Organized Craft Closet

My office actually doubles as a craft storage room. Thankfully the room has a wonderful closet or else I would never be able to get any work done. Unfortunately, I never took the time to organize anything and it just ended up getting thrown in there. You know what I'm talking about, right??

Here is a before picture (and remember, no judgements!)

Pretty bad right? I just needed a bit of time, at least that's what I kept telling myself. Today I decided to get to work instead of just "pinning" what I was going to do.

It is definitely a start. I used a few containers that I already had to store things like ric-rac and scrapbooking stickers. This closet is definitely still a work-in-progress but at least I know where things are now! And bonus, I can shut the door without worrying that it will all fall out on me later.

Here are some of my favourite "organizing" pins. These are simply amazing!

1) The Daily Telecraft 2) I Heart Organizing 3) Apartment Therapy

4) No Link 5) Chez Larsson

I'll keep you updated as I keep going. I just bought a few new containers today for some extra storage (is it wrong that it makes me so excited??)

How is your ongoing organizing going? Are you winning the battle? Do you have any great tips or encouragement for me?

Enjoy your weekend!

Coat Closet Ideas

I may or may not starting to feel like getting my house in order. Okay. I am feeling like that. That is one of the perks of being pregnant, which I discovered last time. All of a sudden I was wanting to organize, clean, paint (using no VOC paint of course) and do random little crafts.

Lucky for you, that means I have a lot of ideas for the future. If I find the time and the energy. Fridays are my days off and I feel like most often, my brain feels like it needs a break and either I get really busy cleaning and organizing my home or else I.do.nothing.

Today is a nothing day, but I do have plans for this little space this weekend. Meaning tomorrow. It is time to take back this coat closet and get it to be useful again. 

What I would really love is this, 

 {source}

But I think that is for dreaming and not a reality for our little space. The trouble is with this set up, where do all my husband's, our coats go? 

I hope all of you have a good weekend! Maybe organizing? Cleaning? Spending time with family? Sipping this delicious drink that Melody whipped up? :)

Happy weekend! 

Getting Cozy

This past Monday, I was tired. My computer stopped working. We had a really busy weekend. And my house was messy from our busy weekend. But pregnant me, instead of sitting on my couch while my little one napped in the late afternoon, I decided to clean, organize and decorate for fall. Sure. Why not? 

 I found this cute free printable over at the blog, "it is what it is". 

Lentils in a jar, a faux wood candle holder and a cute picture of my little boy change the summer looking shelf into something a little warmer. 

An easy way to decorate for fall is with leaves. Now, these are fake (until I have time to get out and get some real ones), but putting leaves in a clear vase is simple and colourful. 

The other bookcase just got a clean up and a simple white jar with a (again fake...for now) sprig of leaves. 

After I was done, I then put my feet up and spent the evening relaxing and playing with Gavin. When my home is tidy and a looking at least a little organized, I feel like I can really relax and feel rested. Plus, I really love fall, so breaking out the small pumpkins and leaves was fun for me. :) 

Up next: the fireplace mantle. Nothing too fancy, but just a little change for the season. 

What about you? Do you do a little cozying up your home for the fall season? Anyone else love the mini pumpkins? 

(If you want to read up on the transformation of my bookcases or see what they looked like before I changed them up for fall, click here)

Clean Up the House

If you think that this post is going to be about the ten best tips for keeping your house clean, you'd be wrong. When my sisters come over to my house, they usually don't comment on the fact that my house is clean they usually say "Oh! You've cleaned!" like I only do it once a year or something.

   

Now that being said, I try to vacuum or sweep my floors twice a day, load and unload the dishwasher as soon as possible, and make sure that food gets put away, but I'll be the first to admit that I'm not the best with any of the other stuff. I eagerly read all of those "Clean House" tips in search of what will make me a better homemaker but so far, they seem best suited for single people with no kids and no pets. I also don't want to spend a bajillion hours all my time cleaning my house.

