Save Money Grocery Shopping with Cut It Out! ebook

How much do you spend each month on groceries to feed your family?


$700?  $800?  $1,000?!


Kate Megill feeds her family of 10 on $500 a month. And she does it WITHOUT coupons.
 

Cut It Out! by Kate Megill

Yep. You read that correctly. $500 a month for a family of 10. I thought I did really well by spending $500 a month for my family of 6!

Kate recently offered her ebook in exchange for a review to the members of a Facebook group I participate in. I jumped at the chance to read Cut It Out!

I considered myself a frugal grocery shopping expert but watched my grocery budget inch upwards in recent years. I wanted to learn Kate's grocery shopping tips so I can lower my budget again.

Basic tips and tricks for saving money on groceries.  

In Cut It Out! Kate suggests you:

• Create a master list of meals. 

• Write out a menu plan based on those meals. 

• Track supermarket prices in a price book. 

• Invest in a well-stocked pantry. 

• And a whole lot more.

I came away from Cut It Out! with a renewed goal of lowering our grocery budget. I already menu plan and shop sales but I could do a much better job of this. Kate reminded me of the basic steps to frugal food shopping that I've been skipping.

Would you like to save money at the grocery store? 

I strongly suggest you purchase Cut It Out! and implement Kate's method for saving money!


From today through August 3, 2012, Cut It Out! is only $1.99. After August 3 the price will increase to $3.99.


If you are a newcomer to frugal grocery shopping, or an expert seeking encouragement that you're on the right path, I recommend you buy Cut It Out! today!

Are you a frugal newbie or a frugal expert? What is your best money saving tip?

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Disclosure: I received a free copy of Cut It Out! in exchange for my review. My opinions are my own. I truly believe this book will help anyone looking to save money on groceries.


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Potty Training with Pull-Ups Potty Breaks

Potty training.

Two words that fill most moms with fear and dread. I am currently potty training my 4th child. NONE of my children have "potty trained themselves." I hear from friends that this really does happen. I also hear that Big Foot exists but I've never seen that elusive creature, either.

My biggest tip for potty training is to relax. Understand that it is a process that requires several skills to develop.

Kids have to learn:

• to hold the pee in;
• to recognize when they need to go to the bathroom;
• to get to the bathroom in time;
• to pull clothes off ;
• to sit on the potty so that everything goes IN the potty except them;
• to clean themselves;
• and to pull clothes back on.

That's a lot to learn for a 2 year old!!

My biggest struggle is remembering to take my potty training child to the bathroom! I finally learned to set a timer to remind myself when he would need to go. I usually start with 15 minutes and work up to an hour.

These days Sam (3.5 yrs) is completely trained during the day. He goes to the bathroom by himself and wakes up dry from naps, all without help from me.

If you are currently in (or will be soon) the stage of needing reminders, Pull-Ups has a Potty Breaks website you and your child might find fun. You can set up reminder phone calls so that your child receives calls from Cinderella or Mater.

Here's Sam receiving his call:

As you can tell, Sam wasn't all that impressed. He loves Mater and was excited about the call but it did not inspire him to use the bathroom. Your child might love a phone call from Mater or Cinderella!

After 4 children, I've learned that each one is motivated by different bribes when it comes to potty training. For Sam it was miniature chocolates. Your child it might be a phone call from Cinderella. The only way to know is to try.

Here's an infographic with more potty training tips and tricks:

Whatever you chose to use let me encourage you - your child will not start high school still in diapers. Even if it feels that way! Use what works and don't worry about naysayers!


What is your best potty training tip?


I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for Pull-Ups. I received a product sample to facilitate my review and a promotional item to thank me for participating.

How do you store toilet paper?

 

When I come home with a new package of toilet paper, I unwrap the rolls and store them under the sink in the bathrooms (or in our hall linen closet if I'm really stockpiling).

I've used this system for years and my family knows where to look for a new roll when they need it. Even the 3 year old knows!

Why store toilet paper unwrapped?

