After this baby arrives, I don’t want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen.

At least for the first few weeks, I don’t want to cook.

And I don’t want to clean the kitchen either.

There will be a newborn head to sniff, endless diapers to change, a milk supply to establish, naps to take, walks to go on. Not to mention plenty of loving and lap time for my 2 year old. Keeping yourself fed in those early weeks is a job in itself. I’m always ravenous when I have a new nursing baby.

I have a few tricks up my sleeve to make those postpartum weeks a little easier.

* Stockpile Freezer Meals

I’ve never done freezer cooking or once a month cooking before. But in my last month of pregnancy, I’m going to cook a couple dozen main dish meals and store them in my freezer. I don’t have a stand alone freezer, just the skinny little side-by-side next to my fridge. Which means I’ll also need to clean out my freezer and use up some of the stuff that’s in there to make space.

(Do you have any favorite freezer friendly recipes? Please let me know in the comments!)

* Buy (gasp!) Disposable Products

We use real plates, microfiber cloths for cleaning, and cloth napkins at the table around here. But for the first few weeks postpartum, the green police won’t get me if I go disposable. My sanity is more important. (Besides, using cloth diapers and cloth mama pads kinda balances it out, right?)

So as not to shock my grocery budget too much, I’ve been buying a little of this kind of stuff at a time as I see great deals. (Since loading the dishwasher and doing laundry are actually two of my kid’s chores, this tip won’t really lighten my load. But if the kids have a little less work to do they can help me with other things that are usually my job.)

* Enlist Hubby’s Help

I asked my hubby if he would cook a couple of nights a week. He enjoys grilling out, so that’s good for one weekend dinner. There are a couple of other meals he likes to make (sausage and cabbage, burritos), so I told him I’d be sure to have those things available so he can work his magic in the kitchen.

My oldest has become adept at making homemade pizza, so I might put him on that once a week.

* Ask Friends for A Casserole Shower

I don’t want a baby shower, but a friend keeps insisting on doing something for me. I asked her to host a casserole shower, where everyone brings a meal for my freezer. When Ruby was born, a few friends brought me dinner afterwards, which was wonderful. But it’s more convenient for them and for me if it’s already at my house when baby arrives, no?

* Encourage the Kids To Cook Breakfast and Lunch

Y’all know I’m all about kids cooking. They are all (except for Ruby, she isn’t expected to cook for herself since she’s only 2. Her time will come though!) capable of making their own breakfasts and lunches.

I normally cook a hot breakfast every morning, but for awhile they’ll be on their own. Ditto for lunch. I’ll be sure to stock up on things I might not ordinarily buy to entice them a little. (Like organic frozen waffles, maybe even cinnamon rolls from Whole Foods. Or maybe I’ll have a baking day where I make waffles and freeze them myself.)

I also plan on making hearty breakfast muffins (like my favorite bacon/egg/cheddar coconut flour muffins), waffles and other breakfast foods that freeze well in big batches and… well, freezing them. Homemade granola too.

What kind of things did you plan to make postpartum life a little easier? Do share!

For the first 5 months of my pregnancies, everything seems to slide. Can you relate? Then, I spend the next few months in a frenzy of cleaning, decluttering, nesting… with a big baby belly to haul around in the heat of summer. Ah, well. They’re worth it.

I’ve been following Simple Mom’s Project Simplify posts and even though I’ve been doing some small decluttering/cleaning projects of my own, I haven’t blogged about it. Until today. Because even though I write about scheduling weekly and monthly cleaning tasks, simplifying and minimalism… that doesn’t mean I’m perfect. 

This week the hot spot of choice for Project Simplify was”choose your own adventure”. Yesterday I decided that the hall closet MUST be dealt with. This is the closet where I store my shoes and the 11 year old’s “Sunday” clothing (his room doesn’t have a closet), as well as homeschooling/art supplies we’re not currently using. (I buy school supplies on clearance once a year.)

But for months it’s become a general dumping ground for anything miscellaneous. There was a box of gender neutral newborn clothing, a suitcase, outgrown Ruby clothing, a bag of disposable diapers (gift for a friend’s upcoming baby shower), etc. Yuck.

After about 25 minutes of pulling everything out and putting stuff away and sweeping, it looked like this.

Top: In the basket are my Sleepy Wrap and Baby Hawk baby carriers, that’s an Ergo in the box, and on the right are homeschooling books and a box of crayons and art supplies. Look how empty the closet looks!
Bottom: I removed all the shoes that are ridiculous to wear while pregnant either because they’re too tight or high heels. (I don’t know about you, but I think pregnant women look ridiculous teetering around in heels.) I can actually see my shoes now!

Ah. Much better.

When you’re a mom of young kids, much of your housecleaning time involves putting out fires.

Today so far I’ve:

• Wiped up 3 water or milk spills courtesy of toddler
• Picked up strewn books, toys, etc off floor
• Changed toddler outfit twice
• Wiped purple marker off the hardwood floors
• Cleaned up lotion that toddler squeezed all over the floor and herself
• Tried, unsuccessfully, to scrub Sharpie marker artwork off my white antique desk (there goes that toddler again!)

Of course, I also did several actual regular cleaning tasks such as:

• Cleaned the kitchen (unloaded/loaded dishwasher, wiped counters multiple times)
• Took out trash – twice
• Vacuumed living room
• Cleaned the table
• Stripped bed linens

You see how, with all of these little cleaning tasks going on, it’s difficult to get to the important weekly and monthly cleaning chores?

The thing about these particular jobs is that they are what make a home actually smell and look clean. If you have a few toys scattered about your living room but your windows are clean and the baseboards not dingy, the room still looks nice.

The challenge is to figure out how to actually GET those monthly and weekly tasks accomplished.

I often lament to my husband that I spend too much time picking up general detritus left about the central living areas. By the time I’m done with that, I’m too tired or busy to do the important cleaning tasks. It’s not an unwillingness, it’s just a lack of time and womanpower.

Also, I find that completing the bigger cleaning tasks actually make me feel far more productive and happy.

By contrast, niggley jobs (like picking up people’s junk left about) makes me extremely grumpy.

Hopefully, no longer. I realized I needed a system. So I grabbed pencil and paper and walked from room to room.

I made a list of all the cleaning tasks that need to be done in my home.

I didn’t include daily pick up tasks like cleaning the kitchen and such. This was just for weekly and monthly items. Stuff like cleaning the kitchen cabinet fronts, sanitizing the trash cans, and wiping the baseboards.

Then I decided whether the particular chore needed to be done weekly or monthly.

Living in a large family means that some jobs that are weekly to some families (like vacuuming and mopping and cleaning bathrooms) are done daily or every other day. By the same token, some things that are done weekly in many homes (dusting) just aren’t a priority to me, so that’s a monthly thing!

Turns out there were fewer than 30 weekly/monthly cleaning chores in all. Sounds like one a day, doesn’t it?

I printed out a calendar where each day has one weekly/monthly cleaning task assigned to it.

I even get two days off if the month has 31 days.

It was a bit tricky, because I had to remember to schedule the weekly tasks… well, weekly. They had to repeat. But the monthly jobs only show up on the calendar once each month. Most of these chores only take from 10-20 minutes. When I’ve finished, I strike it off of my list.

I also ask for help. Sadie, 6, in particular loves to attack a cleaning job with me. (Now getting her to clean her room is another matter entirely!) The other day when the chore was to scrub the bathroom floors with Oxi-Clean, she spotted me on hands and knees with the scrub brush and asked if she could do it instead. She did a great job.

How’s it working so far?

Actually, pretty good. I’m still feeling rotten some days and I’ll admit that many days I just skip it. But that’s ok. When I’m back to my old self I know I won’t have a problem getting these things all checked off.

Having the calendar gives me peace of mind. Leaving it up to chance means that things don’t get done as much and I feel, oddly, more overwhelmed. Having a PLAN feels great and puts me back in control.

How do you work out doing those weekly and monthly cleaning chores?

If it would be helpful, you can download my calendar here.

Teaching Your Kids To Clean Up In The Bathroom

As a mother and as a person, I cannot stress enough the importance of maintaining a clean and welcoming bathroom. Thanks to indoor plumbing and all the trappings of modernity, the experience of showering, washing your hands, or doing your business is a far more pleasant one than at any other point in human history. But we set our standards relative to our experiences – not to what we read in a textbook – meaning that a dirty bathroom will always be highly unappealing. The fact that it has running water does little to placate the issue.

Really, bathroom cleanliness should be a simple affair: leave it how you found it. Don’t make it painfully clear that you were there.

photo credit: BobPetUK

This is obviously far easier said than done. In reality, there are two main factors that explain why it’s so easy for a bathroom to get dirty:

1. By its very nature, the bathroom is a place where water, hair, and dirt all mix. Add in the fact that we’re far more likely to get grossed out by an unclean bathroom than, say, pantry or mudroom, and it’s understandable that the place gets messy – and, when it does, that we immediately recognize this.

2. Cleaning the bathroom requires individual responsibility. My children do chores and help around the house in a variety of capacities, but ultimately I will insure that the kitchen or living room is clean if they don’t take proper initiative. But the mess made in a bathroom is made by an individual outside of the communal family setting. Therefore each person needs to do their part to leave it just as clean as they found it.

So how am I teaching my kids to be more responsible with their bathroom cleaning? My approach isn’t groundbreaking, but I’ve found it to be effective. Here’s what I do:

-Provide constant reminders. I don’t consider myself a nudge and I don’t care to push the issue, but if the bathroom is unclean, I won’t hesitate to remind my children that they have a responsibility to ensure otherwise.

-Make the medicine closet a “catch-all.” I can’t stand when toothpaste, floss, tweezers, and my jar of lavender essential oil are all sitting out on the sink countertop and cluttering the bathroom. To make sure that this doesn’t happen and that things get put away, I tell my children that the medicine closet is their one-stop-shop for bathroom cleanup. Anything that they use – or anything that they find sitting out – can simply be put on any shelf in that closet. It doesn’t matter where so long as it’s not next to the sink.

-Keep water in the tub. Bathrooms can get disgusting quickly when people start spreading water into all recesses of the room. So my house has a simple rule to counter this issue: after a shower or a bath, we all dry ourselves off in the tub before stepping out onto the bathroom mat. This ensures that most of the water goes where it’s supposed to go – into the drain.

-Incorporate hair removal into the bathroom process. Nobody in my family enjoys finding hair in the sink or shower drain, so it wasn’t difficult to teach my children to remove any hair as part of their regular bathroom routine. After showering, pick hair out of the drain before drying off. After combing hair in front of the mirror, wipe away any hair before putting the comb away.

These are a few tips that my family and I follow in an effort to keep the bathroom clean. Teaching children clean bathroom skills can be a difficult proposition, especially since it’s one of the few places in the house where they do their business unsupervised. But teaching them the importance of such cleanliness will stay with them for the rest of their life. They might as well start learning now.

(Earlier today I wrote about pregnancy depression, a much deeper topic than stanky diapers.)

Lately Ruby has been putting the fun in her Fuzzi Bunz, and they stink BADLY. In the warmer months I don’t have a problem with this issue, because I hang the diapers to dry, and the sun seems to work well to kill any funkadelic germs that cause lingering odors.

Today I couldn’t stand it anymore so I decided to “strip” them. I had to do this once before when my Fuzzi Bunz began leaking after I used some Burt’s Bees diaper rash cream on the baby.

Genevieve of MamaNatural has a helpful video at her site on stripping cloth diapers (she uses BumGenius, very similar to Fuzzi Bunz).

It’s easy enough. The diapers have to be washed in a solution of 1 T Dawn dish soap and 1/2 cup bleach, with multiple rinses to get rid of any residual soap.

I typically don’t espouse the use of chlorine bleach, preferring an oxygen based bleach. But I find that once or twice a year it’s a necessity on dish towels to get rid of that odd sour milk smell that will linger on them.

What do you do when your diapers, Fuzzi Bunz or other, get funky?

I love to challenge myself to make things myself instead of buying them.

Sometimes, the motivation is financial. Homemade stuff is almost always cheaper. Sometimes, it’s the healthier, more natural option. And all of the time, the homemade version is more environmentally friendly.

I’ve been unhappy with the green dishwashing liquids I’ve tried. Most of them are very expensive. Even with sales and coupons, you can expect to pay over $2 for a bottle of the stuff. And it’s not terribly effective.

Another option for dishwashing liquid is diluted castille soap, but even if I bought Dr. Bronner’s soap by the gallon, the price would be around .35 an ounce, comparable to store bought.

Then I came across this recipe for homemade dishwashing liquid on Annienygma’s site. I thoroughly enjoy her blog because of her “Possum Living” lifestyle. I decided to give it a shot.

All you need are:

- Arm & Hammer Washing Soda
- Octagon soap
- Water
- Cute assistant (optional)

I always keep Washing Soda on hand because I use it in my homemade laundry detergent recipe.  Turns out a local grocery store was going out of business, so I swung by and bought 15 bars of Octagon soap at a discount. They were around .50 each.

I had never used Octagon before, but I remember my Grandmother always had it around her house. It has a very mild fragrance and the finished product wasn’t perfumey at all (my main gripe with commercially available dishwashing liquid, the smell of all of them makes me sick). You could easily add a few drops of your favorite essential oil to pretty up the fragrance.

The recipe called for a half bar of grated Octagon soap and just 1 Tablespoon Washing Powder.  I cut the recipe in half, which means that the half gallon of dishwashing liquid I made cost me less than .20.

Most definitely a frugal choice. I poured the finished soap into a pretty soap dispenser next to my sink using a small funnel.

But how does it work?

We’ve been using it for the dishes we hand wash (pots and pans, items that aren’t dishwasher safe) and it works awesome! However, it makes ZERO lather. This might be an issue for some, but it doesn’t matter to me. I know that “lather” doesn’t have anything to do with how clean something is. Lather comes from Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, an ingredient I avoid in cleaning products.

I imagine this recipe would also make an awesome laundry stain treatment since that’s traditionally one of the uses of Octagon soap. I plan on keeping a squeeze bottle of it in the laundry room to put a bit directly on stains before washing clothes.