So, any good tips out there for a mom with two kids who also tends to work, do school and travel quite a bit? What works the best for you?

Pantry Cleanup

I wish I could tell you that I got hit by the organizing bug and went on a mad dash of organizing and cleaning my home. But no. It was a bug that caused me to clean out our food cabinet (not actually a pantry), but not the organizing bug. 

Ants. 

Lots of disgusting ants. 

Crawling everywhere. In everything. 

Not appreciated. So I pulled everything out of the cabinet and did a little research online for some natural ways to kills ants. Nothing worked. These ants weren't falling for any natural tricks! 

So after calling out on Facebook to my friends and family for their ideas, it looked like Raid was going to be it. And just like the commercials show, they hate it. Good riddance. 

Unfortunately, they had crawled their way into boxes and even the peanut butter jar. I'm going to show you what the cabinet looked before I pulled things out: 

I know. No wonder why the ants came. It was a free for all. Terrible. 

So after I purged A LOT of boxes and who knows what was hiding back there and cleaned the cabinets from little ant footprints, I started putting everything back. 

I only purchased the wire shelves for this project. Everything else that I need to organize the food, I already had in my kitchen or in a closet.

I put some food items that were in bags into jars that I had purchased at the dollar store a while ago. I labeled them with chalkboard labels that I also got at the dollar store. No danger of anything crawling into those jars. 

Snacks went into a wire basket. I found a paint chip that I labeled and stuck onto the basket with a paper clip. 

Since our house is teensy tiny, our medicine is in our food cabinet. On the top shelf. Gavin obviously cannot get into the cabinet so it is okay for now. Cookies seemed like an obvious match beside the medicine because cookies heal any ailment, right? 

Let's get one more look at this cabinet with a before an after side by side picture.  

I can't believe I even let the cabinet to get that bad...Oh well. No more ants and I have a clean and organized cabinet! 

If you want to read when I organized my other cabinet (not too many in this small kitchen), click here. 

Happy weekend!

A Tip for Cinderella

 Sometimes life isn't so glamorous. Let's be honest. My life really doesn't have a smidgen of anything glamorous in it. I'm a mom. I clean snotty noses and change dirty diapers. I usually wear my hair up in a ponytail, mainly because I haven't been to get it cut in f.o.r.e.v.e.r. (like September) and secondly, because the time runs away from me in the morning. I do dishes. Make beds (sometimes). Do laundry. Vacuum. Clean the bathroom. Etc. Etc. Etc.

 Then I work outside our home part time as well. As a children's director at our church. That isn't the most glamorous job either. You know what though? It's okay. I love my life and I wouldn't have it any other way. 

All that to say, I know that I mostly post about prettying up my home. Spray painting, making cheap art, bedroom makeovers. The fun stuff! But today it's about cleaning. It is Saturday after all. 

Growing up, Saturday was always a crank up the music and clean your little heart out day. I guess I carried the tradition into my own home, because Saturdays are my day to get everything in order to start the week off on a good (clean house) foot. So get ready to crank up your music and clean your little heart out. I have a tip for cleaning your wood floors. 

The tip is tea. I'm not saying hire a maid and drink tea while she cleans your floors. Although that wouldn't be too bad. (I originally saw this idea here.)

 {DIY Network} 

(P.s. Please don't pin that picture from here. If you click it you can go on to the DIY Network and pin it there. I don't want people to think that those are my beautiful hardwood floors.) 

Take boiling water, steep two tea bags in the water for a few minutes. After vacuuming your floors, take a cloth and dip it into the tea and wash your floors with the tea. The tannic acid from the tea helps bring out the shine. 

I used tea that was sitting in my teapot (just from the night before) and warmed it up in the microwave till it was almost at boiling point. I wrapped a rag around the bottom of my Swiffer dry mop because there was no way I was going to get down on my hands and knees and wash my whole floor. 

Here are my floors before: 

 Alrighty. So after I gave the floors a good mop here's what they looked like. 

