Organizing Your Road Trips with Kids

My family takes many road trips and with 5 kids, I will do just about anything to keep the peace in the car.  Growing up, my parents had one rule on road trips: NO FIGHTING! I have adopted this same rule, but still find it necessary to come up with ways to keep the kids HAPPY!  With some organizing and planning I have found some must haves to keep me sane and the kids enjoying the ride!  No more "Are We There Yet!"

I've put together some checklists for you, so you can get an idea of what we like to bring.  Not everything gets done for every road trip, some of it depends on how long we are going for.  The trip we are currently on is to to our beautiful cabin and is about 5 hours from home.  The kids are responsible to have everything on the list in the car when its time to go.  Be sure to check out my tutorial for the Travel Pillow if you haven't already.  I also LOVE having the kids all have slip-on shoes for car trips.  Makes bathroom breaks so much easier if we aren't waiting for kids to tie shoes!

One of the best ways I have found to keep my sanity, them happy, and have peace and quiet is letting them watch movies.  Everyone gets to pick from our extensive movie collection before the trip so they have movies that they want to watch.  Movies must be appropriate for all age levels (no PG-13 for the younger kids). Then we rotate through them, each child taking a turn of picking the movie.  We usually bounce back and forth youngest to oldest so that the older kids don't have to sit through 2 little kid movies in a row and visa versa.  The kids also bring a small of bag of other items they want for the car, incase they don't want to watch the movie.

Of course, while the kids are watching their movies, I like to either listen to music, an audiobook, or podcast, so I purchased these awesome headphones for all of my kids to listen to the movie.  I love them because they come in a variety of colors (so each kid has their own) and they have cases.  The headphones work on an all infrared systems and have 2 channels.  They also turn off automatically if unused for 3 minutes, so you don't wear the batteries down if they accidentally leave them on.  They also come with a cord that can plug into devices as well, so the kids don't have to pack an extra set of headphones for their mp3 players and tablets.  The silence, while they watch a movie, is PRICELESS!!!

I also have my checklist for road trips.  Like I said, some of it depends on how big the road trip is.  If it's a small road trip (like this one) I let the kids get their own snacks.  I usually do have some treats.  Sometimes a surprise new movie for them to watch.  If we are on longer road trips, I usually print off some travel games like the License Plate game, Travel Bingo, etc.  I always keep a few Essential Oils in the car, but for a car trip I make sure to have a good arsenal.

I've also included a checklist of things I normally have in the car.  With running 5 kids all over the place, I spend a lot of time in the car, so I like to be prepared! 

I keep a bag of small 4-gallon trash bags in the seat back pocket to have on hand.  They come in handy for a lot of things, not just trash.  They are useful for sickness, spills, and wet/muddy clothing.

When we are on car trips, I keep a bin with the headphones and movies as well as an actual garbage near the middle console for easy access.

I always keep a bin of needed items and my umbrella under the middle console.  It keeps things corralled and easy access.

In the basket I have a bag with all of our Lotions and Potions.  It also has tissues, a small makeup bag, and an emergency inhaler (my son has Asthma).  In the basket I also keep an extra pair of sunglasses, extra charging cords, my Essential Oils and Diffuser and some . I love diffusing oils on car trips to keep things calm and under control.  

When we are on road trips, I frequently add a couple of empty baskets to the car to help the kids corral any loose items as well.  Helps keeps the car neat and tidy!

I always keep a couple of large cups with extra napkins, straws, and spoons in the car as well.  You never know when you'll have a spill or someone didn't get a straw or spoon with their meal when you are on the road.

When we go to our cabin, I need to pack any perishable food and specific items I need for my menu.  We keep a lot of staples there.  When I plan my menu, I break it down I break down into 3 lists;  Box, Cooler, and Food to Make Ahead (which when complete will go in one of the other two lists as well).  For example, for this trip I made ahead the Rolls, Potatoes, Lasagna, and Taquito filling.  The rolls went in the box and the others went in the cooler.  I like making a lot of my food ahead of time so I don't spend my entire trip cooking and cleaning.   I usually start preparing for my road trips days in advance, so I keep a couple of empty bins around (mainly for travel) and set them out.  As I remember items I need to bring and as I'm packing, I can easily throw things in the box.  Then, when it's full I put the lid on and throw it in the car.

With some organization and preparation our road trips usually go pretty well!  My kids are happy, and so am I! (This pictures is missing my oldest, who rode down to our cabin with his Grandpa.)

And here is our beautiful cabin, where I will be spending the next few days.  We've spent the day today riding 4-wheelers, playing games, and having fun as a family! 