• Unwrapped toilet paper saves time and aggravation later. Seriously, have you ever tried to sit on the toilet, wrestle a giant package of toilet paper out from under the sink, and pry a roll out? All at 2 AM in the morning, while trying not to wake a sleeping baby in the next room?

• Children will never unwrap toilet paper and put it on the roll. 

• Children MIGHT pull an unwrapped roll of toilet paper out of the cabinet and set it on the counter if they use the last of the current roll.

Trust me! It's a good system!

What is your toilet paper storage system?


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Teach Your Kids to do Their Own Laundry

Six people live in my house. Four of those people are under the age of 10. Let me tell ya, that's a whole lot of laundry!! In fact, we wash, dry, fold, and put away 6-8 baskets of laundry a week - and that doesn't count sheets!

What's a mom to do about all that laundry? 

You could do it all yourself. Nah!
You could hire someone to do it for you.  Can't afford that!
Or you could teach your children to do their own laundry!! We have a winner!

My 3 year old sorts and is learning to fold his laundry.

How to teach children to do their own laundry:

1. Two year olds can learn to sort clean clothes. 

Place the basket of clean clothes on the floor. Begin a couple of piles on your bed (shirts, socks, underwear, pants or bath towels, washcloths, kitchen towels, etc.). Then have him pull out an item and ask, "Which pile does that shirt belong in?" Encourage him as he places it in the correct stack.

2. Three year olds can sort clean clothes without help, put away underwear and match socks.

After his laundry is dry, place the basket of clean clothes beside his bed. Instruct him to sort or match his clothes into stacks. By now, he shouldn't need prompting from you. He may need you to stay in the room to keep him on task. RESIST the urge to instruct him.

After sorting the basket of clothes, he can put his neat stack of underwear away and match his socks. Make sure his clothes are in drawers he can reach. Underwear and PJs in the bottom, then shirts or pants in the next drawer and so on.

3. Four year olds can learn to fold pants and shirts neatly.

Show him step-by-step how to fold pants and shirts. Have him practice with a couple while you fold the rest. Offer plenty of praise for his efforts and RESIST the urge to refold!

My 5 year old sorts, folds, and puts away her laundry w/o help.

4. Five year olds can fold and put away pants and shirts.

This is when you ask yourself, "What's my goal?" Your goal is to have less work to do. The stacks of clothes in the drawer aren't going to be perfect. His shirt will probably be wrinkled. But does it really matter? The kindergarten teacher won't think worse of you because he shirt is wrinkled!!

5. Six to seven year olds can care for their clean laundry without help.

By now he has mastered the skills of sorting, folding, and putting away clean laundry. Depending on where your dryer is located he may be able to get the laundry from there and carry the full basket to his room.

6. Eight year olds can learn to sort, wash, and dry their dirty laundry.

Teach him to sort his dirty clothes into piles on the floor. We sort by heavy clothes (jeans, pants, sweatshirts) and light weight clothes (shirts, underwear, and socks). Use whatever sorting method works for your household.

At the washer, instruct him on putting clothes in the washer, how much detergent to use, temperature settings, and other settings. Also instruct him on the settings for the dryer.

You will need to perform these lessons several times before he remembers.

7. Nine year olds can do their own laundry from beginning to end.

Congratulations! You now have less housework to do! AND when your child goes off to college he'll already know how to do his laundry.

Play and fun is still a part of laundry. - says the Lone Ranger

This system has worked great in my house! Every week my oldest takes the basket of dirty laundry from the big boys' bedroom and starts the process of doing their laundry. I don't have to do a thing!

Do you take care of all the laundry or do you train your children to care for their own laundry?


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A Not-So Organized Basement

I'm keeping it real today. I wrote a lot of posts about organizing your home last month. That might lead you to think that my house is organized perfectly. It's not.

My house is a work in progress, just like yours.

Need proof?

Behold, the basement work room!

In my defense, this is all my husband's handyman tools and painting STUFF. That means I don't touch it.

