A mama with ideas...

My kids are no different to many others, in that they have an inability to hang the hand towel back up when they have washed their hands! It is often to be found damp, and scrunched up on the counter...




...on the stool...




...or, even on the floor!




It is something that easily adds to the untidiness that creeps up unannounced every day in my house. How it happens in such a short period of time, I'll never know! One minute, peace reigneth and everything is in its proper place. Then, BOOM!... you blink, and everything that's not bolted down has been strewn across the house. Sigh.

And therein lies the solution to the problem. If the towel was literally 'bolted down' it could not be dumped on the counter/floor!

You will need...

• a wall-mounted towel rail
• a hand towel
• 2 x sew on snap fasteners
• cotton in a coordinating colour to your towel and a needle

Fold a portion of the towel up.  You may wish to measure this on your towel rail so that there is enough room for the towel to hang and still be used.




Sew the 'male' halves of the snap fasteners to two corners of one of the short sides of the towel.







Line up the 'female' halves of the fasteners so that they are level with each other at the point you folded the towel to.  Sew them on.




Drape the towel over the rail and snap the fasteners together.







Done.

You can then easily remove the towel for laundering but it stays put while the kids dry their hands!  If you'd rather, you could use sew-on velcro instead! 

We have a very practical, but not very pretty plastic picnic bench in our garden. Living in hurricane prone Texas, I wanted a cheap and cheerful garden set that was durable and low maintenance, but that could also be stored indoors at very short notice in case of an impending storm (hey, we don't have a pool to chuck them in like other locals do!)... better that, than having table sized shrapnel blown into the house! Our picnic bench is sturdy, functional but not in the slightest bit stylish. And I have tried covering it in tablecloths but then you always have the issue of where to stick the umbrella!!

But I found the perfect, low cost and (dare I say it?) stylish solution... plus it literally only takes 5 minutes and no sewing! I'd seen tablecloths for sale designed specifically for picnic tables, with elaborate zipper or velcro openings (from the center to the edge of the cloth)... but in considering the dilemma, I figured all you would need is a way to neatly create an edge to a hole big enough for the umbrella pole to slide through. Bias binding would work, but would be fiddly and time consuming. And then... the perfect solution popped into my head! Curtain grommets or eyelets!!!!




You will need:

• A tablecloth that fits your table... this could be made from any material, including wipe clean oilcloths!
• Scissors
• A pen or dressmakers chalk
• A curtain grommet with an internal diameter wide enough to fit your pole... mine measured 1-9/16" across and said it would fit curtain rails up to 1-3/8" and it worked brilliantly!

Firstly, work out where the center of your tablecloth is and mark it with the pen or chalk. Cut a circle out that is slightly smaller than the internal diameter of the grommet (your grommet may even come with a template!).










Line up the male and female sides of the grommet on either side of the fabric.







Clip the two sides of the grommet together to conceal the cut edges of the hole in the fabric. Iron if needed et voila!




So this is the before...




And this is the after!







Much nicer!!!!

I am pretty confident that most people reading this post have a junk drawer in their kitchen. I have no idea how or why this happens, but in every house I have ever lived in this seems to be the case. In my case, it had recently expanded to junk drawer AND cupboard, and it was getting to the point where stuff would disappear into this bermuda triangle-esque mess never to be seen again! So, utilising one of my delicious child-free mornings (courtesy of the new school semester), I decided that enough was enough... the junk drawer/cupboard was going to be tamed!  This is the result...






I have periodically attempted this feat over the years, but it has only ever been a temporary decluttering solution, so I decided to be a bit more methodical this time by completing an audit of what actually ends up in the mess! The list was very long (and sometimes random), but I was able to categorise some of items:

- Stationery items - sticky tape, paper clips, glue sticks, elastic bands, scissors, pencils, erasers, pens, stapler, pencil sharpener, post-it notes, ruler, adhesive labels, reward stickers etc....
- D.I.Y. items - screwdrivers, hex keys, picture hooks, super glue, tape measure, felt furniture pads, adhesive hooks, pen knife, etc...
- Medications - headache tablets, bandaids, antiseptic cream, antihistamine cream, thermometer, children's pain reliever, arnica cream, sore throat lozenges, hand cream, lip balm etc...
- Books - recipes books, address book, bird field guide, etc...
- Transitory stuff the needs to find a home - Bits of broken toys/found parts awaiting reuniting with the rest, unopened mail, kids' artwork, photos, mementoes I want to keep....!
- Batteries
- Sunglasses
- Phone chargers etc...
- Box tops, Labels for Education, etc...
- Spare change
- Bread tags (I told you some of it was random)
- Garage door openers & spare keys
- Postage stamps
- Check book
- Business cards
- Takeaway menus
- Coupons
- Scraps of paper with important notes


I then measured the dimensions of the space available in the drawer and cupboard.  Armed with this information and the audit information (particularly the categories) I went shopping for solutions!


