Victorian Homemaker's Schedule

As many of you know, I love lists and making schedules. They make me feel more focused and oh so organized. Now successfully implementing and following them is quite another story. It has been an ongoing challenge for me. At times I have had temporary but great successes with them. Of late I have managed to, more often than not, accomplish a daily 'top six' list and that has been very encouraging! During a recent search for homemaking helps I came across this Victorian schedule on the Vintage Homemaking Site. My oh my, looking at this schedule I wonder how the mothers of the past did all this and manage to prepare for shabbat! It's such a challenge in today's day and age, and we have all the conveniences. The website did have a caveat so that was a wee-bit of a sigh. Organization skills though do seem to be the key to this happy homemaker.

from The New Housekeeping Efficiency Studies in Home Management
1912,1913


Rise 6:30 o’clock.

Breakfast 7 o’clock.

Dress little boy; scrape and carry dishes to kitchen; air beds. Baby’s bath,

7:30 A. M.; the baby naps from 9 to 10 A. M
Wash dishes, plan meals, cook and prepare for dinner, 9 to 10 A.M. (Little boy plays on porch or in room.
Make beds, sweep, dust, 10 to 11 A. m., while the baby is awake.

Prepare for luncheon, sew half an hour while playing with the children, 11 to 12.
Lunch with both children at noon.

Leave luncheon dishes unwashed, so as to nap an hour at once with children, uninterrupted.

Dress self and children at 2 P.m.; go for walk, market, or make a call.

Home again, 5 P.m.; give children supper, start own supper.

Give children bath, put them to bed at six O’clock.

Have own supper alone with father, 6:30 P. m.

Wash dishes, and while doing so prepare cereal, fruit, and the baby’s gruel for the “fireless cooker.”

Finish about 7: 30 P.m.

How to get out of Debt---The Snowbal Method

I came across this article and really like what it had to say. It teaches how to get out of debt using the 'snowball method'. Even I, who has had a long standing fear of numbers gets how this works. It really seems reasonable and doable.


From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The debt-snowball method of debt repayment is a form of debt management that is most often applied to repaying revolving credit — such as credit cards. This method has gained more recognition recently due to the fact that it is the primary debt-reduction method taught by Dave Ramsey.


Methodology

The basic steps in the debt snowball method are as follows:

List all debts in ascending order from smallest balance to largest. This is the method's most distinctive feature, in that the order is determined by amount owed, not the rate of interest charged. However, if two debts are very close in amount owed, then the debt with the higher interest rate would be moved above in the list.
Commit to pay the minimum payment on every debt.
Determine how much extra can be applied towards the smallest debt.
Pay the minimum payment plus the extra amount towards that smallest debt until it is paid off.
Then, add the old minimum payment from the first debt to the extra amount, and apply the new sum to the second smallest debt.
Repeat until all debts are paid in full.
In theory, by the time the final debts are reached, the extra amount paid toward the larger debts will grow quickly, similar to a snowball rolling downhill gathering more snow (thus the name). The theory works as much on human psychology as it does on finance; by paying the smaller bills first, the individual, couple, or family sees fewer incoming payment requests as more bills are paid off, thus giving the impression that they are making headway towards debt elimination.

All retirement contributions are to be halted during the debt snowball, thus freeing up more money to pay down the debt snowball. Many dispute this practice, citing the cost of compounding interest to be greater than the gains of paying off debt. Some compromise by reducing retirement contributions to only what a company will match with an employee. Ramsey teaches that this halting of retirement contributions should last no more than two years.

A first home mortgage is not generally included in the debt snowball, but is instead paid off as part of one's larger financial plan. As an example, the Ramsey plan pays off home mortgages in "Baby Step 6", along with any other debt which is equal to or greater than half of one's annual take-home pay.



Simple Example

Ignoring interest rates, let's pretend you have the following debt (along with the minimum payments):

Car Payment - $2500 balance - $150/month minimum
Credit Card A - $250 balance - $25/month minimum
Loan - $5000 balance - $200/month minimum
Credit Card B - $500 balance - $26/month minimum
Your minimum payments for all debt would be $401 per month. You would order your debts in the following order (lowest to highest):

Credit Card A - $250 balance - $25/month minimum
Credit Card B - $500 balance - $26/month minimum
Car Payment - $2500 balance - $150/month minimum
Loan - $5000 balance - $200/month minimum
Now, assuming you had $100 extra per month to send in, you would apply that $100 to the Credit Card A so that the payment for it would be $125 per month and the other debt would receive the minimums.

After Credit Card A is paid off (in two months), you would apply the extra $100 to Credit Card B PLUS the $25 you were sending in to Credit Card A. So now your payment to Credit Card B would be: $26 normal minimum + $25 that you normally sent in to Credit Card A + $100 that you are able to send extra.

