Carpet-Saving Secrets

I am constantly saving other people’s carpets by introducing them to this AWESOME product!

Many professional cleaners are familiar with the Don Aslett cleaning supplies brand, but too few homeowners know about his great stuff because you can’t find it at Wal-Mart. Just another reason y’all need to get out and shop the little guy, people!

But seriously, Don Aslett’s 3 Way Spotter  is more than a spot remover; it has an enzyme that completely annihilates body fluids from carpet fibers: think pets, potty-training accidents, or sick kids who can’t quite make it to the bathroom on time. Wash down the carpet, then treat it with Don Aslett’s magic spray, and a couple of hours later, you can rub your nose in this carpet and you won’t smell anything but fresh carpet. Amazing. No other carpet cleaner does this, trust me. I am a mother of five with two pets and no other cleaner comes close!

I also use it on furniture and mattresses with the same, beautiful result: no stains and no smells remain every time!

(And don’t even get me started on the powerful toilet cleaning system Aslett sells, or you’ll *really* get an earful!)

Time to LOVE Housework!

Several months ago I wrote a post that shared my epiphany about Falling in Love With Housework.  Today, I realized that I forgot to include one very important aspect of daily life that will do more to help me love my homemaking tasks than any how-to or self-help book!

The missing element: God.  I learned this from today’s posting at Bia’s Blog, entitled Finding God in the Mundane. 

Grazie, Bia, for helping believing homemakers find more joy in their daily tasks–you are an inspiration! 

The Perfect Books for Summer Reading!

What a wonderful series of books I have discovered!  After a gruelling semester of full-time grad school and teaching children in my home school, my mother referred me to the enchanting Mitford book series as a great way to relax and enjoy the summer.  She was right!

I wish I could put into words the inspiring, even therapeutic, effect that this book has had on my soul in recent days, but it is impossible to describe.  My advice: go out and read this book yourself!  You won’t be disapointed! 

It says on the cover that At Home in Mitford (The Mitford Years, Book 1) is a New York Times bestseller–I am not at all surprised.  Millions of readers can’t be wrong! 

What are you waiting for?  Get down to your local library and get a copy!  This book is not to be missed!

Great Freebies for Frugal Types

Special thanks to Monica at the Homespun Heart blog; her posting about freebies and rebate shopping really opened my eyes to the possibilities for saving if I just pay attention to my circulars!  Here it is:

Super Savings!

Organizing Time!

Check out these photos!  I spent some time organizing today and want to share what I did:

First, we have the kids’ game cupboard which has been a mess since holiday visitors and their children descended upon our home almost daily for a month . . . it was a disastrous mess with pieces, loose cards, and puzzle parts scattered in-between overstuffed boxes that had been hastily stuffed by children in a hurry to play more games with cousins and friends.  I’m not as good as Lara the Organization Expert yet, but I’m working on it!  So here is my game cupboard now:

Following Deniece Schofield’s sage advice in Confessions of an Organized homemaker, I put the puzzle pieces in Ziploc bags with puzzle boards in a separate pile (bottom shelf); this way they don’t spill all over the place when children rummage around for the puzzle of their choice.  (Even better: I need to get me some of these awesome organizing bags, instead!)  I also put cards/card games in that little blue basket on the bottom shelf to help keep the “small stuff” from making a mess.  The big white Rubbermaid tub is full of play-dough and play-dough dishes, cutters, accessories, etc.

Next it was time to find a better home for our coloring books and crayons:

 

My children are compulsive artists whose “cubby” for coloring books was a perpetual mess!  So today I found a little corner in the bottom of our computer armoire!  This armoire has a space in the bottom where you are supposed to put your CPU but because we have a laptop, I decided to make this the place where we keep all coloring books and crayons.  I love the idea of having them in the armoire, where I can close the doors and ignore their presence when I want to! 

What about you–any other organizing tips for me?  I love to learn new ways to keep things in order and the house tidy, so please share!

* here is an example of a mom who has got laundry organization figured out!  I can’t wait to try this! *and check out this gal’s tips on organizing a pantry–amazing! 

