Children’s room can be a bit overwhelming to organize. They’re filled with toys, video games and school supplies. It is easy to think that organizing so much will cost a fortune. But you do not have to trade a clean organized room for your cash. Here are some tips to organize your child’s room frugally.

1.) Under the bed storage – In organizing your child’s room make sure to optimize all the space under the bed. If your budget does not allow you to buy clear plastic bins, do not fear. Cardboard boxes can be used, just make sure that you label them. Put the boxes that you will use most towards the front of the bed for better accessibility. Put the other boxes in according to when you will need them or how often you will need them.

2.) Make due with the furniture you have. Go through your home and figure out what furniture can be used in the kid’s room as storage. For example, use that old bookcase you were going to throw away as a place to put shoes and folded clothes. Put bins on the bookcase shelves and fill with toys. If your child grows out of their toy box, use it as a chest and fill with out of season clothes or crafts.

3.) Furniture with dual purposes. If you have to buy furniture buy pieces that have a dual purpose. For example, the one time purchase of an armoire can last a lifetime and never lose purpose. It can help organize the room and be worth the purchase. An armoire can start as a place to store clothe and then can be turned into a place to hold a TV or computer as the child grows. If they don’t want it anymore there is always a place in the house you could use it, such as a dining room.

4.) Get creative – If you go down into your basement you will probably find a bunch of milk crates that have no use–until now. Use the crates not only as storage for art supplies, clothes toys or shoes, but set a piece of plywood on top to create a table for children to do crafts or school work on. This again uses storage that also has a dual purpose. Use an old blanket or sheet and hang it as a toy net. Put all those stuff animals and soft toys in the net and off the floor. If you are feeling really creative on a rainy day, decorate the sheet, finger paint it or buy a patterned fabric and hem the edges to create a special toy net.

The Onesies at Gifts of Wit are created from the designs of Mary Carter Fiveash.  Moms already know that onesies are a must-have staple for babies, but these come with a comedic charm.

With sayings like:  “Hi, I’m New Here”, “Will Cry for Milk” and “Your Crib or Mine” they’re sure to bring a smile to everyone’s face.

Comfort & Quality: The onsies are a soft, thick 100% cotton and are a nice quality with reinforced sleeves, neck and leg area. There are three snaps at the bottom to keep the shirt from riding up and showing off baby’s belly. Transfer are durable and don’t come off easily with repeated washings.

Product: Alba Botanica Pineapple Enzyme Facial Cleanser

Skin Type: Normal to oily skin.

Signature Ingredients: Certified organic aloe, papaya, awapuhi, and pineapple.

How it Works: This foaming cleanser removes impurities and rehydrates skin. With a light fruity fragrance it’s a pleasure to use. Just use small amount and work into a lather.

Full Ingredients: Certified organic aloe barbadensis and lavandula angustifolia juices, soyamide DEA, sodium myreth sulfate, cocamidopropyl hydroxysultaine, citric acid, ananas sativus (pineapple), carica papaya (papaya), and passiflora incarnata (passion fruit) extracts, vegetable glycerin, bromelain, phenoxyethanol, methyl/propylparaben, and botanical fragrance.

Learn more about the product by clicking here.

Posted April 25, 2008

Today’s Montell Williams show featured families that were hoping to get onto the Clean House show to help transform their pig-sty-style homes into much cleaner and organized homes (details of today’s episode are here).

The show included a number of families needing decluttering help and Clean House host Niecy Nash. One family was the victim of a “serial home reno mom” who kept starting, but not finishing a variety of home improvement projects.

But there was one story that really distributed but I was particularly disturbed by. It was a family who not only lived in but complete clutter, but utter filth and wanted to get on the show because they were looking to adopt a baby. The house was treated like a junk yard that would certainly be dangerous for a young child.

The woman even acknowledged that no adoption agency would give them a baby if they saw their current state of their home.

Excuse me?

You want someone else to come in and fix your house (a temporary solution), so you can get a baby? People who live in dangerous filth don’t suddenly become clean because someone else cleans up their house.

Now if people want to be messy, so be it. As I ranted about this a few moments ago, someone pointed out:

“I hear you, but as a chronically messy person, I must say I’m a good mom. Just not a good housekeeping role model.”

I can accept that, but if someone is trying to adopt a child and have to mislead the agency into thinking they’re something they’re not – that’s where I have a problem.

Or maybe I’m just an unreasonable person with neat-freak tendencies?

What is the big complaint of most women? They receive less than romantic gifts from their husbands that miss the mark totally.

The gifts are either appliances for the house or something that the husband could use more than they can. What is going on? Instead of meeting his gaze and gift with a frown and a sigh, give him a helping hand.

Ladies, we want him to be able to, the truth is that he will never be able to read our mind. No matter how long you are together, guessing what we want is not going to be one of his strong points. Cut him some slack with a romance list.

What is a Romance List?

This is not just any list though. Give it real thought. Think about the things that you want from him. These should be special things for occasions like anniversaries, birthdays, Christmas, and getting out of the dog house days.

Another list can be created for things that he can pick up for you to surprise you or make you feel better when you are down. These lists will give him a great starting point.

Be specific about what you like. Listing that you like clothes, does not give him an idea of the size, color, brand, style, or particular article of clothing. The same goes for your husband as it does in other areas of your life – you only get what you want if you ask for it.

Don’t Let Him Get Discouraged

Men often get discouraged with unsuccessful gifts. After a while they will stop trying and go back to the old standby: flowers and chocolates.

There is a book on the market called “The 5 Love Languages” by Gary Chapman. The book lists the five different types of love languages and describes their attributes. Knowing a person’s love language can give insight into what will make them love and show love better.

