Racor Wall Bike Stand Review

The Racor Bike Stand Is As Easy as 1-2-3!

By Amy Trauntvein

Organization in my garage is not a strong suit of mine.  It’s a place where everything gets put that either doesn’t belong in the house, or doesn’t fit!  I AM able to park my van in it so that’s a plus for me, but frankly the rest could use a little help.  Especially with bigger items, such as bikes.  That’s where Racor Home Storage Products come in.  Racor sent me one of their Wall Bike Stands ($59.99) to review.

Sweet!  Being a family of 6, we have a few bikes and they take up a good amount of floor space in my garage that I definitely could use more of!

So last Saturday I employed my husband to put it together and get a couple of these bikes up and out of the way, AND I timed him to see just how long it would take him to get the job done!  He started at 4:17pm

1. Open the box and put the parts together…

2. Set in place and screw it to the wall…

 

3. Adjust hangers and hang up bikes. Done!  Ending time 4:34pm – 17 minutes!  That’s how fast and easy it is to set up the Racor Wall Bike Stand and gain some much needed space in your garage.  I might add, he wasn’t trying to hurry either.

I was quite impressed with the Racor Wall Bike Stand.  Not only did it go up easily and quickly but it’s strong too!

The Racor Wall Bike Stand

• Holds 2 bikes
• Direct mounted to a wall stud
• Independent adjustment arms for level bike storage
• Red cradles are vinyl-coated to protects the bikes
• Steel construction epoxy finish and skid-free rubber guards to protect the floor.
• Weight limit of 100 pounds

Thank you Racor Storage Solutions!  I love the Bike stand and the extra room in my garage! Check out their website, they carry many more storage ideas and solutions that could be perfect for your organizational needs.

*Although I was compensated with the product for review, all opinions are honest and my own.

Love To All!  ~Amy

 

 

 

 

 

I have been married for 23 years to my awesome hubby, Todd and we have 4 equally awesome kids who keep me young! Our favorite thing to do together is travel. I enjoy gardening, yoga, walking and saving money! I am very active in my church and am currently serving the children, and I love volunteering at my kids’ schools doing whatever I can to help the teachers and staff.

Make Your Own Chalkboard Jar Labels

Chalkboard Jar Labels Using Chalkboard Contact Paper

I have seen some of the cutest chalkboard labels on the large jars in kitchens from other creative blogs. It inspired me to go out and find the large jars for my kitchen counters.

Most of the chalkboard labels that I have seen made was by using the chalkboard paint.  Although that is a great method and more than likely over all less expensive, I did see someone who used chalkboard contact paper and I decided I wanted to try that.

I searched local stores and called all around but did not find any stores that carried the blackboard or chalkboard contact paper.  I ended up finding it online and purchased it there.  I then went through the same thing with the chalkboard markers.  I also ended up purchasing them online.

Here are the link for the chalkboard contact paper Chalkboard Contact Paper, 18″ x 6′ and here are the markers I used Liquid Chalk – Works like a Marker Dries like Chalk – Set of 8 Earthy Colors .  Since these were hard for me to find, I thought I’d make it easier for you.  But just so you know I did go ahead and set them up as affiliate links with amazon – I keep no secrets from you guys.   I also went ahead and posted the widgets on my sidebar for you if you want to come back to them later or send a friend to find them.

I bought my jars at Walmart for the 1 gallon jar which I paid $6.97 for and the 1/2 gallon jar which was $4.87.  But the 3 gallon cookie jar which I’m going to also show you I got at The Container Store and I paid $19.99 for that!  I know… crazy difference, but I wanted the larger size and Walmart didn’t have it. (I have since seen the 2 gallon jar at Walmart and it was I think only $9.99 – ugh)

I also got out my x-acto cutting mat and knife so it made a nice clean cut.

I decided on the shape for my labels. That came down to which stencil I had! lol
So I went to work.  I made sure not to waste any of my chalkboard contact paper, so I cut as close to the edge as I could.

Then used my x-acto knife to cut along the edge.

Once I had cut out the pattern I decided on which marker I was going to use. I picked the yellow because it showed up nice and bright. These markers are pretty cool. You shake them up and then you have to hold them down for a little bit (longer than I expected, I thought at first they weren’t working – but like a minute or two before the tip fills with ink)

I also decided to put the little dots on the edges of my labels. DaNita from Delightful Order always does that on her printed labels and I think they look so cute.  (of course I messed up a couple, so practice spacing!)

Then I just peeled off the back and placed them on the jars. I started from the center and pressed down and wiped out with my finger to make sure all the air was out and it was pressed firmly down.

I did this for all of the jars. Here are the three smaller jars.

For the cookie jar I wanted the label to be a little larger since it was twice as big, but I didn’t have a larger stencil with the same design.

It was nice that there was a grid on the back of the contact paper, as I just free handed outside the line where I did the stencil to make it larger.

You may think that it seems strange that I did not do the traditional Flour & Sugar canisters.

The flour and sugar are not things that I use everyday in this house.  I actually don’t use the flour very often at all… (can you say box mix?).

But…. my husband makes his bowl of oatmeal every morning and puts brown sugar and raisins in it. So it only makes sense to put this in the jars.

I considered getting a smaller jar for the raisins too… but I thought it might end up looking too crowded in this space on my counter.  The refrigerator is directly on the left and the stove is just on the other side of the coffee maker.  So his raisins are in the cupboard above.

On the other side of the counter is the 2 gallon cookie jar.

Can you believe there are four different bags of cookies in there?  Well…. there are actually two of the four that only had part of them left. But there is still more room in this for more!!

My only concern for these darling jars is that there is no rubber seal.  So I am hoping the cookies don’t get stale this summer. Sometimes looks out weigh the practicality right?

My husband did find that the brown sugar did become harder, quicker. He used a cellophane wrap over the top before the lid was put on.

This project was originally compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for #collectivebias 4/6/2011. But I’m reposting this post Feb 2013 and was not compensated again for it.

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Chalkboard Labels Using Chalkboard Contact Paper

Chalkboard Labels For Your Pantry Baskets

I got my labels completed for my pantry baskets…. I told you I was going to do them!

