organizing

Help Your Family Enjoy an Organized School Year with 4 Simple Tips

August 11, 2017 by Kathryn 26 Comments

Disclosure: I have partnered with YMC and Mabel’s Labels/ Bear Paws and have received compensation for this post. All opinions in the post are my own.

The new school year is almost here and that means it’s time for me to stock up on my must-haves for keeping my house and my boys organized throughout the coming months. For the first time, Zackary and Benjamin won’t be going to the same school, which means that ensuring their supplies and homework are in order will be more important than ever before.

Luckily, keeping my scatterbrained boys at least somewhat orderly is something that I’ve been practicing for years. And if you’re trying to prepare for an organized school year as well, these four tips are the ones that have helped me the most over the years!

Label All The Things

If your child walks out the door with it, make sure that you’ve labelled it! From ski pants to water bottles, I’m often amazed (and annoyed) by the items my boys have misplaced over the years. Near the end of last school year, Zackary even managed to lose his prescription glasses! [Read more…]

4 Important Family Calendar Reminders for Parents to Schedule

March 14, 2017 by Kathryn 33 Comments

One of my favourite things about living in Saskatchewan is getting to skip the whole hassle and annoyance of Daylight Savings Time. No worries about being late for appointments, forgetting to change one of the clocks or dealing with grumpy kids that lost an hour of sleep is pure bliss in my opinion! But even though I’m not changing my clocks, I do have some other household routines that need to be followed! That’s why I’m a big fan of placing a calendar on my fridge and then marking reminders for some important monthly, bi-monthly and quarterly tasks. Wondering what reminders you should add to your calendar? These four tasks are a great place to start!

Replace Toothbrushes

The Canadian Dental Association recommends you change your toothbrush every three months. Place a smiley face sticker at the start of every third month of the year to remind you to buy new brushes for your family. Letting kids pick their new toothbrush will make the day almost feel like a special occasion! [Read more…]

Kid’s DIY Toy Closet Makeover Made Easy with RBC Rewards Credit Card and The Home Depot Canada

September 14, 2016 by Kathryn 27 Comments

With the boys back in school for six hours a day, I finally have extra time to tackle some of the jobs that have been piling up around the house. For me, autumn is a season of organizing for the upcoming cold weather months and this year, I’ve got a lot of organizing to do! Luckily for me, RBC has found a way to make that organizing more rewarding with a very special offer! Now until October 31, RBC Rewards credit card holders in Alberta and Saskatchewan will earn 2X RBC Rewards points for purchases made at The Home Depot Canada! With all the great organizational supplies the store has to offer, I knew the timing was right to tackle Benjamin’s disastrous closet.

The problem with my youngest son’s closet is that he can’t reach the top bar, so using it for clothing storage doesn’t make sense. I’d put some boxes for books and toys on the floor instead, but the system didn’t maximize the space available and was awkward to keep organized. So I headed to my local Home Depot store and grabbed the Closet Maid Closet Maximizer system. Featuring hard shelves for durability and easy no-tool installation, it looked like an easy way to make the most of Benjamin’s closet area.

A quick tap of my RBC Rewards credit card at the self checkout and I was ready to head home and get to work. Assembling the unit was a breeze and in less than twenty minutes it was in place and ready to be used. Then it was time for me to get to work and organize Benjamin’s toys in a way that was functional for him and attractive to me! [Read more…]

Get Ready for the New School Year with the DYMO LabelManager 160P from Staples Canada

September 7, 2016 by Kathryn

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Newell Rubbermaid®. The opinions and texts are all mine.

Most years, I’m a pro at getting my boys back to school with as little fuss and bother as possible. But this year I have to admit that I’m feeling a little unprepared. My boys are attending a new school for the first time in their lives. A month of back to back vacations meant I never got the chance to buy school supplies in advance as I usually do. And now, school registration is just a week away and I’m frantically stocking up on the supplies my boys will need for a successful year of learning.

