Thursday, March 26, 2009

Getting kids moving in the morning

Ok, maybe this is just a problem for me, but some mornings I need dynamite just to get my kids out of bed, then it is like pulling teeth to get them to get ready, and out the door! Running to the bus is no fun! Taking them to school because they weren't ready is even more NOT fun! :) I was tired of the run around yesterday so I said ENOUGH! I made a morning schedule, and consequences. They have a certain time to accomplish certain things, and if they don't, they will have to pull from the "chore jar" when they get home one time for every thing they didn't accomplish. so, if they miss 2 goals, they pull 2 chores!

Today NO ONE will be doing chores today after school! As a reward for getting done so quickly, they got computer time, and got to watch tv before school! ahhhhhhhh it was soooo peaceful this morning! :) Even my 13 yr old who said she wasn't going to follow the schedule because "I always get everything done before school anyway" did it! :) I am so proud! The girls got to help me make muffins for breakfast, and middle daughter even asked how fast it took her, I told her 30 min and she said "Hmmm I wonder if I can beat that time tomorrow"!!! LOL :) Makes a momma happy to hear that!

So, I here's our schedule, you are welcome to adapt it to your family and times, and also the chores I came up with to put in the jar. Not big chores, but ones that I don't normally get to often enough, or just plain gross ones I know they don't want to do (scrub the toilet! lol) !

Morning Routine Schedule

5:30 Wakeup

5:45 Be out of bed, bed made

6:00 Be dressed to shoes, hair brushed

6:15 Have lunch made and in your back pack

6:30 Be finished with breakfast, dishes in dw or sink, teeth brushed

6:40 Leighann out the door, on bus

6:50 hannah and Paige out the door, on the bus

Scrub the toilet

Wipe down kitchen cupboards

Sweep all rooms

Vacuum all rugs

Clean coffee table completely

Clean out couch cushions

Dust pictures

Sweep front porch/doorway

Straighten back driveway

Wipe down bathroom cupboards

Wipe down all doors

Wipe down all light switches

Straighten bookshelves in family room

Wash kitchen fridge out

Wash laundry room fridge out

Check floor for gunk and get up

Dust all walls with dust mop

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

The "Victory Garden"

Do you remember the Bugs Bunny cartoons where they showed the "victory gardens" during WWII? Things were tough then, just getting over the great depression, a war was going on, people had rations for many different items- including sugar, flour, butter, etc. They had to make their money and their food stretch! Hmmmmmm sound familiar? I wonder how many people are going to make a garden this year? Where to put it? How to do it? Lots of questions.

I know last year I TRIED to do a garden (saw the writing on the wall) and tried green beans and tomatoes, well, I needed to keep it watered! LOL I found space for them along a fence. It was a good sunny spot, not a used area, so it was a good place for both, I could tie up the plants as needed. I think I will use that area again this year for those items.

I will also use the under used area of the clothes line for the garden. This is a large area, more than sunny, I would say 15X6 at least. I will probably leave up the poles to use as something to tie things to as well. Yes, I will miss my line, but I will probably buy a retractable clothes line to go from the house to the shed (15+ ft) and that will work well.

How to prepare the soil? Well, there are many additives you could use......just watch any show (especially Martha Stewart) or google growing a garden! But the main thing is having turned soil that you can actually work with. You don't need to go out and buy a tiller, and you don't have to kill yourself with a spade. Go to a local store and RENT a tiller. Seriously. Call around to find the best price, ask a friend to come over and do it for you and you will give them and their family dinner that day, get creative! Hey! I bet you could even find one on freecycle. it may need some work, but worth a look. After it is tilled up, you can put in your additives......how about some leaves from the winter (think gutters), grilling out yet? How about the ash from the charcoal? newspapers shredded up make good additives as well, worms love it! :) Just till it in good with the tiller and it will make a good base for whatever you will be planting! Make sure if you are preparing a grassy area that you take the grass clods out so that you have less weeding as the season goes on! I see me paying neighborhood kids this year to weed my garden! LOL

