Beach House Vacation Check List

TGIF! Hope you have a great Friday! My family just got back from a vacation at the beach and here is a simplified guide to help you when packing for a vacation at a beach house! I think it has most of the specifics covered. I didn't get down to the exact items on groceries but it differs between families! We packed so much in coolers that we only had to make two small trips to the grocery store for food, which was heaven when it comes to lines at the grocery stores at the beach! Surprisingly we gauged it pretty well and took just the right amounts of things, minus a few items that we didn't touch and brought back home. Now we know for next time! Hope you have a great weekend! 

Save Money Using Appliances At Night

How is your week going? Laundry for me has turned into a two day process. Reason why? To try to save a little money, honey! Anywhere I can cut costs, I try to these days. So now I start laundry Sunday night - running two loads through the washer and dryer, folding them Monday morning. Then I finish the loads Monday night to try and conserve energy. We'll see if I notice a difference but I'm trying "fo shizzle". Happy Tuesday! 

 

 

More Space For Spices

Good Morning! Something that needed my attention was our spice cabinet. Spices were EVERYWHERE! Several years ago I redid our spices and organized them in baby jars but the baby jars were small and didn't fit the spices well. Some spices came in such big containers that they didn't fit in the baby jars. I still had spices in containers they came in. Below is a BEFORE picture. My label maker is what was used to make the labels.

Below is the more improved organization of my spices. I found some 8 oz canning jars at Wal-Mart and they seem to fit the spices well. There is plenty of room in the jars. I got a pack of 12 so I've got four more to use but ran out of labels. The labels are removable labels also purchased from Wal-Mart. I was out of ink for the label maker so used these other labels. It works.

The cabinet cleaned up nicely!

Cleaned Out Some Canning Jars - Why? Coming Soon!

Happy Sunday! WHATTTUP? Cleaned out these canning jars and I'll share what I'm doing with them very soon! Until then - Talk Atcha LATER!

Saying No To Stuff Can Be Hard But It's A Great Philosophy!

It's funny, I'm currently reading a book my father gave me years ago (but shhh! don't tell him that) and it's really hitting home with me. It is Dave Ramsey's book - Financial Peace - Restoring Financial Hope to You and Your Family. I am almost finished with the book but I'm referencing back at the beginning where Dave Ramsey defines "Stuffitis".  He defines it as a deadly disease where the bearer has an insatiable desire for only "good stuff". He's pretty blunt in handling money and from his experiences I think it is very helpful. He is also religious, though doesn't make it a focus in the book but I think it is great that he relates money, whether it is spending or saving, to God and the Bible. I quote the book here, "Our forefathers may not have intended this, but they put a reminder on our currency to avoid "stuffitis" - "In God We Trust." Please notice it did not say "In Stuff" We Trust.

 

 

I don't like to admit that I get caught up in "stuffitis" but just like most people, I do. If I as much as go into a store and see new patterns or the latest trends or designs of something, especially house decor, I'm taken. I've been working on paring down our stuff and probably sound obsessive talking about constantly weeding through our things to donate, consign or outright sell... I lost my grandfather at the end of the year last year and it was truly an eye opening experience watching my parents and other family members have to go through all of my grandparents' belongings and sell off two cars, their house and everything that filled their home. It took half a year or more to get it all done and my grandparents were not by any means hoarders. It was a very emotional thing on top of a lot of work.

 

Saving money and not spending is a wonderful thing and I try to go through things so I only have one of everything and set my limits on not bringing more into the house without getting rid of things but it is a little tough with children. It's something I'm working on to teach them though too. If the purchase is something useful, that is a little different, just trying not to do any impulse buying. It is hard though because I LOVE pretty things and there are so many pretty things in stores. I just have to keep it in check and remember it is just stuff! :)

 

My current motto is - Say No To Stuff and Yes To Life. I am at a point in life where I would rather have life experiences and do things rather than have to keep organizing things we own or have to deal with useless possessions. It doesn't mean I don't want to continue decorating my house or changing things up but I have to set limits. Shopping just to shop used to be a hobby and I'm trying not to let it be anymore. It is hard though. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy to shop, I just don't want it to get the best of me. Maybe if I keep reminding myself of this, it will sink in eventually. LOL! Does anyone else go through this? I hope you have a wonderful weekend and get to do something FUN!     

 

 

Use Peg Board To Paint Screw Or Nail Heads

How was your hump day, this day? I got a lot of errands run today which was AWESOME! Here is a little painting tip for you in case you need to paint any screws or nail heads... I had to paint screws for some hinges I replaced and I used left over peg board to hold the screws so I could paint the heads. This little trick helps so you are able to paint the heads nicely. I've also been known to get a piece of cardboard and screw the screw into it a little ways so the head is sticking out to make it easier to paint. Hope you have a great night and happy painting if you are painting anything soon!

 

 

 

Organize Unsightly Cell Phone Chargers For $1.00

Hope you had a great weekend. I spent mine helping my brother's family move Saturday and then lounging at the pool Sunday because I was a little sore and tired! It was a great weekend though! So anything new on your end? 

