Seasonal Binder

Binders are a great way to contain large amounts of information in one place, while keeping it easy to navigate. I use one for my recipes, my coupons, and to also contain my "brain" in my Home Management Binder.



Every year when it came time to plan a holiday, any of them, I found myself stressed out and forgetting where I placed an idea that I came across months before. I always had good intentions to be more organized, to start earlier, and to make this, and decorate with that. I even made little notes to myself, only to lose them before it came time to use them. Ever had that happen?



If binders work for everything else, why not for seasonal stuff?



Separate into 4 basic sections using dividers: Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter. I've found that I prefer attaching the divider labels to clear page protectors.



In each basic section I like to include a list of things that I need to do to prepare for that season. For instance, to prepare for fall, I had to take our bins out of the storage shed to do our clothing swap, and get our sweaters, coats/gloves/hats. I do the same thing to prepare for Spring/Summer--I take the bins out to get all of our river/lake/swimming gear, as well as shorts and tanks. Also in this list, I might include some special cleaning that I would like to include. For instance, to prepare for Winter, I will need to make sure that all the yard tools are put up and all of my seed starting containers are ready to start seeds. Another great thing to write here, are things that always come around that time of year, that may normally sneak up on you ie; sports, school starting, your favorite festivals/fairs/events, etc.

Then the fun part begins! Organizing all of your ideas.

• When you come across a decorating idea you particularly enjoy and want to try, print it out, or pull it out of the magazine. Then you can hole punch it and include it in the correct section.
• I include Seasonal Specific foods/recipes. There are some that just fit with certain seasons. Generally speaking, you wouldn't serve up pumpkin pie, Reindeer Cookies, and comfort foods in the summer months.
• Craft Ideas. Crafts are a great way to engage with your children, and oftentimes they are great learning opportunities.
• Gift Ideas. This mostly comes into play in the Winter Section, but it is also handy for other parts of the year for teacher gifts. **If you are really organized you could include a list of birthdays for each Season, and along the way gift ideas you've came across.**
• Activities/Games. There are a lot of different seasonal activities that we enjoy, but may forget through the years. Keeping everything all in one spot will help us to remember and be able to choose and enjoy our favorites. Also great for planning parties and family gatherings.
• Include a folder in each section for the small papers, or as a place to store things before you can file them.
• Try to organize your sections by what comes first. For instance, the Winter Section. Put Christmas before New Year's and Valentine's Day.

How do you keep track of seasonal things?

This post is linked to Your Life, Your Blog and Works For Me Wednesday.

Making Crockpot Apple Butter

I remember eating homemade apple butter as a kid and thinking that it was the best thing. Ever. Let me tell you, it is!


I've always assumed that making applesauce and apple butter would be a laborous task, that wasn't really worth the final effort. Part of my 2009 Goals, we wanted to get atleast 3 months of food stored up. This includes everything from jam/jellies, to vegetables, to meat, to grains and everything in between. Over the past few weeks I've bought 3 bushels of apples and jumped right in!

To make apple butter all you need is:

• Apples
• Cinnamon
• Nutmeg
• Sugar

You need to peel and core your apples before placing them in the crockpot. To make this easier and faster, I used an apple peeler, corer and slicer thing. Similiar to this one. I filled my crockpot all the way to the top. The amount of apples will vary by the size of crockpot. This is so vague, but I used about a Wal-Mart bag full, or a ¼ bushel.

Once my crocpot was loaded, I added 2 cups sugar, roughly 2 Tbsp Cinnamon, and 1 tsp nutmeg.

Put the lid on and cook on low for about 7-8 hours, or on high for 4-5 hours. You can stir it around if you want to (I couldn't resist), but you do not have to. When it is done, the apples will cooked through and will look somewhat like applesauce.





If your mixture is a little runny still, remove the lid and let cook for roughly another hour.


Put mixture in a food processor and blend until smooth.

Yum! This will keep in your refrigerator for up to 2 months. If you want to can it for long term food storage follow the water bath canning method and can pints for 10 minutes, quarts for 15.

Homemade apple butter is better tasting, lower in sugar and more frugal than the store bought version. In addition, when you are cooking it, it serves as a whole house air freshener!

This post is linked to :

• Tackle it Tuesday
• Frugal Friday
• Recipe Swap.

Home Management Binder: Menu Planning/Master Grocery List

What would be a Home Management Binder without a Menu Planning section? Check out this post for some Menu Planning tips and tricks if you are still new to the game.


This section is still a work in progress. My goal when it is finished is to have a complete Master Grocery List, and a Monthly Menu Plan to fall back on--in those busy, crazy times when I just do not have the time to come up with a plan.










This is my the cover page for this section. Feel free to Click Here and print yours.






Behind my cover page is extra notebook paper for me to write down meals, side dishes or desserts that I come across during the day, that I want to try. If I find them on the internet, I will either save them in my favorites or Stumble them so I can find them later. If I find it in a cookbook, I will go ahead and write down the cookbook and the page so I can easily find it again, when it makes "the plan."

After the notebook paper, I have the always-work-in-progress Master Grocery List. Just when I think I have it down, I think of something else, or decide to do something differently. My goal with this list is to incude everything that I buy on a regular basis, as well as price points that I consider to be a good stock up price. I've just recently re-done the one I was using, and I'm not so sure that this is exactly what I am looking for either. I found my current template off of our Excel Program, and have just went in and customized it to work for me.

I've also included a few extra Weekly Menu Plan sheets just in case I am able to fill it in before the week comes up. I'm currently using the free printable that MomAdvice offers, but Orgjunkie recently linked to a bunch of menu printables and I think I found a new one that I might like better.

