More with Less

I grew up with a cookbook entitled More with Less, which we were always referring to in order to make our meals stretch for our family of seven. That family would later grow to thirteen (!) when my parents adopted a baby girl, and later a sibling group of five boys. You can imagine we were always finding ways to be creative with our resources.

I'm grateful I didn't grow up with abundance; it helped me during those early days of marriage when a hot summer date was sitting on the front porch steps making homemade icecream. We were truly happy, and we realized we didn't need *all the things* to make a life.

Fast forward several decades and now I'm living a rural life on a farm, with six of my own kids and too many projects. We have more space (and stuff) than most of the world, but all of us live in 1800 square feet--plus a basement for storage-- and we've had to learn how to do more with less. We are producers around here, so we prioritize those things that help us make and create (which means we will never be minimalists). But I value space to breathe and live, so I'm always on the lookout for how to keep our house free of clutter.

Our bathroom cleaning caddies have Norwex cloths, a little paste made of natural ingredients for hard water spots, a cleaning toothbrush, and...that's it. I keep some thieves cleaner on hand to spray in the toilet, or if there's something I might want to spray and let sit (like the laundry hamper that my brother used for wet towel storage) and some vinegar for mineral build up, but we don't keep a gazillion cleaners on hand. It saves us space, time, and mental energy. My kids clean the bathrooms most of the time, and I don't worry about them getting into toxic cleaners. I just typed up a quick process for bathroom cleaning, lamintated it, and it's easy for them to get things truly clean with just LESS. 

Here's a great little video to explain how to clean your bathroom with JUST WATER. For more info on how Norwex envirocloths embedded with silver remove bacteria, see my other posts. 

If you are visiting from Gab, be sure to join my Cleaning with Water VIP group for discounts. I love helping you save money, and that's a great place to find all the deals!