WHAT A BETTER TIME TO ORGANIZE THEN WHILE YOU ARE STUCK AT HOME IN QUARANTINE!
Let me start by saying, I am possibly one of the most unorganized humans mentally that you will ever meet. My brain is a scattered as a puzzle. I can’t keep a schedule, I’m horrible at planning, and I get so sidetrack working on a project that I forget to finish the project. One thing I do know, if my rooms and spaces aren’t organized, I can not function AT ALL. I organize and then a few weeks go by and it looks like I had never organized in my life. It’s so unfortunate when people come to visit on those days because it looks like I’m okay living in a pigsty which I’M NOT! So I’m trying to do a weekly sweep these days so I don’t have to do a half yearly DIVE.
My mom and I were laughing last night. I told her I spent the day cleaning and organizing every room and closet in the house. She said “what is it about organizing and cleaning that feels so good? I think it’s the instant gratification”. SO TRUE. Being home this much with nowhere to go is making me lose my mind even though I have things to do and kids to tend to. What makes me lose my mind even more you lose is being stuck in a messy and unorganized home. Doing something that almost instantly gratifies me, felt wonderful and I highly suggest it!
There have only been a few things making me really come alive lately and stay out of depression and those have been my husband and kids which I’m so thankful for, taking walks, and doing little acts of kindness. Last week I had Maverick give the UPS driver, the garbage woman, and the FedEx drivers each a 6 case of Purell. Nothing made me happier that seeing Mavericks excitement when he handed them these packs of 6 holiday scented purells (insert cry laugh face here) and seeing the look on their faces. One of them teared up. The FedEx drivers eyes looked like they were going to pop out of his head and he had the biggest and best smile that I will never ever forget for the rest of my life and then he said “you have no idea how bad I need these. How did you find them??” I didn’t want to get into it with him on how I accidentally ordered 21 packs of 6 bottles of holiday scented purell instead of 21 bottles of purell 2 months ago before the pandemic hit hard and there was a shortage. Thankfully I did and I’m able to share them now with people who truly need them.
Anyway, I decided I needed to start seeing what we have too much of so I can donate and what we need and the only way to do so is to ORGANIZE. I learned I have more rice and marinara sauce than I’ll ever know what to do with, and that I don’t really have anything to make an actual meal.
Wanted to give you a list of the containers I use for my spaces so you have an idea of where to start if you have never done anything like this!! The Home Edit is not only one of my favorite ideas ever, it’s my favorite book ever written to inspire me on how to get organized. I highly recommend it. I met Clea, one of the co-founders of The Home Edit about two years ago through mutual friends. We have spent some time together and shared conversations and not only is she my hero for starting this business and a bad ass girl boss, she is possibly one of the funniest humans I know. I will say, I would love to have one of these girls come and vamp up my spaces because their work is like nothing I have ever seen, but for now it’s just me, myself, and I.
My spaces are nowhere what I dream them to look like but the way they are right now is just perfect for where I am in my life and what I am able to do as a mom of two very young children.
MY CLOSET
I’m giving you a little peek into my closet to see what I use for organizing some of my shoes and bags.
I use acrylic spacers that are normally used for magazines and books and a bunch of other things. I find them to look clean and are easy to see everything. Being able to stack my flat shoes under the acrylic shelves and the heels on top makes it easier for me to see what I have and actually want to wear my shoes. Be sure to get the larger taller ACRYLIC SHELVES for you shoes. These can also be flipped upside down and used as bag holders too!!
CLICK HERE FOR MY SHOE ORGANIZERS
CLICK BELOW FOR MY BAG & CLUTCH SPACERS
MY OFFICE
To have a creative mind, my work space needs to be de-cluttered or I can’t succeed at anything.
My office….. I find this to be one of the most important spaces to keep clean and organized or I can’t get any work done. This is also the space that collects the most clutter in our house and I am constantly cleaning. I swear this next picture is what my desk looks like every few weeks.
