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Sunday, July 16, 2017

Large Family Christmas Birthday Shopping

Do you look forward to Christmas and birthday shopping but have been increasingly confused or overwhelmed with the whole process - especially if you're doing it large-family style? Wondering how you can shop for just the right items for each person while not overspending the budget, purchase items the kids need but balance that with a special items they would really like to receive, not forget any items or any people, remember what's from mom and dad and what's from grandma and grandpa, and keep it all straight in your head over the course of several weeks or months without making any expensive mistakes? And then, remember accurately when you go to do the wrapping which gifts were for whom? Larger families out there know what I mean! *smile* Let me offer some help...

And to double my confusion, my parents love for me to shop for our family for them - which is so fun for me! *laugh* But, it does double what I need to keep track of! Their envelope of cash and ours, how much is budgeted for each of the 11 people in our family both from us and from my parents, and how much has been spent on each person already as I continue to shop over the course of 3 months (October through December). I also need to remember what each person's gift requests are as I'm shopping. And, when I later look over that beautiful pile of gifted blessings to be wrapped on Christmas Eve...which items were for which person again?? Yikes! Well once we had added our 9th baby, including our 7th winter birthday to shop for simultaneously with Christmas, I needed a plan to simplify this whole process and keep it orderly.

I'll share with you my "Christmas & Winter Birthdays Shopping Chart" and how it's saved my sanity. *smile*

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Several years ago I discovered that after "Black Friday" shopping (in the United States this is the Friday after Thanksgiving), most of the merchandise that I had in mind for gifts has been sold out, not to be replaced until about the week before Christmas. This does not then leave enough time for me to do all of the shopping that I needed to, plus I can't stand that time pressure and the drain it puts on our family having me gone a lot. "I'm sorry you're crying, baby, because you've not known where I've been for an entire week, but you'll be glad that I took that time...next week." *laugh* No - not so much for me.

Online purchasing, which I do a lot of due to living in a smaller town and due to convenience, was the worst at running out of stock of merchandise. So I decided, that in order to have the full selection of gift items I'm looking for, to make sure the stores have those items in stock, and that they'll be able to arrive before Birthdays and Christmas, I need to get all of my Christmas and birthday shopping done before Thanksgiving (mid-November). Note to self. I have loved this decision ever since! All color or size selections are in stock, there's lots of variety to select from, I can be done way in advance with my shopping having purchased the exact items I desired for each person, there's plenty of time for online purchases to arrive on time, and there are no shopping rush lines and parking problems that waste my time! *cheer!* And the possibility of getting items on sale close to Christmas time is no temptation for me, because if I wait for the sales I also risk not getting the items I'm looking for because they're not the right size or color, or someone else has bought them all up before I could get there and now I have to come up with more ideas. No thank you. *smile* This little mama does not like pressure or disappointment when it's avoidable.

I have also learned, after several years of making this mistake, that shopping for our January child's birthday is difficult for the same reasons - stores are not restocked after the Christmas rush. So I shop for and purchase birthday gifts for our October and November birthdays, December, and January, all before Thanksgiving.

Here is what I needed to find a way to keep track of:

Christmas gift ideas & purchases for each of the 11 people in our family within a modest budget, from Bob and I. We have separate budgeted amounts for each Bob and I, for each of our children.
Christmas gift ideas & purchases for each of our 9 children from Grandpa and Grandma.
Birthday gift ideas & purchases from Bob and I for 7 of our winter birthdays.
Birthday gift ideas & purchases from Grandpa and Grandma for our 7 winter birthdays.
All of the budgeted amounts of money for each of those areas, for each person; how much has been spent already over the course of my 3 shopping months and how much is left to be spent; and which items then at home are for which person. When each person's birthday arrives I need to not go to the gift pile and try to remember what was for whom, but simply go to my chart and look at which items I need to pull out to wrap - and without having forgotten any items purchased for that person and without accidentally giving away someone else's gift!

So! In my chart, each person in our family has their own row of information. Here are all 4 pages of my chart in order: (click on images to enlarge, or you may download a FREE copy of my template from DropBox.)

