Christmas Preparation: Budget Planning

Maybe Christmas she thought doesn't have to make me poor...maybe this Christmas perhaps I should budget more. Dave Ramsey once said, "A budget is telling your money where to go instead of wondering where it went." There is no denying Christmas is expensive, but it doesn't have to leave you poor this year. Creating a budget, along with saving throughout the year, is an effective way to have a wonderful Christmas without spending a fortune. Use the gift planning template, menu template, and decorations template in the Christmas Planner template posted in February. It is April so I don't blame you if you don't have a complete grasp on gifts, menu, or decorations needed for December, but take what you do know already and start filling out your templates. 

Last month I posted the two ideas I have for handmade gifts, but I don't really have specific ideas for everyone else on my list. Yes I know sizes, favorite colors, sports teams, scents, etc., but I have yet to see how it will all fit together. This indecision can lead to an abundance in gifts for one person and none for another, but I have two tips for combating the gift and spending overload. Tip #1: Set a number of gifts per person. A few years ago my church put forth a 3 gift rule. The 3 gifts are representative of the gold, frankincense, and myrrh given to Jesus as a baby. One gift was to be the gift the person really wanted, another gift was something that would benefit the person spiritually, and the last gift was something the person would wear. Obviously you could tweak this a bit to fit your needs better, but the idea is great for keeping track of gift giving. Tip #2: Set an overall budget for gift giving and then divide the total into smaller increments for individual gift budgets. If your total budget is $500 then allot $300 for immediate family, $90 for relatives, $90 for friends, and $20 for emergency gifts or work parties. Stick to the budget your set and keep your receipts to keep track of your total spending. 

Tip #2 should be implemented for menu and decoration planning too. These are more easily planned in advance and more easily budgeted for. Ingredients like canned food can be bought and stored in advance. Shop sales in advance. This also means knowing the best sale price for a product. Save money on decorations by recycling old Christmas decorations. If you want gold Christmas ball ornaments then take gold spray paint to last year's red ornaments. Consider making your own decorations from recycled materials you already have at home before rushing out to buy more.

52 Week Money Challenge

Even budgeting and recycling materials will leave you broke if you don't start saving now. You can set a certain amount of money aside each week or month for Christmas or a certain percentage of your paycheck. We are already 12 weeks into this year, but the 52 week money saving challenge is a great way to put away money throughout the year. If you would rather do a percentage of your check then I recommend saving 10% of your first week's check for gifts and next paycheck 5% for menu and 5% for decorations. Obviously, adjust the percentages as needed.

Have your own tips for saving money this Christmas? Be sure to leave your tips in the comments below and stay tuned for next month's Christmas preparation post. 

Home Organization and Design: Spring Cleaning

Spring cleaning is an essential to Spring, but one of those things that most people hate doing. Spring cleaning is by definition a chore, but it doesn't have to be a complete torture. This month start spring cleaning with making your own lavender linen spray and a massive closet clean out then spend the next 30 days doing the quick cleaning tips listed here. 30 days might sound like a long spring cleaning, but each tip is only 10-15 minutes and can easily be accommodated into your busy schedule.

Start spring cleaning off right with lavender linen spray. Linens will smell like spring and you will be motivated to clear out your winter clutter. To make your lavender linen spray you will need: 1)lavender essential oil, 2)water, and 3)a spray bottle. Fill your spray bottle with water and mix 2 teaspoons of the lavender essential oil with the water. Your lavender linen spray is now ready to use. Using a tiny amount of the essential oil gives you a fragrant smell without staining your lines. This linen spray also makes a great gift for housewarming parties. Lavender linen spray is a complimentary amenity in all the finest hotels so spray your linens and imagine you're about to set sail on a spring vacation. 

Finish your transition to spring by cleaning out your closet of all of your winter clothes. Start folding and storing away your sweaters and long sleeves. I recommend leaving out a few light jackets and/or cardigans for chilly spring mornings. Unpack and hang up the short sleeve tops and capris. For those readers who don't have enough clothes to store spring, winter, and summer clothes separately consider reorganizing your closet so your spring wardrobe is the most easily accessed. This simple task will save you lots of time each morning.

Spring cleaning doesn't have to be an awful experience. Do these simple tasks everyday and you will find yourself enjoying spring cleaning and the daily stress of life melting away. Spring cleaning DIYs you want to see? Comment below and I will feature your spring cleaning DIYs in future posts. 

Organizational Tips: Scrapbook Part 3

If you're like me then you have a lot of scrapbooking projects going on at the same time and these projects can begin to take up more than their fair share of space. Scrapbooking can quickly take over your work space between the papers, pictures, stickers, and embellishments for each project. Due to the delicate nature of scrapbook supplies I am overly zealous in organizing my current projects. I only have 2 tips for organizing current projects, but feel free to post your ideas in the comments below.

Tip #1: Invest in page protectors (the size that fits your scrapbook) or 12 x 12 Ziploc storage bags. I personally prefer the page protectors because the pages fit easily into your scrapbook and can be used when your page is finished, but the page protectors can become pricey. Put your scrapbook paper, pictures, stickers, etc. for each project into a page protector or storage bag. The protectors can be put back into your scrapbook while the storage bags can be stored in a 12 x 12 scrapbook box.

Tip #2: Label your projects for easy recognition. If you tend to accumulate a lot of pieces for each scrapbook project then I suggest labeling the bags and/or page protectors for each project for easy access. The label you use should probably be temporary if you are using page protectors.

Scrapbook project storage is fairly easy if you are willing to invest the time and money into the necessary materials. If you invest in the page protectors and/or storage bags ahead of time then you will save yourself chaos while scrapbooking and protect your supplies at the same time. 

Organizational Tips: Scrapbook Part 2

Week 2 of this month's organization tips is all about storing scrapbook paper, stickers, and embellishments. Like most of my craft supplies I tend to accumulate lots of papers and stickers along with various other "souvenirs" from trips. I don't tend to use embellishments, such as brads or flowers, but many people do and so I will include tips for storing embellishments. Before we begin organizing and storing your stickers, papers, and embellishments, gather all of the materials and begin sorting. 

