Mom Blog and Baby Blog | Baby Bunching

what's on your teuxdeux list?

Everyone has their own, and preferred, way of staying organized--calendars, lists, post it notes, writing it on your hand, etc. As Baby Bunchers, it's important to find a system that works for you early on, but be willing to adjust as your rollercoaster ride accelerates. For example, I relied heavily on my memory plus a dry erase board for keeping on top of things (pre-Baby Bunching that is). Yeah, I can hear you all laughing because it's quite obvious that method no longer works. Although, I do admit to trying it now and then only to quickly be reminded how I will miserably fail going this route. 

In the past few years, I have tried pretty pocket calendars, big calendars, dry erase boards in the kitchen (only to realize they don't work well if you have to move to the office), beautiful planners, and an assortment of online calendars. Really, the issue is I'm a list maker (aka post-it notes everywhere) and my calendar and lists need to be merged into one so I can survive.

So I found out about a great new site + app a few weeks ago and this one I've fallen in love it: TeuxDeux. Why do I love this? Because it's just a list. It's bare bones. No frills. Just a daily list. You can cross it out, and if you don't, it automatically carries over to the next day. Nothing more fabulous than having something remind me of all the things I didn't finish yesterday. Awesome! Even better it syncs with my iPhone so I can take my TeuxDeux list with me on the go.

If you love your current method of staying organized, we applaud you (and beg you share what it is). But if you're looking for something easy to help you stay a bit on top of things, you might give this one a try.

(Editor's note: As you know we never review things on this site that we don't think are perfect for the Baby Buncher crowd. No one was paid to say how fabulous we love this product. And it just so happens I know the amazing woman who helped design it.)  

delish make-ahead meals for your bunch

Finding great make-ahead recipes (beyond lasagna) that you can freeze, are great treasure finds. They are perfect as welcome gifts for new moms or novice Baby Bunchers. They are nice for afternoons when the activities are so crazy you just don't have time to prep a meal. It's a great meal strategy for working moms who may have the time on the weekend, but not during the week. They are even great packaged for sick grandmas or neighbors who need a little extra TLC. And many times on cool rainy days, like today, I use the time inside to do a little meal prep for a busier day.

About two years ago, a Baby Bunching friend of mine--who also happens to be a caterer--passed along her collection of make-ahead recipes. I was looking for something beyond the normal 'cassaroley' type things that I could take to a new mom in town or to my own mom (who is ill) and doesn't have the desire to cook. Since then, many of these awesome recipes have been incorporated into my weekly menu. These recipes have been tested and tweaked by my friend's cooking group--and me--so I promise they are delish! Some of these are so yum, like the Fish Veracruz, you could make them to serve later on for company. My family's personal favorites from this line up include: Chicken Pot Pie, Turkey Meatloaf with Cranberry Relish (perfect for fall), Beef Strognaoff, Mexican Manicotti and Crab Quiche. They all come with directions on how to store in the freezer.

Check out the complete collection of what I like to call Leslie's Make Ahead Recipes. If you have a few of other favorites that you enjoy, let us know. We love to recipe swap. Leslie, if you're reading, let us know if you have any new favs to add to this list.  

(Note: These recipes are posted with permission from my Baby Bunching friend who generously put them together for people to use to help with meal preparation. Please do not take this collection and pretend it is yours. That would be mean.)

doing the getting dressed dance

This morning, as I was wrestling my 2-year old to the floor to get him dressed for the day, I had a Baby Bunching flashback to the days when I had a 2 1/2-year old AND a 1-year old to wrestle into clothes - typically several times a day.  The daily infant and toddler fashion show was exhausting enough - by the time both boys were old enough to be on the move and we threw a cat-and-mouse chase into the mix, the getting-dressed routine felt so insurmountable that I often considered staying home all day just so I didn't have to swap pajamas for playclothes.

Somewhere along the line, I learned a critical lesson that simplified things a little.  Have EVERYTHING you need to dress the child right next to you so that once you finally pin him down, you can get him fully dressed - new diaper, clothes, socks/shoes, and yes - even brush teeth.  Honestly, violating the no-shoes-in-the-house policy is worth  sparing yourself the experience of tracking your toddler down 15 times a day to take shoes on and off.  

