Works-For-Me Wednesday: Keeping on top of kitchen clean-up

Posted on January 2, 2007 by Barbara Harper

Some years ago when I was very sick and out of commission for several weeks, and my poor dear husband had the household duties heaped on top of his work schedule and caring for the kids, he implemented something that I thought was a great idea. Every night following the usual kitchen duties of cleaning up after the meal, loading the dishwasher, wiping off the table and counters, etc., he would do one “extra” kitchen job, like cleaning the hood over the range or cleaning the microwave. That way all those extra little jobs didn’t pile up into the need for a big major overhaul which he didn’t have time for.

I don’t do that every night, but I do it occasionally, and it does help maintain the kitchen in a better level of cleanliness.

For more helpful workable tips or to link to your own, see Rocks In My Dryer.

Works-for-me-Wednesday: Christmas gifts for elderly and handling kids’ wish lists

Posted on December 20, 2006 by Barbara Harper

That makes for rather a bulky title, doesn’t it? 🙂 But I had one thing in mind for WFMW, then thought of another: with this being the last one before Christmas, I thought I’d include both.

1) Some time ago our ladies’ ministry wanted to make up some gift bags for the elderly folks in our congregation, and I set about trying to find out what kinds of things would be best to put in those packages. I asked around all kinds of people I knew and message boards I was on at the time. A lot depends on the situation of the elderly person, whether they are in a nursing home or assisted living apartment or on their own, whether they cook they own meals or not, etc., so that would need to be taken into account. Their health needs also must be considered (whether they are diabetic, on a low-sodium diet, etc.). But here are just some general ideas:

Large print Bible, books, magazines
If they can’t see well, Bible on CD (and a CD player if they don’t have one) and audio books
Music CDs that they would like
Boxes of assorted greeting cards and stamps (this was a big hit for those who couldn’t get out to get this kind of thing on their own.)
Stationery, note cards, stamps
Lotions
Bath items (be careful about oils and things that would make a slippery surface)
Pens and pencils
Crossword puzzle books, “Hidden word” puzzle books, etc.
Small packets of tissues
Magnifying glass (my mother-in-law really liked this, and I’ve had to start keeping one handy myself. My husband got me one like this which also has a little light on it.)
Individual ready-to-eat packages of pudding, jello, pasta, etc. (again, depending on dietary restrictions. They do have some of these things in sugar-free and low-sodium varieties.)
A tool to aid in opening jars. I’ve seen one that is flat and round and looks like what you’d use to stop up the bathtub. 🙂 My favorite one looks almost like a set of pliers, but I haven’t been able to find another one like it. One my husband gave me recently looks something like this. (No, I am not elderly — yet!! But I have decreased sensation and strength in one hand due to transverse myelitis.)
A small crock pot. One time when my mother-in-law was visiting, she really liked a crock pot meal I had made. That next Christmas we looked around and found a small one that would be ideal for one or two people.
Comfortable clothes, nightgowns. etc.
Slipper socks — socks that have non-skid soles
A “reacher” (another item that I use myself)

When our ladies’ group made up gifts bags and then divided them up amongst ourselves to take out to the various folks, what we discovered was, though they appreciated the gift bags, what they really appreciated was the visit — the time and the conversation. So, along those lines I posted below something from my files called “10 free gifts for Christmas” — applicable to anyone, but especially to those who are elderly or “shut-in.”

2) My second tip today has to do with family “wish-lists.” We started posting wish lists on the refrigerator before Christmas way back when we first got married. We had seen a family whom I dearly loved and respected doing this and adopted it for our own, then had our kids do it, too. They know not to get ridiculous with it, and everyone knows that we won’t get everything on the list and may get something not on the list — it’s just meant as a general guideline to the gift-buyers have some idea of how to shop.

My tip, though, is this — nowadays we all send our wish lists via e-mail, and after years of keeping them all separately, a few years ago it hit me to copy and paste them onto one sheet. I have three boys, so I make a document in landscape form with three columns, copy and paste their lists there, print it off, and keep it in my purse while shopping. It’s more efficient, less to keep up with, plus, as I check things off I can see if I am keeping things “even.” They are beyond the stage where we have to have the same number of packages under the tree for each child. 🙂 They know the amount of gifts will vary with the value. But as parents we like to spend roughly the same per child, and this helps us keep up with that at a glance.

