I’ve barely worked the past four weeks!  I thought having both big kids in Independent Studies would help free up some time for me to work.  Ummmm, NO!  My kids are in school Tuesdays and Fridays.  The baby needs, understandably, all my attention those days as her big siblings are not home to do everything she commands – and oh yeah – she commands!  I don’t have them work those afternoons because they have Robotics in the evenings Tuesdays and Fridays.  They need some down time, and outside time, between school and dinner.

The other three weekdays are just nonstop work from when they wake up until they eat dinner.  One day, my kids worked 12 hours.  They are to have 5 hours of work assigned each day they are home so clearly there is a problem.  We are working to alter their work environment to see if it is them or if they are given too much work.  I know they put a lot of effort into their assignments (which is a trait they DID NOT get from me).  Caleb’s rough draft today for his lit assignment was typed with a picture included.  Not any picture!  He searched around to find the same picture his teacher used in class.  The problem is that all he did today was English.  That should take 4 hours max (for Wednesday and Thursday) and he worked for 6-7 hours today.  Tomorrow, he will have to complete the other 3 subjects (should be 6 hours total).

All I know is that if they are working all day, they have no time to watch Ava while I work.  Usually each big kid watches Ava for 30 minutes each afternoon and I pay them for their time.  Also, Caleb needs a computer for his assignments so I don’t even bother trying to use my laptop while he is working.  That eliminates the ability to work when Ava naps.  I have my phone and do what I can with it.  I hop on the laptop for a few minutes during their lunch and while dinner is cooking.

The simple solution may just be to go ahead and get Caleb a laptop.  I feel bad though.  Poor Lauren!  She got her first cell phone for a birthday gift.  Caleb got his the evening that someone pretended to work at Costco and told he and his friend they would have to go outside with him if they did not find their mom right away.  Lauren got her laptop for a Christmas gift.  Caleb may just get one because it is driving me crazy to not have mine!  Such is life for the oldest child I guess.  I’m the oldest and I survived so I am sure she will too.

I’ve been working to automate as many processes on the blog as possible so I hope that will enable me to post more in less time.  If not, I’ll be back next Wednesday evening !

The New Method

Now I am first loyal to myself.  This should not surprise you as I am sure most small business owners buy from their own store when they can.  Last year, I gave Klean Kanteen water bottles, To Go Ware containers, Envirosax reusable totes, and Fleurville diaper bags for Christmas, birthdays, and baby shower gifts.  Not only do I pay cost (+ tax), it also helps keep products moving.

Next I try to be loyal to the small, local stores – although not loyal enough to double my grocery budget.   I now shop at my local co-op grocery store.  I even starting doing an ad/coupon match-up but took a break from that for the summer.  The local co-op is pricey if I purchase all my groceries there so that is just not an option with our $100/week budget.  I do look at their sales and consistently purchase bulk spices there.  I’ve recently learned that my co-op is not a traditional co-op and am looking into one downtown that is a traditional co-op.  More details will follow as I learn the difference between the two and how they will benefit our family!

We are looking at ways to give useful, homemade gifts.  One gift I will give this Christmas is a collection of spice mixes I make.  I will purchase the empty jars from a local, small grocery store and the spices from the local co-op.

I shop for my grains, some beans, and sucanats at The Bread Beckers.  They also sell all the equipment needed for wheat grinding, yogurt making, dehydrating, etc.  I am fortunate to live about 20 minutes from their store in Woodstock, GA.  They run co-ops all along the East Coast once a quarter.  If you don’t have access to a store that sells grains in bulk, the co-op may be an option for you.  I only have to shop there once a year.

I aim to purchase most of my meat from Georgia and produce from local and regional farms.  Whole Foods, the co-op, and Publix all sell meat from Georgia.  If one has a great sale, that will get me in the door.  Otherwise, my shopping just depends on which store has the bulk of what I need.

I wanted to explore more farmer’s markets around the city, as well as the State Farmer’s Market, this summer but the heat has really slowed me down.  We have a local produce stand out in East Cobb.  I have a feeling they are getting their produce from the State Market.  I plan to stop by there next week and ask more questions.  I want to be informed from day one next spring when they reopen.

Now, I still shop all the major stores.  I love Target (some food, some clothes, school supplies, cds/dvds).  The sale has to be really, really good though to get me in the door at Kroger or Walmart as these stores are not convenient to me.  I have to need the sale item(s) to get me into CVS or Walgreens.  If there is an item that I can make money on, I will get it if I can use or donate it.  I only hit about 10% of those sales right now.  I purchase prescriptions at CVS and use their Minute Clinic so I don’t feel bad getting their loss leaders.   I only shop at Walgreens about once a month.

Next week I will address Work At Home Moms and how important it is, in my opinion, to support these ladies.

