Clutter's Last Stand Project 3: The Laundry Room

We had two weddings last year. One for our oldest daughter in May, and our oldest son married in August. We just kind of rolled from one wedding into the next with a couple of high school graduations in between. Then we rolled into the beginning of a new school year followed by Josiah's football season followed by basketball season. In the middle of all this, I was given a wonderful opportunity to earn some much-needed extra cash by doing some (actually, quite a lot) of curriculum writing from the comfort of my home. Oh, and let's not forget Thanksgiving and Christmas. To say the past 8 months have been crazily busy would be an understatement.

So, it is totally understandable that my laundry room looks like this:

That pink crate holds the tablecloths from Nate and Amanda's rehearsal dinner. The blue tub has 20+  table runners that I made in my "spare" time last April. The Amazon box has assorted wedding, graduation, and rehearsal dinner decorations. A sprinkling of sheets and towels adorn the top of the containers. To the east of the containers and following around to the south, you can see the hanging clothes that have come out of the laundry since August. Yes, August. Up until this week, I had not made it from the laundry room to the closet with the hanging clothes. Gasp!

Above, you see the south side of the laundry room. Notice the "small" pile of clean laundry on top of the machines.

Here's the true confession in all of this. For the past 8+ months, I have basically dressed out of my laundry room. Whenever I needed something, rather than head to my overstuffed closet, I just grabbed something off the top of the washer or from the hanging rack. In my case, this proves the idea that we only actually wear about 10-20% of the clothes we own.

After spending a relatively small amount of time, I now have a much-improved laundry area. Here it is:

"Hmmm," you say. You only see the south view? Alas, while I've begun work on the north side, I'm not a miracle worker. You'll just have to wait until next week before I can get to the rest of the room.

I hope you have a great weekend. I plan to work on my Christmas Valentine cards. What about you?

Wednesday Eats and Treats: Nathan's Favorite Potato Soup

My dear son, Nathan, always requests this soup when he comes home. It is simple, delicious and filling. (Note that I make no claims about the calorie count.)  Serve with crackers or garlic bread and a salad.

Nathan's Favorite Potato Soup

4 large baking potatoes

2/3 cup butter or margarine (or bacon drippings)

2/3 cup flour

6 cups milk

¾ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

4 green onions, chopped and divided (or 1 T onion powder)

12 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

1 ¼ cup shredded cheddar cheese

8 oz. sour cream, yogurt, or ranch dip

Wash, dry and prick potatoes with a fork.

Bake in 400 degree oven for 1 hour, or until done.

Let cool, Cut in half lengthwise and scoop out pulp. Set aside.

Use skins for something else, such as stuffed potato skins.

Melt butter in heavy saucepan over low heat.

Add flour, stirring until smooth.

Cook 1 minute, stirring constantly.

Gradually add milk.

Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture is thickened and bubbly.

Add potato pulp, salt, pepper, and a tsp. of green onion (or onion powder),

half the bacon and one cup of cheese.

(At this point you can transfer it to the Crock-pot. Cook on low 2-3 hours.)

Cook until thoroughly heated. Stir in sour cream.

Add extra milk if necessary for desired consistency. If too thin, you can 

thicken it with instant potato flakes.

Serve topped with remaining cheese, bacon, and green onion.

*A 6 quart slow cooker will hold 1 ½ batches of this soup.*

**You can bake, mash, and freeze the potatoes ahead of time.**

Monday Musings Week 4

I spent some money this week, and I saved some. Here's the breakdown.

Groceries                  $80.64
School kit for Leah   $35.16
Piano Lessons          $10.00
Toilet paper              $71.32   
Total                        $197.12

You might be asking, "Who in the world spends $71 on toilet paper?"

And I would have to answer you, "We do!"

84,000 sheets of toilet paper waiting for a trip to the attic

I don't ever want to run out of toilet paper. You see, when you have 8 people living in one home, and most of those people are home all day, you go through a LOT of toilet paper. Since our children learn at home, we don't have the benefit of the public school paying for our t.p. -- another hidden expense of homeschooling. When Syd and I first married, I used to buy that wonderfully soft Charmin tissue. As the years went by and our toilet paper consumption skyrocketed, I switched to the 1000 sheet rolls that come in a 12 pack. When there were 10 of us here, we even went through those rolls fairly quickly.

The 12-packs of 1000 sheet rolls are $9.24 every day at Wal-Mart. So, when I saw the CVS brand equivalent on sale for $5.49, I knew I had a deal. It was such a great deal that I bought 12 packages -- 144 1000-sheet rolls of toilet paper. Seven of the packs went up to the attic, and the other 5 were distributed between our bathrooms. And while this amount of toilet paper might last your family for 5 years, it won't even last a year around here. An added benefit is that I saved $45 by getting the toilet paper on sale. That's enough to buy another 8 12-packs at the sale price!

Who knows? In another 8 years, when our sweet baby Esther goes off to college, I might go back to buying Charmin for the two of us. I think every couple should do something special after 40 years of marital bliss, don't you?

Clutter's Last Stand - Project 2

Ah, the master bathroom linen cabinet --home of towels, shampoo, and all the stuff that keeps this family out of the doctor's office. This was a pretty quick project for me. I culled the towels and got us down to four sets of nice towels. The square canvas baskets corral all the loose toothpaste, toothbrushes, spare deodorant and razors, etc.  I tried labels attached with packaging tape, but they keep coming off. A few remain, as you can see in the picture.  I plan to make tags to hang on the basket handles so I can identify the contents. All of the meds are in the tool kit, This makes it easy to keep track of expiration dates.

