I completely admit that I am not a green expert. Our family does what we can, but we’ve got plenty more to learn. I’m slightly more qualified to call myself a Frugal Mama than a Green Mama, but the cool thing is, those tendencies tend to go hand-in-hand.

Who wouldn’t want to make everyday life less expensive?

Here are a few ways we make everyday home life a bit more frugal, inevitably coloring our home a slightly greener hue.

Cloth Napkins

We keep a very small pack of paper napkins for the occasional situation when we have tons of people over at once, but other than that, we always use cloth napkins. They’re mismatched (except that they’re all red in some form), they’re sometimes wrinkled, and none of them are fancy – perfect for a home with very small kids.

We also reuse them if the napkins didn’t get too dirty during the last meal – to make sure the same person uses his or hers, we designate a napkin ring for each person. I know many families use a variety of mismatched napkin rings for this purpose, but we’ve made a simple craft out of ours. Our art cabinet has a plethora of toilet paper tubes, so we cut one into thirds and decorated a ring for each person.

Cloth Rags

Instead of paper towels, we have an abundance of cloth rags. These are simply old t-shirts, stained towels, and well-worn fabric cut into squares – and because we have enough, we don’t run out.  It doesn’t create more laundry, because the rags are so small, they’re easily tossed into a load we’d do anyway.

Scratch Paper

Nothing revolutionary here. We make a point to use both sides of paper when we’re printing stuff that’s simply for our reference at home, or we donate the blank side of the paper to our daughter’s coloring ventures.

No Pre-Rinsing

We noticed that pre-rinsing our dishes before loading them in the dishwasher did absolutely nothing. So we stopped, and our dishes were still clean. It saves water, and it’s easier and faster this way.

Turn Off The Water

It’s a habit for us now, and thankfully, our daughter doesn’t know any other lifestyle. When we brush our teeth, we turn off the water. When we’re soaping up our hands, we turn off the water. When we didn’t have hot water for a good chunk of time this summer, we took “military-style” showers – used the water to get wet, turned it off while soaping up, then turned it back on to rinse off.

Turn Off the Lights

We make a point to turn off lights when we’re not in the room – and sometimes when we are in the room, if there’s enough natural light. Many times we don’t flip a light switch until after lunch.

Plenty of Real Dishes

We love to entertain, and we often have large groups of friends over for dinner. We almost never use paper plates or cups. Because we have enough, it’s just as easy to use the real stuff over and over again. Plus, it feels a smidge classier.

Swap Clothes

Our children share clothes with most of our friends’ children - we pass down, swap, exchange, and trade clothes between us. Just write your initials on the tag, and you’ll be surprised how little you’ll need to spend on kids’ clothes.

Buy Secondhand

But when we do buy kid’s clothes, we almost never buy new. Kids grow so fast, it’s rare they wear out clothing before they outgrow it. There are plenty of sweet secondhand stores all over the place.

Cook From Scratch

We have very little trash because we usually cook from scratch instead of boxed prepackaged food – on average, we fill one small plastic grocery bag with trash daily. For us, it’s also cheaper to buy local produce.

Photo by Riekie

Open Windows

It gets hot where we live, but most people here don’t have air conditioners. When they do, they only use them when it’s really hot, and not all day. It’s been quite an adjustment coming from the southern US, where we air-conditioned our home 24 hours a day from April to October, but we’re slowly getting used to it. In the meantime, we know it saves energy and money on the electric bill.

Reuse Plastic Bags

As I mentioned earlier, plastic grocery bags are our garbage bags. We also do what we can to use reusable shopping bags. If I’m visiting a local produce vendor in our neighborhood, the bottom basket of our stroller works perfectly – no bag needed at all.

Other ways we’ve gone more frugal by going greener are making our own cleaners, composting, not having a car and using public transportation, paying all bills online, making our own baby food, eating more meatless meals, telecommuting, and of course, recycling.

Here are some good resources:

• The Story of Stuff – an interesting 20-minute documentary (though I don’t completely agree with her definition of the government’s job)
• 50 Ways to Help the Planet
• 100 Ideas For Your Green Family
• Calculate Your Carbon Footprint – in the US
• Calculate Your Carbon Footprint – in Europe
• My Delicious bookmarks tagged “green” – I’ll add more as I find them

How about you – how do you make greener choices simply by being more frugal? What are your favorite green and frugal blogs? Share your resources and ideas! I’m still quite – well, green, at this.

CURRENT SPONSORS:

• Plan to Eat - meal planning made simple.
• The Justice Conference - Justice hangs by a thread.
• Lil' Soak - Sewing hope with handmade goods.
• Treed - A simple, flexible, effective project planning tool.

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• A Frugal Family is a Greener Family: Easy Everyday Tips
• 40 Ways to Go Greener at Home (Besides Just Recycling)
• How to Create A Paperless Kitchen

Photo by melissann

CS Lewis once said, “No book is really worth reading at the age of ten which is not equally worth reading at the age of fifty.” In other words, if a grown adult can’t stomach a children’s book, why should a child be expected to?  I think I agree with his words.

Charlotte Mason was a pioneer in children’s education during the 19th century, and her ideas have led to one of the primary methods of homeschooling.  She also coined the term “twaddle.”

Twaddle: Dumbed-down literature; absence of meaning.

