3rd Challenge: Entry Way

I apologize everyone, I thought this was posted & it didn't go through. I love technology. So yesterday our Challenge was to clean and declutter our Entryway. The reasons we do this is because it makes your house look welcoming, it also kind of sets the "tone" if your Entryway had shoes laying all over the place and book bags... people are more then likely going to think "sloppy or messy" I do.

Some people have a "shoe rack" at their entryway for people to place their shoes. We do not, you can do whatever works best for you. Our rule is if they aren't on your feet, then they should be in your closet. We're still working on getting them from our feet to the closet, but we remind each other and I am convinced this is going to get better. When it is muddy or raining they go in the garage :).

Now on to how I make ours work for us:

For starters the biggest thing is our entryway table. I couldn't live w/o this anymore. On the top we have a little dish, that Kiley made in art we decided to place that on the top and make that our "key dish". I use to lose my keys ALL the time. This has really cut down on that happening. The drawer is where I put coupons to give to other friends that clip coupons, that way they are out of the way and I know where they are! The bottom shelf on the right is where the kids library books go. We go to the library every week and this prevents the library books from getting mixed up with our personal books. The other 1/2 of the bottom shelf is where I put things that need to "go" somewhere. For instance in this picture there is a Girl Scout book, I need to give back to one of the mom's when she comes over and also a CD that I need to take up to our church. So when I go that way, I can grab it! I also have things I save for family or things people leave here. You can see my dad's eyeglass case, well there it is, when he is back here or I am there he can get it. There is also a coupon for my mom's cat Ella for Cat Food! Plus all those Pampered Chef catalogs for my friend Pam, because I no longer need them!

You can also see my pretty flowers, from Melissa's wedding on Saturday. They still smell wonderful.

Next to the table there is a crock, my Grandma gave it to me, it sat there and had no real purpose so I decided to make that the spot our newspapers go. If they are wet, they can go in there still and it doesn't hurt anything or drip water all over my clean floor.

The rug is there for looks and to prevent again... water from getting all over my clean floors. :)

I will post my pictures from my entryway, I hope you all will email me your before & after pictures. You can email them to me at hanff06@centurytel.net I will post all the mom's pictures and if you don't want to send them in that is fine too. You can still do the challenge.

I will post another one for today, later on when I am finished working.

Budget OR Bust

So we officially have out budget made out throught July. We're learning this all in our Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University class. It's tought to make a budget, you think you have everything on there but I know something else will come up. Dave says it takes about 3 months to get a good budget down, if that holds true for us we should have a good one in place by the beginning on November! Seems that is a long way off however... I know it will be here before we know it. We're also going to a "cash" system as of Friday. The way this will work is we will take cash out of my checks/his checks and then keep that cash in a sorter for coupons. We will then have each tab labeled and know what the cash in each individual spot is for. So we have $150 for groceries once it is gone... it is gone. This has me nervous but I can tell that during this will actually save us a lot of money. You don't have the moolah you can't buy it.

I will keep everyone posted on how we are doing on our FPU journey. No challenges the rest of the week, I am preparing for my girlfriend Melissa's wedding and I have lots I need to personally get done. Not to mention homework for class and getting a few of our other "forms" for class figured out.

One other thing we have to do is a "Debt Snowball" this works when you take your lowest bill pay it off and then you put that monthly payment towards the next, so you can get things paid of much faster! I can't wait to put down eveything we owe and then everything we can pay off. I am excited to see that happen.

Keep everyone posted, if your behind in the challenges work on those the rest of the week and I will get a new challenge up soon....

Kristen

How DO you declutter

So I apologize. I figured everyone had done this before, finding out that is not the case. So let's start at the beginning! You have to look at the severity of your case, if you have already done a huge declutter on your own (I have) you won't need to do this every single time. However, if you have never decluttered... I recommend you follow the directions below.