For more tips or to link to your own, go over to Shannon’s at Rocks In My Dryer.

Updated to add: I am closing comments on this post because I keep getting comments from sites that sell audiobooks. Though they are not written like the usual “spam,” I don’t want to take the time to check them out and I don’t want this to become an avenue for vendors. I believe you can find audiobooks at any bookstore or bookstore’s web site, plus you could Google the term and find other sites that sell them as well.

WFMW: “Dad’s store”

Posted on December 13, 2006 by Barbara Harper

This is a tip that worked for friends of ours: I think our kids were too old for this by the time we heard of it. The dad would take his two young daughters shopping for their mom, but sometimes they would choose things that were either inappropriate or way beyond their means (whether they used allowance money or the father gave them gift money, I don’t know — it could be done either way). Then would come explanations about why they could not get that thing, disappointment, etc., turning the whole expedition into an ordeal rather than the joyful time it was meant to be.

The father decided to shop by himself and gather smaller, appropriate items and keep them in an old suitcase in his closet. He called it “Dad’s store” and he would let his girls chose a gift for their mother from the suitcase. I think he may even have collected things through the year to put in his “store” and used it for any occasion for which the girls might need a present for their mother. It made the whole experience much more pleasant for them all.

This could be expanded to other gift recipients. Of course, at some point children need to learn how to go to a store and make appropriate choices within their limits, but when they are too small to understand, this seems like a great alternative.

To read a wealth of great tips or link to your own, go to Rocks In My Dryer.

Works-For-Me Wednesday: Saving Christmas newsletters for posterity

Posted on December 6, 2006 by Barbara Harper

I know, I know, some people hate the “Christmas newsletters” that some of us put in with our Christmas cards (some people are now sending them instead of Christmas cards). I love them, myself. I enjoy catching up with friends and loved ones. Even if I know most of the events mentioned in the newsletter, I enjoy reviewing them. The whole reason for sending Christmas cards is to keep in touch, and there are so many loved ones from whom I would love to hear more than just a “Merry Christmas!” at the bottoms of their cards (though I realize that, with the busyness of the holidays, some times we’re doing great just to get that much done).

I started sending them when I realized that I was jotting the same news at the bottom of Christmas cards over and over. I figured I could share more in a less rushed way with a newsletter. They don’t have to be “bragimonies” — I try to keep them realistic, sharing bad news as well as good. For many years my husband and I traded off doing them, but over time the task fell to me (I don’t mind; I enjoy it). His tended to be a “year in review;” mine concentrated on each individual in our family. Since we have always lived so far from relatives, I try to give a little picture of the boys’ personalities as well as what they’ve been up to in the previous year. Some years we have scanned in a picture (one year even a page of pictures).

The main “tip” I wanted to share today, though, is this: we have always kept copies of old newsletters in a filing cabinet, but a few years ago it occurred to me that it would be good to keep a copy for each of the boys as well. They are not particularly interested in them now, but some time in the future they might like to have them, to look back through the records of the years, to remember what they were doing and what they were like from year to year.

A really savvy, on-top-of things mom might put these in a scrapbook with accompanying pictures from each year or from each Christmas. That never occurred to me until yesterday. 🙂 I might do that some time, or I might eventually put them into some kind of book and give them to them the first Christmas after they leave home or after they are married. For now they wait in the filing cabinet.

You can find or share more “works for me” tips at Rocks In My Dryer.

Works-For-Me Wednesday: Christmas receipts

Posted on November 29, 2006 by Barbara Harper

These tips I gleaned from my husband. 🙂 He keeps all the receipts from Christmas (he also does this on birthdays, etc.) in one envelope so that if something does need to be returned, he knows right where they are and has them handy. He keeps his in his desk; I keep mine in the top drawer of my dresser in the bedroom because I usually wrap presents on my bed (the bedrooms are the only rooms in the house where we can shut the door — everything else is open to other rooms. Well, except the bathrooms, of course. 🙂 ) From time to time I clean out the accumulated receipts when that designated spot gets too crowded.