Have you ever made your own dishwashing liquid? Got a great recipe to share?

Francine Jay, best selling author and writer of the lovely blog Miss Minimalist was sweet enough to publish my profile yesterday. You can read it here:

Larger Family Minimalism

I thought I would link to a few of my favorite posts about simplifying and minimalism so Francine’s readers can get to know me a little better, as well as address a question that came up in the comments.

Am I Limiting The Children Somehow Because They Don’t Do Extracurricular Activities?

Good question!

At the time of that writing, none of the kids were doing extracurricular activities, but at this moment one is taking piano lessons (he has been self taught for a long time however), and 2 are taking ballet classes. These classes are for a couple of months and aren’t long term.

In the past, the kids have taken a variety of classes (art, pottery, dance), and are very involved with friends and activities through a homeschool field trip group.

It’s not that outside activities are banned, it’s that the kids seem happier when we don’t “go” a lot.

The children pursue a lot of their own interests … two of the kids are musicians (guitar, piano), one is a prolific writer, one has a thriving eBay business, one loves to sew, one started a book club recently… and we are learning Spanish as a family… so no, I don’t think the kids are limited or being held back in any way.

Generally speaking I think many kids are too overscheduled these days. It’s better for them to have lots of time to just be… this is why they can pursue their own interests in their own way.

Now for a few of my favorite posts on simple living and minimalism, larger family style:

• Getting rid of the off season/hand me down clothing stash
• How to be a minimalist parent
• Minimalism and homeschooling
• How I use Evernote to eliminate paper clutter 
• Simple living: A review of 52 Bites

Francine’s book is on my wish list, but I have read her ebook and it’s excellent! You can download it for .99 here: Miss Minimalist: Inspiration to Downsize, Declutter, and Simplify

I don’t celebrate Christmas.

But, once a year my family gets together, usually around my sis and BIL and parent’s anniversaries, and we exchange gifts.

This year I decided to do homemade gifts.

(Since my mom and sister read my blog, I’m going to now ask these two to stop here. Spoiler alert!)

Why homemade gifts?

Several reasons.

Homemade gifts are special. Anyone can go to the store and pick out a gift they think their loved one will like. It takes more time to make something by hand. And it has your love and attention in it.

Homemade gifts are simpler. Why? They often are consumable, so they won’t clutter up the recipient’s home. You can make them at home, so there’s no running to overcrowded stores to shop. (Something I absolutely despise.)

Homemade gifts are frugal. Typically you can make something useful or yummy at home for a fraction of the cost of buying it. This is an important consideration these days for many.

Here are a few homemade gift ideas:

•  Homemade jellies, jams, apple butter. This year I’m cooking up several batches of Cranberry Apple Butter (recipe from a local restaurant that’s a favorite of my family, The Flying Biscuit).  This stuff is beyond amazing on toast or biscuits.

• Homemade natural skin care products. This summer when my family went to Tybee Island, we found a locally made salt scrub in all the restaurants and shops. I’m going to try to recreate it at home. I love how soft it made my hands, and adding a little lemon means it gets kitchen odors off your skin. Since I’m a bit addicted to MadeOn Hard Lotion, I bought her kit and DIY instruction ebook and am going to make lotion bars and lip balm for my family too.
• Homemade herbal first aid. I am borrowing a recipe from The Rhythm of Family for slippery elm lozenges. These are wonderful all natural sore throat/cough remedies. My family is crunchy like me so I know they’ll appreciate these this winter when they get a tickle in their throat.

I found a ton of awesome ideas for homemade gifts (with recipes) at CrunchyBetty’s site too.

What do you think about homemade gifts? Have any more suggestions?

photo credit: crabchick

I love Evernote.

I use it for so many things now that I don’t know how I lived without it before.

One of the reasons I love Evernote is this:

It eliminates paper clutter.

While working through the projects in Simple Mom’s 52 Bites ebook, I realized that a handheld scanner combined with Evernote would make eliminating files and other paper clutter a cinch.

I splurged on a Doxie scanner. (Why the Doxie and not some other? Because with Doxie, you can scan papers directly into your Evernote account. Cool huh?!)

The first paper clutter I tackled?

My recipes. I wrote here about how my recipes were … um, not working.

It took a couple of hours, but now my recipes are ALL scanned and neatly organized in my Evernote account. When it’s time for me to do my meal plan, I simply open Evernote and search around.  I can search by ingredient if I have something I need to use up or if there’s a really great deal at the store I want to take advantage of.

Declutter your cookbooks.

How many of us just plain have too many cookbooks? Here’s the thing. I only had about 6 when I started this process, and I actually DID use them all (I already got rid of the ones I didn’t in another decluttering mission.) BUT.

How many recipes in those cookbooks do we actually use?

In my case, it was around 5 – 10%, tops. In other words, if a cookbook had 200 recipes, I might actually use 10 of those. If I hadn’t experimented and cooked the other recipes because they were too complicated, had ingredients my family doesn’t enjoy, too time consuming, too expensive, or for whatever reason just didn’t appeal… why keep them?

Here’s a compelling reason not to keep cookbooks.

Mice.

Yikes, I can’t believe I’m telling the internets this, but last winter we had a pregnant mouse move in. Like a good little mammal she was eager to begin making her nest, so she went around the house looking for good material to use. Paper was one of her favorite things.

It just so happened that my cookbooks, which are both paper and flavored with splatters of food and grease (as cookbooks tend to do when they are used…) became the nightly hotspot. We could actually hear her tearing and chewing at my cookbooks in the middle of the night.

Gross.

It was somewhat painful to have to throw out expensive cookbooks, but what can you do? This is one of the reasons clutter is evil: because it attracts vermin. Cockroaches also love to eat paper, and since cookbooks are nicely “flavored”, my guess is that they would contribute to a problem there too.

I recently got rid of a couple more cookbooks because I was only using a handful of the recipes. I neatly tore them out, and scanned them into Evernote.

Enough about that.

Onto office and other household paper.

Some paper is inevitable. Tax receipts come to mind. Social security cards, marriage licenses, divorce and custody papers… I’m not suggesting you toss this stuff. But what about things like cool articles you cut out of magazines, or product manuals, or medical and health records?

Scan them! Firstly, I don’t keep product manuals because they’re always available online somewhere. Always. But I did have some articles that I actually used, like that one about how to cut your kid’s hair. I would refer back to it periodically, so I scanned it, and now it’s safe forever in Evernote.

Since my business is online and therefore digital, I almost never have actual paper receipts. But on the rare occasion that I do, my accountant told me that it’s perfectly copasetic to keep a scanned copy, not the paper one. (Ask yours before taking my advice, please.) This seems safer to me anyway, because paper is subject to fire, mold, water damage, and fading. In fact just a few months ago, I had to throw away some tax records I kept in the basement because they were completely unreadable, due to mold. Yikes.

This is what’s working for me. All of my paper files fit into one small portable half empty file cabinet.

To-do lists, brain dumps, and other uses for paper.

I used to think that I was a big paper person and that I would never use something digital to take notes, make to – do lists, brain dumps and other personal growth/productivity uses.

I’m actually finding that it isn’t true. Using paper notebooks has always been a mixed bag for me. While I love physically writing out a to do list, especially if I’m feeling overwhelmed, I was always losing the list, or having it destroyed somehow (and then forgetting those important ideas!) or having to type it out anyway (as in the case of blog post ideas).

I actually have more peace of mind now that I keep things digital.

As an example, shopping lists. How many times have you gotten to the store and forgotten your list? Now, I never do because it’s right inside my phone. For places I go to rarely, like IKEA, it’s even more important, because once I get in there I get overwhelmed.

I keep separate Evernote notebooks for various projects. I have one for each of my websites, for instance. I can easily add long term goals or ideas for blog posts or whatever, without worrying about losing my ideas due to the problems with paper. For things like blog post ideas, this is actually a time saver in the long run because then I can copy and paste the notes directly into my blog.

If I do get a real hankering for paper and pen, I can always write things out by hand. Then I can scan those handwritten notes into Evernote to save time typing!

You can get an Evernote account for free and it syncs to your laptop/computer, phone and anywhere else you want to put it. I love it!

Do you use Evernote? How has it helped you eliminate paper clutter?

I had to google “bi-weekly”, because I’ve never been sure whether it meant “every two weeks” or “twice a week”. Turns out, in the US the word bi-weekly means “every two weeks”, but if you live in the UK, it means “twice a week”. (So the UK folks should say “bi-fortnightly” instead.)

Just a little trivia for you there.

For as long as I’ve been a homemaker, I’ve done my meal planning and grocery shopping once a week. Don’t most people?

A couple of months ago however, I decided to switch to twice a month. Why?

Honestly, I just wanted to run around less.

Because I shop at 2 grocery stores (ALDI for most stuff, one other store for specialty items and deals), sometimes 3 (the health food store), that ends up being several errands a week. Running errands is tiring, takes a lot of time out of our day, and the kids are happier when we stay home more.

Since I’ve been doing my meal planning and grocery shopping bi-weekly, I’ve noticed some distinct benefits.

I Save Money

This is a biggie. Something about the “sticker shock” of buying groceries 2 weeks at at time forces me to want to spend less. Every time we go into a store, we’re tempted to buy things we don’t need. Even if it’s a great deal, being in the store more often means I’ll spend more money.

I Waste Less Food

We’re always running out of food by the end of the two weeks. But this makes me become more creative in the kitchen. So I don’t waste as much food. Of course, in the last few days of the bi-weekly period all the fresh fruit is gone, so the kids snack on other things. That’s fine. It’s often raw veggies, tortillas and hummus, or other healthy snacks that last longer in the fridge.

I Save Time

Meal planning two weeks at a time takes a few minutes more than doing it weekly. But anytime you “batch” an activity and do more of the same thing at once, you save time. In other words, it takes me less time to plan 2 bi-weekly menus a month than it does to plan 4 weekly menus a month.

I also save time by not running to the store as often.

How often do you shop and meal plan, and why?

By the way, for those of you who like to use online menu planning services, there’s a new kid on the block called Food On The Table. You can check it out for free. It offers the ability to create menus and shopping lists (printable, or download them to your phone!) – and here’s the coolest part – based on what’s on sale at your favorite grocery store.

Take it for a test spin.

I try hard to make things homemade as often as I can. Especially if the homemade version is more natural, less toxic, healthier, and cheaper.

Laundry detergent is an example. There’s natural hair conditioner, shampoo, facial moisturizer, homemade lip balm. Sauerkraut and kefir are two more.

A few years ago, I enjoyed making my own natural olive oil soaps (not the melt and pour, mind you. The real stuff with thermometers, eye goggles, and lye).

But I admit, not every DIY/natural/homemade project I’ve undertaken was successful.

Some have been epic FAILs.

Can you relate?

Here are some of my recent failed projects.

Homemade Raw Milk Yogurt

Every batch I’ve attempted failed. It just never set. I followed directions precisely, and it was as runny and watery as … milk. I haven’t given up, though. I’m going to keep at it, and perhaps next time use pasteurized. I hear that sometimes the natural bacteria in raw milk (which, in part, makes it so good for you) sometimes “competes” with the starter culture.

And although I’ve made homemade kefir, sauerkraut, homemade lacto-fermented salsa and kombucha many times, my homemade pickles also never turned out (they were covered in mold before the culture period ended).

FAIL.

Homemade Natural Baby Wipes

For years I’ve seen for making your own baby wipes. With my other babies, I used cloth wipes, but for some reason my cloth wipes have all disappeared. So for the last few months I’ve been using disposables, which I don’t want to continue doing. I followed Kitchen Stewardship’s recipe to the letter, including using the Viva paper towels (and normally I never buy paper towels!).

The result? My wipes were too narrow, too fuzzy/linty, they tore easily in my hand while cleaning poopies, and they *mildewed* despite my adding tea tree oil to the wipe solution!

FAIL.

At least they had fun planting it!

Gardening

For two years in a row hubby and I have planted a garden: one year, a container garden on our sunny back deck, the second year, a raised bed. Before we married, he was successful at growing tomatoes and jalapenos. But my black thumb must’ve rubbed off. Our gardens, both years, were a disastrous failure. We literally got no edible produce either time, and so wasted our time and money.

Through the years I’ve tried my hand at kitchen herb gardens in pots, and same thing… I can’t grow anything but children, apparently.

FAIL.

Another: I use homemade dishwasher detergent about 50% of the time. The reason I only use it 50% of the time is because if I use it every time, my dishes don’t get clean, and the inside of my dishwasher turns a rusty color and starts growing slime. I’ve tried dozens of recipes, and none of them work as well as commercial dishwasher detergents.

Oh well. I guess you can’t win at everything, eh?

What are some of your natural living/DIY/homemade FAILS?

This week’s Green Moms Weekly topic is about natural and non-toxic cleaning.
It asks:

“What are some simple tips to go green with your household cleaning?”

I like this topic because I like keeping things simple. I find that using non-toxic cleaning products are one of the fastest, easiest and simplest ways of reducing your family’s exposure to potentially harmful chemicals.

Making your own cleaning products is actually quite easy, and they simplify your life in a few ways. More on that later. For now, I’ll list just a couple of ways that you can easily make the switch to greener cleaning.

1. Grab a gallon of generic white vinegar and a large box of baking soda next time you go grocery shopping.
2. Invest in good cleaning cloths. I have a few high quality microfiber cloths I bought from FlyLady’s site, and I also love the white and red striped tea towels from IKEA. I buy more every time I go there. They’re around .50 each.
3. Get several good spray bottles. If you have some leftover from current cleaning products, great. Rinse them out thoroughly, label them and reuse them. If not, buy a few but go for quality. The cheaper ones clog easily and won’t spray well. Good ones will last for years.

Now simply fill these with a 50/50 mix of vinegar and water.

This simple solution can clean, deodorize and sanitize almost any surface in your home.

Everything from mirrors and windows, sinks, toilets, refrigerators, counters, tables and floors. (In other words, any hard non-porous surface. Fabrics too.)

