Laundry Piles and Mind blowing Detergent!

So in a house of 4, laundry only seems to stop for all of 5 minutes. I have specifically taken note of this and tried my best not to let it get to me! I had to come up with plausible and possible ways to keep track of it. I have said in the past, I am kinda OCD. Well, not kinda.

Finally, last week I was at my wits end. I needed a plan. I was tired of forgetting that there was laundry in the wash, especially when it came to having to do dipes. Everything was carted down to the basement and I started the great laundry wash. When I first saw how much of it there was...I did 14 loads of laundry, I knew we had way too many clothes, sheets, towels and blankets. I wish I could say that the cupboards were overflowing, but in all actuality, they weren't and we don't have much storage space in this house. I was exhausted.

Having children means you have a lot of sheets. So I knew there was no getting around to getting rid of any of those, but how could I make sheets disappear? I already change our sheets every week because the thought of sleeping on dead flaky skin freaks me out! And this task was getting daunting. So, I brought out the old crib method! Layering them! So for the kids...repellant pad down, sheets on top, and again and again. So, not really a laundry saver, but a time saver for us. All in all, I only have to make the bed 1x a month! Plus if any accidents happen in the middle of the night, we are only up for a few minutes instead of awhile!

A couple of months ago, I ran out of laundry detergent. Previously, I had it in my mind that I was going to make my own laundry detergent to see how much money we could save. A neighbor of ours in NC has been making her own for years. At first, I thought it was a little odd, especially when she had to order supplies to do it at the grocery store. So, I still wasn't that enthusiastic about it and loaded the kids in the car and ran to the store. Well, let me tell you. It was the first time in years that I actually had to pay full price for laundry detergent and I about fell over. So no more. I got home, got out the supplies and well 15 minutes later I had a gallon bucket full of laundry detergent! It really wasn't hard to make, since I had bought...ready to make supplies. Soap already grated, washing soda and borax that just needed to be heated, poured and measured, dawn, and water. Simple really.

So how is it fairing against store bought laundry detergent? I am finding that it gets our clothes much cleaner and the house smells wonderful! For those of you interested in the recipe, which does it in small batches and there is no need for a 5 gallon bucket, check it out! Plus you can add Dawn, though this recipe doesn't call for it, but hey any grease fighter in a house of boys and southern cooking isn't bad in my mind!

http://whynotsew.blogspot.com/2010/08/how-to-make-homemade-laundry-detergent.html

Things to Accomplish for 2013

2013 is going to bring some major changes for our family that our 2012 whirlwind will be just a blink and an interesting story to remember. So my plan is to try to implement some EASY changes into our daily lives that will make life go a little bit smoother for all of us!

Some of my January Goals...

 * Out is going to come the digital calendar!

    - need to get into the habit of using SIRI a bit more on the reminder factor!

 * Meal prep days are going to become more of a necessity rather than a convenience

    - the freezer is really going to get a work out!

 * Pinterest is probably going to see a massive increase do to needing to organize my IT life

     - apologies in advance!
 * Kids activities are going to have to be set up the night before rather than in the morning
    - busy boxes galore!
 * Mommy's filing system is going to be simplified...
   - Bye Bye Piles
 * Walgreens.com is going to see an influx in picture posting
   - I am not going to just be able to wait a month or two to post pictures to print
 * Create an OUTBOX
   - just a box where stuff can land that needs to be donated

OH and if you are in Harris Teeter Territory...Super Doubles are going on this week! All the way up to $2.00 will double and what is even better....IT's Chicken TIME!!! Buy 2 Get 3 Free! We went last night armed and ready! How did we do? Well, spent almost 2 weeks worth of money on groceries but...

$192.48 Spent, $217.83 Saved     =   $410.31 worth of Groceries for less than $200! Not Bad since we saved more than we spent, which is always the main goal! Over 50% savings!

Out with 2012

2012 was a whirlwind for our family. So for a year in quick review, lets see how it went!

Cloth Diapering became a success, well except the fact that we forgot to take teething into consideration and had our ups and downs! We bought a total of 5 packs of disposables since our quest into cloth land commenced.

Potty Training Success: We have completely trained day and night! Woo Hoo props to Monk for no more turds!

Getting Crafty: We implemented an entire month to doing crafts and using what was around the house, rather than going out and buying the stuff to do it. We had fun, the kids had fun and better yet...Michaels' didn't see a dime!

As for the goals for the Pantry, Freezer and Decluttering...

We moved three times! Once in June, from our humble abode in Raleigh which we had lived in for 6 years! Again at the end of September, from our ever so lead paint poisoning row house in Old Town into a storage unit. And finally, we moved into our new house in Alexandria, Virginia November 1st. Mr. BBH took a job in DC with ABC. Other than our housing mishaps, it's been a good move for us as a family. We get to spend so much more time together and his schedule absolutely rocks!

Moral of the story, we found out that we can fit our entire life of a family of 4 into a 10 x 30 storage unit and have plenty of room to spare. Everything but the freezer and pantry food stock went in. We successfully cleared out our pantry 5 times this year! Granted 3 of those times, were completely unplanned for, but success! As for the freezer, well we only have some soup and steak left in it, and well...it's still at my cousin's house awaiting pick up. Gosh do I miss it, I just don't understand how people can live without one. This has really made stocking up on meats and veggies more of a hardship. Why, one thing we did not take into affect was the cost of living increase with our grocery bill. We have had to double our monthly spending of $200 a month on groceries. I still can't fathom sometimes when I am grocery-ing how much things, even with coupons are here! Some items are double the price!

I know that some maybe curious as to how Christmas spending went for us... well the receipts have not been tallied, but we did so much shopping online! But as for my money saving adventures, I got ripped off by UPS and USPS for those packages we had to mail! But in my humble thrifty ways, I had to call a friend of mine and tell her not to let her son be around when our box of Christmas gifts came. We had them delivered to her house and well the company I ordered from who shall not be named...OOPS AMAZON, wanted $20 for Gift Wrapping, I asked her to wrap it for me. Corny and cheap I know, but that would have been 1/4 tank of gas to be able to go and visit them!

Day 108: Prepping for Spring

With Spring fast approaching here at Chez Stoneford, the wonderful La Nina has graced us with a very very mild winter. We can't help the wonderful warm days that are upon us as we step out the door. I also can't help my anticipation of our summer garden fruitions.

Over the past years our ever so brown almost black thumbs have progressively gotten greener and this year, we plan to expand what we have spent the last five springs preparing for...low maintenance, care free and pretty much self sustaining gardening. A lot of trial and error was most of our leg work!

 For those of you who choose to have your own home garden, you already know that nothing is better than cooking up a meal and using stuff freshly plucked from right out your back door. Hey, you put in a little leg work and your body is going to thank you for it and so is your wallet. Our family had a wonderful time together last year prepping our garden, working in it and reaping its benefits.

Last spring, we even gave Monk his very own section that he was responsible for taking care of. Yes, I know strange idea putting that kind of responsibility on a 2 year old, but, he loved it and it gave him his own sense of ownership of it. Since we follow the Square Foot Garden method, he obeyed every "rule" we set infront of him about the garden and got upset if any of his tot friends violated them. We envolved him in every aspect about it. From seed starting, tilling and picking out new veggies after the tornado that come through our neighborhood destroyed our hard work. I highly recommend getting your kids involved, hey, you might have your non-lettuce eating mini-human eating what he/she otherwise wouldn't touch, just because he/she grew it themself.

