Reusable Household Containers for Kids Crafts

You will encounter many different containers ranging from single-serve applesauce cups to yogurt containers that can serve as craft accessory dispensers/holders.

Here I have pictured Italian ice cups that we use to hold tempera paint. Easily washable and reusable and amount to less paint waste. Also easily rinsed and recycled via the recycle bin if you so desire.



I have never once in the 11 years I've been a mother who has also worked in a preschool seen a kid haphazardly throw paint onto paper when supplied with a brush for each color of paint. Sure, a few times they've mixed their colors via the paintbrush just bumping into other colors, but the amount of paint needed for them to produce a piece of art is really very minimal; not at all the amount you pour into the standard kids' art paint cups with caps and covers. It doesn't hurt to toss out the mixed paint should it occur either.


Paint cups such as these are expensive and difficult to clean. The covers don't necessarily mean paint stores well for long periods of time either.

Single-serve applesauce cups are great with low sides for putting plain old glue into the bottom. Supply a paint brush for the toddlers and they have an easy and fuss-free way of applying glue to an art project. Nothing frustrates them more than handing them a glue stick and expecting it to stick a noodle onto a piece of paper - you need more substance for certain projects. Most toddlers have a difficult and messy time of trying to squeeze a glue bottle as well.

Before tossing out any container - give a quick thought as to what you MAY be able to use it for. Maybe it won't work out as you had planned, but chances are it will!

Time Saving/Thought Evoking Laundry Tip

The time has come! My 3 older children, husband included in this number, have been taken by surprise. It's actually a bit comical and it only took one explanation......if you turn your clothing inside out and then throw it down the laundry chute that way, then that is the way it stays. If one arm is inside out and the other right side in, while it makes for an interesting fold, that's the way it stays. If your socks are inside out, then that's the way they stay.

I politely asked everyone to pay more attention to this aspect of removing their clothes a few weeks ago. I explained how it shows that mom gets thought of just a tad as the person who has to spend all that time fixing what is really inconsiderate. Didn't work. I even showed them a very easy way to remove each item to avoid this happening.

The first day, my daughter came out in a huff...."Mom! I almost went to school with my shirt like this!" (inside out AND backwards). She gets it now. My husband denied up and down that he turns his items inside out.......guess what.....he is guilty of the one-arm/one-leg thing. He now swears that it must happen during the washing cycle, but I make a mental note of what it looks like going in, and I don't count undies because they can and do turn inside out in the wash cycle. My oldest took it in stride, just as he does everything in life -- it makes sense so there is no arguing it with him. I sooooo love this about him.

The only family member safe from this mommy madness is the youngest at 3, even if it is DH turning them inside out when changing him.

Organized Cleaning Schedule

Here it is......my organizational anal tendencies at their best.....my cleaning schedule.

This schedule helps me to have a house that appears clean at all times, minus toys/activities the kids are currently engaged in at the moment. I thought it up one day when a neighbor's little boy needed to use the bathroom. I was so worried about what the underside of the toilet seat looked like due to having a potty-training boy toddler myself that I told her it was too messy. I wasn't quite sure when the last time I had cleaned the toilet was! I felt terrible, despite the fact they lived right across the street.

I was just starting my transcription business, was working long hours and into the wee hours of the morning and therefore napping with the kids whenever possible, had a baby who was refusing to nap during the day on most days, and was pretty much operating as a single mother due to my husband's schedule. I knew it was no excuse so I figured I needed to come up with the answer that wouldn't make me want to crawl into a hole every time I had an unexpected or unannounced visitor......my life-saving, or at least guilt-saving/make-me-feel-not-a-total-housewife/mother-failure schedule, and it works....

It might gross some people out, but not me at this stage of my life. As you can see, the rooms that need attention more than once a week for certain are the main living areas of the house, i.e. the bathrooms, the living room, the dining room, and the kitchen. I've "scheduled" them twice. I do occasionally deviate from the schedule if necessary too though. Also, the kitchen....the dishes get done every day, or at least every night, but I don't believe dishes in my sink for a day equates to a dirty home either.

WEEKLY: On the assigned days, each room gets a light cleaning, something that keeps it simply presentable. If it needs dusting, then dusting occurs. Vacuuming occurs. Light pickup and quick organization occurs. Bedding/linens are cleaned if needed and switched out. For the more "used" rooms that require disinfecting, the same thing.....these rooms are disinfected and cleaned appropriately on their assigned days. The kitchen floor....it gets swept almost daily because it's needed, but for the most part, I spot clean anything that is "stuck" on the floor rather than cleaning the entire floor, which is saved for the monthly round instead.

MONTHLY: On the first day each room is encountered per month during the first week of each month, I take a good look around from floor to ceiling. If there are cobwebs on the ceiling, they're removed. If the light fixtures need to be cleaned, they're cleaned. If the walls need cleaning, they're cleaned. If there is dust on the floorboards, furniture is pulled out and they are all wiped down, and vacuuming under all the furniture occurs. If the windows look dirty, they get cleaned. Old clothes are removed from drawers for donation or storage. Drawers are organized. Toys are sorted and organized. Walls get washed if needed. Curtains are taken down and washed if needed - ALL of it....top to bottom, or bottom to top. For the rooms requiring disinfecting, medicine cabinets, walls, washing of trash bins, etc. for the deep cleaning. For the kitchen, it means wiping down chairs if needed, floor washing, stove cleaning, etc.

Believe it or not, there isn't a room in the house that actually looks dirty nor is technically dirty at any given time, especially since the main rooms are hit at least twice a week, approximately every 3 days at the most.

This means I don't need 5 hours to clean the whole house, a whole day to do only windows, or a whole day assigned to only moving furniture to dust floor boards. This means I get all my cleaning done in under 1 hour daily too. I don't mind pulling out the window cleaner each day rather than once a week, as I only clean windows for 5 minutes rather than for 2 hours on one day. This also means that I don't have to bother with spring cleaning AT ALL!

I'm also known to clean a toilet if needed while a kid plays in the tub, thereby deviating from the schedule, but that just means I usually don't have to do it on the assigned day (and YES, I wash my hands before touching a kid in the tub after the toilet @@).

I know laundry can be an issue, as it is for my husband, but if you just take a moment to NOT put it into the basket as you are folding it and instead fold it by family member and drawer for each member of your family, get up and walk it to the drawer, it literally ONLY takes 5-7 minutes to put a load of laundry away for a family of 5-not counting the folding, for which I've never timed myself. I divide laundry as I fold it and make piles according to drawer situations, i.e. undies/socks drawer, shirt drawer, jean drawer, sweaters, etc. for each member. I then stand up and pick them up for 2 rooms at a time or place them into the basket altogether organized the way they need to be delivered....walk right in and deliver them to the appropriate drawer. The kids sometimes take care of their own laundry, and when I'm not working on teaching them how to handle it themselves because I've decided it saves me time in keeping their drawers organized, I let them handle it; it's during these times that the drawer organizing happens more often, whereas it doesn't when I just do it, so it depends. Also, if you just make sure to do at least one load a day, in a family of 5, you won't spend a whole weekend or "off" day doing laundry!

I know that moms working outside of the home may not even be able to fit this in, but if you find a variation of this schedule that works for you, I'd love to hear about it!