This was a really simple, cheap, healthy way to give my floors a quick wash. I didn't find that they were sticky at all afterwards. I don't know if they gleam as nicely as the original photo shows, but my floors are pretty old too. All that I know is that my son's pj's aren't covered with dirt anymore (ya, gross. I should really wash the floors more often) and I reused the tea that was just going to go down the sink. 

 So what's your favourite cleaning music? When we were growing up, it was Petra. Never heard of them? Google them and get ready to be blown away by some great cleaning music. :)  

Happy weekend and happy cleaning!

Linked up @ "Pins To Projects" @ Binkertation 

Cleaning Grout Lines

Today I decided to clean the grout lines on our kitchen floor. I have used three separate method's in the past but none of them seemed to work. Either our floor is extremely dirty, or I am not using the proper cleaning solution!

These are my tile floors (please do not judge... I really do want them clean!). 

So! In my desperate attempt to make the grout lines white again (I know... its our own fault for getting white grout), I jumped in my car and drove to Canadian Tire to buy a Clorox Bleach Pen! 

source

Boy did this work! I got the idea from this blog here, and thought it was brilliant! It took longer than I expected for the bleach to work, but when it did, my grout lines became sparkly white and I barely had to do any work! 

I put the bleach on the lines that needed the most work, and then when it was clean, I washed the floor with HOT water to make sure to remove any leftover bleach that was on the tile. If you have tough stains on your grout I highly recommend this method. I know cleaning with bleach is "a big no-no", but this worked for me! 

If you have other ideas to clean grout, let me know! I would also love to hear ideas that are natural as well! 

Clean Your Way to Spring

The official first day of spring is just around the corner; four days away to be exact! Since these last couple of weeks have been warm here, I have already been checking a few things off my spring cleaning list!

Here's a checklist to help you get started on your spring cleaning this year:

• Use a broom to sweep down ceilings and get rid of those pesky cobwebs in the corners
• Wipe down all ceiling fans and light fixtures using a damp rag
• Wash all windows inside & out if you are feeling ambitious! (I like to use newspaper and a mixture of vinegar and water in a spray bottle to get this job done)
• Launder all curtains & drapes, and dust vertical blinds 
• Wash all bedding including bed skirt & mattress protector
• Wipe down walls to remove dirt and grime
• Dust baseboards (I like to use a bounce dryer sheet to do this job), bookshelves, fireplace mantles, & window sills
• Vacuum floors, couches/arm chairs, mattresses, & vacuum under the furniture & rugs
• Wipe down kitchen cabinets (To make dusting the tops of the cupboards easier, cut and fit pieces of newspaper to place on top and tape down with painters tape. The newspaper will absorb the yearly grease and grime that tends to accumulate there, and next time you clean up there just remove the newspapers and voila!)
• Clean your bathroom thoroughly. Clean out the tub and sink drains and pour hot vinegar and water down to eliminate odors
• Replace any burned out light bulbs 
• Clean out and organize fridge and freezer. Throw out any expired food, wipe down interior & exterior of the fridge
• Put any snow shovel or snow removal device in storage and get your gardening tools ready for the season ahead
• Pick up sticks or debris on the lawn, and make sure the mower is in working condition (this is the hubby's job :) !)
• Don't forget to open up the windows and let the fresh air in... and maybe play some of your favourite tunes while you get your spring cleaning on!

If there is anything I missed and you might want to add to the list, don't be afraid to do so! It might sound nerdy, but I really do love spring cleaning. Something about getting my home ready for summer and the warm days ahead gets me excited! 

Spring cleaning doesn't have to be a drag or a yearly chore you detest. Call one of your best friends up (one who doesn't mind seeing your messy house) and ask for some help! It will give you some company, extra help, and you can return the favour for her!

Cleaning The Microwave

Warning: This blog post contains pictures of a dirty microwave. Images may cause vomiting, judging my ability to "keep house", and embarrassment to my mother. Do not read if you have a weak stomach, or currently do not own a microwave. Subject matter is not suitable for younger viewers. 


