Organized Basement

Do you know how disorganized a  space can get during a remodel. Well, while we were redecorating our new family room, our storage area took a HUGE hit. This weekend, we organized it..AGAIN!

Now, I have room for another project!!!

Playing along with Tackle It Tuesday with 5 Minutes for Mom .

Flip Your Mattress

Now is the perfect time to flip your mattresses. Doing this every quarter helps to extend the life of these investments in good sleep. But don't do linear flipping from side to side. Don't forget front to back too. To help keep track, label your mattresses thusly:

Put one set on the sides and one set on the ends. This will ensure that each side gets its turn on top:-) While you are at it, wash your bed skirt, mattress pad and comforter too!

A fresh start feels so good! Playing along with Tackle It Tuesday with 5 Minutes for Mom .

We Need to Get Back Here

I don't know what happens when that little girls is home from school for a long period of time but, it doesn't look like this right now:-(
Playing along with Wordless Wednesday at 5 Minutes for Mom and Wordful Wednesday on parenting By dummies:-)

Christmas Purge

This weekend, we cleaned up the reminder of the Christmas cheer. The tree came down, the lights put away and the Christmas gifts tucked away in their new spots. Lot's of messes were made over the holidays. I spent some time cleaning my oven from all those dinners and putting my linens away from all those celebrations. Here is what my linen closet looks like now:

A fresh start feels so good! Playing along with Tackle It Tuesday with 5 Minutes for Mom .

Yearly Shed

Don't forget, now is a perfect time to do your year-end filing. I did mine this weekend and I am all ready to start chomping away at this year's bills:-)


Here is what I do:

• I empty all my files into one big folder and label it with the year that just past.
• This folder gets placed in an archive box with the last 6 years of documents.
• Then, I remove the oldest file in that box and shred it.

Now, I have all the documents that I need to retain for the IRS-required amount of time and a filing system that works:-)

Playing along with Tackle It Tuesday with 5 Minutes for Mom .

Meal Planning

Meal planning is challenging especially when you are trying to eat well and save money. The two seem to be mutually exclusive. When making the changes in my life that I knew had to occur, it kind of sent me for a loop. Where do I start? The answer is start at the beginning.

1. Template: For me, the beginning is with a template. I like to use the Shopper app:-)There are things that you are going to buy every week, every two weeks or every month depending on how often you shop. For me, it is weekly. My orginial template housed juices and deli meats and things of that sort. My new template includes tons of fruits and veggies and beans....lots and lots of beans! Fiber rocks!

2. Flyers: Now, that my template was updated, I go to my local flyers. My list is formed by keeping items on that are on sale and taking those that are not off. With my stockpile, there is very little that I need to buy that can't be replaced by something else that is on sale.

3. Coupons: Next, I match up the sales with coupons and shop on double coupon days to maximize my savings. Our double coupon day is Wednesdays so, my planning springboards off of that day of the week. The thing that frustrates me about coupon sites is that the sales that they match up with coupons are rarely for anything healthy. And lot of "extreme couponers" pay for coupons. I either get my savings in my mailbox for free that I have organized by date in a coupon binder or I find them for free on line. I like A Full Cup. The only thing I pay for is paper and ink....I never pay anything more for savings.

4. Calendar: Now that I have a starter list, I look to see what I have going on that week. I like to use Google Calendar. If I have an especially busy week, I know that I will need a lot of slow cooker meals. If it is going to be cold, we need some soothing dishes. And, if it is going to be slower, I can take my time with a dish.

5. Recipes: With all the information that I have gathered thus far, now is time to find the recipes. I like to use the Living Cookbook. I need to make sure that it incorporates everything from my new lifestyle: respectful, slow and enough food to get me through my day of heathly snacking.

Lot's of balls in the air! They are still coming together but that is my plan:-) </"http:>

Canning Cabinet

This week, I tackled organizing my canning cabinet. Here is what it look like before with all the dirty glasses and all disorganized:

And here is what it looks like now all shiny and labeled:

Now, I am ready to keep going and can up the rest of summer:-)

Playing along with Tackle It Tuesday with 5 Minutes for Mom .

