for excellent nighttime absorbency. Now that I've got the hang of using it, I'm lovin' this baby!

Bamboo Wipes

So. incredibly. soft. Seriously, why do babies get all the luxury?

They are made with bamboo fleece, and are 8x8 inches. They are double-sided, so even one wipe can handle a pretty messy job. I've always used cheapo baby wash cloths as my diaper wipes, but I can definitely see why you would consider using these instead.

Want to win this incredible cloth diapering package? Here's how:

*Please be sure to leave a separate comment for each additional entry- thanks!

Visit Just Bumming Around and choose your favorite color/print if you won the giveaway. Then come back and leave me a comment letting me know which one you would pick.
Explore Just Bumming Around's site a bit, and leave a comment letting me know any other products that particularly appeal to you, or that you've used before and loved.
Subscribe to Keeper of the Home by email or RSS.
Follow me on Twitter.
Tweet this giveaway (use @keeperhome in your tweet)
Follow me on Facebook.
Link up to this giveaway on your Facebook page.
Join the Keeper of the Home community forum.
Start a new thread or comment on an existing thread in the forum (and have you checked out the Cloth Diapering board)

Giveaway ends Thursday, April 1 at 9pm. Giveaway has now ended.

Our Sponsors:

Spoonk Rider: The Portable Accupressure Mat
Plan to Eat: Drag & drop meal planner with automated shopping list maker.
Fertility Flower: Helps women predict ovulation, increasing chances of conception. Outstanding charting tools.
Experience God as Your Provider: Does Your Financial Future Feel Like a Crumbling Sand Castle?
Learn to Cook With Sourdough: "Pay What You Can" Classes in Sourdough and Traditional Cooking
Holy Ambition: If you're thinking, God can't use me, think again! YOU can make a difference.

You might also enjoy:

Our Favorite Budget Management Tool

Stephanie @ Keeper of the Home — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 10:00:05 +0000

Image by Bohman

My wonderful hubby, Ryan, is as busy as he can be, working on our new business, Resound School of Music. Nonetheless, he agreed to write this short review post of our favorite budgeting software, You Need a Budget, which keeps us in line each and every month.

Since he's the the one that runs a mean budget around here, I'm going to let him tell you all about it...

*******

Some of you may remember my past review of YNAB (short for “You Need A Budget”), a personal budgeting software created for the those of us who are not Chartered Accounts.

The folks at YNAB have just release a new version, YNAB 3, and have kindly sent us a copy for review. Although YNAB does have some great features, I’m not going to give you a feature by feature breakdown. You can find that here, if you’re interested.

Instead, I’m going to tell you why I like YNAB so much. Although it is a software, it is first a system for sound financial management and faithful resource stewardship. It is based on four rules for personal management, and cannot be operated outside of these rules. These rules are:

Rule #1 – Stop Living Paycheck to Paycheck (A process for living off of last month’s income)

Rule #2 – Give Every Dollar a Job (In other words, have a plan for where all of your money goes – even if it’s just into savings)

Rule #3 – Save for a Rainy Day (Basically saving in advance for large expenditures so that they don’t throw you off when they happen).

Rule #4 – Roll with the Punches (Don’t let your failures and mistakes dictate your future. Get up and keep going.)

In a sense, when you use YNAB you immerse yourself in an environment where good financial management principles are continuously being reinforced. It takes some of the fantastic principles that Dave Ramsey and others talk about, and gives the user the tools to put them into practice.

Even though this blog has very little to do with Financial Management (Stephanie's note: but lots about frugality, which is so related!), we’ve promoted YNAB since the beginning because it’s the software we used to implement what we learned from Dave Ramsey, get out of debt and save enough money to start our own business in 2 years.

The folks at YNAB have made a special offer to readers of this blog for 10% off a purchase of YNAB software, which you can take advantage of by clicking on this link.

In the spirit of full disclosure, we are a YNAB affiliate and we do receive a commission for any sales that come through this site. That said, we only affiliate ourselves with products that we love. If you’d like to buy YNAB, and like this blog enough to support it, please purchase it through the links in this post. Otherwise, you can visit YNAB directly at www.ynab.com.

Do you have a favorite budget management tool? How do you keep your finances in line?