If you want to get fancy, add a couple of drops of your favorite essential oil. I do it when I remember. Even if you don’t, your home won’t smell like a pickle factory. The vinegar smell will dissipate in seconds leaving only the lovely smell of clean. (After using non toxic cleaners you will come to despise the fake, cloying, overpowering fragrances added to commercial cleaning products. Clean smells like nothing. Which is lovely in itself.)

If you need some abrasive, sprinkle on the baking soda.

Baking soda works wonderfully for baked on gook that lingers on pots and pans (I never scrub, I sprinkle baking soda on a wet pan and leave overnight. It wipes off effortlessly the next day.). It scrubs a tub or grimy sink. It deodorizes the fridge and removes those tough spills. It makes cleaning the stovetop easy. It removes trash can and diaper pail odors. All without scratching.

And you can use vinegar and baking soda together to declog your drains!

Now for some of the advantages of this approach to cleaning.

1) Green cleaning can save money. The 50/50 vinegar/water solution in a large spray bottle costs pennies. A gallon of vinegar lasts me several months. Buying cleaning cloths is much cheaper over the long run than buying paper towels.

2) Green cleaning saves time. No hunting for coupons and deals. Since a bottle of commercial all purpose cleaner costs around $3 and since the marketing machine has convinced us that we need a separate cleaner for each need/room of the house, many people spend a decent portion of their weekly food budget on cleaning products. So to save money they hunt for coupons and deals, often getting these products for nearly free. This takes time, and going to multiple stores.

3) You don’t run out as often because you can easily make (or wash) more. My homemade laundry detergent is an example. I make it 10 gallons at a time. Our large family uses this for months.And since some of the same ingredients I use for it also go into my homemade dishwasher detergent, I don’t have to buy that either! Ditto for cleaning cloths. You do laundry anyway so it’s no more work, and cleaning cloths work better than paper towels.

4) The kids can help, which saves you time. You can hand your toddler a spray bottle of vinegar/water and a cloth, and they’ll happily “help”. As they get older, they can help you make the cleaning products. My kids think it’s fun making laundry detergent. And you don’t have to worry about poisoning them.

Sadie at 3, washing dishes

More about simple cleaning:

There are a lot of great green cleaning products out there. I’ve reviewed plenty of them on this site, and I use some occasionally when I find a great deal. But the simpler method really is easier, and another advantage is that making your own uses far less packaging.

More articles about green cleaning:

Green Your Spring Cleaning
When Frugal Isn’t Best
Natural Glass and Window Cleaner Recipes

Now read what the other Green Moms Weekly participants have to say:

Rachel at HappyGreenBabies
Tiffany at NatureMoms

(This is the first post in an installment in which I share my results working through the projects in the ebook One Bite At a Time. Stay tuned for more!)

I wrote a review of Simple Mom’s new ebook 52 Bites here: Simple Living, an Ebook

I promised to update you as I progressed through the book. Here are some of my favorite projects so far and what I’ve done with them.

# 3 is Create a Morning Routine. Even though I began waking earlier than my kids before I got the ebook, actually writing down and implementing a morning routine has been a wonderful addition to my life! On the rare occasion that my alarm doesn’t go off and I accidentally sleep in, I feel “off” all day. I love my morning routine!

Because I’m getting up earlier and have peaceful quiet time in the morning, I’m able to “Eat my Frog”  (project #1!). While I don’t really have any task that I dislike, getting my blog post written first thing in the morning gives me peace all day. I can focus on my kids and my household tasks more easily when that “frog” is in my belly.

I already had an Evening Routine (project #4). I unload the dishwasher, tidy the kitchen, pick out my clothing for the next day, and pick up the living room.

Menu planning (project #5) has been part of my routine for years. After the birth of my 3rd baby I found it challenging to get dinner on the table, so I would set aside time to make browse through my cookbooks and plan a menu. I love knowing, in the morning, what’s for dinner. It saves me time, money and stress.

Project #6 – create a family purpose statement, really baffles me. Honestly. This is something that has been niggling in the back of my mind for years, ever since I read The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. While I know in my heart what I want my family to stand for, it’s hard putting it on paper and committing to it. I am probably overthinking it, honestly.

What I DID do in preparation for this project? I asked everyone in the family to write down one thing they loved about each member of the family. Initially I planned on creating some piece of artwork to hang on the wall out of this, but I realized that I could also find out what each member of the family values. I see common themes popping out in their descriptions: fun, caring, love, listening… I need to sit down with my husband and talk about this during our Couples Meeting. (Project #13 – we were already doing this. Every week we have a budget meeting slash weekly update where we discuss things we want to bring up at our family meeting. It’s fun and I look forward to it all week.)

Project #7 encourages you to Downsize your book and magazine collection. Boy, did I ever. I realized that there was no value in keeping a book that I wasn’t in love with. I do love books! But if I hadn’t referenced it in a year, it went. I’ve made about $150 on Amazon.com in the last two months selling books.

I also appreciate what Tsh said in her book Organized Simplicity about avoiding “twaddle” in kid’s books. I firmly agree. While the occasional Captain Underpants has made it’s way into our collection (and I’m ok with that), I made a concerted effort to get rid of junky kid lit.

Interestingly in this past week I’ve increased our collection of great kid’s books. Our library sold off a bunch of great titles for $1 apiece, and then I hit a yard sale of a former schoolteacher. I picked the finest (Blueberries for Sal, etc) ones and made off like a bandit… $0.25 each!

I’m soooo tempted to get an e-reader so I can keep my book collection small. My fear is that I’ll spend too much money and time reading.

When it comes to magazines, I am now taking pictures of great articles, recipes or photos that I want to keep and uploading them to Evernote! LOVE that. Now I’ll actually see and use them in the future, but without the paper clutter.

Project #17 is another big one: Create an essential papers file. I started working on this one right away. Since I have an online business, I have various expenses that debit automatically from my Paypal account, and income from various sources. If something were to happen to me, there has to be a way for my husband to get to my money and stop the recurring expenses.

I write down my username and password for all of these sites. We still need to get our wills drawn up. Yikes. Time to act like grownups.

Project #21 – Organize your files. I don’t have a lot of paper, but I did go through my personal files and threw out a lot of stuff. I created a separate homeschool binder, for answer keys, worksheets that have yet to be used, lists of sight words, Spanish vocabulary, and other odds and ends that were floating in different places. Now it’s all in ONE spot.

Project #22 – Declutter kid’s toys. We don’t have a lot of kid’s toys, but my 10 year old son is decluttering his room and started an eBay business. I’m rejoicing at this, because he was formerly a bit of a packrat!

That’s where I’m at so far. I didn’t mention every project listed in the book, because many of them are things I already am in the habit of doing (using cloth in the kitchen instead of paper, for instance).

If you haven’t already read this book, I highly recommend it. At $5, it’s really a no-brainer. If you pick up just ONE idea that makes your day run a little more smoothly, it’s worth it. Get it here: 52 Bites.

“…If, then, your eye is simple, your whole body will be bright.”

Matthew 6:22, NWT

I made what may be potentially viewed as a radical decision for a mom. Heretical, even.

Especially for a mom with a larger family.

I Eliminated our Hand me Down/Off Season Clothing Stash

Most moms have one, especially if you have several children. You know, that collection of Rubbermaid containers in the attic or basement full of clothing kids have outgrown, which awaits another kid. Or off season clothing waiting to be used when the weather changes.

The supposed benefits of this practice? a) saving money b) convenience – shop from your stash!

Theoretically, it’s supposed to work.

But like all good ideas, it just doesn’t work for everyone.

Problems I’ve Encountered with the Hand Me Down Clothing Stash:

1) It is clutter

Pure and simple, it’s visual clutter that made me feel anxious every time I went downstairs. It took up way too much space in my basement, which we couldn’t even use for a kid’s rec room because of all the junk.

2) It isn’t simple

My stash actually caused me stress.

There are several reasons for this. For one, my girls could not keep their paws OUT of the clothing in storage. They thought it was great fun to go into the basement, upend a container, and throw stuff around (at least that’s what it looked like!), causing stuff to get dusty and buggy and spiderwebby. They would bring off season clothing upstairs to an already overcluttered bedroom… you get the picture. Nothing I did, discipline-wise, put a stop to it. It was just too tempting.

3) It discourages trust

This probably isn’t true of you, but for ME, having that stash made me wonder if I was really trusting God to take care of my needs. Planning for the future is good, but the stash may have been about fear, lack and limitation in my heart.

4) It felt greedy

Again, for me, having all that unused clothing felt a little greedy. I could have opened a kid’s consignment shop out of my basement!

Saving Ruby’s outgrown baby clothing for another arrival seemed wise, but there are other babies being born who could use it NOW. (And what it the next baby is a boy?) There are other tweenaged girls who could wear Zoe’s like-new jeans NOW. Giving a lot of this stuff away felt good.

Too much of a good thing is still too much.

5) It cost me money

Amazingly, the stash did NOT save me any money! The biggest reason is because I would simply forget what was tucked into those containers. I would forget to check them before shopping. To my chagrin I would spend money (even at thrift store and yard sale prices, it’s still money) and then discover that a child already had several of the item in question in storage. ARGH!

Another issue is that sometimes a kid wouldn’t grow as fast as I thought, so their last year’s clothing would fit just fine.

6) Unused things deteriorate

Clothing that I thought I was wisely saving for a younger sibling, that looked like it was in great condition, would emerge from the tubs with mystery stains that had resurfaced. Shoes would emerge covered in mildew. Yuck.

So a percentage of the clothing would have to be trashed anyway. Even if I spent time doing stain removal, it would have been wiser to just get rid of it in the first place!

Lemme get one thing straight: I despise shopping. I know, I must be missing a girl gene somewhere, but it’s true. If I could afford it, I would get all of my kid’s clothing on eBay and from online retailers.

I thought that the stash would help me avoid shopping, but it really didn’t.

Kid’s needs change, and they don’t always grow the way you think they will. Their tastes and styles also change. (There is also a little thing called Grandparents with deep pockets who just love to buy kid’s clothing!)

So.

(This picture has nothing to do with eliminating the hand me down clothing stash. I just like it.)

Here’s what I did to get rid of the clothing stash:

1) I culled ruthlessly

I called each kid into the basement and had them go through the stash. If it didn’t fit NOW, it was put into a “sell/give/donate” container.

2) I gave it away at a clothing swap

I hosted another clothing swap for my homeschool field trip group. It feels great to give stuff away to people I care about!

3) I had a yard sale

I HATE having yard sales and swore I would never do another. But, I kept it to just one day, and hubby stayed home to help (which is always nice!), and ended up getting the de-cluttering bug and selling a ton of his old junk too!

4) I gave to charity

Tax deductions when both you and hubby are self employed? Yes, please. A women’s shelter emailed me and asked if they could have my unsold merchandise. Their truck picked it up the next day.

5) I threw stuff out

I just plain threw some clothing out. Polyester PJs? I hate ‘em and have never purchased them for my kids. They smell bad (polyester holds on to a funky smell) and feel horrible (they don’t breathe, I swear polyester PJs cause nightmares!). Out, out, out. Anything stained or broken or whatever, out.

6) I sold stuff on eBay

Some of the nicest stuff that I knew would sell on eBay got listed last weekend. All the kids except baby were gone to grandparent’s house. So hubby and I tag teamed with Ruby and got a ton of stuff listed on eBay and Craigslist.

The only exception I made? Suits. Caleb’s $50 dress shoes and Sunday suits are saved for Julien. I also kept a few items that the kids would without a doubt use within a year. All that fits into just 4 containers! My basement is almost totally empty and I LOVE that.

Now, when I walk in there, I get a lovely light feeling, instead of a heavy anxious one.

What about you? Do you have a large “in case” or “hand me down” clothing stash in your home? Does it make life easier for you?

I keep a tin of Altoids in my purse at all times. As a result, I end up with lots of empty tins.

They’re so neat. I just hate to throw them away. Such a nice little compact container, relatively waterproof with a tight fitting lid.

It’s a shame not to reuse them, no?

Uses For Altoids Tins: Mom Version

The kids and I have come up with quite a few creative uses for Altoids tins that are especially helpful for moms. (Because if you Google it, you’ll find plenty more uses, but they’re a little… obscure.)

Altoids Tin as Crayon Case

It just so happens that crayons fit perfectly inside an Altoids tin. It holds around 20 or so. Perfect to keep in your purse for moments when you need some quick kid entertainment.

Or when you go to a restaurant where kids eat free, and they hand you those placemats the kids can color on, then hand you 3 crayons. For 6 kids. Um… yeah.

Earbud Keeper

I dunno about you, but whenever I need my earbuds, they’ve mysteriously disappeared somewhere in my son’s room, where they’ve picked up way too much earwax (and dust, from the extra earwax).

Better to keep mine tucked into an Altoids tin, hidden in my desk.

Lipstick/Lip Balm Keeper

I hate when I have to dig for lipstick or lip balm, both of which I am horribly addicted to, in the recesses of my purse. My lipsticks fit perfectly into the tin. No more searching!

First Aid Kit

I keep Band-Aids and a little tub of Burt’s Bees first aid rub in a tin in my purse.

Tea bag/Honey/Stevia

Some people carry stevia packets with them so that when they go to a restaurant, they don’t have to use sugar or some nasty substitute. My green tea packets fit perfectly in there too.

Other uses we’ve conjured up so you don’t have to:

• Mini Sewing Kit (a couple of extra buttons, small spool of thread, needles)
• Vitamins and supplements for travel
• Earrings and jewelry storage for travel, or not
• Tiny LEGOs
• Loose change/piggy bank
• Baby and toddler hairbows and rubber bands
• Emergency toddler entertainment – fill with stickers and a couple of small plastic toys for use when tot has to sit still

Have you found any creative uses for Altoids tins? Please share below!

Ah, the humble clothespin.

I actually don’t use them to hang laundry on the line. But around my home the clothespin has some creative uses that save me money and sanity.

I offer:

The Clothespin Babyproof Blinds Hack

I saw no reason to spend $10 at Target on those huge plastic windy things that baby would figure out how to open anyway, when a clothespin does the trick quite nicely.

