31 Days - Share your tips!

I hope you've enjoyed the tips I've shared this month during my 31 Days series.  I've had a lot of fun writing the posts and reading your comments. 

To finish up the this 31 Days series, I'd love to see your tips and tricks for simplifying your life!  Add a link to your blog post or post your tip in the comments section. 


Here is a list of the posts from this series in case you missed any:

Day 2: How to Keep Brown Sugar Soft
Day 3: 5 Ways to Reuse Old Newspapers
Day 4: Freezing Meat For Easier meals 
Day 5: Feeding Time with a Newborn 
Day 6: Non-Messy Way to Eat Applesauce
Days 7 & 8: Folding and Organizing Fabric
Day 9: Making Cookies
Days 10 & 11: Organizing Sewing Patterns 
Day 12: Organizing Shoes 
Day 13: Memory Boxes
Day 14: Folding Towels and Washcloths 
Day 15: 10 Tips for Shopping with Kids 
Day 16: Stop Losing Baby Socks
Days 17 & 18: Keeping a Day Planner 
Day 19: Trust Your Gut! 
Day 20: An Easier Shopping List 
Days 21 & 22: Easy Cleanup In the Kitchen 
Day 23: Gift Giving 
Day 24: Freezing Food 
Day 25: Organizing Clothes 
Day 26: Reusable Activity Pages 
Day 27: Organizing the Toy Chaos 
Days 28 & 29: Making a Daily Chore List 
Day 30: Organizing Hair Accessories


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31 Days-Organizing Hair Accessories

Considering that Princess really only grew enough hair for me to do anything with it after she was two, she has a lot of hair accessories.  Of course, now that she has a little sister (who has lots of hair!!  Hooray!) she'll have to share her hairbows and headbands.  I used to keep all of the hair accessories in a shoebox in Princess's closet, but that was overflowing and impossible to find anything in before long.  So I bought a shoebag and put it on her bedroom door.
*Note: don't be cheap like me and buy the plastic shoebags.  They rip.  Especially when a small child thinks it's fun to hang on the pockets.  Spend the extra money and get a nice canvas shoebag that will last a lot longer*    

I tied long ribbons to the hooks at the top of the bag that hold the shoebag over the door and clip all of Princess's hairbows to the ribbons so they don't get crushed.  Her hard plastic headbands can be looped over a pocket and everything else (soft headbands, barrettes, hair elastics) get organized into its own pocket.  I also have an over-the-door set of hooks next to the shoebag that I use to hang both of the kids' hats on.  

I use some of the (non-ripped) pockets at the bottom to keep all the singleton socks in.  When the pockets get full, I match them up. 

The ribbons to hang the hairbows on are tied onto the metal hooks at the top of the shoebag that hook over the door.  They can easily be moved aside to see the pockets clearly.

Pockets for the soft headbands, small hairbow barrettes, and regular barrettes.  Small clips can be clipped on the edges of the pockets.

Frankly, you can't have too many shoebags in your house.  There are so many uses for them!  For more ideas, you can visit my Pinterest board, Shoebag Organizing.

Tomorrow, I'll be hosting a link-up of your favorite organizing tips.  Be sure to come check it out and add your own tips!

Want to see a complete list of the posts in the 31 Days to Simplify Your Life series?  Click here. 



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Star - 1 Month

Age: 1 month


Weight and height: I'm not sure because she doesn't have a doctor's appointment until next month, but I'm guessing she weighs between 8 and 9 pounds now.

Wearing size: Just moved from newborn to size 1 diapers although the size 1 diapers are still a bit big.  Wearing newborn and 0-3 month clothes.

Likes: Snuggling on mommy or daddy's chest to fall asleep, being swaddled, and is starting to like her pacifier a bit more.  Loves the infant swing (we have one like this and I swear by the side-to-side motion for soothing babies!).  Star also loves her big sister and almost always has smiles for her.  I know she loves her big brother too, but he's 2 years old and hasn't learned to give her personal space yet.  She also likes tummy time and staring at lights.

Dislikes: Having a dirty or wet diaper.  Being buckled into her carseat although she usually stops crying as soon as it's being moved.   

Eating habits: Star eats about 3 ounces of formula every 2-4 hours.  She's a good eater, but very messy which I think has something to do with her being tongue-tied. 

