Housekeeping

The word "housekeeping" stroke people differently. People either like it or hate it. In my case, there's no middle ground. I have tried to be neutral about it and it did not work.

There are books of all different methods to help us keep our house clean and organized and some even promise if we follow it thoroughly our house will practically cleanse itself.

Obviously it is a war on words. If a book is written well enough to win someone's mind or hit a spot many readers have been struggled for a while, the book (method) then for sure would become the best seller on the market.

I remember the Sidetracked House Executives was a hit. I learned lots of ideas from them, such as how to organize your day/week/month/year in the 3x5 cards. Then Don Aslett's book title Clutter's Last Stand was so catchy and the book was such a fun read that I actually learned how to clean (non organically at the time) per his suggestions, especially on the kitchen counter tops. Then Elizabeth George's "A woman after God's own heart" made me aware of how God wants us to be the manager of our own home. Another author was Emily Barnes. Her books were everywhere and I even bought one but I don't think I got much out of it except that later on from somewhere an interview I read that she wished she didn't focus so much on keeping the house to a point where she didn't spend as enough time with her son(s). That was a warning I heeded and have always made sure that I am serving my family before tackling the house chores.

Of course FLYlady hit the ground running and I ran with it, on and off since 1999. I have learned the power of 15 minutes and the importance of the bedroom sanctuary and the swish swash (which you probably have read from some posts I wrote here a while ago). Later in the 2000's the blog world opened my eyes with so many Bloggers started blogging about housekeeping as a business. I meant I literally followed some blogs for a duration just because I loved all the Before and After pictures. Pinterest also did a number to me.

Sad to say that even with all of these reading my house still remained a hot mess for a long time. I did have some progresses for a spell of time when I worked the "methods". But they all crumbled as soon as I got sidetracked - aka got lazy or busy. I struggled with it. You see, by cleaning and keeping the house tidy is a form of my worship to God. Not being able to do a good job at it truly discouraged me. But we do serve a merciful God and a God Who DOES know our heart's desire. I bummed into the "Zero Waste Home" Blog. From there I have learned how to let stuff go. It was a minimalism approach and it made so much sense to me. It was the "important and sentimental STUFF" that's holding me back all these years! What a liberation to have finally found the cause of my problem!

Just as I was ready to tackle the "STUFF" we had three special major events took place this May/June and even though I did not physically do a lot of the planning and executing of the events, they were weighing yet on my mind constantly. I decided it would be best to wait till July is over to begin the journey (hopefully for the last time) of cleaning out my house.

That's when I heard of the Konmarie method. Out of curiosity I borrowed the book from the library (I learned this from the Zero Waste Home - buying is the last resort) and am still reading it. To date, I have to say I am having a hard time accepting her art of tidying philosophies whole heartily. Like many concerned Christians who had read the book commented on the fact that she gives thanks to objects instead of the Giver of all things. That fact bothers me as well. Other than that part, there are practical applications of her ideas. The clothes folding method and the daily purse purging are the two things I am trying out currently.

All in all, I feel that the housekeeping skill is lost since the schools stopped offering Home Ed. Many of our moms walking out of the kitchen in the 60's also contributed to this dilemma. All the chores our grandparents did "naturally" are now the expertise we have to spend money to acquire.

Can there be one way of housekeeping proficiency? Can we learn to love housekeeping? Or at least enjoy it? Perhaps. For me, the minimal mindset has helped a great deal. With all of these information I have gathered through the years ought to help me stay on track. I pray when another life event takes place again I will be ready for it and won't let it take away all the effort I have put in managing and caring of our home.

Since I have to choose either to love it or hate housekeeping, I have decided to love it. After all, there is a joy in doing even the most mundane tasks in life, if I commit myself to it. Surely I have pledged my life to serve my family as unto the Lord, I have tasted the fruit of this labor, it is indeed sweet.

Learned from Don Aslett to always clean kitchen counters from left to right.

Evening Routine ~ A shinny sink always gives me energy in the morning.

