Home Economics

This is a repost from last October when I blogged for thirty-one days about Home Economics. Thought it would be fun to repost!

Welcome to my first 31 Days series! More may be added in the future, but this year I'm posting every day for the 31 days in October  2013 on Home Economics.

There will be a host of topics covered here which will all be very practical. I have a B.S. degree in Home Economics and spent four years studying it, so posting for 31 days should be pretty fun with a broad range of interesting and helpful ideas and resources! Each day beginning October 1st a new link will be added here to this page. {Scroll down to see links to each day!}

Ways to follow me on this journey: Pinterest, Facebook, Google+, Twitter, subscribe by email in the sidebar, subscribe to my feed in the sidebar, add me to your home screen of your mobile device here, I hope you'll join me here every day in October! I'm excited to share this journey with you!

Day One: The Family Dinner {+ free printable}
Day Two: How to Budget Meals {+ free printable}
Day Three: Never Forget an Item on Your Grocery List {+ free printables}
Day Four: How to Plan a Party or Other Themed Event {+ free printable}
Day Five: The Key Ingredient to the Recipe for Success
Day Six: Sewing Kit Essentials
Day Seven: How to Read a Sewing Pattern
Day Eight: How to Cut Out a Pattern
Day Nine: How to Sew Without a Pattern
Day Ten: Sewing Tutorials for Beginners
Day Eleven: Sew Many Gifts Tutorial Roundup
Day Twelve: Home Management: How to Delegate {+ free printables}
Day Thirteen: Home Management Binder Roundup {free printables}
Day Fourteen: The Well-Managed Home: Time Management {+ free printables}
Day Fifteen: The Well-Managed Home: The Laundry Room {+ free printables}
Day Sixteen: The Well-Managed Home: The Kitchen
Day Seventeen: The Well-Managaed Home: The Linen Closet
Day Eighteen: How to Be a Hostess with the Mostest {+ free printables}
Day Nineteen: How to Entertain on a Budget: Food Edition {+ free printables}
Day Twenty: How to Write an Invitation {+ free printables}
Day Twenty-One: 5 Ways to Roll Out the Red Carpet {Welcoming Guests}
Day Twenty-Two: How to Say Thank You
Day Twenty-Three: Hostess Gift Roundup
Day Twenty-Four: How to Clean your Cabinets ONCE & NEVER Do it Again!
Day Twenty-Five: The Easiest Way to Clean a Ceiling Fan
Day Twenty-Six: The BEST Window Cleaning Tricks Around {Or so they say}
Day Twenty-Seven: 5 Benefits of a Clean Home
Day Twenty-Eight: No-Sew Ruffled Hipster
Day Twenty-Nine: Ruffled T-Shirt Makeover {Sew Easy}
Day Thirty: Who's With Me? {Fabric Stashers}
Day Thirth-One: Day 31

Go back and check out other bloggers from this 31 Day Challenge here. And stay tuned! This October I plan to do another 31 Day series - topic to be determined.

As always, thank you for stopping by!

31 Days of Home Economics | Day 31

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for joining me on my 31 Days of Home Economics! It has been so much fun to revisit just a few of the foundational principles of home economics and discover new ways of doing age-old things in and around our homes. Some aspects of 'home' have become so mundane over the years as other things have taken its place. I hope that through this series and the rest of my blog you will gain a new love for your home and the people who live there, as well as, all the tasks and managing the home requires. Although this blog is mainly about sewing, I hope to inspire you as a manager of your home. I hope you will follow along and chime into the comments from time to time.

Please consider following me at one of the following methods. Or, go to my sidebar and subscribe by email or by feedburner.

 

   

The Easiest Way to Clean a Ceiling Fan

When I first discovered this idea, it was one of those Ah-HA! moments. I'd been straining and stretching and fighting the vacuum hose for years and when I saw this idea I knew my life would change - and my ceiling fans would get cleaned more often! No more furry fan blades for me!

Maybe you clean yours this way? I seem to always find things way after they're already widely used.

{Source}

Take a pillow case from your linen closet.

{Source}

Open it up. Slide it onto one of the fan blades. Kind of secure the open end around the blade and putting one hand on top and one on bottom, slide the pillowcase off the the blade. While doing this, you're wiping the dust of the blade and catching it in the pillowcase at the same time, preventing dust from falling all over the place.

How do you clean your fans? How often do you clean them?

This is part of my 31 Days of Home Economics series. You can view the whole series at the tab above {Home Economics}.

Thank you for stopping by!

