Category Archives: Organization

Apr18

Lunchbox and Schedules

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Lunchbox and Schedules

I always like to make sure that my kids eat healthy and have a variety of foods so to avoid getting bored of the same packed lunches. When you have a busy schedule like our households planning comes a long way.

The first thing is to figure out a system and lists is the way to go!!! Yest at times life kinda gets in the way and your find yourself limited because you haven’t had time to go to the grocery store. That’s when you may resort to making unhealthy choices because lets face it “It’s Easy!” To avoid that I kinda have some sort of “Go To” choice that may not be completely healthy but its not junky.

My “Go To”, now remember 2 kids mean 2 different taste buds, so my quick fix that i make sure I never run out of in the house is…….. Turkey sandwich (bread for J and lettuce wrap for Zee) pickles on the side, no one likes a soggy sandwich! Cheese cubes, cucumber and apple slices. What’s your “Go To”?? Share in the comment section!

Maybe one day I’ll be fancy enough to make one of those fast videos of me prepping a lunch box  after all its also pushing my boundaries and  Making Life Memorable along the way!!

 

Jan14

Shutterfly Fun!!!

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Shutterfly Fun!!!

One of my favorite things that my best friend Terri taught me was how to scrapbook. It used to be so much simpler before….You get all your pictures printed choose your favorite and start crafting!!! Oh what fun…..stickers, markers and all.

Things have changed since then….printing my pictures is much rarer than before. They all seem to be on the could, on my hard-drive or google+ and God knows where else they’re automatically saved. So I’ve then turned into other modes of creating albums and that’s through Shutterfly…just upload the pictures add your comments and they print it all for you. Simple as that.

So cool that they now have free International shipping so you don’t have to pay double shipping to your US mailbox and all the way to your country.  Click here and get started on your Shutterfly Deal with Promo Code: FREESHIPAF

This really does help in Making Life Memorable!

 

Terms:

Offer expires February 29, 2016 (11:59 P.M. PT). Offer is good for one free shipping on one qualifying merchandise order of $49 or more (after any other discounts and before taxes, shipping and handling) to Canadian and international destinations through shutterfly.com or our mobile-friendly site. Shipments to Canada are subject to taxes, duties or other customs fees, payable by you upon delivery. Offer cannot be redeemed more than once per account and/or billing address. Taxes will apply. Orders with multiple recipients will receive one discount applied to the shipment with the highest shipping cost. Not valid on TripPix, Make My Book services and fees, personalized postage stamps, cards sent using mailing services, orders shipped to U.S. destinations, gift certificates, prior purchases and purchases made on the Shutterfly apps. Cannot be redeemed for cash or combined with other offers or credits. Not valid for resale. We reserve the right to modify or replace any part of these terms and conditions without notice.

Aug22

ReShuffle & ReOrganize

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ReShuffle & ReOrganize

In every household there comes a time when things just start to get jumbled up and it’s high time to do some de-cluttering and organizing. We just get so busy in our lives that we may not have the chance to do it as often as we would like.

The turn of a New year is always a good time because your mind set is that you’re starting fresh and New… well at least that’s how I initially felt. 8 months later I look at my To-Do list of organization and I haven’t even scraped the surface.

I wonder what happened??? Oh LIFE that’s what happened!

Between my newly relocated store (The original Basket Boutique), running around with my girls, a social life that I try to maintain I hardly have time to do those extra things that make me happy.

CraftRoom
 

My crafting room has therefore suffered immensely!! I started to just pile and pile things over each other. Not only MY things but somehow boxes and boxes of random things from clothes to give away, toys…etc etc.

Needless to say day in day out I would stand in front of the mess for a good five minutes while my husband works on his tidy side of the office. Frustrated and repeating “I need to organize” as though I was chanting and calling for some mysterious organizing elf to come in the middle of the night and solve all my problems….

Then I decided I must take it step-by- step… Like I didn’t know that 8 months ago!!!

Well my first step I took was to go through all this stuff and giveaway what I’m never going to use (including kids toys they didn’t know where gone)
 

boxes

The second thing (which was my last until I find some more time) I went through ALL the papers stashed all over the place and organize them into nice matching boxes and Magazine folders that I got at Ikea. You can check out their small storage systems online in their Paper & Media Organizers.
 
 
 

So until I figure everything else out in my head I’m off to Making Life Memorable while the chaos remains.

Aug19

Digital Pictures

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Digital Pictures

I can’t decide if digital pictures are a curse or a blessing. We are blessed to have such amazing technology that we can take pictures and videos with our smart phones… Any time, any place, instant development, over and above we can share them on our social media for basically Everyone in the world to see….. Yet once I upload them, back them up it seems that I never go back to them….

picFolders
 
Seriously!! I was going through files and files in order to find a specific picture from one of the girls’ birthday.

It took me HOURS because I ended up just viewing whatever file I opened because I saw pictures I didn’t even remember I had.

