"Car Pants"

Years and years ago, back when Farm & Ranch Living magazine was a thing (Is it still a thing?) Anyway, years ago I remember reading one of the 'week in a life' journals in Farm & Ranch Living about a young family with four or five little boys. I don't remember much about the family or where they lived or what they did. I do remember they had the cutest built in bunk beds in their upstairs bedrooms, but mostly I remember their pants patches.

As you can imagine, a mother of boys living on a farm would see lots of pants with holes. Well, this particular mother had a very creative method for patching pants. Instead of your usual squares, she patched them by cutting out shapes of animals from iron on patches and sewing them over the holes.

I'm not sure why that idea stuck in my mind? I think it was the fact that she turned a dreaded task into something a little more fun simply by using a little creativity. Instead of old, ugly looking patches, she now had cute, whimsical ones that delighted her little boys. I remembered all this the other day when I was sewing car patches.

You see, when Isaac was little, I took the memory of that creative mother, gave it my own twist, and used car patches to patch his pants. I still do it with Charles and both of them have always been delighted to wear what Charles calls "car pants". I thought you might like to see the process.

Charles' poor pants were in sad need of repair, so I decided to tackle them all at once.

I got out my iron on patches and my little car patterns that I free handed once upon a time. Since the point is the cute patch, it doesn't really matter if the color matches the pants perfectly.

Next, I traced three cars -

two big and one small,

according to the size of the holes. 

I cut them out...

And ironed them over the holes.

I've tried leaving it at that, 

but they tend to come loose in a hurry. 

So, last but not least,

I hand stitch around them

with an applique stitch. I've also

used a zig zag stitch and 

done it on the sewing machine. 

And there you have it!

Charles wasn't at home when I sewed these patches. I purposely laid them out so he would see them and I wish you could have seen his face -- "Mom! Three pairs of car pants!!"

Patched pants were never so fun ☺

Packing Lunches

Well. That was a long, unplanned silence. Summer is over and school has commenced. Hopefully I'll slide quietly back into blogging...

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School is back in session, and so is the job of packing a row of lunches. I think one of the biggest things I dreaded this year about the new schedule was facing that morning scramble of packing lunches. And making sure there are things to pack in those lunches.

Chris couldn't understand my anxiety and had a simple solution for the problem. "Make them fix their own lunches! There's no reason they can't fix their lunches instead of you doing it."

I say a simple solution.

Except to me, that solution is anything but simple. The idea of four children in the kitchen every morning, scrambling around, searching for food, bombarding me with questions, squabbling over who gets what, fills me with more dread than doing the job myself. I know a lot of families take that route. I know there are probably ways to streamline the process. But not this mother! I just don't think I could deal with it.

Still, as school time crept closer, I kept thinking there has to be a better way. What could I do to take some of the stress out of my school mornings? Other than getting up at some ungodly hour. This mother doesn't deal well with that, either.

First day of school!

And then, I hit on a creative idea. An idea that would make the children do some of the work without the bedlam I feared in the kitchen. An idea that just might be the perfect fix and an actual simple solution. Can you tell I'm kinda proud of myself?

I'm not good with sticking to schedules and elaborate plans, so we'll see how long this lasts. For now, I'm loving it. While it's working, I thought I'd go ahead and share in case any of you other moms are like me and need a lunch packing solution.

Every night after supper, the children each have a job to do -- put away leftovers, clear the table, empty the drainer, wash dishes. I decided evening lunch prep would be just the ticket. Since everyone was doing jobs anyway, it was easy to include in the routine.

The girls lunches almost always include something to warm up. Jasmine, who puts leftovers away, is responsible to make sure there are 3 containers filled and ready to go.

Or a stack of pizza

as the case may be

 Lillian and Jennifer rotate between washing the dishes and the new job -- filling bags with chips and containers with cookies for lunches.

We have a basket designated 

for these items. 

In the morning, I make a sandwich for Isaac and a sandwich for Chris. The rest of the lunch items can be grabbed from what was prepared the night before. Add an apple or a bowl of frozen fruit, spoons where needed, and we're good to go! Now if I'd just spend some time making up a stash of these for those days when there are absolutely no leftovers, packing lunches might be almost fun.

Almost.

