Effective organising - part two

With the upcoming holidays there will definitely be a large amount of chores to do. Of course some of us are not happy with it, but the fact is that some things still need to be done. If you're able to make things easier in some way and not to create additional clutter, that can help a lot. Effective organization of space is one of the ways.

I've already written about more efficient organizing of drawers, whether with clothing, whether with jewelry, and I was also delighted by this great idea of storing balls.

How to avoid rolling lids

This time I want to share with you one, in my opinion brilliant, idea how to effectively store the lids.  

Before I tried this method, my lids were cluttering everywhere. I tried to stack them in pots, but then I could not put pots one in the other (result: lack of space for all the pots). I tried to lean them against the wall, which usually resulted in falling lids, or the fact that it was difficult to reach them. And then I stumbled upon this idea. And just as it is often said in the commercials, my life has changed for the better :) I remembered I have one horizontal CD rack that has never been used for that purpose, so I pulled it from the bottom of a (cluttered) drawer and just in a few minutes, all the lids sat in place. No more falling, hunting for the rolling lid, no more noise which could even wake up a child in a neighboring house, no stunts aimed at retrieving the lid from a remote corner of a cabinets or a shelf.

Depending on what kind of kitchen space you have, the lids can be organized in many different ways:

1) in a basket of old dishwasher (I still use my first dishwasher, so I've never been able to try it)

Source: inthiscrazylife-bethany.blogspot.com.au

2) on the towel bar attached to the inside of the cabinet doors or drawers





3) storing in special shallow drawers





Similar principles can be applied to storing frying pans, muffin tins or casserole dishes







Caught in desire to organize efficiently? Look here for more awesome ideas.

       

How to encourage children to read and to love books

Ever since I can remember, I'm crazy about books. Often I hear the story of how, at the age of three, I used to sit, crossed my legs, took a picture book (holding it upside down) and then I would say, "Reading, reading .... and here's where the story ends!"

I seem to have managed to encourage this love with both of my girls. Maybe it's because I read a lot during pregnancy and used to lay the book on the belly :)))))

Here's how their reading corner looks like:

Originally it was a dice table, its top plate can be removed, and below there are two vessels. In the summer, we used it for water games, and over the winter it got completely new purpose.

I think The Little is definitely one of the youngest visitors of our great library, and currently she is most interested in throwing as many books as possible, off the shelves. Luckily she is so cute (objective Mom!) so the librarians still forgive her. Although there is one giving us significant looks.

Where and how to get affordable books

 

Once a year, at the Spring Fair, our library sells written-off books at a bargain price, which is a great source for supplying the home library, since they sell books in a really good condition. Purchasing second hand books is also possible on ebay and other similar sites. There is also a specialized book fair every year in November at my hometown, so I try not to miss it, since all the relevant publishers offer new books also at bargain prices.

The best picture books we have ever read

 

Here's a list of picture books that we've read and I recommend them to everyone, since they are educational and we had a lot of fun while reading them.

A few books for parents are also on this list, but since they are offering activities for children, they should definitely be a part of it.

Stan and Jan Berenstain: The Berenstain Bears 

Source: en.wikipedia.org

I know many of you must have heard of them before, or even read them in your childhood, since these books celebrate 50th anniversary, but to me they are something rather new, because they have not been translated into our mother tongue until recently.

Excellent, educational picture books that talk about real situations children cope with, titles say it all: Too much TV, Too much junk food, Messy room, Big Blooper and many more.

Highly, highly recommend!



Scaredy squirell

Excellent, high-quality picture books that talk about how we protect children too much, preventing them in exploring the world. Although published back in 2008, this is also something new for me (think I haven't seen it so far at the local library). My girls love it so much, it's very funny.

Source: kidscanpress.com

Dick Bruna: Miffy

Who hasn't heard of Miffy? Simple shapes, vivid and memorable lyrics are a magnet for children, but also for mums and dads. The books are available in hard and soft covers, so that the smaller and bigger children can have fun with them.

At the age of two and a half years, my older daughter  already knew to recite most of lyrics from "Miffy is crying", which tells you enough about the simplicity of its verses.

I also like "Miffy and the new baby", since it's a great explanation and preparation for the older kids at the arrival of a new baby in the family.

There are many great cartoons with Miffy as well. 

Source:miffy.com

Tony Ross: The series of picture books about the little princess 

Excellent, educational picture book, aimed at children aged 2-4 describing the topics such as hand washing, potty training and combing, the skills which kids at this age are adopting, and this picture books certainly can help them in doing so, because they are written in a funny way and accompanied by simple illustrations. 

Source: harpercollins.co.uk

Unfortunately not all of the published titles are translated into our mother tongue, so my kids have read only "I want my potty" and  "I don't want to wash my hands". Looking forward in finding new titles in our language.

Christmas things to make and do

Mommy looks forward in reading it, since it has more than 80 (easy!) ideas and activities for the upcoming holidays. I have a feeling that you will be reading about the activities from this book very soon. :)

Source: IglooBooks.com

And finally - Read, read and just read .....!

See what I have pinned about book love .

NOTE: originally I have included more books in my Croatian post, but I couldn't find all of the books translated in English, so I've shortened the list.


P. S. Have you seen this great linky party?

Organizing and storing balls

This post will be an evidence we're not just pinning, but also doing some of the stuff we pin.

Recently, I was amazed by this great photo I've seen on Pinterest and Facebook.

I've uploaded it to my Facebook page, as a great organizing idea and a friend of mine commented: "Oh, this is an awesome idea,  I can't believe I've thrown away the identical cupboard, it would have been of a great use to me!" Luckily, it turned out her husband could not throw the cupboard, but decided to keep it in the basement. What a clever decision was that!

And here's how they did it:

 

I especially like these boxes in the bottom row, which are intended as a storage of small balls.

If you are interested in other cool organizational ideas see here .