The Yearly Challenge is...

The year of 2016 is going to be a big one. Last year I did a wreath every month and I loved challenging myself to it.

 This year is a 52 week challenge of Cleaning, Organizing and De-cluttering our home and lives. I looked all over the internet for a challenge that would work for my family, my house and myself. However I was not finding exactly what I wanted. So I drawing from all the different websites I visited I made my own 52 week challenge. I sat down and wrote out my list and I am so excited to bring this list to you.
I will be starting this the week of January 3,2015 and will be bringing you weekly updates. I would love to see if you choose to do the full 52 weeks or even one week of the challenge with me  with your before and after pictures, as I can't wait to show you my pictures and videos.

Here is the list:

Week 1: Kitchen Counters and Sink

Week 2: Kitchen Cabinets and Drawers

Week 3: Pantry and Food Storage

Week 4: Refrigerator and Freezer

Week 5: Recipes

Week 6: Recycling and Trash Cans

Week 7: Laundry Room

Week 8: Updating Address and Contact information

Week 9: Filing System

Week 10: Boy’s Closet

Week 11: Bathroom

Week 12: Master Bedroom Closet

Week 13: Jewelry / Accessories

Week 14: Shoes

Week 15: Yard

Week 16: Garage

Week 17: Toys and Games

Week 18: Living Room

Week 19: Dining Room

Week 20: Vanity

Week 21: Vehicles

Week 22: Crafting Area

Week 23: Abby’s Room

Week 24: Abby’s Closet

Week 25: James’ Room

Week 26: James’ Closet

Week 27: Movies, CD’s

Week 28: Medicine/First Aid Kit

Week 29: Purses/Brief Cases

Week 30: Emergency Preparedness

Week 31: Laundry Schedule

Week 32: Pets

Week 33: Bills

Week 34: Master Bedroom

Week 35: Office Area

Week 36: Windows, Outside

Week 37: Attic

Week 38: Books

Week 39: Home Inventory

Week 40: Meal Planning/Grocery Shopping

Week 41: Coupons

Week 42: Cleaning Schedule

Week 43: Photographs

Week 44: Cell Phones

Week 45: Seasonal Clothes Switch

Week 46:  Passwords/ Manuals/Warranties

Week 47: Holiday Decorations

Week 48: Ac Unit

Week 49: Heaters

Week 50:  Email and Digital information

Week 51: Family Calendar

Week 52: Your Goals for the next year

So Lets Get Cleaning!

Plan With Me

Merry Christmas Everyone! I hope you are enjoying your holiday with loved ones.

Me and My Big Ideas was having a sale on their Happy Planners and I had to have one!

http://www.meandmybigideas.com/

I LOVE MY HAPPY PLANNER! 

This plan with me is not only for the week of December 28,2015 to January 3,2016; but for the monthly calendar as well.

For my monthly calender I wanted to keep it simple and I wanted a black/gold color  theme with a bit of red.

 I love the planner stickers I got from Organized Eden. Her Esty shop is here:https://www.etsy.com/shop/OrganizedEden

This is the Washi tape I will be using:

I love the way it turned out:

I kept it simple and sweet.

The weekly calendar I wanted to be bright and fun.

I got the planner stickers at Cricket Paper Co. I love the colors!

https://www.etsy.com/shop/CricketPaperCo?ref=l2-shopheader-name

The first thing I did was cover up the note section with Washi Tape:

Then I used the Washi Tape to cover the morning/afternoon/evening areas as well as the bottom of my planner paper.

How cute it's turning out to look!

Next up was placing all the sticker's in my planner. I put the Resolution's stickers in the note section.

I love these weekend stickers! 

Also the grocery bag sticker I got at Planning for Happiness. Her Esty store is awesome!

https://www.etsy.com/shop/PlanningForHappyNess

I am sorry about the shadows in the pictures. I didn't realized they were there until I uploaded it to my computer.

I love how this week came out.

And one last thing that I added was something I can look at a remember how blessed I am!

