Organization & Cleaning Archives

How to Reduce Kitchen Chaos

September 16, 2019 by Kelly Dedeaux 5 Comments

If there’s one thing busy moms know well, it’s kitchen chaos. Do you ever feel like you’re constantly in the kitchen either preparing meals, or cleaning up after them? Does your kitchen become a dumping ground for things like backpacks, toys, junk mail, and more? I swear I could’ve just cleaned off my kitchen island, and within the hour it’s covered with odds and ends yet again – and yes, my hubby is as guilty as the kids! To help ease a bit of this, here’s some ideas on How to Reduce Kitchen Chaos.

First of all, no there isn’t a way I know of that will keep your kitchen completely clean or organized all the time. It’s life, there will be messes and stress and craziness. But if we can at least minimize that, it sure helps our sanity!

Create a weekly meal plan. You should always know what you’re making and shop for the ingredients before the start of the week so you can serve dinners on time – or at least within a reasonable time.
Organize the junk. Take the time to declutter your kitchen, get rid of things that don’t belong, and organize the things that will remain in this space. Junk mail, I’m looking at you!
Consolidate food prep. Whenever possible, you should try to consolidate food prep. If you can chop veggies tonight for dinner tonight AND tomorrow, for example, then you’re saving time in the future.
Create a system. Just like anywhere else in a busy mom’s life, organization comes in handy and creating a system for your kitchen, the meals you serve, and the cleanup will make it all seem much more organized and less chaotic. Know where things are, have a process for how prep or dinner tasks are done, etc.

With these tips in mind, you can reduce the chaos in your kitchen and feel a bit more in control of this space, and your life.

How to Organize Your Day with a Toddler

September 13, 2019 by Kelly Dedeaux Leave a Comment

The benefits of staying home with your kids are many, but that doesn’t mean everything always goes smoothly – especially when you have a toddler running around. In fact, caring for a toddler all day makes it difficult to get anything else done around the home. So, how do you care for a toddler and do all the other things you have to take care at home without running yourself ragged? Here’s some tips on How to Organize Your Day with a Toddler!

Moms and dads that stay home with their kids have a wonderful opportunity to spend precious time with their little ones that many parents who work outside of the home don’t get. You get to be there for all of the little things that you may otherwise miss. It’s certainly not easy, though, so organizing your day well can make a huge difference in how exhausted you end up when bedtime hits.

Here’s how to organize your day with a toddler:

Start with a simple, flexible schedule. A schedule will help you remember all the important things that you need to get done throughout the day so you can stay on track. By keeping it flexible, you won’t feel overwhelmed when something unexpected happens or when your toddler is simply having a bad day (or you are, because we KNOW that happens) and you don’t get through the list.
Set aside some special time just for your toddler. Use this time to play games, go outside and have fun with your toddler. This will ensure that you do spend quality time with her instead of running back and forth trying to play while taking care of other tasks. We’re all familiar with mom guilt, so this will help with that, as well.
Provide a safe environment with age appropriate activities to keep him/her busy while you take care of business. The activities will keep them occupied and happy while you work. You’ll also get more done because you know they’re in a safe environment where you don’t have to watch her every second (but please do watch as is age appropriate!)
Plan your meals in advance and eat around the same time every day. It’ll help you establish a daily routine that your kids learn to expect, in addition to helping you stay organized.

These simple tips are easy to implement into your daily schedule and they can help you keep your day organized even with a demanding toddler running around.

Family Home Binder Printables

August 5, 2019 by Kelly Dedeaux

Isn’t it such a pain to sort through a ton of documents and files to find the information you need, especially when you’re in a rush? Now you can keep all your family’s important info in one, easy place with these Family Home Binder Printables! We’ve got everything from medical forms and emergency contacts, to shopping lists and babysitter sheets, plus budgets and more to make your life as a busy mom much easier and organized.

Family Home Binder Printables - keep all your family's important information in one, simple place with this helpful printable pack perfect for busy moms! There's pages for emergency contacts & plans, birthdays, medical and school information, budgets, weekly tasks and to do lists, menu and shopping lists, babysitter sheet & more! #printable #homebinder #familybinder #busymoms #homemanagement

After lots of asking around as to what people preferred, we made our home binder printables simple and clean-looking, while still being stylish with some pops of color. It goes perfectly with our 2018 Free Printable Planner, as well as our awesome 52 Weeks of Meal Plans (with recipes) Book! We tried to include the majority of lists and documents that a busy family would need, helping you keep track of everything in one, convenient place. Once you have the PDFs, you can print off as many as you’d like (such as with the monthly budget sheet or weekly menu and shopping lists) – for personal use only, of course 🙂 We even included several cover options, so you can print off whichever you like best.

