Intentional Simplification (When Our Basement Threw Up)

Into our garage.

There is a house being built on the lot next to ours now. When we open our garage door, the people working there can see in. I'm pretty sure they think we belong on the Hoarders show.

Do you also notice the lack of photos associated with this post?! Intentional.

The November weekend before Hubby had surgery, he emptied our unfinished basement onto the driveway. He was going to paint the basement floor to minimize the dust (concrete or drywall). Everything had pounds of dust all over it and it needed dusted off before it got put into the garage.

That Saturday while everything was on the driveway it started to sprinkle rain, so stuff quickly got placed in the garage. Stacked, crammed, and filled up. It wasn't pretty. (Guess who's been cleaning off the dust.)

That Sunday he used the shop vac to remove as much dust as possible from the basement before mopping the rest, then painting the floor.

Now comes the job of putting everything back in the basement.

Except we aren't.

I was so proud of myself when I went through memorabilia and reorganized it. But I had a revelation a few days ago and Hubby was on board. The trophies and plaques, why do they need to take up two Sterilite boxes and the space that needs? We are never going to display them. Why are we going to leave them for our kids to go through someday when we aren't here anymore? That's just silly.

So they are in the trash for next Monday.

We are also getting rid of stuff. Extra toys and things that are just taking up space. Ebay has been our friend as has Salvation Army.

I've seen several people picking a word for the year. I'm not sure I could pick one. But I've seen intentional and simplify.

I'm calling this intentional simplification.

I'll show pictures when I'm done, a vehicle fits in the garage properly, and the basement is properly organized.

I'm at least halfway there.

Freezer Cooking Tip — Marinated Chicken

I've been using the marinades I found over at Life as Mom for quick and easy bulk freezer meals. I actually quick thaw them in a large bowl of cold water an hour or so before I want Hubby to grill them.

I make a lot of them at one time. I will make two bags of two marinades, or two bags of three marinades, so I have a lot of bags with chicken happening all at one time.

I put them in a bowl to keep them contained, but I have found that if I put the chicken in first, rather than putting the marinade in first, the bag stands up better. Then it's easier to get my measuring implements inside the top of the bag without messy spills down the sides. I don't like that.


I break the rules and write in Sharpie on my bag after I'm done too.

If It's Not Working, You Can Change It

I reorganized my laundry room and the walk-in closet directly off of my laundry room last year right before Labor Day. You can click here to check it out if you'd like.

The biggest change was adding a white folding table as a folding surface for clothes.

I thought it was a brilliant idea and it would be so helpful for me.

It became a surface for stuff and took up valuable space. I was tripping over the laundry baskets that we use to sort the clothes that need to be washed, plus I'd rather watch a few minutes of tv in my bedroom while I'm folding towels rather than stare at a wall.

So I moved out the table and moved the three laundry baskets over in place of it. I still hang the clothes up as I take them out of the dryer on the rods. You can tell they need to be taken upstairs right now.

Clothes that need folded so they don't get wrinkled do get folded straight out of the dryer, but I just do it over by the dryer. The table wasn't worth it.

It's been this way for about a month and it's working much better.

Take Command

I love the Command Picture Hanging Strips. I love them so much that I've already blabbed about how I've used them here, here, and here.

There are two strips that attach to each other with a plastic velcro-like material. One of them sticks to your picture (or whatever) and the other one sticks to the wall (or whatever). I tend to have more whatevers than walls.

Here's my latest whatever:

I got these cute little pictures at JoAnn's super inexpensive around Valentine's Day. A key word there is little. They are too small to hang just anywhere, and hanging them from that wire would be a little dorky. Believe me, I held them up around different places in an imaginary way and tried.

Some little light bulb (or camera flash) went off in my brain one day when I was walking by our game cabinet. I thought they might be cute hanging on the side instead of having to look at it all plain every time we came down the stairs.

Of course I immediately thought of my handy dandy Command strips. I used the smallest ones for these. I usually adhere the whole strip put together on the back of the pictures (or whatever) first and then peel the backing off of the part that goes on the wall (or whatever) and just press it on. Then I don't have to try to match stuff up. It's already on there.

