Works For Me Wednesday

This is my favorite pasta salad! Don't let the ketchup scare you! It will surprise you how wonderful it tastes with veggies and the sugar added! I am not a ketchup fan and I love the taste!

Easy Sweet and Spicy Pasta Salad

2 green peppers chopped
1-2 cucumbers diced
1 diced tomato
1-2 diced green onion

8 oz cooked pasta of choice

1 Cup of Ketchup
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil (I like olive oil)

Mix together and put in refrigerator overnight. Enjoy!

Works For Me Wednesday

Blanket Time
This is something that is very useful for little ones to teach them how to focus on something and when mom needs to accomplish something for a short time, this is also very useful. A couple rules to be remembered, stick with it and be consistent! It is a great tool for moms and little ones!

I have had some people wonder how I do blanket time. They tell me their children would never do this. Here are some tips:
-Start when they are young, about 6 months is when I start. for about 15 minutes 2x a day I put them on a blanket with toys or in a playpen. I don't talk to them, I just let them play by themselves.
-Use a blanket (not to big, fold if necessary. If you get the area too big, the boundary lines are to big and they start wandering as if they were not on a blanket) Carpet squares work well too!
-Gradually increase their time alone by about 5 minutes each month until they are at a half an hour. Until they reach about the age of 3, I never have them on a blanket for longer that 30minutes. 2x a day.
-Be consistent! If you start this when they are older, just stick with it and continue to direct them back to their blankets if they get off. At first, stay in the room with them and quietly read to yourself so they see your example.
-Eventually, you should be able to leave the room momentarily and they should stay on their blanket without problems.
-The single toy that you give them to play with, (I do not let them pick, show them that you decide otherwise they can be indecisive) will become fun for them when they learn to focus.
-My children actually look forward to this time and when I need to accomplish something, it is very useful. Our morning blanket time is 15 minutes- 45 minutes depending on their age, in the afternoon around my dinner prep time, it is 30 minutes. I try to let them up about the time dad gets home so there is peace in the home when he walks in the door.
-I usually read them a book of their choice after blanket time is over. They look forward to this every time.

I hope this helps. I encourage every mom to do this. It is so good in teaching your children discipline and encouraging them to focus. A very important thing to learn as they grow! And it is good for mom to have a few minutes to collect thoughts and regroup!;)
*Quick ideas for blanket time activites:
-books
-Lego's
-Wonder paper and markers by Crayola
-beads and string
-view finder
-Lincoln Logs
-puzzles

Works For Me Wednesday

This is my Works for Me Wednesday entry.

Cleaners can be so expensive from laundry detergent to daily cleaners. I found some great cleaner at the Dollar Tree that costs, drum roll please, $1! There are 3 or 4 different types. Bathroom, kitchen, and multipurpose. I have removed many things off of my walls that would not come off with other cleaners even the infamous magic erasers! Ink, pencil, dried food (no, I do not as a rule leave food on my walls until it is dried, I just sometimes miss the baseboards and doorways!) I buy the multipurpose type because it can be used for anything. The scent is not overwhelming and it does a great job!

Another favorite of mine is Pine Sol. But I find it too concentrated so I dilute it 1/4 Pine Sol to 3/4 water in a spray bottle. It works great and still disinfects well. I use this from anything from our laminate floors, kitchen appliances, to our bathroom surfaces. (The same thing works with bleach! I use this diluted the same way for my bathrooms.)

I also make sure I only use 1/8-1/4 of recommended amount of laundry detergent. This is one way the companies of these products get our money! They, at the very least, tell us to use DOUBLE of what is really needed! I read in a magazine article years ago, that our clothes have so much extra detergent in them that every once in while I have discovered I can go one week without using detergent at all and my clothes still smell fresh and get clean. (I still use spot cleaner if needed on stains!)

My last tip for cleaning is using old bath towels. Instead of throwing them away or even using them in the garage, cut them into appropriate size and sew around the edges and you have great dish rags or dish towels that otherwise can be very costly!

Just some things that work for me!

Works For Me Wednesday

I always have pictures that have been developed and I do not like them sitting around in the packets from the developer. So, immedieately after I recieve them in the mail or pick them up at the store, I put them in inexpensive photo albums. I always look in the clearance isles for photo albums. I have found them anywhere from $1-$5. I try to make it a rule never to spend over $5 unless they come in a pair. I also make sure they hold at least 150 pictures otherwise I would have too many laying around. This is very useful for all you scrapbookers out there who like to keep your pictures organized but don't possibly have the time to sit down everytime you recieve pictures. Just a side note, make sure you do not get any albums that are magnetic! Buy the kind you just slide the pictures in. You can recycle these albums also after you use the pictures in your scrapbooks! Another thing I have done with the many albums I have on hand is use them as last minute gifts. Who does not appreciate a nice photo album for a gift! Just something that Works For Me!

 

Works for Me Wednesday

Today is "Works for Me Wednesday". I have a very inexpensive way to remove wallpaper. Get a spray bottle and add about 1/4 cup water to about 2 Cups of fabric softner. Mix well. Spray on the wallpaper you would like to remove and let sit for a few minutes and simple begin pulling away old wallpaer. It's that simple! I used Downy, I am not sure about the generic brands. They are pretty watery to begin with so if you choose to try the off brands, I would not add water. It not only works on regular walls, but it also removed old wallpaper from tile with ease. It leaves the room smelling good too!:) I would make sure you have a drop cloth down if working around carpet. Unless you get fabric softner on the bare wall, there is no need to clean walls except for what you would normally do anyway since the fabric softner sticks to the old wallpaper and not to the wall. Have fun!

"Works For Me Wednesday"

This is my idea for "Works for me Wednesday"
I have 10 soon to be 11 children so inevitably thoughtout the day, kids will leave little things of theirs laying around. So in order to eliminate my nagging constantly to them, I use an inexpensive shelf from Wal-mart and they each have a labeled basket with their name on it. If I notice something laying around that they have forgotten to put away, I simply place it in their assigned basket and we have a pick up time before evening bible time that they must put the contents of their baskets away. 2 things to remember when using this system, make sure they are picking up the majority of their things immediately after they are done, and make sure the basket is not to big! Otherwise it becomes a lazy persons catchall! ;)

This is really useful in teaching little ones the job of tidiness and putting things away at the end of the day. It also keeps little things from gathering all over the house when there is a place to put them.

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"Works For Me Wednesday"

This is my frugal tip for the week for "works-for-me Wednesday". Hope it can save somebody a little cash! You can read other helpful hints on www.wearethatfamily.com

We homeschool, and I cannot afford to by workbook after workbook, so I tear the pages out of a workbook and use a 3 ring binder with plastic page protectors and insert the workbook pages into them. They use dry erase markers and a paper towel to do each page. This works great for little ones since they can do the same pages over and over and you can pass down the book child to child. This is also a money saver for those who do not homeschool for at home fun. It works great in the car if your children are taught to only write ON THE PAGES, not the car seats! ;)