Tuesday's Tips and Tricks: Donating to Thrift Stores

You all know that I love to hit the thrift stores, for everything from clothing to household goods to decorating stuff.  But when those clothes have been grown out of, or I decide to change my decorating, I also donate to the thrift stores.

Make donating easier by keeping a clean trash can or box in the garage, lined with a trash bag.  As you come across an item to donate, toss it in.  When the bag is getting full, transfer it to your car and drop it off at the nearest thrift store next time you're out.

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**Sorry, everybody...there were some issues with the thumbnail list, so I closed that one to new entries and opened a basic list.

Summer Plan Mini-Series: Fun Stuff

{This is the last of a three part series.  See also Kids’ Chores and Rules and Consequences.}

A year ago, I confessed that I am not naturally a fun mom.  I’m very type A and really don’t like things to be messy or out of control.  So last year I tried to plan a few out-of-the-ordinary activities for the kids and I’m taking a similar tactic this year.  You won’t find anything wild and crazy here, but maybe just a few ideas to pull out of the hat when you’re desperate.

First is the Boredom Jar.  This is not meant to be a punishment, but if I hear “I’m bored”  I’m going to send them to the jar.  They can either pull a stick and do that activity or decide that they are able to entertain themselves after all.  Nothing too ground-breaking here; just some ideas to get them busy if they’re having trouble coming up with something to do.

• play a board game
  
• play solitaire
  
• read
  
• bake
  
• go to the playground
  
• write a story
  
• write a letter to nana/papa/aunt/uncle/friend
  
• play in the sprinkler
  
• build a fort
  
• put on a puppet show
  
• ride bike/scooter
  
• have a lemonade stand
  
• etc.

The boredom jar will also be an option for children who are quarrelling, as explained in Rules and Consequences.

Like last year, we’ll go to the library once a week.  We will also take advantage of some of the programs put on by the library, like movies and popcorn, the reading program, an event where kids can read to dogs, and so on.

The opening of our subdivision pool was delayed this year, but once that’s up and running we’ll be there

2008

We may do a few surprise ice cream runs.  After the kids are ready for bed, and when they aren’t suspecting it, we blow a whistle or bang a pot lid and yell “ice cream run!” and everybody piles into the van in their pajamas and we head to Sonic. 

And since I’m a control freak, I’ll try to plan an activity once a week that would give me hives if it happened spontaneously.  Last year we tie-dyed t-shirts.  Some ideas I have for this year include a shaving cream fight, making oobleck, diet Coke and Mentos…um, I’ll need some help in this department.  Maybe I’ll have the kids write a summer bucket list of things they’d like to do that I normally wouldn’t be too keen on.

Got any fun summer ideas?

Summer Plan Mini-Series: Rules and Consequences

{This is the second in a series of three posts; the first was Kids’ Chores and the third will be Fun Stuff on Monday.}

I’ve got to admit that this one is more difficult for me.  I’m good at making rules, but I’m not the best at doling out consequences.  I tend to just get mad and make threats, which really isn’t doing anyone any good and will make for an unhappy summer.  Hence the system; it lets everybody know what they’re supposed to do, including me.

Rules:

• no TV or screen time before noon
  
• morning chores (chore wheel, make bed, etc) need to be done by 9:00 am
  
• I will supervise chore sticks between 9-10:00 am
  
• no complaining
  
• no arguing/bickering

Consequences:

• if morning chores are not done by 9:00, no TV/screen time for the day
  
• if there are complaints about chores or being asked to do anything, pull a job from the complaint jar
  
• if two or more kids are bickering, they will do an activity together until they can do so pleasantly

The complaint jar contains more craft sticks with chores that only need to be done occasionally (and several of them are slightly more unpleasant than the everyday jobs.)  Some examples:  clean out van, sweep porch, wash kitchen table legs and chairs, wash front windows, wipe baseboards.

For bickering, the offenders will pull one stick from either the complaint jar or the boredom jar (the boredom jar contains fun activities; more on that Monday).  Then they will do that activity together.  If they continue to argue, then they will continue pulling chores (only from the complaint jar this time) and working together until they can do it without conflict.

This method is untested in this household, so we’ll see how it goes.  Making them work together could either be genius or a disaster.  My hope is that after any of the consequences have been exacted a couple of times, the offending behavior will occur less and less frequently, ultimately leading to world peace.

source

Summer Plan Mini-Series: Kids’ Chores

{The mini-series will continue Friday with Rules and Consequences and wrap up on Monday with Fun Stuff.}

As I mentioned the other day, I’ve been working on a summer schedule.  Not a schedule in the sense that all of our time is accounted for, but in the sense that I’ve got a plan for things that need to be done, and for some things that we want to get done.

Yesterday I worked on the chore plan.  I’ve described our chore wheel before; we’ve been using it for almost three years and it will still be in effect for the summer.  However, summer = more people at home all day = more mess, and since those people also have oodles of free time, I’m going to implement an additional chore plan for the summer.



