Maintain a Single Parent Household PT.... The Tote Bag

I have a bag I use for remembering the simple little things. I pack it the night before for next day use.

I include my rented movies, library books. Basically anything that need to be returned the next day.

My daughter has sevarel bags. I know you are reading this and thinking why she needs more then one. She has a lot of extra school activites. It is why her to have things sperated and packed on a weekend for the whole week. 

She has a dance bag which has her tap shoes, slippers,leotard, thights, extra pair of socks and a sweater. Her swim bag that has her bathing suit, a towel, shampoo and condish, soap and some scrunhies and a cover up. And her bag for violin lessons which just contains her book and a shoulder rest. With her bags I can just throw it in to the back of car, so I don't have nothing to think about.

How to save on kids clothing

Hey guys. I just wanted to give you guys a few tips on my back to school shopping and saving. 

Maintianing a Single Parent Household... Part 1

Master Calendar...
If you got a lot appointments, kids, activities and what not. This is perfect.
A master calander has save a lot of time and hassle. If you know what to do.
My tips for a master calender is to hang it were you can you will see it everyday.
And check it twice a day, once in the morning and once at night.
Make sure you mark everything down on it that's important. Appts, plays, pratices, anything that you need to do.
Color code it. Give a color for each kid, a color for bills, a even one for the pets.
I have two master calenders. I have my google and one I have on the fridge.
I love my google calender, because of the simple fact that if I have my phone I have my calenders. I have a widget on my phone that shows my calender on my home screen. So everytime I look at my phone I see what is planned for the day.
It is very easy to set up and you have many different functions that you can use. You can set things to repeat, add yearly checks up , etc. You can also print this in the beging of each month and hang it on the fridge and add more stuff when you home.
The second thing I like about it is the option to share it. You can see how important this might be, espically if you have kids, and a signficant other. Everyone, can add and change it so this is an awesome feature that I love...Karma has her own calendar that I share with my sister.And she is kept up to date with what appointments that Karma might have.

Parenting... your kid is spoil

   Now I had to touch this subject this week. This is a touchy subject, and I hate talking about parenting and how others parent their kids. However, I needed to put this out there and talk about my beliefs and opinon on this subject... and maybe some of you can relate and give me some insight...
   I have a friends with kids and we all parent our kids differently and I had to speak on a topic that comes up frequently when I am around a praticular friend that has more then one child.... and that is my child is spoil... and I take offense to that.
      See she might look into my life and see that my kid gets a lot of stuff compare to her kids. But there is a reason to that, I only have one compare to the 5 she has... So this means my daughter has more options. For example,when Karen's kids get up she is likely to make one breakfast for all of them... but when K gets up I talior to her... I make her what she wants to eat because she is the only one I have to cook for.
        She is the only child. She is the only niece, granddaughter, and grandniece and so on. She does get a lot of things. And she has always been the center of attention, and over the past year she has been treated differently. But her big ticket items are stuff she has gotten for her  birthday,Christmas, and hand me downs.That plays a big part in what items she gets. But she has always had to do chores for everything she wants like games for her 3DS, movies, dolls etc... I do try to put myself in my friend's shoes. We make the same amount of money and we are both single parents. I couldn't imagine how things would be different because I would have four other kids that I would have to take care of. How I would try to simplifiy my mornings. How my way I look at things would be different. But at the same time I respect her and her for all that she does. I have one kid and sometimes I want to pull out hair. I can not imagine how she does it everyday.In the end, I feel like we are both great parents that she is someone that I admire and cherish our close friendship.
 Maybe you guys to share your thoughts on this? Am I wrong?

Kony 2012

  So by now everyone should have seen the Kony 2012 by Invisible Children.With over 50 million view on Youtube it is one of the most successful video campang to date, I think. If not I added the video here, it is a 30 minute documentary about Joseph Kony the leader of the  militant group  LRA and how he kidnaps children, sell girls in sex trade and destroys families  in Uganda.

   Now seeing this video I was all work up. Like most people I shared it on Facebook, twitter it and even talk about it with close friends and family. I understand Invisible Children goal, which is to show the government that we do care that they need to send troops down there to aid in the capture of this person. 