Five Minute Friday: 10 Tips For Teaching Little Children

*This post is the result of a rather unusual Five Minute Friday prompt to tell the group something you are knowledgeable about or good at. We discovered how hard it is to just honestly talk about something we think we're good at!

One of the things I told them was, "I know quite a bit about handling young children and am pretty good at keeping a class of 10-12 kiddos quiet, orderly and interested." Then I got to thinking it might be fun to come up with ten tips. 

These come from years of teaching VBS and Sunday School as a youth and I'm feeling quite shy about sharing them but here goes:

#1. Expect them to behave. A lot of people expect little children to be a naughty, unmanageable handful. Guess what? They get exactly what they expect! Children live up to what is expected of them.

#2. Be firm; don't make empty threats. Children will test your boundaries. They figure out very quickly whether you are going to keep your word. I was once a young, VBS teacher to a little boy who simply wouldn't listen. I told him if he talked again he would need to sit with the superintendent. He talked. It took all my gumption to carry out my threat but that little boy was as good as gold the rest of the two weeks of VBS. Guess what else? He told me he liked me!

#3. Choose your battles carefully. Children are little people; they are not going to act like adults. Don't pick a battle about everything but stick with the battles you choose.

#4. Come to class fully prepared. It's easy to think you don't need to study much for a class of little children. The better you know your material and the more organized you are with your plan, the better your class time will go. Children recognize a lack of confidence and will take every advantage of it.

#5. Be as creative as possible. The more visual aids you can come up with, the better. Children love interactive lessons. Never read the story to them, tell it with great expression! Bring a Bible story tape if you have one; help them act the story out; find an object lesson to pique their interest.

#6. Make learning fun. Whisper the verse three times; say it with your eyes closed; make up motions to go with it. There's no reason for learning to be boring.

#7. Take an interest in their stories. Little children love to talk. Try to give them an opportunity to tell their stories; listen, and ask questions. They are little people who love to be heard.

#8. Reward good behaviour. This doesn't have to mean candy or stickers, although those are sometimes good incentives too. Let the person who isn't clamouring to go first be first in line. Ignore the person who yelled the answer and choose the one who raised their hand. Ask the quiet child to pass out the books.

#9. Have fun together. Sometimes we're trying so hard to be in charge that we forget to have fun. I remember a particular class when a child wanted my sticky tack, so I showed him how far it could be stretched and we ended up taking turns stretching it across the room and laughing.

#10. Keep it orderly. Children can be orderly but they aren't naturally that way. Have them line up at the door and pretend to be a train when they are dismissed; a sleeping train. If you need to walk together somewhere, take a rope or string and have everyone take hold and march. If it's getting loud, have everyone whisper for a bit or have them all be quiet enough to hear a pin drop on the table.

I enjoy little children and the challenge of the naughty ones usually makes them the most endearing to me ☺ 

Now, go think of something you're knowledgeable about or good at and give your Creator some praise!

A Complete Guide to The Best Way To Can Tomato Juice

#1. When you go to the local Amish man to pick up your bushel of green beans, casually mention that you'd like two bushels of tomatoes rather than just one like you had ordered. When he says he's got them today if you want them, take them. Block out the fact that you are doing a bushel of beans today and you still need to sew a dress in the next 7 days, amongst numerous other things. Take them!

#2. Go out for supper with two girlfriends after doing said green beans. Be sure that one of them is a friend who owns one of these babies. 

*It's called a Vita Mix!

Listen skeptically as she tells you how she puts her tomatoes through this wonderful contraption and the juice is ready to cook - no Victoria Strainer; no other type of hand cranked sieve of any kind. 

#3. Borrow The Thing. I'm probably way behind the times but people, it works! This thing is the bomb.com. Do you know how much time I've spent cranking tomatoes through a sieve? Me either. But way too much.

#4. Next you need a daughter to cut up tomatoes for you. Preferably one like mine who sticks with it til it's done.

#5. You also need a son to run the fabulous blender. It is Much the best way.

#6. Then, you need a sister who teaches you how to cut out the other time consuming factor in canning tomato juice - water bathing for twenty minutes. Introducing: The Oven Method. Again, I am probably way behind on these revelations but in case you are like me, I will explain.

