Here is a tried and true way to save money when you are grocery shopping.
1) Make a menu and a grocery list when you are relatively hungry. (It's easier to think of good things to cook when you are hungry.)
2) Do a lot of work, errands, etc all day Saturday.
3) Have a very filling and nutritious meal.
4) Go to the grocery store as close to their closing time as you can get away with. (If it's a 24 hour store just go around 7 or 8 pm)
5) Take at least one child to ride in the grocery cart. (If you have two little ones take both of them.)
I guarantee that you will be so tired and so not hungry and so crazy from supervising the kids and trying to keep them from falling out of the cart or grabbing things off the shelf that you will just grab what is on your list and get out of there. You will not stop to browse the sale items. You will not grab things because you are hungry and hopefully you know how to say "No" to all the things the kids are wanting you to get. Hence your grocery bill will be lower.
(Oh yea, and if you like to spend the time looking for and clipping coupons you could try using those too.)
Monday, February 28, 2011
Sunday, February 6, 2011
"A Comedy of Errors" (or dinner time at our house)
"DINNER!!!" That's how dinner begins every night at our house. With me yelling at the top of my lungs like a fish wife. And why, you ask, do I do this? Because if I quietly tell everyone that dinner is ready, it takes half the afternoon and then the food would be cold. It's hard to eat a hot meal as it is. Even with the screaming of dinner it takes 10 minutes or more to everyone to finish their naps, or whatever interesting thing they were watching on youtube or playing with their toys and get to the table. I really try to have dinner done at roughly the same time every night...it doesn't always work out, but I try. And usually there are a few people sniffing around wondering when dinner will be ready and picking in the food cooking on the stove...so they why is it that when that fateful word is bellowed, everyone has found something else to occupy them and they can't make it to the table in a reasonable amount of time?
And then it's prayer time. It takes another 10 minutes to get everyone quiet for the prayer. Take tonight for instance it was a regular "Comedy of Errors." The Princess set the table and then went to play with her toys and she can virtually get lost in her imagination. So when most everyone else was at the table she wasn't. "Jack-Jack" not wanting to start without her, got down from the table and went to her and quietly said "Pwincess" (only he used her real name) dinner time. Come to dinner." It really was adorable. Finally, after I counted, she came to the table and climbed over a whole row of us to the end of the bench and then Jack-Jack wanted to climb back to sit by her but that's no good because then I can't keep an eye on him so I tried to get Princess and Peter Pan to switch places. This meant Peter Pan scooting to the end of the bench and Princess moving over to sit next to Jack-Jack who was then next to me. I don't know what was so complicated about this...maybe I was speaking Greek and they had to translate because they fidgeted and fussed before they could finally figure out how to do it. Then they had to switch dishes because Heaven forbid they use the dishes that were set at the place they switched to...no they had to have the dishes that were at their original place. (By the way...we have matching dishes and no food had been put on them so I don't know what the deal was) Then in the move Jack Jack's foot got squished and he started crying and yelling and got on my lap and I tried to get him quiet for the prayer. Next, Princess kept talking to Peter Pan and all of the older kids were trying to get them to be quiet causing even more noise. So I reached over to flick Princess to get her attention and must have caught her ear instead and she started crying. Then Jack-Jack got down and ran in the other room trying to turn on "Blue's Clues". I think "Roger" just said the prayer hoping that most everyone including Heavenly Father could hear it about all of the raucous.
I really hope that somewhere, amid the chaos, our dinner-time prayers get a little farther than the ceiling. I do know that we've had some great informal and even formal teaching moments at the dinner table. Conversations that may not have been had any other time have happened around the table. There has also been a lot of laughter and sometimes even some tears as we spend a little time each night just being with the family.