Tip #1: Sort your papers, stickers, and embellishments by theme and/or color. Grouping your supplies by theme makes it easier to find when you want to scrapbook. Depending on how many types of paper you have you might have many piles right now. The paper, stickers, and embellishments you are going to use on projects soon should be pulled now. Like the pictures last week you can set these aside and next week's organization will address these items. 

Tip #2: Decide if you want to store your scrapbook papers and stickers together or separately. I like to store all of my scrapbook papers by theme in a spare scrapbook. Stickers that match the theme are then stored in pockets or page protectors in front of the themed paper. Paper is sorted by color and then theme. I have seen some people sort the paper alphabetically: blue, Christmas, Easter, green, etc. There are various ways to store scrapbook paper and stickers. Scrapbook paper can be stored in folders or in trays while stickers can be stored in a binder in page protectors. There are many DIYs for making your own scrapbook paper storage instead of buying the pre-made paper storage. 

Tip #3: Store embellishments, like you would store buttons or beads, in small clear containers. I love these storage bins, that are divided, from the Home Depot. I use these bins to store buttons, appliqué pieces, and embellishments for crochet/knit/sewing projects, but these bins would work great for scrapbook embellishments. Oriental Trading actually sales their embellishments packs in similar bins for storage. If you don't have many embellishments consider a smaller bin or if you have a lot of one embellishment consider larger clear jars. 

Organizational Tips: Scrapbook Part 1

This month I am focusing each week's organizational tips on scrapbooking. Each week will focus on a different aspect of scrapbooking from photo and project storage to scheduling time to scrapbook. I am not an avid photographer, but many of my friends, family, coworkers, and fellow crafters are with hundreds of pictures being taken every couple of month. While not all photos being taken on their cameras are worth printing and scrapbooking, many are and like them I have these photos stored on various devices. Photos, whether they are worthy or not, end up taking a lot of space on cameras, phones, tablets, computers, and various other locations in print form. Arguably, photos like anything else, can feel overwhelming when they begin to accumulate. Photos, unlike other items we tend to accumulate, can exist in two forms print and digital. Digital photos can then exist on memory cards, USB drives, CDs, DVDs, phones, tablets, and computers. 

There are many ways to organize photos so these are a few of my favorite organizational tips for photos, print and digital. Tip #1: Gather all of your printed pictures and organize your pictures according to theme and year. Pictures you intend to scrapbook soon should be pulled out and grouped according to your scrapbook page. I will post tips for organizing these photos in week 3. There are a few ways to organize the rest of the photos. The first is a photo box with dividers for years and themes. The second is an accordion style photo folder that is predivided. I use the photo folder for photos likely to be scrapbooked first. This photo storage works ok for me, but I am looking for storage that is resistant to fire and weather damage. This concern over fire and weather damage is why many of my photos are also loaded onto my computer and occasionally on CDs as well. 

Tip #2: Organize digital photos into folders on your computer by year and theme. Pictures on my computer are organized under a large folder labeled Pictures with several other folders labeled inside there. These pictures aren't perfectly organized, but I am happy with the progress being made. The sub folders in the Pictures folder have titles such as Christmas 2008, Easter 2013, and SF Anniversary Trip 2011. I can then organize all of the Christmas sub folders into a larger folder along with other folders for anniversary trips, holidays, and special events. At one point I had organized my photos by the people in the pictures, but this wasn't an efficient means of organization. Bonus Tip: Upload your photos to an online website, like Shutterfly or Photobucket, or load on a USB Drive to protect your pictures from human error and computer crashes.

Tip #3: Organize your USB drives, CDs, and DVDs that contain photos with your print photos. This will save you time when you're looking for a specific print. There are great DIYs for organizing your USB Drives, if you want to see tutorial for one of these DIYs comment below. 

Organizational Tips: Kid's Art Work

Children are wonderful, for so many reasons, but especially for their love of gifts. Children love to create art and pickup little "gifts", which they then eagerly share with the adults in their life. You have probably accumulated numerous pieces of artwork and/or little gifts whether you have kids of your own, have little ones in your family or life in general, or are a teacher of young children. These organization tips are mainly for parents, but can be useful for anyone with young children in their lives. 

Tip#1: Choose your child's favorite artwork or your favorite piece of their artwork and put the pictures in frames that match your decor. Depending on preference you can create an art gallery or hang the artwork in your office. Don't want to display the artwork in frames? Display the pictures in magnetic frames on your refrigerator.

Tip#2: Create files for each of your children. Throughout the year put their artwork in the files. Try your best to record the date, the child's age, and the child's description of their artwork.

Tip#3: Once a year have the child go through their artwork and purge the unwanted art. Choose a number to keep ahead of time. Make a scrapbook of your child's kept artwork. The description of the artwork will be a great keepsake in the future. An alternative to this is photos of the artwork and then creating a photo book on Shutterfly or Snapfish.

Bonus Tip: Photos of your child's artwork can be made into cards or photo gifts for family. Custom thank you cards can be made for each child using their favorite artwork. Parents of young children can type or hand write a standard thank you message and have the child practice "signing" their name. Relatives would love receiving this thank you card.

If you have more ideas of how to store children's mementos or artwork please share your ideas below. Areas of organization you want to see more of in the future? Comment below and I will include tips for those areas in a future post. 

Christmas Preparation: Handmade Gift Planning

The little bear elves are busy at work on Christmas gifts in BooBear's Workshop. Wouldn't that be nice if elves, bear or otherwise, took over making handmade gifts for you? Well until then it is just me and my busy fingers working away on gifts for Christmas. Every year I make at least one handmade gift, usually it is at least 5 homemade gifts, but poor planning leads to a chaotic December. Working well into Christmas Eve just trying to finish your handmade gifts while your family wonders where you have wandered off to or why there are no gifts under the tree from you is not how anyone wants to spend Christmas. 

