I love beautiful art in people's homes, I just have a hard time spending money on it.  So I decided to make some of my own out of some favorite scriptures.  They were way fun to make

You can print them and share them to your heart's content:

My daughter was reading scriptures recently and this one really helped her.

This has always been one of my favorites, it reminds us of our importance to our Heavenly Father

DIY Earring Holder

So I have a goal this year of doing homemade gifts for all of the kids this year.  Definitely good for the budget, plus maybe they will mean a little more to the kids...now to find the extra time...

My oldest daughter is turning 12 this year, and gets to get her ears pierced - she is SOOOOO excited, she's been talking about it for months.  So I thought I'd make her an earring holder (otherwise they will probably be lost within a week.

So I found a frame that we weren't using.  Yay free!  They are only $2 at Ikea, so if you had to go and buy one it wouldn't exactly break the bank.

Then I took a sharpie and decorated around the edges, just whatever designs were fun.

Then I went to Joann's and got some plastic crossstitch canvas.  It was less than $1. I was thinking I'd need to decorate it some way, but they had it in colors, so that made it easy! Cute huh?

I decided I wanted some cloth flowers on it, so I gathered up some small strips of cloth 2"x15" for the small flowers, and 2"x18" for the bigger flower.

These were really easy to make.

1. You fold it in half lengthwise, and then again, making sure the raw edges are a little shorter so they don't show up when you're rolling the flower up.  I ironed it so that it would stay.

2. Then you start at one end and roll to make a little bud.  Use a little glue all along the way so that it stays.  I couldn't find any kind of glue besides super glue (you'd think I would have glue in the house with all my kids), but the super glue worked great, especially gluing the flowers to the frame.  I just have to figure out how to use that stuff without getting it all over my fingers!

3. After you have a nice sized bud, you fold the strip out  over and over as you roll, to create the apperance of petals, all the time gluing along the way.

4. glue the flowers to the frame, and you're done, cute, right?

One present down - a whole heap to go! :)

Big Family in a Small House

So, in the past two weeks, I've had about 10 people ask me how our family of 9 lives in our 1500 sq/ft condo.  So, I decided to show you.

First off, at times I've felt like we didn't fit very well, but then I reorganize and de-clutter, and realize we fit just fine.

Now I never claimed to be an interior decorator, oh how I wish I had that talent, so you'll have to bear with my bare walls and lots of brown and white.

So, here we go: 




Here's our basement bedroom where 3 of our girls sleep.  We put a trundle bed under one of the beds to get things to fit nicely.

And here they are all together.  No floor space, but who needs  it when you’re sleeping? 
Plus, our girls like to be close, they’re a bit scared of the dark. 

Our beds weren't quite tall enough to get a trundle under them, but we found these little "bed stilts" at Walmart, for cheap, that made plenty of room - yay!

We use our closet space well, about 80% of this closet is food storage J The hanging shoeholders are awesome for saving space too!

Our Laundry/tool/foodstorage room is also in the basement, we use every ounce of space here.  We even have a clothes line!  It’s not pretty, but if you get enough shelves in a room you can fit all kinds of things.

Ok, so on to the next level.  

When you have 6 kids in school you need as much desk space as possible, I had my husband make this desk for us, it is so nice to have this space!

We used to have towels all over the place, everywhere but the towel rack, so I added some loops to the towels, and then made a hanger out of a piece of wood and some hooks - came out pretty good, huh? Most of the time they even stay there!

This is our older girl's room and even though it's small we fit a twin over queen bunk bed in here.  We love the drawers under the bed - you'll see we've got them throughout the house.

Next is our piano room – yes I know it’s very brown – if somebody wants to help me come decorate someday, I’d be just fine with that.

The big coffee table in the middle of the room is our sports equipment box.  When you don't have a garage, you have to get creative with this sort of thing.  I actually made this one myself!

The lockers are so nice to have (another thing I asked my husband to make), each big kid has room to put their stuff when they come home from school – now to figure out how to get them to use them, why is it that putting stuff on the floor next to the lockers is so much easier than putting it inside?

