Or, daughters be Pastors' wives, in North America. Unless... they have a genuine calling from God. I am neither a Pastor nor a Pastor's wife. I was a PK - Pastor's Kid. My mom and dad were pastors of a small Chinese Church in Malaysia. My childhood was fabulous in many ways - we were always surrounded by people. There was a lot of respect from the people in the congregation - no matter how nasty the Pastor was, they just loved him and his family - simply because he was God's "elect". My dad had struggled with anger management all his life and it got quite scary at times (as in afraid for your lives type scary). However, my mom stuck with him for the sake of the ministry and for the sake of the kids. Growing up as a PK, one learns a lot about the inner workings of the church. Based on my experience as a kid of a Pastor who was definitely far from perfect, I really did not have a whole lot of respect for Pastors - to me, they were simply people who could not get into a proper program in University, therefore, they had to go to Bible college. I equated them to people who got a general Arts degree and could not have a real career when they got out of school (I know, I just offended a whole pile of people here - please pardon me for being so candid). Oh, and I also thought that they were really lazy people who needed to go and get a real job. Due to the hard life my mom had, she wanted to make sure that we all got very well educated so that we had more choices in our lives. Well, I became an Engineer, my sister became a Teacher and my brother was the head of the Canadian Operations for a software company based in the USA (he took Computer Science and Economics in University).
As kids, we played "pastor" - I guess that is what PKs do. We would pretend to baptize people when we are in the swimming pool. My brother would preach to his teddy bears. Yup, he lines them up and preaches to them. I think that was the first sign that he had a calling on his life.
My brother, the very successful business man felt the calling of God to pioneer a church. We were all ok with that decision, as long as, he was still working full time, doing "real" work and not "mooching" off God's people, the church. Well, he also wanted to make the millions before committing to full time ministry. Then one day, he announced that he was going into full time ministry - quitting his "real" job - and he had not made the millions yet. You should have heard us, the Pastor's family, trying to dissuade our brother/son from making the BIG mistake. You should have heard my mom - she did NOT want her son to go into full time ministry - she knew how difficult it was. She told my brother, "People respect you now because your Tithe cheque is bigger than your salary. But, watch out - they will not be as nice when you get a full salary from the church". My brother told me that he simply could not ignore God's calling anymore - God wanted him to trust Him and not on his own strength. I marvelled at his wife, who supported his decision whole heartedly - perhaps it's because she did not know what being a Pastor's wife entailed. (I understand from my brother now that she really does not enjoy being a PW :-)). I think if she knew then what she knows now, she may have opposed the decision more.
I now have a slightly different view point... (to be continued)
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Friday, February 4, 2011
Meal Planning for the Easily Bored Family
Dinner was very yummy last night. I decided to cook "Western" food because I was feeling lazy. Made a Parmesan Chicken based on a recipe I googled, along with mashed potatoes and peas. The entire family LOVED it. I did not think they could eat that much! Now I know they can really eat - their pallate is for Western style food, not my kind of food. I am a Malaysian born Chinese who married a "white" Canadian guy. My Hubby really likes my kind of food - Malaysian food. I LOVE Malaysian food. Hubby's favourite is Mexican food. My kids' favourites are Kraft Dinner and Red Hot brand Hot Dogs. Malaysian food is unique - it is simlar to Thai food in that some dishes use lemon grass, lime and coriander - spices/fruit from that region. They are also mostly spicy. However, I think it is better than Thai food because it had the privilege of influence from other cultures such as Arabic, Indian (as in from India), Chinese, Dutch and Portuguese. I won't get into the history of Malaysia here but, if you have tried food from Penang, Malaysia you know what I mean.
When I plan my meals, I usually do them when I go grocery shopping - whatever is on sale that week. I know many women do the same - it makes perfect sense. If it is a really good sale, like a whole chicken for $4 (this week's big sale), I would buy more to stock up for another week. I keep thinking that my family gets bored easily. So, I try to cook a different cuisine each day. Chinese food one day, Italian another day, Malaysian the next, Mexican, Indian, Western food and then rotate. Here's what a week's menu could look like:
Mon: Pork Tenderloin (garlic, lime, garlic, ginger, soya sauce, honey), with Rice and Yu Choy (Chinese greens)
Tuesday: Leftover Pork Tenderloin and Snow Peas used to stir Fry with Spaghetti Noodles - add Hoisin Sauce and Soya Sauce to flavour the noodles.
