The Joy of Cooking

Each day for me is a roller coaster of ups and downs with my family.  One second we're chasing each other around during an exuberant game of tag, the next we have two poopie diapers to change, the dog is ripping into the garbage, and the cat is throwing up in the hallway.  As mothers we learn to roll with the punches and to take pleasure in the little things.  But every so often we need to reclaim something bigger too.

For me, the most challenging part of my day is suppertime.  Generally, my nine-month-old gets just a little cranky about this time of day, my two big boys, starting to get tired and hungry, get super hyper, and, admittedly, I am really starting to fade.  When I was working full-time it was even worse since we rolled into the house at suppertime and I have never been very good at crock pot cooking.  All too often we end up eating sandwiches, pancakes, or plain pasta in an effort to prepare something quickly.  Cooking a fancy dinner around here has turned into spaghetti WITH sauce.  I know, your mouth is watering, right?

Over the last few months, though, I've started giving myself a pretty amazing gift.  I've reclaimed the joy of cooking.  No, I haven't started making fantastic meals every single night.  Spaghetti is still a staple in these parts.  And, no, I haven't started cooking dinner every night with a skip in my step and a smile on my face in an effort to change my attitude.  Instead, once every few weeks I have been choosing a challenging recipe from the dusty old cookbooks on my shelf, planning and preparing the meal for the benefit of my family.  We're learning how to "dine" together.  So far, I've made minestrone from scratch, a honey-glazed ham that was NOT pre-cooked, a turkey stuffed with lemons and basil, and, most recently, Bouef Bourignon for my mother's birthday.  In each instance, I have had to start cooking supper at about 1:00 in the afternoon to have it on the table for supper.  My family has enjoyed our special dinner, especially my husband, and we have laid out the table, lit candles, and taken our time eating together.  Since starting to give myself this gift, my children have given me the gift of thanking me not just for supper but for our "lovely supper" at every meal, even those spaghetti dinners.

I'm not super mom and I'm also not a neglectful mom.  I've timed these gifts for days when my husband has been home to help with the children, run downstairs for the onion I forgot to grab, or talk me off a ledge when things weren't working out.  In fact, it has brought some of the romance back from those days as a couple when we could prepare a meal together, lick sauce off each other's fingers, and, basically, flirt over food.

I challenge you to give yourself the gift of joyful cooking!  Get your partner involved, you can involve your children too.  Single parent?  Invite a friend over to help.  They keep your children out of your hair while you cook for the afternoon and, in return, they get to enjoy your incredible creation.  Shop together, cook together, dine together.  Reclaim a big thing!  Reclaim it the mommy way!

Northern Mom's Top 10 Money Savers

Money!  Money!  Money!  It's a rich man's world.  Thank you Abba for that depressing piece of information.  As parents we know that richness actually has nothing to do with money in the bank but, even so, money and finances remain one of the hottest button issues in most Canadian homes and marriages.  Regardless of your personal views on money we all have to provide basic needs to ourselves and our children and, since few of us are living sustainable, off-grid lifestyles, that generally involves bringing a financial income into our homes.  

There are two ways to do that.  The first, most obvious way, is to work either inside or outside of our home in order to make a paycheck.  There is a second, less discussed, way to bring an income into your home and that is by saving money you would have otherwise spent.  Stretching the money you have already doesn't get much attention or credit for that matter but anyone who has done it knows that it can be time-consuming, labour-intensive, and, well, downright hard!  So, in an effort to make that task a bit easier I am sharing my Top 10 List of Money Savers that we use here in the Northern Mom household.

