Thanks to the Happy Housewife, I made Sundae Boxes as gifts for some friends this Christmas. It was fun and easy to put together and hopefully the recipients enjoyed them.

In my box I put waffle bowls, caramel sauce, chocolate sprinkles, gummy worms, crushed candy canes, maraschino cherries and sugar sprinkles. I wanted to add a home made chocolate and caramel sauce but I just didn’t have the time so store-bought it was. I was happy with the result though.

A tip – it’s all in the presentation. Ribbon, tissue paper and a nice box (the dollar store!) go a long way in making it look good!

This is a great gift idea that could be used year round by changing up the packaging. What a great cheer-you-up or just-because gift for your friend, neighbor, secret pal at church. It’s fun, as economical as you’d like it to be and it’s useful! {and delicious!}

• This post links to Works for me Wednesday

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Jenn is wife to one, mother of three and above all, a humble servant seeking to honor the Lord with her life. A Sundae Gift Box is a post from Beautiful Calling.

What is the Real Cost?

There is a cost to most things you have, though often it is hidden.  I’m sure you can think of more but some of the costs that spring to my mind immediately are:

• Initial cost
• Operating costs
• Time Investments
• Space
• Priorities

We have a large home, over 3000 sq ft not including Nana’s 1000+ apartment. We paid for the house, then we pay higher taxes, utilities etc. to operate it. There is also the time investment with cleaning and maintenance. I spend a lot of time cleaning the house. We’ll be downsizing soon and I am excited about that because the cost of a large house is no longer worth it to us. We would rather have a smaller home that costs less to buy, less to run and less time investment to keep orderly and clean.

The same goes for possessions. To determine if they’re worth the cost, looking beyond what I paid for it and I’m asking myself:

• Have I used this recently?
• Will I use it again?
• Do I like it, love it?
• Is it useful to me or beautiful to me?
• Are my children REALLY going to thank me for saving this or is it something they will feel saddled with because “mom saved it all these years, I can’t throw it out now.”
• Is it worth the space in my home?
• Is it worth the time it takes me to dust it, clean around it etc?

I’m not held captive by my stuff, whether it is useful or simply just clutter. Though the object may have sentimental value or memories attached to it, I don’t have to keep it. Crafts and pictures were quickly taking over our home a while back until we came up with some creative solutions to storing, displaying and parting with children’s artwork. I also had some childhood and high school memorabilia that I purged, taking a photo of anything important. You see, I still have the memories and now, if needed, the photo of the items to spark that memory. I enjoyed A Helpful Guide to Owning Fewer Toys this week as well since that is another area where we feel quality in terms of the product and the skills it teachers are far better than a large quantity.

A Commitment to Travelling Light

When I was in youth group, we’d go on canoe trips with a portage or two. {For those of you who aren’t sure what a portage is, it’s when you carry your canoe and gear from one lake to another or from the top of the rapids to the bottom or vice versa}. Knowing that we were just going for a couple of days, it was easier to pack just the essentials and a few basic comforts {we didn’t ‘rough it’ too tough!}. The lighter we travelled, the less encumbered we were, the easier the journey was.

“This world is not my home I’m just a passing through
My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue”

~Jim Reeves

Those song lyrics run through my head. I don’t remember where I heard the song but it’s stuck with me. I don’t want to be laying up treasures here; spending my precious-never-to-get-back minutes hoarding, storing, cleaning and moving stuff around. I’m here temporarily and with that in mind, it makes it a little easier to travel light.

It stands to reason that less stuff makes it easier to pack up and go, easier to clean your home, quicker to do a fast tidy for company and more free space {they say less visual clutter=less mental clutter}. The Lord talked about possessions a fair amount in the New Testament. I’m seeking to live with my priorities on the eternal. I’m sure you can come up with a good many more perks to travel light.

But I think the real ticket to travelling light is to recognize that it is an ongoing endeavor. The minute you (I!) forget to be intentional about it is about the time that the “extras” will begin to sneak in to your (mine!) life and home.

More isn’t better. It’s just…more.

~Steady Mom

So I share this with you as I begin in earnest, to travel light{er}! I’d love to hear one or two ways in which you strive towards living light{er}.

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Jenn is wife to one, mother of three and above all, a humble servant seeking to honor the Lord with her life. Travelling Light is a post from Beautiful Calling.

Leaving It All

Two and a half years ago, my grandfather died and my grandmother’s health began deteriorating. She put their beautiful, spacious 4 bedroom home up for sale. She put some belongings in my dad’s pick-up truck and walked away, leaving a house full of furniture, decorations and ‘stuff’ behind to be donated or given away.