What to grow? Well, that depends on your family! Make this a family affair. Take your kids to the garden center, walmart, any place that has seeds or baby plants (depending on what you want to grow, some are better started as plants , as in tomatoes, peppers). My kids go CRAZY every year! They would grow EVERYTHING if they could! Their favorite choices: Watermelon, pumpkins, cucumbers, all sorts of lettuces, green beans, broccoli, strawberries, zuccini(for bread), they don't like tomatoes, but they love to grow them for the spaghetti sauce and pizza sauce! LOL Same with peppers. they also LOVE growing spices- dill, chives, rosemary, thyme, etc. Yeah, I have great kids! :)

Now, once you have all your seeds and plants, decide where you will plant them, and maybe you can grow some in containers in your house, or on your patio! Spices LOVE to be container plants- and are better in there because if you don't, they will spread like wild fire! Tomatoes and peppers can be grown in containers as well. I have not had much success with it, but again, I haven't been trying hard. this year is the year of trying hard! :) make some window boxes out of the plants! get creative!

Remember you will be watering every day (if you live in warmer climates like me in TN, maybe twice a day!), and soon you and your children will be enjoying watching many things growing! Decide what is a plant and what is not, pull the weeds so they don't choke out the plants and you will soon have a great harvest!

Lettuces can be planted early and if you keep harvesting them, they will continue to grow throughout the season! I love fresh lettuce! Greenbeans are so awesome fresh as well! One of the ways my parents made a greenbean lover out of me is we had a garden when I was a kid and we started eating them raw as we were picking them one day....they have a different flavor (sweet) and from that day on my sis and I LOVED them!

A garden is a great way to get picky eaters more interested in eating better! Give them the opportunity to pick out the foods, and then help to grow them, and they will be more excited about trying them! Watch your budget drop when you aren't buying all those veggies every week! (I still buy 5+ lbs of apples every week, and 3+ lbs oranges too! LOL but every bit helps!)

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Preparing for holidays/birthdays

Nothing is more of a budget buster like a birthday party invitation for the kids, or the kids birthdays, coupled with holidays most months of the year, and it really starts to add up! September is my busiest month, with middle daughters birthday the 22nd, sister in law the 23rd and my mom the 24th! Also, aug 17th is youngest daughter's birthday! so, only 4 weeks in between! Now, my oldest, she is always coupled with Easter (usually within a week -3 of her birthday- last year it was the day before Easter!). Then you have Honey, his birthday is July 4thd, and mine is 2 weeks before Christmas! If we don't have a plan for presents, we are in TROUBLE! So, what to do?

Well, we decided a couple years ago after we needed help for Christmas that wasn't going to happen again, and we would be helpers instead. So, every month I try to buy 1-2 clearance toys/gifts or a group of cheap things that would be good for stocking stuffers. These go into the "gift closet" and will be pulled out at the end of the year to give to Toy Stores at churches. We look for items we would have loved or appreciated getting that year, and if the price is right.... we get it! It might be boxed jewelry (we got at claires for .50/box! usually $10/box!) One year we found "cocomotions" for $7 on clearance, I got 4 - some for gifts and some for give away. I also go to online stores like www.brylanehome.com and usually every few months they will have a "buy ANYTHING and get a free....." I have gotten a wok set, a knife set, a blanket, all for free! All I had to do was buy SOMETHING...usually it is something I need for the house, from the clearance section on the site and less than $10! I love this! I get something I need (pillow shams, curtains, etc) and I get to get something to put in the gift closet!

Right now I have my eye on some toys at walmart. They are in the clearance section for $8 right now, but they aren't selling, so I expect another drop soon. When they get to $5 I will probably get 4 of them, 2 for my kids (littlest pet shop stuff) and 2 to give away. don't forget people in need can use many different things! Shop after a holiday for decorations, 50 cents for st patty's decor you can give to a charity is cool! Imagine how much you can get! I try to stick to major holidays with that stuff.... Easter, Christmas, Halloween, etc. We got a crystal angel that year, and every year she graces the top of our tree to remind us where we have been, and where we are going, and to be grateful for what we have!