What’s included in the Family Home Binder Printable pack?

4 Cover Designs – front and back (front has choice of ribbon decor or plain in that blue label piece)
Weekly Tasks and To Do Spread
Page for listing household Utilities & Services information
School Information
Weekly Menu & Shopping List
Medical Forms
Family Emergency Plan, Map (fire escape route) & Contacts
Emergency Contact Sheet
Monthly Budget – one blank and one with some general expenses filled in
Babysitter Helper Sheet
Birthday List

Family Home Binder Printables

That’s a LOT of pages, but super important to have handy when your family needs them. You can nab the entire set now for just $1.99 – what a deal! Let’s talk about the individual sheets now, shall we? Since many of us need help getting our tasks organized – otherwise we try to keep all our to do’s in our head – here’s the Weekly Tasks & To Do’s spread:

It has the days listed out along the top, and then to the left it’s divided into AM, PM or Eve (evening) so you can spread it out a bit by times, as desired.

One that many people forget to have on-hand is a list of their utility companies, contact information and account numbers – because we don’t really think about it until something happens and we need it RIGHT THEN. Now you can have them all neatly listed out on this sheet. We pre-filled some of the lines with the general types of utilities many people have, but it still has plenty of lines for adding in others as needed.

I never really thought to have a sheet of all my kids’ school information until we took a ‘parents only’ vacation and my uncles were watching them for almost 2 weeks.

Now you can print off a sheet for each school child, and have everything on there – from their homeroom teacher’s info, to their schedule (including bus) and more.

Along with having that easily accessible when you have a sitter, how about a BABYSITTER HELPER sheet? You can add the details for that particular time, plus things like what they should eat and what times. So useful!

For a long while I was using plain, boring paper to write out our family’s weekly menu – now it’s much more fun (and not such an eye-sore on my fridge) with this cute weekly menu that I can fill in.

This is the same design I use in our Meal Plan on a Budget Book, along with the fun shopping list page.

I’m crossing my fingers and knocking on wood right now as I type this (you know, just in case I jinx myself) – but we’ve only had to take a child to the emergency room ONE TIME. With 5 kids, that’s such a lucky blessing! When that did happen, though, I wish we had this medical form so I could have all of his information in one spot to take with us instead of trying to dig it all out and call hubby back home to find the stuff I just didn’t remember. Super stressful!

You can even use it when going to new doctors and such, since you can put all of their allergies, medications, past surgeries and the like on there. This page alone would’ve been well worth the mere $1.99 cost when we had our ER ordeal – and you can nab the whole set for that cost! Woot woot!

To go right along with that form – other emergencies can, unfortunately, happen to our families. Times like this, we don’t have a moment to spare – so it’s extremely important to have a plan. These emergency pages allow you spots to input your family’s emergency plans…

…including a sheet of more emergency contacts. We also included a mostly-blank page where you can draw out a rough idea of your home escape plan, for instances such as a fire.

This is great to practice with the kids regularly, so they know what to do should the worst happen.

Okay, now that we’ve covered those very urgent, hopefully-won’t-be-needed forms, let’s move on to something a little more fun – a place to put all those birthdays we try to keep in our minds constantly! Whether you just track your immediate family’s special days, or include every aunt, uncle and second-cousin-twice-removed, there’s spots for each month!

I know not everyone likes keeping a budget (I’m actually in love with budgeting, so for me it’s fun), but in case you do there’s a sheet to track all of your monthly finances!

We’ve included a sheet that’s partially filled in with common expenses, but also have one blank in case you really want full control over the items and order 🙂

Phew, that’s quite a ton of papers – but when you’ve got an entire family and household to care for it can be SUPER helpful to have all that information in one place. You can either put it in folders, staple it together, place it in a binder, or even just spiral-bind the packet yourself. Whatever you choose, this family home binder printable set is great for any busy mom, dad or family!

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Back to School Printable Checklists

July 22, 2019 by Kelly Dedeaux

I participated in a Influencer Activation on behalf of Influence Central forOshKosh B’Gosh. I received an OshKoshB’Gosh gift card to facilitate my post and a promotional item to thank me for my participation. #backtobgosh #bgoshjeanius #IC

I knew the transition from 1 child in school to 3 all at once was going to be rough – but oh my gosh it’s only a few days into the new year and I’m going crazy! With school starting at 7:45am, it’s a mad rush in the morning – then they’re so eager to play after they get home that nothing is getting done. Luckily we’re all set with awesome new clothes thanks to OshKosh B’Gosh, and now these Back to School Printable Checklists should fix the other hassles! originally shared August 2015

Even my kindergarten boys find it much easier, and more fun for some reason, to get everything done in the morning when they have a list to check off. After school they know to get it all done before asking to go play so I don’t have to keep asking ‘did you remember to do XY or Z?’ There’s even a sheet for bedtime to help with that busy time!

