Entirely Smitten

Send Your Sock Basket Packing!

{Clutter-Free Challenge} Day 14

 

Time Needed: 15 minutes - 2 HOURS!!!

Physical Rating: Minimal

Emotional Rating: Minimal

 

I'm pretty sure everyone has one of these bad boys and I think I speak for all of us when I say that they are a HUGE time-sucker.  Our sock basket is actually a drawer that is kept under my bed.  Why?  Because when I used to keep them in a basket they would taunt me every time I walked by, so keeping them in a drawer under my bed made me feel like a smooth criminal.  As they say, "Out of sight, out of mind."  Well, 'tis time to rectify the problem, and let's all agree: a sock basket is a PROBLEM and not a SOLUTION!

There are so many ways to solve this problem:

• Start over- junk your current socks and purchase a distinctive sock style for each member of the family.  (I have fantasized about doing this, but my girls love to wear socks that coordinate with their outfits.)  This one certainly makes matching socks quick and painless, but it doesn't do anything for the missing sock problem.

• Mesh laundry bags- these are usually used for lingerie and other delicate items, but can certainly be used for socks.  Just don't overload the bags or they won't dry thoroughly.  If you are opting for this one, definitely get each member of your family their own bag.  They can toss their dirty socks in the bag each day and when it's time to do the laundry you won't have to worry about finding matches to wash or sorting them and matching them afterward.  Just wash and dry the bags of socks with your other laundry then distribute the bags to their owners! :) 

• Attached at the ankle- You can use temporary methods of attaching the socks- safety pins, clothespins, and "sock keepers" or you can create a permanent way to attach the socks- hook & eye clasps, metal snaps, velcro, buttons, etc.  As soon as the socks are removed, the wearer can attach them and toss them into the hamper where they will remain attached during the entire cleaning process!  No more sorting and matching, just put them away!

 

  Here I used metal snaps to attach a pair.  I like how quick and easy this one is.

 

 

See?  So easy!  You can see how you won't feel the snap on your skin because it has such a low profile.

 

Hook & Eye is definitely another option.  These go on the outside of the sock so there's no chance of feeling it.  They're also really small, so by positioning the hooks on the inside ankle of the sock you won't see them at all when they are being worn.

 

As you can see, I went with the attachment option.  If those don't hold up, the mesh bags are my back up plan.  Anything is better than a sock basket though!

Organize Your Utility Cabinet/Closet

{Clutter-Free Challenge} Day 13

 

Time Needed: 15-20 minutes

Physical Rating: Light Duty

Emotional Rating: Minimal

 

Here we have our utility cabinet.  While the typical purpose of a utility cabinet is to store frequently used home maintenance items and emergency items for when the power goes out.  Ours- well...

had quite a bit more than that.  I found replacement bulbs to a car we don't even own anymore, lots of hinges and cabinet handles, and tools galore.  My favorite find was the Michael's receipt from 2010.  Heh heh... whoops.  Just like with the junk drawer de-clutter, I threw away the junk, put away the items that did not belong in there, and then organized what remained.

BOOM!

So much better!  I can reach in and grab what I need without even looking now :)

 

I made a basket for tea lights and a few glass tea light holders.  We lose power a lot during thunderstorms in the summer and snowstorms in the winter, so this basket is a must!

 

Most of our home has LED lighting which means the chances of ever having to replace them is slim to none, but there are a few lights that we use incandescent bulbs for and they blow pretty frequently, so this basket is sure to come in handy.

 

Ahhh... another clutter-free zone in my house!  It's really starting to add up and make a difference!  How is your place coming?

Pare Down Your Books, Magazines, and Newspapers

{Clutter-Free Challenge} Day 12

 

Time Needed: 15-45 minutes

Physical Rating: Light/Medium

Emotional Rating: Possible Anxiety

 

Ok, so this is one of the few projects that I don't have a before photo of.  Back when we were planning our hopeful move to California, we packed all non-essential items to save us the trouble when we finally starting the moving process.  Well the moving thing kind of died (a long, slow, painful death) and the boxes were left neatly stacked in our work room in the basement.  Recently hubs and I lost it and junked almost everything in the boxes and put away what we decided to keep.  We pared down our book collection to just our absolute favorites and stored them in our freshly built Book Nook.

