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Simple Home Command Center


Lately we’ve been doing some home renovations.  I’ve been reducing the clutter in my home as well.  One of our biggest issues seemed to be important papers and mail.  Our normal routine was to attached important papers to the fridge.  Our fridge ended up being our kitchen command center.  Then the next thing you know, papers got hidden by other papers and the outside of our fridge was a mess. Something had to be done.  I realized I needed a dedicated space to create a proper home command center.

Home Command Center

I thought about building one in my office, but in reality, it’d be out of site and out of mind.  I knew I wouldn’t use it there. Our family command center needed to be somewhere we constantly accessed. We use our garage door more than our front door, this wall made the perfect spot since its located right by our garage door entry.

Once I decided on the spot I wasn’t sure what I wanted.  I looked at several ideas online and got overwhelmed.  Some of the ideas I saw were a bit outrageous, held way too much stuff and the last thing I wanted was more clutter.

Before I got started, I took a moment and looked at everything we had on our fridge. We had a calendar, dry erase board, menu planner, to do list and a magnet to hold all of our important papers.  Once I realized what was a necessity I created a simple home command center.

Simple Command Center

The H.  Very simple to make and it added a cute touch to our wall organization.  I grabbed a piece of cardboard and cute the shape of the H. I used some remnant fabric cut it to fit and taped it in the back. Then I stapled it to the wall.

I got a practical dry erase calendar.  Easy to update and make changes too.

DIY Command Center

 

A mailbox indoors.  Perfect for all those papers you don’t need right now.  (plus it’s a great place to store the dry erase markers)

I purchased 2 square dry erase boards. I love how I can use these for multiple things.  My menu for the week.  My to do list.  I can add motivational messages, etc.  It really gives me the option to change it up.

School Paper Organizational Tips

Clip boards one for each kid.  Each time the kids bring home papers I need to sign, they attach it to the clip board.  If I have homework I need to check or updates on their school spirit days or sports schedule this is where they place it. That way, I don’t forget.

That’s it.  Pretty simple, Eh?  If you are considering making a simple home command center, be sure to pin this to your pinterest board and save it for later.

 

Easy Back to School Lunch Prep Moms Will Love!

School is starting soon and getting back into a routine is hard.  Therefore, I wanted to share with you my Easy Back to School Lunch Prep idea.

 

 

Easy Back To School Lunch Prep

 

Let me first explain that as much as I would love to make those cute bento box lunches…. you know the ones with the cute cut out sandwiches in the shape of my kids favorite characters.  However, I just don’t have time for that. Mornings and me don’t get along too well.  Therefore a weekly lunch prep is a lifesaver.   After I wake up the kids,  I have them shower and dress. Once they are done they go downstairs, have breakfast and are responsible for getting their own lunch together.

Our lunches are simple.  Most of the time it’s sandwiches.   Other times I will switch it up and send a hot Thermos lunch instead.  But here’s how it looks:  (Hover over the picture and Pin this to your pinterest board)

Back to School Meal Prep

This weeks lunch meal prep included:

  • Fruit cups
  • Fruit pouches
  • Capri Suns
  • Water Bottles
  • Rice Kripie Treats
  • Fruit Snacks
  • Cheese Sticks
  • Carrots Stick (Divided them into snack bags)
  • Sandwiches (The only thing I had to make)

I clearly explain what they can have.  For example one fruit, one treat, one drink etc.. And I’ll change it every week.

I do our lunch prep on Sunday and then my job is done.  I let my kids “make” their own lunch for the rest of the week.

Pretty simple eh?  It only takes me about 10 minutes to get all this together and it really is an easy lunch prep and perfect for back to school!

Do you lunch prep and do something similar?  Leave a comment and share your tips.

 

Other article you may like:

 

Top 10 School Lunch Must havesback to school lunch

 

How to Save on School UniformsHow to Save on School Uniforms

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Repurpose Bunk Bed – Creating Different Projects

Earlier I shared with you the twin headboards that I found for my boys bedroom.  I would have painted their existing beds, but their beds were originally bunk beds.  One of the side panels of the bunk bed broke and therefore I only had one of bunks in working condition.

bunk bed twin

One of our friends had the same issue and we sanded down on of the side rails and gave it to them, so they could fix theirs. Unfortunaley I don’t have a picture for that.

I used the slats and created this sign.  The slats were special to me, because the kids and other guests wrote notes on them.  I wanted to preserve that in some way.

homemade wall sign

Since I had no use for the other bed, I decided to give it away to one of the girls in my MOPs group.

