Mommy Reviews

"I actually thought I was pretty
organized when it came to my kids
memorabilia, recods and photos.
However, when we went to put the
1Stop Box together we
found ourselves gathering
from about seven locations
throughout the house."

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Kids Grow Up So Fast

 

They grow so fast, one minute you’re changing their nappies, the next waving them off to school. Here are 5 top ways to help you remember those precious early years.

1. Create a keepsake box from 1 Stop Box. There are many different box styles and designs available to buy, some of which can be personalized with your baby’s name and birth details. Or if you are feeling creative, you could have fun making your own. Use it to keep all of your baby’s treasured possessions safe and sound such as first clothes, shoes and socks, birth certificate, hospital id bracelet, first photos and toys.

2. Capture their hand and foot prints. You could either do this yourself by buying a casting or impression taking kit or have them done professionally through a casting service.

3. Take some quality photos. I would recommend hiring a professional photographer. Some are not as expensive as you might think so shop around, ask friends and family for recommendations and view their portfolios online to get a good idea of the images they create. Why not combine a hand or foot print with the photo for the ultimate keepsake?

4. Videos are always fun to look back on, whether taken using a mobile, digital camera or camcorder. Make sure you always have it to hand to capture important events such as first steps and words and special occasions such as first Christmas and birthday. Regularly compile your recordings and label them so they can be easily found.

5. Start a diary and note down different milestones such as first smile, the day they started sleeping through, eating solids etc. It is easy to forget so get into the habit of writing regular entries and carry your diary around with you.

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Keepsakes for a Baptism

 

A christening or baptism ceremony is an exciting event for a family baptizing their child. Depending on the denomination, Catholic or Protestant, the candidate can be either infant, young child or adult. In order to celebrate the occasion, invited guests and family members will want to present the baptism candidate with a keepsake gift; ideally one that is memorable and will be cherished for years to come.

Thanks to the convenience of internet shopping, keepsake choices today are right at your fingertips. No need to run from store to store to look for just the right gift; hoping that the one you choose will be the one that stands out from the crowd. Just make sure to allow for shipping and handling time, so that you’ll receive your order ahead of the event.

If the baptism candidate is an infant or young child, you might want to choose a baptism or christening gift basket. These can be filled with picture frames, decorative pillows and baby rattles. Other ideas to include could be a cloth covered bible or receiving blanket, possibly a photo album or two (there will be plenty of pictures).

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Charms Make a Great Keepsake

 

One of the most precious keepsake gifts to receive is one that is uniquely designed for you and helps you to remember the wonderful things in your life. Charms, specifically those for use on charm bracelets, provide virtually unlimited options to custom design a bracelet to match the life, interests and passions of a particular individual. Today charms come in all types of styles, themes and categories, just choosing which ones you want may be the hardest decision.

One of the most popular categories for charms for girls and women of all ages is animals. These charms can range from highly stylized representations of cats, elephants, dogs, horses and just about anything else you could image.

Another popular theme or category for charms includes those that represent good wishes or good luck. These are often highly detailed and very elegant looking wishing wells, 4-leaf clovers, horseshoes and of course the cupid charm that celebrates luck in love.

Moms and grandmothers will appreciate having at least one of the keepsake charms on their charm bracelet as a family charm. These may depict miniature baby shoes, tree of life charms with the birthstones of the family or scripted charms with the word Mother or Grandmother.

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The Clutter of Feng Shui

 

Feng shui clutter in any area of your home especially in your bedroom represent stuck, stagnant ‘chi’ or energy.The more clutter you have or accumulated over the years, the more sluggish the flow of energy becomes.

What is feng shui clutter?

Basically, feng shui clutter is anything that you are not using at that very moment and it is lying around a place where it does not belong to. These are often possessions that you believe are useful, defective items that you hope to repair, spares that you accumulate for a potential breakdown and unwanted gifts. For example, a hammer left lying around in your bedroom is a clutter however when it is stored in a toolbox it is not.

Why feng shui clutter needs to be cleared?

Feng shui clutter aggravate chi disturbance to your home and health. The reason is because your feng shui clutter has ‘chi’ of its own and when these items are not used daily, their accumulated chi energy can clog and interfere with the flow of energy in your home and life.

Do you know that feng shui clutter in your bedroom has the strongest impact on your love life regardless of whether you are single or married. From a feng shui perspective, your bedroom is strongly affiliated with your marriage or romance.

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Why You Should Organize Your Life

 

This article describes the four benefits you gain by decluttering your home.

Your home is easy to clean
One of the things you realize as soon as you have decluttered your home is that it’s easier to clean. Although the cleaning may still be tedious, it’s faster and easier, because you don’t have to declutter your home first before you can start cleaning it.

You can find your things easier
You are finally able to find the things in your closets and other storage spaces after decluttering your home. The less stuff you have the easier of finding your things gets. No more of trying to find something at the back of your closet, since in most cases you have just the essential left.

You enjoy just the essential items in your household
You realize that after decluttering you home, you have just essential items left. This means that only the things you really use and care are there. And because of this, you’re able to appreciate those items more than if you were living in a cluttered home.

You feel good about yourself when donating stuff
If you decide to donate the stuff you don’t need, you feel good about yourself. Someone else may need what you have and after deciding to let go of something and giving it to someone else who needs it, feels just great. You are able to helping someone else.

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Managing Your Clutter

 

If you’re not careful, clutter can take over your life. Taking control of your clutter will give you a sense of pride, independence, and relief. It can seem like a daunting task. There are a few ways to make it easier while making it more of a lasting adjustment. Getting things all cleaned up will only last for so long if you don’t make it easy to manage in the future. Clutter control starts with a plan. You have to plan for the future so that your efforts are rewarded with constant organization afterward. You don’t want to get completely done cleaning fifteen things in your house only to find out that the first thing you cleaned is already disorganized and cluttered once again. Follow these steps to getting your home clutter free and keeping it that way.

Concentrate on being efficient. With every task, ask yourself, What is the fastest way to get this done correctly? For a bedroom, it could be that you should make the bed, pick up dirty laundry, put away clean clothes, remove trash, organize junk, and then vacuum and dust. If you start with organizing your bedside table, then the giant mess will be looming over you the whole time, draining your mental energy, and making it less likely that you will finish the job. Getting the big and easy things out of the way first will motivate you to keep going.

When everything is pretty straight, evaluate what you have. What are the key problems with the areas that get the messiest? Does the laundry go all over your room instead of in the hamper? What’s the easiest way to solve this one problem? Make your solutions as simple as possible so that you are more likely to follow through.

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Organize and Preserve Your Precious Keepsakes

 

We all have them – bits and pieces of memorabilia piled high in corners or hidden in plastic bags. The thought of organizing them seems completely overwhelming. I’m going to walk you step by step through the different methods of storing and organizing your memorabilia to properly preserve them for years to come.

1. The Quick Sort

Gather your keepsakes in one place place, preferably a table or other large, comfortable workspace. Next, group similar items together (like with like) using baskets or boxes you’ve labeled with the types of mementos you have.
Some common categories include: photos, kid’s artwork, cards, certificates & other documents, crafts and projects.

2. The Purge

Letting go of personal memorabilia tends to be hard, especially if you are a sentimental soul. Yet, when you pare down your keepsakes, you will feel a sense of lightness, as though you’ve been released from a heavy burden. The goal is to make room for what matters most. Let go of items that you no longer find meaningful or remind you of a time you’d rather forget. Keep only the things that stir your heart or capture important events. Save only what you have space for and keep in mind that things are always coming in so leave some room to grow.

Photos are probably the hardest item to throw away because of the sentimental value we attach to them. Weed out bad shots to make it easier to enjoy the good ones. Tossing doesn’t mean you’re throwing away the person in it. It’s okay to give away duplicates or toss photos that are blurry, bad angles or unbecoming. Save the best – toss the rest.

Kids Artwork: Work together with your child to choose a few of his favorite pieces of artwork each year. If you keep every single piece of artwork your child brings home for the next 15 years it will crowd you out of your home. Find the diamonds.

Take photos of large artwork, crafts or school project. Keep the photo – toss the bulk.

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Organizing Your Keepsakes Made Easy

 

Everyone has keepsakes and other assorted memorabilia but if you are not careful they can be overwhelming and take over your house. These family keepsakes should bring back happy memories and you should be proud to show them off. If they are cluttered and in the way no one will able to enjoy them and they will cause you nothing but stress. Keep reading to learn ways to eliminate clutter and bring back happier times.

As with most tips for organizing, you will first off need to decide what to keep and what to get rid of. Begin by sorting into categories such as photos, papers, clothes and so on. Throw away anything that is irreparably damaged right away. Then pick up the next item and ask yourself if it makes you feel good to hold or look at it. If the answer is yes, put it in the keep pile; otherwise ask yourself where this item could be better suited. Perhaps another family member would appreciate it? Or maybe it has monetary value and you might want to sell it?

Ensure that you are honest with yourself while you make these decisions. If you find yourself with items that you do not really want but cannot bear to part with, pack them in a box by themselves and put a reminder on your calendar to open the box in six months time. You will be surprised to find out how much your opinions can change after some time passes.

Before you display any of the items that you choose to keep, ask yourself the following;

- Do I have room?

- Am I proud to show this off to guests?

- Is this too delicate to have out in the open? (For instance your grandmother’s bone china platter, do you have a safe place to display it, or will it be in danger of being broken by pets and children?)

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More 1st Birthday Keepsake Ideas

 

Continuing from where we left off, here are some additional ideas for a child’s first birthday keepsake ideas:

· Let photos (literally) tell a story – For a special keepsake why not ask family and friends to bring pictures of your one year old that have been taken throughout his first year of life. You can then have your guests write a short summary of the picture; be sure to include his age in it and then paste the story and the photograph in a book for the baby. Even babies as young as one love looking at pictures of themselves and this will make a wonderful memory keeper for years to come.

· Chronicle the months – You can easily make a special keepsake for your baby. Start by posting a newborn photo in the center of a page (perhaps with a birth announcement by it) and then every month surround the picture with photos. Your crowning achievement for your collage can be a one-year old picture of the birthday boy or girl.

· Write a letter to your child – While the actual birthday of your child may be too hectic to write him or her a letter, try writing one a few days before or after the celebration. Include your feelings, what happened at the party and include some highlights from the past year. While your child may be too young to fully appreciate the letters, for many years to come you will have a written record that chronicles your child’s life and the special place they hold in yours.

· Scrapbook the party – Even if you are not an avid scrap booker there are many ways to commemorate the party of your one-year old. Have a scrapbook page or two where everyone can sign and give best wishes to the birthday boy or girl. You can take a picture of the guest of honor with everyone who attends and then send out pictures later. Or perhaps have a picture of your little darling with a plain matte around it where everyone can sign as well. Either way you are left with a precious keepsake of that special first birthday celebration.

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1st Birthday Keepsake Tips

 

A baby’s first year is a magical experience, especially for the new parents who watch their helpless newborn develop into a little person (sometimes even walking) by their first birthday. Parents everywhere want to pay tribute and memorialize that special time in their lives and their baby’s. Keepsakes and traditions are symbols of how important your child is in your family. They also are what help you to create a family identity. Traditions also convey to children that some of the most precious possessions a family has do not come with a high price tag. The true value of keepsakes and traditions lies in the time and love that was necessary to create them. So if you are a doting parent, grandparent or even aunt or uncle, here are some special first birthday keepsakes and traditions-

· Save special outfits – From the outfit you brought the baby home in to a cherished christening gown that has been passed down through generations, saving special outfits can mark important times in our lives. One creative family took a picture of their one-year old baby next to the outfit he came home in leaving them with a great photographic reminder of just how much he had grown over the past year.

· Find a new use for special outfits – While saving special outfits can be great you can also find a new use for them. One crafty grandmother gathered up some of each of her grandchildren’s outgrown newborn clothes and other outfits that were worn the first year and turned them into beautiful quilts. Or you can mark your baby’s first birthday by donating his outgrown clothes to a charity that helps the underprivileged. This way you can mark your celebration by helping someone else.

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