This is the Book Nook that hubs and I built for the kids for Christmas.  Our office had a pretty big closet that wasn't being used for anything important so we figured, why not built a little nook for reading?  We basically just created a "loft" in the closet, built in a simple bookcase using scrap wood, slapped up some beadboard style panelling and installed a light.  We left the door on because it's roomy enough to close yourself in and not feel claustrophobic.  It really is so quiet in there.  Each of the kids have fallen asleep in there at some point!

 

These are some of my favorites.  Wonderful adventures on the left and books about living in the country, gardening, and home improvement on the right.

 

I'm sorry that I don't have a before for you guys, but trust me when I say that the box was VERY full and I'm glad it's not kicking around anymore.  So what do you think?  Do you have it in you to pare down that book collection?  You don't have to go as extreme as we did.  Maybe start with just the books you are definitely "done" with and then slowly work it down to your favorites.  Remember, de-cluttering is not getting rid of everything, just what you don't need or LOVE.  Imagine a library where no matter what book you grab, it's your favorite- that's de-cluttering :)

De-clutter Your Desk/Workspace

{Clutter-Free Challenge} Day 11

 

Time Needed: 15-45 minutes

Physical Rating: Minimal

Emotional Rating: Possible Anxiety

 

Ugh.Here is our desk/workspace.  For Christmas, we turned our guest bedroom into a "study" featuring three computer stations, two reading chairs, and a book nook built into the closet.  The project was so involved and exhausting due to having to sneak around to work on it, that by the time the big projects were done I wanted nothing to do with the final details.  We basically set up the computers and called it a day.  There was absolutely no storage to speak of.  No shelving, no drawers, no cabinets, just one huge workspace.  Yikes.  As you can see from the photo, that was a bit of a problem.  More than likely you don't have that problem, but that's ok- that just means that my clutter is out in the open while yours is probably tucked into drawers and cubbies.  In that case, just treat each drawer just like we did with the junk drawer makeover; Dump & Sort, get rid of junk, organize what stays!

 

After quickly considering our needs, Hubs and I drew up some plans and got to work.  We needed something to house our two PC towers, a printer, paper, a laptop, my camera, and typical workspace needs.  Boy did Hubs deliver :) 

 

He used two sheets of 3/4 inch cabinet-grade plywood which came to $60.  Had he actually paid attention to my design specifications we would have only needed one sheet and it would have cost us $30... MEN!

I can't really complain though, it came out great :)  Thank god I have a "measure twice, cut once" kind of guy!

 

I found these boxes in the clearance section of Wal-mart for $3 each.  They were pretty much exactly what I was looking for and they fit so perfectly on the shelf.  Three boxes was just enough to hold everything: office supplies, computer accessories, headphones.  I also scored a matching box for my printer paper for only $2.

 

Sighhh....

Look at all that space!  At some point I'm going to add to the decor, but for now I'm going to enjoy all this nakedness.

Isn't de-cluttering the best?

Clean and Clutter-Proof Your Fridge

{Clutter-Free Challenge} Day 10

 

Time Needed: 20-45 minutes

Physical Rating: Light

Emotional Rating: Minimal

 

I seriously can't believe I'm posting this stuff...

So here is my fridge in all its cluttered glory.  Please note the science fair winners in the tupperware containers on the shelf just below the half and half.  See them tucked way back there?  Yeah... those were "leftovers."  Whoooops.  (I actually have a leftover phobia because of this exact problem.)

 

The main issues I wanted to address in my fridge were:

• preventing science fair projects at the back of the fridge
• quick snack storage
• pre-made lunch sides for the kids' lunchboxes
• storage for all of our favorite fruits and veggies to juice with

 

Ta-da!

I can now open my fridge and find exactly what I need in seconds.  Those storage bins with handles can be found at Wal-mart.  They carry two different sizes and they are between $1.99 and $2.50 each. 

 

I originally wanted these awesome clear fridge organizers from Crate&Barrel, but at $12 each they were really going to put a dent in my budget.  If you opt for these make sure you tell me so I can curse your name out of sheer jealousy.

 

These Rubbermaid Food Storage with easy find lids (40 piece set $19.95 at Wal-mart) is by far one of my best organizational secrets.  My mom got these for us for Christmas one year and life has never been the same.  Seriously.  The fact that all the lids snap together and then attach to the base of the corresponding container pile is pretty awesome and will certainly slow the loss of lids.  It will not cure the problem though.  Let's face it: a 3 to 1 container/lid ratio is inevitable.