I try to keep my sanctuary as clean and peaceful as possible always. I have loved entering our bedroom since the transformation and yes I make the bed first thing every morning after I get up.

This is what my night table is like currently. The Orchid did not last very long in this room. I like to have plants in all the rooms so I may figure out some other heartier plants to put here soon.

One part of our homeschool room. I love this IKEA shelf-cubes! 

THIS has been a HOT SPOT since we moved in. My daily chore for sure.

We are a book family and I am very thankful to have a few built-in bookshelves. I am looking forward to tweak them till I like them. This set up is very soothing to my eyes, so far...

Ha! I can't resist to post this picture. You know who folds clothes this way, right...? :)

Old Skill, New Tool

Do you know how to use chopsticks? Do you ask for a fork in Asian restaurants?
I have been using chopsticks my whole life and have always taken the skill of using chopsticks for grant. It's something all Asians do so no biggies.

We like cold brewed coffee and to use the simple low tech cold brew coffee maker, there are a few must have items. We have been doing the cold brewed coffee for years without any incidents until last month. First the glass jar broke and then we could not find the stopper of the coffee maker. I replaced the jar easily since I have many glass jars in the house but the stopper was a different story. We searched high and low in the kitchen and eventually went to Lowe's and got a plastic stopper replacement (not rubber) and things are back to normal again, Not perfect, but it worked.

Last week when I turned on the garbage disposal, I heard some funny sound but because we were busy with the wedding reception I just decided there were some stubborn orange peels that got down there and needed more time to be ground down so I went on with life. Today, when hubby and I heard it again, I was puzzled and then he shouted: "It's the coffee maker stopper! It has to be it!" I looked at him and looked the disposal mouth and then looked at our hands. Our hands are just too big to reach down there to figure out if it was the stopper. So we grab a flash light and shined down the throat of the disposal and sure enough, there it was - the stopper! Calling our young son over in hope to see if his little hand can reach down there and pick it up, that's when I had a thought! How about my chopsticks? They are skinny enough to reach down there and I can just pick it up like I pick up a piece of meat from the meal plate...
Yup! The old chopsticks and my "skill" of using them saved the day!

Now the chopsticks are my new "long tweezers" on my tool list. How cool is that?

Salt and Baking Soda

Living is expensive. There are so many things tucking at your wallet. House cleaning product is one of them. You want your house clean? there's a product for every nook in your house.

Years ago, when my older children were younger, money was just not there. However, regardless how "difficult" life seemed, we had a wonderful family life. I would not trade my family for anything else.

Lacking of monetary means forced me to look high and low for all sorts of saving tips. I used to be the coupon queen before it was cool to be one. Eating "rubber chicken" before it was a trend among the struggling young families now. And of course, eating organically was super expensive at the time when I realized box foods were not really food. Haha!

In order to eat better, I needed to find other ways to save. My home-made cleaning product was born out of that necessity. Some of the habits from then I still use now.

Since our finance have improved somewhat (after all the ups and downs with unemployment during the late 2000), I have moved away from some of these wonderful home-made cleaning gems. But now that we are doing the Dave Ramsey's Financial Freedom, I decided to take a look at what expenses have we gotten relax on. Well, cleaning product was one of them. Hmmm, that is a post for another day.

Back to my current post. Because we had a crazy month last month, I had let my stove top gone to a place I can't and don't want to mention. So this morning seemed to be a good time to tackle it, because, why yes, we were having company. Imagine that!

After I used Melaleuca's Tough & Tender to soak on the crusty, with some what burned-on stove top and scrubbed away. It took forever and the stove top still looked horrible.

Well, my company came and I was not going to work on the stove top while they were here. My friend's mother, who is probably about my age, casually glanced over my stove top and said: Salt and Baking Soda.

Bingo!!! Duh!!!!

I have completely forgotten that trick! Thank you K for the reminder. After they left, I went looking for my box of salt I know I have it here somewhere... We have started eating sea salt so I don't buy table salt anymore. So glad I found a box of Kosher salt in the pantry.

