A few helpful hints in answer to some random questions.

When my kids were all home and we were homeschooling I was frequently asked about managing meals, laundry, housework, and school without losing my sanity.  Even now with all but one moved out and on their own I still get asked the same questions but usually in reference to the frequency of visits from grandkids.  

There is an old nursery rhyme that lists the days proper to the chores that happen at home that has somewhat governed my life since I was a young kid.  

Wash on Monday Nursery Rhyme lyrics, origins and history Wash on Monday, Iron on Tuesday, Bake on Wednesday, Brew on Thursday, Churn on Friday, Mend on Saturday, Go to meeting on Sunday.

Now of course in this modern world brewing and churning aren't part of the list but basically my list goes like this:

Wash and clean on Monday

Iron and cook on Tuesday

Clean and errands on Wednesday

Mending and washing on Thursday

Shop on Friday

Family on Saturday

Church on Sunday

Now before I go further these aren't written in stone. Many weeks are quite fluid for me because my family and their needs always come first, but because I try to keep to the schedule and not let any one thing go there is always freedom to rearrange things to accommodate something else.

The best thing that has happened to the modern woman is all of the small appliances and conveniences in the kitchen and many women I know under use these conveniences.  They may be in possession of crock pots but they sit and gather dust.  The bread machine, rice cooker, steamer, and other small appliances were exciting when they were purchased but since may sit in a cupboard being forgotten and not saving the time that they promised to in their ads. Ladies I strongly suggest that all of these conveniences be taken out, dusted off, and take their place in your kitchen.  You will be surprised at the savings in your food budget if you start cooking at home rather than buying prepared or take out.  The health benefits cannot be over stated either.

I hope to be able to take a few blog posts to expand these ideas and perhaps help others save a little time, money, and, believe it or not, money in their own homes. I am not perfect by any stretch but I

do manage to do quite a lot with quite a little in the way of food budget.  I sew and sell what I make and manage to do that without guilt while keeping my home neat and clean and my family fed with homemade meals and not resorting to pre-packaged or take out meals.

Let's attack laundry first.  When the kids were little we used to call the laundry that accumulated Mt. Washmore.  Believe me with 6 kids in the house (5 of the boys!) and one farmer husband Mt. Washmore was no exaggeration.  My solution to the problem was to pair up the kids, big with little, assign them a day and teach them to use the washer and clothesline.  Each of the kids learned quickly that life was not a fashion show, lightly worn things could be re-worn the next day, and clean laundry needed to be put in the drawer right away thus preventing the re-washing of clean laundry.

Now I'm not saying that there weren't bumps but by and large this system worked very well until they all moved out.

Each one had a bath towel for the whole week ( after all when one showers the towel should get wet but not dirty afterward), sheets had to be done on laundry day, and if you missed your day you paid the penalty of having to wait until the next week for clean clothing. Sunday is not a wash day unless there were circumstances that dictated it and Saturday was for barn laundry and household laundry.

Even now with only MK here all the time and Matthew occasionally they both do their own laundry unless I am feeling nice and papa's work stuff only gets done on Saturday. The only change is that there is so little household laundry that I can do that with my sheets.

 Finally, though to some the clothesline may not seem like a convenience it really is.  Sure throwing stuff in the dryer, turning it on, and walking away may seem like the easiest thing in the world.  However there is the matter of forgetting and having to fold days later, stuff that has sat in the dryer and gotten too wrinkled to wear as is, and what about heavy towels and jeans that don't get completely dry on the first cycle? PU!!!!

Sheets dried on the line smell the best and make the room smell good too.  Jeans, sweaters, shirts, and towels hung on the line also smell better, shrink less in the drying, and show less wear then when they tumble in the dryer all of the time.  Sure the dryer is there if the weather is bad or you are in a hurry but I strongly recommend a clothesline.  Also the savings in either electricity or gas adds up quickly!!!

Next time my favorite topic, food and cooking!