Along with the list, give him the book. This is as close to mind reading as he will get. If you want something deeper than just the right gift for every occasion, use this book to help him to get in touch with you as a woman. If he uses the book as it was meant, he may not need your romance list to pick out that perfect gift you’ll love. But, keep your list just in case.

Don’t hang your man out to dry. Let him know exactly what you want from him and you just may be surprised at what he can deliver.

As our kids emerge into adulthood, they face these troubling times of being a teenager. This can be troubling for both parent and child, but at the same time, it’s an exciting time of development and opportunity.

Here is a free and extremely practical guide to helping your teenager deal with variety of problems they might face, without being coming their militant enemy.

This free guide covers:

• Keeping teens safe online
• Dealing with sex, drugs and alcohol
• Teen anger & depression

Click here to download your free printable guide (PDF Format)*

This Guide is Brought to You By:

This guide is generously provided by Understanding Your Teen, your guide to a better relationship with your teenager.

*You will need Adobe Acrobat Viewer to read this file. You can download it for free here.

Cookbooks: Soup Recipes

This soup takes a bit of time, but well worth the effort and the actual prep is relatively simple. Allow about 2 hours and 45 minutes total for prep and cooking.

The Ingredients:

• 1 whole small chicken or several chicken thighs and leg
• 2 lb leeks
• 1 fresh bay leaf
• 1 large carrot, peeled and thickly sliced
• 10 cups of chicken broth
• ½ cup pearl barley
• Salt and black pepper
• Fresh chopped parsley to garnish

The Process:

Slice leeks.

Clean chicken and place along with leeks in a large pot, slice half of the leeks and place them in pan.

Add the bay leaf, a little chopped parsley, carrot and stock and bring to boil.

Reduce heat and cover.

Simmer gently for approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes. Skim off any excess fat at the top of the pan occasionally during simmering.

Leave until slightly cooled and strain soup into another large pan. Discard all the chicken skin, bones, and vegetables.

Shred all the chicken meat and add to clear stock. Set aside.

Rinse the pearl barley and cook in a separate pan of boiling water for approximately 10 minutes. Drain and rinse again.

Add the pearl barley to stock and chicken and cook over low heat for approximately 15 to 20 minutes or until barley is tender.

Season with salt and pepper to taste and garnish with parsley. Enjoy!

More Soup Recipes: Soup Recipes

It seems like an endless struggle. We always have that extra 5 pounds or even more to lose. We lose a little, gain a little. We try a diet and then another.

Inside most of us know that long term healthy weight loss comes from being sensible and not starving ourselves, limiting our food choices or other silly things we try.

If you’ve struggled with healthy weight loss, here is the perfect printable guide for you.

In this quick 11-page guide, find out:

• How small changes mean big things
• Developing healthy habits
• Breakfast is not your enemy
• Healthy lunches and dinners: Never skip a meal
• Dealing with cravings

— and more.Click here to download your free printable guide (PDF Format)*

This Guide is Brought to You By:

This guide is generously provided by Menu Planning Central, helping you create better mealtimes with your family.

If you suffer from cravings, battle those little demons with Cravings Secrets.

*You will need Adobe Acrobat Viewer to read this file. You can download it for free here.

More reviews: Sicko DVD

Another documentary by Michael Moore (yes, I know that some people take exception to the word “documentary” being used with Moore’s films, but let’s just go with it for now). This time it’s a look at the American healthcare system.

Throughout the movie we are introduced to many Americans (including once celebrated 9/11 heroes) left behind to be disabled or even die when medical insurance is lacking…or when greedy insurance companies simply deny treatment.

Moore attempts to the trace the origins of the lack of healthcare of Americans. From an eye-opening Nixon recording to Reagan anti-communist sentiments, he makes an interesting case.

The movie is really heartbreaking (Kleenex is required) and certainly Moore takes artistic license to paint a picture of a healthcare system in complete ruin, but you know what? He really drives home the point, which I’ve always taken for granted, that no one should be without medical coverage.

The movie examines the healthcare systems of Canada, U.K., France and ends in Cuba with a very powerful message. Of course, I expect that Moore left out some of the negatives out of all these systems to his own end. Still as a Canadian, I can tell you the picture was relatively accurate, but consider:

• Health care is not free. We do pay monthly premiums, but low income families do qualify for free medical coverage. The premiums we do pay are a lot lower with better coverage than most Americans can get.
• We pay a lot more in income taxes to have the privilege of socialized health care and other services.
• We do have emergency room line ups (the people shown in the movie seemed not to experience any), but everyone gets the help they need.
• We also have issues with waiting lists for elective surgeries, etc. but at the prices we pay, in most cases, waiting is okay.
• A good number of nurses in my province has headed south of the border for better pay.

Still, I’m proud to live in a system where people aren’t forced to sew their own stitches or choose which fingertip they can afford to have reattached. Really.
There were a number of powerful moments in the movie, including Moore’s extending a hand to the owner of Moorewatch.com (an anti-Moore website) to pay his wife’s medical bill, so his wife could get the help she needed and the website could continue running. Prior to Moore’s gift, the owner (Jim Kenefick) of the site posted that he was likely to close it down because he needed to concentrate funds and energy to his wife.

When Kenefick is asked why he thinks Moore offered the gift, he is quoted by Newsweek.com as saying:

“It’s in his interest for the site to stay running. Moore’s publicity depends on us and others like us. I think he understands that.”

Sure, that’s certainly part of it, but I don’t for a minute that the reasoning goes much deeper and is much more meaningful than that. We may love or hate Moore’s tactics, but I have no doubt there is sincerity in the message…no matter how much he skews it in his favor.

Learn more about the DVD and read more reviews: Sicko DVD