DIY Fitted Crib Sheets: Recycling Flat Sheets

I needed about 6 more crib sheets between my two little ones.  I started looking and discovered that :
1. Crib Sheets cost more than I want to pay even in bulk
2. Fabric costs more than I want to pay for a crib sheet

So, I decided to recycle flat sheets by turning them into fitted crib sheets. :D

1. Look for flat sheets at a thrift store.  (Or use your old flat sheets.) There is usually a linens section in thrift stores and you can usually find flat sheets in great condition.  (They don't get nearly as worn as fitted sheets.)  Each flat sheet will give you enough fabric to make 1 or 2 fitted crib sheets depending on the size of the sheet.

Fabric measurements for a crib sheet: 67" X 45" with 8" squares cut out of the corners.

If you only get one sheet out of the flat sheet, there is usually enough fabric left to make a matching pillow case. :)

2. Wash sheets and dry on high heat right away.  The sheets I bought looked really clean, but it's better not to risk it with second hand things (especially sheets) as bed bugs have been on the rise lately.  The high heat in the dryer treats for bed bugs just in case.... and it's good to know you're working with clean fabric when your sewing.

3. Measure, Cut, and Sew.  Not going to give detailed instructions here.  I found these sites helpful if you need some extra instruction:

www.danamadeit.com

www.imperfecthomemaking.com

I'm really happy with how the crib sheets turned out. I made four so far (and two pillow cases) and I still have lots of fabric left.  I'll probably make a couple more sheets, a baby quilt,  and maybe some cute clothes for my daughter. :)

Keeping the car clean with kids

It occurred to me today that I have quite successfully kept the car clean for about a year now.

Before that, it was such a mess.  We literally had to take 10 minutes or so to rearrange it or pull everything out of it to go anywhere with the family.  Otherwise we wouldn't fit.  It was that bad.  It looked like one of the hoarder shows where you see the house packed with stuff up to your neck, only it was a car instead of the house.

This state of clutter also sucked up time whenever we needed to find anything.  

My husband bought a work truck a little over a year ago.  That helped tremendously because I didn't have to worry that I was going to take something out of the car that he would need for work.  With that, I set a goal to clean it inside and out.

How to Clean a Car Inside and Out:

1. Get a Laundry basket to put everything into that belongs in the house.  (Two if you have another category, like "belongs in the garage" or "straight to the laundry room"

2. Get a trash bag (two if you need one for recycling or to hold small papers together)

3. Pull everything out of the car and put them in the basket or the bag.  This step should not take a lot of thought.  It's either trash or keep. If it is keep it will be dealt with later.  This step is just to empty that car. Don't forget to get whatever is hiding under those seats and in the cup holders and door pockets.  And don't forget the trunk.  (I didn't bother emptying the glove compartment with this step.  I would consider that a separate goal all together.)  Note: You can put the car seats and map back into the car once you've cleared everything out.  I also left a car caddy with a few useful items in the trunk.

4. Throw away your bag of trash.

5. Take the laundry basket inside and put things where they need to go to be dealt with.  (I usually find several nasty dishes that I set in the sink.  A pile of dirty laundry that goes into the hamper. Then I put away the rest of the odds and ends until that hamper is empty.  Note: Empty it all the way.  Don't just leave the basket in some corner and avoid it ever more. There is no time like the present! There won't be a more convenient time to do it, so just do it now!  If you get things where they need to go then it's just a matter of routine, washing those dishes with the dishes and washing that laundry with the laundry.

Okay, back to the car.

6. Car Wash!! including vacuuming the interior and trunk.  Also make sure the dash has been dusted and the windows cleaned inside and out.  Note: Go ahead and do this step yourself if you are up for it.

7. Any Extra details.  Take a look and if you notice anything else that needs to be cleaned, then clean it.  For me this included throwing the car seat covers into the wash.  And later I went through the glove compartment.  Perhaps it means washing a sticky spot off or getting an air freshener.