Our Sponsors:

Spoonk Rider: The Portable Accupressure Mat
Plan to Eat: Drag & drop meal planner with automated shopping list maker.
Fertility Flower: Helps women predict ovulation, increasing chances of conception. Outstanding charting tools.
Experience God as Your Provider: Does Your Financial Future Feel Like a Crumbling Sand Castle?
Learn to Cook With Sourdough: "Pay What You Can" Classes in Sourdough and Traditional Cooking
Holy Ambition: If you're thinking, God can't use me, think again! YOU can make a difference.

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Financial Resources for your New Year’s Goals

Review and Giveaway: Eco Nuts Organic Laundry Soap

Stephanie @ Keeper of the Home — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 10:00:51 +0000

Everytime I read it, I giggle just a little,

"Thanks for using Eco Nuts- you'd be nuts to use anything else!"

Truth be told, I'm nutty in so many other ways that perhaps the fact that I'm now using dried fruit shells (aka soap nuts) to clean my clothes shouldn't surprise me or anyone else!

Why would you want to choose Eco Nuts soap nuts to clean your clothes?

They are completely sustainable, renewable, biodegradable and an organic alternative to chemical detergents and more expensive natural laundry detergents
They are gentle and chemical or allergen free. No concerns for sensitive baby skin, or those with eczema or other skin conditions.
They are mild and don't leave residue, so they are suitable for washing cloth diapers.
They have antimicrobial properties, which makes them a great choice for those with septic or grey water systems.

Wondering how soap nuts actually work? They contain saponin, which is a natural cleaner that breaks the surface tension of the water to penetrate the fibers of your clothing- a fancy way to say that they are able to life stains and leave the dirt in the water to be washed away. They don't foam up, because they don't contain foaming agents. This was disconcerting to me at first, but I decided to get over it and see whether they worked anyways!

I received my trial of soap nuts from The Baby Bum Store, who recently began carrying Eco Nuts for all their cloth diapering customers in particular. I tried them out this past week and they've actually been worked pretty hard in a short amount of time.

I've used them in both cold and hot, regular loads, heavy blankets, and cloth diapers, all successfully. The real test happened today, with an incredibly yucky load of diapers which contained some toddler explosions. I double rinsed before I washed (even though I usually rinse only once), but was shocked and pleased to see that the diapers came out fresh smelling and clean, even though this was already the 5th wash my soap nuts had been through (and they are generally able to be reused for 5-7 washes).

Final score? Indescribably poopy diapers 0, Eco Nuts 1.

Will soap nuts begin to replace my trusty natural detergents? The jury is still out on that one. I love how small and light they are to carry and store, and the fact that they're entirely sustainable and that I can toss them in my compost. I was impressed with their cleaning ability, despite the lack of bubbles and pretty smells. You just might win me over, little soap nuts.

Would you like to give Eco Nuts Organic Laundry Soap a try?

Courtesy of The Baby Bum Store, I have one package of Eco Nuts, good for 50 hot washes or up to 90 cold washes, to give to one reader with very dirty clothes (because why else would you want to win them?).

To win a package of these little babies, here's what you need to do:

(And remember, please leave a separate comment for each entry)

Leave me a comment telling me the toughest laundry challenge that you're facing.
Visit The Baby Bum Store and tell me your favorite product that they carry (I bought some pocket diapers from them recently that I'm just thrilled with for the best price around!)
Become a fan on my new Facebook fan page!
Mention this giveaway on Facebook.
Follow me on Twitter.
Tweet this giveaway (include @keeperhome in your tweet)
Subscribe to Keeper of the Home through email or RSS.
Become a member of the Forum, or post a new topic or comment.

Someone is going to have some wonderful clean laundry soon. Good luck, all! Giveaway ends Friday, March 19 at 3:00pm.

Our Sponsors:

Spoonk Rider: The Portable Accupressure Mat
Plan to Eat: Drag & drop meal planner with automated shopping list maker.
Fertility Flower: Helps women predict ovulation, increasing chances of conception. Outstanding charting tools.
Experience God as Your Provider: Does Your Financial Future Feel Like a Crumbling Sand Castle?
Learn to Cook With Sourdough: "Pay What You Can" Classes in Sourdough and Traditional Cooking
Holy Ambition: If you're thinking, God can't use me, think again! YOU can make a difference.