To do this, it is helpful to have changing stations throughout the house, particularly if you have multiple levels.  I had a changing station with not just diapers and wipes, but several extra outfits for each child (including socks) on each floor of my house.  I'm not neccessarily talking a changing table - even just a changing pad tucked in a corner with diapers and clothes stashed in a basket or other container will do.  And don't forget to tuck complete sets of toothbrushes for everyone at every sink in the house (including kitchen).  You just want to spare yourself as many trips up and down (both off the floor and up the stairs) as you can.

Just be sure that when you finally pin everyone down to get ready for the day, it's AFTER they've eaten breakfast.  Otherwise, you're gonna be doing it all over again in an hour....

 

 

the toys have won, for now

By Sharon M.

Many people have asked me how I can possibly “do it all” with caring for my 4 young children, working a part-time job, volunteer work, extracurricular activities, and cooking, cleaning and laundry for 6 people.  The first thing I usually say is, “I don’t do it all!”  I know that Babybunching.com has addressed the issue of overwhelming housework before, but since it’s a perpetual issue for all of us I thought I might put my 2 cents in.
 
I learned early on that my type A personality needed to let some things go in order to survive having a big family.  For instance, I value my time with the kids more than keeping a super-clean house.  Currently I am the only one who is capable of doing all the household chores for the 6 people living in my house.  My husband works 6 days a week and my kids are all too young to help much (ages 5 and under).  Essentially, there’s only one of me versus a pile of dirty clothes, a stack of dirty dishes and roomfuls of cluttery toys.  Generally anything “dirty” gets my attention long before I get around to something “cluttery.”  Since I value my time with the kids during the day and absolutely require my downtime at night after they go to bed, a few household chores are bound to pile up. 
 
Whenever it seems that I have too much to do, I simply must prioritize!  In other words, I do basic maintenance cleaning only on a daily basis.  As a matter of pride, I do a more thorough cleaning when company comes over.  This means that I put off dusting or clearing out all the toys until a friend stops by.  I actually make it a point to schedule a play date every now and then just to give me a reason for making the house sparkling clean.  Otherwise, I just don’t see the great need for dusting the bookshelves or vacuuming the fanblades when I could be teaching my son new words to read! 
 
I take comfort in knowing that one day the children will be old enough to clean thoroughly and independently (they’re starting to get there already!).  Then I can once again sit back and enjoy the comfort of a tidy house.  Until then, I have resigned myself to a life of toys and dust in every nook and cranny of the house.  The clutter of toys may have won today but their victory will be short!!
 
Sharon M. is mother to a Bunch of 4--four under 5 to be exact.

how to successfully take your bunch out on the town

Summertime, with our kids home all day, is reminding us of the early days of Baby Bunching. Where getting out and about with water bottles, changes of clothing, extra gear and snacks seems to dominate our days. Nevermind the fact that, for the most part, our kids aren't napping anymore so we're challenged with filling extra long days with hungry, tired or filthy kids. (Ok, that is a side effect to summer.) Believe us, it does get easier even at this point. But we're realizing some of the strategies we learned from getting out with our Bunch and home again in one piece still applies even for the older kids.

We remember feeling that while home may be the safest place for moms of two (heck, it still can seem that way today), getting out can be a sanity saver. For everyone.  You may recall that getting out with one baby used to take half the day, but getting out with two requires strategizing comparable to that of a major military operation. 

In all our reminiscing of these early outings we have outlined a battle plan for you to use for the early Baby Bunching days, but like the rest of us, you will make mistakes. You will forget the appropriate gear, push your kids too close to naptime, or take them somewhere inappropriate such as Costco, an art museum or the Department of Motor Vehicles.  But within a few months, you will develop the sixth sense all Baby Bunching moms eventually fine-tune, and you will be able to spot a bad outing idea a mile away and know how to abandon ship, cut your losses and just go home. There are tips for making these outings easier and places everywhere that are win-win for moms with kids of all ages and age ranges and we’re going to fill you in on them.

Running a quick errand doesn’t mean the same thing it did a few months ago when you only had one child to contend with. There are serious logistics to think about even if you are just running to the grocery store with both kids (which, by the way, we strongly recommend you DO NOT do if you can avoid it). Getting everyone out and about in that narrow window in between their various nap and food schedules is a challenge. So many factors are crucial to a successful trip and your definition of “success” will quickly change.  For you newbies, after years of Baby Bunching experience, here’s how we define it:

Definition of a Successful Outing: An excursion outside the realm of one’s abode—whether a walk down the street or a trip across town on the subway—where no child is in tears, hurt, hungry, left behind or locked in car; where mom is not in tears, hurt or needing a drink; where at least one of the outing’s goals is “accomplished;” and at least two of members of the family come home smiling. 