How to Keep the Car Clutter Free (Even with Kids):

1. Start with a perfectly clean car.

2. Only keep very few things in the car. And, if you can, keep them out of sight.

Here is what I keep in the car:

• small first aid kit - (glove compartment)
• pen and small notepad (glove compartment)
• a little bit of cash (glove compartment or center console) - hidden so no one ties to break in and steal it
• flashlight (glove compartment)
• car registration (glove compartment)
• proof of insurance (glove compartment)
• stack of napkins (glove compartment)
• box of tissues (passenger door pocket- out of the way, but easy to access)
• phone charger (right by the plug in for it.)
• map (under the seat - or in a seat pocket, but our car doesn't have seat pockets)
• umbrella (under the seat)
• car seats
• a baby blanket for each child (in the car seats or the seat between them.)
• fold up umbrella stroller (trunk)
• caddy (trunk) - this caddy holds odds and ends I may need like paper towels, extra diapers & wipes, bottled water, bubbles, baseballs, any items I need to return to a store, a bag of reusable grocery bags, books on cd.  Keeping it in the caddy makes for easy access, keeps it tidy, and allows you to move everything quickly for cleaning or fitting other things into the trunk.
• I also think it would be good to keep some emergency items like granola bars and old tennis shoes (trunk)

3. Have a couple sturdy bags on hand to carry whatever you need for the day to and from the car.  I use reusable grocery bags for this.  They are light weight, fold easily, and fit a lot and are easy to carry. I often have at least one stuffed full of extra clothes, jackets, sunscreen, bottles, snacks, toys for the kids.  Sometimes I separate clothing from food and do two bags.

The next step is the big one.  All the other steps are just to help you succeed at this step.  It's the key.  It's the one you have to turn into a habit.

Drum Roll

4. Take everything out of the car when you get home.  All of it!!  Every time!!  This includes food and trash and everything (except the few items that belong in the car at all times).  Do it even if you have to make two trips.  If you're kids are old enough, let them be responsible for carrying their own stuff in.

It might seem like a bunch to carry with you (use those bags from step 3), but it works wonders.  And the car is ready to go when you need it.  It's a clean slate.

So, after adding the above pictures I thought, "what's so special about that.  it's just an old car that happens to be cleaned out."  However, it is not just that it is a clean car.  It's practically always clean. Because of that, it is a car that allows our family to skip past tons of frustration, stress, disorganization, and time-wasting.  It allows us to be spontaneous, flexible, comfortable, calm, on-time, and prepared.

There are a couple more steps to help you keep it so nice.

5. Wash and vacuum out the car every so often.  This feels nicer and helps with motivation to keep it uncluttered.  I allow eating in my car, so I might need to vacuum more than someone else.

6. If it does get ahead of you, just grab the laundry basket.

Bean-Bags

We made bean-bags today for the fun of it. (Actually rice-bags.)  I noticed the bright colors and even the size of the bean-bags (about 2 1/2 " by 2 1/2") would be perfect to bulk up an Easter basket without adding sugar.  They may also inspire some Easter game ideas.

Bulk up an Easter basket without adding more sugar

How to Make Bean-bags:

(This can be an activity in and of itself.  Older kids can help or even make their own.)

1. Choose your fabric (I chose all cotton prints.  I also used scraps from other projects.)

2. Cut your fabric into 3 1/2" squares (I didn't measure exactly.  Just cut one and used it as my pattern for the rest)

3. Place two pieces together front of the fabrics facing each other. 

4. Sew around the edge (I go in a little more than a half inch from the edge to make my seam.)

NOTE: Leave half of the last side un-sewn.  

5. Turn it inside out.

6. Use a funnel to add rice. (Or spoon it if that is easier.)

NOTE: Don't pack it too full.  About 2/3 full worked well for me.

7.  Tuck in the raw edge and sew up the opening.  (You can hand sew this part or machine sew it.  If you use the machine be careful not to let any rice slip into the area you are stitching.)

Games: 

I also decided to make sets of two in four different colors so that we could distinguish who made the basket and who didn't in certain games.  