How to Clean the Top of Your Cabinets Once & Never Do it Again

Do you ever wonder how the tops of your cabinets get so dusty AND greasy? It's a part of my kitchen that often gets neglected and very rarely cleaned. I just don't make it a habit to climb up on the countertop and peek over the cabinets. I don't store things there because of this greasy problem, but just because I neglect it doesn't mean it isn't there. I was talking with my mom on the phone as she was cleaning the tops of her cabinets and she told me my grandmother gave her a brilliant idea for keeping the tops clean. I couldn't believe how simple it was or why I didn't think of it on my own, but here ya go...
First, you must climb up there and take a peek. If you haven't done this in awhile, prepare yourself. It's going to be a shock. Here's what I found.

It looks like just a thick layer of dust, at first. But when you start to wipe it off, you'll see just how deep it is and you'll find a nice, disgusting layer of grease underneath. It will not wipe off with a paper towel. Nope. Here's how I cleaned mine off.

Fill a bowl or your sink with hot water and add a couple tablespoons of Dawn dish detergent. I figured it cuts the grease right off those dirty dishes, it can surely get the grease off the tops of my cabinets. And it did.

You've heard of the phrase 'Fight fire with fire?' The only way you can fight grease is with a little elbow grease. It does take a little extra umph to get it off, but I found that if you soak your dishcloth in the soapy water and squeeze it out, but not all the way out, it'll come off pretty easily.

Then, take a napkin or paper towel to wipe up the big chunks of greasy dust that form from all the wiping.

Once you've done that, wipe again with the soapy water just to be sure all of the residue is gone. Let it dry or wipe it dry. Then, you're ready for the next step.

Get your old newspaper or some wax paper or foil, etc. and cut it or fold it to the size you need and lay it up there on top of the cabinet. It will collect all that greasy junk now and leave your cabinet top nice and clean. Next time, just throw away the paper and put up some new. It's as good as new!

Have you ever used this method? Apparently, it's an old trick. Why am I just now finding out about it? I'm definitely using it from now on!

This is part of my 31 Days of Home Economics series. You can find the whole series at the tab above {Home Economics}.

Like this post? Will you please share it with your friends on your social media? You can also follow me on Facebook, Google+, Pinterest and Twitter. Click the social media icon of your choice in the right sidebar.

Thank you all so much for stopping by today! I hope you'll come back soon! Until next time...

Hostess Gift Roundup

I've never met a hostess that didn't like a hostess gift. It's always appropriate to give a hostess gift when you are invited to a home. It doesn't have to be expensive or big, just something that says 'I appreciate the invitation and am happy to be here.' This post is dedicated to hostesses near and far who have taken that next step toward hospitality and opened their homes to guests young and old.

These are some ideas for you. Maybe they'll spark some creative ideas in you to make your own hostess gifts for those hospitable friends and family of yours.

Hostess Gifts to Buy or Make:
{because I realize sometimes we don't have the time to make a special gift}
~These adorable Acorn Ornaments are way too cute and would be perfect for giving to your hostess on Thanksgiving or at another Fall get together!

{Moths and Rust Etsy Shop}

~Tea for the Season along with a tea ball or cute tea cup would be very cute!

 

{Stash Tea}

~Bread with Homemade Jam would be a great hostess gift, wrapped in a new kitchen towel. So cute! Get FREE PRINTABLES for your jam here.

{Life is {Sew} Daily}

~This Peppermint Sugar Hand Scrub is divine....and SO easy and cheap to make!

{Less-Than-Perfect Life of Bliss}

~This Homemade Vanilla Extract looks like a great idea!

{The Happier Homemaker}

~ You can also check out my Pinterest board - Hostess Gifts - for more great ideas! While you're at it, Follow me on Pinterest!

This is part of my 31 Days of Home Economics series. You can find the whole series at the tab above {Home Economics}.

Like this post? Will you please share it with your friends on your social media? You can also follow me on Facebook, Google+, Pinterest and Twitter. Click the social media icon of your choice in the right sidebar.

Thank you for stopping by today! I hope you will come back soon!

How to Say Thank You

There are a million ways to say 'thank you'. It's a phrase that is spoken in countless languages and understood by the youngest of our kind. It's easily spoken, but it means so much to the one receiving the thanks. One thing about thank you is that it doesn't always have to spoken in verbal communication. It is sometimes more meaningful and more accurately conveyed when written in a letter or note. And dare I say, even remembered longer when written in a note?

