Picture Clips
You all know I love Command Strips. Well, I just had to try these picture clips. Amanda likes to display pictures of her friends and family on the walls and doors of her room. The only problem is then there’s little pin holes all over the walls. I think this is going to be the perfect solution.
I printed and cut out some pictures I knew Amanda liked of family and vacations we’ve been on.
The clips are so easy to use. Peel the red backing off and stick it to the clip.
Then peel the black backing off and stick the clip to the wall or door. Hold in place for 30 seconds. Don’t attach anything to the clips for 1 hour.
Follow the directions on the packaging for best results. I think what I like best about Command products is if you need to take them down, there’s no mark left behind.
I had 6 clips to work with so I put them in 2 rows of 3 on her closet door.
Here they are with the picture attached. Don’t be surprised if you see these in my other kids rooms now.
They’d be great for school work, quotes, calendars, charts, art work, etc. Now I need 9 more clips for the door.
3M sent me samples of Command Strips in different styles to use and blog about.
This is my own opinion of their product. I have not be paid for this post.
Hope you’re all having a beautiful weekend!
I’m linking to:
Share Your Faves at It’s A Blog Party
Sundae Scoop at I Heart Naptime
Market Yourself Monday at Sumo’s Sweet Stuff
Anything Related at All Thingz Related
Spotlight Yourself at It’s So Very Cheri
Works For Me Wednesday at We Are That Family
Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home
Decorating Your Home at It’s A Blog Party
Filed under Decorating, Organizing Tools | Comments (4)
Organizing My Most Used Recipes
I have a lot of recipes and a lot of duplicate recipes. It was time to get rid of the duplicates and make it easier for me to find the recipes we use more often. I started by taking out all the recipes I had stored loosely in a binder. It was starting to be a mess and it was taking longer and longer to find the recipe I wanted.
I bought these picture display boxes a few months ago at Big Lots (for only $1 each) and thought they would work perfect for what I had in mind. Ignore the picture in it, I think it looks kind of creepy.
Then I went through my scrapbooking stash for items I might want to use to decorate them.
I started by putting my tried and true recipes into categories. Ones I knew weren’t duplicates and were family favorites. Most of these were recipes from family members or friends.
I made another pile of recipes that might already have duplicates. I went through my cookbooks to look for possible duplicates and tossed the ones I already had. Sometimes I had made changes in the recipe, so I would make a notation of that in the cookbook.
And this was the discard pile of recipes I really didn’t use or ones that were duplicated.
In one of the boxes I put main dishes, salads and breads.
In the other one I put desserts, drinks and dips.
I added some recipes to these cute tags, but later decided to only use the one on the left. It has all my family’s favorite recipes listed on it. I put them in the order listed in the box so they could be found easily.
I added some scrapbook paper to the front page.
And then embellished it with a couple tags.
To the front of the box I added a flashcard tag and a ribbon around the bottom.
Then I added a couple embellishments and ribbon to the second box.
And here they are by my cookbooks. Now it’s a lot easier to find the recipes I use most often. And don’t they look cute? I can also change out the front cover as often as I like if I want a different look. Now I need to cover the cookbooks to match. Oh, and I love my canister of paper straws by them.
I just had to show you this picture of my kids favorite thing to do with the straws.
What have you been organizing? Don’t forget to link your organizing posts to We’re Organized Wednesday this week. I’d love to share what organizing projects, tips or ideas you have.
I’m linking to:
Home and Family Friday at Home Is Where My Story Begins
Look At Me Party at Fun To Craft
Feature Yourself Friday at Fingerprints On The Fridge.
