Our DVD Books

The other day,  I spent the afternoon reorganizing our dvd collection into these 4 books according to category: Chick Flicks- drama & comedy, Guy Movies- action & adventure, Disney, and kids non-Disney. I had a big dilemma though~ finding a good label for each book. I didn't want anything hanging off or getting snagged and the label maker labels wouldn't stick to the woven covers. 

 I decided to try ribbon labels for the dvd books. I ran down to the basement where I sort of hoard ribbon and grabbed a few that would remotely coordinate. I  heat sealed all the edges and then hot glued them (very low temp) to the spines. I was going to try to write on the ribbons with a sharpie or something, but after looking at the pretty colors I decided against it. Now, they're color-coordinated and we think they're quite great.

 

Clean, organinzed, streamlined, colorful! I love my dvds again!

Vacation Binder and Exercise Log

 If you've spoken to me at all in the last 5 months, chances are that I've mentioned my latest obsession. It's a blog called A Bowl Full of Lemons . This lady is who I want to be when I grow up. She is completely and totally organized and I've been studying her every move and implementing many things in my own home. Something Toni is big on is binders for corralling paper. She has budget binders, planning binders, cleaning binders, etc. This week I instituted my own binders and I wanted to show them to you. The first one is my exercise log. I found a great printable online here and I printed out many copies on cardstock and I've found them to be simple and really all I need.  

Every day I log my miles, calories, time and incline on the treadmill in the basement.

  Here's the sheet where I can see how many days in a row I've exercised. I love checking off the day on this sheet post-workout!

 I hauled out my 1" wide label tape for the binder spine.

I got my binders at Staples (because I had a coupon) and while I was there, I found this handy thing. It's like a wall pocket for binders and office papers, but it's smaller than letter size. It's called a supply organizer.  It fits my mini binder perfectly! My treadmill is set up in the basement next to the heater and all of it's duct work, so the magnetic mount organizer is just what I needed! I throw in my favorite mechanical pencil and I'm good to go. Tracking my cardio consistency is such a motivation for me!

My other new binder is a vacation planner. We'll be traveling this summer and as I was printing out itineraries and flight confirmations, I was trying to find a place for all of my paperwork.

 I made a quick binder cover with old scrapbook paper and brought out my handy label maker again to print out the necessary divider labels. My labels are Transportation, Accommodations, Packing, Itinerary, Calendar, Food and Maps. 

 Now I have one place to stash all of my packing lists, mapquest routes, hotel confirmations, maps, brochures, EVERYTHING!

 I also bought the Vacation Planning Kit for CleanMama on Etsy. I love her printables, but I haven't filled these out yet. That's one fanstastic thing about printables~ once I buy and save them to my computer, I can print these out for as many trips as I'll ever need.

 In the "Maps" divider, I have a clear plastic binder pocket where I keep road maps and brochures.

 Here's the "Calendar" tab. I have a few months included (even before and after vacation) so I can be fully prepared and see more of the big picture of how vacation fits into our life.

 I get excited to add all the goodies like travel details to my vacation binder! Summer just can't get here fast enough.

Overall, I love these binders and how they are working out for me. I'm pretty sure that's the key to organizing well~ finding what works for you and fits into your life.

My New Charging Station

Here is our old charging station. I bought it quite a few years back and it has definitely seen better times. I don't like it because the cords never stay where they should be, and it's ugly and its in the way all the time.

Here are the end tables that I bought off Craigslist last year. I really love them. They are exactly the right height and style that I wanted.I think they were $45 for the set of 2. The only down side was that it looked like they had been used as coasters for crazy people who had been doing shots of turpentine. There were small circles all over the top where the finish was completely gone.

  I knew they were solid wood and good construction and it wasn't any surprise when my husband brought these home (good husband that he is) and I opened up the first drawer and saw this:

          I refinished the tops last month and the idea for a charging drawer hit me just last week.

I drilled a hole to fit the plugs in the back of the drawer and in the back of the unit itself.

(Note to self: get some drawer liners before you take pictures!)

And there you have it. A spare drawer turned into a designated charging place. Now I know where my Kindle and phone are and still they are out of sight leave my countertops and tabletops clear.

One of the Smarter Things I've Done

This is the cabinet closest to my dishwasher. I used to have things in there like my crockpot and cast iron skillets, but then one day I had a great idea. I went to the Goodwill down the street and bought plain white 11" plates. They aren't all from the same manufacturer, but they're basically the same design and they stack pretty well. I bought them for $0.35- $0.69 a piece. I added our unbreakable cereal bowls and plastic cups to the plates on the slide drawer.

Now my kids can reach everything they need when they unload the dishwasher! And if one of my Goodwill plates breaks, I won't cry. And not only that, but now they can reach their own cups for getting their own drinks and they can even make breakfast for themselves without any help from me!

