10 Gifts You Can Get Free or Nearly Free at Grove Collaborative

I'm in Christmas shopping mode, but unfortunately this year we've found the need to cut our budget back quite a bit.  I'm coming up with lots of creative ways to “purchase” gifts for free or very inexpensively.

I'll be sharing lots of my ideas here, so be sure to sign up for my email newsletter to stay in the loop!

Today I have a list of 10 gifts you can purchase for free or very inexpensively from Grove Collaborative.

Here's how it works:

1. Sign up as a new Grove Collaborative user here, and you'll get a $10 credit in your account.

2. Browse the list below for some of my favorite products that will make great gifts!

3. Apply your credit at checkout and voila!  Check of another gift (or 2 or 3) from your shopping list without spending anything!

4. (If you're already a Grove Collaborative customer, you won't get another $10 credit; however, you can share this post with your friends and ask them to sign up through your referral link instead of mine.  You'll get a $10 credit when they sign up!)

IMPORTANT NOTE:

Grove Collaborative auto-ships items each month, so you need to double check to make you are not scheduled for automatic delivery of more items (they will send you an email each month to remind you to check your subscriptions.)  You DO NOT have to continue to have items shipped to you unless you want to, but be sure to double check!

Update 11/2018: Instead of the $10 credit, Grove is currently offering a 5 piece Mrs. Meyers gift set to new customers ($35 value!)

Click here to get yours!

The following products are some of my favorite items that I regularly purchase from Grove:

eCloth kitchen pack – $14.99, only $4.99 after $10 credit
(Read my eCloth review here.)

Grove kitchen towels 2 pack – $9.99; free after $10 credit
These towels are SO NICE!

Grove cleaning caddy – $14.95; $4.95 after credit

Mrs. Meyer's dish soap – $3.89; get several nearly free with $10 credit

Wool Dryer Balls – $15.95; $5.95 after $10 credit
Such a great gift!

Grove hand sanitizer – $3.95; get several nearly free after $10 credit
This smells SO good!

Grove lip balm – $3.95; get several nearly free after $10 credit

Grove hand cream – $7.95; FREE after $10 credit

Mrs. Meyer's hand soap – $3.89; get several nearly free after $10 credit

Mrs. Meyer's body wash – $7.99; FREE after $10 credit

Have fun with your free gift shopping!

Don't forget to sign up for my newsletter so you can get notified of additional ideas that I'll be posting!

6 Products to Help Prepare Your Home for Winter

I have a bittersweet relationship with fall.  I love the cooler air, the bonfires, and all of the pumpkin and apple flavored goodies that come my way.  But with the fall comes the knowledge that winter is on its way.  I've never liked the cold, and every winter, despite my best intentions to bundle up and go outside for some fresh air, I end up spending 99% of my time indoors.

All that time spent indoors means the house needs to stay clean!

A dirty house makes me feel quite irritable.  An irritable mommy stuck inside with 5 small children is not a good combination, so I need to make sure I'm prepared to keep the house as clean as possible!

When Babbleboxx wrote and asked if they could send some products to help me do some fall cleaning, I readily agreed.  I don't do sponsored posts very often, but this was clearly a perfect fit.  I'm excited to show you the products they sent, because I know you'll find them as helpful as I did!

Ready?  Let's take a look!

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by BabbleBoxx.com.

Duck® brand Roll-On® Window Kits

We live in North Carolina, so I'm sure those from up north will laugh at my extreme aversion to cold, but nonetheless, our temperatures do occasionally drop below freezing! 🙂

The Duck® brand Roll-On® Window Kit is an easy way to keep those cold winter drafts from coming through the windows.  The edges are pre-taped, which makes installation super simple!  There's no need to even measure the thing, and it fits snugly on the indoor window frames to provide an airtight seal.

If you want to save some money on your energy bills this coming winter (and keep yourself more cozy), you should check these window kits out!

(Here's a quick video showing how easy it is to install them.)

Link to purchase the window kits: Click here

Scrub Daddy: Sponge Caddy & Scour Daddy

Babbleboxx sent me a box in the spring, which is where I was first introduced to Scrub Daddy.  I was happy to see that this box also had Scrub Daddy products in it because the  others I had tried had become some of my favorite kitchen products.

