One Little Word 2016

Do you do the one little word thing, or word of the year? I think it's an interesting concept and kind of fun! I knew from about mid November what my OLW would be this year!  I don't think it would work so well if last year my word hadn't been REFINE. SO much change and refining last year!

~ We moved 2x and got rid of so much stuff! Refining our belongings.

~Gave up a whole lot of our normal doings. Refining how we spend our time

~Changed (a little) about who we spend our time with. Refining more of our time.

Refined some of what we eat, how many chores we have, activities. Just a whole lot of changes for the better!

But now we are here with new priorities, time commitments away from home, meals and we still have a house that is not even CLOSE to being done!  So looking at how we do everything with FRESH perspective.  It almost feels like we went through every aspect of our life, cut a whole bunch out and now we just have piles of piles that needed to sorted into Fresh ways of doing things.

So there it is. Fresh. Everything here is about to be FRESH!

What is your WORD?!  I want to hear all about it!

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Mama Capsule Wardrobe

I did it, took the plunge and am doing a capsule wardrobe. Now I couldn't just get rid of everything, so I am starting with just Fall! For Fall I have a capsule wardrobe. It doesn't feel as intimidating as going full fledged off the deep end.

I started down this path in April, HERE.

 

*Some pieces in the laundry

 

Once we moved in and got settled I was so excited for Fall, but it's been 80 so many days still that I felt like I had to leave my summer stuff out. I just packed the tank tops away that I wore, donated what I didn't!

Being a Stay at home mom and Housewife means I don't need a work wardrobe, that might make it a little easier for me. I need cute, easy care stuff to grocery shop, carry babes and sit at ball games in. Deciding what type of clothes you NEED before you start will help.

The article I read suggested 

15 tops

9 bottoms

9 pair of shoes

2 dresses

2 jackets

For me, I would have 0 problems meeting that 9 pair of shoes!

I have boots, moccasins, converse, flats, workout shoes, work boots and a pair of heels.

I also don't have a lot of bottoms. I am a pretty basic dresser and don't have a whole lot.

3 pair of jeans (all a little different) 2 skirts, 2 leggings and 2 pair of jeggings.

Dresses are another issue, I love dresses! I kept like 4! And tops is hard for me too, because a cardi is a top and I love cardigans! I kept out a total of  22 Tops! BUT, 5 of them are undershirts.
 Not sure if that counts.

I didn't buy a single thing to make all this stuff work. I wanted to find a top for underneath cardi's but I didn't find THE one at a decent price so I just went with what I had and I will make it work.

Love how they have it displayed here!

I think the key for me was making sure pretty much everything went together. So I could just mix 'n match it all. It has made laundry much easier, and we have more space in the closet!
 This graphic made it easy to imagine some outfits!

I didn't count undergarments, cami's etc. Workout clothes or pajamas, 1 special occasion outfit or swim suits.

Want some direction on what to keep?
Check out all of these options! 


Not sure how it makes laundry easier? 2 big reasons!

1. I don't try on 4 different outfits (which usually end up on the floor, then laundry) because I know everything works right now!

2. I can keep better track of how often I am wearing jeans and sweaters. So I am not washing them unnecessarily.

If you are thinking about taking the plunge, DO IT! Try it for a season.

 This for sure fits in my goal for the year to REFINE, which seemed like it was put on the back burner while we moved and packed.
 I still have a couple months to make a big difference for our family.

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Organizing Friday {Week 17}

I asked a couple weeks ago how long other people keep their clothes that don't fit right now. For me, it's after baby, none of my summer stuff really fits and I don't see them fitting in time to use them this summer. There was a whole variety of answers. I haven't decided what exactly I will do yet. Something has to give though.

Clearly I needed a good clothes purge! That is what I worked on today and have a bit more over the weekend. I have been reading all about this capsule wardrobe thing and read this great article.

Why I Got Rid of My Wardrobe

So inspiring!

 Right now I feel like not a whole lot of my clothes fit me just right (yay post baby body, not), there aren't many that I LOVE and overall it is kind of overwhelming because there are too many choices!

I didn't know if I could be that brave and limit it to 

15 tops

9 bottoms

9 pair of shoes

2 dresses

2 jackets

like the article suggested. That is SO SO much less than I have right now. I am going to try a little bit more or go that route but put some in storage rather than completely letting them go.