This is the second post in a three post series.



Southern Living at Home is now Willow House.  I started working with them last year but could not find my niche.  Being a homeschooling, work-at-home-mom makes attending parties very hard and hosting them even harder.  The toddler does not help either – though she is cute to watch!

I love the Willow House products though which is why I signed up last August.  It was sort of my birthday present to myself.  I figured even if I could not make it work, I would get a smokin’ starter set which at the time, was full of the iron products I love.

Fast forward a year.  After leaving Breckenridge last month, I sat down and racked my brain for ways to further develop the blog, cloth diaper store, and my relationship with Shaklee and Willow House.  Then it hit me – Willow House Blog Parties!  I think it is an awesome idea and very easy for a blog owner to be the host.  It is a great way for someone who may not feel comfortable opening up their house to have a party and earn discounts off of, and credits towards products for their own home.

Here is how simple a Willow House Blog Party can be!

• I will write up an explanation that you, the host can either use or paraphrase.
• I will provide several images to be used in your post or as a sidebar button during the sale.
• We will set a time frame for orders to be placed and directions and links to the online catalog and store.
• We will emphasize over and over again that the customers must have the items shipped directly to their house – not to the host – unless you personally know the host and live near her.

Interested? Contact me for more information.

Jenae, from I Can Teach My Child, is guest posting about allowances on Money Saving Mom today.  After leaving such a long comment, I thought I would just post it over here on my own blog as well.

Our big kids are 10 and 12. We have tried so many systems over the years and finally have one we like.

We feel that chores are just a part of life. Our kids need to:

• make their bed before they leave the house

• put their clothes in the dirty clothes (sort if needed)

• take their pile of clean clothes to their room and put them where they belong. If I fold the laundry – I fold everything for them and sort into a sock pile, pj pile, hanger pile, etc. My husband will give them a huge pile and they to put their socks together and deal with it all.

• help watch the toddler when I am doing my chores if needed.

• anything else we need them to do (vacuum, dust, pick up the toddler’s toys – though she is getting pretty good at this herself now).

They don’t get paid to do the above items. They lose their Internet/PlayStation/TV/phone privileges if they are not consistently doing their chores. Since we have been trying to sell our house for more than 3.5 years, it is imperative that our house be clean so we can be Show Ready in 20 (this is a series I am working on)!

On Sunday, my husband gets $20 allowance (lunch out, concert tickets, cds, dvds) and the kids and I get $5 each. This is our mad money. If the kids misbehave, we don’t take this money from them. I only take $5 for me because I leave the house one evening a week to work and need to buy something to use the free WiFi where I go. Usually it is a fruit cup and diet coke at Chick-fil-A. I put the rest into the grocery envelope. I felt like me having $20 a week would turn into many drive thru diet cokes and would be unhealthy for me. Just saying that so you don’t get a bad impression of my Brian for taking $20 and only giving me $5)

We make the kids buy everything themselves that they don’t need or we don’t have in the budget. For example, we went out to eat with a gift card this weekend but needed $4 extra dollars when the bill arrived to pay for the $1.99 ice cream the kids got. Guess where that money came from – their purse & wallet. Right there, on the spot. If they don’t have the cash, they don’t get what they want.

The kids have adapted very well to this new system. The best part is that Brian and I are finally working together on the budget therefore it is actually working and everyone has a positive attitude.

Consumer Loyalty

When I started my own business last spring, it had an unexpected side effect.  My consumer ethics changed drastically.

The Old Method

For years, I was loyal to the sale.  I would

• buy the loss leaders all around town each week.
• move my prescriptions around as many times as I could to get the free gift cards.
• sign up for offer after offer for the free samples and coupons.
• participate in every $10/$10 online offer.

Now these things were not bad things.  Obviously, the stores want you to come in their doors.  I was not doing anything wrong and always used coupons properly.  I realized that I was never going to buy more items from that online store offering the $10/10.  Those free samples cost the companies so much money to produce and mail out.  I am not going to get hooked on a product because of a free sample (well, usually not) because I am not brand loyal.  Sure, maybe I will get a couple free washes with the shampoo sample, or throw the meds in the travel bag, but overall, it is just not worth the energy and money, in my opinion.

Now, I only participate in the online offers that will allow me to try out certain products that I use over an over.  An example is natural chap-stick.  I spend $3-$4 in store and use chap-stick daily.  I think I’ve found my source now, thanks to the Made On Lip Balm Amy from The Finer Things in Life! brought to the Savvy Blogging Summit.  I have will have a post dedicated to that shortly.  These will also appear in my eco/healthy/thrifty gift suggestion series that will start in the fall.

This is the first post in a three post series.

