Top 10 Posts of 2015

In case you missed any of the most read and popular posts on The Savvy Stoker Sisters blog, here are the top ten:

10. Easiest Cheese Enchiladas Ever was a delicious and simple to make recipe that your kids will love!

9, Want.Need.Wear.Read. was a great post about how to make shopping easier for your family members whether it's for Christmas or their birthdays.

8. 5 Little Pumpkins Activity was a fun activity to do with your preschooler or young children around Halloween time. Pin it for next Halloween!

7. How to Prepare Your Child for a New Sibling is a great post if you are expecting another little one to be added to your family soon. 

6. Happy Shipping! is a very savvy post on how you can save money when sending packages to your missionaries or anyone!

5. Egg Rolls is a delicious tutorial and recipe of how to prepare the most tasty egg rolls. They are a must have at our Stoker New Year's Eve parties!

4. Best EVER Sugar Cookies is a post on how to have the softest, most divine sugar cookies with the yummiest cream cheese frosting ever. These are a MUST try! With Valentine's Day around the corner, you should definitely pin this recipe!

3. Zuppa Toscana Soup (in a crock pot) with Mom's Parmesan Rolls is one of the tastiest soups you will ever have! And the rolls are so simple to make, but are mouthwatering.

2. Re-doing Your Kitchen Cupboards is a post with some great tips and techniques on how to update your kitchen cupboards as economically as possible while still getting awesome results.

And last but not least, the number one post on the Savvy Stoker Sisters blog last year was:

1. How to Have Your House Smelling Like Pottery Barn in 15 Minutes. This ingenious and savvy post gives you some easy tips on how to have your home smelling amazing without using waxy candles or plug ins.

Thank you so much for reading and supporting our blog! 

Love,
The Savvy Stoker Sisters

Happy Shipping!

This is a short n' sweet post but something you will LOVE! I send a lot of packages because I had two missionaries out at the same time for about 9 months and now my daughter and her little family live in MN.

This is an ingenious trick to send more for less.


A lady at the post office taught me this trick and I have realized very few people know about it!


You can turn a flat rate envelope into a pouch to increase the capacity. It holds a lot more than a small flat rate box ($6) and about as much as a medium flat rate ($13) for only $6. So worth it!


I do this all the time! Just fold the bottom both ways, and flatten it out from the inside, folding the corners and taping them up into a rectangular bottom.

Secure with lots of tape. Happy shipping!

How to Have Your House Smelling Like Pottery Barn in 15 Minutes

It seriously only took me fifteen minutes to make this happen. 

I timed myself. And I was even taking pictures. 

The scent of a room, home, or store has a huge impact on how we feel about and remember a place.  Smells have an especially strong impact on me during pregnancy, so I have been looking for ways to help our new rental (don't they always smell especially odd...) smell better...more fresh.

I struggle with candles, waxes, air fresheners, sprays. They are too artificial, leaving a yucky aftertaste in my nose. I like diffusing essential oils, but haven't unpacked my diffuser yet. SO I spent some time on Pinterest and came across a lemon-rosemary-vanilla aroma recipe, as well as a homemade essential oil carpet powder, 

which is what I am going to share with you today!

**The quickest hack I have found to helping our apartments smell naturally fresh is to sprinkle a few drops of your favorite essential oil on your vacuum brush bristles before vacuuming.  It will freshen your house wonderfully!**

Lemon Rosemary Vanilla Aroma Remedy: 

Combine:

1 lemon, sliced

A few sprigs of fresh rosemary

A couple teaspoons of vanilla

Simmer these things in a slow cooker or stew pot filled halfway with water throughout the day. Enjoy!

Essential Oil Carpet Powder:

1.5 cups baking soda

10-15 drops (depending on how potent you want it to be) essential oil of your choice

Combine and shake over your carpet. Let it sit for about 5 minutes. Vacuum. 

Here is what I did:

I mixed up my carpet powder in a glass jar and sprinkled it generously over my living room carpet.  I chose lemon because 1. I love lemon and 2. I thought it would go well with the smell I was going to have brewing in the kitchen. 

While the powder was sitting on the carpet, I mixed up my lemon rosemary vanilla concoction. This week I happened across some fresh $3 herbs in the produce section at Wal-Mart. So I have my very own rosemary plant growing in my kitchen window. Lovely. I wished I would have bought a mint one too after I read this article about 8 indoor plants with aromatic benefits.  Next time.

My husband used the last of the fresh lemons to make lemon ice cubes...so I had to use bottled lemon juice. I'm excited to try it again with fresh lemons because they smell sooo yummy and the bottled lemon juice was not potent enough for my taste. I used Mexican vanilla, and I actually did 1 tablespoon...so it was a little strong. The strong vanilla overpowered the weak lemon juice. So next time I'll pull back on the vanilla and maybe even use two fresh lemons...

I poured my mixture into my crockpot and started it on low. After about an hour, I turned it to high and got better results.  The smell lasted for about six hours.  As soon as I get some more fresh lemons, I'm going to try again with more rosemary and lemon.  

If this smell doesn't seem like it would appeal to you, try adding your own fresh ingredients to your water.  Mint leaves or orange and grapefruit slices...get creative!

After throwing together the Pottery Barn smell, I sprinkled a few drops of lemon oil on my vacuum brush bristles before vacuuming the living room and loving the lemony good results.  I'll probably be vacuuming my carpet everyday with different essential oils to suit my mood.  

Clove or cinnamon carpet will be perfect for the holidays!