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Homemaking Tips to Make Life Easier

June 24, 2020 by Tasha Hackett 6 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

Need some homemaking tips to make life easier? Yes. Me too…

Funny story (ok, it’s not actually that funny). I had a different post ready for today, then Tasha, who writes for me sometimes, texted me something like, “Hey I have something I really want to write today. Does that work for you?”

She pitched her idea, I quickly rescheduled my original post for a later date, and Tasha kicked out this post for us.

Hmm. So that story really wasn’t funny. It was pretty much just a story, and also, Tasha and I worked out a plan to take our little kids swimming tomorrow. Good talk.

One more thing (another funny story perhaps?) and then I’ll turn it over to Tasha: It is worth noting that I’m an older mom and she’s a younger mom, and now that I’m back to raising littles again, I found it weird at first to be an older mom hanging out with younger moms. Like, hello, I have a 23-year-old and other adulty children. But then God showed me how cool it is to hang out with younger moms like Tasha. We parent together, learn together, and who really cares how old we all are because we all just need each other for lots of different reasons.

God’s awesome, huh?

So hey, Tasha? Thanks for letting God use you to teach me stuff. And thanks for making it not-even-hard to hang out with friends who are different seasons than I am, except that oh yeah, here I am also in this “raising little kids” season again.

Truly, God is amazing.

Ok, now I’ll let Tasha have at it. I loved how she put all of this together. (And yes, I did read it. You’ll know why I said this when you keep reading her post…) :)

Homemaking Tips to Make Life Easier
By Tasha Hackett

I told my family I was working…

Homemaking is hard sometimes, but homemaking doesn’t have to be hard all the time. Just now I shut the bedroom door, settled into the corner of my bed (with no sheets because the 3 year old had an accident on my bed last night. Rude.) and I’m letting everyone else complete the morning chores. “I have to get another article written right away!” I said. Haha, and then I opened my homemaking bundle and went shopping. I’m sneaky like that.

Raise your hand if you would like to buy special and unique gifts but you never get to go anywhere because you have little people who do things like pee on your bed and you are so over it, but you still can’t go out because the baby takes two naps and then there’s this virus going around and who even knows if the stores are open?

So I bought some stuff online

Tasha here! (I’m Laura’s younger mom friend who likes to write stuff about money.) Currently my 8-year-old is walking around the house whistling while Dad is handing out laundry to put away. Can’t complain about the chores being done, trying not to complain about the whistling: “Which is not annoying at all,” said no-one-ever. Because I am good at life and can do hard things, I soldier on and despite the whistling I’m putting sentences together for you AND just bought my sister her Christmas present from Hope Ink and my brother his birthday present from Strawesome.

Ultimate Homemaking Bundle 2020

Here’s my secret to neat gifts: Ultimate Bundle Bonuses

Every year your favorite bloggers bombard you with all the great reasons you should buy the Ultimate Something-Or-Other Bundle. “Your life won’t be complete unless you buy it! Buy stuff! More stuff!” (No, really, if you haven’t bought all the things you can’t possibly be happy or organized or motherly or love homemaking enough, therefore… buy it!!!)

What’s up with that? Are they really trying just to make a buck? How can we even believe these products are worth any of that money? Don’t they know I’m trying to get out of debt and save up all my money to build a house? I’m not a blogger, I’m just a friend of a blogger. Laura lets me write stuff for her, and I don’t even know if she reads it. I could be posting about hippopotamuses and how they like to swim in pink jello in the arctic…

But, I’ll get to the point: Because I’m awesome, I buy other people stuff when I see great sales for great stuff. It’s great to start planning Christmas stuff way before Christmas… And I use the word “stuff” entirely too often because sometimes words are hard because of sleep and not having enough and because of kids and having enough.

hackett family

Tasha, the budget girl, bought the Homemaking Bundle

I wasn’t going to. Money is weird like that; not having much money for too many years created a habit of feeling bad anytime I do spend it. When I make a poor purchase, an impulse buy, an overpriced something-or-other that I end up not using, I do not allow myself to feel guilty anymore. Marie Kondo helped me over that hump–instead I accept it, and move forward. I say to that item, “Thank you for teaching me a lesson.”

So when the Ultimate Homemaking Bundle became available again, I said, “Nope! You’re not fooling me. I didn’t even use you last year!” But then Laura’s promotions won me over and here’s why I bought it: Neat gifts available through the bonus coupons, Motivated Moms Planner, and Green Means Go. I looked through and found a couple things that I was absolutely going to use, so I know for sure that I’ll get my money’s worth.

Bonuses!

I spent $30 on the bundle and then I immediately went to my Hope Ink Bonus and got my freebies. This “freebie” cost me another $20. But without the discount, my total would have been well over $100. The artwork is beautiful, creative, and inspiring and who doesn’t enjoy supporting another woman’s creative business? I’m keeping two prints, gifting two and I’ve received a free file to print my own cards.

Then I went to my Strawesome Bonus and bought three discounted re-usable glass straws and the straw cleaner. My total was $6.38 (Don’t tell my brother what he’s getting for his birthday. Happy 24th!) I’m saving the world, one plastic straw at a time. I will be a repeat customer with Strawesome, even without my bonus coupon, their prices are immensely affordable.

I’ve registered for my Free Around the World Stories, a completely free resource worth $38. It includes 10 different 3o minute audio stories from 10 different countries. Each story includes bonus material for added learning: Recipes, activities, some language and facts about the country. This will be great to use for our homeschool next year, and just for listening to a good story when I need the kids to go away and be quiet for half an hour if you know what I mean and I think you do.

Feeling motivated yet?

Next, I printed out two pages from my Motivated Moms Planner. MY FAVORITE! I’ve used many different house cleaning checklists in the past, so far, this is my favorite (And I’ve used it before and know that I will use it). She has every chore I could ever need spread out over the year. If I am able to complete just a few a day, it keeps my house company-ready without the mad dash, if you know what I mean and I think you do.