And then it's prayer time. It takes another 10 minutes to get everyone quiet for the prayer. Take tonight for instance it was a regular "Comedy of Errors." The Princess set the table and then went to play with her toys and she can virtually get lost in her imagination. So when most everyone else was at the table she wasn't. "Jack-Jack" not wanting to start without her, got down from the table and went to her and quietly said "Pwincess" (only he used her real name) dinner time. Come to dinner." It really was adorable. Finally, after I counted, she came to the table and climbed over a whole row of us to the end of the bench and then Jack-Jack wanted to climb back to sit by her but that's no good because then I can't keep an eye on him so I tried to get Princess and Peter Pan to switch places. This meant Peter Pan scooting to the end of the bench and Princess moving over to sit next to Jack-Jack who was then next to me. I don't know what was so complicated about this...maybe I was speaking Greek and they had to translate because they fidgeted and fussed before they could finally figure out how to do it. Then they had to switch dishes because Heaven forbid they use the dishes that were set at the place they switched to...no they had to have the dishes that were at their original place. (By the way...we have matching dishes and no food had been put on them so I don't know what the deal was) Then in the move Jack Jack's foot got squished and he started crying and yelling and got on my lap and I tried to get him quiet for the prayer. Next, Princess kept talking to Peter Pan and all of the older kids were trying to get them to be quiet causing even more noise. So I reached over to flick Princess to get her attention and must have caught her ear instead and she started crying. Then Jack-Jack got down and ran in the other room trying to turn on "Blue's Clues". I think "Roger" just said the prayer hoping that most everyone including Heavenly Father could hear it about all of the raucous.
I really hope that somewhere, amid the chaos, our dinner-time prayers get a little farther than the ceiling. I do know that we've had some great informal and even formal teaching moments at the dinner table. Conversations that may not have been had any other time have happened around the table. There has also been a lot of laughter and sometimes even some tears as we spend a little time each night just being with the family.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
I slept with Buzz Lightyear
Having 7 children in the house for a couple of months until one of them leaves on his mission, has necessitated moving "Jack-Jack" back into our bedroom. His little toddler bed is in one corner and he stays on it, sort of. We will often find him in our bed in the morning..(or find ourselves being kicked in the head in the middle of the night.)
Recently his sleep schedule is very off. He's not sleepy enough to want a nap in the early afternoon but will often fall asleep at 5:00 pm, sleep for a couple of hours and then not want to go to bed until midnight or later. Having teenagers home, not in school (snow days) and staying up late doesn't help because if they are up having fun he thinks he should be too.)
So... A few nights ago, "Roger" was on TDY, which is some Army acronym. I don't know what it stands for but it means away from home. "Jack-Jack" had had a late nap and didn't want to go to sleep. I, on the other hand, could keep my eyes open no longer and fell asleep at around 1:00 am. He must have gotten bored and brought some toys and books into my bed because in the middle of the night I found my self crowded between a lot of hard toys and the baby. And much to my dismay every time I tried to move or roll over, I'd push one of the buttons on that stupid Buzz Lightyear toy and hear "To Infinity and Beyond" or "Star Command, this is Buzz Lightyear." or some annoying space music. And you know when you are annoyed in the night but to sleepy to really do anything about it...well, that's how I was. Just annoyed but not awake enough to think of moving the stupid thing. So I spent an uncomfortable night sleeping with Buzz Lightyear.
Recently his sleep schedule is very off. He's not sleepy enough to want a nap in the early afternoon but will often fall asleep at 5:00 pm, sleep for a couple of hours and then not want to go to bed until midnight or later. Having teenagers home, not in school (snow days) and staying up late doesn't help because if they are up having fun he thinks he should be too.)
So... A few nights ago, "Roger" was on TDY, which is some Army acronym. I don't know what it stands for but it means away from home. "Jack-Jack" had had a late nap and didn't want to go to sleep. I, on the other hand, could keep my eyes open no longer and fell asleep at around 1:00 am. He must have gotten bored and brought some toys and books into my bed because in the middle of the night I found my self crowded between a lot of hard toys and the baby. And much to my dismay every time I tried to move or roll over, I'd push one of the buttons on that stupid Buzz Lightyear toy and hear "To Infinity and Beyond" or "Star Command, this is Buzz Lightyear." or some annoying space music. And you know when you are annoyed in the night but to sleepy to really do anything about it...well, that's how I was. Just annoyed but not awake enough to think of moving the stupid thing. So I spent an uncomfortable night sleeping with Buzz Lightyear.
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