So what are we doing this year? I'll write about our adventures.
Well now is the time to start thinking about starting to grow some seeds. Those catalogs are coming out in full force and local gardening supply stores are stocking their shelves. If you choose to Square foot Garden (SFG) then start getting your boxes ready. Turn over your soils and add some hummus and compost. If you are new to trying to grow or are in the habitual mindset of picking up perishables at the grocer, start small. I recommend no more than 2 boxes. But for us we will be doing much more.

We plan on only going to the farmers market for our tried desperately but epically failed oh so loved potatoes and fruit from trees.

 My newly loved Pinterst addiction is really helping with all of the planning and idea starting. This past weekend we started some of our seeds that need some time to grow before we can plant them outside. What I have found in the past, is that we just don't have the capacity or money for those fancy grow light systems. This year we are trying the outside milk jug/2 liter green houses for our seeds. You can leave them outside all the time and they get all the hardening and light they need and are protected from the elements. I'll post some pictures later.

What we started... Bell peppers, Jalapeno peppers, Carrots, Romaine, Mesculin lettuce, & Cauliflower.
We also started some flowers... Snapdragons & sunflowers.

Disclosure: SFG is not your grandma's gardening. You grow everything in 4x4 raised boxes. 16 Square feet will feed enough for and adult and child for the whole growing season. No back breaking work. It pretty much sustains itself except for watering when hot out and if you think you can't do it, just remember my 2 year old did.

What are the monetary benefits of growing your own garden?
Well last year tomatoes in our area got to be as high as $2.99 lb. and that was even at the farmer's market much less the grocer. We eat more perishables in the summer, because they are more readily available and try to blanche and freeze as much as we can to enjoy our fresh veggies throughout the year. So for a family of 4, at the grocer we would save at least on our consumption probably around $40 a month. For us that's almost a whole week's worth of groceries! Hey, saving that money affords us to get away for a mini-vacation!

$40/month x 6 months= $240 of free money! Plus we are eating better!

Day 87: Lions, Tigers, Boobs and Hey I know you, you are the Rain Check lady.

So this past weekend was jammed packed with family fun. We returned the no-fitters of Christmas gifts,  took Monk to see his first official "movie", at the $2 theater of course, followed by going out to the Tiger Rescue and walking, watching and talking 3 feet away from lions, tigers, binturongs and other carnivores. A really big weekend for the 4 of us.

Of course, the recent boob-age headlines of nursing your baby in public have been all over the mom blogs I read, nursing sit-ins and new federal mandates requiring employers and nursing employees are changing, so it's a hot topic in case you didn't get the memo. How does this relate to our wonderful weekend?

Well, while sitting waiting for Mr. Bacon Bringer Homer to find a pair of properly fitted jeans at Gap, the Gator began to wail. He was hungry and Monk and I were sitting where the return lady had told us to go take a load off. So naturally, I picked the Gator up out of our side-by-side double stroller and began to discreetly nurse him. Rather than let him scream his head off and piss everyone around us off.

Disclosure: Yes, I am a mom of 2 and have my faults, like running out of the house after getting 3 human beings together and dressed and forgot my nursing cover, but I did not just have my boob hanging out, all you could see from the Gator was his little nose poking up from the corner of my shirt and maybe 2 inches of skin on my back from having my shirt adjusted. I wasn't going out for a Playboy or Hustler interview.

We were all doing fine, Mr. BBH was running around, and then an employee with black stiletto's and cankles wearing red hot pants that were not becoming on her oh so size 22 booty came up and said...

"Ma'am we do have a nursing room that you would probably be more comfortable".

Nursing a baby or not, who in the right mind likes being asked when they are completing a task at hand, to possibly stop, pack up their S**T, walk 3 stores down, squeeze into a room that is a fitting room with equipment that wouldn't even fit through the door, only to unpack and get back to what you were doing in the first place of minding your own business? Ok. Well I guess I let her get to me, but just said "thanks we are fine" and un-typically left it alone.

Disclosure: I feed my baby, I get bothered by those that get bothered that he nurses but I am not out there to lead the next boob revolution.

After the mall, we made reservations at the movie theater. Puss n' Boots, the Antonio Banderas version, not that William Shatner fooling grandma thing. Yes, I got fooled at the Red Box. Monk had a wonderful time and did fabulous at his first movie. We made a big deal of it, ya know, we stopped at Walgreens and loaded up on candy and drinks, picked up our tickets and headed in...20 lb diaper bag and all. Yes, redneck I know of course since we only paid $2 per person for the show, but I just can't justify $5 for a $1 box of candy.

On Sunday, we had reservations for the Carnivore Preserve and we thought Monk would love being 3 feet away from those critters that he is a good 1/4 mile away from at the zoo. Plus watching them all get fed...Hello Bonus. But being the only mini-human on the tour, the tour lady really didn't engage his growing mind at all, so he got disinterested really fast. We will do this again, and we know that he is ready for it, but next time we will have to book a private tour rather than being on a tour with people playing on their iPhones rather than being in-tune with the animals.

On our way back we stopped by the grocery. I had promised to make "MY" potato salad for a friend. Well happens that we had super double coupons at the grocer this past week and I think I left my discount shopper card in an envelope at that store earlier in the week. So up to the service desk we went. I politely talked with the woman who hadn't heard of anything being turned in but she turned to the other associate working the counter too, and asked him to check the lost and found box. Now, this is one of the 3 grocers that we shop at, pretty much on a rotating basis. He turns around and says, "Nope, no envelope...Hey this is my RAIN CHECK LADY." Now I know that having a good relationship with your service associates is a good idea, but I don't know whether to be mortified or glorified. It was as if he announced to everyone around us..."Hey there's that cheap lady that makes me write her a book of rain checks every time she comes into the store." But I chose not to look at it that way. This new year I am trying to leave B***H in the closet for as long as possible, but hey it's only January. I chose to look at it as..."Hey, she helps keep me in a job, but she doesn't want to pay full price for something that it only costs a fraction to supply, How thrifty and with 2 kids! She sure does love her family and wants to be able to pay for college for them one day!" Ok, so life is not all those sunshine and roses but one can only dream.

So for now, I am just going to have to live with being the nursing mom, the once fooled but not twice bitten movie lady, the hey stop picking at the tree and talk to that Lion in your face mom, and the Crazy Rain Check Lady.  

Day 46: So Sew!

So our November challenge comes to an end today. We have been 30 days strong for this challenge of cloth diapering and well I have fallen in love. Of course there has been a trial and error period, between choosing the proper fit, to double or not double the stuffing, finding the best way to wash, but all in all Bum Genius has made CD a breeze and I can't believe that I let my consumerism antics not let me do this sooner. Whenever some one asks me about my dipes, I could just go on about how fabulous they are...I should just become their poster person for an infomercial!

Many steer away from CD'ing just because of fear of smell and what to do with dirty dipes when you are out. Hey, I was definitely one of these people and well even though I know better now, I am still paranoid. For those of you whom I do see on a regular basis, please don't think I am crazy if I am doing a sniff test! But honestly, unlike disposables, I can't tell if my child poops or not in these unless he is uneasy and a crank-a-potomus!

So what do I do with those dirty dipes? "They" make these wonderful things called wet bags. A wet bag is like a shower curtain turned bag. Some are fancy with cloth and patterns, but they are great...and not just for CD'ing. Potty training, these are a breeze to keep your car from smelling not-so-fresh or having to throw out your child's favorite pair of ummm....Nemo underpants. Going to the pool, you don't have to have be a kid to get some use out of a wet bag, throw your wet bathing suit in and go.

Now I love wet bags, I don't love their prices. Some may find them reasonable, but for this thrifty mama, not so much. So, after gazing at the $15 for a single solitary, as Monk would say "tippy tiny" one that would fit a sandwich in it, I decided that hey my mom has a spare sewing machine just laying around, and I just give it a go.

