Little House Housekeeping

(For an update on last week's post, see (Clean) Eating Like A Pioneer)

Little House Lifestyle practices and principles attempted, as of this blog post:

Going TV Free
(Clean) Eating Like A Pioneer 

Guess what I'm not very good at? 

Housework.

It's not that I don't know how to cook and clean, it's that I have almost no handle on how much, or when, it gets done.  Why is this the case? I think it's because I live by the moment. If I'm tired, I don't do the dishes. The next morning, the dishes aren't done, so I do those instead of the laundry like I had planned to do.  The laundry piles up, so instead of vacuuming regularly, I spend a whole day trying to wash and fold laundry. 

Meanwhile, dishes are piling up and the bathroom is growing things in the bathtub.  And it continues on and on.  

I'm the only person in the world that has this problem, right? Probably not! 

In fact, I know that I'm not the only person struggling with this because the cruel reign of dust and clutter is discussed in most mom 'get togethers' of which I've ever been a part! Not to mention the countless physical and intellectual resources out there for the floundering housewife.  

Caroline Ingalls, of the Little House on the Prairie book series is an inspiration to me in so many ways, including her example of effective housekeeping.  Every day, the pioneer woman would wake before dawn; while her husband went out to milk the cows, she would begin stoking the fire for breakfast preparation.  She would cook, wash up, sweep up, mend clothes, tie rugs, prepare the next meal, every day.  And she took pride in her ability to execute these tasks efficiently.  I have a gut feeling that the pioneer woman might be a little bit appalled at the typical state of my house.  

Granted, our homes are much bigger than the average pioneer home and we have much more 'stuff' taking up space.  Those things equal more places to clean.  We also have indoor plumbing and practice more thorough daily hygiene, which means bathrooms to clean regularly.  We have toys galore, which means many hours of tidying up. But notwithstanding these differences, the Little House Lifestyle principle of homemaking is, in my mind, becoming a lost art and skill that we really could probably perpetuate if we tried.  

That's the latest adventure I'm embarking on: housekeeping! To give me a better idea of what, what I am

calling "Little House Housekeeping", might entail, I looked to another book: Treasury of Vintage

Homekeeping Skills by Mrs. Martha Greene.  This book was first published in 2005 and is a tribute to the lost arts of homemaking.  The author explains:

"The job of keeping a home is an honorable one.  There is a difference between a housekeeper and a homekeeper.  A hired housekeeper will keep the home clean and do the duties as expected of her employer, but a homekeeper does the duties in her home from her heart.  She does it out of love for her family.  She looks upon her duties as the most important job in all the world.  It takes a lot of patience, skill, commitment and love to be the keeper of your home.  Be faithful; in due time, your family will rise up and call you blessed." 

 Honestly, I want to say that I am motivated to keep our home clean out of love for my family, but I am not that close to perfection yet.  Right now, I am motivated out of stress--stress that I have no counter space to cook on, stress that I can't find clean clothes, stress that I know spiders are hiding in the dust behind our couch.  But I want to be motivated out of love for my family.  Deep down I think I am...it just gets smothered by the stress and urgency that currently work in tandem with housekeeping.

Here's the reward of Treasury of Vintage Homekeeping Skills (I'll use "ToVHS" for short) and pioneer housekeeping, as I perceive it, in general-- you don't seem to get overwhelmed!

How is this possible?  Well, from what I understand from "ToVHS", the secret may lay in keeping a cleaning schedule, which I have never done.  Here's how it works:

1. Make a list of chores broken down by what needs to be done daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly (or semi-annually).  
2. Grab a calendar and assign the weekly tasks throughout your week, the monthly tasks one a day on various days throughout each month, etc.  
3. Then follow your chart: Each day you will have daily tasks, plus maybe a weekly or monthly chore.

Sounds simple enough! 

Will it help? I have no idea.  I hope so! I am not naturally a schedule follower, so this will really take some effort for me. As always, I will let you know how it goes.  

My chart is up on the wall. I have gotten all the daily tasks done for the day, so I don't feel a sense of urgency to clean anything out of schedule. I think I'm ready.  Do you want to try it with me?  Grab a calendar, make your list, and lets get organized and less overwhelmed!
 

Do you follow a cleaning schedule?  What have you done that has helped you stay on top of housework? Comment below!  

 © Allison T. and "Little House Lifestyle", 2013. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Allison T. and "Little House Lifestyle" with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

(Clean) Eating Like a Pioneer

(For an update on last week's post, see TV-Free for a week (or more?))

