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WELCOME TO HOMEBODIES
March 6, 2007
Volume 8, Issue 10
Weekly encouragement and empowerment e-zine
for stay-at-home parents and working parents
considering the at-home lifestyle
Your Hostess - Cheryl Gochnauer, author of
"Stay-at-Home Handbook", "So You Want to Be a
Stay-at-Home Mom", "Mom to Mom" and founder of
http://www.homebodies.org
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THIS WEEK'S ARTICLES:
"Parenting Partnerships: Part III – Back to the Future" by Homebodies
founder Cheryl Gochnauer
“Reasons for Resourcefulness" by Homebodies columnist Kimberly Danger,
founder of Mommysavers (http://www.mommysavers.com)
"10 Tightwad Tips for Painting a Room" by Homebodies columnist Tawra Kellam,
co-founder of Living on a Dime (http://www.livingonadime.com)
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PARENTING PARTNERSHIPS:
PART III – BACK TO THE FUTURE
Homebodies
By Cheryl Gochnauer
homebodies@comcast.net
Copyright 2007
Now that our girls are teens, they keep Terry and me as busy as they did as
toddlers. (Things calmed down around ages 6 to 9, then started revving up
again as hormones started kicking in.) They tend to monopolize our time, but
that’s not necessarily a bad thing. This is the parenting season of our
marriage, and each child God has placed in our arms is a precious gift. Our
daughters will eventually grow up, however, and God willing, Terry and I
will have a lot of marriage left once they’ve launched.
Back when we first agreed I would stay home with our daughters, both Terry
and I knew I would someday re-enter the traditional workforce. With that in
mind, we addressed these questions before I waved goodbye to my co-workers:
• How long do I plan to be off work? (Until the kids hit preschool?
Kindergarten? College?)
• What can I do to maintain my present business contacts? (I still meet
quarterly for lunch with work friends who gave me a baby shower years ago.)
• Will I continue to maintain memberships in professional organizations?
What licenses or certifications should I renew periodically?
• Should I take a class every so often to brush up and add to my skill set?
• Is there something I might like to do as a home based business? (Many
couples generate extra income by finding a part-time job one spouse can work
from home.)
Preparing for the future helped stabilize us even before we embarked on our
stay-at-home adventure. Now that Terry and I have invested more than a
decade in our daughters, we see this lifestyle choice has strengthened our
marriage, too.
There’s a deep peace that comes from knowing our kids have received hands-on
shepherding each day from someone who truly adores them.
We’ve learned to respect each other as we manage our resources together,
whether God is entrusting us with a dollar or a diamond at any given moment.
And there’s an inner spunkiness that makes us grin at each other as we watch
our children grow, knowing we grabbed a gold ring many others let pass by.
*****
Cheryl Gochnauer is the author of So You Want to Be a Stay-at-Home Mom and
Stay-at Home Handbook (both through InterVarsity Press). Sign up for her
free weekly email newsletter, Homebodies, by writing admin@stretcher.com.
Comments? Write Cheryl at homebodies@comcast.net.
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REASONS FOR RESOURCEFULNESS
Mommysavers
By Kimberly Danger
Sydney@mommysavers.com
Copyright 2007
“Waste Not, Want Not.” You may be familiar with this phrase if you had a
parent or grandparent who lived through the great depression or experienced
war rationing. Prior generations, mainly out of necessity, demonstrated that
philosophy numerous ways and learned to be resourceful with what they had.
In today’s world of abundance, why would anyone choose to live that way?
I’ll give you a few good reasons.
You tap into your creative side when you have to make do with what you have.
It forces you to look at what you have in a new light. You’re forced to use
your imagination, giving you insight into something’s hidden potential.
You’ll also experience a deeper level of satisfaction when creating
something out of nothing. There’s another great byproduct: You save lots of
money!
Last year my daughter and I were looking for a fun winter project. We
somehow wanted to incorporate her love of Barbie Dolls, yet not spend a lot
of money. That led us to the ultimate trash-to-treasure project: A New
Barbie House. Keep in mind that her Barbie already had fairly nice
accommodations, and we could have afforded to buy her a vacation home if we
really wanted to; but that wouldn’t have been as much fun, nor would it have
given us the chance to hone our creative skills. Instead, Barbie went
“Dumpster Diving” to furnish her home. My daughter and I built Barbie’s new
house out of cardboard boxes and furnished it with fabric scraps, yogurt
containers, and other items that were rescued from the recycling bin. Her
couch was a re-designed Kleenex box. Her chairs were lids from old laundry
detergent bottles. We began looking at our trash in a different way.