Wednesday: Roast Beef, with potatoes, carrots and gravy
Thursday: Linguine with Clam Sauce
Friday: Butter Chicken (from scratch) with Rice
Saturday: Penang Laksa (Rice noodles in a tamarind based fish soup, complete with mint leaves, pineapples, cucumber and oyster sauce) - my mouth is watering, just typing all this up!
Sunday: Shrimp Pad Thai (from scratch)
Lunches each day are usually leftoevers from dinner the night prior.
They don't seem to eat that much - good for the grocery bill, but I need them to GROW! When their friends come for sleepovers, you should see some of their reaction - often times I have to make KD for their friends.
Then I make the easy Parmesan Chicken with peas and mashed potatoes, because I was lazy, and it was such a hit! The problem I found was, I used more than half a stick of butter for the entire meal. There was 1/2 cup of butter in the chicken, more butter in the peas, more butter and cream cheese in the mashed potatoes. I don't think it would be very healthy to eat this kind of food every day - although I think it would help fatten them all up so that I don't look like such a terrible mother/wife with such skinny kids and a skinny hubby! Oh the decision - to fatten or not to fatten them up! Nah - I think the condition of the heart is more important than "looking prosperous" - as the Chinese would say to someone who has gained weight.
So, why are they not eating more and gaining more weight? Is the problem due to a lack of fat (BUTTER) in my cooking? Or, is it that their pallate is over stimulated and I should just stick to easy boring foods - like Macaroni and Cheese (from scratch) and Mashed potatoes? Hmm, I am planning on making Liver pate from scratch today - wonder how they would like that! Bwaaaaaaah!
When I plan my meals, I usually do them when I go grocery shopping - whatever is on sale that week. I know many women do the same - it makes perfect sense. If it is a really good sale, like a whole chicken for $4 (this week's big sale), I would buy more to stock up for another week. I keep thinking that my family gets bored easily. So, I try to cook a different cuisine each day. Chinese food one day, Italian another day, Malaysian the next, Mexican, Indian, Western food and then rotate. Here's what a week's menu could look like:
Mon: Pork Tenderloin (garlic, lime, garlic, ginger, soya sauce, honey), with Rice and Yu Choy (Chinese greens)
Tuesday: Leftover Pork Tenderloin and Snow Peas used to stir Fry with Spaghetti Noodles - add Hoisin Sauce and Soya Sauce to flavour the noodles.
Wednesday: Roast Beef, with potatoes, carrots and gravy
Thursday: Linguine with Clam Sauce
Friday: Butter Chicken (from scratch) with Rice
Saturday: Penang Laksa (Rice noodles in a tamarind based fish soup, complete with mint leaves, pineapples, cucumber and oyster sauce) - my mouth is watering, just typing all this up!
Sunday: Shrimp Pad Thai (from scratch)
Lunches each day are usually leftoevers from dinner the night prior.
They don't seem to eat that much - good for the grocery bill, but I need them to GROW! When their friends come for sleepovers, you should see some of their reaction - often times I have to make KD for their friends.
Then I make the easy Parmesan Chicken with peas and mashed potatoes, because I was lazy, and it was such a hit! The problem I found was, I used more than half a stick of butter for the entire meal. There was 1/2 cup of butter in the chicken, more butter in the peas, more butter and cream cheese in the mashed potatoes. I don't think it would be very healthy to eat this kind of food every day - although I think it would help fatten them all up so that I don't look like such a terrible mother/wife with such skinny kids and a skinny hubby! Oh the decision - to fatten or not to fatten them up! Nah - I think the condition of the heart is more important than "looking prosperous" - as the Chinese would say to someone who has gained weight.
So, why are they not eating more and gaining more weight? Is the problem due to a lack of fat (BUTTER) in my cooking? Or, is it that their pallate is over stimulated and I should just stick to easy boring foods - like Macaroni and Cheese (from scratch) and Mashed potatoes? Hmm, I am planning on making Liver pate from scratch today - wonder how they would like that! Bwaaaaaaah!
