August 25, 2015 by Krista

DIY Dry Erase Organizer Printables – Calendar, Menu Planner, Shopping List

Do you ever wish you were more organized? I sure do. Sometimes I have to be content with organizing the big things and that’s where this Organizer Printables set – that you can make reusable with dry or wet erase markers – is going to come in handy!

We are working on our third week of school here and the routine is finally starting to iron out a bit. But, it wasn’t always smooth sailing.

I need a good system. And, with any good system, comes some great organizers.

One thing I want in my organizers is that I can re-use them. I don’t want to waste that much paper and re-using the organizers lets me develop a system that works for me through trial and error.

I couldn’t find exactly the organizer printables I was looking for, so I made some. And, it’s super easy to make them reusable with this easy Dry Erase Organizer Printables Set and tutorial! Ready? Let’s do this!

DIY DRY ERASE ORGANIZER PRINTABLES

Materials:

– Thermal Laminator (This is the one I use)
– Thermal Pouches Letter Size (these are my preferred pouches)
– Printable Organizer Set (free download!)
– Dry Erase or Wet Erase Markers (I like these wet erase ones – the writing lasts better)
– Pen or Fine Tip Sharpie

Directions:

– Download and print out the Organizer Printables Pack. Click the link, download and save the file to your computer and then print out the pages. You can use them all or just pick and choose which pages you think will work best for you because I want these to be helpful for you. The pages are formatted to 8.5×11″ and the file is in PDF format.

– Turn on your Thermal Laminator and let it warm up completely. The little ready light will turn blue when you’re ready to go. Make sure the laminator is ready before you try to use it; you’ll get the best results that way.

– While the laminator warms up, put each organizer printables page into a thermal pouch. Pull the two layers of the pouch apart – one side of the pouch is sealed. Lay the page on one side of the pouch and fold the pouch back over.

– When the laminator is ready and your page is positioned in the pouch, line up the pouch on the paper tray of the laminator. In complete honesty: I loved everything about this laminator, except the paper tray. It has a fabulous fold up design, but because of that it is not very sturdy. I never had the tray collapse or anything, but it was pretty flimsy. But the cord wrapped away into the bottom of the machine and that almost made up for the unimpressive paper tray. And it had zero effect on the outcome of the pages.

– Gently slide the page into the machine until it starts to pull it through. Let go and the machine will pull it through.

– When the page completely comes out the other side, lay it down on a flat surface until it cools to prevent any curling or weird wrinkles.

– Use the dry or wet erase markers to fill out the organizer printables. I prefer the wet erase markers because they don’t wipe off as easily and my kids think it’s hilarious to wipe off my planners. The wet erase markers give me a slightly better chance of keeping all my info intact.

– Use your DIY Dry Erase Organizer Printables. I don’t actually keep all the organizers on my fridge, but I wanted to show them to you all at once. The menu planner and shopping list are my absolute favorite; the calendar and weekly planner pages are close seconds.

TIPS FOR USING YOUR ORGANIZER PRINTABLES

There are some pages that you may want to keep the information on and not have them be reusable. The important dates or important people pages, for example. I keep the important dates page next to our calendar to help keep me inline and not forget anything.

Use the important people pages as it fits your needs best. I have one page that has a list of important phone numbers on it. We keep it in a special drawer. I filled it out and then laminated it. It is not reusable because the info on here doesn’t change. My boys know where it is and know, if they have an emergency and there is not an adult that can help, that page will give them phone numbers to call. I also keep one that IS reusable as a baby-sitter reference, because I haven’t designed a baby-sitter reference page since my family is usually our sitter.

August 10, 2015 by Krista

Back to Clean with Clorox Disinfecting Wipes Grab-and Go Cleanup Kit

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #BackToClean #CollectiveBias

Have your kiddos gone back to school yet? Big J left for his first day of first grade just a few hours ago. It’s official: we are back to school! Back to out schedule, back to a routine! As much as I love a little spontaneity, a schedule is just so much more family-friendly! I know where everyone has to be and when and why and for how long and what I am responsible for and what I have to do to make sure it all happens. It’s just easy. Let the routine begin! Tomorrow… Today I am reclaiming my house from the natural disaster that was summer break. We’re getting back to clean!

I decided to set up a little grab-and-go bucket to help me keep things clean around here. This is for the everyday, all day messes my boys are continually creating. I gifted one of these to a teacher friend of mine and she was in love. She keeps it locked up on the top shelf in her cabinet and can pull it out if there are messes that need immediate attention until she can track down the janitor or to give a little more of a deep clean at the end of the day. Want the details?

