Affording Such A Large Family: Baby Edition

So recently in a budgeting accountability group I asked how much money we should put away before having our "ours" baby. There was a unanimous decision that babies are only as expensive as you make them. From my experience this is true. As I have said before, we believe that babies are a gift from God and that He will bless us for having them and He will provide for them. Here are a few things that are helpful to know when having a baby:

1. A crib is not a necessity. We bed share with our babies. No, I am not up for debating this issue.

2. Buy a good car seat. Car seat safety is everything! I prefer to buy new, just because you never know if they have been in a wreck.

3. Breastfeeding is free. I know that not everyone can breast feed, but local mom groups are great to donate milk as well as WIC will help supply formula.

4. Babywearing is a lifesaver. I don't buy strollers. They just get in the way. I can throw a baby on my back and do chores or go for stroll and have hands free for the other kids. I have never needed a swing either, however, we have always been gifted one.

5. Even if you don't have a shower, people will gift you items. Being a parent is like a fraternity. We are all in this together and know the struggles. You will get hand-me-down everything from half packs of diapers to I only used on scoop out of this formula or she doesn't like the peaches and we have 20.

6. Cloth diapers are cheaper.

Affording Such A Large Family Fun Edition

Feeding ducks at the duck pond.

I actually got them in order by age too!

That NEVER happens.

What do we do for fun? You name it! No, we don't have a lot of money but we are super creative. I love researching and finding free events in our area. Facebook has made this much easier.

We attend a bunch of free activities. Barnes and Nobel does story and craft times on Saturdays. Lowes and Home Depot offers building workshops. The gyms sometimes do family swim and movie night. There is always some kind of free festival going on downtown.

We go into nature. We live near the lake so we love to go swimming. We will go hiking and do a picnic. We feed the ducks (PSA: Bread is bad for them). We go on bike rides. Shaving cream fights out side. Side walk chalk. Bubbles. Races. Trampoline. We have even done backyard Olympics. Camping. Bon fires.

Family Movie Night. We have Netflix movie night with popcorn or we will go to the drive-in ($30) when they are having a double or triple feature. We look for Redbox codes. Our will just pull out an old favorite or a movie from our extensive collection. We buy movies by the box at yard sales. Unfortunately, we get a lot of scratched movies due to little hands.

Family cooking night. We will do ice cream sundae bars. We will do build your own taco bars or make your own pizza.

Game Night. We will do this as a family or with friends. We have even found an organization that will allow you to do a game (video, board or card) as a marathon fundraiser. You get donations just like you would if you were running a 5K and that money goes to our local children's hospital. We taught the kids chess, which is actually apart of their third grade curriculum, and they have excelled and kick our hind ends.

We are even go on vacations. We are currently planning a trip across country. We will travel the upper US to the west coast to visit family. Go down through California to Disneyland. Come home via the lower half of the US and visit the Grand Canyon, The Alamo and New Orleans and end with a weekend at the beach. We are saving for this trip and couponing. We will be tent camping at KOAs across the country to save on lodging. We will cook our own food, except at Disney, well because DISNEY (everyone needs a Dole Whip in their life). We are actually looking at taking a train from east to west and then renting a car to drive back (but I feel like we will miss out on stuff that way)!

In February, I took the three younger guys to the beach. Though it was to visit a dying family member, so not really a vacation or happy time, but we still made some great memories.

Check out more from this series:
Affording so many kids: school edition

Organizing Our Closets

Wonder hangers are on of my favorite things! They free up so much room in our closets! With three boys in different sizes sharing a room (with one of the tiniest closets I've ever seen) it helps to fit all of the clothes in there. I plan to color code them but haven't done that yet.  They are fairly affordable and I've had luck finding them at yard sales for quarters! I honestly don't know what we would do without these wonderful hangers!

