Less is More - Tackle the kids' rooms

You may need to schedule a playdate for your kiddos if they are home while you attempt this.  It might get ugly, otherwise.

Your mission today is to get rid of the excess in your kids' bedrooms.  And the playroom if you have it.  Anything broken needs to go.  Ditto for things with too many pieces.  And duplicates.  And things they don't play with.  Keep the classics like Legos, books, puzzles, Lincoln logs, good quality dolls (Barbies are suspect....), train sets, and so on.  If it breaks your heart to trash the artwork, allow yourself to save one masterpiece per child per year and mail the rest to grandparents, aunts, and any of your BFF's that have the guts to look at it once, appreciate it,  and file it...in the garbage. 

Then get it out of the house.  This is a critical step.  Don't ask how I know but trust me.  This is a critical step!

You will have cleaned out linen closets, the kitchen, bathrooms, the den, and now the kids' rooms!  You deserve an ice cream sundae.  With alot of chocolate.  And cinnamon rolls.  Call me if you feel led to share.............

Bonus mission - Tackle the bookshelves in your home. If books are your treasured friends like they are mine, this will be D-I-F-F-I-C-U-L-T.  But arm yourself with a Tab (my personal fav) and get to it.  Set a goal to clear out at least 25 books and donate them to the library.  When we did this last year, we stocked the shelves in our adult SS class at our church and invited folks to take what they wanted - to borrow or to keep.  Interestingly, we have enough books so that I need to do this again....

Less is More - saving time and money

One of the greatest money AND time saver for me is meal preparation shortcuts. Today's post sort of flows from yesterday's!
.  My rule of thumb is to know what's for dinner by 9 am. Even better is to know the night before!  But just don't wait til 5pm to figure it out.  Even noon is really too late to make those decisions.  The physical preparation may not begin that far in advance but the planning needs to.  I try to get the family's schedule on Sunday afternoons and then plan out our food for the week.  I don't shop based on what we plan to eat - I plan our meals based on what's in the pantry.  (Remember "the pantry principle"? I stock up when things are a good deal and then just replenish the basics.)

Here are some tips that help me save time and money -

1.  Crockpot meals. You can cook lasagna, meatloaf, granola, breakfast casserole and even boiled peanuts in your crockpot!  There are entire cookbooks devoted to crockpot meals.  And websites.  My personal favorite is Fix it and Forget it
2.  Freezer meals.  Again, a plethora of websites and books available to enable you to prepare an entire month's worth of meals in a day. I recommend Frozen Assets.  I don't get an entire month of meals but I do employ the idea to get a couple of weeks done.  And I continuously double or triple whatever I am preparing in order to stash some in the freezer. Also very helpful when I want to take dinner to someone but am at the end of my grocery budget.
3.  Creative use of leftovers. The emphasis is on the "creative" part. No need to just reheat the last night's dinner! This just takes practice.  Our Moms and Grandmothers were experts at this and we can achieve the same status.  Just gotta get started. For example, leftover roasted chicken becomes chicken spaghetti the next day.  Extra roast beef is shredded to make yummy french dip sandwiches.  Taco meat is used up the next morning when added to scrambled eggs and turned into a hearty breakfast burrito. Pinto beans from one day are used as enchilada filler the next.  Any remaining strawberries or blueberries are smoothie material at our house.  Stale bread can be used to make french toast or croutons or bread crumbs.  Don't throw it out or feed it to the birds!!  When you have completely exhausted your options, set all the leftovers out - hodge podge as it may be - and announce you are having "CORD" for dinner.  That's "clean out refrigerator day"!!
4. Grocery shop less often.  There have been seasons in my budget that I have only gone once a month.  (Except for an occasional stop for milk but even that can be frozen so we really could get by with just a once a month trip!)  Learning to "make do" with what we have has saved me a bundle.  Interestingly, my family rarely notices that I am "stretching" it.  They think it's fun to have pancakes and sausage for dinner!
5.  Have a buddy.  My friend, Dianna, loves the challenge of managing household income as much as I do and she is a constant source of ideas, encouragement and FUN.  It helps ALOT to have an ally in this adventure so I urge you to find a like-minded friend and share with one another.  Proverbs tells us "iron sharpens iron". 

