Bad Housewifey

The Great Toothpaste Incident of '08

2008-03-11T13:59:00.004-05:00

This is what I get for stocking up on supplies when they're free after coupon.

Tornado & Train managed to squeeze out the contents of two entire tubes of toothpaste in my bathroom. I'm not sure what I was doing at the time, but I'm pretty sure it was probably during their quiet time. All I know is Miss Death Ray Eyes came out of my bathroom and said "mom, i need the camera, you're not going to want to see this directly."

If it's not white it's toothpaste

So last night I went into ~~the depths of hell~~ Train & Tornado's room to bid them a fair goodnight and DANG it STANKY! It smelled like someone left a week supply of wet towels on the heater, moldy. Mold scares me so I had the kids sleep in the basement suite with the girls. I lugged out all of the laundry I could see last night (it was late and I didnt have my glasses on for some reason) and today I set out to clean their room and find the source of the stink.

I rearranged their furniture too. I moved their bookshelf/tv/vcr into the closet, moved the toy boxes into the window seat area. this gives them a bit more room to play, but still not enough room for their rocking chairs. I can't seem to fit them in no matter how I arrange the furniture.

Proof that I do know how to clean and tidy:

The stank was gone this morning, I guess it was in the laundry I'm now working on.

New Freebies Site

2008-02-12T13:21:00.001-05:00

I just started a freebies blog at Mama's Freebies.

I was spending so much time sharing the freebies I find via email, I figured it'll be more time-effective to just do it this way!

Go visit and get yourself some freebies!

Blog for Cash, Bloggerwave Pays!

2007-11-14T09:45:00.000-05:00

bloggerwave

Would you like a little extra cash for the holidays? Sure, wouldn't we all?

I've run the gamut of blog for pay posts and I've weighed the cost of blog advertising and have come to the conclusion that neither pay. Well, I am taking those words back.

Bloggerwave.com is a pay-for-blogging website and they actually PAY! Seriously, I had the money in my PayPal account within days of post approval. With some blog-for-pay sites having a blog and post approved is tedious and they often require many changes in your post before it's approved. Bloggerwave is so much simpler, you don't need a blog that is visited by thousands of people per day and the requirements are easy to meet. Simply cut & paste a bit of HTML, blog a small amount and submit! The posts are quickly approved when you meet those 2 simple guidelines and you have the cash a few days later.

Really, give it a try!

5 Practical Cleaning Tips

2007-10-16T13:20:00.000-05:00

1. A little water will do it. No need for fancy cleaners when trying to remove stuck on food from the counter. A little water allowed to rest over the stuck-on food will make it soft enough to scrape off.

2. Did your child have an accident? Fill an empty water bottle with HOT water and add a few TBSPs of baking soda. Mix well, spray over odor and allow to dry, wipe soda off when dry.

3. Baking soda is also a great, cheap, harmless scouring agent.

4. You know that mom was right, right? If you'd just take the time to clean the mess up when you make it your life will be a lot easier.

5. Can't stand the smell of vinegar as a cleaner? Neither can I. Instead, use a couple of drops of Tea Tree Oil in a cup of water, about 10 drops per cup of water (more and it will be oily and way too powerful smelling). TTO is a natural antiseptic, antiviral and antibacterial. If anyone in your family has asthma this is a great alternative to dangerous spray cleaners, but you'll want to dilute the mixture to 5 drops of TTO per cup of water, it's very powerful stuff.

Messiest Home in America

2007-08-12T08:39:00.000-05:00

I turned on the television this morning after a looong night and morning of nursing a sick child and running to the store for medicine and gatorade. When she fell asleep I switched the channel, I really can't take any more tween shows this weekend. I turned on "Clean House: The Messiest Home in America" on the Style channel. Woah my gosh.

I like this show solely because of Niecy, who plays on one of my favorite brain drain shows, Reno 911.

Here is a little QUIP about the show, no pics (sorry!)

I've never felt as if I have a home clean enough/good enough for my neatfreak mother. But man, after watching this show I feel SO much better.

