Cleaning: What works for me

I almost decided to forego this post in the All in a Day Series, but the kids are playing gloriously outside, the baby is sleeping, the laundry is going and I have a whew.....moment. :)

I have to firstly report some terrible news. Yesterday, I was taking pictures of my parents' new baby goats. I had my camera in my pocket. My 3 yr old and I were out looking for the newest baby goats when he fell in an ant bed. I immediately scooped him up and rushed him over to a spring flowing, close by. I submerged his hand in the water and immediately my camera slipped out of my pocket and yes, into the spring. My new camera. I am just sick. It worked for a few minutes and I was so thrilled. But, alas, now it won't even turn on. I know those things happen. I don't feel like I was being careless or anything. I sure would've been sick then. I think my memory card is ok. I sure hope so.

Anyway...onto cleaning.

Right now, I am going room by room through my house and decluttering. Here is my living room after decluttering:

I read Tsh Oxenreider's (Sp?) book, Organized Simplicity, and she advocates going room by room, having a bag for trash and a bag for yard sale stuff. She says take everything out of the room and put in one location (this is really fun and AMAZING to see all the stuff that was in a room). You then Spring Clean that room, go through your stuff and purge and trash, put things back, and fall in love. :)

Once I get every room done (I am now in my bedroom...wow), I hope to get a scheduled cleaning system going.

For now, here's what I do:

Keep the dishes washed

Do laundry at least twice a week

Sweep the floors and mop when needed (this is usually sweeping every other day and mopping about once every two weeks...I do a lot of spot mopping in between thorough mops)

Kids keep bedroom straightened

Keep LR and DR straightened

Dust when I see dust piling up (or ignore it for a few days until I find out I'm going to have company)

Clean bathroom when I see it can't go any longer

And that is what I do. Maintain. Cook. Straighten. Mother.

That's what I do.

Mother.

That's the most important thing, right?

Read how these other mothers do it:

Carrie @ Our Full House Christi @ Where the Creek Meets the Lake Elizabeth @ Yes They’re All Ours Kathy @ Kathy Mom of Many Kristy @ Homemaker's Cottage Lori @ Happy Busy Mama Renee @ Bakers Dozen

All in a Day….Laundry

I’ll tell you, I’ve had many different laundry routines in my life as a mom. I’ve tried doing Towels on Monday, Kids’ clothes on Tuesday, Husband’s clothes on Wed., my clothes on Thursday, and towels on Friday…etc… (by the way, I don’t remember exactly why I quit this method…maybe I just got bored?)

I’ve done the method where I just dump everything and anything into the washer until I have a full load.

Once, before I had kids, I actually read and followed the laundry instructions on the tags. Yeah. really. If it read, Wash in cold water, I would wash in cold water. If it read, Hand wash, I hand washed. Separately, I washed separately. Wow, how tedious. I would be standing at the washer all day long if I did that now.

Basically, at the moment (until I get bored with the current laundry method), my laundry routine is this:

When my laundry hamper gets full (Full means piled about 6 inches past the brim of the hamper), I will dump all the clothes in the laundry room floor, gather other laundry from various places around the house (I have another hamper outside my other bathroom) and then sort. Whites, Darks, Delicates, Blue Jeans, etc… Then, I begin my day of washing. Most of the time, I have about 6 loads out of that laundry day. It usually always carries over to the next day. Then the day after that, the hamper is full again. So, basically, I’m dealing with clothes every day.

I actually do not mind doing laundry. It is one of my favorite chores. I enjoy the sorting, I enjoy looking at my children’s clothes, taking care to fold and neatly place them in their proper places. As I am folding, quite frequently I have to place a garment or two aside to be put in the too little bin. I get mixed feelings about that.

Another reason I enjoy laundry, is I love hanging out my clothes. I enjoy using my beloved clothes line. I love this outside time I have to collect my thoughts, pray, enjoy nature, watch the children play, or more than likely, all of the above. I love the wonderful smell the fresh air gives to my clothes and sheets. While doing laundry, I can often be found sniffing dreamily into a freshly air-laundered garment. Ahh….

I try to be prompt about folding clothes and putting them into the proper places. I like to dump my clean clothes onto a chair into the living room where I am more apt to fold it because I know it will be an eye sore if I don’t. If I leave the pile in the laundry room, then it might as well be in the hamper, never laundered.

