This sweepstakes is now closed. Random winner is… 263.
We are thrilled to kick off our series of holiday giveaways with this opportunity for you to win a Windows 7 phone. A smart phone is a seemingly-critical tool of rookie moms, perfect for reading Facebook or Twitter in bed during midnight feedings. And who has room to carry a phone, a camera, an address book, and a calendar in her diaper bag (or to remember to throw them all in?!)?
Is more more or is less more?
As a parent, sometimes more is really more. Like more hours of sleep. No way around it, that is awesome. Other times, we can do more with less (less time, less hassle, less stuff to carry). Yay for less.
Doing more with less
When Holden turned three, we had his birthday party at the playground nearest our house, complete with picnic tables, play structure, and sandy area. Rather than spend time and money assembling goodie bags, I sent each kid home with a sand toy. Done and done. Easy for me, useful for them {5 tips for a cheaper third birthday party}.
When Julian turned five, Whitney was tired of the large party (due in part to the blessing of 6 living grandparents within driving distance) so Julian had one friend sleep over instead. The overnight guest’s family came over for a pizza and salad dinner. Eight is enough, right? {add homemade flair to a party with no skillz}
Tell us how you do more with less as a parent — for birthdays or any days — and you can win a cool new Windows 7 Phone. (Like… can you stock the diaper bag with just the essentials? Is the cardboard box from your neighbor’s fridge still the word’s best fort? Are your date-nights-in reaching legendary status? Can you stretch a pot roast into five days of lunches? We want to know.)
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This giveaway is brought to you by the new Windows Phone 7. As part of Windows advertising on our site, they’ve provided the latest Windows 7 Phone for us to give to you and are kicking off our not-so-Secret Santa series of sweet presents with a bang. Less MIA. More PTA: Learn more about the Windows Phone online and see it in person at local T-Mobile stores. Answer our question in the comments before November 29, 2010 for a chance to win (25 words or more, please). If you have lots of great ideas, you can enter with a different one each day! We will randomly choose a winner. Winner must respond within 5 days or we’ll pick a second random choice and so on and so on. Read the official rules including 58 other awesome sites where you can try to win!
We do more for less by buying clothes on sale or at thrift shops, and passing them down to younger siblings. Also keep an eye on the grocery sale ads, stock up on what is on sale, use coupons, or buy generic.
We’ve been practicing the less is more mantra due to the economy and it really works. Less prepared foods and more hands on cooking, means more food on less money. We’ve really learned how to find recipes and watch for stock up sales also.
ewalsh40(at)gmail(dot)com
I have a perfect example of “Do more with less!” My kids use to love to play and when they were younger had a playroom filled with toys…until one day, I got a large package via UPS and that was probably one of their best memorable days! Yhey wanted the box. A BOX! They made a movie theater with it (decorated and all}and we made popcorn and watched movies..it was great!
septemberbaby10 at gmail dot com
You can always do Less is More with small children. They aren’t worldly yet. You don’t need to throw huge birthday parties for a two-year old. My kids know that on their birthday it is a small family affair and it’s more about individual attention and praise than “things/gifts”. Start when they’re young.
I have always been a Room Mom for my kids and we did more with less by making ornaments, little gifts and of baking for the Holiday parties at school. We took pictures of each of the kids and made Christmas ornaments with their pictures on them for them to give their parents!
I don’t usually have a very big budget for gift shopping, but I compare prices, use promotional codes and shop during sales to make it happen.
Awesome!
Exactly what I asked Santa to bring me ‘this Christmas!!!!
And my family and I ‘do more with less’ by using coupons for groceries/pet supplies and buying in bulk!
Thanks for the great giveaway offering!
Good Luck and Happy Holidays to All!
I make our meals from scratch and we also do not go out to eat. I only go to the movies if I win tickets and I try to do with what I have. We have chickens and so we have eggs and try to live chealpy where we can. Actually we had to drop our health insurance because it has gone up to almost a $1000 a month since 2 months ago so we exercise briskly every day and eat well and try to stay healthy. Nevermind my hubby is in bed with the flu poor guy. And my son. We will see about me.
Doing more with less: I’m on a pantry clean-out kick. No grocery store for me until all those aging boxes of couscous and off-brand pinto beans are cooked and eaten! More pantry space and more room in the grocery budget.
Always looks for sales and free shipping online.
We shop yard sales, consignment stores and Freecycle. I recently scored enough yarn to knit an afghan just because someone didn’t want it any more.
I like getting the kids interested in creating their own memories. So I taught the kids to use digital cameras, and our Flip recorder, at an early age. I’m trying to get them interested in audio recording now as well. What they create is more memorable than the snapshots us parents take, and they feel more personally connected to what was happening. So so far, more quality from less parent time.
One of our toughest moments was combining two households.
But fortunately everyone gets along really well. We took our large porch, closed it in, added heat and turned it into another bedroom, bought bunkbeds and extra dressers as well as a lot of organizational products from Ikea so that everyone still has their own individual space.
jweezie43[at]gmail[dot]com
Compost! Composting for the garden is more for less in so many different ways!
I try to make more from less every day of my life…I take old toys and sell them on ebay to buy new electronics that my kids want..I also take thrift store clothing and turn it into awesome costumes, it’s so fun to see this happen!
i try to stay organized so that i can better multitask
I do more with less as a parent by not having any children (sorry, just kidding). And the official rules say 25 characters or more, not 25 words, so don’t DQ me, please.
I do more with less by combining my errands into one drive and trip so I save gas. An example would be going to the store, post office and barbershop in one trip, rather than going at different times of the week. This way, I can do more with the money I have because of the less money I have to spend on gas!
We wanted to my son to realize that he is blessed and it is better to give than recieve. Instead of birthday presents we ask for donations to local charities.
I shop at thrift stores for my kids clothes. I get much more for less.
I’m not a parent yet but when I was a kid I had three really good friends, and we would spend the night over each others houses almost every weekend. It gave our parents time to themselves.
I need organization in my life! I need to do more with less! I really need this phone!
i go to dollar store and buy things i need for party and everyday stuff .
I used to check my email through a browser; a few months ago I started using an email client. Now I can check all my email accounts at the same time! That’s doing more with less!
more with less for me is about using coupons and trying to get the best deal. I always ask myself..Do I really need this?? And If so can I wait until it goes on sale. I have saved so much using coupons which has helped me to have extra money to get other things that I need
drea8685@yahoo.com
I am not sure if this is what you are looking for but I was so tired of all the crap and no room to put it that before we acquire new things (including gifts/toys) we pass along an equal or greater number to someone or some organization that will be able to use it.
I do more with less by cooking from scratch as much as I can. It’s a lot cheaper than processed foods and much healthier too!
More for less mean having an emergency kit in my car when I travel, and also carrying our own snacks and drinks so that we don’t have to make expensive stops.
Doing more with less could be decorating the christmas tree as a family. More work done in less time, and lots of family time together.
Doing more with less is something I do all the time while I am babysitting. Since our supplies and resources are often limited, we make use of what we can find outside and around the house. While we don’t have a huge selection of items, we all enjoy trying to create a new cool project with the things we have scrounged up. It is rewarding for us as well! Thanks for the giveaway!
I do more homework with less phone time now that I’ve lost my phone…! It is seriously gone. 2 days now. So winning this giveaway would definitely help me out! So don’t you want to…? Help a sista’ out!
[...] has spoken. The winner of the Windows 7 phone was Miranda with the suggestion of: Less cooking. More enjoying. She makes double batches and then [...]