Making Bathroom Storage Pretty

One of my dreams is to renovate our master bathroom down the road, but until then the drawers and cabinets in our vanity needed a quick fix. They were lined by a previous owner with some super country-cutesy gingham and heart-filled contact paper and I can't believe it took me this long to rip it out and start fresh. (I swear I took before pictures of this project and now I can't find them which is a huge bummer because the before & after would have been awesome.)

I found a big roll of bright and pretty contact paper at TJ Maxx for like $5.99 and it was perfect for prettying up our bathroom drawers and cabinets. I also did a huge purge of all the junk that was overflowing in this area. I used some drawer organizers and bins from the Dollar Store and I'm feeling so much better about this space. Overall it cost me about $10 to fix up 3 cabinets and 7 drawers!

The light in this bathroom isn't great so it was hard to get good pictures of all the cabinets. I love the white towels against the blue paper. It feels so fresh and so clean clean (Outkast anyone?).

I grabbed some plastic tubs to corral similar items that were spread out all over the place before. Stuff like extra sunscreen now has a place to live instead of hiding in the back of the cabinet where no one can find it.

On either end of the vanity are three smaller drawers that house all the daily-use items so my husband and I each have a set of three. I took the picture below before the drawers were filled because you really don't need to see all our personal choices in bath products. Although clearly as seen above we're big fans of Dove soap.

I love how something as simple and cheap as contact paper can make over a space. For a week after I made this change, I would just open the drawers and cabinets to see how pretty they looked. Organization tasks are so much more appealing when they can be nice looking too!


Linking up to 
I Heart Organization

Food Storage Revamp

Today I had the chance to go grocery shopping by myself. You know you are a mom of small children when going to the grocery store alone feels like a vacation! I went to Trader Joes which makes the experience even better because these days shopping at TJs with my kids is a nightmare. The aisles are so small and it's always crowded and my little ones' arms seem to reach sooo far. 

Anyway... I went shopping and when I got home and put everything away, I realized that it's high time for a little fridge/freezer/pantry reorganization. I grabbed a few pictures for inspiration off Pinterest. There were a lot of great ideas for french door style refrigerators but we have a traditional side by side so I tried to stick with pictures showing the same layout.

*Please pin these from the original source. It takes a few seconds extra but directs people to the real source that deserves the credit.

 Rubbermaid Blog

Real Simple

Ask Anna

Squawkfox

I included the last example even though it's french door style because it has some good tips about actual food storage and not just how to keep things from falling all over the place. 

Now in the name of keeping it real, here are the before pix of my fridge and freezer. I love them being full, but hate that all the organizing I've done in the past has kind of fallen to the wayside. 

Umm.... whoa. The freezer looks like it could all come tumbling out at any minute. 

After some strategic rearranging and cleaning the shelves, drawers and walls of the fridge and freezer, here are the after photos. 

I used some white plastic bins from Ikea and Target to corral the lunch meats, yogurt and snacks since those things seem to quickly spread out and take over. I had the plastic bin meant for juice boxes which I used for a few randoms since we don't typically have a lot of juice boxes on hand. 

I removed the fruits and veggies from their plastic bags so we could not only see what we have in the bins but also how much is left.

Amazingly I didn't have that much expired food to toss. I go through everything quickly almost every week the night before the trash gets picked up so pretty much what we had was useable. I did get rid of a bunch of packaging just to clear out space. It's also easier to see what you have if it's not in a box.

I'm very happy with the results and it's a great way to start the week feeling so organized! 

Linking up to Design, Dining & Diapers

31 Days In Review

It's finally November and I made it through my 31 Days to a More Organized Life series. True, I only posted 26 out of 31 days but I'm calling it a win. Posting 26 times in one month feels like a big accomplishment, especially a month that turned out to be busier than expected and riddled with sickness.

I unveiled my bedroom closet makeover and my linen closet revamp.

I shared how I organize the drawers in our renovated kitchen and our alternative to a traditional pantry.

I offered tips on packing for your family and preparing your home before a trip and restoring order after a vacation.

I confessed my sad meal-planning skills and shared my efforts to improve here, here and here.

It's been a busy month and I'm so happy that so many people chose to follow along with the series. I do have a few more organization-focused posts planned, but I need to take a few days off this week to regroup. Check here for the full list of topics from the series!

I hope you'll continue to join me here at Sweeter Still as we move into the holidays! Be back on Monday!

31 Days to a More Organized Life : Day Twenty-Five : Baby Girl's Room

Today's post will pretty much be all pictures since they pretty much speak for themselves. Organizing my baby girl's (age 4) room is a constant process. Even with regular clean-up everything ends up mixed up. Her closet is made up of a hanging section for clothes and cubes to store toys and games. The games were taking over...