When is a thank you appropriate? We teach our children at a young age to say 'thank you' when they are given something and when they finish eating a meal or snack or when they receive a compliment or whatever it may be. It's not a natural thing to be thankful. It's even more unnatural to speak the words. We live in an age of entitlement. People feel they are entitled to anything they are given and therefore neglect to say thank you for it. They don't speak it because they don't feel it. But, this is a sad way to live. Our thinking needs to be reprogrammed to see that everything we have is a gift. Ultimately, a gift from God, but especially when we receive something (by word or deed) from another person, we should be thankful and convey our thankfulness to them.

How do you say thank you? Well, you can verbally speak it when it's appropriate to do so (which, in most cases, is always!) like when you are handed something, complimented, given food at the dinner table, or when someone holds a door open for you or blesses you when you sneeze. Those kinds of things obviously warrant a verbal thank you. But what types of things should we write thank you notes for? Here are a few:

1. When someone gives you a gift (birthday, Christmas, Mother's Day, etc.) it is highly appropriate to write a thank you note. {I used to be so good about this and it's something I'm working hard on again. AND I'm teaching my kids to do this, as well.}
2. When someone invites you over to their house for any reason. It's a nice gesture to have someone over as we talked about here. Always show your thanks.
3. When someone makes you something - handmade gift or item or food, etc. ALWAYS appropriate to write a thank you note. The kind you put in an envelope and either mail with a real stamp or hand to the person.
4. When someone does a service for you without much recognition, it's a very kind gesture to occasionally write a note of thanks to them. (i.e. Mailman, Cleaning Lady, Teacher, Pastor, a friend who has greatly encouraged or inspired you, a child who has been working hard to do their part at home, your spouse who works hard to provide for the family, a nurse, a doctor, a parent, etc.)

A note of thanks can be just the thing that person needs to keep on doing what he/she does well. It can really lift the spirit and make someone's day. But most importantly, it is good for us to reflect on those things that we don't deserve, but for some reason have received and offer up thanksgiving for those things. Being thankful probably works more for your own benefit by recognizing there are so many things we have to be thankful for. A thankful heart is so refreshing to the giver of the gift, as well as, the recipient.

Check out my Pinterest board "Say Thank You" for some cute printables and ideas of ways to say thank you!

Who do you need to write a Thank You to? I have a few I need to write and need to help my girls write. Are you in the habit of writing thank you notes or is it just not a big deal to you? Have you ever received a thank you note? Have you ever not received a thank you note?

This is part of my 31 Days of Home Economics series. You can find the whole series above at {Home Economics}.

I'm sharing this with a few of these friends. Thank you so much for stopping by! Hope you have a blessed day!

5 Ways to Roll Out the Red Carpet

We all know that first impressions are important. We can't help but have an initial impression of people when we meet them for the first time, or when we start a new job or visit a church, etc. As human beings, it is natural for us to observe the immediate surroundings and attitude and feel of the people around us and to come to a conclusion (hopefully a good one) about the place/people involved. The same goes for a home. The first time we enter a home of a friend or aquaintance, we form an opinion. Do we feel welcome here? Do I feel at home here? Am I afraid to sit anywhere or touch anything? Lots of factors are involved that help us come to those conclusions. Let's explore some of those things and hopefully determine what (if any) we need to work harder on. I know there are some things I need to work on here!

{source}

1. The Entry. Is your doorway clean and inviting? Go outside and take a look around. {Go on, I'll wait.} What did you notice about your sidewalk, porch, doorway? Is it clean, full of spiderwebs, properly lit? I'm not saying it has be to perfect, but I think we could all agree that we would much prefer walking up to a house with a clean, well-lit entrance. I'm not a fan of spiders or their webs. I turn into a ninja warrior when I walk into a spiderweb. It's not pleasant. I realize that most of us probably enter our homes through our garages and hardly ever use our front door, but our guests will most likely use the front door. So, let's clean it up a little. I KNOW your guest will appreciate it. You might even put a wreath on the door or a welcome sign nearby.

2. The Welcome. When I visit friends and family, I love that they greet me at the door or just inside the door when I come. It's a great gesture and says, "You are welcome here! I'm so glad to have you here." A genuine smile and hug (when appropriate) are also very welcoming. It immediately reinforces that I'm in a place where I belong and can be comfortable here. Have you ever been invited to someone's home and NOT been greeted at the door or with a friendly smile? It is a very awkward situation to be in and makes me want to just turn right around and go home. I grew up in a family of huggers. So, everytime we went to visit family and even friends - we were greeted with hugs and smiles and laughter. It's a great thing to know you are welcome.