Your payment to Credit Card B would be $151 instead of $26. Therefore, you would pay it off much faster. Then, when Credit Card B is paid off, you would now send in the following to the Car Payment: $150 normal minimum + $25 that you normally sent in to Credit Card A + $26 that you normally sent in to Credit Card B + $100 that you are able to send extra

Your payment to Car Payment would now be $301 instead of $150.

If you didn't have $100 extra (or any extra amount) the debt snowball would be the same minus $100 per month.

Shabbat Menu...Raw food included

This shabbat I am serving:

Challah
Moroccan Fish
Salads (babaganouj, hummus, Israeli, tomato and avocado and eggplant.)
Raw Falafel
Red Rice
Raw Curry Pate
'Coucous' Salad
Chicken
Peach Cobbler (my daughter's recipe)
Frozen Fruit Bars
Tofutti Cuites (My beloved's fave)

Lunch will be:

Hammim
and more salads, including whatever is left over form tonight.
(I make alot for that reason)

Lots of variety here for my family! I am a vegetarian, my oldest daughter is a vegan, and the rest of the family are omnivores who LOVE the raw food recipes along with everything else. It's makes Imma so happy!

Shabbat Shalom!

Info about Ezekiel 4:9 Breads

I enjoy eating these yummy, good for you, sprouted grain breads for breakfast (think pat shacharit). Sprouting... converts the carbohydrates in grains into maltose, which is ordinarily done by the body during digestion, thereby predigesting nutrients for you. The enzymatic action enables the body to assimilate the vitamins and minerals more efficiently. Plus, the sprouting process naturally increases the protein content and decreases the calories and carbohydrates found in the original grain. Basically, the enzymes are allowed to do their job before the grains are made into bread. These 100% flourless breads must be baked above 250 degrees Fahrenheit or they would spoil during baking unless they are dehydrated. Although they are slow baked, at temperatures much lower than typical commercial bakeries, they are not considered “raw.”

Some folks think because they are flourless you do not need to wash for them. Well, here are a couple of places that say otherwise:

We at the cRc have received several calls from consumers regarding the proper bracha to be made on Ezekiel Bread. One should make a “HaMotzei”.

And it's not even 7 AM!

I am not sure what has happened, but my morning has been a bit interesting. I have to tell you that the only thing on my mind this AM was to make challah. Simple enough right? I just wanted to make challah this week. With school and everything and everyone else that is going on in my life I cannot tell you the last time I made challah. It has been weeks. I HATE buying challah. Sure, we have stores and bakeries where you can buy challah and most is inexpensive enough. We even have one bakery where the challah is 'prit near perfect, almost like homemade! But that is not the point. I like to make challah. I am a Farmgirl for Pete's sake! So what's the problem you ask. I have no idea, except something is not right in the cosmos for me right now. I woke up at 3:30 this morning. My brain just went ping!
CHALLAH!

"OK," I told myself, "take it easy, you can sleep till 4 and then get up."

"Yes, but," I argued back, "the Ben Ish Hai says that even though women should not daven Tikun chatzot (midnight prayers and lament over our Holy Temple) they should arise early and do there household chores in the same merit."

"Please go back to sleep at least 'till 4."

:::PING:::

CHALLAH!

I proceeded to have the same argument and try to sleep till 5. HA! At that point the alarm went off and some radio talk show came on to tell me how you should not invest more that 5-10% of your total stocks in your companies 401K plan (i.e. Enron). "Great" I thought sleepily, "stocks....vegetable of beef????"

My brain switched on so abruptly today that I could not remember if I had even said Modeh Ani?

The rest of the morning proceeded well. I said my morning prayers and put my apron on. I started the yeast and put my milk up on the stove getting it ready for my coffee. As I am pouring my scalded milk into my cup, my beloved and I start talking about this week's parsha.

"Did you know the tievah had three floors?" I ask.

My beloved replied that yes he did and as we were discussing how huge it must have been I decided to pour the scalded milk onto my unprotected hand.

MAN THAT HURT!

I decide to pour a bit of cold water on it and ignore the pain because there is challah to make and I am going to make that challah!

I lay my coffee aside and check the yeast. It's ready. OK, since I do not have a lot of time I am going to use the mixer that I never, ever use. I pull it out and scratch my head wondering to myself how does this thing work. I stick the dough attachment on, put all my ingredients in the bowl and flip the switch. Viola! Nothing. Nope nothing. Just a clunk, clunk sound as the mixer's blades started to turn. I wake up my daughter and ask her what the deal is (after all, she actually uses the monster). She informs me that the dough blades do not work and I would have to use the other ones. OK, fine. I switch blades and try again. This time I notice my dough is sticking big time. I try working with it but then I smell smoke. Yep, you got it. The mixer started to burn up. :::sigh::: Personally, I think it hates me because I never use it, preferring my hand crank version dough mixer (thank you again Susan).