Affording Such A Large Family: School Edition

Yes, we have thought about college but first we have to get through primary school. DS1 and DS2 go to public school as they live with Baby Mama during the school year. She does send them to one of the best public schools in our area. DS3, DS4, and DS5 are home school. There are costs to both public and home school. But I am only going to touch on the home school part because that is what I am most knowledgeable about.

We do have cost for school supplies, umbrella school, co-op and curriculum. We try to make it as cost efficient as possible for us. We don't have the Internet, but my parents do. They let me use their Internet, printer and computer to print school work as needed. The boys use Easy Peasy All-In-One curriculum and we love it! It is free and very interesting to the kids. Pretty excited because their science and history is going to line up with co-op this year. We buy our supplies when everything is tax free. Yes, I am a hoarder when it comes to TP rolls and scratch paper. Why throw stuff away when you can reuse it.

But in addition to reading and math, I enjoy teaching the kids life skills. We learn how to budget and coupon and how to use these skills how to help others. We are currently couponing for Operation Christmas Child. Learning these skills don't cost a thing. But it instills values we want them to have. We also let them do community activities. As they get older, they will build a community service portfolio for colleges.

We utilize the library. Most library have a large movie, cd and audiobook selection. So we can find lots of cool things here and the boys think it is a field trip so win-win.

Craiglist often you can find craft things like paper rolls and pipe cleaners. That is great! I also contact our local paper and get newspaper roll ends for free. It's great to draw on and to trace their bodies to make a skeleton.

We also can find supplement curriculum at yard sales, used book stores and the local private school hosts a yard sale and they are a dual school (both private and home school) and we find amazing things there!

As for college, our state offers free tuition for the first two years at a community college. There are also grants for home schooled kids. DS3,4&5 will have their dad's GI Bill as well. They can do work study programs while in college. They all have savings account, which don't have a lot of money, but we ask for CDs for them instead of gifts (or experiences if people insist on getting them gifts). They will have jobs as soon as they are able to work. We want them to have a work ethic and we will be teaching them how to save their money instead of just blowing it. We also hope for scholarships. There is always the FAFSA as they will probably qualify for the Pell Grant. There is always job corp too. Which we encourage all of the kids to go to.

Why I am a SAHM

Now I am a stay at home mom. This time last year, I became very sick. I was working full time and a single mom. The illness forced me to go on FMLA and move back in with my parents. I couldn't walk. I couldn't go to the bathroom or take a shower alone. I was completely unable to care for myself. After my FMLA ran out, my specialist told me that my nursing career was going. I turned in my resignation and began staying home.

Brad and my relationship was still very young but we loved each other dearly. He stayed by my side and never wavered on taking care of me. He assured me that he would find a way to support all of us and that he wanted me to stay home and raise all of our kiddos.

Now that I am getting healthy again, I am able to stay home and do school with the kids. I am able to run errands and go to doctors appointments. But what do I do all day?

Here is a little sneak peak into our lives:

Monday:
Get up. Start breakfast. Get the big guys in the shower. Every other week I watch my friend's girls for her. Start school with my three plus her two. Work on cleaning the house even though it's going to be destroyed by the kids soon. Make lunch. Get the baby down for a nap. Start dinner. Get the kids doing their chores. Try to freshen up before Brad gets home. Feed them dinner. Brad takes DS3 to Trail Life. I bathe the littles and put them to bed. I straighten up the house. When they get home, they eat a snack. I get Kaden, DS3, off to bed. I finish cleaning and get school ready for tomorrow and lay out tomorrows dinner.

Tuesday:
I don't have the girls but it is doctor appointment day and therapy day for Carson, DS5. Still have to do school and clean and cook.

Wednesday:
Co-op day, plus church. We are gone almost all day but we still have a home we have to take care of.

Thursday:
The girls are back. Plus therapy day and market day.

