A little more on frugality...

So, as I have been blogging about, I am still learning much about coupons and saving money on household expenses. Melissa asked a good question on my previous post about non-food items such as toiletries and detergents. Apparently, by combining store coupons, manufacturer's coupons and store sales one can get many of these items for free. Particularly from the drugstores like RiteAid, Walgreens and CV. I am still trying to figure out how this works exactly. But, I would like to throw out there 3 good blogs that I follow that are resources:
-The Frugal Girl is a really helpful blog that I follow regularly and have mentioned before in past posts.
-The Frugal Girl refers to Money Saving Mom here for more info on coupons and getting things for free.
-And Frugal Chic Living is local for those of you living in my community.
These sites can really help you on the makeup and toiletries.
As for detergents and cleaning products I have really enjoyed making my own laundry soap and cleaning products- for health and cost reasons, and I just like them better.

Groceries...

I was greatly distressed about budgeting my grocery shopping a couple of months back, as some of you may recall. I was trying to find the perfect system between couponing and making everything from scratch. Thank you for your suggestions and thoughts on the matter. I truly believe that every woman needs to come to a place where she is confident in her household decision making- especially regarding cooking/menus/shopping. It certainly will not look the same for every family. But, every wife/mother needs to feel as if she is succeeding in her role as mistress of the home and kitchen. I think I am arriving in that place, and it feels good.
That being said- I am not going to say that I have found the perfect system and you all should start doing things my way. NOT AT ALL! But, I have found what works best for my household for now, and that could be very different in a couple years, or maybe this will work for us for the next decade. I just want you all to know that I have found some peace about this- which is good! I'm spending less time stressing about whether or not I am spending our resources wisely, and I am instead spending more time loving on my kiddos and encouraging my husband (OH, and going to births!).
;-)
For those of you still reading this, and curious about where/how I shop now- here it is:
I am buying my produce at local stands- I love the quality and the price- and there is a good one near our house (Wheelers- on Trent). This is great for buying fresh and local.
I am still trying to make several things from scratch rather than buying packaged convenience foods: pizza, pancakes, potatoes au gratin, cheese sauces, white sauces and marinaras, desserts, soups, stews, etc. This makes me feel good about saving money, and not feeding my family lots of preservatives and chemical additives.
I am getting raw cow's milk from a local farmer!! Yes, it's expensive ($5 per gallon), but we LOVE the taste, and the cream on top to SO good on fresh fruit, or in coffee. We believe it is healthy too. I am getting a gallon and a half per week, and been making yogurt in my crock pot (!) with one of the half gallons.
At Costco I am still buying pasta, canned goods (diced tomatoes, beans, applesauce), peanut butter, pretzels, Seattle Mountain coffee, hummus and occasionally I splurge on a log of goat cheese, a dress for Lindy, or some other such pleasure. (Gotta earn my membership back, right? Ha. I may go without next year. We'll see.)
WINCO has come to Spokane, and I love it!! This is where I am buying meat, cheese, salsa, and cereal. And it is so cheap! I really appreciate the fact that I can avoid Walmart (I hate the crowds there!), and the stress of couponing by shopping at WINCO. I have no problems with bagging my own groceries. In fact, I prefer it. The baggers usually do it wrong. ;-)
OH- and, I am still trying to bake my own bread. BUT- when I don't, I am buying the $.50 loafs at WINCO or Fred Meyer. Then, I don't feel guilty!
And I am still printing off occasional coupons and following frugal blogs for tips that I may want to try. And when I feel like I can handle the pressure, I get the Wednesday (sale ads) and Sunday (coupons) newspapers, clip my coupons and plan my menus. But this is not my normal system, because I often fall behind and get unorganized. And I can't feel like I am failing if I miss the sale ads.
So, there's my system. No guilt and no stress about coupons and sales. This works really well for me, and I feel like I am really providing my family with healthy, wholesome, quality food, yet I am still sticking to my budget of $90 per week. Cool, huh.

YOU would love this book...

And I mean you.
Because He Loves Me by Elyse Fitzpatrick (Click here)
The ladies at our church just went through this book the past couple of months. It has been life-changing for me. And I particularly recommend it to those of you who grew up in a Christian home: even if the hypocrisy ran rampant and you are justifiably jaded now, or if your home was all about tradition and legalism: this book takes what you know (head knowledge, intellectual assent: the gospel), and shows us how to inform our hearts (apply the gospel). So, there's my commercial. Let me know if you read it and what you think!!