Homeschooling or not, I believe children (and adults, really) should invest their time in living books, and not waste time on twaddle.  And quite frankly, there’s a lot of twaddle out there in the world of children’s literature.

My children are very young, so I’m up to my elbows in early childhood literature.  Here are my top 10 favorite preschool-age books, in random order, and all twaddle-free.

Madeline (and all the Madeline books), by Ludwig Bemelmans

All the Madeline books have a great cadence of words, and the illustrations are delightful.  What little girl doesn’t want to live in an old house in Paris that is covered in vines?

Best Friends for Frances (and all the Frances books), by Russell Hoban

Frances is a lovable badger with a wild imagination, silly songs, and a bag full of tricks.  In Best Friends, she learns that a sibling can be a friend, too.

Ferdinand, by Munro Leaf

I loved this story as a kid, and my daughter loves it now.  Ferdinand is a laid-back, gentle bull who’s been recruited for a Spanish bullfight.

Frog and Toad are Friends (and all the Frog and Toad books), by Arnold Lobel

I adore this pair of amphibians.  You’ll laugh along with your children at Frog and Toad’s sense of logic, and you’ll love their close-knit friendship.

George and Martha (all the stories), by James Marshall

A hilarious duo of hippos who have more personality than common sense.  Adults get a kick out of them, too.

Make Way For Ducklings, by Robert McCloskey

A classic tale of a pair of ducks living in Boston.  This story has enthralled generations of children – my daughter enjoys my original book.

Winnie the Pooh, by A. A. Milne

This is the classic, non-Disney version.  No child should miss the delightful tales of Winnie-the-Pooh and all his friends.  The language is beautiful, the illustrations, sweet.

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie (and all the If You Give… books), by Laura Numeroff

My mother-in-law gave this treasury to our daughter for Christmas, and we’ve read it almost daily since.  The stories are brilliant, the illustrations are hilarious, and I can honestly say I don’t tire from reading these stories.

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, by Judith Viorst

Both you and your kids will identify with Alexander, who’s having a day when nothing goes right.  Good for kids who get frustrated when things don’t go their way.

Lyle, Lyle Crocodile (and all the Lyle books), by Bernard Waber

A pet crocodile comes to stay with the Primm family.  A fun story about friendship and loyalty.

__

It is genuinely difficult to hone this list to ten!  Other good classics are Curious George, Harry the Dirty Dog, Where The Wild Things Are, Ira Sleeps Over, Caps for Sale, Blueberries for Sal, Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, The Little House, all the books by Mercer Mayer, several Dr. Seuss classics, and the Spot stories.

When my daughter turns 4, I hope to start reading a few classic chapter books out loud, such as The Chronicles of Narnia, A Bear Called Paddington, and The Incredible Journey.

I also strongly recommend the resource Honey For a Child’s Heart, by Gladys Hunt.  Now in its fourth edition, this book is a must-have for parents who want a trusted guide for quality literature.  It’s chock-full of annotated lists of books for ages 0 to 14.

What are your favorite early childhood books?  What are your preschooler’s favorites? I know a number of you are educational experts, avid readers, and great moms to the three-foot-and-under crowd.  Please share your loves!

CURRENT SPONSORS:

• Plan to Eat - meal planning made simple.
• The Justice Conference - Justice hangs by a thread.
• Lil' Soak - Sewing hope with handmade goods.
• Treed - A simple, flexible, effective project planning tool.

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• Twaddle-Free Books for Preschoolers: My Top 10 Favorites
• 10 Great Authors in Children’s Literature
• Five in a Row: Enlarge your Preschooler’s World with Books

Photo by Andrea R

Reader Kristen wrote me and asked, “I have so much housework to do all day, but I know I need to spend time with my three kids.  How do I juggle doing both?  Is there any chance I can have a simple life and show them the simple life?”

Kristen, I don’t pretend to be an expert at this, because I’m still learning.  In fact, I was thinking of your question today as my three-year-old and I folded laundry.  She was helping me with the dishtowels, and quite frankly, she was doing a horrible job.  Nothing was even, the pile of folded towels was toppling over, and I knew I’d have to fold some of them again.

But you know what?  Through this mama’s eyes, those folded dishtowels were sparkling rubies and diamonds.  They were beautiful.

At 3 years old, I’m teaching her a small lesson in the value of work.  And I’m teaching her that she’s an important contributor to this family.

Here are four important reminders as you juggle parenting and home management:

1.  Let go of perfection.

I’ve written already about how perfectionism ultimately makes you more unproductive – but it also makes you more of a control freak.  If the towels, the dishes, and the table setting has to be just so, then no one in your home will want to do it.  Which means you’ll have to do it.  When imperfect people live together in a home, the home will be imperfect.

2.  Let them help.

Let your children put their special touch on housework, and they’ll better understand that they matter in the home.  They’ll take more pride in the work if you’re patient and forgiving with their final results. Plus, when they’re young, they actually think chores are fun.  Take advantage of that.

You know what?  My daughter’s towel-folding chore has improved drastically since she first started helping about six months ago.  I know she’ll get the hang of it.  In the meantime, the perfectionist in me has to show her grace and be satisfied with wonky towels.  I cringe, trust me, but when I think about the big picture of things, I’d rather her develop a good work ethic at a young age than have stacked towels worthy of Martha Stewart.

