Let’s be honest… We all know what happens to the candy that comes with every holiday…

Mom walks by basket,

Mom picks up snack size Snickers,”it’s just one Snickers” she thinks, “AND it’s snack size, it barely even counts as calories…”

Mom leaves room walking past basket and picks up another little piece of chocolate,

And so on as the day goes. Before you know it, Mom has eaten the equivalent of 5 full size candy bars and the kids are wondering where their candy went while they were at school. It’s really not a pretty scenario.

So, here are some ideas for Non Candy, Easter Basket Stuffers that will save you some calories, and your kids will still love!

1. Theme a basket to a movie your kids are wanting to see (Avengers: Endgame, Anyone??) Get a couple of themed items along with movie tickets or a gift card for you to go see the movie together as a family. You could also do this with something that is new on DVD or a Redbox Gift Card. Include popcorn, and candy and make Sunday night your movie night.

2. Pick up some tickets to a local attraction such as McWane Science Center, Splash Adventure, Desoto Caverns, etc.

3. Theme a basket for outside toys. The weather is warming up and you can never have enough sidewalk chalk or bubbles, maybe even spring for a bubble machine! A great place for these items is 5 Below, if you have one near you.

4. Self Care Basket. If you have some kiddos that like bath bombs and face masks, this would be a good time to go crazy with all of the fun bath stuff that’s so popular right now. Target has a great selection, and if you want to shop local, Soca Girl in Homewood has an entire section of fun self care supplies for preteens and tweens.

5. Sports Basket. Much like some tickets to our local attractions, you could theme a basket for the sports fan in your family. The Birmingham Barons just kicked off their 2019 season, tickets to a game, a new glove, some baseball cards, Big League Chew and some sunflower seeds would be perfect!

6. Coffee Basket. I know this sounds more like something you would want the Easter Bunny to bring you, but if you have a Teen that has already fallen into the world of coffee addiction, try a basket filled with some fun re-usable cups, a travel mug and gift card to their favorite coffee shop.

Other ideas include:

Bath toys
Books
Stickers
Art Supplies
Fun Socks
Beach Toys
Slime Supplies (if you’re nice and still haven’t banned it from your home like I have)
Fun Post It’s
Legos
Makeup/Nail polish
Gift Cards to their favorite store

This week, we’re focusing on the Three Rs: Reduce, Re-use, and Recycle. It can be tempting to feel good about purchases we make as long as the items or their packaging can be recycled. But, while 80% of what we get rid of could be recycled, our actual recycling rate is closer to 30%. Sometimes we forget to recycle or find it inconvenient. In addition, the recycling process requires energy, which may mean more greenhouse gases being released into the atmosphere.

A far better plan is to only purchase things we actually need or Reduce – our first R. Most of us have more food in our kitchens than we can possibly eat before it spoils, clothes in our closets we’ve literally never worn, and lots of toys our kids have lost interest in.

Ask yourself… W.M.K.D.? (i.e., What Would Marie Kondo Do?). The first step to reducing is to make and stick to shopping lists – even for non-grocery items like clothes. Keep track of what needs to be replaced so you can be on the lookout for a high quality item at a good deal. Although you may spend more on the front end, better quality items will last longer meaning you won’t be adding so much junk to landfills and oceans. Higher quality items are often easier to repair (Look! Another R!) if they break or tear, meaning you get more life out of them usually without much more expense.

Re-use, the second R, means avoiding disposable, single-use items like we talked about last week, and not always replacing what we have for newer/bigger/better. Learning to re-use can be difficult if you’re used to the novelty of having new stuff. Many of us use shopping to cope with stress but this habit isn’t good for our earth or our wallets. If this is a challenge for you, consider reading up on minimalism.  Of course, you don’t have to subscribe 100% but you may be able to draw from this philosophy techniques for focusing on your needs instead of your wants. Probably that means don’t ever go to Target. Using what we already have until it’s no longer functional or repairable can be hard to get used to, especially for our kids, but you’ll likely find there are small ways you can adjust to this practice. Items in your home may eventually end up in a landfill but re-using significantly reduces how much we add. Re-using can also change how we acquire things in the first place. You’d be amazed at the cool stuff you can find at thrift stores and consignment sales and the hunt is half the fun. Your kid needs a costume for school? Borrow from a neighbor or buy secondhand. Get books, movies, and music from the library or go digital. Look for small ways to cut back on how often you acquire new things and save your splurges for the really special stuff.