This may seem like a tall order to fill. Or you may be thinking that you don’t know what the hell is wrong with our disorganized asses, but all of YOUR outings will be successful.  Either way, we promise that you need the advice we are about to provide.

The three most important skills for planning and executing successful outings are: 

1) Developing your plan. Developing a plan of attack requires making a mental map of your destination and your route and assessing what it will take to overcome any obstacles that will arise.  A few questions to consider:
• Mode of transportation.  Are you walking, driving, or taking public transportation?  This will determine what kind of stroller you should take.
• Ease of navigation.  Will it be crowded?  Will there be ramps for your stroller?  Will you have to walk a long distance across a busy parking lot?  Again, all factors that determine what kind of “wheels”, slings, or baby carriers you should bring.
• Proximity to food.  Can you buy age-appropriate (bonus points for nutritious) food for all parties if someone starts to break down or do you need to bring your own?  And never, EVER assume that you will be able to complete an outing without food.  Always, always, always have a healthy, yummy snack for all children on hand – you never know when you will have to buy time with a handful of animal crackers (yeah, yeah – we all said we never do it – get over it.)  If your outing will encompass a meal time, be sure you have plenty of food on hand, plus one extra snack beyond what you think you will need.  Don’t forget sippy cups/bottles for all!
• Amount of waiting time or being still involved.  Baby Bunches hate long waits and small, crowded waiting areas.  If your outing requires either one of these, be prepared to bring out the Big Guns – the hardest-core food and toy distractions you have in your arsenal.
• Quality of destination’s baby-proofedness.  Whether you are going over to a childless friend’s house for dinner or to the mall, think realistically about what you will need to keep your little ones not only entertained, but safe.  We recommend always having some way to either strap all parties into a chair/seat of some sort or wear them on your body, in case you get desperate.

2) Having a Backup Plan. Now that you’ve packed your 63-piece luggage set with everything you need to make a “quick” trip to the drugstore, be sure you have a backup plan.  What will you do if you get there and it’s too crowded and your kids wig out or you can’t keep track of them?  Or if somebody woke up too early that morning and are so tired by the middle of the outing that they are acting like hellacious beasts?  Or if somebody has to peepee and the available potty is so filthy that your eyes need a shower from just looking at it?  Or the all time worst – you get there and they don’t have whatever it was you came for and you have to make a second stop.  You gotta be prepared for all these scenarios because you will encounter one or more of them at some point.  You need to be flexible in case things don’t go according to plan (and they frequently don’t).  This may mean accepting a substitute – product, outing location, whatever.  Or it may mean scoping out the nearest exit.  Which brings us to….

3) Recognizing When to Cut Your Losses. Sometimes it’s just not worth it.  If your kid(s) is so tired/hungry/bored that he is a fussy nightmare and no one is having any fun or getting anything accomplished, do yourself a favor and go home.  Who cares if you drove across town to treat your kids to the children’s museum – if they’re not having any fun, it’s not worth it anyway.  If you’re at Target and you’re only three items into your list, get only the most critical things you need (i.e. the diapers and the laundry detergent) and come back for the rest another time.  Which reminds us – with any outing, always, always do the most important thing that you came for very first, so that if things go awry and you have to bail, you at least got the most important thing accomplished.

crafting with kids: rising to the challenge

By Elise, Inspiration Surrounds, Creativity Abounds

For me the most difficult thing about crafting with a three-year old, a one-year old and often a newborn strapped to the front of me, is . . . depending on the day a number of things could be inserted here, but for now I am going with . . . coming up with ideas to keep our one-year old, Blake, engaged for more than three minutes. So far, I have hit upon a few old faithfuls that do keep Blakie happy and busy - a winning combination in my book.

While Blake does enjoy painting and making his own collages, he often loses interest a lot sooner than Savvy (which is to be expected given his age), so these are some of the things I have on hand and usually buy us more time. Also, I find that when Blake has a little "break" from painting he will often come back to it and ask for some more paint.

When we are painting I have a container full of different materials (often household items) that can be used to paint with, items such as string, sponge pieces, bubble wrap etc. I find that this variety keeps him engaged a little longer.

