Your Own Gift Wrapping Station

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My biggest mess in my office right now is gift wrap.  I moved a year ago, but never unpacked that box. Since Christmas the box has been broken on two sides and the contents strewn around my office. If I showed you a picture you might lose all respect for me.  So here’s one that is inspiring me.

I’ve been researching the best options for me in this home.  At my old home, we had an unfinished storage room in the basement.  Darren hung pegboard over the deep freeze and I used inexpensive peg hooks to organize all my stuff.  It was lovely.  I used my deep freeze for a work table and all my supplies were at easy reach. I had a Rubbermaid tub (not see through) that I stored my purchased gifts in on the shelves nearby.  So handy.

In this house, my office is where I like to do all the gift storing and wrapping for now, but I have no wall space.  The ceiling is A-line and it angles down to 2 feet up from the floor on two sides.  I’ve covered the two triangle shaped walls with shelving and desks. I put a couch on one side of the room and shoved all my ugly stuff behind it.  Only, there’s more ugly stuff than couch, so it peeks out.    There is a small closet in the front of the room that holds the furnace for the top two floors of the house.  I’m tempted to hang pegboard in there to store all my wrapping stuff. It’s not very big in there and I’d actually have to do the wrapping somewhere else.  That’s a mess waiting to happen now that I think about it.

 

My other choice is to set up in the storage area in the basement.  It’s already lined with pegboard! I haven’t decided what I want to store in that room yet.  My freeze dried food, home canning supplies, and Christmas stuff is in there now.  Decisions, decisions! There would be room down there for gift storage and a work table too.  Then the stuff behind my couch might start to disappear….

I have my Amazon shopping cart full of adorable pegboard wire baskets that would have me in good shape right away.  They are super affordable too.

So what about you?  How do you organize your gift wrap?  What would you do in my shoes?

Update:  I did the pegboard in the storage room in my basement and I love it!  When we finish the basement, it might get turned into a pool table room.  Then I’ll have to figure something else out.

5 Steps for Organizational Bliss aka How to Organize Almost Anything

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Drumrolllllll please. Are you ready for this?  5 Steps makes it sound so easy doesn’t it? I hope you can have fun with this and look at all your stuff with fresh eyes.  Try to think outside the box… :).

Love baskets for organizing. These are Threshold baskets from Target and fit in their closetmaid systems.

Love baskets for organizing. These are Threshold baskets from Target and fit in their Closetmaid systems.

1. Take a before photo of the mess.  You’ll be glad you did when it’s awesome later!  Then, remove everything from the space you are organizing (even if it is just to the other side of the same room).  Try to put papers with papers, photos with photos etc. as you stack stuff. But don’t spend a lot of time on that right now.

 

Pegboard's are inexpensive and very versatile. This garden center idea is from Martha Stewart. Think what a pegboard could do in a home office, closet, or sewing center?

Pegboard’s are inexpensive and very versatile. This garden center idea is from Martha Stewart. Think what a pegboard could do in a home office, closet, or sewing center?

2. . Vacuum and dust everything thoroughly.  Take a picture of the clean space.  Use your cellphone, so the picture will be portable.  And drink in the emptiness of it all.

I love labels and matching containers. I use what I have, figure out how much it will cost to upgrade to matching and then save a little cash in an envelope every month until I can go for it.

3.  Measure the space.  Make notes of anything that might be important later such as space between windows, height to the window sill.  etc.  Type this info into a note sheet on your phone so it will be handy with your blank room pictures for shopping purposes.

 

Studio from http://annasigga.typepad.com/photos/my_studio/index.html So many kinds of lovely here!

Studio from http://annasigga.typepad.com/photos/my_studio/index.html So many kinds of lovely here!

4.  Sort through your items throwing all trash away, recycling what you can, and filling a box for donation or garage sale. While you’re sorting ask yourself:

“Do I use it?”

“Do I want to decorate a room around this object?”

“What’s the worse thing that would happen if I got rid of this?”

“What’s the consequence if I keep it?”

Make note of what you have left.  What kind of storage solutions do you need? A gift wrapping center?  Photo albums?  A scrapbook supply corral? Ask yourself, “What is causing this chaos?” “What would make it better?” Create a wish list of the items that would make your space ideal. Don’t worry about expense at this point.

