DIY Easter Egg Colors - and a Gift!

Yes, we are having a great time looking at all of these recipes for all-natural ways to dye Easter eggs this season.  But, I have to be honest, I am not obsessed with this all-natural stuff. If I can make it happen, great. If not, I don't freak out.  So, this is not in the all-natural category. This is more of the time and money-saving category :)

I was a bit stressed because I had gotten sick the week of the free Easter egg dye kits at Rite Aid. (Not that a buck is a big deal, I was stressed because I forgot to even get a kit!!)  Anyhow, I remembered a recipe I saw last year...and I tried it from memory. I don't even know what the other recipe was as far as drops, etc. But this worked GREAT for us!

Just grab your vinegar that we are all now cleaning with! (Check out my cleaning posts here!)  :) In each cup, put in just 3 drops of food coloring.  I suppose you could use more, this is just what I started with.  Add 1/4 cup of vinegar and 1 cup of warm water and gently mix. That's it!!!

I was tempted to try a different way of doing so with onion peels, carrots, raspberries, etc. But, for me, this was about saving time and money.  My 12 drops of food coloring that I use for everything was totally cheaper since I didn't have all of those foods already.  And, I wanted to get it done without a trip to the store. I just didn't have those little color tablets!

These colors came out great! I wish my camera was better so that you could see how vibrant they are. We still love the old "white-crayon-surprise" look to the eggs because it brings back memories of coloring them with our own parents.  To go along with our De-Cluttering series, we chose not to get all stressed out about how "beautiful" the eggs came out. We focused on having fun with the kiddos and just enjoying the moment.  That's what it's all about, right? Ahhh. Cutting out the crap.

Speaking of "what it's all about", I guess that is what Easter represents. Actually, that IS what Easter represents.  For us, it is the most important holiday ever!  What greater thing could have been done than to have our creator join us here on earth, suffer just as we do (except worse), and then choose to die for us so that we may live forever? Do you know anyone who would do that? Good golly, I am WAY too selfish to ever consider giving my life for the ungrateful sinners that we all are!  What other gift could we ever want more than eternal life? 

There is nothing that I would rather have and therefore, I need to use this precious life I have been given to do HIS work, not mine.  I realize that many of you may not appreciate this gift, just as I did not for a long time.  But, since this blog is about sharing, I feel that I need to share the best part of my life with you - Jesus.  HE is the answer to our difficulties, especially when you feel like there is no way out.  

As you probably know by now, my daughter Ella passed away in 2008.  Before then, I was living for me, myself and I. I wanted the big house, the nice car, the perfect kids and tons of money in the bank.  I would have traded it all (except my kids) if I could just get her back. In that worst moment of our lives, my husband and I found our way back to Jesus. He was all we had to lean on. And He WAS there for us. I would not be here today without him.

Now, my life is not perfect, but it is SO much better than it would have been if I had continued on the path I was on. I can't stand the importance that we place on our money and material things.  Give me food, shelter and love and that is all that matters. I would live in a cardboard box if I had to-if that was God's plan.  My little human brain has no idea how to navigate this world on my own. No one can do it on their own. We think we are super-human. And that is what is wrecking this world.

I pray that all of you find Him this Easter if you are searching for your purpose.  We talked a lot about that in our De-Cluttering and Organizing posts. He is the only answer and I would be selfish to not share Him with you.

God bless you this Easter.  I love my readers so much...and so does Jesus! <3

***Check out my other posts about spring cleaning and organizing if you haven’t already!

  Deep Cleaning The Shower

 The Mudroom

 Message Center

 Organizing Your Mind

Decluttering:The Basics

Toys Made Easy!

Don't forget to follow me: Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest!

Spring Cleaning! The Mudroom...Eeew.

Ok, who’s ready to get cleaning? AAAAhhhhh! Spring is here, finally…I think. Well, the calendar claims a week now, so let’s get busy!

My project this week was the mudroom. Eeww, the mudroom! It was the dirtiest, so I wanted to start there first so that I felt like I accomplished something.