There are so many uses for this chalkboard contact paper.  I have several other things in mind!

But I want to show you how I made these simple labels for my baskets in my pantry.

I took some of my old business cards (they are such a good size for so many things) and used those for the basis of the chalkboard labels for the baskets.

I cut the chalkboard contact paper so that it would go over the sides just a bit and would fold back and cover the entire card.

When I fold it over I make sure to make a crisp edge and I smooth it out so there aren’t any air bubbles or creases in it.

Then I trim the short edge of the card. I do pinch the edge so that the contact paper adheres to itself to seal the edge.

I used the hole punch and punched a hole in the center top so I can hang it.

Simple enough

I used the same color chalkboard marker and basic design so that they matched the jar labels I made and showed you yesterday.

I looked for twine to tie the labels on, but evidently we didn’t have any. I found some fishing line and decided that would actually work really well.

It won’t show much and it will take care of the problem I worried about … getting through the thin basket weave.

And it looks like this:

I was pleased how they turned out… what do you think?

One of the other little things I did was to use these little buckets that I hung from my wire over the door can holder.

Remember I mentioned that I didn’t like the baggie that was holding the chip clips in my pantry? That I was sure there was something cuter?  I decided this was cuter!

I had a 2nd bucket that I used and wasn’t sure what to put in it….. but had an onion sitting on the pantry shelf and thought… ok.. done!

So of course I made labels for these pails too.  I used the business card as the stencil and cut out a piece of the chalkboard contact paper.  I wrote the name on it with the markers and stuck it on the side of the bucket.

I think they turned out cute too… don’t you?

Adding little touches like this, makes your pantry look a little cuter, but it also makes it functional by letting the family know where to put things away.

And of course that makes me happy!!
You can find the Chalkboard Contact Paper, 18″ x 6′ and the markers I used Liquid Chalk – Works like a Marker Dries like Chalk – Set of 8 Earthy Colors at the two links I have here. They are affiliate links, but that’s not why I’m giving them to you. I had a hard time finding both products and thought I’d make it a little easier for you all.

 This post was revamped and reposted from 4/7/2011

 

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Increase Space In Your Kitchen With Ikea Expedit Shelves

This Ikea Expedit Shelf Works Like A Pantry

I have a pantry, but I wanted some more space to help ease the load in my pantry and cabinets. I’ve mentioned before, I have a fairly small home. I do not have access dishes or pots and pans (come on… really…. me?) but things can get crowded and I wanted a solution. Here were some of my inspiration photos I found on pinterest. When I made my newest plan to reorganize, I added two new Ikea Expedit Shelving units. One in the family room, and this one in the kitchen. I painted the wall that leads from the family room into the kitchen deep brown. I also painted the perpentual wall adjacent to it brown (the wall you see in this picture). I love the white against the deep brown.

 

I really didn’t take much out of my pantry to put on these shelves. I did clear out room in my some of my cabinets and put items from the pantry into the cabinets, so in a round about way I increased my pantry space.

I also purchased two of the slide in door units that fit the expedit shelves. this allows me to have two cubbies that are closed in. I have wine supplies in this side. The other side has plastic cups, plates and silverwear for picnics and such.

I also found these little metal shelf units while I was at Ikea.  I measured and found out they would work so that I could split the space and not have wasted room.

I pulled out some of the baskets that I had in my pantry and used them to store items I had in my cabinets. Baking items, mostly.

I’m thrilled with the extra room I now have!

This is a solution that works great for me. I know I’ll have these shelves if we ever have to move. If need be, I can move them and use them in another room also. The unit just fit in this area.  The door on the right leads to my laundry room. The light switch for this “eating” area, that we only have a small table for the triplets to eat and do homework at, is on the wall. You can see it just behind the one basket (2nd cubby down, far right). We don’t use that light all that often, so it’s not a problem that it’s within the unit. On the other side, there is still enough space that our trash can fits just fine.

Just so you know, this is not a review or promo post for Ikea. I have several of the Expedit pieces and wanted to show you how I utilize them.

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Creating Space In The Family Room With Ikea Expedit Units

Have A Smaller House And Need More Space?

I love using cubby wall units. I’ve used the Ikea Expedit shelves for several areas of my home. In the garage for my bedroom, mud room and in my actual office, that I don’t really use anymore (I have gone back to my mini office in the family room, to be near the family).

Now I have gone out and gotten a couple more of the large 5×5 Expedit units. When I make the drive to Ikea, I usually have a big list; since it is over two hours away from me. On this trip I bought two of these! I got a white one for my kitchen (that post will be coming) and I got this one for my family room. I painted the wall deep brown that is on the long end of my family room that runs into my kitchen.

The other thing I did with this unit was to put it on casters. The reason I did that was two fold.  One, because this unit is large, when it is in “guest” mode (I’ll explain in a min) it covers a heater vent. This will still allow that heat to escape and not be completely covered up by the unit. The main reason I put it on casters is so that I can easily move it when needed.  You see, I again have created a mini “office” to work.

This is how the unit is the majority of the time. It is scooted up so that I can access the cubby units for work.

It works great for me. I have my essentials at my finger tips.

I know that it doesn’t look the best when people come to visit, so I also have a “guest” mode.  When we have guest over, I can simply pull the unit over on the wall so that it isn’t up beside the couch.

This works great for me. I also have a smaller 2 cube unit that I have as a side table. I have one of the bins on the top of it that I use for my trash can. Below it I have a portable file that I can access.

It’s a solution that works great for me. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m not a decorating diva, nor will I ever be. I am very practical with what I need and cost. These units are very sturdy and work great for what we need them for.

This is not a review that I did for Ikea Expedit Shelves, nor did I get compensated in any way for it. I just used them, love them, and want to share what works for me.

 

 

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Coupon Cubby and Card Cubby Review

Organizing Your Coupons and Cards with the Coupon and Card Cubbys!

By Amy Trauntvein

Aren’t these just the cutest things ever?  These are the Coupon Cubby and Card Cubby for organizing your coupons and your cards in your purse, home, car or anywhere else.  They come in a variety of colors to match your style and personality!