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Why do I Study the Bible with Jehovah Witnesses?
I have been studying the bible with Jehovah Witnesses for the past year. When I tell this to my friends and family, the first reaction from them is - shock, concern, horror! What I say to them is, if you haven't done it, you can't really knock it. Now, I'm not saying for anyone to go and meet with JWs every week - it can shake you up if you're not very grounded in the Word. Let me give you a bit of a background about myself. I was born into a Christian (Pentecostal, Assemblies of God) home. My father was the Pastor of the church. My mother was the head of Sunday School - she taught the youth/adults Sunday School class, she was the Treasurer (she took on that role to ensure that my Dad did not try to spend money on things that he should not be spending money on), she was the chair (on behalf of my Dad) of the Youth Committee, the chair of the church board, she taught new believer's class every Monday nights. She is also the Principal/teacher of the schools our church started up in different parts of the island as outreach programs. We lived in the parsonage that is in the same compound as the church. We attended church every Monday nights (new believer's class), Wednesday nights (prayer meeting), Saturday afternoons (young youth), Saturday nights (youth), Sunday mornings (Sunday service), Sunday afternoons (Sunday school), choir was in there somewhere (my mom ran the choir too), people were always at our house for counseling, meals, etc. OK, church was my life. I did not just go to church, I loved (still do) to read my Bible daily and prayed daily. I gave my heart to the Lord - ie. chose to follow Him - at the age of 7. I started to speak in Tongues at the age of 9. Because I read the Bible every night of my life (even during the University years when I was back slidden), I have read the Bible through a few times - yes, even the boring parts in Leviticus and Numbers. So, to say that I am steeped in the Bible is an understatement!
How has all that helped me in my life? Well, in my own opinion, I think it has allowed me to live a very blessed life - you know, the great marriage, great career, great family life and now as a stay-at-home-mom/semi-retiree. However, how has all that helped me in telling others about the good news? Sure, I had tried to sow seeds into colleagues' lives by having non-confrontational discussions with them on God, however, none of them came to accept God. There was only 1 friend who accepted God into her life - but I did not lead her to God, my presence was just merely there to remind her every time she saw me, that God is knocking on the door of her heart. She finally gave up fighting God and accepted Him - then she had great peace! So, I can't say that I have led anyone to the Lord. Nope. Have not been able to personally lead anyone to the Light. So, I started to think about how one could tell others about this great God who has given me such a blessed life, and convince them to follow Him so that they can also be blessed and get eternal life to boot.
I remembered a speaker who came to our church - her name was Teri Barr - she's a lawyer in California whose husband is the Pastor of a church there. She said, "the bridge of relationship has to be strong enough to bring the weight of truth across it". That was very well said. Indeed, I needed to focus on relationship building. I've started doing that - this year - my goal is relationship building - I liked what my pastor said, "don't befriend someone with the thought in the back of your head that you are going to invite them to church - they will see right through the insincerity". That is so true - so, I have decided to be a good friend to people that I really want to be friends with - not people that I'll be friends with until they get saved!! I'll be friends with people I actually really enjoy hanging out with. Whether they accept God or not, I still want to be their friend.
I was hanging out with a few friends of mine who were part of different multi-level marketing groups. I noticed the change in their behaviour and psyche. They used to be down on life. After they joined the multi-level marketing groups, they became positive, outgoing, friendly, and seem to have a much more brighter outlook on life. So, I started listening to some of the CDs that those organizations give out. I think we can learn from these organizations - how to help a person change their habits and behaviours. Listening to a sermon (I call these motivational speeches) once a week is just not enough for someone who is just beginning their walk with God. They need more mentoring. In the multi-level marketing groups, their "up-line" takes the time to mentor the new recruit. They get them to listen to the motivational CDs, they teach them how to run the "shows", they encourage them when things don't look rosy, I have seen them using new recruits in small roles, eg. introduce a segment of a meeting, so that they feel part of the team - so that they feel like they belong. I believe we need to do that for new comers and mature believers alike - get them involved so that they feel like they belong. Have a mentoring system built - so that everyone can continue to grow - even "old" believers, as in someone like myself who have known the Lord for a very long time - still need to be mentored so that we are not stagnant.
