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Baby Organization

Babies involve a lot of stuff, which means your house becomes a mess. So what to do? Buy a billion bins at Target!

Now most of these tubs are actually for my husband. After having a baby for 2 days, he came down the stairs with his hair all disheveled saying, “I can’t find a single thing in the baby’s room!” Then the next day, he tried to put clean clothes away, and they were just all over the place :). So I used my teacher labeling machine to label lots of tubs. Since then, I haven’t heard him complain about not being able to find things, and everything has ended up in the right drawers. Yay!

A planter to help contain all of the stuffed animals!

A cute tub to store diapers, antibacterial hand  stuff,  thermometer, diaper rash cream

A tub to store all swaddles because my husband can’t ever locate these things

A tub to contain the billions of socks

The changing table/dresser

Everything we use at night

My husband doesn’t ever know what is in each drawer :).

A tub for the boob juice

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Stuffed Animal Organizer

So maybe I’ve been Pinterest-ing a little…but what a good way to organize stuffed animals! They always seem to fall off shelves and take up space on flat surfaces. Tada! Thanks, Peter!

By the way…if I knew that blackout fabric was this cheap, I would have totally made my own blackout liners for the white curtains we just bought! Just wanted to write about this in case anyone is reading and doesn’t know this either :).
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Holy Bajeez–It’s Been a While

I’ve been working my butt off lately to win a $20K grant for a non-profit that teaches kids–and guess what?? We won :). Thanks to all of those who helped by voting on Facebook!

In other news, Lennon is healing wonderfully. Her leg is super awesome, and she has been enjoying her swims in the lake (for therapy and for fun).

I have been putting off this post for a while, just because I’ve been so busy with life and grad school, but now is as good a time as any. Right? And when life gets busy, what do you start doing? Shoving things in cabinets to make the kitchen look clean. So even though the house may be a mess, I’m trying to clean one little bit at a time, because every bit helps.

Before – Eek!
After – Phew!

Before – This is what was in the silverware drawer.    
After – Slightly better. Silverware is in the dishwasher 🙂
Cheap birch from Michael’s, old stain, a lace scrapbook page, and white spray paint = wall art!      
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Bins, bins, bins

I love to create my own things, like cards, pictures, decorations, etc. The problem? I hate cleaning up afterward. I have a floor filled with junk at the end of a project. All of these decor/organizing blogs that I have been reading lately are motivating me to make my space better, even if that means coaxing myself to clean/organize. This weekend, I decided to motivate myself by buying a few organizing bins from the dollar store. I thought they would be poorly made, but I was surprised at how sturdy the bins were.
I feel pretty good about the space now. The next thing on my list is to take my pile of paid bills and file them away. Hey, one task a time, right?

So what do you think? Better?

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Entertainment Organization

Before

I’m pretty bad about letting my shelves start to look like this. I try to be organized, but then this happens. I thought it might inspire me to buy some fun boxes, to dust, and to rearrange a little. I felt like there was so much dark stuff on these shelves, so I got some bright blue to spruce it up a bit.

I’m pretty happy with the “after.” This is our faux entertainment center. We had a media unit thing, but it was so hideously ugly, that I thought a nice bookshelf from Target would do the trick. It matches the furniture, and if we ever decide to move the shelf, it can be used in any room of the house. It’s also used to display that wedding stuff that you have no idea what to do with. What do you think?

After
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Space Bags

Sarah’s previous post convinced me to try Space Bags. You know, those things from the infomercials where you put all your crap in a bag and then suck the air out, and viola! Squished crap in a bag! We have a bunch of sheet sets, towels, and comforters from my bridal showers, and trying to store them is impossible. My linen closet is about 12 inches deep, or so it seems, and it always looks a mess.
So I tried the L, XL, and Gigungo-sized Space Bags, and they seriously helped my space issue. The linens/pillows that I put inside the bag are now taking up 1/3 of the space that they were before. I didn’t think about it at the time, but we bought the Space Cubes, not the flat bags. Next time I will buy the bags, because the cubes make these really weird shapes that don’t stack well on top of each other. I went and reread Sarah’s blog and saw that she mentioned this, but at the time I didn’t make a mental note.
B++ to Space Bags for more space.
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Things that Make my Life Easier

I decided to dedicate this entry to things that make my life easier. Sarah gave me this idea when I saw her post on Space Bags. Now everytime I go to Walmart, I’m looking for Space Bags! My linen closet is ridiculously tiny, and we have tons of comforters and towels from our wedding showers.
Recently my neighbor, April, ranted and raved about the 3-in-1 laundry sheets that will clean, soften, and anti-cling your clothes for you. I don’t really use fabric softener, and I seldom use my anti-cling things (because I never remember), but when I was looking for funny gifts for Peter for Christmas, this made the list. *I know that the previous sentence was a run-on sentence.* I am in love with how deliciously good-smelling my clothes are when I use these sheets! I could smell my clothes all day long. They even make the house smell wonderful when you take the clothes out of the dryer. And the nice part is, you don’t get any liquid detergent anywhere! I tend to make messes easily when pouring things, and I always end up with detergent on my hands. Ugh, I hate sticky detergent hands. So, thank you, Purex 3-in-1 laundry sheets!
Another thing that is a must in this house is a tub of Lysol Cleaning Wipes. I have a tub of these in every bathroom and under the kitchen sink. They are awesome for quickly cleaning up areas before guests come over–what a quick way to clean your toilet seat, boys!
My other love has been my Spray N’ Wash. I know, I know. I’m like the last person on earth to figure this out, but this stuff is just genius. In addition to pouring things all over myself, I tend to get my sleeves dirty, especially near my wrists. I am always pulling my sleeves over my hands to keep the warm, which, in turn, makes my sleeves black with dirt. (If you’ve ever seen My So-Called Life, you’d know what I was talking about with the sleeve thing.)
These products, somehow, allow me to give others the illusion that I am a grown-up with un-spotted clothes and a nice clean bathroom. Thank you!