She Was a Brick House

Wow! I sure have been gone a long time! On top of preparing for my new positions as PTO President and Girl Scout School Organizer, we are in the position where we HAVE to repair our house. Here is the story:

This beautiful Roman brick...


...was pulling down our front stoop and poking a whole in our basement wall:-( If you think it sounds expensive, you would be right! We have found ways to keep the cost down. For example, our contractor wanted to charge us $1000 to take down the brick. We found a brick reclaimer who came took down the brick for free AND pay us a nickle a brick! Now, that is smart!!! But, here is what it looks like:




Quite the mess, right? Oh AND, they didn't take the mortar away. So, we had to haul 3 trailer loads of cement to the dump. No THAT is sweat equity!


And, the fun will continue. As a result of this, I have plenty to write about. Like how to menu plan when your plate runneth over. Not to mention, how are we going to put our palace back together. And finally, I get to redesign a bunch of my gardens. So stay tuned for all the mad-cap fun.


Playing along with Tackle It Tuesday with 5 Minutes for Mom .

Disarray

I guess I still have work to do:

Playing along with Wordless Wednesday at 5 Minutes for Mom and Wordful Wednesday on parenting By dummies:-)

Spring Cleaning Part 2

For the second weekend in a row, the family worked on spring cleaning our house. This time, we did the bathrooms and the kitchen. That included appliances, walls, windows, cabinets, linens and floors. It took us a little bit longer (i.e. all Monday) to finish. Not bad. Here is an array of drawers I organized:

Playing along with Tackle It Tuesday with 5 Minutes for Mom .

Paper Clutter

Simple Mom's Project Simplify is covering paper clutter this week. As paper enters my own, it is dealt with. That means, tossed, shredded, paid, read, posted or displayed. So, the paper task is not as daunting for me. So, I am reposting the yearly-purge I do every year:

Don't forget, now is a perfect time to do your year-end filing. I did mine this weekend and I am all ready to start chomping away at this year's bills:-)

Here is what I do:

• I empty all my files into one big folder and label it with the year that just past.
• This folder gets placed in an archive box with the last 6 years of documents.
• Then, I remove the oldest file in that box and shred it.

Now, I have all the documents that I need to retain for the IRS-required amount of time and a filing system that works:-)

This was not so Wordless Wednesday at 5 Minutes for Mom today but more Wordful Wednesday on parenting By dummies:-)

Spring Cleaning Part 1

This weekend, the whole family worked on spring cleaning our house. We did all three bedrooms and the living room top to bottom. That includes walls, curtains, windows, shelving, linens and carpet. We finished everything except for reassembling one shelving unit. Not bad. We were so busy, I only got before and afters of our room:

Before:



After:

Spring Cleaning Tips:

1. Set aside a good hunk of time and involve everyone. I personally made a declaration to my family that this was spring cleaning time and ALL were expected to participate. It ended up being really good clean fun (pardon the pun).

2. Grocery shop, bank, do bills and everything else you need to make sure that the cleaning is uninterrupted time.

3. Have all of your supplies assembled ahead of time including sponges, buckets, squeegees, furniture polish and cleaning solution. I personally clean everything (windows, walls and carpet) with a mixture of one gallon of hot water, 1/4 cup vinegar and a drop of dish liquid.

4. Make sure your vacuum and carpet cleaner are in fine working order because they will be working as hard as you are!

5. Utilize either your crock pot and/or freezer cooking meals while you clean. You don't want to waste time in a long involved meal or worse, eating out! You need energy from a good home cooked meal AND it is cheaper! Check out my list of crockpot meals here for ideas.

Playing along with Tackle It Tuesday with 5 Minutes for Mom .

Organized Bedroom Closet

Spring Cleaning starts this weekend for our family! To that end, playing along with Simple Mom's Project Simplify and showing my organized bedroom closet.

Here is my before:

And my after:

My shoes were a mess, my purses need to be restuffed with tissue paper and I did carry out 3 bags of clothes to either give away or toss. So, I think it was successful. What do you think?

Organize the Basement

I usually organize this area in January but things have been so crazy busy. With spring cleaning next weekend, I had to check this off my list. Here are the afters:

This is our short term storage.

