Dollar Tree Drawer Organizing

A desperate need to clean out and organize my drawers and cabinets combined with a quick trip to the local Dollar Tree resulted in some great looking drawers.  I am still in the process of getting them all organized but wanted to quickly show you a few so that you can see what you can accomplish by only spending a few dollars and a small amount of time cleaning. 

Here is a look at some of my Dollar Tree baskets and containers.

The possibilities are endless as to what you could use these small containers and baskets for.  I especially like them because they are the perfect height to fit in both our kitchen and bathroom drawers. 

First up - one of my kitchen utensil gadget drawers.  Previously everything was just thrown in there and you could barely even get it shut but now everything has a home. 

Now on to the bathroom.  My husbands drawer.

And then my makeup drawer.  I added 4 small containers to my drawer.  The red one holds foundation, compact powder, blush and bronzers.  The blue one houses all of my eyeliners, mascara, tweezers, tweezing mirror and lash curler.  The green one in the back holds eye shadows.  The long skinny green basket is the perfect size to hold all of my makeup brushes.  I have lipsticks, lip gloss and lip liners in the little black zipper pouch in the front (no more room for a container) and my loose powder and bronzers just sitting there in the front.

I am so excited (yes I am that big of a nerd) to be getting everything decluttered and organized in my home.  When all of your stuff has a home to live in it makes life much more enjoyable and peaceful!

Do you ever shop at Dollar Tree for containers to organize with?  If so, please share. 

Recipe Organization Part 2

Yesterday I showed you my many recipe books and how I used a basket to sort and store my personal recipes and also how I store recipes that I am wanting to try.  Today I am showing my favorite system for sorting and storing recipes that I switched to from the basket a few years ago when my tried and true recipes began to outgrow the small basket they were in.  Click here to read yesterday's post.

 

I bought a one inch three ring binder, tabbed dividers and sheet protectors.  Using sheet protectors or laminating your recipes is very helpful in helping them to stay clean and last a long time. 

 

I used this website here to make my front and back covers. 

 

 

Back Cover

 

Front Cover

 

 

 My tabs are as follows: Cakes, Cookies, Candy, Bars, Pies, Fruit, Sweet Bread, Misc.

 

 

In the very front of my recipe binder I have an index page that tells what my dividers are through out the book. 

 

These pictures are of my recipe binder that holds all things sweet.  I have another binder that holds the following:  Appetisers, Snacks, Casseroles, Veggies, Salads, Sides, Main Dishes, Mexican, Italian, Soups, Sauces, Misc.

 

I was able to easily convert all of the 4x6 note cards with recipes on them to fit in this book.  I simply placed 2 at a time on my printer and made a copy of them and then slid the copied paper down inside of a sheet protector.  My recipe binder is a work in progress as I am adding new ones often. 

 

 

 

I must make a note here.  The only recipes that I put in my basket or binder are ones that I have made, tweaked and that my family LOVES!  If I make something that we do not care for I pitch the recipe immediatley. 

 

 What about you?  How do you sort and store your recipes?

Recipe Organization Part 1

I love to cook and try new recipes so as you can imagine I have a lot of recipe books and individual recipes that I am wanting to try.  Today I want to talk about where and how I store all of those recipes that I am waiting to try plus how I store all of my tried and true recipes and my collection of too many recipe books.  Recipe books are a weakness of mine (lol). 

 

This is a picture of my cabinet - yes an entire cabinet and this is not even all of my recipe books, almost but not all.  I said I have a problem.  lol

 

 

This is my corner basket that sits on my counter with more recipe books.

 

What I first started storing my recipes in.

 

 

Ok, first up my recipe basket.  Many years ago my mother in law bought me this lovely basket for Christmas and I loved it (still do). 

 

 

I spent a great deal of time typing my recipes onto 4x6 index cards, laminating and organizing them in my basket.

 

 

This little basket works great and we still use it to some extent but the problem for me is that my recipes were outgrowing it and I needed another system to sort and store them all (will share about it tomorrow). 

