All of this raising a boy stuff is totally new to me, even almost 16 years later. Why? I grew up in a household of all females, except for my father.
My main challenge these days is keeping my teen son fed. Last night, a pound of ground meat fed the boys sloppy joes and bolognese sphaghetti for me. This is one of my frugal mom secrets - he hates sphaghetti and I hate sloppy joes. One frugal sauce can sometimes produce many meals. Last night there was nothing left over. The good news? Where can you feed 3 people for $7.50 if we were eating out?
The other thing I've learned about feeding a teen is to NEVER, ever stock up the whole household at one time. If you do, you'd better have a locked cupboard somewhere. It doesn't matter how much food I buy, it's never enough for the bottomless pit. 90% of the food bill belongs to him, 10% of the other stuff is mine. My stuff is on the outside ring of the grocery store, his is all the inside, expensive stuff.
One thing I've gotten smart on, if my son will cooperate. Go feed him a meal at Sonic and then make a run to Dollar General. Teen junk food and beverages are a lot cheaper there. I'm talking $60.00 at DG vs. $100.00 at the local grocery. Sometimes I can persuade him to make the 99Cent Store run with me, but those days are very rare. He has to be in desperate need of cheap electronics and chocolate to go there.
Happy living...T
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Don't be impressed when you visit my home
Hello readers! My household is trying to mature these days by becoming better housekeepers.
One thing you won't find at my home is anything fancy, and lately that means living extremely frugally, especially with the high price of gasoline and starting a new job which caused me to be without any form of money for about 3 weeks, until my first paycheck arrived.
How did we make it? I keep my place thoroughly stocked for the hard times in life. This usually happens to me about every 3 years, for one reason or another. I keep my freezer fully stocked with meats, vegetables, and of course leftovers. Leftovers could be anything from vegetable soup to packets of macaroni seasoning, dried milk, etc. Also, since we live in hurricane alley, we keep lots of canned goods on hand. We don't starve around here. At one time years ago, my son wished that we could be "poor" again so that we could have more home made meals.
Another thing we do is recycle old things into new things. I can't tell you how many towels have become washclothes, and how many ripped Wally World towels have become handtowels. I have but one goal in all of this...to successfully get the kiddo through high school and into the college of his choice.
Live wisely! Merry Christmas! Terre
One thing you won't find at my home is anything fancy, and lately that means living extremely frugally, especially with the high price of gasoline and starting a new job which caused me to be without any form of money for about 3 weeks, until my first paycheck arrived.
How did we make it? I keep my place thoroughly stocked for the hard times in life. This usually happens to me about every 3 years, for one reason or another. I keep my freezer fully stocked with meats, vegetables, and of course leftovers. Leftovers could be anything from vegetable soup to packets of macaroni seasoning, dried milk, etc. Also, since we live in hurricane alley, we keep lots of canned goods on hand. We don't starve around here. At one time years ago, my son wished that we could be "poor" again so that we could have more home made meals.
Another thing we do is recycle old things into new things. I can't tell you how many towels have become washclothes, and how many ripped Wally World towels have become handtowels. I have but one goal in all of this...to successfully get the kiddo through high school and into the college of his choice.
Live wisely! Merry Christmas! Terre
Ack, I'm back...
I have been blog deprived for the last two months, due to lack of customer service with that mega conglomerate phone company that attempted to give me the universe, then conveniently deleted all of my e-mail accounts when I uninstalled their service. Nothing like cutting cable connections (with their permission, of course) to get the point across about lousy service.
I don't recommend the universe service. I live in an old place and the wiring is old here. My home electricity current fried two of their modems into total submission. I must have made at least 50 phone calls to them since Sept. 8th, when the universe was first installed. At this point, they owe me money...$156.00 for the lousy service I paid for, 1 week's worth of wages for waiting on their lame customer service lines, and psychological counseling for anger management (just joking on the last part, of course). You can guarantee that when I get a notice from a law firm stating that a class action suit has been filed that my name will be on it.
In the meantime, I've become a convert to gmail. Go Google!
I don't recommend the universe service. I live in an old place and the wiring is old here. My home electricity current fried two of their modems into total submission. I must have made at least 50 phone calls to them since Sept. 8th, when the universe was first installed. At this point, they owe me money...$156.00 for the lousy service I paid for, 1 week's worth of wages for waiting on their lame customer service lines, and psychological counseling for anger management (just joking on the last part, of course). You can guarantee that when I get a notice from a law firm stating that a class action suit has been filed that my name will be on it.
In the meantime, I've become a convert to gmail. Go Google!
Friday, October 19, 2007
Yes, I'm still around - Commentary
Hello to everyone who occasionally reads my posts. I've been very busy with a new job and with luck, will be hired on as a permanent employee soon, with benefits!
If you don't understand what living with no health insurance means, dig through my earlier posts and you can get a dose of my reality.
And speaking of health insurance, you can bet I'm not happy with George W. Bush for vetoing the children's health insurance plan for under-privileged children in America. Republican Party please note, I want to vote Republican, but you guys have got to get real about the war in Iraq (getting our troops out), and also realizing that there's a poverty crisis here in the U.S. If you don't believe me, do a web search on "teen pregnancy Mississippi" and find out what's really going on. Many young girls, age 17 years old or less, high teen pregnancy rates, high infant mortality and mortality in children age 2 or less. I say, charity starts at home, USA !!!
By the way, please see my previous post on staph infection or MRSA. It's been a big item in the Houston news media lately. Sunday or Monday's Houston Chronicle had an article about a mother and son in Spring Branch who have battled the infection, including frequent trips to the Texas Medical Center for IV antibiotics.