The winner is Ashley R

I am in a scrapbooking, creative mood right now so I am giving away a 4×6 Green Stack pad of scrapbook paper and a box of Green Stack Chipboard.  When I first opened my store, I found a 12×12 ECO pad of paper by DCWV.  I loved the prints and used many for signage and cards.  Now they have the Green Stack line make from 70% recycled paper.  Usually recycled paper is very thin.  That is not the case with this scrapbook paper.  The quality is amazing.

To enter, simply leave a comment below (one per person w/US address).  Do you know of another brand (or line) of planet friendly scrapbook products?  I would love to carry more products like this (and I need to get what I have loaded in my store!) I would also love to hear ideas on, and resources for, digital scrapbooking.

We’ve started a new budget, no scratch that, we are implementing the $100/week budget we’ve had in place for a couple years. The change this time is that Brian takes over the money on Sunday (August 1st). He is going to be in charge of paying the bills. I begged him to, explaining that being in charge of the bills is so much more than clicking a few bill-pay buttons each month. I felt like I had the burden of the family’s current financial state, as well as all the planning for the future, on me alone.  It was not working well for me.

For quite a few years, we lived paycheck to paycheck. Then we did not and we saved up a nice chunk of change, aka, emergency fund. Then we started a business, bought a car, bought a treadmill, and remodeled this house to try to help it sell all in less than a year. Bye bye emergency fund. We are now working like crazy to build it back up.

We’ve already paid our kid’s tuition for this school year (to save 5%) so we don’t have to think about that right now. We are working to pay off the car, then put money aside for the 2011-2012 school year due next April.

Our budget is very simple:

Food – $100/week

Mad Money – $5/kid, $20 for Brian (none for me by choice because I will just use it to buy Diet Coke!)

Babysitting – $20/week (I pay each kid $2/day to help with Ava while I work an hour each afternoon.)

We’ve set up some of the other categories without set numbers yet.  We have set the maximum numbers but hope to find ways to reduce them.

Clothing

Gifts

Play-curriculum for Ava

Extra school needs for the older 2 (special lunches, yearbooks, school supplies, etc)

Sports

Music lessons

1/4, 1/6, and 1/12 Bills

The pest control is due every 3 months.

The car insurance is due every 6 months.

The tax/tags for the cars and termite bond is due once a year.

I am making Brian a 12 month calendar page to show him when each is due so he can see them all on one page.  I have no idea how he will work or what he will need so I am just doing what I think will help and waiting for him to tell me what he needs.

Grocery University

I’ve spent some time listening to the Grocery University program the past two weeks.  I honestly consider myself a shopping/coupon pro but am always open to new ideas.  I am taking on the grocery university approach to saving money next week.  I will sit down tonight and go through the Publix ad and get my coupons ready for Sunday.  Sunday morning, I will do the same with the Kroger ad.  I will plan my meal, my list, and shop following Carrie’s Grocery University plan.  We had a very hard time getting through this week on $100.  I am out of food money and don’t really have any exciting meals planned for the weekend.  I need a better plan next week.

The Savvy Blogging Summit was amazing.  As I’ve previously stated, I felt it was the most informative training session I’ve attended in my career.  The ladies had the amazing forethought to record the training sessions.  These sessions are now available for purchase.  You can choose individual sessions for $10 each or the entire conference for $97.

Summit Recordings

If you were not able to attend the conference, and want valuable tools to grow your own blog and community, I highly recommend that you invest in the Summit courses.

At the very least, I encourage you to listen to the keynote speech by J.D. Roth, author of the blog Get Rich Slowly and the book Your Money: The Missing Manual.

It just hit me that not only is my birthday 2.5 weeks away, my husband’s birthday is next week!  At the beginning of the year, we said we would do our best to earn as many Swag Bucks as possible and redeem them for Amazon.com gift cards.  Surely we would have enough by the summer, we though, to get ourselves decent gifts.  You can redeem the points 5 times per month per reward so that would give us $25 a month in Amazon gift cards.  I should have $300 by now!

Yeah – I don’t.

We have a total of $50.  While $50 free dollars is great, it is limiting.  Brian will likely pick 2 CDs.  I am getting The Home Creamery but I’m not sure what else.  Any suggestion under $14???

Something else hit me this week as I was thinking about what I would pick with my Amazon money.  I usually ask for things that will benefit my whole family.  It must be a mom thing.  I don’t really have any hobbies that are just for me.  If I am scrapbooking, it is to record the children’s past for them to enjoy later in life.  I have the real memories of my children as babies.  When I am in my crazy coupon clipping stages, I am getting stuff for everyone in my family.  I am saving our family money.  I am instilling good spending habits in the children.  When I get a new cookbook, it is mostly so I can cook new, healthy, and exciting food for Brian (and everyone else can enjoy it too but I have him in mind first).

