A Simpler Life In 2010 . . .

Sometimes Wednesday rolls around and I have to chuckle at the very thought of blogging about a simpler life.  My life falls squarely under the heading of CRAZY right now.  There is nothing simple about it.  The house is in complete disaray due to remodeling, reshuffling and general untidiness, the husband is out of town for five days, the kids have 13 commitments between now and when he returns {dumb baseball!}, I'm supposed to be exercising and eating healthy each day, my sleep is disturbingly disturbed, the infant is cutting another tooth, it's rainy, then cold, then foggy, then hot, and on and on and on.

But there are still a few things I am grateful for that make even tiny moment of the craziness seem more calm and simplified and so today I impart some of that sweet peace on you.

Every year in April and October, our church has its General Conference.  It is a great opportunity for me to recharge my spirit with inspiring guidance and messages from church leaders.  It is also a time for us to do three important things in our house: 

1.  Shine dad's shoes.  As you can see, he rounds up all his shoes - no small task - then picks a boy and they head out to the front porch to polish wingtips and discuss life, sports, girls and all that other father/son type of stuff.

2.  Check the batteries in the smoke detectors.  The kids love hearing the alarms go off and we love putting new 9V batteries in so we don't have the random beeping of a detector keeping us up at night somewhere down the road.

3.  Update our 72 Hour Kits - We go to the basement storage room, get down all the backpacks, eat the food items (granola bars, oatmeal packets, crackers & cheese packs, etc) and replenish them, check to make sure that back-up clothes still fit the kids, change the size of diapers to fit our growing baby and double check to make sure we have everything we might need in case of an emergency.

By marking these things on our to do list for Conference Weekend, we know we've always got a date and don't have to worry about forgetting to do these little things that are important.  Just think - if the emergency was a fire, our working detectors would warn us, we could grab the 72 Hour Kits and escape the house with my Hubby in perfectly shined shoes!

What about you?  Do you have a date with household must-dos?

A Simpler Life In 2010 . . .

{image via Google images}

I have spent the day trying to wrap my brain around a way to simplify packing for our five day trip. No matter how I try, I am still face with six people's worth of stuff.  And the crazy part is that the infant child - he who is as tall as my shin bone - has more stuff than all of us combined.  I may or may not be taking as much luggage as you see in this picture.

Add in piano practice, baseball practice, quizzing for three tests, laundry folding, dinner prep, gift making, a dog bite, a school bully, a bulging tooth, a headachy mom and what do you get?

An unorganized 'organizer' blogging late at night and thinking in the back of her brain that it would sure be easier to just leave the kids and run off with the cute Hubby for five days.  Oh wait, we're doing that in October.

I'll get my act together folks.  It just might not be until I get back.

A Simpler Life In 2010 . . .

Have you ever found yourself in one of these scenarios:

You drop a child off for a playdate at someone's house and the mom asks for your phone number in case there's an emergency. Suddenly you're digging in your purse for a receipt or torn scrap of paper so you can quickly write the digits in illegible chicken scratch.

Or you're at the park and your child becomes instant besties with another child. You and the other mom exchange pleasantries and the hope for a future meeting of the wee ones. She tells you her email address, which you promptly forget.

Or you're volunteering at the school and the teacher asks for your contact information for future reference. You spout various numbers and addresses to her, wishing you already had it all in one place.

Insert me into each of these situations, looking or feeling like that mom who needs to get her act together. I decided that in order to take my job as Chief Operating Officer of my home and family more seriously, I should have a proper business card. Being a mom is my business. It's what I do every day, day in and day out.

So I made myself some mommy calling cards. On each card {over a lovely image of a dragonfly, of course} are the bare essentials for contacting me: my name, my children's names, my email address and home/cell phone numbers.

Now when we make a new friend, I can reach into my wallet and give the mom my card and say, "Give us a call sometime!" It's just a little something that makes me feel together. And it's made my life a little less crazy {aka: simpler}.

I hope you'll join me tomorrow. I've been working on a fun March giveaway that will put some Spring in your step.

A Simpler Life In 2010 . . .

While the Queen was out of town I had my dad over for dinner a few times.  During a Tuesday visit I told him that if he came back on Sunday I'd feed him Pot Roast.  He wondered aloud how I knew we'd be having Pot Roast. I winked at him and uttered the words of my future predicting secret weapon, "I plan my menus ahead of time, Dad."

