How to go camping with kids (the easy way)

Awe the joys of summer are here! One of our families favorite things to do is, go camping and fishing together. I want to share with you my packing list for camping and, tips and tricks to help you have an enjoyable time with kids as well. It is A LOT of work to get everything all ready to go on a camping trip so, I hope my tips and tricks will help your family as it has helped mine.

First print off my camp packing list HERE, it is free!

Get everything you need on the list (these are just what works for our family, I would love to here other ideas that work for your family)

Some of the MUST NEEDS on my list that I think everyone needs are as follows:

Hand washing unit (LOVE THIS, LOVE THIS) we also use it to clean our dishes (thank you pintrest for the post HERE where I got this idea)

Carpet squares for in front of tent. I got mine at my dollar tree $1.00 store. They are heavy so they don't blow away which is perfect! You want at least 4 squares so you can have your kids have room to sit down and take their shoes off before entering the tent. You want you tent as clean as you can keep it since you will be sleeping in it :)

2 pop up hampers (also from the $1.00 store) for inside of the tent. These are AWESOME because you don't have to put your dirty clothes back in with your clean clothes or leave them all over the tent, and it makes finding all your laundry that much easier. They fold up in a small circle when done for easy storage.

You have to bring things for kids to entertain themselves and have fun at the same time. Here are some things that we bring and guess what? All but my paper, sunscreen and homemade play dough came from our $1.00 store! Bug catchers, bubbles, glow sticks for night time, bug catcher kits with tweezers, magnifying glass, cards, crayons, pencils and sharpener.

Homemade play dough is nice and cheap to bring camping. It is super cheap to make and if it gets dirt and sticks in it, it's OK.  Have the kids find rocks and make things out of the play dough.  My boys chose to make blow fish out of rocks with their play dough.

 

Go on a nature scavenger hunt with them. Download my FREE one HERE

 

The paper is nice to let them draw in nature and do tree rubbings, trace leafs and such. Bring crayons to have them find rocks and color on them as well. They will LOVE it!

Encourage them and let them have an imagination.

Try to go camping in a place that has somewhere to go fishing close by. If you have boys, let them touch and hold the fish you catch. They think it is so cool. Girls on the other hand might not care to do this part :)

 You can even go find some Crawfish to boil up (this was a first for us, they are really tasty) just eat the meat in the pincher's and tail. Boil in salt water for about 5 mins.

A good camp stove with propane. This is the one we have Coleman even temp 3 burner stove. I highly recommend investing in a good one because they will be great to use in an emergency to cook for your family and not just for camping.

You must always enjoy some junk food and, some S'mores with kids while camping.

Have your kids fall asleep one night on you sitting by the camp fire telling stories and singing songs.

Yes,camping is a lot of work and takes a lot of prep but, I encourage you to go camping and start building memories with your children. Kids love to be outside and have fun with Dad and Mom. I hope you enjoy my tips and tricks and again, if you have some ideas I would love for you to leave a comment and share yours with me :)

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 Have a great day!

Top 5 things we forget to clean!

Its spring and, everyone does a good deal of spring cleaning. Today I would like to share with you my top 5 things that you more than likely aren't cleaning and should be cleaning. If you are cleaning them, good for you. :)


1) Cell phones-  They can be the most gross germ invested things out there. You set them down anywhere you touch them all day long. You don't want to spray them with anything. This is how I clean my cell phone.  These wipes will be your best friend for a nice clean Cell phone :) I just love them! You should clean them once a day.

 

2) Dryer duct-  If you have kids with allergies you should clean these all the time. Also, they are a HUGE fire danger!! Your power bill will go down significantly when you clean them. They are really easy to clean and it doesn't take long.

This is an example of how bad they can get, fire waiting to happen!

All you need is a wire brush and push it all out. You can get these brushes at a home improvement store.

 


3) Keyboard-  Research suggests that most, if not all, keyboards are contaminated with at least one kind of bacteria that could cause illness. Which is why it’s important to give your keyboard a good wipe-down with some commercial wipes or water/alcohol-soaked towelettes, at least once a day.

