Posted in Homeschool

Simple Journey Ministries Presents

Mom, I’m Bored!

Bean Germination

Summertime is the perfect time for a little project that is simple, yet will give the kids something to do each day for several days. All that sunlight coming through the windows is the perfect setting for a bean germination project. I am willing to guess you have all the materials you need in your home right now. Let’s check it out.

Materials

·         Zip style plastic bag (one for each child)

·         Beans of choice (one or two for each child)

·         Paper towels

·         Water

·         Tape

·         Stapler

See, I told you had everything you need. Now, let’s look at how to do this simple project.

1.      Soak beans in a small cup with some water for 24 hours.

2.      The next day, dampen paper towel and fold in half. Place bean(s) inside fold of paper towel.

3.      Place paper towel in bag and staple the top, so it doesn’t slip down. Seal bag.

4.      Have child pick a window and tape bag to window pane.

5.      Each day have child observe the changes in the bean(s). Have them write a few words or sentences (or have child dictate while you transcribe) about each day. Take photos each day or have your children draw pictures to note the changes they observe. Once the sprouts begin growing, change the direction of the bag and re-tape to the window pane and observe how the sprout changes.

You can ask some great thinking questions such as:

Why does the sprout grow upward?

Did changing the direction of the bag affect the direction of the sprout?

Why does the bag need to be in the light?

Why is the water an important element?

Does the root change in as it grows?

Have fun with this GREAT summertime activity.

These are my thoughts.

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Posted in Frugality-Simplicity

Simple Journey Ministries Presents

Simply Frugal

Curb Appeal for Less

You can dress up the outside of your home with some simple, frugal, and usable plants that will provide curb appeal for less.

Using potting soil, or good soil from your composter, fill several smaller plant pots. Add seeds from a variety of different herbs to the pots according to the package directions. Once the plants begin to grow, plant the pots in your garden by digging a hole the pot will fit in leaving the top band exposed. Once these plants begin to grow, they look beautiful! This is also an easy way to determine weeds from your plantings…if it’s growing outside the pot, it’s a weed. This is so simple, but the frugal aspect is twofold. Firstly, herb seeds and the other components for planting are very inexpensive. But the savings don’t stop there, because you can take clippings from the herbs to use in your cooking saving you from having to buy herbs.

These are my thoughts.

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Posted in Frugality-Simplicity

Simple Journey Ministries Presents

I Can’t Live Simply Until…

Homemade Tomorrow

How often do we think about how much we could do from scratch if we just had more time, resources, were more organized and crafty, etc. We have a million and one excuses reasons why we don’t do more homemaking from scratch. This is all fine if you don’t desire this form of simplicity in your life. But if you do, this thinking is continual source of procrastination.

The thing about making things from scratch is that you don’t have to make everything from scratch. The simplicity of making things yourself should be rewarding as well as benefit your family. If you have no desire to learn to sew purchasing a sewing machine, fabric, needles, thread, and do dads galore will end up being nothing more than clutter. You don’t have to sew home décor items, clothing, period costumes for your kids, etc to validate your journey to simplicity. If baking is not your thing, don’t stress yourself out with making muffins for a church brunch...buy them.

All this said, DON’T put off the simple homemade activities you do enjoy for a chaotic convenient store bought life. If you enjoy baking, schedule a baking morning each week with a pre planned list for each week of the delicious items you will bake. Make enough to freeze some for other days. Enjoy sewing? Use fabric you already have and take on one project and complete it. Have a green thumb? Spend time growing your own flowers and vegetables and forget those other projects that you have no interest in.

Your life of simplicity is YOUR own. You are unique. So is the path of your journey. Don’t put off all homemade activities because you are overwhelmed by the amount you think you should be doing. Pick one that you want to do and get started!

These are my thoughts.

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Posted in Organization

Simple Journey Ministries Presents

Keep it Together, Girl!

Cord Organization

One thing everyone has in their homes is cords. We don’t think about them much, but they can be a pain to keep track of and store. It is amazing to me how all those cords for my puter and printer can be such a tangled mess!!! It can make it very difficult to clean around. But there is a simple and FREE solution!

