2013 Planner

Looking for the new 2013 Planner?  You can check it out over at The Clean House Calendar.

See ya there, B.

Wonderful Wednesday

The Get it Together, Already Planner/Cleaning Schedule sets aside Wednesdays as Craft/Hobby Day.  My go to craft/hobby is scrapbooking.  Here is what I have been working on recently.

Celebrating Oktoberfest at the Biergarten

 Angry Valentine

 Let Freedom Ring

 Have a great day, B

The Media Closet

Clean & organize the media closet is one of today’s tasks listed on the Get it Together, Already Cleaning Schedule.

You may be wondering what a media closet is.  Well, when we built our house we wanted our television on the wall above the fireplace but we didn’t want to see any cables or cable boxes or DVD players or any of that kind of stuff.  So along with an outlet we installed a cable outlet (well it was actually more that just a cable outlet but I don’t know all the technicalities of it) behind where the TV would hang and ran all the cables through the wall and ceiling to a small linen closet in the hall nearby. Then, we got a DVR and a DVD player with remotes that work through walls & doors & such that live in the media closet.  So that’s what a media closet is.  You may have an extra linen closet or a game closet or whatever.  If it’s an extra closet that hasn’t been cleaned yet and it’s not in a bedroom, it should get cleaned this week according to the schedule.

We use this closet to store the above-mentioned equipment as well as DVDs, board games, puzzles and a couple of blow-up mattresses.  For me, this is an easy clean so I didn’t take before pictures.  They would look very much like the after pictures below.  But here is a photo of all the stuff I ended up taking out.  

Yard sale goodies!

Here are the “after” photos.

I wanted to point out how we store our DVDs . . . in an old CD case.

I took them all out of their original cases, which I store in the basement storage closet, and then organized them by genres.  Or at least what I define as a genre.  Then I got some Post-it tabs similar to these at Staples and I labeled them with my handy dandy label-er, (one of the best gifts ever!)  And I stuck them on the edge of CD sleeve page when needed.

My genre labels are:

     Action

     Children & Family - which I sub-divided into:

            Cartoons

            Comedy

            Disney Classics

            Disney Fairies

            Disney Princesses

            Education

            Faith

            Family Animation

            Kids Music

            Musicals

            Sci-fi / Fantasy

     Classics

     Comedy

     Exercise

     Foreign

     Horror

     Music

     Romance

     Sci-fi /Fantasy

     Thriller

I hope you found this helpful.

Have a great day!  B.

Fall Cleaning Schedule Has Started!

The Fall Cleaning Schedule stared this week with today being the day to clean and organize the laundry room.

 Although my laundry room is in dire need of cleaning I didn't have enough time available today to tackle that task so I chose to jump a couple of weeks ahead and clean my coat/broom closet.  It was in pretty good shape to start with.  I quickly took everything out and swept, wiped down the shelf and baseboards, mopped and then I sorted through everthing  and replaced what I needed to keep.  Here is the finished closet:

First, let me apologize for the poor photos.  It's a tight space and I'm a poor photographer especially with my phone. 

I use the right side of the shelf to store out of season or rarely used items in clear storage boxes.

The left side is for cleaning supplies that I don't need on a daily/weekly basis and my hand held vacuum.  He's easier to find up there.

Under the shelf on the right side I keep our coats.  Tuck under them is my steam mop and carpet shampooer.  Ha, is that a word?  I guess it is.  Spell check didn't pick it up anyway.  Looks funny though.

Finally, on the left side I keep my vacuum, dusters, brooms and a few other household tools I need on occasion.  I also hang beach bags and infrequently used backpacks on this side.  Most of those haven't made it back in the closet yet.  My daughter and I need to go through those together when she gets home from camp today.

So there you have it my clean and organized coat/broom closet. 

Have a great day, B.

Saving Saturday - My Coupon Plan - July 8, 2012

CVS

2 Purex UltraPacks, 18 ct $1.99 = $3.98 – $2.00 coupons = $1.98

1 Hershey’s Simple Pleasures, 0.75 oz $0.67                    = $0.67

                                                                              Total = $2.65

                                                                          Receive = $0.67 EB

                                                                      Total Cost = $1.98

I got my Purex coupons here.