Then, the JWs knocked on my door. The first instinct was, shoo them off, like I used to do. Instead, I decided that there could be things I could learn from them also. So, I invited them in, offered them tea, and we have since continued this on a weekly basis. This is what I learnt from them:
1) They are very friendly - genuinely friendly.
2) They pray that people's hearts are open to the message of the Gospel - but know that it is not them who bring people to God but it is God's Holy Spirit who will draw people to Himself.
3) Committment - tenacity. They will come to my house every single week, to show me what they believe - as long as I am willing to listen to them.
4) They are prepared - and they know the Bible scriptures very well. Not just in generalities, not just a vague idea, but chapter and verse. They spend the time getting trained for this.
5) They follow a very well written script - a book - but is not afraid to digress when I pull them that way - and then getting back to the topic at hand.
6) They sometimes bring a young recruit - there is that mentoring thing I was talking about in the previous paragraph.
7) They always have an answer from the Bible when I have a question - believe you me, my questions are not the kind that can be easily answered - without me shooting holes in them - if you've seen my background above. (For example, why did God make man when He had already made the angels? Or, Paul's letters to the various churches are just letters - Paul's opinions - they are not scriptures that he referred to - why should we consider them as scriptures? Why didn't God just wipe out the Devil?) If they don't have an answer, they will research the question and come back with a good answer the next time.
It has been fantastic discussing the Trinity, Jesus (is He God?) and Healing - is it for today?, Christmas - should we celebrate it? - with them. (We have yet to discuss life after death and tithing) These are the things we have some disagreements on, however, I have found that we actually agree on very key things, such as, Creation, Jesus being the only way to the Father, once saved, we are not always saved, we don't have anything to do with Halloween because of what it stands for. In my discussions with them, it has helped me to search the scriptures to support my belief, instead of blindly accepting those beliefs because that was what I was taught for many years. I would throw questions at them that I could not throw to just anyone. These are questions I would throw at my brother or sister because I know that they know me well enough to not freak out and they know the scriptures enough to debate a topic with me. However, I don't get to see my siblings that often - so I'll throw them at my JW friends. To answer the question of the title of this blog - Why do I Study the Bible with Jehovah Witnesses? Because I need to meet with someone who has a very good knowledge of the Bible, who can cheer me on in my walk with God, who is not going to be shocked or disappointed if I don't agree with them and who can debate intelligently with me on controversial topics - like a mentor. Then, I can mentor others in a similar manner.
How has all that helped me in my life? Well, in my own opinion, I think it has allowed me to live a very blessed life - you know, the great marriage, great career, great family life and now as a stay-at-home-mom/semi-retiree. However, how has all that helped me in telling others about the good news? Sure, I had tried to sow seeds into colleagues' lives by having non-confrontational discussions with them on God, however, none of them came to accept God. There was only 1 friend who accepted God into her life - but I did not lead her to God, my presence was just merely there to remind her every time she saw me, that God is knocking on the door of her heart. She finally gave up fighting God and accepted Him - then she had great peace! So, I can't say that I have led anyone to the Lord. Nope. Have not been able to personally lead anyone to the Light. So, I started to think about how one could tell others about this great God who has given me such a blessed life, and convince them to follow Him so that they can also be blessed and get eternal life to boot.
I remembered a speaker who came to our church - her name was Teri Barr - she's a lawyer in California whose husband is the Pastor of a church there. She said, "the bridge of relationship has to be strong enough to bring the weight of truth across it". That was very well said. Indeed, I needed to focus on relationship building. I've started doing that - this year - my goal is relationship building - I liked what my pastor said, "don't befriend someone with the thought in the back of your head that you are going to invite them to church - they will see right through the insincerity". That is so true - so, I have decided to be a good friend to people that I really want to be friends with - not people that I'll be friends with until they get saved!! I'll be friends with people I actually really enjoy hanging out with. Whether they accept God or not, I still want to be their friend.
