Weekend Touch-ups

I didn't have any plans for this past weekend, so I made big plans to clean and organize some spaces in the house that were getting a bit out of control and needed to be touched up.  Don't get me wrong, I love a good weekend plan with friends and family, but I also love when the schedule is clear and I can work on things around the house instead.  I am one of those people who can always see those messy areas in the back of my mind even when I should be focusing on other things.  Anyway, this weekend I made a list and I accomplished a lot and it felt great!  I will just take you on a quick tour of what I worked on.

The laundry room was getting a bit out of control and just needed some straightening up.  Also, that Ikea 9-drawer Alex unit needed an overhaul.  That is where I keep all of the kids' art supplies.  You can read how I originally set it up here.  I never planned for it to stay super neat and organized with four kids under the age of 8, but I need to do a better job of looking into it and straightening it up more often to keep from having to completely empty it like I did this weekend.  Some of the photos were taken with my phone, so please excuse their blurriness.

Everything came out and I wiped out the drawers.  I filled a whole garbage bag of broken crayons, old art projects, leaky glue, used coloring books, etc.

I checked all of the markers and threw out the duds.  I put the keepers into Crayola tins and pencil cases and put everything else away as well.  

I was keeping all of the kids' extra school supplies in a small white box (which you can see in my laundry room post), but when they brought their pencil cases back home at the end of the school year, everything didn't fit.  I had a plastic stacking bin lying around in the basement that works perfectly for storing the supplies.  

I have a cabinet in our laundry room that is dedicated to my candles, vases, etc.  It also needed a bit of cleanup.  I even filled a small diaper box with things to donate.  I added a few more baskets and now I don't fear things falling out when I open the door.  

Once the art supplies and candles were organized, I just swept the floor and wiped down the washing machine and dryer and the laundry room was looking much better!  

My desk was also starting to look unsightly, so I went through it and got rid of what didn't belong or things that I never use.  Seriously, what's with all of those scissors?!  These pictures are mid-organizing, but it typically does get messy like this with all sorts of stuff.  

The after picture never disappoints!

I also updated our medicine cabinet.  Got rid of anything that had expired and wiped off the shelves.  Just a few minutes later, it was much better.  You can read a full post about our medicine cabinet here.

I had frames and wall art stacked on our dining room table for weeks now with intentions of getting them up on our living room wall.  I dusted and vacuumed the living room and then hung everything up.  Can you tell that I am going for a coastal feel with this space?  Unfortunately, our hideous dark green microfiber sofas just keep sticking around and will until we can afford new ones.  Also, we have a 2, 3, 6 and 7 year old, so new sofas probably wouldn't be the best idea at the moment anyway.  But they are the farthest thing from coastal.  Bleh!  

Everything looks much better on the walls than they did on the dining room table.  Speaking of the dining room, I also updated our seasonal bucket list.  It's my favorite season to do!  You can read more about that chalkboard here and here.  

That's about all I have to show with photos.  I also touched up our master, linen and hall closets, my craft room, the game and puzzle cabinets, my makeup organizers and the pantry!  I also finished all of the laundry, though by now I am sure there is another load (or two!) ready to go!  I was a woman on a mission this weekend and would you believe I didn't even cross everything off of my list?  What can I say, my list is never ending, but what are you gonna do?!  I feel so accomplished and I woke up this morning feeling a lot better and refreshed knowing that all of those spaces were clean and organized back to where they should be.

My Organized Purse

I am not big on purses.  I definitely used to be, but just haven't being going crazy over them as much as I did before I had kids.  Don't get me wrong, I still love purses and love to add to my collection, but I just don't very often.  For awhile now, I have been carrying a cognac tote from Nordstrom's website.  I saw it on one of my favorite blogs, Hi Sugarplum!, and went for it when it was on sale.  It is by the line BP, which I believe is from their Junior's department.  Anyway, it's cute and I do like it, but it lacks structure and there are absolutely no pockets inside.  It definitely does the trick when I need to take more than my usual items.