For example, today I need to wipe down the deep freeze among other things. I am assigning that job to the whistling 8 year old. Otherwise I will wipe down the deep freeze NEVER and years from now it will be absolutely disgusting and I’ll wonder how I became such a slob. Homemaking doesn’t have to be as hard when we let someone else do the planning.

The Green Means Go ebook is a lovely activity I am going to “play” with my 3 and 5 year old this week. This helps young people to deal with big emotions. First we identify “How Do I Feel?” and an exhaustive list of emotions are provided with pictures. Then we assess, “What Can I Do?” and there is another list of positive responses to those emotions and then we talk about “My Calm Self.” For example: When I feel embarrassed, I can hug my teddy bear, and then I reassess and I feel peaceful. My plan is to go through the cards and options with my little guys when they are in a good mood, so that we have strategies to handle life when we’re not in a good mood.

Ultimate Homemaking Bundle 2020

So there you have it

I found a few things that I absolutely know I’m going to use and love. And if I happen to not open anything else, but I’m sure I will, it is a worthwhile purchase. I’m interested in reading: Celebrate Nature: Memory and Copywork (poetry copywork for my homeschool), Cleaning with Essential Oils and How to Design a Room from Start to Finish, (because I am not naturally good at interior design stuff).

Lastly, I’m going to email Laura a screenshot of my receipt ([email protected]) because she promised to give everyone who purchased the bundle through her link a prayer journal and a handwritten note. Now excuse me while I go ask my whistler to please take his whistling self outside.

Get your bundle here! And be sure to let me know what item makes your homemaking life easier.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Note from Laura: I have loved receiving your emails telling me which of these Prayer Journals you want me to send you and why. While freebies are nice, you guys aren’t in this for the freebie. You’re in it so that your relationship with God to grow while you work hard for your home and family. I praise God for this!!!

Ultimate Homemaking Bundle 2020

Then send me your receipt and tell me which of these journals you want!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Old Laura. New Laura. And the One thing that’s made the biggest difference.

June 22, 2020 by Laura 17 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

Have a seat with me for a few minutes. It’s time for me to really share what has made the biggest difference in my life to help me learn how to let go of stress, anxiety, depression, and fear.

There’s Old Laura and there’s New Laura and I’m quite certain that there’s sure to be a Newer Laura every day in the future because God continues to teach me and refine me. Growth and healing never stop as long as we’re seeking Him.

Old Laura

First I’ll talk about Old Laura (in third person, apparently). She sure was a go-getter. She’d start tackling her to-do list as soon as her feet hit the floor and wow could she get a lot done each day! Between homeschooling four sons and writing a blog and making all of her food from scratch and keeping up with marriage, housework, and the ministries she was involved in, she could tackle a huge to-do list every day. Boom. Way to go, Old Laura.

Except for, yikes. Old Laura was nervous all the time. Anxious. Worried. Fearful. Tense. What if she wasn’t doing enough? What if all she was doing wasn’t being done well enough? What if she let someone down? What if her children didn’t turn out perfectly? What if all of her efforts didn’t turn out perfectly?

So she worked even harder. Year after year, she tried and she strove and she dug in her heels with determination. Through all of her many tasks she would pray! “God, help me to do all of this. I need your help!”

God was listening.

He listened with love and He knew what she needed. So He began to lead her down a new path; one that required deep inner healing and cleansing to show her that her life wasn’t about getting it all done. No. It was about surrendering to the One who had already done what was most important.

What Made the Biggest Difference

Old Laura slowly started to learn a new way. She still had four boys to homeschool. She still had food to cook. She still had a blog and a husband and ministries and laundry and housework. But she learned a new way to do it, and the Truth was surprising.

Old Laura started to recognize in a brand new way how much she needed her Savior. She learned that tackling her long to-do list successfully wasn’t really what made her successful. That at the end of the day, nothing really mattered except for love. And that love conquers all – even the laundry piles.

As God helped Old Laura heal from her chronic sin of people-pleasing and hurtful tendencies to worry and over-think, He helped her learn that the only way to truly get through a day successfully was to begin with prayer and time in the Word. Not the “Good morning God, help me get through this day!” kind of desperate prayer spoken on the fly while heading into the kitchen to make a perfectly nourishing breakfast. But the calm and peaceful prayer breathed in and out while sitting humbly in the quiet.

New Laura

Old Laura died and she started to become New Laura because God completely changed her focus. God taught her that true peace, true calm, and true love only come from surrendering self and seeking Truth. And His Truth could only fill her mind and heart when she spent real time with her Savior – daily.

Time with God could happen while washing dishes and folding clothes and scrubbing toilets. It did happen while in the car on the way to soccer practice with the boys and while reading novels out loud during school time.

But true calm and peace weren’t achieved without first spending as much quiet, alone time as possible each day talking to God and listening for his voice of direction and Truth.

Laura learned that nothing on the to-do list was as important as spending time with God – in His Word and in prayer. Without it, Laura learned that she was not okay.

But the to-do list!

The to-do list remained long, and in fact, it became longer!

God added foster children and adopted children to the family, and with them came caseworker visits, extra phone calls, court dates, appointments, the extra needs of traumatized children, and ultimately, the necessity to learn to juggle all of life while caring for kids from baby to elementary to high school to adult.

More to do = More time with Jesus

As the needs around her grew bigger, and as the to-do list became longer, she discovered that she needed even more time in the Word. Life’s needs were too intense and challenging to even attempt to tackle on her own. Nothing on the to-do list was as important as hearing from God – His voice of Truth in the middle of many storms and trials.

But how is this even possible?

Doesn’t more on the to-do list take even more time than before? Yes, one would think. But New Laura continued to learn about dying to self, seeking His Truth instead of worldly wisdom, and listening for the Spirit’s direction.