Save the cardboard tubes from TP and paper towels. Use the TP tubes to store miscellaneous cords such as extension cords, small appliance cords, cords for small devices (mp3 players, walkmen, cameras, etc), and other gadgets. Use the paper towel tubes for containing several cords plugged in to one area. Turn everything off that is plugged in to one power strip. Unplug everything and slip into one or two tubes (I use 2 consecutive paper towel tubes for my computer cords). Then replug and power up. When it comes time to clean, simply pick up the tube and vacuum underneath!

These are my thoughts.

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Posted in Kitchen

Simple Journey Ministries Presents

Can I Have Some More, Please?

Simplest Smoothies

Smoothies are a GREAT way to cool off a summer day inexpensively and healthfully. But the best part about smoothies is that you are only limited by your imagination when you are thinking of combinations. My personal favorite, is a recipe that is simple, inexpensive, and healthful.

Simplest Smoothies

•   Frozen Blueberries
• Frozen Strawberries
• Frozen Raspberries
• Liquid Stevia (optional)
•  Water

1.  Place frozen berries in food processor. Add water about ½ c at a time. Pulse.
2. Add water as needed and continue pulsing until you achieve desired consistency.
3. Add stevia to sweeten and pulse to incorporate, if desired.

It doesn’t get simpler than that. The amount of berries used is determined by how many people you are serving. The amount of water and stevia will depend on the amount of berries and your personal preference to taste and consistency. This is a GREAT kitchen activity for littletons and eldertons alike!

Buono Appetito!

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Posted in Homeschool

Simple Journey Ministries Presents

Mom, I’m Bored!

Box O Stuff

Due to the fact that I try to keep the amount of our rubbish down, I find that I save things for something. What that something is, I know not when I save it. But I know I will use it sometime in the future. This is great thinking, except how much stuff can you store that has no intended purpose?

To tackle this issue, I grabbed a box. Nothing fancy, just one of the apple boxes laying around my stuff holding garage. Inside I began placing these gems that had no purpose. About once per week, I place the box out on the craft table, open it, and say, “Have Fun!” This keeps the kids busy for a few hours! They come up with all types of projects. One child inevitably makes art projects, while another leans towards building. Still another devises ways to use the stuff to “add on” to his existing toys.

This activity is a boredom buster because I have new items from the “I’ll Use It Someday Area.” Within a few hours the items are used and the box is empty for the next week. Anything that gets crushed or destroyed does go to the rubbish bin. But art, buildings, toys, and the like hang around and are played with for time to come. My children are aware that they need to be able to put their new creations in an organized place. This helps them keep in mind that they will need to store their new creations after they have been made. Not only that, but my kids are entertained for a good stretch of time, which affords me the opportunity to catch up on tasks, too! Engage your children’s brains, create lovely memories, and accomplish something too!

These are my thoughts.

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Posted in Frugality-Simplicity

Simple Journey Ministries Presents

Simply Frugal

Lower Your Insurance the Simple Way

Insurance is one of those bills we have to have, not because we want to, because it is normally government mandated. Most states require you to carry automobile insurance. It you have a mortgage you must carry home owner’s insurance and for some an extra insurance called PPI. Renting while saving for a home? Then you may have renter’s insurance. Health Insurance. Cancer Insurance. The list can be pretty extensive and exhausting; not just for you to manage it, but to pay for it all!

Although many of these insurance options are required for us, we can look at cutting costs in some unknown ways. My friend recently told me that her home owner’s insurance was cut by approximately 50%! All she did was sign up for a free program. They send an adjuster type person to your home who evaluates the home for safety and efficiency. They gave her a signed document that stated that her home met all the state requirements. She gave that to her insurance company and WHAM! 50% reduction!!! Check with your local officials and utility companies to see if they offer any programs such as this one. Often times utilities companies will send a rep to check your home for efficiency and this will also give you a reduction in your bills; if not from the company up front, then on your bill as they give you guidelines to make your home more energy efficient.

You can do this with automobile insurance as well. Call your representative and ask to go over your policy. Ask for recommendations on how to trim the costs of your insurance. Call another company and ask for a quote on the same insurance. If the price is different, let your current rep know that. Don’t be afraid to switch companies! If you are going to save a couple hundred dollars a year, it’s worth your time! Also, there are often deductions that they don’t advertise. Some may be for certain type of safety devices. Perhaps your vehicle is rated with an airbag. If your vehicle has a passenger side airbag, ask if there is a reduction for that as well. Have a clean driving record? CALL your insurance agent and remind him/her. Often times it is worthy of a deduction. They are not going to call you and ask you if are eligible for these discounts!