The “Whose Glass Is This, Is It Clean or Dirty, Do I Put It In The Dishwasher or Let It Sit Here On The Counter/Table?” Hack

Those of you with several kids know this one. By 10 am, there are eleventythousand cups around the house and nobody seems to know who they belong to, causing you to run the dishwasher 7 times a day, all glasses. Because they have to get a NEW glass for each SIP of liquidy beverage.

Or, you can Sharpie a clothespin with everyone’s name on it. They clip it to their glass, identifying it to you and everyone else.

I recommend removing the clothespin before taking a sip. Noone likes having a rafter in their eye.

The “Keep The Hand Towel On The Towel Bar” Hack

Everyone knows that husbands and children are incapable of noticing when the hand towel drops to the floor after they dry their hands.

The clothespin keeps it where it’s supposed to be and momma is happy.

Do you have some great clothespin hacks? Share below!

When a friend on Twitter mentioned that he and his wife were creating a Kanban board to help organize their kid’s chores, my virtual ears perked up.

Anything that will help my kids do their chores without being reminded is a win!

First I had to Google the term because I didn’t know what a Kanban board was. Turns out I had come across the concept before, just worded differently: Organizing kids chores with Post- Its!

I sat down to get the board done the other day. Here’s the finished product:

It was easy to do. I just wrote the kid’s names across the top (the baby doesn’t do chores yet, but her time will come!).

Then I wrote down on Post-Its the specific chore. (If the nature of the chore is that it’s done more than once a day, like laundry or sweeping, I created a separate Post-It for the number of times I want it done daily. I did this so that in the future, if I wish to I can break up those tasks and assign them to multiple people.)

There are a few advantages of using a Kanban board to organize the kid’s chores:

• The chores can quickly and easily be rotated. At a recent family meeting the kids asked that some chores be switched up weekly to avoid monotony and so that some dreaded tasks (bathrooms) can rotate. This makes it so easy to do!
• The board makes it easy for the kids to see what needs to be done. A typical Kanban board has room  for the Post-Its to be removed and then stuck into place AFTER the chore has been accomplished. I did mine a little differently, but since Post-Its are so easy to stick and restick, I can change it around and tweak it if I need to.
• It’s just plain fun!

If you want to see more examples of people who organized kid’s chores with kanban, you can Google it for tons of images.

I’m fairly obsessed with small spaces. Especially tiny dwellings.

I have no problem with being surrounded by people and feel happier when I’m not alone. Maybe why I have several children? I was “mostly” an only child growing up – my sister was married when I was 8 and I have few memories of having a sibling at home. My kids are gone this weekend on an out of state trip, and it already feels lonely here with just me and the baby.

I love eavesdropping into the lives of people who live in tiny spaces. Like the family in this video below.

My favorite part was when the mom said that having 3 bodies in a tiny house has made them kinder and gentler to one another.

They work from home, home school their son and also enjoy having house guests. Togetherness is a way of life. There’s no avoiding one another. Rubbing shoulders means you have to be kind. You have to deal with stuff when it happens because you can’t avoid one another.

Hubby and I have a dream of taking off with the kids in an RV and traveling around the country.

I find that the less stuff I own, the more room I have in my mind and life for what I really want. Living in a tiny abode would feel so freeing to me. Like there would be time, space and money for more life.

Paying only $145 a month for your residence wouldn’t hurt any either.

Wouldn’t it be amazing to have only the necessities? What would open up in your life?

hat tip to unclutterer

Our dryer went tango uniform the other week.

It belongs to our landlord, who, per the terms of our lease, is supposed to fix it.

He has been curiously silent despite our attempts to contact him.

Oh, well. I told dh not to bother. According to my calculations, it probably costs us around $50 a month to operate.

I’ve lived without a dryer before.

A couple of years ago, when I was a single mom of 4, I sold my dryer. Back then I only washed one load of laundry a day. My drying rack fit nicely in my kitchen (during rain) or on the fire escape (when it was sunny). It wasn’t bad at all, at least until we all got that stomach flu thing.

Now, I do laundry for 8 people.

Actually let me rephrase.

My 12 year old son does laundry for 8 people.

Teehee.

Laundry duty is his chore, by choice. His reason? He likes being able to escape to the basement several times a day for a little silence. Noone follows him down there, because if they do, he’ll make them HELP.

I searched trusty Craiglist for a drying rack that was large enough for our family.

I found this one, a little number from IKEA.

I’m $10 poorer, but it fits TWO WHOLE LOADS of laundry on it.

Sweet!

(It’s not even close to capacity in this pic.)

So far oldest hasn’t complained too badly.

Laundry takes him a little more time, but that means even more quiet/alone/no pesky sibs time for him each day.

Win/Win.

A few weeks ago, I mentioned that I wanted to save $50 a week on groceries.

I’m happy to report that I did it!

Here’s what the month’s grocery spending looked like:

• Week One: $130
• Week Two: $156
• Week Three: $165
• Week Four: $97 (this was the week I nearly emptied my pantry and freezer!)
• Week Five: $185

That averages out to $147 a week! Since my goal was $150, I’m really proud of this.

[And those figures also include other things I buy at the grocery store, like soap, toilet tissue and dishwashing detergent (even though I make my own, I mix it with 50% store bought for better results).]

I’ve set aside over $200 for our vacation that came solely out of our grocery budget.

I’m encouraged that I can keep going and potentially fund our entire summer vacation without spending “extra” money.

I mentioned in my previous post how I managed to keep the number this low without us going hungry, and here are a few more tips:

1. Cook cheaper meals. We usually have pancakes once a week, but since pure maple syrup is so expensive, (and my crew can use half a bottle in one meal) I kept it off the menu. Instead of eating meat with breakfast, we just skipped it. Vegetable fried rice showed up on the menu a couple of times. We ate more rice and beans, potatoes and sweet potatoes.
2. Get clever with substitutions. One reason I love using E-Mealz for my menu planner is because the menus are created around what’s on sale at my favorite grocery store. Occasionally, however, a recipe will call for  an ingredient that I would have to pay full price for.

   As an example, one night I was making “Orange Smoky Chicken”. The recipe called for a jar of orange marmalade. I didn’t want to buy it, so I used leftover lingonberry jelly (that might have gone to waste because the kids didn’t like it). It was delicious! There were several other dishes that I left an ingredient out of (nobody noticed!) or substituted because that one item would have made the individual meal too costly.

I’m looking forward to updating again next month to see how I did.

Have you ever challenged yourself to spend less on food without sacrificing health? How did you do?

Remember when I said I was behind on Project Simplify but had a good reason?

The other day I took a notion to paint the kid’s bathroom. The walls in there were horrible. My 5 year old is mostly to blame, what with her inability to control herself while holding red markers in her hand.

When my trusty Mr. Clean Magic Erasers didn’t do the trick, I decided it was time to paint.

Also, the closet in there was nasty.

The 5 year old (her again!) often stood on the low shelf to reach stuff up high and so the shelf was covered with muddy footprints that just wouldn’t clean off.

<——- Here is a before of the closet.

GROSS!

This bathroom was seriously bringing my energy and happiness down every time I stepped foot in there, so I took a day to address it.

Here’s how I remodeled the bathroom for under $20:

First, I grabbed some paint from my husband’s work shop. He sometimes ends up with “oops” paint colors or extra paint in his line of work. Turns out he had a dark caramel beige and white that would be perfect. I mixed the two to lighten up the beige, and it turned into a buttery shade.

Total money spent: $0

Then I picked up a new shower curtain at IKEA that complemented the new walls.

Total spent: $15

It was hard for me to snap a pic that would show the shower curtain and the walls, so I took a picture of the mirror which reflects the shower curtain. (Clever, ain’t I?)

Those pictures need to be hung, but I put them there to show how nicely they match the new walls.

And here is an after of the closet:

Ahh!

Much better!

(And I finally figured out that I needed to keep the toothbrushes and toothpaste for the 5 and 8 year olds on the lowest shelf. Doh!)

Edited 11/30/2011:

I ended up buying a Doxie scanner and scanning all my recipes into Evernote. I absolutely love this system. It took an hour or two, but now I can take my recipes everywhere, including my phone, and even search them.

Absolutely no clutter, and I find I’m actually using my recipes to meal plan every two weeks.

Problem solved.

**********************************************************************************

After doing the second Project Simplify project, which was: Tackle Paper Clutter, I realized something.

While I’m pretty good at keeping on top of most paper clutter, I am weak in one important area: Organizing Recipes.

How do YOU organize recipes?

Of course, many of my recipes are neatly located in cookbooks, and I only have a few. They’re all well loved and well used, so I don’t consider them clutter.

But.

I have an entire drawer in my kitchen that’s full of recipes I’ve cut out of magazines, the newspaper, printed out from websites, etc.

While most of them are neatly glued into a 3 ring binder – and even organized according to category – many of them are floating around the drawer.

It seems it’s just not a priority to actually put them IN the binder.

As a result, I rarely USE my recipes, even though they all look interesting and delicious to me.

In fact, when I was pregnant, I culled the entire binder and threw out any I knew I would honestly never get around to making (too complicated, too fussy for kids, too expensive, etc.) I’m pretty proud that I finished up that project before Ruby’s birth. But it does me little good to have a pretty binder when I never crack it open.

I want to:

1. Be able to create a few snacks and meals based on what I have on hand
2. Easily find a recipe I want
3. Try new things to add more variety to my weekly menus

I’ve thought of typing up all of my recipes into Google documents so that I could search them, which would make items #1 and #2 possible, but that sounds like SO MUCH WORK.

Do you have any suggestions?

Somehow I let myself get behind on the Project Simplify project. Oops.

Last week’s Hot Spot was:

Paper Clutter

I’m actually not too bad in this area. (Now, if I had permission to tackle my husband’s paper clutter, I might get excited about the challenge!)

Still, there is room for improvement.

I started with emptying out a wooden filing cabinet that we keep next to our computer desk. It’s been a place to store extra printer paper,  computer speakers, tax records, checking account stuff, business cards, pictures on CD-ROM, etc. But over the months it kept filling up with kid’s art, music CDs, writing instruments, articles cut out of magazines, ebooks I printed,  and other detritus.

After putting everything that didn’t belong in there in its proper location, throwing away trash, culling articles and ebooks I no longer wanted to keep, it’s curiously… empty.

Ha!

Now I can sell it if I want, or maybe repurpose it to another area of the house. Still thinking on that one.

I also tackled my filing system.

I have a desk in my kitchen that’s my “office”.  It’s where I often write/blog, make notes and to-do lists, create my weekly menus and do coupons. I check my large wall calendar for family goings-on, charge my phone, and it’s also a place to store my files. I do a little eBay selling from that desk (eBay items to list are kept in a large Rubbermaid container tucked underneath. When eBay has a “list free” week, I pounce). Important documents like birth certificates and money and financial records, but also “stuff I want to keep” like magazine articles, homeschool project ideas, product manuals and warranty cards, home management stuff, mailing and shipping supplies, and the like.

First I simplified my coupon filing system. (I don’t clip until right before I shop. I just save the coupon circulars and use the coupon database websites to create my list.) I moved the coupon circulars to an enclosed plastic filing box. The ONLY thing in there is coupons. It’s much simpler to find what I want now. And since the box is self contained, I can move it to the kitchen table where I have more room to spread out.

I removed things from my files that I didn’t need to get my fingers on quickly. Those were put in another location. I only want stuff around my office that I need on a daily or weekly basis. Stuff I only need to touch yearly or less often can go somewhere else.

Another empty drawer created!

Here is the finished product. Note empty desk opened for dramatic effect.

Did you do this week’s Project Simplify challenge? How did you do?

Fuzzi Bunz have been one of my favorite cloth diapering systems for a few years now. But recently I started having a problem with my FB’s that I’ve never had before:

Funky smells and leaking

After a bit of detective work I discovered that the leaking was entirely my fault.

photo credit: gardener41

(this, my friends, is a skunk.)

I used diaper rash cream on my little one’s backside when she had a bit of rash a couple months ago.

(Right around when she got her first two teeth, and had some runny stools. When Doctors and experts say that “teething has no symptoms”, I throw my head back and laugh because every.single.time one of my babies got a tooth, they had runny noses, fussiness and runny stools (from the extra nursing or extra slobber, I don’t know).

Apparently, you’re not supposed to use the stuff with Fuzzi Bunz because it doesn’t wash out. When I hold my FB’s up to the light, I can see little round areas where the diaper rash cream never washed out.

After a bit of research I found that the super funky smell was likely detergent buildup.

Which I find hard to believe, since I have only ever used Charlie’s soap for diapers. I do a cold rinse, then a hot wash with about a tablespoon of Charlie’s (less than the tiny scoop that comes in the container). My diapers always come clean, and a few hours in the sun takes care of any stain.

After a little Googling, I discover an activity called “Stripping Your Fuzzi Bunz”.

Don’t adjust your browsers. This is still a family-friendly site.

Stripping your Fuzzi Bunz involves washing them over and over and over and over in hot hot water. Some folks say you should use a harsh detergent like Tide, or a squirt of Dawn dish soap. Some folks say you use no soap or detergent at all. Some advocate baking soda or vinegar in various combinations.

I opted to use some of those free Tide samples I have had sitting in my laundry room for a couple years now. (We use homemade laundry detergent on clothing, and as I already mentioned, Charlie’s for diapers.)

I squirted in two packets of Tide and washed the diapers as usual. Then I did about 4 hot rinses and dried them normally.

So far no funky smell or leaking.

I still don’t get why I had to do this in the first place. I could understand it if I overused detergent. (For instance, once I bought a lot of Fuzzi Bunz from a perfectly nice woman on Craigslist. When I got they they were so oversoaked with leftover detergent that when I washed them before using, the washer foamed up like something out of an old I Love Lucy episode.)

But I don’t.

Any ideas on why you would have funky stinky and leaking Fuzzi Bunz?

Is that just the nature of the microfiber? Maybe I will switch to using prefolds as stuffers instead. Why didn’t I have this problem with my last diapered baby? (Or has the sleep deprivation and such rendered my memory useless?)

Remember me talking about how my baby doesn’t like baby food?

photo credit: stevendepolo

Now the question is, what do we do with all this jarred baby food that’s sitting in the cupboard?

