by Clutter Free Academy Team | Jun 16, 2020 | Clutter Free, Clutter Free For Life, Clutter Free Home, Podcast, Ready For Anything |
Back for our final session of use it up, wear it out, make do, do without are Kathi and her very own Roger Lipp. In the first two episodes with Tonya Kubo, leader of Clutter Free Academy, we learned to use it up and wear it out. In the third episode, Kathi and Roger talk about how to make do, and now they are back talking about the concept of do without. With all of us going through the current covid crisis together, we have all learned something about ourselves. Listen in to find out about some of the things Kathi and Roger have learned about themselves during this time and their answers to:
- What can we do without?
- What can we substitute?
- How can we make another experience better?
- Has this earned a space in my house?
Ready For Anything
Bad stuff happens all the time, but this doesn’t mean we have to live in constant fear.
Ready for Anything: Preparing Your Heart and Home for Any Crisis Big or Small gives finite simple steps for being proactive rather than reactive—helping you prepare your mind, heart, and home for any unfortunate circumstance. Full of stories and humor along with facts, tips, and lists, Kathi’s book offers a down-to-earth guide that will show you how to face the unexpected with confidence, relying on God’s strength and plan rather than giving into fear and anxiety.
Her step-by-step plan is easy to implement and will help anyone become a better steward of their resources as well as be the neighbor who can help in a crisis rather than needing help. Kathi’s goal is to equip readers to be the frontline of helpers in any crisis, from a natural disaster to a friend’s job loss.
Order your copy of Ready For Anything today.
Links
Air Fryer
America’s Test Kitchen
Homestead Seasoning from Savory Spices
The Deva Cut
Learn more about Clutter Free for Life.
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Roger is a productivity and quality engineer for a Fortune 50 company.
Roger helps teams reach their full productivity potential by teaching them practical and simple steps to reach their goals. Roger and his wife, author Kathi Lipp, teach communicators how to share their message through social media and email marketing.
He and Kathi coauthored Happy Habits for Every Couple with Harvest House Publishers.
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by Clutter Free Academy Team | Jun 1, 2020 | Clutter Free, Clutter Free For Life, Clutter Free Home, Ready For Anything, Recipes |
Apricot and Blueberry Oatmeal Bars
I love any recipe that is a twofer.
A twofer is any dish that can be served just after making, and then is also fabulous later on as a LOOP (Left Over On Purpose.)
Let me introduce: Baked Oatmeal. 
The reason I love this recipe is twofer:
- It is a warm, nourishing breakfast to have on a Monday morning when the world feels like too much and you just need some comfort food to make the world right again.
- It is perfect on a Tuesday morning, straight from the fridge as an “Oatmeal Bar” which I then grab and go as I drive into town for work with my homemade latte.
See? Twofer. (That is, if your crew doesn’t eat the whole pan first. If that’s a possibility, you may want to consider making TWO pans to be assured of oatmeal bars later.
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups oats
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups whole almonds, roughly chopped
1 1/2 cups dried apricots, roughly chopped 
1 cup blueberries
1 1/3 cups whole milk
2/3 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup honey
1/3 cup brown sugar, divided
1 egg
1/4 cup butter, divided (2 tablespoons melted, 2 tablespoons room temperature)
1 teaspoon vanilla
Preheat the oven to 350° F and grease a 9 x 9-inch baking dish.
In a large bowl, combine the oats, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, and salt. 
Fold in the almonds, apricots and blueberries. Spread the mixture evenly into the baking dish.
In a medium bowl, whisk the milk, cream, honey, 1/4 cup brown sugar, egg, 2 tablespoons melted butter, and vanilla to combine. This creates a custard-like mixture that you then pour over the oats.
Cut up the rest of the butter and put that on top, along with the remaining brown sugar.
Bake for 25 or 30 minutes, or until the oatmeal has absorbed the liquid and is golden brown on the surface.
Cool slightly before serving.
Let me know if you’ll be trying baked oatmeal, or if you have a favorite twofer recipe in the comments!
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by Clutter Free Academy Team | May 29, 2020 | Blog, Clutter Free, Ready For Anything |
My friend, Susy, told me an interesting fact about astronauts. “They don’t prepare for disaster. They 
prepare for multiple disasters all happening at the same time.”
I bet for many of you, that is how the last few months have felt.
