I’ll laminate this and using a marker to cross off as I fill a glass of water.  Then each evening using my clever ‘whiteboard cleaning technique‘ I’ll clean it ready for the next day.

Do you drink as much water as you should?

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I am so excited to be working on a few projects here at The Organised Housewife HQ.  One of those is a new series to start in July.

Running the last ’20 Day to Organise and Clean your home’ series was a lot of really hard work, I didn’t realise how much was involved when I started. To allow me some time to write-up the series I am looking for some guest contributors (readers or bloggers) to share some recipes, crafts, meals plans, their organised spaces, tips, and ideas throughout June.

a few details

• Good photos are appreciated, clear with good colour
• This needs to be an original post and has/will not appear on another blog
• You are welcome to link to post via your blog and social media
• For bloggers, links will be included back to your blog and facebook page
• Please do not contact me if you are just wanting to post purely for SEO purposes, these emails will automatically be deleted

If you are interested please email me at kat@theorganisedhousewife.com.au with GUEST CONTRIBUTOR in the subject and tell me what you would like to write a post about along with a few details about yourself and links to your blog.  Readers are more than welcome to submit as well, highly encouraged, I’d love to see your ideas.

As you know I have my shop filled with many different printables.  I am pleased to announce that I can now host other designers printables in my shop.  Selling their printables direct from my shop on their behalf and designers receive their payment in sales each week.

If you are interested in receiving more details please send me an email to shop@theorganisedhousewife.com.au with subject DESIGNER, please send through examples of your printables and ideas of what printables you would like to include.

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This time last fortnight I was invited to attend the pre-opening preview of Pottery Barn Australia in Bondi Sydney.

The family of 4 stores Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids, West Elm and Williams-Sonoma are now officially opened.  You can visit the stores at The Exchange Building, corner of Grosvenor Street & Oxford Street Mall, Bondi Junction.

Why Australia Sydney you ask?  Australians are the biggest consumers outside of North America, we have good taste of course! They are considering to open stores in Melbourne and Brisbane (I knew you were wondering).

I was so excited to fly down to this event, I took an empty suitcase thinking I was going to fill it, but there was just so much to look at I ran out of time.  I did buy one knitted throw as a birthday gift for Mr Organised (he keeps complaining he doesn’t have one, now he does).  Now that I am home though I can really visualise everything that I saw and have a better idea of how I can re-decorate our lounge room.

I took a lot of photos on the day (warning many photos below), the prices were very reasonable, actually a lot better than I thought they would be. If you are interested in something in particular you can view the prices on the website which I linked to above.

Also see details at the bottom of this post for a special Pottery Barn Kids Giveaway!

The Wiliams-Sonoma store is filled with kitchen goodies, from gorgeous dinner, saucepan and knife sets to napery, kitchen utensils and the most decorative bowls.

That’s fresh fruit.  You can try the appliances (in this case the range of juicers) before you buy.  I think this is a brilliant idea to get a feel for how the machine works, will make it easier to choose which brand you prefer.

At the back of the Williams-Sonoma store is a world first  in-store cooking school

Onward to the next store which was West Elm, I’d actually never heard of this store, so was interested to see how different this style is to Pottery Barn.  Instantly I fell in love because I saw a gorgeous arrangement of beautifully coloured vases.

It’s said that West Elm is for the eclectic and crafty decorators, the colour tones were very different to what I ended up seeing in Pottery Barn. West Elm had alot of bold colour and a relaxing autumn feel.

I spotted these bowls, aren’t they pretty!

As soon as I stepped into Pottery Barn I knew these were the colours to suit my home.  We have dark mahogany wooden furniture, which I am trying to tone down with neutral colours like beige and whites.

Very elegant

Funky jars, but what I really did love was the table runners underneath.  Unfortunately there were too long for my table.

Cute dinner set!

I loved the pattern on this rug, I have been searching for a rug for a long time, it’s just not a purchase I would rush into, I think I procrastinate a bit when it comes to home decor, I really have to make sure I like it before i buy it.  They also have this rug in porcelain blue, either would look great in our lounge room.

There was nothing but cuteness in this store, I may have forgotten to take a few photo’s because I was taking it all in.  I was asked when looking in this shop what I thought.  Strangely at the time I said to the Australian market this is life changing, OK, life changing is not the right words, but it certainly will change the way we shop.  Many stores already have cute bedroom sets, but Pottery Barn Kids go beyond the cute sets, with the lovely furniture, floor rugs, playroom toys, desk accessories and so much more.

They have a huge range of all different quilt and sheet sets, I forgot to take a photo of my favourite (which would suit a tween).  Can you spy the funky chairs in the top of the photo, they can be personalised with names monogrammed on the slip covers and they can be easily removed and washed!

They can monogram just about anything, blankets, pillow covers, chair covers, towels and more

This vanity table is the sweetest!

In my craft room I use a carousel to hold my pens, it is no longer in made and available for purchase by it’s manufacturer.  I was excited when I found these at Pottery Barn, I am waiting on a phone call to confirm if they come in white as well!  Will let you know.

