Works for Me - Cleaning tip #1

I tried Flylady, I really did. When we had our house on the market, it worked well. It worked well as long as I stayed on top of things, but I found out I'm a little lazy. If I do not have a reason to do something, I tend to not do that. Which explains the state of the laundry. Er..."Mount Wash-Me" and "Mount St. Fold-Me" that is.

One thing that I did take away from FlyLady, was the 15 minute rule. Even my lazy self can follow this one (well actually easily distracted by the blogs and internet self). Only, I figured if it was good enough for ME, then it was definitely good enough for the rest of the family. It is our goal (notice the OUR) to do this nightly, but sometimes life has a way of interfering. But, we do it as often as we can.

I will set the kitchen timer (aka Microwave Timer) for 15 minutes, and all 4 of us clean designated area. Dh gets one room, I take another, JM gets his room, and Samuel gets his room. Since they share now, one gets the bedroom, the other gets all the toys in the rest of the house. 15 minutes and we stop, no matter HOW little we've gotten done. It's not a replacement for true cleaning, but it's there for catching that clutter that seems to pile up.

I realize that if I set that timer for 15 minutes a day for laundry, then I would not have the mountains I seem to acquire weekly.

Works for Me Wednesday!

Baseball is on my brain these days. We're either at the ballfield watching a game. Driving the ballfield for a game. At the ballfield for concession duty, or a practice, or warm-up. Or we're getting ready to go to a ballgame. We only have one child involved in baseball this year, and I can only imagine how very busy we will be next year with two boys involved. Then, to think if Katie plays softball. OH MY, I'll practically be LIVING there every night!

As someone who like to be organized, the chaos in the dugout with 11 little boys was driving me crazy. Thinking the shoe basket had worked quite well, I translated this to the dugout chaos. I went to the Dollar Tree and bought 12 $1 "dishpans." These "bins" are big enough to hold a glove, a hat, a batting helmet, and a drink. The big bat bags go on the OUTSIDE of the dugout (to the back). The bins go under the bench, and lo and behold the boys keep the dugout semi-clean.

There was one unintended consequence I feel I must warn you about. There is now more room for being active, acting like a monkey, and horseplaying now. But the "dugout coach" deals with that. At least the extra bats are no longer being swung about. ;)

Be sure to check out Rocks in my Dryer for more Works For Me Wednesday tips!

Birthday Idea that worked for me!

Birthdays are not my favorite thing in the world. Nor do I like how expensive they seem to have become! Not to mention that both of my boys' birthdays fall in the last half of the year and during very busy times of our lives. Organizing them, paying for them, throwing them...just not something I particularly enjoy. I do it for the kids.

So, last year, I was talking with a friend and she mentioned that she gave her son the money she would have spent on the party as a gift instead of the party. She lets him choose each year. I liked it, but at the same time I wanted to make the idea mine. :)

I chose that every EVEN birthday party year after the age 5 each child gets to choose something in place of the birthday party. A special camp, a special trip, or something that will be non-material in nature. JM's 8th birthday was our "test" year. He chose to go to a week long camp (not going to say, but it's 9-4pm each day for 5 days). :)

This year JM gets a party with friends for his 9th birthday. My original thought was to alternate years, so that this year Samuel would not get a party. But I just can NOT skip his 5th birthday party. So, I made it through the age of 5 they get a party every year (after all those toddler/preschool parties are fairly low-key). This puts me having 2 parties every other year. I would rather make it where Samuel and JM alternate years for their parties. Maybe I should change it through the age of 6? Or JM has odd years, Samuel has even, but they get "big" birthdays as well (like 5, 10, 13, 16, 18...)

Some ideas I have to pitch to the kids for future "replacement parties" - week at same camp JM is attending but different version, a trip to Six Flags, trip to Cedar Point, annual passes to zoo/science museum/children's museum, donate to a charity organization, sponsor a child, etc.

For more Birthday Tips head to Rocks In My Drayer - Works for Me Wednesdays

The Shoe Container

Works for me Wednesday!

Having 2 little boys means that I end up with shoes all over the house. Being little (and boys) their observation skills when looking for lost items (such as a left shoe) are lacking. I finally gave in, and put a large box in the bottom of our coat closet. This is our "shoe box" and all shoes that are being used at this time go in this box for easy finding. Crocs, tennis shoes, dress shoes, etc. go here. The cleats go on the floor next to the box (due to the large quantities of mud/dirt that collect on them). I keep my dress shoes out of the box because I can normally find my own shoes.

This has really helped us in getting out the door faster, and helped us to keep from tripping over various loose shoes laying on the floor.

Coupon Mom - Works for Me!

I'm typically busier than I would like to be, and typically so busy that other things are more important than clipping coupons (like, oh, pulling weeds). I honestly can say that I look forward to the day when I no longer need to clip coupons, it's not one of my favorite chores. It's one chore I'm eagerly looking forward to passing off to my kids.

Awhile back, someone sent me a link for The Coupon Mom and if you go to Grocery Deals by State (on the left hand side) you will find a drop down list where you choose your state and grocery store. Now, I realize that not all stores are listed here (and yes I know that big megastore will match ads, but refer to that "despise clipping coupons" part about me again), but there are some decent stores listed.

This will open a new window with this week's deals in the ad and which coupon from which paper could be used. NICE! This means that I do not clip coupons, but rather keep them together. I go to this site and get a list of "deals" and which coupons go with each one. Sunday evenings I head to the store and buy groceries.

Now, if I could only figure out a way to not even go to the store in the first place! LOL I hope it helps someone else out there as it has helped me!

Head over to Rocks In My Dryer for other (probably more helpful) tips!

Works for Me!

Hmmm...what does work for me? I know! Working on replacing linoleum with tile in the master bathroom!! LOL That linoleum is tough to scrape up, and it ends up hurting muscles, and you get blisters. Generally it's a yucky job. But since the end result is worth it, I'm here to tell you a few ways to make it easier.

1. A scraper of some sort is essential. Especially if you are doing this on concrete and get semi-big sheets of the linoleum up, but leave that paper backing glued to the floor.

2. I used vinegar and water and mopped that paper. It helped to loosen the paper somewhat. Then I could scrape a little easier.

3. The absolute BEST way though to get this up, is to look sufficiently hot and tired when Dh gets home. Have enough done that it looks like you made progress. Then, when he's feeling quite quilty over how hot and tired you are, start scraping again...but you know, WEAKLY. This part is important, because big strong manly Dh will not be able to watch you barely scrape the paper stuff. He will take over the yucky job and get it done much faster.

Okay, so I'm fairly lame and do not really have a good "works for me" on this topic. I am about to decide though that paying someone to put this down in our 35 square foot bathroom might have been the better option. Too bad we only have about 9 square feet left to do (if that).