I heard a quote once that said something like, "If your kids aren't doing chores, you have not yet accepted your promotion". I agree 100%.

Monday, Monday

We had a wonderful weekend here at our little cozy hole. Tim and I got to sleep in on Saturday (very rare) and were able to start our weekend slowly with a nice cup of coffee. I dropped off a few garbage bags of stuff for Goodwill on the way as I headed off to Lowes to get the supplies I needed to finish off my really big laundry shelf.

(As you can see, I still need to sand the first coat of paint and apply the second.)

I also relisted the old washer and dryer on Craigslist and they sold within hours! Praise the Lord! There is nothing like selling things that you don't need and clearing out clutter at the same time. Seriously love it. After the man came to claim the washer and dryer, we made a nice trip to south Denver to The Container Store and a few other places. We really enjoy our trips to Park Meadows. It's far enough to be a treat when we get to go, but close enough to not take up our entire day.

A few months ago, we switched exclusively to rechargeable batteries. We are very much in the thick of "the little years" with our kids and that means toys with batteries, baby swings with batteries, even puzzles with batteries. This little investment cost a bit upfront (though I got a great deal from Amazon.com) but we are already reaping the benefits. To keep all of our rechargeables organized and put away, I bought this battery organizer at The Container Store. I'm not one to spend money on "uni-taskers", but I searched high and low for a battery organizer and this one just takes the cake. Did you notice the battery tester on the top?

And, Voila! My "new" laundry room!

So, the other day...

I reorganized the pantry,

and our baby was looking especially adorable.

I also replaced our kitchen sink, but that post will come a little bit later. Happy April!

38w 1d

June at last! Ok, long time, no post, but I can't really apologize since I've been so focused on my family and house and they are my priority.

And these guys

keep me pretty busy!

We are definitely coming down to the baby finish line now! I've been in the pre-labor stage for weeks and my OB says I should go any hour now but I'm trying not to think about that. We've had our yard sale (which was nicely successful), sold a few things on Craigslist, acquired all of the necessary (and maybe not so necessary) baby items for Sweet Fella, and made our last big pre-baby trip to Costco so we have all the household staples on hand. Not to mention that I've organized the house a few times over.

I found a great way to tame the paperwork monster in our home...

And I finished this space (which I now love)

And I'm making good progress down here in the basement.

And I've re-arranged the furniture. I've pulled out the birth ball and now am trying to relax a little. We have a relaxing dinner party coming up on Saturday and I'm excited about entertaining friends again after a hospitality drought. The weather looks nice for Saturday and I think we'll pull out the backyard canopy and relax. All the food I'm doing is able to be made in advance and I'm starting on that today. I also have an overwhelming urge to paint the cabinets in the powder room black. We'll see if I get around to that. I bought fabric online yesterday to recover my extra large ironing board (it's very hard to find replacement covers in stores) and I'd like to get that project done before Baby A emerges onto the scene, but again, we'll see. All these things are to keep me occupied while I am racking my brain thinking about what on earth will this child look like!?!?!?!?

Only time will tell.

Laundry Room Makeover

Ok, so this might not be your typical makeover to those of you who only see this online, but to me, it was a total transformation. See, I do a lot of laundry around here, and it had been a while since I had seen the top of the dryer.

BEFORE

Look at that messy corkboard! Look at that pale ugly wall! Look at the dryer! (Ok, I cheated. I had a basket that rested permanently on the dryer that served as a catchall. Really bad idea. I moved it for the before shot which defeats the purpose of a before picture.)

AFTER:

Ahhh! Much better! I recovered the cork board with about $4 worth of paper and ribbon.

I "mistreated" the shelf above the washer and dryer. I hung it on a simple tension rod from Walmart. See that bulge under the fabric? Let's take a look underneath...

My extension cord box doesn't fit exactly. Like my labels? Everything on the shelf under the curtain is labeled.

I love using the walls as storage. And even though today is laundry day, the top of the dryer is still clear and clean!

This is my favorite part of the room. I love these hooks! Just regular old cup hooks from Target (less than $2 for 8). I attached some clips I had sitting around in the kitchen and now this serves as my "delicates" drying rack. You can't see it in the before picture, but I had a big bulky plastic drying rig hanging from the shelf. I hated it. These hooks are out of the way and simple. I hang my bag for delicates when it's not in use.
Also, I would be remiss to omit my new favorite thing~ my collapsible laundry basket. In my six years of marriage, I have never owned a laundry basket for the simple reason that I had no good place to store one when not being used. I knew if I kept it on the dryer, it would turn into a catch-all while laundry was not in progress and I knew that is not what we want. Now I keep my lovely, lovely little collapsible basket all folded up and between the washer and dryer for most of the week. Did I mention that I picked it up at Walmart for under $4?

Well, that's it. It might not look totally different, but it is so much less cluttered and more functional now! I think a huge key to organizing is really finding out what works for you and your own systems.