Time for a progress update on my Great Cookbook Challenge. I set myself the challenge to cook 3 things from each of the cookbooks by the end of the year. Any unused cookbooks will be donated to charity. I cleared off my cookbook shelf in the kitchen (which only stored a few of my 54 […]
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Post-Holiday Clean Up and Organisation
We got back on Sunday from a wonderful, week-long camping trip to Monkey Mia and Kalbarri. It was a great family trip, filled with moments like these: But this isn’t a happy-snappy post-holiday slideshow. Nope, it’s about the downside of holidays – cleaning up and getting organised when you get back home. I once read […]
Dynamo Maximum Review and Giveaway – CLOSED
Dynamo sent me a sample of the new Dynamo Maximum to review. I’m a long time Dynamo user, so I was curious to see the maximised version, with even more cleaning power. Now that I have kids, I need all the cleaning power I can get! And just to prove I’m not pretending to be […]
Personal Planner Review and Giveaway
I’ve been trying to get more organised this year (ha! the usual story). With a kid going to kindy 5 days a fortnight, swimming lessons, playgroup and other activities, on top of the usual household chores and blogging, there’s a lot to get done each day. I’ve tried online and smart-phone to-do lists, but haven’t […]
The Great 2013 Cookbook Challenge
My fridge hasn’t been working well lately, so I had to defrost it – what a boring job. While I was at it, I pulled it out of its cubby hole to clean the back. I then discovered the shelf above (with all my cookbooks) had bowed and I couldn’t get the fridge back in. […]
Palmolive Dishwashing Review and Giveaway – CLOSED
Let’s get the disclosure up front. Like most people, I avoid doing the dishes and put as much as I can into the dishwasher. But sometimes doing the dishes is unavoidable. When I was selected to review Palmolive Dishwashing liquids, I had to stop and think – what do I actually look for in a […]
Craft/Office Desk Organization
When I saw the first challenge for the New Year’s Organizing Revolution (via I’m an Organizing Junkie) was offices, it was just the motivation I needed to get the desk side of my craft room in order, which has gradually descended into chaos. Let’s start with the before photos: So what’s wrong with these pictures: […]
Fabric 2013 Printable Monthly Planner
It’s a bit late for a 2013 printable monthly planner, but if you used mine from last year, I thought you might appreciate this (late) gift! I created two separate files – one for if you want to create a booklet with two-sided printing (for information in the tutorial below), and one if you just […]
Happy New Year 2013
Happy New Year! I hope your New Year’s Eve was more exciting than mine. The joys of knowing that two small kids will wake you up early meant that we didn’t bother staying up to midnight. We did enjoy a nice bottle of sparkling wine after the kids went to bed though. If Day 1 […]
5 minutes/day Bathroom Clean
New house means time for some new and improved cleaning routines. (And a chance for you to take a peek at the bathrooms in our new place!) I hate cleaning bathrooms. I avoid it, and suddenly have to spend hours scrubbing to get them clean. Inspired by this article from Apartment Therapy, I’m going to […]
Spice Drawer Organization
The first time we went house-hunting, I fell in love with a house that had a spice drawer in the kitchen. Just a shallow drawer with all the spice jars laying down, gorgeously organised – functional and pretty. We didn’t buy that house but I still remember that wonderful drawer! When we moved into our […]
What to clean before the wife comes home
As I’m flying across Australia to visit friends, I can’t help but wonder what state the house will be in when I return. Bit of a back story first: in my previous life as an engineer, I spent 2 months in Ireland on a business trip. I made sure the house was spotless when I […]
In-Drawer Plastic Bag Holder
I started with the very classy plastic bag filled with lots of plastic bags. I then moved on to fabric bag holders. You know the type – long cylinders with drawstrings that you stuff bags in the top and pull out at the bottom. But something about them always annoyed me. They’re too squishy, they […]
Free Printable: 2012 Monthly Planner
This may be a little late, but I’ve put together a monthly planner. I’m using this planner as my blog editorial calendar and as a place to jot down goals, ideas and tasks. I’m using it primarily to keep my blogging on track, but you could use it for menu planning, as an ordinary calendar. […]
6 Smart Thinking Cleaning Tips
Lifestyles of the Stay-at-Home Mum: sounds glamorous? I’d love to say I spend my days lounging around the pool, sipping mocktails while my kids play happily , but the reality is my days are filled with changing nappies, cleaning up the trail of destruction that follows my kids around and trying to sneak in some […]
How to Sew Fabric Basket Liners: Tutorial
Yesterday, I showed you my DIY Dinner Meal Kits. I used plastic baskets for the kits, but I wasn’t happy with just plain. So I made up some fabric baskets liners, with Velcro to attach my recipe cards to the front. You could find lots of other uses for these fabric-lined baskets: in the bathroom, […]
DIY Dinner Kits
I wish I was better at menu planning, but I haven’t found the right system for me yet. Some weeks, I’m organised and it all goes well, and other weeks, I have no idea what we’ll have for dinner each night (except Fridays – that’s pizza night!). Even when I have planned out my menus […]
Pantry Meal Kits
I’m guest posting today at the CSI Project for their Pantries, Closets, & Cupboards week. Head over to see the full tutorial for my Pantry Meal Kits, with cute fabric basket liners.
Return to Clean
I took an unplanned blogging break, for no reason other than months of children-induced sleep deprivation catching up on me (and Masterchef Australia filling my small amount of “recreation” time). Baby Little Miss and Toddler Little Man have been ganging up on me to minimise the amount of sleep I get! Things are on the […]
Dyson DC35 Vacuum Cleaner Review
(Image from Dyson Australia) As I’ve mentioned previously, my kids (ok, my husband) bought me a vacuum cleaner for Mother’s Day. Normally, I’d be annoyed to receive such a practical and boring gift, but this wasn’t any old vacuum cleaner. It was the Dyson DC35 cordless Digital Slim vacuum cleaner. Now that I’ve used it […]
Benefits of Cleaning
It’s easy to think of cleaning as a thankless, endless, monotonous task. But for Me Me Me Month, let’s look at some of the benefits of cleaning. Clean House = Relaxing House Clutter, dirt and grime stresses me out. Looking at it makes me think of the work I should be doing. A (mostly) clean […]
Laundry Routine
I’ve been struggling to do the laundry since Little Miss arrived. The thing that drives me nuts and stops me from even starting is the fact that it just takes all day. Round up washing…take it downstairs…put it in the washing machine…turn washing machine on…wait wait wait…get it out…hang it out to dry…take it off […]
Project Simplify: Paper Clutter
As I mentioned in my ramblings yesterday, the hot spot for this week for Project: Simplify at Simple Mom was paper clutter. This was just the motivation I needed to get my paperwork in order. Here are three areas I decided to tackle: Entrance Hall Drop Zone Study Cardboard Collection in the Playroom The […]
Do unto yourself…
…as you wish others to do. Do you ever let crumbs drop onto the floor thinking “it’s me who has to sweep/vacuum them up”? Do you ever wipe your grubby hands on your clothes thinking “well, it’s me who has to clean them anyway”? Do you ever leave bits of food in the sink thinking […]