The Coupon Cubby is perfect if you are not yet ready for a full size coupon binder but do use coupons.  It fits easily in your purse OR comes with it’s own removable and adjustable strap if you’d like to use it on it’s own for couponing or or even as a small purse or clutch!  It also includes 30 handy dividers with alphabet, grocery store category and blank (create your own category) labels for easy coupon organization.  There is an inside zipper pouch for anything else you may want to keep in your Cubby.   Retail $25.99

The Card Cubby is smaller and is the perfect size to hold your gift cards, business cards, frequent traveler cards, membership cards, rewards cards and discount cards.  A portable mini card file or Rolodex!   It’s all in one place and comes with alphabet dividers for easy reference and filing. Like the Card Cubby is also has a small zipper pouch for cash or anything else you want to stash.    Retail from $19.95-$23.95 depending on options.

Both the Coupon Cubby and the Card Cubby have a clear pocket on the back for your drivers license business card or a picture.  Both could easily be used as either a purse or wallet and has a durable cover that can easily be cleaned with a wet cloth.

Not only are these two Cubbys handy, fun, adorable and easy to use, they are even easier to purchase! Perfect for yourself or as a gift!  Just go to the top tab here at Organizing With Sandy where it says “SHOP” and click on the drop down menu where it says “Card Cubby” or go here: Card Cubby 

I love my Coupon Cubby and Card Cubby and know you will too!  Even though I was compensated with the product for this post, all pictures and opinions are honest and my own.

Love to all! ~Amy

 

 

 

 

 

I have been married for 22 years to my awesome hubby, Todd and we have 4 equally awesome kids who keep my young! Our favorite thing to do together is travel. I enjoy gardening and puttering around my yard. I am very active in my church and am currently serving the children, and I love volunteering at my kids’ schools doing whatever I can to help the teachers and staff.

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Caboodles 25th Anniversary! Organizer Review

Caboodles Beauty Organizer Review

by Amy Trauntvein

Ah, the ’80s.  Best decade ever.  Pegged pants, over-sized tops, bright colors, big hair bands and of course big hair on everyone!  But one thing that totally takes me back is the Caboodle.  They first came out when I was in high school (I think I just dated myself) and they were so totally awesome dude!  My best friend had a mint green one and boy was I jealous!  She took it everywhere and in it, she carried her blue mascara, hair mousse and of course hair spray among other beauty necessities.  I wanted one so bad!

Guess what?  Caboodle must have heard my cries from yesteryear because they sent me one to try out and even better, it’s their “Original” design from 1987!          Re-Introducing (drum roll please)…

My First Love Retro Caboodle !

Isn’t it just the best ever???  Retail $25   At national retailers in time for Christmas.

I have 2 daughters with long hair which means I “do” a lot of hair every day.  So I decided to fill my amazing Caboodle with all the hair stuff and accessories I use for my girls’ hair.  Here’s mine…

The top houses brushes, combs, 2 curling irons, spray water bottle, hand mirror and a few other misc items.

The top drawer contains small hair clips, (can you tell I’m a little obsessed with Mickey clips?)  bobby pins, ponytail holders, clear silicone bands and my mini Topsy-tail.

The bottom drawer holds Bling Strings, large hair clips, larger ponytail holders and elastic head bands.  These drawers are larger to hold bigger items.

The Caboodle can really hold anything you want.  My daughter has one that holds makeup and hair accessories from when she was on a competition dance team and needed to carry everything with her to the performances.  It has been well loved and used.  :)

 

I adore my Caboodle!  And you can too!  Go get one for yourself and fill it with all your beauty needs.  Don’t forget the hair mousse!

I was compensated with the Caboodle for my review, but all my photos and opinions are honest and my own.

Love to all!  ~Amy

 

 

 

 

 

I have been married for 22 years to my awesome hubby, Todd and we have 4 equally awesome kids who keep my young! Our favorite thing to do together is travel. I enjoy gardening and puttering around my yard. I am very active in my church and am currently serving the children, and I love volunteering at my kids’ schools doing whatever I can to help the teachers and staff.

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Racor Bike Hanger Review

Organizing with the Racor Bike Hanger

I’ve been looking for a storage solution for my recumbent bike /trike since I got it this last summer.  It is large and awkward and heavy and is taking up a lot of space in our already small garage.

When I was asked to do a review of this racor bike hanger, I jumped on it.  They did explain to me in the email that this bike hanger was not designed for a recumbent bike, and they couldn’t  recommend it for that. But, we decided to try it because that is what we really needed it for. Rebels maybe? lol  I’m just saying that it worked for us. You can see from the picture on the package how it is intended to be used.

The first thing I did was to check out the weight limit of the product.  It says that the maximum weight is 50 pounds. So I know we are good weight wise for the recumbent bike. I’m not sure what it weights, but I know it’s not 50 lbs.

Here is the monster that we need to get up off the garage floor.

Today has been a cleaning out, reorganizing day.  Just as with most of you, even though an area has been organized, doesn’t mean it stays clean an organized in our house. Today was shed, my office area and garage maintenance day.

This is how we currently have the regular bikes being hung. It works to keep them off the ground.  It is hard to maneuver them and lift them down. I know I have a very hard time doing it (and usually don’t).  We could have tried to do something with hooks like this for the recumbent, but it is heavy enough that it would have been really difficult, and it wouldn’t have been a solution that would have worked for everyday.

Dave got his ladder out, found the studs, used his drill and attached the pulleys. He threaded the cords as per the instructions.

He had already figured out the two spots he was going to attach the pulley hooks to and had measured to be sure it would work.

Once he figured out how to work the system, he started raising the bike.  He quickly realized there was a self leveling system and it leveled the bike out. He said he wondered how that would work and was concerned about it.  You can see how high off the ground it is. Dave is 6’2″ and he can almost walk under it.

He attached a tie up hook to the wall that was included, so that he could secure the line.

I’m really excited to have the bike up off the ground, but yet accessible, so that I can get it down to ride it. What is really nice is that Dave positioned it so it is right over the bed of our pick up truck. So we can lower it right into the truck when we want to take it somewhere to ride. Double yay!

I can say that Dave was impressed with the quality of the product and was very pleased that the bike leveled itself out.  This bike hanger is not designed for a recumbent bike, it is designed for a normal two wheel bike. We were the ones that were experimenting with it in order to hang the recumbent.