Have a Great Sunday!  B

Today's Coupon Savings

I’ve been really bad about couponing lately.  I’ve religiously purchases my KC Stars and collected coupons but I haven’t clipped or organized or used any in several months.  So Sunday & Monday I got in and got all my coupons clipped and organized.  And today for the first time in several months I put them to use.  Here’s what I got:

From Walgreens –

     3 Suave Body Washes

     2 Ivory Soap 3-packs

     3 Prints

Total Value: $10.60

Out of Pocket Cost: $5.12

Register Rewards: $2.00

Total Cost: $3.12

I used these deals:

     Suave Body Washes

     Ivory Soap

From Wal-Mart –

     2 Tylenol Precise Heat Patches

     4 Cutter Citronella Candles

     2 Zyrtec 5 ct

Total Value: $26.96

Total Cost $2.42

I used these deals:

     Tylenol Precise Heat Patches

     Cutter Citronella Candles

     Zyrtec

I saved $32.02.  85% !!!

It was a happy day!  B.

Marvelous Monday

Welcome to Marvelous Monday!  They day we get our homes nice and clean and ready for the upcoming week.  I hate the work but love, love, love living in a clean space. 

Here is what’s coming up this week:

     Marvelous Monday – Cleaning day, a little pool play and Girl Scout Twilight Camp.

     Tidy Tuesday – At my house we are going to get under the bathroom sink and tidy 

          up a bit then swim and camp some more.

     Wonderful Wednesday – I’m going to try to schedule pedicures then take in a 

          library program, we’ll swim if we can and of course hit Twilight Camp.

     Think Tank Thursday – I want to gather all my Disney ideas together for the big 

          planning session with my sister this weekend.  Look out, Disney here we come, 

          again!   We gotta swim as well and this is the final evening for Twilight Camp.

     Foodie Friday – The Hubbs is having his high school friends over for “Mancation 

          Weekend,”  BBQ, Rock Band and Pool.  So the kiddo and I are going to KC for 

          a fun weekend.  Look for a “Restaurant Share” late in the day.

If you need the Get It Together, Already Planner/Cleaning Schedule for July – December you can download it HERE.

Have a Marvelous Monday,

Britia

It's Finally Here!

Update - Links removed 12-30-12.

It’s here!  The July1 – December 31, 2012 Get It Together, Already Planner/Cleaning Schedule is ready to download!  And there are 2 versions! 

The first is just like the January – June version you downloaded earlier in the year.  Black and white planner sheets to be printed double sided on 8 ½ by 11 paper.

You can download the July – December version here.

The second is in color!  A new color scheme for each month!  It was designed to be printed double sided on 8 ½ by 11 paper.

You can download the color July – December version here.

Notice I have left as much of the summer as possible open for fun.   The heavy-duty cleaning task schedule will start on July 31 and end on November 19.  Leaving the rest of November and December to focus on the holidays.

I hope you enjoy,

Britia

Computers! Ugh!

If you are looking for the updated planner I promised yesterday, I want you to know I'm working on it.  It's ready but my computer is giving me problems so it may be tomorrow or the next day before it's up.  But I will continued to try today.

Thanks for being patient,
Britia

July - December Planner

For those of you looking for the Get it Together, Already Planner/Cleaning Schedule for July through December it should be posted sometime tomorrow.  Looking at my schedule it will probably be later in the day.  Talk to you then.

Britia

Foodie Friday – Monthly Menu Plan

Here is my menu plan for the month of March.  I’m a little embarrassed by all the dinner out and fast food days but such is the month of March for the Bradshaws.  With Spring Break, Girl Scouts, bowling events and duty week March is a crazy busy month.

If you see an item you would like the recipe for check Food.com.  I found many of the recipes there.  If you can’t find it there I will be glad to email you the recipe.  Just leave me a message.