Most insurance companies I have dealt with over the last couple decades are willing to work with a customer who takes the time to call and ask questions or have a home check done. Even health insurance companies will give you a discount if you have a health exam yearly! Take a few moments each week to tackle one of your insurance bills in this simple way; your bank account will thank you!

These are my thoughts.

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Posted in Frugality-Simplicity

Simple Journey Ministries Presents

I Can’t Live Simple Until…

It’s summer now; Officially. For everyone summer usually marks a time of relaxation. Some of us homeschoolers school year round. For our family, we school throughout the summer because it is so hot here. We prefer to take time off in the winter when the weather is cooler and more enjoyable for outdoor play. However, we still have time during the summer that we use to relax.

It’s important that you schedule down times throughout the year regardless of your schedule. For example, if your children attend school, you may schedule a week during the school year that they have off from school as a relaxing week for you at home as well. Don’t schedule any activities. Do not make appointments for that week. Although it may seem more convenient to schedule appointments and activities for that time, you will find that those activities can be squished in to your schedule during regular time and make no difference. But having a week that is planned for nothing can make all the difference.

Take time to look at your schedule for the next few months and see when you can schedule a few days for nothingness. If you have it in you, try to schedule down time through the end of the year. RESPECT the schedule that you set up and say NO to anything and everyone who puts pressure on you to schedule something during those days. This period of nothingness is PARAMOUNT to re-centering yourself and gaining the benefits of simplicity. Life will keep spinning forward, don’t miss the opportunity to schedule time to STOP and enjoy it!

These are my thoughts.

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Posted in Organization

Simple Journey Ministries Presents

Get it Together Girl!

Curriculum Now

I know many of you have just visited Homeschool conferences, conventions, and workshops recently. Some are preparing to buy next year’s curriculum online. Others are searching ebay and like websites for used curriculum. But what about the curriculum you already have?

First things first; get 3 boxes. You know the drill, one box is for items you will keep, one for those to be sold, one for those to be discarded. Go through your curriculum, shelf by shelf and sort through it. Remove the boxes that need to be sold and discarded from the room immediately.

Now you should be left with the curriculum you are still using and your new curriculum. A good way to contain and organize curriculum is to use paper organizers for scrapbooking. The plastic containers are the perfect size to contain curriculum in manageable sections. This will also help you to keep your shelves tidy even when you need to pull something off the shelf. Additionally those paper organizers can be used to place curriculum on for each day of the week. This will eliminate the need for you to have another area to keep the current week’s assignments.

Keep your eyes open for sales. Joann’s Fabrics regularly puts them on sale for around $3-4 per unit. Even if you school year round, you likely have some down time over the next few months which will allow you to get your curriculum in order and reduce clutter at the same time.

These are my thoughts.

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Posted in Kitchen

Simple Journey Ministries Presents

Can I Have Some More, Please?

Cool Summer Chicken

Summer time makes for grilling time! Grilling is an easy way to cook a meal and there is little cleaning up involved, making it perfect for those hot and humid evenings. One of the best aspects about grilling is that the grilling surface of most grills is rather large. This means you can fill up your grill, cook one time, and have food for a few days. It doesn’t get better than that in the summer!

One of my favorite ways to save on food, cooking time, and energy is to grill up lots of chicken at one time. Once the chicken has been grilled, let it cool to room temperature. Now, you have meat that is ready to be packaged for ready to eat meals. You can package chicken as is, shred it, or chunk it. Place your chicken in a zip style freezer bag and replace in the freezer. Voila! You have lots of chicken for quick and easy summer meals! This also works well with beef and pork. For those of you who like OAMC, you can designate one day to grilling day and have meat for months! Now that’s COOL!

A little tip about meat: Meat shreds best when it is at room temperature. If you decide to freeze your grilled chicken in whole pieces, make certain that you bring it to room temperature before shredding for the next meal.

Buono Appetito!

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Posted in Homeschool

Simple Journey Ministries Presents

Mom, I’m Bored!

