Homemaking Organized Blog

Archive for the ‘Home Life’ Category

So I thought you might like a teeny update on my goals for 2012.

Finances: The goal here was to bump up the savings as we are able. We’ve been doing well so far. Plunking any extra cash into our savings and it’s slowly building up.

Home: I’m still working slowly on making taking care of home a more lovely experience. I’m working on my Housekeeping Card File. Which must be pretty. But I do need to think on this also a bit more.

Business: A chunk of the new Homemaking Planner is just about ready to go. Just stay tuned. I’ve been working hard here. Evident by the neglect in all other areas.

Personal: I’m still working at dropping 15 pounds. Boy these are hard to get off! I exercise 6 days a week at what would probably be called the intermediate level.  And while that is nice I’m here to say that it does nothing to drop pounds! I had dropped the 3 pounds but being female they found their way back at a certain time. I haven’t given up though.

How are your goals going?

I noticed my friend Roxanne over at HavenofHome has a nifty new blogging schedule. I love her blog because she posts these thoughtful everyday things with occasional (more often than not) touches of the past.

Anyway it got me thinking that I probably should have a blog schedule and get my head out of the clouds. Truly some days I forget I have a blog. Life does intrude you know.

I also like that she has given herself weekends off. That is so important.

So in the interest of keeping organized even on the internet I’m going to try and give myself a blogging schedule because I really like to take action on timely advice such as this. I’m also going to shamelessly copy Roxanne’s ideas for what to post when as this is the sincerest form of flattery. Okay I did change a little bit.

So here is the goal…

• Monday: Vintage Stuff
• Tuesday: Cleaning – or series
• Wednesday: Goals update
• Thursday: Cooking Stuff
• Friday: Crafts of other blog sightings
• Saturday and Sunday: No posts

Here is a tip. Never look for my blog posts in the morning. I’m not a morning person. I may blog at midnight though so you could see it the next morning. This is something I really need to rectify but so far it’s working for me.

So I guess I’d better go do my food stuff blog and write this schedule down so I know what I’m supposed to do.

Do you keep a blog schedule? I guess in the business world it’s called Editorial Schedule.

I received this in my email inbox this morning. Great tips for taking care of some everyday problems. I didn’t have an original source but I did find the same list with one extra here so that leads me to believe this ‘might’ be the original source. Also the sources for the pictures are at this link also.

Freeze Aloe Vera in ice-cube trays for soothing sunburn relief.

Stop cut apples browning in your child’s lunch box by securing with a rubber band.

A muffin pan becomes a craft caddy. Magnets hold the plastic cups down to make them tip-resistant.

Add this item to your beach bag. Baby powder gets sand off your skin easily, who knew?!

Re-use a wet-wipes container to store plastic bags.

Forever losing your bathroom essentials? Use magnetic strips to store bobby pins, tweezers and clippers, behind a vanity door

Turn your muffin pan upside down, bake cookie-dough over the top and voila, you have cookie bowls for fruit or ice-cream.

Remove crayon masterpieces from your TV or computer screen with WD40.

Bake cupcakes directly in ice-cream cones, so much more fun and easier for kids to eat.

Make an instant cupcake carrier by cutting crosses into a box lid.

Use egg cartons to separate and store your Christmas decorations.

Bread tags make the perfect cord labels.

For those who can’t stand the scrunching and bunching: how to perfectly fold a fitted sheet.

Create a window-box veggie patch using guttering.

Store shoes inside shower caps to stop dirty soles rubbing on your clothes. And you can find them in just about every hotel.

Microwave your own popcorn in a plain brown paper bag. Much healthier and cheaper than the packet stuff.

Pump up the volume by placing your iPhone & iPod in a bowl. The concave shape amplifies the music.

Overhaul your linen cupboard, store bed linen sets inside one of their own pillowcases and there will be no more hunting through piles for a match.

Install a tension rod to hang your spray bottles.

Hull strawberries easily using a straw.

Attach a Velcro strip to the wall to store soft toys.

Find tiny lost items like earrings by putting a stocking over the vacuum hose.

Rubbing a walnut over scratches in your furniture will disguise dings and scrapes.

Use wire to make a space to store gift wrap rolls against the ceiling, rather than cluttering up the floor.

This is my to-do list for today.

 

-Take my mother grocery shopping.

-Homeschool day (Math, English/Reading, Spelling, Bible Truths)

-Iron Curtains (I washed ‘em so I have to iron ‘em)

-Do 2 loads of laundry (Does it ever end?)

-Workout (6 days a week for 2 Months! Go me!)

