'Tis the Season....

...for coughs!  Make up a batch of this remedy to have on hand when they arrive.

Honey Cough Remedy
 ¼ teaspoon Cayenne
 ¼ teaspoon Ginger
 1 Tablespoon Cider Vinegar (an organic one is preferred)
 2 Tablespoons Water

 1 Tablespoon Honey (use a locally produced raw honey, if possible)

 Dissolve cayenne and ginger in cider vinegar and water.
 Add honey and shake well.
 Take 1 Tablespoon as needed for cough.

You can also take raw garlic and grapefruit seed extract to help stop any infection that may be developing. 

I found this recipe at Organic Herbal Solutions on 

Facebook.

Money Secrets of the Amish

Who couldn't use more pocket money? No one I know would turn down free money.  By saving money rather than spending it, you are, in essence, giving yourself free money. If you actually physically took the money you saved by using the tips in this book, you would fill your piggybank quite quickly.  The overall theme is“use it up, wear it out, make do or do without.” 

 Most families have to live by these principles to survive in this economy.  We may not even realize we are doing it sometimes. Do you flip over the ketchup bottle to get the last squirt or toss it before you have to shake it to get more?  You are using it up.  Do you wear a pair of shoes until it gets a hole in the bottom or just until they get scuffed? You are wearing it out.  Have you ever 'made do' with something rather than buying a new one?  What about just doing without?  It can be done, despite what TV commercials will tell you.

Lorilee Craker's book "Money Secrets of the Amish" will deliver many ideas that you may not have thought of for saving money, whatever the size of your family!  Booksneeze sent me a free copy of this book to review.  I am not required to post a positive review, but this one earned it. I do recommend this book for anyone looking to save money, a lot or a little at a time. It all adds up to extra cash you to use as the Lord directs!

Making the Food Money Last

The Headmistress and the other Three Moms are blogging about food budgets this week. Even though HM mentioned most of my favorite ideas, I thought I'd share some tips anyway.

I blogged about the discovery of my favorite tip of all here. Go to farmer's market at the very end and offer to buy the perishables that will not make it to the next market day. You can often get lots of goodies. Be prepared to fix, freeze, can, share or otherwise prepare your bounty THAT day. Ripe food turns fast. I also ask different vendors for canning specials. Often they have bins of blemished fruit that they will sell inexpensively.

Learn to can! It is not inexpensive to begin, by any means, but Craig's List, garage sales and word of mouth can get you jars for little to nothing. Ask for canning supplies for your birthday, anniversary or Christmas presents. For water bath canning, all that's needed is a large pot and the basic canning tools. A pressure canner is more expensive, but priceless for making meals in a jar that will save many dollars when you need a dinner and you need it fast. I like my harvest yellow Presto canner. The new ones that you can get are flimsy and won't stand the test of time.

Put out the word that you will pick fruit trees. I have a list of folks whose trees I pick yearly. We get the surplus fruit to eat, can or bake with, they get a clean yard and don't have to watch the fruit moldering. I take canned goods to them as a thank you.

Buy meat that is marked down at the grocery store. I would love to buy organic, but I simply can't afford it. I watch for 25% and 50% off stickers and buy up as much as I can. Most goes into the freezer, some is eaten for dinner that night or the next and some shared with others. Use whole chickens rather than parts. Make your own broth. Use the bones from the meat you buy for beef stock. Collect vegetable trimmings in a freezer bag and use that for stock making rather than fresh produce.

Buy very little packaged "food". Meat, eggs, veggies, fruit. This is all we need to be healthy.

Grow a garden. It doesn't have to be more than some buckets alongside the garage. Lettuce is very easy to grow and will grow all year round in many places. Tomatoes grow like weeds in the summer. One zucchini plant supplies my entire family for most of the summer.

Make condiments from scratch. You can save SO much money, they taste ever-so-much better and have no mystery ingredients. I have many recipes here and here.

Cook your meals from scratch. Make the ingredients for your from scratch meals from scratch! For example, prepare dried beans rather than using canned (unless you canned them yourself), chop veggies rather than using frozen, cut stew meat out of an inexpensive roast rather than buying it pre-cut. You can think of many other purchased boxes and cans you can eliminate by making basic ingredients yourself.

