Storage Solution of the Week: an “Up-cycled” Glass Bottle

In celebration of my new VIDEO online workshop Organize Your Kitchen (which is now open for enrollment – woohoo!) this week’s storage solution is for the kitchen. The idea of upcycling an item in your home to give it purpose and infuse your space with style, however, can be used in any room! I hope you are inspired to look at the items in your home with fresh eyes and put this idea into action soon.

What it is:  An old olive oil bottle repurposed for use as a dish soap decanter. 

 

Where I got it:  The bottle came from Folie à Deux Winery near Napa Valley. I got it in 1997. The dispenser top came from Bed Bath and Beyond in St. Louis, and I got it last week.

Why I love it:  On the surface, this storage solution looks like a bottle being used to dispense dish soap in a stylish way. For me, that could be enough. I love the idea of replacing the plastic, retail packaging for dish soap with a container that is a more stylish and attractive. This simple upcycling makes the everyday task of washing dishes a drop more fun.

But this particular bottle is even better because it’s meaningful to me. And I love infusing spaces with meaningful items. If they have a purpose, all the better! This bottle is one of a handful of little souvenirs I brought home in my suitcase after our honeymoon to Napa Valley in 1997. Now, in 2011, as part of my kitchen reorganization and spruce up project, I’ve pulled this bottle out from the depths of the cabinet under our sink and put it to use. Now, this little honeymoon memento is out on display, serving a useful function in a space I use every single day. What’s not to love about that?

 

This week’s storage tip is less about using a glass jar to decant dish soap (though that alone could make your heart sing, if you’re anything like me), but is more about looking at items in a new way. What meaningful item in your home could be put to use serving a stylish and useful purpose? I have used a ceramic bowl from a Florida vacation to corral sponges and dish scrubbers in the past.

 

And my spoon rest is a ceramic dish from a trip to visit a friend in Chicago. When I see these things in my kitchen, they make me happy and yet, they still perform important kitchen tasks.

 

 

When you marry meaning with purpose, you’ll love how your spaces look and feel. This will give you one more incentive to keep your spaces organized going forward.

Do you use meaningful items in functional ways to organize in your home? If you do, I’d love to hear the item you use and how you use it. If you don’t do this yet, begin looking at your items with new eyes. What meaningful vessel could you upcycle into a functional and inspiring storage solution? I can’t wait to hear what you come up with! Thanks for sharing. 

Monday Morning Check In

Hello my Finish It Friday friends! How was your weekend? I hope you had a fun and productive one. Mine was good. :) Here's my update:

 

Play List:

• Movie night. Check! We watched "Julie and Julia"—one of my favorites.

• Get together with friends. Check! 

• Boot camp. Check! (I just couldn't stay away.)

 

To Finish:

• Curtains. Check! I finished. I’m so excited! I'll try to take a photo later when the light is different. (Right now we've got:  bright outside + dark inside = beyond my photography skills.)

• Kitchen project. Progress was made. Stay tuned...

• Laundry. I was all caught up on Saturday, and then after the get together on Saturday (a bonfire) the laundry got un-done as laundry tends to do. So I’ll be doing (more) laundry today.

• Plan meals for the week. Check!

 

Let us know in the comments how your weekend went. I look forward to hearing from you! See you back here this Friday for another round of finishing and fun. :)

Finish It Friday

Good morning my Finish It Friday friends! How was your week? I hope you had a great one. Mine was, in a word—busy! Whew. And it doesn’t show signs of slowing down this weekend. Here’s what’s on tap for me. 

Play List:

• Movie night. This is a monthly get together with friends and this month it’s at my house. Should be fun! Let me know if you have any recommendations for a super funny movie…

• Get together with friends. (Another get together. Fun!) 

 

To Finish:

• Curtains. Oh I can’t wait. Now that I have the fabric picked out and cut, the old ones are driving me batty!

• Kitchen project. Okay, it’s time to spill the beans! I have been working on a kitchen organizing workshop, and it’s a video workshop. I’m so excited about this because it means workshop participants will get to see me organize my kitchen and then learn how to apply the process to their kitchen. So fun! Look for registration info soon. Woohoo!  (Here's a sneak peek at the workshop banner. There's no sign up page yet...so if you click it, it won't go anywhere. But soon it will!)

• Laundry. (Of course, right?)

• Plan meals for the week.

• Finish cleaning house. (Like, really soon! Right after the work day ends.)

 

So that’s what’s on tap for me. Notice that boot camp is missing? I’m not sure about boot camp this weekend. It depends on how late things go tonight, though I really hate to miss boot camp! So we shall see what I decide in the morning. 

