+ NEW YEAR, NEW TOTE

Happy New Year!  Hope everyone had a fabulous Holiday.  I know it's been a while since I've posted, which is something I'm going to try and be better about in 2015.  I really do miss posting and want to try and find time in the day (or week) to get a post up.

To start, I have to share one of my favorite new items.  The Madewell Transport Tote.  This is not a sponsored post or anything like that (it does have an affiliate link though), I truly love it that much to dedicate an entire post to it!

Here it is:

I was looking for a bag that was light since I tend to get neck/shoulder pain when I carry heavy bags, and this one fit the bill.  My biggest fear was stemming from the need to have an organized bag.  I have never carried a bag without multiple pockets.  What I found was, I have been even more organized without the pockets.  I now carry a few smaller bags within my bag that have exactly what I need.

I ended up getting the bag in black (since it was winter and I had a brown bag already) with my initials in gold (like below).  It has held up really well in the past 3 months and I'm really hard on my bags. 

I also love the brown though- classic:

Wouldn't be surprised if I ended up with the brown by Spring!  Oh, and it's also great for carrying puppies!

Find it here if you're interested!  

+ AN AFTERNOON OF ORGANIZING

Recently it had come to my attention that our hall closet was out of control.  Since over a year ago when we had move in it had evolved into storage for anything from hair products to blenders.  I couldn't open it without feeling overwhelmed, yet I had to open it daily during my morning routine.  Let's take a look at what I'm talking about:

It's a disaster.  The once organized shelves are now in disarray.  Not only was it driving me nuts to look at it, but it was causing me to overbuy.  I would think we needed more toothpaste when in reality there was a tiny basket in the way back that had an abundant supply.  I just had no clue it was there.  Finally I could stand it no more, I decided to load up on caffeine and tackle it.

First step, unloading what was in the closet and categorizing:

This is the moment when anxiety can kick in during an organizing project...for a few reasons.  1. You ask yourself- How the hell am I going to fit ALL of that stuff back into that small closet?  2. Regret.  I should have never done this.  I could be relaxing on the patio with a glass of wine and the new Domino right now...yet I chose to do THIS.  In this moment the best thing to do is begin to go pile by pile and purge as much as possible.  After you've purged enough the project becomes much more manageable.  Then you are ready to assess the new mess and begin to think about how you want to organize.

I looked back at the now empty closet and started to measure.  This way I could really maximize the space.  By the way, I knew I already wanted to use these baskets: 

A while back I bought them for our fridge but we never liked them.  In fact we loathed them.  They took up way too much space and were not functional.  I decided to use them as under bed storage for small items that we had no place to store.  Now I love them.  They are easy to pull in and out their transparency allows you to see what you have stored in them.  After a quick trip to the Container Store to pick up a few more-  I was all set.  I started grouping the items into the baskets (I used the small and medium sizes).  

Here is the after!

It's incredible how much space we gained back by using the same type of storage bins instead of a mix of baskets, bins, etc.  We've been using this space now for a few weeks and it has stayed exactly like this! Everything has it's place now. AND, the shoe storage on the door is empty!  I can't believe we gained space! 

 I used these chalkboard gift tags to label all the baskets.

After this overhaul I realized I have too much product.  I always knew I had an excess, but this is borderline hoarding status.  I get the ipsy bags, samples when I order my go to makeup items, etc. and they just have added up.  I dedicated two full baskets to mostly samples.  Labeled one "eye makeup" and the other "lips/face" (there is also one extra basket dedicated to hair samples- nuts).  Now if I want to mix up my daily beauty routine I pull one of these baskets out to try something new.  I'm so glad I actually followed through with this project.  Now it's time to tackle another disaster zone....