Have a crockpot of beans prepared at all times to feed your hollow-legged teenagers. This has saved me tons of food dollars as my boys go through growing spurts.

Helpful Kitchen Charts

I often joke that my brain is full of holes; that I forget anything not written down somewhere. It's not really a joke. I remember important things like my Lambies' names, but little things can escape me if I'm not careful.



Like what temperature means chicken is done? What kind of salad green is in season this month? How many cups of grain do I need to grind to make X amount of flour? How do I use this gadget again? Where's the spare battery for the digital thermometer?





Well, for easy reference, I thought to make copies of some kitchen charts I liked and/or needed and I taped them inside my cupboards. I refer to them often and freed up brain space at the same time!







When the cupboards are closed, there's no cluttery mess yet I have the info I need at a moments notice. It works for me!

ETA: You can click the pictures for a bigger view. I tried to get clear enough pics so you could read the charts. Hopefully they'll be helpful info for someone on them!

"Are They All Yours?"

I very often get the "How do you do it?", "Are they all yours?", "You have your hands full!" or even the dreaded "OMG!" when we go out. I know those trite comments frustrate and annoy many parents of larger families. They wear on me, too! But instead of snapping back with a sarcastic answer (like I want to do), I use the exclamation to give glory to the Lord and perhaps get a chance to share the Gospel. I also try to remember to smile when we are out, so as to not make my children look burdensome.

Taking the Lord's name in vain seems pretty common in my area, and it bothers me the most. I don't speak like that to my children, and hate that others do! So now I answer that exclamation with a praise: "Isn't He wonderful! Look how He has blessed our family!" After they pick up their jaw, the other person is in a better place to ask intelligent questions and have a good conversation. They are often a bit embarrassed at their mis-use of the Lord's name, as well.

"Are they all yours?" invites "Yes, thankfully, they are! Aren't I blessed?" I babysit a couple of kids, so if they are with us, I say "I babysit these two, but the others are mine. Aren't I blessed?"

"How do you do it?" is usually answered with "By God's grace!" and "You have your hands full!" gets answered with " No, the Lord doesn't give us more blessings than we can handle! I hope to have more Blessings someday!"

Only once I was asked "If I knew what causes that?". I was taken aback, but answered, "The blessing of God". Having practiced giving a positive answer to the common reaction of seeing our family, I was able to not lose my witness when asked a particularly rude question. I have been able to share the gospel many times with folks who are intrigued by our family. I may not be able to be a missionary to Africa or China, but I can share the gospel with those in need of the Savior here in my little town!

Call it 'Habit Training' for Momma!

Chores In Our Family

One of the most time consuming things about having a larger family is the chores. Since we all live in this house all day long, it gets messier than the home of the family across the street, where everyone is at work and school all day long. We must clean up and do it often!

One day a few years back, I sat down with chores in mind. I broke each job down into its componants and wrote detailed lists. Then I decided which chores were most appropriate for each child. The smaller children got the easier parts, of course and the older ones, the harder.

My husband created a spreadsheet with all the chores listed on the left-hand column and names of all the children (rotated, so they are in different places) in four columns toward the right. One child has a certain aspect of each chore for a month. On the first day of the month we change to the next column. Everyone has a new job. After four months, we are back to the beginning. Each child has learned each job completely.

An example: The kitchen is cleaned very quickly after meals in this manner. I wash pots and handwashables and put away food, one child sweeps, one clears and wipes the table, one wipes down the chairs and pushs them in when the sweeper is finished, one clears and wipes the counter and stove. The smaller children wipe the table legs, clean the front of the dishwasher, stove and fridge. One picks up any toys or big things on the floor for the sweeper.

I can now call on any one of the six oldest children to do a job by themselves or with a partner and it gets done well!