Less is More - PLAN

If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.  At money management, that is.  We already established the need for a budget so I hope you are well on your way to success in that area. But there's more to planning that a budget.  Planning ahead for intended expenditures is a great way to make money go further. Here are just a few ideas:


1.  Stock up on giftwrap supplies at the end of the season.  Solid color Christmas giftwrap can double for yearround gifts! (and Christmas cards...if this is your year to do them, that is!)
2.  Pretty paper products are often marked way down - stock up for an inexpensive hostess gift or friend's bday.  This was one of the my most favorite gifts one year!
3.  Make your Christmas gift-giving list by May.  Then begin purchasing those gifts immediately. Spreading the purchases over several months saves time, money, and sanity.
4.  Buy birthday cards in bulk.  My friend Peggy has an "eternal" birthday book where she keeps EVERYONE's birthday.  And I do mean EVERYONE.  It is sort of a rolling calendar that only needs updating when someone is born or she adds a new friend.  Sigh.  She is the most organized person I know.  I need more time with her.
5.  Have an "eagle eye" for the huge markdowns at places like Target.  When you spot a potential gift AT A GREAT MARKDOWN, get it for your "gift box".
6.  Anticipate the baking you will need to do for holidays and spread those expenditures out over several weeks.  Chocolate chips and nuts freeze so stock up when they are on sale.
7.  Always be thinking ahead.  If you want to get your husband a new winter coat, be on the lookout.  In July.
8.  Keep a stash of breakfast breads, pancakes, etc in your freezer for "those kind of mornings".  Oh, and it goes w/o saying that I am not recommending the ones you buy.  Nope, I mean homemade. Make a double batch whenever you prepare pancakes or banana bread and put the other one in the freezer for later. This goes for chicken tetrazzini, taco soup, cooked chicken breasts (to shred for casseroles or fajitas), breakfast casseroles (sausage-egg or baked french toast) , cookies (I even prepare the cookie dough, roll it up like Pilsbury, wrap it well and freeze it to bake later), cakes, etc.  Having things on hand prevents meltdown-- emotional AND financial!
9.  Simply put, make planning ahead a way of life.  Anticipate what is coming up and be prepared.  DO NOT allow yourself to be lazy.  While I highly recommend a good nap every once in a while, be sure that your work is done first.  This will increase peace, decrease spending, and significantly reduce stress. 

Less is More - but still fun!

Cheap or free entertainment ideas:

1.  Local library - story time, books and movies AND - 4 free passes to the Atlanta Zoo if you watch a 22 minutes DVD at your local branch!!!
2.  Board games - sharpen minds and help the wallet - we love "apples to apples" and "catchphrase"
3.  Don't fall prey to the myth that you must entertain your children.  Interact with them but you should not entertain them.  Help them make a list of things they can do when they are bored and then refer them to it.  Or to the chore chart.  That works magic in my house when kids "don't have anything to do."
4.  Visit local thrift store and give each child $3 to spend however they want. Aren't I generous???
5.  Blanket forts
6.  Neighborhood bike rides
7.  Picnics at the park
8.  Visit a local nursing home and deliver cookies.
9.  In the summertime, fill a bucket with water, arm your kids with paintbrushes and let them "paint" the shed or the fence or the house!
10.  Write a thank you note to your area's policeman and deliver it in person.  With a plate of cookies.
11. Look online for DIY recipes for bubble solution or playdoh or fingerpaint.  And go for it!
12.  My personal motto for numerous situations is "On bad days, bake brownies."
13.  Look at the stars.  It is a fun activity for us to stretch out in our open field, volleyballs under our heads for cushion, and look at the stars. 
14.  Make ice cream in a baggie.  Check online for a recipe.  EASY doesn't even begin to describe it!
15.  A nap would be my personal favorite but I have YET to have a child agree with me.  Hmmm, I think my two oldest would now, though!!  College and Motherhood have a way of making naps sound like fun.
16,  Playing outside in the rain.  Gotta get money's worth out of those rain boots!
17.  Video scavenger hunt.  This is a blast with a large group of folks.  We did it for one of the kids' birthdays and still talk about how fun it was!

What suggestions do you have?

Less is More - just don't do it

This is the "anti-Nike" idea - just don't do it.  Some things you think you have to, that is.  I don't do Christmas cards every year.  And, the first "off"year was hard.  I wanted to send a letter to everyone on my list explaining that I wasn't doing cards that year!  But I managed to survive.  And not one person on my list went into prolonged and irretriveable depression.  Not one.

What else can you "just not do" and survive?  A gift for every person your child comes in contact with?  Redecorate your dining room every two years?  Cable TV?(I hear curses from many sources!) Preschool?  Private school???? Season tickets to something? Gym membership? Dance lessons for your two year old? A home in that "certain" neighborhood?  A car for your 16 year old?

I'd like to hear some of the things you have "anti-Nike'd".  Might inspire me to cut it out, too!!