I would LOVE to have a linen closet like this. Love labels, love matching bins. Read more about it at Simplified Bee: http://www.simplifiedbee.com/2011/06/stylish-organized-linen-closet-before-after.html

I would LOVE to have a linen closet like this. Love labels, love matching bins. Read more about it at Simplified Bee: http://www.simplifiedbee.com/2011/06/stylish-organized-linen-closet-before-after.html

5.  Shop your house for immediate storage solutions.  Is there a bookcase that you can re-purpose from another room? Canning jars?  Washed-out food containers?  Shoe boxes?  Make it as lovely and useful as you can without spending a dime. As you put things away, put items that you use all the time in easy reach.  Use them every day?  They can go on top of a desk or counter top.  Use them once a week?  Slip them into a drawer or cupboard and make sure nothing gets put on top of them.

Take another picture!  You need to compare the mess, with empty, to how it looks now.

 You should be exhausted right now.  If not, you cheated  you have amazing stamina! Now you can have a healthy snack and scour the internet looking for ideas.  Set the timer so you don’t forget to cook dinner, lol.  I like to get ideas from pinterest <3 ; houzz.com; potterybarn.com; and iheartorganizing.com.

After I get a general idea of the items that would make my organizing  masterpiece complete, I start shopping for the lowest cost options.  My favorite places to shop for these types of things are:  Dollar Tree; Amazon.com; Target; Old Time Pottery (especially for baskets!); Hobby Lobby (shelf brackets–yes please!); and Jo-Ann.  If I had an Ikea I would be all over that.  (We are getting one in 2014!!!!).

I do a lot of shopping online, but then like to go visit the item in store if possible.  That’s when my cellphone pictures come in handy–and my measurement list from before. I can hold up my picture of my room next to the item and imagine how it will look.  Sometimes I buy several things just to try them out and take back what didn’t work.

Since September  I’ve had a cash envelope for organizing and home decor items.  I love that!  Before I had to squeeze these kind of items out of my music lesson earnings or garage sale cash.  I love having a set amount to count on each month that I can choose to save for larger items or gradually pick up a few smaller ones.  It may be years before my home is the organized paradise I imagine, but every day is better than the day before.

How about you?  What’s your favorite way to organize?  What are  favorite organizing products? Do you have a money saving secret to help us organize for less?

Organization Week is Here!

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My favorite cabinet so far!

My cabinet in my old house–sniff!  Still working towards this type of organization at the new place.

Organizing is awesome.  I’m not saying I’m good at it, but I really appreciate it.  When I’m organized I save time and get more done.  I can find things.  My rooms look lovely.  Organizing saves money.  On the surface, it doesn’t look like it–especially if you need to purchase some things to get the job done right.  But when you know where your stuff is and can get to it, you don’t buy it again because you can’t find it.

I hope you will be ready with your tips and ideas in the comments every day.   Here’s what’s up this week so you can open your mental files:

Monday:  How to organize almost anything

Tuesday: Organizing wrapping paper, cards, and gifting

Wednesday: Linen Closets and Medicines

Thursday: Sewing and Craft Areas

Friday: Clothes

Saturday: Kid’s papers, rooms and toys

I’m making a distinction this week between organizing and cleaning.  Organizing is decluttering and giving every necessary object a home that is convenient to use. Cleaning is removing dirt.  Cleaning an organized space takes very little time 🙂

Not a Swimming Pool

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But I’m excited. Here’s a before shot:

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This is actually a picture of the twin closet in the adjoining room. But they were set up the same. I painted it ultra pure white, even the ceiling. It helps reflect the most amount off light in the windowless space, and shows the clothes in their true colors.

And After:

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I’d like to make cute labels for the baskets. But for now I’m just putting things away.  RugsUSA.com is hinting at a nice black friday rug sale and I’m thinking about getting one of these for the closet floor if they go cheap enough. Do you have a favorite?

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Or

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I also plan to look for an affordable large framed mirror for the end of the room. Old Time Pottery usually has somethig fantastic at a good price.

I snagged this one on second discount from Big Lots:

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It’s too girly for them though. I hung it in the Living room already even though I still need to paint. You can see a smidge of the new paint color peeking to the right of the mirror.

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It’s a light taupy gray and looks awesome with white trim. I used it in the bottom half of my dining room.

