Happy Easter 2011!

I think this Easter was the best Easter so far!  Jacob woke up, came to our bed and asked if the Rabbit had come.  The poor kid endured absolute torture while Jeremy/Daddy ran downstairs to let Kelsey out and check for Easter Bunny poop.  Finally, Jacob was set free to go find his loot.

"What's this?"  he asked about the little pile of jelly beans on the floor by his Easter basket.

I explained to him that the Easter Bunny poops jelly beans. "And it looks like he left a trail. Let's follow it!"

Into the kitchen.

Outside the door.

On the back porch.

At the bottom of the stairs.

Along the driveway.

Towards the patio.

On the patio...

"Jacob.  Look!  There are eggs!  All over the place!"

(Isn't that a great outfit!?!  St. Louis shirt, sweatpants and fire boots - without socks!)



I'm not sure who enjoyed his first Easter egg hunt more, Jacob or Jeremy and I.   Happy Easter!  :)

The Cost of being Poor

I had wanted to write about Easter and all the fun we had but, seeing as the memory stick with all of the pictures is sitting on my dining room table inside of my camera, I'm going to write about an article I saw some time ago. 

The High Cost of Poverty:  Why the Poor Pay More

I think about this article everytime I stop at our local grocery store and I thought about it again this weekend when we took a trip to our local laundromat to wash the comforter from our bed. It's a king size and even though I do have an extra large capacity washer, it isn't quite big enough.   We saw a mom/dad/daughter family doing their laundry as well as a mom with 2 kids (5 and 2) and another on the way.  I was trying to imagine the cost for them to do laundry. 

$2 per single load washer.
$4 per double load washer.
$5.50 per triple load washer.
1 quarter per 7 minutes for the dryer - I typically run 50 to 70 minutes at home...yet their dryers run hotter.
75 cents for a single load of soap
another 75 cents for 2 dryer sheets - I pay $3.99 for 120 (3 cents per)

Now think about how much laundry you do in your home and how much that would cost you to have to take all of it to the laundromat!

I think of the ways I try to save money and those things I do, aren't even options for a lot of people. Imagine you didn't have a car to drive to a Big Box Store and you were forced to to pay the higher prices of a convenience store that most of us think of as simply that, convenience.  Can you imagine what a bottle of laundry detergent costs at the corner gas station!?!

I live in one of the largest/poorest counties in Michigan - at least it was before the economy tanked.  I thought about that  as I was writing my previous post thinking - You're not poor, you're just trying to save some money.  There are people who have it worse than you do!  I used to look at some of those folks and think - if they'd get a job, if they'd make an extra effort, if they'd this and if they'd that.  I thought I had all of the answers.

Trying to save some $$$

I had typed out a lovely comment on a friend's blog this morning and when I hit the 'publish' button it said "your comment could not be published" and let me tell you, I was pissed! 

So, I decided to compose something similar and just post it on mine instead.

What do I do to save some money?

I try to plan meals ahead of time - sometimes I'm better at this than others.  I try to make things that will last more than one meal.  Like tacos, or a casserole.  A lot of the time it's just one of us at home and reheating something requires a lot  less effort just for one person.

I now shop at Aldi for almost all of my foodstuffs.  $1.49 for mayo, $2.69 for milk, $1.99 for boxed cereals, $4.49 for a 12 double roll pack of teepee, $4.99 for a can of coffee (have you noticed the name brands are at least $7.99+?).  I can't touch Aldi prices in my regular grocery store - not with coupons, not with sales, not even with the store brand. I do have a few staples that I won't give up - Heinz ketchup (although I have found a store brand that is so dang close that I will use it), Tide with Bleach Alternative , Clorox bleach, Dawn dishsoap, and Era Laundry detergent - I only use this on Jeremy's work clothes.  I have switched laundry detergent for my clothes and most of Jacob's as we really don't get our clothes dirty.  I use what's cheap and smells good.  And I do try to use coupons when I can.

Books are my obsession.  I love books.  I can't resist books.  I need books.  I thrive on books.  I do checkout a lot of books from my library but, those put me on a time constraint and I don't like to be timed.   My little library does have a lot of great books but, they don't always have what I want (and for some reason I tend to save the books that they do have as my last resort) and at those times, I turn to the Michigan Electronic Library.  I locate the book I'm looking for and they send it to my local library - free of charge!  I also tend to pick up books at Goodwill.  I have about 5 stores close to both home and work that I continually check.  Now look at this...yesterday, I bought 4 books at Goodwill. 