I have some ideas:

• Dump the contents of baby fruits and veggie jars into smoothies. Banana, apricot, and spinach would be especially good for this.
• Use veggies in soups and spaghetti sauce.
• Banana, prunes and apricots would work well in muffin and quick bread recipes.
• Some flavors would taste great in pancakes (pumpkin, sweet potato, banana).

How else would you use up leftover jarred baby food?

The jars are great too. They’re the perfect size for organizing small things like paper clips, thumb tacks, buttons, screws and nails, etc.

I also use them for storing tiny bits of leftover food. The last time we traveled out of town, I put dipping sauces and salad dressing in the jars in our cooler.

How would you use empty baby food jars?

Thanks!

This month, SimpleMom is hosting Project Simplify.

Project Simplify encourages readers to declutter one area of their homes each week.

Since this aligns nicely with my Happiness Project resolution of decluttering 15 minutes a day (which I’ve been doing dutifully, so far I’ve gathered 4 bags to donate to Goodwill and more for the consignment shop), I thought I would join the fun.

(Hat tip to Candi.)

Area For Week One is: Declutter Your Wardrobe and Closet

Here is my :before: picture.

Not terribly bad actually.

Still, it could be better.

I would love to actually be able to USE that top shelf for clothing. Instead of the random detritus that sits up there. I set at timer for 15 minutes, strapped the baby on and got to work.

I moved the stuff on the top shelf down and put those items in proper places. (Fabric scraps were moved to a container in the basement, a friend’s camera case was relocated and I texted her to remind her to remind me to get it next time I see her, LOL.)

I swept the floor really quickly and then got to work on the actual clothing.

I removed that cute pink sweater that I bought but just didn’t like the way it fit me (too revealing). I removed a black top and a skirt that felt a little baggy since losing more weight. I put the bookbags up on the shelf so I could actually use the coat hook for its purpose (hanging a coat!). I tossed a couple pairs of shoes that hurt my feet (why do we keep stuff that doesn’t work?!).

There is a bag sitting by my door that is going to the consignment shop tomorrow morning.

Then, just so I had something to make me smile when I opened that door, I hung a picture. A girly, flirty print that I didn’t feel comfortable putting anywhere else.
Here’s my :after: shot:

The pink baskets on top hold clothing that will fit me in another month or two.

There is :space: in there instead of the clothes and shoes being jammed together.

And every single item is stuff I *actually* wear on a weekly basis.

(Later on I opened up that umbrella and found it was broken, so I tossed it. I never ever used it anyway!)

Are you joining Project Simplify?

Share your project in the comments below.

While I was pregnant, I was contacted about reviewing the Handy Spray. In a nutshell, Handy Spray is a hand-held “bidet” that hooks right on to your toilet and doesn’t require a plumber to install. It took my husband about 15 minutes to rig the thing. (In fact I could have done it myself, but my big pregnant belly got wouldn’t fit in the tiny space between my commode and the wall!)

I love this thing.

You know how often you have to visit the bathroom when you’re pregnant, right? So often that sometimes you develop a bit of a rash from toilet tissue? Not only is it more comfortable to clean yourself with water, it’s far more hygienic. (After all, if you got pee or poo on your *hands*, you wouldn’t rub them with dry paper to clean them, would you?)

After I had the baby, I found the Handy Spray really nice during the early postpartum period to soothe my, um.. perineal area. It’s also super nice for, um… freshening up after, um… certain activities involving hubby exercise. If you are troubled with hemorrhoids during pregnancy or postpartum, the water would be quite soothing for cleaning yourself too.

The only caveat with this product is that during winter, the water that comes from the sprayer is c-c-c-c-c-cold! It feels refreshing during the hot months but it can be a bit jolting otherwise. Still, I used it frequently even during the winter months.

My thought that in addition to being used for its intended purpose, it will be awesome for cleaning cloth diapers once Ruby is eating solid foods and her poops are more formed.  Some companies market a similar device just for cloth diaper use. (A quick rinse will plop the poop into the toilet before you stash the diaper in the pail.)

You can see more about the Handy Spray here on Amazon.com. It’s very affordable.

Disclaimer: I received no compensation for reviewing this product other than a sample of the item itself to facilitate the review. If you purchase the product through my Amazon.com link I will receive an affiliate commission.

My cloth diaper stash, at least for the newborn period, is complete.

Except for one thing.

photo credit: meemal

I make my own homemade laundry detergent, which I love because it’s so cheap and easy and I go months without running out.

But since it’s got soap in it, I don’t think I should use it on my cloth diapers. I’m thinking it would eventually impact absorbency.

A detergent based product seems best.

(In years past, I washed my diapers with whatever I used on my clothes… usually, something like All Free & Clear.)

Anyone know of a homemade laundry detergent that’s soapless?

(I found one that calls for equal parts: Borax, Washing Soda and Oxy-Clean “free”.)

What do you use to clean your diapers?

I also want to avoid brighteners and enzymes, two things that even “natural” laundry detergents often contain.

Suggestions? I don’t necessarily want to do mail order either.

What’s your favorite detergent for washing cloth diapers?

Edited 5/2012: The combo I mentioned earlier, using equal parts Washing Soda, Borax, and Oxi-Clean, works wonderfully and I’ve been using that ever since!  I keep it in an airtight plastic container with a screw on lid, and use about 2T per load.

photo credit: susansimon

Nesting

Yesterday saw me in a frenzy of last minute baby stuff gathering, yard sale-ing, cloth diaper obtaining, cleaning and baby clothes laundering.

Seems my long awaited “nesting” instinct has finally kicked in.

I’ve been looking around the house for weeks taking note of things that I wanted to do, but just didn’t have the energy to take care of them.

So I made lists.

Yesterday I went to a couple of great yard sales.

I got a like new Moses basket with extra sheets (for $12!), a set of nursing PJs and a nursing gown and robe ($2 for the lot!) and a few newborn baby layette items (like those snap lap tees and cotton gowns – a buck for the bag!).

photo credit: philcampbell

I also snapped up several Swaddlebees, 4 ProRap diaper covers and a couple of And Such Is Life diapers (these are sooo cute!) for a song thanks to a local mom who had listed them on Craigslist. (From my communications with other sellers, cloth diapers don’t seem to “move” so well on Craigslist so that may be a great place to find good deals.)

I went through the bags and Rubbermaid containers full of previously loved baby clothes friends have given me (curiously, all of them boy clothes) and organized them by size, and washed the newborn stuff to set aside for the baby.

(Hmm, why hasn’t anyone given me girl hand me downs?) 

I’ve cleaned out the master bedroom closet and moved all my clothes to another closet (the secret to a happy marriage? Separate bathrooms and separate closets. LOL!). Our closets aren’t designed well and this was the best solution. Eventually big Z will move all his clothes downstairs to the laundry room since he often changes clothes down there anyway.

We rearranged the girl’s rooms.

Previously little Z and Ilana (10 and 7) were rooming together in the larger bedroom, and Sadie (almost 5) had her own room (where we also store the baby’s things).

We’ve put Ilana and Sadie back together, which is the arrangement I had before marrying big Z. It seems to be working out well. Little Z is the only kid in public school (long story, it’s her mother’s wishes) so instead of her having to tiptoe around a sleeping sib to get ready in the morning she’ll have a little more breathing room.

Also Ilana and Sadie were having trouble getting along, and the move seems to have helped with that already. They’re acting like friends again.

Not to mention Sadie had never slept alone until she had her own room, and it wasn’t going well. Mama was getting awakened in the night which was difficult. Since being back with her big sister she’s doing much better.

I’ve been organizing the basement a bit.

I wanted to have a huge yard sale before the baby came, but fatigue and the heat just made it too difficult. (It’s been over 100 degrees here lately with the heat index.) So downstairs there are dozens of trash bags full of outgrown/discarded kid’s clothes, dh’s tools, and general junk treasures to sell at our huge yard sale in the late summer. I moved it all to a more out of the way location down there and created some space.

I made another batch of homemade laundry detergent so I won’t run out.

I put together a small “postpartum wardrobe” to wear the first few weeks after baby (because it’s going to be a long time before my size 4 skinny jeans fit. Waaah!). There are nursing bras, nursing gowns and PJs, two stretchy skirts, a dress and several tops that are a bit baggier than what I would ordinarily wear (to fit the postpartum boobs).

I have two Belly Bandits waiting in the wings. This is the first time I’ve ever done postpartum belly binding. I’m hoping it helps with the intense after birth pains I get (and these get worse with each baby!) as well as baby belly shrinkage.

My cloth postpartum pads, cloth diapers, newborn baby clothes are set out in my bedroom. My Moby Wrap, BabyHawk Mei Tai, and Peanut Shell pouch are ready to tuck a sweet little baby into.

The diaper pail (which is actually a large kitchen trash can with flip up lid that I snagged from a neighbor for free when she moved out!), wipes warmer (I like using warm cloth wipes for my newborn, it’s my way of spoiling my baby ) and such are ready on top of my dresser (a changing spot/cloth diaper station).

The birth kit and other supplies (herbs, juice, flash light, etc) are tucked into a kitchen cabinet. Ready for inspection by the midwife, who is coming Tuesday for the home visit (when I’m 37 weeks and get the thumbs up for a home birth).

The only thing I’m missing is my labor pool, which I ordered in May but is on back order. Yikes! It better arrive before I go into labor!

I still need to sterilize the extra sheets and towels for the birth. I’ll do that Monday. Find the video camera and film and organize the boy’s bedroom are also on my list.

What kinds of things did you do to get ready for baby?

The “nesting” thing fascinates me. In previous pregnancies I would find myself up at 3 A.M, restless and cleaning out closets, scrubbing baseboards with a toothbrush and organizing spices. LOL.

This time I’m not so interested in cleaning stuff (maybe I’m a bit older, have more kids and a little tired?).  Yesterday I did go to a Chiropractor and felt *much* better after an adjustment, maybe that helped me be more comfortable so I could get some things done.

What did nesting look like for you?

This is a guest post from Candi at Family, Stamping and FOOD! Candi is a real, live offline friend of mine and a mom, homeschooler, gardener and frugal living/couponing domestic diva.

• Buy from the Bulk Bins.  The bulk bins are a great way to stock up on organic products at reasonable prices.  Beans in bulk usually cost about $1.50 per pound whereas a bag of beans on the shelf in the same store are about $3.00 per pound.  Sometimes they offer sales and you can pick up the dried bean in the bulk bin for as little at $.99 per pound.

• Buy from the Bulk Spice Jars.  The bulk spice jars are truly heaven-sent!  A regular size jar of dried spices can cost anywhere from $3.00 up to $5.00.  In the bulk spice jars, the price is per pound and since you are only buying barely an ounce or so of the spice or herb, you are paying less than a dollar for them.  For example, I purchased about 30 bay leaves at $23.49 per pound and spent only $.47!  Normally a jar of bay leaves at Walmart can cost around $3.28 and there might be 10 bay leaves in the jar.

• Buy the Sale Items.  Walk around the store and check out the sale tags.  Once while shopping at Sevananda, the Organic Soy Milk was on sale for $2.99 and there was a tearpad coupon on the shelf for $1.00.  I was so excited I bought two!  Check out the produce and see what’s in season.  Seasonal produce will be less expensive.

Do you have any other saving tips for shopping at a natural organic food market?
Candi is a stay-at-home mommy to 2 preschoolers, learning to live a more frugal life using coupons, and sharing family friendly recipes on her blog Family, Stamping and FOOD!

In my ongoing quest to a) frugally feed my family and at the same time b) improve the quality of our diet, I had a bit of an epiphany the other day.

I decided to make a list of things that I currently BUY that I could MAKE from scratch.

A lot of stuff we purchase at the grocery store (like condiments and cleaning supplies) weren’t even available to our Grandmothers or weren’t affordable. These items were made at home.  Typically, the made at home version is far superior to the store bought, and usually cheaper.

Here’s what I came up with after a little brainstorming. Some of these items I regularly make myself, but I threw them in there because I thought it might be helpful to you. If you have any more suggestions, links to recipes or tips, please comment!
photo credit

Stuff To Make At Home Instead of Buy

Salad Dressing – I love a simple olive oil, apple cider vinegar and honey vinaigrette. Sometimes a “Ranch” style dressing is nice too. Here is a creamy salad dressing recipe to try. (MSG and other icky ingredients not included.)

Laundry Detergent – I haven’t bought laundry detergent in several years. I make my own. (Big Z thinks I’m some kind of genius!) It’s cheap as dirt and works great. I use this recipe for homemade laundry detergent.

Dishwasher Detergent – I’ve made this in the past and found that it made my glasses cloudy, but after reading the recipe and comments on this site, I’m motivated to try again. Update 1/2012: After months of experimenting with various recipes, I’ve found that homemade dishwasher detergent just doesn’t work well enough for me to use full time. I buy the regular stuff and cut it 50% with homemade.

Dishwashing Liquid – I make my own dishwashing liquid by the gallon and it is dirt cheap! I also like the fact that it doesn’t have a strong fragrance.

Mayonnaise – This won’t be a cost savings (due to the eggs), but that doesn’t matter. Homemade mayo is more nutritious. I avoid soy products and commercial mayo is made from soy oil (or canola, just as bad). An easy recipe for homemade lacto-fermented mayonnaise is here on @cheeseslave’s blog. Because it’s lacto-fermented, it’s probiotic, lasts longer in your fridge and is a “live” food. This is one of those instances where making your own won’t save you money in the short term, but the end result is a healthier diet.

Ketchup – As soon as my tomatoes start growing I want to try my hand at homemade ketchup. I’ll use the recipe from my Nourishing Traditions cookbook.

Salsa – I love my homemade lacto-fermented salsa! Again, the homemade version is a superior product in terms of nutrition and taste.  Hurry up garden, I need tomatoes and peppers!

Jelly – I’ve never tried my hand at making homemade jelly because I didn’t have a source of free berries. When my strawberries start coming up (if there are any left after the kids pick them and eat them!), I want to do this.

Coconut Milk – I had no idea you could make your own coconut milk until I got an email in my inbox with this recipe. This is especially exciting since coconut milk is super nutritious, yet very expensive – I often cannot bring myself to pay $2 a can for it but now I don’t have to go without!

