So in our church we have something called visiting teaching.  This is where at least once a month each woman is visited by another woman to make sure things are going well, and to share a little message.  I decided to do something fun with this month's message.  So, here it is!

You are welcome to use it.  

Hope you all have a wonderful day!

Don't forget to visit teach!

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.

House on a budget

With 6 kids in a smallish house, I have gotten frustrated with the space, or the lack of our own backyard…so here’s my counting blessings.  All the good things about a small house.  So, here we go…

• Don’t have to worry about yard work
• Cleaning is a lot quicker
• Utilities are way less
• Keeps me more organized (gotta fit everything in our small space)
• Can’t spend more on stuff that won’t fit in my home anyways
• Kids learn to get along and share rooms – still waiting for the outcome here but maybe someday!
• I spend more time with my kids when they’re outside since I can’t just send them out, bonding time.

…whew!  I feel better