Keeping up with Mount Washmore

Oh how to manage LAUNDRY?  My least favorite task is this never ending chore. 

I’d rather mow the grass or shovel snow.  At least that stays done for a while.  Every time I turn around I find a dirty sock ora shirt that is shed when some one is hot. 

Kids = Laundry

I don’t like having a bad attitude about this chore but how to make it more joyful?  How to turn a chore in to a blessing?  I do love having clean laundry when I need it but how to not feel like it is a heavy burden? 

I needed a plan.

Laundry Plan!!

A very wise friend shared with me over a year ago how she keeps ahead of the accumulating loads.  She has 8 kids, so she should know right?

Each child gets a day to do their laundry & at their house one other load—whites.  She only buys white towels by the way. 

We’ve arranged it a bit differently but it works for our family.

Monday—Mom & Dad

Tuesday—Megan

Wednesday—Joshua—yep my 8 year old does his own laundry

Thursday—Elizabeth

Friday—Mom & Dad

Weekends are reserved for if Michael brings his laundry home from college or if not then we don’t do any.

The kids share the whites/towels/sheets on Wed & Friday.  It is part of the chores that they do. 

When I couldn’t do the stairs they girls did my laundry as well.  

They handled it wonderfully!

Benefits of having a Laundry System

• I love knowing that when they leave the house they will be able to handle their laundry.
• It is awesome to not have the entire responsibility of the family laundry on me.  I don’t refer to the basement as the dungeon quite so often now!
• Each day the washer & dryer are empty.  The load(s) are completed and there are no sour smelling clothes to deal with the next day.
• No blame.  If my clothes aren't clean--well it's my own fault.

So that is how we roll with the laundry here. 

How do you do keep Mount Washmore under control?  I'd love to know!

Recent Posts

Turkey in a Pot

One of my favorite ways to cook a turkey is in my crockpot.  Now this isn’t your standard BIG bird like on Thanksgiving.  It is a turkey breast that I have caught on sale at some point & stuck in the freezer(with a friend or two).

My crew LOVES turkey but some of them ONLY like it this way.  When we go places at Thanksgiving, where the turkey is cooked in the oven, they think it is too dry.  Spoiled bunch of kids!  However, turkey in the crockpot is super MOIST and yummy.  We then cook & mash some taters, heat some green beans & we are ready to eat! 

Oh an did I mention it is in the CROCKPOT?  I love my slave in the kitchen.  She works all day and I can come home to a yummy meal with almost no effort on my part!

After we eat turkey for supper there are always leftovers.  I cut up the turkey & make this delicious soup for the freezer!  Usually there is enough for 2 or 3 batches!  There goes my other slave who just holds on to those premade meals for me until I REALLY need one on a busy day.  Love .. Love .. Love my freezer!

Turkey & Noodles—this was adapted from the 30 Day Gourmet

12 cups turkey or chicken broth

1/2 tsp salt

1 lb frozen egg noodles

1/2 cup flour

1 1/2 cups milk

3 cups cooked turkey

In a large, pot heat broth to boiling.  Add salt.  Add frozen noodles and bring back to a boil.  Turn down to simmer.  Cook for 10 minutes and then stir flour & milk together.  Mix in with the noodles & broth.  Cook until it seems to have reduced slightly and thickened.  Add the meat & salt to taste.

Serving immediately?  Just add a salad & some vegies and you are ready to eat!

Freezing?  Measure out in to appropriate size containers & let cool.  Freeze!  Don’t for get to label your container & date it!

Is it still cool & drizzly outside in your neck of the woods?  Enjoy these warm & nourishing soups!

Brown Jug Soup

3 Bean Soup

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

Grocery Store Hop

One of the challenges of being a coupon shopper is knowing where to shop for the best deals.   I have a process that I go through each week that helps me narrow it down and I also have a couple of resources I wanted to share with you that REALLY help!

First I check my monthly menu plan that I created at the first of the month(or whenever I get around to it.  HA!)  It helps me to know what I am supposed to make and what I need to pick up as I do my shopping of the weekly sales.

