Organize Me
My New Years resolution was about being healthy and I’m doing a pretty good job with that one. I’m avoiding sweets and haven’t had a Diet Coke since…well…Monday. BUT! Before that I hadn’t had one in WEEKS, I tell you! I’m going with the general rule of thumb that when presented with two options, I will choose the healthier. And life hasn’t been as awful on that path as I expected.
Along the way through 2012, though, I seem to have picked up a second resolution that I hadn’t planned on. I have been organizing my house like CRAZY! I swear if I didn’t know any better (and I do, so don’t even start thinking it…), I’d think I was nesting. I am like a machine these days when it comes to organizing. And where has all my inspiration come from?
FREAKING PINTEREST!
I can’t stop, people. I can’t. I hung out with Sarah on Monday and, I kid you not, every other sentence I said started with, “I saw this thing on Pinterest…” I’m lame. But at least I’m putting my lameness to good purpose.
(Did you know “lameness” is a real word? I totally expected my spell check to underline it but it didn’t. Interesting.)
Let me show you these small but life changing organizational tips that Pinterest has introduced to my life…
I have been annoyed by under the sink clutter since I moved out of my parent’s house and had my very own sink to clutter. There’s always crap stuffed up in that cabinet under the sink. And it’s dark down there. And musty. And I’m ALWAYS convinced I’m going to find a snake down there. I don’t know where that fear comes from, but I refuse to stick my hand in that cabinet any further back than the first row of clutter because I am afraid a snake is going to get me.
Since Pinterest came into my life, I LIVE IN FEAR NO LONGER! Behold! The cabinet under my sink!
I wish I had a “Before” picture to show you, but you’ll just have to trust me that this is a huge improvement. First of all, I moved all the cleaning supplies to the shoe hanger in our pantry.
That freed up a lot of space. Now, the only cleaning supplies we keep in under our sink are the supplies we use every single day when we clean the kitchen, so that we can get to them easily.
The other thing that took up so much space were plastic bags. We shoved grocery bags under the sink in no order whatsoever. It was just overflowing with plastic bags. And, once again, Pinterest changed my life.
Ball up your plastic bags and shove them into an empty tissue box! So simple! Now, that whole mess is contained in one tiny box. Kind of like the Genie in Aladdin.
“All the powers in the Universe…in itty bitty living space.”
With all that free space, I threw my taters and onions into a big plastic bowl and put them under the sink to free up some space on my counter top.
THANK YOU, PINTEREST!
But it doesn’t stop under my sink. Oh, no! My organizing spree has continued on to other, random places around our house. Like, my closet! You know how tall boots always fall over when you have them sitting on the floor of your closet? Well, Pinterest says NO MORE!
Clip them to pants hangers…
And hang them in your closet! Genius!
Next I attacked Bean’s room. He helped me sort all his toys into piles and then we put each pile into bins. I went to Ikea this weekend to price bins or baskets that all match. I’ll replace these with permanent, cute containers soon, but for now this works really great! Even Bean loves it! He is always asking now to play with different buckets and he’s learning that we have to clean up one bucket before we take out another.
And while we were in Bean’s room, I took some time to organize his art work from school. He brings art work home every day from school and he is adamant that it not get put away somewhere. He likes it to be displayed front and center. But our fridge is overflowing and there’s always random construction paper projects floating around the house. So, I cleaned off the bulletin board in Bean’s room that held flash cards (since he knows all the words now, we weren’t using it) and filled it with his art work instead. Now, he runs upstairs every day when we get home and wants to put his art up on the wall.
For Christmas, my mom got me a label maker for my classroom. Now, I can’t stop labeling things. I turned myself loose on our medicine cabinet first. We used to just keep all our medicine on the kitchen windowsill. Drove me nuts. We looked like a bunch of pill poppers. So, I pulled out three plastic bins and spent half an hour organizing the windowsill into three piles: one for adult medicines, one for children’s medicines, and a first aid bin.
Up next on my organizing rampage? With Pinterest’s help, I shall tackle…(wait for it, wait for it)…THE LAUNDRY ROOM!
I know. The excitement never ends around here…
27 Comments
Jennifer@browneyedandblessed
So neat and organized! I’m a little jealous. I need to find a better solution to keep recyclables under my sink.
Lorrie
I love all the organizing you have done. I am going to have to steal (copy) your ideas. I have been pinning things like crazy to help me get the house clean and organized.
dusty
ahhh.. the joys of organizing. I so badly want a labeler.. though i’d probably waste it all on labeling stuff like dog, cat, husband or “this is your dirty laundry on the floor, if you don’t put it in the hamper I will not wash it”. Also i read that onions and potatoes shouldn’t be stored together as they both give off gasses that can cause the other to spoil. though if you eat them fairly quickly it probably doesn’t matter.
Christina @ marriage from scratch
Genius ideas!!!! I’m totally doing the Kleenex box idea ASAP! My plastic bags are taking over….
