6 Really Good Reasons to Stop Folding Laundry (guilt-free)

Cleaning / Home
Stop folding laundry

Inside: Are you spending all your time folding your kids’ laundry? Here are six good reasons to stop folding laundry and exactly how to do it to get your time back.

Neat and tidy drawers with nicely folded clothes make me happy. I am intent on raising kids who not only appreciate a clean home, but also know how to keep it that way.

And want to know something else? I’m one of those weird people who actually enjoys folding laundry.

I really do! Really.

In fact, I wrote an entire blog post about how the Konmari method of folding clothes changed my mom life (and if after you read this, you still want to fold your kids’ clothes, use the Konmari method).

Messy drawers? Gone for good with all those clothes filed neatly away, so you could see every single piece.

My husband’s drawers were no longer a complete disaster just one day after I put away clothes. Even the kids could keep their drawers straight (mostly).

I do still fold the adult clothes that require folding (and I still use and love the Konmari method for those clothes). About half of our clothes hang in closets, so that just leaves things like t-shirts, shorts, and pajamas.

Deeply wrinkled clothes aren’t really kosher for adults, so I don’t think I could ever stop folding our clothes. Although I did stop folding underwear – I mean, really, what’s the point?

But back to why I stopped folding the kids’ laundry….

So why on earth did a mom who loves neat and tidy drawers and folding clothes quit folding her kids’ clothes?

There are six, really good reasons.

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15 Ways to Make Washing Dishes Easier (and maybe even fun!)

Cleaning / Home

Inside: If you regularly think, “I hate washing dishes,” and the dishes don’t wash themselves yet (let me know if they ever do!), then you’ll love reading these 15 ways to make washing dishes easier and yes, even enjoyable.

I used to hate doing dishes. The only chore I hated less than doing dishes was sweeping and mopping the kitchen floor (I still hate that one, so if someone comes up with a way to make THAT fun, please tell me!).

As a homeschooling family of six, we generate our fair share of dirty dishes. When you have this many dirty dishes to wash on a regular basis, you have a choice to make: continue to hate doing dishes, or find ways to make washing dishes fun. Well, if not fun, more enjoyable at least.

In the last couple months, I faced that turning point.

I put my problem-solving skills to work and came up with fifteen ways to make washing dishes more efficient and yes, even therapeutic at times.

From one dish-washing hater to another, I feel your pain. Unfortunately, unless you decide to use paper plates for the rest of your life, the dishes will always be there.

It’s time to make the best of it!

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12 Tips to Keep a Clean House with Kids (from a mom of 4)

Cleaning / Home / Organization
how to clean your house with a baby

Inside: If you’re wondering “How do I keep a house clean with kids?”, you might feel like it’s impossible ( and let’s be real – some days, it is!). But these proven tips will make keeping the house clean with kids so much easier.

When you first start having kids, you realize how hard it is to actually do anything with children. Seriously, how much effort does it take to go anywhere! You used to just grab your purse and hop in your car. Now? An hour later, and five trips back inside (make that six), you’re off!

Cleaning the house is another one of those things that gets exponentially harder with kids.

In the beginning, when you only have a baby, the two main problems are finding the energy to clean the house and having your hands free to clean anything (this baby carrier has been a personal life-saver for that – but mastering doing the dishes while wearing it takes practice).

Overcoming those two obstacles to cleaning can feel like climbing Mt. Everest, but oh my goodness, are your problems just beginning! Then you’re trying to keep your house clean with a toddler and a baby. If you add one or two (or three, like me) more kids to the mix, keeping your house clean feels darn near impossible.

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10 Cheap Decorating Ideas to Make Your Home Beautiful (even when you’re broke)

Cleaning / Finances / Home / Organization
decorate on a budget

Inside: Just because you don’t have a lot to spend doesn’t mean you can’t decorate your home! Use these cheap decorating ideas to create a home you love for next to nothing.

I have a confession: I compulsively rearrange my furniture.

I do it all the time, to the point where my husband wonders whether or not the house is ever going to look the same when he walks in the door after work.

Why do I do it? It’s not exactly easy to rearrange furniture by yourself.

I do it because it’s the king of all cheap decorating ideas.

Rearranging furniture gives your home a whole new look for FREE.

I want my home to be beautiful, but we have very little money to invest in making it so. I had to get creative to make a home I love with only a few dollars to spare.

Thankfully, creativity (and necessity) birthed several cheap decorating ideas that I wouldn’t trade for all the expensive home decorations in the world.

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Everything You Need to Start Your Paperless Kitchen

Cleaning / Finances / Home / Minimalism / Paperless Kitchen
paperless kitchen products, unpaper towels, going paperless

Inside: What paperless kitchen products do you actually need? This master list of paperless kitchen products will help you get started on the right foot!

