Motivated Moms {Review}

As much as I dream of having a perfect home the reality is that we have been living in C.H.A.O.S (Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome) for a while now ... Generally speaking I love being organized, clean and having a place for everything.  Over the past few years as the stresses of immigration, raising a young family, walking a challenging road with teens working their way through issues I have found that more and more I don't have the stamina, mental or emotional energy reserves that it takes to keep our home in order.  Recently I was blessed with a review copy of Motivated Moms.  What a wonderful resource this has become.  I'm a book lady so was really pleased with my Motivated Mom's printable eBook.

What We Did
The hardest part was choosing which eBook I wanted.  I was rather spoiled for choice with 8 options available either in colour or black and white.  Each option has a sample page for you to see.

Some of the options are

• Colour or black & white in each version
• Half or full size
• Page per day with bible readings
• Page per day with chore planner

I settled on the full A4 size 2014 Motivated Moms Chore Planner with Scheduled Bible Reading {Color}. I took my PDF copy down to Officeworks and had it printed and spiral bound. The planner I choose is a total of 55 pages including the cover page.

Each page is a week in a view.  The left hand column contains daily chores such as make beds, feed pets etc.  If you have children who can read it is an excellent list to help them too to remember what needs to be done and to create excellent daily habits.  Beneath each chore is seven check boxes in order to mark off as you go.  There are four blank lines for you to add in your own choice of daily chores.

Right at the bottom of this left hand column is a weekly Bible reading schedule.  I had good intentions of using this this year but have recently commenced an in depth bible study so I am aiming to take this up later in the year.  I love this feature as it means that all my daily tasks including my bible reading is in one place.  This is an optional add in. 

To the right of this column is your week at a glance special chores.  This contains between two and six tasks a day to complete.  I can say one thing for our home it now has clean light switches, dusted hall way skirting, each shelf in the fridge has a dedicated week it gets cleaned, my pile of to file away is slowly diminishing and even the porch area is beginning to receive some much needed tender loving care.  I like how some of the chores are scheduled on a rotational basis so I know if I miss cleaning that spot this week in a few weeks time it will come around again and I will be able to get it done. 

"Make Every Day Count - Motivated Moms"

I love their mantra of making every day count.  I am seeing how true this is.  If I accomplish just one thing on the list today I have made it count and it has not gone to waste.  Some days we barely get the basics done and on other days we choose maybe two of the six suggested activities.  Motivated Moms is being true to it's name and is motivating me daily to clean small manageable areas in our home.  The fruit of this is becoming more evident.  It is helping me not to feel so overwhelmed with the task before me and I am enjoying having a little more time to do the important things like reading for fun because I am not spending mental energy on trying to figure out what's next to do, it's all been done for me.  It's making a calmer Mom and a happier home.

Each week there is a dedicated de-clutter assignment which I love.  I am a little bit of a hoarder and having this as an assignment is helping me to de-clutter as I go and this in turn is helping to make things more manageable for me and Sir N at the same time.

My favourite part of Motivated Moms is Monday's weekly scheduled Pamper Yourself task.

If you are not a book person and would prefer an app be sure to check out the key features available in the Motivated Moms apps.  Things such as being able to send daily chores by email for printing, assigning tasks to people and the ability to add in an unlimited number of custom tasks.

The last page of the planner contains a two week reproducible menu planner.

My planner lives in the kitchen / dinning area for quick reference. Sir N has recently started reading independently so I have decided to use colour high lighters as a way of assigning tasks to me, to Sir N and some for us to do together.  I will be leaving blank the tasks that are not applicable to our home such as cleaning the stair case or second floor living area.  We use this during our daily half hour cleaning session.

Cost

• eBooks (16 formats to choose from) $8 each for one complete year.
• iPhone/iPad/iPod is $1.99 for two months OR a year for $7.99
• Android from Google Play $5.99

Connect with  Motivated Moms

• Facebook
• Twitter 
• Pinterest
• Read about the Motivated Mom Story which started in 2005.

What I Thought
This is a well presented book with multiple formats to choose from.  It is excellent value for money. Motivated Moms will save you time and mental energy as the planning has all been done for you.

