Day #16 - The Fridge

As you may have noticed, I skipped yesterday's challenge.  It was organizing your meds and I completed that with the Medicine Cabinet overhaul, so instead I cleaned and organized our DVD's.  I didn't take any pictures because I did it on a whim, but I promise I didn't slack off yesterday!

So on with today's challenge.  I actually cleaned my fridge a few months ago, but it was good to clean it out again.  The fridge, freezer, stove and laundry area are places that I feel get neglected (at least around here they do) and generally I only remember to do a deep clean once in a great while.

I tried to maintain some order with baskets and a stacking shelf.

Ewww.....

How many cartons of sour cream does one family need?  And how many do you think are expired....um...at least one.

After a little purging and cleaning, my fridge now looks like this:

I realized moments after I took this picture that the milk on the second shelf had expired!  Oops.  Good thing we had a back up.

We sure do have the condiments.

Basket for our biscuits and sweet rolls.  On the weekends we usually fix a bigger breakfast around brunch.  I know it's not the healthiest, but it sure is tasty. 

Veggies like tomatoes and peppers are held in a basket within the veggie bin.

Other condiments are in a small basket to keep them contained.  I told you we have a lot of condiments.

It's actually a little humorous at how much I really do use baskets around this house. I can hear my Sister-in-law snickering.  If only she lived closer, I would basket-ize her house!

Day 14 - Bathroom Cabinets

Okay, so it is a good thing Toni gave us this challenge today because I told you back on Day 4 that I was going to tackle my master bathroom armoire.  Then came this burning desire to paint the coat closet and the laundry room.  So this went further and further down the list.

But it's not escaping my wrath tonight!

Here was the before underneath our master bathroom sinks:

We pretty much just threw stuff in the cabinet after we completed our remodel.  We always seem to try to finish everything up the day or two before we have house guests.  Which means we are running around trying to clean things up and sometimes stuff gets shoved in the most opportune places....much to my dismay!

Not much really changed here, however, guess what I found hiding out this cabinet?  My dolphin necklace my high school boyfriend (who is now my husband) got for me when he visited Germany the summer between our Junior and Senior year in high school.  This has been missing for at least 3 years and I was sick thinking I had lost it in our multiple moves across STATES....but there it was....just sitting in a ziploc in the back of my master bathroom cabinet.  I have NO idea how or when it got there.  The hubs is putting our 3 yr old to bed (usually my job unless D gets into trouble as he did tonight), otherwise I would have went whooping and hollering down the hall!  I really cannot believe I found it...this organization challenge ROCKS! :)

Okay, so back to the afters.

Sorry for the black paint.  I was going to put contact paper down, but I just ran out of steam for tonight.  I did find some really cute contact paper for under the kitchen sink (which I'll share on another day soon), but this bathroom will just get boring 'ole white.

And if you remember this terrifying site.

Here it is now.  It actually is a lot better and I did throw a bunch of stuff out.  I just have too much.  Hair products and make up are to me like shoes are to other women.  I have way more than I need, but I can't stop buying more.  Guess no one really is perfect.  Bummer.



 Top shelf holds all of our travel items.  We do travel quite a bit either for our jobs or to visit family, so this much space really is necessary.

Middle shelf holds all of our my stuff like hair products, lotions, hair dryer,etc.

Towels and some medicine

Feminine needs and TP- the necessities!

Well a few more items checked off the mile long To Do list and an ecstatic Mrs. ALO for finding my necklace!  Whoo-hoo!
So how about you?  Have you discovered any long lost treasures during this challenge?

Day 13 - Medicine Cabinet

Today sure was an easy one, thank goodness since it was me against the kids!  Sometimes it is truly a wonder how any mom can get anything done when they have little ones on their heels.  Guess that's why we wear a cape under our clothes.

So here is the pitiful before of the bathroom on our main level, right off the kitchen:

Left

Middle

Right



 

So I began going through everything and checking expiration dates.  I also decided it would be best to group items together and take what I could out of it's original box, especially the adult cold medicine.  We go to the same medication every time we get a cold (Nyquil, Dayquil, Sudafed) therefore we really didn't have any use for the packaging.

In came my velveeta boxes again.  This medicine cabinet is shallow and these boxes fit perfectly!  I covered them with scrapbook paper and added some labelling on a couple of the boxes.

Left-After





Middle-After

You will notice some of the creams on the second shelf are in the plastic cup that comes with your laundry detergent.  I love using these to corral small items in tight spaces too!

Right- After

Open space!  The top has eye care supplies, middle shelf is our first aid section for cuts and scrapes, bottom holds bigger items.  Since we live in a 3 story home, it's easier to have some of our necessities in this bathroom and saves us a trip up and down the stairs if we forget to de-stink-ify ourselves! Would hate to work up a sweat before we can get our deodorant on. :)

And there you have it.  Nothing grand, but I got rid of a TON of outdated medications and gained some much needed space.  A little order in the bathroom.  Now I'm off to continue with the laundry room.  Almost done!  As soon as a few goodies arrive in the mail, I can present you with the final reveal.

Have a great weekend!

Day 12 - The Spice Cabinet

Yay!  I completed this during the pantry organization challenge.  See here.

So, it will be back to work on the laundry room tonight.  Thanks, Toni, for giving me an easy one today!

