Hair Jewlery

As a SAHM I often feel less than professional in my daily attire. I wear a ponytail everyday. For me it is a MUST. This is just that season of life when I can't wear my hair down.
I was so tired of using a black hair band to fashion my "just got back from a jog" look. If it wasn't holding up my skinny ponytail it was around my wrist ready to be pulled out and put to use. I have risen above that old rubber band and plastic hair claw. I now have a 'Flexiclip.'

Isn't it pretty?
I love it!
The Flexi clip is a completely unique, flexible barrette that holds thick, thin, curly, straight, fine and coarse hair. The Flexi comes in 6 sizes and hundreds of ever changing styles. Flexi uses an ingenious patented locking mechanism to secure it in your hair.


Don't you want one? If 'yes,' go here to get one!

I have been looking for a LONG time for a pretty barrette for my hair but nothing stays in. My hair is straight, slippery and very fine. All of the pretty ones were just too heavy.
This, my friends in the solution! It is the solution if you have super thick hair or super fine hair. Go to the website and have a look at all of the beautiful choices! I fell in love and had a hard time deciding on the perfect one. So I guess I will just have to get a few more to add to my wardrobe!

I started out with an extra small one to hold my regular ponytail. Now that I have it, I have learned that I need a small to twist up all of my hair.
The most common size is small. One size does not fit all. You will need different sizes depending on the hairstyle you want to achieve. Anyway, there is a video on this website that will help you decide which size is best for you.

This little wire contraption has done great things for me. My whole attitude is better because I feel better. I feel prettier. Sounds cheesy but it is true.
Just wanted to share it with you too!

Look what else you can do with it! Isn't it elegant? But yet useful for everyday use too!

Cleaning System

Really. I think this should be called: "Now I have three mobile children and I just can't wing it anymore. I need a system that thinks for me."
When this inspiration first hit me I was so excited. But then I reminded myself that I still had to be disciplined and do the work. This is just a system to help guide me better.

It is a variation taken from Sidetracked Home Executives. I have read blogs about others making up this 3 x 5 index card system and it just seemed to make sense to me.

So here is what I have put together. It is kinda a bit of a brain teaser but I know over time will be a smooth as any other habit.

I followed this set of directions to get it all in order.

This is the box that will make my house clean! With little help from me of course.
The cards have numbers 1-31 for each day of the month. You can assign monthly tasks to a certain day (number) for each month.

This set of yellow cards will be in each day. So when I complete the task I move it the
the next day.

The months of the year are for seasonal tasks like cleaning

out the garage, gardening, cleaning the gutters, etc. I haven't

touched this yet. I need to get the inside of the house in order
first.

Here are each of the categories I would see each day.

This is a shot of the actual tasks.

Ah. Thank you Lord for our homes. And thank you for
Sundays.


As each day passes I move the cards to the next appropriate line up. If it is a daily card, I move it to the next day (except for Sunday).
If it is a weekly card I move the card 7 days back.
If it is a bi-weekly card I move it 14 days back.
If it is monthly card I can leave it there cause monthly cards are assigned to a certain number of the month. Make sense? So washing the door mat will happen on the 15th of each month so it stays in the 15 slot.

As time goes on, I will work out the bugs and likely thing of more tasks to add to the box. As the kids get older I will also add the responsible person's name to the chore.
I even thought I could add a bible verse to read each day. Over time it will be memorized.

Okay. I just made a little change. I made duplicates of all the cards except for the daily ones. I wanted all the cards to stay where they are to make it easier. Now I only have to move the daily cards to tomorrows slot.

Laundry ~ How do I keep the ball rolling?

I have another laundry trick I should share with you.

I didn’t even think of it until a comment was left on my last post. I do something a little different.

When we were just married (only 5 short years ago) I was (and still am) too cheap to buy a laundry basket. And I knew that a little white flimzy plastic  laundry basket was just not going to cut it.

So I used what I had. A Rouchneck Rubbermaid Storage Bin.

 

Hubby teases me cause I feel like I can’t ever have enough of these things.

Well, our whole family only uses one of these for a laundry basket.  He is the routine.

~ by evening, laundry for the day has been washed and put away.

~ when someone soils their clothes, it goes in this bin which is kept in mom and dad’s bedroom. If the bin is still in the laundry room the soiled clothes sit in our bathroom sink (we have two sinks in the bathroom but only one gets used for washing hands and brushing teeth).

~ once the laundry is cleaned and put away I go to the sink and put whatever is in there into the bin and put it back in our bedroom.

The sink doesn’t get very full during the day but by evening when the kids are getting ready for bath it starts to fill up, This is key: IF THE BIN IS NOT IN IT’S PLACE  (AKA: laundry is not done for the day) Things start to get pilled up and looking out of control.

It is kind of like a game. I have to be done my job before the sink fills up.

Therefore, I have to laundry EVERY DAY!

Sometimes I will take Friday off and do a bigger load on Saturday when hubby is home. When he is home I have more leeway to leave the kids and give more attention to cleaning.

Hope this helps.

What I am Learning about Laundry

Okay, I have MADE myself do laundry every day. It has been two weeks now. Hear is what I have learned.

~ You can’t let it go more than a day in a half…. otherwise it will be BIG & UGLY… too much work for what I want to do (even if it is every other day or so.. that just ends up taking me 2 days to tackle it all, only to do it all again)

~If you do it DAILY, the loads are smaller and much more ‘doable.”

~if you do it DAILY, you end up with clothes in the washer or dryer, or in the closet…non in a heap on the couch or in the laundry basket.

~ If you do it DAILY, you end up seeing what you really use. There are so many articles of clothing that just does not get used! Time to decultter!

~If you do it DAILY, I don’t get that nagging, overwhelmed feeling.

This is orderly looking but if you do it daily you should never have this much (unless you are the Duggers). We are a family of 5 and currently potty training and have a compulsive droller. We don’t have this much.

So I encourage you. DO IT DAILY! 

Getting it Together

 

Bear with the fonts. I am experimenting. I love cute fonts but I am not exactly an expert (yet). I can’t figure out why the title of the post isn’t the same font as the body of the post.

Anyway, feel free to let me know which font is more pleasing to the eye and easy to read.

Well,  on to the ideas that are stirring in my brain….

I have been on a cleaning and organizing crazy woman lately! I love it! I is finally addicting! I signed up to be a member at Fly Lady. net( Fly Lady). If you sign up (it is free) they send you a daily email with the cleaning mission for the day. Over the course of a year you will have cleaned every nook and cranny by doing little bits each weekday.  If you go to the website and you don’t want to get sidetracked only click on

~Control Journal : this is a daily cleaning plan that you can make for example Monday – wash floors, Tuesday – clean bathroom, Wednesday- Vacuum all floors, Thursday- empty all trash cans, Etc.

and

~ Fly Zone: this is deeper cleaning each day but it is so small it doesn’t feel like spring cleaning blood sweat and tears.

I have been so motivated by it! I am on a roll!

You as you read further, you will see that Fly Lady is big on decluttering. How can one truly clean unless the stuff is out of the way to do so? You must declutter!

I recently had a garage sale and cleaned out! It feels so liberating! Now each day I feel great cause the cleaning part comes so much easier.

I really believe that to be a great wife and mom, and steward of what God has given me, I need a clean and orderly home.

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step." Little by little, step by step, mile by mile, progress is made.”