Imagination and creativity are both traits that everyone has; whether they
think they do or not. Like with most skills, they get better with practice.
Unfortunately, the “quick fix” of being able to run out to the store to buy
whatever we need can smother our resourcefulness. The best way to get back
in touch with your creative side is to put it into practice each and every
day. Once honed, this skill can apply it to other areas of your life: your
career, your hobbies, and even your relationships.
The next time you find yourself running to the store to buy a piece of
clothing, a toy to keep your kids entertained or something with which to
decorate your home, try re-thinking about using what you already have. Not
only will you have extra cash in your wallet, you’ll be putting that great
skill into practice.
Put Resourcefulness to Work for You Today:
• Instead of spending $4 on a greeting card, make one yourself. You don’t
have to be especially crafty; print out photos from the internet or cut up
old calendar pages. When you put more of yourself into an endeavor, it
means more to the recipient and you as the person giving it.
• Make this week’s meals using only the ingredients that you currently have
in your home. Use the “ingredient search” menu on allrecipes.com for ideas.
• Redecorate a room using things you already have, or create new artwork for
your walls by painting over an existing canvas or putting new photos in old
frames.
• Get your kids in on the action by making a toy with household items.
Chances are you did this as a kid yourself: remember homemade play-dough and
paper plate maracas?
*****
Kimberly Danger is the owner and publisher of Mommysavers.com, a site for
moms living well for less. Portions of this article first appeared in her
blog, Forget the Joneses, which also appears on her website.
http://www.mommysavers.com
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10 TIGHTWAD TIPS FOR PAINTING A ROOM
Living on a Dime
By Tawra Kellam
editor@livingonadime.com
Copyright 2007
One of the easiest ways to save money re-decorating is to paint a room
yourself. It can cost anywhere from $200-$500 to have one room painted.
Painting it yourself, you can do it for under $30. Here are some tips that
we have used to save money painting:
1. Check your local hazardous waste recycling center for free or low cost
paint. I’ve painted many rooms and pieces of furniture just by checking
their free paint section. I painted the entire exterior of our house for $45
using three of their low cost five gallon buckets of brand new but leftover
construction paint.
2. Use an old sheet or spend $1.00 for one at a thrift store to use as a
drop cloth. Sheets are heavier than the plastic drop cloths at the store and
will last for many rooms of painting. Hang over a clothesline or fence to
dry before folding and storing.
3. When removing the outlet and switch covers, put the screws back into the
holes so they don’t get lost. You can also put the covers and screws in a
zip top sandwich bag.
4. Line your roller pan by putting a plastic grocery sack or trash sack
(inside out if it has writing on it) on the paint tray. Then you can just
invert the sack when you’re done and throw it away.
5. Poke four or five holes with a nail in the groove on the top of the can.
That way the paint doesn’t get stuck in the groove around the edge of the
can and make a mess when you put the lid back on.
6. Use the leftovers at the bottom of "empty" paint cans to paint trim or to
touch up.
7. Don’t use painter’s tape. Painting is just like coloring inside the lines
in school. Use a small, one-inch, angled paintbrush and slowly go around the
edges. It takes less time than putting up and taking down tape. Keep a wet
rag by your side in case you make small mistakes. Some tape also lets the
paint bleed through, so it’s not a very clean finish.
8. Store your rollers and brushes in a plastic grocery sack between
paintings. You don’t have to clean them after each use if you keep them from
drying out. Refrigerate overnight or freeze them if you are going to not be
painting for several days or weeks.
9. Turn the ceiling fan on in a room to speed up drying time.
10. When you’re done with your painting clothes, turn them inside out as you
take them off. This way, you don’t accidentally get wet paint on anything.
*****
Tawra and her husband have 3 children, and devised a system to pay off over
$20,000 in debt over a period of 5 years – all the while living on an
average income of $20,000. She is a frequent contributor to web ezines and
has her own Web site,
http://www.LivingOnADime.com, where she shares her newest ideas for
everything from decorating for holidays to cleaning the kitchen floor.
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PUBLICATION INFORMATION
Copyright 2007 Cheryl Gochnauer. All rights reserved. For permission to
reprint an article, please write homebodies@comcast.net.
All articles are printed with the author's prior consent. It is assumed that
any questions, tips or replies to questions may be reprinted. All letters
become the property of Cheryl Gochnauer.
Cheryl Gochnauer does not assume responsibility for advice given. All
advice should be weighed against your own abilities and circumstances and
applied accordingly. It is up to the reader to determine if advice is safe
and suitable for their own situation.
Homebodies is a free weekly e-mail newsletter.
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