The Drawer



It is much harder to lose items and get in a muddle when you have dividers in your drawer.  Just consider your cutlery drawer... knives, forks & spoons all have a home and rarely get in a state!  So I figured that a drawer divider with small compartments would help keep the junk in order.  The reason for choosing a divider with small compartments is based on the audit above.  A lot of the items I found in my audit were small and easily lost.  The bigger items, especially paper items, such as menus, mail and kid's artwork deserved better homes than being stuffed in a drawer and so by only having small compartments in the drawer it means that they can't fit in even if you were tempted!!  I made this mistake before by putting a filing tray in a drawer... it just got filled with junk!
I bought mine in target for under $10, but there are some brilliant designs around that even expand to fit your drawer exactly to prevent bits from getting lost down the side!



I put small frequently used stationery items, such as paperclips, sticky tape & post-it notes in the divided drawer compartments.  Plus things like my check book and garage door opener that I need ready access to. You can also utilize small containers with lids to store items - I used a small plastic container to keep all my batteries together.


The Cupboard
Above my now orderly drawer is a cupboard which was also in need of some serious organisation.  Firstly, to keep the scraps of paper, menus, photos, lists, etc... I needed a display solution.  However, in wanting to keep the kitchen streamlined, I wanted to keep it hidden from view for the general public!  My solution came via Pinterest and it was one I had earmarked for this purpose... cork boards inside the cupboard door!!!!  I bought some plain 12" square cork tiles and used some 3M removeable adhesive strips to attach them to the inside of the doors.  Perfect!  I then use pins to attach business cards, important notes etc... I also keep a small sandwich bag pinned to the board to collect Box Tops & Labels for Education for the kids' school.  I've pinned a binder (bulldog) clip to the board to collate and store takeaway menus.  And finally, I've glued a hook to the board to hang scissors so they are easily to hand but well out of the reach of little people!!!









Inside the cupboard itself, I needed to streamline the storage of items that were less frequently needed.  For this purpose, I found a brilliant Sterilite plastic drawer unit in Target for under $10.  The drawers pull completely out which means you can put it up high and just pull the tray out when you need to find something.  It's approximately 9"x9"x9" so fitted in perfectly in one of the cupboard shelves.  I used the drawers to store: stationery (such as a pack of pencils, permanent markers etc..), glues & fixtures (picture hooks, super glue, felt furniture pads etc...) and tools (screwdrivers, hex keys, etc..).  I also raided the dollar section of my local Target and came up with some small bins and a plastic basket.  The basket I used to create storage for all the medicines and first aid items I needed close to hand... again, handy to keep out of the reach of small people.  The small bins I labelled to store the small random pieces that tend to accumulate over time... for me, it's pieces of toys that either need to be reunited with their set or need gluing/repairing.  I also have a bit of a thing for collecting bread tags... handy little things (I will blog more another day)!!!













Then, once the books are lined up neatly, an old mug/jar repurposed for spare change, a pot found for pens and a filing tray set up for kids' artwork that I want to file & keep... and the cupboard is done!






Several weeks on and this system is working unbelievably well!  In fact, it has turned into a mini desk area.  I invested in a charger unit to keep all the phone chargers organised and neatly out of the way, and with all the space created, there was even room for my notebook computer to be set up waiting in the cupboard!