Once the current plan is figured out, it gets transferred to my dry erase board that is displayed on my refrigerator. I've really come to love this thing--it is much better than the calendar system I used to use. Plus, it is pretty! I found it at Wal-Mart for $1, up by the cash registers. If you are unable to find one--I have a few extra. ;)




Nothing too complicated, which makes it easy for me to keep with it. I was hoping to have my Master Grocery List and Monthly Meal Plan completed to share, but I'm just not quite there. Yet. ;)

Do you have a Master Grocery List or Monthly Menu Plan?

If you have a Home Management Binder, I would love to see your Menu Planning/Grocery Section. Link up!

**If you're walking along getting your binder set up, next week I'll cover the Finance Section. For a complete schedule, check out the BlogFrog or Facebook Fan page in the blog sidebar.**

Making Your Own Butter

I will be the first person to admit that I was very intimidated by the very thought of making butter. The only image I had running through my mind was me churning butter with a an old crock and butter churn. Let me tell you...gone are those days!

Making butter definitely goes on the easy list. If you've got the ingredients and an extra 20-30 minutes, you've got delicious, wholesome butter.

Now, I know that a few months back we were trying to cut the butter out of our diet because of high cholesterol issues. So you may be asking me why now all of sudden I am singing it's praises. The more I began to think about things, the more I realized I didn't understand nutrition at all. I went with the flow, and just assummed that the labels on products, the scientists behind those products, and the food companies knew and spoke nutrition. Unfortunately, it couldn't be further from the truth. Butter is not processed; it contains all natural, un-fabricated ingredients. Did you know that the actual color of margarine is grey and it is then bleached and colored to look like butter? Um, gross! Now is not the time for a big butter vs. margarine debate, but if it is something that you are interested in, I urge you to read this article, as well as this one about the processes that margarine goes through.

Back to making butter.

You can do this with store bought heavy cream, as long as it isn't ultra pasteurized. However, I have only ever used raw cream that I have skimmed off of my raw milk.

Take your cream and pour into a food processor, and process.





I process mine on a 1 or a 2, but it moves pretty fast. It usually takes about 15-25 minutes and the butter starts to form.

Now is the time to turn it off and pour off the buttermilk--but keep it. While it isn't cultured, it is still good to use in some recipes.

After you have the buttermilk poured off of the butter, add some ice cold water and process for about 5 more seconds. Drain off the water, and repeat. When the water is no longer cloudy, you can finish repeating this step. You are trying to remove the rest of the buttermilk from the butter which will help the butter keep a bit longer.

If you want to, now is the time to season your butter. I prefer not to add salt to mine, but if you desire to, add in a dash of sea salt.

*Different Variations*

• Add about a tablespoon of raw honey to your butter and mix up, perfect on dinner rolls or warm biscuits.
• A teaspoon of basil and a dash of grated Parmesan Cheese for a nice Italian Herb Butter.
• A dash or two of cayenne pepper; depending on how brave you are.

After you've seasoned it, or not, form it and refrigerate.

One thing to note, homemade butter, since it is lacking all preservatives, doesn't last as long as store bought butter. In addition, it takes a lot of cream to make a fair amount of butter. Because of this, I won't make all of our needed butter, but we do like it as an added treat with our homemade bread. There is just something gratifying about making butter. Not to mention the flavor is better! Using and making butter works for me!

This post is linked to:

• Frugal Friday
• Works for Me Wednesday

Home Management Binder: Cleaning Lists

A clean home is an incredibly inviting, welcoming place to be, although at times it can be daunting to clean it all. In addition to it being daunting, all the tasks are oftentimes hard to remember. I've often found myself lost and confused as to what needed to be done daily, weekly, monthly and even yearly. The Cleaning List Section in my binder was created to fix this, and help me to stay on top of all the tasks. In the end hoping that I would have a clean, inviting home, without getting overwhelmed while attaining it.

When creating your Cleaning List, you need to keep in mind the things that need to be done in your home. What works for me won't always work for you.

When setting up this section, I first had to come up with an attractive "Title Page" so that I knew what was in that section.

Click Here to print the one I used.

Then I needed to come up with a cleaning schedule, but first I needed to decide what needed to be done, when.

1. What needs to be done daily? Laundry, unloading/loading the dishwasher, etc.


2. What needs t0 be done Weekly? paper clutter, donations, sheets, refrigerator, etc.


3. Monthly? ceiling fans, windows, walls/cobwebs, etc.


4. Seasonally? Touch up paint, declutter, dryer vents, smoke detector, etc.
   
   

Then I needed to come up with a checklist that would help me to remember when these tasks needed to be completed.

{I came across this one, and decided to share it.}This is a basic house cleaning list that lets you check off when they are compelted; broken into weeks. Click Here to print.

This is the one that I use and it does have some "non-cleaning" tasks thrown in as a reminder to myself. Click Here to print.

{This is a template from our Excel Program. I love how detailed it is, and decided to include it in my binder.} These are an in depth cleaning/maintenace schedule, covering both interior and exterior parts of your home. It is broken up Quarterly and Seasonally. Click Here to Print.

After I had all parts of my home covered and accounted for and broken up, I had to make sure that I would be able to come up with a system that allowed me to get these tasks done. After all that is the whole purpose, right? :)

Right now, I write my daily tasks on my To-Do List on their corresponding days (You can see more of that, here). If, when I have all of the that days tasks filled in and scheduled, I still have a time slot available, I add in a monthly task in. If I am able to complete a monthly task, I put a check mark next to that task on the sheet protector with a dry erase marker. When the next month rolls around, I am then able to erase all my marks and start anew. I do have the complex home maintence schedule in my binder, but haven't even had the chance to implement it yet. But, I'm thinking that it will run just about the same way.

I decided not ot include an actual detailed daily task list, because I found it too complex to include my every task in a day. I'm hoping that in my absense, the person that was stepping in for me would know that I load/unload the dishwasher daily (or atleast when needed).

Do you have a Cleaning Schedule? I would love to see it!

If not, now is the time to set one up. Feel free to print off the forms in this post, or create your own. Take pictures, make a post and link up! Let's get Organized!