Each printable includes a filled out one with general tasks for each time of day, but also a blank one you can fill in your own things for them to do with a white market, if desired. Download each one here:

Good Morning Sheet Good Afternoon Sheet Good Night Sheet

Then just cut out, laminate so they’re reusable, and even add a ring to hang it neatly for them to access!

Getting dressed is one of the kids’ favorite parts of day right now because they’re SUPER excited about their new clothes! I let them pick them out (mostly on their own) last time we swung by OshKosh B’Gosh. I loved the prices – they loved the selection. I mean, what kid wouldn’t be off-the-walls THRILLED about glow in the dark shirts?!

No, I don’t know what this ‘pose’ of Thor’s was – but he wanted to make sure I got his shirt AND jeans in the photo. I was so glad we could nab the quality jeans at a great price – and they have the adjustable waist that my skinny-minny kids need!

Even Hulk, our preschooler this year, got some fun new items for his closet – and he looks so much older in these, don’t you think? Too cute!

Since it can get expensive outfitting FOUR kiddos, I’m always grateful for additional savings like this coupon!

Our school has a bit of a dress code, so we have to be careful to adhere to their policies while still letting our kids pick fun designs and pieces to show their own personalities, like Thor showing off his love of green that still glows in the dark. Jeans are always acceptable, and so easy to match with anything really – just add a bold print or a touch of the neat glow and you can send them out the door in style!

Black Widow even found sparkly leggings! Of course we had to grab a bunch because…they’re SPARKLY!

Want to make a difference while checking ‘back to school clothes’ off your shopping list? OshKosh B’gosh, in partnership with K.I.D.S./ Fashion Delivers, Inc., and DonorsChoose.org are offering the opportunity for you to donate a new pair of jeans or make a cash donation to a students in need this school year.

Now through September 16th 2015, all denim donated will be delivered to local children in need through K.I.D.S./Fashion Delivers. Cash donations will be dispersed to local DonorsChooose.org. The Carters Charitable foundation will match all the denim donations with a new piece of clothing, and all cash donations up to $50,000! Check out more on the ‘B’gosh Jeanius Campaign here.

Pet Owner Life Hacks

May 13, 2019 by Kelly Dedeaux

This post is sponsored by our friends at Swiffer & Febreze. All opinions are mine alone. #SwifferFanatic #DontSweatYourPet

We all love our pets – they make our families complete! Since it’s National Pet Month, it’s time to show some extra appreciation for our fur-ever friends, as well as pet owners, by sharing some Pet Owner Life Hacks. Along with all the benefits to having a furry pet in your life, there do come some challenges – but thankfully there are some great tricks and tools to make it much easier and so you don’t have to sweat your pet!

#1: Make Clean-up Easier

Especially with the Springtime rain, muddy paw prints have become a regular occurrence – especially on pretty wood floors! It used to frustrate me to no end, having those little prints all over – but not anymore thanks to the Swiffer Sweeper Dry & Wet Pet Refills with Febreze Odor Defense that Trap + Lock! I love how easy it is to put on one of the wet pads, wipe across the muddied floor a bit, and then my floors are back to looking beautiful. Plus, that Febreze Odor Defense really helps with the muddy (or wet dog – ugh) smell! Just grab some of the refills next time you’re shopping at Kroger.

#2: Easy Storage for Pet Supplies

Nobody wants a bunch of dog toys or leashes and such laying all around the house, right? Especially at night, I don’t want the dogs to be playing with their squeaky toys or leaving a ball at the top of the stairs in the dark. We use a couple of different storage options – a big tote for items that we only get out occasionally (like dog nail clippers, or ‘special’ toys) and also a cute basket tower where we store their daytime toys during the night, and also leashes so we can grab them easily for a walk. It keeps them out of the way, so the pups can’t get them, and looks nice in the house which is a great bonus!

#3: Bathtime Fun

If your dogs are like mine, they do NOT like bath time. Even my kids, when they were younger, didn’t put up as much of a struggle! I heard this trick, and it’s actually helped quite a bit – smear some peanut butter on the far wall of the bathtub to keep your dog occupied while you wash them. Easy, rewarding for them, and hopefully less of a battle for you.

