Being Frugal – Clothing

How does one save money on clothing? Especially when you have children who outgrow them so fast?

Hand-me-downs

Well, one easy way is to ask around for hand-me-downs. There are many families out there who do not blink an eye splurging on clothing for their little ones that get worn 2 to 3 times and are then put aside.

And because they have so many clothes to choose from, their clothes often show very little wear and tear. And most of these clothings are branded stuff. They would only be too glad to pass on these clothing.

Auctions

The other way is via auctions. Just make sure you ask all the questions before you place your bid and you should be fine.

Exceptions

There are however certain items I do not buy used. One of them is shoes. I have been indoctrinated from young that every child should wear new shoes so that it does not affect the growing child’s feet. Used shoes have the imprint of the previous owner in them and that obviously will not match your child’s food imprint. It will then affect their gait. Or so I have been told. So unless the shoes are relatively new, I would not buy them or accept them.

Look for quality vs quantity

Sometimes as we look to be frugal, we must also not be penny wise and pound foolish. It is much better to buy 2 pieces of quality clothing than 5 pieces of cheap stuff. By quality, I do not necesarily refer to branded or expensive items. You need to look at the workmanship and material used. Not all fabrics are the same. T-shirt materials often do not last as long or maintain their shape as well as cotton or denim fabrics.

Need vs Want

And the best way to save money on clothing is to not have so many pieces of them! Really – does a child need 10 sets of clothing? Do you?

 

Women are especially guilty of buying more pieces of clothing and accessories than we would realistically be able to wear. But we keep on buying them to keep up with the trends and then complain that our wardrobes are too cramped. I read that an average woman owns 40 pairs of shoes! Imagine the number of shoe cabinets I would need if I let my 4 daughters (so far) own 40 pairs of shoes each!

One tip

There is this tip I learnt that I would like to pass on to see if you really need all 50 tops and 8 pairs of jeans. Hang ALL your clothes with the hanger hook facing you. Everytime you wear a piece of clothing, hang the hanger back the correct way, with the hook facing inside. At the end of the month, or two months tops, look at the number of hangers that are still facing the wrong way. You can immediately see which outfits have been worn which ones to throw away/donate.

Let’s not be wasteful and buy things just because you don’t want to feel deprived. I understand the power of retail therapy  so let’s also have self-decipline, ok?

Sewing your own clothes

What about sewing your own clothes? Honestly, I have found that it costs more to sew your own since we tend to buy nicer fabric and accessories to go with it (buttons, ribbons, etc) But one cannot deny the feeling of satisfaction and pride when one wears one’s handiwork or see your children in them so you will have to weigh the cost of this project.

Care of clothes

We also need to care for our clothing properly so that they can last. Drying your clothes with a dryer often wears it out faster since the heat will over time break down the fibres of the fabric. So we sun dry our clothing. And clothing are hung inside out so that the sun’s rays do not cause rapid fading. This way helps us cut down the use of electricity too!

Certain delicate items should be handwashed. But I don’t have the time to do that so I either do not buy clothing that need extra care or I put them into the netted laundry bags easily found in supermarkets. This prevents the clothing from being over stretched.

Always ask…

Clothing (including accessories and shoes) needs to be purged regularly just like the other items in the home. Remember, space like time is finite! Always ask yourself : do I need it or so I just want it.

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For my personal musings, visit Building An Ark in Singapore.

Being Frugal – Groceries

Ever since we were featured on Sunday Times, many have asked how we keep our grocery bill to just $150/week. We used to be able to keep it down to $120/week till all the various food items rose in price. But do bear in mind it is an average. Some months are higher, some lower.

What does our bill include?

It includes all food items, as well as toiletries (soap, shampoo, toothpaste, etc.), diapers and household items (detergent, dishwashing liquid, batteries, etc.) So this means that on certain months, our bill does go up to $170-$190/week, depending on whether we are stocking up on sale items or not.

Generally, the children and I eat most of the 3 main meals and afternoon snacks at home, except on Sundays and some Saturdays. Dh is the only one who eats most of his lunches out.

And do note that the average of $150/week does not include takeways or orders from MacDonald’s when mom is too lazy or sick to cook Also, I forsee the bill creeping higher as the children hit puberty one-by-one! 

Supermarket or wet market?

It used to be that the wet markets offered a better deal. But with supermarkets growing in size and popularity and therefore being able to make full use of economies of scale to bring down their prices, I have switched to buying most of my groceries from NTUC.

But I must say that I much prefer buying my fish and fresh noodles from the wet market!

So how?

a) Menu Plan
You must have heard this a thousand times. The best way to manage your grocery bill is to plan your meals – every single one of them. If you know what you are going to cook, you’ll know what to buy and how much to buy. Otherwise, you end up with a lot of wastage.