Here are the boxes in the rows explained from left to right:

Box #1 - All of the gift ideas / requests that I have for that person, for Christmas or birthday.

Box #2 - The budgeted amount for that person for Christmas, from mommy and daddy, and the purchases I have made for that person as I shop.

* I also write in parentheses beside each item I've purchased (through out the chart) how much each item cost including tax, shipping and handling where appropriate, so I'll know how much I've spent of their allotted amount.

* Having this record for each person also helps me when I look at a mound of Christmas and birthday gift items in our closet to remember which items are for whom.

* I cross off items from each person's idea list as I purchase those items and record them in the designated box.

Box #3 -The budgeted amount for that person for Christmas, from grandpa and grandma, the purchases made, and the how much each item cost.

Box #4 - The budgeted amount for that person for their birthday (for those who have winter birthdays), from mommy & daddy, purchases made, and how much each item cost.

Box #5 - The budgeted amount for that person for their birthday, from grandpa and grandma, purchases made, and how much each item cost.

Whenever one of the boxes in the chart is complete, meaning when I've purchased items for that person to equal the amount set aside for them, then I put a slash mark through the entire box to mark it completed. Like checking off a "to-do list". *smile* (If you know me, this makes me very happy!) This way I can see at-a-glance which people are taken care of for which event, and see easily which ones I'm still working on. And I keep this chart in my purse so that when I'm out doing the weekly shopping, I can review the ideas I have for each person, and review how much money is set aside for them before making a purchase. Or, if I see a new idea for someone while I'm out shopping I can think through that person's "plan" and modify it if I desire to. For example, maybe deciding not to buy ideas 'A' and 'B' on the chart, but to rather just purchase new idea 'C' which I've just discovered instead while still not exceeding the budgeted amount.

Not everyone has all five boxes in their row because not everyone has a winter birthday. And grandma and grandpa just do gifts for their total 17 grandchildren at this time, so Bob and I do not need boxes to record gifts from them to us (but my mom always purchases something small for each of her children and in-lawed children on her own). Our extended family has gotten large enough, and the economy bad enough here in the United States, that our whole family has for now stopped doing a gift exchange with everyone including adults, and limited it to just the children's gifts from grandma and grandpa. Our whole family loves our gathering times, sharing meals together, wonderful fellowship - we just don't do a massive gift exchange that would stress everyone out financially. This has been a good plan for our whole family.

So with a chart there is more peace in the blessing of purchasing gifts. Now I have all the necessary information recorded clearly, accurately and thoroughly, and any question I may have while I'm out shopping I can review on the chart, enabling me to make the very best decisions for everyone without financial and time-wasting mistakes. My husband also has great peace knowing that I'm able to stay within the budgeted amount and not over spend, which blesses him very much (not that I have an overspending problem, but getting confused can be costly both for finances and time). I don't have to squeeze my brain and try to recall anything regarding the winter gifts. *smile* *Aaah* *wink* Merry Christmas indeed.

Maybe you also have ideas for how to keep track of your family's holidays! We'd all love to hear about them. *smile*

If you would like to have any of my charts, lists, or schedules that I've shared you can download those FREE from this link.

Blessings on your Christmas and winter birthdays!

You also might be interested in reading:

Gifts In a Jar! - Sweet Homemade Happiness
Gift idea: Family Audio Books - With an On-Going List of Recommendations!
Charts and Lists That Save My Sanity

Wednesday, June 28, 2017

PODCAST Large Families Living in Small Houses with Tom Keri Lamar of A Happy Home Media

http://www.ahappyhomemedia.com/2015/05/large-families-living-in-small-houses/

Bob and I were honored recently to be invited by Tom & Keri Lamar (homeschooling parents of 8), of A Happy Home Media, to do an interview together with them via podcast about how our family of 11 lives in an 1,100 square foot house. *smile* We had such a fun time as we laughed together, related together, shared great information and just generally brought mutual encouragement and vision. I hope you enjoy listening to the Lamars with Bob and I together as we talk about strategies for fitting into a smaller home, principles for getting it done beautifully, and what the value is in doing so. *smile*

Podcast:
LARGE Families

Living in small houses

Blessings on your efforts to fit beautifully where the Lord has you,

Some of my related posts you might also enjoy:
Our Home: A Virtual Tour Of Our Favorite Place To Be
De-Cluttering: First Steps to Organization
Organizing a Home: Principles & Tips for Organization, Part 1 of 2
Siblings Sharing Bedrooms: "You have *how* many per room?!"