-- Preheat your oven to 200 degrees. In the mean time, cook your juice down. 

-- Fill oven with jars. I left them in there for fifteen-twenty minutes but I'm no expert on this.

*Just a little aside here. If you are like me - end up with jars with the paper still on - when you get the jar out of the oven, that paper will slide right off!

-- Place lids in pan. Cover with water and bring to a boil; turn on low. And, by the way, if you've never learned the secret of canning with (and re-using and re-using) twist lid jars, you're welcome. They work beautifully.

-- Once your juice is boiled down, keep your juice simmering, your lids hot and grab a hot jar out of the oven. (Oven mitt!)

-- Fill your jar, put the lid on, presto! Set to the side and repeat, repeat, repeat.

-- Enjoy the delightful "Pings" as the jars begin to seal.

I know it isn't really worth it these days, tomato juice is cheap at the store. But Oh, there is nothing like the feeling of satisfaction looking at those lovely rows of ruby red.... and it tastes better, too.

Unsolicited Dating Advice

I'm not exactly sure 'which wall' this post came off of but late one night it came spilling out, so here you go. I am no authority on the subject of dating ...... then again, I dated once and am happily married, so maybe I am?

I've been keeping this post in my draft folder for quite some time now but today, just for anyhow, here are 10 little tid bits of free dating advice.

1) Take your time. A solid foundation is not built in a day. 

2) Focus on becoming best of friends. Romance is great but friendship is what will stand the test of time.

3) Call me old fashioned but I believe the old 'Hands Off' policy is best. It is extremely difficult to focus on building a strong foundation and becoming best of friends when you are busily stoking the fires of love and romance with physical contact. Trust me, those fires are easily stoked without any extra help. I am not of the persuasion that all physical touch before marriage is sin but in my opinion, if you are choosing the best, you choose Hands Off. 

4) Be real. Best of friends don't do things just to win approval or make a good impression. If it is something you don't plan to do if you get married, don't do it while you're dating - opening her car door, bringing him his coffee, helping her wash dishes, allowing him to open doors.....

5) Don't be a clique. You are dating and you like to spend time together, of course. But someday you will need those other people in your lives, don't cut them off now. Do things with the whole group, be on opposite volleyball teams sometimes, let people ride with you when you go somewhere..... Best of friends don't have to be exclusive. They know the friendship is solid and will always be there. That's the kind of friendship that will see you through a lifetime; cultivate it. People will love to be around you.

6) Begin now to share all your secrets with each other. Best of friends know everything about each other and the only way to get there is to share. Ask each other questions about important issues and beliefs. Sometimes good old fashioned pen and paper are the best way to do questions and answers.

7) Play games together or some other form of relaxing recreation. In order to focus on becoming best of friends, it is important to not live in the 'romance trench' all the time. Do things together that allow you to have fun and get to know each other on a friendship level.

8) Allow each other the time needed to grow in your relationship. Sometimes you might find yourselves with differing levels of excitement about dating. Take your time, go back to focusing on being best of friends. The deepest love is the kind that grows slowly and pushes down it's roots.

9) Be spontaneous and keep it simple. A date doesn't always have to be in a fancy place with lighted candles. The closer you live to reality, the better off you will be.

10) If you truly do become best of friends, you will discover the flaws and irritations in each other. Point out and discuss as many of these as possible. Someday, when you marry your best friend, you will discover very few surprises and your journey into happily ever after will benefit greatly.

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Chris read this and grinned, "In other words, be just like us?" Well. Yes, of course! I mean, didn't we do everything just about perfectly? 😊

In all honesty, I know that no one mold fits every couple and relationship. These are ten things I see as beneficial to a dating relationship, I wonder what you think of?

To Take a Trip

Before our big trip becomes a distant memory (you know how quickly something like that can feel like a dream once you're back to real life?!), I thought I'd pass along some of the things we did to make traveling more fun and the packing a bit easier. I'd never done anything like this before, traveling for days at a time, not in my childhood nor as a mom. I kept trying to imagine how this would be?!

