Yet another Medicine Cabinet Improvement

It is a small space and was working very well for us, except the yucky little jar our toothbrushes stood up in. An impulse buy along with our new toothbrushes sparked this little update.

Before

 Bought a pack of these for $1.87 at Walmart

 I knew they would not suction to the inside of the medicine cabinet where I wanted them, so I pulled out my trusty Command Strips and cut one to fit the back.

 I pulled the suction cup off and attached the Command Strip

I did a test fitting of the toothbrush holders and sadly they were not big enough. I knew that I wouldnt bother returning them for a $2 refund so I decided to see if I could make them work. Cue kitchen shears. 

After

 A little recap!

You may notice that the magnet strip that hung in the top left of the bottom section of the cabinet is missing, yeah I love the command strips but there was a sticker on the back of the magnet strip that did not hold and it fell off. I need to hot glue half of the Velcro-type Command strips to the magnet strip so that I can rehang my metal bathroom tools. It is the project drawer for someday.

I actually did this quite a while ago (I'm a slow blogger) and I can say that the command strips have held on well and we are loving hanging our brushes up!

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)

Sticky Storage - Magnet Strips

When I organized my medicine cabinet like a year ago, I got an idea, there was some wasted space due to different sized toiletries. A magnet on the wall inside would hold the metal items nicely. I tried every magnet on my frigde to try and repurpose, all failed.

Then after organizing my spice cabinet, I started looking at magnetic spice racks. Over at Mod Podge Rocks  recently I saw she attached magnets to baby food jars to stick to the fridge. (We actually do Baby-Led-Solids AKA Baby-Led-Weaning, and do not feed Ellie baby food, she feeds herself real, whole foods, but we get baby food on WIC so I put mashed veggies and meat in soups and we eat the fruit.)

At heaven (Ikea) today I remembered the magnetic spice rack idea and looked around for a metal backing for magnetic jars I imagined exsisted. I found some magnetic knife holders instead. (they also come in fun colors)

I was pretty sure the baby food jar lids would stick, and at only $2.49 it was worth a shot, I'm sure I could use them in my craft room for scissors or to relocate knives or something. (they were small, so I bought 5)

Someone on FB tonight asked about bathroom storage and I re-read my medicine cabinet post and at the magnet on the wall part, I had an aha moment! Those little knife racks would work! So For $2.49ish + like 10 minutes (most of which were spent opening the package) I had a little more storage in my medicine cabinet, which is great because we have since added the baby's toothbrush holder in that space.

The back of the medicine cabinet is not real sturdy, so I couldn't screw the magnet in. I thought of my darling, command hooks strips.

Without the screw holes being used though, there was a lip in the back of the magnet. The Velcro picture hanging strips came to mind. They were perfect sized and filled in that lip.

I just stuck one side to the magnet and other to the wall, clickety click, we were installed!

Add the metal tools and tada! Extra space!


Before:
 
After

oh and I had to check, yes, baby food jar lids DO stick to the magnet, even through the packaging.

If I dont get to make my spice rack soon enough for you, check out Mod Podge Rocks, or Just Home Made, or The Little Apartment, who uses Goo Gone for that pesky lable glue that has been driving me nuts.

quick 34 min cleaning session

I was sitting on the couch on motheringdotcom and saw a forum about quick 10-15 minute clean ups, Ellie was in a good mood, so I put her in her Bumbo (best invention ever btw) and got to work, I was able to work for 34 minutes before she was done watching me.

the bathroom:

I hung the baby bath tub behind the door, where it is usually, the mesh insert has a little loop and it had been peed on, and wasnt back together after being cleaned. We dont actually use the tub for bathing, because she prefers to shower with us, but we lay her in it while we wash up, then reach out of the shower to get her, then put her back in it after we wash her up, she is usually quite content to lay in it all bundled in a towel while I dry off and stuff.

the plastic container box on the counter is for all the extra toothpastes and toothbrushes, i put a lable on it finally and put it in the bathroom cabinet.


The kitchen:

yes that is a toilet seat on my kitchen counter, that counter just attracts stuff like crazy! (its a new one, that has a toddler insert, better than an removable ring thingy) not even a year ago there was a toilet on that counter!
(during construction, 8/12/2010)

You can see that I decluttered the fridge again.

