Awesome FREE service by Swaptree.com

“Mom, I’m booored.” It’s the ubiquitous whine that inevitably results when stormy skies descend upon summer vacation. What to do when your child is relegated to indoor activities, and nothing seems to assuage the ennui?

While the costs of purchasing new books or craft supplies can add up quickly, Swaptree.com now offers parents a budget-friendly solution for building a “rainy day kit” of new books, DVDs, CDs, and video games – simply by swapping stuff they already have and getting stuff they want, for free.

To get started building an arsenal of emergency entertainment, compile a list of what you “have” and a list of what you “want” at www.swaptree.com. Then, the site’s two- and three-way trade algorithms instantly find all of the items you can receive in exchange for those items you already “have.” Swaptree.com is completely free to use, and members (Swappers) pay only for postage, so each trade is under $3 – a fraction of the cost of purchasing the products off the shelf.

From movies like Up and Toy Story to favorite books like Dr. Seuss’s Horton Hears A Who and the glamorous Fancy Nancy, and Wii video games to keep your kids active, there are millions of items available for swapping. For parents who’d like to make the day indoors an enriching experience, Swaptree’s children’s literature section can even be searched by Caldecott Medal or Newbery Medal award winners.

Unlike traditional online trading websites, which typically focus on one type of media, Swaptree.com allows for cross-media trades, so you can trade a DVD for a book, a video game for a CD, etc. Moms can clear out the closet of items the kids have already outgrown, or even trade in those old cookbooks (totally over theSouth Beach Diet fad?) for books and games you know the kids will love.

DIY Summer Camp… Chesco Mom Style

I have not signed my kids up for Summer Camp this year. KA–RAZY, I know.
I have decided to come up with my own Summer Camp…Chesco Mom style! Here are a few of the “sessions” that I have come up with….so far.

Week 1 – Water Camp
This week is shaping up to be a scorcher so we are jumping into DIY Chesco Mom Summer Camp and our handy dandy $15 Walmart inflatable kiddy pool. I am also bringing out the slip and slide, sprinkler and the grand finale water balloons.

Week 2 – We love Animals Camp
My kids LOVE animals so I have a few super fun field trips planned.

We are visiting one of our very favorite places in the world – Ryerss Farm for Aged Equines.

Ryerss Farm is open to visitors daily between the hours of 10 a.m. and 3:30 p.m and visitors are welcome to bring baby carrots and slided apples to feed to the horses. There is no cost to visit Ryerss. My daughter’s favorite horse is “Matisse” so if you visit with your family please give him an extra little pet for us…

Springton Manor Farm – We are also taking a trip to visit Farmer Jim at Springton Manor Farm in Glenmoore. Springton Manor offers a FREE “Farm Passport” for little visitors. They are invited to visit the animals in the barn and stamp their “passport” after stopping at each animal pen. Also FREE at Springton Manor is the Butterfly House. Just opened for the season, The Butterfly House is home to many different species of butterflies, both native to Pennsylvania and exotic species. Butterfly House hosts guide you through the butterfly habitat, sharing all sources for water, food and shelter during each of the life stages: egg, caterpillar, chrysalis/pupa and butterfly.

Field trips to visit to both the Elmwood Park Zoo in Norristown and the Philadelphia Zoo are on the schedule. The Elmwood Park Zoo is not too big,not too small – it is just perfect for young children. Our favorite exhibit at EPZ is the prairie dog habitat located at the back of the zoo. They are so cute and active. We also enjoy the walk thru barn and we LOVE the HUGE play ground area. Mommy Tip: Parking at The Elmwood Zoo is FREE!

A favorite of ours at The Philadelphia Zoo is the brand new all-wooden, hand-carved and hand-painted carousel featuring endangered species found within the Amazon Rainforest. The Amazon Rainforest Carousel includes 30 bird, reptile, mammal and amphibian “seats,” as well as two spinning snake chariots. The cost for a ride on the carousel is $3.00.

Last but not least on “We love Animals Week”….Wild Safari at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, NJ. Wild Safari at Six Flags, is is a drive-thru safari only 1 HOUR away from our house, a straight shot up the NJ Turnpike. This is a PERFECT field trip for a hot day. Enjoy the animals from the comfort of your air conditioned car. The animals are behind electric fences and low to the ground barb wire in designated open air, free range enclosures and some behind moats but from the car it looks as if they are only a few feet away. The lions & tigers are caged. They both have really big enclosures. Much like the zoo. The first time we went we were told that the monkeys jump on your car and fling poo.. NOT TRUE! They are no where near your car. I think that is a Philly urban legend… unless someone has a recent monkey poo story.. do share.