 

My favorite part about them is the possibilities for storage.  My "Quick Sides" bin (also known as my "Pick 2" bin) is where I store my kids' pre-made lunchbox sides.  These containers come in super handy for just that.  Above is what I call a "Snack Stack."  SInce the containers snap together you can pair up so many different items and since the set comes with 3 different small sized containers (smallest shown) the possibilities are endless. 

Our favorite Snack Stacks: (Not all are refrigerated)

• grape tomatoes/ranch dressing - smallest containers
• teddy grahams/nutella - smallest containers
• carrots/peanutbutter - smallest containers
• pretzels/peanutbutter - smallest containers
• berries/yogurt - smallest containers

• cheese/crackers- small square containers
• yogurt/granola - small square containers
• yogurt/fruit - small square containers
• apples/peanutbutter - small square containers

• salsa/tortilla chips - small square stacked on medium square

TRIPLE SNACK STACK:

No-Sog Parfait - yogurt/granola/fruit - medium square with 2 small squares stacked on top (dump the fruit and granola into the big yogurt container on the bottom)

 

 

Here is our Quick Snack bin.  When my kids ask for a snack I can tell them to choose a "Quick Snack."  What's in our Quick Snack Bin: yogurt, string cheese, fresh pineapple, blueberries, apple slices.  I store everything in single serve containers so that they can just reach in and grab what they'd like.

 

Here's the bin for our juicing supplies.  It has plenty of room to store our favorites.  We have to reload the bin every 2 days, but I'd rather do that than dig through a huge drawer full of fruit when I'm trying to get out the door in the morning!

 

So that concludes my fridge makeover.  Your turn :)  I'd love to see the creative solutions you come up with to solve your fridge dilemmas!

 

Eliminate Clothing Chaos

Weekend Warrior Project # 1

{Clutter-Free Challenge} Days 8 + 9

 

Time Needed: 2-4 Hours

Physical Rating: Medium

Emotional Rating: DOOZY

 

Although it can certainly be done alone, I'm begging you- involve the whole gang on this one.  Whether yours is a party of 12 or a party of 2... All hands on deck, baby!

 

As always, depending on how much stuff you have, it may take you more or less time.  This one can be really hard for some and ridiculously easy for others.  Generally speaking, women will have a harder time with this project than men.  As we already know- it's really hard to purge things that have been a part of our everyday existence for so long.  Now, put on your big girl panties, crank your favorite song (the one that makes you feel like you can conquer the universe) and let's DO this!

 

There are many different ways to approach this:

• All Men for Themselves - each member of the family who is old enough to understand the task will attack their own wardrobe.  After everyone has completed their sorting (see below for details) Mom can just sift through the items to be sure nothing important was chucked.
• Team Effort - pair up or create small "action committees" to tackle each person's wardrobe together
• Make a Competition- boys vs. girls, grown ups vs. kids, etc.  Award prizes for the most purged, the least cluttered to begin with, the fastest purge, the biggest trooper (someone who worked through serious emotional attachment) etc.
• One Mom to Rule Them All- I don't recommend this for so many reasons, but you could certainly pull the "boss" card and do it all yourself.  However, I feel like you would be robbing your kids of a great lesson, not to mention overloading yourself with an unnecessary burden.
  
• "Clothing Arguments"- can be done with spouses, roomies, friends taking turns at eachother's houses, or even a group of girlfriends.  Trade closets with your partner and pull out all the "victims"- clothing and accessories you never see your partner wearing.  Once the pre-trial purge is complete the defendant can plead their case for each item.  If the defendant chooses to keep any of the purge items they will be placed on probation and any "victims" that the defendant chooses to keep will be marked as such.  If they are not worn within 3 months they should be DONATED!
  