Wednesday, June 14, 2017

Large Family Practical How To’s Transportation Birthdays Hair cuts 1 on 1s Laundry!

When people see our family of 11 people out and about doing life, they often tip their head to the side, get a puzzled look on their face, and ask, “…How do you do_____?” This always makes us chuckle because we’re “just us”, and we’ve become the larger group of “just us” gradually, one person at a time, so we don’t often think about the every day things as being unusual these days...

(Eating lunch while we visited the Museum of Flight)

So these two posts just share some practical strategies for how we get stuff done with our 9 children. I’ll share with you how we do:

- Laundry

- Transportation

- One-on-one time with the kids

- Birthdays

- Hair cuts

In part 2, I’ll share with you how we do bathing of kids, errands, meals, and even a large family professional photo. *smile*

“How do you do laundry?”

When we had only a couple of children I used to do laundry once a week. Then those children grew to an age where they could be helping more with laundry. Not just helping me move laundry from the washer to the dryer, or folding wash cloths, but really wanting to help by independently folding the whole basket and putting the clothes away. So I needed to keep the size of the task to a moderate amount both for their sake and for mine. We have just one washer and one dryer, and a very small laundry room, so laundry needs to be kept to those proportions.

As the Lord continued adding children to our family, our laundry quantity began exceeding 1 load per week, so we moved to doing laundry two times per week to keep the job simple each time. When laundry quantities continued to grow because we added people, and those people's clothes got larger, we moved to three times per week, and then eventually to four times per week, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday.

We have 2 dirty clothes hampers in our house, one in the master bedroom for our clothes and one in the single large family children's closet. I keep a single dish tub on top of our dryer where we put clothes that are wet, or clothes that have been treated with stain remover and are awaiting the next laundry day. This keeps wet or treated items off of the top of the washer or dryer, the tub is easily washable when necessary, and it keeps items out of sight and out of reach from younger children. (If there is a large amount of wet items that don’t fit in the dish tub then I just wash a load.) Each laundry day I gather both hampers. I sort the clothes into two piles of “lights” and “darks”, sometimes towels as an additional load, and I run them through the wash and dry cycles first thing in the morning.

Since we had our 8th & 9th babies (twins) I've found that there's so much on my mind now and I'm usually in a hurry to rotate laundry, that I can easily forget to remove items from the washing machine that shouldn't go through the dryer; things that should be hung to dry instead (I try to have very, very few of these items, but there are some). So I now keep a small tablet of paper and a pen on top of our washing machine where I write down any items in the lights or darks that shouldn't go to the dryer so that I remember to look for those things and hang them to dry. When laundry is all washed and dried, two of our children each fold one full basket of laundry during and put the items away.

They put away all of the children’s clothes in the children’s clothes closet, and they put Mommy & Daddy’s folded laundry on our bed for me to put away. Laundry never sits around for days in dirty piles, or in clean ones – we choose to be time-efficient, and we don’t have room in our small house for piles anyway. We get it out to be washed, rotate it through, fold it and put away. Done. And it’s then available for use immediately which means we don’t need to own and manage large quantities of clothes per person, either.

“How do you do transportation?”

