Posts in Home Organization
Living and Schooling in Small Spaces, Part I
I am SO excited to bring you a series this week written by my sweet friend Dana.  Dana and her family live in a small house on walnut acreage her husband farms.  They homeschool their four children with grace, joy, and a terrific use of space.  I hope you enjoy what Dana shares! p.s.  She pronounces her name "Danna" :) ♥ Our home isn’t a matchbox, but for this family of two adults and four growing children it takes some creative organizing to make school and life fit. Years ago, a homeschooling mom of four told me that her goal was to have a home that didn’t show any signs of schooling. Ha! Ha ha! Totally unrealistic for me. Here are the big ways we use our little spaces. Our kitchen/dining/school area/bedroom (just kidding on the bedroom part):

We have two tables in this area. Both are used for school but this one holds the daily stuff. The other one we keep clutter-free for dining. The picture above was taken during a busy school day. What is out on the table can be easily put away in a just a few minutes. (The second computer is awaiting its permanent home in the mudroom.) For inquiring minds, that black thing on the right is a treadmill. Think: very active boys on rainy days.

The book shelf above holds only what we are currently using and reference material. I attempt to make it as uncluttered and coordinated as possible. I don’t have an office, so a little corner of the bookshelf holds binders that contain info that I need weekly. Underneath the shelf, we keep baskets of books by subject. This makes it easy for me to retrieve what I need quickly and keeps things from being scattered in every direction. Each child has a cubbie, a box and book slots to keep them organized. ♥ Good stuff, isn't it?  Part two to come on Wednesday.  Please feel free to comment or ask questions about Dana's organizational systems (and that cute apple-- what's in it, Dana?)
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Educating at Home, Guest Writers, Home Organization, School OrganizationKendra Comments
Frugality, the Grocery Bill, and the Large Family, Part Four
Recently we talked about grocery bills and couponing and other sites that help me be a better manager of our money. There are places all over the web where the topics of frugality and simple living are thoroughly covered, and they do a much better job than I have.  Still, there are a few more goodies I wanted to share with you before closing out this little series. First of all, if you are a mom with a little people underfoot, do not beat yourself up if you cannot coupon.  Ask the Lord to show you other ways to trim your grocery budget and He will faithfully provide you with the wisdom you need.  We have a liquidation grocery store in the next town over and if I am nearby I like to pop in for screaming deals on dented cans and almost-expired items.  I also like bakery stores where I can grab loaves of bread and toss them in the freezer in case I just can't get to baking a loaf.  Doing those two things could trim your grocery budget enough that you would probably do just fine not couponing in this season of your life. Secondly, consider where you live.  Several of you mentioned the high price of everything in New Zealand.  The same goes for Hawaii.  The last time I was there I almost fell over when I saw zucchini in the grocery store for over $7 a pound!  The pineapples and papayas, however, were cheap :) The internet is an amazing place. I pay about $6 per package of diapers on Amazon's Subscribe and Save program, and that's better than some of the coupon deals I can get locally.  Plus, Amazon delivers them for free. Learn from other frugal geniuses. One such smarty pants is my friend Caroline, who recently redecorated their new home on a shoestring. It's beautiful! The classic handbook of frugality, however, is Amy Dacyczyn's series called The Tightwad Gazette.  It will get you looking at your spending habits in a whole new light (a better light, at that!)  Some of what she includes could be considered extreme frugality, but one never knows when extreme frugality might become the difference between surviving and going completely under. Lastly, if you don't have a good budgeting system, I can't recommend Pear Budget highly enough.  For $3 per month, Pear Budget is a steal.  Easy to use, completely customizable, utterly helpful.
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Home Organization, ResourcesKendra Comments
Frugality, the Grocery Bill, and the Large Family, Part Three
Ready to organize your coupons?  These are the categories I use: Baby- Diapers Baby- Products Baby- Wipes Bags- Containers Bags- Foils and Plastics Bags- Trash Baking- Mixes Baking- Oils/Sugar/Flour Batteries Beverages Bread Candy Canned- Fruit Canned- Meat Canned- Veggies Canned- Soup Cereal Cleaner- Bathroom Cleaner- All-Purpose Cleaner- DIsh Cleaner- Disinfectant Cleaner- Floor Cleaner- Furniture Polish Cleaner- Glass Cleaner- Laundry Condiments Crackers Dairy- Beverage Dairy- Cheese Dairy- Sour Cream, Cream Cheese, Butter Dairy- Snacks Dairy- Yogurt Frozen- Beverage Frozen- Bread Frozen- Ice Cream Frozen- Meat Frozen- Veggies, Fruit, Potatoes Frozen- Snacks Health Food Hygiene- Band Aids Hygiene- Deodorant Hygiene- Face Hygiene- Feminine Hygiene- Hair Hygiene- Lotion Hygiene- Medicine and Vitamins Hygiene- Shaving Hygiene- Soap Jelly/Peanut Butter Meat Mexican Office Supplies Paper- Kleenex Paper- Cups/Plates Paper- TP Paper- Towels and Napkins Pasta Pets Produce Rice Salad Dressing Sauces Seasonings Snacks Syrup Toothbrushes/Toothpaste There is nothing new under the sun, and I got this idea from Crystal at Money Saving Mom- love that girl! Tipnut has other methods and how-tos. You can accumulate coupons from various sources.  We don't actually get the newspaper but my in-laws do and give me their coupons, plus my mom faithfully clips hers and sends them to me.  That's an incredible ministry!  Sunset Magazine has had quite a few these past two issues, as does All You Magazine found in WalMart stores.  I scour every magazine that comes my way; most have at least a couple of coupons. Increasingly, coupons online have become a large portion of my stash.  I print mine through My Points... you do know about MyPoints, right?  Every time you click through one of their emails you earn points, and when you purchase something through their links, you accumulate more.  Those points can be redeemed for gift cards to all kinds of stores.  In fact, I gave away five gift cards last Christmas as gifts, and I spent absolutely nothing on them!  I'll get some bonus points if you sign up from an email I send to you, so if you're considering this, would you let me know in the comments?  I can send the sign up email to you ASAP. Next post I'll talk about other ways to save money and how to keep that budget under control.
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Home Organization, ResourcesKendra Comments
Frugality, the Grocery Bill, and the Large Family, Part Two
First, I use several couponing sites to help me make my weekly shopping lists.  If a particular store doesn't have anything of great interest, I skip it.  I frequent CVS, Walgreens, Target, and Rite Aid for coupon deals, and I make my lists based on the following sites: Money Saving Mom Be Centsable Abundant Food Savings I grocery shop at what would be considered a higher-end store in my area, but because I coupon and shop their sales, I spend no more and usually less than the discount stores like Winco.  According to Jim Bob Howard, grocery stores put 1/12 of their store on loss-leader sale prices each month.  I look for those sales, match coupons with them, and stock up.  Doesn't everyone need ten boxes of Wheat Thins when they only cost .44 a box?  That's a lot of peanut butter and cracker lunches (or crackers and chicken salad, made from the leftover whole chickens we grilled for the Memorial Day feast). Because I use the sites that these very capable and gracious people have set up, using shopping lists already formulated with coupon match-ups, all I have to do is cut coupons, file them (my 11-year-old is the king of coupon filing), then match them up.  Here's what my stash looks like:

