"What do you do all day?"

When you make the decision to leave the workforce when you are childless and clearly not old enough to retire, the question of "what do you do all day?"  Is inevitable.  I think people want the assurance that I don't just sit around doing nothing.  If you think that's what I do,
you’ve got another think coming!  The days activities depend heavily on the season.  Summer and winter are more laid-back right now.  Lots of reading and craft projects.  Late summer and early fall are pretty busy with all the canning and dehydrating.  Once we have a hobby farm, spring will probably be quite busy because that's when all the planting will take place.


Here is a list of things I might do on a given day, depending on the season:

-laundry

-making my own cleaning products

-cleaning

-gardening

-knitting

-crocheting

-sewing

-spinning

-various craft projects

-volunteering

-going to the library

-grooming the cat, cleaning her litterbox, taking her to the vet (there will be lots more animal-related responsibilities once we have a hobby farm)

-baking

-cooking

-canning

-dehydrating

-doing all the dishes that result from cooking and canning (trust me, there are plenty of dishes!)

-biking

-going for walks

-writing and blogging

-reading

-babysitting on occasion

After seeing all this written down, I think I'm busier and more productive than I was when i was working, haha!

 

Why I Kissed The Workforce Goodbye

 Some of you already know that I made the decision to be done working in early childhood education earlier this summer.  A lot of prayer, tears, and late-night discussions with my husband went into that decision. I’d been doing childcare in one capacity or another for the past 9 years.  I briefly toyed around with the idea of going back to school, and quickly realized that wasn’t for me.  I had absolutely no peace about the idea of changing careers.  But the thought of leaving my career gave me more peace than I’ve had in a long time.

Naturally, a decision like this doesn’t come without a lot of questions from curious and well-intentioned loved ones: Why would you choose not to look for another job given the shape the economy is in?  Why would you stay home if I don’t have any children?  How can you call yourself a feminist if you’re going to make such a decision?  And the most commonly asked question:  What do you do all day?

The last question needs its own post, because I do a lot more than you might think.  I don’t think I’ll fully realize exactly how much I do until I see it all written down, haha!

There are a LOT of reasons I made this decision.  I’ll be writing more posts about this in the future, but here are the main reasons:

1.)  Economy.  I can’t work full-time, and with my level of education I can’t make very much. A typical part-time job in early childhood would essentially pay for the business clothes, the car insurance, and the gas to get there, and that would pretty much be it.  If I had a good reason to keep doing it, that would be fine, but since I don’t want to keep doing it, it’s not worth it.  And since I am not driving my car for work, my husband and I get to put my car down as a leisure car on our insurance policy.  The savings are decent. 

2.)  Stress level and emotional health.  The last couple years have been rough, to put it mildly.  It wasn’t too much in the moment, but it adds up.  When I got to the point where I couldn’t even care about myself anymore, I knew it was time to be done.  I need to have time for the things I enjoy doing or I wilt.  Having time to take care of myself and knit for my Etsy shop on my own schedule has done a world of good.

3.)  More time for volunteering and ministry.  When I was working 20-25+ childcare hours a week, I didn’t have any time or energy left over for other people.  Now that I’m working for myself, I can make my own schedule and help out with various service projects through church and whatnot.  I have to be careful not to overdo it, but it’s really nice to have the option.

4.)  Avoiding the “two-income” trap.  If I got a bachelor’s degree and continued on with my career, we’d fall into the two-income trap when it comes time for me to stay home with the kids, which I absolutely want to do.  In the two-income trap, a couple gets used to having a certain amount of money and a certain lifestyle that can only be sustained if both people are working.  In most cases, they either feel like they don’t have the option of going back to only one income, or one of them leaves the workforce but they take a serious financial hit. 

5.)  The field of early childhood ed is evolving, and not in a good way.  In the past, if you didn’t want to take all the courses necessary for getting a teaching license, you still had options.  You could teach kindergarten, teach in a parochial school, or do early childhood.  But that’s not the case anymore.  You need a license to teach kindergarten now.  More and more private and parochial schools require teaching licenses.  Again, if this was what I really wanted to do, it’d be no problem.  But early childhood classrooms are not what they used to be.  The stakes are getting higher.  These classrooms are becoming more academic and less about learning through play, which I am all for, and which I wouldn’t get to implement if I kept working in early childhood. 

6.)  I have time for homesteading and cooking healthy food.  When I was working, I didn’t have time to eat healthy.  My body paid dearly.  I’m cooking a lot more of my own food now.  I have time to seek out ethical and sustainable food sources. 

