Works For Me Wednesday: Lather Up The Kids For Free

I've never done the WFMW thing, but I have a tip I've been meaning to share, so I figure I'll jump in.

Once upon a time, I had a coupon for a free children's bath product. I have no idea where I got it from, but I used it on one of those foam pump soaps for kids with tear-free body wash inside. The soap is long gone, but I kept the pump. Pampered Chef also sells a version too, but it's cheaper if you buy the version in the kids' bath aisle (I found mine in the baby aisle). If you're worried about wear/tear, I can tell you ours has survived for several years and still works well.

You can often find $1 off 1 coupons for Johnson's Baby shampoo. Frequently, there are no exclusions on size. Many stores sell the travel sizes for 97 cents -$1.07. So, very often, my kids get free soap. One travel-size shampoo mixed with water will fill the entire pump. So, anywhere from free to 7 cents, I get an entire supply of tear-free soap for the kids.

For more great ideas, check out Works For Me Wednesday at We Are THAT Family!

The ecological impact

Yesterday, while at a consignment sale, the big mountain of bottles caught my eye. There was a big long table full of them. I was really struck by just how much plastic there was. This was from only a small fraction of the mothers who bottle-feed. The pile was enormous.

I've heard (and talked) about breastfeeding being the "greener" alternative even way back when "green" only meant the difficult color Kermit memorialized in song. There's no packaging to dispose of. There's no factories needed. There are fuel-burning waste-producing trucks needed to transport anything. There's no (or limited) need for bottles to take up landfills. Still, it wasn't until I stood in front of that table yesterday that it really hit me.

Wow. Just wow.

I started to accept the mess I'm in. I know that mess spelled backwards is 'ssem' and I felt much better armed with that information." Tori Amos

I'm recycling that post title from one 3 years ago. It's fitting.

I've been reluctant to blog about this. I've been reluctant to speak about this. I've only told two friends and just within the past week. The economy is kicking our butt in ways I never imagined and it's scary.

We have always been very responsible when it comes to money. We have a money market account into which we file away a percentage of our income every month. While we do give ourselves some leeway, we don't spend money frivolously. We discuss all big purchases and anything over $30 is a big purchase. I ALWAYS look for a deal on kids' items and we buy consignment when at all possible. We have health insurance because not having any is not an option. If there's a medical emergency, we will not be solely responsible for insane bills. Remember, my daughters' birth and NICU stay was over $200,000 which was completely covered by Tricare. Each time, before we started trying to conceive, I insisted we have a certain amount of money saved--enough to tide us over should we need it.

Well, thanks to the state of the economy and a bit of a catastrophe we dealt with a while ago (about which I didn't feel compelled to blog), we're hurting financially and it kills me. Dh's income has suddenly dropped to 1/3 of what it was. I realized the other day that we now qualify for food stamps. How in the hell does that happen? How does that happen to us?

Our money market account is almost gone. Every month, I've had to transfer money to our checking to pay our bills. And our bills are NOT extravagant. We no longer have cable. We get our books and DVDs from the library. The only things I've bought for this baby have been from the clearance racks and even then, not much at all. I haven't bought anything for the bigger kids at all with the exception of shoes they needed all of which were on clearance. We're not eating out at all.

We have a baby due in a matter of weeks. I'm more than a little scared now. We were financially safe when we started TTC and even through most of this pregnancy. Now, though, not so much and that worries me. I asked for stroller/bouncy seat recomendations, but when I saw a bouncy at a rummage sale for $8 the other day, I thought, "We can get by without it." Dh and I were considering looking at strollers at a consignment sale in 2 weeks, but now I don't think we'll get one at all. We can't afford it.

This is killing me. We've always been responsible with our money. The only designer clothing our kids have ever worn came from garage sales or were hand-me-downs. We are not the types who take trips to exotic locations. Hell, our only family vacations, with one exception for which my parents' paid, have been to visit family (and even that aforementioned parent-funded Disney trip while dh was deployed was actually to visit cousins we hadn't seen in years). Yes we have what I consider luxuries, but we have the bare minimum (cell phones, but no internet access, fancy phones, or text plan).

