Spring Cleaning

I recently came across this awesome Spring Cleaning Checklist on Studio 5's website (it's a TV show that broadcasts out of Salt Lake City).

Besides being SUPER CUTE, this checklist is really thorough and gives specific suggestions with each point. For example, it suggests that you not only empty your trash can in your bedroom, but you also CLEAN it. I clean my kitchen trash can semi-regularly but I haven't ever thought about cleaning my smaller trash cans. I don't know why I hadn't thought of that.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this list!

Happy Spring cleaning!!!

6 month rule?

So have you ever heard people say that if you haven't used something in 6 months or longer, you should get rid of it? I have. Many times. I think that maybe it is referring to clothing, but it might be a good rule of thumb.

I am a fairly organized person...but I have several "junk drawer" type areas in my house.

Today I went through several piles of STUFF and ended up throwing half of it out and filing the rest. I found some really great stuff that my kids had done at school that I want to keep, but I also had a bunch of random papers that I knew I didn't need.

Sometimes it takes me a week or more to realize that I don't need to save my kids' art (at least not EVERY piece) and so I think that TIME is an important factor in saving or chucking things.

That's what made me think of the 6 month thing.

BUT there are many things that the 6 month rule does not work on...at least not for me.

Favorite books, old journals and letters are things we may not look at every 6 months but it doesn't mean we should get rid of them. Also, I save a majority of my kids' clothing to hand down to the next kiddo. I try to keep it organized, but I personally would rather store a few boxes than buy new clothes every year.

Speaking of clothes, I keep a lot of clothes that are not my *current* size. Being the the middle of my "child-baring years" my body changes from year to year. Some day I hope I can get back to where I want to be and will stay there, but until then I will store a variety of sizes for myself so that, again, I don't have to go shopping for new jeans every time I'm working on losing my baby fat.

Old craft and sewing projects can take up a lot of space. Right now, I have a guest room where these things are stored, but I keep thinking that I need to clean that stuff out. I honestly do not have the time or energy for them and I haven't for a while.

Well, now I'm just ranting.

The point is, whether you need a time table on how long to keep something or not, try to declutter something soon. Heck, you may find more room for your FOOD STORAGE!

Meal Planning

Here's some tips for MEAL PLANNING!!

-Have a list of meals your family likes. (Don't feel bad if ramen noodles or Hamburger Helper is on your list)

-Space out similar meals. For example, you may not want to have spaghetti and lasagna in the same week. This is on reason I prefer planning for the whole month. I would make breakfast food every other day if I could but my husband doesn't love that, so I plan on one breakfast food meal a week.

-Plan for a leftover night. We usually have one day a week when we need to clean out the fridge. It doesn't always fall on the same day every week, so I have to be flexible, but I LOVE leftover night.

-Plan for new recipes! To shake things up a little, plan a new recipe once a week or once every other week. This can help you find new favorites for your meal list. (Remember to use recipes that include your food storage, so you can learn HOW to use ingredients you may not be used to and so that your food gets rotated.)

-Use a blank calendar and/or make a list of all the meals. A few months ago I was writing meals done on a blank calendar that I printed from Word. I liked this way. Lately, I have just been writing a big list of what I have ingredients for so I can cook whatever I feel like that night.

I also like to keep track of what I actually ended up making (or if we ate out) so that when I am meal planning I can remember what we've had most recently and try to plan so different meals. I have a binder with my calendars and lists so I can look through it quickly. My favorite recipes are also in this binder and print outs or notes about recipes I want to try.

Meal planning helps me to feel a little more in control of my day, helps with my general sanity, and saves me money because I'm not going to the store every other day for things I need.

HAPPY PLANNING!

*This is an update post from earlier this year, I know. But I think it's good to review. :)

Review

Wow! We're more than halfway through the year, summer's almost over, and we're moving right along with our food storage and emergency preparedness goals.

I just updated the POST from February where I outlined what we were going to talk about every month. In my excitement, I originally plans to combine some categories so that we could talk about everything by the end of the year.

As the year has progress, I have been trying to build my food storage and 72-hour kits along with my posts. Some months aren't too hard. Some are very hard. (Like MEAT! I don't have enough MEAT in my house! haha)

So I have updated the outline and we will be going into 2013 before we get through all our 3-month supply items. I think this is a good thing. It gives us (me) more time to really focus on specific items. For example, I originally was going to combine fruits and veggies into one month. Now we will talk about them in September and October, giving more time to inventory, organize and purchase needed items.

That leads me to the next item of business. I am hoping that others are doing the same thing as I am, but sometimes I assume that others understand me and I haven't actually explained myself. SO...here's a little bit about what I do every month to build my food storage.

