Ideas on how to clean and organize the home

A Flower Refresh…

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Let the purging season continue. I have been getting rid of so many things in my home. It’s amazing how much crap your house can hold. Honestly…. I have been going through all of the nooks and crannies of our home. Getting rid of things that we have not used since we moved into this home almost 6 years ago!

Next on my list is home decor. It’s funny it seems like every couple of years my taste in home decor changes slightly. One item that has been changing has been my taste in faux flowers. I love them don’t get me wrong but I have been desiring more simple arrangements. So I walked through our home and picked out certain arrangements that needed a “flower refresh”.


This “flower refresh” was inspired by this bouquet that I found at T.J.Maxx. I thought it was so life-like and beautiful. 


I put the bouquet in one of my blue and white vases. Looked beautiful….

So I went back and got another one….

And began looking around more….


Faux flowers have come a long way.


I especially loved this arrangement. I was thinking about purchasing this one to replace the one I have next to my tub in the bathroom. 


But then I spotted this one and loved the vase that it was in. Plus it was only $14.99 and the one above was $39.99!

I decided to start with the arrangement in my office. I took a look at it recently and I thought, “oh my goodness, this is starting to look like a creature.” 


It needed to be “refreshed”. The flowers were starting to look dark and I have had them for over 6 years. Time for a change. 

So I put the “creature” in the bag for donations and decided to keep the arrangement simple. 


Better much better….

But then I thought of the other arrangement that I just made and put it there instead. Now I don’t know which one I want. They both look nice. 

This was the arrangement in my bathroom sitting on my tub. See how the faux water looks yellow? Eewww, time to change that!


Better….


Much better….


I also change and threw away all of the old faux flowers in my office and purchased new ones. 


Looks wonderful….


I have enjoyed this “flower refresh” for my home. The next project is finding better ways to organize and utilize my laundry room. I have some ideas so we will see. 


I had to share this photo. This was from last week in my home. I could not believe that these were carnations. I picked them up at the grocery store. Stunning! I will now be looking into this flower more. 




Thanks for reading!
(all photos Mrs. Shockley)

The New Inslee Calendars

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Earlier this year I wrote a post about my first Inslee calendar that I had purchased. I was so excited to receive it and I have loved using it. Well I was on Instagram and spotted her new calendars for 2019! It is going to be hard to make a decision!

This is her 2019 Classic Desktop calendar and these are beautiful!

But honestly, I am leaning more toward her 2019 Botanical Desktop collection.
Just look at these beautiful illustrations! This lily of the valley (at least that is what I think it is) is gorgeous!

These are carnations! Stunning right?

All of these are so beautifully done. I just admire her artwork so much. I am hoping to commission her in the near future for a painting of my own. They are quite expensive but having something like this done is something that you can keep forever and cannot be mimicked. 
I hope to be making a purchase soon…..


(photos via Inslee.net)

Organizing My Monthly Expenses

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I have been discussing routines and trying to stay organized here on the blog for some time now. I just realized that there is one thing that I have not shared and that is how I organize my monthly expenses.

Expenses 
11/3/18
Mortgage

Car

Light Bill



Car Insurance 

Water Bill



Home Depot Card 



Groceries 
Parking





Church 



Savings



Total:

This is an example of what I use to organize our monthly expenses. I just use a basic table on Microsoft Word and type in the amounts. I do this every week. I like to know what’s going out and what’s coming in.

I remember hearing this phrase in church, “know the state of your flock”, and I knew immediately what that meant. Shepherds always knew how many sheep they had and what state they were in. So we as individuals need to be aware of our flock. 

photo credit Tuft and Trim.com
I still receive paper bills. I have not moved our bills to email or receiving them electronically yet. It is very easy for me to delete an email and I am so afraid that I would delete a bill. I am also not comfortable with automatic withdrawals from our account. 
I still like to have some control over our accounts and I like to be able to pay our bills from our account. I don’t like the idea of a company withdrawing money without me seeing it. So if that is something that you do and are okay with it then good for you. I am not quite there yet. Sorry….
When our mail comes in I open it and then place new bills in my bill organizer on my desk at home and it looks very similar to the one above. 
Wednesday is “bill” day. I then plug in all the bills that are due for the next coming week, add them up and then log in the dates on my calendar on my cell phone. I set up reminders to get notifications of when a bill is due and that is it. 

photo credit Anthropologie 

After the bill is paid I do print off the email and place it in that bill’s folder in my drawer. Sorry I know that sounds like a lot of work but I guess it is the paralegal quality in me. At the beginning of each year, I do go in and throw away the previous year of bills.