 

Phase 1: Leave No Stone Unturned

If you haven't noticed, I'm a total dumper.  When I'm working on a project I like to have that "start from scratch" feeling.  What better way to achieve that than clearing out the space that I'm working on?!  The advantages to dumping are plentiful.  a) Everything you need to sort is now in ONE spot.  No dressers, hangers, bins, and cubbies to work around.  b) It is so much easier to purge items you don't love when they are already removed from your space.  You've already put effort into removing these items, keeping them means extra effort.  "Ugh... putting it on a hanger and hanging it up??... DONATE!"  c) motivation to finish the project.  Guess what?  When your bed is covered in mound of clothing the size of the polar ice cap, you finish the job ;) 

 

 

Phase 2: Sort it Out

Sort everything into 3 Categories: Keep, Donate, Pack Away.  Pack Away only applies to children's clothes that will become hand-me downs and seasonal items that you do not have space to store all year.  Keep it really simple by focusing on what needs to go.   Here is the criteria for the "donate" pile:

• It doesn't fit - look, we all like to save a pair of "skinny" jeans, but anything more is absurd.
• You haven't worn in it over a year- this one is a no exceptions kind of rule.  If you haven't worn it in any of the last 4 seasons, chances are you never will.
• It needs to be hemmed, repaired, taken in, etc.- if you haven't fixed it by now, you probably never will. 
  
• It's out-dated- saving clothing in hopes that they will return to style or for nostalgic purposes is not worth the amount of clutter they cause.  Take a picture and move on ;)

It's really pretty straight forward, but your mind will come up with crazy excuses to keep items that should go.  Here are a few that you are bound to encounter:

• "But I paid 'XYZ' for it!" -  Remember when we had that talk about the Sunk Cost Effect?  Whether you wear the item every day or let it hang in your closet with the tags still on it for the next 12 years you will never recover that money, so go ahead and donate it.  It will hurt, but you'll learn your lesson.
• "But it's designer!" - Seriously who cares?  If you don't wear it, it needs to go.  Filling your closet with designer items that you don't wear is about as silly as filling your pantry with organic foods that you dislike and then trying to justify it by saying "But, it's organic!"  Again, who cares?
• "I just need to lose 10 more pounds."- This is a hard one, but the reality is- saving clothing that doesn't fit you for an extended period of time just because it may fit you in the future is crazy talk.  Maybe save 1 or 2 items that you love, but that's IT!  (This of course excludes women who have just had a baby or are currently losing weight and can't afford to keep buying smaller sizes!)
• "I haven't had an occasion to wear it." - Jackie Kennedy didn't have an "occasion" either, but my word did she look stunning every day.  I'm giving you total permission to dress up fancy for no reason sometimes, ok?  That aside, seriously if you haven't worn it in a year, that occasion will never come around!
• "It's sentimental"- This happens mainly with baby clothes, prom dresses, and wedding dresses.  You can absolutely get rid of these things... they are not memories- they are things.  If you must save your wedding dress, have it professionally cleaned and preserved, but if you are saving it in hopes of your daughter wearing it, don't be surprised if she respectfully declines.  If you just can't bear to part with these items, at least do something creative with them.  Don't shove them in a closet...

There are a million other excuses that your brain will come up with to prevent you from cleaning house on this one.  Have a glass of wine and own this project like a BOSS.

 

Phase 3: Organize

You'll find that the more clutter you were able to kick out of your life, the easier this part is.  Fancy that?!  Like I've said on the past few projects, you'll be tempted to go out and buy fancy organizers, but WAIT!  Take a few weeks to get familiar with these spaces before you purchase any organizational components so that you can tweak your ideas based on your actual needs and not your perceived needs :)

 

Here's to being a week closer to a clutter-free life!

Cheers :)

 

Spruce up Your Spice Cabinet

{Clutter-Free Challenge} Day 7

 

Time Needed: 20-45 minutes

Physical Rating: Minimal

Emotional Rating: Minimal

 

Clutter Central!

This is what my spice cabinet looked like before.  Talk about clutter.  Finding my spices was such a production that I'd get anxiety just opening the cabinet.  I used to have a really clever electric spice carousel, but I broke it and it seems they no longer exist???  I've thought about storing them on a shelf, but light and moisture can ruin spices, so I chose to relocate my them to an unused drawer.  (And by unused I obviously mean it was full of useless things nobody cared about anyway.)

 

Ahhhhh.  So nice.  I'm hoping to either purchase or build a tray that will tilt them up slightly so they won't roll around in the drawer.  

 

Once the spices had their own home, the rest of the cabinet seemed pretty organized.  I made two storage baskets- one for my spice packets and one for my baking supplies- sprinkles, cupcake liners, candles, food coloring, etc.- and the difference was amazing.

 

In case you were wondering- all I did was cut the box down and glue the fabric on.