I was hanging out with a few friends of mine who were part of different multi-level marketing groups. I noticed the change in their behaviour and psyche. They used to be down on life. After they joined the multi-level marketing groups, they became positive, outgoing, friendly, and seem to have a much more brighter outlook on life. So, I started listening to some of the CDs that those organizations give out. I think we can learn from these organizations - how to help a person change their habits and behaviours. Listening to a sermon (I call these motivational speeches) once a week is just not enough for someone who is just beginning their walk with God. They need more mentoring. In the multi-level marketing groups, their "up-line" takes the time to mentor the new recruit. They get them to listen to the motivational CDs, they teach them how to run the "shows", they encourage them when things don't look rosy, I have seen them using new recruits in small roles, eg. introduce a segment of a meeting, so that they feel part of the team - so that they feel like they belong. I believe we need to do that for new comers and mature believers alike - get them involved so that they feel like they belong. Have a mentoring system built - so that everyone can continue to grow - even "old" believers, as in someone like myself who have known the Lord for a very long time - still need to be mentored so that we are not stagnant.
Then, the JWs knocked on my door. The first instinct was, shoo them off, like I used to do. Instead, I decided that there could be things I could learn from them also. So, I invited them in, offered them tea, and we have since continued this on a weekly basis. This is what I learnt from them:
1) They are very friendly - genuinely friendly.
2) They pray that people's hearts are open to the message of the Gospel - but know that it is not them who bring people to God but it is God's Holy Spirit who will draw people to Himself.
3) Committment - tenacity. They will come to my house every single week, to show me what they believe - as long as I am willing to listen to them.
4) They are prepared - and they know the Bible scriptures very well. Not just in generalities, not just a vague idea, but chapter and verse. They spend the time getting trained for this.
5) They follow a very well written script - a book - but is not afraid to digress when I pull them that way - and then getting back to the topic at hand.
6) They sometimes bring a young recruit - there is that mentoring thing I was talking about in the previous paragraph.
7) They always have an answer from the Bible when I have a question - believe you me, my questions are not the kind that can be easily answered - without me shooting holes in them - if you've seen my background above. (For example, why did God make man when He had already made the angels? Or, Paul's letters to the various churches are just letters - Paul's opinions - they are not scriptures that he referred to - why should we consider them as scriptures? Why didn't God just wipe out the Devil?) If they don't have an answer, they will research the question and come back with a good answer the next time.
It has been fantastic discussing the Trinity, Jesus (is He God?) and Healing - is it for today?, Christmas - should we celebrate it? - with them. (We have yet to discuss life after death and tithing) These are the things we have some disagreements on, however, I have found that we actually agree on very key things, such as, Creation, Jesus being the only way to the Father, once saved, we are not always saved, we don't have anything to do with Halloween because of what it stands for. In my discussions with them, it has helped me to search the scriptures to support my belief, instead of blindly accepting those beliefs because that was what I was taught for many years. I would throw questions at them that I could not throw to just anyone. These are questions I would throw at my brother or sister because I know that they know me well enough to not freak out and they know the scriptures enough to debate a topic with me. However, I don't get to see my siblings that often - so I'll throw them at my JW friends. To answer the question of the title of this blog - Why do I Study the Bible with Jehovah Witnesses? Because I need to meet with someone who has a very good knowledge of the Bible, who can cheer me on in my walk with God, who is not going to be shocked or disappointed if I don't agree with them and who can debate intelligently with me on controversial topics - like a mentor. Then, I can mentor others in a similar manner.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
A Chore A Day
Contrary to what many of my friends think, I really don't like to clean. You wouldn't know it if you came to my house. That's why they think I like to clean. Fooled them! I hate cleaning. But, I hate clutter and dirt even more. When I was working full time, the problem was solved by paying someone to clean my house. Now that I am enjoying the life of a stay at home mom who gets to write hub pages, blog, have tea with girl friends, be there for my kids when they get home, make great healthy meals for the family, I really do not want to go back to full time work any time soon. So, no full time work = less money = clean my house myself. Aagh!
So, I used my Process Engineering prowess to develop my own system. House cleaning is a process with many tasks. If we break the tasks down to bits that can be done in 10-15 minutes, then it won't seem so onerous. I call this method A Chore A Day method.
I have no set schedule to clean the house. I used to set a certain day for house cleaning - I grew to really dread "that day". I think some of us would rather have a root canal than have to spend a few hours cleaning the house, every single week.