See So What Is For Dinner?

*Disclaimer – I have stopped all meal planning since I was 5 weeks pregnant. I cook what I think I can stomach without feeling nauseous. I am sure you can understand that!

 

Now, menu planning does not mean you are stuck eating the same food day in, day out. But it means that you will have a repertoire of meals you can count on to be available throughout the week. And you don’t have to keep running to the supermarket to get what you don’t have in your pantry.

For more on menu planning, you can google for various websites and blogs to help you along.

b) Eat simply
Unlike most Chinese families who eat 2 – 3 dishes plus a soup at each meal, we have only 1 meat/fish dish and a vegetable dish and rice for lunch and dinner. Sometimes for lunch, we only have 1 meat dish and porridge.

More importantly than cutting down on our grocery bill, this helps cut down the time I spend on food preparation and cooking. I can’t be spending hours preparing and cooking every single meal.

c) Buy what’s on offer
In Singapore, very few places allow you to buy fresh food in bulk. Most/all (?) supermarkets cater to the 2-child family so portions are usually very small. So the way to save is to buy what’s on offer, if possible.

With regards to toiletries, I buy in bulk when I see stuff like diapers, toilet paper, shampoo on offer. And of course, buying the re-fill packs is cheaper than buying it by the bottle.

d) Buy frozen food
Yes, the gourmet cooks amongst you will shudder But honestly, I don’t taste the difference when used in appropriate dishes. I don’t use them for making soups as I find frozen meat not as flavourful as fresh ones. But if I am stewing or braising the meat, frozen works just as well. But I must say, some brands are tastier and juicier than others. You’ll have to experiment to find which ones suit your family.

e) Choose less expensive meats/cuts
Yes, this means we eat more of the “common variety” chicken and pork rather than beef and fish. We still have them but not every week and certainly not every day.

The cut of meat also affects its pricing. Chicken breast meat is cheaper than chicken thighs. Minced pork is cheaper than pork fillet.

Again, I am not saying we don’t ever buy the more expensive cuts of meat but just less often.

f) Eat your leftovers
if you’d planned your meals well one shouldn’t have any leftovers to deal with. Unless one deliberately cooked in excess to freeze the leftovers for another meal.

If there should be leftovers, don’t throw them away! Try to re-use it. Eg. leftover rice can be accumulated and voila! morph into fried rice. Leftover chicken? Shred it and use it in your noodles or porride. Get creative!

g) Buy what’s in season
This refers more to fruits than meats. You do realise that while many fruits are available all year round, their prices are not the same all year round? If it is not the usual season for that particular fruit, prices would soar. So we don’t buy then.

We also try to buy what’s native to the region rather than your exotic fruits. So we buy papaya and water melon versus strawberries and cherries.

h) Little or no organic food
Although I know health benefits of eating organic, my practical side rules. Organic meat is definitely out though I haven’t tried the much touted Sakura chicken (no antibiotics!). Some organic vegetables occasionally appear on our table.

Now if we had special health needs, I may then have to tweak this.

h) Drink Water
We are not a milk drinking family. Neither are we a juice drinking family. Everyone drinks water. Water after meals, water in between meals. The baby drinks breastmilk exclusively. And when she weans, she eats and drinks what we eat and drink.

Dh is the only one who drinks flavoured drinks – he can’t do without his Ribena and morning coffee.

We invested in a water filter three years ago so we also save on not needing to boil our water And the water does taste fresher.

i) Snack less
Or don’t snack at all, if possible! Not only is it a great way to lose/maintain mom’s weight, it’s also healthier for all. Well, unless you are snacking on healthy snacks like fruits.

j) Cloth diapering
I cloth diapered child #2 to #5. By then, the cost of a disposable diaper dropped from 50cents to barely 20cents per piece. So we went with disposables for child #6! Cloth diapering did save us money (and saved the environment) since we used it for so many of them but it was also a commitment to keep on using them especially when one was pregnant and had to spray off a toddler’s poo!

I hope by sharing these tips, you will be able to see how you too, can spend less on your groceries. But please, please note : do NOT compromise on your health just to save a few dollars here and there.

For more on frugal living, check out Being Frugal and Dealing with rising costs that I wrote some time back.

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For my personal musings, visit Building An Ark in Singapore

De-Cluttering the Playroom

Inspired by the Organizing the Playroom edition over at I’m an Organizing Junkie’s blog, I decided to clear out our balcony, aka toy-cum-tools-cum-I-don’t-know-where-to-put-this-stuff room.