In mid-2006 we moved from a 1300 sq ft house into a house that was just under 3500. I thought this would have solved our clutter problem. A full basement, a double garage, 4 bedrooms, 2 living rooms we never used...it didn't, if anything it made the problems worse because we had such a big and weirdly arranged house we wanted to keep everything closer to the hub, the family room/kitchen.

In mid-2007 we downscaled to a hosue that is around 2200 sq ft. This house is the perfect size for us. Nothing is too far away, it's split level so we don't have a huge slight of stairs keeping us from putting things away. The only problem is a teeny kitchen, but we've found ways around that (the kitchen/dining area is so small we can't fit all 7 of us around the table)

Jason and I fight different clutter battles. I am a paper whore but I don't hang onto things like books and clothes. I organize in piles and envelopes. Jason keeps EVERYTHING, including paper. He keeps yearbooks and books he's read 7 times and sketch books from 6th grade and his boyscout uniform from the earaly 80s and vietnam-era jackets. They are all "sentimental". I don't get it. I have a doll, the outfits I brought the kids home in and special baby outfits. Everything I saved can be fit into a large shoebox.

Everytime we move Jason culls a little bit of his collection, but it's like pulling teeth. he's sure he will want these items through his old age or that someone else will. I can't see how anyone else is going to want old, folded, smelly, musty souvenier pennants from the 70s.

And daily I fight the paper battle. I have a system now for saving and storing important receipts and coupons. I go through the mail as it comes in now, and most of it goes right into the trash. I am still bad about piling up papers I have to go through and books I have to read and review.

And this is how we battle.

How I coupon

2007-06-07T15:57:00.000-05:00

How I Coupon

When I have the time to devote to couponing, I can save a lot of money. A LOT of money. I don’t profess to be able to walk out of a store with $300 worth of food for $.17, but I can save 50-60% off my bill if I take the time and am organized. My best shopping trip in recent months was $200 or so worth of food and items we will actually use for around $85. I am not a coupon guru, but a 57% discount is pretty substantial! Generally speaking, however, 20-30% off my bill is more normal. I suppose if I purchased nothing but toothpaste and shampoo I could save 90%, but when the kids are hungry they don’t reach for the shampoo.

I am going to attempt to simply explain how I coupon. Keep in mind that if you live in an area where stores don’t double coupons you won’t be able to save as much as I do, but you can save if you stay on the look out for good deals and combine coupons, but now I’m getting ahead of myself.

In order to successfully coupon there are some steps you need to take.

1. Find and clip coupons. Buy the Sunday paper , sign up for a coupon train, gather store circulars, print coupons online…get the coupons any way you can without stealing or buying, both of which are illegal. Clip every single coupon. You may not use that brand of shampoo, but if you can get it free or near free, wouldn’t you buy it anyhow? If it’s something you absolutely wouldn’t use, but you could get for free or a few cents, consider buying it and donating it or giving it to someone else.

2. Organize coupons. Buy a coupon organizer or an index card file, whatever works for you. You may even want to store coupon circulars in folders rather than clip. I clip and put in an organizer. On the back of each coupon I write the date of the circular I found the coupon in (more on why later!), so if the circular came in February 2nd’s paper I write 2207.

3. Make your list. This is where having some time set aside is helpful. Visit Coupon Mom at http://www.couponmom.com and look at “grocery deals by state”. Pick your state to see a list of sale items you can combine with the coupons you clipped to save big! Plan your meals around these items or stock up your pantry. It will take a couple of months to build up a huge coupon stockpile, so be patient and allow the system time to work.

This is where writing the date of circulation on the coupons comes in handy, coupon mom matches coupons to sales, and she lists her coupons based on what date they were in the newspaper. This ensures that I match the best coupons to the sales and use the oldest coupons first.

After visiting Coupon Mom it pays to visit the website of the store(s) you plan to visit. See if there are any other local deals not listed on Coupon Mom.

Pull out the coupons you know you will use, but bring the others with you, just in case you stumble across an unadvertised deal.

Don’t forget about drugstores, they often have fantastic sales where you can get many items free after coupon and rebate!

