May 31, 2011

Rest and Relaxation… In Your Home!

Filed under: How To — Miss Moxie @ 3:11 pm

Ready for a great vacation? Who isn’t right? But, I’m not talking Vegas, Lake Havasu or California. I’m talking Scottsdale, Phoenix, Chandler and Valley homes. What if I told you that your vacation is right here and in your house?

 

I would not have changed my vacation even if I was offered a million dollars. I had the most relaxing Memorial Day Weekend and believe it or not, I felt all of that relaxation in my home!

 

As I mentioned last week in giving advice to pack for a trip, there is a the list of over 45 items that consists of a tent, whistle and door-stop that could be stuffed into one carry-on bag, As I took a look over that giant list again imagining if they truly meant carry-on bag or Mary Poppin’s bag, I got to thinking about necessities.

 

It is crucial to organize our lives and organize our households in the same fashion of packing. I wouldn’t haul extra luggage around if I didn’t need it and I shouldn’t have items cluttering up my living space that I’ll never use. I realized that after organizing my home, I was able to make my entire weekend become a life of vacation.

 

Click here for tips on how to make vacation relaxation your reality.

 

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May 30, 2011

Menu Planning Monday (or Sunday)

Filed under: How To,Meal Planning,Stress Free Living — Tags: , , , , , — OMG - The Original Moxie Girl @ 3:16 pm

Sunday afternoons are my time to get planned for the coming week. A big part of our goal of organized living is getting our food in order. We’ve discovered the hard way that, if we aren’t planned, we end up spending WAY too much time and money on food during the week.

In the spirit of Menu Planning Monday (which you can find ALL over the web!), I planned out 7 meals to cook for dinner, but I also wanted to get a few things ready to make sure we can have healthy breakfasts, lunches, and snacks through the week.

Here’s what our dinners look like this week:

The title doesn't lie, these recipes are all quick and easy!

Monday: Indian Tofu and Spinach with Almond Rice

Tuesday: Chian Mai Curry Noodles from Quick and Easy Thai

Wednesday: GRILL NIGHT!! Preseasoned beef filet tips from Fresh and Easy, Grilled zucchini and yellow squash (tossed with olive oil and Kosher salt)

Thursday: Healthy Bowtie Chicken

Friday: Stuffed Sole from Omaha Steaks, Steamed broccoli

Saturday: Chicken and Broccoli Thai Curry

Sunday: Vegetarian Pasta e Fagioli

Once I have decided what we are going to make during the week, I organize the recipes on my Moxie Girl Meal Planning Worksheet. This allows me to note which recipe book the meals can be found. If they are recipes from online, I simply print them off and hang them behind the worksheet. The benefit of being this organized? If I am running late, my husband can start cooking because he knows what the plan is, and where to find directions. It’s practically fool proof!

I realize that some of the names of these can look very intimidating, but trust me: I am a LAZY cook! If a recipe takes more than simple chopping, sauteeing, and boiling, I don’t do it. These are all pretty darn easy!

For those of you with kiddos, don’t be afraid to give these a shot. I can’t guarantee kids will like the Indian tofu dish, but the Thai dishes are pretty mild, due to the coconut milk. For those of you adults who are afraid of curry, Jon will attest that I HATED curry for the first 5 years we were together, but he took me to some of Phoenix’s best Thai and Indian restaurants and let me keep trying his curry dishes. After a while, the curry flavor started to become more familiar, and now it has become one of my favorites. Just like kids have to keep tasting new things to develop their palatte, so do we as grown-ups.  :-)

One final note, if you haven’t use fish sauce before, don’t let the smell scare you off! It is the key ingredient that gives Thai food it’s unique taste. It is super important to use it in the dish, even if it smells like dead, rotting, fish. Just do whatever you can to NOT get it on your hands!!!

I’m creating a separate blog for the breakfast and snack food that I made today. Keep an eye out for that one soon!

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May 26, 2011

Keep Your Bag From Looking Like This…

Filed under: How To — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Miss Moxie @ 5:38 pm

Happy Vacation Time!

With Memorial Day right around the corner, I’ve been chatting with some girlfriends about their upcoming trips. Listening to their excitement on what to wear, how they can’t narrow down how many heels they want to fly with, and how in the world they will only have one carry-on bag, inspired me. Let’s talk about how to pack, or should I say, pack efficiently.

In conducting some of my own research, I found a list of literally over 45 things in only one section that OneBag.com claims will all fit in one bag! Although that same list also includes a tent, a door-stop, and a whistle, if they can do it, you can too!

Think of packing as Spring Cleaning. You do NOT want to gut out your closet of items you don’t need and then toss them all back in the closet. Less is always more. Make necessity your focal point in this process.

