Culling the Chaos With Littlies Around

A few people I've been talking to both in and out of the lifestyle have been having a hard time with coping with keeping their house clean with small children around. They feel as if their lives and their homes are falling apart. So here are some tips that I had been given by people over the years to help keep my sanity and at least keep a mostly neat and tidy home (because really, no one expects a home where toddlers to reside to look perfect):

• Toys are probably the biggest issue. At least they were for me until someone suggested going out and buying several plastic storage bins. Place a couple in every room where the kids play, including your living room. When it comes time to pick up, you can just go room to room throwing toys right into the bins. 
• Get the kids to help! Seriously... start while they're young. I made the mistake of always doing the cleanup because it was easier. Now I'm wishing I would have listened to everyone who told me to get her started earlier. My mom had a saying, "If they're old enough to take it out, they're old enough to put it away." I wish I had listened to that advice. Now it's a nightmare trying to get our daughter to clean. If they get into the habit when they are toddler it will be something they're used to doing (even if they don't like it).
• Make a habit of picking something up and putting it away every time you enter a room. It will help keep things from getting too untidy.
• Clean the shower walls a couple times a week while you're having a shower.
• Wipe down the toilet and bathroom sink every day (this takes less than a minute if you do it every day)
• Buy your toddler(s) and other young children their own dusters and let them follow you around the house while you're dusting. Most kids love to help with this! It still works with my seven year old.
• Clean something in your kitchen every day. For instance, one day clean the stove, and then the next day clean the microwave and so on. This way you're never stuck having to spend a lot of time cleaning the kitchen at any one time.
• Only vacuum and/or mop one or two rooms a day (depending on size and foot traffic in your home). Trying to do the whole thing in one day is a losing battle with young children around.
• If you are home alone with the kids all week and find you don't have much time for cooking, do some food prep over the weekend, or you can even prepare and freeze some meals for the week. You can either make or prep healthy meals that can be thrown together in 15 to 20 minutes this way.

Hope these tips help a bit. If you have any of your own, feel free to leave them in the comment section below! We'd love to see them!

5-Minute Fixes

When folding towels, try to remember to tug the corners (all four) to keep them from...well shrinking. Such a simple thing that honestly will keep your towels looking better longer. Also, folded towels just make a room, like the bathroom seem a bit more tidy.

Each day, take a moment and fluff all your pillows and cushions! Not only will it shake the dust off seldom sat on furniture -- but it does make the room look a little brighter.

Make your bed (encourage the kids to also). Silly as it sounds even a kinda messy room will look a little better when the bed's made.

Clean your (all) sinks and swish the toilets. Especially during the winter months when everyone is sharing germs.

Wipe down appliances. The stove, fridge, dishwasher, coffee maker microwave -- basically if it lives on a countertop or if it takes up a lot of eye-space. Give it a little wipe-down.

Sweep or dust your floors. Again this can't be said enough a messy floor just attracts more mess. Not sure why it is. But it does.

Set your table before bed! If your home is like ours the kitchen table is a major artery. Kids play, do homework, random things just get dumped and its a hot spot straight from Dante's Inferno. Setting the table before bed, culls the need to drop things on the table. Breakfast bowls or plates, silver and glassware...and it's one less thing to do during a busy morning!

Lay out your clothes for the next day! Do we need to explain this one? Gather your purse, iPod, charge your phone -- where are your keys?

What's for dinner?

Shopping local

Recently, Daddy decided that since we have a wonderful main street or down town are mouse should shop there more often. In fact, honestly there's no reason to step into the supermarket, except to buy the occasional box of cereal -- which to be honest, can be purchased cheaper at Target, as can the rice, flour and sugar we might need...hmmm.