4. Shop! There is a method to shopping with coupons. Generally the smaller package of an item you can get the better the savings. For example…a store has dish soap $1 for 12 ounces or $2 for 24 ounces. In both cases that is around $.08 an ounce. If you have a coupon for $.50 off, which is doubled, you can get the 12 ounces for free or pay $1 for 24 ounces ($.04/ounce). In this case it’s up to you, do you want free or half-price? Free is usually better because coupons & sales cycle, meaning that the coupon and sale will eventually repeat and at that time you can get another soap for free. If you happen to have more than one coupon you can get more than one soap for free.

It’s important that you know your store’s coupon policy, especially if they double coupons. Some stores will double with no limit; some stores will only double coupons for $.50 or less. Some stores will not allow you to buy multiple of the same item with double coupons, they will only double the coupon used on the first item. There are ways to work around all of these, though it will take a bit more work on your part.

Look for special deals such as buy one, get one sales. BOGOF sales are great ways to use coupons to get many free items! If the above mentioned dish soap was buy one 12 ounce, get one 12 ounce free, then you’d get two soaps for nothing!

When I coupon in full swing the whole process takes me about an hour to two hours a week. My kids love to help me clip coupons. I generally make my meal plan on Thursday using coupon mom and sale ads. I like to do my shopping Friday, and I try to arrange to go after my husband gets home from work so I don’t have to take all of the children along, because I usually forget about my coupons when I take the kids.

At first the system may not seem to work. You may end up with 7 cans of free tuna but pay full price for everything else. Rest assured that this is how the system works. After 3 or 4 months of coupon clipping you will have a nice reserve to go back to when there are great sales. Also, after 3 or 4 months you’ll find that your pantry & freezer are stocking up nicely, meaning you now only have to buy the fresh foods for your meals. You will also find that in about this time you may have enough toothpaste and deodorant to last a year.

Questions people frequently ask me…or FAQs

“But Meg! What if I can’t use these items? And what about all those coupons I won’t use?”

If you can’t use an item but you can get it for free or nearly free, consider donating it to a charity or giving it to a friend or a neighbor.

If there are coupons you absolutely won’t use, say your dog can’t eat that brand of food, then give the coupon to someone else! Offer them on freecycle, join a coupon train, etc. Note that it is illegal to sell coupons.

“My coupons always expire before I can use them, isn’t it a waste of my time to clip them?”

Not at all! Consider sending your coupons to military families, they can use the coupons at their commissary up to 6 months after expiration! You can find mailing information on the internet.

“My store doesn’t double coupons, is this worth my time?”

Yes! You may not get the same fantastic deals I do, but the opportunities are still out there. When I lived in Florida no store doubled coupons, so I bought store brand almost all of the time. It wasn’t often that a coupon gave me a better deal, but they did happen from time to time.

“Nothing I buy offers coupons, I cook from scratch.”

Good for you!! You are wise enough to know that shopping the horseshoe of a store is the healthiest way to shop and eat. Fresh green beans are always better than canned. But, if you could buy a can of green beans for less than a dime, wouldn’t you want to have them in your pantry, just in case? If you find that you really won’t use them, donate them!

“Are there different types of coupons?”

Yes. Generally you will find store coupons and manufacturer’s coupons.

Store coupons are coupons issued by a particular store for a particular item. Store coupons are found in in-store sales fliers, come in the mail and also in the Sunday paper. Usually these coupons cannot be doubled.

Manufacturer’s coupons are coupons issued by the company who makes the item. These types of coupons make up most of the coupons you find in the newspaper.

“Can I use more than one coupon for one item?”

Yes! You can use a coupon that a store issues in combination with a coupon from the manufacturer to buy one item. This is a great way to save more money!

“All of my store coupons are for store A, but I like to go to store B”

Check with store B, most grocery stores and pharmacies will honor store coupons from major competitors on brand name items. If the coupon is for a store brand some stores, but not all, will honor that coupon towards their own store brand item.

“Meg, would you please write down the exact steps you follow without a lot of extra verbage? In other words, get to your point quickly.”

