WFMW - Changing the Trash Bag Faster

Here's a little tip to help you change the trash bag just a little faster when you take out the trash:

Have the kids do it.

Just kidding.

That isn't faster or easier.

Keep a bunch of new bags in the bottom of the trash can.

You don't have to dig a new one out of the cupboard every time you take out the trash. It's just a little bit of time and effort you're saving, but it's nice. Trust me.

You guys probably already do this because you're smart. I'm sure I'm the last one who has figured it out. We were visiting at some friends' house and I saw my buddy reach into her big, tall trash can and come out with a clean bag. Hmmmmm.

For more What Works for Me Tips, stop by We are THAT Family.

When I Run Out of Milk

Do you ever make a pot of coffee in the morning, go to the fridge to get the milk, and Oh, man, no more milk? Or when you're fixing cereal for the kiddos before school? Or when you get home late from vacation? Or you're cooking something?

I don't know about your family, but ours must drink 50 gallons a week. We should have our own cow. (By the way, Costco has the best price on milk in my area. It's about $2.00 less than grocery stores! Yay, Costco!)

Here's what I do:

Before my milk emergency (an emergency because I do not drink coffee without milk), I buy a couple of those little cartons of regular milk and stick them in the freezer. When my coffee emergency happens, I run to the fridge. It is important to get small cartons, because it takes a lot longer to defrost the big cartons. You could also just freeze milk in some small containers. Easy Peasy.

I also buy a couple cans of Carnation Evaporated Milk. It's milk for cooking. It doesn't need a fridge. It's there when you need it.

Just a little bit of planning is all it takes. For more tips, stop by We are THAT Family for What Works for Me Wednesday.

One more thing ... any American Idol fans out there? Did you watch last night? I really wish they would stop making them sing the generic one-size-doesn't-fit-all song as the last song of every season. The songs are lame. They never sound good. It's insanely anti-climactic.

So what do you think? Who are you votin' for? My vote is for Kris. Adam is talented and was my favorite for a while. But at some point, I felt like he was the same every week. Kris gets better every single week. I look forward to seeing what he does. We'll see tonight!

This Stuff Rocks

I blow dry my hair with a round brush every day or every other day, and then I flat iron it. Sometimes I also use velcro rollers before I iron it. Then I use product to defrizz my hair and I spray it. Get the picture.

Well, I picked up a travel size bottle of the new Redken product, Blown Away, and I totally love it! If I could only use one hair styling product, this would be it. It is a gel that protects hair from heat, makes blow drying easier, helps your hair hold shape and controls frizz. I couldn't wait to see if it lived up to everything it promised, and it did. My hair looked *awesome* all day. The best blow dry I have done on my hair. And the next morning, my hair still looked awesome. I'm growing out a modified bob, so my hair has the potential to look pretty tweaked in the morning. Nope ... I woke up, combed it and I'm ready for work. I'm getting the big bottle of it this week.

What Works For Me Wednesday

Do you have any vinyl flooring in your house? Is it looking a little dull, not shiny, scratched up or stained? My laundry room and my garden room have this wonderful flooring product (teeny bit of sarcasm here), and this is what I have discovered to keep it beautiful, clean and shiny:
Use this Armstrong Floor Stripper and Cleaner. This gets dirt out that you didn't think was *ever* going to come out. Wipe it on, let it sit a couple minutes, then lightly scrub with a brush and wipe off with a clean rag. Then . . .

get the Armstrong floor polish. Wipe it on, let it dry. Then your floor is amazingly shiny. You'll keep going back into the room just to look at how beautiful your vinyl floor is. Now, did you ever think you would love your vinyl floor?

I buy both of these products at The Home Depot. And, here is a link to get a $2 rebate.

Stop by Rocks in My Dryer to see more What Works For Me Wednesday.

What Works For Me Wednesday: Filling Out Kid Forms

My tip this week for What Works For Me Wednesday, is a more efficient way to fill out forms for our kids. You know what I'm talking about . . . all of the forms you get the first day of school, when they go on a field trip, join Scouts, play a sport, etc. Well, I used to gather all the information I needed *every* time I filled out a form. Or I would start filling out the form, then realize I need the shot records, get up, find the shot record in the filing room, start filling out forms again. Then I need the doctor's address, get up, get the phone book, continue filling out forms. One day I decided to type up a sheet that has all the information I will ever need to complete a form. It has insurance information, last tetanus shot, emergency contacts I use and their phone and address, and anything else I have ever been asked for on a form. I keep it in my calendar/phonebook binder. If I am going somewhere and know I am going to be asked to complete a form at that location, I just grab my binder.

Now you guys may have figured this out years ago, and I'm the last person to finally get it. But if you're with me and still hunting for that info every time, I hope this helps.

I have a blank version of my form saved in MS Word, and if you would like me to e-mail it to you, just post a comment asking for the form, and I will be happy to send it on!

That is my contribution to What Works for Me Wednesday. For more WWFM tips, go visit Rocks In My Dryer.

What Works For Me: Organizing Coloring Books

I read this great little tip in my new favorite magazine, Real Simple. I've had kids for 12 years, so the pile of activity/coloring books we have collected is impressive. They are always a mess, though. Or the kids can't find them. And we have too many. My favorite new coloring book organizer is a cheap dish rack. Pick your favorite books out of the pile and put them in the rack. Anything that doesn't fit in the rack goes in the round file (when I worked at the law firm, this is what we called the trash can). Use the utensil cup for crayons and scissors.
One of my other, most favorite kid-craft organizers is paint buckets. You can get clean, empty, new paint cans for about $3.50 at The Home Depot. We have 1 for color pencils, 1 for pens, and 1 for paint brushes/paint. They fit perfectly on shelves. You can leave them just how they are or you can decorate them with paper. The one in the picture doesn't have a handle, but they do come with the standard paint can handle.

That is my contribution to What Works for Me Wednesday. For more WWFM tips, go visit Rocks in My Dryer.

What Works For Me Wednesday

For Rocks In My Dryer's What Works For Me Wednesday, I'm going to share two things I recently purchased from a store called Improvements that have really worked for me.

For the first item, I want you to imagine a set of stairs with white, builder-grade carpet in a house with 3 children, 2 dogs and a husband who loves to garden and then walk in the house with his muddy shoes on. Yes, you're feeling my pain, aren't you? Well this is the wonderful product I found to save my stairs . . . it is called CarpetSaver, and its an every-day carpet runner that goes over carpeted stairs. This is not the prettiest runner you will ever see, but it protects the carpet from daily traffic dirt. It also seriously cuts down on the amount of times I have to vacuum the stairs. Every week I pull it off the stairs and either shake it off or stick it in the washer and dryer. If someone is stopping by to visit, I have the stairs clean in a few seconds. I really love it and have found that it is worth the money.The next item is all about grout. If you have it in your house, you know what I'm talking about. My previous kitchen was all white grout counter tops, and I know how to get that stuff white. So when I walked into my current house right after I bought it and saw that the master bathroom is entirely white tile and grout, I thought I had it dialed in. Boy was I wrong. None of my tricks work to get the dingy-ness out of this grout. Until I found this wonderful product . . . it is Grout Whitener and it's basically paint that goes over the grout and makes it white-to-my-standards-white. It comes with a little bottle that has a top that rolls over the grout and paints the stuff on, so you don't have to sit there with a paint brush for hours. If you mess up, just wipe it off with a wet rag. *note: this is not a picture of my grout! Both photos are from Improvements.*

For more tips, go check out Rocks in My Dryer!