Clearing Clutter Progress!

Big Give Count & A Sneak Peek

My final count from yesterday's Cleaning Out the Clutter challenge was 47 items gone!!!  I'm excited to once a gain be making progress towards simplifying my home.  So far, I've given 117 things away so far this year!  I going to attempt to hit 300 before the end of April, so stay tuned and keep me accountable.

I attacking the kitchen next, and here are some before pictures of what I'll be cleaning:

As you can tell, I really needed this cleanout!  It is humbling to expose your my cluttered home, but in a good way, because it gives me incentive to keep cleaning.  I also watched two full episodes of Hoarders on A&E online last night, just to give myself more perspective on what can happen when I refuse to let go of my stuff!

If you haven't checked your mail yet, you might be surprised like I was to find a free $5 gift card from Walmart.  I don't know what I did to get this, but I'm hoping they do this often!

Pray for me as I continue to tackle the kitchen!  Laughing all the way...

Clearing the Clutter: Does This Count?

Let me start out by saying:

I'm going to be real here.  This has been a difficult few days.

As part of our commitment to becoming debt free, we sold our camper.  ((Insert sad face here.))  Since we didn't owe anything on it, it was nice to be able to instantly reduce our debt by several thousand dollars, but it still hurt to let it go.  Oh well, life goes on.

MoneySavingMom is doing a Clear Out the Clutter Challenge, and since I've been a little lax in my purging for the year, I decided to join in.  I'm including my totals in my Big Give as well. 

Here's my blurry before picture of a neglected area in my den:

Since we don't have a garage, we keep our deep freeze in our den, and this area catches all types of homeless clutter.  I removed 13 items including the upholstery cushions I will be listing on Craigslist tonight.  I also sorted many items from our camper, which were deposited in front of the freezer. 

I keep the blue box all the time, and purpose to fill it with giveaway items once a week.  This round will go to the Goodwill unless I decide to have a garage sale.  And, if I do, maybe I should use that money to take some photography classes.  It's been a rough picture day!

Wave goodbye!

My Big Give & a Blessing Bag

Remember when I posted about my participation in Amy's Declutter Challenge?  Well, I'm working a little bit every day towards my goal of giving away 730 items.  I didn't post last week, but I gave away another 12 items, which brings my total to 35 given items as of last week. 

This week, I've been busy cleaning bookshelves and have another 16 books to give away, plus a box of items for the Goodwill which counts for another 10 items, which brings my total to a whopping 61 items! 

One of the ways I remember to give consistently is to keep a "Blessing Bag".  It's a concept I invented last year because my friend, Fay, and I are always exchanging books, buying little gifts for each other, and sharing garage sale deals when we find them.  Plus, she keeps me stocked in fresh eggs from her local source, and I "repay" her with free groceries I find.

I wish I had a bag like this to use for my Blessing Bag...

In the meantime, we use a heavy duty cloth shopping bag that was gifted to me by another friend.  We see each other once a week, and usually trade the bag at that time.  It's been fun to see how creative we can be in what we give.  Last week, I gave her a pair of ceramic French Country figurines I have had in my den for years.  I know they'll look fab in her house, and I can't wait to look for them the next time I'm over.

We do have an understanding that anything the receiver doesn't want can be regifted to someone else we might know, and no one has hard feelings if that happens.  It just makes it easier to give things that way!

I'd love to hear if you have a way you like to share or give on a regular basis, maybe through a club, or your church, Biblestudy, or local group of friends. I'd also like to hear of any blog giveaway experiences you've had.  I haven't done a giveaway on my blog yet, but I'm thinking about doing so in the near future, and would love to hear comments or thoughts on the subject!

(Edited to add:  I just read some of the linky posts over at Amy's and had to go clean out a kitchen drawer! So, add 9 more items to my total ~ now I'm at 70!!! Whoot.)

Big Give, Bone Broth & What We're Eating

My Big Give results for the week were pretty exciting!  I was able to clean out a little of the pantry, and decided to bless another family with some of my abundance.  I also cleared out several clothing items from our closets, and a few odd dishes that really were not necessary.  So since the new year, I've given 23 items away! 

Sadly, I also broke an antique lamp because my giveaway box had become lodged under the bookshelf where the lamp was sitting.  So, my house is actually 24 items lighter, but I'm not counting the lamp in my total since I could only throw it away after the disaster! Needless to say, I was not a happy camper after that little incident, and the 30 minutes it took to clean up the glass from my concrete floors.

As far as the Pantry Challenge, I've done really well this week.  We finished off the last of the fresh strawberries from the wedding, but still have plenty of other fruits.  One night we had Crockpot Swiss Steak, and I saved half the package of steak to marinate and grill.  We also had a turkey soup made with the frozen carcass from Christmas. It stretched into lunches for two days for the whole family!  I'll include the recipe below.

We had the steaks I set aside on Friday night with baked potatoes, and steamed cauliflower, and watched a bit of Little Dorrit.  If you like costume dramas, keep reading as I have links and news for the latest BBC/PBS films now airing.