Say goodbye to once a year spring cleaning and hello to day by day clean as you go.  Motivated Moms helps you reclaim your home and has done ALL the planing for you.  This product is Mom's best friend. 

Blessings
Chareen

House Cleaning and Home School ?

Today I am not going to share any magic formula on how to home school and keep a clean home. There are many amazing mom's who share on how to accomplish that. Today I'm going to share a little about me and my journey.  Homeschooling is my passion and I enjoy it immensely, house cleaning on the other hand is not my passion at all in fact I wish I could click my fingers the way Mary Poppins does and every thing would jump back to it's place instantaneously! Personally I like a place for everything and everything in it's place however I share my space with a multitude of personalities which makes having it perfect all the time an impossibility.

I've come to realize that personality and circumstances all influence the outworking of house cleaning and home school either working in concert together or acting like opposing forces!

Seasons
Looking back over the last 23 years I have come to realize that their are many seasons in a woman's life and many factors that influence her ability to maintain a home that is a safe haven for her and her family. I have come to understand that during the seasons of life when I looked after myself {Mother Culture} balancing home duties and home school were easy.

The seasons when we were schooling through a crisis (two spinal surgeries and two immigrations) it was very hard to balance the two. Recently I have been walking through a season of standing with a teen who is trying to find a new direction and this has been emotionally draining and home duties have had to take the back seat. As a result I'm now playing catch up and trying to re-organize my chaos (can't have anyone over syndrome).

I've had seasons of a very tidy home and seasons where my friends and family have had to jump in and help.  I remember well the day I had a meltdown when Paul came home and expressed his frustration and the not so tidy home. My response was "Love we have a choice we can place the children in school and I can take on full time home duties and provide us with a picture perfect home OR for this season I home school and we don't have a perfectly tidy home" It was hard coming to the point of realizing that I just couldn't keep a perfect show home and home school. After all we do actually live in our home and it shows.

He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will carry the lambs in his arms, holding them close to his heart. He will gently lead the mother sheep with their young. Isaiah 40:11 This is a season of having young ones in the fold and as such we need to be gentle on ourselves and our young.
 

Source

A place of safety 

I have found that my home is no longer a haven of solace to me or my family because it's over run with clutter and that in turn makes it hard to keep clean. I am pleased to have walked through this experience it has shown me that it's not that easy to keep home organized and well run during difficult seasons and seasons of change.  I am even more pleased that my sister is living with me and giving me a hand to become better organized. Some of us are naturally able to do all and some of us are not and therefore have to work at it a lot more.

This experience has softened my heart and provided me with insight and understanding towards others whose homes are perhaps not as well kept as my own. I tried working part time a few years ago and I take my hat off to you mom's who do that too I just could not keep all the balls in the air!

Today I read this statement over at Raising Arrows that spoke to me: I believe the purpose of your home is not to create a place that sacrifices the family on the altar of appearances. I agree but I do say as in all things we need to find a healthy balance. A perfectly clean home and an unhappy mom is not worth it. After all you are the indispensable ingredient and if you are not happy no one is happy.

An Ode to Tired Mama's

Take the children along
I feel we do not only our selves a disservice but our children suffer too if we do not teach them how to maintain a home. Anything worthwhile takes time. My friend Mrs S always used to say "Stop credit card parenting!" This was her analogy. If I purchase an item on credit I spend years with the pain of interrest payments combined with base payments. If I save up and then buy I can enjoy my purchase debt free. The moral of the story it's so easy and quick for me to do things myself around the house (credit card parenting quick and easy) but the high interest comes as my children grow and add to the work load. If I savings account parent it takes up to four times longer to accomplish a task (and I end up dealing with attitude . . .) BUT the rewards long term out weigh the effort. Long term they understand the consequence of their actions and they are able to help carry the load making life easier for everyone including themselves. Everyone gains more free time to enjoy doing the things they enjoy including having a safe haven to return to after a day out and about. More importantly children gain a sense of self worth and a feeling of I am needed and important in my family.

