Monday is Laundry Day!

About 2 months ago a friend at Mops recommended reading 'Large Family Logistics.' I went online to purchase it. It was $20. Ugh, that is kinda a lot. I was patient and a couple weeks later it was on sale for $10. I love this book. It has helped me a lot. It is kinda funny. MSM (moneysavingmom.com) recently did a review of the book. I really love msm and follow her blog. I felt like I was on the same page as her when I saw she was reading it too. Anyhow, one of the many things I have learned from this book is to schedule your days. Monday is laundry day. Tuesday is kitchen day. Wednesday is office day. I generally try to stick with a plan for each day. It is hit and miss with the days. Except for Mondays. I have really committed myself to laundry on Mondays. Two months ago when I started my first official Monday I had between 18-20 loads of laundry. I did not finish it in a day. Today I had four! Only four loads of laundry! Every sock, every blanket, every towel, every shirt in the house is clean! WooHoo! I have only one basket left to put away. I have even been doing ironing on my laundry days. I will still do laundry throughout the week. But generally only one to two loads between Mondays.

Budget Talk

Starting June 1st Jeff and I have challenged ourselves to 30 days of no spending. We have decided to drastically cut back. We have agreed to only spend money on essentials like food, gas, and obviously our bills. Our plan was not to eat out. I actually completely forgot we had started the challenge until my friend Tiffany asked how our no spending was going. About two weeks ago I handed over the money to my husband. That sounds wrong. Let me explain. Every household generally has one spouse that 'controls' the money. That was me. I paid the bills, did the budget, decided where our money would go. I would ask Jeff every week what do you want? Is there anything we need to budget for? I always received, "I don't think so" as a response. Then, I would handle things only days later Jeff would ask, "where did the money go?" Anyhow, the way we handle our finances or lack of handling was no longer working for us. Jeff used to handle the money a long time ago but he was horrible at it. Jeff was so great at not spending one single dime that he also never paid the bills. He would always forget to log on and pay everything. The money would be in the account. So, we have officially decided to join forces and handle this as a team. Doesn't that sound so obvious now? Seven and a half years of marriage and we are finally joining forces. So, I will continue handling the bills. I pay everything, organize everything, and handle the checkbook. Every penny after the bills Jeff manages. We saved more money this past week then we did the whole month of May. I am pumped. However, this new budget is challenging. For starters, Jeff only gives me $25/weekly for fuel. Ouch! We are NOT going anywhere. But I am a stay-at-home mom and I can work around this inconvenience. However, this week I already went over. The kids have VBS everyday this week. It is a 20 minute drive one way. Jeff gave me $15 additionally. It doesn't sound like much but, I told him not to give me more. I want to stick to the budget! We are nearly a week into our 30 days and so far we have been very frugal, but we have ate out. We had a coupon for a free one topping large pizza from Papa Johns. We used that coupon and ordered bread sticks on Saturday. Our total was $4.35. This morning while the boys were in VBS I took Juliet to the park. She found $2 on the playground. So, I took her to McDonalds for a drink and a cookie. Jeff gave me $100 for groceries. And keeping with my old ways I used $15 to eat out without his knowledge. But I told him later. Me and the kids ate out at Subway last week. But that is it. I plan on continuing to blog about this experience this month. I think this is going to be a great month!