Have a great weekend,

Britia

Think Tank Thursday – Harry Potter Party Planning 1

Hey all, 

I know it’s been a while since I last blogged, a month in fact.  I think I was just drained after the 31-Day Organizational Challenge in January and I didn’t know where I wanted to go with the blog afterward.  So I spent February scrapping or as I sometimes call it, “in recovery.”  Being able to scrap always puts things back into alignment for me.  As was the case here, earlier this week I sat down and decided what I wanted to blog about this month with daily themes in mind.  Today is Think Tank Thursday.  It corresponds with the Daily Tasks in the Get It Together, Already Planner/Organizer.  (You can get yours here.)  Thursday is what Flylady would call “Desk Day.”  A day where you spend time dealing with weekly paper work and planning for the week ahead.  And here at Get It Together, Already it is Think Tank Thursday – Harry Potter Party Planning 1.  Yes, there will be a 2.

Because I only have one child I am able plan and host rather elaborate birthday parties that I wouldn’t otherwise be able to pull off.  As least I think they're elaborate and those who have been to them seem to think so, and they are definitely different than most of the parties my daughter goes to.  Here is a list of the previous birthday parties:

1.     Age 1 – Simple parties, no theme, but yes, there were 2.  One at home and one where the grandparents lived a week later.

2.     Age 2 – JoJo’s Circus Carnival – We ate 3 times.  Appetizer, Lunch and Dessert.  In between we played carnival games, dancing games, opened gifts and had open play time.

3.     Age 3 – Dora the Explorer – Complete with crafts, games, a Dora Adventure, with Backpacks and Rescue Packs that I made, cake, ice cream and gifts.

4.     Age 4 – Backyard Birthday Bash – Lots of games, free play, water sprinklers and silly string.  Oh, and crying.  During one game I actually had almost all the kids crying.  Preschoolers do not like to have other people stomp on and bust the balloon tied to their ankle. LOL. Live and learn.  The Balloon Stomp Game is NOT fun for pre-schoolers.

5.     Age 5 – Gymnastics Party – Easy

6.     Age 6 – Ariel Party – At an indoor pool.  Again easy.

7.     Age 7 – Exclusive Rock Diva Party -  I discovered that if I control what the kids wear the pages I scrapbook look a lot less busy.  So I made each of the girls tutus and t-shirts.

8.     Age 8 – Chocolate Spa Party – Chocolate facials, manicures, pedicures.  Chocolate fountain and candy bar.  And girls received custom flip-flops and spa wraps.  That I made!

Yes I am a little bit elaborate.

So, anyway, I thought I would share as we plan, prep and party this year. 

Harry Potter has been a huge part of my life ever since I read the first book way back in 1999.  After reading that first book I knew I wanted my children to also read and love Harry and the others just as much as I do.  And, even though I so wanted to read the books to Kailey, I didn’t because I felt like that would be taking away the magic of getting to read it for herself.  Of getting to know and growing to love the characters for herself.  So I waited.  And waited.  And waited some more.  And finally she decided that she wanted to read the Harry Potter books.  She has been capable of reading the books for awhile now but she didn’t decide to read them until this past fall.  Finally!  Ok, so I may have put a little pressure on.  I did say we couldn’t go to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter until she had read through book 3.  But, she still decided for herself, when all her friends were either reading the books or had had them read to them.  Again, finally!  Then after she read the first book she said, “Mom, I want a Harry Potter Birthday Party for my next birthday.”  Can I just say, I heard magical music playing.  This may be the party I’ve been building up to for the past 8 years. 

Party planners!  Start your engines! 

Theme: 

Harry Potter

Date:     

May ?? – depends on when I can rent a venue.

Location: Depends on if I can afford to rent a venue. 

Pythian Castle -

 Isn’t it fabulous?  Oh I wish.  But no, first of all it's already rented for the day I really want and it’s too expensive.  Plus when we drove by the other day, the sky was dark and grey with storm clouds, Kailey said, “I’m not going in there!” LOL

Springfield Boathouse –

I like this being on the lake and all.  It’s really more than I would like to spend but I can really see the party happening here.  I gotta check on the availability.

  

Other locations -

I have absolutely no idea.

  

Home –

Ugg.  I’m not really sure how to make this work.  Hmmm?