I also keep an organizer with sections for individual stores so I can pull the coupons I need for the week, stick them in that little organizer, and take it with me.  The box above can fit in the child seat of a grocery cart but it's a little embarassing :)

♥

Does couponing really save me that much money?  Well, here's an example from a shopping trip to Target we made on Tuesday.  I don't coupon unless I am having to be out and about anyway, so it wasn't an extra trip.  Here's the run-down:

3 Dry Idea Deodorant -- Sale Price 2.49, Used three "$2 off one" coupons -- 3 for 1.47

1 Degree Deodorant -- Sale Price 1.97, Used one "$1.50 off one" coupon -- 1 for .47

1 Edge shaving cream -- Sale Price 1.24, Used one ".75 off one" coupon -- 1 for .49

2 Kraft Mayonnaise -- Sale Price 1.99, Used one "$1 off two" coupons and two ".60 off one" coupons -- 2 for 1.78

1 impulse buy bucket for the beach from the Dollar Spot -- 2.50

Used $5 Target gift card earned from a previous transaction

Paid out-of-pocket  1.69

Essentially, we got everything for free and the 2.50 bucket for 1.69

♥

I will write a little more about couponing in my next post, and yes, I'll give you the list of categories in that coupon box.  Grab an old plastic shoebox (mine's a leftover from the school room), a bunch of envelopes (acquired for free from Walgreens),index cards (super cheap during back-to-school sales), and a pen!
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Home Organization, ResourcesKendra Comments
Frugality, the Grocery Bill, and the Large Family, Part One