Friday:
I have the girls, plus school and house work. Then we have to go pick up DS1 and DS2 which is a two hour drive. I have to make sure that everything is ready and the kids are already eating when Brad walks in the door. They eat slow and he eats fast. I have to have them ready to walk out the door by the time he showers and eats. I have to make sure that they potty before we leave and to check the traffic reports. It's important that we are not late picking them up.

So yes stay at home moms work hard too!

Affording Such A Large Family: Clothing Edition

Our kids must all be wearing clothes with holes in them and ratty shoes. There seems to be an idea that clothing children is expensive. And, yes, I guess it could be. That depends on you. We chose to shop yard sales, thrift store, clearance aisle and totally accept hand-me-downs.

Yard sales are great to find mostly springs and summer clothes. At least around here, you don't find a lot of pants and long sleeves a lot. But you can find crazy amounts of shorts and t-shirts and the occasional new with tags shoes. I buy our clothes here as well. Two of our kids are in "teenage sizes." I do have trouble finding trendy young men clothes at yard sales but that's where thrift store come in.

Thrift stores are awesome for finding non clothing items as well, but that's not what we are talking about. I find handbags, shoes with tags, teenage boy clothes, junior miss clothes for me (too young to wear misses and too old to wear juniors... the struggle is real!), I have even found make up that is still seal and in date.

Clearance items are amazing. I don't have a lot to say about this but use coupons and store rewards to make it last.

Hand-me-downs. I am very lucky to have some amazing friends who pass their kids out grown clothes on to us. We do the same in return. We hold the outgrown clothes out until the next kid can wear them and when DS4/5 out grow them. We see if we have any friends who need them. After our friends pick through them the rest we put in a yard sale and what doesn't sale goes to Goodwill.

Gifts. We ask family and friends for Christmas and birthdays to please not get the younger guys clothes because they honestly have so many. For the bigger guys we ask for gift cards so they can buy their own clothes (they are at that age).

On average we spend about $200 clothing and shoes.
Here are a few of my tips:

• Find a good stain remover!
• If stains don't come out or the idem cant be fixed, throw out, repurpose or compost if you can.
• Fix small things like missing buttons.
• Vacuum bags are amazing.
• Repurpose clothes into cloth grocery bags, cleaning rags or even family cloths.
• Look for events at local thrift stores... a couple times a year our thrift stores will do free or donation "fill-a-bag" events. We each get a bag to fill so we often end up with more than we can use so we donate it.

Affording Such A Large Family: Food Edition

So I have recently touched on how to feed a large family on a budget. Honestly there is so much more to it. I probably should have (and may) do a series on it. As previously said, we believe that God will provide for us. Often, we are in prayer as we do our monthly budget. Our sons eat like horses! I have never known children that eat as much as they do! Where do they put it? I have prayed for ideas to help manage the food for our house and have received answers. I have been sent a group of friends with equally large families and they have blessed me and I them with our shared ideas. Here are a few more thing that I have discovered that has helped it tremendously:

1. Make snack packs: Left to their own devices, my children will go through 4 cans of Pringles. DS2 and DS4 proved this last week. I have bought sandwich bags and filled them with the "snacky" foods and they are allowed to get ONE... at snack times. Any more than that requires approval from one of the parents. We filly baggies with: pretzels, chips, mini muffins, cookies, kale chips, half sandwiches, crackers, etc. We also have a fruit bowl. I also will buy cereal in large quantities when it is one sale and fill small plastic containers with the appropriate amount. Plastic containers are also filled with: homemade pudding, jello, applesauce, sliced fruit, veggie/cheese "tray." Portion control is EVERYTHING with our kids.

2. Car snacks matter: How often do you get in the car and hear I'm hungry/thirsty. So often I would pull through and get one of those nasty dollar burgers or stop at a gas station and pay dang near double the price with my first. Four kids later, I carry a thermal backpack with water and some snack that wont melt. I hate when the kids eat in the car because of the mess, but sometimes it is just easier than hearing the fussing.