Let’s see, what else? I use cloth diapers with my 18 month old during the day. I just wash them with my regular clothes, but I always put the diapers on a rinse cycle before I wash them with regular clothes. Of course for messy diapers I am sure to take extra steps before laundering with my regular clothes.

As for laundry detergent, I have made my own. In fact, I made my own for a couple of years. Occasionally, I would find natural, earth-friendly laundry detergents on sale at my favorite burnt-out store and I would snatch that deal up and use that for awhile. Now, I still snatch up the occasionally earth-friendly, eco brand, but mostly, I will just purchase something that has a high stain removal power (I’m really dealing with stains here) and that is as gentle as I can find on a Wal-mart or Dollar Store shelf. I also hate, hate highly perfumed laundry detergents. Ugh. I have received clothes from people before in which I never did get their laundry detergent scent out of the clothes even after many washings. I like something that is a light, fresh scent. Right now, I’m using Arm & Hammer detergent with Oxy Clean. Not exactly eco-friendly, but it will do until I come across some more Seventh Generation or BabyGanics at a cheap price.

I’ll leave you with a few pictures I’ve taken over the years relating to laundry.

Check out how these other busy moms do laundry:

Carrie @ Our Full House http://www.ourfullhouse.com/
Elizabeth @ Yes They http://yes-theyre-all-ours.blogspot.com/ 're All Ours
Kathy @ Kathy Mom of http://www.kathymomofmany.blogspot.com/
Kristy @ Homemaker's Cottage http://www.homemakerscottage.org/
Lori @ Happy Busy Mama http://1happybusymama.blogspot.com/
Renee @ Bakers Dozen http://bakersdozen.typepad.com/

Feel free to share how you do laundry! Just leave me a comment in the comments with the url of your blog with the laundry post. I would love to read about it!

All in A Day: Grocery Shopping

My computer cord has a malfunction, so this week I haven’t been on the computer much at all. We have also been in revival this week (second week!) and I just haven’t had time to blog. I’ve had a few things rolling in my mind, so maybe I won’t lose them until I get a free minute to jot them down to you.

I did want to keep my word to participate in the All in A Day Series, but I’m afraid my post for today will not be as excited as others’. Grocery shopping, for me, is bi monthly. It is a time I really look forward to, because most of the time, my mom will keep my youngest kids for the day. I can relax and enjoy the day to myself (which is rare!). If they want to come, I let them, of course. Many times it will just be me and my oldest and we have a really nice time, just the two of us.

I, first of all, like to check out my favorite store, Dirt Cheap—especially if I have a little piano teaching money that I’ve put back—and see if there are any extra special bargains (like, 90% off) on decor items for my home. Usually, I will stay in there for an hour or so (last trip I got the boys a very nice Target blue wooden toybox, reg. $99 for $12) depending on how many children I have with me. The next stop will be the library. We love, love to go to the library. Our library has a nice children’s center complete with Dorothy the Fish, Veggie Tales puppets, computers, and even a puppet stage! I always have books on loan to pick up—books that I’ve been recommended by Amazon based on my interests (usually on farming, mothering, health issues, etc), that I’ve had the library to ‘order’ for me. I get the children anywhere from 10 to 15 books to take home until the next trip. The library is a blessing to us!

We may or may not pick up something from a restaurant to eat. If it is just me, I may pick up some healthy snack from the health food store that I usually stop at to get my Veganaise or my organic grits. If I have the kids with me, we will usually go to our favorite Mexican restaurant or if my son gets his way, Chinese. :)

My grocery store is Wal-Mart. We have other smaller scaled grocery stores, but Wal-Mart is the only one in town that carries a half-way decent selection of organics and whole foods. I usually order our beauty products from Vitacost (sorry no link, just google it….) or the health food store. That leaves me with only having to purchase our groceries, tissue paper, dog/cat food, etc.,, from there.

I usually have a $130 budget ($260 per month for a family of 6) to spend at Wal-mart and it can be challenging at times. I have found ways to cut our prices by making our own bread, not buying any processed foods, not buying juice (I buy a bag of organic lemons and make us ‘Honey-Lemon Water’, as my kids call it), and steering clear of any thing we can do without (things like popsicles, even organic juices and prepackaged mac & cheese).

My mom and dad supply us year-round (with the exception of about 4 months per year) with fresh, delicious goat milk and both my FIL and my dad have bee farms, so we get fresh, delicious honey from them. They both have chickens so we get fresh, delicious eggs from them as well. I am SO thankful for this blessing! All of those items are very expensive, especially if you get them fresh, organic, cage-free, etc., so I am so blessed in that area! That takes quite a load off of us, expense wise.