Guest List: 

Kailey wants to play Quidditch so we need at least 12 kids 14 would be better.

Color Scheme:

Usually this comes to me right away but for some reason not this year.  All I see in my mind’s eye is brown and black.  Kids birthday parties should not be brown and black.  I could go with Gryffindor House colors.  We may use Harry Potter paper ware.  I may need to pull colors from there.   Wait.  Let me go check the books. 

Ok from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Chapter 7 – The Sorting Hat, when describing the Start-of-Term Banquet it says, “Harry had never even imagined such a strange and splendid place.  It was lit by thousands and thousands of candles that were floating in midair over four long tables.  These tables were laid with glittering golden plates and goblets.”  Gold!

Ok, so here’s the plan.  We want to do a Sorting Ceremony and we need a place to eat.  So let’s set this area up like the Great Hall.  Brown tablecloths, gold paper ware and the House banners hanging above the tables.  Depending on location we might also be able to have floating candles.  Wouldn’t that be fun!

Then we can set up the tables for Diagon Alley with a different color scheme for each shop.

Gringotts –

Flourish & Botts –

Madam Malkin’s Robes –

Ollivanders –

Quality Quidditch Supplies –

Eeylops Owl Emporium –

Potage’s Cauldron Shop –

Slug and Jiggers Apothecary –

Students won’t shop at all of these places but it would be nice to add them to the decorations of Diagon Alley.

The classrooms can be set up with different colors as well.

Defense against the Dark Arts –

Herbology –

Potions –

Divination –

Care of Magical Creatures –

Transfigurations –

Charms –

I’m not sure we will have all these classrooms it depends on if I find activities for all these classes.

We need a location for the shops in Hogsmeade as well.  These will be where the students can shop for goodie bag stuffers.

Zonko’s Joke Shop –

Honeydukes Sweetshop -

The Three Boomsticks –

We will also need brick wall curtains to enter Diagon Alley and Platform 9 ¾.  And an explanation for how we enter Platform 9 ¾ and end up at Hogwarts.  Hmmmm?

So after all that I guess we won’t really have an overall color scheme but instead color schemes for various locations.

Activities: 

I want to set it up like the guests are new students at Hogwarts.  They will receive their acceptance letter (invitation) and arrive at Diagon Alley (the door to the party location.)  Then they will progress through Gringotts to get their wizard money out of their vaults and on to the shops.  They will need to buy their wands at Ollivanders, their robes at Madam Malkin’s and their books at Florish and Botts.  I would like for the other shops to be there but they don’t need to buy anything at them.

After they visit Diagon Alley they will arrive at Platform 9 ¾.  From there they need to magically move to Hogwarts Great Hall for the Sorting Ceremony.  After being sorted they will make their way through each of the classes being offered and finally go outside to play Quidditch. 

After Quidditch they will go to Hogsmeade to shop for goodies. And then go home.  While they are waiting for their parents we could play Giants, Wizards and Elves.

Ok so when do we eat cake and open gifts?  The Sorting Ceremony?  Yeah, I think that would be the best time.  Ok so the question is what is the magical explanation for walking through Platform 9 ¾ and suddenly seeing the Great Hall at Hogwarts?  Hmmm???

Food:

Cake -  of course.  What should it look like?  It could look like the cake Hagrid delivered to Harry for is 11^th Birthday.  Box and all.  Seems a little lack luster to be eating that at the Sorting Ceremony though.

Ice Cream -

Butterbeer -

Pumpkin Juice -

Water –

Candy! –  

     Chocolate Frogs

     Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans

     Acid Pops

     Other Harry Potter Candy

Ok did I miss anything?

31 Day Organizational Challenge - Day 31

Today is the last day of the 31 Day Organizational Challenge.  Today's challenge is to catch up on any challenges that aren't yet finished and then to walk through the house looking at what has been accomplished the month.

Have a great day, B.

