A while back, I expanded my Budget Pack in my Etsy shop and made sure to
post all about it.
Now I am happy to say my most popular pack - The Cleaning Pack - has been expanded as well. What are the new printables?
I have redesigned the original Weekly Cleaning Checklist! The original is still included in the pack, so don't worry. I have just updated it now to include a lighter cleaning schedule. Now cleaning the major rooms is no longer linked to a specific day. There are less daily cleaning tasks as well but also room to add more.
For those that only have time once a week to clean, there is now a Once A Week Cleaning Checklist to help with those tasks. 14 weekly cleaning tasks with space for seven more will help to keep your house sparkling clean with only one day of cleaning per week (or month).
Created from another popular post on the blog, I now have recipe cards for all the green cleaners PLUS TWO BONUS RECIPES never before seen on the blog. Now you will never look up a recipe again. Simply print and you will never again have to guess the recipe for glass cleaner.
And to make sure you always have the ingredients you need for green cleaners or to make sure you never run out of bleach again, I have created four Cleaning Supply Checklists. One for green cleaning, one for traditional cleaning, one for both and one blank for you to customized just how you want.
So now you have seen all the new cleaning printables I have designed that are included in the new *expanded* Cleaning Pack in my Etsy shop.
Buy this pack, or anything else in my shop, and take 15% off your order! Use coupon code NEW15 at checkout.
We are nearing the Dog Days of summer now. The days are the longest and hottest. The kids and adults are outside more. And with all the extra time spent outdoors, someone, somewhere, is bound to get hurt.
That's why in the summer, we have a special first aid kit.
In it, we have everything we need to treat the summer bumps, bruises and ouchies.
Most importantly, we have bug spray. I love this Buggins stuff you can get at Walgreens. It keeps the gnats away and smells really good, for a bug spray. We also have some Jason natural bug spray.
Right behind the bug spray, the most important thing to have at all times in the summer is sunscreen. I like both the cream and the stick so I can get all over coverage. I love the cream for bodies, while the stick is so nice for faces. You don't have to worry about smearing it into an eye accidentally. This is extremely important when your toddler is trying to break free from your grip like a convict fresh off the farm.
Band-aids. Duh.
Pain relief antiseptic cream and anti-itch cream. Not a summer goes by when The Good Husband doesn't get poison ivy.
To soothe your sore muscles from all that hard summer work - muscle balm.
I have some extras on hand for summer illnesses - aloe for treating sunburns, lye soap for poison ivy treatments. But everything we need is kept in the summer first aid kit.
How is your summer going so far?
This is the sixth and final post in a series on the new budget worksheets I have created that are NOW available in my Etsy Shop.
I am so excited to share this template so everyone can bask in my anal retentive ways. I like to keep track of things. I don't think that is any secret. In fact, my therapist told me on the second visit, in a very nice way, that there was just no hiding it.
So I like to see, in detail and often, everything. In this case, monthly bills and when they are due.
For me having a calendar like this is a great way to keep on top of all your finances. You can see when you will get paid, when bills are due. You can calculate how much will go out at the end of the week and how much will come in. It is also great to see if a payment due date falls on a nonbusiness day, so you can make it in advance and avoid all the late fees.
This worksheet allows you to write in the left column all the bills that are due for the month and then track them on the calendar on the right. It keeps all your finances in one spot and helps to never miss a payment.
So now you have seen all the budget worksheets I have designed that are included in the new *expanded* Budget Pack in my Etsy shop.
Buy this pack, or anything else in my shop, and take 15% off your order! Use coupon code NEW15 at checkout.
This is the sixth post in a series on the new budget worksheets I have created that will soon be available in my Etsy Shop.
It seems I never shut up about how I pay bills.
It just never occurred to me to stop using that silly *small* and *ugly* checkbook register when paying bills and reconciling my statements and design my own *bigger* and *prettier* one.
So I did. It works great in my Household Binder. I can add a lot more transactions to the page and it stays in one place with all the other budgeting templates.
And I have both a horizontal and vertical one.
Come back tomorrow when I talk about a finance calendar!
This is the fifth post in a series on the new budget worksheets I have created that will soon be available in my Etsy Shop.
It's a great idea to have a safe deposit box. You can keep your Home Inventory Log in there as well as other important documents, like original birth, marriage, death and divorce certificates.
We have the important paperwork above as well as things like savings bonds, family jewelery, valuable coins in our safe deposit box.
So we need a good way to track what we have in there. This log allows us to know where the box is located, as in the actual bank, where the key is, any special instructions to access and the contents. We can log when we add or remove any items and we also have a record should anything happen with the safe deposit box.
Check back tomorrow when I talk about checkbook registers.
This is the fourth post in a series on the new budget worksheets I have created that will soon be available in my Etsy Shop.