How do I ?
Over the years I have used a number of different approaches that have worked.  Nothing works perfectly all the time because things change. Children grow, outside the home commitments change, health issues arise, crisis happen, needs alter. I have found it is important that I keep searching for new ways to encourage and move my family forward and for this I have found Pinterest to be an amazingly empowering resource providing you don't let it paralyze you into doing nothing! 

I have learned that the key to making house cleaning more attainable is having an organized home / home school area and finding your rhythm and what works for you during your particular season of life. What works well for one person might not work for you so experiment and try new things until you come to a place of contentment.

Pinterest

• Chores
• For the Home
• For the home - Cleaning
• Homeschool Organisation
• Mother Culture
• General Organization

Encouraging bloggers



On the WWW

• Busy Moms Get Real: I Can't Get it All Done over at  Visionary Womanhood
• We Help Mommy over at Moments with Mother Culture
• Give your Homeschool Day the right Start over at Home Grown  Learners
• Getting it Done: 10 Tips to Cleaning Your Home While Homeschooling 
• Top 10 Ways To Keep The House Clean While Homeschooling Kids over at My 1NE Resolution
• Children, Chores, Housecleaning and Homeschooling
• Home Management For Homeschool Families
• How to Keep a Clean House and Homeschool Too
• 31 days to clean Having a Martha House the Mary Way
• House cleaning tips Little Steps Everyday
• Fly Lady

The question is : House cleaning and Home school is it possible ? The long and the short of it is YES it is. I would like to encourage you to find what works for you. When deciding what to do take into consideration your current season of life and the ages of your children. As Diana Waring says: "You are the indispensable ingredient" without you there is no home, no home school, so look after yourself, make small permanent changes in order to effect long term change.

Blessings
Chareen

This week

• Bernadette says that there are 3 Strategies to not Drop the (house cleaning) ball and shares how to home school and not drop the cleaning ball.
• Julie shares about her journey with a child who has no immune system and how the are House Cleaning and Homeschooling all the time.
• Hwee shares about her Housework and Homeschooling at the same time by using a rotational system through out the year.
• Savannah shares Practical Tips To Maintain Your House and Your Sanity While Home Schooling and talks about embracing the concept of being good enough when it comes to keeping your house clean.

 ---ooOoo---

Linking with

** Photo Credit Stuart Miles

Candle Care

Ever wondered why candles you buy only last about ten hours and then wont light any more even though the sticker on the base says thirty hours of burn time ??

Did you know that candles contain a memory once you use them ?? A couple of years ago I attended a PartyLite party where I learned some really interesting things about candles.

For every inch your candle is in width is one hour of burning time.  So if your candle is 3 inches in diameter  you need to light it three hours before you need it.

If you snuff your candle before that time it will retain a memory and burn down the center of your candle creating a canyon which when it gets deep enough will mean your candle will no longer burn for lack of oxygen. This in turn will reduce your candle burn time.

These candles have only been lit for about 30 min and you can see that there is only about half an inch of the candle melted / warmed. If I snuffed my candle now it would retain this half inch memory and the next time I lit the candle it would only burn this half inch and no more.

These candles have been alight for about four hours

You can see that the wax has melted nearly to the edge and wont go further because of the previous time I lit them the memory is retained.

To blow or snuff a candle ??

It is much better to snuff a candle than blow it out.  When you blow out a candle the force of the air on the wick moves the wick in the candle which makes it lie on a strange angle and off center thus shortening the life of your candle. It also means that the next time you light your candle it will burn off center.

It is also better to place the candle where it is needed before you light it.  Do not move once lit as this will move the wick causing it to move off center.

Hug your candle

Snuff your candle and wait for around five minutes. Gently cup your hands around the top and put a slight inward pressure on the lip.

These three simple steps will mean you will get the full burn time on your candles.

Blessings

Five Finger Charts

Pin It  

I heard about and saw these charts in action in New Zealand about 10 years ago.  I think the idea is originally from the book What Every Child Should Know Along the Way by Gail Martin

The idea is that you chose five things that your child can do unsupervised every morning and evening. You make a visual chart to help them accomplish these tasks. The goal is supervised Independence.  It also frees you up from having to repeat every morning go get dressed, go brush your teeth etc.