I relocated the games to a cabinet on the backside of the island and it opened up a lot of space. We even have an extra spot open for overflow! The black basket took the place of the green bin and holds mostly little brother's toys that he plays with regularly.

31 Days to a Normal Life : Day Twenty Four : Using Gadgets to Stay Organized

Technological tools and gadgets carry a huge workload these days. With our phones capable of everything from managing our calendar to providing restaurant reviews and traffic alerts, using the phone for talking doesn't even seem to be the norm anymore. Smart phones, tablets and laptops make technology portable in a way that wasn't possible until fairly recently. The other day in the car, while the Maroon 5 song "Payphone" was playing, my 4 year old asked me what a payphone was. As I was explaining, I realized that the idea of needing to access a public phone is completely foreign to her. Anytime we leave the house, I have a phone right there in my purse so why would I need a payphone??

31 Days to a More Organized Life : Day Twenty-Three : Saving Kid's Artwork

Kids accumulate a lot of stuff. Even if you are religious about purging unused toys, clothes, books, etc, they still manage to bring in more. Once they reach school-age, they start to bring home papers, art projects, and all sorts of "mementos." We're not even to the schoolwork stage, but we have a miniature artist on our hands and for the past two years, we've accrued a lot of artwork.

Inspired by Van Gogh's Starry Night - from Fancy Nancy Art Camp

It's not that I don't love and treasure every single piece. Even the ones that make you think "what am I looking at??" are precious. But the fact of the matter is that we don't have the space to store the abundance of masterpieces that come through our door. I don't want to just callously throw them away (although some I do) but I just can't save it all. So what can you do??

31 Days to a More Organized Life : Day Twenty-Two : The Junk Drawer

I don't know about your house, but in ours, the junk drawer gets out of control faster than almost any other spot when it comes to clutter. I try to reorganize it every couple weeks and it still looks like a tornado blew through. I tried to brainstorm ways to avoid the junk drawer in our new kitchen, but when you get right down to it, there is random stuff that needs a home and it usually ends up together.

Here's ours before:

It's not completely out of control, but there's a lot in the mix making it little more than a guess where to find something or where to put it back when you finish. 

31 Days to a More Organized Life : Day Twenty-One : Organizing Your Car

As a mom, I spend a lot of time shuttling from place to place in the car. Having just gotten a new car a few months ago, mine still feels pretty neat. I put more effort to keep it clean and organized because it doesn't have years of wear and tear. Regardless of whether your car is new or old, there are easy ways to keep it up that don't take a lot of effort.

I recently purchased a small plastic coupon organizer from the dollar store to manage important information that we keep in the car. If you've ever been pulled over or in a fender-bender, you know how important it is to have your insurance and registration handy.

The organizer came with labels for the various sections so I made one for registration and insurance info. I also designated one section for emergencies, which has contact info for roadside assistance. I also put a pocket-sized notepad and pen in the back just in case. I store the whole thing in the glove compartment so I know exactly where all the important papers are when I need them.

I bought a small first-aid kit for around $10 at Target that has some basics in it like bandaids, advil and antiseptic wipes. It's small so I keep that with a package of wet wipes in the side pocket of the driver's side door. In the pocket of the front passenger door I have a couple plastic bags and a small roll of paper towels for spills, sickies, etc. Our car came equipped with a jack and jumper cables, but if yours doesn't, I'd suggest having some for emergencies.

Because we live in a pretty warm climate, I don't keep too much else in the car for emergencies. If we lived somewhere cold or snowy, I would have a couple small blankets, water and antifreeze. Most of the driving that I do is within city limits and typically pretty close to home so I don't worry too much about us being stranded for a long time. If you spend time driving in isolated areas, you'd want to be prepared with some bottled water, snacks, etc.

To keep the car tidy, I make it a habit to pick up the trash, toys, clothes, etc. that inevitably end up in the car every day. Rather than having to clean a giant mess every so often, doing a daily sweep makes it easier to deal with a small amount. Like most chores, doing it more often makes it take less time and energy.
What do you keep in your car for emergencies?

31 Days to a More Organized Life : Day Twenty : The Importance of Routine

There's something familiar and comforting to most of us about a routine. A sense of peace that comes from the habitual. Most of us have routines that have become so ingrained in our daily life that we don't even think about them. For instance, I bet you have a shower routine. I know I do. Every time I shower, I follow roughly the same steps in the same order. In fact, my shower program is so drilled into my brain now that I've actually derailed the process by trying to go out of order and ended up with facewash in my hair. I'm not kidding.