1) Your going to need three boxes or three laundry baskets

2) Your going to mark the first basket "donate" these are things you no longer need & want to donate. I suggest that as soon as you are done with the room take it put it in your car and donate it the next time you are out, otherwise you will leave it there, and you will decide later on you may really need that can opened your Aunt Betsy got you that you don't know how to work & have never used. You won't... get rid of it! Your going to mark the second one "trash" this is all going to go STRAIGHT into the trash can as soon as you are finished with the room you are in. Lastly your going to mark the other one "return" this may be an item you borrowed from someone, or an item that is just in the wrong room... for instance: your cleaning the kitchen and find a Polly Pocket, just throw it in that basket... don't run off to place it where it goes, otherwise you will get sidetracked. Trust me... been there done that!

3) Each item, ask yourself "When did I last use this?"
Never~ out it goes!
Within the last year~ Out! unless it is a holiday item, and in that case go get yourself some colored totes and store the stuff!
Within a month~you have found yourself a potential keeper! You need to decide where that item goes thou, in that room you are in & if it doesn't then stick it in that "return" sorter and we can deal with that later on.
Yesterday~Hold on to it.

If you absolutly can not stand to part with your stuff, like someone is ripping it from your hands, stick all of it in a box and label it "whatever room you are in declutter" seal it and stick it in your attic. Leave it there for 6 months, write it on your calendar so you don't forget. If you then live w/o the items in there for 6 months.... take it and donate it. You don't need it. All it is, is stuff! Clutter causing you chaos. Do not open the box or just take a peek otherwise you will start this whole process over again.

So hopefully this will give you some motivation to work on these challenges... those of you who were FREAKING out!

Let me know if this helps at all.
We will go back to our challenges tomorrow.

Other momma's completing the challenge!!

This is her before picture!!! (Sorry I am still learning how to do this!)

I got my first set of pictures back today, from Jen!

This is what Jen said:

ok i did your challange for the pourch!! i threw out the trash that always accumulates in front of my door, the big box of old shoes i threw out (cause you had me go through stuff lol) cleaned out the ash tray, finished putting up the decorations, swept the floor, then scrubbed it with soap and water, then rinsed it, then put up the new doormat i bought yesterday!!! woohoo you inspire me girl! you need to do more 15 minuet projects, like every day lol casue i still havent started the car one....maybe later??? nah takes too long maybe tomorrow! LOL love ya and thanks so much for atarting this site!!

Jen also sent me one before shot, and then three after shots. Jen you did awesome girl. I think the after pictures make your home look very inviting and isn't that the point?

FPU (Financial Peace University) DAve Ramsey Class

This weekend's challenge.... if you have kids consider a commison for them!

We started taking the Dave Ramsey Course, last week. One thing they are teaching us is about how people relate to money differently. We have never given Kiley an allowance, in the sense that she gets a set amount every week. I think that I pick up around the house w/o getting paid & I feel like she should as well. It's not just MY house and I don't make all the messes. So about a year ago we gave her some "chores" that were her "chores" and she didn't get paid for those, they were just expected of her. However we would give her "odd jobs" like: Picking up dog-poo, mopping ect... and we would time her, she would get paid .10 a minute for those jobs. I didn't make this up, this was on a Suze Orman show. Great idea, but super complicated and we weren't sure how to teach her to save her money & if she saved how much she should save.

Well, on to today, this new Dave Ramsey class were taking suggests that up until they are 12 they use the "Three Envelope System" (Save, Spend, Give,). It also suggest coming up with 5 chores that they must do every single day, and if they do them every single day then they would be $5 a week. Simple set amount. If they don't do the chore/chores they don't get paid again super simple concept! So... we decided this would be the way to go with her.

We started by picking 5 chores: Feeding/Giving Water To Lily (her cat), Cleaning cat's litter, Putting her laundry away, Picking up her room/bathroom, and lastly an "odd job" this one meaning she will come to me or her dad daily & ask us for some kind of an odd job to do, something we could use help doing. We originally had homework on the list but took it off because I think SHE should want good grades & because she already gets money for her report cards from other family members.

We still have about an hour every Saturday morning when we all (whole family) pitches in and cleans up the house (vaccuming, dusting, changing sheets ect) but as far as Kiley goes I think her new chore schedule will work well for her & she will get paid.

So what do they do with the money? He had 3 envelopes for his kids one labeled: Give, One labeled Save, One labeled Spend. He said they would put $1 in giving and then $2 in Saving & Spending.