No water needed. Just salt and Baking Soda and I scrubbed away with a piece of paper towel. No chemical smell, no harsh scrubbing. All things natural and all the grease and dirt came off! I am a happy "young wife" again.

Above the Line Shopping List

I opened the refrigerator this morning and noting down items I needed to buy as the fridge is getting empty and my big shopping day is not till next week. I quickly wrote down some items on the back of a receipt. Moments later, My big boy came and said: "Mom, there's nothing in the fridge... when are you going to pick up some food?" Hmmm.... Guest I had no choice but made a dashing trip to TJ before lunch time.

On my way to the store, I was thinking why do I still write things down? Why didn't I just print out a bunch of the shopping lists I had created and just grab one whenever I needed it? Well, I know the answer, I just did not want to admit it - the list was the way I wanted it to be, not what needs to be. I had all my "wants" on it, whether we can afford it or not.

The list worked well for a while, a long while, mind you, as long as I put the "want" items on credit if I ran out of cash, which happened a few times too many. Slowly and by God's grace, I had come to terms with my shopping "wish list" and need it to reflect our current budget plan. The desire of wanting a new list finally caught up with me today.

When I was making the left turn to enter the shopping center, a light bulb went on. We are currently in one of Dave Ramsey's Money Make-over classes and last week he shared one of his experiences (on video) about how he and his wife had to sit down and made an "Above the Line" budget sheet. Basically, anything above the line got paid, anything below the line got paid when there's extra money. Thank the Lord we didn't have to do that with our finance. We have debt but not as horrendous as the one they had. We are in the class for a different reason, that's a post for another day.
Anyway, that "Above the Line" idea sat in as I was thinking about how to redo my shopping habit/list that I got so excited when I came home I quickly revised the list.

The new list gives me a very clear picture where all the dollars go (one of DR's strong teachings - give every dollar a name) Anything above the line of the shopping list we NEED to have in the house every week, even though some of the items lasts more than one week and only need to be purchased once in a while. None the less, it helps me to budget better and hopefully to avoid the question from my son: "Mom, when are you going to the store...?"

The old list - it served us well for many years. If anything, it helped me to try to stick to the list when I go shopping.

The revised list prints on both sides. Now I know the food budget allows me to get things that are "above the line" and if we have extra, I could shop something below the line. Lets you worry, ice cream is above the line. ;)

I also learned that instead of buying Tarter sauce, I can combine these two items and they taste exactly like tarter sauce and oh so delicious! I learned this trick from the "Chef" behind the TJ Taste station. Now I don't buy the use only a couple times and throw away Tarter sauce!

Maple Syrup, My kids love them. It is a staple goodness in our house. Because I am watching the budget like a hawk right now, I picked this smaller jar for this month. I usually buy the 32 Oz. one but since we are revamping our budget I decided not to break the bank for it on today's quick shopping trip. I don't buy a lot of stuff but I do try to buy the good ones whenever I can.

Refrigerator Cleaning

The Spring Cleaning continues... Today, I decided to tackle the fridge. I have not really cleansed it since we moved in and it was time.

 Before...

This is how I organize my shelves:

Top self - way in the back I keep the flours and the used coconut oil for deep frying. I also have added a shelf in there to hold the flat items.

second "layer" on top shelf - extras of the same stuff.

Top shelf - in the front is my daily stuff.

 Second shelf - Left overs and more daily stuff. I love using shoe boxes in there for easy access.

I love this huge drawer! I keep lots of "loose" items in there. I use a shorter tray in there for a compartment look. I also love my white hard boiled eggs holder - a TJ Max find.

Third shelf - More shoe boxes for veggies and fruit.

The two drawers' contents are obvious.

This is before I restock but it is bare because we EAT the stuff we buy. A lot less wastes these days.

Because we have the wall behind the fridge door, I remove the door shelf before pulling out the bottom left drawer to clean.

After = ♥

The door storage is the worst part of the organization. Before... 

