Beach Packing & Clean Up {FREE Printable}

I like to think of myself as a fairly organized person.

But for some reason, when we go to the beach - which is quite often - I seem to loose all sense of organization.

I get everything in the car - and it seems like we're bringing the entire house with us -  so I feel like I've got everything I need. But then I arrive and I've forgotten something critical...like towels! No joke, I seriously forgot towels one time. And then I had to buy a towel from the beach gift shop and it cost $15. Lesson learned...right?

Apparently not.

The last time I went to the beach, I forgot my entire beach bag. Like my bag that had the sunscreen, hats, reading material and MY CELL PHONE! Oh, the horror!

So, I am finally taking my husband's advice and making a family "Beach Packing List."

But alas...lucky for me, I did a quick Internet search and guess what? The awesomely talented Jen at "I heart organizing" has not only created a fun, colorful beach checklist...she's made it available for free download on her amazing blog. Just click here to find it.

 

I will be personalizing mine and then laminating it and storing it in my beach bag. I have a feeling I'll be using it quite a lot this summer.

One more thought while we're on the topic of going to the beach... the dreaded beach clean up.

No one likes all the gritty sand entering the house after a fun day of swimming and sandcastles.

My solution is an easy 3-step process:

1. Make sure you pack dry clothes and have your child rinse off at the beach showers. If you can do this, you'll eliminate almost all of the sand in your car and in your house.

If there are no showers, bring along a couple gallons of drinking water. (Just make sure they're not scalding hot if you've been at the beach all day.) Then have your children sit on the car bumper or edge of the car door and rinse off their legs & feet as best you can.

If there is absolutely no water available, and your kids are not wet, use baby powder to remove the sand. For some odd reason, baby powder makes the sand fall right off, like magic!

2. Lay a towel down on the floor boards of the front and back seat. This will catch any additional sand that is sticking to people's feet and hopefully eliminate the need to vacuum your car when you get home.

3. When you get home, immediately take the wet bathing suits and towels and throw them into the washer. Don't leave them in a heap on the laundry room floor. That will only cause the sand to dump onto your floors and thus, get dragged throughout the house.

Seems pretty logical and simple, right? That's because it is. And it will make your post-beach clean up a snap!

Happy Beach-ing Everyone!

Cleaning with Vinegar & Consignment Shops

How'd you like that for a post title???

Two things with absolutely no tie-in or relation.

But, they're both great topics and both are top-of-mind since I've been doing both this week.

So, let's start with cleaning (the bad) and then move on to shopping (the good!).

Cleaning with vinegar. Not something I would think to do. Maybe you know this trick, but it's new to me so bare with me while I share my excitement.

I read about using vinegar to get rid of hard water stains. I've tried a lot of products to get rid of the hard water stains on my kitchen sink and refrigerator water tray. Some of them work after lots of elbow grease, and some don't work at all.

Let me tell you... vinegar does the trick!

Just soak some paper towels in white vinegar and wrap them, or lay them on the hard water stain/build-up and leave it for 30-60 minutes. A light scrub with an old toothbrush, and you have excellent results!

I apologize for the cruddy pictures (pun intended). I desperately need to get a good camera for my blog pictures. But trust me, it made a world of difference and I barely had to do anything!

Give it a try around your house if you have hard water and let me know how it works. I was pleasantly surprised!

Okay, now on to a fun topic... shopping!

I love to shop. Seriously. It doesn't matter if it's Target or Nordstrom; Lowes or Sephora... I love to shop. Problem is, shopping costs money if you want to actually buy something.

One way that I have found to save some serious money is to visit our local Goodwill and consignment shops. We have a very clean, new Goodwill near us and it's amazing what people donate! I consistently see name brand products every time I go in there. If you have a good local thrift shop near you, I suggest you check it out. You might just be surprised what you find.

I also love consignment shops. We have a couple great children's consignment shops here in Tampa. One of them is pretty close so I went by yesterday to see if I could find some bathing suits for the boys and some new athletic clothing for Payton (his favorite type of clothing to wear these days).

Check out what I got...

For Parker, I found brand new Carter's footed pajamas, an adorable Baby Gap sweater (for Easter maybe??), two pairs of swim trunks and a matching swim shirt! And guess what... I didn't pay more than $2.50 for any one of them! JACK POT!

For Payton, I found a few pairs of athletic shorts and pants (one with a Gator on it - double score!) and a swim suit. The most expensive item for Payton were the Gator pants... they were a whopping $5. YAY for good deals!!!

Now, don't get me wrong, I still love buying the boys new clothing when I find good deals at Target or the mall, but for two kids who are growing like weeds and need bigger clothes every time I turn around, I have no qualms with buying previously-loved clothing for a 1/4 of the price!

Okay, so that's my random post for the week. Hope you try out cleaning with vinegar or shopping at a thrift or consignment shop sometime soon. Stay tuned for more random ramblings. :)