Little House Lifestyle practices and principles attempted, as of this blog post:

Going TV Free

Have you ever noticed how often Laura Ingalls Wilder talks about food in her Little House on the Prairie series?  Food is all over the place in those books!  Every time I read, I am so entranced by her simple and delightful descriptions of the way they grew, harvested, stored, and prepared their food. Take this little excerpt from Little House in the Big Woods, the very first chapter of the very first book, as an example:

"The garden behind the little house had been growing all summer...Now the potatoes and carrots, the beets and turnips and cabbages were gathered and stored in the cellar, for freezing nights had come. 

Onions were made into long ropes, braided together by their tops, and then were hung in the attic beside wreaths of red peppers strung on threads.  The pumpkins and the squashes were piled in orange and yellow and green heaps in the attic's corners.

The barrels of salted fish were in the pantry, and yellow cheeses were stacked on the pantry shelves." 

Doesn't that sound wonderful?! You may laugh, but to me it sounds like coziness, comfort, and security--especially now that the weather in our Mid-Western state is turning chilly and fall-like.  It makes me wish I knew anything about braiding ropes of onion! Maybe that will be a Little House practice I will try in the next few weeks.  How fulfilling would it be to know you have natural, fresh (or preserved when fresh) ingredients to keep your family well fed all through a cold winter?

I've often paused, after reading an excerpt like the one above, and daydreamed about what it would be like to live off the land.  This year we did start our own backyard garden and have been enjoying varying

numbers of tomatoes, banana peppers, jalapenos, carrots, green onions, corn, cucumber, watermelon, cantaloupe, and zucchini (in order of success).  With all that fresh produce, we've definitely been eating more healthily and living more of a "Little House Lifestyle".  I've even tried some water-bath canning to preserve some of what we're not able to use right away. 

Since so much of the pioneer life revolved around the production and preparation of wonderfully homemade foods, and since my husband and I have also made a joint decision that we need to adopt a more healthy way of eating, I decided that it would be appropriate for our next Little House Lifestyle challenge to be about healthy, fresh foods.  Providentially, about 2 months ago, I was introduced to a concept, called "clean eating."  Have you heard about this way of eating?

Basically, as I understand it, eating clean is a little bit like.eating like a pioneer.  What a perfect fit! The main ideas are:

• Eat as naturally as possible and as unprocessed as possible.  This means avoiding preservatives and long lists of ingredients in canned or packaged foods.  The more natural something is, the better.  
  
• Cut out sugar and alcohol. This means white sugar and brown sugar and all forms of alcohol.   Eating granulated sugar is very processed and without all the great fiber and nutrients it had as sugar cane.  It does little but provide empty calories.  The same for alcohol.
• Eat lean meats, complex carbohydrates, nuts, fruits, and veggies. 
• Drink water.

Sounds so simple, right?! So, our "Little House Lifestyle" adventure we are embarking on this week is "eating clean".

We're enthused and feel like it will be a financial, emotional, and physical benefit to all of the members of our family.  It almost seems silly to have a whole network of people trying to do something that seems so intuitive; nevertheless, I'm glad that there has been a 'label' put to this type of eating.

Funnily enough, if you don't mind me sharing a little of my religious background as a Mormon (if you do, then feel free to skip this paragraph), this type of eating also seems to coincide super easily with the law of health that devout Mormons (or members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) follow, called The Word of Wisdom.  Basically, this law of health includes many of the aspects of clean eating--using meat sparingly, eating foods in their seasons, eating grains, and just generally exercising control over your physical appetites, including not drinking alcohol or using tobacco products or drugs. Realizing the similarities helped me get even more excited about eating clean, since I already try to live "The Word of Wisdom".

That personal background aside, a great (and non religious) website on eating clean (and where I have been going to get prepared for this Little House Lifestyle principle) is The Gracious Pantry.  It is informative, very helpful, and encouraging.  If you're thinking about eating clean, definitely check it out.

And I should definitely say, you can eat sweet things and use sweetener in your "clean" food preparation.  Molasses, honey, and pure maple syrup are A-OK because they are in their natural state and still offer nutritional value.

I personally love how using these sweeteners corresponds with The Little House on the Prairie.  Pioneers used granulated sugar when it was available, but they also relied heavily on molasses, honey, and pure maple syrup.  My guess, too, is that granulated sugar may have had more nutritional value then than ours does today due to their, I would assume, less sophisticated ways of processing the sugar cane at that time. Another delightful and delicious excerpt from Little House in the Big Woods: 

"Outdoors the stars were frosty in the sky and the air nipped Laura's cheeks and nose.  Her breath was like smoke. 

