Homemaker's Journal

I decided to post a list of things I keep in my Homemaker's Journal so you can get an idea if you would like to make one of your own. When my daughter becomes 17, she will receive a copy of my Homemaker's Journal and her Hope chest. So it really is a treasury of homekeeping tidbits and how-to's. This is what I have so far:

• Contact List - Master list of friends, family, doctors, important numbers, emergency contacts, etc.
• Birthdays, Anniversaries and Events List - self explanatory!
• Bible Study/Reading material - Some add this to their journals but I prefer to keep my separate in another binder
• Entertainment Guide - Here I put places we go to have fun, the address, phone and times they are open. Such as the library, Zoo, Fairs, Parks, etc.
• Daily Schedule - Laying out the whole day from morning till night
• Bi-weekly and Monthly Schedules - Includes things I would do every 2 weeks or once a month, such as Clean out fridge, make laundry soap, cleaners, etc.
• Seasonal Schedule - Spring and Fall Cleaning lists....for deep cleaning, decluttering, this includes washing drapes, blinds, cleaning behind stove/fridge, carpets, etc.
• Cleaning Areas - List of each area of the house and things that need to be done in that room
• Meal Planning - My monthly meal rotations, Pantry Lists, Price list, coupons
• Recipes - Tried and Good recipes....it has to be really good and cheap to make my recipe list! I get most of my recipes from my Amish Cookbooks I have because they are cheap to make and the recipe makes a lot to last 2-3 days!
• Homemade Cleaners/Personal Care Recipes - Here I put my recipes for my cleaning solutions, laundry soap, shampoo, etc. That way I always know where to find them if I forget how to make something!!
• To Do List - Master to do list and when it has to be done by
• Clothing and Shoe Sizes for Family/Friends List
  
  

You can have so many things in there......I'm always adding more things it seems LOL. But this gives you a general idea. There are sites online you can print of some pages for this or you can easily buy notebook paper and page protectors to put in a notebook! My notebook has pockets for pens, calculater, etc and of course the 3ring binder with side pull out filing pockets for coupons, etc.

This was written by me. To learn how to make your own, visit Organized Home here: http://organizedhome.com/household-notebook

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~My Spinach Lasagna~

• 16 oz fat free cottage cheese
• 10 oz frozen spinach, thawed and drained
• 8 oz mozzarella cheese, shredded
• 26 oz low fat spaghetti sauce
• 6 whole wheat lasagna noodles, uncooked
  
  

Preheat oven to 400. Prepare a 11 x 7 dish with cooking spray; set aside. In a small bowl, combine cottage cheese, spinach and 1 cup of cheese. Mix well and set aside. Spread 1 cup of spaghetti sauce onto bottom of prepared dish. Layer three noodles over top and half the spinach mixture. Repeat layers once. Top remaining spaghetti sauce over all layers. Cover and bake for 40 minutes. Uncover and sprinkle with remaining mozzarella cheese. Bake ten minutes longer, or until bubbly on top!

Makes 6 servings or 8 small servings.

• This is my recipe and is copyrighted.

Christian Homekeeping™ © All Rights Reserved.

~Self Checklists~

I have these for my Homemaker's Journal. Looking at them at the start of each new week helps me check myself!

God: Am I......
- Actively choosing God and His ways at every decision, word, moment, thought and step each day?
- Consistent in my quiet time?
- Daily spending time with God in prayer and Bible reading?

Husband: Am I.......
- Praying for him DAILY?
- Being a help meet to him?
- Preparing for my husband daily?
- Spending time with him?
- Positively responding to him?
- Noticing, regarding, honoring, preferring, esteeming, praising, admiring and loving him?
- Bending or bucking with submission?
- Being predictably happy?
- Giving away to others what I haven't given first away at home?

Children: Am I.....
- Spending quality time with them?
- Praying with them daily?
- Teaching them to follow God by my words and actions?

Home: Am I managing my home effectively. ....
- with finances and budgeting?
- with housecleaning? (Managing it instead of it managing me?)
- with planning meals and shopping wisely?
- by taking care of needs at home?

Others: Am I......
- Loving others correctly?
- Serving others?
- Preferring others?