In HIS defense, I bought 4 medium-sized tubs a few weeks ago and he's started organizing everything. It's a slow process. I'll share pictures of the finished project with you in a few weeks, or maybe months.

Does it surprise you that part of my basement is cluttered and messy?

GROW Weekly Goals 1.27.12

It's time to check-in on my goals again. And once again I'm not where I wanted to be.

But, I have reasonable excuses. I spent 3 days last week in bed with a migraine. This week my husband worked nights and was around during the day. Both of those threw off our daily routine.

How did I do the last 2 weeks?

Here are my goals for January 15-21:

Faith

1. Read How to Study Your Bible for Kids with Will Tuesday - Friday. 
2. Made to Crave online study.

Marriage

3. Nightly Face-to-Face with Joel.
4. Plan February date.

Mothering

5. Read aloud 4 books.
6. Plan family nights for January and February.

Health

7. Switch from hot black tea to hot herbal tea (no sugar). (The major cause for the migraine.)
8. Go to bed by 10:30 PM nightly. (Managed this a couple of nights.)

Savings

9. Set up cash envelope system. (Will do this weekend.)
Blog

10. #SITS31DBB (SITS Girls 31 Days to a Better Blog).
11. Share my new blog (EverydayFamilyLiving.com).
12. Snowman and Anne of Green Gables activities.

I think part of my problem is that I'm trying to make several major changes to our routine (Bible studies and reading) and it's too much. So I'm going to step back and focus on some smaller items for the next two weeks.

Faith
1. Read How to Study Your Bible for Kids with Will Tuesday - Friday. 

Marriage

2. Plan February date.
3. Schedule babysitter.

Mothering

4. Begin reading Little House in the Big Woods.
5. Plan family nights for February.

Health

6. Get routine blood work done.
7. Go to bed by 10:30 PM nightly. (Managed this a couple of nights.)

Savings

8. Begin using cash envelope system. 

Blog

9. Launch my new blog (EverydayFamilyLiving.com).
10. Write and schedule February's blog posts.

That's my plan for the first 2 weeks of February.

How are you doing with your 2012 goals?

5 Simple Home Organization Tips

Not all home organization projects have to be huge, like decluttering a kitchen, to help our homes run smoothly. Simple tricks and techniques can also go a long way in making home life easier.

Here are 5 easy tips to help you organize your home:

GROW Weekly Goals 1.14.12

Remember the awesome goals I made for myself 2 weeks ago? Yes, the goals that I HAVE YET TO FOLLOW. Well, it's time to report on my progress.

Faith
1. Read How to Study Your Bible for Kids with Will Monday - Friday.

Marriage

2. Plan our January and February away dates. Schedule babysitter.
3. Weekly at-home date.

Mothering
4. One-on-one with Ellie for haircuts.
5. Plan Sunday's Family Night activity.
6. Start 100 Read Aloud book list.

Health
7. Go to bed by 10:30 PM nightly.
8. Eat 3 servings of veggies a day.

Savings
9. Make a new budget. (My husband has taken over this task.)

Blog
10. Write down launch plan for new blog.
11. Write and schedule 9 blog posts for SMB.
12. Enjoy my SITs Girls feature day on Friday.

How to Organize Kid's Toys

It's hard to find the ONE thing you want in this toy boxes.

Toy boxes eat toys like dryers eat socks.

I know I put all the parts in there but somehow I can never find all the matching pieces. And in the process of looking for the matching pieces my children like to empty the entire toy box onto the floor.

I've learned it doesn't have to be this way. You CAN have organized toys if you follow these guidelines.

The Best Time Management E Book!

After my first child was born I discovered the beauty of a regular routine. Back then my routine consisted of feeding baby, changing baby, playing with baby, and occasionally sleeping. As my first baby grew and changed so did my routine.

Today there are no babies in my house now but there is a routine. I've found a regular routine reduces the number of decisions I have to make each day. It also helps my children move easily from one activity to another.

Occasionally I get in a scheduling rut. For whatever reason a routine just won't work for me anymore and I won't have any motivation to make a new one.