I've resisted writing this post for a long time because I think it could open us up to criticism.  Still, every time I would save some incredible amount at the grocery store, I would think, "Moms need to know how to do this!" Here's the thing.  According to the USDA, our family should be spending $1215 per month on groceries, and that's on the thrifty (lowest possible bracket) plan.  Our budget for food monthly is actually $800. We are feeding two adults, a 16-year-old boy, a 14-year-old boy, an 11-year-old boy, a 9-year-old girl, an 8-year-old girl, a 5-year-old girl, a 2-year-old boy, and a one-year-old boy.  Our budget includes diapers, toilet paper, and other household goods, but I can allot those items into our miscellaneous budget category as well, if necessary.  It did not include formula when we had to wean Mighty Joe (that's a long and complicated story; if you don't know the whole situation, please do not suggest here that I should have continued breastfeeding him). We also entertain a fair amount.  Every Saturday night this summer our home is open with a BBQ, and we've invited people to just drop in.  On Memorial Day we fed 26 people on $35.  It was a party in which one guest contributed the green salad (Thanks, Dana!) and one brought a massive fruit salad (Thanks, EK!).  No one left hungry, I can assure you :) The two biggest factors that contribute to keeping our food budget so low are: -Menu planning based on store sale items -Couponing Others factors are: -making as much as possible from scratch -buying in bulk -growing what we can (including eggs) -having a fixed limit in my mind for certain items. For instance, I don't buy cereal unless it's a dollar or less per box. There are lots of ways to go about lowering your food bill, so I will share with you what we do with the understanding that our way isn't the best.  It's what works for us. I'll write tomorrow about how I organize and use my coupons.
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Home Organization, ResourcesKendra Comments
Marvelous Monday- ART AND MUSIC
Right off the bat this week I think I should tell you that I have my BA in Music (Voice) and I have absolutely no artistic ability other than walking around art museums. This means two things: 1. Although I have high standards for music curricula in our home, I'm not very good at implementing them.  I think I just live music with my kids, and the formal let's-sit-down-and-talk-about-music teaching of it goes by the wayside. 2. I am the opposite with art curricula.  I have used quite a few things with varying degrees of success, and I think I've given my kids an appreciation of a wide variety of art in a more formal way than I have with music.  The older ones can recognize historical context, several notable artists, and important art works to a level at which I think is appropriate. Those two caveats in place, let's talk about music curriculum: Purchase compilations of classical works and listen to them.  Read the liner notes and tell your children, "This is Bach".  As you become familiar with each piece, you will soon find yourselves able to recall pieces as you hear them in the store, on the radio, or in movies and commercials. A fun series to familiarize yourself with individual works are the books by Anna Harwell Calenza, such as The Farewell Symphony, The Heroic Symphony, and Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue.  The books are nicely illustrated, each telling the story behind the piece and each containing a CD of the piece as well.  Very nice. If you want to familiarize yourselves with classical composers, you can check out any number of Mike Venezia's books in the series Getting to Know the Worlds Greatest Composers.  The books are written on a kindergarten- 3rd grade level, and cover the greats:  Mozart (my favorite), Bach, Beethoven, and many more.  I don't think these books are the ultimate resource, but they seem to be the best that's available at the present time.  Many libraries carry them, so check there first if you're not sure you want to invest in them all. When I was in college studying music, I had the driest, most uninteresting music history teacher humanly possible.  What a pity.  Now that I am past that part of my education, I have discovered that music history is indeed exciting and interesting, for art and music truly are a reflection of what is going on in our culture at any given time.  Just to make sure we're on the same page, I'm talking about the history of Western Music; Eastern, indigenous, and tribal music is quite another subject altogether. My favorite stand-alone resource for music history is a series of books by David W. Barber, the first of which is called Bach, Beethoven, and the Boys.  These are extremely light-hearted books needing some editing as appropriate for the ages you're teaching.  Great for Circle Time, great for a fun summer read-aloud.  I realize they aren't the Norton Anthology, but they are memorable. Do you have a child who is interested in taking voice lessons, but you're either not prepared to incur the cost (voice lessons can definitely be a luxury item) or don't know where to turn?  I highly recommend Singing for the Stars by vocal coach extraordinaire, Seth Riggs.  My personal interest is vocal physiology, with a particular emphasis on good vocal technique.  Mr. Riggs teaches healthy singing, and he does so across the genre spectrum: everything from pop like Michael Jackson to the demands of opera. As for music theory, most music students will be given a workbook to use by their instrumental teacher.  If your child is learning at home, however, and you are looking for a straightforward approach to theory, I'd recommend the Theory Time series. And now for art... Years ago we participated in a lovely little once-a-month co-op in which a mom used the Meet the Masters curriculum.  It has been a long time and my memory regarding specifics is fuzzy, but I know I loved it.  In a nutshell, the program highlights one artist at a time from the point of view of the artist.  The students are introduced to several of the artist's works, then have the opportunity to try their hand at a work in the style of each particular masterpiece.  If you're interested, you can read all about their downloadable curriculum on the Meet the Masters FAQ page. We've also really loved Discovering Great Artists, which also teaches a bit about each artist and their style, then presents a project in the style of the artist.  These are accessible projects, things that can be achieved even by an art-impaired mom like me.

There are many art resources on our shelves, most of which I've picked up from library sales and used bookstores.  Look for discarded books on different painting and drawing techniques, as well as books with a generous amount of pictures.  Books such as Sister Wendy's 1000 Masterpieces, Art Fraud Detective, and the Eyewitness series. Then give your kids great tools, such as Prismacolor pencils (you can get a good price on these at Michaels by using the weekly 40% off coupon) and Lakeshore Learning scented clay (it's yummy!) Need project ideas?  My favorite sites/blogs are: Hearts and Trees Harmony Art Mom The Crafty Crow Dick Blick Lesson Plans We also love the Art With a Purpose series, which I wrote about once before... good for early elementary and very affordable.  And since I'm being really lazy now, read about Creativity Express, which I've also written about here before. Whew!  I know there's more, but it's a holiday weekend and I have a hammock calling my name.  Check out Cheryl's Marvelous Monday post, too!
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Educating at Home, Home Organization, Resources, Reviews, Training Little OnesKendra Comments