Household Month of Organisation! - The First Aid Kit

It Is May!

National Month of Organisation!

Ok so there isn't really a month dedicated to getting organised 

but in our house there will be!

Now that we have all settled in to work and kindy, we have established some routines,  and started meal planning, 

we need to get this house organised!

It also helps that this month we have two long weekends!

Our biggest problem is not being able to find things when you need them!

Medicine cups, socks, hair bows, school notes, drink bottle lids (why do we have a million bottles and only a few lids?) they all need a routine and a home.

I also want to create one central area "An Organisation Station" that can be the family hub for all things organised, first aid kit, phone numbers, drink bottles (with lids), hats, notes, a calendar.  

Perhaps we need an organisation room not a station!

So no time to waste!  Today we are tackling........

THE FIRST AID KIT

A while ago I purchased a little first aid kit for the house.

I put it in a drawer and this drawer became the first aid drawer.

The drawer even got it's own label!

And thats how it stayed for the last year.....I wish!

 The papers from used bandaids, a million repeat prescription papers, assorted tacs, paperclips,  and bobby pins, sticky tape, ear plugs, EVERYTHING ended up in this drawer!  Lucky there have been no major emergencies as one of the kids would have probably ended up with a bandage held in place with bobby pins and bandaid papers stuck on with sticky tape!   Well at least I would have had earplugs to not listen to the crying!

So yesterday we....

1. Got EVERYTHING out of the drawer

2. Anything that was not first aid related went elsewhere

3. Checked Emergency numbers are correct and current

4. Is it out of date ?   

Check everything in the kit, fridge and medicine cabinet, including creams and antiseptic

5. Does it have a label?Dispose of anything that no longer has a label, if you don’t know what it is, what it is for, or whose it is        

          THROW IT OUT!

6. Broken or damaged packaging? 

          THROW IT OUT!

7. Check old repeat prescriptions.  If they are no longer valid throw them out

8. Do you have everything?     

Use the checklist to check that nothing has gone missing. 

Make a list of what needs to be replaced.

Wow a drawers worth of "rubbish" was halved!

Now the drawer is dedicated to first aid.

It has our first aid kit, emergency numbers and ready to use first aid items in it and

NOTHING ELSE!

The After Picture

Forgot to take a before!!!

We have a little shelf in the fridge for kids medicines and medicine measures.

Ice packs in the freezer

Medications in the cupboard above the freezer (out of reach of little hands!)

Here is a PRINTABLE copy of our First Aid Checklist

My Pigeon Pair - First Aid Checklist

Just click the link, download and print!

Looking forward to sharing our organisation journey with you!

I'll be back with photos!

Whats For Dinner? - Meal Planning - with FREE PRINTABLE

Well we did it!

We have now been meal planning for 1 month!

We have saved money, time, last minute panic trips to the supermarket and even better, gone is the 5pm question 

Whats for dinner?

Here's what has worked for us

1. 7 Days of Creation.  

For us it is a strictly 7 day plan.  I can't think that far ahead and grocery shopping with two children in tow means that a weeks worth of groceries already takes us two hours!

2. Don't just think dinners.  

I try and plan it so that Wednesday's and Thursday's dinner meals are left over worthy so that I can take them for lunch the following day.  This has meant we are saving a further $10-15 a week on lunches!

3.  Kids Menu. 

 I try to plan meals that are easy for children to eat or can easily be altered, it saves cooking two different dinners!

4.  Make it Mondays.  

Our grocery store pamphlets arrive Sunday's.  They are loaded with specials that inspire many ideas and they often have recipes and meal suggestions inside!  Our woolworths has it's specials starting on a Monday.

5.  Shop around.  

Ok so it is not as convenient BUT...we have Aldi, Woolworths and a Dollar Store at our local shopping centre.  After a month of shopping I know which products are cheaper at each store! I generally start at Aldi, then Woolworths.  I can't rave about Aldi enough especially after this week they announced they will be removing all products with artificial colours from the shelves!

NOW HERE IS A BIG ONE

We have developed a Monthly Plan for household shopping.  

We had developed a horrible cycle of everything running out at once! 