Here’s the deal with the mudroom: It is the first place we step when we walk in from our garage. It is the land of muddy boots, snowy mittens, book bags, hats, coats, umbrellas, shoes that fit, shoes that don’t fit, snow pants, sandals, beach hats…well, you get the picture. Maybe yours is similar.  We also tend to throw anything that we carry in onto the floor when we walk in or onto the table that sits there - things like mail, paperwork, bags from the store. Ugh, just everything. I had to get it in order.

So, of course, I thought I would share with you as well! Maybe, give you a bit of motivation? :) I am waving my pom-poms and doing cartwheels just for you! LOL! (Oh, gosh, that would be a sight!)

Here are the steps I found to be most useful when cleaning out a mudroom:

1.  WHAT DO YOU HAVE?  First, I had to empty everything out to see what I had. I was a bit scared. But, I was still home recovering from surgery, so I had a day to do it in between feeding kids, naps, laundry, dishes…well, life!

So, I pulled everything out of the closets and off the walls, emptied the bins and laid it all out on the floor. I can say that a bit of panic and anxiety may set in when you try this at home. I had all SORTS of junk hiding in there!  Just take a few breaths and chant “I can do this” over and over again! J Here’s a photo of mine just to make you feel better!

 

2.  THE WALLS – Oh goodness, the walls! If you have a family like mine, the walls are used to balance yourself when putting on your shoes, they are used as a jungle gym for your 3-year-old and they are used to bounce hockey pucks off when your kids are playing hockey IN the house! Our mudroom walls USED to be yellow. They were now a lovely shade of “bumble bee”! Black streaks everywhere! 

 

 

I honestly have used soap and water to clean walls, but this time I was reaching for my magic eraser. I wasn’t fooling around! I knew it would work well and remove most of the stains. If only it could fill in the holes in the drywall from smashing the door against the wall when we first were moving in...beggars can't be choosers...

Here is the "after" photo of what the magic eraser did for me!

 

You can get a bunch of them sent to you through Amazon or Walmart pretty cheap and they are worth it!

3. THE FLOORS – After you do the walls, you are definitely going to want to do the floors! All of the dust flying around from the walls lands here. And, you want to get rid of it before you move everything back in. Make sure you vacuum and mop…don’t forget the base boards!

4. WHAT’S THE POINT?  So, once the mudroom is ready to be filled again, you need to figure out what it’s true purpose is. What do you want to go back in there? Is it used for anything other than storing your outdoor clothing and shoes? Do you have adequate space for everything you want to put back in? Here is what I decided for ours:

a.  It had to house our outdoor clothing as well as our shoes for both seasons.  I decided that it would hold all of my stuff as well as my 3 kids’. My husband has his own hall closet that has his hunting/fishing/manly gear, so he could keep most of his stuff there.  Still, 4 of us had to share this closet. 

b.  It had to hold the every-day essentials as far as grab-and-go items, mainly bags. My daughter’s book bag for school had to go somewhere as well as my son’s bag for his preschool and my baby’s diaper bag. These needed to be handy and had to go here.

c.  The last thing I needed was a place to put incoming/outgoing mail and papers as well as the notes for school that had to be filled out for days my daughter had appointments or became a “walker” at school. I also wanted to keep a place there for the “Box Tops for Education” we save for her school.   Everything else had to go!

5. STORAGE – Now that you know what you want to put into the mudroom, do you have adequate storage and a place for everything? I knew I needed a place for the mail that I mentioned before. I also didn’t have a place for the book bags other than hanging them on a coatrack. The other issue I had was the hassle of getting out and putting away mittens easily for the kiddos.  My fix:

          a. I bought a clear, plastic mail organizer to hang on the wall in the mudroom.

 

          b. I bought 2 unfinished wooden crates from Joann.com to hang on the wall to help out  with storage for the bags…I just knew that we’d be crawling over them on the floor forever if I didn’t!

 

          c. I scrounged around for something to keep our mittens and hats in that the kids could easily access. I was done having them throw their things on the floor because they were too busy to open the closet door and put them away!  I found a few matching baskets that would work perfectly!

