Check Out These Great Organizing Ideas
Kallie at HOLM Made shares her fun idea for button storage.
Karen at Sew Many Ways shows us her very organized medicine cabinet including cute baskets and simple tags.
Desiree at Just Another Day in Paradise shares the new craft area of her kids playroom.
Jennifer at Southern Inspirations made this cute little box to hold paint chips. I know we all have a stash of those.
Chelsea at Crafter’s Anonymous Club combined all my favorite things into one. Clipboards, Chalkboard paint and vinyl.
Rachelle at Simply Crafting shares her awesome idea for fabric storage.
Filed under General organizing | Comment (1)
Erasable Family Planner
I’m so excited! I just had to show you this new kit from Clean Mama in action. While my Busy Mama Homekeeping Kit was printing off the computer I had a great idea. First I put the documents into sheet protectors (2 to a protector). There are 18 documents in the kit.
The sheet protectors make an erasable surface. I used a dry erase marker to write directly on the sheet protector. When this month is over I can simply erase it and write in a new month.
The same with the shopping list. Just write the list on the sheet protector with a dry erase marker. Once you’ve gone shopping just erase and start a new list.
The daily planner will get wiped off every night, leaving me with a clean sheet protector for the next day. I need to find a smaller tip dry erase marker. This one’s a little too big.
The information that doesn’t change was written on the sheets with a regular pen and then slid into the protectors.
I’m keeping the binder in the kitchen since that’s where I need most of the information that’s in it. I coordinated the paper I covered it with to match the covered cookbooks.
Then I made a label out of rub-on letters and scrapbook paper.
And attached it to the front of the binder with double sided tape.
It looks great with my cookbooks and it’s so easy to access.
I love this little corner of my counter. Very useful and pretty (except for the chicken border, I will be taking care of that soon).
Filed under Calendars, General organizing | Comments (5)
Printables Binder
One thing that’s come from not being able to spend money right now is that I’m a lot more resourceful. There are so many blogs that share free printables that can be used for parties, gifts, decor, charts, documents, etc. I love you all and your creativity. The only problem I have is that I’m not very tech savvy and even though I save something on the computer I might not be able to find it when I really want it. So I came up with a back-up plan using these supplies, that I of course, already had on hand (borrowed from my school supply tote).
Here are some of the printables I keep in the binder. I just slipped them into page protectors for easy access.
marthastewart.com
marthastewart.com
kindovermatter.blogspot.com
doecdoe.blogspot.com
howaboutorange.blogspot.com ?
livinglocurto.com
?
eatdrinkchic.com
Clean Mama also has some free printables on her site you won’t want to miss. Just because she’s so nice! Love her!
If you know the origin of any of the printables or I have it wrong. Let me know, I’ll correct it.
To make the binder more presentable, I just cut scrapbook paper to size and slid it into the binder pocket.
Then I made a label from ribbon and a small tag for the spine of the binder. Now I can just flip through the binder to find the printable I want, cut it out and it’s ready to use. I have some other binders to show you later and some fun ways to decorate using the free printables.
I’m linking to:
Frugal Finds at It’s a Blog Party
Motivate Me Monday at Keeping It Simple
Market Yourself Monday at Sumo’s Sweet Stuff
Filed under General organizing, Paper | Comments (6)Erasable Chore Chart
I know these have been done to death, but I needed to find something that would work with my kids and I think this just might be it.The paper charts we were using before would get convienently lost. Then I would hear, “what day do I do the dishes?”, ”I didn’t know I had to empty the garbage”, “no, I don’t do that on tuesday, I do it on wednesday”. Really!
My kids are older (the youngest is almost 7), so I don’t need a cutsie chart any more. I made the chart using different fonts for each child: Modern No. 20, Wingdings, Kristen, Lucida Calligraphy, Bradley Hand, Bookmark Old style, Comic Sans. And different colors for each child too: Red, Lime, Orange, Aqua, Plum, Light Blue, Black.
Before I could put it all together, I sprayed the whole frame black because I didn’t like the gold trim around the inside of the frame. It took 4 coats of paint to make the gold disappear.
While the paint was drying, I cut the scrapbook paper to size, to be used as the mat.
