Quirky Mom, Quirky Family
Have you all read this article yet? I bet you have. It’s had me in a snit all morning. I feed a family of eight (and that is not two adults and six kids – that is five over 18 and three under) for 100 – 150$ per person per month. I don’t do it by buying blue ice pops and orange soda either. [Read more...]
I have Kathy Bates (as her character in The Waterboy) in my head saying that.
Last night I put all of our monthly bills and expenses for each pay period from now until January 6 down on paper. I proceeded to flip my shit and look into shutting things off. I then realized I don’t have much to shut off and looked into other things to do. [Read more...]
No, not really. Just got back from the periodontist (looking for one in Coral Springs? Check out Dr. Richard Morrow @ 954-345-4748. No I don’t get paid for that, he was just awesome.) and while overall my gums are healthy enough, the area in front of my bottom front teeth is thin. I’m looking at a soft tissue transplant to build it up a few millimeters so I can get braces. While he’s in there, I’ll be the proud recipient of a frenulectomy (sp?) so my lip doesn’t wear my gums down over the next 50-some years. Yay! [Read more...]
The boys are on this system. It gives them some pocket money, gives them a chance to learn about spending, teaches them about earning and responsibility, and daily routine.
shoes on the shoe rack = $0.10/day (or up to $.070/week)
dirty clothes in the hamper = $0.15/day (or up to $1.05/week)
brush teeth = $0.25/day (or up to $1.75/week)
bath or shower = $0.25/day (or up to $1.75/week)
dishes to sink = $0.14/day (or up to $0.98/week)
toys away = $0.25/day (or up to $1.75/week)
room clean = $2.00/week
clean clothes away = $1.00/week
reward points (redeemable for stuff)
homework = 5 points daily
bag up = 5 points daily
read 20+ minutes = 5 points daily
It works out to $10.98/week if they do everything. I am keeping track of it in a fanciful app on my phone called Kids Rewards (no affiliation) so I don’t have to actually pay out every week. It keeps track of what they have “in the bank” and I can deduct when they decide to spend some or when we give them cash. The program deducts money/points if they don’t do something (and I mark it as undone), but I’m not sure how much I’ll utilize that. Maybe if I consistently see things going ignored, but right now I don’t think I’ll bother. Oh, and it can go into the negatives. That might come in handy as well later on down the line.
Eshiva has a slightly modified list going on – she gets cash for having a clean room, but everything else is on reward points. I think she is still at an age where she does better with a tangible reward than an abstract (like cash).
For myself? I downloaded Things for both my mac & my phone. I set up simple daily things to do, as well as weekly. It spreads out my to do list, and I just check it off when it’s done. It syncs too, which is why I went with Things. I can set it up on the computer in 1/5 of the time as it takes on the phone.
I am not as unorganized as needing these systems makes me sound, but they will keep me on a better schedule than I was on before and should help keep the kids on one too.
Went to the dentist Friday morning. Had a “medium” tooth scraping and two fillings (again, same tooth). That tooth scraping is nothing more than torture you pay for. They wanted me back in three months to do it again. I’m thinking not. While we were eating lunch after, an elderly lady is staring at me and holds her hand up to her ear and winces. Didn’t anyone teach her not to stare? It amazes me that the more senior someone is, the more likely they are to stare. It’s like they stop caring about the very same social behaviors they complain are lacking in today’s youth.
Dorian slept out last night at his friends house. We wound up there from 7:30 to 12:30. J picked Michael up from work around 10, and we hung out for a bit. I kind of reached the end of my “Jenn out of the house” limit, so we came home. M & E crashed as soon as we got here. I dropped Michael off at work today and I’ll head back over there later to pick D up.
Went to the food store this morning. I spend about five times as much in food over the summer as the rest of the year. It’s insane. I bought four loaves of bread, another gallon of milk, tons of lunch meat & cheese, ribs & corn for Father’s Day, pot roast makings, cabbage, peppers, OJ, rice, and whatever else makes up the obscene amount of money I spent on “in between” shopping today. Yep, this wasn’t even my *big* trip. I do that next Friday. Eight people consume *a lot* of food.
Michael has to work on Sunday, which sucks, but he’s booked at least. Dad requested ribs & corn on the grill, so I’ll make that and (hopefully) have it ready by 5 or 6. I got three racks of ribs and 12 ears of corn. I forgot potato salad… I might just make some more.
Michael brought home his “spare” rotary machine for me. I want to set it up as a shader and see how it does. Monday, I think. Always Monday, huh? He brought it home last Monday. I don’t know where the time goes, but it sure goes somewhere.
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