Disclosure: Keep in mind that I am a consumerism reformist. I know what a sewing machine looks like, and as for the term "sewing machine" I knew what it was supposed to do...sew things together, but as for touching one...NEVER.

I found a how-to online, but I needed the appropriate fabric. Yep, appropriate fabric. I marched my 2 children in to the fabric store and took a minor look around and was overwhelmed by the selections of the NOT what I was there for fabric. I politely walked up to the the fabric goddess standing behind the counter and asked them for PUL fabric. I pronounced the word like I knew what I was talking about, however I believe I should have spelled it. So yes, I looked like a complete A*S.  So I spent $25 in there. I walked out with 3 different PUL fabrics, 3 zippers and a how-to make baby things book. Determination was on my mind. I was going to make 3 sizeable wet bags for the price I would have paid for 1!

Off to Grandma's we went. I figured that having my whole crafty family around, Great-Aunts who have sewed before and my mom and Grandma, this whole making your own wet bag would be a breeze. Well, picture this...

Day 1 of Sewing your own wet bag...
my children playing quietly in the living room...awesome...
me, my mom, my grandma, and my great-aunt sitting at the kitchen table...awesome conversation
one fairly new-age sewing machine with manual making its way to the table...awesome
After 5 minutes we figured out how to take the cover off. Yes 4 women. 3 who have sewed before.
We looked at this new-age fandangled thing...mystified. Where was the thread supposed to go?
OK. Manual out. Thread threaded. How does it turn on? Manual out again. How does it... Manual out.

After an hour of going back to the manual and me asking what is bobbin and why do I need it and how do I do this. Getting responses like...you just do and I haven't sewn in 30 years, I don't know how to use this machine...it has too many buttons, you should just order a wet bag online...I'll pay for it...we threw in the towel and I was left with "if you are this determined...you need to read the whole manual". Ok. I'll do that and did.

Day 2 of Sewing your own wet bag...

However, after reading the manual I kind know what the machine actually does and what buttons I need to push to get it to do what I need. But actual sewing things, such a different story. Where were my accomplices? No where. They scattered. One credit card lay on the table with note "Please use me to buy as many wet thingy's as needed." How nice and how dysfunctional at the same time. Sewing is supposed to be something that is passed down from generation to generation I thought and I have been left "with...out...the bag!"So hello internet. Not to buy but to DYI. I wasn't about to let this machine beat me. My first bag turned out like a sleeve but it is holding. The second much better and hello my professional looking third one! Determination! Hey, I even made my own sandwich size snack bags! I feel that I have gotten so good at making bags that everyone is going to get one for Christmas! What's even better...I still have all of my fingers and no fabric attached anywhere to my body!

Day 28: Inquiring minds for Couponers Part 1

I have received many questions on how we save money using coupons, so I am going to try to let you in on a few of my secrets, but let me just say this...stay away from MY Teeter! Lol!

I am going to break this up into a few segments, as I do have children and I could so talk about this forever!

Firstly, you HAVE to retrain your brain. If you are a brand Wh*re, guess what? To save money, you won't be. But in retrospect, by trying other brands, you might find something that is sooo much better. This is how I fell in love with some of my new fav's!

Then, whist you are retraining your consumerist brain, you must understand that if you do not have a coupon for something that is in the "inside" aisles not the perimeter of the grocery aisles, you will not buy it. What we consider to be items of acceptance for buying without a Q is produce and meat. I might add in that sometimes, we will have run out of our milk Q's. Yes, there are Q's for "ANY BRAND" milk.

Disclosure: For those of you who think that you can't eat nutritiously while using coupons, let me just say NOT! It's ok to let coupons expire. Don't let yourself fall into the pattern that many shopaholics do...you don't have to buy it just because you have a Q for it. If it's not good for you and you typically wouldn't eat it or you just don't like it...DON'T BUY IT!

Secondly, to succeed in the reducing your grocery bill world, you will have to take a notepad and a pen with you every time you go to the grocery, so keep one in you car. You will want to walk up and down all the aisles spot checking for the little flags that grocers put out telling you "hey it's on sale". If they are out of that product, write it down, continue on your merry way. At the end of your shopping, take your heiny up to the customer service desk, hand them your list of products and price, get RAIN CHECKS! They never expire and are awesome to pair up with Q's at another time, especially during mega events like super doubles and triples, so start your collection now!

Thirdly, start thinking about what you are willing to pay for something. The majority of people can tell you that they "know" that something is cheaper here vs. there so use those known price points to your advantage. Now understand, I am not saying run your gas tank all over town. What I am saying is know your low prices and then you will come to know the rock bottom price deals when you can pair stuff up with a Q.

When you figure out what you are willing to spend $$$ on and what you are willing to wait til' it goes on sale, then you will see your grocery bill decrease.

Next, you have to understand that grocers operate on cycles. Typically every deal that you typically see in the grocery store each week comes around again 6-8 weeks later. You will notice that the price for something that is on sale this week is ok, then 2 weeks later there is no sale to be found, then 2 weeks later it is even lower than it was 6 weeks ago! Though there are things that grocers do put on a great sale just once or twice a year, and these are known as seasonal sales. For example, a seasonal sale at my grocer is B2G3 (buy 2 get 3 free) on boneless skinless chicken. This sale is bi-annually and you should stock up.

Disclosure: When it comes to food, for those of you who like to eat the freshest of things like we do, you might want to invest in a stand up freezer and a vacuumn sealer. There are many places online that you can read about preserving the freshness of freezable things!

Now to start you off with "collecting" your Q's...
There are a few places that you can "get" them
1. The Sunday paper
2. Gas Stations
3. Magazines
4. The internet
5. Blinkies: those coupon shooting things at the grocer
6. Catalinas: those print outs with your receipts

More on Collecting Q's in Part 2

Day 27: Q Crazy

Hello again! I feel like I have risen from the dead again, just like the old Shelley Long 80's movie! In one of my last Consumerism posts, I had mentioned the fact that our local grocer was doing super double coupons and well that is just how I have spent my last week. So I figured I would clue y'all in as to how it went.

What is super doubles? Once every few, very few months our local grocer offers to double manufacture coupons up to $1.98 in value. This means that they will double those high dollar Q's that say save X amount of $ as long as they do not exceed $1.98. So a $2 off Q will not double but a $1.98 one will. So can we say HELLO! You are coming home with me today! Most of what we got was free or pretty darn close!

We had to break super d's up into 2 grocery weeks so that we wouldn't bust our weekly grocery allowance. This allowance is $50 and I had more than enough Q's to make this happen and restock some of our out of supplies and low-on-hand- supplies from our October Challenge. Armed with my list in hand, I headed to the store, knowing what I knew I wanted to buy, knowing exactly how much I was going to spend.

FYI: If your grocer allows you to "shop online" for pick up in store, you are privy to their prices, so those crazies walking the aisles of grocery stores for their extreme couponing flat out have way too much time on their hands!

Disclosure: We are not extreme couponers, though we believe in a good deal, there is no reason why you have to hoard in your home, and hoard so that no one else gets to get a great deal!

Here is how it went: We made 3 trips total over the course of Wednesday through Tuesday Night

Trip 1:
Amount of Groceries Bought: $65 and some change
Amount spent Out of Pocket: $13 and some change
Savings: $42

Trip 2:
Amount of Groceries Bought: $118 and some Change
Amount spent Out of Pocket: $41 and some Change
Savings: $77

Trip 3:
Amount of Groceries Bought: $117
Amount spent Out of Pocket: $36.99

Grand Totals:
Amount of Groceries Bought: $300
Out of Pocket: $90.99
Over 70% savings!

