source: Mandi Ehman

In many ways, Arm & Hammer Baking Soda is the ultimate green, frugal and simple product. You can use it in a variety of ways, from your kitchen to your bathroom, from the nursery to the laundry room. And at under $1 a box – a box that stretches and stretches and stretches – the price can’t be beat either.

I already use Arm & Hammer Baking Soda fairly religiously at home…in my homemade deodorant, in the trash can to absorb odor, on bee stings and rashes, and – of course – for baking.

But those things are really just scratching the surface as far as possibilities. Last year I put together a list of 60 uses for baking soda, and I still need to try many of these for myself.

This month I’m going to attempt to cross a few off my bucket list:

My girls haven’t yet discovered the fun of baking soda, so I’m looking forward to doing some of the fun activities on this list, like a volcanic eruption and bath fizzies.

In addition, we’ve been struggling with hard water stains in our bathroom and kitchen sinks, and I had completely forgotten about the scouring power of baking soda, so I’m going to attempt to get those shiny and new looking with a little help from baking soda and its partner in crime, vinegar.

Giveaway

The maker of Arm & Hammer products challenged me to switch to Arm & Hammer Baking Soda this summer, and they are giving away $12,000 in the Arm & Hammer Switch & Save Challenge Sweepstakes. To be entered to win one (1) of twelve (12) $1,000 prizes, simply reply to the question below!

Remember to join other Arm & Hammer Switch & Save conversations for even more chances to win.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Arm & Hammer. The opinions and text are all mine. Official Sweepstakes Rules.

Doing More with Baking Soda {Summer Fun & Shiny Sinks} is a post from Life Your Way

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source: Mandi Ehman

A couple months ago I talked about ways to use binders to get organized at home. Today I’m sharing more ideas specifically for kids. Binders not only help them organize but also archive and showcase their stuff, as seen below:

1. Art Binders: With four crafty girls in our home, we can only keep a fraction of their artwork or we’ll end up on Hoarders within just a few years, but I love the idea of storing the stuff we do keep in a special binder, one per child. Unlike the popular memory box option, which is how we’ve done it until now, using a binder makes it easier to actually flip through and appreciate their art. It also keeps it in order so you can see the progression of their skills over time!

2. School Binders: Use binders not just during the school year but also to archive your student’s best work after the school year ends. Use one color per child or a different color for each grade level.

3. Lego & Game Manuals, Puzzle Guides, etc.: Put manuals in page protectors and keep them in a binder. Not only will you avoid hunting for a missing manual, but the page protectors also, ahem, protect them so that they’ll last longer in better condition.

source: Shaina Olmanson

4. Homemade Books: Homemade books are a great way to teach colors & numbers, body parts, animals and more. Use pictures from magazines or your own collection and use page protectors to make the book more durable.

5. Baseball Card Collection: Besides school papers, this is probably the most obvious way to use a binder for kids, but I still had to add it to the list!

6. Activity Books: Print out activity pages (make your own or search Pinterest for tons of printables) and put them in page protectors to do with dry erase markers for reusable fun!

7. Scrapbooks: Create homemade scrapbooks for a fraction of the cost, a great way to introduce kids to documenting a season or trip with pictures and words!

8. Writing or Poetry Journal: Encourage your kids to write stories and poems and save them in a binder. Similar to an art journal, a writing journal not only showcases their best work but also lets them see their skills progress over time.

source: Mandi Ehman

9. Study Tools: We use a binder for studying our Classical Conversations memory work as part of our homeschooling, but you could use a binder to organize study notes and images for any subject as easy way to study and memorize information.

Naked Binder, a Life Your Way sponsor, makes a line of environmentally friendly binders that are perfect for kids. Not only are they completely recyclable and made from 97% post consumer waste, but they’ve also been independently tested to withstand more than 250,000 flexes. That’s a lot of use!

In addition, the project binders come with your choice of colorful spine wraps so that kids can choose a binder in their favorite color.

What other ways could your kids use these great binders?

	Mandi Ehman is the founder and publisher behind Life…Your Way and the co-author of All in Good Time, as well as a wife and the homeschooling mom to four beautiful girls. She lives with her family on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia and loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces.

