Central/Northern KY ladies, have I found a bargain shop for you!  The Farmer's Mill, located in Cynthiana, KY is worth your drive for spices and other baking supplies! 

Run by a Mennonite family, most of the food comes from the Amish community.  Besides spices and baking supplies, they sell homebaked pies, prepackeged jellies and salsas, unusual chips and candies, and cooking mixes among other things.  They even have a deli with weekly specials. 

The real bargains, though, are the spices and yeast.  I bought large containers of all my pickling and canning spices, a huge bag of yeast and a special chocolate treat the other day for just over $15.00!  I think I figured that I would have spent well over $50.00 at the regular store, maybe closer to $100.

I just bought a 4oz container of yeast at Food Lion for almost $7.00.  At the Farmer's Mill, I only paid $3.05 for 16oz!  $28.00 vs. $3.00!!!

I also just bought 1.4oz of mustard seed at Walmart for over $3.00.  At the Farmer's Mill, I paid only $1.43 for almost 1/4 lb of mustard seed!

Just like I've found it worth my time and money to take a trip to Aldi's once a month, The Farmer's Mill is now on my regular shopping schedule!  Let me know what deals you find there.  :)

I promised an update on how the Motivated Moms chore system is working for me.  I've been at it one month now and I'm keeping up with chores better than I have in years.  I'm even doing some chores that haven't been done in years! 

What do I like about it? 

*I like having a week's worth of chores hanging on my refrigerator.  If I miss a day or don't get to one or two things, it's easy enough to rearrange them so that they don't just go undone.

*I like that it includes things I normally wouldn't think of until spring cleaning time (if then.)  Things like "clean the light fixture in your hallway" or "sort kitchen & bath towels, buy new if needed".

* I like that it reminds me to do thing like change the sheets weekly, change toothbrushes and declutter my desk.

* I like that I can easily assign many of the chores to my children.

*I like that no day's worth of chores is overwhelming.

*I like that it includes reminders to pamper myself and work on crafts.  (I, ahem, rarely get to check these off the list.  One of these days I'll have time for those things again.  Really, I will.  Won't I??)

What don't I like about it?

*I can honestly say that there's nothing I dislike about it at this point!

I have found that Sundays (church) and Mondays (co-op) are often too busy to do much of what's planned on the list, so I've found myself playing catch-up a lot.  If I really want to stay on top of things around the house, though, it's important that I do "make up" my missed chores.  That's the only thing that's been a little tough.  But, I've been playing catch-up from Sunday and Monday for years, so it's nothing new! 

The kids are loving that they know what to do each day.  They like having a set list and knowing that once the list is complete, they're free.  I did decide to make out a list for each of them daily rather than the highlighting that I started with.  It's easier for them to take care of business with a list in hand.  So, each night before bed, I take a few minutes to write out the next day's chores for them.  Since I'm prepared (because of Motivated Moms), they are finishing their chores in record time.  I was never prepared before and chores seemed to drag on for hours!  

So there you have it - $8.00 very well spent!

Our toys are in jail.  They have visitation rights, but very limited.  You see, since I couldn't lock the messy children up, the toys had to be the ones to suffer.

They've been in jail for almost a month now and the time apart from the children seems to be doing everyone well. 

We took every toy in the house and put them all in their appropriate boxes, bags or containers (like they should've been to begin with.)  Then, I carted an old bookshelf up to our bonus room space and started stacking toys.  It didn't matter whether they were attractively placed or easily accessible because the kids weren't going to have "unsupervised visitiation rights". 

If they want a particular toy, they have to go through the guard (me) to get it.  I go to the bonus room area and pull out the whole container.  In other words, if Caleb wants one particular spy toy, he has to take the entire spy gear box.  As long as the spy gear (or other type of toy container) stays neat, he may keep the container as long as he likes.  No other container of toys may be played with until the first container has been returned in its entirety. 

I really thought this idea might not work, but it has!  It has!!  The house AND bedrooms are staying tidy.  The kids are enjoying their toys more.  And I'm smiling more!  ;)

Sorry that I have no pictures to share.  Our camera finally died.  Just took it's last breath one afternoon without warning.  Maybe we'll have a new camera soon.  That was to be my Christmas gift, but the dryer took it's last breath before the camera.  We've buried two important things this month. 

Okay girls, I've tried.  I really have.  I've cut coupons every week for a few months.  I've poured over the CVS and Rite Aid ads until my eyes cross trying to earn the most ECB's and Single Check Rebates.  I've made lists of what to buy from each of the three area groceries and even paper clipped the appropriate coupons to the appropriate lists.  I've scoured the shelves for hours to be sure I'm buying the right product and the right amount.  But, I'm here to say that my brain can't take much more! 

I *might* be saving money, but at what cost??  My sanity??  :)  So, from now on, I'm just sticking to the good ol' cheap store brands.  I'm only buying things if I need them, not simply because I can save $2.00.  I'll only use coupons when they're handy.  And WooHoo - do I ever feel free!  :) 

My hat goes off to you ladies who save money as if organizing sale ads and coupons is second nature.  If only I lived closer to some of you, maybe I could come for a class!  But, if I have to go it alone (with three kids in tow), I'm throwing in the towel.   

I ran across a post from Large Family Mothering yesterday that was on this same topic.  She gives some practical ways to save money without  the hassle.

I need your help.  I'm trying to develop a very thorough cleaning schedule to keep us on top of things around here. 

My hope is to come up with:

* a list of daily chores  - clean kitchen, 2 loads of laundry, etc.

* a list of weekly chores - Monday = mop, Tuesday = change sheets, etc. 

* a list of monthly chores - 2nd Tuesday of month = change air filters, etc.

* a list of yearly chores - October = change smoke detector batteries, etc.

Do you have such a list?  Do you know of a website that offers ideas?  I would love to hear any and all suggestions!

I've come across a few websites, but they don't fit in with the way I live.  If all else fails, I'll take the best of each and create my own routine.  I was just hoping for a ready-made plan to save me from doing yet another big job!  :)

http://www.kathryn-weber.com/Free_Cleaning_Schedule.pdf

http://www.w-isles.gov.uk/foodsafety/cleaningschedule.pdf

http://www.donnayoung.org/household/fullsize/ffiles/hofiles/housework.doc

 http://www.printablechecklists.com/checklist11.shtml

Thanks!!