*Please link to your blog post, not your homepage.

*Please stay on topic, and remember to link back here, so your readers can see the other tips passed along.

*As always, if you do not have a blog, you can leave yours in the comment section.

Next week I will go over my Menu Planning Section. To see the full schedule, visit the BlogFrog or my Facebook FanPage (both are in the sidebar).

Benefits of Raw Milk

If you would have told me a year or so ago that my family would be relying on a local farmer for our milk, I would have called you crazy. My naive mind thought that store bought was the way to go. Obviously not with just milk, either. But boy has my mind been changed!

The more I look into what is really in (or in some cases, what isn't in) store bought food, the more I want to avoid it. We've switched to homemade bread products made with fresh ground wheat, homemade snacks, and I grow and preserve as much food as I can. Other than finding a good meat source (which I think I have already) the only thing I needed to do something about was our dairy products.

I'm not going lie. This was a very hard decision for me. It took many, many months for me to finally jump in and do it. And really, it wasn't me that did it, the farmer did. They had some extra milk, and wanted to know if I wanted it. If I didn't, it would be poured down the drain. Not being one to waste, I jumped on it, and I haven't looked back. The family loves it!

Benefits of Raw Milk

1. During the pasteurization process, milk store bough milk loses roughly 60% of it's calcium.
   
   
2. In addition to losing that much calcium, it loses all of it's phosphate. Doesn't sound too important--but it is! Phosphate helps your body to absorb (or use) the calcium.
   
   
3. Raw Milk is higher in B12 (here is great article on the importance of Vitamin B12)and Vitamin C, as well as many other vitamins that are completely destroyed by the pasteurization process.
   
   
4. Raw milk contains beneficial enzymes and amino acids that aid in digestion and vitamin absorption.
   
   
5. Many "lactose intolerant" people are able to drink Raw Milk because it is easier to digest.
   
   
6. Store bought milk goes rancid, where as raw milk just sours. Sour milk can still be used in baking; makes great muffins, breads and pancakes.
   
   
7. We skim off the cream on some of our gallons, and I use it to make butter, or for my coffee. 2 birds with one stone.
   
   
8. Less is more. Raw Milk will fill you up faster since it still has all of the nutrients and cream.
   
   
9. Raw Milk tastes so much better.
   
   

Things to keep in mind: Only buy from farmers that feed their cattle green grass and that do not use antibiotics. Also make sure that the farm is clean, and that the milk is stored correctly.

These fancy processes that our food goes through isn't necessarily a good thing! I've come to really love Sally Fallon's book Nourishing Traditions. It is a definite eye opener, and it will change the way you look at food.

Taking a closer look at real nutrition, which was one of my 2009 goals, and finally switching my family to raw milk works for me! There is no turning back for us!

This post is being linked to Works For Me Wednesday

Finding Freedom Friday: 2009 Goal Update

It is time to take a look back over the goals that we set for ourselves and our homes for 2009. I cannot say how glad I am that I actually set specific goals for myself this year. It truly has helped me!

You can see my complete list of goals for this year here.

This is where we stand right now:

• Spiritually: In the last few months I have really started amping this one up; but I am still no where near where I wanted to be. I've really been trying to study and understand the duties of a wife and a mom from the Biblical perspective. In doing so, I think that I have grown immensely in these areas--although there is still a lot of work to be done. I still desire to read more of the Word and sit aside time to read--and be consistent!
• Financially: Sweet Goodness. Where do I even start. I'm all about keeping it real and honest--so here it is: The summer was a disaster! We definitely could have done a lot worse that what we did. We are still trying to get back into our strict/tight budget, but we are getting there. Thankfully! As of today, our current debt is $11,131.57, with $8805.22 paid since January--or 50% of our goal. I'm overjoyed that we've made it that far. But, I've also come to grips that, at this point, it is highly unlikely that we will hit our goal. That isn't to say that we won't try!
• Home: I've gotten really good at keeping on top of the housework and keeping with my schedule/routine. What a blessing this has been! I'm also almost done with my Home Management Binder, Gardening Binder, Seasonal Binder, and my Budget Binder {which has become a sub-section of my HMB}.
• Gardening/Food Storage: The garden has been going good, although we never did plant my herbs. :( My food storage is coming along quite nicely, and I've got a lot of bulk food stored, as well.

How are you doing with your goals??

**Please remember to link to your blog post, not your homepage and link back here so your readers can see how everyone else is doing.**

A Full Pantry

A full pantry is a huge blessing and a big relief in those times when the grocery budget is feeling a little squeeze. This year we have been blessed with bountiful garden harvests. I am so amazed! Everytime I am harvesting our crops or putting them up so we can enjoy them in the cool winter months, I can't help but think that the "fruits of my labor" were once little tiny seeds and seedlings. God is amazing!!



Coming into this gardening season, Willie and I had big gardening plans. Our main goal was to store up enough food from our summer/fall harvests to make us through until the next garden was producing. We sat down and came up with a rough number of how many of what we needed, and we planted away. Mid way through the season, I was getting a little discouraged because things weren't going exactly as I had envisioned or planned them to be. I wanted the perfect garden, with perfect gardening beds and walkways, with no weeds. Any.Where. End of story. I worked, worked and worked some more--but things just weren't going as I wanted. My tomatillos came down with nasty bugs and once I got that taken care of my zuchinni plants and beloved pie pumpkins were compltely killed out by those pesky squash bugs. My green beans weren't producing at the rate that I thought they should in order for us to end up with what we wanted..so I gave up.



Seriously.



I got to where I didn't want to go out there, it was too discouraging. Then it hit me. You are blessed. Immensely and immeasurably blessed. And you're going to throw it all away?? Everything doesn't have to be perfect. You can't give up when the going gets tough. Persevere and you will be richly blessed.



