Service

When ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.

Mosiah 2:17


I believe serving each other is an important part of life. While donating money to charities helps, it is not the only way to serve. Here is a list of ideas to get you thinking of what you can do to help others:

• Rake leaves or shovel snow for neighbors
• Chop or stack wood for elderly neighbors
• Read with children at a literacy center
• Visit with the elderly at a rest home
• Walk dogs at a animal shelter
• Make blankets for various organizations such as the local police or women's shelters
• Donate and gather food for a food bank 
• Donate and gather supplies for hygiene kits for women's shelters or needed areas throughout the world
• Donate your hair- 8-10 inch minimum, depending on the charity.  The three organizations I know of are: Locks of Love, Pantene Beautiful Lengths, and Wigs for Kids.
• Habitat for Humanity- under the direction of a certified contractor, help build homes for lower income residences who also are doing a large portion of the work.
• Volunteer at soup kitchen or homeless shelter
• Mother's Milk Bank- donate human milk for premature babies. I am familiar with the Rocky Mountain Children's Health Foundation Milk Bank, although there are other organizations out there, both profit (research) and non profit based.
• Cuddle/Hold babies in the hospital
• Donate blood- okay, not a favorite, but still good to do.
• Donate Plasma (some organizations pay for this)
• Bring dinner to a family who just had a baby, major illness, etc
• Donate stuff for charity yard sales, or the like
• Free babysitting for a friend
• Tutor at local school
• Clear weeds and debris from a park/garden
• Help plant city flowers
• Pick up trash in parks
• Make wooden toys for children in 3rd world countries- or oil them as our family did after our grandpa and grandma made them.
• Help repaint someone's home, shed, cabin, etc
• Give excess garden produce away to others 
• Help someone move
• Listen when someone needs to talk
• Refrain from saying something unkind
• Offer words of encouragement
• Share your talents with others
• Maintain a positive attitude

The list of ways to serve could go on and on, this certainly is not a comprehensive list. I am convinced the possibilities to make life better for our fellowmen are endless.

What have been some of your favorite ways to serve?

Tip to Keep Closet Clutter Free

Clothes.  They are so easy to accumulate yet so hard to get rid of. Right?  A common piece of advice is if you haven't worn it in a year, get ride of it, donate it, throw it out.  To tell the truth, I hate that piece of advice. It may work for the never changing body, but I tell you I am certainly not throwing out maternity clothes just because I haven't worn them in a year.  I will need those again, and if I have been stuck in maternity/nursing clothes for the good part of a year I am NOT giving up my "normal" clothes.  So for me, that one year rule is more annoying than helpful.

I have heard a slightly more reasonable rule: If you haven't worn it in two of the same season, time to get it out of your closet.  Okay, let's be honest, my favorite jacket is going to win on a cold evening over the hand-me-down one I was given by a former roommate years ago.  Time to get rid of the old jacket and about three others sitting in my closet.

However, here is one trick I use to keep my closet (mostly) clutter free: I don't buy hangers. I suppose it is similar to the one in-one out rule.  If I don't have a hanger to hang it up on, I don't buy it or it's time to get rid of something else.

This does allow my wardrobe to change a bit.  The maternity clothes are currently in a box- not on hangers.  So are the winter clothes.  The only thing in the dresser are things that don't belong on hanger such as socks and gloves.  It has been a great way to save money buy not shoving more and more into my closet and helps with the clutter too.

Stir Fry Sauce

Good with rice or noddle stir fry. This recipe combines ingredients without cooking.  I have heated it and had it as a side option or put it right into the sauce.  Now I use it as a guide but throw whatever else I want into it too.

From Food.com

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Staycation!

We are doing our fair share of travel this summer.  My husband has out of town conferences for work so I go with him.  After all, the gas mileage and hotels are already paid for.  But mixing play and work is often more stressful than fun and your place of travel is chosen for you.  Not that I complain when it is to where my family lives.

Another way we are trying to save money this year is by staying home.  People come from all over the world to visit my house (okay not my house, but the region) so why shouldn't I visit it as well?

We call it Tourist Tuesday. Every Tuesday we pick a new place to go explore. Whether it's a hike, museum, park, or a walk around the neighborhood, we're enjoying seeing the place we call home. Picking a day in the middle of the week means smaller crowds as well.

What's in your neighborhood?

30 Days of Thinking

I don't know about you, but sometimes I get a really big list of wants- expensive wants.  Well, instead of taking out the credit card and running to the store, I take out a 3x5 card and write them. Then I prioritize what I want first, search for good deals, and just plain wait.

I recently learned there is a thing called the 30 day challenge.  When you find something you "just got to have" you write it down and wait 30 days.  If you still want it- and have the money- then buy it.

I had five expensive (more than $50) things I wanted a few months back.  I knew we could not afford them all. So I wrote them down with about how much they would cost depending.

Printer $80 on sale
Carpet cleaner $90 on sale
specific preschool curriculum $190 for 2 yrs)
food dehydrator 60-100+ on sale
freezer 200+

Here is what happen:

 I had already waited a long time for a printer- ours stopped working.  Instead my awesome husband spent some time fixing it.  Instead of $80 we spent $13.

Carpet cleaner- Wait, all I want to do is clean a chair.  I will ask around and find one I can borrow.

Preschool lessons- Um, I graduated in Early Childhood Development. I know how to write my own lesson plans.  Bought a $4 book with activity ideas specific to the curriculum I liked.

Food dehydrator- still want, but it is the beginning of spring. I don't need it yet.  It can wait.

Freezer.  It was a long wait to get a second freezer!  I had a month to look at reviews, prices, space in our apartment, etc.  Yup, it's got ordered as soon as possible!

Giving myself some time to think about my wants saved us hundreds of dollars. Doing it with small items helps too!

What ideas do you have to save money?

Homemade Poulty Seasoning

Remember how homemade Cream of Chicken calls for Poultry seasoning? (Probably not since the post got deleted and I currently don't have time to retype it.)  I didn't have any of that to make the homemade Cream of Chicken, so homemade seasoning it was.


Homemade Poultry Seasoning

2 tsp ground sage
1 1/2 tsp thyme
1 tsp marjoram
3/4 tsp rosemary
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp black pepper

Mix. Store in air tight container

Whew, between that and the cream of chicken and the cooking, that was a lot of work for dinner.  I enjoyed it though.

Summer Simplicity

Perhaps that title is misleading. Summer is already full of vacation, family activities and, yes, school, conferences, and work.

We decided we need to simplify our lives.  One way is less media- and less blogging.  I have a few ideas already lined up, but for the summer at least I will probably only be posting one or two articles a month.  Enjoy your summer!