Organizing Goes Green

Those of you who following the blog know I am determined to save time by organizing my life. I would love to go out and buy brand new organizing systems and hire people to install them, but it isn't in my budget. And although I did buy a few baskets at a thrift store, I realized it would be simpler and cheaper to use ordinary items at home to organize those items which were cluttering my bathroom drawers.

I purchase inexpensive razors in bulk. The problem is they fall out of the bag once opened. I also own too many coffee cups. I helped solve both problems by placing the razors in a souveneir cup. Now when I grab for a razor from the bottom drawer, I notice the coffee cup it is resting in and remember the exciting whale watching adventure my brother, Bob, and his wife, Beth, took me on one summer.

I was about to throw out a not-so-gently used Christmas gift bag when it dawned on me that I could cut off the top and use it to hold hair clips. Both organizers are now stashed away in the bottom drawer in my bathroom where they are easily located when needed.

If you have any creative organizing ideas, we would be interesting in reading about them.

Also, contest news. I will be drawing the lucky winner of a $20 Amazon Gift Certificate. To enter this contest you need only be a subscriber to my Suspensebytina newsletter. There is a purple link on the right side of the blog. Scroll down and you'll find it. Click and Join! It's that easy!

Still Organizing - An Odd Bathroom Caddy

If you read last Sunday's post, you know I am working on improving my life for 2012, which means I have a lot of organizing to do now that I recently got married. We merged The Irish Charmer's belongings with mine in every room except for the bedroom bathroom, which I still use in the mornings.

Anyone watching television commercials knows women have many choices when it comes to personal grooming. The problem is what to do with all of those items after you buy them. I spent months trying to figure out what to put in the bathroom that wouldn't fall off the wall, rust, or somehow create a mess.

One day, I was cleaning out a kitchen cupboard and found the caddy pictured above. I believe it came with the dishwasher and is used to hold items like baby bottle caps. I immediatly knew it would solve my problem in the bathroom. It now holds razers, face cleansers, and utensils for smoothing the skin on my heels. What I like most about this caddy is I can easily lift it up when I need to cean the tub.

If you found an imaginative use of an ordinary object, I hope you will share it with us.

Inexpensive Organizing

Like most of you, I made New Year's Resolutions. I WILL finish two books this year. Also, I plan to eat healthier and organize my life. You can probably tell by the picture, this post is not about eating healthier.

For the most part, I do have an organizing system. My motto is "Everything has a place and it will eventually get back there." I plan to do a better job of getting it "back there" this year. My husband and I both make piles of clutter and then when it gets on our nerves, we clean it. Clutter will interfere with your ability to think clearly and creatively so it is best to try to avoid it as much as possible. Don't get me wrong, I am no neat freak and don't plan to become one. I just know that with working a full time job and writing in the evenings, there is little time to clean so it is better to have a plan that will help free up more time.

I decided to start with my purse. The bottom was filled with old receipts, candy, and pens. The zipper compartments were a mess of miscellaneous items that were no longer usable because the wrappers had opened or come off. The purse needed a good cleaning. First, the handle was fraying, but instead of buying a new purse, I found an old favorite and transferred items while I cleaned. Saving money is always a good plan.

The three items in the left picture, closest to the text, were ideas I had already put into place. I keep my keys on a hook and I started putting those keychain cards on a separate hook. I placed a keyring around one handle of my purse and I attach both my keys and the keychain cards onto that ring and then drop them into the purse in case the hook ever breaks. (right picture) I always know where my keys are. You might also notice I keep a flash drive in a holder attached the purse as well. This is where I keep a copy of the manuscript I'm working on.

The white purse looking item in the left picture is an old makeup brush holder. I got tired of the wrappers of femine products ripping open in the zipper compartments of my purse. This case is hard and keeps them secure. The black makeup purse was used to protect my large sunglasses, but now I use it to store small items like antacids, lipstick, medications, etc. When I need something I can pull it out of my purse and easily search inside.

The address book is also where I list birthdays and more imporantly our car license numbers and the size of my air filters for the air conditioner. That info is now always at my fingertips whenever needed.

The Equal container was an idea I came up with this weekend. While cleaning my purse, I found Tic Tac mints. This was the perfect container to hold my sugar substitutes. The first few times I removed the lid I needed to pry it open with the end of a pen, but by the fourth time it could be tugged open easily. I also used Goo Gone to clean off the label. Now I know exactly where my Equal or Splenda is at all times. No more searching.

And now, after removing the cards I rarely use from my wallet, my purse weighs less than ten pounds. I think...

If you have any organizing ideas, please feel free to share them with us.