Slowly but surely Willie and I are regaining the garden. It has been overtaken by weeds in the walkways, but it is still producing like crazy! We planted some more green beans and some asparagus beans (huge 2-3 foot long beans) so that we can have a small fall harvest to keep our storage up.



Looking in my pantry and in my freezer just makes me smile. God, You are so good!



As of today, this is what my pantry and my freezer hold--all of which is from this year. (I do still have some pickles and jelly from last year, but they are not included on this list).

• 33 bags (with roughly 1 cup each) Chopped Green or Yellow Pepper {frozen}


• 5 (½ cup portions) sliced jalapenos {frozen}


• 12 cups shredded zuchinni (I was able to get these before my plants were killed off) {frozen}


• 2 gallon bags of Tomatillos {frozen}


• 1 Ice cream bucket of Blackberries. {frozen}


• 46 quarts Green Beans


• 11 pints sliced banana peppers


• 4 pints sliced jalapenos.


• 4 pints Hot Pepper Mix (Chinese 5 color, Fish Peppers, Banana Peppers, Jalapenos, and Cherry Bombs)


• 3 pints Spaghetti sauce (We've been using some of these. I do believe there were also 2 quarts and a pint more)


• 26 pints Diced Tomatoes.


• 6 Half-Pints of Corn Cob Jelly {recipe to come Friday}


• 6 pints; 5 Half Pints Blackberry Jelly


• 4 Half Gallon; 5 Quarts Sweet Pickles.

In addition to this list, I still have jalapenos waiting to be turned into more Jalapeno Jelly (notice there is none on this list!), banana peppers, various hot peppers, green/purple beans, cucumbers, and 100 tomatoes ready to be preserved. As well as a few pie pumkins that are this close to pie.

Wow. So glad I didn't throw in the towel!

It may not be the prettiest garden these days, but let me tell ya something. It's mine. God gave it to me. ;)

How is your garden and your food storage coming along?

Buying in Bulk

While I've always had a pretty good stash of food, there was never really a reason behind. Most of the time it was the result of my obsession with numbers, and not being able to buy less than 3 of anything. ;) I'm getting better. Maybe.




Since I have been consistently making our food from scratch, this makes the need for flour, old fashioned oats, and sugar far greater than before. While Aldi's prices are really good on these products, far better than Wal-Mart or our local grocery store, it still adds up and I'll take any savings I can get.





As part of my goals for 2009, I wanted to get a food supply up in the event that my husband loses his job and really, just for peace of mind (who knows, I could get trapped in my house again for 3 weeks this winter!). We just recently put up wheat berries for our wheat flour, so I was just missing the rest for my baking essentials. We hit up the local discount grocery store, which started carrying bulk products, and came home with 50 lbs each of old fashioned oats, sugar and unbleached flour. The only problem was storage. I still keep my small containers in my cabinets, but I needed somewhere to put the rest.




We found some food safe 5 gallon buckets with lids and decided that those would work best since they can stack on top of each other and would be air tight. One of the main things you have to worry about when buying in bulk, is bugs! While it would just add some extra protein, I'm just not for it! To prevent this, not only do you need an airtight container, but you need to get out all of the oxygen.



Insert oxygen absorbers.



These are just small little packets (similiar to the silica gel packets that you see in various products) that absorb all of the excess oxygen. This will help keep out the bugs, and also help your product stay fresh longer. We were able to get ours at another local-ish retailer that specializes in canning/bulk foods for about .10¢ a piece. Definitely nothing that will break the bank.



While initially I had the cost of the buckets, which added up fast, I've still made out on top. If I were to buy everything in their smaller containers from Aldi's, I would have spent roughly twice as much as I did for buying it all at once in bulk. If you have room to store bulk products, it is worth checking into, just make sure that you store it correctly so you don't ruin your product in the process.




Don't forget to label your buckets, especially if you have multiple buckets. Also, instead of using regular lids, you can get a "Gamma Lid", which not only is airtight, but screws on and off. Super handy when you are needing to refill your containers.




If you do not have a lot of pantry space, but are blessed with ample freezer room, you can also place your flour and sugar in the freezer. This will help it to maintain it's freshness, and will kill any weevil or insect eggs already in there. Storing it this way will keep it fresh for several years.

How do you store up bulk purchases??

This post is linked to:

• Works for Me Wednesday
• Frugal Friday

Grinding Wheat

I've been toying with the idea of getting a wheat grinder for many months now. The price of one had really turned me off from buying one, although the benefits are many. My birthday was in early July, and my husband kept hinting at buying me one. While I really, really wanted it--I didn't think it was quite the time since I hadn't been able to save up the full amount, yet.

But--he insisted. This is where I tell you that he is very hard to convert to the frugal wagon. Very. I know that I don't mention it a lot here, but seriously, converting him to frugal-ism isn't the easiest thing I've ever done. He sees the benefits, and he is pretty good, but he still wants what he wants, when he wants it. Which is exactly why not all of our snowball has been going to our debt in recent months. But, we move on....

He really did have a reason, though, on buying the grinder now. A local farmer, and good friend and co-worker of my husband, grows organic, spelt wheat. He offered us as much of it as we wanted...FREE OF CHARGE! Y'all that is huge! We just needed the grinder to make good use of it. Currently we have not one, but two (!) 55 gallon barrels of spelt stored (with oxygen absorbers so we don't get icky bugs. Although, that is just added protein.. ;) ) patiently waiting to be ground into flour.

So, for a little over a month now, my family and I have been enjoying free, freshly ground spelt wheat. It is delicious and oh so good for you!! The only issue that I have encountered is that my bread isn't as "pretty" and one time there was a big hole all through the center. Anyone know what caused that??? I did find an awesome spelt dinner roll recipe that I used to make a loaf a of bread again as bread bowls. So delicious!

I use a NutriMill Grain Mill, basically because it has a bigger capacity than the VitalMill (it's little brother) and the WonderMill. Ususally when I am making my goods, it is all in one day, so I just grind a huge batch and get it over with since the machine is rather large and noisy (it sounds like a vacuum cleaner--maybe a smidgen louder).

