Stocking Up - Mayo

This last spring during artichoke season we had a crisis. We had the most delicious artichokes, the Four Cheese Rice a Roni, and the kids in bed early. Only to discover we had run out of Mayonnaise. Artichokes must have mayo. But no worries, we have the best neighbors ever. So we called them and they said, "No problem, we have plenty."
But they didn't.
They had miracle whip.
It's not the same thing.
So hubby says, "We are going to have to get some real mayonnaise." He hops up and runs down to the store (he could have literally run to the store, we live that close, but in an emergency situation, I do believe he took the car).
The rest of the evening was spent without incident. But in the spirit of Scarlett O'Hara I vowed right there to never go without real Mayonnaise again.
It was with this thought in mind that I got quite excited about the sale on Mayo this week at Meijer. It was nearly 50% off. So I stocked up. I bought 10 of them. Which for us would last us clear through next years artichoke season.
Only...
When I got home, it seems there had been an earlier sale that I had forgotten about. I already had a stock pile of Mayonnaise.
Ummm....note to self, we don't need any more mayonnaise.
Now I like to teach my kids that stockpiling is a way of saving money, you know, buying when things are on sale. But I am afraid my lesson may have backfired this time. I think the lesson for me today was, "you aren't saving money if you don't need it."

This has been linke dup with Things I love Thursday at the DiaperDiaries.

Job vs. Chore - The Master Bedroom

Generally the Master Bedroom is off limits to many kids. My kids occasionally take naps on our bed when we need to spread out a bit. Right now the three of them share a room, so it's nice to have a quiet place if necessary. But most of the time Mommy and Daddy's room is left alone.

Which means most of the responsibilities fall on us, too. This makes for a great opportunity for kids to earn some extra money. Jobs in the Master Bedroom aren't usually time or skill intensive. Here are some ideas:

• Changing the sheets on the bed


• sweeping/vacuuming the floor


• dusting


• putting clean laundry away


• emptying the trash


• washing the windows

Look to see if any of these jobs fit the skill level of any of your kids. When they are looking for some extra money you may want to refer to this list and give them a job first, rather than just giving them the money.

Now there are chores that I did not add to this list, such as:

• making bed
• picking up dirty laundry

Call me a snob, but I believe that there are some jobs people should do for themselves regardless of how much money they have. I hope to teach my kids that there is no such thing as too rich to make their own bed or put their own dirty clothes in the hamper.

Do you have any jobs like that?

So We Got a Cell Phone...

Now, just last week I was ranting about how much I hate cell phones. So it would seem quite a switch that i am already loving having one. Here is what happened after HOURS of research:

• Hubby got a cell phone - quite a nice one, too. Kind of like a cheapo version of a blackberry I think, that has WIFI calling.
• Hubby signed up for At&t Go Phone which is like $10 a month.
• We canceled our long distance - this was the cause of the whole problem in the first place. How can they charge so much? Ridiculous!
• We couldn't cancel all phone service - that's how we get our Internet, since we aren't cable subscribers.
• We discovered WFRN's Phone Friend - they have a $10 plan and the minutes get rolled over, and the service is way better. I thought they had a referral program, but I couldn't find it anywhere.
• Our Wifi phone has free calling anywhere there is free Internet: our house!, the library, many airports, coffee shops, etc.
• I can log onto Google Calendar from anywhere! - We just figured out google calendar, and we set up one account for our whole family, so I can update info, and my Hubby can see it on his calendar at work, our calendar at home, or my phone.
• This may revolutionize my grocery shopping. - No, I can't just call home like my mom does and ask the poor sucker that answers the phone what we have in the fridge. I mean, I can make a list on our computer, and have it show up on my phone!

I am still looking into ways that I can enter the price of food from different stores, that will tell me where the cheapest place to buy a certain item might be. Or if something is on sale, is it really a good stock-up-for-winter sale, or just a so-so buy-an-extra-to-have-on-hand-for-company-kind of sale. So if any of you know of anything like that let me know. I would hate to invest unneeded time on excel.

So now I have to admit that I love my new phone. Thanks Babe, I love you.

