Five Tips To Make School Mornings Less Stressful

Hello friends!

I'm back from my summer break & getting back into the swing of things around here!

Did you have an enjoyable summer? I hope so! 

School started today & there's nothing like the first day back to school in the fall to give a mom a swift kick in the "welcome back to reality"!

Things went off relatively smoothly & the kids & I even managed to take a few minutes for some photos before driving to school.

We've been doing the school thing for a five years now (my oldest is in grade 5 this year), & though things are rarely perfect, with a little planning & thinking ahead, you can make things less stressful for you & your kids in the mornings.

Here's what I've learned...

1) Think through the things you want your kids to do every morning before heading off for school. Write them down. You can make a chore chart or just a hand-written list for your kids to work from.  Try using pictures for children who aren't reading yet. This list or chart is especially helpful on busy mornings.

Then, come up with consequences for not getting things done or for doddling. (In our house we have a saying, "Doddling is disobeying.") Communicate these with your children. In our house, there's little time for fooling around before school. There's stuff to be done! If they aren't doing what needs to be done, enforce the consequences you've put in place. If Billy is playing on his iPod instead of brushing his teeth, thus & so will happen. You get the idea.

I find that it takes the stress off of me. All the tasks are there in black & white (or colour if you've made a fancy chart.) The kids know what is expected of them. The kids can't say, "You didn't tell me to!" & I don't have to try to remember if I did or not! :)

Find a printable list, do a list on your computer & print it off, have one of their iPod or phone that they can see, or use a store bought chore chart. Whatever works for you.

We use a simple handwritten list posted on the fridge. The list is pretty much the same for both kids:

• Get dressed
• Make Bed
• Do Hair
• Pack Lunch (a tip about this coming up!)
• Have Breakfast
• Brush Teeth
• Pack Backpack (a tip on this one coming too - read on!)

These are the basics to get out the door. If things are going smoothly, I like to see the following get done as well:

• Dishwasher emptied & reloaded
• Laundry taken to the laundry room
• Garbages emptied

You may have more items or less. The point is to think about what the kids need to do & get them to take ownership!

2) Do some lunch prep the night before & get the kids to help. Come up with a plan. This year, I've been thinking of some ways to keep lunch interesting & not just make the same sandwich day after day.

Here's what I came up with:

Monday: Pita sandwich

Tuesday: Salad

Wednesday: Sandwich or put leftovers in a thermos

Thursday: Soup

Friday: Tortilla wrap

We'll likely switch the days around & not have salad every Tuesday, for example, but it's 5 days of a different meal. 

Also, do some chopping! Again, to stay away from boring fruit choices - "an apple again?"- chop up a cantaloupe (one average cantaloupe makes 5 - 1 cup servings). Fruit salad is another fun option. Try to make healthy food interesting & fun.

Have guidelines for the things that they MUST pack - fruit, only one treat item, etc.

Pack lunches the night before. We do as much as we can the night before & leave things like wraps & sandwiches for the morning. No one likes soggy sandwiches! 

3) Have a plan for when kids forget something at home. 

Our school is a 15 minute drive (in good traffic) from our house. Both ways? You do the math. I am NOT going to be driving back & forth all year, bringing the kids their forgotten homework, lunches, & gym clothes. 

We have this rule set in place: Each child has 2 "free rides" per school year. 

If they forget something, they decide if it's important enough to call mom to bring it. They have to weigh what's most important: Forgotten lunch = My friends will probably share with me because I share when one of my friends forgets VS. Forgotten gym clothes = I miss basketball practice & can't play in the big game this weekend. You get the picture.

It forces them to look through their things before leaving the house in the morning to make sure they have everything.

Remember, we want them to take responsibility.

4) Make your kids "earn" TV, video game, & media time. 

This isn't specifically just for mornings, but it does apply here too. 

During the school year, our kids must do extra school work (get ahead) to earn screen time. One page = 10 minutes. Things are a bit more lax in the summer, but right now we're talking about school. :)

There are also stipulations to this:

• You have to be caught up in all your subjects, not way behind in Math, but ahead in Science
• There is a maximum amount of screen time per day of 30 minutes.
• Screen time only takes place after school or in the evening. **Never in the morning.** (Remember that you have that list to take care of??)

5) Get backpacks & lunch bags up off the floor. Have a place for school shoes, jackets, etc.

Visual clutter really bothers me. I honestly don't feel like I can relax if things are a mess around me. That's not everyone, I understand, but having things in their place adds so much ease in the morning when a person is trying to heard kids out the door. 

Even if it's a big basket by the door that the kids throw their shoes into at the end of the day, at least you  (& they) know where to look in the morning. Hang jackets in the closet or on hooks & have a designated place for backpacks, homework, papers from the teacher, lunch bags, etc. 

