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  • Cut the Clutter and Enjoy more Family Time {Think About It}

    Cut the Clutter and Enjoy more Family Time {Think About It}

    There has been so much going on in our lives right now. Between just being a Mom, and trying to really put more into this blog, as well as remodeling the bathroom, and other life stresses, I found myself getting completely overwhelmed. 
     I found my stress came out towards the house. I was tired of picking the same thing up over and over and over again. I was tired of feeling like the only one who cared to have a clean house.  So I stopped cleaning beyond the absolute necessary chores. 
    So then one day, I was talking to my mom, and she told me something she’s often said before 
    Less is More.
    Yes Mom, I know, but so many things have an emotional attachment to them. I often have a harder time getting rid of items then the kids because I remember what we were doing when we got them. And as before when she’s given me this simple advice, I pushed it aside, thinking I couldn’t do it. I’d be the mean mom taking their toys away, the mean wife tossing things away and saying no to more “stuff”.
    And then a day or two after I talked to my mom I came across this post – 
    Why I Took My Kids Toys Away from Living Well, Spending Less.

    This time, my moms advice came back to my mind, and I knew I needed to make the change. We needed to get rid of a lot of the “stuff” cluttering up our house. Not just for my sanity, but to bring our family back to true happiness. We’ve spent too many days crying over toys, not finding that special toy in the mess, and tears and tantrums because “It’s too hard to clean up Mom!”

    Before I made my plan of action, I presented the idea to Mark. We believe in team parenting, so I wanted to make sure he was on board, and felt good about what I was about to do as well.  We gave it a day to think about, and then presented our plan of action to the kids. 
    Hey Kids, Mom and Dad were thinking, we have too many toys.
    Noooooooooo! Don’t take our toys away!!!
    We’re not taking your toys away! Calm down and listen please.
    And then we did it. We involved our kids in the process to make room in our life for more family activities, instead of more toys. 
    The Idea:  Earn money by selling toys at a yard sale.  Use the money for a pre-chosen family activity.
    The Plan of Attack:  We told the kids they didn’t have to sell any of their toys, but if they did we could earn money for something we can’t normally afford to do. Mom and Dad wouldn’t make them sell anything, but we would encourage them to minimize and choose only a few favorites to keep. 
    We began with the stuffed animals. 2 large bins of stuffed animals stuck in storage, with more hanging around the toy room was a bit much. We involved the kids, and had a stuffed animal sorting party. Mark and I pushed to get each Princesses pile down to  5 stuffed toys. We ended with 1 full bin to sell (and a very happy Mama!). Now every night as we clean up the toys as a family, some may get tossed into our yard sale pile as the Princesses realize they don’t ever play with it. 
    The Goal: Bowling! Frequently we hear requests to take the kids bowling. Bowling can get expensive, and exhaustive with all the kids – but we know they enjoy it, and it will bring us closer as a family. It will be affordable as well.  For me though, I will enjoy more time with the kids playing, instead of cleaning up their crazy messes as they try to find that 1 toy hidden in the depths of the toy box.

    Think About It!

    Are you being overrun with clutter?  
    It might not be an insane amount of toys (my kids really don’t have that many), but if it’s enough that tantrums are a daily occurrence, and you feel overwhelmed just looking at them – then you probably have too many for your space and your kids. 
    The tantrums truly tell us something. It’s kind of like a hidden message.  To me “Mom it’s too hard to clean up” really was saying “Mom, I have too many toys, and I’ve just as overwhelmed by them as you are”


  • Spring Cleaning Day 4 – Toys and General Clutter

    Spring Cleaning Day 4 – Toys and General Clutter

    Welcome back to Day 4 in the Spring Cleaning Challenge!
     
    Today we are going to focus on toys, and the general clutter that every home seems to collect. I made another fun printable checklist. Print it off, and get to work!
     
     
    Gather 2 Boxes (or trash bags)
    Label, or designate one box for donations, and one for trash. Spring Cleaning is all about starting fresh. Let’s stop stepping over broken toys, or staring at toys that never get played with.
     
    The Floor
    Now I know we did a general pick up and put away on Day 2 with the Living Spaces, but if you have kids, 2 days is plenty of time to mess it all up again with toys. Don’t bother putting things away right now. Just start picking up and making decisions. Is it broken? Trash.  Do the kids play with it? Donate if they don’t. Create a Keep pile if they do. Just designate an area for toys being kept.
     
