Vacation Travel the Organized way!

Before you pack the bags, load the car, or rush to the airport STOP! Take a breath! And get organized!
Some simple ways to get started before you leave your house and to ensure a relaxing vacation from start to finish begin with this...MAKE A LIST!

1) Make a list for each child separately. If Johnny wants to bring his Ipod and Susie wants to bring her collection of Babysitter Club books (yes I'm an 80's child!) this is the time to list it all. Give the lists to the kids once they are completed and begin the great lesson of personal responsibility!

2) Make a list for you (and hubby if he doesn't pack for himself).

3) Make a list for the household. This is where you would find sunscreen, beach towels, chargers for Iphones, etc.

Ideally, each family member would have his/her own bag to be responsible for. Of course, you'll need to check and double check the kids things before heading out but this is a great way to teach personal responsibility and taking care of their things.

A little bit of thought, time, and effort before leaving will ensure a more relaxing and stress free time while traveling!
For more great tips on traveling this summer you can check out this Good Housekeeping article:

http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/home/design/organizing-tips-for-summer-travel

Hope this adds to less stress and more fun for the whole family this summer!

Catching the organizing bug?

If the itch is happening to get organized and you just don't know where to begin head over to my
Home Organizing Pinterest board for some great ideas to inspire you!

http://pinterest.com/jenn_torrence/home-organization/

Car Organization Ideas

After sharing my car kit at a recent Moms Club meeting I was thrilled to hear so much enthusiasm about it! I thought I would share some other ideas with you that will come in handy during your summer travels.

The blog Defrump Me has a great post about summer traveling! Here is one of many great ideas for road trip traveling. You can find all their tips by visiting the blog here:

http://www.defrumpme.com/2012/05/traveling-with-kids-tips-for-smooth.html

Another great blogger (and the name pretty much rocks!) is Dirt and Boogers! Yep that's right and she has a ton of great posts on her blog about getting organized with kids! Click on the link below for her awesome tips for organizing your car.

http://www.dirtandboogers.com/2012/05/get-organized-car-stuff.html

And if you're feeling especially motivated this summer and are ready to tackle some home projects here is a great place to start. Tired of seeing all the toys, balls, sports equipment, etc. thrown in the garage? Make it easier for the kids to put things back by putting together a designated area for each group of items. 

More tips from one of my favorite blogger Dirt and Boogers:

http://www.dirtandboogers.com/2012/08/get-organized-outdoor-toys.html

My First Post!

I am finally ready to begin blogging about my journey to successfully launching 

The Charmed Life 365!

My first post is about my Emergency Car Kit that I've created. This kit came about really by accident.

I was tired of having to carry around a diaper bag when Olivia really didn't need

that much stuff anymore. I slowly began throwing stuff in my handy dandy "carry all" basket.

Before long we had a whole basket of items I had determined would be handy should we find ourselves not coming home as quickly as expected.

Below is a list of all the items included in the basket and in the Elmo bag. The Elmo bag is perfect for Olivia to carry herself and contains several restaurant friendly activities as well.

Thanks for checking out my blog and I hope you will come back to visit again!

                                      

Emergency Car Kit Contents
Medical Bag Contains:
Children’s Tylenol/Ibuprofen/Benadryl
Thermometer
Cough Drops
Nail Clippers
Tweezers
Nail File
Neosporin
First Aid Kit (band aids, gauze pad, sterile pads)

Catch All Bag Contains:
Sunscreen
Bug Spray
Comb
Lens Cleaner
Antibacterial hand wipes

Change of Clothes(including socks, panties, hair ties, clips)
Beach Towel
Sunglasses
Kleenex
Bottled Water
Fruit Snacks/Dry Food
Hand Sanitizer
Wet Wipes

Kids Emergency Entertainment:
Crayons
Coloring Pads
Pens
Notepad
Bubbles
Bucket/Shovel
Ball
Dry Erase Activity Board and Marker
Sidewalk Chalk