Our 'jurisdictions' (to borrow a term from the Duggar Family) are: kitchen, bathroom, living and family rooms, bedrooms, playroom and animals. We have had the same chart for a couple of years now, and I am planning an upgrade. The children and I have taught all the little ones the chores, so it's time to 'graduate' the older ones to new assigned chores and allow the six and seven year olds the responsibility of the 'big kids' chores.

Presents

Having a large family means multiplied joy, friendships, and happiness. It also means multiplied food bills, gas bills and BILL bills! Christmas and birthdays can strain the finances of any family, but especially a larger one. Thankfully, gift giving occasions do not have to be burdensome!

We choose not to celebrate each childs birthday with a 'friends' party. On their birthday, each child gets special privileges like choosing the meals and being excused from most chores. They choose their desired dessert and receive a couple of presents from Dad and Mom and their brothers and sisters. It's enough, really.

Once a year we have a big party that we invite all our friends to. We do not accept gifts from friends. Rather, the children spend time choosing a ministry they wish to bless, usually from among the various outreaches of Voice of the Martyrs. They make a presentation board and develop activities for the party based around that choice. They collect donations and mail them in.

For Christmas, we shop sales year round. Much of the shopping is done by the time the season rolls around. We have the children draw names so each one buys a gift for another, and they love it! We don't put a limit on the number of gifts per child, though it's usually three or four at the most. Instead, we have a spending cap for each. That way, if one person wants ONE more expensive gift, they can ask and they *might* receive it.

Children really can be satisfied with less extravagance. Allow them the privilege of NOT being spoiled rotten!

A 'DUH!' Moment

As a young girl, I loved hot cereal. My mother would make Cream of Wheat or oatmeal once in a while (most often, I had cold sugar cereal), drop a pat of butter in the bottom of my bowl, add the oatmeal, sprinkle on some sugar and cinnamon, stir it up and place it in front of me. I felt so special!

When my eldest was ready, I prepared her hot cereal in the same manner. When my next began eating it, I simply added a bowl to my routine. Then we became foster parents and added twins. Soon, it became a trial to make hot cereal. As soon as I was done preparing bowls, someone wanted seconds and I was getting tired of it. Slowly, without even thinking about it, I served hot cereal less and less and cold cereal more and more.

After a few years, we had many Smalls and just a couple of Bigs. Hot-cereal-more-often became a necessity for financial reasons, and I had learned the dangers of cold cereal and felt guilty about serving it anyway.

After sitting down and trying to eat my serving and being asked AGAIN to prepare seconds for someone, I had my most humiliating DUH moment.

"You could season the whole pot and they could serve their own seconds!"

DUH!!

How much easier is it now, to serve hot cereal? Sometimes common sense is hard to come by in my brain.

Care to share your simplest tip or your own DUH moment? You might make someone's day!

Illness in a Large Family

My dear friend has four children four and under. She is in the trenches of Littles-only parenting and it.is.hard! Her children recently were ill for a couple of weeks. It reminded me of a period of time that I'd rather forget.

My five Lambies were 6 and younger. I also had several foster children. They caught something that went round and round and round for THREE months. It wasn't a simple runny nose or an annoying cough. It was a puking thing. Awful. I had some throw up all over the place, every week, at least once, for three solid months. I remember picking chunks off of someones sheet for the umpteenth time and crying out to the Lord for help. I was at the end of my rope! I couldn't stand it any longer and needed help!

He whispered, in that moment, "Change their toothbrushes". Really. I dried my tears, finished the job and did as I was told. The sickness cycle ended with that. Praise God....He really does care about the little things and will help those who call out to Him!

Here are some pointers for those of you with little ones to keep the sickies at bay:

Replace toothbrushes every few months! Sterilize them occasionally with peroxide between fresh ones.

Of course, wash everyone's hands often, including yours, Mom!

Boost the immune system with wholesome, natural foods so you have less chance of getting sick in the first place. One of the best to add is real, fresh from the cow, raw milk. It truly does work wonders!

Cut out or drastically reduce processed sugar, especially if you've been exposed to a cold. Sugar greatly reduces your immune system's ability to fight off buggidies. Increase zinc and vitamin C, through food sources, not mad-made synthetic garbage.