It wasn’t just fear of a pandemic. It was that fear, on top of taking care of kids or aging parents, sometimes remotely. Plus, possibly taking over your kids’ education. And, to top it off, trying to find basic necessities like eggs and toilet paper.
Read the entire article over at Girlfriends in God
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Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one.
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by Clutter Free Academy Team | May 28, 2020 | Clutter Free, Clutter Free For Life, Clutter Free Home, Ready For Anything |
Need some simple ways to make your cleaning products last longer? Here are 8 simple ways to stretch your supplies, and cut down necessary trips to the store.
Like many of you, I’m looking for ways to leave the house less for errands. Less time spent in grocery stores and warehouses, the better.
I’m trying to find ways to make not only my groceries last longer, but everything else in my house. And with us being home more, let’s just say, I’m cleaning a lot more than usual.
If you’re shopping less, but cleaning more, you may find yourself running out of all your cleaning products at the same time. So, if you need to make your current stash stretch until the next monthly run to the grocery store, here’s how to make your cleaning supplies last.
- Measure Your Amounts
Many of us have been trained to fill both dispensers in our dishwasher or fill the laundry soap cup to the brim. Now’s the time to evaluate how much detergent you really need. Read the packaging and see how much detergent is recommended for the load you’re washing. Your friend with toddlers may need to use more laundry detergent than your neighbor who is running a load of work-at-home clothes.
2. Mix Your Own Sanitize
If your cleaning cabinet is running out of products that will sanitize your home, it’s time to turn to your laundry area. Bleach and water, in the right proportions, will do wonders.
“Bleach is very effective at killing the coronavirus, as well as virtually every other germ on the face of the planet,” said Dr. Paul Pottinger, a professor of infectious diseases at the University of Washington Medical Center.
To create your own household cleaner, follow the Center for Disease Control guidelines:
Clean the surface with soap and warm, clean water. Rinse the area with clean water. Then sanitize with a mixture of 1 cup bleach to 5 gallons water. Let the area air dry. Be sure to wear rubber gloves to keep the bleach off your hands.
- Spray the Cloth, Not the Surface
Never spray cleanser directly onto the surface you’re cleaning. You’ll save cleaner and money by spraying your glass, wood, and surface cleanser directly on your cloth and then cleaning the intended surface. Many of us subscribe to the myth, the more cleanser, the cleaner it is. But using too much cleanser can actually cause build-up and require extra work to clean the surface. (No wonder we hate cleaning!)
4. Use the Cloth for the Size of the Job
We’ve taken to rationing our disinfecting wipes with one simple trick: tearing them in half. Most of the cleanup jobs I’m doing right now are on the small side: wiping down door handles, disinfecting a sink, wiping down light switches. None of these require a huge cloth to do the job. Now, I tear the wipes in half and stick the leftover wipe back in the container to be used for the next job.
5. Use the Leftovers
We all have them. The cleaner we tried for our bathroom and didn’t love the smell of, but didn’t get rid of either. Now is the time to scour the house for any containers under bathroom sinks, in the laundry area, in the garage, or even in your basement. Where are those half-used bottles of cleaners hiding? Gather everything you have into one place, so you know exactly what you have and what you are running low on.
- Check the Label
Read the label on the all-purpose cleaner; you may just be using it for surface cleaning, but the label tells you that it is also a degreaser, a spot cleaner for fabric, and even a carpet cleaner. It’s time to discover the power you already have sitting in that bottle and all the ways that “multi-purpose” is really true.
- Use Concentrate as Intended
With so many products being offered as concentrates, make sure that you’re using the proper amount of cleanser, and using it correctly. Do you need to be adding water to the product before using it, or using way less than a non-concentrated product?
- Ask Yourself: Does this Really Need to Be Cleaned?
With most of us not going out as much as we are used to, think about the ways that you could reduce the number of items that need to be cleaned on a daily basis.
Do you need to wash that shirt you just wore for 45 minutes for a teleconference call?
How about dishes? Assign each member of your family one different colored cup each day so you are only washing one cup, per person, per day. Depending on the size of your family, that could save a half a load of dishes right there.
You may not be able to employ all of these tactics, but even implementing one or two can help you get to a place of extending the life of your cleaners, as well as feeling safer during this time of crisis.
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Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one.
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Bad stuff happens all the time, but this doesn’t mean we have to live in constant fear.
