Large Family Illness

 

For some of you the words Large Family and Illness together in a sentence may make you want to run screaming.  For those of us with a large family, it is a reality~~that makes us want to run screaming!!  This week our family had the stomach flu make a brief but very noticeable stop at our house.  While I promise no pictures of what we all looked like, here's how we dealt with the stomach bug.

 

• We have a "sick room"~usually our living room.  We line the floor with blankets or beach towels and the sickies stay in this room.  No healthy person is allowed in and no sick person is allowed out.  This is just easier than always running to bedrooms, trying to anticipate needs, or finding alternative beds for the healthy siblings who share a room with a sick one.
• We use buckets.  Yes, I know that means hubby or I have to empty and take care of them!  Little kids are just not good at making it to the bathroom in time and it is just easier to take care of a bucket than it is to clean carpet.  We save ice cream buckets and use them~~then throw them away when we are done.
• Nothing to eat or drink!  I know that may seem obvious, or it may sound strange since we want them to stay hydrated, but we also don't want them to continue vomiting.  We wait until their tummies can handle something, then very s.l.o.w.l.y add sips of water or 7Up.  If that stays down we add a few crackers, and then toast.
• We all pitch in.  This time around 5 of us went down within 8 hours~~including myself.  Poor hubby {who stayed healthy!} was the one taking care of everyone!
• Disinfect, Disinfect, and then Disinfect!!  I am not usually a germ freak, but when the flu is in the house, I can't seem to get the Clorox wipes or Lysol out fast enough!
• Give thanks for the fact that the stomach bug usually departs as quickly as it entered our lives!!

Dealing with illness is something we all have to deal with.  Having a large family just makes it seem worse.  We've learned what works for our family and even though it is never welcomed we know sooner or later bugs show up and we'll have to deal with them!

 

Have a healthy weekend!!

 

Blessings,

 

Homestead For Him now has a Facebook page.  Like what you see here, won't you like my page?!  Click the like button on the sidebar or go HERE!!

Most Read Posts of 2013

As we head into the new year and reflect on the previous year, I wanted to share ten of the most read blog posts of 2013.

This post was originally from 6/2011 and just reposted last month, but my recipe for Easy Bacon and Cheese Quiche was popular this year.  A lot of you were looking for an easy and yummy idea!!

Apparently many of you can relate to How Our Life is "Normally" Crazy as this was a most read post of 2013!!

 

Interested on Saving Money When You are on Vacation and Eating out?  Many found my tips helpful to have a frugal vacation!

 

Letting Your Husband Lead became a hot topic for many of us!  How are we doing in this area?

Many of us were also looking at our marriages, and 8 Ways to Bless Your Husband had some helpful information.

 

While I also wrote this post on Making Your Own Fabric Softener in 2012, it was also clicked on many times this past year!

 

You found My Transition from Pants To Skirts interesting and I was blessed by how many of you were considering the same things.





My Stockpile Challenge encouraged many of you to start the same thing.

 

How Our Christmas Is Free shows that with a little effort, you can get Christmas gifts for free.  Now would be a good time to start some of these ideas and see just what you can get for free this year!

 

My series on the Proverbs 31 Woman had us thinking each week about how we can become better wives and mothers.  I'll be starting this up again soon!

And the number one most read post continues to be Why I Wear Skirts.  Whether your just curious, or thinking about the same thing, this post explains my heart as the reason for why I wear skirts.



I have lots of ideas for my blog for the new year, and thank you for joining me along this journey!

 

Blessings,

Homestead For Him now has a Facebook page.  Like what you see here, won't you like my page?!  Click the like button on the sidebar or go HERE!!

 

Fun DIY Project~Make Your Own Butter

If you're looking for a fun and cheap activity to do with your kids, this is it!!  I recently did this with my homeschool co~op class and they loved it!  Since then, Sweetcheeks has been asking to do this almost every day!

It really is quite simple!  You just need some heavy whipping cream and a glass jar.  A hand mixer works well also, but then you'd miss out of the "funnest" part {sweetcheeks' description}!