Today's chore for me was cleaning the bathrooms. I only have 1.5 bathroom to clean and they are quite small. When I woke up this morning, I did not plan on cleaning the bathroom. What happened was, someone had plugged up the bathroom and I was clearing it after everyone had left the house. Then I noticed that it was not looking as sparkly as I like it to look. OK, I'll be honest, it had a brown stain on it, probably from it being plugged. So, I decided then and there that today was bathroom cleaning day. So, I proceeded to clean the bathroom - toilets, sinks, bathtubs, floors, mirrors, baseboards, pictures, window sills. My bathrooms are very small - so I get them done very quickly.
Yesterday's chore was cleaning the burners on the stove. They just needed to be done. The day before that was, Sweeping the floors. And, the day before that was Dusting the TV area and the piano. On days I am short on time, I pick a quicker chore to do, like dusting the night stands and dresser in my bedroom - that takes less than 5 minutes!
Basically, I do what needs to be done but only one chore a day. If I missed a day, I make sure that I do 2 chores the next day. The best place to start is to make a list of all the chores. Break them down into smaller chores if you only want to devote so much time to a chore a day. For example, instead of cleaning the entire bathrooms all at once, break it down to cleaning the toilets only as one chore. Cleaning the sinks and bathtub as another task. Cleaning the baseboards, mirror and window sills as another task. Cleaning the floors as another mini-task. Here's a list to help you get started:
1. Dust TV area.
2. Dust window sills.
3. Dust dining room furniture.
4. Dust bedroom 1 furniture.
5. Dust bedroom 2 and 3 furniture.
6. Toilets, sinks and bathtubs.
7. Bathroom floors.
8. Kitchen/hallway floor - sweep.
9. Mop Kitchen floor/ hallway.
10. Vacuum living room.
11. Vaccum bedrooms.
12. Vacuum hallways.
13. vacuum stairs.
14. Vacuum basement.
15. Clean stove burners.
16. Dust lamps and pictures.
17. Dust ceilings.
18. File/recycle paper work.
19. Check and refill toilet paper holders.
20. Take out garbage from all rooms, replace with new plastic bags.
21. Wipe down baseboards upstairs.
22. Wipe down baseboards downstairs.
It seems like a long list - but when you only do one chore a day, you cycle through that in a bit more than 3 weeks. If you get other members of the family involve, it would get done faster. I suggest putting this list on the fridge, every member needs to do a chore a day, they are to initial beside the chore they did that day. You can't do a chore when someone else has already done it, until all the chores have been checked, unless it is something diffcult like cleaning the toilet if it needs cleaning.
The following are things that I do on a daily basis, make my bed, clean up after every meal, put all toys back where they belong at the end of the night. This is just good habit to get into - this way, dishes are never piled up on the kitchen counter, and there is no clutter.
2. Dust window sills.
3. Dust dining room furniture.
4. Dust bedroom 1 furniture.
5. Dust bedroom 2 and 3 furniture.
6. Toilets, sinks and bathtubs.
7. Bathroom floors.
8. Kitchen/hallway floor - sweep.
9. Mop Kitchen floor/ hallway.
10. Vacuum living room.
11. Vaccum bedrooms.
12. Vacuum hallways.
13. vacuum stairs.
14. Vacuum basement.
15. Clean stove burners.
16. Dust lamps and pictures.
17. Dust ceilings.
18. File/recycle paper work.
19. Check and refill toilet paper holders.
20. Take out garbage from all rooms, replace with new plastic bags.
21. Wipe down baseboards upstairs.
22. Wipe down baseboards downstairs.
It seems like a long list - but when you only do one chore a day, you cycle through that in a bit more than 3 weeks. If you get other members of the family involve, it would get done faster. I suggest putting this list on the fridge, every member needs to do a chore a day, they are to initial beside the chore they did that day. You can't do a chore when someone else has already done it, until all the chores have been checked, unless it is something diffcult like cleaning the toilet if it needs cleaning.
The following are things that I do on a daily basis, make my bed, clean up after every meal, put all toys back where they belong at the end of the night. This is just good habit to get into - this way, dishes are never piled up on the kitchen counter, and there is no clutter.
The following are tips to ease the tasks:
1. Use rubber gloves (from the dollar store) when cleaning the bathroom. It makes the cleaning go faster because you don't need to worry about getting in contact with any nasties!