This little organizing deal came to me at the end of last week. Another pet peeve of mine in our home is clutter on the counters. We have cell phones and mp3 players and junk which was taking up a lot of room on our kitchen counter and driving me nuts. I started moving things around again and worked on decluttering. I was using this Dollar Tree basket for storing lemons when I realized lemons would be better kept and have more life in the fridge. Oops! It freed up a basket so I started thinking...

This is what I came up with! My husband thinks I'm OCD (I'm not making light of OCD by any means) but he does like to tease me about how much I focus on little things like this! He thinks I'm a kinda nutty. Maybe so but I don't care! 

So all I did was poke a pencil through the bottoms of the basket at a corner of a woven "square", fed the charging cable through and plugged the electronic devices in. There is plenty of room to poke more holes in the basket and add more chargers if we have to. I tidied the cords with Velcro strips I cut (already had). 

It's a super simple and cheap way to organize our phones. :) 

Basket was $1.00 at Dollar Tree!

 See how simple it is to feed the cable through. You do have to do some poking but it will get through. 

No Need For Lots of Cleaning Products!

Happy Friday! How are you? I'm good. Got an awesome workout at the gym this morning, went grocery shopping, then came home, cooked breakfast and packed a lunch for my husband. It has been productive and it's still early!

Okay back with more cleaning advice. I will get off my cleaning soapbox and move onto some decorating soon but I have been on a cleaning spree this week.

My Car is OLD. It's 14 years old but I love my car. It doesn't normally look like it's loved in its state of cleanliness, more like filth, but we have two little boys who get everything they touch kind of very grimy!



Anyhow I cleaned my car from top to bottom the other night and it took several hours of cleaning. I wish I had taken BEFORE pictures but I didn't really think about it beforehand. Just imagine a filthy car with black grime inside, on all door handles, consoles, even the seat belts... Icky and sticky and just plain gross. I have been taking a lady from church on errands here and there and I was getting embarrassed for her to sit and see the grime! Bleh!

I am pleased to say after lots of elbow grease it is shiny and sparkly clean now. Seriously it makes me so happy. Now, I am one who has a book on using essential oils and natural products to clean but I am out of most of my essential oils and such right now. I didn't want to spend money to clean my car so I used a little mixture of hot water and a little bit of ammonia(already under the sink). I didn't measure just used more parts of hot water to the bottle. I tell you it cleaned my car so well. I swear by using a HOT water mixture when cleaning. It simply takes off what ever muck I'm cleaning!

So I used several microfiber clothes in the process. For some of the nasty dark stains on my carpet, including a red sticky lollipop stain, I boiled a pot of water and dipped a clean cloth in the water. I did the same with the headliner, using light pressure. Use gloves and be very careful NOT to scald yourself. My kids were not anywhere near me when I was doing this. I lightly scrubbed and blotted the stains away. They went away too. For some of the harder stains I sprayed on the ammonia water solution and let sit and then used the boiling hot water to wipe away the dirt. It doesn't take a lot of pressure when you are using boiling hot water either!

Check out these seat belts! YESSSS! Even those came clean. They have NEVER been cleaned before and I used the same method. I sprayed them down on both sides with the ammonia solution (the smell wasn't bad b/c it was so heavily diluted) and then using the boiling hot water I wiped the grime away. Looks awesome. At least one day when it comes time to sell, I know how to detail it!

 

Funny, my husband has been telling me to take my car and have it detailed but I have been trying to convince him I could get it cleaner than any detailer would. I think it's pretty darn clean! A clean car makes me so happy!

Super Clean Oven Racks!

If you saw this you know how NASTY my oven was and that it actually came clean pretty easily! I told you I'd let you know how my oven racks turned out after sitting overnight in ammonia. I have to say, it worked great!

Put your oven racks in a bag (I double wrapped mine) with 1/2 cup of ammonia. Let it sit overnight. I would advise laying the bag down flat so the racks can soak up the ammonia.

Below is a before picture.

Here is the flip side of this one rack but every bit of food and grime came right off. Wearing gloves, I sprayed them down with a water hose and scrubbed with a coarse sponge. It worked very well! I highly recommend this method of cleaning your oven racks!

So yesterday was a "fort" kind of day for the kids and me, full of playing card games, making loom bracelets and playing Monopoly. Today we are getting out of the house. What are you doing today? Happy Hump Day!

The Internet Saved My Oven With AWESOME CLeaning Tips!

 

Last night I found a simple way to clean your oven using ammonia and a boiling pot of water. I have

tried numerous other ways to clean my oven but wanted to try something else. This set of instructions read CLEANING YOUR OVEN - The easiest way EVER! 

 

Is it too good to be true? I gave it a shot last night following all the instructions carefully. You use a boiling pot of water and ammonia... So far, very good! I was so excited once I got to wiping it out this morning that I wanted to share my results. I am not finished yet but will be very soon. I am following the instructions of pulling the grates out and putting them in a garbage bag with ammonia overnight too so I will let you know how that trick goes too. Yay for Internet help!

 

Find the instructions here! CLEANING YOUR OVEN - The easiest way EVER!