 

4) Door knobs, light switches- You might not forget these as often only because they are over-stressed as the “most forgotten items” to clean. The silly thing is these things are probably the easiest things to clean in your house. I go around and spray all of mine with Lysol every now and then.

 

 

5) Garbage disposal-  Cleaning your garbage disposal is another way to keep your household odors at bay. That is because the inside cylinder of the disposal can quickly get a buildup of sludge and little particles of food. Run a couple of cups of ice mixed with a cup of rock salt. Place ½ cup baking soda in the disposal. Follow that up with 1 cup vinegar. Allow it to work its magic…it will bubble and fizz for a while. Then follow up with some very hot water. Then I like to use a magic eraser on the flaps (splash guard) and around the opening.

 

 There you have it add these 5 things to your spring cleaning to do list! Enjoy :-)

Homeschool Room Make Over

The before pictures are horrible and messy, this was my throw everything in my misc room, I knew I wanted it to be a school room eventually, but yes it was a MESS pretty much all the time until.....

I painted the walls, (I used taupe)

 I cut out the ABC's with my wonderful Silhouette SD, I found this wonderful huge map at a yard sale for $1.00, SCORE!!

TA DA, I am in love with this room. Everything in this room was either things I had already or, from Yard Sales this summer or the Goodwill. My green and blue bins came from the Dollar store. My books are all in sections for different learning along with all my Curriculum.

 In the awesome blue and green bins from the dollar store I have things like, links for counting and colors, pattern blocks etc..

 Crayons and all the fun Art supplies

 How to tell time (sorry these wont turn the right way for some reason)

I love my calendar set I got, I have all boys so I had to have something kind of girly. This was perfect for me :)

Every binder for every letter of the alphabet with all my different activities. (I got this idea from http://www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com/) I love her site it is AWESOME. I have purchased a lot of her print ables and sets for homeschooling.

 My board, I switch it out and add things to it but this is what is always on it for the most part.

Pledge of allegiance, questions to ponder, rules, weekly activities, Not pictured (address, and phone number for them to practice)

I use these to organize all of my handouts and papers for each subject. I still have a lot to get printed off but, you get the idea.

I am going to start Homeschooling my kids……Was homeschooling something I had always knew I would do? That would be a big fat NO!  Yes; Yes I know people will think I am crazy and that it’s a bad idea. I don’t care though, I didn’t just wake up one morning and say, “Hey I think I will try Homeschool”. I have been seriously thinking about it for a little over a year now. With much prayer and consideration of it all, I AM DOING IT!!! Wish me luck :-) My husband wasn’t too keen on the idea at first, but he is on board 100% with me now. His main concern was socialization and sports.  The first question out of almost everyone’s mouth when you mention the fact that you are homeschooling is, "What about the socialization?"  If you are a social person, your children will be social. There are many opportunities for socialization at church, sports, reading groups, and other midweek activities. If you are social yourself and are interacting with other human beings on a regular basis, this is not really going to be an issue...   “The world will teach our children if we do not.” The public school system puts together a one-size-fits-all education when really; learning should be more perfectly fitted to the individual. To be honest, the only things I remember from school are the things I was interested in. If I was forced to learn it, I retained the information long enough to pass the test and then it was gone. Here’s an interesting tidbit of info for you. Did you know that public schools are only between 150 and 200 years old? And that they were formed for the benefit of poor people who were unable to afford material to educate their children at home or a private tutor to educate their children. Over the years, it just became a convenience for most people to send their children to the public school no matter what their status was. And I’m pretty sure that 200 years ago, before public school, there wasn’t a socialization crisis!

This is not to say that all kids in the public school system are improperly socialized and taught or, that my kids are somehow going to be better off in life than yours. As I’ve said before, this is a lifestyle choice and it is definitely NOT for everyone.  It is just a personal choice either way our choice is Homeschooling. I know there will be hard days and some days I will want to pull my hair out. I know a lot of people that homeschool their kids and every one of them say it is worth it.

