Home Economics 101 - get great cleaning products!

For cleaning I love Method cleaning products – they smell oh SO good, are nice to use and you can feel good because there is nothing bad in them. They are naturally derived and biodegradable. I also enjoy their line of hand soaps for my family. If you have kids, you typically go through pump hand soaps like crazy. I love the foam soaps because they dispense just the right amount of soap, and somehow makes hand washing fun for your child!

We regularily blast through the stuff, so my sister-in-law gave me this idea:

*Take an empty foaming hand soap container and fill it with Method dish soap to about a quarter full. Then fill the rest up with water, give it a shake, and you have a very economical way of refilling the more expensive foam soaps. The biggest expense will be when you initially buy the foam soap containers, and then wait for the savings to kick in!

Looking for a great way to motivate you into organizational bliss? It’s so much easier if you have a buddy for encouragement and support. This weeks show is all about finding a “Savvy Organizing Buddy”.

Once you find your buddy listen to the podcasts together and gear up to ‘get it together’…together!

*Don’t forget to report back here and let us know that you found your special organizing buddy, and what you feel their strengths are that will support you to be successful in your goals. We’d also love to hear what your strengths are that will motivate and support them in return. 

Team up this summer with The Savvy Organizer.

I love birthdays but to be totally honest, my favourite birthday is my own! It is the one day a year I take completely off and just indulge, relax and take it easy.

You can’t really take time off from being a mom, so while I was working outside the home, I always made sure I had my birthday off. Then when I had kids, I vowed that they would never go to school on their birthday and that we would spend the day together - doing whatever they wanted. Tomorrow is my son’s 6th birthday and I am so excited to start this tradition with him. I am going to make his cake with him, make some cupcakes to take to his class for the next day, make his favourite breakfast, lunch and dinner, riding his bike… I can’t wait!

This post is not to convince you to do the same thing with your kids, but to emphasize the importance of neat traditions with your family. I can’t think of any traditions that don’t require forethought and planning. So think of your own traditions that you want to do with your own family - not just Christmas or Valentines, but random days in the year to make your loved ones feel special (Ok, maybe I am trying to convince you to have the same birthday-day-off with your kids…) Take the day off if you can, schedule it in, and make your little ones feel like they are your number one for the day. What better gift can you give them than that!

Remember…like everything, unless you plan for it - it will never happen. Spend a couple minutes thinking about what you want to do, when and how and you will LOVE the reward of a closer family. HAVE FUN!!

This is a D-I-Y spice rack that I LOVE! I went on-line looking for a tiered rack that could be expanded, or modified to hold my spices inside the cupboard. After looking for two hours finding nothing, I finally got out my pencil and paper and designed one that, while not pretty is exactly what I was looking for and cost me $3 in materials.

Here’s how I did it:
I got 3 1×2” boards (8 feet in length) and get them cut into 24” pieces. I then stacked them (no glue, no nails) three high in the back. For the next row, I stacked 2, the next 1, and the bottom row was flush with the base of the cabinet. It was a little difficult getting the back spices out without knocking some over, so I ended up doubling each row up. But what I ended up with was exactly what I was looking for, a tiered, modifiable spice rack. The fact that it was so inexpensive made me all the more excited! (As I was doing this on a Saturday night, I was mocked mercilessly from my husband – but every time I look in the cupboard, it makes me smile that I am such a nerd!!)

***Click to see more pictures of this DIY project Read More »