Organising on A Budget - the Second Drawer

These Organising on a Budget posts were supposed to be coming weekly, unfortunately that idea has gone by the wayside, life is busy. What can I say? 

But .... I do still have a list a mile long of little organising jobs and problem areas around the home that need some attention! 

(Please forgive my gorgeous crappy photos, my beloved DSLR is having issues and has been sent away for repairs. I feel like my arm has been cut off!)

Insert problem area- The second drawer. We all have them . The utensil drawer, the place where all the commonly used items get chucked in a haste while putting dishes away , or rifling through while in search of the perfect tool.

Ours was annoying the beejeebies out of me!! It was getting hard to push the drawer shut!! And we have old school drawers (with gorgeous salmon pink fronts ) that are more than a little bit worse for wear, and no runners to help with the problem.

BEFORE:: 

Our Mess!!

First step? Empty everything out of the drawer. Cull and chuck whatever is old and crappy , rehome the things that really don't need to be there and give everything else a quick wash and dry. 

I didn't want to spend anything to re-organise this drawer and seeing as though we go through a lot of Strawberries and cherry tomatoes, I started to keep the plastic tubs they come in from the shop. Waste not, want not right?! 

A piece of cute wrapping paper cut to size (and secured with double sided tape) , the plastic tubs and some re-organising and the drawer is finished!! 

TOTAL COST =

FREE!! $0 ZILCH!

I already had the wrapping paper (from the bedside drawer project) 

and the containers are constantly going through our home and rubbish 

Great to look at and user friendly! Lets see how long this lasts! 

Organising on a Budget - A Quick Bedside Drawer Tidy

My favourite kind of Organising projects would have to be the super quick yet super effective ones, and this is certainly one of those. 

My bedside drawers are always a bit of a shambles, especially the top drawer. It tends to be a dumping ground for anything on the drawer top that I don't want there, anything that my husband wants to put away that is mine and then the things I like to use before bed also. Crazy! 

I know the before shot really isn't that bad , but it was still a small problem area in our home , and I am working through them, one at a time!

Coles has been killing it in the "Dollar Dazzler" section , with lots of kitchenware items that I purchased for the Caravan for just a few dollars , and also these cute rolls of wrapping paper for $2 a pop. I loved the patterns and set them aside to do more with them than wrap a present, only to be chucked in the bin shortly afterwards. So what better way to use them, than a pretty drawer liner?

I simply measured the drawer, cut the paper to size and secured the corners with some double sided tape underneath. 

I added a few little tubs that I bought from Kmart for a couple of dollars , containerised the frequently used items ( heel balm, moisturiser, paw paw cream) and re homed the things that didn't belong here. 

Now its a pleasure to look at and is user friendly. Win win. And all for less than $10! 

Bathroom Cupboard Organisation

Life is busy, time gets away from us and before we know it, our cupboards, bench tops and any other available surface is piled full of 'stuff' and are a train wreck. 

I like to think that I am a pretty tidy person but it still happens in my home. 

Throw in an older style 'rental' and there isn't much hope of 'pretty'.

Insert ; Our kids bathroom Vanity

Old tiles, old laminate, old EVERYTHING (that never looks clean regardless of what I do!) and a whole heap of mess happening there! 

So ... I tidied as much as possible, containerised everything , bought some new colourful towels and added some cute little labels. 

Ta- Da !

The labels are really what has made the little organising project work. 

The cupboard is so much more user friendly, everyone can see where everything lives and needs to be put away and I repurposed most items that I already had. 

Products used;

Green tubs - IKEA a few years ago

Plastic baskets - Kmart $3 ea HERE 

( I already had these, I have them everywhere around the house!)

White bucket - IKEA $2.95 ea HERE

Towels- Kmart $12 ea HERE

Labels- Pretty Paper Label - contact Kate's facebook page HERE

(Kate custom makes labels, you can choose the font, colour , size EVERYTHING! She is amazing to work with and very clever at her job! Get onto it! )

Organising a Storage Cupboard

Slowly but surely I am making my way through the cupboards in our house , tidying, culling and labelling. I will probably reach the end of my list and have to start again but that is ok. I like a challenge and a project!! 

Seeing as though we are renting, we can't permanently add more storage to the house as I would have done in the past and we really have to work with what we have. 

The cupboards are quite random throughout the place. I have no broom/mop/full length cupboard and others don't have the right shelving etc inside of them so you can't use them to their maximum capacity. 