I had so much fun reading others tips and ideas, I thought it might be interesting to share mine too :) I found out there's lots of tips and tricks out there for big road trips if you go looking for them! After awhile I felt like I was on "idea overload"! :) We took lots of things along to try to keep people occupied, I knew they probably wouldn't all get used but it was exciting to have these bags of things that no one could play with until trip time! Another thing I wanted badly to do, was figure out some way to not have to drag 50 things in everytime we stopped for the night. A kind reader sent me an article with lots of great ideas and it included the perfect packing tip!

So, without further ado:

PACKING
disclaimer: I realize I am a light packer. If these ideas sound crazy to you, that's fine :) Maybe there's someone out there like me who will like them!

1) We put a rod in the back of the van and put all our dresses, shirts, pants, jackets...in short, everything possible...on hangers.
2) We used two "communal" suitcases, one big and one little. In the big one I packed all of our night clothes, our box of toothbrushes/paste, etc, shampoo/soap and a few other misc items. In the small one I packed all our underware and socks and here's where the perfect tip came in: I took a gallon size zip loc bag for each of us and wrote our names on them. Into each went that person's underware and socks. (*) Flatten out all the air, throw it in! It kept things neat and orderly and even Lillian (age 4) could find her own things easily. I loved it! It also made it simple to put things away when we came home! When we stopped for the night, out came 2 suitcases and 7 sets of clothes on hangers and that was it!
*note: this was summertime so there weren't many socks. You could use 2 bags per person if needed.

ACTIVITIES
since we had a big van, we took along a small stack of drawers that's usually full of doll clothes to hold all our stuff. Worked great tucked between Charles' car seat and the back of the driver's seat!

1) Coloring books/crayons/markers; Paper and pencils/pens
2) Books to look at/read
3) Books on tape from the library
4) A pack of pipe cleaners - my girls love making people and shapes out of them!
5) Magnets of our family and house and a cookie sheet to play with them on. I read this on a blog somewhere a long time ago and thought it was so neat! I took pictures of each of us and of some of our furniture, cut loosely around them, bought magnetic sheets, stuck the pictures on and cut close around them and made magnets! (We discovered the cookie sheet came in handy for a nice lap desk too!)
6) Three ring binder with plastic sleeves. I put blank paper in a few and cut pages out of an activity book and stuck them in the rest. They could write on the sleeves with washable markers and then wipe them off!
7) A list of all the states to mark of license plates. Chris and Isaac had a big competition going with that! I think they found all but 7!
8) A bag of wrapped packages. I went to Dollar Tree one day and had fun! :) Nothing big, just little stuff. On the days we drove for longer stretches, I'd set the timer for an hour an they'd get to pick a package to open. This had to be the hit of all the activities along!
9) Other misc - sometimes we'd do the timer thing and play a game when it went off, or read another chapter in the book we bought, or sing, or tell stories.
10) Rubberband bracelets. The girls spent a bunch of time on those!
11) Games. I think the only one we ended up using was Battleship and the Uno Dice for Charles!

Charles was the biggest pain! There's not much to amuse a 15 month old in a van that lasts more than a few minutes! We had some books and toys and snacks,etc. His favorite activities turned out to be messing around with the Ipad, and playing with the Uno Dice game on the cookie sheet :)

I think that's it! Should have asked y'all for ideas before we left - maybe you'll have to share them and I'll tuck them away for another time!

Teaching Our "Best Organizers" to Help Around the House

I grew up in a family where the children didn't have to work hard. Or maybe that was just me, beings I was the youngest and all :) But really, I don't think any of us would say we were over worked. My mom was like me, having a child at her elbow helping with things didn't come naturally and often it was much easier to just quickly do it herself! She also was very soft hearted and felt sorry for us and many, many times she would trade jobs with us - "I'll wash the dishes if you fold the wash" or some such deal. Quite often she would even offer to do the dishes while we all played a game together! That was just mom.

My husband grew up being put to work! He declares that he wouldn't have dreamed of saying he was bored as a child because that would certainly have meant being put to work! Because of our different upbringings, he and I haven't always agreed on what should be expected of our children. I think I mentioned before how he informed me there was no reason for me to be doing dishes and set up a dishwashing schedule and, lo and behold, there really was no reason at all! They even handle putting away leftovers and clearing the drainer perfectly fine on their own!

