One Less Panic Attack

"Oh, no!  Guests are arriving any minute & 

my bathroom looks like. . . THIS?!?"

What do you do in this situation?

a.)  panic!
b.)  run all over the house trying to find your cleaning supplies
c.) stay in the bathroom for a few extra minutes & quickly tidy up

If you answered A or B, let's talk.

One fantastic benefit of organization is having things where you need them and when you need them--- no more running around!  If you're running around trying to find and grab cleaning supplies, you're adding to the sense of panic, loosing time, and giving yourself grey hairs.

Let's start by finding the cleaning products you need most in the bathroom and then find a discrete, child safe place for them to be stored.

I recommend:

• Toilet bowl cleaner & a brush
• Sanitizing wipes (think Lysol or Clorox)  - These are great for lots of surfaces, including small floors.
• Surface cleanser & a non-scratch sponge  (I love the blue Scotch-Brite ones) 

Notice that the list is really small.  You could easily add things like Tilex or another mildew remover, glass cleaner and paper towels, floor cleaner, etc.  But, what you really need are the basics.

Store just what you need for a quick sprucing up and feel free to bring the big guns in if you have space.

Next time you'll be prepared when your friend drops by unexpectedly and she'll be impressed that you Have it All Together.

Small Bookcase- Before & After

Today's Before & After is a classic case of

 "I'm too busy to deal with this.  I'll deal with it later."  

Have you ever said that?  Well, if you have, here's some inspiration!

This small, 3 shelf bookcase was given to me and I thankfully accepted it as a home for my school books, papers, notebooks, and other office stuff that badly needed a home off of the floor.

Before:

Yes, this is my bookcase.  Yes, it looks awful.  Yes, I'm embarrassed.  Thanks for being embarrassed for me :) 

I decided to put the larger items on the bottom shelf to weight it down and keep the shelves from bowing under the enormous pressure from all the educational knowledge.  (haha!)

Once I raised up the shelf to fit in the over-sized binders, not much else fit quite right on the other two very small shelves.  But, because I was busy and couldn't bear to think about it any longer, it just sat there.  Then, the clutter bug came back and it looked even worse than it did before.  

Finally, an idea came to me!  Why don't I just take out one shelf and make it a 2 shelf bookcase? 

 (I admit, this simple thought took years . . .)

After:

After

So, today the 3 shelf bookcase became a 2 shelf bookcase and now there is enough room to fit all the notebooks and other miscellaneous school office stuff.  

Is it perfect?  No, I'm sure there's more room for improvement.  But, under today's requirements of "remove the clutter bug and keep things from falling off the shelves for free," it works pretty well.  

Sometimes organization is just a small step at a time.  Sometimes you don't have a large TV land budget (ahhh, dreams) to work with and you must get creative with your solutions and that's okay.  In fact, that's what it's all about- do your best with what you have and keep Getting it All Together one Before & After at a time.