Idea Queen Tips & News

Last week the focus was on sorting clothes and I didn’t get as far as I would have liked to. While I did go through the 4 massive tubs of clothes we got over a week ago, I never made it upstairs to short out the smaller clothes. So I’m going to try to get a bit more of that accomplished while I work on this week’s challenge - the computer desk.

It’s pretty ugly looking right now, with paper stacked and things kinda thrown everywhere. I really need to sort through everything and organize it a bit. I joke that my desks likes to “eat” things like pens and other small items. Ok so not even small items - it’s been known to eat larger items as well. Yeah, time to clean it.

How did you do on last week’s challenge? Are you joining us this week?

I actually got a jump start on this yesterday knowing I was going to be gone today for a few hours. My daughter is lucky to have several older cousins who all have some very nice clothes. The other day we got 3 big boxes dumped on us, plus more boxes still sitting upstairs needing to be sorted.

It’s time to sort.

This week I’ll be sorting all the clothes we’ve gotten and going through her drawers to see what fits and what doesn’t. I probably should have a better system in place for all this, but I really don’t. We are getting clothes faster than I can sort them, and I can’t seem to get rid of the small ones fast enough either.

I’ve also come to realize that I need to have my daughter right there with me because we really can’t judge sizes very well. When I started yesterday I was sorting clothes by size thinking ones in the pile would fit her and they really don’t. She’s a bit on the chunky side, so finding clothes that fit her is a challenge.

Anyway, that’s my Tidy Tuesday Challenge - sorting through clothes and cleaning out drawers. Hopefully by the end of the week we’ll have nothing but clothes that fit!

Since we’ve got family and friends visiting this weekend, I figured this week is a good week to clean up the main room of the house. In our house the “main room” is our living room, dining room, and where the computers sit.

In your house it might just be the living room, or it may be something different. The goal here is to clean up whatever it room your guests see the most, and the room you spend the most time in.

If you are good about cleaning up your house, this might not be a big job. However, I bet there are still areas  that need improvement. How do the windows look? The walls? How about behind desks, under tables, and in drawers?

Our room happens to be a complete and utter mess right now so I doubt we’ll get to those fine details. But if you are in need of a challenge this week, go for the small spaces and tasks you don’t usually do every day.

Have fun!

You may have noticed that we didn’t have our “Monday Organization” yesterday. Mostly because I didn’t get my challenge done, but also because I realized that Mondays just aren’t good for cleaning. Not only do we now have regular appointments on Mondays, but that’s dance night too. Time is very limited and I never really have time to get any major housework done. As a result it gets pushed to the end of the week, or completely forgotten (yes I actually FORGOT last week!).

So instead I’ve decided to move it to Tuesday, and name it “Tidy Tuesday”, where we’ll pick small ideas for tidying up your home and life. This week I thought it would be nice to take a break from the housework side and focus on an area that needs attention too - the bills.
Now for this challenge you don’t want to just make sure all your bills are paid (or plans on how to pay them and when), but go an extra step to organize yourself a bit better. Find a place for your bills like a small box, or something that holds paper. If you are like me and pay almost all your bills online, you might want to set a schedule for yourself for reminders on when you need to pay. I use Yahoo Calendar to set up reminders for other things, so I’ll be putting my bills up there today.

Something else you may need to do here is set yourself up a budget and do a little planning. That’s one of those things we all say we “need” to do, but never get around to it. So there you go, there’s the kick in the rear you were asking for.

So today get working on organizing your finances, and we’ll get back to the house next week. Have fun!

It’s Monday again, and time to pick another area of the house to clean up and organize for the week! Last week we focused on the bathroom getting areas we all dread. I’m happy to report that I DID get down on my hands and knees scrubbing even though I seriously dreaded it. I didn’t get the entire bathroom cleaned, but I did do one important area - the litter box. YUCK! But boy did I feel better once it was done.

This week it’s time to focus on a much less yucky area (we hope anyway). The kitchen could use some organizing and cleaning, so I believe this is a good area to focus on this week. Organizing this room would include going through cabinets, cleaning out your fridge, giving the stove a much needed cleaning, or organizing your recycling if you keep it there.

Don’t worry about not getting it all finished in one week. The idea here is to just focus on one area or task a week without feeling like you NEED to finish the ENTIRE room. We don’t want to lose focus on these tasks, so just do what you can and move on.