3. Bring snacks to events (as allowed): We will pack a tote full of snacks when we go to the lake, festival or the drive in movies. They offer concession but do not mind you bringing your own food... so that is exactly what we do.

4. Freezer cooking: I will buy groceries every two weeks and cook according to our meal plan. Then I will put them in the freezer and if there is a good sale, I will make a double batch (which is awesome to keep on hand for if we are invited to a potluck or need to bring a meal to a friend). Freezer cooking has eliminated our "need" to go out to eat. I will lay the meals for the next day out when I am doing my night time routine. Then pop them in the crockpot the next morning (when I can, I love the crockpot. Its energy efficient and honestly I can put it in and forget about it) or in the oven.

5. Again take up on free food offers: We have had Bible school all week and our church has offered a free dinner to all the kids and parents each night this week. It has been a wonderful budget saver and time saver. We are Methodist and we love to eat-- haha. So we often have meals at church. We have the opportunity to eat on Wednesday nights for $35 but we just can't rationalize that recurring expense in our budget.

6. Split meals with friends: We often go to my best friends' house for game night. We let the kids play and we have adult conversation and it's great. We will split the cost of the meal and usually buying larger quantities saves all of us on the cost per meal.

So that is how we feed them...budget everything. And as you can probably tell from our chunky guys they are fed well.

DS1 and DS2 not shown for privacy reasons.

When should kids get their first phone?

All of the kids are insistent that they need a cellphone. Why? They are 11,9,8,6&5. They don't drive. They don't go hangout with friends. They are always with a parent. The older guys don't know it, but I think they are going to get iPods. They only want phones to play games on. I like the idea of them being able to text me while they are with their other parents or with friends. But when should they get a phone?

With as many kids as we have I don't want to raise our phone bill by 5+ lines! That would be crazy expensive. The solution we found... We will get iPod when they are old enough to be responsible for them. We will get a landline for them to use to make calls, because really who calls anymore? If they find a way to pay for their line consistently, then I will add them to my plan. I want to teach them work ethic so they will be getting jobs as soon as they are old enough.

When should kids get a phone?

One on One Time

It's rare that we get to take a kid out on a one on one time, despite our best efforts. Well tonight, we had to skip out on Bible school. This little guy didn't feel well, and though we are 99% certain that it was due to over eating, it is against the rules to bring a sick child (as it should be). So while brothers were are VBS we went to IHOP.

It was such a good experience. The server was from a large family (the oldest of 7). So she understands what dining with children is like and was super attentive.

We had such a good time. We just talked and laughed. He told me he wants to be a WWE Superstar one day. He even has a plan to eat right and get in shape to achieve his dreams. I hope you see him on the TV one day.

We value this one on one time with our children. It isn't often that we get to do much of it. We may stay up late with an older boy or two and play a game or watch a movie, but the little guys don't go well being up that late. He was so happy for this 2 hour break without sibling and just mama time.

It got me to thinking, which is a dangerous task, about how to fit in more one on one time with the kids. In the past, we have had a rotation that once a month would be date night and that child got to go. The following month would be the next. But with as many kids as we have now, how do we go five months in between one on one time?

DS3 gets a lot of one on one with Brad and I. Brad takes him to Trail Life and I do all of his school stuff. The others don't. We are going to start a weekly rotation. The kids can run and errand with us or choose to go do a small activity (go for a walk or play a game).

How do you fit in one on one time with each child?

Chores

We are often asked by random strangers, usually, how we manage to keep our house standing with so many children. Usually, I have some sarcastic answer to reply, because most of the time the people asking are judging us for having a large family instead of being genuinely curious. But we do have friends and family tell us "I don't know how you do it."

The brutally honest answer from my stand point is... how does any parent do it?
The truth is 1 kid or 10 kids being a parent is hard, but for us when we have all of our kids with us life goes smoother. They keep each other entertained. But we also make even the smaller children do chores! They live here they can help.

