Operation Clean and Organize: Organizing My Bathroom Shelves and Walls

By bobbi
August 13, 2015
2 Comments

It has been a long time since I’ve done a Operation Clean and Organize post! As family and long time readers know, I am always on a quest to tame my mess. In 2012 I was working on a number of home improvement projects but in 2013 I got a little side tracked when Brian got cancer and our focus turned to survival and family time. Now things have eased up with Brian being healthy and the kids being a little older so I can go back to focusing on getting our house in order.

I have to admit that something is happening within in me. It used to be that I could turn a blind eye to the piles of junk and the crap shoved on shelves. I sort of zoned it out. But now, it’s bugging me. I mean, driving me nuts bugging me. I’m sick of the disorder and the interior chaos it is causing me. And I just want to purge and organize. I don’t know what it means. Maybe I am finally growing up. Maybe I am having some kind of spiritual epiphany. Maybe it’s a sign of an upcoming apocalypse and the end of the world as we know it. (Cue REM.) Whatever, I just know I’ve got to seize the moment while it is still strong. 😉

Shortly before I cam became pregnant with Matthew, we were able to remodel our home to convert our garage into a third bedroom. It included a bathroom that I love. Unlike our other bathroom, it is fresh, bright and clean. Well, except for this narrow shelving section next to the tub. I use it to hold to towels, toiletries, hair accessories etc.

However, over time it had become a catch-all of random junk. (Don’t ask me why there are tinker toys in there.)

I have been following Mystie Winkler over at Simplified Organization (more about that in a bit) and one of her mottoes is for everything to have a home. So I went through the piles of junk and got rid of trash, gave away what I no longer used and found a spot for what I did use. The results? Drum roll please…

The photos are not great because the lighting was bad but you get the idea. Order!

I used bins and containers I found at Target to hold my stuff. One has products, another hair accessories, blow dryer, etc.

Confession time. Along with having hoarding tendencies I am also a sucker for a sale and clearance items. I may or may not have actually bought a cute baby item before I was even married because I knew one day I would use it for my own baby. (To my credit, years later I did use it for my child.) This wall organizer is one of those sale items that have been sitting in my closet forever.

I finally hung it and used it for my necklaces and bracelets. I added a couple of S-hooks to the very top to add a few more items.

In the 80’s, it was the style to wear hairbands with huge hair. I’ve sorta tamed the wild hair (no more hair sprayed mile-high bangs!) but I still love me a hair scarf whether it is out of style or not. I can’t follow trends. Mama ain’t got no time for that!

Now I keep my scarves here. This handy little holder was given to me as a gift from one of my coworkers. (Do I admit that it was from a job that I left 14 years ago, which mean this holder has been sitting in a closet for 14 years…no, I won’t admit it. That’s just plain creepy.)

I am a sucker for colorful paper beads bracelets. These have been made by women in Africa trying to better their lives and their family’s life. Some of these I have bought at Costco during their fair trade product fairs and others I purchased from Outreach Uganda. (Wife to hubby: “It’s really more of an act of charity that I buy these bracelets. We are helping feed African children!” Hubby: Insert eye roll.)

They sit on my bathroom sink along with these cute yet inexpensive little bird jewelry holders.

I found them at The Farm, an organic farm in nearby Salinas, CA.

They have amazing produce and…

A collection of country life goods. I don’t go there often but when I do, I always find a little treasure. If you are ever in that area, stop by and take a look. 🙂

So that is one of the projects I competed over the summer. When everything is orderly and tidy, it brings me such peace. It’s far form perfect but it is a big improvement. No more scrambling around and yelling, “Where is my !@#$ hair dryer! I’m late! UGH!” Now I know exactly were my hair dryer is and I MAKE SURE to return it to it’s proper place when I am done. I’m constantly reminding myself to just put it away, right away! Leaving things laying around is a hard habit to break and I know I need more than just a few Before and After moments to keep my house in order. I need an attitude readjustment! This is where Mystie comes in with some guidance. I was reading her blog and she wrote:

I’ve always been a slob by nature, and I’ve been actively combating that tendency for 7 years now.

Sometimes I even think there’s hope. I want to share what I’ve learned along the way, moving from thinking that housecleaning was a waste of time to trying to keep the house decently in order. Though I’ve always been a slob, I’ve also always been a planner and a list-maker. My problem wasn’t not knowing what to do. My problem was not caring.

I have learned to care. It is better to care. It does matter. It is good work.

