Tips and Tidbits Tuesday

Okay, ladies, sorry I am so late getting yall's tip to you today! Its been a shorter than usual day and I am telling you someone came right up under me and stole about 4 hours! HOW DOES THAT HAPPEN??? For today's tip...I am going back to where it all began with Tips and Tidbits Tuesday because I have just learned that...are you ready???

HALF OF A DRYER SHEET WORKS JUST AS GOOD AS A WHOLE!!

Can you believe?? I feel completed scammed by Bounce!!!

I am out of dryer sheets and they are on sale NOWHERE, so I decided that I would ration my last one and cut it in half this morning for my 2 loads of laundry. Now I'm wishing I would have dared to try thirds because there is NO DIFFERENCE AT ALL!! I was in complete shock!!! So, now we will get twice as much use out of our dryer sheets before we stash them for glass shower door cleaning!! Doesn't it feel great???

Tips and Tidbits Tuesday

Good morning everyone!! I have been leaving yall hanging on my tips and tidbits these last few Tuesdays because my life has been extremely hectic and I do apologize. I have really missed yall and am so glad to be back!! Today, this tip is for all of you who battle that darn flat surface electric cooktop. Yeah, I know that you have heard of all of these products that are supposed to clean that funk off of the cooktop...but THEY NEVER WORK. I have battled mine for 2 years now and it was driving me insane until my mom broke out the ZUD!!!

This is a product that when seen on the shelf it looks as if Uncle Bubba made it himself and then decorated the can. It's priced that way too(good thing), but this stuff works I tell you!

Here is my testimony...a few weeks back I was cooking a roast and folding clothes in the living room at the same time. Long story short when I came back into the kitchen to check on my roast it had been overflowing for quite some time and I had a mess on my hands. My mom came in a little bit later and just whipped out the Zud and cleaned that disgusting stuck on that surface mess in just a few seconds. Yall, I would have spent 3 days using the squirt stuff that comes with the cooktop. Believe what I say and go get you some Zud. It works better than Bar Keepers Friend...and any other product you want to put it up against I promise...HAPPY CLEANING!!!

Don't forget tomorrow is our beginning study of Being a Keeper of the Home and what that means. Please join me on this walk and lets figure it out together!!

Tips and Tidbits Tuesday

I know I skipped last week and I do apologize...very hectic week. But today's tip should well make up for it. You will love me for this...I promise!

Have you fought and fought to get that indestructible stain ring from the inside of your toilet?? I'm not talking about the one that comes once a week and you use your toilet cleaner to get right off. I'm talking about the one that is still there after you have cleaned and cleaned and cleaned. In our house, 2 weeks after we put in a brand new toilet, there that line was. It was a light gray in color but made the toilet look like it wasn't being cleaned. If you don't have these lines, you may just live in an area that doesn't have this problem. My parents' toilets are 30 years old and they have no ring, so I am pretty certain it has to do with your water.

Anywhoo...I have discovered the best product EVER to get this ring off. It is called "Drywall Screen" and you get it in the hardware/paint section of your local home improvement or hardware store. It comes in sheets and looks sort of like screen door screen, but more firm. One pack of this stuff (runs abut $4.00) will literally last you years. Cut off a small square and lightly scrub the line away in your toilet. I have been using the same little square for about 4 months. It acts as a sandpaper and will literally just wipe it right away in a matter of seconds. Trust me on this...nothing else works better. I have done sand paper, lemon juice, salt, you name it...if it has been recommended I have tried it. This is the ticket. Now be careful and don't use it on your toilet seat or the outside of your toilet because it will scratch it. Just use it on that stubborn ring and be joyful. This will change your life!!

Tips and Tidbits Tuesday - All Hail the BINDER

Good morning everyone! Today's tip and tidbit has to do with getting our lives in order and organized. My wonderful Pastor's Wife gave me this binder and I have been toting it around for about 3 years now and I'm telling you if the house caught on fire and my kids were safe this is what I would grab. I bring it with me everywhere. It is always on the front seat of my car, on my kitchen table, on my desk...it is essential, in my opinion, to sanity! So here is how you do one.

