Trouble Shooting

There are these places around our house that are trouble spots for me.  I think Flylady calls them "hot spots".  For one reason or another they bug me.  Either clutter collects in these spots, or stuff piles up, or they just look messy.  The other day I tackled a couple of them and I thought I would share with you what I did.

The first one is the spot where we keep doll clothes.  

Lovely, right?  All of the clothes were kept in large Ziploc bags.  Whenever the girls play dolls they dump all of the clothes out into the floor.  Even though they are good about picking the clothes up when they are finished there was just something about this sight that got under my skin.  I decided to go to Target and find a plastic container that would be a good fit in this little section of the bookshelf to hold the doll clothes.

I was super excited when I found this since it is a perfect match to the girls' room.  Isn't that just so much more pleasing to the eye?  Ahhh...yes.

I had to laugh (and snap a pic) when I saw the way Olivia was putting everything into the container.

She is her mother's daughter.

Another trouble spot for me was the door to the girls' room.  The backpacks and tote bags and every other thing was being hung on the door handle.  Most of the time I couldn't even shut the door without removing all kinds of stuff.




As I was thinking about where to put all of these items I remembered some drapery hold backs I had purchased at a garage sale back in the summer.

I paid 25 cents for these...can you believe it?

I never intended to use these for drapes (seeing as I don't have any drapes in my entire house) but I knew they would make great hooks sometime when I needed them.  I turned one around like a J and my honey hung it in the girls closet for me, right inside the door.  The size is perfect for holding lots of stuff.  I can't think of another hook that would be able to handle so much.

I'm not sure if you can tell but there's still room for more.  This hook is sturdy and can handle the weight.  As of this posting the girls have hung a whole lot on there and one of them has been keeping her bathrobe on the hook as well.  It's a big hook!  If you come across any drapery hold backs at garage sales or consignment shops let me encourage you to pick them up.  They make fabulous hooks.  I'm already contemplating where to hang the other one.  The garage...by the back door...inside the hall closet...there are so many places where this would be useful.

I don't have time today to post about all of the trouble shooting I've been doing lately but I've decided to try to post a couple of things each week for a while.  Hopefully it will encourage and inspire you in your own efforts to organize, de-clutter, and simplify since I know that's what most all of us are doing in January!

Thanks for dropping by today.  Please visit again soon!

Guest Post

Today I am VERY happy to bring you another guest post, and even happier to introduce you to my little sister!

  My sis is here to share some home organization tips with us.  Before I hand over my blog, let me tell you just a little bit about her.  She is a wife, an amazing mommy, and lover of Jesus.  She is also an artist (participating in her first art show next weekend), and talented teacher, and musician.  Before giving birth to her daughter she taught Band and Chorus for 10 years.  In 2002 she was awarded Teacher of the Year.  To say she is clever and creative is kind of putting it lightly.  I am super proud of her!  

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Hi, I'm Aaron.  I'm happily living out my childhood dream of being a wife, mommy, and homemaker.  I live in Virginia with my husband and our sweet 5 year old daughter and fun loving 3 year old son.  I love to be creative and I'm currently developing a 12-step program for Pinterest addicts.  I trust God and His crazy love for me and I am grateful He drew me to Himself long ago. 

The following pictures show how I have been organizing my home "on the cheap".  I have used many Dollar Tree, Target, Lowes, and Walmart items.  

First off - The Kids Rooms

I decided to store most of the kids toys in the basement where we do a lot of playing but I wanted them to be able to have their favorite things in their rooms.  I purchased each of them a shelf unit from Walmart for $15.  Then I took them to the Dollar Tree where they got to pick out bins for their shelves.  My daughter's pink and green bins store hair accessories, random treasures, and items for her dollhouse. 

My son's buckets store instruments, stuffed animals, favorite books, and other treasures.  The tops of the shelves are great for larger items.

Another space saving and organizing idea is to use closet space.  Kids love to play in little private nooks.  Here I used cheap wood to make a place to store as well as play with cars and trucks.  Cleaning up his cars is fun for him because he can "zoom" them across the board and into the Dollar Tree bucket at the end of the top shelf.

