Making life easier

It's been a long time since I said I would start writing more (January 2017 to be exact).  Well, I guess I can throw that resolution out. Well, like most resolutions, it's never to late to start over.


My 11-year old is obsessed with life hacks.  He hasn't tried many...mostly because I won't let him, but I am secretly obsessed with them too.  There are a few hacks that I've tried that have been life savers, and other which have made life tougher or messier.  My blog post is going to be about some life hacks that I love to use!

Binder Clip Cord Holder
The first one that I use at home and at school is the binder clip cord organizer.  I have one large clip that I use in my living room and one in my bedroom next to my bed.



Strawberry corer
I use this strawberry hack when I need strawberries for a salad or if I want to cut them up for snacks.  It gets a little messy but it works! The best part is that you don't lose as much of the fruit that you would using a knife.  

Ketchup Cups
This ketchup hack is my kids' favorite.  
You can get so much more ketchup in the cups and dunking nuggets is easier!

Zip Lock Ice Pack
I haven't used this one for a while, but it's a hack to make an ice pack out of a zip lock baggie.  All you need is: 1 part rubbing alcohol and 3 parts water (and freeze of course).  It stays very cold and doesn't freeze solid so it's easy to use.  

Car Key Holder 
I don't have a picture of it, but I have another hack that uses a binder clip.  I have a large binder clip clipped to my air vent in my car and I hang my school keys on this clip with a carabiner (spell check doesn't like this word...it's one of those things mountain climbers use)

Cupcake Liners/Cup Holders
This is another car hack..putting cupcake liners in the cup holders.  I started this after cleaning up a sticky mess of orange soda that had soaked through a cup.  (I know, gross, but in the summer my car is a mess).  If I had these at the time, I could have just removed the top liner.  These are a game changer if you have kids!

Zipper Hack
I have a pair of pants that has a silly zipper that will NOT stay up.  I found this hack and not I can wear the jeans again! All you need is a key ring!



I know there are more hacks that I've used but can't think of them right now.  Please share any hack that you've used, or know that others have used. 

A Place for...Homework!!

So, I renamed my blog "A Place for Everything".  Originally, that meant this was a place for all of my thoughts.  Now, I am thinking I could tie in some organizational tips.  

We have a VERY small home and have accumulated a LOT of stuff over the past 11+ years.  As the boys get bigger, I find that my house always looks messy.  Although, it usually is, my mom and MIL always remind me that it always looks worse since the house is small and we don't always have room for everything.

One project I knew I had to complete was to find a place for doing homework.  My oldest has always struggled with school, and last semester was tough.  We would have all sorts of problems that would hinder the homework progress.  Sometimes, the computer wasn't charged, or we didn't have a place to plug it in (old house = 2 prong outlets). Sometimes we didn't have any pencils, or at least no sharpened ones.  Mostly we just didn't have a good place to do homework.  It was usually done on the floor, couch, or in bed.  I was constantly thinking about how to change it, but didn't know how...until Christmas vacation. 

I had a moment of amazing clarity and all of a sudden, I knew what I needed to do.  I posted to the local swap site that I was looking for a small desk or writing table.  My friend had a brand new desk for sale for $20. Step ONE...complete. Connor put the desk together for me and it fit perfectly in the space I was planning to use it in.  Step TWO was getting everything organized. I started with the computer, since that was the most important piece of this project.  If you look closely at the bottom of this picture, I plugged in a surge protector and secured it to the desk with zip ties. (best organizational tool ever). It's not hidden, but it's also not getting tripped over. I plugged in the phone, answering machine, computer, and our charging station.    

Step TREE was just the finishing touches.  We have a charging station that I secured to the desk with one of the "sticky things" from a command hook. After plugging in all of the phone/kindle/IPad cords I realized that I needed a way to "control" all of the cords.  I needed to go to the dollar store anyway, so I found a small basket that I could hang from the desk.  Done!

As I mentioned earlier, pencils were one of our issues.  I've always had this cute basket from Thirty-One, I just didn't really have a good place to put it...until now!  Rylan and I went to school to get some good pencils from my classroom stash (self purchased), and used my electric pencil sharpener to make sure we had a good stock of sharp pencils. Side note...I use old Crystal Light containers to sort/store pencils and pens. I'm a teacher...I never throw anything away, I just reuse them!

The only thing our little desk needed was a lamp.  I just so happened to have an old lamp in the basement that fit perfectly in this spot. Both boys have done homework here and, even if the computer gets moved...like when I blog on the couch...it always has a spot to go back to!!  A new homework station and it only cost $21!!  

A New Year, New Goals

One of my goals for 2017 is to read and write more, and I don't mean read or write things required for my job.  I want to read and write for pleasure.  Another goal for 2017, which is also most people's goal, is to exercise more.  I have found a way to combine two of my three goals.  I had a book on my kindle that I downloaded last summer, hoping to read poolside while the kids swam.  Didn't happen. As a member of audible.com, I get one free audio book per month. It just so happened that they had the audio version of the book I already had downloaded.  I have never really enjoyed audio books, as I get distracted easily.  Last week I decided to try to listen/read my book while walking on the treadmill.  It was awesome.  I walked/listened/read for an hour while Rylan was at wrestling practice. Problem...solved!

Now on to my goal to write more.  As most people know, I like to post on Facebook about my kids, my job, my vacations, my little side business, and anything on my mind.  So, technically, I'm already writing.  I decided that this blog would be a good way for me to write about things all in one place, and not always on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.  I don't know exactly what I will blog about, maybe just musings that I have or inspirational things that have happened to me.

Even if nobody reads my blog at all, it will be a way to get the thoughts out of my head.  I am constantly "drafting" things in my head before I post anywhere online.  Often, I start a post and it's just too much for social media.  This will be my place for my thoughts.

Happy New Year and here's to reaching goals in 2017!!