How to Tie Shoelaces with an Easy-to-Release Double Knot

by Ginny September 18, 2012 | 12 Comments

Today I have a tip to share with you that is one of my all time favorites. This is a very simple way to keep your (or your childrens’) shoes tied without having to tie an old-fashioned double knot! My hubby’s grandmother taught him how to tie his shoes like this when he was a boy. He showed me how, and I’ve never gone back! I decided to do a video because it’s a little hard to share pictures of yourself tying shoelaces! For those of you who would rather have a visual reminder, I grabbed some snapshots from the [...]

{continue reading...}

How to Organize Medicine with a Surprisingly Perfect Product

by Ginny September 7, 2012 | 20 Comments

One project I’ve been meaning to tackle for a long time L.O.N.G. time is my linen closet. It has been out of control for longer than I care to admit. But, it has also been about as near to the bottom of the ‘To Do’ list as you could get until I couldn’t stand it any more and finally made the time to clean it out and get it organized! I’ll be sharing my linen closet reveal soon, but today I’m giving you a sneak peak into my out-of-control closet and one of the remedies that solved a huge part [...]

{continue reading...}

How to Take Expensive Perfume on Vacation for Free

by Ginny August 18, 2012 | 4 Comments

Whenever I pack for a trip or vacation, I always have a fear of my expensive perfume bottles getting broken. I love perfume, and usually want to take it with me, but don’t want to risk breaking my favorite perfumes. One day, as I was reading a magazine, a perfume sample dropped out, and it dawned on me that this would be the perfect solution for taking perfume safely on vacation! Whenever I find one in a magazine or sales ad, I check to see if I like the scent. If so, I put it in my toiletry travel bag. [...]

{continue reading...}

How to Have a {Very} Successful Yard Sale

by Ginny June 6, 2012 | 9 Comments

One of the very best ways to clear clutter from your home is to have a yard sale. There is nothing like getting rid of things that you don’t need and earning some money! We have had a successful yard sale every year for at least the last 8 years in a row. Each year, we’ve made hundreds of dollars, usually between $500 and $1,000 and most years we haven’t had any ‘big ticket’ items. I’ve learned what works and what doesn’t, what sells (you might be surprised!) and what doesn’t, and how to make it a fun event for [...]

{continue reading...}

Label Your Leftovers

by Ginny April 22, 2012 | 57 Comments

Do you ever lose track of leftovers in your fridge? For years, I’ve been keeping what’s left of our dinners in my favorite glass containers. And, by years, I mean almost 15. Yep, I’ve gotten my money’s worth with these, and then some! Besides stacking neatly in my cupboard and cleaning up quickly, I love that they are clear glass, so I can see what’s in them. There’s only one problem… Sometimes I wind up with leftovers and I can’t remember how old they are. If I’m not sure, I dump it – wasting money and the time spent cooking [...]

{continue reading...}

Playdoh Play Mat

by Ginny April 6, 2012 | 7 Comments

Every kid loves Playdoh, right? Am I the only mom that sighs when the kids ask to play with it? Call me ornery, but I can’t stand picking Playdoh out of my carpets. I also hate stepping in finding bits and chunks under the table that nobody remembered to pick up. So, I only let my kids play with Playdoh on the kitchen floor. Fortunately, they like playing with it on the floor so they can spread out all the accessories. However, playing with it on the kitchen floor makes extra work for me, too. Those hard little chunks of [...]

{continue reading...}

Easy Earring Organization

by Ginny February 27, 2012 | 14 Comments

Ever since I was a little girl I have loved earrings. I remember getting my first “dangly” earrings and balking with pride at my best friend whose earrings weren’t quite as dangly as mine. From then on we compared earrings until she got the crazy idea to wear roach earrings {yes, I really did say roach, as in cockroach}. She bought them while on a missions trip to the Dominican Republic. They were glazed and painted, but roaches nonetheless. Yikes. She still wears crazy earrings, but hopefully not insects anymore. Anyway, over the years I have used different means of [...]

{continue reading...}

Upcycled Army Green File Folders

by Ginny February 21, 2012 | 5 Comments

Office supplies really have come a long way in the style department, haven’t they? It used to be that you could only get those horribly ugly army green hanging file folders to organize your paperwork. More recently, attractive patterns and colors have taken over in helping us bring style to our homes – even to that which is hidden in a filing cabinet! Some of the hanging files and file folders that are available now are SO pretty! But of course, what do I have on my shelf? You got it – the army green ones. Ugh. Keeping frugality in [...]

{continue reading...}

DIY Purse Trash Can

by Ginny February 15, 2012 | 36 Comments

I don’t know about you, but keeping my purse neat and organized is a challenge. Receipts, gum wrappers, tissues, notes, etc. can take over and wreak havoc in a very short period of time. Obviously, when I’m near a trash can I’ll use it, but there are many times when I have a piece of trash and no where to put it. So what can I do except to toss it in my bag? Ugh. I hate all those little scraps and mess all over the bottom of my purse. At one point I even added ‘clean out purse’ to [...]

{continue reading...}

Get Better Bin

by Ginny January 23, 2012 | 25 Comments

A few years ago, my husband took a new job as a pastor 600 miles from our home. We packed up our family and moved to a new city, far away from our families and all of our friends. I was almost 7 months pregnant with our fourth child. We moved into our house, started homeschooling, and began preparing for our new arrival in the midst of unpacking, painting, and getting new carpeting. It was a whirlwind! Our daughter was born in November, entering us into one of the coldest and snowiest winters anyone could remember for a long time. [...]

{continue reading...}