Tips and tricks to make it easier that DON'T cost money?

amother

Tue, Apr 09 2013, 11:56 am

I have a bunch of little kids and I am having a hard time managing. It seems that every book I read or person I speak to is giving me advice that costs money.
I cannot afford cleaning help.
I cannot afford takeout, bought challah, or bagged lettuce.
I cannot afford containers to organize my house into.
I cannot afford babysitters to make my life easier.
I cannot afford disposable pans or paper goods.

We are living within our means, trying to save but money is tight and these tips are nice and they do make life easier but they cost money. Any tips to make life easier for me that don't cost?

TwinsMommy

Tue, Apr 09 2013, 12:46 pm

can you take on extra part time work? are you already working full time? sometimes it's easier to make more money than to cut back so that you can afford things. I know plenty of people making very little money who can afford some of what you mentioned (certainly not all--- cleaning help is expensive--- but bought challah-- that's not so expensive, is it?)

How many hours would you need to work so that you could afford $200, $300, $400 a month of disposables OR bought challah OR containers OR babysitters-- that's how I would look at it.

Having said that, the library is great if you can't afford books for your kids.
The playground is great if you can't afford trips/ entertainment.
Freecycle is great if you can't afford clothing.

Can you barter with friends? I have a friend who babysits for me and organizes my garage and basment and such in exchange for my business products she can't afford.

GramaNewYork

Tue, Apr 09 2013, 12:46 pm

One of the things you mentioned was containers for toys. If you have any friends who work in a company, you might want to ask them to bring you the boxes with covers from the printer paper. Having several of these same-sized boxes with covers are great for files, toys, old stuff etc. and they stack very nicely.

Same idea for scratch paper (meaning, if your friend can bring you some from work). I cut up paper which has been used on one side into neat rectangles and keep it in piles and use it for jotting things down.

I recently found how to make a great spray cleaner which I find works very well. You take an old spray bottle and fill it w/half a cup of white vinegar. Put it in the microwave until it boils (not sure if that is around two minutes). If you don't have a microwave, you can do it in a pot on the oven.) Once it is boiled, add the same amount of dishwashing liquid to it and shake it vigorously. It is just as good or better as any cleaner you would use in the bathroom or kitchen. I don't use it on glass and mirrors because I'm not sure if that's a good idea, but definitely in the shower, on kitchen appliances and on countertops.

If you know anyone who grows parsley, ask them if you can have some seeds from their parsley in the fall and plant these seeds in a pot by a sunny window or yard in early spring and then you can have small amounts of fresh parsley all year.

Go to the library and find books about penny pinching. I've read a few and have gotten some ideas but I can't think of any right now.

Good luck. I hope you get some great tips from other imamothers.

oliveoil

Tue, Apr 09 2013, 1:22 pm

It's a bit hard to give advice with so little information. Are you home with the little kids all day? Or are you all out of the house and getting home at the same time? Are they home with a babysitter while you're at work all day? etc.

Bought challah is significantly more expensive than making. Can you make challah once a month and freeze it?

re storage containers - you can use any boxes, doesn't have to be specific for storage. Try keeping at least half the toys up and out of sight at all times. This will give you less mess to deal with and when you rotate the kids stay interested in their toys for longer.

re cleaning - the kitchen and bathroom are really the only rooms that need to be done daily. the rest should only need to be cleaned once a week or so.

buy lettuce once a week, spend 10 minutes cutting it up (with a non-metal knife) and ziploc it and put it in the crisper draw of the fridge. It stays good like that.

Cook easy simple meals. Things that freeze well, make double so you can just take it out and heat it up.

Liba

Tue, Apr 09 2013, 1:29 pm

Look into once a month (or week) cooking. If your DH is home on Sundays and you two can cook together or trade off cooking and watching the kids it is easiest but if not maybe you can find a friend to cook with.

Trade babysitting with a friend so you have time either to take care of yourself or your house, kid free every once in a while.

StrongIma

Tue, Apr 09 2013, 1:42 pm

* if you use a dryer, you could invest in an indoor clothes hanger to save money
* eat more beans and less animal protein.
* buy clothes and toys 2nd hand
* learn to mend clothes instead of replacing them
* if your heating isn't central, turn down the thermostat in the winter and wear a sweater indoors

Last edited by StrongIma on Tue, Apr 09 2013, 1:44 pm; edited 1 time in total

yksraya

Tue, Apr 09 2013, 1:43 pm

For storage you can use shoe boxes or buy in the dollar store. You can decorate the shoe boxes with gift wrap so it looks nice if you want.
Make yourself a 45 minutes cleanup routine as soon as kids sleep. Stick to it no matter what. At first it's hard but you get used to it. (You do it in the same order daily)with time it might even take you less time to get it done.
Also, do each room in the morning for only 5 min but not longer. You will be surprised at how much can be done in 5 min.
It is important that you make sure to take good care of yourself. Eat well, make sure you get enough sleep (ok it's a tough one!) And do something you enjoy or treat yourself once in a while although that usually costs money.