Week 3 – Backyard Discovery
This weeks theme is a shout out to my “Backyard Discovery Mom Ambassador-ship“.

To start the week off we are going on a nature scavenger hunt. I “Google” image searched lots of bugs, critters and nature-y type things that you would find in the typical Chester County back yard and copy/pasted the images into a word doc. My little ones will spend the afternoon running through our yard scratching items off their lists.

Picnic in the woods– We have a large wooded area behind our house, separating the two phases of our neighborhood. My kids call it “the forest”. To explore the forest we are packing up our picnic basket and taking a hike in the woods and having a picnic – deep in the “forest”.










Walk in The Jungle – The woods on the other side of street, from our house – we call “the jungle”. Last year I hosted a playgroup ” Walk in the Jungle”. I purchased goodies for the kids from Oriental Trading Company. I LOVE that catalog/website. It is a Mommy playgroup, party, crafty must have!
I bought inflatable animals to hang in the trees and misc. and trinkets for them to collect as they journey through the jungle. This year.. to kick it up a notch, I am working on a map for the kids.. Dora style. Rock, Tree… Our house….! I hung bananas in the trees for a mid-walk snack.

Late Night “Light Bugs” – One of the best things about summer is late nights with even later mornings. The kids think they are getting the special treat of staying up late when actually I am the one getting the treat when the kids sleep late the next morning! One of my favorite summer family activities is letting the minis stay up late and run around to catch “light bugs” as my daughter calls them. I watch them from the comfort of my deck surrounded by my beloved citronella candles. For the record when it comes to the “light bugs” we are catch & releasers!

Well .. that is all I have scheduled so far. Stay tuned for more DIY Summer Camp – Chesco Mom Style and if you have any ideas on how I can keep my no camp attending toddlers busy…PLEASE SHARE! Seriously PLEASE share! Click here to contact me!

Frugal Cleaning Tips

Let me start off by saying that I am a terrible housekeeper. I hate cleaning and I don’t do it until I have to (when someone’s coming over, or the cat hair dust bunnies start walking!). As long as everything is hidden in the closet organized, I don’t mind dust or crumbs. Here are some tips I’ve picked up around the internet recently.

• To keep toilets fresh and help with clogs, just pour 1 cup of baking soda into the toilet bowl weekly. Out of regular cleaners? Use rubbing alcohol and a soft towel to clean the bathroom mirror and get fixtures extra shiny. Toss your kitchen sponge in the microwave (wet- or it could catch fire) for at least a minute on full power to kill germs and extend the life of your sponge. – Domestic Debacle

• Could you go to a no-sort laundry system? Try adding about a 1/2 cup of vinegar to each load to help set the colors and keep them from running. This can save you money by doing few loads of laundry. – I’m An Organizing Junkie.

• Vinegar has a TON of uses in the home. I use it to clean our heavily-used coffee maker about once a month. Check out this website for 1001 uses for vinegar! PS – vinegar is CHEAP. – Vinegar Tips

• Have you ever heard of this? Clean your dishwasher with Lemonade Kool-Aid! Just pour a packet (NOT a sweetened lemonade, and NO other flavor) into your detergent dish, close the lid and run your dishwasher. I haven’t bought kool-aid in a while, but I think it’s about $.50/pack, much cheaper than other cleaners marketed for dishwashers. – The Thrifty Home

• This tip has actually been tested by little old me. We have a problem in our house. A stinky towel problem. Our house does not have an exhaust in the bathroom and we hang our towels there. No matter what I did, our towels always had a musty smell. It seemed like once it set in, there was no getting rid of it. I tried everything, until I finally saw a tip that said to wash the towels with bleach. Bleach? I’m a little scared of bleach. I only use it on whites and our towels are blue and green. I figured that towels with bleach spots would be better than stinky towels, so I took a risk. IT WORKED! Bleach is very inexpensive and it worked better than using extra detergent and extra fabric softener.

• Here’s another “could you do it?” Could you give up paper towels? Check this article for paper towel alternatives. I’ve tried it and it’s not so terrible. I’m not the best, but I have definitely cut down on my useage. – Keeping the Kingdom First

So, what is your best cleaning tip (besides getting a maid)? Please tell me—I clearly need help!

Jen is wife to Mr. Incredible, mommy to Dash and *tries* to balance a career in commercial real estate during the day. She blogs about nothing in particular over at A Little Bit of This, A Little Bit of That.