It is a very small space that was originally meant to be used as an open-air area for laundry. But the previous owner managed to cleverly convert it into an extra room by putting up windows and grills and a false ceiling! We liked his idea and have used it as our toy-cum-tools-cum-i-don’t-know-where-to-put-this-stuff room ever since we moved in.

In the beginning (2.5yrs ago), there was, of course, very little stuff in there. But recently, it was getting so difficult to vacuum and mop that room without spending much time pushing stuff from one side of the room to the other! Besides, I felt bad for our Chinese tutor who had to teach in that claustrophobic space. She must be distracted by the amount of stuff in there each time she came to the house!

The Balcony Project

Since I hate clutter and I hate mess, I decided to DE-CLUTTER!!!

But I had a big challenge - a crawling-I’m-curious-about-everything-baby! As we had LOTS of stuff in the room, I knew I needed at least 2 whole afternoons to clear it out. Ideally, I should do it during her naptimes but since she only naps an hour per nap (just like all her other siblings at the same age. Sigh.), it would take me forever to finish this project!

I decided to bite the bullet and do it with her. I also enlisted the help of my oldest child. With one more pair of hands, things would progress much faster. He was to be my gopher, my errand boy. And he was a great help! He got rewarded with a Murderous Maths book (he loves maths!).

It was amazing. We were done de-cluttering by the end of the day (a total of almost 4 hours). We started when the baby went down for her nap. When she woke up, I nursed her and placed her next to me with the toys that had already been sorted and were “safe” for her to play with. We then continued to de-clutter steadily till dinner time. Then when she went to bed at night, I continued by myself till all the toys and games that needed to be thrown away/donated/sold were sorted out.

The next day, (Saturday), we had no school so I proceeded to turn my attention to the tools and the I-don’t-know-where-to-put-this-stuff lot. Tools are my dh’s territory so I merely dusted the boxes and ignored them! The other stuff were again organised into throw away/donated/sold categories. After throwing out 4 huge trash bags of stuff, 2 vacuum cleaners (don’t ask!), and 2 skate scooters, I now actually have space on the shelves that used to be packed tightly with stuff.

Organising them all

But, throwing out things was actually the easy part. Organising what’s left was tougher.

Sorting out the toys was the easier task. So I did that first. They were sorted into baskets : a) dollhouse toys, b) cars, c) balls, d) toy animals, e) children computers, f) baby toys, and g) wooden blocks*. I labelled the boxes by tying a piece of string with the appropriate picture card (for the non-reader) on it. (I’ll try to get some pictures of this).

Sorting out their card and board games was much tougher. The board games had bulky boxes. Which took up a lot of space. I then remembered an idea tossed up on the MOMYS Digest a long time ago – trash the box, keep all the game boards together in one place and pack the tokens/cards separately!

Brilliant idea! I did not want to use ziplock bags as they always tore due to the children’s manhandling So on Tuesday, I went to a household supplies shop near our wet market and bought 10 rectangular boxes in white. In the afternoon, I completed the balcony project!

All the boxes and game boards were labelled. The game tokens/cards were placed into them. Now, all our games fit neatly into ONE big drawer (from Ikea’s Antonius range) instead of occupying 3 shelves!

The balcony now looks so spacious and organised. Maintenance should be a lot easier now … till the next time, that is!

* Legos and MegaBloks belong in a class of their own. Legos go upstairs in the boys’ room since that is the bigger room of the two, with enough space for them to pour everything out. MegaBloks are kept in a huge Toyogo plastic box under the side table in the dining area since that’s the only space that it can fit.

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Check our my blog, Building An Ark in Singapore at www.HomeschoolBlogger.com/MamaLim

Dealing with rising costs

The price of everything seems to have gone up in a twinkling of an eye, hasn’t it?

Flour (wheat), rice, fuel, milk…………

So how does one cope with increasing costs but fixed salaries? There are many ways to deal with this situation. You either cut costs or increase your household income.

Increasing one’s household income seems to be a no brainer. So many SAHMs start thinking about returning to the workforce or working from home or starting a home business.

May I suggest that cost cutting may be a better way?

We need to re-examine our lifetsyle and start asking the hard question : is it a need or is it a want whenever we start eyeing something to purchase or signing up the children for yet another enrichment class.

There are many books and websites that cover these topics and in greater detail than I can ever do so in this post. These are a few titles that come to mind. Just google “frugal living”, “simple living” and you’ll have a whole host of websites and books to start you off. Some examples include :

Books
The Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyczyn
Miserly Moms by Jonni McCoy

Websites
Living On A Dime
The Dollar Stretcher
The Frugal Life

How have we been cutting costs?

1. Cut electrical consumption

a) Reduce use of the airconditioner

The biggest culprit in raising our electricity bills is the use of the air-conditioner. So we don’t sleep with the air-conditioning on. If the weather is extremely hot and humid, we will cool down the bedrooms for a few hours before switching it off and leaving only the ceiling fans on.

