Take my Poll: How often do you thoroughly clean your house?

I love surveys and questionnaires. Always have. I'm not sure why, but give me a bunch of questions to answer and I'm in hog heaven. I took a survey yesterday that asked "How often do you (or someone else) thoroughly clean your house?" It didn't explain what "thoroughly clean your house" means, and I assume it means different things to different people. For me, "thoroughly clean your house" would include the following: -- Change sheets -- Vaccuum all rooms, including stairs -- Wash floors -- Dust furniture -- Windex windows and mirrors as needed -- Wipe down kitchen counters, clean kitchen sink -- Clean bathrooms (toilet, sink, tub, shower, tile) -- Empty all trash -- Wipe down baseboards and windowsills Now, I don't do all these in one day. I spread things out throughout the week. I tend to "thoroughly" clean the upstairs (4 bedrooms, 2 full baths) one day, and the downstairs (dining room, office, kitchen, family room, laundry room, half bath)on another. Trash gets emptied throughout the house on Wednesday (trash pick up day is Thursday). I answered that I "thoroughly clean my house" once a week, and that was the answer of 23% of the 86,000+ people who responded. But 7% of those 86,000 answered that they NEVER thoroughly clean their house! This floored me (and luckily, my floor is clean). How is it possible for someone to NEVER clean their house? They can't respond "because Mom cleans it" or "because my wife cleans it" because the question was "How often do you OR SOMEONE ELSE thoroughly clean your house?" The population of the U.S. is 304,459,438. Let's assume there are 5 people per household. That's sixty million plus households in the U.S. If this survey response is true, that means there are SIX HUNDRED THOUSAND homes in the U.S. that are never cleaned! I'm hoping people just think they never "thoroughly clean" their home because maybe they don't dust the top of the doors as often as they should or maybe they don't move the book-laden bookcases away from the wall and dust behind them as often as they think they should. I'd love to know what "thoroughly clean your house" means to you, and how often you do it! I put up a poll in the right-hand column of my blog page for you to answer the "how often" question -- and leave comments about what "thoroughly clean your house" means to you -- or respond on your own blog and leave me a link!

Umma got run over by a 2 yr old

Wow - I'm exhausted! Happy, but exhausted! I've had 2 yr old sweet grandson, Brayden, with me for 4 days in a row, 7am to 5:30pm, and my goodness, why can't they make energy proportionate to age. That little guy uses up more energy in 15 minutes than I do in the entire day. But my oh my, we had a great time together and I wouldn't trade it for the world. I discovered the best way to spend the day with Brayden is to maintain a fairly firm schedule. So here is how our days went: 7am - Brayden arrives, goodbye to Mom, make a list of what we're going to do that day 7:15 - 8:00 - Eat breakfast, help me fix Jeff's lunch, feed the fish and cat 8:00 - 8:30 - Brayden plays with Jeff, then we see Jeff off to work 8:30 - 9:00 - Play outside, ride his bike, play in the puddle at the end of our driveway 9:00 - 10:00 - House work (he vaccuums or sweeps, helps load the dishwasher, helps clean bathrooms (!), gets a Clorox wipe and cleans kitchen appliances and table 10:00 - 12:00 - Out* 12:00 - 12:30 - Lunch 12:30 - 2:30 - Nap 2:30 - 3:30 - Basement playroom (his larger toys are down here) 3:30 - 4:30 - Outside (pool or just playing in water) 4:30 - 5:00 - Snack, movie or book 5:00 - 5:30 - Transition over to Mom *Our trips out this week included going to the library, going to the car wash (the kind where you get out and watch through windows as the car goes through the wash - Brayden loved this), going to a playground, and going on a hike in the woods at a local park. Brayden is really working on learning new words and sentence structure now. He is amazing. He is putting full sentences together, using verbs and prepositions as well as nouns and pronouns! And he is fascinated with math - counting, adding, taking away. We got out some dominoes this week to just stack up and play with, and he preferred to count the dots on the dominoes. Here's a little movie of him doing so! (Notice his shirt - "No" means ask Grandma!) My house looks like World War III hit it, I'm behind on grocery shopping, coupon clipping and laundry, my garden has weeds as tall as my grandson -- and I don't care. This little boy is going to be grown before we know it, so my priority right now is being with him and enjoying every second of it!

Menu Planning Monday - On Tuesday!

A bit of a surprise yesterday -- daughter's other daycare provider (babysits 3 days a week vs my 2 days) left her a message that she was going to visit her grandmother for 2-3 weeks. I had an unexpected visitor at 7am - Brayden Lee! He'll be with me from 7am to 5:30 pm for 5 days a week for the next few weeks. This means -- dinner must be quick and easy, as I'm usually quite tired by the end of our day together!

Monday
Boneless chicken breasts in Lemon Pepper marinade,
cooked on grill
Cheddar Brocolli Rice
Green Salad

Tuesday
Tuna Macaroni Salad*
Whole wheat bread, butter

Wednesday
Leftover chicken sliced on
Chef's salad

Thursday
Leftover Tuna Macaroni Salad
Ritz Crackers

Friday
Order-in Pizza

Saturday
Roast Pork Loin
Browned potatoes
Peas

Sunday
Stir Fry w/left over pork


This Tuna Macaroni Salad recipe has been in my family for at least 50 years. I remember my grandmother making it for any large family gathering in the summer. This is one of those dishes that always tastes better as a leftover, so I make lots so we can eat it for several meals.