I'm trying to be more "hard hearted" and get my children to do things instead of making myself frustrated trying to do it all. I still have a long way to go! The two oldest take turns clearing the table / putting food away and clearing the drainer / washing the dishes. The two youngest do a lot of picking/ straightening up. Other jobs the children often get called on for are - hanging out, bringing in, and folding laundry, sweeping the kitchen/dining area, setting the table, entertaining Charles, helping younger ones with drinks, etc.....

I'm trying to work on getting them in the kitchen to help with food prep more. This is a place where it's so easy for me to just quickly do it myself! It goes better if I make some sort of schedule/chart to say who does what and when. Problem is, I often don't take the time to be that organized and I tend to not stick with my own chart after awhile! :)

I've been trying to think what other skills my older ones should be learning.... I know Jasmine would love to learn how to sew, just not sure if I'm ready for that challenge! Doing the laundry maybe?

I enjoyed your input on the last post! You suggested rewards or special privileges for jobs being done or for doing something without being told, giving little ones specific instructions - "Pick up all the blocks. Then pick up all the toy food..."etc, rather then just "Pick up all the toys!" Something I've often done when doing a quick clean up is say "Everyone pick up 5 things!" and keep giving numbers til the job's done.

June is almost here and I'm moving on to another subject.... tell you more about it next week! :)

Teaching Our "Best Organizers" to Clean

As far back as I can remember, my mom always, always cleaned house on Saturday. And, as far back as I can remember, the girls helped! I suppose since the three oldest were girls, the boys never had to help, but I'm not really sure. I just remember when the youngest (me) was included in the Saturday ritual. Usually, all of the jobs were written on slips of paper and then all those participating chose equal amounts of slips as their jobs for the day. Sometimes, if all participants agreed to it, jobs were chosen verbally. Job descriptions varied - it could be as specific as "dust living room" "sweep steps"... Or as general as "living room" (dust, pick up, sweep...)

When my 2 oldest were probably 3 and 5 (boy and a girl), I began following in my mom's foot steps. Saturday meant cleaning, and cleaning meant slips of paper with jobs! I remember choosing 4 - 6 jobs they could do and letting them pick out the papers. Oh, it was big stuff! :) Gradually, they did more and more jobs until I rarely did any of the dusting and sweeping! They must have been only 5 and 7 by that time!

I must insert here that I'm not very picky. (Probably not as picky as I should be!) So, usually if company was coming, I lent a hand to make sure corners were done a little more thoroughly, etc. :) I was always in charge of the kitchen and bathroom while they did the other rooms.

I never understood why the youngest children in the family ended up spoiled and not as industrious......I do now! It is so easy to just let the older ones keep doing the work!! My youngest are 6 and 5 and I can't imagine them running the sweeper like the oldest two had to have been doing at their age! Of course it only complicates matters to have older siblings bossing younger ones and all that goes with that. What chance do the youngest have, really?? ;) My mom was always on my side in these matters, beings she was also the youngest. When someone would make the smart remark about the youngest being spoiled she would always say, "Well it wasn't my fault if I got spoiled!"

After not having my own house for a year, and now having a very small one, I'm not nearly as strict with the Saturday ritual. I still stick with that method mostly, and I'm trying to include the younger ones in the slips of papers these days. Now they're the ones thinking it's big stuff! They go in stages, you know. First they beg to help with things, and every job given makes them feel very important! Then they switch to it being the most awful thing to be asked to pick up toys - "I just don't eeeven knooow where to staaart!!" (Said in the most pathetic, hopeless way imaginable!) There is hope! My worst picker upper is becoming one of my best lately, and sometimes I just have to stop and marvel that this is the same child! Most of it is just age making a difference, but I'm sure it's also sticking to it and making them help even when they think it's awful.

So, do your children help clean house? What is your method?

Tips from You on "The Best Organizing Tip of All"

Weeks ago, (back in another life time, was it?) I talked about the Best Organizing Tip of All - To Train Our Children - and I asked you for input on creative ideas. Sadly, it appears that we all want our children to be trained but no one wants to offer advice! I had several of you express your interest in the subject, several of you say you'd love some advice/answers on how it's done, but I only had one, lonely email offering any advice.