We currently own a full-size, 12-passenger Ford Econoline van – which we love. We even chose a license plate and rim that are a great ministry opportunity, and they make a statement for being on purpose about family. The plate and rim are a great conversation starter; we’ve even had people ask to take a picture of it. *smile*

Not only does it fit all of us, but the inside is spacious enough to move around in, older siblings can help little ones get situated and buckled, or we can eat a picnic lunch in it if necessary. (We don’t eat in the car as a general rule as it makes the inside of the vehicle really gross and difficult to clean). We like how we can all go out to the van and climb inside out of the rain, snow, or heat, and then get situated taking off coats or whatever. We like how everyone enters the van on the same side so that we don’t have little ones out-of-sight on the other side of a vehicle in a busy parking lot, or walking all around behind the car unattended, or running out in to the street. With so many kids it is so nice that they can go strait to the door and climb inside – no one is in danger, no one is wasting time running in to the cul-de-sac. The task of getting 9 young children in to the car is time-efficient and safe. The van is full of car seats, however, and holds just 10 passenger children (we have 9 currently) so if the Lord chooses to bless us with more children then we’ll trade up for a 15-passenger.

When we need to go somewhere as a family, the older children all participate with making sure younger children have their coats and shoes on. When the children were all very young we either send an older child down to the garage to get everyone’s socks and shoes and then bring them upstairs so we can get every one ready in the family room, or we just all head down to the garage as a group to get ready there. We have turned ¼ of our 2-car garage in to a “mud room”, which is well-lit, carpeted (no pad, just carpet over cement), and organized for shoes and coats, so this is a very nice, large place for all of us to come and go from the van. The carpet there also serves to capture all of the dirt, rain water, sand, or snow before the children all enter the house, greatly minimizing the amount of effort we need to put out to keep the house clean. One of our favorite strategies when we had a lot of babies and which made the process of getting ready to go somewhere much easier, is to keep a pack-n-play open and available in the garage so that we have a clean, safe place to put a toddler or baby while we’re all getting ready. *smile*

“How do you have one-on-one time with so many kids?”

Since we are homeschooling, we are actually together having quantity time all the time, but we still make a point of making sure the quality is there, too. We love to be together as a group (most of the time *wink*), and the children learn to work together, enjoy each other, serve and care for each other, and include all ages of children in their activities (and it is a learned skill, but the fruit is priceless). But one thing that doesn’t necessarily happen automatically is one-on-one time with children – we purpose to make this happen.

We intentionally plan those times regularly during the week, and my husband and I also make a point to scoop them up here and there for additional individual one-on-one times. I take just one of the girls with me to do the weekly shopping every Saturday (they rotate who’s turn it is), and we often share a soft pretzel or a sandwich while we’re out. Daddy takes one of the boys at a time to do any errands he does, and they sometimes share a treat while they’re out as well. (This also helps financially to be able to treat the kids without having to purchase treats for 11 people every single time.) While at home, Bob and I make a point to draw an individual child in to snuggling on the couch, baking cookies, doing wood-working in the garage, playing a game, reading a story aloud, or just walking to the mailbox together (you can read about how we have time to do this in the posts, “Scheduling & Routines” parts 1 & 2, and “Productively Occupying Young Children”). And we schedule into our week, and encourage the spontaneity of our children having one-on-one time with each other as well.

Another thing we work on with the children is making sure they’re able to have alone time for a while most days, with so many people in one house! *chuckle* Without needing to always be with someone for entertainment or interaction.

“How do you do birthday parties?”

We have chosen to make birthdays a wonderful celebration of each person’s life, while at the same time keeping it simple; not overwhelming, inexpensive, and not too self-focused. In the past we had lots of children over for parties, but we found that once we purchased food, themed decorations, and gift bags for all of those people is was just too large of an expense for us to be doing several times a year. In addition, we were also finding that other children’s birthdays were becoming more and more commercial, renting play facilities, renting party rooms, renting huge inflatable yard toys…and the expectation was growing to match that size of party for each of our children’s special days. Not that party rooms or inflatable toys aren't fun or bad in and of themselves, but it can quickly amount to several hundred dollars for that one day, for us 11 times a year, every year! With even moderately expensive parties our children were becoming increasingly discontent with what we provided – comparing their celebrations with other children’s – and the joy was lost, the expenses of what we were doing was not appreciated, and there was too much focus on me-me-me that day (or month!). So, we decided to cut back on expense and commercialism, focus on celebrating their life, and just stick with our family and one additional family for each party (as well as having an extended-family party as well).