And that is how New Laura gets everything completed on her to-do list each day. You see, the to-do list is no longer penned by a person. The to-do list is detailed and directed by the Holy Spirit.

If He doesn’t need it to be done, it doesn’t make the list. And if it’s not on the list, it doesn’t cause anxiety, because well, it didn’t make the list.

The family still eats three times a day. The necessary chores still get done. The dishes get washed. The laundry gets folded. The needs get met.

But New Laura is learning that she is not the one who meets the needs. God meets the needs. And now, in place of fear and worry, there is peace – the kind that can only come from the Spirit who fills a heart and overflows into the home.

New Laura continues to be Renewed Laura. There is no “arriving” on this earth as there is always a need to surrender self and let God refine and heal and stretch and grow.

Oh hi. (New) Laura here.

Thanks for listening. This is getting pretty long, and shucks, I’m not even done yet. :)

I’m sharing all of this because I think it’s important for you to hear that I’ve realized that I am an absolute mess when I don’t spend focused time with God every day. I used to live life doing good and being good and it all seemed good – except for the fact that my heart and mind were always in turmoil as I was striving to BE ALL THE THINGS and DO ALL THE THINGS and HOPE EVERYONE WAS PLEASED WITH IT ALL.

This was not okay. I was not okay.

I realized that I actually need Jesus.

I knew this, but I didn’t really know it, you know?

I never used to really crave time in the Word. I’m not sure why. Because I was too busy?? (Shake my head.) Because I already knew a lot about the Bible? (Yeah, right.) Because I was intimidated by all I didn’t know or understand about the Bible? (Well, there’s that.) The reasons I didn’t make time for it are many.

God changed all of that a few years ago when I found myself in a deep, dark pit. I found that I had to go all-in with Him if I wanted to find healing and Truth to live by. Through that, I discovered that time in the Word, time in surrendered prayer, and time listening to Him are life-changing and life-giving.

So now, because I’ve learned now that I must, and because now I actually crave it, I spend as much time as possible in the quiet, before the family wakes up each morning, drinking coffee, and talking and listening to God. I soak in the Word as nourishment because I’ve found that I truly am not okay otherwise. Without it, my flesh easily takes over and I slip back into worried-mom mode. Shoot, even with it I struggle if I don’t use scripture Truth I’ve learned to fight the lies that the enemy wants me to believe. He’s crafty and he knows my weak places. I must spend time in the Word and in prayer each morning or I truly struggle emotionally and spiritually.

And after I read and talk to God for as long as He allows each morning, I journal. Sometimes just a few words, or sometimes several pages. I do this because I want to write down what He is teaching me and the scriptures He’s bringing to life. Writing it solidifies it, and for me, this brings healing.

So what about you?

One of the biggest reasons I’m sharing all of this with you because I kind of want to beg you to do this. Maybe you already are. If so, I’m so glad. It is life-giving.

If spending time in the Word each day and in prayer is a struggle for you, I understand too well. Old Laura didn’t even really want this because well, she was too busy and focused on doing good things for her family, you know? But I was missing the peace and joy that came from loving my family God’s way.

No matter where you and I  are on our journey with Jesus, we can all continue to learn more about listening and walking with Him in humility and fullness of His freedom! So do this. Make yourself do it at first if that’s what it takes. Eventually, you will crave it and find that you can’t live your days without it. :)

If you have babies or crazy work schedules and the logistics don’t allow for quiet time in the morning or ANY time – I want you to know that I understand that too.

But I also want you to know that God wants heart-to-heart time with you. Therefore He will provide it in some way! I know this from experience. :)

Daily time in the Word truly has made the biggest difference.

Dig into the Word and learn more about who He is and what He has to offer!

When we surrender ourselves and let God truly be Lord of our lives, we become incredibly fruitful. That’s why it’s called the “fruit of the Spirit.” His work in us overflows, and it is powerful!!!

So let’s dive in deep together! His work and his ways will astound us all!

 

 

 

 

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

A Schedule for a Quarantined Day

April 19, 2020 by Tasha Hackett 2 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

Let me check my schedule: Create a workout parody video. CHECK

Who’s having fun?! We are!? (Hint: I schedule fun into my week.)

Exercise

I schedule Saturdays for playing and Whew! Just finished creating a silly work-out video with my family. We dressed up and I donned some bright pink lipstick. Blue tights, overlaid with my swimsuit. Nothing like a little family fun to get the day going.

“Wow,” you say, “Tasha’s family is so cool. I wish I could be as cool as her.” Well, don’t let me fool you. We completely trashed the house and had cheerios for breakfast all week, pre-packaged chicken nuggets three days in a row because my mind has been so overwhelmed with I-don’t-even-know that I couldn’t think past the next five minutes and then it was time for another meal… and another meal. What is it with these people!? Didn’t I just feed them? I don’t know what day it is anymore. My mom’s birthday was on the 17th and I almost missed it because I was a week behind (thought it was only April 11th) **Face Palm**

I have bad days and good days, BUT I have a daily routine that keeps me mostly sane during this quarantine.

The only way I have survived is maintaining my schedule. Do you have one? Years ago I scoured the internet looking for a Stay-At-Home-Mom routine and didn’t find one I liked. So I made up my own. It morphs through the years, each new kid and season changes it.

Morning Routine and Homeschool Life

The ideal perfect morning would look like this, but more often than not I crawl out of bed at 7 because the baby’s still not sleeping through the night:

5:30 AM Wake // Pray // Meditate on scripture  // Stretch

6:00 AM Make bed // Shower // Dress

6:15 AM Drink water //  Put (frozen or premade) breakfast in oven // Read // Study

6:45 AM Empty dishwasher // Start laundry // Set out breakfast

baby at dishwasher

Lots of help around here!

7:00 AM Wake kids // Help the littles with Morning List

Too often I let my day start here.