I've recently put up some sticky hooks (the kind that don't damage the wall if you want to remove them) in our linen closet. We don't have room to store the kid's lunch bags in our kitchen, so after school they empty out any garbage & hang them up there. 

Just knowing where things are takes off a lot of stress not to mention making things easier getting out the door in the morning!

These are some of the things I've learned along the way. 

What are some things that have helped you? I'd love to know! 

Thanks for reading. If you like what you see here on Silver Boxes, I'd love it if you would become a follower on Google Friend Connect, subscribe by email (sign up on the right sidebar), 

or follow along on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, or Twitter. 

And please leave a comment when you do so I know who my new friends are! :)

Here's to another great school year!

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Charging All Your Gear {Together} When You Travel

  Picture this: You are on a trip (maybe a road trip), staying in a hotel. In the morning, you check out & are on the road for hours before you realize you forgot your camera battery, or your iPod, or your child's gaming device, or your cell phone, or your laptop behind in the hotel room because it was charging in the bathroom or on the floor beside the bed?

Nightmare.

  Hopefully, you'll be able to get whatever you left behind back before too long, but it's such a hassle, right? 

  Here's a tip to help you keep all your "chargeables" together in one place. Hopefully, somewhere in plain sight where you won't forget any of it when you leave.

  It's really simple. Pack a power bar.

Plug in the power bar in a obvious spot - somewhere near the door or on the desk, if possible. Then load up all your electronics that need to be charged. 

I've got my camera battery charger, my cell phone, my son's iPod, & our laptop all charging here in one spot!

Viola! Everything together in plain sight & charged when it's time to pack up & leave.

Problem solved.

Thanks for reading. If you like what you see here on Silver Boxes, I'd love it if you would become a follower on Google Friend Connect, subscribe by email (sign up on the right sidebar), 

or follow along on Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter. 

And please leave a comment when you do so I know who my new friends are! :)

Enjoy your day!

Check out the great parties I link up to!

The Dish Soap Challenge. Week Six: Walls

This Dish Soap Challenge is rocking my cleaning world! I have yet to be disappointed by this stuff! 

Okay, I guess I just blew the outcome of today's challenge...

Oh well, you were bound to find out soon anyway. :)

So, I was working on washing the walls around our house last week. With all the little fingers that touch these walls, I have to clean them several times a year. 

At this time of year, the walls are usually particularly bad because the kids are outside gettin' dirty!

It's kind of hard to tell, but can you see the dirty fingerprints on the photo above?

I used the same rule as I did with the windows from last week's challenge: Fill the bucket with lukewarm water, THEN add a couple drops of dish soap & mix with your hand. 

Wipe off with a clean rag & watch the dish soap do the work. It took off the minor scuffs too. There are some bigger scuffs that it didn't remove, but I'm okay with that. The other cleaners I've used in the past don't remove them either. I've always had to use a Magic Eraser for those.

To check out the other stuff I've tried dish soap out on, click on these links:

• Week One: The Bathtub
• Week Two: The Toilet
• Week Three: Patio Furniture
• Week Four: Sinks
• Week Five: Windows

Thanks for reading! Enjoy your day!

Check out the great parties I link up to

The Dish Soap Challenge. Week Five: Windows

  I've been working on finishing off my spring cleaning list in full force for the last few days. It's still technically spring, right? Well, for one more day anyway. I've been able to cross off several big tasks off of my lists. And yes, I actually did the work, I didn't just cross it off. ;)

  Continuing in the theme with my Dish Soap Challenge, I decided to use dish soap to clean my windows. I did a bit of "googling" about it before hand to see if this is at all common. From what I read, some professional window washers use it all the time! Did you know that? I. Did. Not. But I'm happy to know now!

  There are a few tricks to keep in mind when using dish soap to wash windows:

• First of all, you should know that if you clean your windows with the sun shining on them, you will almost always end up with streaks. It was sunny on the day I cleaned my windows so I did the back of the house first (it was still shady there), then in the afternoon when the front of the house was in the shade, I did those windows. Or you can just wait for an overcast day to do it.
• Fill your bucket with lukewarm water FIRST, then add just a couple drops of dish soap. Then mix it with your hand. This is one case when the bubbles & suds can work against you.
• Use a squeegee & a dry, lint free rag.
• Use the squeegee to wash & squeegee the window. Then wipe any stray drops of water with the rag.

Your windows will look amazing!

It's hard to see all the spots on the window in the before shots, but trust me, after going through another Saskatchewan winter, these windows are dirty!

  SUCH great results!

