Managing All These Socks

One of the best perks about spring and summer is.....NO socks!  I love that time of year when we can rely on sandals and crocs most of the time.  It just makes life easier!

Yet, we do have to manage all the socks in this house, and this is the method I came up with years ago.  I figured out that the Hanes socks came in different colored toes for the varying sizes.  So, I chose a color for each kid....or for my some of my girls, bought the same color/size because they share a room and wear close sizes. 

The little girls wear pink or purple.  The boys wear gray or solid white.  My older girls have different socks, but they take care of their laundry, so their socks don't matter in terms of managing them.

The best part of this system is that the kids pull their own colored socks out of the whites pile and throw them in the drawer.  They don't even have to fold them together.  They're all the same, so they just grab two and go.

How do you manage socks in your home?  Please share!


Photo Credit

Meal Planning and Organization

If you struggle with getting meals on the table, or you wish it was easier and took less time, this may be for you!  I've posted this before and have received positive feedback.  The only downside I've heard is that there aren't a wide variety of Gluten Free recipes.  But perhaps that will get better as they increase fan base. 

Though it's a "service", you can plan up to three meals a week for FREE.  Not bad for minimal planning, or simply trying it out for a while.  But if you want the planning works, $5 a month is not bad at all.  Planning includes the meals, recipes, grocery lists, AND options to base your meals on your local grocery sales!  How cool is that!

Give it a try...and as always, please come back and tell me what you think.  Click on the image above to get started.

For other ideas in meal planning, check out how we keep our crew fed with little effort! :)




Another great find is this online organizer for getting your home in order.  As busy moms, having an organized home cuts down on stress and makes life easier.  However, finding the time and motivation can sometimes get the best of us.

Organize Yourself  takes you step by step, room by room, to get you organized.  There is even special tips for procrastination....which is so easy to do when you're feeling overwhelmed with clutter, right?  ;) 

If you've tried this, please tell me what you think?  If you'd like to check it out, click on image above to get started.

Happy organizing!

Quick Tip: Storing Bed Sheet Sets

This tip comes from Pinterest (via storageandglee.blogspot.com).

How clever is this? Simply store bed sheet sets right inside their pillow cases.

Love it!

Menu Planning

Pin It




One of the most rewarding aspects of motherhood is feeding my family. Putting meals on the table that will nourish and satisfy my husband and children bring a sense of joy and fulfillment to my heart. But it can also be challenging and overwhelming keeping a family fed three times a day, every day!

Growing up, my mom would write down meals for the week, and then compose a coordinating grocery list. So, when I got married, I did the same. Each week, for years, I would sit down and think about what we were going to eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. As my big girls got older, they too would help in this area.

But it was still a big job! Especially as our family grew. Often times, just sitting there thinking of what to eat was mentally exhausting.

One day it occurred to me....why not put this menu into a database, with the coordinating shopping list, and hit "SAVE"!!   And, each time we write a new menu, we'll do the same and eventually accumulate many menus from which we will rotate. Then, all we have to do is print off a menu and coordinating list and shop! 

So that's what we have done for the last seven to eight years. We now have about ten menus that rotate every two weeks. If we get tired of a particular meal, or want to incorporate a new recipe, we simply change it out on the database and adjust the ingredients on the list.  Done!  So much easier than starting from scratch each time.

For us, two week menus work best since my husband gets paid every two weeks.  In addition, I only have to 'big' shop twice a month instead of four.  But plan your menu according to what works best for your family schedule.  Whether weekly, bi-monthly, or monthly, having an organized menu plan will save time and money in the end.

Here is the menu we are currently using.  Click on image to enlarge.

And here is the coordinating grocery list.  (click on image to enlarge)

As you can see, this list contains only food items that we need for every recipe on the menu. If we need to restock other items such as cleaning supplies, paper products, or toiletries, we simply add them to the end of the list where it says "Other Items Needed".

The night before we shop, we print off our list and go through the freezer, fridge, and pantry and cross off anything we do not need.  For instance, we have yeast on the list because we bake breads, rolls, etc.  But since we buy yeast in bulk, we don't always need to restock it.  Same goes for Chicken Stock.  I almost always make my own, so I rarely have to buy it.  But, I have it on the list just in case I don't have any in the freezer.  It's always best to include all ingredients on your list, and simply cross off what you don't need.  The key is ensuring you have all the ingredients you need to prepare your meals so that you're not running to the to the store in a pinch.

What if I don't want to prepare or eat what is planned on that particular day?

Because we've shopped for everything on the list, we're free to swap dishes as we please.  If we've had a hectic day and there is a more labor intensive meal planned that day, we just switch out for something faster or easier to prepare.  Or, if another meal sounds better that day, we switch.  The important element here is that you have everything on hand, and you don't have to think about what to eat.  This also helps us to look ahead and get meat out of the freezer and into the fridge for thawing.