Here’s what I’ve come up with:

• MON:  kitchen
  
• TUE:  bathrooms/vacuum stairs
  
• WED:  dust/vacuum downstairs
  
• THU:  dust/vacuum upstairs
  
• FRI:  clean up mudroom

I have specific chores for each area.  I’ll write each one on a craft stick and each child will chose one on the designated day.  That makes it random (the chores aren’t visible when they choose).  We used the craft sticks as our main system for a while before the chore wheel was invented; the idea originally came from Family Fun.




Kitchen:

• wash sliding doors
  
• sweep
  
• mop
  
• sort through papers/clean off end of counter

Bathrooms/vacuum stairs:

• vacuum and mop bathrooms
  
• polish all chrome in bathrooms and clean bathtub (cleaning the bathroom is a daily chore on the wheel, but the bathtub never gets the attention it needs)
  
• vacuum stairs (the most hated chore!)

Dust/vacuum downstairs:

• dust living room
  
• dust family room
  
• dust stair railing
  
• vacuum

For vacuum and dust upstairs, each child will do their own room, so no sticks.  Similarly, for clean up mudroom, they will take care of their own belongings.  On days that have more than three chore sticks, I’ll take a stick too.

Tune in tomorrow for the next installment!

Tuesday’s Tips and Tricks

{The credit for today’s tip goes to my friend Dixie.}

 

It’s summertime!  Among other things, I love that there is an abundance of fresh, in-season fruit available at low prices.  We are blessed to live in a time and country where we can get fresh produce year-round, but in the winter the prices are higher and the flavor isn’t as good.

So buy lots while it’s cheap in the summer, and freeze it for winter!  No, this is not a new idea, and if you farm or garden or like to pick-your-own, you probably already do some version of this.  But I know it had never occurred to me to freeze produce I got at the grocery store.  I’m specifically talking about berries, because they are the easiest to freeze; other fruits like peaches and plums require peeling, slicing and a sugar syrup before you can freeze them (according to www.pickyourown.org).

For berries, just wash them (hull strawberries and slice if desired), then spread them in a single layer on a cookie sheet to freeze.  Once frozen, put them in labeled freezer bags, get out as much air as possible and put them back in the freezer.  Then in the winter when berries are $3-4 a pound, you can pull a bag out of the freezer.  Toss some on your cereal, make a smoothie, bake a pie or cobbler, or add them to pancakes.  Yum!

 

Got any favorite products, gadgets, recipes, shortcuts, or other tips?  Link them up here! 

• share a tip that makes your life easier
• please link back to me in your post
• link to your specific party post, and not your general home page
• please be polite and visit several other participants and leave a nice comment
• I reserve the right to delete entries that don’t link back to me or do not fit the party theme

Linky will close at 11:59 pm central Tuesday.

Last Day

Today is the last day of school.  That means it’s the last day of quiet.  But it’s also the first day of being able to sleep in, of not having to make school lunches, of not having scout or school activities, of afternoons at the pool…basically of just taking it easy.  I’m a big fan of unstructured time.

I’m not a fan of chaos, however.  So I’m going to let the kids decompress for a few days, while I work on some summer systems to implement.  Some things I need to address:

• chores
• bedtimes
• how much tv time is allowed
• a reward/consequence system for complaining, arguing and other poor behavior
• a few planned activities

 

How do you handle summer?  Is it a free-for-all around your house, or do you have a plan?

The Chandelier Which Took Eighteen Months to Finish

A couple of years ago, I started looking for a chandelier for Pinkerbelle’s room.  I wanted it to be small, and I didn’t want to spend much (as usual).  Goodwill and ReStore were busts; for the most part, their offerings were too big, too ugly, and too expensive.  In December 2009, I found what I was looking for at a small church-run thrift shop.  The antique brass chandelier was small (about 12” across), pretty, it worked, and it was only $8…an unheard of price!

I don’t have any before photos, because right about the time I got around to starting the makeover in November 2010, the Great Computer Crash occurred and we lost three weeks’ worth of photos.  This thing is real solid brass (it weighs about 10 lbs), and it had an antique-y patina.  Although it wasn’t the super shiny 1980s brass, for my purposes I wanted to paint it.  I originally went with satin white, but after a paint malfunction back in Nov., I set it aside until last week.

When I went to Home Depot for some paint, I had decided to step it up a bit by using gloss white.  But I  came home with gloss hot pink.  It was a step out of my “safe” zone, but I’m so glad I did it!

 

 

 

I ordered 10 crystals from etsy and added them, although there are eyelets for 34 crystals on this little 12” chandelier if I had wanted to do that many! 

(I used wire to attach them and it doesn’t look that great if you look too closely; Craig says I need to use fishing line.)

 

 

Look at the details!  I wouldn’t have got that with a 1980s relic.

 

 

 

Pinkerbelle loves it as much as I do!