The Bag All Mommas Need Now!

You're a mom so you're always are bringing tons of bags with you.  Am I right?  You've got a bag for snacks, a bag with some school work in it, a bag with some games in it. Does this sound like you?  Plus let's not forget your purse because, of course you need that! 

Girl, have I got the solution for you and since I've found this out it has been a game changer for me.  

The answer?  

A Diaper Bag! 

it's true!  Even if you don't have a kiddo in diapers anymore, you need to get yourself one of these bags.  

If you're like me, when your kiddos were done with diapers you wanted to throw your bag in some firepit and walk away, all gangster style like on Office Space.  

But now you can go back to the bag...it will be okay.  I promise.

Our kids are 10 and 12 and I carry a diaper bag. Every.Single.Day.  

Now before you think I've gone off and lost my cotton picking mind...let me explain myself.  

Tons of pockets and zippers and compartments.  

Most diaper bags these days have a waterproof pouch. Maybe these were made for wet clothes but you can now use them for snacks.  Something spills or sweats or leaks?  No biggie.  A contained mess in a wipeable area is aces.  

There is a place for a changing pad.  Take that out. You don't need that anymore.  You're above that.  You owned that.  See?  You're left with a pretty ample sized pocket.  I use this to store a binder or my planner.  And suddenly it's like I'm some kind of organizational wizard.  

Bottle holders on the sides?  Hello water bottles!  Or sunglasses!  Or your cell phone! 

I'm telling you all, diaper bags are not just for diapers.  They should just be called mom bags from the beginning because they can hold so many things.  And you don't need to have a diaper bag with monkeys on the print or whatever you may have had before.  You can have a cute bag that will hold everything you need it to...I kid you not!  

Once I let go of the idea that I needed my own bag and then a bag for school work and a container for snacks, and a container for this and a container for that...once I could let that go I was able to accept the idea of a bag for me, as a mom.  I am my own person but I am also ultimately a mother who carries the weight (literally!) of bringing things with us so instead of 27 different bags I've been diligent in finding a cute bag that suits my personality and the stage of life I'm in.  

I have a stylish Coach diaper bag in a pretty blue color.  This color is not the norm for Coach bags and I get so, so many compliments about it.  The great part?  We went to a baseball game recently and I was able to comfortably store food for my kids in it...I had 4 sodas, 2 bags of chips, 7 cookies, and two baseball hats.  I'm for real here...this is why you need a diaper bag! 

Here are some of my favorite bags...some of these I have and others are on my shopping want list! Like I said, I love these bags.  Almost all of the "purses" I carry around these days are actually diaper bags. 

Maybe one day I'll have a smallish purse again but for our life right now these work great! 

This sweet bag is on my Amazon wish list. I have friends who have this bag and I've heard rave reviews from other CC tutors who use it to bring their books to community day. I love that it can be carried as a tote or a backpack! And the color is on point. So adorable.

I have this bag and really love it for vacations! It can become a cross body or a hobo style bag with adjusting the straps. It holds tons of snacks and provides a really soft cushiony case for my DSLR. So versatile!

I don't have this striped bag but I have this in a black version and it is easily my favorite bag of all time! It has been so many places with me and I have been able to take so much with me because of this bag! The top zippered compartment is perfect for cell phone storage...it's great for people like me who lose everything and need a place for everything! Also, when my sister dumped an entire cup of coffee on my purse it cleaned up beautifully!

This bag is similar to my coach baby bag although the pattern of mine has been discontinued. I love the removable strap...I use it a lot when we are out of town or have a lot to lug around and then usually take it off for every day use.

So those are my favorite mom bags (aka diaper bags I guess). If you have a favorite way of carrying all of the mom stuff around be sure to comment below and keep all of us friends in the know, too!

ALSO! Make sure to hunt at any children’s resale events you go to for diaper bags. It’s one of my favorite places to find bags. I’ve snagged some before for just a few bucks and they were brand new!

Happy shopping and toting all of your stuff around, friends! XO 

Save Money by Making a Children's Clothing Inventory

If you read my previous post about girl's fashions you probably gathered that I am bit obsessed with children's fashions.  I love dressing our kiddos, especially Emma, but it is super fun to dress our handsome little man too. 

As much as I love dressing them and finding cute clothes the thing that makes me way giddy is finding deals on clothes for them!  That is why I love shopping at resale events! Have you ever been to these?  They are amazing and they are popping up all over the country. If you are interested in finding one there is an amazing website called Consignment Mommies that has a directory of resales around the country. 