Think of these ten tips as you pack and you will be rocking only one bag for sure:

1. Do your laundry sooner than the night before. Put aside outfits you think you might want to wear and then sort through them as you pack to decide what you need.
2. If you only need three outfits, don’t pack 10. Get the idea?
3. Lay out note cards on the floor of the days you will be there. For example, say you will be gone Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Write those days on note cards, lay them out on the floor and think of what you will need for each day starting from wake-up time to bedtime, lay everything out that you will need on that day and pack it all away.
4. Go over your lists thoroughly.
5. If you give yourself a limited maximum of what you can bring, then there will always be extra room for anything you may have forgotten, or anything you might bring home with you from the trip.
6. Do grocery shopping a few days before. Plan out meals, snacks and drinks that you want on your travels.
7. Bring at least two extra pairs of underwear than your planned trip and always pack at least one piece of clothing to keep you warm in case “freak” weather occurs.
8. Use the rolling technique for getting all your clothes to fit.
9. Bring lots of plastic bags and pack all toiletries in plastic bags ahead of time.
10. If you are flying with at least one other person, pack some of both of your items in each other’s bag. That way if one were to get lost, you both will be set. (I’m sending positive vibes your way though, so not to worry!)

If you have any other helpful packing tips or lists that you would like to share, let me know! And if you find any other interesting lists that include items even more outrageous than a tent, whistle and a door-stop AND it will all fit in one bag, I’d love to see what you can find!

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May 25, 2011

Getting Rid of Stinky, Sweaty Stench…

Filed under: How To — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , — Miss Moxie @ 4:05 pm

So, I definitely don’t mean to ramble on about sports, but as a woman who grew up with three older brothers I got to thinking about the sports equipment yesterday, the billowing stench from having it all in a storage unit outside and “on” went another light bulb!

Since we are about to face some of summer’s scorching rays, it’s time to think about how to get rid of the sweaty stinky stench that collects and manifests in our sports gear and our sports wear.

As much as I love to work out at home- and believe me, organizing and maintaining a functional household is a work out- I enjoy hitting up the gym. But, I notice that as it heats up, I tend to sweat more. And though I wash my clothes immediately when I return from the gym, I’ve heard some people say that after they wash and wear their gym clothes again, the smell comes back as soon as they start to sweat.

If you find yourself in the same boat, there are few tricks you can try:

1. You can add some baking soda (about ½ cup) to your laundry before you add the softener and wash on a gentler cycle.

2. Soak your gym clothes in a solution of vinegar after being washed- especially in the underarm area. You can also add bicarb soda to the same area.

3. Alternate gym clothes. Synthetic fibers, rather than natural fibers (cotton), hold onto odors.

As far as gym/sports equipment goes, I found a product called SportzGemz, which is a pouch that has a volcanic mineral inside that you place in your sports gear bag. Supposedly it soaks up all of the moisture and absorbs the stink. In my eyes, I am skeptical that it completely eliminates the odor as it claims and makes me wonder if the pouch then itself becomes the culprit of the smell. BUT if it does the job, someone please let me know because it sounds interesting.

http://www.sportzgemz.com/

Otherwise:
-Make sure that you let all of your equipment air out after use.
-Be sure to clean the items as well- bacteria build up is the source of the smell and can lead to infections
-Find a deodorizer that works for you- whether it be in spray or pack form.
-Bring your equipment INSIDE- keeping equipment outside to bake= quicker spreading of bacteria!

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May 24, 2011

1, 2, 3 Break!

Filed under: How To — Tags: , , , , , , , , — Miss Moxie @ 9:00 pm

It was such a beautiful weekend that I decided to invite the whole family over for a pool day to splash around, play a few games and soak up some sun.

I went over to the equipment bin to grab a volleyball to toss around with the kids, but as I opened the lid, it was as if a cloud of green stench rose from a deep pit of doom. The volleyball was flat, the football looked like it had been trampled on by a herd of elephants and all of the other sports gear reeked!

Something needed to be done- and fast! And as if a light bulb went off in my head, I thought it would be a better idea to bring the sport equipment inside and out of the Arizona heat.

In honor of Spring cleaning, I’m sorting through ALL the sporting gear in my home to find a way to organize it- even if that means tossing it out. I stumbled upon these three ways of organizing in Real Simple magazine from David Price.

1. Ultilize your closets!
-Maximize space by using a hanging shoe rack for gloves, hats, balls, etc.

2. Rubbermaid Sports Organizers!
-Coat racks, clear Rubbermaid bins, or this neat stacker makes finding equipment easy.

3. Garage Works Too!
-If you have an area to mount a pegboard to nail items up, go for it! Otherwise, set up a storage unit with color-coded bags full of gear for the family to grab-n-go!

Please let me know if you have tried any of these or which ones you think will work the best. I’m thinking the Rubbermaid Sports Organizers might win in my home! Thanks for some great ideas David!

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May 19, 2011

“No gifts, please?”

