Money Matters

My husband and I are trying to save a few bucks to do some renovations on the house next year.  So we have saved all our receipts from the last two months and sat down with them to see where we are bleeding money.

Our first problem is the weekend.  We spend too much money up north because I forget things and then have to run in to town to pick them up, which inevitably end up with a run to Tim Horton's. Bad bad bad.

Our second problem is last minute trips to the grocery store.  If I call my husband on his way home from work and ask him to pick up something, he will inevitably end up with a whole bunch of stuff we don't need.  That's what I get for sending a hungry man to pick up lettuce.  I take full responsibility.  "They" always say not to shop hungry.

Lessons learned.

So what does this mean to us?  How will we avoid these pit falls?

It all comes down to my lists.  I basically stopped writing lists.  I'm not sure why I thought I could organize things with out lists.  I've never been able to do it.  Ever.  I'm not even sure why I stopped writing lists.  I think I just got lazy.

So I had to think of a way that I can get back to lists that isn't as time consuming. 

My solution?

Lamination.

What's that?  What does lamination have to do with making lists and staying organized?

Well, I'd be happy to tell you.

Every time we go up north, I bring the same stuff up.  I think that is one of the reasons why I stopped writing lists.  I mean, how hard can it be to remember the same stuff each weekend?  Hard apparently, because two weekends ago we had to drive to the next nearest town to go to Walmart and pick up a baby monitor because I forgot to pack ours.  $30 down the tubes (I know that we can technically take it back but we decided to keep it up there so I didn't have to keep on packing our home unit).

Because everything is the same each week, I made a master list, laminated it and put a piece of velcro on it and a dry erase pen.  Now I have the same list each week, can check everything off and always have a dry erase marker handy (theoretically anyway, as I've already misplaced two because I walk with the marker in my hand and the list on the table.  Maybe I need to stick a piece of velcro to myself...)

This works for me.  No time needed to write up a list each week and I end up packing everything we need.

The grocery list wasn't as easy.

I have set meals each week for six weeks, but sometimes I already have the ingredients on hand, so one master list would be way too large.

My other problem is we shop at three stores within the month.  We have our weekly trips to the grocery store and corner market, and a trip to Costco once every two weeks.  I had tried separate sheets for each list, but I always ended up misplacing them or forgetting them at home.

So what I have done is stuck a magnet pad on our fridge, split the page so that the bottom part is for the groceries and the top is the growing Costco list.  That way I have the Costco list always there and not on a separate paper to lose, and I can just tear the weekly grocery list off when I need it.

There is one other part.  I need a post-it stuck to inside of our front door so that I remember to actually take the list when I go shopping.  Sad, I know, but true.

All this organization has done nothing for my scatterbrainedness (I know, not a word...)

Cheers!
Marina

Ten Minute Tidy

I think I have mastered the art of a ten minute tidy. 

Now, please know that the ten minute tidy is not a clean up, just a tidy.  Putting things back in place.  There is no vacuum, there is no dusting, there is no mop.  This is strictly picking up the odds and ends that exploded around the house throughout the morning/afternoon/day.

There are only three steps to the process.  Our main floor has three main rooms, living, dining and kitchen, and I do all three steps for each room.

1. Collect everything off the floor, couch, table, chairs, where ever there is stuff piled or dropped, pick it up and put it all in one central location.  Quickly divide all the stuff up in to like piles and then go put the contents where they belong.  This helps the process go faster because you aren't running from one place to the next back to the first and across to the next.  One direction per pile. 

2. Fluff couch cushions, push in chairs, straighten rugs or tables that have shifted.

3. Wipe down tables or counters.

Presto! A clean living space.

Once you become really good at it, you should be able to do it in under ten.  I can do the three main rooms in eight minutes at the end of the day.  If I do it a few times a day I get it done in under five because there is less stuff to move around each time. 

Try it out!  I find it really makes a difference in how the house feels each day when the clutter is dealt with and put away. 

Cheers!
Marina

Updates

I've got a lot of things going on so I thought I would update in this entry.

1. My resolutions are so far going ok.  I spent the remainder of September making sure to do at least 15 minutes of exercise in each day.  We also started walking with the family each day after dinner until just before bed time.  The kids have really enjoyed this and it really makes those sometimes long hours between dinner and bedtime go so much faster.
Next up for October (I can NOT believe October is knocking on our door already!), I'm tracking all my exercise on a calendar.  My goal is to do 20 minutes four days a week, with one session of resistance training.  And we will continue our nightly walks.