Last month I posted templates for a Christmas planner with the promise I would show how to use the templates throughout the year. This month I am showing you how to use the homemade gift planning templates. If you haven't done so already download the template and print it out. Take your favorite colored pen and get ready to brainstorm. I have been brainstorming for awhile and this year I am planning on making a zebra 3pc pajama set and a men's crochet sweater. I will likely add to this list, but these gifts are going to take the most time.

Handmade Gifts

Now that you know what you want to make, it is time to start planning. How long will it take you to make each item? Error on the side of caution when deciding the length of time. If you usually make blankets in a month then plan for two months, giving yourself plenty of time for errors and life to get in the way. Once you know how much time it will take plan out time to work on the project using the monthly calendars. Depending on your level of interest in the project you might want to start and finish the project right away or you might want to procrastinate and finish the project later in the year. Whether you decide now or later make a plan and stick to the time. If you need to reschedule time to work on the project then reschedule, but stick to the new scheduled time.

Know your project and the materials needed to complete the project. Record the materials needed using the template provided in the Christmas planner. If you don't want to purchase all of the materials now then make sure to record what materials you have already purchased. Depending on the materials used I recommend purchasing the materials now when you know where they are and how much you need. Certain materials are seasonal or temporary features at the craft store. These materials should be purchased as soon as you know you need them because they will not be available all year long.

The best thing you can do in homemade gift planning is making a plan and sticking to your plan all year long. As the year progresses I will post pictures of my progress on my own homemade gifts. The pictures will most likely be shown on my Instagram account @BooBearDesigns. Be sure to follow me on Instagram for the latest pictures of my designs and inspiration.

Comment below with your ideas for homemade gifts this Christmas, your favorite homemade gifts that have been given to you, or the homemade gift you made that was the best received by your recipient. 

Home Organization and Design: Seasonal Decor

Opening Day for the Oakland Athletics is right around the corner, March 31st, and I am so excited to write this month's home organization post on my new A's room decor. If you haven't notices I am a huge sport's fan and each season I try to incorporate my favorite teams into my home decor. One day I will have my own Sports Cave and won't have to incorporate my sports memorabilia into my living space.

The first project is a Stomper pillow pet. For those who don't know Stomper is the A's mascot and an elephant, which makes him easily the best mascot in the MLB. I originally made the elephant pillow pet pattern for my niece, but then altered the pattern to fit my needs, Stomper pillow pet. I love how the pillow pet turned out and know my family will be asking me to make many more Stomper pillow pets in the future. 

The second project is "jersey" pillows, well pillow covers that look like jerseys. While I have many A's jerseys I don't have any that I'm willing to cut up to make into pillow covers. Of course there is always eBay and thrift stores, but I haven't had the time to search for jerseys. Besides I like the idea of make my own "jerseys" to use because then I can personalize each cover using my favorite players or using my own last name with my favorite number. I found fabric that most closely resembled jersey material and then ironed on letter and number appliques. I considered painting on the "jersey", but I thought the appliques looked more like a jersey. I might make a painted pillow in the future to compare the two techniques.

Baseball Field Cork Board

The final project I made was a baseball field cork board for organizing. The green felt pieces I used to make the field are adhered to the cork board using a temporary adhesive so I can redecorate the cork board at a different time. As you can see the design is simple, but the outcome is really cute. This cork board design is a really great gift for the sports lovers in your life, especially for keeping little ones organized. Be sure to comment below if you want me to post a tutorial for this cork board design.

I am really happy with how these projects turned out and am excited to share more baseball DIYs in the future. If there are any projects you want to see, baseball or otherwise, be sure to leave a comment below. I love hearing from my readers and am always up for trying new projects.

Organizational Tips: Gifts

The last few months I have talked a lot about gift giving planning as well as gift ideas that are quick and easy to make ahead of time for last minute emergency gifts, but I haven't talked about how to store/organize these gifts. This week's tips are are devoted to organizing and storing gifts. I have gifts for specific people in my life, birthdays or other celebrations, as well as emergency gifts for unexpected events. These gifts are stored together while gifts for Christmas are stored separately. I store Christmas gifts separately because the gifts only really need to be accessed once a year while other gifts are constantly being used throughout the year. If you have a large family consider storing each person's gifts separately.

Tip #1: Store gifts in storage bins, boxes, and baskets. Choose your storage so that it matches other storage in your craft area. If you have snoopers then blending it with your storage is great, but also consider not labeling the boxes or bins. I chose photo boxes that matched my craft storage. Currently I have 4 photo boxes devoted to gift storage: family gifts that are small, emergency gifts for unexpected celebrations or events, charity donations, and Etsy sales. Granted charity donations and Etsy sales are not traditionally gifts, but I have stored them with my gifts because I access these boxes the same amount and they are typically the same type of things stored. 

Optional Tip: Large gifts can be stored in larger bins or baskets, but don't go overboard. The majority of my gift storage is meant for smaller gifts because that is the majority of the gifts I ended up storing for long periods of time. However, frequently some aspect of the gift is usually larger than what will fit in my photo box. I don't really have storage set aside for large gifts and store the gifts as I accumulate them, mainly because I usually purchase large gifts closer to the birthday or celebration. That said, if you have the space and the need, then store larger gifts in bins or baskets, but don't purchase too many boxes.

Tip #2: Create an inventory of your gifts or items. Depending on your needs or preferences, type or write a simple inventory of items in each boxes. Include who the gift is for if you think you might forget. Finally include an envelope for gift receipts. This may not be necessary for you, but it is helpful if you have lots of store bought gifts. If you tend to purchase gifts in advance then be aware that gift receipts are only good for a set amount of days before items can only be returned for store credit. 

Optional, but helpful tip: Have many different gifts saved as emergency gifts. This isn't really an organization tip, but will help save you stress throughout the year. Personally, I never had the budget to just go out and shop for emergency gifts, but I have also never had a shortage of gifts. I keep my emergency gift box stocked through reward programs and choice shopping during annual sales events. If you have extra time on your hands, or even 5 minutes once a week, online surveys are great for accumulating gift cards or small cash rewards that can be stored away or used to purchase gifts. My favorite online survey, shopping rewards, and participation points website is MyPoints. I have been using MyPoints for the last few years and have been rewarded with many many gift cards, including Starbucks, Macy's, Red Lobster, and the Rainforest Cafe. The total amount claimed, between all of the gift cards, is something close to $100.

