>>hi avivah! i am assuming that you probably have dealt with this question before, but i have a question about frugality of time. since reading your blog, i have become more aware of being frugal with all of my resources- space, energy, money, and time. so, the most recent question has to do with being frugal with time- how do you balance buying disposables- if you do at all- with choosing carefully how to spend your time? i have a few children of dishwashing age, but not enough to deal with the overwhelming amount of things that need to be washed. also, having constant piles in my kitchen stresses me out and limits my workspace in a room that is already hot and crowded. so, i am trying to weigh spending money on disposable cups, plates, etc. with making better choices about how we spend our money. any advice?? <<

I’m going to first link some of my past posts on related topics that I think will be helpful.  My kids do the dishes – here is our chore schedule from this past year (it’s time to make a new one for the coming year).  Two of the four oldest really don’t like this part of the schedule, and can’t wait for me to change the chore chart for this year.  But even when they weren’t doing dishes, I hardly used disposables at all.

Here is how I generally organize our house cleaning. This was written two years ago so some of the specifics are different now since we shifted chores around and took into account the kids’ requests for how they wanted to do things, but you’ll get the basic idea.

But in the end, you have to decide what your priorities are.

Practically speaking, remember that you can gradually cut back on your use of disposables – you don’t have to go cold turkey!  It might be too much to totally stop using disposables right away, so try it for your smallest meal of the day.  Or you can use paper plates for meals but use regular cups (or vice versa), or use disposables during the week and dishes on Shabbos (or vice versa).  Start to cut back on your use of disposables gradually.  It’s about progress – slow and steady wins the race.  Start small, and when that has become natural and part of your routine, you can add something else small.

It’s really how you want to spend your time that you have to determine.  Don’t mentally overwhelm yourself before you even start by piling on the work!  You know yourself.  If you can’t stand a mess and you don’t think you can give your kids at least part of the responsibility for dishwashing, then maybe you should focus your money saving efforts somewhere else. (I’m sure your kids will be happy if you ignore my suggestion to get them more involved in cleaning.  My kids came home this past year from their friends’ home – the ones they always told me did much fewer chores than they did – and announced that because the mother spoke to me, now the kids are washing the dishes.  It’s amazing that her kids still smile at me when they see me! :lol:)   There are lots of areas you can save money in and it’s overwhelming to try to work on them all at once.  It’s definitely true that the more you do for yourself, the more you save, but we all have limitations of time and energy.

Avivah