I could make a plan, but I then I would rebel against it. “You can’t tell me what to do!” my inner two-year-old would scoff at my written list, “Who made you the boss?”

Add five kids to the mix, and the problem becomes not only my own lack of desire to follow a good plan, but also the fact that life doesn’t actually happen according to my plan when I do want it.

These are my struggles, and I know I’m not alone. So I write to share what I’ve learned, hoping to help others not only know there is a way out of the frustration, but also that they are not alone.

I provide not just another housekeeping plan to try, but a paradigm shift. I want you to see

— that your work matters.

— that your attitude matters.

— that you can tame your inner fussy two-year-old.

— that there is a way out of chaos and frustration, even though it isn’t easy or once-and-done.

I want to show you how to turn your frustration into momentum, your chaos into growth, and your plans into actions.

A slob by nature? She loves planners and lists but didn’t care about cleaning. That is so me! Do you see why I love this girl?? Go read the rest of her story here.

So in upcoming posts, I will share with you about her course I’m taking and how my progress is going. It is not about spending money and buying lots of matching bins and label makers (although I would have liked that too) 😉 but it is about keeping it simple, tidy (even with messy family life) and changing the attitude so you learn to love what must be done. Genius.

Okay, my time is up and kiddos need to be fed so I’ll stop here.

Have you been working on organizing lately? If not, what it the one area you’d love to tackle? Do tell. 🙂

PS – You can follow RoL on Bloglovin, Feedly or another news feed. If you are a social media fan like me, we can stay in touch through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, GoodReads Letterboxd, Spotify or Instagram. 😉
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Pinterest Party & Link-up (Vol 23) and Operation Clean & Organize (vol 19): Weekly Menu Board (Revised)

By bobbi
May 27, 2014
2 Comments

It’s a two for one post today. I still get a number of hits for the post I wrote three years ago – Operation Clean & Organize: Vol 2 – Weekly Menu Board but I have since updated my menu board so I thought I’d update the post as well.

* * * * *

Welcome to the RoL Pinterest Party. Join me every 2nd and 4th Tuesday as we link up and share how we made, cooked, baked, crafted, planned, organized, followed or created one of the pins on our Pinterest boards OR share something original that others can pin onto their boards. (New and old posts welcome.)

AND

Taming the procrastinating, ADD, mess cat within me.

* * * * *

Back in August of 2011, I was looking for a weekly menu board to use in our kitchen. Thanks to Pinterest I finally found this one.

source

I liked it but it was too big and I wanted it to be weekly not a monthly menu so I decided to make my own smaller magnetic weekly menu. I spent a total of about $20 for a Board Dudes magnetic board the right size to fit on my fridge, a pack of Avery Printable Magnetic Sheets, and “Days of the Week” magnets that I found at Target in the Back to School seasonal section. (You can find similar products at Amazon – Board Dudes Magnetic Board, Board Dudes Days of the Week Magnets and Avery Magnet Sheets.)

Next I sat down and made a master list of all the meals, side dishes and veggies I normally cook. In a Word document I made four columns of labels and typed up the list of foods. I color coded the labels: main dish – blue, sides – orange, veggies – green, appointments – purple, and school lunches – red. I made sure to have a number of blank labels to fill in later as I tried new recipes. Next, I printed and cut out the labels. Lastly, I arranged the meals on my board along with a shrunken down copy of Bella’s school lunch menu.

Here’s what it looked like then.

It looked great and worked well for awhile but fast forward three years (and two more kids) later. I still have the same magnetic board BUT the whole magnetic food items were just too time consuming. First, we changed our diet and I had to update or delete old meals. Plus, I was often trying new recipes, which meant I had to make a new label each time. The whole thing was fun while it lasted but not realistic.

I finally got rid of the food labels and just wrote straight on the board with a dry erase marker.

Now it works perfectly. I still have my shopping list next to the board and I still keep a shrunken version of the kids’ school hot lunch menu there and make note of evenings when we have something planned. If there is a last minute change in the menu I can change it with a quick swish of my finger. (And write in “Chipotles burrito bowls.”) 😉

It may not be as pin-worthy as my previous version and perhaps when all the kids are in school and I have more free time I can go back to using the labels but for now, it’s not realistic. Plain and simple yet functional will have to do. 😉

* * * * *

Now it’s your turn.

1. Choose your creation, share about it and snap a photo if you can.

2. In your post, link back the original blogger/idea, rather than your Pinterest pin. That way credit goes to the proper person. 🙂 (But feel free to add your Pinterest profile link so we can follow you!)

