I did this same thing for about two years. Then my 14yo, revolted. He hasn't done his chores, has no spending money and now owes DH and I $50 or so. Now what? I hav no advice since this seems to be a place I am NOT excelling at right now.

Thanks.

I have the same sorta pains. I call them phantom cycle pains, since they dont correlate with my ovulation time, or the beginning of my bleeding. I wonder if its cysts. Hmmmm I also have had quite a few pregnancies. :confused:

I would be hesitant to tell her to do it. I would probably just wait till she asked. I remember just shaving my legs myself when I was a teen. I cut myself and only then did I go to my mom for help.

If you want him to have the ability to use the internet, texting and phone, then I would go with an iPhone. Everything he has on his iPod will transfer over to his iPhone. Easy peasy. My 14yo has just a regular phone that makes phone calls though, so I am not an expert on cell phones for kids.

Honestly? 7 nights a week. I am too frugal to eat out regularly at all. I dont care for prepared foods. I like to cook and I dont mind forcing my family to eat it. ;)

I think if you make the changes you stated, it will help him greatly. FYI, keep on the probiotics for a very long time as it takes a very long time for his intestines to shrink back to normal size. The only other thing I can think of is increasing his water intake.

I think your total should be $9.50 for dinner. Normally I spend about $15 for dinner most nights, though we are a family of 6 not 4. So I would rank a $7 dinner as super cheap, and a $9.50 dinner as cheap.

Yep. I would absolutely decline the trade. Shabby? Really? Its a used book, which means its been read before. If you dont want a USED book, then buy new.

I feel best when I am up between 5:30-6:00. But I have a baby under 1yo, so I havent been getting a lot of sleep at night. Now I am waking up around 6:30-7:00 which makes me feel like the morning is ruined.

I agree with everyone else. There is not going to be a polite kind way to tell her to shut up. I might even use that terminology. IMO its not polite to criticize a childs work, nor your sisters parenting choices, nor your sisters teaching ability.

Or Mere's Lemonade Pie - 1 Can Eagle Brand Milk 1 Can Frozen Lemonade Concentrate 1 Container Cool whip ( Get the big container if you want to tone down the lemon) 1 or 2 graham cracker premade crusts. Mix your milk, lemonade and cool whip together, put in crusts and then pop in the fridge to let it set. There are a lot of varieties to this recipe, one including vanilla ice cream, but this is the simplest and if you ask my opinion, they end up all tasting the same. You could let it "set" till you need it on Saturday. Mmmmmm

Peanut Butter Bars Ingredients: 1 cup butter or margarine, melted 2 cups graham cracker crumbs 2 cups confectioners' sugar 1 cup peanut butter 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips 4 tablespoons peanut butter Directions: In a medium bowl, mix together the butter or margarine, graham cracker crumbs, confectioners' sugar, and 1 cup peanut butter until well blended. Press evenly into the bottom of an ungreased 9x13 inch pan. In a metal bowl over simmering water, or in the microwave, melt the chocolate chips with the peanut butter, stirring occasionally until smooth. Spread over the prepared crust. Refrigerate for at least one hour before cutting into squares.

Cash only works awesome, but there is only 1 envelope. Sometimes I'll have DH pick up something on his way home, and if he doesnt have that envelope.... its just an overage in our budget. Super frustrating at the end of the month trying to reconcile those little grocery store purchases. I also like the idea of the "tough love" envelope concept. DS1 thinks that we are soooo broke if the envelope is empty, but he is 14yo so everything is over the top with him anyway. Now I'll just mention to him its another one of those tough love things.....

I would be worried now. In Feb, you were told a 90% refund. It can take up to 30 days for a refund to show up on your card. Your well over the 30 day mark. I would be calling and talking to someone today.

Thanks.

We use cash as well. I have envelopes for my allowance, groceries, pets, target, DS1's allowance.... blah blah. The only thing I pull out the debit card for is gas. I have a rough idea of what I have to spend each week in groceries. That is my hardest item to stay on budget for. Breaking down my purchases weekly is key for me. If I go over one week, we skip chips and extras the next week. I have found that when we get lazy and stop working with cash, we spend double or triple what we normally do. This is brilliant! I am going to talk to DH tonight about a reimbursement envelope.

Hope the casserole tastes delicious. :D PS. I wouldnt have given it another thought. Every thing was cooked and you saved energy by not washing an extra pan.

Right now we happen to have over 6 months savings. Though normally we will have just 6 months worth. The security I feel is awesome.

DONT ADD A MARBLE! Maybe I have over zealous boys, but they broke the jar shaking it with a marble inside. :D I found that the butter making process goes a lot faster if the milk is room temperature.

Wow. I never thought to freeze it! Off to the grocery store to stock up...

I have been searching for an app that would work in this board. I found Tapatalk. http://www.tapatalk.com/ It works for most every type of smart phone. Can the mods consider adding this? Please?

Our TV has been around for way too long and ours streams just fine. I have no ideas other than keep trying.... Sorry!

DS1 is 12yo and DS2 is 3yo. We are keeping our Sonlight cores but selling all of our workbooks. I don't know yet what kind of learner DS2 will be so I don't want to keep some old curriculum in the hopes that DS2 likes that curriculum as well.

:confused: Plain old Wordly Wise doesnt exist... So I would go with the Worldy Wise 3000. :)