31 Day Organizational Challenge – Challenge List

1. Take down, organize and put away all of the holiday decorations.
2. Make your 2012 financial file folders and store your 2011 financial files.
3. Clean/Organize the surface of your crafting area.  
4. Gather, download, print & organize your photos from last month.
5. Make a menu plan for the month of January.
6. Start cleaning out the email account(s).
7. Finish cleaning out the email account(s).
8. Clip and organize coupons.
9. Clean & organize the computer desktop.
10. Catch- up day.
11. Clean & organize a portion of your craft supplies.
12. Clean & organize the junk drawer. 
13. Oops day.
14. Determine any organizational supplies needed for the linen closet and get them.
15. Determine any organizational supplied needed for the kitchen drawers and purchase them.
16. Clean and organize one of the kitchen drawers you purchased supplies for yesterday.
17. Clean & organize the linen closet. 
18.  Take care of  any items from Christmas that need to be returned or exchanged.
19. Organize all paperwork. 
20. Continue organizing paperwork.
21. Continue organizing paperwork.
22. Finish organizing paperwork.
23. Determine any organization supplies needed for the coat closet and get them.
24. Clean & organize the coat closet. 
25. Clean & organize cookbooks in the kitchen. 
26. Clean & organize the kids’ craft/school supplies.
27. Clean & organize the cupboard under the sink in the kiddos' bath.
28. Clean & organize the cupboard under one master bathroom sink.
29. Clean & organize the cupboard under the other master bathroom sink.
30. Clean & organize the cupboard under the laundry room sink. 
31. Catch up on any challenges that aren't yet finished and then to walk through the house looking at what has been accomplished the month.
     

31 Day Organizational Challenge - Day 28-30

My weekend got kinda busy so here are the late challenges.

31 Day Organizational Challenge - Day 28 -
     Clean and organize the cupboard under one master bath sink.

31 Day Organizational Challenge - Day 29 -
     Clean and organize the cupboard under the other master bath sink.

31 Day Organizational Challenge - Day 30 -
     Clean and organize the cupboard under the laundry room sink.

Have a great day,  B.

31 Day Organizational Challenge - Day 27

Today's challenge is to clean and organize the cupboard under the sink in the kiddos' bath.  About 6 months ago I reorganized this area but as you can see from the picture below something isn't working.

The most likely culprit being the kiddo herself.  However, she did get several items for Christmas that belong under here but I hadn't yet designated a home for them.  So maybe I should take a bit of blame myself.








Here is the after photo:

I elimated a few items.  Most of it went in the trash.  Consolidated a few items and grouped like items together. 

The biggest problems under here were my daughter's make-up which I consolidated into the black bag tucked in the back.  It's for play so it isn't out every day and as long as it all gets back in the bag I'll be happy.  The other issue was her nail supplies.  I managed to get all of those into one of the little blue baskets.  So now she can just take the basket out, do her thing, put it all back into the basket and put the basket back.  She should be able to handle that.

So that's it.  Today's challenge - done.

Have a great day, B.

31 Day Organizational Challenge – Challenge List

1. Take down, organize and put away all of the holiday decorations.
2. Make your 2012 financial file folders and store your 2011 financial files.
3. Clean/Organize the surface of your crafting area.  
4. Gather, download, print & organize your photos from last month.
5. Make a menu plan for the month of January.
6. Start cleaning out the email account(s).
7. Finish cleaning out the email account(s).
8. Clip and organize coupons.
9. Clean & organize the computer desktop.
10. Catch- up day.
11. Clean & organize a portion of your craft supplies.
12. Clean & organize the junk drawer. 
13. Oops day.
14. Determine any organizational supplies needed for the linen closet and get them.
15. Determine any organizational supplied needed for the kitchen drawers and purchase them.
16. Clean and organize one of the kitchen drawers you purchased supplies for yesterday.
17. Clean & organize the linen closet. 
18.  Take care of  any items from Christmas that need to be returned or exchanged.
19. Organize all paperwork. 
20. Continue organizing paperwork.
21. Continue organizing paperwork.
22. Finish organizing paperwork.
23. Determine any organization supplies needed for the coat closet and get them.
24. Clean & organize the coat closet. 
25. Clean & organize cookbooks in the kitchen. 
26. Clean & organize the kids’ craft/school supplies.
27. Clean & organize the cupboard under the sink in the kiddos' bath.

