Busy, Busy

This week has been CRAZY busy. We've had stuff going on every single night, including tonight. And Easter weekend is coming up and it's going to be even busier.

So, super sorry, but not much to post on this week. I've been working on 2 non-home-related projects during the few minutes of spare time this week...

1. Puppy Training - Rose is getting bigger and has more energy then she knows what to do with. She's learning fast, but we're still working on the potty training!


2. Picture Sorting/Scanning/Filing - Yes, I've taken on the ginormous task of scanning my pre-digital-times childhood photos onto our laptop and then sorting them into files by date. This is going to take FOREVER! And I have loads of pics to get from parents in a couple weeks.

So, here is the state of our dining room currently with my pictures in piles and a scanning station set up on a folding table...


Wish me luck over the next few days/weeks/months (however long this takes)!

I'll be back next week with something on the home front. I promise!

Medicine Cabinets are NOT for Medicine

Say what?

I was reading one of my favorite blogs - iHeart Organizing - when I saw a guest post written by a pharmacist, Mellissa C., concerning the use of medicine cabinets in bathrooms (primarily bathrooms with showers/tubs). I found some of the information very interesting and helpful.

I recognize that some of you may already know this information, but I thought I'd post it for those of you may not know. You can never be too careful when it comes to safety, especially when children are involved!

I broke the information provided in the article into a little Q&A for ya.

Q: Why shouldn't medicine cabinets be used to store medicine?
Unfortunately medicine cabinets are not meant to store medicine!!! I know, they are sized just right for those prescription bottles, so why wouldn’t you keep all of your medication together all nice and neat in your cabinet that is designed to hold medicine? Because drugs need to be stored in an area where there is low humidity and stable temperature {room temp, never above 77 F} and I don’t know about you, but when I get out of the shower my mirror is foggy. I wouldn’t even trust the fan in the bathroom. Drugs will degrade over time and this is going to make them less effective, but storing them properly is key to getting them to keep their effectiveness until the expiration date on the bottle. Storing them in the bathroom is like putting them through an accelerated degradation process and who wants to take a Tylenol that is only half effective?

Q: If I'm not supposed to store medicine in my medicine cabinet, then where should I store it?
I recommend either your bedroom or your kitchen (but not in cabinets around the stove or the refrigerator because of the heat generated by these appliances). If you have young children I would store them in your kitchen if your bedroom does not have an area where you can be certain your kids can’t get to them. I keep mine in a plastic bin in our pantry, but I also keep a small bin in my closet because we have our bedrooms on a different floor. In my bedroom I keep Tylenol for both adults and kids and some antacids, who wants to run downstairs at 2 am when your little one has a fever? One thing to be aware of, its not just what you get in pill form that is in this category; anything with a panel on the side of it that says Drug Facts and Information and lists an active ingredient as a drug substance needs to be stored properly. Things like Neosporin, Clearasil, Retin-A, etc. have an active ingredient that needs to protected from moisture, light, and temperature fluctuations, however I draw the line at toothpaste because I think that would result in a decrease in the amount people brush their teeth, but toothpaste is a drug.

Q: How often should I clean out my medicine cabinet?
Every 6 months you should look at the labels on your drugs and get rid of everything that is expired. A green way to dispose of your medication to keep it out of our water supply is too get a Ziploc bag and fill it with either kitty litter or your old coffee grounds. Take your pills out of their original container and mix them in with the kitty litter/coffee grounds and seal the bag, then throw away. {If you use kitty litter moisten it with water}. This will deter someone who goes through your garbage from stealing your old meds. Never throw them away in the original bottle. Also while you are cleaning out the expired stuff, toss any leftover antibiotics you have whether they are expired or not! Next time you don’t finish your course of antibiotics throw them away, don’t hang on to them. It is never a good idea to take a couple of pills of an old antibiotic because you aren’t feeling well. This is one of the ways we have gotten antibiotic resistance, which is a big problem and will continue to be one if we don’t take it seriously. Moms, make sure you are tossing what is leftover of the medications that your pharmacist adds water to. Those types of medications are typically only good for 10-21 days and after that they start to go bad. NEVER save your child’s liquid amoxicillin and give it to them 6 months later.