Here are some thing to keep in mind:

• Only grind as much flour as you can use. While you can go ahead and grind enough for a few weeks use--once ground, the flour loses about 45% of it's nutrients in the first 24 hours!! Can you imagine what they put in store bought flour to maintain nutrients?? Or how lacking it really is?? While placing the flour in a freezer will slow the process, freshly ground flour is still the best! Why go through the whole process and still end up with an inferior product??
• Keep this in mind: 1 cup of berries= about 1 ½ cups of flour. This depends a lot on how fine you grind your flour. I've been able to get about 2 cups of flour to 1 cup of berries--it was a very fine flour and took quite a while to grind. But, for everyday baking, this should be right about your ratio.
• Packed with Nutrients! Whole wheat flour (especially spelt) is packed with protein, amongst other nutrients, which is very good for you
• You are not limited to just grinding wheat. With most mills you are able to grind beans, rice, barley, as well as wheat berries. This opens up a whole new field of baking! A lot of these specialty flours are very expensive, but you can buy the "whole product" much cheaper.
• Expect to pay about $250. While this may sound like a lot (trust me--I thought so, too!) , it is worth it. Flavor alone is enough for me to recommend grinding your own wheat. While it may not end up being cheaper in the long run for most (I think it comes out about even, maybe just a tad cheaper), the nutritional benefits are far greater. Nutrition combined with better taste, and knowing exactly what is in your food is as good a case as any.
• Peace of Mind. Quite frankly--I don't know what the future holds. Now I know that if times get really tough, we will have bread products. There is no need to worry about flour products in my minimal grocery budget anymore. While I know that it may be impossible for some to store 110 gallons of wheat (or over 300 pounds!)-some is better than none. You just don't know.

Do you grind your own flour?? Have any tips/tricks and recipes to share?

This post is linked to Works for Me Wednesday.

2009 Goal Update: July Edition

It is hard to believe that the last Goal Update I did was the beginning of June--for the month of May. I thought it was going to work out great to have more time between the updates, but it isn't. I've had a hard time staying on track and remembering where I'm at.

June and July were both very busy months for us--July moreso than June. Not only is there the 4th of July (which comes with a big celebration at our church that we help organize) but there is also my birthday, our anniversary and canning season is usually in full force. Add that all in with a dash of VBS, and a few church trips here and there and you've got my month of July. Pure and utter craziness and chaos. And a recipe for a budget disaster. Hmmph.

There..I admitted it. July (as far as our finances go) pretty much stunk.

• Finances: We've gained a bit of headway on our debt, but not as much as I would have liked. My debt ticker shows $12505.40, but that doesn't show our last payments. If my calculations are correct, we should be down to about $11,805-ish. Since I don't know the exact numbers yet, I haven't updated the sidebar or my percentages.
• Gardening: This year the squash bugs and I have gotten to know each other. This isn't a good thing. They annihilated my zucchini (which I dealt with since my DH hates it) but now, they are trying to go after my pie pumpkins! Eekk. So, I threw organic out the window and dusted those things with Sevin until they couldn't see the light of day. I was proud of myself..until I walked out there a few days later and they were still there!! Those things are tough!
  • My food storage (atleast from the garden) is going fairly well. I canned my first batch of diced tomatoes and spaghetti sauce yesterday. You can see a list of all the other things I've canned so far this year here. It is so nice being able to step back and take a look at all my home canned goodies on my pantry shelves. Makes me smile.
  • We're starting to plant the fall garden and looking into our plans for next year's spring garden, what we are adding to the orchard, as well as our herb garden (that will happen next year!).

• Self: I did so good exercising through the month of June and parts of July. I loved The Shred, and I still do, but my routine has gotten all crazy and I've had a hard time regaining control of it again. The first thing that gave: exercising, and I can tell. I'm hoping to get control again now that we are regaining our normalcy.

• Home: We are still trying to figure out whether or not we are doing our major remodel project this year or not. Because of this, all of the painting and inside renovating has been put at a standstill. The suspense is killing me, but I keep reminding myself that it is all in God's timing..not my own.

  • I've become a lot better at embracing (and thoroughly enjoying) my life as a housewife, wife and mother. With that I've gotten better with accomplishing my day to day duties. My home (albeit chaotic) has been peaceful and inviting and close to everything I've wanted and dreamed for it to be.

So how have you been doing on your goals?? Fill me in--it's been awhile!

I've Been Itching to Pitch!

I guess there is just something about spring and summer that just make me feel like I need to get rid of things. Usually though, when I get started and in the middle of a major re-organization project, I lose all of my mojo. Not good!



Thankfully, all summer long, The Happy Housewife is hosting "Itch to Pitch." Maybe this is just what I need to stay on track and accountable. We'll see. :)



I started last week--but completely spaced to take before pictures. And, well, I've held this post in my drafts since Sunday, waiting on the after pictures. Did you know that you need a camera for that? Doesn't work well if the camera is located in the vehicle your husband drives to work!

Anyway, I started with the boys' room. I cleaned it out the beginning of the month, but decided that it was still too cluttered for my liking. This time, I came out with an entire trash bag of trash/clutter, and two laundry baskets worth of toy donations! This is in addition to the trash bag full of clothes I pulled out at the first of the month and the huge buggy of winter clothes for storage. Have I ever mentioned that my Mother-In-Law has a major fear that my children will freeze to death, so she is constantly buying them coats/gloves/hats/scarves for winter? My oldest literally owns 5 winter coats!! Comes in handy when one gets dirty or wet from snow, but not so much when it goes to storing them. Gotta love her! :)

Hopefully now that their room is cleared out a bit, not only will it be easier for them to keep clean, but hopefully I can get in there and repaint and redecorate. But that is a whole 'nother post!

Do you have the Itch to Pitch? What rooms are you planning on working on?