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She’s already to lay the paper floor over the ugly vinyl. I’m so glad I made a detailed tutorial on how to do this a few years ago on my blog. It’s been so long, I need a refresher. Caleb is holding his breath for me to finish it, so he can have his birthday party. He was 11 October 22nd and still hasn’t gotten his cake or presents yet!  Whatever I do for his party, it better be good. The saying goes, “Good things come to those who wait.

The Best News!

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The following is not the best news…..that comes at the end, lol. Grant has the chicken pox…I think.  Fever for 2 days, spots starting in the diaper area, spreading all over….  He was pretty miserable before the spots broke out yesterday evening.  But feels a lot better now. This is perfect timing for us.  I hope this doesn’t sound mean, but it would be nice if Brandon and W.D. come down with it soon.  Then the whole family would have life time immunity.

Eating Mulberries from our trees

My Green Beans and Okra are up.

The sweet bell peppers have blossomed–the chili peppers have not.  Maybe they won’t cross-pollinate?

Our house in Kansas City is listed for sale!  4 bedroom 2 full 2 half baths.  All new inside…..you’d love it.  And it’s priced to sell.

And the best news of all:

Mark is coming to build out my office shelves tomorrow.  We’ve been busy all weekend priming and painting the cut boards.

I ordered 200 of these last night to organize all my fabric with. It saved me more than $380 to do it this way than to buy the boards manufactured for organizing fabric. I found the idea from pinterest which took me to Smashed Peas and Carrots.  Check out the inspiring photo below.  Click on the blog title to find out more.

Meet a Superstar and enter a Giveaway

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The Giveaway is now Closed.  What a great group of entries!

Sandi Sullivan, AKA Mom CEO,  helps mothers start their own home businesses in the natural household products industry.  One of my readers, Danielle Ray, took a risk, clicked on the square button ad and sent Sandi an email.  Now she is head of the fastest growing team in the company!

Intrigued?  Me too!  Let’s ask Daneille a few questions:

Q.  Tell us about your family.

I have been married for 13 years.   My husband is a high school student pastor so our lives revolve around teenagers!   We have 4 kids: Bronson 11, Cohen 9, Lanna 7 and Gavin 5.  We raise chickens for eggs, take care of a garden and we always have a project going!  Right now we are adding on a covered porch to the back of the house.  We also home school so we can have the flexibility to take trips and vacations when we want.    I think my goals for my children are like most people, I want them to be independent adults who make wise choices and learn from their failures.  I want them to be confident enough to do something different if what they are doing is not working.   I want them to be able to set goals and pursue them.  I want them to be able to get their groove on on the dance floor. I want them to do hard things.  I want to be a good example to them.

Q.  What was your career before starting your home business?

A. Up until last month, I worked as a nurse on weekends in Labor and Delivery helping new people come into the world. While my job was very rewarding it also required me to be away from my family for 12 hour shifts. Our hospital is requiring more and more classes, certifications, and in-service hours in order to keep working. I realized no matter how much I worked my income potential was not going to change without sacrificing more time. The month I decided to resign, my check from M* was $11,580. I figured that I would have had to work at the hospital everyday, 12 hour shifts for an entire month to make that much money. The difference is that I had only worked about 30 hours total for the whole month in my M* business!

Q. How did you first find out about MomCEO?

A. I have been following The Grocery Shrink blog since the summer of 2010.  I was looking for ways to stretch our dollars with 4 kids!  I love the advice, stories, and encouragement Angela offered.  One story was about a lady, Sandi Sullivan.  She talked about how she was able to be at home with her family but still have an income working her business in her spare time.  I sent her a message through the MomCEO button and she called me the next day.