Q: What medicine do you recommend having on hand?
The most important things to have are ibuprofen, acetaminophen {both of these in adult and child form}, thermometer, band aids, first aid ointment {I like triple antibiotic ointment i.e. Neosporin}, oral rehydrating solution, Allegra or Zyrtec, liquid Benadryl, and an antacid. I keep Allegra and Benadryl, even though they are both antihistamines because Allegra is what I would use for seasonal allergies, but if someone where having an allergic reaction I would give them liquid Benadryl {liquid works faster}. These supplies will get you through most at home scenarios. And save yourself some money, buy the store brands. I always buy generic drugs and then I have extra money so I don’t have to buy generic purses and shoes. Generics really do work as well as the brand name.

So, what do you think? Anything new you didn't know before? Personally, I found that information very beneficial.

The article also offered some examples of ways to store medication, including the following:

TIN BOXES


UTENSIL CADDY


MINI VASE/CUP


FIRST AID KIT, PLASTIC STORAGE CONTAINERS or BOXES



And I now need to go clean out my medicine cabinet! Do you need to do the same?

Note: To see the full article - You Asked: Dedication to Medication - Click HERE!

OR

Check out the homepage of the website by clicking the button below!

Master Closet Makeover: Part 2

As a conclusion to yesterday's post, I wanted to give you some final shots of our master bedroom closet now that I got most items put in place and some final pictures taken.

P.S. I apologize for some poor picture/color quality - that's what happens when you work in the dark of night on projects and have incandescent light as your only light source. BUT I was able to sneak in a few pics this morning with the 6AM sunlight.

Oh, and bear with me - I took like a thousand photos. :)

Anyway, on to the RESULTS!

1. Hooks on the right wall: If you remember from yesterday, I said I had bought 10 large hooks to hang, but once I laid out my final design, I found out I actually needed 11 hooks - oops (!). Thankfully Joey picked me up 1 more $0.98 hook to finish the deal. Joey evenly spaced 6 hooks on top, and then put the 5 bottom hooks in between the spaces of the top hooks. The screws drilled right into the wall (no wall anchors used as I was not hanging anything heavy from them).



And then I hung my scarves and purses down on the bottom hooks. Joey's baseball caps went on the top hooks (with a little room to spare). Joey tells me "I need more Cubs hats" - to which I rolled my eyes and said "oh, please!"

I have to admit this was my favorite part. And it was so easy. Removing the bookcases made the area much more spacious. Nothing like a good before and after (and notice the outlet is now screwed into the wall with an outlet cover)...



2. Hooks to the left of the door: Here is where I had Joey place the 3 smaller hooks I purchased along with a little necklace holder I had purchased a while back from Ikea (gotta use what you have). I hung Joey's belts from the lower hooks.



3. That little built-in desk: I admit I am still at a bit of a loss as to what to do here. For now, I used it to store some random stuff, but I think long term I want to find better use for it, including give it a good makeover using paint. Until then, it holds a basket with some of my girly DVDs, my current reading material, Bible, journals, 2 bins that hold our socks, and some left over items underneath...


...I would actually like to place a little leather ottoman in front of the desk. I could use it to sit down to put my socks on and it would cover up the disaster behind it. Something like this from Target...

4. Dresser + Accessories (Rug, Mirror, Light Fixture, Bamboo Roman Shades): The dresser is actually an old one that Joey has had forever. We're using it because it's free, it actually blends in with the room, and all the drawers open and close!

And I love all these little accessories I bought...

The rug keeps my feet from being cold. The mirror allows me to put on my earrings without stabbing myself, and the shade provides great privacy as well as keeping cold/heat out (these old windows are kinda drafty).



I set some of my accessories on top of the dresser, including lotion, perfume, and jewelry boxes. And the bird jewelry dish is from Pottery Barn (where else?!). I got it for Christmas and can finally put it to use.


Here's a daylight pic I snuck in this morning. So, bright and sunshine-y.


