Kitchen Tip Tuesday - Make Bread kits

I have been a bit lazy about making our bread since my "morning" sickness lasted about 2 to 3 months.  And now I am feeling so much better but I am trying to be more committed to this whole homeschooling thing and turns out - that takes up a LOT of time.  So I still want to make the bread we like.  I just wanted to make it easier.  Introducing the bread kits!

I take some time to grind a whole bunch of wheat and then I fill quart size Ziplock bags with the dry ingredient from the best whole wheat bread recipe that I have found.

Here is what each bag holds:

1 1/2 tsp Real Salt
3 1/2 C fresh whole wheat flour
2 tsp Dough Enhancer
3 TB Vital Wheat Gluten
1 1/2 tsp Saf Instant Yeast

I make sure to put the yeast in first because the instructions in my bread machine manual says to put the yeast in last so if I put in the bottom of the bag it comes out last.

When I am ready to make a loaf of bread here is all I have to do:

Fill up a measuring cup with 1 1/2 cups of lukewarm water, 2 Tbsp. of oil and 2 Tbsp. of honey.  I dump that in first then I dump in my bag and turn on my bread maker.  You can go here to see what I do after the dough is done because I always bake my bread in the oven and not in the bread maker.

It looks like this when it is done in the bread maker:

And then it looks like this when it is done baking:

I store these bags in the freezer because the freshly ground flour lasts better if it is frozen.  It really makes making homemade bread so much easier!

Home hair cutting tutorials

I know lots of people cut their husband's or their sons hair at home.  My husband has been talking to me about doing this and I had been avoiding it until recently.  I decided to watch some You Tube videos to see if I could do it.  Yes, remember yesterday when I told you how helpful You Tube was.

I found some videos that prepared me for cutting my husband's hair and eventually I will cut my sons hair too.  I like their hair a little longer and not buzzed.  Below are the ones that I found most helpful.

My Step by Step Haircut For A Child, Boy, or Man (Part 1) Easy Hair Style Cutting Tutorial (Extremely helpful!):

And Part 2:

Of course when I did my husband's I used the first guard (the one that keeps the hair the longest) and used the clippers on it till towards the top and then I used scissors on the top.

I have yet to do my boys but my husband's turned out really good.  I guess I will get to keep practicing.  I mean its just hair it does usually grow back right?

Kitchen Tip Tuesday - Simplify - Move your dishes lower

I rearranged the kitchen last week and moved all of our dishes to our lazy susan.  We do not have a lot of cabinet space nor do we have an actual pantry so this is why I chose the corner cabinet.  I did this so our 6 year old could unload the dishwasher all by himself.  If you have kids and they haven't been helping you out in this way I would work on reorganizing your kitchen so it makes it very easy for them to do so.  My 4 year old puts the silver ware away.

I know that it is good for him to do this.  He also has been asking for some specific toys.  He already has daily chores that he does but we have added a few optional money chores for him to do so that he can earn money to buy the things he wants.

Unloading the dishwasher is a money chore at this point but he is usually willing to do it. In fact he has never refused.  I haven't told him it is optional.

I have him unload everything and for the bigger bowls and such that is up higher he just puts them on the counter for me to put away.  

What do you do to make it easier for your kids to help?

For more ideas see:

Making my Life a Little Easier @ Passionate Homemaking
Creating a House with Built In Character @ Home and Harmony

Simplify with MIT's (Most Important Tasks)

Well, I had just come off of 8-10 weeks of "morning" sickness and some serious exhaustion and here I was feeling so much better and thinking we were on the upswing.  So much was going well and the week went great when out of no where my daughter threw up.  The first time in her four and a half years of life that she threw up.  And she didn't just do it once but several times throughout the night - so much for sleep.  Then just as we crossed that hurdle and thought all was well, a day and a half later my two and a half year old also threw up and that was the first time in his life too.

I will spare you the rest of the details but lets just say the whole family was better and then worse within the span of this past week.  I will say I have never felt that sick or been that still my whole life.  I will also say food just seems awful at this point and I have lost a good 5 lbs. in about a two day period.  So I should be posting my menu plan but I can't even think about that right now.

