Here are three tips that I have learned recently. The first two I learned from my friend Z while at a cabin weekend we had together.
1)I started saving used ziplock bags and making Brandon bring his home from his lunch. Then I put them by the diaper garbage and zip up stiinky diapers before you throw them away. This helps a lot with garage smells. (Which I'm sure you know can get pretty bad in the summer)
2) Save a couple plastic juice containers like this one. Then when you go to make Crystal, Kool-aid, frozen juices it is already in a nice 2 quart container so you don't have to measure. You just shake. Frozen juice concentrates have to mostly thawed so it will fit through the hole. With the square bottle it also can lay on its side in a full fridge.
3) This one comes in handy if you especially if you have three kids of the same gender, who are very close in age. C and B could share shirts, and C and T could share shirts. I would love it if we had just had one big shirt bin with everyone's shirts, but no way. You would think that being boys they wouldn't be so possessive of their clothing. But, someone has once bitten for wearing another's shirt. They don't share clothing nicely.
Anyway, sometimes I have a hard time remembering whose shirt is whose, so one day we went through all of their shirts and I made cut one in the tag for B, 2 cuts for C, and 3 for T. If there was no tag, I used a marker. This way I'm not using initials, so when they get handed down I can just make another cut and not have to cross off a name. This had made laundry a whole lot easier.
So these are my tips of the day. Do you have any? I would to hear!
By the way, Tammie you need to let me know if you want to be the 3rd winner on pay it forward. Debbie was the 3rd commenter but she isn't playing, so you are the next in line.
Let me know if you want to play.
I'll go put it up now! Sorry I was busy yesterday! :D
ReplyDeleteLove your tips. My mom saves every bag that bread or powdered sugar or anything else comes in and washes it then puts it in a drawer and that's what she uses. I don't think she buys more than one ziplock box a year. If I give her something in a ziplock she washes it and uses it again. My Sister even made a bag dryer so she has somewhere to put the bags she after washes them! My wild and wacky family. There is actually more, but I won't bore you with the details.
I just started a new way of saving plastic grocery bags, which is what I use for garbage bags. Up until now I just threw them inside each other and under the kitchen sink. What a mess. Now I take the bag, flatten it and fold it up. I took a gallon milk jug, cut a hole in it and put the folded up grocery bag inside it. It holds tons and makes under the sink look so much better!!
ReplyDeleteI used to re-use ziplock bags (something Roger taught me) and then I felt weird about doing it. Maybe I should start again?
I just use the used bags to throw away diapers. On Oprah once they said if your bag was used to hold cheese or meat or anything, you probably shouldn't use them anymore. Unless you totally clean them out which is not really worth it to me.
ReplyDeleteI bet I can guess the friend you got these tips from since her name starts with "Z". :) Those are some clever ideas. My one tip that my mom taught me was to cut my dryer sheets in thirds. (I actually only cut mine in half though.) She says you don't need a whole sheet and all that famaldahide (sp) that they put on them is not good for our clothes or our bodies. So she cuts them in thirds cause it is cheaper and healthier. She buys fragrance-free everything.
ReplyDeleteGreat tips Julie, and I also like the dryer sheet idea, Jana.
ReplyDeleteNow see, we used to just buy the blue bags at Walmart that were designed for diapers. They had a nice smell and were fairly inexpensive...I may still have a couple bags, since Q has been out of diapers for 2 years.
ReplyDeleteWhen your boys get older, just buy the same socks. It is much easier! Especially when the 12, 9 and 7 year olds wear the same size :)
I use empty wipes tubes, the kind that have the pop-up-top, to store all those bags from the grocery store. I havde a tub in each bathroom and one in Roo's room for diapers.
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