Image by baslow via Flickr

With my husband being a temporary stay-at-home-dad, our house is best described as disheveled.  Please don’t think this is me complaining about him and his inability to get it clean.  It’s just that with him and the kids being home a lot more there’s a lot more to clean up.

We’ve never been home where we had a normal cleaning routine.  I do/did all of the laundry on the weekend and we had a cleaning lady to do the heavy cleaning.

Now we’re having to do all of it, and really don’t know where to begin. I want to have a weekly routine that helps us keep the house manageable.  The weekends are a run around of cleaning the house, laundry and errands.  I’d prefer not to have to do it all on the weekends.

I have no delusions for R as far as him being able to do it all.  A is a very demanding child as far as attention goes.  E gets out of school at 12:45 PM and J gets out of school at 3 PM.  He does a lot of driving around.  Maybe some 30 min quick cleaning tips will help us out.

I’m reaching out to you.  I’m asking you what do you do?  Help us get our home more manageable.  Please also pray we can afford a cleaning lady again, because I really miss her.

First I wanted to start with organizing my jewelry.  If you look at the picture above you will see that whole left side with containers.  Those all house jewelry.  I should say it’s my fun jewelry.  Stuff that matters is elsewhere.  I wanted to make something myself that I was sure would take a day.  Fast forward two months later and here I am.

It starts with the board.  You can use any piece of wood.  Plywood will do.  I just called my dad and told him the approximate size I needed.  He had some extra and brought it over.  Free is good people, check anyone you know in some sort of construction and I’m sure they’ll have a small piece you can use.

I sanded it first with a 220 to get splinters and rough edges down.  Then I used a super fine 400 to get the wood very smooth.  After I was done sanding I used a rag with a little paint thinner to clean off all of the sanded wood particles.

I primed then painted the wood.  I put one coat of the Martha Stewart paint on the back, but two coats on the front.

At this point I bring in an expert: my dad.  He brought over his circular saw, nail gun and compressor.  I have to tell you I have such a love for power tools.  I told my dad for my 40th birthday I want my own nail gun and compressor. 

Then I my dad took the molding and had to measure and measure again to cut the molding.  My dad measured it and thought said it was 21″.  So we cut it.  It was way too short.  Measured again and he said look it’s 21″, what’s going on?  My measuring tape was tiny and the numbers are small I’ll give him that, but it was 2′, not 21″.  Yes, we had to go to the store after that because that cut made it so we didn’t have enough for all four sides.  I swear to you my dad so rarely makes these mistakes so I will stand by the eye sight excuse.

Once we had all four sides cut at a 45 degree angles we had to glue it down with the Gorilla glue.  Then nail the molding to the wood.  We did it right away, there’s no need to wait for the glue to dry. 

Once all the sides were nailed on I had to fill in the wholes with wood putty, then sand the molding where the putty was before painting it white.

Once the paint dried on the molding I turned it over and put on the claw picture hanger for hanging it on my wall like a painting

I was finally now ready to put the hooks on.  I decided to use the Command hooks because I wanted to be able to reposition them if I needed to.  I made sure to stagger them all over the wood in order to hold different length necklaces.  Keep in mind that if you decide to do something like this not to put any hooks much lower then 8″ from the bottom.  Otherwise even your short necklaces will hang over the bottom molding too far.

My final project came out exactly as I envisioned it and I’m really happy to have a place to hang the necklaces and get rid of all of those various plastic bins.  Believe me I could think of many other places to use them.

I really wanted it to look like a painting so that although it’s holding jewelry it would have some pizzazz.  This is just the beginning so you can get an idea of my intention for project organize dresser.  Stay tuned for more projects to get that dresser looking the way it should and get all of my stuff organized.  Believe me this is not the end.

You may remember my post about My Wall of Organization, and as promised I am highlighting another product on my wall.  This review is of the Orange Circle Studio Do It All Mom Calendar.  The calendar does in fact live up to it’s name of being able to do it all.

As always prettiness factor is right up there with usefulness for me.  This wall calendar has it all.  It has 4 rows for each child’s schedule to be separate.  The biggest row is for my [and R's] appointments.  I have never had a family wall calendar before and honestly I wish I had.  It’s nice that I can put things on there and my husband can actually see what’s going on, especially since he’s home with the kids right now. The top cover has a magnet the width of the calender so it easily sticks to a refrigerator.  It has a great pen holder and believe it or not a pen to go in it.

One of the best parts of this calendar I admit are the stickers.  Yes, I am that juvenile.  I am giddy about stickers.  They really do help though. Visually they tell me right away what is going on whether a school meeting or a doctor appointment for any one of us.

