Frugal Fridays - use what you have

This was the pile of small trees and branches that we had accumulated in the back yard.

We turned it into this. We will now use this mulch to put down around the playset, which previously was only mud and moss.

By using what we had and doing part of the work ourselves, we are saving money and helping the environment. How did we save money? I got 2 quotes. $400 to drag everything to the driveway and chip it or $175 for us to drag it and them to just chip it. By spending about 5 hours moving the pile we saved $225, or around $45 an hour.

How is it helping the environment? Well, we needed mulch for the playset. Had I ordered mulch, it would have cost more than $175, there would have been fuel used and pollution from the trucks bringing me the mulch and it would be using more wood. The only other thing we would have done with all those branches would be to burn them in the backyard - that just seemed wasteful to us. I think doing it this way was a frugal decision. For more frugal tips, check Biblical Womanhood.

Remember this?

Well that tooth had grown about half way in. Unfortunately today it was then broken off at the gum line. The tooth next to it is also loose. It seems these things always happen to Luke, poor kid. He is milking it for all its worth though, since the dentist recommended lots of ice cream and popsicles. They said that they could bond it back together when the tooth grows down some more, but he will eventually need a crown, which I am sure at some point will lead to a root canal. Ugh!

Works for me Wednesday - TV

This is the sweetest sight to my eyes! Luke practicing his letters. He is copying the title and author from a book we got from the library. It will be going in his scrapbook. You see I have read ABC books until I am blue in the face. We have done letter puzzles every day. We have a workbook that he traces letters in. We talk about letters constantly and he just hasn't gotten it. Luke is 5 and 1/2 years old and just has not retained information regarding the letters and numbers. I know that Aspergers has a lot to do with this, but it is still enormously frustrating.

A friend let me borrow a Leap Frog video they have about letter sounds. They have watched it a couple of times over the past week and I have been suddenly inundated with Luke and Claire pointing out letter sounds and what word starts with what letter. It has been great. Today I let Luke watch Super Why on TV and when it was over he immediately turned the TV off, grabbed his book and headed for the dining room to copy all the letters on the front of the book. I can't believe it! In the past he hasn't been interested and getting him to practice his letters has been a real struggle. He kept saying he would learn to read and write when he was 6. That probably is when he will really get it, but we have to start now in order for that to happen. Try explaining that to him though and we are met with tears.

But oh, how the educational TV programs have worked for me! I was teary eyed watching him struggle over the letters this morning as he wrote, then compared, then erased and wrote again - over and over until he was happy with the way each letter looked. I have found that each child learns differently. Claire is picking up letters from me reading ABC books and doing letter puzzles with her. Luke has not. Learning from TV shows that are about letters and words is the way he is learning best right now, so as much as I try to limit TV, I am all for him watching these shows. In fact I can't wait for him to watch another one!

Tips for conserving water

Having lived in CO for 15 years, we learned a lot about conserving water. Much of CO is desert and droughts are very common. Here are some things we did while living there.

1. Keep a milk jug or pitcher by the kitchen sink. Frequently I would need hot water for something and instead of letting all that water run down the drain, I would fill up the milk jug. It would fill almost all the way before turning hot, so doing this several times a day I was able to save a few gallons of water each day this way. I would use the water in the jug to water outdoor plants or house plants or to pour into the Brita pitcher in the fridge. You could also use it to fill your washing machine or flush your toilet.

2. Keep a bucket in the shower to catch excess water. Use for the same reasons as above.

3. Put a water filled liter bottle in each toilet to reduce the amount of water used in each flush. A brick or two would work as well.

4. When needing to leave the house I would have everyone use the bathroom and then just flush at the end. My kids were very small at the time and we all know how little a 3 year old girl goes.

5. Many people followed the rule - If its yellow, let it mellow, if its brown, flush it down. Our pastor even preached about water conservation one Sunday and talked about this rule, leftover from the 70's.

6. Only water your outdoor things in the early morning or late evenings. During the heat of the day much of the water evaporates.

7. You do not need to water your lawn every day to keep it green and growing. Many cities were on a twice a week watering schedule, which I didn't think was enough, however the 3 times a week schedule worked well for most people.

8. When planting things, look for plants that don't need a lot of water or are drought tolerant. Not only does this save on water, it saves on time spent watering.

9. Only run the washing machine or dish washer when you have a very full load.

10. Consider investing in a front loading washer or a low flow toilet. We received rebates from the water companies when we installed these, so check into your water company to see if they offer any programs like this.

