Green Tip – Seal Drafts Around Windows and Doors

By keeping heat from escaping through windows and doors,  you can cut your heating costs dramatically!

By lighting a candle and holding it in front of the window or doors seams, you’ll be able to detect drafty spots by watching the flame.  If it doesn’t flicker, you’re good to go.  If it does…time to seal up!

Seal the drafts around your windows and doors by buying weather-stripping or even the plastic window coverings you can buy at your local hardware store or big box store.

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Green Tip – Buy Eco-Friendly Coffee

When buying whole-bean or ground coffee, look or organic, Fair Trade, Bird Friendly, or Rainforest Alliance certification seals. The coffee farms that produce the coffee practice sustainable agriculture to preserve or restore ecosystems in the rainforest.

Just one household switching to certified coffee a year is enough to protect 9,200 square feet of rainforest.

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Green Tip – Buy Baby Food In Glass Jars

Buy your baby’s food in glass jars next time you head to the Market.

Each year, parents send tons of used baby food containers to the landfill.  Buying glass jars can be be recycled or re-used in projects around the house.   The mini glass jars can be used to hold buttons or screws or used in craft projects to hold paint or glue.

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Why Go Organic?

For Your Health!

Organic production helps protect your health, your family’s health and future generations.

For the Planet!

Organic farming never uses toxic  pesticides.  This helps keep the air you breath,  the water you drink and bathe in, and soil where you grow your veggies clean.

It’s Easy!

Almost every food you eat has an affordable organic alternative.  There are many non-food products are also being grown organically and locally as well. Visit your farmers market or shop local to see what your town has to offer.

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Day 3: Project Home Organization

Well, on to day 3 of my home organization.

I normally shop for 2 weeks of groceries and only run back to the store for staples such as bread, milk and eggs in-between trips.  Well, that’s the plan anyways.  Sometimes I decide I don’t want whatever I’ve planned for a meal or have a craving for something sweet, so I allot  for those trips as well.

This week when I brought home my groceries, I just knew it was time to clean out the pantry!  I didn’t have room for any of the new items and the shelves were overflowing and I had no idea what was in there.  I do straighten it all the time, but I don’t get in there and pull everything out and take inventory of what I have.  Boy, did I have a lot of stuff I didn’t know about!

6 bags of egg noodles, 3 boxes of elbow macaroni, 2 half empty bags of flower, 2 bottles of canola oil ( I don’t even use this!), numerous packets of taco seasoning, an overflowing recycle bin and lots and lots more!

I whipped it all out and started fresh.  I did not go out and buy anything to help make organizing easier or more efficient. Later on I’ll tackle the expense of nice bins for cereal, crackers, pasta and such and the Mabel’s Labels Household Labels. But not today!  Just good old fashioned elbow grease and organization skills.

Since I tackled the pantry, it just made sense to organize the spice cabinet as well.

Much better!  I feel like a new women.  I don’t know about you, but when things are neat and orderly, I feel much more calm and clear AND  I know where things are and what I have.

Next project:  Entry Way!

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Project Home Office: HELP!

Since I’ve become much more active on my computer now that I’m blogging, doing finances, checking email, and shopping researching, I really need a much better way of organizing my work space.  Here’s what I have…

And here’s what I’d like to have….

Pottery Barn Office System with a sleek, new laptop.  Well,  what I would  really like to have is  a brand new laptop to take around the house and on the road with me AND  a new desktop for my nice new desk.

Here’s the space I have to put a new desk into….

This is the family room area off of my kitchen.  See that big cabinet in the corner?  That’s my area that I work in.  Yes, it’s an okay setup, but it’s really not functional.  I have paperwork, bills and  files everywhere because I don’t have one place to keep it all.  I have it in plastic bags, in drawers, on shelves and stuffed into about every possible place you can imagine.  I’m always late on bills and misplace important documents all the time.  I TRY to be  organized, but when you don’t have ONE dedicated place to keep everything, inevitably it gets lost.