2. I keep a bottle of Windex and a rag under every sink with a mirror. This way, spots can be cleaned away at any time.
3. Cut up old towels and cotton Tees for use as rags for cleaning. I have a stack of clean rags and I have a bucket they go into after I use them. I launder them with lots of bleach when I am out of clean rags.
4. Keep all your cleaning supplies in a bucket - no need to hunt for different cleaning supplies when you need them.
5. Keep your broom and dust pan handy - I had screws put in the wall neatly and have them hung up so that I can access them quickly.
6. A good feather duster can make dusting less of a chore, I prefer using an old clean sock - I slip the slightly moistened sock on my hand and wipe what I need to dust with it.
2. I keep a bottle of Windex and a rag under every sink with a mirror. This way, spots can be cleaned away at any time.
3. Cut up old towels and cotton Tees for use as rags for cleaning. I have a stack of clean rags and I have a bucket they go into after I use them. I launder them with lots of bleach when I am out of clean rags.
4. Keep all your cleaning supplies in a bucket - no need to hunt for different cleaning supplies when you need them.
5. Keep your broom and dust pan handy - I had screws put in the wall neatly and have them hung up so that I can access them quickly.
6. A good feather duster can make dusting less of a chore, I prefer using an old clean sock - I slip the slightly moistened sock on my hand and wipe what I need to dust with it.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Slash and Burn
No, this is not about burning calories. It is about trimming my operating budget for our household. In order for me be able to stay semi-retired and be there for my kids (I love being a stay at home mom who works occassionally as a consultant to keep the brains from turning to mush), and saving enough for the 2 summer months when my husband is not working, I had to trim some fat off our budget.
I got my Internet/Home Phone/Wireless bill and was simply appalled at how much it was. The culprit was the Wireless. It was $106.00! We are on a Family plan where my husband and I share 100 minutes and we can call each other anywhere in the country for free. We have been consistently using more than 100 minutes every month, resulting in extra charges per minute used. I know that some may say to me, "why do you even need a cell phone?". Well, the answer is, we need one because my husband is a Supply Teacher who needs to continuously call for that assignment. It represents our main income stream at the moment. So, I decided to call Rogers up and asked if there was another plan we could be on that would provide us with more minutes in the package. It turns out, they have a new package called the Family Share $50 Plan. To make a long story short, the Customer Service Representative switched me to the new plan where I get 200 minutes (so we doubled the minutes), unlimited text messages (the last plan we were on, we had to pay by the number of texts!), same free calls between my husband's cell phone and my cell phone, all this for less money than I was paying! I get to save $40 per month because I no longer need to spend the extra dollars due to over usage. Bonus! It sure pays to call up your Service providers to check up on any new plans they may have introduced.
Then, I called up our Insurance company. In the olden days when both my husband and I were working full time, with our time commitments at home, at the church, and rental properties, I just did not have the time to examine my policies. Now that I'm a stay at home mom/semi retiree, I have the time to read those auto and home policies in detail. I realized that they had been charging me for extra extensions for ground water and above ground water damage. I've lived in my house for enough years to know that we do not need that coverage (we could have made a claim on it a few years ago because we did have some problems due to sump pump not being maintained properly - but now that we've got 2 sump pumps that are mantained properly, it is no longer an issue). So, I called them up to cancel the extra premium and was able to reduce my premium by $14 per month. It may not seem like a lot but that converts to 2 movie tickets on cheap Tuesday movie nights. I strongly recommend reviewing your policies in detail to see what optional items they have tacked onto the bill.
Another service I cancelled was the Alarm monitoring service. Now that I am home all the time, I did not see a need for an Alarm monitoring service. In fact, we had not been using it for the last year. That was another $28 per month that was slashed from the budget.
I did not want to cut the charitable giving part of our budget. We give to the ministries at our church, World Vision and Holt International. However, given our budget and my unwillingness to change being a stay at home mom, I had to temporarily suspend the donations to World Vision and Holt International until our financial picture changes. But, will continue with the donations to our church. Any comments on this would be most welcome.