CLOROX BACK TO CLEAN
GRAB-AND-GO CLEANUP KIT

Materials:
– Clorox Disinfecting Wipes
– Clorox stay-wet Disinfecting Wipes To-Go Pack
– Clorox Grout and Tile Scrubber Brush
– Clorox Single Scrub Sponges
– Clorox Bleach Pen
– Clorox Comfort Rubber Gloves
– Clorox Foamer Bathroom Bleach Spray
– Clorox Pump n’ Clean
– Small Basket

Directions:
– Just put everything in the basket and be sure to store the basket in a child-proof, safe location. It’s ready to go when you need it. It’s that simple and you’re ready for any messes life will throw your way. Because life will throw messes at you… get back to clean with Clorox products and know that you’re family is protected from germs.

If you want to make a smaller kit, cut out whatever you feel you don’t need. If I could only put one thing in my kit, it would be the Clorox Disinfecting Wipes, hands-down. There are so many uses for these wipes and I always have some on hand. Clorox Disinfecting Wipes kill 99.9% of germs. They’re also protect against common bacteria such as Staph, Salmonella, and E. coli. All things I want as far from my family as possible. Clorox Disinfecting Wipes won’t streak, which means I can clean the kitchen counters, spot-mop the kitchen floor, wipe off the toilets and then use Clorox Disinfecting Wipes to clean the mirror and faucets too. No streaks! We use these wipes everywhere: in the car, on the patio, on often-touched surfaces like door knobs and light switches, in the kitchen, the bathroom and to wipe down toys when they get grimy and need a little shining up and so many more places.

Ready to make your own kit? I grabbed all my supplies at Target while I doing all my other Back to School shopping. Get back to clean and grab your own Clorox Disinfecting Wipes at Target and protect your family from all those germs your precious kiddos will be bringing home this school year. And go check out more ways to get back to clean at Target!

August 8, 2015 by Krista

11 Places You Should Keep Huggies Wipes & 25 Reasons Why

It’s a blessed day in the house of mothers everywhere when, miraculously, you no longer need to buy diapers! It’s a day I anxiously await in our house, even though I know it’s at least a couple years away. While the days of diapers eventually end, there will always be reasons to keep wet wipes around.

1. In the car. Even if you don’t have kiddos in your car routinely, you can use Huggies Wipes to clean up those little spills or keep the dust and dirt off the dash and out of the air vents. It’s nice to have some wipes to clean up your shoes or hands or feet when you’re finished splashing in puddles, hiking in the mud or dirt or playing at the sandy beach before you track all that nature into your car. Don’t let a little mess get in the way of a lot of fun! HUGGIES® Wipes helps our whole family enjoy all of our adventures.

2. In the bathroom. I use wipes in the bathroom all the time. And not once on dirty bums. Okay, maybe once… or twice. We are potty training after all. But I use them more to clean up messes like soap spills, typical bathroom grime and gunk, make up build up on the counter top, or pee puddles. See reference to potty training above… It is a boy’s bathroom. Soap scum in the shower and soap goop on the counter are easily taken care of with a swipe or two of a wipe. I love Huggies Wipes for cleaning up after bathtime. It allows my boys to be a little more independent with their bath routines, but I can clean up any bath time play and soap spills with one or two swipes.

3. In the bedroom. I use wipes in the bedroom to take off my make up before I go to bed. So easy, much less messy when I’m not trying to splash soap off my face and Huggies wipes are gentle on my skin. I can enjoy all the day’s adventures, trying to keep up with my little explorers and still take care of my skin, even after I’ve already collapsed into bed. Middle of the night diaper changes are a snap with wipes in the bedroom. I don’t even have to take my baby out of his bed to get the job done. Wipes can be great for cleaning up grown-up bedroom messes too. Maybe invest in a wipe warmer for you…

4. In the kitchen. Little kitchen spills are perfect messes to use wipes on. Whether it’s wiping up faces and hands after dinner, cleaning up the sticky Popsicle someone left on the counter or the juice spilled on the floor. I love that using a wipe keeps the sticky messes to a minimum, is gentle on my boys’ faces and makes it easier to keep up with the messes in my kitchen. Dinnertime doesn’t have to mean messes!