With MyPoints I am rewarded through online shopping, survey taking, and general participation in clubs. 

The other online shopping reward company I love is eBates. eBates gives you cash back for shopping online through their website. Unlike MyPoints, eBates gives rewards in the form of a check or PayPal. 

I am really bad about just cashing the check and spending the money, but if you can resist the temptation then eBates checks are great for spending on emergency gifts. 

I know there are people reading this and wondering what gifts I have in my emergency gift box and what gifts make great last minute gifts so hopefully I can help answer those questions. The gifts in my box are headphones with bag (I have about 6 pairs), iTunes gift card ($10), Victoria's Secret Fantasy lotion and perfume set, bath salts, and an assortment of beanies. The headphones were actually free gifts that I received when I ordered off of  the Greater Good Network's websites: Animal Rescue Site, Breast Cancer Site, The Hunger Site, The Literacy Site, Autism Site, and The Veteran's Site. These websites frequently offer promotions with purchase that would make great gifts. I have received the headphones, socks, coin purses, bracelets, necklaces, ornaments, and a purse as free promotional items. The Victoria's Secret Fantasy lotion and perfume set were left over from a larger set of perfumes and lotions, which I used as gifts at Christmas. Emergency gifts are any small gifts that you would like to be gifted as well as small gifts associated with specific interests. The iTunes gift card and headphones will make a great gift for someone who loves music while the bath salts, lotion, and perfume are a great gift for someone who likes to be pampered (pair with a gift certificate for a spa service, massage, or manicure for a more luxurious gift). 

I like keeping beanies, booties, and receiving blankets as emergency gifts as well because you never know when you will need a baby gift. For instance my coworker, who I met when she was already 7 months pregnant, had her baby early, which meant that I wouldn't have had enough time to make a nice baby gift had it not been for the baby gifts in my emergency gift box. These gifts also work great for the baby shower you forgot about or the unexpected invitation to a baby shower you weren't planning on attending. If you don't have a lot of babies in your life, but do have many young children or soon-to-be recent graduates, then something similar will work for you too. For young children, accumulate a lot of party favor type gifts, such as crayons, coloring books, and games, as well as dolls, Legos, and cars. Obviously for a child you knew well you would find more personalized gifts, but small toys work great for that child you weren't planning on gifting to. For graduates I suggest gift cards and small items that are either functional for college or sentimental. Young adults are very adamant about picking out their own items, especially for college, so I wouldn't suggest too many functional items, but you could always purchase laundry bags with silly sayings and a roll of quarters. Great sentimental gifts include Dr. Seuss' "Oh the Places You'll Go" with an encouraging note written to them inside or a collection of your own favorite recipes you made in college. 

When I graduated high school, and actually college too, most of my gifts were impersonal in the form of cash or gift cards with more personal sentiments expressed in the form of cards, but I did receive one sentimental gift, which was a College Humor book of college experiences, and would have enjoyed receiving similar gifts. Everyone has their own preferences though so don't feel bad if you just want to stock up on various cards and gift cards as emergency gifts for graduation, or any other event you may have to attend. 

Organizational Tips: Lunch Planning

Last week I posted my tips for a more efficient work week, which included meal planning and snack organization. This week I thought I would expand upon these tips with some ideas on how to organize lunches. I work full time and don't have a lot of time available to eat lunch. When you don't have a lot of time to eat lunch it is especially important to plan ahead and pack your lunch. I have spent plenty of lunches eating food I had found leftover in my fridge or pantry, food that was mismatched, and not really a nutritional lunch. If you're like me and have eaten more than one hurried lunch then you could continue to live this way or you could get organized and start eating nutritional lunches. 

Lunch Planning Template

My motivation, beyond eating a decent lunch, is my desire to eat healthy to correspond with my workouts, which I just recently started actively doing again. Tip #1: Plan out your lunches for the week. Whether your goal is to eat healthy or not, the first step is to plan out your lunches for the week or weeks, depending on how regularly you shop. I attempt to shop at least once a week, but I know some individuals and family who shop every two weeks. I know that lunch planning isn't always easy, but I have made a monthly lunch planning template. The template, shown left, can be downloaded and printed at your convenience. There are spaces for a lunch everyday each week for a month. Use the pre-made boxes to plan out your lunch and the shopping list underneath for recording everything you will need to pick up the next time you go grocery shopping. If there is a lunch that worked great for you, or a meal you particularly enjoyed, remember to highlight the corresponding box on your monthly planning page for future reference. 

Tip #2: Make as many lunches as will fit in your fridge ahead of time. Just like with meal planning last week the best method is to make as many of your lunches as you can ahead of time. This will save you time in the morning before you leave for work and ensure that your lunches are nutritional as well as fulfilling. If you plan on packing leftovers from dinner as your lunch then I recommend packing the leftovers the night before. This step takes only a few minutes, but will save you a headache in the morning. I recommend investing in a set of lunch containers and a sturdy lunch bag for optimal organization. I have tried out many Bento-style boxes, but haven't found any boxes that I absolutely love and/or are completely functional to my needs. I have, however, found some plastic containers that work great for my lunch at the Dollar Tree. My favorite is a square plastic container with separate compartment for sauce or dip. The separate compartment has its own lid so the contents do not leak into the larger container. 

The 3 compartment plastic containers, shown left and also found at Dollar Tree, are great for making your lunches ahead of time and storing in your fridge. The containers stack on top of each other nicely while providing compartments for dividing food. My only problem with this style container is that you can't separate the compartments if you only want to heat some of the food. You could put your main meal on a separate plate and heat it, but I have found this isn't always possible or efficient.

