Thursday, January 30, 2014

Time for a Change

Are you getting bored with your current look in your bedroom?  There are ways to change up your bedroom without spending tons of money.  A few simple changes can make it feel like you have a whole new bedroom.  You can learn more at apartment therapy.

1. Clean your sheets. Nestling in between freshly laundered sheets is probably the easiest and cheapest way to feel like you're in a new room. If you're feeling fancy, try adding some homemade linen spray.
2. Make your bed. While I have a hard time keeping my bedroom as neat as I'd like, I always make my bed. Even if there's some stuff on the floor and your hamper's full of dirty laundry, a made bed gives a bedroom a sense of order.
3. Clear off or minimize clutter on dresser tops. Lots of little things tend to accumulate on my nightstand (glasses and mugs, mostly) and my husband's dresser (e.g., baseball hats and receipts). A quick sweep can make your room instantly better organized and cleaner looking.
4. Bring in flowers or a plant. The January Cure teaches all of us how refreshing it is to have some fresh greenery. Drop a few dollars at the grocery store or, if you have a sunny spot, relocate one of the succulents you have sunbathing in another room. At least in my world, greenery is happiness.
5. Rearrange artwork. Switching up what hangs where is a free way to change how your room looks and, in my experience, is a good way to get started thinking creatively.

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Say Goodbye to Clutter

Does your apartment get cluttered throughout the week?  Here are some great tips on how to slowly eliminate the clutter that builds up throughout the week.  These tips will help your apartment stay cleaner, and it will help you feel less stressed when you come home.   You can learn more at apartment therapy.

Designated Outbox: Set up a permanent basket, box, or bag by your front door to toss things that need to go. Make it part of your decor so that it's part of your daily life and doesn't just look like a messy cardboard chore lurking in the corner, sending accusing looks at you. Try emptying it once a week or at least twice a month.
Clean As You Cook: Somehow a messy kitchen with a pile of dishes is always the first stop on the ride on the messy train. Never go to bed with a sink full of dishes. Waking up to dirty dishes just sets you starting your day off wrong. Also, try to clean up as you cook so that when dinner is done you don't turn around to more work and can end your night on a good note.
Sort Mail Immediately: I am guilty as charged when it comes to piles of mail in various places that "I'll get to later." My new workflow is: pick up mail; open it over the recycle bin; put bills in a designated bill cubby; and feel good while doing it.
Tidy Up 10 Minutes a Day: You can split this up into two five-minute chunks or a full ten. Quickly shuffle through your house (preferably at the end of the day) and put away all those little things that you took out, opened, or tossed on the couch throughout the day. This way you can reset your home each evening and start fresh each morning.
Refocus Your Energy: A long time ago I heard someone say, 'it takes just as much energy to be messy and it does to be clean" and it always stuck with me. It makes total sense: when you're messy you are just delaying the energy it will take to clean it up instead of doing it immediately. I find that, when I clean as I go, I'm much happier and rest so much better without 'to do's' weighing on my mind, or seeing guilt-ridden piles of stuff.


Thursday, January 16, 2014

Creative and New Frozen Dinners

Do you want to make meals ahead of time for the week?  Check out these great frozen dinners that will be great for you and your family throughout the week.  You can learn more at The Kitchn.

 
Folks’ thoughts turn to casseroles when they think of frozen meals. Don’t get me wrong; I love a good casserole. But you do your freezer and yourself a disservice if you limit your options to lasagnas, enchiladas, and noodle bakes, as good as they may be.

With six children ranging in age, personality, and culinary maturity, I’ve found that I need to think outside the 9x13-inch baking dish if I’m going to put a meal on the table that we’ll all enjoy. Several years ago I hit on the idea of freezing meal components, like cooked taco meat, as well as complete dinner kits to help me save time in the kitchen as well as benefit from bulk purchases of proteins I found on sale.