We have enough people for a good-size party with just us, and 11 times a year at that. *smile* Our children pool their money to buy one or a few inexpensive gifts for that person, together with something from Mommy & Daddy. A package of 8 party supplies is perfect for our family size right now (the oldest children don't need all the stuff), so we go to the nearest party supply store and buy some themed decorations for that person, while still keeping it simple, and decorate our dining room while they’re sleeping the night before their birthday. We buy lots of inexpensive crêpe-paper streamers for the ceiling, one package each of party blowers & hats, curly streamers to be thrown, and balloons from the dollar store. The children color a “Happy Birthday” banner for the wall, make a happy birthday crown for the birthday person, and we have a special birthday plate made from one of those paint-your-own ceramic item places, which that child loves to use all day.

The birthday person chooses what they’d like to have for dinner, and chooses their dessert. We’ve had traditional desserts…and not so traditional. *laugh* After a while they get tired of cake...

And we make a point to take a few pictures of just that child with Mommy & Daddy for the scrapbook (here Bob is making a silly face *chuckle*). And I scrapbook those photos of the party to capture the memories. *smile*

We usually all go to the park or the beach, or sometimes to Jungle Play Land (simple and fairly inexpensive) – but we go with just our immediate family which is not too overwhelming, and we keeps the expense to a minimum. And the memory is impressed in that child’s mind that they are loved, and treasured, and very, very valuable. The kids love their special day, anticipate it with great excitement, and appreciate the simple gifts, and the time and money spent for them.

They also have memories of how people can do birthday parties no matter what their income is for when they have their own families some day. There have been years when there has been more money than usual to spend on our family party. There have been times when finances were tight and we’ve paired the party down to an even simpler event at home. Either way the children are very celebrated, and that has become the focus and the joy instead of the amount of commercialism involved.

“How do you do so many kids’ hair cuts?”

Our oldest daughters have a hair cut every few months, but I take them to get it done one person at a time to spread out cash flow. Our youngest girls have straight hair to their mid-back, so that is easy for either our oldest daughter or myself to cut. Their hair can grow out 2-3 inches before they really need a cut again every 6 months or so. I trim their bangs once a month or so if they have bangs.

For our four boys, Daddy has learned to give them a nice “high and tight” clipper cut every couple of weeks at home in our garage. He has purchased a clipper set from Wal-Mart or online for about $25, which includes the clippers, a few guards, a cape, scissors, clipper oil, clamps for the cape, a couple of combs, and a box. There are great tutorials on You Tube for learning to do boys hair cuts! We just sit them up on the garbage can, put a cape on them, and have our very own barber shop for free!

I am so appreciative that Bob has taken the time to learn to do this really well (it has been a learning curve, and we’ve had some great laughs over the years, but he does a great job now). Keeping the children looking attractive, clean, and clean-cut is important to us, but with good strategies even with our 9 precious children so far it has been a very minimal expense. *smile*

I hope these “how-to’s” have been helpful and/or interesting. *smile* Please do share any additional ideas or strategies that you have for your own family!

Blessings on your efforts for your family,

Some other “how-to” posts I’ve written that might interest you:

- Large Family Laundry Strategies - How I Keep 9 Kids Clean and Why That's Valuable
- Large Family Laundry Strategies - More Tips & Practical How-To's
- How we plan our daily routine

- How I manage my own time, parts 1 & 2 (to-do lists, bills, calendar, charts for the kids…)

- How I capture photograph memories

- How we get by with such a small kitchen

- How we occupy young children during the day

- How we manage chores

- How I organizing recipes

Monday, May 29, 2017

Large Family Laundry Strategies – How I Keep 9 Kids Clean and Why That’s Valuable

About our laundry facility
The frequency that I do laundry
Stain/soil removing strategies
Time-saving strategies
A Mistake-saving strategy
Our strategy for last minute cleaning in public
The value of overall cleanliness for kids

People notice when a large family’s kids are clean and well-cared for – and they notice when they’re not. Some large families just don’t clean their kids up before going out in to public, and this really causes other people who are watching and making judgments about large families to frown and be critical. Not that we are obsessed with people-pleasing, not at all, but I believe that many large families would experience more of the smiles and compliments they desire instead of criticism and sarcasm from people if they would simply take time to present their kids clean.