Sleeping habits: She's a good sleeper!  She usually takes one really long nap everyday and several shorter ones.  She's ready for bed by 9 pm, wakes up to eat at about 3:30 am, and then sleeps again until 6:30/7.  She usually needs to be rocked to sleep, but sometimes she prefers to be swaddled and laid down to fall asleep. 

Milestones: She smiled for the first time at less than a week old!  Since then, I've seen quite a few smiles from her.  She's getting very good at holding her head up and can push up with her legs to a standing position if someone is holding her upright on their lap.  Her umbilical cord fell off at 1 week old.
  

1 month old

Star's baby acne is clearing up with the help of vaseline.  She has a "stork bite" on her forehead between her eyes and another at the crown of her head, although that one is covered pretty well by her hair.
 

I love that this outfit says "Little Star" on it since that's her blog nickname.

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31 Days-Daily Chore List

How do houses get messy so quickly?  If I don't stay on top of things, my house turns into a declared disaster zone within a few days.

Since I'm a born procrastinator and dedicated list keeper, the best way for me to stay on top of the housework is to have a daily chore list.  It covers the basics, takes 15-20 minutes to accomplish, and gives me the satisfaction of crossing things off a list.  I do have other lists of chores to do to keep up with the deeper cleaning.  But, with a preschooler, toddler, and a new baby in the house, if I can get my daily chore list done everyday, I call it good enough.

I wrote my basic chores on a sheet of paper (this was before I had a working printer so everything was handwritten) and put it in a sheet protector in my Control Journal.  When I finish a task, I cross it off with a dry erase marker.  I call it my morning routine, but let's face it...if everything on the list gets done by evening, it's good.

"Hot Spots" are any place in the house that seems to accumulate clutter.  For me, it's the coffee table and the computer desk.

Writing up your own list like this will help you keep your house clean without spending a lot of time cleaning.  Just pick the things that are essential and need to be done everyday.  Don't make it too complicated or long, the point here is to keep it simple.  If you're feeling ambitious, go ahead and make a Control Journal to keep your house sparkly clean, but if not, give yourself a pat on the back for starting with the basics.

Want to see a complete list of the posts in the 31 Days to Simplify Your Life series?  Click here.



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31 Days-Organizing Toys

It doesn't take much for kids' toys to get out of control.  I've always wished I had a playroom so I could just shut the door and not look at the mess, but because our house is small, our "playroom" is a corner of the living room.  It has to be well organized or the toys take over our whole living area.

When Princess first started accumulating toys, I threw them all in one container.  I had my eye on a toy box thinking that would be the easiest way to keep them picked up, but I soon realized that a toy box was not the best solution as toys get jumbled together and broken easily, not to mention that you can never find the one you're looking for.

The solution is to organize toys into separate bins.  For bigger toys without a lot of pieces, I store them directly on the shelf, but sets go into a canvas bin or bucket.  This makes it much easier for the kids to clean up after themselves.  I've seen some people label their bins with a picture of the type of toy that goes into it,but nothing sticks really well to the canvas bins so I haven't done that.  If you're storing yours in plastic bins, I would definitely recommend that as kids are so visual.

This shelf works perfectly for toys!  If you look closely, you can see that Little Man's hotwheels collection is stored on the bottom shelf in a pink ice cream pail.  Poor boy.

A close-up of several of the bins.  The red one holds miscellaneous toys and the blue one holds My Little Ponies

Here are a few more tips I use to control the toy chaos:

1. If the toys don't fit in their designated bins or area, it's time to say goodbye to a few!  When we get to that point, first I throw out anything that's broken, then I make a pile of toys that I don't mind getting rid of and have the kids pick a certain number of them to give to kids who don't have any toys (aka Goodwill).  This gets the kids involved and teaches them about generosity.

2. Divide the toys in half and put half of them in storage.  Every few months or when it looks like the kids are losing interest in the toys that are out, switch them for the ones that are in storage. Every time we make the switch, it's like Christmas at my house!

3. Ask relatives to go in on one big gift for all your kids instead of giving each child little things.  Or, if your children are still young enough not to notice, ask them to just buy one small gift for each child to unwrap and put the rest of the money they would have spent on a gift into the child's savings account.  