“People are more influenced by love than anything else.”

Like I said before Homeschooling was NEVER something I ever thought I would do with my kids. I am not looking back only forward to all the blessings I will have to teach my children and love them while I do it. I am looking forward to it so much!!!

I couldn't be happier with my new room here is the before and after next to each other :-)

 

Water Storage

                                 
With everything that has been going on back east and around the world lately I thought I would share one of my tips on storing water for an emergency.  Perhaps the only thing more important than food in a long-term emergency is water. FEMA recommends that you store at least one gallon of water, per person, per day
Even the food you do have probably needs water to be cooked. Where we live we only drink bottled water so once we are done with our 24 packs of water we save the cardboard that is in the bottom of the pack and I fill the empty bottles with tap water and I put a C on the cap (standing for cooking or cleaning) then this way I know what water to use for things as simple as washing our hands, boiling water for meals etc... the nice thing is with these they are easily stack able with the cardboard as a divider and two, they are in a smaller portion size for smaller uses where you don't have to open your long water storage for a small project. I am sure there are TONS of ways out there for storing water but this is something that works the best for my family.  If you are already drinking bottled water you have an easy storage idea right here, give it a try here is some pictures on mine to give you an idea . Enjoy :-)

Drawer Organizing

Folding t-shirts in a drawer in horizontal rows instead of vertical ones so you can actually see all of your t-shirts, pants at once. I KNOW. CRAZY.
 Here is the before and after, once I dumped out my kids drawers and tried it out:

Over 30 shirts all in one drawer nice and neat!

It's ideal to have the pattern of the shirt facing up so you can distinguish between them. Here's a handy-dandy folding chart so you can learn how to organize your drawers, too!

1. Lay out your shirt with the print facing up.

2. Fold the shirt in half length-wise, print still facing up.

3. Fold in your sleeves (this takes an extra fold with long-sleeved shirts)

4. Fold the bottom half of the shirt up

5. Fold the top of the shirt down, that simple. Now put it in the drawer with the pictures or text showing on top. You will always know where every pair of clothing is because it’s not stuffed under everything. Pretty cool, huh?

Organized bliss. :)

As you can see I don't fold button up collar shirts this way in my boy’s drawers. They don't handle the fold as well. You will be surprised that the shirts don't get any more wrinkled then folding them the regular way.

Bill Box

When free interent bill pay came around, I thought this is so great just input hit send and done!! Well more than once I have had a scheduled bill pay be late and I get stuck with a late fee when its really my bank not getting it out when they are supposed to. So I am back at the "Old School Way" of paying bills. I actually don't mind it at all. I like to plan and that way I know it is all taken care of. So I came up with a Bill box. I have everything I need to take care of my bills in it. What you need to get one for yourself is:

*A cute bin or box that closes (you don't want to have to see it all)
*Different color pens (I like to make things look cute, its more fun to pay bills that way)
*Highlighter
*Envelopes
*Stamps
*Bills (stubs)
*Check book
*Checkbook register
*Paper clips
*Candy (a must to get through bills lol)

Mine is pretty empty right now. ( I just got done paying all me bills but you get the idea) 

Now I will no longer get random late fees from my bank not sending them when they need to. I have it all tracked now :-)

One of my favorite Organization Tips

As many of you know I am a big coupon shopper. If you are like me, I don't like to just throw stuff in bins or baskets when I get a great sale on an item. (you forget what you have and how many you have) One of my favorite things is organizing and make things look nice. :) This is one of my favorite things I have......my Peg board! You can put anything you buy at the store, that can be hung up. This way you can see what you have without just stuffing it somewhere and forgetting about it. It all hangs and looks so clean and nice. If I had a basement I would have a whole wall designated for a peg board, but I don't so I just have one in a closet along the whole back wall. It works great!!! Here are some pictures of parts of it to give you an idea. My son says we have our own store when he sees it! :) Please don't forget to follow my blog, thanks :)