Storing Extension Cords a Better Way

I won't show you a before photo because it's just unpleasant to look at a tangle of cords in a plastic bag.  I had seen and pinned a tidy box full of toilet paper roll tubes holding cords.

Below is my good-enough version.  I'm pleased.  It took me less than 10 minutes to sort and bundle up the cords and label the box.  Back to the closet it goes and I get a little thrill of pleasure at having yet one more detail nailed in my house.

The only catch to this project is that you have to patiently set aside t.p. tubes and conceal them from crafty children in such a way that you remember where they are when you want them.

One last thought:  so many of the projects I see on Pinterest rely on an abundance of a certain material to make an impact:  hundreds of pennies for a backsplash, 20 old doors for a neat wall, 15 old buckets for a planter display, etc, etc. This is a design lesson.  If you don't have a lot of money to decorate, buy one inexpensive something and buy a lot of it (yellow mums, for example, or yards and yards of sheer curtains). I want to look around and see what abundant odd materials I have and make a design statement in that manner.  Ahem.  Toilet paper tubes.  Right.

Fancying up Coffee Cans

I saw on Pinterest directions to use spray adhesive to cover a can with fabric.  My husband had some spray adhesive left from building models in grad school, so I chose a piece of pretty fabric and set to work.

It was quick, but then I had nasty glue on my hands that took a long time to come off.  But the can was pretty enough.

Then I organized my cache of scarves and sorted out the little things like neck bows, fabric flowers, and velvet collars.  I thought of repeating the glue process with another can. . . but no, a serendipitous solution was in my scrap box!  A piece of leftover patchwork from the comforter in that very bedroom, which I had finished and quilted a few years ago as a scarf or table runner or something, which is why it languished in my scrap box.

I simply taped the cut end to the can and wrapped the can, tying the thing on with a nice blue ribbon.  Cute!  Functional!  Much more satisfying than buying a new box from a store.

The wrapped can resides on the new bedroom shelves where it gives the matching white boxes a nice little jolt.

How to Replace Paper Towels with Rags

Keep the rags where you would keep paper towels, and then put the paper towels in a less-convenient place or get rid of the paper towels entirely.

Toss rags in with appropriately-colored wash loads; sometimes I quarantine extra-dirty rags with the diapers, or throw out rags used with grease, paint, or the like. I throw rags away without compunction. Every time I turn around, someone is wearing out a piece of clothing around here that I cut up for rags.  I do not fold or iron rags, or even bother to cut them very straight.

rags (and hearing protection!) on the washline

Make sure your family knows where the rags are, especially the children who probably make most of the spills anyway.  Teach them to hang wet rags over the side of the hamper so they don't mildew the other dirty laundry.

Here are the three places I keep rags at my house, all handy to the kitchen and dining room where most spills happen:

1.  In the pull-out just in front of my sink.  I do also keep some scrubbies in there, but this is the first place my kids look for a rag to mop up a spill.  The roll of paper towels is tucked away under the sink and they do have their uses: layering between berries and on plates of fried foods like bacon and fritters.  I also keep a paper towel in my shortening can, for greasing cast iron and baking pans.

2.  In the bathroom cabinet with the bathroom cleaning supplies.  It facilitates cleaning to have the supplies in the room where they are used.  We use newspaper when we clean the mirrors, not paper towels.

3.  The general catch-all for rags in the hallway closet.  After the other two places are supplied, any extra rags go here.  I also keep large rags like old towels and sheets in the back.  I use towels for big spills or to roll up hand-washed sweaters to speed up drying.

Tell me about rags and paper towels at your house.  What's your system?

Keeping House in 5-Minute Slots

Before kids, I had long stretches of time for projects. (What did I do with all of it?  What?). 

Now my time is broken into fragments with family life.  What works for me is to use the little time slots for little jobs, such as:
1.  Fill the Brita water filter in the fridge.
2.  Put away dishes that have air-dried in the drainer.
3.  Fold laundry.  I sort the clean clothes and put them in a basket in the appropriate bedroom, so this is a task that can be done piecemeal.
4.  Open mail, tossing unneeded stuff in the recycling bin in the hall.
5.  Fold and straighten the quilt and blanket on the sofas.
6.  Empty the kitchen compost bucket into the backyard composter.
7.  Remove receipts from my wallet, recording or recycling as needed.
8.  Shake the sand out of the rug by the back door and tidy up the shoe rack there.

Sometimes I have a hard time switching off the 5-minute-slot mentality, and I find myself frittering away a long stretch of time that could be used for a project.

What do you do with your 5-minute slots?

How I Keep Files and Don't Drown in Paper

1. I established an inbox and outbox. The inbox is on the desk.  The outbox is next to the front door so we can check it on the way out (we forget sometimes!). 

2. Once a week (currently Thursdays), I go through the inbox.  I know the popular maxim to only handle pieces of paper once, but I find that there are some that just need time to figure out what to do.  So I may look at it, ponder, and put it back in the inbox. 

3. Because I'm doing it weekly, my inbox only takes an hour or two to get through.  There are usually a few bills to pay and file. Three checkbooks to balance once a month.  There are appointments and phone calls to make.

