Do you like my clothes? Do you want them for....free?!

Do you like my clothes? Do you want them for....free?!

Gorgeous Blog

and where I first learned what a "Puttery treat" was.... The Brocante Home! at
http://brocantehome.typepad.com/brocante_home/
I've printed out many of her Vintage Homemaking sheets to put into my own Home Management Binder (I posted about a few days ago).
Gorgeous!!!

I'm up for this... anyone else????

Oh yeah, I'm pitifully out-of-shape. To say I flunked the inital test would be an accurate assessment. I'm on board with this!!!

My new favorite place to shop....

and what did I do before the internet and blogging?

So...CVS. HOW have I missed the savings at CVS for the past um, 38 years? OMG. I'm totally digging on CVS. The EBs (extra bucks) are excellent savers and incentives. I just spent $10 there having saved $4 on sale items then I got back another $4.49 in EBs.

Yeah.. so you know you're frugal and you're pretty bored when you say to your dh on a Saturday night at 6pm "Gosh, I can't wait for the Sunday paper to come out so I can start clipping my coupons and do the rest of menus with the sale fliers." I mean I get EXCITED to do this now...

I'm in "Dave Ramsey" live like no one else so later you can live like no one else mode full-on. So I'm trying to menu plan for 2 weeks and if we can make it another 3 days...we did it. Granted I'm down to the bare minimum.. but we did it. We did have pizza (take out) on Father's Day per John's request after we fried on the beach. (Finding pizza in FL is soooooo different than back home in Philly/Jersey. OMG. We had to really LOOK for a place that was open at 2pm on Sunday and finding pie that didn't taste like cardboard, that's been a whole other story. But I digress...) So for now...food is mostly coming from Walmart, a few meat from Publix and health and beauty and lot of other miscellaneous items from CVS.

And then there's Walgreens where I saved $12 this week with coupons.... but I'll post about that later.

Hope you're having a great weekend!

My home management binder...

Well I finally did one about a month and a half ago. Mine has brought SUCH coolness and organization to my life that I made one for a friend who is moving into a new home! I have tabbed folders to divide my binder into many sections.

I've divided my binder (which sits in my kitchen) like this:

• "Today's to do list"
• "Planner" for calendars, class calendars, library calendars and our birthday calendar for our family/friends.
• "Cleaning" for daily cleaning schedule, monthly and yearly cleaning checklists and I BUNCH of homemade cleaner recipes
• "Menu/Shopping"for menu planning section with a 7 day printout and also a Grocery store "Master List" as well as a folder for coupons and recipes I want to try. (I am loving Smitten Kitchen these days)
• I have a section for Financials (bills and such)
• I have a section for Medical
• I have a section for Home Maintenance with a pocket for receipts
• ditto a section for Auto Maintenance
• Then I have a section for Emergency (incl in this is a printout for each of us with our SS number and blood type)
• For my friend I also included a section for contacts

From MY binder...this is my checklist that's up on the frig for daily chores (I'm like a dog I'm so routined but if I'm not... I'm out of sorts...kwim???)

Daily Cleaning Schedule
Morning:
 Start coffee
 Shower and dress
 Empty dishwasher
 Drink coffee, check email
 Make breakfast for family
 Make beds
 Take out dinner meat
 Start laundry
 Dress kids, kids teeth
 Swish toilets, wipe sinks in bath
 Clean 1 drawer or 1 shelf
HOMESCHOOL
Switch Laundry
Afternoon:
 Make lunch, do dishes
 Pick up toys
 Fold laundry and put it away
 Empty kitty litter
 Water/Weed
 Work 20 minutes on ZONE
 Make dinner
Evening:
 Do dinner dishes
 Get morning coffee ready
 Sweep kitchen and tidy kitchen
 All kids brush teeth, baths, change clothes
 Lay out clothes for a.m.
 Wash face, brush teeth
 Lock all doors
ZONES:
v Dining Room, Boys room
v Kitchen, ceiling fans
v Kids’ bath, Jules’ room
v Our bedroom, our bathroom
v Living Room, Family Room, hall bath
v Sunroom/Playroom, change air filter

Monday
o Mop kitchen and baths
o Clean mirrors and doors
o Vacuum rooms
o Empty all trash
o Wipe appliances down
o Change sheets
o Clean stove and microwave
o 20 minutes on zone
Tuesday
o Dust all surfaces incl desk!
o Finish mirrors, windows, doors
o 20 minutes on zone
Wednesday
o Paperwork and bills
o Sweep, spot mop
o Clean frig
o 20 minutes on zone
Thursday
o Clean all sinks, tubs, toilets
o Menu plan, make grocery list, card list
o 20 minutes on zone
Friday
o Clean laundry room
o Groceries and errands
o 20 minutes on project
Saturday
o Clean car
o Wash garbage cans
o Wash goopey windows
o Mow lawn, trim hedges
Sunday
o Kids’ Nails and Mommy conditions!

So look what I learned how to do

Not only am I discovering these wonderful blog designers lending out free blog designs (see bottom of this blog) I just discovered on tipjunkie.com how to do a signature.

Soooo cool.

It's the little things, ya know?

'Puter issues

Hmmm, the wonders that be at Brighthouse somehow knocked out all of our cable, digital phone and internet for days. Or we had the rare signal.



Quick homeschool update....

C- doing well! Starting on multiplication in Math and loving it. REALLY into History at the moment but it's a fun period that we're doing... ancient Crete. We watched a movie on Ancient Aegeans last week then the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World this week. We're slowing getting into the early Greeks. Very cool. We're all enjoying it.

J- what an awesome reader she is. We're on Explode the Code 3 and starting Horizons Math K this week! Her writing has MUCH improved since she's been homeschooling.



Weather: It's been hot, hot, hot and humid. 92 and 72 lows most days. Blech. I just sit outside and bake. Even my fair skin is tanned (for me). We're enjoying our $50 pool let me tell you. We have definitely gotten our use out of this pool already and it's only June 5th.



Nature: Unfortunately with lack of rain the lake water has REALLY receded and with that that bass and other big fish have sought deeper water so we're left feeding the sunnies and the occasional turtle. It's sad. We've had ONE good rain recently. My garden is not fairing well. I overwatered the garden one day and killed the zucchini and the broccoli is not doing well now either. On a positive note our Gladiolas have started to bloom... gorgeous! Our petunias are starting to dry out and the Gerbera daisies are sad looking. One bud a piece. :sigh::

I keep looking at the weather in Upper Black Eddy, PA (Bucks County, PA) as the new place I want to move (ok, so that changes weekly). Personally it helps me to know that there's a bright spot out there somewhere. I love FL winters, detest the summers. I want to be back in PA where I actually have friends and family. I love Bucks County so it's a small dream...

We have our first meeting for our new private school/homeschool tomorrow night and I'm really psyched up for that!!! Gosh I hope it's a + experience! We're sooo not in a county that is a good homeschooling county (no co-ops, little support, really no true homeschool groups... I can't even get any of the groups to call me back).

We're still doing "homeschool lite"now that summer has officially begun here concentrating more on reading and swimming but history is fun! J is working hard on her writing skills, beginners math and reading of course! C just "got down" his 0,1,2 times tables.

I'm doing sooooooooooo much summer reading: All of the Sophie Kinsella Shopaholic books (they're hilarious), some Jodi Picoult, the Square foot gardeners books AND all of the Dave Ramsey money books. We decided to take the NEXT YEAR to rebuilt our savings which means remaining on our tight, frugal budget until that is accomplished!

Happy Monday!

(btw, like my new blog design?)