Organizing our Cords

In order to keep our children on the straight and narrow, we don’t allow cell phones, ipods, or cameras in their bedrooms. It is too easy for kids to mess around with texting/sexting when they are alone.  They have to check their devices in every night.  We keep them in our room.  But when there are 3 cell phones, 4 ipods, and a DSi, there were tons of cords.  Everyone was trying to find their cord, which many times had fallen behind the dresser.  It has driven me nuts for months, and I just couldn’t figure out a better way.

Until I saw this blog post.  Bingo!  The box doesn’t look the same, and I may redo it sometime in the future, but I am pleased with how it turned out.  The shelf is from Wal-Mart, in the kitchen section.  I am so thrilled that my dresser isn’t a mess anymore.  Here are the after pictures (no before…I didn’t think about it!).

10 uses for Ziploc bags

1.  Barf bags in the car.  The Princess sometimes gets car sick, and we have started keeping a stash of Ziploc bags by her seat.  Then if she throws up, we can seal the bag and don’t worry about it spilling in the car.

2.  Organizing hair accessories.  I use the snack size ones to organize her clips and elastics by color.  Then it’s easy to grab the coordinating bag and let her pick what she wants in her hair.

3.  Organizing Legos.  We have a toy bin and all the Legos are organized by color in different buckets.  But there are only so many bins, so we use Ziploc bags to keep the smaller groups organized.

4.  Scrapbooking.  I use bags so much in my scrapbook room.  Mostly I use the gallon size ones to help organize photos and school papers and such for each child. 

5.  Portioning out snacks.  I buy food in bulk (goldfish crackers, trail mix, etc.) at WinCo and then we portion them out into bags that are ready to be packed into lunches.  However, for this, I usually use the fold-top bags because they are cheaper and the kids can just throw them away.

6.  Packing on trips.  I always, always pack my liquids into Ziploc bags.  Shampoo, conditioner, hair spray, toothpaste, etc.  Then I never have to worry about leaking.  If they do leak, the bag will contain it and I won’t have wet clothes!  I also pack extra bags for those just in case moments.

7.  Swimming.  Especially on trips, the swimming suits never seem to dry out in time before it’s time to pack up.  I just throw them in Ziploc bags and then into the suit case. 

8.  Leftovers.  It’s so much easier to throw leftovers into a bag and then in the fridge, or even the freezer.  Especially the freezer! 

9.  Frozen fruit.  I will prepare the fruit, and then put in in Ziplock bags and into the freezer to be used for smoothies.  Fruits I have done are apricots, peaches, pears, cherries, mangos, watermelon, cantaloupe, and honeydew.  Then when it’s time for a smoothie, you just throw the bag in the microwave for 2 minutes to soften the fruit, and then into the blender with 1/2 t. vanilla, 1/4 c. sugar, and some milk.  No need for ice! 

10.  Frosting/melted chocolate.  When you need to frost something or drizzle melted chocolate, just put it in a Ziploc bag, clip the corner and squirt away.  Always clip smaller than you thing.  It’s easier to cut more off than put it back on!

Now, just to clarify, when I say Ziploc bags, I mean Ziploc bags.  I will not use generic for this.  I have tried and they just aren’t as thick, they don’t close as easily, and they come undone a lot!  I do use the generic for the fold-top bags.

And finally, wash your bags and reuse them!  A little soap on your hand, wash them out and let them dry on the side of the sink.  They are sturdy enough to be used several times before they give out on you.  When you are rinsing them out, just fill them with water and check for holes. 

I would love to hear if you have any other uses for these wonderful, amazing bags!

Baby Food Containers

When The Princess was born, she was nearly 6 years younger than The Chocoholic.  So it had been a while since I had been anywhere near the baby aisle.  And when she started eating baby food, I was amazed to see that the baby food now came in plastic containers.  With snap-on lids.  I was so excited!

I saved every single container that we used.  Washed them and kept them.  And used them.  What do I use them for? 

I keep my little packets of Sweet & Low/Equal/Splenda in them.  They are the perfect width and keep them organized in my cupboard.

I put The Princess' hair accessories in them...bobby pins, elastics, etc.

I use them to organize my scrapbooking accessories...eyelets, brads, buttons, etc.

We use them to keep screws and washers and such in perfect order.

Have you kept your old containers?  If so, what do you use them for?

P.S.  If anyone has formula cans, can you save a few and give them to me?  I use those for keeping bulk screws and nails in the garage.  Thanks!

Backing up my pictures

When I download the pictures off my camera, I immediately back them up to a CD.  I learned my lesson in 2004 when I lost 4 months of pictures because I hadn't backed them up before my hard drive crashed.  Over the years, I have accumulated quite a stack of CD's.

I will not keep them exclusively on a hard drive because hard drives crash.  Even the expensive ones.  But they were starting to take up a lot of room and I needed a different option.  Then I remembered that DVD's hold more than CD's do.  So I took all my pictures and saved them onto DVD's instead.  I went from 48 CD's to 4 DVD's.

Very cool!

Organization Tip

We all have tons of plastic bags.  We call them Wal-mart bags here because we go there a lot, so most of our bags are from there!  I was raised to use and reuse all kinds of bags.  So I always keep these bags and reuse them for garbage bags and carrying things and such.  But they take up so much space.  This picture is of 5 bags.

See, even wadded up, they would take up a lot of space.  Well, my mil taught me a cool way to store them so they take up minimal space.  I will walk you through it.

First, lay your bag down and flatten it out.

Fold it in half,

and then in half again.

Starting at the bottom, start rolling it up.

Keep rolling,

and rolling until you get to the handles.

Open up the handles to form a loop,

twist the loop,

and fold it back over the bag.

There you go.  It takes some time, but now look at how much space those 5 bags take up!  I keep these all in a bag in my pantry, and I never run out of bags!

List Girl

I love lists. 

I could not get anything accomplished without my lists.  I write it down and then I do it and then I cross it off.  I feel a sense of empowerment when I cross things off! 

When we were planning our vacation to California, I was terrified of forgetting anything.  I had a list for packing, a list for what I needed to do before we left, a list of things we needed to do when we got home.  I also had  a list for our neighbor of how to take care of our place while we were gone (thanks Melissa!).

Because of this, The Doctor dubbed me “List Girl.”  He said if I was ever a superhero, that would be my name. There could be worse names!

Planners

I am a very organized person.  I have to be.  I don't remember things!  I like to see things written down and I like to check things off.  I love lists.  I have lists for everything.  For all my lists, I have used a paper planner for years.  Specifically a Franklin Covey planner.

We're talking years here.  My first one was my senior year in high school.  And I still have all the pages from them.  I have no idea what I am going to do with them because I write in my journal every day, so what is the point?
And now that I have the MyTouch cell phone, it has the Google calendar in it, and I have a to do list app, and a shopping list app, and a notes app!  Plus spreadsheets!

I haven't used my paper planner since I got the phone.  I never, ever thought I would go electronic.  When people started using palm pilots, I hated them.  They just didn't have the functions that I needed.  But I have converted.  I love my phone, and I love having everything in one place.
However, it is frustrating sometimes because I can't type in it as fast as I can write something down.  So when we are at church and they are making the announcements, I am typing as fast as I can!  It's weird to bring my cell phone to church, and I am trying really hard not to update my Facebook status in the middle of Sacrament Meeting!

     

So if you see my "playing" on my phone in church, please know that I am either updating my calendar or reading my scriptures.  Because I have the scriptures on my phone too!  Whoo Hoo!