 

What’s on your to-do list this weekend? I look forward to seeing your list in the comments. Have a terrific weekend and thanks for joining me in Finish It Friday! It's much more fun getting things done with friends along for the ride! :)

Command Central Binder Leads to Good Fortune

In this blog post, Jennifer shares her love for Chinese food and for the Command Central Binder from simplify 101. Think the two are unrelated? Think again!

 

Not long ago, I was at my sister’s house, and we had planned to order Chinese carry-out for dinner. (I seriously, seriously love Chinese food.) She’d purposely brought home the menu and knew it was somewhere in the kitchen/dining room area, but where? I ended up joining the search party, and my quiet desperation grew with each passing moment. No menu meant no take-out for me before I had to leave. The clock was ticking! But even with several people looking, the Happy Wok menu was never found. Oh, the sadness over a missed opportunity for crab rangoon.

 

I have to tell you it was all I could do not to suggest my sister do something about her paper, um… situation. But nobody likes a know-it-all, especially not a know-it-all little sister. So I kept quiet, all except for the loud rumbling in my empty stomach.

Just a year ago, something like that could’ve easily happened in my own home. My kitchen in particular was a sort of Bermuda Triangle where paper got sucked in, created havoc, and then frequently disappeared without a trace. But then, one day I downloaded the Command Central Binder from Aby Garvey at simplify 101, and it all changed oh so much for the better. (Plus, it was free. I like free even more than Chinese food.)

 

A friend forwarded a link to me for this “free home reference binder,” because she knew I was on a mission to get (and stay) more organized, and that paper clutter was an infuriating obstacle for me. (Gee, maybe it runs in the family.) It took a few days before I clicked through the link, but then I read this: “Are you tired of wasting time digging through stacks of papers…searching for the same documents over and over again?” Uhhhh, yes. Spooky. Had Aby Garvey seen my kitchen counter? Yikes!

I read through the download. I wasn’t ready. But by the following weekend, I’d had enough of the paper clutter and got started on this project. I pulled together a binder, 3-hole punch, and the few other items recommended, then I set to work.

 

The number one thing I love the most about the Command Central Binder is that it's set up so you can easily chunk this project. One reason I hadn’t successfully come up with a paper management system is that it was all too overwhelming. That was a whole lot of paper mess to try and figure out! Breaking it up into bites made me feel accomplished even when I just took a few steps towards the finish line. It also gave me time to think about how this needed to work for me.

 

That brings me to the number two thing I love… this isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach. There are very helpful recommendations for how to set it up, but in the end it acknowledges that it needs to fit the way you will use it. If you love to dine out, you might benefit from a tab for menus, coupons, offers, and such. If you don’t dine out… well, does that mean you cook your own Chinese food? 

 

The number three thing I love is that this works. Oh my goodness, it so works. In the morning, I can easily tell the children what’s on the school lunch menu, or for that matter they can look for themselves! In the afternoon when the mail and the school papers fly into our home, no more are they sucked into that vortex. And on a particularly hectic evening, I can put my hands right on that take-out menu. Crab rangoon, here I come! And that kind of organization is seriously good fortune. 

 

Have you downloaded your Command Central Binder yet? Aby even has a video tutorial now to help you set it up. I hope you love your binder as much as I do mine!

Storage Solution of the Week: the Lazy Susan

 What it is: Today’s storage pick is the Lazy Susan.

Where I got it: I got the wooden lazy Susan pictured here at Target several years ago. But Lazy Susans come in a variety of materials including wood, metal and plastic, and they’re pretty easy to find at stores that carry containers and other organizing products. 

Why I love it: In general, what I most love about a Lazy Susan is that it—or rather she—makes what would be unusable, invisible and hard to access storage space easy to reach and see. You can use a Lazy Susan on a deep shelf (such as in your refrigerator or in deep closet) and suddenly, the stuff in the back is no longer out of sight or out of mind. Just give Susan a quick spin, and viola! you have easy access to all those things that just moments before were hiding in the back of that deep, dark storage area. How clever is Susan?

 

I use my wooden Lazy Susan out in the open in my scrapbook room, but being able to give her a quick spin makes all my frequently used tools easy to see and access. (Plus, I love how it looks!) I’ve also used the wooden Lazy Susan for fondue dinner parties, which makes for less passing of sauces and raw food, and more time to for chatting and leisurely cooking the fondue. 

Do you use Lazy Susans anywhere in your home? If so, I’d love to hear how you use yours! Thanks for sharing. 

