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Email a FriendAfter almost a year, I finally got around to buying a new salt grinder and a new pepper mill. What I realized is that they’re fantastic, but so messy because they leave a little trail of left over salt and pepper particles on the table after dinner and on the counter after cooking. Then I realized, I too can be like those fabulous ladies in Real Simple magazine (do you ever read it? I lovingly dream about cabinets and book shelves like the pictures in those magazines)and while pondering how to keep salt from taking over my kitchen, I realized that I had fixed my dreamy gaze on…paper cupcake liners! Ta da! Now my salt and pepper have little nests that are free (because we already have them) and disposable when they get gross, and cute to boot.
View From the Laundry Pile
Posted by Danielle Bean in Homemaking on Saturday, March 13, 2010 7:00 AM
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Has anyone had success with recipes to refill the cleaner cartridges on men’s razors? The refill cartridges for my husband’s shaver is outrageously expensive. And it looks like it’s pretty much denatured alcohol. We found a couple “recipes” on web to try it out. Just wondering if anyone has had any luck with that.
Looking for a quick craft idea for a Mother’s and Father’s Day project for our religious education youth to make and hand out for our parishioners on Mother’s and Father’s Day. We usually make approximately 80 items for each day. Thanks in advance.
Cynthia, handprint lillies
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/flowers/handprintflower/
are easy and sweet. Our homeschool group made these to hand out at a nursing home, and men and women both liked getting them.
Any tips on how to organize clothing that you need to save as hand-me-downs for future children? Baby #4 arrives in late April, and I am already lost has to how to keep the clothes we have stored without them taking over the entire basement. I currently have them in big plastic bins, but there are so many! Any and all strategies accepted:)-I’m stuck. Maybe I’m hanging on to too much and should have only a certain number of outfits per age (and per gender)?
Josie,
I recently switched to the new large Ziploc bags (not the kind you vacuum the air out but just giant-sized bags like what you keep in your kitchen). You can really push the air out of them so they store flatter and you will have more space in your basement. I keep mine on the top shelf of a closet now. There’s also a place on the outside you can write with a permanent marker what size/season is in there.
I would love to hear other people’s advice about clothing amounts needed. I am starting to wonder if my kids really need as much as they have because it seems like they wear the same 3 outfits all the time. We are trying to simplify and down-size our life. So what does one person/child need by way of clothing?
Kimberlie, I am so glad you said that because not too long ago I broke down and bought those vacuum seal bags just to try them out and I was all excited, but after use, I still wasn’t fitting what I wanted and I ended up ripping one (argh!) and the other one kept losing vacuum….such a waste of money b/c they are not cheap! I will just get the big old ziplocs and am excited to hear what others might offer too! God bless!
I consider three pairs of pants and five shirts minimum every-day wear to get from wash day to wash day. We also have one or two “going places” outfits for church and when we are out. The fact that we homeschool makes a difference here- we would need many more different outfits if the kids had to go out in public every day. 
I used to keep everything I thought I’d ever use, but we no longer have the space to do that. I’ve also found that clothing really doesn’t do well in long-term storage. Now, if it will not fit somebody within a year, we pass it along to somebody who can use it sooner. Exceptions are made for good coats/snowsuits or very good church clothes.
I think that it’s okay to keep a storage bin or two full of infant clothes & “accessories” (receiving blankets, burp clothes, etc)...babies are quite messy, my fuzzy memory seems to recall! When they’ve pooped through the 4th clean onesie of the day, you want to have a few more in the drawer to make it til bedtime before you’ve got no choice but to do laundry.
Like Josie, I’m a bit hazy on the #s for the older kids…especiallly when you live in a 4 season climate and have kids with birthdays in 3 of the 4 seasons!
We have a boy and a girl & a second boy due in July. My daughter is wayyy more messy than my son was at her age, and I find myself ruthlessly discarding the stained clothing that I just *know* I will never get clean.
We are incredibly blessed to live in a community where people are constantly dropping off bags of clothes for us to choose from & share with others. So there’s a little bit of “hoarding” I have to guard against, as well—I’m getting better at picking out only what I am fairly sure they’ll fit in and wear in the next seaseon, if the sizes are bigger than what they’re in now.
Thanks for the tips! Honestly, my kids are so hard on clothes, there is almost nothing for me to store to hand down to the next one. Also, my boys are 2.5 yrs apart, older one a summer birthday, younger a winter birthday, so they are almost never the same size in the right season. Even if I save “for good” stuff, it’s hit and miss on the seasons. We have only one girl and she’s the youngest. I get tons of hand-me-downs from friends, and that’s what I have a hard time not gathering 2 much. She gets some beautiful clothes, but it’s impossible for her to really wear it all.
Anyway, I appreciate the advice!
Blessings,
How do you clean/wash non-machine-washable stuffed animals? The ones in my baby’s crib are looking dimly grey…
Thanks!
I clean them they same way I do spots on carpets or upholstery. Try spraying them with your favorite stain remover or carpet/upholstery cleaner and then rubbing with a damp cloth. Though, if it doesn’t have electronics, I just put them in the washing machine anyway and then air dry. I haven’t ruined anything yet, but if I did, the kids have so many stuffed animals that it doesn’t seem like much of a loss. The dryer is very hard on stuffed animals and ruins the fur, but I do it anyway on the loveys, who are pined for until they are completely dry.
I throw them in the washer on a the gentilest cycle and then I air dry them. It seems to me the dryer is the hardest on them. Before I had my daughter I remember reading children shouldn’t have anything that can’t be washed… it made a great deal of sense. So if I do ruin it while washing it wasn’t meant for a child (to help aliviate the guilt in case you ruin it!)
Josie, I remember when my dd once had so many hand me downs from two older sisters that she has 21 shirts in her drawer! I knew we needed to downsize!
I think ten of everything is ideal. That way, your kids can have a few occasions during the week when they get super messy and have to change clothes during the day, and you still only have to do each child’s laundry once per week.
I used to save clothes in copy paper boxes. I labeled with gender, sizes, and season, for example “girls, sizes 4-6, fall/winter”. I labeleed the seasons only as “fall/winter” or spring/summer”—lumped together warm seasons and cool seasons.
Many of my kids are teens now, so I only use the storage system for the youngest two.
We have four children—a 14 yo girl, 9 yo boy, 5 yo girl and 2 month-old girl. Over he years, I have held onto everything that was in good condition. In retrospect, I have held on to *far too many clothes. I do have a mother-in-law who is very generous and who likes to buy clothes for them, and friends have passed things along as well. In my situation, some of the clothes from my oldest could have been out “in use” instead of sitting in a plastic tub in our basement all of these years.
I am a planning major purge of the kids’ stored clothing. There are certain things that I will definitely hold on to—Christmas and Easter dresses, coats, snow boots, etc., but as far as regular clothes, I will probably hold on to a few outfits from each size/season and donate the rest.
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