by holly on April 17, 2013
You gotta love technology!! Mabel’s Labels has created a great new label that combines technology with organization! Can’t remember where you put your summer clothes or those holiday decorations? With the new Scan & Store labels from Mabel’s Labels, you will never misplace your items again! Here’s how they work:
1. Apply the label to a bin, tote or other container.
2. Scan it with the Write Away! app.
3. Store the title, location, description and a photograph of the container.
From your phone you can store the names and photographs of an unlimited number of items and assign them to a container, search for containers and items and much more! Organizing has never been so easy. Be sure to try out these new amazing labels today. Happy Organizing!
by holly on November 6, 2011
I’ve started giving myself 10 minute challenges. I set my timer for 10 minutes and tackle a household chore while my children are having a snack or lunch. It’s amazing how much you can accomplish in only 10 minutes when you focus on the task.I encourage you to join me- it really easy amazing what you are able to achieve, even if it’s incremental, if you set your mind (and timer!) to it!
The holidays are such a busy time that even small household tasks can start to become overwhelming. Little things add up and start to take over which can cause anxiety. To help keep your to-do list under control, try giving yourself 10 minute challenges. Pick something off your list, set a timer for 10 minutes and dig in. Focus on the task until the timer goes off. You’ll be surprised at how much you can accomplish in this small chunk of time and it will likely inspire you to complete the task or move on to the next one even after the time has expired.. Sometimes the hardest part is just getting started.
The important thing is to keep a list of the things you’d like to accomplish. When a few spare minutes present themselves, check your list and pick a task you’d most like to cross off. Waiting for a pot of water to boil for dinner? Put away a basket of laundry. Are the kids occupied while having a snack? Drag out a box of Christmas decorations and see how much you can get up. Have 10 minutes to spare while waiting in the car for the kids to get out of school? Address your Christmas cards. Chipping away at your list will help you keep things in order and your sanity in tact.
Check out the other 10 Minute Challenges here.
by holly on June 27, 2011
I’ve started giving myself 10 minute challenges. I set my timer for 10 minutes and tackle a household chore while my children are having a snack or lunch. It’s amazing how much you can accomplish in only 10 minutes when you focus on the task. The 10 minute challenge is a weekly feature on Mommies with Cents. Each week, I will show you one of the things I was able to accomplish in 10 minutes. I encourage you to join me- it really easy amazing what you are able to achieve, even if it’s incremental, if you set your mind (and timer!) to it!
Today I stumbled upon my challenge. My son lost something in the couch and when I tried to dig it out for him it wasn’t a pretty sight. Since I needed to vacuum the play room anyway I decided to spend an extra 10 minutes pulling the cushions from the sectional and vacuuming out the mess. I only allow vacuum-able snacks down stairs such as cracker and pretzels so at least I didn’t find anything growing under there, but ew! It’s always nice to have the cushions fluffed back up and the peace of mind knowing there isn’t something awful lurking beneath the them!
I’d love to hear ways you manage your time at home with kids. Please share your tips with me and our other readers by leaving a comment, then come back next week for another 10 minute challenge!
by holly on June 13, 2011
I’ve started giving myself 10 minute challenges. I set my timer for 10 minutes and tackle a household chore while my children are having a snack or lunch. It’s amazing how much you can accomplish in only 10 minutes when you focus on the task. The 10 minute challenge is a weekly feature on Mommies with Cents. Each week, I will show you one of the things I was able to accomplish in 10 minutes. I encourage you to join me- it really easy amazing what you are able to achieve, even if it’s incremental, if you set your mind (and timer!) to it!
Operation Make More Room started out in my kitchen to get rid of things I wasn’t using to make room for new kitchen gadgets. It has turned into Operation Garage Sale. Unfortunately it would take forever if I tackled that in 10 minute increments. Luckily, thanks to my husband, I’ve been able to devote much larger chunks of time on the weekends to prepare. Here’s my last kitchen cupboard. I found a bag stashed in there that was full of “junk drawer” stuff from our old house from when we moved three years ago! Whoops!
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I pulled everything out of the cupboard and sorted through it. I pretty much threw the whole junk drawer bag in the garbage. I didn’t spend a lot of time going through it. I figured if there wasn’t anything in there that we needed the past three years that it was a pretty safe bet we didn’t need it at all. This cupboard is designated for things we use, but not very frequently. The crockpot, George Foreman Grill and waffle iron live in this cupboard. I’ve got a lot more room in there now!
