Organizing {school} lunches!

You may or may not have noticed last week, that on my kids' morning schedules one of their chores is to make their lunch each day for school.  Gasp! I am carrying on the tradition that my mom started!

Whoopsie! Not quite so organized!

I realize that I am supposed to be organized, since I am trying to be an example to others and inspire YOU to organize.  But, hey...I'm human! I'm not perfect and there are just places in this house that I make a mess - yes, ME!  For example...this is our entry dresser.  

Do you remember how I showed you every drawer was arranged just so?

What happened?  Well, see that big gap of space in the back? The nice trays got pushed back and I began using it to hold my stuff for when I go walking each morning and just sort of shoved it in!  Oops! I knew that wasn't going to work and it started driving me crazy!

I was at Target the other day and saw these cute cracker baskets for $1 each! I got them...it wasn't quite what I was looking for, since I really wanted a plastic version in this size but after all the errands I had been running there was nothing in any of the stores that would work.

See? The basket on the far right holds all the things that I need every morning I walk. I just grab it and set it on the table along with my water bottle and house key so that in the morning I just grab and go up "the hill of death."

Everything in it's place. You can see my Iphone strap I use when I walk, my prayer cards, and headphones.

I also have my extra Iphone case, bluetooth, and extra headphones. Theses are all things I rarely use!

Have you ever seen this?  This is velcro on a roll.  My hubby, who helps with the sound technician-y stuff at our church uses this stuff ALL the time for tying cables quickly so they are neat.

It makes an easy way to tie up something that you'll use often, plus you can make it the size you need by just cutting off what you need! Indeed a neat organizing tip, huh?

So, what you do think? Have you got any drawers that need a tweak?







Parties:
Organize with Sandy 
A Bowl Full of Lemons 
Raising Homemakers
Serenity Now 
Organizing Junkie 
Iheart Naptime 

Paint project!

A few weeks ago I did this post at Pretty Handy Girl.  So, I wanted to share it with YOU! I'm going to show you how I organized all my household paint recently.

It may not seem so bad, when you first look in here.  My paint stash isn't THAT big, is it?  Well, it is...see this is where I was storing half of my paint supplies - in my basement. 

The other half are in my shed outside!  My goal: keep it all in one location! I prefer having it in the basement so I did a little bit of re-organizing. My other goal:  don't spend ANY money on organizing bins.  For Pete's sake, this is paint in the basement! It doesn't need to LOOK pretty! But, I DO need it to function practically!




I got all my paint, spray paint, paint brushes, anything related to painting, and put them in the basement on the floor.  




Wow, that's a LOT of paint.  I even attempted to try and get my friends to take some - a small amount was actually taken! But, there is still a lot left.



My cardboard carry-all box was not functioning as originally intended.  It had now become my "throw it in there and forget about it" box!




A couple of years ago, I was smart and bought many small, quart-sized paint cans at the hardware store.  They aren't expensive and I had a couple left.  I use those to pour that last little bit left from the big gallon paint cans of paint into.

  I highly recommend you dab your finger with the paint, mark the date, the formula or name of paint color, and brand. This way, if you ever DO need more you can have it.




More importantly, write down the date and the room you used it in.  I can't tell you how many cans of paint I forgot to do this with and the colors all start to look alike! Was this the kitchen yellow, the bathroom yellow, or furniture yellow? It's also amazing to realize - "wow, it's been 8 years since I painted the kitchen?" - and realize that it might be time for an update!




My resources for organizing were simple, old containers. I used a small coffee can, a Doritos can, Feta cheese container, a couple of cardboard box-bottoms, and some aluminum left-over containers.  All of these I found in my stash of containers in my overflow pantry.



The large aluminum roasting pan was to house all my spray paint {it was a tiny bit big, so I smooshed it in the front and back to be able to close the door}.  A smaller aluminum pan for the rollers. Two existing plastic boxes for sand paper and rubber gloves {they WERE "organizing" paint supplies in the shed but got unorganized}.



 Then, the feta cheese container to contain my stir sticks...




A coffee can for holding foam brushes...




A Dorito can for my Purdy brushes!


 And then, I put all the quart-sized paint cans into the cardboard box-bottom and stacked another box-bottom on top of the cans to make a "shelf".


This removable "shelf" would hold all the roller handles. I've got a lot - a lot more than I remember!