We try to balance our meals.  Some require a little more prep time or cooking time.  Some are quick and easy.  Some are cheap and some require more costly ingredients.  We like variety in the meals themselves, as well as the work involved.

What is FFY? 

FFY is Fend For Yourself.  Since we usually eat a big lunch on Sunday, dinner is usually clearing out leftovers, or making a sandwich, or snacking on fruit and crackers.  Greg and I tend to the little ones, but the older, capable kids fend for themselves!

In our family, life is so busy and there's much work to be done.  This menu system has saved a lot of time.....and gas.  Since we've shopped for everything we'll need, I'm not running back and forth to the store.  If we need milk or fresh produce, we make a stop while we're out running other errands.  The best part is...I never have to stare into the fridge, ominously trying to decide what to make for dinner. 

So how about you?  What are your favorite tips for feeding your family with efficiency?  Do you have any questions about my system?  Please leave a comment...I'd love to hear from you!

Photo Credit

Tackling Chores

Pin It




I've learned over the years that there are as many chore systems as there are families. This is a wonderful thing as it means families are creating methods that work for their unique family dynamics. 

But like most moms, I think it's fun to see how others are doing it.   Whether you want to fine-tune your own system, or you're just starting out trying to create one, find what works for your family. 

In my last post, I shared about our wonderful school day messes. Messes that reveal life in our home. And though we love those kinds of messes, we do enjoy a clean and tidy home. And in a family of our size, it requires everyone pitching in to keep things in order and running smoothly.

Here's how we do it. My system of chores involves everyone, covers all areas, and even includes those monthly deep cleans.  This is a standard sized poster board that hangs on our refrigerator so that it can be easily seen.  Click on image for larger view.

As you can see, each child is color-coded so that they can quickly recognize their name. Most chores are Monday thru Saturday, with only the essentials on Sunday. Each child finds their name and can quickly scroll down the left column of chores to find out what they're doing on a particular day.

Our daily chores are usually done three times a day.  If that sounds like a lot, you should see how quickly things go awry around here.  After breakfast, we run though chores for the first time in the day.  Then again after lunch.  And again, after dinner.  Doing this throughout the day helps keep on top of things and makes the work quick and less painful.

Beneath the Daily Chores, we have Weekly and Monthly.  The weekly chores are done every Saturday.  The Monthly chores rotate weekdays.  For example, every 1st Tuesday of the month, Sophia and Seth wipe the downstairs baseboards.  This allows everything to be covered, but spreads out the work over the month.

We begin training our children to pitch in as soon as they understand commands.  However, the youngest age that I actually have on the chart is our three year old, Genevieve.  She has chores such as dish helper, meal helper, feeding the dog, etc.  The "helper" chores are for the little ones in training.  When the little ones are working along side an older one, they're learning that job.  It was very rewarding to graduate Seth (10) and Sophia (8) to their own dish and laundry day, knowing they were capable of doing the task because they spent time learning as "helpers".  

If you only have little ones, allow your children to be your helpers.  I know some days it's just easier to get things done yourself, but teaching your little one early will be such a blessing later on.  If the thought of training little ones to do chores is overwhelming, just start with one...a chore that would be most helpful to you if your little ones could do it on their own.  Train them in that one job until they've mastered it, and then move onto another chore.  And remember, try not to have high expectations at first.  My five year old won't sweep as well as I do, but they'll get better as they grow.  Give them lots of praise for a job well done!

As our children grow, the chart gets revamped to either include new children who are big enough to accomplish chores or "upgrade" jobs as kids become more capable.  (Click here to see two of our older charts.) 

As a matter of fact, I'll be revamping again soon since my oldest daughter is getting married in January.  I'll need to remove her from the chart and divvy up her chores between the rest of us.  Doesn't that sound so sad?  Removing her from the chart?  I don't know..maybe she'll consider popping on over a few times a day to help out?!

Okay, probably not.  She'll be a bit busy managing her own home.

So, what are your favorite tips for keeping your home clean?  What are some of the chores your little ones do?  And at what age do they begin?

Revamping the Chore Chart

As our family continues to grow, it's been necessary to revamp the chore chart every so often. Whether due to a new home or kids getting older and more capable, it seems like I am revisiting this subject often.

This is a chart I made about three years ago. At the time, the youngest child on the chart was Sophia, who was three. As you can see, she only had the job of Toy Pick Up. I'm sure there were odd jobs we would ask her to do here and there, but this was the only official job she had. As our younger ones have gotten older, we've added them to the chart, but usually still beginning with one or two jobs at the age of three.

Our goal is to teach our children team work, service, and responsibility. Little ones love to be given jobs and their little faces just light up when you've encouraged them in their job. And I think the earlier we instill these attributes into our children, working together as a family becomes "the norm".

