Little Collections

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My three-year-old daughter loves to collect rocks.  She is always finding them and bringing them home.  We were storing them in a recycled wipe box on our front porch.  The problem was she really couldn't see or play with them.  They box was getting yucky, too.  Sitting outside it picked up a lot of dirt.

I saw this idea (I cannot remember where - so sorry!) for putting collections into old jars. I had an old plastic container leftover from Parmesan cheese we had bought at Costco.  It was the perfect size to store her collection.  I washed it inside and out and removed the label.  I had to use a little rubbing alcohol to remove the sticky residue from the label.

Then I hot glued one of the rocks on top of the lid.  This would act as a little decorative handle.

I spray painted the lid pink (my daughter's favorite color) and loaded the container up with her rocks.

It turned out so cute.  There is still room to add more rocks and I love that she can see her little collection.  We ended up putting the rock jar in her room on her dresser.  She just loves it!

How do you store little collections that your kids bring home?

PS  I'm linking up over at Delightful Order and Organize and Decorate Everything!

Basement Organization Part 1 - So Embarrased

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Do you have a room where you "hide" all the things you don't have time to put away before guests arrive?  You know - a spare room or closet where you can toss a few things and close the door.  No one is the wiser.  We have a room like that.  It's called the basement.  Don't have a place for something?  Send it to the basement.  Goodwill items?  Send them to the basement.  Guests coming over in 10 minutes?  Send everything in plain sight to the basement!

Well, after almost seven years of sending things to the basement we decided maybe we should tidy up a bit.  Umm, that's an understatement.  When I almost slipped on hangers lying on the basement floor last week, I decided it was time.  Not time to "organize."  We've done that before.  Not time for a yard sale.  Done that, too.  No, it was time to clean it out!  Really.  EVERYTHING was coming out.

It looked like an episode from hoarders.  We are so embarrassed as we look back at the before pictures.

Looking in from the door.

Looking out.  Oh my!!

How did it get this way?  My husband and I talked about that.  A lot.  It really comes down to an ineffective organization system.  The things we use the most were on shelves in the back of the basement.  When we were done using things like suitcases or yard tools, we just dropped them inside the door.  We didn't have the time or energy to walk them to the back of the basement to put them away.

So we came up with a plan of attack.

1.  We would take EVERYTHING out of the basement and put it on the back lawn.
2.  We would clean the basement (vacuum and dust).  It's an unfinished space so there wasn't a whole lot we could do in this department.
3.  We would put our heads together and draw a floor plan of how we would like things to be organized.
4.  We would start putting things away (this was going to be the biggest job!). We wanted to go through things and thin them out.  Keep what we wanted.  Send the rest to Goodwill or the trash.
5.  Once everything was put away, we wanted to go through everything one more time to see if we could thin it even more.  Why this step?  We knew that we would run out of time and that we would not be able to clean things out as thoroughly as we wanted.

A few other goals:  Nothing would be stored on the floor (all would be on a shelf) and we would store as much as possible in labeled storage bins.

Well, last weekend we tackled this HUGE project. Here is a picture of our lawn.  Oh my!  You should have seen the neighbors faces.  So embarrasing.

We made it through steps 1-3 (and partially 4).  We went to Goodwill twice and the dump once.  Over the next few weeks we plan on finishing step 4 (we still have four boxes to go) and we plan on tackling step 5.  I'll talk more steps 4 and 5 in my next basement post.  Plus, I plan to show after pictures and discuss our new organization system!  Stay tuned.  We will redeem ourselves!

Toy Organization: Puzzles

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I broke down and bought an organizer for my daughter's puzzles.  When I saw it, I knew it would be the perfect way to store her ever growing puzzle collection.  We had been storing them in a basket in the family room.  This system worked fine except you couldn't see the puzzles. Plus, the pieces often got tossed into the basket creating a huge, unorganized mess.  I loved this particular Melissa & Doug organizer, because it held different sized puzzles.  It is pretty amazing!  Hello puzzle organization.  Oh how I love you!

 

How do you organize your kids' puzzles?  Do you have the perfect organization method?

Why My Pantry Will NEVER Look Like A Pantry on Pinterest

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I have a love-hate relationship with Pinterest.  I love that it inspires me to be creative and tackle new projects.  I hate that it gives me this “stressed out, I have to do everything I see on Pinterest” feeling.  I guess you can chalk it up to my type-A personality!

I wasn’t loving Pinterest so much on Saturday. We did our monthly grocery shopping and when I was putting the groceries away I decided to reorganize the pantry.  In my mind, all I could visualize were these super organized pantries you see on Pinterest.  As hard as I tried, I was finding myself getting frustrated that I couldn’t make my pantry look like those I have pinned.  You know what I’m talking about – the beautifully organized, over-labeled pantries that people post with comments like “I wish my pantry looked like this” or “so inspiring.”  As I was standing in my kitchen looking at this mess (see the picture below) and wondering how in the heck I was going to get it into the pantry, I realized that I was driving myself insane.  And that’s when I realized that my pantry will never look like those you see on Pinterest. 

