I don't combine my kiddos on most things (next year I will have a 5th grader, 2nd/3rd grader, and Ker). I do read aloud books specifically for the oldest, but the books for the other two (both chapter and picture books), anyone is welcome to listen to (and it usually works out that way). But everything else is separate, including history and science - it just works best that way, due to ages, learning abilities, temperaments, etc.

Monday: soup (chicken noodle, chicken and gnocchi, Italian wedding, chicken and barley, and chicken and dumplings, with a few others once in a while) Tuesday: meat and potatoes (several different pot roasts, oven roast, steak bites, meat loaf, fried round steak...potatoes mashed, baked, roasted, etc) Wednesday: chicken and rice (curry, orange, and skillet chicken with different seasonings - a few others once in a while) Thursday: something on a bun (hamburgers, turkey burgers, chicken patties, turkey brats...although we've been going bun-less lately, so not sure what to call it now!) Friday: various (taco salads, salmon patties, homemade pizza, biscuits and gravy, chicken a la king...anything that doesn't fit well in another category) Saturday: eggs (scrambled, fried, baked, omletted, eggs-in-a-frame) Sunday: sandwiches (grilled cheese, Reubens, cold lunch meat sandwiches...and sometimes a roast chicken if I'm feeling ambitious...yes, I know it doesn't belong on sandwich night) It gives me a good starting point, but we are flexible too. In warmer weather we have smoothies and toast at least once a week. And I have recipes I make on rare ocasion - sometimes the break from them turns them into a new favorite!

I had no idea there was special swimming shampoo! I think I will try coconut oil first, and see if we need the shampoo. Yes, waist-length hair (that is gorgeous, thick, slightly wavy...I am envious of my daughter's hair!). I didn't even consider a swim cap - I thought those were only created to annoy swimmers with constant leaking! Thanks all - I knew I'd find good answers here.

For my daughters, we only use conditioner on their hair, as it works well for them. The only time I shampoo their hair is after swimming, to get the chlorine out, which has been only a few times each year. Their hair always has a funky texture for about two weeks afterwards. They are starting weekly swimming lessons. Should I continue to use shampoo afterwards, or is that what is causing the weird texture (instead of the chlorine)? Would only conditioner be enough? Two months is a long time to have wonky-feeling hair!

It's taken awhile, but I've found a mostly-working system for us. Each day is a category (Monday is soup, Tuesday is meat and potatoes, Wednesday is chicken and rice, etc), and have found four meals in each category that my family will eat about once a month. Under the regular chart, I have a smaller chart with extras under the day/category where they fit. We like chicken makhani every once in a while, so sometimes it gets thrown in on a chicken-and-rice night instead of orange chicken or chicken curry. Friday nights are a catch-all for recipes that don't fall into the other categories, and I can try new recipes that night too. We buy a portion of cow each year, and buy the rest of our meat on sale (I freeze it in meal-sized portions). I have simplified breakfast and lunches too, serving the same thing each day of the week. Thursday is muffin morning, but it could be pumpkin muffins, or almond poppyseed, or apple cinnamon, etc. (I work very early mornings, so breakfast has to be easy enough for kiddos to get it without any help). Grocery shopping is much simpler than it used to be, since we pretty much get the same things all the time. There is enough variety (and flexibility) that it works without getting boring. And, as a side benefit, I find it hilarious to have my four-year-old come to the table at night, see dinner, and say, "Hooray! Chicken and rice means it's AWANA night!"

My solution: 1) Purchase pack of socks at Costco 2) Son "loses" over half the package - where in the world did they go? He has absolutely no clue. 3) Purchase second pack of socks at Costco, with a threat to not lose any part of it. 4) Find all the missing socks (Oops! They ended up in the pajama drawer instead of the socks and underoos drawer!) 5) Now son has enough socks to last for over three weeks without wearing a single pair more than once. With so many socks, each pair lasts longer since they get less overall wear. It's an illusion, sure, but we embrace it! Actually, even with only one package of Costco socks, they have lasted for over a year. Slippers, though, he goes through way too fast.

This is genius! I must try this to find all those blasted Nerf darts that are all over the house. It's not that I can't find them. I find them EVERYWHERE! Every room, every corner and crevice. But a paid pick up service sounds so much better than my finding them over and over again. They never make it back to the bin before someone snags the half-pile I have started...and they shoot them all over the house again.

This probably isn't all that encouraging, but... my husband has ADD, and has been on medication sometimes, and sometimes not (depending on other health factors). He is a *terrible* driver, and it does not matter how much practice he gets - he is still awful. Runs stop signs or forgets to brake until he has to slam on them; has no clue what the speed limits are, even on very familiar routes; or will forget that he brought a kid or two with him to the hardware store (they are old enough to get themselves out of the van!). I do 95% of the driving because my husband is a self-admitted terrible driver. It's the only solution that has worked.

In elementary school, I thought "envelope" had a TH instead of a V, so that's how I said it. Even after learning the proper spelling, I still said it wrong. It took over a year of my husband's nagging to get me to say it correctly without thinking about it. When my daughter was six, she asked when the world had color added to it. She thought that, since all old pictures are in black and white, that the world must not have had color way back then.