-Wash bed linens

-Biz work

- plant potato multiplier onions (they just came)

-Assist hubby in gutting garage (nice fall weather project)

 

What’s your to-do list look like?

TMI – My sinuses are bothering me.

I never even had sinus problems until I became pregnant.

My sister, aunts, and I used to joke about blaming all of life’s ills on the children.

So far I’ve tried….

1. tea
2. homeopathic
3. neti pot type thingy
4. OTC
5. steam

It’s the headache part that gets me.  A nagging headache that won’t go away.

Oh well. Thought I would share.

 

 

This post is late. Yes it is. But better late than never.

Did you know that September is Family Prepardness month? I was reminded by a nice library poster this morning.

This is the month to get your emergency plans in order. Even though this post is late our preparedness is not. Just earlier this month we attended our umpteenth CPR and First Aid class. We have to renew ever two years as Foster Parents. They keep changing things so this is good.  It also reminds us to update our first aid kits which is a good place to start.

• When was the last time you updated your First Aid kit?
• Made an emergency exit plan(you know in case of fire)
• Updated your emergency contacts?
• Thought about what you would grab if you had 15 minutes to vacate the premises?

Better late than never.

Related articles

• Disaster Preparedness on a Budget (savings.com)

So I have a new freezer and I’ve been spending some time hugging getting to know it. I’m a little shocked that after emptying the above the refrigerator freezer into it that it is more than half full already. I think that’s pretty telling of how packed my above the refrigerator freezer was.

So here are some great tips and resources I found that might help you too.

Organization

I knew that although the freezer came with two hanging baskets the real job is organized below that. The stuff at the bottom. After reading around I discovered that those plastic crates you find in office supply stores can work pretty well. I have an 8.8 cu ft freezer and was able to fit two of these in there. I designated one of those for raw meats and the other for prepared meals. I will admit that I have a tiny bit of frost on the sides of my freezer and when I pulled up one of the crates it grated against that little bit of ice and ssshhhhiiiivvvveeerrrrrr it was like nails on a blackboard. I can still ‘hear’ it now… ssshhhhiiiivvvveeerrrrrr

I also have smaller baskets that I’m using for butter, veggies, fruits, and my specialty flours (buckwheat, barley, graham, teff) . I have room for a few more baskets and I know I’m still getting accustomed to the whole thing.

 

Filling it Up

My goal for the freezer is preparing those meals that will help save time in the future and storing good buys and excess from the garden.

For great tips on preserving your foods from all sorts of sources I found this site Pick Your Own it’s about pick your own farms, how to can, freeze, dry and more.

For ideas on what kinds of meals to put away I have quite a few resources, mostly books. There is this nice article to give you an idea of what you can put away.

Then these are the books I’m using for recipes.

Frozen Assets Lite and Easy: Cook for a Day, Eat for a Month: I’m like the way this books is organized. By mini sessions by meat. For example I’m eyeing the ground turkey mini session. It’s all laid out with recipes, shopping lists and preparation instructions. I never thought our menus were so light but I could work with this book.  I’m checking it out from the library.

Make-A-Mix: I don’t use all the recipes in this book but I do like the cookie and the baking mixes. I own this one.
More Make Your Own Groceries: This is an excellent book for freezer cooking and making staples. I have no idea why it is so expensive on Amazon. I own a copy. There are two editions, 1 and 2. I have both. 2 is the cover of the link and 1 has a yellow cover. They are both excellent.

Keeping Track

For keeping up on what’s inside I printed up a new sheet from my planner (yes I use Vintage Household Notes too) and put it in a sleeve. For now I taped it to the top but I’m looking at other ways to attach it. I opted for writing the ususal suspects in pen and then hash marks in pencil for how many I have going there.

I hope some of this has been a help to someone.

PICS

 

As the days get longer I’m sensing a new rhthym to our routine. As spring sets in Sweet Peanut and I both decided we need to get up earlier to accomplish more (neither of us are morning people). Our normal pattern is to wake etc. have a very long breakfast and do a lot of other chores before starting the school day. Sometimes we’ll even run all of our errands before coming home and finishing school. Now we’re having devotions, a bit of school and then taking a really long break that includes breakfast, exercise, cleaning, maybe an errand and then back in class.

The days are also longer, our garden is growing and we’re itching to finish up classes. This year I have to remember not to waste the summer and accomplish a few things besides lazy days and a touch of gardening.

I don’t know if travel is in our near future. That’s on the table.