I don't believe that none of you have any good ideas, I'm just not buying that! I can imagine that most of us feel like we're doing a poor job or, at best, feel like we could be doing so much better, I'm right with you there. I wish I would be more consistent at expecting certain things done and having a more organized program in place (Wait. An organized program for organizing?? Well, anyway!). But, I think I do have a few ideas I could share with you and I'm pretty confident you could do the same!

I would still love to hear some practical ideas from your house, but for now I'll share the email that one brave soul sent my way because it has some very good advice:

"My children are mostly grown now, but I well remember the days of things not always being where they belonged. The biggest thing, and I learned this from my Mother, enjoy working with your children. When children are 2 -3 years old they want to help. Give them age appropriate jobs. If they see you enjoying being a homemaker it will rub off. So my advice is work with them. Don't just tell them to do something. My sons are now 20 and 25. If they're home on cleaning day they are still always ready to grab the mop and pitch in. Thanks for letting me share something close to my heart. Too many young moms don't enjoy homemaking. It needs to be taught."

Excellent advice, and so very true! I have thought a lot about that next to the last sentence..... Ouch. I think she's right! Something I need to work on.

Next week I'll share a few practical things we've done around here to teach our children to help around the house...

The Best Organizing Tip of All

It came to me one day, as I thought on organizing households and tips for doing such, that there is one tip that trumps all the rest! As a mom I can use space savers, and have a place for everything, and use a planner, and straighten up the house to keep me sane, but unless the rest of the people in my house share in my mission, it's really a hopeless one! Therefore, I submit to you, that the Best Organizing Tip of All is to Train Our Children!!

I've often heard moms with large families or older children say, "Oh, I have a lot of help!" And as my children get older, I see the truth of that! But, I also realize the truth of the fact that they don't become "a lot of help" all on their own!! So, while the secret to an organized household lies in our children learning the skill and putting it to practice, ultimately the ball lands squarely back in mom's lap!

So how do you do it? I'm asking for your input again: How do you teach your children to "be a lot of help"? Summer is coming up and I've been thinking about things I should teach my 10 and 12 year olds, any good ideas? And how do you make sure the younger ones learn the same skills the older ones did, any good tips? Do you teach certain chores at certain ages? Go by the abilities of individual children? Let their interests be a cue? Not every family does it the same or has to do it the same, but what works for you?

If you have some input to my questions (or ideas for things I haven't even mentioned!) jot them down and send me an email at christopherbethany@juno.com I'll read them eagerly and share them with everyone sometime in May! I'll round up a few ideas we've used in this house too, and maybe we can all become a little better at putting to use this Best Organizing Tip of All!

More on Organizing

I love lists - to do lists, what I need to pack lists, don't forget lists, grocery lists... you name it! Last year my mom gave me a lovely planner by Dianna Overholt called Guiding the House. I loved it!

There were just a few problems with it. 1) It only lasted one year and, if you will recall, I don't like to spend money :) 2) I used less than half of it. There were about two or three sections that I really loved, the rest wasn't really that useful to me.

So, at the beginning of 2014, I took a $.15 notebook from our school supply stash and made it my "planner"! My favorite part of the boughten planner was the section marked Days. Each page had the date for the week at the top: April 7-13. Then the page was divided into 7 spaces with the day of the week and the date in each space. At the bottom was some extra space for misc things.

I decided I could take a notebook and make my own pages like that! I like to jot down things in the spaces on dates that I know ahead of time and need to remember. Every morning (or the evening before) I like to make a list of things I'd like to get done that day. I might jot down a note on the weather, just for interest, or something interesting that happened. At the bottom, in the misc space, I might list some things that should get done in the week.

I don't strictly abide by my lists, but it helps me to be motivated if I at least jot down a list! I'll be honest, sometimes I write things down after I do them just so I can cross them off :) Another reason I like it is because I write a weekly email to family and it's so much easier to write if I can glance back and see what we did each day! I also used tape to make tabs in the back of my notebook for 2 smaller sections for Things To Remember and Misc. These make great places to jot down ideas for birthday gifts, lists of who I sent Christmas cards to last year, recipes to try...you name it! It's nice to have one place to go to look for "that thing I wrote down the other day"!

