Living Simply

Ask the Organizer: Tips to Simplify Summer Schedules

by Crystal on May 25, 2012

Earlier this month, I posed the question, What are your biggest challenges with organizing busy summer schedules? And today, I’m excited to read Andrea’s tips to help us simplify and organizer our crazy, busy summer months!

Summer is almost here… and I can’t wait! My husband is a teacher, so it’s no surprise that our summer days are a lot more relaxed than the busy school months. However, even with more time for relaxing, the “lazy days of summer” can often start to feel pretty hectic and disorganized if we don’t have some sort of plan

If you can relate, here are a few ways to get organized and still enjoy your summer.

1. Know your schedule.

Before you even start trying to simplify and organize your summer, you’ll want to take 20 minutes and look through your calendar for June, July, and August.

Are you planning any vacations?
Will you need to take time off work?
Do you have any weddings, anniversaries, birthdays, or baby showers to attend (and buy gifts for)?
Are you planning any home renovation projects that will take up lots of extra time?
Will your kids be going to summer camp, sports camps, music camp, Bible school, etc.?
Will your kids be participating in sports teams or in any sort of group projects?

Your answers to some of these questions will help determine how you spend a good chunk of your summer. And depending on how busy you want to be, you might decide to say no to some activities after looking over your schedule.

2. Decide on a summer routine.

No, I don’t think your summer days should be as structured as the rest of the year, but I can almost guarantee you and your children will be happier if there is some sort of daily/weekly routine you follow during the summer.

We all know that our homes will not magically clean themselves and meals won’t be prepared without some effort on our parts; so try making these events a family affair. Maybe you play inside during the morning, then everyone helps to clean up before lunch, and then you go out and do a fun activity in the afternoon.

Or maybe you can plan your weekly menu as a family and then let each child (age-appropriate, of course) help make the meal one night a week.

Here are a few more ways to implement a loose routine…

If your family loves sleeping in, allow everyone to sleep in five days a week, but then wake up “on time” the other two days. This will allow you get get a little more done on those days without spoiling all the fun.
If your family loves going to the beach, have a “beach day” once a week. You could even make this day a reward for cooperation throughout the rest week!
If you enjoy family BBQ’s or picnics at the park, plan your weekly menu accordingly and try to implement at least one picnic lunch a week.
Allow your children to plan an event one day a week. Of course, you’ll want to help them plan the details, but this will give them something to look forward to, and force them to be creative.

By having some sort of general plan, everyone will be a bit less restless during the long summer days.

3. Plan ahead to avoid boredom.

It’s almost inevitable that your children will get bored at some point during the summer.

To avoid the constant “what can we do now” questions, plan ahead and create a list of things they can do if they get bored. Some examples might be:

Play outside
Read a book
Watch a movie
Play a game with siblings
Ride their bike around the neighborhood
Go on a scavenger hunt and look for ________
Make an obstacle course in your backyard

Try to put at least 20-30 items on your list and you might want to make separate lists for different age children.

Then (this is important so listen up), at the bottom of the list, put “Ask mom if she needs help with anything”. That way, if they complain they’re bored and have already done everything on your list, you can say, “well, you haven’t asked me if I need help with anything, so why don’t you go __________”. Fill in the blank with any number of household chores.

This way, if your kids continue to complain about being bored, you’ll at least get a clean house out of the deal!

4. Keep your vehicle packed.

Even with a general routine to your day, summer is the time for spontaneous beach trips, picnics in the park, or fun outings with friends.

However, if you need to take the time to pack and worry about forgetting something at home, you’ll waste lots of valuable time. Instead, keep your vehicles packed with summer essentials:

Suntan lotion
Sunglasses
Beach towels / beach toys
A cooler (obviously, you’ll have to add ice and food at the last minute)
Extra water bottles
Extra diaper bag — if applicable
Restaurant, fast food, and ice-cream coupons (just in case!)
Park passes
Non-perishable snacks
Stroller or even small bikes

Keeping these essentials ready and waiting will save you lots of time and allow you to literally drop everything and do something fun.

5. Don’t forget yourself.

See if you can swap babysitting services with a friend, relative, or neighbor, hire a house-cleaning service for the summer months, or implement other ideas to make sure you have some margin in your schedule and are not running yourself ragged. It doesn’t have to be expensive, but if you schedule in time for things that energize you, you’ll most definitely be a better parent to your children for the rest of the summer.

What are your tips and suggestions to keep things calm, organized, and simpler this summer?