When to Sell or Donate Your Cluttered Scrapbook Supplies

Today’s blog post is a question that came up in a recent session of Quick + Simple Clutter Control. I think this is a great question for anyone with a creative hobby. While there is no one right answer, I think we helped Tammy walk through the problem and find the solution for her.

 

Aby - I am currently in the process of going back to work full-time, and I am being realistic about the time I have for my stamping and scrapbooking hobby. I would like to downsize my items greatly and keep/store the items that I love and know I will use. I regularly donate a lot of these types of items, but I have boxes of brand new or like new stamps, paper, books, etc., that I have invested a lot of money into. I would like to recoup some of the cost, even a little bit, but they are not selling on Craig's list. A garage sale won't work as we don't have enough other items, and eBay is not an option right now.  At what should I 'take the loss' versus holding on until later? Thank you!  -Tammy

 

Here was my reply: First of all, congratulations on your decision to let some of these things go. I think that is fantastic as these supplies can become an obligation if when we don't have the time (or desire in some cases) to use them. Your question is a great one.

 

Is eBay not an option because of time? I wonder if you could simplify selling on eBay and still make some cash (and get the items out of your home) by grouping a bunch of products together into a single sale. Another idea might be if you have friends that scrapbook, could you hold a house sale as opposed to a big garage sale?

 

It sounds like for most other items you have a good feel for when to take the loss and donate as opposed to having a sale to generate money. There's something about these particular items that are different for you --- most likely the fact that many of them are new. I mention this because there really is no universal answer for "this is the time to take your loss." It's really about you getting to that point...and feeling good about it. The truth is that the loss has already been had. The money you spent on those supplies is long gone. So now your choice is to add time to the supplies to possibly recover some cash. But, the supplies don't currently have value sitting in your home. It's only when you add your time to them that they could provide value to you, and that’s if they have a willing buyer. It sounds like time is even more in demand now that you're heading back to work.

 

So here are the questions to ask yourself: Is it worth investing your time to sell the items now? Do you want to hold onto these things for even longer until you do have the time to sell them on eBay? Do you anticipate when that would be? Will the supplies be dated by that point in time? ~ Aby

 

 

But the conversation didn’t end there. In our workshops, the participants share some incredible advice and encouragement in the forum. Here are a few other suggestions that Tammy received on this topic.

• One scrapbook store in our city has a garage sale once a year where they rent tables to customers to sell their unwanted scrapbooking/craft items. It draws customers who are looking for those items at a fraction of the new price. I have several friends who go in together to rent a table and sell unwanted items and they have done quite well. You may want to ask around to see if there is an option like that where you live.
  
   
• A group of my scrapbooking friends get together once a year with things they no longer want and have a "party sale." Each brings her own things to sell, sets them up in the host house, and lets others shop. Everyone brings snacks to share and has a great time while "shopping”.
  
   
• Some children's consignment sales in our area have a Mommy's Mart section with everything from home decor to scrapbooking supplies being sold. I have seen a lot of these items being sold and bought at these sales.

 

 

Did Tammy take our advice? Here’s what she reported back to us:

“I think hearing from you, Aby, that the financial loss has already been had has made a difference in my perspective as now the loss is time, which come next week will be greatly limited. It also greatly resonated with me that my items are more than likely outdated, even though I still like them.

 

I am already making movement on this issue! I purged a ton of paper and embellishments to donate, and I already feel like I weigh less.  Through the purging process I realized I am most torn about giving away the brand new stamp sets so I am going bundle them to sell on Craig's List first and then Ebay if that doesn't work. I am also going to sell a beautiful gatefold album with matching papers that I have been harboring for some unknown purpose. That will help me have more 'space' to breathe as well. Thanks again, Aby, for your insights. I am moving forward. ~ Tammy”

 

How about you? Are you able to let go of the creative items that don’t hold value to you anymore? Could you use a little help in organizing and storing your scrapbooking or crafting goodies? I'll have a lot more to say on this at the Spawn of True Scrap event later this month. Come join me!

 

 

 

Weekend Check-In

Happy Monday! Did you have a great weekend? I hope it was happy and productive! This is the place to share the progress you made over the weekend. I’m looking forward to reading your update! Here’s mine. 

 

Play List:

• Boot Camp. Check!

 

To Finish:

• Laundry. Check!