#4: No More Bad Pet Smell

While we all love our dogs so much, sometimes their smell makes us less eager for those warm snuggles. Especially when guests who aren’t use to dogs come over, I want my home smelling fresh – which is why I keep my Febreze Air Heavy Duty Pet Odor Eliminator handy in that storage basket I was telling you about! Just a few sprays around where my dogs have been the most, and that dog smell is gone.

#5: Protect The Furniture

Our dogs nap a lot during the day, but at night they’re spending extra time lounging on our couches. To help protect the fabric a bit more, we have some cheap bed sheets that we use to cover our couches at bedtime, then fold them up and put them away in the morning. It provides a little layer between the dogs and the couch, helping a bit with the odor and the shedding. You can also help keep your couches smelling fresh with the Febreze Fabric Pet Odor Eliminator – especially great when you have company coming over that may be seating on the couches!

#6: Tackle Shedding

For carpets, did you know that you can use a regular squeegee rubbed along it to lift up all that pet hair? It works like a charm! For the tile or wood floors (I love my wood floors!), use your handy Swiffer Sweeper Dry & Wet Pet Refills with Febreze Odor Defense again, but this time start with the dry refills to sweep up and trap all that shedded hair easily. My kids have a lot of fun using our Swiffer Sweeper, which makes it nice for me not having to battle to get the floors clean! After all, we don’t want to ‘sweat our pet’, right?

What are your best pet owner hacks?

Spring Means Muddy Paws

April 19, 2019 by Kelly Dedeaux

This post brought to you by our friends at Swiffer. All opinions are ours alone. #SwifferFanatic #DontSweatYourPet

Y’all know how much we love our pets – but I will say that Springtime can be one of the most frustrating parts of the year with them. Why, you may ask? Because Spring means muddy paws – which then get tracked in all over my floors! Add to that the fact that they’re bringing in all that pollen or other plant stuff as things begin to grow, just adding to the mess. Luckily it’s not really a big deal, because I can clean it up super easy with my arsenal of supplies.

I like to call it my ‘arsenal’ because it practically ‘attacks’ the mess, cleaning it up super quickly and with hardly any effort. Heck, my kids even ENJOY using our Swiffer products for their chores, meaning less fights getting them to check them off! All I need to do is make sure I stay stocked up on everything – if we run low, I just nab some during our next trip to Kroger – and the mess almost takes care of itself (so to speak). For those muddy paws all over our dark wood floors, we’re loving the Swiffer Sweeper Dry and Wet Pet Refills with Febreze Odor Defense that Trap + Lock all that yuck. A quick swipe across the floors and they’re clean once again! I also like that they smell so fresh, thanks to the Febreze Odor Defense, so our house smells great – without smelling like cleaner 😉

Some of my dogs get the ‘what ME?’ look when I jokingly ask who left all the muddy paw prints – but some of them couldn’t care less! At least I don’t have to stress about it, and can just ask one of my kiddos to nab our Swiffer Sweeper to wipe it up quickly.

And who here has pets that LOVE laying in the window areas in the springtime when the sun shines in nice and warm? I have a few that will hang out in the sunny spots constantly – meaning more of their shedding gets left behind. Another fun tool in our cleaning arsenal is our Swiffer Dusters Heavy Duty Pet Refills – which is probably my family’s FAVORITE cleaning tool!

I mean, they get a ‘wand’ of fluffy cleaning-ness to go ‘trap’ all that hair and dirt left behind. Swipe it around on the ledges or wherever your pet tends to chill out, and it grabs all the fur up quickly. Check out everything it got up from just ONE swipe along this window seat ledge that my Leia girl loves laying in during the sunshine!

Even though Spring means muddy paws, shedding and all sorts of other pet frustrations, you don’t have to worry about anything other than loving your pet thanks to a trusted supply of Swiffer products to help clean up the mess quickly, easily and even enjoyably!

Check out items for your Swiffer cleaning arsenal!

Most Helpful Printables for Families EVER!

April 5, 2019 by Kelly Dedeaux

GUYS – after doing this site for over 5 years now, and all the feedback, questions and thoughts from fellow busy parents everywhere, I decided to do something that will truly be ‘Busy Mom’s Helper’. Ready for it? It’s a complete set of printables that are designed with one purpose in mind: helping busy families! You can nab the entire set, or pick the individual one(s) that you want most. If you’re ready to dive in and check out the Most Helpful Printables for Families EVER, then here we go! (oh, and if you get the whole set, you also get our 2 most popular pdf books as a FREE bonus!)

