Bartering and bags of potatoes

  Bartering is a great way to save money.  Have kids? Babysit your neighbors' and they'll babysit yours in return. No charge!  We have a babysitting swap going with our neighbors; we both have two kids so it's a nice even exchange--hour for hour. It saves 1. money on a babysitter and 2. asking our parents for the millionth time to help us out. 
  Yesterday I took care of two of Coen's school friends and Coen and Lucy for five hours.  Now let me tell you, I got out of teaching for a reason. I'm horrible at behavior management.  I am not the best at directly approaching behavior problems or issues, especially with kids that are not my own.  I'd rather just be the pied piper, the circus clown...swinging kids around and regaling them with my sense of silly and storytelling skills.  But alas, that is not the way to do things with the little ones--especially as an argument over a shared toy breaks out...and if you want kids who feel secure in their boundaries.  Anyway, I offered to watch two friends of Coen's and would therefore be spending the better part of the day with a 2 year old, a 4 year old and two 6 year olds. Definitely out of my comfort zone, though I wanted to do it.   But I did it and I did it well. We had a structured day; I did not let a minute of idle time pass.  Free time, snack, slip-n-slide, fort making, lunch, tv show, painting and oil-based crayons.  I was so proud of myself!  I feel like I even spent more quality time with my kids that way as when they're alone, I tend to leave them to play awhile while I do dishes or check email. With the double quantity yesterday, I spent every moment with them. It was fun!
   After our adventure in babysitting, I hosted a small dinner party.  My friend Stephanie came with her girlfriend and my sister came with her family. My sister generously brought two rotisserie chickens. I made sides of corn on the cob (8 for $2) and mashed potatoes (5 lb bag for $4)  Now we have leftovers for tonight.  Also my neighbor Julia (with whom I do the babysitting swap) very sweetly thought of me when she found five pound bags of potatoes for $1 a piece at a market and brought me one.  So I'll be making potato salad for a picnic we're going to tomorrow and we'll have roasted potatoes with dinner on Monday.  Another night next week, I believe we'll have a baked potato bar with all the fixins'.  I feel like I'm living in Ireland!  But darn it, I'm saving money!