3 Compartment Plastic Containers

Stackable Plastic Containers

I love the stackable plastic containers, shown right, but  have found the containers are pricey. Since I like the concept, but not the price, I have taken it upon myself to make my own version, at a fraction of the price. I am still shopping around for the right containers to use. My idea, though, is to use containers like those pictured on the left and stack smaller containers on top. I will post pictures and information on my containers when I finish finding the perfect set.

Tip #3: Be realistic. It is important to be realistic with your time, means, and level of hunger. Do not waste time planning or packing a large lunch if you don't have the time to actually enjoy your meal. Do not plan a lunch that requires additional cook time, beyond simply reheating it, unless you truly have the time and space to do this. Do not underestimate your level of hunger throughout your work day. Don't starve yourself at lunch even if your goal is to eat healthy or even to lose weight. Starving yourself will only lead to over indulging later on in your day. If you get hungry frequently or have low blood sugar then pack snacks. Eating small meals throughout the day has been proven to be an effective method for losing weight. 

Organizational Tips: A More Efficient Work Week

I have been so busy at work these last few weeks that I haven't had much time to think let alone work on craft projects. Being busy translates into more stress and less time to eat healthy or eat at all. I know there are people out there who have it all together and can work 40 hours a week without losing time to eat healthy, but that is not me. I wrote this week's organizational tips with this in mind. So for all the busy individuals, moms, and families, these tips are for you. 

Tip #1: Plan a week's worth of meals. Breakfasts, lunches, and dinners, whatever you need for your week. Make a list of everything you need, but don't forget to double check your pantry before you leave, don't assume. Once you've bought your groceries, start cooking. Everything you can make ahead is time saved during the week when tired. Freeze or refrigerate until needed. A crock pot is a busy person's best friend and I highly suggest all of my readers to own one. Even in college, as broke as I was, I had a crock pot. My crock pot wasn't fancy and it wasn't expensive. I bought the 2 qt crock pot for under $10 at Walmart. This crock pot served me well throughout my college years and kept me eating healthy. 

If  you don't like the idea of cooking a week's worth of meals in a day then I suggest at least prepping for all of your meals at the start of the week. If you have the containers then chop, dice, and prepare all of the ingredients for your meals. Depending on the preparation needed for each meal this will save you an hour at the end of your week. If you don't have the containers then use Ziploc sandwich bags to contain each ingredient and then put all of the ingredients in a Ziploc gallon size bag. The Ziploc bag is not a cost effective solution, but it will save you time this week. I recommend investing in a container set if you don't want to cook all your meals in a day. Preparing or cooking your meals ahead of time saves you time during your week. If you cook all of your meals on a single day then your meals only need to be reheated not cooked. This is perfect for busy families. If cooking all at once seems overwhelming then look ahead to your week and identify your busiest days and just cook ahead for those meals.

Tip #2: Use Ziploc bags to pre-bag all snacks. Ziploc snack bags are a great time saving solution for lunch preparation. Whether you make your own lunches or your children's lunches this solution is for you. Dry snacks like crackers or cookies can be stored in a clear box in your pantry. Fresh snacks like fruit and vegetables can be stored in a clear box in your refrigerator. This is personally one of my favorite time saving tips. During the week I can grab whatever snack(s) I want to take to work that day and head out the door. Even if I am in a rush in the morning I still have time to reach in the pantry or the fridge and grab a snack because the snacks are already bagged. I plan on implementing this tip when I have my own children and need to make their lunches.

Command Center

Home Hub

Tip #3: Make a launch station. I think Fly Lady first introduced the concept of a launch station, but the basic premise is a place to store keys, bags, lunches, coats, and calendars, etc. This can be a memo board with hooks underneath the board. Use the memo board to store a family calendar and important events while utilizing the hooks below to store keys, bags, and coats. There are many fancy tutorials on how to create memo board launch stations. 

These are some of my favorite versions of launch stations, command centers, or home hubs. The command center, shown left, is featured on OrgJunkie  and is perfect for single individuals or couples. The whiteboard is perfect for writing down important dates while the cubbies are great for storing mail, etc. and the hooks are perfect for keys and bags. The home hub shown right is featured on ivillage and is designed for families. This family's entry way features a magnetic board for invitations and flyers and a white board calendar for event planning. Underneath these boards is a cubby shelf with hooks underneath. I love the cubby idea because it can be personalized for each child and is great for teaching little ones how to organize their things. The hooks underneath are great for their coats and backpacks. Pick a design that fits in with your needs and install it in your entry way or wherever is most convenient for you.

These tips have drastically impacted my work week and dramatically decreased my stress while saving me time all week long for activities I actually want to spend my time doing. Hopefully these tips save you just as much time and allow you a more relaxed week at work, home, or wherever you spend your time. Comment below with areas in your life or home that need organization help.

Organizational Tips: Paper Clutter

Good afternoon readers! I am currently bedridden with the flu and haven't had much time for crafting or home organization, but I have had a lot of time to think about my projects and what still needs to be organized. With this is mind, I have decided to post a new weekly series with organizational tips that can easily be completed during the week or a few hours over the weekend. I will try to keep each week's tips focused on a different area in your home or craft space. This week I am focusing on paper cutter, this can be papers in your office or your catch all table in the entryway. 

I don't know about you, but my family and I get a large amount of magazines, some we are subscribed to and others just seem to appear without asking, as well as catalogues, especially around the holidays and seasonal changes. I am not interested enough in each magazine or catalogue, nor do I have the time, to look through each magazine thoroughly, which means that the magazines end up stacking up places for a time when I do want to look at them. This wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have a constant stream of magazines and catalogues coming into my house, which is where tip #1 comes in: Choose a date each month and sort through all of your magazines and catalogues. Keep the pages you want, these can be organized in a binder, and recycle the rest. If you like to keep images for craft projects then take the time to cut images out of the magazines and store these images with your stickers and other embellishments. As for catalogues, if there is an item you wish to purchase or a style you like then I once again suggest clipping these images or pages and storing them away. For items you wish to purchase,  but do not intend to purchase immediately, I suggest storing these pages or images in a dream book, again this can be binder, which you can reference later when you have the funds or space to purchase the item. I recommend recording the exact name, product number or ID, the catalogue, price, and date of publication for the ad for easier referencing later. For styles that you admire or might want to replicate organize these images in a look book, once again this can be a binder, that you can easily go back to and reference later. My only exception to this rule is pattern magazines, magazines where the entire magazine is necessary to keep. For these magazines I suggest storing separately, either with your printed patterns or in a magazine holder on your bookshelf. 