11. Keep a pitcher of water cold in the fridge, so that you don't have to run the water for a long period until it is really cold.

12. When cooking, think about if you really need to use a full pot of water to cook something or would a half a pot work as well? When done cooking let the water cool and use it to water house plants or the garden. This works well if you are steaming veggies or boiling pasta.

13. If you have kids, place a piece of electrical tape (a different color for each child) at the spot in the tub that they should fill the water to. This will prevent over filling.

14. Have small kids share bath water.

15. As many things go, just being aware of how much water you use frequently reduces the amount you actually use.

We survived another year

Softball season is officially over and we made through the 14th year. I can't say it was fun for those of us not coaching, but Kevin enjoys it. We only made it to 1 game the whole season, which I feel bad about. But between our kids stuff, the weather and when there was a home game, only 1 worked out. Maybe next year we can make it to more. They play twice as many games as they did in CO and it was a fall sport there, which is a slower time of year for Kevin school wise. It was rough, but we did it. I am so glad that he will be home more now though.

Hub for the day - What does a frugal day at my house look like?

Monday Menus

It has been awhile since I posted a menu, but I thought since I actually have one planned for the week I would go ahead.

Tonight - pancakes and deer sausage - I never have time to make pancakes for breakfast anymore, so we have been having them more frequently for dinner it is so good! I could probably eat pancakes every day and not get tired of them.

Tuesday - leftovers, I have a lot of different items cluttering up the fridge and it will be good to get it cleaned out

Wed - ham and cheese quesadillas and salad

Thurs - chicken on the grill, noodles and salad

Fri - elk roast in the crock pot with potatoes and carrots, maple syrup muffins

Sat - frozen pizza, Michael is having some friends over for his birthday and then heading to see Prince Caspian

Walmart coupon warning

Michael got a gift card to Walmart for his birthday. We headed there this morning and I figured I would try to take advantage of some great deals - if they had the product to match to my coupons. They had most of what I was looking for and I handed the cashier my coupons. She handed me the first one back and said it was a Giant Eagle coupon and they couldn't take it. It was from one of those Smart Source dispensers that you see all over grocery stores. I read everything on the coupon and no where did it mention a particular store, so I explained that to her and gave it back.

I had also given her 2 printable coupons for $3 off a Live Active cereal. She handed those back as well and said they couldn't take coupons printed from the internet. I explained that they had always taken them before and when did they change their policy. She said they had a meeting last week and they are really cracking down on coupons. She offered to take all 3 coupons in question and ask a manager and there was no one in line behind me so I waited. After a few minutes she came back and said they were all fine and scanned them all in. I apologized for the inconvenience and asked again if they had changed their policy. She said no.

I don't know if they are just trying to make things more difficult for coupon users in hopes that they won't press the issue and they won't have to accept the coupons. Was my cashier just confused? I guess I just wanted to give a heads up to other people that use printable coupons at Walmart. It looks like they are watching more closely how people use coupons.

10!

My oldest child turned 10 on Friday. I thought it would be fun to take a picture 10 years exactly from the moment he was born. the above picture was taken at 1:06 p.m. on his birthday. My how he has changed. Michael has turned into a wonderful child and we are so proud of him. For fun I thought I would mention some of the things I have learned over the past 10 years.

1. Parenting is hard.

2. Being consistent is the key, no matter what you chose to do, be consistent with it.

3. It is hard to be consistent because everything is always changing when it comes to kids.

4. Everything is just a phase, normal is temporary and it won't be long before there is a new normal.

5. Kids are a lot of fun.

6. Having a baby is not nearly as expensive as having an older child.

7. Kids eat a lot, more than me many meals (I thought that your stomach was the size of your fist. Why can my 5 year old eat 3 pieces of Pizza Hut pizza?).

8. Telling my kids what I expect before hand makes things go better than asking them why they didn't behave after the fact.

9. Trying to keep up with 4 kids talking to me at the same time is mentally exhausting.

10. Being a parent is the best thing I ever did.

Wild weekend!

It's not what you think though. Kevin's parents are coming for the weekend. On top of that we have a gym show rehearsal, a birthday, a baseball game, gymnastics practice, 2 softball games, the actual gym show and I have to work in the nursery. Needless to say I will be a little scarce! I am looking forward to next week when our lives will slow down a bit. Have a great weekend everyone!

Interview with Amy Dacyczyn

The Simple Dollar, a great personal finance blog, has a post up on an interview he did with Amy Dacyczyn, the author of the Tightwad Gazette. I am jealous he got to talk to her. The interview is great.