Usually my office is a great resemblance of what my brain is feeling like. When the space is a mess and has things scattered all over the place, that’s usually how my mind is feeling. The moment I clean it and organize it, I feel like a new person and I can be productive. I need things to be light and bright so I like to keep everything pretty neutral, clean, and white. My storage boxes are white and grey and I will list them below. I LOVE using book of all kinds for decoration and for putting plants and candles on top of. You will find them ALL over my home. I also love all things Chanel so I have every book I could find Chanel. I listed these below! If you can guess what drives me THE MOST CRAZY about my shelves then you know me very well…. that big darn speaker on the left but I share an office with our TV room so I guess I can make it work!
Rose gold and white are two of my favorite colors so I was very happy to find pens, scissors, a stapler, and a pen holder (that can also be used to plant a small plant in) all in white and gold tones.
Also listed a link to my favorite artist named Brittany Fuson who did my personalized stationary for me!!
WHITE AND GOLD STAPLER
WHITE AND GOLD PEN OR PLANT HOLDER
BLUE PEN WITH GOLD
WHITE PEN WITH GOLD
MY REFRIGERATOR
I mentioned in my Instagram story how my husband will open up the refrigerator and just stand there looking inside of it and then close it and say “there’s nothing to eat”. I get so mad because I do all the grocery shopping and I know there is food in there. I have to remind him sometimes that you have to actually gather the foods and cook them to make a meal. One thing I will give him is when you refrigerator looks like this, it is hard to find anything and it’s discouraging, especially to a man. Organizing it and putting everything in a birds eye view is what they need and I need it for my sanity. I put the things he likes right at his eye level. I recommend taking EVERYTHING OUT. Clean the fridge, check expiration dates, and then see what bins fit in your space and GO TO TOWN!
BEFORE
DURING
AFTER
I must say, this particular project brought me instant gratification, so much joy to my heart, and made me feel warm and fuzzy.
The Home Edit’s Labels are a MUST. I label everything in every room. They have a sticker for pretty much everything and they look so pretty and clean!
If you don’t know where to begin there is an awesome refrigerator starter kit that you can get. If you are anything like me, the more containers the better. I will always find a need for them somewhere else in the house. These are not made just for the fridge. I use them in my bathroom, laundry room, basically every room.
FROM TOP TO BOTTOM
DEEP CONTAINER DRAWER FOR SNACKS
LARGE DEEP DRAWER FOR FRUIT & VEGGIES
MY PANTRY
Ahhhhh the pantry. What is it about a pantry? They are magnificent when they are clean but why are they so darn hard to keep clean and organized? These before pictures are two sets of before pictures! This first one is what our pantery looked like before I started getting it organized.
BEFORE
I went and grabbed a few bins and containers and this was my first attempted to organize and then I think I had a baby or two.
FIRST ATTEMPT A COUPLE YEARS AGO
AFTER
My husband laughed at me yesterday when I went back at the pantry. He said “you wasted the night away cleaning that pantry. You just cleaned it last month”. I’m like ummmm, did you not see how messy it got? It had to be cleaned and revamped so we can see what we have. Now I know never to buy rice or pasta sauce again.
This picture below is from last month! I moved some stuff around and took all the alcohol out and put it somewhere else. We need all the room we can get in this bad boy!
Start by taking it all out. Yes I know that sounds HORRIBLE but it is worth it. Check expiration dates, dust, do all the things. Possibly draw out where you want everything to go and start placing the containers where you want them to fit your space.
My trusty helper was hoping I would drop a container.Good thing they have pop tops that help keep your food fresh a lot longer.
I use a lot of the same containers in the pantry as I do in the refrigerator. My new motto is “one can never have enough storage containers”. If you aren’t that person then there is an awesome starter kit that you can get HERE if you feel overwhelmed. After it arrives and you start, you can see what else you need. The starter kit is a great way to go if you are just getting into this whole organization thing! Then you will see what I mean about never having enough containers!!
Below is a list of the containers I use in our pantry. Hopefully this has helped you and not totally overwhelmed you. Start with one space and finish it, then move to the next. Trust me, because I have done a few rooms at once and it is not fun. One at a time is fun and feels so good after.