Oh well ... It just means we have to be creative ! Creative with limited shopping and storage options of course ;)

This single door cupboard is near our main bathroom, toilet and laundry and comes off a bedroom (which I use to work out of ). It tended to be a random dumping zone for anything that didn't really have a home so it was one of the most important areas to make over.

This is the before photo (and this was tidied a little while before);

It wasn't too bad but as you can see, some really strange items ended up in here! 

I pulled everything out, purchased some white tubs from Red Dot (will on a day trip to Karratha) and sorted the items groups for the tubs. Luckily we already had the plastic drawers , and they were being a nuisance , taking up space in the store room so it was nice to find them a use! 

Ta -Da!! 

Now this is the home for the kids DSI and tablet devices and their accessories and travel bags ( honestly, they really only play with these items every 4-6 weeks or when we are travelling) we didn't feel the need for them to be anywhere more accessible, plus we love how they are out of reach of the children (giving us the control).

 It is also where I now store our cards, ribbon and wrapping paper for gifts ( I do miss the wrapping station that I created at our old house) and some cleaning items (like dustpan and brush set, a few scrubbing brushes etc. 

These white tubs have made all the difference. They are super cheap and light to pull out , which is important to a shorty like me when they are stored up high!  I made these labels using THIS tutorial and then backed them on some pretty paper before running them through a laminator. I just stuck them to the tubs with BluTack. I want to be able to swap and change around the tubs and contents whenever I like so this method works well. 

All the earphones, chargers and travel bags for the devices are in the tubs and drawers and then I made use of the void of space under the shelf with some baskets from Kmart. As the bottom of the cupboard is where my vacuum cleaner lives,  this basket is perfect to store the different attachments so they are handy all the time. The other under shelf basket houses our double adaptors/plugs as we seem to always need one of these ( especially when we have visitors).

I didn't forget the Miscellaneous tub. Every cupboard needs one in my opinion!! 

This one has a few small gift items that I picked up super cheap at Kmart (like 10c each) such as skipping ropes, wooden cupcakes and a few cars and trucks and I often add them to a present or use the skipping ropes when wrapping gifts. I will keep adding to it anytime I see something on special. 

A few hours of my time, over a few days, $20 for some plastic tubs and we now have a very pretty and tidy cupboard. Got to love that! 

Now onto the next one!! 

Don't forget to check out the rest of my 'Organising on a budget' series .

Organising On A Budget - The Tupperware Cupboard

For this weeks project for my 'Organising on a Budget' series, I decided to tackle a very well used, but always messy area of our kitchen. The beloved Tupperware cupboard. 

Now these things are always a haven for kids to play in, and I don't think anyone could say that their plastics cupboard is always 100% tidy and organised. 

Our kitchen is very small, with limited bench and cupboard space and I am not 100% happy with the location of everything but really don't know where else the things would work more efficiently , so until I do it is all staying put! 

BEFORE; 

To begin, I pulled EVERYTHING out of the cupboards. I sorted the items into piles of similar containers and found matching lids for every piece . Anything I haven't used in a while got chucked (yes I know its expensive stuff but if you don't use it , what is the point in having it?!) and anything that didn't have a lid or was damaged or a bit grubby/worn got chucked too. Not actually chucked but I donated the bag of goodies to a friend that moved here with nothing and is starting fresh. She appreciated the extra lunch box items etc.

The cupboards got a good clean, and of course a little washi tape action on the trim again. I am addicted and love seeing a little bit of colour and cheer in our old Kitchen. 

When putting the containers back in the cupboard, I know that everyone has their own system and preference.

 Me? I would prefer the tall items or the ones that I have more of (like the sandwhich keepers for example) at the back and the smaller piles at the front. They are all visable as I have to bend to look inside the cupboard but it makes the small items more accessible. 

AFTER 

I love how it doesn't look as cluttered. How all the containers we weren't using got chucked and how I have found things that I forgot we had!! 

This cupboard is actually on the end and then flows into a corner, so the larger dip platters etc are hiding in there. 

After seeing THIS post on The Organised Housewife, I loved how the little wire drawer was used for lids, and I actually had bought a set for my Bathroom Cupboard makeover and didn't use them (as all the little bits and bobs kept falling through them) so this was a great place for the drawers to be used. 

These drawers are from Kmart and are just a few dollars. 