Toilet paper, cleaning products, toiletries it would be a huge budget blowout, we would stock up again to face a month later that everything had run out at the same time...AGAIN!  so.....

added to our meal plan we have

Weekly Items - 

Milk, Bread, Eggs, Margarine, Juice etc

Monthly Items -

Week 1 - Toiletries - Toilet Paper, Shampoo & Conditioner, Soap, Baby Bath, Tissues etc

Week 2 - Cleaning - Dishwashing liquid and tablets, Spray and Wipe,

Week 3 - Household - Washing powder, batteries, lightbulbs, fly spray, Stationery,

Week 4 - Kitchen - Glad Wrap, Paper Towel, Serviettes, Alfoil, Snap lock bags, Sugar, Flour etc

I can not stress how well this system has worked for us!  We buy fairly large quantities of each (which also saves money) and it lasts a whole month!  

But wait theres more........

Introducing the

 "My Pigeon Pair" 

What's for dinner?

Meal Plan

7 Day Meal Plan

Complete with 7 day Meal Plan

Shopping List for each meal, 

Weekly Items List

Monthly Items List and 

To Do List

OR

"My Pigeon Pair "

What's for dinner?

Meal Plan 

with blank list

7 Day Meal Plan with Blank Lists

7 Day Meal Plan

Shopping List

Blank Weekly Items List

Blank Monthly Items List

Ready for you to add your own lists!

Just click on the purple link underneath each picture, download and print

FOR FREE!

Recipes,

Detailed Monthly Lists

and more to come!

What do you think?

Would you use it?

What's it missing?

Make It Monday - Be My Valentine

Anders Ruff

Totally delicious, free printables from

my favourite party gals

Anders Ruff


What a cute way to spread some love this Valentine's day!
Just click, print, create!

Now....sit down...with some strawberry milk (pink!)

and swoon over the Anders Ruff

Valentine's Collection

soooo pinkalicious!

For the whole post including how to buy this printable package

(which is on SALE!)

head on over to

Anders Ruff

Do you have any plans for Valentines day?

Make It Monday - Back to School - Teacher Gifts

PART THREE - TEACHER GIFTS

Teachers are open to bribes.  Well at least I am hoping my sons new kindy teacher will be!

What a better way to start the year, than with a simple but personal homemade gift.

Forget Apples....

The Three Things A Teacher REALLY Needs Are;

1. COFFEE  2. CHOCOLATE 3. HAND SANITIZER

Coffee...especially if you are teacher who is also a Mummy, like me...nothing like facing 25 over enthusiastic little ones after being up all night with a teething baby!

Chocolate...nothing sweetens the deal like chocolate..especially useful for moments when you feel the need to hide from the children in a store room, or to share with upset parents or to bribe other teachers to do your playground duty.

Hand sanitizer...did I mention over enthusiastic little ones..this also applies to their desire to share with you everything including coughs, sneezes, freshly pulled teeth or even better asking you to tie their shoelaces, after they have just walked through the toilets!

Or take a hint from these clever Mummy bloggers.....

Little Pumpkin Grace
These vases are just gorgeous and would make a great Teacher present any time of year!
This blog is also inspiring, with so many clever ideas!

testosterone times three
How have I never thought of this!!!  What a cheap and ingenious present!

Shauna - From my mix of six
You can never have enough pencils!  Or even better fill it with pens!
You could use simple stickers from a dollar store to decorate the jars.

Teacher Gift - Free Printable from Howdoesshe

Simply print and stick to any cute container/box you already have!

Owl Bookmarks - My Delightful Designs

A bookmark for the class!

Teacher NoteCards - Janna Wilson

Ok so I had to have one apple present in their!

But the winner for me is......

PERSONALISED HAND SANITISER!!!!

Just a Girl

With still two weeks until school/kindy goes back you have nothing to loose and everything to gain, including some brownie points (that may or may not come in handy after the teacher has had to tie your childs shoelaces...again!)

Weekend Wind Down - Book Tags

I LOVE BOOKS.  Especially children's books.  I love receiving them, I love giving them. I love sharing them with my kids and them sharing them with me!  So now that it's the weekend thats what I intend to do!  Fingers crossed it will be a rainy Saturday,  the house will be immaculate, the kids will both have a daytime sleep at the same time and I will be able to enjoy a good book and a HOT cup of coffee.  I would even settle for a magazine and a warm cup of coffee...A girl can dream can't she.... 

