well I just turned the laundry folding and putting away over to everyone else in the house. That'll save me hours! Another thing that saves time in the long run is if I'm leaving a room I always take something with me that belongs somewhere else and put it away. Like once I'm done on the computer I'll leave the dining room with a pile of books that need to go back to my room. I'm heading to my room anyway and putting the books away will take a few seconds. Old me, would have just let piles accumulate until I was ready to organize them into smaller piles for each room the things belong in and then put things away one room at a time. Now I don't waste time organizing mess just to put it away because it doesn't accumulate into a mess to begin with.

It doesn't get wrapped op in the brush. It gets wrapped up next to the brushes on both sides so you pop the roller out and just slide the clump of hair off. It take roughly a minute

That is amazing! I can't wait to not have a mortgage but at the same time will never pay it down faster because our interest rate is only 2.875%

I hope she wears the gown! Another possibility is that people who would get comp tickets aren't using them so they asked around. The professional dancer who is a principal dancer has a show this weekend that I believe he gets 10 comp tickets to, which he didn't actually use this time around. Edited because when I type and talk at the same time I write parts of my conversation

For us, 2 was the hardest. But that is mostly because my second child was the most difficult in the early years. Adding the next 4 was barely an issue after going through our second. I often say if she was our first we wouldn't have had more. Thankfully, she is no longer difficult.

Oh I'll have to check that out because I'm going to need makeup for The Nutcracker performances my girls are in

I'm going to have to check this out because I gave up using Instacart because tipping was getting too expensive and their fees seemed to increase too often

So, I have had 2 Roombas in the past and both broke within the first year of owning. Luckily, I got full refunds. I really did love them when they worked. So much so, that when my really old vacuum broke last month I told my dh I was giving Roomba one last try. This is mainly because we will be ripping up our carpet soon and laying wood flooring soon. If I still had carpet it wouldn't be worth it since it just doesn't seem to do a deep enough clean for my liking. This time we got a self emptying one and I'm so much more in love with it. I'm really hoping it survives because I don't know anyone else who has had such big issues with theirs.

It is really disappointing that it looks like the tickets were bought up and have been posted on ticket reselling sites. But it does look like you can either purchase 3 tickets in separate spots through Flint Institute of the Arts or some of the reselling sites have pairs of tickets for like $50ish each.

I'm confused, where are you seeing those prices? I went here https://tickets.thefim.org/nutcracker, which I think it the performances you referenced and it has cheap seats. The problem is that it's almost sold out and the only seats available are obstructed views from my quick check. Are people reselling the tickets elsewhere?

Thanks, I'll have to check out the sales because I haven't spent the points yet. As far as competition. She'll be doing one in March. Her teacher has picked the classical piece she'll be doing so I imagine private training for that will start within the next few weeks. And the person choreographing her contemporary piece has been working with her to find music they both like.

Yes I did. I meant to tell you but I had been waiting to actually spend it to make sure it worked. They put the points back into my account so I could repurpose the discount codes

I don't really know what I want for Christmas. Maybe for our deck to be fixed and cleaned up so I can sit out on it and enjoy the beautiful yard I have. But that is a tall order and really something I just need to schedule on a tolerable weather day and the family would get it done. So, maybe I'll just do that.

Nice! My son would kill me if he knew I was holding out for a while year. Luckily, he doesn't mind when things aren't the right holiday. He actually wears Christmas shirts until right after Halloween and will wear Halloween shirts until March when he finds it appropriate to ironically wear a Christmas shirt again. So, he'll be tickled pink that they're not Christmas gingerbread kits

I have two of these sets. One has a stable and one does not. One is from my childhood and resides at my house because my parents live with us. The other one I bought early in our marriage because I loves that I could play with the set growing up and wanted my kids to have the same experience

This is going to sound silly but, I got my ds10 4 haunted house themed gingerbread house kits for Christmas. Found them at the grocery store today in the clearance section for $3.75 each. This kid searches for these kits after Halloween and Christmas every year because he likes them so much. He also makes his own gingerbread to make houses but the kits are a fun easy activity that brings him so much joy. So, he's getting 4 of them. He'll get more if I find more but I'm not hunting them down

thanks! I was waiting for this to pop up so I could purchas each kid a book for Christmas.