So, after buying all this stuff every month.....Ooops ! middle daughter has a birthday party to go to, no money in the budget....let's go to the gift closet...a pretty quilt, a toy and some jewelry! Cost you next to nothing at the time, but now you have a free gift and your daughter looks like a hero! :) What is left over at the end of the year goes to charity. no ifs ands or buts. You can buy things and keep them for specific people for Christmas (sil would LOVE that wok set, etc), and you can get your holidays over before they start. Just $25/mo extra to buy these things and you will feel secure, happy, and when it comes time to lay out all that money for the kids in december... well.... it won't be as much because you have the closet and you have gotten great stocking stuffers too throughout the year, and the big stuff will be easier to get because you aren't buying for everyone!

So, this is march. I would buy the $25 for this month (on whatever you think) and if you can spare an extra $10 this month to catch up with january, and $10 next month to catch up with february, you will be back on track. This is so very important to do, it makes life so much easier, and you will feel so in control in November when you say "all my holiday shopping is done!" People will hate you, lol, but be proud you thought ahead!

Have you got Easter Baskets done yet?

Yep, it's coming up....do you have your Easter baskets done? What do YOU put in baskets? Candy upon candy? Toys? Do they just get one big present?? Do they get no baskets?? Yes, this is a religious holiday, and in our house, we try to talk about what the real meaning of it is, and why the Easter Bunny brings presents. Our "theory" is that Jesus died on the cross and as a present for US God raised him from the dead and we celebrate this because it means we will have everlasting life....and the EB brings presents to symbolize the present that God gave us. Hiding and coloring eggs, well, that's just fun stuff. I think the kids are beyond thinking that the EB is real, mostly because Dad plays the EB at the work Easter party for the kids every year. But they still play along, and that is cool.

Easter baskets can be very expensive though. yeah, you could go the route of buying some premade one, or you can do it yourself. Our baskets don't usually have a lot of candy- usually a bag between the 3 girls, maybe 2 bags depending on how much is in the bag. The rest is "fun stuff". This year they are getting a shirt (Aeropostale and children's place is having HUGE sales right now- shirts were $1.99 at children's place, and at aeropostale I got 3 shirts for $22 total after tax! I also got a couple shirts at Limited too/Justice, and those were less than $5 each!), they are getting a "stapleless stapler" I got for each of them ($2 each on clearance at Walmart), the 2 girls are getting a "littlest pet shop" toy for $7 on clearance each at Walmart, and oldest is getting "skins" for her DS of her fav character for $5 on clearance at walmart. They are also getting (from dad!) each a new game for their DS that were at Gamestop (www.gamestop.com) for $5 each or less! I think they will be very happy with their baskets....candy isn't really an issue! Add some beautiful big apples or oranges, even a thing of strawberries or grapes if you must add food.

I totally say think outside the box for presents for the baskets, go to walmart, target, etc and shop the Clearance sections! All the baskets don't have to be the same, and they don't have to spend a lot on them! Each child is unique so they have different things they like. Luckily 2 of mine are still "similar" so they are wasy to shop together for, but the oldest...ya know...13 yrs old isn't into kiddy stuff anymore!

Oh, and don't forget Goodwill and other thrift stores! you would be AMAZED at the "new" stuff there, and the like new stuff. And if your child is without a basket, those places always have them, and MUCH cheaper than a store! Have fun dressing it up with ribbon, spray paint it, get creative!

Easter isn't complete w/o coloring eggs. Yes, the Paas are cheap and easy to get, and overall fun to do, but one thing my parents started with me, and it is a blast for the "science geek" in the family, is to NATURALLY color eggs! Here's a great site to have a guide to what foods color what kind, and how to do it well! http://whatscookingamerica.net/Eggs/EasterEggDye.htm This is fun and much better for our kids bodies! Have you noticed that the paas seeps through the pores in the eggs (heaven forbid you have a crack!), well, these naturally done eggs will be just great because even if it does soak through, it is natural dye instead of crap chemicals! The colors are unusual, everyone will love them, and it is just a great thing to do! One thing my dad started is he takes a very very small spot of oil and oils the outside of the eggs, makes them just SHINE! beautiful!

I would love to see pictures of your great Easter Baskets and naturally dyed eggs! Please post when you do!

Monday, March 16, 2009

Birthdays on a budget! UGH!!!