 She...and all the other children, scooped up clean snow with their plates.  Then they went back into the crowded kitchen. 

 Grandma stood by the brass kettle and with the big wooden spoon she poured hot syrup on each plate of snow.  It cooled into soft candy, and as fast as it cooled, they ate it.  

 They could eat all they wanted, for maple syrup never hurt anybody.  There was plenty of syrup in the kettle, and plenty of snow outdoors.  As soon as they ate one plateful, they filled their plates with snow again, and Grandma poured more syrup on it."

I don't know that we will be eating molasses candy, as above, though I would like to try making some for

one of our Little House Lifestyle practices one of these days.  But I do love that doing so was a special and memorable thing for Laura. I hope that eating more fresh and natural ingredients will help our family to form cherished memories of our own, in the garden, in the kitchen, and at the table.

Our cupboards are filled with good 'clean' things to eat, I have recipe books sitting on our shelves, and the preservative-laden food that was stocking our pantry has been moved into our basement food storage.  We're set and ready for what will hopefully be a positive lifestyle change.  I'll let you know next week what we do and how it goes! Stay tuned for an update at the end of this post!

So How Did We Do?

(Updated October 31, 2013)  We officially started 'clean eating' about two and a half weeks ago! I'm excited to say that so far, so good.  Believe it or not, I have not had a single piece of Halloween candy despite our having a bucket full on top of our fridge.  That's impressive for someone with as big a sweet tooth as I have.  The best part, though, is that I rarely even think about the candy, let alone crave a piece.  Now THAT is REALLY impressive, I think.  So how did we make the transition from normal processed food eaters to clean eaters? Here are the general steps we took:

1. Do some research about what 'clean eating' is before you jump in.  I looked at some websites, like The Gracious Pantry, and checked out some books from the library, like The Eat Clean Diet, by Tosca Reno.  I'm sure there are many more resources, but this is where I started my research.
2. After learning about it, decide IF, and HOW, you want to make the commitment, in whatever way, to transition into eating clean. Some suggestions for transitioning were to substitute each week one unclean ingredient you keep on hand in your pantry for one clean ingredient, such as switching out all-purpose wheat flour for whole wheat pastry flour.  Begin cooking with that ingredient and then switch a new ingredient the next week.  Eventually your pantry will become stocked with clean ingredients and devoid of unclean ones.  Another suggestion is to just make the swap cold turkey.  
3. Once you decide on if you want to eat clean and how you want to get there, discuss your ideas, feelings and plan with your family.  I'm sure you can eat clean going solo, but I would guess it's much easier, and economical to eat clean as a family.
4. Go shopping! You may need to do a little research on this one to find the closest and most affordable places to get clean ingredients.  We made a few runs to Trader Joes, Whole Foods, and our local grocery stores-- we got a little bit in each place.  
5. Get cooking! We are enjoying using different recipes, products, and ingredients than we had hitherto used. It's exciting! Some things have tasted better than others, but we are definitely satisfied that the transition is much easier than we had anticipated!

The plan is to keep on eating clean.  I have lots to learn, and I'm sure I'm not doing it perfectly at this point, but we're trying.  I hope the pioneers would be proud!

Have you done clean eating? What has been your experience?  Comment below!

 © Allison T. and "Little House Lifestyle", 2013. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Allison T. and "Little House Lifestyle" with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

TV-Free for a Week (or more?)

You may be thinking I'm crazy right now!

But it's true-- I have decided that the first pioneer lifestyle practice I'm going to apply in our family is living without TV.  Pioneers didn't have it (it hadn't been invented yet...but that's beside the point), so there must be things we can do to entertain ourselves and our children without it, right?

Now I have to admit that I'm kinda cheating on this one because we've already partially implemented it.  But I figured it's okay because 1) it's a big one and probably the most extreme challenge for the average person (All down hill from here! = famous last words) 2)  I'm still planning out what "Little House Lifestyle" principles and practices I want to do and tackling this one gives me an extra week to get a better handle on things.

So background:

My husband and I decided a few years ago that we both had a natural inclination to keep our lives pretty simple. And it started with media--we just knew that we wanted to be careful about the type and content of media that we let into our home.  We're pretty careful to keep all our TV, movies, radio, video games, etc. on a G/ PG level--- for our kids and ourselves. 

Some may call it prudish, but we call it LOVELY!  

