While groceries often are not the biggest problem in a tight budget, they are one of the areas many families focus on first because grocery shopping must be done so often. And in many cases cuts can be made with relatively little trouble. Here are some ideas.

1. Eat vegetarian meals sometimes.

Meat costs more than many other ingredients. While most people aren’t ready to go vegetarian all the time, eating this way once or twice a week (or more) can save some pretty good money. There are many delicious recipes for vegetarian meals. And of course these tend to be quite healthy as well.

2. Keep an eye out for bargains on food and have a place to store extra.

This includes using coupons and watching store flyers. Have an extra freezer? Store meat you buy on sale in it. Figure out a place to store extra of other ingredients.

A good way to know if you’re seeing a good price is to keep written track of prices. A small notebook in your purse can help you figure it out, without trying to remember each and every price. After you’ve been watching prices a while you’ll have a general idea what most things should cost, but with your notebook you’ll know more precisely.

Buying extra can be tough on the budget if things are really tight, but if you can manage it you can save quite a bit of money in the long run. Read the rest of this entry »

My son is entering the world of potty training. He’s not far along yet, but he’s very proud of the dribbles he’s managed. That, and his ability to drag out each time on the potty for at least a half hour.

We do seem to be making promising progress, though. I didn’t react quite fast enough today when he informed me he had a poop. Going to have to remember to head straight in for that announcement, since that’s normally a tough one to get on the potty. If I had been faster we might have gotten it today.

Gage does make me laugh when he’s on the potty. He is very much into the “got your nose” type games. He plays that a lot when he’s sitting there. One time he decided to do that to his penis, wiggling his thumb between his fingers to show me he got it. I was just about rolling, he was so cute. I didn’t know the body part jokes started so young, especially in a mostly nonverbal kid.

We’re working on that part too. There’s a program called HOPE here in California that I contacted, and sometime in the next two weeks they’re supposed to be sending someone to evaluate him for speech therapy. It’s hard asking for help with this, especially when we’ve been seeing signs of progress, but it really is time. His vocabulary is very small for his age, he tends to swallow certain words and isn’t making more than an occasional phrase. “No, I’m not!” being a favorite.

Hopefully we’ll be seeing a lot of changes these next few months. He’ll certainly be keeping me busy.

[tags]toddler,potty training,kid jokes,speech therapy[/tags]

You know how much it can drive you nuts to let someone else do various jobs around the house. I decided to share today the things I’ve slowly learned I may as well just let my husband do his way.

After all, he’s helping!

1. Loading the dishwasher. No! Not that way! Arrgh!
   I’ve learned to mostly stay out of it. Only thing I correct now is when he forgets to keep the things on the bottom shelf low enough that the arm for the upper section can still spin. If it’s not spinning after all, the upper dishes don’t get clean. But even when he drives me nuts loading things differently than I would do, I’ve learned to keep my mouth shut and let him do it.
2. Sorting the laundry.
   He sorts into white clothes versus everything else, with the kids’ clothes in a pile separate from ours. I sort whites versus colors versus things that take longer to dry in the dryer. And the kids’ clothes are mixed in with everything else.
3. Folding the laundry.
   Drives me nuts. He likes to lay his shirts and such out before putting them on hangers. Still seems like twice the work to me, but so long as he finishes the job that’s his problem.
4. Driving.
   Aside from the occasional reflexive foot on the “brake”, this one isn’t too hard. Even when he takes what I know to be the long way because he thinks it’s faster.
5. Driving too fast.
   Well, most of the time. Except when I know he’s overdoing it. Or if I notice the police are patrolling particularly heavily.
6. Assembling things.
   Unless I want to do it myself (which I do when I want to surprise him), I let him do things his own way when assembling or building things for the house. Most recent case was our son’s new bed.
7. Cooking.
   Now if he could do the same. He loves to give advice when I’m cooking. At least until he catches the look I give him.
8. Managing the garden.
   I leave that completely up to him these days, aside from when I notice the plants need a bit more water. Great for him to have time with the kids too.
9. Parenting.
   Well, at least in front of the kids, as much as possible. I do still say if I think the punishment doesn’t fit the behavior. But I don’t like to disagree with him in front of the kids.
10. Cleaning.
    I’ve found it generally works if we clean in different rooms. Keeps us from driving each other crazy focusing on different priorities. Job gets done either way.
11. Television shows.
    If it’s not appropriate for the kids, I’ll say something, but otherwise, it’s just not that bad.
12. Yikes.
    This is a tough list to write. Had a few ideas off the top of my head when I started writing this Tuesday afternoon, then put it aside for Thursday. Now it’s Tuesday afternoon and I’m really short of ideas.
13. Taking the trash out.
    Still have to remind of some things, but at least he often does this without reminding. He tried to develop a habit of saving the plastic trash bags so that we’d use fewer, but I complained about the smell. There’s a reason why you don’t just throw trash in the can, after all!

Honestly, some of these are really easy to not nag him about. Others are really tough. But I’ve learned that he is much happier to help if I let him do it his way.

Now I just have to survive watching 4 kids today, ages 5 and under. Two mine, two my sister’s. If I start typing crazy things, you know I went insane.

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Being a work at home mom is a dream for many a busy mother. The idea is that you earn a living while keeping your home perfect and your kids happy.

Ah, if only the reality were so simple. We’d all get a lot more sleep.

Much depends on the ages of the kids in question. Older kids can quickly learn that a closed office door means leave Mom alone unless the house or a sibling is on fire. Younger kids are more likely to start pounding on the door the instant you’ve achieved that perfect flow of work.

