• Home
  • About Tracy
  • Contact Me

Using Time Wisely

Organized to save money, energy, and time

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Document Organization
    • Overview
    • Box 1
      • Credit Report/Cards
        • Credit Reports
          • Credit Updates
          • Credit Scores
        • Credit Cards
      • Personal
      • Home Ownership
      • Vehicles
    • Box 2
      • Life Insurance
      • Major Medical
      • Tax-Favored Programs
      • Prescriptions
      • Dental & Vision
      • Special Health Policies
      • Short-term Disability
      • Long-term Disability
      • Personal Insurance
    • Box 3
      • Social Security Documents
      • Retirement
      • Investments
      • Estate Planning
      • Tax Records
  • Household
    • Cleaning
    • Maintaining
    • Organizing
    • Scheduling
      • Laundry
  • Event Planning
    • Assisting
    • Attending
    • Coordinating
      • Birthday Party
      • Christmas
      • Dinner Party
      • Fall Festival
      • Field Trip
      • Lemonade Stand
      • Thanksgiving
    • Learning
    • Preparing
    • Serving
  • Miscellaneous
    • Communication
      • Customer Service
      • E-mail
      • RSS Feed Reader
    • Goals
    • Organization
    • Time Management
      • To Do List
  • Food
    • Food Prep
    • Grocery Shopping
      • Lists
      • Pricing
    • Menu Planning
    • Recipes
    • Stockpile
  • Family Activities
    • Going Out
      • Free Outings
      • Inexpensive Outings
      • Summer
    • Rewards
      • Good Grades
      • Reading
      • Summer Reading
    • Staying at Home
  • Stretching Your Dollars
    • Daily Deals
      • Groupon
      • LivingSocial
    • Drugstores
      • CVS
    • Gas Prices
    • Gifts
    • On-line Shopping
    • Pictures
    • Products
    • Restaurants
    • School Items
    • Tips
You are here: Home / Archives for Event Planning

Gratitude in Action

June 18, 2013 by Tracy

Gratitude in Action

Photograph Credit: Microsoft Images

Coordinators of Vacation Bible School programs hold a special place in my heart. Having coordinated a Fine Arts Camp with a similar feel to a VBS, I understand the investment of energy and time poured into making the week special for the attendees.

Receiving Gratitude in Action

Being a previous coordinator, I remember the early mornings and late nights prior to and during the week of camp. The highlight of my week was when a lady in our church showed up on Thursday with a meal for my family. She simply said, “I could not help with the week, so I decided to do what I could for you.”

I cannot begin to tell you what her gift meant to me. At the time of camp, I was 8 months pregnant with my second child, my feet were swollen, my son sought constant attention when I arrived home, and dinner was the last thing on my mind. Seeing this lady’s gratitude in action for my investment of time, met my family’s physical need and gave me a time of rest with my feet up.

Knowing the huge blessing of receiving a meal during a week of service, I enjoy sharing that same gratitude with others. The Lord gave me this blessing years ago to teach me how to better serve others, who are actively giving of themselves.

Planning Gratitude in Action

As my children attended a wonderful VBS last week, I was honored to put my gratitude in action by bringing a meal to the coordinator. Now, I had planned to do this, so we entertained on Tuesday evening.

I made a large pan of lasagna to serve that evening. Then I packaged up the leftovers for the coordinator’s family, made a loaf of bread, added a side, and included the remaining 6 brownies from our dessert.

With a little advanced planning, our meal blessed our family, our guests on Tuesday evening, and a VBS coordinator and her husband. Having been the recipient of a blessing, I was honored to pass along my gratitude in action.

If you have a child attending a VBS and/or camp or if your church is hosting a VBS, consider putting your gratitude in action by making a meal for a coordinator who is investing time and energy for others. If you choose to do so, plan a double batch of a weeknight meal or make a large meal to entertain guests with enough to share.

In using time wisely, you must make the best choices that fit with your schedule. I’m only sharing this option as it was such a blessing to me, and I know it is a blessing to those who serve.  Happy meting out gratitude in action!

Question: What acts of gratitude have you received or granted to others? 