Add some cream to the glass jar.  Any amount is fine.  If you want a small amount of butter, just add a small amount of cream.  If you're looking for an upper arm workout, then fill that jar!!  You can also add a pinch of salt if you want.

Next step.  Shake jar. 

 

Shake some more. 

 

Keep shaking.

 

When you get tired of shaking, have someone else shake the jar!

Look, you now have whipped cream.  Too bad that's not what we're making today!

Keep shaking!

 

Almost there!

Shake your entire body!!

Look, you now have a soft lump bathing in milk!

You did it!!

Yep, that's butter!

Strain the milk from the butter.  Save that milk.  This is buttermilk and can be used in recipe's.  Then wash the butter in cold water.  This gets the buttermilk off the butter which can make the butter go bad.

Put your butter in a container, and enjoy!

Blessings,

Homestead For Him now has a Facebook page.  Like what you see here, won't you like my page?!  Click the like button on the sidebar or go HERE!!

Preparing For Christmas 2013

I think I may have told you a time or two that I LOVE Christmas time!  I love everything about it {well, except the commercialism of the holiday}!  I have loved Christmas time as long as I can remember!  To tell the truth, I've been listening to Christmas music for a few weeks already!

One of the reasons I've been listening to Christmas music is because I am already preparing my heart and mind for the holiday.  I start early and organize things to make my holiday as stress free as I can.  Several years ago, we had a crazy, chaotic Christmas that I vowed never to have that problem again.  So now I get busy in September or October and prepare for Christmas.  I know that makes it sound like we have a grand extravagant holiday {which we definitely don't!}, but really it's just because I want to focus on the real reason for Christmas~while still having the things we all love about the season each year.

So how do I do that??

Here's a few things I do to get ready for the holidays!

• I start a gift list.  I try to get gifts throughout the year for the kids, but at this time of year I start thinking of others we might want to get gifts for.  This lists includes teachers {school, music, and Sunday School}, babysitters, or close friends.  I make a list of gift ideas and what I would need for those gifts.  This way I'm not scrambling to get a last minute gift, and I won't forget anyone, either!
• Get the house ready for decorating.  We get our Christmas tree the weekend after Thanksgiving.  I really don't want to spend the week of Thanksgiving getting the house ready for that when I'm already getting the turkey ready, so I plan ahead and prepare the house for the decorations ahead of time.  I usually do this the week before Thanksgiving so it is all ready. 
• Stock up on holiday baking supplies.  We love to bake cookies, candies, and other treats at Christmas time.  We really enjoy taking those treats to neighbors and widowed family members.  I stock up on things like sugar, flour, powdered sugar, chocolate, eggs, butter, sprinkles, and more so when we want to start baking, we already have the ingredients.
• Create our Christmas Card and annual letter.  I love sending {and receiving} photo cards at Christmas.  I either take a photo for the card, or start looking through our photos to start creating our Christmas card.  I am a bit selective {ok, ok, I am picky!} about the photo card, so I spend a lot of time trying out different cards to find that perfect card!  I also start our annual Christmas letter for family and friends.  I love writing them, but I admit to erasing and re~writing it over and over until I am satisfied with it.  So I start it now and then I have time to "tweek" it before it goes out with the cards.
• Plan Christmas and Christmas Eve dinner.  We have a tradition on Christmas eve, and I pretty much make the same thing for Christmas dinner, but I start thinking about who is coming and what I will need.  This way I will have everything ahead of time and I can stay out of the grocery stores right before Christmas {have you ever been to the store right before Christmas?  It is crazy!}.
• Plan for devotions and our family service.  We are going to do a Jesse tree this year for family devotions.  We also started {what I hope will be a tradition} a family Christmas Eve Worship last year.  I just want to make sure I have everything ready for both of these ahead of time so we all can enjoy them.
• Focus on the real reason for the holiday!  That crazy, chaotic Christmas taught me that what I really want during this season is to focus on that tiny baby and what his birth means to me.  This is the time of year I just want to shut everything off {except the music of course!}, snuggle with my family in the glow of our tree, and savor every minute! 