Then I cut the chore chart a little smaller than the scrapbook paper.
Glued the 2 pieces of paper together and then slipped it into the frame.
I used the Command strips to hang the chart where the kids would have to walk past it at least 20 times a day.
And I made sure to use the level while hanging it. The Command strips are very forgiving though. If you’re off a little, it’s easy to adjust by just realigning the hook and loop a little.
It hangs on a wall in the mudroom (nope, I haven’t finished the room yet). The dry erase marker just sits on top of the frame.
As they do their chores for the day, they mark them off the chart. You can use the dry erase marker directly on the glass. It wipes right off and is ready for the next week. Now if I get asked if they can play, I ask them if their boxes are all marked off for that day. It’s that easy! And I hope it works.
I’m linking to:
Get Your Craft On at Today’s Creative Blog
Spotlight Yourself at It’s So Very Cheri
Works For Me Wednesday at We Are That Family
Show and Tell at Blue Cricket Design
Strut Your Stuff at Somewhat Simple
Hookin’ Up With HOH at House of Hepworths
Get Your Craft On Thursday at Life As Lori
Feature Yourself Friday at Fingerprints on the Fridge
Friday Fun Finds at Kojo Designs
Weekend Wrap-Up Party at Tatertots and Jello
Craft Schooling Sunday at Creative Jewish Mom
Sunday Showcase at Under the Table and Dreaming
DIY Project Parade at The DIY Showoff
Filed under Children, Cleaning, General organizing | Comments (10)Framed After School Routine
The first thing Ammon wants to do when he comes home from school is have a snack. He’ll walk right through the mudroom and drop his backpack on the living room floor and head for the kitchen. I’m always reminding him to put his shoes in his cubby, get his papers out of his backpack and then put his backpack in his locker. Then I saw this awesome printable at Living Locurto that totally spoke to me and my after school problem. Oh my gosh, how cute is this!
I just printed it off. Framed it with one of my many frames from the basement.
And hung it in his still not finished locker. (I promise I will get around to finishing the lockers one day and they will be awesome when I do). And that backpack will be hanging on a hook then. Anyway he’s excited about his sign and reads it everyday. For now, this is really working. Thanks Amy! And she has many other fun printables you should go check out too.
By the way, hubby built these awesome lockers and when they’re all painted I will be proud to show them to you.
I’m linking to:
Make It 4 Monday at Cottage Instincts
Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts
Frugalicious Friday at Finding Fabulous
Frugal Friday at The Shabby Nest
Filed under Children, General organizing | Comments (3)Chalkboard Rock Magnets
I was looking at Pottery Barn on-line and saw these Chalkboard Rocks that I though would be fun. But not at their price of 4/$16. Oh, they do add a piece of chalk too. But still too much to pay.
I have a lot of rocks, not as big as theirs, but a better size for this project anyway. First I gathered my rocks.
And used this chalkboard spraypaint to paint them. This is the 3rd project I’ve used this one can of paint on. Since it’s a little more pricey, I’m glad it’s lasting a while.
I painted 2 light coats on each side.
Then seasoned them by rubbing a piece of chalk all over them.
And rubbed it off with a cloth. Now they’ll be ready to write on.
Then I adhered magnets to the back of the rocks with E6000 and let them set over night.
I had these magnetic strips purchased from Ikea just hanging out in the basement. They’ll fit into Zach’s new room perfectly.
I need to paint his walls before I can put them up.
But here’s some close-ups of the magnets.
Zach thinks they’re going to be fun to write and draw on. I’m going to hunt for some chalk pens. I think they’ll be easier to use on a small area.
And now I’m sure Ammon will want some, so I’m glad I made extra. So, what do you think? Pretty cool for a boy’s room.
I’m linking to:
Get Your Craft On Thursday at Life As Lori
Hookin Up With HOH at House of Hepworths
Feature Yourself Friday at Fingerprints on the Fridge.
Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home
Home and Family Friday at Home Is Where My Story Begins
Decorating Your Home at It’s A Blog Party
Craft Schooling Sunday at Creative Jewish Mom
Sundae Scoop at I Heart Naptime
Just Something I Whipped Up at The Girl Creative
Making The World Cuter Monday at Making the World Cuter
Anything Related at All Thingz Related
Power of Paint Party at Domestically Speaking
Filed under Crafts, Decorating, General organizing | Comments (17)Emilee’s Art Buckets
I’m working on Emilee’s room a little at a time and luckily haven’t spent much money yet. I’ve been able to find things around the house to use in her room. I had these little buckets in the basement storage, but they were the wrong color. (Her room colors are yellow, green and black)
So it was time to get out the black spray paint. I used clothespins to hang the buckets from a hanger to paint them.
It worked pretty well but it was 95 degrees outside, the wasps were flying around me (they thought I was trying to kill them with the spray paint), and the hanger kept swinging so it was like trying to paint a moving target.
I usually love spray painting, but not so much today. Then I had to paint the inside.
I was going to label the buckets pens, pencils, colored pencils but then decided it would be more fun to think of a different way to label them. I used my Cricut to cut the words out of vinyl.
And then stuck a word on each bucket.
I used 3 different fonts for the words.
Emilee thought of using “dream”.
They will be hanging on this shelf, but it will be moved over her desk once I move the furniture around.
She draws a lot so it will be nice for her to have them so close at hand.
I’m linking to:
Frugalicious Friday at Finding Fabulous
Feature Yourself Friday at Fingerprints on the Fridge
Frugal Friday at The Shabby Nest
Remodelaholics Anonymous Meeting at Remodelaholic
Saturday Nite Special atFunky Junk Interiors
Sundae Scoop at I heart Naptime
Make It 4 Monday at Cottage Instincts
Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps On The Porch
It’s So Very Creative at It’s So Very Cheri
Market Yourself Monday at Sumo’s Sweet Stuff
Topsy Turvy Tuesday at I’m Topsy Turvy
Power of Paint Party at Domestically Speaking
Filed under Crafts, General organizing | Comments (17)Cord Control
I have cord control issues. I don’t like seeing cords peeking out from under pretty little tables or desks. Desks are hard, because there’s usually a lot of electronic devices on them with pesky cords attached. Tables usually have lamps and again with pesky cords. What is a person to do? Luckily, I was sent some Command Cord Organizers from 3M’s PR firm. These are handy little things.
Now you see that pesky cord and soon you won’t.
Make sure to follow the directions on the package for best results.
Clean area with alcohol first and let dry. Stick the red printed side to the cord organizers.
Peel off the other side of the sticky tab and stick it to the clean surface. Hold for 30 seconds.
You need to wait 1 hour before slipping the cord through it.
I added a second one onto the leg of the table.
Yay, no more pesky lamp cord. That looks so much better. And the strips come off so easy when you want to remove them. Just follow the instructions on the package.
Next, I tackled my desk using the medium size Cord Organizers.
This is under the desk before. It doesn’t look too bad.
Until you move the shredder. Then they’re pretty tangled and it’s hard to tell what cord goes where.
So the first thing to do is to get the cords untangled and label them so I know what they go to. There are cute little labels for cords, but I just used my labelmaker.
Now they’re untangled.
And labeled.
I used the Cord Organizers on the back of the desk. It’s nice not to have to worry about them leaving marks on the desk if I need to remove them later. I also put one on the back of the desk leg.
Much better now. The black cords are our phone chargers. They aren’t long enough to go on the back of a leg to the plug, so I brought them up the middle.
Now, how do I hide the phones while they’re charging? I used my Big Bite to make holes in the back of a box I’ve had on my desk.
Okay, so they’re not pretty, but they work. And they’re in the back where nobody sees them, so who cares.
Then I labeled the top of our phone cords, because I can’t tell the difference, but there is a difference.
Plug the phones in.
Put on the lid. And there you go. Now I have organized cords and desk top.
I’m linking to:
Remodelaholics Anonymous Meeting at Remodelaholic
Show and Share Day at Just a Girl
Weekend Wrap Up Party at Tatertots and Jello
Sunday Showcase Party at Under the Table and Dreaming
Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps On The Porch
Motivate Me Monday at Keeping It Simple
DIY Project Parade at The DIY Showoff
Just Something I Whipped Up at The Girl Creative
Show Me How at It’s A Blog Party
Market Yourself Mondayat Sumo’s Sweet Stuff
Works For Me Wednesday at We Are That Family
Filed under General organizing, Office | Comments (18)We’re Organized Wednesday #7
Giveaway is now closed!