It’s a sad but understandable fact I suppose. I’ve personally noticed the difference in others responses to me when I’m in public with clean kids, vs. when I’m in public with not-so-clean ones for varying normal reasons. *chuckle* I always strive to have the kids clean before we go out, but sometimes I’ve had to scoop up all the kids from the back yard to take one kiddo to the doctor suddenly, and they look like they’ve been having fun in the dirt, which they have been – but they are not their shiniest right then for by people who don’t know us. *chuckle* Our family of 11 has become known at places where we frequently shop, and smiles, friendliness, and clean kids does effect our reputation, and therefore our effectiveness in having a witness for the Lord; our ability to draw others to us, and entice them to wonder what makes us different from the rest of the world. What makes us smile...

People have asked for my tips for doing laundry for so many kids, I suppose thinking that if clothes can experience all that they do with 9 kids and still be clean, surely there are some valuable tips to be had! *laugh* One friend asked out of curiosity, “So… does your washing machine just run all the time?” No. *smile* Not at all! With a good plan and a few good cleaning strategies, laundry and clean kids can be accomplished fairly easily. So I thought I’d take time to share my simple yet ON PURPOSE strategies with you.

Facility –

Here is a photo of our small laundry room. So far it’s perfectly adequate for the 11 of us, and simply but purposefully supplied.

Our front-loader washing machine is energy-efficient, and easier on the clothes than the top-loader we used to have was as it does not pull the clothes around but rather tosses the clothes as it washes them. It also uses far less water than our top-loader did. We chose the largest capacity washer we could fit in our laundry room and was available to us, so we can fit large loads in every time. And the front-loader gets our clothes very clean.

Frequency –

So here's my plan of attack. *smile* I do 2 loads of laundry, 4 days a week: Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. I gather our 2 laundry hampers in the house (one in our master closet and one in the children's closet) and sort all of those clothes into two piles, white and colors. Over the course of the morning I rotate those through the washer and dryer, and then two of our children fold one basket each and put those clothes away for us.

It's also valuable to recognize that we as moms can greatly effect the amount of laundry our children produce. For example, my doing laundry only 4 days a week at 2 loads per day is also manageable because our kids wear only one outfit per day (unless there’s a genuine need for another one). We do not allow multiple outfits just because it strikes someone’s fancy. *wink* *smile* This would double or triple our laundry quantity, and waste our time, energy, and finances (by using a lot more laundry detergent and fabric softener needlessly).

Stain & Soil Removing Strategies –

- I use detergent from Costco because it works great and is inexpensive per load (but not Costco’s Kirkland Signature brand - that doesn't clean well enough for me) – I use a few different brands: All, Clear, and Gain. However I don't use Tide as it wears clothing out fast (I suppose it works so hard on stains that it actually removes color after just a few washes, and breaks down fabric so that it looks thread-bare and worn-out really fast in my experience).

- I use Downy fabric softener, also from Costco, because it smells so nice and fresh (but not the Kirkland Signature brand of softener as that just doesn’t seem to work) and is the best price I have found for large quantities. I’ve often had people tell me that our clothes and kids always smell so nice! And my husband’s co-workers in his office have commented in the past that his clothes always smell so nice. *smile* It’s worth the very minimal cost to us.

- I use Shout spray for most really noticeable dirt: from the yard, from baby spit-up, dirty sheets, food on clothes - general things I want to be sure to get out. I spray it and then let it sit in a white dish tub on top of my dryer while I sort the rest of the laundry; if it's more deeply dirty then I'll let it sit with the stain remover on it while I wash a load of whites, for example, and then wash that colored item next with the colored clothes next. So sometimes stained items sit for about an hour before going in to the wash. I wash them on the temperature appropriate for each item (whites in warm - unless there's a stain to remove then it gets cold; colors always in cold).