10  RECYCLE

I RECYCLED MY FORMULA TINS.  CLICK TO FIND OUT HOW

What?!?  How does that save me money?  Recycled materials make great craft supplies for the kiddies!  Egg cartons, cleaned plastic cups and cutlery, baby food jars, milk cartons, need I go on?   A coat of paint, some tissue paper (also recycled from the last gift bag you received) and you can create something magnificent at very little cost.  When craft time is over and the kids are ready to move on to some great sketches and drawings save the fifteen pieces of paper that they scribble on.  They make great gift wrap for loved ones who will appreciate their gift being wrapped in the creative work of your little Picasso.  If you don't have extra sketches laying around and you need to wrap a gift consider recycling some newspaper to do it.  Just be careful which section you choose.  I did this for a child's birthday once and as I handed over the present I realized, to my horror, that I had wrapped it in the obituaries!  Yikes!  Thankfully he couldn't read yet and I whisked away the "garbage" as quickly as possible.  Other ways to use your recycling to save some money is to use the bottom of an egg carton to organize your drawers.  The cups are great for paper clips, etc., in the junk drawer and also function as a great way to keep your jewellery organized.  Milk jugs can be used as mini-greenhouses in the garden.  Just cut off the bottom of the jug and place the top over top of your zucchini or other plant.  You can pour water in through the spout and remove the jug once the plant is off to a good start.

9 LET TECHNOLOGY HELP YOU!

If you haven't already replaced your thermostat with a programmable one then consider squirreling away the pennies you'll be saving with all these tips until you have enough to change yours out.  Extreme changes in temperature in your house can have a big impact on your utility bill.  Using a programmable thermostat will keep your little ones from causing those big surges.  Also, avoid dropping the temperature of your house down too far at night.  Try to avoid temperature changes more than 2 degrees.  Believe it or not the money you think that you're saving by turning the thermostat way down at night gets eaten right back up when your furnace has to work so hard to heat up the house in the morning.

A second way to let technology help you to save money is to rely on your cruise control more when you're driving.  It's a myth that cruise control uses more gas.  In reality using your cruise control serves the same purpose as that programmable thermostat.  It prevents the surges that eat up your gas and, in turn, your bank balance.

8 DO IT YOURSELF

DIY!  DIY!  DIY!  Roll up your sleeves and learn to do things for yourself and save on paying someone else to do things for you.  Learn how to do your own oil change and save yourself a couple hundred dollars a year.  You'll pay for the oil and a filter and that's it.  Hit garage sales for that new coffee table you're desperate for and put some elbow grease into making it match your decor.  Get imaginative, be creative, and you'll also end up with an original piece.  

7 CLOTHING SWAP

Kids grow fast and a big expense for parents is keeping them clothed.  Don't be afraid of used clothes and hit the local thrift store for some great finds.  If you want to save even more money and/or you're stressed about buying used clothes from strangers then find a friend with children that are different sizes than yours and start trading clothes.  Get a fabric pen, label your clothes (have them do the same) and start trading the clothes your children have grown out of for their clothes that are in the size you need.  When you're done with them, swap them back (hence the labels).  I did this with a friend of mine.  The great thing is that we doubled our wardrobes without the cost or the storage once the kids grew out of them!  

Moms and dads need clothes from time to time too so why not arrange a clothing and accessory swap in your local community.  Everyone brings a few items they don't want or need anymore and, in exchange they can grab whatever catches their eye.  No money exchanges hands and everyone gets to refresh their wardrobe.  This works great for accessories. 

6 BABYSITTING SWAP

Babysitting costs are on the rise and because of that I know a lot of parents who can't get out of the house anymore.  What a shame!  An easy solution is to remind yourself that just as often as you gripe about not being able to go out anymore your friends with children are doing the same thing.  So, make a trade.  Offer to babysit for free for friends if, in exchange, they'll commit to a date to do the same for you.  What a great way to have date night without the extra cost of a sitter!  Plus your munchkins will get a play date out of it.  Do the same for a whole Saturday and you can get to some of those major projects around the house that are difficult to do with children under foot.

5 LEARN TO GROCERY SHOP

Sales at the grocery store happen in cycles.  If you start paying attention to those cycles you can buy almost all of your groceries only when they are on sale.  Generally these sales happen in three month cycles so if you walk into the grocery store and pasta sauce is on sale, buy three months worth.  By watching sale cycles at my local grocery store I haven't paid more than $1 for a jar of pasta sauce in almost a year!

