Real Mom Profile

3.26.2006
 

Name: Alison Thompson
Age: 40
Home: San Diego, CA

Family's Names and Ages:
Russ-41
Andy-19
Sean-16
Katie-14
Patrick-10

Occupation: Teacher
Children's Ministries Director

If I had a day to myself...:
Read a good book for half
Walk my dog during the other half

Money Saving Tips:
Prepare menus two weeks in advance and post them as reminders.  Do major shopping every two weeks.

Bargain Hunting Strategies:
Target, Military Commissaries and Exchanges (I'm a Navy Wife), Gap and Old Navy (Watch for mark downs mid week),

Products we can't live without:
Ziplock Bags, all sizes.  Fabric softener sheets such as Bounce.  My children are all athletes and I put them in their gym bags, shoes, etc. Cell phones, we are on a family plan and I can keep in touch with my children - even when they go away to college.

In the Kitchen:
I usually do prep work for our weekly family meals on Sunday evening.  Tasks such as chopping veggies, meats, etc can then be bagged and either frozen or refrigerated.  If I will be using a recipe, I post it or the cookbook and page number on the refrigerator beside our menu listing.  Our children are responsible for taking care of their own dishes and they take turns cleaning up any pots and pans and prep. items that were used.

Organization:
I use over the door shoe storage bags in many rooms such as the bathroom, laundry room and the children's bedrooms.  We store cleaning supplies, craft supplies, toiletries, and sometimes even shoes in them.  I also save shoe boxes and make labels in order to have instant storage boxes on hand for larger items.  We also have a large coffee table with hinged lids for storage and we store a blanket, homework supplies, craft supplies, my sons personal video game and games and accessories.  I keep the bed linens for each bedroom in the rooms they are to be used for.  This frees up space in our linen closet for other items such as prepurchased gifts, giftwrap, etc.