Our dot stampers are very popular at the moment. Once Blake has finished stamping with them he likes trying to take the lids off and on. We also go through lots of dot stickers around here! He can peel them off the paper himself and apply them. I try to mix it up when it comes to using the dot stampers and applying the stickers. Sometimes he may use the stickers on plastic lids and containers, other times he may use the stampers and stickers on a paper towel tube or cupcake wrappers. On other occasions, I will wrap up a box in foil and he will put stickers on that. Often we can use these bits and pieces in a future craft project

What works best is coming up with ways to differentiate an activity. For example, if Savvy is making a collage (she likes to use lots of glue) I often give Blakie a sheet of contact paper and he will happily select different textured materials to stick onto his contact paper.

Elise is a Baby Buncher of three beautiful babies in Australia. As a former secondary school teacher and now SAHM, she writes a blog called Inspiration Surrounds, Creativity Abounds, where she writes about what inspires her with play, arts and crafts. For more on this topic, check out her site.

** This post has been reprinted with her permission.

keeping up appearances: 10-minute cleanup sprint

Last week a friend called to catch up for a bit. One thing led to another during the discussion and the next thing I knew her whole Bunch was heading over for a playdate. Right then. I quickly scanned the house to check at what last-minute pickup/wipe down was needed. Fortunately, I've been playing this game long enough that it's become easier and quicker.

Over the years I have learned a thing or two about presentability of your house for a playdate. Some moms are awesome at surrendering to the chaos of their new life and are unfazed that guests have to navigate an obstacle course that involves crunching over an entire box of Cheerios on the kitchen floor in order to get to the toddler toy minefield in the living room.  They take it all in stride. Other make great attempts to fool us into thinking they have it all together.

No one wants to come over to a spotless house. That's just weird. Mess is good and healthy. Crumbs on the floor are even cool with me. But parents of crawlers may be less than ecstatic to have their child mopping up the floors with their hands. It's one thing when it's your floor, but another when it's someone else's perhaps. And while we all understand bathroom pee on the seat and perhaps even on the floor around it, it's kind of gross at someone else's house.

If you are one of the parents that feel obliged to making others think they have it all under control even when you don’t, we’ve developed a cheater’s guide to look your Baby Bunching Best.  It takes less than 10 minutes and we are embarrassed to admit that we have both, at times, let one or both children scream while we raced around the house for 10 minutes in an effort to ready the house for an impending visitor. 

Here’s what you do:
1. The minute you hang up the phone with your soon-to-be guest, sweep all dirty dishes into the sink and wipe down counters.  Some moms use the oven to stash dirty dishes, but Cara forgot and almost cooked hers once so we recommend the sink as a safer alternative.

2. Light a candle with a pleasant scent. Gets rid of disgusting diaper/spit up

3. Throw all toys in each room into the bin/container in that room. You do have one of these right?

4. Sweep up any visible (to the reasonable, not scrutinizing, naked eye) food/dirt/other debris on the floor or carpet.  Have a lightweight vacuum or Dustbuster for this purpose.  Do not get carried away with this step or you will run out of time.

5. Go to your bathroom your guests will use.  Use Clorox wipes to swipe the sink and then the toilet seat.  Bonus points if you have time to swish the bowl, but not necessarily unless you have toilet training toddler tracks in the bowl.  Throw the used wipes (you bought scented ones, right?) in your wastebasket and throw a clean tissue on top to hide them – they will keep the bathroom smelling lemony fresh.  Make sure you put out a clean hand towel to replace the finger paint stained one your toddler used to wash up with before lunch.

6. If your upstairs or other areas of the house are such a disaster you can’t bear to have visitors see them, bring toys into the living room and put up a baby gate to block off disaster zones.

7. Wash your hands.  Put on a pot of coffee or get out the iced tea, and plate some cookies/Goldfish/whatever else is appropriate for the time of day.

8. If there is time, take the trash out.

9 Comfort screaming children, if applicable.

10. Smooth hair, paste smile on face, and prepare to greet visitor.

thred up: wear, trade, wear, trade

 

My house is overflowing with outgrown clothes. I have bins in the basement that both my kids no longer fit into. I have stacks of winter clothes that they MAY be able to fit into next fall/winer since I never know how much they will grow. I have stacks of summer clothes that are a bit too tight but beloved by those who previous donned them. (It's funny how kids can actually become attached to certain things.) But what to do once it's too small.

