I have something to share with you.
- Homework finished ✓
- Lunch is packed. ✓
- The alarm is set. ✓
- Clothes are laid out for the morning
Well, 3 out of 4 is pretty good, right?
Before I leave town for a trip, I lay out my daughter’s school clothes for the days I am gone. But if I am home, my daughter doesn’t always put together the most appropriate outfits if she wakes up early and gets dressed on her own. By inappropriate I don’t mean, INAPPROPRIATE like that, but sweaters in the summer and fancy dresses on P.E. day just don’t work. Time to get into both of us into a routine now that school is back in session. So how can I make getting dressed fun(and easy) for my daughter and include a trip to the Container Store for me, one of my favorite places?
Time to hit Pinterest and find some ideas! The end result – a canvas hanging bag with 6 different compartments, one for each day of the school week plus one extra compartment for her clothes for soccer practice or cheerleading! The fun part – I searched for day of the week labels(again on Pinterest), printed them, cut them and used hot pink tape to secure them in place. I even bought a second hanging bag to keep all of her sandals and sneakers in so they are “fun” to put away.
Now, my daughter (and my husband) always know what she is wearing to school whether I am home or on the road. Now if only I could find someone to style me every day!
I had a good laugh recently when one of my most “has-it-together” girlfriends told me she has her addresses in numerous spots – in her email, in a paper address book and a few scribbled down in other places. I was SHOCKED! I shared with her how I updated all of my contacts last year when I bought my new computer. I keep all my addresses online tied to my Gmail account so all I have to do is select the group of people who will receive a card, export the list to a CSV file and now I am ready to merge with my mailing label template. The last step? Beg my husband to help me label, stamp and seal the envelopes!
Her reply – it will take forever to get all the addresses online. She is absolutely correct IF she was going to type them all. So what is the easiest way for her to get the addresses into an online account? Well, the quickest way is if you already have everyone’s email address, send out a bulk email asking everyone to send their most updated contact information back to you so you may update your address book. Then when they respond, use your mobile device to simply click the info and choose save to new or existing contact. Now you have all the contact information online without having to do all of the typing! So next year when you need to send holiday cards, birthday party invites or happen to stop by someone’s home for a special visit, you have their address easily accessible and even navigation ready!
I took an inventory – we have medication for headaches, cramps, stomach issues, allergies, sinus and of course, kid friendly medications too. And then there was all the stuff that was expired. And all the half full boxes of bandaids and ointments. I bought 5 plastic containers to organize the medicine area after throwing out the bad stuff: one container for anything safe for my daughter, one for allergy and sinus medicine, one for stomach issues, one for band aids and ointments and the last for headaches and the flu. Now all I need to do is grab the container and find what I need rather than searching through bottles and bottles of everything.
Always Travel With Peanut Butter 