Organizers LOVE this Store

I made a trip to The Container Store today to take advantage of the discount that Oprah and Peter Walsh are offering. I needed to get recycle bins, and wanted to see what other goodies I could find. I did find a magnetic paper towel holder and some cool little baskets with handles.
Loved the discount.


I just love this store. I am like a kid in a candy store (Oh..I love candy stores too!!)
It would be fun to go in there with a big gift certificate wouldn't it?







Going into this store is always a good time for me!
Don't always consider they have the highest prices, they don't. I purchased roller blade hangers for the garage a couple of years ago and shopped at 3 different stores first before finally buying them here, because TCS had the best prices.
Many times you can find things to use around the house to do what you need, but when you can't be sure to check them out first as they have great selection. Find what will work for you, then shop around to see if this is a good deal or not. (At least that is what I do)

Scrapbook rooms - Great Book!

This book "The Organized & Inspired Scrapbooker" by Wendy Smedley and Aby Garvey is wonderful if you are a scrapbooker and have any desire to organize any kind of scrapbooking space. Here is the catcher...it is sold out and Aby doesn't know if they are going to republish the book!! So...my advice if you have any interest is to look for it. I honestly don't know if the scrapbooking stores picked it up or not or if it went into stores (I am thinking that Achievers did carry it)but there may be some copies left somewhere on the shelves. The other place is resale book stores, e-bay etc. And we can hope it will get republished.
Aby's site is Simplify 101 - and Wendy's blog is The Possibilities are Endless... . You guys these are great resources for scrapbooking and organizing your scrapbooking materials. You need to visit them. They are the pros!!
One of my readers commented (thank you Ali) that I can also label my colored buckets to see what is easily inside. You rock Ali.... here is an example. I more than likely had the idea in my head from this book to even use the buckets. I wasn't consciously thinking of it at the time, but it sure makes sense since I had studied this book.




The cover is Aby's scrapbooking room and office (I think) and this is Wendy's room.

Bathroom storage solution

Do you ever wonder what to do with all the little things that us woman need monthly next to the toilet? Well...this is a wonderful solution!!
I have been using this for several years. I have seen it advertised for between washers and dryers (which is also a great idea!), but this is how I have used it. It fits into a pretty slim space.
I use the top for all my "girly" things..and the bottom storage drawer I turned into a trash can. I use a plastic bag to line it...so simple!! Everything I need is right where I need it when I need it.
If you have to share a bathroom with the rest of family or it is the main one in the house that guest would use...you can use contact paper inside the clear lid and keeping the lid closed would hide what is in there.
If you don't need the bottom for a trash can, then you can use that for your supplies and the top could be for extra rolls of toilet paper or even magazines. There can be many uses!

Ok..I had several people ask me where to get this. I had to eat my shoe as I realized I couldn't find it anywhere! (If anyone knows where the one above is, please pass on the information. I bought mine several years back and really had no idea that they weren't around anymore. I had one of my fellow NAPO (National Association of Professional Organizers) member give me the link to this one at the Container Store. The cost is $69.00 (which is much more than I would have ever paid for it.) I will keep looking though and if I find something else, I will post it.
Thank you readers for letting me know my errors.
I have had another NAPO member tell me that she has seen them at Home Depot and Lowe's in the appliance section. She didn't find them on the web site though. So if you are interested, that would be another place to try. I know I will.

Solutions in the Kids Bathroom

When Dave and I were married two years ago his family moved into the home I was living in. It's not a real big home for 7 people, but we manage fine. But being able to figure things out like towel racks in a bathroom has been interesting.
Having 5 children and only 1 towel rack was not going to work unless I wanted to have them grab a clean towel everyday. No thank you to that much laundry. So this was my solution. I decided peg board would do the trick, but didn't want ugly brown stuff on my bathroom wall making it look like a garage. I found this online after much searching. It has worked out great. The kids have 2 hooks each that they can put their towels and robes on. They each have their own bins that their toothbrushes can go in. Then there is one larger bin that the brushes and combs can go in. I put their names with letter stickers on the front of their little bins too.
Sometimes you just have to think outside the box.