That's what happened to me about a month ago. Our routine just didn't seem to flow and I started flying by the seat of my pants. THAT always gets me in trouble! We ended up eating out a lot, school work didn't get done, and the house was a disaster.

To help pull me out of my lethargy I read books and blogs about organizing or time management. In December, I bought Tell Your Time, a GREAT little ebook about time management.

Tell Your Time by Amy Lynn Andrews is only 30 pages long and currently costs $2.99. Amy packed a lot of valuable information, tips and inspiration in those 30 pages!

In Tell Your Time, Amy shares how to identify your roles and purposes. Then she explains a system for including in your day the steps necessary to accomplish your purposes.

Amy's time management system is based on the classic envelope money management system. Instead of dollars and envelopes, you manage time and activities. Instead of "telling your money where to go" you tell your time where to go.

I love that!

By the time I finished reading Tell Your Time I remembered why I schedule our day and was inspired to create a new our daily routine.

If you are a time management newbie, or a veteran looking for fresh motivation, I strongly recommend you buy Tell Your Time today!

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.

4 Simple Home Organization Projects

Is "get organized" one of your goals for 2012?

I like to start a new year off with an organized home. We've been rearranging shelves on books and labeling toy tubs this week. Not really exciting stuff or anything to show you.

But, I do have a few past projects to inspire you to reach your 2012 home organization goals. I've explained a few organizing tips in each of the posts in case you are an org newbie.


Organize a Pantry

Organizing a Pantry with Wire Shelves. I LOVE wire closet organizers but they make keeping small things contained a challenge. I use two different kinds of baskets to solve this problem.

GROW Weekly Goals 1.9.12

Earlier this week I shared my 6 goals for 2012 and my one word theme for the year - Grow.

Because I am a terrible procrastinator and need accountability, I am going to blog 12 of my bite-sized goals each week and report on my progress.

Here are the little goals for January 1-5:

How to Home School with a Toddler in the House

In September 2008 my oldest child started kindergarten. It was a momentous day for us. I think our school day lasted a whole hour back then. Partly because that's all the attention span he had and partly because I had a house, 2 year old, and 3 year old to look after.

One month later we added a newborn to our home and our home school went on unofficial vacation for a couple of months!

Thankfully by the time September 2009 rolled around I had learned a few lessons in managing 4 small children, a home and school!

3 Tips for Flying with Children

"Real courage is taking a bunch of small children on a plane!"

The gentleman speaking looked old enough to be a grandfather and meant his statement as praise of my little family. At least I think he did.

We were disembarking a plane after a 7 hour journey from Rhode Island to San Antonio, Texas. My 4 kids (ages 3-8) had been awake since 5:30 that morning and were exhausted.

To my amazement our flights departed on time, turbulence was minimal, and my children behaved beautifully. You would have thought they were experienced travelers instead of newbies.

So, how did I take 4 children on a cross-country airplane journey and have a fun time?

I planned snacks.

I looked over our itinerary and realized we had a one hour layover at 10 AM followed by a 4 hour flight. That meant no lunch. Not a good thing for young kids! So, I packed snacks, peanut butter sandwiches, and cut-up apples in each of their carry-on backpacks. It took a few minutes the night before to prepare everything but was definitely worth it!

I planned entertainment.

We don't own portable DVD players, smart phones, or tablets so our entertainment was low tech. I packed books, coloring books and crayons, and card games in each of their carry-on backpacks.

But the most important entertainment happened when we INTERACTED WITH OUR CHILDREN on the plane. We read books aloud. We played UNO. We talked about what we could see outside our windows. Most children will sit quietly if mom and dad are paying attention to them. Mine usually do.

I planned for emergencies.

My youngest is mostly potty trained and has been dealing with ear infections lately. Being "mostly trained" I felt Pull-Ups were a better idea than big boy underwear. I could just imagine us taking off and Sam declaring he needed to go to the potty! I also put a complete change of clothes in his carry-on backpack just in case of accidents. Unfortunately, we ended up using them!