Homemade, frozen dinner kits can be the perfect solution to those nights when you don’t have time for extensive prep work, but want to avoid the drive-thru lane. Think of some of your favorites like tacos, fajitas, chicken stir-fry, even homemade pizza. Yes, you can make dinner kits of all these great suppers, and more if you think about your favorite recipes in a new way.

Analyze Your Dinner Repertoire: 3 Tips

Ask yourself these questions as you consider your family's favorite meals.
  • What items can be cooked in advance? Taco meat, shredded chicken, pork, or beef, sautéed or grilled meats, cooked rice, and roasted vegetables can all be prepared ahead of time and used later.
  • What items can be prepped, sliced, diced, chopped, or shredded to use later? Think about sliced peppers, mushrooms, and onions; shredded cheese; pizza dough; marinated meats; spice rubs and sauces.
  • What commercial items are good to keep on hand and at the ready? You can easily slip a bag of tortillas or a package of pitas into the freezer next to the other components of the meal. In fact, when you combine all the items into one larger, zip-top freezer bag, you’ll have everything all ready to go with one quick reach into the freezer.

6 Favorite Dinner Kits to Freeze

I’ve made frozen meal kits with our family’s favorite meals. Consider stocking these kits in your freezer:
  1. Homemade Pizza – Package balls of dough (such as this dough), shredded cheese, and sauce along with other favorite toppings individually. Place all individual packages into larger zip-top freezer bags in the freezer.
  2. Fajitas – Package marinated chicken or beef strips, sliced fajita vegetables, and small flour tortillas in individual bags. Place all bags into a larger zip-top freezer bag and stash in the freezer.
  3. Tacos – Individually package cooked taco meat, shredded cheese, and tortillas. Combine in a larger zip-top freezer bag in the freezer.
  4. Stir-fry – Prepare smaller bags of sliced meat, chopped vegetables, cooked rice, and stirfry sauce. Store them all in a larger zip-top freezer bag in the freezer. (See The Kitchn's guide to making freezer stir-fry meals.)
  5. Chicken and Rice Bake – Assemble individual packages of marinated chicken, rice and spice mix, and chopped vegetables. Store together in a larger zip-top freezer bag in the freezer. (Get a recipe for Chicken and Wild Rice Bake.)
  6. Meatballs and Mashed Potatoes – Prepare a bulk batch of meatballs, gravy, and mashed potatoes. Store the three components separately in meal-size portions and freeze. (Get a recipe for Turkey Meatballs or Classic Veal Meatballs.)
There’s really no end to the possibilities of meal kits you can prepare for freezing. Just think about what you can do in advance and do that. If you’ve got time to make several batches of hamburger patties, you can save time later when it’s time to eat. Make a big batch of homemade BBQ sauce and precook the bacon. Store the frozen patties in their own bag, next to a container or sauce, a packet of bacon, a small bag of cheese, and a package of burger buns. Southwest Bacon Cheeseburgers will come together in a jiffy.

Thursday, January 9, 2014

DIY Cleaning New Years Solutions

Did your New Years Resolution involve cleaning your apartment?  You can keep your resolution with these DIY solutions.  Keep reading and check out Apartment Therapy for more information.

 
If you're going into the new year with a pledge to clean, forget the Pledge. Try one of these natural recipes for cleaners and bug repellants that are cheaper, easy to make, and just as effective (or even more so) as commercial store brands. Here are the best of the best from 2013.


  1. 10 Natural DIY Citrus Cleaners
  2. 10 Best Posts: Getting Rid of Fruit Flies & DIY Fruit Fly Traps
  3. Smells Sweet: 5 DIY Air Fresheners
  4. 5 Natural DIY Recipes for Cleaning, Polishing & Restoring Wood
  5. DIY or Buy: Natural & Eco-Friendly Cleaners
  6. Kill Mold Overnight with a Simple DIY Clove Oil & Water Spray
  7. DIY Natural Cockroach Repellent Homelife
  8. Beat the Mosquitoes: Our Best Tips & Tricks
  9. The $1 Cleaning Solution for Cleaning Scuffed Metal Furniture
  10. The Ultimate Used Furniture Cleaning Kit
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