My son, Brady, graduated early this year since he attended college full
time as well as homeschooling with me. We are so proud of him. Both
Quincy and Brady also got their welding certifications. Thank you, LORD!
Brady was the youngest student his teacher ever certified. My husband and
I really wanted them to have a trade under their belts, just as Jesus and
Paul did. We see the value in that, as well as learning mechanics,
cooking, economics, a little farming, and how to work hard as part of
their upbringing. We saw some fruit of that this week when Brady got home
from a nine day missions trip to Mendenhall, Mississippi. He worked on a
farm with a team of kids from our church. One day the head man called
Brady into the cab of his truck saying, "Son, I want to talk to you."
Brady thought he had done something wrong. When he sat down, the man
turned to him and said, "Son, where did you learn to work hard like
that?" Brady told him his father taught him to work hard. The man
replied, "Well, your father must be one hard worker, because I've never
seen a young man work as hard as you do." We are so proud of him. He is a
hard worker just like his dad.
Quincy just turned 20 years old, and he will be attending Bible college
part time as well as taking more classes from our junior college. He is
also a hard worker like his dad. He'll be teaching about 22 or 25 piano
students this year with a full load in college. It won't be easy, but I
know with the help of God, he can do it. We are also praying about a
lovely, young Christian woman he is very interested in. Quincy has never
courted anyone, so this is big news in our family! ~Smile~ He's been
praying for a godly wife since he was thirteen.
This next school year I will only have Abbie and Gabe as my older boys
will be in college. It's hard to believe. Abbie is in eighth grade now,
and I am praying to help her in so many ways these upcoming teenage
years. She just completed her first course in cake decorating and
practices quite often. We are praying about putting Gabe in drum lessons.
He is also very interested in drawing, so Art and I used our allowances
this week to buy him a drawing book that he wanted. He's been practicing
since we bought it.
We're down to $3800 in paying off the house! I am praying and paying. It
is such a joy to almost be completely debt free. My husband feels light
as a feather. I am so thankful to help him after all these years achieve
this goal. We have downsized on our car to achieve our goal earlier. We
bought a 1986 Honda and sold our 1994 car to Quincy. With the money we
make on our car, we'll apply that to the last of our house loan. God is
so good! It's been my prayer that we can have the house paid off by my
husband's birthday.
I love helping women save money. I've been helping some women in our
church. It's a labor of love for me. I so want to help them with the help
God has given me. I just heard back from two women I helped last year
who are doing fabulously in praying and paying off their debt while
saving money for their families. I literally jumped for joy hearing their
news and hearing their joy in seeing the burden of debt being slowly
lifted from their shoulders. God is so good!
Well, I guess I've chatted long enough. Here are some recent questions:
1~ "You mentioned that you redecorated your daughter's room as a surprise
changing it from a young girl's room to that of a teenager. Did your
daughter resent you going into her room like that?"
No, she was thrilled! I had such a blast putting up this beautiful 1940's
light green quilt and decorating around that for my theme. Abbie was gone
all day, so I worked hard and fast. I put everything in bags for her to
go through that I was moving out of the room. I think she only retrieved
a couple of things. She loved the new look and hugged me many times to
thank me. I guess I just know her taste after all these years. So I
turned her room into a "Tea Party Room". All her tea things are on her
shelves now with lots of lace and the beautiful quilt adorning the wall.
(I found the quilt at a thrift shop for an incredible price.) She's had
several friends over to have a tea party in her new room. It was my
pleasure to do it for her. We're very close and enjoy a lot of the same
things.
I also redecorated my sons' (Brady and Gabe) room after I finished
Abbie's room. I really didn't want to have to repaint in there, which it
needed. So what I did was to make a sea theme since Brady loves surfing
and Gabe loves fishing. We took down all the posters of the planets that
had been up there for years and put up Brady's surfing posters. Then I
had a lot of fishing memorabilia that I put on the walls for Gabe.
Lastly, I stenciled star fish over all marks in the walls so that I
wouldn't have to paint. Brady said it looked okay. Gabe loved it. It took
me two days to thoroughly clean and update their room, and I have to say
they are both so pleased to have their room in such good order.