One more itty bitty teeny tiny thing: they have a Do It All Mom Organizer.  I know that’s not itty bitty, but I wanted to tell  you I have that too.  It has all of the same features of the calendar, but you can take it with you wherever you go.  It fits greatly in my purse or diaper bag, which is great for when I’m out and about.

My obsession with organizers lives on my friends, and the Do It All Mom Organizer is a great addition to my collection.

What’s the point of me hounding you with another post about the importance of having a notebook with you?  I found a great notebook, and wanted to share it with you.  It’s called Revolver Journal.  It’s such a fantastic invention in that there are two notebooks in one.  One side is lined paper and the other is plain paper.  It’s how you get to each pad that is so much fun and inventive.  You can see it below.  Please excuse my lack of make-up.

If you are in need of a great way to keep your notes check out the Buy Now Revolver Journal.

Yes don’t think I typed wrong or had a temporary loss of my mind. I found the clear box that holds  nails and knew it was perfect. For $4.99 I got the perfect organizer and it’s easy to see through. I know that in a little while I’ll have to buy something bigger, so I’ll head back to the hardware store and just get a bigger one. That one was only $7.99.

Day 3:  Re-upload a post with a title that you are particularly proud of and explain why.

I thought long and hard about this one because I feel like sometimes my titles are engaging, but then I realize maybe they are not.  I chose Organized Homework Genius because I love this product and wanted to grab the readers.  I wanted all of the moms with older kids to see this wonderful product.  I hope the title is actually engaging, and you enjoy this review.

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I will admit that as an organized maven I was having a hard time wrangling all of the homework papers. Every night was an anxiety ridden screaming fest (me). My oldest son is…how do I put this lightly…relaxed. He likes to do his homework, but to the beat of the drummer in his head. Having him help me find the homework supplies or folder for that matter, was just too much to bear. You get it right? I came up with different plans here and there. Using this box or that organizer, but nothing got the job done.

Then a friend pointed out The Homework Caddy. I get a little light headed around the perfect organizing solution, so imagine how I felt when I opened the webpage. The Homework Caddy is exactly as described: a place for all things related to homework.

Let’s run down all of the amenities this product has.

- The dry erase calendar. I have an organizer as my calendar. I use mine daily. It never occurred to me that children want to have their own calendars. The minute I put the caddy up J was so excited to see the calendar. When we filled out the events for this month, he kept telling me all of the things I forgot to add to his calendar. I put the due dates of his homework due [on Friday] (for him his homework is given on Friday and returned the next Friday). He even helped me date the calendar. He’s almost 6 and I realize more everyday that he likes to have his own organizational tools. He is my son after all.

- Four pockets. There are four pockets, each a different color. They have clear plastic squares for inserting a label for each of the pockets. Each pocket is legal sized, so there’s plenty of room for all types of paperwork.

- Clear plastic pocket. Right smack dab in the middle of the caddy is a legal sized clear pocket. This is meant for you to put your child’s lunch menu. However, we don’t have a typical menu. I thought about what to put in there and then I remembered that J had these follow-up books for the math curriculum. If you are familiar with Everyday Math then you might now about the take home booklets. I put those in there, so that J could see them, instead of in a drawer somewhere.

- Three more pockets. Two smaller pockets are located to the right and left of the big clear pocket. That’s to hold various supplies. Ours holds: pencils, scissors, glue stick and scotch tape. The third pocket is next to the calendar meant to hold your dry erase marker for the calendar.

BONUSES: It comes with the hooks to hang it up. These hooks are the ones that stick without ruining your walls. It also comes with the dry erase marker with built in eraser on the cap. There are two long velcro straps located at the bottom meant to hold rolled up poster board. I think it would also be a great place to put a yoga mat.

One thing to note is the size of the whole caddy. It is quite large so you need to make sure wherever you intend to use it has enough wall space to handle it. The back/front of a door is the a perfect place.

The material is a super sturdy canvas. Think our backpacks when we were in school and multiply that by 2. I woudl think you would need a very sharp pair of scissors to cut this bad boy.

If you have homework going on in your house you must consider how The Homework Caddy will facilitate an easier transition to homework time. Now if only they could come up with a product that gets all children motivated to do their homework in a timely manner. A mother can hope right?

Today’s post will be a list of items you should have on hand to create a homework station.  There are many containers you can use and I’ll give you some suggestions, but in general if your child is elementary school age as mine are, it’s important to make it easy for them to complete their homework by having supplies ready for them to complete their homework easily.

Most of you had to buy school supplies for your child, but I know a lot of schools now make those supplies classrom community.  What happens when your child comes home to do their homework?  Do you want them to be scrambling around looking for supplies they may need?  It’s harder on you and them.  If you have the supplies all in one place or better yet you have them in one container they can grab it and begin their homework.