Finally, we come to Recycle – probably the R with which we’re all most familiar. Most of us likely have curbside recycling available but there’s often a lot of confusion as to what we can recycle and how we should prepare items for recycling. Check out these general recycling tips and this page more specific to the Birmingham area. In general, it’s important to only put in your recycling bin items that you’re pretty sure can be recycled, otherwise you could risk spoiling the whole batch. Dump out and rinse out cans and bottles, but no need to dry them completely. Paper products that have been in contact with food unfortunately have to be tossed so they don’t contaminate other recyclables – a good reason to buy recycled paper products whenever possible or, better yet, to stick with reusable items. For those times when you forgot your canvas bags at stores, Publix and Target recycle plastic bags and a lot of the packaging for things like toilet paper can go in with those! Also, Target recycles glass and Publix recycles egg cartons and foam trays like you get from the meat department. If you want to take Recycling a step further, there are several programs for specific items and brands. A great source to check out is TerraCycle. You can request to join recycling programs for the brands you use most like Gillette, Burt’s Bees, and Garnier. Once you’re in the program, companies send you a prepaid shipping label and you mail off your empties. The Gimme 5 program we talked about last week for recycling #5 plastics has bins at participating Whole Foods stores, including the one in Hoover, or you can send in items by mail. As we just recently shared, Crayola works with schools to accept markers that would otherwise be bound for the trash through their ColorCycle Program.  You can send old crayons to Crazy Crayons.

If you need help getting motivated to put the 3 Rs into practice, spend some time googling words and phrases like, “Landfill,” “Garbage patch,” and “Ocean trash.” Keep these images in your mind before you shop so you can decide whether you really need the item you’re buying or have something already that will work just as well. For more ideas, check out this site. If you want to get your kids practicing the 3 Rs, visit NIEHS Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Next month, we’ll be taking a tour of the Southern Environmental Center on the campus of Birmingham-Southern College and learning all about our garbage problem. Stay tuned for more on that!

About Kristen:

Kristen is a local Mom to three, ages 12, 9 and almost 6. She’s the author of our Parenting with a PhD series who also happens to have a passion for educating others about the benefits of living a greener life. She hopes that leading by example will encourage others to try some alternate ways of shopping, and incorporating small changes that can make a big impact on our future.

It’s time to discuss another reason why homeschooling might be easier than you think! My goal is always to encourage those who are interested in homeschooling. And I hope that so far, I have been successful.

One reason I hear a lot of families being hesitant to try homeschooling is the cost. And they’re right, homeschooling can get expensive. Especially, if you consider it means living on mostly one income, because some one has to stay home and actually do the schooling.

I’ve found a few ways to help alleviate the some of the expense in my few years of homeschooling. And if you know of anymore or think of something that I missed don’t hesitate to share that with us!

First, there is the option to just do public school at home. Most school districts offer some form of this and will include the books and supplies need for your student for free. Check with your local school board for details for what’s offered in your area.

Easy Peasy All In One Homeschool. Free, is always a good deal! And I feel like it’s especially a good deal considering the quality of this curriculum. If the all online aspect is something you’re not crazy about, you can purchase workbook versions of the curriculum on Easy Peasy’s Amazon store. I am currently using the math workbook for my first grader and the Fourth Grade Reader for my fourth grader. I am pleased with the classics my daughter has read this year, and at a really awesome price.

Curriculum Consignment sales are another great way to purchase quality books and save some money. Just the same as kids clothing consignment, you can find some awesome deals. The Faith Community Christian School in Trussville usually hosts a curriculum consignment sale at the end of the school year, around June. There is also Heritage Academy that has a consignment curriculum store in Birmingham as well as on EBay.

The Birmingham Homeschool Fair also offers a used curriculum sale. This year the dates are April 25, 2019, for sale volunteers and April 27, 2019, for the public. I’m personally looking forward to checking this sale out for the first time this year.

ThriftBooks.com is one of my favorite apps/websites and they have curriculum if you know what you’re searching for. Facebook also has homeschool groups just for the purpose of buying, selling, and trading curriculum.

And there’s always just borrowing and trading among other homeschool families. Most of us are happy to help other homeschooling families. We love to share! I know that my Kindergartener is using some quality Math U see curriculum this year because a friend just passed it down once her children were finished with  it.

I hope these ideas are helpful and help you see that you don’t have to have a money tree in your back yard to afford homeschool.

If you want to learn more about getting started in the Home School process, make sure to check out our last couple of articles, Is Homeschooling for You and to get some tips on socializing your Home Schooler, you can see those tips here.