Reclaiming Our Spaces: Organizing a School Donation Closet

This week I have been doing an organizing job for a local primary school.  They have a huge closet for clothing donations & supplies for the kids there. Such a great resource, but it was crowded & messy; disorganized.  

The first thing we did was take everything out & sort it:

Here's my plan for the space:

My goal is for the teachers to be able to go in there real quick to grab what they need without having to dig around.  

So, we plan to divide the room down the middle.  Boys items on the left & girls items on the right.  

We have ordered 6 sets of heavy-duty plastic drawers to go beneath the rack.  We got rid of about 1/2 of the clothes that were there because they were either stained or had holes or weren't the right size.  We also painted the walls & cleaned the area real well.  

To be continued…

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Holly worked on her daughter's room this week.  You can check it out here.

Liebster Award!

I was Nominated for the LIEBSTER AWARD

by Kylie from Absolutely Arkansas my new bloggy friend!

If you like my blog, then you should really check out hers!!

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About the award:  Liebster is German for sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing & welcome.This award is passed from Blogger to Blogger. It’s an award for bloggers with under 200 subscribers & is to encourage each other that they are doing a great job & to keep it up!  Sweet right?

Along with the award, there are 11 questions that were asked (just realized I answered the wrong ones, but I'm just going to leave it as my kiddos are going crazy for some attention now) to help your readers get to know you better. Here are my answers below:

1.    Why did you start blogging?

I started blogging in 2009 after I had my first child as a way to connect to the outside world as a stay-at-home-mom.  I had a huge passion for decorating, organizing, sewing…really anything creative & I wanted to connect with other people with the same interests.

2. What is your favorite book?

Hmm…besides the B-I-B-L-E?  Probably, 

 The Search for Significance, 

Where is God When it Hurts by Phillip Yancey, 

Boundaries by Dr. Henry Cloud & Dr John Townsend, 

ok & non self help: the Harry Potters,

The Hobbit, 

The Lord of the Rings,

…you know, all those.

3. What makes you laugh out loud?

My husband.  He's is hilarious: 

4. Who or what inspires you? This can be blog-related or not.

I'm inspired by godly women who are also humble & transparent.  Several women come to mind.  Here are two:  

Evelyn Stilwell.  Besides my own mother, no other woman has had a greater impact on my life.  She is the Proverbs 31 woman & she lives her life poured out for others.

Michelle Duggar.  I love the gentleness in her parenting, but also her non-judgmental spirit.

5. Who would play you in a movie?

          Staci Keanan probably looks the most like me?  

6. How long have you been blogging?

June 2009 - 4 Years off & on

7. What time of the day do you write?

Usually during nap time or after the kids are in bed.

8. What is the most annoying song in the universe?

Hmm…Anything by Weird Al or Barney?

9. What part of your home is your favorite?

My Master Suite.  It's the reason we bought the house.  My bedroom is large enough to have an office in without being crowded.  Our master bath is large enough to have to whole family in without being crowded.  It has a whirlpool tub and I love all of the finishes & hardware.  The closet is one of the biggest ones I have ever seen & you can hear NOTHING when you are in there with the door shut.  I don't have great pictures on them yet, but here are some little bits to give you an idea.

10. What is your favorite recipe?

This Cranberry Almond Scone Recipe is pretty good.

11. What is your favorite season?

Right now FALL sounds amazing, but what I really think lately is every season except summer!  Hate being out in the heat unless I have a pool or an ocean to jump into. 

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Here is a list of the blogs I'd like to pass this award onto!!!

Simply Organized NWA

Lorrabeth

Allow Him To Lead

Crazy 8

Nominees:  Make your own Liebster post answering the above 11 questions, & choose some other amazing bloggers that you think should get this award too!   Make sure to pick bloggers who have less than 200 subscribers!!

Reclaiming Our Spaces: Katie's Dress-Up Bag

This week I came up with a solution for the large pile of dress-up clothes/gear on Katie's floor that I mentioned here & here.  I was trying to think of something she could open & close easily, so she could take full ownership of it.  After much digging on Pinterest, I decided to sew her a huge drawstring sack!

It was super easy to make.  

1)  Take 2 yards of fabric.  I used duck cloth.  

