Lesson in Futility

The Futility Room, you know the place where you do your laundry. I am at absolute war with mine right now. I honestly do not know how my little family can go through so much laundry in a week's time. I do laundry every day, most often multiple times a day. Laundry has become my reason for existing in this house right now and I hate it.

Last month I got pretty lazy about the laundry. The overwhelming humidity made using the outdoor clothes line a pointless and unpleasant science experiment in growing mildew so I, guiltily at first, then with slovenly abandon, began putting everything in the clothes dyer. Well, well, well, the futility bill came and it went up $60.00 for the month. Sixty dollars to dry clothes! I knew I needed to get back on track.


















So now my home has turned into a Chinese Laundry. I've got clothes hanging everywhere. On the shower curtain, on drying racks, over the backs of chairs, and over the top railings of my four poster bed. It's not attractive but it's in line with my goals which are to save money, keep my family clean, and help out the planet at the same time. I hate my internal struggle about something as mundane as laundry, but with a little attitude adjustment I'll be fine in a bit.

The other thing that has been bothering me is that Princess keeps getting diaper rash under her cloth nappies and disposables are the only thing that seem to control it. I cringe at just about everything about disposables, the cost, the plastic, the landfill space. Unfortunately, at least for right now her tushie has made it's preference pretty clear. I've go to make a trip to the wearhouse store tonight to pick up a case of diapers. Ouch!

On a different note, I know I've been pretty spotty in blogging. I'm actually getting prepared to have some pretty major surgery. It's been a bit emotionally consuming, worrying about the kids and hubby while I'm out of commission, but it will all be behind me soon and hopefully I'll be a lot more focused then.

Running Your Home Like a Business

Now that I'm a stay at home mom I've learned a lot about managing my family. When I was always working at the hospital I just sort of let the chips fall where they might at home. Then I dealt with the aftermath on the weekends. Seems like I was always in recovery mode.

"We spent how much?"
" We have to go to how many birthday parties this weekend and I have no presents!"
"Oh no the kids missed their pediatrician's appointment!"
"We're out of milk again?"

Living in reactive mode is exhausting and can really hinder your forward progress as a family. When you're constantly playing catch up and putting out fires it's difficult to move forward and achieve. I'm lucky enough to be a stay at home mom so I certainly have more time to dedicate to family management than someone who works out of the home. But, the principles are the same regardless of how much time you have.

Write a vision statement
When you got married/started your family you had a vision of what your life would be like together. Depending on how long ago that was it may seem like a distant and naive pipe dream by now, but it doesn't have to. The things you wished for are still in you. It's just that without writing them down and working at them consistently you tend to get distracted by life. Your dream may have been to build a cottage in the woods, have a child, learn an instrument, and bike your way around the United States once you retired. But, where are you know? Have you delayed giving birth? Did you buy a condo because the market was hot in the 1980's? When was the last time you went biking?

You may need to come to a full stop and hit the reset button as I did. Or maybe your vision statement has changed. The point is are you working consistently towards your dream or are you merely surviving?

Write a business plan
Okay so you've got your dream. Now, how are you going to get there? I believe you need to write a business plan for your family every year. For example it could be: "This year we are going to put away 7% of our income towards long term savings and we're going to finally pay off that credit card. We're going to take a vacation to the shore." And this is the most important part of the plan ...And this is how we're going to do it.

By sitting down with your partner and your children if you have them and writing the concrete steps you'll take towards achieving your goals you're making a commitment to make those goals come to fruition. Where are you going to cut the budget to make room to save? Which activity are you going to give up now so you'll have room in your schedule to take that trip? A business plan is like a road map. Once you get your plan in place make sure everyone understands and agrees on what it's going to take to get there and post a hard copy up where you can look at it every day.

It doesn't have to be limited to financial goals either. You can plan to start a garden, to teach the kids a foreign language, to spend more time with your extended family. Whatever your goals are for the year write them down and construct a plan for how you're going to make it all happen.


Measure your success













We have a jar system in our home. Much like the very popular envelope system we have four money jars with labels that I keep out on my desk for everyone to see. They're labeled Household, Investment, Emergency, and Special Kitty. One of our goals for the year was to improve our financial bottom line. I foresaw that we might not focus on all the areas we needed to equally, so by keeping out glass jars I can see that progress is being made in all the desired areas. When the jars get a good little egg in them I take the money to the bank and divide it into physically separated accounts. Again, to keep each goal and it's progress measurable. Once the money hits the jars I get extremely protective over it because it's part of our goal. When I get it to the bank I feel a tangible sense of accomplishment.

Write Lists
As you may have gleaned from reading this blog for a while I am a strong believer in lists. I use daily and weekly lists to keep me on track and accountable to my goals for the day, week, month. They can be as simple as a grocery list, or a To Do Today list. Or as complicated as the list we've started for renovation of the 68 Airstream. Keep yourself and your family focused on the small steps by writing lists.

Make room for celebrating success
Run your home like a business, but make sure it's a place you'd want to work. Plan fun time, save for splurges, celebrate when you achieve a goal. By doing this you keep yourself and your family motivated to keep fighting the good fight and keep moving towards that vision statement.

Reasses
Finally, reasses your vision statement every once in a while. Perhaps every year. Is it still true to your dreams? Have you made choices that have gotten you closer to achieving your vision? Have you become distracted, or suffered unforseen setbacks? Reasses, reasses, reasses! Don't throw out your vision statement or you'll find you've lost your way before too long. The important thing is to keep moving forward as a family no matter what your ultimate goal is.