RECIPE - TUNA MACARONI SALAD

Ingredients
2 cans tuna in water
1 can Veg-All
1 lb shell macaroni
1 cup diced celery
1/2 cup diced onion
1 to 1 1/2 cups mayonnaise
1/2 cup bottled Ranch Dressing
Salt, pepper, celery salt to taste
Optional: 1 or 2 hard-boiled eggs, chopped

Cook shell macaroni according to pkg directions; don't overcook. Run macaroni under cold water to stop cooking process. Drain. Cover and refrigerate at least one hour.

In large mixing bowl, mix tuna (drained), Veg-All, celery and onion (optional eggs). Add macaroni. Add Mayo and Ranch dressing. Mix completely. Add salt, pepper and celery salt to taste and mix. Cover and refrigerate at least 3 hours. Serves 6-8 as a main dish.

Stocking up at Walgreens

There are some good sales at Walgreens this week. I apologize that I can't give you links to coupons that I use or dates they appeared in the newspaper. I just don't have time to keep track of things like that! You may, however, find several of the coupons to print off in the right column of this blog page. You can also print of Walgreens' coupons on their web site, if you don't get the Sunday paper before you go shopping. I used Walgreens sales today to stock up on pantry items. All are items we use on a regular basis. 4 Hellman's Mayonnaise 30 oz - Sale $2.99 3 Ragu Spaghetti Sauce - Sale $1.67 Total $16.96 Coupons Mayo - 1.00, .50, .40 Ragu - $.50 $3 Walgreens Register Rewards Out of Pocket $11.56 Rec'd $5 Walgreens Register Rewards Bic Soleil Razors - Sale $4.99 x 2 = $9.98 Walgreens Alum Foil - Sale $.49 x 4 = $1.96 Walgreens Storage Bags Sale .99 x 3 - $2.97 Total $14.91 Coupons Bic Razors $2.00 x 2 = $4.00 Walgreens RR $5.00 OOP $5.91 Edge Shaving Gel Sale $2.99 Easy Saver Coupon - $1.00 Mfg Coupon - $1.00 Walgreen Weekly coupon $1.00 OOP - FREE Total Merchandise $34.86 (sale prices) Cash Paid $17.47 50% saved on items we use every day!

Don't Overlook your local Hardware Store when being Frugal!

Ace Hardware has instituted a rebate program similar to Walgreens'. Purchase items, go online and put in for rebates, and get those items for a deep discount or free. Since house and car maintenance are an expensive part of daily life, it's great to have another store to turn to for these household needs. Similar to Walgreens and CVS, you need to sign up for an Ace Rewards Card to take advantage of these deals. You should be able to sign up online, though I've tried twice now with no luck. You can also sign up at your local store. In our area, ACE is having a huge "Grand Opening" sale on June 27, 28 and 29. Here are examples of what you will be able to get FREE AFTER REBATE (FAR): Rust Stop Spray Enamel for Grills - $3.99 - FAR OxiOut Emergency Stain Stick - $1.99 - FAR Jobe's Fertilizer Spikes - $99 - FAR Mr. Clean Auto Glass Cleaner - $2.99 - FAR Mr. Clean Car Protectant for rubber, plastic and vinyl - $2.99 - FAR GUMOUT Fuel System Cleaner - $3.29 - FAR These items are not free after rebate (though they could be if you have coupons!), but are deeply discounted: Sprayway Glass Cleaner - $1.99 - $1.00 rebate - $.99 final cost Murphy Oil Soap - $1.99 - $1.00 rebate - $.99 *Scrubbing Bubbles Bathroom Cleaner - $1.99 - $1.00 - $.99 *Shout Laundry Stain Remover - $1.99 - $1.00 - $.99 Fantastik Heavy Duty Cleaner - $1.99 - $1.00 - $.99 Poly Rope with Winder, 100'- $1.99 - $1.00 - $.99 Tire Wet Protectant - $1.99 - $1.00 - $.99 Fix a Flat - $1.99 - $1.00 - $.99 Elmer's Glue All 16 oz $2.99 - $2.50 rebate - $.49 *RayOVac 30 pk AA or AAA batteries - $9.99 - $5.00 rebate - $4.99 6 pc Double-Ended Power Drill Bit Set 7 pc Drill Bit Set 10 Pc Bit and Nutsetter Set - all $5.99 - $5.00 rebate - .99 each 1400 psi portable Power Washer - $84.99 - $25.00 rebate - $59.99 23 pocket Big Mouth Tool Bag - $9.99 - $5.00 rebate - $4.99 Sportsman Lantern - $9.99 - $5.00 rebate - $4.99 ACE Insecticide Spray - $2.49 - $2.00 rebate - $.49 (4 rebates) Cutter Back Yard Insect Spray - $9.99 - $6.00 rebate - $3.99 (2 rebates) ACE Home Insect Spray 1 gal - $6.99 - $5.00 rebate - $1.99 (2 rebates) *OFF Inspect Repellent Spray - $3.99 - $3.00 rebate - $.99 (2 rebates) ACE Weed & Grass Killer - $2.99 - $2.00 rebate - .99 (2 rebates) *These items have had coupons in recent Sunday paper flyers. Use the coupons and save even more and possibly get the item for free. I'm not completely sure how this rebate program works -- if you get your rebates on an ACE giftcard and have to spend that money at ACE, what the expiration policy is, what the "Rewards Points" are about, etc. I am going to my local ACE later today to sign up, and hopefully they will provide more information.