come on get out of bed
Maggie already up and dressed
good morning mom
let’s check the weather out today
it’s looking a bit cloudy
looks like it’s gonna rain
so we should take our umbrellas
the trees are blowing side to side it
means it’s a little windy but still a
lovely morning
go to the bathroom and brush your teeth
then get dressed and come downstairs to
get some breakfast
okay mom
what are we going to have for breakfast?
we’re going to have a bagel with eggs
bacon and cream cheese this morning
and strawberry blueberry smoothie
perfect
can I make the smoothie?
sure
you need frozen strawberries blueberries
almond milk and greek yogurt
it sounds yummy
shall I also put some bananas?
no, we should leave the banana out of
this recipe allows the flavors of the
berries to shine
grab the blender and add almond milk
first
then toss in the strawberries
blueberries and greek yogurt
blend it until smooth
you can add some cinnamon too
it looks nice and thick
and it tastes delicious
the egg bagel sandwiches are ready too
I’ve also added tomatoes and cucumbers
we are missing the main ingredient the
ketchup
that is a yummy egg bagel sandwich
it’s so filling
now that we had breakfast I guess we
better get going
it looks like it’s getting nice out
that’s right I thought it would rain
it’s the day we thoroughly clean the
whole house
we throw away things we don’t need
pack up things to donate to the local
homeless shelter
clean all of the rooms
and wash all the windows
what exactly do we have to do mom?
you must clean your rooms they are
messy
clear your beds and chairs of all the
items and be sure to put them in their
appropriate place
clean under the beds too
then make your beds using fresh linens
vacuum the entire room
dust the shelves and put the books that
are on the floor in their right places
clear and clean the dressers and leave
them in order
that’s a lot to do
we better get started we have a lot to
do indeed
I have to do several loads of laundry
and clean the kitchen and the dining
room
I’ll clean the living room and the attic
it’s getting full up there
I don’t even remember what’s in there
anymore
me neither
we probably don’t need a lot of that
stuff
what should we do with it?
I think I’m gonna have a garage sale
next weekend
yeah that’s a great idea
I have finished cleaning the windows
that was a huge job
oh good
let me check the list and see what we’ve
done so far
have you cleaned the counters?
yes I have
so you can mark them as finished
okay
I’ll mark the windows off the list too
what about the floors
have you vacuumed and mopped them?
I have done that too
what else have we put on the list
dusting the shelves
I already did that yesterday
oh yeah I remember so I’ll cross that
off the list too
so how about you what have you done so
far
I’ve cleaned the attic I’ve made three
piles keep donate or sell and trash
I found a few sentimental items that i
decided to keep
there is so much more space now it looks
great
wonderful
I still have to clean the living room
then I’m done
okay I’ll go check on the kids now
mom what’s for dinner
I could really go for something spicy
like chili
spicy I’m not into spicy food right now
gee I’ve been so busy with house
cleaning that I haven’t given dinner a
single thought
anyway I don’t feel much like cooking
I’m just too tired to prepare a meal
even a small one
plus there’s almost nothing in the
fridge because we didn’t make it to the
grocery store this weekend
what do you say we order some food?
good idea dad let’s order Chinese food
don’t we have a menu somewhere?
the last time we ordered from that place
the food was greasy and it took them
forever to deliver
but you know what
there’s a new greek restaurant downtown
I heard they deliver very fast
but as in greek would have lots of
garlic
just the thought of garlic turns me off
garlic’s good for you I can’t get enough
of it myself
at this rate, we’ll never get anything to
eat
I’m starving you two are too picky
let’s better order some pizza and put on
a good movie
good idea
I’m crazy about pizza
in fact, my favorite is Hawaiian
I don’t like Hawaiian pizza I can’t
stand pineapple on pizza
I prefer to eat fruit for dessert
not with the main course so I’ll go for
chicken pizza
I’ll have pepperoni
me too
mom asked me to go grocery shopping but
I need to finish my homework
can you go for me Nicholas
I guess I can
what did mom want you to buy?
