CAR Organization

Have you ever been driving along and you really needed that "thing" that you keep under the seat.  So you pull out the old drink cut, flashlight, trash bag, sippy cup, newspaper, shoe, dog biscuit, popcorn kernels.....and on and on.  BUT you still did not find that "thing".   I have!  Way too many times.

I found a solution.

Plastic pencil boxes. I just used a permanent market to label each box.  They slide under the seat beautifully and keep you organized.  Everything you need right under your rump.  It has been working excellently.


Enjoy!
--Tara


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Inexpensive Pantry Organization

   Once upon a time there was a girl who had a very messy pantry.  It was never easy to find what she needed and she often ended up buying more of items she already had because she couldn't find them in her disorganized pantry.

   Then one day, she had an epiphany.  "I'll organize my pantry!" she thought.  "But how?"

   She jumped on the internet and came across many lovely organizational ideas, but all required a larger budget than she had available.

   The she had another epiphany.  "I can just affix a laminated tag to my wire shelves under where each item should go," she said.

   But then she realized that printing, laminating, and cutting all those tiny tags would be quite time consuming and could be a bit costly. "If only I already had some little plastic tags that I could just insert a label into and attach to my wire shelves," she said.

   And then she had a third epiphany.  "I have oodles of extra labels from the hanging file folders that I use in my filing cabinet.  Maybe those will work."  And they did!

She went to her computer and typed up the names of the foods she had.  Then she cut them out and slid them into the plastic holders.  But what she did next was the real ingenious thing. 

She slid the labels in between the wires on her shelf and they stayed--no tape or ties or anything!

Now her pantry is neat and tidy.  And she can always find what she needs for her recipe and can always see when its time to pick an item up at the grocery store.  

And she and her pantry lived happily ever after.

THE END

---The Tiff-girl

Pop bottle top -- Hangers?

I had a Big problem

My Beautygirl needed to be able to hang "whole" outfits up for school. If we do not have complete outfits, there is a fight in the morning....no thank you!

So I wanted to attach a skirt/pant hanger to a regular wooden hanger. But I could not find any good solutions. I looked on line and they wanted a buck each for the connectors.... again, no thank you!

I found my solution. The top of a soda can.... You know, the little pop top tabs.







They worked like a charm!
















See how they line up so nicely. Now the clothing is not all bunched up. The skirts/pants are hanging in plain sight. The tops are also in full view. This is really important when you are dealing with pre-teen girls!







To see more of what we did in Beauty girl's closet, click herehttp://whimsyfunk.blogspot.com/2012/10/organize-little-girls-room.html.

-Tara

Food storage- SALT

Question:
How do you store a year supply of salt. Lets see.... that is 21 little containers (like you see here).

Answer:
You get a 6 and a half gallon bucket with a screw on lid. (I think they are called gamma lids) Then you stack the salt three high. See how nicely they will fit in the bucket!

Viola! You have now successfully stored your salt. This is a really easy organization idea......
And easy to access the salt.
(You can still keep each small salt in it's own carton!)
--Tara

Tables... a decorative storage idea!

Looks like a table sitting there in the corner, right? Yeah, but it doesn't really have legs. In fact, it isn't actually a real table at all. That's just a stack of food storage buckets covered to look like a piece of furniture. If you look really hard, you might notice it... but nobody ever looks that hard. Trust me.

The idea is simple really...

Stack your storage items (I used buckets of wheat here, but I've used boxes, bins, just about anything stackable). If you're using a heavy storage item, put some cardboard down to protect the space around it - in this case, the wall, the carpet, and the pretty scrap of wood that's going to sit on top later.


Then just cover it! I used a bed sheet because I didnt have a beautiful table cloth large enough, and I really wanted this scrap wood to show... it already looked like a beautiful table top!

After trimming the cardboard that was sticking out underneath (which should have been trimmed before I finished putting the buckets down), I propped a chair in front of it. A pot of peacock feathers, a few pictures on top, and tada!

Can't really tell at first glance can ya?