2~ "I am a homeschooling mom of three kids whose life and house is out
of control. My husband just wants some order out of all this chaos, but I
don't know where to begin. I feel like such a failure. Can you share with
me your cleaning schedule?"
Truly I could have written those very words ten years ago, except that I
had four kids. I was literally at the end of myself. I, too, felt like
such a failure. I know I'm going to sound like a broken record here, but
the first thing the LORD did was to get me into a regular, consistent
time alone with Him. This has been the foundation of my day for the past
ten and a half years. He is life! It is "the necessary part" that Jesus
said would not be taken away from Mary. I do not know how I survived the
first ten years of my marriage and motherhood without time alone with the
LORD every morning. No wonder I finally reached the breaking point.
You know what is interesting? My son, Brady, told me that they had 30
minutes a day on his trip in Mississippi to get alone with the LORD. (He
was gone nine days, as I mentioned before.) He told me that he felt so
close to the LORD after getting alone with Him consistently for nine
days. Consistent communication is the crucial in any relationship,
especially our First Love. We need to listen to Him (The Word) and talk
to Him ( Prayer) every day.
Now as many of you know, my early morning time alone with the LORD is at
4:00 a.m. I started getting alone with Him at this time when I had a
three week old nursing baby and three young children. It was the most
difficult time of my life to begin learning how to get up early. Real
early! I had never seen that time of the day on purpose before. And I
usually fell asleep on the LORD for the first couple of months, but I
kept persevering, and I kept showing up. To this day. I chose this time
because it was the only hour of my day that I could be all alone since I
homeschool and my husband gets up at 5:30 a.m.
Women used to get up much earlier than they do now. I don't think when
they read the words, "She rises before dawn" back in the 30's or 40's
that they winced like women do now. I know my great grandmother was a
very early riser. But we've slacked off over the years, and I was no
exception. As I said before, this is where the LORD started me. Early
mornings in His Word. Then I had to learn how to work early after that.
He truly is incredible strength.
"I love you, LORD, my strength." Psalm 18:1
I do believe my days were all out of whack ten years ago because I used
my time most unwisely. More than most women. I got up very late. Then I
was on the phone ridiculously long during the morning and into the day.
In the stores far too much. Watching sinful soap operas in the afternoon.
Reading steamy fiction late into the night. And I would start thinking
about dinner around 3:00 p.m. with the meat usually frozen. Bad, bad
habits that cost us a lot of time and money. Proverbs 31 seemed like a
dream to me. I was excellent at blaming everyone else or circumstances
while not facing my own sin and inadequacies caused by it.
"Love not sleep, lest you come to poverty; open your eyes and you shall
be satisfied with bread." Proverbs 20:13
"He also that is slothful in his work is brother to him that is a great
waster." Proverbs 18:9
"In all labor there is a profit, but the talk of the lips tendeth only to
poverty." Proverbs 14:23
"She watches over the ways of her household, and does not eat the bread
of idleness." Proverbs 31:27
So for a couple of years now, I have been practicing the Flylady's
routines (www.flylady.net) after my early morning time with the LORD. I
actually started two years ago in May. For months I just listened to her.
I had to assimilate everything before I could figure out exactly how she
was managing her house and her time. I copied lots of her directives and
started a Control Journal, which is basically a personal notebook of
household management that she suggests keeping. It is so wise. Because if
I was managing a K-Mart, for example, I would have a plan for the week in
some sort of notebook. Now I have one for my own home.
Well, here we are two years later, and this is the summer that I was
determined to practice her entire plan before starting another school
year. I called it "Harvesting My Time." I am really trying to learn how
to be fruitful with my time for the benefit of my family. And I've
learned that I can take my habits with me wherever I go. Isn't that cool?