    The Toybox
    Now that the floor is cleaned off, head to the toy box. One effective way is to dump the whole box out. Then as you sort through it, you can move your keep pile into the toy box. Do not put anything back in that is broken! Just don’t!  Have your children help, if they are old enough to understand what you are doing. My 6 and 5 year old are pretty good (sometimes they want to donate every single toy they own), while my 3 year old can often just be in the way as she rearranges the piles.
     
    One Drawer at a Time
    Great, you’ve done a lot already!  I think it’s safe to say, we don’t just have 1 toy box. We have a couple different areas we keep toys. So after I go through the main toy box, we move onto all  the other toy storage places. Treat it like the toy box. Dump it out, and one item at a time decide – Trash, Donate, or Keep. Put them away, and move onto the next one.
     
    Clean and Sanitize
    Unless a toy has been puked on, they don’t get cleaned all that often. Periodically I’ll find the kids “bathing” their dolls, but even then it’s not a good deep clean. Now that you have your piles sorted – put your donate in the car, and take the trash outside.
    Grab a bucket of hot water, and your favorite cleaning agent. Since we’re cleaning toys here, I like to keep it safe, and use something I know won’t harm the kids if they stick it in their mouth – because you know it’s going to go in a kids mouth at some point!  A small amount of ammonia mixed in a large bucket of hot water is my personal favorite cleaner, but switching the ammonia out for distilled white vinegar will be safer on the toys. Have a decent pile of rags on hand, and get to work scrubbing the toys down. At this point, you can involve all your kids! It will teach them responsibility for their stuff, as well as hard work. Plus, you get to spend a little extra time with them while getting housework done.
     
    General Clutter
    If you no longer have kids at home, or you didn’t spend your whole day cleaning toys, this is a good time to take care of the general clutter. Clean off your dressers, office area, junk drawers. The places in your home that attract clutter and never let go of it.
     
    Wahoo! You’ve finished Day 4! 
    Go grab your extra entry into the Affresh Giveaway.
    

  • Guest Post – DeJunk Your Household

    De-Junk Your
    Household

    So you’re finally deciding to take
    stock of your household objects and see just what you need to keep around and
    what to get rid of? This can be a quite daunting task, but don’t fret! By using
    a few simple tips you can make the process of evaluating your household objects
    and deciding what to do with them quick and painless.

    The first step is to take an inventory of what you’ve actually got. Go through
    your house (yes, even the boxes stacked in the corner of your basement) and
    make a note of every item you find that you could conceivably get rid of. If
    the idea of living without the item even crosses your mind, write it down; you
    will make the final decisions later.

    Once you’ve got your list, it’s time for the hard part. Go down the list and
    take a good hard look at each entry. How old is the item, and how often has it
    been used? If it’s something that you haven’t even thought about for five
    years, you’re looking at a great opportunity to simplify your life by getting
    rid of it. If the object has significant sentimental value and you can’t even
    bear to imagine losing it, go ahead and keep it around. Be careful not to use
    this excuse lightly, though.

    If the item in question is something that is only used occasionally such as
    seasonal decorations or clothing, consider placing it in storage. This way you
    remove it as clutter from your household while still having full access to it
    when the appropriate time comes.

    Now that you’ve got a trimmed down list of what you’re considering getting rid
    of, it’s time to decide just what to do with all of it. For items such as old
    clothing, bedding and toys, donating to a local or national charity is always
    an attractive option; the items will be put to good use, and you can usually
    write the donation off on your taxes. Items that have retained value such as
    furniture and electronics, do some research to find out a fair price and put it
    up for sale. There’s no better feeling than reducing clutter and earning money
    while doing it! And if it’s truly trash, just throw it out; you won’t miss it.

    With these simple tips, it’s easy to reduce clutter in your house and simplify
    your life. You may even make a few extra bucks, to boot!

    Casey Haslem is a writer and paints in her spare time. She
    writes often about storage and organization. If you’re in need of help with
    storage, contact     Sam Dimas
    self storage units     or Brooklyn
    Extra Space Storage    .

