Living Large -- A Review of "Large Family Logistics" by Kim Brenneman

My sweet mother gave me a copy of Large Family Logistics: The Art and Science of Managing the Large Family for my birthday -- at my request, so it wasn't a hint on her part! *wink*

I was really curious about this book, though I thought I was probably getting ahead of myself. After all, though we hope the Lord blesses us with many children, we currently only have one child and one-on-the-way! I wondered if any of its contents would be applicable now, or if I'd have to stow it on the shelf in the hopes that one day I'd actually need it.

However, Kim opens up the preface with this:

"Many years ago, I was the mother of one small baby boy in a little rental house. My husband and I were committed to having me stay at home to raise our little boy. I remember being embarrassed because of the dust, laundry piled up, and dirty dishes, and I scrambled to make something for supper just minutes before my hard-working husband came home. Why couldn't I handle the basics? My shortcomings as a homemaker frustrated me... I was rich compared to women throughout the ages, and I knew it. What was wrong with me?"


As soon as I read that, I knew I was in the right place!

I really appreciate that Mrs. Brenneman starts out with Scriptural examples, attitude, and self-discipline. This is not a gimmicky "Revamp your life in three easy steps" book! There is Scripture sprinkled generously throughout the book, which helped me stay on track as to why these things are important.

Once the foundation has been laid, Mrs. Brenneman goes on to provide advice and ideas on virtually every area of family life. Laundry, cleaning bathrooms, homeschooling, gardening -- it seems that nothing escapes her notice! Much of what she writes is definitely geared for families with many children (as the title suggests), but I found that most of it was still helpful for me. I'd rather implement many of these practices and systems at the beginning, so that should the Lord bless us with many children, our household will continue to function smoothly (apart from the inevitable "bumps" of life, of course). The chapters are generally short and easy to digest, making it simple to either read the book cover to cover or to find a specific topic.

Personally, the book convicted me in a number of areas where I have been falling short due to lack of self-control. I don't mind work per say, but I don't much like work that I find disagreeable! Laundry I can handle, because I like it. I don't generally fall behind. Cleaning bathrooms? Not so much my thing.

There's also the token section on decluttering, which seems to find its way into every book on homemaking these days!  Quite honestly, despite the fact that we're just starting out and don't have a large house, I'm just tired of having so much stuff. Or rather, having more stuff than we need or use is hindering, not helpful. So encouragement in that direction was appreciated.

One aspect of the book that I liked was Kim's flexibility. By that I mean that she doesn't set up some Martha Stewart utopia of perfect housekeeping. She talks about stages in life where disposable plates and cutlery might be what your family needs, or how the systems she describes will need to be tweaked for individual families. I didn't feel that there was a "one right way" mentality to the book, and Kim doesn't put you on a guilt trip if you can't "do it all."

Okay, now for my critiques! Most of them fall under the "trivial" category, in that they don't affect the message of the book.

First, this thing is huge -- I found the layout strange, and the plethora of entirely empty pages was a bit annoying. I love the cover design, but the 8 1/2" by 11" size is rather inconvenient. Insignificant, perhaps, but it made on-the-go reading an impossibility. Forget large family logistics -- let's give a little attention to large book logistics!

Probably my biggest critique was actually the editing! Really, I was astonished by the number of grammatical errors in this book. The most glaring was probably the plural of baby being spelled baby's. But that's just one of many, many errors. I've never seen so many grammatical errors in a published work. I don't blame Kim for this (I don't think being a grammarian should be a prerequisite for writing a book!), but whoever was responsible for editing was very negligent.

My only content-related critique is that I thought the book occasionally falls into an unnecessarily dogmatic tone about areas that really come down to personal preference. As I mentioned before, Kim's advice is generally quite flexible. But there were a few sections that seemed to elevate the author's preferences a tad too high, in my opinion (even when I personally agreed with her preferences). A "this is the only way to do it" attitude tends to rub me the wrong way. Still, I wouldn't consider it a very serious issue, especially since the majority of the book does not come across that way -- and perhaps others would not even agree with me that this is even present in the book. Still, I suppose a book review is inevitably influenced by the reviewer's opinions. *wink*

Now that it's been a while since I read the book (this review has been sitting in my drafts for some time...), I think a re-read is in order. For me, there is no such thing as too much encouragement in the right direction when it comes to homemaking!