some porkfish vegetables and milk you
can buy some snacks too like chocolate
cookies
what kind of fish does mom want?
mom wants some salmon and some cod to make
sure that they are fresh
how much salmon and cod should I buy
oh buy four pieces of salmon fillet
and four pieces of cod filet
do I need to buy some spices so mom can
marinate a fish
yes get some ground pepper and some
garlic
how about vegetables
we need carrots potatoes cabbage and
some lettuce
we need some fruit also what do you want
apples and bananas
and how about some soft drinks
no
buy some bottled water instead
it is healthier for us
oh I just remembered we also need bread
please put it on the list
should I get one loaf or two
two loaves
you have quite a few items to take care
of
you need to get going
yes the list is quite long
by the time I get to the cashier to pay
I will probably have a full shopping
cart
okay I am all set to go I’ll be back
soon
thanks
the clothes dryer stopped working we
need a new one
but this one is not so old we just need
to fix it
I can do it myself it needs just a new
moisture sensor
are you sure you can do it it seems a
complicated job
better call the repairman
I’m not going to let the repair guy rip
me off and pay hundreds of dollars on
this
I come from a long line of handymen
my dad used to fix everything lawn
mowers cars appliances
his father was a house builder one of
his brothers built boats and one made
furniture
I’ve been helping my dad and grandpa
since I was a young child on anything
so I think I can fix the dryer myself
I’ll have this thing running in no time
honey
I watched an instructional video so i
know exactly what to do
it’s done it’s as good as new I fixed
the dryer
I took it all apart and swapped out the
the sensor now press start and see if it
works
it works I had no idea you were so good
with your hands
you could say that repairing
things have always been in your blood
can you hold the end of this tape?
measure
sure what’s this for
I’m taking some measurements for new
curtains
didn’t you say the house needs doing
over
what about measuring the floor for a new
carpet and the walls for a new wallpaper
I thought we’d just fix up the wood
floor and use some paint for the walls
okay sounds good
we need to scrape off all the loose
flakes of paint before redecorating
tomorrow we’ll go out and pick out some
curtains and paint
I can’t wait
uh, shall we redecorate the hallway too?
we can consider it
maybe we can decorate it in a more
traditional way
I went over the household budget and
we’ve overspent this month
our expenses are mounting
we have to cut back on our shopping from
now on
that’s too bad
we need to figure out how much money
we’ve spent and what we’ve spent it on
okay let’s get the receipts out
let’s see we’ve spent 850 on our home
loan payment
300 on groceries
111 on utilities
250 on gasoline
two hundred dollars on clothes one
hundred dollars on books
a hundred fifty dollars on cell phones
and four hundred dollars on
entertainment last month
that’s
hundred sixty 2
dollars
we put five hundred dollars into the
savings account
that’s two hundred eighty-six sixty-one
dollars
our paychecks add up to thirty-one
hundred dollars
that means we don’t have any receipts
for 239 dollars
right
let’s think about it for a bit
where do you think we can save money?
well we could eat in more often
that 400 for entertainment is mostly
going to restaurants
yeah that’s a good idea and you like to
cook
did you see our last electricity bill?
no was it high
it was very high
how much higher is it than usual
it is double the normal amount
wow that is high can we afford that
no, we need to do some changes from now
on to lower it
but what can we do
from now on we must unplug the unused
electronic devices
next, we must adjust the water
temperature to 48 degrees celsius it
shouldn’t be hotter than that
we can do our laundry using cold water
that will save a bunch of money because
we’re not wasting hot water
also, we should run full loads
instead of doing multiple small loads we
should do one big load
another way to save is to lower the
the temperature when we’re going to sleep at
night or when we’re not in the house
during the winter months, we can set the
temperature to 18 degrees celsius
during the hot summer days, we can
increase the temperature to 24 degrees
celsius
so we’re not wasting our air
conditioning’s energy cooling the house
too much
exactly we can also change our regular
light bulbs to led
that will save us another bunch of money
we’ll be saving four to six times the
energy.
perfect.