Just a little planning ahead of time makes for a great Christmas!  I just realized that one of the kiddo's turned off the Christmas music~time to put it back on!!

Blessings,


Homestead For Him now has a Facebook page.  Like what you see here, won't you like my page?!  Go HERE!!

Can It!!

This is my first year growing a "good garden".  When we lived in town, we had just a small area for a garden.  While I did have success growing some vegetables, I never had enough to  freeze or can for later.  This year we moved and we now have room for a larger garden.  I have had a great harvest of peppers, carrots, beans, cucumbers and tomatoes.  Since this is something I plan to do every year,  we invested in a good canner.

I have become addicted to canning!!  I love it!!  I find it very enjoyable to prepare food and store it for the winter!  I love to see the shelves of my pantry filling with jars of vegetables, juices, and sauces.  There is something very gratifying about not only preparing our home with food, but knowing it is home~grown.  I am very much looking forward to using this food in the coming months.

Canning may seem like a costly investment, but it will pay for itself each year you use it.  We not only had the cost of the canner this year, but also a large number of jars as well. Remember, though, that these are one time costs.  But this cost will be well worth it as we are enjoying healthy food that we grew ourselves!  Next year we will have all our supplies, and the only cost will be the cost of seeds and our time.  If I had been thinking ahead of time, I would have started buying the jars during the winter so I would have been prepared.  Then I wouldn't have had all the cost at once!

If you've never canned before, try it!  Preparing our pantry is something you can't go wrong doing!  And you might become a canning nut like I did!

Blessings,

Don't forget to enter my newest give~away, a Grace Unplugged Prize Pack.  Go HERE to enter!!

Stockpile Challenge

I have been looking at different ways of shopping over the last few months.  I would like to shop on the "offense" instead of the "defense".  What does this mean?  It means that I will stock up on items that I know we need when there is a great sale.  All of us have things we just automatically get at the grocery store or at the drug store.  Things like butter, milk, toothpaste, shampoo, toilet paper, etc.  Those things that may not even be on our shopping lists because we just know we need to pick them up.  I've been looking into ways to change my shopping to stock some of these items without breaking the bank.  Lori over at Moms by Heart has started a series this year that has really interested me.

The goal is simple~~stock up on everyday items you use when they are on sale.  By stockpiling, you will have enough to get you through until these items are on sale again.  Therefore, you will never be paying full price for any of these items again.  Lori has made this do~able on a small scale by using just $10 per week.  I'm starting out with personal care and home care items.  We have a Walgreens nearby that I can get great deals at.   Walgreens allows you to use store coupons along with manufacturer coupons.  I already take advantage of these sales {I haven't paid more than 50 cents for toothpaste for quite a while!}, so I just need to take it up a bit.

I'd like to have a 6-12 month supply of personal care items.  I'll start at 6 months and then increase it as I get there.  Thankfully we have lots of storage space in our home for these items.  Here's what I have figured out as my stockpile list.  I may change these up a bit after I pay more attention to our usage of these items.  Remember, we have 7 people in our family {four who are basically adults} so those of you with smaller families may gasp at some of these numbers! ☺


toilet paper~7 rolls per week =168 rolls
tissues~3 boxes per month =18
feminine supplies~1 box tampons and 1 box pads =6 boxes of each
toothpaste~2 tubes per month =12
Dixie cups~1 box per month =6
contact lens solution~1 bottle per month =6
deodorant~4 per month =24
toothbrushes~7 per month =42
liquid hand soap~we make ours last longer so 2 large refill bottles should last about a year.
dish soap~1 bottle per month =6
dishwasher detergent~we make our own and I try to stock up on the ingredients when they go on sale.
shampoo~3 bottles per month =18
conditioner~4 bottles per month =24  {remember I make our own fabric softner with conditioner}
bath soap~3 bars per month =18
bathroom cleaner~2 cans per month =12
laundry detergent~I usually make my own, but if there is a really good sale that I can add a coupon to, I may consider getting it.