Things to put into our Summer Plans

1. Continue to build upon skills learned this year in kindergarten (I love BJU they have a set of workbooks and reading books for that)

2. Pack the freezer with pick your own and onions from the garden (I planted a lot of onions)

3. Peanut asked to learn piano

4. Teach Peanut to rollerblade (Wahoo!)

5. Continue to fine tune house (I’m still Spring Cleaning).

6. Regular library programs, zoo visits, trips to friends etc.

Well it’s been on my heart and mind so here it is.

Not  a busy summer but a thoughtful one.

Question: Are you finding you want to change your schedule too?

Tools: I found this nice resource the other day.

 

When I saw the BrytonPick Floss I knew I wanted to do a review.

I’m very specific about my floss and my flossing but often when eating out or at a friends I wish I had some floss with me (is that TMI?). I also wanted to see if the BrytonPick Floss would be something my sister is interested in. She has been very big on floss since we were little and I thought this would be a cute little something to throw in with her birthday present (I did give it to her).

So when the little package came I thought a good time would be to try this out while monitoring Peanut’s bath. I like to multitask here.

First I read the directions thoroughly. Made sure to stay away from my gums, opened my mouth etc. And made note of the fact that this is in fact thin sheets of steel.

The first thing I did was cut my lip. That was very tragic for me and disheartening. It’s like a papercut you know.

After that I probably didn’t do that good a job with the whole flossing thing but here is what I will note.

1. This is very convenient for carrying around in your purse. Nice, flat, and small. I keep a very small purse so tiny things are a plus for me.

2. It did in fact floss my teeth. I won’t go into gorry details but it did work.

3. Apparently it takes some getting used to so I have to give it some time. I did not like the gum cutting thing at all. Floss is supposed to get below your gumline so that could be a downfall. Although this is supposed to be for on the go and not a substitute for your regular flossing routine. But note: Be Careful of lip

4. I’m not sure how it works on popcorn but that could be the real test.

You can purchase your own BrytonPick here

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I received an email in my inbox today from Tawra at Living on a Dime. In it she answers a question from one of her subscribers who questioned her frugal living but yet having a nice house. I love Tawra’s answer to this because it is so true.

Frugal living does not mean that you live in a hut with threadbare clothes and nothing new in your life. Living frugally does not mean living poor. It means you know where to cut costs and save so that you do have the money to buy quality items and NOT on credit. It means being good stewards of what God has entrusted to you.

We lived frugal waaaay before it was in. My mother brought us up frugal. As a single mother she had to cut costs and after having lived in a third world country she knew how to do it. We had lovely clothes but they were bought second hand. And I shouldn’t say ‘but’. Just they were bought second hand. They were beautiful clothes. Back then you could usually attach a designer name to well made clothing. Not so today. Designer name does not mean that you will get quality clothing. Paying the most does not always mean paying for the best.

The title of my post is a quote from a long time friend of the family. Her mother told her asthey were growing up that because they were poor they could only afford to buy the best. Not the most expensive, the best. When it came to certain items she had to buy the best to ensure longevity and that she would get what she paid for.

We live like that today. We try and buy the best we can afford to ensure longevity, and a quality item that does what we need it to do. From vitamins to household goods.

I bought quality bed linens and bath towels because I’ve seen too many of the cheap ones become threadbare in a year. And I use the past tense because they are lasting. This past year was the first time I purchased new bed linens for us in 13 years of marriage. And only because I poufed the bed up with a feather bed and we needed those deep sheets.

When it comes to clothes we purchase them at an outlet store in our city. It’s a well known brand that I couldn’t afford full price of. The quality of the clothes is one you don’t see in stores anymore and as such I have not had to buy new clothing in quite some time. I buy classic styles that stand the test of time.

When it comes to grocery shopping I use coupons and buy items on sale. But because of food allergies and general health concerns much of what we buy is not found in the coupon flyer. I make a lot from scratch originally from necessity and now for the health and enjoyment of it.

We don’t eat out. First because of food allergies and now because we tend to cook better at home. We cook as a family watching cooking shows, reading cookbooks, and trying new things. We call it Chez Quinn.

I’ve picked sewing back up. I don’t think sewing is frugal because fabric costs an arm and a leg. But I was getting very discouraged by the clothing to be found for my 6 year old. Luckily my mother had some fabric she put away for such a time as this. And I have found a few sales on some nice fabric for her. But some call it frugal so I list it.

I’m not a perfect frugal person.  In fact many say I’m not frugal because we don’t live poor. We give first to God and then try to live wisely…and well, on the rest.

Share some of your frugal tips with me.