Date Night

Have you thought about how the concept of stewardship applies to your relationships?  As wives and mothers, we are blessed by the relationships God has gifted us with.  We need to make sure the ones we love don't get neglected in the busyness of life.  This week, we talked about the importance of having a regular date night with your husband.  It is so important to reconnect as a couple and to be intentional about the time that you spend together.

I'll be honest--Brandon and I do spend enough time alone as a couple.  As you can imagine life with four kids is, well, extremely busy.  This week, we talked about this as a group, and it was apparent that this is a common problem.  We have planned to approach our church about scheduling a monthly date night and having couples sign up to participate.  This is not an activity that needs funded childcare.  We plan to divide the participants into two groups and provide the childcare ourselves.  One month, a couple will get to go on a date, and the next month, they will get to have a fellowship with other couples while babysitting the kids at this church.

Now for some ideas on what to do...Here are some suggetions that we discussed:

 * Go back in time and revisit the places you went on some of your first dates

 * Cook a special dinner for your husband at home (or get take-out), use your good dishes, candelight, etc.  Just for him!!!

 * Make a picnic lunch and find a secluded park or garden

 * Free movie night at the George Bush Library (once a month) or visit a drive-in movie theatre

There are a few books that I would recommend on this topic--Romancing Your Husband by Debra White Smith and any books by Elizabeth George (they inspire me to be a better wife and mother)!

Next week we will be talking about how to plan special time with your children!

Organizing Your Home 101

This is one of my favorite topics!!!  I was so excited to discuss home organization at today's Stewardship Group.  The key to organization is being prepared with enough time, the correct supplies and plenty of patience and endurance to complete the task.  Over the years, I have read a lot of books on the subject of time management and home organization.  The common thread is to declutter your belongings enough that they will fit into the alloted space.  This is not always an easy task when you are working in small spaces.  We talked about the Fly Lady last week when we discussed cleaning, and I must say that through the years, she has assisted me in paring down my belongings.

One of my favorite books on the topic of decluttering and organization is One Year to an Organized Life by Regina Leeds.  This book breaks the task of home organization down by looking at a different area or project for each month of the year, and it is very specific on the steps and time that will be needed each month.  If you are a beginner to home organization, I highly recommend this book.  I also love all of the books by Julie Morgenstern on organization and the companion topic of time management.  My favorite is Organizing from the Inside Out.

We shared tips for each area of your home this morning during our discussion.  Here are some of my favorite organizational tips that I have picked up over the years and a few other wonderful ideas that were shared this morning:

*  Plastic rectangular ice buckets are a wonderful way to store plasticware lids.  Turn the bucket on it's side, and you have easy visual access to the contents.

*   Use plastic storage units to store everything from laundry supplies in your utility room cabinets to spare toiletry items under your bathroom sink.  Group like items in each tub.  You'll never have to pull out 1000 items to get to your dryer sheets again!

*  Use adhesive hooks to hang and organize your necklaces in your bathroom or closet and plastic ice trays to sort earrings.

* Buy a large CD storage notebook to store DVDs and CDs.  Discard the cases unless they are collectible.

*  Carbiner clips work perfectly to store your ponytail holders and hairbands.

*  Jennifer has assigned a different color towel for each of her children.  After their bath is over, they hang the toweland matching washcloth on a double hook in their bathroom.  If there is a towel on the floor, she knows exactly which child it belongs to and this simple system ensures that the children participate in keeping the bathroom clean.  The color assignment translates to other areas of her home, like the kitchen, where the kids have cups in their assigned color to prevent drink mix-ups.

*  Charity saves empty round CD/DVD containers for marker and crayon storage for her young children.