Be sure to check out The Happy Housewife's Itch to Pitch Series.

Finding Freedom Friday: 2009 Goal Update

It's a new month and time to check in and see how we've all be doing on our 2009 goals. I don't know about you, but this has really helped me stay accountable to myself and to everyone else for that matter. Although things aren't going exactly as I had planned, we are still taking steps forward.

Here is how we are doing so far:

• Our federal tax refund came back and we put it to good use! A huge portion of it went to our debt, bringing it down to $13083.17 with a total of $6592.72 paid since January (38% of our goal)! While we should be closer to the 50% mark at this point in the year, I am most definitely not complaining!

• In addition to a lump debt payment, we added a big chunk to savings. We originally wanted a total of $4000 in our savings (Max out of pocket for health, vehicle maintenance, home maintenace, etc.), but we've changed that up a bit. We've decided instead of having our full max out of pocket for health expeses set aside that we would put $500 instead. I know that that is a far cry from the original $1500--but at this point our debt snowball is of decent size that when a medical bill arises we can pay it and we used that extra to get our currrent debt number down. Also, we still have the base emergency fund of $1000. We also had in mind to set aside $1000 for vehicle maintence. My husband recently had to have some work done on his truck as well as a new set of tires. After everything was said and done, there was close to $700! So, our new amount that we are shooting for (as long as no other expenses come up) is $2300. We are 70% there.

• Our garden is in full force. You can see all my garden updates here.

• As of Friday morning I start Jillian's 30 Day Shred. It arrived in the mail today (I got it for free with my swagbucks!) and I'm dying to start it! And I just may be dying when I start it. :)

Everything else is going really well! 2009 has been a really productive, memorable year so far--and I'm anxious to see what the rest of it brings. From here on out, the 2009 Goal Updates are going to start being bi-monthly instead of monthly, hopefully that way I will have more to report.

How are you doing?

My Recipe Binder

Oh how I love recipes, cookbooks, magazines with recipes, cooking/recipe blogs..the list goes on. I have far too many Simple and Delicious Magazines (used to print under the name Quick Cooking), as well random recipes scrawled out on paper, and favorited on my computer. Recipes are everywhere!


I used to have a small store bought recipe binder with pockets for every "topic" that I would place my recipes in. I found, though, that recipe cards and scrawlings were flipping out all over the place and I still could never find what I was looking for. Since I use binders for everything else, I knew that was my solution.


Right now it isn't anything fancy, and I still have a lot of work to do on it--but I've been using it for about 6 months now and I love it. I've been slowly transferring all of my "tried and true" recipes that were once on recipe cards, over onto notebook paper so that I can just pop them in. Right now I just have them separated by categories, but I plan on having tabs and more pictures. I was hoping to have it done by now, but I've been pretty busy gardening. Hopefully I can have it completed by fall--just in time for my busy cooking season.






In the back I have my menu plans from the month so that when I'm needing some menu ideas, I have the previous ones for inspiration. (You can find my menu planning tips here.) Having a full page dedicated to each recipe is awesome! I can see it all right there, it's big enough that I don't lose it while in the middle of a cooking storm, yet small enough that it is manageable. When it decides to jump off the counter, nothing flips out--everything stays in it's spot. So nice.

How do you store your recipes?

This post is linked to: Kitchen Tip Tuesday

Garden Update

I'm so excited to finally show some pictures of my garden. As I mentioned here, we are doing a different method this year. Instead of your typical rows, we are doing beds directly into the ground. My plants are big enough now, that you can see everything a little better.

Right now on the walkways we have carpet that we got for free and some black sheeting. This has done very well in killing the weeds and it makes it tons easier to navigate the paths. Currently we do not have enough to cover all of the walk ways, but a friend is getting ready to give us some more carpet. I don't know exactly how I feel about how it looks, so we are looking into maybe mulching it or using pebbles--although that will all have to wait until next year.

I knew going in that the first year of gardening this way was going to be a lot of work--especially since we are doing it all organically with no pesticides and herbicides. I had most of the weeds and walkways under control before we left last weekend, but the rain really fueled them while we were gone! I've spent countless hours over the last few days finally mulching everything with grass clippings, shredded paper and straw. So, beware--there are still tons of weeds! Hopefully this weekend I can finish up and get things looking better.

These are my cabbages. I got them in a bit late, so we will see if I can get anything from them.

You may have to click on this one to see it better. This is Kohlrabi, Chinese Kale, Dwarf Pak Choy, Spinach (that has grown too tall and we are eating for dinner in salad), Cimmaron (also eating tonight in a salad), Arugula (those are the white flowers. DH doesn't like this at all, so I've let it flower. It's pretty!), and on the other side of it is Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce (I dont' think you can see it in the top picture, but you can in the bottom one.) Also, on the right side is where we are putting the fence. We have it, we just haven't had a chance to install it yet.

These are our beans (and the corner of our lettuce patch). Along the back are Purple Podded Pole and Kentucky Wonder Pole. Along the front are Contender Bush Beans in addition to Blue Lake Beans. You can definitely tell where I've stopped weeding..the "row" goes all the way to the way to the end of the top picture. :)

Zuchinni (planted from plants) and 3 pie pumpkin plants that have just sprouted. I have another pumpkin bed that has more pumpkins, Sweet Dumpling Sqaush and Banana Melons Squash.

Onions, Onions and more onions. From left to right: yellow, white, and red.

Here are our Irish Red Potatoes--in bloom!

16 Golden Cal Wonder Peppers. There were originally 20 of them, but a down pour of rain killed some of my little seedlings.

4 Tomatillos that are also blooming, but have a bug that absolutely will not leave them alone! Their poor leaves are full of holes.

Some of my tomato plants. These are my seedlings--remember how small they once were? They are ready to start staking them up..just haven't gotten quite that far yet. There are 4 varieties (Black Krim, Rev. Morrow LongKeeper, Amish Paste, and Roma) with 41 total plants in the ground, and I am giving my sister in law 4 others.