The resale that is near and dear to my heart is getting ready to launch March 12! 

At our sale I am selling items this year and I will also be shopping. The sale is a Spring and Summer sale only so I am only shopping and selling things for those two seasons.

Since our sale is coming up I am currently getting items ready to tag to sell.  I realize that everyone does this differently but I thought I would share with you what I do to get our items ready to sell and to prepare myself for some serious shopping!

A couple of months before the sale I make a list of every type of clothing and shoes the kids have. As you can see I am clearly an old-school, write it down kind of girl.  You could always type it out and print it or just keep it on your tablet or phone.  But then you don't get to write with a purple pen so seriously, where's the fun in that?  :)

This serves as my master list for two different purposes.

The first way I use it is that we go through it and try on clothing by category.  Emma is old enough that she knows the way the list works, will look at it and decide what category to try on.  If she's feeling it we'll try on a two or three categories just to get through it. 

So here's what we do: We're at the stage of the game right now that they try on at least one category every day, we put everything that doesn't fit in a bag, and those things go into our guest room which is where I stage everything that needs to be tagged to sell. Some items get donated or I separate for family members but regardless, the too smalls go to the guest room to clear space. 

The things that do still fit get written down on the list so I know what clothes we have for the upcoming spring and summer. 

I then cling to this list like Rose to shipwreck. I mean, this sucker goes with me everywhere.  So when I am at the resale and I am looking at shoes I can pull out my list and see if Calvin already has a pair of leather flip flops or if he outgrew his.  Or with sweats.  Or bathing suits.  Or whatever. 

And I don't take the list with me just for the resale but also to Target or Gymboree or when I am looking on Zulily, or wherever.  I can pull it out and see what we need and what we don't.  I circle categories I really need and that reminds me to focus my attention on looking for items in those categories. 

These are the categories I use for a girls wardrobe (I'm assuming you can't read my chicken scratch in the picture there):

• sandals
• flip-flops
• flats
• Athletic shoes
• Slippers
• skirts
• Jeans
• Athletic pants (think track pants)
• Leggings
• Shorts
• Capris
• Tank Tops
• Short Sleeve
• Light Long sleeve
• Cadigans
• Sweatshirts
• 3/4 sleeve shirts
• Jackets
• Outfits
• Dresses
• Ballet Tights
• Ballet Leos
• Swimsuits
• Swim cover-ups
• Tights
• Camisoles
• Underpants

Of course you can alter this any way you see fit.  As I'm writing this I'm remembering that she will be in tennis this year and softball so I will need to add categories for tennis skirts, cleats, etc. As you can see on my picture above, I leave spaces based on what we have more of.  She has a ton of outfits, that's the way I prefer to dress her, so I left more room to list those.  You can tweak it however you want. 

For a boy's wardrobe these are the categories I use:

• Sandals
• Flip-flops
• Slip Ons
• Church Shoes
• Jeans
• Athletic Pants
• Pants
• Shorts
• Tanks
• Short Sleeved Shirts
• Polos
• Oxfords
• Long Sleeved Shirts
• Cardigans
• Jackets
• Sweatshirts
• Outfits
• Ties
• Swimsuits
• Swim Shirts
• Underpants
• Under shirts

So if you are planning on shopping at our resale or any resale, or anywhere for clothing for the upcoming seasons, you should make a list and write down the inventory you already have!  It helps you see what you already have, what you need, and how blessed you are by what you have!  It also helps you to not overspend because you won't be overbuying in areas where you already have enough. 

As an example yesterday I visited a Once Upon a Child and with the list I knew that Emma needed a new pair of sandals so I was able to snag some super cute ones for a song. 

Also as you can see I have these written right now on a pretty beat up old notebook which is perfectly fine.

I had this genius idea though!  I've been carrying a new journal around since September and I LOVE it!  I write everything in it...meeting notes, lists, business goals, etc.  So I will be transferring the lists over to the journal since I carry it with me anyway.  You can get your own here.  I LOVE Molly & Rex products, their illustrations are so sweet.  In my journal the pages are all decorated and so inspiring.  Love, love, love it. 

Happy Inventory Taking!

Making a List, Checking It Twice

This year I am making a list.  And I'm going to check it twice.  Maybe the song isn't talking about making a list of things to buy but a list of things to do.  At least that's what my list is about.

Anyone else ever feel like this about Christmas?  :)

Can a woman get an amen?

Last year I tried to be more organized. I shopped all year 'round and really felt like I had a leg up...until it got a little too close to Christmas and I realized that I had let my ego of being ahead get the best of me and I found myself way behind way too late to fix it.  Basically I shot myself in the foot by convincing myself that a year worth of shopping meant that I was done.

