A Little R & R has a chore chart system that works for her.

“This is a chart system that I designed and have been using for nearly a year now. I divide all my chores over 5 days, so that Ive done everything by Saturday and I have the weekend free. I write down every single thing i have to do for the day so that nothing is forgotten. I also get the joy of crossing all those things off my list – something I love to do. There are extra spaces for those out-of-the-norm things and an extra column for things that need to be done but are not a priority.

The chart can be downloaded as a free “printable” in a Word document – and each woman can design it to her own needs.”

Read about and download the weekly chore chart.

For more ideas to help you simplify and organize one day at a time, visit the Organized in 365 Archives.

Have you shared a great organizing tip on your website? I’d love to feature it on TheHappyHousewife.com. Submit your Organized in 365 tip.

Don’t have a blog, but have a great tip? Submit your Organized in 365 guest post here.

Amy from The Red Chair blog shares how she uses a wire shelving unit to organize toddler toys. I’ve had two sets of these wire shelves for years and have used them to store everything from toys to school books to clothes!

You can read how Amy uses this unit in a variety of ways on The Red Chair blog.

For more ideas to help you simplify and organize one day at a time, visit the Organized in 365 Archives.

Have you shared a great organizing tip on your website? I’d love to feature it on TheHappyHousewife.com. Submit your Organized in 365 tip.

Don’t have a blog, but have a great tip? Submit your Organized in 365 guest post here.

The following is a post from contributing writer  Jackie.

Do you own a Swiffer? I do, but I have never liked the idea of having to buy the disposable cloths both from a money standpoint and an environmental one. But, what are you going to do? Well, I’ll tell you. You can make your own reusable cloths, that’s what.

Do you have any fleece fabric lying around? What about a fleece blanket you don’t use anymore? While you can always go out and buy fleece fabric, I try to be frugal and “shop” at home for craft supplies first.

Once you have found some fleece you are ready to make your own reusable cloths.

To make Swiffer cloths for dry mopping you will need a piece of fleece fabric that is 8 1/2 inches by 10 inches. You can cut the fleece with a rotary cutter or scissors.

That’s all there is to it. Just poke the fleece through the holes on the top of the mop and you are on your way to clean floors.

I did a little checking of prices at the store recently and a box of 16 disposable cloths costs approximately $4.50 + tax. That would mean that I would spend about $9 a month on disposable cloths. In a year that would be approximately $108 for something that I would just through away. I would rather spend that money on something else for my family, wouldn’t you?

Now, if you sew, I have another idea for you that works great for wet mopping. My mom is actually the person who came up with this idea, but her words to me on how she made it were, “Oh, I just used some terry cloth and elastic and that was it.” Well, I needed a little more guidance than that, so I did some playing around and this is what I came up with.

This reusable cloth is perfect for wet mopping. Here’s how to make your own.

Supplies

• Hand towel or terry cloth fabric
• 3/8 inch elastic
• Sewing Machine
• Scissors
• Thread
• Pins
• Rotary Cutter
• Ruler

Instructions

1. Cut a hand towel into two pieces that are 9 inches by 12 inches. As you can see from the picture below, I made my pieces smaller than that, but I think a little bigger would be better.

2. Cut a small amount off of each corner to give them a rounded look. If your house is like mine you may have to be on the lookout for 1 year olds who might try to steal your scissors. (Don’t worry, I grabbed them away before she got ahold of them. )

3. Pin the two pieces, right sides together, all the way around.

4. Using a 1/4 inch seam allowance sew around the towels but leave a 2 inch opening for turning.

5. Turn the towels right side out and sew around the whole thing again using a 5/8 seam allowance. Be sure to keep that 2 inch opening from step 4. This second seam creates a casing for the elastic.

6. Attach a safety pin to the 3/8 inch elastic. I don’t have an exact measurement on the elastic, but I think 1 yard would be more than plenty. It is probably only 1/2 a yard, but it is better to be safe.

7. Thread the elastic through the casing. Ease the elastic through the opening and thread it through the casing until it comes out at the opening. You should have both ends of the elastic at the opening. Make sure the elastic is pretty tight.

8. Place one end of the elastic on top of the other end. Use a zig-zag stitch to sew over the elastic a few times and then cut off any excess.

9. Sew the opening of the towel closed.

This is what your reusable cloth should look like when you are finished.

It will slip right over your Swiffer and be nice and snug. You won’t even need to poke the ends into the holes of the Swiffer.

I like to use this kind of cloth for wet mopping. I simply run it under water, wring it out, and then slip it on my Swiffer.

If you were to purchase the wet disposable cloths at the store they are approximately $4.50 for 12. Even if I only use 1 package a month, that is still over $50 a year for something that gets thrown away. I think spending 10 minutes to make my own is worth it to save that much money.

To wash either of the reusable cloths I have shown you how to make, simply wash them with a load of towels. There is no special care that is needed.

