Homemaking Organized Blog

Archive for the ‘homemaking’ Category

Many years ago (maybe 7 or so) one of my best friends gave me a Vintage Heloise’s Housekeeping  Hints book from 1962 that was in the collection of her grandmother.

I love to sit back and read this gem of a book. The cockroach section did gross me out though.

Today I’m going to share with you some of her tips for better pancakes (she calls them hotcakes). I make pancakes once a week and I think I’ll try these tips to see if they’ll workout in my buckwheat recipe.

I’ll rewrite it in my own words.

Tips for Better Pancakes

1. Make your pancakes oval instead of round. You will get more on your griddle that way. Who says pancakes have to be round?
2. Add more oil (or butter) to you batter if you find them sticking. This is so true. I once had a batter that sticked all the time. I added a tablespoon of olive oil to the batter and voila! No more sticky.
3. Instead of just adding your whole egg to your pancakes separate them and whip the egg white a bit. This will make your pancakes lighter, more tender and adds bubbles.
4. Add two eggs instead of one and do as above with separating and beating the egg whites. Fold your egg whites in.

Think you might try some of these tips? Do you already do these things? Yummm! Pancakes.

Read more about the Vintage Heloise (as opposed to the current Heloise who is her daughter)

So here we are next week and I have a whole 7 days to agonize over what kind of Housekeeping Card File I felt would meet my needs.

Mostly it needed to be pretty. Something lovely to the eye. And that I could keep out on my miniscule desk area. And I wanted to make or decorate it myself.

So that’s what I’ve been doing. We’ll call it Part 1. This part is finished and this is the result…

My Housekeeping Card File

I took this picture with my computer camera so sorry it’s not the best.

Even though the card file is not that fabulous, it took me some time to get here. I bought a white tin from the store. I went about painting it a green I wasn’t too happy with. I was trying to get a more chartreuse green but that didn’t happen. Then I Modge Podge’d it and let it dry.Then the whole kit and kaboodle started to peel. So I peeled off the whole works. Some of the paint was harder to get off than the rest.

So I ended up with a blank slate again.

I decided I would Modge Podge some paper I had around the house onto it and then once that dried Modge Podge over it again to seal it in. Then I Modge Podged some ribbon and used the glue gun to add the ribbons and buttons.

Over the whole process I discovered and found out that I NEED a Digital Die Cut machine. If you have any recommendations that would be greatly appreciated.

So once I finished the file itself I’ve been working on the dividers and cards. We’ll call the cards part 2, and the dividers part 3. The cards are just about done but I don’t think I will unveil them until next week.

For more on this see Part1 and Part 2

More closeup on the front.

Closeup of top.

So yesterday I mentioned that I’m going to be putting together my own housekeeping card file. Since I have so many irons in the fire I’m going to go about this slowly.

About the Housekeeping Card File System:

You may have heard about this way of setting up your household system from the SideTracked Home Executives.  I first read about in an old Emilie Barnes book but later read the SideTracked Home Executives version too. I tend to gravitate to Emilie Barnes stuff because of her views on making the homemaking process a beautiful one. Things are decorated and made to be attractive not just serviceable and that is how I feel about my Housekeeping Card File.

Yes I could do this in a day with the cards I have on hand and the plastic index card box I already have.

BUT!

I’m one of those that believe that housekeeeping and homemaking comes easier when it’s done with beauty and grace.

I do not want to just slap something together. It will need to be cute and appeal to me to make me want to open it each day.

I have a few of the items needed to put my file together at home. And of course the computer. But I won’t head out to the craft store until tomorrow (Wednesday is library and errands day).  This is going to take me a little while and maybe even a few mishaps. So until then I will give you some eye candy of chore housekeeping index card files (I really don’t know what to call them at this point) around the web.

Apron Girls made this cute chore organizer. BTW I think the blog is closed but left up for reference.

Rebo Scraps made this cute chore organizer for her sister. Oh were are the templates???!!!!

Again here is Travis' cute rendition for sale on her blog Spring Clean Year Round. If you can't fathom putting your own together please support a mom and buy one. They are worth the cost.Frantically Simple made this chore box for herself and for her daughter Newt.

Controlling My Chaos made these cute boxes after hosting a giveaway.

Sherbert Blossom's chore system but isn't this cute?