Sure, I do tend to get long-winded, don’t I.

1. get coupons (I rely on mail and newspapers)

2. clip every single coupon

3. write date of circular on back of coupons

4. file coupons in my organizer

5. visit couponmom.com, search local stores for best deals. Match coupons to sales.

6. Visit store website for additional sale information

7. Make meal plan based on matched coupons and sales

8. Make my list

9. Go shopping and fill cart

10. Approach cashier and smile. Always be nice to the cashier and the person behind you in line unless you want them to grunt and groan because your coupons are taking so long.

11. Hand cashier coupons, wait for new total, pay and go home.

12. If you have a coupon to get a second item free or almost free but the store will only double the first coupons, go back into the store and get the other item.

“What store do you shop at?”

Typically I shop at Kroger, they double coupons every day of the week here and give you printed coupons at the check-out. I get a lot of free bags of dog food and diapers this way. Kroger is what I call a middle-of-the-line store. If I am in the mood for fresh bread I typically have to go to a top-of-the-line store like Publix, though one of the newer Kroger in town does have a bakery.

If the sales are right I go to Publix. Publix was my store of choice where we used to live, but here they are about 10% more expensive than Kroger. Publix also doubles coupons. I consider Publix to be a top-line store, complete with free coffee when I walk through the door (not that I recommend pushing a grocery cart with a cup of coffee in hand!)

Another middle-line store I visit every few months is Ingles. I don’t go there often because they aren’t close to home, but if there is a deal that cannot be beaten and I will be in that area anyhow, I stop by.

I also visit the bottom-line stores, such as Aldi and Sav A Lot. These stores typically aren’t much to look at and don’t have a huge selection and don’t accept coupons, but man you cannot beat their prices if you don’t have coupons to double and match with sales. These stores are smaller and everything seems to be frozen, so I visit these only when I’m low on cash, or if it’s a bad coupon week and I don’t have any to use.

A few things to remember when using coupons:

1. Buying coupons or offering coupons for sale is illegal. Sometimes you will see people offering you the coupons for free but charging for the envelope and stamp to get them to you. Some people will give you the coupons in exchange for new postage stamps. This is all murky water and I don’t feel comfortable doing either of these things, use your own judgment.

2. Trading coupons with no monetary exchange is perfectly legal.

3. Playing poker with the girls using coupons as booty is perfectly legal. At least I don’t think it’s considered illegal gambling ;)

4. Know thy store’s coupon policy better than the cashiers and fight for your coupon rights if they are violated.

5. If you forget your coupons most stores will let you return later with the coupons and your receipt and will refund you the difference. Handy, eh?

Couponing is fun and can become addictive. When you leave the store paying just $.10 for an item that retails for $2.50, you get a huge rush. Couponing is a game to be won. You will have friends and family members who laugh at you, but remember that YOU are the one laughing the whole way to the bank.

My tax refund

2007-02-16T12:56:00.000-05:00

Lookie what I bought today:

I ended up with the Dyson DC14 Full Kit. I was going to get the 07 Animal because it was cheaper BUT on a whim I checked prices at Costco and the better model Full Kit (which has the animal attachment) was $75 cheaper than buying the lower model animal alone at target or walmart.

Wanna see something gross?

That is what came out of my "clean" carpet after I vacuumed about 10 feet of the library.

This machine truly shows just how high my IQ is ;)
There are more buttons on this thing than the tv remote. It telescopes and swivels and self-stores and flips up and flops down and flicks and flacks...it's awesome.

I think I'm giddy.

My Top 5 Excuses

2007-02-07T12:15:00.000-05:00

FOR NOT DOING HOUSEWORK

1. the baby is crying/sleeping/needy/grumpy/smiling at me

2. well i cleaned the kitchen, what more do you want?

3. I already did 2 loads of laundry (please, if I don't do at least 6 loads a day it's like climbing mt everest at the pace of 2 millimeters a day)

4. The kids just follow me and mess it up again

5. I was "working"

FOR DOING HOUSEWORK

1. the landlord is coming over

2. my parents are coming for a visit

3. we're having a co-op

4. because I've got "that bug" up my butt

5. because it helps when i'm playing martyr

The landlord's a Comin'!

