Quick Tip: Keeping Spaghetti

Open spaghetti packages always end up a mess in my pantry. To keep the noodly noodles tidy, I have a simple trick: I wrap a rubber band around the outside of the package after it's opened. The pasta stays put and I keep my sanity! Give it a try, it works for me!

Want to see more of my Quick Tips and WFMW posts?

Otherwise, head on back to Rocks In My Dryer for more great tips.

Thanks for stopping by!

**By the way- I'm hosting a giveaway right now. Come see me HERE if you'd like to get in on it :) **

Amazing Coupon Savings!

What a great shopping day for me!

I've never been much of a coupon person. Oh, I clip 'em....I store 'em....but I never ever use 'em! I never had a good 'system' to organize them, and they just ended up in an irritating pile at the bottom of my purse or on my desk, or somewhere else just as un-useful.

Lately, I've had a renewed passion for coupons though. I just refuse to believe that with all the coupons floating around out there, that I can't figure out a way to use them.

Today, I saved $12.25 in coupons!!! For me, that's a lot. In fact, let me do the math...my subtotal was $38.85...so that's a 31.5% savings! (And all on things that I use all the time, not on things that I might try because I had a coupon to use.) Here's how I did it:

• First, I have 4 Sunday papers (yes 4) delivered to my house every Sunday. I pull out the manufacturer's coupons and the store inserts.
• Next, I clip all the coupons for things that I use. **Only for things I know I'll use** Otherwise, I just end up storing coupons that take up space and complicate my system.
• Then I store the coupons in my binder. My binder is sorted by various categories like "baking and condiments", "meat and dairy", "cleaning and storage", etc.
• The pages of my binder are baseball card holders...perfect for storing coupons! (Thank you to Amy at Memoirs of a Mommy for this idea)
• Once I've sorted through all the coupons and stored them, then I look through the store ads. I look for things that are on special, and I make a note of them and how much they'd cost with my coupons. This step is made much easier by only looking for things that I use.
• Then I make a shopping list, and hit the store. If a deal is really great, I'll use all 4 of my coupons and stock up.

One thing I'd like to improve on is knowing when a deal is really great. Lots of people use a "price book", but I haven't gone there yet. I'm hoping that I'll just get the hang of good vs. bad prices through my normal shopping.

Here's my coupon binder:

It's so much fun to get to the end of the shopping trip and hand over all my coupons! It's even more fun when the cashier scans all my coupons, gives my my new total, looks and me and says, "Wow! How'd you do that?!"

I'm hooked! (Like I needed shopping to be even MORE fun!)

Digital Photo Storage and Organization

Clockwise from top left: external hard drive, thumb drive, DVD, CD, prints

I got a really great question from a reader recently...how do I store digital photos? Since I was planning on doing a post about it eventually anyway, I figured now is as good a time as ever. Thanks for the question, Ann J

As I see it, there are two main issues associated with digital photo storage. The first is simple: basic organization - How to store the photos in a way that lets you access them when you want to? The second is security - How can you store your photos in a way that protects you from total loss should your computer crash?

Basic Organization:

I use my photos in two ways - the good old fashioned way (looking at them in an album) and the more modern way (sharing them electronically). Therefore, I have two different way of storing my photos from an organizational standpoint.

I don't know. Maybe I'm too "old school"...but I really like good old fashioned prints. There's just nothing quite like sitting down with a photo album and reminiscing. Each year, I go out and buy a new album. I have one album for each year. It's important to buy the kind that's expandable...meaning you can add more pages as needed (this is the album I use). And then, once a month, I look through the pictures I took that month and decide which ones I want prints of. Then I pop them into the album. Done.

From an electronic standpoint, I keep it very simple. When I download my pictures to my computer, they are automatically stored by date. I leave them that way. But my hard drive is filling up fast! I’ve been thinking a lot about how to store my photos long term. That leads me to the second issue…

Secure Long Term Storage:

I’m a nut for photo security. Always have been. I have a giant safe deposit box at my bank, which contains our marriage license…and hundreds…maybe thousands of film negatives! I just couldn’t bear it if I lost all of those precious images in a house fire or something. It’s an illness…I know.

I can think of 4 ways to store your photos in their digital format:

1. Computer hard drive (already talked about that)

2. External hard drive

3. Thumb drive or similar device

4. Disc

External Hard Drive: I bought one of these to backup my computer. I plug it into a USB port, and simply drag files from my computer’s hard drive onto it. It has an enormous amount of storage. I’m tempted to go get another one of these to use exclusively for photo storage. For now though, I still have enough room to backup my entire computer (spreadsheets, Word documents, music, and pictures) to this one device. Pretty slick!

Thumb Drive or similar: These are handy to store photos on when you’re on your way to the store to have prints made. It’s very portable and affordable, but don't have a ton of space.

Discs: DVDs or CDs can store quite a few photos! They are easy to store, and are also a pretty “stable” format – from what I understand anyway…they don’t degrade over time (unlike film, for example). They are also very affordable.

So what am I going to do? Probably all of them!

I’ll primarily use my external hard drive to backup and store my photos. But I’ll also burn them to discs…and put them in my fire proof media safe or safe deposit box. Note: a fire proof media safe is different than a document media safe.

Hey…I warned you that I was a nut. Now if you’ll pardon me, I’m going to go backup my pictures!

P.S. I'd love to hear how you store your photos - please...comment away!

Organizing Puzzles

My friend, Becky, recently wrote a post with a great tip for organizing and storing kids' puzzles. She recommended cutting the picture from the box, and then putting it and the pieces in zipper bags. I was all over that idea! Our puzzles have been driving me crazy...the boxes are always falling apart and letting pieces sneak out. And they take up so much room for such small puzzles - just a waste!

