Tag Archives: housework

What Works Wednesday

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I’m linking up again today with Heather over at Upside Down Homeschooling for What Works Wednesday.

Here is the most recent household tip that has really been working for me: A new laundry soap recipe!

A couple of years ago, I started making my own laundry soap. It was kind of a process, though not difficult, and I blogged about it. I was really happy with it for a while, but then my whites started looking really dingy and all my laundry was holding onto an odd sour smell. I didn’t update because I was looking for something else. Then it was just sad when I didn’t find anything that worked for me. So I was back to store laundry soap and I really didn’t want to blog about that. Even more sad.

Enter my friend Maria discussing crunchy hair with me and voila, She gave me a new laundry soap recipe. She found it somewhere on the internet and it is ALL OVER out there, but she gave it to me with out a site credit, so I’m just taking the lazy way and crediting her for it.

Easy Liquid Laundry Soap

Boil 4 cups water (I use a large glass measuring cup and put it in the microwave).
Stir in
– 3 TBSP Borox
– 3 TBSP Washing Soda
– 2 TBSP dishwashing liquid (the kind you put in the sink, NOT the kind you put in the dishwasher)

Let sit until cool. Pour into a gallon jug and fill remaining space with cold water, allowing suds to run out over the top.

Use about 1/2 cup for a very large or very dirty load.

We have very dirty loads OFTEN at our house

Although they are typically from farming, not running.

I have been using this homemade laundry detergent for months now and I am so pleased. All the clothing smells wonderful and it is at least as clean as when I was using the expensive ‘environmentally friendly’ store soap. I love how easy and quick it is to mix a batch and Little Cowgirl loves helping to do so.

Now, if only there were something I could mix up to fold and put away the clean clothes. Let me know if you have a recipe for that!

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Summer Slowdown

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Every summer I decide we are really going to romp on it when we are done with school. I intend to sign the children up for camps, lessons, rec center crafts, VBS.

Then we finally get to summer.

We talk about the camps, lessons, and activities.

And everybody says “Yeah! Maybe later!”

Then we spend our days *literally* wallowing in free time like pigs in mud. The children thrive. They don’t build lego cities; they build lego solar systems. They don’t make forts; they make bomb shelters with complete kitchens. They don’t play outside; they live outside. They disappear into books for (I’m serious) days on end.

They cook and bake.

They garden. (This was Farmer Boy's own potato harvest.)

They work in their 'shop' taking apart the junker mower.

They experiment. They play with toys they forgot they had. They spray each other with hoses. They ride their bikes in a pack all over the property.

They tinker, build, and create unfettered by the clock.

We let go of all sense of time other than “I’m hungry” or “I’m tired.”

We decide on a moment’s notice to go swimming, to go find Dad, to run into town.

We go for last-minute family outings.

But mostly we stay home and I work.work.work. while the children exist in summer revelry. And WOW do we love it. The way our summers always seem to end up, the more attracted I become to the principles of unschooling. My children learn and grow a great deal in the summer time when they are unfettered by too much planning or activity. I stay much more on top of my farm responsibilities (think office manager) without pressure than I can during the school year.

The house is never as clean because I’m always trying to make a project happen – cleaning out the homeschool storage, painting, rearranging furniture, gardening, freezer cooking. I also typically undertake a purge and deep clean of the children’s rooms (shudder).

There is also always a bit of off-compound activity. My Little Cowgirl went to Vacation Bible School day camp this year in June and ab.so.lute.ly. loved it. Shooter is going to his first overnight camp (two nights, three days) in July; it’s a science/robotics camp. Farmer Boy asked for horseback riding lessons and we made the call to arrange that last week. Shooter wondered out loud about taking some lessons on his horn before middle school band begins in August.

And once we get to July, I’m finishing up my planning for next year. I’m getting excited to begin again.

I’m such a gemini – a person with two distinctly different sides. As much as I adore our unscheduled summer; I look forward to the return of our regularly scheduled programming with school each morning, lessons and activities each week, short and busy weekends.