2007-01-03T14:08:00.000-05:00

At noon the call I have been dreading for 6 months came...the realtor the homeowners hired to be our landlord called. She is very nice, apologized for the short notice and asked to come over. By our lease she has to give 24 hours, but I figured I'd be nice and just let her come today...less suspicious, right?

She said she wasn't coming over to look at housekeeping and she knows we had a new baby. She said "the sellers" just want to make sure the walls are standing and see if the place needs painted and if the carpets need cleaned (they do...what person with kids uses non-washable paint???)

i am perplexed, she called them sellers...was it a slip of the tongue or are they planning on selling?

Either way it meant a quick clean. I am proud to say that with the help of my oldest two we cleaned the entire house in just over an hour. It's not perfect but it'll do, pig, it'll do!

The girls and I decided to do this every Thursday and reward ourselves with a fun activity on friday when they are done with their schoolwork.

Now, we have about 30 minutes until landlord comes over and I'm going to ask if the owners are going to sell when our lease is up and what else is up!

meg

10 in 10

2006-12-18T12:49:00.000-05:00

So during my morning guilt-ridden sleep (see http://badhomeschoolmom.blogspot.com) one of the things I thought of was to make a list of 10 things I can do in 10 minutes or less. These were to be things that would make me feel better and make the house look somewhat better. My list:

1. vacuum a room
2. pick up and put away toys on first floor
3. fold and switch a load of laundry
4. put away 3 or 4 loads of laundry
5. sweep and mop the foyer/entry hallway
6. sweep kitchen floor
7. clear kitchen counters
8. empty all household garbage cans
9. unload, reload and run dishwasher
10. change sheets in 2 bedrooms

Why We're Having Spaghetti Again (repost)

2006-12-13T17:22:00.001-05:00

1. it's a carb, protein, diary and veggie all in one

2. all of them will eat it

3. it's cheap

4. it's fast

5. it doesn't take a recipe or concentration so it can be done whilst the baby screams

6. I can blog about having spaghetti again while waiting for the water to boil and bouncing the crying baby on my shoulder

7. we almost always have noodles and sauce in the pantry

8. we'd have cereal except they already finished the 2 boxes I bought 4 days ago (!!!)

Guess What!!!

2006-10-19T15:57:00.000-05:00

I finally remembered to buy batteries for my camera :D

I've been waiting to nest and it seems as if I am half-nesting. I have the URGE but not the desire. Still, I'm keeping the "15 mintues at a time" motto in my head.

Today I again tackled the library (front room) and game room. My goal for tonight and tomorrow is getting the laundry piles somewhat organized and doing as much as I can. I'm about 17 loads behind, no lie. It's not as if the kids have too much clothing, I cull their clothes every time I fold them...it's just that I have a lot of kids, who use a lot of towels. a hubby who works outside of the home and goes through 2 sets of clothing a day...I'm doing my best to help with the problem by staying in jammies all day :D

My 15 minutes today:

-caught up dishes
-vacuumed/dusted/tidied game room (Em did the library/front room for me)
-steam cleaned carpet in game room
-steam cleaned carpet in library

The Library

2006-10-02T10:10:00.000-05:00

We call our front room the library. For the past four months we've had nothign in there but my clavinova piano (still not put together because we can't find the screws since the move) and a lamp. This is the formal living room, but we have no such need for a room. Emily decided to open a library one day, put a book shelf in there and made us all library cards, really cute. So, it's now our library.

I am completely out of batteries so my camera won't take a pic, so imagine this scenario...

books EVERYWHERE.

the smell of dog pee is so bad I won't go in the room. We've used 3 gallons of Nature's Miracle alone in here but the dog is just stupid and now lives in the basement (concrete floors!)

Dirty laundry (?) everywhere!

I really wish my camera was working so I could take a pic.

So today I am cleaning this room. It shouldn't take me too long to pick everything up, vacuum and dust, maybe an hour tops. The most time will be spent steam cleaning the carpet (again). I'm going to put the cleaner in and let it sit this time before sucking the water up, maybe that will help.