As usual, every item my boys will be using this year needs to be labelled with their names and most years, that’s no problem at all. I love ordering printed personalized labels every year to save me the time of individually writing their names on each item they use at school. But this year, the constant bustle meant I never had a chance to order labels for the new school year. So what’s a mom that’s short on time to do? Head to Staples for the DYMO® LabelManager™ 160P label maker!

This sleek little handheld label maker is so easy to use and looked like the perfect solution for my back-to-school labeling needs. The QWERTY keyboard let me quickly enter the words I wanted to print, while formatting buttons gave me options including font size, bold text, italics and adding symbols. Then, with the push of a button, a crisp black and white label was printed, ready to be applied to school gear. But best of all, the reprint feature meant that I just had to keep pressing the print button to make multiples of the same label! [Read more…]

Easy DIY Home Office Organization Makeover with HP-Giveaway #SpringCleaning

May 5, 2015 by Kathryn 402 Comments

Last week I shared an easy and fun kitchen organization project I created using nothing but my HP Stream 11 laptop, labels printed on my HP Envy 5530 printer and some cute mason jars. I loved the way these simple labels not only helped me organize my kitchen but also added some personality to my décor! That’s why I decided to turn on my laptop once more and do a little more spring cleaning…this time in my home office!

My office has a tendency to get pretty disorganized, especially with all the papers and calendars I use, so my goal was to tidy it up while also making it a pretty and inspiring space. I decided the first thing I would do is make my own file boxes by cutting old cereal boxes and covering them with fun printed paper. To keep with my spring theme, I found some flower images I liked, printed them out and then glued the pictures onto the boxes. A quick coat of spray varnish for durability and my file organizers were ready!

[Read more…]

Getting Organized for the New Year with Master Lock-Giveaway #LSSS

December 1, 2014 by Kathryn 148 Comments

As soon as we get close to the end of the year, I start planning my goals for the New Year ahead. While I don’t exactly make New Year’s Resolutions, I do set a list of goals for myself that I plan to accomplish in the coming months. This year, keeping my home and business organized is one of those goals and the job will be a little easier with some great products from Master Lock!

7149D Storage Security Box

This locking security box is essential for keeping important papers organized and safely contained, something that’s often a struggle for me. In fact, recently I wasted hours hunting all through the house looking for my birth certificate and eventually ended up spending money ordering another one to save me from having to search any further. Now that I have this convenient storage box, our family’s birth certificates, SIN numbers, mortgage papers and banking information are all carefully and securely stored so that I can access them when I need them. [Read more…]

Get Your Home Ready For Fall in 4 Simple Steps

September 18, 2014 by Kathryn 45 Comments

Fall for our family is a return to routine, from full school days to extra-curricular activities, but it is also a time to clean and organize my home for the coming months. There are a few different jobs I schedule for the fall and this year, preparing for cold weather will be even easier with a little help from ARM & HAMMER™ and OxiClean™. Here are four easy tips to help you get your home clean and ready for the new season!

Clean Up and Close Up

With summer winding down, get a head start on readying your patio or cottage for fall. Wipe down lawn furniture, the BBQ and summer toys before storing them for the year. ARM & HAMMER™ Baking Soda provides a safe and gentle alternative to chemical cleaning products to effectively combat summer dirt and grime, leaving everything clean for next summer. [Read more…]

Organize Your Household and Preserve School Memories with the Fellowes Saturn2 95 Laminator-Giveaway

August 23, 2014 by Kathryn 234 Comments

There are some devices that I don’t even realize I need until I try them, and then I wonder how I ever got by without them. Recently I added just such a gadget to my household: the Fellowes Saturn2 95 Laminator. While I remembered how much I loved having school projects laminated when I was young, and still love having my boys bring home laminated artwork now, I never would have thought I needed one in the house.

But I was wrong! This little laminator is incredibly compact, easy to use and lets me preserve so many precious memories and important papers that might otherwise be lost or destroyed over time. The Saturn2 95 works with simple laminating bags so I just slip in the paper or art project I want to laminate, send it through the machine and admire the results. With school starting soon, it’s the perfect way of saving all the extra special projects that kids will soon be bringing home!

[Read more…]