#1- Inventory. I know. The word alone is scary. But you HAVE to know what you have in order to know what you NEED. So get a notebook, a piece of paper, etc. and count what you have.

If you have 5 pounds of meat in your house, don't be discouraged. At least you know what you have so you can stock up on that item.

#2 Organize! I am weird. I am really organized with some things and a total wreck with others. As far as food storage is concerned, I have a notebook with my inventory, which I write in every time I use one of my food storage items. Then I write on my shopping list what I need to replace.

For example, today I grabbed my last can of cranberry sauce. We have one recipe that we use cranberry sauce so I try to keep 3 on hand. For some reason, I haven't been keeping up but now I have written on my grocery list to pick up 3 cans of cranberry sauce. I can do that.

You may need to be creative in where you store your items, but do what works for you (even if it means putting canned food under your bed!).

As far as 72-hour kit stuff, I have MOST of my emergency items in one closet, except for a large suitcase that is in my garage. I also have notes in my food storage notebook about what I have and what I need.

#3 Purchase. Every 3-month supply post has information on good prices for food items. This is a good way to start getting to know what prices are good for specific items. It helps you know when something is low enough to really stock up!

Most of us can't go out and buy everything we need every month, but if you can spend $5-10 on that item in a month, you're that much closer to your goal.

Don't forget to purchase your 72-hour kit items as well!

#4 Restock! To keep your food storage supply up, replace items as you use them. I didn't do this with my cranberry sauce, that items isn't as crucial either. Items that are more necessary need to be replaced right away, if possible.

For me, I always want one extra container of olive oil on hand. I don't use it a TON so I don't store more than that. Today when I was making my cranberry recipe, I opened up my olive oil. Time to restock!

Depending on the item though, I want and restock when it's on sale.

For example, I have seem canned pineapple for 88 cents a can in the past, but lately anything less than $1 is good. But I don't really want to spend a dollar on each can. We go through pineapple so FAST at our house, so I don't restock it as fast as I should. I usually just wait until the next big sale.

Restocking implies ROTATION. Remember that it is important to rotate food so you won't have old, outdated items. This includes your 72-hour kit food and clothing items. Especially with kids, your emergency clothing needs to be rotated regularly.


Most of all, don't get stressed! Do what works for you and your budget. Do what makes you feel better and more prepared, but don't go crazy.

Tracking What You Use

There are lots of different lists and calculators that are helpful when you're trying to figure out what you need for your food storage. In fact, I use the 3-month Food Storage Template, created by Prepared LDS Family and this Food Storage Calculator.

But everyone uses different things at different rates. The last year or so I have been marking food items and cleaning supplies to see how long they last and then I can have a better idea of how much our family really needs for 3 months.

This has helped me a lot. For example, I started tracking how long my dishwasher soap lasted. I found that I used one bottle in two months. Now, I keep one extra in my storage room so that I have my 3 months worth all the time.

Another thing I have learned is that I don't have enough peanut butter. We can go through a jar a week sometimes. Holy cow! So now I know that I need to really watch for a good sale on peanut butter.

Items like oils might be a good idea to "track" due to their relatively short shelf-life.

Although it sometimes looks silly to have permanent marker on half of the items in my fridge, I have found some comfort (in my own nerdy way) in knowing how long certain things last at our house so that I can plan accordingly.

In addition to writing on the items themselves, I have a notebook that I use for keeping track of my food storage inventory. In this notebook, I also make notes about how long things last or what I need to stock up on. It isn't fancy...in fact, it's kind of a mess. But it helps me to easily figure what I have and what I need in my food storage.

Not matter what method works for you, having some way to track what you use and knowing what you have and need will help you reach your food storage goals much faster and easier.

Note: I didn't say fast and easy. Accumulating a 3-month supply of food and other items is neither of those things.

Happy tracking!

Home organization: Getting family involved!

I don't know about you, but housework is NOT my favorite thing. I do it, because I don't like to have a messy house, but there are many other things I'd rather be doing than cleaning toilets and folding laundry.

The bigger our family gets, the more necessary it is for the rest of the family to chip in and do their part. It's good for my sanity and for my kids to learn responsiblilty.

Even if you don't have kids at home, share the responsibilities at home with those who live with you.

This takes some effort, especially at first, but don't get discourage. Give your kids (and your spouse) something to do. There are many different ways to do this.

There are about a million different job charts to choose from, even online job charts. We've tried several but what works best for us is a simple list.

Each of my kids has a list with their name and their daily jobs on the fridge. They each have 5-10 things based on their age and ability. My biggest boys can usually get through the jobs without even looking at the list.