Use coconut oil as a moisturizer on hands and faces. It has anti-fungal and anti-bacterial properties.

Load up on fresh, raw garlic. Yeah, you'll stink. It's better than being sick! Mince it fine and add to applesauce or yogurt for little ones. You can use a spoonful of honey, too.

Make a soothing throat syrup with honey and garlic. Lemon juice added to hot, hot water with some salt and honey is very soothing and helps heal as well.

If all fails and your kids are sick with tummy troubles, take this hint. We bought eight identical buckets, with handles and pour spouts in the cleaning department of Target. When someone complains of nausea, all the buckets come out of the garage and each person gets one on their bed. Since doing this, I haven't had anyone miss and barf on the bed. Even the toddler is able to get it in the bucket (thankfully!).

Just 15 Minutes

Most people wonder how in the world large families 'get it all done'. We know the secret....we don't!

Most of us do, however, know to use small amounts of time wisely. Ten or fifteen minutes can so easily slip by with nothing accomplished, or it can be put to good use and something memorable can be done! I use the time spent eating in the morning, and at lunch, for some read aloud time.

Reading Scripture in the morning leads to some wonderful discussions. We are all gathered anyway, let's use that time! Memory work can easily be done at the table, too. Choose a family read aloud for lunchtime. The kids will enjoy hearing it, and they will look forward to the story every day.

We also read aloud before bedtime several times a week. It's the 'Daddy-book' since it's only read when Daddy is home. Currently we are reading "The Little White Horse" by Elizabeth Goudge.

Making memories doesn't have to be expensive or time-consuming. It can be as simple as snatching a few minutes to read with the kids consistently.

Two-Minute Clean!

One of the strategies I use for keeping the house clean is "A Two Minute Clean". I began teaching this to my oldest when she was only two and a half or so. I call out loudly "Two Minute Clean!!!!" so everyone can hear it, and they all rush around the house grabbing anything in their way, putting it where it belongs or throwing it away. Many hands can really make a difference in just two minutes! Do this three or four times a day and watch the piles and clutter disappear.

Dryer Disaster and Redemption

(originally posted on my other blog 9-21-07)

After a great day visiting with friends yesterday, I threw a load or two of laundry and made dinner. At about 7:30, I made a terrible discovery in my dryer...

Inside a pocket had been lurking two crayons, a red and a blue. Now they were smeared all over the inside of my dryer and all the clothes. This was a load of mixed colorfuls, kacki and light colored pants, white shirts, washrags, dresses, bathtowels...

I brought the children out to the dryer and showed them the mess, reminding them that crayons are not to be carried in pockets. I knew exactly who had done it, for the only pants in the load belonged to just one child. She was very upset at herself!

I got on the computer and found a method for removing the stains:

A wet rag, baking soda and light elbow grease removed the crayon from the dryer, including the plastic seal. Other methods mentioned using toothpaste, the white paste kind and a Mr. Clean Eraser. Baking soda worked fine for us. The guilty party did this part.

I removed the ruined clothes from the garbage can where I had flung them in frustration and re-washed them in this mixture:

Hot Water
regular amount of detergent (the website said to double, but I didn't)
1/2 cup borax
1/2 cup baking soda
1/2 cup spray and wash or shout or something similar
generous squirt of Dawn

I have a front loader and though it was very sudsy, it rinsed fine, and the stains were GONE!

I do not have to replace all the washrags, towels, pants and shirts that I had given up for stained!!!

Puzzle Organization

(originally posted on my other blog 9-12-07)

When my Lambies were small, we began collecting puzzles. They still love working puzzles to this day. But often, little EmBlem would craftily get all the puzzles out and frolic amidst all the pieces. She was quite a climber and was very good at figuring out how to get to high places! It was so frustrating.

So, on all her cardboard puzzles (you know, the ones with the cardboard trays) and the ones with 24 pieces, I did this:

Gather them all together and get a Sharpie. Flip the first over so the backs are all showing and write a "1" on every piece. Then write a "1" on the tray. Repeat with each puzzle, marking with "2", :3" etc. Then, when the baby gets them all out, you can sort them easily!