Remember...this is for EVERY DAY ITEMS that we use EVERY DAY!  This is NOT extreme couponing where we have a pile of peanut butter and dog food filling our garage.  The intent here is not to buy things just because we can get them for a low price!  The intent is to stock up on the items we regularly use when they are at the lowest price and adding a coupon to make them even cost even less.  In this way, I will never pay full price for these items again.

I'd love to know if you shop this way and how it works for you!

Blessings,

Large Family Frugal Living~Eating While On Vacation

Our kiddo's eating breakfast at an Oasis near Chicago this spring



Our family recently took a family vacation to the Creation Museum.  Taking a family of 7 on a trip can get costly.  So, we try to cut corners where we can without compromising the joy of the trip.  One of the things we cut corners on is eating.  We have a few tricks that we employ when we are travelling.

~~We find a hotel that serves free {hot} breakfast.  We all eat a good breakfast, and we don't have to dip into our food funds.  My hubby has become a pro at finding us a hotel that is within our price range and still serves a hot breakfast.  In fact, on this trip he found us a great hotel that not only served a delicious, hot breakfast~~they also served a delicious meal for dinner.  We knew they were serving a dinner also, but we really were expecting sandwiches or something simple.  Instead we were pleasantly surprised they had full dinners including desserts!  This saved us a lot for the couple of days we were there. 

~~We skip lunch and bring our own snacks.  This may or may not work depending on what we may be doing during the day, but we usually have a cooler along with us on vacations and fill it with things like juice, cheese and crackers, baked goods, or pretzels.  This will tide us over and then we'll eat an early dinner.

~~We check out what restaurants the cities have.  Hubby is great at this also.  He'll look online and even request mailed information from the cities we are travelling to.  We then look into ways to eat cheaper.  Things like "kids eat free nite" or online coupons help our budget.  Sometimes we just order a pizza and have it sent to our hotel room because ordering a couple of pizzas is sometimes cheaper than taking our family to a restaurant.

~~We get a hotel room with a kitchen.  Every fall we go to a waterpark hotel in the Wisconsin Dells and get a room with a kitchen.  This way we bring our own groceries and make our own meals right at the hotel.  We never leave the hotel, and don't have to have a meal budget.

~~All you can eat buffets.  This is not always a good idea, as they are sometimes costly, but once in a while it is a good deal. 

We want to have a good time on vacations and enjoy ourselves.  Eating out is one of those areas we don't want to miss either.  By using some money saving idea's we can enjoy our vacations without breaking our budgets!

Blessings,

The Breakfast Of Champions?

We have something going on in our house I am calling the great cereal debate.  I have a love/hate relationship with cereal.

It's an easy breakfast for the kids.
BUT...
It is full of things they really don't need to be putting in their bodies.

It's something all of my kids can agree on.
BUT...
It's costly as our family can easily eat a box or more in one morning depending on the size of the box.

It's yummy! {I must admit, even I love cereal!}
BUT...
So is cheesecake~that doesn't make it a good choice for breakfast!

I've been in this cereal debate for some time now.  I make the announcement that ALL cereal will be banished from the house from this point forward.  I get children complaining that they will never get to enjoy breakfast again!  I try it for a couple of weeks, then cave and go back to the cereal again.  Because it's easy.  Because I'm tired of the complaining.  Because I just don't want to deal with it anymore.  Then start the process all over again! 

I wanted to find some new breakfast foods that are easy to make and healthy.  We have a few kiddo's who don't like oatmeal, and one who doesn't care for eggs too often.  I like to make breakfast foods for an easy lunch, so pancakes, waffles, French toast, and even scrambled eggs get made sometimes for lunches.  So I've hit the web trying to find some healthy alternatives.

One of the best sites I've found is Heavenly Homemakers.  She has tons of recipes that are made with real food!  This is something I have been looking into for a while and would love for my family.  She has a cookbook I think I'm going get.   Anyway~a  few of the recipes I've tried or want to try are...