 

6. KEEP, DONATE OR TRASH?  Now that you know what you want to put into the mudroom, you have to make sure you actually NEED what you are putting back in. The task now is to sort through all of the “stuff” and really ask yourself if it is worth keeping.   I think the easiest way to tackle this is to start with one item, let’s say “shoes” since there were so many!  I looked at EACH pair and gave myself 5 seconds to decide whether to keep, donate or trash them. I have to say that there were SEVERAL pairs I trashed. I was slightly surprised that I had held onto them this long!

 

The other thing that will be helpful is when you are deciding to “keep” something, make sure it is clean. If you need to wipe it down or throw it in the laundry, do that right then so that you aren’t bringing dirty items back into the mudroom.

7. LOAD ‘ER UP! Once you have sorted through all of your items, it is time to start bringing them back in and organizing them. Aaahhhh. Make sure you find a system that works for you. Make kids’ item “easy-access” and at their eye-level so that they will be more inclined to pick up after themselves when they enter or need something.

Reload section by section.  Start with shoes, then maybe hats and mittens, etc.  Make sure you have all of the like-items done before moving onto the next. In no time, it will be finished!

 

 

8. REMAINING ITEMS that didn’t make the final cut for the mudroom need to be put into a new place. Chances are, they already have a place and they were just shoved there for lack of time or energy to put them away. Well, at least I hope that is the reason because that was mine! LOL! J I found myself putting away shoes that my son hasn’t worn in over a year – they went into the “baby” bins down in the basement for the next boy of the family!  I also found a kite, a yo-yo, a hockey puck (surprise!) and a bunch of coins! OK, I found a bunch more things, but I can’t let you know how really messy it was! But if I can do it in a day, you can, too! I did it in about half-hour increments and just decided to live with the mess all day until it was done.

Here’s the final outcome:

Each of us had a pair of shoes out (right now it’s boots). The shoes dry on the mat and then if we don’t wear them the next day, they go back in the closet.  We also have a place for each child’s bag and a basket for their mittens and hats that they can easily access. The two oldest have eye-level coat hangers and there are 4 other ones for the rest of us and our guests. (Each one holds 2 or 3 coats)

 

In our hanging file, there is a slot for incoming mail that we can just dump it in when we walk in the door instead of throwing on the table or the kitchen counter. We also have the outbound mail to go into the mailbox, and a slot for school notes and boxtops.

I whittled down our coat collection by about 1/3 (CRAZY!) and hung them up nicely. I also organized all of our shoes and folded the snow suits and placed them overhead in the closet. Wow.

I also had made this crazy key holder out of a canvas from Joann.com and some paint and mug hooks from Walmart. This was really fun and it is personalized to our family. I LOVE having the keys all in one place!

 

 

I hated every minute of cleaning, but it was so worth it! Give it a try, just hang in there!

Check out my other Spring Cleaning posts!

Don't forget to follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest! Save money & share life with me every day!

10 Life Hacks You'll Wish You Already Knew!

Well, it's Day 20 and I am SO done with being out of commission! Ugh. But, on the flip-side, it is giving me a chance to put out some great information for you! This is one of my favorite things to write about!



So, if you are all into pinning, etc., you know that there are a lot of  tips and tricks out there that can potentially make your life easier. I have to admit that I used to spend lots of time pinning away and have learned a bunch of handy things! Recently, I thought about putting all of my favorite tips together to share. Many things I have tried and failed at. But these are actual tricks I have used and these are the original photos from them.

I would LOVE to put more tips like this together to share with you and would LOVE your help in doing that! If you have tried something and it was successful, please comment below and we can get it into another post!

OK, so here are the first 10 life hacks that have absolutely made my life easier!

Top 10 Tips & Tricks to Save on Food - (But Coupons Rock!)

 

Ok, so many people watched my episode and have asked me for advice on saving money on food. However, the majority of people *think* they don't have time to coupon. OK, we will just go with that even though I think that excuse is not always valid. But, I have compiled some tips just the same to help those who want to start saving money! You're welcome! ;)



Here are my Top 10 tips:

Reader Quick Tip: Easily Disposing of Drained Grease - Yuck!