 I used the third pre-existing plastic box {minus the missing lid} for housing other small, miscellaneous paint supplies {tape, small foam rollers, paint can openers, etc.}.




I also moved out some other entertaining supplies in order to make room for the larger gallon-sized paint cans. Then I simply used the last of my existing plastic boxes to hold my de-glossers {TSP, stone sealers, etc.}.


 Last, I wanted to keep my rectangular, cardboard box for my paint trays and liners.  I like to use this box to "load" up everything and carry upstairs for my paint job!


 In the end, I decided to get rid of a bunch of paint.  Now, keep in mind, you can't "throw away" paint! You must let the can sit out in the sun and completely dry before throwing out {or throw cat litter inside and stir}.  Or, better yet, our city has a "hazardous waste" round-up every September that I plan to take all this paint to!


 You can see here, before and after, it's not drastically different, but I actually added MORE stuff to it and it's more organized.  My goal of not buying a single organizing container was also accomplished! So, I would say it was a success! I'm the only "painter" around here, so the mess was mine and I can't blame anyone else! Now, I'm going to keep it nice.




Parties:
Remodelaholic
Tater Tots and Jello 
Funky Junk Interiors 
Iheart Naptime 
DIY Showoff 
Ask Anna 
Domestically Divine
Domestically Speaking 
Organize and Decorate Everything

Getting ready for school: A few more helpful hints {plus schedules}

School mornings can get CRAZY!  You may find that you are yelling at your kids to get moving, threatening to take away some serious privilege, or even running around trying to get out the door on time.

Source

Magnetic attraction

I must admit that I readily throw stuff out in a heartbeat if I can't find a good use for it! But, thanks to the land of blog, I am now finding uses for things I never dreamed of! I will take credit for this next one, though! This one I thought up of all on my own - which may or may not have been thought up by some of you!

OK, so we get all kinds of those magnets that have calendars, reminders or what-not on them - especially from church.  The idea is that you put it on the frig and have it all year with dates to the event. But, when the year is over you no longer need it!

I hate to waste the magnet - it's big - but I also don't need it anymore! So, I use it for labeling my metal shelving!  I put the label right onto the magnet, like this:

Then, just take the scissors and cut it out and stick it to the metal!  Easy-peezy!

Ok...so I must admit something before I show you more.  You will laugh, but I did NOT realize that the front of the shelf in my frig was NOT metal until I tried to hang my magnet on it.  Good grief, Becky! It's PLASTIC!  I was totally fooled for the last 15+ years we've owned this frig! I still don't want to adhere a sticker-label directly on to the plastic, so I just turned it over and put tape on it!

You caught me! OH, and my tile counter-tops need to be cleaned a bit, eh?  Ok, so in my freezer they ARE metal and I put them in there, too!

And I also use them in my laundry room.  I like them because I can move them around quickly and easily should I decide to change things up!

What do you think?

Parties:
Ask Anna 
A Bowl Full of Lemons 
Women Living Well 
Organize and Decorate Everything 
House of Hepworths 
Organizing Junkie

Features of the Toy Clean Out Party

Last Friday we had our Toy Clean Out Link Party!  Believe it or not...we had a FEW of you who decided to take the challenge and link up! I LOVED seeing all your hardwork and how you were teaching your children to do the same!




It was my very first link party and I had very minimal expectations on how "many" of you would link up or email your pictures.  But, even if there wasn't a lot of you who actually posted it, I know many of you said it was something you were working on, had worked on, or were thinking about doing it soon! So, that's fine! 


However, I want to feature a few of your fabulous toy clean outs!  First up is Beth@Aria Gardens:

Her kids worked hard to clean out their rooms and their basement and all their books too.

In the end it looks great and they got rid of a lot of stuff. Go over there and see all the pictures and read her story of her children's joy in giving their toys away!


Always just a Mom made these very cute labels to keep her kids toys organized!

Leiah {Pink Lady}@Rosey Glasses did a smashing job with her little one!

Carrie@The Created Home had a hilarious story to tell about four little girls that made a big mess!

And turned their basement gone wrong from this....

Into this...

Be sure to go over and see all the pictures and tell them "hello" and leave a nice comment, if you haven't already! They worked hard and got those toys cleaned.  

If your blog was featured, feel free to grab this button and post on your blog!










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We'll have another link party with some organizing and cleaning-type of theme! So, be sure to stay tuned!