Simple Kitchen Math

At our home, cooking is the thing! I do most of the cooking, but I always have helpers. Long ago I learned the blessing of using pizza to teach simple fractions. The only problem with it was that the pizza was gone so quickly, we did not have a lot of opportunity to continually reinforce the concept. This got me thinking of ways I we could use the kitchen for simple math, which could be used time and time again in the same day. The challenge was in finding an element of simplicity, to keep the cooking FUN!

You will want to keep the children who understand fractions adding by doubling, tripling, and quadrupling recipes. However, you can teach a LOT of math in a simple method with a variety of final products from your kitchen. Consider using cookies to begin teaching about fractions. A cookie is easily cut into halves, thirds, and quarters. For this reason, each child can be given 3 cookies to repeat each concept three times. Do this every day for a week at different levels. The first day you will explain what ½ is and cut the cookie in half. Younger children can cut their own cookies with a plastic knife and a bit of supervision. Day 2 have the cookies cut in half on a paper towel before handing them to the children. As anyone if they notice something different. How many halves would they need to make one whole cookie? If they had three cookies (6 halves need to be pushed together to “make” 3 whole cookies) and gave 1 ½ cookies away, how many would be left. Day 3, allow children to cut their cookies in half and have them explain what ½ means. Day 4, explain to children that the fraction ½ also represents the mathematical equation 1 divided by 2 (do this by equally dividing the cookie in two). Day 5 ask the children some thought questions such as, “Can you bake I/2 a cookie?”

One fun thing about this simple form of kitchen math lessons is that you don’t have to stick with round items. You can use whole fruit, slices of bread, brownies, a specific number of raisins or grapes in a bowl, celery sticks, etc. Your options are only limited by your imagination. One of our children self taught himself the concept of addition and subtraction while listening to me give a lesson to another child in the kitchen! Life is too short to miss out on these opportunities that your children will remember forever!

These are my thoughts.

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Posted in Frugality-Simplicity

Simple Journey Ministries Presents

Simply Frugal

Deliberate Shopping

We don’t always have a lot of time. Shopping is time consuming and tedious at best. BUT there is something to be said for deliberate shopping. What is deliberate shopping? Simply put it is taking time to shop. Be conscious of your purchases. Take time to compare prices and check labels for ingredients. Don’t always buy what you know. Right now prices are changing rapidly and frequently. Once a month take time to shop deliberately. Be certain what you are purchasing is the best bang for your buck.

If you do this at least once a month, you will begin to notice you actually enjoy this time of shopping. For me, I cannot do this effectively with others in tow. So, the hubby and I make plans that I will have an hour or so to shop on my own once or twice a month. My future goal is to have time to do this once a week, because the results are bigger savings and a less chaotic mind. This simple activity makes frugal living a blessing in disguise. Make time to do this and your wallet will thank you because your money will be right where it belongs!

These are my thoughts.

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Posted in Frugality-Simplicity

Simple Journey Ministries Presents

I Can’t Live Simply Until…

A Place to Call Simple

Moms are often dissatisfied with their home environment when they are ready to make the shift to a more simple life. They look around and see all this stuff. They feel overwhelmed at the thought of downsizing and organizing all that stuff. This usually results in it being left alone and mom thinking she can’t possibly begin a simple life until she has a HUGE amount of time to accomplish the task; which no one has! Mom may decide to repaint, redecorate, or re-stage rooms instead of eliminating the stuff to simplify. However, this doesn’t get rid of the stuff, and this mom never really feels that sense of simplicity.

Is this you? Do you want a simpler life style, but your home doesn’t seem to co-operate? Start SLOW! Pick ONE room you spend a lot of time in as the target room. Your goal is to transform this room into one that is simple and comfortable. This means clutter free for most people. I often recommend that mom pick the master bedroom, because having a peaceful environment that is her own can often change mom’s demeanor. She may get more recuperative sleep or find that spending 5 minutes in her room with God is all she needs for refreshment throughout the day if there are no distractions like piles of laundry.