Plan your trip to the grocery store.  Create a meal plan for the week or month (whatever works for your family), inventory what is in your cupboard so you have less waste, and shop based on that list.  Stick strictly to the list for perishable items and you'll stop throwing your money into the wastebasket (I'll confess that I stink at this and end up throwing out way too much food every month).  Go off list to buy non-perishables in bulk using those sale cycles to your advantage.  Also, as much as possible, cook from scratch.  Pre-packaged foods are costly because you're paying for convenience.  Develop a system to store and freeze your purchases, learn to use the crockpot more, and you'll find that cooking from scratch is still convenient with good planning.

4 BABY SAVINGS!

Babies are expensive!  Diapers, wipes, formula, aaah!  Alas, though, babies must be fed and kept clean and there are some ways to save.  You're going to hate me for saying this but one of the best ways to save on diapers is, of course, to use cloth diapers.  If that's asking too much then try experimenting with generic brand diapers.  With my third baby I was very surprised to discover a generic brand of diapers that, in my opinion, worked better than the well-known (and expensive) brand I had been using for years.  Wipes are another big cost that can be avoided with a wash cloth and a basin but, again, if the convenience of something disposable is more appealing to you then try this recipe.  Mix two cups of water, two tablespoons of oil (olive or coconut), and two drops of tea tree oil (which is a natural disinfectant and takes the place of the alcohol in store-bought wipes) in a bowl.  Cut a roll of good quality, thick paper towel in half lengthwise.  Put one half on end in a sealable plastic container.  Pour the solution you made over the paper towel and leave it for ten minutes.  Then, pull the cardboard insert out of the center of the paper towel.  You should then be able to pull the wipes up from the center just as you would Lysol wipes or such.  Pop the lid on and stick it on the change table.  Finally, to save on feeding baby, the most obvious is to breast feed (it's free), but once baby is on solids, again, pureeing your own baby food is a really simple way to save some cash.

3 NATURAL DEODORIZERS

Let's face it, homes with children can get stinky.  The lingering smell of the last diaper change, body odour from teenagers, with three boys my house is no stranger to maniacal bouts of flatulence!  Sometimes I'm in desperate need of something "pretty" to smell but spray deodorizers can be pricey.  Enter mother nature!  Pop some water in the crockpot and toss a few slices of lemon, a couple sprigs of rosemary, and about a tablespoon of vanilla into the water and simmer it throughout the day.  Add water as needed and breath deep for once!  

2 GET BACK TO BASICS

Another major cost for most households, especially with children and pets, is cleaning products.  Get out of the cleaning aisle and hit the baking section!  All you really need is baking soda and vinegar to keep your house spic and span.  Vinegar, diluted in water, in a spray bottle makes a great all-purpose cleaner and disinfectant and it's also a great fabric softener (surprise!).  Baking soda is a great way to clean your kitchen sink, your stove top, and mix it with vinegar in the bathtub to make a great scouring foam.  While you're at it you can show your little ones how to make a volcano!  Need a degreaser?  Grab the leftover lemon from your crockpot concoction and toss a half in the microwave.  Cook it for thirty seconds and you can literally wipe your microwave clean.  Toss the other half in the washing machine with your whites as an alternative to bleach!

And my number one cost saving tip...

1 GET UNPLUGGED

Did you know that the things you leave plugged in all the time might be drawing electricity all the time!!  Unless there is a switch to stop the flow of electricity you're racking up the electric bill even when the electronic is turned off.  In other words, the switch on your lamp stops you from paying more on your electric bill.  But, your microwave, TV, computer, coffee pot, etc., are costing you money even when you're not using them.  A simple solution is to unplug the microwave and coffee pot between uses.  You can do the same with the TV and computer by plugging everything into a power bar and flipping the switch when you're done with them.  It seems like a pain but believe me once you get in the habit it's not a big deal and the first time you see the savings on your electric bill you'll definitely remember!

Hopefully these tips and tricks will help you stretch your dollars just as they have mine.  Your assignment this week is to find one way to save money in your home and implement it.  And, as always, if you're comfortable, share it with us here.  If you have a great cost-saver of your own share it too.

Happy Parenting!

Northern Mom

We can't all be energizer bunnies - Recharging those batteries.