This time I got to try the Sponge Caddy and the Scour Daddy.

You know how the sponges on your kitchen sink get all nasty and slimy when they sit there all wet?  The Sponge Caddy provides a place to store them where they have air flow that helps dry them out.  The dual suction cups adhere to any surface, and the little holes allow the water to drain from your sponges into your sink instead of sitting there stagnating into a bacterial breeding ground.

The Scour Daddy is not like any regular old kitchen sponge.  It holds a firm shape, which makes it so much easier to wash dishes with it.  The scratchy surface cleans but does not scratch.  AND…the multiple colors mean that you can easily keep track of which sponge is for which job.  When you're finished, you can use the nifty little hang tag to hang your sponge to dry.

You really should go look at the Scrub Daddy website because I am not doing justice to just how essential of a kitchen tool these little guys are.

Molly’s Suds: All Sport Laundry Wash, Oxygen Whitener

I've been a Molly's Suds user for about a year now, but I hadn't yet tried either the All Sport Laundry Wash or the Oxygen Whitener.

In fact, having Molly's Suds included in this Babbleboxx was one of the reasons I so readily said that I would do this post.

It truly is one of my favorite laundry products, and I wanted to make sure you knew about this wonderful, non-toxic brand of detergent that actually works!  (I've not had great success with other brands of non-toxic detergent that I've tried.)

I've been equally happy with these two new varieties of Molly's Suds that I tried, and I think you will love them as much as I do!

You can purchase Molly's Suds All Sport Laundry Wash or Molly's Suds Oxygen Whitener right here.  (Through 10/31/17, use the code IMPERFECTBABBLE to get an additional 25% off your order.

O-Cedar: Pro Mist Max Spray Mop

What a pleasant surprise!  When it showed up on my porch I dropped everything and mopped my floors!  Almost all of the floors in my house are “fake” wood, and we've been able to keep them fairly clean by keeping our shoes off in the house and by making sure either me or the kids sweeps them daily.  But I've been wanting one of these little spray mops too so that I can quickly mop them.

The O-Cedar Pro Mist Max Spray Mop is perfect!  I can get my floors clean so quickly with it!

All you do is fill up the little container with your cleaning solution (I just use vinegar water with a little essential oil in it) and you can spray a squirt using the trigger on the handle.  Spray, mop, spray, mop.  So easy!

The reversible head means that when one side gets too dirty to use, you can just flip it over and keep going!  Then when you're finished you can take the re-usable microfiber mop pad and wash it so it will be ready for the next time.

I know I've said this about every product I've shown you, but this was one of my favorites!  Efficient cleaning is what I'm all about!

You can purchase your own O-Cedar Pro Mist Max Spray Mop right here.  (You might want to sign up to receive special offers here.)

PowerOE – Odor Eliminating Spray and Cleaner + Odor Eliminator

I can't imagine why, in a household which includes a couple bedwetters, children who sneak fruit into their rooms and leave the peels hidden under their bed, and boys who are…well…boys, why in the world we would need an odor eliminator!

The PowerOE Odor Eliminating Spray can be sprayed on sports equipment, garbage cans, bathrooms, you name it!  It can also be used to pre-treat smelly clothes.  It's dye-free and scented with essential oils (also available in a fragrance free solution.)

The PowerOE Cleaner + Odor Eliminator is powered by Thymol, a bleach alternative.  For a mom who doesn't like to use harsh chemicals, but who still needs to keep the house clean and get the laundry wash, it's nice to have some other options that will still do the job!

Find PowerOe right here and use the code IMH17 to get 25% off your purchase.

Grout Gator

The mom who invented this was using her thinking cap!  Why use a toothbrush to clean one grout line at a time when we can get the job done 4 times faster with the Grout Gator?!

(Actually the Grout Gator can clean up to 8 lines at a time, so you can get the job done WAY faster than the toothbrush method!)

The adjustable brush heads fit over tile sizes from 2” to 13” so you can use it for whatever job you're doing.  And don't worry, when the brush heads get worn out you can replace them.

