A Series of Unfortunate Events

.....better known as how our lack of discipline and planning caused us to have to be total tightwads for a while.

We've had a lot of expenses lately, most of which I should have planned for, I just did not think about them. Since the first of the year we've had to buy dance recital dresses, pay for Mason to play baseball, I totally messed up the house payment (I was way too tired for multi-tasking and trying to understand a new banking system and GOOFED), the girls birthday and weekend getaway and a bunch of other junk. So, it seems that we are finding ourself in a position that requires being REALLY careful with our money, or more like we aren't spending any. Thanks to Mr. Dave Ramsey we have some savings, but we are trying not to touch it. We're not broke or poor (compared to most of the rest of the world we are truly wealthy), but we just need to be careful. And guess what.......I'm so THANKFUL that we are in this position. We've been living like a bunch of spoiled brats, not thinking about where our money is going or being careful enough with it so we could be generous in areas and this has brought me back to a place of frugality. I used to be so frugal and I loved it. It was so fun to save money. It sort of felt like beating the system and it impresses my hubby and I LOVE that! So this week I've found myself being self-controlled (go figure, guess I needed some work on those fruits) and creative and it's FUN! So what have I been doing.

~Yesterday I went to 2 stores and bought NOTHING! I didn't need anything anyway, so why do I feel compelled to buy something just because it's a good deal????

~We went to my Mom's for lunch (we actually do that most Sunday's so it wasn't very creative, but it did save me money) and we ended up staying for supper too. It was such a relaxing day and I didn't have to feed my family once. Mom had a TON of leftovers from my brother's birthday dinner, so we all ate those and we just had corn dogs for supper (None of us were very hungry after lunch anyway).

~Today I finally made homemade laundry detergent. I've had the ingredients for ages, but didn't have a 5 gallon bucket to make it in. I finally found a 2 gallon recipe. I didn't have a 2-gallon bucket either, but I did have a few old laundry jugs that we'd been saving (okay, okay they were just here because we'd all been to lazy to get them in the garbage). I made the detergent in a lg. pot on the stove and then poured it into the bottles. It will have to set up overnight before we can use it, but we still have a little store bought left. HERE'S where I found the recipe. I think I'll be getting more ideas from her site as well. I have read that this is fine for HE washers.

~I also found 2 bottles of half used fabric softener, so I diluted those with water. When I was a teen and lived with my uncle he did that all the time and it still worked great. I've read about another way that the Duggars do it (which you can find HERE), but I think my kids might make too big a mess with it their way so we'll stick to this for now.

We'll be eating out of the freezer and cabinets for a while, but honestly we should have been doing that anyway. To be truthful we will financially be back to normal in a few days, but I'm praying I'll get back into my old frugal habits and stay there. I have lots of ideas on how to put some extra money to good use, so we are gonna be busy working to make those ideas become reality. This is gonna be fun!

Progress...

Seems that my girls had a bit of a revelation yesterday. On Tuesday we all worked very hard on the house. We are all working to change habits and pick up after ourselves as we go and on Tuesday we worked hard to get their chore rooms into shape. So, yesterday as the girls are doing their chores I was hearing lots of comments on how much easier it was to do them, since they had been done well the day before. I've been trying to tell them for the longest time, if you'll just put it away when you are finished with it, there will be no mess. Finally seems they get that point. Now we all just have to work to stay consistent and the housework load is going to seem very light.

Fly Lady

A blogging/Facebook friend of mine has recently been using FlyLady to get her home in order. I tried this several years ago when my kids were much smaller and I had a not so lovely attitude. I'm thinking I'm at a point in my life now that I could really make a go of it and considering how much I'm wanting to get things in order I think this might just be a step in that direction. I will probably not follow it to a T, but try to fit it to our lifestyle, but it will surely help to get me on the right track. I was wondering if anyone else might want to jump on the bandwagon and let's hold each other accountable. You should really check it out.

www.flylady.com

Revised Chore Schedules for the Kiddos

This is a copy of the kids chore schedule that I just revised. They have checklists in each room, but do not currently have to check off what they have completed, but I will be revising those as well. They will have to check each thing off then let me know they are complete so that I can come check what they have done. This is an area that we have had problems with. Chores were not being done thoroughly and they are not staying on top of their zones each day. These schedules look pretty heavy, but they really are not. Mason doesn't have a lot of assigned chores, but he has to work alongside is Daddy and I often have him help me with extras as well. Patrick and I help them with the chores a great deal. We will take care of any laundry that does not get done and will do all the folding and hanging. He helps a lot with the kitchen in the evenings and I am constantly straightening countertops and tabletops. I will also be taking care of a thorough sweeping and vacuuming each day as well as meals, etc. If they do their chores well each day, their will be almost nothing for them to do the following day and even when they have big messes to clean they still have LOTS of free time. Hopefully we will stay on top of this and I will have time to work on some cleaning out and organizing in each room. I hope to take a room a week and get back on top of things. They will receive an added chore for not completing their chores or doing a poor job or if they are doing their regular chores well, they will be given the opportunity to do extra jobs for pay.

