September 3, 2010

It’s hard to believe its September already…where did summer run off to? The weather is changing, kids are starting school again, and yes it’s time to start thinking about the holidays (ahhh!).  Ok now that I have completely stressed you out, let me offer some encouragement. The start of a new school year brings new opportunities. Now is the time to get a system set up to help you keep track of the paperwork that comes with school. 

I home school my kids, I will be homeschooling two this year, which is a bit overwhelming when I think about it in a broad sense.  I have to keep track of everyone’s work, make sure they are progressing and keep a toddler busy and out of their way. With no help from Mr. TV…he’s a distraction. So I sat down and thought about how I’m going to accomplish all of this, and honestly my head hurt! I know there are a lot of families that face the same dilemma and have no problem at all. Me, I start to panic just thinking about how the whole thing will work.

This year I set up one of those plastic drawer sets, you can buy them at Target. It has three drawers, just perfect for my kids. It’s not very big it fits easily under my computer desk, so it’s out of the way, which is another plus. Each child has their own drawer, and all of their things for school go in their drawer, nothing else! We all know how other things can get crammed in there when we are in a hurry to clean up. Resist the urge! My kids also think it’s neat that they have their own drawer.

So once again, let me encourage you, you can do it! Even if you just pick one thing you want to keep organized this year, do it and stick to it! Let me throw this question out there: Homeschoolers or not, what is the hardest thing to keep organized during the school year?

September 2, 2010

Fall is my favorite time of year. I love that the holidays are just around the corner, the cooler weather and the blanket of colorful leaves on my lawn. Oh, let’s be honest -the best part of fall, is the fact my 4 kids will be out of the house for 6 hours a day!

In my constant quest to be organized, I found some items and ideas to ease the transition into the new season.

Lego Create a Watch~

Help your kids stay on schedule with this colorful time piece 

Kid’s can create their own band including length. Amazon.com , $20.00

Groove Pencils – aid children in getting a better grip on their writing utensils, $10 dixonusa.com

Back Packs – should not weigh more than 15% of your child’s body weight. They must be worn on both shoulders, to prevent injury and don’t buy one for him to “grow in to”. LL. Bean has this great pack called the Deluxe Book Bag for $39.95

Here are some new ideas for some old things you may have around the house

1.) Old Socks – Place an empty jar into an old, colorful sock. Tuck excess fabric inside the jar and fill with pencils, pens, etc…

2.) In and Out Boxes for kid’s school papers

Make space on a wall, counter or even inside a kitchen cabinet for two “in boxes”. Label one “In” and one “Out”.

Kids place permission slips, etc into “in box”, after school. Come morning, they can grab signed permission slips and anything else that needs to get back to school from the white “out box”.

3.) Large Hooks

Lastly, install a hook near your child’s workstation, for her to hang her backpack. That way, all assignments are within reach when she’s doing her homework.

August 24, 2010

We’ve had A problem in our house for a while.  My husband likes to have framed pictures on the wall, and yet does not know how to hang them.  I have screws in the wall and some of the frame are precariously perched on top of the screw.  Not only does it leave huge holes in the wall, the pictures tend to fall.  As evidenced by this picture, sometimes they fall hard.  The glass in the frame broke, the baseboard got worked, and it’s going to cost us a bit of money to fix both. 

A little while ago I was contacted by 3M and asked if I wanted to check out some of their new adhesive products.  I said of course, cause who could use some more organizational products!  I received in the mail a huge box full of products! 

My husband who we’ll call “the Organized Dad” because he’s very seriously WAY more organized than I am, decided that he didn’t like our “bucket o’ controllers” and make quick work of all the products.  He placed the bucket on the wall for the various cables, used the set of 4 hooks for the Wii remotes and hung individual hooks for each of the Wii wheels.  He also used hooks for the Xbox and PS3 remotes, and then for the Guitar Hero guitars he used the picture hanging strips. 

The hooks were very easy to install.  You place the velcro type strips to the back of the hook, and place it on the wall.  Once you press and hold the plastic down for 30 seconds and then give it an hour to “set” it can hold a LOT!  After he was done organizing all of our game systems, my desk got an overhaul as well. 

 I took my headset and placed a hook on my wall to keep that in a handy and convenient location.  Then I placed the picture hanging strips on the back of an expanding file folder and placed all of my folders inside for bills, receipts, cards, etc in there.  I love that I have everything I need within arms reach. 

And what about all those frames that were falling off of our walls?  They are now using the Command products and haven’t even budged, even when the dog and kids are running into the walls.  The really great thing is that when we want to change the way the wall is set up, removing the adhesive is even easier than installing it.  You pull the tab at the bottom down and it comes off the wall quickly and cleanly!  I may even be able to put my Spackle away for a very long time! 

If you want to get things off the ground and out of drawers, these products are a great alternative, and a great way to get organized!

