Game Stop Rip-Off

I went into Game Stop today to see about trading in some Wii games. I went in educated about how much I could get off of Ebay or Craigslist, and figured I would get a little below that. But I was BLOWN away by how little they offered!! They were giving 10% of what they were reselling the games for used! For example, Super Smash Brothers they were reselling for $39.99. They offered me $3. RIP OFF!

However the did have one good policy, if you buy a USED game, you can play it for a week, and if you are not satisfied you can return it for a full refund. Hello, why not just keep buying and returning games weekly?

Anyway, I ended up walking out with everything I took in and nothing more. At least all my money stayed in my pocket.

Life Skillz Training - Phase II

DD1 and 2 have a pretty good handle on the bathroom cleaning life skill. Last week, they cleaned the bathroom at a level 9 with no complaining and almost no help from me. (They got all the cleaners and rags. The only thing I did was hook up the rinsing hose to the shower head.) LOVE IT!!

It is now time for phase 2 - bedroom skillz. They will be completely in charge of cleaning their own room - dusting, vacuuming, changing sheets, baseboards, etc. Some of this they already do, but now we will make it official.

Also keep in mind that they are pretty good now about keeping their room picked up. This is something we have focused on since the housecleaner. There isn't a lot of whining now to pick up and for the most part they keep their room pretty neat. Now it's time to focus on the cleaning.

As with any life skill training, we are in the talking phase. I am TELLING them what they will be training on next. They are not yet required to actually do it. This is the time where they can talk about their concerns, and decide who will be in charge of what. (DD2 wants vacuuming, DD1 wants dusting, etc.)

How will they fit this into their schedules? One week will be bathroom duty, the next bedroom. It doesn't all have to be done on the same day, but it will need to be complete by the end of the week or they do it on Saturday.

Dishwasher Beauty

Every morning before DDs 1 and 2 go to school they are in charge of emptying the dishwasher. One does the top, one the bottom, and DD3 is in charge of the silverware. If they fail to do this job before they go to school here is the consequence:

The dishes from the day can't be put in, so at night, they have to finish emptying the dishwasher and then they load ALL the dishes from the WHOLE DAY - including dinner.

I have to tell you that every morning, the dishwasher is empty - without me nagging. That is a beautiful thing.

Business For Sale

Today I am putting my business up for sale. It is growing to say the least, but so is my family. I can't do both and family is most important. If you or anyone you know may be interested please email me at info@thecouponbinder.com.

God Does Provide

The news of twins last week has really turned our nice little plan for our family upside down. There are many financial, physical, time, and emotional concerns.

I was feeling sorry for myself because we also don't have parents who can help us financially. I was driving along getting pretty angry at my parents for the poor financial decisions they have made; and how now in a time of need there is no financial support. (I still love them despite that.) Then God let me know that he is also my Father and that he can provide everything I need.

At that point I decided that I needed to put my faith in God and make our finances a matter of prayer. I talked to DH about it and he thought it was a good idea. So we started praying. Yesterday, DH looked at his bank account and found extra money from his work. It seems that he won some big award that he didn't even know about.

I felt very grateful to God for providing this extra boost to us. It showed me that he is aware of the stress twins is going to put on us. But God sent the twins and He will provide.

Did You Think to Pray?

Now that I am shutting down my business, I feel that I can now really open up about my frugality in a spiritual way. God is such a big part of our lives, and I have to give him credit for many things - including my frugality.

A few months ago we were hit with the "Many major things breaking at the same time" phase in life. You know the one, several major appliances go out, you have major medical bills, etc., etc. We had been going through this, and then one day the washer stops working. It was full of laundry and soapy water.

I got everyone off to school and work. Feeling overwhelmed, I dropped to my knees and prayed to God asking him to at least fix something in my life. I then went back into the washer and felt God guiding me to the solution. I got it to work and was saved the time and money of replacing it!

I shared this experience with my dear friend who's mom was dying. She ran into a similar situation with a car. She remembered my experience and she prayed for help. Right after her prayer the car started and she could do what she needed to take care of her mom.

God knows each of us and our situations. He wants to bless us and help us. The question is - do we think to pray?

The Ultimate BOGO

Sorry about the lack of pictures (again). Things here have been a bit crazy to say the least. I have been really sick in the first trimester of this pregnancy and today I found out why....TWINS.

I usually love a Buy One Get One special, but I'm in shock over this one. Early on I said that this would be the last pregnancy and that if God wanted us to have more than four kids he was going to have to send twins. Looks like he took me up on that one. HELP.....