Homemade Tooth Powder – I love making my own homemade tooth powder. It’s very inexpensive, and my dental hygienist approves – as long as I leave out the cinnamon! (Read the post for an explanation.) It’s great especially during pregnancy if your foamy regular toothpaste triggers gagging.

Deodorant – I use straight up baking soda. It works better than anything I’ve used.

Kombucha – Kombucha is very expensive store bought and costs almost nothing if made at home. The SCOBY will live forever if you take care of it, so the only challenge is getting one. Ask around amongst your crunchy friends, or order it online or from eBay (Google search will turn up sources). Or you can culture your own by buying a bottle of GT’s kombucha (around $4) and growing the “mother”. Easy instructions here.

Kefir – Another expensive item ($4 a quart!) when store bought that can be made for pennies at home, and is soooo easy. I used to make kefir regularly but my grains froze in the refrigerator once and I have not replaced them. Similar to kombucha, once you get the kefir grains you can make kefir forever with just the cost of milk. Get them from a friend or online.

Yogurt – I make yogurt from raw milk in my slow cooker.

Sauerkraut – Homemade sauerkraut is super nutritious (great for your gut!) and cabbage, even organic, is cheap. Since most of the sauerkraut you see in stores is cooked, it’s “dead” and a very poor substitute for homemade. You can Google for easy sauerkraut instructions. Here is a recipe for a “no pound” method. I have this fermented veggie maker from Cultures for Health and I use it to make kraut easily.

Tortillas – Ummm, homemade tortillas are so delicious and don’t compare to store bought! I don’t have a cast iron tortilla press but it’s on my list of things to buy! You can get them from a mercado or amazon.com

Bread – My oldest son is our resident bread baker.  He loves to knead dough by hand and says it’s great for stress relief (from an 11 year old!). I want to challenge him to try his hand at homemade sourdough.

Gluten Free Baking and Pancake Mix – These are very pricey in the store but a necessity for me and my youngest, who are wheat allergic. I think I’ll just stop buying these at all now that I’ve discovered using coconut flour for pancakes, breads and muffins. It’s nutritionally superior to rice flour, corn and potato starch (common ingredients in GF baking mixes), and a little of it goes a looong way (a typical recipe calls for just 1/4 cup coconut flour). To save money, I’ll start buying it in bulk online.

Wheat Free Cookies – Ditto. These are outrageously priced in the stores, and I admit to the occasional impulse buy (fix: I now go shopping without kids!). Making cookies for my youngest at home is cheap and easy enough.

Cream Soups – SO many recipes I have that are convenient (slow cooker recipes for instance) for my family call for cream soups. I don’t buy these because they all contain wheat, MSG and other ingredients I want to avoid. I knew there had to be a substitute for this addition to recipes so I did a little searching and found that cream soup can be replaced by a simple white sauce! DUH. The cream soup serves as a thickener basically. Obviously if the recipe calls for “cream of mushroom soup”, you could add diced mushrooms. Finding out this info was a big forehead slapper!

Pickles – My kids LOVE pickles, but I don’t buy them because commercially available pickles usually contain food dyes, HFCS and other ingredients I avoid. Homemade pickles (using a cold method) are more nutritious since they’re raw, lacto-fermented, not cooked. I planted cucumbers this year just so the kids could make pickles homemade. Can’t wait!

What types of things do you make instead of buy? Got any great homemade recipes?

Please comment!

I knew something had to change. I’ve been spending far too much time doing laundry for my large family (there are 7 of us, with one on the way).

Interestingly, in my days as a single mom of 4, I kept on top of laundry doing one load a day. As long as I did that, laundry never got overwhelming. During some of that time, I didn’t own a dryer and hung all the laundry outside or inside on a drying rack.

When I found myself in a house without a washing machine, I did the coin laundry thing for awhile. (Surprisingly, I didn’t mind this at all. Every week, armed with about $8 in quarters and two hours, I got ALL the laundry washed, dryed and folded in one fell swoop.)

Back to my laundry management system before August 24, 2009.

Part of the reason for my success with “one load a day” despite having 4 kids was because I had instilled good laundry habits in my young’uns.  I trained them to wear their jeans two or three times, until they actually looked or smelled dirty.  I strongly discouraged changing outfits multiple times a day and made sure items were actually dirty before I washed them.

They also had modest wardrobes. Everyone looked good, but their dressers and closets weren’t stuffed to the gills by any means. I found that I could even get away with not sorting (since I almost never use bleach and most of their clothing was purchased used, so nothing was going to bleed). I washed boy’s laundry on one day, girls on the other. That cut down on the footwork too (since the kids were roomies).

Enter new hubs and a 10 year old step daughter, aka Big Z and Little Z (Zeke and Zoe).

Of course, I love them dearly and wouldn’t trade them for all the Soap Nuts in the world…

but suddenly I found myself doing FOUR loads a day just to keep up, much less put a dent in the piles!

I spoke to Big Z about this phenomenon (also throwing in how much I previously earned per hour as an internet marketing coach to moms and a freelance writer, teehee) and we came up with some solutions. (Well actually I came up with solutions but Big Z wielded the power tools and did the heavy lifting. Gotta love that!)

Before I unveil my new “Large Family Laundry Solution”, I’ll talk a bit about why my laundry duties quadrupled overnight and what my laundry routine of recent months has looked like.

I’ll call this the BEFORE.

(I do wish I had actually taken a picture of the monstrosity that was the “BEFORE” with its mountain of laundry all over the basement floor but alas, I didn’t. I promise nice shiny pics of the “AFTER” shortly, when I do the B portion of this post.)

Bad Laundry Habits

Let me now refer to some of the habits that create needless laundry work. The first of which is :

Bogus Laundry

Bogus laundry is clothing that isn’t actually dirty, but which is mindlessly tossed into the hamper, where the Laundry Fairy/Angel (aka Mom) magically takes care of it. A few examples:

• Bogus laundry include jeans that are worn for a couple of hours that still look and smell clean.
• Socks that were never worn but which fell on the floor because the owner didn’t put them away in a timely manner.
• My personal favorite, towels that are used to blot a CLEAN body dry after a shower, which are then tossed still damp into the hamper. Ugh! (Please tell me I’m not the only person in America who thinks it’s perfectly sanitary to use a bath towel several times?)
• Doll clothes. Double ugh.
• Suits and dresses that are worn for two hours while a child sits still in a place of worship. They ain’t dirty either.

See what I mean? All this bogus laundry was adding up to huge work (and a wee touch of resentment) for mama.

Another bad laundry habit?

Too Much Clothing

Let’s be honest. Most of us wear about 20% of our clothing 80% of the time. Why not get rid of the clutter? All it does it spill out of jammed dresser drawers and make things fall off hangers in closets (creating more bogus laundry!).

When I moved into Big Z’s house, I tactfully suggested that he toss some of the threadbare T-shirts he had been collecting since the late 80′s. Since we were moving and having to pack up this stuff anyway, he obliged. We ended up with FOUR large black trash bags full. Ahem.

My stepdaughter’s closet had enough short sleeved t-shirts in it to outfit a small orphanage. She admitted that she didn’t like or wear most of them, so it was toss! toss! pack into storage for her new younger stepsister! She was thrilled to create tons of new space in her closet.

Another factor is my husband changing clothing several times a day. First he takes off his t shirt and PJ bottoms and tosses them into the hamper (wrong, PJs can be worn several times!), then puts on work clothes which of course get nasty with furniture repair goo, then changes into exercise clothing that get sweaty and smelly, then back into PJs… not sure what to do about all these wardrobe changes!

My laundry “routine” also brought me frustration.

My washer and dryer are located downstairs in the basement. Good because of the space to move around. Bad because I was hauling laundry baskets up the stairs. Then I folded it in little stacks around the living room. Then I asked various children to put their stack away.

The end result was that I had multiple little laundry piles for each load creating visual clutter in my living room while I waited for kids to obey or reminded them over and over.

No good.

The new system is much better.  It saves me time, labor and creates no clutter.

More on that later!

Note from Carrie:

I appreciate this guest post from Marie Ynami. Especially the point about telling a child exactly what a “clean room” means to you. When I created a simple checklist on an index card for my 8 year old, it made things much easier for him. I think most kids want their room to be tidy, but they become overwhelmed in the process. That’s easy enough to understand – we adults do the same thing!

If you are a parent, I’m sure you’ve heard your kids whine and complain when you ask them to clean up their room. The constant question is ” … but WHY, Mom? It looks fine!” Here are some answers that you can give them, the next time they ask why they have to clean up their room.

* It teaches them to be responsible. Knowing that they need to keep their room clean and tidy will instill some kind of responsibility in them. It will also help them appreciate and take care of the things they already own.

* It helps them to be prepared for the future. Admit it, they won’t live with you forever. Sometime in the future, they will have to move out and live on their own – they need to know how to do that and you are merely training them for this.

* Being a part of a family means that everyone needs to help out around the house – not only by keeping it clean and tidy but also with the other responsibilities like preparing meals, taking care of pets and other chores. Mainly though, they are responsible for keeping their personal space clean.

* When kids have a clean room with everything in a place of its own, they refrain from stepping on toys and breaking them. Not only will this keep their toys in good condition so they can be passed along in the future but it also avoids any situation where kids can hurt themselves.

* When you keep a room clean and organized, it is easier to find things that you need. If the room is messy and cluttered, they will have a hard time finding the toys they love to play with or homework and projects that need to be turned into school.

No one is born knowing how to clean; someone has to teach them. That’s one of the responsibilities of being a parent. We are the ones that will teach them well or not so well. What we teach them will carry through their entire lives.

An easy way to teach them is by having them help you when you clean. Start early to train your children to help with cleaning. This way, you will be less likely to have a problem when they get older. Of course, some children are messier than others, just be patient – just because they are messy doesn’t mean that they have to live in a pigsty.

Be certain that your children understand your definition of “clean”. For some, clean is a perfect room with nothing out of place. Some people see clean as not having to walk all over things on the floor. You decide how clean you want their room to be and ensure they understand what that is.

Sometimes, it is helpful to write a list of what you would like your child to do while they clean their room, for example:

- Put the clothes in the clothes hamper, hang them up, or put them in the dresser.
- Pick up the toys.
- Place books on the bookshelves.

Help your child figure out which of their items they can get rid of.

Ultimately, this is why its so important for children to clean their own rooms. They are learning how to prepare for the future, taking care of the things they have, and they are helping to maintain the home.

About the Author:

Marie Ynami loves to blog about topics that interest moms. You can find more of her blog posts at Mommy Community .

photo credit: Pink Sherbet Photography

photo credit: evelynishere

You don’t have to spend lots of money just so that you can get organized. There are many inexpensive items you can use to help you organize your life. Save your hard earned money for something else more worth while. Here is a list of 10 inexpensive items you need to make life organized:

1.  Calendars – These are the number one item for keeping family and yourself organized. Mark down appointments and special dates.  These can easily be found in disocunt stores often for as little as $1.00.  If you want a particular calendar, like a Franklin Covey calendar, wait a week or so after the new year and you could get it at a discounted price. If you have a computer and printer, you can even print your own blank calendars from the internet.

2.  Timers – My timer is my best friend. It helps me not to waste time when I am doing things around the house. Set your timer for fifteen minutes and spend that time de-cluttering, cleaning, or organizing.  You’ll be amazed at how much you can get done in a small amount of time if you work hard during that time. It keeps you focused cause you know you only have a set time to complete your task.

3.  File folders/Labels – You don’t have to have a large filing system for it to work for you; plan on having just enough files to store and be able to locate important papers for finances, insurances, health, utilities, credit cards, warranties, or anything else you can think of.

4.  Index cards – I love using index cards because you can use them for a variety of things like: shopping lists, goals, recipes, menu planning, frequently used telephone numbers. Also, they are small and easy to stick in your purse or put on your desk so you can always find and use them. I sometimes assign a color or index card to a specific purpose like: green for shopping lists, pink for recipes and white for to-do lists.

5.  Cork Board -  This is a great way to keep all your important notes in one place. You can use them for keeping up with to-do lists, shopping lists, and any number of other important notes and reminders.  They help corral papers, and keep notes where you can find them instead of being tucked away in a drawer some place in your house.

6.  3-Ring Binders – The 3-ring binder comes in different widths to be able to hold different amounts of paper.  This is a good alternative to a filing cabinet in your home. You could have 3-ring binders for each category and store everything on a shelf instead.  You can purchase these at a discount especially during Back-to-School sales.

7.  Totes and Bins – These come in all shapes and sizes and materials materials: like  wood, plastic, fabric, metal, or glass.  You can find some with lids and some that don’t have any lids.  Prices may vary but are these are great for storing and organizing. Try looking for them in discount stores or garage sales.

8.  Cereal boxes – An almost free item that you can easily transform into paper storage. Cut off one corner of the box, cover with contact or wrapping paper, and use them for storing magazines. You can keep your kids busy by having them decorate the cereal box. You can also use this to store your kid’s papers that they bring home from school. Each week or when the box gets full, you and your child can go through it and toss the papers that you no longer need. This teaches you kids how to be organized too.

9.  Baskets -  These are wonderful holders for so many different things.  Organize crafts that youre working on, wash cloths or towels in a bathroom, fruit, or any other number of things can be kept in baskets to help keep things neat and tidy.

10.  Boxes - If you are storing items in an area that won’t get wet, you may be able to save money organizing by using boxes that you can get in your local grocery store.  You really do not have to spend money on boxes when you can get them for free. Just make sure to label the outside so you know what is inside the box without having to open it up.

Why spend a great deal of money to get organized? There is no need for that. These ten inexpensive items will help you get organized and won’t break your budget.  Come to think of it, there maybe are other items around your home that you can repurpose for organizing.  Take a look-see and you may be surprised at what you find.

About the Author:

Marie Ynami loves to blog about topics that interest moms. You can find more of her blog posts at Mommy Community .

Ugh.

The all natural creepy crawly critters are loving my efforts to have a more eco-friendly home.