This simple idea was a hit at college. Usually the boxes themselves wound up as the table top and the whole thing got a fabric cover. We used similar tables as night stands and sofa backers. Note this: if you're going to put lamps or other heavy items on top, make sure your box, bins, or whatever is strong and heavy enough to handle some good bumping around.

That's a Jannie-Original. Hope it helps you like it did me!

HATS and my Homemade Hat Rack!

I love hats. Always have. The collector in me says I should have more, but the practical side says, "Isn't 10 enough?"

In case you're wondering, the answer is "no." I have 20+ hats, and I can always find a good excuse to get another one! :)

Over the years, there were a few fatalities. You see, they never had a home to call their own. The larger hats don't stay on pegs or hooks, unless they're GIANT hooks. Large hooks can get pretty spendy though, especially when you need 8 of them! So instead, they were piled high in corners and on closet shelves... which is a problem if I'm in a hurry. I can't just grab one and go. They wound up crushed, stretched or folded in some irreparable way.

In my hunt for a better idea, I finaly struck gold. On the clearance isle at Ross (one of my *favorite* stores!) were two things - a beautiful little 48-inch curtain rod and a bag of 7 curtain ring clips.

Presto! I have my solution. It's simple, it's easy, and it's out of the way enough that I don't have to worry about losing another of my prized collection pieces to lack of organization.

Now I just need to find a few more curtain rings...

...or maybe a 2nd rod. :)

Save the Paper!

I don't know about you, but for me organizing my wrapping paper, gift bags and tissue paper is a royal pain. I keep a lot on hand because, well, there's always a birthday coming up - and if I shop the sales, I don't have to pay top dollar for a beautiful wrapping job.

Anyway, the wrapping stuff always gets in the way and usually ends up trampled, torn and eventually goes the way of all garbage. Sad story. But now that I keep them organized, I don't have to worry about it.

Let's start with gift bags. They're the easiest. Simply get the biggest bag and stuff all the littler bags into it. And if your bag isn't big enough to fit all of them in, just fit in the biggest stuff (or whatever you can) and grab another bag for the rest.

Now what to do with the tissue paper? Same as the bags - fold up the paper and put it in the larger gift bag.

I do this for my ribbons too. Any beautiful scrap ribbons that are big enough to reuse are rolled up, paper-clipped, and put in a bag with my other spools of curling ribbon.

Organizing my wrapping paper rolls was the most difficult project for me. I tried all kinds of ideas. I put them in a gift bag, but the bag tore. I put them in a large box, but that kept falling over. I tried a tall plastic clothes hamper. That worked, but then I couldn't see at a glance which roll I wanted.

Finally, I found my solution - the magazine storage box. Magazine holders are made to hold heavy stacks of paper, so they work perfectly. The cheap dollar store boxes are fine although a bit more prone to tipping when packed all the way full. I haven't had any trouble with the heavier and higher quality magaine holders.

The nice thing about this little organization idea is that it not only keeps my gift wrap neat and tidy, but it also looks good - so I'm not embarrassed when I store them where people can see them. :)

Easy Tupperware Lid Organization

Trying to organize tupperware lids is like trying to fit a square peg in a round whole... literally. You can't keep the lids with their plastic container because it takes up too much space. You can't put the lids in one drawer and the base in another because it takes forever to dig and find the right match.

Finally I've found the answer - just put your lids inside the biggest tupperware dish. Look how neat and tidy it makes my little shelf. Problem solved!

Pine wood Derby display

Need a home for those super cute cub scout pine wood derby cars? Here's an idea. Use a plate stacker that is supposed to sit in the cupboard. I turned my sideways and mounted it on the wall with screws. Then, I just placed the cars between the pegs.

I got my rack at the dollar store, so it cost $1. This a great little repurposing idea.

Jewelry Hook

My necklaces were in such a mess. I had them in a box and every time I tried to get one, they all tangled and snagged. It wasn't pretty. But it was pretty frustrating. I really needed a better way to organize my necklaces. I had an old towel rack that was just taking up space under my bed, so, there was my answer. I switched out the plaque on top to say "Love" instead of "Bath." I just printed the word "Love" on scrapbook paper, traced the old oval sign and replaced it in the holder. Pretty quick fix. Ah, I feel much better.