Six months ago, Grandma’s health was as such that she moved into a nursing home. This time she only packed a bag. A few short weeks later, she packed absolutely nothing before she went on Home to be with the Lord. When she walked through heavens gates, she joyfully took with her nothing at all.

My grandmother-in-law lives with us in a large granny flat. She’s lived with us for six years now but the time has come for her to move into assisted living. She moves in January. As I stood in her apartment the other day, I looked around and saw a lifetime of possessions collected from her decades of worldwide travels. She is going to have a tough time as she decides which things are important enough to move with her.

A Freeing Truth

Without a granny, we don’t need a granny flat. We’ll be moving as well; the “for sale” sign is up. As I prepare to move, I’ve been thinking a lot about how in the end I, too, will be going to my eternal home with nothing. To some, that may sound sad, bleak or depressing. But if taken to heart and put into action, it can be an incredibly freeing truth. I’m going home with nothing.

Down here, I need what I need to get through life. You know, the basics like shelter, food, clothing. I also have a lot of things to make life nicer. I enjoy my computer and love to read a good book, snuggled in a comfy chair. But unless my possessions are useful in some way right now or in the near future (whether practical or joy-bringing), I may as well get rid of them because I can’t take them to my final destination anyway so why hang on to it?

So tomorrow, I’ll share with you the beginning of my journey to travelling light{er}.

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Jenn is wife to one, mother of three and above all, a humble servant seeking to honor the Lord with her life. Going Home With Nothing is a post from Beautiful Calling.

Since my mom had the tots the other day, I thought I would finish tacking my desk. My desk was an absolute disaster and I had tackled part of it this spring. Today I finished it up and I am feeling an immense sense of relief!

I finished up the paperwork and filed it all. I am determined to keep up on the mountain of paperwork by spending 1/2 an hour a week dealing with whatever is in the inbox.

I de-cluttered, threw out a lot, donated a bunch of things and took some things to the consignment store. I implemented donate/sell boxes in the children’s closets which eliminates the piles of clothing that ended up on my desk, waiting for me to list them on kijiji or eBay.

I designated baskets for things that usually end up on my desk in random piles such as repairs.

The craft supplies, which had no permanent home, are now sorted and organized on a shelf.

I have the end part set up with paper and drawing supplies for the children. This will now be our craft area.

It is amazing how something seems to be so overwhelmingly huge and it grows as it weighs on you. Then when you finally tackle it, you wonder why you waited so long.

Anything looming over your head today?

This post links to Tackle It Tuesday & Org Junkie

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Jenn is wife to one, mother of three and above all, a humble servant seeking to honor the Lord with her life. Simplify! My Office (Part 2) is a post from Beautiful Calling.

Medicine Cupboard Cleanout!

• Empty the area one item at a time.
• Check the expiry of each item; toss any that have expired. {A google search revealed several sites that suggest that flushing isn’t a good idea.}
• Group like items together.
• Wash out the area. Find appropriate containers or baskets that work for the area.

We bought some HE light bulbs and they came in this plastic case. We’ve used the bulbs and now the case has been sitting in my laundry room as I pondered what to do with it. Then, I realized it would be perfect for our medicines. I can easily see what is in there without riffling through a shelf or basket. It’s also portable with the fancy little handle.  While this container isn’t childproof – it does require a couple snaps to open so that is a bit of a deterrent to little fingers.

I also have three baskets from the dollar store. One houses bandages and gauze, one houses aloe vera along with peroxide etc. and the last one contains various creams and lotions for diaper rash, Chloe’s eczema etc.

I’m just so pleased with myself for finding a use for this container and I’m so happy to have all my medicines so well organized.

{For the record: Our medicine cupboard is underneath the sink in an extra bathroom. We have a special closure on the cupboard and the door to that bathroom is kept closed, with a child-proof door cover on it.}

Have you ever did a little happy dance when you discover the perfect container for something?

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Jenn is wife to one, mother of three and above all, a humble servant seeking to honor the Lord with her life. Medicine Cupboard Organization is a post from Beautiful Calling.

When Chloe first started coloring and doing crafts, we cherished every one and found somewhere to display it. With two preschoolers in the house suddenly we are overwhelmed with artwork and creations. While I still take time to admire each one, I no longer want to keep them or display them all. So what do you do?

Designate an area (or areas) for displaying art.

The Fridge – We have one grip clip on the front of our fridge for each of the children and they can display one thing on that clip. If they want to put up a new creation, the old one has to come down. This helps keep fridge door clutter to a minimum.

