Clever Tricks for Organizing: Bathrooms

Bathrooms can become really disorganized with all that happens in there. You have shampoos, soaps, toothbrushes, make-up, children's toys, towels, clothes, etc., etc. Here are some helpful tips to help tame the bathroom clutter.

• Limit your shampoos, conditioners, body washes, etc. You can do this by sharing the same product with another family member, or at the very least make sure that each person doesn't have several shampoos, conditioners, etc. It easily happens when you decide you want to try something new, but haven't finished the old.
• This leads to the next point, which is to purge the old. If you've got medicines that have expired, dispose of them. If you have make-up that's a pretty old, get rid of it. If you have toiletries that were given to you as gifts, but you haven't used them, give them away to a charity. If you have several tubes of toothpaste that have just a little left in there, it's probably best to toss them.
• Figure out if you can move things to other places. If you have a cabinet or closet that is half filled with toilet paper and extra toiletries and you can't fit your towels in there, maybe consider another closet or maybe even the laundry room or garage. If your drawers are filled with make-up, consider a vanity in your bedroom. 
• Invest in some storage containers to control what you do keep in the bathroom. Containers can keep like things together, and often provide more storage in the storage areas you have.
• Find a solution for your kids toys. There are tons of fun toy holders for the bathroom. If you're like me and your child's bathroom is also the guest bathroom, it may be wise to find a home out of the way for the toys because I don't know too many people who want to navigate through toys to use the bathroom.
• Try to keep things off the counter. Use the methods above to keep as much as you can off the counter top. The reason is simple, if you always knock stuff over to simply wash your hands, it can be really frustrating. You certainly don't want to start your day by seeing clutter in your bathroom as well. 
• Create habits by always putting back things where they belong. Train the rest of the family to do the same (hard, I know!).

I hope these tips help! If you have any tips, please feel free to share below.

Clever Tricks for Painting

I know I have mostly been doing new uses, but I figured it was time for some clever tricks! Currently, my husband I are painting our house. We bought our house as a foreclosure, and so the walls are just not my kind of colors. They are various shades of orange and yellow, and two rooms are dark blue. Here's some pictures, so you can see.

So here are the tricks:

• Freeze your brushes, rollers, and trays instead of washing them every time!We can only paint when our toddler is asleep. So obviously we usually cannot get both coats on without a pretty good chunk of time in between them. Between coats we freeze the whole tray with brushes and rollers in our chest freezer. You just wrap them up in a plastic bag, and thaw about an hour before you paint again. It works great!
• Use an old margarine or tupperware container, or a milk jug for edging in.Don't pay for one of these things at the store (which cost easily $10), just use something you don't care about. It gives you a small container to hold instead of the big can, and you can toss it when done.
• Use a rubber band to wipe your brush on.Wrap it around the can or container so it sits in the middle of the opening, and use it to wipe your brush! No more drips down the side of the can.
• Write the paint brand, color, etc. on the back of the light switch plate. This way you can't lose the paint information. Sometimes we end up throwing the cans away or losing the paint chip. If you put it on the switch plate, it will always be there for you to get should you need it. It's also out of site and not cluttering any room up.

I've been learning a lot about painting, so do not be surprised if we get more of these in the future! Feel free to share any tips you know as well!

New Uses and Clever Tricks

Bread and Bags

I figured for the very first one I'd stick to something almost everyone has at home, bread ends and plastic grocery bags.

My favorite thing to make with bread ends (and any bread that's getting a little stale) is to make croutons with them, and it is oh so simple.

1. Tear or cut bread into cubes and place on baking sheet.
2. In a small bowl make a mixture of olive oil (I use extra virgin, but it would work with others) and whatever blend of spices you wish. My favorite blend is seasoned salt, garlic powder, and Italian seasoning. The amount you will need depends on how much bread you have.
3. Pour mixture evenly on top of bread crumbs. (I like to toss them around a little with my fingertips just to make sure all the flavor has been spread around)
4. Bake them at 275 for about 15 minutes or until brown and crispy. Taste them to be certain they are crispy through out. 
5. Voila fresh croutons and they are oh so yummy. (And usually healthier than the store brand, especially if you have whole grain bread ends!)

I find that they last a pretty long time if you store them in an air-tight container. You can also stick the croutons into a food processor to make yummy bread crumbs.

Now for the plastic bags. Let's first talk about ways to store them.
I personally use old baby wipe containers. You just shove a bunch in there and then you can just pull one out at a time, and you can store them under the sink, in the laundry room, wherever. If you don't have a baby wipe container, you could alternately use an empty tissue box.
If space is tight  (like in your car) you can use an old paper towel tube and shove a bunch in there. Stick it in your glove box, under your seat, or in a door or seat pocket. Ta-da, now you have bags if you need them in the car.

Now for uses for these wonderful bags. I'm sure everyone has some, so please feel free to comment and share them too!

• Cat box cleaning
• Dog walking waste (can you tell I have pets?)
• In the same token, donate them to a dog park or animal shelter
• Wet/ soiled clothing (diaper blow-outs anyone?)
• Car trash bag
• Small trash can liner
• Packing material for shipping, or wrapping fragile objects.
• Dirty shoes (or clothes) while traveling.
• Lining paint trays
• Lunch Box
• Under the potato (or other fruits and veggies) while peeling
• Around your toiletry bag in your luggage
• Covering up a cast or stitches on an arm or leg
• Shoe protectors when you need to walk someplace muddy (like the garden or when the dog needs to go when it is pouring rain)
• Crumple them up to put in purses or shoes to keep them in shape

Phew. That's a lot already. I guess I should make sure everyone knows this, but if the bag was used to carry meat in or was really wet on the inside you should just throw them away. These bags can harbor germs, disease, and mold if stored. If you find yourself with a plethora of bags, don't just throw them away many stores now have recycling for plastic bags (for example, Publix), so take them with you and just drop them off on the way in. Or you can go to this website to see where you can recycle them.