u/makeupaddict337

I have a 13 year old daughter plus two teen nieces living with me for the summer. We have a family grocery list and previously we allowed the kids to put anything they wanted/needed on the list, but it's starting to get out of hand with all the "viral" drinks and snacks. I just went shopping for a road trip and spent over $100 on just Poppi. They also always want $$$ snacks like tiny single serve jars of everything (Nutella, hot honey, etc.), Goodles, Dot's, Dubai chocolate, fancy pickles. How do I get them onto cheaper snacks and drinks? I honestly don't think they even like a lot of this stuff and just want it because it's trendy.

My nephews peed all over my son's car track rug when they were here a few days ago. I got rid of the rug and cleaned the (hardwood) floor but it still smells. He hasn't been sleeping or playing in there because of the smell. We're leaving for vacation Friday so I'd like to get it de-stinked before then.

There is a lot of back story here. My wife's sister has 9 kids and is in prison so her husband (not the father of any) was left to raise them. Recently two of the boys age 6 and 8 started a fire in the kitchen trying to shrink chip bags in the microwave. They saw their older sisters doing it but the sisters wouldn't let them participate because they have a habit of being destructive and not listening. So the boys tried to do it alone, used the wrong kind of bags, set the microwave for 30 minutes and forgot about it.

Because of the fire, they are all displaced until August when the work is expected to be finished. The two oldest are grown and just moved out with roommates. The third oldest is with her bio dad. The next two oldest (teen girls) and the six year old girl (twin of one of the fire starters) are with me and the two fire starters and the youngest (special needs) are with step dad at his mom's house.

We have invited the nephews to visit of course because they want to see their sisters, especially the twins. But every time they are over, they cause chaos and destruction. The 6 year old boy smashed my son's (age 6) ant farm because my son let the cat out of the bag that we're going on vacation and taking his sisters and he doesn't get to go (aside from the chaos, our van only seats 7). Then the boys took advantage of us telling them they could help themselves to snacks by pouring out several drinks and a gallon of milk and opening and smashing snacks into the garbage before they got caught.

I know they are upset because at Granny's they don't have cable or internet and she doesn't buy a lot of snacks and drinks. BIL tries to take them to the park and things but they don't like going outside and complain the whole time. We try to let them have fun at our house but they always take advantage and destroy things. Like when we made popcorn and put a movie on, they just threw the popcorn, poured out their sodas and yelled so nobody could watch and the other kids eventually drifted out of the room. We also have to put away all the soap, shampoo, etc., in the downstairs bathroom and the upstairs one between my son's room and the one my 6 year old niece is staying in because they were going in there to use the bathroom and just pouring things in the floor and the toilet.

My wife and I don't want to separate the siblings but we don't know if we can handle this another two months. BIL has tried to explain to them that staying at Granny's and not getting "fun" things for a bit is their punishment for being careless and causing damage, but they just say it's not fair because it was an accident or blame their sisters.

The kids are obsessed with them, but it's getting $$$ especially with my nieces staying over for the summer. I suggested Lacroix and they said that's out of style. My daughter had me get the TikTok drink packets awhile ago but she didn't really like them (they have a a very strong aspartame taste).

Edit: POPPI SODA

I ordered groceries and got these instead of the crackers I ordered. The store refunded me and told me to keep them.

My wife and I have three of our nieces staying with us over the summer because their brothers burned down the kitchen in their house. Before this we already had planned a family vacation to go to Silver Dollar City then camping and Uranus Fudge Factory. But now I'm not sure if it's fair to bring the girls when their six siblings won't be going. The two oldest and the youngest wouldn't want to go anyway and the third oldest can't because she's with her bio dad, but the two boys who started the fire, one of which is the twin of one of the nieces staying with us, would want to go and I don't really want to bring them because they are a major handful.

My brother in law is raising his nine step kids while his wife (my wife's sister) is "away" for awhile. The teen girls and their younger sister were shrinking chip bags in the microwave to make keychains when the two youngest boys (8 and 6) asked to help and the girls said no. So the boys later went into the kitchen and tried doing it themselves. They used a cracker box with a foil bag inside instead of chip bags and set the microwave for 30 minutes instead of 30 seconds then went out to play and forgot about it. This resulted in a fire that did some serious damage to the kitchen.

I wanted to help so I started a fundraiser online, but a lot of people were commenting that they didn't need a fundraiser either because the kids did it or because the house is the parsonage of the church where BIL preaches so it should be paid from church funds. AITAH for making the fundraiser?