4.  However, in February, I clean out last year's files, so that takes a few hours longer.

a.  I remove all of last year's bills from our 2-drawer filing cabinet (but leave any documents in the file that pertain to more than a calendar year).

b.  I put it all in envelopes, labeling them with the year and the number of envelopes.  I've found that the times we've needed a paper from an old year, it was not too hard to find the stack from the file.  Therefore, I don't separate and label each individual file.  Most of the time, information we need is on our tax papers.

c.  Then I stick the envelopes in filing boxes in a closet.  I keep 7 years, which is the minimum the IRS wants for an audit.  I shred older years.  Today I shredded 2003, and found my summer paystubs that solved the mystery of what year it was that I worked at the Amish museum.

d. Two files are permanent:  our major home renovation with plans, receipts, permits; the list and paperwork of our former tenants.

e.  Then I say to myself, "self, what treat would please you, as a reward for all this hard, adult work?"

5.  In March (it happened this week), I organize all our receipts and deductions that were accumulating in the file over the previous year for tax purposes - another hour or so of work.  Then my husband takes it from there.

What I did in my inbox this week:
A. entered children's dentist appointments in online calendar - recycled card
B. opened mail - recycled envelopes and junk mail, set bills in inbox
C. entered automatic payments for phone and electric in checkbook register - deleted notification emails
D. renewed car registration online, filed paperwork
E. made half-hearted inquiries into preschools for Ben
F. wrote a check for a charitable donation - mailed it
G. filed statement for retirement account

How do you handle the flow of paper/mail/filing in your house?

Sorting the Canning Paraphernalia

My husband has collected several sets of cast-off kitchen cupboards for to use as basement canning storage.  This is great, but I just kept avoiding the organizing task because our basement is kind of a pit.

Today, finally, I sorted the marked, used lids from the new lids.  Each kind got its own drawer after I wiped out the grime.  I separated the canning rings and put them in their own box because there were too many for a drawer. 

I put all the empty jars together (broke the obligatory jar, too). Discovered a forgotten flat of canned salsa after I told my family last week that we had eaten the last jar. 

A very satisfying little sorting task to cross off my list. 

The sheets are almost dry on the line - just need to make beds, finish the sticky buns for breakfast, and then after a church event tonight, I should have time to sew.  Lovely

An Accidental Clean Leading to a Marker Roll

Have you noticed I haven't written about zone cleaning for a while?  It's just the dailies getting done around here recently - meals, laundry, Sparkle & Shine.  But sometimes the messes push me right over the edge and I find myself doing An Accidental Clean (Rebecca's term).

Last Saturday, I needed the hole punch and I was afraid that it was at the bottom of the children's drawer.

I meant to have Genevieve work with me, to show her a little organizational methodology, but I just couldn't bear it any longer so I ripped into it and made a very efficient job of it. . . .

until I realized the markers had no boxes or containers anymore.  The short story is that the markers remained on top of the dining room buffet, a visual to-do list, until I sewed a marker roll for them.

  The colored pencil wrap/roll was moderately successful, but I am pleased to say that this one is wholly successful. 

And cute, in my opinion.  And nice to sew something for my family for a change.

Recycling Paper

Our curbside recycling takes only newspaper (plus bottles and cans), but fortunately, I can take regular and shiny paper to a center in town.  I have a box downstairs and one upstairs to collect that paper.  Under the downstairs box, I also slide flattened thin cardboard boxes such as the ones butter, pasta, and cereal come in.  In the basement I collect corrugated cardboard and styrofoam. 

About once a month, I collect all the paper and cardboard and take it down to the center. I want to emulate my friends that loaded their wagon and walked their recyclables down, but I'm not there yet.

Instead of recycling sensitive personal papers, we collect them separately and then shred those about oh, once or twice a year; I then mix the shreds into the compost pile, supplying much-needed carbon to all the nitrogen of the kitchen scraps.  Genevieve is now old enough to do this job largely without supervision.

Pictured below is our newly turned compost pile, one of the ways my husband and I celebrated our anniversary (our anniversary fell on a Saturday, ok? We also went out to a great Thai restaurant, without the children, lest you worry.)

My brother recently told me that their economically depressed little town does not have recycling facilities and barely curbside recycling.  I was surprised and then embarrassed to realize that not everyone does have such great opportunities to recycle; my brother thinks people in our city must have known the right strings to pull or grants to apply for. 

My little vein of cynicism just can't believe that all the stuff I'm collecting and dropping off is actually being recycled. . . but my hopeful side usually wins out and I keep collecting and dropping off, collecting and dropping off.  I wake up too early sometimes and fret over the future of the earth. I want to be able to look my children and grandchildren in the eye and say yes, I did my best to help. 

Book Review: Confessions of an Organized Housewife

(first of all, a pretty picture: my Christmas table)

I like reading housekeeping books, so I own some and I'm always interested in ones I don't know. This one was recommended by Leila at Like Mother, Like Daughter. It's titled Confessions of an Organized Housewife by Deniece Schofield, published in 1982, and (hooray!) at my library.

My main thought after reading it was, wow, I am already doing most of what she recommends. Wow, maybe I am a good housekeeper. . . that has sustained me for a few weeks now.

Schofield makes the point that having a clean, organized house frees you up to focus on things you really want to do. Yes, that has been my experience. If the house is at bottom organized and regularly cleaned, you can clean off the surface mess (ahem - TOYS) and surface dirt with a minimum of effort and irritation.

Another good point: if you do it well, you'll like housework.

Some organizational things Schofield does that I realized (joy!) I do already:
1. When I'm considering buying something, I ask myself where I'm going to put it in my house.
2. I store things at or near point of first use. (as opposed to where it "should" be kept or where my mother kept it)
3. I store the children's toys on shelves - not in toyboxes or out of sight.
4. I plan a few menus of varying involvement for a week and then as the week unfolds, I match them up to my schedule for the day.

Overall, I do recommend this book. But then, I told you that I like to read housekeeping books. . .