We also garden in the spring/summer and put up tomatoes, peas, corn, okra, and jams and jellies. I hope to delve into that more this year until I’m no longer a novice! :) We have deer meat and pork in our freezer as well. Fresh meat that hasn’t been tainted with hormones is a blessing! My parents grind their own deer meat into deer ‘burger’ so I have fresh hamburger meat a few months out of the year.

Just typing this out makes me realize just how blessed I am!

From a different perspective, my kids are pretty good if taken on our grocery shopping excursions. Sometimes my husband will come along with us and we will go to a larger city, about 50 miles away and make an evening of it. My kids take this as a real treat, because we usually take them to Pet-Co or Books-A-Million. Occasionally, we will take them to Chic-Fil-A to play and we enjoy some time ‘alone’ while we watch through the glass, the kids play.

That’s it for the grocery shopping. My biggest challenges with it is that we pretty much can’t get our school work done on those days and also the house pretty much has to stay ‘as is’ until the night. That is not cool for me, because I really dislike bringing groceries in to an already messy kitchen. :/

Feel free to link up through the comments. I’m going to try this linky thing, but if it doesn’t work and you want to share your grocery experience, feel free to type in your link in the comments!

I’m so excited to have a few new followers! Welcome! I will be by to visit you soon!

God bless your hearts! Here are the others who are participating:
Carrie @ Our Full House http://www.ourfullhouse.com/

Elizabeth @ Yes They http://yes-theyre-all-ours.blogspot.com/ 're All Ours

Kathy @ Kathy Mom of http://www.kathymomofmany.blogspot.com/

Kristy @ Homemaker's Cottage http://www.homemakerscottage.org/

Lori @ Happy Busy Mama http://1happybusymama.blogspot.com/

Renee @ Bakers Dozen http://bakersdozen.typepad.com/

Goals for 2011

I honestly can't believe we're in a year named 2011. Back when I was a kid, that sounded like a Space Alien age. Really. If someone had've asked me what I thought the world would look like in the year 2011, I would've said we would be flying in cars and living on other planets. Well, in reality, we can do things like read books without an actual book (Kindle, anyone?), fuel up our cars without, um, fuel, and a cool thing like communicating with someone across the globe with our fingers and not with our mouth/ears, and I'm sure that there's way more high tech things that I'm not even aware of and no, thanks, I'll just continue being a country girl.
But, really, 2011?
I'm reminded of what my best friend of 20+ years used to do as pre-teens. We would write each other letters (before txting, internet, etc) and include with the other 6 to 10 letters, a five year letter (okay, so maybe we were teenagers, ahem) and in it we would write each other as if we were living 5 years into the future. It is hilarious now to think about us both married (to different people than we had predicted) and having more children (than we had predicted) and our lives are not so upscale as we had them predicted. :)
Now we've surpassed our 5 year letters by about, um, 11 years, and honestly, who would've thunk it? Look how the Lord has blessed. So far beyond what I deserve.
I never set resolutions. I never set weight-loss or exercise goals. I know me. Thankfully, so far, I don't have too terribly a problem with weight even though my appetite grows more every year. I never keep those kind.
I would like to make some goals. Things that are achievable and matter.
1. Getting up early to put God first.
2. Being less selfish.
3. Going outside more with the kids.
4. Reading more to my children.
5. Savoring the moments.
6. Being a more helpful wife.
7. Working on my weaknesses (procrastination, anyone?) and using my strengths for God's glory.
8. Staying on a routine for my sanity.
9. Getting prepared for upcoming economic problems by stocking up.
10. Cull entertainment in my family (okay, maybe downscale).
11. Work on teaching my children better manners and generosity.
12. Don't be a slacker with training and homeschooling.

Hope you have a lovely day.
For now, I must attend to the breakfast needs of my family. I have children to rouse and a breakfast casserole to take out of the oven (see #s 6 & 8). :)

A couple of Do-it-Yourself-ers

When I was growing up, we never went to Yard Sales. Never. It was not that we were ‘better than that’, it was just that my mom thought it was a waste of time and she wasn’t keen on other people’s stuff. I guess that was the reason. I really never asked her?

I absolutely loathe confrontation, so to me, stopping by a Yard Sale of a complete strangers and pilfering through their junk is just too confrontational for my taste.

And then I stopped at my first Yard Sale.

I think it was my town’s annual 7-mile Yard Sale. I knew there would be lots and lots of people there and it wasn’t like I’d be the only one pilfering, ya know?