Yeah, it's birthday time in our house! Our oldest daughter is turning 13!!! we will officially have a teenager in the house- even though she's been acting like one for months already! LOL I am not sure how I feel about this yet. LOL I was putting up pictures around the house yesterday of the family and how we have grown, etc, and WOW! is all I can say! Pictures make a house a home, for sure, but also it sure shows the progression and how we have been lax at taking pictures the last few years :( I sure will start to remedy that now! :)

Anyway! So, my daughter wants a "big bash" for her big turning a teenager thing. Well, she wanted to invite 50 people! ROFL! At a certain age you no longer have to have "fun stuff" for the kids to do physically, and you can return to doing parties at your house. Our house is not big enough for 50 kids! LOL She has invited "28" she said....will see how many actually come! So, that is ONE way we are saving money.....No money out for the "venue". She actually loves having things here, so she is excited! But we all know where the big money comes in....the food! Well I have posted our menu, but I will post it again here, and tell you how we are going to save money.......

From our Angel Food Ministries boxes we will be able to use (so it will cost us nothing this week):

3-5 pkgs meatballs with mustard and jelly sauce (I usually do hotdogs, but since the meatballs are in the boxes, might as well use them!)
2 lbs ground beef
2-6 pkgs 12 oz 'deli meat"- this will be used for the sub sandwich....sandwich was planned before I realized what was in the boxes!

From Aldi-

2 pkgs "velveeta" cheese ($4 each)
2 cans rotel (.30 each?)
2 pkgs (large) different deli meat (if we get ham with afm boxes, will get turkey and chicken)
4 pkgs sliced good cheese ($2.49 each I think I saw yesterday)
1 jar mayo
1 jar miracle whip
3 bags tortilla chips ($1 each)
1 bag pretzels($1)
1 bag chips ($1.49?)
8- 12 can pkgs of soda ($3.00 each?)
2 big buckets icecream ($4 each)
1 bag strawberries (frozen, $2?)
1 bag mixed berries or raspberries (frozen $2?)
1 pkg cool whip ($1?)

Here we are right at $60 or so. Some prices are inflated since I don't know how much for sure they will cost me. I may be able to get a deal on the soda... will look around this week. So, for 30+ kids, that's about $2/kid. Not bad. I don't have on here the french bread- that will be about another $5 to put about 4 loaves together to make a 6' long sub sandwich! woohoo! LOL

Entertainment is a movie my daughter has requested (Twilight), and music, so that's simple overall. Mostly it will be a lot of labor of love (aka cleaning the house and decorating! LOL)

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Menu Week of March 15- 21, 2009

wow! I was SICK! let me tell you! If you THINK you are sick, and MIGHT need some meds- GO TO THE DR!!!!! If not, you will get worse and worse until you have to be put on the strongest antibiotics, and a bunch of other crap and it takes you 3 weeks to get over what should have taken 1! Ok, enough of that lecture for today! I am just glad I am feeling better in time to get ready for my oldest daughter's birthday party on Saturday! she will be 13 on sunday! OMG! time flies!!!!!

So, to keep me on track, here's my menu for the week:

Sunday March 15, 2009
Crock pot chicken divan http://www.crock-pot.com/Recipe.aspx?rid=283
Over buttered noodles
With veggies/dip on the side


Monday March 16, 2009

Garlic Pork chops in Crock pot http://www.crock-pot.com/Recipe.aspx?rid=629
Potatoes
Cooked veggies

Tuesday march 17,2009

Happy St. Paddy’s Day!

Family Friendly Shepherd’s Pie http://www.recipezaar.com/Family-Friendly-Shepherds-Pie-262339
Salad
Rosemary bread from store

Wednesday March 18, 2009

Chicken noodle soup
Bread/rolls
Veggies/dip

Thursday March 19, 2009

Breakfast for dinner- Pancakes
Bacon
Eggs

Friday March 20, 2009

Salisbury steak and gravy
Over toast or rice or noodles
Cooked veggies

Saturday March 21, 2009

Birthday Party! 13 yrs old!
AFM Pick up

6’ sub sandwich with fixins: cheese, onions, tomatoes, pickles, mustard, mayo, honey mustard-meat- ham/turkey/chicken (some from AFM Pickup)
Meatballs in mustard/jelly sauce (Meatballs from AFM pickup- 3-5 lbs)
Nacho meat dip (meat from AFM- 2lbs) w/velveeta, taco seasoning, rotel, chips
3 types of chips
some sodas/frozen virgin drink mixes
icecream sundae bar- 2 types of icecream, make: fudge sauce, caramel sauce, raspberry sauce and strawberry sauce, add, mini choc chips, whip cream, cherries


Sunday March 22nd- Go out to dinner at restaurant of daughter's choice, or make her a dinner of her choice!