Here are their current ages: Chey 16, Celeste 14, Seth 7 (almost 8), Sophia 6, Chloe 4, Ethan 3. (Genevieve is 17 mos, so not officially on the chart yet. And of course, baby Jonathan is a newborn.) The most recent Chore Chart:

As you can see, due to number of "helpers" in the house, we all have very little to do day to day. I also have a separate Saturday chart with jobs like mowing, cleaning bathrooms, dusting, etc.

So what are some of the jobs your little ones are doing? And at what age do you begin actively training your little ones to do specific chores?

Mama'a Leaving

Mama's Leavin'

Just for the weekend that is. I'm heading to the Dallas/Fort Worth area for the WholeHearted Mother Conference. There's much to do before leaving on a trip, even if it's just the weekend. Besides packing for myself and the baby, there are a number if things I do for my family so that things will run more smoothly while I'm gone. My husband will be taking care of five of the kids while I'm away. I'll be taking the baby, of course, but also my 16 yr old daughter, who will be one of the group sitters. Between my very capable husband and my 13 yr old daughter, taking care of five kids won't be too difficult. Nonetheless, I feel better about leaving when I know I've made things as easy as possible for the ones left behind, especially when four of the five are young and require "all hands (and eyes) on deck". So, these are the things I've done in preparation for leaving.

Meals: Both my husband and 13 yr old daughter are wonderful cooks, but again, I want them to be able to focus on the little ones instead of preparing meals all weekend. So, I made three special dinners and put them in the freezer. All they have to do is remember to take them out to thaw and throw them in the oven. I bought bagged salads and breads to easily complete the meals. Lunches are simple too, one of which will be a picnic. Greg is the breakfast man, so he'll make things like oatmeal and pancakes. But there's also plenty of cereal as a back-up. The Friday morning they drop me off, they'll be making a doughnut run for breakfast. Meals will be no-brainers this weekend with little work involved.

Laundry: We usually do 1-2 loads a day. But since I will be gone, I don't want them to have to worry about keeping up with laundry, the girls and I have finished all of the laundry. Everything is put away and ready to go.

Itinerary: Don't laugh at this one! Every time I go out of town, I write out an itinerary for Greg and the kids. We talk about the things they'd like to do and I put it all together for them. It's filled with fun activities and outings. This weekend, they'll be going bowling, picnicing in the park, seeing a movie, going out for ice cream, and having an in-house sleepover complete with a movie and popcorn. They can't WAIT for me to leave. And that's the way I like it! They'll have so much fun, they'll hardly miss me. Knowing that their weekend will be just as special helps me to fully enjoy mine, even IF my husband makes fun of my "schedule" (lovingly, of course). He does appreciate it.....he just giggles whenever I mention an "itinerary". ;-)

So, all that's left to do is pack for myself and the baby. I'm looking forward to a wonderful weekend of fellowship, refreshment, and fun! And doing these few things before I leave ensures that my family is well taken care of and everyone will have a great time! ;-)

Cheese Grating, Large Family Style

This is a 5 lb. block of cheese cut length wise in half. It's so nice having a wide-mouth tube feeder and cheese grater attachment on our food processor. It takes us all of 10 seconds to grate 5 lbs. of cheese.

After you grate your cheese, store in an air tight container so it's ready to use!

Nice!

Recipe Tragedy

A Tragedy

Okay, so maybe tragedy is too strong a word, but you'll know what I mean once you read this! As you know we just moved. While we were unloading the truck here at the new house, we put out an ice chest full of sodas, juice and water for all of the hard workers. Just so happens, the box that was so nicely serving as the table for the ice chest had THIS in it.........

What is THIS? THIS is my recipe book! (Taking a deep breath, trying not to cry, lip is quivering as I write....) Somehow the naughty ice chest leaked and dripped water into the kind, serving box and saturated my entire recipe book. By the time we knew it, the damage had already been done! Years and years of precious recipes, now mold laden, has morphed into but a scary science project.

So the work begins to rebuild years of cherished meals and desserts one page at a time. I went to the store and bought a new binder along with PAGE PROTECTORS!!!!!! Live and learn, right? The girls and I will sit down and write, type, and print off as many recipes as possible whenever possible, although I'm sure it will take some time. Hopefully, we can remember the recipes that we can no longer read. And if you know me and have given me a recipe, you may get a call soon..........
This was our beloved Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Icing recipe........

A tragedy indeed, RIGHT???

The Race

The Race for the Finish

I hope that you all had a wonderful celebration of our Lord's birth. We had a great time of celebration, reflection, and fun! Hopefully, the kids will stay busy for at least two minutes with the new things they received this year!

