Making room.

I am starting to feel like we really have too much stuff. I thought about what we acquired recently and am thinking of what can move out to make room.

I recently bought 3 new bottles (2 as back up I'm trying to wash Penny's one bottle after work each day.) I packed away 5 of Ellie's sippy cups. That freed up space in the cupboard bin for not only the extra bottles but also the extra milk storage bags. (Bought a 4x25=100 pack and that box doesn't fit in the drawer with the ziplocks, the 25packs do so 3 packs are in the box still.)

I also moved infrequently used kitchen gadgets out of that drawer to make room for the pump parts/pump bottles.

My next big focus is the office. I have a wonderful dresser I have previously devoted to gift wrap and generic gifts and extra goodie bag fillers.
Up in the attic the other day I found a box with some gift stuff in it and realized that I wrap gifts so infrequently that I could totally go into the attic for that task. And thought of using plastic totes like I used to for gift wrap stuff.
Looking in the office I see a short dresser that is half toys half Ellie's socks tights and panties. There's a drawer in penny's dresser that had attic stuff in it, so I re-arranged a few drawers and can move that little dresser up to the attic for gift wrap. I will keep one drawer of a few generic gift bags and tissue for last minute wrapping down in the office but this will free up so much space in my office!
Or I might keep the little dresser in the office for storage. I will decide.

I will also be relocating some glassware and books to the attic too.
There's just too much stuff in my office!

I know some FlySisters are probably thinking I should purge stuff to make room. I know I know. Tell hubby that.

I will be back with updates.

For now here is a little before pic to keep me accountable:

Looking up - Kelly's Kitchen Mission

Above my cabinets I have some baskets for storing the less often needed items, I have worked on this area before, It just needed a little purging and some labels, which I bought months ago.

I also wiped down all the cabinets up there that I could reach and the top of the microwave

I drawer/bag/shelf a day challenge day 1

15 minute De-clutter Zone 1

Bathroom toiletries purge. Day 4 Zone 3 De-Clutter Games

The Event was to head to the main bathroom and toss out/give away old make-up, perfume, lotions, etc. in order to do that, I had to do some sorting and organizing to get to everything. It had been awhile since I cleaned up the bathroom cabinet. There were untouched items in there ever since and I was feeling more generous.

A few days ago, during an impromptu Ellie bathtime, I was able to do a fun 27 thing fling. I combined all 3 "hair" drawers into 1. Ellie's hair pretties had just been kinda stuck in random places so I made one of the drawers hers and picked 27ish hair ties/headbands to give away.

Bathroom cabinet before the purge (after combining the 3 hair drawers into one)

TOP Shelf BEFORE

BOTTOM shelf Before

AFTER:

(i actually had another shoebox for the items overflowing in the top right box.)

I got rid of all of the expired, old, yucky, or toxic medicines, lotions etc. Any that were still good but that I wont use, went in the GIVE AWAY pile and packed up into the box with hair ties and other random stuff. I put a hook up for my seldomly used hair dryer, I need another hook for my pink/black travel toiletries bag in the back.

THE GIVE AWAY PILE:

THE TRASH BAG

(not pictured are a big bag of magazines my husband doesnt like to throw out. They moved to his space)

Bedroom De-Clutter Games Day 2 Zone 4

I have kept the bedroom picked up the last few days but I knew I had a jumbled bedside table drawer- not a good idea because Ellie loves drawers.

I grabbed a bin and quickly pulled out anything that didn't need to be bedside.

 It could use a little bit of compartmentalization but I only had a couple minutes and wanted to put everything away first, while doing that Ellie needed me.

all that is left are a couple hair ties, teething aids, book light, phone stylus, coaster and headphones for late night podcasts or netflix viewing, and the AC remote goes in there too. 

Kitchen De-clutter Games day 1

In the kitchen on Day 1 of the FLYLady De-Clutter Games we de-cluttered the front of the fridge, I have kept it pretty clutter free since I cleaned up before. 

Some quick Befores:

After: 

Mostly I just straightened magnets and removed post-its that I can always remake if I need them again. 

