Organize It

After months of working non stop, homeschooling our girls, and still trying to maintain the day to day stuff there were some things that been on the back burner.  I am so thankful to have a husband that can deal with my craziness!  Just to help me win some of my sanity back he reorganized the upstairs hallway closet that you could barely shut thanks to kids digging in it.  Best husband ever!! I should have gotten a before shot, but I would probably be to embarrassed to post anyway ;)

Can Goods Organization

I purchased a couple a shelf can organizers a couple months ago from shelfreliance and LOVE them!

No more falling cans, or having to move the old ones to the front when you buy new ones.  Now it's automatically done.  Of course that doesn't stop miss Kiley from rearranging the cans if we forget to lock the pantry door =)

http://www.shelfreliance.com/

*This was NOT endorsed by shelfreliance, these are my opinions.

Baking

I LOVE to bake, I would bake all day if it meant I didn't have to cook, & I wouldn't gain weight.  Sadly that will never happen, but a girl can dream =)  Just like you after dealing with kids, work, and housework the last thing you want to do it is bake.  Since that will mean you will be 1. stuck in the kitchen longer and 2. be forced to clean up that mess to. 

The cost of the premade snacks from stores is insane!  My family loves things like muffins or granola bars for breakfast, now $3.99 for a 4 pack of muffins for our family is just not going to cut it.  Yes they taste great and are no work for you(since your clean up is recycling the container) but the cost to your budget is worse.  I have this friend that loves to try recipes and is always posting a new recipe.  She found this strawberry bread recipe that she made as muffins instead and after hearing her talk about them I had to try it.  They were amazing to say the least in our family's opinion.  Before this recipe my muffins were horrid, they would taste rubbery on the bottoms or really tough so I quit making them.  It wasn't until this recipe and many tutorials that I perfected them and can finally make an amazing muffin!  lol gone are the days of gagging. 

When I make these I double and sometimes triple the batch!  I divide the rest into 2 day meal size portions and freeze them.  Make sure you get all the air out of the bag, some people use a straw and suck the air out from the bottom that way.  Just make sure you watch out for those muffin crumbs when doing it unless you like having something unexpectedly causing you to choke*speaking from experience*.   We can usually get 12-15 days worth of muffins doing this with minimal cost, especially when stores have strawberries on sale for a $1!  To purchase that in store you would be spending close to $60!!   To make the strawberry chopping quicker, I highly suggest a food chopper of some sort, I currently use the hand chopper from oxo.  You can take your frustration out on the chopper, so you can consider it a multipurpose tool ;)

I purchase my baking goods in bulk also such as
flour -25 pds $8 - warehouse store
sugar - 10 pds
brown sugar - 7pds $5 - warehouse store
baking soda
vegetable oil  1.25 gal

When we moved I was able to find a home w/ cabinets galore, I keep my basic baking ingredients in the cabinet above, and my baking drawer just off to the left.  When baking they are both opened and everything is right in reach!  I hate stopping to wash things while baking(as you can see from multiple measuring cups from Ikea), when I'm baking, I'm baking, cleaning will be done as soon as they are in the oven.  The cupboard below that drawer contains all the flour, sugars, oil, etc.


Here's the recipe http://www.vintagevictuals.com/2009/07/strawberry-bread.html

When making granola bars vs buying premades you know what is going into them, you don't have to worry about what artificial or preservatives have been added.

Granola Bars

3 C. any granola(I buy a granola cereal that's on sale)

1/2 C honey

1/3 C peanuts, other nuts, or chocolate chips

2 eggs

Combine well and press into a greased 8x8 baking pan. 

Bake at 350 for 20 min's. 

Makes approx. 9-12 bars. 

Meal Planning

Some people think that I enjoy organizing and planning ahead, nothing could be farther from the truth.  I do not like it, but I hate chaos more, and that is what seems to happen when I don't.  I'm still getting the hang of working full time, raising 3 kids, running a home, & also being a teacher to a 1st & 3rd grader.  My husband works 50-70 hr weeks, never know when he will be home, and we never know if he will have a day off until the night before.  He averages 2-3 days off a month, on a good month it's more like 3-5.  All of this is the reason as to why I do what I do!  So if it is 1 in the morning and I'm heading to bed and I get the urge to organize? I do it! Odds are I will be to exhausted and not in the right frame of mind to do it later.  I am not a morning person.

The first place to start when getting your house more streamlined?  I think it's meal planning.  Meals are the one constant thing in your life that will never change, you have to eat, or at least your kids do.  Once you knock that challenge out of the way everything else becomes easier!  When I first started I would print off a 1 month calender and fill it out, now I fill out 3 months in advance so instead of stressing about it 12x's a year? I only have to do it 4x's a year =)  Eventually I would like to get it down to 1 or 2x's a year.  Stepping stones......