But I must say that one of the main motivating reasons to do this is our sensitive noses. Sleeping in air-conditioned rooms often leave us with stuffy or running noses in the middle of the night and lots of sneezing in the mornings.

In the daytime, unless it is extremely hot and humid, I do not turn on the air-conditioner. Even when we do turn it on, I try to hold off turning it on till the late afternoon. It does require a huge amount of self-discipline to not turn it on especially during the hot and humid months.

But I must say that sometimes, for the sake of sanity, I will turn it on from the mornings. Thankfully, those are rare days. Usually, we just have the fans on at full blast and we shower more often.

b) Stop boiling water unnecessarily

Another way we have cut down our bill is to stop boiling our drinking water. We used to boil all our water in a 2-litre electric kettle, cool it down and then transfer it to the water dispenser. Now with a family of 8 you can imagine how much water we were boiling per day! Then I switched to boiling the water on the gas stove. That saved us nearly $20 a month!

Today, we no longer boil any water unless it is to make our morning cuppa This is because we have installed a water filter/purifier in our home. Since it eliminates all the impurities and chlorine, it is safe enough to drink direct from the filtered tap. Yes, the cost of installing the filter was high but now we are enjoying clean filtered water and have eliminated the need to boil litres and litres of water daily.

c) Sun and/or air dry our laundry.

We have not used a dryer for our clothes for more than 6 or 7 years. All our clothes are sun and/or air dried. Not only are we cutting down our electrical bills, we are also prolonging the life of our clothes this way.

2. Eat in more

Most of you would know by now that I dislike cooking. But one can’t deny the fact that eating in does save us lots of money. And another side benefit of cooking and eating in? You know exactly what goes into your food!

If you are like me, menu planning is really a life saver. I have heard some say that menu planning is boring and they feel restricted by their plans. And yet, these are the same people who end up eating sandwiches day after day! Isn’t that more boring?!

If you need some inspiration, click this link to find out how you can Save Time And Money By Planning Your Meals

3. Buy less

This is where we often ask ourselves : do we really need this??? Afterall, one item more in our possession means 1 more item cluttering up the home! Do the children or I really need one more dress/shirt/pants? Do I really need to buy that book. Perhaps I can borrow it from the library/friend instead.

Retail therapy and impulse shopping is fun but burns a hole in the pocket. And one often ends up with more stuff than what one has use for. How wasteful! 

Even with groceries. Do the children need to snack? And snack so much? But even as I want to cut costs, I don’t want to compromise on our health. 

We love our meat and don’t plan on becoming vegetarians overnight to cut costs To deal with the rising cost of meat, we use a mix of fresh and frozen meats. I don’t like frozen meat for soups (not as tasty as fresh meat, in my humble opinion) but if I were going to pan fry the meat or cook it in flavourful stews, frozen meat can work quite well. Frozen meat can cost less than half the price of fresh meat! That’s a lot of savings!

Another example – beef is expensive and so is mutton. So we make do with more chicken and pork. Fruits and vegetables are an important part of a healthy diet but the children do not need to eat strawberries everyday!

We drink water not juice or gasp! canned drinks! Water is good for our bodies. Sugared drinks are not. They are bad for our teeth too! If your children are addicted to it, this is a good time to wean them off it. You can choose to cold turkey them or dilute their juices with more and more water till they get used to drinking plain ole water.

4. Eat leftovers

I learnt this from my mom. Everytime there are leftovers from a meal, she would keep them and she would either re-heat them and eat it at the next meal or try to create another dish out of the leftover food. She would also collect leftover rice and cook fried rice with it at the end of the week.

If you hate to eat leftovers, then one way to avoid having them is to cook less! And better still, give your children smaller portions and allow them to ask for seconds if they are still hungry. This way is better than piling their plates with food and have them leave it unfinished.

5. Buy from eBay or Yahoo auction sites

I have said this before and I will say it again. Before you rush out and buy something in a shop, check out the auction sites first. I just bought a pair of brand new, soft, lamb skin shoes for the baby. I saw a similar pair retailing for $36 but bought this brand new pair off eBay at $20.00, including postage!

If you don’t mind well-kept second hand items, these auction sites are great for bargains. Sometimes, you can even get brand new items at a better price than from bricks-and-mortar stores since these online stores have no overhead costs. And occasionally, buying items all the way from the US can even be cheaper than buying it locally! Do your research before you buy anything if you are looking to be thrifty.

