Show Me The Money...Show ME The Work!

Do your children do chores around the house? My answer is a quick yes! They are also not known as chores over here, but simply as must-do's (of course the kids still refer to them as chores!!). It is something that is ingrained daily in their activity and something that is expected of them. The tasks of course are age appropriate and instill in them a work ethic. As a stay at home mom, they see the most of me and I want to show them that there is work to be done at home as well, not just outside of the home like Daddy. Knowing all this work will hopefully teach my little men that their wives are not just sitting around all day, should they choose the stay at home route in their life as well. I also hope it teaches my daughter the value of a life at home, even though at the moment she is insistent in no marriage and a future working for our government. 

The big question is, do I pay them for their chores? The simple answer is NO. My kids are learning that the things that need to get done around the house are things that there is no payment for, we do them for the ability to live in a clean home and have a roof over our head. My children do get money for doing chores at my the home of my parents, because those are optional chores. Once family members started seeing them work there, they were offered small jobs at other places as well. My children also have a yearly Lemonade Stand in which they earn money as well. When there are big projects going on (we are in the midst of a remodel) and the kids help out with that stuff, we always reward them with some money. When they are given money for ANYTHING, they are asked to split it in 3 ways. This is for:
1. Savings Account (Their college is paid for, we are asking them to begin saving for a downpayment on a home)
2. The Church or charity of their choice (they have their own church envelopes in which they put in their personal information.
3. Themselves, this is their fun money that at the moment they are all saving for tickets to Universal Studios! (We are doing 10 days in Disney and the kids asked to do US as well, we told them with all the money being spent on Disney, it was up to them! 1 son has his money already and the other 2 are halfway there!)

What type of work do my kids do?
Autumn -Age 9 - Fix Bed and Clean room daily, do her laundry once a week, sweep dining room and living every other day, put away clean dishes every other day, clean kids bathroom weekly, clear dinner table every other day.
Gabriel - Age 8- Fix Bed and Clean room daily, do own laundry once a week, sweep dining room and living room every other day, empty all house garbage cans and take out trash, clear dinner table every other day.

Roman - Age 6 - Fix Bed and Clean Room daily, take laundry downstairs daily, sweep kitchen every other day, spray and wipe down tables daily, set dinner table, keep library shelves dusted weekly.
ALL must keep playroom tidy daily and then a deep clean once a week.

Remember to enjoy every moment my friends and please share what you do in your home!

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Money Math Centers!

Math is a huge subject that we focus on over here, my kids have a love of numbers that I just could not understand. I was a poor Math student that just ended up detesting the subject in every way. With the passion my kids have for numbers, it has made me look at Math in a totally different way. With Roman, my youngest, I am starting at the bottom and looking at it all with open eyes. I can see how they enjoy this as I teach him and then the other children new things, there is a true beauty in Math, almost a language in itself. Maybe I truly can get to like it too!

My youngest is tackling Money in math and gets the coins confused when they are on paper. I figured a hands on approach was needed here. I decided to make some Math centers to help him familiarize himself with his Math & Money lessons. I took a variety of coins and glued them onto Popsicle sticks to give them a handle and make them easier to handle. When he sees them on a worksheet, he matches up the right plastic coins, so that he can hold them as he counts. Roman has found this way much easier to learn with. The back of each stick has the value of the coin on it in case the child needs help with it and is using them alone.

I made a full set of coins with the Tails side up as opposed to the rest, which had the heads side up. Now, they become an easy matching game! Sometimes on worksheets, children confuse the coin, because they are not familiar with the backs of them. It makes learning fun!

These can also be used with 'store' cards! These cards all have items and prices on them and the kids can make up the change needed to purchase the items. If you don't have a set of these, it's easy to make them up on your own. You can give the child some cards of things to 'buy' and then a handful of sticks. See if they have enough money and how much change they would get back or how much more they would need.

Add and Subtract! I took a wooden block from the craft store and put addition and subtraction symbols on each side. The idea of the game is to pull out 2 sticks (more if they are advanced) and roll the die. Now add or subtract! Get it right and keep the sticks! Winner has the most sticks at the end of the game.

How true this is!! Enjoy the day my friends!