Now, unlike most people I like to do my research, i don't like my stuff spoon feed.I decided to go online and gather all the information I can. I wanted my view on this whole situation be not to be based on one video. I also didn't want to donate anything until I saw this is a reputable charity, meaning that money is being spent on the kids and not them. 

   I was watching the news this morning, and one of the members of invisible children. I was shock when they said 13 million was donated, and about only 3 million was sent to Africa. Seriously? I mean, I know that it takes money to run an organization, but 8 million was spent on advertisement and over head.  But only 3 million was sent, lets see you tube, Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter all of them free so i think that would of took care of making Kony name well known. And i give about million for expenses and that's just me being gracious. Personally, I am not spending 10 bucks on a bracelet or 5 dollars on a kit. I rather give the money and not looking for anything in return.

I really wanted to go into a rant on you tube about this but it looks like someone beat me to it.

"I am okay, it is just steroids week"

While I was at appointment last week,I was sitting next to a mom with an "unruly" kid  of hers running around. and for the first time i wasn't mad. I didn't get up, i didn't roll my eyes, or suck my teeth. and after a couple of minutes the mom, turn around and apologize for her kids actions he had ADHD and some other things going on plus they made him fast so he was just unhappy,hungry and he had extreme mood swings. And I completely understand. I told her my daughter situation and how the days she was on her meds I didn't know who I was going to get at any given moment. She ask how I dealt with it? My reply was simple,I take a step back.
 Now I know this might sound silly, when it has to deal with a 7 year old. However, I think it is important with dealing with a kid that is on medication that makes them have mood swings.  So I have to take two steps back and breath when she starts her yelling, crying and stomping
 I have to ask myself simple questions two questions: Is it my tone? Why is she really upset about?
I am 98%able to deal with it, the other 2% I want to hide in the closet and hope she doesn't find me. All in all i repeat the words "I am okay, it is just steroids week"and wait till Sunday.

This past week was my little girls 7th birthday. I am just amazed at how big she has gotten.

Lil K and the dogs

Shopping

As a single mom, I am very frugal. I shop only when my daughter or I need something, or when we can get really good quality stuff for cheap. One thing that I have been doing since my daughter was born is buying her clothes out of season. By doing this I can save about 60%- 80% off the regular price. Stores start having there clearance on winter clothes around January through March, to make room for there summer items.

Also stacking your coupons or sales work too especially you know how to plan it out. I use Ebates to help me stack.
Shopping online at the children s place for example:
Clearance items shirt original  $24 now $5 (savings of $19)
Take addition 15% off = $4.25(savings of .75)
Shop through Ebates and get 2.5% back = $4.20( savings about .10)
 So in total I pay $4.20, and save $19.85.

Below I went to Target the other day and sign up for there Red card that automatically saves me 5% every time I use it and also I get free shipping. I mange to get her two winter coats, 3 sweat shirts, two pairs of thermal underwear, and two sweat pants for about $45 dollars.

Kicking the Fast food habit

     8 days into the New Year and I think kicking this habit is the hardest thing to do. I have no plans on eating fast food ever , but I know this is not feasible. I am addicted what can I say. I think I have a favorite item  at every fast food resturtant there is, and my favorite thing to wash it down is a  nice big cup of coke.

How was am I going to kick this habit? My plan was to make a second NYR which is to cooking more. Don't get me wrong I know how to cook read a recipe and all of that junk. But I am just lazy, I guess when it 

comes to the whole washing the dishes part. But I guess that why they made dishwashers for....

This is going to be hell  fun!

My News Years resolution list

My New Years Resolution:

• Go to Church every Sunday
• Work out/ Loose weight
• Kick the" Take out habit"
• Cook more 
• Read more
• Head to the library at least once a week 
• Get Out of Debt 
• Get Organized
• Help others
• Write to my blog at least once a week
• Spend more time with family  and friends
• Learn a new skill
• Go to 5 concerts this year
• Save money
• Take A big trip
• Be on time 
• Not to miss a class
• Hand in things in on time 
• Learn a new language
• Be more independent