Here is a side view:

We played the "What's Different" game with the top of the cabinet once. I don't know if I mentioned that before, but I don't think I did. It happened on a small group night when I was dusting and I decided to change it. The only thing that was originally there is the house. You'd think the tree might be obvious, but I even had to tell Hubby where to look. Oh, well.

WFMW — Storing Decorative Flags

I used to fold up my decorative flags and store them in a plastic shoebox size Sterilite/Rubbermaid container (neatly of course, after laundering them when they came in the house from a long outdoor spell and hanging them to dry).

That worked while I had a few. Now I have many. While I lived in Virginia I started storing them in the front coat closet. I hang multiple ones together on a hanger that you get when you buy pants or a skirt from the store (like Kohl's or Penney's or a place like that).

The small garden size flags hang nicely just as they are. I store the larger ones this way too, they just require a couple of careful folds.

I fold them in half one way, and then in half again the other way. They end up being about the size of a garden flag. I hang them with the unfolded ends at the top. That way the hanger won't put a hard wrinkle where it's folded and the hanger clips on. The folded edges are all hanging loosely at the bottom.

I use about four hangers all together for quite a few flags. They can hang in any closet out of the way until you need them. Works for me!

For more Works-For-Me-Wednesday, visit Kristen at We Are THAT Family.

WFMW — Pillowcases That Fit

Hubby and I both have a special pillow for our necks. They are the memory foam, a strange shape (ours aren't even the same shape!), and regular pillowcases don't fit.

Since we have a king-sized bed, when we buy a sheet set it will include king-sized pillowcases. They are both too long and too wide. But we do use those pillowcases because we usually have our arms thrown over a pillow, which is king-sized, both because of proportion for the bed and because we had the pillowcases that fit.

If I want to buy a nice high-quality pillowcase (at a good price), Marshall's only sells pillowcases in a set of two in either a king-size or standard size.

Standard size is smaller than queen and not long enough. Even if they had queen, they would be too wide.

So the other day at Marshall's I purchased a set of two 600 thread count white pillowcases for $9.99 in the king size. My intent was to make them fit our two pillows.

Here is one of the king-sized pillowcases haphazardly thrown across my pillow before I started so you can see how long it is.

First I put the pillow in the pillowcase to get an idea how much I wanted off the ends and sides. I didn't cut anything off, I just sewed a new seam first along the bottom.

Then I cut off the almost 8 inches of extra fabric and used the closest stitch I had to serging along the edge. I did not do any hemming since I did not do any cutting to start.

Then I did the same thing for the side. It wasn't 8 inches though. It was only about 4 inches.

Here they are on the bed. You almost can't tell they are weird-shaped pillows.

Mine is even bigger at the bottom than the top.

When I pull out the polka-dot flannel next winter (from the first picture), I'm going to do the same thing to them. We've just been tucking the end and side underneath all year. I finally realized there had to be something better, and it was so easy!

For more WFMW, visit Kristen at We Are THAT Family.

WFMW — Slow Cooker Liners

A few weeks ago my mom sent me a slow cooker liner in the mail and said I needed to try it.

It felt like one of those bags you use in the oven for your turkey at Thanksgiving.

I think it's my kids' new best friend. Clean-up is such a snap!

All that brown burnish gunk that would normal have to be scrubbed off the crock pot now is on the liner that just gets thrown in the trash.

You just pull it down over the crock pot. You don't tuck it in or anything.

Simple!

That's what works for me, and my kids!

Check out what works for others at We Are THAT Family.

WFMW — Scheduling Deep Cleaning and Organization

I seem to be getting hung up in my house, not being able to get any one room cleaned and organized properly for going on to another. Same with an organization project or any project in general.

One of the best things about being a military family was moving around. Not necessarily leaving friends behind, but the actual moving process. It made you go through your things. You actually had to physically touch everything you owned every time you moved.

As long as you weren't someone who left boxes unopened from one move to the next, which we typically were not.

Now that we don't plan on moving again, I know that it's important to go through our things regularly. I always did to some degree about once a year because we would have a yard sale, I would really try to weed things out before we would move, and when I would open boxes from a move I would wonder why we ever decided it was okay to move some things.

And I was always amazed at the amount of dust and dirt that could accumulate behind a piece of stationary furniture.

I think having a plan to deep clean every room in my house throughout the year would satisfy several issues.