That is what I'm seeing. I was checking Facebook marketplace and it seems like there are a lot in like new condition at great prices. So, tonight or tomorrow I'll be reaching out to people to inquire about them

Ds14 asked to go to goodwill today because he wanted to look for a few pair of pants. Great idea, but I didn't hold out much hope for him finding anything. He's the kid who gets most of his clothes new now because I can't find stuff used for him. He ended up finding 4 great pairs of pants and the warmest zip up hoodie ever. I found some Christmas presents too. A brand new pair of roller skates for $4 for ds6. An almost brand new bike for dd8 for $20. This is a $180 bike, that someone clearly donated after it was used a handful of times and then sat in a garage for a bit. I also got 2 pottery barn kids backpacks for $4, which will be perfect for the little kids carrying their own water and towel in Puerto Rico. This Christmas is going to be a bike filled Christmas, since all but 1 kid informed me they want/need new bikes. So, I'm really hoping to source all of them in like new condition.

Most of the time by this point I'm almost done. But I hadn't really started until yesterday. I already had a few small things I've picked up when I see good deals. But not much. Yesterday, I did Amazon shopping for all my nieces and nephews, plus mil. That leaves my kids, fil and his husband, and a few friend for dh and me to figure out. Dh and I aren't exchanging gifts this year since we have a bunch of stuff we're working through using and enjoying. We'll do a treat yourself day in March or so where we spend the whole day together enjoying each other's company and doing what we want without budget in mind for the most part

Gotcha. They don't know specifics but we've talked enough about it that I don't think I can do it as gifts. Next big trip which I think will be Universal will likely be a Christmas gift for everyone next Christmas though

Our trip is fully planned. We've got a day in the rain forest, 2 snorkeling days at two different locations, a day in Old San Juan. And the days in between will be spent at the beach. No real need for paid experiences. We are the explore things on your own type of family. They'll all get some spending money. But other than that they are set for that trip. It also falls right after one kid's bday, during one kid's bday, and right before 2 other kid's bdays, so the things we are planning already take that into consideration in terms of bday gifts!

No the trip isn't a gift, they've known about it since January so that doesn't really seem fair to call it a gift. It is just a planned family vacation and they don't really need anything for the trip.

ok knocked out gifts for mil and all my nieces and nephews (23) with $122 left of the amazon gift card. One of mil's gifts came from a $25 gift card purchased with credit card rewards. The kids in the 2 families on dh's side got joint gifts they'll love. And my side nieces and nephews get the normal small gift that every kid loves, candy! In past years we've done boxes of cereal or just Ramen noodles. My side is all about consumable gifts that don't break the bank or go overboard with the sugar. It's a win win for adults and kids all around. Dh and I will sit down tonight to evaluate what gifts we already have for our kids and we'll likely figure out how to use up the $122 for the kids before expanding on that. We're really trying to think of ways not to overfill out house with stuff.

Hola! We're hosting my families thanksgiving the Sunday before. But all the food contributions are split among all the families. We usually do the turkey, pies, and asparagus. No candy purchasing for us this week. Other than Christmas shopping we don't have much in terms of additional spending. We have $200 Amazon gift card that I got with credit card points that will go towards gifts. I'm hoping that will knock out gifts for everyone but our kids with a bit left over for stocking stuffers. I'm doing that shopping today so we'll see. I don't really know what to do for gifts for our kids. Usually by this time of the year I've got most of my shopping done and a list of the rest of what I need. But this year, I've got almost nothing. Dh and I will be discussing it tonight and figuring it out.