She patched the holes that would have held the top bunk.

wooden twin bed makeover

and used a dark navy chalk pain and the transformation was amazing!

transformation makeovers

chalk paint ideas

So next time, wait before you toss out your furniture.  Think of ways to repurpose it into different projects.

Moms New Best Friend – ClickList Smith’s Food & Drug Online Shopping Service + Coupon

When was the last time you heard a mom tell you… she hates taking her kids to the grocery store?  For me, I hear it often.  I can recall being one of those moms myself.  A mom who couldn’t wait for my husband to come home just so I could go to the grocery store by myself.  Oh how I longed for that quite time.  Though I dreaded that it had to be at the grocery store.

Well ladies, fear no more.  You can now take your kids to the grocery store and never have to get out of the car.  Making it the perfect opportunity enjoy your quiet time someplace else.

smith's clicklist service

Smith’s Food and Drug just launched their ClickList Service here in Las Vegas.

Check out our video on how easy it is to order online.  Use your desktop or app, login and place items in your cart.  Be sure to add digital coupons for additional savings.

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It’s easy to pickup too.  Park in the reserved parking space, call the number and an associate will bring the groceries out to your car and let you pay right from your car window.

 

The experience was amazing.  I will definitely be using the service again.  You can try it too!  Smith’s is waiving the $4.95 for your first 3 orders. So you really have nothing to lose.

Fun Facts about ClickList

  • Shop from over 40,000 items.
  • Items stored appropriately in refrigeration, freezing, etc.
  • Same Day Pickup
  • Can use coupons and apply digital coupons
  • Shop from your favorites – which are items you buy on a regular basis based on your frequent shopper card

and since we teamed up with Smith’s they are giving Momslifeboat readers a special coupon to try out the service.

lso check out our post  5 Ways Using Clicklist Can Help Control Your Grocery Budget

So what do you think about ClickList?  Comment on this post and share you’re excitement.

 

I Gave up Deodorant for 30 Days and This Is What Happened

You’re probably wondering why I gave up deodorant for 30 days?  Well it all started when I was standing in my closet looking at my clothes.  I was looking at my new shirts I had just purchased and discovered they already had some glittery yellowish brown stains under the arm pits.  I was upset.

I started googling what actually caused the yellowish brown stains and discovered it wasn’t the sweat itself that caused the stains.  It happened to be the aluminum combined with sweat that was the culprit.  My first thought was to research natural aluminum free deodorants.

But I wanted to try something else instead….. What if I stopped using deodorant for 30 days?  Would I see a difference.  Would my clothes be stained free?

natural aluminum free deodorants

The answer is Yes!

Now most of you are probably thinking I could never do that.  I would stink.

During this experience I went about my normal day to day activities.  Worked out 4x’s a week and what I discovered is I normally didn’t sweat that much to begin with.  I was a glistener…  therefore I really didn’t need much of an antiperspirants.  But what about deodorant?  Did I stink?  Imagine yourself coming home from the gym, getting undressed to take a shower and sticking your armpits in your husbands face.  Asking him, do I stink?  Yup that was me.   Multiple times throughout the month.   He was a good sport and honestly answered… his answer, with a bit of disappointment was No.

Antiperspirants vs. Deodorants.  Aren’t they the same?

No.  Antiperspirants have chemicals like aluminum to stop the sweating.  A deodorant masks and neutralizes the odor.

To my surprise a lot of my friends were looking for a similar solution. Each had a different reason on why they didn’t want a deodorant with aluminum.  So I asked them on Facebook what their favorite all natural aluminum free deodorants were.   If you aren’t ready to go deodorant free.  Here is a list of the Top 15 recommendations.

All of the items listed are Momslifeboat affiliate links.  Purchasing through these links helps you support Momslifeboat without any cost to you. 

15 Aluminum Free Deodorants

Malin + Goetz

Bali Secrets Natural Deodorant – Organic & Vegan

Organic Island Deodorant

Freedom All Natural Deodorant

ORGANIC 101 Lemon Haze USDA Certified, All Natural, Extra-Strength Deodorant

Thai Crystal Deodorant

Naked

Piper wai

Crystal Roll On

Toms (white ones highly recommended vs. green)

Jason’s Deodorants

Primal Pit Paste

Schmidt’s

Naturally Fresh Deodorant Crystal

Dr. Hauschka Rose Deodorant

A few of my friends  also told me they used homemade deodorants.

HOMEMADE DEODORANT IDEAS:

Option 1:

Baking soda paste.  Using equal parts of water and baking soda.  Applying too much can burn.