3.  Let them wait.

As important as it is that they help, there are also tasks that must be done by a competent adult.  It won’t kill children to learn to wait.  When you’re paying bills, and they want to play Candy Land with you, teach them the value of patience.  It’s hard for kids, but the sooner they learn that they are not the center of the universe, the better.

It’s also good for kids to learn how to play alone. My children are not good at this, being the social butterflies they are – but they still have alone time during the day.  The same 3-year-old who helped me with today’s laundry also has a 1-2 hour quiet time every day.  She doesn’t have to sleep, but she has to play quietly by herself in her playroom.  This is when I try to get a good portion of my chores done that require concentration.  There are plenty of “Is my quiet time over?” shouts from down the hall, but at least it’s a bit calmer than the rest of the day.

4.  Let them have your utmost attention.

Ultimately, there are unique times when we, as the parent, need to let go of our agendas and focus fully on our children.  My 8-month-old son has a cold at the moment, and he was wailing as I worked on the laundry.  I had a mounting pile of clothes before me, but I stopped and played with him on my lap for awhile instead.  That was more important.

My to-do list might barely get checked off on those days, but I have to stop and ask myself – how do I define a successful day?  Is it getting a lot done?  Or is it pouring into the lives that matter for eternity? Sometimes it’s hard to remember.

I don’t know a parent out there who doesn’t struggle daily with the balance of managing the home and investing in their children.  How do you deal with this dilemma?

CURRENT SPONSORS:

• Plan to Eat - meal planning made simple.
• The Justice Conference - Justice hangs by a thread.
• Lil' Soak - Sewing hope with handmade goods.
• Treed - A simple, flexible, effective project planning tool.

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• The Daily Balance of Parenting & Housework: Four Useful Reminders
• The Delicate Balance of Parenting & Housework
• The Shoe of Simplicity: Small Notebook

Photo by Vero & Vincent

I don’t collect much, but if there was one thing I have a weakness for, it’s journals. For some reason, I’m attracted to them like a moth to a flame. Don’t know if it’s my passion for writing and their blank pages just beg me to scribble, but whenever I see a well-crafted one for sale, I have to at least stop and admire.

This should tell you that yes, I am a paper gal. In a world of more digital, online resources than we could possibly explore, a major part of me relies on the tried-and-true method of pen and paper.

Digital tools have their place in my home management process – but so does paper. Here’s how I use it to maximize my efforts at home, while still aiming for a clutter-free home.

My Home Management Notebook

I already wrote a series about how to create a Home Management Notebook, so there’s no need for me to rewrite the beauties of having all your necessary paperwork in one spot. Mine serves mostly as a point of reference and a base for paper storage.

I use basic clear sleeves to house my papers inside, and I divide them with adhesive divider tabs. My sections right now are Daily Dockets, Weekly Checklist, Grocery List, Monthly Budget, Baby Steps, Cleaning, Ideas for Kids, and Emergencies. These change as our family’s needs and agendas change.

• I print about a week’s worth of Daily Dockets at a time, using both sides of the page. I store them in a clear sleeve, and keep that day’s Docket in the front inside pocket of my notebook, for easy scribbling.

• My Weekly Checklist and Grocery List are master copies that I keep in their sleeves. When I need to mark something, I use a dry erase marker – and then wipe it clean at the start of a new week.

• Because I maintain our budget and accounts on Pear Budget, I print a master monthly budget and keep it in the notebook, just for quick reference. Our budget evolves regularly, so about halfway through the month, after I’ve entered receipts and updated our records, I print another copy to keep me relatively up to speed. I also have a zippered pouch where I keep already entered receipts – if I don’t need them (and I usually don’t), I toss them at the end of the month.

• I doodle out our plan for the Baby Steps and keep it in the notebook, mostly for motivation and encouragement. When I feel like it will be forever to save up at least 20 percent for a down payment, I look at these numbers (and the ongoing sketches of our house plan ideas), and I get a boost of encouragement to keep on “living like no one else.”

• I house my room cleaning checklists and recipes for homemade cleaners (the ones in my ebook), so when I need them, I’ve already got them there.

• The internet is chock full of craft and activity ideas for kids. I store most of them in my Delicious account, but when I want to plan a week’s worth of stuff to do with my preschooler, or when the craft involves printables, I keep them here.

• Finally, I keep a master list of contact numbers for emergencies and basic info about my kids, in case another adult needs them for reference.

My Calendar

I use my Google Calendar for meal planning, blog planning, keeping track of family events (so that I’ll automatically get reminder emails), and for hashing out my basic daily routine. But I need a regular break from the computer screen – and it’s simply not practical to get on the laptop every time I need to check something.  So I keep a paper master calendar for the family.

MomAgenda sent me their “desktop” calendar to test drive and review. My initial reaction was – why must a simple calendar be so pricey? But after using it for almost a month, I have to say, I think it’s worth the money. I’m a cheapskate at heart, so even I’m surprised at my reaction here.

The main reason is because it’s more than a “simple calendar.” Yes, it has a traditional monthly calendar for the 2008-2009 school year (and I love that it starts in August, instead of the traditional January), but it also has weekly calendars that are just made for moms.

There are four different rows for different family member’s agendas, each day of the week. This is easily customizable – for example, since I only have a 3-year-old and a baby (let’s face it, they don’t have a jam-packed schedule), my four sections are labeled “family,” “house,” “work,” and “blog.” I use these blocks to map out my week’s agenda in advance.  If you want to see the basic layout of a weekly calendar, you can download a PDF sample.

I do wish there was a little more room for customization, but for now, I use the blank pages in the back for that. They make a variety of calendars, so perhaps a different type would more fully meet my needs. Heck, I’d love one with my Daily Dockets pre-printed inside, but I guess an additional 365 pages would make for a pretty hefty book. It kinda reminds me of a Moleskine – it’s a joy to write in a well-made notebook. Overall, I’m impressed with the desktop calendar.

momAgenda also told me they wanted to extend a coupon code for Simple Mom readers – so if you do choose to go with one of their calendars, enter in “SIMPLEMOM” for 15 percent off $75 or more.

My To-Do List

At the bottom of my Daily Dockets, I jot down my day’s to-do list. Lately I’ve been using the Todoodlist method of writing my to-do list, and it has been a lot of fun. It helps me focus on one thing at a time, even when one task involves several steps.

Overall, I find a good happy medium between the digital world and classic paper work best for me. It’s easy to get sucked in to the beauty of technology and the myriad of ingenious resources online, but for me, I go brain dead when I spend too much time online. I need a break from the computer – and paper works beautifully when you’re on the go.

Recipes

Yes, I store my recipes online in Delicious, and yes, I plan our weekly and monthly menus online.  But when it comes to actually being in the kitchen and cooking, I rely on paper.  I keep my online recipes printed full-size on plain paper and in clear sleeves (easy clean up from splatters), all in a master cookbook.  I have traditional cookbooks, of course, but when it comes to my recipes found on the internet, I’d rather print them on paper than lug the laptop in the kitchen.  I still store them online so I can find them again easily, just in case, and so I can refer to them for menu planning.  And fyi, I think Recipezaar‘s recipes print out beautifully – well laid out and easy to read.

Are you like most people, and thoroughly enjoy manually crossing something off a to-do list? What’s your preference, digital or analog? And how do you handle keeping paper to a minimum, so that you’re not adding clutter to your home or wasting natural resources? Please share in the comments!

CURRENT SPONSORS:

• Plan to Eat - meal planning made simple.
• The Justice Conference - Justice hangs by a thread.
• Lil' Soak - Sewing hope with handmade goods.
• Treed - A simple, flexible, effective project planning tool.

© 2008-2012 Simple Living Media, LLC | All rights reserved - This feed is provided for the convenience of Simple Mom subscribers. Any reproduction of the content within this feed is strictly prohibited. If you are reading this content elsewhere, please contact hello@simplemom.net to let us know. Thanks.

• Managing my Home With a Pen
• The Rest of My Home Management Notebook
• Weekly Home Management, all at a glance

Photo by David Joyce

As I mentioned before, I use both paper and plastic to manage my home – both have their beauty and place in the home.  There’s no right way to use the plethora of resources available, but as I implement the trial-and-error method to refine my productivity, I’ve learned what works best for me.

Here are the online apps, tools, and sites I use on a daily basis.

Email

I love Gmail.  Up until a few months ago, I had been using iMail for several years, the standard email client on my Mac.  Switching to Gmail was a breath of fresh air, and I haven’t looked back.

Just a few perks:

• You can both read and write from a ton of email addresses.  I didn’t have to switch any email addresses to use the Gmail platform.
• It has a stellar “search” function – it will retrieve emails that contain any keyword you search for.  I have yet to misplace an email.
• It uses labels instead of files.  You don’t file away emails, you label and archive them.  Sounds confusing, but it’s really much more streamlined than a filing system, where you cross your fingers and hope later to find an important email.
• It uses filters.  If you want certain emails to bypass the inbox all together, you can simply set up a filter and tell Gmail what to do when you get an email with a certain subject, from a particular email address, or whatever.  For example, I have all my email notifications for my ebook sales immediately archived with the label “ebook.”
• If you use Firefox, there are also tons of add-ons for customizing your email experience.

How this makes my job easier: There are a myriad of ways that Gmail helps – one is that I “star” any items that need more of a two-sentence reply, and I archive it.  My inbox remains empty, and when I sit down to do my correspondence, I click on “starred items” – there are the emails that need my reply.

To-Do List

The main reason I use Remember the Milk, an online to-do list program, is because of its Gmail add-on.  I’ve set up a to-do list on the right-hand side of my inbox, so when I remember something I need to do on the computer, I can quickly jot it down in my email inbox and move on.  I can also tag items, link email addresses to tasks that involve one, and prioritize jobs in order of importance.  It’s simple and easy-to-read.  And it kindly tells you when something is overdue.

How this makes my job easier: I keep my Remember the Milk list exclusively for computer-related tasks.  I don’t put “go to the grocery store” or “laundry” on this list.  This is for things related to blogging, online home management, and email correspondence.  I still use paper for my master list, so when I have a list of tasks in Remember the Milk, I simply jot down a reminder to check my online list.

Menu Planning

You already know how I use Google Calendar to plan out my meals a month at a time.  And when I find recipes online, I bookmark them in my Delicious Cookbook, using their handy tag system.  Lots of recipe sites have their own bookmarking system, but I like using Delicious because I can put every recipe I like from the internet in one place.

How this makes my job easier: With the handy tag system, I can quickly look up recipes by ingredient, meal, ease, or whatever I choose.  And with Google Calendar, I can request an email sent to my Gmail account to tell me what’s on the docket for that evening’s dinner.  Oh, and because Firefox is my browser of choice, I use the Delicious toolbar, making bookmarking a snap.

Banking

The majority of our banking is with ING Direct, an exclusively online bank.  They have excellent interest rates on both checking and savings, and they are extremely friendly on the phone and easy to work with.  We still have our brick-and-mortar bank, but most of our funds are transferred to ING.

How this makes my job easier: I can have an infinite amount of savings accounts with ING.  This means we have a savings account for Christmas, giving, vacation, and more.  I have funds automatically transferred from our checking to these separate accounts, making maintaining our sinking funds a breeze.

Money Management

It’s no secret that I love Pear Budget.  There are a number of online budgeting tools, but Pear Budget is my personal favorite for its ease of use and its pleasant-looking interface.  Plus, I love supporting cottage industries, and this budgeting software system is run from home by a great couple with three little kids.

How this makes my job easier: In short, it’s not a pain to budget.  And that’s a big deal.  Pear Budget also uses a handy tagging system, so that you can enter in multiple accounts, stores, or types of purchases (cash or debit, for instance).  And you can run reports and print off master budgets.

Food Tracking

This has been a weak point of mine lately, and I hope to get back on the ball with this.  Food tracking is an excellent way to maintain a healthy diet (and to lose baby weight).  I’ve used My Food Diary in the past, as well as Spark People.  Right now I’m testing out My Daily Plate, and it’s okay.  I wish there was a system out there that made it easier to log in food.  Know of one?

How this makes my job easier: When I use it effectively, food tracking keeps me accountable to healthy eating and exercise – two ingredients for a well-balanced mama.

Music

I love playing the “radio” online via Last.fm (and my user name is simplemom, in case you want to friend me).  Simply enter in an artist or a genre of music, and it will play a station of music similar to your request.  Playlist is also good for making, well, playlists, and of course, iTunes is wonderful for downloading music to keep.  I also listen to some of my favorite podcasts by downloading them in iTunes.

How this makes my job easier: I can listen to all kinds of music without commercials, Last.fm usually picks music I like, and if I don’t, I can simply hit “next” and move on.  And because I live overseas, I can keep up with music trends a bit easier.  And I love playing music in my home.

Communication

Skype is our lifesaver, mostly because we live overseas.  But it’s still a ridiculously handy tool for keeping up with anyone at a distance.  My husband and I talk with our parents at least weekly, and it’s almost as though we live in different parts of the U.S., instead of different parts of the world.  I love that I can call my mom with a quick sewing question, and it hardly costs me a dime.

How this makes my job easier: We have a US-based phone number, which comes in handy when we need to call American companies, hold transcontinental business meetings, and show the grandparents the latest art project.

This is a decent summary of the digital tools I use on a daily basis.  There are many more options – almost too many, because it’s hard to narrow it down to just a few and feel satisfied.  I’ve found contentment by selecting those few tools that truly make a difference in my productivity, and then sticking with paper and pen for the rest.  I’ll share what I use for that in my next piece.

What about you?  What online tools do you love for home management?  What about apps that work for you away from the computer – anyone use an iPhone, a Blackberry, or a simple PDA for taking care of your home? I’d love to hear all your ideas.

CURRENT SPONSORS:

• Plan to Eat - meal planning made simple.
• The Justice Conference - Justice hangs by a thread.
• Lil' Soak - Sewing hope with handmade goods.
• Treed - A simple, flexible, effective project planning tool.

© 2008-2012 Simple Living Media, LLC | All rights reserved - This feed is provided for the convenience of Simple Mom subscribers. Any reproduction of the content within this feed is strictly prohibited. If you are reading this content elsewhere, please contact hello@simplemom.net to let us know. Thanks.

• Home Management Online: My Favorite Tools
• Getting a Grip on Email Chaos
• In box: Empty! Now – My 5-Steps to Email Efficiency

Photos by martha and daniel k. gebhart

These days, technology provides so many great resources for home managers.  Paper is becoming more and more obsolete, and the free web apps and tools save us money and time as we effectively run our homes.

But you know what?  I kinda like writing on paper.

There’s something to be said for giving your eyes and brain a break from screen time.  When I sit at the laptop for too long, the my body’s atrophy weighs heavily on my shoulders, and my overstimulated brain needs a rest from the glare of the screen.  Plus, I’d hate to think my kids’ memories of their mama was staring at the computer, even if I am managing the home from there.

But I’m also not a luddite.

Many of the free tools we have at our fingertips are gold mines, and I’m sure our grandmothers would have loved to have such access to the endless supply of recipes, calendars, to-do lists, automatic bill paying, and educational curriculum we have online.  It would be poor stewardship to shun all these helpful tools, all in the name of paper.

My solution?

I do both. What works best for me is a hybrid of both traditional, offline management and online web apps.  Both have their benefits, and both have their pitfalls.  I want to work both to my advantage.

There’s not a right way to do this – in my opinion, each home and home manager is different, so there’s different methods to best meet our needs.  The beauty of the 21st century is that we can customize a management plan to best meet our needs.  And that’s cool.

For the next few articles, I’ll share how I use online resources to my advantage, and also how I use offline, traditional methods.  I’m still tweaking my system (I’ll probably always be tweaking), but for now, I’ve got a rhythm that works well, more or less.

Have you found a system that works well for you?  How intentional are you in your choice of using offline and online tools to your advantage?  If you had to pick, which method is your preference?

CURRENT SPONSORS:

• Plan to Eat - meal planning made simple.
• The Justice Conference - Justice hangs by a thread.
• Lil' Soak - Sewing hope with handmade goods.
• Treed - A simple, flexible, effective project planning tool.

© 2008-2012 Simple Living Media, LLC | All rights reserved - This feed is provided for the convenience of Simple Mom subscribers. Any reproduction of the content within this feed is strictly prohibited. If you are reading this content elsewhere, please contact hello@simplemom.net to let us know. Thanks.

• Paper or Plastic?
• Home Management Notebooks are a great idea.
• Back to the Basics

My computer’s desktop is cluttered with documents, and my fridge needs to be cleaned out. I’ve pulled far too many late nights the past few weeks, and I’m looking forward to some much-needed quality time with my family this weekend. All this is rather ironic, to be honest.

It’s ironic because today I’m releasing my first ebook, and my home has been on the backburner while I finalize its details. And the irony lies in the fact that it’s a book about decluttering, cleaning, and organizing. Laugh with me, will you?

I love to declutter. This makes me a nerd, I understand, but it’s still a task I truly enjoy. It’s cathartic to go through the stack of papers on my desk and get rid of all I no longer need. It’s freeing to sort through my closet, and pillage the contents I no longer wear for charity. When I was in college, I loved the last day of class, when I could strip my notebooks clean of jots and twiddles I no longer needed.

This rather unusual recreation came in very handy when we moved overseas, and we needed to whittle down our possessions as much as possible. And then I started this humble blog when I realized I had more thoughts than I knew what to do with on keeping a decluttered home and living a simple life.

So now, I’m releasing my new ebook, Spring Cleaning for Normal People: The Simple Mom Guide to a Decluttered Home (Any Time of Year). It’s a fun, easy-to-read guide for overhauling your home in around 10 days. It involves a simple declutter-clean-organize rhythm of injecting new life into your home, giving you room to stretch your legs and breathe again in your own abode. And I’m selling it for $7.

The book won’t make you a candidate for the cover of Cottage Living.

It won’t permanently clean your house, thus ending your career as a home manager.

It doesn’t bring you a live-in maid.

But it does give you a little encouragement when you want to add more square-footage to your home without hiring a contractor.

I’ll cut to the chase and tell you what’s inside:

• Part One: Stuff – A short essay about our consumer culture, and the headache behind having too much of it.
• Part Two: A 10-part guide to spring cleaning your home – decluttering, cleaning, and organizing all the main rooms of your house. Included are:

• checklists for each room
• printable templates to inventory your food, your clothing – anything you like
• a daily game plan to keep you motivated and encouraged
• recipes for making your own natural household cleaners
• reflection questions to get you thinking about the why behind home keeping
• ideas for future projects when you’re in a “diy” mood

This 68-page, instantly downloadable book works beautifully in a Home Management Notebook, and you can print the checklists and templates as often as you need them. In short, this is meant to be an encouraging, helpful guide to kick-start your goal of a simpler home.

Here’s what a few readers have said so far:

“Simple Mom’s spring cleaning guide is a gem for home managers. I think that the skill of cleaning well is being lost (at least, it has been for me!), and her guide is a simple and helpful primer for those of us who have a few things to learn about the subject. Best of all, she makes a normally overwhelming task seem lighthearted and manageable. I’m definitely planning to implement several of her tips into my own household.”
-Shannon from Rocks in My Dryer

“The forms provided are great and I am loving everything about it. It makes me want to clean, and that is not an easy task.”
- Amy from Mom Advice

“An excellent spring cleaning guide that is completely realistic.  It’s about making your home a place you can enjoy living in – not turning your life upside down to have a clean home.”
– Rachel from Small Notebook

“I’m finding out that once you start to reclaim *surfaces* – beautiful, bare, dust-free, uncluttered, wood surfaces - it is inspiring and even addictive! … And the gleaming dark wood made me want to see our other surfaces bare, too, so I have plowed right on with filling up boxes to give and sell. I know this may sound cheesy, but I feel like I can breathe again, when I look around and see empty table-tops!”
- Sarah, co-creator of Pear Budget and stay-at-home mom of 3

Here’s a few free screenshots of what’s inside:

Head here to buy and download your copy.

(Edited to add: When you buy the book, the download link will come to you through an email from a third-party vendor called E-junkie.  And if you choose to pay by echeck, it will wait to send you the link until it clears.)

And as always, the Daily Dockets, Weekly Checklists, Grocery Lists, and Preschooler’s Chore Charts are completely free and can be downloaded here.

Check back on Simple Mom next week for thoughts on organizing your photos, a menu plan for September, and my latest dilemma on productivity – online, paper, or both?

Alright, I’m off to clear off my desktop, and then I think I’ll break out Candy Land for a quick game with my daughter.

CURRENT SPONSORS:

• Plan to Eat - meal planning made simple.
• The Justice Conference - Justice hangs by a thread.
• Lil' Soak - Sewing hope with handmade goods.
• Treed - A simple, flexible, effective project planning tool.

© 2008-2012 Simple Living Media, LLC | All rights reserved - This feed is provided for the convenience of Simple Mom subscribers. Any reproduction of the content within this feed is strictly prohibited. If you are reading this content elsewhere, please contact hello@simplemom.net to let us know. Thanks.

• Spring Cleaning for Normal People: introducing my first ebook
• Spring is Here – Let’s Party!
• Spring Cleaning: Tips & Techniques

Photo by liikenevalo

I‘m a big believer in multi-tasking. I like folding laundry while I’m talking with my husband, letting dinner simmer on the stove while I empty the dishwasher, and straightening up the bathroom while my preschooler takes her bath.

I’ve also witnessed the power of single-tasking, and in this era when we worship productivity, there’s something to be said about doing only one thing at a time. You can fully concentrate on the task at hand, you’re less prone to making mistakes, and in many cases, the task is done quicker because you’re not doing something else.

It’s good to blend both multi and single-tasking into your day. The problem lies when we apply the wrong approach to the wrong task. We single-task when we should be multi-tasking, or more often in my case, we multi-task when perhaps it’s best that we single-task.

Here are a few things I do better when I single-task:

• create our monthly budget
• update our accounts
• menu plan
• respond to emails
• talk on the phone
• spend time with my children
• talk with my husband

And here are some things that are basically accomplished well when I multi-task:

• cleaning while I listen to podcasts
• cooking while straightening the kitchen (unless it’s a dish that requires my full attention)
• decluttering paperwork while I watch a movie with my husband
• washing dishes while I chit-chat with my daughter
• nursing my son while I catch up on blog reading

Too often, I try to talk on the phone while I straighten up the house, or menu plan online while also reading blogs and replying to emails. I end up scatterbrained and a bit chaotic, not fully concentrating on anything.

A Mama’s Challenge

Here’s the irony. With children at home, it often feels impossible for us to focus on anything more than two minutes at a time, because we’re constantly interrupted. As soon as I sit down to update our bank accounts, my daughter wants me to sharpen her colored pencils, or my son has dropped his toy for the umpteenth time and needs help retrieving it.

It’s the stage of life, and it is what it is. Small children require a lot of hands-on, interactive parenting, and while it’s a short-lived job, it leaves you utterly exhausted come bedtime, doesn’t it?

Even though I’d love to single-task most of my day jobs, it just isn’t going to happen. What mom doesn’t multi-task all day long? You’ve got to change the diaper and answer the phone. You oftentimes need to read to your older one while you nurse your younger.

My Personal Solution

It’s a great thing for children to learn independence, and they learn patience when Mommy can’t get to something exactly when they want it. But we can’t make our children need us less. Being a mom requires all our attention, and the short breaks throughout the day called “nap time” are rich blessings to enjoy some quiet. Otherwise, to expect single-tasking as the default method of getting things done is just setting ourselves up for frustration.

Here’s what I remind myself:

• It’s a good thing for my children to learn patience and to put others’ needs before their own
• They are young, and they need help with a lot of tasks

• My main job is to parent, not to get my to-do list done

• I’ll often have to resort to multi-tasking, even when I prefer single-tasking

Remind yourself today that there are more important things in life than getting things done. It’s good to be productive, yes. But we can’t do everything at once – and sometimes, certain things deserve being done one at a time, with all our devoted attention. Like parenting.

Do you find this to be true in your life? Is it even possible for a mom of littles to single-task? Which is easier for you – multi-tasking or single-tasking?

CURRENT SPONSORS:

• Plan to Eat - meal planning made simple.
• The Justice Conference - Justice hangs by a thread.
• Lil' Soak - Sewing hope with handmade goods.
• Treed - A simple, flexible, effective project planning tool.

© 2008-2012 Simple Living Media, LLC | All rights reserved - This feed is provided for the convenience of Simple Mom subscribers. Any reproduction of the content within this feed is strictly prohibited. If you are reading this content elsewhere, please contact hello@simplemom.net to let us know. Thanks.

• What’s More Beneficial – Single-tasking or Multi-tasking?
• Start Your Day by Eating a Frog
• Start Your Day By Eating a Frog

Photo by Kerri

Three things about me – I’m not a fan of bare walls, I don’t really care for standard pre-packaged art, and I’m not made of money. Combined, those facts mean I need to flex my creative muscles when it comes to home decor.

Here’s a short photographic tour of some of our home’s walls, and a few ways I’ve made original art on the cheap.

I wanted a vintage, Dick-and-Jane feel in our daughter’s room, but I couldn’t really find anything I liked. So I bought a Dick and Jane calendar, scanned in my favorite illustrations, and cropped them to fit inexpensive frames that I spray painted red. Because they’re small, I grouped them as a set of six, lined horizontally on the wall now above our son’s crib.

On another wall in my daughter’s room, I made simple clothes out of scrapbook paper, ran a length of twine, and hung the “laundry” with clothespins. From beginning to end, this artwork took about an hour to create.

Remember this art I made for our master bedroom?

I made two more for our home, one of which hangs in the kids’ playroom:

This idea from Heidi at Mt. Hope Chronicles really is so easy. Trace circles with a bowl, a cup, or whatever on to scrapbook paper. Cut out, glue on to a canvas, and seal with a decoupage glue such as Mod Podge. Voila.

On the other playroom wall, we have a simple “art gallery” of latest creations that we rotate regularly. This art is about as inexpensive as you can get, and your kids will beam with pride.

This is a simple collage I crafted out of scrapbook paper and Mod Podge. The abstract look is easier to create, because it doesn’t have to be “perfect.” Just cut and glue on to canvas.

My sister-in-law gave me these vintage label stickers from Pier 1. The smaller ones didn’t logically lay in an orderly grid, so for them I went with the haphazard look. The larger labels fit my frame’s mat perfectly, so they’re displayed as a grid. Hung side by side, they pack more punch on our large walls.

One of the few things I collect are the letter O, for our last name. These are displayed as a group in the hallway, and are framed by an old bulletin board frame. I plan to paint the frame black, to pull the group together and to match the rest of our black frames in the hallway.

If all else fails, see if your favorite store sells or gives away their store displays. We bought this huge framed photo from the “as is” section of Ikea – it was former store decor.

For more ideas and inspiration, check out these creative sites I love:

• Mt. Hope Chronicles
• Like Merchant Ships
• Design Sponge
• How About Orange?
• Today’s Creative Blog

What are your frugal decor tips? Do you have a favorite wall hanging or creation? What websites do you visit for inspiration?

CURRENT SPONSORS:

• Plan to Eat - meal planning made simple.
• The Justice Conference - Justice hangs by a thread.
• Lil' Soak - Sewing hope with handmade goods.
• Treed - A simple, flexible, effective project planning tool.

© 2008-2012 Simple Living Media, LLC | All rights reserved - This feed is provided for the convenience of Simple Mom subscribers. Any reproduction of the content within this feed is strictly prohibited. If you are reading this content elsewhere, please contact hello@simplemom.net to let us know. Thanks.

• Lackluster Walls At Home? Low on extra funds? Think Outside The Box
• Funkifying Cans into Colorful Pots
• Another Non-Scrapbook Project with Scrapbook Paper

Photo by Sarah Hojabi

The price of toys these days is disheartening. They can also be loud, obnoxious, and cheaply-made. I stand firmly in the camp of having fewer high-quality toys than having a thousand pieces of plastic to trip over, pick up, and lose. Plus, the less toys “do,” the more creative your child can be with them – when the toy sings and tells you to push buttons, the child is robbed a bit of her imagination and freedom to find all sorts of ingenious ways to play with it.

Even though I’d much rather pay 30 dollars for a set of wooden blocks that will stay with us forever, creative toys don’t have to be expensive. In fact, some of them are downright free. Here are just a few we love around here:

1. Egg cartons. They make great caterpillars, they’re good storage containers for little treasures found on walks, and they can even become airline seats for little animal toys.

2. Chalk. On sidewalks, on chalkboards… endless fun, and it hoses right off.

3. Water and cups. Our 3-year-old loves to “wash” dishes. Just give her a step stool in front of the sink and a few dishes – she’s lost in her own world.

4. Paper and safety scissors. Old newspapers, expired coupons, scrap paper… give some to your kiddo with a pair of safety scissors, and he’ll be engrossed forever.

5. Dried beans or rice. It’s fun to pour into bowls and cups of different sizes, and it’s a good sensory exercise. Sand works well, too.

5. Toilet paper or paper towel tubes. They’re great telescopes for your budding pirate, you can cover the ends and pour some dried beans inside for a musical shaker, or you can sit them upright as bowling pins.

6. Old clean socks. Roll them up into balls, or get some markers and wear them on your hand for the classic – sock puppets.

7. Washed out empty food containers. My daughter loves to play kitchen, and she’s stocked with some of our empty syrup, ketchup, and dressing bottles. No need to buy a child-size version of the same plastic thing.

8. Balloons. Indoor volleyball is fun for everyone. And armed with a marker, they’re transformed into silly faces.

9. Books. They were my absolute favorite. The child who doesn’t like to read is missing out on adventure, meeting new people, and traveling through time.

10. Paper and crayons. It’s a classic for a reason – give your child a blank canvas, and anticipate their creation. It’s a joy to watch their process.

11. A cardboard box. You knew this one would be on the list, didn’t you? Every child loves a big, unused cardboard box to transform into a clubhouse, a fort, a time machine, a tent, whatever. Hours of fun, indeed!

Now it’s your turn, and I know you have ideas – what are your cheap or free standbys? What enthralls your child for hours? Using simple toys, or reusing basic items as playthings, is environmentally responsibe, it’s a catalyst for creativity, and it’s incredibly inexpensive.

CURRENT SPONSORS:

• Plan to Eat - meal planning made simple.
• The Justice Conference - Justice hangs by a thread.
• Lil' Soak - Sewing hope with handmade goods.
• Treed - A simple, flexible, effective project planning tool.

© 2008-2012 Simple Living Media, LLC | All rights reserved - This feed is provided for the convenience of Simple Mom subscribers. Any reproduction of the content within this feed is strictly prohibited. If you are reading this content elsewhere, please contact hello@simplemom.net to let us know. Thanks.

• 11 Cheap (and free!) Toys for Young Children
• 11 Cheap (and free!) Toys for Young Children
• Spring Cleaning: Day Eight