Organization & Cleaning Archives - Page 8 of 8

Family Chore Chart

May 21, 2014 by Danielle

Since our kids are getting older and needing more responsibility, plus ways to earn money for their extra wants, I wanted a way to organize chores. After looking at a few different types of charts, I decided to put together this super-cute, but totally simple, Family Chore Chart!

For those that saw, I was part of the launch team for Dave Ramsey and Rachel Cruz’s (Dave’s daughter) new book Smart Money, Smart Kids. It was PHENOMENAL, and has so many great tips for helping raise kids to be successful with money (and life)! If you missed my general review, check it out here. After reading it, I realized that I haven’t given my kids opportunities to learn responsibility, or any experience with money. That’s where this Family Chore Chart comes in!

Now, we do still love our Chore Rewards Treasure Chest, but the kids weren’t learning the money aspect, and it was difficult to separate the paid vs. non-paid chores. So we still use that to earn things for good behavior and ‘as a family’ type things, but for the normal chores this has now proven to work better for us!

Supplies

Large foam board (could use poster board, if you’d rather). I chose WHITE
Fun scrapbook paper for the top border and pockets
Vinyl (or markers) for the text
Scissors
Glue Dots
Popsicle Sticks
Pen/marker for sticks
Nail or something to hang board

Directions

Use the BACKSIDE of the foam board to measure everything out. This way you know how things will fit and how you like the layout. Get your measurements from this.
Gather your scrapbook paper for your pockets. NOTE: I did a different color for the pockets, so I could then color the popsicle sticks to match, according to which one they belonged to. According to your measurements, cut out your pockets. I wanted to keep the commission (paid) chores separate from the normal ‘because you’re part of this family’ chores, so I did one pocket for each. I then did a 3rd DONE pocket, so they can put their sticks in there when the chore is completed.
Gather your scrapbook paper for your pockets. NOTE: I did a different color for the pockets, so I could then color the popsicle sticks to match, according to which one they belonged to. Fold the sides of each ‘pocket’ under, add glue dots to the sides and bottom, then attach it to the FRONTSIDE of the board. Add your vinyl to each pocket (mine says ‘family’, ‘paid’ and ‘done’) or write with markers.
Take your desired scrapbook paper and cut out a top border/banner for the top of your chore chart, and attach it with glue dots. Add your Title/Main Banner (for me it was Family Chore Chart) across the top, as desired.
I just ‘scribbled’ with colored pencils under where our names would go (different color for each person/row), then applied the vinyl names over that.
Take the popsicle sticks and write a different chore on each stick. I colored the ends of the popsicle sticks to match which pocket they would go into. For example: Make Your Bed is a family chore, so I colored the end blue so the kids know it goes in the blue/family pocket.
I wanted to have extra jobs available for those times the kids want/need to earn some extra money, such as for an upcoming event that they must pay for. So along the bottom of my Family Chore Chart, I put vinyl saying ‘Work for Hire’ then just drew a cute little banner string. For the tags, I cut out a 1″x1″ square of scrapbook paper, used a ’rounded corner’ punch to make the corners nice and rounded, hole-punched each one and tied a string through. On each tag is listed an extra chore.
I used strong tape to secure some photo hangers, then from that I hung the tags.

Note: On our chore chart, I do have my children’s ACTUAL names. I added their alias superhero names using PicMonkey to these photos, then after the pictures put the vinyl with their names on there. I don’t ALWAYS call my kids by their superhero names 🙂

Craft Room Grand Reveal

April 20, 2014 by Danielle

I’m FINALLY done!!! It’s taken weeks (possibly months, depending on what you consider the ‘start’) for the remodel of my craft room, but I’m finally ready to share it with you all. I wanted it to be MY space, the one room that I could do however I wanted, escape to and just create by and for myself. Success!!! Without further ado…my Craft Room Grand Reveal!

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Fair warning: LOTS of photos ahead! But I just HAVE to show this off, since it’s taken so much time, effort and just down-right will-power to get this thing done. I wanted my craft room to be ORGANIZED, BRIGHT, and ME (although I’m technically not organized, but that’s we can pretend)!

Here’s what the room looked like before the overhaul:

Mismatched furniture that I got from yard sales
Ugly tannish/off-white paint color on the walls AND ceiling
Dry erase board sticking out like a sore thumb with no border
Boring plain windows needing some lovin’
Piles, piles and MORE piles of random crafting supplies, fabric, projects, random wood pieces and other odds and ends ALL OVER

Yup, that needed to be fixed. Like ASAP! My amazingly-wonderful-totally-awesome Hubby gave me the green light, and to work I went! To start, I had to drag EVERYTHING but some furniture out of the room, down the stairs, and pile it up in the garage. Needless to say….EXHAUSTING! Then….to painting!

For my colors, I knew I wanted something fun and BRIGHT. It’s a craft room, after all, so colorful-but-not-too-crazy. I chose white ceilings and Pebble Grey walls. I brought the ceiling line down a bit, then put a stripe of my accent color, Boysenberry Blast, between the grey and white. For my other colors, I stuck with some light pink, light blue, greens and yellows. Like I said, FUN yet BRIGHT.

