Help with Home Making properly

[Shawnee]

Hi all I am sorry that I have not been on in a while. Anyways I am in need of some serious help. I was never taught how to keep house, can fruits and veggies, Homemade cooking. Please give me suggestions.

[SundaeSarah]

Keeping house is easy in theory. Have a place for everything, and when you pick up, put things away. If you have more stuff than space, then it gets a little hairy. Either create more storage or toss a lot of things out or put it in storage.
Home cooking starts with the basics. Meat, veg, fruit, salads and dessert. There are so many recipes online, you can find them and follow the directions. If you want a spaghetti recipe, do a search for one. Need to know how to make oatmeal? Just follow the recipe on the box, etc.

The canning and freezing. I used to do more than I do now. I find canned from the store (especially when they have a sale) is much easier. There are older sisters in your ward that can - ask for help some day in Relief Society. The Ball and Kerr web sites also have info on canning.

[MorningStar]

Have you tried flylady.net? I lot of people love that site. It teaches you how to get your house in order a little at a time. I tried it years ago when I had dial-up and didn't get online much and I got overwhelmed with all the e-mails, but I was able to apply the idea of doing a little bit each day and tossing stuff you don't need.

[Wingnut]

I would caution against Fly Lady. I know too many people who have had very bad experiences with it for several reasons, the least of which is an inundation of multiple emails a day.

For me, I have to make myself a chore chart. I won't do anything otherwise, because it's too overwhelming. I have to schedule housecleaning activities (laundry on Mondays, clean the kitchen on Tuesdays, go grocery shopping on Wednesdays, clean the bathrooms on Thursdays, and so on).

When it comes to the kitchen, you don't have to do it all. If you want to do it all, that's great, but don't think you have to do it all right now. And don't try to, either, because it will just be so overwhelming. If you don't know how to cook, work on that before you master the art of canning.

In addition to my chore chart, I also have to plan my meals. I love to cook, and I'm pretty good at it, but I hate deciding what to make. I'm like the vultures from Disney's The Jungle Book -- what do you want to eat? I don't care. Whatever you want. Well, what do you want me to cook?

You get the idea. So I plan a week or two worth of meals in one sitting, and make my shopping list based on that schedule. It helps in so many ways:
(1) You stay within your budget because it helps cut down on impulse buys at the store
(2) You know exactly what to shop for, so you only have to make one trip
(3) It cuts down on last minute scrambles

Good luck!

Oh, for cleaning, I would recommend "Talking Dirty with the Queen of Clean" by Linda Cobb. She's put out a couple of books. She's really good.

[ZionWoman]

There is so much to know and it can be a little overwhelming. I like meal planning. Find a good cookbook. The one I loved as a newly wed was one call "cooking for two" but it is published by a canadian magazine. Start small and simple in the kitchen. Cooking is easy but it takes practice so don't get discouraged. DOn't feel like you have to be the ultimate homemaker in your first years of marriage. I have a friend who only cooks one thing everyday (one side dish or main course) and nothing more. Take a class at a community center or find a good cooking show (I like Alton Brown on the food network 'cus he's just too cute!). Cooking doesn't have to be complicated. We love food with just a few ingredients stirred together and baked for and hour.

I like chore charts. Try to keep things in their place, pick up every night, never let the dishes get behind and always do one load of laundry everyday (if you have that much between you and your husband and don't have to go to a laundromat). Separate darks and lights. Wash towels, sheets, socks and undies in hot water. Wash jeans separately (they are hard on the other clothes). Take things out of the dryer and put away quickly so they don't wrinkle. And always read labels!

Don't worry, you'll get the hang of it.

[WANDERER]

Try to find a cooking book that is used in highschool: the meals are simple and basic and it talks about cooking terms and provides information on how to cook and prepare vegetables etc. It's a great little launch pad for teaching yourself how to cook.

Join aforum for new mum's...no you don't have to have a young un...but lots of SAHM working things out together...they're happy to answer your questions on the best way of cleaning a shower screen or why did my cake sink!!!! If you find a good forum you can get help within 15 seconds for what recipe can I make with only three pantry items. I really rely on these forums with problem shooting domestic stuff. They'll also alert you to sales and coupons...SAHM are home budgetting experts.
Oh and there are blogs out there from mumbloggers that are amazing sources of information. If you don't know how to prepare dried beans they'll walk you through the steps. Mumbloggers are a big part of the blogging world. Try googling canning on a blog search on google with whatever it is that you want to can...there will be picture guides and tips. (I keep meaning to have a go at it...eventually)

Wikihow and Videojug are dedicated internet places with videos of how to do stuff like how to change a lightbulb, wash a dog, make pikelets. They have short videos. Nothing like seeing someone do it to help you along.