You can find more bike hangers by Racor that will work for your needs.

I did receive this racor bike hanger free of charge for review. I received no other compensation and the pictures and opinions are my own.

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Kanex Charging Organizer Review

Review of the Kanex Sydnee Charging Organizer

by Amy Trauntvein

Cords, cords, cords!  If your home is anything like mine, it seems that everywhere I look, there are charging cords all over my house.  iPads, iPods, iPhone, cell phones.  Everyone thinks they need their own charging cord and “place” to charge their devices.  Kanex has come up with a great solution for all your portable electronics that use a USB cord.  The Sydnee (retail: $149) at http://www.kanexlive.com/sydnee

I instantly liked the idea of having one place for everything that needed charging.  I also like the fact that you can charge up to 4 devices at one time, but that’s about as far as my knowledge goes so I employed my computer savvy husband in trying it out and testing it further.  Here are his coments on the Sydnee Charging Organizer…

- sleek factor, fits on a small corner of the desk

- four charge ports and built in cable management

- came with three short cords already, so I still have the flexibility of keeping my other charger cords for travel and in other uses like hooked up to my desktop without having to go take them back from the charger base.

- white – goes with anything

- ability to add a cell phone charge cord for micro usb on the 4th port (remember, it came with three short cords for four ports)

- I like that I can have my ipad in landscape display mode while it is charging, so I can still use it at my desk, viewing videos, surfing, etc.

- plenty of room to put the chargable items.

Todd’s suggestions on improvements for the next version?

- cable management clips on both sides of the holder

- slim wall cord where it plugs into the outlet (flat style).  The cord stands out from the wall plug a good 3 inches so if you’re wanting to use a wall outlet behind a desk or other piece of furniture, it might be difficult to get that furniture closer to the wall because of the plug.

I would definitely recommend the Sydnee especially if you have many items in your home that need recharging!  This product would be good in a central location for the whole family to use to keep their devices charged.  It will hold up to 4 iPads and will easily handle 4 smaller devices.

I was compensated with the Kanex Sydnee Organizer, was not paid for this review, and my pictures and opinions are my own.  ~Amy

 

 

 

 

 

I have been married for 22 years to my awesome hubby, Todd and we have 4 equally awesome kids who keep my young! Our favorite thing to do together is travel. I enjoy gardening and puttering around my yard. I am very active in my church and am currently serving the children, and I love volunteering at my kids’ schools doing whatever I can to help the teachers and staff.

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Kitchen Pantry Wire Shelf Idea

Take Off A Door & Put In a Pantry Wire Shelf?

Who does that? Me! We took off the pantry door and used a pantry wire shelf mounted to the wall to increase storage space and room. I previously had been using a door hanging pantry wire shelf and I did like that option, but we have such a small space between our counter and wall to get into our pantry. We also keep a trashcan in that space.  So.. I decided to have Dave take off the door (we kept it open all the time anyway) and we mounted a wire shelf on the wall to add to our pantry space.

These shelves were just a little deeper than my door mounted shelves. So we were able to put the 2 liter bottles of pop and larger cans of soup on them, where we weren’t able to with the door mount.  My little green bucket I attached, that is where we keep all our chip clips.

Here is what we had previously. This over the door pantry wire shelf  was helpful, but didn’t give me as many shelves to work with and they weren’t as deep.  But if you like to close the door to your pantry, this is still a great option to increase your space.

I was considering having Dave build me shelves on the wall, and we saw this when we were in Home Depot and decided it would work. I’m really happy with it.

Of course we still have the door, so that if we decide to move or change our minds, we can always take this back off the wall and put the pantry door back on.

It’s ok to think a little outside the box with your home. We don’t always have to stay within what we think is “socially acceptable”. I’m one who tends to be much more practical and would rather have options that work for my family and are functional, rather than trying to impress the masses with my picture perfect home.

Do it Yourself Easy Desk Storage Set

Easy To Make – Do it Yourself Desk Set

Some of the plastic containers you get products in are really nice, and I decided to make a diy (do it yourself) desk storage set out of three different ones.

I do not normally keep storage containers like these, unless I have a specific use for them.  I love do it yourself projects, but I see too many people keep SO many things like this… with the intention of “some day” getting to it.  Only keep enough containers for the specific do it yourself project you want to accomplish. It will decrease the clutter… and you will be able to save up new containers when you are ready for your next DIY project. But I thought I could make a nice little set for my daughter’s desk by recycling plastic storage containers and some decorative tape.

I kept two different tea mix containers and took the labels off.

I then took the labels off the two tea containers. Both of these labels came right off… easy peasy.

I then had two naked containers, like this one!

I then took my decorative tape.  This is duck tape that I got at Target or Joanne’s. (I can’t remember which)  You can decide how you want to place your decorative tape on the container. You can cover it completely, or make stripes up and down or a single one around…. like this one.

Here is the other container.

I also kept this larger round nut mix container. The label for this container was glued on.

I could have spent a lot of time and soaked it off… peeled  and gotten it sparkly clean first… but heck – I’m covering it with tape.  So I just taped over the label.

Here is the finished product. You can use the lids on your containers if you want.

Here is the finished product that you can put pencils in.

 

There are so many things you can use something like this for.  This do DIY desk set is going on my daughter’s desk in her room – but I could also see something like this being really cute in a craft room. you could store beads, or any kind of craft supplies in these.  Ideas are endless.

 

Ziploc Storage idea for Guest Bedding

Ziploc Has An Easy Way To Store Entire Bedding Sets

I found Ziploc totes are an easy way to store guest bedding all together in one nice neat package. I  now have five sons who live out of the house, but come back to visit often.  Since we don’t have a large home, we have air mattresses and futons they usually sleep on.  Each time they come, I have to go to several different places to get a clean pillow, sheets and blankets.