But I’m not fully there yet. Right now it’s almost nine and I’ve got to wake the children up (they stayed up late to watch all the fireworks last night) so they can go to sleep at a decent time tonight. I think I’ll let them turn PBS on as soon as they shuffle out of their rooms. And I might give them a cookie for breakfast. As for the rest of the day, we have no plans what so ever – we’ll take it as it comes.

Sweet, sweet summertime.

What does summer look like at your house?

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You know how I love a great deal…

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So I couldn’t pass up this offer. And it is so incredible, I felt the need to share.

I started reading Renee’s blog over at FIMBY after discovering some of her writing on Simple Homeschool. Her ebook is one of 35 being offered as a package deal during this special promotion. All the books are designed to help you simplify your life.

S. O. L. D.

Let me know if you also purchase the books, and if so, which ones you particularly enjoy or find a great help to your family life.

The sale only runs through Friday morning, sorry for the late notice!

“Yard Work” according to My Farmer

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A little over seven years ago (I know this because Little Cowgirl will be seven in September, ahem) we had a monstrous ice storm. No power for days on end, the entire area frozen to a complete and utter halt, branches crashing under the weight of the ice. I picked up those branches and their ridiculous sticks for three months. I’m not even exaggerating for effect here, people.

Five very old and large trees in our yard didn’t make it.

My plan would have been to cut them down, grind off the stumps, fill the hole and seed some grass. However, I am only qualified to perform the last two tasks on this list. Seriously, I own a hand saw (birthday gift from My Hott Farmer a couple of years ago) and have only nearly sawed off part of my person once a year.

So, by default and for the safety of all those involved, we went with My Farmer’s plan, which is as follows:

Cut down anything higher than 15 feet off the ground. Wonder why wife’s mouth is hanging open. Leave the remaining gigantic stump to ‘decorate’ the yard while it rots over a period of FOREVER. Give puzzled look when wife tries to plant clematis and other climbing vines to cover them up. Tell her “Why would you do that? We are only going to rip the stump out one day when it rots; the flowers will be ruined.”

Humor wife five years later by pushing on stump with loader tractor. Look puzzled when she is so frustrated it doesn’t budge that she tears up.

Seven years later, use same loader to grade driveway and push on stump “for fun.” This is a good time – invite Little Cowgirl to ride along. Push out all of the stumps in the yard. Fill holes and send children to collect root pieces. Haul humongous stump pieces to burn pile in pasture. Suggest having a bonfire party (for the seventh year in a row).

Look puzzled when wife almost bursts into tear and leaps into your arms. Isn’t this exactly what we had planned?

Beloved Clutter

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So I have been trying to do more Flylady decluttering this past month. I can now get into AND find things in kitchen cabinets we used to be afraid to open.

I’ve had a few epiphanies while decluttering. First of all – if you are going to keep your house clean, decluttering is NEVER going to end. Ever. The kitchen cabinets, for instance? I had decluttered those just this past spring. But then I left them alone.

This is dangerous if you are a stuffer – and I am a stuffer, people. This means if there is something that doesn’t have a place and there is a storage area nearby (this could be a drawer, cupboard, closet, cabinet or shelf) that is not full beyond it’s capacity…the item will be finding its home there.

So people who are stuffers must also be continuous declutterers. (I know. Not a word.)

Another shocking realization – you actually have to apply ALL of flylady’s rules or else you are not decluttering. If you are only decluttering things that you do not use and keeping things you sometimes use but dislike or have bad associations with (I have to keep this, it was a gift) then you still have clutter. If you are only decluttering the things that are taking up bad emotional space and things you don’t like but keeping things you don’t ever use – well, you have to REALLY love it if you are going to allow it space in your house.

For instance – I will be keeping my wedding dress. Forever. My mother sewed it with her own two hands and my grandmother embellished it with beautiful fabric roses she made from satin ribbon of my color choices. I don’t use it or need it, but I will never part with it (unless someone in my family wants to borrow it or a piece of it for another once-in-a-lifetime occasion – I’m thinking baptism, communion, wedding).