Different colors/patterns to differentiate teams

However, my kids seem to be a little too young to worry about colors and teams.  We had fun trying to knock bowling pins over.

Knock the pins over

Other Game Ideas:

-Dodge (They don't hurt to be hit with.)

-Hot potato 

-Catch

-Toss into a basket (And you can make this fun by saying whoever gets the most wins or for each basket you make you get to choose or do something else fun.)

-Juggling

-Bean-bag Hunt

I hope this sparks some creative ideas.  Happy Easter!

500 Things I Don't Miss

I have a friend who recently moved out of country and across seas with her family.  Leading up to her move she spent several month sorting, pricing, and selling just about everything they owned.  It was actually quite inspiring.  To me it sounded like freedom.

In fact, at some point I would like to get rid of at least 50% of what we own, and maybe more than that.  However, at the moment, with two small kids, that felt physically overwhelming.

I decided that I would do a 500 Thing purge for the month of November.

My brother later asked why 500.  I tend to count while I tidy things up.  Because of this, I happen to know that 100 items could almost go unnoticed in my living room.  Things get shoved behind furniture, hidden under piles on surfaces and tucked into shelves and drawers.  I wanted to choose a large enough number that it would actually make a dent that I could feel.  500 just seemed like a good number to me.

The preparation was easy:
1. I set an empty box out for donation items.
2. Next to it I put a marker and paper to keep a tally.
3. I plugged in the shredder where it would be accessible, but out of reach of the children.

Even though this picture doesn't show the paper and pen, keeping track is very important.  It kept me moving.

I was ready to start.

I only wanted to get rid of items we didn't use.  And I wouldn't count things I normally throw out anyway (like cleaning old food out of the fridge or throwing trash in the trash).

These are some of the things I got rid of:
1. Make-up/lotions/toiletries
2. Clothing
3. Kids clothing
4. Stacks of paper piling up on the desk.
5. A sewing project I finished and mailed to my sister as a Christmas gift.
6. Borrowed items I returned to their owners.
7. Extra sippy-cups that were barely used because we had better non-leak sippies.
8. Craft supplies
9. Fabric
10. Wrapping paper (I even got rid of some of the uglier gift bags by giving batches of cookies to friends in a plastic bag in a gift bag.  They were kind of ugly gift bags, but I don't think anyone cared. I never would have used them on a formal gift.)
11. Old cords and electronics
13. Old curtains tucked away in a closet that I had bought at a yard sale.
14. A couple broken chairs that sat in the garage
15. Toys
16. Bar stools we didn't use.  (These were quite nice, so I sold them on craigslist.)
17. Things of which we had more than we needed or used (like spatulas)
18. Boxes or packaging to items I knew I wasn't going to return.
19. Broken items (like stretched out hair ties, for example)
20. Items that sat at the very back of bathroom cupboards and had been forgotten
21. Books
22. Pens and markers that no longer worked
23. Old magazines
24. Old calendars
25. Wood panels from a broken dresser.
26. Other miscellaneous items.

As the box would fill up with donation items I just stuck it in the trunk of the car and put out another box in it's place.  (My kids are in diapers, so I had plenty of boxes that I purposely kept for this.)  Then I would drop it off when I was out doing errands.

Each item I placed in the box seemed to take up no room at all.  Was it really making a difference?  Well, I filled 5 or 6 boxes full of things that didn't take up any room at all.  So, I would say that it does make a difference.  Not only that, but many of the items I threw away (like magazine and pens and broken stuff).

The paperwork took up a lot of space too.  Much of that got thrown away, but what got shredded filled a big bag.   (I didn't do an exact count on paper.  Usually a small stack of paper counted as one.....unless it was a difficult piece of paper for me to let go of for some reason.)

I hardly noticed the difference when I was done with my 500 things.  The things I used were all still there being used.  I did feel like I had more room in my cupboards.  And it was easier to find what I needed because there was less clutter to sift through to find it.