2)  Fold it in half wrong side out & sew up the 2 sides

3)  Fold over the top twice leaving a pocket big enough for the width of the strap you're going use or make

4) Turn your bag right side out

5)  Make a slit to allow for you to insert the strap on the right side of the pocket you've made & sew around the edge of the slit to make it strong & finished.

6)  I used a ribbon for my strap.  Make sure it is long enough to cover the width of the opening when the bag is all the way open.  You should leave just a little extra than that.

7)  Pin a large safety pin through the end of each end of your strap or ribbon, so that you can thread it through the pocket more easily.

8)  When you have both ends out, sew the 2 ends together & you're done!

EASY as pie!

It's pretty easy for Katie to open & close by herself (which she loves).

She's had a lot of fun playing with it all so far...

This week Holly worked on organizing jewelry!  That girl is so cute.  Check out her post here.

Reclaiming our Spaces: Pam's Craft Area

It's been 2 weeks & now we are ready to reveal Pam's new craft area.  Here's what it looked like before:

Here's how it looks now:

She has done an amazing job! She installed shelves above her desk. On that desk she has labeled bins with all of her supplies. Her desk top is now free of clutter, so she now has a cutting area & a place for her surger. She used a cute little flower pot for pens on her desk. She also has basket there for pattern weights, shears, and french curves.

Everything that was on her desk is now sorted and put away. She emptied the loose bags & placed them in a giant laundry bin from Ikea so she can grab them as needed. She also ordered a handbag holder for her handbags. Yay for a neat, inviting space to create!!

I'm feeling inspired!

Do you have organizing dilemma? I'm interested in doing some online organizing problem-solving. Send me an email & we'll talk it over.

This week Holly worked on her kitchen. Here's a sneak peek:

Reclaiming Our Spaces: Pam's Catch-All Space Part One

Last week Pamela Moore (an old college theater friend of mine) won the contest for some free organizing from me.  I wish I could physically go there & transform her space in person while she's out having a great time somewhere.  However, she lives 2 time zones away!!  So, we have been making due with pictures & Facebook messaging!! Ha!

She has so bravely let me show you some before pictures...

This is her catch-all room basically.  It has to work hard because this gal and her husband have A LOT of things going on. They are both burlesque entertainers! She also does costuming and he does vaudeville & writes. They are quite the dynamic duo! Always have been.

Bottom line? She needs a space to cut fabric & to be able to find everything she needs while she's working.

Her assignment has been:

1) Throw out/give away things that are no longer being used

2) Figure out what you want to keep in there & get bins to categorize it.

3) Hang a rod above the desk to clip works in progress

Next week I'll post the big reveal!

This week Holly worked on her craft closet. It turned out very cute! AND well organized. That lady's got skillz.

Reclaiming Our Spaces: Organizing on the Cheap & a Giveaway! GIVEAWAY CLOSED

CONGRATS to Pamela Moore!!  She wins FREE organizing help this week!  We will be working on a section of her craft area.  Tune in Thursday to see the results!

This week let's discuss what we use to organize.  Not every little organizer needs to come from The Container Store.  (Though, their stuff is pretty fun if it's in the budget!)  Let's talk about what we can use if it aint in the budget.  Know what I'm sayin?

I use left-over perfume boxes, toy packaging, & really all sorts of random containers to contain my stuff:

This is a holiday perfume gift set box that I have been using since 2004!  I keep my jewelry in it right now:

I also like to gather fancy-looking containers to keep on my counter.  The white tray was a TJ Maxx find.  Pretty sure it was like $5.99.  Then there is a little porcelain plate & old Avon cream holder I found at garage sales.  Super inexpensive, but they make me smile.

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Ok, here's the giveaway part:  I am offering to *virtually* organize a room for one of you.  You send me pictures of your space.  I will tell you what I would do to organize your space.  I will hang with you through your whole process from Monday to Wednesday.

Here's the deal:

1)  Gotta take before & after pics

2)  Gotta work on it this week, so we can post about next Thursday

I'll pick a winner Sunday night.

MAKE SURE YOU DO EACH STEP OF THE GIVEAWAY.


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This week Holly talked about Organizing your Time.

Reclaiming Our Spaces: The Flow of Paper

Now that I have organized just about every major area of my house, I'm going to switch gears for a bit and talk about how my house functions.  My house can go from sparkling clean & perfectly organized to Crazytown in the course of an hour (read 2 small children live here).  I know if I don't stop every once in awhile & evaluate how things are working, we could get all cluttered up again in a hurry.