I so want godly habits as taught in Proverbs 31. So for the entire summer
thus far, I have been harvesting my time and practicing the Flylady's
entire plan. You know what? It works! It is the first plan that I have
consistently practiced which works great for me. I can hardly wait for
the school year to begin with all I've learned to put into practice this
summer. It's been such a profitable summer. (Which is why I have been
slack in writing. ~Smile~ Harvesting your time is quite a learning
experience.) I'm going to try to explain it to you in hopes that it will
be as much of a help to you as it has been to me. You will need to check
out the website (www.flylady.net) if you are unfamiliar with the
Flylady's household management system. It will help you to understand
what I am saying here. She does use some things that I don't agree with,
but I just pluck out the gold and cast off the chaff. Here's what I've
plucked out:
My entire household plan is on four big note cards. One of them being
blue. The blue card is the first card which holds my foundational chores.
These are things I have learned to do first off in the morning.
**************************
Blue Card:
1~ Bible study & Prayer: 4:00 a.m. - 5:30 a.m.
2~ Get dressed from head to toe.
3~ Lay out my clothes for tomorrow.
4~ Declutter for 15 minutes while listening to praise music.
5~ Shine my sink.
6~ Get my bread machines started.
As I said before, spending time with the LORD is the most necessary part
of my day. And the only reason I can do any of this! He is definitely my
strength. I often tell Him, I'm standing on the outside because I'm
kneeling all day on the inside. Jesus Christ is the Master of My Moments.
I never thought getting dressed from head to toe was important, but I
sure do now! I also find wearing sneakers very important, as the Flylady
teaches, right off in the morning. And laying out my clothes for tomorrow
was something my grandmother always practiced. Now I can see why. I am so
much faster in the morning with my clothing selection all ready for me.
Decluttering for 15 minutes each day is so important. I am learning to
have a place for everything, and everything in its place. Just like Gram!
So I go through each room rather quickly putting things back where they
go and tossing anything that needs tossing. I am still working on this
and by no means have it down. But things are so much better.
Shining my sink is such a daily practice that I don't even think about it
anymore. It's definitely a habit. And it has surely helped me to keep my
sink area cleaner. My sister-in-law just recently visited after a year
apart. When she saw my kitchen she said, "Laine, I can see your
counters!" All that harvesting of my time has paid off. ~Smile~
I personally added the part about getting my bread machines started,
because they have to be going early in the morning for me to have bread
by dinner time. As many of you know, I only use the dough cycle and hand
shape my bread. It's the most wonderful servant!
Once I have completed this blue card, I turn this card over and start on
the next, which is my morning routine.
************************
First White Card: Morning Routine
1~ Swish down the bathroom.
2~ Tidy the living room.
3~ Make my bed and tidy our room.
4~ Start a load of laundry.
5~ Sweep the front patio and tidy.
6~ Sweep the back patio and tidy.
7~ Dust mop the kitchen.
8~ Dust mop the hallway.
9~ Write the kids' chore list.
10~ Set up coffee pot, tea, & vitamins for tomorrow.
11~ Get breakfast started.
12~ Get dinner started.
13~ 15 minutes in my zone for the week.
My goal this summer was to be done with my foundation (blue card) and my
morning routine (white card) by 9:00 a.m. when I begin school. It is a
work out each day for me to stretch myself a little more. I am oftentimes
done my first two cards before 9:00 a.m. and then start working on my "To
Do List" (which I will explain later). One of my secrets is to have my
phone off for this crucial morning time. My whole day is so much smoother
if my morning time is wisely used as the foundational part of each day.
Also, I work harder on Monday and Friday to have the weekend free with my
husband. I don't work out at a gym or run in my neighborhood, rather I
work out really fast in my house. I get my heart pumping as I try to beat
the clock, and I stretch while I work. I read that a doctor said women
could work out cleaning their homes if they got their hearts pumping and
stretched while they moved, so that is my goal each day. It's working
wonderfully!
As I've worked hard this summer at practicing this system, the goal was
to be done by 9:00 a.m. on my first two morning routine cards so that I
am ready to start school. Then I will go to my afternoon card after
school is finished.
Swishing down the bathroom each day is so much easier than scrubbing it
each week. I swish down the tub when I take a bath each day. So much
easier this way. And then once a week I put a "scrub the tub" on one of
my kid's chore lists.