All the small lids are in the drawers and all of the big lids are either down the side of the drawers or underneath the items themselves. 

And because one cupboard always flows into another , I culled and cleaned our crockery cupboard too!! Sorted the dinner sets, chucked some old plastic plates and bowls and put the items we use the most when preparing food down the bottom , within arms reach ie: grater , measuring jugs 

I feel heaps better about the cupboards now. The items we do have, get used often and because they are neat and tidy, its easy to see where things are supposed to go - for those hubby's that are so lovely to help out but like to dump things in the first spot they see!! Bless their hearts 

Go on, try it. Chuck and clean your plastics cupboard and see how good it feels. Make yourself a glass of vino and snack and enjoy it even more x

Organising on a Budget - New Bathroom Storage

As an extension of my last post on our Ensuite Bathroom Cupboard makeover , I wanted to show you a little something extra that we added to our teeny tiny ensuite so that we had some more storage space. 

Just like time, space is of the essence, especially in our little bathroom . Even though I have never been a fan of these units in the past,  when I saw the Over - The - Toilet Cupboard , not only on sale but with $2 shipping from Deals Direct turn up on my emails, my mind started ticking. You see, freight for furniture, or any item really, is extremely expensive to get to the Pilbara , so I really wanted to make the most of the deal on furniture. Plus I knew we needed something to fix a few problem areas . 

This is our terrible gorgeous toilet space before

So a few weeks and $90 later, this beauty turned up and my clever husband set to work putting it together . Flat packs are a Blue job in our house for sure!

This unit has holes already pre drilled and for you to be able to attach it to the wall, however, because we are renting we wanted to avoid doing so. Instead we used little wedges (cut from rubber door wedges) to hold the base of the legs up (the floor is slightly sloped to allow for drainage and because I think its just a little dodgy) and also a bunch of command strips around the back of the top cabinet part. 

After a quick trip to our few shops , I found a couple of storage items and that cute enamel bowl on the shelf as a little decoration. 

The white frame is from Typo a while ago. I bought a few as they were out mega cheap and re homed it from another area of our house. 

The enamel tin has some paper type flowers that are scented. Something nice smelling in a bathroom is always a good thing :)

The main reason we wanted some new storage was so that our sharp items were out of reach of the children. With low cupboards, even though they know they aren't supposed to rifle through them, it is always a possibility and temptation. 

So on the top shelf from left to right;

The white tin holds my husbands razor and nail scissors. 

The glass jar is full of nail items, nail clippers, small cuticle cutters, tweezers etc

The cream basket has my husbands small clipper set (he uses on his face) and the various attachments for it 

The bottom shelf holds the commonly used items, so they are at arms reach but still kept clean and safe. 

Deodorants, shaving creams and face items for my husband. The white dish is where he pops his mouth retainer during the day (such a nice night time look!!) and of course the ever practical cotton tips and cotton balls in the glass jars (they were bought as a set of 3 from Thingz for $7)

We are extremely pleased with how the cabinet looks and functions. It has added a bit more storage to the area without imposing on space or practicality. It does shut out a bit more light from the window from what we had before, but that is not a major thing for us. If anything the room stays cooler! 

It was easy to assemble, a good price and great quality . You can't ask for much more than that! 

Organising on a budget - Ensuite Bathroom

As mentioned in my previous post, our ensuite bathroom is rather dated. It is a 80's style home and the wet areas havent' changed since the house was built. The laminate on the bench tops is marked, the trim and cupboards have water damage and the shower screen is cracked. Typical rental I guess. However our house is in a good area and we have new tiles and a fresh paint job through out so  I would consider ourselves very lucky. All in all, I do love our home. It works for us and things could always be worse!! 

Having said all that, the ensuite is bad , bad, bad!! Its small, you walk through our Walk In Robe to get in there and I HATE shower curtains. I do miss our large shower and glass shower screen. 

So , when embarking on this organising task, I knew I needed to make the room a little 'prettier' . Add some colour and spruce up the tired old cupboard. 

So here we have a before shot. 

Please note this isn't the before before shot. I had done a tidy up a few months ago and put everything in these baskets. And it doesn't seem that bad , but functionality wise. It just wasn't working for us and the large baskets became a dumping ground for everything!

I wrote a list and set out in search of the particular items I needed. I was lucky and re purposed some baskets I had bought previously and hadn't used and just needed a few new purchases.