9 Binder Benders for Kids is a post from Life Your Way

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The following post is from Joshua of Becoming Minimalist:

Source: Lucy*Lou

There’s something very refreshing and life-giving about a clean, uncluttered kitchen counter. It sets tone and culture for the entire home. It communicates calm and order. It promotes opportunity and possibility (who enjoys cooking in a cluttered kitchen?). Not to mention, it saves times and promotes cleanliness.

Yet it is one of the most difficult places in the home to keep clean and tidy. There are, of course, several reasons:

• The kitchen is hard-wired as a natural gathering place for the family (that’s where we keep the food).
• The kitchen is physically located in a high traffic area of the home.
• The purpose of the room requires messes to be made during its use.
• The kitchen is often used as a collection area for various odds and ends (mail, shopping trips, etc.).

While it is one of the difficult places to keep clutter-free, it is often one of the most desirable. Yet, many of us can’t seem to find the answer or quick fix. But maybe there are no quick kitchen counter solutions; maybe we need to change our thinking entirely. Maybe we need to take an intentional look at the reason ours remains cluttered… and then find a solution based on the problem.

Here are seven reasons why your kitchen counter stays cluttered… which of these do you see in your own life?

1. We own too much stuff.

One of the biggest causes of clutter in our homes is our tendency to put too much stuff in to too little of a space. When we do, it becomes difficult to store things, find things, and access them. As a result, we dread putting things away and it begins convenient to just leave things on the counter. Meanwhile, our cupboards and drawers become storage spaces for gadgets we rarely use.

2. Our possessions don’t have designated homes.

One of the most essential steps in organization and keeping a home clutter-free is to find a proper home for every item. We designate drawers for silverware, cupboards for plates, and shelves for food. If your kitchen counter is too cluttered, the first step in creating a clutter-free kitchen counter is to designate a home for each time – especially those you routinely leave out. Those items look different for each of us, but the principle remains consistent.

3. We think we use things more that we actually do.

If your counters are routinely cluttered, there is a good chance you are storing many “daily-use” items there (toasters, coffee makers, teapots, can openers, etc.) for convenience sake. But in reality, those items spend far more time as clutter than they do as needed instruments for food preparation.

For example, if you make toast every morning for breakfast, it’ll take roughly 3 minutes to toast your bread. And then the toaster will sit unused for the next 23 hours and 57 minutes. You actually use it far less than you think you do. Instead, try putting it away every morning for one week (completing steps #1 and #2 will make this easier). You’ll likely be surprised to see how much space those appliances take up.

4. We think leaving things on your counter is more convenient.

The fallacy of convenience is a big reason our kitchen counters stay cluttered. We keeps things in plain sight because we believe it makes our kitchen more convenient. As a result, our counters fill up with baking ingredients, knife racks, cutting boards, and coffee mugs.

And while it may be more convenient to readily grab those items when needed, we rarely notice the other conveniences we are sacrificing by storing them there. We move them every time we wipe the counters. We sacrifice precious prep space when we cook. And they subtly fight for our attention whenever we enter the room.

5. We leave things in our kitchen that don’t belong there.

As I mentioned, kitchens are notorious for becoming collection areas for all various odds and ends. But rarely is your kitchen the proper home for any of them. Change the culture in your home that allows them to stay there. Instead, think of your kitchen as a Department Store Customer Service Area – items enter there, but rarely stay. You can also extend this thinking to items you already store in your kitchen: televisions, radios, telephone books, etc.

6. We leave too many little jobs unfinished.

When a counter is clear and tidy, it becomes motivation to put things away. But a cluttered counter attracts clutter… and unfinished jobs are clutter. Granted some projects take more time than others, but many kitchen jobs (washing the dishes, putting dishes in the dishwasher, wiping the counters, etc.) can be completed right away before ever leaving the kitchen in the first place. And finishing them will do wonders for your attitude the next time you walk in.

7. We forget what we are missing.

We live our lives and get used to them. When we first moved into our house, we noticed all the little improvements that it needed (spots to paint, door handles to tighten, hinges to grease). Some we repaired right away, others we didn’t. And many of those that didn’t get fixed right away, still haven’t been finished – they’ve just become something we get used to and live with.