But I can tell you how much we spend on our bills, I know about all of the expenses in our home. I know the “state of our flock”. Everyone has a different way of organizing their monthly expenses. Do what works for you and your home. I just wanted to share how I organize ours. I do hope that you may have found something useful out of my super long process. Being organized is a quality that a lot of people admire and it is another way of being elegant.

Enjoy your day!

(photos via Pinterest)

Order is Elegant

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A few weeks ago my office had it’s WLI meeting (Women’s Leadership Initiative) and in these meetings we always have a speaker and discuss ways to volunteer around our city. Our co-members of the group always want to start it with an icebreaker. This month’s icebreaker was to come up with a hashtag that described your morning.

Most people talked about coffee and their kids. I sat and thought about my mornings and the first words that came to mind were order and elegant. I always try to have order in my morning routines (see my blog post here about that) so the word order had to be included. The word elegant is always on my mind because of the way I desire to live. It doesn’t have to be fancy but elegant.

So in today’s post I wanted to share a little more about my morning routine.

My closet
What helps me to keep my mornings orderly is picking out my outfit the night before and all of the accessories that I am going to wear. 

I pick out my shoes (which sometimes can take an eternity).

I lay everything out so that I can see it. I switch my bags the night before if I need to. 
I will then look at scarves if I decided to wear one. 

I will pick out a bracelet….
Or a brooch for my outfit….
Of course I will have a pair of earrings that I will grab the next day.
And a bottle of perfume will be selected to wear the next day. 

Having these items picked out and ready to go the next morning makes my mornings go very smoothly. With all of this already selected it gives me time to have my morning workout and a bubble bath every morning. Yes! I take bubble baths every morning! I have been doing it since I was 21. My routine has not changed. 
Well I hope that you enjoyed this post and are inspired to add a little order to your morning. 
Enjoy your week! 

(photos via Mrs. Shockley)

Elegant Pyrex Storage Containers

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About a month ago I was watching a blogger on Youtube by the name of Lisa and she was doing her fresh meal prep with her glass lock containers. I thought, “oh I would love to find some of those”. Well we did!

We discovered these great storage containers at Costco called snapware storage containers and I could not find them online! I found this option here. My set is quite similar and we paid the same price.

My snapware set at home. It is 18 pieces with the lids. 
The bowls are Pyrex glass which is great! I love that they are not plastic so I don’t have to worry about staining and them looking disgusting after a few months. 
The snapware lids feel secure on the bowls and they were so easy to clean and looked great!
I am sorry that I could not find them online. I love Pyrex products. They are made very well and last. I was so happy to find these at the store. If you wish to watch the video that inspired this you may see it below. Her food habits and meal prep is very inspiring for sure!
Enjoy the video!
(photos via Mrs. Shockley)

Mrs. Meyer’s Natural All Purpose Cleaner ~ My Review

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Okay time for my second natural product review. This time I decided to try the Mrs. Meyer’s Lavender Multi-Surface Everyday Cleaner.  I LOVE IT! 

I love everything about this cleaner. I love that it is made with essential oils and plant derived ingredients. 
I have used it on my counter-tops, appliances and our bathroom. 
And the smell is marvelous. It is truly therapeutic and relaxing. I was a little unsure about using it. I wasn’t sure if my kitchen would feel clean or if the product would get “soapy” enough for me but it does. 
I have been using it for almost two weeks now. This item will be permanently added to my cleaning product list. You must try it! I do enjoy using it every night while cleaning up after dinner. Here is a video from Jennifer L. Scott. Of course I was inspired by her to give this product a try. 

Enjoy!!
(photos via Mrs. Shockley, opinions are of my own)

Mrs. Meyer’s Natural Detergent ~ My Review

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So as I mentioned last week I have been really inspired by Jennifer L. Scott’s reviews on natural home products. In July she did a review on Mrs. Meyer’s laundry detergent.  So again I became very intrigued and quite curious.

I went to my local grocery store and purchased the lavender scent detergent. It smells wonderful and is very concentrated. Now I will be fair and say that once the clothes were put into the dryer the smell does disappear a little but it is still a wonderful detergent. 
I have been using it all week and do enjoy it. The only con is that it is quite expensive! I paid $15 for one bottle. That is double what I normally pay but I wanted to give it a chance and see what it was like using a natural detergent. We have very sensitive skin in my home and it does not take much to get a rash from using a different detergent. 
I have really enjoyed Jennifer’s reviews and have loved learning about natural home products. If you want to watch the video you may see it below. 
Enjoy!!!
(photos via Mrs. Shockley)