Menu planning really is one of the great life simplifiers. I'm sure you already know this.  I hope you already do this.  It will save you money.  It will decrease your stress level when dinner prep time rolls around. And I believe it makes for healthier meal times for families.

Once a week, usually on the night before I grocery shop, I sit down and make a plan.  I aim for five good meals in a week.  Why five instead of seven?  It's because I know my limits.  Cooking five decent meals in one week is what I'm capable of before I scream, "I hate cooking!  I never want to step foot  in this kitchen again!"

On the other two nights I allow for a night of leftovers and one night out. A night out for our family usually involves a burrito joint called Moe's or a run to PeiWei.  Nothing fancy, just not me cooking.  I recognize that one night out a week isn't in everyone's budget, so adjust to fit your family's situation.

When I sit down to plan a menu, I usually have three things handy: my cookbook, my computer and my Hubby.  I always take his requests, since he is the judge of all things delicious and remembers dishes I haven't cooked in a while.  I like to check out some of my favorite food blogs for easy new recipes.  And I turn to the cookbook for tried and true favorites.

With these things on hand, I plan a five day menu and then make my grocery list from the recipes I'll be using.  By doing this, I only buy ingredients I need during my grocery trips.  It also prevents those last minute trips to the store to pick up dinner.  You know, the trips that end with you at the check-out stand paying for a cart full of stuff you didn't intend to buy.  As I'm planning my next week's menu, I'll take a peek in the fridge to see if I have any leftover ingredients I could use in a future dish.

As you can see from the menu above, we eat simply around here. I'm no gourmet chef.  I have a picky eater.  I have a baby to feed on the side.  And I have a ravenous Hubby. I try to include a fruit and veggie with EVERY meal.  If it's not listed on the menu, I slice up apples or pears or wash some grapes.  Fresh produce can be expensive, so I substitute unsweetened applesauce or peaches from the can frequently.

Though it's not on this week's menu, we also have a brinner {breakfast/dinner} pretty much once every other week. It's a quick, easy dinner that makes everyone {even my picky child} happy. And believe me, I am all about happiness around the dinner table.  It is one of only two times a day when we all get to be together.

The best part of menu planning for me is the removal of stress come 4:00 when I start thinking about dinner.  I already know what  we're having.  I already know I have the ingredients.  All I have left to do is get my tush in the kitchen and make it happen.

So tell me, readers, do you menu plan?  Got any great tips to help us out?

ps.  We did not have Pot Roast on Sunday with my dad.  I was sick the night before and morning of, so we adjusted the plans.  Luckily, I had all the ingredients for another meal on hand.  Remember to be FLEXIBLE!  The menu plan does not have to be set in stone.

 

A Simpler Life in 2010

 

Welcome to my junk drawer. Contrary to what you might think, I did not clean it for this picture.  It always looks like this because I am an anal retentive, obsessively organized, type A control freak. And I love my junk drawer.  Bizarre?  Yes.  But it is a good demonstration of one of my favorite simplification principles {say it with me}:

A place for everything, and everything in its place! 

Wait, isn't that a preschool mantra? Or a toy room mantra?  Or a mantra we, as adults, drill into the heads of our children from the tender age when they start coming to us with whiny voices saying, "Mom, I can't find my {insert five billion important kid items here}!" 

But somewhere along the way, we seem to forget that this principle totally applies to adults and all our stuff, too. This forgetfulness leads to frustration and confusion and bouts of wondering if we have early onset Alzheimer's because we can't find that one thing we know we just saw the other day . . . somewhere.

 Which is why I love my junk drawer.  I know exactly where staples, rubber bands, superglue, tape, nail clippers, spare shoelaces, chapstick, tiny little eyeglass screwdrivers, highlighters, dental floss, allen wrenches, tape measures, hole punches, thumbtacks, paperclips, clothespins, needle and thread, paint deck, and ruler are at any given moment.  Better yet, they aren't all just thrown in the drawer to comingle and become one tangled mess of junk draweriness.  They've each got a little place within the place to sit, ready for finding by me, my Hubby and our kiddoes.

Now imagine the junk drawer on a greater scale.  Apply it to your winterwear, your closet,  your kitchen cupboards, your games, DVDss and CDs.  Give everything a SPECIFIC place to reside.  Put it there after EACH and EVERY use.  And you will ALWAYS know where to find it.

And that, my friends, is a happy, happy thing.

I'm off to recharge my pantry, which does not look like my junk drawer. It looks more like a bomb exploded in it, leaving a trail of cereal crumbs, chocolate chips and flour dust in its wake.  There is always room for improvement.