6. No enrichment classes

Yes, this may be a hard thing for Singaporeans to give up since it is so ingrained in our culture that junior must be taking up ballet or speech and drama or art classes to be well rounded. Some classes may be necessary – eg. if the child is not doing well in a certain subject and mom or dad can’t help. But many classes are optional and unnecessary. Or they could be delayed till a more appropriate time.

7. Diluting Soaps and Shampoos

I did not start out diluting our liquid soaps and shampoo to cut costs but to prevent the children from leaving a slippery mess in the bathroom. They tend to use too much soap and not rinse off thoroughly leaving the floor very slippery :-( And for the dd with eczema, this led to the overdrying of her skin. So I decided to dilute the soap and shampoo to “control” the amount of soap and shampoo used.

But then I realised that an added benefit of diluting the soap and shampoo is that one bottle of shampoo or liquid soap can last a long time!

8. DIY

If one can DIY (do-it-yourself) in many areas, one would save a lot of money. Eg. sew your own clothes, fix your toilet, cook from scratch, teach, etc…

If you are able to DIY all your household chores, this is one big way one can save money! I know that this can be difficult to do when one has very young children but it can be done. Or one can compromise by eliminating the live-in helper but getting a once a week part-time helper OR asking your part time helper to come in once every fortnight instead of once every week.

Yes, it means you have to do more but hey! everything has a price, no?

If you need help in managing your housework, you can check out my posts under Home Management.

As we look to cut our costs, please do not compromise on areas of hygiene and health. I once heard that someone did not shower for 2 to 3 days to save water! Perhaps if one lived in a cool and dry climate that is a real possibility. But in hot and humid Singapore?! One would need to shower at least once a day to not cause the person next to us to faint!

What about the use of the car you may be thinking? For us at this stage of our lives, the car is a necessity. Taking the public transport (bus or mrt) with many young children in tow is a real challenge. Especially when neither our walkways nor fellow passengers are child-friendly The only time we take the public transport is if we are taking 2 or 3 children with us only – which is a rarity.

I’d like to add one more point – sometimes, the stress one has to go through to save a few dollars here and there is not worth it. Do prayerfully consider with your dh how you can together cut costs so that you can continue to stay home and be a mother to your children without placing more stress on your dh to bring in more money.

Don’t forget, God does provide!

Sometimes even when it doesn’t seem possible or logical, we have personally experienced His providence in amazing ways. Keep looking to Him for your needs.

And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory
by Christ Jesus. Phil 4:19

Happy cost cutting! And do share if you have other tips that can help the rest of us.

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Check out My Blog, Building An Ark In Singapore, for more of my writings and musings.

Being Organised

I was planning on writing a series of posts on organisation and I actually started with Organising Your Kitchen. But then I realise I was just attempting to re-invent the wheel!

Then I came across this website that is so cool! Check out I Am An Organizing Junkie. She’s got loads of advice and pictures and she has her readers posting their ideas and photos as well. So you really get a variety of ideas instead of just mine!

She also has a regular Menu Planning Monday thing going on that gives provides you with lots of recipe ideas. Granted they are mostly ang mo jia* but that’s enough to get you started on menu planning.

Then there’s always websites like Flylady or Get Organized Now to check out.

And if you had visited my Blog (Building An Ark In Singapore) this week, you would have found out that Homeschool eStore is giving a way a FREE ebook Organizing 101 this week only!

Being organised is the first step to helping you make your home a haven for your husband and children and all who step into your home. We are not talking about perfection here but let’s not live messily. I understand (oh don’t I!) that it is hard to maintain a neat home when you have many littles under your feet but it does not bring glory to God when we live in chaos either. 

Regular picks ups (we do it twice a day here) and a simple rule of packing up before starting on the next game/toy/book is crucial. And really, de-cluttering is one of the most powerful tool to have. The less you have, the less to keep on top of! And the faster you can clean up.

Here’s to a more organised homelife!

* ang mo jia is hokkien (a Chinese dialect) for western style dishes. Eg fish and chips or tacos & chillis

Going On A Vacation?

If you are planning for a holiday but feeling stressed about the number of stuff you need to prepare for it, Flylady has some tips that you can use.

She has a Vacation and Planning List  and a Packing Control Journal.

Travelling with children is a whole lot of fun and adventure (read : you never know what’s going to happen when!)

Food

To me, it is much easier to travel with a nursing baby. Food is never an issue since the milk bar is open 24hours! And it is always fresh and at the right temperature.

I have learnt not to bother with babyfood and the like when travelling with babies under a year old. Less stress on everyone. Besides with the unknown territory, mommy’s breast provides comfort and nourishment all at one go.

But those who are more hardworking swear by their cooler boxes and crock pots. Yes, these moms actually bring fresh food along with them to store in the hotel rooms fridge and then cook fresh meals for their babies/toddlers. Me? I am really too lazy!

