Organizer made from Formula Cans

Yup, I have finally used up all those formula cans! Remember this post on making a centerpiece from a formula can? Well, a friend of mine remembered it too and when she saw a picture of an organizer made from these very same "leftovers" on Pinterest, she was kind enough to send it my way. I finally found a project that would let me use up a bunch at once! This is great because we are done with formula in our house so I can check that off my list of useless clutter future projects in the making.

Now at the same time as one friend was showing me this fun idea, another friend was in need of organizing her school room at home (she has 5 kids and home schools...talk about an excuse to be slightly unorganized!). She instantly came to mind when I began to think about bringing this project to life.

Here is the basic idea:

I wiped down my cans first. If you are using something that is actually metal you can wash it but these formula cans are cardboard so I just wiped them out.

I peeled the labels next. This step is probably unnecessary so take it or leave it:)

You'll see I had 5 formula cans and one Nesquik which was a little taller. You really can use any size!

Next I Mod Podged the paper onto the cans. On 3 of them I used wrapping paper and the other 3 I used construction paper. The wrapping paper is much more likely to crinkle or tear so I recommend sticking with sturdier papers.

All wrapped

I then used hot glue to attach all of the cans in a pyramid shape with the tallest can in the center of the bottom row.

Look at all that storage space! Perfect for school supplies, craft supplies, or any other thing you can think up:)

 Now the version I made is pretty plain. I just used paper to cover the cans but there are endless decorating possibilities. I figure since my friend is artistic in all kinds of ways that I am not, she can jazz it up to her liking when it is finally in her possession. I also stuck with a basic pyramid design but there are all different ways to do this. I have even thought about adding smaller cans (think soup cans maybe) to attach in an upright manner so that you could hold things that way as well. Or painting paper towel rolls to match and gluing those on the outside for open ended storage options.The possibilities are pretty limitless so I hope you take this idea and run with it. And of course, come back and share if you do!

Getting ready for Christmas

 Besides shopping, decorating, baking, crafting and creating memories there is another aspect of Christmas that has become a tradition in our house. That is the great toy clean-out that takes place in the weeks leading up to Christmas. Actually, this has become a ritual that takes place before all gift giving holidays in our house (see this post around birthday time). We are blessed with lots of family which means several very spoiled little boys and more toys than they know what to do with. So before we take in more stuff we make an effort to go through the old. This process involves throwing out the broken toys, donating the ones that are no longer being used, and reorganizing the toys we are keeping.

While it is tempting to tackle this by ourselves to get the job done quicker and more efficiently, this is something we try to involve the boys in. First of all, their stuff = their responsibility. We certainly did not pretend to be tornadoes and hurl toys throughout every crevice of the house. It is our hope that in helping pick up the messes they make they will one day think about that before making said mess. Secondly, we like to use it as a teachable moment. If we were to just go through their stuff and pick and choose what to get rid of with out talking to them one of two things would happen...they either wouldn't notice or they would be very upset. Not to say there aren't still some grumbling moments when we involve them, but they do understand the purpose. We try to teach them that not everyone is as fortunate as us and so part of being blessed with lots of nice stuff is passing that blessing onto others who don't have as much as we do. When we come across an unused toy we remind them that it no longer gets played with and that some other little boy or girl might find a lot of joy in that toy. We then have them place it in the donation box. This way it isn't being done to them, it is something they are doing.

We tackled this project during the week and I have now moved onto their dressers. This is more of a me job and something that I am hoping will help me stay on top of laundry better. It is such a deterrent to put laundry away when their drawers are already overflowing. So I am starting at the bottom by packing up Isaiah's 0-6 month clothes then working through Jordan's too small stuff and finally Nathan's. The beauty of 3 boys is that they can just move right from one dresser to the next until I hit small fry and then they get packed away. One of my favorite things about getting their rooms organized is that it motivates me to do other areas of the house. It will make this holiday season that much less stressful when we aren't working around clutter and trying to find a spot for our new stuff.

What are some of the organizational ways that you get ready for Christmas? 

Put away, throw away, give away

I have been blogging lately about trying to get organized in my life. While I have backslid a little in some of the daily cleaning habits I had developed, I am overall still on track. I feel like the definite success has been in looking at our life as a whole and deciding where overhauls need to happen. About two weeks ago my husband mentioned wanting to make our time more intentional. This turned into one of those all night discussions where we made big plans and went to sleep feeling totally satisfied with all we had agreed upon. The big points revolve around us making the most of our family time. We have been setting a not so good example for our children of indulging our whims and putting off the "have to or should do" stuff. We decided that a work before play mandate needed to be set for our household. The best way that we thought of to make our time more intentional was to sit down once a week and map out the following week. We plan a few projects, some for the grown-ups and some for the whole family to do together. Family work projects are always followed by something fun (park, board game, etc) to motivate us to get it done. We also plan one night for us to spend time together, not that we don't spend most every night together, but again this being intentional time spent together. Along with all of this we are trying to curb our bad habit of blowing off previously thought up dinner plans to eat out. I meal plan and always have a weeks worth of meals in the house but we tend to indulge our lazy/gluttonous side by eating out and wasting food we already have and money we don't have. So we are trying to make new habits there. Oh yes, and our daily twice daily Starbucks runs had to go as well so we are once again doing the at home coffee thing. When your 3 year old can recite daddy's Iced Venti Quad Skinny Caramel Latte, you know you make coffee runs too often!