The summer school holidays are in full swing and we are trying to make the most of our time off.  Consequently, we've been planning lots of day trips and play dates to the park, splash pad, pool, and beach.    In our household, we're a naturally slovenly lot who can quite happily mooch about in our PJs all morning unless we have made plans to go out.  So, we've been trying to follow a timetable of summer fun things to do.  Regardless, without the threat of getting a tardy slip from school looming, it can be a struggle to get out and about in a timely manner, especially when you have to pack a bag full of the kids' paraphernalia & snacks, drinks etc...  So, I've taken a leaf out of my pre-potty training days and have created a diaper-less diaper bag, fully loaded and stocked for whatever adventures we are due to head out on.  I am calling it my "Ready-To-Go-Bag"!  In the same way I would check & restock my diaper bag on return from an outing so it was ready for the next time, I have been doing with this "Ready-To-Go-Bag".  It has proved very successful and makes the school holidays seem a lot more spontaneous... a friend wants to meet at the pool?  Okay, we can be there in 5 minutes!  Trip to the splash park?  Sure, see you there in 10 minutes!




For this purpose, I actually re-used my old diaper bag!  After all, as a Mum of twins, I did own a mahoooosive diaper bag made by Skip Hop, and they have so many useful pockets and compartments it made sense!  However, any large bag would work.  If you have a lot of kiddos like me, you may want to go for one like a backpack, or a large shoulder strap so that you can carry it hands-free!






I've added a bullet pointed list below with some suggested contents (and advice for ways to use some of the things I've added), but the following gives you an idea of what goes into mine...

Snacks & drinks.  I put things like straws and napkins in a sandwich sized ziploc bag to keep them clean.  Put drinks bottles and snacks in the easy to reach pockets at the front/side.





First Aid supplies.  Again a small ziploc bag keeps small items together and clean.  These can go into an interior pockets for the (hopefully) rare occasions you may need them.







Changes of clothes.  Put in a plastic grocery bag, squeeze out the excess air and tie with elastic bands to make nice and compact.  These can go in an interior pocket along with wet wipes too.

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Towels & swimming stuff.  Living in Texas, getting wet forms a routine part of our social scene.  I roll the bathing suits up in each persons towel and stow in the main compartment.  I put a few empty plastic grocery bags in one of the inside pockets to stow wet gear when it's home time.







Suggested contents:

• A few easy to store and crush-proof snacks (e.g. Granola bars and/or mini boxes of raisins)
• Bottles of water (or empty sports bottles ready to fill just before you leave)
• Bottle top adapters (like the Gerber ones shown below... click on photo for more info).  Alternatively, a couple of disposable plastic drinking straws can make it easier for young kids to drink from shop bought bottles with wide necks.

• Selection of bandaids/plasters (for the inevitable scraped knee or elbow)
• Small antiseptic spray/cream (you can get travel sized Neosporin sprays called Neo To Go that are great).


• Arnica cream (great for bruises)


• Antihistamine cream/ointment (in case of wasp stings/ant bites/nettle stings/poison ivy etc...). I love Anthisan (a UK brand) but have used Benadryl here and strongly recommend their handy Itch Relief Stick.


• Tweezers (for splinters, ticks or wasp stings)
• Travel sized pack of wet wipes
• Couple of plastic grocery bags folded up small (for storing wet/dirty items)
• Travel sized talcum powder (brilliant for removing sand from feet painlessly before putting socks and shoes on)
• Travel sized hand sanitizer gel
• Several paper napkins (great as impromptu 'plates' on grubby picnic tables)
• Socks for everyone (including adults)... some indoor soft play/bouncy castle venues have policies where you must wear socks to play, which is very frustrating when you turn up in flip flops!
• Small change (for parking/icecreams etc...)
• Spare clothes for younger kids/toddlers (even if it's just a long t-shirt and underwear for emergencies).

Depending on your local climate, all or some of the following may be necessary items too!

• Sunscreen
• Bug repellent - I use and recommend Avon's Skin-So-Soft Bug Guard.  This is DEET free but uses Picardin (a safer chemical and the only other active ingredient recommended by the WHO for effective prevention of malaria etc...).  I prefer their lotion that has SPF 30 sunscreen included.  They also do handy travel towelette versions. (Click on images below for more info).


• Towel (use thin microfiber travel ones if space is at a premium, or just cut and hem large thin beach towel in half for child sized version).


• Bathing suit & goggles
• Sun hats (or bandanas to be used as impromptu hats)
• A compact umbrella
• Emergency rain ponchos

HAPPY SUMMER HOLIDAYS!!!

Anything you would put in yours that I've not included?