Snowmen with no snow!

Snowmen with no snow!I loving Pintrest as I talked about here and I wanted to share this super cute snow man idea. My kids have been so devastated by the lack of snow and near spring like weather. They actually cried the morning they woke up and the one day snow was melting! Poor kiddos! So when I found this, I was so excited. Now to go through my junk stuff I’m saving just for such projects and hope I have enough white lids!! Maybe I’ll see what I can find through Freecycle too. She has a ton of cute recycle drafts using bottle caps. I am hoping to do a few of them for our winter unit and handicrafts. This may not be a traditional Charlotte Mason handcraft, but making beautiful and cute things out of trash has to have value in it somewhere!

Decluttering

Decluttering- the word it self means different things for different people. And currently it isn't even found in most dictionaries. But as a country that has more things that we know what to do with(as shown by the amount of storage units in the country), it has become a cry by all the organizing experts out there. Flylady and Peter Walsh (here too) my favorites among them.

Decluttering for me means that I don’t have to keep something that I don’t love. Decluttering takes a certain attitude and decision making skills. You need to decide that you REALLY want to have space more than stuff. And it’s a process. Sometimes a long process. Having a friend help you declutter is a path to success. I’ve had several friends who have donated their time and energy to get the junk out of our house. And it’s so freeing! Last night I purged the carport and rearranged somethings from the attic and carport. As a result I have three piles to sort through in the carport(books to organize, one last pile to do a fast sort, and things that need to go into the house. I’m hoping to get that done this weekend. But the other thing that I have(drum roll please….) is a full recycling and full trash can. These are large units and mine are FULL!! And I intend to fill them up some more as I continue my quest this week and year! To be free of all things I don’t choose to have in my life, physically and otherwise! (guilt for not cleaning is being purged too!)

Stretching the pennies with Freecycle

Being frugal while homeschooling isn’t always easy. As a busy mom, time is pretty valuable commodity and in the system of life you can buy time with money by getting premade materials, and other things that make life more smoothly. But even though many times homemakers have more time than money, there is a limitation to what I can make for my family. And if you are living in a small space you sometimes need to switch out your items frequently as children’s focuses change. So how can you bless others while keeping your house tidy of unused junk clutter? And at the same time how can you find the things you need without spending lots of time and energy and gas at yard sales searching for jus the right thing? In comes Freecycle. It is not in every area and some areas are more active than others. What exactly is Freecycle?

Freecycle is a group of people who live in a general local area and they share an online bulletin board where items are posted and generally it’s a first come first serve place where if a person posts an item the first person to respond and pick it up will get it. Our local group is on Yahoo groups. Other groups are in different places. If you search for the name of your city with Freecycle you can find a group near you. I love it! We have received a couch for our school room (comfy Ikea couch with TWO covers!!) that has been great and didn’t have to spend anything on it! A true blessing! I have given away countless items that we have outgrown or don’t need any more. I have gotten homeschooling items, diaper items and so many things that have bless our family. In fact our first foray into cloth diapers was because someone was giving away 80 prefolds in two sizes and a diaper pail!

I heard someone say once the reason the thrift store in our area are so bad(really, they are!!) is because of the high activity rate of the area in Freecycle. So check it out.

And if you are posting you, as the poster, have the choice whether you want to choose the first person who responds, the person who picks up the fastest (ask for a specific time for pick up from the responder), or a specific criteria( charity, someone with a need etc). It has been a great thing for our family and weather you are looking for items or are searching for something or want to get rid of some things and bless someone else’s life Freecycle is a great way to do it!

New Years Goals

I already briefly posted about my New Year Resolution and I really haven't gotten them all figured out yet. But basically it is to become more organized in physical, thought and life.

And this year I want to actually follow through with my wishes. So writing things down and then following through. Someone famous somewhere said if you write down a goal you have a high percentage(like 95% of doing it.) And that was with simply writing it down and never revisiting it! Pretty powerful stuff. I’ve gotten other ideas rattling in my brain as to specifics for goals in each of the 5 areas of my life(physical, spiritual, relationships, work(homeschool), personal, ) But for now I wanted to get this quick post off to write down I want to be a “follow thorugh-er” and more organized this year!

Willow

PS After a bit of searching I found the study I was thinking about here

Pintrest

I’m really loving Pintrest. It has opened up a new world of organization for me. I have been able save links that I find and save them and know where they are! The old style book marks really didn’t work for me! But posting a picture works great with my visual mind!

There is also a search function on Pintrest. I have searched for gluten recipes and homeschool ideas and some many awesome crafts- that I HAVE ACTUALLY done!! It has also been a great place to reconnect with old friends. It has been really fun.

Pintrest has also helped me to be ORGANIZED!!(always a bonus for busy moms!). I can find some website on line I want to use and instead of leaving the tab open and hoping I can do it before I forget and leave the window open for hours(and days and weeks and nearly crash the computer) I just pin it in the specific folder I like and it’s always there when I need it!

It’s been awesome for homeschooling ideas I find! I have actually FOLLOWED through(big problem of mine) on quite a bit of things because I know where to find it. I totally recommend it! If you would like an invite just let me know and I’ll send you one! For me this is working really well with my New Years Resolution to be more organized in life and thought and my use of Mind Organization for Moms. Thought I would share!

Willow