Friday Fun Finds at Kojo Designs
Show and Share Day at Just A Girl
Weekend Wrap Up Party at Tatertots and Jello
Saturday Nite Special at Funky Junk Interiors
Saturday Is Crafty Day at Along For The Ride
Craft Schooling Sunday at Creative Jewish Mom
Sundae Scoop at I Heart Naptime
DIY Project Parade at The DIY Showoff
Craftastic Monday at Sew Can Do
Market Yourself Monday at Sumo’s Sweet Stuff
Show Me How at It’s A Blog Party
Tutorial Tuesday at Hope Studios
Works for Me Wednesday at We Are That Family
Filed under Kitchen, Organizing Tools, Recipes | Comments (21)Lesson and Activity Bags
We’re Organized Wednesday will be held every other Wednesday for right now. By what a lot of you said, I didn’t know if I would get enough participation for every week. The next party will be held on April 28th. I would love for you to share what you’ve been organizing over the last couple of weeks. You can link up as many organizing projects or ideas as you like. There will be another great giveaway too. I hope to see you all here next week. And don’t forget to visit me the rest of this week. I promise to have some fun projects to share.
Do you have kids in sports, dance or other lessons? We do and at times it could become overwhelming keeping all their books, gear, shoes and snacks together and ready for each activity. That’s why we have bags packed and ready for every activity our kids enjoy. It ’s so much faster and efficient to have a separate bag packed and ready for each activity. It doesn’t have to be glamorous, just the right size to handle the activity. Here’s some of the bags we have packed and ready to go.
Ammon’s Soccer Bag-water bottle, shinguards, cleats, beanie and fruit snacks. He even shoves his ball in here too.
Zach’s Baseball Bag- bat, ball, cleats, glove, helmet, water bottle, baseball cap, practice ball and chewy bars.
Emilee’s Piano Bag- sheet music, practice record sheet, pencil, notepad.
Emilee’s Scottish Dance Bag- water bottle, knee high socks, dance shoes, shorts, skirt, hair elastic, fruit snacks.
Emilee’s Competition Dance Bag- hair elastics, hair spray, comb, hair net, bobby pins, extra socks, dance shoes, hand sanitizer, wipes, water bottle, fruit snacks, safety pins, chewy bars, cash, competition card.
Amanda’s Dance Bag- water bottle, dance shoes, shorts, tank top, cell phone.
And you probably remember this bag from last week. It’s my Return Bag. Everything that needs to be returned to someone, the library or the post office, goes in this bag and is then delivered on my next trip out.
Amanda doesn’t use a bag for her guitar lessons. She puts everything she needs in her guitar case.
Here’s how we work our bags:
We take our bag to the activity it’s needed for.
Use the things in the bag.
Bring the bag home and refill anything that was used up.
Return needed items to the bag.
Hang the bag where it belongs and now it’s ready to be used again next activity time.
I like having a bag for each activity, because then nothing needs to be switched out for the next activity. It’s much easier for the kids too. They just have to grab the bag and get in the van. No last minute looking for dance shoes or cleats and being late to lessons.
I’m linking to:
Works For Me Wednesday at We Are That Family
Penny Pinching Party at The Thrifty Home
Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts
Show and Share Day at Just A Girl
Strut Your Stuff at Somewhat Simple
Home and Family Friday at Home Is Where My Story Begins
Creative Cats at Poppies at Play
Toot Your Horn Tuesday at A Silly Little Sparrow
Filed under General organizing, Organizing Tools | Comments (11)Cordless Screwdrivers: Out with the Old, In with the New
I use my cordless screwdriver almost everyday in my business, so I was heartbroken when I discovered the reverse didn’t work anymore. It has been with me for 5 years. Can you believe it? It’s helped me secure shelves to the wall, put together shelving, take doors off, assemble furniture, and so no. I was taking a door off when I discovered the reverse wasn’t working anymore. I was so sad, especially because I had to pull out a regular old, hand driven screwdriver. My hands were sad too. But, the next day my cute hubby came home with a wonderful surprise. This new beauty! And it is so much more powerful than my old one. I know it’s kind of weird to get so excited over a screwdriver, but as I said before I use it almost everyday. I’m looking forward to many wonderful years of uses with my amazing new screwdriver. Thanks, hubby!
Old, Broken and Sad.
New, Powerful and Happy.