Breakfast Cake Muffins

 

 

Baked Oatmeal Cups

 {these are absolutely delicious!}

 

Pancake and Sausage muffins

 

POPTARTS!! 

{Our kids love poptarts, but have you read the label?}

 

A few other recipe's I have found on other websites and want to try

 

 

Quick Chocolate Oatmeal With Flax Seed

 

 

Raw Apple Cereal

 

 



I'm finding that there are lots of alternatives out there to boxed cereal.  Many of these things I could make ahead of time and freeze, therefore making them an easy, quick breakfast.  I love that idea!

 

Taste and see that the Lord is good;
    blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. Psalm 34:8

 

I'd love to know what you make for breakfast for your family!

 

Blessings,

Moving With A Large Family

 

source~google

One word.....

ORGANIZATION!!

I must get organized with this move. 

We have started packing up boxes.  All are labeled with what is in them, and what room they are going into at the new house.  If there is something breakable in them, the word FRAGILE is in BIG letters on the box (our 6 year old can now read this word effortlessly!).  Good thing I happen to love the scent of magic markers!

We have a plan for the week of moving.  Since we are moving to my in~laws house, and since they (gratefully) have less "stuff" than us, we are able to move a few things in early.  We are taking the kids' beds down early and moving them in the new house before the big move day.  They can sleep on sleeping bags on the floor (they will love it, they'll make a campout of it for sure!), and this way their beds will be ready for our first night in the new house.

We will make sure each child has their special items with them.  You know, the beloved stuffed animals and blankets they can't live without.  I don't want a first night in a new house without their beloved things.

The kids are helping.  Our oldest son has his room practically all packed up already.  The older kids are packing their own room boxes and helping the little ones as well.  It takes the entire family to make this move happen (rather) smoothly.

We have lots of help.  Since this move is actually switching homes (we're moving to their house, they're moving to ours!), we needed double the crew~one for their house and one for ours.  We "plan" to have a crew at each house packing into trailers, and then moving to the other homes with that same crew (we're praying this will workout!).  We have family members, friends, and some strong willing men from church.

I'm making a list and checking it twice.  I've written down what I want cleaned before we move, what needs to be repaired, what is staying and what is going, and what I want accomplished before the moving day.  Checking things off a list just makes me feel like we're getting somewhere.

I'm (trying to ) extend grace.  I know that things are not going to go as smoothly as planned.  However,  I'm trying to keep my cool and know that it will all work out in the end.  I don't need to get crabby at everyone or everything in the process.  It will serve no purpose and just make things worse.  Prayer is getting me through this phase as only the Lord can provide me with peace in this area.

Oh, and one more thing.  We're praying for good weather.  March can be iffy here in Wisconsin.  We can expect snow or expect 70 degrees.  I'm praying more for the latter, but know that God is in control.  It will all work out!

Now if I could just wake up and it could be June!!

Blessings,

Getting Kids To Do Chores

In our house, everyone has chores to do.  The older kids have daily chores like helping with dishes, and the younger kids have chores they do weekly like emptying garbage cans or dusting.  It's funny how the younger kids want to do chores, while the older ones sigh when they have to do theirs.  How do you get the kids to continue their enthusiasm for helping out around the house?

A BIG mistake I made with our older kids was to squelch their desire to help out.  They weren't doing it the way I would, or it would just be easier to do it myself.  As we added children to our family, I realized that I couldn't do everything myself and needed help.  The older kids didn't have chores to do when they were younger, so when they were older and I was asking them to do things, it really WAS a chore! 

The biggest way I've learned to help our kids retain the enthusiasm for helping around the house is just to let them.  Our 6 year old recently wanted to help fold her clothes.  I gave her the washbasket and she folded them all.  They were far from perfect, but they were folded(ish ☺).  I gave her lots of compliments and praise, and we put them in her dresser together.  She was glad to help out and was satisfied that she did a good job.  With our older kids, I KNOW I would have refolded them and crushed their hearts and desire to help out again.  My heart hurts knowing that I did just that.