If you have one of the mops that has the solution in it, I found that it is over $5 for a bottle. If you want a frugal and green option I would recommend using white vinegar either in a 50/50 mix with water or by itself.

Do you have a Swiffer? Do you think you would make and use either of these reusable options?

More posts from Jackie

Do your children play sports, or play outside in the summer?

Five of my children play soccer. We are at the soccer field six days a week and there seems to be no shortage of dirty socks, shorts, and t-shirts around my house! Whether it’s grass stains, dirt, sno-cones, or even blood, my kids come home with some pretty dirty clothes after practice and games.

Not only do their clothes get dirty, they stink! Teenage boys have an amazing ability to smell worse than just about anything you’ve ever smelled before. We have a separate bin for soccer clothes, but occasionally they forget and throw their smelly, sweaty, dirty clothes in with the rest of the laundry causing my whole laundry bin to stink.

I have an HE washer and while I’ve always thought it does a great job getting out stains on clothing, I’ve had a hard time finding a detergent that leaves my clothes smelling clean.

When Arm & Hammer asked me to try their ARM & HAMMER Crystal Burst Power Paks Laundry Detergent I was excited to see if it could tackle the dirty, stinky smelly soccer clothes.

I have my bag of power paks and I’m ready to get washing! I’ll let you know if a few weeks if ARM & HAMMER Crystal Burst Power Paks Laundry Detergent is up to the challenge of dirty, stinky soccer clothes!

The maker of ARM & HAMMER® products challenged me to switch to ARM & HAMMER Crystal Burst Power Paks Laundry Detergent and this summer, 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.

Susann from Hopping to It plans a months worth of dinner ideas. She also keeps a list of Breakfast and Lunch ideas. She says,

“We have 4 kids from 17-4 all have different breakfast and lunch needs. One goes to public school, one morning preschool and the two older boys are home schooled. But dinner we are all together. After organizing my plan on a calendar I laminated it so I can use it next year too. I left the dates blank so I just have to write in the new dates every year. Also left Sunday’s open and some days I just wrote “fish or beef” leaving it open to try what’s on sale. I plan to make on for every month, so I don’t have to recreate menus every year.”

For more ideas to help you simplify and organize one day at a time, visit the Organized in 365 Archives.

Have you shared a great organizing tip on your website? I’d love to feature it on TheHappyHousewife.com. Submit your Organized in 365 tip.

Don’t have a blog, but have a great tip? Submit your Organized in 365 guest post here.

Kristen of Thyme at Home shares her goals which includes a home management binder.  She includes helpful links in her post.  She says,

“I started off last year by making my top 3 organizational goals. I think starting off with your top goals for your home/life/space is really important! I will be doing this again this year! Thankfully, they are different ”

For more ideas to help you simplify and organize one day at a time, visit the Organized in 365 Archives.

Have you shared a great organizing tip on your website? I’d love to feature it on TheHappyHousewife.com. Submit your Organized in 365 tip.

Don’t have a blog, but have a great tip? Submit your Organized in 365 guest post here.

Almost twenty years ago I bought my first sewing machine. It sat gathering dust in my closet for the next 10 years because I didn’t know what to do with it.

During our tour in GTMO I met a Gaby, who was a clothing designer and professional seamstress. I was fortunate enough to take sewing lessons from her for a year and have been using my sewing machine ever since.

Not everyone has a Gaby in their life, but you still might want to learn how to sew. Even basic sewing skills can save you a lot of money making small repairs on clothing so they last longer!

Craftsy is offering a FREE sewing machine 911 class. Sign up and take the class on your own time, whenever you want. It never expires!

In the class you’ll learn:

All about the typical ills most machines suffer from, and how to easily remedy those pesky problems. Gain confidence in troubleshooting your own machine issues with my tips and tricks. All of these machines can sew, and they can sew well when the user understands them correctly. Work with Claudia Miller and get to know the ins and outs of your sewing machine, including the basic components of each machine, spotting symptoms, knowing when to take your machine to a professional, and much more!

It’s totally free and you can sign up for the Sewing Machine 911 class here.

Carol of Are We There Yet? shares how to use plastic baskets to organize your side by side freezer.

For more ideas to help you simplify and organize one day at a time, visit the Organized in 365 Archives.

Have you shared a great organizing tip on your website? I’d love to feature it on TheHappyHousewife.com. Submit your Organized in 365 tip.

Don’t have a blog, but have a great tip? Submit your Organized in 365 guest post here.

The following is a post from contributing writer Jami.

We love wood counters at our house.  They are classic, provide a warm, homey look (usually contrasted with white beadboard!), and – most importantly – are inexpensive. So we were pretty happy to discover that using basic tongue-and-groove flooring makes an easy DIY wood counter.

We have wood counters in our bathrooms and laundry/mud room, and plan to install them in our kitchen in the next few months. For the bathrooms and kitchen, where a smooth finish is necessary, we use Ikea’s butcher-block counters.