It's time to speed up your cleaning time! Go here to purchase the Grout Gator, and use the code BB17 for 15% off your purchase.

That's it for now!  I'm sure with these tools to help you, you'll have your home ready for the winter in no time!  What else do you to during the fall to prepare your home for winter?

5 Things That are Stealing your Time as a Homemaker

If you're looking for more hours in your day, a great place to start is by finding those stolen moments.  Is there time that you are spending on something that you really should be spending on something else?

Not all the things in the list below are wrong things.  Some of them are simply things that we can become so wrapped up in doing that it steals time from more important things.

Take an honest look and see if any of them apply to you:

1. Social media

We start out innocently enough – hopping on Pinterest to find a recipe for dinner or deciding to post that photo we just took to Instagram.  But all too often, 5 minutes turns to 25 minutes, and before we know it, it's past dinner time before we get off our phone, still half-dazed.

We must be very intentional about the time we spend on our phones or computers.  Turn on a timer when you sit down if you find that you have a bad habit getting lost in the black hole of the internet.

2. Work

Many of us work from home, which is perfectly fine, but we must keep in mind that our family needs to come first.  Where do we find the balance between contributing to the family income and keeping our homes orderly, plus having plenty of time for spending with the people we love?  I've not met many people that seem to have the time to do all of it well.  The balance of that is going to be different for different families, and your priorities may be different than mine depending on your circumstances.

Regardless of whether you are in great need for the income or not, the potential for earning “just a little more” is always there, and we must all guard against going after another dollar at the expense of family time and a house that becomes so messy that everyone is stressed and grumpy.

So please hear me when I say that I'm not equating working from home as something that's not worth spending your time on.  It may actually be very much worth your time.  However, when it begins stealing your time from the people you love and from taking proper care of them, it's time to re-evaluate whether you need to cut back on the amount of time you spend working.

3. Hobbies

Every homemaker needs to make time for the things she enjoys.  It will bring joy to your life (and keep you a little more sane in the chaos of life!)

However, we need to be conscious of how much time we're spending on those things.  When the housework begins to slip or our children are clamoring for our attention, we need to be honest about whether or not it's because we've become too engrossed in our own interests.  Are we diligently caring for our families or we only looking out for number one?

4. Lack of focus

I am pretty bad about this.  Lots of jobs go half-done because I get distracted by another job halfway through.  At the end of the day, I have laundry that's half-done, dishes that are half-washed, and floors that are half-cleaned.  I've done a lot of work but the house is still a mess.

Learning to focus on one job at a time saves time because you're not doing everything twice.

Flylady's book, Sink Reflections, is probably my favorite resource for helping what she calls “SHE's” (Sidetracked Home Executives.) 🙂

5. Laziness

No, I'm not calling you lazy.  I have no idea who is reading this, so I wouldn't know anyway.  But if you're struggling with getting things done, just ask yourself honestly, “Could it be because I am being lazy?”  Are you snoozing the alarm multiple times (hey, I have to preach to myself about this too – maybe I should get one of these, haha!) or sitting on the computer (not literally!) when you really ought to get up and do your chores?

I think sometimes wives and moms hate chores every bit as much as kids do.  The problem is that we don't have anybody to with-hold our allowance or tell us we can't have screen time until we get our chores done.

Some good old-fashioned self-discipline is what we need.  Perhaps we shouldn't complain about feeling overwhelmed with the housework until we first take an honest look at whether or not we can do anything about it.

Maybe this article sounded a little harsh.  It's not meant to be; it's just that sometimes admitting that we can do better and be better feels pretty uncomfortable.  But I promise that if you see any areas here that you need to address, it will be so worth it to make the necessary changes!  You'll find more time and feel less frustrated, and those are good things!

How to Use a Prayer Journal to Develop a Consistent Habit of Prayer

“I'll be praying for you!”

How many times have you told that to someone, only to later do a terrible job at keeping your commitment?

Maybe you are actually really good about writing down all those prayer requests, but now your prayer list is a mile long and terribly overwhelming.