Update: Since I wrote this post, I've gotten these canvas bins which help make the toy shelf neater and stores the toys better.  The best part?  The cheapest I've seen them in stores was $6 apiece and the ones I found on Amazon are good quality and were less than $5 apiece!  

Want to see a complete list of the posts in the 31 Days to Simplify Your Life series?  Click here. 
  


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31 Days-Reusable Activity Pages

I bought a fun activity book for Princess, but then realized that I should've bought two because Little Man thought it was pretty neat too.  Rather than go back to the store to find another one, I made the book pages wipe clean and reusable.  Tearing each page out, I put it in a glossy sheet protector and let the kids have fun coloring the activities with dry erase markers and dry erase crayons.  When they were done, I wiped them clean and they could start all over again!  So simple!

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31 Days-Organizing Clothes

Most people stack their clothes in their dresser drawers.  Which means that if you want a certain shirt, you have to dig through all the stacks to find it.  Which means that a nice neat dresser drawer can quickly turn into an unfolded, wrinkled mess.
 

Stacks in the dresser drawer-picture taken before Star was born as evidenced by the baby boy clothes!

Or...you can "file" your clothes which makes it easier to find what you're looking for.  Plus, as you can see by comparing the picture above with the picture below, it creates more space in your dresser drawers!

Fold your clothes the same way you always do, but instead of laying them flat in the drawer, stack them sideways.  This makes it easy to see at a glance what you have.

Want to see a complete list of the posts in the 31 Days to Simplify Your Life series?  Click here. 



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31 Days-Freezing Food

Want to cook half as much as you do now?  (Or maybe 1/4 as much, but still worth it!)

Whenever I make something that freezes well, I make twice as much and freeze half of it.  It really doesn't take much more effort to double a recipe.  Then, I have a meal ready to go in the oven at a moment's notice, which is a life saver with a new baby in the house!  Somehow, I got four of these Pyrex glass pans for my wedding so I usually have extras that can go in the freezer, but if they're all in use, I put the food in a foil baking pan and wrap the whole thing about 3 times with tinfoil.  Then I write what's inside on the top with a dry-erase or permanent marker (after my toddler nephew used permanent markers to write all over the walls and hard-wood floors at his house, I won't allow permanent markers in my house until the kids are older, which means that I always use a dry-erase marker)

My black dry erase marker was going dry so I got a new one out and rewrote it.  The recipe for my Deep Dish Pizza Casserole can be found here.

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Smiles

I dare you to look at this happy little face and not smile.

Star is such a sweet baby.  She's been smiling at me when I talk to her ever since she was 5 days old (and yes, I know the difference between real smiles and gas). 

The poor thing has baby acne, but hopefully that'll clear up soon and she'll get her perfect baby complexion back :) 


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31 Days - Gift Giving

I tend to be a bit very forgetful.  Sometimes, I forget what I'm doing in the middle of doing it.  I think I can blame the kids since being pregnant and raising children actually destroys brain cells.  I think.  I'm pretty sure I read an article about that one time, but I don't remember for sure.  But even if it hasn't been scientifically proven, I'm walking proof that it's true.

What was I getting at?

Oh yes!  Because I'm forgetful, I occasionally (or frequently) forget birthdays and other gift giving occasions until it's too late to buy a gift.  Yes, I know Walmart is open 24/7, but the closest one is 45 minutes from me and gas is...not cheap.

So here's my solution to the gift giving conundrum: a big plastic box. 

I fill it up with neutral or basic gifts that will work for most people plus a few gifts for different ages or genders.  When I need a gift in a pinch, I go "shopping" in my box.

When I see something for sale when I'm out shopping that would work for my gift box, I pick it up and add it to the box when I get home.  I also do the same thing with cards.

This method of gift giving saves money and time.  It saves money because I don't have to pay for gas to go buy a full price (remember, I try to buy things on sale) gift at the last minute and it saves time because I don't have to drive 45 minutes to buy something.  

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31 Days-Easy Cleanup In the Kitchen

I tend to be a little lazy resourceful when it comes to cleaning.  Especially in the kitchen since I hate scrubbing pots and pans.

Here are a few products I use to make cleanup easier in the kitchen.