Dust mopping is wonderful. My grandmother used to use a dust mop. It's
very fast, just like a feather duster. Then you just shake it out after
each use. So some days I sweep, and some days I dust mop.
As many of you know, I give my kids three chores a day and one recipe to
prepare for the day. My older boys have to leave early for school and
work, so they have to make their beds and make their own breakfasts and
lunches. They also have an outside chore for their dad during the week
that has to be completed. The two younger ones will complete 8 chores for
me (including two recipes for the day) every day. Imagine, when they were
all being homeschooled, I had 16 chores a day being completed including
four recipes! I loved all the productive activity. My husband was so
right years ago when he told me that I needed to learn how to harness all
their energy. ~Smile~
Starting my dinner in the morning frees up my whole day. And it's
Biblical! (Read Proverbs 31 about how she gets her food going very
early.) I have also been practicing menu planning all summer. So I plan
out my meals for a week the day before I go shopping (using the specials
in the ads sent to my home) and write them down on my calendar. Then I
store the recipes for that week in a little folder in my kitchen desk for
quick retrieval each morning. I also note on the calendar the day before
if I need to take out any frozen meat for the next day. This helps to
save money, and you'll find that you'll be much more creative with your
meals. As you know, I love to try a couple of new meals a week. Never
bored in the kitchen that way.
The 15 minute zone work is great. I have my zones on the back of this
white card. Here is the schedule for my zones. As I said before, you need
to check out the Flylady's website if you don't quite understand what I
am talking about. She also has written a book that you can buy from the
website. If you don't have internet access (like me), you can access her
site at your local library.
Week One: Kitchen
Week Two: Living room & one of the kids' rooms
Week Three: Kitchen & Back room (28 Boogie Fling)
Week Four: My room and the bathroom
I put the kitchen on there twice as it needs the most cleaning out of all
the rooms in my house. So for 15 minutes from Monday to Friday, I work 15
minutes in my zone. This week I am in the kitchen, so I spent 15 minutes
today cleaning my kitchen ceiling. By the end of the week, I will have
clocked in 1 hour and fifteen minutes on this zone. After practicing this
all summer, I see such an improvement in each room. It's just amazing
what 15 minutes can do with a zone planning system.
The 28 Boogie Fling is when I go through our home with a big bag and give
away unnecessary things, outgrown things, unused things, etc. It keeps
the clutter from going overboard, which is quite probable in my house
since I am a clutter bug and collector. I find that I oftentimes get rid
of much more than 28 things, which I think is the idea. But it helps to
have it scheduled each month on a certain week.
And I love the timer! It's a wonderful way to get something done quickly
which you thought would have taken much longer. It's also a wonderful way
to work out your body as you try to beat the clock. The timer is so
helpful.
***********
Second White Card: Afternoon Routine
1~ Take a 20 to 30 minute nap.
2~ Shape my bread and let it rise.
3~ Put out any hot spots.
4~ Catch up on dishes.
5~ Make a green drink.
6~ Set the table.
7~ Sweep the kitchen.
8~ Check "To Do" List and finish items.
9~ Write "To Do" list for tomorrow.
Since I start so early in the morning, I oftentimes need a nap in the
early afternoon. It's very refreshing. Even just 20 minutes or so is
quite refreshing.
Putting out the hotspots is a term the Flylady uses for going around your
house and putting anything back where it goes. It usually only takes a
few minutes, then everything is tidy again. I'll call my kids in and have
them do a "five minute hotspot treatment" on their room.
I like a green drink to help with my health. I just blend it up in my
blender. I've shared the recipe before at www.lainesletters.com
I've learned to make a "To Do" list for each day. Oh, how I didn't want
to do this one. But I can't imagine managing this home without it now. I
check my calender and see what I'm having for dinner the next day, jot
down what I need to do for the preparation of dinner, write what chores I
have for that particular day, and what 15 minute zone chore I have to do,
and then anything else unusual that I need to remember. It's wonderful to
have everything notated the day before, so when I get up I am ready to go
and know exactly what is going on. I also pray every day over all that I
need to do. I try not to write more than six things on my To Do List,
otherwise it is just too overwhelming. And I try to have this list
completed by the end of the afternoon. If not, I will have to add it to
the next day, and I really don't want to do that!