- For really bad stains I use a spray called Zout (I get it at Wal-Mart) for blood, red sauce, diaper stains, chocolate, ink, food grease. I spray it and let it sit for at least an hour. My mom has a friend who uses Zout at her bed and breakfasts and she claims that it takes out everything. Then I wash those items in cold always, as warm/hot will set the stain.

- When there is a deeper stain like blood I treat asap. I’ll strip that shirt off of the child, treat the stain and drop the shirt in to a dish tub on top of the dryer, and give them a new shirt. I just let the treated shirt sit in the dish tub in our laundry room until I do laundry again (every other day), and it pretty much always comes out if I got it treated right away, and usually even if I wasn't.

- I also love Tide Pens. I carry them in our van and keep one handy at home! If one of the children spills something really noticeable like red sauce during a meal then I try to treat it real quick right then and I don't worry about washing it until next time I do laundry and it comes it beautifully because it had been treated immediately. *smile* My sister has even done this for a few guests at her restaurant (she’s was a waitress) when they’ve spilled something like wine, and it’s taken the stain right out. Amazing.

- I buy bleach pens (from the grocery store) for treating small stains that just need bleaching, or I couldn't get out of white items, or on items that are a light enough color where even if the color is removed from the garment it’ll still look better than having a black ink mark there. Bleach pens (they have a gel bleach in them) are nice because they control the bleach and don’t let it go where I don't want it to on a clothing item. And it can't splash onto me while I'm working.

- I use diluted liquid bleach (mixed 1:1) in a spray bottle for larger items that need bleaching (white tee-shirts, little girls’ stretch pants that have been in the yard, sometimes sheets). Once I’ve accumulated 3-4 items that need bleaching then I’ll wash a load of those together to prevent bleach from transferring to items that I don't want it on. I let bleach from either the pen or the spray bottle sit for a few minutes while I baby sit it (*chuckle* - can't leave it unattended with kids around) and so that it doesn't "eat" the fabric due to being left on there too long, and then I throw those items into the wash as a group, bleached items together.

Time-Saving Strategies –

- I have a white, zipping mesh laundry bag (12x18-inches or so) for tiny or delicate items, so that they don’t get lost or pulled out of shape (i.e. bras, camisoles’, nylons). This also helps me identify these items from the wash when the load is done so that I don’t accidentally put them into the dryer, but rather hang them to dry.

- Feather down items (our kids’ twin comforters, my down vest, down pillows) do not have to be taken to the dry cleaners! *beam* My mom and I have washed items like this for many years. *smile* My mother taught me this, and for years I’ve been enjoying washing down. I wash the item on cold, sometimes on delicate, with half the usual detergent amount, and no fabric softener. Then I put the items into the dryer on low heat for 2 hours, and with 3-5 dryer balls or tennis balls. This punches the laundry as it tumbles, fluffing-up the feathers.

- Many unusual things can be put in to the washing machine that people might not usually clean there: tennis shoes, canvas lunch coolers, car seat covers, pot holders, men’s hats (although these keep their shape better – which is important to my Honey – washed in the dishwasher)…then I let those air dry.

- I try not to buy things that need to be hung to dry or laid flat to dry; I just don’t have time or space for that. I do hang the items mentioned above, plus jackets if necessary (most of them tumble dry on low), and church dresses made of rayon or something similar, but that’s about it.

- I don’t buy clothing that can’t be thrown in to the washing machine. Once I nearly purchased a child’s jacket from Costco that said “spot clean only” – Ha! Ya, right, with throw up, mud, food, and urine? No thanks - didn't buy that item. I even wash items that say “hand wash only” on the “hand wash” cycle on our front loading machine and that’s been totally fine.

