Friday, July 20, 2012

Clorox Wipes Container holds Toilet Paper!

The dreaded day has finally come....its my first camping trip with a baby and I have to say I am completely terrified! So many things to figure out and since we haven't been since last summer I knew our camping tote was going to be a mess to say the least. I knew I was going to have to par down to accommodate all the new baby gear we would need to make it four days. We have one 45 Gal. tote that we haul the majority of our stuff in with smaller shoe boxes inside to keep things organized. The very first Shoe box I opened was a mess with toilet paper. Half used rolls, rolls covered in sand and dirt, and squished rolls. There had to be a better and smaller way to store these... The hunt was on!


Remember this guy from my last post that I actually gave up on. It looked strangely tempting. Would a roll of  t.p. fit in here? Well obviously or I wouldn't be writing this post right! So I pulled it out and took all the plastic bags and got a couple of the squished t.p. rolls out. At first I wanted to cut a long slit in the side to pull the t.p. through but quickly found while two rolls fit, it was so tight they would never actually roll. Then I remembered this post I saw about making your own baby wipes! I could take the cardboard out of the center and have it come through the top!






I started by removing the parts of the wipe container that were made to hold the wipes so you could get one at a time. It left me with what you can see at the left. I just used a pair of kitchen shears to do this. The plastic was fairly flexible so it was easy to trim out the parts.










Then I grabbed one of the squished rolls of toilet paper and worked the cardboard roll out of the center. This took me more time than expected and I found that the roll being squished actually helped matters! The tissue was also stuck to the cardboard roll so it came out like butter!. A tip here is to go slow and be gentle.





I gently squished the roll into the wipes container and repeated the process for the other roll. I do have to say I'm not sure this would work with the extra large rolls of toilet paper because they are so much bigger. We use the cheap stuff because it biodegrades quicker. I just put on the lid after this and admired my handy dandy work. Now the t.p. was squish protected, water resistant, and I wouldn't have half used rolls taking up all sorts of space! Our t.p.stash went from taking up a double shoe box to this small container!



Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Lazy Susan and Wipe Box Get New Life!

So life is getting a little hectic lately and I really haven't been able to accomplish any of the big Pinterest projects I would have liked to but I was able to get two little things done this week! 


Lazy Susan in the Refrigerator


I saw this post about something you had to buy but the reality is its just a lazy susan and I just happened to have one my sister gave me that I had yet to figure out a use for. The truth is every time I could have used it I forgot cause it was stuck in the back of a cabinet...so that would work great!!! My husband and I are condiment addicts. From the standard ketchup and mustard to the crazies hot sauces we've pretty much got everything so my condiments always overflow from here....






So in goes the lazy susan and corrals the rest of the stray condiments! Yea! I really liked that the lazy susan is clear so it doesn't take up much visual space and with no lip my hubby is more likely to put it back on there!










Wipe Box is Plastic Bag Storage



As a new mommy I have Wipes containers EVERYWHERE! I always feel bad about throwing them out but the reality is I only need one wipe container in the living room and one wipe container in the nursery. Of course turned to pinterest for an answer but didn't find anything that really fit my fancy...but I did see this post for my Clorox wipe bottle. I got everything ready and started rolling up the bags...but 20 mins later as I was still rolling bags I realized that this was probably a big fat waste of my time. Who was I kidding I would never ever do this again. As I got up from the living room floor I bumped the changing table and the answer literally hit me in the head! The empty wipes container! OF COURSE! I gathered up the empty one I had and simply stuffed all the bags into it. Now if only I could get back the 20 mins of my life I spent trying to roll up plastic bags just so... 
Its not all pretty yet but I'm sure I'll hit it with some plastic bond spray paint at some point. Maybe that will be my first update post! But for now it opened up the entire bottom self in my pantry...enough that I could now get my back up stock of formula and my new mixer courtesy of my Auntie Tina in there! YEA! 


YIKES...looking at this picture my cabinet could use a fresh coat of paint and maybe some pretty contact paper. And yes I couldn't just get rid of my Clorox wipes container... I just shoved the plastic bags in there like i did in the wipe container. Because the reality is time with my son is more important than rolling up plastic bags. 

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Laundry Organization Rack


So yesterday I got to redo my laundry room so of course today when I wanted to use it I came into our master bedroom to find this.... UGH..










I really wanted to try this project and remembered my mom and dad had some of that shelving. We used it in our bedroom as kids because it allowed us to rearrange often without much hassle. But I sadly realized I couldn't do this either because my laundry basket collection looks like this... YIKES!!! At $7 a piece I couldn't afford to replace these either! 


Oh but saving grace! I did happen to have 6 empty totes hanging out in the basement! WOOHOO! These would work better anyway cause I only do laundry every two weeks so I have bigger loads! So I picked up the brackets from my mom's grabbed some clear note card protectors from Basically Business and gathered up the totes!


I started by making some cute little signs on my computer and putting them inside the note card protectors. 










Then I gathered supplies and started hanging brackets!

Use an automatic pencil to mark deep  set spaces!
Don't forget to use mollies! Don't want them to fall!


I hung my bins and added my little signs and finally had a pretty cute final project! Now if I can only get my husband to use it... Anyone have any tips for that???



Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Laundry Organization In An Afternoon

BEFORE...gotta love wood paneling!
I got so lucky this week. I had a full day where not only did I not have to work , my little one was also hanging out with his Grandma April and Grandpa Ronnie! This could only mean one thing.... PINTEREST PROJECT! At first I was going to tackle the Capiz shell chandelier but after further contemplation I decided I had better do another 21 day challenge from A bowl full of lemons. I really want this house organized by the time Dax is walking. So I decided to tackle the laundry room challenge. I wanted to paint the area but with the little one around it had never seemed like a good idea even with low VOC paint so today was PERFECT. 



First I cleaned ou the space and got rid of all the stuff I wasn't using. Then I covered the washer and dryer (because reality is I'm not a professional painter...I'm a messy painter) and slapped up a coat of primer. While the primer dried I ran out to Dollar General and alco looking for cheap ways to hide the laundry if necessary and all the laundry supplies. When I got back I slapped on a good coat of paint!




After that I tackled the behind the washer and dryer shelf I found here. Two cheapo brackets and a piece of wood from the garage. Cut to length and install. Easy peasy. 











Then I got all crazy and creative... I found a unused picture frame in the basement and made a cute sign out of letters like I found on this post. 

Time to refill the space with all the things I don't think I can live without...ok and some pretty stuff you can see in the next picture.


When I was at dollar general I picked up a shower curtain set for like $8. Why not curtains and a curtain rod you ask?? I wanted to make sure I didn't cover up in any way the smoke detector! We have a fire place in that room and I didn't want to take any chances. I also got three baskets for $2.50 each on clearance.




TADA! I put our changes jars over the washer and added my reed diffuser and a cute candle holder I got from Party Lite! All done and pretty cute if I do say so myself! 




I like how the messy stuff is hidden on the left behind the curtain and the rest is in the little baskets! Another project bites the dust and all for around $20...