My stuff was all over the place.  When I have that much space, it's obviously easier to just throw things in instead of having any kind of organization.  I was finally getting over that purse, at least for day to day use.  I needed something that kind of forced me to keep it organized.  Enter the Merona Dome Satchel from Target.

At $34.99, it's inexpensive in the world of handbags, but it was even more than I would have liked to pay.  It's obviously not top quality and I am sure it won't stand the test of time, but I am happy with it and have finally discovered the shape of handbag that I prefer for whenever I do find myself shopping for a replacement.  Now, let's see how I keep it organized!

The things that I absolutely need in my purse are my planner, coupon accordion, makeup bag, wallet, keys and phone.  

It's like the bag was made for the specific items that I like to carry with me, because they fit so nicely.  The four bigger items have their spot in the middle and then I usually pop my keys in the side zipper pocket and my cell phone in one of the side slits.

I have had this bag for a little over two weeks now and I am absolutely loving it!  There is just enough space to fit what I want and not too much space to allow me to just throw things anywhere.  It kind of forces me to put my cards, receipts, makeup, etc. back where they belong right after I use them.  

Now, you ask, where do I keep all of the stuff for my four children?!  I am currently using a Zip-Top Organizing Utility Tote from Thirty One as a diaper bag.  We have one child who is still in diapers and I like having a place for a tiny first aid kit, snacks, sunscreen, etc.  I always grab that if I am heading out with the kids.  If I am going somewhere that doesn't require me to have my entire wallet, planner, makeup, etc., then I just use a small wallet and throw that in the diaper bag and leave my purse at home.  Otherwise, I just take both.  Not a big deal.  

I definitely suggest looking for a bag with more structure if you are hoping to keep it organized.  It definitely helps when you only have just enough room for what you like to carry along.  

In case you are wondering about some of the items I keep in my purse.... My wallet is actually a personal sized Filofax organizer.  I purchased mine from Amazon a few years ago.  My coupon accordion was from Office Depot, but those things can be found anywhere.  My makeup bag is a Coach outlet find, also from many years back.  My planner is an Erin Condren Life Planner.  There is no way I could keep the schedules of six people organized without a planner that I love.  Should you ever find yourself interested in ordering an Erin Condren Life Planner or anything from the site, please use my referral code to get $10.00 off of your first purchase!  

At some point, I may do a post about my organized wallet and a post about how I use my Erin Condren Life Planner.  Hopefully I can get to those sooner rather than later!  

Clean & Organized Boys Room

I did a pretty thorough cleaning of the boys' room today, so I thought I would post a little tour.  Little is a key word, as their room is pretty small.  Thank goodness for bunk beds!  For the most part, their room stays clean.  It helps that most of their toys are out in the playroom.  Anyway, here goes the tour...

My older son has the tall dresser and the small blue toy box is for their stuffed animals.  

My younger son has the smaller dresser.  The boxes on top of his dresser don't have anything in them yet.  They were on clearance at Target one day, and I just couldn't pass them up.  I am sure they will find something to keep in them soon enough.  

I recently read the book, "The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up" by Marie Kondo.  She encourages you to fold clothing in a certain way that allows you to see everything with one glance.  I made my first attempt at this folding style in my sons' t-shirt drawers.  I have had them folded this way for a few weeks now and I absolutely love it!  I have yet to do the rest of their drawers this way, but I plan to as soon as I get a chance.  

The bunk bed has a large drawer at the bottom.  It's great for storing all of their extra sheets and blankets.  Other things that are in here are their "art" shirts, their large duffle bag and some nighttime  pull-ups.   I think I even have one of my comforters in the back as well.  This drawer is awesomely spacious, so we could fit a lot more in it if we wanted to.  

In the back corner of their room is the Lego desk.  If you'd like to see how I organized their Legos, click here.  

The cubbies under the window are for the toys that always made their way in from the playroom.  I believe I purchased all of this, including the label clips, from Target.  I used my Brother label maker to label the bins.  

