Summer Purge: The Garage

After taking everything out of the attic we decided the garge would be next.
So we stalked the weather forecasts until we had a couple of sunny days and started to empty the contents of the garage onto the driveway.

We should have had a garage sale.

Ahhh, it's empty.

We will slowly but surely put everything back BUT it will be in zones.

Garden Zone

The garage is currently in the organizing stage.  Basically, I put everything into piles and decide what kind of bins, baskets, or buckets will work best to coral like items. Then we will start the beatification stage but we aren't there yet.

I am working on the sports zone, tool zone and seasonal zone.  I'll post as I go.

So here is my To Do list for the garge:

• create zones,ie. sports, gardening, tools, etc...
• find a spot for the lawn mower and snow blower.
• create overhead storage for seasonal decorations(I'm thinking loft like)
• put up drywall and paint
• new garage door
• fit the car

Back to School: Week 1- Supplies

This week the kids and I purchased their school supplies. I armed the children with their supply list and shopping cart and off they searched to find the item on those lists. They did a great job comparing prices and decided if the cheaper versions was the better choice. They also buy extra, at the cheaper price, so they can use it as they run out of supplies during the year. I am raising good consumers, pat on my back.

We brought our bounty home and sorted it in to piles.

Then we put it away to pack another day :)

 

Once their backpacks are packed for the first day of school, we keep the extra in these bins. I like the bins because when they run low on something during the year they know where to go to get more.

 

Next week we start planning lunches.

 

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Laundry Chaos: Where do we put our clothes?

There was a time when my kids had hampers in their rooms.  That is until every time I went to do laundry I would find  legoes, stuffed animals and the occasional sneaker.  In one of my "enough is enough moments", I removed the hampers from their rooms and changed to one hamper in the main bathroom.

Well, this is what has been happening.  The dirty clothes makes it to the OUTSIDE of the hamper.  I am not sure if the lid is to heavy or maybe they are not sure how to work the lid, but they always seem to put their clothes here and not INSIDE the hamper.

So I found a new hamper.  It is a little pricey but I waited until it was half price.  You can order one here at 31 bags

This hamper is located in the spot as the old one. ( After all I didn't want to confuse the children. ) 

It doesn't have a lid to lift.

And it is split into two compartments for whites and darks.  

I must say we have had it for two weeks and so far the kids seem to be able to handle it.  They are putting their clothes INSIDE the hamper.  I guess that lid was tricky.

Added bonus: the bag has handles so it is easy to carry down the stairs.  No more transferring into a basket and THEN hauling it downstairs.

Spring Cleaning 101: Car Chaos

I love to clean.  Yes I know that sounds weird but I do enjoy my clean and organized house.  I especially look forward to spring cleaning.  My house never looks as good as it does on a bright sunny day with the smell of Pine-Sol in the air. 

I have a list for everything and everything on a list, and the first thing on my spring cleaning list is my car.  

With the weather being crazy this time of year; one day it's snowing and raining, the next its bright and sunny, my kids and I tend to have impromptu trips to the park.  My kids love these trips but the very first time we did it I learned we can't just stop at the park we have to be prepared. So every spring I get my car "park" ready.

 I start be emptying and vacuuming the car. I like a clean interior and after a winter of not being able to clean the car in the driveway, it gets pretty gross in there.  The kids are in charge of decluttering their sides. The rule is "If it is still there when I vacuum it is going in the trash".  The kids hate this part but I especially love when my kids clean their side of the car and find things they have been looking for all winter.  We find toys, books, socks and shoes (yes SOCKS and SHOES, I am not even sure how that happens) 

My super cute spotted bag, and not so cute black bag

Once my car is nice and clean, I refill the trunk.  I know that sounds weird but my trunk is separated into zones: shopping and play.

 

In my super cute spotted bag I keep all the reusable and thermal bags we use for grocery shopping.  I clean out the bags and throw out any that have wholes in them.  I also only keep ten bags. Honestly, if I didn't put a limit on how many bags I have I would buy I new bag every time I went to store and that just defeats the whole purpose of reusable bags.

Super cute First Aid kit in the not so cute black bag.

In the not so cute black bag I keep our very important First Aid kit. The trips to the park can get dangerous with fearless a 8 and 10 year old.
The First Aid kit is in a super kit bag :).  The bag is actually one of those fold out cosmetics cases, but I don't wear that much make-up (just blush, mascara and chapstick) so in the interest of being green I repurposed the bag.

This bag is the perfect size to fit a First Aid kit.  I take this time to clean out the kit and replace anything that has been used or expired.

The other thing I have is a clean up kit.  This is also super handy to have when they eat or make a mess.  The park doesn't always have bathrooms that should be used by humans so I have them clean their hands in the car. 

And last but most importantly we have a basketball, jump rope and blanket in the car.  The blanket is for me to sit and watch my little angels as they go have fun.  

My car is ready for spring!  Now we just need nice weather.

