31 Days-Organizing Hair Accessories

Considering that Princess really only grew enough hair for me to do anything with it after she was two, she has a lot of hair accessories.  Of course, now that she has a little sister (who has lots of hair!!  Hooray!) she'll have to share her hairbows and headbands.  I used to keep all of the hair accessories in a shoebox in Princess's closet, but that was overflowing and impossible to find anything in before long.  So I bought a shoebag and put it on her bedroom door.
*Note: don't be cheap like me and buy the plastic shoebags.  They rip.  Especially when a small child thinks it's fun to hang on the pockets.  Spend the extra money and get a nice canvas shoebag that will last a lot longer*    

I tied long ribbons to the hooks at the top of the bag that hold the shoebag over the door and clip all of Princess's hairbows to the ribbons so they don't get crushed.  Her hard plastic headbands can be looped over a pocket and everything else (soft headbands, barrettes, hair elastics) get organized into its own pocket.  I also have an over-the-door set of hooks next to the shoebag that I use to hang both of the kids' hats on.  

I use some of the (non-ripped) pockets at the bottom to keep all the singleton socks in.  When the pockets get full, I match them up. 

The ribbons to hang the hairbows on are tied onto the metal hooks at the top of the shoebag that hook over the door.  They can easily be moved aside to see the pockets clearly.

Pockets for the soft headbands, small hairbow barrettes, and regular barrettes.  Small clips can be clipped on the edges of the pockets.

Frankly, you can't have too many shoebags in your house.  There are so many uses for them!  For more ideas, you can visit my Pinterest board, Shoebag Organizing.

Tomorrow, I'll be hosting a link-up of your favorite organizing tips.  Be sure to come check it out and add your own tips!

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31 Days-Daily Chore List

How do houses get messy so quickly?  If I don't stay on top of things, my house turns into a declared disaster zone within a few days.

Since I'm a born procrastinator and dedicated list keeper, the best way for me to stay on top of the housework is to have a daily chore list.  It covers the basics, takes 15-20 minutes to accomplish, and gives me the satisfaction of crossing things off a list.  I do have other lists of chores to do to keep up with the deeper cleaning.  But, with a preschooler, toddler, and a new baby in the house, if I can get my daily chore list done everyday, I call it good enough.

I wrote my basic chores on a sheet of paper (this was before I had a working printer so everything was handwritten) and put it in a sheet protector in my Control Journal.  When I finish a task, I cross it off with a dry erase marker.  I call it my morning routine, but let's face it...if everything on the list gets done by evening, it's good.

"Hot Spots" are any place in the house that seems to accumulate clutter.  For me, it's the coffee table and the computer desk.

Writing up your own list like this will help you keep your house clean without spending a lot of time cleaning.  Just pick the things that are essential and need to be done everyday.  Don't make it too complicated or long, the point here is to keep it simple.  If you're feeling ambitious, go ahead and make a Control Journal to keep your house sparkly clean, but if not, give yourself a pat on the back for starting with the basics.

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31 Days-Organizing Toys

It doesn't take much for kids' toys to get out of control.  I've always wished I had a playroom so I could just shut the door and not look at the mess, but because our house is small, our "playroom" is a corner of the living room.  It has to be well organized or the toys take over our whole living area.

When Princess first started accumulating toys, I threw them all in one container.  I had my eye on a toy box thinking that would be the easiest way to keep them picked up, but I soon realized that a toy box was not the best solution as toys get jumbled together and broken easily, not to mention that you can never find the one you're looking for.

The solution is to organize toys into separate bins.  For bigger toys without a lot of pieces, I store them directly on the shelf, but sets go into a canvas bin or bucket.  This makes it much easier for the kids to clean up after themselves.  I've seen some people label their bins with a picture of the type of toy that goes into it,but nothing sticks really well to the canvas bins so I haven't done that.  If you're storing yours in plastic bins, I would definitely recommend that as kids are so visual.

This shelf works perfectly for toys!  If you look closely, you can see that Little Man's hotwheels collection is stored on the bottom shelf in a pink ice cream pail.  Poor boy.

A close-up of several of the bins.  The red one holds miscellaneous toys and the blue one holds My Little Ponies

Here are a few more tips I use to control the toy chaos:

1. If the toys don't fit in their designated bins or area, it's time to say goodbye to a few!  When we get to that point, first I throw out anything that's broken, then I make a pile of toys that I don't mind getting rid of and have the kids pick a certain number of them to give to kids who don't have any toys (aka Goodwill).  This gets the kids involved and teaches them about generosity.

2. Divide the toys in half and put half of them in storage.  Every few months or when it looks like the kids are losing interest in the toys that are out, switch them for the ones that are in storage. Every time we make the switch, it's like Christmas at my house!

3. Ask relatives to go in on one big gift for all your kids instead of giving each child little things.  Or, if your children are still young enough not to notice, ask them to just buy one small gift for each child to unwrap and put the rest of the money they would have spent on a gift into the child's savings account.  