But I was far from it.

So I took the feelings that I had from last year and used them to kind of troubleshoot my faults to be prepared for this year.  Here are things that always catch me up and the solutions I've come up with so I don't have these things hanging over my head:

Christmas cards

I always put these off, have lots of cute cards, and then am struggling at the last minute to get them out in the mail amidst all of the other tasks going on.

SOLUTION:

I'm already addressing them to get in the mail the day before Thanksgiving. I can wipe my hands of them and sit back and relax.

My 2015 Alternate Solution: I already have a day on the calendar when I know I will have a solid two and a half hour time slot that this kiddos will be gone.  I am using this date as my deadline to have my Christmas cards ordered and here, my address labels and stamps in order, and the hot cocoa ingredients in the house.  I have big plans of sitting down with christmas music on, a mug of hot chocolate next to me, and I can gleefully write them out and be done with them.  Hallelujah!

Decorating

Every year I have the best intentions.  I am going to make amazing displays around the house, people will ooh and aah and it will look and feel amazing.  But it never happens.  I always have Nick bring down our decorations and then 5 bins end up sitting in a corner, just waiting to be unloaded up until the very last minute.  This year I'm not doing it.  Not gonna do it, I tell ya.

SOLUTION:

While we are sticklers (read that as my husband is) about not decorating until after Thanksgiving, I was able to have him bring all of the bins out of the attic.  I am going through them the days before Thanksgiving: weeding out what the kids are too old for (training dishes, board books), and paring down the bins we need to decorate with by getting out things I know we will not be using and putting those things together.  I tend to get really nostalgic once that tree's up so sitting in my craft room doing this really helps me to think

don't need, need, don't need, don't need.  

Trust me folks, this works :)

My 2015 Alternate Solution: I have made bins as I go through things that say clearly on the outside "Christmas Memories" and Nick knows those are things that do not need to come down, just things I want to keep.  That has helped a lot. And this year I am finally going to start decorating (just a smidge) the week of Thanksgiving with the hopes that it will lend us more time to simply enjoy our home and the decorations following the tree being decorated. 

Christmas Shopping

I've always been okay about shopping Christmas early, but early was November,

maybe

October.  I always ended up thinking I had bought more than I really had and ended up going on massive shopping sprees at the end.

SOLUTION:

I have taken a clue from my favorite person, my Aunt Jan, and have shopped all year.  I've made a detailed list of what I've gotten for whom, including how much I've spent along the way to make sure I don't overspend.

My 2015 Alternate Solution: I still don't have all of my shopping done.  A couple of weeks ago Nick and I dragged out all of the gifts that I have already bought and made a list of who they are for.  He then gave me a budget (or helped me rather, he's not a dictator, thankfully) of how much to spend on each person we have left to buy for.  This is proving to be quite helpful as when I am out shopping and see something, if it is within the budgeted allowance I can just scoop it up.  

Christmas Budget

I always tried to save money but with the massive shopping trips I took I was ruining my budget at the finish line.

SOLUTION:

To be honest I don't have an overall Christmas budget.  I try to buy items as cheaply as possible  (with coupons, clearance, sales, etc) and it always seems to work out.  An example is for one child I bought 13 items and spent $42.00.  The retail value of those items was about $184.00 so I saved a lot of money!   $42.00 is within the range of what I am willing to spend so I am okay with that.  I keep an eye on my spending throughout the year so I am aware of what I've spent.  What I do budget for is the month of December: Christmas tree, dinners, cookie making, stamps, gas going to extra places: it all adds up...we set an amount to stick to with all of those categories.

My 2015 Alternate Solution: This is still true, I don't shop year round with the thought, "I only want to spend $15 on John..." but I do shop and try to get things as cheaply as possible.  Then when we pull everything out and make a list of what we have and what we still need to finish up we make a budgeted list for each person and add all of those totals together to make sure it is reasonable.  Obviously if our total equals $600 and we only have $450 then each person is going to need tweaked a bit.  Also we make the budget based on what I have spent on each person.  If I've already gotten that person some more expensive things but don't have enough then we make a smaller amount available to get them just a few basic things. 

