The Never Ending Washing Pile!

I just had to do a post about laundry! The more mothers I speak to, regardless of how many children they have - laundry is a common problem!
It's never ending, even if you do manage to get an empty wash basket you can guarantee it won't stay empty for long!
Then there's the folding, ironing (if you do that - I don't lol) and putting away - it is the one job that every family has to do - unless you are rich enough to have servants and I have spent some time looking at other people's routines and techniques and thought I'd share a little about how we attempt the laundry!

We have recently changed our system and instead of all clean clothes going in one big bag until putting away time (which resulted in children routing through the bag looking for clothes) we invested in 6 folding crates - one for each of us (one for me and hubby to share) which makes life so much easier especially when we don't have time to put away and the children need to find clean clothes ;-)

As for keeping up with the washing well I try to put a load on every night and empty the washer and refill it in the morning - making 2 loads a day but we often have days where I just don't manage it and then we try to do 3 or 4 to catch up. Or we have a tidy up which creates lots of extra washing!

I also try to get the children involved - when things are running smoothly I will have one loading the machine and another emptying it - all the children (except the youngest 2) are expected to put their own washing away though that is something we have to work on - finding a regular time.

Do you have any good tips or techniques for laundry? Please do share them - I love to hear more ideas and learn how to do improve my own techniques.

God in the little things?

It is so exciting that when you let Him, God will work in you and take you on a journey unlike any you could ever imagine - and one of the best things that I am discovering is that He even cares about the little things! God wants to be involved in EVERY aspect of our lives - so often we feel like we are doing nothing important keeping house, raising children and trying to be the wife and mother God wants us to be.  We think that God only cares about the "churchy" stuff, our prayer life, how many meetings we go, what we are doing to affect the community but the truth is God is interested in ALL of our lives, the words we speak, the jobs we do, the way we raise our children, the meals we cook. it seems unbelievable but it is true because it is all the little things that we do that add up to make us who we are!

This last year God has been teaching me, through books, through people I've met or spoken too and through blogs etc a lot about keeping house! Yes, He cares enough to teach us what we need to know - I'm not a natural housekeeper - some things have come as a surprise to me (such as having to clean cupboards out) as for the beginning of our marriage we had reason to move every year so things never got so "bad" to make me realise why exactly people did spring cleaning! Don't ask me how I thought these things stayed clean as I just didn't think about it lol.

Also with baby number 5, I am beginning to realise that it takes work and planning to have a household that runs smoothly and has a sense of order!

Here are some of the resources that have helped me with this recently

First we have the "Maxwells" I have both "Managers of their homes" and "Managers of their Chores" books and both have really helped me, the first taught me how and why scheduling is good and healthy (though we do only use schedules in a loose way) and the second has helped me realise what chores need doing in the house and how to get the children involved and how important it is to involve the children (this is still very much a work in progress)

I have also found the "Boyers" immensely helpful reading their books "Parenting from the heart" by Marilyn and "yes they're all ours" by Rick, also "Fun Projects for Hands on Character builidng" has given me lots of good ideas for doing things with the children. 

There are more resources too, we have enjoyed watching "The Duggars" and reading "20 and counting" to see how God has been working out His purposes in their busy lives and there have been many blogs that have encouraged me and given me ideas, not to mention friends that have shared with me and prayed for me. 

I still have so much to learn regarding the whole housekeeping, parenting, being a good wife journey but I am constantly learning and the best bit is that our God shows us the way and brings us into contact with the right people - He cares for ALL of our lives! 

I will share with you how God gave me the idea to "transform" our hallway recently too soon!    

Learning in Small Chunks

I feel like I'm learning a lot this year -  from being more organised, decluttering, learning to stay on top of the housework to home educating the children, and being a better wife! Not to say I have it all sussed now - it is very much a journey and the more I read about others the more I realise that actually no one has it completely sussed, they just find what works for them but there are times that we all get overwhelmed and struggle no matter how many children we have, or what our lifestyle is like.

I have always been very relaxed in our schooling, believing very much in the better late than early theory and that children learn more through play, we also made some mistakes early on which I believe has led to my older children being more reluctant to learn though my eldest (nearly 9) has started showing a real interest and desire to learn, we are slowly getting there with the reading and I'm managing to fit in the "extra" subjects these days - since I started planning. We haven't stuck to it rigidly, for example instead of carrying on learning about Australia in Geography we learnt a bit about Japan and earthquakes, as it was all over the news, and one day last week my son was ill so we didn't do school that day we did it the next (I have 2 days which I don't plan extra subjects allowing for library and free time)

The biggest thing I am learning with regards to home educating is that small is better than big - it's fine to only read a small bit of the book we are learning from but doing a small bit every week we will get through and it's better than doing none at all!