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Quick easy dinner for tonight

Since I haven't posted a menu for the week (still sick here!) I figured out dinner and will post the recipe here:

1 lb ground beef (could use ground turkey, prefer ground turkey- cheaper, healthier)
1 16 oz bag frozen broccoli
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 8 oz pkg ff cream cheese
1 pkg crescent rolls or canned biscuits (or homemade)

Empty bag of broccoli into microwave safe bowl, cook for 5 min. while cooking brown ground meat. Stir broccoli, cook 5 more minutes. Finish browning meat and drain. Add to the meat the soup and cream cheese, allow cheese to melt and all things mix together.

Empty broccoli into the bottom of a 9X13. If it doesn't look like enough for your family, do another bag! There is no right or wrong when it comes to broccoli! top with meat mixture. Roll crescent rolls, or place biscuits on top of mixture, sides touching, bake until bread is browned and cooked through according to package directions. YUMMMMMMM

***I can never make things the same way twice I swear! LOL I use what is on hand sometimes! Thought I had more broccoli than I did, so I used 2 bags of the "stir fry mix" I got from Angel Food Ministries this month- cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, onions and red peppers. so I cooked those in the microwave until done, then picked out the red peppers....we like the flavor, not biting into them! LOL Once I put it in the 9X13 it was too much, my bigger casserole it was too little, so I added the spot of broccoli I had (about 2 cups cooked). I also used 2 lbs ground meat (1 lbs beef, 1 lbs turkey), and an extra can of soup. I used 3 of the small cans of crescent rolls (4 to a pkg). This will be enough for tonight and lunches for me and dh (and possibly kids too!). Yay!

Shopping for Clothes on a budget!

Ok, here comes the groans! The seasons are changing, the kids are growing, we are wanting "something new" in our closet too. What are we to do? Go out and spend way too much on a SINGLE outfit? NOOOOOOO

I was watching Dr. Phil a couple days ago and they were showing how to save money... had the "most frugal family in america" on...whatever... LOL ANYWAY... All they talked about was shopping at thrift stores for clothes. Yes, I will admit 90% of our clothes probably do come from thrift stores, and we have great ones around here I take full advantage of, but sometimes you just want that feel of "new" on you!

So, what do you do? Well, what we do is we buy basics at thrift stores. Basics meaning Pants, tshirts, coats (if possible, usually can), and pop up needs, we also buy shoes there. During the summer months, kids are out of school, if they are going to daycare, and even if they are not, really they don't need the latest and greatest because they are going to be sweating, playing hard and getting their clothes dirty all day. That's where thrift stores come in handy. Look at the tags, before you look at the style of the shirt, pant, etc! I shop by brand at my thrift stores! I know how much things are, so that isn't an issue, I look for the brands that kids are wearing now, Abercrombie, Aeropostale, American Eagle, Gap, Limited, Limited Too, Old Navy, etc. Just ask your kids what brands... believe me, they know! One reason I go for brand is because of the name recognition, but the other is truly quality! They just hold up better! So, for summer, thrift is good for 100% of their clothes!

School time poses other issues. Wanting to "fit in" "look right" etc. It is soooo hard for kids these days. What I did this year that really seemed to work well, is I got Jeans at thrift stores (and bought more as needed from there), and shirts at stores at the mall! OK, Ok, here we go spending tons of money, right? NOPE! Some of my favorite stores for girls (since that is all I have) are Limited, Too, Children's Place, and Old Navy. These 3 stores are amazing! A lot of times you can go in there, and head straight back to the back. In the clearance sections you will find prices lowered (sometimes- eh, sometimes wow!), but the good deal is when they are slashed really good, AND there is an additional 30%, 40% or more OFF the clearance price! When we put our girls in public school, I racked up over $400 of clothes at Limited too, for about $150! doing that . That was just after labor day, fyi! Then some places will give you cards for "buy $50, save $25" good for other dates, so go back and get $50 worth of clearance items for $25! See! You can get new clothes for your kids! I'm sure there are savings like these at shoe stores, I just haven't wandered to those yet. LOL I will be looking into those this year.