+ for most of my favorite products seen in this post you can follow this beauty link 

+ ORGANIZATION INSPIRATION FOR YOUR WEEK

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It's almost Spring which means a lot of people will begin to clean/organize their homes. Myself included!  Now that we've been living in our house for a year, it's starting to get unorganized again in some areas.  We have one closet that when we moved in I said to myself that I would eventually start organizing...but, a year later and I have yet to start.  For the next few weeks I plan to organize areas of my home, and begin to start sharing some pictures of little updates we've done since we've moved in.  I mean, we aren't making any monumental changes, but we've done some painting, put up art, etc.  We still have some more things we'd like to do, well, I'm sure Chris is happy with how things are...but, I have some updates I'd still like to do :)

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Also, when I first started blogging I did a lot of sharing of photographs of our home, but I noticed I stopped doing that.  I have become too busy, or, when I have free time I have enjoyed doing other things more, rather than shooting our house.  But, I think I'm coming back around and ready to start sharing a bit more again. Especially because I find it fascinating to look back in the blog and see how much my style has evolved!

Here are some organized areas that I have pinned lately that I figured might be inspirational to some:

this was once a closet, isn't it incredible what you can do with a small space?

If you're going to keep magazines for inspiration, I've always loved keeping them in magazine file folders:

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Break up white file folders with baskets- this adds texture to a space making it more inviting. I like that one of the shelves is open and she displayed some personal art, again, this just makes what could have been a more sterile space, more casual and adds dimension. 

image from Lauren Conrad's office

A large space like below is not needed to keep you office organized in your home (I don't think that a large population of people even have a home office)- but, you can take a shelf in a closet and stack some pretty boxes to store your paperwork, family photos, office supplies, gift wrap, etc.  again, going back to the keeping a space inviting, here they did that with colored storage.

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When it comes to closets, there a lot of us that are not blessed with a ton of space (myself included) and this is when we must become even more creative.  I think sometimes it's hard to look at images on pinterest, magazines, etc. and not feel defeated when thinking about your own closet.  This can lead into the...  "if I had that much space my closet when be organized", or, "their closet only looks like that because they have the means to to bring in a professional to do it for them".  I think even in the smallest spaces, and on the smallest budgets, you can make a closet functional.  Typically the first thing to do: purge as much as you can!  I'm happy to also start sharing more images of how I keep my one side of the closet organized.  Not saying it's perfect, but it works for now.

Speaking of budget friendly closets, Jenny from Little Green Notebook transformed an Ikea Pax Unit into a gorgeous closet:

Here is another area of a home that can be difficult to organize if you don't have the space. We have a very narrow entry hall that is practically impossible to make functional because of the width. I finally put up a mirror and plan to add some hooks, but again, the less space, the more challenging it becomes.

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I've been leaning towards these hooks from West Elm for our entry, but can't decide I'm willing to commit to the anchors.

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They really took advantage of the space they had here:

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There are many more images I'd like to post, but I'll save them for later.  Here is the last one. They truly maximized their space!

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I'll be back soon with updates from around the house/organization projects.  If you plan to organize this spring, would love to hear about the projects you plan to tackle!

+ ORGANIZE: BLOW DRYER UNDER SINK

If you have limited drawer space (or no drawers like me) in your bathroom, I highly recommend this blow dryer caddy that goes over your sink door.  You can keep your round brush and some product in the caddy as well (depending on how big your blow dryer is).  I found my caddy here.  Love it.

I'm going to try and get some more organizing tips up in the near future.  I actually made a trip to the Container Store recently and picked up a few new items to help keep things in place around here.  The after pictures won't be amazing, but I'll still share some shots soon!