Welcome to another We’re Organized Wednesday. I can’t wait to see all your awesome organizing ideas.
Amanda’s room is due for an update. This is our inspiration for her colors and possible patterns (taken from scrapbook papers and accessories).
But before we start on the decorating part of the room we need to get organized. I love this part, but Amanda, not so much. The first thing we did was move her dresser into the closet, so she’d have more space in her room. Of course, at that time we went through her drawers and took out any clothes that were too small, old, or worn.
Her clothes are hung above the dresser. Extra bags and stuffed animals are stored on a high shelf.
On the short wall of the closet are shelves for storage of bedding, school supplies, church items, guitar sheet music, snowboarding gear, magazines, art supplies and paper.
Shoe storage is on the wall opposite the dresser.
Her jewelry is stored above the shoe organizer on a hanger and on top of the shoes in a ceramic egg crate. There’s also a little mirror hanging to the side of the necklaces.
Her hats, scarves and belts hang on a wire hook next to her dresses.
Bags for church, dance and school hang on the inside of her closet door. Things need to be repainted the new color choices but at least everything has a home now and there’s more space in her room.
We moved her bed from one wall to in front of the window and placed a bookcase on each side of the bed. The room will be staying this way for about a month because we will be having guests staying for a while. Amanda will be staying with her sister in her room during that time.
I’m so excited for this giveaway. I met Chantel on her blog a few months ago and fell in love with her jewelry. She now has an etsy shop, Treasures Uncovered by Chantel. She’s given one of you a chance to win a beautiful pair of earrings. (This giveaway is open to U.S. and Canadian residents only)
All you have to do is link an organizing project. You get one entry per project entered.
Or leave a comment stating which earrings you’d choose if you won for another entry.
And visit Treasures Uncovered by Chantel, come back here and leave me a comment about your visit for another entry.
That’s at least 3 entries. Take a look at the earrings you get to choose from.
Aren’t they gorgeous?! Be sure to check her shop often, she always has new items being added.
I’m linking to:
Works For Me Wednesday at We Are That Family
Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts
Strut Your Stuff at Somewhat Simple
Home and Family Friday at Home Is Where My Story Begins
Show and Share Day at Just A Girl
Now it’s your turn! Let’s see what you’ve been organizing lately!
Link up using the URL code for your actual post and not your general blog. Include a description of your post, someone might be searching for something specific.
Add my button or link back to this post so everyone can join in the fun. (Okay, you don’t have to add my sad button but at least link back to my blog.)
Visit and Comment on other blogs. I just know you’re going to get some great organizing ideas you won’t want to miss. You’ll make some new friends and have fun while you’re exploring other blogs.
Filed under Bedroom, General organizing | Comments (26)Keep Calm and Organize Buttons
I think I need to make a sign that says “Keep Calm and Organize.” While I should have been doing a number of mommy, wife, neighbor, school, church, friend related things, I was organizing buttons instead. Partly because organizing calms me and it’s also a good temporary escape. Don’t worry, it didn’t take that long. I was back to reality in no time.
But don’t they look pretty and organized now? Do you remember when I bought about 20 of these magnetic tins for .10 cents each? I could kick myself for not buying more.
Now we have vintage, opaque white, clear white, yellow and orange, green, aqua blues
Brown, tan, pink and purple, blue, red, and more red buttons all in their own cute little tin.
Oh, so pretty and organized. It didn’t take much time and I was recharged and ready to face the next 4 hours. What do you think of my magnetic board? It’s recycled “oops” aerosol cans. Pretty cool, huh?
Have a Beautiful Weekend!
I’m linking to:
Sundae Scoop at I Heart Naptime
DIY Project Parade at The DIY Showoff
Market Yourself Monday at Sumo’s Sweet Stuff
Works For Me Wednesday at We Are That Family
Filed under Crafts, General organizing, Storage | Comments (2)