ORGANIZED HOME TOUR

I have done quite a few organization projects in my home, I wanted a place where my followers can come to find all of them, room by room.
Here is the entire 750 sq ft (not counting the deck, attic, or game room) apartment: The dvd library/game room isnt considered part of our apartment, it is used by both us and my husband's parents. It houses our movie library, game collection and poker table.

BEDROOM: 1: Bedside drawers and my underwear drawer.
2: The bed AKA "desk" and my husband's desk
3: My Husband's drawers.
4: Our makeshift master closet.
5: The Linen Chest
6: Someday I will show you the extra storage I get under the bed.

THE LIVING ROOM:

1: Mail Box, Video Game Storage, Camera Box, Phone Accessory Box, Book Case
2: Ellie's Clothes Dresser (will show you that soon)
3: Ellie's Changing Table (will show you that soon)
4: Storage Ottomans (I might show you these eventually)
5: Dresser the TV sits on (has tons of organizing potential)
6: no more pile of junk in that corner

THE KITCHEN

1: Liquor cabinet (will share soon)
2: glass dish cabinet (will share soon)
3: Paper storage
4: Pots and Pans storage (needs some tweeking, will share soon)
5: Junk Drawer and Junk Drawer revisited
6: Silverware drawer, Ziploc drawer, linen drawer.
7: Tupperware cabinet and drawer
8: Under the Kitchen Sink
9: Lazy Susan Corner shelf, Food Cabinets
10: Spice Cabinet
11: Fridge and Front of Fridge Decluttered
12: Freezer
13: Top of fridge and small party dishes storage
14: Coat and Broom "closets"
15: awkward cabinet that hides fuse box and networking wires. (needs work will share eventually)

THE BATHROOM: 1: Laundry Storage
2: Bathroom Cabinet, Medicine & Vitamin Storage
3: Medicine Cabinet
4: Under Bathroom Sink Cleaning supplies
5: Some day I want shelving or another cabinet above the toilet.

OH THE CRAFT ROOM / OFFICE
this picture does not show the massive piles of stuff and whatnot currently in the space. Its much easier to design and organize on a software program than in a real room...

1: Pantry Wall begun, Can Rack still not assembled, Pantry wall still unfinished, Beautiful Pantry wall
2: Chest Freezer
3: Coat Rack
4: Pile of stuff which is unfortunately not invisibale in real life
5: Scrapbook Paper rack
6: Scrapbook supply shelf needs work, Scrapbook Sticker Storage
7: "Office" Desk
8: Desk Drawer with Office supplies
9: Hubby's Shelf (still empty, some of the #4 stuff goes on it)
10: New Bookcase (will house photo storage, printer, non craft stuff)
11: Gift Wrap Organization
12: Would like to move the recycling organization center in here, once the room is done.
13: Craft Room Overhaul begins and Craft Room Overhaul Continues and just for fun Earths Coolest Ceiling Fan

I will continue to add links to this list as I complete more organizing projects. In case you are wondering, the floor plans were designed using floorplanner.com a reasonably easy program to work with, completely free.

Spice Cabinet (and then some) ~ Day 12 Organizing Challenge

I was hoping this would be on Toni's list. It was on my list.

The BEFORE: I pulled everything out of the cabinet:

Then I sorted them, pulling out any expired ones, any I havent used since we moved in (that was 5 months ago)

I would love to get magnetic spice containers for the door, or a bunch of matching little bottles so everything would fit better. But we have put ourselves on a very strict budget, and I KNOW I could make do with what I have on hand. I had bought these pink and brown stacking containers when I lived at my old apartment. (picture doesnt show the lids) They matched a bunch of my other kitchen stuff, and I had committed to buying only the spices I need, out of bulk bins (when I could), to save money and reduce waste. The top of the next one screws into the bottom of the first one, they also came with lids too. They worked well for the spice shelf I had at my old aparment. But I dont love the stacking aspect now. Since I am on a budget, I decided to use them, this time, later if i find a good price on something better, I can upgrade.

I didnt have enough for all of my spices though. I needed a way to use the original bottles and the cabinet just hid any spices that werent right up front.