*image by Andrew McCaul for Good Housekeeping

+ ORGANIZING: HEALTHY MEAL PLANNING - PART 2

Really excited to talk to you all today about healthy meal planning. If you missed the first post, I'm sharing how to organize a small space in your kitchen (could be either the inside of a cabinet or the fridge) and turning it into a hub for healthy meal planning. Again, here is the before (I have placed any invites we received in a folder and added all details directly to our calendars + any photographs {especially of the cute babies} and cards to another folder):

And, here is the after thanks to the new Home Collection by Post-it Brand and Scotch Brand. I love that their new collection is stylish yet highly functional:

Ahhh, so nice and organized now!  Here is what I used: 

1. Healthy food photographs: You could find a few photographs of your favorite healthy meals and secure them on your fridge using Scotch Restickable Cut Tape. This allows you to always see healthy meals/snacks when you get to your fridge helping you make better decisions when you finally open the door. The tape holds well and can be easily removed off your photograph, and fridge.

2. Framed month: To add a touch of pretty to the meal planning space, you could cut out an old calendar and frame it up using a Small Scotch Display Frame. I love the Scotch Restickable Tape so much much that I used it to add a personalized touch to the Display Frame, too. You could also use the frames to add a couple of personal photographs.

3. Weekly planner and need list (below the frame of August): 

Here is where the healthy planning comes into play (with a few nights out, etc.). The Post-it Planner & Perforated List Pad is a large Post-It product that allows you to meal plan + have a "need" list easily transferred from the perforated pad to your fridge- an organizers dream.

A new goal could be to try at least a few times a month (let's not get over zealous here) to sit down on a Sunday morning/afternoon to flip through your mags, recipe books, and recipe binder to find recipes that you want to make that week. Then you can plan out the week's recipes before hitting the grocery store (no more buying random items that don't always go with meals- maybe I'm the only one that does that?). Again, after you plan out the week- you can post this to the fridge so you know what you're making and others in your house can look at see what you're having.  

4. Recipe & Coupon folders: After you've figured out what you want to make, you can take the recipes for that week and place them in your Large Post-it View and Go Pocket on the fridge (of course if it's a book you could use a Post-it Note to easily get to the recipe). I added a round label with the word "Recipe" to organize on top of something that is already organized :). Then for the coupons I used a Small Post-it View and Go Pocket to hold any loose coupons that need to go into the car ( I keep all my coupons in a plastic bag in my glove box).

Now that you've planned out your meals- you can use this nifty Post-it Shopping Organizer to ensure you pick up all items for your recipes. Coupons can also go inside on the left side.

here it is all folded up and ready to hit the aisles:

Last but not least...I don't know about you, but I'm always forgetting to bring that one item that needed to go out the door with me. This week it has been our glass milk bottles to return to the store for our deposits. I've used these Post-it Reminder Tags to help me remember the bottles this time!

Hope that this post has inspired you to plan out some healthy meals and start cooking!  

+ ORGANIZING: HEALTHY MEAL PLANNING

There are certain sponsors that reach out that I get really amped up for. Post-it Brand being one of them. As far back as I can remember, I've always been a huge fan of Post-it Notes. At home they're wonderful for reminders at the door, and at work I have found myself covering my entire monitor in them. In all honesty, I don't know what I'd do without them. Point being, I jumped at the opportunity to work with them. I was ecstatic when I received fabulous new products from the Home Collection by Post-it Brand and Scotch Brand and couldn't wait to put them to use. Where to put them to use?

Right below...

Our kitchen is really tiny and I've wanted an area dedicated to coupons, recipes, and inspiration for meals. The idea is, if I see healthy snack/meal ideas on my fridge, I'll be more inspired to not only plan to make healthier dishes...but, actually make them. You know what I mean? It can be really easy to grab spaghetti noodles and a jar of sauce out of my cabinet (especially now that summer is coming to a halt and we'll crave more comfort foods when it's cold), but sometimes it's just as easy to whip up a healthy meal if I've planned for it. This is where Home Collection by Post-it Brand and Scotch Brand comes to the rescue with all their new wonderful products. I can't wait to share with you how just a few products in this tiny space are not only keeping me organized, but inspiring me to make and plan for healthier choices. I hope that my little space inspires you to enjoy healthy meals in your own home.

Be sure to check back next week for the step-by-step guide to healthy eating + my mini-makeover!