3. The Stuff. I was talking with a friend recently about having people over and the pros and cons of that. We both agreed that it sometimes is hard to deal with the fact that our 'stuff' might get broken or stained when we have people over. But we also agreed that really in the end, it's just stuff. It can be replaced or repaired. The lesson here is don't value stuff over people. If you have precious valuable things that are at risk of getting broken, just put them away while company is over. It's obvious that we all value our things differently. We are trying to instill a sense of stewardship in our children so that they understand the value of things in the sense that we paid money for these things and we need to take care of our stuff and the things God has given us. In addition to that, we need to treat other people's 'stuff' the same way. But as a hostess, we shouldn't let our love of 'stuff' keep us from welcoming people into our home.

4. The Plan. When you invite people over, put a little bit of effort into having a plan for the time they are there. I'm not saying you have to constantly entertain them or keep them busy. Too much of that can have the opposite effect and make them feel like an inconvenience. By plan, I mean, plan ahead and have enough food, plates, utensils, cups, etc. for all of them. Have an order in your mind of how you want to see the evening go. (i.e. Welcome them, serve appetizers, have the meal, move to living room, chat awhile, serve dessert and coffee, etc.) It doesn't have to be rigid, but think it all through before they come so that you can enjoy your time together and no one feels like nobody knows what's going on or who's in charge.

5. The Details. Little details make things very special and show your guest that you went the extra mile for them. You don't have to do a lot to make things nice. Just do something! And whatever you do, put your heart into it. People remember. I remember visiting a good friend that had moved away and she left little chocolates on my pillow when I went to bed and a water bottle by the bathroom sink in case I was thirsty. That was 13 years ago. See the impression that made on me? My sister always comes up with neat stuff when we have family meals together like Thanksgiving or Christmas. Whether it's cute place cards or unique table centerpieces or whathaveyou, there's always something special added. Last year, I added Christmas Crackers to the kids' place settings and that was a fun, inexpensive little thing for them to make it special. (And as a side note, you can do fun things just for your family, too, to make them feel special for no other reason than to say I love you.) Use one or more of the countless free printables on Pinterest to take your get togethers to the next level. It doesn't cost much, but it makes a world of difference to those your welcoming into your home.

{source}

What kind of things do you do to say "Welcome" in your home? Do you have a favorite little something special you do for your guests? Leave a comment with your favorite things to do for your guests so that we can all get new ideas. I know I could use some!

 

This is part of my 31 Days of Home Economics series. You can find the whole series at the tab above {Home Economics}.

 

Thank you so much for visiting with me today! I hope you'll come back soon. I'm sharing this with some of these friends.

Hostessing: How to Write an Invitation {+ free printables}

Hostessing is almost a lost art, but if there's one thing even more uncommon now than hosting people at your home on a regular basis it's gotta be this. Writing invitations - either informal or formal. Writing of any kind is unusual in this age of technology. We rarely correspond these days unless it is by email, text or telephone. I'm not saying it's absolutely necessary to issue written invitations to people on every occasion. If you're just wanting to have friends over after church or last minute, it's obviously not appropriate to write an invitation. However, how neat is it to receive an invite in the mailbox for an official get together? The last time I got one was for a baby shower which is entirely appropriate and necessary to control who is invited and to plan for food. I thought it would be fun to revisit how to write an invitation - informal and formal - so that we have it for not-too-distant future use.

The Informal Invitation -

• List the name(s) of the host(s). Omit honorifics such as Dr., Mr., Mrs. and Ms. unless the person holds an official rank. The host's title goes on a line beneath the host's name. When there are multiple hosts, the most senior person's name is listed first.
• Extend the invitation.
  semiformal: "cordially invite(s) you to"
  informal: "invite(s) you to join us"
• List the event, such as "dinner," a reception" or "lunch."
• Give the purpose of the event (i.e., "in honor of...").
• Give the date (i.e., "Friday, February 12").
• State the time (i.e., "at 7 p.m.").
• Give the location, including street address.
• List any special instructions, such as "map enclosed."
• List R.S.V.P. information. If you are issuing an invitation without a separate response card, print the address and telephone number of the person handling replies. If you are supplying response cards, state "Response card enclosed." Do not list a cutoff date for a reply.

The Formal Invitation -

• Follow the same rules for the Informal Invitation above, but include honorifics such as Dr., Mr., Mrs., and Ms. and official ranks of people such as President, Pastor, Reverend, Captain, Officer, etc.
• Extend the invitiation. formal: "requests the honor of your presence"
• Dates: Write out the extended date, including the year
• Time: Spell out the time. (i.e. "o'clock")
• Include RSVP card with the invitation

These are some cute free printable templates you can use. I found them on Pinterest, but you can click the link below each one to find the source and print.

Source

source

source



Have you written any invitations lately? How do you prefer to do it?