For those inquiring minds that want to know what we bought:
2 bottles of Olive oil
2 (3)pks of sponges
18 cans of soup
4 loaves of bread
2 pkgs of butter
2 pkgs of cookie dough
6 boxes of pudding
1 pkg of Sweet sausage
4 gallons of Milk
1 pkg of cheese
2 pkgs of tupperware
1 bunch of celery
1lb of carrots
1 pkg of dried fruit
4 bottles of coffee creamer
6 frozen pizzas
2 jars of spaghetti sauce
2 boxes of teddy grahams
2 boxes of crackers
2 boxes of pasta
1 box of rice
2 pkgs of Chai tea
1 deoderant
10 jars of baby food
10 cans of cream soups
2 boxes of cereal
2 bottles of dish soap
16 rolls of paper towels
5 5lbs of Sugar
2 pkgs of Turkey
and so much more that I can remember!

We really have so much fun couponing! Our wallet won't allow us not to, but the hunt and the challenge is the best. Plus we collect rainchecks like crazy during these events so that we can get the uber good sale prices all year long!

Day 25: Adventures in Cloth

Since our consumerism challenge has come to an end, Adventures in Cloth Diapering has begun.

Lesson One: Some of these need covers and some do not

When Monk was a baby, I had seen many of my SAHM friends using cloth diapers on their babies and we had briefly talked about the advantages of using them; less irritation, less diaper rashes, money savings, environmentally conscious...and the lists they gave me went on. They weren't using what looked like your mom's white dish cloths with pins and stuff. They were using one that looked like a disposable diaper with velcro tabs, they just happened to look a tad bulkier on the hieny. Apparently, there are considerable differences in this growing going cloth world. Well since we have had our own tribulations with baby Gator, plus our consumerism challenge, we knew that we had to make the switch to cloth.

There are CD's (Cloth Diapers) that need covers and some that do not, we learned this on day 1 of changing to CD's. After putting one on that didn't need a cover, then changing the Gator into one that apparently did, and again and again...having to clean up the mess, I pretty much psychologically broke down and almost said screw it. It just wasn't for me. All I knew of CD's were that they were "new age" and easy piezy, well yes, if you know what you are using!

Both types of CD's that we were given have velcro tabs on the outside and looked very similar. We were not given any "covers". We were given ones that had prints on them and when I found out that they needed a cover, I thought well "why put a design on them if you are just going to cover it up?". I apparently had so much to learn and I had to do it quickly. The CD's that did not need covers soon became my favorites to use. They had a pocket inside that you just "stuff" a cloth retangular pad into and you are off and running. They also have velcro or snaps, so it makes them easy on easy off. Voila, diaper change in 2 minutes, same as with a disposable! Soon these became my favorites to use. Ya know in the first 48 hours!

We had 4 no-covers on hand and 4 need covers and well I knew that Mr. Bacon Bringer Homer wouldn't be that into changing the Gator if it took him more than the usual 3 step process of remove, wipe, put one on. So 4 just wouldn't cut it. I found myself washing one as soon as it was used. I began losing my mind. My friend Mrs. P, who had used CD's on both of her babes, came over with 6 dipes from her stash that she could share! WaHoo, we now had 10 and I could possibly make it from morning to night and then wash! Life was so much easier in tushy land! The Gator, took well to CDing and we have had no reactions since!

I began looking into getting my own stash of our CD's. We knew that we wanted ones that had the built in no cover. To my surprise, I found a whole marketing mecca of CD's. So many options, so many different varieties, each with their own must-have tweaks to make your CD life easier. I feel like I have learned a whole new language with all the terminology that comes along with learning about this. Terms and Abbreviations amuck! It was mind blowing. More on this later in another blog.

Lesson 2: $$$$
Then came the cost of these suckers! Some of them range from $9-$29 each! WTF? Could there be that much of a difference in these pee and poop catchers? Our new found favorites, Bumgenius, as we have come to learn are some what of the cadillac of CD's, they are about $18 each, luckily they are not the coveted Shelby Mustangs or Ferrari!

At the tail end of our challenge, after scouring the internet for the best prices to buy some Bumgenius to build our stash and give Mrs. P back hers, I came across a giant sale. Buy 5 get one free! Cha Ching! My discount shopper beacon went off! Apparently, this type of sale is rare in the CDing world! So, I began navigating around, and another new vocabulary lesson into colors and prints of CD's began. I thought that ya know, staying away from colors and prints, and staying with white ones would be cheaper, but nope the ones without prints cost the same as white. I filled a shopping cart with 12 of these suckers. Mr. Bacon Bringer Homer began to think I was nuts. He would come home and find an open window on the computer tuned into dipes. I would ask him about what colors he liked, I wasn't going to leave him out of this new found bargain! But guess what, I got another odd look, because frankly he didn't give a flying. "Why should I give a flying about what color the poop catchers are?".

The night before our consumerism challenge was coming to an end, he checked the total in the shopping cart, his mouth dropped. "Are you kidding me" I heard him shout from the other room. "You can't possibly think that we are going to fork out almost $200 for 12 Diapers! We're coming off a saving money sprint!" So as quick as those words left his mouth, I reminded him that we would not have to buy diapers again, even if we had another baby! Quickly this lifestyle, when put to dollars and cents, and considering the fact that the Gator would be in dipes for another 2 years at minimum. That's a pretty good deal compared to the $60 a month we were spending on dipes, then throw in the money we were spending on rash and redness cream for Gator's allergic reactions, at $20 a month...all this even with coupons!

So here's the math:

2.5 years or 30 months x $60= $1800 on dipes

                                30 x $20= $600 on cream

                           _________________

                                     $2400

vs. $180 

Since we were already running our washing machine with 4 people in the house, it really wouldn't change our bill there, by throwing in some dipes.

So...Hello...Buy now!

Day 22: Anti-Consumerism comes to a Close

So how did we do on our first 365 Changing the Way we do month-long Challenge? Personally we did great. Here are a few things that we learned to appreciate along the way.    

Saving $$$ and Spending less afforded us more time as a family, more volunteer work, ability to eat what we had on hand, retrain our brains on the way we think about stuff we spend $$$ on!

Gas:

-Without the usual outings to the multiple grocers & pharmacies, you know, some of us can't just shop at one to get everything we need. One trip to the farmer's market every 2 weeks and one to the grocer for milk.
-No unnecessary gas guzzling trips for fast food for lunches or quick suppers
-No driving around the block or leaving the car run in the driveway when our children wouldn't sleep or fell asleep in the car

Time:

-We gained more time as a family
   - We gained 12 more hours with Mr. Bacon Bringer Homer. I know it doesn't seem like much, but  
     really it was. That time not spend running around town, afforded us the luxury of lounging at home.
   - We learned to really utilize family movie night. Blockbuster gives out free codes each week on sites
     such as southernsavers.com and coupondad.net. We would blow up the air mattress and pop a bag
     of popcorn and Voila!
   -We worked on projects around the house together. Monk enjoyed setting up the playroom and
    putting decorations up for Halloween.
 
-We re-learned the joys of cooking together
   - Having missed this past-time, we had to get creative on some of the meals that needed preparing.
     So, it took some thought and opened up more communication for us as a family as to what and how
     we were going to make our meals and we did it together!
   - We actually ate more and more nutritiously. We were more apt to try new things. Oldies and
     goodies from the farmers market were bought, but if something looked interesting we tried it out.
     Last night we had purple sweet potatoes! They sounded interesting, looked very interesting and
     tasted Grrreatt! But we came up with more combinations for food and new recipes were born!