I don't use cookbooks, I hate clutter!!  I prefer to borrow books from the library, copy what I want and return.  I'm pretty sure with the amount of cooking, baking, and organizing books I check out each month they think I am a incapable of either and my house looks like a tornado went through.  I keep all my recipes in a accordion file.  I take out the recipes the night before, or I pin them to the fridge so I don't have to dig for them later.  I would love to make a cookbook scrapbook but since I change my mind so much it wouldn't work out to well. 

Some places we've found great recipes our family will eat are

kraftfoods.com

allrecipes.com

tasteofhome.com

With 5 of us and crazy schedules I stick to basics, no fancy ingredients, should be on the table within 30 minutes-1 hour(unless crockpot) after starting, and as fresh of ingredients as possible.  I always keep staples such as

diced tomatoes

tomato paste

spaghetti sauce

black beans

cream of mushroom

noodles(spag, elbow, rotoni, penne, ziti)

spices

bread crumbs

kidney beans

olives

In our freezer you will find rows of frozen veggies, enough chicken and pork for a few months, and beef for an entire year.  When it comes to grocery shopping I stock  up on sale items, only the ones that we use of course.  I usually only hit 1 store a week, maybe 2, and a warehouse once every 2-3 months.  Shopping with 3 is exhausting I think, so I would rather spend more time on 1 trip then dragging them multiple times throughout the week.

Once finished filling everything out, as much as possible I keep everything together taped inside the cabinet by the oven.

Organizing Obsessed

January first, where we make our yearly 'goals' if you will.  I've been a firm believer in not putting things off that can be done today.  I will admit that I still make a goal list too.  You start seeing all the ads for losing weight, healthy snacks/cereals go on sale, workout gear and accessories go on sale.  Along with articles on 'how to organize' being everywhere you look.  I am obsessed with organizing books.  It makes no sense when you think about it since theres only so many ways you could possible organize something, and more then likely each book is saying the same thing just in different words.  Yet...I still get sucked in each and every year. 

• Every year I print off a calendar and plan 3 months worth of meals to hang in the cabinet by the stove.  After 3 years of tracking store sale prices I have a pretty good idea what is going to go on sale/when which makes it so much easier. 

• I keep all my recipes in a small accordion file also kept in a cabinet by my stove w/ everything divided up by meat types/baking/etc.

• Since we have 3 bathrooms I keep all the cleaning supplies in a handy carrying case to tote from bathroom to bathroom, so no supplies are left in the house where little hands can get them.

• All the kitchen drawers have specific uses, one is for baking(with separate baskets for measuring cups), then silverware, the one by the stove contains all the items you would need while cooking.  Another hosts all of our address books, office supplies, cords, etc, one misc kitchen gadget drawer, and the final 2 have ALL the girls hair accessories.  Kind of an odd place to put them but when you have 3 children and you spend most of your time in the kitchen cooking, cleaning, baking, working, homeschooling, it becomes the most used room in the house.  All of the cabinets are packed depending on uses too into baking, cooking, staples, snacks, and dishes. 

• Entryway has hooks for coats, baskets for each person, and everyone has their own rack to keep their shoes on. 

• Laundry room has baskets on wheels from Ikea where everything is already separated by type/color.  The girls all have their own basket, so no more sorting laundry on who's who.  Makes laundry that much easier/faster!

• Make/Update a Spring, Summer, Fall, winter checklist.

• New folders/labels to keep important documents.

• Plan our shopping trips to malls for the entire year(to purchase after season clothes/items at a fraction of a price!)

• I use a small accordion like envelope for coupons AND one for non food items/clothing receipts/ misc receipts you might need/ paint samples(in case you need to do a touch up you know what color you used!), coupons(since bed bath beyond seems to mail those like crazy!), etc. 

• Add every ones birthdays to the calendar.

I love new tips for things!  Feel free to share yours!

Clutter overload

I hate clutter, things out of place around the house, or dirt on the floor is the quickest way to send me to crazy town.  One would think with a toddler in the house who happens to be our 3rd that I would be use to it.  Nope!  I have to have clean floors and counters like some people need coffee.  I admit I'm jealous of those that can just relax for a day and not let it bother them.  Whereas I try and it just nags at me over and over 'clean me clean me clean me' until I give in.  I certainly do not enjoy fishing wrappers and cereal out of the heat vents on a weekly basis thanks to Kiley, cleaning the litter box, dragging all the children on errands, scrubbing bathrooms, or laundry. Not only do I have an issue with clutter, I have an obsession with organizing.  I think those 2 go hand in hand.  My husband made the mistake of taking me to Ikea for my birthday one year and that is a place a organizing obsessive person such as myself will go crazy and turn into a giddy little school girl.  On the bright side my husband has learned it's easy to plan birthdays and anniversarys, just take me Ikea!