Also, I have learnt that it is waaay easier on everyone to just go with the flow when on vacation. Since we only go for 3 – 4 day breaks in nearby countries, it is ok with me if they decide they will only eat bread for that 3 days or pasta at every meal the entire vacation. It is afterall a vacation – a break from the norm.

Clothes

Since our trips are usually 3 – 4 days long only, I assign one outfit per day plus 1 set of pyjamas. If accidents and messes occur, I will wash it in the sink with travel wash (available at most pharmacies).

And since our trips thus far are to resorts in Malaysia and Indonesia, it has been a breeze to pack. Now if we were travelling to a colder climate, it would be much more complicated.

Since clearing the huge load of laundry after a trip is not something to look forward to, I try to be as organised as possible when packing to come home.

Clothes are sorted out according whether they are light coloured or dark coloured. Then once home, I can immediately put one load into the machine without needing to sort them.

Medication

I always bring a standard stash of medications for both adults and children. These incluse fever medication, antacids, carbon pills, antihistamines (we have allergy sufferers), antiseptic creams and bandages.

I would also bring along our usual vitamins and supplements that we take on a daily basis.

Housekeeping

I am particular in that I like to leave behind a clean house and a relatively empty I used to change the bedsheets before we leave and then lay clean sheets over them to prevent dust from settling on the clean sheets.

But due to laziness, this time round, I have left the dirty sheets on while we were away and stripped them bare when we returned. So we still had clean sheets to sleep on!

However, this method is also dependent on the time we arrived home. I don’t think I would want to be stripping the beds bare and laying on clean sheets at 10pm at night!

Naps 

I have learnt to insist on short naps for the younger ones or the meltdowns at dinner time is just not pleasant. Since we need 2 rooms for our family size, this is much easier to manage then if we had only 1 room.

Either I send the older ones to the next room and be quiet while I settle the younger ones to nap or dh takes them out of the room and I stay behind to make sure that the younger ones nap.

There are lots more things you can plan to make your trip enjoyable and as hassle free as possible when on a holiday with young ones but these are the main things to me.

Remember to commit everything to the Lord and then relax and ENJOY!

PS : Travelling with a baby at the crawling stage is physically trying and tiring for me! Told dh that we should have travelled before the baby could crawl or when the baby was walking confidently!

Organising Your Kitchen

A Place for Everything and Everything In Its Place is a mantra that most home makers are familiar with and if you are not, you should be! It is the key to organisation!This is helpful whether you are looking at organising your Living Room or your Kitchen. In our home, my kitchen is actually the tidiest place in the entire home and this is entirely due to the lack of space in there! That’s right – we have a tiny kitchen for a family of 8.

In order to cook and prepare food efficiently, I am forced to put away everything that I do not use and to streamline everything possible. And this is reviewed periodically since our needs are always changing and we sometimes acquire new tools to help me.

I also have a cupboard shelf and a drawer that I set aside to allow my toddlers to go through when I cook. This allows me to do food preparation in peace while they play near me. But they are only allowed to that shelf and drawer. And they need to pack everything up when we leave the kitchen.

In order to work fast – key word when you have many young children in the house! – is to make sure that what I need regularly is all within reach at my work “station”, near the sink. This means not putting my regularly used pots and pans up in the top shelf of the cabinets. It also means keeping soya sauce, salt, corn flour near my work “station”. And it means putting away my little used crockpot* away in the cabinet.

Things that are used together are placed in the same shelf or cabinet. Example – all baking ware and equipment belong in the same cabinet, not hidden away in various shelves. Likewise, all coffee, tea, hot chocolate, sugar belong in the same shelf.

To further organise my Kitchen, every child has his/her own cup. At the moment, all have their assigned cutlery and crockery. This will soon change as the older ones will soon need bigger plates! These cutlery and crockery are not put aside after each meal. After they are washed, I just leave them in the dish rack holder till the next meal. We do not use a dishwasher so all everything is dripped dry on the dish rack after they are washed.

And please, please throw out those containers you have been meaning to reuse or recyle! If haven’t used it in the last 6 months, it is highly unlikely you will use it. And those that have missing covers, they do not belong in the kitchen either! I understand Tupperware will replace your covers for free since they have a lifetime guarantee. If you can’t bear to throw them out, then do what I do – give them to the children to add on to their doll house toy collection.

If you want to spend as little time in the Kitchen as possible, being organised – not just in meal planning but also in space organisation , is necessary.

* I do not use our crockpot as regularly now. Dh says the meat cooked in the crockpot tends to be dry. So we have switched to using a Thermal Cooker or Cooking Pot .

Getting Back To Basics

The last few weeks leading up to the birth of the precious baby that God has blessed us with is not easy for me. In fact, it is down right hard !!! It is hard physically and emotional and spiritually!