3. Add a link back here so others can play along.

4. If you want to use it, here is the html code for the logo:

5. Link up below. Make sure you’re sending us to your actual post, and not to your general blog address.

Lastly, you can follow me on Pinterest here: http://pinterest.com/rol_bobbi/. 🙂

The link up will be active for 10 days. Have fun!

PS – You can follow RoL on Bloglovin, Feedly or another news feed. If you are a social media fan like me, we can stay in touch through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, GoodReads, Letterboxd or Instagram. (It’s set to private but I’ll approve you.) 😉

PPS – This post may contain affiliate links.

An InLinkz Link-up

Pinterest Party & Link-Up (Vol 22): Emergency Car Bins & Operation Clean and Organize (Vol 18)

By bobbi
April 9, 2014
No Comments

This post is serving as double duty. I am using the idea for the Pinterest Party but since it also comes under organizing, I’ll also include it in Operation Clean and Organize. 🙂

**Taming the procrastinating, ADD, mess cat within me.**

* * * * *

We have three of the four kids in school now and John-Paul attends a Catholic pre-school about 20 minutes from our house. Last year once or twice I was rushing out the door (shocking, I know!) and I forgot to grab John-Paul’s backpack with his lunch box. I debated whether I should drive home and get it but that would mean 20 minutes to go back and get it, 20 minutes to drive back to school and another 20 to go back home. A whole hour wasted on a blasted forgotten lunch. Ugh. Instead I went to the local market and bought him some items for lunch. However, it also meant buying a package of brown paper bags, napkins, plastic spoons for his apple sauce etc. I told myself I should just keep a few spare items in the car in case I ever forgot again. (Yeah, I know I could avoid all this by getting out of the house earlier and making sure I have his bag and yada, yada, yada, but I also know myself. It’ll happen again.)

Shortly after I found these scrapbooking/ craft bins at Costco. There are some similar ones on Amazon.

There wasn’t a heck of a lot of room in our mini van so I loved the large flat size because they would fit perfectly under the back seat of our mini van. Well, the bins sat in our garage for months collecting dust. I kept telling myself, “Yeah, I’ve got to fix those bins up one day…” Well, last week we had a crazy day and I was lucky enough to get JP to school on time but… you guessed it, I thought he grabbed his backpack and lunch but he did not. There I was back at the local market buying another pack of brown paper bags, napkins, etc. I then came home, dusted off the dust-covered bins and started gathering our emergency lunch items.

It also got me to thinking that I had prepared my garage with supplies for a natural disaster but as much time as we spend in our car, what if a big earthquake hit while we were driving. (God forbid that it happens while I’m driving under an underpass. Being crushed to death in a tunnel during an earthquake is a secret fear. Don’t laugh!) We already had water bottles, a First Aid Kit, a flash light and some extra blankets in the car but no food. So I stocked the box up with plastic utensils, napkins and paper lunch bags, just in case and non-perishables like canned chicken, peanut butter, crackers, apple sauce, raisins etc.

Since we have recently changed our diets and switched to healthy foods without additives and preservatives, I used our old snacks for the emergency stash. I figured if there was a natural disaster or zombie apocalypse we wouldn’t be too concerned about whether or not our food had GMO’s in it and we’d be more concerned about not getting our brains devoured by the undead.

Lastly, I took a second bin and filled it with a make up bag filled with toiletries like toothpaste, deodorant, hand sanitizer, feminine products etc, extra diapers/pull ups and underwear (and change of pants for the potty trainers), baby wipes, some basic meds and spare batteries for the flashlights.

I slipped the pink box under the back seat and I put the white box in the trunk with the blankets and first aid kit. To make sure things stay fresh and are the right size, whenever we change our clocks forward or back I open up the boxes and replace what’s getting old. So far it’s worked out well. In fact, last week I ran out of the house and then realized I forgot to put on deodorant but no worries. I just used the one in the car stash. Hey, Ms-Always-on-Time-and-Organized, don’t judge. 😉

The pin for this post is here.

Lastly, you can follow me on Pinterest here: http://pinterest.com/rol_bobbi/. 🙂

* * * * *

Now it’s your turn.

1. Choose your creation, share about it and snap a photo if you can.

3. Add a link back here so others can play along.

4. If you want to use it, here is the html code for the logo:

5. Link up below. Make sure you’re sending us to your actual post, and not to your general blog address.

The link up will be active for 10 days. Have fun!