Anything that costs money has to wait. We've had to put off major and minor repairs because we don't want to spend the money. When the kids were sick a few weeks ago, I didn't take them to the doctor because I knew they'd all be charged the $150 fee each for first-time visits in addition to any prescriptions we'd need. Yes, our insurance helps, but not enough. And yes, if the illness had gotten worse, I would have taken them in, but just the thought of having to balance my kids' well-being with what we can/can't afford killed me.

This lack of money is breaking my heart. My mother had some serious health issues lately. All I wanted to do was jump on a plane to help her, but we can't afford it. My FIL's cancer is back and he's nearly halfway through with his radition. I know a visit from the kids would lift his spirits, but we can't do it. Bubbe is getting worse. When she passes away, we cannot afford to go to her funeral.

Our whole lives are now on hold because we don't know what to do. We don't know what we can afford to do. We were supposed to move closer to family after the baby is born (remember, the military left us in a state where we have no family), but we don't know if the house will sell given the current market and the downpayment we had saved for another house is gone. We had to use it to pay for gas and food.

Luckily, we're getting some money back from taxes. Dh's work load has picked up quite a bit in the past week. We know we have more money headed our way. That has me sighing with relief (at the rate we're going, our money market account would have only lasted us another 3 months before it's gone). Still, I'm terrified. I don't know what to expect. We're trying to be proactive, but this all came on so suddenly. What do we do? What can we afford to do?

No Saving Money or Recycling for Parents

You'll notice a new little image on my side bar.

I've been promoting the "Save Handmade" campaign, but I never realized the CPSIA was this far-reaching: Gov't Says, Sorry, No More Reselling Your Kids' Stuff

I've sold and donated used kids' things. I buy consignment all the time. I prefer to buy kids' and maternity clothes from consignment shops. It's one of the tips I give for those trying to "Go Green," (if you reuse items instead of buying new, there will be less to fill the landfills). I've Freecycled lots of my kids' old things. I'm a big fan of garage sales. We wouldn't have been able to clothe twins all these years (and now their little brother and soon the new one) without consignment shops, garage sales and the kindness of friends with hand-me-downs.

This could be an even bigger disaster than I ever imagined.

Blast from the past: the gift edition

I found a giveaway on another blog where the question posed was, "What was your favorite gift as a child?"

The gift that came to mind was a Strawberry Shortcake kitchen set I got around 1982. It was really just heavy cardboard, but it lasted forever and oh boy did I use it.

I didn't ask for that kitchen. I didn't even know it existed. But oh boy did I love that thing.

So, I went on a quest. Google directed me here where there is a picture of a portion of the exact set. Look at the difference between that and the annoying plastic sets today that include all sorts of sounds and lights and which will never decompose in the landfills. I loved my basic boring kitchen. I didn't need beeping or blinking. And you know what? I'm sure my set has broken down by now.

With the holidays approaching and my desire to resist overdoing it, I've been on a quest for some ideas for making gifts. I did that last year and loved it. The kids did too. So we'll do the same thing this year. My schlep through my childhood and my fond memories for such a simple toy just cemented that.

The religion of simplifying

I've been making an attempt to simplify over the past year or so.

I had no idea that one could mix religion and downsizing.

What a neat idea! I'll definitely need to say the blessing with the kids when we get rid of the big bag of too small clothes.

Replayground

Isn't this the neatest site? Replayground is chock full of some really cute crafts from recycled products. I'm forever looking at empty boxes and containers wondering, "What can I make with this?" Now I have some ideas.

Tell the world to simplify.

We have been making a conscious effort to simplify. So far, not bad.

Although, the sheer amount of crap that's out there is astounding.

So these "You don't need it" stickers are right up my alley.

I can't sleep, but I want to win stuff and I want to save the world too.

Ima on the Bima is giving away a really neat reusable bag and I want it.

So I'm blogging, commenting, and hoping for the best.

Completely random link

Someone sent this link on rounds and I like it, so I'm sharing.

21 Ways to Use Old Coffee Grounds

Stooopid resolutions.

