Make My Life Easier Thursday: Heavyweight Recycled Waterhog Doormat

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A blue with a printed letter B doormat

I bought an older version of this doormat when we bought our first house back in the mid-2000s. It’s since moved with us to our current place and is still going strong!

This dirt-trapping rug can hold up to a gallon and a half of water per square yard. It’s made from at least 90% recycled polyester, and you can vacuum, sweep, or just hose it off. Use it indoors or out in your busiest areas. While this rug comes in many patterns and sizes, I especially like this version for the front door — you can personalize it with a letter of your choice.

L.L.Bean’s Heavyweight Recycled Waterhog Doormat is $59.95 for a medium size and $79.95 for a large size. It comes in five dirt-camouflaging colors.

Sales of note for 2/14/25 (Happy Valentine’s Day!):

(See all of the latest workwear sales at Corporette!)

  • Nordstrom – Winter Sale, up to 60% off! 7850 new markdowns for women
  • Ann Taylor – Up to 40% off your full-price purchase — and extra 60% off sale
  • Banana Republic Factory – 50% off everything + 15% off (readers love their suiting as well as their silky shirts like this one)
  • Boden – 15% off new season styles
  • Eloquii – 300+ styles $25 and up
  • J.Crew – 40% of your purchase – prices as marked
  • J.Crew Factory – 50% off entire site and storewide + extra 50% off clearance
  • Rothy’s – Final Few: Up to 40% off last-chance styles
  • Spanx – Lots of workwear on sale, some up to 70% off
  • Talbots – Flash sale ending soon – markdowns starting from $15, extra 70% off all other markdowns (final sale)
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I had a job interview yesterday, where I did not do well – I just got the rejection. The weird thing is I’m not even sad – the job sounded like way too much stress. This is the first time in my career I’ve never just wanted the more stressful, “bigger” thing.

Also, DH had a big internal interview for a promotion today. He said it went as well as it could have gone. Please send all good vibes our way!

Looking for reading suggestions for my 4th grader- ideally things your own child has read and loved. We’ve asked the librarian and her teacher, just casting a wider net. She’s a strong reader but I want to make sure she likes what she reads and the content stays appropriate.

For those of you who live in the South, my twins are size 3T and I’ve sort of forgotten what we need for winter. They’re all set on shirts, pants and rain jackets, but should I buy a fleece or full on jacket for winter? Or both? My oldest just wears athletic leggings under athletic shorts (and never wears a jacket) so I’m not remembering what he needed when he was smaller.

On the Halloween theme, any ideas on how to make a Star Dragon costume from the Dragon Masters series? I was thinking silver wings and tail (which is sort of hard to find ones that are not scary since this is for a preschooler) and a silver bodysuit and sew on felt stars. Seems like a lot of work, but I can’t think of a better way. Any suggestions?

Anyone have any idea how to make a Princess in Black Halloween costume? I’m ok gluing or sewing felt cutouts onto a dress for the flower, but I’m not going to be sewing a dress or shirt from scratch which is what most of the DYI tutorials seem to do. Is just getting a generic black dress (plus cape, mask, tiara, etc) too lazy? I don’t really see any dresses or tunics that closely resemble the character’s outfit

Anyone have slipper recommendations for elementary kids? Easy on/off, not too expensive, not too hot.

My 9-yr-old daughter is asking for maxi skirts or dresses for her bday. Any tips on where to find some? Seems like mini is the trend, but she marches to the beat of her own drum.

Adding to the financial woes above — we had unexpected home repairs that I had to put on a credit card. Awesome. I have the funds to cover it, but they are in an index fund. Unfortunately, ANOTHER home repair had depleted our emergency fund, which is held in a money market fund. We can either take the funds out of the index fund and pay it off today, or divert the funds we are putting aside to rebuild our money market emergency savings and chip away at the credit card debt for the next three months. What would you do?

we have one of these doormats and it is great

One of my kids favorite traditions is making treat bags for our neighbors! We make a few different kinds of cookies, put them in little bags, and then the kids put on a santa hat and an elf hat and hand them out with our christmas card. They’ve already asked me about doing it again this year.

We’re doing a full neuropsych evaluation tomorrow for my preschooler. Does anyone know what we should expect? The doctor said it would be about 2 hours and to bring a snack, but that’s about it.

Anyone want to hold each other accountable for lower spending in the coming months? Q4 is always really tough on our budget and I’m trying to rein it in this year.