The Bulletin Board – In our laundry room, I also have a small bulletin board. On it I have a few verses and inspirational quotes and a few pieces of art. We also have a small board in our downstairs powder room. They can each display one thing on there as well.

Magnetic Board – We also have a magnetic board on our wall in the play area. We don’t display pictures on it but rather have our magnetic letters etc. on it to keep the fridge free. A magnetic board is a great option if you are concerned about tacks and push pins. Ikea has some really great, inexpensive magnetic board options.

A Clothesline – In Chloe’s room we have a little DIY clothesline that she loves to display art on as well. John doesn’t have one in his room as of yet. He isn’t as interested in displaying his work as Chloe is.

Chloe’s bedroom art clothesline

Frames – There are those special creations that just beg to be framed. Choose them wisely. Something that is a big hit with our little ones is our Ikea rimless frames for finger painting creations. They’re larger and easy to change out. We could have them hang on the walls but for now they just sit on the top of their book case in their rooms.

There are lots more great ideas for displays if you look around online. Using fabric and ribbons you could make a pin free message board etc.  What do you use?

Determine Capacity

Once you find something that will work for you, determine it’s capacity and then stick with it.  One picture, five, ten? Decide the limit and then enforce it. Once it reaches capacity, then something has to go before a new creation can come in.  You could first one in, first one out or choose your least favorite, oldest etc. to replace. As your tots get a little older, enlist his or her help for deciding which pieces are display-worthy.

Storing

Binder – Artwork on display will most likely be “un-displayed” at some point. Most of these creations you will part with (see below) but a few really will be worth saving. It’s good to save a few pieces (or more) each year so that you and your child can look back and see the progress they’ve made. I don’t remember where I first read about the idea of binders but Chloe was a year old when I implemented it. We have a 2” binder for each child. It has several page protectors in it. When we have a piece we’d like to save, I write the name, date and any descriptions that Chloe or John have given me on the back and then either hole-punch it (coloring pages) or slide it into a page protector (like her first ever craft – a paper bag cow puppet) in the binder. This binder is ALL the artwork I plan to save for them in their life so we’re selective. Again, for our family this is only a few key pieces each year.

View Full Album

Take a Picture – Taking a picture then making a photo book with your pictures may be a good option for your family. Or put it on CD. Both take up much less space.

Bankers Box – If you have a lot of crafts you wish to save, perhaps a study box is the way to go.

Art Portfolio – My husband keeps his collected art in a portfolio, you could do the same for children’s work too.

Scrapbook – you could scrapbook it. I have no talent in this area but perhaps this is your area of talent?

So many options but I think they key is labeling, dating and moderation! If you have a good storage idea, I’d love to hear it!

Parting with Artwork

You’re likely to have a whole lot of spare artwork. Chloe especially has a very hard time if she sees her artwork in the garbage or recycling bin. We’ve started doing a few things that I’ll share today.

Recycle it – Though if you have an emotional little person like me, I suggest you do this secretly.

Give it to relatives – Nana is great and always seems excited to be the recipient of artwork. Whether they trash it or recycle it, it’s no longer your issue.

Mail it to seniors – we have a couple of “shut-in” seniors in our church. We try to send out little notes and cards to them and it’s always nice to add in some artwork too.

Make it into Christmas cards, gifts or ornaments. Using Popsicle sticks you can made a little frame, trim artwork to fit, add a ribbon and hang on your tree or give as a gift. So many great ideas…what do you do with yours?

Final Thoughts

Remember that you aren’t parting with the memories of making these crafts with your children, just the crafts themselves. It doesn’t mean you don’t love your child or appreciate his/her hard work. Also remember that everything you keep, your child will some day be saddled with. Make sure it’s worth it!

Think about whether or not it’s fair to keep everything they’ve ever done and then pass it off to them when they are grow, with the knowledge that their mother has saved this for years and years…

What tips to you have for displaying, storing and parting with children’s artwork?

• This post links to Works for Me Wednesday

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Jenn is wife to one, mother of three and above all, a humble servant seeking to honor the Lord with her life. Displaying, Storing and Parting with Children’s Artwork is a post from Beautiful Calling.

Last week Chloe got hold of a dry erase black marker and had a hay-day in her room during nap time. Doors, walls, desk, laundry basket, bathroom and her quilt! A combination of Epicure’s All Purpose Cleaner, a Magic Eraser along with perseverance and her room is cleaned up.

The quilt was another story. I put it in the wash right away on warm, having sprayed it with Resolve Dual action and adding a Stain Release to the load. No effect. I tried nail polish remover and alcohol; both of which worked pretty well with an ink fiasco before. Nothing worked. The marker was still on the quilt. I did not dry the quilt in the dryer!