Update: Since I wrote this post, I've gotten these canvas bins which help make the toy shelf neater and stores the toys better.  The best part?  The cheapest I've seen them in stores was $6 apiece and the ones I found on Amazon are good quality and were less than $5 apiece!  

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31 Days-Organizing Clothes

Most people stack their clothes in their dresser drawers.  Which means that if you want a certain shirt, you have to dig through all the stacks to find it.  Which means that a nice neat dresser drawer can quickly turn into an unfolded, wrinkled mess.
 

Stacks in the dresser drawer-picture taken before Star was born as evidenced by the baby boy clothes!

Or...you can "file" your clothes which makes it easier to find what you're looking for.  Plus, as you can see by comparing the picture above with the picture below, it creates more space in your dresser drawers!

Fold your clothes the same way you always do, but instead of laying them flat in the drawer, stack them sideways.  This makes it easy to see at a glance what you have.

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31 Days-Easier Shopping List

I tend to be a little over the top (read: slightly obsessive) over this, but I can't stand running out of anything in the kitchen.  I always have my basic staples on hand and stock up on them when there's a sale.  Anytime I'm running low on something, I write it on the shopping list.

I used to keep a loose piece of paper stuck to the fridge with a magnet for my on-going shopping list, but the paper kept falling off and getting lost, and the pen kept disappearing.  So I ditched that idea and implemented a new way to keep my shopping list up to date.  I found a magnetic dry erase board with a corkboard that could stick right on my fridge.  Now I always have a writing utensil since the dry erase marker fits in a small plastic holder on the top and it's super easy to add things to the list as I think of them.  Then, when it's time to go shopping, I transfer the list to a piece of paper, or, if the list isn't too long, I take a picture of it with my cell phone.  

I got mine at Target, but they can be found on Amazon as well.  Here's a basic one like I have. 

 I found this one online too and thought it would be perfect for keeping track of everyone's schedules.  It also has space for the shopping list and a corkboard to pin things on the bottom.  I might have to upgrade soon :)

For those who don't like the idea of having to transfer their shopping list to a piece of paper everytime they go shopping, printable shopping lists are also a great idea.  I used to use them until my printer broke and then I switched over to the dry erase board on the fridge.  I haven't gone back yet, but now that I have a printer that works again, I've been thinking about how convenient a printable list is.  I lost the one I originally wrote, but here's one I found on Pinterest that is similar.

Source: simplemom.net via Heather on Pinterest

  

I love that the categories are divided and all you have to do is put a check by the item you need.  When I used this type of shopping list, I would print off several at a time and hang them on my fridge with a magnetic chip clip.

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31 Days-Keeping a Day Planner

I can't live without my day planner.  I've kept one for over 8 years now and it's always in my purse.  If events don't get written down in it, they are forgotten.  Period.

I use my day planner as a sort of daily journal as well.  It's nice to be able to look back and find out exactly when we did something or when something happened.  It's also used as a menu planner, note taker, etc.

Here's my day planner.  It's not too big that it doesn't fit in my purse, but not so small that it can't hold a lot of information.  I like to find a day planner that is spiral bound so I can easily slip a pen inside the spirals and find it when I need it.

The first thing I do when I get a new day planner every year is tape a piece of cardstock (or an old library checkout card, apparently) securely inside the front cover.  This works for a pocket for shopping lists, recipes, and any miscellaneous small papers I need to hang on to. 

My day planner has a page for each month so I can see at a glance what's coming up on my schedule.  As you can see, this page for next month is still pretty empty, but by the end of the month, it'll be covered in writing and x's as I cross off each day.

I also like my day planner to have a section for each day.  This is where I write down my menu every week and (when I'm feeling ambitious) jot down a little journal entry of what we did that day.

Here are a few cute day planners I found on Amazon:







How about you?  Do you keep a day planner?  Why or why not?

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31 Days-Memory Boxes

I'm not a scrapbooker.  I've tried doing scrapbooks a few times, but I just can't get into it.

Yet, I still want to save memories and keepsakes.  It didn't take me long to come up with Memory Boxes.  I have one and each of the kids has one.  The kids both have small boxes, but as they get older, they'll be replaced with a large box like mine. 

I use plastic see-through totes with lids for ours.  When there's a momento I want to save, I simply toss it in the appropriate box.  When a box gets full, I sit down and go through it.  Some things bring back good memories and they go right back in the box.  Other things, I've forgotten about so I end up tossing them.  I can't wait until a box starts getting full because it's so fun to go through it. 

The kids' boxes.  As you can see, Little Man's box is suffering from 2nd child syndrome.

Princess's box which includes birthday cards, her coming home outfit, and a few other momentos.

Little Man's box which includes his coming home outfit and some crocheted items from Grandma.