That's why I developed My Prayer Journal.

I came up with a system that I personally use to keep up with all of the things I would like to pray for without it becoming overwhelming.

Additionally, I now have a lifelong, written record of God's faithfulness to answer prayer!

Play the video below to see exactly how the system works.

Do you think this system will work for you?  You can purchase a pre-printed copy of this journal on Amazon right here.

If you'd rather read then watch, I've tried to explain the process in writing below:

Though my way isn't necessarily the best way or the only way to keep track of prayer requests and praises, it's works really well for me so I've stuck with it for a number of years.

To keep myself from feeling overwhelmed by such a long list of prayer requests, I divided them up into different categories and I pray for one category each day.

On Sunday I pray for my pastor and his family and for others I know that are serving in various ministries.  I try to keep up with specific requests for those people and not just “Please bless pastor and his family.”

On Monday I pray for missionaries.  I do the same thing when it comes to praying more specifically and not just in a general way.

On Tuesday I pray for those who need to be saved or who have other spiritual needs.

Wednesday is my praise day!  I spend time thanking the Lord for who he is and for specific blessings in my life.

On Thursday I pray for my church family.  Since Wednesday night is prayer meeting at church, new prayer requests from people are fresh on my mind on Thursday morning.

On Friday I pray for friends and extended family.  I try to find out specific requests for each person that I pray for.

Saturday is my personal requests day, where I pray for needs and desires in my own life.


I also have a list of daily requests that I pray for every single day of the week


You could totally use this system with just a simple binder and notebook paper if you wanted to, or if you'd rather, you can purchase a pre-printed version right here.  (It's gorgeous and very inexpensive!)



If you haven't been praying for as many things as you'd like because you feel overwhelmed, I hope my system will help you pray for more people each week!

5 Reasons to Take a Marriage Retreat (And Where to Take It!)

“I'm just so tired!”

“I can't even think with all the kid-noise and clutter!”

“We haven't had a date in months!  We don't talk about anything other than what's on the to-do list!”

If you're feeling burnt out and disconnected from your spouse due to the busyness of life and the exhaustion of kids, it's time to take a marriage retreat!

There are 5 great reasons to take a marriage retreat that I can think of, though I'm sure there are more.

1. Time to pray together.

Hopefully you're already praying together with your spouse, at least before you go to bed at night.  But I know from experience that when you're both completely exhausted, it can be hard to think coherently to spend a lot of time in prayer.  Usually by the time the kids are asleep and the lights are turned out, one or both of you is already halfway asleep!

When you get away on a marriage retreat, you'll have plenty of time to spend time in prayer together without waiting until you're both half asleep at night.

What a blessing to come before the Lord together and lay the burdens of your family at his feet!

My husband and I were recently blessed to spend several nights away at the Appleview River Resort in Sevierville, Tennessee.  Let me tell you, if you need some quiet time away, you should consider booking a few nights there.

A private condo was just the thing we needed to reconnect with each other and have some quality time to spend with the Lord as a couple.

It was all the more special to be there, knowing that the owners were outspoken Christians.  All of their material – brochures, email confirmations, guest information in the cabin, even their text message letting us know our unit was ready for check-in – took every opportunity to tell of their love for the Lord Jesus Christ and of their desire to use their property for his glory.

2.  Time to sleep.

When all the responsibilities at home are weighing you down, it's good to get away and just REST.  You don't need to go, go, go during your time away.  Take advantage of a nice place to stay and just hang out and sleep as long as you need to!  Getting some good rest will do wonders for a marriage.  Not only will it help refresh your spirit and give you a more pleasant outlook on life, it will give you a little more energy for physical intimacy with your spouse too.

I thought the bed at Appleview River Resort was super comfortable!  My husband didn't like it quite as much as I did, but he still slept comfortably.  It was either a memory foam mattress or else it had a memory foam topper.  Either way, I slept long and hard all 3 nights we stayed there!

Of course, maybe I was sleeping so well because I got to soak in this amazing tub every night!  It was so deep, and the water was so hot…oh I'm longing to go back just thinking about it.  My dream house has a tub like this!