Aluminum foil or tinfoil is one of my favorite kitchen tools.  Does it count as a kitchen tool?  No?  Okay, well, it's still one of my favorite things to use in the kitchen.  When I'm baking something messy or greasy (such as bacon!) I line the pan with tinfoil.  It conforms to the pan, even the corners, and makes cleaning up so much easier.  As long as you don't rip a hole in the tinfoil as you're removing the food...  Tinfoil also is great for keeping food warm since it holds the heat in. 

Parchment paper is great for baking.  It helps cookies bake more evenly and keeps them from sticking to the pan.  I don't bake unless I have some of this stuff on hand.  One time, I ran out of parchment paper and substituted tinfoil.  Bad idea.  Tinfoil conducts more heat and the cookies did not bake well.

Wax paper is great for rolling out cookie dough, pie crust, etc.  Just sandwich the dough between two sheets of wax paper and voila!  No more dough sticking to the counter or rolling pin.  Plus...easy cleanup!

What do you use in the kitchen to make cleanup easier?

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31 Days-Easier Shopping List

I tend to be a little over the top (read: slightly obsessive) over this, but I can't stand running out of anything in the kitchen.  I always have my basic staples on hand and stock up on them when there's a sale.  Anytime I'm running low on something, I write it on the shopping list.

I used to keep a loose piece of paper stuck to the fridge with a magnet for my on-going shopping list, but the paper kept falling off and getting lost, and the pen kept disappearing.  So I ditched that idea and implemented a new way to keep my shopping list up to date.  I found a magnetic dry erase board with a corkboard that could stick right on my fridge.  Now I always have a writing utensil since the dry erase marker fits in a small plastic holder on the top and it's super easy to add things to the list as I think of them.  Then, when it's time to go shopping, I transfer the list to a piece of paper, or, if the list isn't too long, I take a picture of it with my cell phone.  

I got mine at Target, but they can be found on Amazon as well.  Here's a basic one like I have. 

 I found this one online too and thought it would be perfect for keeping track of everyone's schedules.  It also has space for the shopping list and a corkboard to pin things on the bottom.  I might have to upgrade soon :)

For those who don't like the idea of having to transfer their shopping list to a piece of paper everytime they go shopping, printable shopping lists are also a great idea.  I used to use them until my printer broke and then I switched over to the dry erase board on the fridge.  I haven't gone back yet, but now that I have a printer that works again, I've been thinking about how convenient a printable list is.  I lost the one I originally wrote, but here's one I found on Pinterest that is similar.

Source: simplemom.net via Heather on Pinterest

  

I love that the categories are divided and all you have to do is put a check by the item you need.  When I used this type of shopping list, I would print off several at a time and hang them on my fridge with a magnetic chip clip.

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A Box of Goodies!

So...I have this awesome friend, Jessica, who sent me a box of fun stuff for Star after she was born.  The day the package arrived was like Christmas.  Lots of cute baby girl clothes, a sweet musical baby toy, and some goodies from her boutique!

When she told me she was sending me a package for Star, I was pretty excited.  I'm a repeat customer of hers and have never been disappointed with my orders. 

Jessica sent me an adorable handmade owl print blanket with Star's birth details embroidered on the corner.  I can't show it to you because I'm not comfortable sharing all the details with the internet world, but I can assure you it's an awesome blanket and Star loves being snuggled up in it.

Jessica also sent me four burp cloths from her boutique.  I love the patterns she picked out for them, and they're so big and absorbent, which is a must.  So many store-bought burp cloths are thin or too small to really be effective, but these are perfect!

You can find Jessica's boutique on Facebook and Etsy.
 


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31 Days-Trust Your Gut

This 31 Days post is going to be a little different.  Don't worry.  We will be back to our regular posts tomorrow.

With my first baby, the ultrasound predicted a girl.

I didn't believe it.  I had heard of ultrasounds predicting girls and then turning out to be boys too many times and since I was secretly hoping for a girl, I didn't want to get my hopes up, only to get a surprise in the delivery room.

The ultrasound was right and it was a girl.

With my second baby, the ultrasound predicted a boy.

I believed it.  I'd always heard that if an ultrasound said it was a boy, it would be right.  Besides, I'd seen the proof myself on the ultrasound screen.

The ultrasound was right and it was a boy.

