Hi all! I am so happy to be guest posting here on The Blooming Hydrangea!
I’m Vivienne and I write about life, DIY projects and crazy stories on
I’m a mom to 4 boys and blessed to be married to the love of my life/high school sweetie.
I thought I would share 10 completely random and non-related trick and tips that have made my life a heck of a lot easier! (Random and non-related is how I roll…)
1.) JEWELRY – My teeth are real. However, I still buy denture cleaning tablets. Before I get into the shower I take my wedding rings and one of the little denture tablets and drop them into a little cup of water. My rings are clean by the time I get out of the shower. The best part? My rings are minty fresh.
2.) STORE RETURNS – I am forever buying things that need to be returned to the store. I’ve learned that if there is a return to be made, I must immediately put the item back in the store’s bag, along with the receipt. Then that bag must get put in my car, or it will be lost in the black hole that is this house. I may drive around with it for weeks, but I always know exactly where the stuff is and when I find myself at/near that store, I never have to say, “Oh shoot, and I have that thing to return, but it’s at home…
3.) PB&J SANDWICHES – When you make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, put a little smear of peanut butter on the “jelly” side of the bread before putting down the jelly. The smear of peanut butter forms a little barrier that keeps the jelly soaking into the bread and getting it soggy and nasty.
4.) SCHOOL LUNCHES – My school age kids make their own lunches. I have a shelf in my pantry that has granola bars, cookies, pretzels and other snacks. I keep a box of the snack size ziploc bags on the shelf and they help themselves. They make their sandwiches, grab fruit and a juice box and they’re ready to roll. (I have a breakfast shelf too….)
5. ) MAIL – I open the mail everyday, as soon as I get it. Very seldom is it fun stuff in the mail… So it either gets tossed in the trash/recycle bin, it is a bill, or it goes into the “I don’t know what to do with this-I will look at it later file.” If I can just categorize the piece of mail into one of those 3 things, I’m OK, and for the most part I don’t get a build up of paper clutter, which has always been a huge problem for me
6.) TOMATO PASTE – Whenever I have a recipe that calls for tomato paste, it always seems like it calls for about 2 Tbsp… which means the rest of the can will go to waste if I don’t figure out how to use it up quickly. I started taking both ends off of the little cans of tomato paste and pushing the paste out one end. It is still in the shape of the can and I slice it just as I would a few tablespoons from stick of butter. The remainder gets partially frozen, then sliced into tablespoon sized discs and frozen completely. I have little pre-measured tablespoons of tomato paste in my freezer, ready to go
7.) FRESH HERBS – I don’t like having to buy a big bunch of fresh herbs for a dish when I only need a little bit. (And I don’t have a very green thumb, so don’t bother telling me to grow my own…) Fresh herbs can be chopped and frozen in baggies of water and they keep a long time. I use tons of cilantro when I cook. When it’s on sale, I buy extra, chop it up and freeze it in chicken broth… then it’s ready to get tossed into a I make all the time
8.) KID ROUTINES – I have an after- school routine for my kids: snack, homework, chores, then play. Period. Life goes pretty smoothly as far as that stuff is concerned.
9.) DON’T OVER SCHEDULE YOUR KIDS – We have a one sport/activity at a time rule. Kids get over-scheduled, and in a big family, one over-scheduled person has a detrimental affect on the whole family. Let your kids pick the one activity they want to focus on and leave it at that. Why parents think that their kids need to have every single second of their lives scheduled, I will never understand. Chill out.
10.) COFFEE GRINDS – Once you’ve enjoyed your morning coffee, take the used coffee grounds into the shower with you. They make an excellent exfoliant, removing dry skin cells, adding oils to your skin and caffeine is said to have “tightening effects” on skin (which is why it’s an ingredient in all those stupid cellulite creams…) Get wet, step out of the shower stream and massage the grounds into your skin in a circular motion. Rinse them off and down the drain. (No, it won’t hurt your pipes. Yes, I think it’s fine if you are on either a sewer or a septic system.) You’ll be smooth and soft. Add a little vanilla lotion after your shower and you’ll smell like a delicious latte. 
I hope some of these tricks will make your life a little easier. Thanks for having me Ange!
Thank you Vivienne! Might be trying that coffee trick after I move! 
Hope you enjoyed this lovely post today friends, stay tuned for Wednesday when Heidi from Chick Hardware is our guest blogger! Think of me as I’m going insane the next few days!
Thanks for having me over!
Hi Vivienne and Ange,
I love the denture cleaning tablet tip! I have visited Vivienne's blog a few times and it's a favorite.
Hope your move goes smoothly, Ange. Wouldn't it be nice if we could twitch our noses like Samantha on Bewitched and have things magically happen!
Great tips! I'm going rub that coffee all over, I need it! I'm following Ange, good luck with your move!
Debbie
Great tip about the tomato paste.