I decided I wanted to figure out a system, so that I could have them all together in one place. I was going to get clear plastic trash bags, but  I decided to try the Ziploc Extra Large Storage Totes I have seen in the stores, instead. I purchased (this is review I’m doing, I wasn’t asked to do via the Brand and the products were not given to me) several of the 22 gallon bags.  I bought one at Krogers for $5.99 on sale.  I realized they were going to work and wanted to get a few more.  I saw them later that day at Target for $7.49 or $7.99 (I forget which), but they weren’t on sale at the time. I went back to Kroger to buy a few more.  My guess is that there might also be coupons out there for them, but I didn’t have one.

This is a more expensive option than buying clear plastic bags, but I like that they have zippers and that there is a defined shape to it.  The plastic seems pretty heavy duty… so I’m assuming they were last for awhile. (At least I hope)

I placed a pillow, twin set of sheets, blanket and a comforter in this bag.  I’m sure I could have done a little maneuvering, maybe rolling the sheets or making them all Martha Stewart like in how I folded them… to make this look a bit neater.  lol  But I was so excited it all fit!!

My next step was to label each bag with the size of the bedding and contents.  Again… you could make a darling label for these for display, but obviously I didn’t.  Mine are going into a metal cabinet in the basement.

The plan is to give each of the boys a bedding set when they come to visit.  They will bring up the dirty bedding to me when they get ready to leave, along with the plastic bag.  At that point I can wash the bedding and place it right back into the proper plastic bag, so they will be ready for the next time they visit.

Of course these bags can be used for many other storage needs than this, but this solved one of my storage issues and I was excited enough about them to share it with you!

Let me know how you store your bedding for guests.

Organizing and DIY Link Party

Easy Craft, Organizing and DIY Ideas

Enjoy seeing the organizing and DIY ideas that some of you linked up to last week. Thanks!

 

Love that Vanessa from The Rookie Seamstress used duct tape to decorate some old boxes to make them useful storage. With all the fun and decorative duct tape that is out there now, the ideas are endless.

Great idea by Ginny from Organizing Homelife on how to label your left overs. Time flies with when you have left overs in the re-fridge. It is amazing how fast things can turn green! lol

 

Utilizing clear shoe door organizers can be used for a multitude of purposes. Margo from Joyful Homemaking shows a variety of ideas.

 

Jo-Ann from Growing in Grace made a plant hanger and address plate to decorate her her home.

 

Link up to my Linky Party! I’d love to see the ideas you create yourself or find from other inspiration online!

1) Link to your specific post – not your blog
2) Please Link back to my blog with my button or link (url code under button tab )
3) Blog post related to Organizing or Cleaning or DIY or crafts or decorating are WONDERFUL!
4) No sales pitches or web sites.
5) Feel free to link up more than 1 post.
6) By linking up to my post, I might use your pic (with link and credit to you) next week in my post!

 

Looking for other link parties? I have a whole list of them. Thumbnail via day above and keep scrolling down to find a more extensive text lists by day on my link party list. If you aren’t sure how to link up… see my link party tutorial here. It is simple. If You Are On A Reader and Want to View All the Great Link Up’s on this post please Click here 
This party will be open until May 6, 2012 at 11:59pm est.

Organizing and DIY Monday Link Party – Week 12

Spring Cleaning Organizing and DIY

What kind of Organizing and DIY projects do you associate with spring cleaning? Anything?

We all have our favorite products to clean with. They might be store bought, they might be “green” products, not so green or home made.

Odo-ban is one of my favorite cleaners. That is a smell that just says “clean” to me when I smell it. I’ve been using it for about 15 years now I think. (wow… didn’t realize it had been that long!)
To begin your spring cleaning you need to:

* Designate a time to clean
* Decide what is going to be cleaned
* Decide who is going to be doing what
* Have the proper supplies before you start

Give everyone in the family assignments. Down to the toddlers. They can help carry a roll of paper towels or use a wet rag and wipe off a low table. Even if it isn’t something that is real productive to you, it makes them feel important and let’s them know they can help mommy.

Link up to my Linky Party! I’d love to see your spring cleaning, organizing or DIY projects!

1) Link to your specific post – not your blog
2) Please Link back to my blog with my button or link
3) Blog post related to Organizing or Cleaning or DIY or crafts or decorating are WONDERFUL!
4) No sales pitches or web sites.
5) Feel free to link up more than 1 post.

I also have a Pinterest Favorite Pin Friday Linky Party! Be sure to watch for that!

Looking for other link parties? I have a whole list of them. Thumbnail via day above and keep scrolling down to find a more extensive text lists by day on my link party list. If you aren’t sure how to link up… see my link party tutorial here. It is simple. If You Are On A Reader and Want to View
This party will be open until March 25, 2012 at 11:59pm

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Seagate Go Flex External Hard Drive Review

Back Up – Back Up – Back Up!

I’ve said it before and I’m sure I’ll say it again, it is really important to back up your information.  This is something that should be on your to do list routinely. It goes along with organizing your important information.

I’ve had a couple different external hard drives that I have tried over the years.  Guess what one I bought myself? I bought a Seagate. It was a 1T desk top model. I feel more secure with Seagate.  It wasn’t a sponsored thing, it was a…. research online, go to the store, check prices and storage options and pick out the 1T Seagate.

But I recently did get a Seagate Go Flex to try out!  Look at this thing… it is awesome! It is small and a fun color (would love a pink or lime green….. just sayin’ Seagate) and holds so much.

I have put it right next to my iphone so you can see the size.

This is a 500 GB hard drive!!!  I have backed up with this several times already. I currently have well over 20,000 pictures on my laptop and lots of videos! I just backed it up again today and I still have 243 GB of storage left.

What I love about this is how portable it is.  I can SO easily take this on my trips with me.  That is great for a couple of reasons.  The main one is because I like to back up my computer before I travel.  I often download pictures that I am taking on trips while I am on the trip and with this along I will be able to back up the new pictures and info before I travel home.

The other reason it is great is because if something would happen to my computer while I was away and I lost information on it, I would have all my info with me. Or even worse if my computer completely broke and there was something important I needed to do I would still have my info with me if I needed to borrow someone else’s computer.

This is thin and light weight too.

There is a lot of technical info I could look up and give you about it, but techie I am not. That is one of the reasons I like this.  I just plug it into my computer with the cord (by the way, that little bottom part by my hand detaches. There are different options that you can get for it… you can see those on the web site that I link to) and go to my time machine (I have a mac) and turn it on and it backs up. Simple .. simple

Here is a screen shot of the time machine when I started backing up today.