Ellie was done watching mommy clean house, and hungry so i fed her and put her down for a nap, had some lunch and now im going to tackle the rest of the house! except the office, that aint happening.

more updates to come, hopefully!

Medicine and Vitamin Organization~ Day 15

I really didn't need to DO anything for this challenge, besides blog it, which is why I'm a few days late, blogging has been lower on my priority list as we've been preparing for Ellie everyday.

I store some vitamins and more common meds in a basket on top of the fridge:
You already saw my daily vitamin organization when I touched up my junk drawer:

This basket holds my daily vitamins(prenatals, magnesium and iron) and Tylenol, Zantac and Advil, and my pill splitter, (my tummy can only handle 1/2 a magnesium at a time) I love the weekly pill case, I fill it up weekly, or whenever I feel like it before its empty, it helps me remember when to take which vitamins.

Hubby and I take chewy gummybear vitamins, you may remember that they live in the spice cabinet: We take out a handful of each kind, (calcium, daily, C, and fish oil) and put them in a little Pyrex bowl with a airtight lid. Each of the chewys are different shapes/flavors so we just take 2 of each one(except me, I don't take the daily, since I take prenatals), gets him a little bit of "candy" for his sweet tooth. (the fish oil ones have a unpleasant after taste, so we take them first, so the others cover that up) The bowl lives on either the counter or hubby's desk or night stand, wherever he is when I remind him to take them.

I had already gone through my meds when I organized my bathroom cabinet, tossing any expired or icky stuff. I did come across a Tylenol bottle the other day though that was half full of 2 different pills that weren't Tylenol and 1 Tylenal pill, I took the Tylenol and tossed the others. I'm pretty sure they were Advil and acai supplements, and that it came from when my sister lived with me, she used to take acai and kept that mixed bottle in her purse, but that was over a year ago, so I tossed it. The bathroom cabinet is still organized 7 weeks later. The OTC meds are under the shelf. The Rx stuff (mostly, inhalers, migraine meds and allergy meds) are in that bottom right hand stacking container.
A close up of the OTC meds: the one on the left is all the less commonly used OTC meds, on the right is the bigger packages, cough drops, Costco size NyQuil and Airborne. The one on the left could be more organized, but for everything to fit, I didn't want any extra containers or whatever, so its fine.

Im linking to Vitamin/Medicine StorageDay 15 at A Bowl Full of Lemon's 21 Day Organizing Challenge

Medicine Cabinet (touch up) Day 13

I'm so glad I finally have a legitimate reason to share this story with blogland.


My husband is in the bathroom getting ready to go when I hear him start laughing, I ask "whats up?" He chuckled "come here". Curious, I come see. He had mistaken his black can of Edge shaving cream with his black can of Axe deodorant. He had shaving cream in his arm pit! I laughed so hard!

(would it be mean to make a label that says "NOT DEODORANT" for his shaving cream?)

Anyways, this did NOT happen due to a cluttered mess, the medicine cabinet was still organized from when I did it and my bathroom cabinet here.

See the AFTER from almost 7 weeks ago next to the BEFORE from today:

(apparently I use a jug of mouthwash each month, that's a new one)

There was one tiny aspect of the medicine cabinet that needed a little tweaking though.

The winter weather made me bring out my lip treatment stuff, and the medicine cabinet seemed like the perfect place for it. This wonderful little dish wasn't working any more.

When I first realized this could be improved, I got the idea to attach some magnets to the wall, above the dish, on the inside of the cabinet, to stick the nail clippers and tweezers to, but I don't have any magnets strong enough (I tested all the ones I had on hand) and Ive decided not to buy anything unnecessarily for this challenge, or until February when I can spend some more "fun money".

So I came up with plan B: Rather than putting the clippers and tweezers inside, I hung them off the side of the votive holder, so they'd be easy to grab. Also, my husband sanitizes his nail tools after use, he can just fill the little cup with alcohol rather than getting a different cup and leaving it out on the counter like he did last time.

