Ticonderoga Black Pencils As a writer and homeschool mama, I have become totally snobbish about pencils. I absolutely detest pencils that fall apart as I sharpen them or  — worse yet — have erasers that don’t actually erase! These black #2 pencils are durable, write smoothly, and have excellent erasers. Ticonderoga Pencils are now the only writing pencils allowed in our house, except the occasional mechanical pencil.

Prismacolor Premier Colored Pencils My children’s favorite art teacher once encouraged us to buy these colored pencils, and I am forever thankful. Their colors are splendid and so vibrant! These will totally ruin you on ever using inexpensive colored pencils again.

Kleen Slate Dry Erase Paddles and Markers I bought these mini dry erase boards and markers last summer and they are a big hit with my 3rd grader and 6th grader. They are the perfect size for students to handle and they have a nifty spot that holds the marker, which includes an eraser on the end of the lid. Genius! We bought ones that have a graph side and a blank side. The graph side is especially useful during math lessons.

Norwex Enviro Cloth This microfiber cleaning cloth allows me to clean using no chemicals — just water. Silver fibers make the cloth antibacterial. It works great on most surfaces — including mirrors.

Norwex Window Polishing Cloth I use this cloth to polish mirrors and windows after I clean them with the Enviro Cloth. My husband steals it to use on the inside of the car windows. It works well and does not leave behind annoying streaks or lint.

Norwex Microfiber Dusting Mitt To be honest, my daughter uses this more than I do. It is a super-absorbent mitt that works wonderfully.

DaySpring sticky notes Am I the only one who loses entire pads of sticky notes amongst the clutter on desks or countertops? These are such pretty sticky notes, and because they are held together in a nifty 6 by 8-inch folio, they are much easier to find.

Bluecorn Naturals 100% Pure Beeswax Tapers These tapers were recently a gift we received from a dear friend, and our family enjoys having them lit during dinner time. They burn for one hour per inch of length, plus they are paraffin-free and lead-free and handmade in Colorado. I want to try their tea lights next.

Mpix Quality Prints As the granddaughter and niece of professional photographers, I inherited rather lofty expectations in terms of photo finishing. Both my grandpa and my uncle used Miller’s Professional Imaging, which was founded in 1968 and is this country’s largest professional photography lab. Mpix is a division of Millers, and it does an outstanding job with print quality, not to mention the speedy turnaround time. Mpix prints all my 4 x 6 photos, enlargements and canvas prints. It does take some time to upload images and wait for the box to arrive, but the exceptional quality of the end result makes all that worthwhile.

These are a few of my favorite things! What are some of yours?