My point to telling you all this is that sometimes in life we do still need a plan but we must drastically alter that plan depending on the season.  I am a list maker and a planner, not by  nature, but by necessity because otherwise, nothing would get done around here.  I was doing the 10 goals along with Money Saving Mom but decided 10 was too ambitious at this point, that is when I ran across the book Organized Simplicity.  It was a free download for my Kindle App (on my Android phone).

She had a chapter in there that talked about her daily docket.  What really got me was how she organized her daily docket.  She limits herself to 10 things on her to-do list but then she takes her 3 top priorities for the day and those are her M.I.T.'s (most important tasks) - jackpot!  I can do that.  So I didn't have a printer at the time (my computer got a virus too - seriously, we were all sick, ha).  So I just wrote mine down on paper (gasp) and I made my three most important tasks.  And as you see on my paper, I did not cross off some things on my to-do list but all of my M.I.T.'s were crossed off (Sorry, MJ, I still need to send out your birthday present).

Someday, I may be back to getting it all done but as for today, I will just do the best I can with what I have and pray a lot.  I know that prayer works better than anything. 

And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.    Galatians 6:9

Real Life Simplified - Kids Clothes

Doing the kids' laundry is always such a dreaded chore for me. So many little clothes to hang up on little hangers.  I have tried all sorts of systems (just ask my husband).  I have tried hanging up everything and not having dressers and it worked but I just got  tired of hanging everything up and since my three children share one clothes closet (albeit a big one!) hanging everything up was not working.

So we changed things up.  Here is what I did - asked people for unused dressers sitting around their house.  I found one and I put it into the closet.  We have NO dressers in the bedrooms.  This was a tip I got from an organizational book I read a few years ago. 

Just threw this picture in because it was cute.

Step 1:  Go through all of the kids current clothes.  See how many pajamas they have.  I kept five pairs each and I think that is way plenty.  Next go through their clothes.  Ask yourself how many outfits can be made from these pieces?  I figured we needed 5-7 outfits plus a few grubbier outfits for play at home and a few (3-5) church outfits.  I try to keep neutral shirts to match with skirts or jeans to be worn to church or just whenever we go out so they do double duty.

Step 2:  Pack away clothes that are too big in tubs for next year.  Then grab a bag for the clothes you are getting rid of - pass them on or donate them.

Step 3:  Organize the rest.  I am nerdy so I made these clothes tags and I hang the kids clothes up behind the tags.

Step 4:  Follow through with your system.  I also label the drawers so the kids can put away folded items themselves.  We keep pajamas, socks, undies, etc. in the drawers.  I have my older son help hang up his clothes.   Just keep putting the clothes away where they should be and you will have a smooth laundry system.

Another thing we have been trying to do is having them put their pajamas under their pillows when they make their beds so they can re-wear them for a night or two.  This cuts down on the laundry as well.

I do want my kids to look nice but I am all for hand-me-downs.  We are fortunate enough to have a lot of clothes given to us (except for my older son) so we don't have to buy a lot of things.  Mostly we just supplement what was given to us.  When I go through the items (as I stated above) I keep a 3x5 card handy with each kid's name on it and write down what is missing - such as long sleeve white shirts or black shoes, etc.  I do this in the fall and in the spring.  Then I put it in my purse so I can look for those items when I am out.

Less clothes = less laundry = less space needed = happier mom

What I do to make my life easier . . . and harder

I am constantly searching for ways to simplify my life and in doing so tend to complicate my life even more.  I can relate to this post so well, How to make things harder and do nothing.

I have some good things that I do to make my life easier:

• Freezer Cooking
• Decluttering
• To Do List
• Chore Charts

And then I also have some things I do that make my life harder:

• Freezer Cooking
• Decluttering
• To Do List
• Chore Charts

Did you see any similarities?  It is because anything we do takes time, effort and commitment.  Once done it is a great help, but the getting there - that is the hard part.

Freezer cooking makes my life so much easier once the planning and executing is done and the food is actually in the freezer.

Decluttering is wonderful, after I have taken everything out of the cabinet and made the decision that I no longer use a certain item and then put everything I do use back into the cabinet.

To Do List are a must but then there is the writing out and the thinking through and then there is the inevitable huge dissapointment when yet again, not everything gets done and must be added to tomorrow's already growing to do list.

Chore charts - so easy and simple and already laid out, yet now comes the hard part - the actual doing of the chore chart and the consistency that must be accomplished.