A few days before our flights, we visited our pediatrician just to be sure Sam's ears were clear. Thankfully they were but our awesome pediatrician wrote a prescription for ear drops anyway. He explained that they would numb the ear drum for a couple of hours and make take off much more pleasant for Sam (and everyone else on the plane).

I don't think traveling by plane with small children takes courage, but it does take planning. If you pack plenty of snacks, entertainment, and emergency supplies you will also have a great trip with your children!

What's your best tip for flying with children?

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Summer Fever Has Arrived!

Summer fever has arrived at the Stephanie's Mommy Brain house! We still have school until the end of June but schoolwork is only taking a small portion of our day now.

The rest of the day is spent:

organizing our basement play room, 

sorting everyone's fall/winter clothes,

celebrating Will's 8th birthday,

and taking field trips (Fishing Derby with Cub Scouts).

Our summer is off to a fun and busy start! As we enjoy our summer break I'll be around here less. Instead I'm taking my own advice from these posts:

• How to make this the Best Summer Ever!
• 8 Tips for Road Trips with Small Children
• Best Books for a Road Trip with Children
• 4th of July Book Recommendations

and making this the BEST SUMMER EVER!

Boys Haircuts :: Mom 411

I walked out of the kids hair salon holding the hand of my crying 3 year old son.  Again.

Once seated in the special child-sized chair, William had began to cry.  Then the stylist turned on the buzzers and I had to bodily force my baby down in the chair for the remainder of the hair cut.  Will wailed and looked at me like I had betrayed him. 

After the buzzers stopped we paid our $20 for yet another traumatic and less-than-stellar haircut.  On the way home I decided I would cut Will's hair in the future.  I certainly couldn't do any worse!

That was 5 years ago.  Today I buzz the hair of all 3 of my sons AND my husband.  I am by no means a professional.  I've learned through trial and error.  That's the great thing about cutting little boy hair - if you mess up it's not a big deal!  And it grows back REALLY fast!  Here's how you can do at-home boy haircuts.

Getting started giving boy haircuts is easy.

You can purchase any buzzer with combs or guards at Wal-mart or Target.  Our first buzzer (or clipper) cost about $30 and came with a cape and various sized guards.  It lasted about 2.5 years but the motor couldn't keep up with 3 haircuts back-to-back.

After our cheap clipper died, we bought an Oster Hair Clipper along with 10 combs.  It's not fancy but it gets the job done for 4 buzz cuts in a row.  I also use my husband's beard trimmer to clean up around the ears, the sideburns and neck.

Cut hair outside or on a stool in the bathtub.

From May to September haircuts occur outside to make clean up easier.  From September to May the boys sit on a stool in our (empty!) bathtub so that the hair is contained in one spot.  We simply wipe out the bathtub before they shower.

Cover the face with a washcloth.

My boys HATE getting hair on their faces so they hold a washcloth while I buzz.

Decide how short/long to cut the hair.

Each of my boys have different types of hair.  Will's hair is straight as a board and thick.  It also grows super fast.  All 3 boys have double crowns.  So I use different sized combs on each boy.  Also, I cut it shorter during the summer when they get hot, sweaty and filthy!

Buzz the sides and back first.

Recently I started buzzing Will different lengths.  It's that experimenting thing I mentioned earlier.  On this occasion, the sides are a #2 and the top will be a #3.

Change combs and buzz the top.

Will after haircut.

Trim around ears, sideburns and across neck.
 

The trickiest part is around the ears and neck.  On more than one occasion we've ended up with bare patches because a boy wouldn't sit still.

If I can buzz my boys, ANYONE can do a buzz cut.  At-home haircuts have several benefits:  home is never closed, no waiting in line, and YOU control the length.  Best of all, you save a lot of money.  We save about $500 a year!! 

Do you have kids haircuts at home?  If not, summer is the perfect time to give it a try!

Visit Works for me Wednesday for more tips and tricks.

Remodel a Half Bathroom - Part 2

Last summer we worked hard to remodel a half bathroom (link to Part 1 of the story) in our home.  We ripped off very ugly paneling, pulled up 2 layers of vinyl flooring, painted the walls, laid new vinyl flooring and replaced the vanity and toilet.