My suggestions for containers are as follows: a paint bucket (stay tuned tomorrow for a how to make this simple craft work for homework).  My favorite is a Stuff Bucket.  Staples is having a sale on plastic containers in different sizes I got one that is long enough for the ruler.  Another simple one is just to buy an extra pencil case. 

I’ll admit I’m using all of the above, but that’s because I love the office products so I’m a little bit much.  Do not feel you must follow my lead.

Here’s my list of homework essentials:

crayons

pencils

ruler

erasers

markers

scissors

glue

tape

pens – for the older children, I do suggest 1 for the younger kids in case you need to sign any paperwork to go back to school

Paper – I have 2 kinds: plain computer paper for drawings and the special lined paper for the early years, but if the kids are older using notebook paper I would have that available.  I put the loose paper not in a pad in a folder.

What was I missing?  What would you add to help make doing homework easy?

The wonderful Alana of Domestically Challenged and Mommy ADD asked me to do an interview about organizing.  Of course I jumped at the chance to feel like I actually know something and agreed.  Since then Alana has become a great friend, and better yet she’s has GREAT tips on all things I need help on.  You know that whole being a good mom bit.

So head over to Domestically Challenged and show Alana some love, of course you’d be giving me love too.

Let me start from the beginning.  4 years ago I was introduced to this wonderful line.  At the time I had 2 children.  I love organizers.  OK I’m obsessed with them and had to try this one out.  I mean who can resist a organizer that helps keep the kids schedules all in one place?  Little did I know that 4 years later it would still be “the one” for me.  I have thought of cheating on my momAgenda.  I even bought another and quickly returned to my beloved momAgenda.

What’s the hype you ask?  It’s simple: space for everything you can think of.  It has room to wrangle your schedule and 4 other schedules all on one page.  I use the last row for tracking all of my bills.  Instead of a child in that spot I put each bill under what day they are due.  I even mark the bills that are on auto pay on the day they get taken out of our account.  Then as things get taken out of my account I check those items off.  It’s a great way to be sure all of my bills are paid.

At first I tried the mini daily, wonderful if you have a lot going on in one day.  If I was a stay-at-home-mom it would be perfect to keep everything in line because I can only imagine what day-to-day life is like.   It seemed a bit much for me.

Next I got the Desktop.  That was it.  I was sold.  It was a week at a glance (seen above) which has enough space for everything, and I could see the week ahead all on one page.

Last year I took the plunge and bought the Personal Portfolio.  I spent the money to get the ultimate in organizing.  I can’t complain about this one.  It’s a sturdy leather-like outside.  3 ring binder and plenty of pockets.  It uses the same week at a glance like the Desktop.

momAgenda doesn’t stop at organizers.  I also have the Kitchen Folio.  If you need a place to keep all of the kids important school paperwork I highly recommend it.  I keep the school rosters and calendars in there.  I keep the hot lunch menu for E in there as well as all of the extracurricular activity sheets in there.  Even R knows that’s the place to go to get all of the important school information.

I don’t stop there.  I also own the School Years for each of the boys.  I keep the progress reports in the envelope in there.  Unfortunately, I keep forgetting to glue on their photos for each year.  I will do it very soon I promise.  Recently, I’ve also put the notes that J left for the tooth fairy in there.  I know someday he’ll get such a kick out of seeing his notes, but for now I keep the book hidden, so he won’t find them and burst his bubble.

If all of that isn’t enough they also have fantastic free printables on their site.  All of the printables are useful, and I recommend them even if you don’t own a momAgenda planner.  Anyone can download them.

Are you a woman without kids?  Do not worry there’s something for you too.  Check out the myAgenda which my co-worker tells me is awesome.  See I convince everyone to get one.

Have I convinced you to check out momAgenda yet?  Have I told you about every product they have?  No I have not, but I do look at the website and wonder what I should buy next. 

Amongst other obsessions I am into organizers and personally momAgenda makes the best. 

Car Caddy Tutorials by Karen of Sew Many Things is a great idea for making a simple drink holder in your car hold more then just a drink. The original idea came from her Tool Time Tuesday in April of 2009.  I keep thinking that it would be great for the backseat for the kids to put their stuff in.

Ashley of Give Me The Simple Life posted a great bag/coat rack in Bags Welcome Here.  I don’t have anywhere to currently hang sweaters/jackets/purses when I get in the door, and this would be a great way to fix that problem.

Nicole and Candace of The Crafty Sisters have the most beautiful Family Tree Shadow Box.  I know it’s not organization per se, but how many times have you vowed to yourself you’ll do a family tree for your children.  This gorgeous project has me inspired to get working on my family tree.  On top of all of being a gorgeous project it has one #1 in Martha Stewart’s CSI Project.  Even if you don’t actually do this project you need to head over to The Crafty Sisters just to check it out.