Jen @ Caved In
Pinterest=crack…in a legal-non-drug-related-or-toxic way. We have a corner sink in our kitchen and I’m still searching for a good organization tip for that type of space. That’s my excuse for checking Pinterest everyday. It’s for the greater good.
Nicole (piper_e)
Awesome! One tip for the boots that are hanging, put cotton balls between the boot and clip so it won’t leave “dents” on your boots!
laurenbtrain
I just laughed at the boot picture. You are waaay too organized for me! 😀
Gale
I haven’t posted in a while, but when you mentioned the artwork floating around it reminded me of what I did with our kids. They could hang up what they had room for, then when their space was full, they decided what to take down and put into the large plastic storage container that fit under their bed. At the end of each school year, we cleaned out their “saving box” and they decided what to keep from that year. The only rules were that when the box got too full for the lid to close, they had to weed out some of the stuff, and when they were saving their yearly envelope, they were limited to what would fit in the envelope (these were the largest manila ones I could find – about 16×24 inches). I’ve moved 3 times since those days, and I still lug the box of envelopes around with me. For the stuff they weren’t sure about, we just took pictures and put them into an album. That way they had the memories without all of the clutter.
Chantelle
This is a recent obsession of mine, too!! I happened to stumble across Jen’s blog (http://iheartorganizing.blogspot.com) a little while back and I’ve been hooked ever since! There’s still a lot I need to do but things are looking and working SO much better than they used to already! 🙂
Also. Yeah – I love Pinterest. So addictive!
Chloe
This is making me feel guilty! hahaha
the cabinet under my sink is just a disaster! And I never feel like tidying it up. And it’s getting worse! Ugh… I guess I’ll have to be brave someday and organize the cabinet…
lcg
I”m so impressed! I was in the same crazy organize mode right after xmas too! One little thought though–all cleaners give off toxins etc.(even though you’ve removed the majority of them) so it might be worth a 2nd thought about not keeping food under the sink.
Casey Y
Don’t feel bad, I am constantly starting my sentences with “I saw this thing on Pinterest….” It’s an addiction, there should be a support group, Pinners Anonymous. 🙂
Ashley @ A Recipe for Sanity
Pinterest is the best thing ever. It comes from above, I tell you. And I love all these organizational tips! I need to stop pinning food and weddings and start pinning some of this! Great job, Katie!
Brina
I must say, you’ve gotten me addicted to Pinterest as well! I even have a Facebook photo album full of Pinterest projects I’ve completed. =) Tom and I are trying to get our house as organized as possible before the move, and I have found for smaller, organizational-type plastic storage, the RE brand at Target is the best price (especially when on sale). Also, though I’ve only had my label maker a few weeks, I am in love with it as well!
Mindee@ourfrontdoor
I am SUPER impressed! I think I have a stray shoe holder somewhere. I’m going to go dig it out!
Jenna@CallHerHappy
We could be best friends! My latest organization task? Organizing all of our owner’s manuals into a binder! Woo hoo!
Sonya
Oh snap! I didn’t know that I should have posted the tissue box with plastic bags on pinterest! I’ve done that for a couple of years at school now. I have a Nemo tissue box for them! At home I actually store them in the plastic bins from the dishwasher tabs. I love a good organizing binge!
Kelly
whew! I’m not alone in my obsessive Pinterest use. I have made new recipes every night this week and now everyone laughs and just says “Oh Pinterest right?” I can’t stop organizing either. It’s like all these ideas just make it look so easy!
Amanda M.
I see that your tissue box is torn. What we use is a wipe container with the flip top lid (I’m a huggies girl all the way) and have 3 of them under our sink full of bags. Also for my kiddos artwork, in their bedroom I made a little clothesline around the perimeter of each wall and just nailed a nail at each corner and tied yarn around them. Simply clip artwork on with clothes pins. Hope that helps!
Kimberly
Great ideas! We just moved into a new house and I am already feeling the urge to organize everything perfectly. Pinterest is also excellent for decorating ideas. I can’t wait to hear about the laundry room.
Katie
Awesome ideas!! I’m also using Pinterest but for baked goods for holiday parties!! It is very addicting.
Lindsay (Young Married Mom)
I love the Aladdin reference. And the medicine cabinet idea! If/when I have a medicine cabinet, I am totally doing that!
Sandy
i saw on pinterest where you snap those clips off of the hangers like you are using for your boots and use them for chip clips. who would have thunk it?
S @ No Ordinary Mess
Great ideas! Thanks for showing me what it’s supposed to look like under my kitchen sink!
Rachel @ The Ongoing Planner
I have been the same way! With the organizing and with the starting every other sentence with “On Pinterest…” (I had three friends finally cave and ask me to invite them to Pinterest this last week!). Under the kitchen sink is on my to-do list!
Jessica
I am so glad you posted this…I’ve been on an organizing binge lately and have been searching for good ideas!
Amy @ A Little Nosh
Looking good! I’m always afraid of dead mice under my sink, not snakes. Blech.