We completed the major parts of the remodel within a couple of weeks, the finer parts of the decorating took me awhile though.  Thankfully I have a good friend who's great at decorating!  She gave me a few ideas and I slowly found pieces to that matched her recommendations.  The finishing touches went in place just last month.

Now we have a totally different bathroom!  I'm so not exaggerating and here's the photographic proof.

Ugly Bathroom before

Beautiful Bathroom After

The mason jars are filled with Q-Tips, cotton balls, and a green shower pouf.

I finished the bench, bought the basket at Ann & Hope, and had everything else.

All together I think the new bathroom cost us about $600 (I didn't add it all up in the end).  Not bad for such dramatic results!!  I still like to just admire how pretty the room is.

Have you ever remodeled a bathroom?  How did it turn out?

Organizing a Pantry with Wire Shelves

Okay, Steph, I need to pick your Mommy Brain. My kitchen pantry is a total mess, and one of the big reasons is that the built in shelves aren't solid. They are those wire things with the plastic covering. They look just like those stackable kinds (wires go from front to back), but mine is the entire pantry. What would you do so that things don't fall through?

-Alicia, on Facebook.

Funny you should ask, Alicia!

I have installed plastic-coated wire closet systems in my kitchen pantry, linen/hall closet, and 2 out of 3 bedroom closets.  I LOVE wire closet systems!

Closets and pantries with fixed shelves often end up with unused vertical space.  Mine are adjustable but Alicia's shelves are all 18 inches apart. That can result in a lot of empty space so the key is to find ways to fill that space but still be easily accessible.

Vertical organizers can help fill the space.

The Neu Home Can Organizer looks like a great way to organize canned goods vertically.  I found this one on the Walmart website.  It's under 13 inches in height and $30 in price.  I'm sure there are similar products from other retailers.

I see that the side supports run the same direction as the wires on the shelves but a hard piece of plastic, or cheap cookie sheet places underneath would solve that problem.

This corner storage rack would also make great use of vertical space.  It's under 18 inches tall so it would fit between the shelves.

I'm not sure how sturdy it would be for canned goods but it looks good for boxes of pasta laid on their side.  And at $13 it's not a bad price.




Hanging baskets also fill vertical space.

I couldn't find an example online but I own 2 of them so I know they exist.  These baskets are made of the same wire as the shelves.  They have 2 firm "arms" that slide over the top of a shelf and the basket hangs below it.  You would need something firm (like a flat baking pan) on the shelf to keep the arms from sliding through.  These would be good above stacked canned goods.

Baskets contain small items.

Canvas bins or baskets are very popular right now.  They come in all sizes, shapes and colors.  The key to maximizing space is to keep the sides as vertical as possible.  Slanted sides will create empty space.

Even though these bins are slanted I like that they have a space for labels.  This can be helpful when organizing pantry items by use.  For example, a bin for baking items (baking soda, baking powder, salt, chocolate chips, muffin papers, etc.) or a bin for spaghetti night (pasta, sauce, mushrooms, etc.) or a bin for various seasonings and spices.

If you prefer the look of baskets, these Hyacinth baskets come in several shapes and sizes.

I think they would be perfect for storing bags of chips, boxes of raisins, or individually wrapped snack foods taken out of their large boxes.

I personally use super cheap (we're talking $1 each) plastic baskets from Wal-Mart.


One basket contains all the small baking ingredients my husband needs for our weekly Sunday night pancakes.  He just grabs the basket instead of asking me what happened to the baking powder.

I use another cheap kind of plastic basket to keep small things from falling through the wires or getting lost.

Items like taco seasoning packets or Kool-Aid packages slip between the wires so a basket of some kind keeps me from losing any.

I also keep my frequently used spices in the basket; such as garlic powder, Italian seasoning, chili powder.


Do you use wire shelves in your closets or pantry?  How do/would you organize for fixed shelves and small items?





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