My notebook is already looking raggedy, instead of sleek and clean like the boughten planner, and I didn't count to see if I'll have enough pages for the whole year, but I like it. If it falls apart or I run out of pages, what's another $.15 for another one? ;)

Space Savers

Living in a 720 sq ft house with no closets and a family of 5 children has given me lots of opportunity to get creative when it comes to household organization! Most of the time I rather enjoy the challenge, although I have my days and my dreams... One of the things I have found to help tremendously is Space Savers.

I don't like to spend money. Chris teases that I don't think something is a bargain unless it's free! :) That's stretched, but you get the idea. Usually I have tried to organize with what I have - cardboard boxes, baskets, whatever. I've finally decided that in this house it's worth spending a few $$ on some nice things to make the place more tidy!

There are sooo many things you can buy!! Here's a few of my favorites that have helped around here: (clockwise from top left) 1) Plastic drawers under the short hanging clothes for sweaters, etc. I used boxes turned on their side and stacked but this looks SO much neater! 2) Three small turn tables in my big, unhandy corner cupboard in the kitchen where anything you put in the back you might as well forget about getting to! Works wonderfully!! 3) Over the door hooks to make extra space to hang clothes on hangers. I use these nearly every day! When I wash, the dresses go there to dry. 4) Again, plastic drawers. The bathroom vanity doesn't have drawers so where to put toothpaste and all that good stuff?? Small plastic drawers in the cupboard under the sink work great! 5) Shoes. Under the bed has been the place for shoes around here, but that space could be used for so many more things, ya know? ;) This shoe holder hangs in the girls room and takes up very little space! 6) Over the door towel racks. In our teeny tiny bathroom there is no space for racks and the walls in the laundry/sink area outside the bathroom had no free space, so these towel racks on both doors were the perfect find!

And there you have it! A few Space Savers I've discovered. Check back in 6 months and I may have found more/different ways :) What do you do around your house?

Some Organizing Tips from You, to You!

It was fun hearing from a few of you, especially since it introduced me to one person I didn't even know! :) So...a few tips:

From a mother of 11 - "Putting items of a like kind together will help you find something much sooner than if you don't have categories." Very true! I can see this being a good idea for toys, for example, along with the elusive scissors, tape, and many other categories.

From a friend in OH: "Probably the row of hooks in the laundry room for coats, jackets, umbrellas with crates underneath for shoes, crocs and rollerblades. Oh, and the muffin tin to sort loose change and paper clips and stuff in the drawer." Coats, jackets and footware are a major thing in need of some organizing in any house with children! And I love the muffin tin idea...someday when I have an extra drawer :)

From an old time friend: "How can you organize when you don't know how?? The book *Large Family Logistics* by Kim Brenneman is helping dig me out of the hole of unorganization." Sounds like a book worth reading!

And then from a family member: "Guess the older I get, the less answers I have. And maybe realize that at this house, for this time, there are other important things. 'The things that really count are the things we cannot count.' T.J. Bach. Still, clutter drives me crazy and it's hard to have rest in my spirit if everywhere I look is a mess. So it's nice if in the evening the living room or sitting room gets straightened up. A restful place to read and pray before the day gets too busy." I so identify with that last part! There is something about a straightened up house that can change my whole mood!!

Thank you all very much for your contributions and if this inspires anyone else, feel free to send me an email at christopherbethany@juno.com. Tomorrow: Some tips from me :)

PS I am thrilled to have a new phone - hence the length of this post!! Look out, now you'll find out how long winded I can be! :)

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Searching for Tips: Join the Fun :)

When I started this blog 3 years ago, I didn't have a big plan for where I was going or why, but I did have some big dreams! One of them was *ahem* lots of comments :) I'm not sure how I thought that would happen, but somehow I imagined they would just magically start appearing I guess! I'm finally accepting the fact that by and large, most people quietly read...but don't comment. That's just the way it is. And, really, it's ok! Still, I'd love to have more interaction! So... (you knew there was a "So..."?) So, since I'm feeling a need for some newness on here, I'm asking for input! :) I'm gonna ask for your response on a certain idea, question, etc, then in the next month I'll share them. For example: Give me your favorite household organizing tip! That's the one I'm putting out there for April. Send me an email at christopherbethany@juno.com and I'll pass your tip along to everyone else sometime in April! It doesn't have to be big or fancy, just join in for the fun - who doesn't love getting new ideas?!