Option 2:

Melt coconut oil and beeswax together over double boiler. stir until everything is melted.   Add remaining ingredients
Stir until all ingredients blended together and runny. Quickly pour deodorant into deodorant stick and smooth the top.  Note:  Keep cool dry place.  Deodorant can melt in warmer climates.

 

 

Now you all may be wondering… If after the 30 days I went back to wearing deodorant.  Or did I switch to the aluminum free deodorants? Well… considering I live in the desert with these 100 degree weather, you may be surprised that my answer is no.  It’s been over 8 months now and I’m still not using deodorant.

Every body type is different.  I’d encourage you to try it for yourself.  Comment below and let me know your results.

 

15 Things You Don’t Know About Me

It’s May 1st and I want to hit the restart button on this website.  Lately, I’ve been feeling like there is this big disconnection in the blogging world.  So many websites with amazing information.  However, the majority of them have seemed to have lost something, myself included.  We’ve been so focused on giving you great useful content.  That we’ve no longer have a personal relationship with our readers.

So Let’s start this month with getting personal!

15 Things You Don’t Know About Me

  1.  I am not money motivated.  Don’t get me wrong.  I like money, but money doesn’t fuel me.  I have turned down jobs with better pay and career advancements because they didn’t fit into my families schedule.
  2. Some of my family and friends think I’m cheap. It’s not that I’m cheap it’s just that I value items differently from what other people value.  An example would be our family going out to dinner.  We order water.  6 people at $3 a pop, plus tax and tip = $22.00.  $22.00 for soda is ridiculous.  (Mentally I have a $2.00 limit for soda at a restaurant with a limit of 2 people)  In my mind, I would rather take the family out for ice cream after dinner and spend the $22.00 on that instead of soda.
  3. I am a basic math nerd.  I can add up an entire cart of groceries and be within $5 of the total.  I can estimate how much fabric I would need to do a project and be spot on.  I know percentages, finance charges, what’s a good deal, etc.  However don’t ask me to read a ruler, fraction, or anything algebra or geometry relation.
  4. I am a great copy cat.  If I see something, I can mentally figure out how to make it.
  5. I can sew, but I have no idea how to read a sewing pattern.  Most of the stuff I make is pretty much by figuring it out mentally.
  6. I can cook and make meals from scratch.  I was just having a conversation about this the other day with friends and I was oblivious to how many people can’t do this and rely strictly on recipes.
  7. I don’t often create new made from scratch meals with guests I invite to eat over.  I don’t ever know how the meal will turn out and don’t want to be embarrassed that the dish was not edible.
  8. Every family photo we do, we take one picture with our eyes closed.  We got the idea from the show My Name is Earl.  We figured it was easier to ensure all of us had our eyes closed, rather than the fighting to have them all open.
  9. I feel like when God made me, he used all of his ingredients.  He gave me a little bit of this, a little bit of that. I love everything.  I want to do and be everything.
  10. I’m a great friend… now.  There’s not much I won’t do to help my friends out. However, when I was younger I was very selfish.  If helping you didn’t fit into my life, I wouldn’t do it and would lie about why I couldn’t.
  11. I love talking to people on the phone.  I can talk for hours and I’m a great multi-tasker while doing it.  Most of the time, I’m cleaning so this helps my time go by a lot faster. My sister in law runs while talking to me.
  12. I’m a night owl.  My creative juices thrive best at night.  If I could stay up till 3 am and sleep until 11 am every morning, I’d be one happy camper.
  13. I am a story teller.  I love telling stories and have so many of them.  (All life related of course.)
  14. My husband and I met on a blind date… however he wasn’t my date.  He was the blind date of one of my childhood friends.  Fast forward 8 months, we both were lied to by my sister and her boyfriend.  Each of them telling us that we wanted each other’s phone number and connected us together.
  15. I have always been a believer in Christ.  But it’s only been within the past 10 years that I started following Him.  I have so many “It’s a God thing” stories and the faith I have in him is strong.  I’m not ashamed to admit that I am not a theologist.  I don’t know all the answers, there are a lot of words I cannot pronounce in the Bible.  I can barely remember bible verses, but yet… I am HIS child and he is doing so much in my life.

I hope you enjoyed these 15 Things.  A community is so important to me and I hope you feel like you’ve gotten to know me better.  I’d like to get to know you too.  Which of these 15 things can you most relate to with me?  Comment below and share.

 

MomsLifeboat ~ Las Vegas, NV
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