Kids’ Morning List: Make Bed, Get Dressed, PJs Away, Diaper in Trash, Drink Water, Go Potty, Fix Hair, Read Daily Verse, Take Care of Pets. (This list is an anchor and must be done before breakfast.)

pet rat on Tashas head

Meet Tippy! Our friendly pet rat.

7:15 AM Breakfast and Tidy Kitchen (Kids Help: Clear the Table, Wipe the Table, Sweep the Floor.)

8:00 AM House Blessings (Each kid has a separate daily chore. Gather laundry from all over the house, empty trash, sweep bathroom), Extra Daily Chore, (This will be anything that needs done to maintain the home such as wiping the mirror in the playroom, dusting the piano, vacuuming around the furniture, watering plants, sweeping the entry, lining up shoes, etc. We skip this when breakfast runs late.)

8:30 AM Walk Outside, Online Workout, or movement of some kind. (If nothing else we pretend to be a variety of animals. I have a 7, 5, and 3 year old, so they like that, and we have to keep moving throughout the day because, you know, kids and energy.)

walking outside

Quack! Quack! Off we go.

9:00 AM Morning Time // School

Morning Time with the Kids, My Favorite!

I learned this term from A Humble Place, but it is a Charlotte Mason homeschooling idea. This is the heart of what is most valuable in our home education. Not worksheets and tests and homework, but singing, and poetry, and beautiful ideas.

Our Morning Time can take anywhere from 10 minutes to a full hour depending on the moods of the kids and what we have going on for the day and if we started on time. I won’t go into much detail, but this is bullet points of what we cover; if short on time, we don’t do everything listed:

Pray for God to speak to us and bless our day

Bible story or scripture to think about

Song from our Hymnal: We sing all the verses to the same hymn for an entire month

Review one or three other hymns from previous months

More Singing: American Folk songs, silly songs, National Anthem

(I excuse myself to put the baby down for a nap right around here, I don’t know what they do while I’m gone for 10 minutes, but they’re all still alive in the living room or on the couch when I get back.)

Pledge of Allegiance

Poetry: We love poetry! This is a lovely book: Favorite Poems Old and New, Selected for boys and girls by Helen Farris. We read 1-5 a day depending on how we feel. I ask, “Shall I stop or read another?” The answer is usually, “More!” I pick one that I like and read it every day for the month along with the dailies. By the end of the month the kids are reciting it with me. We have found many poets we love, Carl Sandburg and Robert Louis Stevenson, to name a couple.

Art Appreciation. We look at prints of famous paintings. We don’t worry about educating ourselves on the style or anything. I just show them the picture and talk about what we see and what we like. “If you were in this picture, what would you be doing?” “What are they doing here?” “What do you suppose he is thinking about?” “Do you think she is sad?” (You can buy many of the prints here. So far Peter Bruegel the Elder is our favorite. Who knew!?)

Nursery Rhymes. Great for little guys and surprisingly still applicable through elementary. I love watching my three-year-old learning along with the 2nd grader. I often find them reciting these while they play through-out the days.

We close with the Lord’s Prayer, sing the Doxology, and a simple Benediction, “May the Lord be with you.” And we answer each other, “And also with you!” (My boy used to say, “May the Yord be wif me.” It was lovely.)

School Time!

kids writing in notebooks

Working mostly quietly

After our official Morning Time is over, the youngest wanders off the to play with cars and little animals while I read a chapter book. I find narrative stories that are engaging, yet not dumbed down in the least. A.A. Milne’s “Winne the Pooh” we have read multiple times. Currently we’re reading Richard of Jamestown by James Otis. We’ve read all the Laura Ingalls Wilder books and Chronicles of Narnia. If we are short on time I’ll skip this because Dad will read to them in the evenings, too.

boy reading books

We have many nooks for individual play and quiet time.

I do 10-ish minutes of a reading lesson with the Kindergartener out of Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons by Engelmann. This will take us much longer than 100 days because we do the same lesson two or even three days in a row because she was getting frustrated. Slowing it down has been amazing for her confidence. She is now excited to see progress instead of discouraged when it was difficult. With the 2nd grader we’re using McGuffy’s Eclectic Reader Series a lesson a day, then I assign copy work to both of them. Copy work is often short. We desire a few perfectly written words rather than a whole page of sloppy handwriting. My kids have surprisingly neat handwriting.

example of hand writing

The Kindergartener is done with school for the day. The 2nd grader has math practice, or learning new math skills; he’s going through the Math-It packet (Elmer Brooks), and The Complete Book of Math Grades 1-2 (School Specialty Publishing), he looks up a word in the dictionary and we read the definition together, finds a country on the globe and then finds the same country on our large wall map. We then talk about how we could get there from Nebraska. Those things are listed on his schedule; he can complete many of them on his own.

If you’re looking for some simple curriculum that invites family participation, memorizing scripture AND serving your community, I highly recommend Laura’s ebook Learn Your Letters Learn to Serve. This is INCLUDED with your club membership! (Everyone cheers!!)

kids looking at a large map

This map makes us legit homeschoolers, right?

We are often done by 10:30 AM. The kids have free time until lunch. They find all sorts of things to do on their own. (See, and here you thought my kids stuck to a boring schedule all day long.) They have access to craft supplies where they make paper puppets on popsicle sticks and put on shows, draw comic book-style scenes, draw pictures, my girl will often copy her reading lesson to show it off to Dad, they have train sets and blocks and tents, they build towers and dress up and generally make messes everywhere. If it’s nice they run around outside.

kids playing in toy tents

Can you find all four!?

I do a variety of things. I may play on my phone, (I know, I know…Instagram is sucking my brain out.), meal prep, do a special project with one of the kids, sew something, read books, call my sisters, clean the bathrooms or other chores, go outside and check on my plum trees (THEY HAVE BUDS THIS YEAR!!), and put lunch in the oven.

kids outside

11:30 AM Wake up the baby from his nap. Read to him, snuggle, and play.