Nab this ENTIRE set – including the bonus items – for just $5.99 HERE (or see below for smaller sets just $1 each!)

Because one of the whole points of this printable set is organization, I’m going to list out all the amazing pages that are included under their basic ‘topics’ below, so you can search for the ones you’re most eager to see (or the ones that would help you the most). We have practically everything in our 5 sets: Money & Financial, Kitchen & Meal Planning, Scheduling & Time Management, Security/Personal & Home Management, even some fun-but-helpful pages for Trip Planning!

Set 1: Money & Financial
Nab this set for only $1

Debt Tracker
- balances, payments, etc.
Emergency Fund
- tracker for balances, as well as fun chart tracker
Family Budget
- blank and pre-filled
Goals
- track your progress and balances

Set 2: Kitchen & Meal Planning
Nab this set for only $1

Our Favorite Meals
- list out family favorites for easier menu planning
Food Inventory
- pantry, fridge & freezer – keep a running list!
Shopping List
- broken down to store sections: aisles, dairy, meat/deli, produce, frozen & misc.
Weekly Meal Plan
- blank to fill in breakfast, lunch and dinner as desired
Menu
- pretty, styled listing to display your menu for the week

Set 3: Scheduling & Time Management
Nab this set for only $1

Appointments
- such as doctors, dentist, etc.
Birthdays
- list each by month for the year
Blank Monthly Calendar
Goal Tracker
- with steps broken down!
Full page for plenty of notes
Pet Information
- food, medicines, vet contacts, etc.
School Information
- start/end times, bus schedules, checking weather, etc.
Tasks in Minutes
- got a few minutes to be productive – here’s some ideas in 2 minutes or less or 5 minutes or less
- blank and prefilled with some ideas
Weekly Tasks
- 3 different layout/week options (Sun-Sat, Mon-Sun or dates at top and AM/PM/EVE on side)
8 different front cover designs/styles & 4 matching back covers

Set 4: Security/Personal & Home Management
Nab this set for only $1

Babysitter’s Helper
- from contact info to schedules
Chore Charts for Kids
- 6 different color combos
Emergency Contact List
Family Emergency Plan
- including extra sheet to draw out escape plan
Home Inventory
- keep record of your possessions per room – could come in handy for insurance someday
Utilities & Services
- know who to contact for what
Kids Clothing Tracker
- great way to save money – tips here!
Maintenance & Repairs
- keep record of common items, such as replacing filters
Family Medical
- information for each family member
Medicine
- sheet for tracking what’s in your cabinet (and when it expires) as well as tracking dosages
Passwords
- in case your secure digital record gets lost, keep a paper one (in a secure place)
Projects to Complete
- supplies, steps, and progress
Upon My Death
- for those left behind to know where important things are – list for accounts such as banking or investments (blank and prefilled), as well as items such as address book and will (blank and prefilled) – be sure to keep in a very secure location, but where trusted ones know where to find it!

Set 5: Trip Planning
Nab this set for only $1

Note: there is a colorful general trip set as well as a Disney-themed set of each of the below (unless stated otherwise)!

Trip Budget
- blank and pre-filled
Packing List
- essentials, clothing, toiletries, etc.
Trip Prep
- to-do’s 6-9 months prior, 1-2 weeks prior, etc.
- blank (plus a prefilled one for Disney)
Safety Tips
- before leaving, while away & once returned home (colored only, no Disney-themed on this one)

As you probably noticed, several of the printables have both a BLANK and a PREFILLED option – we wanted to be the most help to the most people, so included the prefilled for those that really like having the most common things already there for them. However, we know many will vary in what they’d put, so made sure a blank form was still included. Like we said at the beginning of this post, we’ve been collecting input, ideas, and requests for a LONG time to see what type of printables would really be the most helpful for busy families – we tried to include as much as possible, and any that seemed to be requested by enough people to be seen as a common need.

Get the Whole Pack & Bonus Items!

Did you see the two BONUS items, too?! We’re including our super popular ‘Unofficial’ Disney Autograph & Activity Book (our most popular printable EVER) as well as our extremely helpful (and probably our second most time-consuming project we’ve ever done) 52 Weeks of Meal Plans! That’s a whole year of breakfast, lunch & dinner planned out – including the budget-friendly recipes. I told you I wanted this pack to be as helpful as possible for fellow busy parents, so felt that it wouldn’t be complete without these two great resources! And since we sell those two items individually for $2 each, this is a killer value. I want this to help as many as possible (though I do still have to support my family, of course, otherwise I could list it for FREE) so here’s the deal…..