Here is an example of how we divide chores:

2-3 years
Help older sibling set the table by doing spoons and forks
Match socks
Help dust
Wipe baseboard with soapy rag
Help pick up trash
Help pull weeks
Scoop dog food

4-7
All things on list above
Make bed
Pick up toys
Bathroom every other day alternating with the big guys
Put away laundry
Clean and Vacuum/dust mop bedroom
Vacuum or Dust mop living room
Bring laundry to laundry room on assigned days
Set the table
Help put away groceries
Help harvest garden
Clear and wipe table and chairs after meals
Mop every other day
Help cut coupons

8-12
All things on lists above
Clean your room including vacuum, dust and make beds
Bathroom on assigned days
Wash, dry, fold/hang up/ put away laundry on assigned laundry day
On laundry day strip linens and wash them and remake bed
Dishes
Help cook during assigned meals
Feed/Water/Walk and Bathe pets
Mow the lawn during your week
Rake the leaves
Help with the garden
Carry in groceries from the car
Help coupon, meal plan and shop

We do not "pay" for chores. If a child wants to earn money they can do that a variety of ways: straight As, bringing grades up, being kind when its hard to be, extra chores.

Another way that we keep things decluttered is to throw away toys when they are broken and can't be fixed or dvds that are scratched. There is no need to hold on to junk. Clothes that are too small are brought to the give away box when they are tried on and don't fit. If they wore an outfit that no longer fits right, they put it in my laundry basket and I know that it does not fit. I will wash them and either put them in the give away box or in a storage bag to hold on for the next kid. If we no longer use items they go in the give away box or yard sale box.

What chores do your kids do?

Garden

I am very excited to say that I finally have some plants of my own that I am growing! I have wanted a garden for as long as I can remember. Needless to say, living in a home with no yard makes that a little hard. So urban gardening it is!

A while back Brad built me some planter boxes. I found some starter plants at farmers market and decided that they would work great in our small area. I get 4 tomato plants, a leek plant and a chamomile plant. I already have some herb plants and a citronella plant.

When we eventually move we will be buying enough land to have a garden. I think that this is great for the kids to learn. It is skills that you are not really taught in school. Everyone should know how to grow their own food and preserve it and should be taught hard work and responsibility.

What do you grow in your garden?

DIY Planter Boxes

Brad has spent the weekend building planter boxes for our deck. Where we are renting we certainly do not have the room to put out a garden... so we are doing an urban garden. We are really strapped for cash so we are going about this the cheapest way that we know how. This past week we have been blessed with being able to gather supplies for free.

Brad was able to get lumber out of the throw away pile at work and a 3 gallon bucket. He is going to fashion the lumber into a vertical garden. I was able to get some planter pots from bushes that my parents had purchased for their flower bed.

My mom just purchased some plants for her garden and there were multiple plants in the pots. She is going to give me clipping and extra plants to start our garden.

I am so excited to save money on our grocery bill and not to mention teach the children new skills and have a little more control over what we put in our bodies. I feel so blessed that we have some skills that will allow us to do extra things that we otherwise wouldn't be able to afford.

Feeding Large Family on a Budget

I am often asked how we keep all our boys fed, because they eat like horses! I have been a penny pincher since I was 10 years old so I have learned a few tricks. I decided to share my nonconventional tips as well because they really do help!

1. We don't eat out... hardly ever. As we approach our 1 year anniversary, we have eaten out with kids in toll maybe 3 times. We always eat at home. It's much more healthy for us and saves so much money.

2. We don't do boxed meals. Everything we make is from scratch. This is not only due to cost, but also due to dietary restrictions that we have. We were dairy free though DS3 has outgrown his allergy now and we are less restricted. We are completely nut free and limit gluten intake as I have Celiac disease and DS4 is autistic and DS5 is severe ADHD. We also avoid red food coloring like the plague except on special occasions.