These are Waltham Brocolli. Only 3 out of 9 made it. In the bed next to this one there is Cauliflower, which looks almost identical to these.

And the last picture is of an area that has quickly become one of my favorite spots in our yard, especially early in the morning and later in the evening. It is so pretty with the green from the woods, and the wonderful aroma of my peonies.

But, you see the bare spot in the middle there--that is where my herbs are suppossed to be planted. We planted dill last week, directly in the ground, only to find that it had disappeared. Ugh. Back to square one.

How is your garden doing?

This post is linked to : Food On Fridays

Finding Freedom Friday: 2009 Goal Update

Goodbye April. I think I may miss you, sorta. Not a huge fan of all the rain and all that jazz, but all in all you were pretty good to me.

It's time for another update on my 2009 Goals. Again, if you haven't made goals yet, it's never too late. I encourage you to set a couple for yourself and be sure to come back and share with us. Consistently looking at my list has definitely kept me on track this year, and I'm loving it. Just because I've been staying on track, though, doesn't me that I've been necessarilly succeeding in all areas.

As will everything in this Earthly life, nothing is for certain. I set out with big intentions for 2009, and I hope to make it my best year yet. Frankly, that is all that I can do.

With that being said, I've encountered some bumps in my plan, mostly in terms of my financial goals. I do not like bumps, generally, but I'm taking these bumps as they come. Thank God for that. Goes to show that all the prayers I've put in for help with my patience and my issues with perfectionism and control have not gone unanswered. I must continue to remind myself that although I've set these goals, everything happens in God's time--not my own.

Let's take a look back at April:

• Financially:
  
  
  
  • We were able to pay extra onto our debt this month, which I am ever so grateful for. $250 extra to be exact!! This brings our total debt down to just over $16000, with $3592 being paid this year alone. Wow, oh Wow! This puts us right at 21% of my goal for this year.





• I do not have an exact total for my grocery spending, but I do know that I did not go over my $300 mark. Yippee! I've been buying tons of fresh fruit and veggies and am at the point of making all of our bread products. What a great feeling this is!





• With our busy season approaching, I do feel as if we are being too careless in some areas of our spending, in addition to some unexpected costs that we have encountered with the garden and some outside projects. I hoping that we can gain our control back now, before we are knee deep in busy-ness, because then it will be too hard. If you are in the same boat--be sure to check out the upcoming FFF topics. I can't wait to see what you all have to offer!




• Home/Gardening:




• First and Foremost (since this could knock out a lot of my goals)--Willie and I have some major, major decisions to make in the next few months. When we moved here, I was not the biggest fan of our home. The main reason we bought it was because the 50 acres that it sat on was absolutely beautiful and the house had lots of potential. We knew we would have to build on, and we were okay with that. After starting FPU and reading through The Total Money Makeover, we knew that it was essential for us to get rid of our consumer debt before we went any further with our addition. Knowing this has really helped feed the fire under me to get our debt gone! But.....with the current state of the economy and the interest rates being so low, we would be able to build onto our home (almost doubling it) without increasing our monthly payment. That is huge!! We had originally planned on our payment jumping quite a bit. So, our big issue is do we wait and risk the interest rates jumping back up, or do we go ahead and jump in and get it over with now? I've been praying.....





• The garden is doing amazing! I hope to do an update post later today with all the happenings.





• I have actually stuck to my day to day duties for awhile now. What a relief this has been to actually be on top of things instead of feeling behind and out of whack everyday. Just in time for summer..!!



• Personal Goals:




• I have yet to buy a scale, but I know that I've lost weight. Which is huge to me. I'm thinking of cashing in some of my Swagbucks to get Jillian's 30 Day Shred video. I know a handful of people that just rage and rage about it, (A Cowboy's Wife and MommySnacks to name a few) and I'm wanting to amp things up a bit.
  

So, how are you doing on your 2009 Goals? If you haven't made your goals yet--hop in now and let us know what you are striving for.

*Don't forget to check out the rules to linking up, you can find them on this post.

Be sure to check out other goal updates over at Money Saving Mom.

Finding Freedom Friday: Time Management

Time Management. What an important topic. One that I still do not have perfected, but I'm well on my way. Or so I like to think.



I have receieved a lot of emails over the last few months on how I manage to take care of my young family, make most of my families food from scratch, coupon, garden and still have time to function. I must admit, that once upon a time, things did not flow all too smoothly around here.



First off, I think it is very important to first become organized, then you really need to have your priorities in line. What do you really want to accomplish today? This week? This month? Year? Dare we think any further? Sure!



Once you realize what it is that needs to be done and have a basic understanding on how long it will take for you to accomplish it--you are well on your way.



Obviously it wouldn't be logical for me to think that I would be able to till/weed/plant my entire garden in a day, as well as all the laundry, cleaning and baking for the week. Breaking these tasks up into manageable blocks of time helps greatly in accomplishing things, as well as being efficent and not feeling overwhelmed. It is very important as a wife/homemaker/mom/person to not feel overwhelmed! I know for me if I am overwhelmed, more than likely I will shut down. Either that or I will go all crazy housewife and accomplish everything under the sun in no time flat--but, I'm not a nice person/wife/mom. And honestly, what is the point in that?!



Balance.



So, my advice--plan your day. Here is a snapshot of what my typical day has looked like in the last few weeks.



