I am.... a closet hoarder.

I think.
I am.
I think I am a closet hoarder.
You know the type. Maybe you are one too. You get one thing that you LOVE, and then you must have more. You are not happy with just one. (This also pertains to food for me, unfortunately)
Admittedly, I am a clothes and shoes snob for my kids. I tend to buy the super cute, mostly expensive stuff when we have a little extra to spend (or for birthday's and Christmas usually). And then, when I see it on sale... I THINK I HAVE TO BUY MORE, OR IT WILL NEVER BE AVAILABLE EVER AGAIN!!!

Ayla looks adorable in anything (in my unbiased opinion), but she looks even cuter in clothes from TEA or Mini Boden, or Hanna Andersson.... you get the picture. And Google and Facebook know how to do it. They know to put those ads up for those places that taunt me with deals. Also, I "like" them on Facebook, so they themselves taunt me. Maybe I should just "unlike" them?.

I figure with the boys, it might last through two of them, right? Or if I am lucky, all three.

I look around our house and I just see a bunch of stuff though. It has been really getting to me lately, and I feel an incredible need/want to purge some stuff. But when I go to do said purging... I find that most of the stuff is GOOD stuff. You know, wooden toys that for some reason I LOVE, or toys that one of them thinks they can't live without. Or things that we may SOMEDAY need. This good stuff needs and is begging to be let go... but I find myself holding on for some unknown reason.

I think I am going to start trying to consciously make the effort to find out why I can't let go, and then try to get around it. I don't think of myself as overly sentimental. I have let go of some of the kids baby things that a bunch of people I know would not get rid of. I have decided I will keep only handmade stuff or things that I ABSOLUTELY ADORE. Maybe these rules are good to live by.

There are so many ways to accumulate stuff though, isn't there? You can buy it, or get it given to you. You can find it, or it is made. Some stuff the kids make is pretty hard to let go. What if they want to see it when they are older? What if I want to see it when they are older?
Letting go is so much harder when it is you that has to let go. Even of stuff.

The last couple of days, I have had some crazy ideas that need some extra money.... so I am going to try to save said money over the next couple years to try it. Let's see how long this lasts. We already save a decent amount of money for ourselves and the kids; we tend to live within our means (even with my buying expensive kids clothes :) ); and I think it would be a really good thing for our family.

But dreams are always nice as dreams too. Someday.

Someday, I will not be a hoarder.
Someday, I will be able to let go of the things that own me, so that I can be owned only by the things I love.
Someday.

Coupons, coupons, coupons...

I have been trying my hand at actually using coupons around here... they actually do save money! Imagine that! Especially when you are trying to feed your family the "good" stuff, meaning the organic and such... Why is it that THAT stuff is the most expensive, but obviously the best for us? It doesn't seem quite fair. So I have found a couple ways to get the coupons for the products that you actually use.
The store ads are great, and should be looked at weekly, so you can see if there is a staple that you use on sale. Most stores offer their weekly ads right on line. Just google your store and look for the info. For example, I usually go to Smith's , so I go to their website and look under the "In Store" pull down menu and there are the store ads and coupons. Just last week, we saved over $20.00 by buying stuff that was on sale and planning our menu around that! If you can save $20 a week, that is $1040 A YEAR!!! Amazing! There are some sites for your store that will actually load up coupons on your store loyalty card... that is pretty handy.
Another way to get coupons is to actually go to the products website. For instance, Seventh Generation is the manufacturer of most of our cleaning products and the diapers we are trying to use when we are not doing cloth, so I googled them, went to the website, and signed up for their newsletter. When you sign up for the newsletter, you get updates from the products you use, and you get to use coupons for the products! Win, win! I did this for many of the products that we use consistantly, like Newman's Own, and Stonyfield Farm, Horizon Milk, Silk, and oh so many more... it is limitless!
I keep a folder with pockets in the kitchen cabinet, and I put all the coupons I print out in there, and before I go grocery shopping, I grab my coupons that I want to use, and go. It is something you have to think about, and it isn't completely easy, but hey, things are never easy when you want to save money, right? It is like using your reuseable shopping bags... just something you have to remember.
I hope these tips will help someone.... I am leaving some links below for anyone that might be interested.

http://shortcuts.com/home
http://www.horizonorganic.com/coupons/coupons.php
http://coupons.stonyfield.com/signin_coupons.cfm
http://www.annies.com/home
http://www.silksoymilk.com/
http://www.seventhgeneration.com/coupons

Days around here

We have been having a lot of indoor days around here, so the kids have become pretty creative. They decide that they are going "bye, bye" and proceed to get their jackets and shoes and hats on and head out to the laundry room saying, "Bye, Bye Mommy (and Daddy if he is home!) " It is really quite adorable. Ayla has taken quite a liking to her new rain boots (which are huge on her), and insists on wearing them pretty much all the time.
Colton is definitely the instigator and he has decided to enter the terrible two's a little late. He is very headstrong, and likes to boss us around on his terms. Most of the time it is hard to keep a straight face because he is just so darn cute! He spend 45 minutes in time out the other day because he decided he didn't want to say he was sorry for kicking me in the face (not hard, but enough to need to say sorry for), so he sat... and sat... and sat.... it was a tough lesson.