This had to somehow find its organized way into my pantry.

Here are five reasons why my pantry will never be a Pinterest pantry:

1. I actually own food.  Silly huh?  But really, the pantries I see on Pinterest do not have a whole lot of food in them.  They also lack in a variety of foods.
2. I have two kids.  They like to eat and my daughter has taken to complaining when I don’t have the cabinet stocked with her favorite snacks.
3. I have a husband and he doesn’t always put things back in the “right” place.
4. I have only one place to store food.  What you see is what you get.  The pantry is the only place I have to store non-perishable food.  And that means I have to get a lot in a little space!
5. My pantry is deep.  I unfortunately have to stuff things in the back.  Even with the simple white roller baskets I installed when I was in my "pregnant nesting phase" with my daughter, things still get hidden in the back of the cabinet.  I have not figured out a way around this (yet!).

It's a work in progress.

Even though it doesn’t look like it, I am actually organized.  Everything has a place and I reorganize and reevaluate the space every time I go grocery shopping.  There is a shelf that is a constant work in progress (my oils/spices - see "hot mess" above) and I may have a solution, but that’s for another day (when my husband can watch the kids so I can tackle and finish it at the same time). Until then, my pantry is what it is and I think it looks pretty good.

After everything was put back in the pantry.

Do you have an organization project that is challenging or constantly evolving?  I would love to hear about it!

Our New Kitchen “Office”

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When our second child was born, we converted our home office into a nursery. Mostly nursery with some office - we honestly have nowhere else in the house to store office supplies.  My husband built some awesome vertical storage on a wall in the nursery for us to store a few minimal office supplies and equipment (plus toys).  The space was working okay but not great.  Whenever our son was asleep, we could not access any office supplies for fear of waking him up.  The problem is our house is so small, we really have no place for a traditional office!

Then, a few weeks ago, I stumbled upon a great home organizing blog called IHeart Organizing.  They were highlighting a reader space where the reader created a home “office” in a kitchen cabinet.  I was completely inspired.  We had a cabinet that I was currently using to store cookbooks, a few pens, and miscellaneous kitchen items.  It was a space that could definitely be used more efficiently.   I couldn’t cram a printer into it, but I could store our highly used office supplies there. 

Here is the kitchen cabinet before (yea...it was a mess).

I paired down our cookbooks to a few of my favorites and stored them in this cute chalkboard storage box I found on clearance at Target.  Pens and paper are easily accessible next to the cookbooks.

I put checkbooks, staplers, tape, a few miscellaneous items into these storage boxes that I also found on clearance at Target.  Coupons are stored on this shelf as well.

Envelopes, stamps, and bills are filed in a metal rack that I already had.  These are stored alongside a box of cards that I use for birthdays and other occasions.  I used old re-purposed Crystal Lite containers to store chargers that we use on a regular basis.

Our medicine is stored on the top shelf in our medicine safe along with new recipes that I would like to try but haven’t gotten around to yet.

As I have used the new {and can I say amazing} space, I realized that I did need to label the storage boxes.  I also covered and labeled the Crystal Lite containers and added a few more items (umm…like my label maker and a few awesome Martha Stewart products!).  When all was said and done, I spent about $20 on our new “office.”

Here is the completed space!  I absolutely adore it.  It is clean, neat, and practical. 

Has something on the internet recently inspired you to reorganize a space in your home?  I would love to hear your story.

Organizing Nirvana: Martha Stewart!

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I purchased two fabric storage boxes on clearance at Target for a new kitchen “office” space I have been creating in my kitchen.  The only problem was I could not come up with a cute way to label the boxes without writing on or punching holes into them.  Enter Martha Stewart!  I ran across an add today for a new line of Martha Stewart products at Staples.  I had a few minutes after dinner to run over to our local Staples to check out the new products.  I was so excited to find small metal bookplates with adhesive on the back.   They would just stick right onto the box.  Super easy.  I also found a few other great products that would add to the functionality of my new “office” space.  The pantry pockets will work great to store my monthly meal plan, grocery list, and birthday invitations. I also discovered some great elastic ties that will help organize our loose power cords.  The greatest thing was, Staples is offering a $3.00 coupon if you spend $10. 

Have you recently stumbled upon a new organizing you can't live without?  I'd love to hear about it!

Re-Purposed Storage: Crystal Light Containers

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I love storage containers – baskets, plastic tubs, boxes – it doesn’t matter.  I like them all.  A lot.  My husband keeps telling me that buying a new storage container won’t make our house any bigger.  I know.  He’s right.  They won’t.  But seriously.  It’s an addiction!

I am trying to make an effort to reuse the containers I already have on hand more efficiently or to create storage with materials I already have on hand.  I recently repurposed Crystal Light containers.  These are the best little “boxes” and I have used them before to store teaching materials and colored pencils.  

I decided to cover a few with contact paper (which I already had on hand) and use them to store the chargers for our IPad and IPod.  It took just a few minutes and I was really happy with the final product.

I added a small label with my label maker for easy reference.

Have you recently re-purposed something for storage purposes?  How do you create storage in your small space?