There were many other wonderful ideas shared this morning along with lots of coupons.  I will be adding the remaining coupons to our coupon exchange box in the church narthex.  On the topic of coupons, we have GREAT news!  The Bryan Eagle newspaper has agreed to donate their extra Sunday newspapers each week to provide coupons for the troops.  This will be approximately 1000 copies of coupon inserts each week.  The Blinn College Student Government Association will be sorting and clipping the coupons, and we will be sending them on to an organization which provides coupons to our troops and their families overseas to be used in the military commissaries.  The commissaries accept coupons up to six months after their expiration date and families overseas have very limited access to coupons.  This is a wonderful way to be good stewards of our extra coupons and LOTS of others courtesy of The Bryan Eagle!  Thanks to Charity of taking ownership of this project!!!

Next week, we will be discussing Date Night ideas!  Bring your best successes, ideas/suggestions and even some of your failures (we need to learn from each other).  See you next week!!!

Cleaning with Kids

Is it possible to have a clean house with kids?  I believe that it is!  Today, we talked about cleaning tips for a busy household.  There are so many different methods and systems out there, and no one system will fit every family.  I encourage you to try a couple of systems until your find a hybrid that works for your family.  Here are a couple of suggestions:

I love http://www.flylady.net/ !  I started reading her website many years ago when my children were toddling around and I was working full time.  Housekeeping was such a struggle for me during those days!  I hated spending every Saturday cleaning and grocery shopping and having no family time.  I decided that I had to find a better system and that is when I came across Flylady.   I do not totally subscribe to her system, but use the parts of her system that work for my family.  Every week, I check in for Kelly's Missions, a daily reminder to spend 15-20 minutes on a specific, deep cleaning task.  I also love her Weekly Home Blessing Hour and her detailed cleaning lists.  The key to the Flylady method is doing a little bit each day to maintain your home and decluttering unnecessary items in your life.  I employ her Weekly Home Blessing Hour on Wednesdays but it normally takes me a couple of hours with Baby Cooper in tow.  I love to have the "Aha" moment when the house is clean-if only for ten minutes!
Last summer, I read a book by Tara Aronson titled Mrs. Clean Jean's Housekeeping with Kids.  It is a wonderful guide to help you enlist your family into the cleaning process, and I highly recommend it for young families.  She has some wonderful tips on age-appropriate activities for your children. 

Another method that has worked for me in the past has been to clean different areas on a designated day of the week.  For instance, Mondays are mopping days, Tuesdays are toilets, Wednesdays are wipes countertops, etc.  This is methods works great for those busy moms who can't devote a couple of consecutive hours a weeks to a Home Blessing time.  Thanks Gail for your suggestion many years ago when I was deep in the trenches!

A number of other helpful suggestions were made today, and I wanted to highlight a couple of them.  My friend Jennifer uses red, white and blue tall hampers so that her young children can help her sort the laundry and have a visual cue to ensure proper sorting.  My friend Melissa has recently purchased a Lysol steam mop for her home and loves it to clean her tile and laminate floors.  I personally love my Swiffer vac for quick cleanups on my hardwood floors. 

We also talked about tips for sorting and storing childrens clothing and artwork.  Next week we with be talking more about home storage and organizing.  This topic is one of my passions!!! 

On a personal notes, thank you all for your prayers during this past week.  I was honored to sit in church Sunday and sing, "He gives and takes away, He gives and takes away. My heart will choose to say, Lord blessed be Your name!"  We are devastated to have lost Baby #5, but we know that God has a plan for our family and we trust His perfect will.  Have a blessed week!!!

Couponing and Bargain Shopping

The couponing discussion was so good, we decided to do it again!  This week with talked about couponing best practices.  Did you know that if you load coupons onto your Kroger card through websites like http://www.shortcuts.com/ that you can layer them with your paper coupons?  For instance, if you loaded a $.50 coupon for yogurt onto your Kroger card and you had a $.50 paper coupon, you could use both coupons...and Kroger will double your paper coupons up to $.50!!!  This would result in a savings of $1.50 off of your yogurt.

Here's another tip:  If you have a coupon for buy one get one free for a certain item, these are very valuable.  If a store runs a sale for buy one get one free for the item, you can use your coupon to get two items absolutely free!  Your coupon "purchases" the first item and the store covers the cost of the second item.

