Homekeeping — HippieMommy

Sep 17, 2006

Life goals

As you can see in my VoluntarySimplicity post, I have recently been thinking a lot about what is important to me and what is just a waste of my time. I’ve really been convicted on the many ways that I misuse my time, and so I’m trying to correct it.

I decided to download and play with Life Balance, which is actually really cool. You write out your goals and the steps to get there and then it makes a to-do list for you that takes into account when you can do things, where you are going to be, and what must be done before other tasks can be done. I’m having fun playing with it. I found that they even have a plan you can download for Flylady (too bad I don’t use her system)!

As dh and I talked about it last night, we realized that our weaknesses in this area are actually very complimentary. Where I am weak, he is strong; Where he is weak, I am strong. So now we are working together to see what we can do to help each other out.

All of this has helped me realize that I have a lot of small goals that I was doing absolutely nothing to accomplish. They are important to me, but it does not appear that way when you look at my schedule. I’m hoping to change this.

If you have realized the same thing, especially if you are a couple of steps ahead of me in putting those goals into action, please comment! I’d love to hear what you’ve done.

Filed Under: Book Talk, Living Simply With Children - Sherlock, Self-Improvement Books, Voluntary Simplicity ·

Sep 9, 2006

Voluntary simplicity

By amanda · Leave a Comment

Contrary to some reports, simplicity is not about deprivation. Those practicing simplicity in North America typically are quite comfortable by global standards. They only thing they’ve given up is the unnecessary and unsatisfying excess that is common in America. In exchange, they receive the luxury of time, peace of mind, and happiness. – Marie Sherlock Living Simply With Children

I’ve never been that simple of a girl. Actually, I’ve always been a bit more of a material girl. I’ve been feeling led to change this though. All of the sudden I am having living-off-the-grid dreams. Its crazy.

I went to the library and checked out a few books on Voluntary Simplicity (I figured that it wouldn’t be very simple of me to purchase them!) I’m really enjoying what I’m learning.

We’ve already had a few family meetings about things that we can do as a family to simplify our life. We’ve talked about the goals that are truly important to us and what we can do to trim down the parts of our life that aren’t advancing us towards those goals. Its amazing to see how much of my time has been wasted on things that do not further my goals AT ALL. There are things that I feel that God is guiding me to, and yet I was spending my time in areas that were completely unrelated.

So dh has really jumped on board, and we are finally working on a project that not only furthers our goals, but also allows us more time together. Its really, really cool.

For the kids, we are working on reducing television and increasing family game times. I don’t mean board games, although we’ve done that too, but I just mean getting down and playing with them in any way they want. Its been a great reminder of how much I want to spend time with my children and grow in relationship with them. I don’t have a goal for them to know every song that Dora sings

Anyways, I wanted to go ahead and add a blog category for Voluntary Simplicity. I’ll probably put in a couple of entries from the books that I’m reading because it has given me a lot to think about. I don’t think I’ll be throwing away my Treo or my SUV anytime soon, but the little changes are already making a huge difference.

Filed Under: Living Simply With Children - Sherlock, Voluntary Simplicity ·

Jun 11, 2006

Chore Buster!

By amanda · Leave a Comment

Chore Buster – Organize your family’s chores

I’m still playing with it, but this is a prety cool site You sign up and then enter the members of your family, how much (if any) they should do, and then set up all of your chores. Each day (or week) it emails you your chore chart. It picks chores for everyone based on how much you say they can handle and the difficulty of the chore. Cool, eh?

Filed Under: Homekeeping ·

Feb 18, 2006

Kids and Chores

By amanda · Leave a Comment

This is a topic that I’ve been thinking about quite a bit recently. We’ve never had any kind of formal chore charts for our kids, but they are always happy to help when it comes time to pick up the house. They help enthusiastically and with a generous heart. I have thought about making charts, but I wonder if that will take some of the enjoyment and the gift of it away.

I found some lists online for what should be expected for each age, and my kids do pretty much everything on there. There are some things that don’t apply (like feeding pets – we don’t have any), but they are great about doing the items on there that apply to our family.

So I guess I’m just wondering what you do with your families. If you have a chart system, when did you start?

Filed Under: Gentle Discipline, Homekeeping ·

Dec 17, 2005

Cleaning Naturally

By amanda · Leave a Comment

When I first started reading about all of the dangers of the harsh chemicals that I was using for cleaning, I was overwhelmed by all of the choices out there. It seemed like most of the recipes used all sorts of exotic ingredients, and I was afraid to invest in a bunch of supplies that would leave me with ineffective cleaners.

I scoured the internet looking for new ways to clean, and here’s a collection of some of my very favorite recipes! Several of these were given to me by my friend, Kym, so if you’re reading this, thank you! I’ve altered each of them a little bit, either in the way that I use them or the way that I mix them, so I hope everyone will all be able to benefit from my trial and error!

*You can find great spray bottles at the dollar store or at wholesalers like Sam’s Club.*

Everyday All-Purpose Cleaner
2 cups distilled or bottled water
1/2 cup vinegar
6-8 drops essential oil (tea tree, sweet orange, and lemon are all faves around here)

Although most people don’t realize it, ordinary household vinegar (5% solution white vinegar) kills 99 percent of bacteria, 82 percent of mold, and 80 percent of germs (viruses). It is a great all-purpose cleaner!

Combine all ingredients in large spray bottle. Gentle shake to blend before each use. If vinegar scent is too strong, try adding a few drops of chamomile, sweet orange, or lavender.