We have some arguments about this still, but I just tell them that they are part of this family and they need to help. I think that it is SO important to teach our children about responsibility. This is a simple way to start while they are young. Older children need responsibilities too! They need to be expected to work.

Just last week, one of my favorite blogs, Prepared LDS Family, had a post on Summer Chore Lists. I was so glad to read it! I feel like so many parents are not taking charge and teaching their children hard work. When I was a teenager, I heard adults talking about this and was sometimes a little offended. Now I realize that they were mostly right. So many kids, and adults for that matter, think that others should do the hard work and they should benefit from it. Ranting. Sorry.

Bottom line: I want my kids to not only help out with keep our home looking decent, but I want them to learn the satisfaction of a "job well done."

Home organization: Routine

This is important. When I had my first child, I didn't believe in routines. Probably because so many people were telling me that I needed one. I rebelled against it, but it wasn't too bad because I only had one child at home and we lived in a small apartment. It didn't get too messy or unorganized. Plus, we ate a lot of quick meals back then, so meal planning along with food storage were not something I was focused on. BUT, the more kids I've had, the more space we live in and the more important meal planning and storing food has become to me, the more important and ESSENTIAL a routine has become. Kids do better with routines and so does my sanity.

My routine right down is based on necessity. They are the simple and basic things I need to keep myself and my family healthy and my home a general clean place to be. I have daily, weekly and monthly routines.

For example, I do laundry on Mondays and Fridays. I clean my bathrooms on Tuesday. Wednesday is my budgeting day. Thursday I meal plan. I also have certain times that I vacuum, wash bedding, and all the other wonderful things I need to do.

As for daily routines, the big kids' school schedules are the pattern. After we get my first grader to school, I start whatever housework needs to be done that day and I get the breakfast dishes in the dishwasher. We try usually have a snack at 10am and maybe watch a show. We eat lunch about noon and get my Kindergartener to school about 12:30pm. Baby goes down for a nap and my 3 year old either lies down too, or watches a show while I get some computer time in. Before you know it, it's 3:30pm and the boys are home. We do eat a snack, do homework and read. Then the kids do their chores. The kids have some play time before dinner, eat and then we start getting ready for bed.

That's a whole different routine which includes baths, brushing teeth, pajamas, reading together, prayers, and letting the boys read for a while before we turn off the lights. One thing that I have learned about bedtime is to start early and not stress.

Using a planner helps me keep track of my life. I have so much going on in my head sometimes that if I don't write things down (or put them in my phone) I may not remember them. I right some of my routine items in my planner and my TO DO lists. This way I have ONE place that I look (two if you count my phone, I guess) to see what in the world I need to get done that day or any extra activities the family has going on.

An important thing to remember is to be FLEXIBLE. If I have to go to store during naptime, then I will. I also try to let the kids play outside when friends are out, even though I might have a list of things for them to do.

Remember, scheduling DOES NOT mean being busy. Don't overbook yourself or your kids! Protect your free time and theirs!

Home organization

There are probably a million websites about tips for becoming organized and nearly as many products you could buy to "help" you in your search for organization. Personally, I have found that I need to do what works for me. This means that in some things I am pretty organized and other things I have to let go. It can be hard for some of us who are a little too controling...but let's help each other.

Here are some things that work for me:

1. Declutter. Get rid of the unnecessary.

You don't have to keep every drawing your child draws or every outfit they outgrow. On the other hand, I do not believe in being wasteful. If you have some good quality items that you haven't used for 6 months or longer, give it to your local charity or women's shelter.

I like to organize one room or closet at a time, usually every other week so I don't get overwhelmed.

Another item that can cause clutter is magazines! Tear out what you want and get rid of the rest.

2. Establish a routine. Daily, weekly, monthly, etc.

3. Use a filing system. Even if it's a box somewhere, you need so place to file important papers. Check out my post on the Emergency Binder.

4. Get your family involved. This may include job charts, or just asking for help when you need it.

5. Use technology- for budgeting, paying bills, communicating, etc.

6. Meal plan. Weekly, bi-weekly or monthly. Whatever you can do will help your sanity. I promise!



Remember, one thing at a time. You can do it!

Emergency Binder

(Beautiful, right? It looks like a Trapper Keeper.)

So a year or two ago I started following the website, Food Storage Made Easy. It's a fun site with some great tips on getting your food storage and emergency preparedness stuff going. My favorite thing I've learned from that website is the Emergency Binder. I used their list as a guideline and went from there.