The jars and enamel tin are from Thingz (I believe it is a WA chain but I am sure there would be something similar for East Coasters) and the Cosmetic organiser was from Kmart for about the $10 mark .

So first I pulled everything out of the cupboard and sorted it all into piles. I ended up culling and chucking a shopping bag of things we just don't use. Hair products, perfumes I just don't seem to like the smell of, makeup I don't wear because the weather here doesn't allow it etc etc.

I then could see how big each tub needed to be and used these existing ones we had in our house. The white baskets were from a plastic drawer set but you can get something similar from Woolworths. The clear pull out baskets are a Kmart buy and are $3 if you don't live in the Pilbara ($4 for us!! haha) and of course the cosmetic organiser in action.

I have a large tub for cosmetic and toiletry bags, with my nail polishes and supplies in the front. 

A tub for extra items. Surplus supplies that I buy when on special , so spare Tooth paste, makeup or moisturisers. 

And I love how I can see everything in my cosmetic organiser. There is a place for everything and my everyday basics are at the touch of my fingertips. 

The top plastic pull out drawers (with the handle facing inwards because otherwise they stick out too far to close the door with the drain pipe in the back there) . One side is skincare ( cleaner, toner, moisturiser, masks etc) and the other is our perfumes/colognes. 

You may have noticed that I also ran a strip of Washi tape down edge cupboard edge. The laminate is discoloured from water damage and it just didn't look clean and fresh even though I know it is. Washi Tape is the perfect width, easy to apply and remove and such a quick and cheap update. And it made the world of difference in this cupboard. I may have been going a little Washi mad as I go through each cupboard and area around the house! 

Next the baskets needed labels, much to my husbands disgust! He thinks he knows whats in each basket therefore we don't require them . Funny thing is, its him who has issues with putting things away in the right places! 

I used THIS great tutorial from the blog I Heart Organizing. It was super easy to follow and I am totally computer illiterate so I loved it! 

I stuck with a basic colour for the lettering as I wanted to use patterned paper as the border and already had the wash tape going on. 

It was a fluke that I found some patterned card stock in my stash that matched the Washi tape, it was meant to be. 

I then laminated them and stuck them to the baskets with Blu Tack for easy removal. 

I am very pleased with the final product and our newly organised cupboard. I feel happy every time I open the doors and see little bursts of colour , not to mention the fact I can actually find the things I need. Especially in the mornings when time is precious! 

We have also put in some new storage to this small bathroom,  that post is coming in the next few days. We needed a little more storage, and also something a little higher (out of reach of little hands). 

So stay tuned for the next Ensuite organising post. 

Organising On a Budget - My Planning Process

Since moving houses (and towns all together)  we have so many new rooms and spaces to organise. When we moved into our house, my husband could not get any time off so it was just me (and the 4 kids) and a bunch of unpackers. Actually, I don't think you can call them that, they seem to just lift the items out of the boxes and deposit them on any available flat surface. Every where!!

Anyway, everything was just chucked in the cupboards and drawers and were never really organised properly. Its driving me nuts!! Its time for that to change and I am a woman on a mission. Nothing is safe!!

So the return of the 'Organising on a Budget' series. If you have been a follower of the blog for a while, you would have seen a few of my other Organising makeovers, and this is no different. 

This series focuses on creating cleaner, more organised spaces but on a low budget. 

Everything having a place , Simplifying and labelling to make spaces more functional and ..... prettier. 

Seeing as though we are now in a rental we are limited with permanent changes, painting etc. However small cosmetic changes can often make the world of difference. Our home is an older style, from the 80's era so the bathrooms , laundry and kitchen are rather dated. Old laminate, cupboards that have seen their fair share of water damage (from leaks or perhaps Cyclone damage) are features in most of the rooms, but I am still on a mission to add some personality and style around the place. 

Other than some gorgeous friends that inspire me to organise and decorate to make our house a home for our family, one of my biggest inspirations is Jen from I Heart Organizing. For other than the obvious reasons , the way she organises , her gift at finding the right tools to complete her jobs but for her sense of style. For personalising everything that she does and for making simple organising tasks look ..... gorgeous!! So that's my goal!!

I have been rather reserved in the past with my colour selection around our home. Putting it plainly, I am boring. Beige, brown and white. Wow! haha I am determined to add some colour and life to our home and make each and every project, not only functional but gorgeous to look at! 

The main question I have been asked via emails or private messages on my facebook page (thank you for sending them in by the way) is ; 

How do you find the time to complete your projects?