On Using Time Wisely

Let’s talk about free time and how it is spent.  From my own informal polling, I have learned that most people spend it in front of the television, watching a movie, or reading a book if not out with friends to eat, drink, or see a production of some sort (stage, cinema, concert, etc.)

Philosopher Mortimer J. Adler often voiced concern about the way we use our leisure time.  In times past, laboring families worked from sun up to sun down to keep their families alive while wealthy classes enjoyed “leisure time” and gentlemen were considered “men of leisure.”  Today, however, ALL social classes are allowed time for leisure, but we don’t use it as Adler thinks we should. 

First of all, Adler said, we tend to confuse leisure with rest, mistakenly thinking that we have been “working for the sake of play, which is certainly a misconception of leisure [as] free time to kill in pleasure seeking.”   In the past, a person of leisure was one who spent their time learning the arts: science, mathematics, philosophy, theology, languages. etc.  (Think Thomas Jefferson, who, when not working as a politician/statesman, made himself into an expert architect, entomologist, linguist, and more–that’s how he used HIS free time)

So why do so many of us squander our time in pursuit of entertainment and amusements?  Why do we dedicate most of our “Free” time to pleasure-seeking pursuits?  Who taught us to seek constant entertainment as soon as we are done with our day’s work?

“There are limits in our recreation beyond which we cannot safely go.  They should be guarded in character and curtailed in frequency to avoid excess.  They should not occupy all, nor even the greater part of our time; indeed, they should be made incidental to the duties and obligations of life, and never be made a controlling motive or factor in our hopes and ambitions.”  —Joseph F. Smith (1838-1918)

Adler says our free time should be dedicated to learning.  I agree!  Once I got rid of the television, I started reading good books.  I followed the adult study program in a book called The Well-Educated Mind and I LOVED the things I was learning!  I soon found that without TV I had SO much free time that I was able to go back to school in pursuit of my Master’s degree–a much better way to spend those hours of leisure, no?

We have a family in our neighborhood whose father built them a large, new home and he did it in his spare time!  Every evening after work, instead of plopping down in front of the tube, he went to the library to study architecture and construction (he had never built anything before) and then he bought a plot of land and went to work.  It took him two years because he only had a few hours he could work on it each day, but those evenings were so well-spent that he is now going back to school to pursue a doctorate because he needs another project to fill his leisure time–he doesn’t want to find himself seeking amusements like so many do.

How else could a person use their leisure time?  Please comment and let me know–once I’m out of school, I don’t want to fall into the “amusements” trap again! 

*Author’s note: I am still a work in porogress; once finals were over last semester, I devoured three seasons of The Office on DVD–I’m still not as good at using my time wisely as I need to be!

The RIGHT way to use a calendar

If you have a bulletin board that looks like this, listen up!  My life got a whole lot easier after I learned the right way to use a planner/organizer.  Before, I used to write things in my planner, then forget to look in the planner, thus missing appointments, forgetting to return library books, and sending belated birthday cards to relatives and friends.  Now, however, I am much more organized because of Deniece Schofield’s organization ideas!

 In our world, according to Schofield, list-making is a popular pastime, but it rarely gets us anywhere.  All those grocery lists, to-do lists, reminder notes from school, wedding invites, and newspaper clippings, can cause us to lose control of our life and the home can get cluttered.  Schofield describes this mess perfectly:

Before you know it, you are overrun with lists and reminders.  You have recipes and lists written on the back of check deposit slips, on the bottom of Kleenex boxes, and in the margin of the newspaper.  The refrigerator is covered.  Notes on bulletin boards are stacked club sandwich style, and there’s a rubber band around your wallet to keep all the papers from falling out.  –Confessions of an Organized Homemaker: The Secrets of Uncluttering Your Home and Taking Control of Your Life,  p. 36

And so I implemented Schfield’s system and now I am able to juggle all the lists just fine.  Basically, you have to live out of your planner!  If the dentist gives you an appointment card, hurry and jot it in the calendar section of your planner, then throw it out! If you get a wedding invitation, jot it in the calendar then throw it out.  If you have library books to return, don’t set them on your countertop as a reminder (that makes clutter!); simply put them back in the bookbag and jot a reminder in your calendar to take them back.  If you have a coupon for a free loaf from the bakery, don’t stick it on the fridge!  Put it in your wallet, then jot a note on your errands list (also in the planner) to remind you to go get the free loaf.  Soon you’ll be looking in your planner more often, because you use it for everything!