When it comes to major purchases, like appliances or electronics, he staples the receipt to the owner’s manual and keeps that and any service contracts in a file for such in the filing cabinet. That way all of that information is together and easy to find is the product breaks down or needs to be serviced.

For more workable tips, go to Rocks In My Dryer.

Works-For-Me Wednesday: Christmas Tips

Posted on November 15, 2006 by Barbara Harper

It’s Christmas tip day at WFMW! I thought about rationing these out through December, but I think I’ll go ahead and list them all now:

Start early: We might fuss about how early Christmas displays are set up, but why not go ahead and get cards or items you know you’ll need early? You’ll get the best selection without the crowd.

Gift-Wrapping Center: You might prefer to either wrap as you go or wrap everything at once. Either way, assemble all the gift wrapping materials ahead of time to make it easier: paper, tissue, ribbon, bows, tags, tape, scissors, tape in a basket near a large work surface. It helps to not not have to assemble all of that every time you wrap a few presents

Christmas cards: You might want to pre-address and stamp the envelopes, then jot a note and sign a few cards at a time in the evenings or in spare moments through the day.

Bake ahead: Consider baking cookie dough or desserts or breads for parties or casseroles for quick meals ahead of time and freezing them.

Christmas ornaments: If an ornament is missing a hanger, you can use a paper clip, bread twist-tie, chenille stem, or holiday trim or ribbon instead. Or, place ornaments missing hangers or caps in a bowl as a centerpiece or mantel decoration.

Sharing Christmas cards: Often I was the only one who really read Christmas cards as I opened the mail. I began to save the ones received each day to pass around to the family after dinner.

Old Christmas cards: Use fronts of last year’s Christmas cards to make gift tags, post cards, or let children cut out the designs and glue onto poster board or construction paper to make a montage.

Safety: Keep safe during the holidays by going over these tips from the U. S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Don’t forget down time to just enjoy each other and the season.

You can find more Christmas-related tips at Rocks In My Dryer.

Works-For-Me Wednesday: Biblical Child-rearing Helps

Posted on November 8, 2006 by Barbara Harper

When my kids were younger we came across a resource that I just loved called Doorposts. Something brought it to mind recently, and I googled it to see if it was still in business, and was happy to see that it was.

It was begun by a home-schooling family who made up these resources for their own needs and then made them available for others. What I most love about them is the Scriptural focus and basis. One item that was really popular among my friends years ago was the “If-Then” chart. It was designed to help parenting be more consistent. It listed several offenses on one side, a Scripture verse illustrating why the behavior was wrong, and a place for you to put what the penalty would be. There’s also a Blessing Chart that follows a similar format except that it focuses on the positive: rewarding good behavior.

I enjoyed many of their books as well. One was A Day of Delight, about ways to make the “day of rest” special and enjoyable. If you want to be convicted to the core of your being, see A Checklist for Parents. Their book I consulted most often was For Instruction In Righteousness. It covers over 50 topics (like pride, anger, being a busybody, etc.), lists verses on that topic and verses about what happens to people who engage in those behaviors, ideas for discipline, how God blesses people who resist that sin, ideas for reward and encouragement when children show progress in overcoming, and stories and people in the Bible who obeyed or disobeyed in that area. It’s a wonderful resource not only when a problem area comes up in a child’s life, but also to use in family devotions.

There are also doll kits and coloring books.

Most of the books were originally written in the mom of the family’s calligraphy and cute illustrations which makes for a very homey resource.

See Rocks In My Dryer for more tips that work for others.

Works-For-Me-Wednesday: Decorating Styles and Ideas

Posted on November 1, 2006 by Barbara Harper

“That which we elect to surround ourselves with becomes the museum of our soul and the archive of our experiences.”
—Thomas Jefferson

I like to think of home decorating in light of the above quote. The way we arrange things, the type of things we collect, the colors we like, all provide a sort of window into our personalities. That must be why it is so much fun to go to other people’s houses.