Well incase my dreams don't come true this weekend, I have a back up plan.  We have a zillion books.  Okay maybe a slight overestimation, but we have a lot!  Being a teacher I had many children's books, before I even had children.  Since having children our collection has exploded! Now they have taken over our playroom, study, bedrooms and under the stairs.  I am not a fan of clutter but books are truly one of those things I can not bare to part with!  So I would love to sort them out a bit and....add some book plates!  I just love reading to the kids and being able to tell them who bought them the story and why.  There truly is a book in our house for every occasion!  Baptisms, Birthday's, Starting Kindy, Getting a new sister, Breaking a leg (I did say EVERY occasion!)  In the chaos of life I sometimes forget to write inside the cover.  To make life easier (and more stylish) I am hoping to use some of these gorgeous FREE Printables!

They would be great for making a start on the Back to School books?

Or you could just add them to your own home library to make sure, that favourite book finds it way home! 

What a great way to personalise a gift!

Simply click, download and print these gorgeous designs onto a sticker sheet!  

Or glue them on the front or inside cover of your children's books for some vintage style!

We Love to Illustrate - Free Printable Book Tags

Nina Seven from We Love to Illustrate - Free Book Tags

Book Plates from Image Zoo

Orange You Lucky

Mr Printables

Good Housekeeping

Time to log off the screen and log into life (thanks Sunny Mummy!)

Happy reading.....

"The more that you read, the more things you will know, the more that you learn, the more places you'll go!"  ~Dr Seuss~

Works for Me Wednesday - Tickets Please...Rewarding good behaviour!

 It starts with a whinge.  

Gradually it develops into a loud determined voice, moments later it is has descended into a glass shattering scream and unfortunately at times (especially really inconvenient moments in public) it has culminated in a body slamming tantrum!  

I doubt there is a parent or teacher who at some stage hasn't searched for that "magic" cure for behaviour management. I am far from the perfect parent.  In fact I thought I would be a lot better at this behaviour management after managing 25,  5 year olds for a living!

What I have learnt (and need to constantly remind myself) is....

 BE POSITIVE

Tell them what you want them TO do,  not what NOT to do!

E.G - Make sure your walking with that drink

NOT - Don't run with your drink

With their beautiful selective hearing all they hear is the word RUN!!!  

It also helps you sound less like a nagging mother for the neighbours sake at least!

POINT OUT THE POSITIVE BEHAVIOUR IN OTHERS

   This does work in our house especially now that Master O has a sibling.

To the sibling:  Wow look at you eating so beautifully!

is almost always followed by 

Master O: I am eating beautifully too Mummy!

OR when your out and about

Look at those children playing together nicely in the playground.

Again you are emphasising what you want them to do!

CONCENTRATE ON

CELEBRATING POSITIVE BEHAVIOUR

Focusing on doing the right thing works a whole lot better than concentrating on what will happen if they do the wrong thing!!!  Yes it is important that children know what the consequences are but they will forget them long before they forget that fantastic reward they are working towards too!
Reward systems can work in many ways.  Charts, stickers, pocket money....personally I LOVE tickets.  They are reusable (unlike stickers). You can have them personalised in any theme you could imagine, and kids love them!  Reward children with a ticket whenever they are displaying the positive behaviour.
A certain number of tickets needs to be gained in order to get a treat!
It is also nice on good days to surprise them with a "free" ticket  just for being them!


LASTLY

There have been many moments where I have just left Child #1 mid tantrum in the middle of the shopping centre!  
He quickly realises the tantrum is not going to get him what he wants......MY ATTENTION!!!
and if all else fails.....lock yourself in the pantry for a break and a cry Charlotte from Sex and The City style, (especially helpful if you have previously stocked the cupboard with chocolate)


So now.....here is my first ever Printable!  It is very basic BUT....
Drum roll please......It is a little owl reward ticket for you to download and print free!!!  



HOOT..HOOT
You're Beaut!
Click on the link below to download and print!

My Pigeon Pair - Owl Reward Ticket (this one is in "girly" colours)
My Pigeon Pair - Owl Reward Ticket (a bit more "boyish")


AND


Here is a reward chart, simply download, print and then add in the reward column what it is your child is working towards.  They could have a small treat if they want to trade in their tickets quickly or save their tickets to trade in for a larger reward!
Click on the link below
Earn Your Loot - Reward Chart by My Pigeon Pair

If that's not to your liking check out these other ideas from the Blog World.

Happy Tickets - Ambrosia Girl
Just love these, 3 tickets equals a treat!

These Robot coins are also used as a reward by Ambrosia Girl.

Behaviour Bucks
Like money the more you save the more you can do!

DLTK-Kids - Customisable Chore Charts

Free Reward Charts
The good old sticker chart!


Remember sharing is caring, so.....what works for you?????  




thanks to ScrappinDoodles for the pic!