31 Day Organizational Challenge - Day 26

The Daily Task List for today in the Get It Together, Already Planner/Organizer says to clean and organize the kitchen for one hour.  So I choose a challenge in my kitchen.  Today’s challenge is to clean and organize the kids’ craft/school supplies.  I have 2 drawers in my kitchen for this purpose.  The kitchen is where my daughter does her homework and in many cases her crafting.  Thus, making it a good location for her supplies.

I did a big reorganization in this area about a year and a half ago so mine was “organized” but it needed some sprucing up.  We have recently just kind of thrown stuff in there rather than put it in its place. 

Here are the after photos:

 Top Drawer

 Bottom Drawer

I got the idea of how to organize this area during the Back to School sales a couple of years ago.  Pencil boxes are cheap at that time of year and they were the perfect size for most of our needs.  So I went through all of our collected supplies and decided how many boxes we needed, purchased the number needed and started organizing.  After I got them arranged in the drawer I realized I needed a few more boxes to fill out the last column.  So I purchased those and stuck empty boxes in the drawer knowing we would eventually use them.  Today I finished filling them.  In the picture the last column is missing a box.  That box is for pencils, which I currently have in my Girl Scout stuff.  An added benefit of having our supplies organized this way is being able to at a moments notice grab supplies and go.  To Girl Scout meetings, Sunday school, class parties, wherever, I’m ready to go.

If you wanted to do this as well, I think medium rectangle Ziplock containers might also work well.   Of course your supplies are different than mine but I thought you might find my list of boxes helpful.  They are kind of arranged in alphabetical order.

Bells

Craft Sticks

Crayons

Erasers

Feather

Fiber (yarn, ribbon & such)

Foam letters

Fun Foam – Miscellaneous (not stickers)

Glitter

Glitter Glue

Glue

Glue Gun

Glue Sticks

Googlie Eyes

Highlighters

Key Rings

Fat Markers

Multicultural Markers

Thin Markers

Paint

Paint Brushes

Paint Pens

Paper Doilies

Plastic Letters

Pens

Pencils

Colored Pencils (2 boxes)

M-S-XS Pom-Poms

XL-L Pom-Poms

Scissors

Shells

Next to the pencil boxes is construction paper and paper plates in baggies and “Sharpie” type markers.  The container up front has “Math Tools” – flash cards, wrap-ups, rulers, protractor, beans, plastic coins, etc.

In the bottom drawer I keep unopened school supplies in the light blue-lidded box and fabric, felt and pipe cleaners in the dark.  The Ziplock containers have various kinds of Fun Foam stickers.  Finally there is a pile of old catalogs & magazines to cut out of and some plastic cups for whatever we might need them for.

So that’s it ...our craft/school supply area.

Have a great day,

Britia

31 Day Organizational Challenge – Challenge List

1. Take down, organize and put away all of the holiday decorations.
2. Make your 2012 financial file folders and store your 2011 financial files.
3. Clean/Organize the surface of your crafting area.  
4. Gather, download, print & organize your photos from last month.
5. Make a menu plan for the month of January.
6. Start cleaning out the email account(s).
7. Finish cleaning out the email account(s).
8. Clip and organize coupons.
9. Clean & organize the computer desktop.
10. Catch- up day.
11. Clean & organize a portion of your craft supplies.
12. Clean & organize the junk drawer. 
13. Oops day.
14. Determine any organizational supplies needed for the linen closet and get them.
15. Determine any organizational supplied needed for the kitchen drawers and purchase them.
16. Clean and organize one of the kitchen drawers you purchased supplies for yesterday.
17. Clean & organize the linen closet. 
18.  Take care of  any items from Christmas that need to be returned or exchanged.
19. Organize all paperwork. 
20. Continue organizing paperwork.
21. Continue organizing paperwork.
22. Finish organizing paperwork.
23. Determine any organization supplies needed for the coat closet and get them.
24. Clean & organize the coat closet. 
25. Clean & organize cookbooks in the kitchen. 
26. Clean & organize the kids’ craft/school supplies.