5. On vacation. Whether you’re visiting Grandma, exploring somewhere new or making a weekend beach or mountain getaway Huggies wipes can come in handy for lots of life’s adventures. Keep grandma’s treasures as clean as they were before you arrived, clean up minor scrapes and injuries, freshen up dirty hands and faces, and get off that pesky beach and that seems to creep its way into every crack, crevice, nook and cranny. The photo is of an actual suit case we took with us on vacation to North Idaho before I unpacked it. I didn’t even have to stage the wipes in it, they really were already there.

6. In the Office. I use Huggies wipes in my home office often. Mostly, I use them to clean off wet and dry erase markers from my white board. They are also great for a quick computer or tablet screen wipe down. Dust and grimy fingerprints are no match for a quick swipe with a wet wipe.

7. In the Classroom. I am not a professional teacher, but my children’s educations are one of my top priorities and as such we have a small space dedicated to learning activities. Wipes play a major roll in our learning activities. We have an easel with a white board on one side and a chalkboard on the other. Wipes render a clean surface to practice spelling, writing and other concepts on the boards. They also make quick work of left behind play dough residue when we play with Play dough. They clean up paint activities and have even been used to scrub crayon off my counter top. We do a lot of learning activities during play time too and Huggies Triple Clean Layers helps keep the messes under control so we can learn and have fun!

8. At the Store. Have you ever wiped down a shopping cart? If not, you’re probably doing yourself a favor. Huggies wipes can help get the worst of the gross, grimy yuck off your shopping cart. I always try to wipe off the handle at least when we go to the store. It’s a little more peace of mind for me when my baby inevitably licks it. Gag factor=10.

9. At the Park. We use these epecially if we are going to have snack time while we are at the park. My kids are dirt magnets and the last thing I want to do is hand them a snack to hold with their grubby dirty hands. A quick wipe down helps me ensure they aren’t ingesting all those playground germs with their mid morning snack. And I’ve cleaned up more than one scraped hand and skinned knee with a wipe before.

10. Camping. We just spent a week camping and wipes were one of the first things I packed. I lost count of how many times we used them to clean up the boys’ faces, hands, and feet. We used them to clean up our high chair tray and our boys that still use their fingers to eat with at meal times. There was even a wipe down for me every couple days. Because even that is better than not showering for a week. I also used a wipe to shave my legs while we were camping. Yes, that actually happened. And it worked so much better than the dry shave I attempted a couple days before. No razor burn when I used the wipe.

11. In the yard. We don’t actually keep Huggies Wipes in our back yard, but they are right inside the back door. These are for cleaning off hands or feet after I’ve been out in the garden or for when my toddler ends up covered in grease or when my boys have been particularly adventurous in their exploring and damage control needs to be done before they are allowed back into the house.

Huggies Wipes with Triple Clean Layers offer a superior clean and a wipe thick enough I don’t have to worry about rips or tears while I’m wiping up some of life’s most unmentionable messes. Wipes get used all around our home, not just during diaper changes. Check out the 101 Uses of Huggies Wipes at Walmart video for even more reasons to keep a package of Huggies around your home, car, and on vacation and make sure to add a package of wipes to some of your family’s favorite places. Because Kids Outgrow Diapers, Not Messes.*

June 5, 2015 by Krista

Free To Be My {Messy} Boys

I’ve heard about parents of boys that love to sit and build with Legos or take things apart or even draw. Those boys are not my boys. It’s a struggle to get them to sit still long enough to spill the paint-with-water cup before they want to be on to doing something else. They move faster than I can keep up and they often leave a wake of chaos behind them.

FREE TO BE ADVENTUROUS

No one told me when I had three boys that I was actually bringing three tornadoes into my home, but that’s what it’s turned out to be. Their clothes are pure and solid evidence that they are messy, mischievous, adventurous boys. They are free to be my messy boys, because that’s how they learn best. But, I have had to figure out how to fight their mess-making adventures. I think I have probably googled how to get out just about every kind of mess you can imagine from my kids’ clothing. Grass, mud, oil, blood, paint, markers, dyes, staining foods, you name it. Whether it’s a mud puddle too good to pass up, a bloody nose, or the remains of a very delicious spaghetti dinner, they leave their mark on my childrens’ clothes. What’s a momma to do? I don’t have the budget to replace everything they soil and stain. How about you? No?

FREE TO BE SENSITIVE

All three of my kiddos have some mild skin sensitivities, but Big J is the most sensitive. He has some eczema that acts up when harsh chemicals, dyes or other substances come in contact with his skin. The longer the contact, the worse the irritation and I do have a boy that goes through more clothes than he needs to in a day, but Big J has grown out of that phase. Thankfully! I’ve discovered some great ways to fight their monster messes without hindering their adventures and still treat their skin with the sensitivity it needs. Do you worry about exposing your family to harsh chemicals and dyes? Does your family experience any sensitive skin problems?