Yeah, I have issues. Moving along…

At my Queen-of-Yard-Sales-MIL’s persuasion (she volunteered to keep the kids), I decided to give it a try.

At the second or third stop, I found a bag of books for $1, and soon afterwards, I found an adorable Gap skirt and an Old navy skirt for my little girl.

“How much you want for these?”

“Oh, 25 cents.”

And I have loved Yard Sale-ing ever since.

The other morning, I went to my husband’s Aunts’ yard sale (there were 3 sisters, so three Aunts) and saw this coffee table:

(Yeah, I know…try to look past the cutie AND the mess to fix your eyes on the coffee table…circa 1980s)

She had $20 on it (as IF…) but my MIL (her sister) told her I would give her $10 for it (you would LOVE and…um…sometimes dis-love these sisters…lol…right, Amy?). So, I did.

Here it is after a coat of primer and 2 coats of nice white paint (bought at another yard sale of a lady who owns a hardware store…gotta love it) and a few decor items:

and

Yes, I know there are tags still on the birdies…I wasn’t sure if I wanted to put them there or not. They were Dollar Store finds ($6 ea) and they are tooooo cute.

I now have a lantern were those picture frames are and the tags are off the birds….:)

My living room is quite dark so I’m slowly trying to lighten things up and go for a Country Cottage feel. When I say Country, I love old quilts in baskets, old trunks sitting around, etc., not blue and mauve or the primitive look. To each his own…:)

My last project was brought about because of the urgency I feel to create a sense of work ethic in my children, especially my sons. I do want them to have play time, but not idle time. We have rest time, but I want them to be busy.

We have had a schedule before, but I wanted to have one that my son could look at and see what he’s supposed to be doing at certain times. My youngest 2 (2 & 5 yr old) can’t read, but are loosely following the same schedule (w/ different table activities/weekly/daily chores).

Yesterday was his first day following it and I was a bit discouraged. Around 1:30, he saw that it read, “Playtime with Mom”, so he wanted us to play Scrabble. I talked to him and explained that he would have to do the other parts of his schedule as well if he wanted to have playtime with me. So, he has been doing great ever since! We had missed a couple things to day, but I don’t expect it to be rigid or perfect. :o)

I just used card stock and scrapbook paper.

Nothing fancy. I thought you might could get an idea or two from it. :)

Okay, blessings to all!

I’m finally linking up to Marla’s Woo-hoo Wednesday, held every Wednesday. Stop by her site if you get a chance. She’s having a giveaway too!

Motivated Moms

My reasons to stay motivated...

Well, did you notice that Monday came around again?? It seems to take me all day to clean the weekend out of my house on Mondays. Sometimes it is hard to stay motivated all day, but I must stay busy on Mondays to get my house back to normal. Today was no exception. My day was full of dish washing, laundry/folding/putting away, straightening rooms (the kids' was the worst!), sweeping/mopping, lots of cooking, homeschooling, nursing, and lots of other mothering.
A few weeks ago, I found a tool that has helped me stay motivated with my tasks. I will post the linky at the bottom of this post in case you are interested. For a small fee, you can download a whole year of daily/weekly tasks to complete, complete with a checklist, AND a Bible reading plan. Here's what my list looks like this week: (minus the daily things)

Monday:
Inventory Frig Contents
Vacuum LR/DR (I mop)
Clean ceiling fans
Clean toilets
Replenish toilet paper
Dust office

Tuesday:
Change dish towel
Clean out purse & wallet
Sweep bedrooms (or vacuum)
Change handtowel in Bathroom
Clean tub & shower
Clean Bathroom mirror
Go thru coupons

Wednesday:
Clean top shelf of frig
Change or clean a/c filter
Clip children's nails
Clean/wash brushes/combs
Wrap holiday gifts
Dust Master Bedroom

Thursday:
Change dish towel
Clean microwave
Clean top & outside of stove
Mop kitchen
Clean computer screen & mouse
Change handtowel in bathroom

Friday:
Clean dishwasher door
Sweep porch
Change Master Bedroom sheets
Dust Dining room
Turn Master Bedroom mattress
Do a quick tidy in each room
Spend time on a craft

Saturday:
Change dish towel
Clean middle shelf of frig
Change hand towel in bathroom
Water indoor plants

This is just a nice way of dispersing the spring cleaning in with the every day chores. Some days I don't get it all done, but it eventually comes around again and I don't stress it. Something you may want to check out....
Well, tomorrow I'm going to attempt to shop with my two youngest and also I'm supposed to get a new couch and loveseat tomorrow!!! Maybe I'll have some pix to post soon!!

