Make mornings easier

I do a couple of little things to make mornings easier for everyone in my house.  These things also help my husband if I am not around.  One thing I do that leads up to what I will show in this blog is to hang outfits together in the closet.  When I do laundry and hang the clothes, I always hang them as a full complete outfit.  Then if I am not home my husband can go to the closet and get something knowing that it matches.  I am a little crazy and I have a divider.  So after laundry is on hangers I hang everything we have worn behind the divider.  Then only clothes on the other side of the divider are worn until you get to a point where you really need to start over.  This keeps us from over wearing clothes and guarantees we wear everything.  If something isn't worn after a season we can get rid of it knowing we don't like it or it doesn't fit.  Might as well let someone else get some use from it.

Each week I get a full week of clothes ready.  Full outfit, socks, shoes, undies, hairbow and anything else that might be needed.  Then each night we just go over and grab the outfit for the next day.  In the "shoe holder" that I have turned into an outfit organizer I have labeled it by days.  Also, if it is gym day or music day I have added that so I can make sure appropriate clothing is worn that day.  Sunday has two slots.  One for church and another for after church.  On Saturdays Zaylei likes to get her clothes and get dressed so it is best for that one to be low so she can reach it.  This cuts down on morning arguments over what to wear.  It has already been decided.  If I question if anything fits, I try it on when I am putting together the weeks outfits.  It probably takes me 15-20 minutes a week to do this.  Instead of 15-20 minutes every morning and a crying fit.

I keep items in the closet easy to get to as well.  They are organized in catagories easy for a 4 year old and on the bottom shelves.  Some of these things would be in drawers ordinarily but we have these shelves so I decided to utilize them.

Who doesn't love a good foaming soap

I love foaming soap.  But I get tired of paying the higher price for foaming soap when I know it is mostly water.  So I developed my own foaming soap.  Let me tell you....it is EASY AND CHEAP. 

So here it is.  First you need to use up some foaming soap you buy. These happen to be my favorite.

Once they are empty, you can make your own soap.  The absolutely best thing to make soap with is dish washing detergent.  The clear (not creamy....color doesn't matter) seem to make the best soap.  I bought the Hand Renewal last time.  I figured I might as well try to do something nice form my hands.  

Next add about 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch to the bottom of the empty soap bottles.  Then fill the rest of the way with water.  It is very important not to get too much soap.  If you do it will not create foaming soap.  

Notice I didn't fill the water to the top.  This is very important.  The foaming tops are bulky and take up space in the bottle.  If you over fill it will gush out as you put the top on wasting your new foaming soap.  

Now shake.  And there you GO!  Foaming soap.  Very cheap.  I think the Dawn Hand renewal cost me somewhere around $3.00.  I use very little per bottle.  Imagine how many bottles of soap I can make for $3.00.  Foaming soap at Bath and Body is $5.00 per bottle.  Granted, I still buy it on occasion if it is on sale.  Your foamers won't last forever so you have to replace them eventually.  

Enjoy making your own soap in minutes.  The whole process takes maybe 3 minutes. 

Storing extras

Sometimes when I'm out shopping if I see something on sale that we use I will pick it up. I always try to keep one extra of all our toiletries on hand. When you open the last of something we put it on the shopping list instead of waiting until we are out and have no hairspray for the day etc. So I came up with a little bin that simply states "extra supplies" and in the same cabinet are larger bottles of extra supplies. Everyone knows where to go for the extras. Simple but effective.




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Laundry tips

Laundry is a chore we all wish would just take care of itself but unfortunately few of us have live in servants. Here are a few tips to make it slightly less daunting.

Stain treating
DO IT!!! It will save you money in the long run and could make you money. I'm not wearing stained clothes and I doubt you plan to. If you plan to sell your clothes they cannot have stains on them. Children's clothes sell great if they are taken care of.

Greased Lighting is the greatest overall stain treatment. It's cheaper than shout and spray and wash. It takes out grease like no other. For deep stain treating you will require more which I will discuss in a future blog. If you treat your clothes as you sort them you save time as you switch your loads. Keep in mind some clothes shouldn't sit with chemicals on them for extended periods of time so be cautious.

Keep the items you use each week handy and easy to access. You will actually use them that way. Group small stuff in plastic bins to prevent out of control cabinets.




Sorting
Get some collapsable mesh laundry baskets to use for sorting. This keeps your piles neatly sorted and off the floor where they collect more dirt and prevent them from getting stepped on. As you wash a load you fold the basket and store it until your next laundry session.






Hangers
Keep a bin of hangers on your dryer to hang clothes as you take them out of the dryer. This means you don't fold them only to hang them later or throw them in a basket which could lead to wrinkled clothes and the dreaded ironing. Keeping hangers sorted in seperate bins will save time. Cycle your hangers from your closet to laundry room and you will never run out. Have each family member deposit their hangers in the laundry room once a week.






Above picture shows clothes I hang dry and transport straight to the closet when dry and my sorted hangers.

Laundry cart
Greatest $50 I've ever spent. My laundry cart. I use it to bring all the dirty laundry to the laundry room, return it to closets, hold folded laundry and bring groceries (or anything) from the back door to kitchen. It is GREAT!!! I can't give it enough kudos.


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Cool app and blogs

So I found this great new app for my iPhone called blogpress which allows me to blog right from my iPhone with pics and videos. So I'm going to try to blog much more often. I'm going to try to add a cool app of the day. We shall just see how it goes.


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Cool app of the day

Snapture. Make picture better from your iPhone.


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Soo Busy

I have been so busy lately. I am so overwhelmed at work that I am worthless at home. We spent all last weekend switching the kitchen out. Taking mom's stuff out and putting my stuff in. YAY. First step to getting settled. This weekend I am going to put my books on the shelves since Mom packed up the books last weekend. Then I might just put my china cabinet in the dining room and unpack that stuff. I am terrified it is all broken. I only found 4 broken things when I unpacked the kitchen. Not bad I suppose. Mom and Dad plan to move around March 15. It will be total chaos but we will all be so excited to have our own space again.