 

 

One week down!  Can you imagine how fabulous we're going to feel on Day 30?!

 

 

Organizing Under the Kitchen Sink

{Clutter-Free Challenge} Day 6

Time Needed: 15-20 minutes

Physical Rating: Minimal

Emotional Rating: Minimal

Warning: This Photo May Cause Anxiety For OCD sufferers!

Looks like your standard kitchen sink clutter, right?  One problem: I don't use a single product under there.  That dishwasher detergent, maybe, but when that bottle runs out I won't be replacing it.  Why haven't I used these products in years?  Because it's all POISON.  I have been using vinegar, baking soda, and citrus fruit peels to clean my house and I'm more than happy with the result.

There are some really great homemade alternatives that can be used to replace your poison.  Here are the two resources I used to replace EVERYTHING:

• Disinfectant Spray Recipe  from Green Inspired Living (awesome must-follow Blog!) using thyme, tea tree oil, or pine oil mixed with water, lemon juice and borax.  Mix and keep in a spray bottle.  So easy and smells AWESOME!
• Everything else you could possibly want to replace from Earth Easy ( yet another must-follow blog!)

After clearing out the poison that I wasn't even using, I was left with a nearly empty cabinet!  I grabbed some scrap pieces of wood and built a bit of shelving to give it a more finished feel. 

 

I used some spray bottles I already had on hand to pre-mix some of my most used homemade cleaners.  For those of you who will be taking it slow in replacing your cleaners, start by getting rid of what you don't even use, then whittle it down to the basics.   Keep only what you use daily that you cannot replace right this instant.  That should clear out a LOT!  The ingredients needed for most cleaning jobs are vinegar and baking soda.  Most people have that already, so chances are you'll be covered if you dump all of your poison today and mosey in to buy other cleaning ingredients some time this week.  If you're hesitant to replace them at all please don't be!  Many of them work so much better than the poison, so why keep the expensive poison when you can make something that's cheaper AND works better AND is safer for your home?!

 

On this project I was really tempted to go out and buy a few things, but I forced myself to wait it out and scrounge up what I could instead.  I'm happy I did.  I had everything I needed on hand which means I spent $0, which means more in the budget in case I want to splurge later!  

 

I shouldn't be, but I am seriously shocked at how amazing and energized I feel having done this task.  It's just a cabinet under my kitchen sink, so why do I want to shout it from the rooftops?!  I'll tell you what, not only do I not need a lock on these cabinet doors anymore, but I'm debating removing the doors altogether...  I might as well because I can't stop opening the doors to look!

Swoon.  Your turn!

De-Clutter Your Medicine Cabinet

{Clutter-Free Challenge} Day 5

 

Time Needed: 15-20 minutes

Physical Rating: Minimal

Emotional Rating: Minimal

This one is very straightforward-  throw out what has expired and what you no longer use, then make sure it's organized in a way that makes sense and will stave off clutter as much as possible.

This is our "medicine cabinet."  It's actually just a metal rack screwed to the inside of our bathroom closet door, but it certainly does the job.  Although there was nothing to purge here, I did want to change my storage system.  Medicine is so rarely used in this house that it seemed silly for it to be taking up prime real estate.  Like I said before, my bathroom closets are pretty small now and space is precious.  I decided to store the medicine and first aid items in cardboard boxes on the shelves instead and use the back of the door for things that are used more frequently.

I looked for three cardboard boxes that were big enough to hold what they needed to hold (First Aid, Kid's Medicine, and Adult Medicine) yet small enough to fit side by side.  I was successful- thank you Amazon and Tiny Prints!

 

To fancy up the cardboard I used some purple cardstock and some scrapbook paper as an accent.  Once again, using what you have is the way to go.  There are so many better things to spend your money on than baskets that no one will ever see!  (I have certainly been known to splurge on pretty storage once in a while, but for the most part I try to re-use materials I already have.)

