This is it, your final day to enroll in the Florida Prepaid College Savings Plan for 2017-18. This post is in partnership with Florida Prepaid College Plans as part of their Starting is Believing campaign. All opinions are my own and may not reflect those of the company. What are you waiting for? There will never be a time when you have "enough" to do everything you want (or need) to do for your kids. Just like there isn't a perfect time to have kids; there isn't a perfect time to start saving for their college. So just do it! Plans start at as little as $47 a month. Five Ways to Save $47 a Month: Coffee! If you make a trip to the coffee shop every day of the month, skip that trip nine days and make coffee at home instead. At around $5 per trip, you'll have $45 extra each month to put towards a college plan instead. Pack a Lunch! I have one kid who packs lunch each day for school and one who prefers to buy school lunch. It adds up quick if they buy school ... [ Read More ]
Celebrate the Whole You with Stonyfield & prAna
This post is sponsored by Stonyfield Yogurt and prAna as part of the Stonyfield Yogetters Bloggers Network. Mother's Day is tomorrow and our house is in chaos; but what's new! We just started demolition on our kitchen for a very overdue remodel. Our kitchen is the original kitchen from 1985 and the cheap laminate cabinets have been painted over (poorly) several times. As of Friday afternoon the remnants of our old kitchen are now gone and we're left with dust and dreams. Day 2 demo progress! Now we break for the weekend. Cabinets installed on Monday! #kitchenrenovation A post shared by Calley Pate (@backtocalley) on May 12, 2017 at 3:14pm PDT Needless to say I'm learning to live in chaos. We saved out the essential items needed to live day to day and packed up our plates, glasses, and pantry. Most of our kitchen is now packed in boxes and bags in our garage; while the essentials are sitting on our dining room table in the living room. Even the refrigerator and ... [ Read More ]
Oh, Kale Yeah! Sprouts is now open in Tampa!! #NewKaleInTown
This post is written through a partnership with Sprouts Farmers Market. It's finally here, the new Sprouts Farmers Market is finally open in Tampa!! My son and I got to visit the newest location in Carrollwood for their Friends & Family night and blog tour. We got a quick tour and overview of Sprouts with their staff and then had some time to shop on our own. I really didn't have much on my shopping list this week, but I still managed to find some essential items and bargains that I couldn't resist. If you're near Carrollwood I would recommend visiting them between now and Sunday; their Grand Opening specials are running all weekend long. I couldn't pass up the $1 strawberries, $1 pineapples, and 3/$1 avocados. Be sure to download their mobile app before you go so you can take advantage of the Sprouts mobile coupons, no more clipping necessary! As we walked in I was immediately in love with the adorable little succulents and the bright, vivid orchids. I do not have ... [ Read More ]
How to Make a Snapchat Geofilter for Your Next Party
My youngest turned eight a few weeks ago and insisted on having a YouTube themed birthday party. It's hard to make a party "YouTube" themed without incorporating a few other social media outlets as well. My daughter and her friends are addicted to Snapchat filters and share silly pictures of themselves all weekend. It's absolutely hilarious to see some of their silly snaps back and forth. What does a YouTube birthday party look like??? Great question and one that I had to create on my own with her suggestions. We had a selfie station, took a "Try not to laugh" challenge, and opened mystery boxes. Plus there were lots of emojis and YouTube was playing in the background all day. Confessions and Rules: Yes, my eight year old has an iPhone. Yes, she is on Snapchat. Yes, we monitor her account and she's only allowed to share snaps with her friends and family. No, she's not allowed to post to her story or friend anyone she doesn't know. ...and both of my kids have YouTube ... [ Read More ]
Tips for Simplifying Your Holiday
This post is sponsored by Good Food Made Simple #SimplifyTheHolidays Is holiday stress getting to you? Too much family drama? Too many things to mark off your list? Too many gifts to buy and ship? If there is one thing that my parents taught me, it's that the holiday's shouldn't be about "things" and shouldn't stress you out. Here are some tips that help our family enjoy the holidays and reduces our stress level. Give the Gift of Experiences. Christmas presents don't always have to be "things," they could be special experiences like a day at the park with mommy, or a special weekend getaway to see some holiday lights, or a full day unplugged from distractions. Your kids will love their special time doing things with you and making memories. Limit the Gift Count. Don't feel like you have to indulge your children with every gift on their wish list. If they are like my kids, that wish list will keep growing and growing and growing. We stick with 1-2 big gifts and a few ... [ Read More ]
How to Plan Ahead for College with Florida Prepaid
This post is sponsored by the Florida Prepaid College Board, through my role as a Believer Blogger. All thoughts are my own. College is getting closer and closer in our future. How did this happen? How is it that my first born is less than 4 years away from entering college? He'll be starting high school next Fall, but we've already started thinking about the future and started to make plans to help make this transition a little easier for all of us. It's never too early (or too late) to get started! With the Florida Prepaid program you can start saving for college as soon as your child is born. With a Florida 529 Savings Plan you can get started as soon as your child has a social security number. With Florida Prepaid Plans you can even start before they have a SSN. I know many new parents are overwhelmed with parenting to even think about college savings with their newborn. We didn't start saving until the kids were a little older, but even starting when they are older will help ... [ Read More ]
What is an Instant Pot and Why do I Need One?