Here's their list:
-Birth certificates
-Passports
-SS Cards
-Copies of credit cards, front and back
-Homeowners insurance policy
-Auto insurance policy
-Life insurance policy
-Retirement statements
-Internet passwords
-Immunization records
-Utility statements
-Work/tax documents that would be difficult to replace
-Cash, keep a variety of small bills on hand

So here's what I have:
-Contact info. I have our parents, local family, friends, emergency numbers, doctor's numbers and where we would meet in case of emergency, like a church or school.
-Account info. Anything with an account number basically. I have our account numbers, phone numbers and addresses of the company. This includes utilities (so I don't have to keep a statement in the binder) credit cards, student loans, whatever. It's basically a brief summary of all accounts and important numbers.
-Internet passwords. I know, it's a little scary in a way, but you have to have them somewhere. If I died, my husband would have no clue about half our bills, so at least he'd have all the passwords so he could see what's up. :)
-Important certificates. Birth, marriage, car title, social security cards, immunization cards, etc. I even have my old passport and my vision rx as shown below. (Don't worry. I blurred out some of the info.)
Each member of the family has their own sheet protector, so when I went to Kindergarten registration I only had to grab the sheet protector and everything the school needed was there. Easy.
-Insurance stuff. I have the declaration page for our homeowners insurance, our auto insurance and our extra medical insurance cards.
-Taxes. I keep the last two years worth of tax stuff. The W2s are in sheet protectors. Last year itemizing actually helped, so this year I am also keeping receipts and note to remind me of our deductions so I'm not scrambling at tax time. It's also good to have an extra copy of your return. Oh, I have our property tax stuff in there too.
-Loans. Curse them. I have the statements and any important notices from our student loans including notes from conversations with people so I know what I'm talking about next time.
-401K and stocks. Yes, we have both, although they are sad. We put a tiny bit in a 401K through my husband's work so we have that quarterly statement. I also keep our stock statement. Just so you know, we put a little bit in RIGHT before everything went crazy so we currently have $3.38. Be jealous.
-Mortgage statements and any other info from our lender. Behind these I have our Title insurance.
-Paystubs. My husband's are online now, but I make a tiny bit from coordinating the daycare at a local gym so my last few paystubs are in a sheet protector. I should probably print out a few of Silas's, just in case.
-Random stuff: purchase agreement from our car including warranty information, warranty info on our washer and dryer (which I just purchased and it made me feel like a big girl. I usually hate spending money on warranties, but our machines getting older and I use them CONSTANTLY), print out from our credit reports, and stuff about our alarm system (that's a long story).
-Cash. Honestly, I think this is probably THE MOST IMPORTANT part of the binder, but I don't normally have more than a few dollars. I need to work on that. What if no ATMs or card readers were working? People probably won't take a check if that was the case, so cash is important.
Oh and I got a pretty purple binder so it would be easy to grab if we were panicing. And no, I don't have it sitting out for all to see. Don't worry.

Don't get overwhelmed. Just do one thing at a time. You will feel so good when it's done.

NEXT POST: 3-month supply: Milk

Meal planning

For a few years now, I have been planning our family meals. For a while I was planning for every two weeks, but now I plan a whole month at a time and shop for 2 weeks at a time. It has taken a long time for me to get comfortable with it, but here are some things I've learned.

-Have a list of meals your family likes. (Don't feel bad if ramen noodles or Hamburger Helper is on your list)

Click HERE for a blank worksheet created by Prepared LDS Family.

-Space out similar meals. For example, you may not want to have spaghetti and lasagna in the same week. This is on reason I prefer planning for the whole month. I would make breakfast food every other day if I could but my husband doesn't love that, so I plan on one breakfast food meal a week.

-Plan for a leftover night. We usually have one day a week when we need to clean out the fridge. It doesn't always fall on the same day every week, so I have to be flexible, but you have to LOVE leftover night.

-Plan for new recipes! To shake things up a little, plan a new recipe once a week or once every other week. This can help you find new favorites for your meal list. (Remember to use recipes that include your food storage, so you can learn HOW to use ingredients you may not be used to and so that your food gets rotated.

-Use a blank calendar and/or make a list of all the meals. I was reminded of this the other day. When I had one of my kids, my mother-in-law came for a few weeks and before I had my baby I made this list so she could pick something and cook. She was recently visiting and mentioned that. Since then, I have tried it for myself. I like it.

I am currently using this list and marking on a calendar I printed from Word want we ate that day. I have a binder with my calendars so I can look through it quickly to remind of things I made last month or things we haven't eaten in a while.

Meal planning helps me to feel a little more in control of my day, helps with my general sanity, and saves me money because I'm not going to the store every other day for things I need.


Remember, this month count and try to add to your SUGAR supply and CLOTHING for your 72-hour kits.