I linked in at what-we-accomplished-wednesday #9l 
http://myuncommonsliceofsuburbia.com/tuesdays-treasures-128/and
http://www.abowlfulloflemons.net

Paper Chaos: To bin or not to bin

Well, we had another no big project weekend, unless you count bake sale, basketball, family and friends. 

I try to keep our mail, dates and events organized but lately its been a little hectic. I had a little time Sunday afternoon (last weekend) and decided to tackle the paper bin. I have a bin in near the kitchen that I use to put all the mail, and school papers.  My idea was that once a week I would go through the papers and sort them into piles.  Well that did not happen.  The bin became a catch all for everything  paper and non paper.  I think the biggest problem with the bin is that it is big and deep. 

 I did not take a picture of the bin before I cleared it, but here it is empty:

I started with emptying bin's contents on the dinning room table.

Yes, the basketball was in the bin.

By Sunday night the table was an overwhelming mess. We ended up eating dinner in the living room for a couple of days. I must admit that this mess was a little to much for me and sat on the table until I could muster up the courage to sort it out.

Finally, by Wednesday the kids were tired of eating at the coffee table and I had to figure this out. I knew I wanted to put everything in separate file folders but I was having a hard time trying to figure out how to put the folders back into the bin without them falling over or creating a big pile of folders. I also knew I wanted to keep the bin.  It is nice a nice fuax leather bin I picked up at Target.  I really like that it isn't plastic, which means I don't mind having it where people can see it.

 A trip to Staples and 11 dollars later. 

I found a frame that will convert my bin into a file cabinet. Brilliant, I tell you.

Now my bin looks like this:

 You can't even tell there is metal insert in there.

A couple of labels and . .  .

Voila.  My new paper storage.

 I still have to add the school calendar to the front and find it a permanent home 

but I love the way it turned out. 

I linked to what-we-accomplished-wednesday-6.html

Coffee Chaos: Moving the Coffee May Cause Distress

Last week I moved the coffee pot.  I really didn't really think anything of it until my sister in law almost had a heart attack when she went to make herself a cup of coffee and Keurig wasn't there.  The look on her face was priceless.  The relief when I told her that I moved the machine, I did not get rid of it was hysterical.  Turns out we are a VERY coffee dependent family :)

So she asked me why after all this time did I move it.  So here it is folks. . .

This is where the coffee pot lived for many years.

What a mess the cabinet is!

What is the problem you may ask?  Well it is next to the stove, which I have been using more and more.(I will make a meal plan post soon )   What has been happening is while I am trying to make dinner my hubby wants a cup of coffee.  For some reason he tends to stand there and watch as the coffee pours out of the machine.  My hubby is not a small man, standing at 6'1" and many pounds :)  SO, the bottom line is he has been getting in my way when I am trying to make dinner.  My choices were: 1. move the pot or 2. get rid of Jack.  Since I have grown rather fond of Jack ;)  I decided to move the pot.

Here is the coffee pot in it's new home:

Notice the marker hanging on the side of the fridge those are my daily chore/laundry lists.  I like to read it as I make my morning cup.

It is now located on the other side of the kitchen away from where I cook.  It fit perfectly in the space. I think it was fate.  Not really, I put the mixer that was there in the baking cabinet and it freed up the space on the counter.

 I put the items we use all the time near the coffee machine.

and I had plenty of space in the upper cabinet to organize the left over supplies.

 I can say that this was one of the best moves I have made.  My little girl loves that she can  reach the hot chocolate and doesn't need my help.  The best part I am not watching my meal burn while Jack makes a cup of coffee.


Linked to: http://myuncommonsliceofsuburbia.com/tuesdays-treasures-122/

Organizing Ornaments: Time to Say Good Bye to Christmas:

Every year on Three Kings day (January 6) we pack up the Christmas decor and say good bye to Christmas.

With a little prep work putting away the decor has become a snap.

Here is what I do to kep the chaos organized:

1. I have the Christmas bins labeled so they are easy to find. I put away stockings, garland, and bows in bin so they will hold there shape for next year.  *Next year I hope to get all green bins to make it even easier to identify what is what :)

2. I have box that is only for ornaments. I bough it 11 years ago for our first Christmas. It has seen better days but it still works so I am not getting a fancy plastic one until this one breaks. Waste not.

Here is how I organize my ornaments:

First layer is round shatter proof ornaments.  They can take the brunt of being hauled up to the attic.

Second layer is sentimental ornaments.  We collect ornaments from our vacations and favorite places.  It feels grea talking about the memories that each ornament represents :)

Finally is the flat handmade ornaments.  These are the ornaments that the kids have made over the years.

3. Putting the Christmas tree away. Both my husband and I are allergic to pine trees so we have a fake one. ( I know the HORROR, but I like breathing, I find it keeps alive :)

As he takes  a layer of branches off, he ties them together.  This keeps all the layers in tack and no guessing as to where the branch belongs :)

Our tree is still in the same box it came in 11 years ago. Again, until it breaks we are keeping it :)

All packed up and ready to go to the attic.

