02 July 2023 , 10:28
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A selfless mum of 16 who has welcomed over 100 foster children into her home over the past four years has confessed she gets through a whopping 35 loads of laundry a week.
Supermum Kelly Green, 38, lives in Summerville, South Carolina, US, with her family of 18, which is made up of her husband, Tim, 41, her three biological children, Morgan, 20, Braylon, 17, and Slayton, 15, and her 13 adopted children - McKinley, one, Lucas, three, Charlie, five, Ryli, ten, David, 12, Kenneth, 15, Narly, 15, Nevaeh, 15, Emma, 15, Apple, 15, Autumn, 17, Kayla, 20, and Amber, 21.
She has has fostered over 100 children and adopted 13 kids since 2019 after moving towns.
The mum, who wanted to get involved in the sports community with her children, was stunned at how many kids there are without parents and decided she wanted to get into fostering.
Since expanding her family, Kelly compares her life to being the real-life version of Cheaper by the Dozen movie.
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Kelly Green was stunned at how many kids are without parents (mom2manygreens / CATERS NEWS)
Katie and husband Tim (mom2manygreens / CATERS NEWS)She even had a cow butchered to feed the family for over a year, explaining that it's a cost-effective way to feed her large brood - having spent $1,200 on their last cow a year and a half ago, which supplied them with so much beef that it's only just running out.
Kelly added: "I never went into fostering to get into adopting, but it seems God had other plans for us, and we became a licensed adoption home.
"In 2019, we had our first foster child, and within the first week, we had eight foster children because we had the goal of helping siblings.
"Since then, we have had over 100 foster children in our home.
The selfless mum lives in Summerville, South Carolina, US, with her family (mom2manygreens / CATERS NEWS)"The children we have adopted were unable to go home, and they wanted to stay with us too. So we are one big family now. It was never our plan, but it feels like we are all exactly where we are meant to be.
"Since we first began fostering, we have moved into a 4,000 sq ft home, where everything is in walking distance, and we can use golf buggies to get around.
"It's like we are living the real-life version of the Cheaper by the Dozen movies, and there is always something going on.
"I think it's hard to imagine what having 16 kids is like for people who just have one or two children, but I am used to it now. It's just a normal life but everything is in a larger capacity.
Charlie, David, Kenneth, Braylon, Slayton, Dad, Lucas, Mom, Baby Mckinley, Morgan, Apple, Narly, Emma, Autumn, Nevaeh, Ryli together (mom2manygreens / CATERS NEWS)"For example, we get through 10 lbs of beef mince in one evening if I'm making tacos for dinner.
"We also have 11 baskets for the younger kids which are filled with snacks for that day. They can trade with each other, but once they're gone, they're gone. It's simple ways like this that we navigate our days.
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"We love sharing the reality of life as part of a family of 18."
Kelly says the family has a regimented structure from Monday to Friday, but at the weekend, there is a more relaxed routine where the kids can go to bed and wake up when they like.
However, the supermum admits to not being much of a chore person so the kids aren't set specific tasks - instead, they all take part in a nightly round-up where they all help to tidy the bottom portion of their house.
Kelly said: "We all come together and do a reset for the following day.
"We clean up the bottom section of the house. We tidy up the kitchen from dinner, the living areas, and get lunches ready for the following day.
"It means that everyone is working together, there's no bickering over who does what, and no one is singled out. It just seems to work for us.
Kelly says the family has a regimented structure from Monday to Friday (mom2manygreens / CATERS NEWS)"We do this instead of having a set chore routine for each person. After the roundup, they all get showers and get ready for bed.
"We use golf carts to get around the neighbourhood, which means we are only spending around $10 a week on gas for that. We have a nine-seater buggy that we can get the kids to school on and get to the stores.
"We also have a 15-passenger van, plus two other vehicles for longer distances.
"We have four kids that can drive now too, so that's a big help.
"People often wonder how I manage to feed a family of 18, but we all sit down on a Sunday and write the menu for the following week so everyone is happy.
"We tend to bulk buy lots of products, including our meat.
The family uses golf carts to get around the neighbourhood (mom2manygreens / CATERS NEWS)"We always get an entire cow butchered, and it lasts us around a year and a half. It costs $1,200 for the whole cow. We last had one butchered a year and a half ago, and we are just getting to the end of the supply now.
"My parents also raise hogs, so we buy one of those and have it butchered too. This is the cost-effective way we get our meat."
With a minimum of 18 people in the house at all times, it's fair to say there's always laundry to get through.
While Kelly's teen kids do most of their laundry themselves, she says there is a minimum of two loads of just towels to be washed each day.
Narly, Kayla, Morgan and Kelly (mom2manygreens / CATERS NEWS)Kelly said: "There's a minimum of five loads of washing getting done each day in our house - 35 loads per week.
"It sounds like a lot, but it's just our routine now.
"I never imagined I would be part of such a big family or have so many children. Our kids don't remember what it was like before we started fostering and adopting, and I feel the same.
"I don't know what my purpose was before having all my kids. I lived a selfish life before them all. I'd take myself to get my nails done, and hair done, and we'd go on date nights and go on trips freely.
"I was just going through the motions before, but now I have so much to laugh about, there's never a dull moment, and all the kids will have so many great stories about their siblings when they're older.
"We wouldn't change our life for the world."