Here are some things I have learned:
1. I don't miss those 500 things!
2. I have way more stuff than what I need.
3. By letting go of excess stuff, I gain time, space, and clarity.
4. I'm less inclined to buy junk. (And I can better discern which items quickly turn into junk.)
5. I can let go of things sooner now.  (like those hair ties and pens that no longer work....I'm not actually sure why I kept those longer than their usefulness in the first place.)

I finished the 500 things in two weeks and even went on and did another 100 (which I also don't miss.)

Life is not about stuff.  Let go of the excess and make room for what matters.

Make Your Own Luck. (Emergency Preparedness)

I think we all know it is important to be prepared for emergencies.  However, I'd bet that not many of us are emergency prepared right now.

The great obstacle I faced in becoming emergency prepared was feeling overwhelmed.

I knew I should be prepared, but I wasn't sure what that entailed. And when I tried to figure out what I should do to become prepared I would get overwhelmed.

And so, I would put it off until "later".  After all, it's not urgent right now!!

The thing about emergencies is that when they happen it is too late to prepare.  So, we do need to prepare before it becomes urgent.

This past year was different for me.  I have made lots of progress in my preparedness.  Here is my tip to anyone who gets bogged down and overwhelmed at the thought of becoming emergency prepared:

Slow and steady wins the race!

(Little by little.  Don't bite off more than you can chew.  "Just keep swimming".  One step at a time.)

I become prepared faster if I take it slow.  I make a big long list of everything I think I need, but then just choose one or two to work on.  That way I'm not overloaded and overwhelmed.  Then pretty soon I'm done with those two things.  That gives me a sense of accomplishment.  And I notice that it wasn't all that difficult.  Then I choose another one or two things.  And that process continues.

Over the past year I have been taking small steps to become emergency prepared.  I'm listing steps I have taken so you can see 1) that each step is pretty small and 2) that those small steps actually add up.

1. Attended a preparedness fair where I learned a lot of good information to get me started and received some free gifts to help.

2. Put together a small first aid kit for the car.  It fits easily in the glove compartment.  The case is clear so I can see what is in there.  I actually use it all the time.

Because it is small it does not have everything, but is has the basics that I need fairly regularly like band-aids.

Don't worry if something is not 100% ready for everything.  Start with the basics first.

If you don't have a case, use a plastic ziplock bag.  It doesn't have to be fancy.

3. Put two baby blankets in the car.  (I have two kids.  This way if we get stuck somewhere late and its cold I can at least keep the kids warm.)

4. Created the habit of cleaning out the car every time I get home.  (This keeps the car ready to go.  Clear of junk so it will fit the whole family and anything we need to quickly throw in there to take with us. This would help in an emergency, but it helps us all the time with day to day life as well.)

(I would like to add that I created the habit of filling the car with gas every time it reached the half way mark, but right now it's almost on empty.  I guess I can't claim that habit yet.  Perhaps that will be the next thing to work on.)

5. Built up a food storage. I was going to do this by buying a few extra cans each grocery trip to set aside, but then I had a friend move out of country who had a year worth of food storage she needed to sell.  We ended up buying a good portion of her food storage.  So, now we have a bunch of bulk food storage in the garage. (I think God helps us out with our goals when we put in our efforts.)

6. I bought some yeast and learned how to bake bread.  I have several large buckets of wheat in my food storage, but I didn't know how to bake bread.  I figured I should develop some skills so that if I ever had to live off of that wheat we could actually have something good to eat.  I have found some pretty good recipes, some pretty simple recipes too.  And as I practice I am getting better at tweaking recipes to turn out how I would like or work out even though I'm missing this ingredient or adding that ingredient.

7. I put a stash of coka-cola under my bed.  For me, the caffeine acts as a medicine for migraines.  If I put it in the cupboards, then my husband will drink it and it won't be there when I need it for a migraine.  This has already helped in minor emergencies when I have had a migraine and wasn't well enough to drive to go get "medicine" from the store.

In conclusion, I hope that my steps will help you choose steps you can take to become more emergency prepared.  Don't become overwhelmed.  Just take one step at a time, and each step will help you.  Then take the next step after that.

In the spirit of St. Patrick's Day...
Good Luck!