A google search led me to try Murphy’s Oil Soap. I bought a good sized bottle and tested on a small area first and it seemed fine. I poured some undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap directly on the first mark. I used a toothbrush, then scrubbed with a floor brush which had firmer bristles. I had a towel underneath that absorbed some of the ink. I did this with all the marks until I was tired. I then washed it and let it air dry. The following day I repeated and the next day too.

Murphy’s Soap Oil, a lot of elbow grease and effort later and you can’t see the dry erase marker unless you examine the quilt closely. I’m hoping one more scrub/wash cycle and they will be gone permanently.

Murphy’s Soap Oil to remove dry erase marker off a quilt worked for me! I’m so thankful since it really is a beautiful quilt.

• This post links to Works for Me Wednesday
• Don’t miss the Stunning SHABBY APPLE Dress Giveaway (US Only)
• Don’t miss the BecoPotty Review & Giveaway (Canada & USA)

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Jenn is wife to one, mother of three and above all, a humble servant seeking to honor the Lord with her life. Murphy’s Oil Soap to Remove Dry Erase Marker is a post from Beautiful Calling.

Wondering how to display artwork in your child’s room without a bulletin board or traditional methods? Why not a clothes line? I saw Work of Art Clips at Land of Nod and thought I’d do my own spin on it.

Cheap and Customizable

A little string, some embellishments from the buck store or your local craft store and you can completely customize your own art display. Whether you want to display it on the wall, under a shelf etc. you can make it as big or small as you need for anywhere in the house!

Hiding it under a shelf:

Using a little string and a few decorated clothes pegs from the dollar store, we strung it across the bottom of her shelf {thus avoiding holes in the freshly painted walls!}. Chloe was delighted and immediately chose four pictures to display. I figured four was a good number because it fits the space. Also, she happens to be four years old. She can display whichever four she wants but in order to hang something new up, an old creation has to go. This also helps her decide which ones are important to her.

I was taking a picture and Chloe asked to get in on it. She’s pretty excited about her new clothesline and proud of her artwork!

A clothesline art display works for me! Next week I’ll be sharing how else we display, store and save artwork as well as some ideas for what to do with it all. You can’t keep and display it all!

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Jenn is wife to one, mother of three and above all, a humble servant seeking to honor the Lord with her life. DIY: Easy Art Display Clothesline is a post from Beautiful Calling.

During  Project: Simplify we’ve done the the Master Bedroom Closet and paper clutter. I am still working on part two of paper clutter but also accomplished the third hot spot: children’s clothing and toys.

Tackling the children’s clothing and kids toys was easy because I am an ultra-organized mother. Not!

My Toy and Book System:

The truth is that I go through the children’s toys on a regular basis and purge in small amounts throughout the year, but especially before Christmas. If I notice something is strewn about often but seldom truly played with, it goes. Sometimes I sell the item on kijiji or eBay and other times it is donated to a thrift shop. By keeping up on purging in each small category, it keeps down on having to deal with a huge amount all at once. Books and toys can easily overtake one’s house if you aren’t careful! Since I keep on top of it, aside from a messy played in room, I don’t really have any good “before pictures”. This is as good as it gets.

Before Picture

Toys and books are broken down into a couple of categories:

• Main floor play area – we have a train table and a play kitchen that are played with by both. Each child has a bin for their items plus a bin for shared items and cars have their own bin. We store larger vehicles in the bottom cubbies. This is the trofast bins inside two expedit shelving units. We used to have the trofast storage system but found that the bins warped being slid in and out of the grooves on a regular basis so we got rid of that and purchased these instead. It’s working much better.
• Bedroom toys – Chloe has her doll house and John has his tool bench. Those are the primary play items in each room. Chloe has a trofast storage system in her room which has labeled bins for Barbie’s, ponies etc. John has less small items and I found that a couple of bins on his book shelf work just fine and make it easy for clean up.
• Educational “school” toys – we have started amassing quite a collection of these and honestly? They’re the ones that are played with the most. We have many Lauri products along with Melissa and Doug. We keep these in our school cupboard where they know are learning that one thing can be played with at a time and must be put away before another is taken out. This ensures that each item is enjoyed and the pieces aren’t lost or strewn about throughout the house.
• Upstairs books – in the library they each have a beanbag chair and two shelves of books that they can look at whenever they want. We also have library time several days a week in the evening before bed. When they pull a book out, they just put it back in a pile on the right side of the shelf and I will put it away for them as they can’t seem to get the books to stand up nice. It also helps to have a container for all the paperback books. They take the container down and can flip through it to find a book they’d like to read.
• Downstairs books – are in a wonderful rack we found at Toys R Us. I just love the way it displays the books so the children can see the cover rather than just the spine. I change these books up from the ones in the library every week or so. These are the books the children look at or read whenever they want…or the ones the grab for an impromptu story with daddy.
• School books – are on the school shelf and are for school time. Each day, the littles choose 2 or 3 books each for us to read. We also read them at other times throughout the day but they must ask before taking a book off our school shelf.