3. Time to just be together.

It's nice to be able to just be with your spouse and enjoy them for who they are, with no expectations getting in your way.  No thoughts of household responsibilities can crowd in and ruin your time together.  Getting away lets you just be best friends with your spouse while leaving the cares of life behind for a while!

When we went to Sevierville, we spent time taking walks together, hiking, eating together, and shopping at a leisurely pace.

We didn't have to go far to enjoy a quiet stroll together.  Our condo at Appleview River Resort overlooked a lovely river walk, and we could go right outside and enjoy it any time we wanted to!

We also enjoyed quiet meals out on the balcony.

One day we went to Foxfire Mountain adventure park and took a hike through the property.  It was a beautiful hike, just difficult enough to be good exercise, but not so difficult that it was miserable.  We walked across America's longest swinging bridge and hiked up to a refreshing waterfall.  You can see a video of our day there below:

We also went out to breakfast a couple times!  We NEVER get to do that!  (It's kind of hard to get babysitters in the morning, you know?)

One morning we ate at the Applewood Farmhouse Restaurant.  It was right by our condo, and 2 complimentary meals came with the our room.  This is such a nice place to eat.  It's such a cozy environment, and the food is good too.  Applewood is definitely on our “must take a return visit” list!

Another morning we ate at Flapjacks Pancake Cabin.  My husband is still talking about the food he ate there two weeks later.  “Any time we are back in that area, we are eating there.  No if's, and's, or but's about it.  That is the best breakfast I have ever had.”  I'll have to agree with him that it was quite good.  I was super excited that they serve gluten free pancakes too!  The helpings were generous enough too that we had enough left over for breakfast the next day.  I highly recommend it!

We spent one evening walking around the Tanger Outlets, holding hands, browsing the stores.  It was nice to shop just for the sake of shopping and not have to worry about keeping track of kids or taking them potty.

There was a lot of evidence throughout the city of Sevierville of the respect they show for our veterans.  I thought that was really great.

My husband needed a new pair of work shoes.  He found a fantastic deal on some at the outlets.

4. Time to Plan

No matter your circumstances, you and your spouse no doubt have things you hope to accomplish, things that need to be done around the house, parenting and family goals you'd like to meet, etc.  The biggest obstacle we've found to meeting those goals is just finding the time to sit down an plan out how to get from point A to point B.

If you have family projects that are needing to happen or if you just want to re-evaluate how you're doing on your marriage or parenting, you need to take a marriage retreat and spend some time talking and planning together!

Here we are at our condo, getting a nice dinner prepared so we could have a planning session over dinner.

5. Time to have fun!

When is the last time you did something fun together?  When you go on a marriage retreat, you'll have all the time you need just to laugh and have fun!  There is something about having fun that is good for both the soul and the body!  (“A merry heart doeth good like a medicine.”)  Plan some good old fashioned fun into your marriage retreat and it will benefit you both!

We went out to Ripley's Old MacDonald's Farm mini golf one evening and had a blast trying to beat each other!  (I won't say who won, but it wasn't me. 🙂 )  We laughed when I knocked the ball completely off of the course we were on.  We laughed at how seriously my husband took his shots, measuring the exact trajectory and speed he would need.  He cheered for me when I followed his suggestions and got a hole in one.  It was just plain fun.

One day we drove around looking for the cabin we had stayed in on our honeymoon, which was near Sevierville.  We had no clue which road it was on, but we had a vague idea, so we went hunting for it.  We never did find it, but we had a ton of fun getting lost in the mountains together, and we ended up being rewarded with a beautiful view!

If you're feeling overwhelmed, burnt out, and disconnected from your spouse, I encourage you to make the effort to get away and spend some time with your spouse praying, resting, playing, planning, and spending quality time together.

As you can see from the getaway we took, Sevierville, Tennessee is a fantastic place to do that.  It offers the quiet you need to recharge right along with plenty of options for having fun together.  I hope you'll consider investing in a trip for the health of your marriage!

Many thanks to the city of Sevierville as well as the places mentioned in this post for providing complimentary lodging and meals to facilitate this article!