If you are new to couponing, I am attaching a link to a website that explains some couponing terminology and best practices:  http://www.couponing101.com/getting-started  This is a great place to start and there is no time like the present to begin!

If you don't use coupons or are new to couponing, I challenge you to try it and watch the savings add up.  Next week, we are going to begin our discussion on cleaning and organizing.  Our first topic with be cleaning with kids!!!

Meal Planning

What a terrific day in the Lord!  We were blessed today to discuss meal planning and strategies for feeding a busy family.  There are lots of strategies for meal planning and countless benefits:  better nutrition, cost savings and ultimately more time to spend with your precious family.  Ultimately, your meal planning strategy should be one that best fits your family and cooking style.  Below are some suggested methods:

* Category Menu Planning -- Each night of the week is assigned a category : casserole, chicken, pasta, hamburger/beef, soup, vegetarian, sandwiches, pork.  This category stays the same from week to week, but the recipes change.  For instance, Monday night might be casserole night.  This Monday I will make a lasagna and the next Monday I will have a chicken & rice casserole. 

* Recipe card meal planning -- Your favorite recipes are written on recipe cards and stored in a binder.   Each planning cycle,  you would pull out the recipe cards chosen for that time period and shop for the ingredients.  The menu would change from week to week.

* Sale shopping meal planning -- The weekly sales ads are consulted and meals are planned based on the store sales for the shopping period. 

*  Recyclable menu planning -- weekly meals plans are developed, printed and stored for future use.  After several weeks of plans are accumulated, mix and match your weekly menus to create varied monthly plans.

These are just a few of the planning ideas that we shared.  Having a plan is the key.  I have found a website with some great basic forms for grocery lists and weekly/monthly planning pages for those of you who would like templates and more detailed planning tips:  

http://organizedhome.com/articles/kitchen

This website also has tips on freezer cooking.  Lots of recipes can be frozen for future use.  Whether you have a "cooking/baking day" or just make double and freeze half, freezer meals can help us manage our busy schedules.  There are lots of great cookbooks and websites devoted to freezer cooking.  If you are unfamiliar with a cooking or baking day, take a look at the following links as the author goes into detail about her baking day:

http://www.moneysavingmom.com/money_saving_mom/2009/10/menu-plan-and-baking-day-list.html
http://www.moneysavingmom.com/money_saving_mom/2009/10/baking-day-the-master-plan.html
http://www.moneysavingmom.com/money_saving_mom/2009/10/my-entry.html

We are putting together a cookbook of favorite weeknight recipes, crockpot recipes and freezer recipes to be shared.  If you have recipes that you would like to contribute, let me know.  I will try to have the recipe booklet published by next Thursday.  I am also updating the links on the side of this blog with some of our favorite recipe websites.

Whatever method you use for feeding your family, pick one that is helpful to you and blesses your family with physical nourishment.  Most importantly, we are reminded not to forget to "feed" our souls daily by spending time in God's Word and in prayer with Him. Physical malnutrition will eventually cause our bodies to waste away, but spiritual malnutrition will cause the demise of our relationship with our Heavenly Father.  Plan ahead for your spiritual as well as your earthly meals.  Have you had your "soul food" today?

Couponing and Grocery Shopping

So how do you stretch a dollar when it comes to buying groceries for your family?  Today we met to discuss this topic and share our couponing strategies.  What a wonderful discussion!  Here are some of the hints and tips that were shared with the group today:

I shop every two weeks for groceries and miscellaneous household goods.  This helps keep me on budget and on prevents impulse purchases.  I have created a spreadsheet for the miscellaneous household items I frequently purchase for our family.  When I first created this document, I did it to find out if it was really cheaper to shop at Wal*Mart/Target/Walgreens/CVS.  I have attached a sample copy of my list below:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0As1SECST8md-dERVM0wxazJpaGk5TF81b2M3bzRUQVE&hl=en

Each biweekly period, I go through the house and determine which household items need replenished or replaced.  I delete the unnecessary items from the spreadsheet and then total up the columns to determine what it should cost to purchase those items prior to any coupons or rebates.  Now before you say it, yes, it took a little time investment to price out the items and, yes, you can subscribe to services that will do this for you.  I really found it beneficial to know how much a bottle of shampoo should cost.  In my opinion, it was a worthwhile learning experience.