We are loving the concept of ThredUp which could actually help you with this problem. It's perfect for us Baby Bunchers with little time to consign our "good stuff." With ThredUp, you list your items by size/gender and people in turn order your boxes. There is a fee to "buy" but it's a flat rate per box. But it's free to list. For everybox you list, you do have to send a box. It's like a giant online clothing swap! What we love is this is great for buying things like fleeces, jackets or snowsuits that your kids may not wear very often--especially if you live in hottler climate. It's a great opportunity to pass along your premium clothing (Hanna Andersson, Mini Boden, Polarn O. Pyret, Gymboree, Janie and Jack, Tea Collection, Zutano) to those who really know and love the brands.

Not comfortable wearing stranger's clothing, you can set up an inner circle of contacts and swap with them around the country. Pretty cool, huh? As a bonus, this week they are beginning their Golden Threds, where high-end clothing companies will be listing new (overstocked) items in the mix. But like Willy Wanka's Golden Tickets, you have to find these little treasures on their site.

 

 

saving bunches for my bunch

By Kim Wuenschel, Savings in Spartanberg

Last year was quite a year for my family. You can probably relate to my story... In February we found out we were pregnant - and our son had just turned 6 months old. I freaked out. And that only got worse over the next 9 months.

To add to that stress, in April, my husband’s employer had to cut his pay. In June, a bigger pay cut. Bigger still in August! And the threat of a 4th loomed over our heads in September. That, combined with the new home we’d just bought, a baby on the way, a super high insurance deductible, and knowing that I’d be leaving my part-time job when the baby came, left us stressed. To say the least. I had to find a way (and time) to save money – some how. Or we were going under.

So I started to take couponing seriously. Who know you could save so much with coupons?!?! I now average $20 for a cart FULL of groceries. It’s not uncommon for me to leave the grocery store, with 10-15 bags of groceries, having spent less than $5! And all the grocery savings led to finding savings in all areas of our family life. Even more insane – I manage to have to time to do it all with 2 under 18 months!

Here are my top 10 ways I’ve saved a couple THOUSAND dollars in the last 6 months!

1. Buy your diapers online. Diapers.com has an incredible deal for 1st time shoppers. Order a case of diapers and 1-2 jumbo packs, make sure your total is at least $49 (I get 1 case of Luvs & 2 jumbo Luvs for right at $49). At check-out, enter in the promo code “FREE-$10." That will take $10 off your order. Plus you’ll get free 2-day shipping. PLUS, as a first-time shopper you can request a $14.97 rebate instead of the free magazine. Fill out the rebate form. You’ll end up getting up to 364 diapers (how many depends on the size) for just $25. Then get your husband, mother-in-law, grandma, babysitter, etc, to all do the same for you! 

2. Save on Diapers in the stores. Walgreens & CVS constantly have diapers on sale. And they often offer coupons that are worth cash in their store for buying diapers – Walgreens calls them Register Rewards. CVS calls them Extra Care Bucks. Watch for their sales, use a Walgreens coupon (ask the Pharmacist for a coupon book!) and a coupon you got from being on Pampers or Huggies mailing list. Or one from coupon.com. You can “stack” a store coupon on a manufacturer coupon for the same pack of diapers! Don’t forget to use a $/$$ coupon, too! There’s a $5/$25 coupon for Rite Aid at Redplum.com right now and CVS will honor it! I save lots on diapers at the drugstore when I combine all those coupons! Also – did you know that if you stock up on one size and your child out grows it before you open the package, you can return it to Babies R Us for a store credit?? Even if you didn’t buy it at that store! 

3. Get paid to shop online. Seriously! Use Ebates or ShopAtHome every time you buy something online – like the diapers at diapers.com. They’ll refund you a certain percent of your purchase. For instance… go to Ebates, click on Old Navy – and they’ll send you to Old Navy’s website (while tracking what you spend). Buy some great-looking, cheap kids clothes and then Ebates will refund you 10% of that order! Plus they give you $5 just for signing up. You only need to reach $20 before they mail you out a check. Each store has a different cash back percentage, anywhere from 1-30%. I saved bundles over Christmas! 

4. Get paid to search the web! I’m not pulling your leg! In 6 weeks, I’ve made $20 worth of gift cards to Amazon. For doing nothing more than I normally do. Searching the web. $5 more and I’ll get free shipping for some baby clothes! Or maybe I’ll splurge on myself ;-) How? It’s called Swagbucks! Randomly they’ll award you “swagbucks” for searching the internet. Then you turn around and spend those bucks on any one of hundreds of items. My fav? $5 Amazon gift cards cost 45 swagbucks. I’ll get that many in just 1-2 weeks!