So, this year, for my birthday, here is what I am asking for.  The same things I always ask for:

• HP564 ink cartridges (no black photo needed – not really sure when it gets used anyway)
• Pyrex mixing bowls – 2 sets would be awesome – no lids necessary
• Pyrex storage dished if they have the gray lid
• Border’s, Amazon.com, CVS, Publix, School Box, Target, Willy’s Burritos gift cards

What can I say – I’m a Mom!  At least I am not asking for a mop this time!

The Savvy Blogging Summit was, professionally speaking, the best training event I’ve ever attended.  I want to thank the women who coordinated the event.  I know they spent hours preparing for this event.  From my perspective, it ran so smooth you’d think these ladies were on their 10th Summit.  The application process, the travel arrangements, the accommodations, the food, the speakers/instructors, and the sponsors were perfect!

Crystal – The Thrifty Mama

Toni – The Happy Housewife

Erin – $5 Dinners

Andrea – Mommy Snacks

Crystal  - Money Saving Mom – At the last minute, she was unable to attend, however I’m sure she help prepare for the event.

This was my first trip to Colorado and I had no idea what to expect.  I listened to the warnings about dehydration and drank a ridiculous amount of water and kept the Advil handy.  Thankfully my headache was mild.  We stayed at the Beaver Run Resort and Conference Center in Breckenridge.  The hospitality was great and the conference center was very nice and accommodating – bloggers need WiFi and power strips!  The weather was amazing.  It was such a nice break from the hot, humid south!  Of course I could not walk far without getting winded.

I want to thank the sponsors of the Savvy Blogging Summit.  Without their support, I doubt any of us could afford to attend.  In addition to sponsoring the event in general, I know that some, if not all, sponsored individuals to the conference as well.

Savings.com – I will be honest.  I am new to Saving.com.  They sponsored our lunch on Friday and attended dinner on Saturday to answer questions.  I know they sponsored the Savvy Blogging event at Blissdom back in February because I came home with a super small, pocket calendar that I am in love with.  Seriously, it is the first calendar that I’ve been able to use consistently.  I need to find one for 2011!!!  Savings.com is an online resource for the savvy shopper.  In addition to the money saving promotions they can provide my family, I am excited to see how I can promote my cloth diaper store on their site with a discount code.  There are not many cloth diaper stores listed .

VigLink – I’ve installed this on my main blog but need to add it to the six new blogs.  I love that they are helping me monetize the site just by posting content.  They are watching my back and I like that!

ShopAtHome.com – I’ve been using this site for awhile now to purchase items online.  I love that they give me cash back for purchases I would make anyways.  I’ve received discounts, free shipping, and then cash back on each order so far.

Mission – I am going through a chips and salsa phase right now.  I was so glad the afternoon snack both days was provided by Mission!

Lijit – I am now using the Lijit search bar on my blogs and I am so pleased!  If you have a blog, you need to look into Lijit!  The stats they provide, embedded right into my blog dashboard, are awesome.  It is saving me precious time and I appreciate that!

Office Max – Office Max provided thumb drives for the Summit (and folders and likely printing services as well for what needed to be printed).  This really impressed me.   Instead of bringing home a copy of each instructor’s Power Point, they were provided on the thumb drive.  The presentations that were not available before hand will be provided at a later date.

FeedBlitz – Phil, founder of FeedBlitz, was with us throughout the entire conference to answer our questions.  I was thankful to have him at the dinner table with me on Saturday.  I was already thinking about diving my content into separate blogs (that run side-by-side).  I want my readers to have 2 options for their feed – either 1 mother load feed that has all the content from all 6 blogs or the option to pick and choose what they want to subscribe to.  He assured me this was possible.  I am in the process of setting it all up (yea!) and should have the options up next week!

Blog Frog – You should join Blog Frog, then join my community.  There is no better way to learn about the Blog Frog Community than to jump right in.  The Blog Frog team worked with us throughout the weekend.  I had some questions and they were happy to talk with me to help me understand their community.  I can’t wait to develop the Suburban Tree Hugger community!

Escalate Media Affiliate Network – I started working with Escalate after they signed up to be a Savvy Blogging Summit sponsor.  I was already a huge fan as the company also owns DiaperSwapppers.com (which is where most of my cloth diaper business comes from at this time).  This is by far the easiest company I use for affiliate marketing ads.  Their format is clean, the programs are respectable, and they are very easy to work with.

BakeMeAWish.com – Yum!  We were treated to dessert after dinner on Friday by BakeMeAWish.com.  Their cakes were beautiful and delicious!

I want to thank Mi Casa Cantina and Fatty’s Pizzeria for hosting such a large group for dinner.  The food was wonderful and the service prompt.

I am sure I’ve only touched the surface of the level sponsorship each business above provided.  I still have 2 more posts from the Summit – the instructors and the lovely bloggers I met!