To check out the other stuff I've tried dish soap out on, check out these links:

• Week One: The Bathtub
• Week Two: The Toilet
• Week Three: Patio Furniture
• Week Four: Sinks

If you enjoy my blog, please consider following along / subscribing. Thanks for reading! 

Enjoy your day!

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The Dish Soap Challenge. Week Four: Sinks

Wow, I can't believe it's week four of my Dish Soap Challenge already! June is flying by!

This week I tackled my dirty sinks with dish soap. I've actually used dish soap on my kitchen sink for years simply because it's always handy. :) I've always been happy with the results.

Before

After

Even though I've used it with great success on the kitchen sink, I'd never used it on the bathroom sinks... 

until this week, that is.

Before

After

It's kind of hard to see any difference between these two photos, but the dish soap really made things sparkle & shine.

Another success!

  If you've missed the first three weeks of my dish soap cleaning challenge, check out these links:

• Week One: The Bathtub
• Week Two: The Toilet
• Week Three: Patio Furniture

Thanks for reading.

Enjoy your day!

I link up to these great parties

The Dish Soap Challenge. Week Three: Patio Furniture

  In doing this dish soap challenge for the past few weeks, I'm feeling like dish soap is my new cleaning BFF. It's been so amazing! I haven't been disappointed yet!

  For those just tuning in, I've issued myself a challenge to start doing my cleaning with dish soap wherever I can. Every week for the next while I'll clean something new with dish soap & see how the results stack up to the results using a more expensive, specialty cleaner. I'll use my home as the guinea pig & let you in on the results.

This past weekend was so beautiful & warm, we simply had to eat outside on our patio at every possible occasion. 

We had taken out our patio furniture this spring, but hadn't yet cleaned it off or used it.

After weeks of rain, wind, dust, & birds (if you get my drift), this is what the table looked like:

Blech! I think I'd pass on a meal at this table!

After simply squirting a small amount of dish soap into a pail & adding some warm water, the kids & I washed off our patio table & chairs.

We dried them off with a dry rag & here is the end result:

A gloriously clean patio set to eat lunch at!

Verdict: We're 3/3. I'll be using dish soap to clean outside again.

If you missed the first two instalments of this experiment, please visit:

• Week One: The Bathtub
• Week Two: The Toilet

Enjoy your day!

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The Dish Soap Challenge. Week Two: The Toilet

Here we are at the second week of my dish soap cleaning experiment. If you missed the first experiment, allow me to explain. 

I'm issuing myself a challenge to start doing my cleaning with dish soap wherever I can. Every week for the next while I'll clean something new with dish soap & see how the results stack up to the results using a more expensive, specialty cleaner. I'll use my home as the guinea pig & let you in on the results.

If you missed week one, you can find it here as well as get a little more in depth explanation.

This week, I set aside my regular toilet cleaner & got out my trusty dish soap. 

After learning my lesson last week, I added only a little bit of dish soap to the toilet bowl & cleaned as usual with my toilet brush.

Before

After

Verdict: I plan to keep cleaning my toilet this way. Dish soap got the toilet just as clean as a toilet bowl cleaner.

  I know many people are concerned with always having anti-bactirial cleaners. I am not one of those people. :) People have lived for years using simple ingredients to clean their homes. I believe we can continue to do the same without detriment to our health & homes. 

  So, if cleaning your toilet with dish soap freaks you out because you like every germ to be accounted for, dish soap may not be the toilet cleaner for you.

For me, the dish soap experiment is going well & we're 2 for 2!

Thanks for reading. If you like what you see here on Silver Boxes, feel free to become a follower, 

subscribe by email (sign up on the right sidebar), or follow along on Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter. 

And please leave a comment when you do so I know who my new friends are! :)

Enjoy your day!

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The Dish Soap Challenge. Week One: The Bathtub

  A couple of weeks ago, I heard about a blog called Squawkfox. Kerry has many tips on saving money & living frugally. One of the things that caught my attention was a list she has of many things you can do that can save you $1,000 per year. One of those things was to stop buying household cleaners. She says she uses a $1 bottle of dish soap to clean everything in her house. This had me seriously intrigued.

~ The Dish Soap Challenge ~

  So, after hearing that, I'm issuing myself a challenge to start doing my cleaning with dish soap wherever I can. Every week for the next while I'll clean something new with dish soap & see how the results stack up to the results using a more expensive, specialty cleaner. I'll use my home as the guinea pig & let you in on the results.

  

This week's dish soap challenge: My dirty bathtub.

Yes, you can see the dirty ring, right?

I started with the bottle of soap, above, & a scrubby sponge that is safe for porcelain tubs & sinks.

The dirty tub

So, after using a bit too much dish soap, here is our tub after being cleaned with dish soap:

Success!

Overall, I'm pretty happy with how this turned out. 