I’d love to hear ways you manage your time at home with kids. Please share your tips with me and our other readers by leaving a comment, then come back next week for another 10 minute challenge!
I’ve started giving myself 10 minute challenges. I set my timer for 10 minutes and tackle a household chore while my children are having a snack or lunch. It’s amazing how much you can accomplish in only 10 minutes when you focus on the task. The 10 minute challenge is a weekly feature on Mommies with Cents. Each week, I will show you one of the things I was able to accomplish in 10 minutes. I encourage you to join me- it really easy amazing what you are able to achieve, even if it’s incremental, if you set your mind (and timer!) to it!
Last week I set to work in my kitchen trying to clean out stuff I don’t use to make room for fun new stuff that I get to review for Mommies with Cents. I made room for this but I didn’t stop there. This is what one of my cupboards looked like last week. I only had time to do the top shelf so this week, I did the bottom shelf.
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It took less than 10 minutes because mainly it was just tossing out old stuff and putting things in a little neater. Here is the end result:
Busted! You can see that I added a few things to the top shelf that weren’t there previously. It’s all a work in progress….
It still looks sort of messy in the picture but stuff isn’t falling out and it feels more organized to me.
I’d love to hear ways you manage your time at home with kids. Please share your tips with me and our other readers by leaving a comment, then come back next week for another 10 minute challenge!
I’ve started giving myself 10 minute challenges. I set my timer for 10 minutes and tackle a household chore while my children are having a snack or lunch. It’s amazing how much you can accomplish in only 10 minutes when you focus on the task. The 10 minute challenge is a weekly feature on Mommies with Cents. Each week, I will show you one of the things I was able to accomplish in 10 minutes. I encourage you to join me- it really easy amazing what you are able to achieve, even if it’s incremental, if you set your mind (and timer!) to it!
Part of our job on this blog is reviewing products. We get a lot of neat stuff but it’s hard to find room for it all! Especially in my kitchen. Since the weather is finally starting to get nicer, a garage sale is in my sights. It’s time to go through my cupboards and get rid of the things that aren’t being used and make more room for new stuff! I’ve got to come up with creative ways to store things that don’t get used on a weekly basis. Like a turkey roasting pan for example. We don’t even cook a turkey once a year since we usually don’t spend Thanksgiving at home. I’m thinking of moving it to the linen closet. Weird, I know…but if I put it in the garage, we won’t be able to find it when we do need it. Anyways, I’ve got to start somewhere so I started with the cupboard above my sink. There was all sort of junk up there so I cleared the top shelf and decided to use it for my baking stuff- muffin tins, bread pans etc. I use them enough to keep them but don’t need easy access to them all of the time. Here’s the before:
Here’s the after (remember, I only did the top shelf, for now) I moved the cleaning supplies to the linen closet, added the dishwasher basket to the garage sale pile and recycled the aluminum muffin tin since I have actual muffin pans. Then I gathered all of my other baking stuff from other cupboards and put it on the top shelf.
Ok, so I’ll be honest, taking the stuff out, moving it and putting stuff back in took around 10 minutes but it did leave messes elsewhere. There’s a growing pile on my dining room table that needs to be moved to the garage for the garage sale but my experience is things get worse before they get better :) And yes, the linen closet is going to need an overhaul when I’m done with the kitchen- it’s never ending but you’ve got to start somewhere!
I’d love to hear ways you manage your time at home with kids. Please share your tips with me and our other readers by leaving a comment, then come back next week for another 10 minute challenge!
I’ve started giving myself 10 minute challenges. I set my timer for 10 minutes and tackle a household chore while my children are having a snack or lunch. It’s amazing how much you can accomplish in only 10 minutes when you focus on the task. The 10 minute challenge is a weekly feature on Mommies with Cents. Each week, I will show you one of the things I was able to accomplish in 10 minutes. I encourage you to join me- it really easy amazing what you are able to achieve, even if it’s incremental, if you set your mind (and timer!) to it!