I got all these ideas from Shannon Hayes’ book “Radical Homemakers.”  Her book discusses the idea of one partner staying home for practical and economical reasons.  It’s really interesting.  I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to know why people would choose this, or for people who want to be radical homemakers themselves.

Gardening 101

I’m at the point where I’m sort of settling into a rhythm with gardening and homesteading.  I’m at the point where people are starting to ask me questions and I feel confident about answering them, at least some of the time. 

One of the questions I’ve been getting asked a lot is, “Can I grow stuff even if I don’t have a lot of time?”  The answer to that is YES!  I don’t have a lot of time either, to be honest.  Most of my time is taken up with housework, my Etsy shop, writing, and canning. And here’s the thing about gardening: Getting it all set up is the time-consuming part.  The ongoing watering and maintenance is pretty simple.

I don’t want to give the impression that I have it all figured out, but at this point, I do feel experienced enough to give a bit of practical advice to people who are interested in learning more about gardening.  So here are a few simple tips to help you get started:

1.)    Just start!  I can’t tell you how many times people have told me that they would love to do all the gardening and homestead-y things that I do, but they can’t because of XYZ.  I’m not saying there won’t be logistical challenges, or that there is only one way to live self-sufficiently.  But most of the excuses that people give are not valid.  Just start.  Start small with just one pot of your favorite herb.  But start!

2.)    Consider the space and lighting.  When a seed packet says the plant needs full sun, it means FULL SUN.  Don’t even try to mess with this or your plants won’t grow properly.  I’ve learned that the hard way.  If your growing space doesn’t get a lot of sun, growing plants like tomatoes and chamomile simply isn’t going to work for you. 

3.)    Be realistic about what quantities you will actually use.  For people who have more space to work with, it can be tempting to grow a ton of your favorite herb or vegetable.  But you can easily end up with more than you know what to do with.  If you have a large family, that might not be as much of a problem.  But right now, it’s just me and my husband.  Our storage space is pretty limited, so I have to be mindful of how I use it. 

4.)    Don’t worry!  If things don’t go well the first time around, don’t worry about it!  I can’t tell you how many basil plant casualties ensued while I was trying to get this gardening thing figured out.  Learn from your mistakes and get back in the saddle.  You’ll be so glad you did!

If you have any questions about any of this, or about specific plants, please leave a comment!  If I don't know the answer, I will do my best to find it for you! :)

Our Hand-Powered Washing Machine!

One thing we've been wanting to do is wean ourselves off of using the washing machine and dryer all the time.  We were tired of using so much water just to save a little time.  Plus, those machines are energy vampires!

A few months ago, we took the plunge and bought a hand-powered washing machine, and we've been thrilled with the results!  I'd say I do about two-thirds of our laundry in the Wonder Wash.  (I still do sheets and towels in the dryer because they're too big.  I also use the machine occasionally if I'm too worn out to use the WW.)  If we have kids, I'll use the Wonder Wash for the cloth diapers.  At this point I honestly can't say how much of our laundry will go into the Wonder Washer once I'm doing laundry for a family instead of a couple, but I'll certainly use it as much as I can.

I'm sure you're all wondering, "Doesn't that take forever?"  And believe it or not, it doesn't! :)  It takes less than 5 minutes per load.  

And for an added bonus: Since we live in an apartment, every load I do in the Wonder Wash is one load we don't have to shell out a handful of quarters for! :D

If you've ever wanted to try a hand-powered washer, I say just buy one and give it a try!  You can use it as much or as little as you want while you're getting used to it.

Make your own shower and glass cleaner!

I've been wanting to share my product recipes on here for awhile, and I'm finally getting around to it!  

The first recipe I'm going to share is the homemade shower cleaner we've been using for several months.  It also works on mirrors!  I have yet to try it on windows, but I'm sure that would work too.

Supplies:
-spray bottle
-white vinegar
-small amount of scented organic detergent or soap (we use Dr. Bronner's; Target has started carrying it, can also find at whole food stores and online)

And yes, that's really all you need!

What you do:
1.)   Fill up spray bottle no more than about 1/4 of the way with vinegar (too much vinegar can soften the grout between the tiles

2.)  Fill it up the rest of the way with water.

3.)  Add a splash of soap or detergent to kill the smell.

4.)  Shake the daylights out of it!  (Dr. Bronner's soap clumps up a bit when you first mix it up; it's just the reaction between the soap and the vinegar.  It evens out over time.)

And yes, that's really all you do! :)