FREE TO BE all CLEAN

I fight the messy adventures and stains with all free clear products when I’m cleaning up the laundry messes in our home. It is hypoallergenic and fragrance free. I can wash our clothes, blankets, bedding and towels in all free clear without sacrificing a good, deep clean. all free clear is the #1 recommended detergent brand by Dermatologists, Allergists, and Pediatricians for sensitive skin. It’s tough on stains yet gentle enough for the whole family. It’s safe for use in standard and HE machines.

With the new all free clear OXI mighty pacs and all free clear OXI boosters I can get even their whites back to the color they are supposed to be! The NEW OXI booster whitens and brightens clothes. It’s safe on sensitive skin. It costs 15% less than the leading brand AND you can use it to remove stains around the house (it can be used on carpet, upholstery and patio furniture, and more)!

The free clear products in all‘s laundry care line ensure that my family’s clothing is clean while keeping our skin safe from harsh chemicals and cleansers. We can play hard and make messes all day long and then snuggle together for a movie night. The last thing I need is to spend my time trying to get out stubborn stains over and over. There are too many adventures I don’t want to miss out on. all free clear helps make sure I’m there for every single one of them.

DO YOU WANT TO BE FREE TO BE?

all free clear: Powerful clean, but still gentle on skin. Discover it for yourself! Ready to try all free clear with your family? Grab this coupon to save $1.00 on your next all free clear product purchase!

May 14, 2015 by Krista

Large DIY Photo Backdrop for Under $10!

When I first started blogging, there weren’t a lot of industry standards – mostly because blogging wasn’t much of an industry yet. When I started blogging, most bloggers were hobby bloggers – sharing their passions with the world with little to no compensation. The blogging industry has changed vastly since then. Bloggers have to be great with more than just writing now. Bloggers must be, at the least, amateur photographers as well. This DIY photo backdrop has been amazing the last few weeks and has vastly opened up my options in my photography for my blog. Decent photos used to be good enough. But with the industry growth, so have the standards and “decent photos” are no longer good enough. Every time I use it, it surprises me how easy it is to set up, use and take down. But even more, the results are always surprisingly amazing, given the simplicity of this project.

LARGE DIY PHOTO BACKDROP
FOR UNDER $10

Materials:
I used 1/2 inch (0.5″) PVC Pipe for my DIY photo backdrop. I wanted it to be light and it was the cheapest. It was also the only size they had one of my fittings. If you want a larger pipe, check the fittings first and make sure they have the sizes you need. Otherwise, you’ll have to make some adjustments.
– Two 10-foot sticks of PVC pipe
– Two elbow connectors
– Two three-way elbow fittings with female ends
– Two male adapters
– PVC cutters or a hack saw
– Marker
– Tape Measure

Directions:
Decide on the dimensions you want for your DIY photo backdrop. I did mine 3 feet by 3.5 feet and it’s been perfect so far. Decide how and what you’re going to use it for and you can adjust the size accordingly. I use mine mostly to stage photos for my blog. This is what your supplies should look similar too once you get your pipe pieces cut.

– Use the tape measure to measure out your pieces on the PVC pipe and mark your measurements on the pipe with the marker.
I needed:
– Two 36-inch pieces
– Two 42-inch pieces
– Two 24-inch pieces
– Cut the pipe at the marks you just made.
– Put the frame together. If you want to glue it, do it now. I decided not to glue it because I wanted it to be compact and easy to store. I can also put it in portrait orientation with the pieces not glued, just by flipping a few pieces.
1. Screw the male adapters onto one end of each of the shortest pieces of pipe.
2. Put the elbow fittings on one end of each of the 36-inch pipe pieces.
3. Put the 3-way elbow fittings on the other end of the 36-inch pipes.
4. Twist the male adapters into the 3-way elbows and stand the frame up.
5. Use a variety of blankets as your DIY photo backdrop. I hold my blankets in place with clothes pins.

This has worked so well for the past two weeks! I can’t believe it took me so long to get this project done. My very favorite part of this DIY photo backdrop is that I can still achieve professional, high-quality photos and… I don’t have to clean my house. Blogger confession. I just set up my backdrop and hide the clutter. Yep, it’s true. I made my DIY photo backdrop to fit on my island countertop too. It’s the best $10 I’ve spent on making my blogging better in a longtime.

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