Filed Under: Event Planning, Serving Tagged With: gratitude, serving

2013: Patriotic Crafts, Printables, and Recipes

June 25, 2013 by Tracy

2013: Patriotic Crafts, Printables, and Recipes

Photograph Credit: Fotolia

Celebrating the red, white, and blue with a family cookout comprises our July 4th festivities.

From hamburgers and hot dogs to bubbles and sparklers, our activities are small and quiet.

We watch the fireworks from our home windows and the televised displays which are always bigger than those around our town.

With so many creative patriotic crafts, printables, and recipes for painting your celebration red, white, and blue, I have gathered my favorites to share with you. Enjoy!

Patriotic Crafts

  • 21 American Craft Projects e-book by All Free Kids Crafts
  • Fireworks in a jar by I Can Teach My Child
  • Picnic crate instructions by Simple Mom
  • Table lanterns with glow sticks by Creative Green Living

Printable Patriotic Packs

  • 4th of July Pack based on the book America the Beautiful: Together We Stand by 3 Dinosaurs
  • 4th of July Printable Pack with 57 activities by Gift of Curiosity
  • Pledge of Allegiance pages by The Crafty Classroom
  • Why We Celebrate the 4th of July by Free Homeschool Deals

Patriotic Recipes

  • Jello pudding pops by Number 2 Pencil
  • July 4th layered drinks posted by Becentsable (lots of ideas on this Pinterest board)

Happy 4th of July, America!

Filed Under: Holiday, July 4th, Event Planning Tagged With: Independence Day, July 4th

2013: Thanksgiving Printable Activities

November 12, 2013 by Tracy

http://www.giftofcuriosity.com/thanksgiving-printable-pack/

Photograph Credit: Gift of Curiosity

Wow, the world of printable packs has burst wide open with so many bloggers offering FREE Thanksgiving printable activities.

Since the list was getting quite long, I chose to dedicate an entire post to highlight these FREE printable activities.

I focused on the truly FREE printable packs. There were many options, but some required signing up for a newsletter, mailing list, or membership.

Of the printable packs chosen, most are designed for ages 2-7. But I found some of them quite interesting, and I am a tad bit out of the 2-7 age range. 😉 Enjoy!

Thanksgiving Printable Activities

1. The Pilgrims at Plymouth

The Pilgrims at Plymouth pack by Lauren Hill at Mama’s Learning Corner is one of my favorites as Miss 6 just finished this unit study in 1st grade. This pack is 18 pages and designed for 1st-3rd graders.

2. Notebook Pages and Activities

The Thanksgiving Notebook Pages and Activities pack by Betsy at Notebooking Nook offers a variety of handwriting practice. The Thanksgiving poetry included is great for beginning writers to copy the poems on the lined pages.

3. Mini Books

The Thanksgiving pack by Crystal Brothers at Serving Joyfully includes two mini books. The first is pre-printed for reading, and the second gives the writer space to write for what he or she is thankful.

This printable pack is FREE, but requires a “like” on Facebook in order to download. I used my junk Facebook account to get the FREE download.

4. Gratitude Journal

The gratitude journal by Stacie Nelson at Motherhood on a Dime offers a place to record your thankfulness highlighting one nugget each day for 30 days. The printable sheets can be cut and bound or stapled for a keepsake.

5. Hymn Study Unit

Sarah at Homeschool Giveaways and Freebies created a wonderful Thanksgiving hymn study unit. This resource includes 12 hymns, the history of each writer, and printable sheet music.

6. History of the First Thanksgiving

The History of the First Thanksgiving pack is another resource by Lauren Hill at Mama’s Learning Corner. This unit study includes a list of children’s Thanksgiving books. In encouraging children to read, parents have a starting point for discovering a different perspective from what we celebrate today.

7. Various Activities

The Thanksgiving pack created by Erin at Royal, Baloo, and Logi-Bear Too provides addition and subtraction practice along with lots of other activities for students ages Kindergarten to 2nd grade.

8. Multi-sensory Activities and Links to many more Thanksgiving Printable Packs

Not only has Katie at Gift of Curiosity created a wonderful Thanksgiving pack for ages 2-7, but she has also posted a roundup of FREE Thanksgiving printable activities.

I am very grateful for Katie contacting me when she releases a new printable pack, so I can share her hard work with you. These packages are well done and provide lots of practice for little ones.