Magazines and catalogues seem to be the most problematic source of paper clutter for me, but there are many other sources including junk mail, bills, account statements, and charity newsletters. Tip #2: Open and sort your mail every day. If you don't have the time then make a commitment to sort your mail once a week. For many people this is obvious, but for other people this is a daily challenge they face. I personally open my mail everyday, but I can relate to coming home and not wanting to open, let alone look at, my mail, especially when the mail is mainly bills or junk. I open my junk mail first, take out any paper with my information for the shred bag, and then toss the rest. Of course, I always recommend recycling unwanted paper. I open any bills next and file the papers in a desktop organizer, where I can easily access the information when it comes time for me to pay my bills. The same is done for account statements, except that I file these papers in a more permanent organizational system. I usually enjoy reading, or at least browsing, newsletters sent me by charities and so I have the option of reading the newsletters etc. then or I can choose to recycle the papers. If there is a donation I want to make then I file it away in the same desktop organizer where I filed my bills. Now, my greatest piece of advice is to switch to paperless options wherever you can. This has tremendously cut down the amount of papers I receive each day. 

My final tip for cutting down paper clutter has to do with your shredding. Tip #3: Ditch the shred bag or pile and instead shred your papers as needed. Doing this everyday, assuming it is needed everyday, prevents unnecessary paper clutter and prevents unnecessary stress over a massive shred pile. It might take you time to get caught up on your shredding, but I promise you it is worth it. Not to mention spending a few minutes a day shredding is so much better for your health than hoarding the papers until you're overwhelmed. Bonus tip: If you have the resources then I suggest a mail station with storage on top for sorting and storage underneath for a shredder. 

I hope these tips have proved helpful to you and if you want to see any pictures of my organization leave a comment below. 

Christmas Preparation: Christmas Planner

She's making a list and checking it twice. She is going to find out what's been done and what is still left on her list. Not a detail will she miss in her Christmas planning. Yes, it is February 25th, which means it is once again time for a Christmas preparation post. This month I decided to make a Christmas planner with templates for my readers. I intended on posting a tutorial of my Christmas planner as well, but I have not had time to get all of the necessary materials. As soon as I am able to finish my Christmas planner I will post a tutorial as well.

This planner is a lot of fun and could save you a lot of work in the coming months. There are many templates, but you don't have to use all of the pages I used. While I filled out many of my pages you don't have to as I will showcase various pages throughout the year. There are various tutorials out there including turning your Christmas planner into a journal for a treasured family heirloom, but these templates and this method is what works best for my needs.

Christmas Planner 

Materials needed are a binder or notebook, printer, ink, printer paper, templates, scrapbook paper, and other embellishments. Also envelopes in various sizes.
Look through the templates provided and print the pages you need. You may need multiple copies of some pages like gift ideas and menu planning.
The page with the calendar should be printed 12 times for each month in the year.

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When I was printing out the template pages to make my own Christmas planner I accidentally printed the templates 2 sided, which is fine for some of the pages, but not all. Since I was unwilling to reprint the entire planner I put the pages in sheet protectors and am using a white board pen to write in the various items. This makes the planner reusable for next year, which is an added bonus to my mistake.

Baking and Holiday Bucket List

As you can see I have started filling out the pages of the planner that are the same every year. Every year I bake the same sweets with only the quantity changing so I wrote in the things I was planning on making, the quantity, and the shopping list. Then I filled out the holiday bucket list on the next page with the things I want to do every year like make a snowman and drink hot coco. If there is something you want to do every year and want to make it a family tradition then make sure to record it on the family tradition page.

Handmade Gifts

The final page I filled out was the homemade gift page. Next month's Christmas Preparation post will be about filling out the handmade gifts template. As you can see I started filling out the page with the two gifts I know I am making: a crochet sweater and a zebra pajama set. I have an idea of the materials I need to complete the gifts and have most of the materials I need already purchased, which is what I recommend doing, as well as a time estimate of how long it will take to complete each gift.

There are 22 pages in the Christmas Planner template and you may need multiple copies of one or more of the pages. Print as many pages as you need. Glue the pages into a notebook, embellish with scrapbook paper and stickers, or put into sheet protectors in a binder. Take pictures of your Christmas planner and be sure to upload the pictures below or share on Instagram using #BooBear'sChristmasPlanner.

Gift Planning Tutorial

February is almost over, which means it is almost the start of my gift giving season. Between my family and friends I have many birthdays from March through November, which usually leaves me feeling a bit frazzled thinking of gift planning. I have never implemented an organizational system for gift planning throughout the year, but as I was working on the next Christmas Preparation post I thought it would be a good idea. Of course I immediately sat down at my computer and started typing a template for monthly gift organization and another template for gift ideas, both of which are crucial for gift planning organization. The link to view and download these templates will be posted under the pictures below.

Gift Planning Template

Monthly Gift Template

I designed the Gift Planning Template to organize your gift recipients' favorite colors, scents, and activities as well as their shoe, pant, and shirt sizes. Depending on the person this gift planning page can be used over and over again. I have only printed 2 of these gift planning pages for use with my immediate family. Eventually I will be using more of these pages, but for this tutorial only 1 page is needed. I designed the Monthly Gift Template to record all of the birthdays for a given month, the gift you plan on giving, whether it is completed if you are making the gift, and whether you wrapped the present. If I ever create my own personal planner I will definitely be incorporating this template page every month and of course I will be sure to post the templates and pictures here.

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As a reminder the promo code FOOTBALL50, to be used in my Etsy store BooBear Designs, expires in 4 days on February 28th, so be sure to check out the football team hats before then. There are ONLY 3 team hats left: San Diego Chargers, New England Patriots, and Seattle Seahawks. Be sure to enter the promo code shown above for 50% off these hats.