Filed under: Party Hosting — OMG - The Original Moxie Girl @ 10:08 pm

One of my friends posted the question, “Do I bring a gift to a birthday party if the invitation says ‘No Gifts Please’?”on Facebook this past week and I was surprised to see the variety of answers that followed. First, I should clarify that the party my friend was attending was for a 5 year old, and the child’s parents, not the birthday boy himself, requested no gifts.

Responses that were left on this wall were everything from shock, “What kind of a parent wouldn’t want their kid to get presents?!?” to rule-abiding, “If the parent says no, then don’t bring anything.”

I felt like I needed to chime in because I had a slightly different perspective than most people had. Working closely with our clients and perspective clients, one of their biggest stresses is clutter around their house. What drives them even battier is when they finally make a dent in their clutter, only to have a well-intentioned grandparent/aunt/friend bring over a bunch of toys/clothes/stuff as a gift or hand-me-down. The biggest culprit? Birthday parties.

In today’s “play fair” environment, many parents feel obligated to invite every child from their kid’s class, soccer team, dance team, and Sunday School class to the birthday party. While it can be exciting for the kid to be able to open 30 gifts of things they never knew they didn’t want, the parents are the ones stuck figuring out what to do with all the new stuff. And, let’s be honest, parents today are providing their kids with all their needs and most of their wants. This means that the gift from little Sally and her mommy is either already in the kid’s toybox, or something the kid isn’t at all interested in.

If the parent (or any party-thrower) takes the time to write, “No Gifts,” on the invitations, please believe them. While they will certainly feel loved that you brought them something, your gift will later later make them feel stress as they debate how long they have to keep it until they won’t feel guilty donating it, regifting it, or simply throwing it away.

If you really feel like you must bring something for to a child’s party, remember that cash is king. Give them a small amount (around $1/year of age is appropriate) and let the parents help teach them about saving vs. spending. For adults, a card with a heartfelt, hand-written message inside can’t be beat. And remember, sometimes the best gift you can give is your presence.

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May 18, 2011

Penny, the “Not So Crazy” Coupon Lady

Filed under: How To,Meal Planning — Tags: , , , , , , — OMG - The Original Moxie Girl @ 1:28 am

The idea of couponing is a little overwhelming, and slightly frustrating, for me. I love to clip coupons, but I forget to use them. Then, there are the stories about the Crazy Coupon Ladies who have a closet full of mustard, just because they got it for $.02 a jar. I have no desire to become a hoarder, so how do I effectively use coupons to cut my grocery bill by 75%?

I decided to talk with a couponing professional, Penny Parker, founder of ClipItBaby.com. Her stories amazed me, and her tips were so helpful that I just had to share. It’s a little bit long, but worth it! I hope you enjoy her answers as much as I did!

MG: How did you get started couponing?

Penny: I have a long personal history with using coupons and found out at an early age what they could do for me. Initially, it was just to convince my mom to buy me junk food (Look! We have a coupon!). As I got older, I used the money I save each year to fund my summers in Italy. I did this for FOUR years. And now it enables me to live debt free in today’s uncertain economy.

Penny Parker, founder of clipitbaby.com

MG: How cool! What has been your best success so far?

Penny: Last month I went into a Fry’s Food Stores (the local Kroger affiliate) and was able to purchase $285 worth of groceries & toiletries for $18 by combining manufacture’s and in-store coupons.

MG: Wow! That’s amazing! What tips would give to new couponers, like myself?

Penny: First, get your coupons organized. Most people are familiar with the small accordion type file that is small enough to fit in your purse, but a three-ring binder with baseball card style pockets works great too.

Next, keep all your store and restaurant membership club cards with your coupons, and carry as many coupons as possible with you at all times.  Not all sales and clearances are advertised.  You will miss out on a lot of items if you do not have your coupons with you and they are sitting at home.

Finally, find a set time to clip and sort coupons each week, possibly during your favorite TV show.  File them as you clip them to stay as organized as possible.

The more time you spend upfront on getting yourself organized, the easier the system will be to use and you will quickly save more money.

MG: How do you keep from becoming the “Crazy Coupon Lady?”

Penny: It is an unwritten law that you never clear the shelves of any product, period. If the sales are really fantastic in any given week, I always make multiple trips & shop at off hours as to not to hold up the checkout lanes.

MG: Who is a “typical” couponer?

Penny: I always thought “typical” couponer  was someone on a limited income until I started doing research for my coupon book. I was really surprised to find out that the more affluent households dominate coupon usage: 38% of “super heavy” users and 41% of “enthusiasts” come from households with incomes greater than $70,000. [ The Nielsen Company, The Coupon Comeback, April 13, 2010.]

MG: Where can we find more information about you?

Penny: You can visit my website where you can print online manufacturer’s coupons. I also have a daily newsletter that compiles all of my deal postings for the day.

Your contact information:
Name: Penny Parker
Email: Penny@clipitbaby.com
Website: www.clipitbaby.com

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