Swim Bag: Getting Out the Door Quickly

August 6, 2012 by Tracy

Prepacked to save time and energy

Spending many days at the water park, I found that keeping our swim bag packed saves time and energy. I designated a bag for the water park. This bag was received via a coupon at Staples early in the back-to-school season. The items kept within include:

5 Towels
2 Swim diapers
Container of wipes
2 diapers or slip-on/pull ups
Sunscreen in a pump
Bath toys for toddler in wading pool
Bag of goldfish or other non-chocolate snack
Water park mug, resulting in $2 refills

Then on the day we venture out to the water park, I will add the following items to our bag:

Kids’ filled water bottles
My wallet
My keys with our annual passes in height order😉

By having our water park bag packed and ready to go, I can quickly prepare for a day of fun in the sun. When we return, I wash our items and repack our bag for the next visit.

For often-visited attractions where you need to take the same items on each visit, consider packing a special bag designated for those visits. Our water park bag saves time and energy since all the items are kept in one place. Keep enjoying your summer, and happy organizing!

Question: Do you keep often-used items together?

Organizing: Finding Solutions at Home

July 30, 2012 by Tracy

Organization - finding a solution at home

Final Product!

Summer fun continues to fill my days. However, school is fast approaching, and my schedule is about to change.

With a second grader at school all day and a kindergartner going half day, I will shuttle back and forth with my toddler. Yikes!

Knowing my time at home will come in short spurts, I am working to get my home in shipshape. Concentrating on my downstairs, I cleaned top to bottom and focused on my eye-sore downstairs.

The Eye-sore

The Problem Area

Around Christmas in 2011, we purchased our first flat screen television to replace our small box television set downstairs. After moving our large mirror to our half bathroom and mounting our 40” television, we discovered that the cords were short and on opposite sides of the screen.

The short cords on the one side hook up to our VCR (yes, we still have one), DVD player, and Wii console. Needing to elevate our units, we choose a stack of totes as our temporary solution. Well, our temporary solution lasted for six months. Time got away from me.

Finding a Solution

Our media storage unit

As I checked each station downstairs to improve efficiency, I needed a solution to the blue totes. Not wanting to spend any money, I looked around our home for an option. As I scanned my downstairs, my eyes detected a possible solution in our media storage center.

Hopeful that all the cords would reach the outlets, I moved (read: unloaded and carried to new spot) and found success. Allowing the VCR, DVD, and Wii to sit on the mantel with the power strip resting on the media storage center brought a smile to my face.

The totes were returned to storage, and I loaded the items back onto the media storage center. Whew!

The Result

By moving our media storage center to create a workable space, I found a solution in using time wisely that fits our needs, looks nice, and required no purchase. 🙂

Before, During & After

Finding organizational solutions that complements your room may not cost you any money. Look at items around your home and view them in light of solving your solution. I passed over that media storage unit many times, but it worked.

As you prepare your home and children for a great school year, continue using time wisely while saving money, energy, and time. Happy organizing!

Question: What space needs attention in your home?

What Do You Think?: Washing Clothes Periodically

July 23, 2012 by Tracy

Photograph Credit: Flickr (Casey Fleser)

Around the blogosphere, many bloggers share their perspective on life. As I contemplate these many ideas (and some are really out there), sometimes I’m not sure what I think.

During this week of What Do You Think?, I share a topic and give you my 2¢. Please share your opinion.

The topics chosen will follow the posting schedule. Thanks in advance for your contributions on this journey to Using Time Wisely!

What Do You Think about Washing Clothes Periodically?

Tracy’s 2¢: As you know, I’m all about saving money, energy, and time, but this article about being a chronic over-washer was a bit funny to me partly because I do both. Since I am not an all-or-nothing type of person, I adjust to the situation.

For example, if the outfit I wore today did not get dirty, then I will put the outfit aside and wear it another day. On the other hand, I will gather all the clothes on laundry day to wash, even if that pajama set was worn for the first time last night.

During the school year, my kids go through two outfits every week day since I have them change out of their school uniforms into play clothes. I do not worry about whether their clothes are clean or dirty; all their clothes go into the hamper. So, I wash my kids’ clothes after every wear.

Towels are another story. I like to wash our towels once a week. We do reuse our towels unless it gets left on the floor. When that happens, that family member gets a new towel. Since our visits to the water park come once or twice a week, I choose to wash towels when we arrive home from the water park. This option eliminates wet items on the floors.

