Category: Organizing

Posted on

Orderly Wheat Station

003

I suppose you’re thinking, “What the heck does that mean?” I’ll tell you. Ever since I was a young pup, I’ve wanted to have an organized spot where I could keep the wheat and corn and rice that we have stored, in a safe, clean, orderly place. Somewhere that I could get to easily and run it through the grinder any time I needed too, without any fuss. Finally, finally…I figured out how to do it.

When Daney boy got married and moved to Idaho, he left behind this cute little computer desk. Hmmmm….I thought, let me just scoot that into a convenient corner of the garage. So I did.

Then, a dear friend brought over a busload of quart sized jugs which gave me a positively brilliant idea.

002

What if I took some of the big heavy buckets of wheat, that are really hard to lug around and lift and stack and–well, you get the idea–and poured some of the wheat into smaller containers that were much easier to manage?

008

So first, I cut the bottom off of one of the jugs and made a handy, dandy wheat scoop out of it.

009

Clever, yes?

011

Then I started filling the wheat jugs…

001

and stacking them on the shelf, that now holds the grinder and canisters that I need to make up a bit of flour at a moments’ notice. And get this–one of those quart jugs holds the exact amount of wheat to fill the grinder for one batch of flour. Ahhh…perfection.

Weird topic for a blog post, I guess–but it’s been a long time coming–and to finally have more order in the storage room…

makes me very happy indeed.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Launi-Sig.png

Posted on

Hall Cupboard Cleanout

010

Yes, yes. I’ll admit it. The hall cupboard was a mess. This is the top shelf and all the things you want to keep from the little people. Cleaners, bug spray, and umm…game pieces…apparently.

009

Second shelf was, sadly worse because with our newly acquired love of a more natural approach to healthcare, well…things on this shelf just got kinda stuffed in and neglected.

024

The first step was to gather and throw away everything that was old, outdated, expired or otherwise deadly. The bag was huge…trust me. I would have taken a picture of it but it sincerely embarrassed me. So, instead I snuck it out and dropped it in the trash. Next, I put all the old lotions and perfumes in a bucket and tried to figure out if I wanted to keep them or not. I looked up “perfume and lotion disposal” on Google and found that this calm, non-assuming little bucket holds “toxic, hazardous waste” and that I wasn’t suppose to dispose of it in the regular trash…it was that bad. Funny that it doesn’t say anything like that on the labels. It just tells me how to apply it to my FACE.  yikes.

030

It was amazing how much space there was once all the crazy, nasty, old stuff was gone.

011

 There was plenty of room for the cough drops, and light bulbs and nail polish and chap stick.

001

And best of all–I saved a nice, cozy spot for my oil box, smack-dab in the middle. Where we can all get at it.

Just as it should be.

Gr Signature

 

Posted on

Bathroom Redo

or UPdo or undo. You can decide.

Now then, it goes without saying, though I’ll say it anyway, that anyone who shows you their bathroom on a busy day is indeed calling you a friend…in the truest sense. Seriously, you should be so flattered.

Having had several weddings, a dozen or so hairdo tryouts, a million make-over parties, a bridal shower and too many friend sleepovers to count, in the last few months, I could pretty much pick any day of the week and call it a busy, noisy day…and mean it.

After seeing the place, you would be a believer too.

Then, one afternoon, I had a thought. “Hey,” said that inner voice, “you don’t actually have any kids living with you in this basement anymore. So, why on earth do you have guy’s shaving cream in your cabinet and strawberry body spray made in 1987, on the shelf?”

I don’t know, inner voice. I don’t know.

So the gutting began. I hope you’re picturing puffs of smoke and things flying out the door right now–cause that’s how it happened, I swear.

Hair spray, foot spray, tanning spray, baby oil, baby powder, light bulbs, lovely smelling lotion, nasty smelling lotion, travel cases, body scrub, wet wipes, pump soap, polish remover, hair brushes, mirrors, flashlights, peroxide.

Oh, and six different sized curling irons.

Is there no end in sight?

Apparently not. Soap I love, soap that makes me gag, hair gel, bath tissue, toothpaste, spare sink parts, hand sanitizer, pomade, scissors, dental floss, cleanser, essential oils and a magic eraser.

