PANTRY ORGANIZATION

March 16, 2020


Big family. Homeschooling. That means home all the time, especially right now, and we eat 3 meals a day at home, so the pantry gets in disarray quite easily. Then, throw in 4 girls who love to bake, things get to be quite upside down in an instant. Working with The Container Store on this month’s organization challenge, I was happy to be given the chance to tackle our kitchen pantry.

The last few years, we only buy exactly what we need when grocery shopping, so it helps eliminate a lot of things that get wasted or forgotten in our pantry. Also, we spent a few months eating through whatever was taking up space in there, which was a lot of legumes and beans, so even though we’ve always wanted a big walk-in pantry, we probably wouldn’t even be able to fill it!

Some pantry game changers are the Hyacinth Baskets. It helps us group some similar items together. We have cookies and chips at the very top (out of reach), baskets with baking stuff that’s in a spot that easily accessible, as well as pasta. At the bottom, our rice, vinegar, and brown paper bags are neatly put away in the baskets.

I also didn’t know how much a Lazy Susan can create more space. It makes it easier to keep bottles organized. Instead of moving things around to get something at the back, I just spin it around to access what I need.

The Prokeepers Baker Storage Set was perfect for organizing some of our baking supplies. I love seeing the clear containers labeled; it look so pretty. The iDesign Linus Pantry Bins also keep some smaller items grouped together, and we can see what’s inside. My favorite organizational tool of all of them are the Black Bin Clip Labels on the baskets. I love labeling things and this is such a pretty way to identify the contents of each basket. Makes the pantry feel a little bit more fancy.

The Container Store had just the things we needed to help maximize our pantry space and get the things in our kitchen much more efficient. Items are much easier to access and put away now. Yes to more space and clean spaces! Take advantage of the Kitchen and Pantry sale is running from now through April 5th.

This post is in partnership with The Container Store as one of their Brand Ambassadors. The opinions and text are all mine. I appreciate the time you spend in this space, the support you give me, and the brands I partner with.


MAKEUP ORGANIZERS

February 14, 2020


Somehow, my vanity/makeup area is always in disarray. It’s one of the areas that I can’t maintain organization. It drives Ben crazy! So when this month’s Container Store challenge was to try and maximize my makeup space and keep it organized, I was excited to see how this might help.

I don’t have a lot of product, but even still, I have enough to keep my area messy. And we have a lot of drawer space in our bathroom to put things away, but that doesn’t help keep my makeup mess at bay. Also, we’re looking to move and so I know it’s unlikely I’ll find a home with the amount of storage space we currently have, so I was looking forward to something that would help me organize and be transportable (for when we move).

The featured organization this month is products from the Luxe Modular Makeup System… and it’s so pretty! I love that it ‘s clear and stackable; it can be easily configured to fit your needs. It definitely feels luxe. I kind of wished I had a full arsenal of makeup to deck it out with, but my skincare products will have to do.

For my organizer, I did a large drawer for the base, then stacked 2 small drawers and a medium one on top of that. The small drawers hold some cotton round and cotton swabs and then some of my skin serums in the medium drawer. Above that, I have 4 medium short drawers for my makeup products such as eyebrow pencils, blush, and lipsticks. To top it off, I have the makeup organizer to hold some of the products that I use daily. It really has made a difference in keeping me organized and I’m happy to report that after almost 3 weeks in use, I’ve kept my whole space clean! More marital bliss going on with this organizer in our home.

I was also excited to be able to organize some of the girls products and accessories. My girls are essential oils gals (I’ve never quite gotten into it), but they have, so they were very excited to have a drawer to house them. Of course, they filled other drawers with their nail polish and scrunchies too. You could totally tell that the organizer belonged to a teen.

We’re all excited about being a little more organized in our bathrooms. Now, I can’t wait to tackle the kitchen pantry! Stay tuned for next month…

This post is in partnership with The Container Store as one of their Brand Ambassadors. The opinions and text are all mine. I appreciate the time you spend in this space, the support you give me, and the brands I partner with.


MORE SPACE FOR SMALL SPACES

January 20, 2020


When compared to the size of our house, you’d think we’d have a walk in pantry, somehow though, the builders thought it was necessary to make the master closet the size of a small room (we could easily fit 2 twin beds inside), but no walk in pantry. All they gave us is one the size of a small coat closet, which is fine, but not proportionate to the rest of the house. So we’ve had to be strategic in how we plan out our pantry space, which gets unorganized easily because of busy family life.

Now, The Container Store project of the month comes in handy to utlilize #smallspaces, so enter the Elfa Utility Pantry Door & Wall Rack. This gave us us even more space to use in our pantry, and when it comes to storage space, the back of the door is one of the most under-utilized areas of the home. It transformed our small pantry closet into a fully functional space.

It’s simple to put the rack together… you place the top door hook, attach the metal bar, fit in the bottom door hooks, and then tighten the bar on until it’s secure. Then, you simply hook on your baskets to the metal bar. You don’t need nails or any fancy, and everything goes on and off easy (I think it took 5 minutes to attach the rack to the door!), so if we ever moved, we are for sure taking the rack with us.

Once assembled, I decided to put all our crackers on the top basket, and some of the honeys and baking syrups in the second basket. These are used often, as the kids are baking often, so I think it’ll come in handy to have stored here. The rest of the baskets are filled with some snack drinks and things to go. Typically, we use reusable canisters for our water, and don’t buy water bottles, but somehow end up with some small bottles here and there from events and parties that end up coming home with us, but then we forget about it because they get lost in our pantry. Now, we have a spot for them, and it’s easy to see and grab for when we’re on the go. Once, all the water bottles are gone, we’ll fill the spot with something else.