I don't miss it.  I feel like it's been a great benefit to our whole family.  And I think it's been a huge factor in getting us into the simple-living/ wholesome-living mindset.  After-all, "Little House Living" is a G-rated kind of living, don't you think? Full of wholesome goodness in so many ways! 

So we've been pretty good about filtering our media content. But we haven't cut out movies or TV entirely.   I am in the habit of letting our 2.5 year old watch about an hour of media a day, usually in the form of a DVD or Roku PBS program episodes.  It gives me a bit of a break from making sure she's not getting into something she should be staying out of (like toothpaste and chapstick, for example).  I'm sure you all know exactly what I'm talking about. 

But my goal is to try living a "Little House Lifestyle", and this is a great way to ring in the attempt. 

I have loved reading Little House on the Prairie and the many ways that the Ingalls and Wilder families (especially the children) occupied and entertained themselves.  They explored the outside, they played with rag dolls and paper dolls, they played instruments and danced and sang! And they loved it!

They're all such 'simple' activities--no electricity required-- but somehow they repeatedly held Laura's attention for hours.  So why not us? The pioneers weren't some other breed of human.  If they can entertain themselves without TV, so can I, right?!

I can at least try it for a week.

As an aside on the subject of cutting back on the media in our home:

Have you ever just sat in the quiet for a little while?  It's a little discomforting at first!  But it doesn't take long until you not only get used to it, but you get comfortable in a 'noiseless' environment.  By 'noiseless' I don't mean silent-- just quiet.  No radio, no TV, no phones vibrating, just the normal sounds of your home, or car, or wherever.

Doesn't it sometimes seem like we are so surrounded by audible and visual noise all the time that it's near impossible to actually get in tune with the little voice inside us that tells us we need to just slow down and enjoy the more important things around us? 

One of my favorite sounds to hear is the sound of our 2.5 year old as she comes out of her bedroom in the

morning.  There's a 'click' as I turn her door knob, a "MOM! I'm awake!", and a stampede of two little feet as she runs across the kitchen into the living room. It happens every morning, but I can't help but cherish that series of sounds! I hope there aren't any of those precious sounds that I've been missing because of all the 'noise' that fills the day.

Those are the sounds of 'home' that must have filled the pioneer days.  I can't wait to see what new sweet sounds I notice over the next week.

Now, I have a feeling that cutting out TV and movies for a week will be easier said than done, but we'll give it a shot.

So How Did We Do?

It's been 12 days of TV-free living and we are going strong! First funny thing to note here is that my husband read this post and said, "I had no idea the kids were watching an hour or more of TV a day!" We really weren't in the habit of watching it very often when he was home in the evening or on weekends, with the exception of the occasional movie/ tv date night, so I'm not surprised that he was surprised!  But that also having been said, you can probably imagine that most of the adjusting to keeping the TV turned off had to be done by myself and our oldest child. 

And, to be honest, said child did indeed ask to watch a movie many times throughout the first few days.  Determined to stick to our goal, I would reply with enthusiasm, "No, but let's do _____ instead!" We'd then do a craft, or go on a walk, or go to the store, etc.  At first, figuring out ways besides TV to occupy our little

ones felt like quite a bit of extra work (and stress) for me.  But I was pleasantly surprised that, after a few days of rehearsing "What would Caroline Ingalls do right now?", it got much easier to:

1. be patient 
2. come up with a suggestion for a toy or game or book or activity that she could do without my help 
3. find ways to incorporate her into the activity that I needed to get done, like unloading the dishwasher so I could finish a new load before dinner; cooking dinner; or folding laundry that had been sitting for days ready to be put away.  

There were definitely days when my best laid plans went completely out the window.  For example, last Thursday.  I was trying to meet a self-imposed deadline to put up a new blog post while my husband was at work.  What I quickly found was that Thursday was going to be a day when whatever computer work I was doing was going to be the most interesting thing in the world to our little girl and she would insist on putting her face between my face and the screen so that she could 'help'.  And as you will note, I did not get any kind of computer work done.  In fact, I just shut the computer and we all just played together instead.  And the house was a wreck the whole day!  But, though that wasn't my most 'productive' day, it was a day that felt great for all of us, I think.  My hunch is that the day would have felt less great if I'd given in and popped a movie on for a few hours of quiet.  Yes, I would have loved getting the post up 'on time', and our daughter would have thrilled at being able to watch a movie at long last!   But we would have all missed out on the fun we had that day, and putting up the blog post just didn't seem as important as taking the time to play.  

All in all, I consider our 12 days of living TV-free a great success! The plan for the future is to keep it up, with the exception of  family, or date, movie nights on occasion.  During the days, though, we'll continue to try and do things together as mom and kids!  More time to try new "Little House Lifestyle" adventures!