Now that Christmas is over, I have this overwhelming urge to REorganize EVERYHTING again! I think this even goes beyond my nesting phase last week. We are prepared and ready for the home birth and definitely ready to meet this precious baby. But, as I look around the house, I see many things that need to be accomplished. As many of you know, organizing in itself is an ongoing event, especially in a large family, or in a family where Mom hates clutter. So, thankfully I have the desire and energy to get these things done. So yesterday, I began with a complete overhaul on my bathroom, with the help of my wonderful husband. Now it is fit for a laboring mama, complete with candles and new towels!

Next, it was time for another round of haircuts! I wanted to get this done before the baby, otherwise it won't get done after baby, at least for a while. Just Ethan's hair to go. After haircuts and dinner, while the rest of family watched a movie, Celeste and I cleaned every crack and crevice of Seth's room and closet! It was a disaster in there, and being that my mom will be staying in his room, it was definitely a priority, one that cannot be entrusted to a six year old! No, this was a job for MOM! And finally, after we finished in there, I actually had enough energy to tackle the playroom too! I am so thankful for this energy, because prior to my nesting phase, I had ZERO energy and didn't think I'd get anything done before the baby. It amazing how God gives us this burst of energy and excitement near the end of pregnancy so that we can prepare for the baby. I just have to be careful and not over do it so that I'll have what I need to get through labor, right? ;-)

Today will be another day of the same. First on my list is making another menu and grocery list. Many of know already that I have menus premade with coordinating shopping lists, but we seem to go through the five menus quickly so I want at least one more. This will give me six, two week menus, giving us a total of three months worth of meals. At least I can do this task sitting down! Ahhhhh! Next on the list is the pantry! It's been a year or so since I last conquered it, so it's time to go through again and get rid of the old and make room for the new. I got two new small appliances for Christmas and have no where to store them, so this is a MUST DO project today!

My final "to do" will be getting a post out to family about what's happening with each family member these days. I've wanted to do this for quite some time, and even began the post on Christmas, but it will be fairly lengthy, so I'll eventually get to it. After all, this blog was mainly started for family and distant friends to be able to keep up with the happenings of our family! Stay tuned........

Okay.......time to get to work! Have a great day!

MISSION: ORGANIZATION

Well, it's that time of year......the weather is FINALLY changing, so I think it's safe to pack away all of the spring/summer clothes and pull out the fall/winter clothes. I'm slowly collecting big bins and sorting clothes by gender and sizes. So far, I've got clothes somewhat sorted by sizes, but have boys and girls clothes in the same bins. My goal is to have MANY bins, one for each size and gender. This way I can grab just one bin as a child creeps into the next size without sorting through numerous sizes like I'm doing now. I'd just like to save any time and effort where I can. I'm keeping an eye out for good sales on those bins....as they can be expensive otherwise. I love to be organized and with an always growing family it seems to be an ongoing process, one that never comes to completion. I enjoy the challenge, though!

Another area in which we are doing some revamping is our homeschool schedule.  I have already created a schedule being that we are well underway with our school year. But, with the addition of our sweet little baby boy, I am seeing a lack of continuity in our school day. Now, some of that is to be expected with having a new, nursing baby in our home, but I definitely feel like there are some changes in which we can incorporate into our day to make things run more smoothly.

Part of my difficulty is that Ethan is not yet on a good napping schedule. I'm quite sure the other babies were on fairly reliable nap schedules by this age. However, sweet Ethan has not settled into one yet, and when he does nap, they're much shorter and sporatic. I know in time, though, he will settle into a regular pattern and we'll be able to accomplsh more in our school day.

Aside from a non-existant nap schedule, just the mere addition of one more baby requires some changes. I don't like to have some kids wandering while others are schooling. And I don't like the TV to be the babysitter for the little ones while I'm working with the big ones. So, this will require much thinking and creativity as to how I will come up with my grand schedule so that there will be peace and continuity in our home. I am rereading Managers of Their Homes and will attempt to create a schedule that will work and make us feel like we're accomplishing something each day and not just wandering in the wilderness. This schedule will look MUCH differently than our last few, so I'm looking forward to a smoother and more efficient home in the days to come.

The one area where I have accomplished organization and efficiency is our meal planning. For the most part, I have always planned our meals and and shopped according to our menu. But now, I have completed four master menus with a master shopping list to go with each menu. Each menu covers a two-week peroid, so with four menus, this gives us two months worth of meals (breakfast, lunch, and dinner). Once we go through all four, we just start over. I LOVE not having to think about what to eat or what we need at the store. If we want to incorporate a new recipe, I just make the change to the master list and it's done! Hurray!!! One area that has been conquered!! In addition, with two older girls who have been well-trained in the culinary department, mealtime has become the least of my worries, and something to enjoy!

Update:  We now have eight menus along with their master grocery lists.