I take my poor abused challah dough stick in a bowl and proceed to knead it myself. I mutter "What is going on here HaShem?" trying to think loving and holy thoughts as I make this challah. I turn super spiritual on myself and ask questions like "why do you want to make the challah? Is it really to fulfill the mitzvah or do you have some other motivation?" Thinking back to myself I remember again how I really do love making challah for shabbat. It is such a holy thing and one of the few mitzvot that are specifically obligated to women. I can get incredibly introspective y'know. It feels so good when I can give this small gift to my family. I want to mix in so much love and prayer along with all the other ingredients.

My beloved arrived back from minyan. He asked how the challah went and I told him I am writing about it now. He laughed and said "Oh really?" I told him I think I broke the mixer that it is burnt out. He congratulated me with a "Good job!" and proceeded to check the victim for vital signs. Nope, nothing. The funeral will be at 9 AM today. That's when the garbage men come by. Unceremonious I know, but like I said, I think the mixer hated me anyway. Besides I still have my hand crank...of course my daughter my be a little saddened by it's untimely demise.

Shabbat shalom Y'all!

Only 10 more hours to go!

Laundry Day Musings

Greetings all! You see here quite the little gadget. It is called the 'Rapid Washer' and you can purchase it at Lehmans.But before you do that, why don't you go visit Sapphire Moon and check out her post on Laundry Day. I was so impressed with her inventiveness that I am seriously contemplating doing this.

Now I am a washboard lady myself, just love it. Really helps with stress and no kidding, you really cannot get clothes near as clean in a washing machine as you can with a washboard. Mind you, I am the only one who washes thier clothes like that at home. My oldest daughter uses it sometimes so I am pleased with that. I wash my clothes with it, but not my sheets or blankets. I do not even have room to dry my sheets outside. For those I have to use my dryer. ::blech:: I use my wonderful wooden clothes drying rack I purchased in Lancaster County for the rest of my stuff.

I just started to use my washboard again this summer and I so enjoy it. I really hope to have a ringer washer again someday also. Even though I grew up in a city, we didn't have a modern washer, we had a ringer washer. I thought it was the coolest thing in the world! And we were able to get SO much wash done. Those of you who have use used them know their great capacity!

There was a time too I remember we did not even have a washer and we washed ALL of our clothing with a washboard. I was about ten years old, and I remember really enjoying it. I also remember getting in the bathtub with my Mother and her taking one end of a pair of jeans and I the other, and ringing them out together. We did the same thing with our towels. Lots of work but I enjoyed it. Maybe that is why I love my washboard? Maybe I enjoy it becuase it is an option I have decided upon and not really necessity. To be sure, I am trying and need to save money and I hope I am doing so by hand washing my clothes, but really I think my personal satisfaction is greater than the monetary value. Really, you could not pay us near enough to do what we do, who could put a price tag on it anyway. They say "necessity is the mother of invention" but I think "mother's are the inventors of what is necessary".

I think Sapphire Moon proves this.

Shalom and happy laundry!

Philly Farmgirl

Of laundry, mending and why I love lists

Greetings all,

Every day I make a to-do list. A list of those things that I would like to see or need to see accomplished. When I started writing lists, I wrote everything that I thought was important and needed to get done that day. The lists looked like insurmountable mountains to me, and they were. I just kept adding and adding to them until I had a full page of things to do and one day to do them in. In a strange way I thought the more I had to do the more productive I would be. As you can imagine, this list never got accomplished and I was not very productive. In fact the only thing that did get accomplished was an increasing sense of discouragement. I was an 'all or nothing' kind of gal. If it did not all get done in one day, or if I could not do it all in one shot, it just did not get done. I would look at my tasks and become paralyzed and overwhelmed by what I thought needed to be done. Now I say thought because much of this was in my own mind and of my own doing. Things I thought were important were not really that necessary and things that were important I would work around, crossing very trivial and miscellaneous items off my list instead of tackling this particular unsavory task.

As I have matured as a homemaker I have learned the list is not my enemy or my source of defeat. I have learned to use my list as a helper and not as a slave driver. Now in the morning I set small goals for myself and no more than six of them a day. This is very important so that I do not become discouraged and do not fall into 'build Rome in a day' mentality. I write down only realistic goals and things that really need to be accomplished on that given day. This took a bit of discipline on my part because for several days when I started to do this, I still did not get it all done, so I kept pushing it to the next day until the task was finally completed. I then learned to tackle big tasks in small bites.