This is the time when my nesting instinct turns ugly. Where I want to just withdraw into myself and be quiet and alone. But try doing that with a houseful of children 9 years and below! Of course I didn’t have this issue to grapple with when I had my first nor my second child. Afterall, when you are pregnant with your first, you can basically continue to live life as you had – eat when you want, sleep when you want, be alone when you want.

But when you have many littles who need your attention and help, you will have to learn to put their needs before your own.

And so it gets more and more challenging for me when the Lord keeps on increasing our family size! Everything irritates me at this point. People talking too loudly, people talking too softly. People touching me, people ignoring me. People asking too many questions, people not bothering to ask how I am. Yes I morph into this unreasonable creature.

And then there are the tears. Crying at the drop of the hat. Being overly sensitive over everything. Like I said – no fun! To me and to those who have to live with me! And it doesn’t help when I tend to go over my EDD! But life has to go on, right? And that’s why I title the post “Getting Back To Basics”. As I hit the last stretch, I start to slow down and pare down life to the basic essentials. This helps me to not feel ovewhelmed and it also helps me conserve energy for the birth.

Quiet Time
This is basic that needs to be done each day. And yet, it is something that is the easiest to push aside when I hit this last stretch . It is always easy to be busy and do things especially when the “To-Do” List is a mile long! But that is exactly why I feel overwhelmed. I need to stop and remember the words of Moses as he stood between the Red Sea and the advancing Egyptian army (talk about being overwhelmed!) :

And Moses said to the people,
“Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today.” Exodus 14:13

If I rush around like a headless chicken, I am taking things into my own hands – again! I need to stop and choose to rest in the Lord and not miss what He wants to do in my life. He is working something out in these last weeks. I can choose to make it meaningful and draw closer to Him or I can whine and grumble till I birth. Which will I choose?

As an aside, I remember when I was waiting to birth #4. Everyone around me was telling me that she will definitely be early since she’s the 4th child And so by Week 38 I was more than ready to have her. Week 39 came and went. So did Week 40. I was getting grumpier by the day and complaining non-stop. I was huge and hot and tired. Despite taking lots of pineapples and walking around a lot (we were at the zoo on her EDD!) the baby was just not ready to come out. It was only after I realised that I was being silly – you can’t make a baby come out when it is not time – that I started to rest in the Lord and let Him take over. She finally joined us 5 days past EDD.

Housework
I de-clutter like a maniac in the last weeks. This helps to cut down the amount of time needed to clean up the house in the last weeks as well as after the baby’s arrival. And …it gives me something to do instead of moping around and feeling sorry for myself.

This time round, I am engaging the services of part-time home cleaners to come in once a week from Week 38. So even if I go beyond EDD, I won’t have to bother about housework. While I didn’t take up a part time cleaner after #4 and #5, I shall take it real easy this time and get them to come in. I am obviously not as young nor as energetic as I was before! Lol!

I will probably use them for a minimum of 2months, if not 3. I have realised that resting more in the post partum days helps me recover much faster than trying to get many things done immediately.

Cooking
I look through my menus and start listing my final month of cooking before I take a break – yay! (I don’t cook after I birth. My mil helps out in the first month and then I switch to catered tingkat food in the second month.) This is one break I look forward to! No need to think about food and cooking for 2 whole months! Ok – so the children dislike catered food but hey! they have to learn to think of mom!

Homeschooling
I would love to be able to just take the last month off and another 3months off after baby’s arrival. But having done it with the last pregnancy, I shall not be doing it again!

Taking off school for too long a break is not good for all. Children get bored and into each other’s faces. Mom gets lazy and find re-starting school a chore. Instead, I push for all to finish up what is planned in view of the much lighter load we will be having post partum. But the workload lightens considerably.

Everyone will take one whole month off when baby arrives! Then in the second month, we will re-start our SOW devotions (Outline/Topic/Setting/Character/Commentary). The pre-schoolers will do their own devotions with me.

In the third month, we will add in English, Maths and Science (for the 9year old only) by doing just assessment papers/ worksheets from Popular. The pre-schoolers will do just Reading and Math.

All things will swing back to “normal” in the fourth month – God willing!

It is tempting to say “I give up” especially to homeschooling when you are pregnant or just had a baby. But as a wiser mom said to me before – Life doesn’t stop when you are pregnant or when you just have a baby. It just slows down. Since we believe that God is in control and He has given us all these children with homeschooling thrown into the mix, we just have to work pregnancy and nursing into our lifestyle.