Other ideas for storage of medicine cabinet items:

• tin cans covered with paper or fabric
• small tin pails
• baskets
• shoeboxes/ photo boxes
• vintage tins/ lunch boxes
• glass apothecary jars
• mason jars
• cups in a drawer

 

Happy Organizing :)

Donate Misfit/un-loved Toys

{Clutter-Free Challenge} Day 4

 

Time Needed: 30 minutes

Physical Rating: Light Duty

Emotional Rating: Medium

As always there are variables.  If you have a few children or the toys have gone unregulated for a long time this will be a slightly bigger task.  As far as the emotional rating goes, this will probably be harder on the kiddos than it will be on you.  It's your turn to help them work through their attachment to their stuff.  You may actually encounter toys that you know full well they don't play with but that you find YOU don't want to get rid of- in which case they will have no problems using your own words against you... "Mom, remember: it's just stuff."

 

Let's get at it!

There are a few ways to approach this one:

• Hunt and gather - tell each kiddo to get all the toys they haven't played with this week (ALL OF THEM) and bring them to one location (living room floor?) where each item is held up and the family has a vote as to whether or not it should be kept or donated.  Usually the person who owns the item winds up justifying the need to keep it while every other member of the family is arguing that the owner hasn't played with it in years.  I recommend allowing each kid (5) veto votes to save items that they just can't let go of.
• Choose what stays, dump the rest: this is great for the "no nonsense" household.  You can give each child a number of items that they can keep and together you can help them choose what should be kept and what is ready to move on to its next owner.  This one is pretty awesome because it's clear-cut.  We did this with my son last year and it worked like a charm.  He decided to only keep legos, cars, action figures,dinosaurs and a few stuffies. 
• Rule with an iron fist: make an executive decision for the kids and purge whatever you decide needs to go.  I'm a big fan of calling the shots when it comes to clutter and for many people, this is the way to go.  If you have little ones (4 and under) this makes the most sense because your kiddos aren't collecting clutter at that age, it's mostly just stuff that people bought for them.  When it comes to older kids, this one is a tough call.  It's not a big deal to me if my kids are mad at me.  They get mad at me all the time and to be honest they are going to hate me soon enough. (I refuse to put my children's happiness over their safety and general well-being.)  The problem with this one is that you're making the tough decisions for them.  When you give them the guidelines and allow them to decide for themselves what needs to go they are much more likely to make better decisions about collecting future clutter.  Note: kids ages 5-7 may need some guidance from you, but in general can work through this independently.

 Eck.

This is our island of misfit toys.  (As you can see, I went with the hunt and gather method.)  Although I banned toy boxes in our house years ago we do have several cubby shelves that hold many different types of toys.  Most of the toys are played with, but we do have a bunch of random toys that don't belong to a set and aren't played with often.  I also went in the attic and pulled down the toys that were stored up there for "later."  Yeah, it's later now and my kids have outgrown the toys we stuck up there for "later."  So that's how well that plan worked.

 

After having our family vote, hubs and I filled a massive black contractor bag with all the donation items while the kids put away their "keep" items.  I have to say the whole process went really smoothly.  We've done purges like this before, so maybe my kids are used to it? 

Ok, so the misfit toys are gone... but how do you keep them away?

It's really easy for this stuff to accumulate.  Between holidays getting bigger and bigger every year, birthdays, hand me downs, and sharing neighbors, you may find yourself up to your eyeballs in toys.  I have a few policies that have saved us from toy overload (and have also saved family members from spending money on things my kids don't need!)

• Holidays- Aunts and Uncles are not allowed to purchase for nieces and nephews.  Grandparents are welcome to give gifts if they'd like, but are gently reminded to keep things light :)

• Birthdays- When friends are invited to a birthday party of ours we make it clear that we have a "no gift" policy.  Some people actually get offended by this, but they need to just get over it.  To me, there is something so wrong with an adult needing to take 5 separate trips to the car to transport all the gifts their child receives.  In general, my children's needs are met and many of their wants are covered too.  They don't need a bunch of stuff to make them happy or to make them feel loved.  In the invite we usually try to phrase it politely - "Your friendship is a gift.  We request no other."  I understand that mentioning gifts in any way, shape, or form is considered poor etiquette, but I feel that being clear about our policy will be better for both parties in the long run.

When it comes to family members, I change my tune a bit.  I completely understand that my mom, my in-laws, and my siblings love to purchase things for my kids.  My preference is that they choose something that cannot be wrapped; taking them to a sports game, taking them to a movie, teaching them something, signing them up for a sport or a lesson of some sort, etc.  My kids are more likely to remember when their family spent time with them than when their family spent money on them.

 

Many schools are closed for the primaries today.  How perfect.  Time to call that family meeting ;)