Filed under Organizing Tools | Comment (0)Inexpensive Storage Solutions
You don’t always have to run out and buy organizing products. You probably already have a lot of items in your home that can be used to organize almost anything. Here are a few examples:
· Shoeboxes- How many shoeboxes do you have in your basement or closet? Put them to good use. Cover them with wrapping paper, contact paper or fabric to coordinate with any décor. Attach a pretty label to the outside with the name of the contents inside. You can store almost anything in them, in any room.
· Plastic Linen Bags- The zippered bags you get every time you buy sheets, pillow cases or comforters. They’re great for storing items and there’s no need for labels because you can see through them.
· Baskets- You probably have a lot of these just hanging around the house, so why not put them to good use? Store items in them that you don’t mind being seen or you need easy access too.
· Metal Tins- The ones you get when you purchase mints, tea, cookies or candy. They’re great for items that need to be kept secure and dry. The mint tins are good for business cards or to hold band-aids. Larger tins can be used for almost anything. Just put a label on them.
· Plastic Wastebaskets- If you don’t like the color just paint it with spray paint meant for plastic. They can be used to hold taller items like; wrapping paper, bats, hockey sticks, or keep things contained like balls.
· Hooks- I love hooks! They’re easy to use and come in so many different shapes, sizes and styles and can be used in any room. Small hooks can hold necklaces, bracelets, scarves, belts, etc. Larger hooks can be used in closets to hold jackets, backpacks and umbrellas. They’re great in the kids room to hold hats, robes, pj’s, costumes, and bags with sports or dance equipment.
· Glass Jars- Canning jars or pretty jars that jams, olives or bottled fruit come in work well. They’re great for small items you want to see or have on display.
· Plastic Sand Buckets- Buy in different colors and sizes to use in the kids room. Put on a shelf or hang on a hook from the handle to hold small toys, crayons, beads, stickers, legos, etc.
· Small Plastic Bins- They come in different shapes and sizes and are great in drawers to keep items separated. You can buy them for as little as 3 for $1. I have them in my bathroom drawer to keep make-up, floss, combs, brushes, nail polish and medications separated. They also work great in a desk drawer to keep items separated.
Filed under Organizing Tools | Comment (0)Use Labels to Organize
Use labels to retrieve items and store them away without any guesswork. Once a file, drawer, container, shelf, closet, area or room is organized use labels to keep it that way. You might know where items are to be stored, but does your family or associates? Unless you want things to get back to the way they were, use labels to help keep order.
· By labeling compartments in your drawers, you’ll always know what’s missing and where to return items.
· Label pantry shelves, so you’re not the only one that can put groceries away. It will be easier to find the ingredients you need too.
· Label all tapes, DVD’s, CD’s and electronic data backups immediately, before storing away, to avoid having to load them again to see what’s on them.
· Storage totes should be labeled with the contents on all sides so they can be easily identified.
· Label the inside of dresser drawers, with its contents, so random items don’t get tossed in.
· Label all your children’s toy totes, bins, drawers, buckets, etc. If they can’t read yet, use pictures.
· Label your keys with color coded key covers to easily identify them when needed.
· Label file folders with each child’s name to store school schedules, sports schedules, reading charts, etc. Keep in a convenient location for easy retrieval.
· Label all home and office files for fast and easy retrieval.
· Make labeling fun and attractive. Use a label maker, stickers, hang tags, pictures, scrapbook supplies, vinyl letters, computer fonts on address labels, etc.