6:00am-6:45-Wake. Get kids on the bus to school.
6:45-7:30 Computer time. Answering emails. Blogging. Popping in on twitter.
7:30-8:30 Shower. Laundry. Kitchen Pick-up. If I'm making bread for dinner or for the week, this is when I will start it.
8:30-9:30 Noah wakes. Noah Snuggle time. Sometimes extra computer/bill time.
9:30-12:00 Tasks for the day. Lately it has been gardening, and spring cleaning all while being interupted by an energetic, very playful 3 year old that really makes my life fun!
12:00-1:00 Lunch. Big kitchen clean up.
1:30-3:30 Relax/Quiet Time--unless I feel spunky! :) If I have added umph (which I have had the last few weeks. yay!) I catch up on anything that I have been slacking on, bake or whatever else.
3:30-4:30 DH and Big kids are coming home.
4:30-7:00 Prepare/Eat/Clean Dinner.
7:00-8:30 Homework. Getting Big Kids ready for bed. Last minute watering of seedlings/plants.
8:30 on. Time with DH, computer time, reading--basically anything goes.

Paying attention to the clock on my "must get stuff done" days, has really helped me to manage my time better and actually get things done. I have found this escpecially helpful in the area of computer time! I love my blog(s), twitter, facebook, and reading other blogs, but I have to limit myself or it could easily consume me. So, please forgive me if I seem to be MIA--I'm really trying to balance everything in my life. My once new born children have quickly grown up on me, and before I know it they won't need me anymore. I must cherish it now!



Also, not only is time management important for accomplishing your day to day tasks--it is essential on snagging those deals! If you don't allow time to shop the weekly sales with your coupon match-ups and keep a close eye on expiration dates, you could easily miss out which will cost you more in the long run. I've been guilty of this very thing far too many times to count!

Now it is your turn! How do you manage your day and fit all your duties in?

Don't forget the rules to linking up found on this post.

Growing an Orchard

Life As Mom has been running a series on "Going Green" over on her blog. I did a guest post for her on Growing an Orchard that is up today. Go here to check it out!



And, be sure to enter her giveaway to win a fruit book!

Finding Freedom Friday: 2009 Goal Update

I find goals play an integral part to my success in any aspect of my life, whether it be goals for the day, my goals as a wife/mother, or goals that I set for a year. Taking a look back periodically really keeps me on the right track, and keeps the goals (and where I am at in attaining those goals) fresh in my mind.

If you haven't had a chance to set goals for yourself for 2009, I encourage you to so, now. It isn't too late--I promise! :)

To see the whole list of goals I made for 2009, you can go here.

Here is my update:

• For my spiritual goals:
  • I'm still trying to find the time of day that works for doing my devotional. I would love to get in the groove of doing it first thing in the morning before everyone wakes up, but 5:30 comes really early!



• As far as Relationships go:
  • Thankfully there is Facebook! I've gotten a lot better with communicating with friends back home, and family using it. Although I would like to get better at actually setting aside time to see them, for now I'm okay with Facebook. It's better than before!
  • I am doing tons better in terms of patience, and am praying that it continues to get better.



• Home/Gardening:
  • I'm doing better with getting all my housewifely duties done, but I'm still in search of "my routine". I hope to get this down in the next week or so.



• Monday of this week, I became the proud new owner of fruit trees! Not so funny story, though--we picked out Gala and Jonathon Apples and Keiffer and Bartlett Pears (since you have to have more than one variety to pollinate). The place we went to is close to the city, so just under an hour away. I was showing Kaitlyn the trees, and realized that we ended up with a Golden Delicious Apple instead of a Bartlett Pear! Agh. Now, on the search for a Bartlett Pear! :) While we were there, we also picked up our second blueberry bush.



• Learning about nutrition got kicked up a notch when we learned out DH's cholesterol. I must say, that over the past few weeks, I have learned a lot and have adjusted our diets accordingly. I'm sure that I have much more to learn, and I'm eager to learn it. For now, though, I will focus on getting his numbers where they need to be.



• Personal Goals:
  • I do feel as if I'm getting healthier. I'm on a mad mission to lose weight (which was jump started by DH's results as well as Janet's plan to get fit.)



• Since I have been crazy busy over the last few weeks trying to get the garden ready, I haven't had much time to read books. So, I still have room to improve here.



• Financial Goals:
  • Not so great. Willie isn't getting the hours we were used to. Thankfully he still has a secure job and we are provided for. The only "issue" is our debt has barely budged. But, I'm definitely not complaining. We are blessed far beyond measure, and the Lord continues to provide for us during this time, and I am ever thankful for that.
  
  
  
  • I did go over my grocery budget for March. I spent about $284, so $34 over. I stocked up big time on strawberries, various different flours that I normally wouldn't buy (rye and oat), as well as bought far greater amounts of fresh fruit. I am, however going to increase my grocery budget to $300 for the coming months, because I'm needing to stock up on canning jars, as well as continue to buy great amounts of fresh fruit. Hopefully by July I can bring this number back down.

Now is your time to share.

How are you doing on your 2009 Goals? If you haven't made your goals yet--hop in now and let us know what you are striving for.

This post is linked to Money Saving Mom.

Finding Freedom Friday Topic: Making Own vs. Store Bought

As part of our journey to lead a more frugal and simple life, I have found great pleasure in making many things for my home. This includes curtains, food, cleaners, gifts, and our very own garden..amongst other things.

As part of the Finding Freedom Series, I would love to hear how you have found freedom with making things for your home and family.

• Has it saved you money over the store bought counterparts?

• Why did you choose to make it?

• In what ways has it helped you to find freedom?

• Financially?

• Peace knowing what is in it/Where it came from.

• With time? (Managing better, quality time with family doing projects)

Do you notice any differences in health?

Those are just a few ideas to get your wheels turning, feel free to address whatever you like. Be sure to come back Friday with your post and link up with us!

Also here is what you can expect in the next couple of weeks for Finding Freedom Friday:

• April 3rd: Finding Freedom With Goals: 2009 Goal Update
• April 10th: Finding Freedom With Organization
• April 17th: Finding Freedom With Time Management

I'm open to any and all suggestions that you may have for upcoming Finding Freedom Friday topics. You can leave a comment with your suggestions, or you can drop me an email (phendricks @ centurytel.net).

I'm looking forward to all your responses!