In approaching Thanksgiving, these wonderful resources provide practice, fun, and learning opportunities focused on why we celebrate this holiday. From math, reading, writing, and history, these printable packs offer hours of opportunity.

With my children out of school during Thanksgiving week, these printable activities should keep my crafty Miss 6 occupied for a little while. 😉 Reinforcing her study of the Pilgrims, I hope she will enjoy the games, printing practice, and reading focused on Thanksgiving while using time wisely. Happy learning!

Question: What types of resources do you find interesting around the holidays?

Filed Under: Holiday, Thanksgiving, Event Planning Tagged With: Thanksgiving

2013: Black Friday Store Hours

November 16, 2013 by Tracy

2013: Black Friday Store Hours

Photograph Credit: iCLIPART

Not sure what to call this season anymore as Black Friday has expanded to include a few days on either side of the Friday after Thanksgiving.

Some stores are calling their event the After Thanksgiving Sale, but their on-line sale starts before Thanksgiving. *Hmm.* Since I am unaware of a new term given to this event, I will stick to Black Friday.

If you are interested in this craze of great deals which will save you lots of money when you time it right, then plan what you want to purchase, check your timing, and hunt for your favorites. The lines to some stores begin weeks, days, and hours prior to these sales.

To plan accordingly, here are the Black Friday Store Hours arranged by the time the stores open their sales.

Thursday, November 28

6:00 a.m.

    • Kmart

 5:00 p.m.

    • Toys R Us

6:00 p.m.

    • Best Buy
    • Walmart

7:00 p.m.

    • Old Navy

8:00 p.m.

    • J.C. Penney
    • Kohl’s
    • Macy’s
    • Office Depot
    • Office Max
    • Sears
    • Staples
    • Target

Friday

5:00 a.m.

    • Bass Pro Shop
    • Lowe’s

6:00 a.m.

    • Home Depot (normal business hours)

8:00 a.m.

    • Radio Shack
    • Walgreens

If you head out, be careful. Yes, the deals are great, but fighting, pushing, and trampling is not a way to using time wisely. Most stores are organized making this a time of fun, and I wish you lots of savings as you venture out, stretch your dollars, and use your time wisely. Happy shopping!

Question: Will you head out to the stores for Black Friday deals?

Filed Under: Holiday, Shopping, Black Friday, Event Planning, Stretching Your Dollars Tagged With: Black Friday

2013: Thanksgiving Activities

November 19, 2013 by Tracy

2013: Thanksgiving Activities

Photograph Credit: Putti’s World

On the heels of the previous Thanksgiving printable activities post, I found more wonderful Thanksgiving activities to share.

As our family is hosting Thanksgiving this year, our kitchen gets active around 10:00 a.m. for our 1:00 p.m. feast time. My children are usually in need of attention, and I plan to keep them occupied this year with some of these easy craft ideas focused on Turkey Day.

In addition to the crafts, there are a few more printable coloring activities which are easy to print off for a best-coloring contest. My favorites on the list are place cards, the fruit loop turkey, and the turkey leftover recipes. Enjoy!

Thanksgiving Activities

Coloring Sheets

    • Coloring sheets 
    • Color by number
    • Coloring book

Moderately-involved Crafts

    • Fabric leaf tree
    • Turkey felt board feather matching

Quick and Easy Crafts

    • Craft fruit loop turkey
    • Place cards
    • Thanksgiving lacing cards
    • Tissue paper stained glass turkey
    • Turkey cups

Recipes

    • Quick appetizers
    • Turkey leftovers

With so many choices, I know my children will have plenty of excitement just choosing their craft. Knowing Miss 6, she will set herself down in the morning and work on as many crafts and coloring pages as available until she finishes or tires.

In using time wisely, I am looking forward to encouraging creativity while keeping the kitchen clear of little ones around the hot dishes. Happy creating!

Question: Which of these Thanksgiving activities is/are your favorite(s)?

Filed Under: Holiday, Thanksgiving, Event Planning Tagged With: Thanksgiving

« Previous Page
Next Page »

Welcome to Using Time Wisely!

 

Presenting organizational tips and tricks to save you money, energy, and time. Enjoy the journey of Using Time Wisely.

Looking for something?

Copyright © 2026 · Lifestyle Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in