Filed under Organizing Tools | Comment (0)Ten Uses for a Plastic Caddy
· Cleaning caddy- window cleaner, disinfecting wipes, rags, toilet cleaner, cleanser, feather duster
· Shower caddy- shampoo, conditioner, body wash, razor, face wash, lotion, shower puff
· Car wash caddy- soap, rags, tire cleaner, vinyl cleaner, window cleaner, mitt, sponge, hose attachment
· Craft caddy- ribbon, decorative scissors, craft paper, beads, wire, brads, adhesive, elastic, stickers, stamps, stamp pads
· Homework caddy- pencils, pens, notebooks, ruler, stapler, protractor, calculator, dictionary, tape
· Nail care caddy- clippers, nail file, buffer, nail polish, polish remover, cotton balls, cuticle tool, cuticle softener
· Pet care caddy- shampoo, brush, towels, flea soap, clippers
· Bill paying caddy- envelopes, stamps, address labels, pens, checkbook, pocket calendar, file folders, calculator
· Arts & Crafts caddy- paints, brushes, markers, colored pencils, art paper, scissors, crayons, colored paper, glue sticks
· Picnic caddy- paper plates, cups, napkins, wet wipes, salt and pepper shakers, plastic utensils
Filed under Organizing Tools | Comment (0)Ten Uses for Over-the-Door Shoe Organizers
Coat Closet- Summer(sunscreen, insect repellant, swimsuits, bubbles, chalk)
Winter(hats, gloves, scarves, hand warmers)
Boys Room- action figures, small toys, small cars
Girls Room- barbies, barbie clothes and accessories, pollys, ponys
Playroom- markers, colored pencils, crayons, playdoh, paint brushes, paints,
Beads, foam shapes
Bathroom- hair supplies, curling iron, hair straightener, wash cloths, skin
Care, nail care, first aid
Teens Room- ties, belts, hair supplies, school supplies
Home Office- pens, pencils, sticky notes, stapler, markers, tape, envelopes,
Scissors, label maker
Craft Room- punches, decorative scissors, beads, stickers, stamps, ink pads,
Paint, ribbon, flowers
Sewing Room- threads, floss, scissors, patterns, tape measure, pins, needles
Buttons
Kitchen- small utensils, twist ties, baggies, jello, pudding, popcorn, small
Snacks, dressing envelopes, spices
I love how many uses there are for over-the-door shoe organizers. Think of how many ways you could use one to help you in organizing your home. They are inexpensive and easy to use. My most useful one has been in my little boys room. My youngest son helped me organize and label it one day, so he knows where everything goes. They have pockets for power rangers, bob the builder, toy story, pirates, rescue heros, mega man, and transformers and they can quickly put them all back when they’re done playing. All the pockets are labeled so even dad can help them put the toys away.
Filed under Organizing Tools | Comments (3)
My Top Ten Organizing Tools
*LABELMAKER – Label every container on the top and all sides. Also great to use in kids rooms so they know where to put things away.
*CLIPBOARDS – I have made decorative clipboards for each of my children. You could use plain ones, but color code them with ribbon or stickers. These will hold school schedules, reading charts, spelling lists, homework, permission slips, sports schedules, etc. They hang on the inside of my pantry door and are checked quickly each day for work that needs to be done or things that need to be returned to school. The kids know where to look for assignments and other papers relating to them.
*DAY PLANNER OR PDA – I write everything down, because if I don’t I forget about it. Check your planner the night before to see what’s scheduled for the next day and then check it periodically throughout the day so nothing gets missed.
*OVER-THE-DOOR SHOE ORGANIZER – I have at least 10 different uses for these that will be in an upcoming post.
*PORTABLE FILE BOX – Put in magazines articles that you want to read, papers that need to be worked on, cards or letters you need to write, etc. While you’re waiting to see the doctor or waiting to pick your kids up from school you have something to work on.
*TAKE-OUT MENU BINDER – Have one for in the house and one in the car so when you’re out running errands or on your way home from work you can pick up dinner. If you have coupons, don’t forget to attach them to the menu so you don’t forget to use it.
*IN/OUT TOTE BAG OR ERRAND BAG – This is great for dry cleaning, movie rentals, library books, etc. Just fill it as you need to and put it in the car when you’re ready for errands. Don’t forget to take it back into the house when you return home so it will be ready for the next time.
*FILE FOLDERS – Make files that are meaningful to you. Always file for retrieval.
*BASKETS AND CANVAS BOXES – I love to use storage containers that look good and are functional. There are so many styles and colors to choose from now.
*FRONT SEAT CAR ORGANIZER – Clipboard (for a hard writing surface), pad of paper, pens, sticky notes, phone list, highlighter, measuring tape, sudoku book (love those), charging cords, etc. Anything you want to keep organized in the front seat.
Filed under Organizing Tools | Comment (1)
