Slice is a nifty little app that keeps track of your online purchases for you. It tracks the shipping (if available), even letting you know when something has been delivered to your door (which is invaluable if you are at … Continue reading
lunch-2007-04-03a (Photo credit: flakyredhead)
Hi, my name is Annie and I’ve been phoning it in. I’ve been giving my kid lunchables and poptarts for far too long with the excuse that he is a picky eater and that is all he’ll eat. I’ve decided that I’m not going to do that this year. I’m tired of the guilt, the lack of nutrition in my son’s diet, and the money spent. We’re going to switch it up.
I’ve talked about going “back to bento” for myself, and I am excited. I’ve also talked to The Boy about making our own “lunchables”, where we can choose what lunchmeats/crackers/pizza toppings go in the lunch, rather than taking what good ol’ Kraft decides to give us. Realistically, he would eat pizza everyday for every meal if I let him, and I can give him less processed and pre-packaged options for pizza easily. His other choices are based on the candy or treat that comes with the lunchable, so I’m sure he wouldn’t say no to a homemade cookie or two instead.
This means that I will be menu planning every week, for dinners and lunches. If you’d like me to share my weekly menu plan, let me know in the comments.
Here are a couple of final thoughts:
Wish me luck!
If you are an internet hound like me, and you do a fair amount of shopping via the web, also like me, you may want to check out Dashlane. This is one of those password saver applications that not only saves your passwords extremely securely, it also fills out forms for you online. Creating a new account for some website? Dashlane will fill that out for you! Not sure if you have an account on this site? Dashlane remembers. I was skeptical at first, but after it was reviewed and recommended by lifehacker.com, I gave it a shot (it was still in beta at the time), and I love it.
Want to save some time? Try Dashlane.
(And no, I get nothing for recommending it!)
Comcast bill (Photo credit: pmsyyz)
Today I called the cable company who decided to up my bill by $20 a month. I spoke with two people, who both were very nice, but also professionals. “Let’s see what’s going on with your account…” They both knew exactly what had happened – The promotional term had ended, and no one had informed me that there was a promotional term. They know that because they get hundreds of calls a day from people just like me, complaining about the very same rate hike, yet they pretend to commiserate and try to “figure out” what could possibly be happening with my bill. They ask if there are any other problems with the service, they ask if maybe I have more services than I need. This is the tactic they use to try to get people to back down and agree that the services provided really are worth the extra money.
They don’t fool me. I have my own techniques. I stayed calm, and kept repeating that I would have to go to their competitor to see if they could offer a better deal — this was how I got the first person to switch me to the “loyalty department”. The second person tried to get me to see what a deal I was still experiencing, as I was still $15 under “retail” by asking if I had any issues with buffering or picture quality. I finally told him, “I don’t have any problem with the service, I have a problem with the price.” At this point he offered to “split the difference with me”. I took his offer, but in the meantime, got all the pertinent facts about how much Internet and basic cable were costing (each), when the cost would go up again, and the mbps speed, so that I can go to their competitor and see if I need to make a change.
Before I became a single mom, I never would have picked up the phone to make this call. I still do not like talking to people (businesses) on the phone, but now I can play the game and save myself some money when I have to.
What tips do you have for saving money on bills?
English: A Glass of Tea. Français : Une tasse de thé en verre. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
In a recent post, I lamented that I had not pre-planned how I should spend my time when The Boy was camping with Fantastic Babysitter. So I’ve been thinking about some ways I could spend a free hour…
What would you do if you had a free hour to yourself?
Red phone (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The ex and I divorced 4 years ago, and in that time, The Boy has been on the receiving end of many empty and broken promises. These range from “I’ll call you on Thursday,” (empty) to “I’m not going to be picking him up for his week with me,” (broken). As you can imagine, this would devastate any kid, but to a kid with autism, who is reliant on schedules, timers, and routine, it can be catastrophic.
This was actually a common theme before the divorce, so I am used to it, but The Boy was 6 when we divorced, and has learned only by experiencing it so often over the past four years. He still enjoys talking to his dad, and still enjoys visits to his dad’s when they occur, but the empty promises wreak much less havoc now. There are still tears, and “Why isn’t he coming to pick me up?” but he now knows his dad has a tendency to break promises, and he’s starting to understand that it’s something we can’t do anything about.
The only thing I can do is to make sure I don’t break my promises to The Boy. It’s very important to me that he knows he can rely on me, and he does because I’m consistent. There are times I know he thinks I’m the meanest mom in the world, but he knows I love him, I will never leave him, and he can always count on me.
As we head back into the s
chool season which is hectic for most parents, and extremely hectic for the special needs parent (can anyone say, “Transition”??), I have to admit that I sometimes need motivation to get done all of the things that need to get done. In other words, I need something to get my butt in gear when it comes to chores at home, because in my whole scheme of things, they are often the last priority.
If you aren’t familiar with lifehacker.com, it is a site that offers lots of techie tips, but also its fair share of life techniques that can help you simplify processes and save time. A few months ago, I read about The Pomodoro Technique on lifehacker, and have been using it with considerable success in my own life. There are even free apps for using this technique, which makes it even better.
The gist is that you set your timer for 25 minutes, and work straight through at your task until the timer goes off. You then reward yourself with 5 minutes to do whatever you’d like. You can also modify those numbers, if you want to work for shorter or longer, or reward yourself for shorter or longer. Only you know what will work for you.
Those of us familiar with visual schedules and behavioral therapy recognize this basic principle of “work-then-reward”, and the truth of human nature lies within – it’s hard to be intrinsically motivated when doing things you hate to do. The best part is that I am not too overwhelmed to get started on my chores when I break them down into 25 minute chunks, and I can walk away in the middle if I need to attend to something else.
Check out the lifehacker article here, and the official website here.
What tricks do you use to get everything done?
He’s 10, but some days he acts like he’s 13. And I know 13 — I teach middle school. Even though my son is only entering 5th grade, and developmentally in a lot of ways is at about age 8, … Continue reading
I have found that too often, app developers are all too willing to make a buck on apps “for special needs kids”. Many are upwards if $5, and I have seen quite a few in the $100 range. That is … Continue reading
Vacation is sometimes a double-edged sword for those of use with special needs kids. It’s rarely a vacation for us adults, although a fun change of pace. And the kids, well, the lack of structure and normalcy can tend to … Continue reading
Simple. I Just Do. 