How are you spending your Spring Break?  Do you have any tips and tricks for road trips with kids? Share them in the comments, I'd love to hear them!

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Get Organized in 2013 - Challenge #7 Command Center

Hello friends!  I love seeing all of your emails with your photos of your organized entryways.  You need to get BRAVE  and post them on our Facebook page too so others can be inspired by what you have done.

In my last post I said that today we were going to talk about mail stations.  And that is true but we are not only going to be talking about mail stations, we are going to be talking about our Command Center.

A  Command Center is where all the information flows in and out of for your family.  Here is a picture of mine.

A good Command Center has

1. A calendar - everyone needs to be able to know what is going on easily.  I purchased my Calendar at Target.  To put the dates on, I use a WET ERASE MARKER so that the numbers don't rub off.  I only discovered wet erase markers about a year ago and I use them for everything now.  I use various colors of DRY ERASE MARKERS for everyone's activities.  This helps keep things straight and I don't have to write each person's name with their activity because they have their own color.  This calendar is used more for my family's benefit than my own.  I use Google Calendars very heavily.  I will talk about them in another post.

2. A message board.  This can be cork, magnetic, dry erase, whatever works for your family.  I purchased mine at Target.  I love that it is magnetic to hang little things we need to pay attention to and is also dry erase to write to-do lists or groceries.

3. Mail Station.  This is a CRUCIAL piece of organizing  your home.  So much of what comes into your home is PAPER CLUTTER. Paper clutter is  HUGE problem for most families.  Knowing what to do with the mail, papers from school, newspapers, coupons, etc. seems to be something that a lot of people struggle with.  A mail station is the answer.

As  you can see from the photo, my mail station is in an opaque box with color coded file folders.  Both of these items were purchased at (you guessed it!) Target. 

In the front of the box I have a RED folder marked ACTION.  Papers that go in there are things I need to take care of right away.  Papers to sign for school, a note to give someone, a letter to go out, etc. This folder is checked at least daily.

Next I have folders for each family member.  The kids are in BLUE and my husband and I are in RED (just because the pack of file folders I bought only had 4 of each color.)  Items that go in here pertain to each family member.  I will put mail that is for my husband in HIS folder.  The kids have school papers usually in their folders.  Their reading calendars, book reports, spelling and vocabulary words, etc.  These folders are looked at usually at least weekly and cleaned out monthly.  The kids can put papers that they want to save in their folders as well and when I clean them out, I file them in their school papers binders and boxes. (More on those in another post.)

The next items in GREEN have to do with money.  When my husband and I get home for the day we put our receipts in the receipts folder if it is something we need to keep.  Bills to be paid go in their own folder.  In the third green folder is where I keep this week's grocery ads.  They come in the mail on Wednesday and I usually do my meal planning and grocery shopping on either Saturday or Monday.  I like have a place to keep them so that I can refer to them as I plan. I usually do my grocery shopping at Walmart and they will honor other store's ads, so when it is time to go to the store, I just grab them out of the folder and stick them in my purse (to show the cashier.)  Then I recycle them as soon as I get home and the folder is empty when more come.

The YELLOW folders are for coupons.  I'm not a HUGE couponer, but I do love to save money whenever I can.  I divide the coupons into four categories: coupons, groceries, activities, and food.  The first folder, COUPONS, has those random coupons that come in the mail or paper for carpet cleaning, dry cleaning, repairs & maintenance, etc.  The GROCERIES folder is exactly what is sounds like, a folder for grocery coupons.  These come in our paper every week.  I will usually look through these when I do my meal planning  and grocery list as well.  The ACTIVITIES folder is coupons for activities like bowling, movies, fun centers, etc.  These come in handy when we are looking for things to do.  The last folder is for FOOD.  Not grocery food, but eating out.  My husband and I love to try new restaurants and we of course indulge on some fast food every now and again. 

In the back of my box is my Home Management Binder.  We will talk more about this in another post.  I also wanted to mention that during the summer I post the kids chore chart on the front of the box. You can check out my previous post on chore charts to see them.

4. Recycling/Trash.  It is important to have a trash/recycling can nearby when you are sorting your papers.   If something needs to be shredded, I will usually add it to my action folder and then take it downstairs to be shredded later.

5. Stationary Items.  You can see my woven drawers in the photo.  The top drawer has tons of pens, pencils, scissors, tape, a stapler, etc.  Anything I, or the family, needs to grab for writing a list or note, doing homework, etc.  The middle drawer holds stuff for the little kids.  I have two preschoolers and we  practice letters and numbers in their workbooks.  The drawer also holds their markers and crayons.  The bottom drawer is mine.  It's where I keep MY wet/dry erase markers, notepads, thank you cards, etc.  That is usually where you will find one of my very favorite organizing tools as well.  My DYMO Label Maker.  It makes me happy!