An InLinkz Link-up

A Look at My 2014 Planner

By bobbi
February 4, 2014
4 Comments

I have always loved planners and have always had one. Whether I was a young girl making lists in my Hello Kitty notebook or single and working or staying at home with babies. I have had various sizes – pocket, compact, standard, and binder sized. Each year it changes a little to accommodate my needs.

Last year I posted about my home management binder, my finance binder and my meal planning binder and they have pretty much stayed the same. However, I did get rid of my old planner and started new with a Martha Stewart Discbound Notebook. It worked so well last year that I am using it again this year.

When looking for planner sheets that work for me, they must be colorful and inviting or I’ll get bored and never use my planner. I have found my favorite planner sheets from Jen at I Heart Organizing.

Here is the monthly calendar view.

I like to color code events and appointments with washi tape. I use red for special occasions and outings. Green for school. Blue for doctor and other appointments and orange for birthdays. Sometimes I will also use flags or the Martha Stewart tear drop stickers. It depends on my mood that month. Although I like it colorful, I don’t like it too busy or it just gives me a headache. LOL. 😉

If you aren’t into washi tape, there is also this cute Masking Sticker Set. Each sheet has precut strips and dots you can add to your planner.

This is the weekly view. There is a long column for each day where I keep track of all my To Do’s. For my bookmarker I used one from my Project Life kits and punched holes with my Discbound Punch.

I bought the planner pages that came with a menu section so I could keep track of the week’s meals.

I also love the Discbound because, like a binder, you can add anything you want after you’ve punched holes in it. However, I prefer it to a binder because you can fold it back like a spiral notebook, rather than having to keep it open. I was a little concerned at first about the papers coming loose and falling out but I use thicker sheets so it hasn’t been a problem at all. For my weekly pages I use 32 lb white and I recently started using cardstock (65 lb, white) for my monthly calendars. It has worked perfectly.

I bought two packs of Martha Stewart Discbound tabs and used my own label maker for the months. I like to follow the school calendar so I go from Aug to July. With my 4 extra tabs I have faith, home, blog and projects.

For my dashboard, I keep flags, posts, stickers and my mommy calling cards in the pockets. To keep the sticky pads in place I added glue dots to the back. The ordered the personalized coversheet.

On the other side of the coversheet, I added this collage of the ones I love the most.

The last page of my planner is a plastic pocket where I keep things like stamps and address labels.

This is a photo of how thick the binder is with the standard MS discs. I bought the larger silver MS discs and hated them. I tried the larger Levenger discs (2″ I think) and they worked well but it made the notebook too big. I switched to the 1 1/2″ discs and they work great. I have extra room but it isn’t too big for me.

Now, although my planner is not too big on my desk at home, it is not ideal to carry around in my purse. Last month I decided to get a small planner that I can keep in my purse to take notes while I am on the run and to keep track of my daily appointments.

I thought about getting a Filofax but it was out of my budget and I did not like the plain planner pages that came with it. Instead I bought this Lily binder in aqua from Franklin Covey.

I chose the Her Point of View planner pages.

So far it has worked well. It fits perfect in my purse. I keep track of my schedule. I have space for any To Do’s I think of away from home. And I have a blank page to jot down notes. Plus, it is so cute. 😉

Lastly, my favorite item to go with my planners is still my traveling office. 🙂

If you are looking for colorful planner pages, I also recommend The Rainbow Planner from A Bowl Full of Lemons. I have many of her smaller planner kits and they match my current planner wonderfully. If you don’t want to spend money on planner pages, you can try this one from iheartnaptime.net. Or you can check out this list of free planners put together by Jenny at Plain Grace.

UPDATE: Looking for other planner posts? Check out these:

Pinterest Party & Link-up, Vol 3: Organizing the Boys’ Closet

By bobbi
May 6, 2013
3 Comments

NOTE: I goofed up my dates since April had 5 Tuesdays. I posted this last week although it should have been posted today, the second Tuesday of May. So I edited the link-up. It’s open for another week. I look forward to reading your posts! 🙂

Welcome to the new RoL Pinterest Party (formerly Making It Count.) Join me every 2nd and 4th Tuesday as we link up and share how we made, cooked, baked, crafted, did, or created one of the pins on our Pinterest boards.

Not on Pinterest? No problem. Link-up your own creation to inspire us so we can pin in to our own boards. It can be a recipe, sewing project, Catholic craft, homeschool project, organizing/ homemaking tip, themed birthday party, whatever you’d like.