Now that you know why a paperless kitchen makes your mom life easier, and the best tips to start your paperless kitchen, it’s time to talk products.

What paperless kitchen products do you actually need?

The only thing on my mind last summer when I got this crazy idea was paper towels. We needed to ditch the paper towels, or at least cut down significantly on the quantity we ripped through every week.

But once I entered the whole new world of green living, I realized that a paperless kitchen was SO MUCH MORE than just unpaper towels. 

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5 Essential Tips to Starting Your Paperless Kitchen

Cleaning / Home / Minimalism / Paperless Kitchen
how to start a paperless kitchen, unpaper towels, zero waste, minimalism
Inside: If you’re trying to start a paperless kitchen and you have a young family, you NEED these tips to help you get started – especially tip #5!

When I started our paperless kitchen five months ago, I was a total paperless newbie. I also had a serious paper towel habit that needed to be broken ASAP.

These tips come from a mom who is not all that green and just decided on a whim that a paperless kitchen would be a fun challenge (ha! like I don’t have enough going on between homeschooling and working from home).

Prior to starting this experiment, we were going through a roll of paper towels every 3-4 days and at least one sponge a month, if not more.

If you are feeling nervous about switching to a paperless kitchen, these tips will help that apprehension dissipate! I didn’t think I’d last a week when I first started, and here I am five months later helping you start yours.

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Why Every Mom NEEDS to Try the Paperless Kitchen

Cleaning / Home / Minimalism / Paperless Kitchen

Inside: Do you wonder why on earth any mom would want to switch to a paperless kitchen, especially with messy kids? Learn four compelling reasons from a mom who felt the same way – and now LOVES it!

This summer I got this crazy idea in my head to try a paperless kitchen. With four small kids who make A LOT of messes every day, I wasn’t entirely sure my paperless kitchen experiment was going to be a success.

So why, then? I think I needed a tangible, finished achievement – something so rare in motherhood. I wanted to check a box that didn’t need to be checked again. Oh, and we were out of paper towels <sheepish grin>.

It seemed like as good a time as any to go paperless!

Turns out, a paperless kitchen (even with kids) is much easier than I anticipated!

If you’re a paperless newbie, this series of three posts will give you everything you need to start your paperless kitchen

If you still need persuading that a paperless kitchen is worth doing, in this first post I’m going to let you in on the surprising benefits of a paperless kitchen that I discovered only after I jumped in with both feet!

And they have nothing to do with saving money.

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Where to Start Decluttering (When You’re Too Overwhelmed to Start)

Cleaning / Declutter / Home / Minimalism
how to start decluttering

Inside: Are you wondering where to start decluttering? Learn why this room is the BEST place to start decluttering, and exactly how to declutter it with super simple steps.

You finally turn the last page of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. You slam that cover shut and jump up off the couch. Look out, House: you are about to get a complete and total makeover!

…but then you get up off the couch.

You look around at your real, live, so NOT-Marie-Kondo house – the one with a husband and kids and SO MUCH STUFF, so much clutter! You immediately shut down.

Marie made it sound so simple, but she didn’t have to declutter this house, with these people. She was single when she wrote the book for heaven’s sake!

You’re so overwhelmed that all that information you just read goes straight out of your head.

You want to give up before you even start decluttering a single thing. Just forget it.

If that’s you, stop. Breathe. Block out the rest of your crazy house, and make a beeline to the bathroom.

Why? Because the bathroom is hands-down the best place to start decluttering, especially when you’re too overwhelmed to start.

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The Toy Checkout System (perfect for big families!)

Cleaning / Home / Organization

Inside: Have you gotten rid of SO many toys, but you still feel overwhelmed by what’s left? Try the toy checkout system – perfect for bigger families that end up keeping more toys.

I became a minimalist – well, as much a minimalist as you can be with a husband who decidedly isn’t (frugal though he may be) and four small kiddos.

I was tired of cleaning up all the time, especially the toys. I was overwhelmed and exhausted.  I wanted to homeschool and needed time and energy to do it.

So naturally, like many other exhausted and desperate moms of my generation, I picked up a copy of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up and got to work. I pared down that toy collection.

Then I pared it down again. And again. And again. But it never felt like enough.

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The Paperless Kitchen Experiment

Cleaning / Finances / Home / Minimalism / Paperless Kitchen
paperless kitchen, unpaper towels

Paper towels are my mainstay. With four kids seven and under, I am constantly cleaning up messes. I mean, CONSTANTLY. It feels like they are just waiting for me to turn my back so they can knock over yet another glass of water.

I’ve tried to stop using so many paper towels in the past, but when they are sitting right there on the counter just begging to be used? I can’t NOT use them.

I always succumb to the awesomeness of disposables. Is it even possible to go without paper towels with this many little kids? I wanted to find out.

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