Happy President's Day!

Busy...Busy...Busy. This is my life Monday through Sunday, which is why I love 4 day weekends. Even on 4 day weekends I am busy, but I have much more time to get things done. This weekend, besides the usual errand running, I finished projects and made significant progress on organizing my craft space. I spent most of last week finishing up projects, including an A's baseball cap, an A's beanie, and a Liverpool soccer diaper cover. I also spent the week working on an A's cowl that just needs to be lined, a pink blanket, a blue scarf, and another diaper cover. Below are the pictures of my latest finished projects. 

A's Baseball Cap

Liverpool Diaper Cover

A's Baseball Beanie

Then this weekend I spent most of my time organizing my craft supplies and projects. I used a technique I learned from a post on Craftgawker to rewind my scrapped balls of yarn with an end coming out of the middle. I will post a review of the post and a tutorial of my own on this method in a future post. The rest of the time I emptied out boxes left over from Christmas and organized my craft supplies using the 27 compartment boxes I purchased at Home Depot. I also spent some time organizing all of my Christmas decorations, baked good containers, and other assorted Christmas items into a single red plastic bin. While the bin isn't that attractive it is highly functional and will serve my needs perfectly this year as I work on a post each month for Christmas. 

My favorite part of organizing, besides being able to find my things, is discovering the supplies I had forgot about or thought I had used. Saturday I found photos I had planned on using as business cards, but had put away and truthfully forgotten about. Since ordering these photos I have made different business cards, but now I have more cards to choose from. After organizing all of my current projects I realize I have a lot of projects in various stages of completion, more than I realized, and a lot of yarn. I spent half of the day creating an inventory for my projects and the other half spinning the yarn into neat balls. I had hoped to get through more this weekend, but apparently organizing old projects is slower than I had anticipated. 

I am going to continue organizing my craft space and hopefully I will be finished by the end of this month. I am already starting to take pictures of my craft organization and am excited to show my readers the transformation. 

Comment below with your favorite activities for long weekends and how many projects you currently have in progress. I would love to know I am not the only one with a box of unfinished projects. :)

Yarn Storage

"Don't wait for tomorrow what you can do today." Unfortunately, sometimes what you want or could do today often gets put off until tomorrow. This is exactly what happened with the current pattern inventory binder post I am writing. I started writing, with every intent of posting, and then I became busy with the work week. I wish I had the luxury of only working on craft projects and that I was able to support myself on those projects alone, but I am not yet able to do that and so I work. I actually enjoy my work quite a bit, except of course when I am too exhausted to work on my passion, crafting. Anyways, the binder post is coming, but it might take more time than I originally anticipated. However, I am typing it up as a tutorial so my readers can get more use of the post itself. 

I am working on a few other tutorials as well, including patterns for quick baby play mat blankets and basic crochet hats. As I work on these tutorials though I am caught by the massive amount of yarn and other crafting supplies I have, which of course makes me think about the maximum way to store all of my supplies. I am especially fascinated by yarn storage because I am boxes and boxes of yarn whether it is yarn I bought or yarn that was given to me. As I mentioned earlier, I am cleaning out a dresser to turn it into yarn and fabric storage, but this wouldn't be my first choice, largely because I like to be able to see my yarn.

I am addicted to storage and organization solutions, that are both functional and creative, and so I frequently search for craft storage ideas online. I usually use key phrases like "DIY Craft Storage Solutions", "Craft Room Storage Ideas", or "Yarn [specific supply] storage ideas" in a Google image search. Through these I have found some wonderful, creative, and functional storage solutions for my craft space or future craft room. I recommend saving any ideas you like to a folder on your computer for inspiration. You might not be able to implement them right now, but you might be able to at a future time. Through these searches I have saved hundreds of images. Most of these images are similar, but I save them because when I decide to implement these storage solutions I can then implement specific thing I like from each idea. 

Anyways, yarn storage is a particular favorite of mine because I like my yarn displayed, but most of the yarn storage is too small for my needs. However, through these searches I found a few unique storage solutions I just adore. The first is taking a shoe organizer and putting it in a bookcase or stacking it atop of Closetmaid organizers. Once your organizer is in place begin filling the cubbies with all of your balls of yarn. This is great if you have a small to medium amount of yarn. I think the biggest shoe cubbies I have seen hold 36 shoes. If you have seen a larger shoe cubby leave a comment below telling me how many shoes (or balls of yarn) it can hold and a link if you have it. :)

Another idea I love is using a peg board and nails. There was a picture of a lady in front of a wall, lined entirely with peg board. She then spaced nails evenly across the entire wall and inserted each nail in the middle of a ball of yarn. Now if your yarn is multi-fiber you might have to use something else in place of a nail to prevent fraying or snagging of your yarn. This idea is great for any size yarn collection because you can always add more peg board. However, you are limited by the wall space available and your budget because peg board can be expensive. If I were going to use this method I would look for refurbished or used peg board at thrift stores and Habitat for Humanity stores. Another option, if you don't mind poking holes in your walls, is to just put the nails directly in the wall.

If you or someone you know is good with their hands then you can always build your own custom yarn storage. I love this diamond patterned wall cubby to hang above your work desk. While I have not attempted to make this yarn storage, I think the storage would be fairly simple to make, but again, I haven't tried to make this myself. If I do make this storage I will be sure to offer a tutorial for my readers. This storage provides design and function, which in my opinion can't be beat.

The final yarn storage pictured I just stumbled upon today and am captioning it Budget DIY Yarn Storage. While I don't know how much this person spent making this particular yarn storage, I think it could easily be remade on a budget. From the picture it looks like the person made the storage out of milk crates. Depending on where you live, who you know, etc. these milk crates could be free or obtained for very cheap, but if you are unable to get them for free I believe the Dollar Store carries them too. If my calculations are correct, to make this storage would take 28 milk crates. The crates could easily be hung on the walls using nails. As you can see from the picture, this yarn storage would probably hold the most amount of yarn.