My Clothing & Closet System:

I also try to keep on top of the littles clothing. Each has a shelf in the top of their closet with a box for outgrown clothing to sell/donate. The minute something is too small, I simply toss it up into the box – no folding required. I find that fall and spring are usually the best times to sell (eBay, Kijiji, Consignment Stores) so those are usually the times that I pull out whatever is in the box and deal with it.

Both closets have double racks in them. The top rack is the original closet rack. The bottom rack is a tension rod for a shower curtain, which works amazingly!

Since Chloe has the closet to herself, current clothing she is wearing is on the bottom rack (where she can reach it) while clothing for the off season and items to grow in to hang on the top rack.

John’s closet used to work the same way but John will soon be sharing his room with Isaac. I rearranged the closet so that each boy has a rack of clothing. (I put John on top and Isaac on the bottom for now. This winter I will switch it around since John will then be 3 and old enough to start picking out his outfits a little bit). In addition to their “sell/donate outgrown clothing” box there are two other boxes in their closet. One for John’s clothing to grow in to (I try to buy ahead at the end of a season – gotta love a sale!) and one for John’s stuff that he’s outgrown but that will be passed on to Isaac.

Having this system in place doesn’t mean I never have to go through closets and inventory etc. but it does streamline the process so much and it is never an overwhelming, all day task!!

I think true organization is an ongoing process. It isn’t “getting organized so you don’t have to do anything” but streamlining it so that the whole process of staying organized is simpler, easier and takes less time. I’m better at this is some areas than in others.

What area are you best at keeping organized?

• This post links to Simple Mom, Tackle It Tuesday & Org Junkie
• Make sure to enter the BecoPotty Giveaway ends 4/10 Can & USA

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Jenn is wife to one, mother of three and above all, a humble servant seeking to honor the Lord with her life. Simplify! Children’s Clothing & Toys is a post from Beautiful Calling.

Well if I was hesitant about the first assignment of Project: Simplify (the Master Bedroom Closet), I was crestfallen to hear that paper clutter would be the second challenge.

My home is pretty organized. I wouldn’t be embarrassed to have drop in guests at any time, with the exception of the office, where I just close the door! But I am horrified to admit that the above photo is my half of our home office. Everything ends up here. I entitled this post Part 1 since this is a HUGE task and we were away part of the week on vacation.

I made some huge progress this week, basically located my desk and tables from under the piles of stuff.

I began by making several piles. This was the fastest way to sort through stuff and make some visible progress which is important and motivating.

• stuff to sell
• garbage
• recycling
• repairs (clothing, toys, silk swords etc.)
• papers to file
• papers to review
• supplies/craft items to sort and organize
• photos/memorabilia
• items that belong elsewhere in the house

Then I chose the easiest piles first. Recycling and garbage piles were easy to deal with and eliminated a bunch of clutter quickly. Having sorted everything into piles made the task less daunting and more manageable. The items that belonged elsewhere I put into a laundry basket and went around the house returning them to where they belonged. I put all the items to sell in a bin, all the craft items in a bin and all the supplies in the drawer. I put All that is left on top of my desk at this time is the papers to file and sort through.

I still have a lot of work to do in here and look forward to sharing part 2 of this challenge with you as I get to it either later this week or next. It is definitely on the to-do list before baby arrives as it has been a weight around my shoulders!

Still to do:

• Sort/enter/discard/file papers in Inbox
• Empty supply drawers, sort and organize
• Decide what to do with our craft supplies. Sort, organize & store
• List items for sale on Kijiji, eBay or take to consignment store
• Deal with photos
• Evaluate what lands on my desk and why. Set up a system for dealing with it on a regular basis.

• This post links to Simple Mom, Tackle It Tuesday & Org Junkie
• Make sure to enter the BecoPotty Giveaway ends 4/1 Can & USA

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Jenn is wife to one, mother of three and above all, a humble servant seeking to honor the Lord with her life. Simplify! My Office (Part 1) is a post from Beautiful Calling.