We've also progressed onto the next hooked on phonics with my son, I am going to teach my eldest the phonics rules as in Ruth Beechick's book The three R's and was going to do the same with my son but he wanted to do hooked on phonics so we started that yesterday.

I'm also reading Managers of their chores by the Maxwells and can't wait to start planning my master chore list and make chore packs for the children, I think it will help with the housework and character building - for them and me!

Tonsillitis

Yuck - I do not wish this illness on anyone!!! I started with a sore throat last Wednesday and by Thursday was feeling very ill. My Mum persuaded me to go to the doctors who promptly diagnosed tonsillitus then sent me home to rest and take paracetomal!! Maybe I should have mentioned that I had 5 children under 8 but to be honest I was too ill to really think straight, I came home and literally just laid on the sofa/bed. On Friday my hubby was working all night so I managed to get down to my Mums with the children as I was too ill to manage the children on my own overnight and we have been here ever since! I did make a return trip to the docs on Tuesday morning and they finally prescribed me some antibiotics - so finally I am beginning to feel better and we should be going home at the weekend.

Through all of this though I have learned several things -

1. I need a better household management system as in chores, I need something typed out somewhere so that even when I am ill things can still get done - all chores tend to be in my little head, and I also need to work on training children again and assigning them paticular jobs each day - I have found a great little site which had some good free charts which may help me

2. I am so very blessed and need to remember to be thankful and grateful for having parents living so close instead of feeling guilty that others need to cope on their own!

3. I need to start meal planning again, I need to look out for some good recipes that are easy to pop on in the morning ready for the evening, I will be investing in a slow cooker in the next few weeks.

I am grateful for all the prayers and suppport I have received and am happy to say that I am finally on the mend - normal service will resume soon - albeit hopefully a little more improved!

Light Bulb Moment

I had a "light bulb" moment over the weekend - you know when something you already know and maybe have even spoken about suddenly clicks and takes on a personal meaning!
It's funny really, bearing in mind that I have been married for almost 13 years, we have 5 beautiful children and I have been a stay at home wife/Mum for the last 10 years.
Let me explain

I have been on a mission to declutter my house - a challenging pregnancy and then constant breastfeeding had certainly taken a toll on the state of my house - my older children are not quite there yet with being able to keep up with housework and although my husband does his best he runs a business so is kept very busy with that!

On Saturday it was Deborah's 3rd birthday (time is really flying) and I was doing a big clean up ready for visitors, as I walked through my now tidy hallway it felt soooo nice, no clutter (it's been cluttered for a while) and it suddenly dawned on me.........................if I want my house to stay like this it's up to me!!! It's totally and utterly my responsibility!
 Don't get me wrong I believe in training children and people helping out but the bottom line is - it's my job! I'm like the manager of the home (and yes I've read the book managers of the home and still didn't quite get it) so whatever happens, is down to me, to either do or delegate!

You would often hear me say "if I don't do it, it won't get done" and I've often got so stressed that my house is a state, blaming everyone but myself!!!
I'm not saying that I'm suddenly going to turn into the "perfect housewife" or am I going to say that I'll never say those words again but I have a fresh revelation of running my house and keeping things in order! .

Here is a picture of the newly organised chidlren's bedroom

and one of my newly organised corner of living room - I was fortunate to inherit a new unit when my friend moved - it's made such a difference!!! It doesn't look like clutter anymore!!

We're working on the school room now - watch out for pics hehe

Bloom Where You're Planted

I've always loved this saying and to be honest generally related it to my immediate family, but this morning I had a fresh revelation! I would think most people reading this would know how involved in the Above Rubies ministry I am and how much I believe in home making and training our children (don't always feel like I'm doing a great job in this area though to be honest)  but I often feel saddened that there are not any other mothers who feel that way (that I am aware of) in my hometown, with whom I could meet up and be encouraged. I know many other mothers around the country feel the same. But this morning I suddenly realised while pondering this whole issue that God has put me here for a reason, to be a witness - even to other christian mothers who may not have had the same revelation regarding children and family life yet - and to build relationships with those who are around me. All the time leaning on God for the encouragement and support and utilising the internet which has provided me with much appreciated support, and praying for HIS will to be done. I'm praying that I won't waste time bemoaning my circumstances but look to God for His plans and discover what He wants me to learn.