• By spreading it out over the year it doesn't seem like such an unmanageable task.
• I can weed out all the things that we no longer use or need.
• I can deep clean each room at least once each year.
• I can see if organizing the room differently would be of some benefit.

I've come up with a rough plan for one year, from February to next January. It includes the room and then in some cases additional organization. A couple of times there are not actually rooms but organization projects. Those fall around the Christmas holiday, are Christmas related, and I think it would be difficult for many of us to find time to add deep cleaning in to our holiday time schedules. It's going to be hard enough for me to do the organization projects I planned!

• February — Family Room/Den/Rec Room/FROG/Bonus Room/Basement...You might have one or more of these. I know I do. You could save one for a month when you know you won't have much, or just do one this year and one next February. For my basement, I have Christmas decorations, but I'm not touching them until later in the year since they are in one area. I'll just do everything else.
• March — Children's or Guest Closets and Dresser Drawers (Clothing)
• April — This one is a bit of a hodge-podge...Coat Closet/Mud Room/Launching Area, Laundry Room or Area, Bathrooms to include Linen Closets and/or Bathroom Cabinet Storage.
• May — Master Closet
• June — Garage
• July — Master Bedroom
• August — Living Room, Dining Room, or School Room
• September — Kitchen, to include Pantry, Cabinets, and Drawers
• October — Children's or Guest Rooms (good time to go through toys before the holidays)
• November — Christmas Decorations...this one isn't a room, but when I get out my decorations I'm going to seriously go through them and get rid of things I don't use anymore that just take up space in my basement.
• December — Another non-room...get my Christmas card list organized once and for all, streamline my address book at the same time, and figure out what to do with not only the new Christmas cards and pictures I receive but also all the old ones I've hung on to.
• January 2011 — Office/Loft Area/Scrapbooking or Craft Area

I have found that I tend to excel at things when I have accountability and not so much when I don't, so I thought others might be interested in doing this along with me. If you are, leave me a comment so I can get an idea how many people might be. I could put up a Mr. Linky at the end of every month and everyone could put up before and after pictures if they have them. If I get enough interest to do it and put up the Mr. Linky I'll even try to have a little random giveaway with it every month.

Since I know this list is specific and everyone might not have every exact room or feel like doing the one(s) listed that month, there could be some switching around and it wouldn't bother me. I just do better with lists and goals and specifics.

And I don't even want to think about working in my garage in Michigan until at least June!

This post is linked to Works For Me Wednesday at We Are THAT Family.

Coupon Binder Categories

I had a request for the coupon divider categories I used for my coupon binder.

Because I learned to share nice when I was little, here they are! In alphabetical order, of course.

Baking/Staples
Beverages
Bread & Bakery
Breakfast
Canned Goods
Condiments, Dressings & Spices
Cookies, Crackers & Chips
Dairy
Dessert Mixes
Frozen Foods
Health & Medicine
Household Cleaning & Maintenance
Laundry
Meat
Paper & Plastic
Pasta & Quick Meals
Personal Hygiene
Produce
Snacks

This is the labelmaker I use. I've had it for close to 10 years. Love it!

I use the plastic refills and not the paper. They are more expensive but more durable, and depending on what you've labeled, they remove more easily.

I have to use the smallest type for these labels, and for the longer ones I had to use the double-line feature.

Within the Personal Hygiene category I have things broken down further by baseball card sleeve, but it would have been entirely too cumbersome and OCD to have these sections in their own tabbed area. I have lots of toothpaste and toothbrush coupons, so I keep those all together, but they don't necessarily warrant their own section. Same for lotions, or deodorants, or shampoos.

I have 11 (yes, eleven) card sleeves in the Personal Hygiene section alone. I think three is the most in any other section, and most have one or two. I am going to use some of those write-on post-it tabs and put them on the sides of the sleeves in that section so I can find the areas within it faster.

I think I hit on everything, but if you come up with a specific question about this post, I will answer it in the comments so everyone can see it.

The Evolution of my Coupon Organization

I love neat, tidy organization, especially when it works.

I shared last August about The Couponizer. I loved it then, and I still love it, but I've outgrown it. It definitely got me back into using my coupons and getting the most from them. I've probably used them more effectively than I ever have since I purchased it.