Yup, Original Mattress Factory is the only one I know of. We've had ours for eight years, and they're still in great shape.

I love 50's and 60's. I'm so sad that our "oldies" station is now playing 80's with some 70's and 90's. My children love our youtube dance parties!

I try to make most snacks "boring" so kiddos will view it as tidding them over until the next meal instead of "better than meals". We typically do a protein and a produce. Cottage cheese, yogurt, cheese slices, peanut butter, nuts, hard boiled eggs. Cuke slices, carrots, apple, pear, whatever fruit is in season...also frozen pineapple and frozen blueberries are loved around here. (Edited because I can't type well on my phone)

That explains my son as well. At 24 months, he said "mama", "dada", and "ah" (for water). Since he was my first, I didn't know that wasn't normal. But when he did start talking at about two and a half, it was in complete sentences. He just wanted to make sure he was doing it right! Before he was three, he was using words like "condensation" correctly in sentences.

Bikes, Ripstiks, pogo sticks, and stilts. Also our tire swing (we've crammed up to six kiddos onto it, but it comfortably holds three..or one kiddo lying down). We were given a second-hand swing set, but the tire swing is still a favorite. https://www.amazon.com/Lifetime-Geometric-Climber-Center-Earthtone/dp/B004K0Q8LG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1487874807&sr=8-2&keywords=jungle+gym We have a small jungle gym, which is a draw for neighborhood kiddos - it's different than the standard trampoline that many have. We do have a small exercise trampoline inside, and that gets a TON of use as well. The jungle gym gets climbed, flipped off of, turned into an igloo, filled with leaves and crawled through. tied with ropes for a tightrope walker in their "circus", and a ton of other uses. They seriously love this thing. We hope to add a slack line in the not-too-distant future. I'd love to add a zip line as well, but my husband isn't thrilled with that idea. ETA: The pipes! We have a bunch of PVC pipes cut into five-foot, three-foot, and two-foot lengths, and then a ton of different connectors. They build structures, add sheets for forts, etc. The pipes get a lot of use.

I haven't watched the American Hoarders, but have watched a few episodes of the British version. And yes, the lady who hosts it does so because her mom is a recovering hoarder, and she wanted to help others - the television aspect of it provides the funds that she couldn't supply, for psychologists and others who can offer some assistance.

My father was a hoarder, along with a great many other mental illnesses. He died last October, and my siblings and I cleaned out his apartment, and his car...and the basement he rented to store stuff...and all the other storage units we found. It was really, really bad. In one storage unit, we found over a dozen black garbage bags packed full of clothes from the 70's. He had enough kitchen supplies to stock *at least* six kitchens, as long as you didn't care if things matched. I'm talking about things like over ten coffee percolators, two dozen frying pans, sets and sets of dishes. We calculated it out for one storage unit: he spent over $8000 to keep this unit for over a decade, and all we salvaged out of it were...three musty typewriters. Absolutely everything else was mice-infested, moldy, broken junk. Eight. Thousand. Dollars. To store things that he didn't need and couldn't get rid of. He did have some things of value, but it was still hoarding: twenty old fashioned cameras and over 200 lenses, dozen of watches, hundreds of antiques. It controlled him; and it was very sad, cleaning out all this stuff, when for so long he valued the stuff above relationships with other people. Now, my grandmother just moved into a nursing home. She had been in her apartment for eight years, and I could not believe the amount of stuff that she had, but I would not classify her as in the same category as my father. She stockpiled things she used (eleven boxes of bandaids, 27 packages of foil stars, special hangers for pairs of pants), and she really didn't need nearly as much as she had. But it was nowhere near as severe as my father's hoarding. As a result, I have been purging like crazy! I would much rather be a minimalist, but that's just not possible with four other people in the house. But it makes you think twice before bringing new items into the house. New swimsuit for my daughter? Then the old one goes. I really dislike all the stuff at Christmas and birthdays (especially birthdays right around Christmas), but the best I can do in my own house is thank the giver and see what we can get rid of to make room for the new items. Or if the new items aren't really wanted, to pass them on. I gladly accept second-hand items from a number of family members who cannot bear to part with things - they seem emotionally attached to the stuff, and it's easier to get rid of it if it goes to family rather than a thrift store. But I always say that if we find we don't need it, we'll pass it on - and they're okay with that. Often times, the items never make it to our house, but go straight to the thrift store, The family members seem relieved that they can pass on their stuff and not be burdened with it any longer, and I don't have the emotional attachment so can easily donate the items. It's a win-win situation!

I grew up with six people and one bathroom with NO SHOWER (only a tub). It worked fine - we staggered baths and getting ready in the morning. We have five people and one bathroom (with a shower). My husband has IBS, so we have worked his long bathroom time into the morning routine. When we leave the house, *everyone* goes to the bathroom before we head out the door - it saves the mad dash to go potty as soon as we get home. When people have a stomach bug, they get an empty ice cream bucket. If two really, really need to go potty at the same time, I keep a camp toilet in the closet - we have yet to actually need it!

