Photo: Bicycle Bob/ Creative CommonsI love cozy nights, walking in sock feet from the dinner table to the couch to watch movies or snuggle and talk. After darting around to work events all week, volunteering at school and running to soccer practices, most of the time I just want to stay home.

Read More: Schedule a Regular Date Night with Your Sweetie

Since Trey and I blended our families five and a half years ago, he's been resolute about the necessity of date nights. No excuses, once a week. Over the years I've become a believer. Date nights are vital to our marriage. We reconnect and talk to each other without our conversation being drowned out by whining. Yes, we talk about the kids, but we also talk about our future and our work. Here are five tips for figuring out date nights even when the odds are stacked against you.

Read More: 10 Cheap and Easy Kid-Free Date Night Ideas

1. Consider a babysitting swap. If a few willing girlfriends team up, you can alternate who gets to stay home with the kids and who goes out. There

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Out, out! Darned, spot!

You know what they say: The unsoiled life is not worth living. Fine, we made that up, but we can all agree that life is more fun when we aren't panicking over lipstick smears and condiments gone rogue. A stain can be a bummer, but don't let it ruin your day -- or your top. Get our fixes for ketchup splatters, wine dribbles, pen marks, and more.

Chopping Block

A hot stove is a hotbed for cooking-related stains. If grease is the culprit -- think butter, oil, or mayonnaise -- first, treat the area with a dry solvent. Using an eyedropper, rinse with isopropyl alcohol; dry well. Spray a dish-soap solution on any remaining residue and soak the item in an enzyme detergent before washing.

Proteins such as blood and egg require a different fix. Should a runaway yolk or a chopping mishap leave you with damages, spray a dish-soap solution on the stain and let it sit before rinsing in tepid water. If a stain remains, treat the area with an enzyme detergent and wash according to

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By Louis DeNicola, Cheapism.com

The best way to get a good deal is to shop around, right? But running from store to store can gobble up time and gas. That's where price matching comes in: Top retailers from Best Buy to Walmart have pledged to match competitors' prices, so you can get the best deals from around town with only one stop. Problem is, these guarantees are far from straightforward. Cheapism recently examined eight retailers' price-match policies and found scads of rules and exclusions. Here are seven things every bargain shopper should know about price matching.

Related: Which retailers offer the best price matching policies?

1. Most policies require the competitor to be a local store, but what qualifies as "local" may be up for debate. Retailers tend to leave it to store managers familiar with the area to decide what lies within the same market or within a "reasonable distance." Best Buy sets a specific radius of 25 miles, while JC Penney in Alaska will match the prices of

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By Woman's Day StTurn an old frame and some burlap into a pretty, practical catchallaff

From WD's Pinterest boards

Use it to keep reminders, invitations and bits of inspiration in sight-and out of that stack on your desk.

The crafter Artist Emily Boan sells repurposed vintage pieces at local boutiques in Charlotte, NC, and through her Etsy shop. Photo by: Alison Gootee/Studio D; Craft & prop styling by Shana Faust.

TIME 3½ HR
COST $32

Materials

· Decorative frame

· Scissors

· Several yards of burlap

· 1 piece of mounting board, cut to fit frame

· Spray adhesive

· Craft knife

· 3 pieces of self-adhesive mounting board, each cut to fit the frame width and about ¼ its height

· Pencil or pen

· Heavy-duty adhesive

· Hot-glue gun and sticks

· Books or clamps

· Staple gun, staples

1. Remove glass or backing from frame.

Related: Discover 15 clever uses for common household items.

2. Cut a piece of burlap to cover the top ⅓ of the mounting board, leaving an extra 1" at the board edges. Spray this section of the board and the burlap piece with adhesive and press the Read More »from DIY Hanging Paper Organizer

By Brierley Wright, M.S., R.D., Nutrition Editor, EatingWell Magazine

Juicing and smoothies are all the rage right now. While both can boost your fruit and vegetable intake (something most Americans need to do) and are great for getting a variety of produce into your diet, one is the better choice.

That's the smoothie. Why? Juicing leaves behind a pulp--which contains fiber and nutrients that you end up tossing away--and thus you lose most of the benefits of whole fruits and vegetables. Blending produce into a smoothie, however, preserves fiber--and a smoothie can deliver an extra boost of vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals because it often includes fruit skins and pith. If your smoothie includes yogurt or milk, you get some calcium too. Blending, however, introduces oxygen and sometimes heat, which will knock out a little vitamin C and some B vitamins. (No big deal really, as most of us get plenty of C and produce isn't a top source of the most sensitive B vitamins.) Add these 6

Read More »from Which is Healthier: Juicing or Smoothies?

By Teal Pelish, Cheapism.com

Memorial Day weekend is the official start of beach season. And while May is a bit early to hit the sale racks in search of cheap beach gear, there are still bargains to be had. Here are some deals on basic beach necessities for everyone under the sun.

Flip Flops. It's time to ditch the shoes and don the sandals. Old Navy is offering its all-time favorite flip flops in a wide range of sizes and colors at the extraordinarily economical starting price of $3.94 a pair; grab two or more at $2.50 a pair. If you're in the market for a more stylish deviation of this cult classic, you'll find an abundance of reasonably priced varieties from which to choose.

Be stylish with cheap flip flops!

Related: Top low-priced sunscreen available

Beach Basics. Sun bathe on the sand or dry off after a swim with a fun and festive beach towel, an absolute must-have piece of cheap beach gear. Colorful printed beach towels are available at Kmart, starting at $4.99 and topping out at less than $10. Walmart carries

Read More »from Where to Find Fun Beach Gear for Less

Ditch these time wasters for moves that really matterIt's a rare bird who loves hanging out at the gym. Most of us count the minutes until the workout's over and we can get on with our (way more fun) day. So the last thing we want to do is spend time using exercise machines that don't do anything for us. While no machine is totally useless if used properly, some just aren't terribly effective, says Lani Muelrath, MA, fitness expert and author of Fit Quickies. Plus, they put you at risk--too great a risk--of injury, she says.

Swap out these 10 useless machines for more effective, expert-recommended moves.

1. LEG-CURL MACHINE
Why it's useless: Your hamstrings perform two movements: knee flexion and hip extension. The leg curl machine works only knee flexion, which limits the benefits, says Muelrath.

What to do instead: Choose a machine or movement that works both hamstring functions at once, such as the fitness ball hip raise and curl.

To do: Lie on your back with legs straight, heels on the ball. Raise your hips by pressing your heels into the

Read More »from 10 Most Useless Exercise Machines

Image: thisreidwrites/Creative CommonsThis past weekend I got a lesson in buying appliances as we were picking out a new refrigerator, range, and dishwasher. Working in the world of design, I consider myself pretty savvy when it comes to the latest and greatest looks in home appliances, but much to my chagrin, I realized that I didn't know all that much about the latest and greatest functions of various models. They've made a lot of progress in the eight years since I last bought appliances for my previous home. But not only was I unsure of all the appliance features, I discovered that in going to three different stores I got very different information about what I should be looking for with each different unit, making me really glad I had dragged my family to so many stores after all. But so that you don't have to do the same with your family, I thought I'd offer a breakdown of the key features to look for when purchasing new appliances, starting with the dishwasher.

Read More: 5 Foolproof Tricks for Sale Shopping

In

Read More »from What You Need to Know when Buying a New Dishwasher