I will continue to back up with my desk top Seagate before I go on trips so I have a back up of this back up. But this is so nice to have with me. Just a piece of security.

I did receive this Go Flex from Seagate and MARS advertising. I was not asked to do a review or blog post and was not compensated financially.  I chose to do this post. I wanted to show it off and also encourage everyone to back up their computers.

Creating a Mud Room

Creating  Mud Room In Your Garage

I don’t have a mud room in my house, nor do I have a place for a mud room in this house.  So…. I have to make a mud room in my garage.

We were only able to do this after we got the shed and were able to clear out extra supplies (bikes, lawn mower, tools, sporting equipment and such) out of the garage and into the shed.  Check out my series of posts on how to organize your shed.

Our garage was suffering from “winter messy blues”.  You know…. during the winter how you bring everything into the garage, and nothing gets put away.  Because it is winter, it is too cold to pull everything out of the garage onto the driveway to clean it out…. so it all just accumulates and gets messier and messier?  Yes… the garage messy blues!

Garage “Before” Pictures

I didn’t think to take pictures at the very beginning.  This was in the mist of moving things into the shed.

There were metal shelves on the empty wall.

What we did was to clear everything out.  Took down the shelves.  Moved the freezer over to the left further.

Then we painted.  The paint was actually a gallon I had left over from painting the dining room.  I didn’t want periwinkle walls in the garage. I wanted gray walls.  I wanted to use gray walls and red accent (Ohio State colors).  But I had an unopened gallon of periwinkle. So what’s a girl to do?

You go to Home Depot and tell them to make your periwinkle paint -  gray! They will look at you like you are crazy, tell you that they don’t know that they can do that.  You will then tell them…. just add black please.  They will do it… several times – each time explaining to you something about the base of your paint being a medium base and that to use dark colors you nee a heavy base – so they are not going to guarantee that it will dry very well.

You will look at that final color that he smears on the lid and it dries (with the blow dryer) and think… wow… that really does look gray! Silently jumping up and down wanting to say .. I told you so – but also realizing that when it dries… or doesn’t.. the Home Depot man might be jumping up and down and saying… “I told you so!”

I only wanted to paint the long wall and short front wall that had been dried walled.  The rest of the garage had studded walls… and weren’t going to be part of my mud room anyway.

Oh.. and yes, I know…. my gray paint does have a hint of purplish-blue in it still.  (It sure looked just gray on the lid!) But it is a garage, and it isn’t worth spending another $35 for a gallon of pure gray paint. This will do.

Here is the finished painting job

The next step – outfitting my mud room.

I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on this project.  I knew I wanted:

1) Cubbies for shoes
2) Bench to sit on to put on and take off shoes/boots
3) Hanging area for coats and snow pants
4) Hooks for book bags
5) Shelves for paper towels & toilet paper storage
6) Places for the kids sports bags
7) Trash can
8) Dog food storage near by
9) Floor that had carpet or something to keep from having dirty feet after shoes came off
10) Have it look nice

What I did:

1) Went to Ikea and bought two cubby units, two metal coat hangers/shelf units and 2 wall mounted hooks, wooden sturdy hangers
2) Brought up a small shoe cubby unit I had in the basement
3) Brought up a red couch unit that we had in the basement
4) Used made from cut wood Dave already had (one was a shelf from somewhere else we didn’t need any longer)
5) Bought padded garage squares for the floor (I already had some, just got some more)

Are you ready?  Here it is…. not the Mona Lisa of mud rooms…. not the prettiest you will see, not the classiest you will see, but it will work for us.. and I like it.

Garage Mud Room “After” Pictures

My son and his friend basically dumpster dived for the red diners bench. There is a 2nd one in our basement. They saw them at the curb a few years ago and he brought them home just as pleased as he could be. We have used them in the kids basement TV room.  But I thought this would be perfect here. Plastic so if they are dirty or wet it isn’t a problem. I didn’t have to buy one like I thought I would… and it looks fun.

The black coat hangers came from Ikea.  The cubby units did too.  The shoe unit in on the floor I already had. But I thought the top of it would work great for the 3rd karate bag. If you look to the far right of the picture you will see a plastic shelf. That is where the other 2 karate bags of the triplets will go.  The trashcan I wanted is to the left.  You know…. when you come in from the cars and have fast food bags or whatever needs to be thrown away…. just makes it nice and easy.

The cubby units work great for the boots and shoes.  I bought the white shelf dividers so that you wouldn’t lose good space in the cubbies.  The triplets keep their shoes and boots on the left cubby, the two older boys use the right cubby.

The dog food container is to the left of the bench.  So it is still easy to get to when you come out into the garage, but yet out of the way.

The gray padded garage floor squares work great.  They will keep the cubbies and bench from getting all wet from snow coming off of cars. They will keep feet somewhat dry, clean & warm when taking on and off shoes & boots.

Keep in mind when you are buying anything from Ikea that has to be mounted on the wall.  They evidently have different measurements for their studs when building houses.  My husband gets very frustrated when he has to hang something from there.  The holes do not line up with 16″ (I think) studs that are standard in our homes.  He had to figure out how to hang the coat/book bag hooks that I wanted hung.

He ended up first mounting a piece of wood and used it as a base to then hang the coat racks from.  I originally had planned to put one coat rack in one place and the other in another place….. but after the big deal this was.. I didn’t get upset at all when he put them side by side.  It will actually work out great.

So one more look at before….

And then “After”

Oh .. and yes – we still put a car on this side.  We were parking my Honda Pilot on this side of the garage and our “run around” car the Neon on the other side.  But we switched them up.  The Neon now goes on this side, so there is still plenty of room for the car and to get around it on all sides.  The Pilot goes on the other side of the garage.

We also put a key pad on the outside of the garage so the kids can get into the garage themselves.

 

 

 

Teaching Kids Responsibility with Chores

Giving Your Children Jobs Around The House

I strongly feel that kids need to take part in the family chores. I think our job as parents is to raise them to be independent adults. If they constantly have everything done for them, once they are on their own… they flounder around like fish out of water. They want someone else to do it for them. I’ve seen it time and time again.