Here’s another of my secrets:  The best planners out there are the Franklin-Covey planners, but they cost way too much for a frugal gal like me.  Luckily, Franklin-Covey sells more economical versions of their awesome planners at Wal Mart and Target.  (Note: I find the Target versions to be cuter–with matching totes and purses–, more durable, and with better page styles than the Wal Mart versions.) 

Thanks to Schofield’s book, my fridge has a clean, white front and I don’t have a bulletin board anywhere.  I do have a large calendar on my wall for “family” reminders so the kids know the date when doing homework and so husband knows what our plans/appointments are (because I don’t want him disturbing my planner!).

This next semester will be my first as a full-time grad student, so I am starting now to get my calendar pages and planner pages in order for the upcoming semester.  This is very important because in addition to grad school, I am still teaching my children at home, running a business, volunteering as president and newsletter editor of our homeschool group, training for a marathon, and taking piano lessons.  It all worked fine when I was a part-time student, but full time? Who knows?   I’ll let you know how it goes . . . . .

The Dilemma of “Too Much Stuff” part 2

The best advice on de-cluttering and organizing one’s home can be found in Confessions of an Organized Homemaker: The Secrets of Uncluttering Your Home and Taking Control of Your Life.  I want to quote an excerpt here, to prepare our minds for Christmas, which always brings an explosion of “Stuff” into our homes:

Organize with the zeal of a gladiator.  Initially you may experience feelings like: “As soon as I get rid of this battery-operated self-stirring saucepan, I’ll break my arm or something.  Then I’ll wish I had it back.”  Its okay to feel that way.  I’m sure gladiators were scared, too.  But that didn’t stop them.  Discarding and sorting has a cathartic effect.  Pretty soon your cold feet will warm up as you discover how fast you can find things and put them away.  Trust me on this one.  Get rid of your lemon reamer, your English muffin breaker, and your baked potato stuffer, and see if I’m not a woman of my word!”

Schofield then goes on to list different strategies for sorting, organizing, and discarding, but the principle here is priceless: don’t be afraid!  You know those freaky homes you see on talk shows where the owners have developed a mental illness that causes them to hoard until their house is a literal dump?  It all started with FEAR–fear of parting with possessions because they might need them later.  Don’t let that fear trash on YOUR home and YOUR life!  Live simply, toss the stuff, and enjoy the free time that results! 

The Dilemma of “Too Much Stuff”

Does your home look like this??  If so, it is definitely time to get rid of the clutter!

“My difficulty is dealing with all the STUFF I need help organizing and figuring out where on earth to put it all–or just someone to help me figure out what to get rid of altogether.” Thank you Epistles from Echowood  for bringing up this very important topic!  The problem of “too much stuff” or clutter was a major issue for me, too until my friend, Brandi, told me about in article in Parents Magazine that saved her life!  I wish I had a copy of it, but here’s the gist of what it said: 

Women today have too much on their proverbial plates.  Long ago, children were lucky if they owned even ONE toy.  By the 1950′s, even children from affluent homes owned MAYBE three or four possessions: a ball, a doll, a bike/skateboard, and a book, that’s it.  Modern-day homes are overflowing with toys: legos, blocks, barbies, cabbage patch dolls, Pokemon cards, Little People, video games, Disney books, Dr. Seuss books, happy meal toys, puzzles, games, stuffed animals, and at least ten hot wheels cars.  Kitchens also have more dishes and gadgets; family rooms have large entertainment centers full of videos, DVD’s, video games, remote controls, and more.  That is a ton of STUFF to care for, compared to what our predecessors had to deal with!