The next step is to find pictures that represent the five things you would like your child to do by themselves.  You can use the net, Microsoft clip art (this is what we used), photographs or words if your child can read.

• We used two A4 sheets of paper.
• Next trace around each hand. One on each sheet. (or both on one sheet)
• In the one hand place a sun to represent the morning chart.
• Next place in order the things you would like your child to do.
• On the second hand place a moon to represent evening things.

Place the chart in a spot where your child can easily refer to it.

Sir N calls them his missions.  So this evening while I was busy in the kitchen and it was time for the evening routine I simply called him and said it's time to do your missions.  He took himself off to his room and went through the list and waited for me in bed when he was done.  He so enjoyed doing his jobs.









Blessings

Home Made Laundry Soap

I was over at Creating with Wisdom a few weeks ago and was inspired by Vicky who was making home made soap and thought I would like to try that but not yet.

A couple of days later I found Our Simple Country Life and Esther hosts a weekly Hearts for Home link up and there was a post in the link party titled 10 Money Saving Tips over at Hopeful Future I was intrigued so went to have a look.  One of the tips was about making your own laundry soap so decided to give it a go. Her recipe and the one I have tried is from The Family Homestead.com . Making Homemade Laundry Soap By Crystal Miller

Ingredients

• 1/3 bar of soap (approx 50 grams) you need a pure soap not synthetic.
• 1/2 cup Washing Soda this is the RED bag (It is not lectric soda or bicarb)
• 1/2 cup Borax Powder (done some reading about this as we have a grey water system and the laundry water is used to water the garden so will be leaving this ingredient out in my next batch as too much can kill worms in the garden)
• Water ( 6 cups hot water + 4 cups boiling water + 5.5 Litres cold water = 8 Lt)

I found all my items at the local Woolworths supermarket in the laundry isle.

Method

• Measure out the borax and washing soda and set aside

• Grate the soap into a pot 
• Add 6 cups of hot water 

• Heat on medium stove stir till soap is dissolved
• Add borax and washing soda and stir till all the powder is dissolved.  When you add the powder the mix bubbles up in the pot so add it slowly.
• Pour into a bucket
• Add 4 cups of boiling water and mix well.  ( I did some research and another lady used cold water one day and it made the soap separate so stick with the boiling water)
• Now add 5.5 Litres of tap water and mix well.

• Leave it to stand over night and set.

• Use 1/4 cup per load of washing.

The process took me 15 min to do and was not very complex.  I did find that the finer you grate the soap the faster it dissolves.

While I was searching for information I discovered a great pdf. document by by Tashia Calhoun with photo's and step by steps to down load and print: Guide to Homemade Laundry Soap


I have been using this soap for nearly a week now and I am impressed with the quality of the wash.  I was a little skeptical with the first load as there were no bubbles but the colour of the water after the wash convinced me that it works.

Other Bloggers making soap ....

Megan from over at Mommy Minded sent me a powder recipe as an alternative to liquid soap.
Julie from over at Towards Sustainability has a powder recipe which I think I will try next.
Lyn from over at Mom starting from Scratch has some interesting Green Home Making Recipe's 
Green House Healing has a great page on natural products to use at home
Vicky over at Creating with Wisdom made some soap bars.

If you have blogged about your recipe let me know and I'll add your links in here :)


The Cost Comparison:

I normally use Home brand Laundry Powder at A$3-69 for 4 kg.  The recommended dose of 125 grams per load = 12 cents per load

Home Made Laundry Soap cost me:
100 grams Borax = 86 cents
130 grams Soda = 44 cents
50 grams pure soap = 32 cents
8 litre water = 1 cent
8 Litre divided by 4 = 32 loads of washing
Total product used to make soap = $1-62 / 32 loads = 4 cents per load.

Have you made laundry soap and how well did it work for you ? I keen to see other recipes and if you know of any recipes without borax ?

My mission now is to find a better way to store my soap rather than this 8 litre container in the basin.  Ideas anyone ????

Blessings