Well, all in all, I was able to slash our budget down to what my husband's income is plus save $5,000 over the next 5 months to cover most of our budget for the summer. The rest will be made up with that wonderful Tax Refund that will be coming to us in February (yes, I do my taxes very early).
It feels good to have a budget that allows me to breath a little more easily because of the practical budget cuts that have not changed how we live.
I got my Internet/Home Phone/Wireless bill and was simply appalled at how much it was. The culprit was the Wireless. It was $106.00! We are on a Family plan where my husband and I share 100 minutes and we can call each other anywhere in the country for free. We have been consistently using more than 100 minutes every month, resulting in extra charges per minute used. I know that some may say to me, "why do you even need a cell phone?". Well, the answer is, we need one because my husband is a Supply Teacher who needs to continuously call for that assignment. It represents our main income stream at the moment. So, I decided to call Rogers up and asked if there was another plan we could be on that would provide us with more minutes in the package. It turns out, they have a new package called the Family Share $50 Plan. To make a long story short, the Customer Service Representative switched me to the new plan where I get 200 minutes (so we doubled the minutes), unlimited text messages (the last plan we were on, we had to pay by the number of texts!), same free calls between my husband's cell phone and my cell phone, all this for less money than I was paying! I get to save $40 per month because I no longer need to spend the extra dollars due to over usage. Bonus! It sure pays to call up your Service providers to check up on any new plans they may have introduced.
Then, I called up our Insurance company. In the olden days when both my husband and I were working full time, with our time commitments at home, at the church, and rental properties, I just did not have the time to examine my policies. Now that I'm a stay at home mom/semi retiree, I have the time to read those auto and home policies in detail. I realized that they had been charging me for extra extensions for ground water and above ground water damage. I've lived in my house for enough years to know that we do not need that coverage (we could have made a claim on it a few years ago because we did have some problems due to sump pump not being maintained properly - but now that we've got 2 sump pumps that are mantained properly, it is no longer an issue). So, I called them up to cancel the extra premium and was able to reduce my premium by $14 per month. It may not seem like a lot but that converts to 2 movie tickets on cheap Tuesday movie nights. I strongly recommend reviewing your policies in detail to see what optional items they have tacked onto the bill.
Another service I cancelled was the Alarm monitoring service. Now that I am home all the time, I did not see a need for an Alarm monitoring service. In fact, we had not been using it for the last year. That was another $28 per month that was slashed from the budget.
I did not want to cut the charitable giving part of our budget. We give to the ministries at our church, World Vision and Holt International. However, given our budget and my unwillingness to change being a stay at home mom, I had to temporarily suspend the donations to World Vision and Holt International until our financial picture changes. But, will continue with the donations to our church. Any comments on this would be most welcome.
Well, all in all, I was able to slash our budget down to what my husband's income is plus save $5,000 over the next 5 months to cover most of our budget for the summer. The rest will be made up with that wonderful Tax Refund that will be coming to us in February (yes, I do my taxes very early).
It feels good to have a budget that allows me to breath a little more easily because of the practical budget cuts that have not changed how we live.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Visual Manufacturing Tips
When entering data in any Visual window, if you need to enter the current date, simply type the letter "t" in the date field and the current date would be entered. This is useful when entering labour tickets.
The Joys of Investing
I love reading finance news, finance commentaries, stock trading tips, etc. Maybe it's because I had some very good experiences in the past. Back in 1998, during the Technology Bubble, I started to trade stocks during my maternity leave. I got tips from friends and family. It was so fun. It seemed we could do no wrong. Those were the good old days when RIM traded at $6 per share! I started with $8,000 and in 10 months it was at $95,000. That was right before the end of the year - should have cashed out then. But, I did not. I wanted it to eke out another $5,000 to make it a round number of $100,000. Lesson number 1 - I should have put in Stop Orders! Well, I cashed out the day Nortel went into a coma - it's value was halved. My portfolio went from $95K to $44K in 1 day. Well, I'm glad I did not hang on like many people did - Nortel had since died. $8K to $44K in 10 months was still a pretty good return. It was such a scary experience that I stopped trading altogether. I was also back at work and no longer had the time to monitor those stocks. I understand from the Indices that it was a "lost decade" anyways - so, I did not miss much. Fast forward 10 years - I got back in. I'll talk about some of my experiences in this blog.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)