Life Lessons: I Forgot To Do My Chores

In our home, we believe that children are to be willing participants in keeping our home clean and safe for everyone to enjoy. It's not just on Mommy to keep the house clean, do the laundry, and cook the meals. Everyone has to do cheerfully do their part, as a team, to make our home a place that we all can enjoy.

There are many things that we don't want to do in life but if we just ignore them, we can cause harm to someone else or even inflict some pretty bad consequences on ourselves. I don't always want to wash dishes but if I ignored them long enough, the stench from decay as well as waste left by microscopic organisms that thrive in such conditions would make my family ill. Further, if I do my tasks with a dismal or complaining attitude, my children will find their work to be just as dismal and I will have a difficult time convincing them to do their tasks with joy.


When one of our children doesn't complete their task, there is a consequence. These consequences vary accordingly. This week, my seven year old missed three days of bringing the laundry down to the laundry room. Since we absolutely have to wash at least four loads of laundry daily to keep up with it, missing just one day can lead to a heaping pile of laundry. Since it was time to wash comforters, I didn't check up on his job, personally. One of his older siblings brought it to my attention when looking for a clean shirt to wear. Having kept up my washing, I traced the missing shirts back to my 7 year old not doing his part in bringing down the laundry. Of course this made more work for me and my other laundry person. So I decided to teach a lesson about how important it is for each person to do his or her share.

 I thought it would be nice to take a trip to the laundromat to wash all of the clothes and since the laundromat comes with a price, my son had to pay a price as well. It was a tiresome morning washing, drying, and folding all 14 loads, and there was no mercy from the heat that came from the dryers that added to the already scorching weather we had here. I brought drinks, and we worked until the laundry was done - no breaks.

Sure, my sweet son was able to replenish his fluids and race around the laundromat on the laundry carts as he went from washer to dryer but it was definitely not a fun experience that he'll want to repeat. His take was, "I never want to do this again." My response, "Then it's important to do your job promptly so you won't make more work for the others on your team or yourself."

Save 25% at The Bon-Ton - Limited Exclusions

The Bon-Ton is having a friends and family sale through 6/13 where you'll get up to an extra 25% off almost everything plus 10% off cosmetics. The only exclusions in this sale are Incredible Values, Yellow Dot, and Tempur-Pedic (Registered Trademark). There are coupons for this pass in regional Sunday Newspapers or you can use promo JFRFAMBP012 online if you don't live in an area where there's a Bon Ton store. The Bon-Ton is advertising this sale as the first ever with virtually no exclusions.

Yellow Dot clearance is about 60% off with the extra 50% off already permanently reduced prices so these are not included in the sale because the prices are already so low.

If shopping online, be sure to shop through Shop At Home for 3% cash back or Ebates for 2%. Ebates is less cash back; however they're now offering a $10 gift card for new sign ups. Choices include Target, Barnes & Noble, Home Depot, Magazines.com, and, of course, Ebates.

Bath and Body Works Free Hand Soaps

I love Bath and Body Works lotions and hand soaps and today they're having a "bubbly summer surprise" sale. When you purchase one hand soap, you get one free. This sale expires today, June 10 and is only available in the U.S.  The fine print is one free item per customer and the free item is of $5.50 value. Also, if you have the coupons that have been going around, you'll also be able to get an additional 20% off of this but hurry. Both the sale and the coupon expire today!

P&G June Coupon Mailer & Online Coupons

Today I was searching around and found that P&G has over $91 in coupons in their June mailer. Last month's mailer really came in handy with some of the sales that I caught. There were $1.00 off coupons for some of the product we'd usually see $.50 off or less. So it may be nice to head over to P&G and sign up for their mailing list. I'm not sure if they're still accepting coupons for this month's mailer but you'll certainly be in time for the next one.

If you didn't make it in time for the June mailer; however, all isn't lost. The website has a few printables that will make a nice deal. Plus, starting in July, you'll be able to load P&G coupons to your shopper card. So head over and sign up if you haven't.

P&G Printable Coupons Added To Shopper Card in July

You can also sign up now on the P&G site to receive a new Head & Shoulders Advanced Formula Sample. I started to pick up a couple at CVS (which I actually still might) but didn't have my manufacturers with me (something I almost never run into). The CVS coupon machine has been printing $1 off Head and Shoulders Family Size bottles. Combining this with the manufacturer coupons is makes a nice sale. I've already had the CVS machine print me 3 of these so they just keep printing!

Head & Shoulders Samples Now at PGeveryday.com

Over 71% Savings on Victoria Secret Tank Tops

Victoria Secret Tanks are currently on a Shop At Home Wild Sale for $9.99 from a regular price of $24.50. Now, personally, I'd never pay $24.50 for a tank top but with the code SHIPVS12, there's not only 71% off the original price but free shipping on $100. There's also the $3.00 cash back on the tanks that make them $6.99. Now that's a tank of savings. Hurry, though, it won't last long.

20% Off At The Bon-Ton

I became a Bon-Ton fan on Black Friday last year and have found that (aside from the awesome door-busters they had), the sales are pretty consistent all year. Today they sent out an email ad for 150 Bonus Buys plus up to 20% off on some of their sale priced clothing and jewelry. On Black Friday, I was able to get quite a few nice deals using their coupons. Not to mention, every now and again the Bon-Ton has nice coupons for a certain dollar amount off of a purchase. Black Friday's coupon was $10 off of $10 in store (with a lot of exclusion). I used the coupon to get some undershirts for my girls and only paid $1 out of pocket!

The Bon-Ton does not allow use of their percentage off coupons on their Bonus Buys as they are "already priced so low." If you ask me, nothing is priced "too low" in this economy (but they have to stay in business). There are some other things in the small print that explain exclusions such as eBusters/Door Busters, Yellow Dot merchandise, and some other things. This week's sale is available online and if you'd like to get notice of The Bon-Ton sales, you can go to their website and join their email list.

If you order online, an online purchase through Shop At Home will give you 3% cash back on your online purchase or 4% cash back through Ebates. Ebates also is giving away $10 gift cards for first sign ups. Gift cards are issued after you spend $25. Let's get saving.