Summer

Summer is officially underway! Yeah! I am so ready for it this year. Since having the boys I really dreaded summer. Having so many kiddos that are young is very challenging. I never felt comfortable taking them swimming by myself. Doing almost anything outdoors was miserable. Four sticky sweaty little ones in diapers was a lot. However, this year we are in a totally new season. We have already been swimming more this year than all the other summers combined! They boys are all potty trained. Even better news is that all the boys can touch the bottom of the pool with their feet! I am still over the top about water safety. This little accomplishment is life changing. The boys are actually enjoying swimming. I don't have all the kids clinging to me (literally) as I try to swim. My daughter has zero to do with the water. I actually haven't even been able to get the swimsuit on her. I am not pushing it yet. Once she is potty trained then I will really try to encourage her to get in the water. The boys have been out of school one full week. This past week has been great. Monday was the holiday, so we had a family day. It was my Mom's birthday. We went to my sister's for a cookout. We have had several pool days and a few days we hung out my sister's all day. Oh, I did want to mention on race day the pool temperature was 62 degrees and I totally went swimming! The things we do for our kiddos.
A couple of funny things the kids have said recently I wanted to mention. We had a pretty funny discussion in the car the other day about why they would name a planet Venus. My kids thought it was hysterical that it rhymes with penis. They are learning about the planets and rhyming. Jonah slapped my behind this morning and informed me I had a lot of junk in my trunk. Really? Where did he learn that? Jackson told his Uncle Mike he needed to go get sprayed tanned like mommy because he is too white. This evening Jacob came running up to me outside. He was so excited to show me what he found in the yard....a live mouse!!! He was totally petting it. I screamed so loud that Jacob accidentally dropped it. Then he cried forever because he wanted to put it in a cage and keep it forever. I was not prepared for that.
The boys are now playing tball. They are just darling. Their little legs running the bases just makes my heart melt. My camera is totally full so I haven't been able to take any pics lately. Working on my pics is next on my to do list.

Savings Galore!

Last night I was using our garbage disposal. I suddenly felt my sock getting wet. Our garbage disposal completely broke open. Food and water were shooting everywhere under the sink. We installed this garbage disposal a year ago when we moved in. I didn't know this could happen. So, I took pics to show everyone.

I am getting back on board with the coupons. Some weeks I feel discouraged. I spend a lot of time on coupons and planning. It doesn't seem like it always pays off. Today it did! This first receipt was a couple of weeks ago. I am so proud of it. I purchased some laundry detergent and bleach. After coupons my total was 2 cents! Who gets change from a dime? The cashier was like, "2 cents is your total. Do you think you could handle that?" Jeff said I should have asked if they had one of those take a penny, give a penny.

This is my purchases at CVS today. Lately, I am totally obsessed with trying to get laundry detergent for free or under a dollar. Jeff keeps reminding me that we can not eat laundry detergent. But I don't care. I purchased all four detergents and the lip balm for an even $8. The lip balm was $2.99, but you get $2.99 in register rewards towards your next purchase. So, it is kinda like getting it for free. I purchased each detergent for $1.

The following pic is everything I bought at Target today. My grand total after tax $17.52. Plus, I earned a $5 gift card for my next purchase. Before coupons my total was over $40. Did you notice the jeans? I purchased those for $1.42! This was definitely one of most successful trips. Just a quick breakdown-ibuprofen (2 boxes) each free, mouthwash .39, pantyliners (2 pkgs) both free, all purpose cleaner .36, bleach .42, dish soap .64, 2 cans Wolfgang Puck soup both free, Kelloggs cereal $1, frozen juice (3 cans) $1 each, frozen veggies (4 pkgs) .75 each, butter $1.30, Kraft shredded cheese .75 each, Target brand shredded cheese $1.50 each, and Hall's .39 each. I think that sums it up. I am very excited with today's purchases.

Lesson learned

Only a few short days ago I was venting about.......well everything. I was really feeling a urgent need to get out of the house. Last night I went over to my parent's house for about an hour. I was planning on going shopping this evening. However, all of my children (yes, all four) and my husband have been vomiting with constant diarrhea. I just want to say, "Lord, I received the message loud and clear!" I was such a cry baby last week, needing a break and complaining about my husband. Things can always be worse. I should have been more appreciative that I was having a good week. Today I am very blessed that I am healthy to take care of my family. As of this moment I am the only one that is still perfectly fine. Last night was very rough. I finally went to sleep at 5:30a. Every time I would lay down someone would start vomiting, crying or needed help in the bathroom. Jeff is the most sick I have ever seen him. He has not got out of bed yet today, except to use the bathroom. There were moments last night that I had two kids vomiting at the same time. I am so proud of my kids. All of them carried their vomited bowls around the house. Jonah was up all night. He never cried or asked for help. He would just get up, take care of business, and lay back down. When Juliet started vomiting she would go into the bathroom and hug the toilet. That is the only time I would say someone vomiting was cute. I wanted to take her picture. She acted so much like a big kid. Okay, enough vomit talk. Today I feel like we are in survival mode. I have been up since 8:30a cleaning, sanitizing and doing laundry. I have so much laundry. I am really grateful and appreciative for my sister. She brought us groceries today. We have been running on toast and water. She loaded us up on all the necessities. I can tell my patience is starting to run thin, so I continue to pray for more. I know tomorrow will be a new day and everyone will be feeling better.

