Use it up, Wear it out, Make it do, or Do without! What a fun topic we were given to present! As our team brainstormed together we decided to break this topic into 3 parts: HOME, CLOTHING, and CHILDREN. HOME: Incentive: Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God. D&C 88:119 Organize: If you are in control of the situation, you are organized. If the situation is in control of you, you are not organized 1. Organize so you spend less: There is nothing worse than buying an item and going home and finding you already had it. What a waste of money! For example, after Christmas many of us buy after Christmas items on sale to use the following year. Keep a list of those things and refresh your memory of what you from time to time. Put items in an obvious place so you remember you have it. Set things aside for occasions and holidays. Organize your closets and cupboards so you can actually see what you have. Label your organized baskets. 2. Make your life simple: Go through your closets and cupboards at least once a year. Give away, Throw away, and Store away. Don t be afraid to give away and throw away. It will feel like a weight has been lifted off your shoulders. If you know you will use something in the future; store away. Remember to keep a list of what you have. Conserve: 1. Don t buy stuff just because it s a good deal: We ve all been guilty of this. Something is on sale and we buy the whole shelf, we later go home and realize we still spent a lot of money and have no idea how we ll use it all. Just because it s a good deal doesn t mean we need it. Remember you re still spending money even if it s a deal. Ask yourself: Do you really need it, can you afford it, and how will you use it? 2. Remember your financial situation when you were first married. Don t forget skills that can help you survive hard times.
Food: 1. Create a menu: Go to the store with a plan. Plan your meals according to what is on sale that week. Eat things that are in season. After looking at your grocery store weekly ads, create a menu for the week. Write the items down you need to buy (remember to look in your fridge and cupboards to see what you have). When you go to the store stick to you list! 2. Use your leftovers: It s always shocking how much food is thrown away each week in a household. It s literally throwing money in the garbage. Have a leftover night once a week. Clean out your fridge and put it all out on the table. It may feel like a buffet! 3. Plant a spice garden: Planting a small spice garden will pay for itself in no time and you get to use fresh spices. It can also be fun to teach your children how to care for a garden and cook with fresh spices. Our family s favorite is to plant basil. We use it on cream cheese bagels, mix it with fresh tomatoes, use it as a pizza topping, and make pasta sauce with it. 4. Start preparing dinner right after breakfast: Get all your prep work done for dinner right after breakfast. This way you can clean up the mess all at once. You can walk into your kitchen at 4pm and not panic about dinner. You re prepared and have most of the work completed already! Clean your home: 1. Sometimes we feel we need to buy something new because we don t like the way our home looks. Give you house a good deep cleaning, you make like your home more than you know. Cleaning makes your home feel good and gives you a clear mind. Dust baseboards Dust all surfaces Clean the walls Clean any glass surface and windows Move furniture to clean under it Vacuum and mop Open a window to air out the room 2. Clean as a family: Having someone clean with you makes the time go faster and is so much more fun! Clean together in the same room until that room is finished. This teaches your family how to clean and you re spending quality time together. Every night before we put our kids to bed we play Pick 10 everyone has to pick up and put away 10 items before climbing into bed. Everyone will sleep better with a clean room!
3. Make a goal: You don t need to clean your house all in one day. That is overwhelming and can be discouraging! Make a goal to clean one or two rooms/closets/drawers a day. You ll have your entire home cleaned in no time. Give yourself and family a reward if you complete your daily goals. Take time to clean each room of your house as if you are moving out every two to three years. This will help you to get rid of unnecessary items that cause clutter. Rearrange and repurpose your furniture: 1. Change the arrangement of the furniture: It will brighten your outlook! A good time to do this is when you are cleaning with your family and moving your furniture to clean under it anyway. Play around with where a couch and chairs can be placed. It may not be perfect at first, but give it time. If you re having trouble imagining what can be done, ask you family for advice, or invite a neighbor over to give you ideas. You can swap furniture from another room. A chair you dislike in a room may be the perfect piece for your bedroom. Use your imagination! 2. A fresh coat of paint: That old desk, old chair, table; whatever it is; it may just need a fresh coat of paint. Instead of spending a small fortune on new furniture, look at your current furniture and imagine what a fresh coat of paint could do. Simple REUSE Decorating Tips: 1. If your table is looking drab and your table cloth is in the wash then cover your table with some festive wrapping paper. It brightens up the room and it s a fun talking subject with your guests. 2. Cover shoe box lids with fabric and hang them on the wall with your pictures. It s a cheap way that makes a bold impact. The mini canvases look like a masterpiece. 3. Paint and old dresser or headboard and add new hardware. This will drastically change the look of your room for only the cost of paint. CLOTHING: Organize: The only way we can get the most use out of our clothing is if we are organized! We have all been guilty of finding an item in the back of the closet or in the bottom of a box that our kids have outgrown!