AND

Where do you start? How do you know what needs doing?

Great questions and simple answers!!

In regards to finding the time to complete projects around our home, well I am a busy lady. I think all mothers are. It helps that I am an insomniac and find it hard to sleep. But I also don't need much sleep to survive either so that has always been a bonus since having twins! I find I get a second wind at around 10pm and can still go for hours! The most productive hours of my day are after 10pm at night!

I also have a husband that is home on weekends and helps with the kids and our projects and tries to give me some time out to complete my tasks. 

But I prioritise. Having a clean, organised home is important to me. It effects the way I function and cope with every day life and it effects my moods and anxiety levels. Crazy I know!!

But my home is my work place. I am a stay at home Mum and I now also work from home so I think its important to maintain my environment. 

Life in our family is busy enough, the last thing we need is to not be able to find something or for piles of cr*p to fall out on you when you open a cupboard! I can control the appearance and functionality of our home, but so many other aspects of parenting, so I choose to use it to my advantage!

My planning process is also pretty simple. There is still nothing like the good old pen and paper system. Even with all of the technology and devices around these days, I still find it easier to have a hard copy in front of me to refer to.

When returning from holidays in mid January (after spending time in my parents gorgeous brand new home) I felt a little cluttered and unkempt in our house . So I went through each room. 

I made a list and wrote down all the things that needed to be done and all the things that needed to be bought/ things I would like to update.   Whether they were big or small, they were written down. 

I then worked my way through each room, cleaning and making a list of what needs to be purchased to complete each organisational task, if we didn't already have the supplies at home. Easy....

Now that I have made a copy , I have found this gorgeous printable on the I Heart Organizing blog , and I will transfer my list onto here. It looks prettier !!

I love knowing where we are at. What we have bought. Roughly how much things will cost and what sort of a look we are going for. It saves time and money, both things that are precious to each and every  one of us!!

Armed with my list of supplies for my first few projects,  I headed to our main 2 shops in our town - Kmart and Thingz (Thingz is a WA store and is a gift ware type shop).

Kmart have some fantastic organisational products at the moment and for great prices too, so if you are coming on this organising journey with me, that should be your first port of call!

I hope I answered your questions clearly, and I hope you can stay tuned for the first weeks makeover, our ensuite vanity. That post is coming tomorrow !! 

For now though, perhaps you would like to check out some of my previous posts in this series?

Wrapping Station

Pantry Door Organising

Toy Room Makeover

The shared Wardrobe

Laundry Cupboards

Happy Saturday everyone :)

Organising and Tizzy- ing!

As you all know by now, we have moved towns and houses in the past 6 months , and we are now in a rental property.
This is an entirely new ball game and situation for me, as we have always owned (paying off) our own home and I could do just as I pleased with our rooms and walls. If I wanted to hang something I could, if I wanted to drill something , hubby would! ha
However, that is no longer the case, and I am finding I have been quite reluctant to decorate and personalise our rooms, even though I know you can do a lot with soft furnishings and some command strips, I guess the idea of not having free reign puts me off.

Sooooooo, to encourage myself , and perhaps a few of you at home, reading along, I thought I would start up the 'Organising on A Budget' Series that I ran on the blog a fair while ago.
Do you remember the Laundry post, The Shared Wardrobe , Pantry Door Organising , Laundry Cupboards, Our Main Bathroom  and of course, the popular Toy Room Makeover ?

Well I aim to do the same thing with our rooms and spaces in our new house, all with a small - as - possible budget , the least impact on the walls and existing house (rental conscious) and as best as I can from a town with not much choice in the way of shopping (Kmart and supermarkets is about the extent of it ).
Even though we have only recently moved into this house, it was a fast and thoughtless move, in the way that my husband had to work the day the removalists came, we had just a few days to get the house in working order and not much thought was put in to the placement of items etc. Now we have had a bit of time to live and use the areas, the problems and lack of efficiency are evident!! But not for long!

I am armed with a list of rooms, spaces and cupboards that need help and a revamp, and  the wonderful world of the Internet to inspire, and supply the goods.

Wish me luck!!
And if you have any ideas, hints or tips that you would like to share, I would LOVE to hear and see them!!
I would also love to see any revamps you may have done at your house, before and afters are my fav!! I am looking at popping some others that have been shared on the blog also! So flick me an email, or message me on Facebook if you would like to be included!!