Each year we donate to several charities in our community. We have a rotating list of charities that cover a wide range of topics from arts and education to animals and the environment to women's issues. We also make several donations of physical goods - mainly clothes and food - to local organizations as well. A good way to keep track of these donation is with this log.
And with two kids that grow like weeds, I never have a shortage of clothes that could use a good home.
Since we claim these donations on our taxes, it is important to keep track of the amount as well as the receipts. The log helps to keep all the information in one place so I won't will be less likely to lose any paperwork.
This log allows you to see the date of the donation, the organization, the value and description of the donation, as well as receipt received.
Tomorrow I discuss my safe deposit box log.
This is the third post in a series on the new budget worksheets I have created that will soon be available in my Etsy Shop.
I have a confession to make; despite my actual job where I track money for a living, I am notoriously shitty tracking our family money. Or I was. I designed all these budget worksheets as a way to get my family's shit together and get out of debt.
One of the biggest ways I found to lose track of money was to buy a bunch of little shit everyday. By keeping the totals within a cup of coffee range, it was easy to forget just what you spent. But that money adds up quicker than a hookers and blow habit. If you don't keep track of it, soon all your money could be gone.
So I designed this as a way to help keep track of all those little expenses. While I know the big bills monthly bills by due date, it was easy to gloss over the gas station trips or the beer runs.
You might not have enough daily expenses to fill out an entire sheet. If so, feel free to combine several days on to one sheet. The best way to keep on top of every penny is to sit down at the end of the night and fill this out. If you keep your receipts, it should be easy. Even if you don't keep your receipts, you should be able to log on to your bank's website and track your expenses there as well.
Once you get in the habit of reviewing your expenses (and income, hopefully!!) daily, you can see where your money goes daily.
Coming up tomorrow, I will go over tracking donations.
This is the second post in a series on the new budget worksheets I have created that will soon be available in my Etsy Shop.
I talked here about how I handle bill paying. It's a weekly process where I balance the books, write the checks and pay the bills online. Like most people, I imagine, a good portion of these bills are paid online. A good way to track all that is to use this tracker.
The tracker has spaces for the date the bill was paid, the bill, how it was paid (bank online bill pay vs company website), the amount, the reference/confirmation number and a spot for reconciliation.
For me, the best feature of this tracker is the reference/confirmation number. Most of the time, I don't bother to print the confirmation page to help save the environment. Besides, most of the time I get a confirmation email anyway with the information included. But, my inbox is a hot fucking mess. I have 1000+ UNREAD emails in my primary email inbox alone. Shit. So having this tracker keeps me from having to sort through the piles of emails in my inbox.
If you have a lot of accounts that you pay online, you can use one sheet per account. Or if you are like me, you would save paper and use one sheet for the entire year. It might end up being two sheets at the end of the year, but that's okay.
Tomorrow I cover how to keep track of daily expenses.
This post will be photo heavy, so excuse me as I slip into my attention whore panties.
I have had the pleasure of throwing four fabulous birthday parties for The Good Daughter, and I discover every time that I both love and hate it.
As an anal retentive, can't-see-the-forrest-for-the-trees type of person, I get caught up in the little things and love to make sure everything is matchy, matchy, fits the theme. And as a perfectionist, I kill myself to make everything as perfect as humanly possible, all while knowing I will never, ever get it the way I want.
But this year I was able to relax and enjoy everything. The meds must have kicked in. The theme for this year was Little Cute Monsters, since that's what The Good Son basically is.
I decorated the house with my standard door decor, pom poms and streamers.
We had a bounce house for the kids, as well as a wading pool and a monster can toss.
I continued the monster theme with cutouts for the tent and balloons in the party colors.
Pom Pom Monsters decorated the house.
As for the food, we had chips and dip, veggie pizza, fruit and dip, sandwiches, mac and cheese and deviled eggs.
I got cutesy as fuck with the theme and made eyeball toothpicks for the fruit tray.
And made a monster box to hold the forks.
I also made a monster cake that featured eyeball cake pops. And try as I might, it was far from perfect.
TGS got his own smash cake.
I made monster treat bags for all the kids.
Each bad contained a monster sticker sheet, monster bouncy ball, monster duck and monster magnet craft.
The kids also got to adopt a monster plush.
TGS was skeptical at first, unsure about the whole gift thing.
But soon enough, he warmed up to the idea.
Once we started to sing "Happy Birthday" to him, he was downright thrilled.
And then cake happened.
Overall it was an amazing day. All of the older kids were able to play on the swing set and in the bounce house and in the wading pools. The weather wasn't hot as fuck. Everyone was able to fill up on sugar and food and Holden felt the love of his amazing family.
Happy Birthday my little monster!!
~supply list~
Invitation: designed by me with clipart from Cloud Street Lab on Etsy
Decorations, food, cake and treat bags: made by me, inspired by Pinterest
Treat bag contents and plush monsters: Oriental Trading Co.