The Ups and Downs and Outs

Life lately has been interesting, to say the least.

The Downs? I spent several days on the couch fighting a stomach bug, wondering if I would ever recover. Have I ever mentioned that I am pitifully short-sighted when I'm sick? I usually succumb to the "I-will-never-feel-better-because-I-feel-terrible-at-this-moment" mindset, whether I have a head cold or the 'flu. As I tried to keep liquids down (to no avail), our little one on-the-way decided it was time to up the activity level, and pummeled my digestive tract with gleeful abandon. Which was comforting, though uncomfortable. It was reassuring to know that at least one part of my body was functioning properly! Little Man had way too many graham crackers (or "cookoos," as he calls them -- aka, "cookies") while I was recuperating, but I think he'll still grow up to be a successful adult.

Delights of the Season

The Ups? By the end of the week I was able to eat again (not taking that for granted in the near future), and ready to catch up on the plethora of tasks that fall by the wayside when you can't get off the couch. Can I admit that I felt a bit affirmed when I saw just how bad the house looked when I did nothing? So nice to know that even on my less productive days, apparently I do something!

The Outs? Well, a hefty amount of stuff is on its way out our door. Just as I was feeling some strong decluttering/nesting vibes, I stumbled upon Rachel's Minimalist Mom Blog, which I'm absolutely loving. (if you visit, please be aware that she occasionally use language I would not approve of -- so please use discretion). I've been skimming my way through the archives and trying not to pester Pablo with too much "The Minimalist Mom blog had this post..." I think I've only been partly successful with that, but he's listened patiently nonetheless. I really like that Rachel's version of minimalism is not extreme, and that she is very honest about her experiences. She also has many posts that put the accumulation of stuff into perspective by exploring the reason we accumulate -- in other words, she addresses the root of the problem,  rather than just the problem itself.

Sweet baby footprints

I don't think I'll ever be a minimalist, but I certainly embrace the idea of purging objects that require time, energy, and money to maintain, while they offer little advantage or pleasure in return. By the way, did you know that minimalism is the new trend? I didn't. As someone who is wary of my own attraction to trendiness, that's a bit off-putting. But I'll try to take the good and leave the bad. Less unneeded stuff and more money saved? That sounds good to me. That also sounds like the plain old Biblical concept of good stewardship. I may muse on decluttering more in another post. We'll see.

The past month has been a whirl of baby showers, graduations, doctor's appointments, and sewing. My maternity wardrobe is still mysteriously... well, minimal! Apparently my mama body is different this pregnancy (I think mostly in the rib cage), and for some reason styles that were super comfortable the first time around are now unbearable. I'm so grateful now that I invested so little in my maternity wardrobe. It's easy to part with something when you only paid $1 for it, or used stash fabric to make it.

More baby shower goodness

Food has also been on my mind lately, further highlighted by an unaccountably shocking grocery bill for May. Still no clue how that happened, as we could hardly be called extravagant in our food choices. At any rate, my long-time good intention of tracking specific grocery spending (beyond the monthly total that I record currently) is now firmly on my to-do list for July. I've also been finding recipes for freezer crockpot meals, which marry the convenience of the crock pot and the freezer meal into one delightful unit. Oh, how I love that! I think they'll be invaluable when the new baby arrives. I've pinned a few helpful recipes/websites to my Recipe board, if you (like me) hadn't heard of this idea before. Hopefully better menu planning (I should say, "starting a menu plan in the first place") and a breakdown of our exact grocery costs will help reign in any superfluous spending and make our budget more predictable.

Lensbaby + baby shower = Happy me!

And last, but not least, I've been taking advantage of sales and coupons to indulge in what may be Britain's greatest gift to America -- the Magnum Bar. I'm so happy that these delectable British confections have finally crossed the Pond! If you haven't tried one yet, I highly recommend them!

Yes, life is interesting these days. Sometimes busy, sometimes slow, but always interesting. And throughout it all, God is so very good.