 

If you like this idea, there are many variations you could use.  First of all you could use any type of basket to store your recipes in.  This little wire basket is one that I bought a couple years ago at our local Walmart in the canning section.  I wanted it for my sink to hold my dish soap and hand lotion but it's purpose originally was to hold recipe cards.  If you typed (or printed) your recipes onto note cards you could easily fix them together with one of these little key ring type clips by simply using a hole punch and punching a hole in the corner of each card.  You can buy these in various sizes. 

 

 

 

Storing Loose recipes that I am waiting to try.

 

I find recipes that I want to try all of the time in magazines, online or that a friend may give me.  If I find it in a magazine I tear out the page, online I print the page but do I immediately fix the recipe?  NO.  Sometimes I will fix it within a few days but sometimes not for quite a while so what do I do with all these loose recipes? 

 

 

Well if you will look in my first pic of my cabinet I have this tin box sitting on the top shelf. This is a tin that was a gift and held cookies in it many Christmas' ago. When all the cookies were gone I re-purposed it and now it holds all of those recipes that I am wanting to try. 

 

 

It keeps all of those loose pieces of paper neat and it stores away nicely in my cabinet.  I pull it out from time to time when I am wanting to try something new and go through the recipes I have saved.

 

I encourage you to find a shoe box, cookie tin or something that you can store these kind of recipes in.  It will keep paper clutter to a minimum and you will know right where to go when looking for a recipe.

 

Join me tomorrow as I tell you how I sort and store my recipes now.  We still use the basket some but I a few years back I changed it up.  

 

Click here to be taken to Part 2.

10 Easy Ways to Tackle Paper Clutter

 

Paper clutter!  Ugh!  Just the thought of it makes me have ill feelings and that is because this is an area that I struggle with often.  Paper comes into my house daily either through mail, school work and notes from school, shopping trips, etc... and it can pile up on us very quickly if we do not take action against it.

I have been trying to make it a point in this new year to tackle paper clutter as it arrives so that I do not have a mess like the picture above EVER again.  It is not a good feeling when stacks of paper (some important and some not) sit on your desk, or kitchen table or where ever your hot spot for it may be.

So, here is my list of 10 easy ways to help us get a handle on it.

1. Stop Junk Mail.
2. Go through your mail as soon as you bring it in and file it appropriately.  Does it need trashed, filed away, responded to, or place with your "bills to be paid"?
3. Balance your checkbook frequently (at least 2 times per week) and either toss, shred or file (important) receipts.
4. File important papers at least weekly.  In order to this efficiently you will need a workable filing system.
5. Create a "bill binder" or basket.  Have a place where you keep your bills that need paid and the ones you have already paid.  Or go paperless on your bills.
6. Cull magazines at least one time per month.  I order a few different magazines that we enjoy but almost daily we receive magazines from different companies wanting us to order from them.
7. Keep only important or special notes and papers from your children's school.
8. Have a basket, binder or some other system you use to store receipts in until they clear your bank.
9. Shred papers and empty shredder monthly.  My papers in my shredder usually pile up so high I would never get them all shredded and I end up adding them to a bon fire when we have one.
10. Write dates and information from cards and invitations in your calendar ASAP and toss the actual invitation.

So there you have it.  My list of 10 things that I am doing to try my best to cut down on paper clutter in my home.

Do you have any other good ideas to help with this problem?  I would love to hear them.

TV/Play Room Closet Organization

I love plastic storage containers and baskets.  Here is a little peek into my TV / Play room closet that holds my children's games, extra school supplies, movies, etc...

 

 

When building our house and working on closets we went with the Closet Maid shelves that are adjustable. They are great because it's nice to be able to change the height of your shelving when the need arises. 

 

Plastic containers in this closet hold Lego's, card games, video games, controllers and accessories. I also use the Dollar Store plastic baskets to hold a variety of items. In this picture one is the home of extra school paper (loose leaf and notebook) as well as pencils for my boys. They know right where they are and can get it themselves as they need them - yea right, like that actually happens (that's a post for another day, LOL).

 

Check back often to see other ways I try to keep things organized around our home.

What are some of your favorite ways to organize your closets?