Sorry, I didn't get a close up of the light fixture. But you can kind of see it in this Before and After picture...



Standing out in the bedroom looking into the closet is marvelous. Apart from my kitchen, having an organized bedroom/closet is on top of my priority list. Gotta have peace all around me when resting in bed!



So, what do you think? Big improvement for $48? I love it! Even Joey said he likes it. And it takes a lot to get a guy excited about a closet. ;)



Now I just need to decide what else to do about that little desk... hmmm...

Master Closet Makeover: Part 1

Last Tuesday, I made mention of the fact that one of the closets in our bedroom needed some major help in the organization department, and I was planning to make that a priority this weekend. Well, thankfully, I had a couple hours on Saturday and Sunday to focus on the cleaning out process as well as shopping for a few needed items, and I got about about 3/4 of the way done with this closet makeover. Lord willing, I should be able to finish it off tonight. Hooray.

So, I wanted to give you a little progress update before I can show you the more finished results tomorrow.

As a reminder, here's kind of what the closet looked like beforehand... we had an old, old, old dresser (in which the drawers hardly opened) and 2 bookcases in the closet along with a built-in desk. And all junk that was stacked everywhere was covered in a layer of dust.



I started the cleaning out process by moving everything out of the closet and into the bedroom. This allowed me to dust off everything as I went and see everything we had in order to begin the sorting process. So, the bedroom looked kind of messy at that point...


I decided the 2 bookcases along with our stacks of games and old videos would be shuffled downstairs to the 3rd bedroom (soon-to-be-home office). We also moved the old dresser down to the basement to be used for something else eventually.


Once I had gotten everything out, I vacuumed the room and cleaned the window and baseboards...


... and cleaned out the little built-in desk.


Then I took note of items that needed attention... like this outlet that had been switched out when we moved in, but was never screwed into the wall and covered up.


And this horribly old light fixture that had seen better days. It did have a plastic light cover on it when we first moved in, but it was so awful looking that I took it off right away when we began painting.


I spent a few hours sorting through the stacks of items that were all over the bedroom. Throwing away socks with holes in them and other items we just didn't need and were in too poor condition to donate anywhere. I filled 2 garbage bags.

Lastly, I decided how I wanted the closet laid out in terms of what would go where - and then made a mental list of a few things I needed to purchase for the room:

• Mirror
• Light Fixture
• Window Covering
• Small rug
• Hooks for the walls

...and that closed out Saturday afternoon.

On Sunday afternoon, I ran some errands and picked out a few of the items listed above. Knowing this was "just a closet" (as a reminded myself over and over), I wanted to spend as little money as possible on the items I needed.

So, I prayed really hard that I would find what I needed as cheaply as possible - and that I would have self-control to put the nice (but more expensive) items back on the shelves and stick to a tight budget.

And thankfully, the Lord answered my prayer, and I was able to find everything I needed at a cheap price and much of it was on sale/clearance. I did a happy dance when I got home. Joey thought I'd lost my marbles.

I shopped at both Lowe's and Menard's and found a few things at each place. Here is a breakdown of the items purchased...

1. Lowe's Style Selections 27"W x 72"L Roman Shade
One of the first items I wanted to purchase for the closet was some type of window covering. We needed a little privacy in there, if you know what I mean. Lowe's has a good selection of window coverings including bamboo blinds and fabric/bamboo roman shades, both of which I like. So, I thought I'd start here. Most of the windows in our old house are odd sized widths, making it difficult to find coverings that fit today's standard sizes. Thankfully, the windows in the closets are a standard 27 inches wide. I walked down the aisle looking at the 27-inch-options and saw the words "Clearance" next to one of their PRIVACY matchstick roman shades! And the color was in Cocoa Brown. It was perfect.

The only picture I could find online has the wrong width, but you get the idea...

Original Price: $27.96
Clearance Price: $13.98! SOLD!