I am always looking for ways to simplify my life.  I am reading books and articles and trying out different things.  But what I am coming to realize is that it is the day in and day out consistency of doing the mundane, yes even the ordinary, that makes for a simple life.

February Organzing Challenge - Photos!

I Heart Organizing's February Challenge is about photography.  This was a much needed challenge for me!  I really needed to come up with a system and I think I have a pretty good one now.

Here is what I do with my pictures.  I upload them every few days (or once a week) and I organize them like Jen @ I Heart Organizing does.  I "select all" the photos and then rename them the month and year.  Then I put all of them into the particular month folder (like 02 February 2011) and then I put that folder into the "2011 folder".

Here is how I rename the photos

Here is how I label the folders

My first back up is on Shutterfly.  I use Shutterfly to upload all of my pictures.  Pretty much every time I upload pictures to my computer, I immediately upload them to Shutterfly.  I make an album and label it with the year - 2011 and then the month or description such as 2011 April or 2011 Easter.  If I do this as soon as I upload to my computer it makes life so much easier.

Some of my Shutterfly folders

Also, I make a yearly family photo book every year with Shutterfly.  One of the reasons I do my Week in Review on my blog is so that I can easily turn that into a book at the end of the year.

Second back up - on CD.  This is something I have been very bad at, but I need to start doing it on the last day of the month so that I remember.  I have a lot of catch up work but now I will do it once a month.

 Third back up (is this a bit too much?) is my external hard drive.   It is a Seagate FreeAgent.  I back up all my files on it but not as much as I should so I am going to try to do that once a month too.

I have also just recently purchased this Advantus Cropper Hopper Photo Supply Case to put all of  my photos from years past.  I am also going to buy a prettier box to put all of my irregular sized photos in.

 This is my system and it does seem to be working well.  I have more work to do with backing up on CD's more and organizing more of my photos into my "Cropper Hopper".  The next big thing I need to tackle is getting my mini DVD's recorded onto regular DVD's.  One thing at a time though!

A Place for Everything and Everything in its Place

Lately, now this is going to sound weird, but I have more time on my hands.  I remember when that happened a few years ago and I actually had time to paint my nails (haven't done that since) but I started thinking how can this be?  And then I realized I have slowly (ever so slowly) been working towards a goal - A Place for Everything and Everything in its Place.

I have found this to be the KEY to everything going well during the day.   It has also been helping me keep peace in my home which as you may know is my goal for 2011. 
 
So next week I thought I would start sharing with you how I have been doing this and trust me, it is something we all can do.

I have just finally started figuring out what actually works and is doable and not only have I started formulating systems, but I have put them into practice (which used to be my downfall - I would come up with a system but never use it for long).

Now, these things are actually simple and not always the prettiest and I still have things I need to figure out and organize but my house is staying clean (mostly) and definitely almost always picked up (which is big for me).

This does several things for my family - makes my husband very happy and also teaches my kids to put things away and also allows us to be more hospitable and have people over.

So stay tuned for some ideas coming this next week that maybe you could use and share with me any ideas you have!  I am always looking for more good ideas.

Simplify - Children's Bible Time

Some of you know that I tend to overdue things (I know that's an understatement).  Yes, its true.  For some reason I think that I can't do things unless it involves 7 different steps with crafts and 4 different books.  I have tried several things for the kids as far as Bible goes.  I have tried a Circle time technique where we sing hymns, do some coloring/writing and various other things but I don't tend to stick with them long because it is a lot of work for me and the kids aren't overly thrilled.

Now, this past December when I did the Advent/Jesse Tree with the kids - it was easy, it was consistent.  The kids did not let me miss a day.  They enjoyed it.  They learned things about the Bible and they retained it.  I wanted to keep the momentum going so I was searching for books that were simple.  They didn't require a lot of prep and where the kids would be interested.  I read a lot of reviews for a lot of books and finally decided on this one.  I rented it from the library to try it out before I bought it, but so far we really like it.  It is called "One Year Bible for Children".

My husband and I do it together after dinner or before bedtime.  I also made a prayer box.  I used an old wipes container.  You have probably seen this a lot of places, but I took our Christmas cards from last year and put them in the container.  Each  night at Bible time the kids each pick one out and we pray for that family (or person).

 I just hot glued some fabric and ribbon to the box so it didn't look like a wipes container - nothing fancy.



