Get Organized in 2014!

So yesterday was about staying on budget during 2014, today is about getting organized! Below are some great, simple ideas to start getting yourself and your home organized for the new year.

1. Untangle Your Jewelry: Jewelry is one area where we often don't know what we have because it's all tangled. If it were organized, we'd certainly where it more right? Look at this cute idea for organizing your jewelry with a peg board.

2. Shoes: Often times our foyers can be a catch all for our shoes, look at this great way to organize your shoes!

3. Pantry: Just like with our jewelry, we often don't know what food we have because it's so disorganized! I love the photo below. Anyone can do this by picking up a few bins and baskets.

4. Laundry: I know my washer and dryer end up being a catch all for everything I don't know where else to put. Look at this organized laundry room! This looks easy enough to replicated, and not too expensive!

5. Kid's Books: This is one that I will actually be implementing within the next week or so. I went to IKEA and picked up these "spice racks" for $3.99 each! I will be using them to store all the girl's books, just like in the picture below.

Now, what are you still doing reading this blog?! Get out there and get organized!

My Craft Closet

A few weeks ago I went to Ikea and bought this craft table!

But after taking every piece out of the box I realized that it didn't come with the screws/hinges etc! So, I emailed Ikea right away and approximately 7-10 days later I received the missing parts.

We have a cedar closet in our house and I've been wanting to turn it into my craft room. It was completely filled with boxes and junk and I spent quite a while cleaning and relocating all of that stuff. Afterwards, there was plenty of space for my new desk as well as all the knit fabric I purchased a while back at the auction.

I purchased a few white boxes from Ikea as well ($2 each!) and filled them with zippers, patterns, buttons, etc. I also had room for my sewing books and manuals on the shelves. The glass jars on the shelf were also from Ikea and will be perfect for ribbon, bobbins, etc.

My favorite thing about this sewing table is the drawers. There are three on each side and the additional storage is awesome! It also has the ability to expand on the other side or both sides can come down making it only about a foot wide! So much versatility!!

I love how the 'room' turned out and can't wait to start sewing!

Organization for the New Year

Tomorrow my sister in law are planning to go to Ikea. I am super excited because we don't have one at home so I've only been there twice. It's such a great store! This week, they are having daily deals and I'm especially excited about the one for Saturday which you can find here.

It is these great storage boxes for only $1.99 each! What a deal!!! Wouldn't these be wonderful for storing Christmas Decorations?


My post Christmas mood is one of cleaning, organizing and purging. Below are some great ideas for doing just that...

My current "craft room" is a closet...look at how organized this craft closet is!



Are you looking for a way to store your ornaments? Look at this egg crate idea!




Here's a great way to keep your family room organized! It would also work really well for a kids room or your bedroom.



So go out there and get organized!!

E-Meals..I did it

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, we sure did! Below are a few pictures of Lilly enjoying her little play kitchen. It was so much fun watching her enjoy all her gifts!

A few days ago I mentioned that I came across a site called E Meals. I went ahead and signed up and received the following instantly: a link to this week's meal plan as well as a link to last week's meal plan.

The meal plan includes seven dinner meals (including sides), all the ingredients you will need to make those meals, along with the recipes and cooking instructions.

When you first sign up for their program you will be able to choose between ten different meal plans. They include:

• Classic Meals
• Clean Eating
• Simple Gourmet
• Paleo
• Low Carb
• Low Fat
• Portion Control
• Natural and Organic
• Gluten Free
• Vegetarian

So there's pretty much a meal plan for every type of person/family unit out there! We decided to go with the Simple Gourmet because in looking at the sample recipes provided, it seemed to have some simple but not your every-day-see-all-the-time-recipe options. 

I am so excited to get started with this and look forward to making the recipes. I'll be sure to write a follow-up post when I do. Some of my favorite things about this is that I'll be able to have my shopping list for each week always at my fingertips but won't need to spend hours creating it. I'll also enjoy being able to compare each week's shopping list with the current coupon's and sales. It seems like if left on my own, I can never quite get it all together. I'm sure using emeals will be a cost-saving decision for us as we go into 2013. 

Emeals is also a great way to stay organized. Here is a printable you can use when you're planning your shopping trips. This way you'll be sure not to forget something...or end up taking three trips a week to the grocery store!

So, check them out and let me know which meal plan you choose!

E-Meals?

I have 1 day left of work before I can officially relax. I know I've been bad at posting over the past week or so but it's about to improve. I'm very excited about being able to relax and focus on crafting and sewing :)

I did come across something interesting this week though, it's called E-Meals. Have you ever heard of it? Have you ever used it?

I haven't heard of it or used it but a friend of mine on Facebook mentioned it so I looked into it. It definitely sounds interesting. Basically you pay about $7 a month and they will send you a grocery list based on the stores you shop at as well as a monthly meal plan. I'm thinking about doing it but was wondering if anyone has had any experience with it, what are the pros and cons?

I am HORRIBLE about shopping with more than 24 hours in mind and I know that I spend more money than I should because of it. I'm thinking using e-meals for a few months would be a great way to begin the new year and for $7 a month? Not a bad price.

So, leave a comment, tell me your thoughts, are you going to try it?

How to make your bedroom bigger!

I've been growing tired of the setup in our master bedroom. Just like cleaning out your closet is a more frugal alternative to going shopping; rearranging a room is always a first step before new paint or new bedding. 