3. We shop multiple stores. We shop according to our meal plan for the week and we stock up when what we need is at the lowest cost. For me this means keeping a notebook with a list of local stores and staples and the average price I have seen those items at. Then when we are preparing our shopping list we cross check sales ads and adjust as needed.

4. We coupon. Yes, I am that annoying lady who has a huge pile of coupons that she treats like her children. We will buy a ton of items when they are an amazing price. I haven't bought deodorant in 6 years and no we don't stink. I found a deal on deodorant where I was paid $.10 a stick to buy it and I hit up all the local store buying as many as I could. A few tips to couponing: be courteous and don't clear the shelf, let people go ahead of you, if you are planning on making a major haul ask to speak to the store manager when you arrive and tell them the crazy amount you plan on purchasing... they typically open up a register just for me so that way you are not holding up other shoppers or frustrating the cashier.

5. Buy in bulk when possible. Shelf stable items that can be bought cheaper in a big box store or online are lifesavers.

6. Grow/Raise your own. Our current rental doesn't allow for a big garden but we have some planters with herbs and tomatoes. When we move next year, we will be finding a place with room for a garden and chickens and possibly meat rabbits.

7. Go meatless. Many of our meals are meatless. Meat is pricy and too much is not good for you. Fresh veggies and grains are filling and good for you and much much cheaper.

8. Waste not want not. We save all of our scraps. I have freezer containers and I put left over veggies, broths, bones, fruits and grains into their own containers. We use the left overs for soup. We will make a huge pot of vegetable soup and the fruit for smoothies and the bones to make bone broth.

9. Crop share. Barter when you can. We have herbs that some of our friends don't and we trade. Our church offers a crop trade too which is excellent. We trade our herbs for squash and peppers mostly. Every penny counts.

10. Meal plan. I am the enforcer when it comes to meal plans. I have four meal plans that I rotate based on season. More salads in the warmer months and more soups in the cooler months. We stick to these.

11. Attend free food events. This not only helps our grocery budget but provides for a change in meals and free entertainment. Plus, who doesn't love free stuff.

Laundry Savings

I am always searching for ways to cut cost and save a few pennies. Those pennies add up! One of my more recent endeavors was trying to find ways to skip laundry costs. Below is a list of money saving tips I found while trying to save money:

1. When you are able was in cold water. Not only does it save money on electricity, it saves the integrity of your clothing, causing items to last longer.

2. If you have the space, use a clothing line. There is nothing in the world like the smell of clothing that has been dried in the sun. It saves money on the electric bill. It also is recommended for smelly cloth diapers and undergarments that have been up against thrush and yeasty skin.

3. If you like to use fabric softners or dryer sheets, cut those dryer sheets in half or use sponges cut in half and soaked in a mixture of hair conditioner and water.

4. Water down and lessen the amount of laundry detergent used. Really it's not necessary to use that strong of and that much soap. I love gain and it's one of the few we are not allergic to. I save the last bottle that I am using as it gets low. I then open a new bottle and add a few caps to the existing bottle and add water shake and let sit. Replace the amount taken out of new bottle with water, shake and let sit. Two full bottles. I typically use only a fourth of the recommended amount.

5. We wear our jeans many times before washing. We will hang them up and use them again another day. It saves the integrity of the jeans and they don't shrink as fast. In fact, I haven't ever machine washed my favorite pair. I will hand wash and hang in the sun to dry.

6. Get a sewing kit. Why spend money on a new item of clothing for a missing button or minor tear? Fix them yourself to save money.

7. I love hand-me-downs. Invest in a good stain remover. Again fix those clothes and pass them down.

8. Always run a full load. It saves on water, electric, and soap... not to mention time.

It's Been A While

We have had quite a few bumps over the last couple of weeks... but I'm back. So we moved into a rental trailer for the time being. We are wanting to stay below our budget in hopes of fixing our credit and saving up for a house. It's very small for our large family... just under 1000 sq ft. But we are  making it work for us. DS1,2&3 are in one room and the littles are in the other. I'm very thankful because my grandmother is letting me store stuff we don't have room for in her garage. That is saving me $100 a month in storage unit fees. We have been getting his boys every weekend since we moved in and are so thankful! DS1 has been having sleepovers every weekend lately but hope to have him stay with us soon. We are loving finally being under the same roof! We are making our little family work.