Pick one week to work on this room. Before Day 1, put some thought into what you would like to change and what is within your budget. Ideally this is a great project for not spending ANY money, but if you haven’t painted your room in five years, it might be time for a coat of pain in a warm, muted, neutral tone to help set the environment. Schedule de-cluttering activities for one or two days in a row. Get rid of as much as possible. Remember you are looking to simplify! Less stuff around you really does change your mood within the room and there is less to take care of, cutting down of weekly cleaning time. Less cleaning time means that you can do something else during the extra time! WAHOO! Who wouldn’t like to gain a little time each week? Use Days 3-6 to paint and re-organize your room to accomplish a tranquil environment.

Once you have accomplished a simple environment, keep it that way. With less stuff in the room this will be easy! As you find the enjoyment of having this one place of simplicity in your home that you can rely on every day, you will find yourself inspired to take on each room of your home, one simple step at a time.

These are my thoughts.  

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Posted in Organization

Simple Journey Ministries Presents

Get it Together Girl!

Easy Kid Clothes Organization

Getting kids ready in the morning for school, outings, or co-ops, or just for getting your homeschool day started can sometimes be hindered and cause a day to begin harried when children need to pick clothes out for the day. Having your son come to the table ready to start a day of painting in good out of the house clothes is not something mom wants to deal with when trying to get her day started.

Laying clothes out the night before is a nice option and a good habit to get in to. Let your kids know what the activities are planned for the following day so they can pick out appropriate clothing. This is the most common method used for organizing kids’ clothes to keep chaos under control.

There are other methods that are very adaptable and help kids get better organized. One of these methods is to have a weeklong schedule of activities and a closet hanging sweater storage unit in their closet. Each section of the stacker is designated for a day of the week. Children can pick an entire outfit, including underwear and socks, and place in the appropriate cubby in regards to the activities planned for that day. This allows children to have easy mornings and they only need to spend about 20 minutes one evening a week organizing their clothes for the week.

To help keep things even more simple and easy, try keeping all bottoms in solid colors. Limiting those bottoms to neutral colors doubles the ease of children learning to organize themselves. Now designate each day a specific color. The child will know that Monday is red day and pick a red shirt and a pair of bottoms (if you keep things simple with bottoms, every shirt will match every bottom!). For even more organization, use this method with the above weeklong organization method!

As with anything I recommend, use an organization method that best meshes with your family’s personality and schedule. If your family changes their schedule regularly and at a moment’s notice, planning a week in advance may actual create more chaos than keeping it at bay. If you have children that enjoy picking their clothes out for each day as it comes; laying them out the night before or having color coded days of the week will be a better method. Find the method that works best for YOUR family and stick with it!

These are my thoughts.

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Posted in Kitchen

Simple Journey Ministries Presents

Can I Have Some More, Please?

Szechuan Anything

One thing I enjoy about stir fry meals is that they are so simple. It can be stagnating if you are just tossing a little soy sauce and garlic into your stir fry. Try spicing things up a bit when with this simple recipe for Szechuan sauce. It compliments chicken, fish, beef, and pork as well as most vegetables. (I am not a fan of Szechuan sauce with tomatoes.) The following steps are the easiest way to make a Szechuan stir fry meal with the least amount of mess!

Szechuan Anything

·         Meat, Fish, or Poultry to feed family

·         Vegetables of choosing, chopped (quantity determined by you)

·         1 TBSP sesame, peanut, or vegetable oil

·         4 cloves garlic, minced

·         5 TBSP low-sodium soy sauce

·         1 1/2 tablespoons rice wine, white wine vinegar, or cooking sherry

·         1/4 cup water

·         1 TBSP brown sugar  

·         2 tsps Asian seasoning or cayenne pepper

·         2 tsps Chinese 5 Spice

1.      Mix all ingredients from oil through Chinese 5 Spice in a glass rectangular baking pan. Place meat, fish, or poultry in mix to marinade for 1 hr. Cover and turn once. (Do not discard mix)

2.      Heat electric skillet to 300 degrees. Place meat in Skillet. Place vegetables in sauce mix in glass pan.

3.      Turn meat after 3 minutes. Stir veggies in glass pan. After 3 more minutes remove meat to cutting board.

4.      Using slotted spoon, remove vegetables from mix and place in skillet.

5.      Slice meat into strips. Return to skillet.

6.      Cook until meat is cooked through and vegetables are desired doneness.

This is a Delicious and Simple meal. A bowl of this stir fry is great alone, and more filling when served over hot steamed rice.

