February Wrap Up

It's been an amazing month with lots and lots of great organizing ideas and projects! Did you miss any?

If you did, here are all the posts so you can go back and read it:


1. Curb Appeal: The back of the house
2. My portable Office
3. Organized Reader: Ashley's Laundry Room
4. Organized Entry
5. Curb Appeal: Personalized Planters
6. Organizing Your Pinterest
7. Menu Organizer Giveaway
8. Organized Kids' Closet Ideas
9. Organized Reader: Missy's Closet Organizers
10. Organized Baking Tray
11. Special Guest Blogger: Anna, How to fake a clean bathroom
12. Organized Junk Drawers


March will be even BETTER! Can you imagine? I've got some great stuff planned. There is some serious organizing that is going to be happening - so big it's going to blow your mind!!  Don't miss out!

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For the love of organizing: Junk Drawers

Is a junk drawer an oxymoron for an organized person? Well, I certainly don't think so!

Your house can't be complete without at least one junk drawer. And, I realized the other day that I have FOUR junk drawers - yes, FOUR!

The first one is my Tool Junk Drawer in my kitchen right by the door down to the basement. You can see that I recently needed to get it organized. I'm not going to name names...but, SOMEBODY likes to bring tools up from the basement and leave them in this drawer. I love that somebody, so I gladly cleaned it up. I noticed the other day when I went to get a hammer and I could hardly open the drawer! I have this junk drawer tray that is double stacking and made for junk organized into categories.

My next junk drawer is my tiny junk drawer. It's near my kitchen sink and I use it for twistie ties, rubber bands, candles, flower cutting stuff, and some kitchen manuals for my small appliances. It didn't look horrible before, but what you can't see is that one of the floralife flower food packets had broken open and was all over the inside the drawer. 

Another junk drawer I have is also in my kitchen/dining area set of drawers. It's my charging junk drawer. I have a fantastic battery organizer that I use in there. I also keep chalk and chalk ink and some miscellaneous items, as well. But, mostly I have all kinds of batteries, flashlights, and a tape measure.

The last one is in my entry dresser. I've made it into an office suplies junk drawer. You can see it's got all kinds of things in there. I love it and have used a plethora of containers to organize the many supplies I keep in there. I even have a big one for my hubby's junk - of which has kept me from going absolutely bonkers!! So, my idea of a junk drawer may or may not be yours. But, really it's a hodge podge drawer of accumulated things. You can take the hodge podge and organize it into a wonderful dreamy drawer! Alright, do you have a junk drawer or two or four??

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Parties:
Tip Junkie
Home Stories from A to Z
A Bowl Full of Lemons
Far Above Rubies:
Not Just a Housewife
Clean and Scentsible
Women Living Well
Organize and Decorate Everything
Raising Homemakers
Delightful Order
House of Hepworths
Tidy Mom
The Shabby Nest
Funky Junk Interiors
Ask Anna
DIY Showoff

How to fake a clean bathroom by my guest Anna

Hey there Organizing Made Fun readers, I am super excited to be here with you today!  I just love Becky and I was thrilled when she asked me to share with all of you!  I write a blog called Ask Anna and it's filled with cleaning, organizing and decorating tips.  Today I'm going to share one of my favorite cleaning posts with you, how to {fake} a clean bathroom.

Yep, you read that right.  I know we all hate cleaning the bathrooms, so today I'm going to give you a few tips for how to {fake} a clean bathroom.  But I'm also going to give you a few tips for how to make {actually} cleaning your bathroom easier.

Let's start with {faking} it.

Rule #1: when you invite guests over always make sure the bathrooms are clean.  Most people will not notice if other parts of your house are dirty but when they are in the bathroom, all alone & looking around, I guarantee they will notice if your bathroom is dirty.  But we don't always have time to clean the bathrooms before our guests arrive so here's how you can make it look spotless in less than 5 minutes.

Step 1: Squirt one pump of hand soap into the sink.  Turn on the water and use your hand to "wash" out the sink.  Use your fingernail to get up any soap scum around the drain.  Once all the soap is rinsed out use the hand towel to wipe down the sides of the sink, the faucet and then to wipe down the counter.  Toss the hand towel in the dirty clothes.  Replace it with a clean one.  Always set out a clean hand towel for your guests.

Step 2: Next use a Clorox wipe to wipe down the toilet.  Wipe the lid, the seat and the base of the toilet.  Toss it in the trash.  

Step 3: Use another Clorox wipe to clean up any hair, lint, etc. off the floor.  Toss it in the trash.  

Step 4: Empty the trash can.

Voila!  Your bathroom looks sparkly clean and in less than 5 minutes!  I think this whole process takes me about 3 minutes.  I know you are probably shocked that I "cheat" sometimes!  Yep, every once in a while...