 After hearing about that article, I decided that the best way to keep the house clean and save my sanity was to get rid of almost everything that wasn’t a necessity–no kidding!  My kids never missed the toys I donated to goodwill and now I enjoy a clutter-free home!  I got the courage to do this from a friend with a spotless house whose children are allowed one shoe box of toys.  If the box is full, they have to give something to goodwill in order to make room for new birthday presents, otherwise mom gives them away.  What a great idea for stress-free living!  If you worry that your children might miss the hundreds of toys that clutter your home, read this: 

In her book My Grandfather’s Blessings, Dr. Rachel Remen tells of becoming good friends with a couple and their young son, Kenny. When she visited, she would sit on the floor with Kenny and play with his two Hot Wheels cars. Sometimes she would have the one without a fender and he had the one with a door missing and sometimes vice versa. He loved those cars!  When a gas station chain offered a Hot Wheels car with every fill-up, she recruited the staff at her clinic to go to that particular station and collect the cars. As soon as she had all of the models, she wrapped them in a big box to take to Kenny. She hoped she wouldn’t offend his parents, who lived quite meagerly. Kenny excitedly opened the big box and took out the cars one by one. They filled the windowsills and even extended to the floor. What a collection! Later, while visiting the family, Rachel noticed Kenny just staring out the window. When she asked Kenny, “What’s the matter? Don’t you like your new cars?” he looked down very sheepishly. “I’m sorry, Rachel. I guess I just don’t know how to love so many Hot Wheels.” –David H. Burton, “More or Less,” New Era Magazine, Nov. 2007, pp. 2-6.

A Tip for Overworked Homemakers

I know too many women who struggle with feelings of inadequacy, depression, or anxiety in contemplating the monumental tasks they are trying to accomplish in their homes.  Mothers are the busiest people I know: they do the daily duties of housekeeper, laundress, childcare worker, chef, secretary, gardener, nurse, chauffeur, and more (not to mention working moms, who do all that PLUS a full-time job!)

Those of you who know me personally know that I work from home as a genealogist.  As such, I spend a lot of time in historical records, from which I have learned a lot about the home life of women in times past.  Today I want to share a secret to successful homemaking that many modern-day women might not know: homemakers of the past had HELP!

I don’t mean servants, either.  Sure, the wealthy classes had servants, but working-class families had help, too!  When doing research in U.S. Census records, for example, I often find lower-class families with extended family members or boarders (usually teenage girls) living in their home to help mom keep house.  Here are some examples from the 1880 Census:

After each person’s age, the census lists how they are related to the head of household then it tells their occupation.  Notice how one of the members of this household (Minnie) is a 20 year-old ”sister in law” whose occupation is servant.*

This family has an 18 year-old named “Lizzie” whose occupation is “helper in kitchen.” This was very common in the homes of earlier generations.  My own grandparents had teenage “helpers” to help them keep house in the 1950′s, even though they were a low-income family.

Have you ever read A Midwife’s Tale? It is a Pulitzer prize-winning book about the 1700′s diary of a New England midwife.  This book, as one of my favorites, is very validating to overworked housewives who might be too embarassed to admit they need an occasional cleaning service or babysitter!  In this book, the midwife–Martha Ballard–is a full-time homemaker who helps deliver the babies born in her village.  Many of Martha’s diary entries make reference to the young women she employs to help keep her home in order:

Many entries say things like: “The girls washt & scourd the East and bedroom floors”  and “My girls have made me 2 Barrils of Soap this weak.”   At one point, after Martha employs a new group of girls to help her at home, the book says, “with a new set of helpers in place, Martha was free to serve her neighbors.”  (161)

I applaud those women who are trying care for home and family all alone, without any help.  But I sometimes worry that too many women are overwhelmed and overburdened at home, so I want them to know: it is okay to get help! I often employ a teenage girl or family members to help me get things done and I love all the quality time this buys me–time to spend bonding with children, dating my spouse, and serving others!  The women who went before us had help–why shouldn’t we?

*The title “servant” can mean that this young woman worked as a servant in another home; she also may have earned room and board at brother’s home by helping out around the house when NOT at work.  Further research reveals the truth; I’m just giving a brief look at this family to prove a point!