Nab this ENTIRE set – including the bonus items – for just $5.99 HERE!!!

Yup, we’re crazy – take advantage of it 😉

Even if just SOME of these would make your life a bit easier, that all seems worth it – don’t you agree? I mean, parenting is crazy enough, so even the slightest bit of help can be a huge blessing! Whether you use ten of these sheets or ALL of them, I just hope they bring a little more ‘calm’, organization, time and relief to your family’s busy lives!

How to Get the Smell Out of Shoes

March 4, 2019 by Kelly Dedeaux

I was getting so sick of the stinky shoe problem in our house – I mean, with an active girl and three VERY active boys (plus hubby and me, yes) there were a lot! I tried a few different things, but this one trick is the best way I found to Get the Smell Out of Shoes – and I’m sharing it with you.

Our dogs have gotten into this nasty habit of chewing on shoes (and everything else, for that matter) and because of that we now have to keep all of our shoes behind closed doors. We put a shoe rack in our under stairs closet for those we use regularly. The bad thing about that is the stinky shoe smell really fills up that closet. It’s pretty spacious – but it’s also a lot of shoes!

Like I said, we tried several things – but only one made enough difference to make it worth it. The great thing about it is that it doesn’t take much stuff, or money!

Supplies

Cat Litter
Baking Soda
Cheap Knee-length stockings (or extra/spare/unmatched socks)

Get the Smell Out of Shoes Directions

In a bowl, mix a few cups of kitty litter with a few tbsp. of baking soda. There’s no ‘exact’ measurement, so just roughly. Mix it up well.
Scoop some into each stocking/sock. Tie the end off so it doesn’t spill.
Place one inside each shoe when not being worn. Throw away when done!

Note: for the stockings, some baking soda dust may come through the fabric – but just shake the shoes. I found they kept the kitty litter in just fine, though.

Be sure to wash your hands after handling kitty litter, please. I didn’t want my kids playing with these, so I put them in at night, then removed them in the morning before they got their shoes. I repeated this 2 nights, then replaced with NEW filled stockings because the old ones eventually were getting the smell out of the shoes, but then THEY smell. So replace occasionally. After two rounds, our shoes were smelling fine and our closet was back to a normal closet smell – which is basically nothing 🙂

This isn’t a solution that’ll last forever, of course, because we continue to wear our shoes. I’ll probably do a 2-night round every couple of weeks, as needed. I’m just so glad I don’t open that door and have to plug my nose!

Other Useful Cleaning Tips…

Love and Pet Messes

February 18, 2019 by Kelly Dedeaux

Thanks to Swiffer + Febreze for sponsoring this post. All opinions are mine alone. #DontSweatYourPet

With Valentine’s Day so recently, I loved seeing all of the local shelters and rescues posting their holiday specials so you could adopt your new furry Valentine. Sweet dogs and cats holding little signs such as ‘Be My Valentine’ or snuggling heart-shaped pillows? Melt my heart! For those of you still stuck at the thinking stage – whether or not you should adopt a new furry friend – here’s some of my thoughts about how to tackle at least some of the things that may be causing hesitation. Because really, adopting comes with Love and Pet Messes – but we can help with that last one!

We’re long past the thinking stage, but I still remember that amongst the excitement and desire to get a pet, there were concerns. Will we have enough time to pay adequate attention to our new pet? What are the costs involved? Are we going to be able to keep and care for her long-term? And of course – what about the PET MESSES?! I know animals shed, and it can be super frustrating – but the great news is that it doesn’t actually have to be a hassle! If the messes are the last thing keeping you from enjoying the amazing friendship and love of a new pet, you can rest assured that Swiffer + Febreze can save the day with a swish and a spray. You can nab both during your next trip to Kroger!

I was thrilled to learn that my favorite cleaning helper – Swiffer – now has special pet-specific products to really give us pet-owners some help. I’m talking about the awesome Swiffer Dusters Heavy Duty Pet Refills, as well as the Sweeper Dry and Wet Pet Refills with Febreze Odor Defense that Trap+Lock all that pet hair and dirt. I’ve always loved how easily I can sweep up all the dead grass and yuck on my floors, then making them fully clean and shiny. Plus the Swiffer Dusters are AMAZING for getting all the nooks and crannies around the house where my dogs’ shedding seems to come to rest.

Along with the ‘pet messes’ is the smell – we all know that dogs and cats don’t always smell like roses (despite rolling around in them often, it seems!). But that ones even easier, because Febreze AIR Heavy Duty Pet Odor Eliminator can freshen up all around your home with a quick spray. If you’re worried about your couches – my pups LOVE laying around on our couches – then never fear, because there’s also Febreze Fabric Pet Odor Eliminator that helps to quickly freshen those up, which is particularly great before having guests over.