Damn it! I swore I wasn't going to make a resolution in honor of the new year. I think they're stupid and pointless. It's rare that someone sticks with theirs.

Still, without me even trying, I have stepped right into the pit of a resolution.

I am going to be more organized.

My mother is the type of person who has everything organized. She has covers on the couches. If there's even a speck of dirt on the floor, it gives her heart palpitations. My father is a pack rat. He keeps anything and everything. I know you're supposed to inherit 1/2 your chromosomes from each parent. It would appear I am a biological anomaly. It seems that I got all of mine from my father.

When I stayed with my brother, I found his pantry to be startling. Everything is in order, stacked nice and neatly with all the labels facing out. You would think it was a sign of a disturbed mind, but it's not. Whereas my mother's absolute need for cleanliness sometimes makes it difficult to function (no, I'm not being sarcastic), my brother is a brilliant well adjusted person with lots of friends. How is it that he got such a wonderful balance? I want that.

Since I was not born with the neatness gene, I need to over-compensate. I have got to find some way to make up for my failings. I started following Kamrin's lead by simplifying, but that has come to a halt. We did get rid of some clutter, but there's much more to do. It has gotten worse since Chanukah.

Today, we took the first step. We reorganized our bedroom and we're going to move a piece of furniture out of the office and into our room. Once we do that, it should be an avalanche of organization. That will give us room to add book cases wherein we can store lots of the school clutter plus I can take my craft supplies and photographs out of the giant plastic boxes which take up far too much room, sort them into smaller boxes and put them on the shelves.

We've been stuck in a holding pattern. We can't clear out one room because first we need to do something with another room, but we can't start that room because it has things that need to go somewhere else.

Here's hoping that we don't lose momentum and that we wind up with a straightened relatively clutter-free home in the not-too distant future.

ETA: I'm going to try to commit to this monthly checklist. I can do one thing a day.

Brainstorming gift ideas

I'm starting to devise a decent list of things to make for the bigger kids for Chanukah. I'll share my ideas thus far, but please feel free to comment with any other ideas you may have.

Now, let's review: I'm boycotting Matel after all the recent recalls. I'm also trying to avoid any plastic toys for the kids. I'd like to be a bit more earth friendly. Most of the toys I love that lack plastic are insanely expensive. So I figured I'd try to make more things myself (extra points if they contain recycled components).

Here's what I plan om doing:

More felt food. I want to do sushi, a cupcake, more fries, sliced bread and cheese slices. What else? I need some simple ideas. I already made one egg, cookies, a single fry and a pancake.

Felt hair clips. I just love these and these and I think I can manage a simple version of those myself.

Jewelry. I LOVE the jewlery here, but after really looking at it, I realized I could make something similar from femo, existing beads, buttons and clear nail-polish covered pictures (stickers, printouts, fabric scraps and magazine cut outs).

Some more stenciled clothing. I figure I could recycle some of their existing clothes. I'm going to hit a garage sale type thing where they always have tons of kids' clothes, so maybe I could stash some of those away and decorate them. I'm also planning on making some iron-on transfers of different images including this one:



As much as I don't want the kids to have more stuffed toys (they have way too many), I'm thinking I may make some felt plush toys for them. I found some very simple patterns that I could do.

So, now, does anyone have any other suggestions? What on earth can I make for the wee one? I have a bunch of ideas for the big kids, but none at all for TheBoy. Feel free to throw some ideas at me.

Sometimes, the dread is more painful than answering the question.

Yesterday, I was just not in a good mood, but I was determined to make today different.

At the gym, I was too exhausted to do my usual routine. I spent a good deal of my morning moaning to my friends, "I'm just not up for this." At home, I was in a bitchy mood. It wasn't by any means an awful day, but I just wasn't feeling it.

This morning, I woke up filled with dread. I have so much to do and I'm falling behind. Then, I asked myself, "Why haven't I done these things?" In the past, there were specific reasons. Now, though, it was really just petty excuses keeping me from crossing them off my list.

So before I even got out of bed, I decided today is going to be the day I get things done. Most of those, "I really need to"s are getting done. I'm finding it takes far less effort to actually get them done than it did to dread them.