With my third baby, the ultrasound predicted a boy.

Something didn't feel right, but I'd seen the ultrasound and it sure looked like a boy.  I was completely shocked after the ultrasound because I had been so sure the baby was a girl.  There were 4 reasons why I thought that:
1. Princess had told me it was a girl.  She's never been wrong.
2. My sister had told me I was having a girl.  She's never been wrong.
3. The pregnancy was just like my pregnancy with Princess and nothing like the one with Little Man.
4. I just had a feeling.

Every time, I started having doubts (maybe it was a girl...maybe the ultrasound was wrong...), I would pull out the ultrasound pictures and reassure myself that it was a boy. 

This is looking directly up at the baby's bottom.  Do you see why I thought it was a boy?!?

Yet, during the rest of my pregnancy, I had a feeling, a voice in the back of my mind, that there was going to be a big surprise at the end of the whole thing.  I tried to drown it out by stocking up on all blue baby things, but somehow, it just never felt right.  My mom told me after Star was born, that she never felt that a boy was right either.

Even still, I had talked myself into believing the ultrasound so well that when I had a baby girl, it was a complete shock.

I'm glad things turned out the way they did though.  I would've loved to have another sweet little boy, but I wasn't looking forward to the family dynamics of one big sister with two little brothers to pick on her.  I grew up with two younger brothers, but at least I had an older sister to team up with.  Although, Hubby is now lamenting the fact that there's no hope for Little Man since he's sandwiched between two girls (he likes to copy his big sister in everything she does, which includes wearing girly dress-up clothes and jewelry, and playing with dolls).  I think Little Man will turn out just fine and will be a great daddy someday :)

And to wrap this post up, how about a picture of Grandma (my mama!) holding the 2012 grandbaby edition?

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31 Days-Keeping a Day Planner

I can't live without my day planner.  I've kept one for over 8 years now and it's always in my purse.  If events don't get written down in it, they are forgotten.  Period.

I use my day planner as a sort of daily journal as well.  It's nice to be able to look back and find out exactly when we did something or when something happened.  It's also used as a menu planner, note taker, etc.

Here's my day planner.  It's not too big that it doesn't fit in my purse, but not so small that it can't hold a lot of information.  I like to find a day planner that is spiral bound so I can easily slip a pen inside the spirals and find it when I need it.

The first thing I do when I get a new day planner every year is tape a piece of cardstock (or an old library checkout card, apparently) securely inside the front cover.  This works for a pocket for shopping lists, recipes, and any miscellaneous small papers I need to hang on to. 

My day planner has a page for each month so I can see at a glance what's coming up on my schedule.  As you can see, this page for next month is still pretty empty, but by the end of the month, it'll be covered in writing and x's as I cross off each day.

I also like my day planner to have a section for each day.  This is where I write down my menu every week and (when I'm feeling ambitious) jot down a little journal entry of what we did that day.

Here are a few cute day planners I found on Amazon:







How about you?  Do you keep a day planner?  Why or why not?

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31 Days-Stop Losing Baby Socks

Someone gave me a mesh lingerie wash bag for a baby shower when I was expecting Princess.  I thought it was kind of a strange gift until she explained that it could be used for washing baby socks and other little baby things such as bibs, mittens, etc.

I thanked her, put the bag away and forgot about it until I started regularly losing baby socks in the wash.  I finally figured out that front loading machine actually do eat socks (and all this time, I thought it was a myth!  Take that, MythBusters!) because they get stuck in the rubber gasket around the door.  I fished a ton of soggy (ew!) socks out of the gasket and dug out the lingerie bag.

I tied a piece of ribbon on each end of the bag, which was easy since I could thread it through the mesh, hung it on the end of the changing table, and simply threw the socks in there as I took them off.  When it was time to do laundry, I tucked the ribbon inside the bag, zipped it shut, and threw it in with the rest of the wash.

Presto!  No more lost socks!

You can use a regular lingerie mesh wash bag like this:

Mesh Lingerie Delicates Wash Bag - Household Essentials #121

 Or...I just found this awesome baby laundry bag by Munchkin that has two compartments for sorting laundry.  This would also be great if you have more than one little one because each child's socks could go into a separate compartment.  

Munchkin Baby Laundry Bag

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