The adds come out on Tuesday but I wait until Wednesday to look at the adds because that is when we get a free paper.  I just quickly go through the add looking for obvious sales that I will want to not miss out on.  I jot those down on scrap paper under the name of the store.

My friend Gwen has started a new site, The Savings Jungle, that has been a wonderful help in deciding which stores have the best deals.  She even has a “If you make it to only one store” post each week.  This has helped streamline my shopping.  These posts are meant to be specific to our local Columbia, MO stores but I am sure they apply to other stores around the country also!

This past week I was able to get lots of cereal & cheese at low prices and those hints came straight from The Savings Jungle!

(17 bags of cheese for 25 cents each!)

Another resource that I just found was a printable that is based on the idea that you will be going to several stores for the best deal.  It has 4 places to jot down the items you want with the price beside it & even a place to check if you have a coupon to go with it.  I love this idea!  Going to try it out this week.  The link to that printable is below!

http://printables.yourway.net/home-management-notebook/weekly-deals-roundup/

If you are asking yourself why would I bother going to more than one store--much less go to 4 stores.  Well as I said I got shredded cheese at one store for 25 cents per 8 oz bag.  I also got cereal for 88 cents a box.  Now our family doesn’t eat a lot of cereal.  Too much sugar, not enough staying power for growing bodies.  However on Saturday’s it is a special treat. 

This was cornflakes not frosted coated sugar bombs—there are some foods that I rarely buy!  So I now have enough cereal that if there are no more sales we have a stash that would probably last 5 or 6 months.  Yeah that is a lot of cereal but hey if I’d paid full price it would have been $3-4 a box! 

Oh and did I mention when I bought those I got Catalina’s for 4 gallons of milk for free?  YEP—that is why I went to more than one store last week.  It was worth every penny of gas money.  Not every week is that good but every little bit of stocking up & saving is a drop in the proverbial bucket.

So what do YOU think--it is worth it to go to more than one store? 

Burning Brush & a Bonfire

We’ve been collecting brush. 

For several years.  The pile is wide & tall.

The family discussion is where to put more garden space and one solution is to get rid of the pile & in this area.

My oldest is a fire bug.  The little brother seems to enjoy it too. 

     

They are so much a like.  I love that Michael teaches Joshua & is patient with all of his wiggly chattering.  Joshua adores time spent working on a project with his big brother.

Yesterday there was no wind so they were out early.  So they burned all morning.  But the fun began after supper. 

 

We had some friends coming over for a movie but we had a bonfire for a while and roasted s’mores!

Can some one explain to me why we’ve lived here 11 years ago and this is the first time that we’ve done this!  It was a fun way to enjoy the mild weather.

It was a truly fine way to enjoy a cool spring(almost) evening!

Simple Scrapbooking

I have been accused by friends of being a minimalist.

I like it basic.

I seldom sticker.

I never ribbon.

If I can design a page & get it put together in less than 10 minutes then I am a very happy woman.

One of my favorite layouts uses up scraps of paper like this.  It is simple, easy & uses up something I feel bad throwing away!

That is probably why I haven’t switched to digital scrapbooking.  I like to make fast easy layouts.  Learning to digital scrapbook seems like an overwhelming task.  So for now I am sticking to what I know & using what I have.  Simple & frugal.

Every October & Mar/April I go to a Scrapbook Getaway.  It is a blast & I usually get a lot done. 

This time when I returned I didn’t repack my supplies.  Instead I took them downstairs & set up a couple of folding tables.  Now I have no excuse because it is all set up. 

 

Now I just need to sneak away for a few minutes. 

A small thing but hard to do.

I was able to find 30 minutes last week.  I made 2 titles with my Cricut for pages that I already had put pictures on. 

It doesn’t seem like much but it is more than I had done in the past 5 months.  I am shooting to do more than that this week since we will be home more.  I love days at home.  I would love to complete this album and put it on the shelf!  Here is some of what I’ve been working on—just because!