Here's a list of my accomplishments thus far:

• Got out of bed and dressed x4 (come on, when you get this done for not only yourself, but 3 little people too, that really is a big deal).
• Called in my prescrption refill (although I gave them the wrong time for pick-up, but I can deal).
• Put a table on Freecycle. This is an end table that's in great shape, but was rescued from the garbage (courtesy of my dad) years ago. It has traveled all over the country with us as the military moved us, but now it's an extra piece of unnecessary furniture. When we first decided to follow Kamrin's lead and simplify, I knew this table had to go. I knew I wanted to offer it on Freecycle, but just never did. Now it has been offered and a woman is coming to pick it up later today. Woo hoo.
• Dealt with work stuff. This has been the biggest stressor. There's paperwork I needed to fill out months ago, but never did. Today, it's done and the checks really are in the mail.
• Swept up the dining room.
• Put on the last load of laundry (I have 3 kids, a husband and animals. There really never is a "last" load, but this is the bleach load I needed to get done). That includes throwing in the sponges that have been on the front porch ever since we washed the car last week.
• Put paperwork in the lock box.
  
• Cleaned out the bags in the dining room including the old diaper bag that needed to be tossed.
  
• Pile less official paperwork on the file box. Although, that looks bad, so I'm going to take a minute right now and put it IN the box. There. Done.
• The kids did their school work (and lots of it--their choice) all on their own.
• Hugged the kids and told 'em I love them.
• Vacuumed up everything that was left on the dining room floor.
• Sorted papers that had taken up residence on the dining room table. That is my biggest hot spot. Everything piles up there.
• Put aside the papers that need to be filled out (and in the process, found the paperwork for the work bank account that I thought I lost).
• Filled the napkin holder.
• Added a new blog entry.

When I see it all listed there, it really makes me feel good. Look at all that I've gotten done.

There is, however, more to do, so let me go deal with all that. I'll be back later, though. I have yet another Wal-Mart story to share. You know my Wal-Mart stories are always good.

Operation Get This Crap Out Of My House: Day 1

Inspired by Kamrin's quest to simplify her life towards the end of last year, I decided to do the same. That whole ordeal started today. When you're a pack rat, that is not an easy task. Oy!

After dh and I folded and put away a few loads of laundry last week, we were left with the realization that we have more clothes for the kids than we have room. Mind you, the girls have a closet and an armoire, the latter of which they now have to share with their brother because his clothes no longer fit in his dresser.

That's it! Not only am I going to stop buying all this crap, I'm also going to sort through the clothes and get rid of a bunch. Those that we borrowed from friends will go back to their rightful home. Anything anyone else gave us will be given away (I'm not comfortable selling things that other folks have given us). Some items will be passed to my sister. Everything else will be sold either at an upcoming consignment sale or at one of the local kids' consignment stores.

I sorted clothes today. Oh my word! My kids have more clothes than any 5 or 6 kids could need. And mind you, that's only what we had out. There are boxes and boxes in the attic. I'll sort through them when I'm feeling a bit more ambitious. Right now, I'm far too tired.

We're not just forcing the kids to simplify. Dh and I sorted through old magazines today. A huge stack went to the recycling dumpster type thing at a local church (not sure what the official title is). That left us with two empty plastic storage boxes. Woo hoo. After sorting through the kids' clothes, I got another one emptied. Yay to getting rid of crap and freeing up some space.

Next step, consolidate the two giant plastic boxes of diapers into just one. Then donate all the extra liners/covers. Sure, I cloth diapered twins, but thanks to generous friends, I actually have enough liners/covers to diaper 4 babies. That's AFTER I gave some away to a foster mom two years ago. So some of this has got to go.

I'm exhausted and a bit overwhelmed (to be honest, WAY more than just a bit), but it's also so freeing. I'm just beginning to realize how much having all this stuff around weighs me down. It leaves the place cluttered. It means we're constantly cleaning or moving things around. I'm really looking forward to pairing down to only what we need and use.

On the agenda: stop obsessively checking the super cheap jewelry website & definitely stop buying more pretty shiny useless crap from there.