Perhaps you have struggled sometimes, as I have, with almost feeling guilty about “decorating.” One excellent book along those lines is The Hidden Art of Homemaking by Edith Schaeffer. She points out that God “decorated” the earth; He made it beautiful, not just practical. We, of course, have to balance the urge to decorate with other areas of life that need attention and with the finances at hand.

Most of us can’t just go out and buy a houseful, or even a roomful, of furniture or accessories. Most of us start off with hand-me-down furniture from our parents, yard sale finds, etc. (a friend of mine describes her home décor as “early married.”) But as we do start to try to figure out what our own “look” is and try to incorporate that into what we have, one helpful way to do that is to go through some decorating magazines and pull out the pages that appeal to us (or, alternately, look at magazines in the library or decorating books at bookstores and jot notes, or search online). Then go back through those pages and note what appeals to you about those rooms in the pictures. Do you generally notice bright colors, deep, rich ones, pastels, or neutrals? Do you like the sleek lines and modern forms of a contemporary look, the cozy florals of a cottage style, or a rustic look? Do you like straight lines or softer curves? Do you like a lot of cozy clutter or a minimalist look? You’ll get an idea of what styles you like plus see ways of putting that style together. Then when you do need a new sofa or bedspread, or need to paint a room, you’ll have some idea of what you want to look for rather than being overwhelmed by the wide variety of choices. Having some pictures on file also helps you explain to your husband what you are trying to do or what look you are going for.

I started a file over 20 years ago for a Home Interiors class. The file then had required folders for different color combinations or period furniture styles. Over the years I adapted it to my own tastes. There is a file of ideas from magazines for each room, for window treatments, wall treatments (different painting techniques or ways to do wallpaper), wall groupings, and accesories. I want to add a folder for things like centerpieces. Sometimes it is fun and inspiring just to take out a file folder and browse through it.

For more tips, go to Rocks In My Dryer.

(Graphic at top courtesy of Creative Ladies Ministry)

Works-For-Me-Wednesday: Charitable Giving While Shopping and Searching

Posted on October 25, 2006 by Barbara Harper

This week I wanted to share a couple of relatively painless ways to give to charity in the course of what you usually do online.

Igive.com is a site for online merchants to register and online shoppers to buy and have a percentage of their purchases donated to the charity of their choice. When you first register on the site, you choose what charity you would like for your purchases to go towards. Igive keeps great records, sends an e-mail when a check for my organization is sent, keeps a list of my orders so that I can track them and make sure the percentages were applied, and lets me print out a page for tax-deductions. They send out e-mails from time to time about which merchants are having special sales or promotions. There are a few merchants I shop from online anyway, so it is no problem to log into Igive first and shop from there (the links take you directly to the merchants’ sites, but you have to begin logged in at Igive for the purchase to register and for a donation to be made). Plus, any time I am looking to buy something online, I can look through the “mall” link at Igive and see if the new merchant I am wanting to buy from is registered there. I’ve used it for years and have been very pleased with it.

I’ve only recently heard of GoodSearch, but it is a search engine which uses funds generated from its advertisers for online donations to the charity of your choice. It is powered by Yahoo, so it should be as good as Yahoo is. You don’t have to register there: just put the name of the charity you are interested in in the “Who do you GoodSearch for?” window, click on “verify,” and then conduct your search. The site “remembers” that charity each time you search, but you can change it any time you want to. I just tried it to search for a product I was looking at earlier today through another search engine, and came up with multitudes of results. I e-mailed GoodSearch to ask if they had a list of the charities supported through them: they replied that they supported 20,000 non-profit organizations and didn’t have a good way to list them all, but users could put any charity in the appropriate window, and if it is not yet supported, they can click on the appropriate link to add it.

And that brings me to the other point I was going to make: I have seen various charities and non-profit organizations linked on various blogs. Perhaps you might want to look into adding your cause to one or both of these sites.

If you’d like to participate in either of these endeavors and don’t yet have a cause that you would be interested in, may I humbly suggest the Transverse Myelitis Association.