Ok, so I admit that I am not on top of the tips in the cooking world. For those that know me, I almost despise cooking...because I am TERRIBLE! :)  But, I must be brave and pull through for my family so that they are not just opening up boxes and eating what is inside...well, at least not ALL of the time!

So, this quick tip came from reader Jen F. from North Carolina! Thank you, Jen!

Do you hate trying to drain grease into a small empty can, letting it cool and then trying to find a place outside to dump it? Well, I have done that for 36 years and I am now through!



The easy fix? Instead of getting a can that the grease will no doubt drain in, on and around in your sink, grab a bowl.  Cover it with foil so that the foil hangs over each edge.  Then, drain the grease from the meat through a regular strainer easily into the bowl.

So much easier than what I am used to!!

Now, wait until the grease hardens. Make sure you

How to Save Time Folding Laundry!

I hate doing laundry. I really, really hate it. I remember when I used to hate putting it away so much that I would leave it folded in the laundry basket and just rummage through the basket when I needed something! Well, thank goodness I grew up a little, but along the way, I have found a few time-savers that has kept my bedroom free of laundry piles!

How many times have we seen  FB photos of people showing off that new hair-do or cute baby...and there are piles of clothes behind them?! Are you a fold-in-front-of-the-TV person who lays it out on the couch, throws it back in the basket and waits for the laundry fairy to put it away?

It actually drives me crazy to see it, so here are a few tips if you are "that person" with the rolling hills of laundry decorating your adobe!

To put things in perspective, how long does it REALLY take to put it all away? I think sometimes the thought of it just overwhelms us, so we procrastinate. But, here's how to take it from your dryer to closets and drawers quickly and (rather) painlessly!

Be prepared:

-Hangers: If you hang your clothes in a closet, make sure you have enough hangers! Sounds like common sense, right? But how many times have we snuck a pair of pants through the neck of a shirt that has a hanger when we were in a bind?

Window Frost? Quick, Easy & Cheap Fix!

 

Well, this is what I woke up to last week before work...OOPS! Forgot to start the car and in a HURRY! How many of you know what I'm talking about!?

 

Solution:  RUBBING ALCOHOL!!!

Yup, I grabbed my squirt bottle and ran out the door! I covered the window with it and...it worked!

 

It melted the frost and then I just gave the wipers a few swipes! MAGIC!

 

Boy, I love this stuff! :) See HERE for more Rubbing Alcohol Uses!

Easily Tidy Up Around The House!

Don't you loathe the days where it feels like all you are doing is picking up toys, papers, crumbs, etc. around the house and having no feeling of accomplishment?

Have you ever been terrified that an unexpected guest will see your whirlwind of chaos when they enter...and they will be here any minute?

I know I have had those feelings plenty of times! So, I wanted to share with you a fun and easy way to QUICKLY de-clutter for those times you just want to have a tidy house!

It's called the "FIVE MINUTE GAME" and I play it with my kiddos all of the time to get them involved.  They are 6 and 2 and they are actually a big help when we play!

THE FIVE-MINUTE GAME:

 

1. Have a container such as a laundry basket or small box available to put items in.

 

2. Explain to the children how the game works, determine a small reward if you like.

 

3. Engage the children by having one of them set the timer for 5 minutes in the room you want to tidy- we have a fun "apple" one that the kids love!

 

4. When the time starts, take all of the items and put them into your designated container. You could have 2, one for upstairs items, one for downstairs, etc. You can customize the game to your needs!

 

5. I usually go around the room in order and hand the kids the items to put in the bin.  Do this ONLY for 5 minutes or you and your children will feel like there is no end in sight. Adding to the timer will be pointless once you start! You can rearrange and neaten the room as you go.

 

 

NOTE: DON'T put the items in the container away during those 5 minutes.  If you want to clean another room, bring the box(es) with you. Do the next room, then if there is time remaining, put away items from your bin into that room that belong. It is much easier to put things where they go when the room is not full of stuff that doesn't belong!