And this is Christmas and long term storage.

Playing along with Tackle It Tuesday with 5 Minutes for Mom .

A Message to My Family

I hereby declare by this decree that the weekends dated March 12th and 13th and March 19th and 20th are reserved for spring cleaning for the wife/mother/caregiver, husband/father/capital provider, daughter and care receiver. This reservation will include but not be limited to washing walls, carpets, cabinets and organizing basement and storage areas and outdoor cleanup. Expect purging of unused and deteriorated items.

Participation by the wife/mother/caregiver, husband/father/capital provider, daughter and care receiver will be required. No social or medical emergencies should be submitted during this timeframe. Submitting either will result in the loss of peace of mind of the wife/mother/caregiver and subsequently, future requests by the husband/father/capital provider, daughter and care receiver will be delayed.

Cooperation in this decree will result in a healthier home for all involved and a happier wife/mother/caregiver thereby making future requests by the husband/father/capital provider, daughter and care receiver possible.

I am submitting this decree to Tackle It Tuesday with 5 Minutes for Mom !

Out with the Old, In with the New

Don't forget, now is a perfect time to do your year-end filing. I did mine this weekend and I am all ready to start chomping away at this year's bills:-)


Here is what I do:

• I empty all my files into one big folder and label it with the year that just past.
• This folder gets placed in an archive box with the last 6 years of documents.
• Then, I remove the oldest file in that box and shred it.

Now, I have all the documents that I need to retain for the IRS-required amount of time and a filing system that works:-)


This was not so Wordless Wednesday at 5 Minutes for Mom today but more Wordful Wednesday on parenting By dummies:-)

A New Chair

This week, my recliner took a crapper. It was 15 years old so, we got our money's worth out of it. However, we were not looking forward to plopping down $700 for a new one. I hate that bulky recliner look but I love to recline. So, what is a girl to do in that conondrom? Wel, we found this little number at Steinhafel's:

It's cute. It goes well with the room. It was $265 AND it is a recliner! AWESOME tackle, don't you think?

Organizing the Breezeway Cabinet

With the busy al fresca dining season coming to a close, I found that my breezeway cabinets really needed an overhaul. I didn't take a before picture but here is the finished project:

What did you tackle this week?

Tax Credit Kitchen Day Dream

I was daydreaming this afternoon about a new kitchen. I guess I do that a lot because I remembered this too:

Before I met my husband, he gutted and rebuilt all three bedrooms. A couple years ago we got a new roof and a new car. Last year, we gutted and redid our bathrooms and windows and bought another new car. AND, we bought two new computers last year and one was for education! We hit all of the tax credits for this year, last year! We have done everything possible to improve our property and support the economy. With nothing to show for the improvements (except the improvements), we deserve a tax credit kitchen.

Now, we are half way there. Last year (last year was a rough one) got a new range, a new dishwasher and a new microwave. All we need now is a enclume pot racks and some new cabinets. That's all I am looking for:-) Do you think that I could get a tax credit for a
enclume pot racks ?

Now, hear me out...we have done everything right. We are putting money into our property to keep the values up. We have almost single-handedly maintained the economy and the auto industry (both cars are American) during this difficult time. We are being penalized on our timing for the other credits. The least the administration could do for us is get me a new bright and shiny enclume pot racks . That's all. Just a little thank you for our support:-) Is that too much to ask?

Look What I Made

Isn't it pretty? My wonderful mother-in-law spent an afternoon helping me put this together. We even attached shelf liners on the bottom for grip. That way, we didn't need to put on strings so, they look more like dining room chairs than kitchen chairs. A really clever trick:-)

I am so proud of myself because although my email address is sewing@wi.rr.com, I don't sew:-) She was very patient with her remedial student and, I am going back on Thrursday to sew the other five:-) Wish me luck!

They are only going to cost me $20 total for all 6!! Normally, 4 would cost over $100!! With the money I saved, I need to get table linens to go with it:-) Or, I could get some new home supplies but maybe I will just celebrate with a cheese and wine party .

What do you guys think I should do?