Clean & Organize

Rod, Meet My Friend, Rod

Published on January 22, 2013January 22, 2013 by Our Humble Abode16 Comments

For me, January is the month to organize. The house is a mess from the holidays and I’m ready to purge, clean, and organize as shown by yesterday’s office post. Of course my attention span doesn’t last long, so we moved into the boys’ closet to give it some help. Before we had two shelves at the top with one hanging rod.

Games, extra bedding, and other randoms fit well on the shelves, but the boys’ clothes were crammed on the rods. Because they are growing boys, they go through clothes quickly.

To make sure larger clothes aren’t forgotten, never to be worn, I like to keep the next size clothes hanging, too. So we added a second closet rod.

Now we have Ev’s clothes on the top rod, and V’s on the bottom where he can get to them to get dressed. Which leaves the right side open for larger clothes. That I still pull from the bin on the floor and dig out of the stair storage. Maybe that should be the next organization area?

I’m a firm believer in double rods. How about you? Do you have a closet organizing trick to share? Or an old stand by you’ve used for a while?

The Office {Organization}

Published on January 21, 2013January 21, 2013 by Our Humble Abode6 Comments

Hello and happy Monday! You know the snowball effect? That happened to me recently. While working on orders, I decided to add labels to magazine files I use as paper storage.

Washi tape to the rescue. Now I know which is card stock and printer paper without pulling the file out.

Those labels set the organization ball in motion, and I knew another office space that needed some help. The dreaded file drawer. Organizing like items in files and receipts in large envelopes corralled the mess, but more washi tape (color coded!) labels everything.

After that, I moved up a drawer where I keep packing and mailing supplies for orders.

Above that drawer is basically an office junk drawer. Some office supplies, some craft supplies, and chargers. A quick purge and straighten out.

Over to my main drawer where I keep essentials. Scissors, paint brushes, utility knives, tape, pens, paper clips, chapstick, post its, everything.

An acrylic kitchen utensil caddy keeps large items together, but smaller items just don’t work well. But a cheap shelf turned drawer divider from the Dollar Tree works. Now I can separate large and small binder clips, rubber bands, and paper clips from my memory cards, stamps, and flash drive.

With most of the drawers done, I cleared out the mail slots.

A black box holds note cards with addresses, seriously the best address book for us. Envelopes and our address stamp make mailing easy. And a cute little elephant bank to corral change.

I keep extra-large envelopes and packing supplies in the white boxes. Markers, paint brushes, and extra pens are contained yet accessible in the vases on the top shelf.

A bouquet of pretty Sharpies in a candle holder on my desk add a pop of color to both my desk and mail. If only I had the energy to sort through my craft supplies, the boys’ art supplies, and other oddities in the other half of my office. I’m feeling overwhelmed by the amount of junk I seem to own. In the office and other areas of the house.

How was your weekend? Did you tackle a much-needed organizational project? Or realize you also have an insane amount of stuff?

Bathroom Break

Published on January 7, 2013January 7, 2013 by Our Humble Abode6 Comments

For the New Year, I’m trying to organize more around the house. Call it a resolution if you wish. Some of that includes improving our current systems. In the words of Tim Gunn, ‘Make it work!’ First up, working out the main bathroom storage. After rearranging some miscellaneous supplies gathering on the top shelf, I cleared room for our supply of toilet paper. Yes, we buy it from Costco, so we’re stuck storing 36 rolls. Lucky for us, we’ve got a large shelf to help out there. Below that we store soap, cotton balls, and q tips in covered glass jars. A stack of clean white towels toward the bottom rounds out the closet.

Then I added a ‘guest jar.’ Basically, I took all the travel sized necessities and stuck them in another lidded glass jar. This way, our guests can see assorted items and take something they might have forgotten.

Below that we still have the storage caddy, a bottle of mouthwash, a lotion pump, and a few more travel sized toiletries.

This time, cute Burt’s Bees. Just a little something special.

In a house full of boys and DIY projects, we often need a basic first aid kit. Easy access is always nice, so I filled two plastic boxes with supplies. The top one, from my great grandma, holds an assortment of bandages.

The bottom one, an Alli weight loss container from a thrift store, has first aid necessities. Rubbing alcohol and hydrogen peroxide, in labeled travel sized shampoo bottles leaves space for other items.

Unfortunately, everyone in this house has a cold, so I haven’t gotten my organizational hands elsewhere. Have you organized (or reorganized) any areas of your home recently?

Gimme a Giveaway Winner: Norwex & Drawerganization

Published on September 21, 2012October 18, 2012 by Our Humble Abode4 Comments

Raise your hand if you’re happy today is Friday. We’ve got a birthday party planned for a certain little boys I know.

A whole hand. I can’t believe it. We’re both getting so old. Haha. Sara GB should be pretty happy, too, because she’s the winner of the Norwex giveaway!

And now for a little drawerganizing. Because this house needs so much. When my blog BFF Jen and her adorable family visited in August, she brought me some adorable labels. Chalkboard labels for my spice jars, in fact.

So I peeled those puppies off the sheets and stuck ’em to my spice jars. Then they sat that way while I tracked down a chalk pen. Well, tried. After stopping at four different stores, all rumored to have said chalk pens, I gave up. Instead, I bought dry erase crayons, hoping they’d work.

Luckily, they did. No smudging or easy wear off, but clean off with water.

And now we know what spice we’re looking for right away. If only my handwriting were better. Though I do have the best writing in the house. Which isn’t a challenge considering I live with men. Haha.

Another quick drawerganization started at the thrift store. I spotted a chrome silverware divider for a buck ninety-nine. When I see cheap organizers, I try to find a use for it. Then it hit me, organize the friggin’ bathroom! At home, I plopped our toiletries, vitamins, toothbrushes, and toothpaste in there and it made me smile. Sure, it’s nothing fancy or super pretty, but we can fin what we’re looking for. That’s all that matters, right?

We’re organized and ready to party. What do you have planned for the weekend?

Green = Green: Norwex Cleaning

Published on August 9, 2012August 9, 2012 by Our Humble Abode34 Comments

Shortly after returning from Minnesota, a lovely reader, Sarah, sent me a set of Norwex Enviro and Window cloths. After hearing Sarah’s description, I knew Norwex was something I had to try. After all, a product that can quickly clean, leaving a streak free shine using only a microfiber cloth and water sounds too good to pass up.

I opened the package the day I got home, and my mom (who drove back with me) saw them and started cleaning our appliances and glass. Apparently she had a set and loved them. Here’s a look at the cloths. I appreciate that they’re labeled.

Getting mirrors and glass clean without leaving streaks and fuzzies has always eluded me. So that’s where I started, with the main bathroom mirror.

I don’t know what caused that, but it wasn’t looking good. After wetting the blue cloth, wiping the mirror, and polishing with the purple cloth, the mirror was clean, and lint free!