One of the biggies for me (& probably most of us) is paper that comes into the house.  It's overwhelming!  Way too much coming in.  Here's how I handle it:

1)  Mail:

Remove the junk.  Everything that is not vital gets thrown out.  No time for it.  No room for it.

Deal with it.  Some things can be read & then tossed, no need to even bring it inside.  I go through the mail in my car or the garage.  Keep that paper from ever getting into the house if you can!  If it's need to get filed, I have a to-be-filed box on my desk if I'm feeling lazy.  If I have time, I go ahead & file it.  If it's an invitation, I put it on the fridge because they make me happy.  I don't magazines anymore, because I don't want to deal with them.  Pinterest is my magazine these days.  If it's for my husband, I put it at the computer ; which is right by my to-be-filed box.

2) Receipts!! 

There are so many!  My husband got us this great app for our phones called Home Budget:

Using this app, I can input my receipt & it synchs with his right away & I can throw the receipt away after that (unless I need to file it for taxes).  It's nice to not have a purse full!  It's also nice to be instantly balanced at all times.

3)  Papers brought home from various places:  There has to be a home for these items. maybe it's in the to-be-filed box or out on the fridge or on the desk in a "to-do" box.  If they don't have a specific home, based on what it is, it will become clutter.

4)  Kid's Art:  I have heard some good ideas about this lately.  Some people take pictures and print them in a collage.  

How cute is That?

Some people keep the best art of the year & have one binder per year.  Some people keep a large gallery wall with cute frames to display the art until new art is created.

Martha Mcglothlin posted this on HGTV's Rate My Space

Scribbles and Such

I'm sure there are other things that I didn't mention, but these are the things that come to mind right away.  They can really be stressors, right?  Keep a paper recycling bin in your kitchen that is readily accessible & toss all that extra!

This week Holly organized her kids' closet!  Brave woman!!  Here's her post.

Reclaiming Our Spaces: Organizing A Little Girl's Room

This week I thought I'd share what I've done to organize my daughter's room.  

She loves books, so I had to allow for a lot of places to keep them.  The ones that she uses the most we keep by her bed in this bin:

We keep all of her dolls in this large basket at the foot of her bed:

I store all her shoes in this organizer on the inside of her closet door:

The rest of her books are here on top of her book shelf.  The larger ones are on the bottom shelf.  The bins hold all of the smaller toys.  I used to have them them separated into categories, but it never took.  Maybe I'll try again in a year?

This is her vanity.  She has a lot of fun stuff to play with, so we keep a little bin by it to store it in.

! 

That's it.  I'm still looking for a cute storage trunk or ottoman to store all her dress-ups in, but no luck so far.  It's so fun decorating and organizing a little girl's room!

This week Holly worked on her kid's creative space.  It's a super cute room.  Check it out.

Reclaiming Our Spaces: Reality!

Let me tell you about this afternoon.  I forgot someone was coming by.  I was still in pajamas (at 4pm!) Both children had no bottoms on, the house was a wreck.  I was so embarrassed!!!

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It really got me thinking.  This is reality.  This is my life.  Sometimes it's messy, ugly, disorganized--just crazy.  I am sure some of y'all can relate a little?  My sweet friend (& her husband & her 2 kids!) was so full of grace for me in the chaos of the moment.  That was such an encouragement to me in that moment when I felt like a complete mess.

See, my plan for this week was to work on organizing my daughter's room.  It's fairly organized, but I have needed to deal with the crazy amount of dress up gear that it always thrown all over the floor.  I hang it up, but it gets pulled back down & she's not tall enough to get it hung back up.  

I think the best solution is a trunk for her to store it all in.  Something like one of these maybe:

It would be easy for her to clean it all up, but she also wouldn't need my help getting it out when she was ready to play.  So, I'm on the lookout for one, but I haven't found one yet.  I also want to move her room around a little.

So, this project will have to be stalled until I can find what I'm looking for.  That's the reality for me right now.  Sometimes it is a real struggle to get even simple things accomplished, but I am pointed the right direction & making progress all the time.  I hope my transparency is an encouragement to some of you that may feel overwhelmed at the thought of your clutter; by trying to carve out the time to sit and think about where to start.  I am right there with you!!

Baby steps are still steps!

This week Holly felt a little frustration this week as well, but still got some work done.  Check out her post here.