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Steady Days: Book Review and Giveaway

Stephanie @ Keeper of the Home — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 11:00:04 +0000

"I am not a perfect mother. Often I struggle with impatience; sometimes I lack the enthusiasm I long for. I make many mistakes, just like my children. As they are maturing as children, I am maturing as a mother... We need to equip ourselves with practical tools that allow us to give our personal best to our young children, helping us thrive in our strengths and overcome our weaknesses. We aim for professionalism in every other area of our lives; why should our children get anything less?"

This month I had the extreme pleasure of reviewing the book Steady Days: A Journey Toward Intentional, Professional Motherhood, by Jamie C. Martin. The quote above is from the beginning of the book, setting the stage for an exploration of what it takes to be a professional mother.

There is one message that rings out strong and clear throughout the entirety of Steady Days and it is this... mothering requires intentionality. To maintain peace and order, we must be purposeful about how we achieve that. To maintain our enthusiasm, we must plan activities and encouragement into our days that inspire us. To capture memories and special moments with our children, we must have a plan for what we will do and how we will remember what we've enjoyed and experienced.

Over and over again, this one thought. To be successful in achieving my goals as a mother, I must be intentional. Purposeful. Prepared. Well-planned. Goal-oriented.

Let's face it. It can be easy to go on auto-pilot as a mom. Sometimes our days are so full and overwhelming that we just go with the flow, without being intentional about how we are spending these precious years with our children.

As a home educating mother, I make more of an effort to be intentional about how I educate my children, what learning resources I expose them to, how many books we read, etc. And yet, throughout the rest of my day I can sometimes get so focused on other aspects of my roles as mother, wife, homemaker and more that I cease to be purposeful about all the other realms of my mothering.

If you can relate to what I'm saying, I think that you would be blessed by Steady Days. Jamie is encouraging and upbeat, and yet consistently challenging us to consider how we are doing things, what our motivations are, what could be changed, how we could grow as mothers.

Jamie reading to her 3 sweet children

A few other practical things I loved:

Short, simple chapters. If bite-sized is what you need to make it through a book and really implement its strategies, then you will just love how Jamie has organized Steady Days into 40 short chapters.
Steady Days Planner. This is Jamie's version of a homemaking binder, and she has so many wonderful suggestions for adding to it. A few that I was particularly inspired by were a Steady Blessings page (for recording our blessings, special moments, thoughts of gratefulness), Special Date Organizer, Shopping Lists, and Children's Goals. Many of the particular pages she discusses and shows throughout the book can actually be found on her website, at http://www.steadydays.com/resources.html.
Room Time. A clever technique for achieving a bit of quiet time for Mom to get some things done, while each child plays/reads productively in their own space (no more sibling squabbles, at least for 20-30 minutes!). Love it!

Final thoughts: I really enjoyed this book and I know that I will reference it again and again. I love Jamie's encouragement to just implement new things or small changes bit by bit. For moms who are feeling overwhelmed and in need of someone to help you get more organized and intentional in your mothering, Steady Days is for you!

To get to know Jamie a little better and find more tips, strategies and thoughts for bringing steadiness and professionalism to your days, you can find her at her blog, Steady Mom.

Would you like to win a signed copy of Steady Days: A Journey Towards Intentional, Professional Motherhood?

Here's how:

(Please leave each entry as a SEPARATE comment, to ensure that they are all counted. Thanks for making my job easier!)

Tell me why you need to read this book, or a goal that you have for your mothering.
Visit Jamie's blog, Steady Mom, and leave a comment.
Subscribe to Steady Mom.
Follow her on twitter, @steadymom.
Subscribe to Keeper of the Home.
Follow me on twitter, @keeperhome.
Post about this giveaway on your own blog, and leave me the url.

Giveaway ends Friday, January 29th at 3:00pm. This giveaway has now finished. :)

Our Sponsors:

Spoonk Rider: The Portable Accupressure Mat
Plan to Eat: Drag & drop meal planner with automated shopping list maker.
Fertility Flower: Helps women predict ovulation, increasing chances of conception. Outstanding charting tools.
Experience God as Your Provider: Does Your Financial Future Feel Like a Crumbling Sand Castle?
Learn to Cook With Sourdough: "Pay What You Can" Classes in Sourdough and Traditional Cooking
Holy Ambition: If you're thinking, God can't use me, think again! YOU can make a difference.

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