New Path

I was working from home for an awesome internet marketing company.
I know they wanted me to come in full time
meaning I would have to leave baby girl in day care.
I can do it.....
so they let me go.
I knew that it was coming.
I'm not mad at them at all. I totally understand.
I'm sad because now I feel like I'm not bringing any income
but with Mr. N's new job I don't need to work.
It was just helping out pay off our debt.
So now its back to a tight budget and no eating out.

However, I am very very excited as well.
I am going to start "Mommy School" with baby girl
I can't wait! She's almost 2 (dec 10 to be exact)

I can't wait to actually decorate my house
we have been in the house for 2 months and not much has been done

I'm excited to do crafts.
Morning and night have been dedicated to work and the days have been to baby girl
I can't wait to start crafting again!!

I'm excited to focus on my Photography.
I have clients almost every weekend and a ton of awesome opportunities coming up.

Good things are coming our way... I can feel it :)

Monsters in the Pantry

Have you looked through your pantry lately? Sharleanna posted a few months back on how she organized her pantry. I'm going to take that one step further and challenge you to really look at what is in your pantry. You might be surprised at what you will find! There could be monsters lurking in there with out you even knowing about it!

Expiration Dates!!! Yes, canned food, condiments and even jars of seasoning all have expiration dates. I recently helped my mom sort through her pantry. Now what you need to know is that mom loves to cook and she keeps her kitchen fairly organized and clean, so we were both surprised when we found close to 30 cans/jars that were close to or had expired!

An expiration date will be stamped on the bottom of a can or sometimes even on the side of a bottle.

You'll need two bags. One for the emptied expired cans and one for the contents of those cans. Make sure to double them!! You shouldn't throw the cans away unless you empty them first and rinse them out. This way they can be recycled.

Others may feel comfotable throwing away the contents in their sink and using the garbage disposal but we didn't want to risk clogging our pipes. Doing so would also waste a lot of water.
These bags aren't doubled yet, we should have doubled them to begin with. As mom was carrying the paper bags with the emptied cans to the garbage the bag broke and we had another mess to clean up!

What will you find in your pantry?

Budgeting

Budgeting.... Bleh.... even the word is horrible!

But pretty much we ALL have to do it.
So friends..
How do you budget?
There's all kinds of worksheets and programs out there
I started doing the Dave Ramsey
and it really helps!
However, I'm a very visual person
and I need to constantly write and rewrite our budget plan
So I have been using the FlyLady FACE control Journal
It is Awesome
If you haven't checked out FlyLady you need to
It has changed my life.

What do you use for your Budgeting?

Just thought I would share a picture of baby girl :)

Baby Girls Clothes

So I have been lacking some serious motivation lately

Don't you hate that!
Luckily, Shona pointed out that it usually comes in waves
Well, after finding out we got the house we wanted to rent
my Motivation went from zero to THROUGH THE ROOF!!
hehe
Now its "getting everything ready for ANOTHER move mode"
With a ton of excitement to boot!
First task was Baby girls laundry
You see, shes a tad Spoiled when it comes to clothes
and when I say tad I mean she has enough complete outfits so that
I dont need to do her laundry but once every 5 to 6 weeks or so
(Grandma J only had two boys so when we found out we were having a girl she started buying like craaaaazy)
Because I have SO many clothes from Grandma J and hand me downs from Seester
baby girls clothes get OUT OF HAND (to say the least)
So I heard of someone putting outfits in Ziplock Gallon size bags
What? you may ask. Watch and prepare to go organize LOL
First I washed and separated Baby girls clothes into outfits
Then I put a full outfit (shorts/pants/skirt and a shirt) in a Gallon size bag
(I reuse them that's why the bag looks a little grungy lol)
Then I just put this in her dresser and everyday I just grab a bag
In the winter I also add a pair of socks and/or matching beanie
Its super easy to pack for her when we go places
and for Mr. N to dress her (since he doesnt know what goes together)
Easy Peasy!

Tip of the Week #4 - Multi-tasking

I know that this tip probably goes without saying, but multi-tasking is how I get through my day and I how I keep my house looking 'decent'. While Baby M sleeps, I sweep, clean the sink and fold a load of laundry and reorganize the baby gear in the living room. Everything may not be done perfectly and completely, but it does get done and quickly.

*while microwaving that bag of popcorn in the evening, instead of staring at the microwave take those 3 minutes to put dishes away, wipe down the counter or take out the trash. A lot can be accomplished in 3 minutes!

*before throwing that dirty towel in the laundry, dampen it and clean the bathroom floor.

*same goes for a dirty sock or that shirt you wore today, use it to dust your end tables and dresser. I'm totally not joking! I do it all the time.

*as you cook, clean! It's better than waiting till the end when you have a sink full of dirty dishes and a messy kitchen!

My only point today is DO WHAT YOU CAN WHEN YOU CAN! It doesn't matter how it gets done, as long as it gets done.

Tip of the Week #1 - Carrying around a car seat is heavy enough, do you really need the diaper bag as well?

Instead of lugging around a heavy diaper bag while running errands put the following into a 1-gallon zip lock bag:

- 3 diapers
- baby wipes stored in a sandwich size zip lock bag
- 1 onezie

It's small enough to stick in your purse and it'll get you through an afternoon of running around town!

Pantry

So we are in the process of moving

I have never moved 3 people before
(It was only me before and thats easy!)
the house is a chaotic mess
and IM GOING INSANE!!
I had to organize SOMETHING FAST
I decided the pantry would be the best place
Since I'm in there everyday
Heres the BEFORE
(Sorry the lighting is bad it was late at night when little miss M was sleeping and Hubby was at work)
UGHHH Sooooooo chaotic!
This is during...
(half of it is empty boxes since the hubby likes to put them back empty.. grr)
and with a little help of my Label maker!
(No I didnt add and extra "L" to Cereal thats the cursor!)
and an hour later!
This was just a simple/quick organization(therapy ) session
once we move into our new place I want to
redo most of the labels and bins
but it works for now!