-We volunteered more hours for our favorite cat rescue Alley Cats & Angels alleycatsandangels.org
   -We got re-involved with cleaning the petsmart adoption centers. Yes. We did this with 2 kids in tow.
    So it can be done! Monk has learned the art of caring for animals that are not ours, and that they too
    need time, attention and maintenance.
   - We did this between once and twice a week, and that little hour and a half went along way in the
    lives of these kitties!

Clearing out:

-We cleared out most of the stand-up freezer
   -Those dreadful potatoes are down to 2 bags from 10!
   -Wow, you really can put together a dinner straight from the freezer in 20 minutes!
   - It is primed and ready for the winter soup, stew and veggie collections!

-We cleared out most of the pantry
  - We traded in quick take-out for can be made quick in home!

  - The depths of those avoidance foods are gone. Now we just know not to buy them again. Good 

     deal or not!

  - Nothing was wasted. No having to bring out the trash can and dump expired foods in the next few 

    weeks!

- Our garage stock pile 

  - Has plenty of empty shelves 

  - Plenty of empty bags of toiletry items

All in all this was a nice life lesson for our family. 

* We gained an appreciation for our couponing lifestyle that though we may do it out of necessity to save money in the long run, it affords us the capability to be able to take a month off of spending and utilize what we have on hand. Even when you have company!

* We gained an appreciation for trying new things and adapting our eating styles

* We gained an appreciation for repairing what was on hand with what was on hand instead of taking the easy way out and just buying new.

* We learned that the best things in life are actually free and are accessible, you just have to seek and find them. 

* We spent more time as a family. We are teaching our children the value of time together, creativeness and the value of a dollar. We are becoming better parents. 

Day 21: Happy Hallows

When I was a child, Halloween was one of the most coveted and anticipated holidays of the fall season.  My dad Bah Humbugged his was through Christmas, but not Halloween. Spooks, stories, goblins and gorries, I can remember my dad saying. We would searchhigh and low for things just laying around, to create our porch masterpiece, the Jack-o-Lantern.  Opening cans and jars of stuff in the pantry. Climbing trees to get moss and picking up straw. So much fun searching. Then came the transformation of our garae into the neighborhood haunted house. My poor mom, eventually the haunted house migrated to encompass not only the garage but also the kitchen and dining room too. You never ran out to buy things you used creativity and whatever you had lying around the house and yard. You knew your neighbors, had costume contests and enjoyed pleasant tricks along with treats.

Nowadays, people use stencil cutouts for Jack-o-lanterns, and I will admit that we have succumb, but we will be changing that for next year. People don't really know their neighbors, so there isn't really that mystery of who is under that costume. My anticipation for Halloween is changing. Sadly. So for Changing the way we do, Halloween 2012 is on the list.

During the past years, we have had contests going in multiple states and cities to see who had the most trick or treaters. It was a highlight to the night. Everyone gets involved. Some of us even get up on our roofs to throw down candy to the treaters. Sadly this year, we did not participate. Due to our consumerist challenge, we did not turn our porch light on to hand out treats.

So how was Halloween 2011 for Chez Stoneford?

We took our children to the library and let them hear stories, play games and enjoy the spirit. We carved pumpkins after our visit to the farm, they "died" over the course of the week. We decorated the house with what decorations we had and made some crafts to decorate next year even more. We had friends over to join us too, and a yummy birthday dinner for Mr. Bacon Bringer Homer.

All 4 of us dressed in costume to go trick or treating in the cold and pouring rain. We armed ourselves with umbrellas and boots. We were going to make the best of 2011 Hallows. With the few houses that had their porch lights on, the kids rang and banged away. "Trick or Treat" Monk and the Edge would say before someone would come to the door. It was cute. But as we walked uphill both ways...saw parents driving their kids from house to house...saw kids unchaperoned...and speeders on the streets...the cold and wet got to us after about an hour. We came home, but the kids had fun.

So, now our porch light stayed off but that didn't stop the banging on our door even upwards of 11:00pm. Maybe it's just a few of us that follow the etiquette of Halloween, but you don't bother people who don't have their lights on and you don't dare knock on a door after 9pm, and if their light is on you are pleasant ...say thank-you and Happy Halloween. A couple of the times we opened the door to check to see if the weather was lightening up, but we were met by a race of people to our door and when we told them "I'm sorry our porch light is off and we do not have any candy" we were returned with not-so-nice pleasantries. F-bombs and other 4 letter words and the occasional "they ain't got no candy" was appalling by children of all ages. Excuse me. These parents were in their cars and condoning this behavior. This can't be the generation of tomorrow. This can't be the generation of parents today. It took everything out of me not to go knock on the window and tell them what profanities their children were saying.

Hopefully Halloween 2012 will be so much better, but despite it all we had a nice holiday and hope you did too!

Days 11-16: Consumerism & Tradition

Wow, we had a very busy few days here around Chez Stoneford! So I bring you 5 days rolled up into 1 post!

Mr. Bacon Bringer Homer and I had this wonderful talk the other day about the terms of reference that "We" use when "we" describe decisions that "We" make involving everyday life. Sometimes those decisions that "We" make 1/2 of the "we" has no idea that "We" have made these decisions yet all have to live with them.

So here they are:
I = only when it involves taking credit for the success of a project
You = All By Yourself typically when some project is an epic failure
We = I decided or you throw it back at me for the good of everybody whether it's a success or failure

The grand "We" is like the all encompassing "They", as in "They" say you should, so "We" have 10 days to go to meet our 30 day goal.

How our Anniversary Creatives got the best of us:
We didn't go all out, especially with our Consumerism goal in mind, so we each sweetly made a creative card for each other. I received a card, that had 2 puppies on it and though we ain't got no money we gots each other... and Mr. Bacon Bringer Homer received a photo card of us just as the preacher pronounced us married...the married kiss...how we still like kissing each other X# years later! No gifts were exchanged but together we cooked a great meal. It really was a nice night!

How our Challenge is going:
So far going strong in the not spending any $$$, but the gas crisis is where we are going to have to bend the rules a little bit. After careful consideration, it is just not safe for me to be at home with 2 children and less than 1/4 tank of gas in the car. If we have an emergency, "We" don't want to have to worry about getting to the E.R. or the pediatrician without having to stop and fill-up. So lesson learned, for the next time we try a no-gas allowance for a Consumerism Challenge.

Over the course of the last few days, we have had numerous people come and visit. Since it is the start of the Fall/Winter season, we have had many traditions that we have started with our kids and some of our closest friends.

Friday:
We do a lot of events with our children through our city's parks and recreation department. You'd be surprised at some of the creativity these people come up with and 9 times out of 10 it's all FREE! Cha Ching! But Friday we had a prepaid for Halloween Trail event. So for a family of 5, because we had Nana to, $20 for a fun filled family night! Hayrides, Hallowed Walk, Play & skits oh and not to mention crafts galore! Total Score!

Saturday:
Nana always comes for the visit to the pumpkin patch and this time graciously paid for us to go. An awesome time was had by all. It was just the 11 of us. Yep 11. 11 people leaving our house on time, 11 people getting through the gate without anyone getting lost or left behind and 11 people crammed into a caboose on the little train ride!

Opening the pantry and freezer on Friday morning, we realized how much we had actually made a dent in our stockpile. What were we going to do for lunch for 10 people & a baby out at the farm, since we were obliging our Consumerism Challenge on our guests? One sack of potatoes...check! Mr. Bacon Bringer Homer is a meat and potato man, so we never have a shortage of fresh or frozen!

Disclosure: We have 5 bags of frozen potatoes left!!! Yay, by the time we are done with this Challenge I am going to be potatoed out!

