simple living

Fresh Christmas Tree Care

November 28, 2014 by 10 Comments

Fresh Christmas Tree Care

If you are buying a fresh tree this year, remember it needs to be watered and watered A LOT. You don’t have to buy special tree extender stuff or food. Just water it and water it.

In our area I have noticed that most real trees go on sale December 15th, so if you don’t need to have one early you might consider waiting until then.

Also I know we so often think bigger is better but be sure you get a tree that will fit into your house. This seems like an obvious thing but I once sold a nine foot tree to a lady. I kept asking her if she was sure it would fit into her house because, at that time, most people had 8 foot ceilings, but she insisted it would work. A week later she came back and wanted her money back because she couldn’t fit the tree into her living room.

Jill

Your advice on keeping a fresh Christmas tree watered reminded me of a tip I got from the lady we buy our real tree from. She always told us that when we got the tree home, to cut approximately a 1/4″ to a 1/2″ off of the bottom of the trunk. This will give you a new fresh end for the tree to “drink” from. Also, drill a small diameter hole (3/8″ to 1/2″) from the bottom of the trunk up into the center. This will insure that water will get deep inside the trunk as well. We do it every year and it works great!! From: Dave V.

photo by: chippenziedeutch

Holiday Cleaning – Preparing Now For The Holidays

November 5, 2013 by 33 Comments

Holiday Cleaning – Preparing Now For The Holidays

Halloween is over, which means it is now officially time to kick it into gear to get ready for the holidays and to get your house ready for company. It really helps to get your house in order now because if unexpected company comes you won’t get caught off guard. Then you can concentrate on baking, finding gifts and organizing activities without having to worry about deep cleaning your house again until after the New Year.

Hopefully by now you have been inspired to start getting things done a little at a time so this won’t be too big of a job. Here are a few things to work on:

Get your closets in order. Put summer clothes away and take winter clothes out, tossing as you go.
Don’t forget your linen closets. Get your guest towels, sheets and extra blankets aired out and put the linens in a handy spot so they are easy to grab when you need them.
If you have a guest room, get it cleaned and prepare everything for your first guests.
Get your holiday linens prepared. Wash them if necessary and make sure they’re ready to go.
Hopefully you have cleaned your pantry. Now you need to make sure it is stocked with everything you need for your holiday recipes, for some quick and easy to fix snacks and dinners for unexpected company or food to take to social events.
Make sure your fridge and freezer are in order. The refrigerator and freezer are going to work overtime for you over the next couple of months so make sure they’re cleaned, organized and prepared.
I don’t worry about cleaning my oven at this time. I use it so much for baking that it’s silly for me to clean it right before having a baking fest. I usually wait and give it a good cleaning after the holidays. If it’s really bad or you have company coming and it looks awful you may want to go ahead and clean it anyway.
This week and next week is the time to do any deep cleaning that you don’t want to have to mess with again until after the holidays– things like washing your windows, deep cleaning rugs and carpets and dusting mirrors, picture frames, lampshades or ceiling fans.

If you have been keeping up with your cleaning you may not have to do any of these. Basically just clean your house enough for company. Then you’ll know it’s done and you will be prepared for the unexpected.

Part of the stress that comes at the holidays is the result of not being prepared, especially for the unexpected things that always seem to come up. Think of it like being prepared for a disaster. If I have a wood burning stove, firewood, lots of candles, blankets and food prepared, I am not too stressed if we lose power from an ice storm. If I wasn’t at all prepared, I would be in a total panic if an ice storm hit.

If you are prepared, you have something you can whip up for company in just a few minutes or if the kids need treats for school, you have dough frozen and ready to be baked in the freezer. I’m not saying that I have everything prepared like Martha Stewart but I do try to have everything together enough so that I’m reasonably prepared for the unexpected. My idea of the perfect woman is a cross between Martha Stewart and Erma Bombeck! Some days I am more one than the other and on other days I totally miss the mark, but that’s okay, because I tried. 🙂

-Jill

For more easy cleaning and organizing tips, check out our How To Organize And Clean Your Home e-books.

Save Money On Your Water Bill Doing Dishes

March 15, 2013 by 19 Comments

Don’t Rinse Money Down the Drain

At an average of 120.00/month, our water bill is our most expensive utility (due to private ownership of the local water company, no regulatory oversight, etc.). One way I save money is to use all of the frugal settings on my dishwasher. I use the water miser, the light wash, and of course, the air dry settings (to save on electricity). All of my savings were going “down the drain”, however, when my 15 year old daughter loaded the dishwasher. She was running the water the entire time she rinsed the dishes, even though I told her how to do it a different, more frugal way. So, I assigned other chores to her and now do the dishes myself. I am happier that it gets done my way and it also saves on our water bill.

