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Chrissy

Chrissy Taylor is a wife, Mom, blogger and property manager. She and her husband of 15 years are raising two active boys in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota. Chrissy enjoys blogging about cooking, crafts, gifts and household tips over at The Taylor House.

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holiday recipes

Easter Cake: Make A Kit Kat Basket Cake

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Easter Basket Kit Kat Cake recipe tutorial

Last week I was asked to contribute to a silent auction at a local church. I was so nervous and wasn’t sure what I should put together! After thinking about it for some time, I decided chocolate! Chocolate is always the way to go! So, I created an Easter Basket Kit Kat Cake similar to the one that I made last year for Easter. And, I filled it with LOTS of candy! These make such cute cakes and are perfect for Easter or a birthday, plus they are pretty simple to put together.

All you need is a boxed cake mix, frosting, Kit Kat’s and lost of candy to fill up the center of your Easter Basket.

Easter Basket Kit Kat Cake Recipe Tutorial

Easter Cake: Kit Kat Basket Cake
Ingredients
  • 1 Boxed Cake Mix (follow instructions)
  • 1 jar of frosting
  • 36 Kit Kat Sticks
  • Lots of Candy
Instructions
  1. Make Cake mix according to directions.
  2. Bake in 2-9 inch round cake pans.
  3. Frost the first cake.
  4. Add second cake on top and frost.
  5. Line Kit Kat’s around the cake in a fence type pattern.
  6. Fill the top of cake with candy.

When I boxed up the cake, I added lots of extra candy in the package. I hope it went over well!

Easter Basket Kit Kat Cake Recipe Tutorial

You can see the cake that I made last year by going HERE.

Easter Basket Kit Kat Cake Recipe Tutorial

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budget creative ideas frugal living household help how-to

Creating an organized Bill Pay Binder

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BillPaybinder

How do you keep your bills organized and paid on time? For years, I would just pay them as I would get them in the mail. Which would mean that I drug out my checkbook every few days. This worked just fine, but I felt like I was constantly paying bills, which isn’t my favorite chore.

In the last couple years, I have created a bill pay binder that has worked really well for me, so I am going to share a few of my tips with you.

First, you need a binder, I use a simple white 1 inch binder. Next, I added a pencil bag to hold all the “tools” that I need for paying bills.

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I have a hole punch, calculator, pencils, pens, and a Sharpie in my pouch.

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I printed out a calendar for each month over at THIS site. I went through and added all recurring events on the calendar with the dates that I already knew. Things like payday, car payment, we have rental properties and I keep track of when those payments are due on this calendar as well.

When I receive a bill in the mail, I add the due date on this calendar right away.

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I have three sections on my binder. One section for bills I pay on the 15th and one for the 30th. When I receive a bill in the mail, I mark the due date on my calendar, punch holes in the bill and file it in the correct area.

I also have a section to file bills from the previous month. I find this very handy because if I have a question on a bill or what I had paid the previous month, I still have them handy.

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In the front inside pocket of the binder is where I keep my address labels and envelopes.

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I use different colors of markers for my bill calendar. I found a great way to hold all of my pens and colored markers in this really cute Thirty-one Fold and Go bag.

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I am a paper and pen person. I like to keep track of bills, lists, etc. on paper instead of on the computer. This bill pay system has been working really well for me and I feel much more organized. I spend less time paying bills and don’t have to go digging for everything when it’s time to sit down and write out checks. I hope you can use a few of my tips or even create your own binder!

BillPaybinder

If you have any suggestions on how to improve this or just comments on your own ideas, I would love to hear them!

frugal living home improvement household help how-to

6 Easy Tips for Organizing Your Kitchen

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organizedkitchen

If you are anything like me, once the holidays are over and the Christmas tree has been taken down, you are ready to get yourself organized for the year. 

Where is the best place to start?  For me, I spend most of my time in the kitchen so I like to start there. 

Here are a few easy tips to get your kitchen organized!

1.  Roll your towels! 

It saves a lot of room and they look cute! 

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1.  Create a realistic cleaning plan for your kitchen and other parts of the house. 

You can find a printable for this version over HERE. 

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3.  Use hooks. 

I like having my oven mit, pot holders and towels handy and hooks inside the cabinets are a great use of space!

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4.  Use labels to organize. 

 These labels are my very favorite because they are customizable in three colors!  Labeling your bins and baskets helps your family and you remember where things go after you use them. 

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5.  Create different zones in the kitchen. 

I have a coffee, baking, lunch making, dish washing zone in my kitchen so that everything that I use when I do these tasks are all together. 

Coffee Zone

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Baking Zone

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Lunch Making Zone

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6.  Create a menu plan and keep it handy. 

I hang mine inside the door of my pantry.  Having a menu plan really helps cut down on the stress that can happen around meal time.  I remember many times standing at the fridge trying to decide what to make at the last minute, keeping an organized menu plan helps eliminate a lot of that! 

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I have a list of meals for each week but I can pick which meal I make each day.  I mark it off as I have made them.  Hanging below my Family Menu is my grocery list sheet, I like having it in the pantry so that I can add items that I have run out of right away. 

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Have fun organizing!  I would love to hear any tips that you have for creating and maintaining an organized kitchen, leave your comment below! 

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