Click here to visit

Daily routine...

I hope you are having a fine Friday. The weather is really nice today, temps not too hot, breeze blowing a bit. It just tells me that Fall weather is on its way! Yeah! My parents took my 3 oldest to the MS Pecan Festival for a sort of field trip, so Ella and I are just hanging around. I'm cleaning up a bit, but still have a good ways to go before I finish my chores. I am mowing some grass a bit here and there as well. People may think it's outrageous to be mowing grass 2.5 weeks Postpartum, but I really feel good. I had one day last week that I felt like I was relapsing, so to speak, but I took the day off (my mom came and got the kids, bless her) and the next and just rested. I'm better now. My recovery has been wonderful!
Since Ella is now 2.5 weeks old, I've pretty much settled into a routine that will suffice for now. When she gets about 3 months old and cuts her sleeping down a bit, I'm sure I'll have to adjust the routine a bit. It's been awhile since I've posted my routine, so here's what it looks like.
Most mornings, we get up a little before 8. I love getting up early in the winter, having a cup of coffee, reading and praying by the fireplace, so I hope I can get back into that before too long. Sure beats squeezing it in during a busy part of the day! Ella will sleep until 10 or so, so I can be free from the bondage of the couch for awhile. :o) I try to get one chore down upon awaking. I have a 'running' list of chores that I have cut up and folded. I draw one out of the jar and that way I'm doing a random chore...makes for a fun new way to do chores. You might want to try it! :) It also ensures that my chores get done for the day (well, almost). :) Breakfast comes next and it could be anything! :) I usually have a list of my menus, but if I'm out of groceries, it's pretty much what I can muster up! :) One day this week we had Oatmeal, the next day, we had French toast and Jelly, yesterday was Cereal...etc. After breakfast, I read a few verses from the Bible and we discuss these. This week we have been reading in 1Timothy. Even Evan gets involved. He will 'reanswer' a question after the others have already answered it. :) After devotions, the kids do table chores...one will clear the table and the other will wipe it off. While the kids get on the rug to play (blocks, with their animals, dinosaurs, cars, etc...if they don't know what to play, I will put toys on the rug and they will play with them) while I do 2 more chores. By 10 am, they will do their Math Schoolwork, Em in his schoolbook and Erin on the VTech Computer. Evan is wandering around with Mama at this time. :) Ella usually wakes up and I will feed her while the kids work on whatever. I will dress her and bathe her off (still can't have a full bath) during this time. After Math, the kids and I go outside for a bit to play Kickball or something else. They both are into throwing the football right now. ?? After cleanup around 11, they can do Table activities (ie puzzles, playdoh, etc) while I do a chore and fix a bit to eat for lunch. After lunch, the kids do their table chores, and it is Story time. Right now we are reading the second Box Car Children book. They loved the first one, so I was pleased to find the second one at our library. The last book we read was The Secret Garden and they loved that one as well. After story time, it is time for Pick up. Now, this usually takes quite some time. Their toys are everywhere by this point and Evan has gone around and dumped out toys in different places. I promise it doesn't take the same amount of time to dump out the toys as it takes to pick them up. :) Once he picks up, he goes to bed for his 2 hour (usually) nap. The kids and I finish our schoolwork and I am doing some chores along the way. At 3, they have resttime and usually at least one will fall asleep. At 4, I start supper and as the kids get up they sort of have their own playtime. When daddy comes home, It's supper and family time until baths (around 7:30) and bed (around 8:45-9:30). I usually go to bed whenever Ella does for the final time. It's usually around 10ish. This is our schedule in a nutshell. I hope that one day next week, I can take some pictures of "Our Day" and post on here like I did one time a year or so ago. Now, our days aren't perfect. In fact, yesterday at 12pm, we were 2 hours under schedule...lol. Most days, their outside time is really short because we are trying to get everything in (school is #1 priority, yk?). But, this is it on a good day! :)
Oh, and the kids help me with the chores too. If I draw out, "Change the trash", then that is Erin's job. They both clean their rooms, Emory takes out the trash, gets the mail, takes the sheets off the bed, hangs up his clothes, etc. Erin will feed the dog and cat. They are good kiddos! :)
We've had a good week. It is so busy, but good. Looking forward to fall in its fullness! :)