Today I am very restless, again. This is so unusual for me. Generally I am very content being home all week. However, today I am very ready to go. Jacob still has pretty nasty diarrhea. He has been laying around most of the day. Leaving the house or having company was not an option. Jeff had to go to his parents house. He took Jonah and Jackson along for the ride. That was such a blessing. Juliet, Jacob and I took a nap. It seemed that in a blink of an eye we were back up from resting and Jeff and the boys were home. I am feeling burnt out. I think just because I have seriously wiped Jacob's behind a million times today, broke up a bazillion arguments, and randomly found food scattered around the house I am needing some alone time. So, Jeff comes in from his parents house. I was sitting at the kitchen counter. I mention to him that I really need a break and I think I may leave. I think my actual words were, "Oh my gosh if I don't leave this house right now I think I will hurt someone. I don't think I have ever needed to get out of this house more!" I secretly wish I had videotaped the whole conversation. His response was, "I mean, where would you go?" My response, "I am just really having visions of me driving to Starbucks, getting a really good cup of coffee, going to Bed Bath & Beyond, doing a little shopping, going by Meijer and picking up a few things." Jeff's response........nothing. He said nothing back. I didn't want to continue talking about it. I thought I had stressed my urgency in the whole situation already. I really wanted him to say, "honey, you really do need a break. Why don't you leave for awhile and I will take care of things here?" But instead I didn't get anything. So, being somewhat of a drama queen laid my head on the counter, forehead down and started sighing, like really loud. The kids and Jeff kept asking me questions. Like my behavior was normal. I think at one point I even popped back up, only to immediately return to head on the counter. Nothing. Then finally Jeff says, "do you think you could get up and help me make dinner?" Yes, I can make dinner. So, I never left the house tonight. I sucked it up, and helped make dinner. Jeff did put the kids to bed. I think it was 9p and he took the boys upstairs to bed. We watched a movie he borrowed from his parents house. Putting the boys to bed was really useless. The three of them watched the entire movie with us from the staircase hidden behind a wall. After the movie, for the hundredth time we took the boys to their room. Guess what I found? I half eaten box of Girl Scout cookies hidden under Jackson's bed. It really never ends. I have to mention the movie we watched tonight was Open Range with Kevin Costner. I really enjoyed it. It was very entertaining. I don't think it was meant to be so funny, but I thought it was. At the end of the movie Kevin Costner's character says to his soon to be wife, "if you are not going to do what I say then how is this going to work?" I laughed so hard. I said that line to Jeff like a million times before he went to bed. He was finally like, "okay, Jackie, got it." It still makes me laugh.
Tomorrow I am hoping I will finally leave the house to do some shopping. Jeff is working all weekend. But I have already prepared him that either tomorrow or Sunday I will be going shopping. I was thinking about this week. Monday I took the kids to story time at the library. Tuesday I took the kids to preschool. Thursday I took Jacob to a doctors appointment. That is it. I am so boring. I really need to get out.

For the first time since having the boys I am bored. I think I am more restless than anything else. I definitely have lots of things I could be doing. I thought I would take a moment to give an update on Jacob. I took him to the doctor and he just has the stomach flu. He is not dehydrated or anything we should be concerned with. My biggest prayer right now is for the other kiddos. I am really praying they don't catch the same bug, because this was a nasty one. I kept all the kids home from school today. That is always such a big decision for me. My thinking is all of the kids have been exposed it is only a matter of time. Hopefully, this time I am proven wrong. Jacob is napping peacefully. Jackson and Jonah are watching Barney. Juliet just emptied all my nicely organized desk drawers. I think most days she keeps me busier than all three boys combined.