One of Those People

Well, I am officially "one of those people" - you know the ones - not really handy, like their toilets to flush... you know - "those people".

I broke down yesterday and called the plumber to "look at" our toilet (who says some jobs don't come with perks)

This call came after about 4 months of hearing it "run", telling 75 people they couldn't use it during a party, manually filling the tank back up and 2 repair trips to Lowes.

I always envision myself as a "repair girl" you know the MacGirlver - get it? I could look at a problem and find a way to fix it. But when it comes to appliances, I am at a loss. Maybe it is the fear of electrocution or that I will take something apart and never be able to put it back together or worse, put it back together and have a pile of spare parts laying on the ground (I wonder if they are important?). One of these days, I am going to take a "home repair" class at Bucks just so I can be a little more handy around the house.

My Dad was the type of dad who could fix anything - broken water heater - fixed, snow blower - fixed and he only lived 10 minutes from me, so my brokenness, was his fixedness! Maybe I should have been paying closer attention to what he was doing. One of my favorite memories is of my dad putting in a ceiling fan and one of my kids coming up behind him with a screwdriver and poking him in the butt - we all learned some new words that day!!

You know how people say, you marry your father - not so much.
I think I specifically loved Cam because he had different traits, but in instances like the toilet, I secretly wish I had married a plumber - Don't get me wrong, Cam can fix 75% of the things that break in our house and that is 100% more than me but we both know when it is time to call in the professionals!

Since Cam is out of the country, I thought I would surprise him with a fixed toilet - not to mention washer too (last week our washer water pump broke)! I figured it is OK to be one of "those people" that calls on the professionals - sometimes it makes more cents and sensibility.

Mr. Clean Vs. Miss Tidy

Most days if you stopped by my house unexpectedly it would be somewhat tidy - I don't have little kids anymore with their little toys - I just have BIG sneakers and smelly socks! But if you looked closely you would see that my house isn't always clean. Not "the cockroach crawling out of my kitchen sink" dirty, just not "white glove" clean.

I learned a long time ago that my level of cleanliness wasn't hyper sensitive, but when clutter started to increase, it drove me crazy.

So when I am crunched for time, I do the jobs that will only build if they don't get done and postpone the ones that  would be the same amount of work whether I did it today or next week. Dishes, ironing, toys will only build like an avalanche if I put it off, but chores like dusting and sweeping will take me just as much time and effort even if I do it only twice a month.

This is one way that I have cut myself a break. I don't stress if we don't clean every week, and most times we do it every two weeks. But most days we make sure the house is picked up. We do this by making sure there is a place for everything. Backpacks have a place, coats have a place, kitchen supplies have a place. It makes it easier for everyone to "participate". You need to find the system that works for you - and if it doesn't, try something else. Baskets and bins are great at corralling clutter - we have 3 boxes on our top shelf in our coat closet - one with a picture of mittens, one for scarves and one for hats. Look at where your clutter is and find a system that works - or get rid of it! We also do something called a "10 minute cleanup" I call everyone together and set the timer - we divide and conquer and usually are able to accomplish a "picked up" house by the time the timer goes off.

I love to think about organizing - it's sick, I know - but it does make life easier. I just bought a shoe holder and hung it in our kids bathroom - I placed medicine, Q-tips, band aids in the pockets - at a glance we can find what we need - I'm so excited! I think this system will work and it's cute to look at.

So even though my house might not impress Mr. Clean, Miss Tidy is welcome anytime!

Cents and Sensibility

I'm back!! I was having all kinds of problems with my blog and posting it. So I guess that is what happens when you use electronics - they have glitches and you just have to wait for the glitches to work themselves out.

But as I waited I decided to change the name of the blog - when I first started I thought it would be all about saving money, but I noticed I liked to talk about life issues too, so I thought I would combine the two - Cents and Sensibility!

I love Jane Austin, but I am a "movie Jane Austin fan", not a "book Jane Austin fan". It started when I watched Pride and Prejudice with my sister in law and now I have rented all her movies including the BBC versions.

But as much as I like the romance, the era drives me crazy - why are they always sitting around doing nothing!! They could be out working, serving, contributing, instead they sit and talk and talk and talk. While their servants do all the work.

I like to work. Even when I was a stay at home mom, I had jobs. I think I liked that sense of accomplishment you don't always get when you are in the "thick of it". Dirty diapers and middle of the night cries don't stoke your ego! So I found things to do that satisfied me and put a few dollars in my pocket.

Here are a few examples of jobs I did: babysitting, private laundry for a nursing home patient, tutoring, crafts, birthday parties, ladies night out craft parties, mystery shopper. Most of the jobs I was able to bring my kids with me or have Cam watch them (we never called it babysitting, becasue technically they are his kids too!)

So if you feel the need to do more than just sit and talk, talk, talk - Jane Austin I love you, but I wanted to make some cents and still be sensible!

Mass Production

                                       Obviously I like to mass produce!                                  

If you made kids as cute as these, you would too! But I also like to mass produce in my daily life. If I am going to put forth the effort to accomplish one task, why not get the most out of it.

Take for example food prep. When I cut up my veggies, carrots, celery, etc. I do all the veggies, not just the ones we will be eating for that meal.

Let's say I prep each time I want a carrot - get out carrots, cutting board, knife, cut, eat, clean up cutting board, knife, counter, put rest of carrots back in the fridge. Repeat when hungry.

Or I can mass produce -  take out carrots, cutting board, knife, cut up all the carrots, put away, clean up cutting board, knife, counter. When hungry - eat carrots.

Which is a better use of my time?

If I am heating the oven I will throw in anything that needs to be cooked so I don't waste the energy it takes to cook just one thing. If I cook chicken - I throw it all in the crock pot and then refrigerate the leftovers. When I am ready to use them in a meal, they are already cooked, all I have to do is reheat. If I can double a meal and freeze the other one, I do it. It takes the same amount of effort to prep and cook so doesn't it make sense to double or triple it. The clean up is basically the same - I've used the same utensils and pots.

I used to stencil slates for a living (actually I had a craft business). When I would do a pattern, I would do all the same slates at one time. I would go down the table in an assembly line fashion. It saved a ton on clean up and time by doing it this way.

When I see a gift that I like, I buy or make a number of them and put them away. Then if I need a last minute gift, I go to the "Gift Drawer" - not to Walmart.

When the kids were little and I made baby food for them, I never prepared just one meal - I would cook up all the sweet potatoes, carrots, chicken and beans and then grind them up and put them in ice cube trays. I would freeze them and then pop them out into a Ziploc. When it was time for a meal, I could pull out a variety of foods, defrost and serve.

When I do haircuts, I let the boys know this is it for the next 2 weeks - get it now! To pull out the kit and clean up is the same whether I cut 1 boys' hair or 4. And I would rather get it all done in one shot.

Now that gas is $25 a gallon - oh is that just in Newtown?? I try to make the most of my trips out - lumping all my errands together, not making unnecessary trips to the grocery store, etc. Not only will this save me gas, but also my time.

I've said it before - time is money - if you do things more efficiently and as cheaply as possible, you get it! So think about what you have to do each day - can you lump several activities together, can you double or triple your effort, it's all these small decisions that add up to make a lot of cents!