A Simpler Life In 2010 . . .

I used to be the kind of mom who lovingly got up an extra 15 to 20 minutes early to pack delicious, nutritious lunches for my children. But I'm not that mom anymore. Now I am sleep deprived from getting up with an infant at night. And now I realize that the morning rush is crazy enough without lunch packing. And now I've learned that my kids are actually more likely to eat their lunches if they pack them themselves. So, here's how I made my {and our} life simpler:

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I made packing lunches part of the kids' getting ready for bed routine.  They do it, too, because if they don't,  lunch is just a peanut butter sandwich.  Gag.

*

I created a formula for packing lunches.  It's so easy even my little First Grader RedDog  can do it.  It goes like this:

1. Get out your lunchbox, which you dutifully put in the cupboard when you came home from school.
2. Open up the lunch drawer {which also happens to be the tupperware drawer}.
3. Get a drink, a snack, a cookie, an applesauce or some chips.
4.  Go to the fridge and get some carrots or cucumbers or cherry tomatoes or apples or oranges or grapes or a string cheese or a yogurt.
5. Make yourself a sandwich or get your thermos ready for mom to fill with leftovers in the morhning.
6. Have mom or dad check to see that you have a fruit, a veggie, a drink, a sandwich, a dairy item and some good ol' fashioned processed junk in your lunch.  If it passes inspection, close it up and put it in the fridge.

The new way of lunch packing has been a great tidechanger in our house.  I don't get complaints about yucky lunches anymore.  If the kids don't finish their lunch at school, they have it for their after school snack.  We're not rushing last minute to throw lunches together in the morning.  Butterflies and birds are flying around our kitchen and all is at peace and harmony.  Okay, maybe no butterflies, but at least the kids and I don't dread lunches anymore.

What's your school lunch trick?

Edited to add:  I used to let my kids buy the school lunch a few times a week.  Then I went to lunch with them one day and smelled it, watched kids throwing over 75% of it in the trash, saw many kids opting for the yogurt and a bagel option, and realized we could do better.

A Simpler Life In 2010 . . .

This is the post that will leave you thinking one of two things.  Either, "Wow! She's super organized!" or "Wow! She's an anal retentive, type A, control freak!" And so, here we go.

I've received some emails and comments about the difficulty of controlling paper clutter in the home.  I believe it is the NUMBER ONE clutter problem in most homes. Paper tends to pile up on every available horizontal surface until it almost seems hopeless to even try to go through it. But it is possible to get it under control and you've got to start somewhere, so I've got a suggestion today for your family's contact information and school documents. 

It's no secret I love binders.  And sleeve protectors.  And dividers. And tabs.  Gosh, I pretty much have a little crush on anything from an office supply store.  I could do an entire post on just that topic because I am a total geek. But binders really are an organized person's true friend.  They hold paper.  Betcha didn't know that. 

I've got a whole shelf full of binders in my kitchen, all keeping me sane and somewhat organized.  Today I want to introduce you to three of them.  First is our family phone book.  It corrals the following: {images blurred to protect the innocent}

A printed copy of our computerized address list, mailing lables and stamps so I can address envelopes all in one fell swoop.

A contact sheet for the Hubby's family and my family that includes birthdays, emails, phone numbers and addresses.

Our church congregation phone list, which is used on a daily basis.

And in plastic pocket dividers, the following: 

Local business information and cards.

Emergency contact information for our various family doctors.

and take out menus for our favorite local restaurants.

We use our family phonebook binder EVERY SINGLE DAY! I love knowing exactly where these various rosters, cards, addresses and numbers are located.

The other two binders are for the two schools the kids attend. Big C's Middle School Binder has his schedule on the outer cover so I can reach him if there's ever an emergency.

Inside are divided sections. The first is for the school handbook.

Next is a section for Big C's classes.  I put each teacher's class rules and expectations in sleeve protectors after C and I went over them and highlighted the important things to remember like attendance, homework and grading policies.

The last section of his binder is for calendar information.

The elementary school binder is just a bit different.  I have a divided section for both Hannie B and RedDog's classes with a class roster and other class information.  I have the school handbook and a calendar section.  And in the front divider I have preprinted notes to send to school which I can fill in with any of the following: excuses abscence reasons, early dismissal reasons, appointment information, bus information, lunch information, etc. This way I can just check a box and write a few words instead of having to hand write an entire note.