Their closet houses a hodgepodge of stuff.  I like to hang their polo and button down shirts, sweatshirts, zip up hoodies and anything that is brand new.  On the floor there are a few more toys and an old TV that they (and my husband) use just to play their Sega Genesis game.   Their hamper is tucked away to the left of the TV.  I have a nice little hat organizer on the back of their door, but the bottom hook is MIA at the moment, so it's driving me crazy as it swings around whenever you open and close the door.  It's really convenient when it stays in place though.  

I have had the closet doors off since back when this used to be my daughter's room.  They are the sliding type, and we have just found it easier to have them off.  If you'd like to see how I had this room organized when it was my daughter's, click here.  If you'd like to see my daughter's new room, click here.

On the top shelf, I have four bins.  One for sleeping bags, one for some games and two for my younger son.  I keep his hand-me-downs that are next up in these bins.  I have all of the boys and girls hand-me-downs in large bins in the basement, but I like keeping the next up sizes (aka stuff that might fit pretty soon) in their rooms.  These bins and label clips were also purchased at Target.  

And that's about it!  A nice little room for my little men.  Next up, getting them to actually sleep in here.  ;)

Lego Organization

What to do when your son or daughter suddenly has a lot of Legos (thank you, Christmas) and they are ALL OVER THE PLACE?  Well, if you're anything like me, you find an organized solution ASAP.  I checked Google and Pinterest for ideas and decided that the best solution for us would be to organize Legos by color.  While organizing by set is ideal for some, it just wouldn't work for us, as pieces from the different sets were all mixed together almost as soon as the packages were opened.  There was no way to know which piece belonged to which set until they would actually start building something.  It's proved to be much easier to find pieces by color.  

I also wanted to dedicate a space in my son's room for Legos.  Somewhere that he could build and store them would be perfect.  We needed a desk.  Off to Target I went.  I picked up a small desk with two drawers.  Luckily for us, it fit perfectly next to the bunk beds!  I also added an IKEA shelf that was sitting in the basement waiting to be used after it got the boot from my daughters' room.  I brought up a lonely chair from the basement as well and voila, a perfect little spot for Legos!  

The shelf above his desk holds a few things.  I put instruction booklets in three of the bins.  This is working fine until I find a better solution for them, possibly in a binder.  Another bin holds his Angry Birds "Legos."  I am keeping them separate because they are not by the Lego brand and have a slightly different look and size to them.  I also put his Angry Birds and the pigs in here as well.  They are not Legos, but he plays with them often.  I labeled the bins with vinyl, which I cut with my Silhouette Cameo.  

I purchased a set of Steralite drawers from Target as well.  This is where I organized the Legos by color.  At this time, the colors that he has the most of, made it into these drawers.  The other colors are in the desk drawers.  I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut the letters for the drawer labels and I used Mod Podge to affix them.  I found that I will be able to remove them should I ever want to change out which colors we keep in here.  I also have another set of drawers waiting just in case his collection become much larger and we need more storage.  

Like I said, the remainder of the colors are in the desk drawers.  I used a drawer divider to separate them.  In the other desk drawer is another divider with all of the people, animals, hats, heads, capes, etc.  

We have had this setup for over a month now and it's working perfectly.  My son really enjoys having them organized by color and he can usually be found at his desk.  Works in progress are typically all over the desktop and pieces do end up on the floor or in the wrong color bins, but it's a quick fix when  we want to get everything straightened back up.  It turned out fabulous!

My daughter also has a few sets of Legos.  While she isn't as crazy about them as my son is, I still wanted a way to keep them organized.  We decided to go with some small stackable bins and a few plastic shoe containers.  These are also from Target.  Seriously, do I shop anywhere else?!  We organized them and decided to keep the bins in her closet on her shoe rack.  I didn't opt for labels on these, especially because the top bins have a variety of colors in them.  That's not to say I won't label them in the future.  I love labels.  Anyway, it was a quick and easy solution for her Lego collection and we love it!  

Organized Legos = a happy mommy.  A really, really, really happy mommy!  Yay!