Karen White - The Color of Light   - retail = $5.18 plus shipping.  I paid $1.99

Elin Hilderbrand - The Blue Bistro - retail = $6.00 plus shipping.  I paid $1.49

Elin Hilderbrand - The Island - retail = $9.92  and I paid $2.99

Tom Perrotta - Little Children:  A Novel - retail = $5.58 and I paid $2.99.

This little trip, I saved $14.03!   I keep a box in my basement for book that I've read and once I fill the box, we take it to our local library.  They sort through the books and some they add to the library's collection - they will use it as a back up if that book is popular, they'll use it to replace one in their collection if it is worn or they'll sell it at their monthly book sale to raise funds for the library.  I feel good to donate my books - I can give back without giving cash from my pocket.

While were talking about Goodwill, I do some shopping there and I'll try to post more photos of my finds in the future.  One of the last times I was in, I bought a brand new pair of pink silk pajamas for myself for $5.99!  I do buy quite a bit there at an excellent price.  It's more difficult as Jacob gets older but, I do try.  I get a lot of my clothing there as well.  $2.99 - $3.99 for a name brand sweater - tell me you can't afford that!?!  I've found things with the tags still on them (a Woolrich men's long sleeve shirt and the tag read $49 - I paid $2.99!), I've found so many name brand things.  I buy all of Jeremy's work clothes there.  He has to wear dress pants and long sleeve dress shirts to work.  Can you tell me why I should pay upwards of $40 for a pair of Dockers that he could come home and throw in the trash because they got bleach on them?  It's a bit easier to stomach those pants going into the trash when I only spent $2.99 on the pair.

I will pick up some name brand items if I see them just to sell them on a popular online auction site (I'm tired of linking) to make some extra cash.  I also sell most of Jacob's clothes that he's outgrown as well as my own.  It doesn't take too long and I've made some good $$ doing it.  For instance, a pair of my dress pants that I bought on clearance for $9.99, I turned and sold for $14.99 and the buyer paid the shipping!  I couldn't have made that at a yard sale!  I also sold a pair of Jacob shoes last year for $33 (I paid $28 and he wore them once)!  Some things aren't worth reselling and I do donate those back to Goodwill and when I do that, they give me a coupon for an additional 20% off my total bill on my next trip.

I buy my dog treats at the $1 store.  They're just like the Milk Bone dog bones except the whole box is $1.

I use a lot of free samples.  I have various websites that I belong to and they send updates of things I can try for free - so I do.

Now with the price of gas, I hope we'll start doing more walking.  Instead of driving to the grocery store for the one little thing, I hope to walk.  Same with the library and our little trips to the sheriff, police, and fire departments.  Not to mention, all four of us can certainly use the exercise.

And lastly, I'll be going back to work full time once school starts.  And I'm going to save the details for another post.

I'm willing to share any recipes that I use and I'd love to hear what you do to try to save some green.

CHICAGO! (Part 4) Chicago Fire Department

You had to know this was coming.  I mean really, did you think we could get out of Chicago, who's fire department has been in existance since 1837 without taking my fire truck obsessed little boy to a real Chicago Fire Station?

We checked with the concierge at our hotel for the nearest firestation and thought - yeah, we can walk that.  So we hiked the 18 blocks on over to 444 Dearborn - the home of Chicago's Squad 1 and Chicago Fire Prevention Bureau.  We turned the corner onto Dearborn and all of the big doors were closed.  My first thought was "Oh Shit!  We walked all this way for NOTHING!"  But, my son and his eagle eyes spotted a firefighter and asked him if he could show us the trucks and we were in!

The chief even popped out and said "now that's a real team to root for" regarding Jeremy's St. Louis Cardinals hat.

My little boy had the run of the station.  They let him check out anything he wanted and he did.  He even met his first female firefighter, Ms. Nora.  I think she was as tall as Jeremy!

Jacob in back of the CFD command center with our tour guide.  They work a 24 on 48 off rotation and there are 28 firefighters stationed here.