I add things to the school binders throughout the year only if the information is pertinent and permanent - meaning VERY IMPORTANT.  All other administrative papers that come home from school are read immediately, acted upon, marked on the main family calendar if necessary and then THROWN INTO THE RECYCLING BIN.  {It is helpful to note that both schools have excellent websites that contain much of the information that comes home anyway.}

So my primary rule for paper clutter is to start learning what is essential to keep and what can be tossed.  Then TOSS IT!

At the end of the school year, I gut these binders down to the essentials and ready them for the next year.

Tell me dear readers, what's your relationship with paper like?  Love or hate?  Got any good tips? Please share.

Come back tomorrow for three levels of Chocolate Chip Cookies . . . you won't want to miss it.

Better Late?

Yesterday was a tough day for my little Ollie.  Today will be no different.  Bulging teeth, refusing to surface for solace.  But for now he is sleeping, so I have time to play catch up.  Let's get to simplifying!

Do you have a shoe problem at your house?  If you're like us, with five shoe-wearing, shoe-loving {ahem, Hubby} family members, you may end up with upwards of seventy pairs of shoes floating around.  That's a lot of shoes for one house!  There's nothing like tripping over a pair of sneakers on the way down the dark basement stairs, or stumbling over an errant loafter while navigating the halls at night to reach a crying baby.  Seriously - Pet Peeve!

At our house, there are only two places the shoes can go:  in the closet of the rightful owner, or in the shoe basket.  The shoe basket sits right inside the front door. My kids, like little robots, automatically remove their shoes whenever they come into the house. From school.  From a friend's house.  From anywhere. 

This little system simplifies my life in several ways:  First, it prevents dirty, wet shoes from soiling the new carpet.  Or old carpet.  Or any carpet.  Which means less vacuuming for me.  Second, I never have to hear the whiny words, "I can't find my shoes!".  On the rare occasion those words do surface, I cheerfully answer, "Check your closet or the shoe basket." Third, my children are so used to removing their shoes upon entering the house, they typically do this at other's houses as well.  And our little friends who come over to play know where to put their shoes when they come in, which pretty much eliminates the missing shoe syndrome when it's time for them to go.

Once a week it is the job of RedDog to lug the shoe basket upstairs and deliver matched pairs to each of our doorways.  It is a perfect job for a little, newer chore doer. 

We have our seventy pairs of shoes completely under control here, thank you very much!  So what about you, dear readers?  Do you live in shoe chaos?  Or do you have a system that keeps your booties in check?  I'd love to hear.

ps.  This photo taught me two things:  My dining room NEEDS a rug.  And the wall behind the shoe basket NEEDS to be repainted!

A Simpler Life In 2010 . . .

One of my goals for the New Year {and strangely, EVERY year} is to simplify my life. I'm always looking for ways to make my day to day operations as CEO of the home more efficient and less stressful so I can put more energy and time into What Matters Most. For the next little while I am going to be sharing some of my tried and true simplifying ideas with you on Wednesdays. I'm also going to be sharing new ideas as I implement them and I'll let you know if I think they are worth keeping. Of course I'm looking to you readers to offer up some of your favorite simplifying ideas as well.

First up is my quick and easy solution for the dreaded afterschool snack rush. Because I'm the Meanest Mom On The Planet/A Total Control Freak, I don't let my kids raid the pantry to get whatever they want {which would be total and complete JUNK}. Instead, I am always willing to cut up a piece of fresh fruit or offer them a string cheese.

Inevitably, however, these choices become ho-hum to them because they aren't "snacky" enough {Ooh, I think I just made up the word "snacky" - nice}. To combat the whining, I always have three things on hand: goldfish, whole wheat pretzels and peanuts in the shell. They are always visible and easily within reach of little hands. When a fresh-from-school face begins to frown at the mention of fruit, I simply say, "Then get yourself a bowl of snacks."

I buy all these snacks in bulk at Costco and replenish when the jars are almost empty.  This makes our afterschool routine much smoother.  The kids are always aware of their options and we don't end up having a struggle.

Do you have an afterschool snack simplifying idea? Sound off.

ps.  On Fridays I try to make some cookies or go all crazy and let them have good ol' greasy chips or nasty fruit snacks.  Yeah, I pretty much rock {but only on Fridays}.

pps.  I think I might have to wash those jars after looking at these pictures.  Nah-stay.

ppps. January giveaway ends tomorrow at 5 pm EST!