12:00 Dad comes up from his basement cave where he’s working from home and we eat lunch.

Afternoon

All help tidy the kitchen, switch laundry (2nd grader’s chore), get ready to go outside. 

Family walk or outside time (if the weather allows)

Free time

boy with block tower

One of many daily creations.

2:00 PM Nap time for baby, quiet time in separate rooms for everyone else. They are not allowed to talk to me or each other until 3:00. The 3 year old usually falls asleep in my bed. I don’t know what the 5 year old does, but she stays in her room with dolls and books and things. The 7 year old plays Legos and looks at picture books and draws in his room.

Finally, I check-out from mom-life in whichever room is the cleanest and causes the least amount of stress, and get incredibly snippy if anyone tries to talk to me during this time. With my laptop I sit and write and write and write. I blog (like now), but mostly I am attempting to write a novel. It’s been three years in the making but I am determined to finish it this year… #goals. I’ll keep you up to date if I ever finish. Because it’s on the schedule, I’m much more likely to do it.

desk with laptop

My office!

If I absolutely don’t feel like writing, I read something I want to read and eat a yummy snack that I don’t share with anybody.

3:00 PM The bigger kids are allowed to come out of their rooms and play quietly in the house or go outside. The younger two generally sleep longer.

toddler sleeping

He naps in my bed because he shares a room.

4:00 PM I close the laptop and come out of hiding. Wake the baby if he’s still sleeping. Dad joins us and we play outside, fold laundry, work on a home project together, grocery shop, meal prep, etc.

big brother reading to baby

5:00  PM Dinner and kitchen clean up.

Evening

6:00 PM Family time. House clean-up, outside time, reading books, listen to music and play, dream and draw plans of the house we’re going to build someday, discuss important things like the most deadly animal in the world: Tiger or Mosquito, I might sew something, paint pictures, kids take baths, go on walks, etc. If I don’t schedule this time in, we miss it! This is my favorite part of the quarantine: Daddy is home every evening.

kids peeling wallpaper

Group project: Removing wallpaper!

6:30 Baby is ready for bedtime routine and he’s asleep by 7:00

7:00 Dad puts the older three to bed. I finish cleaning the kitchen, fold laundry, bring the laptop back out to work some more, sew something, paint something, waste more time on my phone.

Tasha sitting at sewing machine because playing is on the schedule

One of my many hobbies.

8:00 Lights out for the bigger kids

9-10: Lights out for me. And up again at midnight and 3 AM with the baby.

OKAY!!! That’s the basic outline of our day. Not every day goes by this schedule exactly. But the framework has SAVED my kids and me. They know what to expect, and Dad knows what to expect. They don’t have to ask me “Can I go outside?” “When is lunch?” “Am I done with school?” The answer is on the schedule.

What keeps you grounded?

kids pretending to be in a bus

Beep Beep! The bus is leaving.

Do you have a schedule or routine? Does your family know what to expect each day? Do they know what’s expected of them? This schedule has been a life-saver, but it’s been through many transformations. It will look differently this summer and next fall when Dad goes back to work.

Tell me, how is your day planned out?


tasha

Tasha, friend of Laura is a stay-at-homeschool-mom to four kids. When she’s not writing about money and birthdays and how to survive anything, she can be found Instagramming for Laura @heavenlyhomemaker, producing something from a variety of creative hobbies, sneaking treats she doesn’t want to share with her family, and repurposing old shirts into toddler dresses. She and her family recently bought two-acres of prairie and are dreaming of a little house to build on it.

 

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Just Because I Can, Doesn’t Mean I Always Do

January 3, 2017 by Laura 18 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

I can make mozzarella cheese. I can make Gatorade. I can make bread, pie, bagels, and pizza.

Homemade Gatorade

I share all of these ideas and recipes with people here. It’s so much fun! I talk about ways to save time and ways to save money. I’ve figured out ways to put nutritious meals on the table in less than 20 minutes, letting people know that none of us ever has to rely on take-out.

But just because I know these things, teach these things, and have experienced so much good because of all these things doesn’t mean I always do all these things.

Does this mean I’m a hypocrite? No. This means I’m human.

How about you? Human much?

I bet you know a lot of great tricks for saving money and time. But if you’re like me, sometimes there simply isn’t time to execute the time saving strategies (does this even make sense?). Sometimes the extra few dollars we need to pay for convenience is worth it so that we avoid stress and overthinking.

Check out what I did a few weeks before Christmas:

bagel-basket

I bought four packages of bagels (without reading the ingredient labels, if you can possibly imagine). I bought four bags of different varieties of granola. I bought a box of instant oatmeal pouches. I put them all in a big basket in the kitchen and told my kids, “This is breakfast for the next few days. Make eggs if you want. Always eat fruit. Beyond this, I won’t be making anything for breakfast because I have too much to do before we leave for California and I’m trying very hard not to be a crazy mom.”

I felt no guilt over the extra expense and the extra sugar and white flour. (Okay fine, I did cringe just a little bit, but only for half a second until I remembered my purpose.)

Nothing is worth anxiety and stress – not even the occasional ingredient label I can’t pronounce. Not even the extra few bucks I could have saved making it all myself.

Do I know how to make bagels? Granola? Instant oatmeal packets? Yes, yes, and yes. It’s fantastic to have such great money-saving recipes in my hip pocket. It’s wonderful knowing I’ve done all I can to put the best of the best on the table for my family.

But it’s more important to be able to love my family with a peaceful heart. It’s crucial for my mental and spiritual health that I spend as much time as possible each morning in prayer and reading the Word. And just before Christmas, the priority of enjoying the season with my family meant much more to me than flipping whole wheat pancakes and serving them with homemade blueberry syrup.