While there may be other reasons you’re not ready to commit to a pet, if you’re at the point where you ARE ready, it’s truly an incredible bond between pet and owner. We love our pups so much – they truly complete our family! There’s ups and downs in all love stories, but Swiffer + Febreze can help make sure you don’t sweat your pet because of the mess or odor. No matter what stage you’re at – thinking, plunging, or loving (that’s us!) – you can enjoy the fact that Swiffer + Febreze help clean and freshen up pet messes quickly AND efficiently. That means you can spend more time with your new fur-ever friend!

What pet would YOU most enjoy?

Pet Clean Up Made Easy

January 18, 2019 by Kelly Dedeaux

This awesome pet cleaning post is sponsored by Swiffer. All opinions are mine alone. #DontSweatYourPet #SwifferFanatic

Y’all know how much we love our dogs, all four of them. They complete our family, and provide plenty of snuggles, loves and goofy moments – that being said, they also provide quite the mess in our home! All that shedding and the paw-prints really can be frustrating, but luckily it doesn’t prevent us from enjoying our furry pups! Here’s some ways Pet Clean Up is Made Easy so you can focus on the GREAT things about pet ownership.

If you’re like us, you’re among the 59% of pet owners who feel that their pets help make their house feel like a home. It just wouldn’t be the same without them, so it’s a bit sad that 70% of Americans (and 75% of pet-less parents) say that their concerns over pet messes may prevent them from adopting a pet. Now, I know there are some really great reasons out there that pet ownership may not be for you, but I hope I can show you how the messes shouldn’t be a large factor in that important decision!

Having had dogs for over 5 years now, we’ve learned how to make the clean up not only easy, but QUICK – because busy parents like us just don’t have a lot of time to be cleaning – but even the savviest pet owners may need help to see why they shouldn’t sweat it when it comes to their furry friends.

Since we’re making a pledge to stress less about the pet hair all over our floors this year, and handling it quickly and easily instead of making it a huge hassle, the first thing we’re doing is dividing up the work. Each week is someone else’s turn in our home to do the floors, while we also rotate dusting (especially the stairs – because boy does the dog hair like to collect on there!). For the stairs, ledges and baseboard-type spots we love how quick (and fun, according to my kids) the Swiffer Dusters Heavy Duty Pet Refills work.

Just grab a duster, fluff it up, then swipe it away at those pet hairs – it picks them up so well, and leaves your edges looking wonderful! Even the pets kind of like these fluffy yellow things, though I don’t think they appreciate it as much as we do 🙂

The floors were the biggest stress, but luckily we tackle that easily now. Whoever is in charge of the floors for the week just pulls out our Sweeper Dry and Wet and the Pet Dry Refills with Febreze Odor Defense (that are amazing, and Trap + Lock all that dirt and pet hair – you can find them at Kroger) and sweep away. It’s actually kind of fun to watch them do the swishing, back-and-forth motion with it!

After that, for the dirty pup prints, the Wet Pet Refill works amazing at wiping those up in a jiffy, leaving our pretty floors shining. Plus, the tough green strip is perfect when there’s a spot that needs a little extra scrubbing. I love it!

Being a pet owner, I know there will always be a mess (plus kids – so there’s that!). When we first got a dog we had to spend a ton of time cleaning all the dog hair and paw prints, but we don’t mind at all now because with Swiffer it’s so quick and simple!

Now that we spend less time cleaning up after our pets, we can enjoy a lot more time with our family – including our furry friends!

What’s your trick for quick pet clean up?

Printable Holiday Planner

November 26, 2018 by Kelly Dedeaux

I can’t believe how fast Christmas is coming – but don’t worry, it’s not too late to get your holiday organized with our fabulous, festive Printable Holiday Planner! We’ve got everything her to help you keep your sanity during this busy season – from event calendar, to shopping lists and menus!

I’m in love with the festive, gold coloring and fun accents on these planning sheets! You can print off as many pages of each you need – maybe you need multiple pages of the gift list, or having several of the Christmas event calendar would be helpful? Then go right ahead – and allow these beautiful holiday organizing pages make your season a little less stressful. That’s a gift we could ALL use, right? 🙂

Download & Print HERE

Tips for Owning an Older House

September 18, 2018 by Kelly Dedeaux

Sponsored by One Hour Heating & Air Conditioning® service providers. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Since moving to Texas, we have owned two newly built homes – this meant everything was new, from the walls and paint to the HVAC systems and windows. Our most recent home purchase, though, is one that’s almost 20 years old – so things aren’t fresh and shiny, or functioning at their best. While we really love this house, we’re having to learn some maintenance and care things that weren’t even on our radar before! If you’re in the same boat as us, here are some Tips for Owning an Older House that we’ve learned that may help out.