I have to admit, it pained me quite a bit to cut the boxes. Even though they're not the most efficient and effective way to store the puzzles, there's just something so satisfyingly tidy about a BOX.

And my type A eldest child...well, when he saw that I had cut up the box for his puzzle...I didn't think he would ever speak to me again (even though we talked about it and he knew it was coming and had no objections...how much does he actually hear what I'm saying, anyway?)!!

In the end, I'm happy I did it. I plan to do it to any puzzle that is 100 pieces or less (Yes, that is an arbitrary # designed just so that I don't have to cut my boxes...wanna make somethin' of it??).

Here's a satisfying after picture. Oh! I just realized that this is the wrong after picture! I forgot to take a picture of the real "after". All the puzzles didn't fit in this small container, so I used a larger one...with a LID. Oooo...back to that wonderfully tidy box shape! You'll have to use your imagination though... I really did forget to take a picture.

Organizing A Diaper Changing Station

Hey, to all you moms-to-be out there...you do not...I repeat, you DO NOT have to buy one of those fancy diaper changing pieces of furniture. Sure it looks like it might convert into something that doesn't look like a diaper changing station in the future. And sure, it's a great match to the crib you want. But do you really want to spend that money? Do you really want to have that furniture forever?

Honestly, I don't have anything against those diaper changing/dresser things. I just didn't have the money for one when my first was born (still don't for that matter!), so I thought I'd share what we did instead.

Here's a picture of "The Poop Station" at our house. Let's start at the left and move right.

First, we have a good old fashioned dresser. When I say old fashioned...I mean OLD fashioned! This was the very dresser that my Dear Hubby had as a child. It used to be dark blue with wooden knobs and remnants of "A-Team" stickers on it. It's particle board. I had to dig deep to see it's potential.

I sanded it down, primed it, and then painted it this gender-neutral green (we didn't know if we were having a boy or girl). I added some cute knobs, and splurged on the fancy changing table pad. You can buy these, along with fabric covers, separately. It's important to attach it to the top of the dresser for safety. The pad I bought came with a way to attach it. Most do.

Moving on...the diaper pail. We had a number of different diaper pails. This garbage can works as well as any. Here's a news flash: poop and pee? They smell gross. There is not a fancy container in the world right now...nor will there ever be a container or bag ever invented that makes poop and pee smell good.

Use a good garbage can with a plastic bag. The garbage can lid should close all the way with no gaps. My favorite part of using just the garbage can is that we can use plain old garbage bags. Those special diaper pail liners/bags cost a fortune. Save your money for college...or for a massage (for you, not baby)...or for a second honeymoon...or, if you're really lucky, a cool minivan!

And then there's the storage. You'll need a place to put the diapers, wipes, lotion, Kleenexes, etc. I found this cute bookshelf at Target for a reasonable price. It would have been more frugal to find a used/old bookshelf and refinish it too...but I only have so much frugal in me! I wanted something new, and I just loved this particular bookshelf with all it's little shelves and cubbies. I got one for my older kids' rooms too...makes a great toy/book shelf for the older kids.

Do you see that I have 2 Kleenex boxes on the shelf? One of them contains...Kleenexes (surprise!). The other one contains plastic grocery sacks. I use these for the real stinky diapers. Toss all the smelly stuff into the bag, tie it off, and bring it right to the garage. The Kleenex brand tissue box (or any other "one up" type tissue box) is a great way to store your grocery bags. If you put them in one at a time, they also come out one at a time (and you'd be shocked by how many you can stuff in there!).

So that's it! That's my organizing post for the day...week...month? OK, year. :)

I'm just kidding. I really love to organize...I'll share some more ideas later (can you hardly wait?!)

Organizing A Mail Center

Remember this mail center project I told you about? I went to the store today to buy what I needed for it, and spent a couple of hours sorting through the pile of papers that was threatening to completely bury me alive. Before the project, a large chunk of my kitchen counter space looked like this:

And now it looks like (drum roll please)...THIS:

Yahoo!!

I admit, we already had a system in place for dealing with our incoming paper clutter, but it just wasn't working (as you can see from the "before" picture). As I was setting up this new system, I was thinking about what makes it different and why I think it will work where the other one did not. I think this is key...location, location, location. Our old system is based out of our office (a logical place, you would think). But the office is not where the school papers and mail is brought when it comes in the house. The kitchen is.

I think that changing our behavior to sort the mail into these folders will be a much easier and livable transition than changing our behavior to take it into a different room and sort it. How lazy can we be, eh?!

Now to tackle my drawer...

Organizing Idea: Mail Center

I love, love, LOVE this idea! I plan to do it...maybe we can get out from under this mountain of papers yet! I'll let you know how it goes, maybe with some before and after pics.

It's late, I'm tired. I should really go to bed. Does anyone else have a hard time going to bed once the chickens...I mean, kids are asleep? I don't want to waste all this delicious quiet "me time". I'll pay for it in the morning...

Tupperware Storage

Am I really taking the time to write about this stuff? Looks like it...

Meredith from Like Merchant Ships (scroll down) has been doing a series about organizing in this new year. She recently did a post about Tupperware, and I thought I'd weigh in.

I tried lots of different ways to store the stuff, including storing them with the lids on. Personally, that method drove me crazy because they take up lots more space that way than nested together.

I finally came up with this system, which I really like. The bottom shelf is where I store the containers, with like shapes nested together. I have a medium size Sterilite bin on the top shelf, where I store all the lids. It's easy to put them away and easy to find what I'm looking for when it's time to take it out.

How do you store yours?