In the same way, we get used to our cluttered kitchen counters and don’t realize how freeing it can be to keep them clear. We may be reminded when we walk into a friend’s house or see a photo of a simple kitchen, but we’ve become so accustomed to the current state of ours we forget we can change it.

You don’t need to live with a cluttered kitchen countertop. The solution is closer than you think. Identify which of the reasons above are keeping your counters cluttered. And then find an afternoon (or a whole day if needed) to stage your kitchen for living.

Do any of the reasons above resonate with you? Are there any that I missed?

	Joshua Becker inspires and encourages others to live with less on his blog, Becoming Minimalist. He has also authored two e-books, Simplify and Inside-Out Simplicity. But more importantly, he loves his wife and two small children.

7 Reasons Your Kitchen Counters Are Cluttered is a post from Life Your Way

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The following post is from Becky of Clean Mama:

source: Schnittke

It’s the end of the school year and summer is just around the corner.  Why not take a little time this Mother’s Day week to think of ways that you can involve the little family members in some daily tasks around the house.  It’s a little gift for you!   Letting up a little on expectations and control,  you’ll gain so much more – independent children, less tasks for just you to complete and most importantly,  children that know the importance of contribution and responsibility.

Bedrooms

• Make beds. I have a fitted sheet on the kids’ beds and a washable quilt – this makes it easy for them to pull the quilt up and make their own beds)
• Put clothes away from laundry basket as they are able and dirty clothes in the dirty clothes basket.
• Put toys away.  In the morning and evening works well for us to avoid being overwhelmed by the toy pick up.  I remind them before a special activity (screen time, snack time, friend time).

Bathrooms

• Wipe down counters (a microfiber rag and water cleans up toothpaste and other spills).
• Older children can spray and wipe mirrors (with non-toxic cleaner, of course).
• Refills. Let the kids be in charge of toilet paper and tissues
• Collect garbage.

Living Areas

• Wipe baseboards with baby wipes.
• Wipe light switches and door knobs.
• Pick up toys.

Kitchen

• Load and unload silverware and plastics, when younger and then adding breakable dishware as kids get older.
• Set the table.
• Clear plates at the table.
• Sweep with a little broom and dust pan are great for little one’s hands.
• Dustbuster responsibility.  Let them suck up the crumbs and turn it into a game to fill the bin.
• Wipe the table down.
• Recycle and sort trash.

Laundry

• Sort by color.
• Sort and pair up socks.
• Pair items up: socks, pajamas, outfits.
• Sort clothes.
• Put clothes on hangers.
• Collect garbage in the laundry room. I have a small trash basket in the laundry room for lint, tags, etc. that the kids take care of emptying when asked.

Pet Care

• Take care of water and food for pets.  My oldest started this routine around 5 years old.
• ‘Help’ with brushing and bathing. This is a fun summertime activity with the hose for us.

My Favorite Ways to Get Help in a Hurry

• Set a timer for 5 or 10 minutes and see how if we can clean a whole room or floor in that amount of time.
• Chore charts work well in our house, no nagging, just doing.
• Using special options as ‘rewards’: once your clean room is cleaned up you can have 10 minutes on the computer, go play with your friends, take something else out, etc.
• I need to (fill in the blank), if you’d like to help me we can play your game sooner.
• Let kids help build a chore chart or responsibility chart. Taking ownership in the creation of the tasks will ensure a better success rate!

What are some ways you involve your littlest family members around the house?

	Becky is a self-proclaimed clean freak and list maker. She is a work-at-home mom to three little ones, and in her spare time she enjoys sharing her cleaning and organizing tricks and tips on her blog, Clean Mama and through her Etsy Shop, Clean Mama Printables.

25 Ways to Involve Little Family Members Around the House is a post from Life Your Way

© 2010-2012 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved - This feed is provided for the convenience of Home Your Way subscribers. Any reproduction of the content within this feed is strictly prohibited. If you are reading this content elsewhere, please send an email to contact@yourway.net to let us know. Thanks.