Our biggest wake-up call when we moved into this house a few months ago was the HVAC system – the air conditioner just couldn’t keep up at all. Being early summer in Texas when we moved in, this was certainly not ideal, especially considering we have kids, as well as a ferret (they’re extremely sensitive to temperatures, so it could actually be dangerous for her). Since we know practically nothing about these systems, we knew we needed to call in the professionals from our local One Hour Heating & Air Conditioning® service provider to come and take a look. Owning an older house typically means older systems, so we knew they could help us get things working properly because they’re a brand we can trust, and they provide quality service when we need it (for us AND our pets!)

The local One Hour service provider is part of the Direct Energy family of brands, with independently owned and operated locations all over the country. That means you get local service, backed by a national brand! Their service is backed by an on-time guarantee, and even endorsed by UWIN® (that’s a consumer service resource that lets home service contractors provide a nice, extra level of protection – as well as peace of mind to residential consumers who actually get the services). To find your local One Hour service provider, check out their website or call 855-One-Hour.

Our technician, Shane, showed up and was very professional and friendly. He handled all of our not-so-knowledgeable questions and concerns, then took a good, deep look at all the aspects of our HVAC system. He definitely knew his stuff, which shouldn’t be a surprise since the One Hour technicians receive ongoing HVAC training. They’re thoroughly skilled to address any HVAC issue, and get you back to feeling comfortable inside (especially if you’re in this Texas heat – dang!). Everyone can appreciate a properly-cooled house – even this cool dude!

Honestly, I was a bit concerned about what type of technician would show up at first, but I should’ve known that One Hour service providers ensure you’ll be served by a reliable professional who’s not only well-trained and skilled, but also clean, courteous AND background-checked. This was HUGE for me, as a parent, when it came to someone coming into our home!

One thing we learned about owning an older house – you never know HOW things were actually installed or maintained! As Shane went through everything, he made sure he answered all of our questions, showed us photos of the spots he was talking about, and cleared up any aspects we didn’t quite understand. It turned out that our HVAC system had many things not even installed correctly, which explained clearly why it wasn’t working right! He pointed out areas that could be fixed to bring up the functionality (and save on our terrifying electric bill from wasted usage due to leaks), and also the spots that were just fine. I really liked that he also let us know of some aspects that weren’t exactly 100%, but that wouldn’t make enough of a difference to justify paying to fix them now. That’s honesty, right there! We even got some tips to help prepare for the upcoming seasons:

Change air filters regularly, especially before winter begins
Properly ‘winterize’ your A/C units
Have a pro check your HVAC systems for any leaks or issues

I was so relieved to know what was actually going on with our HVAC system, and how we could get it running better for a more comfortable home and family. Now that we’re on our way to having that taken care of, here are a few other tips we learned about owning an older house:

Check your Roof – missing/loose shingles (or hail damage, if you’re in an area, like us, that deals with that) or overhanging tree limbs may need to be taken care of
Look at your windows, doorways, tiles, showers and other spots that may need to be resealed if the caulking/sealant has worn away or started to peel up
Double check your air vents, making sure they’re clear of junk or debris for proper airflow
Check your locks – doorknobs or locks may wear out and not work 100% after some time
Test your smoke alarms and CO2 detector (if you have one) to ensure they’re still functional
Keep an eye on drains and pipes – you don’t want them blocked!
Stay alert for signs of foundation issues – doors getting funky in the door frames, corner cracks from settling, etc. This is something you want to catch early on!

What are your best tips for owning an older house?

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of One Hour Heating & Air Conditioning® service providers

Here’s how to organize your day with a toddler:

Family Home Binder Printables

This is included in our Busy Mom Bundle, along with other fabulous printable packs!

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You may also like…

#1: Make Clean-up Easier

#2: Easy Storage for Pet Supplies

#3: Bathtime Fun

#4: No More Bad Pet Smell

#5: Protect The Furniture

#6: Tackle Shedding

What are your best pet owner hacks?

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Supplies

Get the Smell Out of Shoes Directions

Other Useful Cleaning Tips…

What pet would YOU most enjoy?

What’s your trick for quick pet clean up?

What are your best tips for owning an older house?

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