Thursday, January 13, 2011

Clutter, Clutter Peanut Butter

Do you find yourself spending 5 minutes looking for your keys or sunglasses or, hey, "Where the heck is my wallet?!!" I have been there and I can bet you have too at one point. When this happens it makes me realize that it is high time I organize myself. In the last post we talked about smaller spaces and how to decorate to make it look bigger. Well, how about we talk about organizing those tight quarters!! There are a lot of ideas out there that can help you organize so I will pick through some of my favorite that are easy and inexpensive.

Let's start with one of the most lived in rooms in any house: the kitchen. Quick question, do you have a drawer that houses all your serving spoons, spatulas, random cooking utensils? What about that ever so cluttered mess: the junk drawer?? Look at this idea that I LOVE LOVE LOVE:


You know those over the door shoe organizers? What a great idea to use it in the kitchen over the pantry door! Not only can you keep utensils organized but you can keep the similar ones together in one pocket. Now, if you really wanted to go down that super organized road, you could also label each pocket so that when they are washed and ready to put away, you can make sure they always find their correct home. This is such a great idea for all of you that are looking for great space making ideas in your cramped space. You could also use the pockets to stash those easy to grab snack packs for the kids. 

 Look at this other wonderful idea:


YAY!!!! The floating shelf is back!!! HEY, I can't help that it is soooo helpful in every room. If you have a spare wall in your kitchen or even in your pantry, this is a great place to hang your aprons and store your cookbooks. Find some cute aprons and maybe a couple of matching towels to hang from the hooks, decorate the top of the shelf with your favorite cook books and hold them up with some decorative book ends and VOILA - instant decor with a functional purpose!

So we have looked at a couple of great kitchen organization ideas, let's touch on one other part of the house that ALWAYS needs organizing - kid's play area. All those little toys everywhere on the floor as if some toy tornado hit the house. Every mom can attest to that overwhelming feeling of never being able to give each and every toy a good, organized home. One idea that I love is using baskets or bins to keep similar toys together.  Like this:


You can use plastic bins, baskets, cloth bins, buckets and anything else that you can find. Another helpful idea is to label each bin like they did in this picture so that the kids can easily find the toys they are looking for. If they are too young to read, print out pictures of the toys and tag the bin with the picture. This will also help when it is time to clean up - thus eliminating any reason for the kids to give excuses on why they can't help. "BUT MOOOooooommmmmm!!!"-- Kiss that whiny statement goodbye!!! You can also create your own storage containers from empty coffee cans, jars, and gift boxes. They are great for holding art supplies. Wrap them in colorful paper to match the colors in the room or to give a little artsy flare like they did in this picture:


Well we have seen some great ideas that anyone can do to help organize the house but wait, did you ever find your keys or wallet? CRAP! Hey, you need this:


This helpful organizer can be put on any counter top or ledge and can keep all those easily lost items together. I love how they have printed out name tags for each slot so there REALLY isn't any confusion. AND, this organizer is decorative and cute! This designer chose to use a wicker cutlery tray but you can use any storage container you choose. The key is to make it a habit to put all of your daily needed objects in here as soon as you walk in the door and MAKE SURE this container is near the door you always come in from. And hey, maybe now you won't find your keys in the door on the OUTSIDE of the house...DOH!

So hopefully you can use some of these tips to organize your house. Now, if someone can only create something to help organize the rest of my craziness........ :)







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