Andrea Dekker is a wife, mom, blogger, organizer, speaker, and founder of Simple Organized Living. Her goal is to motivate and encourage others to “create their best life” through simplicity and organization.

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“It is more blessed to give than to receive…”

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by Crystal on May 15, 2012

Katie and her sons with all of the birthday donations they collected from friends

I was so blessed and inspired by this email from Katie:

I’ve been a reader of yours for years, and you’ve helped me learn to be content with what I have and who I am. I’ve also learned from you the value of living with less “stuff”. With that, for my recent 29th (golden) birthday, I asked friends and family to donate birthday supplies (instead of buying me “more stuff”) to help with my mission to assemble and donate 29 bags for deserving/needy children in our area. The response was INCREDIBLE and my new goal is to assemble 100 bags this year, and maybe double that next year!

This has been an amazing lesson for my children to watch me give graciously and find joy in helping others.

Thank you for planting the seeds of generosity in my heart. -Katie

For more pictures and details on Katie’s story, check out this news story.

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Ask The Organizer: What are you biggest challenges with organizing busy summer schedules?

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by Crystal on May 8, 2012

Many, many of you have written in or commented in the last few months that you are really struggling with home organization. So I’m excited to let you know that I’ve teamed up with Andrea Dekker from Simple Organized Living to bring you a brand-new monthly feature called called “Ask the Organizer“.

Each month, we’ll feature one organizing question and let you weigh in your thoughts, answers, and opinions. Then later in the month, Andrea will pick one or two of the most popular responses and share her tips, ideas, and suggestions for dealing with those issues!

This month’s question is:

What do you struggle with most when it comes to organizing busy summer schedules?

What are your biggest challenges when it comes to planning family vacations, fun activities, sporting events, holiday get-togethers, etc.?

Leave your answers below and then check back in a couple of weeks for Andrea’s expert organizing advice!

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3 Frugal Mother’s Day Ideas

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by Crystal on May 8, 2012

Jenae from I Can Teach My Child shows you how to make a Mother’s Day Coupon Bouquet.

Thrifty and Thriving has a tutorial for how to make Washer Pendant Necklaces.

And A Thrifty Mom posted details on how to make Mother’s Day Flowers (I think these are so cute!).

Have you posted a frugal Mother’s Day idea or DIY? Submit it here and I might share it over the next few days!

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What To Do When a Gift Becomes Clutter

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by Crystal on May 3, 2012

Guest post from Crystal of Serving Joyfully

But it was a gift.

This simple statement is one of the biggest pitfalls I have when it comes to clutter in my home. I know this might sound ungrateful, but I can’t tell you how many things we’ve been given over the years that are collecting dust or stored in a closet. Most of these items are things that we “couldn’t get rid of” because someone gave it to us.

After seven years of this, the situation reached a breaking point. Here is how I decided to deal with it:

I remind myself that it’s my house and my family has to live here.

I really hate to hurt or offend anyone. However, at the end of the day, this is my family’s home and we need to be comfortable here. For my husband, a big part of a peaceful home is an uncluttered home. I cannot sacrifice a peaceful home for my family at the fear of offending someone.

I assume someone else can get use out of the items.

More than likely, even if you don’t want it or can’t use it, someone else does and can. As I was thinking about this, it occurred to me that if I purchase something, I would prefer for it to be passed on to someone who can use it rather than stuffed away in a closet. At least then, someone will be getting some use out of it. I can only hope that some of my family feels this same way, or can at least see the benefit of it.

I encourage unique gift ideas.

I am a minimalist at heart. My husband is getting there. We don’t need or want a lot of stuff in our home. Because of this, we have tried to put some boundaries in place for our families regarding gift giving — namely limits for grandparents who like to go overboard. We also encourage experience gifts and useful gifts rather than trinkets or toys that will just add clutter to our home.

The bottom line for me is this: If I purchase a gift for someone, I want it to be a benefit to him or her. It might sadden me a bit to know that my choice wasn’t spot on, but it would bother me even more to know that the gift I had purchased for their good was actually causing them stress instead.

How do you deal with gifted items you don’t want or need?

Crystal Brothers is a daughter of the King, wife to a forest ranger, and full-time mommy to two rambunctious little boys. She blogs at Serving Joyfully — a blog dedicated to encouraging and equipping women to serve God and their families.

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If you want something badly enough, you can usually find a way

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by Crystal on April 30, 2012

Two weeks ago, I wrote a post on surviving on a $30 per week grocery budget. Many of you found the post helpful and inspiring. But a handful of people really disliked the post.