Buono Appetito!

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Posted in Homeschool

Simple Journey Ministries Presents

Mom, I’m Bored!

Encourage the Artist and Author in YOUR Kids

One of the most rewarding projects that our littletons enjoy is writing and illustrating their own books. Before you get anxious about the amount of work involved for mom, hang on. This is an idea that combines notebooking, lapbooking, and old fashioned productive free time! Productive Free Time is that time of the day when your children are working on an activity that they can orchestrate on their own and provides learning opportunities at the same time.

You don’t need much to get this started. I would guess you probably have all the supplies you will need in your home RIGHT NOW! Each day ask your kids to “write” a piece of a story. For example, you could have them write a book about Creation. It can be as simple as seven pages, or it can be more complex. Be sure to gear this towards your children’s ability levels. You could have them draw a picture for each day of creation and then let them write their own words. If your children are pre-writers, you will need to take 2 minutes or so to transcribe their words. At the end of the project, have the children design a cover. They can even design and About the Author page! Once all the pages are completed, have the children place their papers in a report cover or in page protectors and a thin binder.

You can use a variety of topics or let the children develop their own topic for stories and information. If you notice that your child leans towards writing fiction, occasionally have him/her write a work of non-fiction; and vice versa. All types of materials can be sued to make these pages: scrap paper, ribbons, fabric, markers, stickers, colored pencils, paint, glitter, etc. Let your child determine what mediums he/she would like to use. It is important that the author & illustrator have creative control over their project. Remember this is your child’s project.

Start with small projects. Once your children begin to complete books, they will be so encouraged at their accomplishments; they will be inspired to continue. Hearing your children say, “I am an author and & illustrator,” will be moms’ reward.

These are my thoughts.

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Posted in Frugality-Simplicity

Simple Journey Ministries Presents

Simply Frugal

Valances and Café Curtains

Window dressings can be costly. Frugal homemakers have long known that they can dress their windows for less by purchasing them at thrift stores and yard sales. They also know that using old sheets, table cloths, and fabric can be made into several different styles of curtains. Here’s a VERY simple and frugal way to make valances and café curtains.

Consider using cloth napkins and dish towels. One of the reasons these are such a great resource is that you can often find matching or complimentary sets at thrift stores and yard sales for just a few cents. Also, they are already finished, so it is just a matter of putting them together in curtain form. This can easily be accomplished, even without a sewing machine. Assemble the napkins or dish towels side by side until you have enough to be 1 ½ times the width of the window. Now, you will want to “close” the seams of the edges in the center of the curtains. You can do this on a machine, or use a needle and thread to tack them “closed.”

If you will be hanging them on a rod, fold the top down the correct width to accommodate the curtain rod to be used. Using a sewing machine or needle and thread, sew that piece, being certain sew the ends well. That’s IT! Hang it and you have some very cute, stylish, and custom curtains that are simple and frugal!

These are my thoughts.

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Posted in Frugality-Simplicity

Simple Journey Ministries Presents

I Can’t Live Simply Until…

Simple Schedule for Change

Making life changes can be inspiring, uplifting, and invigorating, but they can also cause some undue stress. The fact is that we get so excited about the end result of the life changes that we forget to enjoy the journey, with its peaks and valleys. We can become so focused on the end result that we want the actual process can become frustrating and depressing. Even when we are praying for our end result it is all too common that we are our focus. One important piece of this puzzle is that we need to try to remember that we are doing this for the glory of God, NOT for the glory of ourselves. Our motivation must always be in the right place for us to be able to handle both the peaks and valleys appropriately.

All this aside, I regularly recommend that when one is striving towards a life change, she needs to take it slow. Deliberate, well thought out steps are keys to success. Take the idea of having a more simple life. The thoughts of what your life will be like when you reach that goal are so peaceful and content. Then we you snap back into your present reality and wonder if there is any possibility of truly getting to the end of the journey. Although the end of the journey is important, the journey itself is what gets you to the end.