Originally, I had the bed flat against the wall with a nightstand on one side and a chair on the the other. 

By moving the bed so that it was in the corner and removing the chair (that we never used) I feel like the whole room opened up.  The picture below is from the same location as the one above but just look at all the extra floor space now. The room looks so much bigger!

So, before painting your walls or buying new curtains, try to move the furniture around a bit. It might surprise you how much of a difference it makes.

A Tour Of My Guest Room

This isn't a recently completed project but while hard-core cleaning and organizing yesterday I thought you guys might like a detailed tour of my guest bedroom...

 The headboard is a wooden door we found at Lowe's. Someone had brought it back and while it still had the original cellophane wrap on it there was a tear in the cellophane... because of this they repriced the $150 door at $10. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it but for $10 we couldn't pass it up! I love how it looks as the headboard

(My cat has claimed our guest room as his home)

The chair in the corner is from Restore. $6!

 I picked this table up at a yard sale. It was $3 and painted a forest green. I repainted it the same color as the walls and then crackled it with an off white paint so that the green showed through the cracks. 

The artwork to the right of the dresser is an original poster advertising that week's publication of the Saturday Evening Post (copyright 1955). It was common to see these posters on the window's of hardware stores or diners above the stand where the Post was sold, in hopes that readers would see the add and then purchase a copy. This particular one has a Norman Rockwell photo on the cover. We found it in an ugly frame at a local thrift store  for $4! We had it re-matted and framed. It was in perfect condition.

I found this cabinet at a yard sale for $5!! This is exactly how I found it, it matched the room perfectly!

Hope you liked the tour! It's always fun to go through a room and remember all the stories that are associated with how it all came together.

Washi Tape: Inspiration and a Giveaway!

So recently I've become obsessed with slightly interested in Washi Tape. If you haven't heard about it yet you are in luck. Today's post is about all things Washi:

What is it?: Washi Tape is Japanese decorative tape. It is becoming more and more popular and it can be used on paper, glass, ceramic, and plastic...just to name a few. If you type in "Washi Tape Projects" into either Google or Pinterest you will find hundreds of creative ideas on how to use the tape.

Where do I find it?: If you want it in your hot little hands today, I've heard it is available at both Target and Michael's (although I didn't see any at Michael's when I was last there). There are also a number of places where you can purchase the tape online. If you don't need it today, I would suggest going online. The brick and mortar stores don't have a large supply and the options are limited.

One of my favorite online Washi Tape retailers is Cute Tape. They have a HUGE supply of Washi Tape as well as other decorative tape, stamps, twine and much more. And because they are so awesome they are doing a giveaway today for your very own Washi Tape Starter Kit! More on that later...

What can I do with it?: So now you're thinking, "This stuff looks cool but what can I do with it?" Well I'm so glad you asked! Below are a few projects that I've found. Click on the link below each picture to learn how to do these as well as to check out the other great projects on each of these blogs.  I hope they inspire you!



Washi Tape Notebooks



Washi Tape Twisty Ties



Washi Tape Lamp Shade



Washi Tape Wine Bottles




Washi Tape Keyboard

These are just a few of the MANY projects you can do with washi tape. Now that you have the info and the inspiration...you just need the tape right?!

You're in luck because we have a GIVEAWAY!!!

Cute Tape (cutetape.com) Is giving away the adorable Washi Tape Starter Kit that you see in the picture below! Think of all the projects you could do with eight rolls!



Here's how you enter:

1. Like Cute Tape's Facebook Page by clicking the link here
2. Become a Follower of my blog. (If you're already a follower you can still enter, just leave a comment telling me you are, and still do #1 and #3)
3. Post a comment on this blog telling me that you've done both of these things and you now have one entry!

Bonus Entry!! For an extra entry into the contest you can share this blog post on your facebook page (there is a link on the right side of my blog for you to do this) Click on the link, share the page, and then post an additional comment below letting me know that you've done that. Do this and you'll double your chances of winning!

This contest ends Monday night 8/6/12 at Midnight (EST) Good Luck and I hope you win!

Low Cost Kitchen Organization

This week I went into Hancock Fabrics to pick up some fabric. They were having a big sale on some of their home decor items and I spotted a great basket that was only $4 (80% off). When I got home I thought:

"This would look great in my kitchen and would help clean up some of this clutter in here".

This led to a quick and cheap kitchen cleaning/reorganization. I then stopped by TJ Maxx (love that store) and found scented shelf liner. Each pack of 8 was $4.99 and so I bought two packs. Not only is it cute, but my cabinets now smell like vanilla every time I open them.

Take a look at the before and after pics below, but be prepared...its embarrassing how bad I'd let my cabinets go... I hope you will still follow this blog despite your new-found knowledge of my untidiness...

 What a MESS!

Not any more!...and don't you just love this shelf liner?!

 Yea, I know, its gross.

 Much better aye?

 Ahh!!! so much clutter! (Also, I don't know why this is yellow, I promise I wasn't trying to make the photo look worse than it really was...like one of those swiffer vs mop commercials)

Here's the basket I got for $4. By organizing the cabinets I was able to find space to store all that stuff that was on top of the fridge. I also cleaned everything off the front of it in an attempt to de-clutter. 

So, my total cost was $14 and I think it looks a ton better. Not earth shattering or anything but I do smile now whenever I open my cabinets (Rather than throw my pot/pat in and run for the hills.)