-Sharon Y.

Preventing Bills From Getting Lost

February 18, 2013 by 17 Comments

I thought I’d share a short post about preventing your bills from getting lost. If you keep things organized you can save money on fees and reduce the stress of worrying about bills being late.

Margaret Writes:

Our bills are sorted by date–the due date is written on the envelope. Then the pile is organized by due date, with the ones due soonest on top. These are paper clipped in the checkbook. Top bill gets paid first.

-Margaret

My system is similar. I line my bills in order in a napkin holder (one that just has 2 bars to hold the napkins because I can see the bills easier), with my checkbook behind them.

Don’t Worry So Much About Your Children’s Gifts

December 12, 2012 by 65 Comments

Do you worry every little thing you do might harm your children? Many parents worry about buying lots of expensive children’s gifts, but it’s not necessary. [Read more…] about Don’t Worry So Much About Your Children’s Gifts

Homemade Gift Baskets

November 7, 2012 by 25 Comments

From: Donna

I have a great and cheap idea to share for Christmas savings. I love giving gift baskets. They’re versatile, personal, and best of all… cheap.

This year I am making a candle and potpourri basket for my sister in law. I bought a bunch of the $1 tiny jar candles from Wal Mart and Dollar General so she can test out new scents, and a big bag of potpourri on clearance for $2. ($10.00)

My best friend’s husband loves to grill, so I bought a basting brush, paper plate holders, grilling spices, and marinades. ($6.00)

And for my best friend (an Air Force wife and employee and mother of a one and a half year old), a spa basket. She always seems to be stressed out and never gets downtime. I bought a 4 piece green tea bath mix ($3) from Wal Mart, added two small candles, potpourri, a bath pouf, and a sleeping mask. ($18.00)

Needless to say, most of my ideas came from Dining on a Dime. I just switched them around a little to compliment my friends and family. I have a few more people to shop for, but so far I have not spent over $20 on any gift, and everyone is getting about 6 different items.

Dining on a Dime contains a very large section on gift baskets and jar mixes. At different times in her life, Tawra worked in floral shops and part of her job was making gift baskets, so we added that as part of the cookbook.

In addition to the large lists of ideas to use for gift baskets, Dining on a Dime includes many recipes for gifts in a jar that you can make yourself and add to the gift baskets. For example you could make an Italian basket with bread, noodles, sauce and some homemade Italian Seasoning from Dining on a Dime or make a basket with soup fixings with our Bouquet Garni Bags. If they like spicy we have a Cajun Seasoning, BBQ sauces or special mustards.

You could make up a basket with the ingredients for pumpkin pie, adding our homemade pumpkin pie spice and our recipe for pumpkin pie. And of course, there are lots of cookie mixes, muffin mixes, etc.

Besides the holidays you could give a laundry basket of cleaning supplies for newlyweds or for a housewarming gift. Make up some of our homemade cleaning supples (and of course a copy of Dining on a Dime 🙂 or use a cute container to help stock the couple with spices and seasonings, filling it with cinnamon, nutmeg, chili powder etc. and adding homemade seasoned salt or taco seasoning from the book.

Dining On A Dime also includes recipes for hot chocolate, flavored coffee and spiced tea mixes, kids things like Easy Bake Oven mixes, play dough and slime. There are potpourri and sachets recipes. Homemade ornaments.

These and many more ideas are included in Dining on a Dime. Hopefully these get you started!

photo by: merelymel

Organizing Kids’ Schoolwork

August 17, 2012 by 9 Comments

How To Organize Your Children’s Schoolwork

School has started in many places, which means more mounds of paper clutter to keep under control. Here are some tips to help keep all of that school paperwork from multiplying, reproducing and generally taking over your home and your life.

Set a certain time and place to go through your kids’ backpacks and paperwork each day. Use this time to sign all those papers you need to sign, mark upcoming meetings or events on the calendar and sort through everything.

The best time and place to organize schoolwork will vary for each family. For us, it was best to do it the moment the kids walked through the door while it was fresh on their minds. I would have a snack ready for them, they would explain the papers to me and while I was dealing with them (signing, writing on the calendar or admiring their handiwork), they would tell me about their day.

Then I would return everything that needed to go back into their backpacks, trash the rest or put it in a special place or folder. This helps prevent things from getting tossed on the counter or table where they are eventually lost or forgotten.

Of course you will need a calendar and/or small bulletin board or dry erase board.

My calendar has very large squares where I simply mark what needs to be done. If there is something very important that I must not forget no matter what, I mark it in red, but I write everything else in pencil in case I need to change it. Then I can just erase it and make the necessary changes.

