Involve Your Kids

This is an excellent post about involving your kids in your frugal journey: http://www.frugal-families.com/blog/67/its-a-plan/. I love the authors attitude and her success in helping kids understand and become part of a very difficult situation to sometimes handle. Kids are bombarded by materialism and commercials today. All you hear is I want, I want, I want. I don't remember seeing this many commercials when I was young. And the amount of items that are targeted to young children. Today I saw a drinkable yogurt that was targeted to kids. I bet it is much more expensive than the regular yogurt. They all look really cool so the kids have to have it. I guess it just takes good parenting and teaching kids about consumerism. I'm not really sure. I don't have to deal with it all the time because we only have the kids on weekends but I definitely want to prepare myself for when we have kids fulltime. Helping the kids become involved will curb the feeling of being deprived and too much sacrifice. It can become a game. Also, a tip to try is that the kids can help save money at the store and the grocery money they save can be put towards a family goal. How do you keep your family involved in this frugal game that we play everyday?

Should I Start an In-Home Daycare

I've been toying around with the idea of starting a home daycare. Back in the day I worked in a daycare and as a nanny. I was going to school for Early Childhood Education. That all changed because I listened to other people tell me that I wouldn't make enough money, blah...blah...blah. I've stopped listening to other people's opinions as much. Especially when they are just being judgmental and not really trying to help me. I love kids and I think that I'm good with them. I hate the idea of working outside the home but things like doing telemarketing does not sound like fun. Tim was against it at first but now he just wants me to be happy. Is it a good idea? Getting a normal out of house job would be easier but even that is very hard right now. I am having such a problem finding a job over here and I'm having a really hard time staying at my old job. I don't like working in an office with all the office politics and I don't like the commute! I don't know, I'll have to think about all of this and make sure that I can really afford it. I also want to make sure that this is the best option for my family. Let me know if any of you have any experience with this or any advice. I would really appreciate it.

Ways I Save Money

There are many different ways that we try to save money. A big one is that I try to turn off the lights when we are not in the room. The kids are very bad at that and Tim is learning. They call me a nazi but last month our electricity bill went up over $100! We can't afford that. I also try to keep the heat down low, especially since we at work most of the day. I've been using a heating pad to keep warm lately; I'm hoping that this does not make my electricity bill go up. We also use mostly cold water for laundry unless the load is extremely dirty. We do not buy dryer sheets and use fabric softner. I also try to stretch my grocery dollar as far as possible. We eat many frugal meals, including a lot of bean meals. It was a success the other day because the kids actually liked my split pea soup! Would have never expected that. Tim used to tease me because of all the bean meals and soups but he is starting to really like some of them. The crockpot has been my lifesaver with cooking beans. It took way too much advanced planning to make them before and many dinners at 8:30 at night. My honey does not like that! We also try to stay out of the stores as much as possible. I can't remember the last time I bought new clothes for any of us. I want to start shopping at different grocery stores for the best price but I have been lazy about it. I'm going to start getting prices tonight, starting with Kroger. Well that is just a few ideas. Do any of you have any ideas to add?

Internet's Back

Yay! Our internet is back! We got it back for my fiance's online schooling but it'll help me out a lot too. It's so hard when I need a recipe and can't find it because I'm already at home. It'll definitely help me with substitutions and different things like that. Well it's time to go to bed. Tim is already snoozing next to me and the puppy is playing on the floor. Good night!

Pantry List

I decided to use Tightwad Gazette's Pantry List to start stocking up on my pantry. At first I was doing a great job with stocking up but we have had a hard few months and I have been using a lot of my reserves. When I get paid this week I want to start up again. I think I will go to Aldi's first to get a good deal on the really cheap stuff and then decide where to go next. Hopefully in the next few months I will also create a price book to determine where the best prices are. There are only a few stores in my area so hopefully that will not be hard. The hardest part will be to stock up on the meat that we need for the month. I am not sure how easy this is going to be. I will let you know after Wedneday.