Labor Day Weekend is officially upon us and that means school is sure to follow (if it hasn’t already started!) Sometimes getting yourself organized and ready for school time can be overwhelming. Here are some tips that might help eliminate the chaos!

1. Check the weather – Before letting your kids choose what they want to wear for the first day of school be sure to check your local forecast! Early September weather can be very unpredictable and being prepared will help avoid any last minute changes the morning of school.

2. Set alarms the night before – Chances are while being on summer vacation your kids were sleeping later and not setting alarm clocks. Make sure alarms are set well before bedtime and even set a back up alarm on your phone just in case.

3. Make lunches right after dinner – While you’re still in the kitchen cleaning up after dinner, start packing the lunches for the next day. This will save you the trouble of forgetting to do it or rushing to do it in the morning.

4. Make checklists – Want to pack up your kids backpacks? Make a checklist and cross off the items as you add them to their bag. Leave lunch as the last thing on the list and add it to their bags before they leave the house.

5. Test out the bus route – Does your child have to walk far to the bus stop? Make sure you give the walk a test run before the big day. Then you’ll know exactly how long it takes to get from your front door to the location. Make sure you know what time the bus is scheduled to come too!

We hope everyone has a successful start to their 2014/2015 school year!

Let’s be honest…sometimes our laundry gets out of control! Whether we’ve been away on vacation or we’ve felt too lazy to throw in a load, the clothes can certainly pile up! Here are 10 tips for making your laundry situation a bit more manageable!

1. Invest in a laundry sorter – A stand that has 2 laundry bags (one for whites and one for colors) will make you feel much more organized. This will help you from having to pull out all of your whites from the pile on laundry day.

2. Keep your laundry essentials together – If you live in an apartment where you have to travel to the laundry room, try to keep your stuff together in one place! Keep a basket handy with your detergent, change, dryer sheets etc. This will save you the trouble of having to search for it all.

3. Choose designated laundry days – If you hate spending your weekends doing laundry, choose designated days during the week instead! If you do a load on Mondays and another on Thursdays, you will feel organized before and after every weekend.

4. Put the clothes away– After we’ve waited for the dryer to finish drying our clothes, the last thing we want to do is fold them and put them away. If they don’t get put away quickly, they will wrinkle and piles will start forming. You’ll thank yourself later if you put the laundry away ASAP.

5. Bring hangers with you – As you pull items out of the dryer that need to hang, put them on a hanger right away. This will help wrinkles from forming and will make it easier to put your clothes away.

6. Don’t keep hampers in every room – If each room has it’s own hamper, things could get out of control. Instead, have one central hamper (in your laundry room or in a centralized place) and when it’s full, throw it in the washing machine.

7. Keep a bag for dry clean only items – When it’s time to get items dry cleaned, throw them in a designated bag. This will save the mistake of accidentally washing your delicate items and will help you keep them organized for their trip to the cleaners.

When you move into a new home there’s nothing more exciting than making it your own! You want to add all of your own personal touches and decorate in a style that reflects your personality! Here are five ways you can get the look you want without breaking the bank!

1. Update old furniture – Rather than buying all brand new furniture, consider updating old pieces. You can re-stain wood to gain a new look or reupholster chairs/cushions with fun, new fabric.

2. Make your own window treatments – Good with a sewing machine? Pick out a fabric that fits your personality and decor and make your own window valances or curtains. You will save a lot of money if you aren’t ordering custom pieces from a store.

3. Make spray paint your new best friend – Head to a yard sale or to your local goodwill and pick up pieces like frames, lamps etc and update them by giving them a fresh coat of paint! Many brands make spray paints that are gold/silver and give the look of an expensive finish.

4. Use natural pieces for centerpiece decor – Fill a vase in your kitchen with fresh lemons or add real pine cones to a bowl in your living room in the fall. Using natural items look beautiful and save you a lot!

5. Stay away from expensive department stores – When buying your accent pieces, try visiting stores like Home Goods, Ikea or Michaels Craft Store. They offer unique pieces that give your home the look you want at a fraction of the cost of other stores.

We’ve all heard the trick about adding multiple mirrors to a space to make it appear bigger but there are other steps you can take to give the illusion of more space!

1. Use light colors – Decorating in dark colors makes a room look and feel smaller. By keeping the walls white or a light neutral shade it will appear larger.

2. Make room for natural light – Open the curtains and blinds and make way for natural light! This will brighten up your space and having the windows open makes any small room feel bigger.

3. Reduce your clutter – Make sure you aren’t over-doing it in the decorating department and only display minimal decor. Having too many knick knacks and pieces of furniture in a small room will make it feel closed off.

4. Rearrange the furniture – Don’t stick with your original layout! Every once in a while its a good idea to rearrange the furniture in a room to see if there’s a better way to set up. Maybe you’ve been missing out on lots of extra floor space and you didn’t even know it!

5. Buy multi-functional pieces – Instead of having a coffee table, an ottoman and an end table in your living room, maybe search for a piece of furniture that can take on all three roles. This will save you both money AND space in your home.