I thought they should be in a container or tray of some sort, that can be pulled out. I went to my stack of boxes bins and containers I had gathered before the challenge began and found this:
its a photo box lid, I liked that it wouldnt take up too much space itself and was almost as big as the shelf. It almost fit, and I thought it would be fine to sit up on the edge of the cabinet, it would make it easier to slide it out to see all the spices in the back. So I loaded it up: But it was pretty floppy as a "basket" or "tray" so I started brainstorming. I remembered the white plastic basket in my tupperware drawer and had taken another matching white basket out of the spice cabinet (it held all my "sweet" spices, as a way to sort before). The one in the drawer wasnt really being fully utilized. I put both in the cabinet to see if they would fit: Fantastic! I can still put the "sweet" spices(cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, cloves, etc) in the small one, and the "savory" spices in the big one.
I had a bunch of little baggies of bulk spices. (a tip, when writing the bulk bin code on the twist tie for checkout, also write the name of the spice on the tie, so you can identify them later. I used my handy dandy label maker for the spices in the little pink and brown containers and the bulk taco seasoning(so much cheaper than the packets). It didnt fit in one of the little containers, so I grabbed a container that was almost empty, (was garlic, and there is garlic in taco seasoning, so I didnt have to wash the container) I ripped the lable off and filled her up: I put both white baskets back in the cabinet, and straighted everything else out: The top shelf holds the spices that arent used often, but were still good, and extra vitamins, the 2nd from top shelf holds the very large spices and hubby's chewy vitamins. Next is my food scale and measuring cup. I was happy to have the room to move things to more logical accessable spaces.

While I was up on the step stool filling the top shelf, I saw my freezer divider on top the fridge, (it was removed when fitting a bazillion wedding cupcakes in the freezer) I realized I was going to need that when I do challenge for Day 11, but it was a little buried, so I cleaned up the top of the fridge.

I didnt take a before pic, but found one from a while ago.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

While the top of the fridge was empty, I thought I would show you how I use the cabinet above: I have a bunch of reusable plastic dishes we only use when we throw smaller parties. Like between 8-20 people. I dont have to have a bunch of real glass dishes to go around, and dont have to worry about them getting broken. Any party with more than 20 people is held in our home theater/shop and we use paper plates. I even have re-usable plasticware. Misc leftover party paper plates and napkins live in here too, in a plastic shoe box:

I decided to put the plasticware in the baggie, because the tray was balance precariousely and I was sure it would spill out. Getting the baggie out of the drawer inspired me to do some more organizing.

BEFORE:

One reason it was so jam-packed:

3 aluminum foils, 2 parchment papers, and 3 plastic wraps. 1 foil and 1 parchment paper belong to my darling MIL who loans me things when I need them. I cannot explain why I still have them, when obviously I no longer need them, or why I had all the other duplicates. I only put the smallest rolls of the ones that were actually mine, put the others aside for elsewhere storage and put MIL's aside to take down to her house. I pulled a small stack of straws out for the silverware drawer and set it aside for elsewhere storage too.

AFTER:

I did some other organizing and straightening in the kitchen too, but I will wait to post all of that for when I do my pantry post. If I ever get my pantry wall set up...

Check out some even awesomer Spice Cabinets at A Bowl Full Of Lemon's Day 12 Organzing challenge link party

Grown-up Toy Storage, Day 9 Organizing Challenge

Day 9 is supposed to be "Toy Storage" Well, Ellie's only toys at the moment are her pillow (my stomach) and her kick boxing bag, (my bladder) occasionally she plays the kicking stretch out game with my ribs too. I enjoyed reading a bunch of other blogs about toy storage, hopefully I can get a system set in place that will work well when we set everything up.


We have received bunches of hand me down toys and I'm sure we will get even more at the baby showers, I need to organize all of that, eventually.

For now though I decided to organize some of the grown up toys.



I had just straighted and prettied up this shelf yesterday, sorry, no before pic, just imagine stuff that doesn't belong, books mixed with games and randomness.

This looks fine to me. But "what is inside those lovely labeled boxes" you ask?


Cell phone accessories, camera accessories, Wii accessories/games, PlayStation games/accessories, PC games, mail necessities and randomness.


They could stay how they are, since they look pretty, but I know better, like I know that the PS1 label is on the PC games box, and the PS1 box has an NES label, the Wii box doesn't contain all the Wii stuff around the house and isn't labeled. Also, I'm certain there are dead headphones, chargers to phones we don't own, and owners manuals to dead cell phones in the PHONE box. Also, my big camera bag is somewhere in the craft room. I have no idea what is in that red box... Just to name a few imperfections.