Sometimes a Nap is Just the Ticket

I had the best of intentions to write this evening about running your home much like a business; maximizing efficiency, saving money, finding free time... But then I snapped this priceless picture of my son taking his afternoon nap and it reminded me that sometimes a nap is just what we all need. If we all napped every day think of how much more peaceful our world would be.

Fourth of July and Week Five One Local Summer

How'd ya'll spend your Fourth of July weekend? We spent ours here at home, puttering around, poor B still stuck with a plumbing wrench in his hand. But, after 4 days, we finally have a working kitchen sink again! Thank you honey. You're my hero.

Some bad news... all my bitty chooks died. What in the world happened I do not know. But within a 48 hour period they droped off one by one. It's so disapointing after the long waiting for the shipment and all the setup and care. Plus of course I felt so bad for them. They must have had coccidia or some other infectious issue when they shipped. So we're officially out of the chicken game for a while.

My best friend Kathy came for an unexpected visit yesterday. It's so good to be able to see her semi-regularly after almost a 10 year hiatus. We had a lovely little lunch and caught up on lots of girl stuff. B worked on the Airstream and that about sums up our holiday weekend. Home, relaxing, friends and kids. Does it get any better than that?
















So it's week five of One Local Summer and tonight we had farmer's market organic broccoli, garden garlic, and locally sourced organic whole wheat pasta in a homemade alfredo sauce. It was my first attempt at alfredo sauce and I have to say it turned out delicious. I used fresh goat cheese in the recipe and it was just lovely.

A word on broccoli, something many people don't know. When you're preparing your broccoli, don't throw away the really thick woody stems. Beneath that fibrous skin is the most tender part of the broccoli plant. True, it takes a bit of work to get to it, but the flesh is sweet and succulent. Just use your pairing knife to skin the broccoli stems until you get to the juicy inner core. It's good enough to eat raw, but you can cook it right along with your florets. Delicious!

Frugal is a Dirty Word

I had one of those wow moments tonight and I thought I'd share. My kitchen sink is clogged up. I mean REALLY clogged up. No amount of baking soda and vinegar (or even Liquid Plumber) is going to clear this baby up). B worked on it last night but today it took 4 hours to drain after I washed the dishes. So I decided to pop off to the market and buy some sandwich ingredients and try to avoid dirtying anymore dishes until he gets a chance to take the plumbing apart again this evening. I needed to go to the pharmacy anyway...

Well I bought sandwich bread, sliced turkey, sliced cheese and mayonnaise. Normal things yes, but not items I usually purchase. I was really shocked at the checkout when I realized how much it costs to buy convenience foods. Don't get me wrong the tab wasn't huge, but in order to have the convenience of not dirtying dishes it cost me 100 times more than it normally would to provide my family with sandwiches. I can bake a loaf of bread for pennies and roast and slice some venison for nothing. I knew what I was getting into but it got me thinking about what is "normal" for other people out there.

Considering the length of the bread aisle, and the plethora of prepackaged deli products in the market, I'd venture to guess that these are popular items. Is it just that people are too busy to meal plan and cook, or is it that they're just not paying attention?

When we sat down to the table I complained to my husband how much our sandwich dinner cost and he said, "Honey I bet that's pretty normal for most people." So what are we, abnormal? Then I got to thinking is frugal a dirty word? Is buying pre-sliced deli meats a sign of economic success? I hate to think it is, but....

There are lots of status symbols of economic success and so many of them make absolutely no sense. It seems to me that having money in the bank and paying cash for everything would define an economically successful person and yet, the retail stores are full with average blue collar people dressed in designer clothes, buying new iPods with plastic. Societally speaking, they're higher on the food chain than we are.

Frugallity is a choice. A wise one in my opinion. It dosen't dosen't mean poor. It means smart, mindful, financially responsible. So it shocked me at the sting I felt when I thought of myself as abnormal and by extension somehow "less than".

So is frugal a dirty word? Well yes, yes it is! Cold cuts come in neat little plastic baggies that you just toss into the garbage when you're done. I mean think of how many dishes I have to wash after I slow roast a garlic and sage stuffed venison tenderloin and bake a loaf of fresh herb bread, smeared with homemade organic mayonaise. It's filthy really.

Unchain Your Dog!

I'm really proud of my community. Many townships around us have enacted laws limiting the use of dog tethers. Raleigh, our state's capitol joined suit today. I just think it's great! Here's a link on the latest.

Is That a Cucumber in Your Pocket......

Wow look at these Japanese Long cucumbers I picked from the garden this morning. Amazing!


I honestly can't believe I grew something so beautiful. Japanese and English cucumbers are neat in that they have very thin skin so you don't have to peel them. They're great on salads and as sandwich toppers.

Here is a great way to serve cucumbers. It's inspired by a Japanese salad often served at sushi bars. I don't measure anything, just add to taste.

Slice your English or Japanese cucumbers very thin. I use a mandolin. Add rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, sugar and toasted sesame seeds. Mix it all together. Serve right away or let sit overnight in the fridge for a better blending of the flavors. Delicious and refreshing!

I'm currently looking for a good cold cucumber soup recipe. So if anybody has one send it my way.