I don't have a "before" picture, but here is the finished product.

Next week, I think I'll tackle the laundry room. We'll see how that goes!

Have a great weekend. Ours will be filled with basketball, income tax preparation, FAFSA forms, a few cooking projects, and a Sunday of worship and rest. What about you?

Wednesday's Eats and Treats: Kathleen's Roast with Vegetables

 I've had several people ask for this recipe, so I'm sharing it here.

The Sunday Staple - Kathleen's Roast with Vegetables

Nothing beats walking in the door from church to the delicious aroma of a roast in the oven. This meal beats eating out every time, and it is something worthy of guests, so you can practice the art of hospitality. Serve it with a green salad and rolls. Brownies and ice cream are an excellent complement for dessert.

Ingredients

• 1 4-6 pound roast (chuck, pork loin, etc.)
• Seasoning, such as a rosemary-garlic blend or Canadian steak seasoning
• 8 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into 2-inch chunks 
• 1# baby carrots or regular carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
• 1 large onion, sliced into rings 
• 1 can Campbell's golden mushroom soup
• 1/4 cup cooking sherry
• 1 tsp. seasoning salt
• 1/2 tsp. pepper

Directions

• In a roasting pan*, place roast, fat side up. 
• Use a fork to poke several holes in surface of roast. Generously sprinkle 1-2 tsp. of the seasoning mix on the roast and rub into surface.
• Surround the roast with potatoes. 
• Pour in carrots on top of potatoes.
• Spread top of roast and veggies with onion rings.
• In a bowl, mix together soup, sherry, seasoning salt, and pepper. Pour over roast and vegetables.
• Cover tightly and cook at 325 degrees for 3.5-4 hours.**
• Remove from oven and let stand 15 minutes before slicing.
• Use pan drippings for gravy.

Leftovers can be used to make a delicious Italian vegetable beef soup by adding jar of spaghetti sauce, a can of green beans, a can of diced tomatoes, Italian herbs and spices,and water or beef broth, as needed. Serve with garlic bread or breadsticks and salad.

*If you don't have a roasting pan, you can use heavy-duty foil to wrap up everything. 

**This can be coked in a large slow cooker for 4-6 hours on high or 7-9 hours on high, depending on your slow cooker.

Monday Musings Week 3

There must be something to that adage that if you practice something for 2 weeks or more, it becomes a habit. As I complete week 3 of the challenge, I'm finding it easier to "just say no" to spending.

Part of it is that I'm staying busy doing other things than shopping or surfing Amazon in my jammies. Another aspect is being better prepared -- like bringing snacks along so we aren't so tempted to eat out. I'm learning to say no with grace -- understanding that it will take time for my children to get on board and that I need to be gentle when I turn down their requests to buy things. As I declutter, I don't want too refill the open spaces with more stuff, so I am less tempted by the great deal I just passed.

Then, there is the decision-making. It's always easier when there are hard and fast rules, like "This year, you will spend NO money!" But applying the challenge to this large family requires some flexibility. Flexibility involves weighing the purchase of the object of desire -- the Chunky Soup on sale for $1 a can -- with the long term value and the principles of minimal living and the practicality of raising a large family. In this case, the best sale price for this soup is usually $1.50, rarely $1.25, but $1? I haven't seen that price in years. (Some people follow sports; I follow food prices. What can I say?) Poured over a bed of rice, it makes a delicious winter lunch for the 4-6 of us who are at home every day. Still, I could make my own beef soup, sans those cute little grilled sirloin burger patties, and it would be a healthier alternative as well as use up soup meat in my freezer. The problem is that I have to make the homemade soup. What I need is something my 12 year old son can prepare.

I ramble. Sorry.

Analyzing the situation, I see that I need to teach my younger kiddos more "from scratch" cooking skills. Right now, I'm swamped with a writing project, and time is at a premium. So, I decide to buy 12 cans of soup, which is enough for 3 or 4 lunches. (In the past, I probably would have bought 48-60 cans. Yes, really that many.) I've written a note to myself to block out time in our home school day to include cooking instruction and develop some simple to prepare-from-scratch recipes that Esther, Gideon, and Josiah can make. For the next month or so, the Chunky Soup will have to do, and it qualifies as a justified purchase.

Enough of that. Here is my week's spending.

Groceries                         $83.35
Pizza for date night           $11.00
Toiletries/Cleaning            $19.64  
Total                              $113.99

Ways we Saved Money this Week

Family night - Syd and the boys built a fire and we roasted hot dogs and marshmallows.
Movie Night - checked out DVDs of the Cosby Show from our local library

Clutter's Last Stand - Project 1

I've always avoided decluttering. All my projects are too big and involve way too much mess. So, I'm trying the 15 minutes at a time method. I'll set the timer and do what I can in that amount of time. Slow and steady, right?

Here is my first go at it.

I worked in my closet and I was able to go from this:

to this:

 and I got rid of these:

Three shelves -- that's it. It's not too impressive until you look at the pile of stuff that's heading to the women's ministry thrift store. If I can get rid of that much stuff every time I declutter, I can make amazing progress this year.

Now, I realize that if a TRUE minimalist was reading this, there would be rolling eyes and a shaking head right now. But, hey! I'm making progress. And that's what counts. It may take me a couple of passes through every area [ok, maybe 3 or 4] before I achieve minimalist status, but at least I'm heading in the right direction, which is more than I was doing a  month ago.

In reality, I don't think I'll ever get to the "only owning one skirt and two pairs of jeans" kind of minimalism. Where's the fun in that?