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How long has it been since you’ve really scrubbed your bathroom? I know, it’s one of those jobs we tend to put off. It’s my most hated of all household chores, and I tend to avoid at all cost.

Regardless, it needs to be cleaned. It spreads germs when not clean. We HAVE to do it. So the challenge for the week is to get the bathroom sparkling. Clean the bathtub, sink, and toilet. Grab your best germ fighting cleaning products (or possibly some bleach), and dive in.

Don’t stop there! If you have closets, shelves, medicine cabinets, etc…..organize those too. This is something I did not long ago, so I get to skip this one. But the scrubbing, well that I NEED to do again. Ick.

As I type, I’m looking at a very unorganized dining room table. There’s toys, loads of candles, mail, and other “stuff” that needs to be put in it’s place. It’s become the dumping ground for all we didn’t want to just throw on the floor.

This week’s challenge is about cleaning off the “dumping table”. This could be your kitchen table, dining room table, coffee table, or side table inside a door.

Go ahead and clean it off right this minute. Didn’t take all that long, did it? Now the REAL challenge is keeping it clean. Every time you think about just tossing something down on that particular table, stop yourself. Don’t toss it in another place either - just put it away.

A simple step that takes less than a minute, but has a dramatic effect on the organization of your house. Post your success here next week!

Since I kinda blew my New Year’s resolution to work on one room of the house per week, I decided I needed to try this again. My house is still quite unorganized and in need of serious help.

So instead of trying to force myself to clean like a mad man every day, I’m picking one day of the week to get just one job done. And the job is not an “every day” task like dishes, sweeping, or anything else I do everyday. Sound like a challenge?

This week I’ve decided I need to get caught up on my laundry. Not so much washing, but putting away. We’ve got a huge pile of folded clothes in the laundry room that need to be put away once and for all. If we can get caught up, it will be a whole lot easier to SAY caught up. Not long ago I caught up on washing the clothes and it’s stayed that way for at least a month now. Go us!

Your Monday organizing challenge is to get caught up on your laundry in some form. We’re starting off kinda easy and you may already be caught up. But for those of us needed a little more help, this is a great place to start.

It’s about that time of year - time to starting thinking of great vegetable garden ideas! I can’t wait for it to be warm enough to start, how about you?

Normally our garden is set up as a salsa garden. Basically you’ll find tomatoes, jalapenos, and green peppers. Sometimes we’ll grow red peppers too, and dry them (those plants produce quite a bit - far more than you’ll ever use in one year!). Tomatoes we always have an abundance of as well, and I’m tired of chopping them.

Instead of our normal garden, I think it’s time for something different. Last fall we really got into the pumpkins both for pie and for decorating. So this year we might just plant two different types of pumpkins and see how that goes. Our main garden area is big enough to let them take over, so why not?

I might sneak in a tomato plant somewhere just because it wouldn’t be summer without garden fresh tomatoes. Although I have a feeling a few plants from stray seeds are hiding in the garden right now waiting to surprise me. It’s just a matter of cleaning up all the dead plants from last year to find them.

What are you planning to plant in your garden this year?

Before I dive in, let me first state this is my personal opinion only. I don’t claim to be a specialist in anything, but I AM a parent. Based on how I was raised, and how my children are, I can give you an honest opinion on the subject. Do be sure to seek out opinions of others as well.

Personally I believe that yes, children should get paid for some chores one way or another. I believe we are setting them up for the real world, where their hard work is paid for with a job. I also believe by making them do certain chores, we are also creating independent adults who will take care of their own house.

I think when you reward them for good deeds it keeps things in balance. Most don’t hesitate to punish bad behavior, but we often forget to reward when they behave. Paying them for good behavior (doing their chores) IS a reward.

Some may chose to set up an allowance system, where they get money at the end of the week only if all their list of chores are done. Since mine are younger (5 and 7), I pay them per job. Picking up their room gets a quarter. Putting away clothes is a dime per trip. Cleaning up something without asking is a dime or quarter based on the size of the job. Since they are little, I can get away with paying less per job than I would older kids.

Not only is giving them money for chores a reward, but we’re learning about money too. We get the chore jars out once in awhile and count how much money we have. When I need to replenish my quarter and dime supply, we “cash in” with dollars which are used to buy a toy or something they really want. Right now we are saving money for Webkinz.

What’s your opinion on this subject, and how do you handle chores in your home?