BackFlipFlops Cute Housekeeping File

Image via Wikipedia

“I finally worked out what my husband calls my “time-and-worry-saving family cabinet.’* I bought a drawer, illustrated herewith, of 3 by 5 inch filing cards. The drawer will hold a thousand cards costing about 75 cents. I divided the cards under subheads which I will classify later, and which, of course, must depend upon the needs of the family. I keep this drawer on the top of my desk, where I can use it every day, and when you see how much information is packed away into that little drawer fifteen inches long I think you will be surprised.” ~Christine Frederick, The New Housekeeping

~~~~~~~~

By now I know, if you are a regular reader of the website or blog, that keeping up with things in the home goes a bit better with a Homemaking Notebook (or is it Home Binder? Or Housekeeping Notebook! Oh goodness I can’t keep track). What ever you call it it can make things run really nice and smooth.

Sometimes we think things like this are brand new and someone just thought of them in the past few years. But truthfully they have been around a while. They went forgotten when homemaking was no longer vogue. And have come out of hibernation again in the last few years because…well goodness it just works!

I’ve worked through a few Homemaking Notebooks in my home trying to improve on them etc. No matter how often I’ve tried though, for my day to day stuff, I need something small and compact. For long term records, schedules, appointments, the binder works well. But for day to day stuff I work within a small comfy cozy space and a spread out full sized binder is just too big.

So the past week or so I’ve decided I want to dust off the idea keeping house with the card file and make one that I LIKE!

I first read about them in my Emilie Barnes books Survival for Busy Women  and More Hours in My Day. Emilie discusses how to put a housekeeping card file together and use them these nifty boxes to organize your home and daily activities. I’ve also read about them in the S.H.E. (Sidetracked Home Executives) books. They are put together a tiny bit differently there. Not much to be an issue but I’m going with the Emilie Barnes version. I believe there are less divider cards and the less the better for me.

By the way if you want to know what I am talking about check out Spring Clean, Year Round. She has put a lot of work into these  lovely boxes.  Since I’m going to “try” to do some customizing in mine I thought I’d better go ahead and make my own. Besides I’ve been really crafty (for me) as of late and this is something I really want to do.

So far what I have in my head is an idea and some templates.

I’ll start talking about the process tomorrow and I’ll post some more about Housekeeping Card Files on the site in the weeks to come.

Stay tuned (oh the quote up top was the vintage part).

I had thoughts to make our own calendar this year but then I got a nice free one with healthy recipes on it in the mail. Since I’m in the throes of a new planner we went ahead and decided to use it.

Problem: The pages are really thin and January promptly ripped through a day after we hung it.

Solution…not: We even tried applying some of those hole reinforcement tab/sticky/thingys and those stayed on but the glossy pages slipped through and again the calendar was on the floor.

We don’t have any pressing appointments this month and I’ve been keeping duplicates of every ongoing thing on the computer calendar and in my personal planner so I really wanted to use this calendar…because it was free!

HomeMadeSimple solutions for hanging your family calendar.

Solution!: I got my HomeMadeSimple email today and they had a few solutions for hanging calendars since they realize that so many people are now printing their own. I chose solution number#1 (see pic below) and so far so good.

This is one of those “Where Have I Been!!?” posts.  Actually I already knew about these, I just didn’t know I could make one. I’m talking about Quiet Books. My sister has a Noah’s Ark one from her son’s baby days (he’s now 18) that she would let Sweet Peanut play with in church. She loved it so much I would kind muss about wanting more. But looking at the one she was playing with, with all the stitching, I knew I could never recreate such a masterpiece. That was before I discovered you could make them with felt. AND that I can sew a bit better than I thought. Still not great but passable.

Quietly, secretly, while I slept. Okay I’m being dramatic. But it seems that there is this whole community of women making these lovely books and expanding on the ideas. Using them as teaching tools and such for their little darlings.

Where have I been??!!

Anyway while browsing through some of these an idea hatched.

My  Sweet Peanut is an active six but I still think I would like to sew up one for her at times when we’re away from home and she may have to sit still or something. The beautiful darling has an affinity for things I make her so I thought she might like one to take in the car .