Potato salad it was, all the ingredients and more were found in the pantry. Boy, I hoped that everyone was going to love potato salad, because I looked at our bread rations and well we had 4 slices of bread and that just wasn't going to cut it! No bread was left in the freezer. One of our dogs had confiscated a freshly pulled loaf from the freezer and demolished it. Apparently the dogs didn't get the memo about our challenge! Nana to the rescue again! She had arrived at our house with some Pepperidge Farm goldfish shaped pita bread packs. Woo Hoo! Monk has fallen in love with "Fish" sandwiches and little did Nana know that this bread arrived at the right time. Throw in some apples and voila lunch for 10!

At the farm, for every admission, you get a free pumpkin to take home...Score for not having to bust our Challenge to get pumpkins or go without on Halloween! Saturday Family fun day came to a close with us carving pumpkins!

Sunday:
An Oldie but Goody was resurrected for a completion to our Fall Fest Weekend, we went to a Corn Maze and had alot of fun! It was a great teaching day for Monk and The Gator got his first wagon ride! We had to navigate through a labyrinth of corn to find the numbers 1-10 and answer trivia questions to hint which was the right way to go. If you have never taken your kids, I highly recommend this!

So as for Monday nothing spent, nothing pitched.

Totals:
Thurs: Consumerism 0, Us:1
Fri: Consumerism 0, Us: 1
Sat: Consumerism 0, Us: 1
Sun: Consumerism 0, Us:1
Monday: Consumerism 0, Us:1

Day 9: Consumerism Challenge: Cardboard boxes are like gold

Consumerism doesn't get to get the best of me today, a little creativity goes a long way.

We, like most parents despise the word can't and lately Monk has been using it alot. The "I can't because..." is really getting annoying. Over the last oh 6-8 months Monk has grown a fascination with knights. By mistake he watched the movie Shrek and well, since Shrek is a knight and saves the princess, you can see how Monk would want to do the same.

Yesterday, we went to a play date with Monk's best friend Edge and he loves playing knights. This morning Monk came down stairs and wailed those dreadful "I can't words" this time being followed by "be a knight, because I don't have a shield!". No knight gear in our house...or so Monk thinks. I had actually picked him up a set of armor and shields at a consignment sale a few months back to give him as a Christmas present. I couldn't just go running to the garage and get it out. What lesson would that teach my son? When we think we can't or we don't have just go buy one?  That mentality is what I definitely don't want my children to express. Ever. We have strived with our children to let very few branded characters in our house, so that we can get through shopping without having the screaming child yelling about how they want the "Little Red Devil...a.k.a. Elmo" and not being able to leave or being so utterly embarrassed that we would have to buy it just to shut him up. Most parents will never admit the fact that they have had to do this, but we haven't and never plan on it either.

Since cardboard boxes are like gold around here at Chez Stoneford out came the scissors, foil, & tape. Voila in about 20 minutes, Monk had a shield! I was smart enough in the fact that when I was cutting out the one, I actually cut out two, just in case Monk wanted to play with anyone, but primarily I knew Mr. Bacon Bringer Homer would want one too. So, Monk was happy with my creation, a shield with a giant Autobot logo on it. For those of you who don't know what an Autobot logo is, it's the Transformers logo. I live in a house with all men and since Mr. Bacon Bringer Homer is a self professed 80's cartoon freak, he of course would want to pass on his Transformer obsession to his sons.

Disclosure: The day Monk crawled up into bed and wanted to watch TV with Daddy, Mr. Bacon Bringer Homer's heart totally jumped at the fact that his son wanted to watch...THE ROBOTS! Then the day came when Grandma & Mommy came home from the consignment sale, Optimus Prime Robot in hand, Daddy jumped up opened up his toy cabinet to get his old Optimus Prime, and I caught the two of them having a Transformers battle on the couch..."Look Mommy we're playing Robots, Daddy's is the Daddy Optimus Prime and mine is the little boy." Ok, my heart melted a little too. Then came the day when after Monk's 3rd birthday, we took him to the toy store, gave him 1/2 of his "Birthday Money" and he wanted to buy a new Robot, just like Daddy's toys.

So back to not running out to the store to buy knight gear...

Monk came upstairs and again uttered the words, "I can't be a knight because I don't have a sword!". Stumped and almost about to have to blow our Consumerism Challenge, I stopped looked around, and then remembered Nana had bought Mr. Bacon Bringer Homer a set of light sabers for him to play with Monk. So I bent down and told him, "You are right, you don't have a sword...You have a LIGHT SABER!" All was right with the mini-human's world. He came down stairs and since Mr. Bacon Bringer Homer is still on his Fur-cation (he is furloughed from work right now), Monk asked him to play knights. Mr. Bacon Bringer Homer looked at me and I told him to take 10 minutes and play knights. So what does Mr. Bacon Bringer Homer say to me? "I can't play knights, I don't have a shield." Boom, not as cool as Monk's but I had at least had the forethought that he might "need" one.

Consumerism avoided! I may actually get away with re-consigning the knight gear! Woo Hoo! Cool points to this Mommy today! With a little creativity, you can make a child's day without having to spend any $$$ and turn the dreadful "I can't" into "I can, I am!"

Consumerism Challenge: 0
Us:1

Day 8: Consumerism Challenge: The Grocer vs. The Supercenter

Since I can't shop right now, I thought that I would make today's consumerism blog about shopping the grocery store.

Today, I read a great quip about the grocery store vs. the supercenter. Many of us have been trained that buying food supplies at the supercenter is way less expensive than buying them at the grocery. News flash! These supercenters with their everyday low prices seem very attractive, but the only way they outbeat a grocery store is when you are not buying what's on sale.

If you are like me, shop the sales and use coupons, we save an average of 60-75% at the grocery store than the 25-30% we would at a supercenter. Our average grocery bill is about $40 a week. If we bought the same stuff at a supercenter it would, well believe it or not, it double that. Don't forget this is for a family of 4, $120 a month, organics included! Most people spend that much in a single trip to the grocer or the supercenter!

The week prior to our Anti-Consumerism Challenge, our grocery receipt was for a grand total of $18 and we got meat! So no, we are not depriving ourselves from eating nutritiously. We here at Chez Stoneford live by the philosophy, if God didn't want us to eat animals, he wouldn't have made them out of meat! Sorry, if I offended any vegetarians.

A good portion of our grocery bill goes to milk. You'd think being so close to cow country it would be a lot or at least reasonably priced. No matter where we shop for milk, it's always the same here in cost. Well, I consider around $4 a gallon a little um up there. But, we like milk, and since "it does a body good" there has been no way around paying for it. Do we pay the inflated milk price? Nope. We use a coupon for it. Yes, they even make coupons for milk! And, not just for the stuffy yippie brand milk, they issue coupons for regular people milk! It's called save .75 off ANY BRAND of milk! Woo Hoo!

So, why don't we shop at a supercenter? Our grocery store doubles coupons, super centers don't. Taking into account our $4 gallon of milk, our .75 coupon, we pay $2.50! Back to being reasonable!

I know many people think that shopping with coupons is a tedious process and I must be nuts to do it with kids. News flash...again...we spend probably the same amount of time if not shorter than most people do, at the grocer buying the same things. List in hand, I know what we are going to buy, which coupons we are going to use and how much my total is going to be. Very few modifications are made in store. No, I am not one of those extreme coupon crazies. I understand the fact that this good deal is going to cycle around again in 6-8 weeks, so no hoarding allowed!

Disclosure: The only grocery hoarding allowed in our house or freezer is when buy 2 get 3 free deals come, and sometimes those are on an annual cycle. I know that this is going to sound crazy but I love November in the grocery store! Veggies & Skinless boneless chicken breast go on sale at rock bottom prices and well, we rack up! So, we get enough to last us at least 3/4 of the year. As for the veggies, a whole shelf is devoted in the garage to holding oh about 150 cans of veggies as well as the big basket at the bottom of the stand alone freezer. It being mid October, our veggie & chicken rations are getting low, but November is acomin'!

