This Works for Me Too

It was kind of driving me crazy trying to remember where I used to read "works for me" posts, and I finally remembered!  Rocks In My Dryer, and you can find her posts here.  Man, I miss the wisdom and insight I used to get from daily doses of older and wiser mothers via blogs.  Clover Lane is just about the only one left standing in my reader these days, and it's a really good one.

And my list goes on.

7. Since it's usually fairly bare, I make a concerted effort to clean out fridge before I go grocery shopping- wipe down the shelves, clear out any overripe produce, and make sure we eat the leftovers.  Jason does a great job with those most days, but sometimes we just have to have a leftover dinner night.  Like tonight!

8. I do laundry on Mondays and Fridays.  Otherwise I don't think about it one bit.  We've got plenty of clothes to get us through the days in between, and I don't particularly love laundry enough to do it every day.

9. I could probably write a whole blog about ways I like to save money or challenge myself to not spend money, but I'll just throw in here that no spend days work great for me.  Some people challenge themselves to not spending any extra money for a month or a year, but I've found that a day or two or three every couple of weeks feels great for giving our bank account some time to settle down and sit tight between paychecks.

It's also great for making sure that we're taking care of and using up the things- especially the food- that we've already spent money on.  I read recently that "the cheapest food you'll find is the food that's already in your pantry".  I love that!  I'm not a huge couponer or even multi-store shopper, but I do love the challenge of making meals with what's on hand.  This week's menu has included chicken tika masala with naan, meatball subs, fruit smoothies, french toast casserole, chicken noodle soup, apple cinnamon cake and more, all with the intent of using up some of what we've already got before replacing it with more.  (tiny side note- this drives Jason crazy.  He can't always see the meals that are waiting to be cooked in the seemingly bare fridge like I can, but I can testify that he's never starved on my watch!)

9.5  Another no spend tip that works for me (and this one drives my mom crazy!) is that I like to load up the shopping cart at Target with aaaaaallllll the things I want/need/didn't realize I was ever living without... and then I leave it in the store.  I just did this last week!  I walked into Target with the intention of buying Adam a pair of flip-flops, and was distracted by the Dollar Spot (curse that spot!).  I loaded up my cart with the cutest white ceramic pumpkin, some plaid cloth napkins, a leaf garland, a table runner and a notepad of paper before heading over to the shoe section (that was entirely void of flip flops or sandals of any kind, never mind that it's 90 degrees out this week!).  So I didn't need to buy anything and when I looked down in my cart I saw $25 worth of stuff that I liked but didn't want to pay for and really didn't want to have to take care of for the rest of forever.  Do I really want to start ironing cloth napkins?  Because heaven knows I couldn't stand looking at rumpled napkins at the dinner table every night.  So I left the cart behind (putting everything back, of course) and walked out, with more money in my pocket and less clutter in my life.  I make for a pretty lame shopping buddy, but sometimes just filling up the cart is enough of a "shopping rush" for me.

(a much prettier table runner that I actually did take home another day)

Along those same lines is taking a picture of something and then leaving it behind.  Often it only takes leaving the store to realize that we really don't want or need something- works for my kids and it works for me and Jason, too.  We were all set to buy this cute but expensive tree last week, then got home only to measure and realize that buried power lines made it impossible to plant where we wanted it.  $250 saved!

10.  Family cleaning of the bathrooms on Saturday.  Enough said.  Unless we are going to be gone for the day or things have gotten really smelly, I don't clean the bathrooms by myself during the week.  Everyone gets a job and repeats it in the three bathrooms- toilets, sinks and mirrors, floors, wiping doorknobs and light switches with a Clorox wipe, showers and bathtubs.  Many hands make light work!

11.  Date night group.  We started this in Indiana, and it has been a huge blessing to our family.  We currently rotate babysitting with 4 other families- once a month all of the kids descend on one home and four of the couples get three glorious hours to go on a date (not with the other couples, necessarily, although that's always fun, too).  So that means four dates for every one night of babysitting.  It works beautifully for families that don't have grandma and grandpa nearby and for those who want to date but don't always want to pay a baby-sitter (I think that's everyone, right?).

So there you have it!  A few more things that work for me and help make my world go round.