This piece of clothing, however, is a different story:

I cannot tell you how much I loved this shirt. It was 1995, my first year in college, and I unwrapped this gift from my family when I was home for Christmas. It was SO COOL. Did I mention it was 1995? Seattle grunge had come to Kansas, and I had pierced my belly button (to my mother’s horror). So I wore this flannel (thermal lining – oh yeah) with a half-shirt under it for nights out, or a T-shirt under it for classes. I wore it all that winter, all that spring, and all the next fall.

I felt SO AWESOME in that shirt.

I started dating my future husband that next winter. I spent lots of time in that shirt sitting next to him at Village Inn, studying and making plans.

It has moved with me six times.

But I have not worn it since the third time I moved.

In fact, I’m not sure I’ve worn it since I gave birth. And Shooter will be eleven in April.

So, even though I loved that shirt, I let it go. In fact, I realized that I loved that time in my life much more than I loved that shirt – and saying goodbye to the flannel that represented that time was long since overdue.

I am not nineteen anymore. Though I am essentially the same person, I am (thank heavens) older, wiser and better.

And besides, I would look ridiculous in that shirt now. But maybe it will come back around in a few years and someone else who is young and fabulous will find it on the rack at Goodwill.

Decluttering only works when you go all the way. And I must say – it feels so good to let go of things that represent who you were, but not who you are.

New Year, Old Routines

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Here is the mysterious housekeeping post I mentioned. It’s pretty much more of the same!

I have been using a mutated from of Flylady for several years now, and I’m not planning to switch up what’s been working for me. A few of her tenets that are essential to my sanity:

-Prepare as much as you can in the evening for what will be happening the next morning.

-It doesn’t have to be perfect; just better than it was.

-Make a plan ahead of time, review often.

-Declutter.

-Do it now.

Something new I have added to my housekeeping aresenal is help. I have been listing (on our never-used dry erase board) jobs for each child and one list of jobs for everyone. For example, today Shooter’s jobs were to feed the chickens, sweep out the chicken house and clean both toilets. Everyone was expected to pick up their rooms, make their beds and fold any of the clean laundry that was theirs.

I thought it was awesome that he transferred his jobs to the ‘notes’ of his new ipod touch.

It’s remarkable how well a six-year-old can sweep a kitchen floor, people. And man, they love it. I was a bit concerned when I sent the same six-year-old out to clean a window that she was high on windex fumes, but otherwise it’s gone well. Lots of my ‘daily jobs’ (which I consider to be essential weekly housecleaning tasks that I break up into one or two per day) are simply and well done by my children. They include collecting the trash in the house, hauling the trash and recycling bins to and from the road, sweeping, dusting, vacuuming. They may not be done as well as if I’d done them myself, but I’m seeing the trade-off in their pride and confidence as well as the time I’m NOT devoting to crap that makes me cranky. Good trade!

What is essential to keeping order at your house?

New Year, Old Habits

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Every year when the holiday visitors have packed up and gone, I can’t wait to get back to business. For me, that means lots of things, but I seem to focus on the fact that my family has been eating nothing but salted meats and white flour (shudder), and that we seem to receive enough gifts over Christmas to fill our entire (already full) house.

So I tend to ring in the new year trying to climb back on the same two bandwagons: healthy eating and keeping my house. These two things enable me to feel good physically and emotionally, and to devote my time to the things that truly matter (my husband, my kids, our school and farm).

I’m thinking a lot about food. Something I’m trying to do is incorporate more interesting meatless dishes and a bigger variety of grains and legumes. I made baked beans from scratch earlier this week. With them we ate homemade pita bread and apples. Well, I’m the only one who at the beans. Each child took one bite and politely filled up on pita.

The beans were a miserable failure, but my daughter was very impressed by my apple-flower.