1. Know what you have: Find a system of organization that works for you. Suggestion to those of you with a wondering closet of unfolded un-organized clothes is to categorize it. Different areas for this could be: maternity, summer, fall, winter and even a wishful stack of someday where again (because you know we all have those stacks). Sometimes when we go through these stacks and try on some of our old clothes we realize the potential still left in them! Organize your children s clothes by size. Kids grow FAST and clothing is expensive. You need to know what you have so we don t buy unnecessary items.\ 2. Repair what you can: Each of us have clothes with missing buttons or small holes. Repairing clothing may seem a bid daunting but there are so many resources available to you! Most sewing shops have classes at a very affordable price, however, you may even make an announcement in your relief society, and chances are there is a woman in your ward that would love to share her skills. Repairing things is a great way to make it do. Fixing clothing that needs repaired will expand your wardrobe! 3. Recycle: Recycling our clothing is a great way to save money and create less waste. There are so many fun things you can do with old clothing items. Simple RECYCLE Sewing Ideas: Cut off pan legs and make them into shorts Use a patch to cover a hole in any pair of pants Use an old shirt and make it into a child s skirt Cut up an old wool sweater and turn it into mittens, hat gloves or even a cardigan Make old socks into Sock Puppets with the kids Cut of old shirts or jeans and sew them into a block quilt *** Many more ideas and patterns at www.makeit-loveit.com 4. Make- Do: We can t always go out and buy the things that we want. Organize a clothing swap with family and friends to liven up your wardrobe. Something you don t want may be the perfect item for your friends wardrobe. After doing all these things sometimes it s just a matter of asking ourselves if you can do without ask yourself if you need the item, and what you will wear it with. Remember, just because it is on sale doesn t mean that you need it. Turning down sale items is a great way to be frugal if you re not going to use that item. On another note shopping off season for example: by buying winter clothes at the beginning of summer when all the clothes are deeply discounted or shopping thrift stores can really save a bundle. By being frugal and making do, or doing without can keep our homes simplified.
CHILDREN: 1. Organize your toys and books: Kids toys and books seem to multiply! Keeping toys organized in bins helps kids to find what they are looking for and also makes it easier to clean up. Keep bins organized by toy type: cars, dolls, dress ups, games, dinosaurs, art supplies. If you are organized your kids won t dump all the toys out looking for their favorite something only to find it at the bottom of the toy box. 2. Rotate: Go through your toys and store half of them away. When your kids get tired of the toys they are playing with then rotate them with the boxes stored away. A used toy that has been boxed away for a few months seems new when it comes back out to be loved. 3. Recycle: Don t throw items away unless you re certain you no longer want them. Put them in a toy rotation if they don t get played with again on round 2 then maybe it is time to purge the toys. Keep formula containers, baby food jars, wipes cases, soup cans ect and make use of them to organize. Fun Ideas to Reuse and have fun Make your own play dough Use squirt bottles for a water fight Make a Science Center using rice, dry beans, water funnels, bowls, cups etc. Melt down old crayons into new ones Put old clothes into a dress up box and have the kids put on a play While traveling give each child a wipes case full of treats what they have is what they get for the car trip Clean and fill baby food jars with treats use them as party favors Wrap formula containers in wrapping paper and fill with baked good for your neighbors Use soup cans to store paint brushes, colored pencils and other art supplies