Just because I can, doesn’t mean I always do. Just because it sometimes works, doesn’t mean it always works. Just because I could, doesn’t mean I should. Just because change is hard, doesn’t mean change is bad. Just because I’m doing it now, doesn’t mean I always will.

just-because-i-can

Our family is home now after over 57 hours on the road and two weeks away from home. Things are starting to settle back down (sort of, if they ever actually do). I don’t plan to make bagels anytime soon. But I bet I’ll find time to make a batch or two of granola.

No matter what, I’ll seek to make the most important things in life the highest priority, remembering that just because I can do something, doesn’t mean I always should.

How about you? What are some things you (should) give up during times of additional stress and extra full schedules?

simplemeals300

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On Thursday I Killed the Chicken (so I took pictures)

April 24, 2016 by Laura 11 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

 

Of course I got excited when I found antibiotic-free, hormone-free, happy-happy chicken marked down for quick sale on Wednesday. I bought a sack full and planned to throw it on the grill to have with salads at lunch the next day. It would be easy, delicious, and nourishing. It was bone-in, so I could cook the chicken slow and low while still getting little bits of work done around the house. Yep. I had it all planned out.

Around 11:45 I fired up the grill. The chicken soon started to sizzled happily. I went back into the house for a few minutes. After all, the chicken didn’t need a babysitter.

Except that apparently it did.

When I went back outside after “letting the chicken cook low and slow” for several minutes, I noticed that the outside of the grill looked slightly discolored. Weird. I also noticed that the air didn’t smell like yummy chicken. It smelled…burned. Weird.

I opened the grill. WHAT????? Noooooooo!

Check it out. I killed the chicken.

burned chicken

I don’t know what actually took place in the few minutes between placing the chicken on the grill and going back to check on it, but judging from the looks of things, I’m thinking the entire interior of the grill caught fire. (I guess the fat from the skin of the chicken was just too drippy?)

Score none for Mom. (I mean, I didn’t burn down the entire house, so I guess I’ll take a half a point for that.)

I immediately got mad at the burned chicken. I got mad at the grill. Mad at myself. Mad at the kids (because when I apologized to them and told them what happened, a couple of them came back at me with attitude about “having to eat leftovers again.” Then I got mad at myself again for raising children who would actually complain about leftovers.

It was my finest hour.

I even went so far as to decide not to take any stupid pictures or write a stupid post about it. (As you can see, I’ve chilled out since Thursday.)

Sometimes I can burn chicken and laugh about it. Thursday was not one of those days. I had too much to do, not enough time, and I needed lunch to cook itself. When it didn’t – I snapped.

I know life isn’t perfect and I’ll never arrive at perfect homemaker, perfect mom, perfect wife, perfect chicken cooker. I know this. But I guess I still want the status of practically perfect. Why is that? Why is it that I ruin lunch and get mad? Why is it that after running around for three days this weekend serving people, loving people, and being with my family – I look at my filthy kitchen and get frustrated that I can’t do it all?

I guess where I land is that I constantly need truth checks. What is truth? Am I failing or not doing enough? Most importantly:

What does God ask of me?

Truth tells me that my dirty kitchen and burned chicken are a tiny piece of my daily puzzle and that other pieces are bigger and carry more weight. Truth tells me that many of my daily puzzle pieces fit together perfectly, even without me trying. Truth tells me that I don’t have to do all and be all because Jesus already is. Truth tells me that I’m rocking this job even when I don’t – because Christ’s power is made perfect in my weaknesses.

These thoughts are brought to you today by completely blackened chicken and a sink full of crusty pots and pans with a side of crumbs and sticky counter-tops.

I had to pray over my mess, and these are the truths that rose to the top. I guess it’s a good thing I decided to take a picture of that chicken.

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Heavenly Homemaker’s Savings Club – Free Memberships for All!

March 15, 2016 by Laura 1 Comment

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

tablecloth

Frugal Homemakers Unite! (That sounded less cheesy in my head.)

I’ve been a (work outside the home, stay at home mom, or work from home) homemaker for over 21 years. While I recognize the value of investing in quality food and quality products, I also appreciate saving money in any area I can. How else could I afford to buy pants long enough for my ever-growing teenage sons?

tourney food1

The good news:

It is absolutely possible to feed a family well and manage a home well without over-spending. It is also possible to do this without spending hours in the kitchen, hours at the store, and hours online.

I come across many good deals because of the connections I have made with a wonderful online community throughout the past eight years. I pick and choose carefully the deals I choose to share here on my blog because there’s only so much time and space and I prefer to focus more on recipes and encouragement here (not that a good deal on coconut oil isn’t pretty encouraging!).

I’ll continue to share great deals here on my blog as I feel they will be a blessing to you. But now we’ve got something bigger and better to offer: the Heavenly Homemaker’s Savings Club.

What is it?

When you join Heavenly Homemaker’s Savings Club, you’ll be privileged to hear about all the great deals I come across but don’t have space to share here on my blog. I’ll compile the best of the best of money saving tips, ideas, and resources – and I’ll send them to you so that you can take advantage of and enjoy them as needed.

Savings Club Free Membership

Savings Club members will enjoy these perks:

  • Infrequent emails that pack a punch. I’m not going to load down your inbox. Neither you nor I have time for that! You can expect to see an email from the Savings Club a couple times each week – sometimes less, sometimes more. It’ll all depend on what great savings tips I come across and how many family activities I’m running off to during the week.
  • Information about great offers on nourishing groceries, non-toxic household and self-care products, and other resources. If I love it and use it and it saves us all money, I’ll let you know about it!
  • Money saving tips. Do you know how many ways I’ve learned to cut costs and save money during the past two decades? (I mean, I don’t have an exact number of ways. That was sort of rhetorical. It’s a lot though.) I don’t plan to stop learning more ways to save, so I’ll share what I know and share what I continue to learn. (Just last year I learned to make Gatorade!)
  • Freebies. You’d be surprised at the amount of free stuff I hear about but have to ignore because I just don’t have space in my blog schedule to share. I want to be able to tell you about these opportunities!