Ok I have to admit I’m really guilty when it comes to organizing them…yes that is a flaw in my OCD, DYI, organization fixation. I even attempted to make sure I put them on Shutterfly. It doesn’t seem to be enough….

It’s funny how something so good as digital photography can turn out to be overwhelming while I’m busy “Making Life Memorable” I’m also having an inner battle as to how to organize my memories…..

Aug28

Study Station Success

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Study Station Success

Girls tucked in and fast asleep and my mind is so much clearer. Grabbed my cup of yogurt and sat in front of Jennah’s desk assessing the situation.

What should I tackle first?? The easiest naturally. All last year and summer Artwork removal. I decided what’s worth saving and what goes for recycling. I did go through them at the end of the school year but it seems I lost some of the attachment to the girls artwork.

Half way through going through the papers, art projects displayed and in folders I realized it’s taking way to much time. I decided to put them on the side and work on something else.

It’s time to organize the stationery. The containers I used were small tin buckets, small basket and small plastic bins.
 
Stationary desk
Tins: I put erasers in the extra small tin bucket. Pencils in the small tin bucket.

Plastic Bins: Colored Pencils in a plastic bin and markers in the other bin. I made sure I sharpened all the pencils with my electrical sharpener. A must have in our household with the amount of coloring we do!

Basket:In the small basket I put post it notes and small notepads, I use these for marking her assignments and for explaining things while studying.
 

After I cleared up any additional papers hanging out in the other cubbies of her desk I put a clipboard, whiteboard and an empty magazine holder for new papers coming back from school.

Now the laptop and headphones are neatly placed in the other corner of her desk.

I removed everything from the top up and it’s time to look at the bottom…. Yikes!!!

Do things crawl in our household? Why are their toys? Painting gear? Blocks? Crafting things…if I’m going to continue the list of what I found it’ll develop into a whole other post!
 

Obviously I had to spend a little extra time organizing homes for all these miscellaneous items. Painting and crafting on the painting corner, blocks & Lego with the rest of the blocks….etc
 
below Desk
 
All cleaned up down there for some leg room and a few empty magazine holders for my little second graders work.
 
 
 
 
 
 
I took a step back and felt proud of how neat the space looked, off course I’m not sure how long that would last but at least it’s a great way to start the new school year. Still I felt it was lacking something….I have to add some sort of personal touch.
 
board 
 
 
Then it came to me, the cork board looked so plain…. I took the push pins and made the letter “J” for Jennah.

I’m sure it’s not going to last before all the papers take over but hey I had to have my touch somewhere!

 
 
 
 
DRUM ROLL PLEEEEEEEZE….
The final look of an organized Study Space for Jennah, now she’s ready to tackle 2nd grade….you think?

organized Desk

Read the Part one of this post

Aug25

Back to School

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Back to School

I remember the last week of school like it was yesterday! I remember thinking “OH my God what am I going to do with the girls??” Well I survived, the girls are still somewhat civilized and we didn’t perish in Kuwait’s heat. Now we’re at the last week of the summer vacation and getting ready for school. Uniforms, supplies, back packs, lunch boxes and so much more to think of.

I’m dedicating all my posts this week to Back to School tips, organization and planning. First up is what’s your school year looking like?

Have you looked at the school calendar yet?? Most schools have them on their website so I suggest printing it out and take a look at the year ahead. Now if you have more than one child that go to different schools, like me, be sure to printout each school’s calendar.
 
calendar
Now the first step to staying organized and minimize stress is to stay on top of things. So go out and get a really good calendar. Something with enough writing space that can fit the whole family’s schedule. My favorite is the magnetic fridge calendar from Motherword. It’s got the perfect writing space for us all and the additional stickers to make it even more fun, who doesn’t love stickers?! It’s also a 16 month versus the usual 12 months. Really designed for mothers to put to good use.
 
 

pens
 

 

A method I use when writing on the calendar is using different colors for each family member and combinations (ie Kids playdates together, Fawaz & I…etc). It makes it so easy to visualize for the whole family. I highlight birthdays and holidays in advance so that we can anticipate the month ahead and be prepared with gifts without stressing out about it at last minute. and most importantly in my life would be no double booking.

 
 

 
 
 
 
A very important thing to remember is “location, location, location!” It’s crucial to hang your calendar in a place that EVERYONE can and will access. This calendar isn’t just so you’re organized and informed but so everyone around you is on the same page. In my household the most traffic is in the kitchen. Some people have their family room or entryway as the high traffic space. I suggest you take a look at your lifestyle and decide accordingly as to where the “perfect” place for the calendar is. The additional advantage of the Motherword calendars is that they have magnetic strips that you can stick on the back to mount onto your fridge. If you do find a calendar you like that doesn’t have that you can also buy magnetic strips at most stationery stores.

The more you’re organized and prepared the more time you have to “Making Life Memorable”