5 Fast and Cheap Organizing Tips I Use In Our Home

Thank you so much for stopping by!  I realize that not everyone gets a slight endorphin rush from the word "organizing" like I do, but I hope you find these tips valuable and helpful.  I use these 5 tips in my home and they help me keep things tidy.  If you have kids around, you know how difficult that can be!

Tip 1
Small Laundry Basket At the Bottom Of the Stairs:

This gets used daily in our house.  If you have a 2-story home and a second story laundry room, this is a perfect spot for dirty dish rags, cloth napkins after dinner, random socks; any dirty laundry that accumulates during the day and you want a quick spot to place it with-out running to the hamper in the bedroom.  If you have kids, than you have laundry that magically appears out of no where.  Seriously!  This would also work perfectly for toys, books, or any other random item that needs to go upstairs and you don't feel like burning the calories taking the time to go upstairs.  When I was growing up, my Mom kept a bucket (same concept) under the kitchen sinks that she put dirty rags in and come laundry day, she would empty the bucket.  I bought this little square basket at a garage sale and spray painted it teal (I love this color right now).  Before I found it, I was using a dollar store basket.

Tip 2
Hooks:

Install hooks on the back of your doors.  We have hooks on the back of the garage door, and in both upstairs bathrooms.  Hooks help keep stuff off of the floor or from piling on other furniture.  You can hang backpacks, hats, towels, bath robes, etc...... on them.  They are inexpensive and quickly installed.  You can also find them in any finish.

Tip 3
The Squirmy Sleeper and Safety Pins

My husband was still doing this on his bed when I met him in his mid-twenties.  To keep his sheets from getting disheveled while sleeping, AND to make "making the bed" quick and easy, my Mother in law safety pinned my husband's top sheet to his blanket.  If you have kids than you know how they squirm in the middle of the night and you frequently find the top sheet at the bottom of the bed.  This solves that problem and makes putting the bed back together simple.  To make the bed, you just pull the pinned sheet/blanket to the top and done!  I have yet to find a pin "unpinned" after many years.  After all, most of us wore cloth diapers and had these things on us for a few years.  With that said, if you are putting this on a child's bed, you should do everything to ensure that they don't play with the pins.

Tip 4
IKEA Pot Rack Organizer

I fought lids for 10 years until I found this gadget.  I think I paid $5.99 max!  It works like a charm and no more dropping or searching for lids when I make dinner.  Simple and cheap! It holds 6 lids.

Tip 5
Store DVD's in a CD Case

DVD's and their cases tend to take up a lot of room on the shelf, I would personally rather look at books on a shelf than movies.  For us, this project was free because I had an extra case on hand.  I would encourage you to look at Goodwill before buying one brand new.  It takes up very little space and its easy to transport.  I put the cases away, and out of sight, for movies I think we might get rid of in the future.  Otherwise, recycle the cases and save on space.

I hope you enjoyed these tips and if you decide to try one, let me know!!!

Many blessings to you,
Home Centered Girl

Link Up Parties

So I'm learning a lot about link up parties.  I think this is how many people grow their blogs??????  Today I linked up at Tater Tots and Jello .  There were many awesome ideas.  Kind of like pinterest all on one page.

Dollar Store Organization - The Glove Box

Hi Everyone!

I was roaming the web and saw this idea and thought it was great.  My husband who is a mechanic by trade also really liked this idea because he has to get into peoples glove boxes from time to time to retrieve keys  (wheel lock keys?????) and often finds a mess.  So, here is a quick organization project to clean up your glove box (or jockey box as my family calls it) and also supply some very important emergency information.

So, here's what I started with:

I thought I was doing pretty well considering the papers were not just stuffed in the glove box.

Here is what I created:

How to do it:

I purchased two poly-coupon organizers at the local dollar store, one for each vehicle.  There are five pockets inside with the following labels:

Insurance: self explanatory

Registration: also self explanatory

Receipts: Currently, I have our latest emissions report in here, I would also put other important auto receipts relating to the car (I don't have many because I'm married to a mechanic and he does all our car work; I know, I'm very fortunate).

Passengers: In this section, I have listed all the names of my family and our date of births on a 3x5 note card, just in case we were in an accident and someone was knocked unconscious and couldn't communicate.

Emergency Contacts: This section also contains a 3x5 card with names and telephone numbers of who to call in the event of an emergency.

I made a label, with red ink, for the front that reads: "Auto & Emergency Contact Information" in big letters so that hopefully it is obvious if someone other than myself needs info out of the glove box.

You could also say.......... that it would make things a little easier if you just so happened to get pulled over for speeding or texting (okay, you know you deserve it if you're texting and driving).  A little less sorting through a mess to find what you need.

There it is, a simple and CHEAP organizing project.

Many blessings to you!  Home Centered Girl.

p.s. you can also see this project and many other fun ones over at Not Just A Housewife (click here)

DIY Mason Jar Soap Dispenser

Hello!  Today I'm going to give you a tutorial on making a mason jar soap dispenser.  Well, this idea is definitely not original, I've seen it on a few places over blog land, but I really like that it has a "home-made" unique look.  The best part for me was that the total cost was FREE!  I just used supplies I had around the house.  Here is what you need to make this one:

-canning jar
-canning ring (screws on the outside of the jar to hold lid on)
-canning lid
-pump (I used one from an old lotion bottle)
-hot glue gun
-spray paint
-something to make a hole in the canning lid (Mr. Home Centered drilled a hole in the middle and then used metal shears to expand it so that the pump would fit inside).
-scrap book paper
-something to water proof the scrap book paper

The Process:
First I spray painted the pump and canning ring with a black glossy spray paint.  Yes, the spray paint had a little hard time sticking to the plastic pump.  This is my one lesson learned in this process.  Ideally, you want to use a pump that is already the color you want for the dispenser.  I will be keeping my eye out for a black pump.  For now, the spray paint and touch up black marker are working for me.

Next, I had my husband drill a hole in the lid and then expand it with shears so that the pump could fit inside.  CAUTION: you should protect your eyes with safety glasses if you are using a drill, and be careful with your hands.  This process creates some sharp metal edges.

And, yep; he's a total Keeper!

Next, use the canning lid as a template and cut the scrap book paper to fit.  To water proof it, I used my laminator.  If you don't have a laminator, you could whip up a home made modge podge mixture using Elmer's glue and water; paint the paper with the mixture (front and back) and let it dry.  If you're an artist, you might have some gel medium laying around which would have the same effect.  Or, the local printing store would water proof this tiny piece of paper for less than a dollar.  It is going to get wet when you wash your hands, so you want to protect it.  Another idea would be to use some kind of plastic film for the top.  An overhead projector sheet would do the trick.  Just be creative.  You can probably find a solution  in your home somewhere.
****** you could skip this step entirely by just spray painting the lid as well******* 

Now you need to attach the pump to the lid.  I used a large "blob" (technical term) of hot glue.

Now you assemble!

Pretty simple huh?  What do you think; would you make one in your own home?