For example, if I wanted to clean my room I would write:

day 1 bathroom

day 2 closet

day 3 dust and vacuum

day 4 dressers etc.

You get the picture. Each task takes 10-15 minutes to do and little by little it gets done. This has been an efficient and time saving way of getting my work done.

Which leads me to finally to the title of this blog. Today on my list was laundry and mending. Under mending I listed each item to be mended. I was so pleased I was able to get my laundry finished and all the machine mending done! What a thrill it was for me to be able to cross each of those items off. I set those goals and did them! They were small realistic goal that gave me a great deal of satisfaction!

I am sure. as I grow, I will become more efficient in my list and scheduling expertise but I wanted to share this part of my journey with you. I know this is something that all of us homemakers struggle with and I want to encourage you along your way. Be gentle with yourself and take it a little at a time, one day at a time. Let me know some of your list making and scheduling tips, I love to learn more!

What in the world are you doing working without your apron on?!

Philly Farmgirl

As I explore the lost art of homemaking and endeavor to become a skilled homemaker, I think of the beauty of our 'uniform', the apron. Who does not feel like an excellent homemaker when they don their apron? There is something almost magical about tyeing apron strings! I immediately have the desire to conquer the world! Well, at least my dishes.

Think of all thier uses. They help keep our clothing tidy and dry. I for one admit I am guilty of wiping my wet hands on my skirt when I cannot find a tea towel. What about wiping milk covered mouths? Again I have not been above using my skirt. ::::blushes:::

How about carrying toys or eggs from the hen house? (I miss my chickens). Here is a quote from Tasha Tudor's site:

"Aprons were indispensable to women at one time. They can be used to carry fruit, eggs, flowers or anything too cumbersome for your two hands. Often used to dust or quickly wipe a counter as the guests arrive. Tasha Tudor doesn't understand how 'modern women' get along without them."

Aprons reflect our individual personalities. Are you a smock wearer? Pratical and to the point. Are you a half apron wearer, full of ruffles but sensible at the same time. Or are you a pinafore girl, making sure all your bases are covered. Maybe you use all of these styles.

Do you have everyday aprons and fancy lacy ones for company? Remember the lovely but very impractical aprons of yesteryear. They hardly had any material to them, made mostly of guaze, lace, and frill, but oh they were the height of feminine hostessing. Someone mentioned maybe we could bring them back into 'fashion'. Think of it ladies, a homemaking revolution! All of us proudly donning our aprons, children by our sides, proudly wearing the uniform of our creative feminity. So before you get back to your busy day after our visit, grab your apron and pause before you tie it, knowing that like you, I will be happily working , wanting nothing more than to be just who I am, a homemaker.

Village Mentality

Women need each other! Think of simpler times, long ago times when we were a village or a tribal people. We did everything as a community. We cooked, washed our clothes, raised our children with our 'sisters' by our side. We were there for all the passages of time and life cycles. When a girl began her 'moon time' we were all there, when she married, we were all there, when she birthed , we were all there, and when she left this life, we were all there. I am not trying to romanticize this time because I know that is was not always so 'beautiful' . I know this was a very difficult time that warranted the need for others but I do know that we were a community then and we were not alone. I do not think our deep needs have really changed. We have been force fed independence to the degree there is no longer interdependence between people. Even families are slowly disinigrating. If a husband or wife no longer please each other they can be rid of the other relatively easy. Now this planet is filled with so many individuals. Many of us feel or have felt alone in our lives. We do not even have our own blood family near us let alone a tribe or village. You are right Molly Mae, this is why we all flock to these sites. We come here to find each other, to comfort and draw strength from each other. We in our souls are searching for this common bond. Society has tried to strip us of our true feminine power, saying feminist mentality is where it is at. The feminist movement had accomplished quite a bit, not all of it bad, but the one thing they did accomplish, which is a tremendous dis service to us all is taking away our feminine power as women. We no longer take pride in our homes and homemaking skills. We do not take part in our births, we want medication to feel no pain, we want ease and comfort through it all. When the child does arrive society tells us we must go back to work because we need "things". They tell us to give OUR children to daycares, to schools, to the world. They tell us to long for the day when they turn the magical age of 18 and we can be RID of them! What kind of madness is that?! I know this has become long winded, I apologize, but I feel this so deeply. I am so blessed to read once again I am not alone and to encourage all of us to perservere together in our high calling of motherhood. We are the heart of our homes, may we all of us beat loud and strong with love. May we all help each other in this journey and encourage each other on the way.