And got to play basketball in their gym.

I think this was one of the best parts of our trip.  These folks were so warm and welcoming.  They treated us as if we were old friends rather than people off the street.  They answered all of our questions and showed us anything we wanted to see.  We were allowed to take all of the pictures we wanted and we left with a Squad 1 t-shirt, 2 fire hats, a coloring book, and a wristband.  The perfect end to our trip.

Thank you, CFD Squad 1.  Thank you for your hospitality, thank you for your time and thank you for your service,

CHICAGO! (Part 3) Shedd Aquarium

Thursday morning we headed out to Shedd Aquarium.  I was sooo nervous about this.  I'd heard rumors of 3 hour waits, to buy your tickets in advance, and many more.  See the white and blue tunnel?  That's the line for those who did NOT buy tickets in advance!  See the 2nd pic?  Look how long that line is - that's what I was so afraid of!  We did buy tickets in advance - our line started up by the columns and I think we waited 15 or so minutes in line.  BUY TICKETS IN ADVANCE!!

Jacob was like this through most of the aquarium.  I think we spent about 4 hours there.  I highly recommend a visit.  The whole place totally held Jacob's interest.  There was so much to see and they even had sharks!

We didn't see any additional shows while at Shedd although while sitting having our lunch, we were next to the pool and got to see the underwater portion of the 2:00 PM Baluga Whale and Dolphin show.

And some sights on the way back to the hotel.

Do you think he's enjoying himself?

CHICAGO! (Part 2) A room with a view

Our hotel - our hotel was fan-freaking-tastic!

We stayed at The Hilton Chicago and I wish I would have taken pictures in the lobby as this hotel was beautiful!

As first time guests, we were upgraded to a Lakefront room.

Some views from our window:

Navy Pier

We had to move our chair over in front of the window so Jacob could see out.  The Metra tracks ran about a block from the hotel as well as all of the taxis, buses, and fire trucks on the street.  The hotel is on Michigan and Lake Michigan Drive was 2 blocks over.

Wearing his new Chicago Fire Department shirt.  He wanted the letters on the back.

Jacob made friends with our doorman - Rufus who helped us out quite a bit and recommended an awesome diner for breakfast.  If you're ever in Chicago near 11th Street and Wabash, check out Eleven City Diner.  I had the Eleven City French Toast - challah with fresh strawberries, bananas and toasted coconut - OMG!!  It was sooo good - and I didn't eat anything else for the rest of the day!  Thanks for the recommendation, Rufus!

CHICAGO! (Part 1) Children's Museum at Navy Pier

We had a great time in Chicago.  Jacob and I were 1st timers both to Chicago and to the train.  I'm going to post this in a few installments because there's just so much to share.  Enjoy!

Our train left Kalamazoo Station at 10:23 AM.  We arrived plenty early.  And Jacob waited impatiently for our train.

"It's coming!"

On board and having a snack.  Our car on the way out was pretty empty.  There were a few people sleeping.  We had a few stops (Niles, Michigan City, and New Buffalo, MI and then we were straight through to Chicago).



After checking into our hotel - The Hilton Chicago (we'll talk more about that later).  We headed out to the Children's Museum at Navy Pier.  This momma did her research and knew they had a special exhibit in connection with the Chicago Fire Department.

This was really cool - the hose nozzles had like little laser pointers and if you got the red light onto the fire, the fire went out.

And check out this truck!

They also had these interactive shadow screens.  Can you see the rain falling off Jacob's umbrella?  They had another with butterflies that would 'land' on your hand.

Here you could make your own flying machine out of foam and crank it up the tower to see if it could fly.

The Rainforest.

CTA (Chicago Transit Authority) Bus.

And best of all - the water!  They had all these little boats to float and you could control the water flow or levels with dams and locks.  They had a whole wall of little raincoats in all colors and sizes.

We took a little walk around Navy Pier and as if the train ride to Chicago wasn't enough...Jacob had to ride "Thomas" too.

Jacob was impressed with all of the taxis in Chicago.  He made friends with our first driver from Union Station to the hotel, Bernard.  After Bernard, he would talk to each driver, trying to make friends.  "Taxi Man?", he'd say.  They weren't overly friendly.