Q.  What made you take the leap and join Sandi’s team?

A. After talking with Sandi I decided her company really met a need we had in our own family.  Not only did she offer an alternative to conventional products, but they were focused on wellness and better health.  That really sparked my interest because I have been a nurse for 15 years. I know it is better to prevent health problems than to treat them after they have already started!  From the products to the business concept, it really made sense.\

Q.  How has starting your own business changed your life

A. I would say my life has been “enhanced”.  We have always managed our money well.  We have a budget.  We enjoy “re-purposing” things, growing a garden and raising chickens.  The difference is that now, we have the time to do more.  The things that we dreamed of doing one day, we are getting to do now.  We have been able to save enough money for our whole family to visit my sister in South Africa.  The best part is, I don’t have to get permission for extended time off!  I have been able to set a schedule, and work as much or as little as I wanted.  Time is a freedom that you do not have working a normal 9-5 job (well, for a nurse a 7-7 job).   I am able to stay home with my kids, but still have a full-time income

Q.  Your personal team is now the fastest growing division in the nation.  What things did you do that were so successful

A.  Our success comes from working together!  It really is about being a team and helping others reach their goals.  Some people are just looking to supplement their income, some want to replace their income.  Sandi has coached my team and helped us every step of the way.  It helps that she was there to guide us to avoid the trial and error that comes with starting something new.  She helped us do well from the start.  Some people can set high goals and get there, but for me, it was all about baby steps.  The best part of setting little goals is reaching them, celebrating, and setting the next goal.  This is what made it fun for the whole family.  We made goal charts that my kids filled in so they felt like they were a part of the business too.  I don’t know how it happened that we became the fastest growing, I just know it has been fun.  So, I guess fast is fun

Q.  How does your family feel about your home business?

A.It really has been a blessing for our family in more ways than just making money, we are also saving money. By learning about a new way to shop, and planning what we need for the month, it has kept me from running to the store every week to pick up a few things and leave having spent $75 each time. After 5 months of shopping with M* my husband called me in a panic because he thought I forgot to make the house payment. He said we had more money than usual in our checking account. I assured him I had made the house payment and it was because I was not going to the store every week now. The savings are continuing to accumulate. We still shop primarily the perimeter of the store, cook and eat at home, and wait for things to go on sale. For all those little things that seemed to rob our budget before, we are getting better quality products that we use delivered right to our door.My kids appreciate our home based business too. We went to the beach last week. We stayed in a very nice beach house, went to meet “Winter” from the movie Dolphin Tales, took an ocean safari boat ride and played on the beach. Bronson, my oldest said, “We never took vacations like this before. It must be because of M*.” We are getting to do more. We have more time, more money, and more dreams to fulfill. It has become our motto to save more, give more, and do more. I remember the way I thought it was going to be when I became an adult and had a family of my own… now I feel like I am doing life the way I had always imagined.

Q. What advice would you give to someone considering their own homebased business?

A. The best advice I can give to anyone trying to start a home-based business is to team up! It is hard to stay motivated and do well without other people doing it with you. It also helps when you are doing something that whole family can appreciate… getting your children involved helps them understand that the time you are not at home with them is being spent reaching your goal. We always celebrate check day and do something special… the great thing about kids is that getting go to Waffle House is a treat!

Q. You have generously offered a giveaway of some of your favorite products. Tell us about them.

A.  I love our laundry soap.  It sounds funny to say you love a cleaning product but I really do!  I also love the Sol-U-Mel.  It has so many uses but my favorite is as an air freshener.  The best part about all our products is that there is nothing harmful in them.  When I am done cleaning my house does not smell like chemicals, just clean

Thank you for your blog and the time you take to encourage others.  I hope this in some way encourages your readers too.  Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to share.

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If what Danielle is doing sounds like a good fit for you, click here to contact her and find out more.
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Now for the giveaway:  You can win a sparkling home cleaning pack including:Laundry 4-Pack with 96-load MelaPower 6x and MelaBrite 6x Plus DiamondBrite Dishwasher Detergent and Sol-U-Mel all purpose cleaner

$75.00 Value!

To enter the giveaway, simply leave a comment below and be sure to include your email address.  The winner will be chosen this Friday, May 4th a noon–right after I send out the new menus :).

Office Inspiration

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I’m so thankful to have the space above the garage for my office.  It’s a large room with a triangle ceiling and very little wall space.  This is a recipe for creativity when it comes to finding places to put things.

Here’s another triangle shaped room.  I love the way they built shelves around the windows with a seat across the front.  If I were to do this, I would open the bench along the front for baskets filled with supplies. (I’m not sure on the original source for this image, I got it from pinterest which got it from photobucket.)

This next room from Sew Many Ways is chock full of ideas.  Take her black bookcases filled with supplies for example. They are just plain cheap bookcases with crown molding added and repainted.  I encourage you to click the picture to read the whole post.  I espeically love her motto:  “The Happiest people don’t have the best of everything…they just make the best of everything they have.”  She’s a kindrid spirit (as Anne would say.)

