Creating My Kaleidoscope

After months of excited planning, I recently started growing vegetables and flowers in a grow room in our basement.  Overall, it has gone well and we will have lots ready...

My daughter started tagging along with me to craft fairs this past year, and I think she's hooked.  Ms. Tornado is excited about earning and saving up money.  In anticipation...

Happy New Year from Our Kaleidoscope Homestead!  We hope your holiday season was filled with joy and happy memories, and that you're feeling refreshed and motivated for the wonderful year...

Greetings from our homestead! In the near decade since this blog was born, I've worked diligently to achieve better balance between work and so many other passions. Now, I have...

Welcome to my very first crochet pattern.  I started doing a few craft fairs as a side hustle, and an excuse to crochet more!  One of my biggest lessons learned,...

Back in 2016, we had just started on our journey to destroy our debt, while mapping out a plan to achieve financial semi-independence.  A lot has changed since then, including...

When we purchased our new home, with 16 acres, I was very hopeful that we would be able to forage some free food for our family of seven.  There is...

In February of 2020, we took our five kids on an epic RV road trip all over California.  Our trip started off with a visit to my sister, near Los...

Happy Summer!  It's time for a little update on our family's journey to build a homestead that will support our dream of financial semi-independence, and all the things we enjoy...

It's been a while since I've posted about side hustles on this site, but we're still always looking for ways to earn extra money.  Frugal living only goes so far...

We took all five kids on a month-long RV adventure in California back in February of 2020.  The process of coming up with the route and itinerary for the trip...

Now that all five of our children are attending public school, we’re receiving a lot of birthday party invitations.  Sometimes, there isn’t much notice for the parties, or the invitations find strange hiding places for a few weeks.  Here is my list of presents to keep on hand, as emergency …

Greetings from Our Kaleidoscope Homestead.  While it has been a eventful winter that kept us busy, we've been anxiously awaiting the next season at our new home.  Here is your...

Time for an update on our progress in Creating Our Kaleidoscope of a life: even though our family is mostly settled into the new home, there is still more work...

It can be tempting at times, to focus on your accomplishments, and decide that you've done enough.  We have been working so hard for the past decade.  After paying off...

Finally closing on our forever homestead felt like so much more than just buying a house, because it represented an arrival at the destination we had been dreaming of through...

My Crochet Projects - With Links to Free Patterns Hope You're Inspired - More To Be Added :) If you're looking to purchase, please visit My Etsy Shop:  My Kaleidoscope...

Just one month ago, we were making adjustments and accepting that it may take a bit longer than expected to move to our forever homestead.  My most recent blog post...

We have been ready to move to our forever homestead for some time now, but the right property has yet to hit the market.  At the same time, it's impossible...

Learning about the FIRE movement was one of the driving factors behind our family's decision to pursue new goals and take drastic measures to improve our finances.   It's also one...

After years of hard work, and surviving pandemic quarantine with five kids in a 1,300 square foot home . . . We are finally ready to move into our forever...

My father passed away last month. He had been in the hospital since the beginning of December, after suffering a head injury, due to a fall. The rollercoaster ride of...

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year from our family to yours!  This "season of giving" always seems to highlight the struggle between being true to your finances versus...

Now that we've survived the shopping frenzy associated with Black Friday and Cyber Monday (the younger sibling), I have a question for anyone that attempted to find some good deals...

We have been laser-focused on repairing our finances throughout the life of this blog, so it makes sense that there would be many, many posts about frugality and side hustles. ...

How it started?  Frustration.  It was over six years ago when I started this blog as an outlet, a way to brainstorm, and for some accountability.  My days were mostly...

In February of 2016, I posted about my journey of not buying any new clothes for three years. The post really appears to intrigue readers, who still comment about being...

In February of 2020, we explored California in an RV with our five kids.  We had been discussing a cross-country road trip with the family for years, so deciding to...

This pandemic has clearly affected the finances of people very differently. While some are struggling to pay their bills, others are finding themselves with extra time at home and stimulus...

This blog has been fairly quiet over the past few years and I do hope to change that and share many updates on our family's journey in the near future. ...

And just like that . . . 2019 is over.  Everyone seems to be discussing resolutions and reflecting, not only on the past year, but the last decade.  As we...

Living on a single income isn’t easy. Even if you consider yourself to be a frugal person, the increasing costs of various bills today mean that it’s incredibly difficult to...

What a fun and frugal family adventure!  We used the President's Day school break to take a road trip down to Virginia and visited Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown Settlement, Virginia Beach,...

The typical American household will spend $2,100 every year on home maintenance costs, according to the American Housing Survey.  However, failing to check your home for repair issues or putting off repair...

Greetings from The Smith Family!  We hope that 2019 is going well for you so far.  This blog is quite overdue for an update on our progress with finances and...

Few things in life offer families a unique bonding opportunity the way road trips do, and seeing as this year one in three Americans will be on the road (the highest ever...

If your idea for a family holiday of a lifetime involves traveling abroad, you’re not alone: 33 percent of American families took trips to international destinations last year, according to the AAA....

As the end of 2018 approaches, I wanted to give everyone an update on the Smith Family.  There are a number of reasons why it's been pretty quiet on this...

Greetings from the Smith Family!  I have a long update post coming soon, but here's a small spoiler: our financial situation has drastically improved.  You will be able to read...