So, my goal is to purchase a new desk system and computer in the near future with a  no-fail organizational system for my life.  Sounds easy, huh?  Well, not for me. I need your help!  I need your best tips to make my home office (or corner) more functional and organized.   I’d love to see photos of your home office space and  to hear about what computer you use and why you love it!

Send me your best tips, tricks and photos and I’ll feature them right here!  Then, when the time comes and I break my husband down buy a new set-up and get organized, you’ll be the first to know!  I’ll publish all the best advice right here and share it with you all!

Make sure to leave me your tips below AND email me your photos at kasey at allthingsmamma dot com

Well, what are you waiting for???  Get snappin’!

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Green Tip – Farmers Markets

Spend the morning at your local Farmer’s Market!

Showing support for your local farmers by shopping at your local farmer’s market is great thing!  You’ll find a ton of locally grown veggies and fruit, baked goods, flowers and plants.  The produce is grown locally on farms and harvested at the peak of freshness so you know you’re serving the very best you can to your family and most of the time it’s organically grown. Taking your kids to the farmer’s market is also a  great teaching opportunity too.  They’ll learn the value of money, how to pick the best produce and the importance of shopping local!  What a great family activity too!

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Greening Your Kitchen

Greening the kitchen doesn’t have to be a daunting task. Below are some simple steps from Sara Snow that you can take in the kitchen to lessen your impact on the environment.

• Set up an easy-to-locate recycling center and get the whole family in on the game. Using chalk and chalkboard paint, label old buckets or bins to make sorting recyclables easy

• Save 5,000 to 7,000 gallons of water each year by foregoing the pre-rinse and sticking your dishes straight into the dishwasher. To conserve even more water, never run a dishwasher that isn’t full.

• Keep leftovers in glass or ceramic bowls and store them covered with Reynolds Wrap Foil from 100% Recycled Aluminum

• Cool leftovers before you store them in the refrigerator. For optimum efficiency, keep your fridge full, but not overly stuffed.

• Reuse old cloth or heavy-weight plastic bags when you go to the grocery store. Because many stores now offer incentives like “a nickel a bag,” you’ll save money as well as precious resources.

Greening the kitchen also applies to the foods you eat.

• Switch to organically grown and produced foods to reduce your daily dietary pesticide exposure by as much as 98 percent

• Wondering where to start when it comes to organics for your kids? Pick those foods that they eat the most of and those that pose the greatest pesticide exposure risk according to the Organic-Center’s “pocket guide.”

• Shop farmers’ markets or join a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) for fresh and local foods that are nutrient and flavor rich, but light on the “long-distance footprint”

• Load up on fruits and vegetables when they’re in season in your area. Bag and freeze them so you can enjoy locally-grown foods even in the dead of winter.

• Shop the perimeter of the grocery story for the healthiest and freshest foods, including fresh produce, dairy, meats and frozen goods

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Enjoying Family Time Each Week

Sundays seem to have turned into our Family Day of the Week.  We always have a fun day whether it is raining or sunny.  It’s nice to get a start on the week by relaxing with the kids in the backyard, having a nice  dinner  that isn’t rushed  and finishing the evening off by taking a walk or going to the park.  Here’s a look at our evening…

Big Sis entertains her baby brother while mom and dad prep for dinner.

Dad, the BBQ Master…grilling up some yummy salmon.

A little swing set time.

Big sis and little bro love to slide together.

I  try to get my to-do list all crossed off on Saturday so that I can enjoy Sunday with just my family.  Sunday isn’t always completely free, but  I do try to make sure the afternoon and evening is.

What did you do today?  Did you enjoy a little stress-free time outside with your family?  Leave me your tips in the comment section on how you make your family time special each week.  Do you designate a day or an hour just for your family.? Do you have pizza each week with the phones off?  Is Friday movie night?  Let me know!    I’ll then  put together a list for next Sunday of all  your tips to enjoy family time  each week to make our lives a little easier and less stressful.

So, leave me your best ones!  I’m sure we could all use a little help in this area!

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