Can I keep it up?

One thing that occurred to me yesterday is that I now have 10 weeks worth of $10 menus. And they are all written down.

 It shouldn't be that hard to continue eating on the cheap, should it?

Well, what was dollar a day cooking like for me?  It took extra time to count up the spending, and juggle the menu each day so we could keep under the lean budget requirements.  And it takes time to blog about it, too. The time spent was sometimes begrudged by my family members, even though they didn't mention it in their comments to me about the project here at the end.  Maybe their feelings about my preoccupation with cheap eating and cheap meals were fleeting.  Or maybe they felt that the pros outweighed the cons, I'm not sure.  But nobody mentioned the time problem, even in passing, when I pressed them for their feelings.

Perhaps the stability provided by focus was a good thing for the family.  This is what I need to keep up.  And, surprisingly, they liked the blog!  Their mom is doing something crazy like blogging to the world, and they see me in a new light---connecting with other people, losing some of the inevitable isolation that comes with being a mother of so many, with so much to do.

Have I neglected anything?  Yes.  My wash.  Which Sarah generously has kept us up on, so it is ok.  Sarah, however, is moving out of here and in with a friend, who will be her roommate for the summer. 

I'm happy about this new move, because Sarah has completely paid off her student loans by living with us for awhile, but now she can enjoy some of the benefits of independence again, and debt-free at that. 

It will mean changes for us, though, adjusting to filling in the gaps of all she does around here.  For me that will mean one less car and driver to ferry children around, plus the loss of her help and dependability and secret societies...

But, forward is the only way...

Here's what I want to include in our life, and  I think I want to schedule it in, although I am a notoriously bad scheduler-inner---I want to take the children individually on some outings, where I have time personally with them, or at least only age groupings.  Some special times away from home.  Our last visit to Essensia reminded me of the value of that kind of time together.

I think I will just make a special budget for it.  And not even try to account for the two together, even though there might be food involved.  I'm not talking about taking kids out to eat, exactly, I can't really afford much of that, but going somewhere, doing something.  The budget for spending time with children would be different than a food budget.  If you have any ideas of cool and inexpensive kid outings, could you share them with me?

The other idea I am toying with is the concept of the "mileage club."  A Boothieville Mileage Club.  To get the exercise we need, and to do it regularly, with some goals in mind.  If I did a difficult project with food budgets, maybe I can do one with exercise and stick to it.  I haven't wrapped my mind around just how to make if feasible for so many different ages and interests and time schedules, but I am thinking, thinking...