A couple of monkeys!
As for me, I have been busy trying to do our taxes, and getting into the habit of using coupons and buying sale items. I know it sounds like easy stuff; but I have found it is not. We (meaning I) usually try to buy organic stuff, and most of it just isn't on sale. So I have taken to going to each individual website and printing off coupons. And it actually adds up. Also using the store ads to plan meals seems to working pretty well too. I am trying to save us the most money possible, which is a goal worth trying for.

New bikes courtesy of Craigslist

I was perusing Craigslist, as I do almost everyday, and I came across and ad for a Skuut bike (Colton's). It is a bike that has no pedals or training wheels, but instead lets the child learn to balance first and then eventually they should be able to ride a bike without training wheels. So far, it is kind of big for Colton, but I figured a way to make it a little shorter, and he tries to ride it a couple times a day (and hates when Ayla tries!) When we went to pick it up, the seller also had this little bike (for Ayla) and said we could have it. So they each got a new bike, which makes it easier! Tomorrow: 10 things I love right now!

Choosing Simplicity

So my friend Jill lent me a book to read that she though I might be interested in. It is called Choosing Simplicity by Linda Breene Pierce. I have just started reading it, but am already seeing that this is exactly what I have been looking for. Simplicity is so simple, yet seems so out of reach. We are always trying to get more and more and our society says less is not best. But is it? I am leaning towards the answer being yes.
Choosing to live simply is a big step though, and I am not sure that Tyler and the kids would be fully on board. But maybe it's worth a try. I believe that we already live towards "simple". We don't spend extravagantly; we don't have a lot of debt other than our house and car; we don't go out to eat too much; etc. However, there is a lot more we could do. Such as: walk more places; not waste so much food; grow a vegetable garden with stuff we know we will eat or gift; think about everything we do buy and ask ourselves if we really need it; pay off the debt we have now; save some for later; etc...
One decision I made last night as I was reading was to NOT get the gym membership that I have been wanting to get. I got a trial membership to the gym and really like it; however, I now realize that I can buy a couple workout videos, watch them on our TV and dance around with the kids when I need a workout, instead of spending about $30 a month on a gym membership. When we move to our next duty station and if we live near the base, I will have a free gym membership! Yeah! Anyways, that is just one thing.
I am going to give it six months.
I'll let you know how it is going!
In other news, I FINALLY finished my second knitting project, and I am SO happy with the final results. It is a kicking bag for infants, or as Colton calls it, a sleeping bag. Just slip the baby in it instead of using a blanket. I got the idea from the Soulemama blog (located in my favorite blogs) and signed up for the pattern... turned out wonderful. I might modify, so it doesn't take quite so long (chunkier yarn) who knows.



Here are just a few random pictures from the last couple of days... tractor pancakes from this morning; Ayla with her first barrette in her hair (didn't last long) and the kids playing in a box from Costco (which kept them entertained for at least half an hour!)

Making hats

Well, lately in my spare time I have been trying to finish up my hats for the mama to mama project. It is such a great thing to do, and I have been having fun doing it, even though my sewing machine isn't exactly the best thing, and I really wish I had a serger! Maybe someday! But I plan to make about 20 hats and hopefully 2 receiving blankets to send to Maine for kits that they send to Haiti for newborns there. I hope they help someone.
So we have been as a family keeping track of our spending so we could see where our money goes, and we found that it is amazing how much money we spend on food! It seems like we are buying something that pertains to food everyday! How does that happen? We have enough food in the house? Why are we always buying more, even when we don't need it? But it is hard to get in the mindset that food is just to nourish our bodies. We do not need to eat extravagant meals or anything, and we do not need dessert everyday, even though I may think so! So I am trying to convert to a different mindset... not just to save us money, but so that we are more conscious of what we actually do eat and what we waste.
It was so cute this last week when I was sick and aching, the kids found more time to come and snuggle with me! It was so sweet, but sometimes they would fight for the best spot!