  • Tuesday Tips – Paper Organization

    organizing your home
    Paper piles up. It seems to be it’s favorite thing to do. Everything from mail, kids schoolwork, receipts and then the general papers that you wonder where they came from. 
    Organizing papers was probably the first thing I started doing when I decided to declutter our home. The rest of the house could be clean, but with the piles of paper everywhere, it never looked it. Here are just some of my tips on where to start and what you can do with those stacks of papers floating around your house.
    Mail: The best place to start is what time you get the mail. Only pick up your mail if you have time to go through it right then! This will save you from a mail filled table or desk.  As you go through your mail, sort it. Junk mail rip up, and toss in the garbage. The rest sort as needed. There are many tools out there to help with mail sorting. I use 2.  The first thing I use is a 2 drawer filing cabinet.
    I have folders inside for bank statements, taxes, student loans, car insurance, and photos to name a few. These are papers that I need to hold on to usually for a couple years by recommended standards.  The photos are ones we get from friends and family for weddings, birthdays, and Christmas. I don’t want to throw them out, but I also can’t display every picture I ever get. Having a folder for them keeps them safe, and accessable.
    The second item I use is specifically for mail sorting.  I picked it up at a yard sale over the summer, and it has been wonderful to use!
    The top is labeled letters, then bills, then misc. I personally use the top for coupons, stamps, and outgoing mail. I put all our bills in the middle pocket, and go through them each month. The bottom is my misc. mail that I need to still sort and file into the filing cabinet (things end up here usually when I get the mail at a time that I don’t have time to go through it).
    Bills: The next big thing. The papers no one wants to talk about, or see. The problem is we all have them, and they aren’t going to go away no matter how many times we click our heels.  One great way to minimize the bill papers is to go paperless. The majority of companies have a paperless option, where you do all your bill pay online. You get your statements through emails, and never have to see another paper. I do most of my bills this way, but there are some that I still like to have in hand to go through. With this being our first home, I really like to get our mortgage statement in the mail. I pay it online, but having it hand to see, and remind me that I’m a grown up is kind of cool (yeah go ahead, call me weird).  As I get all my bills, I place them in the mail holder. At the beginning of each month I go through them. I throw out the bills from the previous month, and then pay all the bills for the new month. I still hold onto those bills to the end of the month though. That way in case anything happens to a check in the mail, or an online payment isn’t processed, I can look at the actual paper to make sure things are lining up. 
    Coupons: I personally don’t use a whole lot of coupons. I’ve tried but the cost to get them, hasn’t made up the difference for me, of what they save. There are a few staples that I do pull out and try to use. Like I mentioned before, I put most of my coupons in the top of my mail sorter. There are a few that I keep in a basket by the door though, so I can grab them on my way to the store. More coupon savvy people will use binders. Here’s some great sites if you’re into couponing or looking to start couponing. They can help you organize your coupons much better than I can.
    Klippin Krazy is the first that comes to my mind. She has a Newbie Know How, and a daily coupon contact.
    Coupon Frenzy Mom also has a coupons 101 guide, a page devoted to freebies, and drug store, grocery, and retail coupons!
    School Papers: You pick up your kid from school, get home, and they  proceed to empty their backpack showing you everything they did that day.  There’s artwork, stories, and report cards. Each day there is a new paper to add to their pile. You love it all, and are so proud of their hardwork, but you start to feel buried. The fridge is filled to the brim, and even if you wanted to buy more magnets, there’s no place left for another picture.
    What do you do? You need a box. A shoe box could work, but eventually you may need a larger bin. As your child goes through their papers, help them decide what you should keep and what you should toss. All things keep, but in the box. Then, at the end of the school year, go through the whole box. They may not remember a lot of the papers in there, and if that’s the case, toss them. There will be a few more special pieces though, that you and they will want to hold on to. I call this a Special box. I had one growing up, and it still contains some very precious things to me. Throughout the years as my life has continued to change, I still go through it, and toss some things, and add others that have more meaning to who I’ve become. 
    Christmas Cards: We all get them, though they are starting to get more sparse. I like to recycle mine. After displaying the ones I get each year, I put them in a box. The next year, I pull them out and reuse. Some I make into gift tags, others I just cut off the front of the card and use it as it’s own card.  Here’s a fun way I found to display the cards each year.
    I hope these tips will help you as you try to live paper clutter free!  I’m linking up to