Prayer Card Notebook

My "quiet time" or devotion time is very important to me. I try to make it happen of the morning before the busy-ness of the day creeps in but sometimes that doesn't happen. I have my bible, highlighters and pens, my prayer/study journal with paper, my devotion book(s) of the moment, scripture memorization cards (a recent addition) and my prayer card notebook.


1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 The Message

Be cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live.


Of course this verse doesn't mean literally to pray all the time and never do anything else. It does however mean that we should pray wherever, whenever we can, want and need. I pray all the time, as I am going through my everyday tasks at home, driving my kids to ball practices, during devotion time and any other time someone comes to my mind or when it is impressed on my heart by the Holy Spirit.


Philippians 1:3-4 The Message

Every time you cross my mind, I break out in exclamations of thanks to God. Each exclamation is a trigger to prayer. I find myself praying for you with a glad heart.

So in keeping with my favorite organizing things I do and love today I am going to tell you about one of my favorite "quiet time" organizing things. I really hadn't given much thought to it until the other day. I was flipping through my cards, praying and reviewing some of the praise reports and answers to prayers when I came across one for my cousin who also happens to be my best friend. I sent her an email reminding her about the goodness of God and told her about the things I had been praying for her about that have now come to pass and just wanted to share. She was interested in my "prayer cards" that I had told her about and wanted to know how I had set it up and how I organized them so I decided that I would share with you as well in case you would like to make your own.

 First I bought a 3x5 index card notebook at Walmart and card refills. 

                               

 Next, I made dividers and labeled them. I have one for me (my personal requests), one for my husband, my kids, friends and family, etc... You could have as many or as few of these as you like or none at all.

                                

Then, I started writing down prayer requests on the card along with the particular scripture that I am standing on. As things change in the situation or prayers are answered I record that on the card as well.

                              

That's it! Very simple. I have been using mine for about 6 1/2 years now and I love it! I still write requests down on post it notes sometimes and stick them to the front of my bible (especially if they are very important) and I also have some prayer/praises written out in my prayer/study journal that are extra long (I'll tell you about that another time). This little note card prayer book is an awesome way to keep track of all those prayer requests.

What are some of your favorite ways to keep track of prayer requests?

Make a Family Binder

(This is a picture of mine with a generic cover slipped in the front.)

I am a little late on starting to post my favorite things that keep my family organized due to being without electricity at our home for 8 days.

  I will say there are several things that could fall into the number one spot in my opinion for the best organizing tool for our family.  However, I have picked our family binder to start with.  I love my family binder.  You can call it your family binder, control journal, household management book, a household binder or whatever name you want.   

The purpose of having a "family binder".

It's simple - It keeps me better organized! 

Here are a few things I want you to know about having a "family binder".

*  You can make it as detailed or as simple as you like

*  My family binder has changed many times through the years 

*  You can use a notebook, a 3 ring binder like me, a day planner, etc...

*  Some people have multiple binders (I sort of do and will explain later) 

*  You can make your own binder pages and inserts on your computer or find tons free online to print  (or just use plain notebook paper)

*  Your binder is meant to be a help to you and your family not a burden - so if keeping up with one is a lot of trouble to you, DON'T do it.  We all have to do what is helpful to our individual family needs. 

Building your "family binder".

I use a 1 1/2 - 2 inch 3 ring binder. 

Tabbed dividers that have pockets in them and are erasable.  (I don't have to buy new ones each time my binder needs to be updated)

I have a combination of free online printables (google search "family binder or family organizer printables), homemade pages, notebook pages and various handouts or print outs that pertain to the particular topic it is filed behind. 

Some of my tabs include:

Sports for each of my children

School for each of my children

Menu

Home Blessing

Special Days and Holidays

Vehicle Maintenance

Home Maintenance

Outside

Vacation

Needs / Wants

As you can see the possibilities are endless as to what you can include in your binder.  You need to sit down and think of what is important to you and what things you want to be better organized in.  My tabs change from time to time as I go through different seasons of my life. 

You can also search You Tube for video's on how to create one if you need a little more information.