Lastly, to stay on track with Bible memory for the kids, I use the "My ABC Bible Verses: Hiding God's Word in Little Hearts".  I type it up on a piece of paper and print it out and put it on the fridge and we go over it several times a day.







I am using this as my memory verse for the week too.  The book sometimes uses half the verse for the kids but I use the whole verse for myself.

 

The last thing I need to work on is maintaining the memorizing for myself and the kids.  I have seen this system so I am thinking of using that with a three ring binder and every week I just put the verse from the fridge into the binder so that we can go over it.  I will work on that next week.  If someone has a suggestion as to how they retain their memory verses I would love to hear that.  For me, I just try to go over a page of my verses at a time and my Bible study girls just randomly ask me them but right now I'm not doing too well at that!

This is what we are doing right now.  It is working for us.  You know how I know it is working for us because we are doing it!  I would love to hear what everyone else does.  Leave a comment if you would.

I just know that if things are fairly simple they will get done.  I want the kids to learn and I want us to memorize and this is getting the job done.

Frugal Friday - Less is More - Letting go of technology experiment, part 2

**Don't forget to enter my picnic pack give-a-way!

After reading Better Off I am challenging myself to see if I can do without certain technological items that I have been used to using  (See my first experiment here).  My second experiment begins with something I hold very dear to my heart - my coffeemaker.  We purchased a Bunn Coffeemaker a few years ago and it has been wonderful.  I start my coffee and it is ready in under 3 minutes (which my husband and children appreciate because it means I am a nicer person within 5 minutes).

My husband and I get Lehman's catalog which has LOTS of non electric items.  I love reading it.  I was inspired to see if I could try the old school coffee percolator that you use on your stove top (but if you are really roughing it you could use it camping as well).  It does not require filters so there is another savings (although my husband  did point out that filters cost hardly anything).

I received a gift card for my birthday so I am going to try out the Farberware Percolator.  I really think I should learn to like drinking hot tea, but for now I don't want to do without my coffee.

Another savings that may be expected is that with the Bunn, you keep it plugged in all the time because it keeps the water that is in the resevoir heated so that you can have hot coffee anytime in a matter of minutes.  I pointed this out to my husband after he said we would still be using electricity for the stove top percolator.  I think that 10 minutes of stove top electricity has to be less than 24/7 electricity - right?

Anyway, for this weeks challenge that is what I am doing.  Baby steps right, I mean I am doing this while sitting in my air conditioned house and typing on my wireless laptop.  So don't think I will be going Amish on you anytime soon.

After using my percolator for several days here is what I have found.  I have timed it twice now and the directions say to start with cold water which I do.  It takes it between 10-15 minutes to really start boiling. Once it is boiling you have to turn the heat down to medium. You know it is percolating when you see the water coming up through the spout in the middle.  Once it is boiling, you have to boil it for 5-7 minutes.  I usually set my timer for 6 minutes.

Now it does take longer than my electric coffee maker and you do need to be close by to make sure you know when it boils and that it doesn't boil over.  This usually isn't a problem for me because I am usually loading or unloading the dishwasher or fixing my children their breakfast and milk.

One nice thing about it is that the coffee is pretty strong, but not too strong.  I have been using my homemade creamer and I like it pretty well.  The coffee is also a LOT hotter than when you make it in your electric coffee maker.  Once I make the coffee I pour it into a thermos that we have so I can keep it warm to drink more cups.  You can dump the coffee grounds into a bowl to put into your garden (or compost pile).  Then I just rinse it all and let it dry and put it away.  I wash it with soap about every 3 days and it does not take long.  Now, I am giving this some more time to see if I like it or not but for now, I will be making the effort and it will be one less small appliance that I have on my counter.  I am keeping my Bunn for now to see how it goes.

I'm interested to see if anyone else has made a conscious effort to lessen their technology.  If so, please leave a comment and tell me about it!

For more frugalicious ideas (I just made that word up) please visit Life as a  Mom.

Make your own Swiffer Update!

I posted earlier about wanting to try to make my own Swiffer duster refills. Well, today I did just that. And, I even used it to dust. I can't remember when I have been this excited to dust, ha!

I used the instructions from this post. Here is step-by-step how I did it.

I cut out 2 8x8 inch pieces and 2 4x6 inch pieces of 2 microfiber cloths which I got at the Dollar General for $2.00. Actually my 8x8 is more like 7x8 but I used what I had.