Okay, now to the real deal, {actually} cleaning the bathrooms. Believe it or not cleaning the bathrooms doesn't have to be a big chore.  Using these simple tips will make the task easier to manage, and it will make it so that you are more likely to actually clean the bathrooms.

Tip 1: Have cleaning products close by.  We used to live in a 2-story house and I started to realize that I hated cleaning the upstairs bathrooms because the cleaning products were always downstairs.  So to fix that I bought a second set of products and kept them stored in one of the upstairs vanities.  Now that we live in a single-story house I only have one set of products but I keep them close to the bathrooms.  If I have to go out of my way to get my cleaning products {just being honest here} then I am less likely to actually do the chore when I have the time.  For example, my daughter loves to take super long baths.  Since I can't leave her alone in the bath for too long, I use this time to clean her bathroom.  Having cleaning products under the sink in her bathroom is super handy, I'm stuck in there anyways, might as well make good use of the time!

Tip 2: This is along the same lines as number one but it's specifically for the shower.  Keep shower cleaning products in the shower.  I don't know about you but I always forget to clean the shower when I'm cleaning the bathrooms.  To solve that problem keep a spray bottle of vinegar and a sponge in the shower and spray it down every couple of days.  Then once a month you can take the time to deep clean your shower with baking soda and vinegar.

Tip 3: Use Clorox wipes to clean the floors.  How often do you mop?  I'm guessing probably not very often because I don't know anyone that likes to mop.  To save yourself from having to mop your bathroom every week use Clorox wipes to stay on top of the messes.  Every time I clean the bathrooms I use a Clorox wipe to wipe the floor all around the toilet, as well as the base of the toilet.  This trick will keep it clean on a weekly basis and then once a month you can take the time to mop.

Tip 4: Use Clorox wipes to wipe down the baseboards, the doors, door handles, light switches and light fixtures.  Bathrooms get dusty very quickly so if you stay on top of cleaning these items then you won't every have to do a major clean.

If you follow these simple tips your bathrooms will stay super clean! 
 Here are a few of my other favorite tips: {click on the picture to take you to the post}

Organized Kitchen Cabinets

How to Organize the Linen Closet

How to Organize Manuals and Warranties

Thanks for letting me be here with you today!  
I look forward to seeing you over at Ask Anna!!!

Anna is MY kind of gal! She is organized and clean! Well, she's also very sweet and you should REALLY check out her blog cause you'll get a lot more ideas for cleaning and organizing! I'll be back soon from Nashville with more AMAZING organizing inspiration next week!

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For the love of organizing: Baking supplies

Baking is one of those fun things that conjure up memories of Mom and daughter or son and Mom in the kitchen...and enjoying licking the spoon! Right?

But, getting all the supplies to the counter can be a pain! I'm an avid believer in trays...love them, use them all over my house! So, I combined my love of baking with my love of trays.

And I came up with an easy way to do that. In my pantry, I've set all my baking supplies on a tray. 

Then, I just grab the entire tray and carry it out to the counter. 

Wow...has that made it much easier! I LOVE organizing and trays! They both make me happy! How about you? Do you have any fun ways to use a tray?

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Parties:
A Bowl Full of Lemons Kitchen Organization

Announcement: Winner of Menu Organizer

I am SO impressed with of all you! MOST of you plan your menu. Those who don't, said that they WANT to and should start! 

It makes me giddy to know that you are also so excited to get even more organized! Here's a few of my favorites quotes from your comments:

I absolutely do not do any menu planning whatsoever. Hence, why I NEED to win this! LOL! Help a sista out, pick me!!!  

I don't plan my meals. That's why we end up eating out all the time.  

I would love to win this...I can use all the help I can get!    

I liked Organizer on Facebook. I love drooling over all their products at Target!  

Aaaah! I have a monthly recurring plan to finally PLAN my meals instead of winging it every night, but I can never ACTUaLLy do it!!! Maybe THIS would help me finally DO it!!! :)   

I have really good intentions to plan weekly menus, however, with my lack of organizing skill I haventl gotten very far with the planning, That is why I would love to win the menu planner! Help.......   

…My current system involves writing it on a piece of paper and putting it on my fridge so this owuld be a huge improvement! 

OK - this one I was like, what, how did she see that in my kitchen? 

I was inspired by your neatly written meal planning calendars in your kitchen, Becky! …

I looked at the email address....Turns out it was a girlfriend of mine!  

OK...so you really want to know WHO won the Menu Organizer from Organizher, right?

It's Chelsea! Her "liking" Organizher on Facebook won for her...Congratulations, Chelsea!!

She mentioned on her comment RIGHT BEFORE this one...

So, I think it's safe to say she will definitely use this! Also, for the rest of you who did NOT win, you can find these at Target. You can also check out their products here on their Facebook page.

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Organized Reader: Missy's amazing closet organizers

I've got another GREAT organized reader for you today!