We painted our kitchen a greyed lavender about eight years ago... by accident. It didn't look anything like the little swatch, once it was on the walls! And I hated it for about two years, but just didn't have the time to repaint. It finally grew on me, but now that our youngest is finally getting out of the coloring-on-the-walls stage, we really should repaint...

When I was a teen I often carted around my sister who was ten years younger and a preemie (so, tiny for her age, even in elementary school). Most people around town assumed she was mine, and that our mom was her grandma. My mom still recalls the very embarrassed bank teller who thought it was so nice she got to run errands with her grandchild that day. My 91-year-old grandma lives in a senior community. My 64-year-old mother visits her several times a week. We became friends with a new family in town, and the dad happens to work at the senior community, so knows my grandma. After four months, he finally realized that my mom was not my sister. My mom has not laughed that hard in years.

How old are the eggs you are trying to peel? Older eggs peel better - at least a week, better a little longer. Fresh eggs peel horribly, no matter where they come from! We have had several egg suppliers - former neighbors who got a hobby farm and several of my husband's coworkers. Our neighbors-turned-country-folk have truly free range chickens, which are often chased by their cage-free children!

I second Envirosax! I have tons of canvas totes, but never remember them. I was given one Envirosax that I shoved in my backpack, and it's the one that got used. I now have quite a few of them, and several stay in the van: self-contained, small, and ready to go! And they're pretty!

My father was a (non-elected) judge for our state, and as such he was not allowed to associate with any political party. That must have rubbed off on us children, as none of us would even think of declaring a political party - we (individually!) came to the decision that we don't agree 100% with any political party and choose to vote based on the individual persons who are running for office. My mom's father was actually a judge as well, and they never discussed politics in their home. She found out years later (she was in her 50's!) that her parents were different political parties and disagreed completely on politics, which is why it was never discussed. Her dad didn't want to argue in front of the kids! My husband discusses politics with our family (his parents, and dinnertime discussions at home), but I mostly just quietly listen. I figure that politics is right up there with religion - I'd rather not preach to someone, but live out my beliefs with my actions. In politics, that means setting the example by taking my children with me when I vote, and explaining how our government works, and of course helping them learn all those snazzy School House Rocks songs!

We have a very small Super WalMart and two smallish grocery stores in town. Costco is about 75 minutes away. For our location, WalMart is a few cents cheaper on many things. I do not buy WalMart produce, as we have not had good experiences with it when I have (in a pinch, don't want to make two stops...always regret it,and should have just made that second stop!). I work in the bakery at one of our grocery stores, and even if I pay a few more cents for an item, it means I don't have to drive across town to WalMart - so I save time and money by just picking up a few things on my way home from work (it helps that that's the store with the best produce, so I don't have to stock up). Costco prices are similar to WalMart prices, BUT the quality of Costco items are better - like getting organic at Costco for the same price as non-organic at WalMart. We go to Costco about once every 4-6 weeks (depending on when we make a trip in that direction), and often spend $400-500. We get a lot of staples - dairy, produce, some chicken. The processed foods can eat up a good chunk of your food budget no matter where you buy them. so we try to avoid them. For meat, I buy it when it is on sale at the smallest of our local grocery stores. I don't pay more than $2 for chicken boobies or ground beef. I buy 20 or 30 pounds of each and freeze them in meal-sized portions. This lasts until they go on sale again. Boneless skinless chicken thighs are cheaper at Costco, and sometimes stew meat is.

When my husband and his two brothers were teenagers, they went through two gallons of milk PER DAY in their house. I said, nope no way no how is our budget doing that. For years, I have worked slowly to get my husband down to a much lower milk consumption. Nowadays, we go through about a gallon a week. We use it in oatmeal and granola (sometimes), and I use it in cooking. And milk is necessary when we have freshly baked cookies. But water is our standard beverage, and milk is considered a once-in-a-while drink. None of my kiddos really ask for it, though they do drink a LOT of it at the grandparents' house (I think that has more to do with different household expectations). We get whole milk. We tried skim for awhile, and bumped it up to 1%, then 2%...I think skim milk looks and tastes like water you dipped a paint brush in. If we're going to have milk, we might as well have the kind that tastes okay. But mostly we do yogurt and cheese. I'm not too concerned about calcium levels, and we do eat lots of fresh produce.

When I was in sixth grade, our school was short help in the cafeteria. They asked for sixth grade volunteers who would miss the lunch recess and about fifteen minutes of class (free reading time), in order to serve sides or wash lunch trays. In exchange, the student ate lunch for free that day. Since I had to buy my own lunch tickets, I volunteered every chance I got. Once one of the lunch ladies knew I had to buy my own lunch, she made sure I worked in the cafeteria every day for the rest of the year. The next year, someone complained about using students to do work that "should be hired out", and the lunch ladies couldn't have student help any more. But it was a great benefit to me for that year.