2. Lowe's Chenille Rib Rug
With the roman shade in my cart, I made my way to the area rug section of Lowe's. We have hardwood floors in the whole house, including the closets. So, I wanted to have a little rug for warmth and comfort under our feet. Nothing fancy, but I did want it to have a little color. Lowe's actually has a fairly large selection of rugs, but I found most to be too expensive. Just as I was ready to give up, I passed this little guy sitting on the bottom shelf and the tag was marked CLEARANCE! I'm not sure what the original price was, but I got for $13.48. The size was 27 inches by 45 inches. I had measured the floor in advance and was thinking a 3 foot by 5 foot would be nice. This was close enough.

Here's a little snapshot to give you an idea of color. It has the exact same brown as the roman shade I purchased above PLUS it has greens and blues - the accent colors I'm using in the bedroom. Perfect!

I didn't even think to check what the original price was, but I found some comparable rugs (same size and look) on Lowe's website and the cost was $88. Crazy!

I also looked at hooks, mirrors, and light fixtures at Lowe's, but found all to be way above my price limits. So, I drove a block to Menard's to get the 3 remaining items...

3. Menard's Hooks
I Love shopping for hardware - hooks, knobs, handles - and it was hard for me to say NO to some of the super pretty items. For example, I could have bought some fancy hooks like this...


... and I would have LOVED them. BUT I would have paid upwards of $10 per hook (and I wanted 10+ hooks)! So, I put the fancy hooks back on the shelf and stuck to the simplest little hooks I could find.

I bought 10 large hooks and 3 small hooks looking like this...



... and they cost me only $0.98 each. That's right - 98 CENTS! So, 13 hooks added up to about 13 dollars. Much better than $10 per hook. All piled on the bed, they looked like this...


4. Menard's Light Fixture
I enjoy shopping for light fixtures almost as much as hardware, and again there were so many pretty options to choose from, but I had to remind myself "this is only a closet" and I ended up purchasing a little flushmount fixture that has a brushed nickled finish like the hooks. Cost was $14.99...


5. Menard's Mirror
I walked down the mirror aisle seeing all kinds of pretty framed mirrors that cost between $20-$120. I didn't even want to spend $20 on the mirror. I walked a little further down the aisle to find non-framed mirrors...all on sale at $15% off! I could not find a picture of the mirror on Menard's website, so you'll have to wait until tomorrow to see the picture of it, but it is a simple beveled edge rectangle mirror. Sale price was $11.45.

That concludes the shopping portion of things. Total came to $66.64 + Tax. But I had $20 spending money from a previous gift. So, out of pocket was actually about $47!

Now you can understand why I did a happy dance!!!

Joey was able to hang the window shade, mirror, light fixture, and hooks for me right before we went to bed. So, tonight, I should be able to get everything in it's place and hopefully have some finished pictures for you tomorrow!

Happy Organizing!

Organization Eye Candy

It was a C-R-A-Z-Y weekend in the Yonke villa! Just for the record, I'm a Packers fan and Joey's a Bears fan. We all know how that went down this weekend! I'm a happy camper.




Moving right along...

Need some motivation getting organized this January? Check out this fabulous Organization Challenge by The CSI Project!

The challenge was for readers (anyone) to post pictures showing the tips, tricks, cool products, etc. to keep their households organized. Then a winner was selected and given a prize. As I was scrolling through some of the entries, I found myself drooling over some of the before and after pictures people were posting.

Here is just a sample of the Before & After shots out of the 127 (!) entries...


Our Fifth House: The Master Closet





GoogieMomma: Hallway Hotness





House of Smiths: Kitchen Pantry Makeover





Beneath My Heart: Craft Closet Makeover





Keep Home Simple: New and Improved Hallway Closet





Until Tomorrow, Val: Mission Organization - Linen Closet





The Decor Chick: The Great Pantry Makeover





The Stucco Bungalow: A Family Workspace





And the winner (*Spoiler Alert*)...



Love of Family & Home: Closet Turned Home Office





So much creativity! I love it! And there were far more details about all these organization projects on the individual websites.

Stenciling has become the new hot trend - as seen in several of these photos - especially as an added detail in tight spaces like closets, open shelving, laundry rooms, and accent walls.

The CSI Project is having a Valentine’s Day Challenge this week. I might have to enter one of these challenges someday...