So, why not use coupons? These manufacturers are putting these little pieces of paper out there for you in a convenient carry size, saying hey here is XX cents or dollar/s off our product. The grocer is saying hey, carry that little paper in and we will double the money. Not using coupons to me is like buying a winning lottery ticket and never cashing it in! I mean seriously, if someone offers to sell you something at $500 and the person next to them says 'I'll let you have it for $250' are you really going to shell out the extra $250? Nope, what sane person would? God, I hope that my grocer doesn't decide to do Super Doubles or Triples while we are on our Cash-cation!

I have never really understood why people today think so frivolously. The value of a dollar is in it's earning. Personally and for our family we like the money Mr. Bacon Bringer Homer makes. We use it for you know paying the bills, and well if we can save money on groceries and the like by using coupons, why let someone else's pocket get fatter for laziness? Over the course of the last 20-25 years the dispensability mentality started being incorporated into the American household. Paper plates are one thing, but throwing away your hard earned $$$, when you don't have to...stupidity. The mindset of everything can be replaced should only be thought upon in times of disaster.

(I know I got off topic here towards the end, but passion I tell you...passion)

Day 6: Saying Good Bye to some toys

Our children are no different than most children about their toys. They have toys they love and toys that they think they to keep because they occupy space and consistency within their environment is paramount. In our efforts to de-clutter, we have come up with a list of things that Monk doesn't really play with. I have thought about just migrating the stuff out of the house when he is asleep, but being at that the age of which he notices just about everything, this might not be solution to have a copacetic household. He has become fond of the Toy Story movies and well since seeing the 3rd one, donating toys and throwing away broken ones is a wretched sin punishable by bouts of tantrums and sobbing. Just 2 things that Mr. Bacon Bringer Homer and I just don't cope very well with. Now please, we do not bow down to the mini-human in the house. It's quite the opposite. We don't respond at all except for telling him "we don't hear that voice" and "inappropriate behavior". I have even resulted in taking a video of him throwing the fit and playing it back to him later in the day. We talk about how ridiculous it is to act this or that way. Most times he obliges, but his genes are flowing with a tantamount of stubbornness; he totally gets it from Mr. Bacon Bringer Homer ;).

Good Bye Train Table...This is how our conversation went...

Mr. Bacon Bringer Homer: "Why aren't we doing this while he is asleep?"
Me: "He has to learn that as he grows up and new toys come into the house, old toys need to find a new home."
Mr. Bacon Bringer Homer: "This is so not going to bode well."
...I went up to the playroom
Monk: "ooohhh my train table... what are you doing Mommy?"
DUN DUNT DUN
Me: "Cleaning it up, so that we can get it out of the playroom."
Monk: ...the dreaded "Why?"
...immediately the theme song to Jaws starts playing in my head.
Me: "We have to make room for the toys you got for your birthday, so since you like to play with your trains on the floor, we are going to sell this."
...eyes bug out of his head and hands go on the hips
Monk: "No, MOMMY! You can't get rid of my train table. It's mine and no other little boy can have it! He can't use it. He can't have it."
Me: "Well Monk, we have a new train rug in the garage that we are going to put down instead."  
...Monk promptly got into the table which I had taken the top off and began to stomp around. 

I reiterated the fact that we had a "NEW" rug to use instead. Hoping that he did not put a hole in the table making it unsellable. I finally had to lift the stomping mini-human out, take him down to the garage and show him this "new" rug. So this "new" rug has actually been hiding in our house for well over a year and a half. Coming out for car play and going due to the cats liking it a little too much (apparently the rubber backing is an instant cat attracter for sniffing, scratching, and almost getting peed on. Since the we keep the playroom door closed, keep your fingers crossed no cat gets left in!). So, while I was in the garage with Monk getting this "new" rug, Mr. Bacon Bringer Homer carried it out. Monk carried the rug up to the playroom, I let him pick where he wanted it to go and then all was right in the world again. Whew, tantrum avoided. Rug now loved again. Do the tracks and trains come out to play on it? Nope, the rug is an Aircraft carrier today.

The train table is posted for sale and is awaiting it's new rightful owner! Horray, Queen's "We are the Champions" was playing in my head as I went to bed.

Consumerist Challenge: 0
Major space vampire: 0
Us:1

Day 4: Crisco and Jimmy John's $1 Subs

Having 2 children that stay at home all day, means we have a person who is in the 3 foot range living here. Progressively over the past few years we have noticed that our "things" (decor) keep moving higher and higher in our house. Well now, the only high place we have left in the living room is the top of the entertainment center. So it has become a common dumping ground for stuff that Monk has gotten into as well as for stuff we don't want him to get in to. 

Monk has perfected the art over the course of the past 2 weeks of climbing the entertainment center. "They", the so-called experts have always said to get down to the child's level when baby proofing and well we did that. "They" never said get up on levels that are higher than you can see!  Now if we continue on this path we will have to resort to gluing stuff to the ceiling. I have researched to my hearts content on trying to prevent him from climbing and if the buck stopped at the entertainment center everything would be fine. Not so much in our case. So if you play the stock market, start buying stock in Crisco, because lathering Chez Stoneford in it has crossed our minds. But for now, decluttering the living room and the rest of the house will just have to suffice. 

I will post a picture of our entertainment center for possible anti-climbing suggestions!

Consumerism Challenge,  Day 4

Since this is a blog about my family, Mr. Bread Winner told me last night that he no longer wants to be referred to as Mr. Bread Winner. He said that he thought about it for a few days and since bacon always in his mind tastes better than bread, he would like to be referred to as Mr. Bacon Bring Em' Homer? I chuckled at this because a flash to the Simpsons TV show came into my head. So I will politely oblige to his meager request.

So yesterday, Mr. Bacon Bring Em' Homer emails me this press release that he got a work about our areas Jimmy John's, a submarine chain here, is doing $1 subs and sandwiches. $1 for a lunch! Come on who could turn that up? Well, when Mr. Bacon Bring Em' Homer got home, he asked if this deal could possibly be an exception to our Anti-Consumerism pledge. "Well, NO!" I told him, "even if it's an awesome deal." As he left for work this morning, temptation in his mind, no lunch bag in hand...As if he thought that would just get by me. This is a family pledge for our benefit...how much can we save this month and $1 is not just pennies around here! We can do it and though temptation has entered my mind, it is our first week. So with 26 days to go, we are not going to fail on our first week! We just can't. The kids and I are getting out of the house today for a play date, so, we will waste some gas to bring him lunch and it won't be Jimmy John's.

Day 3: Consumerism almost gets the best of me

This morning began as the epitome of epic failure and it all started oh at about midnight. So as I told the world that we were pretty much out of diapers yesterday, what I failed to note was the 6 that I thought we had was actually 3 which dwindled down to 1 come morning. So last night we attempted the cloth diapers on the baby and well, the first one went on great, no problems there. Both and I mean both of my children decided somewhere the universe told them that they wanted to stay up and wait for Mr. Bread Winner to come home from a long day of elections. So the baby made it until 11:45 and the 3 year old made it until about um...3 minutes after he walked in the door. So just after midnight in the land of should be all peace, love and quietness the baby woke in the nice placid way he does, and needed to be taken up to the crib. But apparently that notion was nowhere in his little mind. Mr. Bread Winner sweetly rocked him beside the crib in usual daddy fashion and normally that works to get this little one back to the land of sweet dreams. Nope. Not today. After a diaper change and 30 minutes of the purple cry, we gave in...we thought that since it was not a-typical of him something might just be wrong...out comes comfort boobie or CB as it is referred to around our house. All being right with the world again after another 1/2 hour the baby was finally fast asleep in the crib.

