Diets & Weight Maintenance Support Group
Chat about how well your latest diet is -- or is not -- working. This group is a great place to find support and accountability as well as share success stories and valuable lessons with the community. From where to start to weekly weigh-ins, get help from others to reach your dieting and weight maintenance goals.
I feed a family of 9 on a budget of around $100 a week-on a good week. Sometimes it's less. I homeschool my children, babysit for several families, which has me with extra kids in my home anywhere from 6 am to 10 pm, 5 days a week, run an online craft shop and blog, and have to deal with a cranky woman who lives downstairs that complains that my children walk too loudly. My husband's job has him away from the house for sometimes 4-5 days a week. I can't workout in my home (because of said neighbor) and I can't afford a gym. My apartment complex has a "fitness room" with a bunch of treadmills and a weight machine, but if my husband isn't home for 5 days at a time, I have nobody to watch my kids for me. We recently moved to a new state, so I am literally hundreds of miles from family and friends. I had thought about trading babysitting with the families I babysit for, but I literally watch their kids all day long because we live in a mining town. These people go to work before the sun comes up and get home after it's gone down, I can't ask them to watch all of my kids after all that. I thought I was safe to let my kids play around during the day as long as I kept them quiet in the evenings and had them in bed at a decent hour, but cranky woman called the landlord around lunchtime today to complain about me. The stress of having to tiptoe around my apartment and constantly be on my kids case is enough to have me gain 5 pounds in the last week. The combination of having such a low food budget (severely limiting my choices), not having the time/resources to work off the crap I have to eat, and not being able to get comfortable in my own home is driving me to insomnia. :(
How old are the oldest children - could they not look after the younger ones???
Is there a reason why you homeschool??
As far as the food budget try to buy in season as much as possible and making lots of soups and stews with beans and whole grain pasta and brown rice will help stretch the budget and is healthy. When you see fruits and veggies at a low price buy plenty. My daughter applied for food stamps and that helped a bit. Is there a community garden in your town? That might be a fun project with the kids and provide some extra produce.
The weather is getting better where I'm at, so hopefully we can do more things outside. I don't know my area well yet, but we have a lot of camping planned for the spring and summer. I have a hard time getting outside with the kids because of the ones I babysit. It makes for a lot of kids and only myself to supervise. My local library is doing an Easter egg hunt on Friday and if things go as planned (only 1 extra child that day), we will be going to that, so that is some extra walking I will get done. I just have to plan and schedule things around everyone else, and that makes things difficult.
My daughter shared one plot with a friend so that reduce the cost which was minimal to begin with cause if there was a need they did reduce the plot "rental" or whatever it is called. Just call the community and tell them your situation and see what can be done. I know that my daughter, her friend and their kids had a wonderful time planting, weeding and harvesting. It is a great learning tool for the children, not to mention they seem to eat their veggies better when then grow them themselves. Also there is trading going on with the other gardeners.
As for the cranky neighbor maybe just talking to her/him would help to understand both your side of the situation. I recall when we live in a mobile home and the young man next door came home with his car stero blasting it vibrated through out walls and drove us nuts while he sat in the drive and played it. Once we invited him to come into our house and experience this he understood and tried to remember respect our needs. Communication goes a long way in finding harmony. Maybe sharing some homemade goodies like cookies or cake when you visit would help some too. :)