Cheap organizing...

I am totally into organizing my kitchen drawers using Gladware. While I enjoy the Container Store and could go crazy there I found that I could organize my junk drawer and rolling cabinet drawer very inexpensively ($6) using a variety of sizes of Gladware. I must say it is enjoyable to open a drawer and not have everything shift and jumble together.

Thanks for stopping by...

Renee @ Cottage Lifestyle

Did you know this?

This was sent to me via email so I am sure it is circulating the internet and you may have seen it. I hadn't seen it and didn't know you could do this.

I want to go on record as saying this isn't my hand in the picture. I took this picture out of the email that was sent to me.

Have you ever yanked out the whole roll of Reynolds Wrap when you were trying to pull out and tear off a piece? I have. At the end of each box is a tab to press to lock the roll in place. Saran Wrap also has these locking tabs. I took out a box and pushed in the tabs and pulled out a piece and the roll stayed in the box.

Was I the only one that didn't know these tabs existed?

Organizing and Decluttering...

I have been busy organizing closets, dresser drawers, kitchen and hutch cabinets, armoire, basement, garage for weeks (actually months). For some reason because all my cluter and chaos was hidden behind a closed 'door' I considered myself organized...wrong! Even though it has been a lot of work it is all worth it...just the feeling of calmness that you get when you are in need of an item and realize you know where it is.

I am not sure how it is that I have gone six years with two drawers of kitchen utensils strewn everywhere. I thought about buying the proper organizing tools when the Oprah show has the Container Store coupon back in November/December...but no...in my 'older as I get, the more I procrastinate' mode I didn't get there. Instead I waited until this week to go to the Container Store and pay full price. And I may not have even done that if my friend Kathy hadn't recently gone and showed me the clever dividers she purchased for her drawers. Here is the before shot of one of the drawers.

By the way for those that read my earlier post about cleaning, I actually have 9 corkscrews not 5 and had 2 staple guns not 1 (which means I now have 3 staple guns since I begged Santa for 1 because I couldn't find the one I thought I had) as I previously noted. Planning to donate the tools that haven't ever been used (and 4 of my corkscrews) and the tools that I don't even know what they are to be used for, moved other tools to other drawers and now the drawer looks like this.

When I was at the Container Store I found the following containers for round or square crackers. I have found it a challenge to keep crackers fresh once you open a pack, even if you put them in a zip lock bag. I am not sure about these containers as the instructions state that 'your crackers are to be in their original package'...well if I had the original packaging or it wasn't ripped, then I wouldn't need this container. Also, the containers come with these little packets that are to be used to help keep the crackers fresh...so that tells me that once they are gone, I will have to spend money on more packets...supposedly there is a two year supply.

My friend Melinda and I went to LeAnntiques (leanntiques.com) in December and I spotted a great toolbox. It has been on my mind ever since. On this past Saturday I called LeAnn and asked if it was still there and it was...now the question was...would it fit in my armoire? It was 3 feet long, 14 inches deep and 9 inches high. Good news it would fit. Got in my car and snapped it up. I had two plastic containers that were holding my various tools (screwdrivers, pliers, nails, hammers, staple guns, etc.) and it was driving me crazy as they were a mess and certainly don't fit my look.

I took the items out of the plastic containers below and from other places around the house, and reorganized them using the toolbox. The plastic containers will now make their way to garage to hold miscellaneous tools.

Check out the toolbox now. It may not look organized based on the view...but it is.

Even used the space where a saw would have been placed.

It fits perfectly in the armoire, matches the wood color, and looks better than the plastic containers. Now I am going to go on the hunt for cheap, colorful containers for the screwdrivers, nails etc. so I can get rid of the various containers (cans, jars, gladware, egg cartons) currently being used.

And the best part...I can close the doors and not see the toolbox, but yet it is at my fingertips. I may gain weight though now that I won't have to run up and down three floors, to the basement and the garage to find something.

Stop by Thrifty Decor Chick's websites and see what others are using for organizing...

Cleaning can be cost-effective...

I never thought I would say it but the indepth cleaning and organizing I have been doing is satisfying my wish to go shopping and saving me money. Why is that? Because I have stumbled upon things that I had forgotten I had and things that I was planning to purchase. For example, I have started making my dog Lollie's treats and I was thinking how great it would be to have a dog bone shaped cookie cutter. Guess what? I do have one.

By the way, I realized I had five corkscrews...I barely drink a glass a wine every few months...so how is it that I ended up with five? I think one or two were gifts (the nicer ones which you have to have to use with people you don't know well and think you should impress). The others are your basic ones that you pull out for close friends. Maybe you need several because once you start drinking you can't remember where you put the one you were using or maybe you need several because you don't want anyone to have to wait in line to open a bottle.

I was positive that I had a staple gun, but could I find it...ah, that would be a no. It was missing for the past year...so I asked Santa for a new one. Well, if I had just organized my basement a little sooner I wouldn't have had to ask Santa. Unfortunately I have already opened and used the one Santa brought me so I can't send it back. Oh, well I am guessing that it is probably a good thing that I have two...that way I should be able to find at least one when I need it.

On Monday, January 12th I will be participating in Thrifty Decor Chick's Organization and Declutter event. Maybe I will see you there.