Make It Blog

Here she is! My car all organized with the goods from yesterday’s organization inspiration post. Not too shabby, huh?

Here are are few more angles:

Do you see the black storage boxes there? I love how they look like they fit in with the car. The box on the left holds my emergency car kit from my dad, my dashboard wipes, a rope, first aid kit and water. The box on the right holds all the stuff from my weekend gig. I had plastic storage boxes with lids for awhile (boy, those were a pain!) and I never liked how it always looked like I was moving.

And what do you think about the mesh bags in the pockets behind my seats? I like how much better that looks than a bunch of doggy bags, dog toys and supplies stuffed in there.

In that top picture you can see the project case under my seat that I keep to entertain my neices and nephew if we ever go to a restaurant or something. I keep it simple with some blank pieces of paper, a coloring book, crayons, markers, a list of games you can play in a car or restaurant, and a few sheets of paper with a bunch of dots on it to play that game where you make lines and boxes and write your initial in them. Works out great.

So, there you have it. Hopefully one day I’ll make a little more colorful (like the organization inspiration post), but in the meantime I’ll just have to settle for having a super-organized car.

One of my favorite things to do it organize every inch of my life – I just love it. Sometimes, after I organize something, I’ll just look at it. Like, for a long time.

I’ve decided to share some of my handier tips in a new segment here called Organization Inspiration. So, in this premiere edition of Organization Inspiration, I hope to show you some fun ways to tackle organizing your car.

1. It’s always good to have an umbrella in your car. My “car umbrella” ends up rotating quite a bit because I loan it out a lot.

2. I keep this project case filled with coloring books, crayons and markers under a seat for those times when I might take my neices and nephew to a restaurant.

3.  A cute notebook is always a good thing to have in the car.

4. Little zipper cases are great for cars. Whenever my make-up has about a 1/4 left (foundation, mascara, blush, eye shadow), I usually retire it to my car or office drawer (that way, I never need to resort to using anything but the “best stuff”).

5.  My favorite part of my organized car: these black storage boxes from the Container Store. There are a few reasons why I like these storage boxes, and I’m going to bullet them for you – these boxes:

• are so easy to get stuff in and out of
• hold a lot of stuff
• don’t look like they belong on your garage (ie, they’re not plastic storage boxes)
• are only $20 a piece!

6. Whenever I try to save a few bucks, I take my car through the drive-thru car washes instead of a hand wash. While I’m sitting in my car letting the automatic scrubbers do their thing (probably while I blast Bon Jovi), I use these wipes on my dash and console to make my car *look* like I went through a hand wash.

7.   My very best girlfriend, Laura, got me the most thoughtful birthday present a few years ago. It was a little case filled with stuff that I might need in a girl emergency (think nail files and hair ties – and stay tuned later this week for more information). That little case has saved my butt on a number of occasions, and it will always have a place in my car.

8. This fancy case might be a nicer container for my (real) emergency kit (the one my dad gave me - which has also save my butt on a number of occasions).

9. I like keeping collections in these mesh bags in the pockets behind my seats. I prefer the mesh bags because it looks nicer to keep everything in there, and I can grab everything easily if I need two. Specifically, I keep doggie bags, a portable water bowl and a frisbee in one mesh bag, and my sunblock, flipflops, and (ahem) tanning lotion in another mesh bag).  

 So, there you have it. I hope you were inspirated by some of my organization solutions. Check in later this week to see all these goodies in action!

Also, I’ll have the full breakdown of item #7 in a post later this week too!

I’ve been sitting on this before-and-after for a long time because there was a give-away tie-in I wanted to do, but I never had a give-away item… until today!

Sadly, the give-away didn’t come by way of a super cool sponsor contacting me like A Cup of Jo or Young House Love… but it’s exciting nonetheless! I received a $50 gift card to Target from work, and decided to share it with one lucky reader… but first, my organized laundry closet (and there is a tie-in to the give-away so pay attention)!

The before picture was from before I even bought my condo. There was one (very large) shelf over the washer and dryer that was so cumbersome. After I got the stackable washer/dryer, my laundry closet looked like this:

(more…)

There are so many tasks that you can’t ever schedule – you just have to do them when you have the time, motivation and materials. I find I’m more likely to do the annoying tasks when I don’t make a big deal out of them - I just fit them in. Most of the time, I fit them in while I’m waiting for something else.

For example, I’ve always cleaned out my wallet and purse while I wait at the coffee shop for my latte. Since I don’t go to the coffee shop very often (I usually make lattes at home), it works out really well. And I have everything I need (my purse, my wallet, and a trash can) and the time and motivation to do it. It is a perfect task that I just fit into my daily (or weekly) life.

Some other “while you’re waiting” tasks include: (more…)

This ClosetMaid 8-cube Laminate Organizer has worked out really well in the top space in the closet. I turned it on its side and it fits just about perfectly (there is only about 2 inches above it)! Chris uses it to store his snowboard jackets, thermals, and miscellaneous equipment. One of the cubbies has my scarves and mittens and our extra sheets are in another one. It makes really good use of the space above in the closet.

I bought mine at Target about a year ago. I think they still have them in-store, but I can’t find it online.

Before Chris and I moved in together, I had a cute little Caboodle that I toted around with my overnight bag on my (almost nightly) sleepovers at Chris’ place. It was perfectly organized with all my make-up, brushes, facial cleansers, toothbrush… I never had to worry about forgetting anything because everything just stayed in my Kaboodle and I never had to look for anything because everything had its place.

Now that we live together, I have a grown-up version of perfectly compartmentalized cosmetics:

I got the Expand-a-Drawer® Cutlery Tray from The Container Store and it works perfectly because it:

• expands to fill the entire drawer
• has trays that are deep enough that my lipsticks don’t spill into my eye make-up
• has lots of compartments, but they’re large enough to fit brushes and tools too
• fits all my make-up and even leaves room for Chris’ stuff (boys don’t need much, do they??)

I recently lined the sections with pretty paper because they had gotten a little dingy with spillage – I love it even more now!