Once I have my list together, I go online and to my coupon organizer to find coupons for the needed items. There are lots of wonderful coupon sites that have printable coupons.  Here are some of my favorites:

     http://www.coupons.com/
     http://www.afullcup.com/
     http://www.shortcuts.com/
     http://www.upromise.com/

Don't forget to check manufacturer's websites.  I find that sometimes the best way to find a coupon is to simply Google it.  Type "crest toothpaste coupon 2009" in the search box, and you will often find a printable coupon.

It is always best to plan your meals based on the grocery store weekly sales flyers.  They are published on Wednesdays in our local paper and by mail.  When an item you use often is on sale, stock up if you can.  Many products can be frozen to extend their shelf life.

Also, don't forget weekly specials in the Walgreens and CVS ads.  Many items will be free or extremely inexpensive if you can find a manufacturer's coupon to go along with those sales.  I only purchase items that my family will use or that I can donate to someone else.  I love the printable Walgreens and CVS lists available from http://www.couponmom.com/!  And last but not least, always be on the lookout for manufacturer rebates.  I love www.thefreebieblogger.com and www.couponing101.com for their online tips!

These are just a few of the tips shared today.  If you weren't able to join us this week, please join in next week when we will be talking about meal planning ideas.  Bring your favorite quick weeknight recipes, freezable recipes, or just plain ole' family favorites on an index card, recipe card or computer printout.  You can also post them here.  I'll be putting together a recipe book!

Budgeting

I feel so fortunate to be a part of such a wonderful and dynamic group of ladies!  We are reminded in Matthew 6:25-34 that God loves us and will provide for our every need.  He instructs us, "So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you are well" (Matthew 6:31-33).

This week we talked about how each of our families handle budgeting duties, and we shared our best practices and lessons we have learned along the way.  We covered the budgeting worksheet attached to the previous post.  Here is a synopsis of how I budget:

Each month, I sit down and prepare a budget for the following month.  I use a spiral notebook (old style).  I open in prayer to the Lord, asking for His blessing and direction for our finances.  I list out our income for the month and calculate our monthly tithe based on our gross income.  Then, I continue listing our expenses for the month beginning with housing, utilities, groceries and ending with negotiable expenses like clothing and personal care items.  I try to be as specific as possible as I budget.  Giving each dollar a name helps me to prioritize our spending.  In years past, we have used the Dave Ramsey system to pay off our debt (both credit card and vehicle payments).  I highly recommend this method if you have consumer debt.  It has freed us in so many ways!

Often, I am discouraged or stressed at the end of the process, so I often end by writing a prayer in my budget notebook.  I tell God that I trust Him and ask Him to help me be a good steward of the gifts He has given us.  I ask Him to take away my stress as I am reminded, "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself" (Matthew 6:34). 

After completing the budgeting process, I write a check to get cash out for all of the budget items not paid by bank draft or check (i.e. tithe, mortgage payments, utilities).  I have purchased a plastic coupon organizer and labeled it with the following categories for monthly spending:
          Groceries
          Miscellaneous groceries (Target/WalMart type expenses)
          Dining Out (Family meals)
          Lunch money
          Miscellaneous 

Under the Miscellaneous category, I paperclip and label money for various spending categories such as clothing, personal care, postage, etc. The contents of the miscellaneous tab vary from month to month.  I also separate the money behind the other tabs into the cash needed for each week.  This keeps me on budget each week, which is key to sticking to a budget.  When the money runs out, the spending stops.  This is extremely hard.  I recommend keeping a small amount of money in your budget to pull from for emergencies or sudden and necessary expenses.  Otherwise, when these expenses arise, you will have to re-distribute money from one of the other spending categories.