We all know that feeling as mothers, the one of pure exhaustion when you aren't completely sure you can carry on.  It's not just being physically tired, though that is a big part of it.  It's that constant giving and giving that mothers are so good at.  We are so good at giving of ourselves that often we forget to recharge our own batteries.  There is always children who have needs to be met, dishes to be done, laundry to do, and for many moms there is work in the mix too.  Not to mention that some of us have partners that may want a little face time too once and a while! 

Set up your own creative photo shoot

So when you are a mother and you give and give and give, who recharges you?  It is a question that I challenge you to ask yourself.  I'm hoping one of your answers would be "Me!" and hopefully others who support you in your life too - maybe your partner, maybe your friends or family members.  As a professional, I see moms all the time drained to the point where they aren't meeting anyone's needs anymore and it is negatively impacting their family.  As a mother myself, I know when I need to recharge my own batteries.  Self care is one of the most important priorities that every parent needs to have.  Some would describe it as compensating yourself as a mother.  We get paid to work, but of course no one is paying us to be parents (you can't put a dollar value on such an important job).  So how do we compensate ourselves?  I have a few points for you to think about and some suggestions that may help you get into the mindset of caring for yourself as well as you do your children.

• Ask yourself the question: when was the last time I sat down just for the sake of sitting down?  Not because you were eating a meal with your children, but just sat down for you.  You may be surprised at how long it's been!
• When was the last time you did something purely for you, whether it be taking a bubble bath or dusting off one of the numerous hobbies you used to work at pre-children?
• What are some of the activities you do with your family that recharge you and how can you capitalize on those times outside of your regular routine?

These questions will hopefully get you thinking.  The most important thing I will say is we have to give ourselves permission as mothers to care for ourselves and know that it is important.  Too often I believe it is easy to allow our own needs to fall by the wayside, or to see some "me" time as selfish.

Some ideas I have around self care activities many of you may have done or do already, so I am open to suggestions and comments.  Here are some of my personal favourites, some take more time than others and some can be done alone or with your family:

Dive into craft time

• Bubble baths with candles and maybe a little treat (yes I do like to eat chocolate in the tub....).
• Self pedicures.  Always preferable for me to have someone else rub lotion on those tired feet and maybe paint those toes, but lets face it salons usually charge enough to buy a good few bags of groceries and some of us don't like our feet touched by someone else anyway!
• A cup of tea or coffee and a five minute sit.  This is what I was talking about before, sitting down and taking a mini break can make a huge difference in your day.
• Family walks.  These are a great time to visit with your children and maybe your partner and get some of that needed exercise.  After supper can be a really good time to do this for some families because if you have a partner you both may be home at this time to join in too.
• My personal favourite: dishes/laundry strike!  Maybe I am encouraging "bad housekeeping" techniques but really...will it hurt for the dishes or laundry to wait one night so you can watch a movie after the kids are in bed or maybe tackle some of that long put off project you enjoy doing? I would suggest that the dishes will wait, in fact I have tested the theory and have concluded that nothing seems to fall apart the next day if the dishes aren't done.
• Hobbies ladies! Some mom's love to scrapbook, sew, create, some moms love to blog.  It is very healthy to have something that you can decompress yourself with and creating something gives us that sense of accomplishment.
• I hate to say it and you all may groan...but exercise.  Even a few at home exercises.  You can find lots of suggestions on the Internet that can get the ol' heart going and give you a boost of energy.
• An obvious one that many moms engage in is playgroups or play dates with other moms.  It is an awesome way to occupy the kids, while getting some much needed adult time.
• Craft time! I don't know about you, but colouring or splattering some paint with my kids is more relaxing than you would think.  The key is to enjoy it and try to forget that you have to clean it all up after....haha

Lots of communities have spray parks that are a great place for everyone to cool off and relax!



There are so many ways to relax, I repeat myself when I say we need to give ourselves permission as moms.  We deserve to be recharged and the only person who is going to be able to initiate that is you.  If you are having difficulty giving yourself permission I will quote a long standing "Loreal" slogan...:"Because you're worth it!"

So Mom Is Not a Four Letter Word readers....what do you do to care for yourself?