 I have a hard time balancing the wear it out thing vs. the capsule wardrobe thing. I know we do not have a budget for a new (even small) wardrobe every season.
Finding where my budget and lack of desire to shop meet will be interesting.
It was not fun deciding what could be packed away for now. But I think I will like having less to sort through and I don't feel like I let too much go that I will regret it. 

2 Sweatshirts
5 Cardi's
5 Long sleeve tops
9 t shirts/short sleeve tops
11 tank tops/summer tops
*Once we are officially in summer the long sleeve ones will get packed, or if I haven't worn them, donated.
 

 11 dresses
3 jackets
*no room to store the other 2 winter coats

 2 Pair of jeans
2 pair of capri
2 pair of shorts

1 skirt
 *also have a maxi skirt folded

I also kept a variety of basic colored cami's and tanks for under tops. Also, my clothes that are in the laundry, not much though. 3 sets of workout clothes.

I put most of the stuff in a couple of bins in the corner of the closet, but this is what is leaving. And there is evidence of "yes" day, little dude was helping me and playing on his tablet.

Do you do the capsule wardrobe thing? Have you considered a capsule wardrobe? If not, what is holding you back? 

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Organizing Friday {Week 10}

Last week was pretty easy, just dealing with the wrapping paper and bags. 

That Target bag was some of it, the rest was hidden under all that fabric. Yikes!

First, I sorted, got all the garbage and items we won't be using out of the way.

Separated the Christmas specific stuff and put with the Christmas stuff, out of the way.

Ahhh, so much better all in 1 accessible box.

 I decided to keep just 2 small rolls of wrapping paper. It's not often that a bag won't be a better fit anyway. These rolls are small so no extra storage.

How do you store wrapping paper and gift bags?

I've seen some serious closets full of stuff like this

I heart Organizing

But that kind of space is just not here, and I don't want to keep track of that much wrapping paper. I would rather have 1 roll of brown craft paper from the dollar tree that I can use and donate the excess, then decorate it for the occasion.

 

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March Goals

I am just now thinking about what my goals are for March. A big thing in February was giving up soft drinks. I didn't do too bad, occasional drink here and there. After not really drinking diet cola this month, I tried a drink of it the other night and I could barely get it down! 

I am still avoiding coffee I have to pay for and going to keep avoiding soft drinks. We will just snowball them and keep going.

I am trying to base all of my monthly goals around Refining. I was initially thinking I would give up chocolate in March but being honest here. Cadbury mini eggs? Yeah, I'd fail!

We are done with basketball and we don't have any sports starting until after Spring break. I feel like March is the perfect time to refine our meal time. We have been in a dinner rut and busy with basketball. I haven't been meal planning that great and kinda winging it. That really just hasn't worked out for me. I don't think a month worth of meal planning is going to work for us either, so many variables with 4 kids and a busy hubby. I am just going to keep my goal to meal planning dinner 6 days a week, and STICKING to it. This should really help me refine our grocery list and grocery shopping. 

I've shared meal planning before, I do things differently at different times of year. I know during baseball season everything has to be portable, that is only a few weeks away. Until then, I am just trying to focus on

~Not spending more than our grocery budget due to lack of planning

~Getting the kids to try more types of food

~Use more fresh veggies

~Use what's in our freezer/cupboards

If I can make the time, I also would like to see about container gardening. Since we are renting we have slightly limited choices. If we have our pots still and I can squeeze the other stuff needed into the budget we just might give a few plants a go!

Any container gardening book recommendations? I already have a slight brown thumb as it is.

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Our Favorite After School Snacks

In an effort to make home the place kids can't wait to come home to, I need to put a little more into our after school snacks.  Don't get me wrong, they aren't starving but snacks have been kinda ho hum around here lately.

We aren't big on sugary snacks, these kids are sweet enough already, but I might let it happen once in a while. On that note, not all of these are going to be as healthy as I would like. But they WILL be delicious!