Day #9 - Toy Organization

Today's challenge is all about toy organization.  I actually tackled this one over the weekend, but neglected to get any "before" pictures.  My Sister-in-law and Brother-in-law decided it would be fun to bring BIG toys for the boys.  Oh, how I love thee!

See the nice big play house...yeah, I love my in-laws!
I have plans to put some type of storage on either side of the window to help get some of the toys up off the floor. But for now, the table sits in one corner and D's tool bench sits in the other.

In order to make room for the new, it was out with {some} of the old.  My kids are 3 and 4 months, so some of the toys D has outgrown are being held back for T.

We are having a family yard sale this summer, so it's given a bigger push to get rid of stuff and get it done now!

I went through all of D's toys and organized his most favorite toys in the toy bin.  I created labels with my Silhouette (have I told you enough just how much I love this thing).  Since he's 3 and can't read yet, I used pictures and words for the items that belong in each bin.  I still have a few more labels to make, but most of them are taken care of.  (Sorry for the crappy picture, my camera was taking blurry photos.)

This room is really a formal dining room, but we ain't formal folks (hehe).  It functions as a toy room for now and I have plans (imagine that) to convert into a den once the boys get older.  My plan is to add some french doors once they get bigger - glass and young-ins don't mix well- so for now it's all open.  Plus, this helps me keep an eye on them.

This room is very much a work in progress, but for now, it has a little more order.

Day #8 - Coat Closet

Howdy!  It's about time I got this done.  I decided to really tackle my coat closet...I mean REALLY tackle it.  We have a spot in our kitchen that we drop our everyday shoes, jackets, etc.  It's kind of a small mud room/space, but we enter and leave through the garage which is right off the kitchen, so it made the most sense.  Our "official" coat closet is next to the front door, but again, we don't use it that much so it's primarily been used to store jackets and out of season shoes as well as extra TP and paper towels.  I can assure you it hasn't been really evaluated since we moved in...ummm....almost 3 years ago. 

Proof this has been very neglected, I found:
- my prom dress from senior year (why exactly have I moved it across 3 states and not bothered to get rid of it before now...I have NO idea!)
- a nice steel pot
- a baby carrier (like a Baby Bjorn).  I could have totally used that baby carrier the past 4 months.  I didn't even know I had it! 

So I removed EVERYTHING, cleaned and painted the closet with some paint I had on hand. I was going to get really ambitious and stencil a pattern on the back, similar to what Jen did over at I Heart Organizing, but I decided the returns weren't worth the investment.  I'll save this idea for another area in the home.

So here is the big reveal....

Oh my gosh, space!

A good place for the vacuum instead of just shoved in!  Hats, gloves all sorted by person.  Labels will be added, but for now, it's organized.

I had this bushel basket in the basement and thought it was a fun way to store the paper towels.  Sure is an upgrade from a diaper box!

I want to do something fun with the TP too, but I haven't came up with anything I like yet, so for now they are just stacked next to the paper towels.



Before

After



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What do you think?  Was it worth the effort to paint?  I sure think it was...I love it!

Day #4 - Linen Closet

First, you may have noticed a small change over here.  I came across a new blog with lots of really cute free templates (the link is at the very top of the page in case you are interested in checking them out). Since I seem to be sprucing up everything around my home, I figured I might as well spruce up my virtual home too!  Everyone is already decorating and crafting for Valentine's day, but I just am not ready to give up on my winter decor yet.

Now, onto the challenge of the day, the Linen Closet.  Again, Toni must know that I've returned to work and don't have as much "free" time because I recently went through my linen closet upstairs and did some organization.

Here is the before, not too bad, but always room for improvement.

In order to not waste an opportunity to declutter, I did get rid of the rugs that were thrown in the bottom and even managed to find an extra almost-full bottle of liquid hand soap (one less trip to store this week!).

And now, with a little order:

I put all of the sheets in a basket back when I did my original organization.  It's great for transporting to the various rooms or floors of the house when we have a house full of guests.  They tend to disperse, so this is great for me to pick up and take along to make 'beds' whether that is an air mattress or couch.

This plastic 3-drawer container was used previously in my craft area, but since we did our basement remodel, I now have lovely cabinets to hold all of my crafting goodies.  Not wanting to trash wonderful storage, I've put it to use in the closet.  One drawer holds washcloths for adults and the other for the kids.  The bottom one holds odds and ends like bottles of liquid hand soap, peroxide, etc.

Now, if I have time tonight, I so want to tackle this mess.

Wow, it's disgusting how much dust has collected in there!  We don't have a closet in our Master Bathroom, instead we have this big armoire.  It's big and it's messy!

Challenge #1 - Junk Drawer

Well it's officially begun and I couldn't be more excited.  The 21 day challenge over at A Bowl Full of Lemons started with the Junk Drawer.  Even though I had house guests, I managed to squeeze this one in.  I dumped everything out and made the hubs sit with me and help since this is technically his drawer.  I wanted to make sure I knew what to purge and he knew where things went, so I don't hear, "Lindsay, where is my...."

Here is the before, a drawer full of tried-to-maintain-order:

And the after with a little order:

We are cheap around here, so I used some velveeta boxes.  They are sturdy cardboard and make great drawer dividers.  I have plans to spray paint them this Spring so they don't look so cheap.

Can't wait to see the other ideas you ladies come up with!