The pendulum swings back...

So...I am thinking about midwifery school again. Seriously thinking about it. Kent always supports me and thinks it is a great idea. He loves to see me all passionate and energized like I get about birth. I am looking at the distance program for the Midwives College of Utah. Here is a link to their philosophy. I like it. I really should start on some of my requirements here at the community college, at least.
A large reason I have hesitated about school in the past, is because I tell myself that I still don't have my household under control, and I shouldn't devote myself to outside things when the house is in shambles. BUT, I do think that I often do better with more time restrictions and structure. Kinda crazy, but sometimes I do a better job at home when I'm crazy busy running around, and know that I only have two hours to do a load of laundry and clean up the kitchen, rather than all day.
Do I sound like I'm justifying?

Frugal and Thrifty-

(I'm back- sorry for the long hiatus, and thank you Cassie for noticing. I feel loved! :-)
I will be posting photos soon: I have some good ones on the camera, waiting to be downloaded.)

I wanted to mention something I've been pondering the past couple of days. I'm boiling homemaker thriftiness down to two camps- stay with me here- and trying to decide where I fall. Times are tight right now for everybody, and we all need to tighten up our spending, right? Well, I think there are two ways to do that:
1. Make everything from scratch. Bake your own bread, make homemade laundry soap, and put juice or milk in thermoses for your kids' lunches. These frugal masters do NOT buy pre-packaged food, because you pay for the individual packaging. Also- this kind of living is healthier because you use less preservatives and chemicals in your food, and you control what is in your house cleaning products. (OK- I'm convincing myself as I write this...)
OR
2. Work the system by following sales, clipping coupons and earning rebates. I have friends that do this and have reduced their monthly grocery bill down to ONE THIRD of what it was! It is amazing- and I am finding that it is not nearly as intimidating as I thought it was to clip coupons and find great deals.
So, here I am again- being all black and white, and bogged down in my perfectionism. I feel like I need to pick a "system" and do it all the way in order for it to work. Arg! Any advice?

My Four Favorites-

I wanted to share my four most favorite blogs. These are the ones that I have discovered through surfing around from blog to blog, and I check on them regularly. They are as follows:

• Method's Blog: A friend sent me this link, and I love it! This woman is an incredible baker. Since I've been following, she has mostly posted cookies and pastries, with occasional savories. A sweet tooth like me! But, I love how she substitutes wholesome ingredients into her creations. The pictures are always mouth-watering. So, for some kitchen inspiration, check it out!
• The Frugal Girl: A very practical site for homemakers. Kristen is so positive and encouraging. She blogs about being cheerfully frugal- mostly with groceries, but also other creative ideas. She posts her supper menu plan weekly, reports on her grocery costs, and every Friday takes a picture of her food waste that she throws out from her fridge. It is very motivating for me.
• Eyes of Wonder: This is the blog of a lovely wife and mother who live in the country somewhere. The photos and music on this blog are amazing. It makes you feel like you've been transported back in time at least 100 years. I think it's incredible to see families actually living like this in our day and age. Breath-taking.
  
• Anna Maria: My new ultimate favorite. If I had to describe my style, I would show people this blog. It is so gorgeous! Color, color, color. In fact, I discovered this blog off of a "10 Most Beautiful Blogs" list. My sewing skills are not quite up to par yet, but Anna Maria really inspires me to keep on creating beautiful things!

Quote I need to absorb into my skin-

"A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
By : John Henry Newman

Thanksgiving-

Here I am; 31 years old, been married almost ten years, and this year will be the first time that I will host a Thanksgiving day feast. I'm so excited! Got the turkey today. Happy thoughts and prayers welcome. I'll let ya'll know how it turns out!

"Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without"

A clever quote I found on a blog I frequent, The Frugal Girl. I highly recommend this blog to all homemakers. She posts tips all the time on random things like converting old furniture, making yogurt and line-drying your laundry. But, her norm is posting her weekly menu and then a picture of the food waste that she throws away each week. It is quite remarkable! Very inspiring and good to see why menu planning makes such a difference in the grocery budget.