5. Shop around for auto insurance. We thought we had good rates last year before I decided to shop around and see. I was surprised when a national company quoted us $500 less than we were paying! So we switched!! Even though it’s only been a year, I priced checked around again the other day. And switching carriers again, we’re going to save ANOTHER $170! No time to call a dozen different agents?? Me neither! I used a site like 2Insure4Less. It took me about 7 minutes to fill in all the information. And they sent it all securely to 7 or 8 different nationally known companies. Then the local agents called or emailed me their quotes. I love things that save so much time and money like this!

6. Use coupons. YES it really is worth the time to clip them. On average, I spend 2 hours a week planning my grocery shopping trip. And I use $60-$90 worth of COUPONS! Use sites like coupons.com. Even if you just use a few coupons per trip, you’ll save money. 

7. Buy coupons on Ebay. Did you know that people sell coupons for diapers, formula, etc, on Ebay? Well… technically it’s illegal. But they’ll gladly sell you an envelope that just happens to be full of coupons for $5… $7….$10 off baby stuff! For just pennies! Don’t just look for baby stuff. The other day I bought 10 All Detergent coupons for $1.99… I used them at Target and got 10 things of All for just $6.50 total!! Don’t clip and search for coupons… too time consuming. Look on e-bay! Be sure to go to Ebay through Ebates or ShopAtHome in order to get a percentage back, too.

8. Sell coupons on Ebay. Do you get all those formula coupons and free samples in the mail, too?? Even if your kids are out of that stage?? Sell them on Ebay. I sold 7 coupons for Similac on Ebay the other day… made $17! And I got the coupons free in the mail. Woo hoo.  

9. Maximize your coupons. The best way to make the most out of your coupons is to use them when the product is on sale. But that’s a lot of planning… I know! So CHEAT! See the next item for how… 

10. Let a blogger do your planning for you. Head over to Be Centsable and click on “Grocery Store Deals”. Find your state, then the store you shop at. And you’ll see links to websites that share the deals from your store. Each week the websites post the sale ads along with direct links on where to find coupons that match the sales. You can get name brand products for FREE every week, or just pennies on the dollar. And the best part is, the website you’re on does all the work for you. No planning needed! MAJOR time saver!  I’ve more than cut my grocery budget in half using this method! In fact, if you follow the blogger who writes about your store’s deals & coupons, she’ll probably let you in all sorts of other deals online, too. 

I hope these ideas have helped give you some new and creative ways to save money – and to do it without sacrificing the little “me time” you have when your bunch is napping or happily playing on their own. Our time is so precious, but it really can be easy to save big money with a little time.

Kim is a money-saving-tips blogger at Savings in Spartanberg.

help for hire

Recently, as we were getting our house ready to put on the market, my husband and I were struggling with what basic home improvements to tackle ourselves and what we should pay someone else to do.  Hubs, God love him, has many talents but handiness is not one of them, so it was clear that any major fix-it jobs should be parceled out. We really struggled with the painting, because any painting that had already been done, we did ourselves (BEFORE we had kids or when grandparents were visiting to help with the kids). It was really frustrating to us to have to pay someone to do work that we knew we could do ourselves.  Of course, we couldn't do it with three kids hanging off the side, so if we did it ourselves we'd have to pay a sitter to look after them while we did it.  Talk about no-win situation.

In the end we went with a hybrid, hiring painters to do difficult areas and making touch-ups ourselves.  It took so much time and energy that in the end I wish we'd just hired them to do it all.

Ditto with our yard service. When we moved into our home, the homeowners association mandated fees to pay a neighborhood yard service.  We grumbled, knowing that we were perfectly capable of doing it ourselves.  Three kids later, I'm happy someone else does it because otherwise we'd be living in a jungle.

We've struggled with other opportunities to outsource over the years and I've gradually come to terms with the drycleaning bills and the housekeeper (who comes twice a month and is something we added when I started working part-time). I tried working with minimal childcare, but it's impossible for my job so I adore my babysitter that takes such great care of my kids so I can work.  In my next house, I've learned that I need to keep a handyman on speed dial so that ten years worth of minor repairs such as falling towel racks don't pile up on us.

In the constant battle of time vs. money and with many small children in the mix, Baby Bunching wants to know - what outsourcing have you found to be most valuable in helping you get it all done?