The cans, bottles (even when well rinsed), cardboard boxes and plastic containers provide everything they need: tiny bits of food provide endless nourishment (especially for roaches who only have to eat once every few weeks!), moisture for their hydration, and dark nooks and crannies are perfect hiding places.

photo credit: Rivard

When my kitchen started being taken over by bugs again, I had to throw out all the recycling… with the trash.

Overnight the bug population dwindled.

Major eco-guilt.

How do you keep your recycling area from being the ideal home for unwanted guests?

Do share.

The following is a guest article from Danielle at TidyKidz, a site with resources to help parents teach kids to clean up without nagging! The tools are also helpful in establishing good routines for kids and personal hygiene. (I don’t know about you, but my 11 year old son is stinky and somewhat resistant to the idea that daily bathing is important at his age!)

I’ve been digging around the site for a few days and have printed out some of the helpful charts and intend on showing the videos to my kids.

Now that the school year has begun, it’s even more important to establish quick, easy and fun routines for everyone in the household so that things can be organized and the day flow more smoothly. This article encourages us as parents to set the example (a familiar refrain!) by keeping OUR rooms clean. Enjoy the article and be sure to check out TidyKidz if you need some help!

Tidy Me, Tidy You, Tidy See, Tidy Do

OK, let’s get down to brass tacks here everyone. Some things just never change and this particular issue is no different. You CANNOT expect your little people to keep there rooms picked up if your room looks like a set for the show Clean House (prior to the clean part). You may get lucky a time or two but ultimately our kids do what we do, not what we say. Go ahead, argue with yourself… we’ll wait :-O :-# :-! ;-] :-{)

Great! So glad you are back and hopefully you have reached your senses and understand that “monkey see, monkey do” is more than just a quaint phrase. We have all watched our kids emulate grown-up behavior and it’s no accident that children of all ages, socio-economic backgrounds, ethnicities, religions and on – all do it! It’s UNIVERSAL!

They will emulate the good AND the bad no matter how much we try to tell them what to do and how to do it – they are WATCHING!
photo credit: a4gpa

Let’s have a little therapy session, shall we? (Purple is a nice soothing color, right?)

So ask yourself this question, “Am I doing the things I am asking of my kids?”

I know, that was not nice was it?!

Depending on your answer, you are feeling somewhere between the June Cleaver type and the Tazmanian Devil. If you are June Cleaver you may be thinking all is well with the world.

I’m not really concerned about offending any Junes out there because Junes are doing all the work themselves and probably aren’t reading this blog anyway. As for the Taz’s, you know who you are (admit it) and chances are you already feel bad enough about the state of your stuff, so let me approach this from somewhere around the “Malcolm in the Middle” area.

You GOTTA do it! Here are a few tips to get you started.

* Start with making your bed, it’s big and just that alone makes a noticeable difference.

* Then pick up everything off of the floor and pile it on your bed. Set your timer for 7 minutes and don’t stop moving until it’s all put away, PROPERLY! Yes you do only have 7 minutes so MOVE IT. Don’t turn of the timer until you’re done.

photo credit: Squirk

* Next comes the dresser – what in the world is all that stuff doing up there? Get a trash bag – half of it can be thrown away anyway. If you are a pocket paper collector, get a colorful jar and use it to store your 80 million tiny pieces of paper that pile up on the dresser once you’ve purged your pockets – go through it once a month and purge old receipts, notes to self, etc.

* One way to keep the bedroom from going bonkers is to Not Not Not bring anything in that is not bedroomy. There is no reason for your gardening shoes to be in your closet or for the weeks mail to be on top of the 80 million little pieces of paper on your dresser. If it doesn’t come in… it won’t have to be taken out. Make it a rule, then follow it!

Make a chart, or get in touch with your inner child and use one of ours (major points with the kids). Use it to make sure you pay at least 5 minutes of attention to your room everyday. I can say from experience, 5 minutes a day is all you really need to keep your room from becoming the very thing your sweet little person uses against you when you ask them to clean theirs!

Eco-Friendly Entertaining

Find out how you can be the talk of the town by throwing a chic eco-friendly party

Get off on the right foot – First thing’s first: the invites. Make sure you use invites made from recycled paper.

Contrary to ecologically-challenged perceptions, recycled paper can look and feel just like high grade paper, but minus the guilty conscience.

If ordering them from a professional, ask whether they use recycled paper.

Faux Flowers – Gone are the days of deplorable fake flowers you could spot a mile away – usually collecting dust in some over-crowded knick-knack filled nook and cranny in your grandmother’s house.

These days, if you know where to look, fake flowers can pass for the real thing.

Aside from standard silk flowers (which are still using silk worms), there’s the option of clay flowers.

Deco Clay flowers are absolutely gorgeous and look just like the real thing – except that they cost a fraction of the price, are environmentally safe, and last forever.

The even better upside is they’re reusable so you’ll save money in the long run, plus you’re not contributing to flower butchery nor the very unsustainable flower industry, which has to shower flowers with pesticides – a factor that’s damaging to both you and the environment.

However, if faux is not your thing, then get flowers from the local farmers market.  You can even get great arrangements and settings out of potted plants and flowers.  A personal favorite is the clever use of moss as decorative center pieces. Moss is not only cheap, sustainable, and uber chic, but it can also be planted afterwards with next to no effort.

Lighting and Décor – One big aspect of party planning is how the party will look. You want your guests to be dazzled, “oohs and ahhs” should be pouring out, compliments gushing.

When done right, the atmosphere that lighting and decorations can create will provoke that response. But rather than choosing blazing electric lights to illuminate the event, try choose more environmentally friendly lighting. Candles are the perfect choice, as they are both lovely and economical – not to mention they don’t require any energy to run.

As for the décor, you don’t have to spend hundreds of dollars when home made paper goods will be far cheaper and far more interesting.  Consider making paper mobiles, such as the popular origami crane mobiles. You can hang them lined up on a string, as a collective, or individually from just about anywhere.  You can even use left over ones as decoration pieces on the dinner table – plus making them out of scrap paper makes good use out of something that was just going in the bin anyway.

Eco-Friendly Wine – Because it’s not just about what you’re using, but what you’re consuming, try switching out your wine for one that is more Earth friendly.  There are three categories of eco-friendly wines: sustainable, organic, and biodynamic.

“Sustainable” means that grapes were grown with few to no chemical, fertilizers, pesticides, or herbicides.  This method nurtures the soil naturally, whereas “organic” wines are grown in organically certified vineyards and are made without added sulfites.

On the other hand, “biodynamic” winemaking goes way beyond organics. With biodynamics, the farm is viewed as a living system. The soil is treated with complex compost preparations (of course without chemicals or pesticides), including quartz, yarrow flowers, stinging nettle, and more.

Biodynamic winemakers claim to have noted stronger, clearer, more vibrant tastes in their wines, as taste test conducted by Fortune confirmed. Now all you have to do switch out bulky refrigerators for portable wine coolers, an energy efficient way to chill your wine.

Sustainable Serving – If you consider the glasses, dishes, knives, forks, bowls, and all the other little items used to create a smash hit setting, you quickly start to realize how much goes into entertaining.

In order to host not only your guests, but a more eco-friendly lifestyle, consider purchasing tableware made out of recycled materials.  You don’t even have to trade in your luxe taste. In a green-conscious corporate world, companies across the board are all offering unique yet refined dining options, including dishes made out of recycled glass.

Target, for example, has recycled glass goblets great for a Sunday brunch; whereas Macy’s cobalt blue stemless wineglasses offer an element of sophistication.  These stunning little gems, made with 30% recycled glass, are a striking visual for an evening dinner.

However, if you’re opting for something even more sustainable, try compostable cornware tableware, biodegradable sugarcane plates, or even biodegradable bambooware.  These serving alternatives are not only green but far cheaper than buying 50 sets of “real” dishes to accommodate larger gatherings. On the other hand, if you insist on using “real dishes”, then I suggest using what you have rather than buying more. If done right, mixing and matching dishes (and even seating) can offer an eccentric look that’s sure to catch your guests’ eyes.

Set the Stage - The real drama at any party is at the dinner table. The visual centerpiece of the evening should reflect the mood you want to create.  Whatever your choice, make sure that you set your table using eco-friendly items.  In addition to naturally available plants and flowers, as well as sustainable dishes, you can get organic table cloths, runners, and napkins; you can even make sure the lamp shades and curtains are eco-wary items.  Setting the stage doesn’t have to be limited to just the table – your whole environment can reflect your eco-chic taste.

Ice Goes Eco – There’s no point in wasting time, gas, paper and plastic by going to the store to purchase ice for your party.  Rather, a sleek compact portable ice maker will quickly plunk down cube upon cube to keep drinks nice and cool.  Plus, nothing kills a party like someone announcing “We’re out of ice.”

Leave Them Wide-Eyed and Wondered – One of the most important elements of any party, large or small, is how your guests feel when they leave. Out of the many ways to send your guests off, the most beautiful and memorable has to be a sky lantern send off.

Lanterns (lights) are very popular in South Asian and Asian cultures, where lights represent both spirituality and hope. It’s a spirited feeling to stand there gathered with friends, lighting and releasing lanterns that ascend as golden orbs set against a dark night’s sky.

Made out of recycled paper and bamboo, sky lanterns are also eco-friendly.  For added measure, have your guests write messages on each lantern before sending them off.

Hostess Gifts – And any chic eco-hostess knows to lead by example even when attending other parties.

When attending another bash, swap out your normal hostess gift for one that is earth-friendly.  The same goes for others who obey the rule of “do not go empty handed” – simply swap out the routine bouquet of flowers or dessert with something eco-chic that shows of your cleverness and commitment to the environment.

There are a ton of options for sustainable gifts.  There’s even a growing trend of green toys if it’s a child’s birthday you happen to be attending. But more importantly, there’s no reason to give green gifts just as a hostess gift; swap out Christmas and birthday presents for the same.

But above all, here’s the simplest rule for eco-entertaining: “Use what you have, and borrow what you don’t”, and remember that at the end of the day, a great party is about who you’re with and not what you have.

Shireen Qudosi works with http://www.air-n-water.com to help them share an eco-minded philosophy with consumers.  To contact her, email Shireen@air-n-water.com

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4 days ago, a new person came into our lives.

We walked outside to do who knows what, and she came running from across the street.

She was beautiful.

Gleaming blonde coat, perfect clean ears, even her paws looked pristine.

But no collar and no (we were to find out later) microchip.

Someone likely abandoned her.

So far we have been unable to find her owner.

We registered at Pets911.org.

We placed a call to the local shelter.

We sent word out with a local pet store owner who notifies her email subscribers of found dogs in our area.

Nothing.

It took Julien about 10 minutes to name her.

Sally.

I had no dog food to offer, but I did have beef stew.

She ate 5 bowls of it.

Sally likes my beef stew, apparently.

Can’t say as I blame her – it was made with homemade broth from turkey and chicken bones and full of brothy goodness!

We discovered quickly that she enjoys car rides and doesn’t get car sick.

Everything hasn’t been perfect, however.

As is typical of a puppy, she has tried her teething teeth out on me. Since she hasn’t been socialized properly (which would take place at her mother’s breast or with her littermates), she doesn’t yet know what kinds of behavior are unacceptable.

Curiously, she never nips at the children.

Just Momma – but I know what to do with a biting baby.

After a few days of lots of love and affection and some negative feedback when she nips me (First offense, I “yelp” an ouch sharply or spritz her in the face with water. Second offense, playtime is over!)

She has cut open my hands and arms several times.

A trip to PetSmart for some nice acceptable chewy things (and a pink collar) helped tremendously.

Although she is making her way into my heart, I fear that I can’t keep her permanently.

I’m not sure I have the resources (financial, time, energy) to care for a fifth baby.

I will not take her to a place where she may be “put down” (nice soft euphemism for killed!).

Did you know Craigslist doesn’t accept pet listings?

I do. Now.

This is one option.

I do want a dog, eventually.

When the timing is better.

Sadie is now terrified to go into the backyard and the kids are avoiding it too.

While they seem to love the puppy, the younger kids are intimidated.

They want to play with her, but Sally’s exuberance frightens them.

I know they would eventually get accustomed to a dog, but I would rather start out with a very young puppy that wouldn’t frighten my youngest.

I’m not sure what I would do when we go out of town – which we’re doing twice in the next few weeks.

There is the monthly vet visits, the neutering, the food.

She’s a Lab so she’ll get very large. My friend spends $70 a month on food to feed her Lab.

We will miss her.

If you know anyone in the Atlanta area who would like a sweet, devoted Labrador mix puppy (female) who almost never barks (but who defended her turf instantly when Grandpa came around!), please email me.

clauth @ gmail

photo credit: chadmagiera

Moving.

It seems to have taken over an entire month of my life. There was the packing, the moving, the unpacking.

It exhausted me.

I’m still not done unpacking.

The thing about unpacking that takes so long?

You don’t really know where you want to put stuff until you’ve lived in a place for a bit.

You want to put things in places that make sense.

Know what I mean?

Cod liver oil is wonderful.

But it’s not so great for your washing machine and dryer. And clothing.

My 3 year old daughter loves to sneak into the refrigerator, open the bottle of CLO, and take a swig. Only. She’s not so great at putting the lid back on properly. It’s kinda slick, you know.
photo credit: procsilas

So then it spills… often in the refrigerator or on her clothing. If it spills in the fridge, it doesn’t smell, but I use towels to clean it up, which then have to be laundered, which then stink up ALL the clothing, and the innards of the washer.

The last time this happened, I still smelled the stuff after several rewashings. Yuck!

The guys at Smelly Washer must have read my post and taken pity on me because they sent me some of their product to try out. I followed the instructions and cleaned the inside of the washer using the stuff. Then I laundered the load of CLO infected towels.

Guess what?

No more fishy.

According to their website, Smelly Washer is non-toxic and “made from 100% all natural citrus based ingredients”. They’re also nice enough to extend a discount to my readers.

The stuff works, so try it out if you’re plagued with stinky washing machine issues.

You can use the 10% off coupon by using the code naturalmoms on the order form.

The apartment I’m living in now has bugs.

Ugh.

It’s one of the reasons I’m excited about moving.

New place?

No bugs.