Mail can be a huge clutter problem. My rule is to sort it and put things where they belong immediately. In fact, I don’t even bring the junk mail into the house. It goes directly into our recycle bin on the way in from the mailbox. Then I open all the bills and get rid of the extra junk and put them in my bill drawer. Freebie samples get put in one of two baskets- edible in the pantry or toiletry type in the linen closet. Sorting will probably take far less than 10 minutes but save you much more in the long run!
I’d love to hear ways you manage your time at home with kids. Please share your tips with me and our other readers by leaving a comment, then come back next week for another 10 minute challenge!
I’ve started giving myself 10 minute challenges. I set my timer for 10 minutes and tackle a household chore while my children are having a snack or lunch. It’s amazing how much you can accomplish in only 10 minutes when you focus on the task. The 10 minute challenge is a weekly feature on Mommies with Cents. Each week, I will show you one of the things I was able to accomplish in 10 minutes. I encourage you to join me- it really easy amazing what you are able to achieve, even if it’s incremental, if you set your mind (and timer!) to it!
As I mentioned in last week’s Challenge post, I was prepping for a big 4th birthday party for my son. At my house that means cleaning, cleaning, cleaning! One of my problem areas (and there are many!) is our charging station in the kitchen. It’s meant to charge the cell phones but it seems to be a collecting area for all sorts of odds & ends:
I gave myself 10 minutes to clear the clutter and get these items put away:
I even had time to remove the smiley face sticker that was on the switch plate that had been there for years. Seriously, I don’t know why I hadn’t done that before because it always bugged me. When we moved back into our house a few years ago after renting it out, it was there. I think I thought it wasn’t going to come off very well and just leave a bigger mess but it actually came off pretty well and what didn’t was easily removed with vinegar & water solution.
I’d love to hear ways you manage your time at home with kids. Please share your tips with me and our other readers by leaving a comment, then come back next week for another 10 minute challenge!
by holly on April 25, 2011
I’ve started giving myself 10 minute challenges. I set my timer for 10 minutes and tackle a household chore while my children are having a snack or lunch. It’s amazing how much you can accomplish in only 10 minutes when you focus on the task. The 10 minute challenge is a weekly feature on Mommies with Cents. Each week, I will show you one of the things I was able to accomplish in 10 minutes. I encourage you to join me- it really easy amazing what you are able to achieve, even if it’s incremental, if you set your mind (and timer!) to it!
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We have a split level house and wood spindle stair railing. The couch in our living room is backed to the railing so you can see through the railing and under the couch. We have wood floors and the dust bunnies have been breeding under our couch for awhile now. I keep mean to slide the couch out and do a quick sweep and mop but never get around to it. Admittedly, I still haven’t done it but I’m going to, because it’s on my list. My oldest is turning 4 this weekend and we are having a birthday party. Birthday parties always inspire me to clean like I don’t usually clean so things are going to get DONE this week. I’ll be saying goodbye to the dust bunnies and hello to a sparkling clean floor VERY soon!
I’d love to hear ways you manage your time at home with kids. Please share your tips with me and our other readers by leaving a comment, then come back next week for another 10 minute challenge!
by holly on April 12, 2011
I’ve started giving myself 10 minute challenges. I set my timer for 10 minutes and tackle a household chore while my children are having a snack or lunch. It’s amazing how much you can accomplish in only 10 minutes when you focus on the task. The 10 minute challenge is a weekly feature on Mommies with Cents. Each week, I will show you one of the things I was able to accomplish in 10 minutes. I encourage you to join me- it really easy amazing what you are able to achieve, even if it’s incremental, if you set your mind (and timer!) to it!
It’s spring and flu season is ending but many of us a gearing up for spring cleaning. One thing that often gets over looked (at least in our house) is switch plates. We touch them all of the time and they are probably covered in germs but it’s the last thing I usually think of to clean. The next time you are able to squeeze in a 10 minute task, consider cleaning your switch plates!
If you’ve got Clorox wipes or something similar, those work great. Or you can do what I did. I used my Vinegar/water/dish soap solution and my Windex Microfiber cloth from Libman which also works great and kills germs without chemicals. Plus, the cloths are washable- it is Earth Month after all!
I’d love to hear ways you manage your time at home with kids. Please share your tips with me and our other readers by leaving a comment, then come back next week for another 10 minute challenge!