One of my biggest problems that developed over time was that I have too many coupons for some sections. The other is that when I'm in the store and see something on sale and know that I have a coupon for it, I have to take all the coupons from that section out of the pocket and flip through them. It's too easy to drop one or more, or all, of them while I'm trying to do that without a surface in front of me. I'd also prefer not to be flipping through them repeatedly in the middle of the store, which is what was happening. (For some reason, sometimes the grocery ad comes in the paper or in the weekly mail flyer, and sometimes it doesn't. When it doesn't, I can't always make a comprehensive list and go through my coupons before I get to the store.)

So what did I do? I used a one-inch D-ring binder, baseball card sleeves, tabbed dividers, and my trusty labelmaker. I already had the binder, tabbed dividers, and trusty labelmaker. I did need to buy the baseball card sleeves, which is hard to believe in my house. Although if there had been any I'd have been hard pressed to get them out of Buddy's hands if he'd known what I was doing with them.

Because the day when Hubby got home from work after I started working on this binder, Buddy told him, "I need baseball card sleeves and Mom's using them for coupons."

In my defense, I purchased them for myself, not him. (Two packs of 30 each at Target. I think they were $4.99 each.)

I haven't used all of them yet. I categorized with similar categories to those found in The Couponizer, but I did add a few extra based on what works for me.

There are still five extra tabs in back in case I decide to add a section. Unfortunately (unless of course I redo every tab), they would no longer be alphabetical if I do that.

That could be an issue, but we'll deal with it when it happens.

Each baseball card sleeve has nine slots. Some coupons have to be folded a little, but most will fit. The internet-printed coupons are taller, so I try to put something in the slot above it so I can see the picture and know what it is. This is a sample from the 'beverage' category.

Of course I've been working on this post for a week or so, and now there might be an expired coupon smiling you right in the face. I use them or take them out regularly.

The only problem that immediately came to light with this system was when I went to the store and was pulling coupons out that I wanted to use for that trip. I didn't have a good pocket to put them in. Yes, there is that clear pocket at the front of the binder, but it's tight. Not easy to access. So I needed a better plan for when I was in the middle of the store and wanted to tuck a coupon I planned to use at checkout time.

My answer: the page protector. I love them almost as much as my labelmaker. Almost.

I stuck a coupon inside so you could see what I did. I cut down the front of the page protector and left the back fully intact. I thought I might need to use some of the clear packing tape so it didn't tear, but I tugged on it and I think it's good and sturdy on it's own.

I trimmed the front down a little more than halfway. Again, the back of the page protector is still fully intact. And if I need to add tape later on the sides I can.

I keep a long envelope in that front inside pocket of the binder (you could see it two pictures up) for my CVS ECBs and coupons. I write on the outside of the envelope what I plan to buy, if I have a coupon, and what ECBs I expect to get on the purchase. As I go through the ad, I pull out the coupons I plan to use and tuck them in the envelope along with any ECBs I have. I always check my ECBs at the end of my receipt against what I've written on the envelope before I leave the store or drive away. Every so often I have to have them fix something, and it's certainly easier to have it done immediately.

I've been using this binder for about three weeks now and it's definitely working well. Better since I put that page protector in the front. Best of all, it saves me money.

These are some of my favorite places if you aren't familiar with them:
Moms Need To Know
Money Saving Mom
Centsable Momma
i heart cvs
Coupon Mom
Meijer Mealbox (if you shop at Meijer's, there are store coupons you can print and stack with manufacturer's coupons — just click 'specials' in the box and it will take you to the coupons that are available)

See this post for the Coupon Divider Categories.

This post is linked to Works For Me Wednesday hosted by Kristen at We Are THAT Family.

WFMW — Your pastry cutter isn't just for cutting pastry

When I have recipes that call for crushing things in bags, I usually end up breaking the bag open before I'm done crushing what's in it.

So one day I got smart.

I put whatever I need to crush in a bowl. I usually use glass because then it doesn't get scratched up (one of my clear plastic ones did before I realized it from some tortilla chips I was crushing). Here are some Corn Chex I was using in a recipe.

And that is my trick pictured with it — a pastry cutter!

Just crush to your heart's content until whatever you're crushing is how you need it.

I've done tortilla chips, crackers, cereal (corn flakes and now this)...the list is pretty much endless.

It works for me!

