I received a frame from Nixplay in order to facilitate a blog post for a giveaway. All opinions are my own. This post contains some affiliate links.

This post contains affiliate links.

Back to school is in full swing for us, but a lot of people around the country haven't started yet or are just starting now, so I thought September's giveaway should be all about going back to school and what's more helpful than an Amazon gift card?! I know I've already ordered 3 times from them in the last month for backpacks, supplies, and clarinet parts. I'm going to help one mama out with a $50 gift card to Amazon for supplies, or take it in Paypal cash! This giveaway is open worldwide. Enter below and good luck!

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #PowerToThePen #PilotYourLife #CollectiveBias

Back to school time is here already and we're busy getting ready for the new school year. My daughter is going into middle school at a completely new school and she's super-excited, but also a little nervous. She'll be going to a magnet school in another area, so she's worried that she won't know very many, if any, of the students and has never met any of the teachers. We had a little talk about teachers and how hard, but awesome, their jobs are and she wanted to give her new teacher a gift. Of course, we ended up putting together a great "Take a Break" gift basket that I think any teacher would love to receive, including a handmade mini Japanese-bound journal (tutorial below!)

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Wet Ones^® Hand Wipes. The opinions and text are all mine. I received free samples of products from Wet Ones^®. This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias Inc. and its advertiser. #BTSWithWetOnes #CollectiveBias


With my daughter back in school, I'm back to making sure she has everything she needs to have a successful day. We often think that means a good breakfast and all the necessary school supplies, but sometimes they need a little extra, like Wet Ones^® Hand Wipes for messy hands, sunscreen for the playground, tissues for runny noses, or lip balm for chapped lips, so I created this awesome school-ready backpack kit for older kids to make sure that they have everything they might need at hand and I'll show you just how to put it together.

If you're looking for some clever hacks to make going back to school a little bit easier this year, then this post is for you. Below you will see 15 of the smartest ways to make the most of your time and ease the frustration of the back to school season.

This is a sponsored post. All opinions are my own.

Back to school time means back to getting organized. Besides planning our regular meals, I also like to make sure we have lots of after school snacks on hand for the kids and any of their friends that make their way to our home. I always keep a snack bin in the cabinet full of granola bars and trail mix, but the cold snacks were scattered all through the fridge. Instead of having them dig through the fridge, I decided that snack time would be much easier if we had a drawer just for snacks and I'll show you how I did it.

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #CampbellsShortcutMeals #CollectiveBias

Back-to-school time is here and that means back to quick and easy dinners in our house. I love making meals that look like they took hours, like this Chicken Parmesan Lasagne, that actually only took about 10 minutes to throw together. I grabbed all of my ingredients and got busy making this super-stuffed lasagne filled with layers of creamy herbed ricotta and a center layer of Parmesan chicken. It's all topped with a red sauce and more parm, then slices of fresh mozzarella and basil. It's an incredibly kid-friendly, easy weeknight meal.

College tuition gets higher and higher every year, and you may be wondering if your child will be able to go at all. This pressure can be paralyzing and you may think that you're out of choices. If you're not in a place to help with the expense, and the only other option seems to be letting your child bury themselves in a mountain of debt, I have some good news: There are ways to afford college without student loans, especially for low-income families. If you're willing to do the work, I have 6 great tips, and I hope that you can use a few of these with your own student.

This post contains affiliate links.

Some of you parents may be sending a child off to college this fall. Going off to college can be exciting, but dorm rooms can require a major adjustment. Most dorm rooms have a desk, dresser, and bed for each student. If the student is lucky, there are only two students per room, and as you can imagine, there aren't a lot of storage options. This means college students (and parents) need to think outside the box to make their dorm room more functional. The following are 15 must-haves for dorm rooms (with some fun options thrown in, too!)

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It's back to school time, and I wanted to organize a giveaway to help you go back to school in a fun way! One reader will win a huge prize pack worth $255 filled with things to help you keep your cool from bath & body to organizers for both mom and the kids. Enter through the widget below and good luck!