A typical week.....

Yesterday on Oprah, the octomom was on, when I was at Target they called me the septomom, but I digress. Anyway, she said that she spends a thousand bucks a week on groceries! What? What in the world is she feeding those kids, who are all under the age of 9 and none are on formula? I was simply in shock! We do our shopping a little differently than most, but I think that I average between 250-300 per week, and that includes non-food stuff like diapers, laundry soap... etc. So, since I have been asked on occasion I thought I would share some of our family stats with you.

• About 160 diapers or pull-ups a week! We are working on potty training though, so hopefully this one doesn't continue
• About 10 pounds of snack food... goldfish, trail mix, animal crackers (little tip, I take an hour a week and put these in little baggies, which is a ton cheaper than buying individual servings)
• We can do between 20-25 loads of laundry a week, depending on bedding
• 8 gallons of milk, 10 pounds of cheese
• Edwin alone goes through a 30 count box of single serve mac and cheese in 2 weeks!
• 20 pounds of potatoes
• 21 cans of vegetables, 4 frozen bags
• I am a little embarrassed to admit this one, but we go through a case of Coke a day!!!
• 10 pounds of apples, 5 pounds of oranges, 5 pounds of bananas and 2 pineapples
• 10 rolls of paper towels and 3 boxes of wipes

But, the trick is to shop at Aldi's, and day old bread stores and get a membership to Sam's ! It must be the diapers that kill her budget!

On a side note about Nadya, I prayed for her last night. For one, she is obviously overwhelmed, she looked very tired. Second, she has a kid just like my Tobey.... 5 years old, autistic, and probably at about the same verbal level as him. I know that just with my 7 (wow, I have never said that before) I feel like I am not doing all I can for Tobey, and when I am getting somewhere with him... I am not "there" like I should be for the other kids. She has got to be so consumed with guilt. Also, because of the chaos that is involved with large family, the little guy that has Autism probably has a ton of meltdowns. which is very hard on a parent....emotionally and physically. So, my prayers are with her and her family, but I am kinda thankful for my "small" one!

Well, I am off to do housework! I hope that you enjoy the day, halfway to the weekend!