I think this will again be a very easy technique for her to follow & I am hoping she will learn important lessons from this, and she won't have the problems we have had and so many others have had from money.

People have asked me what we do on Saturday Morning (our house cleaning list) here it is:

Everyone has to empty their hampers into the laundry sorter in the laundry room
New sheets on everyones bed
Vaccuum Living Room & Kitchen & Entryway
Vaccuum all bedrooms
Empty all trash cans
Clean toilest (in & out)
Clean tubs & showers (when you get in the habit of doing this there will be less soap scum)
Clean out fridge
Clean off stove
Clean out microwave
Wash pet's dishes
Clean out PUR pitcher
Vaccum and wipe up bathroom floors
Wash off counters
Vaccum in & around crates

Have a great weekend...

I hear you!

Ok I was told that I need to post pictures, so I will do that. From here on out I will TRY to remember to post a before & after shot!

This is my front porch after, however... the girls frew all over it with chalk SO it had to be sprayed off again. Anywho... you get the point. I disabled the sign in on the comments so please leave me comments there, anything & everything.

If you all want to post before & after pictures email them to me at hanff06@centurytel.net and I will be sure to include them in the blog so others can see how great you are doing to!!

It's a challenge, #2 so get to it!! :)

-Kristen

2nd Challenge~Front Porch

So today we're going to "declutter" our front porch. This should be a fairly quick project, unless you store everything there!!

We finished ours here is what we had to do:

I took everything OFF the porch, which wasn't much & then I swept and rinsed it off. After it dried, which happened fairly quick because of all of this heat we have right now. I cleaned off our "Welcome Mat" and placed it back, I also then took care of our potted flower hanging outside by the porch, and rearranged the "pots" they have nothing in them. However I tend to eventually pot some flowers in them. I also have a wreath (one for every season & holiday) that my momma made me. So we place those up, kind of changes up the look just a bit. You can also wipe the windows & door down and get rid of any spider/cobwebs that make be hanging around.

That pretty much took care of our front porch.
Let me know how you all are doing!

Cleaning out the cruiser

I have an SUV, it is a good thing too because we have lots of "stuff" hopefully after this whole declutter process we will have less "stuff". This morning the kids and I were in a funk, so I told them we were going to clean out the car, and whoever helped would receive a reward. This made the job so much easier. I literally opened each door, the back and the glove compartments and I just went through everything in there. As I pulled stuff out I just told each kid where to put it, to be delt with later.... now, had these things been going in rooms I had already decluttered I would have been more specific (put this in my middle drawer versus lay this on my bed). We had it done in less then 20 minutes and I didn't clean the car, I just took everything out.

Some helpful tips I do:
I keep dum-dums in the center counsel so if my two year old gets fussy, I have a snack right there to hold him over. I keep tissues in the car and wipes may sound odd but you never know when you will have a snotty nose or a blow out diaper and imagine that you forgot the diaper bag. It's happened to us! I also keep a card game in the glove compartment for theose every lasting long drives, it is like a seek and find game. I also keep those Hi-C powders you dump in a bottle of water. You can dump them in a bottle of water, and most kids will drink it with out complaining. We also have a Ziplock bag filled with first aid stuff, and all the important papers for the car are in there too, organized of course. I also keep my insurance card (one copy) there in case I don't have my wallet for some unknown reason, again...it's happened to me! Lastly we have another grove compartment (hard to explain) but in there I keep our maps and also any coupons that would be used while we are out and about (Wendy's, free pretzel, shoes, restraunts, ect...) because before that, it would never fail we would be out and about be at the mall have a coupon for a free pretzel but it was at home of course... and then we would buy one. Wasted money.... :) I keep all of my reusable shopping bags in the tail end of the SUV, they are always there then when I need them.

Do you have any helpful tips for in the car, I think I covered all of mine.
Let me know when you get your car decluttered!!

Who's up for the challenge?

We have decided to have a Garage Sale, so what a perfect way to start by decluttering and getting rid of everything we don't need! We're going to start tomorrow. I will add some ideas I had to "declutter/organize" as we go and I will try to post before & after pictures. I wonder if you all can do that too?? That would be fun! I don't know that we will be able to do a new room/challenge every week but we shall see what happens.

