Organization

Once, at a play date I had a new friend ask me how I stay so organized.  The question took me off guard and I had to laugh out loud and then when I told my husband that night he almost fell out of his chair laughing. Obviously she didn't know me too well and hadn't ever seen my office.  This is how my computer desk looks on a regular basis. (yeah, not too proud of that but it's the real me!)

Although I can't claim to be an organizational queen I do have a few tricks up my sleeve that help me stay sane.  Probably my most important tool is my white board in my office.  On it I have things written out so I can see it daily, what's going on and what I need to do.  It helps me keep focused.

I start with daily goals.  Where I write down six, usually small, things that I'm going to get done that day.  I started this when I first had a baby I felt like all I did is take care of him and that I never got anything accomplished.  With the daily goals I can see what I am getting done even if it's small.  I can go to bed now with the house in chaos but feeling good because I met my goals for the day. I always try to have a goal on there that's going to make me feel better about life, such as exercising or calling a friend to talk.  And of course I don't always get them done, life happens and sometimes it just doesn't work out.  If I don't get it done then I usually leave them up for the next day and try again.

Next is weekly goals.  These are bigger projects that I want to get done.  I try to pull something off my big to do list and put it on here.  Then in my six daily goals I set up smaller goals to help me get the weekly one done.  For example, one of my weekly goals is to organize the office then I wrote down file for 15 minutes on my daily goal list.

The rest is pretty much self explanatory.  I have the big to do list, which always seems super long.  I find if I write it down I'm much less likely to forget and it's more likely to get done.  I'm one of those people who loves to cross things off a list.  Then there's a don't forget column so I don't forget a birthday party or upcoming event.  A column for people I need to email and one for people I need to call.  I'm one of those people who often listens to a message but can't call the person back right then and then I forget it all together.  This just helps me remember.

This white board isn't a magical answer to all my organizational problems but it sure helps.  It helps me keep my head on straight and more importantly it helps me feel like I actually do get something done each day. 

Read more...

Make Your Own Laundry Detergent

Here's another CHEAP & EASY idea.  Of course, it's not really my idea.  I have no clue what genius put this all together but my friend Ashli is the one who told me about it.  She's a very environmentally friendly and money savvy girl.  Once, while catching up on the phone, she told me she made her own laundry detergent.  At first I kind of scoffed it off thinking it wouldn't be worth my time.  She then told me that it lowered her costs of laundry detergent down to 1 penny a load.  1 PENNY! Maybe this was worth my time.  You see as a mother I feel like I'm always doing laundry and always running out of detergent.  Most families spend anywhere from 10 to 13 cents per load of laundry and do on average 6 to 10 loads per week.  Those pennies really do add up.  And remember if it wasn't also easy I wouldn't be doing it.  

Here's what you'll need:

One 5 oz bar of fels-naptha soap
1 cup of washing soda (this is not the same as regular baking soda, you can find it in the laundry isle)
1 cup of borax
4 cups of hot water
One 5 gallon bucket with a lid

Grate the soap with either a cheese grater or just use a paring knife to shave the bar.

It should look something like this.  (My two year old was quite upset when I didn't let her sample it because she thought it was cheese).

 Add the shaved soap to the 4 cups of hot water and cook over medium heat until all the soap is melted.

Then fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water, add the melted soap and the washing soda and borax.  Mix the solution until all the powder is dissolved then fill the bucket with more hot tap water to within about 2 inches of the top.

And there you have it! You can now go do a load of laundry for only a penny!  You only need about 1/4 cup per load and this mixture will last you a long, long time.

Read more...

Goodbye Cobwebs

The past few weeks I've been very busy with some major spring cleaning.  We recently put our house on the market and I've been TRYING to keep it extra clean for showings.  While deep cleaning I realized we had way too many cobwebs in those hard to reach areas.

 Most of them in the corners where the wall meets the ceiling.  It was high time to get rid of those nasty things.

 Here's a little trick I learned a while ago to dust and clean those hard to reach areas.  All you will need is a broom and an old t-shirt that is ready to be used as a rag.

I've found a long sleeve shirt works a little better.  

Tie the shirt onto the top of the broom.

And say goodbye to those pesky cobwebs.  While you're at it dust of the top of our doorways and other hard to reach areas.  Happy Spring Cleaning!

Read more...

Kill those Germs!

A simple way to kill germs in the kitchen is to let your dishwasher do it.  These are some items to put in with your dishes.  A steel scrubber yes, a Brillo pad never.  Any thing with a wood handle no, unless it is bamboo.  I would much rather have a can opener that can be put in the dishwasher than an electric one, but that is my opinion.  I'm not a sponge user, but they should go in the dishwasher too.

Read more...