Goals for the month:
▪️Have a budget meeting and come up with goals for this year
▪️Get a joint account to better handle our finances
▪️Work on baby step 1 of Dave Ramsey (we got off track)
▪️Quit smoking both of us
▪️Get a "Dave job"... a side hustle to help with our budget
▪️Start couponing again and work it into a lesson with the boys
▪️Return to church (I have been unable to attend due to my engine in my van blowing up)
▪️Have DS5 birthday party and make his cake

Menu Planning

With a big family comes lots of hungry bellies and lots of running around. I love to keep life a little more simple. Hey, mama's got to have her time too, right? Our kids will eat pretty much anything that doesn't eat them first and that is a bit of a burden on the budget but also not good for some of them. We have two of our precious boys that are heavier. We don't want them to struggle with their weight so we are trying to teach them to eat healthy. I have turned to meal planning and grocery booking (price book) to come to the rescue.

I do my meal plans a little differently that other ladies I know who meal plan. I use a word document and divide up to breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks.  I have it on four 4 week cycles... one for each season. We do more soups and stews in the fall and winter and more salads and grilling in the spring and summer. I include a weekly shopping list for each weeks menu. I then go and check the sales ads as to where I need to go. I laminate them so I can cross what I already have or have already put in my cart off the list. I like to be able to reuse my list and menus.

I include two left over days on our menus. One is always Thursday for dinner. We have scouts that night and really pushed for time that day. It is so much easier for us to do that. The other day is Sunday lunch time. That way we can all come home from church and relax and it clears the clutter for where I make a large Sunday dinner. Plus I hate food waste. It is a major pet peeve for me! I actually save left over veggies and fruits out of the serving bowl, bones, soups, broths, meat, and grains without sauce. I put them in separate bags in the freezer. I use leftover bones, onions, carrots, celery, peppers to make bone broth. I save left over broths and veggies, grains and meats for soups or casseroles. I save fruits for smoothies or compote. I will freeze yogurt and milk right before it goes out of date and will mix it will the fruit and some ice to make fruit sherbet or ice cream (we love banana ice cream).

I use a lot of ziplock bags. I do rinse and reuse until they are on their last leg. Once I realize I am only going to get one more use out of it, I will use it for raw meat. I do not reuse bags that have contained raw meat.

What are some of your meal planning tips?

Being Productive

Adjusting to our newly blended family is taking some work. I am very type A personality and I truly do have OCD (like actually diagnosed with it not someone who just claims to be) so I like organization... I need it. I am working on a way to make our machine finely tuned and running smoothly, while saving time and money. This does not come naturally. It takes work, patience and lots of love. I am working on a family binder (series to come), color coding system, chore schedule, laundry schedule and daily routine schedule. To make this work we will all have to pitch in. I am in the process of making menu plans and collecting ideas from the kids as to what foods they will absolutely not eat. DS1 and DS5 are impossible to please with foods, yet they are my chunky kids who like to eat a lot.

I really need to get this machine fine tuned and everyone on a schedule. Of course it will be easier once we are able to get under one roof. I am greatly appreciative of Brad's communication skills. He calls to tell me all the changes in his plans and when he will be out of town working and what not so that way we do not double book ourselves. I will be posting a series on our method of running a family as large and as crazy busy as ours. I would really like to do some video blogs at some point this year, but it will be a bit difficult until we get internet. Right now, I have to use the library or my parents' internet.

I am finding it difficult to allow my kids to be somewhat free range and have control over what they do and when AND have a controlled semi sort of organized home life. I do not want to infringe on their personal desires for their little lives but I can not stand chaos!