This is part of my 31 Days of Home Economics series. You can find the whole series at the tab above {Home Economics}.

Thanks for stopping by! I'm sharing this with a few of these friends.

The Well-Managed Home: The Linen Closet

Let's be honest here, closets are kind of our personal space. That space we can hide our junk in so that no one outside the family unit will suspect us of being unorganized or even a hoarder collector of things we don't really have a place for in our house. You know what I'm talking about? Closets in my house are the place that 'things' get shoved when company is coming over and I don't have time or energy to put it in its place. I admit it, I'm THAT person. I want to be the person that has a place for every single thing and believe me, I'm totally working toward that goal, but it's not easy when there are 5 individuals in our household that all like their stuff.
So, in an effort to get myself inspired to tackle that problem in my house, I decided to head straight to the source of all great ideas that get pinned and hardly ever followed through - Pinterest! And boy, do I have linen closet envy now! I feel like running straight to the dollar store and hoarding baskets of all shapes and sizes. Then, going and buying all the same color of towels and sheets. But I won't. Not until I finish this post anyway.
This is the current state of my linen closet.

Yes, it is unorganized and embarrassing in its sad condition, but I'm being real with you. I don't have it all together. I'm not writing this post {or any posts} because I think I am an expert. I'm just like everyone else trying to create order out of the chaos in my everyday life.

This is what I hope my linen closet looks like when I'm finished with it.

Laura @ I'm an Organizing Junkie has a great post about organizing the linen closet. Click here.

Home Idea Maker's closet is drool worthy. I love this!

But before we can organize and make it all look super cute and magazine worthy, we have to do a few tasks that will enable organization to take place.

1. Get 3 garbage bags. One for trash {broken things, moth eaten things, etc.}, one for donating {things that still look good and are not broken}, one for selling {things you don't want, but could make money from - you'd be surprised how much money you can make off of things you don't want/need anymore - check ebay or craigslist to see how much similar things are going for}.
2. Make another pile for the things you want to keep.
3. Now, get to work separating all this junk.

Once you've accomplished that, the fun part begins. Decide where you want everything to go back to in that closet. Towels, sheets, blankets, Christmas decor, etc. Come up with a game plan. Make a trip to the dollar store for baskets and other helpful organizational items. Then, get to work putting it all back.
The goal here is to make it work for you. Not so it looks beautiful, although that never hurts, but make it the most functional for you and your family.

Example: I put the washcloth basket where my kids can reach it. Also, the dishcloths - because I can send them to get one for me when needed. The other things in the closet they don't need access to, so I can put them anywhere else that works for me. Just think, "How will this make my life easier?"

What are your secrets to keeping a tidy linen closet? Or any other closet, for that matter? Is yours a mess or is it always organized?

This is part of my 31 Days of Home Economics series. You can find the whole series at the tab above labeled {Home Economics}.

Thanks for stopping by today! I'm sharing this with a few of these friends.

Home Management Binder Roundup {Free Printables}

In my quest to bring you relevant and practical posts on my 31 Days of Home Economics journey, I decided to post about something that I need to redo in my home. I did this a few years ago, but since then there have been lots of changes in my household routine and in our schedule I'm going to be updating my home management binder. I wanted to bring you free printables and great sources for this project, but realized there are so many out there already that are great and I don't need to reinvent the wheel, so to speak. Therefore, I'm going to give you the links for the great ones I have found that I'll be using. I hope these will be helpful to you, too!
{Stop by these blogs and say hey! These people put in a lot of time to make these free printables available for us. I'm very appreciative!}

While looking around I found that Organizing HomeLife did a 31 Days series last year on this very thing - free home management binder printables! I'm very excited to look through all of these and print the ones that apply to me.

Stacy's Savings & Other Stuff has a great selection of free printables that she created. You can also check out her whole series of organizing your life with binders. I can't wait to see all that she has to offer. I plan to look at each one in detail to see what I can use!

Newbee Homeschooler has some colorful home management binder printables that I love. I think the colors make managing my home a little more fun and happy! Check out her stuff!

If you'd like to see the other great ones I've found, check out my Home Management Pinterest board here. I'll be adding more soon! You can follow all of my boards here.

Do you use a home management binder? If so, what are you top pages or sections you can't live without?

This is part of my 31 Days of Home Economics series. You can find the whole series at the tab above called {Home Economics}.

Like this post? Will you please share it with your friends on your social media? You can also follow me on Facebook, Google+, Pinterest and Twitter. Click the social media icon of your choice in the right sidebar.

Thanks for stopping by! I'm sharing this with a few of these friends!