Graham Cracker Sandwich w/marshmallow

Chocolate Dipped Ritz

 

Smoothies

Pina Colada~Frozen Pineapple, Coconut milk, Greek Yogurt, ice w/roasted coconut chips on top

PB Chocolate~We use PB2, yogurt, ice and chocolate almond milk

My FAVE ~Orange juice, Spinach, ice and some frozen strawberries

Ritz & Sunbutter sandwich

Pretzels and PB

Rainbow Fruit Cup

Frozen Grapes

Ants on a log

Cucumber and crackers

Apple Pie Energy Poppers

Caramel Apple Snack Mix

Banana nut mini muffins
Made with Spinach

Pumpkin Muffins

Banana nut bread bars

Cream Cheese/veggie roll up

cream cheese/cinnamon roll up

PB Banana Mini Muffins

Cream Cheese/Strawberry Sandwich toasted

Apple Ham and Cheese toothpicks

 Apple Cheddar quesadilla

Banana Nutella Egg Rolls!

Big Hunk Dip

  Mini Pizza Calzones

Chocolate dipped frozen banana bites

Zucchini Bread

mini nilla wafer/banana sandwich
Cookie Dough Fake Out
Muffin Top Cookies

Those won't be an everyday thing. We will still have our usual snacks. We don't keep a lot of options on hand, that can get expensive and wasteful pretty quickly.

We pretty much always have

Popcorn

Fruit

Veggies

Cheese Sticks

Pretzels

Dried Fruit

Granola Bars

What are your favorite kid snacks? I am always looking for more ideas!

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February Resolution!

But first! How I did in January? Proud to say I bought 1 or 2 coffees in January and I plan to keep up that trend! I did find a tool that sure made it SO much easier! I love an extra foamy latte, that was my go to drink at Starbucks and other places. But with this, I can make my own controlled ingredients as foamy as I want in just 2 minutes! No driving, no paying $4 for a drink, no waiting in line. I was totally skeptical at first, I mean really? Look at it! It doesn't appear to be anything special!

And here is what it can do! Worth the few bucks!

Ok, enough about that and the $60 plus dollars I saved last month!

February's goal is another money sucker but not nearly as bad, although it is probably WAY worse for my health!

Diet Pop! I don't keep it in the house but we will get one when we are out running errands. This goal is really 2 fold, give up the gross and replace it with water. Something I have been struggling with my entire life anyway!

I've got my at home drinking glass and a couple tricks I might try. 

It's really going to be when we are out that I struggle. Stocking up on water bottles as soon as they are on sale! Then stocking the bottom of the fridge with them.

I also have been adding a couple drops of Lemon or Grapefruit Essential Oils

That seems to be helping me a little bit.

What are your goals for the month?

*This post may contain affiliate links. All opinions are my own.

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Organizing Friday { Week 5 }

Our coat closet was a multipurpose area during the holidays. We kept everything in it, wrapping paper and gifts, coats and shoes. It was a bit much. You can see the mess here.

Spent a little time while the baby was asleep just taking everything out and not putting it back in. Most of it didn't belong in there anyway. My mother and father in law were getting rid of this shoe rack, it fit so we were happy to snag it!  Still have all my aprons and baby wearing stuff in there. They need to be easy to access.

This week I am going to focus on our Homework Cabinet. I don't really know what else to call it. It's in the dining room and has all kinds of stuff the kids use after school. Work books, crayons, pencils etc.  It's a mess, although I did do a little work before I took the picture.

 I have a couple friends that just have the best set up for their homework areas and art supply storage. I am going to see if I can find anything this weekend to inspire the kids to keep it tidy.

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Organizing Friday~Week 4

This week was crazy but I managed to get a few things done.

I decided to move the grey table in front of the crawl space, cause it was just a big ol' eye sore. It's not THAT much better but better than it was.

Drawers all cleaned up and rugs stuck down and I fixed the front window curtain.

This week I am working on our coat closet! We are not used to the less space and no place for shoes! 

This is how we started out.

I have a lot of aprons, even after getting rid of more than half. I use them most days and I have a hard time parting with them.

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Haven Checklist

 I shared before some of the things I know my family appreciates at home. The obvious stuff, but I also want to think more about the little things and make an effort to do them more often too!

Not likely these will all happen everyday. but I work well with a checklist, even if it's just for the occasional reference. On an ideal day where no one loses their lunchbox, spits up 30 seconds before we have to walk out the door or has a meltdown over lunch, I could get these all done everyday. It's not a long list but doesn't include any tidying or cleaning.  

Does it Smell Good?

We use 2 types of smell good stuff. Scentsy and Wall Flowers from Bath and Body Works. I pretty much stick to just 1 smell from each place. I use Happy Birthday from Scentsy and whatever the current Salted Caramel, Creamy Caramel, Caramel something from Bath and Body Works. I try to change the scentsy every week if the smell has faded. I don't use more than 1 of either. Some people are scent sensitive and I don't want it to be overpowering.