Check out Works-For-Me-Wednesday at We Are THAT Family.

WFMW — Control That Gift Wrap!

Have you seen all those cute pictures where people have their gift wrap stored in some kind of bucket, urn, or umbrella stand on the floor? The gift wrap always looks so cute and sits perfectly in its container. How?

Because even when I've had one of those stand-up wrapping paper storage containers and I've had a roll of gift wrap that's had the plastic removed, that gift wrap has a mind of it's own. It unrolls, regardless of whether or not I put some type of rubber band or extra ponytail holder from my girls around it. Even if I put them up and down. The paper just tears. Then it wouldn't look so pretty in one of those containers anyway, which would sort of defeat that purpose.

So until I have a bazillion dollars and a beautiful gift wrap station with room for hanging gift wrap, I have a zip-up bag that holds even the long rolls of gift wrap.

But I still have to deal with those partially used rolls of wrap, so they don't get torn up and drive me batty. It's the little things.

Just take an empty roll, or slip out the roll from the middle of the one you are using (when you're all finished with your wrapping), and cut the roll all the way down in as straight a line as possible. You may have done better in kindergarten than I did. I spent a lot of my time at the talking table. Seriously. There were six chairs, and Sammy J. was the only other person I remember who spent time with me there. That was getting close to 40 years ago, so I've slept too much since then to remember much more than that.

But I digress.

Put your roll of wrapping paper inside the now cut up cardboard tube, and it will stay nice until you need it again. The tubes aren't really made with firm cardboard, so they're easy to manipulate.

They will not get unrolled and all torn up this way, if your wrapping paper defies the laws of gravity or the proper behavior of wrapping paper. Because I still don't know how people show that wrapping paper in those decorative containers and it isn't the slightest bit unrolled. Completely befuddled!

You just won't want to display them in a container if you do this. Because cardboard isn't pretty.

This post is linked to Works For Me Wednesday at We Are THAT Family.

Padded Hangers — Handmade Gifts

Have someone on your list that is hard to buy for? has everything?

Are padded hangers just too pricey? Do they take up too much unnecessary room in your closet?

Do you like to make gifts for people? quick ones at that!

Well here you go!


You'll need a sturdy metal hanger and some leftover yarn. You can buy some new yarn if you want, but leftover works just fine. You can also use the metal dry cleaner hangers if you have some and they aren't the flimsy ones, but we have some inexpensive metal hangers we purchased at Wal-Mart in a package of 10 or 12 that are sturdy. You just don't want them to be the flimsy kind. You want them to have some substance, kind of like the difference between delicate china and sturdy stoneware.

I only had to use one of these leftover balls, and I still didn't have to use all of it.


Tie a knot at the top to start, and then tie a second knot. When you are tying the second knot, wrap the yarn through twice instead of just once before you tighten it. That makes the knot stronger. I'll be showing you pictures at the end when I finish off the hanger what I mean.


Start with the yarn over the hanger forming a loop above it.


Take your ball of yarn under the hanger and bring it through your loop.

Gently pull your yarn and tighten it around the hanger.

Pull your yarn until it's tight and the knot is at the top of the hanger. Don't pull too tightly, especially if you have a woven yarn like I was using, or you'll break it.

Now you're ready to do it again. Make your loop above the hanger and put your ball in the middle.

Bring the ball under and through.

Tighten.

This is after 10 knots.

Here's where I broke my yarn from pulling too tight.

I tied the yarn on and started back up.

You'll need to push it together every so often as you go along, otherwise it will be too loose and you'll have gaps when you finish. The big old knot you see is where I tied the yarn pieces together, but I kind of rolled it under and made it disappear when I was finished.

Here is the end. I cut the yarn so I could tie it to my original piece I left from the original knot.

Then I tied two knots, and I'm going to show you how to tie it once, but just know I did it again.

Get ready to tie it like you begin to tie a shoelace.

Tie the longer one over and through the shorter one, but don't tighten it yet.

Now wrap it through (or around if you will) one more time.

Now tighten it.

Do it one more time for good measure, cut off your excess string, and you're done.

Think of all the pretty colors you could make, or all the festive hangers, or you could even color-coordinate with your clothes.

Just don't ask me what I do.

This post is linked to I Am Blissfully Domestic.