Gift Wrapping

Am I the only person who hates the whole "staying up late wrapping gifts until the break of dawn on Christmas Eve" thing? Of course not!  This year I've decided no way, no how am I doing that again.  My problem being that the place I wrap presents is also known as our homeschool classroom which makes it a little tricky to get things wrapped, and then not touched by inquiring little hands :)

SOLUTION:

Gifts are going to be wrapped ahead of time and then taken to any houses they are going to that are not mine.  We exchange gifts at my grandma's and so any gifts that go there are going there immediately.  That way there's less to keep track of here.  Once those are out of the way I will start wrapping the gifts that stay here but aren't for our kids.  Those we have room for in our classroom while still doing school.  After we start our Christmas vacation the kiddos won't be in the classroom and I'll be able to wrap the kids gifts without them spying them :)  Whatever works for you, the point is make a number and wrap that number of gifts per day...5 is my number.  5 gifts a day gang :)

My 2015 Alternate Solution: I love feeling joy in wrapping gifts:  having time to spend a little longer making a bow or being able to attach a small gift or candy to the outside of the package.  But with having to wrap ALL the gifts at once all of those ideas quickly get tossed out the window.  So I'm reinterating the idea of wrapping a few gifts a day.  If you started December 1st, wrapped four gifts a day and went through Christmas Eve, you would have enough time to wrap 96 gifts and I'm guessing not many people even have that many to wrap. 

Taking/Making Food

I love cooking but when I am asked at the last minute to bring a dish or appetizer, I freak.  When I freak I spend way too much on stuff I know no idea how to make and get so nervous.

SOLUTION:

I've thought of what people usually ask me to bring and what I am comfortable taking to places.  I usually make appetizers or desserts. So in November I found a sale and stocked up on crackers and cream cheese for making cheese balls and dips.  I also stocked up on cocoa powder and add-ins for brownies and cakes like peanut butter, nuts, toffee pieces.  With these things on hand I'll be able to whip up something relatively quickly without the fuss of running out to buy ingredients.

My 2015 Alternate Solution: I have narrowed this down even further to one appetizer I am known for making (my chipped beef dip) and a dessert I love making (pie).  I make sure I have the ingredients for those two things on hand. At.all.times. And then if I need to/want to make something else I still have other ingredients but I pretty much always know what I'm going to bring.

So I hope this helps you all with those delightful Christmas tasks that can become insurmountable Christmas chores.  I came up with this list for myself when I noticed that Christmas was starting to feel more daunting than darling.  And I don't want that.  This year, with these items checked twice and under control, mistletoe will be the only thing hanging over my head!

What are your tips for a smooth sailing Christmas?  Post them in the comments for us all to enjoy! 

Homeschool Planner: I made my own

Huge confession here:

 

I have quite the obsession with planners. 

 

I love the possibilities a new planner posesses.  Ah.  I love the crispness.  All of the neat places and slots to fill in. 

 

Last school year I used an amazing Christian Mom planner that Nick's cousin had given me for a Mother's Day gift.  I love her.  Her name is Jodee and somehow she always knows how to make people's day.  I shouldn't say "somehow" because I know how...it's a God thing, totally. 

 

Anyway, I loved it but I was also using a lesson planner and between the two I felt like I was always flipping between the one and the other.  Carrying them around with nothing else felt like I was going to class.  Not to Panera to schedule over chai. 

 

So this year I made my own. 

 

Shocking, I know.  I gotta tell you, it was WAY more frustrating than I thought it would  be.  Figuring out which goes on the front of the page and what will be on the back when  you turn the page was just about enough to put me in a straitjacket.  Fo' real. 

 

Here's a little tour of my planner...come inside:

 

 Here's the front cover!  LOVE it!  I want to eventually put a picture of the kids below the letters, I just haven't found "the one" yet.  I will though.  The front has a clear sleeve on it, so it will just slide in there nicely.  I had it bound at Staples.  Cheap!!!  I couldn't believe it.  I think it cost me $3.00. 

 Here's a close-up of my cover.  Proverbs 31 is my mantra in life.  I want to show the kids how to be a mom and wife for Christ.  I read it often.  Very, very often.

 I went through figuring out how to print off labels for my tags and I am SOOOO glad I did.  Now I have cute font on there!

 LOVE these planner pages I found at Artsy, Fartsy Mama!  She even has different color schemes to use!  

 Up until now I have always printed off my chore charts on a weekly basis.  I use Motivated Mom's lists and I HIGHLY recommend them!  I am such a chart and checker girl.  I get joy from the satisfaction of checking off my to-do's and feeling like I am actually getting stuff done.  So I printed off my sheets so I no longer have to remember to print them off!

 I slipped this sheet of tabs onto one of the tabbed dividers.  Now I can slip them on to something I need to remember...so handy!