Some of the pages I’ve been thinking of are: Hair Braiding, Tic -tac-toe (when someone else can play too), the dress up doll one, writing or note taking. I would love to do a chess one but that might be too much.

I’ve rounded up some nice pages around the internet so you can have an idea of what I’m talking about.

The Bungalow Boutique had this nice option of a section to write letters. I thought this would be nice if you're making your Quiet Book for a slightly older child (like me).

Leafy Tree Top Spot has a very tic tac toe section in her book. I'm thinking tic tac toe too because we like to play a good game of this... I mean Peanut.

An ABC Quiet Book tutorial. Very cute.

From Elisa Loves. Her book is made from fabric as opposed to felt.

This is from the Quiet Book blog. I liked this page as idea for my Big Girl Quiet Book. Peanut likes to do hair.

You know that song “Count your blessings. Name them one by one.” Well as we get ready to ring in the New Year of 2012 I thought it a good idea to count 11 of my own blessings from 2011. Big or small they all add up. Now these are not in any particular order…

1. We were blessed to FINALLY buy a freezer. This has been the single biggest improvement in our home life this year. We have been able to do so much more not only for our family but extended family as well. Preserving summer harvest from our own garden as well as u-pick farms. Putting up more freezer meals. Taking advantage of sale on meats and fish.

2. We were blessed to be able to continue to homeschool the Sweet Peanut. We use a DVD program which is not cheap so I thank the Lord for the funds to be able to provide this top notch education for her. Not to mention the energy to work through it each day.

3. The Sweet Peanut is a blessing I am so thankful for every day. Sometimes I just look at her and marvel at God’s goodness. Her sweet generous spirit. Even when she’s giving me a hard time sometimes I just break down and smile. Thank you God.

4. The blessing of good health. I had a little issue in 2010 that I’m still recovering from but every day I get better and I’m thankful for that. I’m also thankful that it hasn’t slowed me down much at all.

5. The blessing of not only being able to meet our needs but helping to meet the needs of those around us.

6. The blessings of good friends far and near.

7. The blessing of a good husband.

8. The blessing of a renewed interest in sewing to meet some clothing needs for Sweet Peanut.

9. We were blessed to garden again and not only that to discover a lovely u-pick farm up the street. That allowed us to bless others with fresh produce as well.

10. We were blessed with a visit from not one but two relatives we haven’t seen in a while. That is always nice.

11. In 2011 we saw no major life changes good or bad and that respite was a blessing. A calm in the sea of life.

What blessings did you receive in 2011?

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.

Well as we were passing the exit of the store the other day my Sweet Peanut exclaimed loudly that she wanted the plastic Noah’s Ark so nicely displayed in the corner at kiddie eye level.

Now we are a simple folk who do not celebrate The Lord’s birth with gift giving and such so she wasn’t asking for Christmas she was just asking just because. So I quoted her the price and let her know in no uncertain terms that we would not be buying that big hulking thing that would just sit in the corner and catch dust. Besides she rarely asks for toys. It’s usually food because she’s a foodie.

So all the way home in the car she analyzed that she could have the full dollar amount by the next day (I’m not sure how she thought she could do this). While I tried to reason with a six year old.

So knowing how much most children just love the whole Noah’s Ark thingy I thought maybe I could make her one out of felt in time for her next birthday (early next year) and was kind of talking this over with my mother who thought it was a good idea. So she overheard me talking about this and announced she wanted the plastic one so she could play with it in the bathtub. Sigh! Oh well I still think she would like the felt one and frankly she’s getting old enough to help me make it. Which is my what I think I will do. Teach her to sew with this pattern. My thinking in the felt one is that actually it would perfect for future siblings, cousins etc.

I found a cute pattern at esty.com with BuggaBugs. I’ve also made the felt groceries, felt fruit, some of the homemade bread, and pies from her patterns.

Image via Wikipedia

As we do whenever preparing to have guests over for dinner my husband and I make out a to-do list with his chores and then mine. As Sweet Peanut gets older she usually pitches in with one parent (mostly daddy).  As the countdown for Thanksgiving is here I thought you might like to see our list. Just a note: each guest is contributing to the dinner. Our dinner is about 3:30 or 4pm on Thanksgiving Day.

Wednesday (Hubby is at work here)

Me

1. Pick up last minute items
2. Scrub down kitchen (I’ll usually have Peanut underfoot here)
3. Make cornbread for stuffing (Peanut will want to help here)
4. Work on some nice Thanksgiving craft with Peanut
5. Brine Turkey (Peanut helps with this)