Firstly, you need to give this area over to God. Yes, I know that you are supposed to accept His offer, by giving control of your life to Him, but I also know there isn’t a woman I have talked with that hasn’t had the daily struggle of accomplishing this. God has a plan. He designed us this way so that we would need to call on Him to help us on our transformation journey. This is true for every area of our lives. For me, I do this is in small segments. I officially have put my life in His hands, but my human control freakiness does take over from time to time. When I recognize this in a particular area, I make a point to work on that particular area.

Next, ask God to show you small steps that you can make towards your simple living goal. Don’t rush this part. Do your research. Long suffering will produce the greatest results when you are listening and waiting; sometimes for long periods of time. The trick with this part is to be content with where He has you at the moment. As information is revealed to you about some changes you are to make, mark them down on a list.

When you get to the point of a workable list, make a simple schedule. If your list includes turning off the TV one day per week, consider your family schedule. What day would be the most effective? What activities will you put in place of that time? Will preparations need to be made for those activities? Remember to consult with your husband for advice. Now, mark the days and activities on your calendar. Remember to include a note to yourself for any preparation items that may be needed.

As you begin to schedule simple living techniques in this slow manner, you will find that each time you add a new one on, it will become easier and easier to incorporate. The reason being is that you will have learned to digest and apply these ideas because you have been giving yourself time to pray, converse, think about, and plan. While this process is simple in and of itself, it is often rushed through in these harried times.

Take time with God TODAY to begin on your journey to simplicity.

These are my thoughts.

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Posted in Organization

Simple Journey Ministries Presents

Keep it Together, Girl!

Area Specific Folding can Save Space

When I was a girl, I spent a tremendous amount of time with my Nana. It was very convenient for me, because she lived in the apartment upstairs. Her kind heart offered me tons of advice and know-how that I never realized I would use when I was a woman.

Being from the Depression Era and living in a 3 bedroom apartment with her father and her 11 brothers and sisters, she knew a LOT about space efficiency. One of the best concepts she ever taught me was the beauty of area specific folding. This is nothing more than folding items in a specific, and sometimes non-traditional way, to optimize the use of space.

If you do not have a lot of drawer space, consider hanging more items in your closet. When that is not an option, area specific folding can save the day! You can fit twice as many T-shirts in a drawer by following this simple method: fold them in half long ways; fold the arms in; fold in half again (this is where many people stop folding); now on a flat surface, roll from the center fold. Place all t-shirts in the drawer rolled in these cylinders. You will not only almost double your space, BUT you will also be able to see every shirt at a glance, instead of having to dig through an overstuffed stack. Want another great reason to try this? Your t-shirts will stay wrinkle free!

Another area specific folding trick is with towels of all shapes and sizes. Generally speaking, linen closet shelves are narrow. This means that folding a towel in half, then in half again (producing a large square) would not fit well. However, by altering the way you fold your towels, you can achieve a well folded towel in a shape and size that will fit YOUR shelving, allowing for maximum storage efficiency. Try folding a towel in half, from top to bottom. Repeat. Now fold in 1/3 from the side to slightly over the middle. Bring in the other side to match. Now you have a nicely presented smaller rectangle that will fit on near every linen closet shelf.

Consider using the internet to look for different folding formats. Consider the space you have to store the item and the best and most efficient way to fold the items that will be stored on those shelves and/or drawers. This will allow for maximum storage and a neat and tidy space, without much effort. Once you get the hang of a new folding pattern, it will become second nature before you know it. So don’t be afraid of change.

These are my thoughts.

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Posted in Kitchen

  Simple Journey Ministries Presents

Can I Have Some More, Please?

Simple Mexican Dip

While everyone may not enjoy Mexican food, just about everybody loves something warm and cheesy. Here is a recipe that is universal enough to use for chips, breads, veggies, tacos, or anything that you desire a zesty cheesy goodness added to.

Simple Mexican Dip

·         12 oz Velveeta Cheese, cubed

·         1/3 c milk

·         ½ packet Mexican seasoning

1.       Place cubed cheese and milk in microwaves safe bowl. Heat on high for 1 minute. Stir with Whisk. Repeat.

2.       Add Mexican seasoning. Whisk in until well incorporated. Heat on high 1 ½ minutes.

YUM!

While this recipe is not low in fat or healthful in any way (any cheese that is stored on un unrefrigerated shelf cannot be good for), an occasional splurge is often a wonderful way to keep those recurring temptations at bay.

Buono Appetito!

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