Our family work project today was to tackle Nathan and Jordan's room which looked like Hurricane Katrina had her way with it. And for all you could tell by looking at it, it had been a good 5 years since I tidied up in there because it was truly a mess. We had told the boys the game plan for the day and at lunch we explained how the clean up was going to go. We were going to be putting stuff where it belonged, throwing away the broken toys and giving the stuff they don't play with anymore to Goodwill. That of course elicited the "you are giving our stuff away??!!" response which led to a teachable moment (elementary ed major here....LOVES the teachable moment:). We took this time to talk to them about how fortunate we are and that other families aren't as lucky as us to have so much stuff. We explained to them how we are to live like Jesus and that He gave everything he had to others and that we needed to be willing to do the same. They were okay with that for the most part and the discussion continued on in a fairly productive manner. When it came time to actually put the first item in the give away box we asked Jordan to hug his Tickle Me Elmo and put him in the box so that another kid could have the chance to love him. He was such a big boy about it! Nathan followed in suit with the next item and before we knew it the room was tidy, the garbage bag was overflowing and we had some gently loved toys to pass on to the Goodwill. After that we were able to enjoy a few hours at a park on the river and it felt good knowing we had earned it. It felt even better knowing that we had passed on some valuable life lessons to our kids in the process.

Continued Progress

I have been writing lately about trying to get organized (here and here) and thought I would give a progress report on how I am doing. My daily routine has continued to shape up starting with me getting myself completely ready. As I am finishing getting ready I put back all of my things and wipe down the bathroom, including the toilet. Yes, everyday. This has made a huge difference because it is constantly clean and only takes two minutes of my time to upkeep. It feels so good to take this little step that stops me from having to do the deep clean after it has been neglected for days weeks.  I then get all of the children dressed, start a load of laundry, feed them breakfast and wash the breakfast dishes. The rest of the day consists of me working on whatever zone we are in (last week was the kitchen, I did things like clear the counters and wipe them down) and hitting some of the "hot spots." I do dishes after every meal so that they don't pile up and I make sure the sink is shining every night before bed. I still have work to do, like incorporating more daily small cleaning to keep up on things and tackling some of the bigger problem areas like the boys' bedrooms but I can confidently say that I am making huge strides and have no doubt I will be able to keep this up. It has done wonders for my state of mind and has made me not only feel better about my home but about myself as a homemaker. My husband has noticed as well and has been kind enough to constantly praise me on my new found organization. That alone makes me want to keep it up!




 

It's a start!

For those of you who read my last post I was confessing my overall state of disorganization. I have to say in the few short days since I wrote that I have already been making some changes and it feels great!! Starting with the house first since the visible clutter seems to effect my mental state in other areas, I took the advice of a fellow blogger and checked out www.flylady.net and am glad I did. Right now I am working through the baby steps of developing a good housecleaning routine. Since I started I have woke up to a shiny and empty sink every morning. I had to laugh when I first read how she thought waking up to a shiny sink was like a hug for yourself but the enthusiasm I have felt over having a clean sink is pretty ridiculous so I have given into the fact that although it may be cheesy, she is totally right. I have also woken up each morning and started the day by getting ready head to toe. This has been good for me as being a stay at home mom for 4 years now has helped me fall into a routine of sweats and no make-up on days Jeremy works.  It has made a big impact on my motivation when I start my day by getting myself ready. It is also helping me reach my goal of having my house company ready at all times. This means that not only does my house need to be presentable, but so do I.  Like I said before, these are all baby steps but it feels good to be moving in the right direction. 




 

Needing to reorganize

 Have you ever gotten to the point where you feel like every area of your life is cluttered and chaotic? I am feeling that right now. Our house is a mess. Not disgusting filthy type mess but just majorly disorganized and inefficient. I think this is spilling over into other things as well. We have been pretty frivolous with our spending lately and I am feeling completely out of control with my weight and eating habits. There I said it...I am an overall mess!! Now I know some of you kind people are going to point out that I just had a baby or that I have 3 kids 3 and under to take care of. While these things are true, they are not the cause of this mess. It is just something that has been building up. I let one area slide and then the next and before I knew it I was feeling buried. But that is about to change. Sometimes it takes me awhile to kick my own butt into gear. Sometimes I have to feel totally dissatisfied with myself to make a change. I hate that I am like that, that I let things go so long, but that is who I am. Something to work on as I continue to try to improve myself.

It felt good to just unload all of this. I will be blogging about specific changes soon but needed to get this off my chest for the moment. Anyone with suggestions on how they keep their chaos in order would be much appreciated. I love hearing how other people get it done, there is a lot to be learned that way.