In the basement family room/play room I did some major toy organizing.  I bought three modular storage units from Lowes for $40 each.  One is for my daughter's toys, one is for my son's toys and one is for shared items like crayons, notepads, Mobigo games, and Wii accessories.  I found perfect plastic bins from the Dollar Tree.  They are wider and deeper than normal shoebox size bins.  We picked three different color lids to make putting them on the correct shelf easy.  For the kids' individual bins we made labels to make putting the right toys in the right bins easy.  This system has made cleaning up their own toys much easier for the kids and has cut down on the frustration of not being able to find the parts and pieces to sets.  The bins are nice because the kids can play wherever they want by just taking the bin with them and then packing it up and putting it back downstairs when they are finished.  The whole project was only $180 and has made a huge difference in my ability to keep toy clutter under control.  

The arrangement of the modular shelves helped me make a clear delineation between my art zone (OFF LIMITS!) and the rest of the basement.

Also in the basement are two $30 shelving units from Walmart.  They are cheap but I am pleased with the look now that I have them filled.

Inexpensive baskets from Walmart hold games as well as DVDs.

The linen closet is small but holds a lot when organized well.  Dollar Tree bins corral my various vacuum parts, swiffer duster, light bulbs, extension cords, furniture mover pads, etc.  An inexpensive laundry organizer from Walmart made a great place to keep our laundry out of sight and sorted.  An inexpensive shower curtain, also from Walmart, helps provide a cleaner, slim-lined look by allowing us to get rid of an awkward (and ugly) bi-fold door.  Plus, it adds some nice color to the hallway.

With our kitchen being small and the cabinet not being able to hold dishes and food, we needed a pantry.  This unit was only $70 at Target - much cheaper than building more cabinets or buying a piece of furniture.  Though it is a bit more industrial looking than I typically like, I was pleasantly surprised at how it fit with the kitchen once it was filled with food.  It also allows me a space for large appliances such as my crock-pot and Foreman grill.

Dollar Tree items came in handy again on this project.  The yellow mats and red buckets as well as a storage basket for little packets were all $1 each!  The yellow mats make the shelves smoother and add some color and softness to the unit.  The red buckets hold snacks and lunch-packing items for easy access.  

One more Dollar Tree fix -

$14 worth of Dollar Tree bins organized all my bathroom stuff - medicines, toiletries, accessories...as well as our wash cloths and hand towels.  Everything is easy to get to and even better, easy to put away!  Gotta love that Dollar Tree!

Another modular shelf stores our children's books upstairs.  Since we read every night before bed, we needed the kid books easily accessible.  By organizing the sections, it is easy to find particular titles.  We have a section for Golden Books, Bibles and Christian authors, board books, Usborne books, soft bound, and hard bound.  One cube, the upper left, is for library books only.  By always keeping library books in one spot, it is easy to gather them up to take them back when they are due.  We keep a library bag tucked between the wall and the bookshelf.

   
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Thank you Aaron for sharing with us.  It's always nice to see what other mamas are doing to organize their homes.  You certainly gave us some wonderful examples.  I love the idea of always keeping the library books in one place and the toy bins with labels are super.  Please visit again!

The Girls' Room

I know, I know...I promised some bedroom organization tips.  Sorry for the delay.  It's been a BUSY week that included a driver's license for this big guy,

an AWANA theme night which required some dressing up for this little gal

and this big fella,

plus projects in abundance...

and music lessons, soccer, school, so forth and so on...you get the drift!

Anywho, here are those ideas I said I would share.  Maybe a useful idea will pop up for you!


We are starting up in the little girls' room.  This might be my toughest room to organize because little girls tend to have so many little things.  (And don't even THINK about getting rid of any of those itty bitty trinkets!)

I hung this on the inside of the door.  It helps to organize all that "stuff" that would otherwise be cluttering up the room.

It's just a simple shoe organizer I picked up at Walmart.  I chose one with clear pockets so the items are easily visible.  When the bedroom door is open you don't see it at all but when the door is closed all of those little goodies are right there.  We have miniature princesses and dolls and card games and such tucked away neatly as opposed to scattered all over the floor.
 