Cluck, cluck, aren’t these cute!

Gift ideas, and you can see in the right of the photo chevron baby sheet sets!

Now, I am kicking myself that I didn’t buy this cutie, it’s on my wish list.

This is a modular system, all different pieces, build it to suit your space.

We were given a lot of information on the day but in summary:

• If you find something in store and it isn’t in stock they will delivery it to your door free of charge
• You can order online, see their websites for full shipping details
• They offer an in home design service.  They will come into your home to help you decorate your lounge room, bedroom or decorate for a party, whatever you need really.  Plus there is no obligation to buy. I like this idea because I was absolutely overwhelmed with all their beautiful ornaments I just couldn’t choose one to take home, worried it was the wrong colour.

Special thanks to Pottery Barn Kids you have a chance to win a New Mum Gift Pack, valued at $178.  Pack includes: white diaper basket containing a bath wrap, swaddling blankets, swaddling sack and diaper caddy

Simple leave a comment below telling me:

If you could have one Pottery Barn (from any of the 4 stores) product what would it be?

Entries are for Australian residents only, one entry per person, giveaway closes midnight Thursday 23rd May.  This is not a random drawer, most creative answer will win.

********************

Disclosure: This is not a sponsored post (no compensation has been received) but I am grateful to Pottery Barn Kids for offering this great pack to giveaway.

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While the rice is cooking you can prepare the curry sauce, this saves a lot of time.  Also the recommended amount of curry is more than my kids can handle so I use 1/2 – 3/4 a tablespoon, increasing the intensity as they get older.

The base is made up of cooked rice

Cover base with a tin of salmon (removing the bones)

Top salmon with curry sauce and sprinkle with cheese

Curried Salmon or Tuna Rice Pie

 

Print

Author: Katrina

Recipe type: Dinner

Ingredients

RICE BASE

• 1 cup long grain white rice
• 30g butter
• 1 egg

CURRY SAUCE

• 45g butter, extra
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 ½ tablespoons curry powder
• 1 ½ cups milk
• ½ cup mayonnaise
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 2 tlb chopped parsley
• 1 egg, extra
• 425g can tuna or salmon in spring waters
• 60g cheese

Instructions

RICE BASE

1. Cook rice as per packet instructions, drain
2. Combine rice with butter, egg, salt and pepper
3. Press rice mixture over base and up sides of dish
4. Arranged drained, flaked tuna over rice base

CURRY MIX

1. Melt extra butter, add flour and curry powder, stir until smooth, cook 1 minute
2. Remove from heat,gradually add milk using a whisk to stir out lumps
3. Add mayonnaise, return to heat, stir until sauce boils and thickens
4. Add lemon juice and parsley, reduce heat, simmer 1 minute, remove from heat
5. Add extra beaten egg, cool slightly
6. Spoon mixture evenly into rice shell; sprinkle with grated cheese
7. Bake in moderate oven 25 to 35 min or until golden brown on top

Notes

• I use lemon juice from the bottle and sometimes dried parsley from the jar • I don’t use the recommended curry, probably ½ tablespoon or less would be sufficient if this is a meal for the kids as well. • I use a pyrex 20x20ish cm or 20x30ish cm dish. • While the rice is cooking I get the curry mix ready. • I more than likely put more than the recommended cheese on top, kids love it.

3.2.1753

acknowledgment:  I found this recipe many years ago from an old AWW cookbook.

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To continue on from sorting through your clutter and deciding between selling or donating your items, I’m going to move forward and share with you some of my garage sale tips.

I have had quite a few garage sales over the years.  The first was when I decided I was happy with 3 children and knew I would have no more.  At that stage my brothers were not married and no close friends were having kids and we needed a bit of extra cash so I put on a monster garage sale.  We had everything baby, cots, porta cots, prams, strollers, clothes, Tupperware, office chairs, old gaming consoles, I had a big clean out.  I also sold my maternity clothes and clothes that I knew I would never wear again.  Our neighbours hosted a garage sale on the same day so it was a great street event.   Since then we have run a garage sale every 2 years.  I think I am now garage saled out, I have a niece that I can hand clothes down to now and for the odd thing I find I no longer need I am happy to put it on gumtree or donate to charity.

I have created the ultimate GARAGE SALE PRINTABLE SIGN PACK. The key to a successful garage sale is to be organised. This pack includes a checklist which will help you organise a garage sale along with signs to advertise and place around your items for sale and I’ve included an editable flyer, so you can leave details on the local community notice board.

Preparing for a garage sale

• The best day to run a garage sale is on a Saturday and pick a date that allows you enough time the day before to prepare
• Don’t run it over a long weekend as you may lose some customers as they will be going away
• Ensure that you have enough tables so everything is at waist height and easy to look at
• If you don’t have enough consider turning boxes upside and storing on top of the box just to get them off the ground
• Don’t sell dirty items

Advertise

• Contact your local newspaper a fortnight before just to ensure you meet deadline, I have found the ad’s have been beneficial and worth the price of bringing in a lot more customers.
• Put an ad on your local community board (I have included an editable flyer in the garage sale pack, see image below)
• Tell your neighbours you are having a sale, they may have one along with you which means you can go halves in the newspaper ad and they can help you put up the signage

Signs

Put up signs to give direction to your garage sale.  Personally I don’t find the need to put addresses on the signs, as motorists should have their eyes on the road and not reading small details.  Arrows on a garage sale sign are enough.

Please look up your council regulations, never put signs on or over street signs, you will be fined.  Also ensure you remove the signs the next day, if council has to remove them you will receive a fined.

How I made our signs

When I ran my first garage sale I used the black and white version of the signs below, taped them onto cardboard, then spray painted the edges of the cardboard in bright pink spray paint, nailed them to a stake then hammered the stake into the ground of all intersections from my house to the main road.  It was really effective, pity I don’t have a photo to show you, but honestly they stood out from the rest of the signs, so nobody could get confused.

I have included both coloured and black & white versions of signs in the pack

Setting up

• Set up and ensure everything is priced the night before.
• Price items with either: all items on this table are $___, individual spot stickers on each item or I also liked to use masking tape as a price sticker as its easy to tear.
• Keep all items you will have outside securely in your garage overnight.
• When setting up in the morning, put your garage half way up and do not let anybody in until you have completely set up.  You will find some people so eager to get in and buy things before your ready, that it then gets hectic and unmanageable.  I kid you not we had about 10 people waiting for our 6am garage sale one year.
• Put clothes on hangers if you can, it’s easier for people to sort through.  Previously I used a broom resting on top of two chairs.  You can hang kids clothes from hangers on a clothes hoist.
• If you have a lot of clothes consider offering to fill a bag for $10.  Buy 2 ornaments get one free.
• I’m not an expert on how much items should sell at a garage sale, it’s honestly a guessing game, but I usually price items between 50-70% of what it cost me to buy.  However it really does depend on the quality of the item, if it is in impeccable condition you could only reduce it by 20-30% off what you originally paid for it.

What is your best garage sale tip?

I’ve included tracking pages in the pack in case friends give you items to sell for them, along with an extensive checklist

Loads of different signs have been included. These red ones below can be folded in half and sit tent like on top of the table.

Table signs, to clearly label for the busy lookers

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Here is how I clean our hair brushes and combs:

1. Remove all hair from brushes
2. Place brushes and combs in dish big enough to hold all our brushes
3. Cover brushes with hot water (not boiling)
4. Add 1 tablespoon of dish detergent and 1 tablespoon of vinegar .  The vinegar is used to kill any bacteria and germs.
5. Allow to sit for one hour or over night
6. Rinse each brush under running water to remove dirt build up and soap
7. You could use an old toothbrush to remove build up from in between comb
8. Shake away excess water and allow to dry the brushes and comb on a towel
9. Wash dish throughly
10. Repeat once a month or when you feel necessary

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Last week I shared my tips on how to sort through your excess clutter.  Sometimes it’s hard to make a decision on whether you should donate, sell or throw away an item.

We struggled with this when sorting through my mums items because we knew she valued everything, it was hard to pick something up that she had kept for so long and throw it in the trash, but it had to be done, Dad couldn’t take it to his new home. There was so much to sort through, but the most important thing was that we only wanted to handle everything once, so when we picked it up we decided if we wanted to donate, sell or throw it away.

In this case I am saying we, as my dad, brothers and I sorted through everything of mums together, we often came across something that reminded us of our childhood, which was a great time to reminisce   Also by doing it together meant that we could have the one-touch rule in place and we weren’t throwing, donating or selling something that one of us perhaps wanted to hold onto.

Tips to know when to sell

There are different ways in which you can sell your items, via ebay, gumtree or through a garage sale (I will share my garage sale tips in the next few days).   The key to working out whether to sell or donate ultimately comes up to how much time you have to sell them and is it worth that time?

What to sell

• Items in working order
• Good quality
• Unique and quirky
• Vintage
• Furniture
• Video games
• Clothes
• Jewellery
• Books
• Toys
• Craft items
• Appliances

Selling online

1. See how much your item sells for on ebay.  Read here how to do this.
2. If the item sold for a reasonable amount consider if you are willing to then spend time listing that product on ebay or gumtree.  Remembering that ebay charges a small fee when listing with them.
3. If the item is not worth your time to sell than donate it

Garage sale

• Do you have enough items to have a garage sale
• Do you have the time to set up and promote the sale
• Do you have the room to have a garage sale

Tips to know when to donate

If you don’t have time to sell an item donate it to your local charity.  Be humbled at this remarkable gesture to be helping another family or person in need.  One bag of old clothes to you is a bag of new clothes for warmth and comfort to another.

Be kind to the charity that you are donating to and don’t give them junk, old clothes with holes, tupperware with no lids etc.  This should be thrown in the trash.

A good rule of thumb to decide between donating:

• it is in working order
• does not need repairing/mending
• good quality
• is clean

For large items such a furniture your charity may come and collect it for you.

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