Friday Q & A

I was wondering what website or company you use to book your seaside, FL vacation. We are planning a vacation for this summer and I think I have fallen in love with Seaside.
We mainly use VRBO now.  You just want to make sure that the listings will say IN Seaside proper.  I think VRBO has been a little watered down with commercial companies listing their properties also-I know there are many listings from Seaside Rental Agency on VRBO.  They rent most of the houses but are a bit more expensive.  (But you get a really cute beach bag, excellent service, and awesome smelling soap if you went through them, so maybe it's worth it? :)  Here's the thing about Seaside- you almost can't go wrong.  I did make one mistake 2 years ago and booked a super modern place (only a few of those in Seaside) with open scary as heck staircases and we ended up moving to another cottage because I couldn't relax with Patrick.  Most every place is cuter than the next.  If you ever have questions about a certain cottage, email me and I can tell you where it is, because I have memorized them all my name and color.  (Not quite, but I'm pretty good at it.)


I am writing to ask what your opinion is re: amounts of clothing.  Do you have a roughly set amount of shirts, bottoms, etc. that you allow for each child?  
Everyone must be cleaning out and organizing because I have had this question a couple times this month.  First I want to say that my children are in DIRE need of closet clean-outs, so while I am writing what I believe to be what works best for us IDEALLY, not what is the actual case right now.  I am chomping at the bit to get to that, but holding off till Ash Wednesday for my 40 Day/40 Bag clean out.  My kids seem to wear the same things over and over again-the boys for sure.  They have their favorite t-shirts and favorite sweatpants and favorite jeans and favorite shorts and if I buy something and it doesn't feel right it just will never get worn.  I try to keep things as simple, and closets as practically empty as possible-I live by the less is more philosophy -less hassle, less laundry, less folding, less putting away.

They have school uniforms, and church pants, (khakis), 1 or 2 church shirts-we call these collared shirts-either polos or button downs-as long as it has a collar it is acceptable, a belt, dress shoes, and then maybe one or two pairs of sweatpants, jeans, and probably the same five t-shirts they wear over and over again.  I will go through their closets with the older kids (including Abbey-she will want me to help her and loves doing a closet clean out) and ask them, "Do you like this?  Will you ever wear this?"  And they will say no-too big, too itchy, uncomfortable, hate that it says "insert store name" in big letters across the front, or yes, that's my favorite t-shirt ever and I wear it 3 times a week.


Just curious on your thoughts on having a maid?  I have never had one although my husband got me a one time cleaning service for our anniversary (most unromantic....but BEST gift ever!).   I see absolutely nothing wrong with having one but for some reason I really prefer cleaning my own things and making sure it's done properly.  Just would love to know your thoughts!! 
I experimented with having cleaners come in here or there a few times.  Here's what I haven't liked about it:

-I felt like I have to leave my house while the maid(s) were there or be trapped in one room with the kids while they work the rest of the house.  It was like I was being kicked out of my own house-and I know it was for a good purpose but I just hated that part of it.  

-The cleaning people I have had experience with (remember-not much experience there) have always seemed to start really strong and then get much less diligent to the point where I thought, "Why am I paying for this again?"  I am NOT good at the "management" part of it all-having to say, "This is not good enough, do it again."-I could never do that.  It makes me super uncomfortable and I just want to be nice.

-I am terrible (terrible!) at delegation.  I am a big do-it-yourselfer and have major guilt complexes about paying someone for something I can do-whether it's dig a ditch, spread the mulch, clean a house.  I hardly ever ever ask for help from anyone ever.  To the point of pure stubborn stupidity. 

Here's what I like about it-(besides the very obvious-having a clean house!)
-I felt much more relaxed about the state of my house because I didn't feel like once I got behind I could never catch up.  I lost that whole "I better do it now" feeling and could spend more time enjoying the good things.

I too feel there is nothing wrong with asking for or hiring someone to help you if that's the way you wish to spend your money.  I know that in the summer months with all the kids home all day if I hired someone to do a deep clean twice a month, I would be more relaxed, and much less snappy.  I have a few friends who have someone do this and really I don't think "those lazy good for nothings"-I think "how smart are they".