Canning...join a forum that is into *simple living*...you'll pick up canning/gardening tips ...they tend to do things that promote self-reliance or self-sufficiency: candlemaking etc. While they have an environmental slant to them they know their stuff.

Flylady is good for getting a domestic cleaning routine going...there are a lot of books on this with varying systems.Check out amazon. I have found that what you really need is a personal system so I mix and match various strategies for tackling things.

NOW is the time to join an XMAS domestic goddess website...they have ones that step you down to preparing for the XMAS holiday season with weekly tasks to do. They are amazing. This might be a whole lot more fun to do than flylady because you are working to a goal: Xmas day...training wheels so to speak. It does weeklycleaning tasks/homemade gifts/Xmas puddings etc. Martha Stewart eat your heart out..


Breaking things up helps: here's my current steps towards canning:
learning how to make pre-made chocolate drinks/soups
pre-made bake anything mixes/oatmeal packs (replicating convenience products like pizza bases etc).
Organising the pantry and working on a rotation system, learning to date products as soon as they come into the house. Have 200 days of food storeage now *YAY* and the other 100 days is still OAMC freezer stuff LOL.
Menu planning and OAMC. Learning to shop in advance.
Using jam setter to make fridge jams etc. Home made sauces.
Currently I'm a little side-tracked from this (doing a first-aid kit and working out a 72 hour kit. I learnt how to turn off the water main supply to the house LOL).

When I was a student I had a housekeeping book I'd received as a present: it told you how to sort out washing and stuff like that.


DO ONE THING. THEY DOMINO.
(I started off with being annoyed at the price of buying some muffins for lunch for work from the supermarket and the idea that I would do some homebaking and make my own muffins...they turned out...bought another muffin tray...froze them...had four weeks of lunches...
Muffins are entirely to blame : )

Housekeeping is hard! I've been married for 5 years and I'd say for the last 2 I've slowly started to improve. My cooking has been improving over the whole 5 years. It's been a slow process! I don't mind cleaning, such as mopping or scrubbing the toliet, but all the daily stuff to keep the house clean eludes me! I'm not organized, and I'm not systematic. I don't like cleaning the house up as the day goes by. I like cleaning then doing something else. Well anyways. My house isn't very straight! I'm trying to keep to my standards of clean and not other peoples. Sometimes my house will be all the way clean (not often) and then I think of the bookcase that is always untidy or the fridge needing organization etc. But just a moment ago I was thinking, my house was clean.... then I start seeing it through the eyes of someone else, a neat freak that I'm not some one like..... my mother!!

So, hmm, slow process. For cooking, watching food network helped, then allrecipes.com is awesome because people give reviews, so you can get good ideas on how to change things. Cleaning, ummmm it's been a slow process at getting myself organized. It's ok if things aren't perfect, right?

[Alaskagain]

I really miss our old "Homemaking Meetings", which often involved, but were certainly not limited to, mini-classes on basic house management topics.

Now that I have expressed that thought, I suppose I will have to be the one to start a Home Economics Relief Society sub-group in our ward.

[Louwanna]

Our Enrichment leader has decided to "ask" each of us what we would like to teach as a "one on one" lesson, ie. canning, cooking with food storage, crocheting, etc. We then have also had the opportunity to "sign up" for something we would like to learn. I signed up to teach cooking with food storage and a newly married young woman has signed up to take it! I also wanted to learn basic sewing, so I am now looking for a sewing machine to learn on! We do these classes in our own home and it gives us the opportunity to get to know each other better. I am excited with this great idea. It kind of "extends" our enrichment meetings....from the home.

[DeborahC]

I think this is such a good question!
I'm 56 and learned all the skills like canning, homemaking, cooking, sewing.
But there have been a couple of generations of women who grew up as latchkey kids or with their mothers working, and haven't had the opportunity to learn such skills.

I think the Relief Society should do these types of classes and I'd love to teach a few in my area!
That is one thing I think the OLD form of Relief Society had over this new form. . . opportunity to learn such skills from each other.

I'd love to do an exchange with someone who could teach ME how to use a serger I bought on craigslist!

There is an EXCELLENT book, by the way, on homemaking and homesteading skills that is one of my "old favorites."

It is called "Carla Emory's Old Fashioned Recipe Book."

It tells you how to can foods, raise animals, clean things, just about anything you can think of.
Highly recommended.