Day 31 ~ A Made Bed

 For me the act of making our bed each morning gets my day on track.

A - Because I am less likely to climb back into it rather than getting on with my day.

B - Because it creates a sense of serenity and peace rather than hurried chaos.

And that, my friends is the end of our 31 days together!  

Thank-you for joining me in a walk through our home, and may you always feel 

Pretty Organized.

To read other posts from my 31 day series click

here.

Day 30 ~ Scarves

I keep my scarves tucked in this corner behind my mirror.  I used an Ikea wire and hung a loop of ribbon from each clip for the scarves to hang in.  

I can easily pull the mirror out of the way to reach scarves in the back.

To read other posts from my 31 Day series click

here.

Day 29 ~ Chalkboards

Chalkboards come in all shapes and sizes, vinyl, paint, you name it.

I like to use them to share messages,

as training reminders (for me too!),

to count down to important days,

or to give instructions.

I read this quote today on Jones Design Company.

Beautiful.

To read other posts from my 31 Day series click

here.

Day 28 ~ Information Storage

I'm sure it's quite obvious to most of you, but it took me awhile to realize that I should be keeping all sorts of useful information in here.

Like which Starbucks drink each of my childrens' teachers prefer.  Or what gifts I need to purchase this month.  Or, my Costco number!!  Do you know how many times I've ordered pictures online in my 3rd floor office only to have to trek down to the main floor to dig out my Costco card?  Duh.

This thing is always with me...so I might as well use it to help me stay organized.

To read other posts from my 31 Day series click

here.

Day 27 ~ Crafty Storage

I have found this shelf from Michael's to be quite useful for craft storage.

It has lots of space for little doodads that you just aren't sure where else to put.

According to Cathe Holden

 (http://justsomethingimade.com/2012/06/i-heart-trugs/)

this little guy is called a trug.  

Adorable!  

Anyway, I use him to store my sewing stuff...such as it is.  I am only a very basic sewer so I don't need much.

I keep fabric folded in piles on my book shelves and scraps in this old bread bin.

I really love the thread stand which can also be free-standing on a table.

Ribbon rolls up in the spice organizer.

I use this Ikea storage unit (painted with knobs added) for all my stamps, paper cutter, etc..

It's great to have extra table space in my office besides my desk so I can leave projects out or have space to wrap something.  It is also my sewing table if I need to zip up a straight line or two.

To read other posts from my 31 Day series click

here.

Day 26 ~ Handy Wrap

I like to keep a good supply of wrapping paper handy.  A small variety will cover most occasions.  I store mine in an Ikea basket.

Gift tags are easy to make with paper punches and a cute stamp or you can buy them at all sorts of places.  The ones seen here are from Michael's.  Again, keeping a variety on hand means you aren't left searching around at the last minute for something appropriate.

Having ribbon on dowels makes it easy to store.

To read other posts from my 31 Day series click

here.

   

Day 25 ~ Wrap Ahead

Okay, first I will admit that the whole writing of the 31 blogs has got me behind on some of my normal routines, so I have not done this yet this year and I am missing it!

Normally however, I buy and wrap gifts ahead of time.  

For example, I try to think up a theme that I can use for teachers and then purchase gifts for them for the entire year, wrap them up and then when holidays pop up I don't have to worry about remembering to shop for a teacher gift.

  

A great idea my best friend Darla had was to give teachers napkin holders at the beginning of the school year and then give seasonally appropriate napkins for each holiday.  I've also done a monogram theme.  Things get a bit more tricky when male teachers come into the picture!

To read other posts from my 31 Day series click

here.

Day 24 ~ Birthday Book

How do you keep track of birthdays and other occasions that you want to acknowledge in one way or another?

I keep this little blue book close and hand and check it at the end of each month.

I list birthdays that I want to remember along with their dates and any other occasions that may happen in that particular month.  Then I note the dates on my day timer and plan any shopping trips that need to happen.

In the back of the book I keep track of gifts I've given for Christmases past.

To read other posts from my 31 Day series click

here.

Day 23 ~ Blankets

I love blankets.

  Not just cause I'm always chilly, but also because they are so handy to switch out to create a different feel for each season.

So some of our blankets are stored all pretty and get moved around seasonally to different areas of the house.

But other blankets are for the kids to snuggle in.  We don't worry about folding those up or stacking them neatly.

They just get shoved in the ottoman at clean up time.