For lunch today, I made ‘johnny cakes.’ These were a hit. Here is my recipe:

1 cup polenta or corn grits (you can use cornmeal too)
*I used a few tablespoons of flax seed meal in place of a bit of the grits
1 tsp salt
1 tsp honey
1 TBSP butter
3/4 cup boiling water (about half of mine was out-of-date kefir)

Soak all these together for a few minutes, then drop by heaping teaspoon full into warm olive oil (notice that I said warm, not hot). Cook for a few minutes, then flip. Make them as crispy as you like. I have some who prefer super-crispy and some who like it super-soft, so I do a few of each (I vote crispy). We had cheese and fruit salad with the cakes.

There were two left, but before I could take the picture, I ate another one.

Something I would really like to work hard on this year is vegetables. I’ve been running my food processor and adding vegetables to more dishes than my daughter could ever imagine (don’t tell her, she will have nightmares), but I would love some ideas. How do you like to eat and prepare your vegetables?

As you can see, I’m doing some foreshadowing with this post as well, so expect a housekeeping post soon. Oooooooo, I’m being all literary and stuff.

A false sense of security…

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Every year, I stockpile gifts.  As sales come and go, as clearance racks (my addiction) dangle the perfect item for (insert name of relative here) I snatch up goodies and stash them in either (A) The hall closet, or (B) An undisclosed location in the pantry room of the basement (otherwise known as the pit of dispair).

My Farmer and I spent the entire weekend (I’m not kidding you – we were up past 11pm both nights, stopping only for meals and Mass) doing paperwork.  So my usual housework and weekend catch-up did not happen.  I didn’t file the school papers from last week or switch my binder out for the next, I didn’t get the laundry done or the hot-spots cleaned.  The floors are as dirty as they were on Friday.  But I wasn’t worried, because we are taking this week off of school, spending part of the holiday with my folks and part of it here with My Farmer’s family.  I could use the extra couple of days to tidy up the house, catch up on laundry, pack, etc.

 

In the midst of all this, I walked downstairs to find a few gift items I want to deliver to my family.  While down there, I took a quick inventory, knowing that I didn’t need much to be “GO” for Christmas.

 

Um.

 

After coming back upstairs and placing a beer in my shaking hand, I would like to announce that I have handed myself a major fail in the gift-ahead department.  I have tons of gifts for two people.  That leaves a few more people that I need to shop for.  OH, and those two people better not mind receiving dusty, years-old gifts because it’s going to take many holidays to empty their stash.  It’s simple to look at my gift hoard and see who is easy to buy for – because of course it’s the people who are impossible to find a gift for that I’m coming up empty on.  (You know, the poor people who get a mug or a shirt every. single. year.)

 

So, look out mug and shirt stores – I’m giving up one of my days this week to check out your clearance racks.  SHEESH I will probably have to pay *regular price* for some items! GAH!

 

Every year I plan on having an ‘even more special’ Christmas, with decorations up earlier, and the children MAKING all the tree ornaments out of oranges and salt dough and popcorn, and me presenting everyone with one-of-a-kind gifts I made myself…and every year I’m SO SURPRISED when Thanksgiving hits.

 

But I love this season so much.  And even though I’m shocked each year when I realize how little time I have left for preparation, I let go of my ideas for the holiday I envisioned and enjoy the holiday that is.  After all, it’s not about any of those things, really.  It’s about love.

 

And that, I have aplenty in my life.

 

That, and beer.

Keeping house is so much more.

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Thanks for the comments and tips yesterday.  I really do have fabulous readers who, I must say, I dearly love.  I was struck with something this morning as I read them – I am pretty serious about maintaining a healthy lifestyle for my body. What about my house?

