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Keeping Ferals Out of The Goodies

thinkthrice's picture

So there has been threads on this before.  I am sure it has been discussed on the forums as well.   What are your methods to keep feral skids ransacking household goods like a plague of locusts?  What are your cost cutting ideas?

Some choose the hiding method such as hiding in the veg bin as skids are naturally averse to anything that grows from the ground and that requires picking.

Others choose the lock and key method, While others prefer the aversion techniques such as taking a tiny spray bottle of tonic water and spraying it on any fresh baked cookies etc. that are directly in their path of destruction Or the ever popular Xbox brownies.

As for cost cutting, I used to take bargain basement generic cereals Etc and put them in brand name boxes.  When Chef's ferals were still practicing their entitlement sessions, I mean visitation, Chef would insist that they only get brand names because obviously they were royalty. 

Bad

Problem is because he was paying almost every cent of his income toward CS, and I was paying all the rest of the bills, we really could not afford brand name stuff even if we wanted to.   As a single mom myself I never was able to afford brand names so why should these wasteful ferals get top brands?

I think by the last Easter before YSS aka the HousesHitter PASed out,  the candy he was getting was so generic, it could barely be defined as candy-- probably imported from Pyongyang.

Comments

ESMOD's picture

We had a rule for kids that they couldn't get any food or drink without asking us specifically.  (beyond water of course.. haha).

Their grandmother clutched pearls when she heard that.  

I told her that's what I had to do in my own home.. it wasn't witholding food.. it was ensuring they don't fill up on junk/snacks.. it was to make sure that they didn't eat right before dinner.. or eat something that an adult had prepared for a future meal or packed lunch the next day.  

The children were allowed to have food.. of course.. and normally the answer was a yes.. help yourself to the goldfish.. peanut butter and saltines.. have an apple or banana.. yogurt.. but making sure they were able to wait a half hour until dinner and didn't fill up on chips.. that was not being mean.

Rumplestiltskin's picture

The horror (clutches pearls!) Next you're going to say you used such torture devices as "making them use their inside voice" and "not making or buying separate meals for each kid for every meal." Savages! 

ESMOD's picture

I also made them take turns opening christmas packages as a family.... I was horrified at the frenzied pace that the grandkids (her grandkids) opened all the gifts... it is so much nicer to take turns playing santa.. handing out gifts one by one.. letting everyone open and admire each other's gifts.. give a thank you where appropriate.. my MIL actually liked that idea so now she does that..   

She thought it was wrong to not wait on her grands hand and foot.. I told her the biggest gift she could have given them would have been to teach them how to keep a clean home.. how to cook her family recipes etc.. I passed those kinds of things down to my SD's and they appreciate being able to cook nice meals for their own families now.  it's not torture to ask the kids to help you in the kitchen.. it's educational and some kids actually like it.. lol.

thinkthrice's picture

Made a snide remark one time about me treating my children like slaves.  I was a single mom with no help from them nor CS so I taught them how to cook; clean and be responsible.    My mother never taught me to cook and insisted I and my sister stay out of the kitchen so I had to learn everything from scratch.

Rags's picture

They have to read the tags out loud.  My mom's reading lesson mandated since her GKs were little.  Once the gifts were piled next to each person, each person opens a gift in a clockwise direction around the room with mom being the last of each round.  There is gift shaking, feeling through the wrapping, guessing, then the one whose turn it is opens the gift. Everyone appreciates it and many hugs are shared between the receiver and the one who selected their gift.  Santa of course gets most of the thanks.  Then each sequential opener is watched as they tear the wrapping to shreds then toss the balled up wrapping into the massive Christmas themed garbage bag with cheers for making it and boo's for misses, then ribbons are stuck to the head of the youngest.  Of course mom meticulously removes the wrapping on her gift while everyone jeers at her to hurry up.

There is no Piranha feeding frenzy of mass attack on wrapped gifts by everyone all at once.  No hiding, no failure to participate.  

All of the GKs name my parents home as home. They have their entire lives. My parents GKs are 32, 30, 28, 23 and the only GGK is 6mos.  With two of the GKs married and one in a serious relationship this Christmas will be a dispersed one for mom and dad's decendents.  Mom and dad are coming to our home. My Aunt is flying in on Dec 24 to be here for mom's 80th on the 26th. 

I will have fun torturing my bride. She will be handing out the gifts, being pelted with balled up wrapping paper, and have a bow bonnet on her head.  She will be by far the youngest present.

Dirol

Rags's picture

Lol.

My mom was the kitchen wizard. We ate what was cooked and served when we all sat down for a meal. Period. Dot.

SS was raised with the same model. Eat what is presented or starve.

MorningMia's picture

This is hilarious: 

I used to take bargain basement generic cereals Etc and put them in brand name boxes.  When Chef's ferals were still practicing their entitlement sessions, I mean visitation, Chef would insist that they only get brand names because obviously they were royalty. 
 

I wish I had thought of some of these methods when SS36 was here last year wolfing down all of our cinnamon, cereal, coffee, cream, avocados, bakery bread, among other things by the gallon and only replacing what he sucked down if DH gave him his credit card. Meanwhile, SS did bring his "special coffee" which he HID in the guest room and only brought out in the afternoon, when we don't drink coffee. It was a very expensive stay for us. And SS's last visit for life. 

AlmostGone834's picture

When LI lived with us she once asked for fruit. Ok great so I went and bought her some. She ate like one piece and the rest rotted. So guess what she got next time she asked for fruit? Canned fruit. Enjoy.
 

I buy her a few things to snack on that she likes (and that won't spoil, don't make a mess, and that don't need to be cooked or microwaved because she'd burn down my house)  Then I buy my snacks and hide them. I'm so glad I only have to worry about 1 week of that cr@p now that she doesn't live here. No wonder I was majorly depressed living with her. She never thought of anyone but herself, wasting money.

Lillywy00's picture

I acted like I was homeless level poor whenever the Disneyland dad I used to deal with would import his greedy bottomless stomach ferals 

Fridge would either be empty, good snacks would be well

hidden from them, and either fruits and vegetables or generics would be available if I was feeling generous

Rags's picture

We never had access controls on food. Not growing up and not with SS when we were raising him.  Binging or waste was not a thing nor would it thave been tolerated.

I think if we had, we would have gone with the locked pantry and locked refrigerator model.

The substituting generic cereals in the name brand box is a great idea for cost control. Buy a new box of the good stuff couple of months, remove the sealed bag of the good stuff and the adults eat it when they want.  Replace that bag with the generic.  Most kids would never recognize the difference.