Meet Missy from Lookie What I Did!

Hello!  My name is Missy and I am the creator of LookieWhatIDid.  Somewhere between Baton Rouge and Dallas, I became a serious crafter!  I stalked blog's for years before giving in to my friends advice that I should start my own.  I can tell you that after 9 months of blogging it was the best decision I have ever made.  I am a stay-at-home Mom to a wonderful son that is in school during the days and this blog completely fills the void that I was experiencing.  

I grew up in a small town in Arkansas with a big class of 48!  I attended college in Arkansas where I met my husband and later moved to Houston so he could attend graduate school.  We have called Texas our home for the majority of our married life with a brief stop in Baton Rouge for three years.   

I am perfectly content with my life and so blessed to have a great network of friends and family that have supported me in this journey.  

This is probably one of the most unique organizers I have ever seen! She made both a his closet organizer and hers closet organizer. Aren't they amazing?

She made two jewelry stands from a thrift store find.

She's also got an amazing craft room, with this beautiful hutch and a darling jewelry organizer.

She is very talented and I love that she's made organizers with her crafty talent! Click on any of the above links to go over and check out the full tutorial on how she did her organizing project. It's amazing how some creative thinking can get you something made just for your own needs! 

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Kids' closet ideas and help

I have a thing about having an organized closet. It's one of my most favorite parts of our home - now! They didn't come that way.  Each year since we moved in 2006, I would save up and buy an Elfa Closet System when they went on sale each year. 

I started with my daughters' closet first. I thought it would be fun to show you some of the ways - past and present - how I have organized my kids' closets. Some of the ways worked good, and other ways not so good.

When we first moved into our house, I set up my daughter's closet like this. Some of the things that worked were the hamper in the closet, the extra closet rod, and the hanging shoe storage. At the time, she was 2 1/2 and had a hard time with those drawers in the dresser. You see, this closet is ON TOP of a set of drawers:

So, being that little was hard to climb up in there. The hooks are still there and they work great. At age 8, we have now thinned out the amount of clothing and shoes she has - she is the ONLY granddaughter on my hubby's side {with five grandsons} so everyone likes to get her clothes, which is nice.

Anyway, once I got her closet system {which this is right before we put the closet doors back on cause it doesn't stay this "perfect" looking}, it had a lot more storage that was much more useable space than before. The boxes with lids was a big fail - don't put lids on kids boxes cause it's too hard for them to put stuff away. The hamper I got was just OK - I later swapped it out for a different smaller, more durable one. The adjustable shelving was why I got the Elfa system - cause I've rearranged it as her clothes have gotten longer.

You can see this is now working for her the best. I've moved everything around and she's now old enough to reach up and get the open containers in and out, or just pop the stuff into them {no lids}. They are the Ikea Trofast containers. I even fit her huge Barbie Townhouse in there! Remember that I've also now got her drawers MORE organized and folded her shirts so they line up neatly - so she can grab things out without ruining the whole pile of folded clothes.

Unfortunately, I can NOT find any {before} closet pictures of my son's closet in his room. But, I did find one of his closet emptied just before we put his new closet system in - where it's freshly painted. So, I made a mock up of what it had on it. Inside was one long closet rod and some shelves - which we made the best use of, putting games, toys, and shoes on them and kept them as tidy as possible. They worked pretty good.

It had these three sliding doors {old wood ones} and it was impossible for him to get to something on one side or the other very easily. You know, you slide the middle back and forth but can never get to the other side fully. So, when we installed his new closet system last year, we decided to just take off the doors completely.

That's because he's proven to be able to keep up with his messes and is a good cleaner! {That's not to say it looks perfect all the time, but he's done pretty good at age 12+ to keep it looking decent most of the time}. So, you can see I had it designed {which is free} and even after the design I changed my mind and we put it in differently. But, that's why I like these closet systems cause I could change my mind! I also decided that the second hanging area for him was unnecessary - he's a boy with {maybe} ten shirts/pants fancy enough to necessitate hanging up. So, I saved the bottom rod so that IF he ever wears dress shirts {should he get a desk job in high school?} I can have more hanging space, but for now his hamper is down there.

My son, here, is so proud of his new closet that was just installed. He looks so small here - he's grown a LOT in the last year and a half! What works in this closet is display area - he LOVES having a place to put his Legos he just made.

The drawers underneath hold Legos and Knex parts that he can pull out and even take the basket out and carry across the room. The hamper is the perfect size. The drawers for his clothes are great and his shelves for his shoes work well - not nearly as many shoes as sister!

Even if you can't have a closet system of some sort, you can take some of the ideas from this to help you figure out ways to help organize your kids closets - or even your own. And, if you want MORE inspiration for kids' closets, make sure you follow my kids' closet Pinterest board! It's going to give you even more ideas!

 

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