flowerpower

Tue, Apr 09 2013, 2:06 pm

If you have a machine, baking challah is easy. You usually have enough for three weeks.
Frozen pizza isn't too expensive. Many times its on sale so you can stock up. Noodles is pretty cheap and if your kids like baked ziti- its cheap and easy to make. Fish sticks are sometimes on sale too so thats another easy supper. I find take out pricey and barely buy bought food. If you need a break you can do " breakfast for supper" theres eggs, vegetables, bread, rolls... Cheap and easy.
Target or cheap discount stores sell bins for a good price. Look around and you can find good deal. Bins are worth investing. Trust me. Saves you a lot of time and work.
Now that the weather is nice you can spend a lot of time outdoors- parks, bikes, infront of your house...

mha3484

Tue, Apr 09 2013, 2:06 pm

The crockpot is your friend for meat and pareve meals. I make dried beans all the time. My cheapest and easiest dinner is a bag of soaked blackbeans with chili powder, cumin and garlic cooked all day and mashed. You can make tacos, burritos etc. I also make a stew with white beans, canned tomatoes and eggplant with Italian spices like basil and oregano. It's also great for cheaper and tougher cuts of meat.

shirtsandskirts

Tue, Apr 09 2013, 2:17 pm

I hear you and feel your pain. It's really tough. I don't know how old your kids are, but can you send them outside to play a little to give you a break, or you watch them outside? Can they help at all with cleaning (even clearing their own plates and one serving dish)

I second the bread machine, it's definitley a worthy investment. Can save on both challah and bread. I don't buy rye bread, I make my own in the breadmaker for sandwiches. It takes about a minute to put in the ingredients and that's all you have to do. For challah it takes 5 minutes to braid.
Also you can make pizza dough in it (or by hand), save on buying frozen pizza.

imasinger

Tue, Apr 09 2013, 2:18 pm

I am a huge believer in bartering and sharing resources cooperatively. Maybe you can get a group of parents who are willing to trade one afternoon taking care of a bunch of kids in exchange for several afternoons off. Maybe someone who likes to clean will trade cleaning time in exchange for something else.

Be creative!

alte mamme

Tue, Apr 09 2013, 10:05 pm

GramaNewYork wrote:

.

I recently found how to make a great spray cleaner which I find works very well. You take an old spray bottle and fill it w/half a cup of white vinegar. Put it in the microwave until it boils (not sure if that is around two minutes). If you don't have a microwave, you can do it in a pot on the oven.) Once it is boiled, add the same amount of dishwashing liquid to it and shake it vigorously. It is just as good or better as any cleaner you would use in the bathroom or kitchen. I don't use it on glass and mirrors because I'm not sure if that's a good idea, but definitely in the shower, on kitchen appliances and on countertops.

Why would you boil the vinegar? I have heard that vinegar is a good disinfectant but I can't imagine why one would need to boil it.

Amital

Wed, Apr 10 2013, 4:56 am

Setting up a routine for yourself and having reasonable expectations can help. I know my house won't be spotless while I have four young kids running around. And while I would love spotless, I love my kids more. Wink

So I go for not dirty and reasonably messy.

I organized chores for the kids to help meet those goals, like a family 7 minute pick-up where we all run around and pick up everything we can for 7 minutes (or chai minutes if it's really bad, but that's usually too long to run around and we might break it into a few parts). The older two check and wipe down a bathroom most days (my younger ones are 3 and almost 2, so they help me), everyone has a fruit to wash weekly (like all the red apples), a laundry chore (like sorting socks), and then care for their own area of the bedroom. It takes longer initially to train them into what you mean, but I do step by step instructions, and they learn. And then do it on their own!

Something that has made my life a LOT easier is getting the laundry under control. I used to do a system of baskets for each person. Now that we live in a different house with a lot of stairs between our laundry room and bedrooms, I switched to a family closet (The kids' dressers are in the laundry room with in season clothes), it has helped make the laundry much more manageable. Moving your dressers is free!

Going through your things and taking out all of the clutter that you don't use, don't love, and don't need can make it seem much better in your house, too. I find that one hard (what if one the kids needs it later?!), but it makes a big difference.

And hang in there. You can decide what makes it work for you, and focus on those things. Let the rest slide for now - it'll be there later. Wink

GramaNewYork

Wed, Apr 10 2013, 7:01 am

alte mamme wrote:

GramaNewYork wrote:

Why would you boil the vinegar? I have heard that vinegar is a good disinfectant but I can't imagine why one would need to boil it.

Boiling the vinegar has nothing to do with disinfecting (in this case)...it is for the chemical reaction of allowing the detergent to mix with it. If you don't boil it, soap and vinegar would not mix and you could not get the great results you get with this mixture : )