There have been times when I used a purple pen if I wanted the kids to remember something. I read about a study which found that people will remember things better when marked in purple.

Use different colored markers or pens for different things. For example, one child’s events will all be in green, all dentist appointments are in blue or whatever works best for you.
If there are special papers that go with an event, I either paper clip them to the calendar page, pin them to a small bulletin board or place them in a folder, making a star on the calendar so I know to look on the bulletin board or in the folder for the paper that goes with the event.

All my events seem to fit fine on one large square of a calendar. If your events don’t fit, you might need to look at changing a few things in your life and cutting back on some things. This could be a sign you are too busy.
There are many many fancy and expensive calendar systems out there. I personally find them to be more confusing and more work than they are worth but if they work for you, use one.

I know that some of you who work away from home need day planners and other organization systems but that is another whole subject that I deal with in my e book Plan It, Then Do It.

Another system some people like is to have a folder for each child with special papers in it. For example, if one child is having a class party, I will mark the class party on the calendar but then place the paper with all the info about it in the folder. Once again, I would place a star by the event to remind me more info is in the folder. Once a week these folders should be sorted through so they don’t get cluttered.
Always keep folders of any kind in an upright position in a holder. Most folders or papers that are laid in a horizontal position get forgotten, lost, piled on or not used.
KEEP IT SIMPLE. This could be the most important point of all. If it is complicated and too involved neither you or your family won’t bother to use it. Sometimes it isn’t our families which are the problem but the system we choice to use. Just because it comes highly endorsed by a famous organizer or some such does not mean it will work for you so don’t fight it and try something different.

Well I will sign off for now. I am looking at the piles of paper on my own desk and think I might need to take a break, practice what I preach and clear my desk. : )

-Jill

Photo By: magma666

Fancy Inexpensive Dinner Breads

February 18, 2012 by 12 Comments

canned regrigerator biscuits in bundt pan

FANCY SCHMANCY dinner breads cheap…

Use a decoratively shaped Bundt pan,

a stick of butter or margarine,

3 cans of biscuits (jumbo or regular) (you could use frozen dinner roll too)

seasonings to suit the meal…for instance, serving Italian? Use basil and Parmesan cheese

Melt butter or margarine in bottom of Bundt pan evenly. Sprinkle seasonings. Then put biscuits in on end, like stacking dimes, one at a time, to allow seasonings and butter to ooze between each one. Bake as directed on the can. Then simply turn out onto a serving plate, and VOILA! –a beautiful bread ring. You can use cheddar cheese and jalapeno for Mexican…brown sugar and cinnamon for pull apart cinnabuns…rosemary and olive oil and olives for Italian or Greek… ANY assortment you can think of… dried tomatoes and olive oil… try it!

-Vicky B.

All I can say is yum! I am going to have to try this one!

Tawra

Photo By: C Jill Reed

How Do I Winterize An Outside Faucet?

November 5, 2011 by 9 Comments

How Do I Winterize An Outside Faucet

From: Janice J.

How do you use styrofoam to protect an outside faucet? It is getting colder and I am worried. Thanks!

I would duct tape a big chunk around the faucet. Maybe break it apart so it fits snugly around the faucet and then just duct tape away until it’s on there tightly.

-Tawra

Depending on your faucet, I have taken 2 large styrofoam cups and put one inside of the other then taped. Be sure to get it as close to the house as you can.

This really works. I had my outside faucet freeze one year and what a mess so I don’t chance it any more especially since it is so easy to do.

-Jill

Mike: It might also be good to stuff some rags into any places where air might get in, wrap the outside with a plastic trash bag and tape it with heavy duct tape to prevent moisture from getting in. (If it’s in a sunny area, a black plastic bag will keep it warmer in the daytime, too be cause the black absorbs sunlight.) If you manage to keep cold air and moisture out and provide some insulation with the foam, rags and/or some other insulating material, it should not freeze.

Of course, if it’s possible to turn off the water to that faucet from inside the house and then open the faucet to let any water drain out before you wrap it, that would be even better.

Photo By: rwkvisual

Great Things To Do With Baby Food Jars

March 4, 2011 by 26 Comments

With a baby and two preschoolers, I don’t have the time or inclination to make homemade baby food. My Meijer grocery store puts Gerber baby food on sale frequently, and with coupons it’s the same price as generic.

One way to reuse those Gerber plastic fruit/veggie tubs is to rinse them out and put cheerios, goldfish, pretzels, and/or raisins in them for trips to the park, zoo, or car trips in the van. They contain just the right amount of snack for a preschooler, the child can get the lid on and off, and I don’t care if they get lost or are used as a sand toy!

[Read more…] about Great Things To Do With Baby Food Jars