A Few Points to Keep In Mind

1) Kids like routine
2) Kids need guidelines
3) Kids like to feel grown up
4) Kids like to help

Use these points in a positive Way
Routine and guidelines - Have a schedule for chores. Make a job board. This is one that I used to use for years. I have since revamped it, but this is a very simple one I like to show people.  It doesn’t have to be fancy.  The first name magnets I made, I let the kids color their own.  They loved that.  But you could also go the other route and make printables on your computer and make them look vintage or something that matches the kitchen or decor.

I started this when the triplets were three years old. They couldn’t read, so I drew the pictures.  Even though some of the chores like vacuuming might have been more than a three year old could accomplish the way I might want the job done… it gave them a sense of pride to help. Of course I helped, and now at ten years old they know how to do it properly.

For me… I go simple.

I use a magnetic dry erase board that I purchased at a discount store.

You can put the magnets directly on your refrigerator – maybe you don’t have the wall space to hang a chore board, or you don’t want one hanging, or you don’t want to purchase one – you don’t have to!

I put the children’s names across the top and the jobs they are assigned that week, underneath their names. Depending on age and ability will determine how many chores and of what level they are per child.  During the school year my children get two chores per week. (Keeping their rooms clean, beds made and laundry put away are routine chores. They are not on the chore board)  During the summer when they are all home, they have three per week.

Making The Chore Board

Purchased a box of these magnetized stickers for business cards at the office store. They are a little pricey, but I still have plenty left and they are the perfect size and the magnets on them are really strong.  The sheets of magnet stickers isn’t inexpensive either, and I have found that you have to cut it and the magnet isn’t’ as strong.

Either cut paper to size or the backs of old business cards.  I like to write the chore (and picture of the chore) on the card before I adhere it to the magnet. Then just peel off the backing of the sticker.

And place your paper onto the sticker.  There you have it.. Easy Peazy!

Cleaning Buckets – Feeling Grown Up and Making it Fun To Help

By giving them their own “cleaning bucket” it helps to make them feel more important. The younger ones can have something like this with just some cleaning wipes, a sponge and dust cloth.
If you color code your kids, then be sure to have their bucket in “their color” to keep them straight.

When they get to be a little older and can handle cleaning chemicals responsibility they can have something more like this.

Keep it fun and colorful!  The more positive we go into it, the more positive results you will get from the children.

It doesn’t have to be difficult or pulling teeth in order to have children learn responsibility.  But I think as adults we have the responsibility to teach our children how to live in the real world… and that starts at home.  Personally I think it needs to start early.  We aren’t helping our children by doing everything for them.  We help them by teaching them how to do things for themselves.

 

Organizing Mission Monday Link Party – Week 33

Back Up Your Computer!!

Do you do it?  If your computer crashed or stopped working, would everything on it be saved?

Is it one of those things that you have on your “forever do list”?  It is something you “intend” to do, but just haven’t gotten around to it?

Then do it!!

I have a good friend who just had her computer zapped in an electric storm, someone else who lost her computer on a trip.  Everything was gone.  No back ups!
Imagine losing all your pictures, all your paperwork you have saved. Everything!

I don’t back my computer up everyday. I should… I know. It is as simple as plugging it in when I go to bed and hitting a button.

But I do always back it up before I leave on a trip or take it into the Apple Store.  Thank goodness I did that last week.  I backed it up and went into the Apple Store.  I needed a new hard drive. When I got it back the next day it was back to square one, none of my data was on it.  But I plugged in my external hard drive and reloaded everything that had previously been on there.  (phew)

I am looking to get some of my pictures off of my computer. I hate to do it, because I am constantly going to them looking for one for a post, or that someone wants a copy of – but I have over 100g of memory being used on my pictures.

It will also be good if I do back my pictures up to an internet site. Then if I am on another computer, I can still access my pictures.

How do you back your computer up? How often do you do it?

Link up to My Linky Party

What is happening in your life this week? But as always you can link up any organizing or cleaning or DIY post to my link party.

You can find the link for my button and also my “Proud to Be Featured Button” on my top “Buttons” Tab.

1) Link to your specific post – not your blog
2) Please Link back to my blog with my button or link (link just above underneath my button)
3) I’d love if you’d follow me on google and/or FB. The google is new and I’m trying to build it
4) Blog post related to Organizing or Cleaning or DIY or decorating
5) No sales pitches or web sites.
6) If I feature you I will use one or more of your pictures with a link back to your blog.
7) Feel free to link up more than 1 post.

Looking for other link parties? I have a whole list of them. Thumbnail via day above and keep scrolling down to find a more extensive text lists by day on my link party list. If you aren’t sure how to link up… see my link party tutorial here. It is simple. If You Are On A Reader and Want to View All the Great Link Up’s Please Click Here.
This link party is open until next Sunday evening

Dresser Drawers

How Organized Are YOUR Dresser Drawers?

Here is my dresser…. before.  A mess isn’t it?  I have two jewelry boxes.  One is my Mom’s, one is mine (I have organized and that will be coming up soon).

The pillow – is the bodice of my wedding dress.  (Yes, I had my wedding dress taken apart. Hmmm.. another blog post opp. isn’t it?)
The candles and flowers are from my wedding.  (Dave and I were married 4 1/2 years ago).
The stuffed bear is from Dave from Valentine’s day. I love stuffed animals. The little elephant I got at the Murphy’s trip in January.
The pillow on the right behind the bear is a needlepoint pillow my grandmother made.
I have a weight and a ruler on there too.. no meaning.. just more clutter.

The actual dresser is from my Aunt from when I was first married (first marriage back in 1983). I’d love a matching new bedroom suite, but I’ve never had the extra money to spend on one. So a remake of these might be coming up at some point in the near future.  I want to redecorate my bedroom soon.

 

 

I have never micro organized my dresser drawers.  I have always sorted my clothes into specific drawers, I fold my shirts and clothes and pair socks, but I have never taken the effort to organize my undies, t-shirts and socks.

Before pictures

I’m going to be brave and show you my messy dresser drawers…. are you ready?  (ugh.. embarrassing!)  See…. for the few of those who think I’m perfectly organized everywhere in my house… you will see… I’m certainly not.

