I am always on the lookout for things that make my life easier. I am always glad to discover new tips and tricks to help me with the everyday running of our busy life. Today I discovered one and re-used one. If I was so impressed, I thought perhaps some other busy Mommy might find them useful as well.
These are not in any particular order of importance...just however they come to my mind. :-)
1. If your Library still issues the date cards in your books....take them all out when you get home and store in a safe location. When it is time to go back put them in one by one...if there are any left over you know your missing a book. I started this when one of the libraries we use had a policy that they charged for missing cards, I knew I needed to remove them or we would have many fines.
2. Sticky-ooey-goey-GUM! We've heard many wives-tales on removal of this stuff, personally not many of them have worked well for us. A while back my 5 yr old daughter with really long hair had a clump of GUM stuck in it all balled up at her ear. I was very nervous that she was going to have a VERY short haircut. My Sister-in-law is a hair dresser so I had her take a look and help me work on it. We ended up heating up some oil and pouring/dipping/combing it out with oil. IT WORKS LIKE MAGIC! The warm oil just disintegrates the gum, allowing it to be combed right out. (This is the one I just re-used today!)
3. Carpet Stains- I am in LOVE with a new product I just discovered. I picked it up because I wanted to see if I can get some of our spots out of the carpet before having it shampooed, to make things look a little nicer for the potential buyers as they view our home. This product is called FOLEX . It has a long list of stains it will remove such as: grease, ink, blood, pet accidents and many more. It is non-magnetic, non-toxic, non-flammable and odor-free! All you have to do is spray it on the spot, agitate it with your finger and rub with an absorbent cloth. I was skeptical....BUT IT REALLY WORKS! The stains were gone INSTANTLY! Even old stains came up with a little extra rubbing! My stairs look like new today! I bought mine at our local home improvement store, here is the website from the bottle if you want to check it out. You can't order any from the website but you can look up where they sell it in your state.
4. Meal planning- I have tried a few different things in this category and I enjoy changing it up every once in a while, but one thing that NEVER changes is that I make MENUS. This makes dinner time go much better and I can plan a head for nights I know we just need something quick or that we are going to have company. It also is a great way to get what you really need down on that grocery list. Most of the time I just hand-write the days of the week out for a two week period and slap down some dinners for each day and any special items (like a cake for a birthday). But I have also printed off a form from my computer or just used a white board.To create my "quick" menu I have some repeat meals that happen in some form every week...such as Taco Tuesday (can be tacos or enchilada, or nachos...whatever). We also usually have Pizza at some point during the week. So after that I just fill in the rest of the days with favorites. I have also done some freezer meals from recipe books I have picked up. This is nice for busy seasons, sick seasons, or baby-having seasons. It's also nice to be able to have a meal on hand to provide for a needy family when called. Recently I have been mixing up our "normal" meals and have been using All Recipes for some new ideas. You can sign up for free to have a recipe box that saves your favorites and a grocery list which is handy. They have an subscription option which allows you to create your menu on their site. I may have to try that out. I'll let you know how it goes if i do.
5. Storing Sheets- Several years ago I read a tip in a magazine ( I don't remember which one) on keeping your sheet sets together without any fuss and have been using this method ever since. Step one: Fold your sheets and 1 pillow case. Step two: stack them in a neat pile. Step three: put them inside the remaining pillow case. Step Four: Store . I keep a under the bed container in each bedroom and the sheets for those beds in it. This helps for those middle of the night accidents or illness that require a bedding change. I don't have to go searching. I also read in a potty training book once to double-sheet the bed: Plastic mattress cover/sheet/plastic cover/sheet. Then all you have to do at 3 am (or whenever the moment arrives) is to strip off a layer. I have yet to get that good.
Happy Day!
P.S. Please share if you have any tips or tricks that you have found make your life run smoother, I am always looking for new inspirations!
Thanks for the tips! I also discovered from personal experience that peanut butter gets gum out of hair, you just have to kind of massage it in and then comb it out, and wash hair afterwords of course, but it's something we always have on hand and it works!
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