Keeping everything organized this year makes putting the tree up super easy next year :)

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Under the Sink Make Over

This weekend I cleaned out and reorganized under the kitchen sink.

Before

It is pretty gross under there.  There is some irony that the home of the cleaning supplies is SO very dark and not clean. 

Cleaning under the sink has been something that I have wanted to do for awhile, but of course there are a thousand other things to do before I get to this.  After all who looks under the sink besides me :)

So finally this weekend the laundry was caught up, the house was dusted and vacuumed, there were no all day family events and I had "nothing" to do.  Perfect, now is the moment!  It's now or never!

Off I went to find supplies.  I need baskets and cabinet liner.  That should do it, I mean, I already have the cleaning supplies :)

I took everything out of the cabinet and cleaned the cabinet with bleach.  When it was dry I put down some black and white contact paper.

My black and white contact paper was $2 and the baskets were $2.50 at Big Lots

 Before I put everything back in the cabinet I created baskets of cleaning supplies and other stuff.

I have a basket for floor cleaners, sponges/wash clothes, bug sprays, deep cleaning and my around the house caddy.

This is my around the house caddy.  I'll show what's inside in another post :)

After my make over.  It is all nice and clean !!!!!

Here is my cabinet!!!! I am happy to say even my husband noticed it was different :)  

Now my cleaning products have a spot worthy of there titles :)  Now the chaos under the sink is organized.

 I think I need labels but I'll do that some other time :)

Lunch Time!!

One of the most chaotic times in our house can be packing for lunch.  It can become a long stream of "Where is the this? " "I can't find that."  I have a few tricks I have developed over the years of making and packing lunches.  I can get my 2 school age children( grades 4 and 2) and myself out the door in 30 minutes. Yes, 30 minutes from wake up to out the door.  Yes, they eat breakfast :) Yes, they pack their own lunch.

It's all about organizing the chaos :)

First, we have stations.  This is one of the most important parts of our house.  Here is where I corral the morning and afternoon chaos. Most importantly, this is where they keep their lunch boxes.  No more of the   "I can't find my lunch box", which, yes, happened in this house.

Each chair is labeled.  They would fight over which chair belonged to whom.  I found these magnet letters at Target for $1.  Those $2 are worth a million, let me tell you :)

After school they are responsible for cleaning out their lunch box.  If there is anything they didn't have time to eat, they put it away to use at another time. (unless it is something that shouldn't be out all day, for example, cheese sticks)

A little planning goes a long way to making lunch time packing easier.  We usually grocery shop Saturday or Sunday and I let the kids pick a fruit and veggie that they want to take to school for snack. I buy 5 of what every they pick so they have enough for the week.  Anything that comes in big bags is portion out when I get home, for example, baby carrots.  If it has to be cut, I cut it up and portion it out too, for example, celery. I  have a bin in the fridge where I put it all.

Here is the bin when I am finished:

This week the options were baby carrots, plums, apricots, grape tomatoes, and cheese sticks.

Another bin I have in the fridge is the sandwich bin.

I am looking for mayo packets to add to this bin.  The mayo jar doesn't fit :(

Here I keep everything the kids, my husband and I will need to make a sandwich. Here is where I put the cold cuts, cheese, wraps, etc... It is great to just take out the bin and have everything at our finger tips. 


I also portion out "dry food" like gold fish, cookies, crackers, cheerios, etc...  and we purchase some pre-packaged snacks as well.

I keep these bins in a cabinet away from the pantry.  This keeps my hungry monsters from eating their school snacks at home :)

The ritz packs are mine, I LOVE them :)

We do have leftovers whenever possible.  So we have a station for that too :)

That is my lunch box on the right.  I don't have a chair :(

This basket has everything you need to pack your leftovers.  We have thermoses for hot food and containers for cold food.

Here is where I keep the color coded containers.  We each have a color and it is easy to tell who did not bring their container back.  I also keep the water bottles in here.  Keeping the bottles in one place is more for around the house use.  They were to high before and the kids couldn't reach them.


I hope this inspires you to organize your lunch time chaos.  I am going to go eat lunch now :)

Jewlery Storage

I have a lot of beautiful necklaces that I have purchased, and even  more that my talented sister-in law has made.  I was tired of them getting tangled in a big blob of chains and beads, so imagine how excited I was when I found these belt hangers.

This was the perfect hanging solution for my necklaces and I found them at the dollar store. Cha-ching!!!!  They are actually belt hangers, I guess if you have a lot of belts this is the solution.  I do not have a lot of belts but this was perfect for my necklaces.

I found these cup hooks at the local big box store for a couple of bucks.  I liked them because they screw right into the wall, no drilling!

It's like I am shopping at a display.  I love it!!!!

This is behind my bedroom door, so when the door is open you don't even know it's there.

Thanks for looking :)