 

For example:  Yesterday I took the children to the waterpark, where I applied sunscreen vigorously.  I had a banana and green tea for a snack.  Then I ran two miles and ate my dinner (whole grain noodles with bell pepper, onion, cucumber, garlic and olive oil).  I drank lots of water.  I took a warm shower.  I slept for eight hours (minus one child needing a drink of water at 2 am) and then for breakfast I made a smoothie with peach, mango, strawberry, pineapple, blueberry, rhubarb, spinach, banana, flax seed, and almond milk.  These are all things I didn’t think much about – I just keep the tools nearby and plan ahead to make sure they happen.  How can I do that with the other important thing in my life?

 

What healthy habits do I have for my house, my other job (the farm bookwork), my writing?  As I look back over my adult life, I can see the good habits that have formed in these areas.  And my sister-in-law is SO on the money when she said that a crisis really helps put things in order.  It’s time to capitalize on a crisis and use it to set some more good habits in my life.  We can grow and change every day!

 

And how about my children?  What healthy habits do I need to put in place with them?  How about more effort to complimenting good behavior instead of only focusing on correcting less desirable behavior?  How about focused, connected alone time with each child?  Too many days pass where I’m cocentrating wholly on all my other responsibilities and time is lost that can never be bought back to build a lifetime relationship with these amazing people.

 

How about no yelling.  Period.

 

What healthy  habits can I form in regard to maintaining the most important relationship in my daily life: my marriage?  What are the poor habits I can let go of that don’t show love?  What are life-giving habits I can cultivate that are love in action?

 

I know it’s easy to set yourself up for failure when you want to take on more than you can handle, but I remember my post about priorities and I still feel that way.  The more order I put in my life, the more organized I become, I find it is easier to be able to follow those priorities.  I am not expecting this all to work right away, and I’m not thinking I can reduce what is in my house by 50% in a week.  But I think I could do it in a year.

 

If there is one thing this journey with my husband’s mother has taught me, it’s the weight of a moment.  Each situation is an opportunity.  She has been absolutely incredible – pragmatic, calm, and full of strength.  My sister told me that she hopes to be half as amazing as my mother-in-law if she ever faces a similar situation.  I agree.

 

And I know it seems, well, insulting to talk about keeping house when really we are talking about the courage to face cancer for a second time.  But I think my mother-in-law would disagree.  What we are talking about is life.  Managing life.  Meeting responsibilities and learning each day new ways to create time and space for others.

 

What new habits are working for you right now?  What have you done for your body, your loved ones, or your house that make you feel full of love and satisfied?

Inspiration needed…

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Hi everybody – it’s been a whacktacular week around here.  (and it’s only Monday!  I know!)  My mother-in-law (I’ve mentioned before she’s battling metastatic breast cancer) has been in the hospital the last few days, so if you are a praying sort please lob a few up for her.  Otherwise, please send your positive thoughts/warm vibes her way.

 

So I need some inspiration to keep my house together.  Because when my friend who happens to be my husband’s mom is in the hospital and it’s a billion degrees outside and we are cutting/raking/baling hay on the farm…well my house tends to fall apart.  I’ve found that I tend to ignore things, which really just makes everything worse.  So here’s to keeping my house tidy and my kitchen running, because seriously everything is easier when I can keep those things in order.

 

You all know how I feel about flylady.  I fell off the wagon (again) when we started our painting project, but it’s time to get back on.

 

Everything needs a place.  This ties right into flylady’s decluttering theories – but seriously I need to find a place for things or get rid of them.

 

If I can’t do it all, whatever I can do in ten minutes is better than nothing.  It will be an improvement over the way it was before, and every little bit counts!

 

Give the kids jobs.  They are more than capable, and even if they don’t always do it “my way” it will be better than it was!

 

DO NOT let the laundry get ahead of me.

 

Keep the living room presentable and the kitchen clear.  That way, no matter what else is happening, I can receive an unexpected visitor or get a meal together without being overwhelmed and depressed later.

 

Eat simply – raw foods, whole grains, vegetables, fruits.  Last night I made the kids grilled cheese sandwiches with apples and blueberries.  They found it to be a drool-inducing and moan-inspiring meal.

 

How do you all keep things together?  I’d love some handy tips.  Remember, every little thing helps.