I am glad we got that out of the way, and yes I am embarrassed of these pictures you are about to see. That is why quickly after taking them, I proceeded to CLEAN my microwave. Thank goodness too, it was a wreck!

Using an idea I saw from Pinterest here, I filled a glass measuring cup with 2 cups water, and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Then I microwaved it on high for 5 minutes. 

After the 5 minutes were up, I opened up the microwave to find it smelling sweet, and the crud loosened up on the sides of the microwave. I then took a damp cloth and wiped the microwave down with ease. No scrubbing was necessary! 


And voila! A squeaky clean microwave that I am not longer embarrassed of! 

I love simple ideas like this that take barely any time at all to tackle, and the results are wonderful! 

Easy Way to Clean the Shower Head

Every now and then when I browse Pinterest, I see something that makes me go "duh!". Most of the time it is something so simple that I feel almost embarrassed that I didn't figure it out by myself. Like this... 

Using a plastic baggy, 1 part vinegar and 1 part water, an elastic band, and allowing the shower head soak in the bag over night works like a dream. The vinegar will remove limescale buildup and water residue to make your shower head work like new again! 

What about you? Have you found any new cleaning solutions that you wish you knew a long time ago to help make your cleaning routine go faster and smoother? I know I have found a bunch of smart ways to speed up cleaning the house that work great!

DIY Granite Cleaner

I came across this homemade granite cleaner pin awhile ago and thought it was a fantastic idea. Since we have recently installed our own quartz countertops (here), I knew this recipe would come in handy when it came time to shine up the tops. 


The recipe calls for rubbing alcohol, Dawn dish soap, a spray bottle, and scented oil. 

Fill the bottle about 1/8th full with rubbing alcohol, add a drop of Dawn dishwashing soap, a few drops of scented oil (optional), fill the rest of the way with water, shake together, and its ready to use. 


I know I'll be using this cleaner lots on my kitchen countertops to keep them looking sparkly and clean. What are some of your favourite secrets to keep your kitchen (or bathroom) countertops looking shiny and new? Do they involve homemade recipes? Or do you prefer buying a tried and true cleaner from a store? 

DIY Cleaners - Easy or hard?

I love a clean house. I'm sure we all do, but for most of us - or maybe it's just me - my house is rarely perfectly clean all the time. I'm sure we've all heard the lectures on green cleaners and have bought some at the store in an attempt to better our planet and keep our houses safer. Usually when I get home, I look at what I've bought and realize that what I've bought could either have been made at home for much cheaper or is not really "green". I found this pin a little while ago and I like the idea of it because it used a lot of the things that I have already on hand plus, it looked good too. 

                                                                                 

                                                                               Source: apartmenttherapy.com via Melody on Pinterest

Here's the supplies that you'll need:

          

All of my supplies I found at either the grocery store, the dollar store or my favourite health food store. The total of the supplies came to about $15 and I could make quite a few batches with them. So my cleaning supplies cost me approximately $2 per bottle. Simply follow the directions on the website and you can even print off her cute little labels that she made.


As for how well it works, here is a before of my coffee table filled with snacks, fingerprints, and toys:

And here is the after (and what I wished it looked like all the time!):

(Yes, that is a fantastic book, don't judge me!)

The cleaner doesn't leave smudges and cleans as well as any "chemical" cleaner and it smells great!

Now, on to the winner of the cowl! Thanks for everyone's entries. We appreciate seeing how many people have started following us and all the encouragement that we are getting from everyone. We love your comments on our blog! 

The winner is:

BroHea who said: I follow you on pinterest, facebook and enjoyed the 'christmas snapshot/tour', 'Homemade babywipes', 'mirror mirror on the wall', 'table fit for a farmhouse'......I can go on. If I could knit...I would knit this! But I can't, so I will try to win it :)

If you could please contact us with your full name and address, we'll send the cowl your way! Thanks again to everyone who entered and don't worry, we'll have another giveaway soon. 

What else would you be interested in winning?