 After. Love how the like items are next to each other. :)  Those white dividers are adjustable. One thing I learned is that milk goes bad faster if stored in the door shelf as the temperature fluctuates quite a bit with the opening and closing of the door.

Freezer door. Before.

Freezer door. After. Not sure why I keep the decaf as no one is drinking it any more...

Freezer - Before. Looking at this, I realized the way we eat these days are definitely not a monthly menu but rather, a weekly one.

After - not much work here. Merely rearranged the items.

~This post is linked to New nostalgia AP party.~

My Floating-Pantry

Yesterday was an emotional day for me and I did what I normally do when I feel that way: I clean and change things around (with Keith green's songs of course).

It has been almost four months since we moved in and I finally got enough motivation and inspiration to tackle this task - Re-organizing the "Pantries".

Because it is an old house, the pantry does not have that tall closet look. Instead, the top half of the "closet" is a deep, dark, dead space storage area and then an open counter underneath the pantry and then the drawers.

I have been putting this task off because there were just way many other projects to take care of first and if you have been reading my blog for a while, you know how crazy I am with the ergonomic way of organizing.

So I waited and just put stuff that I felt was a "right" place for them and pretty much just tossed stuff into the cabinets.

I titled this post the "Floating-Pantry" because I need to use other cabinets to house all the normal pantry stuff that I could not put in that "half-pantry". I "float" the stuff into other cabinets which works fine now until we could save enough to remodel the kitchen.

Without further adieu, here are the befores and afters:

Before - Deep and Dark

and lots of dead (wasted) space.

I took everything out from the half-Pantry.

A clean slate for me to think.

As a good organizer would do, I ran around the house gathering things I thought may work in the Pantry. Noticed the little wooden shelf?

It fits perfectly on the lone shelf that was in the Pantry! I went and snatched another shelf (I have three of these shelves) and put them side by side... and...

Voila! It looks as though it has always been there. What a delight!

Put everything (after de-junked a bunch of other stuff) back in and made sure it works in ways of easy access. 

Now Robert has a secret chocolate stashing place that Peter can't reach - even with the help of a chair. :)

This is the cabinet above the sink. What a mess. What is in that Kleenex box you ask?

Well, it is re-purpose at its best. A plastic grocery bags holder.

After: Much better. Rounded up all my beloved glass jars. The chocolate stash behind the tall jar now has a new "secret home".

Floating to another cabinet - mainly all the spice and vitamins' home and whatever else I tossed in there. Totally disorganized and it messed up my brain badly.

After: Yes... This is more like it. All the Vitamins go up on the top shelf. My small collection of cookie baking supplies and glass jars for my home made yogurt on the middle shelf and all of the spice go south here. I really like my square Lazy Susan. It swirls around smoothly even after all these years (I bought it way back in the early 90's)

Another re-purpose item. An used black pepper self grinder jar turned self grind for my rough Celtic Sea Salt. love it!

This one was challenging: small and narrow. It almost became a small catch-all place.

But I would not let it. Now it houses all the sweeteners on the bottom shelf. on the middle shelf: My pretty tea bag Tin and the basket of kiddos' birthday cake candles and a quick grab pain killer bottle is in there as well. The top shelf holds a small basket of medicine. It is small because we try to use home remedy as much as we could and staying away from those drugs that give you side effect almost guaranteed.

The last shelf - this is the cabinet above the microwave. The cabinets in the kitchen are very cheaply made as this was a flip house. 

After: I only have a few items in here = no junk (which makes me very happy)

All the sunscreens, room fresheners and coasters are in the square Tupperware box.

Matches are in a small plastic container.

and last but not least, a big white wicker basket houses all the extra kitchen tools.

There they are, all organized and de-junked. what a blessed day the Lord had given me after all. So very thankful. I l love to bless my family with a clean and functional kitchen as we spend lots of time in there, whether we know it or not.

Robert walked in earlier and was surprised and pleased with all the changes. THAT made my day.

~This post is linked to the Thursday Linking Party at Delightful Order. ~