Speaking of Freebies and Deals

Let’s get your membership rolling with some freebies right from the start.

First of all, your membership for the Savings Club is now and forever will be free. Second, I created a free eBooklet for all members, which includes my Top 10 Money Saving Recipes. Plus, within that book, you’ll find a fun surprise coupon (or not so surprise, since I told you about it just now) so you can get another eBook from my shop for just a buck!

Top 10 Money Saving Recipes

I’ve got some great deals and goodies to share with you during the next couple of weeks, so join the club and be in the know!

Click through this link to sign up if the form isn’t showing up for you.

I’m super excited to share that signing up for this freebie will connect you to our new Heavenly Homemaker’s Savings Club. It’s free, of course. You can unsubscribe at any time, your info will never be shared or sold, and being on this list means that you’ll be the first to know any great deals or freebies that will bless your homemaking efforts!

 

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

We’re Hitting Restart – But Before We Do…

August 31, 2014 by Laura 12 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-images-retro-seamless-pattern-set-image20825059

Thank you all for joining me in hitting the restart button this fall. It’s going to be so much fun to settle into the season together! But first, let’s chat…

Once we decide to hit the restart button on our lives, it can be way too easy to get pumped up to jump right into every single bit of every single thing we hope and dream to be and to do – all at the same time. We know changes need to be made, we greatly desire to offer the best to our families, and we’re tired of not quite hitting the mark.

Before we know it, we’ve made a vow to daily scrub our floor boards, have no less than 28 casseroles in the freezer at all times, and never, ever raise our voice to our children again. We’ve decided to get back into smaller jeans by Thursday, sleep 8.5 hours every night, and hand-craft all Christmas and birthday gifts with recycled materials. Because we feel that we can certainly accomplish all this and then some, in an effort to be everything we can possibly be for our families, we eagerly sign ourselves up for yodeling classes.

yodel 1

Clearly, once we all master the art of yodeling, we will have arrived. Clearly.

You know how this works right? We hit the restart button and then start restarting everything at once. Very soon, we get overwhelmed with it all, end up hating every bit of it, succeed at nothing, and hang our heads all the way to the fast food drive-thru four nights in a row.

Deciding to do too much and thinking you can actually pull it off is just…too much.

You can’t put 28 casseroles in the freezer and then sleep 8.5 hours that night so stop thinking you can. Smaller jeans aren’t the be all and end all, so stop focusing on that and simply work to nourish your body better. Nobody wants an earring holder made from a toilet paper tube, so if handcrafted recycled gifts aren’t your thing, please do not try to make it your thing.

Am I making sense? Do you know what I’m saying? (Am I the only one who dislikes being asked that?)  YouknowwhatImean?  Yeah, Iknowwhatyoumean. (expressed in my best yodel)

yodel 2

Be reasonable. You have my full permission to be very eager to make positive changes for your health and for the health of your family! I highly encourage it. But be real and be wise. Changes in our lives need to be God inspired, not self inspired. The quickest way to feel defeated is to forget the Source of our strength, and the Purpose behind our choices. Success is determined not by all we accomplish in a day, but by the peace we experience through choosing God’s best for our lives.

I’m hitting the restart button because I need it – mind, body, and soul. I look forward to learning what God plans to teach you and me during this season.

I like clean floorboards, but I like peace and joy more. I like healthy food in my freezer, but I like listening to God more. I like making handcrafted recycled gifts, but no I don’t, who am I even kidding, youknowwhatImean?

So what I’m trying to say is, do you really need to sign up for yodeling classes? Or be a part of another program? Or set 14 new goals for yourself? Or strive to be what you think everyone else thinks you should be? I haven’t scrubbed my floorboards since #*&$hc&s#*  <—- dropped call static

(Can you hear me now?)

Make goals based on what God is calling you to be. Improve in areas that bless your family. Hit that restart button in an effort to glorify God. Won’t it be lovely to see what He works out in you through your open heart?

yodel 3

She yodels and she dresses her children in homemade matching outfits.
As if that isn’t enough, they flit, they float, and bid us all adieu in perfect four part harmony.

Unless God has clearly called you to be a yodeler, then by all means, I don’t know how to even finish that sentence. Just join me in simplicity, will you? Join me in making prayerful decisions about God’s purpose for you. Join me in hitting the restart button that offers something better for our families in the form of peace and joy.

All the rest – the healthy eating, the exercise, the organization, and the clean house – it will all fall into place.

I so totally love this platform.  I love that so many of you hang out with me here each day. Thank you, my dear readers, for being such an inspiration to me and to all the others here. Here’s to a fantastic month of prayerfully hitting the restart button together!

P.S. If any of you can actually yodel, I have to know.

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Great Homemaking Doesn’t Always Mean “Make it Homemade”

April 27, 2014 by Laura 15 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

If you desire to be a great homemaker, you must:

  • always have a perfectly clean house
  • always make homemade food from scratch, using the finest ingredients
  • keep your closets wonderfully organized
  • have perfectly behaved children (who never have crusty boogers on their sleeves)
  • never run out of toilet paper

No pressure.

Drop kick it with me, friends! I despise these expectations we think others are putting on us that we most likely are really putting on ourselves.

The real definition of a great homemaker:

  • Loves her family {check}
  • Feeds her family {constantly}
  • Can close the closet doors {thankfully}
  • Relies on God’s grace while raising children {unceasingly}
  • Picks up cheese and apples while she’s making a slightly panicked toilet paper run {might as well be efficient}

Want to see what I made my family for our Sunday Dinner today?