Next is another inspiring sewing room with tips for displaying a fabric stash.

She even has a lower cost solution that I’m adding to my to do list.

Porch Update

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View from the street. Notice the one blue chair is visible while the other seems to melt away.

It was too hot to paint over the weekend, so my chairs and door still aren’t done.  I tried and the paint bubbled up like it was boiling, lol.  It looks like next Friday will be cool enough to paint again.

Before

After

I got up early enough to paint my new house numbers before it got over 100 degrees and they look so nice.  The trash is off the porch.  The new hanging baskets are in place  I had already bought them on sale before reading about the window boxes in your fantastic comments on the last post.  I think I would love the window box look next year, but for now this was an afforadable alternative.

We planted the hostas, which aren’t too happy about the heat.  Next year they will be showstoppers. 

 While running my errends I grabbed a new door mat monogrammed with a C.  Our old doormat was 10 years old.  I tried to throw it out, but DH moved it to a less visible door where he thought it could still trap some dirt.  Sometimes he thinks thriftier than I do, lol.

I also scrubbed the front of the house with a hose and soapy sponge.  The white areas really need a fresh coat of paint, but for now it’s a big improvement.  You are right, the porch needs painted.  We bought the stain last fall and still haven’t used it.  I’ve never done anything like that before, and I’m afraid I’ll make a mess of it.

So much better without the trash!  I had planned to recover the setee in the corner to use in my kitchen.  But now I think it may not be sturdy enough to go through the effort.  Some day soon you may drive by and find it at the curb.  It would be a relief from my mind to have the project off my plate.

The two rockers look lonely to me.  I’m having second thoughts about the table I found.  It’s more money than I was hoping to spend and doesn’t have much surface on the top.  I did some price shopping Saturday for cushions and tables and came up empty handed.  I may have waited too long to shop summer clearance…there wasn’t much left.  Now I’m deciding if I want to wait until next year, or look for some outdoor fabric to sew.   Since I still haven’t found a lot of extra time in my day apart from basic chores and holding Grant….I’m leaning towards next year, lol.

How to Organize Your Kitchen Drawer in 10 Minutes or Less

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I’d like to introduce you to Sinea.  She blogs over at Ducks in a Row and loves to be organized.  Here’s her step by step method for organizing a kitchen drawer: 

Many thanks to Angela for the privilege of guest posting on The Grocery Shrink.  I was thrilled when I found out that April was “Organizing Month”. Though my house might not always show it, organizing is my thing and I love to make it simple and easy enough for anyone to do! 

So, let’s take on a project that takes no time at all:  a kitchen drawer.  My kitchen has several drawers.  One for cooking utensils, one for silverware and then there’s the “other one”. 

The “other one” has been unfortunately named “The Junk Drawer”, for obvious reasons. I think it believes it, too.  It gets junkie really fast.  It should contain pens, pencils, scotch tape, safety pins, glue stick, new birthday candles, bottle opener, can opener, screw driver and maybe a notepad.  What it often contains is beyond imagination.  When I found out that I would be guest blogging, this topic was the obvious choice.  The Junk Drawer needs to be brought back under control!

Organizing a drawer shouldn’t be a big deal.  After all, it is just one drawer!  Then, why do we let them get so out of hand?

First of all, it’s not our fault.  Kitchen drawers are handled many times a day by a number of users.  Each person has a different interest in its contents and doesn’t care at all what condition it’s left in, just as long as they find what they need.  With that many “helpers”, it doesn’t take long for a neat, organized drawer to become a tangled mess.

Second, clutter sneaks up on you.  You don’t notice it until it gets really bad.

The Great Organizing Secret: when life is spinning out of control, clean a drawer. That’s right. Organizing even one drawer gives you a momentary success, sense of accomplishment and peace. It is proof that there is at least one thing that you can control. Organizing a drawer can be downright therapeutic! 

Now, get ready for my little “disaster area”:

 

What a mess! 

*When I emptied the drawer I was horrified to find that as much stuff had slipped underneath the dividers than what could be seen on top.

Wait till you see the pile!