I have been cooking pretty much every night, except when we are up north.  We don't have a kitchen up there so we are at the mercy of mother nature.  There have been a few weekends that it has been pouring rain so we have gone in to town to grab a bite.  But otherwise, I've been cooking each and every night and am LOVING it.

2. A few days ago I was on my soapbox about how you should always do things that you love to do, no matter the circumstances.  I challenged my readers to pick something they want to do, used to do or enjoy doing but don't have the time anymore, and just do it.
Here is what I have been doing.
My  monkey man and I have been baking once a week, some times twice.  I love to bake, he loves to bake, yet I'm always putting it off.  My little guy is in seventh heaven.  He is even learning some pre-math skills to boot while following recipes.
This is what he made today: 

Sugar cookies decorated to. the. MAX.  Go big or go home people.  It's all about the presentation.

I have also started a project that I've been putting off since my little man's first Christmas.  Every year I tell him a story that involves Gilbert, a mouse who lives in the woods.  Through the years, he has asked to hear these stories over again at night time, so I wanted to make a book for him with the stories in them.  But I can't draw to save my life, so I've been putting it off.
I recently started needlework again and came up with the idea to create each picture with a collage of different materials and have Gilbert out of felt with some needlework for detail.  So this is what I have started as my challenge.  I'll continue to update as I make the actual collages.

Here is Gilbert.  He has no face yet, but he will.
 

3.  The kids toys are slowly getting organized.  I'll be truthful and say I haven't done anything since the last picture update.  I'm at a stand still because I'm waiting for some shelves to be brought up for the basement.  Good thing I'm not holding my breath. 

4. The year long challenge for sweet organization: I'll be tackling the shed next.  I'm scared.  It is a jungle in there.

I think that is everything I need to update. I'm going to try and update once a month or so, just to stay accountable.

In other news, I discovered a nifty way of keeping all those decorating sprinkles for making a mess of everything.
Line a muffin tin with muffin liners,


and when you are done you can just lift the liners out, bend them a bit and pour the sprinkles right back in to their container!

I know.  Smart.  I try.

Cheers!

Some cleaning and household tips

Here are some things I have learned or discovered along the way so far.

1. If you have a carpet that is well walked on and you have problems getting all the fluff and fur off, vacuum diagonally instead of back and forth. This causes the fibers to be pulled in a direction they aren't typically and loosens those stubborn fluffs.

2. When cleaning your bathtub or shower, do it after you have showered. The steam loosens all the dirt and you shouldn't have to scrub (well, unless it has been a long time).

3. GreenWorks cleaning products by Clorox work really well. I have used the all purpose cleaner, the bathroom cleaner and the dish soap and all have done a really good job. I really like the fact that it has almost a non-scent, very light and goes away so quickly.

4. Have to clean your ceiling fan? Get two damp clothes. Put one on the blade closest to the light and use the other to push the dirt toward it. This keeps all the dust from falling off the front and because the cloth is damp, all the crud sticks. I have tried this with the damp cloth sitting at the tip of the blade and pulled everything away from the light but for some reason the dirt still falls of the edges. It think it might have something to do with the fact that we only use the fans in the summer, so they only ever turn in one direction? I don't know, but I do know that it works.

5. Use milk and bread tags to label the many wires that accumulate behind your entertainment system and computer desk. I can thank Martha for this idea :)

6. Baking soda and soda water lift fresh spills off carpet instantly. OxyClean powder with soda water does it even faster. Some people call soda water club soda.

7. Magic Eraser by Mr Clean takes off paint. You may not be able to see it in normal lighting, but when the sun shines across the wall, you can see where you used the Magic. Vim, on the other hand, because it has no abrasives, works just as well without the ghost evidence.

8. The bozo who decided that not all Crayola markers will be made washable should be shot. The "Original" ones, that don't say washable on the box, are really original. I come from a place that never knew a non-washable crayola marker, therefor didn't think to look for the washable logo. Fool me once, shame on me... Not a fun lesson to learn.

The grand unveiling of my office will be on Thursday!! I am super proud of this one. There should be another post between now and then though, so maybe I'll give you a sneak peak :)