I cheated-

I took all of our laundry and got a roll of quarters and went to a Laundry-mat! It's all gone in one fell swoop, and it feels good. Mt. Washmore has been leveled. And we are blessing others with our excess- the extra clothes Kent and I have acquired, and the clothes too little for the kiddos. That feels good too. Woo-hoo!

Back on the Flylady Bandwagon-

Another public declaration of determination and purpose on my part. My dear cousin Jill and I are going to hold one another accountable to our Flylady routines and missions for the third time in about three years. This is one of the things that I love about Flylady- you fall off of the bandwagon for a few days (or months), but when you get back on there is the Flylady encouraging me at the end of every email saying- "You are not behind. Jump in where you are." Ah. I need to hear that often. It combats my all-or-nothing mentality that I cannot possibly get my house where it needs to be, so why bother.
Flylady is not for everyone- those of you who are born organized (BOs Flylady calls them- Cassie, Mackenzie, Gabe, Jacqueline, you know who you are) do not need this kind of a system to keep up your house. But those of us sidetracked home executives (SHEs) who are constantly living in a state of can't-have-anybody-over-syndrome (CHAOS), can really benefit from the Flylady system of routines, reminders and missions. Even if you don't want to get the 20-30 emails per day (I set up a separate folder for my Flylady emails), you can still figure out the system to use for yourself. Ask me about it if you have questions. And, feel free to ask me how it's going when you talk to me, I need that kind of accountability. You can check out Flylady here.

Update on "A Lack of Focus"-

I want to thank those of you who responded to my post on this and give an update. Thank you to Anna, Kelly, Gabe, Jenny, Christa and others who gave me comforting words of camaraderie and wisdom. My very wise husband also reminded me that all of those things on my list are priorities. None of them can be neglected or else than they do become a glaring obstacle to the other things in life. So, basically, it comes down to routines and maintenance. A little here, a little there. Just being faithful everyday to all of my duties. And isn't that just how God made the world? Repetition, patterns, cycles, slow and steady progress, the sun faithfully rising everyday in the east. I love to be a spontaneous, romantic, fun and impulsive (ok, and honestly, flat-out LAZY) person. But, I need to be a good steward of the blessings I have been given (husband, kids, house, food, etc.). And, I need to be faithful, patient, and persevering.
The Lord has shown Kent and I that so many of our issues stem from a lack of trust. Examples: I must sleep in because I'm so tired: not trusting that God will give me the energy I need to sustain me through the day. Or, I must go to this or that social event, even though my toddler is out-of-control and laundry and dishes are taking over the house: not trusting that God will bless me when I am faithful to serve my family and I need to stay home. Or even, I'm going to pig out on this delicious food in front of me: not trusting that God will give me my daily bread, literally. We are seeing that this trust issue pervades all the corners of our lives. What an insightful husband I have!

A Lack of Focus-

So often, it seems that I spend hours and days trying to get my brain prioritized correctly. What should I focus on: enjoying my kids, loving my husband, getting finances and bills organized, getting groceries and menus organized, planning outside-of -my-home commitments like church activities or parties, cleaning my house, reading quality books, serving my extended family and friends, blogging, bible study, researching and reading about birth stuff, advertising for more doula clients...? The list seems endless, and what seems priority one night, seems back burner the next day. Kent and I have been talking about the power of focus and have seen this bring us more sanity and accomplishment in our lives together. I believe that I need to pick two priorities and then hyper-focus on those things for a few weeks, at least. Then, I will actually have success in an area, hopefully, rather than running around like a chicken with my head cut off not feeling like I'm doing well at all in any area.
Anyone else have this problem?
Flylady does help me quite a bit with the house stuff.
Caffiene is also a solution, I believe.