These are the areas of my house I will be doing, pretty much everything BUT the basement because it is still "under construction"...
Car
Porch
Entryway
Living Room
Kitchen
Pantry
Stockpile Pantry
Hall Closet
Coat Closet
Hall Bath (kids)
Hall Closet (linens/medicine)
Evan's Room
Desk
Our Room
Our Bathroom
Our Closet
Kiley's Room
Laundry Room

I think that sums up everything. I may wait on posting pictures till we get the basement done & I can get everything situated nicely. We will see what happens. Who's in with me?

Great Items: Econo-Mommy

So this week alone, I have gotten some wonderful finds off of econo-mommy.
#1: I am part of a box (traveling box) and we each take items out that we can use and replace them with items we can't. I got some amazing things. I didn't make a list, but off the top of my head I got: Crest Spinbrush, Infused homemade wash cloth and chocolate covered spoons! Then I received a "send" this is a random act of kindness basically. This momma (jen) filled it with items I could use for Evan's birthday cake and some clothing we were hoping would fit me... however... it didn't. No worries thou, passing it on to another momma that can.

Then today I had done a trade FRB with another momma from this trade alone I received: 3 boxes of finish tabs, Venus razor & two refills, Satin Care shaving cream, Dove body spray, Johnson 24 hour moisturizer, blister (3 tubes), 2 360 toothbrushes, Reach tooth brush, Johnson 24 hour body lotion (2), cupcake holders (2 pkg.), Dove bar soap, Baby lotion (2 bottles), Razor cover, Wet ones, 2 pkg of Mentos, Soy Apple candle (smells so yummy), colgate wisp (2), sponges (2), Olay body quench lotion, Dove facial clensing cloths, Cocoa butter, asprin, Axe shower gel (2), St. Ives spricot scrub, Juicy fruit, Double mint gum, 2 Colgate travel toothpaste, Arm & Hammer toothpaste

No fee. Anyone can join. Check out the site. http://economommy.proboards.com/index.cgi
We would love to have more members. The more members there is the more people to swap with!

-Kristen

Scavenger Hunt

Who said it couldn't be fun to declutter? I am going to send you on a scavenger hunt! I found this on a site, long ago when I first started decluttering our home (about 3 years ago) and it made it fun for Kiley and I to do together. Do it with your husband, or your kids. Make a game of it see who can get more of the items. You can even do it on your own and time yourself. Whatever you find and get are able to trow away for recycle you will have that much LESS junk in your home.
I want everyone who does this to leave me a comment here and tell me how many things you were able to get rid of... I think my family may just do it too!