Hair bows are a big deal around here and we have amassed quite a collection.  I hang them in the closet so it's quick and easy to find one to match an outfit.  I used two pieces of sturdy plastic and clipped them to a hanger.  There are little slits in the plastic to clip the bows onto.  You could easily use wide pieces of ribbon.

Another hair do-dad I find everywhere are pony tail holders.  I gave my little gals an empty paper roll and had them gather them there.  This may seem like such a tiny thing but it sure beats having them everywhere.  Just tuck that little roll into a drawer and they're there when you need them.

I've gotten absolutely hooked on Command products lately.  These little hooks are just one of my favorite things.  They are easy to put up, and when you want to remove them - no damage to the wall whatsoever!  I hung several inside the girls' closet to hold all of their little purses and bags.

Anything you can get up on the wall keeps things from piling up on the floor.

I also have this hanging in their closet.  It hangs on my littlest girl's side of the closet and holds all the baby items I need to keep up with.  We've got lots of hats and bows in these pockets and I can simply grab what I need when I'm in the closet picking out clothes.

Lastly, here's what the girls' room looks like all cleaned up.  I use all kinds of plastic containers and baskets to keep things tidy.  We've got one big basket for stuffed animals and a smaller one for special trinkets.  There is a container for play food, one for play jewelry, one for Barbies, one for Polly Pockets, etc.  It can get pretty messy in here at times but since everything has a place we can tidy up in no time flat!

I'll be the first to admit, my girls have too much stuff.  And there's really no getting around it at this point.  Every little stuffed animal and doll is so important to my 7 year old and she knows who gave it to her, for what occasion, and exactly where it was purchased.  We try to clean out and donate once a year but it is really hard for her to decide what she can do without.  If you have a little gal like mine there might not be much you can do about it now, but one thing you can do is remember this when you are at the store or the amusement park or museum.  Instead of buying something to bring home, use the money for a special consumable something, or some special experience.  For instance, instead of shopping at the Aquarium gift shop when we visit our fishy friends I suggest we take our spending money across the street and buy ice-cream or use the money to buy a behind the scenes tour with the penguins.  This is a better way to use spending money and is completely clutter free.  Instead of buying some little dinky toy at the grocery store use the money to buy the Popsicles the children love the best.  The kids will enjoy choosing and you will not be adding any clutter to their bedrooms.  Win-win!

School Room Before and After

I'm super excited to show you a little organizing project I have been working on.  I brought some before and after pics.  Here's the scoop...

Lately our school room has gotten out of control.  The thing is, our "school" room is also the dining room.  We do have a large school closet, and it is pretty well organized, but somehow every single day our dining room table was a disaster within the first couple of hours of school.  It was really getting to me.  It wasn't only the stuff all over the table but the floor too.  I realized we were going to need something in the room to hold some of what was spilling all over the place while we worked.

Before:

This is our school table and how it looks much of the time.  

Here's the chair I've been borrowing the last few weeks to hold some of the books we are currently using.

Remember I said the stuff in the floor was bugging me?  That's the pencil sharpener you see there in the back.

And, in another corner of the room there are Legos.  Ever stepped on one barefoot?

After:

I bought this cubical at Target and I kind of  LOVE it!  It's from Closetmaid.

I corralled the solution manuals and teacher guides into this basket.

I stashed away lots of supplies in this box and found a basket for the play money.  

Another basket for craft stuff and one for stickers.  I'm using a round basket with a lid for the little bottles of paint.

I picked up this cheery little flower at Hobby Lobby.  I love that it has a clip to hold notes, verses, or just about anything you want to put there.

I plan on changing this little note holder often to make sure I keep things interesting.  I think this will be a great place for a verse we might be memorizing.  For now I put a card that reminds us who we are in Christ.

See that lady bug on the leaf?  I've always called my little first grader "Lady Bug".  It's the perfect addition to our school room.

I gave up one of the cubes to house the girls' Legos.  We'll see how this goes but it sure beats having Legos scattered on the floor.

Here's hoping we can keep things neat and tidy!

What do you think?  It feels really good to get things cleaned up and cleaned out and organized.  The dining room table and floor are all clear now and there is more room in the school closet too.  (And I no longer need to stack things in the chair!) I've got lots more of these organizational type projects in my future.  I will keep you posted!