Home managment week in review

So the last week was not a good week for me. Laziness kicked in big time as well as the upcoming arrival of family. I lounged the first part of the week and then scrambled on Thursday and Friday to get back on track. It is not a pretty picture in the laundry room because of this.

So today I woke up renewed to get back to my schedual and so far so good. I had to do much more than maintaince cleaning just because of all the visitors and the mess made there. The laundry is stacked up but I am working through that pretty well. I am not really going to focus on kitchen day today but will bump that to later in the week when everything is back on track.

A few things:

* the major cleaning I give the kitchen every week as helped a ton as far as up keep. I notice that things like the baseboards and wall (near the garbage can) look a lot better all the time. I usually give these wipe up jobs to the kids as they think its fun.

* Doing Laundry all on one day is fine in theory but it sure is a complete bore and I usually end up leaving a load for the next week. I am thinking about doing a load every other night throughout the week so it never piles up. (This is assuming I make it through the current pile!)

* Making 2 batches of granola each week is PERFECT. We are loving it!

* The kids seeing me take the time to do this each week are slowly improving on their own cleaning. Since getting their room organized with the bins they keep their room much tidier. Also the mess does not get as out of control as before.

This picture: Mainly herbs but some perenial flowers.

The garden is coming along great. Dean got 2 raised beds this weekend and we ordered 15 fruit trees. They should be here in about 6 weeks or so. The raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, and asperagus that we ordered will be here next month. We have a lot to do to get ready for them but we are excited.

Broccoli, cabbage, brussle sprouts and other herbs and flowers

The starts here in the kitchen are covering nearly all the counters on one side. It is annoying to a degree to have all the space taken up. The kitchen never quite feels completely clutter free. However all those little green sprouts totally make my day. Most of them have their first set of true leaves coming in so that is great! The tomatoes had a harder time this year germinating. I think this is because I have them in a different place that doesnt stay has warm. They finally popped up last night, although I am still waiting on quiet a few to show some action.

Top: Onions, they smell fantastic already. They need to be trimmed down a bit.

Bottom: My poor tomatoes. Today they will be moved to the dishwasher by the window. I am hoping that this place gives them more incentive to perk up and get growing!

Thrift Store Finds

I am a bargin shopper. I blame/thank my mom for this trait. I cannot in good conscience buy something at full price. Now this is always a good thing until I find an absolutly wonderful pair of knee high leather boots with a sexy heel and great proportioned toe area. Then my thrifty ness sucks. Why, because I can not buy the boots. I know they look amazing on me, I know Dean will want to kiss my calves because they are so tempting and beautiful when molded in leather (and lets face it, it wont stop with the calves if we get that far), and I know that I will wear them till my dying day. However I can not grab my debit card and punch in those 4 little numbers because the boots arent on sale. .....SIGH.... It breaks my heart, really. And so I have tried on nearly all pairs of above mentioned boots at all the nearby shops and even some out of town and yet I do not own a pair. Really it is one of the low points in my thus far fanastic life.

Okay so maybe some of that was a little over the top but ya got to feel passionate about something right. Shoes speak to me. Anyway before I start talking about cute littl high heels or sling backs I better get to the point of this post. Thrift stores. I love them, adore them, sigh over them. They are great. I cam across some really great deals this weekend. I hit the payday on books for the kiddos. I got nearly 50 books that have been on my "every child must read list" for......$20 bucks. Nice right? Oh yeah it was sweet. And I found all of them local here in my little one horse town. Even better. I love the smell of sweet success. Ahhh.

The only thing that would have been better is they had been free. Hey a girl can dream right?

So overall the goals for this month went pretty good. Really we got a lot more accomplished than I planned. We bought more stuff than usual but this was all used and will be put to great use here in the future (come on chant with me....add on....add on....add on). The eating out goal as I said totally sucked but couldnt be totally helped. So over all all goals were met and are in place. Now that is sweet!

Next month I am simplifying my housekeeping stuff. I will most likely shock some of you with what I am going to pull out of my hat this time. I know you will be thinking "Oh this Kim is so entertaining but really are there a few screws look in the ole' noggin? Is she a few cards short of a deck? A few crumbs short of a cookie? I assure you I am quite sane (well right now anyway) and while you may think I am a total weirdo, everyone needs a weird friend. Dont worry you dont have to take me out in public and if you do just say "she's from out of town" everyone will understand. :D
So anyway my point is you may want to check back later, get the scoop on some housekeeping recipes, thoughts, plans and if you are lucky (and I am on the ball) some little worksheet helps if you are into the whole organization thing. I am, its fun being a list maker. Come on join group.

Later.

Money and Heating

So right off the bat this was probably the worst month to do finance simplifying. Really it has been nearly pointless to have some of those goals. Like eating out. Normally we dont do a whole lot of this anyway because really everything is so nasty and unhealthy, but this month we have gone out more than we have in probably the last 6 months!! We have had an abnormally busy month that has included things that we couldnt plan for. So that goal will head on over to Marchs goals.

We have done really great on spending though (not that we spend a lot to begin with). I got all the kids books for school this coming year and the garden seeds, bushes and trees. We have stumbled onto some really awesome deals. It has saved us a lot of money and I am so thankful for it.

So to anyone wondering if a woodstove is a good purchase I will tell you right now it is! We have LOVED it this year. We have to figure out how much wood we have used for next year. The great thing is though, we have save A TON of money on our electric bill (our heater is electric). Last year our average electric bill this time of year was nearly $200. (Our insulation stinks if you cant tell!) This year we are much less at under $80. The investment has been very worthwhile. We have already gotten all our money back that we put out. Do you want a woodstove? Go get one. Now. They are great.