I decided to just keep 3 of my random yard-sale found furniture: 2 dressers and the corner armoire thing. Since the corner one is a big part of my craft room, I painted over the black with the Boysenberry Blast. It was a bit TOO much accent, so I then made the panels white. The dressers I did the pink and blue. Add some new, matching knobs and they were set to go!

I also framed in the dry erase board so it had a nice, clean border. The green was very bright, but I ended up really liking it!

I have to give a HUGE shout-out to my dad, here. While I was working on everything, he made the long trip here to Texas from Utah to bring the remainder of our stuff we had left during the move. Along with our stuff, he brought his NAIL GUN to help me finish up some of these things…like the framing on the dry erase board. It was so quick and simple, he was such a lifesaver! THANKS DAD! It also helped a ton adding the trim to the craft table we made ourselves:

I’ll be doing a tutorial soon on how to make your own craft table, so stay tuned for that! I nabbed 2 cheap bookshelves from walmart to stick under the ends of the table, for some extra storage.

Love how organized most of my ribbon is now! I do still have a whole drawer-full (I may have slight ribbon addiction), but at least these are easily accessible!

I also got an Expedit shelf from IKEA for under my windows. Good storage shelf, seat and bench for reaching my curtains!

If you’re curious about my curtains, I did a tutorial on How to Make Curtains: Or Not! Learn how to make them the right way…and how to fix some if you happen to make a big oops like I did!

Another fun file organizer, nabbed from IKEA (ya, LOVE that store)!

The corner shelves are a fun decor aspect to the room, plus a great place to put some jars! Notice the button-filled jar? Ya, Hubby still can’t understand why I have so many….but that’s ok!

I picked up these wonderful organizing trays and peg board items from The Container Store. Handy for holding many of my frequently-used things.

For inside the big corner armoire, I decided to put all my sewing supplies in there:

LOVE how easy it is to find things, now! Including my well-organized Simplicity patterns….they’re fabulous!

Then it was just a matter of adding some pops of color and decor…one of the most fun parts of remodeling a room, if you ask me!

Since I’m attending SNAP! Conference in just a FEW DAYS (eeeeek, can’t wait!), I plan on finding a bit more decor to fill up some empty spots…like this very large wall that’s just begging for some cute stuff!

I’m just SOOOO in love with my new craft room, and have been really enjoying my time in there now that it feels so clean, organized, bright and BEAUTIFUL!

Babysitter Information Form

January 29, 2014 by Danielle

I have a confession: I’m VERY picky as to who I leave my kids with. After a babysitter stole our Ipad (passed it to her boyfriend and had it sold) before we even returned home, I’ve become really cautious. When I DO leave my kids, I make sure it’s someone I trust completely. Along with that, I want to make sure they have ALL the information they’ll need for a successful night, for them AND for the kids! This printable Babysitter Information Form is perfect, just in case there’s something you forget to mention, or they don’t remember ALL the stuff they were given right before you walk out the door.

Here’s the different parts of the form:

Home Information: your home address, phone number, etc. In case they need to give an emergency person that info, or are ordering a pizza.

Emergency Contacts: This is where we put a trusted neighbor that’s close by, and near by relatives that can be contacted just in case.

Notes & Instructions: Here we put things like allergies, if someone needs some medicine at certain times, what meals are planned, etc.

Routines: When they play, read, clean up, eat dinner, brush, bedtime, etc.

House Rules: General rules, and what form of discipline to use (we use ‘take a break’ here).

Non-Emergency Fire & Rescue: As it says, put the number for the non-emergency important rescue people. Like dispatch, etc.

What else do you think should be included?

DIY Frozen’s Olaf Toilet Paper Holder

January 20, 2014 by Danielle

Can you tell that we love Disney’s movie Frozen? Ya, borderline obsession, but still semi-healthy! Anywho, since I’m doing a TON of Frozen projects lately for Wonder Woman, I figured her bathroom needed a little Olaf in the corner. What better way than this darling (and oh-so-easy) Olaf Toilet Paper Holder?!

Supplies

Light Blue Towel (can use white, but white in a bathroom is weird to me)
Felt: Dark blue, white, brown, black and orange
3 #10 cans
Hot glue/gun
3 Black buttons

Make this using the same basic instructions that I shared when making my Santa Toilet Paper Holder, just instead cut the felt into the shapes for Olaf, and use these colors. So easy, budget-friendly and FUN!!!

Be sure to include his cute little ‘stick hair’ up on top of the lid…

…and of course his cute little stick arms and buttons!

Ya, I think he’s just TOO DANG CUTE!!!

I LOVE OLAF!!! Who’s YOUR favorite character from Disney’s FROZEN?

Printable Disney Banner / by BusyMomsHelper.com / Disney Countdown

2016 Unofficial Disneyland Activity & Autograph book by BusyMomsHelper / shared on Carrie Elle Blog

Free Printable Disneyland Height Requirements / by Busy Mom's Helper / Free Printable California Adventure Height Requirements

FREE Printable 2014 Planner

January 17, 2014 by Danielle

Okay, so I’ve been dying to share this with you, but wanted to wait until my printed and bound planner arrived. FINALLY it came!!! Seriously, LOVING IT!!! Without further ado….my Free Printable 2014 Planner!