DUN DUNT DUN....

The batteries in the smoke detectors start going off a couple of hours later and the whole house is up well before the sun even has the chance of rising on the horizon. Mr. Bread Winner teaches what he thought was the right smoke detector a lesson...Nope...Monk as we call our 3 year old wants to get up and watch TV and the baby, we call him Gator is wailing. We typically don't let Monk watch that much TV and well the sun isn't even awake so maybe he will fall back to sleep...WooHoo after 5 minutes the Gold medal goes to Chez Stoneford, but Gator on the other hand not so easy. Upon closer look at our little cherub, he is SOAKED, and so is the crib! We changed him, brought him into our bed for some CB and back to sleep we all went.

DUN DUNT DUN...

We woke to a pee soaked Gator again. We didn't think we had been doing anything wrong, but again maybe because he had eaten so much over the course of the night...Got up changed everything and the Gator came down stairs, put him on the floor and since he is doing the scoot roll thing, he was having fun. I walked in the living room after giving Monk his breakfast to SQUISH! My carpet is wet. Ok now my own tears have started to come down...Mommy meltdown before noon. 2 beds and now the carpet. What were we doing wrong?

Did you hear that toilet flush, because Consumerism was beginning to get the best of me by now and I was fully prepared to go and buy those diapers that I forcibly did not buy yesterday. 1 disposable left so I called for HELP!!! I took that 1 disposable and started to put it on the Gator and then guess what? The freaking tab broke on the one side deeming it useless. So at the advice of a friend, DUCT TAPE to the rescue. (I will ad in she offered to go to the store and buy me a pack of Diapers!) Now Mr. Bread Winner is an Eagle Scout so we had to have it just lying around right? No freaking duct tape! By this time patience was not getting the best of me and well I took that broken last disposable put the Gator in it and put a cloth diaper over it. It just had to work until something. I went to the store or just got rescued from my pee floating island.

Knock Knock...Who's there?

There I stood with my hair a mess, smelling horribly in my jammies that smelled from the puddle, eyes puffy and just losing it. The same friend that had given me the Cloth Diapers came knocking Starbucks White Chocolate Mocha in hand, she handed it over and graciously gave me a hug! Apparently I was supposed to use these things called Diaper covers on some of the diapers that she had given me. And well they were not anywhere to be found in the bag!

So to sum it all up, Consumerism Diverted for another day, Cheers for a friend with Starbucks to the rescue. Now where was there room in my morning for those BonBons? or my afternoon of cleaning, scrubbing? All for the love of my children. All for the love of my children :)

Totals for the day:

Consumerism: 0
Us:1

Day 2: Consumerist Challenge & Decluttering

A few more disclosures for you on our Consumerist Challenge.

My husband and I came up with this idea while driving to the zoo this weekend and we realized that in our thrifty ways we had enough potatoes in the freezer that we could probably eat them for 2 months straight. Ok, they were a really good deal here at our local Harris Teeter, and well I LOVE coupons, so that made them an even better deal. Who can pass that up! So no we did not make this huge gigantic trip to the grocery store to "stock up" on what we would need to get us through this challenge. But we are not seeing it as a challenge but as a way to clean up and go through those little dark places that have been hiding things that we have chosen just to ignore they exist and choose a much simpler... well quicker route. We will also not be cashing in any gift cards either! So no temptation there!

On the No Spending $$$ on gifts part, I believe we happened to forget that our Anniversary is in a week and well, we are going to have to get creative. Who needs a store bought card or another spa gift certificate to add to the pile that I have been collecting dust for the past three years and have never "cashed" in on. Frankly, I just have never had the time to use them. I seem to use the the excuse that Mr. Bread Winner works odd hours and well I can't fit it in on those furlough days. Well sometimes that is totally true but the real thing is...I would just rather spend the time with my kid and my husband out in the backyard tossing around a ball than get a massage. Crazy huh? Just don't let him know that though incase I would like a mommy free day!

Also, I think I forgot to mention that Mr. Bread Winner's birthday is at the end of the month and well creative $$ Free. Ideas are welcome and would be greatly appreciated. Fortunately, I have a couple of weeks to think on this!

So how did Day 2 of our Consumerist Challenge go?

Well we started the day with 6 diapers left in the bin...DUN, DUNT, DUN... oh no! Did we have to go to Target? Temptation starts to set in and well we got in the car we needed out of the house anyway. But we did not spend any $$$, we actually walked out with money! Yay for returns. I had been meaning to get around to returning a few packages and a box of diapers that the baby has out grown. I also need to get to BJ's to return 2 boxes of Pampers since my son has become allergic to them and does better with Seventh Generation, but we left those for another day.

What better way to get the use of space out of the top of the closet and de-clutter! But to reduce our reliance on having to buy buy buy more diapers (plus I didn't bring a coupon, and I can't just exchange and re-buy something when I have a coupon to save $1-3 off even if that money was on a merchandise credit...). A friend of mine had given me her new-age cloth diapers when I was pregnant and well we are going to give them a go and just use disposables when we are out of the house on weekends. So no new diapers entering our home...today!
       
          Cha-Ching light bulb goes on in my head for the November 1st Challenge:
          Disposable vs. Fuzzy whatcha-ma-call-its.

On the other note, it's been raining outside all day long and well with 2 kids in tow there wasn't a debate in my head of walking the 3 mile trek to Target and saving the gas. So we drove to and fro. Gas decrease. 28 days left and we have Tot Sports time starting this Friday and all subsequent Fridays for 2 months. Going to have to Carpool. Fortunately we are doing this with a friend and her son and they have a car that can fit my 2 car seats along with her 1 and my heiny in it too!

For Supper we are having some company over! Yay for Elections and a Business trip, "We" well the kids and I will be joined by a friend and her son! We actually really enjoy daddy free dinner nights. The kids make a royal mess, but we get to just have an evening play date. So on the menu is some chili pulled from the deep freeze and those dreaded potatoes (tonight's..Tater Tot's) that have to be gone through!

Totals for the day:

Consumerist Challenge: 0
Us: 1
$0 spent!!!!

Consumerist Challenge day 1

Well there goes day 1 of our Consumerist Challenge of not spending any money for 30 days. We did not leave the house at all today. Yeah for saving $$$ on gas! We cooked dinner and have just enough in left overs for my 3 year old for lunch tomorrow. He really like the new recipe I concocted and has had 3 helpings!

So tonight's dinner, whole wheat rotini with shredded chicken in an italian cream sauce! Sounds yummy right? Guess what it took 2 minutes to prepare and 13 minutes to cook! Whoa, for faster than take out! Not to mention it probably cost us about .35 to make!

Our 30 day goal: Cut out Consumerism...All $$ comes in except for the bills going out

We as a family have decided that we need to cut out our consumerism for 30 days. This means no eating out, eat what we have in the fridge & freezer, dip into our deep freeze and go through and make our meals using up what ever we have in our pantry and stock pile. Good bye gifts, stocking up on stuff that is on sale! If anything does come up we will just have to get creative. We will spend $15 a week on milk and produce, but everything else but paying the bills is off limits unless it is on gas for Mr. Bread Winner to get to and from work. $15 you say, well we need milk and we buy 2 gallons a week so there goes $6, and I make my own baby food. So here it goes. I have 1/2 a tank of gas in my car, 2 adults, a 6 mo old, a 3 year old, 2 dogs and 11 cats (we foster on our own dime for food & litter). Will not dip into any other money for 30 days. Lets see exactly how much money we can save.

Exceptions to our rule: IF anyone needs to go to the doctor.