I even found shelves for the kid’s scriptures, that way we know exactly where to find them, and where to put them when we’re done.

The kitchen isn't anything fancy, but we got a hand-me-down high chair that folds up so that it doesn't take up so much space all the time – love it!  Thanks Pelletts!

This is my favorite toy in the house right now.  You don't have to have a big family to appreciate having 2 ovens, I just had to show it off. J

Here's our oldest and youngest kid's room. The great thing about having your baby in a big kid's room is when she wakes up, her big brother helps get her back to bed.J We used to have a big crib which fell apart by about the 5th kid, but I decided I like the port-a-crib better.  It's smaller, and when you go someplace, you bring it with you, and she's used to it.  Again more underdrawers, these are good for holding lots of baby toys.

This was my most recent organization task.  Organizing the game closet.  Most of the boxes were falling apart, so I got these drawers and put the games in them, now all they have to do is pull out a drawer to play the game!  The games that are sideways have big rubberbands around them, so that you don't lose everything when you pull them out. 

My room, is one of the smallest in the house, but we still fit a king size bed in here, and we’ve got more underdrawers. In this light my bedding looks really wrinkly, it looks better in person, really!

We even fit a little desk in our room.  This is my husband’s  “office” . He took some spare parts and built a desk to fit  the space we had.  He will have to lose the desk in May when our baby is born, that’s where her baby swing will go, it will fit just right!

Here’s our cute little 10’ by 10’ backyard.  We fit 8 bikes, 6 scooters, and a bunch of other stuff in our storage shed.  We even have a tiny little garden plot.  Now if I could just figure out how to get something to grow.  Some people have a green thumb, I think mine is brown. J

Well that’s the tour, I didn't show the other bathroom because there wasn't much to show.  But the point is, we fit quite nicely.  Just because you have a big family doesn't mean you need a big house, you just have to get creative with how you put it all in there. 

Now we won’t move because we think we have to, but just because we want to. J

Whew!  That was longer than I thought it would be – so sorry!

P.S. I didn't take all of these pictures at once, I only wish my house stayed organized in every room at the same time – maybe someday!

Homemade Laundry detergent

I never would have imagined that you could make your own laundry detergent and have them wash clothes well, but this works great.
1. It's a lot easier to store a year supply of laundry detergent, when you just have to have the ingredients.
2. This liquid detergent doesn't leave leftover soap on the clothes, like the dry stuff.
3. When you have these ingredients, you can make a bunch of other cleaners, like dishwasher detergent.
4. It's way cheaper, and you can use it on cloth diapers, which is another great way to save money, (and now a days is a lot easier than it used to be.  I'll have to do a post on cloth diapers some time).
5. People seem to think you are superwoman if you make your own laundry detergent -
    we won't tell them it's just cause we're cheap. :)
Ok, I'll stop babbling now so you can get on with your life.  Here's the recipe!

Homemade Laundry Detergent

1/3 bar Fels Naptha Laundry Soap, grated
6 cups water
1/2 cup washing soda
1 cup borax

1. Heat 6 cups water and soap in a large pan until dissolved.
2. Stir in washing soda and Borax. Mix and heat until dissolved. Boil 15 minutes. Remove from heat. 
    (It will have the consistency of honey.*)
3. Turn off the heat on the stove and move the pot to a hot pad.
4. Measure out 4 cups hot water and pour into your bucket. Add the Fels Naptha soap mixture to the bucket and stir well. Pour 1 gallon and 6 cups lukewarm water into the bucket and stir the solution to mix.

5. Mix until well blended. Let sit 24 hours. The soap will gel*. Use 1/2 cup for each load.

*If the detergent doesn't gel or reach honey consistency it will still work.

Makes 2 gallons. (Approximately $ .40 per gallon)

Stir before each use as this soap does separate. Detergent can be stored in a liquid detergent bottle. Just shake it up each time you use it.

This detergent will not suds up in the washer, but it is still getting your clothes clean.

If you have extra hard water the soap may not clean as well. Add 1/2 cup borax or washing soda to the load and that may help.