Are you ready for the list?
1. Old Sunscreen (did you know it actually looses it's ability to work, so your not even protecting yourself or your babies!)
2. Old Crayons (if you really don't want to waste them, put them all together in a box and use them for a melting craft)
3. Out of date medications (I watched a show on Oprah about these, they either don't work at all or they could even hurt you, toss them! Check with your local pharmacy to see the best way to dispose of them for the environment)
4. Dried up pens.
5. Old toothbrushes (you should replace yours every 3 months)
6. Dried up markers
7. Odd socks
8. Old pantyhose
9. Laundry Soap Bottles (recycle)
10.Useless toys from fast food resteraunts (We try not to get kids meals @ all, but if you have to take the toys and give them to non-profit organizations or schools)
11. Old sponges or rags.
12. Empty cool whip or sherbert containers, you know the type. (recycle) you don't need all of those!
13. Worn out shoes
14. Any clothing that is holey and unrepairable
15. Random twist ties (don't worry you will get another one with the next loaf of bread)
16. Sippy cups (if you don't have the lid or don't have the bottom)
17. Old paints you no longer need (Call your local hardware store & find out how to safetly get rid of these for the environment)
18. Empty cereal box in the pantry.
19. Those big plastic cups from fast food resteraunts (recycle)
20. Napkins, straws, ketchup, salt, mustard, pepper from the fast food resteraunts
21. Any address labels from a previous address
22. Dead plants
23. 27 pieces of junk mail (you got it, just look you will be surprised to find you probobly have more then that!)
24. College test books (sell them or put them on www.swaptree.com)
25. Pots or pans you hate (if they have that non-stick coating coming off that is so dangerous to your health! Google it and you will have proof it has been linked to birth defects and to cancer, don't take the chance!)
26. Empty boxes (smash them down and recycle)
27. Christmas Tree (there is a reason behind this one, two of my neighbors have their Christmas trees still laying on the side of their house! One has two... one from this year and one from last year. Yes I am serious!!)
28. Out dated food in your pantry or fridge.
29. Check your freezer, anything freezer burnt or outdated there.... toss!
30. Plastic grocery bags, gather them all up and designate them a place.
31. Computer stuff for ancient computers, that you no longer can use. (you can sell them if you look for a place to do that www.craigslist.com)
32. Old batteries
33. Burned out candles that have no life left.
34. Very old cleaning products (if you haven't used them in this long... you more then likely won't)
35. You have Easter candy still.... get rid of it, donate it to a local food pantry.
36. Find 5 things that are broken... dispose of them.
37. Empty shampoo/conditioner/body wash bottles (recycle)
38. Dried up pieces of soap...well it was a bar of soap at one time.
39. Old Calendars
40. Any tupperware or storage containers you don't have the lids to (recycle)
41. Old make up check out these guidelines: http://cosmetics.suite101.com/article.cfm/makeup_shelf_life
42. Kitchen gadgets you hate!
43. Coffee mug you hate!
44. Cookbooks you hate!
45. Old eyeglasses (ask your eye doctor if they take them, they usually will give them to vetrans)
46. Old lotions
47. CD cases with no cds.
48. Old books (www.swaptree.com)
49. One piece of clothing you no longer fit into.
50. You pick one random item... and I want to know what it was!

Hope to hear from lots of you econo-mommies.

-Kristen

Welcome to my page...it's a work in progress!

So once upon a time I was a “normal mom” who worked a “normal job” outside of our home, however in 2005 I had a change in my job and the decision was made that with our daughter starting Kindergarten that fall I would stay at home and watch children (running a in home daycare). I realized you don’t have the option of choosing how they are parented outside of your care, and about a year into it my former boss contacted me about working from home. I would be making more money then I originally did working for him & I was good at what I did before so I took the opportunity. I quite quickly learned that when you “work from home” there are no boundaries. What I mean by that is when you’re at work you may think about doing the laundry… but you can’t because you are… at work. Well, when you work from home and remember something that needs to be done… you just get up and do it. Well that affected my work plus I was trying to plan a wedding and I knew after we got married we wanted more children. So, I decided that I had to get a system that would keep me organized, get my job done but also make time for my kids & hubby oh and we can’t forget about the housework. Heavens knows we don’t have a maid although on some days I wish we did!

Over the years my schedule has been tweaked here and there and I know it will continue to change because life changes. It changed when our daughter started school and I discovered we had to have a routine for home work and something to prevent her book bag from cluttering the entry way so someone wouldn’t break their neck. It changed after we had complications from my second pregnancy and I wasn’t “allowed” to leave my bed, for well over two months and for the time I was in the hospital trying to keep him from coming early! It changed again after our little guy arrived, and it changed when I increased my work hours and as our daughter got older and could do more for herself. It constantly changes… and that is ok. As long as you have a schedule and a system that works for you that is all that matters.

This is just my thoughts my ideas. I did this because I have heard several times “How do you do it all?” Well I couldn’t do any of it with out the system I have put together for our family it keeps me on track and it has turned into a routine. I will share some of my ideas what are “must do’s” right from the start & later on we will do a challenge and get your house decluttered that is where I started! I was looking around online and found many helpful sights; I took things from all of them to create what worked for me and our family. As you see things I do some may work great for you and others may need some tweaking & that is ok. The point is just to get a system to get rid of clutter, organize your home and waste less time for you so you can spend more time doing what you love to do and with the people you care the most about….

Now I do love to organize and I believe the saying “There is a place for everything ~ and everything in its place” but there is other things I want to talk about on here too. Things I love & sometimes just things I want to share with others! Glad you found my page and I hope you enjoy what you read and learn. Stay tuned!