Ok, so the kids are taken care of, what about the ADULTS! We have to be dressed nice for work, right? What if we want a date night? Even Stay at home Moms/Dads deserve nice clothes too! Ok, so, I already told you about thrift stores, get your basics there, pants, tshirts, some shoes. You can even find nice dress shoes there! BUT if you want to "dress for success" you want stylish, new clothes. I don't blame you. Who doesn't. So, again, go to stores and head straight for the clearance sections. Awesome places for deals. My favorite stores for clothing deals: Kohls (men/women/kids), Ross (Men/women), Target (women, men, kids), Lane bryant (women), Sears (Men, women, kids, shoes), Old Navy (men, women, kids)

Don't forget to check online at your favorite stores to see if they have a special clearance section of stuff that they don't have at stores, sometimes you can get some pretty cheap stuff!

Sunday, March 1, 2009

what a LOOOOONG week! LOL

I have soooo missed you all! I have been WORKING! :) I had subbing jobs at school all week! And of course since it WAS my first week ever, AND it was the end of Feb in TN, that means that all the kids in the class (3-5 yr olds!) had "jelly doughnut" noses, which in turn, got me a raging cold, lost my voice, cough, etc! Yeah, been pretty sick this weekend, finally feeling good enough to sit here and type something to you all! ;)

This was a very eye opening week. I learned SO MANY things, as these were "special" kids! They taught me so much, their teachers did, and I soaked in soooo much! One thing I must say...You want to make extra money- sign up to sub in your school county. at this one school there had to be at least a dozen subs a day! JUST THIS ONE SCHOOL! For the week I made almost $200!!!! I am stoked! It all adds up. And every day I was home w/in a few min of my kids getting home, so they knew how to get in and didn't miss me at all!

I learned about organization from this classroom! wow were they regimented! these kids knew "check schedule" and they went right to their spot to see where/what to do next, get their little piece of the "puzzle" to do next and go where, then "plug in" and velcro it where it went when they got there! at 3 yrs old! if they can get it, we can to! lol

I learned I am probably OCD! LOL One lady lives with an OCD dh, and when I told her "I'm notOCD, just perfectionist....this is what I do" and she could finish it..... she said "oh hunny, you are soooooo OCD"! LOL Good thing I am already on meds that help it (I heard from someone else! LOL)

We got our IEP for dd10, so she is FINALLY getting the help she needs at school! They are probably going to test her for her "attention" LOL but I am so excited for her now! She is going to feel so much more confident in school! We have discovered (on our own) about Cover Overlays for her reading because the words "jiggle" so she confirmed to me this weekend, so will talk to the school on monday about it. or at least just send letter to the resource teacher. told them about her stomach aches/headaches, and they finally paid attention to it, and not sure what they will do about it, but glad the chamomile tea is working for her in that respect. Gotta love chamomile tea!

Honey has been home all week on vacation, and of course I had to work! That's ok! With me getting progressively sicker, he had more and more responsibility pushed on him, and he really stepped up to the plate on a lot of fronts! I was so proud of how well he worked with dd10 and I felt sooooo loved this weekend when I would be sitting on the couch and he would just bring me food without me even asking for it! Those are the things that make me feel loved! Poor thing is an IT geek at work, so he had to take care of my computer last night, then go into work this am at 7 because there was a virus on ALLLLLL the computers at the 2 plants there! dunno when he will be home, but I hope I can get some laundry/dishes done before he gets here, and also get the menu made.

I did a bit of "grocery gaming" this weekend.... it is now a verb in our house, not a website! LOL we were soooo out of many essentials and I was tired of it, so I grabbed a ton of different coupons and stocked up on shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, body wash, bar soap, laundry soap and softner. Yes, it was a chunk of money. Thank goodness Uncle Sam came through on friday so I could do this, but overall, I saved $100 and spent $200. That's not bad! Considering we won't be buying that stuff for at least a few months! And now I can just buy a couple things at a time, and it will be cheaper in the long run!

Ok, so, time to go figure out menu for next week, will inventory the freezers/pantry and see what we shall see. Be back in a bit!