Establish a House of Order Activity

Thanks to all of those who put together our "Establish a House of Order" Relief Society activity this past Thursday! We received so many great tips and ideas for how to better organize our meals, our homes, and our time. The following are some of the ideas our presenters shared with us:

Meal Planning

Kim C.

Feed Your Sheep

• Store what you eat, eat what you store
• Set your budget for your family
• By frequently used items when they are on sale, so you can buy in large quantities
• Plan your menu around what is on sale
• Don't be afraid to can or freeze items!
• If you don't bake find a bakery outlet (i.e. Sara Lee, Mrs. Bairds, etc.)

Kim's Whole Wheat Bread Recipe

5 cups warm water

3 TB yeast

2/3 c. honey

2/3 c. oil

1/4 c. Vital wheat gluten

1 TB salt

14-15 cups freshly ground wheat (I usually do half hard red wheat and half white wheat.) The best if you have enough flour is if your dough is still sticky but pulls away from the sides of your mixer.

Mx all ingredients in order in a heavy duty mixer for 10 minutes.

Let rise until double and then divide into 4 or 5 bread pans. Let rise again until double then bake in 350 oven for 30 minutes.

If you aren't going to cook all loaves, put dough into bread pan to shape. Then remove the shaped dough and wrap it tightly in plastic wrap. Then place in freezer.

Time and Budget Saving Food Tips

Alice B.

Living in Houston, many foods have a very short life, even while refrigerated! So, to stretch our budget, free up meal-prep time, and give variety to our meals, below are a few hints.

• I munch on celery a lot. I like to wash and slice it and have it ready to eat. I find that recycled, Hillshire Farms, lunch meat boxes keep the celery fresh for WEEKS!
• I also cook several things in bulk, then divide and freeze to speed up future meals' preparation.
• Rice: cook & freeze in 1-2 c. packs
• Brown Rice: add beef bouillon & dried onion, cook and freeze in 1-2 c. packs
• Ground Beef: brown, drain and freeze in 1 lb. packs
• Chicken: put in large kettle, cover with water, season with salt, pepper, onion, poultry seasoning. Cook, shred, freeze in 1 lb. packs
• Chicken breasts: grill, cut in cubes and freeze in 1 lb. packs

Clutter Control

Darla D.

ORGANIZING CLUTTER

You can't organize clutter, so that's where I start in keeping organized -- get rid of clutter. When I'm cleaning and I pick up a rarely used item I ask myself: "Do I ever want to see this again?" if the answer is no, I donate or throw it away immediately. If the answer is yes, I ask myself "When I want it, where will I look for it?" not "Where does this go?". I also stay committed to actually putting things away - - don't put off and think that you will do it later - - if you have a problem with clutter, you won't do it later.

3Ls

LESS is more - The lass you have, the less you have to put away.
LITTLE steps - Put together a bin full of certain items you are not using and store it away for awhile. If you don't open it within a year you never will.
LABEL - If it doesn't have a label it is in a bin and forgotten

3 Questions to ask your self before a spontaneous purchase:

Am I going to use it often?
Am I going to use it in the near future?
Where is it going to go?

Fly Lady Advice:

Don't allow yourself to be sidetracked by wasting time at the computer
Pick up after yourself. If you get it out, put it away.
Don't try to do two projects at once. ONE JOB AT A TIME.
Don't pull out more than you can put back in one hour.

MOTIVATION IS WHAT GET'S YOU STARTED - HABIT IS WHAT KEEPS YOU GOING!

Time Management

Kay H.

"Life offers you two precious gifts -- one is time, the other freedom of choice, the freedom to buy with your time what you will. Every day, every hour, every minute of your span of mortal years must sometime be accounted for. And your eternal reward will be according to your choosing." Elder D. Todd Christofferson

THE 4 D's OF TIME MANAGEMENT

• Do it!
• Delegate it!
• Dump it!
• Defer it!

Action Steps for you:

• Identify high value activities
• Time limits for tasks
• Don't waste time waiting
• Learn to say "No"
• Keep to-do lists -- short and long term