Weekly Chore Schedule

Keeli
Monday – Before School – Living Room and Bathroom
After school – Sort Laundry, Clean Toilet and Clean Your Room

Tuesday – Before School – Kitchen and Bathroom
After School – Wash 2 Loads of Laundry, Mop the Kitchen and Clean Your Room

Wednesday – Before School - Living Room and Bathroom
After School - Dust living room, Sort Laundry, and Clean Your Room

Thursday – Before School – Kitchen and Bathroom
After School - Wash windows in halls and stairs, wipe down front door, Wash 2 Loads of Laundry and Clean Your Room

Friday – Before School - Living Room and Bathroom
After School - Wash windows in living room, Sort Laundry and Clean Your Room

Saturday – Kitchen, Bathroom, Wipe Down Kitchen Cabinets, Help With Laundry and Clean Your Room

Kelsi
Monday – Before School – Kitchen, Halls and Stairs
After school – Wash 2 Loads of Laundry, Organize Bookshelves in Hall and Clean Your Room

Tuesday – Before School – Living Room, Halls and Stairs
After School – Sort Laundry, Vacuum Baseboards, Around Furniture and Under Tables in Living Room and Clean Your Room

Wednesday – Before School – Kitchen, Halls and Stairs
After School – Wash 2 Loads of Laundry, Mop Halls and Stairs and Clean Your Room

Thursday – Before School – Living Room, Halls and Stairs
After School - Wipe Down Walls of Bathroom and Clean Mirror, Sort Laundry and Clean Your Room

Friday – Before School – Kitchen, Halls and Stairs
After School – Wipe Down Appliances and Sliding Glass Door, Wash 2 Loads of Laundry and Clean Your Room

Saturday – Kitchen, Halls and Stairs, Clean Bathtub and Tub Walls, Help With Laundry and Clean Your Room

Mason
Everyday
Before School - Take Dirty Clothes to the Laundry Room and Put the Clean Silverware Away
After School - Take Out the Trash, Get the Clothes Out of the Dryer, Pick Up Your Shoes, Clothes and Toys from all the Rooms in the House and Clean Your Room.

Schedule for Helping with Supper
Monday – Kelsi
Tuesday – Keeli
Wednesday – Mason
Thursday – just Mom
Friday – Kelsi
Saturday – Keeli

Remember that these are your zones and you are responsible for making sure they stay cleaned and picked up all day. Make sure you check them before bed so they are ready for the next person the next day.

This all looks great on paper. We have not been great at following our schedules for long periods of time. I'm sure praying this time will be different. I really want all of my children to know how to keep a home well by the time they have a home of their own. It's really hard to teach that when you haven't figured it out for yourself....

Ch-Ch-Changes

It seems there need to be A LOT of changes going on around here. Changes in attitudes, behaviors, organization, time management, homeschooling, working, you name it. It also seems that there is not one of us in this house that doesn't need to be working on some of those things, especially me.

We've realized that we've let some things go with the kids, especially the youngest one, that we must get a handle on. Now don't get me wrong, we have AMAZING children, most people that know us would have no idea what needs tweaking, but God has revealed some things to us. The girls are usually pretty easy to bring around. They are older and really want to please the Lord (and us), so usually a conversation about the issue, what they should be doing differently and the potential consequence of not changing the behavior is enough to at least get them to work on it. My son, not so much, he's all boy and he's VERY busy and he thinks EVERYTHING is funny and we have really dropped the ball on a lot of things with him. Hubby and I plan to read (just as a refresher and to make sure we're on the same page) Kevin Lehman's book titled "Have A New Kid By Friday".

I am planning to re-read either The Excellent Wife or Created To Be His Helpmeet or both.

As far as Homeschooling goes. Things are mostly good. One daughter is finally caught up, the other is well on her way. The boy (as my husband often jokingly calls him) is a bit behind, but only for lack of attention span. Most of the revamping will be in his schooling. He's gonna need a lot more fun and a lot less workbook. I've also got to find more time to spend with all of them on their schooling, so the girls are not always having to do theirs alone and not always having to help Mason with his.

Work is improving, I still have a ways to go, but I am getting caught up. I plan to sit down tomorrow to try to figure out what else needs to be done to get me caught up and how long it might take that to happen. I then need to create some checklists to make sure that I don't overlook anything on my work days. It's hard to stay on top of all of it with all of life's distractions, so a checklist would be very helpful. I also plan to work on getting to the point that I'm only working 12-15 hours per week and getting all of those in two days, so I would have 5 days a week with no working. That would be FABULOUS!

I'm gonna try to get together a working schedule (or what I like to call order of events). We just seem so much more productive when we have one to go by. I also cooked some ground beef and put it in the freezer tonight. I'm planning on getting some more things like that done this week. I used to do a two week menu and go grocery shopping every two weeks. I also used to have a standing weekly plan for breakfast and lunch. I have got to get back to some of those things.

We've also got a lot of household projects to undertake in the near future. Gotta make a list of those, prioritize them and start pricing out the supplies.

