Day 20: Oatmeal Packets
Well folks, I'm a little tired of being in the hole. Thankfully, I sold two small items on ebay and after the shipping, cleared 13.02. So today it was okay to spend the 14.41 on groceries and 8.61 on gas for the car. Our sweet van should be coming home Sunday, and the repairs will come out of the savings we tuck away because we don't own new cars.
The kids were ecstatic when I enlisted their help with a money-saving project. Pinterest featured a genius who realized that oatmeal is cheap, but not when you buy individual packets. She made her own in reusable zip-lock baggies (much greener) and made them a normal person's serving size with:
1/2 cup Quick - 1 Minute oats
1 T brown sugar
Add 3/4 cup of water or milk when you microwave it for 90 sec.
(If you like the smaller size of store-bought packets, it's 1/4 c oats and 2/3 c water or milk.)
This improves my life by eliminating the step where I get brown sugar out and add it, which is necessary because I buy unflavored packets. If you're wondering what the point of instant packets is then, I'll sheepishly admit it's that I don't have to wash an oatmeal pot. Call me lazy, but it feels like catching a break.
More than that, I'm pleased because I've felt I missed the boat on having my kids help when they were eager to. Maybe I was too impatient or tired, but I haven't involved them in cooking, washing dishes or other tasks where my standards would be hard to meet. Now, I've awakened to kids who don't want to help and think housework a drag. I know this happens eventually, but I'm hoping I can get on the ball and show them how fun work can be before they're a harder sell. Knowing how to make work fun and how to stick with it when it's not are the lessons I want to contribute to their work ethic. So here's to one fun job in the books!
Total spent: 14.41 - groceries
8.61 - gas
Fun money total: -0.76 (counting now, I find I've misplaced this amount...I promise it wasn't at the gumball machine.)
The kids were ecstatic when I enlisted their help with a money-saving project. Pinterest featured a genius who realized that oatmeal is cheap, but not when you buy individual packets. She made her own in reusable zip-lock baggies (much greener) and made them a normal person's serving size with:
1/2 cup Quick - 1 Minute oats
1 T brown sugar
Add 3/4 cup of water or milk when you microwave it for 90 sec.
(If you like the smaller size of store-bought packets, it's 1/4 c oats and 2/3 c water or milk.)
This improves my life by eliminating the step where I get brown sugar out and add it, which is necessary because I buy unflavored packets. If you're wondering what the point of instant packets is then, I'll sheepishly admit it's that I don't have to wash an oatmeal pot. Call me lazy, but it feels like catching a break.
More than that, I'm pleased because I've felt I missed the boat on having my kids help when they were eager to. Maybe I was too impatient or tired, but I haven't involved them in cooking, washing dishes or other tasks where my standards would be hard to meet. Now, I've awakened to kids who don't want to help and think housework a drag. I know this happens eventually, but I'm hoping I can get on the ball and show them how fun work can be before they're a harder sell. Knowing how to make work fun and how to stick with it when it's not are the lessons I want to contribute to their work ethic. So here's to one fun job in the books!
Total spent: 14.41 - groceries
8.61 - gas
Fun money total: -0.76 (counting now, I find I've misplaced this amount...I promise it wasn't at the gumball machine.)
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