Now, not necessary for a Command Center, but definitely for ours is our intercom. Three out of five of our kids rooms are in the basement and rather than yelling down the stairs, we just use the intercoms.  It is especially handy for waking the kids up in the mornings and telling them when they are running late!  It saves our voices and our heads!

So, Get Organized in 2013 Challenge #7 - Command Center and Mail Station.  This may take you a few days (it's not like we can all run out TODAY to get all the stuff!) So I'll continue to check in with you to see how you are doing.  Remember to post pictures!

For more ideas on how to set up your Command Center check my Pinterest Board.

I've been working on my laundry room and can't wait to show you the reveal!  Have a marvelous day!

Meal Planning and Grocery Shopping

Each week (usually on Sunday so I can shop on Monday) I like to plan our basic menu.  This gives me the opportunity to look at my schedule and see which days I have more time to cook and which days I might need something quick.  This really helps me not do the “What am I going to make for dinner tonight?” quandary, and helps me not repeat meals as frequently as I would if I didn’t have plans.

For a long time I searched for a software or website that would not only help me with my meal planning, but also help with my grocery shopping. I had started to meal plan using Google Calendar, but inevitably I would forget to buy an all important ingredient for at least one of my meals. And despite having a grocery list, I always seemed to buy a lot more than I actually needed, spending a lot of extra money that I didn’t have.

Then I found Plan to Eat! This website is AMAZING!!!! It has just about everything you could ever want in a software to help you plan meals, eat healthy, and shop quicker and wiser!


MEAL PLANNING AND MORE

• Add recipes from 100+ websites & blogs
  Search multiple recipe sites from your dashboard, import recipes with one click, and we’ll do the rest.
• Share recipes with friends — not the world
  You see their recipes, and they see yours. You can also share your individual recipes with anyone, on your blog, Facebook and email.
• Meal Planning for the rest of us
  Easily drag recipes from your personalized recipe book to your monthly meal planner and then import your meal plan to your personal calendar program. Save your favorite meal plans to use again and again.
• Automated grocery list maker
  Your shopping list is automatically created from your meal plan, and items are combined and organized into grocery store categories. Add your own items or create separate lists for each store you shop. Print or email your shopping list to simplify your grocery shopping.
• Mobile Ready. Shopping on the go.
  Access your shopping list and recipes on your mobile device. Check off items on your list at the store and they'll automatically move to your inventory list on the main site.

First stop is the Recipes page.  This shows all the recipe’s I have in my recipe box and lets me know how often I have used them. You can also use the Filter Recipes to find things quick.



When you click on Add Recipe, you are given the option to import recipes from more than 100 websites or you can input a new recipe yourself.  The bulk input is great for copying and pasting recipes from blogs and websites not available in the “import a recipe from a the web.” Plan To Eat also has a bookmark that will save recipe’s to your box when you browse.  Very handy!



Next I go to the planner.  This is great because I can see what recipes I have been using lately and try to get some variety in our meals.  It’s all drag and drop.  You can add additional ingredients that you may need or make notes as well.  The main dish recipe is in dark blue.  Extra ingredients are in light blue. I also mark on the planner what is going on that day so I know why I have to cook that crock pot meal or I don’t have to cook at all!



Once you’ve planned your menu for the week you can go to your Shopping list.  Choose the time frame you want to shop for (the upcoming week, etc.) and it will pull all the ingredients you need for the recipes you’ve selected.  If you already have some of the items you can check the box and click “To Pantry” on your pantry inventory and it moves those items from your grocery list to your pantry.  You can drag and drop any of the items to which store you would like to purchase them from.  I mostly plan for dinners, so I usually need to add additional items (either by moving them from my pantry by checking on them and hitting “To List” or adding a new item at the top) for breakfast, lunches, and snacks. I also keep a “Staples” recipe in my Recipe list which has the items I buy pretty much every week. 



One of my favorite features is the “Edit Grocery Categories.” Here you can add new categories and rearrange their order so that they line up with your grocery store.  So when I shop and look at my list, everything is aisle by aisle.  No more hunting all over for the next thing you need to purchase.




















This is truly a great website! It has cut my shopping time way down and I stay on budget a lot better!  You can print out your shopping list from the website, or you can even access it from your Smartphone and check things off as you go.  Love it!!!!

Plan to Eat offers a 30-day free trial.  You can then pay month by month or for an entire year.  $39 is totally worth it.  I save a lot more money by using their service and I know you will too!