There are so many wonderful ideas for yarn storage. I encourage all of my readers to Google yarn storage. Please comment below with your own yarn storage ideas and if you want me to do a yarn storage tutorial on either the diamond wall cubby or the milk crate storage. And hopefully, the next post will be the tutorial for the current pattern inventory binder.

Craft Organization

I love this quote. If you are like me then you know how messy your crafting space becomes after creating a masterpiece of any material. This seems to be a common theme among crafters and I am no stranger to a messy, disorganized crafting space. I never intend to leave projects out, yarn in baskets, or fabric in piles, and I never mean to forget to put back my scissors or glue, but somehow or other when I am busy in a project I forget all about organization. I finish what I can for the day and in happy exhaustion I go to sleep, vowing to deal with the mess in the morning, but for most people the morning cleanup never happens. You mean well, but our lives get in the way.

I have often felt like a failure when it comes to being organized in my crafts. I know how to be organized, but the practice always seems to get lost along the way. Finally, after struggling for far too long, I realized I needed a different method. I didn't have a lot of money to spend on containers, fancy storage furniture, and a spacious craft table. This lack of funds for storage always frustrated me and I always reasoned that if I just had the money then my crafting space would be perfect. Unfortunately, well actually fortunately depending on how you look at it, I realized it wouldn't matter how much I spent on organization if I still didn't put thought into what I needed. I needed to sit down, to think about what I had, and what I needed to organize these items. It doesn't matter how much storage you have if your contents are not organized.

For some people this may seem overly obvious, but for me, and I know others too, this was not obvious and realizing this simple truth has been a breakthrough in my organization. I am not anywhere close to being as organized as I should or even as organized as I want to be, but I am making progress. This year, at least this month, I am focusing not only on my business, but on my crafting space as well. I am determined to organize my crafting supplies and finally be at peace with my crafting space.

Alright, now onto the organizing. I haven't done a huge amount of organizing this year, but I have taken a few steps in the long process that is organizing. I recommend thinking about, and maybe even writing down, the crafting supplies and materials you have, products you know you'll b getting soon, and the storage you have on hand. Some people are blessed with a spare room in their house for crafting while other people only have a spare corner in a room to use as crafting space. Personally, I would love a large spare room for crafting, but right now I only have a corner. It is really more than a corner, but not quite a whole room. When I was planning my storage and organization I needed to think about the room as a whole and how much space I was willing to set aside for my crafting supplies. Of course, the actual space set aside was largely determined by my current supplies, materials, and future needs.

After I had a good understanding of what I actually had I began to think of design. This is where creativity can be problematic to progress, but I am constantly being inspired by a new design. If you are like me then I recommend you don't Google craft rooms, unless you absolutely need inspiration, and instead draw the space you would like, being realistic to your abilities and resources. Before you become too attached to your design, you need to remember up be flexible, because you may need to make adjustments along the way as you begin to organize. The inventory you took earlier is helpful when you begin design for this reason. A large craft table seems like a good design, but without any storage underneath it may not be functional depending on your inventory. My own design has changed several times as I start organizing various materials.

I don't recommend purchasing any storage containers until you have done an inventory of your materials. Otherwise you may purchase too many, not enough, or the wrong container for your needs.  I say this from experience. I found these great little baskets, they were only a dollar at Target and I bought several because of course I would use them. I bought the baskets partly for function, but mainly for style, and unfortunately the  function the baskets provided were not ideal for my needs. This has happened more than once and sometimes it worked, but most of the time I end up with more clutter. My advice? Wait, find out what you need, and then buy the containers.

Now, the containers do not need to be expensive, but they do need to be functional to your need, you can always customize their appearance later. I recommend checking out the dollar section at Target and the Dollar Store for affordable storage. Another surprising find for affordable storage was Home Depot. In the nuts and bolts section are great containers for storing buttons, beads, and embellishments for scrap booking. Compare their $4.97 24 compartment container to JoAnn's $9.99 container and the only difference you'll find is the price. I personally have 8 of these containers from The Home Depot. The boxes have a lot of storage and are great for organizing my buttons and beads. I have also used these boxes to organize my small sewing notions, small balls of yarn, and the small details of packaging for my business.

Plano 24 Compartment Organizer

 Initially I only bought 3 of these containers because I originally intended to use these boxes for storing my buttons. These boxes took up more space than the single jar I used before, but provide much more organization. I organized my buttons by color, type, and then stored the matching thread underneath the corresponding buttons. Another way to organize your buttons is to sort them only by color or only by type. The success of these containers led me to buy 4 or 5 more.

Medium Stacking Bin

 During Joann's after Christmas sale I found these medium stacking bins for 40% off, which made them $2.99 each. I wasn't looking for any specific storage when I found these and have been really happy with this find. I thought they would work perfectly as storage underneath my desk. I initially only bought 2, but then ended up buying 6 more. The bins are able to stack 2 high and 2 wide on the shelves, which allows me to have 4 bins on each side of my desk.

I have yet to use all of these bins, but will be filling each of the bins up in the next few weeks. I am using one of these bins for ongoing project supplies. Last month I was painting T-shirt designs regularly, which meant I was constantly pulling out various fabric paint and brushes that I needed. Now that I have these bins I am able to store the fabric paints and brushes in the ongoing project supply bin until I have finished my project(s). Another bin I am using to store drawing supplies, such as pencils, colored pencils, crayons, and markers. I am still going through my supplies inventory for how best to utilize the other bins. 

I am not a stamper, but these bins would work great as storage for sorting ink pads and rubber stamps. I know stamping companies offer special storage, but I think these bins are a good alternative for small stamping collections. Another possible use for these bins is to store children's crafting supplies, such as pom poms and pipe cleaners. These bins are easily labeled, which make them great storage bins for children.

I have many other ideas for organizing crafts and will be posting these ideas, along with pictures of my own crafting space evolving into an organized haven, in future posts. Until then, please post your own storage and organizing ideas. I would love to read how you organize your craft room.