On a side note, I do wash wet disposable swim diapers one or two times before tossing them in the trash. Of course, *dirty* diapers get tossed immediately. But, if my toddler only wets the swimmy, then I toss it in the laundry. I do save money, but I weigh the situation.

Do you wash clothes after every wear, evaluate the outfit to see if it needs cleaning, or launder periodically? What about disposable swim diapers? Does that gross you out? What do you think?

Cleaning: Deodorizing my Garbage Disposal

July 16, 2012 by Tracy

Photograph Credit: Flickr (Brian Short)

Oh, how I appreciate my garbage disposal! Yes, that hole in my sink that takes all the leftovers and unwanted particles and chomps them away. In using time wisely in the kitchen, my disposal is a time saver.

Having lived without one growing up and in the early years of our marriage, I know the convenience my garbage disposal provides.

While keeping my garbage disposal uncluttered, maintained, and cleaned, I follow these 8 steps to deodorizing my garbage disposal:

1. Fill an ice cube tray with white vinegar and place in freezer.

Tracy’s Tip: Mark this ice cube tray and only use it for freezing vinegar. 🙂 I wrote the word “vinegar” on my ice cube tray, so that I do not accidentally use it for water ice cubes.

Though I do not use ice cube trays often, I do keep some for those events that need decorative ice cubes (e.g., fruit in ice, mint in ice, etc.). To prevent unwanted vinegar at an event, I keep this ice tray with my cleaning supplies.

2. Remove the tray from the freezer when frozen.

Tracy’s Tip: Try to freeze and use the vinegar ice cubes on the same day. The vinegar aroma remains in the freezer for a few hours to 2 days when freezing the same day.

3. Run cold water in the sink.

4. Turn on the garbage disposal.

5. Crack the ice tray into the garbage disposal.

6. Allow the disposal to “eat up” all the ice cubes.

7. Turn off the garbage disposal.

8. Turn off the water.

For more options to cleaning and deodorizing your garbage disposal, How To Clean Stuff recommends dish soap and citrus or baking soda, to name a few.

Around the blogosphere, many suggest using baking soda to deodorize your garbage disposal, even professional plumbers. However, if you have plastic pipes, do not use baking soda with boiling water or after using a commercial drain cleaner. Per Earth Easy, you may melt your plastic pipes or create toxic fumes.

In applying these 8 steps, your garbage disposal will smell fresh. Cleaning and deodorizing your garbage disposal maintains your time-saving investment while using time wisely. Happy cleaning!

Question: How do you deodorize your garbage disposal?

Organizing Loyalty Cards on Key Chain

July 9, 2012 by Tracy

The other day, I found myself wasting time trying to find a loyalty card attached to my key ring.

The card was smaller than some of the other cards, and I went through my cards twice before locating the correct one.

As I wasted time, I knew I needed to get these cards organized by size to help me find the one needed.

An Option for Organizing

For those of you with smart phones, you can scan your loyalty cards into an app that will save your barcode. When you need that card, you can scan it directly from your phone.

Since I am content with my normal, no-fuss cell phone to use for phone calls only, I do not have this option.

With the smart phone application, you will still want to keep your loyalty cards in the event that your battery dies or you forget your phone. If you add these cards to your key chain, then keeping them organized can save you time and energy when finding the one you need.

Start at the Beginning

When I would get a new loyalty card, I would just stick it on my key ring. With all different sized cards, I needed them arranged by height. To carry out this goal, I had to start over.

1. Took all the cards off the key chain.

2. Organized them by size based on the key ring hole.

3. Put often-used cards before rarely-touched cards that were the same size.

4. Placed the cards back on the key chain.

Ripple Effect

Once my loyalty cards hung in size order, I decided to rearrange my keys within the same order. I know . . . quirky, but my entire key ring in height order makes me happy. 🙂

I know some people (OK, most people) would not care, but it matters to me. In using time wisely, I organized my key chain to hold only what I need, in height order, for quickly selecting the requested card.

Before and After

My organized key chain has already helped me save time since I can see all the edges of the cards when finding my choice. As you purge, clean, and organize, small projects like organizing a key chain can save you energy while using time wisely. Happy organizing!

Question: What small project keeps you using time wisely?

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