I don't really have much advice for you but here's what I have done the last few months that has seemed to help.
No electronics (web surfing, email checking, words with friends, instagram, facebook, blog reading, etc.) during the "swing shift" (which at our house is 2:40-8 - when the kids get home from school until bedtime.
Pizza night once a week. It's routine and for the most part we enjoy it. We watch The Middle on demand while we eat. :)
None of the kids are playing sports. They are all in swimming lessons 2x a week and they are all in class at the same time. This will change come March when track starts...but we've enjoyed the last six months or so.
Good luck -- I hope someone else has some good advice. I'll be checking back for sure.
Pack up half your house as if you were going to put it on the market. A lot of the mess disappears and kids have no toys to play with so they play with each other and are creative. Can you tell what we're doing at our house??? Oh, and I've learned to say NO. It's hard and I regret it many times but in the long run it's good.
I'm going through a phase where I'm tired of getting no compensation. Perhaps it's because we're poor right now. But it's really grating on me that I can't bring in any income. Do you ever feel like that?
Amber, Yes! Not all the time. Mostly when we're financially strapped-- like you said. And there are times when I have worked, but ironically, the extra cash wasn't worth it. It was never full time, but it still wasn't worth it. But that's me! I reserve the right to change my mind in the future, too. :)
Amber, I have felt the same way that you do, and we're poor too. But we have enough, and I work really hard to make "enough" feel like the blessing it is! Here's a post that illustrates it better than I can. http://ourmothersdaughters.blogspot.com/2011/05/ask-auntie-leila-i-feel-guilty-not.html#more
Jill P.S. Cheryl- if this is bad blog comment etiquette please erase my comment. I mean no disrespect answering questions that were pointed to you!
I am needing some guidance. I am the visiting teacher of a sister who suffers from serious depression. I am struggling with how to best help her. She is in a very bad place right now and everything I say and do seems to offend her (I'm relaly trying to be helpful I promise). For example I offer to take her kids and she thinks I think she's a bad Mom. I offer to bring her dinner and she says I think she's not capable. I call to check on her or go over to see her and she insists I'm doing it out of pity. I am at a loss how to help her! Do you have any ideas? If you want you can email me at vegasmom77@gmail.com
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I don't really have much advice for you but here's what I have done the last few months that has seemed to help.
No electronics (web surfing, email checking, words with friends, instagram, facebook, blog reading, etc.) during the "swing shift" (which at our house is 2:40-8 - when the kids get home from school until bedtime.
Pizza night once a week. It's routine and for the most part we enjoy it. We watch The Middle on demand while we eat. :)
None of the kids are playing sports. They are all in swimming lessons 2x a week and they are all in class at the same time. This will change come March when track starts...but we've enjoyed the last six months or so.
Good luck -- I hope someone else has some good advice. I'll be checking back for sure.
Decluttering room by room. Learning to say NO and not feeling guilty and meal planning 2 weeks at a time.
Pack up half your house as if you were going to put it on the market. A lot of the mess disappears and kids have no toys to play with so they play with each other and are creative. Can you tell what we're doing at our house??? Oh, and I've learned to say NO. It's hard and I regret it many times but in the long run it's good.
This is off topic, sorry:
I'm going through a phase where I'm tired of getting no compensation. Perhaps it's because we're poor right now. But it's really grating on me that I can't bring in any income. Do you ever feel like that?
Amber,
Yes! Not all the time. Mostly when we're financially strapped-- like you said. And there are times when I have worked, but ironically, the extra cash wasn't worth it. It was never full time, but it still wasn't worth it. But that's me! I reserve the right to change my mind in the future, too. :)
Amber,
I have felt the same way that you do, and we're poor too. But we have enough, and I work really hard to make "enough" feel like the blessing it is! Here's a post that illustrates it better than I can.
http://ourmothersdaughters.blogspot.com/2011/05/ask-auntie-leila-i-feel-guilty-not.html#more
Jill
P.S. Cheryl- if this is bad blog comment etiquette please erase my comment. I mean no disrespect answering questions that were pointed to you!
No apology needed, Jill! :)
I want to live more simply by cutting the number of possessions I have to manage in half. But I don't think that's ever going to happen.
I am needing some guidance. I am the visiting teacher of a sister who suffers from serious depression. I am struggling with how to best help her. She is in a very bad place right now and everything I say and do seems to offend her (I'm relaly trying to be helpful I promise). For example I offer to take her kids and she thinks I think she's a bad Mom. I offer to bring her dinner and she says I think she's not capable. I call to check on her or go over to see her and she insists I'm doing it out of pity. I am at a loss how to help her! Do you have any ideas? If you want you can email me at vegasmom77@gmail.com
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