- I try to take some clothing items out of the dryer while they’re still hot and either fold them or hang them on a hanger, letting them cool flat (or hung up) when I desire for them to look pressed. I take, for example, my husband’s and son’s button-down shirts and church slacks from the dryer and hang them on a hanger to cool (the slacks are wrinkle-resistant, too). I don’t even have to iron them then and they still look smooth. (We like a pressed, creased look, but I just don’t have time for that in this season of life, and my husband has graciously excused me from ironing much while we have so many babies and toddlers *chuckle*.)

- If an item has a small part that really should be pressed for church, but the entire clothing item doesn’t necessarily need to be pressed, then I just put an ironing mat (or a folded-in-half hand towel) on the bathroom counter and use the iron on that collar, or bent-upward chest pocket. This takes just about 3 minutes and is a quick clean-up.

My Mistake-Saving Strategy –

- I keep a tablet of paper and a pen in the laundry room so that I can write down any items in the wash that I need to remember to check at the end of the cycle, to make sure the treated stain came out (so the heat of the dryer doesn’t set a stain), or to hang them instead of putting them into the dryer. It is easy to be preoccupied, especially for large family moms, and then those infrequent items that shouldn’t go in to the dryer; and once they did go through the dryer the stain was often now permanent from the heat, or the item was damaged because it was supposed to be hung to dry. Now I check my tablet when moving a load from the washer to the dryer, and there are no more mistakes, and with little effort! *smile*

Last-Minute Cleaning of Children in Public –

- I keep a package of baby wipes in the car to use for cleaning kids noses that got messy while we traveled, or for kid’s faces that were missed before we left the house. Costco’s Kirkland Signature brand wipes are by far my favorite, as they’re a nice texture (not slimy, like some are), they’re a nice thickness so I only need to use one, the whole package is always wet and doesn’t dry out, and they’re inexpensive. I’ve even taken baby wipes and wiped/scrubbed a toddler’s hair if they’ve gotten food in it. And I still buy wipes now that we don't even have any children in diapers! *laugh*

- I periodically purchase a box of “Boogie Wipes” (*laugh* - Isn't that an awesome name?!) Which are individually packaged handi-wipes (I get them from Wal-Mart) so that I can put a couple of the little packages in my purse for use on really goopy noses while out and about or if someone gets sticky hands. I hardly ever need to use them, so they’re not a substantial expense, but when they’re needed, they’re needed and very appreciated (probably by others as well as by my self! *laugh!*). *smile* They’re also handy for the children’s fingers that have gotten chocolaty after the free cookie some grocery stores give to children.

- Again, those Tide Pens are a great tool to have in one’s purse to disappear bad or dark stains.

Overall Cleanliness –

- I make sure to bathe the children on a regular basis, washing their hair really well (and I do teach them to clean their scalp and make sure it’s not oily or have dandruff), and weekly clip their finger nails and toe nails so that they’re short and cannot collect dirt easily. This may seem like it is unnecessary to mention but I’m telling you, people do notice when children’s nails are unkempt. I also git rid of "bed head" and take a squirt bottle and a brush to their hair every morning as part of getting ready for the day, right after brushing teeth. Children's hair that is really tangled or "bed-head" really doesn't look clean, but just misting their hair with a tiny bit of water and combing it out gets rid of the "bed-head" and they look shiny, smooth, and clean again. It's good that I know they're clean (most of us know that our kids are generally clean) - but it's important for others to see that our children are clean as well.

It may seem like I’m constantly cleaning the kids, but really I’m not. With some proactive strategies and intentional cleaning, it’s not too hard to maintain. Basically I just make sure they are clean every week (or more if they're a teen *wink*) and that their clothes get cleaned well when we do laundry, and sometimes there is a little touching-up to do when we’re out if someone has a cold or a baby is teething and their nose is runny. But just like most things, if we’re proactive and have a good routine in place, cleanliness isn’t hard – but it is very valuable.

Blessings on your efforts!

You may also enjoy some of my related posts:
"Raising Real Men - Surviving, Teaching, and Appreciating Boys" - a book review.
Living Life on Purpose - "Isn't it exhausting?!"
Managing My Time, Part 1 of 2
Scheduling and Routines: You Can't Have Your Cake and Eat it, Too. Part 1 of 2