Category: Home


Dec
2016

Offset the Holiday STUFF With a December Declutter

categories: Home, Living

I did this a few years ago and it felt GOOD. So. much. STUFF comes into our homes during the month of December and it’s nice to get rid of a few things at the same time so we don’t get to January and feel overwhelmed by the clutter. This declutter challenge is enough to be effective but not enough to be an overwhelming task during the holidays.

declutter

The December Declutter

Just randomly trying to declutter through the month won’t help you be accountable, so we need a goal. The goal is to get rid of 100 items! That should be enough to offset all the extra holiday decorations, goodies, and gifts that are coming into the house this month. Don’t let 100 items scare you – it’s only 5 items or less a day for the rest of the month. And I’m super nice about what counts as items. A pen that has run out of ink totally counts as one item or even an old magazine can be one. Sounding simpler all the time, isn’t it? You can do this! We can do it together and offset all the STUFF.

So the December Declutter challenge is simple:

1 – Find about 5 items per day to either throw away or donate. Anything in your house, garage, shed, yard, purse, etc. counts.
2 – Items that are to be thrown away should be tossed out immediately. Items to be donated can be collected in boxes or bags.
3 – Share pics of your daily declutter finds and share on social media with #decemberdeclutter to help with accountabiity and making it fun!
4 – At the end of the month, zip on over to your favorite charity with your donation items and get a receipt for a tax write-off.

declutter

That’s it! Don’t spend more than 5-10 minutes a day to keep this from being too much to handle. This is not the time to completely reorganize the closet. Hit the easy spots to find your items to donate. Remember that the items don’t have to be large – any item heading out is offsetting something coming in. Here are a few declutter spots that always work for me to find items quickly:

  • Junk drawer
  • Silverware or utensil drawer
  • DVD, CD, or video game collections
  • My clothes closet
  • My purse

Start now! Take 5 minutes and find 5 things to get rid of. Who’s with me?!

declutter


Mar
2016

5 Fave Home Life Hacks

categories: Home

I do love handy home life hacks and especially enjoy finding new ones that make my life easier or better in some way. That’s why you’ve got to share the hacks! Today, I’m sharing one of my newer faves along with some of my standby faves. I hope you’ll find a new one that works for you!

Fave Home Life Hacks

Fave Home Life Hacks

#1: Fold t-shirts in a quicker way. A friend shared a video on Facebook about a year or so ago and it forever changed the way I fold all of my husband’s shirts. I practiced it and got the hang of it in no time. It really is faster and easier. Feels like less work, for sure! There are many videos that show it, but here’s one. It just takes a few practice runs to “get it” and then you’ll be super fast!

#2: Make your own foaming hand soap. I’ve been doing this for a few years now and saving big bucks at the same time! It’s so simple. I do occasionally buy bottles of foaming hand soap to get new containers, but then keep reusing the same containers and refilling them. Use your favorite non-toxic dish soap for this. I shared a post about it on my old blog. Click here for the foaming hand-soap how-to.

#3: Sterilize your sponge and clean the microwave at the same time. Every time I wash dishes with a sponge, I pop the damp sponge it in the microwave for 1 minute on high to sterilize it. Careful when you grab it – it’s very hot! Not only is the sponge sterilized, but it just steamed up your microwave, so give it all a wipe out. Grease and grime wipes off easily after being steamed. My microwave is always sparkling inside (too bad that doesn’t work for the whole kitchen, right?). This does cause the sponge to break down quicker, but I think it’s good to change out sponges regularly anyway.

#4: Use the frozen onions shortcut. Another of my fave home life hacks for years – using frozen chopped onions. No fumes, no tears, no work. I use them in just about everything that calls for onions and only occasionally chop up a fresh one for a recipe. You can find the bags in the frozen vegetable section or sometimes near the hashbrowns. They can be hard to spot, but I have found them in several stores. Caution – don’t dump a bunch of frozen onions in a bunch of hot oil to saute. Water/ice and oil can be a dangerous combo. Just add them in carefully and gradually to hot oil or add other ingredients in first.

#5: Make your own self-rising flour. Every so often I run across a great recipe that calls for self-rising flour and I used to buy a bag just for those few recipes. I shook my head when I discovered how ridiculously simple it is to make your own! Save yourself the extra dollars and take a couple extra steps. Here’s the recipe to make 1 cup – just multiply accordingly for the amount of self-rising flour you need:

To make 1 cup of self-rising flour:

 – 1 cup all-purpose flour
– 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
– 1/2 teaspoon salt
Whisk ingredients together. Done.

home life hacks

Those are some of my fave home life hacks, but I’m always on the lookout for new ones. I discovered 4 of the 5 through my wanderings on the internet, so yay internet. And I discovered them all before Pinterest, so you can probably find great new home life hacks even faster now. What are your faves? Share a few hacks in the comments so we can all benefit!