 A few months ago I sprained ankle and after weeks of not being able to find EXACTLY what I wanted for my lesson plans, I made it myself.  I was couch-ridden and used the old ruler and pencil method to hack out what I wanted.  Sometime I'll try to enhance it so you can see what all I included.  Above is my first week of school...look at how planned it is. 

 And then we skip to week 5...nary a lesson has been planned.  Eek.  I know it seems lame-o but I can't plan too far ahead lest Emma gets behind and then I am in hot water with the planning ahead. 

 This section makes me the most excited...eek!  It's all together in all of it's glory.  The days of planning on the back of a starbucks napkin are over. 

 Here's what I like to see the most...being organized, I have been recording what I have been buying and need to send, wrap, etc.  I like being able to write "done" next to what I have already accomplished this early in the year. 

 I know it's dumb but I like to make goofy names for my sheets and lists.  That way when I am on the phone, stressed out and trying to find where the dumb post office lost all of my gifts, I can smile when I am writing on my "odd-ball" Christmas list. 

It's the little things.  Am I wrong? 

I like planning for this event...gotta be prepared, right?  Do you have an Ugly Sweater Party too?

 

I absolutely could not have done this without this website.  She explained how to arrange your pages and had oodles and oodles of templates to use.  Love this lady and I don't even know her! 

Do you make your own planner too?  Do you have any other ideas? I'd love to hear them!

My Planner

Those who know me know that I am a very organized person...sometimes no where else but in my head, but nevertheless, I like to at least feel organized. 

I have always had a planner.  The school I went to believed in planners and supplied us with at the beginning of every school year.  I cannot tell you the joy I felt when I received that new planner every year.  It was such a thrill to have a new one to fill in with my orderly duties pertaining to homework. 

And as I have grown so has my love of all things planners.  When I was a business girl I had the ones that matched my outfits that I could put a notebook into...you know, the big honkin' ones. 

The past few years Nick has been getting these lovely leather bound planners with the beautiful gold trimmed pages and satin ribbon placeholder.  He always writes something wildly spectacular in them at the front and then I have that to look at all through the year. 

I still have that planner and love it with all of my heart.  But for Mother's Day, Nick's cousin Jodee got me the planner you are about to see below and I love it!  It was such a breath of fresh air...which incidentally describes Jodee as well.  I love her and love being around her...she's such a godly woman who I take such joy in being around...hi Jodee!  Hi! 

Anyway back to my planner explanation...

It isn't my poor old planner's fault but I was so used to the design and layout that my eyes were just running over it and not reading  anything.  Does that may sense at all?  I would write "Nick's Birthday"  and then realize as I was writing "Nick's Birthday" under it that I had already written it.  My eyes were just skipping over everything because it all looked the same to me.  (Reading this sounds like I am totally lame, but I just.can't.delete.)

Here are some things I like about my new planner:

The days are side by side and I can look at the whole week in one glance.  The top portion is for my schedule and then you can write in everyone else's schedules.  Since we don't have enough kiddos to take up all of the spaces I have a row for "Lucy/Roscoe" (flea treatment, heart worm pills, vet appointments), and "$" (bills coming due, when Nick's paid to remember to check the bank and make sure everything's correct). 

I am one of those people that if I don't write something down I perpetually think about it.  Over and over and over and over.  It's pretty maddening.  But if I write it down it just kind of, poof, goes out of my head and I know I don't need to try to remember it anymore. 

Here's the cover of my planner.  By default, it has to be pink...of course.  Boy howdy does Jodee know me :)

Jodee was sooo excted to show me the best part of the planner...stickers!!!  There are oodles for all of the fun activities the kids do.  I just love them! 

I stick my schedule in the front of the planner.  This is my daily cleaning schedule, just so ya know.  This is how I keep myself sane and tidy. 

This one's blurry but in the back there are 3 prooferated lists per sheet that are for shopping lists...I have a perpetual shopping list going at all times.  Again, so I can get it out of my mind, onto paper, and just forget about it. 

A card holer on the back.  I haven't put a card in there yet but when someone gives you one when you are out and about it's nice to have somewhere to put them. 

I swear I tried to flip this picture 18,000 times and it still looks like this!  But anyway, this is on the cover of the planner and it helps keep me grounded.  And whose time this really is.  I can try to plan as much as I want, but ultimately He's in charge of this life. 

If you like my planner you can click here to order your own.  No one's paying me to say this...I just like the dern thing. 

Whatever you use, just remember to get organized and stay organized.  An organized mom makes for an organized home and an organized home is a peaceful, happy home.