Being Frugal

How does one save money with the increasing cost of living?First things first – there is a cost to everything. . Unless you have an infinite source of time or money, something has to go! If you want to save money, then you have to do more work. If you have no time to do the work, you have to pay someone to do it for you. In other words, you can’t have your cake and eat it too!

Here are certain things we do to cut down unnecessary costs. I am fully aware that there are certain seasons in our lives where we have to adjust our spending pattern – eg when mom is ill/pregnant/just had a baby and so need to spend money to get outside help. Then other costs has to be trimmed so accommodate this extra but temporary expense.

I will just share a few that has worked for me without taking up too much of my time.

1. Never buy at full retail price
I try my best never to buy at full retail price on items such as clothes and even toiletries. But I also do not go all the way out to shop at sales. I cannot be bringing all 5 children with me just to save some dollars . So I weigh my pros and cons. If the savings are going to be huge (either because of the number of items to be bought or because the item is a big ticket item) then I may arrange for babysitting for the older kids and bring just the baby or get dh to shop for me.

If it is for the smaller items like toiletries, if I see something on sale, I would buy as much as our finances allow for at that time. Things that get used up fast (toothpaste for 5 children get used up really fast!), would obviously be bought in greater quantities.

2. Shop at the auctions
I am a fan of online auctions! Yahoo and eBay offer lots of bargains for one willing to spend time trawling it. Just use the search button to get what you want. Narrow it down if possible to be more efficient. Eg. I often have a budget for an item I am looking for. So I use the Advance Search button to narrow down the thousands of similar items placed on the auction site for a faster search.

If I do not need an item urgently, I can place it on the search machine and let it notify me when the item is available! No need to waste any time!

Just remember to check that the seller has great feedback and do email the seller to see how fast he/she responds to you to get a gauge of his/her sincerity.

Just 2 weeks ago, I bought an almost new maternity swimsuit for just below S$19 from a US seller! Yep! Including postage! And 2 years ago, I bought a never used, 3 + 1 L-shaped, simulated leather sofa for just $200. But I had to spend money to transport it. But even then, it was still a steal! In this case, dh went to check it out before purchasing it.

And if you are hardworking, you can even make money by selling your unwanted stuff on the auctions as well! I know there are moms who have a tidy profit buying and selling on eBay. And if you need more information on this, check out the library for books to help you.

3. DIY
And the easiest way to save money? Do It Yourself! From sewing to baking to making your own books for your children! Yep, with a little creativity and time, you can do all and more of those things I mentioned. Not only will you save money, you also get a sense of satisfaction when you and your loved ones enjoy your handiwork.

4. Cut down the unhealthy stuff
Stop drinking juice, Ribena and the like. Switch to water. It’s healthier in the long run. Save the juice & stuff for special occasion. Eat out less. Again, healthier in the long run. You don’t really know what goes into your meal when you eat outside!

5. Use the Free facilities
Make full use of free facilities like the library and parks and playground. And nowadays there are even free concerts and orchestra performances!

These are just some of the things I do that help me be a better steward of our money. We have been very blessed with the Lord has blessed us with but that does not mean we do need not to be careful with what we have.

Just a word of caution (for myself as well!) : We need to be careful that our frugality does not become an expression of a fear that God will not provide for us or that we become stingy pokers! Happy saving!

How To Get More Done In A Day

There are two little known and highly unpopular secrets to getting more done in a day for SAHMs!

1. Stay at home more than going out!
2. Self-Discipline

No kidding! Now you know why I say they are highly unpopular tips? I have learnt in the past 8 years of being a wife, mother, housekeeper, cook….that staying home helps me accomplish much more.

Being self-disciplined alone is not enough because no matter how disciplined you are, you are losing time by being out. And staying home without being self-disciplined means nothing either.

Does that mean we are doomed to a life of being trapped at home? Noooo! You just need to make certain sacrifices and work your routine around it. Eg. You don’t need to go out everyday to run your errands. Plan your trips out carefully. Not only are you saving time and money (petrol cost if you drive or taxi fare) you are also saving energy – yours!

Going out too often zaps you of your energy so that when you return, you have no energy todo what you are supposed to do. So things pile up, stuff grows! Chaos reigns yet again and you feel overwhelmed.

But if you can plan out your outings carefully and limit them to once or twice a week, you will be able to get more done. Does that take spontaneity out of your life? Probably! But the trade-off of accomplishing what you need to do will certainly offset whatever benefits of being spontaneous. And like I said, I am not advocating staying home 365 days a year!

I know some who say that staying out leaves the house cleaner – coz there’s no one at home to mess it up, you see? I guess that would be ok if you had one or two children. I certainly cannot imagine me staying out all day, everyday with 5 children! Besides the overstimulation will probably make them hyper!

So try it – stay home for a week and do what you planned to do. You’ll see that much more gets accomplished!