Creamy Peppermint Soft Scrubber
1 cup baking soda
1/4 cup Borax laundry booster
1 TBS Castille soap
5-10 drops peppermint essential oil (use less if pregnant)
*You can also use Peppermint scented castille soap instead*
1/4 cup water

Combine all ingredients in a glass jar. I used mason jars, but you could also recycle a mayo or similar jar. Fasten lid and shake very well. Pour onto surfaces to be cleaned (formica, tile, porcelain, granite, etc.) or onto washrag and watch grime and residue disappear with very little scrubbing effort! Rinse well with the hottest water you can stand – no need to polish fixtures afterwards. They will shine so nicely! If you notice it getting too thick after time, then you can add a little more water and shake it up again.

Lavender Blossom Glass & Window Cleaner
2 cups distilled or bottled water
1/2 cup vinegar
6-8 drops lavender essential oil

This is very similar to the all-purpose cleaner. I use them both for the same tasks. Just shake it up and add other essential oils or more lavender if you find the smell too strong.

Olive-Citrus Dusting Polish
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1?4 cup lemon juice or vinegar (lemon juice is much more fragrant, but they work equally well)
2-4 drops tangerine or sweet orange essential oil

Pour all ingredients into clean, recycled glass jar. Attach lid and gently swirl to blend ingredients. Dip soft cloth into mixture and polish to an old fashioned, healthy luster. I have also used this mixture by placing it in a spray bottle and spraying it onto the cloth or surface when its time to use it.

I ran out of this cleaner recently and didn’t feel like making up a new batch (total laziness on my part), so I used some of the store-bought furniture spray instead. It was so gross! I can’t believe that I used to use it all the time! It put all sorts of nasty fumes into the air and made our floors all slippery (from where the residue had fallen). I will never ever go back now!

Rosemary’s Residue-Removing Counter Cleanser
(use a hot water rinse with this to get gunk off of counters, especially in the bathroom with hair spray!)
1/2 cup distilled or bottled water
1/2 cup castile soap
4-6 drops rosemary essential oil (if you are pregnant, have high blood pressure, or epilepsy, use sweet orange or tangerine instead.

Combine all ingredients in spray bottle, gently swirl to blend, and spray directly onto surface. Wipe with a soft cloth, then rinse well with hot tap water and enjoy the shine!

I hope that these recipes that I’ve compiled will help you on the path to natural cleaning. If you have any questions or comments, please post them and I’ll check back soon!

Filed Under: Cleaning Techniques, Natural Cleaning ·

Dec 17, 2005

Meal Planning for Dummies

By amanda · Leave a Comment

If there is one thing that I know, its food! I love food. I love cooking. I love eating. I don’t really like cleaning… that’s a different article though…

My problem with meal times came when it was time for me to decide what to make. On the days where I would plan earlier in the day, I would inevitably realize that I didn’t have the proper ingredients, so I’d either go to the store and spend a bunch of extra money or else I’d just give up all together and convince my husband to eat out instead. It wasn’t until I made a meal plan that worked for our family that I was able to overcome this beast (and save a ton of money in the process).

My meal planning has gone through several incarnations. Each has been wonderful for that phase of my life, but as our family grows, I find that our needs grow as well. I encourage you to try a few different plans, and if the first one doesn’t work, don’t be discouraged. You’ll find a good one!

When my son was very young, I made a great system using the Mastercook software. I entered in all of my family favorites and divided them into 4 weeks worth of plans. Each week I would choose a plan, print out the grocery list (it makes one automatically) and I was done. It was easy, and after the initial setup, it took almost nothing to keep up with it.

You could do the same thing without any special software: just write down your favorite meals and then write down the shopping list on another sheet of paper. If you have a notebook for all of your family business, just stick the pages into a sheet protector and you’re good to go! You can also do this on your Palm Pilot (Handyshopper is a great program for this) or in a program like Word.

As my kids started to get to the toddler stage, I realized that cooking every night was getting to be more challenging. I just couldn’t get that much time alone. At this point I decided to start using freezer cooking (aka once-a-month-cooking or OAMC). I didn’t want to spend an entire day in the kitchen, so I doubled and tripled recipes instead. My very favorite was my ziti recipe, which I will post in the recipe section. It really wasn’t too much extra work to double or triple the recipes, and I was able to buy my ingredients in bulk, which was much cheaper. I would double/triple recipes for a week or two, then coast off of the food in our freezer for another few weeks, then cook again. It was a good way to buy a little extra time!

Then, in 2004, we discovered that my son was severely allergic to casein, the protein in cow’s milk. I had to rethink all of our meals. Milk, cheese, and butter were staples of our meals, and most of the frozen meals were casserole-type dishes, and they just weren’t that good on our new, more restrictive diet.

To work around this issue, I have gone back to a plan that I used when I was a working wife (before my kids were born). In this plan, I had a set “theme” for each day of the week, but I would sit down on Sunday (that’s my shopping day) and decide what exactly we will eat on those nights. Having the categories helps me to decide quickly.

Our current schedule is as follows:
Sunday – Bible Study (potluck dinner) or Italian (if there is no study)
Monday – Breakfast for dinner
Tuesday – Asian
Wednesday – Soup and sandwiches
Thursday – Mexican
Friday – Pizza
Saturday – Traditional / Family Favorite

So far, this is working very well for us. I currently use the grocery game. In order to make it fit with my schedule, I check what is on sale with the grocery game, and then I try to incorporate the sale ingredients into my meals. Honestly, since you do so much “stockpiling” with the grocery game, there are very few items that I need to pick up each week for my meals. I “shop” in my pantry/fridge instead, using items that I have stockpiled.

I am happy with our current system, but if our needs change again, then I’m sure that we will adapt to meet them. I still bulk cook a couple of meals each month. I like to have them around for busy days or if I am called from church to bring a meal to a fellow mom who has just given birth.

Feel free to comment if you have any questions or suggestions. I’d love to hear what works for your family!

Filed Under: Meal Planning ·