*Disclosure – 3M gave me a package of their various products to facilitate my review.  The images though are of how we actually used the products, and we couldn’t be happier about the setup!

June 25, 2010

Today I’m headed up to EVO conference in Park City, UT.  It should be so much fun, so I’m going to keep this post brief and to the point.  My BlogHer sponsor KitchenMonki.comsent me 12 bags.  I decided that I wanted to fill the bags with stuff from my favoritest brands.  I contacted them, and they were MORE than generous to me. 

First, obviously is the bag.  I really love their monki logo, and the bag is sturdy and will be able to hold a lot.  It already can hold my 16″ laptop!

Next we have an iGo Power station (you can check out my review of the larger version on my tech blog)

Then I’ve got a coffee mug and USB drive from Bosch Appliances!  Have you checked out the Tassimo?

Moving on to the next brand Don Aslett’s Cleaning Store.  You should already know how much I pink puffy heart Don Aslett!  The awesome people at the Cleaning Store gave me the book “How to Handle 1,000 Things At Once“, a Microfiber cleaning cloth and of course the catalog so you can order all of his fantastic cleaning products!  One of the things I love the most about the Don Aslett products is that they work amazingly well, and are SOOOOOOOOO cheap!  (although when I end up spending about $100 at the store cause I just have to have EVERYTHING it doesn’t feel as cheap anymore, but really I get a lot for it)

Dell was also extremely generous to me.  They gave me some OPI Nail Polish and lotion.  Now what is a computer company giving me nail polish for, you ask??  Well, did you know that you can buy a laptop or netbook with an OPI design that matches an OPI color!  You can match your laptop to your nails!  Talk about stylin!  They gave me their latest catalogs for their main consumer lines and one for the Alienware line.  They also gave me a Dell branded Poken. 

Microsoft Hohm gave me a 1 GB branded USB key. 

Last but most certainly not least the wonderful lady behind the Healthy Meals for Healthy Kids blog, Amy (AKA My sister), gave me her Healthy Habits Plate to put in each bag. 

So, the bottom line?  You WANT this bag!  There are only 12 though, so hopefully you can find me at the EVO Conference and request a bag, and all of these items can be YOURS!  Or you can just go to their websites and buy their products… same thing, right?

May 31, 2010

I saw a commercial recently that completely caught my attention, and here is why…

My sister, the queen of healthy meals , did a science experiment when she was in the 5th grade.  She is much older than that now, so you can see what kind of impact it had on her.  Her teacher had all the students touch a petrie dish with their hands.  Then they went and washed their hands, and touched the petrie dish again.  They were trying to see how much bacteria is on your hands before and after the hand washing.  Shockingly they found that there was MORE bacteria on their hands AFTER they washed them!  They had to think about it for a while, and finally figured out that it was because of the towel they were drying their hands with (the one hanging up in the bathroom).  So now, she washes her bathroom towels every single day.  What a PAIN!  There is a new solution, that will actually help cut down water usage in her household, and it’s Kleenex Hand Towels.

I was given a few boxes of Kleenex Hand Towels to try out, and I of course sent one over to my sister’s house.  She just happens to live about 2 blocks away.  We immediately put her kids to work washing their hands…

They had so much fun learning the song that my nephew also decided to make a video about Kleenex Hand Towels saving the world…

The towels are soft and very absorbant. My hands actually get dry much more quickly since using them. I have also been using them as I clean the bathroom. Whereas before I would use regular paper towels while cleaning my bathroom. I like the fact that it fits where a normal towel would go, but I have towel “rings” in my bathrooms. I wish they made one that would fit better in those. I just have to keep them on the counter instead.

I had already wanted to try them out when I saw the commercial, so when I was approached to work on this project, I immediately said yes. Long ago Kleenex replaced the hankercheif (with its nasty, crusty snot), and I have a feeling they’ve hit on the next revolution in hygiene, and that’s their new hand towels. Go check them out today! If you want to check out the Hand Drying Song too you can download the mp3 and lyrics at http://www.kleenex.com/HandTowels/handdryingsong.aspx. This site also has some great information about the towels themselves too.

Here’s the GREAT news!!! You’ll have a chance to win a $50 gift card from Service Master, a fantastic all-purpose cleaning and house service company. Whether it’s used towards a Merry Maids cleaning service so your bathroom is clean, tidy and ready for a fresh box of Kleenex Hand Towels or towards a lawn care service (summer is just around the corner!), you can experience a clean, fresh home! Simply comment on this post in order to be entered to win! It’s that easy! Good Luck! (Entries will close at 9 PM on Sunday, June 6th.)

*Disclosure – Kleenex provided me a few boxes to facilitate the review of their product, and I’m participating in this campaign with The Motherhood. All thoughts and opinions on the product itself are my own, and I was not told what to say about it.