What are some ways that you keep your family organized?

And... We THOUGHT We Bought A House

Well... Our perfect house was a nightmare! When the home inspection was done, we learned that there was upward of $50,000 in immediate repairs needed on the home. We obviously do not have that money laying around. We were given the opportunity to get out of our contract and walk away which we did, but we lose $397 for the home and pest inspection and will have to pay for another one when we go to put a contract on another home. We are back to looking and we went to look at a few this weekend. I have a feeling we have a long road ahead of us. I really hate this because we don't live together yet. We are together as much as we can. I hate us all not being together everyday. BUT we have to be adults and worry about the needs of our rather large family and not the wants that will be solved once we get into a house.

House hunting is giving me a headache! We both have certain things that we need in the house that we will not budge on. But our wallet says one of us has to budge a little. I believe that God saved us one the first house. It was a little out of our price range and Brad was planning on getting a second job for us to be able to afford it and live comfortably. I would much rather have a smaller, fixer upper house that is in our comfy budget, than having to stretch and scrimp and pinch every penny. Praying for this house to come together. We are actually looking for a bit of a project house so that we can let the boys help and teach them skills as we fix it up. It is going to be a hobby for the two of us as we fix it up and plan to sell it 5 or 6 years down the road when we need a bit of a bigger home.

Everything happens for a reason, but goodness gracious my patience is running thin.

Calendar To Organize This Big Family

Keeping up with everyone's  schedule is kind of a mess around here. We want to make sure that the whole family's needs and social and professional schedules are met. We have implemented the old fashioned calendar method. We have a planner that every appointment and scheduled meeting is written down on it, as is bills and birthdays. Though to be honest, mama is the only one allowed to actually write on it. I may be a bit touchy about that one. So every event that someone wants to attend has to be written down and scheduled or it does not get priority. Everyone has an assigned color on the calendar and we have a color for when the whole family is participating. So far it is working pretty well, but I would like to find an electronic version that I can use as a back up.

Using a calendar also helps us with school and save us money by avoiding late fees. DS1 has had issues with doing school work. He is extremely smart and gets bored easily. We have had him start using his own pocket calendar to mark down assignments and have the teachers mark off on them as well to show us that he is not lying about assignments. It may sound harsh, but he has a bright future as long as he will apply himself. I would much rather him be frustrated with us now for having to get the agenda signed, than for him to be frustrated because he can't afford to live on his own as an adult. We want our children to not have to struggle like we have had to do.

We have a lot of upcoming doctor appointments. The calendar is my best friend. The color system makes it so much easier to keep up with getting everyone where they need to be. My calendar may be full but so it my heart.

We Bought a House

After many tedious months, we finally have found a house big enough to accommodate our large family! We are so blessed! It is going to need quite a bit of fixing up, but thankfully Brad is very skilled in fixing things. Me? Not so much... but I am really good at supervising while he does it! Haha. I am rapidly falling in love with Pinterest. There are so many inexpensive and easy fixes to make the place more modern.

The house needs painting and flooring, but the fixtures are from the 1960s. The feature that under no circumstances is to be changed... the beautiful French doors leading to the dining room! I am so in love with them. I am going to be a Pinterest trying queen in the next few months. Some things will have to come more quickly than others. The house has no smoke detectors! There are several exit doors to the house which is great in case of a fire, but really bad when DS4 is a runner due to the autism. We will be getting a burglar alarm immediately. We are about to enter the teenage years with our older boys anyway. An alarm will save us some headaches from young men who think they get to sneak out! I love how they think we were never young... news flash we created and pulled off more ideas than you'll ever think of!

We have a little over three acres of land. So we are going to be homesteading a little bit! We are going to plant a garden, get chickens, ducks and possibly meat rabbits. I am excited to learn new things and share them with you! I am sure there will be some hilarious fails along the way, but hey we all have to learn somehow!