Then I lined up the smaller pieces on each large piece making sure the small piece was centered. I then sewed each small piece to each large piece with just a line down the middle. I had brown thread in my sewing machine so I just used it!

I put the two large pieces together with the smaller pieces facing outward. I marked a 1 1/4 x 6 inch area out with a black marker and sewed along that line.

I tried it on and it fit pretty well. I made some slight adjustments by sewing a little more for a more snug fit! Then I just snipped all around the edges, and here is the end product! Not pretty, but it does the job:

So either I am super frugal, or I have too much time on my hands. Can you tell it is raining here today!

See more Frugal Friday tips from Biblical Womanhood.

**UPDATE - after washing mine in the washer it became a bit frayed. I just wanted to let you know that. You can still use microfiber just be aware of the fraying or you can try fleece. I haven't tried that but I may soon.

Savings Saturday - Saving without using Coupons, Part I

Several people have been posting lately about how competitive it is getting to see who can buy the most stuff for the least amount of money. I have been trying to figure out ways to cut my grocery bill using coupons and without using coupons. Full disclaimer – I currently use coupons, but I have friends that don’t and I want to create ways to save even if you don’t.

Cleaning products
There are a million posts on how to clean with vinegar and baking soda. Here you can find out how to make your own. You can also use Shaklee’s Basic H to make several natural cleaners.

I use Shaklee products and I really like them, but when I run out I may make my own cleaners which I have done in the past.

A great post on this subject can be found here.

Toiletries
This one is trickier. Many people believe that homemade toiletries aren’t as good as store-bought ones.
There are several body products that you can make. You can go here to check out which body products you can make and how, and there are more ideas here .

There are even many books written about natural body products. If you do make them and you have had success, please share that and the recipe!


If you would rather not make your own, you can play the CVS game. Even without coupons you can do some of the deals and make it worth your while check out this site to see how.


Paper Products
I personally am trying to cut out most paper products. I definitely still use toilet paper. I try not to use paper towels even though we do have them in the house for really gross things like your child throwing up (which happened last week!)
I only buy paper plates when I have birthday parties.
I am using cloth diapers most of the time and even started using cloth wipes (except for poppie diapers!).
But if you still want to use paper products I would suggest trying the CVS game or the Walgreens Rebate program. Even if you had coupons for these items they usually are only $0.25 or $0.50. You can also buy store brands or go to Aldi’s. I warn against CVS brand of toilet paper – it is only one-ply!

This post also has some very good information. I probably wouldn't do all of it, but I would consider most of it!

Meat/Poultry
This is one thing that I don’t scrimp on. I buy grass-fed beef from a local farmer. I am now starting to buy my chicken the same way. It is more expensive, but worth it to my family.
You could start having a vegetarian meal twice a week. You can do meatless lasagna or a bean dish.

These are some ideas to cut your grocery budget if you do not use coupons. I will be talking more about this next week. What ways do you save without using coupons?

Simplifying my life . . .

I really am not attached to stuff. I never have been. It works well in my marriage because my husband cannot stand too much stuff. Shortly after we got married we went through everything we had (Ha! We just got married. We barely had anything!). We made a big pile of stuff in our living room and gave it all away. So one thing we got rid of is sheet sets and towels.

Why would we do that you ask? Simplify, less laundry, less space to store those things. There were only two of us in the house. How many towels do you need? You might need two per person and then a few extra for guests. Also, how many sheet sets can you put on a bed at one time? So we went down to two sheet sets. Well, we do have a few more than that now. We have two winter sets (I love flannel sheets in the winter). I believe we have 4 regular sheet sets, two for our bed and two for our fold out couch when guests come. My stepmom regularly makes fun of me for having like one wash cloth per person (we have more than one).

But we don’t have a lot of towels. We have been hanging up our towels after we dry off with them for a while now. This is what my husband did growing up. So that means you don’t need a lot of towels, and you also do less laundry. My husband says, “Well, you were clean when you dried off with them so how dirty could they get?”

So there you go, those are a few things that work for me. I should also mention my mother here. She is the queen of organization. She made me go through my closet quarterly in high school and get rid of things. So I do come by the simplifying thing honestly.

Check out more great tips at Rocks in My Dryer!