Self: Am I......
- Growing in my walk with God?
- Eating properly and exercising?
- Making sure I am healthy and give myself rest when needed so I can be what my family needs?

• Author Unknown, although I did reword a lot of things from the original that was not copyrighted.

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~God's Instructions for Women~

Titus 2:3-5

3 The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;
4 That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,
5 To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.

KJV 1611

Praise God for his Word that we have instructions for our lives! I've looked up a few definitions using The KJV New Testament Greek Lexicon web tool:

Discreet =
1. of a sound mind, sane, in one's senses
2. curbing one's desires and impulses, self-controlled, temperate

Keepers at home =
1. caring for the house, working at home
2. the (watch or) keeper of the house
3. keeping at home and taking care of household affairs
4. a domestic

• This was written by me.

Christian Homekeeping™ © All Rights Reserved.

Homemade Laundry Detergent

I only spend $10-12 for the supplies to last for a years worth of detergent. I have a 5 gallon bucket and I make a large batch every 3 months usually.




Here is the recipe:

• 1 bar Fels Naptha soap
• 1 1/2 cups Borax
• 1 1/2 cups Washing soda
• 5 gallon bucket
  
  

Grate the soap and put it in a sauce pan. Add 12 cups water and heat on medium until the soap melts. Add the washing soda and the borax and stir until it is dissolved. Remove from heat. Pour 8 cups hot water into the 5 gallon bucket. Now add your soap mixture and stir. Now add 2 gallons plus 12 cups of water and stir. Let the soap sit for about 24 hours and it will gel.You use ½ cup per each load and 1 cup for very large loads.

Optional: If you want your soap to have some sort of scent you can scent this with ½ to 1 oz. of essential oil or fragrance oil of your choice.

After 24 hours it will be very gelled, but I use a whisk and mixing spoon and stir it several times while it sets and it has stays at a nice consistency.

* The detergent does not bubble in the wash but it is cleaning!

* If yours did not gel correctly after 24 hours then use more soap next time....like 1/2 bar, but you can still use it if it isn't very gelled anyway.

* When it sets you may get a "egg drop soup" effect.....just mix/stir with a whisk, mixer or blender.

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~Homemade Tortillas~

So the recipe I had gotten from a friend for homemade whole wheat tortillas didn't work very well. I asked another lady how she did it and found she used more water and more baking powder. So I revised my recipe and made them tonight and they were delicious!! They are nice and fluffy, almost like a gordita and my husband loved them and even my daughter liked them so much she ate them plain LOL. I made chicken fajitas tonight and it was mmmmmm good!!

Here is the recipe:

• 3 cups flour (I used whole wheat pastry flour but they do get a little flaky with this)
• 3t baking powder
• 1-2t salt (depends on how salty you want them)
• 1 1/8 cup warm water
• 1/4 cup olive oil
  
  

Mix dry ingredients together. In a seperate bowl mix the water and oil together. Add the water and oil to the dry ingredients and form a dough by kneading. You may need some extra flour nearby to prevent it from sticking to your hands. Form into 8 balls and let sit for about 10-15 minutes. Then heat a griddle or a pan on your stove to high with NO oil or spray at all, just a dry pan/griddle.

Then roll out a tortilla and place in pan. It should bubble up some. Turn it over on the other side when you see brown spots on the side that is cooking. Continue until all are done! Enjoy!

• This recipe was from Sis Ashmore.

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Hoover Floor Mate

My Review on this product:

* Works great and very easy to use!
* Dried the floor completely after it washed/scrubbed it!
* My floor looks and feels squeaky clean!

It's amazing how much I love this thing now. I did the cleaning in sections. First I dry vacuumed the kitchen floor with it. Then I filled up my cleaning solutions in it and started in sections using the wet scrubbers and squeezing the trigger to release as much solution as I wanted each area to have. Then I would switch the button to dry and it would dry the area completely!!

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Welcome!

Welcome to my blog! I'm a happy Christian Homekeeper and look forward to sharing many things on this blog. It will be wonderful to have a place to keep all my ideas, tips and day to day life stories on the web.

I'm bringing over some posts from my old blog and putting them here because that blog's archive was not as good as blogger's is. So I will posting several posts from my archive of my old blog.

Enjoy!

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