Organizing Kids Clothes

Hi All,

When you have kids you accumulate a lot of clothes.  They grow like weeds and in a matter of a few years you have on hand about six full wardrobes of different sizes.  It makes frugal sense to keep the clothes.  But a few children later, and different genders, what do ya do with them?

This is what I did.

First, you need to assess what you have.  Gather all your clothes.

Create piles with different clothing in each.  For example, all the PJ's in one, tops in another, bottoms in another, you get the idea.

After that's been sorted, gather just one of the piles.  Now sort the different sizes.  Here I've sorted my sons tops.  Newborn to 3 months, 6-9 months, 12 months, Sz 2 tee's, Sz 2 long sleeves and sweaters, etc.

Now sort through each of these mini piles.  Ask your self  "How many (shirts, tees, sweaters) in this size do I really need?",  "Why did I pack this away dirty?".

For the next step you will need some bags. This is what I used:

 I bought them from Dollartree.  The over-sized plastic zip bags are much less expensive than the brand name ones. I also bought these travel bags.  They're quite large and once everything is in them you roll the bag and the air comes out the end, so they take up less room.  I tended to use the travel bags for pants and dresses (anything big, or that I had lots of). Everything else fit either in the over-sized bags, or large Zip bags.

The next step is you "file" the clothes you decide to keep in whatever sized plastic zip bag they require.

 LABEL.  I made tabs for the left-hand corner of the bag with some tape.

And there you have it.  Now you can see what you have in each category of clothing.  It took me a long time to do all of this since we have girl clothes from NB to size 7 and boy clothes from NB to size 4. But well worth it.

I also have a bin for clothes that my boy has yet to grow into and my oldest girl to grow into.  In these bins I just tossed whatever I get into them.  They're not sorted but I don't have too much so it's no big deal to sort when the time comes that they need something from them.

If my kids get into one of these bins and start trying on different things, there's no need to fret anymore ('cause it's happened before), I can just grab the garment, see what size it is and put it in it's appropriate sized bag.

All of these bins are kept in the baby room closet.  Jackets that they will wear when the winter season arrives are hung in there too.

Cue happy dance.

Blessings,

Christina

Kool-Aid Dishwasher Cleaner

Hi All,

Dishwashers.  They clean your dishes, hence the name.  But I never really thought I had to clean the dishwasher.  I mean I do wipe it out every once and a while.  Deep clean a dishwasher?  Your dishes come out clean so I figured the washer itself should be clean too, right?  But we do deep clean our showers, baths and sinks, so it does make sense to deep clean the dishwasher too.

I've read about using Kool-Aid to clean your dishwasher.  Apparently, ONLY Kool-Aid Lemonade works because of the citric acid.  I went shopping and all I could find was Kool-Aid Lemon-Lime.  I figured Lime is also a citrus right?  So I gave it a try. (Normal Cycle, no dishes)

The result?  Inconclusive.   I think it worked. The dishwasher didn't smell as bad as it usually does after a load.  It didn't really smell at all, and I think it looked cleaner.  I will have to try the Lemonade one to compare.  Good news though; my dishwasher didn't turn green!

I wanted to write this post just to debunk the "Lemonade is the only Kool-Aid to work".  Lemon-Lime also works, I think.

Blessings,
Christina

It's About Time

Well the title of this post says it all.  It's about time I got this quilt done.  It's been in the works for about two years!  Finally I was motivated enough to get it done.

I may have broken some official quilting rules.  I mixed different weight fabrics, I didn't use 100% cotton thread, I didn't even precisely cut the squares all evenly and my quilting-in-the-ditch traveled a lot. I may not win an award in some quilt contest but I think I won over my daughter since it was for her.  She is so excited to go to bed!

Here's some quilt-in-progress (totally unprofessional) pictures:

My bucket list states "Have a home-made-quilt on each bed".  One twin quilt done, four more twin quilts and a one queen quilt to go.

Blessings,
Christina

Crafty Important Dates Reminder

Hi All,

I currently keep dates I need to remember, like anniversaries, birthdays, dates loved ones passed away on; on a lined paper.  At the beginning of the year I transfer those days onto the calendar.  Simple, easy, blah!

I wanted to remember dates novenas start on and feast days other than Christmas and New's Years too, like St.Joseph the worker and St.Terese's feast day.

Could I do this with crafty flair?  Oh yes, yes I could.  And I did.

Here's what I used: A Cassette Tape holder, paper cutter, fancy cardstock, white cardstock, itty bitty stamps from Michaels and a marker (instead of an ink pad I just colour the bottom of the stamp and press).

Cut the sheets of cardstock to the desired sizes you'd like.  Turn your cassette cover back so it sits like a card holder, and fancy that up. Glue on the white cardstock to the front of your papers.

Stamp your months and glue them on. Write in your dates.  Ta Da!

I think I'll write in pencil, just in case there are more dates to add.  I don't want to keep making a new card.

Blessings,
Christina

click here

Family Rosary

Hi All,

Here is the finished Month of Mary Moon filled with stars as promised. 124 Stars to be exact.  

Now on to today's post.  If you would have told me three months ago I'd be writing a post on family rosary I would have scoffed.  I've tried many times before to implement family prayer but nothing ever stuck.    

Finally, I said "Enough is enough. We're just going to DO something, and stick with it."

With the help of a rosary CD, which you can get at the Mary Foundation, and our own sticker chart I made using Open Office, I can now say we have STUCK with a family Rosary since March.

We keep the chart on our fridge with an envelope that holds stickers.  When we don't do the Rosary, I draw a cross (as seen near the end of the chart) , instead of that sad face you see 'cause it was, well...sad.

Evidence that we've been doing this for awhile.

Tips:  

-Have a special treat afterwards, like ice cream or jello.  Hey, even a jellybean is worth it.  

-Depending on age, allow the kids to play quietly with something, like blocks, or look at a book.

Our rules for Rosary time are: 

-No unnecessary noises or talking.  

-Must be in the same room.

Afterwards, we cheer and run to the fridge to put a sticker on our chart.  I even like to pick my own sticker!

The real point is to make this time enjoyable and the kids can look back on family Rosary time with good memories.  It's okay if the kids aren't really saying each "Hail Mary".  Remember, the only bad Rosary is one not said.

Blessings,

Christina