Sort, sort, sort. Pile, pile, pile. Toss, toss, toss.

Some things went in a stack to keep, some went in a box to give away, tons went directly into the trash…without passing Go and everything else went into a big bag for all those married girls of mine, to sort through, because, well–because it’s quite likely that half this stuff was theirs in the first place–a decade ago.

Next, I picked up 10 baskets from the dollar store and stood in front of the shelf for a while trying to decide how I wanted it all to be arranged. What exactly did I need, where?

In the last 35 years, I’ve never been completely in charge of a bathroom, that had no one else in it, so I was free to get rid of anything that wasn’t positively mine. What an odd sensation.

Yes, it was very odd…but kinda fun too.

And since I live in my daughter and son-in-law’s basement, and they aren’t all in love with my kitty friends, I even made a place for Beany and Jiff to eat that is more out-of-the-way than before.

I found some hookey suction cups and tacked a shower rack in the window for the my Dove soap and scrub brush. The Serenity bath bar I hang in crocheted mesh bags to keep them from getting mushy. Razors go in a suction cup toothbrush holder to keep them from sitting in water–they last twice as long that way.

Yeah, I’m feeling pretty darn clever right about now.

My pretty little plants…

a flowery calendar…

and some soft crocheted rugs look just perfect…

now that it’s only me…all alone. Perfect, except for one thing.

It’s a bit tooooo quiet around here.

Posted on

Organizing Photos (part 1)

Otherwise known as: The Great Picture Project of 2009

If you’re anything like me and have been collecting photos for the last couple of decades, then maybe your closet looks like this too. Hopefully not.

There are, of course, photo boxes sorted into whichever child is the main focus of the picture, but then there are scads of miscellaneous packages, stacks, bags and piles of ones that haven’t been categorized–or that don’t fit into the boxes at all.

I even have some in dusty old albums and baby books, and some in old frames or outdated collages. And perhaps we shouldn’t mention the file cabinet that I inherited from my mom with a century and a half of old family photos–you know–the priceless relic kind. I’m not brave enough to open that drawer yet.

Now, I’m not entirely brainless. I know that this is not the right way to treat your pictures and that I need to do some kind of acid-free, archival-type adventure and eventually scan and save them all on discs–or something. I even realize that the “Proper Preservation of Family Photos” police could be pounding on my door at any moment–but honestly—I just can’t think that far ahead.

This could all be a wee bit daunting…if taken in one massive chunk.

For that very reason, my plans will be much more modest. I just want to get these pictures sorted, organized and–most importantly–all in one place–so that I can find what I’m looking for without a bunch of crazy packages landing on my head.

That’s the extent of my big ambitions, for now. The acid-free-scan-and-disc-stuff will have to wait for another day…when I’m more mature.

I’m off to Wal-mart–with 30 bucks…not a penny more.

I’ll be back.

Wish me luck…

Posted on

Penny Pinching

cracker-jack…when a dime bought something good?

Click link above

I just went shopping with my sister Laurie and believe me–I witnessed a pro in action. This chicky is really a coupon queen. She bought name brand stuff–that I never even look at because it’s too expensive–and paid pennies on the dollar. No kidding. The register rang up $88.00 and she only paid $37.00. Less than HALF. I had to keep reminding myself to snap my mouth back shut. I was speechless and you know that is a rare thing.

mr-bubble

...when bathtime cost 49 cents?

click link above

So, I’m tired of being too busy to use coupons–because, quite frankly, I can’t afford to be too busy. When my dollar won’t stretch to afford all that I have in the cart–I have always put things back. Well, not anymore! I’m going to pull out my trusty coupons and take all that loot home.

Now if I could only figure out how.

milk-duds

…the big box cost 15 cents?

click link above

So I asked her if she would do a little coupon class for all of us would-be penny pinchers–if I promised to make brownies or something…

…and she agreed. WAHOO!

So are you ready to be amazing? Who is interested?

Let me know in the “reply” section below and we’ll pick an evening in the next few weeks and post it here. It will be fabulous! For those of you interested–but out of the area–we’ll post the highlights here as well, so you can join the “Wise Women of the Mountain Coupon Club,” from a distance. This will be so fun!

New Year’s Goal #10

I will be more careful with the money I make in order to stretch it farther.