For our laundry/mud room, though, we just wanted a counter that looked nice, but was cheap and easy. So, making the 4-hour-round-trip car-ride (towing a trailer) to our nearest Ikea – easily adding at least $60 to the cost of the counter – was not in the equation.

A trip to a local building discount store, however, turned up 6-ft. long pieces of tongue-and-groove fir flooring for only $3.99 each. Since we needed seven to cover our base cabinet width (21″) our total for the wood came out to about $28.00 (compared to $59 + $60 for the Ikea counter). Cha-ching!

Any type of basic tongue-and-groove flooring will work for this (our part of the country carries mainly fir – in other areas it’s pine), even used wood flooring, if you can find it for a decent price.

And making the counter? It was as simple as gluing the tongues into the grooves and using a clamp to hold them while they dry. A few small nails around the edge and it was ready to be finished – which is another easy couple of steps.

I really love how it turned out (though the cabinet itself is not quite finished…eh-hem).  It looks great in the room and has been a good surface for starting plants as well as holding goods for the freezer and baskets of laundry. And it’s got me thinking of all the other things I could use this easy DIY technique on: rehabbing an old side table, dresser, or topping an old table in the garden shed.

Materials Needed:

• Tongue and groove flooring lengths – enough for width and length of counter (we found fir flooring at a local discount store – here’s a similar product from Home Depot , as an example)
• Wood glue
• Large (25-36″) bar clamps (we used 3 for our 6-foot counter - here’s an example of one like ours)
• Finish nails (1-1/2″)
• Hand-held sander and paper (or just a wood block with sandpaper wrapped around)
• Wood pre-stain
• Wood stain in desired color
• Water-based polyurethane
• Foam brush/applicator
• Paint brushes
• Optional: quarter-round molding- enough to cover side and back edges

Instructions:

1. Cut wood in desired lengths (or if you’ve bought them at a store, have them cut for you).

2. Apply wood glue lightly to one tongue at a time, setting each into a corresponding groove until all the pieces have been used and your desired width is reached. Make sure to wipe away any traces of glue while it’s wet or the stain won’t take in those places.

3. Space bar clamps evenly (we used 3 clamps for our 6-ft. long counter) and tighten to hold all the pieces together securely while it dries. If it seems to want to bow slightly, use something heavy to hold it down, like a brick or piece of wood.

4. Once dry, attach counter to base cabinets with finish nails along side and back edges only, 1/8-1/4″ from edge.

5. Sand counter in preparation for staining. Don’t worry about getting it perfectly smooth – this counter shows its flooring heritage. We actually didn’t finish our counter for about a year after installing it  so there were some water stains to deal with- though they were only lightened a bit by the sanding. Hey, more character!

6. Wipe counters clean and apply a water-based pre-stain wood conditioner according to directions.

7. Apply wood stain according to directions. We used an oil-based stain (that worked with the water-based pre-stain and topcoats) in walnut, so I found it easiest to use a disposable foam brush/applicator. If, after wiping extra and drying, the stain is not as dark as you’d like, apply more coats as desired.

8. Once the stain is thoroughly dry, begin applying the polyurethane topcoats according to directions. I applied 5 coats total and didn’t sand between coats (I rarely do since none of my projects are about perfection!).

Water-based polyurethane only needs 2 hours between coats, so I simply wrapped the brush in a plastic bag until the next coat.

By the way, the counter the bag-wrapped brush is on was created this same way, but about six years ago- in a very busy laundry/mud room area and has held up very well. There are just a few scratches- and those aren’t much, they really just show up in the photo, and aren’t noticeable in person.

Since we used a dark stain, the nails along the edges aren’t noticeable to us (and you can tell here that we’re really not perfectionists – bent nails and all).

Thus, we haven’t attached any quarter-round molding to this counter – yet. I think it’s on the agenda…someday. If you’d like to add edging, there are just a few more steps.

Optional edging steps:

1. Cut quarter round molding to fit edges. Simple miter cuts are needed for corners which are easy using a miter box and saw if you don’t have access to a powered miter saw.

2. Stain molding and finish to match counter.

3. Attach using a thin line of wood glue and a couple of small (1″) finish nails to hold in place.

Step back and enjoy your classic wood counter – full of character for a fraction of the cost of traditional wood counters (and even Ikea’s!).

More posts from Jami

I love the Motivated Moms. Planner and have talked about it previously on this site.  Motivated Moms is having a Mother’s Day special on their planner.  On Mother’s Day, May 13, 2012, you can enter the code MOTHER to receive $3 off the planner.   That makes it only $5.  This is  the best code they’ve ever offered!

In addition, the iPhone app is on sale today for $4.99.

For more ideas to help you simplify and organize one day at a time, visit the Organized in 365 Archives.

Have you shared a great organizing tip on your website? I’d love to feature it on TheHappyHousewife.com. Submit your Organized in 365 tip.

Don’t have a blog, but have a great tip? Submit your Organized in 365 guest post here.