Don’t have a post ready? The link-up will be open for a week so there’s still time. Plus, feel free to link up a new post or an older post that hasn’t had much traffic lately.

* * * * *

As you may recall, about a year ago I started trying to organize my messy, disorganized, borderline hoarder home. I actually completed a few cool projects like fixing up my bookcase and DVD shelf but while last year was the year of homemaking, 2013 has been the year of survival. One road bump after another has left all my organizing projects forgotten. I am lucky to have dinner on the table and clean underwear in the drawers. It left me disappointed in myself but I realized I had to suck it up and deal with the fact that grand schemes were not going to work. I kept thinking of Brian’s advice to “just do a little bit every day.” Then I read Dorian’s original Pinisher post and she basically said to lower your standards, take one small step towards actually doing something and then embrace imperfection. Hmmm… that’s liberating, my friend.

So on Saturday I looked around to see what little bit I should do that day. As I looked around the house and pondered, Matthew walked into the room with his tight high water pants and shirt that refused to cover his belly. The poor guy just turned two but he sort of skipped over his size 2T clothes and needed to go right into size 3T. That was it. I needed get rid of the small clothes and find the old 3T’ clothes of his brothers.

I had been really good about storing the kids’ baby clothes once they grew out of them but with three little guys close in age and size, it got out of hand. I had various clothing items and sizes shoved in spare drawers and mixed up in plastic bins. So I went through all the clothes and put the ones that don’t fit any of them into plastic bins and labeled them. (Although I don’t think we’ll be having any more bambinos, I’m not going to give away all the clothes just yet.)

I browsed Pinterest for some closet organizing inspiration. One pin lead to this site with lots of samples.

I couldn’t do anything fancy but three items really helped. The first was a hanging closet extender such as the Honey-Can-Do HNG-01816 Chrome Adjustable Hanging Closet Rod.

Second was a hanging shoe organizer such as the Honey-Can-Do SFT-01240 10-Pocket Hanging Shoe Organizer. (The one I picked up was actually from Target.)

Lastly, I liked the size organizers I saw at iheartorganizing.blogspot.com. I liked the idea of having the clothes organized by size rather than by person.

I found these simple ones (Baby Buddy “Size-It” Closet Organizers) on sale so I picked some up.

Amazon also has other cute ones such as the Sugarbooger Baby Closet Dividers in Peek-A-Boo Blue.

The Happy Closet Baby Closet Dividers come in lots of colors and patterns, such as these polka dot ones.

Although the boys play clothes and underwear went into their dresser, I hung up their other items in the closet with the double rods and size labels.

Those labels are especially great for new moms that need to sort all the new baby clothes they receive as gifts, particularly when they are in different sizes. They are also perfect to keep track of bigger sized clothes I find on sale or clearance that Andrew can wear as he grows.

It took me a good portion of the day to get everything sorted and put away in between distractions (you know, like feeding my children) and it may not seem that exciting or pinworthy but it was so satisfying knowing I was able to get it done. So Brian and Dorian were right. Lower expectations. Small and simple steps. Embrace the imperfections.

Not to mention, Matthew is much better dressed these days. 🙂

* * * * *

Now it’s your turn.

1. Choose your creation, share about it and snap a photo if you can.

3. Add a link back here so others can play along. Here is the html code:

4. Link up below. Make sure you’re sending us to your actual post, and not to your general blog address.

You have a week to post your link, so if you can’t get things done by Tuesday, no worries, put it up when you can. We’ll be here. Have fun!

* * * * *

Also, I’m not sure if this is legal in blogland but I linked up with Dorian for The Pinishers. (I guess I’ll find out if she kicks me out. ;-)) Last week’s theme was HOME. This week the theme is ADVENTURE. 🙂

Lastly, you can follow me on Pinterest here: http://pinterest.com/rol_bobbi/. 🙂

Revolution of Love

Do small things with great love.

Tag Archives: operation clean & organize

Operation Clean and Organize: Organizing My Bathroom Shelves and Walls

Pinterest Party & Link-up (Vol 23) and Operation Clean & Organize (vol 19): Weekly Menu Board (Revised)

Pinterest Party & Link-Up (Vol 22): Emergency Car Bins & Operation Clean and Organize (Vol 18)

A Look at My 2014 Planner

Pinterest Party & Link-up, Vol 3: Organizing the Boys’ Closet