First you will need a binder of any kind. It will need to be a wide one though so that you can continue to add and add stuff to it. You will need sheet protectors, subject dividers, loose leaf paper, inserts with pockets, various calendars (whichever you like) which can be downloaded from http://www.printablecalendar.ca/ which has my favorite selection. You can also go to one of my favorite websites http://www.flylady.net/ and print what she calls her "Control Journal" and get the same thing. My version is a scaled down control journal because I found that after I mastered certain things I didn't want them to take up space, but you can certainly print her stuff and use it!!

Now organize your binder into sections that fit your life. Here are mine: Calendar (Monthly and Weekly), Menus and Groceries, School, Birthdays and Christmas, and Budget.

First I have in the front pocket, all of my bills that need to be paid, bills that have been paid this month with the conf. numbers and dates written on them, and any little whatevers that I need to hold onto for whatever reason.

Next I have my monthly calendar where I can see a full month at a time. I print out enough for a full year in this section so that when the dermatologist sets my appt. 3 months in advance, I can jot it down and trash that little card.

I also have to have a weekly calendar that I can look at each morning while I have my coffee and see what I have to do for the day or the week. This is where I will write down things like grocery shopping, my daily activities, I always write in the margin of the day what I'm cooking for dinner, what my husband is working (got a shift worker over here) and any thing I need to remember like things at the kids school, etc. This will often overlap with my month to month calendar, but it is a necessity for my to-do lists that I have to write to keep me sane.

My next section is Menus and Groceries. In this section is where I will have my menu planner and past menus, so that I can look back in times of the nothing to cook crisis, but this is also where I write my grocery list, keep my coupons, jot down where I will be going for what, etc. This is my CVS and Walgreens section as well and where I keep my sale papers and my scenarios for my shopping trips there!

After Menus and Groceries is my section for "School" which is where I keep everything I may need for the kids...field trip info, supplies I need to pick up, important notes, etc.

My next section is Birthdays and Christmas which is where I will plan out my kids birthdays, write everyone down like who we sent an invite to, highlight each name when we know they are coming, where I am getting the cake, invites, etc. Again, just helping to keep me sane. And this is also where I will jot down ideas for Christmas gifts and highlight as I get them. In an effort to have all of my shopping done, except for my kids, by Thanksgiving this year, this will really come in handy!

The final section in my binder is Budget. This is where I keep track of our household budget, goals, finances, my checkbook registry is shown below. This is what I use to track all of the money coming in and out of our house. There is certainly room for other sections in your binder that would be more personalized for you, but just to have one that goes with you everywhere is LIFE CHANGING!! I look over my menu in carpool, I balance my checkbook at the park with the kids, I have everything I need with me all of the time to take care of any household business I should need to!

I am thinking of re-vamping my binder with cutesy paper, a cutesy fabric cover, and better dividers. This has been with me for 3 years and has honestly seen better days. You could certainly put yours together however you wanted to, and I just hope to give you this tip today so that if organization is something you find to be a trouble spot in your life you can utilize this...IT IS A MUST HAVE!!

If you are interested in doing one please feel free to email me and I will be happy to help you!

Tips and Tidbits Tuesday

Hey Everyone!! I hope your shower doors are sparkling from last weeks tip about the dryer sheets!! Today's tip is another good one and works equally as well. I don't know why but I always end up finding multiple uses for laundry items and today is no exception. Regular laundry detergent, whatever brand, or something like Oxy Clean is the best thing on the market to clean carpets with. A few weeks ago I spilled an entire crock pot of shrimp and corn soup (trying to kiss the teachers' butts by bringing lunch...that's what I get)on the floor of my car. Yeah, that is disgusting. It all came out thanks to my Gain detergent. Here is the trick though...you have to use COLD water. Just fill up a bowl with your cold water and add about half the detergent of what you regularly would add to a load of laundry and stir it up. Using a scrubbing brush and washcloth saturate your spot on the carpet and scrub...it will disappear before your very eyes!! Wonderful! Now the final trick is to get all of the excess water off of the floor after because what I have learned is that the wet spot will get dirty again from traffic or whatever if its left wet for too long. I just use a towel and step on it a hundred times until its just barely damp and then I put a fan on it. My mom uses her ShopVac and sucks the water out...works great, but I don't have one of those. Hope this helps you rid your house of carpet stains. Have a great day!!