My overall spending for the week was $26.34 but the breakdown reveals I actually did quite well.  I purchased lunch for myself, my dd17 and a friend we picked up after car trouble for a cost of $8.65.  I also purchased 2 gallons of raw milk ($7.50), because my friend was going to the dairy (about 45 minutes away.)  I also was given another gallon of milk the same day, so I have enough now for two weeks!  Overall, that puts my spending in the $10 range for Week 3!  It's my best total yet!

If you're interested in free entertainment, I have great news! In case you haven't heard, Return to Cranford is playing now on Masterpiece, Sunday nights on PBS. If you missed the first episode, you can watch it online here. The second episode will air tomorrow evening.  Check your local listings for times!

When it concludes, I believe the new Emma with Romola Garai will begin the following week.  We have seen it once already online, and it was excellent.  This is another great BBC/PBS movie we will own! 

Here's the recipe for Gramps' Chicken Basil Soup and then directions on how I modified it.

Gramp's Chicken Basil Soup
In crockpot, assemble the following:
1 chicken leg/thigh portion or 2 thighs
2 carrots, peeled or scrubbed, and diced
3 cloves garlic
3 chicken bullion cubes
lots of basil, dried or fresh.  We like fresh best, leaves only, chopped fine. *
sea salt
pepper
cayenne to taste (about 1/2 tsp. is my preference)
water to cover everything plus two to three cups

Reserve the following:
1/2 cup cooked barley**
2/3 cup cooked rice***

Add ingredients except rice and barley to crockpot.  Cook all day on low.  Stir in barley and rice about 30 minutes before serving.  Can also be cooked on stove.

Now here are my notes and modifications:
*basil ~ I prefer to use fresh from the garden, and because of the bulk of fresh leaves, the measurement is probably about 1 to 1/2 loose cups of leaves.  If using dry, use at least 1 Tbsp. crushed, (meaning crush it in your palm before adding to soup!).  Let it cook all day, then add more to taste at end, if needed.

**barley ~ I don't prefer barley, but will use it occassionally.  Don't add uncooked barley, as the starch will make the soup slimey and thick, like pudding.  Not a good texture for soup, trust me.

**rice ~ If cooking on the stove, you can add uncooked rice, and let simmer until the rice is tender.  Just make sure you have enough liquids to keep the soup from getting too thick, as rice absorbs 1 1/2 cups or so of liquids for every 1 cup of dry rice.  You may also use frozen rice, or leftover rice from another dish and add to crockpot during last hour or so of cooking time.

This is a very "forgiving" recipe and a family favorite here, when served with a crusty bread and green salad.

I used the carcass of my Christmas turkey to make the broth for this soup, by using the Bone Broth recipe that includes a little bit of vinegar to draw the nourishment from the bones.  The one I use is actually from Nourishing Traditions, but the one listed above looks about the same.  If you haven't made this recipe, you really should try it.  It's especially great if you've had any type of illness because the nutrients are bio~available.  I make my bone broth in the crockpot for 18 hours, or on the stove for about 6 hours.

My 2010 GoodPlans

One of the the things I love best about home educating is that we set our own schedule for school, and if we are wise, we recognize limits, observe our own boundaries, and take time to do what is important, rather than what is seems urgent. 

Being involved in co-operative classes with other homeschoolers meant that, this year, our semester started on January 4, much earlier than we have EVER started back to school after Christmas break.  With the wedding at the end of that first week, there was no way we were going to be able to do school well, so I made the administrative decision to add two weeks margin to our calendar.

The verse God has given me for 2010 is a clear guide and I'm listening.  Proverbs 31: 16 says:

16 She considers a [new] field before she buys or accepts it [expanding prudently and not courting neglect of her present duties by assuming other duties]; with her savings [of time and strength] she plants fruitful vines in her vineyard.

With that in mind, and the fact that I had a migraine for two days after the wedding, I've taken some down~time to think about my goals for the upcoming semester, and year. Here are a few things I will be implementing:

1.  Simplify!  ~ This is an ongoing challenge for me, and one I'm working on in all areas of my life.

2.  Give! ~ I'm going to do my own "Big Give" in 2010, as part of the Declutter Challenge hosted by AmysFinerThings.  I don't have a garage, or time for a garage sale, so my goal is to give away 730 things from my home during 2010.  I know I can do this and I'm excited about the idea.  I've added a widget in the right hand column with a counter to track the progress of my giving.

3.  Read! ~ With a Lion/Beaver personality, and a love language to others of Acts of Service, I have a hard time justifying taking time to sit and read, other than studying my Bible.  I know that this is an area I need to improve, so I am committing to read one book a month from my personal reading list, (all school materials are excluded!).

4.  Say NO! ~ My husband was not pleased with my physical condition after devoting so much time and energy to a recent project, and has asked that I take some time away from say "no" when I am asked to help with projects in the future.  I don't know how long this sabbatical will last, and he didn't know about the Proverbs 31 verse, so it was just a confirmation that I need to be at home more.

Sabbatical:  from Hebrew shabbat, i.e., Sabbath, literally a "ceasing") is a rest from work

What changes are you making this year?