Let your kids work side by side with you.  It won't be perfect, and probably won't be pretty.  But as they grow and learn, you will be happy to have their help~with glad hearts.

Blessings,

Large Family Living~Meals

source

As in most families, our grocery budget hasn't gone up as fast as our family size has.  We have a family of 7, and feeding our family on a limited budget can be challenging at times.  Stretching our grocery budget has at times become a necessity, and creativity is key to make it happen sometimes.

Sometimes I need to make food go farther.  Ground beef is something we use a lot of, and making it go farther helps out our budget.  I will also sometimes add rice to our ground beef to stretch it.  We usually use this trick when we are making taco's.

We use a lot of side dishes.  A salad is good with things like spaghetti or other pasta dishes.  Applesauce is a good side dish.  Veggies and fruits are also good things to use as side dishes~we've used them both raw and cooked.

We use bread a lot.  This may not be a good thing for every family, but our family loves bread and butter.  It's even better if it is homemade bread!

We eat a meatless meal once a week (or more).  Our favorites are Cheese and Bacon Quiche or French Toast.

I make a dessert.  Dessert doesn't have to be anything fancy~cookies, puddings, or a cake.  Our kids LOVE it when we have dessert (although, really, don't we all!).

Feeding a family of any size can sometimes be difficult on a budget.  What are some things you do to stay within your budget?

Have a great day!

Blessings,

Groceries~~Sticking To Our Budget

photo credit

Sticking to a budget while grocery shopping for a large family can sometimes be difficult.  Food prices are going higher at a rate faster than our income!  I told you how we do our grocery shopping, but sometimes the bigger question is how do we stay within our budget?  Here's a few tips I've learned over the years...

• Make A Budget!  I know this sounds like a no~brainer, but sadly I went for years just getting groceries and had no idea how much we were spending at the end of the month!
• Use coupons!  I don't go crazy with the coupons, but I do use them.  We get a flyer in our Saturday paper, and my parents get 2 papers with the weekly coupons that they give to me.  When I have time (!) I go through them and put them into my coupon organizer.  Our local stores are beginning to accept internet coupons now, so I'll look up coupons at my Inbox Dollars account.  They use coupons from Coupons.com plus I get 10cents back for every coupon I use.
• Make a menu then make a grocery list.  When I was first married, I just went to the store and got "stuff".  Then when it was time to make a meal, I'd be rummaging through our cabinets trying to find enough ingredients to make something.  Now I always know what we are going to have for supper, and I know that we have the ingredients to make it.  This is not only a money saver, but a time saver as well!
• Keep track while you are shopping.  I write down the amount of items right on my list and keep a running tab so I know what my total so far is.  If I am getting close to or over my limit,  I start re~evaluating things.  Sometimes I do go over, but then the next time I need to go under.  It's about balance sometimes.
• Know what is cheaper.  We've all been told that the larger item is usually cheaper.  But what if that item is more than your williing to spend at the moment?  A larger box of cereal may be cheaper per ounce, but if it is $3 more and would put me over budget, is it worth it?  Sometimes yes, but not always!
• Have a meatless meal once (or more) a week.  Our favorite is breakfast for supper~scrambled eggs and potatoes or french toast.
• Buy items when they are close~dated.  One of our local stores will drop the price drastically when things are a day or two to expiration.  This can be a great deal.  I recently found greek yogurt (usually over $1 per cup) that was 2 days to expiration for 20 cents each.  I grabbed all of them.  Our kids enjoy yogurt, and we had them gone before expiring.  If there is something that can be frozen, buy it and freeze it!
• Use discount stores.  We go to Aldi's to stock up on staples, produce, and dairy once a month or so.  The prices are so much cheaper than the grocery store, and it is the same quality products.
• Don't be a food snob!  I admit to this recently.  I got so caught up in only buying "healthy" foods that I was going way over budget in the name of health!  There needs to be a balance here, too!  Yes, I want to serve my family good, healthy foods, but we don't need to loose the house in order to do it.  Since I rarely serve processed foods, I am more in control of how nutritious our foods are.  We sometimes eat store~bought white bread.  But it is balanced with other healthy choices.  And I am OK with that right now!
• Grow it yourself!  Start a garden and grow your own vegetables.  You don't need to have a huge yard to do this either.  For several years, I had a garden along the side of our garage.  It wasn't huge, but it gave us some great tomatoes, peppers, beans and onions.  This year hubby made me a good size garden, but because of the drought, we didn't get much produce.  Hopefully next year will be better and I will be able to can our vegetables.  There is something so satisfying about eating your own produce.