Trading for kids activities

So, for the first 6 years of having kids, we never had any extra in the budget for extra activities for the kids.  So we didn’t do swim lessons, or any sports, or anything.
Then we were able to add enough to the budget to let everyone do one thing for one month each year.
Last year my girls decided they wanted one month of gymnastics…well, you do one month of gym and the kids and the coaches want you to continue.
I explained our situation to the coach, and she asked if I would like to do a trade.  So I go help with the toddler gymnastics in the morning, and it pays for my girls (I have 5 of them) to do gymnastics!
Trading is awesome!  Since then I’ve heard of people trading for a bunch of things…preschool, dance lessons….
And it doesn’t even have to be in kind, my mom said she traded swim lessons, and tutoring, for piano lessons, and swim team!
So, if you would like to be involved in more activities, see what you can trade for it.
It’s a win/win for you and the business, or person, you’re trading with!

Coupons, be not afraid

Ok, so I have always felt like doing coupons was a daunting task.  People buying 5 newspaper subscriptions, spending hours clipping, and they always seemed to be for things I never use (name brand and such)…
But recently I took a class, and still felt a little overwhelmed, but thought I’d try.
It turns out you can print coupons online (sometimes multiple times), you can take as much or as little time as you want.  And it’s not always the name brand things.  I found a coupon for a dollar off of any brand cheese, and 75 cents off any brand milk! I’m buying those anyways!
So a friend of mine has baseball card page protectors that she keeps her coupons organized in, and keeps them in a folder. so they don’t get lost in a purse, and you actually use them.
 
So here are a few websites:

• smartsource.com
• coupons.com
• redplum.com

Now for a couple of rules:

1. Don’t buy something you wouldn’t buy anyways. (you can’t buy stuff just to save money)
2. Don’t clean the store out of everything (you don’t need a 5 year supply of tissues) leave some for the other customers.
3. Don’t feel like you have to become a coupon Nazi, even if you only use a couple of coupons at the store, that’s saving a little bit, and every little bit counts.

Good luck!

Homemade Valentines

You don’t have to spend a lot of money on someone to make them feel special.  The thoughtful, homemade gifts can be the best. 
We like to give out love coupons. To be redeemed by you, like…

• Good for one long walk together
• Good for a 30 minute back rub
• Here are some other good ideas!

Here's a website with some great coupons!
http://www.allfreeprintables.com/coupons/index.shtml
Happy Valentines Day!!

meal calendar

So, if I go into a store, my mind goes blank, and I can’t remember anything I need.  I gotta have a list.
I actually made a 5 week meal plan list of my family’s favorite meals so that I don’t have to think up a bunch of meals I want to cook, I just rotate through them.  I look at the calendar, and write down the groceries I need for the next week (or two if I can get my milk to last that long).  Then I’m good to go for a week or two.
Here are some of the positives to doing this:

• Only having to go to the store once a week, or less.  Saves time and gas
• When you go to the store you always buy a few things that aren’t on the list (less chances of doing that)
• There are way fewer times when you decide to grab some fast food because you didn’t have anything to make, or the time to make it.
• You always have what you need, when you need it.
• You’re usually eating healthier that way – not macaroni and hot dogs again.
• You’re husband doesn’t say, “Spaghetti?  Isn’t this the second or third time this week?”  Happened to me. True story.  ( and he was probably right)
• You can still eat out every once in a while, but it’s planned, and in your budget.

Homemade Playdough

Our kids love playdough, but it’s not cheap at the store.  This is the recipe we use for playdough.  It’s way easy, doesn’t dry out as fast, and doesn’t ruin the carpet like the store bought stuff.:
In a medium saucepan, mix:

• 1/2 cup salt
• 2 cups flour
• 2 Tbsp cream of tartar
• 4 Tbsp oil
• 1 1/2 cups water
• food coloring

Stir over medium heat. Continue to stir until solid thick.  Dump on counter to knead with hands (don’t burn yourself). Let cool before storing in a zip lock baggie in the fridge.  Most importantly, play with your kids.  It’s a great bonding moment.