Routines are especially important for children. I've never read a book about parenting that didn't emphasize the importance of pattern in the daily life of a child. There are different extremes to which you might follow your particular routine, but it seems to be almost universally agreed upon that children thrive when they know what to expect each day.

31 Days to a More Organized Life : Day Seventeen : Meal Planning, Part Three

I thought since I'm a meal-planner-in-training, I'd offer up some great resources from seasoned planners to encourage your own menu-planning efforts. Even if you are already great at planning your meals, you might find a new printable planning sheet or tip to make things run even more smoothly.

Simple Mom

You might not want to hear this, but the holidays are literally around the corner. This post from Tsh at Simple Mom is specific to December and details not only their menu plan for the month, but the batch cooking she plans for busy times.

Keeper of the Home
Not only is Stephanie really on top of meal planning, but she also focuses on feeding her family "real foods" and avoiding processed foods. This post (written by one of her contributors) is about getting back on the meal planning wagon and gives her actual menu for two weeks. The entire blog is chock full of great menu planning tips and strategies, but this post is a great starting point.

Faithful Provisions
I sort of stumbled upon this blog and while I'm not a couponer (funny that we use that as a word now) I really enjoyed all her resources for menu planning. She has a lot of printables to help keep you organized.

5 Dinners-in-1hr
If you want to be a real go-getter, then this one's for you! You can buy a subscription and receive monthly plans with grocery lists that train you to prep five dinners in an hour that can be easily reheated during the course of the week. If you aren't into the whole advanced meal prep idea, Michelle still has awesome recipes on her site and lots of great tips for making delicious meals for a family.

I hope you find some of these awesome blogs/posts helpful! Do you have a favorite meal-planning resource??

Check out the previous days of the series here!

31 Days to a More Organized Life : Day Sixteen : Meal Planning, Part Two

Yesterday I admitted that I am horrible at meal planning and that it's one area where I would really like to improve. Whenever I read about someone who plans meals a month at a time (or actually cooks for a month at a time) I feel like such a slacker and so envious of their mama skills. I can at least make the effort to start out a week at a time.

I'm not the most able graphic designer and I don't really have the time to design my own meal planning sheet. And seriously why kill myself doing this when so many talented folks have already done this and provide free printables?!

31 Days to a More Organized Life : Day Fifteen : Meal Planning, Part One

Confession: I am awful at meal planning. It's one of the areas that I know would really help me, but I'm inconsistent at best when it comes to planning our meals in advance. I'd really like to improve on this so the next few days will be about taking some steps towards consistent menu planning.

To start off, I wanted to have some back-up meals in the freezer that can be thrown in the crock pot when I know it's going to be a hectic day. Even this takes some planning because the meals have to thaw beforehand. I think I can handle looking ahead at the week and seeing that Thursday is going to be busy so I better thaw a freezer meal Wednesday to make dinner easier the next night. Are you following me?

I did some research on good old Pinterest for freezer meals and found myself a brand new blog to read. It's the mecca of meals, crafts, DIY and it's called Six Sisters' Stuff. You might have heard of it; they have like ten zillion followers. The post that I found on Pinterest was this one about making 8 slow cooker freezer meals in one hour. Yahtzee!

I chose three of the eight meals to start: Black Bean Taco Soup, Hearty Beef Stew, and Cilantro Lime Chicken. I made a shopping list and took my little guy to the store to stock up.

I labeled gallon ziploc bags with each meal, today's date and the time each needs in the slow cooker. Then I just followed the instructions on Six Sisters and dumped everything in. I browned the ground turkey for the black bean taco soup first and let it cool while I put together the other two meals.

Now I have three ready-made meals that just need heating up to make dinner a snap!

Join me tomorrow for more adventures in meal planning and check out the previous days in the series here.

31 Days to a More Organized Life : Day Fourteen : Much-needed Inspiration

The longer I write this series, the more I respect bloggers who post daily or almost daily. It takes a lot of work to come up with a quality post for each day. Today instead of taking a break, I'm sharing some of the organization blogs and sites that I find most inspiring and motivating. Get ready to see some serious organization skills!

I Heart Organizing
From DIY to creative storage to printables to keep you organized, this gal does it all! Jen is a home management guru and clearly works hard to make her home not only orderly, but beautiful.

A Bowl Full of Lemons

Toni takes the cake when it comes to organization. Her blog is full of fabulous ideas and tutorials to help you get control of your own home.

Organizing Made Fun

Becky has a zillion ideas for organizing on a budget. Her blog is a great reminder that you don't have to blow the budget or have endless space in order to be organized.