Generally after you’ve been struggling to get things going for the day.

Many the work at home mom has learned that it’s really not that easy to work with kids in the house. She may feel guilty as she realizes that at least some sort of childcare is necessary sometimes so that work can be accomplished. This is accompanied by feelings of guilt and relief. You can get work done at last! But that’s not why you wanted to work at home!

But such is the reality. Read the rest of this entry »

I just couldn’t do it. I do paid posting myself, but blogging for McDonald’s just doesn’t work for me. Mostly because they’re talking so much about the quality of their food, and quite frankly I don’t believe it. I’ve eaten there, after all.

But they do have six moms across the United States who are going to get quite a bit of access to the entire process of how McDonald’s makes their food.

It’s hard to picture most McDonald’s food as remotely healthy. They talk on the site about low fat beef, fresh vegetables and so forth, but let’s face it, that’s not what people go there for. I suppose in the strictest sense it is possible to eat healthy there, but if that’s your goal it is not a place you’re likely to go. And it’s going to take an awful lot of marketing to change that. If such is even possible.

What do you think? Would you want to blog for McDonald’s? Do you think the bloggers will do a balanced perspective?

[tags]mcdonalds,mcdonalds bloggers,blogs[/tags]

One of the biggest fears people have about working at home is how easy it is to be scammed. Everywhere you look there are opportunities promising far too much. It’s a frustrating search for many people.

But for those who are willing to strike out on their own there are plenty of possibilities to consider.

One of the first things you want to keep in mind, however, is that going it on your own does not mean you won’t lose money. Starting a business means taking risks, and that goes beyond merely avoiding scams.

Start out by thinking of jobs you would like to do from home. Could your current experience translate into anything else?

Freelancing in your chosen field is one way to do it. Sometimes this is more of a work from home deal than work at home. You may have to go to client offices, after all, and sometimes it is simpler to do the work from there. Read the rest of this entry »

How many parents are rejoicing over this news? Disney has decided to stop making those cheesy, cheaply animated, direct to video sequels to their popular children’s movies.

It’s about time!

I know my daughter always wants these when she hears about them, but I have yet to see any sort of consistent quality or great storytelling in them. As the article notes, Return of Jafar aside, perhaps.

The animation in the sequels tended to make most parents cringe. I don’t know if kids always notice that consciously, but it wouldn’t surprise me if they realized something is off with the quickie sequels.

Now I just have to hold firm and convince my daughter that Cinderella III is not a must-own. She really, really wants it. And darn it, I think it’s in the previews of one of her other movies. I’ve seen reviews that make me hopeful that it will be tolerable if she does ever get it, but there are also some reviews that make it sound really horrible.

I’m not so sure that I want to find out which it is.

[tags]disney,disney animation,direct to video,disney sequels,cinderella III[/tags]

Summer’s a great time to be at home with your kids. Lots of things you can do as a family, and generally freer schedules. But there are also plenty of hazards.

Swimming pools are one of the best known hazards. Every parent knows that young children need to be watched around them. But do you think about smaller water holders, such as buckets? If you have younger children, these can pose a danger too.

Even if your kids aren’t going to be around water all that often I strongly recommend swimming lessons each summer. It’s just good sense. You may not have a pool, but will they ever go to a friend’s house? What if the friend has a pool?

It amazes me how often I see very young children playing in the street if the street is at all quiet. This is especially common on cul de sacs. What I find disturbing is how common it is to see children as young as 2 doing this with no obvious adult supervion. Just a slightly older sibling. And even the quietest of streets do sometimes get cars going too fast down them. It’s not something I think of as a good idea. Read the rest of this entry »

Have you ever bought the Entertainment book? My mother used to get it occasionally when we were kids, but I’ve never bought one for my own use. I just remember how rarely she remembered to use it. But I keep thinking I should give it a try myself.

Now is a good time for it. Their June Promotion is a FREE 2007 Book if you just reserve a copy of the 2008 book. The deal ends July 15, 2007. And about six months is still a pretty good amount of time to have the 2007 book.

I think the trick is to keep it with you all the time. My mother’s problem with it probably related to her habit of keeping it on a desk, easily forgotten.

But there are so many things you can save on. Many of them I don’t do often, such as eating out or going to a movie. But some grocery stores have coupons, and the range of coupons available can be simply amazing. I’ve really been thinking that I ought to give the Entertainment book a try myself.

Have you ever used it? What did you like most (least)?

[tags]entertainment book,coupons,saving money[/tags]

Now that my kids are out of school I’m trying to adjust their routine for summer. I like to get them outside and playing at least a couple hours a day. And that means building up a routine of using sunscreen.

My kids are lucky in some ways. I burn very easily. They take after Daddy and get tans instead. But I know all too well that that doesn’t mean they don’t need sunscreen. They do.

Getting the kids into the habit of using sunscreen is pretty easy in my experience. Be consistent for a few days to a week, then they start insisting upon it.

They generally like to play outside in the late morning, which of course is when the sun is getting pretty strong, then go inside for a few hours, going back outside later in the afternoon, by which time the sun’s rays aren’t quite so powerful. I like that routine. It means that not all of their outdoor playtime is when the risk from the sun is highest.

Our sunscreen is 50 SPF. I never buy anything less than 30 SPF because I burn so easily. But of course you can use your preferred level for your family.

I know we ought to wear hats more often too, but really we don’t. Ariel likes to take her parasol outside, which serves much the same function those rare times it remains above her head.

Does your family do much to protect their skin from the sun?

[tags]sunscreen,summer,sun safety[/tags]