In the blogging world, that’s totally to be expected. You can’t please and inspire everyone all the time and I’ve learned and grown a lot as a person and a writer from the constructive criticism I’ve received as a blogger.

However, what I found interesting was that most of the people who didn’t like the post got hung up on the fact that I was suggesting you eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch every day for a week.

The grocery list and menu I shared was meant to serve as an example that you can eat on $30 per week and still set aside a little extra toward your stockpile so that, within a few weeks, you can have more wiggle room and variety in your diet. I wanted to show that it can be done — if you’re willing to get creative and you’re willing to make short-term sacrifices.

Truthfully, Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwiches Are Not All That Bad

While eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches every day for a week might sound outrageous to some, it’s actually not all that bad. In fact, one of the many little things we did to stay out of debt while my husband was in law school was to eat lots and lots of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

We didn’t eat peanut butter and jelly every single day of the year, but choosing to eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on a very regular basis over Subway or Sonic — or even turkey and cheese sandwiches — was a simple thing we could do to help inch us in the direction we were aiming for.

How Motivated Are You to Get Where You Want to Be?

Where do you want to be financially in a year from now? What about five years from now? What simple short-term sacrifices can you make to help you get there?

If eating peanut butter and jelly every other day isn’t your thing, consider what short-term sacrifices might work for your family. When Jessica and her family were working really hard to get out of debt, they set their thermostat up a number of degrees in the summer in order to save money. Jessica was pregnant at the time and I’m not quite sure how she managed, but their family was highly motivated so they made a lot of sacrifices — including sweating out a hot Kansas summer — so that they could get out of debt much more quickly.

When There’s a Will, There’s Usually a Way

If you want to get out of debt, stay out debt, save more, or give more, it’s likely going to mean making some sacrifices — especially in the short-term. You can’t change your financial situation unless you also change the way you’re doing something.

But you have to be willing to change, willing to cut back, willing to give things up, willing to eat less than gourmet meals, or willing to not have the latest and greatest gadget or gizmo. How willing you are to make changes is directly dependent upon how motivated you are to get where you want to go.

If you want something badly enough, you can usually find a way. It won’t always be easy, fun, or glamorous to make short-term sacrifices, but it will be every bit worth it.

What simple, short-term sacrifices is your family making to get where you want to be financially? I’d love to hear!

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6 Easy Ways to be a Semi-Minimalist

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by Crystal on April 27, 2012

Guest post from Rebecca of D&R Tabb

Minimalism as a way of life is intriguing to many of us, but difficult to put into practice. Here are 6 relatively pain-free ways you can introduce yourself to a ‘less is more’ lifestyle.

1. Make getting rid of stuff fun!

In the spirit of Crystal’s 4 Weeks to a More Organized Home series, I did “7 Days of 7 Throw Aways.” I made a game out of finding 7 items each day to give or throw away. This was so much easier than trying to de-clutter the whole house and I even found myself coming up with more than 7 items some days.

2. Streamline your Facebook news feed

Evaluate each person on your news feed and decide if seeing his or her status updates every day are worth the time you spend reading them. If you don’t want to ‘unfriend,’ simply click “Unsubscribe” or subscribe only to the “Most Important” updates.

This makes your online visits quicker as you spend less time perusing through unnecessary information in order to find the information you are interested in.

3. De-clutter as you go

Small changes make a big difference. While you are waiting for water to boil for your spaghetti dinner, go through your utensil drawer and find 3 things you don’t need anymore. Challenge your children to find 5 things to give away during the commercial break of a show. Progress, however small, is still progress!

4. Lay ground rules

If you go shopping for new clothes, make “one in, one out” your rule. If you buy a new shirt, another shirt has to go to the garage sale pile. If you buy new underwear, get rid of a few old pairs (you’re probably due for that, right?)

5. Surround yourself with minimalist thinkers

Conversations with like-minded friends will bolster your confidence that you’re making wise choices. Not all our friends and family will ascribe to our choice to reduce when everything in our culture tells us “More! More! More!” but be conscious of the influence others have.

If you feel inadequate or envious after visiting a friend with many possessions, counter that feeling by reading quotes on minimalism or making a list of reasons to be thankful for less.

6. Re-think the American dream

I used to dream of having a large home. But I have learned living in our small home is just as good! I love that I can almost reach our entire home with the vacuum plugged into one outlet. I am so glad to only have two bathrooms to clean.