I've jumped on the Instant Pot (IP) bandwagon and so should you! Several months ago some friends were raving about this thing called an Instant Pot and I had never heard about it. I later learned that it's a modern day pressure cooker. The only time I've ever seen a pressure cooker in use is at my Grandma's, she always makes the best pot roast with potatoes and veggies. The meat would just melt in your mouth and the veggies were cooked to perfection. Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, all opinions are my own and I truly love these products or I wouldn't share them with you. An Instant Pot is a pressure cooker is similar to a slow cooker (or crock pot), but cooks much quicker and under pressure. There were a few features that my friends explained to me that sold me on this thing instantly (pun intended). Here are just a few.... Frozen chicken breasts or things can cook in less than 30 minutes! It makes hard boiled eggs super easy and quick, less than 5 min. ... [ Read More ]
Parenting a Tween and Electronics
In just a few more months I'll officially be a mom of a teen, not to be confused with a Teen Mom!! Right now I'm in the heart of the tween (kids age 10-12) and I'm not sure how I'm going to handle this parenting a teenager stuff. I feel like every week my oldest is grounded from something for doing something stupid. One week it was calling girls names that I won't even type (he claims he didn't know what they meant), then it was flipping off another student in class, and the lying.... .....oh my goodness the lying!! The issues I've been having aren't unique to our family, they are regular tween antics that other friends his age are going through also. I remember lying to my parents, but tween's today have one more level of complexity that we never had to deal with as kids, the internet! I'm going to start aging myself now and sounding like "those parents," but the internet didn't even exist when I was his age. If we wanted to talk with our friends we had to pick up the ... [ Read More ]
#JustBeYou with prAna & Oh My Yog {Coupon Code & Giveaway}
This post is sponsored by prAna and Stonyfield Yogurt If there's one thing that I've learned over the last 40+ years, it's that all you need to be in life is YOU. As a child I always wanted to be just like the other girls, those popular girls. I wanted to have the perfect hair, the perfect clothes, and the perfect friends. What I didn't realize at the time was that I'm not who I wanted to be when I was little.... ...I'm better! I look back over the profile pictures on Facebook of those girls I wanted to be like, and I realize that I'm more than happy with who I've become and who I've always been. I don't want to be "just like them" any longer and I wouldn't want to be anyone else but me. Oh, how I wish I had learned that 30 years ago. This was me today after a full day at work, after homework was done, and after dinner was in our bellies. This is how I looked at 8am this morning when I left to take the kids to school and the only difference right now is that I've ... [ Read More ]
Have you enrolled in Florida Prepaid yet?
Earlier this month I shared with you some of the different plans that Florida Prepaid offers families to help save for their children's college. The enrollment period for the 2015-16 year is officially open and they have an extra special incentive for anyone wanting to open a new plan. For anyone who opens a new Florida Prepaid college plan using promotional code BLOG1516, Florida Prepaid will send you a free gift just for signing up. Plus for anyone signing up between now and November 15th, you'll be entered to win one of 10 prepaid scholarships for a 2 year Florida College Plan! What a great gift that would be to win, the first 2 years of your child's education would be paid for! There are also bonus entry options for answering some survey questions and tweeting about Florida Prepaid. Enter the College Scholarship Giveaway by clicking this link: ENTER GIVEAWAY NOW! To watch this video on YouTube: Starting is Believing I sure hope that my daughter changes her career ... [ Read More ]