Get rid of plastic grocery bags and invest in or make reusable bags to take to the store.  This will clear up space in what ever area you were storing the bags.  You can also save money for every bag you bring to the store, Safeway does .05 cents for every reusable bag you bring.  It’s not much but if you continue it will add up week after week.  Make sure to keep the reusable bags somewhere in the car so you don’t forget them when going shopping. 

A great place to start kids on a cleaning path.

My kids love to get the laundry out of the dryer and put it on my bed. They are small and it takes them a few trips to get 1 load transported. Recently, I put a stool in our laundry room and am now letting them move the clothes from the washer to the dryer. They think this is great fun, so why not teach them early?

I have started explaining to my oldest child, who is 5, how to sort now. It’s fun for her to sit in there and pick out the different colors. We make a pile for whites, darks, and the rest. Kids love sorting and learn from it- so why not get a bit of labor out of them?

We’re going to start working on folding things now and I hope to have all 3 kids doing their own laundry in the next year or two.

Stop writing notes on post-its and loose paper.  Get a little dry erase board to put on the fridge, at the back door or anywhere convienent for you and write notes and lists on there.  Once you have completed something, just wipe if off.  Most of the boards are magnetic as well so you can hang newspaper clippings, business cards, etc to keep things organized for the week.  And if you keep your grocery list on the board then when it is time to go shopping just write it on a piece of paper, instead of trying to remember where you left the list you started the other day. 

Another place to start lists and write notes is on the bathroom mirror with a dry erase marker.  It is so easy to keep one in the drawer and in the morning when you are getting ready or at night if you have an idea then just pull out the marker and write it on the mirror.  And once you are done, it just wipes right off.  This can also help keep kids organized because they can write their weekly activities on their mirror and know what they have going on each day of the week.  As the week goes on they can erase what they have done. 

Stop loosing socks in the laundry by giving everyone in your house their own special sock hamper.  Everyone places their socks in there at the end of the day and then when it is time to do laundry, collect all of the baskets and do a sock load (towels and sheets are something else that can be washed at the same time to create less loads) and when the laundry is done, as long as the socks made it in the basket then they should come out of the dryer.  And then it is easy to sort every one’s socks and place them back into the baskets to put them away. 

Just a little basket works best and it can even be decorative to blend into each room or the kids bathroom, depending on where you place your baskets. 

Save money by not buying paper towels and using rags to clean.  An old t-shirt can easily turn into a rag to use around the house.  I also use socks, if I buy some and don’t end up liking them, and they are great to slip over your hand to dust the house.  Then when you are done cleaning wash the rags with biodegradable laundry detergent and line dry to save energy.