Undies….

T-shirts that I wear under a lot of clothes

Kind of a mess of a drawer. I have my PJ’s, lounging outfit (winter) and a swim suit in here.

Work out clothes. (They haven’t been used in awhile.. ugh)

I decided to give it a go!  I found a couple different drawer organizers.  I bought a couple sets from Ikea. I made the cardinal mistake of not measuring my drawers BEFORE I bought them.  I bought two packages of the Skubb organizers them at $9.99 each.

Once I got home I realized they did not fit in my top three drawers.  The top drawers were too shallow for them.  But I knew I’d be able to use them in some of the other drawers.

I did measure them before I went to Old Time Pottery. I found these drawer organizers there.  These were $3.99 each.

I knew they were going to be shallow enough to work.  You are able to add the dividers in if you want them.

I put all the dividers in.

I then went through and sorted everything in my drawers.

I asked myself these questions:

1) Do I wear it?
2) Do I like it?
3) Does it fit?  (The killer since I’ve gained weight)
4) Are there any holes or can I not wear it because it need repaired?
5) Is it seasonal?

Then I had to decide if I was going to:

1) Keep
2) Donate
3) Store the out of season clothes is it fits, is in good shape & you like it.
3) Pitch

After pictures

Undies drawer now!  I love this. I got rid a bunch of undies that I never wore.  Yes.. I did that too. Pick a pair up and realize they are ones you don’t like. So why didn’t I throw them out right then? I don’t know.  I’d just throw them back in and get another pair.  So, I got rid of all those I didn’t like. 

Bras on the left (my others are being washed) and undies on the right.

Look at my socks drawer. (I never showed a before pic because I forgot to get a before pic)

My T-shirts

My real Tee-shirts.  This is a top drawer and I didn’t have any organizers that fit it.

Second Tee-shirt drawer using the Ikea organizers

Third Tee-shirt drawer

Here are my other drawers – PJ’s

Workout clothes

Hose, slips etc..

I have to tell you, this is the first time I have ever organized my drawers so extensively. I love it!!  To go in and not have to pick through to see what I want!  Awesome.

I also cleared off some of the stuff on top of my dresser.  One of my jewelry boxes is gone (I’ll be posting on that later).  Until I redecorate this room with new colors and refinishes (of this dresser)… it will look like this. But one of these days it will look awesome!

Oh yeah!!  Doin’ the happy dance with my organized drawers.

 

Old Time Pottery Review

Do You Have an Old Time Pottery Store Near You?

Hopefully you do! If you’ve not been there before, then you need to go! You will find a massively big store that has just about anything you could need for your home.

Be sure to give yourself plenty of time! This is not a store that you zip in and back out of quickly. I don’t know if I have ever spent less than an hour in here.  Oh wait… yes I have. I had to run in to get some extra baskets one time and spent only about 15 minutes in it. (But that was an exception)

One thing about Old Time Pottery stores is that merchandise varies in each store.  They buy huge quantities of merchandise (hence the good prices for some high end products) and they get new shipments in each week. This is one of those stores that it really pays to shop frequently! And if you see something you really like, don’t hesitate to buy it, because there will be others who like it as well…. and it might not be there next time you go to the store!

Ok, so you know many stores like that right? But do they also have discounted prices on everything? That is why it is so fun to go to Old Time Pottery.
I have made many trips there recently. I used plastic baskets from there for my pantry, refrigerator and freezer reorganization.  These are the ones I used on my pantry, I got red ones for my ref. and freezer.

I also got some wire organizers that I used under my sink, and pantry and also plastics cupboard.

It isn’t your fancy-smancy store.  It is very basic. Grab your cart and start your adventure.

There is a little bit of everything.  I love all the baskets they have there.

But I have recently been there for items to decorate in my dining room.  (You’ll see those in a later post when I show you my finished dining room….but if you watch the video close you’ll see what I got on the check out counter) Here are a few other fun things you’ll find at Old Time Pottery (that you haven’t already seen in my video)

They also have a contest going on. You can see rules for the VIP Old Time Pottery card contest below (hint…. it can earn you five extra entries into this contest! Double whammy goodness!)

 

 

 

To Enter to Win 1 of four $25 gift card to Old Time Pottery!!!

Tell me: If you have an Old Time Pottery Around You. Which store (or state if you don’t want to be specific)  If you don’t know go to Old Time Pottery and plug in your zip code to find out. (sorry, no online sales – in store only) **Be sure to come back here and leave me your answer in your comment. Your e-mail has to either in your comment or on your profile.

FOR EXTRA CHANCES TO WIN:

**Each of these HAS to have a separate comment to win. The winner is picked using Random.org. It just goes the number of comments….not by what you say.

1) Go to the Old Time Pottery Web site and sign up to be a VIP OTP (Old Time Pottery) shopper. No purchase necessary. You will register and then you can print out a coupon to take to your OTP store to enter. You are entering to win a $50 gift certificate! (They are picking weekly winners) This promotion is good until June 17th. (5 extra entries – add 5 comments)

2) Subscribe to my Organize with Sandy blog This is for 1 chance to win!

3) Follow me on Twitter @OrganizerSandy (Leave me your twitter name) 1 chance

4) Stumble one of my posts for 5 extra chances to win. (tell me which post. Post 5 comment entries)

5) Tweet this out up to 3 times a day. You can use the tweet button at the top to make it easy. ( Pls leave your url link) 1 chance for each tweet.

Please keep in mind I approve my comments. So you won’t see them right away. Never fear!

See lots of way to enter!!

This contest will run until 11:59pm est on Wednesday , May 25, 2011  *THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED*

Any comment that comes in after the above time will be deleted. This is open to US mailing addresses only. Must be 18+ to win.  One person per mailing address only. Winner will be chosen by Random.org

You will have 48 hours to reply to my e-mail if you are picked as the winner, or else I will go on to the next winning number.

I was given a $50 gift card for Old Time Pottery, but this in no way swayed my opinions.  I was talking about going to Old Time Pottery on my past posts, before they contacted me.  The pictures and videos and opinions are my own.

 

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