Question for you guys - do your kids put away their own laundry? I recently mentioned in my post on our Kids' Responsibility & Money Management Kit that my 4 and 5 year old get themselves dressed, brush their own teeth and make their own breakfast each morning and have been doing so for over a year. That alone created a bit of a stir on facebook and I didn't even mention that they also put away all of their own clothes - woo hoo! (Now you know how I actually survive being a mama of 3 … [Read more...]
Top 10 Cleaning Tricks for Families with New Babies
Here's something fun - MPMK is moonlighting over on The Home Depot's site, The Apron Blog. They recently asked us to guest post on some of our favorite tricks for keeping things fresh and clean with a new baby at home - a topic that's right up my alley these days! This DIY kids' cleaning station makes it fun for older siblings to help out and I'm totally in love with both the form and function of this clever space. In fact, all 10 of the ideas our home-life and playtime contributor, … [Read more...]
My Simple Plan for Saving Our Memories This Year
We're talking memories today as part of our month long mission to find ways to eat better, parent better, organize better and just generally live better this year. Before S arrived, I was actually pretty good about recording memories for our little family. At the end of each month I would use the photos we'd taken to create 2 - 4 new pages in an iphoto book, along with a few paragraphs with family anecdotes, accomplishments, etc. The idea being that at the end of the year I would have a … [Read more...]
Project Organize Your ENTIRE Life: Principles of An Organized Playroom
Now that Christmas is over, the inevitable question lingers - what to do with all those new toys? Never fear, our in-house professional organizer Annie has us covered with some pro tips and she's here today to help us launch our month-long mission to make 2014 our best year yet. Here are her pearls of wisdom... If you feel you're in an ever-losing battle with your children's games and toys, take comfort in the fact that you're not alone. I've encountered few families who haven't had some … [Read more...]
“Project Organize Your ENTIRE Life” Planner Printables Now Available!
It's that time of year again, when we all take a deep breath and vow to make a fresh start. And to help you out, we've got some big, exciting news to share today! When we launched our handbook to leading a more simplified life, Project Organize Your ENTIRE Life: The Quick Start Guide. It was a huge success and we've since sold well over 10,000 copies. But I also heard from you guys that you would like some handy-dandy printables to go along with your newly-formed action plans. So last … [Read more...]
POYEL: 10 Tips for Better Meal Planning
Some people love meal planning, some people hate it. Whether you like it or not, it can be really helpful for your budget, your time management and your sanity as a parent. Everyone goes about meal planning a little differently, but this is how our resident food contributor, Natalie, sets herself up for success before the actual “meal-planning” time begins. … [Read more...]
Project Organize Your ENTIRE Life: Mega Cleaning Action Plan
Today's the day, time for me to unleash one enormous post and time for you to finally make a cleaning schedule and get started down the path to a new life. One in which you don't have to limit having people over to times when you know you'll have a few hours to frantically surface clean the whole place first (or is that just me?). That's the goal anyway, and below is the action plan to help get you there. So grab a cup of Jo, some pen and paper, and get comfy - we've got some work to … [Read more...]
Project Organize Your ENTIRE Life: DIY Cleaning Chart
So this is kind of, OK totally, putting the cart before the horse but I got so excited about the concept of making a cleaning chart and actually having a clean house that I just couldn't wait any longer - ideas on how I wanted to make mine were literally keeping me up at night. Plus, your comments lead me to believe that many of you are also moving ahead with your cleaning schedule (bravo!). So I'm jumping ahead a bit but I promise I'm still going to post a roundup of all the useful stuff you … [Read more...]
Project Organize Your ENTIRE Life: Cleaning Schedule Questions
top right, top left, bottom left, bottom right We are young / So let's set the world on fire / We can burn brighter / than the sun Can you hear me singing this to you? Got you fired up to start organizing your ENTIRE life? Wondering how in the world I'm gonna deliver on a promise like that? Me too! But I'm gonna give it my best, and here's how... If there's one thing we can all agree on, it's going to take a village to get something like this done. I'm happy … [Read more...]