After that it's finishing the unpacking (yes, we've been here since June and we're still unpacking) and getting rid of most of it since it's junk that shouldn't have moved in the first place.

Thursday Thursday

2006-09-28T12:39:00.000-05:00

Hubby is coming home from a business trip tonight and I don't want it to look like I did *nothing*, even though so far this week I've done not a whole lot. It's been one of those "Life is a highway, I'm going to throw myself under a bus" type of weeks.

It seems as soon as I pick up a little thing something else takes it's place on the floor. I understand my mother so much more now (HI, MOM!)

Just after lunch I was sitting in the game room in my office space (the old nasty recliner, the only chair that doesn't hurt my back these days) and I decided it wouldn't take too long to clean the room up. The game room is the smallest room in the house (it's actually a formal dining room). The only things we have in here are the old tv (not hooked up to the sattelite), a vcr that we haven't hooked up yet, a game cube, a recliner, the old couch and the old coffee table (which I absolutely love, it's too heavy for the kids to move and because it's a mosaic pattern it hides all nasty things)

This is where the kids do their drawing, go for some quiet (HA!), where they play most of the time. It connects to the library (front room, formal living room) which is an extention of their play area. This is the room that is constantly a mess, ok, they are all constantly a mess but this one is more annoying since I like to work in here.

So I took about 45 minutes and cleaned it all up, threw out all the trash, put my non-maternity clothes away (why were they down here anyway?), dusted, vacuumed. I even dusted the curtains and sucked the dust out of the air vent.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

AND NOW, for your laugh of the day...
This is why you don't use velveeta to make grilled cheese in the sammich maker:

It's the weekend baby!

2006-09-24T12:31:00.001-05:00

Hubby & older girls pitched in a lot yesterday while I had the younger two at the grocery store. Here are some befores and afters! The game room *did* get done, but I didn't do it, Jason & the kids did.

Tomorrow I attempt to start the Flylady thing again. I've only flunked out 6 or 7 times, but the one time I followed through it actually worked well (of course I only had 2 kids then, preg wtih #3).

Today I'm hoping to get the pink yogurt off the new couch and keep up with the laundry (we did 6 or 7 loads yesterday, at least 12 more to go, LOL)

This is the kitchen BEFORE, I was too embarassed to take pics of the floor (btw, yes, I do have a dishwasher, I usually run it twice a day but have been lazy about it):

And this is the kitchen as it was after breakfast this morning. Yesterday the kids swept and mopped the floor! I can actually walk through the kitchen without sticking to the floor or kicking something. AFTER:

BTW, the boxes and library books WON'T be there tomorrow! They are waiting until the post office and library opens for the week.

Reclaiming my home!

2006-09-21T14:19:00.000-05:00

Today I decided to start reclaiming my home!!! We moved from a tiny house to a huge home and darnit I want to enjoy it!! In the past 4 months since we moved here I've been writing and working and working and writing. My book is done and I have a few months until I get some edits back, and I have a new baby coming within a few weeks, so I am going to make the most of the time while I can.

My first project yesterday was the shoe basket. We keep the basket just inside the front door so the kids won't mess up the carpet too much and we can always find our shoes when it's time to leave. I have come to realize that my children have TOO many shoes. The really sad part is that most didnt have a mate or were broken in some manner.

The before (not that bad for once)

the after

I admit it, that wasn't much work, but that's not the point.

Today I tackled part of the game room.
Before:

After:

Yes, I picked up all of the clothing, but I also vacuumed and dusted the judge panels (I think that's what they are called, but I really don't know) This is where I normally sit to work since all of the other chairs hurt my back.

Then I attacked the kitchen counter end, the end that we don't use for anything except junk because it's too far away from the appliances.

Before:

After:

I am now slowly working on the other side of the game room, but my back is starting to hurt so I'm taking a quick rest to post these pics. I may not finish until tomorrow since it's approaching the witching hour and Grey's Anatomy is on tonight!

Before: