Schedules and Routines

I am a list maker and a schedule junkie. I love looking at other peoples schedules to see how they manage their time and organize their days.
BUT I don't actually have a schedule. NOPE! cant block myself into one, I just cant function in blocks of times. I am, however, great at checking things off my list and sticking to routines,
Whats the difference between a routine and a schedule?

A schedule is set into periods of time. Such as 

9:00 Breakfast

10:00 Laundry

11:00 Clean Bathroom

etc.

A routine is a habit, a flow, a way you go about your day. For instance, I know that I need to do 3 loads of laundry a day to stay on top of mount washmore. I know my day goes smoother and I'm more motivated if I take a shower and get dressed first thing in the morning. I know that if I tidy up the bathroom while I'm in there, it's more likely that the bathroom will get cleaned then if I try to go back and do it later.
By paying attention to your household needs, the way your home flows, and when your most energetic, you can set up your own routine. Start one habit at a time. For me, I started by making sure I got in the shower first thing in the morning, before coffee (if I sit down with a cup of coffee my day gets away from me). Know yourself and be honest with yourself about your weaknesses and strengths. Next I added making my bed and sweeping my bedroom floor. There really is something to seeing your bed made that is super motivating. I just continued adding one thing at a time. When it became a habit I would add another. Of course, I still had to do the other things in my home but in time it was less of a chore and just a habit.
I created a morning, afternoon and evening checklist. I wrote down everything that I wanted to accomplish or that had to be done in the morning, afternoon and evening. Some things like feeding the kids are at set times and obviously can't be put off. I tried to list things in the order that I'd like to get them done. But because it is a list/routine and not a time blocked schedule, there is no guilt or loss in flow of my day from moving things around or skipping over somethings if need be.

Morning Routine

• Take a shower, get dressed, do hair and light makeup
• Tidy bathroom,wipe down sink and toilet, give the toilet bowl a swish with toilet brush
• Take out laundry from laundry basket and start a load
• Make coffee and wake kids
• Get kids started on their morning routine, make my bed and sweep my bedroom floor
• Everyone outside to do animal/garden chores
• Everyone eat breakfast and tidy kitchen
• Math, Reading, writing,phonics
• other studies based on day of the week 
• Start another load of laundry, Everyone folds and puts away

Afternoon Routine

• Lunch and tidy kitchen
• Baking and dinner prep.
• Outdoor time or projects
• Start another load of laundry, Everyone folds and puts away

Evening Routine

• Dinner 
• Clean Kitchen including dishes, stove top, sweep and mop floor,
• Clean living room including floors
• Start another load of laundry, Everyone folds and puts away
• Kids take baths 
• Take out last load of laundry, Everyone folds and puts away
• Kids Bed at 9:30

I like to have my night time routine set me up for a good morning the next day. It is much better to wake up to a clean kitchen instead of waking up to yesterdays mess. Do I sometimes wake up to yesterdays mess? Of course I do. I have learned to give myself and my family grace. I try not to make it a habit though. Remember what you do most frequently is the habit you have created and its hard to break old habits so set yourself up for success by creating good habits, one habit at a time. Once you have a good habit try to keep it.

Kids Routine

My kids also have routines. And like myself I started them one habit at a time. I started with a good bed time routine. A set bedtime and a predictable flow. Even though we are a very relaxed family I think children really do thrive with routine and predictability. Next I added a mourning routine for them. They wake up and make their beds. Then they get dressed for the day, tidy their room and everyone heads out for some fresh air and animal/garden chores. My son feeds and waters the chickens, turkeys, goats, dogs and cats. My daughters share the milking chores and make sure the goats have their minerals and baking soda. I water the garden and do any weeding with the littlest one and we all share coop cleaning and run raking. If there are wood chips that need moved or fruit trees that need water we just split those up between each other. For the most part we do all the outdoor and in door chores together as a team. One might wash dishes while the other drys and puts away. Someone else will put the leftovers away and clear the table. We have really gotten to the point where we all just know what needs done and everyone just jumps in and does it. I think by doing it as a team and a family has encourage everyone to help, no one wants to feel left out. We try to have fun and play around. Do we sometimes have someone who doesn't want to join in? Of course, sometimes you just aren't in the mood, but like myself, I don't want them to make a habit of skipping out on their routine so at times I do have to step in and enforce the habit. 

Sweet Pepper Relish

I was gifted a box of sweet peppers from a family friend. Can't let a gift like that go to waste so I made sweet pepper relish. This will be good in potato and macaroni salads.

I found the recipe by googling Ball Sweet Pepper Relish. I always use the word Ball or USDA in front of my canning recipe searches to make sure I am using a tested safe recipe. This is what I found and the recipe I used.

National Center for home canning

• 5 cups ground green bell peppers 
• 5 cups ground red bell peppers 
• 1-½ cups ground onion
• 2-½ cups cider or white distilled vinegar (5%)
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 teaspoons pickling salt
• 4 teaspoons mustard seed

I washed and cut the tops off of the Sweet Peppers. Because Mine was an assortment of colored peppers I didn't pay attention to color. I just cut the tops off and put them in my blender. I pulsed them until they were finely chopped and measured them out until I had a total of 10 cups. I did the same with the onion. I put them in a large pot and added the rest of the ingredients. Brought it to a boil for 30 mins. While it was boiling I prepared my jars and my water bath canner. Once the 30 minutes were up I filled my hot pint jars with the hot relish leaving a 1/2 inch head-space and debubbled. Put my lids and rings on and put them in the canner. Brought the canner back up to a boil and processed them for 15 min. 

If you want to try this I highly recommend it. Please click on the link and read the recipe and instructions provided. 

Here's the relish boiling away.

 And the finished product. I made 2 of this recipe and ended up 16 1/2 pints.

My Bill Binder ( how I stay on top of our finances)

I have a few binders that I use regularly. My Family Binder, My Kitchen Binder, My Farm and Garden Binder and my Bill Binder. I will make posts about all of these binders and how I make/use them in later posts. I want to start with my Bill Binder first.
My Bill Binder has been so helpful in creating and sticking to a budget. It is where my bills go as soon as they come in the mail and it's where I go on pay day when I am paying my bills. I know what is due and to who. I can make little notes like so and so's birthday is this month, or field trip on this date and what the cost is so I can remember to budget it in. All my expenses are written in there.
My go to place for organizational printables has always been Donna Young. She has amazing printables for homeschooling to.

Now lets build our Bill Binder.
First you will need a three ring binder. I like the ones with the clear plastic cover on the front so I can slide in a pretty print and label it my bill binder but any three ring binder will work. Some people like to cutsey theirs up, some like to keep it simple. It's up to you. I find it easier to do one of my least favorite chores if I can do it while looking a prettiness so I use washi tape and colored pens to decorate and write in my binder.
Next I add 2 folders with pockets. One is for paid bills and one is for bills that need to be paid. If I pay a bill online I can write the confirmation number on the bill and add it to the paid bill folder. Having my previous months bills available also lets me compare what we are spending month by month.
I also like to add a pencil pocket. I always write in my Bill Binder in pencil because I sometimes have to change when I will pay a bill or amounts. I also like to keep a highlighter in there, when a bill clears my bank I highlight it. This makes it easier to balance my account.
And finally I print out one page like the example below for each month of the year. (12 pages total) Just click the link below.
Donna Young month at a glance 
 (Update: these are no longer free on her site. She now requires a membership but you can find others like it for free just Google bill planner free printables)

I hole punch it and it goes into the binder as well. 

Now when I receive a bill it goes into the To Be Paid folder and I write it on the page for the month that it is due. 

Here is a sample of a page in my binder. 

Remember these are Donna Young's Printables.......Not mine. I have been using them for years and they are EXTREMELY helpful.

Old Fashioned Biscuits, Like Grandma used to make.

Most all of our breakfasts include biscuits, I usually set them on the table with some home made jam and real butter or some sausage gravy. They are quick, easy, and make your family feel cared for.


Here's how easy it is:
Turn you oven on to 350 degrees. Take to cast iron skillets and put 1 tbs. of butter in each one.
Put them in the oven and let the butter melt.
In the mean time here is your ingredient list.

4 c. All purpose four
2 tsp. salt
1 tbs. sugar
2 tbs. baking powder
1/4 Lard or Butter (not margarine) really cold, mine if frozen, cut into pieces
1 3/4 c. milk

In a large bowl put everything but the milk and mix with a pastry blender or 2 knives. Then with a fork start adding the milk. the trick here is that you don't want to over mix the dough. Mix it until it just starts coming together. Put it on a lightly floured counter and roll it out to 1/2 inch in thickness. Cut with a biscuit cutter or if your like me the ring of a canning jar. Pull your cast iron pans out of the oven and put the biscuits in. bake for 20 min. or until golden brown.

Produce Wash

Ideally I would buy only organic foods, but lets face it, sometimes its just a matter of keeping food in the cupboards and non-organic fruits and veggies are better than no fruits and veggies. Hopefully soon the garden will be big enough that we can depend on it for most of our vegetable and fruit needs, until then I try to wash as much gunk of our produce as possible (even organic produce needs a good washing).  Being the cheap..uh frugal person I am, I would never buy produce wash in the store. So here is my recipe for produce wash.

1. Put the plug in you clean sink and fill about 1/4 full with water.
2. Add 3/4 cups baking soda
3. Add 1/2 cup vinegar
4. Add produce
5. Add more water as needed to cover produce 
6. Swish around and let soak for a few minutes.
7. Rinse 

Keeping a full pantry for a large family on a budget

I used to be a big weekly menu planner. I spent hours scanning the adds, making list, and scouring recipes. It was time consuming and locked me into set meals on set days. I no longer do that, instead I build up my pantry and fill up my freezer. Then I make a list of meals I have the ingredients for the month. This is much easier now that we are not eating as many processed foods but it could be done by anyone.

I started by paying attention to the types of food I bought regularly and the meals my family enjoyed most. Then I would keep track of how much we eat of a particular food in a month. For instance, I make all of our bread, biscuits, pancakes, tortillas and the like from scratch, we are a family of 9 so I go through approximately 35 lbs. of flour a month. We eat a lot of Mexican food so we go through approximately 13 lbs of beans a month. When my pantry and freezer are full of the staples I can make meals according to my energy level and needs for each day.  This also allows me to do one major shopping trip a month and saves me a ton of money because there is no impulse buying. If we run out of something before my next shopping trip WE DON'T EAT IT! That is the biggest money saver. If we run out of sugar we use honey or brown sugar. No flour means no baked goods.  This rarely happens anymore, but it does happen. I can decide to whip up a cake or cinnamon rolls and I know I more than likely have the ingredients on hand. I no longer shop for our weekly needs or even our monthly needs, I shop to refill my pantry and freezer staples. Any produce that is on sale for cheap I can, turn into jam, or freeze.

The best way I have found to do this is to check the adds. When something your family eats regularly goes on sale buy a lot of it. For instance when pasta went on sale recently for .49 I bought 40 or so packages. I will not be buying pasta again until it hits a rock bottom price and then a will restock. Also buying in bulk. My flour, beans, rice, sugar, oats etc. are all purchased in bulk and stored in food grade buckets with gamma lids like these




Here is a sample of my freezer and pantry staples.

 This list does not include everything in my pantry and freezer. I have 4 or 5 gallon sized bags each of green chilies, assorted bell peppers, and tomatoes in my freezer right now because of a trip to Market on the Move which is a local program to reduce food waste. I have a large bag of Jalapenos on my counter waiting to be pickled. Along with many jars of canned beans, jellies, jams, and tomato products. I also have many jars of dehydrated fruits and vegetables. Once you learn to think beyond next weeks meals and your menu and start thinking about food storage and extended pantry items, you start to look for opportunities to add to your staples. You start thinking about what's in season, what can I freeze, what can I can, what can I dehydrate, how can I put what I have to good use? Sugar was on sale last time I went shopping and because I wasn't trying to buy according to a menu and I had staple items at home already I was able to take advantage of that sale and stock up on sugar. That is something I won't need to buy for many months if not a year freeing up money to put towards another item that might be on sale.



Now onto my my list:

• All Purpose flour
• Whole Wheat Flour
• Baking Powder
• Baking Soda
• Corn starch
• Brown sugar
• Powdered Sugar
• Pumpkin spice
• Cinnamon
• sage
• Sugar
• Honey
• Coconut
• Powdered milk
• Olive oil
• Italian seasoning
• Chili powder
• New Mexican chili powder
• Chili flakes
• Oregano
• Cumin
• Garlic powder
• Dehydrated onion flakes
• Basil
• Bay leaves
• Salt
• Pepper
• Achote
• Popcorn
• Oatmeal
• Bran
• Flax seed
• Chocolate chips
• Dried cranberries
• Peanut butter
• Butter
• Eggs
• Raisins
• Prunes
• Frozen blueberries
• Frozen straw berries
• Frozen mixed veggies
• Milk
• Coffee
• Tea bags
• White rice
• Brown rice
• Canned tomatoes
• Tomato paste
• Tomato sauce
• Assorted pasta
• Italian sausage
• Whole chickens
• Frozen green beans
• Frozen broccoli
• Onions
• Garlic
• In season fruits and vegetables
• Assorted nuts
• Sour cream
• Mustard
• Ketchup
• Mayonnaise
• Cocoa powder
• Clear gelatin
• pectin
• lemon juice