Simple Things I do around the house

Hello all! I wanted to share some of the things I do to keep my family healthy and fed. With this week being Christmas week both the teenagers will be home when they are not working. I also know that this week I will be extremely busy running them around town, working and taking care of the Family's meals. So I have prepared a quick grab and go snack for my family and I. (now I know I will be the main one eating this)
I found these boxes at Aldi today for 49 cents each. WHAT! Ok lets try them!

When I got home from my grocery shopping I grabbed my snack bags and put 2/4 of a cup in each bag. I only opened the Ginger Spice because I'm saving the 2nd box for next week.

I got 7 snack bags out of a box. It's great for a quick snack.

Also at Sprout's their Pineapples were 98 cents. I try to keep fresh Pineapples on hand because they are GREAT for a sore throat. Seriously if you get a sore throat eat some Pineapple. It can be can Pineapple, but it will take care of that sore throat.

So we have fresh Pineapple that is cutting up in the fridge.

I do simple things around the house to prepare myself and my family for the week. Taking these steps saves us time when we really need it.

Home made Vegetable Broth

I am running low on the Turkey broth I made. I knew I was going to have to make more before the month was up. So all the vegetables I have been cooking with I have been taking the parts I would not be using and placing them in a zip lock bag and placing it in my crisper in the fridge until I had enough to make broth. This morning I pulled out my crock pot added the vegetable to the crockpot.

Then I added 12 cups of water to my crockpot. I let it cook on low for 8 hours. 

I just made 12 cups of vegetable stock for basically the cost of the water and the electricity.It gave a good reason to be able to use the whole vegetable so that nothing went to waste. 

A quick, inexpensive DIY Christmas Gift

This is a super quick Christmas gift. It's easy to make and super cute! Last year I made my co-worker's Peppermint Sugar Scrub and as Christmas came closer I was asked if I was going to make it again. Why, yes I am but here is the twist, I am going to use brown sugar instead of sugar.

I used 2 cups of brown sugar and 1/2 cup of Coconut oil. Mixed them together really good and TADA!Brown Sugar Scrub.

I had the mason jars already from last year, just stored away and the ribbon I got at Micheal's last year after Christmas for 10 cents.

I got my labels for the lids here:
http://eclecticallyvintage.com/2013/12/make-your-own-brown-sugar-body-scrub-and-free-printable-tag/

Than for the male co-workers you can't go wrong with homemade cookies!

The boxes I got for 50 cents at Micheal's last year with their after Christmas Sale.

Christmas Crack! Chex it out! :)

I tried this recipe today and OH MY GOODNESS it's sooo Good!
The recipe is in the video from "Shes in her Apron" on Youtube,

This was my batch.

Mid-month update

Hello all! Well my monthly challenge is going great! The challenge was to have my kitchen cleaned before bedtime every night. Now what do I mean by cleaned. It's really simple. I am the dishwasher for the house, Seriously we haven't had one in 7 years I dream of the day when we get one. So for the meanwhile it's me. So all the dishes have to be washed and put away in their place. Instead of letting them sit in the dish dryer overnight or the sink. The counter and stove tops wiped down and the floor swiped.
I have only missed 2 days of doing this. Both times I was so tired I went to bed early that night. However I made sure the next morning that was the first thing I focused on before my coffee.  I even added extras to my list to help out with my monthly cleaning list. Each night if time allows I have done the following:
1. Clean and polish the Sink
2. Clean the top and front of Stove/Oven
3.Clean the front of the fridge
4. Clean the outside of the Microwave

and today I will be cleaning my freezer and fridge out. (The fridge is a weekly task for leftovers)
I still have plenty on my "little extra" list to do.
This is what my Freezer and Fridge looked like:

After 30 minutes of working at it I was finished. I did not pull the shelves and drawers out but I did wipe down everything.

Since this weekend I have also washed my kitchen curtains and cleaned the inside of the microwave.

I love my clean kitchen. It's helped with my time management when cooking. Even the hubby and kids have noticed the difference and they started washing their own dishes.