What I learned this week....

Earlier this week, our truck broke down. Unfortunately we were out in it at the time. We do have AAA. The truck overheated so we just let it cool down. We made our way back home; we were about 5 miles away. It took us almost an hour to get back home....pulling over every few minutes to let the truck cool down. Ooooh, the kids were annoyed and had little patience with this.
I learned that when you do not have a vehicle, you can save money! At least we did. There was no where to go to spend it. We still had a good time. We like to be home and spend time together.
We organized, cleaned, got the house in order. Sometimes when you are busy spending time outside the home, you neglect to take care of your home. That has happened recently to us. I'm not sure that we were spending so much time outside of the home. We were just busy and not taking the time to care for the house. Having this extra time of being still, gave us the time to give our home some love.
We didn't exactly clean it the Flylady way. The kids and I started with the coffee table, a place where they often do their studies and activities. We cleaned off the clutter and put things back in their spots. I realized the coffee table is their "kitchen sink." We organized. Then hubby and I split the chores of vacuuming and mopping. He has been working from home the past few months. While on a break, I asked him which he would prefer - to vacuum or mop. He responded that he would vacuum. That's how it is done! =)
He vacuumed and I mopped. We decided he would vacuum the bedrooms tomorrow and I will mop the bathrooms then. It is so nice to work together as a team.
Now that I had given some thought to the kids' kitchen sink - the coffee table, I let them know this would be there daily project - to put the things away on the coffee table every day and keep it neat and clean.
We wrapped up the day by baking cookies and watching the Little House on the Prairie pilot. We shared a nice day together. House is clean and we all worked together as a team.

A Homeschool Mom's Dilemna

My 6 year old asks me yesterday:

"what is more important Mom that I learn to read so I can read to my kids one day or that I clean up my mess?"

Hmmm, challenging one. He's opting to complete his bookwork over the doldrum of cleaning up after himself. I like how he worded it to me. What is a homeschooling Mom to choose??

He can do both of course. He likes learning and working through his Explode the Code workbook. He likes to play, build things and use his imagination. He does not like to clean up the mess he leaves after times of play.

Making Changes: Auto Insurance

I was on a quest to review our current insurances and save money. I have been a loyal customer with one auto carrier for 20 years. That's not to say I've never shopped around. I frequent shop around to save money. After being with one company for such a long time, I haven't been able to get a better rate. My friend had mentioned that she gets a better rate with another company. So I've been looking into it. I got some good online quotes from them. Although I did have to put some information into their website, I was pleased with the results. It also provided the opportunity for me to change some of the coverages to see what the differences would be in cost. Something I've never had a chance to do before.
I obtained these quotes a few months ago and I was pleased so I followed up by phone to get a quote with the same company for homeowner's insurance. Well after giving them all of this great information, I was put on hold waiting for a quote.....the associate came back on and said she could not offer me a quote as I was too close to the water! Hmmm, a little bummed about that. I left the insurance idea alone for a bit.
My quest resurfaced as our auto policy came do. I did the quotes again for auto and took them with my current policy into my agent. We talked for quite some time and went over several figures. He expressed gratitude to me for coming in and addressing this with me, then seemed determined to get me a lower rate. Well, it turns out, he couldn't get me a better rate.
A week later, I got a bill in the mail for a $20 increase!
So that was it, I called the other insurer, finished my quote and got a new policy! Free after 20 years! I am going to save $146.30 every 6 months. Hubby figured that out to be 39% savings. We are happy and we'll have the same coverage.