I started out by using too much soap, so there were a lot of bubbles. 

  Verdict: I plan to keep cleaning my tub this way. Dish soap got the tub just as clean as the bathroom cleaner I had been using. I also learned that a little dish soap goes a long way. :)

I hope this little series inspires you to save some money & try doing this too. 

Enjoy your day!

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20 Outdoor Spaces & Garden Ideas

How was your Mother's Day weekend? Did you plant your garden? Do some yard clean up? 

We did some yard clean up, gardening, & got out the patio furniture. 

On with spring!

Here are 20 beautiful garden spaces that are inspiring me...

Let's start with some gorgeous yards & container arrangements:

Source

Source

Source

Spring Cleaning 2012

Have you begun your spring cleaning? I've done a few of the tasks on my list, but have lots left to do! 

In addition to my regular cleaning, here's my list:

Update: After talking to some friends of mine, it has come to my attention that you may think I do this whole list every year. While I strive to do my very best, alas, I don't complete this list every spring... ever! :) It is simply a guideline & something to work towards. Don't let it stress you out. :)

Taming of the Toothpaste

  I'm pretty sure every family has them both... The person who squeezes the toothpaste & carefully rolls up the tube after they're done. AND the person who squeezes the tube every which way & leaves it a mess. You know which one you are, right? Hee hee. I'm a roller. :)

  The way my kids have been squeezing the toothpaste lately has been bugging me. My youngest isn't quite to the point of being able to roll the tube after she's done & after a certain point it gets hard to get any toothpaste out of the tube.

  I needed a way to help the kids get the toothpaste to the end without them always having to ask for help. I had a brainwave last week when I was cleaning out the bathroom drawer.

  Enter the bag clip. These little do-dads are made to clip shut plastic bags of food that still have some food in them. They are inexpensive & pretty readily available. I got mine on a trip to Ikea, but I've seen them at dollar stores & hardware stores too.

  Add a large bag clip to the end & pull down towards the tip. It does a fabulous job of bringing all the toothpaste to the end with the opening.

It's been working great & the kids are happy that they don't need help with it anymore! 

Happy kids, happy mom. :)

Have a great weekend!

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Getting Organized In The New Year

  Organization... Is that a word that brings on thoughts of longing? Or perhaps thoughts of dismissal, thinking it will never happen to you? It CAN be you! If you want to be organized, you can be. All it takes is some commitment. Set aside a little bit of time every day to clean out a drawer, under the kitchen sink, a closet, a cupboard, whatever! When the things you have have a home, it's much easier to tidy up because you know where things go. Less lost keys, less searching for your purse, less wasted time.

Via

  Having an organized home is very rewarding & definitely can take a lot of stress out of life. When your son asks you where the extra markers are so he can work on his homework project, you can tell him exactly where they are instead of spending half an hour looking for them. Maybe you want to get your pantry organized so that you can tell at a glance what you need when you make a trip to the grocery store. It is within reach.

Via

  Don't let the dream or maybe the New Year's resolution to get organized fall by the way side. Keep at it! Make it happen! You can do it!

Via

  If the task is daunting, ask a friend who is organized to help you get started. Maybe you just need a jumping off point to get you going. Push yourself to start & make this the year you get organized!

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  If you are a lover of all things organizing, you probably love tips & tricks. I sure do! Here are a few things I've found & some that I've put to use & think are worth sharing.

Via

  This amazing idea couldn't be easier. Save some of the little tie thingys that come on a bag of bread, potatoes, or apples. Label them with the names of your electronics & put them on the corresponding cable that's plugged into that pesky power bar. Now the next time you have to unplug that one thing, you know exactly which one to go for! Genius.

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Via

  Use a CD rack to corral plastic lids. No more piles to wade through to find the one you want. Bonus tip: I've seen these exact CD racks en masse at so many thrift stores. In total seriousness, I gave a bag full of these to charity just today. I'm not kidding! Save yourself a few dollars & support a local charity while you're at it. :)

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Via

  Use plastic bins to organize your freezer. For me, this was a "why-didn't-I-think-of-that" moment. Those bins are easily found at pretty much any dollar store... Look out, Dollarama, here I come!

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Via

  Use a magazine holder for kitchen items such as boxes of plastic wrap or ziplock bags. You could also store small cookie sheets or cutting mats. Put on a shelf or in a cupboard & free up a drawer. 

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Via

  Store your sheet sets in the matching pillow case. When it's time to change the bedding, grab one go! No more searching for the whole set!

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Via

  This idea is especially fitting right after Christmas. Corral all of your wrapping paper in plastic shopping bag holders, available at Ikea. Love it!

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So there you have it. Are you eager to get organizing? I am! Hmmm, what to start on first? :)

Enjoy your day!