• Kitchen project. Much progress was made. Jay took the shelves out of the pantry, I cleaned them thoroughly and painted inside the pantry, Jay reinstalled the shelves, and we put everything back in. It’s looking better…but not quite done. :)

• Sew kitchen curtains. Well…I haven’t sewn them yet, but do have them cut out. (Which is huge progress, really.) For me, cutting, is the most intimidating step of any sewing project! So I'm glad to have that part done. I’ll keep you posted on my progress.

 

So this weekend was more about making progress than it was about finishing, but I’m okay with that. Progress is progress, and progress is good. 

 

I can’t wait to hear how your weekend went! Thanks so much for joining me this week. See you back here this Friday for another round of Finish It Friday.  

Let’s Get Organized for the Weekend

Hello Friday! Hello Finish it Friday friends! It’s time again to get organized for the weekend and share our weekend to-do lists.

 

I’m keeping my list ultra-short this week, because one of the projects has a bit more to it than meets the eye, (more on that soon) and I don’t sew very often, so how long that project will take is a total mystery to me. (Wish me luck!) So…here’s what’s on tap for me: 

Play List:

• Boot Camp

 

To Finish:

• Laundry.

• Kitchen project.

• Sew kitchen curtains. (Hooray!)

 

Okay…so I’m not committing to cleaning this weekend as the kitchen project may necessitate I delay that weekly routine. (Hooray!) If so, I’ll work it in early next week. (I’m going to let my routine serve me, instead of the other way around.) I'm also hoping I fit in a bit more play this weekend…perhaps sewing the curtains will feel like play? I hope so. Anyway, I'm excited! It should be a fun weekend. :)

 

Alright, it’s your turn… What are your plans this weekend? Please let me know in the comments!

Whatever you have on tap, I hope it’s a great one! I’ll see you back here on Monday for check-in (though feel free to check in on Tuesday if it’s a three-day weekend for you!) 

Looking for Scrapbook Ideas & Fun? True Scrap Is Coming!

You might have noticed one of my tasks this last Finish It Friday was to finish up my video for Spawn of True Scrap. (Got it done… check!) I’m really looking forward to that event later this month, and you are invited!!  It’s going to be an amazing weekend of scrapbooking and fun, and you can do it all in your PJs from the comfort of your own home. How great is that?

 

You get to learn the coolest scrapbooking and stamping techniques from 17 fabulous instructors plus get recordings of all the classes and a virtual make-and-take—all for just $127! I’ll be teaching on Solutions for Small Scrapbook Spaces. But honestly, these ideas are great for all you scrappers, no matter how much space you’ve got to craft in!

 

Here’s a tiny taste of what I’ll be talking about in my class…

 

1) I'll share a new approach to help you pare down your scrapbooking supplies to those you use, love and have space for!

 

2) Then, you'll find out all sorts of solutions to those organizing challenges you shared with me in this blog post...like what to do if you scrapbook in a temporary space and need to pick up and put everything away between scrapping sessions. 

 

3) Finally, I'll share ideas on how to find hidden pockets of space to store your scrapbooking supplies and how to stretch the space you already have. 

 

Sound fun? If you’re hungry for more great ideas, suggestion, and techniques for all things scrapbooking, then I’ll see you at Spawn of True Scrap! This fabulous, three-day online event will happen October 20-22 LIVE from your computer. It’s not too late to register…grab your spot here!
  

 

Storage Solution of the Week: the ITSO bin

We’ve decided to start something new around here…a weekly (or almost weekly) storage solution post. For me, containers are like the icing on the organizing cake—they make an organizing project just that much sweeter. So I thought it would be fun to feature a favorite storage solution or organizing product, once a week, until I run out of favorites. (Yes, folks, this feature could be here for a while cuz I love storage!)

 

With Spawn of True Scrap just around the corner, I thought it would be fun to kick off this series with a few of my favorite storage solutions for scrapbooking.

 

What it is: Today’s storage pick is none other than the ITSO bin.

 

Where I got it:  Target.

Why I love it: Oh, where oh where do I start? There’s so much to love about this container. First of all, I love the size and shape. It’s the perfect size to hold scrapbook supplies, up to and including, 12 x 12 cardstock. I love that you can store paper vertically in this container and I love that the sides go up just high enough that it’s easy to get things out and put things away when you’re done. Plus, it’s simple to flip through the bin and find just what you’re looking for, like the perfect piece of cardstock to finish that scrapbook project.

 

One last little nugget to love, two ITSO bins fit perfectly side by side in an Expedit bookcase from IKEA. Seriously friends, what’s not to love?

 

Have you tried the ITSO line? Have you tried it for scrapboking supplies? What do you think of it? Thanks for sharing!