So, to recap, things have gone a little wonky around here. My crazy work schedule, the added work of a new ministry, a ridiculous amount of illnesses, a complete lack of organization and time management have gotten us here and I have had ENOUGH! So here I go on a trek to get things here better than normal. I'll let you know how it goes!

Homemade Eye Make-up Remover

We have allowed our girls to begin to wear a small amount of make-up. I bought them a good waterproof mascara. When they took their showers last night they both came out with raccoon eyes. I had recently given the only eye make-up remover that I had away, so I began to look online for homemade recipes. I'm trying to make more stuff like this out of natural things, to help us avoid chemicals. This was one of the easiest things I've done yet. I modified what I found online a tiny bit and it worked FABULOUSLY.

All you do is mix equal parts canola oil and olive oil (you can also just use olive oil). I mixed 1 Tbsp. of each oil and added 1 drop of lemongrass oil for scent, but you could totally skip the added scent, I just like my stuff to smell good. Put it on a piece of cotton, gently wipe it over your eye, repeat until there is no residue coming off on the cotton. Then was your face as usual. Works great to get the make-up off and to moisturize the area around your eyes.

Some Cleaning Recipes

I am very interested these days in things we can make instead of buy. Don't know why exactly, but maybe partially because I am more concerened about chemicals and cost. Or it's just a season where I want to be a little more Suzy Homemaker. THIS blog post had several recipes that I might just have to try.

Great Resource for Printables

I just found this fabulous website. I printed out some planner pages, but there are tons of other cool printables for budgetting, menus, chores, student planners and all kinds of other useful stuff and they are all free. Just thought some of you might be interested.

Our Homes (with children in them)

I read this poem this morning and wanted to share it.

Excuse This House

Some houses try to hide the fact
That children shelter there;
Ours boasts of it quite openly,
The signs are everywhere.
For smears are on the windows,
Little smudges on the doors;
I should apologize I guess,
For toys strewn on the floor.
But I sat down with the children,
And we played & laughed & read;
And if the doorbell doesn't shine,
Their eyes will shine instead.
For when at times I'm forced to
Choose the one job or the other;
I want to be a housewife...
But first I'll be a mother.
-by Cindy Jacobs

Kids Room Cleaning Zones

I read this on a website yesterday. I think it may have been www.mymessyhouse.com . I decided to try to implement it. I think my kids will be less overwhelmed. It breaks their rooms down into different zones that they clean each day.
This is what I came up with for my 9 year old twin girls shared bedroom:
Monday – Laundry – Take all of your dirty clothes downstairs and sort them. Put away clean clothes (ask Mom if you’re not sure where they belong). Take out any clothes that you know don’t fit or are torn and give them to Mom.
Tuesday – Dressers – Clean off the top of dressers. Straighten drawers.

Wednesday – Toy Boxes (Barbie box, Dress up box and toy box) – Remove any toys that are broken and bring them to Mom. Take out anything else that doesn’t belong in them and put in the correct place.

Thursday – Bed – Clean out from under the bed. Put anything that doesn’t belong in the correct place. If your covers are messed up, then remake your bed correctly.

Friday – Chifforobe - Straighten drawers and shelves. Remove anything that doesn’t belong and put away. Make sure the door will close.

Saturday – Floor – If you keep up with your other chores daily and keep up with minor daily maintenance, the floor should be easy. Place dirty laundry in baskets; throw away trash, put away toys, clothes and shoes.
Bench – Make sure throws and pillows are where they belong on the bench. Fix canopy over bench.

Daily –
Keep a trash can with a bag in it at all times. Throw trash away as soon as you see it. Empty trash as soon as you see it is full.
Always put dirty clothes in the basket as soon as you take them off.
Put away toys and books as soon as you are finished using them.
Make your bed as soon as you get up.
When you leave the room and when you first come back in pick up what you see is out and it will not get messy.

This is for my 5 year old sons room. Of course someone will have to read it to him and help him implement some of it.
Monday – Laundry – Take all your dirty clothes downstairs. Make sure your clean clothes are in thebasket so Mom can put them away.
Tuesday – Red Toy Box – Make sure there is nothing in there that does not belong, if there is, then put it away. Take out broken toys and take them to Mom.
Wednesday – Blue Toy Box - Make sure there is nothing in there that does not belong, if there is, then put it away. Take out broken toys and take them to Mom.
Thursday – Beds – Clean out from under and behind your beds. Put everything where it belongs. Ask for help making up your beds.
Friday – Trunk & Dresser – Clean off your trunk and dresser. Put everything that is on them away.
Saturday – Closet – Make sure there is nothing in there that does not belong, if there is, then put it away. Straighten it up so it looks nice.
Daily –
Make your bed every morning before you come downstairs.
Put your dirty clothes in the basket when you take them off.
Put your toys up when you are finished playing with them.
Every time you leave your room and when you first come back in pick up whatever you see in the floor.

Who knows, if I find this works well for them, I may try it in my own room. I definitely feel less overwhelmed when jobs are broken down into smaller tasks for me. It makes it seem more attainable than to think I have to have the whole house done all at once or even that I have to finish the whole room at once. Besides, if we implement this and follow it, the rooms shouldn't really even get very messy