Real MOM Tip:
By: Valerie White
Do you have a mud room?
I have always dreamed about having one of those beautiful rooms you walk into before you enter the house, you know the kind with all the shelves, cubbies and hooks? Well, I don't live that kind of house. It is too small and too old and there is no way to add one on. So I began to think about how I could better organize the kids items. Particularly the backpacks, coats, shoes and lunchboxes. I really felt like if we could make sure they never got inside the house I could keep them organized so I began to look at my garage differently. Where could I add hooks? Was there a place to put a coat rod? How about a place for shoes?The key for me is that finding a place may not be the most difficult part of organizing but finding a way of not only storing something but retrieving something. So I could find a place to put this all but then it would be cumbersome to retrieve them.
So I broke it down:
Backpacks- need to go on hooks so they can be put on and taken off
Shoes-Need to be shelved down low so they can be easily seen and matched up
Coats-a rod would work out best where they can hang them up easily on a hanger
Lunchboxes-needs to be shelved for easy storage and retrieval
The idea works for all organizing. Finding a nice neat way to put something away is rarely the problem, putting it away in such a way as to be able to also retrieve the item and use it is the key.
So, look at your problem areas, where are they? What are the items that can't seem to find a home and then look at the space you have and how it can be utlilized in such a way as to accommodate those troublesome items.
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Do you a have a REAL MOM DEAL? email it to us at trisha@247moms.com or leave us a comment.
Real MOM Recipe:
Easy Pasta Bake
By: Recipes from Holly Farmer hollychef@yahoo.com
1 Small pkg penne noodles (or your noodle of choice)1 jar marinara/spaghetti sauce of your choice
2 cups mozzarella cheese
1 lb ground beef or turkey
Parmesan cheese
Prepare noodles according to package directions. Brown ground beef or turkey, drain excess fat. Add sauce to meat. When noodles are done, drain, and add to meat/sauce mixture. Add one cup of mozzarella, and a handful of parmesan (about 1/4 cup). Mix well. Pour into 2-3 qt. baking dish, top with 1 cup mozzarella, add a sprinkle of parmesan, and bake in 350 oven for 15-20 minutes, or until cheese is melted.
Serve with warm French or Italian bread and a salad.
Send 24/7 MOMS your Real MOM Recipes to trisha@247moms.com
Great ideas... I have done a basket for each kids... there backpack and coat go into the basket (or at least that is how it suppose to work). I tried hooks for coats, but they were too slippery for my kiddos (or my kiddos were too lazy and just threw them on the floor). So they each have a large colored basket as there catch-all. They clean them out once a week (on a good week). We still have shoe h*ll in the garage... any suggestions?
ReplyDeleteOn the pasta bake - if you use rotini pasta (i haven't tried any other kind) - you can actually put the uncooked noodles plus 2 c. of water in the baking dish (along with the rest of the ingredients, minus the cheese) and stick the whole thing in the oven (covered with foil) for 30 minutes and it will cook the pasta at the same time. After the 30 minutes I take the foil off and then sprinkle the cheese on it, cooking it for another 10 minutes. That is one less dish to wash!
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