I just have to promise to not become one of those people. You know the ones. The cell phone talkers...

This has been linked in to Things I love Thursday at the Diaper Diaries

Why I give? - Our Mortgage

This is part of a series originally published in November 2004. The timeline reflects our circumstances of that time.





Well, it’s been two years now since we’ve been trying to have a baby. For some reason, still unexplained, there were problems. This created quite a physical and emotional roller coaster for me. Through different doctors, tests, medications, weird side effects, and prayers, it wasn’t just the silence that was frustrating. Month after month, all we seemed to hear was No, No, No. Until just as suddenly, this spring, after 18 months, God said yes.

Then we had to figure out how we could make this work. Hubby and I were both committed to me staying home when we had children, so we had to look closely at our finances. Luckily, God had been working in our lives in a different way this whole time.

We had been very good at putting half our income toward paying off our house each month. Because we were careful with our spending, and committed to our goal, we were able to make our last payment on our house this summer.

Now that we are down to one salary, it is just enough to cover our basic monthly expenses because we don’t have a mortgage or any other debt to worry about. Looking back to where we were two years ago, I can see that we couldn’t have done that. Financially, we were still a long way from being in a position where I could stay home.

From the outside it looks like we were really smart. It looks as if we waited to have children. It looks as if we had this whole thing all planned out. Well before you give us any credit, let me remind you, this was not our plan. We were praying for something else entirely, and we weren’t very patient about it. This was God’s plan. He’s the one that had everything worked out.

Now when I look at our bills and wonder if we can do it, I get a little kick in the ribs reminding me that God has it all worked out.

This post has been linkedin with Thankful Thursdays

Job vs. Chore - in the Bedroom

I believe that kids are responsible for the upkeep of their own rooms, so most of the things will be considered chores. Many things I currently do for my kids, but as they get older they will take over these responsibilities.

• changing their sheets


• making their beds


• putting away dirty clothes


• putting away clean clothes


• putting away books and toys


• dusting


• dusting the floor


• setting out clean clothes

These are the things that I would (and may have already) pay for:

• changing a siblings sheets - right now the boys aren't old enough to do it themselves, so Miss Love is helping me, by taking off old sheets. We are still working on getting the new ones on.


• Putting siblings clothes away - see note above.


• removing spider webs - this is usually just a once in a while job


• cleaning window


• mopping the floor - I like to really clean the wood floors with water once or twice a year

I think it is okay for kids to pay each other to do things, or essentially trade chores, but we haven't had the opportunity to try out this theory.

Job vs. Chore

There seems to be some confusion out there about what constitutes a job, and versus a chore, and why should we give money to kids for jobs that they should be doing anyway. I want to clarify my position on when kids should be paid for their jobs.



A Chore is something you do:

• because you are part of this family (or live in this house)


• even if you don't want to


• because you eat


• because you wear clothes


• because you sleep


• because you want to do fun stuff

A job is something you do:

• when your chores are done


• when you need money


• that someone else is willing to pay you to do

Obviously this definition is subjective, and can be defined in different ways by different people.

There are things that I believe that a kids should be responsible for, as soon as they are mentally and physically capable of doing it. But there are some responsibilities that I have taken on in my own quest to provide a nice home for our family. If one of my kids wants to learn how to do that task, to take it off my hands, I would gladly pay them. The only reason I don't pay someone to do them now, is that I am cheap, and I know how much house cleaners cost. Besides, I don't think they would come to my house just to vacuum rice from under my table.

So this is the first in a series about chores and jobs. I will look at each room of the house, and give examples of what would be considered a chore vs. a job. Realize that I am not an expert, I just play one on the Internet.

This is linked in with We Are THAT Family for Works for me Wednesday.

A Conversation

A conversation about Budgets with Miss Love

"Do you know what I am doing, babe?"

"What?"

"I am checking our budget."

"What for?"

"I am checking to see that we don't run out of money."

"And to see what we are buying?"

"That's right"

"And to make sure we aren't buying naughty things"

"What do you mean?"

"Sometimes people buy naughty things that they don't need, and then they don't have enough money."

Wise beyond her years, that one is.