Great Homemaking Doesn't Always Mean Make it Homemade

It’s a take-and-bake pizza from the store. Couldn’t I have made a homemade pizza? Well sure if I….wait – you know what? NO. I couldn’t. That’s why I bought the pizza.  Our weekend has been so full of awesome fun, unexpected appliance break-downs (the washing machine and the dishwasher in the same day, really?), oodles of guests, and because it’s springtime – soccer games. If we were going to make it to church and soccer games today with food in our bellies and a mama who had at least gotten a few hours sleep, lunch was either going to be a package of raw, frozen hamburger – or a store bought pizza. We went with the pizza. (You’re welcome, kids.)

Does great homemaking always mean “make it homemade?”

So let’s consider:  Since I bought a pizza from the store to feed my family for lunch, am I a homemaking failure? Since my new/used washing machine just got installed yesterday and I have yet to use it or clean up the mess the delivery guys left all the way down the stairs while they took out the old washer, am I a homemaking failure? Since my dishwasher was broken and I pulled out the paper plates for our company on Saturday morning, am I a homemaking failure?

Sigh.  I’m pretty sure I am. Woe is me. I failed to be perfect. I may as well throw in the (dirty) towel.

Or not.

Homemaking is homemaking – no matter what it looks like. My heart is for God and for my family. I always work hard and do my best. Today, my best looked like a store bought pizza. Today, I blessed my family by feeding them, worshiping with them, and cheering them on at soccer. Joyfully, I have a case of toilet paper on hand so that I can check that off my list of mama emergencies.

Homemakers…unite! Bring your imperfections, your crusty nosed kids, your broken appliances, and your unmade beds. Be empowered to keep on doing what God is calling you to do. Keep working hard, loving your families, and rocking this homemaking thing.

And if my closet door is ever open when you come to my house, please look away very quickly and act like you didn’t see a thing.

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The Many Joys and Frustrations of Homemaking

April 24, 2014 by Laura 9 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

Nothing is perfect this side of Heaven. That’s why we have dust and cobwebs, back aches, lost library books, and challenging parenting issues. It can all draw us closer to God (true perfection!) and help us recognize our need for His strength. We also know that even with all the crazy and frustrating aspects of life, there is also a lot of joy. Hey, if we can’t laugh at our spilled buttermilk…

The Many Joys and Frustrations of Homemaking

As we focus this week on remembering that Homemaking is Fun, I want to encourage you with some posts from the archives.

Let’s begin with a few lessons I’ve learned about dealing with some of those less than ideal situations:

~ My best lesson from Grandma…Every Good Cook Burns Herself Sometimes

~ Best (ha!) sleep-over breakfast ever…The Day I Forgot To Sift the Popcorn Out of the Waffle Mix

~ Ugh, picky children!…I Can Now Accommodate Picky Muffin Eaters and Mix and Match Oatmeal Bars

Now let’s talk to all of you who don’t love to cook:

~ This one speaks for itself…So, You Don’t Like to Cook?

~ Donuts, again?…Start the Day With a Healthy Breakfast

~ My favorite “I don’t feel like cooking” breakfast…Instant Oatmeal in a Jar

dark_choc_granola_3

And we’ll wrap it up by talking about ways to save money:

~ Freezer meals rock…Loads of Make-Ahead-Meal posts

~ This is a HOT deal right now!…Grab Your Free $10 For Whole Food Groceries

~ Our favorite whole food meals that cost about $1 per plate…Dollar Menu Recipes

 

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What? You’re Not Perfect Either?

September 3, 2013 by Laura 89 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

What You're Not Perfect Either

When I wake up in the morning, I like walking into a clean living room. I love to see a bathroom empty of dirty laundry. And I feel so peaceful cooking breakfast in a tidy kitchen.

When I wake up the boys, it feels great to see them sleeping in a room that is uncluttered. As I walk back downstairs, I love to see our school room organized, our stash of Legos all picked up, and a hallway that is clear of all toys, clothes, and balls.

Yes, this is what I strive for as a homemaker. It is when my house is cleaned and uncluttered that I feel peace.

So what happens when I wake up to a kitchen that looks like this?

dirty_kitchen_1

And a hallway that looks like this?

clean_laundry

And a Lego room that looks like this:

lego_room

Should I then feel like I’ve failed? Should I sigh deeply, let my shoulders drop, frown, and wonder {again} why everyone else has it together better than I?

Sure I could, and I have many times through the years. After all, older women have encouraged me to never go to bed with a dirty kitchen. Books and blogs I’ve read have provided so many organizational tools and scheduling ideas that if I were to only implement them already, I could easily get done what I need to each day. There should be no reason that my clean laundry sits in the hallway for three days before we get around to folding it and putting it away –  after all, I am home all day and I have a lot of boys to help out. I have got to get better organized! I have got to figure out a better schedule! Somehow I must not be doing something right!

What is the matter with me? When am I ever going to get all of this figured out?

Nothing.

Never.

Nothing is the matter with me and I am never going to get all of this figured out. How about you? Now let’s all breathe a sigh of relief.

Let’s stop seeing our personal imperfections and feeling crushed by them. As huge as our laundry piles are, as long as our to-do lists become  – God is so much bigger, and so is his grace. While He does call us to take care of our homes, He doesn’t ask us to be enslaved by them or to make them an idol.

If we are so hung up on creating a perfect home that we lose sight of the heart of our home, ain’t no amount of dishwasher detergent gonna give us peace. Enough about me (or you) as a homemaker. Jesus is the One who makes a home.

Sometimes I wake up to this:

dirty_kitchen_4

It’s great. I love it. I strive to stay on top of the jobs that need to be done in my home. And I will continue to work hard because that is what I am called to do.

But never again will I feel like a failure when working hard for my family does not achieve perfection. Jesus is the heart of our home. The gunk on my floor doesn’t stand a chance.

What gets you down? What do you need to let go of so that you can accept the gift of God’s peace for your home?

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