Now on the back of this card is my chores for each particular day. As I
said, I work harder on Monday and Friday. The reason for this is to
prepare myself for the week with Monday being the foundational day for
the week of my work. Friday prepares me to be available to my husband on
the weekend. Here are my chores by days, which I transfer to my "To Do"
List each day and oftentimes put on my children's individual chore lists.
Monday:
Vacuum & dust the house
Water inside and outside plants
Make granola
Write weekly menu & make a shopping list
Sort & put away clothes
Tuesday:
Clean the church
Post Office and Food Shopping
Mop the hallway
Emma's eggs (we have an egg delivery)
Windex the stove
Wednesday:
Mop kitchen
Windex microwave
15 minute Procrastination Day (this is when you work on something for 15
minutes that you've been putting off)
Vacuum car
Wash car
Use the carpet sweeper and feather duster through any rooms that need it
( a carpet sweeper is a wonderful investment to fly through a room to
tidy it without having to pull out the vacuum; I bought mine at a thrift
shop)
Thursday:
Sort and put away clothes
Windex stove
Pay bills and balance checkbook
Clean purse
Friday:
Water plants inside & out
Scrub bottom & sides of tub
Vacuum & dust house
Clean fridge
Wash towels & sheets
Make beans, rice, & salsa for the weekend
Marinate meat for the weekend
Saturday: Fun Day with Art & kids. Church.
Sunday: Rest & Refresh. Church.
***********
Third White Card: Night Routine
1~ Clean table and wash dishes with kids.
2~ Take a bath and relax.
**********
I like to relax with my husband at night, and if I've worked wisely
through my day, that is now possible. I am no longer trying to play catch
up at night when I am the most tired. Rather, I am relaxing with Art and
the kids. I never would have dreamed it possible!
Also, I found that my house was now company ready for the many guests
that visited us this summer. No more, "Oh no, Aunt Martha is coming!"
Then a cleaning frenzy would ensue making me crazy and unable to enjoy
guests, especially overnight guests, because my house was so out of
control most of the time. Now I really enjoy my guests because my house
is ready for them at a moment's notice, especially the many friends my
kids bring through during the week. It is so nice to welcome them to a
more orderly home with something good to eat. No more spring or fall deep
cleaning, rather a little bit of cleaning here and there each day for 15
minutes in my zones. I find that each zone gets better and better each
time another week rolls around to work in them.
It took me years to get into some really bad habits. It took me years to
learn my way out of them. As I've told you before, I had a lot of
household debt. Just like financial debt, it takes years to pay it off
and learn how not to do it again. But the more you pray and practice at
something good, the better you get at it. Just like my daughter with her
cake decorating and my son with his piano practicing. It does no good to
whine and complain, which I practiced for years. But it does a world of
good for your family to learn how to change bad habits into good ones. I
am going to try to help my husband set up zones and daily jobs for his
work outside on our landscaping. He has seen such an improvement in our
home, especially in my attitude, that he is ready to map out a plan with
me for his work here outside in our garage and on our landscaping.
"Do everything without complaining or arguing."
I hope this system helps you as much as it has helped me. Start with just
the foundational card and work slowly up from there. It's like running,
you don't start off running fifteen miles in a marathon, rather ten or
twenty minutes to build up strength. Don't get discouraged. I am giving
two years of work to you, plus a harvest of time for the past three
months of this summer, because I begged God to help me with my home. He
sent me the Flylady's plan, and it hasn't been the same since. I am so
thankful that I didn't give up, but kept praying, persevering, and
practicing. To this day. How the LORD has helped me! I can run faster
now. ~Smile~
"She girds her loins with strength."
It's an ongoing process of learning, strengthening, and building for the
glory of God.
"Every wise woman builds her house."
I would have never believed that I could see this much improvement in my
home. I am looking forward to this school year. I'm praying for the best
one ever. God bless you as you seek His glory in all you say and do.
Love,
Laine