Home-making---

—being a full-time wife and mother—is not a destructive drought of usefulness but an overflowing oasis of opportunity; it is not a dreary cell to contain one's talents and skills but a brilliant catalyst to channel creativity and energies into meaningful work; it is not a rope for binding one's productivity in the marketplace, but reins for guiding one's posterity in the home; it is not oppressive restraint of intellectual prowess for the community, but a release of wise instruction to your own household; it is not the bitter assignment of inferiority to your person, but the bright assurance of of the ingenuity of God's plan for the complementarity of the sexes,especially as worked out in God's plan for marriage; it is neither limitation of gifts available nor stinginess in distributing the benefits of those gifts, but rather the multiplication of a mother's legacy to the generations to come and the generous bestowal of all God meant a mother to give to those He entrusted to her care.'
Dorothy Patterson

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Lindy's New Curtains-

I made these to replace the old-lady lacy white foofy things that have been up since we moved here. I love the fabrics I found for this- purple vertical lines and aqua eyelet, both cotton. And I have plenty leftover to make skirts for Lin! Thanks mom- for all of the help. It was her idea to add the purple material at the top of the valance- this solved another issue, but I love how it ties the two fabrics together. I will be making tie-backs for the panels, which I think will really make them extra-cute.

Babies, Babies, Babies. . .

Well, my war waging on Mt. Washmore is going more slowly than I planned, but I am persisting steadily on that battlefront. For those of you who don't know I am a doula and midwive's assistant. I did clean-up duty for two births with two separate midwives last Friday- missed both of the births by less than five minutes- the first one: 6th baby, she always goes fast, the second one: the midwife called me late and then my car wouldn't start (don't worry, it's fine now). Sunday morning: a doula client goes into labor- llllllloooooonnnngggg story- baby born 4:30am Monday morning. I have two other doula clients due June 20th and 22nd and four other births with a midwife due between June 15th and July 7th. And my mom's out of town helping my sister move. Corbin's last day as a first-grader was today. I'm organizing playgroup and ladies' craft nights at church for the summer. Oh- and Margaret the Midwife and I are going to be giving a class this summer to certify new midwive's assistants. SO- there's life for Terri in a nut shell. Whew! Yikes!

Check this out-

I stumbled across this website purely by accident and I love it! If I had an unlimited budget of money and time, these are the kind of things I would love to buy, decorate with, wear and create myself. So refreshing, unique and lovely!
poppytalkhandmade.com

Toppling Mount Washmore-

Mark my words- Mt. Washmore will be obliterated this week. Bags and boxes of hardly worn and too-small-for-the-kids clothes will LEAVE THE HOUSE for good. I am down to the winter clothes that were neglected when the summer clothes came out of hiding. Thus, the mountain base was formed. I have realized that this happens every spring and fall, just when the family laundry is under control, the season changes! Pray for me, that I may stay persistent in tackling this monumental, yet trivial and mundane task. On second thought, I'm sure that you have much more important things to pray for, so just encourage me and ask me how high Mt. Washmore is when you see me next. Thanks!

Lindy's 3rd Birthday A.K.A. Terri Embraces Homemaking!

This beautifully decorated CareBear cake and homemade apron signify a monumental shift in my life. I used to often say "I'm not good at crafts", or "I don't like to cook", or worse "I need to get out of this house and find myself". After years of denying my creativity within my home, and insisting that I must have an identity to express outside of my home, I have learned the pure joy of creating beauty at home. Through creating beautifully arranged meals, sewing, decorating, and yes, even cleaning are all ways to make our home more lovely. What better way can I serve others? I used to believe that stressing myself to the max to serve others (church, school, friends, extended family) was good and right. But, I was neglecting those closest to me and giving my best (behavior, prayers, thoughts, efforts) to people outside of my home. This is backwards, and I think that most of us women have this all messed up in our brains. Poor hubbies and children! I highly recommend Edith Schaefer's book "Hidden Art of Homemaking" which our church ladies went through last summer. Kent, mom, dad, grandma, Kelly, Erin, Christa, Jill, Renae, Brenda- thank you for encouraging me to cook, sew, decorate, clean, make cards, shop wisely, and beautify my home. God has really been faithful to us in this area. Please pray that I can continue to be faithful in my efforts. Gardening is next for me to dive into. And look for a future blog about my battles with Mount Washmore. Arg.

My first blog (Isn't it cute?)

Here we go. I think that this is really my style. No going to the post office to send out letters or pictures of the kids, just staying up late in my living room after the kids have gone to bed, and describing our life to the general public. I think I can do this. Woo-hoo!

Here are the kiddos on Memorial Day. We went to a lovely service at the Post Falls cemetery with my parents and grandparents, and then headed to Silverwood for the afternoon. For those of you who don't know, Silverwood is the local amusement park just north of where my parents live, and we have passes this summer (thanks mom!).