I would love to spend time with you talking about your budget or going into more detail on how the Franke family handles this process.  I would also love your feedback on what has been shared.  Next week, we will be talking about couponing and grocery shopping.  We have agreed as a group to begin a Coupon Exchange at Parkway.  We will be starting a box or envelope on the Women's Ministry bulletin board soon!  The Lord is working among us and I am blessed!

Sample Budgeting Worksheet

I have created an electronic version of my budgeting worksheet.  I have included some broad, general categories for expenses, but I really encourage you to get specific and tailor it to fit the needs of your family.  We will be covering this at our meeting tomorrow and talking about truly giving your finances over to God.  I hope you can join us, but if you can't, the blog will be updated after the meeting!


http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0As1SECST8md-dEhnY1hQMTNQTE9BZW15QzJUUFUtb1E&hl=en

This Week's Topic - Budgeting

I am so excited to tackle this as our first topic for discussion!  I can honestly say that I have learned A LOT of lessons about budgeting over the past few years and still have A LOT to learn.  Brandon and I have developed a method that seems to work for our family, and I can't wait to be able to share our journey with all of you.  Bring your best budgeting ideas, successes and failures to share with the group on Thursday morning at 10:00 am. 

I want to help you in any way that I can.  If you want to bring your actual monthly budget for September/October, I will be happy to spend some one on one time with you or set up another meeting to go over it.  No judgement--just advice and support.

If you can't join us in person, feel free to share your ideas here, and they will be shared out with the group.  After our meeting on Thursday, I will share the ideas that we discuss so that we can all learn from and support each other as we strive toward successful stewardship!!!

What a wonderful morning!!!

Today was the first meeting of our ladies stewardship group. I am truly in awe and blessed by the group of women that God has assembled together. Each one is amazing in their love for Him, their gifts and talents. Today we talked about what stewardship is and how it touches every area of our lives. We studied what God instructions for us as women in Titus 2:3-5, "Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind and to be subject to their husbands so that no one will malign the word of God."(NIV). We also read about His love and provision for every area of our lives in Exodus 16:4, 12, 18. 

We discussed areas of our lives where we struggle with our stewardship and areas where we have grown and matured over the past years. We have all learned valuable lessons from our past experiences. God instructs us that we should share our experiences and growth with one another and seek advice and counsel for those who have already traversed the path before us. We are so excited that He has brought us together to support each other on the road to successful stewardship.

Next week we will begin our topical discussions. If you were not able to join us today, we would love to have you next Thursday morning at 10:00 am. I will be praying for each of you individually and our group collectively. Next week I will remember to ask for specific prayer requests :0) Check back soon for more information on next week's topic!

Tomorrow is the BIG day that we start our journey toward successful stewardship!

I am so excited to open my home to a group of ladies who are seeking God's will for their lives and looking for ways to be a better steward of the gifts He has given them.  I have a deep passion to share what I have learned with you and to learn more through your experiences and input.  We will meet in my home on Thursday mornings from 10:00-11:00 am.  (Remember that I moved last summer, so if you have not been to my new house, please call for directions.)  Please feel free to bring your kids--mine will be here and will want some playmates! 

If you have a friend who you think would be interested, bring them along.  I am so excited about what God has in store for us, and can't wait to watch as He works among us!!!

Welcome to my Blog

I have finally decided to start a blog to share my journey toward successful stewardship and the blessing that I receive along the way. Let me begin by inviting you to my home study on stewardship which will start next week. I envision this to be a time of sharing our best practices and mentoring one another as we traverse through topics that affect every woman. I hope you will join me:


The Bible calls us all to be good stewards of the gifts God has given us. He has laid on my heart a deep desire to share the lessons I have learned and a hunger to know more.


You are invited to join me on a journey toward successful stewardship beginning
Thursday, September 17, 2009
10:00-11:00 am
Franke Home
Children are welcome!


Discussion Topics will include:
Budgeting
Meal planning and grocery shopping
Organizing and cleaning your home
Quality time--what is it and how to spend it
Dating your mate and other relationships
Volunteering and gifts inventory

Please let me know if you plan to attend or if you need the address--979-690-2415