While everyone’s choice of home is personal. I have really started to question whether the money and effort that goes into owning a large home is really worth it, not the mention the time spent to earn that money!

This choice can make a huge difference in your commitment to being a “semi-minimalist” because you must be intentional about what you bring into your home.

Rebecca is a former educator turned stay-at-home mom. She enjoys exercising, reading, and blogging about her life as a wife and new mom at D&R Tabb.

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My Homemade Poptart Experiment

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by Crystal on April 26, 2012

I was really excited to try the Homemade Poptart idea. It’s been one of those things I’ve long wanted to experiment with.

I used a different crust recipe because I’d already tried the recipe Laura uses and we weren’t big fans of it. So I used my own {yes, I’m a rebel like that! }.

One of my readers had recommended that I put lots of filling on the poptarts because, otherwise, she said they’d be really bland. However, I think I went a little overboard and when I put the tops on, there was jelly spilling out — and it only got worse once I crimped the edges with a fork!

I decided to be more conservative with the jelly the next time around and it worked better.

The end result wasn’t all that pretty — and most of them crumbled when I tried to take them off the baking sheet. They tasted pretty good, but weren’t very sweet at all. If your family is used to storebought poptarts, you’d probably need to drizzle glaze on them to make them sweet enough.

My conclusion on the homemade poptart experiment is that it’s not something our family will be regularly making. They seemed very time-consuming to make and they didn’t wow us at all. In fact, it kind of reminded me of my Homemade Uncrustables experiment.

That said, there is some kind of coolness factor to being able to say that you made homemade poptarts. It seems almost on par with the novelty of making homemade marshmallows.

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Ask the Organizer: Organizing Children’s Clothing

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by Crystal on April 25, 2012

Earlier this month, I posed the question, What is your biggest issue when it comes to clothes clutter? and the majority of your answers implied that children’s clothing was a pretty big issue in your home.

So today, I’m excited to read Andrea’s tips to help us declutter and better organize our children’s closets. Over the last several years, Andrea has worked with many moms with different ages of children (and different sizes of closets). She also has a 5-month-old daughter… so she should bring some interesting perspectives to the whole topic of clothes clutter!

If you’re overwhelmed with your children’s clothing, here are a few tips that might help you gain control of their closets. (These tips also work for adult closets too! )

1. Purge

The first step in dealing with any type of clothing clutter is to look over everything you have and start purging. I know firsthand how quickly the amount of children’s clothing grows — especially with all the different sizes and seasons — so there’s a pretty good chance you’ll have plenty to purge.

Only keep the items you absolutely love, unless you have a younger child who will soon be wearing the hand-me-downs. And unless you have vast amounts of extra storage space, I would strongly encourage you not to hang onto clothing for the possibility that you might have another child, who might be the same gender, and who might be born the same time of year as your current child/children. It’s just not worth the space it takes.

Try to eliminate your emotional attachment to the items and instead, come at it from the perspective that by getting rid of the clothing, you will free-up more space for items you actually need.

I’ve also found it can be easier to purge if you give/sell the items to another mom who could use them for her child. We have received tons of hand-me-down clothes gifts and are so thankful every time.

2. Evaluate

Now that your children’s closets and dressers have a little more breathing room, don’t rush out to the store to fill them back up again. Step back and take a moment to evaluate what you actually need for each child.

If you do laundry regularly (which I assume you do), your children probably won’t need more than a few nice outfits, a handful of play clothes, and some PJ’s. See if you can get by with the clothing you have. If there is something you need, jot it down and take that list with you to your next neighborhood garage sale.

3. Rotate

If you have multiple children, it’s almost inevitable that you’ll end up with all different sizes and seasons of clothing. Plus, you know that the size on the tag isn’t always accurate — for this reason, it’s important to regularly rotate your children’s clothing!

Since I still have a small infant, I try to rotate her clothes every 6-8 weeks (or as she grows out of them). With older children, you’ll probably only have to do this every season or every year.

I simply put bins on one of the shelves in her closet and any time she grows out of something, I add it to the “too-small” bin. As she grows I pull clothing from the “too-big” bin — which contains any hand-me-downs, garage sale finds, and clothes gifts we’ve gotten.

When the “too-small” bin is full, I purge the items I don’t love, and store the rest.

4. Store

Unless you are finished having children (and have absolutely no sentimental attachment to your baby clothes), you will probably need to store some of your children’s clothing. If possible, it’s always the most convenient if you can store the clothes right in the child’s room who will wear them next — in the bottom drawer of a dresser, under the bed, or on the top shelf of the closet.