I spent about 15 minutes on all those boxes.

CAMERA box:
I pulled out everything that didn't need to be in there: Spanish owner manual, some other camera's owners manual, registration post card, expired warranty info, memory card reader cap to name a few. Then I gathered a few items from other spaces that belonged in the box that weren't, my camera bag, camera case, and battery chargers. (The USB cord was already labeled from when I went hog-wild labeling when I first got the label maker) To make everything fit better and be less jumbled in this box, the straps for the camera cases were tucked inside the cases. Also in this box is a fanny-pack thing that matches my camera case, because it made sense to keep the matching set together.


Next the PHONE box I tossed a box from a phone I sold over a year ago, several pairs of dead headphones, (I tested all the ones I could) and countless owner manuals from phones I don't have anymore.

What is left in the box: box/extra accessories for my current phone, package of screen protectors, extra SIM cards, back up phone/charger. This box also holds headphones and my portable speakers because I use the media player on my phones instead of having a separate mp3 player. Also, I opted to keep the small collection (5) of chargers to phones we don't own, because I have had lots of guests ask "hey do you have an extra charger for a blah blah blah phone?"


The WII box: I had labeled all these boxes before I got my Wii. It used to house my sister's Sega that she sold, I had removed the label, but never made a new one. I did the same thing as with the other boxes, pulled out all the expired warranty info, packaging from extra controllers, ads and fliers that had come with games etc. Originally this box held all my Wii games and controllers and accessories. I thought they would all fit, but apprently our collection has grown, once I collected all the games from the 2 places the Wii gets played, and tried, I found it wouldn't fit. So I decided the box would be just for accessories, the games can live on the bookshelf for now (as they did before I started today).
All that is left: remote charger, remotes, remote accessories, owner manuals for the wii, the fit, and 1 for a remote.
I grabbed my label maker and finally gave it a label.


Next I pulled out the NES (I mean PS1) and PS1 (I mean PC) game boxes. I straightened both (relocated some Wii accessories & game) and then swapped the PS1 stuff to it's correctly labeled box. The PC games went into the box labeled NES (was sold when we found we can download our fave NES games onto the Wii, as a way to de-clutter), my hubby needs to go through these and then it will likely be re purposed as Wii game storage, but he isn't home now, so that can wait.

The other 2 boxes on the shelf aren't for grown-up toy storage, but, since I was sitting on the floor in front of it, I decided to tackle those too.

The MAIL box

I pulled everything out and sorted it, there were quite a few items that didn't belong: photos, mementos, garbage, etc. I used to rip return addresses off of envelopes as a way to save addresses, but after organizing all the wedding invitation addresses, I don't need to do that any more. I also had a few pages of addresses from my mom's master list from 2 Christmases ago, and a list of addresses from last Christmas. I saved all those but I will be tossing them as soon as I check my master list, when I'm done blogging.

What is left in the box: business envelopes (greeting card envelopes were moved to my craft room, where I have bunches of card making supplies gathered) a post-it pad (I sometimes write a note and post-it to an envelope and clip it to the front door, i.e. "mail after Monday" "needs more postage" "sign then mail" etc) and our return address stamp. Usually there are stamps in here too, but we are all out, added that to the shopping list.

The last box on the shelf wasn't labeled, because it didn't have a set purpose. It was full of receipts, recipes, colored pencils, crayons, and 5 month old to-do and shopping lists. I recycled most of the receipts and lists and relocated everything else. Now, the box is empty!I have a few ideas for what to do with the box, but we will have to see what Toni has in store for the rest of the 21 days and see if its perfect for something else. I moved it to the slightly shrunken pile of boxes, bins and containers I collected before.

Oh, there are 2 other boxes on the shelf, one is wedding photos, the other is CDs, nothing to show off.

This is a picture all all the stuff and junk that didn't belong in those boxes:

It was all recycled, tossed, or relocated.

Once I get Ellie's stuff all situated, I will share, although newborn toys arent as clutterupable as older kids.

Check out how other bloggers handle Toy Storage at A Bowl Full of Lemon's Day 9

also linking to Organize with Sandy's Mission Organization Monday