Grocery shopping while sticking to a budget can be difficult in this economy.  Let me know if you have other great tips!

Blessings,

"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God"
1 Corinthians 10:31

Large Family Living~~Switching Summer and Winter Clothing

Fall is creeping up on us, and it's also when I start looking at filling our dressers with winter clothing.  With 5 children, it can sometimes be overwhelming (and expensive!) dealing with clothes for each of them.  While I certainly don't have "it" all together, I've found a system that works for our family.

First, I make a list for each of the kids that includes what they have and what they need.  I go through last years clothing to see if anything still fits them, or can be handed down to another child.  I also go through our boxes of clothing that haven't fit them yet.  We make a pile of clothing that can be given away, a pile that needs to be thrown away, and a pile of clothing that could be used again for other reasons (I like to use the denim from jeans to make blankets or use t~shirts for rags).  We take care of those piles, then move on.  Then I get to work on that list.  I write down what they have as far as jeans, shirts, skirts, sweaters, undergarments, pajamas, etc. and also write down what they need to get yet.  I have the older kids do this by themselves, and I do it for the younger ones.  When this has been done for each of the kids, then I make a master list for all the kiddo's of what we will need to buy.

We buy most of our clothing at thrift stores, and we've been blessed over the years by others who have shared their kids outgrown clothing.  We do sometimes like to shop at Kohl's as they often have great clearance sales which I can sometimes combine with a 30% off coupon.  I like to make my lists early, so I have that list in my purse ready in case I find myself at a garage sale or thrift store.  I don't want to waste money because I thought a child could use something only to find out they didn't.  (Been there, done that!)

For our family, organization in this area is not only necessary, it is a way I can show good stewardship by sticking to our clothing budget, and blessing others with clothing we no longer need.  How do you tackle the clothing battle?

Have a great day!

Blessings,

"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God"
1 Corinthians 10:31

Large Family Living~Laundry



yes, this is really what our laundry chute looks like sometimes!



"She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness." Proverbs 31:27

Organization is essential to keeping the laundry beast tamed in our home.  With 7 people, laundry is never complete!  I learned long ago that I needed a schedule in order to remain sane in the laundry department.

My schedule is quite simple.  I do something almost every day.  I once tried doing everything in one day, but it drove everyone crazy with the amount of laundry that needed to be folded.  It also seemed like we couldn't do anything else because we had to keep on top of the laundry in order to get it all done that day.  It just didn't work for our family.  So my schedule now is....

Monday~my clothes and hubby's clothes

Tuedsay~some of the kids clothes

Wednesday~the rest of the kids clothes

Thursday~towels, diapers (when we are in that season), and catch up day

Friday~hubby's work clothes

Saturday~bedding

I also hang our clothes out on the clothesline as often as possible, so I start the wash early in the morning.  I love the smell of fresh, clean clothes, and I really like saving some money by not running the dryer as often!  

My schedule sometimes does change depending on what may be going on that week, and I usually do diapers at least twice a week when we are in that season of life.  I try to get all the laundry folded and put away before hubby gets home from work.  He never complains, but I know he likes it when it is completely done before he gets home.  As we all know, there are always "those days" when nothing gets done like we want them to!

With a large family, there will always be laundry to be done.  While I'm not always thankful for the work, I am thankful that we have the clothing, and thankful for the ones who wear it!  (I'm also thankful for our large capacity washing machine!)

Blessings,

"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God"
1 Corinthians 10:31



Linking up with: