Kitchen tip for today:

1. Store your liquid dish soap in a nice soap dispenser .

It will make your counter area look much neater. I like the look of using a soap dispenser at the sink for my dish soap because it’s handy being right there, and it’s not tacky looking like a bottle of dish soap just sitting on my counter.

2. Keep your soap dispenser ungunked.

I have the problem of soap accumulating around the rim, and dripping down the sides. Now, there is nothing neat looking about that! So, to keep it clean, while I’m running the water to fill the sink, I rinse all of the soap off of my dispenser. This of coarse cleans it right off, and it makes my water nice and soapy for the dishes. This is much more practical, and frugal than occasionally running the dispenser under water just to clean it off, and letting all of that soap go down the drain unused.

There you have it. Simple, practical, and even a little frugal! For more kitchen tips, check out Kitchen Tip Tuesdays over at Tammy’s Recipes .

We received a number of comments suggesting even more ideas on how to fill your home with Scripture. Thank you! It sure was a blessing to read through them, and I came away with new inspiration that I can’t wait to put to use! Here are a few highlights:

From Joanne:

We like to ‘write’ verses onto our own digital photos that we have enlarged and then frame them. One that we have on top of a bookcase is a picture of a mountain that could be seen from my parents back porch. We used Psalm 121:1 - 2. It has become a reminder not only of where our help comes from, but of the lovely vacation we spent with my family four and a half years ago. And yes, I know those verses by heart and it wasn’t painful trying to learn them!

From Infinity Goods:

We have bibles and art books with psalms in every room. Some rooms have several! Joanne’s comment is great too. For samples of what she is talking about, you can visit Amydeanne’s “Word Filled Wednesdays” at http://the160acrewoods.wordpress.com/word-filled-wednesdays/. I’ve just joined them too and I’ll be printing some of my favorites on photo paper, adding mats and framing them.

From Cindy:

In a recent newsletter from Nancy Campbell (Above Rubies) she talked about all the ways she spent time with the Lord, even in the midst of many little ones. She used a book holder (a stand-up one, like you would use for a recipe book) and put her Bible in it, up over her kitchen sink (since she spent lots of time there doing dishes). Personally, I have little girls who do most of the dishes, so I was thinking of finding a little book stand and just putting my Bible out on the kitchen counter!

Wonderful ideas! If you are at a loss for Scripture verses to use, here are a few that we’ve put around our home:

Isaiah 40:29 - “He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might He increaseth strength.”

John 7:38 – “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”

Matthew 11:28 – “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest… For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Psalm 42:8 – “The LORD will command His lovingkindness in the daytime, and His song will be with me in the night, a prayer to the God of my life.”

Psalm 36:9 – “For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light.”

Psalm 46:10 – “Be still, and know that I am God”

Isaiah 41:10 – “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.”

Matthew 7:24 - “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock.”

In the midst of our busy daily lives managing our homes, we need small oases of God’s Word in each room where we can take “sips” of living water throughout the day.

God’s Word admonishes us to meditate on His Word day and night (Psalm 1:2), so here are a few ideas for filling your home with Scripture:

• Stock up on a few inexpensive frames (you can usually find them from $0.25 to $1.00), print out some verses and scatter the frames throughout your home (I printed the verses on velum paper and used decorative scrapbook paper as the backdrop).

• Buy a handful of tiny pocket Bibles and place them throughout your home - in the bathrooms, on nightstands, next to your nursing chair, etc. - so that whenever you get a chance to sit down, you can refresh yourself with the Word. I read this idea in Passionate Housewives Desperate for God (a book review is coming tomorrow!).

• Put verse memory cards next to your kitchen sink or where you fold laundry so that you can work on Scripture memory while tackling these other tasks

• Look for sales at Christian books stores or online, stocking up on Scripture calendars, framed scripture, scripture bookmarks, scripture decorations (like doormats, wall hangings, etc.). My grandma actually found this one (below) at a yard sale.

• Here is a fun decoration idea that we haven’t done, but that I saw the other day: vinyl wall lettering using Scripture (simple to put on and peels of easily with no messes or damage).

So, fill your home with Scripture. Let every room glow with God’s Word so that wherever you turn, you are reminded of His promises and His statutes.

If you are like me, we are small on space and huge on stuff! It’s ridiculous how many things we accumulate when we have a baby. Well, I’m here to show you a few tricks that I use to maximize the function of my “cozy” little nursery.

Our baby’s room is 7.5′ x 7.5′, pretty tiny. But I’ve managed to comfortably fit in his crib, chest of drawers, and changing table. The key to keeping the room from becoming too cluttered and cramped is to keep it simple. Only use a few pieces of furniture. The chest of drawers is tall and narrow, and when pushed caddy-corner in the room it doesn’t take up much space at all, and adds valuable storage.

Underneath the crib is more valuable space. Since the crib skirt covers that area, it’s the perfect place to store items out of site, but still within reach. This is where I keep bigger toys that are only used on occasion (train set, etc.).

Bright, crisp colors on the walls make the space seem larger.

The valance is actually hung higher than the top of the window, to make it seem taller.

I took the doors off the closet to open up the room even more and add floor space. This is where I place the changing table. I keep storage baskets on the shelves of the changing table for better organization, and a cleaner look. This is where I keep baby’s bibs, cloth diapers/covers, burp cloths, changing table pads, etc. I hide extra packs of diapers underneath the table where they can’t be seen, as well as in the diaper stacker hung on the back of the crib.

Above the changing table is a shelf where I store more toys in plastic storage containers, and where extra blankets are nicely stacked. Since this is all open and organized it makes the room look much bigger and every inch of space is being utilized.

I hope I have inspired you to take a fresh look at your space and see how you can make it an adorable little room with tons of character and appeal! Bigger isn’t always better, so do the best you can with what you have… and be proud of how well it turned out!!

For more Works-For-Me Wednesday Ideas, go here.