Check out our newest planner HERE for 2016-2017, or just 2017!

Free Printable 2014 Planner / by Busy Mom's Helper #Printable #Planner #2014 #Calendar

I wanted it colorful and fun, and it definitely turned out that way!

The cover has a large spot to write your name, blog, title….whatever you want to put in there, even nothing! Same with the Back Cover

I’ve included a 2-page monthly spread for January through December 2014, that you can download and print from the following:

January Page 1 January Page 2

February Page 1 February Page 2

March Page 1 March Page 2

April Page 1 April Page 2

May Page 1 May Page 2

June Page 1 June Page 2

July Page 1 July Page 2

August Page 1 August Page 2

September Page 1 September Page 2

October Page 1 October Page 2

November Page 1 November Page 2

December Page 1 December Page 2

Since I’m always searching for a paper to jot down a quick thought or note, or just to doodle while I brainstorm, I included a Notes & Doodles Page.

I like breaking things down, so for myself I did a 2-page spread task list that listed all of my daily tasks for home and blog, then left some empty spots for customizing day by day! This one I made just for my own binder, but still feel free to download and print it, if you’d like.

Daily Tasks Page 1 Daily Tasks Page 2

Here’s what my daily spread looks like:

Since I do my family’s major grocery shopping once per week, I plan out our meals very specifically. This 2-page Menu Plan has been SO NICE to help with this! I left lines for Breakfast, Lunch, Snack, Dinner and Other (extra cooking, post recipes, drinks, etc.)

Menu Plan Page 1 Menu Plan Page 2

Although I do my major shopping once per month, I do minor (milk, bread, etc.) about weekly, plus other shopping things….so this page for a Shopping List is great!

Another budget saving thing I do is buy clearance clothes in larger sizes for my kids for a large discount, then save them to grow in to. One problem with that, is that I forget how much of what I have, and have ended up with twenty tshirts for one child before….definitely not my intention! So this fun Clothing Tracker will help me track who, what sizes, what item, etc.

And, of course, with my planner always nearby, it’s great to have a page or two of Important Contacts!

Since I’m constantly brainstorming ideas for blog posts, I inserted some pages of Blog Post Ideas into my planner.

I love having a single place I can track my monthly Blogging Stats, too!

Blog Stats Page 1 Blog Stats Page 2

Although I’m already noticing things I wish I’d done different, or a few errors here and there (missing a date or two on the monthly calendars, etc.), I’m really going to enjoy this planner this year! Just gives me more thoughts for next year’s version…..and I’ll make sure much of it is focused for all of you! 😉

Now you can grab my Free Printable 2015 Planner, with prints beginning for August 2014 for those that plan ahead!

Santa Toilet Paper Holder

December 18, 2013 by Danielle

Ya, I totally just put Santa in the corner, holding my toilet paper. Why? Well, because SOMETHING has to hold the toilet paper for those ‘oops, the roll ran out’ moments, and right now it may as well be a cute red Santa Toilet Paper Holder.

Santa Toilet Paper Holder Tutorial / Busy Mom's Helper

The best part of this craft? It’s removable! Yup – you can enjoy it for the holidays, then replace it during the rest of the year. Oh – and simple to do PLUS budget-friendly equals a winning DIY project!

Santa Toilet Paper Holder Supplies Needed

3 #10 cans, empty

1 Red Bath Towel

Black Buttons

Hot Glue

Sewing Machine (or more hot glue)

Scissors

Black fabric/felt/strap

White scrap of felt/fabric

Cotton balls or white fluff

Duct Tape

Santa Toilet Paper Holder Directions

Take the three #10 cans, remove the lid and bottom to two of them. Keep the bottom (but remove the top) on the third. Keep one of the removed lids for the top!

Using duct tape, attach them evenly together on the outside, around the seams. Make sure the can that still has it’s bottom is ON the bottom. Also duct tape along the top, to avoid any rough edges – don’t want anyone getting scratched or cut!

I put a long strip bottom-top in the inside, three spots, just to help secure it more.

Measure the towel around the cans, leaving plenty of space for attaching the two sides together. Cut.

Then sew the edges long-wise together, keeping the seam (this makes the front look like a jacket almost, with the seam being the ‘opening’ part of the jacket). You could also hot glue them together – I chose to sew.

Hem (or glue) the bottom, if you trimmed some off. Don’t want it fraying, especially if you’re going to store it for future holiday seasons, too!

I had one edge (where it was sewn length-wise) that stuck up funny….

So I used a small bit of duct tape to stick it down!

Hot glue some big black buttons along the front, next to the seem. Think of this as Santa’s jacket…the seam being the opening part, so the buttons go right along it’s edge.

Hot glue the black fabric/felt/strap (I used a strap material) around the belly of it. Then glue a buckle-shaped piece of white fabric/felt (I used felt) scrap for the belt buckle.