Want to try it too? Let me know how it goes by commenting below! 


© Allison T. and "Little House Lifestyle", 2013. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Allison T. and "Little House Lifestyle" with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

The Leap into a Little House Lifestyle

Let me explain how this will work.

Each week (or succession of weeks) I plan to take a principle or practice from the Little House on the Prairie series, or other great classic book, and apply it to our modern family.

It might be a craft-- like candle making (excited to try that!).  It could be a recipe, like maple candy.  Some weeks will be skills, like sewing or carpentry.  Other weeks will be more principle based, like "early to bed and early to rise" (that one will be tough---I am writing this at 10:30pm).

But each week will be different.  Some of the weeks will need to build on each other and others will stand on their own completely.  I'll try and keep a good follow-up on how we, as a family, are doing with principles and practices from previous weeks.  Some posts might be confessions, others pleas for help and advice.  We'll just have to see where this takes us!

 I'm looking forward to the adventure and I hope you are too!

If you have any insight, thoughts, questions, or requests on, or for, any of the content of the "Little House Lifestyle" blog, principles, or practices, please let me know!

© Allison T. and "Little House Lifestyle", 2013. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Allison T. and "Little House Lifestyle" with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Disclaimer and Disclosure

I feel like it is only appropriate to start a new blog with a clear explanation of what the blog is/ is not and who I am/ am not.  So to that end, the following!

I hope the "Little House Lifestyle" blog will be a way to:

• keep a record, for myself and my family, of my efforts to live a simpler lifestyle
  
• motivate myself and hold myself accountable to live a simple lifestyle
• promote getting back to the more worthwhile things in life (in my own family and in others)--ie time with family, hard work, self-sufficiency, community, etc.  The list goes on and on!
• promote getting away from the less important things in life (in my own family and in others)--ie video games, tv, movies, addictions, dependence [on government, welfare, parents, debt, impulsiveness], etc.
• explore and celebrate wonderful classics in literature--mainly the Little House on the Prairie series
• try various recipes, techniques, arts and crafts and lifestyle principles of our ancestors
• get a better appreciation for the incredible strengths and sacrifices of our ancestors
• connect with other like-minded people

What the "Little House Lifestyle" blog will not be:

• politically charged (though I do have certain political stances that you may be able to make out from my blog)
• proselytizing (though I am Christian and Mormon and will occasionally reference my beliefs)
• condemning--- I understand that we may differ in any number of ways--faith, lifestyle, political or social affiliations, background, age, family make-up, education, socioeconomic status, and more--but the "Little House Lifestyle" blog will always strive to be respectful and welcoming to all.  However, I do reserve the right to moderate and delete disrespectful, condemning, or otherwise offensive comments on the blog.
• expert information.  I am very much a novice in simple living and will be learning as I go! However, I'll share any expert information I find that would be helpful and pertinent to individual blog posts or topics, both within the posts themselves and under "resources" and "links" on the blog's right sidebar.
• exhaustive.  There's so much in living a simple lifestyle that there is no way that I will cover every aspect, nor any aspect in the depth it deserves.  But the sampling I give you should be interesting!

 What I am:

• very grateful for and to my husband, Heavenly Father, and friends and family-- they are all always willing to be supportive of my 'next great exploit'
• interested in history and the lives of our progenitors
• devoted to living principles that are based on and promote solid values 
• excited to learn and try new things
• concerned about negative influences on my loved ones (sexualization, violence, irreligiousness,
  
  estrangement from parents/ family, disrespect, horror, crude or harsh language, poor health habits, and more)
• passionate about trying to protect my family from negative influences and making the world a better, more wholesome place
• friendly, social, probably a little overly ambitious and a little scatter-brained, but excited for this new challenge!

What I am not:

• a perfectionist.  I spend little time on Facebook and even less time on Pinterest.  I do love to craft, but I do not care to 'keep up with the Joneses' and I do not want to worry about whether something I do is good enough for someone else.  If it's good enough for me, my family, and God--- it's good enough!
• an expert.  I am going to be learning and experimenting and you'll probably laugh at how much of a novice I really am.  Please comment on things that can be done better, knowledge or experience you have, or stories you want to share.  

So now that you know, let's leap into the "Little House Lifestyle"!

 

What has brought you to "Little House Lifestyle"? Comment below!

© Allison T. and "Little House Lifestyle", 2013. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Allison T. and "Little House Lifestyle" with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.