See Rocks In My Dryer for more real tips that really work for real people.

Works For Me Wednesday: Clutter

Posted on October 11, 2006 by Barbara Harper

I thought this anecdote was hilarious. The author is unknown: I don’t even remember where I got this from:

It arose one morning from the bowels of my desk, a formless mass that spread and covered itself over anything I was looking for. “Who are you?” I asked.

“I am Clutter,” the mass answered, “and I am here to confound your life. I am the things you refuse to throw out though you haven’t used them in six years, the miscellaneous papers, phone numbers, business cards, and checks you accumulate and don’t put away. I am the inevitable manifestation of your sloppiness. I am Clutter.”

I grabbed Clutter and moved it from one end of the desk to the other. Clutter chortled, “That’s my favorite pastime. Moving from one end of the desk to the other.” “What do you want?” I asked.

“To frustrate you. I will resist all attempts to remove me, reduce me, or otherwise eliminate me. It’s my purpose to hide whatever important piece of paper you need, whichever phone number you must call.”

“I’m throwing you out,” I stormed. Clutter shook his untidy mass sadly, as in pity.

“Not without looking through me to see if there’s anything you really need,” Clutter answered. “the odds are slim, but you won’t take that chance. And while your sorting through me, I’ll re-form in another pile.”

“But you’ll be smaller, more manageable.”

“Not really. You’ll decide to keep 90% of me, as you always do. And soon, new papers, numbers, documents will gather, making me more obstructive than ever.”

“You won’t ruin my life, Clutter! I’ll start a filing system! I’ll put a bit of you where you belong.”

Clutter gazed at me contemptuously. “The last time you tried that, you created my cousins, Chaos and Disorder. It’ll never work.”

Clutter had me and I knew it. Attempts in the past to file things alphabetically had only created 26 piles of mess instead of one. I was desperate, so I decided to bluff. “I’ll take a time management course,” I threatened.

Clutter quite rightly ignored my remark. I wasn’t dealing with an idiot, after all. “Then I’ll buy a computer and store you on my floppy disks!”

“And within a month your disk-filing system will be in total disarray, plus you’ll have another pile of papers waiting to be entered onto disks. Face it, you can’t win.”

Exasperated, I ran to the closet. “I’m getting some air.” Clutter had been to the closet before me. Shoes were scattered, shirts were unhung, clumps of pants and underwear lay strewn next to towels and a lawn chair. Socks congealed in small piles, looking like the waste product of some nylon-eating monster. Cliff notes from A Tale of Two Cities lay atop the heater.

“Clutter,” I yelled. “You have crippled my productivity for the last time. No longer will I be late, no more will I miss appointments, never again shall I be overwhelmed by your size and withdraw into reading old magazines. I am going out to the store to buy a paper shredder.”

I looked around for a long moment. “Now where did I leave my keys?”

Clutter burped.

—Author Unknown

~~~~~~~~~~
Clutter isn’t quite that formidable to deal with — it just seems like it! 🙂 Whole books have been written about how to deal with clutter, and I haven’t conquered it totally yet, but here are a few things I’ve found to help:

* If I don’t have time to clean out the whole attic or closet or refrigerator or whatever, it helps to break it down into smaller portions. Clean out a box at a time, a shelf at a time, a drawer at a time.

*If you have the space somewhere, it is helpful to have a box or shelf set aside to place things to get rid of as I come to them rather than having to sift through a drawer to get them. Then when the box or shelf is filled, take it to the mission or Salvation Army.

* I do keep sentimental things, but ask myself realistically if I will ever use or look through the items. For instance, I used to keep all my son’s Sunday School papers until I realized that after eighteen years that stack would be daunting. So as we get such papers I try to pick out representative or especially meaningful ones and (wince!) throw away the rest.

* I try not to set something out of place “for just a minute” but rather go ahead and put things back where they belong as I get done with them as much as possible.

* I try to encourage the kids to brings their “stuff” in from the car whenever we get home.

For more tips and helpful hints, visit Rocks In My Dryer.