What is there to eat?

Goodness gracious do our kids come home hungry everyday?! The way they instantly go for a snack would make you think they haven't eaten all day. I have really been slacking on the snack department lately. I am working on getting back to having homemade snacks more often. I don't like to buy or give the kids the prepackaged stuff. We did find an organic all natural brand that isn't as expensive but it's still not my favorite thing for them to have. 

Our kids all have a sweet tooth. I don't want to give them dessert for a snack, but I do think something on the sweeter side 1 or 2 days a week would be a nice surprise.

Homework

No one really LIKES to do homework, me included, but it needs to be done. Keeping the homework stuff prepped and supplied helps make that afternoon chore a little easier.

Healthy Yummy Meals

Depending on which kid you ask about a meal will depend on the answer you get about if it's yummy. I am not about to make 2 different meals for the kids. They have the choice of eating what we are having or the alternate (and very similar) meal. My mom is a super picky eater, I am pretty picky but getting better, hubby is picky. I was never forced to eat anything, accept by my sweet great grandma. It was horrible, and I remember feeling anxiety about eating around her. I would rather our kids not have that anxiety and trust me when I tell them they might like something. Dinner is just not the time to argue over stuff like veggies anymore. If they don't like the veggies, I don't stress anymore. I just sneak it in a smoothie and don't tell them. It's a win win win. They win by not having to eat something they really dislike, I win by getting them the veggies anyway, the family wins because it tends to keep dinner time a little more peaceful. 

Has anyone seen where this print is from? It's adorable, love the colors!

Open the windows on nice days

We don't have a lot of those right now, but every once in a while, and as we get closer to spring, a lot more days. I love the fresh air and it just feels better to have the windows open!

How's it sound?

I try to put music on that no one really dislikes, pleasing all of us at once will be tricky, but there are some Pandora stations that don't play songs any of us have expressed a dislike for. 

My favorites are The Civil Wars Station, and The Avett Brothers Station, depending on what kind of mood I am in.

And I could read this BLOG all day, well if I didn't have a million other things to do. It is full of great ideas and the contributors are all sweet! I love the Hospitality Series they have done.

Speaking of Hospitality. I want to check both of these books out! Have you read either?
*affiliate links

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~~Blessing Jar~~

Our kids are pretty sweet in general, but to encourage them to look for opportunities to be a blessing to each other and to others I made this jar. Nothing fancy, just a mason jar and a little tag.

I have a stash of these Pom Poms (even in Valentine Colors!)

and rather than only verbalizing how proud I am of these kids, I want them to see how much they can do and how quickly it will fill up if we are looking for chances to help each other. I might even swap out the things we use as filler, to match the season.

When it is all full we will do something special!

This sweet heart baby was SO excited to put some in this morning. Look at that face!
He is in PJ's today because big sister has pajama day at school, and the orthodontist. Mr. felt like he needed them all day too. I am about to go out looking like a bad mama dragging her kids all over town in PJ's hehe.

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Organizing Friday Week 3

This area takes the most abuse by our kids!

It wasn't too hard to fix up though.

First I went through all the shoes, again. We have lived here 2.5 months and already they have outgrown more shoes!

Then I just made them each a cute tag for their basket. Finnley sometimes has a hard time remembering which is his, or at least that is what he claims. No excuses now.

 

And yes that is the start of a wee basket for the baby. He will need a bigger one, but for now that little one we had on hand is storing his teeny little hats.

I was going to work on the laundry area next, but decided I should tackle the area we use a LOT, the entryway. Right now it is a disaster, a pile of stuff I need to take out to my car, and 4 drawers that have seen better days.

That rug is making me crazy! It slides all over, fixing that is on my list for sure!

We let each kiddo have a drawer, they can keep whatever they want in here as long as it's not liquid and won't spoil.

It's funny how different each one is. Ramsey has random change, his sports magazines, gum and iPod and a few random Legos. Carsyn has a drawer full of lip gloss, diaries and hair bows, right next to the grody flavored Harry potter jelly beans and tooth fairy $. Finn has more garbage and unsticky stickers than anything else! 

We don't make them tidy their drawer very often, as long as it closes they can keep it as messy as they want.

I will probably encourage a quick tidy of them though. 

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