The lip stuff went into a different candle holder, (I'm glad I'm getting to use some of my candle holders, Ive given up candles due to my husband's sensitivity to smells and smoke, the toothbrushes are in one too)

The new AFTER:

Im Linking to Medicine Cabinet, Day 13 Organizing Challege

Under the Bathroom Sink, Day 5 (or 14) Organizing Challenge

So I have been doing pretty good at A Bowl Full of Lemon's 21 day challenge so I couldnt let myself cheat and only post about my under kitchen sink re-do for today's challenge. And I really needed to tackle under the bathroom sink.
ETA: Then Toni went and actually made day 14 under the bathroom sink day. So I am cheating now... Im working on a bigger extra credit project though, so Im not slacking off!

This BEFORE is why:
im not too embarrased by these pics, I never really attempted organization in here, just unpacked when we moved in and added a few things since then.

as I pulled everything out, I sorted. I have bunches and bunches of these black plastic baskets, but theyre either up in the attic (hubby doesnt like me going up there when he isnt home) or out in the storage shop (I dont have a key). So until I find more, I used the one I had repetedly. I used the empty basket to measure the space, to be sure of how they would fit. Then I put all the Flooring and Upholstery supplies in it, then I removed it all from the basket, for now, and stacked it neatly in the corner. Next, I put all the Toilet and Tub & Tile stuff in it, and then stacked it all neatly where the basket will eventually go, next to the first imaginary basket.

Last, I put all the Misc stuff in the basket.

I thought it would be nice to contain items even better in the misc basket. So I thought about the bins and containers that Toni made us collect before the challenge started....

I wondered, will those plastic gloves fit in the saved-from-recycling drink powder tube?

Why yes, yes they will!

...but how easy will it be to get the old label off?

Super easy!

And hey, thats about the same size as that roll of garbage bags....

Tada! (I did have to take a few bags off, from the outside of the roll, to make it fit, I put them under the current bag in my trash can, so when we take the garbage out, we can just grab a bag from inside.) I dont normally buy garbage bags for the bathroom can, I usually re-use plastic shopping bags, but these were purchased on accident awhile back.

Next, I containerized my BBW hand soaps, oh how I love those sales!

Looking at the pile of stuff that was either going to be relocated, or give away, I was proud: There was actually a little more than this, a few more things. The Swiffer box is full of air frensheners that my hubby is sensitive to but my sister will love. I LOVED the scrubbing bubbles stamper thingy in my old apartment, but with the iron bacteria in our water, a film of gunk coats the gel, making it not work. oh well, MIL got a free sample of IRON OUT's automatic toilet bowl thingy, we will see if that works!

This was the part of the project I was excited about. (yes, I am cool)
LABELS!!!

I got familiar with Avery.com for making labels when I did our Christmas cards this year, and knew I would be using it again for organization purposes. I wrote a tuturial on how to make lables using their site, click here.


Before I started, I looked in the cabinet, mostly put back together and took some notes about what labels to make, so I wouldnt have to go back and forth.
The shipping labels are great because I just peeled them off and stuck them on!

I didnt think they would stick well to the plastic baskets though, so I got an idea:

Then a hole punch, ziptie and snip:

I ended up remembering where another black basket was, so now, I just need 1 more under here, for the Flooring and Upholstery stuff. (and one to replace the one I relocated)

Ready for some AFTERS? Under the sink, I had some of those wire shelf things, to add a bit more storage, I lifted the Misc basket up. It sits in front of the plumbing, so I wasnt concerned with the basket being to tall to get behind it. Ohh did I magically got more TP since the before pic? (actually I took it from the bathroom in the shop) I prefer the clean uncluttered look of the plain white paper rather than the logos on the packaging, so I take the rolls out of the package when I restock. Jenny Free Style had a similar idea when she redid her bathroom linen closet. I will borrow her before & after, since I dont have a before pic with the tp package, looks much nicer with the solid white rolls, huh? Also, the rolls can fit better out of the package in some spaces than a big package can.

makes it easier to get a new roll out also if you dont have to rip open a package while youre on the throne. There is plenty of room for more tp, after I go shopping. Oh and, because I gotta show Command hooks some love:

the orange dusting mitt didnt have a hangy thingy, so I just grabbed a safety pin and gave it one.

There you have it, all organized and some purging done, I almost felt like cleaning my bathroom. Almost.

Im Linking to Day 5 Under the Sink 21 Day Organizing Challenge at A Bowl Full of Lemons.