But one of the concerns I have is how to avoid “taking” the bugs with me. When I pack up boxes and move furniture, I could very well move the little guys with me. Gross!

So I did some research and found out that there are some things I can do to prevent this from happening.

First of all, I’m going to avoid the use of cardboard boxes if at all possible. Bugs (especially roaches) love cardboard, apparently. They eat the glue on boxes. This is one of the reasons it’s not a good idea to store food you buy in boxes at the store in the box. Pour the rice or cereal or whatever it is into a glass or plastic food storage container to help keep your pantry cleaner and the food fresher, as well as discourage creepy crawlies.

My Mom has a huge supply of large plastic storage containers so I’ll be using those as much as possible to pack my things.

Boric acid is often touted as an effective, non-toxic solution for roaches but it didn’t seem to do a thing for me. The one thing that DID seem to help quite a lot was catnip, of all things.

I bought a ton of catnip in bulk at a local health food co-op super cheap, and sprinkled it in my silverware drawer. After that I NEVER ONCE saw a bug in there. Not even in the middle of the night when they would be scurrying around the kitchen.

So my plan is to sprinkle catnip inside my boxes before I pack them.

Any other suggestions for me?

photo credit: Migraine Chick

Sigh.

photo credit: normanack

Please don’t misunderstand.

I’m certainly not going to resort to Teflon anytime soon.

But I’m getting increasingly irritated with my cast iron skillet.

I seem to be totally inept at this business called “seasoning”.

A couple of years ago, at least, I couldn’t blame myself for my sticky pans. I was seasoning them with coconut oil (which I use in a lot of my cooking). Later I found out that coconut oil, because of its natural acids, eats into cast iron pans, and that I should be using bacon grease or tallow or butter or some other fat.

But even after making that switch long ago, my morning eggs require major excavation work each day. The flat ones are ok, as they can be scraped easily – it’s the egg cooking pan that gives me the headache.

Maybe that’s why I’ve lost my appetite for breakfast in recent months!

My paternal grandmother has a collection of awesome cast iron pans. Eggs, cornbread, fried chicken – you name it, slides effortlessly out of her pan.

I’m not using soap to clean them, and I coat them with oil or butter after each use.

Any secrets to easy and truly seasoned cast iron pans?

I just got back from the grocery store, where I purchased the ingredients for banana splits. And the reason I purchased the ingredients for banana splits?

I’m celebrating an accomplishment of my oldest son. Now, in the past I may have taken him out for an ice cream.

But it’s cheaper (and healthier) to make food  at home.

Including the occasional banana split (hey – the ice cream and whipped cream are organic – and nuts are healthy!).

When finances are tight, it’s not all bad. In fact there are some benefits.

By being more frugal and careful with our grocery money, we may spend more time around the dinner table together, and more time in the kitchen preparing food together (and cleaning up together if you’re in my house!).

Banana splits are one thing, but when it comes to getting dinner on the table, it takes a little simple meal-planning. It helps to know EXACTLY what your family is going to eat each day, having the ingredient on hand and quickly putting together delicious meals.

Meal planning became a part of my weekly routine after my 4th child was born. It was the only way we got a hot meal on the table!

All it takes is 15-20 minutes with pencil, paper, and your favorite cookbooks. (And sales circulars from your local stores.)

1. First, you take a quick look at what you already have in your freezer, pantry and fridge. Getting an idea of what’s already on hand means you can create meals around those ingredients and save a bit of money (and fewer things will end up going to waste).
2. Then, take a look at what’s on sale at the store(s) you shop at.
3. Using your cookbooks (or your head if you’re that kind of cook!), create your weekly menu.

To make things easier, here are some free dinner planning & grocery shopping sheets you can download and print:

Free Dinner Planning & Grocery Shopping Printables

photo credit: Tavallai

An important part of simplifying is getting organized.

When I hear the word “organization”, my eyes usually glaze over. Do yours? Getting organized sounds about as much fun as flossing your teeth. But organization helps keep things simple, saves you time and headache and can often save you money too.

Organization is really about creating systems that work for you and your family. 

My best tip for getting organized is to get rid of excess.

The first step is purging.

There are stores full of every kind of shelving and container imaginable, but they won’t help you solve the very real problem of simply having too much.

If you have too much stuff, it’s impossible to organize. You simply can’t organize clutter.

Look through your home with a notepad in hand. Find areas in your home that you feel are disorganized and cluttered.

Maybe it’s the stacks of papers on your desk, kitchen counters that give you no room to cook, or the pile of magazines you have next to your chair. You may have a problem with the many pairs of shoes that are cluttering up your foyer or your organizational disaster may be the too-full book shelves.

Where is there a logjam in your home?

Whatever it is that bothers you most, this is where you want to begin. Write this down on a sheet of paper or notepad.

Then get rid of stuff that you don’t love or need.

Collect it for recycling or to donate to a thrift store.

Now you can move on to the next step of getting organized which is:

Creating systems

An example of this is in the kitchen. Kitchens are often organized on the fly when we move into a new home. But if you take the time to really think about how you actually move and operate in the kitchen, you might save time and steps and keep things cleaner.

Items that you need near the stove (like long handled spoons, spatulas, pots and pans, oven mitts etc) should be kept near the stove. Another great tip I heard once is to create dishpan “stations” for different tasks. For instance if you bake a lot, use a dishpan to hold your mixer, beaters, measuring cups and spoons, etc in one place. When it’s time to bake you grab the dishpan and everything you need is right there. When you’re done, you clean everything up and put it right back.

I have all of the kid’s homeschooling books in a dresser in the kitchen. One drawer for each kid. That way they never have to ask where their stuff is. (Now getting them to put their stuff back into the drawers is another problem entirely!)

Are your kids constantly asking you for a glass for water? Why not put their drinking glasses on a low shelf? Ditto for their bowls and plates. This makes it easier for them to help you set the table and they’ll likely have fewer accidents (broken glass!).

A bill paying/accounting station is a great idea. Do you have a spot with all of your bills, stamps, envelopes, return address labels, a pen etc? My spot is in the kitchen near the phone.

We also have a system for library books. If you’re not careful, late fees can really add up. I know there was a time in my life where I felt the library should name a wing after me because I was paying so many late fees. That’s not good! It’s a classic example of a logjam.

So I created a system. When we go to the library, we take a large canvas tote bag inside with us. As the kids pick out books, they go into the bag and we check out. Once home, the books stay in the bag, which sits on a chair in the kitchen. When we finish reading a story, the book goes right back into the bag. Now it’s rare for me to lose a book. I also make sure I go to the library once a week and return all the books whether they’re due or not.

Where are the logjams in your life? Can you create some systems to help you deal with that?

What are your tips for organizing and creating systems?

photo credit: evelynishere

Recently, a friend sent me this message. Does it sound familiar at all?

“I was reading your blog, and you mentioned being a minimalist.. HELP!? Please, how did you start this…

I am drowning over here, so much so that I wish our house would burn down so I can start over, and not bring anything into the house! (I know, terrible)

Are there websites/books/resources that you can suggest that will help me take the steps toward doing this? I am losing my mind!“

Do you resemble any of her remarks?

In answer, I told my friend that part of why I embrace simple living is simply because of my personality. I’ve always liked being neat and organized. I like routine. I despise clutter. I was one of those kids who never had to be told to clean her room.

I’m not saying my way is best.

It takes all kinds to make a world.

But sometimes, simplicity can mean the difference between meeting your goals and not meeting them.

It’s the difference between getting what you want and not getting it.

The difference between chaos and sanity.

A Simple Kind of Mom

I think it was after having my third child that I got serious about simplifying. I got serious about meal planning. I created more routines for my life and my days. I cleared out more clutter. And even more. I started getting picky about what I let into my life.

Especially now as my life has changed even more since then and I have more responsibility, I have to keep things very simple in order to minimize stress.

• I keep my home simple. Everything from the color scheme to the decor is simple and clean looking. It’s restful on the eyes. There isn’t too much “stuff” everywhere. I just say no to tchotchkes.
• I keep my grooming simple. When it comes to my wardrobe, I know what I like, what looks good on me, and I keep dressing simple. A uniform, if you will. Most things in my closet are black and white, with a little pink and red thrown in for accent. I also don’t fight my natural look too much. I let my hair do its natural thing (curl), I use olive oil to clean and moisturize my face, and it takes me two minutes to do my makeup when I go out.
• I keep homeschooling simple. We do a lot of stuff together (like history and science) instead of teaching everything separately. I focus on the basics.
• I keep cooking simple. Most of what I cook is one pot dishes that consist of meat, a grain and veggies. I don’t get fancy or try to reinvent the wheel. Snacks are simple things like fresh fruit, cheese and flax crackers – stuff the kids can grab themselves. I also prepare the same dishes over and over – the ones that are winners with my kids.
• I keep homemaking simple. I use vinegar, baking soda and castille to clean everything. I don’t buy housecleaning gadgets (although I would sell my soul for a Roomba!) that gather dust. I decorate so as to minimize housework in the first place.
• I keep my business simple. Instead of trying to do and learn something new all the time, I stick to what I’m good at and what works for me. I draw good boundaries and say no a lot. I focus instead of getting sidetracked by new projects all the time. I don’t let social media stuff overtake me.
• I keep fitness and health simple. I don’t use supplements except cod liver oil (unless I’m ill). I prefer to let food be my medicine. I keep my exercise routine simple. I have a gym membership and do a 30 minute total body workout three times a week.

There are a lot of other examples, I just can’t think of them right now. Simplicity also means not being a perfectionist and trying to do and say everything.

Simple living is for me about making choices. Choices about how you really want to spend your time. Choices about how you really want to spend your money.

It’s helpful to ask yourself questions before you bring anything new into your home. Do I want to dust this? Do I want to pay to insure it? Is it going to stress me out if the kids knock it over? Etc.

As for recommended resources for simple living, here are a few:

Simple Living Books?

Anything by Don Aslett. His books are fantastic if you want to simplify cleaning and get rid of clutter once and for all.

Your Money or Your Life will help you understand your relationship to stuff and how it really impedes you from your goals – especially in the area of money.

My favorite One Pot Meals cookbook is well worn with many food stains. A good sign of a much loved cookbook!

Simple Living Blogs?

I like SimpleMom.net – her blog is all about … guess!? I love her 52 Bites ebook too.

photo credit: urbaneapts

I haven’t had a dryer for a few months now. It’s been ok. But I think I’m beginning to miss it.

You see, when I moved into my new place, it had washer but no dryer hookups. That was ok because I had gotten into the habit of hanging almost all the laundry anyway.

But that was on an outdoor clothesline. The clothes dry in a matter of hours when they’re outside. Inside, it takes longer. Sometimes the jeans are still quite damp if hung overnight.

I use two indoor drying racks I got from IKEA. I love them, but sometimes I get a little tired of always having one open in the middle of the kitchen. As a decorating “piece”, it leaves something to be desired.

When the weather is nice, I put the racks on the side porch. This way the laundry dries much more quickly. But with the recent rain and stuff, I can’t hang anything outside. I would often come home from an errand to find laundry blown over the yard. I had to rewash it at that point.

Since everyone was sick last week with the vomiting thing, I had extra laundry, so there are 4 loads on indoor drying racks, over the backs of chairs and other spots.

There’s the laundry saga. When spring comes it won’t such be an issue. Another problem though, is the fact that some of my clothing is far too linty. The dryer removes a lot of that.

Even if I got a dryer, I wouldn’t use it very often, just when the laundry got overwhelming or it was raining. I also have to find some way to safely venting it indoors. I saw a device that mounts on the wall that vents the dryer into a small bowl of water that you empty out. This keeps the lint from flying around the house.

Is there a tiny little dryer that you can use for just a few items at a time? Is there such a thing? That would be cool.

Any tips from you devoted line dryers for making indoor drying a little easier?

photo credit: stacy michelle

I think I just discovered a mommy hack.

Something that is going to save me time, money, and pot scrubbing.

Something that will allow me to savor a few extra precious moments snuggling in bed with my young ‘uns, nursing a cup of hot coffee.

How To Never Burn Oatmeal Again

I burn oatmeal. Almost always. I’m not sure why because I rarely burn dinner.

Oh wait I know.

I soak my oats overnight to reduce the phytates and increase the nutrient quotient.

Because of this and my distractibility all of the time in the mornings, my oats often burn in the pan.

Creating stinky yucky oatmeal. That the kids turn up their noses at.

But no longer.

I cooked our morning oatmeal in my red Rival rice cooker.

It came out perfectly, and sat there patiently waiting and warming while I did something else.

No burning! Warm yummy oatmeal, and best of all – no scrubbing.

I got this product ages ago from Bio-Enviro and have just now gotten around to writing up a review about it.

But I have been using it faithfully for a couple of months now.

Bio-Enviro is a highly concentrated, organic enzyme cleaner that can be used for multiple purposes around the home and garden. It’s also biodegradable.

It contains purified water, coconut oil and palm kernel oil, glycerin, enzyme blend, peppermint oil, neem oil, wintergreen oil, d-limonene, and citronella oil.

I LOVE the way the stuff smells! I’ve tried plenty of natural cleaning products that smelled terrible, and I figure this is an important thing – after all, you clean several times a day so a nice smell makes things a little more tolerable.

The company claims that because of the essential oils, it is a natural but repellent. I haven’t noticed that effect, but perhaps it has to be applied neat in order to work that way – something I haven’t tried. They also say that it’s effective against mold and fungi, which makes sense considering the addition of the essential oils.

I’ve used Bio-Enviro for all types of cleaning around my house including:

• Toilet cleaner (I put a tiny squirt right into the bowl then swish)
• Spot cleaner for laundry (a teensy drop on stains before washing)
• Laundry detergent (when I was out of my homemade stuff, I just squirted it right in)
• All purpose kitchen cleaner (about a tablespoon in a spray bottle of water)
• Floor cleaner (I just spray it on trouble spots before mopping)

Because it’s so concentrated, it’s cost effective when broken down to cost per use. If you buy the gallon size of concentrate, the final mixed product ends up around .50 a gallon.

Visit the Bio-Enviro site to see their entire line of products, which includes Bidets and LED light bulbs.