Building a professional relationship with a real butcher is far better than picking out what seems to be a decent cut of meat from the case. He'll let mouse know about specials that are coming up so she could adjust her purchases. The fishmonger, just a few doors down -- that never has that fishy smell -- gives mouse endless ideas. One word from mouse that Daddy despises tilapia and he's never once brought it up again regardless of the price. The vegetable, fruit and other store...well, that's really more of a challenge. They only deal in fresh, local and organic, which means in winter pickings are mighty slim. But the milk and cheeses are wonderful. They do their own orange juices and sell eggs.

Bakery down the road, has the most wonderful breads...and they list exactly what's in them! Whole grain flour, a little honey, water and low salt. They make the best pastries and cakes too. Their Challah is completely kosher. We already had a standing weekly order for that, but now mouse is getting all the breads from there.

What's really strange about all these places is once you go in a few times to show your a good, stable customer, they all set up accounts for you. So, you pay once per month or when the bill gets to be so high. All those go straight to Daddy, so now mouse doesn't need to carry cash. Now mouse would have thought she'd be spending more, but the truth is she's spending far less. Maybe it's because she has fewer choices? Or she's not distracted by the soda, crackers and cookies..or the other crap she shouldn't make or eat. They say you shop just the parameter of the store...

Mostly less...the florist shop is another story all together!

The other thing that helps, is really planning the meals, which means a specific order to shopping. For example, mouse starts with the bakery. Then moves to the vegetable and fruits, milk, cheese and eggs. Taking in ideas for what to cook for the week. Then looking at the fish or butcher for final componate. The problem is that sometimes the butcher has a great special on say pot roasts....then a second trip to the vegetable place might be needed. Or the pot roast could be wrapped to freeze. Breakfast, lunches and dinner...that's 15 meals a week.

Weekends are much more loosely handled. Tho, Friday for Shabbat, a large meal is prepared so there can be plenty of left-overs on Saturday. Sunday can mean that Daddy might cook, or we might go out. Sunday's, tho is when mouse spends some time thinking about the week ahead and doing prep as needed.

If you do cook a lot during the week, a little prep can go a mighty long way. Routinely mouse will chop up 3-4 onions, mince a head of garlic (you can mix that with some extra virgin olive oil and store it in the fridge) and any other veggies cut up how they'll be used. For fusion tacos, mouse will often cut up zucchini and maybe carrots in matchsticks, add cooked bean sprouts and some sort of meat or fish, cooked in some Szechwan sauce. Serve in a warm tortilla with cabbage.

Or do parchment paper wraps of fish (a flaky white fish works best), veggies, white wine or sherry. Take a sheet of parchment paper and place, the fish first, top with veggies, add a splash of white wine, top with maybe a squeeze of lemon and seal it up tight. Bake in the oven for about 10-15 minutes at 350.

However you cut and use them, the precut veggies are a huge time saver.

Another time saver, if you plan on making mashed potatoes, try baking them and using the skins for, what else potato skins. Even if you don't cook them right away, they can be frozen! Next time you have a crowd over, take them out of the freezer, let them defrost in the fridge, top with cheese, left-over bacon and bake until the cheese is melted. Top with sour cream and green onion or chives. Much better than those frozen Fridays one they sell and super cheaper! It's true, mouse keeps a supply of frozen potato skins on hand. Never know when Daddy might have the guys over to watch a game...

iPhone Saves The Day

I recently got an iPhone. Honestly I was just excited to have a new phone that would allow me to easily access the internet (and continue to chat with friends, of course) while I was away from home. I got so much more than I bargained for, though... the thing is amazing! It's allowed me to completely organize my days right from one app called Seize the Day (recommended to me by mouse). 

I've been able to set my chore list so that it repeats itself and I can always add in odd jobs as needed. Plus I've worked out a writing schedule for each week including blogging. 

I definitely recommend the iPhone to anyone who wants an all in one phone, social network, and daily organizer in one, but if you can't get the phone I would seriously suggest at least trying to get some sort of electronic daily organizer. It has really simplified things for me and my days have been running a whole lot more smoothly!