It's time for school.

Come on, get out of bed.

Jessica is already up and dressed.

Good morning, Mom.

Let's check the weather out today.

It's looking a bit cloudy.

Looks like it's going to 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 bagel with eggs, bacon, and cream cheese this morning.

And strawberry blueberry smoothie.

Perfect.

Can I make the smoothie?

Yeah, sure.

You need frozen strawberries, blueberries, almond milk, and Greek yogurt.

Great.

It sounds yummy.

Shall I also put some bananas?

No, we should leave the banana out of this recipe to allow 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 of the windows.

What exactly do we have to do, Mom?

You must clean your rooms.

They are really 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 going to 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 doesn't Greek food 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 pork, fish, 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.

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 fillet.

Do I need to buy some spices so Mom can marinate the 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.

Lawnmowers, cars, appliances.

His father was a house builder.

One of his brothers built boats, and one made furniture.

I have 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 sensor.

Now press start and see if it works.

It works.

I had no idea you were so good with your hands.

You could definitely say that repairing things has 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.

Really?

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 furniture. $100 on our home loan payment. $300 on groceries. $111 on utilities. $250 on gasoline. $200 on clothes. $100 on books. $150 on cell phones.

And $400 on entertainment last month.

That's $2,361.

We put $500 into the savings account.

That's $286.61.

Our paychecks add up to $3,100.

That means we don't have any receipts for $239.

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 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.

We'll do so from now on.

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