I hope this gives you some good motivation to tackle some organizational projects! I'll be back tomorrow with more ways I'm getting life in order.

Check out the whole 31 day series here!

31 Days to a More Organized Life : Day Thirteen : Vacation Recovery

We just got back from a four day trip to the LA area for some great time with family and friends. I'm sorry that I had to skip two days of posting, but I promise to fulfill the 31 days anyway. At the last minute, the hubs was able to take some extra time and we extended our trip, which was awesome, but also meant packing in a hurry and not enough time to get posts ready for our absence. Boo (but yay for our trip)!

Now we're back and I thought I'd take the opportunity to talk about how I "recover" our family and home from an out of town trip. Here's what happened when we came home and unloaded the car...

And that's not even all of it! So what do I do??

31 Days to a More Organized Life : Day Twelve : Packing the Family for a Vacation

Yesterday I offered some helpful tips for prepping your house before a vacation! Today we're talking about getting the family ready to go. Packing is easy enough when you are only planning for yourself, but when you factor in kids who need diaper changes, snacks, and activities to keep them busy, it can become quite the ordeal.

I'm a classic overpacker. It is what it is and I've learned to accept it. I truly hate the feeling of not having something I need on a trip so I tend to overcompensate a wee bit. Fortunately, I've tamed it down since having kids who require so much extra stuff just so that we can actually fit it all in one car. I'm also a big believer in learning from prior experiences so here are a few things I'm doing this time around to ease the stress. Remember the intention I set in the beginning of the series...

Packing us up in an orderly way will help to keep things running smoothly during not just the packing process but the trip itself.

31 Days to a More Organized Life : Day Eleven : Preparing Your Home for a Trip

Welcome to day ten of my efforts toward organizing our home and family, one step at a time! If you missed any of the previous days you can check them out here!

Today we are talking about how to get your home ready before you leave for a vacation. There's so much to do before a trip, not to mention so much excitement and anticipation. Just a few simple steps can help keep your house safe while you are out of town.

31 Days to a More Organized Life : Day Ten : Tracking Our Schedule

Today I'm bringing back a previous post about our weekly calendar with a few updates.

I found a great printable week-at-a-glance calendar at Mommy Tracked. They have a bunch of other options but this one looked like it would work best for us. It has a space for each day of the current week, plus small sections for kid's activities and the dinner plan for that day.

31 Days to a More Organized Life : Day Nine : De-junking Your Purse

Tell me if this situation sounds familiar... You're tackling a trip to the grocery store with both kids and your cell phone starts ringing. You reach with one hand into your purse for the phone while keeping the other hand on your toddler who has outsmarted the shopping cart seatbelt and managed to turn himself around still buckled. While you dig furiously through your purse with your free hand, your toddler continues to lean precariously over the edge of the seat, laughing hysterically as you hold onto the back of his pants. Normally you'd ignore the phone but you're waiting for the pediatrician's office to call back so you can tell them the the snot flowing freely from your preschooler's nose is now definitely looking green and not clear. Finally your fingers grasp the phone just as the pediatrician's office number lights up under the heading "missed call."

At any given time, the contents of your purse can mean the difference between sinking and swimming. It's not enough to carry your phone, but the ability to find the phone when you need it. It's not just a hold-all for papers and receipts, but having the receipt on hand when you need to pick up the dry-cleaning or return an item at the store. Often my purse feels more like a dumping ground than a well-ordered carryall. If you feel the same, then keep reading!

31 Days to a More Organized Life : Day Eight : Linen Closet, Part Two

Were you wondering if I was ever going to reveal my reorganized and revitalized linen closet?? I spent the weekend working on it piece by piece and truthfully, only the cabinet is done. I have plans for the closet portion, but I really want to share the cabinet now!

The first thing I wanted to do was add some personality. The inside was still this bland cream color that used to be on all the trim and the doors. When we overhauled the kitchen, we had the entire interior of the house painted and now the walls are a light gray and the trim is a crisp white. Love.

So in a bold move on my part, I painted the inside of the upper cabinet in the same light gray as the walls. I did it during naptime and while it was a nice change, it didn't really do much.

The top two shelves are painted and the bottom section isn't. Could you even tell? Me neither. So I hopped over to Michael's and found some pretty scrapbook paper.

31 Days to a More Organized Life : Day Seven : Pantry Alternative

Yesterday I shared how we removed most of our upper cabinets during our kitchen renovation, leaving us with a lot of drawers for storage. One of the biggest changes we made when we took down the wall between our kitchen and living room was getting rid of our pantry. Because of the new layout, there isn't space for a typical tall pantry cabinet. Instead, we use four large drawers to store our dry goods.