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31 Days-Organizing Sewing Patterns

It took me a while (over a year) to figure out the best way to store and organize my sewing patterns.  For the longest time, I just put all the different patterns and sizes in a pile, but then I'd lose a part of a pattern or it'd take me all day to dig through the pile to find the right ones for the orders I needed to start working on.

I finally came up with an effective, neat, organized way to store my printed patterns.  I start by taping the sides of a basic file folder together to form an envelope.

Letter sized file folders

Then I write the pattern and the size on the tab on the top of the "envelope" and fold the pattern pieces to fit inside.  I have the new file folder from 31 Gifts on my wish list to store the folders in, but for now, I'm using an empty baby wipes cardboard box since the folders fit so perfectly.   

Because it helps me find what I'm looking for faster (and because I'm a little OCD about organization), I file the patterns alphabetically, and then each pattern is filed by size.  It takes me just a few seconds to pull out the pattern I need.  

In the back of the box, behind all the patterns, I keep a green folder I saved from college.  In it are all the basic instructions and sizing guides for each pattern type, with each pattern stapled together. 

I also keep a folder on my computer with all the pattern pdfs and copy them to a USB stick drive as well.  I'd hate to lose them if my computer goes down!  

How do you store your sewing patterns?

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31 Days-Folding and Organizing Fabric

I used to fold my fabric any which way I felt like at the moment and try to stuff it all on a shelf.  As my business grew and with it, my fabric stash, I realized that my "method" wasn't working.  The fabric was a mess, and I could never find what I was looking for.  I did some research and decided that the folding tutorial I found here was the solution for me.  (Although this tutorial for filing fabric is a genius idea too!)  Don't worry, it's not as hard as it looks!  I started out folding it with a piece of cardboard, but quickly decided that since I was going to be using it so much, it would be better to invest in a quilter's ruler.   

Most of my fabric stash.  The top shelf is not folded with the quilter's ruler because I haven't gotten around to doing that yet :)

 I organize my fabric by type (cotton woven, knit, minky, etc) and color so I can easily find what I'm looking for or pick coordinates for a project.

I just can't stop looking at the neat stacks of fabric!  Love it!

How do you organize your fabric or craft supplies?

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My House is Being Taken Over By Toys!

As I desperately tried to cram Princess's beanie babies, teddy bears, and other stuffed animals into the medium sized bin I'd long ago allocated for stuffed animals, a thought crossed my mind-I needed to go shopping for bigger storage containers. The stuffed animals were overflowing into the doll bin which was overflowing into the box of board books which was overflowing onto the toys shelves which were overflowing onto the floor of my living room. You get the picture.

How did we get so many toys? It's my personal theory that toys secretly procreate in the dark of night, multiplying their numbers so sneakily that you don't even notice it happening until one day you realize that your whole house has been turned into a giant playroom. Of course, the grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and even I am guilty of keeping Princess entertained with an endless supply of new toys to play with. My big pitfall is thrift store and garage sale shopping. My experience usually goes something like this:
"Look at the practically brand new, adorable toy that reminds me of my own childhood and gives me warm, fuzzy feelings inside! And look, it's only 50 cents!! I must buy it for my own child so she too can experience childhood to its fullest!"
I get home and hold my breath as I hand the latest acqusition over to Princess, anticipating shrieks of joy. She takes it from me, examines it briefly, and drops it to the floor so she can play with the the empty lotion bottle I forgot to throw away earlier.


As I contemplated what type of storage bins I could find that would contain the evergrowing population of Princess's toys, the solution hit me. The answer was to make the toys fit into the space we already had. I grabbed a garbage bag and started digging through the stuffed animals. I still haven't figured out why stuffed animals are such a popular gift to give children when I don't know a single child who actually plays with them. Occasionally, Princess will go through the bin and look at each one before wandering off to play with something else, but that is the extent of her interaction with her stuffed animals. So, it was relatively easy to downsize those. Then I started in on the rest of her toys. That was a little more difficult because I didn't want to get rid of toys that were gifts from relatives, but I managed to fill the garbage bag and off it went to Goodwill.



My new worry is that I'm due to have our second child next month and it's a boy. Which means a whole new set of toys geared for boys. I'm not one of those people who insist on toys being gender specific, but I don't think my little farm boy is going to want to play with dolls and other girly stuff ALL the time. He's probably going to want tractors and cars and the relatives will be more than happy to supply him with plenty of those. Another child also means twice as many birthday and Christmas presents for me to find space for. I'm hoping to convince relatives that, instead of giving a bunch of smaller stuff to each child, they can give one bigger gift to both the kids. But we'll see...



Unsolicited Advice: I recently remembered one of my favorite things to play with when I was a kid and decided to recreate it for Princess. When my parents moved back to Minnesota from Florida, my mom filled a cake pan with white sand from the beach. She didn't take it out very often so it was a special treat to get to play with it and it was perfect for when we were stuck inside all winter. Not having access to beach sand, I decided to use white rice to fill my cake pan. You could also use dry beans, oatmeal, gravel, etc.