Is 8 Enough for Kate?

She's not June Cleaver and doesn't pretend to be. She has disagreements with her husband and loses her patience with the kids, but no one can doubt the love and devotion Kate Gosselin has for each member of her family —- all nine of them. Kate is the star mom on the TLC hit Jon and Kate Plus Eight, and one of the few real moms on TV. She's been married to Jon Gosselin for almost 10 years and after having twins in 2000, Jon and Kate decided they wanted just one more baby around the house. After fertility treatments, which the Gosselins speak openly about, they found out they were not only going to have one baby, but six.

How does she do it? She gives all the credit to her momtourage.

With eight kids I would think it's almost impossible not to have a good support system. Who is in your momtourage?
Basically we try to do as much as we can our own. We have lots of people around that are in and out helping us all the time, but we are finally upon a time where the kids are bit older and we can breathe. We are able to trust the kids more and we can travel a bit lighter. We could NEVER have done it alone when the babies were young. It was a learning experience having people come in to help, but there was just no way we could have done it on our own.

How do you make sure eight kids are eating what they should be and staying healthy, especially with the twins in school?
I pack lunches the night before so that I'm not too rushed in the morning. I also make sure to include them on what's going into the lunchbox. That way they are more excited in the morning because they know they had something to do with making that lunch. I am always thinking of ways that I can make lunch exciting. You have to change from pretzels to popcorn and just have a variety. I always leave a little note too. Packing lunches saves so much time and money.

You often talk about only serving your kids organic foods, so people always want to know how they can do that and save money on groceries?
When the twins were young I would just go to the grocery store and not worry, but when we more then doubled our family I worried a lot about how we would afford it all. It became my job to save money wherever I could. I started looking at sale ads and going into the stores for rainchecks if I needed to. I would stock up on things when they were on sale and find coupons by calling the 1-800 numbers on the packages of certain foods. You just have to stay organized and keep your coupons in a binder. My goal became never to buy something unless it was on sale. It's mind boggling how much you can save and you don't have to risk nutrition in order to save money either.

You are incredibly organized on the show, some might say extremely organized. What are your tips for moms that are not quite that naturally organized?
Start by sticking to a strict schedule and plan ahead. You have to start somewhere, so just watch what you do in a normal day and make a schedule out of it. Your kids will know what comes next and what is expected of them. It will make life so much easier for kids and parents.

How do you get alone time and how do you deal with that ever-so-present mom guilt?
Guilt used to kill me, but now that the kids are older I feel less pressure. Once a month I take myself to the spa to get a massage and pedicure. I only use money I have gotten for Christmas or something. I never use family money. I do still feel guilty, but I feel I am a better and healthier mother for doing it. I also try to get on the treadmill at least once a day, so I can workout and get some me time.

What is your piece of advice for busy moms out there?
No matter how much stress you're under it's totally worth it in the end.