Easy peasy.

To avoid the frustration of a full on remote search, we keep them in here and return them when we are done.

To read other posts from my 31 Day series click

here.

Day 22 ~ Electronics

Oh, oh, ohhhoo ho ho.  If I could do cartwheels I would I am so completely thrilled with our hidden cords!

Are you SEEING this?  

My husband cut a plastic pipe its entire length down the back.  I painted it to match our wall and then he stuck the t.v. and gaming cords into it and screwed it to the wall.

I love him.

We hung baskets at a height that would hide the gaming controllers but that our kids could still access.

Ikea boxes house the Wii and Xbox games.

I turned the table into a little side bench by adding a cushion and throw pillows.  It warmed up the space and also, quite frankly, will save me from having to dust off the top of that dark table all the time.

To read other posts from my 31 Day series click

here.

Day 21 ~ DVD's and Board Games

We are a movie lovin' family!  In our new basement I created an area to store our dvd's along with our board games.

I bought dvd storage boxes from Ikea.  They are inexpensive and fit the dvd's perfectly. 

 My kids were not happy with me at first, but I made them alphabetize our collection.  Now, I know that sounds a little over the top, but as you can see we have 8 boxes of movies, so rather than having to search all over for a show, now we can go directly to it.  And it's great practice at alphabetical order every time the kids have to put movies back.

The large wicker baskets up top hold our big board games and smaller ones are in pretty bins on the shelves.  I can't wait to pull out a puzzle at Christmas to work at on our games table!

To read more posts from my 31 Day series click

here.

Day 20 ~ Make Up and Jewellery

I find I'm faster to be ready in the morning if I don't have to dig around and search for make up and jewellery.  So I keep it all at within easy reach.

Well, hello Mary Kay!  

This pretty tray keeps my toiletries in order.

Necklaces and bracelets are out on display so it's easy to choose one and I never have to worry about tangles.

I keep my rings in this vintage powder jar.  My daughters loooove to rifle through it.

Give items from your morning routine a pretty home...you don't have to buy anything new, just shop the house for some fun containers.

To read more posts from my 31 Day series click

here.

Day 19 ~ The Laundry Room

I use vintage-look storage bins to keep our laundry area looking cute and tidy.

There is no end of pretty laundry storage available in various home stores.

The shelves are high enough that while you can reach the laundry detergent out of the bin, you can't see the other stuff inside.

 

This metal caddy holds our cleaning supplies - rags, window clothes and good ol' Mrs. Meyers.

On cleaning day I just grab it down and the rest of the time it sits there looking pretty.

To read more posts from my 31 Day series click

here.

Day 18 ~ Toilet Paper

Oh it is not fun when you find yourself with an empty roll.  

So please, keep an ample supply handy - especially in your guest bathroom!

This idea is great for a small space.

marthastewart.com

Or if you've got the room, I say go for it!

seen on Jones Design Company

To read more posts from my 31 Day series click

here.

Day 17 ~ Schedule a Fix-It Time

We all have those spaces in our homes that are just not working. 

Here is mine.

Ugh.  

I had no idea what spices I even had in here, and no desire to look that closely which meant I kept buying repeats.  

I also had to keep moving the cd's every time I wanted something from the bottom shelf.

WHY?

But it happens, right?  You know your area is ridiculous but you never, ever notice it until you are using it and when you are using it you are busy, well, in my case cooking, so that is not the time to fix it.

So find a slot of time this week and schedule a Fix-It time.  

I scheduled mine for today.

Bottom Shelf

Middle Shelf

Top Shelf

It took me some time but oh my goodness, so worth it!

To read more posts from my 31 Day series click

here.

Day 16 ~ Cook Books

One of the best decisions I ever made in the organizing department was to donate all my cook books.  I used to have a bunch.  They took up all sorts of space.

And now?

I have this.

The thing was, I'd use 3 recipes from one book, 2 from another, and in a huge stack of books maybe only 20 or 30 pages were actually ever getting looked at.  

So one summer I made it my project to write out all my favourite recipes on cards.

I colour coded various categories.

And now this is the amount of space my recipes take up.  I have some loose papers in there - recipes I've printed off the internet or ripped from magazines.  When I have some spare minutes I'll write them on cards too.  I have lots of extra cards so that I can keep on adding new recipes whenever I need to.

To read more posts from my 31 Day series click 

here.