Be safe, healthy and happy...Terre
If you don't understand what living with no health insurance means, dig through my earlier posts and you can get a dose of my reality.
And speaking of health insurance, you can bet I'm not happy with George W. Bush for vetoing the children's health insurance plan for under-privileged children in America. Republican Party please note, I want to vote Republican, but you guys have got to get real about the war in Iraq (getting our troops out), and also realizing that there's a poverty crisis here in the U.S. If you don't believe me, do a web search on "teen pregnancy Mississippi" and find out what's really going on. Many young girls, age 17 years old or less, high teen pregnancy rates, high infant mortality and mortality in children age 2 or less. I say, charity starts at home, USA !!!
By the way, please see my previous post on staph infection or MRSA. It's been a big item in the Houston news media lately. Sunday or Monday's Houston Chronicle had an article about a mother and son in Spring Branch who have battled the infection, including frequent trips to the Texas Medical Center for IV antibiotics.
Be safe, healthy and happy...Terre
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Laundry Wise...frugal & healthy household
"Houston - the national geographic wonderland of the world". This was the quote from one of my oil industry boss' wives. She had moved to Houston on the company transfer and couldn't believe that frogs were actually mating in her backyard pool.
In this warm climate, many other things flourish, too. A few summers ago, my son contracted a mild form of MRSA, the dreaded drug resistant version of the staph infection, now common to hospitals and locker rooms everywhere.
One evening after my son had his shower, he lifted his arms and I noticed a large 2" diameter looking boil about 4 inches below his armpit. I tell you, I just about freaked! One doctor visit later (luckily the pediatrician understands my budget), and a tube of prescription Bactroban in hand, we were told to swab our nasal passages with a dab of Bactroban ointment on a cotton swab twice daily, for a month. Then we were told to wash everything in hot water (and when able, bleach) and to especially keep the washing machine clean by periodically giving our machine a bleach bath.
What shocked me most was that although we are not the cleanest people in the world, I certainly could have won a clean laundry contest, as I was doing at least 20 loads of laundry a week.
To avoid germs, wash most things in warm water, towels in hot water, and clean your laundry machine periodically with a heavy bleach solution (at least one cup of bleach to a full load of water by itself) to avoid bacteria.
To frugually make the most of all that washing, do full loads. Buy your towels all in the same color - in my opinion, preferably white to bleach and know they are clean. Buy cheaper washclothes in bulk and use as one-time use hand towels - this avoids spreading germs between household members.
And, ooo gross, should you have a runny nose that won't stop (MRSA colonizes in the nose!), or a huge boil that appears out of nowhere, please go see your doctor immediately. MRSA can kill if you don't catch it quickly. For more information, do a search on the CDC (Center for Disease Control) website for MRSA.
Be healthy! Terre
In this warm climate, many other things flourish, too. A few summers ago, my son contracted a mild form of MRSA, the dreaded drug resistant version of the staph infection, now common to hospitals and locker rooms everywhere.
One evening after my son had his shower, he lifted his arms and I noticed a large 2" diameter looking boil about 4 inches below his armpit. I tell you, I just about freaked! One doctor visit later (luckily the pediatrician understands my budget), and a tube of prescription Bactroban in hand, we were told to swab our nasal passages with a dab of Bactroban ointment on a cotton swab twice daily, for a month. Then we were told to wash everything in hot water (and when able, bleach) and to especially keep the washing machine clean by periodically giving our machine a bleach bath.
What shocked me most was that although we are not the cleanest people in the world, I certainly could have won a clean laundry contest, as I was doing at least 20 loads of laundry a week.
To avoid germs, wash most things in warm water, towels in hot water, and clean your laundry machine periodically with a heavy bleach solution (at least one cup of bleach to a full load of water by itself) to avoid bacteria.
To frugually make the most of all that washing, do full loads. Buy your towels all in the same color - in my opinion, preferably white to bleach and know they are clean. Buy cheaper washclothes in bulk and use as one-time use hand towels - this avoids spreading germs between household members.
And, ooo gross, should you have a runny nose that won't stop (MRSA colonizes in the nose!), or a huge boil that appears out of nowhere, please go see your doctor immediately. MRSA can kill if you don't catch it quickly. For more information, do a search on the CDC (Center for Disease Control) website for MRSA.
Be healthy! Terre
Frugal things to do with old shampoo
- Baby shampoo works great for getting the fleas off of your dog.
- Put a drop or two of baby shampoo in 2 - 4 ounces of water and use it as a rinse to wash your eyelids. (This was a suggestion from my grandmother's doctor - it seems the oil on your eyelids can make your eyes burn - something I must have inherited.)
- Use a drop of baby shampoo on a warm washcloth to clean your cat's eyes. My kitty gets extreme dry eyes - he hates this routine, yet it seems to be helping his eye allergies.
- Use any non-oily shampoo to wash your hand washables. A little goes a long way, and your clothes will smell good, too.
Any more suggestions? I'm sure I've forgotten at least a dozen more uses.
Cable Internet Installed !
Disclaimer: I haven't received the first bill yet.
I love the new internet ! I can have three home page tabs flash onto my screen within 10 seconds or less. The son can now run his internet and he's happy with the speed and he's running on wireless. Nirvana!
I love the new internet ! I can have three home page tabs flash onto my screen within 10 seconds or less. The son can now run his internet and he's happy with the speed and he's running on wireless. Nirvana!
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