We can’t get more shelves in our pantry closet, but the Elfa Door & Wall racks are so useful in that it adds more storage to a small space. Suddenly, our pantry is a little more organized and spacious! And the Elfa Door and Wall Racks are currently on sale 30% off, so now is the time to order!

This post is in partnership with The Container Store as one of their Brand Ambassadors. The opinions and text are all mine. I appreciate the time you spend in this space, the support you give me, and the brands I partner with.


CHRISTMAS STORAGE

December 13, 2019


Each year, we’ve slowly improved how we store our Christmas decorations, but I think this year, thanks to The Container Store, this is our most organized year yet. We officially have a tree storage box for our tree. Every year, we’ve been using the cardboard box it came it, and just re-taping it each year to use again, but now we have a real container that’s not going to rip on us and fits the tree perfectly. It was a challenge trying to cram that tree back into the cardboard box each year. The box always looked like it was about to burst! The tree storage box also has space to spare to put in the other small trees we put around the house. Plus, there are wheels, which comes handy when moving it around to be stored for next year.

Now, we also have a wreath box, which before I’d just try to stuff the wreath in with our tree, and when that stop working, I gave away our wreath because I didn’t know where to store it. Now, that is has a container, it’s time to pick up another one to decorate our front door!

The best part of our much improved storage is the light wrap and ornaments storage boxes. Goodbye to tangled up lights! And hello to safely stored breakable ornaments! This is such a game changer in storing holiday decor. Seriously. Get yourself some cord wraps!

The open canvas storage bins are great for storing some wooden ornaments we have. We can throw them all in and not worry about something breaking. It will also come in handy to hold some smaller gifts to put under the tree. And some clear weathertight totes are perfect for holding stockings and our Christmas friends that we want to keep clear of dust and dirt.

Having everything simplified and organized makes things a lot easier when I take things out to decorate. I just take out the boxes and my girls do all the decorating! I just let them have at it! And then when it’s time to put away, they know everything has a specific place, so it will make clean up so much easier. I’m all about neat and easy!

This post is in partnership with The Container Store as one of their Brand Ambassadors. The opinions and text are all mine. I appreciate the time you spend in this space, the support you give me, and the brands I partner with.

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KITCHEN REORGANIZATION

October 25, 2019


If you know me, and how I get mess stress easily, then you know how happy I am to be a Brand Ambassador for The Container Store. Life is full with a family of seven, and things have felt extra full lately, so certain areas and spaces in our home  have succumb to disarray. So I’m looking forward to partnering with The Container Store to get these spots organized and back under control.

This month, I’m tackling my kitchen cabinets and drawers. Earlier this month, I did a major clean and purge of our pantry and fridge, so it feels good to move on to the drawers and cabinets. The girls are always baking, and with life being as full as it is, our cabinets and drawers have been filled with a mishmosh of things. It definitely needed to go through a deep purge and some organizing. Finally, after a free afternoon of going through everything, I’m so excited to share how organized everything is.

Before:

After:

The Container Store has thousands of kitchen products designed to be efficient with your space and make things easier to stay organized. I’m loving the extra space we get now using the Cupboard Chrome Shelf, I get all my plates and bowls in one cabinet, instead of spread out between two. The Single Corner Shelf is especially helpful in maximizing our space, and the Undershelf Basket also provided more organization and gave us another row inside our cabinet to store goods.

I used The Everything Drawer Organizers (and mixed and matched it with this one too) for our drawers. You can mix and match the containers to get the configuration that works just right for your space. Our drawers look so much better, and everything just makes sense now. With everything now having a place, instead of all simply being tossed in the drawer together, will definitely make for better kitchen efficiency.

I enjoy organized spaces, but the kitchen is one of the first things to go when life gets chaotic, and it’s probably because the mess is hidden behind cabinets and drawers. This challenge was exactly what I needed to take back control of my kitchen. With all my girls cooking and baking all the time, I think all the organization will lessen some of the fighting and bickering as they’re looking for things. This mom is all about that! Plus, the holidays are coming up and there will be even more baking and cooking, so we got everything organized just in time.

This post is in partnership with The Container Store as one of their Brand Ambassadors. The opinions and text are all mine. I appreciate the time you spend in this space, the support you give me, and the brands I partner with. If you’re in need of some kitchen organization too, take advantage of their kitchen sale going on now through November 10!


SOUL AND GLOW’S OLD ROOM

October 5, 2018


We did room switch-a-roos during the summer, and while the girls are loving their new space, I’m sharing their old one because I want to have it documented for when we reminisce. These are snaps of their room literally right before I took everything out, so it’s not styled at all, and very much lived-in by two little girls. And now that I’m looking at these photos, I really love their new room so much more. It suits their needs better and the room switched allowed us more space to organize all their stuff.

We kept all their big pieces of furniture (dresser and beds), but changed out a couple smaller pieces. These two girls are my neat freaks, so they like to make their beds in the morning and have everything cleaned up by the time they go to bed. They even have rules for when you enter their room. I’m not completely done decorating their room as there’s one wall that I’m just unsure about, but once it all feels right, we will share it here. I have shared bits of it here and here though.

Everything but the fan on the dresser is vintage, so I don’t have many resource links to share, except that the rattan beds are from Elsie Green.


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