If you don’t have room in the bedrooms, I’d suggest using large clear plastic tubs or vacuum-seal bags to roughly sort the clothing by gender, season, and size. Oh, and make sure you clearly label the contents so you can actually find the clothes when you need them.

And as you put items away for storage, remember to continually question whether it’s really worth the space you are taking up to store the item… oftentimes it makes more sense to purge the items now and borrow or buy used if you need them again in the future.

I think Crystal shares my same philosophy when she says, “It’s just not worth it to keep items you aren’t using if you don’t have anywhere to store them”.

5. Repeat!

Unfortunately, your children’s closets will not magically stay organized after just one purging session! So as they grow, you’ll have to repeat these steps on a regular basis.

However, keep in mind that you don’t always have to do all the “dirty work”. Encourage your children to get involved in the process — I can almost guarantee they will be more likely to keep their space organized if they helped in the process!

Of course it’s never fun to get rid of cute baby and children’s clothing, but I always remind myself that by keeping less “stuff”, I then have more space, time, energy, and money. Plus, by donating some of the items we no longer need, I’m helping other moms too!

What are your tips to organize children’s clothing?

Andrea Dekker is a wife, mom, blogger, organizer, speaker, and founder of Simple Organized Living. Her goal is to motivate and encourage others to “create their best life” through simplicity and organization.

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Is it possible to survive on a $30 per week grocery budget?

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by Crystal on April 17, 2012

I am single and have about $30 per week for groceries which I find hard to do and get a balanced diet. I do go to multiple stores to get the best prices and use coupons the best I can. The thing that bothers me, is when a staple item I use is on sale, I normally don’t have an extra $5 (let alone more) to spend to purchase it. How can I stock-up on sale items when I have such a little bit to get by with anyways? -Renee

Contrary to what many people may tell you, I think you can definitely eat well on $30 per week — and you can find a little wiggle room to buy ahead, too.

My husband and I both lived on a $30 per week grocery budget when we were first married. This included all the ingredients to make 21 meals for both of us each week, plus all household products.

A Can-Do Attitude Is a Must

Don’t let yourself think, “There’s no way I can eat on this small of a budget.” Instead, decide that you’re going to do the best you can with the resources you have.

Make it a game, of sorts, to see how well you can do on a little. By challenging yourself to exercise creativity and think outside the box, you’ll enjoy it a lot more. And when you’re enjoying something, it no longer seems so difficult.

Make Short-Term Sacrifices

In order to be able to scrape together enough money to start buying ahead and building up your stockpile, I’d encourage you to commit to eating really simply for a few weeks. Cut your grocery budget back to $25, and save the extra $5 to invest in those rock-bottom, can’t miss deals — or to purchase almost-free toiletries and household products.

If you’re thinking there’s no way you can eat on $25 per week, here’s a grocery list and menu plan I came up with:

Sample $25 Grocery List and Menu

Prices are approximate and will likely vary a little by area. You may be able to beat these prices with great sales and/or coupons.

Regular Grocery Store, Aldi, or Walmart

1 canister of oatmeal –$2
1 gallon milk — $2.50
1 bag of apples — $3
1 bag of carrots — $1.50
4 bags of frozen vegetables — $4
1 bag of frozen chicken breasts — $7

Dollar Store

1 loaf of bread — $1
1 jar of peanut butter — $1
1 jar of jelly or honey — $1
1 bag of dried beans — $1
1 bag of rice — $1

Breakfasts:

Oatmeal with milk (add in some chopped apples, honey, or peanut butter to change things up a little)

Lunches:

Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, apples, carrots

Dinners:

Beans and rice with steamed veggies on the side
Chicken, rice, and carrot soup
Baked chicken breast on a bed of rice, steamed veggies
Rice, chopped chicken, and steamed veggies mixed together and sprinkled with salt
Homemade refried beans, baked chicken, steamed veggies
Chicken and veggie stirfry served over rice
Leftovers

Yes, this isn’t a very exciting menu. But if you’re willing to scrimp for a few weeks and eat very simply, it will free up that extra $5 or so each week to start buying a few extra things that are on a great sale (like a bag of flour, like that incredible deal on strawberries — some to eat now, some to freeze for later, or that fantastic special on beef).

As you invest some of your grocery money in the rock-bottom specials and deals, this helps you to build up more of a stockpile so that, over time, you’ll be able to have more and more variety without increasing your budget.

For more grocery saving ideas, be sure to check out my 31 Days to a Better Grocery Budget series.