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Sunday Sensations!

Gnome Button Set by Manhandled 4.00

Just a quick post before I leave for the day! I saw these and fell in love! I'm actually going to buy them today and I just had to share how cute they all were! I plan on doing something totally awesome with all the pins I buy, I just have to decide how many I want on it and when it's truly ready to be started on! Do you have any great pins to share?

Twitter button by Ainsmar 1.00

Tip of the day:
Are you getting yourself out there? Promoting on the fly? Chatting up your shop without even saying a word? I have decals on the windshield of both my vehicles, I have magnetic signs on either side of my car and I just take those and move them to whatever car I am driving that day!
Great for long roadtrips! I am also about to buy this awesome pieces I found last week on MonsterPromos! So get chatting without saying a word! Spread around that shop love!

Custom License Plate Frame by MonsterPromos 16.00

International Shipping, Do not be afraid!

Mail Box Earrings by MichellesCharmWorld 7.00

I have run into the CUTEST stuff on Etsy and lo and behold, they don't ship to my country! Or worse yet, they are charging 20.00 and saying they will refund the overage. I like to know exactly how much it will cost and if it is 10.00 I want to know why. Does it come in a box packaged nicely? Lot's of details should be placed here if it's higher than normal.

Love Letters Brooch by MichellesCharmWorld 8.00

It's fairly easy to dive into the world of International Shipping and does not really take much more supplies. In fact it just takes customs forms that come FREE from the post office. It will take a bit more time, so be sure to add that into your shipping price. You cannot ship International packages from home, they must be sent at the post office. PLEASE state your shipping dates in your announcement if you only go to the post office on certain days. I like to get my goodies fast! Ready for the wonderful world of shipping overseas? Let's get started!

Phonebooth Ring by MichellesCharmWorld 10.00

It's a scary start to begin the International shipping phase of a businesss, but once you've started you will never ever regret it! Over 90% of my business is International and i'm not kidding. You could be missing a mass market over there. First things First, get familiar with your local post office. Give them a call and find out their hours, then drop by with your questions if you don't know them all yet. Do they have an Automated Postal System? These machines are awesome for 24 hour posting of your products. Just keep in mind they DO NOT do International boxes or thicker envelopes. Be sure at your first visit to chat about International Shipping to bring a package of your typical sale. (for me I put in a necklace and ring and packaged it up as though it were a sale), AND I brought along another packaged box adding in another necklace and bracelet. I had a list of some of the more popular and expensive places to ship to and had the post office clerk give me quotes on what it would be like to ship to these places. It's a live and learn process, and I have made a couple mistakes. I just learned yesterday that Finland is pretty expensive to ship to. I also learned once that Singapore is almost right on with the shipping domestically in the US. Canada is also the same as the US. Higer priced countries are:

Australia, United Kingdom, Finland and Russia. Lower ones that surprised me were:

Norway, Singapore and Mexico. Be sure to seperate these countries as you go along, because many of them will not want to pay as much as the bigger countries if they have purchased online before and they know the typical amount. Checking the weight online is NOT always accurate for International orders. I HIGHLY recomend the field trip to your P.O alternative for the first time :) Also while there ask the clerk for a STACK of customs forms, so you fill them out at home! I also stamp all of them with my return address label while watching TV and fill out everything I can on it, so I only have to do the customer information when I sell something.

My New Ring, Earrings, Brooches and some Necklaces Boxes

If you have super cute or pretty packaging, be sure to include a photo of it in your listing, it will explain why your pricing is a bit high and may even get you a sale from someone that sees that it will not just come thrown in an envelope. Remember though, don't spend too much time or money on your packaging as you will have to be including the price of these items and your time into your products! Me? If your shipping is reasonable, I don't care if the item comes wrapped in toilet paper (clean of course), in a pasta box and wrapped with a brown paper grocery bag. I'm all for saving the environment! Just get it to me safely. I just started using new boxes that are not your typical cardboard box that still gets crushed by the post office and I love them! Infact I've had other sellers love them too! haha! I've even sold some of my stash to fellow Etsians! These are great and failry inexpensive to tag onto my shipping prices. Hope I have helped some of you lean more towards the International Shipping Market!