  

How to turn it around:

Multi-task. Select a moment that you will be waiting in the kitchen, anyway.  While the coffee is brewing is a likely choice.  Or, how about when you’re waiting for something in the oven to get done? Those are good times to tackle this little project.  It should take 10 minutes, or less. 

  1. Clear a space on the kitchen counter or table. 
  2. Lay a dishtowel out and tip the drawer over onto it.  (If you use kitchen drawer dividers, pull them out and tip their contents onto the towel, then scoop out the rest of the drawer’s contents to add to the pile.)
  3. Tilt the empty drawer over the sink or waste basket to get out the crumbs and residue.
  4. Take a damp sponge, soaked with Orange Cleaner and clean the drawer out.  Dry it.
  5. 5.       Do the same for your separators.  Soap them up, rinse them and dry them. (If they are made of wood, use Pledge or wood cleaner instead of soapy water.)
  6. Put the drawer back in place.
  7. Add the clean dividers.

 

Now, turn your attention to the kitchen counter.

You will be sorting three groups:   1. throw away   2. put away   3. back in drawer

 

 

 

 

 

See what I mean? 

 

Who would have thought so much would be hiding in that little drawer?

 

1. Throw away

Bring your waste basket right up next to you. Start picking out the scrap papers, old plastic bag ties, expired coupons and other trash. Quickly rifle through it, sorting out the trash and toss it in the garbage.

2. Put away

Some things undoubtedly have shown up in that drawer that don’t belong there. Use a bowl or small basket for the “put away” group.  If they go in a different drawer in the kitchen, quickly lay them aside on the counter to take care of in a minute.  The items that don’t belong in the kitchen go in the basket to be carted to where they do belong when this job is over.

3. Back in drawer

Finally, put the items back that do belong in the drawer.  Make it neat. Stand back and look.  Ahhh.  Feels good. Ten minutes and the job is done! 

It really did take 10 minutes.

Except for stopping as my family kept asking me what I was doing…and with a camera, no less! 

Many blessings to the Coffman family as they welcome the arrival of their new baby.

Open invitation to Angela and her many readers: please stop by my blog, Ducks ‘n a Row, anytime!

I’d love to hear from you.   www.ducksnarow.com

‘Till we meet again…

Sinea

Declutting Begins in Your Brain Part 3

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Here’s the final installment from Jill Farris on Decluttering.  I don’t know about you, but my house is already looking a ton better!  I can’t wait to see what’s next:

Continue to go room by room getting rid of thirty-one items a day. Don’t be dismayed if it seems like there is still a lot to do even though you are discarding huge amounts of stuff. Some of us have layers of items to remove!

Once you have the obvious areas of the room de-cluttered, then you can begin with the hidden sources of frustration. For example, I got the floor, book baskets and bookshelves in our bedroom culled of clutter but the desk caused me the greatest amount of frustration because I couldn’t find needed bills in a timely fashion. Cleaning out the rest of the room freed me up to focus on the all-so-important desk!

There are several things I have noticed as I’ve moved around the room and my brain needs to think about them to prevent future clutter.

1)      I had at least three copies of the same bill because I knew I couldn’t pay them on time and avoided looking at them (note to self, open the envelopes and file immediately and toss the late notices in the trash).

2)      I have too many books. I have boxes of books in the garage but I don’t remember what I have (note to self, if I want to reread a good book I will be able to find it again. I don’t have to OWN all my favorites).

3)      The ironing board and iron take up too much space and should not be left out constantly in our room (note to self, either use the little hand- held steamer that my thoughtful oldest son gave me for Christmas or iron clothes on one or two days and put them away).

4)      Because I like reading at night I end up with a pile of books and papers near the bed (note to self, get a night stand and a basket to put near the bed to contain clutter).

5)      Put a trash can in this room. Why have I never kept a trash can near the desk-I generate lots of trash there? (Note to self…I hate plastic trash cans like the one we have in the bathroom-maybe I can find a prettier basket to use and get over this trash can avoidance phobia!).

It’s time to get back to the regular schedule of the day. As I walk out of my less cluttered bedroom I stop for one more glance around the room. I know the rest of our house will assail me with clutter and projects but I tell myself that I will get to it all eventually 31 items at a time because de-cluttering starts in our brain and my brain has decided it likes a neater, more peaceful house!